Twists of Fate [Part 7]
Nov. 7th, 2014 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Noblesse
Summary: Nakida’s a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they’re not the only one breaking into the building that night - there’s a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don’t exist. If he wants to get caught, it’s not their problem.
Huian’s on guard duty to protect the information they’re after. Usually it’s quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.
Their pasts connect them, even if they don’t remember. And the past does tend to come back.
Rating: PG-13
Contains: Needles. Hm, pain descriptions.
Notes: Reincarnation fic! :D Written for nano! So expect some weirdness as I churn this out, haha.
Lots of short scenes here, hah.
Genre: General.
Word count: 2,668
Total word count: 15,786
Status: Work in progress
Shit shit shit! M-21 scowled down at the security building. He knew it was a front, had followed some the whispered rumours of the people who had gotten out (and were never heard from again), but he didn't know how to get in without taking walls down.
Which he could do with ease, but he could end up taking the foundation down with him at the same time and hurt innocent people around him.
It was obvious he was out the loop. He'd assumed the Union had been unchanging as he was. Or maybe he just hadn't known all of their processes of 'recruitment'. But fuck, using a tactic similar to the KSA's-!
He couldn't get back in contact with Tao either, the number private again.
"Tch." And the best person who could have helped track him down would have been Tao.
There wasn't anything he could do about that now. He had to figure out a way to get in without alerting the people in the building; the Union could kill everyone there to cover up their presence.
* * *
Huian had been taken through a number of double doors that swished open, the walls and ceiling staying as bright as ever. There were also people in lab coats walking around, and none of them gave her a second glance.
Joyce wasn't alone in doing this. This was something much bigger than Joyce acting alone.
Except it had to be anyway, because how else would Joyce have arranged for the program and working it up to the reputation it had now that anyone would take a person who had been trained there?
But Joyce looked like she was only a bit older than Huian was? Right. She'd probably gotten the position after it had been established.
Been promoted to it.
Hah.
How many people had been taken in like Huian had? How many people knew? Had everyone in the company knew apart from her?
"Doctor Flores."
Who? The voice was close though, and Huian tilted her head to try and find the source. A man in a labcoat like the others, stocky build with glasses. Whose full attention was on Joyce and not her.
"Thorough blood tests."
"Yes, ma'am."
They stopped moving and Huian looked around. They were in a large room, one machine dominating the side. It was cylindrical in shape, the insides glowing. The scanner.
Cold hands on her arm and Huian tried to jerk away out of instinct. The man's attention wasn't on her, only her arm as he tied the tourniquet to her upper arm.
"Why are you-" The man's eyes didn't flicker away from his job, finding the vein in her elbow. Like this was something he did every day. Which could be true from the glimpse Huian had seen already. Getting blood samples from unwilling and strapped down 'patients' every day.
The presence in her head snapped at him as the needle slid under her skin but its reactions were sluggish compared to the absolute surge of emotions and rage the first time.
Huian watched with morbid curiosity, unable to look away as her blood travelled up the tube and filled the container at the other end of it. It still looked red. Normal, like the last time she'd seen it. There wasn't any trace of black or purple in there from what she could see.
When he was done, the man pulled the needle out and stepped away, bowing towards Joyce. "I'll get the results back to you as soon as I can."
Joyce nodded. "Make sure you do."
With that acknowledgement, he turned on his heel and left, his shoes clicking over the tiles.
"And now to see if your scans can tell me anything else."
* * *
The scan hadn't been any different from what Huian had expected it to be. She'd never been in one before, having never needed to before.
She didn't want to go through it again.
Not when it was a high pitched whine in her ear, sometimes 'clunk'ing without warning. And the next time she had a scan, she hoped shouldn't be immobilised.
There was only so much panic her body could take before exhausting itself and it had run its course inside the scanner.
And even though she'd had her fill at the restaurant, she felt hungry again, like she'd just done a lot of exercise.
Huian didn't know what time it was, but even with all that had happened (or especially because what had happened) her eyelids grew heavy, even though she struggled to stay away, the dark presence an almost comforting presence in her head.
