Ghosts Always Come Back

Chapter 3: The Broken Toy

“This place is silent as a graveyard tonight,” a voice called over the intercom. Melissa kept her eyes on the screen in front of her while she observed any activity from where she was standing. She couldn’t believe that there was no activity going on at this base. It had now been completely abandoned after so many attacks were placed on it from the UN forces and anti-terrorism special ops missions. “Roger that, I don’t see any movement coming from my area,” she stated back as her monitor continued to scan the perimeter for signs of hostiles, “What about you, Uruz 7?”

There were a few moments pause before his voice came in, “Negative.”

“All right, there are only a few places he could keep her considering the location of the transmission we received. Carry out your orders as planned. Uruz 6, keep our asses covered while we go in.”

“Yes ma’am,” he replied in an unusually chipper tone. Melissa growled back to him, “And that doesn’t mean staring at my ass you dumbfuck.” The sudden moan on the other side meant that she had caught him in the act of perversion yet again. She sighed in disgust as Sousuke and her moved into the open base camp area under careful cloaking. The place was unusually quiet and the two kept that in mind as they carefully trekked their way past the landing pad and over by the storage facilities. The place had been cleaned out, abandoned, with not much more to its name than a forgotten past and desolation. Twenty minutes of reconnaissance had transpired before Sousuke finally said, “No hostile sightings. This area is clear.”

“Good,” she replied as she pulled up the transmission data from the Danaan, “Tessa’s calculations state that our Angel is located in the eastern laboratory facility next to the Arm Slave hangars. It’s just like before. Stick to the plan and don’t go losing your cool.”

“Affirmative,” the boy said back to her over the intercom, “Disengaging from the Arbalest.”

“I’ll watch out for your equipment, Uruz 7.”

“Acknowledged.” After he found a secure place to hide the Arbalest, he disengaged the cloaking device and removed himself from the cockpit. Melissa kept firm tabs on him and the current surroundings while Kurz kept a sharp eye through his sniper scope. All seemed quiet on the western front for the most part, and Sousuke took this time to approach the laboratory building and keep his back against the wall.

The place was unnaturally quiet, which automatically led Sousuke to believe that this whole place was a giant trap. There were no guards outside the perimeter, no henchmen en route through the building. For a while he was beginning to have some suspicions about this place being the location of where Kaname was being held captive. Mentally referencing back on the video of her initial torture, however, confirmed that this was the only place with an exact match of the interior decor.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a sneeze. Two guards were hanging out by a locked doorway, looking bored and uninterested in their tedious job. “Hey, how long do we gotta guard this chick?”

The other guard looked like he could care less as he took a long drag from his cigarette before exhaling the smoke into the air, “Who gives a fuck? The guy said that someone’s comin’ for her, so until then we gotta just take shifts with the other guys and wait ‘till they get here.”

“Yeah, but he never told us who they were.”

“Said he didn’t have to explain. They’d make themselves known once they got here. Waste of time if you ask me. At least the money’s good.” The two laughed in agreement for a while before one of them suddenly stopped and had a glazed look in his eyes. Eventually they rolled into the back of his head and the man had fallen face first to the floor while the other guard paused in shock, “Lee-Joon!” The shot to the back of his head was barely audible, but the man was nearly dead as blood trickled down the back of the neck and along the ear.

By the time the second guard managed to turn toward the direction of the shooter, Sousuke slammed his fingers into the man’s trachea. Gasping for air, the guard hunched over coughing, choking, and sputtering before the final blow behind the neck knocked the man out onto the floor. The idea was to not fire anything that would ultimately call any more of them to the door. After he managed to dispose of the guards, he made his way to the door and tested the handle. Naturally it was locked. “Uruz 2, I’m going to blast the door open with a C-4 detonation around the lock.”

“Roger that Uruz 7, commence with the blast.”

Making sure that the coast was still clear, Sousuke pulled out a small pack of plastic C-4 explosive and tore a chunk of it in order to begin the molding stages. When the compound had softened, he jammed it into the crevice between the door and the frame just snugly around the lock and around the edges of the computer touch pad. Minute precision was required in order to assure that the blast would disengage the lock the first time around, but he had to work quickly. “Kaname, if you can hear me, please stay away from the door.” Little by little the compound stuck to its target and soon the detonation was tucked in and rolled out as Sousuke slunk off to the side of the wall to keep out of the blast radius.

Hitting the detonation button, the C-4 went off with a loud bang, causing the lock to hit the ground while the metal frame warped to the impact of the explosion. Time was now of the essence. If anyone heard that and came running he only had a couple minutes maximum to retrieve Kaname and get out of that area. Ripping the door away, he quickly made his way into the dark room with his gun ready to fire at the first sign of trouble. However, there was no sign of anyone, save one young girl curled up in the fetal position against the corner of the room. “Kaname!” rushing over to aid her, the girl screamed as he came closer. It baffled him as to why she was behaving like this, and he instantly grabbed her and gave her a shake, “Kaname it’s me! Sousuke!”

