Description: Class C Lockdown in NESTS base of operation in Antartica. While Eve waits in her room pondering about the emperor penguin that must have gotten stuck in ventilation shafts, Nameless comes to her to announce her dire news : the death of their beloved leader, Igniz.
The complex would be on Class C lockdown until further notice.
Class C lockdowns did not mean much for the NESTS staff or experiments. Being deep in the depths of the Antarctic, beneath the ice and snow, almost anything caused a Class C lockdown. A faulty ventilation shaft. A non-aggressive breach by the external checkpoints, often by migrating emperor penguins. An escaped Euclid-class experiment. Or most commonly, the email network being down. Class C lockdowns weren't even punitive. Every staff member stays within their respective workstation, or their rooms if they are between shifts. Authorized individuals were relatively free to move around, but had to have the correct pass. These were very simple orders to follow.
Those who did not, were shot on sight.
A trio of security guards move through the tunnels of the complex, walking past the 'personal rooms' of the Assassin Class experiments. These were the NESTS experiments that moves past the trial stages, and into active duty. They were rewarded with some personal belongings, and even personal space. For many of these experiments, the opportunity to have a bed and meager possessions was the greatest gift they could recieve.
ROr at least, the greatest gift they could remember.
Another Class C lockdowns. Those were more common in this facility. When Eve asked about them to other members of the staff, they made fun of her and told them about penguins getting stuck in the ventilation shaft.
Ever since she associated those category of lockdowns to those penguins and felt sorry for the animals getting stuck in the ventilation shaft. The girl lies on her bed, hands behind her head, staring at the ceiling, mind filled with thoughts of penguins sliding down the shafts to meet their doom. Somehow, it made her laugh, but a part of her felt sorry for the penguins.
It had been a long time since the lockdown, but Eve hasn't moved from her room. Orders were orders. Period. Someone would come eventually or the alarm would cease once they'll be through with the penguins.
Eve hears footsteps in the hall. She straightens herself up and sits on her bed. She focuses on the sound, wondering who it might be. She's curious but she doesn't move from her bed, eyes staring at the circular door of her room.
The furniture of her room was modest. A simple desk with a chair, a small bed and a drawer for her clothes. Her room was tidy and the lack of furniture made it look empty.
The circular door opens before her very eyes.
There isn't a knock. NESTS had no reason to knock. While the experiments had their own space, they did not have privacy. Privacy, as K's actions proved, was too much of a danger to give to their experiments. Stepping through the door unannounced was a teenage boy. Clad in the form-fitting black battle suits that so many NESTS assassins were required to wear, the skinny teenager looked... focused. Distracted and focused. Running his black gloved right hand through his two-toned, white and black hair, he keeps his quicksilver, ice-gloved left hand low. Looking into the room, he speaks coldly and quickly.
"Eve."
Stopping inside the room, he lets the door close behind him. He had permission to be alone with Eve. Looking over his fellow experiment, the boy looked serious minded, at the very least. The two had not met very much; if they did, his memories had long since been purged. But he was NESTS. And thus, he was family. As an older brother, he had a duty to his younger siblings. Stoic-faced, he continues to speak with the presence of a military commander. "I have been instructed to discuss with you the nature of this lockdown." He states, bringing his hand from his hair. Legs akimbo, he puts his hands behind his back, coming to a parade rest. "The news will disturb you."
"Do not be upset by the news."
Eve is already staring at the door when Nameless strides in. She's sitting on her bed, but once the door slides open, she quickly moves over to stand up at the side of her bed. A brief expression of surprised twisted her features for a second, but it quickly faded away as Eve stood up.
Eve stands up to respectfully greet him with proper respect, though she seems to have a hard time keeping her composure. The girl was obviously unsettled by his intonation or something about him, it's hard to tell. The two of them had met before, but they've never actually had serious discussions.
She would have never guessed the dire news Nameless was about to tell her.
Eve arches a brow at his words. She squirms a bit, feeling even more uneasy. Why did it involve her? Why did it sound so serious?
"I don't understand... This is just a class C lockdown, I mean..." The worse that could have happened was some penguins on the loose but she doesn't words her thoughts about this. "What happened...?" She asks nervously.
The teenager remains stoic.
The boy had repeated this a few times before. He had practice on it. When his superiors put the lockdown in effect, he was one of the few recommended to tell the others. This was a serious matter. A grave matter. And a personal matter. But already, as he prepares to speak, a lump grows in his throat. Tears build up in his eyes.