* * *
Nakida's eyes were straining, and their stomach was trying to claw itself out of their body, since they were obviously not going to feed it themself.
Their lips were dry and cracked too, and they really should get up to get something to eat.
Huian's house had stayed quiet and untouched, which hadn't surprised them, but they had a dim hope that she might…
They sighed, screwing their eyes shut and rubbing the bridge of their nose.
No, they had to stop now. They couldn't concentrate.
Nakida closed all the windows around them, and they blinked at the darkness, the air wavering in front of their face as their eyes tried to adjust to the change.
They had been staring at the screens for far too long.
And what they could show for it wasn't much. Going through the records to find out more Jocelyne had been…interesting. Jocelyne had been the sole editor for the promotions list, reaching back further than Nakida's birth year.
So she was another person who was living for much longer than what a regular human could. That didn't sound familiar.
Was everyone here immortal? It was starting to seem like it. Or was it because of the company involved?
They could dwell on it later. After food.
When they swung their legs over the edge of the bed, Nakida grimaced, feeling the blood flow start reaching places it hadn't been able to get to for the last couple of hours, making those areas tingle.
They waited for a couple of seconds to get the feeling back in their legs, stretching, pushing their hands up into the air. Their back cracked in multiple places. They groaned in satisfaction at that. When they had feeling back in the rest of them, they headed for the door.
But what should they get? There was a supermarket not far from their inn, so they could nip in and out and get back so they could keep searching.
Or there was another place they could go eat, a place they needed to check out anyway.
* * *
It didn't take long to reach the restaurant, the queue non-existent by the time Nakida arrived. Travelling there had helped to clear Nakida's head a little bit, the cold air and wind waking them up. It would only be temporary, but it should be enough to make them last a little longer.
The place wasn't that busy inside either, only a few tables taken, so Nakida headed for one of the tables at the back, right in the corner. That way, they wouldn't have to worry about someone glancing over their shoulder at their screen and they would be able to look over the whole room as well.
A table picked out for themselves, they sat down, a menu materialising from the table in front of them. They glanced through the selection and tapped a few of the things they hadn't tried before. When they were done, their choices lit up, the menu faded from sight with a chime.
That done, Nakida glanced around, trying to find the sign for the toilets.
They found it and got up, moving towards it.
There was no-one in the corridor that lead to the toilets – and there were a number of doors with 'staff' signs on them as well.
The first one was filled with cleaning materials so Nakida closed that door again. The second one was more promising – it was an empty office with a split screen showing a number of viewpoints from different cameras. There wasn't a port to hook up to, no-one lying in the room with a dazed expression on their face either. In the very least, someone needing to hook up to the system or no, no-one was there and Nakida had to act fast in case the person was on a break.
A few minutes later, Nakida slid back in their chair, the new camera feed data stored in their brain. They couldn't upload it to their communicator, not when not everyone had a port connected to their spinal cord, and there was too big a risk of the cameras seeing what they could.
From their other quick look before they'd sat down, there wasn't a way to exit through the back without drawing attention. So how had Nakida gotten out without being seen?
Since they couldn't do what they usually did to keep themselves awake, Nakida took out a sheet of paper and started doodling again as they waited for their order to come through.
* * *
Nakida yawned as they re-entered their room, their toes dragging on the floor. The food had been good and filling, to the point that they'd only just been able to finish it all.
The problem had been staying awake and upright on their 'board with a full stomach and not going headfirst into a wall. There had been a few close calls, but Nakida had stayed on top of their 'board the entire time.
The world was wavering as they took their console out their bag and hooked their cable up to it. It would still take a few minutes for the upload to finish so they started doodling again as they continued standing. They knew if they lay down they would fall asleep straight away, risking pulling the console over as they moved in their sleep, or worse, damaging the port and cable that way.
This time the sleep-hazed doodle was another pair, one with wavy, medium length hair, the other with shorter straight hair. They seemed to like drawing formal clothes in this one.
Whatever. They unhooked the cable from their console when the transfer was done, drawing it back into their neck. When it was safely tucked away and covered, Nakida made sure their console wasn't too close to an edge it could fall off of.
