Devotio

Chapter 19

"Echizen's down." Kaidou scowled. "He was able to get to the basement before someone got him. They're probably going to take him down to the lower levels and begin testing. I have no contact."

"Can you get contact?" Fuji more so urged than asked. "Either of you?"

"It'll be hard to find his particular wave length but I'll try." Hiroshi said.

Kaidou nodded. "I have scouts headed in the direction he was in."

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The first thing Echizen was aware of when he came to was the incredibly painful sensation in the back of his head; definitely concussion status. He tried to open his eyes but it was like he was looking directly at the sun with how bright it was. When he tried to cover his face he found his arms were chained above his head and then everything seemed to make sense; he'd been captured. He didn't see any of Kaidou's scouts and he couldn't feel Hiroshi in the back of his mind.

He let out a groan and to his surprise got a response.

"Oh dear, sorry about that. The light always seems to be the worst thing about waking up after being brought down here." There was an audible click. "There you go. That should be better. Go ahead and open your eyes now."

Since the person speaking to him told him to, he wanted to resist but in some hopes that Hiroshi would be able to link with him again, he needed to look around and be able to describe what he saw. He slowly blinked open his eyes and began to look around. Standing in front of him was a man in a lab coat; very short light brown hair, glasses too big for his face, all in all a typical doctor look.

"That's much better isn't it?" The man's tone was so sweet it was sickening. "I'm so glad I could finally meet you Echizen-kun. You're the key to advancing the human genome. My name is Doctor Kren. Don't worry; you're in good, safe hands."

Terrifying. That's how Echizen would describe the man in front of him. To think that this man was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people.

"If I'm in such safe hands, why did you knock me out?" Echizen spat. "And why am I hanging from something?"

"Oh yes, I'm very sorry about having to use force against you. It's just I didn't have my anesthesia with me and I was startled when we ran into each other. And the chains, I'm afraid it's more for my protection than yours. Can't have a repeat of what happened with the last patient." Kren laughed. "I think they're strong enough to even render your abilities useless.

"Ran into each other? You came up from behind me." As expected, the chains were nullified.

"We're going to get nowhere if you hold a grudge." His smile was disgusting. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to take a blood sample to start out with."

"Don't touch me." Echizen struggled to see how well the chains would hold. Unfortunately it didn't look like he would be getting out without help.

"You don't really have a choice in the matter Echizen-kun. Do us both a favor and just, relax."

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"Have you found any sign of him yet?" Oishi yelled over the chaos that was happening.

"My scouts keep hitting a barrier of some sort when they try to get to the lower levels." Kaidou answered. "I don't know if it's from a machine or someone but it needs to be taken down. What about you Hiroshi-san?"

Hiroshi's brow furled. "I keep getting very slight glimpses of things but I can't piece anything together. I don't know if it from the barrier or something bad is happening to the kid."