CLANDESTINE PROGRESSIVE ARC 1: ORIGIN

4. Aliases and Revelations (King and Queen's Gambit)

       It took about 10 minutes for Kai to find what he was looking for in his closet. Stuffing the album in a bag he slung it over his shoulder and headed out the door. "Ok we're ready." .... No response. 'Damnit, did she get tired of waiting that fast?' He wondered before realizing how silly that actually sounded. In the first place, he was gone 15-20 minutes tops, plus, the car was still in the driveway, and since the Hinata's place was at a good 6 miles, walking would be kind of more of a pain then it would have been worth. "Kokona!..." .... Nothing. 'Really spellcaster?...' He was about to hiss when he noticed something over by the car. Getting closer he realized, it was her cellphone! Running over, he bent down picking up the phone looking around. 'Damnit!"  He pulled his phone from his pocket dialing a number waiting for an answer. "Himari, I'm sorry, Kokona and I were coming over for your birthday but, something has happened, she's gone." .....

"What?!" Kai almost dropped his phone as Himari yelled at him from the other end.

"I'm going to find out what's going on." He said as he hung up the phone putting it back in his pocket. Taking a deep breath he turned around closing his eyes listening for any sign of Kokona.... Nothing.

        The street only had two directions to start so there was a 50/50 chance that he would get it right. Getting into his car he started the engine and took off down the road. Reaching forward he turned on the GPS he started trying to find some kind of clue. 'If someone took her then where would they go?' Looking over the list of nearby landmarks as he searched with his eyes be noticed something strange. One particular landmark was half erased. But, whenever a building is demolished or closed, the entire directory in the global positioning satellite database is erased...

      Thinking back he remembered that a few years ago  Mai took him and Himari to visit an old Aeronautics Museum which was shut down for renovations but never actually reopened. But, why was it still in the GPS? The update for the system occurred months ago. With that thought he ended up speeding up as he went down the road. The museum was about 10.2 miles away meaning he would get there in about 19 minutes at his current speed. He had to cut that time in half. She wasn't the only one who made a promise. The pact of partners was between both of them. Without even thinking he found himself speeding up even more, thankfully, the road was unusually quiet that day. Also, because of that he was able to cut the trip down to about 8 minutes.

         The building was actually quite large but still only one story which was a relief to Kai, he really wasn't looking forward to running up and down a bunch of stairs. As he got out of the car he noticed there was a light above the front door. Probably used to help people see the entrance at night. But, the light was on. Why was there a working light on a shutdown building? No other vehicles in the parking lot.... As he pulled in he noticed something else, his GPS was completely blank. Quickly he grabbed his phone to check the time but not only was there no service but the clock read 0:00. Except for that light and the strange effect of his technology, it looked like the entire place was abandoned. Slowly he walked up to the door pushing it open, the one thing he noticed was that it was heavy, even for him. With a heave he pushed the door open and walked inside.

        The inside of the building was strangely clean for an abandoned building although, he figured maybe the movers just hauled everything away or stored it in some locked room. But still, he felt as though he was being watched, which, most likely meant he was on the right track. Slowly he made his way through the hall, the air in the building was starting to worry him something felt wrong. Suddenly, he felt something go down under his foot and then a sharp sting in his shoulder as something took over his entire body, his eyes got heavy as his limbs began to become more and more flimsy, finally like a rock he went down as his knees gave out, his eyes flickered bright and then dull as his vision blurred. There was a shapeless blob before him before he lost consciousness just barely heard a voice... "D....n't w...rry... I... g..t y...a."

       "Guugh...gra...g..." Kai muttered incoherently as he began to come back.

"Welcome back to the land of the living my boy.... Well so to speak." The voice was familiar but because of his state Kai still couldn't quite make it out. But soon he realized that he had an even more pressing matter. He couldn't move. He could feel his limbs, it wasn't as though he was numb, his muscles just wouldn't work. He tried moving his fingers... Mustering all he could. Nothing.

        "I may be an English and Literature teacher but, let me give you a little bit of a science lesson." It was at that moment Kai finally realized who it was.... 'Mr. Sato!?" He wanted to leap up and wrap his hand around the teacher's throat and demand an explanation but his body defied him. "The brain has many synapses that connect to tendons, muscles, and other parts of the body that make it function. However, all of those synapsis are basically electrical pulses so, if there is another pulse that interferes, they become inoperable for an undetermined amount of time. Thankfully, the effect has lasted this long."

       At this point, Kai's blood was boiling, confusion overwhelmed him as he finally willed himself enough to speak.

"Where is she!!!?" Mr. Sato put his hand on Kai's shoulder....

"Easy Kai, Kokona is fine." At that moment he felt another hand on his shoulder.

"He's telling the truth Kai, I'm fine and you really need to hear what he has to say...." More confusion erupted in his mind. Why was Mr Sato there, why did he kidnap Kokona, why was he paralyzed, how did Mr. Sato cause him to pass out in the first place?

      "Despite what you might be thinking right now Kai, I'm not your enemy but, it might help if I told you the whole truth." He came within Kai's view as he sighed. Two stories, One short, and one a bit longer but both will lead to the truth."

      "First of all, Mr. Sato began. My name is not Orion Sato, it's Klien. I used to work for the organization, for all intensive purposes, I still do but I'm mostly inactive now. I started around the same time as your mother Kai. Mai, not your real mother." Suddenly a lot of questions had their answers like, why he seemed to know so much about the organization and their missions, and why he seemed to be so concerned about helping him to understand Kokona and make them better partners. "By now, I'm sure you know about Akio Haruka." 'what did Kokona's brother have to do with all this?' "Himari Hinata broke down the firewall on that file right?" Kai couldn't keep quiet anymore.

"What does Akio have to do with this, are you the reason why that file described him killing his partner?" Kai heard a deep sigh escape the man's lips. The effect of whatever was done to him must have been warring off because he was now barely able to move his head to the side just enough to see Kokona, she had a shocked expression on her face. Obviously, this was not information that the man had shared with her earlier.

"We gave him the order because she was dangerous and not who she appeared to be."