Once that was done, they curled up on top of the blanket and fell asleep.
* * *
Huian was in a big house. A house filled with people, that had multiple floors. It wasn't one she'd ever stepped in, but it was still familiar.
The walls were covered with purple and black cracks, pulsing like veins.
They were also familiar, but it brought a heavy weight to Huian's stomach. That wasn't right. They weren't supposed to be there.
The other people in the house didn't notice and she wanted to warn them. Their names were on the tip of her tongue, like she used to know them, like she had known those faces before-
"-ll, that'll be all."
Huian gasped, trying to make sense of her swirling thoughts, trying to grasp at them as they disappeared right in front of her.
Dreaming. She'd been dreaming. It was obvious now that she was awake, but-
"You're human, but you're healing at a lower modified's rate…"
It was Joyce muttering, the document she was reading floating in front of her face.
"I know I'm human," Huian said, glowering at her. She hadn't needed a freaking blood test for that.
"It's almost like a soul weapon," Joyce continued, ignoring her. "That was the closest result I could find, but you don't have any noble blood either."
Royalty? What – There was no point trying to understand what she was rambling about.
"Oh? Oh!" Joyce's face lit up and she focused on her. "Is this the Dark Spear? Are you Frankenstein's daughter? Granddaughter?"
"Neither," Huian said with a glower. "I thought you knew everything about me." And a glance would have made it obvious she didn't have a 'Frankenstein' in her family.
"Doesn't matter," Joyce said with a wave of her hand, the document disappearing. "If it's a soul weapon or not, either way I'll get the data from you. But if it is a soul weapon, and I can make my own…" Huian didn't like the excited expression that was spreading across Joyce's face. "I could rise up to Elder from this!"
She had to get away from here. Escape. Somehow. Figure out a way out of the restraints (did they have keys to unlock them?).
The presence in her mind could do it.
And it perked up at her thoughts, twisting around, trying to see out her eyes.
If it could cut through the patch, would it be able to cut through metal? It was a stretch but-
'Yessss.'
The presence seemed to think it could. They curled up, all the voices, all the non-physical mass, ready to spring. They were made of barbs, a body filled with fangs and claws and Huian's eyesight flickered at the edges again.
"Hm?" Joyce peered down at her, watching her with curiosity.
She was close enough.
It lunged at Joyce and –
Pain. Like something was trying to rip its way out of Huian's body, clawing at every single fibre in her muscles as it passed.
The presence snapped back into her, unable to reach, unable to take the form it wanted to be.
"Yes, your body also seemed to have some damage where the Dark Spear exited it last time – your body had already healed some of it by the time you woke up again," Joyce remarked. And then smiled. "But keep doing that; I'll be making notes."
F-fuck…
* * *
Nakida sipped from their bottle of water as they shifted through the feeds from the restaurant. They sleep they'd gotten had invigorated them, their eyes no longer straining as much as before.
They knew the time Huian entered and… There she was. Now they had to find out why they hadn't been able to spot her from the external cameras.
And hope the feeds hadn't been tampered with.
It seemed like a regular gathering, people eating and drinking, passing food around. There were also a number of empty chairs. Probably a couple of people who had to cancel at the last minute.
…Except Huian was talking to thin air? Was she that kind of drunk?
No, a cup materialised into Huian's hand, the chair beside her moving back without any help.
Nakida's stomach sank. It was too much work for someone to have removed a person from every single frame but leave everything else in tact. So it had to be someone who had the ability to not be seen by the cameras. It wouldn't look too strange at a casual glance if there were small gaps where people stood, not when the people were constantly moving.
But to have something like this…
And how were they going to find Huian now, if the other person they were trying to find was invisible? Assuming the invisible person was Jocelyne but it was too much of a coincidence.
Right. So they were on the other side of technology being used to trick and hide for once. They could work with this.
They squinted at the feed, trying to find any kind of tell, if it was perfect.
There was a small haze hovering over the chair, like it was too hot. At least they had something they could try to work with.
They watched Huian down more and more drinks before she finally leaned forward – and disappeared. Was it through touch or had she been given something to hide her?
