Ark 16 Episode 36: Good Test; Bad News

Summary
A test run is performed on Project New Mecca, but as it comes to an end, the eager and pleasant results are overshadowed by grim news.

Good Test; Bad News


“You did good.” Dorian said, referring to a previous ‘performance’ earlier in the night. But now he was walking her back to their small apartment in District 2. Finally out of the slums, albeit that it was only a one bedroom and the rules were, abide by Dorian’s rules.



“Thanks. What kinda’ kicks did you get?” She inquired as they turned down into an alley to take the shortcut to Dorian’s apartment. But as they did, Dorian put an arm around her and pulled her into his side like a brotherly hug.



“Good ones kid.” He said, followed by a sigh. Her pale eyebrows upturned on her rich caramel skin as she pondered what was wrong and prepared to speak, but she had no chance. Panic hit her the moment a cloth came over her face and Dorian pushed the chloroform-soaked fabric against her mouth. She gasped out of reflex and in went the drug before the world dissipated into a penetrating darkness…

--



Michiko had slipped out of the house when it was time to put a bit of work into Project New Mecca. Her most secretive and successfully hidden work yet, as she met up with the partner providing the funds for the project and one of her understudies to do the test run of Project New Mecca. Hiro was apart of it too, but for now he was not present. The more Michi’s children brought up Keyth, and the more she was reminded of him… The more she dreamed of the man whom had her now cold, aching heart, she felt distance coming between her and Hiro. Not that anything was there, but he was her closest friend and suddenly she was shutting down and throwing her guard up again, as if Keyth was around and she may be hit with the agony of abandonment all over again.



The mechanical double doors opened into the massive holographic chamber underneath the university. There waiting for her were the understudy and the funding partner, the head of the NanoTech department. The holographic chamber had been set up by Ai Kuronso, and Kabal Vyngard was there running a panel on the patient’s white blood cell and platelet count. Kabal was a colleague of Michiko’s. They had originally gone to school together, and he had become her understudy in emergency medicine. This was his second major however, as he was already an accomplished virologist.



The men greeted her as she came inside and noticed a third man was there- but it was not Hiro. It was Dorian Gray- as he liked to be called for a reason that Michiko understood. He looked pained as he peered out at her from under the hood. Michi cast her gaze away from the men coolly to look instead at Kabal- a tall and broad man who was her age but looked older than her- considering that she didn’t look but maybe twenty-eight despite the extra decade on her.



“How is her blood? Can it hold up to the test?” Michiko inquired as she came around to see the girl. It was Jovana, unconscious and strapped to an upright stretcher in a simple white jogging shorts and a matching tank top.



<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s perfect. Her platelets are in the right range for us to utilize the virus.” He peered over at Michiko while Ai Kuronso stood back and folded his arms behind his back, holding a tablet that had the controls to the holographic chamber on it.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">After Kabal had spoken Michiko approached the upright medical table and put her hand under Jovana’s chin, tipping the girl’s head up though it hadn’t leaned far with the strap across her forehead to protect her neck from strain. Michiko studied her closely and then looked over to Kabal who was already prepping an ammonia strip. After it was ready Michiko took it and put it under the girl’s nose while reaching into her pocket and pulling out her cell phone- one of three. She pulled up an app made by Ai Kuronso that allowed Ai to control nanites in seizure patients by firing or absorbing electrical signals when he needed to subdue or override other electrical currents in the brain. As Jovana began to wake unpleasantly, Michiko began to run her fingers across her cell and the nanites in Jovana quickly replied…

