Two Faces

"The world leaders met to arrange talks in handling the booming machine work force that was replacing the need for humans. All the years of great success was bringing the economy to the brink. A balance needed to be found to bring stability to the world. The charismatic representative Paul Beaumont from France proposed a world initiative plan that would recover the economy and continue the work with the machines. However, he was assassinated before he could bring the plan to completion and as fate would have it the First Machine War began one week later. The plans for humans and machines to live together were lost forever.

"Peace can be created, but it must be maintained by both parties if it is to endure the passage of time…"

Herbert Stein, Machine Historian -

Satoru jerked his head to get free of Kiyoshi's hold. He pulled at his captors again wanting to get his hands on Kiyoshi. "Kiyoshi! You bastard! I'll never help you!"

"Now…now, is that a way to treat your best friend?" Kiyoshi said, moving a little closer to him, putting his face only centimeters away from Satoru. He looked deeply into his eyes grinning at him while Satoru narrowed his face in disgust.

"How long have you been lying to me?"

He pulled back from Satoru to think about it for a moment. The casual manner that he was handling it in front of him made Satoru burn. Kiyoshi eventually leaned back in giving him a response. "It's been too long."

"I trusted you!"

"That's the idea," he said with a grin, touching Satoru face again.

The company leader came up to touch Kiyoshi on the shoulder to get his attention. "Sir! We've got trouble! It's the President's faction!" The remaining soldiers and ones that managed to survive Asami's assault were marshalling together what they had left. They prepared to hold them off.

"It's no surprise that he learned about this. He can see everything from that ivory throne of his. Get him out of here. The rest of you hold them off!"

"Yes, sir!" the company leader said. "You two take him, the rest with me." Satoru's captors began walking him out of the lobby when gunfire suddenly went off. It was just a single weapon, but several immediately replied back devolving into a shootout within minutes.

All of the shooting in the lobby made it difficult for Satoru to be escorted safely out. They had him pinned against the wall waiting for an opening in the shooting. The soldiers on Kiyoshi's side were set up behind couches and counters firing up to the upper floors.

Satoru tried to look around to see who was shooting at Kiyoshi's group, but there were too many people moving around. All he could see were blurred bodies with deafening crossfire lighting up the lobby. 'Faction? What's going on? How much did I miss?'

The shootout in the lobby continued for ten minutes without anyone giving up any ground. However, more from the President Faction appeared from a new hallway that opened up in the lobby. The new front that they had to fight on put them at a disadvantage forcing them to pull back a little to maintain their position without losing someone.

Kiyoshi fired his pistol over the top of the couch trying to hold his own with the soldiers. "Damn, they are more persistent today. I wonder why…" He looked around, seeing Satoru across the hall with the enemy closing on Satoru's position. It was becoming clear what their goals were now. They were determined to take him and they had the upper hand against them this time.

Satoru watched as Kiyoshi's men were slowly losing ground. A few were taken out definitively turning the tides against Kiyoshi. His captors were suddenly shot spraying blood on the walls and his face. The sight would have normally frightened him, but he was fueled by revenge and hatred boiling up in his body. "You won't get away with this, Kiyoshi."

Kiyoshi started to move back as his men were being taken out. There were few left to fight. It was becoming futile to stay. He had lost this round. "You might be right, but this isn't over."

The company leader signaled the retreat of the remaining forces as Kiyoshi pulled out. A few well placed shots at the lights and bridge brought down glass, sparks and debris allowing them to make their escape unchallenged. "Let's get out of here. Pull out!"

Dust kicked up everywhere in the lobby made it impossible to see anything. Satoru pushed through the clouds with his hands, as though it helped. "Kiyoshi!" He wasn’t going to let him escape for what he had done. However, the cloud's persistence prevented Satoru from being back to find his way out. Kiyoshi was gone and he was lost. "Kiyoshi…" Satoru collapsed to the floor with his head bent over his shoulders. It was already too painful for him to believe. He had lost everything now. There was nothing left.

The footsteps of the opposing men approached Satoru. Once the debris cloud dissipated men appeared in the distance walking towards him. Most of them were wearing lab coats and strange matching uniforms. They were clearly not the same as the soldiers with Kiyoshi. "We found him!" one of the men said, getting the attention of someone behind him.

A familiar figure pushed through the line seeing Satoru on the ground. "There he is!" Natsuko said, pushing the weapon she had slung over her shoulder around to her back. She rushed towards Satoru, kneeling down at his side. The state that Satoru was in became instantly clear to her. She placed her hand on his shoulder hoping to give him some comfort for what he was going through.

Satoru looked up in surprise to see that Natsuko was before him. "Natsuko?" Another figure shifted out of the crowd into Satoru's vision. "Chiyoko?" He wondered if they were all part of this faction that he heard briefly in the shootout. "Kazuhiko?!" Satoru said in disbelief.

"Yeah…Satoru," Kazuhiko said, looking paradoxically serious. Satoru stared at him for a moment trying to make sure that it was really him. Kazuhiko looked like he wanted to sigh as he casually walked up to Satoru to join the other two. "Been a while."

"What's going on here?" Satoru said, searching each of them for any answers that he could glean. The people that he worked with as researchers and engineers, programmers and scientists stood before him in a different light. They were carrying weapons, but it was hardly the weapons that made them look different. It was the way that they carried themselves and the expression on their faces. Each was the same, yet different. Satoru felt like years had passed since he had seen them last.

"I'm sorry, Satoru. We'll explain later…" Natsuko pulled out a medical device from her pocket and injected the fluid into Satoru's arm.

He could not see the innocence anymore. It was lost. "Nat…suko…" Satoru's mind went hazy as he passed out on the floor.

"Ugh…wha…where am I?" Satoru slowly turned his head, taking in his surroundings. He found himself to be seated in a large cushioned chair. Around the walls of the room were monitors displaying various data that he could not read. There was a large steel and glass table just out of reach of him with a tall office chair turned away.

"You are approximately two hundred meters below the surface of the Qintech building," a voice from behind the turned chair said.

Satoru tried to narrow his eyes hoping to get a glimpse of the person that he was speaking to, but they were well disguised behind the chair and darkened the environment. "What?! But that's not possible. There isn't more than fifty meters of laboratory floors underneath."

"Well it wouldn't do very well as a secret facility if everyone knew about it," the voice said musing to Satoru. In spite of the playful tone the man behind the voice was serious. "Now would it?"

"Huh? Who are you?" Satoru was growing tired of the games that he was being put through. All people were doing was screwing with his head. He was just someone's toy to play with until they were bored.

The chair turned around revealing a young man in his late twenties to early thirties. "I'm Yuu Hongawa, the President and CEO of Qintech. Pleased to meet you."