52 Curving into Insanity

Later that night, things around the K.A.O.S facility had shifted. In one of the labs some scientists were working on the new projects, but something was amiss. In Satoshi's lab area, it was dark, and no one seemed present. However, there was a glass cage with a little girl inside, the one Barret had seen when he slipped into this lab before hand, some time back. Her eyes were fluctuating, as she eerily loomed, her eyes focused on the door. She made soft growling sounds, as she crept up to it on all fours. There was dark aura circling her, as she stared up to the camera with a crazed grin, tilting her head. "Eh he he he..."

A security person on the job at the moment, takes a drink from his coffee. He stares, eyeing the monitor with fear creeping up his back. "What in the world? Hmm...That 56, always trying to get you with something..." He says, looking to another monitor.

Subject 56 looked back to the door, dragging her nails against it sharply. The sound it made was unbearable.

The guard holds his ears, and mutes the sound to 56's cell. "Urgh, she must be in one of those moods." He states, now turning his attention back to a television he was watching, it was a cooking show. The screen shows a woman holding up a pie, she looked quite happy.

As the man was distracted, 56 stuck her mouth to the class of the chamber. Fangs dragged against the surface, as she pulled back to lick her teeth. She looked around a bit, crawling across the floor on all fours. She then noticed the vents on the ceiling. 56 sat like a dog beside her doll, staring to it, as she tilted her head, and snickered with a grin. "Eh he he he..."

The security man glanced back to her feed, however, something wasn't right. 56 was absent. His mouth dropped, fear was creeping in. His position could be in jeopardy. "Dammit, where did she go? Tha-that was sealed off! Oh man, Sion is going to have my head for this... Where could she had gone?" He gasps to himself, getting out of his seat quickly.

There was a slight banging sound in the ventilation shaft, above him.

The guard turns his attention to the vents above, then he takes out his flash light turning it on. "Huh? I-I don't want to ask... 56?...Is that you?" He quivered in terror.

The darkness of the vent was all he could see, as he peered up. The cover was also an obstacle to see passed.

He swallows, and walks over grabbing a nearby chair. The guard then stands onto the chair, and reaches up to the vent to unlock it, for a closer look. "I really should call for back up, but... It could just be a rat... I can't risk my job..."

The darkness was engulfing, and even the light didn't help. No sound was heard, but a form dove from the shaft, knocking the man back to the ground. Fangs dug into his chest cavity, shredding through, all the way to his bones. He was screaming, as 56 had began to devour the man like a savage beast. She growled, peering to the door. Someone must have heard his cries, but she didn't stop eating, the blood of her victim coating her jaw.

"Martin!? You alright in there? " A guard on the outside called in. The screaming continued, as it soon fell silent. The guard pounds on the door again. "Martin!? MARTIN!?" He yelled, as he busts down the door.

Before him was the mangled corpse of the dead guard, blood coating the ground and intestines half eaten. 56 wasn't seen however.

The guard calls back up quickly, as he begins to survey the area, "We have a code red! Repeat a code red!" He turns to Martin, "Oh man... Why didn't you call anyone, you idiot!" The guard says, as he continues looking around.

He hadn't noticed the sinister grin of the subject hanging from the ceiling. Blood was starting to drip from her face, as slits of eyes began to open from all over her body. There was a crunching sound, as a skeletal tail formed from her spine. Then a drop of blood hits the face of the guard below her.

The guard turns his attention to the ceiling, to spot 56 smeared with blood. He drops his gun running for the door. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" He let out a shrill of panic, rushing to the exit.

56 dropped from the ceiling, running after him on all fours to tackle the guard to the ground. She didn't hesitate to eat at the back of his skull first, ripping apart his brains, as he cried out in agony, before dying.

More security rushed to the room, but when they arrive, 56 had vanished. They inspect the bodies, and turn to each other. "Alright, listen up. We must have an intruder, we need to split up, and find the culprit. As for the bodies, we can't use them... Let's make sure this gets to the uppers. They're not going to be happy." The others nod, as they rush out to search for the said 'intruder'.

Sion was now overlooking some papers in her quarters. She sighs, watching some video feed taken of Issac a while back, "Hmm, I never thought about this. If Issac is dead. Then his body is still there... Usable. I could bring him back!" She says, standing up quickly. Her communicator beeps, and she looks over to it, forming a very uncaring stare. "What does he want now?"

