Ergon V

The sound of the shot was not what he had expected at all; it was somewhat sharp and choppy, like an electric shock. Could it be...? If he had even had the chance to hear the discharge, was it possible for him to still be alive? Kazuto opened his eyes slowly, frightened by what they could grasp and by what that might mean. The man who had threatened his very life now had his eyes blank, his body falling on his knees to then hit the ground. But Kazuto's gaze never followed its collapse; it held on the thin white V-shaped light that stood behind, a dark silhouette framing it down along a circle of equal color and brightness.

The faint lightning barely allowed him to distinguish the tarnished silver plates that fitted its shape, the curves about what ought to be her h.i.p.s as sharp as a woman's. Gazing back at what had to be its head, Kazuto dwelt on its peculiar shape; the frontal part resembled a rather triangular prism, the marked flat edge on its face similar to that of a medieval helm. But the shapes across it and on both side faces were confusing, complex; there was even a slight bump on his forehead, two narrow cylinders protruding at the sides of its jaw.

Confused by the sudden turn of events, Kazuto believed to be in the presence of an artificial being, some cold and soulless robot. Could it be one of those 'Vigilantes'? After all, nobody knew how they looked like or if they were human beings at all. His heart was thumping like a drum, his face gaping in amazement at what was before him. He thought for a moment that the ability to arrange words had been stolen from him, but his courage decided to stiffen of its own accord.

Even if his mind was still clouded by panic, a series of recognizable sounds emerged from his mouth, "Who are you? What are you?" he croaked, grimacing in disgust at the unpleasant metallic taste in his mouth.

The figure moved its upper extremities to its head, doffing its helmet and revealing a human face that belonged to a woman, one that Kazuto recognized beyond any doubt. The heavenly and cat-like eyes of Saori Yoshimura gazed at him devoid of emotion, her dark bluish hair glinting palely before the dim light. Maybe it was due to the urgency of the situation, but Kazuto saw himself looking at to the most beautiful woman in the world. He took a moment to admire the delicacy

in her factions, which could not be overshadowed by the darkness of the environment nor the coldness in her expression. Even his fear of death had vanished, the girl being the one single thing that drew his sight and his thoughts.

Her voice was firm and gallant. "Don't worry, they were not going to kill you. It was a mere bluff. But we need to get out of here so we can save your friends. If you want to help them, come with me."

His friends? Kazuto had forgotten about them. His jaw and his belly ached horribly, so he was barely able to properly assess the situation. But when the young woman offered her arm to him, everything became clear. He felt exhausted at the time, but even if the pain stabbed through him when he struggled to lift his hand, he did not give up on the effort. The palm of hers felt warm, although he only grasped the Kevlar plates mixed with another exotic material that resembled the shape of her phalanges. As she helped him rise to his feet, he saw from the corner of his the helmet she held in her free hand vanishing amid an odd throbbing noise and a feast of sparkling lights. And still, his senses were focused elsewhere.

It was then that Kazuto somehow knew he was willing to trust his life to the young woman before him without the slightest trace of doubt. He had the feeling that an instant connection to her had been forged inside him amid a sensation that he had never experienced in his existence. It was as if time had stopped around them in such a way that single point in their existence was meant to last forever. There was no other sound, presence, or background in the world, just the two of them...

Until the cruel reality that had brought them together made itself present.

The punding on the other side of the emergency stairs' doors began to increase in a considerable way. It was evident that the terrorist they had managed to leave behind were now catching up to them. At the same time, Saori moved towards the body of his brother Hayato, who seemed to have regained consciousness in the interim.

"What did I miss?" Hayato said as he moved the palm of his hand over a lump in his head, complaining of the pain.

"A lot," his sister replied. "We have to go to the base and set up everything there."

Kazuto did not follow. What base were they referring to? They were locked in the third bas.e.m.e.nt of the building, the only exits crammed with hostile thugs. "Base?" he asked, confused. "What base?"

***

It was only after a while that Kazuto began to make sense of the vague outlines of the tunnel around him. As it took him a while to adjust his eyes to the darkness, he found himself descending a series of barely visible stairs. Not even the light panels over his head and all across the deep throat that stretched out in front of him downward were enough to compensate for his fatigue. He was able to distinguish, however, the series of wires and pipes that ran on both sides and on top of the underground shaft inside which he was wandering.

How had he gotten there? His head was a little battered, but Kazuto still managed to recall Saori going for a door that led to a series of service tunnels. After that, both the brothers Yoshimura and he began to undergo a series of b.r.i.e.f.s twists and turns that took them to secret tunnels and, eventually, to the section in which they were now. Still, the young man could not help but be surprised by the level of cleanliness that had dominated the last segment of the shaft. Within what little he could use his mind at the time, Kazuto had expected to run into rats, insects and various types of pestilence. But, no. There was nothing of that.

