Chapter 45 - Same Bed, Different Dreams

[>>>INCOMING CALL<<<]

[CALLER ID: AKINA]

[ACCEPT? Y/N_]

[. . .]

[CONNECTING. . . DONE]

[SECURE CHANNEL ONLINE]

*//

▶AKINA: Oh, it connected! Mister! Did you get there safely? Or are you still on the way?

▶ASH: We arrived a little while ago. But what is the matter? Going so far as to send me a voice transmission.

▶AKINA: Heheh. I just wanted to try it. We've never called each other before, have we? We're always together.

▶ASH: Hmm. That is true.

▶AKINA: What's Underland like? Is it very different from Sanctum? Is it really, like, super gross and stuff? All dark and gloomy?

▶ASH: I cannot speak to gross, but it is certainly dark and gloomy.

▶AKINA: Hehe. I'd like to visit sometime too. Oh, listen. In a little while... Huh? What's that noise?

▶ASH: The wind.

▶AKINA: Does the wind in Underland sound like gunfire?

▶ASH: Strong wind. More importantly, what were you about to say?

▶AKINA: Oh, right. Dullahan and I are going to start transferring the data in a bit. You won't be able to reach me then, so I wanted to let you know beforehand.

▶ASH: I—

▶AKINA: Huh?

▶ASH: ...see. You are working hard, Miss Akina.

▶AKINA: Mister. Are you doing something right now? I keep hearing weird noises.

▶ASH: The wind.

▶AKINA: What, is there a typhoon or something? There's no way an underground city could have a typhoo— Oh! The guys are calling me! I'll call you again when we're done! Bye!

*//

[CONNECTION TERMINATED]

[SECURE CHANNEL OFFLINE]

BOOM!

Closing his system's communications channel, Ash ducked into an alley, dodging the bullets flying at him from behind.

RAT-TAT-TAT!

The spot where he had stood only moments before was riddled with holes.

"Mr. Ash! This way!"

Following Siren's shout, he threw himself deeper into the narrow alley.

The two of them were being pursued.

More specifically, they were being pursued by a great many people bearing the REST-men's insignia.

Jenny's workshop had indeed been a trap. Ash had been right to leave immediately.

But that did not mean they had escaped every danger. They had merely moved before the encirclement was complete.

"My lady. Now I must ask."

"Ask what?"

"Just how great a betrayal did you commit? It seems every REST-man in Underland is converging on us—"

"Here! They're here!"

He had not even finished speaking.

A REST-man standing on an old skybridge overhead pointed at them. At the same time, a clamor rose from all around.

"...so let us get out of here first."

Siren gritted her teeth at his words.

Enemies were everywhere. Not only at the far end of the alley ahead, but on the skybridges and rooftops overhead.

The city, tangled like a spiderweb, was slowly but surely closing in on them.

'You idiot.'

Siren knew that this entire disaster had come about because of her past.

'Have you forgotten everything just because a few years have passed? This is Underland.'

Had life aboveground made her forget it all? What this place was like. How easily fragile things like friendship and loyalty were shattered and betrayed.

That thought brought back the image of herself boldly volunteering to guide him. What on earth had given her the confidence to accept the job so readily?

Just look at their situation now.

Hadn't she become a burden instead?

And to Mr. Ash, whom she respected more than anyone!

"I'm sorry."

The self-reproach swirling in her chest spilled out. Even as she ran headlong onward, she kept apologizing.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ash. This is all because of me..."

Ash glanced over at her murmuring and replied, though his answer was rather unexpected.

"I have been meaning to ask you this for some time. Why do you do that?"

"I'm sor... What? Do what...?"

"Why do you act that way only around me? You seem quite strong-willed when dealing with others."

"..."

"And why are you apologizing? If anyone should apologize, it is that woman Jenny. You are a victim, my lady. Just as I am."

Ash faced forward again.

"So let us have no self-recrimination. Is there not something more pressing you ought to be doing?"

Just then, they came to a fork in the alley. Ash pointed ahead.

"Which way?"

At his calm words, Siren forced her self-blame aside. As Ash had said, she had a job to do.

Guide him.

That was Siren's job.

"... This way!"

She chose neither branch. She already knew they ended in dead ends.

Instead, she chose the large steel pipelines that sprawled like a spiderweb across the buildings' outer walls.

Watching Siren leap onto a pipeline without hesitation, Ash sprang lightly up and followed her.

"They're up on the air lines! Shoot!"

REST-men opened fire from below and from rooftops at roughly the same height, but the tangled pipelines provided excellent cover as well as a path.

The two raced precariously along the pipes like acrobats, occasionally leaping between buildings.

Suddenly, Siren raised a hand as she ran ahead and made several signs. They were hand signals commonly used by Pathfinders.

[Accelerate][Jump][Right]

Quickly grasping her meaning, Ash picked up speed to match her stride. They reached the end of the pipeline.

