7th of July 2022
Objective: Mission Shinjun. Locate and eliminate ‘Kagaku’.
Agent Aurora location: Montcourt castle, Eastern France
“Ugh, it’s so dark here. Are we almost there?” Arnaud whispered. Dawn walked in front of him, Josef behind him.
The three had entered the tunnel system under the castle, finding a way inside in all discretion.
“Ssh, I think I see light coming from there…” Dawn replied, passing a corner. She noticed a ladder and light coming from above it.
Dawn carefully climbed up and opened the hatch above it. She looked around the room from behind a couple wooden barrels. It was the kitchen. No one was around and Dawn climbed out. Her teammates followed.
“If the kitchen’s here… Then the cloakroom should be, right, there…” Dawn looked to her right into another smaller room. The three retreated inside it and found lockers, a shelf with towels stored on it and a laundry basket, filled with waiter outfits.
Dawn grabbed the suits and threw them to her colleagues. “Put those on so we can spread across the area to search for Saitoro. Arnaud goes to the gardens, Josef to the reception hall, I’ll go look on the upper floors…”
The two boys nodded and turned around as all three started changing clothes. Arnaud and Josef then left subtly to their destinations.
“Abb, you’re in position?” Dawn asked via her hidden earpiece.
“Aye! I have a sight on the whole area here!” Abby replied, hidden in the forest of the mountain nearby.
“Good. Lea, keep an eye on the entrance if Saitoro would leave, or arrive.”
“No problemo…” Lenora also was hidden in the forest next to the road, seeing the bridge, entrance, and castle.
Okay, time to go too… Dawn thought. She left without being seen via the kitchen and arrived in a large hall, chicly decorated with a red carpet and glass chandeliers to the roof.
Reception hall is right, guess I’ll go left…
After subtly passing by some scientist guests and an uncountable amount of large windows with sight on the inner court, Dawn arrived at a part of the hall with a double stairway.
Carefully looking both ways, the left part of the hall was blocked by two men in suits. Dawn was thinking. Who needs bodyguards at a scientific conference? Might’ve found our target…
A guard looked at Dawn, making the agent look the other side subtly. Dawn decided to walk back down the stairs.
I gotta pass the guards… Shame we don’t have our grappling hooks… And I don’t want a carnage yet… Must find something more, subtle…
Dawn walked back past the kitchen and heard voices. She peaked and saw a chef talking to another waiter.
“Et maintenant que vous êtes ici, allez apporter le vin là en haut. Ne vous souciez pas des gardes, ils vous laisseront passer…” The chef explained on an irritated tone.
Bring the wine up there, guards will let them through… That’s my entry ticket…
Dawn stepped in the kitchen and approached the two. The chef looked confused at her.
“Qui êtes-vo—” Dawn hit both persons on the neck, making them fall unconscious.
“I’m the intern…” Dawn took the wooden tray with the wine bottle and glass on it before heading back up.
Stay professional, act like a waiter, like you know how… Dawn thought while approaching the guards. Both looked at her in a strange way. Dawn looked them in the eyes, then back at her tray. One started to understand.
“È il vino per il signore, lo lasciamo passare,” one told the other. Dawn blinked her eyes several times.
Signore? Mister? Wh— The guards made clear Dawn had to walk past them. She did in silence, heading for the wooden double door in front of her.
Italian too. Could this be? Dawn knocked on the door.
“Entra!” A voice said. Dawn inhaled and passed the doorway.
She looked around a square room, windows on the left and front wall, libraries on the others. Red carpet, just one lamp on the large wooden desk in front of her. Dawn looked in the half-darkened atmosphere and saw someone sitting there, writing at the desk.
Okay Dawn, not the right person, so you get out here asap… Is that— As Dawn approached, the man looked up. He had an eyepatch on.
Dawn placed the tray in silence and started filling the glass with wine, before placing it next to the man.
“Merci…” He replied in an Italian accent. Dawn nodded and turned around.