That didn't matter right now. What mattered now was following the empty space they created.
Summary: Nakida’s a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they’re not the only one breaking into the building that night - there’s a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don’t exist. If he wants to get caught, it’s not their problem.
Huian’s on guard duty to protect the information they’re after. Usually it’s quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.
Their pasts connect them, even if they don’t remember. And the past does tend to come back.
Rating: PG-13
Contains: Needles. Hm, pain descriptions.
Notes: Reincarnation fic! :D Written for nano! So expect some weirdness as I churn this out, haha.
Lots of short scenes here, hah.
Genre: General.
Word count: 2,668
Total word count: 15,786
Status: Work in progress
Shit shit shit! M-21 scowled down at the security building. He knew it was a front, had followed some the whispered rumours of the people who had gotten out (and were never heard from again), but he didn't know how to get in without taking walls down.
Which he could do with ease, but he could end up taking the foundation down with him at the same time and hurt innocent people around him.
It was obvious he was out the loop. He'd assumed the Union had been unchanging as he was. Or maybe he just hadn't known all of their processes of 'recruitment'. But fuck, using a tactic similar to the KSA's-!
He couldn't get back in contact with Tao either, the number private again.
"Tch." And the best person who could have helped track him down would have been Tao.
There wasn't anything he could do about that now. He had to figure out a way to get in without alerting the people in the building; the Union could kill everyone there to cover up their presence.
Huian had been taken through a number of double doors that swished open, the walls and ceiling staying as bright as ever. There were also people in lab coats walking around, and none of them gave her a second glance.
Joyce wasn't alone in doing this. This was something much bigger than Joyce acting alone.
Except it had to be anyway, because how else would Joyce have arranged for the program and working it up to the reputation it had now that anyone would take a person who had been trained there?
But Joyce looked like she was only a bit older than Huian was? Right. She'd probably gotten the position after it had been established.
Been promoted to it.
Hah.
How many people had been taken in like Huian had? How many people knew? Had everyone in the company knew apart from her?
"Doctor Flores."
Who? The voice was close though, and Huian tilted her head to try and find the source. A man in a labcoat like the others, stocky build with glasses. Whose full attention was on Joyce and not her.
"Thorough blood tests."
"Yes, ma'am."
They stopped moving and Huian looked around. They were in a large room, one machine dominating the side. It was cylindrical in shape, the insides glowing. The scanner.
Cold hands on her arm and Huian tried to jerk away out of instinct. The man's attention wasn't on her, only her arm as he tied the tourniquet to her upper arm.
"Why are you-" The man's eyes didn't flicker away from his job, finding the vein in her elbow. Like this was something he did every day. Which could be true from the glimpse Huian had seen already. Getting blood samples from unwilling and strapped down 'patients' every day.
The presence in her head snapped at him as the needle slid under her skin but its reactions were sluggish compared to the absolute surge of emotions and rage the first time.
Huian watched with morbid curiosity, unable to look away as her blood travelled up the tube and filled the container at the other end of it. It still looked red. Normal, like the last time she'd seen it. There wasn't any trace of black or purple in there from what she could see.
When he was done, the man pulled the needle out and stepped away, bowing towards Joyce. "I'll get the results back to you as soon as I can."
Joyce nodded. "Make sure you do."
With that acknowledgement, he turned on his heel and left, his shoes clicking over the tiles.
"And now to see if your scans can tell me anything else."
The scan hadn't been any different from what Huian had expected it to be. She'd never been in one before, having never needed to before.
She didn't want to go through it again.
Not when it was a high pitched whine in her ear, sometimes 'clunk'ing without warning. And the next time she had a scan, she hoped shouldn't be immobilised.
There was only so much panic her body could take before exhausting itself and it had run its course inside the scanner.
And even though she'd had her fill at the restaurant, she felt hungry again, like she'd just done a lot of exercise.
Huian didn't know what time it was, but even with all that had happened (or especially because what had happened) her eyelids grew heavy, even though she struggled to stay away, the dark presence an almost comforting presence in her head.
