A Past to be Forgotten
By Murasakikaze
Chapter Three
The Welcome Committee
"Lina-san! The tracks end here, but there's something you should
probably see..." Amelia bent back the branches and Lina stared down
at the churning sea of chimeras below them. In the middle sat a huge
gleaming white compound with several small mirrored windows.
"What the heck is this place?" Lina surveyed the area and turned
back. "First off we find Zelgadis, then we can try to figure out why
there's some huge castle or something on a tiny island.
"Oi! Lina, take a look at this!" Gourry pointed down at a place where
the grass looked like it had been trampled down and poorly
camouflaged. "There's one set of footprints and a set of drag
marks. Looks like the person being dragged is wearing a heavy pair
of boots."
Lina followed the pathway with her eyes and noticed that it headed
down towards the weird building. <Guess we'll be checking that out
first instead.
"Okay, let's go, but carefully. Amelia, remain here in case
something
happens and we need a quick exit. We can take Zel's boat back if we
have to."
Amelia nodded and sat down at the edge of the cliff to guard while
Lina and Gourry quietly snuck down into the valley.
----------
"C1 has returned? Oh, you impress me so, Mirai," Kako said as he
picked up the computer chip. "And what of C2? Your _precious_
Naria?"
"I...I took care of her like you commanded me, Kako," Mirai sighed
and refused to meet his gaze.
"Don't look so glum, Mirai. At least you still have this chip in
storage. You can always reactivate your 'pet' if you feel lonely," Kako
replied arrogantly. "As for C1, has he been detained?"
"Yes, sir, although I had to use a bit of force. You made him quite
heavy, sir." Mirai rubbed her shoulder and cracked a bone back into
place.
"Yes, well, he's survived this long on his own, right?"
"I suppose so, sir..."
"Oh, and activate the mercenary program. There's a job to do."
----------
"Activation in progress. System reboot in T minus 30 seconds.
Please wait." There was a slight pause and a still form snapped
backwards, sending waves of blue hair cascading down.
"Activation complete. Drone awaiting orders."
Mirai stared at the blank expression on the chimera's face. "I
still can't believe we took it away from you..."
"Drone awaiting orders," the computer barked out in a sharp,
metallic voice.
Mirai sighed and threw a sword down at its feet. "Mercenary
program. Objective: Kill Lina Inverse."
----------
Zelgadis sat up and rubbed his head. Dammit, this island was
just too much. Then he remembered what had happened. That
damn Mirai person had used a sleeping spell on him. How could
he allow himself to be caught off guard like that!Deciding to scold
himself later, he slid off the small mattress and looked around the
small room. The chambers were bare except for the bed and a
small desk at the opposite end. A book rested lightly against a
reading lamp and as Zelgadis approached it he was able to read
the title.
"Welcome to Garrou Compound #6."
"Great...if all that insane girl told me is true, then I was never
really human and this is my true home. Then again, she was
insane..." Zelgadis sighed and picked up the book. It was a thin
brochure about Garrou and it's 'amazing' compounds. "Garrou is
certainly not your usual island..."
"Ah, C1, good to see that you're awake. Now, may I ask you why
you refused to return home so many years ago?" a relatively pleasant
voice floated through the air and Zelgadis identified the source as
that of a small speaker box sitting next to the lamp.
"Who are you?!"
"I am Kako Eienjo and you are Chimera 1 or Zelgadis Graywords.
We expected you home for your checkup, but you never showed.
We were quite disappointed in you."
"Chimera 1 my-"
"Ah, ah, ah. Language, my friend. We try to run a clean institute
here. *slight scuffle noise* Would you shut the hell up?! I'm on the
damn phone!!" There was a pause as Kako realized he hadn't
turned off the speaker phone. "Oops..."
"...." Zelgadis stared up at the audio box as another slight
scuffling noise was heard.
"Back on the subject, we're all glad to see that you're home
finally and I hope you didn't care about those people who so rudely
followed you here. We have a perfect drone-chimera and she will
be taking care of them shortly."
"Leave them alone, dammit!" Zelgadis practically ripped the box
off the desk in anger.
"Oh, it won't hurt...much. Don't worry, our guard isn't the one to
make things messy. Enjoy your stay and welcome home, Zelgadis."
There was a small click and the speaker was silent.
"I'll kill you before you can even hurt my friends, you callous
bastard!!" The audio box then took its all expensed paid trip to the
repair shop.