He takes a moment to regain his composure.
"This is not another penguin-related incident." He states firmly, eyes staring off into the distance. "This is due to a... serious incident in our leadership. A very serious incident." He pauses a moment, looking down towards his younger sister of NESTS. "It's.. It's our lord and savior, Igniz. He is..." The teenager begins to tremble.
"Something has happened to him."
This whole situation was unsettling, confusing and even a little bit frightening. The tears she notices building up in the corner of his eyes makes her swallow nervously. Eve squirms a bit and bites her lips. This whole situation made her feel uneasy and she did not know what to do or how to react.
She rubs her hands together, feeling the sweat build up uncontrolably in her palms. She listens carefully to him, lost for words, waiting every drops of information eagerly. "What...?" She asks, her voice filled with disbelief.
There was no denying what she had heard though. "No.. I..." She shakes her head a bit, trying to see if he's trying to make fun of her. Eve knows she's an easy prey due to her gullible nature. Unfortunately, nothing in his features betray him.
Eve lowers her gaze silently, "What happened to him?" She asks, fearing the answer, "Is he... Okay?"
The teenager covers his face.
Palm over his eyes, he wipes away the tears. Seven times. He has done this seven times. And each time, it was like a hammer to his heart. Igniz was everything this organization was for. He was the living embodiment of what NESTS stood for.
And above all, he was lovable.
"He is not okay." He states sternly. Looking at his little sister, he could see how this was disturbing her. He could recognize the emotions running through her. It would have been better to keep her in the dark. But he had to. He had orders. He reaches out, and places a hand on Eve's shoulder. His eyes were puffy, as he tries his best to explain to her.
"They believe he is dead."
There was something heart-breaking about seeing a young man crying like this. It was the first time Eve was confronted with this sort of situation and she felt at lost.
She's torn between trying to do something, but she has no idea how to console others. Or any words to say to him. She was unable to keep her composure, her gaze shifting from him and the ground, back and forth.
His sudden touch on her shoulder makes her jerk up. Her body stiffens a bit and she seems to snap out of her reverie and thoughts. She glances up at him, eyes wide, mouth agap from the shock caused by his next words.
Her knees buck a bit, her body trembles. "No, that's not possible.." She says, lifting her hands to cover her mouth. Tears wells up in the corner of her eyes, her features twisted a bit by sadness.
Eve owed him so much. It was because of him if she was here, after all, he was the one who believed in her the most, and helped her so much.
"He can't be dead, this must be some kind of mistake, it must be, right? You don't believe he's truly dead, do you?" She asks.
The teenager embraces his sister.
The boy's gloved hand is cold. But it was shimmering. It knew what was happening. Showing emotions like this was frown upon in public. But caring for your NESTS family, your fellow experiments, was the law. And it was enforced by their mothers and father: Zero, Diana, and Foxy. It was vital in moments like these, where a catastrophic loss within the family took place. Holding his sister in a comforting embrace, the boy chokes out an answer.
"I don't know Eve."
Nameless releases her. His face was soft, his expression gentle. "Everything in my heart wants him to be alive. You are braver than me about this. And we must be brave. Our superiors have instructed us on the individual that has done this. A single man has done this." Whether the boy knew about the spheres or not did not matter. What he might know was probably already scoured from his memory. He releases Eve, falling back to his parade rest position
"A man by the name of Ash."
The boy's embrace spread a warmth inside of Eve. It was a new feeling, it took her by surprise but it was a soothing feeling. Instinctively, this is exactly what she inwardly struggled to offer Nameless when he was crying but didn't find the courage to do.
Her body stiffens at first, this new sensation making her uneasy, but she soon relaxes and lets the warmth fills her, her arms moving to return his embrace. It feels like both of them had similar feelings toward Igniz and that his loss left them shaken. She closes her eyes and her hands pat his back gently, a bit awkwardly as she tries to offer him back some of this new feeling.
When he lets go of her and takes a step back, Eve's features have harden. She stands straight, staring back at Nameless with that silent resolve in her eyes.
"There is only one thing left for us to do then," Eve simply replies. "Don't you agree? That's why you came to see me, didn't you?"
She was unsure if this was the reason why he came to see her, but if that wasn't the case, it seemed to her like the obvious course of action.