Nakida's eyes were straining, and their stomach was trying to claw itself out of their body, since they were obviously not going to feed it themself.
Their lips were dry and cracked too, and they really should get up to get something to eat.
Huian's house had stayed quiet and untouched, which hadn't surprised them, but they had a dim hope that she might…
They sighed, screwing their eyes shut and rubbing the bridge of their nose.
No, they had to stop now. They couldn't concentrate.
Nakida closed all the windows around them, and they blinked at the darkness, the air wavering in front of their face as their eyes tried to adjust to the change.
They had been staring at the screens for far too long.
And what they could show for it wasn't much. Going through the records to find out more Jocelyne had been…interesting. Jocelyne had been the sole editor for the promotions list, reaching back further than Nakida's birth year.
So she was another person who was living for much longer than what a regular human could. That didn't sound familiar.
Was everyone here immortal? It was starting to seem like it. Or was it because of the company involved?
They could dwell on it later. After food.
When they swung their legs over the edge of the bed, Nakida grimaced, feeling the blood flow start reaching places it hadn't been able to get to for the last couple of hours, making those areas tingle.
They waited for a couple of seconds to get the feeling back in their legs, stretching, pushing their hands up into the air. Their back cracked in multiple places. They groaned in satisfaction at that. When they had feeling back in the rest of them, they headed for the door.
But what should they get? There was a supermarket not far from their inn, so they could nip in and out and get back so they could keep searching.
Or there was another place they could go eat, a place they needed to check out anyway.
It didn't take long to reach the restaurant, the queue non-existent by the time Nakida arrived. Travelling there had helped to clear Nakida's head a little bit, the cold air and wind waking them up. It would only be temporary, but it should be enough to make them last a little longer.
The place wasn't that busy inside either, only a few tables taken, so Nakida headed for one of the tables at the back, right in the corner. That way, they wouldn't have to worry about someone glancing over their shoulder at their screen and they would be able to look over the whole room as well.
A table picked out for themselves, they sat down, a menu materialising from the table in front of them. They glanced through the selection and tapped a few of the things they hadn't tried before. When they were done, their choices lit up, the menu faded from sight with a chime.
That done, Nakida glanced around, trying to find the sign for the toilets.
They found it and got up, moving towards it.
There was no-one in the corridor that lead to the toilets – and there were a number of doors with 'staff' signs on them as well.
The first one was filled with cleaning materials so Nakida closed that door again. The second one was more promising – it was an empty office with a split screen showing a number of viewpoints from different cameras. There wasn't a port to hook up to, no-one lying in the room with a dazed expression on their face either. In the very least, someone needing to hook up to the system or no, no-one was there and Nakida had to act fast in case the person was on a break.
A few minutes later, Nakida slid back in their chair, the new camera feed data stored in their brain. They couldn't upload it to their communicator, not when not everyone had a port connected to their spinal cord, and there was too big a risk of the cameras seeing what they could.
From their other quick look before they'd sat down, there wasn't a way to exit through the back without drawing attention. So how had Nakida gotten out without being seen?
Since they couldn't do what they usually did to keep themselves awake, Nakida took out a sheet of paper and started doodling again as they waited for their order to come through.
Nakida yawned as they re-entered their room, their toes dragging on the floor. The food had been good and filling, to the point that they'd only just been able to finish it all.
The problem had been staying awake and upright on their 'board with a full stomach and not going headfirst into a wall. There had been a few close calls, but Nakida had stayed on top of their 'board the entire time.
The world was wavering as they took their console out their bag and hooked their cable up to it. It would still take a few minutes for the upload to finish so they started doodling again as they continued standing. They knew if they lay down they would fall asleep straight away, risking pulling the console over as they moved in their sleep, or worse, damaging the port and cable that way.
This time the sleep-hazed doodle was another pair, one with wavy, medium length hair, the other with shorter straight hair. They seemed to like drawing formal clothes in this one.
Whatever. They unhooked the cable from their console when the transfer was done, drawing it back into their neck. When it was safely tucked away and covered, Nakida made sure their console wasn't too close to an edge it could fall off of.
Once that was done, they curled up on top of the blanket and fell asleep.