“No! No! Don’t touch me!” her hands stretched out and tried pushing him away. But he had no choice; he had to get her out of here in time. Picking the wiggling girl up to her feet, her eyes finally locked onto his and her struggling stopped. It was replaced with a heavy sigh of relief but also with tears and a quivering voice to match, “Sousuke! You’re here!” The shock of being rescued caused her eyes to lull into the back of her head, and soon her knees gave out from under her. She was weak, trembling, and hardly able to walk on her own. “Kaname, should I carry you?”

The words vibrated I her brain and she shook her head, “Just tell me where to walk.” He propped her arm over his shoulders and tried to hug her hips to get her to stand, but the trauma she endured was literally too much for her handle and her body slid off of his and almost fell to the floor if he hadn’t caught her in time. Without missing a beat, his arms swooped in and picked her up into a cradle. It would now be impossible to defend the both of them at this time, so running out as fast as possible was the only option, “Uruz 7 to Uruz 2. I have found the Angel. She is currently unable to move on her own. Cover me while I make an escape through the east corridor, over.”

A few seconds later Melissa’s voice buzzed in, “Uruz 2 to Uruz 7, understood. I’ll have Uruz 6 tail keep your escape path clear while you make a break for it.”

As Sousuke made his escape, the team kept him covered before regrouping and analyzing the situation. Luckily no countermeasures were needed since the base remained quiet with the exception of those few decoys that were guarding the door. The whole scenario was bizarre and unlike Gauron, who favored flashy exits, high death tolls, and self-destructing buildings all in a day’s work. As the Uruz crew made their way back to the Danaan to have Kaname head into treatment, Melissa and Kurz watched Sousuke keep vigil by the door where she was now sleeping while the doctors ran a physical on her.

Holding onto her helmet, she took one last look at Sousuke before redirecting her attention to Kurz, “I don’t like this at all.”

He had to agree, “Not the usual pomp and circumstance we’re used to seeing from Gauron in the past, huh?”

“This is just the quiet before the storm. I can feel it.”

“Guess we have not choice but to keep ourselves alert then.”

She scoffed at his words, “You? Alert? Don’t make me laugh.” The helmet was shoved into Kurz’s gut and the man chuckled as they headed toward the lockers to change into their regular military uniforms.

------------------------------------------------------------

Hours turned into days, which eventually turned into weeks, and Kaname had not left her given chambers since she had been relocated there. Occasionally the female nurses came in to check on her status and give her medication. But otherwise she didn’t want to look at anyone. Sousuke was at a complete loss as far as what he had to do to help her. His brain couldn’t wrap around what had happened during those time she was with Gauron. Her body showed signs of physical trauma, but whenever he asked for the report, the nurses would not disclose it. Tessa refused authorization for him to even look. “It’s psychological,” she would respond in kind, “It’s not something you’ll be able to fix, Sousuke. I’m sorry.”

Eventually enough time had passed that Kaname was ready to at least open her mouth and speak. Tessa prepared them tea as she had always done whenever they discussed life, Mithril, and their situations in general. “I know, Kaname,” she started out meekly, “Of you and Sergeant Sagara. As far as your…relationship…is concerned.” It seemed extremely crude of her to bring it up, but there was a point as to why. “You still haven’t, um…refined your ability to control your powers yet.”

Did she have to bring this up now? A vortex of embarrassment was beginning to flood Kaname’s senses as Tessa spoke in an uncomfortable tone. “I’m sorry, Tessa. I know you like him.”

“I’ll be okay,” she lied, but it wasn’t the time to be selfish anyway, “Which means I also have a very good idea as to what happened to you.” The silence that proceeded afterwards caused tears to well up in Kaname’s eyes. Small sniffles along with brief intervals of sobbing commenced before the girl was finally able to get a grip on her emotions, “I never thought-“ but she hold in the tears while her words came out, “that he could do that to me, you know? For as many times as I’ve encountered him I always thought about how much physical pain I would have to endure in order to satisfy him. Not-“ when Tessa handed her a tissue, Kaname took it gratefully and blew her nose before continuing, “not whether he was going to rape me just to get to Sousuke.”

“No one could have predicted it, unfortunately,” Tessa reaffirmed the girl before moving seats so that she was next to the girl. Kaname seemed a bit nervous by the shift, but eventually relaxed and continued her soft sobs. “He’s taken many hostages before, both men and women alike. Other than the few times we’ve managed to intervene in his activities and intercept his hostages, the rest have all turned up dead with no evidence of sexual abuse before. Every time we build a criminal profile for him, he throws us a curve ball with something new. I just regret the fact that you’re the one he did this to. I regret many things, mainly which he managed to get to you again. It’s unacceptable to me. I’m sorry that my crew and I have failed you, Kaname.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she sniffled, looking into her tea cup as a tear rolled down her cheek and into the hot liquid. “I mean, how were we to know he was still alive?” her tone tried to turn this into a humorous situation, but her forced laugh was obviously pained by issue at hand. “I guess I understand now why Sousuke’s always the way he is, you know? The whole crazed military nutcase who never relaxes.” Her hand came by and rubbed itch from her nose, “You really can’t relax sometimes. You never know what might happen to you in the blink of an eye.”