She picks up the device, turning it on, "Sion? There seems to be problems in your quadrant. There might be a possible intruder, so I need you to go, and over see the operations. Keep the projects safe, and free from harm. Understood?"

Sion sighs to herself, "As you wish Kaos." She states, cutting connection, "Honestly, what do we pay these buffoons with?" Sion walks off to the exit of the room.

She soon arrives down in the lab, her serious uncaring demeanor, soon turns to that of fear. Her eyes widen at the sight of slaughtered bodies of many scientists, and security around the halls. "What in Joan's name?" She gasps, as she walks forward slowly.

Kaos contacts her once more, as she quickly answers. "Sion? What's the situation?"

She grumbles nervously. "They're all dead. Mangled, whoever or whatever this is... They mean business..."

"I'm sure you can handle a little intruder, my dear. Besides, it couldn't be as bad, as what was found with other Dark Dama works." Kaos states, sarcastically.

"Kaos you idiot! This is no joking matter! We have lost a lot of men to this..." Sion suddenly feels a strong demonic pressure. She turns quickly behind her. "...Hmm.."

"Are you there Sion?" Kaos asked to her.

"SHUT UP! I'm here, just trying to gain my barrings, you old dolt. We need more guards... A good dose of light dama might help as well..." Sion says, still feeling the dark pressure.

"Ohhh, this does sound serious. Wonderful, I'll get some down there shortly. Keep a sharp eye out Sion." Kaos says, cutting connection.

"Grr, always taking everything like a joke." Sion says, keeping her sights sharp.

The sound of nails grinding along the ceiling echoed in the halls from all around, the source was unknown.

Sion looked around, "What on Terra is that?"

Around her the lights of the ceiling began to flicker, and die out. The power had been tampered with.

Sion gasps, as she then sat in complete darkness. "...Wonderful..." She states, reaching to her pocket pulling out a small flash light. "..." She flicks it on, looking very annoyed.

A black tentacle suddenly snatched the flashlight, with a sound of a crunch as the light went out. There was a rushed movement along the ground, with snickering heard.

Sion jumps, "Gah! Okay, I saw that you, little shadow walker!" She yelled.

"Ehehehehe.... hun..gry....." echoed the sound of a creepy little girl's voice.

"...Wait a minute... You're that project, aren't you? It seems Mr. Dread is neglecting his duties." Sion says, turning her attention to where the voice came from.

There was a faint red mist with eyes formed in it, rolling around the floor among her. Sion noticed it, as her eyes got used to the darkness.

Sion smiles, "My,my that's quite a new trait...Tell me, you ate all the guards down here? You also escaped your cell? All by yourself?"

"We.. don't know.. what.. you are... talking about.. eheheh....." responded 56, from somewhere in the darkness, her eyes faintly glowing.

Sion shuts her eyes, "You are something else, not even admitting to your own murders. So innocent, yet deadly. I must commend Dread on his work." She says, walking ahead a little.

"Hun..gry..." 56 muttered, "EHEHHEHEHEHE!!!" She cackled, diving at Sion's face.

Sion grips 56 with her mind, holding her in place. "Calm yourself now... You are an important project... Too important to destroy. If you're hungry, let your new mommy feed you."

The subject leered to Sion, growling with blood dripping from her jaws. She was a terrible sight, a little monster with hundreds of eyes, and long claws, with a skeletal tail. Even her eyes were different now, the sclera was black, and her eyes red like blood.

Sion's expression turned from delight, to dull, "Though you're useful, you can use a face lift... But that won't matter right now... Let's get you ready for your new home. Then you can eat all you want."

"We... want to eat... you..." 56 narrowed her eyes, with low growls.

Sion places a fan to her face, "Ho ho ho! I'm flattered, but I'm not for the menu. Too high on the food chain."

"Just what are you doing?" Spoke a chilling voice, from behind Sion.

Sion turns to see Dr. Dread, in surprise. "Oh, it's you. I'm just taking care of your project! She is being quite a handful."

"I can see that, Sion." Dread said, walking up to look to 56, smoke escaping his mouth as he removed his cigarette. "I was talking to her."