---------
"Lina, there's someone up ahead of us!" Gourry slid to a stop
and pointed at the shadowy figure. As most shadowy figures go, this
was the usual. It had long hair that flowed back in a breeze that
decided to stop by just at the moment. Unfortunately, there was no
cape, but a thick sword was pointed downwards by its side and it
raised slightly as a cloud moved past allowing the sunlight to dispel
the shadowy figure routine.
"Do you have to be so cliche?" Lina sighed and prepared a fireball.
"You are intruding..." The voice was soft and definitely female. She
raised her head and looked at Lina. "Please escort yourself off the
island or I will be forced to do so, and you will leave via the Astral
Plane."
"You bad guys are so-" Lina stopped and stared at the girl.
"N-Naria?!"
Naria's eyes were blank and lifeless as she stared back at the
shocked sorceress.
"You are intruding, Lina Inve-" There was a slight pause and
Naria's head jerked to one side. "Inverse."
"Listen, if we offended you earlier, we were just trying to get Zel
to laugh and it-" Lina was cut off abruptly as a flare arrow charged
her way.
"Prepare to die, Lina Inverse." Naria charged forward, her
double-edged sword ready to strike her down. Lina drew her
sword in response, but never had a chance to use it. Gourry
blocked Naria's attack and pushed her backwards.
"Lina! I'll take care of her. Try to find Zelgadis, if the rest of
the
islanders are as crazy as she is, I don't think we should leave him
here." Gourry smiled at her and charged forward.
Naria blinked at him as he ran forward and dropped her sword.
"I have no quarrel with you. I have been instructed to kill Lina
Inverse.
You are interfering."
"I'm Gourry Gabriev, and if you want Lina, you go through me!" His
sword connected with her shoulder and snapped in half.
"Swords do not work against chimerean skin. Now you are
intruding also and will be disposed of." Naria grabbed his neck and
held him suspended a foot off the ground.
"FIREBALL!!" The spell ripped Gourry out of her hands and he
jumped back up, dispensing of his broken blade.
"Hikari yo!!" The Sword of Light burst forth and Gourry was once
more into the battle.
----------
"Such interesting people..." Kako smiled and turned on his
computer. "Let me see the battle. Camera 5 activate, audio on."
The computer beeped and a disjointed window opened showing
him the fight. Naria was busy driving two people back. One was
presumably Lina Inverse, the other was an unknown man with blond
hair and-
"Mirai! Call her off!" Kako jumped over his desk and grabbed his
coat as he bolted out the door.
----------
Gourry found an opening and struck twice...both missed. Naria
leapt back, landed on her hand, and flipped completely around to face
another woman.
"Naria, it's okay now...you can stop. Calm down, mission
accomplished," the woman whispered and placed a thin hand on
her shoulder.
Naria cocked her head to one side. "But she is not dead. I must
kill Lina Inverse."
"No, Naria, I said the mission was completed." The woman
patted the chimera on the head and walked past her. Naria turned
and sheathed her sword. "I'm sorry if she got carried away and
excuse me for my rudeness. I am Mirai Eienjo and I am here to
welcome you to Garrou Island."
"Some welcome," Lina grumbled. "I'm sure you know who I am,
but this is Gourry and we're looking for someone."
"I know, Zelgadis Graywords. If you'd come with me, I can explain
this whole situation." Mirai turned and walked out into the clearing.
Naria followed soon after and Lina wasn't far behind. Something
didn't feel right about this place and Lina just had to find out what it
was.
"Listen, all we want is Zel and we'll-" Lina stopped as she saw
Naria lying on the ground, clearly unconscious. Something shone
in Mirai's hand and she slowly crushed it in her palm.
"Lina, what is this place?" Gourry snuck up behind her and
looked up at the five story building.
"Welcome to Garrou Compound Number Six. Home to the first
custom built chimera and the drone-chimera. You just saw an
example of the drone-chimera..." Mirai trailed off as her sad blue
eyes wandered down to Naria's still form.
"What do you mean by 'custom built' and 'drone-chimera'?" Lina
stepped forward cautiously and gently nudged Naria with her foot.
"Is she dead?"
"No, just deactivated...although dead is pretty close." Mirai picked
the girl up and pushed a button on the wall. "Let's go. He has
cameras up everywhere."
Lina looked at Gourry and followed her inside. Gourry checked
his surroundings first before going in and the door slid close
gently behind him.
----------
"C3 up and operational, sir," random scientist #54 said. (The
other 53 were on their lunch hours.)