Huian was in a big house. A house filled with people, that had multiple floors. It wasn't one she'd ever stepped in, but it was still familiar.
The walls were covered with purple and black cracks, pulsing like veins.
They were also familiar, but it brought a heavy weight to Huian's stomach. That wasn't right. They weren't supposed to be there.
The other people in the house didn't notice and she wanted to warn them. Their names were on the tip of her tongue, like she used to know them, like she had known those faces before-
"-ll, that'll be all."
Huian gasped, trying to make sense of her swirling thoughts, trying to grasp at them as they disappeared right in front of her.
Dreaming. She'd been dreaming. It was obvious now that she was awake, but-
"You're human, but you're healing at a lower modified's rate…"
It was Joyce muttering, the document she was reading floating in front of her face.
"I know I'm human," Huian said, glowering at her. She hadn't needed a freaking blood test for that.
"It's almost like a soul weapon," Joyce continued, ignoring her. "That was the closest result I could find, but you don't have any noble blood either."
Royalty? What – There was no point trying to understand what she was rambling about.
"Oh? Oh!" Joyce's face lit up and she focused on her. "Is this the Dark Spear? Are you Frankenstein's daughter? Granddaughter?"
"Neither," Huian said with a glower. "I thought you knew everything about me." And a glance would have made it obvious she didn't have a 'Frankenstein' in her family.
"Doesn't matter," Joyce said with a wave of her hand, the document disappearing. "If it's a soul weapon or not, either way I'll get the data from you. But if it is a soul weapon, and I can make my own…" Huian didn't like the excited expression that was spreading across Joyce's face. "I could rise up to Elder from this!"
She had to get away from here. Escape. Somehow. Figure out a way out of the restraints (did they have keys to unlock them?).
The presence in her mind could do it.
And it perked up at her thoughts, twisting around, trying to see out her eyes.
If it could cut through the patch, would it be able to cut through metal? It was a stretch but-
'Yessss.'
The presence seemed to think it could. They curled up, all the voices, all the non-physical mass, ready to spring. They were made of barbs, a body filled with fangs and claws and Huian's eyesight flickered at the edges again.
"Hm?" Joyce peered down at her, watching her with curiosity.
She was close enough.
It lunged at Joyce and –
Pain. Like something was trying to rip its way out of Huian's body, clawing at every single fibre in her muscles as it passed.
The presence snapped back into her, unable to reach, unable to take the form it wanted to be.
"Yes, your body also seemed to have some damage where the Dark Spear exited it last time – your body had already healed some of it by the time you woke up again," Joyce remarked. And then smiled. "But keep doing that; I'll be making notes."
F-fuck…
Nakida sipped from their bottle of water as they shifted through the feeds from the restaurant. They sleep they'd gotten had invigorated them, their eyes no longer straining as much as before.
They knew the time Huian entered and… There she was. Now they had to find out why they hadn't been able to spot her from the external cameras.
And hope the feeds hadn't been tampered with.
It seemed like a regular gathering, people eating and drinking, passing food around. There were also a number of empty chairs. Probably a couple of people who had to cancel at the last minute.
…Except Huian was talking to thin air? Was she that kind of drunk?
No, a cup materialised into Huian's hand, the chair beside her moving back without any help.
Nakida's stomach sank. It was too much work for someone to have removed a person from every single frame but leave everything else in tact. So it had to be someone who had the ability to not be seen by the cameras. It wouldn't look too strange at a casual glance if there were small gaps where people stood, not when the people were constantly moving.
But to have something like this…
And how were they going to find Huian now, if the other person they were trying to find was invisible? Assuming the invisible person was Jocelyne but it was too much of a coincidence.
Right. So they were on the other side of technology being used to trick and hide for once. They could work with this.
They squinted at the feed, trying to find any kind of tell, if it was perfect.
There was a small haze hovering over the chair, like it was too hot. At least they had something they could try to work with.
They watched Huian down more and more drinks before she finally leaned forward – and disappeared. Was it through touch or had she been given something to hide her?
That didn't matter right now. What mattered now was following the empty space they created.