"What? You can speak to it?" Sion asked, turning her attention back to 56.

"She is based on my DNA." Dread mentioned.

56 growled to him, "..."

"Well, perhaps moving her somewhere away from base would be best now. She has made quite a mess with things down here." Sion says, her hold keeping strong on 56.

"I was thinking the same thing, I also believe your dama won't last long enough to keep her contained however." Dread took a drag.

Sion's head began to sting a little," You're right... So, are you ready to transport her?"

"Indeed, I suspect Pandora would be fitting enough." He replied.

Sion sighs, "I suppose, though wouldn't she be at risk? Her mind could be destroyed easily."

"If she's infected with the dama she devoured, the effects of that world won't harm her. In fact, she may thrive there." Dread peered over, with sharp eyes.

"Interesting, I suppose that's the plan then. Let's hurry this up." Sion says, feeling her hold slipping.

"Very well." Dread nodded, placing a hand to her shoulder to teleport them all from the location from darkness.

Elsewhere that night, Barret's cruiser arrived to base. Inside Barret and team were all unconscious from exhaustion and pain. Cravic must have sent them back by auto pilot, since no one was in the driver's seat. The hatch opened on it's own as it landed, just as Nari was heading out of the hanger from returning to base herself. She noticed this, turning her attention over.

"Huh? Oh, they're back!" She says, rushing over to it. As she got closer, so she could spot Barret, Katinka and Myde. "Oh wow, they look pretty beat up! (I need to get them to the med bay.)"

Nari moves quickly, running back into the main portion of the base. She arrives to Asuna's lab, bursting into her door. She walks around a table, which had parts scattered about of different machines. Asuna was looking over some blue prints, when she feels Nari's hand touch her shoulder. "Sis! I need to borrow Zihark, Barret and the others are back, but seriously injured." She states, frantically.

Asuna gawked, nearly falling out of her seat, "Jumping Jehoshaphat, are you kidding me?" She gawked, "Zihark, you need to go help Nari, stat!" She stated, urgently to the android across the room from her.

Zihark turns to Asuna nodding silently. "Affirmative." He states, walking to the exit.

Nari begins to walk after him, "I really hope we're not too late, I don't know what they were hit with, but it looks terrible."

Zihark kept his stare ahead, as they leave Asuna's lab. Asuna seemed concerned a bit, leaning to her palm, with a sigh, and a pencil between her fingers. "This is really just what we need right about now....." She muttered, sarcastically.

Some time passed, as Barret, Katinka and Myde were transferred to the med bay for recovering. They were all in fairly bad shape, but alive. With them out of commission, Nari would need to inform Medatros of their return for them.

Nari opens the door to Medatros's office, spotting him looking over some documents. He notices her, setting his papers down. "Nari? What brings you here?"

"Barret and his team have returned, but they're in really bad shape. I'm not sure if this was caused by a Zodiac, or something else. However, whatever caused their injuries, must have been really lethal." Nari states, crossing her arms.

Medatros places a hand to his chin, pondering to himself, "I see, this can complicate things. For the moment, the remaining of you will have to pick up the pace. We're already stretched thin as it is, we just have to plan our course of actions more carefully."

Nari nods, "Which brings me to my next question, seeing whatever did that to them had done such damage. I want to ask that we start gathering more resources for armor... We are mostly humans battling Elementar, Ferline and who knows what else..."

Medatros sighs, "The ugly truth is, no matter how much we create to protect humans, due to the extreme nature of the technology, things are always growing... The best we can do, is look at what we're coming up against, and work our weapons, and shields to combat them... I leave that in your's and Asuna's hands... More minds in that department would be wonderful. Though as I stated earlier, we just don't have the man power..."

Nari groans, "Yeah, you're right... I guess that means we just look at what they have, and hopefully create something good enough to one-up them."

"Now, as the others are resting, please go get Issac, we must discuss the next location of interest." Medatros says, picking documents up into his hands.

Nari nods, "Right!" She exclaims, walking to the exit.

She makes way to Issac's room. Soon enough she arrives to his door, knocking to it.

"Issac? Are you up? Medatros needs to speak with us. Hello?" She says, knocking again.

The door slides open, as Issac peers out with a partial eaten cheeseburger in his mouth. He looks to Nari, not even realizing he wasn't wearing a shirt. "Hm? What's up?"