Yet before he could put his thoughts in order, the young Sugiyama suddenly lurched to the left, staggering into a series of thick fibers that were twisted as if they were ropes. He could no longer resist his own exhaustion, so felt compelled to cease his walk. He leaned against the wires and panted as he swiped the sweat from his forehead. Kazuto felt weak as though he had no more strength than a rag doll. The whole thing had been too much for him. Pain throbbed, deep in his jaw, although it had begun to diminish a few minutes after he received the blow. Maybe Saori was right since it seemed that the terrorist had, in fact, held himself back during their brief encounter.

Fortunately, the twins, who were walking a few meters in front of him, also came to a halt. But before he even realized it, their yelling began to fill the dark and narrow space as their hands moved from here to there without control, either pointing to some nonexistent object or resting on their h.i.p.s.

"Why didn't you tell me that there were operatives in the bas.e.m.e.nt?" demanded Hayato to his sister.

"Because the f.u.c.k.i.n.g scan was limited to the upper structure of the building," she yelled back, defensive. "Why do you think I went down there in the first place?"

"Jeez, we could have died…" he hissed in disbelief.

"And whose fault is it?" she screamed back, her eyes wide and her brow creased a little. "With all the fuss you made, they're going to start killing the hostages!" Saori then crossed her arms below her b.r.e.a.s.ts, offended. "I want to see our father's face when he finds out about all this."

Always obeying him as if he were the only man on the planet who can give us orders."

"And you always contradict him as if he was to blame for everything!"

Kazuto muttered a few words amid the argument. "Hey—"

They both turned their heads towards him in perfect synchronization, their faces enraged at his mere irruption amid the spur of the moment. "What?!"

Kazuto startled a bit, then recalled the question that had led him to break in amidst their fervent talk. "I'm sorry to interrupt your little chat, but can any of you tell me where we are and where the hell we're going?"

Saori let out a long sigh and regained her composure. She then addressed him. "This is a joint utility tunnel network. They have been spread throughout the city in recent years. It reduces obstacles in the streets and facilitates workers to be able to repair pipes without digging the road."

"And as for the base issue, I think it should be pretty obvious by now," added Hayato, who also seemed to have calmed down.

Saori proceeded to pick up where they had left off, but almost in direct response to Kazuto's earlier question, she ran into a plain segment along their route right away. In a rather abrupt manner, some of the cables and pipes in the tunnel were diverted to one side and above. Between the segments was an extensive space of flat concrete that was tucked inward a few centimeters, to which Saori headed at once. There, she moved her hand over it as if looking for something until she pressed some hidden button, a relatively narrow section of the wall being lurched farther inward in response. Kazuto gazed as the girl came across a panel with a nine-digit keypad, to then enter a code of an equal number of digits. As she pressed her eye close to the upper part of the lock, a thin halo of light hovered over it in response. It looked like some sort of retinal scan was being performed on her eyeball.

After a brief moment of silence, the smooth concrete segment slid sideways with a slight tremor and a heavy sound, exposing a thick steel door. At the same time, a hydraulic hissing noise echoed throughout the enclosed space as the airtight seal on it contracted. Once the locking stems pulled back, a high-pitched sound of what Kazuto could only assume was an electric motor began to w.h.i.n.e just as the swung open. There, a beam of light that collided with the darkness welcomed the three students as they stepped into the room, now revealing a relatively wide corridor that led to a two-story suite. It was surrounded by rooms whose walls and doors were made of glass just like the suite itself.

Kazuto then approached the hearth of the Sentinels' underground operations center, where he spotted a handful of wall-sized display screens to his right. Spread all over the floor were a series of endless computer workstations with ergonomic keyboards and triple flat-screen LCD monitors manned by analysts. The distribution of the workspace was similar to the cubicles he had observed in the different plants above in Cytek Headquarters, although the walls, ceilings, and furniture varied in grayscale, the light panels weaker and with more space between them, still shimmering in a teal tone.

As he strode around the network of workstations, Kazuto noticed the men working in them were of diverse ethnical groups and nationalities. They were set apart from each other by that very same criterion, the signs on their desks belonging to agencies such as the CIA, TIF, ABIN, BND, MI5, and PSIA. He recognized some of the acronyms and to which agencies they belonged; but of others, he had not even the slightest idea. Yet, his ignorance could not stop him from marveling at what had to be an unprecedented exchange of information between such counter-intelligence organizations. Needless to say, he knew this display of amiability would have its limits and lead to a not so minor number of complications.

