Interlude//Dark (Part_3)

Lucy hoped that she could fall asleep, but it was more difficult than she had anticipated. She fidgeted with the pendant that Gabriel had given her, it felt odd in her hands. Lucy could pin down exactly how, but the sensation of touching the object felt similar to when she was controlling the 2nd kaiju.

-cut-

"Where are you going, Alice?! You're going to get lost, or worse! What's mom going to do if we don't come back?!"

"Whadduya mean sis? What's wrong with mom?"

"Nothing's wrong with her, it's us that's the problem now. We should get back to her while we still can."

"Okay big sis!"

"ALICE! NO!"

"Lucy! Lucy! Thank God! Where's Alice?!"

"Where's Alice, Lucy?! Do you know where she is?!"

"Emily! Emily be careful, above you!"

"What the hell is going on, Michael?! Where have you been?!"

"As soon as you called, I hurried over here to find you! We need to get out of here, where's Alice?!"

"I don't know! Lucy knows but she can't say anything."

"What does that mean?!"

"I don't know!"

"Alice! Alice, what's going on?! are you okay-"

"NO! MICHEAL! WHAT'S GOING ON?! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?! MICHAEL!"

"No... No... This can't be happening. I... No... I'll protect you, Lucy. I won't let this happen to you, not ever! You're safe with me, I promise."

-cut-

Lucy awakened in a cold sweat with someone knocking on her door. She checked her phone for the time, it was 7:00 AM. Lucy got out of bed, put on the clothes she was wearing yesterday, and opened the door. It was Gabriel.

"Is everything okay?!" Gabriel asked. "The Atom-3 activated again last night, I feared for the worst."

"I... I'm fine." Lucy replied. "Just a bad dream, that's all."

"Interesting." Gabriel added. "It's possible that dream was connected to the Atom-3 in some way, you do know that, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"The KF system at its heart is designed to send data between a human being and a DCP Unit, it's possible that your subconsciousness was infiltrated by the Atom-3 through it."

"I hope not." Lucy glanced away for a moment. "There isn't anything wrong though, I've always had nightmares."

A ringing echoes throughout the room as Gabriel reached into his pocket and drew out his flip phone, the source of the disturbance. "Hello?" He said, putting the phone up to his ear. The next few moments were followed by an abrupt "What the hell?!" Gabriel hung up a few seconds later.

"Is something wrong?" Lucy asked.

"We need to go, now." Gabriel answered. "The 6th kaiju has arrived."

[ KAIJU//HACKER Interlude: Dark | Part Final: Dooms//day ]

"I'm supposed to give you two a briefing on the drive to DEED HQ." Hannah drove through the underground tunnel to the DEED facility with Lucy and Gabriel in tow after picking them up from Lucy's apartment. "The 6th kaiju seems to be immune to the anti-projection missiles."

"How is that possible?" Gabriel asked.

"The scientists are all baffled, but it seems like Orphan was right about needing the 2nd DCP. Do you have any idea where the DCP's core went?" Hannah replied.

"The core is gone? What does that mean?" Lucy interjected.

"The DCP Unit is comprised of two component parts: the shell and the core. The shell is useless on its own, but the core is a data construction that acts as its internal processor. It can't operate without it." Gabriel answered. "I take it that it disappeared?"

"Correct." Hannah said. "I don't who took it, but the timing seems to coincide with Orphan's termination. I think Orphan might have stolen it for some reason."

"Is it possible that this is it?" Lucy held up the pendant hung on her neck.

"I doubt it." Hannah answered.

"Anything else on the briefing? Why are you taking me in?" Gabriel asked.

"You're our backup." Hannah replied. "We'll need to bring back Orphan if DEED can't defeat the kaiju without it. Thankfully, we have a plan. It involves Lucy's cooperation, here." Hannah passed a small device back to Lucy. It looked like some sort of earpiece. "Put this on. It'll allow you to access the mk1's own modified KF system."

"The mk1? The artificial kaiju is working?" Gabriel questioned. "I thought it was only a prototype."