Nari's face turns red, "U-Uh..ISSAC!!! PUT A SHIRT ON!"

Issac glances down, blinking a bit, before sweat dropping. "Uh, sorry." He walks over to his bed, in the now messy room. He takes his undershirt, and pulls it over his head, after having set the burger onto his unmade bed. He picks it back up, taking another bite, before walking back to the door. "So."

Nari crosses her arms, "First, were all those scars from battling? I never noticed them before."

Issac scratched his head, "Uh, no not really."

Nari walks closer to Issac, "Oh? So, what then? You're peaking my interest."

Issac quirked a brow, glancing off slightly. "Self harm, suicide attempts. That kinda thing, lets not bring all that back up. I'm not in that dark place anymore, okay..."

Nari giggles, "I see, I find it amazing you decided to join up in a place like this. Though, knowing you had those tendencies, nothing really mattered. Shame though, if I were still with Kaos, your body would have made an interesting unit." She states, adding in another creepy giggle.

"There's the second time you mentioned something about you and Kaos. Am I the only one who wasn't aware of this, or something?" Issac crossed his arms.

"Oh! My bad, I forgot to tell you. I was a Dark Dama specialist in the past. I worked on a lot of their units, and well... my sister and I were trying to get away from that life." Nari says, turning to the halls.

"I see, then Barret's worry about Asuna was pretty much on par, but you two decided to turncoat. I assume he already knows about this then too?" Issac followed after her, adjusting his bandanna.

"Yeah, Asuna discussed it with him, back at the festival. You weren't around at the time, due to the dama unit attack." Nari says, turning to Issac as they walked.

"Gotcha." Issac looked ahead. "So, DD specialist huh? Does that mean you and Asuna are Necroden then, and not human? Something about this DD infection I got a while back, has made me a bit sensitive, to when those kinds of Elementar are around."

Nari giggles, grabbing Issac by his hand, looking to him slyly. "Are you sure you don't want to improve that with you? You hit the nail on the head, but not everyone needs to know. " Nari quickly lets go of Issac's hand, "I'm sorry! When I get around possible good subjects, I get a little weird.... Hee hee. I'll meet you in the office, I have go to the ladies room." She says, nervously rushing away.

Issac gawks a bit, "Not sure what that was all about, but okay. To the office." Issac heads off to meet with Medatros. "I guess I'll see Hazel after then... When she get back from her business trip."

Nari gets to the restroom of the base, looking to herself in the mirror with worry. "I...I lost myself there, this dark dama....This project....Dammit Dread...Heh...You'll be fine..." Nari turns on the water, and splashes some onto her face. "..You got this...Right?"

A voices speaks to Nari, as she holds her head, "(You know you can't fight us. Not with all these perfect specimens around. We know what you desire, and we can make it yours.)"

"(No... I-I need Kirb...That's who I need...I mean...projects would be nice but...Heh...No...)" Nari held her head tightly.

"(Don't fight the urges Nari, you want this. We want to help better you, to make you stronger.)" The voice echos in her mind.

"Stronger...." Nari muttered aloud.

Flushing of a toilet is heard, and out of a stall walks Lucina. She spots Nari, as she walked over to wash her hands. "This lavabo is choquant." Lucina states, stopping beside Nari.

Nari giggles reaching to her, as she grabs Lucina by her neck, "Why don't you start talking in a tongue I can understand? Then.... I can rework you, to speaking anyway I want."

Lucina gasps, "sacré bleu! Unhand moi, bête!"

Nari suddenly snaps out of the trance, and releases Lucina. "I-I'm...Sorry." She says, rushing passed Lucina quickly.

"Ma parole..." Lucina sighs to herself, as she rubbed her neck.

Meanwhile in the office, Medatros was mid conversation with Issac.

"I wonder what the heck happened to Barret and the girls... Jeez, I hope they'll be alright." Issac sighed, crossing his arms as he shifted with his eyes closed.

"They should be, thanks to Nari. However, until they are back on their feet, we have to keep the progress moving. Which brings me to your team's next mission. The Celdon Outback, there are mines scattered in that desert region. Your objective is to investigate mining activity in that sector. " Medatros states, tapping papers in his hands, to his desk.