Yet there was something that captured his attention more than anything else in that place. Near one of the corners to the right of the monitor wall, a glazed room unveiled five tube-shaped containers, one stuck to the other, next to which several technicians were exchanging notes. Inside the vessels surrounded by cables and displays, four human-like figures held by wires floated in a kind of amniotic liquid like babies in their mother's w.o.m.b. Three of them had broader shoulders than the remaining one, the latter possessing more prominent h.i.p.s in return. Yet their aspect had not taken Kazuto by surprise. After all, he had already seen one of them; they were armors of similar build to that Saori still employed on her body. Also, that had to provide an explanation for the empty tube, the first to the right of the other four.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" said a deep and m.a.t.u.r.e voice without notice.

Kazuto shifted his eyes to the tall man who was coming down a staircase from the top floor. It was evident he had noticed their entrance, for both his words and his gaze was directed towards them. He had slicked-back dark hair along with a chin curtain beard style, a patch of the same color covering his right eye. He had an imposing presence, for sure, but there was something in the expression on his face that inspired nobility and confidence.

If someone was going to answer your questions, it was that man.

"What the hell is all this?" Kazuto demanded, feeling a bit intimidated by his presence once he stood beside him.

"This, Sugiyama-kun, is what Cytek has been really working on. I'm Colonel Yoshimura Tetsuya of the UNSF, better known as Sentinels."

It was then that Kazuto felt it. As soon as he heard the word "Sentinels", therefore acquiring confirmation of his long-lived suspicions, a flow of emotions he had kept bottled inside spilled loose. He felt overwhelmed with raw intensity as if everything he had gone through that day would have erupted all at once. After all, in front of him were the people responsible for his current situation. Yes, the terrorists were the ones who held most of the blame, but the Sentinels had been created for the purpose of stopping them, were they not?

And even so, they had not achieved anything thus far. As a result of their actions—or the lack of them—his parents had died along with so many other people. In the same way, his brother had been on the verge of death while both he and his friends were having an awfully bad time at the hands of Amaterasu. Where had they been when all this happened? Why could not they save his parents? Why did he and Yoshiro have to suffer all this? It was not fair. While they sat behind their screens and played war, an endless number of people agonized as a result of their poor judgment.

At that time, his throat was so tight it was hard for him to speak. He felt the words would not come, that somehow he would be betrayed by them. And yet, he found the strength to translate his thoughts into words as his right hand became a tighten fist due to his outrage. "Then, in a way, you're responsible for all this," he muttered, almost choking on his own words as tears came to his eyes. "The embassy, my brother, what's happening now. Weren't you supposed to prevent it in the first place? Isn't that your job, after all?!"

There it was. He had to say it, even if he struggled not to feel intimidated by the colonel's bearing. But he was able to keep his eyes on him all along. For he represented a part of the system that Kazuto distrusted. Amaterasu and the Sentinels were two sides of the same coin. One fought against that system, while the other stood in its defense. And yet both left scorched earth wherever they went, hundreds of families being destroyed as a consequence of their petty quarrels. This colonel was a man of age and had evidently experienced first-hand the horrors that such conflicts entailed, hence the loss of his eye. And even so, he had chosen to climb the pyramid of chaos, to become part of this decision-making process. The terrorists, on the contrary, moved away from this structure, opting to oppose it without measuring the consequences. Both fought for what they believed was right.

But, in the end, they equally contributed to perpetuating the cycle of chaos and violence that caused Kazuto to have lost his hope for a better future, and he resented them for that. Deep down, Kazuto also had his own idealistic side, and he knew it, but he would never allow his emotions to take control over him to such an extent. He ought to be as objective as possible so that he could make the most reasonable possible decisions.

"Hey!" Saori complained out of the blue. "Don't be such an ungrateful brat. We've saved your life—!"

Colonel Hashimoto moved his arm in front of Saori's body, the palm of his hand fully opened as a sign that she should cease her intentions. He shook his head at her in addition. "Leave him, Saori. He has gone through a lot and needs to let it all out."

And so came the calm. Kazuto knew what he had said had been a bit unfair. It was not like he was ungrateful they saved his life, but that he needed to let go of that emotional burden that had afflicted him for so long. He sought an explanation. He needed there to be a reason so that everything would take on some kind of meaning. "Just tell me it hasn't been all for nothing..."

The colonel stared at him intently, as if he were seeing right into his heart. Kazuto could not avoid felling exposed by his gaze. "That's up to you, Sugiyama-kun. We have done everything in our power to prevent these tragedies. And yet, you're right. We failed. It's our job to avoid such deaths from taking place. But if you want it, you can help us do it better. You can become a part of this."

For a long moment, Kazuto stared at the colonel. A chill of bewilderment went down his back, shocked by the implications of that man's words. Did he mean that ...? No, it was impossible. But the seriousness of his statement was indisputable. He ought to be speaking the truth. And it was so that Kazuto Siguyama looked above the shoulders of Colonel Hashimoto and set his eyes on the third armor of the row of tubes. He wondered what had gotten into him since he could feel his call, somehow. Nevertheless, how was he supposed to carry out such a feat? At least it seemed that the answers would not take too long to manifest themselves this time around.