Giovanni Cesario, the second-in-charge. Heard some terrible stories about him… Gotta get the hell out here quickly…
Dawn moved back to the exit door.
“Un momento!”And shit… Dawn thought and turned around. Cesario pointed at the chair on the other side of the desk without looking away from his papers.
Dawn sat down. She was a bit hesitant, but kept calm. Cesario smirked a bit and looked up at her. “Goûtez le vin pour moi… Et décrivez-le-moi.”
He put the glass in front of Dawn. Pull out your best language skills…
Dawn grabbed the glass and took a sip.
“Allora?” Cesario asked.
“I hope you didn’t drink alcohol with it during the national holiday, that could have increased the negative effects,” Dawn heard the nurse say in her head. Cesario was still waiting, and Dawn searching for the word.
“Délicieux…” Cesario then tasted it too, then snorted.
“Delizioso? Vous n’êtes pas une grande connaisseuse de vin, hehe…”
No of course not, I don’t drink…
Cesario sat back in his chair and stared at Dawn with a smirk.
“Comment vous appelez vous?” He asked.
“Deborah…”
“Deborah… Vous avez un accent interessante… De quelle région?”
Dawn was looking around subtly. Ugh, how can I know? We don’t learn geography in depth like that…
Dawn then noticed the wine bottle and had an idea.
“De, Bourgogne…”
Cesario looked satisfied, but didn’t allow Dawn to leave yet. He started searching in a drawer and took out some pictures.
“Je voudrais faire un petit test. Rien de difficile, vous verrez…”
He placed two pictures in front of her. One looked like a family picture and the other a group of friends playing a boardgame on a table.
“Famille ou amis, que trouvez-vous le plus, importante?”
Dawn pointed at one card impulsively, in complete silence. Cesario nodded slowly.
“Pas très, bavarde? C’est là où naissent les plus grandes idées, le silence…”
Cesario placed another set of pictures. One of a dissected eyeball on a bloody medical tray and a muddy mass grave with dozens of corpses visibly mutilated. Dawn wasn’t shocked from the horrors.
“Quelle image, vous dégoute le plus?” Cesario asked.
What the Hell is he showing me here? Something, is clearly wrong… She pointed at the mass grave.
“Interessante…” The man commented. He placed a third set of pictures. One showing a knife, another a pistol.
“D’après vous, qu’est-ce qui provoquerait, le plus de souffrance?”
Suffering… Most suffering…
Dawn wanted to point at the pistol, but Cesario grabbed her hand.
“Ce sont vos dernières photos. Choisissez bien…”
Dawn retracted her arm. She looked at the pictures again, then at Cesario, with his elbows on the desk. He nodded once.
Why am I playing this game… What could happen? Can’t my, cognition tell me perhaps?
Dawn stopped thinking and started feeling nervous. She looked at the desk and pointed at the knife picture.
“Wrong choice…” Cesario mumbled, grinning. Dawn’s eye’s widened. Cesario suddenly pulled a knife and planted it in Dawn’s left hand.
“Aarsh!! Fuck!!” Dawn pinched her eyes in pain and her stomach contracted. She didn’t move and looked at the knife, keeping her hand on the desk.
“You thought to be untouchable, discreet? That only the ‘enemy’ would be ripe for loss? We know more about the WSC than you think, signora Archambault!” Cesario walked around the desk, his pistol pointing at Dawn.
Count to four, inhale, count to four, exhale… Argh! Dawn thought with all her force. Cesario stood back in front of her. She looked up at him.
“After what happened to Isermann, we knew you would come for Yua. Such a previsibile pattern. I personally came to defend her…”
“Cough! You, won’t run forever! If it ain’t us today, tomorrow, someone else will kill you all!”
Cesario grinned. One of the guards entered the room too.
“Not the words you would hear from someone in your position. Look at you! Like a poor wolf puppy stuck in a bear trap!”
