Sophie awoke from a nightmare that rattled her senses and was greeted to her entry into a cold, eerie, and dark chamber residing within an abandoned factory. Her arms and legs were bound in rusted metal cuffs as she sat upon a torn leather seat. In the corner of the chamber, a dimly lit candle shined a pale light upon the lion-masked man's dark trench coat. He stood in front of a desk full of surgical tools, such as scalpels, pliers, and...
Mannequin heads?
No, they weren't mannequin heads, Sophie thought. Her eyes traced around the darkened room until her toes touched an unknown item, seemingly plastic. She pulled it forward with her toe to endow it with the candle's light, and she gasped in horror after seeing what it was.
It was a small pale doll head with blood marks and dents coated around it, creepily gazing into Sophie's soul as if it was alive. Her toes kicked it away, and it collided with multiple other bloodied doll heads, arms, and legs.
Sophie held her breath. What is this place, she thought horrendously.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a blood-curdling scream on the opposite side of the chamber. It was Nobu Shibusawa, followed by a discharge of electricity that created a light source bright enough for Sophie to witness his torture on the other side. Her breathing pattern increased dramatically and rapidly, believing that she would be knocking on death's door momentarily.
"Are you afraid?" The lion-masked man asked, kicking the doll heads around the floor and moving to Sophie's flank. He held an auburn-colored doll wig in his right hand and dropped it on the floor behind him. He kneeled and gazed into Sophie with his oriental lion mask. "You don't need to be afraid. I won't let anything happen to you. I know you're looking at me thinking, this was unexpected. This man couldn't possibly be anything as I thought he was."
Sophie had no clue what the lion-masked man was referring to. The churning time singularity in his chest glowed and pulsated like a heartbeat. Her eyes stared into its core while he spoke.
The lion-masked man grabbed a doll's head from underneath him and plunged a sharpened scalpel through the back, exiting through its eye. He held the head with his palm and showed Sophie, who eyed it in disgust.
"This one's another failure," The lion-masked man said, tossing the doll head behind him. "As will all the others. But they won't be for long. I'll make this quick."
He stood up and began pacing around Sophie in a circle, placing his hands behind his back as his boots smashed against the doll pieces beneath him.
"You could do me a civic duty by supporting me in this lost cause. I had a little girl once, just like you did. She'd be about eight right now. And every time I thought of her, all I wanted was for her to be perfect. The perfect eight-year-old girl... stunning to the eyes, beautiful inside, a treasured daughter. But she was lost, and I had hell to pay for it."
Sophie was not sure if he was making up a story just for her to feel guilty. She hated liars.
"I didn't know whether or not I wanted her back, or if I wanted someone else entirely. Would they be as perfect as her, I wondered. Would they be as beautiful? Stunning? Treasured? So, I thought to myself, what if I were to make the perfect daughter?"
He stopped in front of the candle and held it closer to Sophie for her to unveil the horror. Piles and piles of cracked and broken doll body parts were scattered across the chamber. Mountains of heads with their eyes poked out with slash marks indicated that the lion-masked man was keen on perfection. This disturbed Sophie greatly. She didn't know that her enemy would be so psychotic in a mission of this caliber.
"As you can see, none of it paid off. Head upon head. Eyes upon eyes. Body parts soaked in paint. I realized that I could never replace my daughter. But if I were to foster a real body, the perfect body, the beautiful and treasurable body, then I would never have to do this again. I realized that I no longer had to work for Polycyclone, and they could never get away with telling me what to do. I have an excuse to escape."
Don't tell me he's... Sophie gulped, envisioning the horrors of his true intentions.
The lion-masked man placed the candle back on the table and kneeled in front of Sophie. "That's why I realized that Starrosa was the perfect match. It never crossed my mind when I had taken her memory fragment. Now, I deeply and bitterly regret my decision. Would you please do me this civic duty and tell me where she-"
"No," Sophie spat. Despite her being held in a chamber about to possibly be tortured for information, she did not want to sacrifice Star and the others. She couldn't. She had a moral code that she had to follow. "You missed your chance. It's not my responsibility anymore."