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<p class="MsoNormal">--

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<p class="MsoNormal">The girl had begun to squirm with waking at the ammonia strip under her nose. But before her eyes could flutter open her head tilted back against the medical table and she seemed to take on a bent back, sharply flexed decerebrate posture. Then her body went limp. Silence filled the massive dome-shaped room as Ai Kuronso began to tamper with the tablet as if inputting commands. The whir of machinery could be heard nearer the edges of the room as a series of drones were released from thin but durable protective hangers. Dorian seemed to get stiff seeing these ‘things’ beginning to walk around the room and take a stance at seemingly random points.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">Jo began to open her pale green eyes, looking up as Michiko swiped her thumb over her phone again, causing the nanites to respond to her action. To toy with a teenage girl’s  brain was cruel, but Michiko would be as inhumane and vicious as she had to be to get back at Yani for taking her dear Keyth from her and causing her to live ten years of her life without her Beast. Just thinking of Yani made her livid inside, like a fire being stoked with gasoline as she would step back and speak, her strong persuasive tone escaping her elegantly.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“Mecca.” She began, Kabal unfastening the straps as Jovana’s bare feet touched the floor and she stood up, almost as if on autopilot while looking at Michiko. “Your goal for tonight is to gain access through a Level 5 security system. There are twenty rapid-response security drones in place throughout the facility. You must defend yourself along the way, but most of all, you need to plant the TechnoVirus into the mainframe of the security console in the control room.” Jovana nodded almost mindlessly as Michiko stepped closer. Michi tucked her phone into her pocket and pulled out in her other hand a set of gloves which she slipped over Jovana’s hands, fingerless all but the thumbs- an exact replica of Jovana’s street-performing gloves. Then Michiko pulled out something else.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">As Michiko got Jovana ready, Ai was setting up the chamber. Holographic walls fixated into place, and suddenly the whole room changed into a labyrinth that looked like Yani’s domain. Michiko and Kabal were there with her, but Ai had moved into the control room portion of the hologram. Michi fixed a set of headphones in the girl’s ears, ones that allowed her to hear through them through several small dynamic holes in the headphone itself rather than occluding her sense of hearing altogether.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">{ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhB6Lb7_kN8 } The music began to play and Michiko stepped back, disappearing into the wall as she went to join Ai Kuronso and Kabal in the control room. Her voice then echoed over the intercom speakers.

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<p class="MsoNormal">“Begin.”

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<p class="MsoNormal">--

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">Jovana blinked and as the music played into her ears she would begin to walk forward, quiet and agile like a deadly feline. The sway in her hips was the kind of daunting prowl in motion that lions had when leisurely strolling through their territory. The woman scanned the environment with her eyes, and as a drone turned a corner, it came at her quickly. Jovana paused and snapped her fingers, causing the Monomolecular Helix, aka the M.M. Helix, to activate. A spark at each thumb that soon snapped out and connected in a lashing gesture of pale light. A monomolecular bond had  formed electromagnetically between the access points on the thumbs of her gloves and the shards of diamond embedded in her glove had been drawn into the current causing a razor wire of sorts to occur. The drone’s heavy metallic footsteps pounded on the floor as it came at her fast, but she was more reflexive and keen as she waited til it was right in front of her to twist and drop, a sharp pivot on the bare palm of her foot as she extended one arm and then the other, and cut off the drone’s leg at the pelvic connector with the M.M. Helix. She turned then with the same reflexive, agile pivot, and extended both arms and tangled the Helix around the drone’s neck and with a pull and tug, jerked it into the weak part of the joining bolt, and caused the neck to slop to one side and defect the drone’s motion capabilities to one side. When she stood up and continued onwards to the next drone oncoming in the hall, she’d abandoned the first one kicking in a circle on the floor. She jumped up, easily six feet into the air as her knees drew into her body. The drone reached up and yet as she would land on its shoulders, its metallic fingers digging into the tender meat of her thighs, she would have already gained the upper hand.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">Jovana pushed one thumb into the camera socket and put her other hand on the back of the head. A quiet, sharp sound echoed from inside the head as the Helix had been broken and was trying to reconnect.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“The Diamond Drill technique.” Michiko said in the security room, watching it all on Ai’s tablet alongside the nanophysicist. “It works better than I thought.” She glanced up to Ai- it was his idea and with only a silent look he showed pride in his work.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">A hole drilled out of the back of the metallic skull as the Helix reformed itself, having burrowed through the metal barrier after a few seconds. Her hands snapped apart and the drone collapsed and she rolled forward from its mechanical form to begin to the next objective. It didn’t take but one minute to tear through three drones. By five minutes, she’d tackled all but three of them. These three were on the other side of a locked door with a thumbprint and retina scanner. Jovana put her finger to her lips and bit into it, the teeth just past her canines towards the back molars being sharpened for biting herself while not appearing in lieu of her smile- so that others wouldn’t think her some vampire wannabe. With her finger pricked she drew it out and pushed it against the thumbprint scanner. At first the machine began to scan, and yet its scanning took longer than usual. Watching, one could see that her blood was moving into the machine through the cracks, digging into the screen and sliding in where screws or interlocking pieces fit. After just twenty seconds, the whole system shut down and the door opened. Jovana continued inwards.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">The last three drones were easy. Her Brazilian Jiu-Jutsu took them to the ground and with the Helix she was able to disable them to the point of being useless in combat. Luckily the Helix was made for combat with drones or machines, and could sear through metal. It was not however made to burn through organic material, and actually had no searing property on flesh. The Helix did however still have its diamond sharp consistency- so to a normal person it would appear and feel like razor wire.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">At last she faced her final test. A massive security panel and security camera barring her path into the control room. The security camera was scanning and coming towards her- soon to catch her in its midst and sound an alarm. Michiko felt a bit of doubt hit her, but Ai did not. Just as it neared her being in its view, Jovana bit her finger again and rubbed it against her thumb before pushing her thumbs together and tossing her hands outwards. The Helix magnetically drew her blood to its monomolecular composure, causing the Helix to coat itself with the tiny bit of Jovana’s blood. And when slung outwards, it threw the Helix at the security camera and got her blood on it. When the camera came to settle on her, it froze and prepared to sound the alarm- but it was short-circuiting. The alarm would not sound. No alarms were going off. And after just two seconds of sitting focused on her without anyway to relay its emergent message, the camera shut down. After that Jovana smeared her blood on the security panel to open the door and entered the room with Ai, Kabal, and Michiko.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">Jo walked right past them, taking that finger and putting it now on the major security board. Breaker panels and circuitry, smearing it in a drop at a time. It took probably twenty drops of blood but after a short bit of time, perhaps a minute, the security system began to shut down. And she had been successful.