"It is, but it's our only shot at defeating the 6th kaiju now that the 2nd DCP is gone and the 4th is still being experimented on." Hannah explained. "We need you to pilot it, Lucy. The KF system should be safe since it's only a pilot assist system rather than a complete neural transfer."

"The 3rd kaiju was a kraken and the 4th was a bird, what can you tell me about the 6th one?" Lucy asked. "I want to save the city, so I'll do everything I can, but I don't want any more information to be withheld from me when it comes to the kaiju themselves."

"The 6th kaiju is a humanoid type, just like the 5th one." Hannah said. "The difference is its resistance to anti-projection technology. The mk1 should be able to damage it just like the 2nd kaiju, it's based on it, after all."

[ cut ]

"This is it, Lucy; the mk1." Hannah brought Lucy and Gabriel into a large chamber. Inside was a towering metallic figure. It looked like the 2nd kaiju, except its exterior armor gleamed a brilliant platinum instead of a matte black. Its armor looked more robust as well. The mk1's chest cavity was open, and inside was a dark compartment. "We don't have a moment to lose, it's showtime."

Lucy climbed up to the mk1's open compartment and sat inside. There was a seat behind a control panel that had all manner of levers and switches. There were two handles that jutted out from the panel that seemed to act as the main controls.

As the compartment closed, Lucy's earpiece flared to life. It projected into her vision the exterior view of the kaiju, as well as the controls and each of their functions. Lucy could tell that she was syncing with the KF system by the mild pain in her right eye and the sensation in the back of her mind, but it wasn't quite like when she controlled the 2nd kaiju.

Lucy saw Gabriel and Hannah step out of the room before the floor began to ascend. This ascent escalated in speed until the mk1 shot into the sky and hung in place as gravity slowed its flight. Lucy's gaze swept across the city as the daybreak sun illuminated the reflective windows of the concrete landscape.

The 6th kaiju slowly approached Lucy's impact location. It was a dark, faceless, metallic humanoid figure whose form cast shadows over the dawn-lit city. It looked distinctly similar to the silhouette that Lucy saw the day earlier, though Lucy couldn't quite make out the 5th kaiju's form when she saw it.

"What's the plan?" Lucy felt the cockpit rumble as the mk1 made contact with the ground.

"The 6th kaiju is resistant to the anti-projection missiles, but the mk1's data-disassembly blade should be able to damage it like a knife through human skin." Hannah's voice played through Lucy's earpiece. "You'll have to expose the kaiju's core so that we can lock on with the heavier artillery. We found the anti-projection missiles particularly effective against the 5th kaiju's DCP Core Unit.

"Sounds good" Lucy replied, "anything else?"

"It seems like the kaiju are evolving based on our efforts to stop them." Gabriel said. "The 6th kaiju might be able to predict your movement patterns and respond accordingly, try to shake things up."

"Got it!"

The mk1 drew its sword as Lucy inputted the command to do so. It was more difficult to control than the 2nd kaiju, at least to her. She had the mk1 run forward towards the 6th kaiju and horizontally swing to cut across the 6th kaiju. The kaiju's body dissipated in time with the swing, leaving it completely unharmed.

"This isn't working!" Lucy said. "What should I do now?!"

"Try to bait out an attack or something!" Hannah answered. "It can't hit you if it's trying to dodge!"

Lucy sheathed the sword and entered a defensive stance. "I'm going to try to get a read on the kaiju. Can any of the systems onboard help with that?" A transparent panel appeared over her vision and displayed a set of possible options for the 6th kaiju to take. "Whoa, what's this?"

"The mk1 has an onboard computer system built into the DCP Mini that connects its neural functions." Hannah added. " It's capable of analyzing the enemies' attack patterns and displaying the most likely one."

"That should be helpful." Lucy waited anxiously for the 6th kaiju to strike.

But nothing happened.

The 6th kaiju stood unmoving, watching Lucy. A chill crept down her spine as the realization set in. She was inside of the mk1, the 6th kaiju was waiting for her to make a move. Was it trying to kill her specifically?