The lion-masked man looked down at his knees and placed his palms on the side of his head. In less than a second, the man slammed his fist down on the doll parts underneath him, creating a loud and booming sound that flinched Sophie in fear. The man clenched his gloved fists and shook his head. "I... I see," He said. "I understand your decision. I'm nothing but a monster to you. How could you trust me, am I correct? What I did to you and your friend will forever be placed in your mind as a sign of mistrust unless I earn it back."
"You won't learn shit," Sophie said. "I'll never forgive you."
The lion-masked man placed his hands on the sides of his mask. Steam exuded from both sides as he pressed down upon two clamps to release it. He removed his mask and dropped it on the ground, watching it as it spun around and came to a halt. A pale and flawless-skinned man with a slender jawline met his eyes with Sophie's, completely turning her expectations of how he appeared into dust. He had slicked-back wavy silver hair and a mole on the side of his chin. He stared into Sophie with a light and friendly smile, although Sophie knew that this was just a trick to use his attractive features to win her over.
"I can try," The man said clearly. His voice was no longer filtered by the lion mask's modulator. "While you sit here, think about the person on the other side of this factory. He meant a great deal to you, did he not? I could never stop hearing him talking about you. Sophie, he said. Sophie, he pleaded. He was always thinking about you, even in his pathetic gang."
He... did...? Sophie was speechless. After everything that Nobu had done and all the pain that he inflicted upon her, she found it impossible to believe. Perhaps it was another lie that the man was using against her to guilt-trip her mind.
"If you don't believe me, you have a chance to ask him if you make the right decision tonight," The man said, standing up from his kneeled position. "Let's start with some icebreakers. I am Baron. And you, I know you. Sophie, correct? Unless I was blind and I'm talking to a completely different person, then please say it is so."
Sophie remained idle, glaring into his eyes with hatred.
Baron chuckled and stood up to pace around. "The silent type, I like it. But I assure you that everything that I stated in this exact room was true before I introduced myself. My daughter is dead. I need a replacement. And I am willing to set you and Shibusawa free if you deliver her to me. Both of you will earn your freedom, and we will never cross paths again, I assure you. All I want is this chance at life again, ensuring perfection in a life that I never grew up with. Won't you grant me this wish to save both you and your childhood friend?"
"He isn't my friend," Sophie blatantly admitted. "Friends don't do what he did to me."
"You're right," Baron agreed. "After all, I was there on that night it all happened. I saw everything that happened to you, and I agree meeting you again on these terms was quite nostalgic."
"You... you were there!?" Sophie cried, pulling her body forward to lash out. "You son of a bitch. How could you do that to my friend? How could you take her and use her like a tool!?"
"I'm not one to insert myself in conversations or decisions, but that's very hypocritical coming from someone like you. Or so I've heard. I know a great deal about you from Shibusawa and that girl. I hear it all the time, and so have the others."
Sophie panted, losing her breath after being hit with the truth. She tossed away Ash like trash, and he had every right to scold her for it.
"That girl is beyond important," Baron admitted. "Her mind is the key to our future. But we've lost them and we want to put her back together. That is our goal. That is why I need the girl," He kneeled again, eyeing Sophie with a concerned gaze. "If you give me the girl and save my daughter, I will give her back to you, no questions asked."
"WHERE IS SHE!?" Sophie cried, saliva spitting everywhere.
"Relax. She is safe. But she is in custody, and I have no jurisdiction over what happens to her at the moment. But if you give me the girl, I can discover it all for you. Consider it a parting gift."
Nobu's ear-splitting cries caught Sophie off guard once again. She looked down at the doll heads scattered across the chamber and compared the things that she witnessed with the claims that Baron was making. None of it matched up. There was no chance that he was sane in his declaration, and she was not buying any of it. Even if the chance at getting Ash back was in front of her, she still would not sacrifice anyone for it.
Sophie held her breath and let it all out in a single sentence. "Kiss my ass." She emphasized.
"Sophie..." Baron whispered, shaking his head with a curt frown.
"I know what kind of person you are. Maybe on the outside, you have good intentions, but inside, I know you're a piece of shit. Torturing Nobu? Painting replicas of a perfect doll? Kidnapping a little girl? You're insane, and you don't deserve any of my help."