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<p class="MsoNormal">--

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“Good.” Michiko said and the hologram dissipated, walking alongside the almost mindless Jovana and quiet genius Ai to the doors. Michiko had grabbed her phone with the New Mecca app on it to prepare to release Jovana from this state of mind as they walked the girl out. Dorian had caught up to them too.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“When do I get to do my… thing.” Dorian said and Michiko shot him a look.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“Soon. Have I ever not repaid you?”

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">Dorian shook his head quietly and as the outside back door opened, he would come beside Jovana with her clothes, Jovana pulling them over her white undergarments. As the doors shut and Dorian and Jovana were alone, Dorian looked over the girl closely, clutching her head gently in his hands.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“God… I’ve got hell to pay for this, I know.” He kissed Jo’s forehead but she did not react. “You don’t deserve this kid. I’m glad… you’ll never know what an asshole I am to you.” He hugged her tight and suddenly she went limp. Her body flexed, this time decorticate in posture, before she soon after began to wake up.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“What… What’s going on?” She gasped and looked around and he hugged her tightly.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“You had another seizure JoJo…” Dorian said softly, squeezing her a bit as she stood up and he took her hand. “I brought you here because it’s one of the safer places. Nice and shady.” He gestured to the tall towering alcoves over the university, protecting them from even the light of the moon. “You ready to go home kid?” He whispered, guilt deeply sewn in his gut.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah… Let’s go. I need to take my medicine.” She said quietly while rubbing her head, noticing a dried blood stain on her fingertip…

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<p class="MsoNormal">--

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“That went better than I expected.” Michiko said, walking alongside Kabal and Ai in the university. They stepped into the elevator and went up to the first floor and men allowed her to step out first.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s good… We can use her soon. No more test runs.” Ai said seriously. Michiko felt a bit of hesitance- knowing that if they went at Yani, it had to be a one time success- no fuck ups.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“I agree Dr. Akasawa.” Kabal piped in. Both men had lost their families to Yani’s bombings and attacks, they had their reasons. And so did Michiko. She took a slow deep breath and nodded.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“Let’s begin the refining phase then. And we’ll start the plan. I need to contact Hiro first. He knows the building layout… We’ll need blueprints…” She pulled out her personal phone and just as she pulled up her contacts, the hospital number popped up. Ringing. She sighed- thinking it to be work related as she slid her finger across the screen.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“Dr. Akasawa speaking.” She said professionally.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“Dr. Akasawa… We have your son, Kin Tasanagi here with us… And we need you to come in to discuss what has happened…”

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">Her heart sank deeply in her chest and she clutched the phone almost too tightly, and without a word strode off in long-legged steps from the men. And her long steps soon became jogging paces, and before she knew it, Michiko was running outside, racing out the door and to her car as fast as she could.