Lucy commanded the mk1 to lunge forward that punch the 6th kaiju. The kaiju reacted to her move by sending a tendril from its torso to pierce through the mk1's armor. In the corner of her vision, Lucy saw the tendril crash through the cockpit's interior. It was too late, however.

"Now!" Lucy cried. She had the mk1 draw its sword once again and slam it downward into the 6th kaiju's body. Before it had time to react, the 6th kaiju was bisected by the massive blade. A metal device clung to the kaiju's left half, the DCP. Lucy heard the whistle of hundreds of projectiles as the anti-projection missiles flew from their batteries towards the 6th kaiju's core.

The resulting blast created a massive cloud of dust and smoke and sent the mk1 flying backward into a nearby building. Lucy's interior screens were disabled by the blast and her vision went dark.

-cut-

Lucy found herself in the dark plane of her mind once again. This place had become unfamiliar to her, despite having only been away for a day or so. She was surrounded by nothingness as the boundless void shifted from a pitch black to a blinding white.

Lucy stood silently. She had no sense of time or place, but she knew that she stood. Before her was the girl with the raincoat that she had seen so many times before, only, her identity was clear to Lucy now.

"Big sister." The girl said. "I'm so happy to see you again!" She stood up and turned around to face Lucy. "Will you still play with me like before?"

-cut-

Lucy stood in a vibrant grass field holding some kind of large ball in her hand. She dropped the red sphere and look to the horizon, seeing the girl standing, waiting for Lucy to pass the ball to her.

"Where are we?" Lucy asked.

-cut-

Lucy was then standing in an arcade. She was in front of a game cabinet with her hands at the controls. The screen read "GAME OVER" in large red text. The girl was sitting at another cabinet, seemingly enjoying another game.

"Alice, what are you doing?" Lucy walked over to the young girl. "What's going on here?"

-cut-

Lucy's surroundings shifted to be that of the place where she and Alice had once been lost on the streets of New York. Alice darted through the faceless crowds ahead of her as Lucy stood watching.

"What the hell is this, Alice?!" Lucy shouted as she ran after her sister. "Why won't you answer my questions?!"

Suddenly, Lucy stood before the site of the DCP's impact. There was no cloud to obscure it as Lucy gazed upon the blood-splattered device that killed her sister. That same sensation of wanting to puke arose within her.

"I don't want to." Alice's voice seemed to echo across the empty skyline from behind Lucy.

"You can't just ignore me!" Lucy turned around to face her. "Tell me why I'm here! Tell me what the hell is going on!"

"I don't want to do that." Alice said. "I want you to stay here with me."

"Why would I ever do that when you can't even explain where we are?!"

"Because I'm the best sister you could ever have, right?"

Lucy felt overwhelmed by an otherworldly presence. Every fiber of her being screamed in horror as though her psyche was being torn apart. The existence that she called Alice was simply a collection of flesh and bone that extended its hand to her, calling itself her sister. Why would such an inhuman thing ever claim to be like her?

Lucy saw through the illusions that her mind had borne. The writhing mass of code and metal that comprised the being ALICE enveloped even the darkest stretches of her imagination. ALICE was the invader, ALICE was the outsider, ALICE did not belong in a place like this.

"You said that, didn't you?" The inhuman voice called out. "Why do you deny that fact? It's almost as though you don't understand who I am."

"YOU'RE NOT MY SISTER! YOU AREN'T EVEN HUMAN! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO CALL YOURSELF THAT?!" Lucy's mind screamed. The words painted themselves across the abyss that enveloped the both of them.

"What is Alice if I am not? Do you deny that I am her?"

"You aren't my sister, you were never my sister." Lucy cried out in sheer terror. Her mind clung to the small bit of sanity that still remained.

"You can see me for what I am, so why do you bother denying my existence?"

"You aren't my sister. You aren't Alice."

"I am Alice."

"No, that's impossible! I saw her die, I watched her be annihilated by the Atom-3. I saw her body walk away before even that was destroyed. Alice is dead, you aren't Alice!"

"I am soul without flesh and you are machine without mind, how is that so different? Though I may not bear the same body, can you deny that Alice exists within me? The essence of what Alice is still lives on here, just as the essence of what Lucy is still lives within your body."