“Could always relate to that animal, aoush!”
“Such a shame…” Cesario pulled out the knife from Dawn’s hand. The guard behind her started attaching the captured agent’s hands behind the chair. He also removed her earpiece and broke it with his foot.
Dawn stared with her nastiest face at Cesario. “What, are you waiting for?”
Cesario smirked again. “I, was curious… to know how you are still alive, after Seth’s injections… It’s almost, magico! None of his human samples survived, except you…”
“For now…”
“I, like your cynicism, signora Archambault. Or can I call you, Dawn?”
Dawn was more focussing on her wounded hand and the pain it came with. She didn’t reply.
“But you are right. For now… We never know when we will die! But in the end, we all will be submitted to the same judge which will decide our faith!”
“The judge is for who believes in him! Fancy words without content or depth!”
The guard turned the chair around, facing the door. Cesario walked towards it.
“I would have loved to stay to talk with you, but I have some cleaning to do before Yua arrives…”
Cesario turned around. “I know what you’re thinking… I won’t kill you, for now… A più tardi!”
And he passed the door. Dawn shook around a bit, but couldn’t leave. The guard stayed in front of her with his arms crossed.
Dawn looked over her shoulder. She felt blood dripping from her hand, but it wasn’t very visible on the red carpet.
I don’t believe in Gods, ghosts, luck, or chance… But dang I could use a miracle right now…Sigh. Gotta get out of here!
Outside, Arnaud was wandering around the gardens with a tray, occasionally passing a glass of champagne to guests.
“Guys, guys!” Lenora contacted. Arnaud startled from the sound in his ear, making him drop the glasses. Some people looked weirdly at him.
“What’s going on?” Abby asked.
“Our target just arrived! She left her car and passed the bridge!”
“I won’t lose her… Arnaud, are you coming too?” Josef asked.
“Y-yes, I’m there soon…” Arnaud replied silently.
Abby, from her mountain, was continuing to look around with her binoculars. She hovered over the left part of the castle. She looked through the windows, then raised her head, looked again and widened her eyes.
“Dawn is in danger!” Abby yelled.
“W-what? What do you mean?” Arnaud replied, standing between two hedges.
“She’s, she’s attached! They captured her! There’s a guard next to her. We must get her out!” Abby ordered.
Arnaud ran further in the gardens, trying to catch a glimpse of Dawn through the window, but he couldn’t see her.
Arnaud looked on his left. The pond. It had a little wooden dock, with next to it a small raft. And on it, firework launchers. Arnaud had an idea and rushed to it.
“What are you doing?” Abby asked.
“Abby, listen. I will activate the fireworks, and you shoot the guard next to Dawn. No one will notice with the noise!”
“Okay, but it’s risky…”
“Joe, can you rush up after that?” Arnaud asked. He waited, but received no response.
“Josef?” He asked again, and again no reply.
“What are you waiting for? I have the perfect shot right now!” Abby complained.
Arnaud gulped and subtly ran to the raft. He activated all the launchers and rushed back to a safe distance.
Mere moments after, the fireworks started flying around and exploding. The guests were stunned.
“Taking the shot!” Abby whispered. She pressed the trigger, the window burst in pieces, and the guard fell to the ground.
Arnaud looked around at the people, but none noticed. He looked back at the fireworks, but noticed they started flying all on the castle and the gardens.
“Ahh, merde…”
The stunned mob turned into a panicking one as the first fires emerged on the roof and garden.
“Guys, what is happening?” Lenora asked.
A firework fell some metres from Arnaud. “The target will flee if we don’t find her immediately! Josef, where are you?”
“I got the garden! Rush inside! We’ll take care of Dawn later!” Abby ordered.
From her chair, Dawn was surprised by the sudden explosions and the dead guard, but she understood the diversion.
Ugh, now I, gotta get off this chair! My hand feels weak, but if I—
Dawn and the chair fell on the ground, and she tried to reach for the knife attached to her lower leg.
