Black Blood: Awakening
Introduction: Number Zero
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"Well, this is the last spot... I think. Are you sure that we'll find anyone or anything in here?"
"I don't know, but we're not stopping until we've searched every inch of this place. So... do you want to split up or not?"
"I think I'd rather stick with you right now. It looks like a maze."
As the two wanderers continued with their search, they could only wonder... who could have survived the mass deactivation of the thousands of Kyo Kusanagi clones that took place at the end of the King of Fighters '99 tournament?
It seemed nearly impossible to answer that question, considering that just about every laboratory that was dedicated to creating copies of him were pretty much abandoned and destroyed.
And ever since the downfall of NESTS in 2001, almost everything related to the organization instantly shut down, which made that an even harder question to answer.
But those facts weren't going to be enough to deter the two who were looking through one of the underground NESTS facilities.
Nothing would stop them... because they were former agents of the defunct organization.
The one in navy... Kyo-1.
And the one in crimson... Kyo-2.
It was also no surprise that they were two of the thousands of clones... and they didn't even know how they managed to survive.
But they never bothered to question it, since they were probably a bit grateful that they still existed.
At the moment, that thought wasn't important.
They had to finish their search of this underground location.
After a while, the one in the crimson school uniform began to speak, cutting the eerie silence between them.
"Huh... it doesn't even look deserted at all. Maybe we just might find something here."
"Considering that this place is virtually untouched, and almost every other lab's been destroyed? Yeah. You might be right about this," Kyo-1 muttered as he looked ahead, noticing that the linear path now came to a fork in the road of sorts, "I guess we should split up now. We'll obviously cover more ground, and nobody's going to find a way in here. At least... not easily."
"Heh. I guess that's fine by me. Just as long as it doesn't turn into a bad horror movie where one of us gets offed for splitting up."
"Oh, stop being a smartass and start looking."
"Fine, fine. You've never been the type who liked to hear a joke, anyway," Kyo-2 said and shrugged as he took the path to his left.
----
'I guess it wasn't untouched after all. It just looks worse when I keep going...' Kyo-1 thought to himself, ignoring the broken glass that he walked on, 'Maybe we won't find anything here.'
Even if he expected to find nothing, that thought still wasn't going to halt him. He knew that his former superiors didn't hide everything well, especially since they shouted their intentions to the entire world in the last King of Fighters tournament.
And to him, they were complete idiots for doing that. He once assumed that they would remain as an underground organization, slowly getting the entire world in its grip in due time...
But of course that didn't happen.
And now his thoughts almost distracted him from noticing a few papers that were strewn about, with somewhat faded print on them.
"Huh. So there was something here. Question is, will this lead to anything?" he asked himself as he picked them up and sorted through them. After he arranged them into what he thought was a proper timeline, he began to read to himself...
"Belligerent, unstable... in stasis...? No, this isn't right..." Kyo-1 mumbled as he put that page aside and read the next one...
"Let's see here... the 'experimental shadow prototype' was complete... vital signs normal, fighting ability was enhanced... apparently possesses 'killer instinct'...?"
After that, he moved on to the page that he last read...
"In stasis... in the hidden left wing? Then that means..."
----
"Well, isn't this a surprise! I thought that we wouldn't be able to find anything!" Kyo-2 said and smirked at the sight that laid before him, "I guess someone managed to avoid being deactivated, too!"
But before he could even attempt to release the captive clone, a thought stopped him in his tracks.
"Hmm. There's gotta be a reason why he wasn't released in the first place... I should find 1 and let him know about this."
As he began to turn around, a familiar voice halted him...
"So you found him, huh?"
"Wait, what? I thought that you said that you didn't know if anyone was still here."
"I actually didn't know," the navy clad clone said as he showed his partner the papers that he found earlier, "I knew nothing until those papers mentioned that odd shadow prototype."
"A prototype? So you're telling me that this guy is incomplete?"
"Well... sort of. It said that the body was complete, but his behavior was... let's just say that he was less than welcoming when he first woke up."
"Then I'm not going to bother," Kyo-2 simply said and scoffed, "What's the point if he's just going to wake up and cremate us?"
"I don't think you'll have to worry about that part, since this page said that he received a massive amount of mood stabilizers after the first test."
"Oh, nice. Then he can kill us after the drugs wear off. That'll happen in about... oh, twenty minutes after we release him? Or twenty seconds, maybe?"
"Then that's a risk that I'm willing to take," Kyo-1 said as he searched for an emergency release valve, "If you back out now, I'm not going to blame you. But you have to remember this... we came here to find anyone who was still around."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just get Lucifer Junior outta there."
"You... can really be a handful with that smartass attitude of yours," the one in navy said as he began to switch the valve that was uncovered a few moments ago, "I guess that's why I've managed to put up with you this whole time. Might as well stand back in case he breaks out on his own."
As the cocky one in red stepped back, he silently observed each action that occurred in the once neglected pod.
First, the strange liquid that kept him comatose was drained...
Next, the body was slowly being lowered...
And finally, the wires were disconnected from said body.
After a few minutes, Kyo-2 spoke again, "Well, looks like the twenty second theory went out the window. Is he going to wake up on his own?"
"Maybe. If not, I'll just break him out."
Then the one in crimson looked ahead and saw movement in the pod...
"Uh, it looks like you won't have to break him out. Better follow your own advice of standing back, 1."
"Wait, he's already awake?"
That question was instantly answered when the two former agents watched the clone angrily bang against the glass with his fists...
"Oh, yeah, those mood stabilizers definitely worked," Kyo-2 sarcastically mused, causing his partner to sigh in response.
"Cut it out, 2. Are we going to break him out or not?"
The pounding of glass soon turned into audible sounds of cracking, causing the sarcastic clone in red to say an incredibly obvious answer, "Oh. Looks like he's doing just fine on his own. But seriously... it definitely looks like he's trying a little something there."
And indeed, he was. Those fists soon began to glow with crimson flames... and with an incredibly frustrated yell, the glass finally gave out once said fists connected with it. Once the prototype had a few moments to catch himself, he simply remained on his knees, panting... and ignoring the fact that both of his hands were somewhat bleeding.
Once everything settled down, Kyo-1 was the first to speak.
"I guess asking you if you're okay would be too obvious. Want some help getting out of there?"
"I don't need it. Who the hell are you two, anyway?" the prototype tersely asked, causing Kyo-2 to scoff again.
"Yeah, nice to meet you, too. Anyway, I'm Kyo-2, and my partner with the death wish over there is Kyo-1. I'm pretty sure that you have a name of your own, right?"
"Of course I do."
"Alright, then spill it. What's your name?"
In response, the clone only chuckled as he lifted his head... and his eyes began to glow an intimidating shade of red...
"My name? My name... is Kyo Kusanagi..."
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