“Sousuke is trained to always be cautious because his job requires him to be like that. But it’s people like him that allow civilians to lead normal lives without always having to worry if terror is constantly looming over your head. No one should have to live that way. He believes that more than anybody else on this ship. That’s why him, Melissa, and Kurz work very hard and are willing to make those sacrifices for the rest of us. If you lose hope in the fact that you will never feel free to just be…Kaname…then we’ve failed you.”

“No, no one failed at anything. It’s just that-“ placing a hand along the side of her face, she tried to make the pounding in her head stop from crying so much, “this whole thing is so complex. Am I really damaged goods now? Do I no longer have any value as a person after that guy just…just…did that to me!?” A set of arms reached out and wrapped them around her as Tessa held onto Kaname tightly and shed a few tears in the process. It was very easy to conceive that she too could easily ended up on the receiving end of Gauron’s plans. With him still around and alive, they weren’t safe, no matter how much Tessa tried to sugar coat things to Kaname. They both knew very well that the man had to be stopped or die trying.

“No, Kaname…it’s not like that. It’s never like that,” was all she could say in reply.

As the two were sharing their Kodak moment together, a rude knock disrupted the somber mood. “Captain!” the voice on the other end belonged to Kurz, “Captain we’ve got an emergency!” The two girls looked at each other a bit perplexed and Tessa quickly got up and rushed to the door to answer, “Yes Sergeant, what is it?”

The blond, who was usually always in a jolly disposition, actually looked pretty rattled this time around. This worried Tessa since he wasn’t an easy person to see him act nervous like this. “I think there’s something you need to hear for yourself.”

“Tell me what’s going on, Kurz.”

“Gauron.”

That was the only word that needed to be said before both Tessa and Kaname lost all the color in their faces. Kurz continued, “…he’s back. And he sent Sousuke an ultimatum into battle.”

“Does Sousuke know about this?”

“Worse, he’s already out on the field.”

She didn’t know if she was floored at the fact that Gauron was back or the fact that one of her top officers just went rogue on all of them to engage in the enemy. In fact, she was at a total loss for words as she brushed past Kurz and began walking towards the bridge.

“Tessa!” Kaname ran to the doorway and shouted out to her, causing the blond to stop, “I’m coming with you.” The girl said nothing and continued walking; taking this as an invitation to follow. The three of them rushed onto the command deck with Tessa looking utterly blazed about the whole ordeal. “Status report, Mardukas!”

“He hailed us just a few minutes ago. We didn’t even know Sergeant Sousuke had heard the news.”

“Sousuke doesn’t have to hear the whole thing to know it’s him,” she snapped back, “Play the message for me.”

“Aye Ma’am.” The tape started up and as the first word was spoken, Kaname could feel her mind buzz with the intense feelings of that day again. Kurz met up with Melisaa who was already on deck awaiting further orders from Kalinin since Tessa had been busy at the time. But seeing Kaname out put a faint smile on her lips despite the current circumstances.

“Heh heh heh…Kashim. I hope you’re doing well. It’s been a long time…almost three months I think. How’s your little toy doing…? Has she been crying…? I miss you…Kashim. I know you’re docked just off the coast. Why not come play? I”ll be waiting.”

When the message ended, Tessa stood for a moment and twiddled with the hair at the end of her braid again. Solutions and situations ran through her head as she tried to figure this out. Gauron was very close by, but again he threw a curveball by unnaturally coming out of hiding with guns practically blazing with that taunting message. Melissa figured that now would be the best time to speak with her on how best to retrieve their rogue soldier back.

“Captain, requesting permission to back up Sergeant Sagara,” the Major saluted. Kurz was immediately behind as they were already too late to try and stop him. After assessing the situation Tessa shook her head, “No, you’ll stay here on standby.”

Melissa looked absolutely shocked by this choice, “Captain?!”

“Your units can’t move fast enough to hit the Codarl anyway. You’d only be sitting ducks and I won’t risk that. Unfortunately we’re in the precarious position of being at his mercy once again. Sousuke will be able to hold Gauron off but only for so long.” This news did not sound good, and Kaname was feeling a bit angered by Tessa’s decision to prevent Mao and Weber from going into the battlefield to assist. But that was about to be put aside as the girls exchanged looks and it was apparent that Tessa had something else in mind, “Kaname, please come with me. I have an idea and I need your assistance.”

Kaname blinked a few times before pointing to her face, “Me?”

“Yes,” followed by a telepathic message, “I have a new card that I have not yet played. Come, let me show you.” Whenever she utilized this method of communication it usually meant that not even her other officers were supposed to know what was going on. For a moment she looked on at the other crewmembers with a bit of worry as they stared at Kaname with speculation. Even Melissa and Kurz were curious as to what this was all about, but eventually the hard-nosed major sighed and gave a polite gesture to go ahead and follow the captain. Melissa hated to be on this end of the fence when it came to military emergencies, but she understood the captain had a special bond with Kaname and it appeared that no one could be trusted with it. Better to respect the captain than defy her.

The two girls made their way off of the bridge and through the maze of halls towards the hangar in silence. She could only wildly guess what the small blond had in store for the both of them.