Both leaped at once.

WHOOSH!

Their figures cut through the air in a tremendous leap.

Astonished cries rose from the REST-men below. The distance they had jumped far exceeded anything humanly possible.

Landing on the rooftop of a building that had seemed quite far away, Ash immediately lunged right and swung his blade at a REST-man staring at them in bewilderment.

SLICE!

With a brief sound of cleaving flesh, the man's body fell to the ground in two pieces. At almost the same instant, Siren killed the REST-man standing to the left.

"Where next?"

"We have to cross there!"

She pointed to a long skybridge precariously linking two buildings.

It was not a safe route. A dozen or so REST-men were already entrenched on the bridge, their guns aimed at them.

Ash's optical sensors shone as he surveyed them.

"I shall lead."

Without protest, Siren moved close behind him.

Neither swordsman hesitated. Maintaining their improvised formation, they launched themselves toward the skybridge.

RAT-TAT-TAT!

As a hail of bullets rushed toward them, Ash's sword began to dance. Deflecting the incoming rounds, he charged straight at those holding the bridge.

"You crazy tin-can motherfu—!"

The man in front was sliced apart like a sheet of paper before he could finish.

Another man, badly startled, hastily raised his muzzle, but Siren's sword swept in behind Ash and took off his hand at the wrist.

"Aaaaargh!"

Screaming in pain, the man lost his balance and fell from the bridge. He vanished into the city's darkness in an instant.

Perhaps that gave them an idea.

"Push! Push those bastards off!"

One of the REST-men shouted.

At that cry, the terrified REST-men let out strange howls and attempted to tackle them. They apparently figured that since falling would kill either side just the same, this gave them better odds.

As it turned out, that was a very poor decision.

Close-quarters combat on footing as unstable as a skybridge only made the disparity in strength and skill all the more glaring.

CRUNCH!

A single shoulder strike from Ash caved in the breastplate of a hulking REST-man charging at him and sent him flying. He plunged into the darkness beneath the bridge without so much as a scream.

That was only the beginning.

Ash did not stop. He swept across the bridge like a vast storm of blades. Almost every horizontal sweep of his sword claimed another life.

Siren was hardly idle either. She precisely targeted the joints and vital points of those approaching, throwing them off balance so Ash could break through more easily.

It also fell to her to finish off the occasional survivor left in his wake.

"Gah!"

A REST-man kicked in the side by Siren staggered and fell straight off.

Together, they advanced, crushing everything in their path until they reached the end of the skybridge.

Once they had crossed, Siren wiped the blood from her mouth and looked back. More REST-men had caught up and were crossing the bridge.

She flashed them a broad grin.

"H-hey!"

"Don't!"

"Fucking don't!"

"Stop!"

Siren did not stop.

She raised her sword high and brought it down on the old support cable holding up the skybridge.

The worn, corroded steel cable shuddered.

The startled REST-men frantically opened fire, but there was no way they could aim properly from the swaying bridge.

Amid a hail of bullets that all went wide, Siren raised her sword and struck again.

And again, and again.

Then, at last, the cable snapped.

"Aaaaaaah!"

Thrown off balance, the skybridge plunged downward with an enormous scream. Or perhaps that was the screaming of the REST-men on it.

Only then did Siren let out a dry breath.

"Hah, hah..."

As a cyborg, she had no reason to be short of breath, but the relentless succession of frantic battles seemed to have unsettled her breathing without her realizing it.

Once she had steadied her breathing, she spoke to Ash.

"... I think we've lost them for now."

She swung her sword wide to shake off the blood, then pointed somewhere into the gloomy city.

"There's a hideout I used to use one more block from here. The REST-men shouldn't know about it either, so let's head there first..."

Just as she started moving while explaining, Ash stepped into her path.

"Huh? Mr. Ash, what's wrong?"

Siren looked up at him in puzzlement.

Ash did not answer. Nor was he looking at Siren.

He was gazing far into the distance, up at an elevated pipeline structure where the darkness lay thickest.

Following his gaze, Siren raised her head.

A figure stood there, perfectly upright, arms folded.

"... A ninja?"

As though he had heard Siren's murmur, the man spoke.

"How strange. I hurried here certain I would find Big Brother Rudolph, yet here stand two people I have never seen before."

Ash responded with a question.

"You know Rudolph?"

"And what might your relationship with Big Brother Rudolph be, sir?"

"We have no relationship."

"... Oh. I certainly did not expect that answer."

"Incidentally, do you intend to keep talking like this?"

At Ash's words, the ninja unfolded his arms and leaped as though performing a somersault. His body dropped straight toward the ground.

Curiously, his landing made no sound at all. Just like Ash's.

"A pleasure to meet you. I have no particular name, so I am not sure how to introduce myself, but at some point people began calling me this."

Having landed, he straightened and raised his head.

"Zero."

So said the ninja in the tiger mask.