Baron nodded in understanding and bit his lower lip. He stood up. The joints on his knees cracked as he stretched them out. In a swift motion, he held his left hand out and began strangling Sophie at full force. His eyes widened and his teeth clenched, revealing his insanity through every second. Sophie coughed and struggled to breathe with his pressure.
"Very bold accusations you have going on here," Baron admitted. "Very well. Then I have other means of getting what I want."
"Sir," One of the Seething Vipers entered the chamber, bowing in respect. "Shibusawa cracked. You'll want to hear this."
Baron released his grip on Sophie's throat. He placed his lion mask back on and approached the exit to the chamber. He did not turn back to Sophie or utter a word as he left the area. Sophie's head bent down for several seconds as Baron and the Seething Vipers vanished.
"Damn it," Sophie whispered, closing her eyes shut in regrets. It never would have come to this if she had never fallen for the obvious trap that was Ash's location. Her eagerness to fix the situation that she had caused years ago created the pandemonium of her capture. She shook her head in denial, wishing that she had been more careful. "Damn it, damn it, damn-"
A noise startled Sophie from behind. She gasped, turning her head around as far as she could to face the shadows. Clutters of the mannequin pieces swept through the filth-ridden tiled floors. She fidgeted her hands through the metal cuffs securing her tightly, urging her to move away from the unknown chaos. She exhaled a sharp breath and turned back in front, believing that they were executing her on the spot for failing to cooperate.
The factory walls behind her melted from existence as rainbow-schemed energy vaporized them entirely. Melted rust plopped onto the floors, revealing a young boy with a glowing gauntlet presumably responsible for the mayhem. He stepped into the factory with a hood shrouding his eyes in mystery. He twisted the gauntlet and activated it again, completely reversing the destruction of the factory walls through time reversal.
"G-Goro?" Sophie hissed, checking her surroundings for any of the Seething Vipers patrolling the area. She turned back and watched Goro remove his hoodie. "What are you doing here?"
"What does it look like? You're a daft idiot, you realize that?" Goro exclaimed, hovering his gauntlet over Sophie's metal cuffs. "If you let your emotions control you, then you will never survive or see the light of day ever again. Do you want that for Starrosa?"
"N-no..." Sophie muttered, turning away as Goro loosened the cuffs with the gauntlet's power. "I... I shouldn't have fallen for it. I let my emotions get the better of me."
"Thank you for admitting it," Goro replied, releasing the cuffs off of Sophie's wrists. "Let's get out of here before your foolishness gets us both killed."
Sophie gasped at Goro's request, turning to face the cell door in front of her. The mannequin heads were stockpiled around the ground, and she dreamed of the nightmare that Nobu would face as his punishment. She couldn't leave him to die. She couldn't tell if he had been genuine in his regrets, or if he was only appeasing and baiting her for Baron's trap.
"What are you waiting for?" Goro asked, tossing the cuffs to the ground.
"I..." Sophie shook her head in denial. "I can't leave him." She said.
"Sophie, what did we just talk about?!" Goro hissed.
"I know, I know!" Sophie cried. "But... he's my friend. Even if he betrayed me years ago... I have to learn to forgive him. It's just something I have to do. It's just who I am."
Goro swept through the mannequin heads and seized control of Sophie's hands with his omega-class gauntlet. The time singularity froze Sophie's hands in an invisible energy bind. Sophie struggled to escape. "Do you want to see Starrosa again, or do you want to abandon your life for someone who abandoned you before?" Goro asked. "If you don't want to leave, then you can stay here and suffer the consequences. Don't be a fool, Sophie. We both know that-"
Footsteps echoed through the abandoned factory's hallway. Goro released the bindings on Sophie's hands and hid in the corner of the room. Sophie gulped in fear and pretended that her metal cuffs were bound by hiding her hands behind the chair. A few seconds passed as the echoing of the footsteps stopped, and a Seething Viper approached the door to check on her condition.
"Talking to yourself, are we?" The Seething Viper's muffled voice came as horrendously as the scenery was. He opened the door and clacked the bars with his gauntlet's blade. "Feels like a million years ever since the dream happened. And now, look at where we are."