"Mines? Like dark caves and stuff?... heh heh... What are we exactly looking for? Kaos? Zodiac? Just getting money hungry here, dude?" Issac replied awkwardly, in a nervous manner.

Medatros grunts, "Issac, please, I need you to be brave, we're low on people, so if you find anything of interest, bring me back the information. That is all."

"Harsh man... I don't do well in this kind of element. Urgh, Fine-Fine, I'll... handle it..." Issac pouted, begrudgingly.

"Excellent, now if I may ask, where might Nari be? Beside Kirb, she isn't one to miss meetings this way." Medatros inquired.

"Toilet." Issac shrugs.

Nari burst into the office, "OH MY GOSH! MEDATROS, I AM SO SORRY! I couldn't hold it, I just..."

Medatros sat, with a straight face, ".... It's fine. Issac? Please fill her, and Kirbon in on the details. I have paper work to look over here..."

Nari was shaking, and nods looking over to Issac. "L-let's go get Kirb then."

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll need assassin bunny for this one." Issac nudges her out the office. "Did I mention I don't like dark places? hehe...." He mutters uneasily.

Nari turns to Issac, "Hee hee, y-you'll be fine, okay? Don't worry about it. Why are you scared anyway?"

Issac puts his arms behind his head, groaning a bit. "We're being sent to investigate mines in the Outback... I'm good with deserts and stuff, but nooot so well with caves, and the dark." He sweated slightly.

"Hmm I see, well as long as we don't run into anything creepy, I think you'll be fine." Nari says, trying to get a look at Issac's arm again.

Issac shivered a bit, "I don't want to think about that..." He got teary eyed, "Why did Witchhazel have to go on business today?"

"Who knows? Projects, things of that nature. I bet being a witch has a lot of complications, but anyways lets go pick up my bunny assassin." Nari says, finally keeping her eyes to herself.

"My?" Issac quirked a brow. "Something I should know about?"

"That I'm the only one for him...Which is going to stay that way..." Nari says, looking to Issac grinning.

"Okay, shouldn't of asked. (Man this chick has it bad for Kirb. Not sure if she's just being creepy, or if they're actually a thing now.)" Issac laughed, sweating uneasily.

"Issac? You have Witchhazel, right? You wouldn't let her go, would you?" Nari inquired slyly.

"Let's just focus on the mission, alright? We don't need to talk about our personal lives, and stuff. Kay?" Issac explained.

"You're right, let's get Kirby, and head on to the mission!" Nari says, giggling.

They arrive to Kirb's room, shortly from there. Nari barges into his room. "Kirb! We got another mission..." She said, as she noticed Kirb sleeping on his bed. "Awe, he's sleeping."

"Uh, maybe we should just let him sleep. We can get Bit, Yuji or Zihark to stand in..." Issac suggested, not sure if waking Kirb was a good idea.

Nari ignores Issac, skipping over to Kirb, and lays on top of the usa. "Mmm." She cuddles to him.

Kirb jumps slightly, startled from the surprise. His ears stood right up, but he settled down, seeing Nari there. "... Yoh...Don't do that.." He groaned a bit, rubbing his face.

"Sorry Kirby, we gotta go. You don't want to hear Meda going all aggro." Nari says, standing to her feet.

Issac crossed his arms, unsure how to respond to them. Kirb leaned his ears to Nari's head. "Time to shoot stuff again, Riceball?" He yawned slightly, with sleepy eyes.

Nari holds her head close to Kirb, smiling, "Oh you know it! Get those pea shooters ready!"

"At least your not telling me to be cute and cuddly." Kirb messed up her hair a bit with his hand, before sitting up more.

Nari giggles blushing, "Nah, why would I keep bugging you about that? You're already acting the part."

Kirb scoffed a bit, "You're lucky I like you. Otherwise you'd be filled with holes."

"Oh, I'd let you fill my holes for sure." Nari says, purring.

Issac covered his ears quickly, walking down the hall. "OKAY! I do NOT need to hear this! Let's GO!" He gawked, awkwardly.

Kirb lifted his head to the open door. "Hm?"

Nari pats Kirb's arm, "Come on, lets catch up up to him, okay?" She says, pulling him off the bed.

"Hey sweet cheeks, easy there." Kirb muttered, being dragged along with her.