"Good, send him out to greet the 'guests.' I'm sure they'd like
their beloved 'Zelgadis' back," Kako replied and waved #54 off as
he stalked down the hallways. He breezed through the doors to the
lab and smiled as his guests turned to see him. "Hello and
welcome! I'm Kako Eienjo, founder and chief scientist of the Garrou
Compound Number 6. I'm glad to see that you made it here alri-"
Lina didn't let him finish as she ran up, grabbed him by the collar,
and pointed at the lifeless Naria.
"What in L-sama's name did you do to her?!"
"Oh, the drone. She'll be fine once we input another chip.
Actually,
Mirai! Reinsert the old personality chip and give them something to
gawk at." Kako threw a small piece of metal at Mirai, who caught it
easily.
She turned to Naria, who was strapped down onto a sort of
operating table. The table stopped at the head and small straps
connected to a brace held Naria's head in place. Mirai slowly pulled
back Naria's blue hair and stuck the piece of metal into her neck.
"Reactivate. Password: Mirai 65749832. Reload data and
memories." The words flowed out naturally and Mirai turned to
complete other business as Naria's eyes fluttered open.
"Reactivation in progress. Total system reboot in T minus 30
seconds, please wait." Pause. "Activation complete. Drone
awaiting orders."
Naria's eyes were blank and had the dull quality about them that
most people had when they were either a) possessed or b) dead.
Lina took knew that she wasn't dead, but the possessed thing was
another matter.
The metallic voice repeated itself deliberately, "Drone awaiting
orders."
Mirai turned and carefully unstrapped Naria's head, then she freed
her arms and legs. Throughout it all, she remained silent.
"Drone awaiting orders."
"Personality program #8. Objective: None." Mirai waited for a moment
as Naria's head snapped back and her eyes closed. "Everyone, remain
silent for awhile. She needs time to reboot."
"Re-" Gourry began.
"She said, shut up!" Lina elbowed him in the stomach and watched,
impatiently, for something to happen.
Mirai leaned over and brushed the hair out of the chimera's eyes.
"Wake up, darling. Everyone's waiting for you and your brother has
returned home."
Naria's eyes opened again and they were a sparkling bluish green.
She slowly sat up and slid off the table, rubbing her head in confusion.
She looked up at everyone for a moment before turning to Mirai calmly.
"NII-CHAN'S HOME?!" Her voice was small and childlike and she
bolted to the door before anyone could stop her. "Where is he?!
Where's Nii-chan?!"
Everyone visibly sweatdropped.
Mirai coughed and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.
"I...uh...goofed...It was supposed to be 7 not 8..."
Kako sighed and hit her over the head with a Furby(tm) produced
somewhere inside that mysterious void known as Hammerspace.
"Sun up!" the Furby(tm) screamed as it went flying across the room.
Naria turned and looked at everybody staring at her and blinked.
"What?"
Lina turned to Mirai, who was rubbing her head from the Furby
attack. "You mean to tell me that Naria isn't a real chimera, but a
robot?"
"No, she's not a robot. At one point she did have a soul and a free
mind..." Mirai looked up and saw the door swinging shut. "Oh, crap.
Excuse me. I've seen what Program 8 does to her and the lab...it's
not pretty..."
Mirai ran out the door, white lab coat tails flying after her,
screaming,
"Naria-chan!! Don't you dare touch the self-destruct button on the
vacuum again!!"
Somewhere down the hallway there was a loud boom.
Kako hung his head and excused himself. "Would you mind
helping us this once? Last time this mix-up occurred it took a year
to clean up the damage..."
Lina and Gourry stared at the young man as he ran out the door
after the previous women and disappeared. Lina shrugged and
opened the door, peering around the corner. Gourry soon followed
her and they both saw three people come running back.
"Run, dammit!!" Kako yelled and rushed past.
A chibi Naria and Mirai went by soon after. Lina, being the smart
girl that she is, decided to run as they said and pulled Gourry along.
Five seconds later Amelia saw a VERY big explosion and black
smoke billowing out of a hole in the side of the compound.
Mistaking it for a signal to get off the island she ran down to the
beach and jumped into the boat. This possibly could have been the
worst decision of her life.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimers: None of them are mine except Naria and the Eienjos.
Although I'd love to own Zelgadis, he's not mine...*sniff* So don't sue
me. I'm a student and I can't even afford a car..it's not worth it.
~~~~~~~~~~~
As always, C&C, MSTs, and Flames (j/king!!) are welcomed and
appreciated by me! Send them to
muteki@juno.com
Yes, I know it looked like it was getting serious, but it's Slayers
people.
When does Slayers stay serious for long? Thanks for reading and
sorry for the delay.
Murasakikaze
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's never good to insult the person who's holding a gun to your head.
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