"You are right, Eve."
This is the response that the teenager gives. She was intelligent. Some of the other experiments squandered their minds, and it had to be explained what was to come next. But Eve? Eve knew. "There is only one thing for us to do." He begins, narrowing his eyes.
"We must kill him."
Nameless looks onward, staring off into space. That is why we are on lockdown. We are to hunt down our lord's murderer. And we are to avenge our master's death." The assassin raises a fist, brow furrowed. "All other missions are secondary. Those are our orders. They are all to be on hiatus, for the the only true mission is this."
"Ash Must Die."
All this haze of emotions was finally clearing and Eve could see their new objective. It was like a revealation in all this confusion, the only thing certitude there was left for her to cling to.
The only thing to focus on, as she always does.
She beams and arches her back some, taking a proper posture, her gaze lost in the distance, "Yes sir, you can count on me!" She replies. This is what they had to do, no matter the cost.
Eve was almost eager to prove herself, eager to start the hunt. To track him down and be able to claim she was the one who got her hands on him, who avenged Igniz. It was more than just for the praises now, it was a weird and new sensation, something she hasn't felt before.
"I will not rest until Igniz has been avenged... Until this man has paid.." She says, her teeth gritting a bit, her hands clenching into fists. "Do we know where he might be? Where do we start?" She asks, having a hard time containing herself.
Certainty was the goal, after all.
The teenage boy shakes his head, turning away from his 'younger' counterpart. Their superiors did not believe she could be counted on yet. But the boy believes that if she is insufficient in any way, that she can be guided to the righteous path. "I believe your conviction, Little Sister. But we do not know where he is. We only know his appearances. But where he has gone is a mystery. He could be anywhere in the world, Eve." The boy turns around, eyes burning with the same conviction running in his own heart.
"So we will search for him everywhere."
Tightening his hand to a fist, he raises it to the sky. "To search for clues. Anybody we suspect that knows about him, we will interrogate. Anybody that stands in our way with be destroyed. All will know that life begins and ends with NESTS, and above all, Igniz. That his children will not take this insult lightly. We will find the man who did this, Eve." He looks level with his sister, face stoic. He unclenches his fist, and brings his arm back behind him.
"And he will be made an example of."
Eve might not have shown the expected results, but she had always been docile and eager to please her superiors. She might have lacked the raw combat prowess to help with this, but her raw power, maturity and meek nature might make her useful in all of this.
Her eyes meet with Nameless' eyes and they both seem to understannd what they have to do. Their convictions toward all of this in synch, both sharing the same goal with similar intensity.
His speech and words bolsters her. Every single line telling her indirectly what she has to do, and she drinks every word of it, filling her, "Yes!" She concurrs with that fierce glee in her eyes. Her hands clench into fist and her lips curl into a sadistic smile.
It was clear to her now. Ash's pain would be the only thing that could heal their wound. He had to suffer and pay dearly. "We will find him," She states, "And we'll obliterate him,"
She nods her head and says, "When do we begin the searches?" Eve asks.
It was the beautiful love that could only be shared between the true believers of NESTS ideals. That the world was so close to being a better, more perfect place. All it needed was for the weak to be controlled, the corrupt to be cleansed, and the wicked to be purged. Ash was neither weak, nor corrupt.
And it would be their divine duty to purge his filth from the world.
"The searches will begin once the lockdown is complete." Nameless responds, nodding sternly. "When we are certain that all are ready to act on their mission. Those who are unable to be... motivated enough." He speaks with a hint of scorn. "Those who are unable to be motivated enough will be left behind. Not every experiment can have your courage, Eve. Our courage. Some may be distraught by the death of our glorious leader. But we will be inspired. We will overcome. And Eve. My little sister." J Prime places a hand across his heart, in a salute.
"Justice will see us through."
Deep down, Eve believed in everything Nameless was talking to her. She was easily swayed and persuaded into this course of action, and it seemed like the natural thing to do. The only thing that was right.
She nods her head to him and she beams at the praises he gives her. "Yes, J Prime!" She answers with renewed vigor and conviction. She mimics his motion, putting her hand over her heart in a salute.
"Justice will see us through..." She repeats in a soft whisper, like a silent mantra, some to hold on to while she has to wait for the right time to leave for her next mission.
Log created on 13:02:31 10/10/2014 by Eve, and last modified on 13:03:48 10/10/2014.