"The dream? What are you talking about?" Sophie asked.
"Mr. Stormfield's dream," The Seething Viper replied. "The promise of paradise into another land rich with life. To build a new nation, fit for those only responsible for its quality and survival. A land that you would never belong in for how filthy and tenacious you are. Someone like you, especially... could never be in the same world as our queen. The beautiful and young, Queen Viper."
"Queen... Viper?" Sophie said.
"The cornerstone of our birth. The one that holds the key ideals to our survival. The collaboration between Queen Viper and Mr. Stormfield is one of the most ingenious acts in this world to have ever happened. And now, they will usher in a new world fit for us."
The viper entered the room without noticing Goro in the corner. He kneeled and grabbed Sophie by the throat. He studied Sophie's slender and attractive face dirtied by the conditions of her capture in the abandoned factory. He removed his grip on her throat and began caressing her cheek in a seductive manner. "You are not invited. But, you may stay with me, if you would like."
Sophie repressed her utter disgust by putting on a fake smile to approve of his fiendish desires. "You're into filth, I guess?" She asked.
"Very much," The Seething Viper replied. "In fact, I don't mind getting a little dirtier," He turned to Sophie's white dress shirt and unbuttoned the top three. He then pulled the side off to expose her shoulder and light green frilled brassiere. "You belong with me now. We don't need a dream of that degree to survive. We can come together and be as one."
Sophie leaned in and continued to smile as a ruse. She inhaled a deep breath before letting her emotions out. "Go. Fuck. Yourself." She whispered.
Goro seized control of the viper's movement with the time singularity on his omega gauntlet. Sophie grabbed the viper's blade and pierced through his neck. The blade slid through his neck as if nothing was there to stop it from moving through. Sophie escaped the chair and watched as the viper remained frozen with the blade pierced through. Goro moved in front of Sophie as she rebuttoned her dirtied dress shirt.
The time singularity was deactivated. The viper and the blade were now physical subjects, existing as one. The serrated blade was through the viper's throat, lodged in without a reason for its existence through his point of view. From his eyes, he had Sophie by the throat, ready to unite her with his ideals. But a split second later, she had vanished and ended up with his weapon through him. He choked on his blood before collapsing and convulsing to his utter demise.
"Disgusting piece of shit," Sophie muttered, regaining her composure. "Thanks for having my back, but why didn't you do that sooner? And what even was that?"
"Information," Goro admitted. "His mouth was worthy of my time. It seems that Rion Stormfield truly is still alive, even after being assassinated."
"No, he's not," Sophie said, remembering Nobu's words. "He's dead. Apparently, he has a brother."
"A brother?" Goro asked. "Well, that makes things all the more worse, I suppose."
"That weapon you have there," Sophie mentioned, pointing at the omega-class firearm. "Can it... tear through dimensions like we did before to escape from the train?"
"I haven't tested it yet, but hypothetically speaking, it should work," Goro said. He turned to face Sophie who lightly smirked with an unrealistic idea surging through her mind. She pointed her finger at him and lightly chuckled. He immediately denied it by sighing and turning away. "No, no, no, we are not using it to save... him."
"Just think of it like this then," Sophie tried to convince him. "We both win in this case. If he really has changed... then he could lead me to Ash, my childhood friend. I need him for that. And if he can't, then you can somehow do something with him to have him reveal his secrets."
"What good would that do? A dying man with a cross on his head won't talk. If we take him, the vipers will hunt us down until we give him up."
"They won't know where we are. Trust me. With that weapon, we can tear through the dimensions and-"
"You sure talk a lot, but you have no idea what you're getting yourself into," Goro admitted, pressing a button on the omega-class gauntlet. The weapon deactivated itself and retracted from his hand, reversing into a white metallic wristband that he tossed toward Sophie's left wrist. It attached to itself like a powerful magnet and automatically activated itself. "If you truly want this, then I have no intentions of stopping you. But this is your fate."
The gauntlet reactivated itself, leading to the arrival of the time singularity's powers in Sophie's possession. White metallic and metal fibers coated Sophie's slender hands, fitting a perfect match for her comfort. She clenched her left hand and examined the entrance to the opened cell.
"So be it." She said.