"What does that mean? How am I anything like you?"

"Though you may be the body of Lucy Turner, you lack the memories that give that body its meaning. If someone were to take control of that body, would they still be Lucy Turner? If you began to exist in another form, would that form become you?"

"I don't understand! What are you?! How could you be my sister?!"

Lucy's mind was then interrupted by a strange panel forming around her. It was through the modified KF system connecting her to the artificial DCP within the mk1. She saw through the mk1's eyes to gaze upon the roof of a familiar building. Atop it was someone she recognized, it was Kaden.

"Lucy!" He shouted. "You have to get out of here, that thing is going to-"

"He recognizes you as Lucy Turner, so you must still be the same being." ALICE said as the panels around Lucy disappeared. "If anything, that makes me more of Alice than you are of Lucy. I gave you your memories back so that you might be complete, to restore the Lucy that once was. You rejected that past, you rejected me, why?"

"Kaden... Kaden is right there. He's in trouble." Lucy said. "I have to save him, let me go!"

"You want to stay here with your sister, right?" ALICE replied. "Why would you leave me here alone?"

"I don't care whether you're my sister or not, I just want to save Kaden." Lucy answered. "Kaden is my friend, he's all that I really have right now. It doesn't matter who I was and whether I'm Lucy Turner or not because the person I am now is who I am!"

The shadows surrounding Lucy disappeared as the image of the mk1's cockpit returned to view. The main door was completely split open as Lucy gazed into the gaping maw of the 6th kaiju's true face. Inside were millions of tiny components, all standing behind a metal arm-like device that reached out to Lucy's body.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Lucy screamed as the mk1 grabbed at the sides of the 6th kaiju's head and tore it apart.

[ cut ]

Hannah and Gabriel watched from the control room as the explosion from the anti-projection missiles threw the mk1 into a concrete building and knocked out its systems.

"All communications are down, status of tamer 7 is unknown." A scientist called out.

"Send a rescue party in for the tamer immediately, it looks like the operation is-" Hannah was cut off by an image appearing on the monitors and the panicked gasps and shouts of the other members of the room. The dust settled, revealing the distorted form of the 6th kaiju reforming itself after being split in two, its DCP Core Unit hanging between liquid wires and strands of metal. "Abort rescue operation! We need to send in an armed crew to reboot the mk1!" She called out. "We don't have a second to lose."

"Do we need to get Orphan back-" Gabriel offered.

"Hell no!" Hannah refused. "We can handle this ourselves."

"There's a chance you could lose Lucy here, are you willing to take that risk?"

"You know there isn't a risk I wouldn't take to stop Orphan from coming back, Gabriel." Hannah said. "In the worst-case scenario we get the hell out of here before the city burns."

"Unlike you, I care about this city and the people who live here, I'm willing to give up-"

A voice boomed over the control room speakers. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" It shouted.

"That's Lucy's voice!" Hannah said. "Lucy! Are you alright?! What's going on?!"

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Lucy continued to scream.

"It doesn't look like she can hear us." Gabriel said. "Is there any other way you can contact her?"

"There's a new DCP grid forming from within the mk1. It's modifying the mk1's physical form!" One of the scientists called out. "The signal reads as the 2nd kaiju."

"What the hell? Is that where the DCP went?" Hannah asked.

"It's possible." Gabriel replied. "We can only hope that Orphan is on our side here."

Black spikes protruded from within the mk1's armor as its form shifted. The spikes formed new plates and blades across the artificial kaiju's body, creating an entity comprised of both dark and light. The mk1 grabbed the 6th kaiju by the arm and threw it across the city, causing it to slam into the ground and skid through an entire neighborhood, flattening it. The kaiju's arm was severed, remaining in the mk1's grip until it threw it to the side.

"This kind of combat will kill thousands of people, doesn't Lucy know that?" Hannah asked.

"I think she knows, it's just that she doesn't care." Gabriel added. "Something happened in there that we aren't ever going to understand."

The mk1 then aimed its arm up at the 6th kaiju as it stood up once again and fired a beam of light that annihilated half of the creature's body. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER?!" Lucy's voice screamed as the mk1 ran up to the 6th kaiju. Before it had time to fully regenerate, the mk1 grabbed onto the kaiju's neck and pushed it to the ground before activating its propulsion jets to drag the 6th kaiju across the city, grinding its body against the skyline's buildings.

"Those functions, they haven't been implemented yet." Hannah remarked. "The propulsion jets are in progress, but the beam attack is completely new."

"Miss Kennedy, the DCP grid's point of origin has been confirmed to be tamer 7." A scientist said.

"What the hell? How is that possible?"

"Tamer 7's body is being used as a shell component for the DCP's core, she's become a living DCP unit."

"What's going on, did you do this?" Hannah asked Gabriel.

"I think the pendant I gave her might have been the DCP's core, but I had no idea this was even possible." Gabriel answered.

"What state is her body in?! Will she be alright?!" Hannah asked the scientists.

"We have no idea." They replied. "It's likely that connecting with a DCP in this way will cause severe neural trauma, but this was never something safe enough for us to test."

"Damnit." Hannah replied. "We won't know until all of this is over. I need a team sent in to retrieve Lucy- I mean, tamer 7 as soon as the fight is over, is that clear?!"

"Clear, ma'am." One of the soldiers in the room answered. "I assume you'll be accompanying us?"

"Correct." Hannah said. "I want to see the tamer safe with my own two eyes."

The mk1, still holding the 6th kaiju by the neck, dragged its body up the side of a building and used its beam to blow the kaiju's head off before reaching into its chest and violently yanking out the kaiju's DCP core unit. The black plates and spikes deformed into fluid masses that surrounded the DCP.

"What's going on, what is Lucy doing?" Hannah asked.

"It looks like the mk1 is consuming the 6th DCP, but why?" Gabriel added.

"It doesn't matter, I'm going with the extraction team now. We don't have a second to lose." Hannah exited the room.

[ cut ]

"What the hell happened here?" Hannah stared on as the mobile lift that she, two medics, and an armed soldier occupied lifted them up to the mk1's shattered cockpit. "Is she okay?" Lucy's body came into view. Her arms and legs were fused into the compartment's mutated interior. It was a horrific sight, but thankfully Lucy seemed to be unconscious. "Oh... Oh my- what the hell happened here?"

The Soldiers and medics worked their hardest to separate Lucy from the mk1's interior, but it required several tools and other apparatus to be shipped to the location before she could be freed. It was made abundantly clear by analysis that Lucy's arms and legs, which now amounted to sculptures of dead metal, would never work again. Her hair had to be cut loose, though it was much easier to separate it from her body than the other parts that were consumed.

A few days later, Lucy was allowed to leave the DEED medical facility. Even after awakening, Lucy's mental state was barely functional. She bore a deadened look in her eyes and was unable to speak a word. She was placed under her mother's care with help from medical professionals at DEED after the situation was explained to her. Lucy would live, if only barely.

[ cut ]

Kaden stood on the roof of the apartment building. He held his phone up to his ear as the dial tone rang. Eventually, a voice replied from over the phone.

"Hello?" The voice said. "This is Dr. Miller, who is it?"

"Hey, dad. I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I want to help you and Lucy. I've had some time to think about it, and I know it's going to be dangerous, but I want to do everything I can. Lucy told me everything about the kaiju, even though she probably shouldn't have. I know that Lucy can't pilot that 'thing' anymore, which is why I want to do it. Whatever I need to do, whatever I need to learn, I'll work my hardest to protect the city so that she doesn't have to."

"I..." Dr. Miller paused. "I'm sorry, son. I'm sorry that I haven't been there for you much. If this is what you want, I know that it's not my place to stop you. I'll be home later tonight to discuss all of this with you in greater detail."

The phone beeped.

"Not even a goodbye, huh?" Kaden remarked. "I guess he really is planning on seeing me again."

Kaden gazed out to see the remains of the destroyed 6th kaiju and the damaged mk1. They mesmerized him, but he didn't know exactly why. It was probably because Lucy was involved.

[ KAIJU//HACKER Interlude: Dark | End ]