Dawn could grab it and slowly started cutting the ropes of her wrists.
“Ahh, nasty wound…” She mumbled, looking at her hand. Dawn lifted her eyes to the door and tried to open it.
“Ugh, it had to be locked! Gotta warn the rest… They don’t know Cesario is here too!”
Dawn turned back around and noticed the shattered window. She stood in the opening, looking down, then to her side, seeing a gutter. She put her hands around it and started lowering herself slowly.
The last metre, Dawn jumped and arrived back on the ground, in the gardens. She looked around.
“Where’s everyone? Ah, Gosh the fire! Focus Dawn… The mission isn’t over yet…”
Dawn looked around and noticed someone standing in the garden. She tilted her head and glared suspiciously.
The mysterious person turned around. Dawn recognized it. “Saitoro…”
Dawn approached her, but stopped as she noticed a horrific thing. The dark silhouettes that she saw so many times before started emerging around her. Dawn spun around. Saitoro approached her more.
“You are weak, Dawn… You can’t fight them, not alone…”
Dawn put her hands on her head and closed her eyes. “You are not, real! You can’t reach me!! Stay away!!”
“Give in, surrender, and I will make them disappear…”
Dawn looked at Saitoro, opening her eyes carefully. She lowered her arms too and her face went neutral again. The silhouettes stopped moving.
Dawn walked towards one, making it take a step back. She turned around and repeated the action. The second silhouette also moved back.
“They will haunt you. Anywhere, anyhow, anytime… I can, help you…”
Dawn looked back at Saitoro. She stretched an arm to Dawn.
This isn’t real. This is only in my mind… Finish it, now. Stop being afraid, you can do this…
Dawn wandered towards Saitoro who smiled at her. “You’re making the right choice.”
Dawn came closer. At arm-length distance, she pulled her knife. “I’m making my choice right…”
Her knife went deep in Saitoro’s neck. She limbed a bit backwards and looked at her hand.
“You, made the wrong decision… This will pursue you, further than life on Earth! Raaagh!!” With a magical cry, Dawn saw all the silhouettes vanish up in the air. She looked back at Saitoro, who had disappeared too.
Dawn started hearing a beep in her ear. She dropped to her knees and breathed faster.
“It’s happening again! What will you show me now? H-how did it even—”
Dawn’s vision turned colourless. She started looking around.
The large opening to the reception hall turned white.
“Okay, heading that wa— wh-what?” Dawn tilted her head to the right. A window on the upper floor of the castle was white too.
“Are you, are you, giving me a choice? What is this madness?”
“Will you, make the right decision, this time, Dawn?” Saitoro’s voice echoed in Dawn’s head.
Dawn looked around her in panic, but didn’t see anybody.
“Come on, make a choice! People could die! Ugh!” Dawn stood up and ran towards the reception hall. Her colours returned.
“Decision taken…”
In all the chaos, the whole hall was filled with toppled chairs and tables. Dawn stood in front of the hall. On her left was the speech tribune with the hall continuing behind it, on her right just the hall too.
Dawn looked up quickly and noticed a balcony from the upper floor.
“Where is everyone…”
Dawn caught a sound from her left. “Dawn!”
It was Arnaud running to her. “You’re safe… Ugh, my earpiece broke and— your hand is wounded! We gotta—”
But a sudden loud whistle caught the two’s attention. They looked up, creeped out what was standing there.
“Buona serata amicos!” Cesario enthusiastically said. Next to him, he was holding Josef.
“Josef!!” Both yelled, but he didn’t reply out of fear. Cesario had a strong grip on him. Dawn stared at him.
“We know from our reports that you were skilled, miss Archambault…”
Josef looked away in terror. Arnaud was panicking and trembling. Dawn coldly stared at Cesario, breathing faster and faster, but still controlling it.
“Unfortunately, today, you have failed… Yua survived, it was all an illusion…”
Cesario pulled up a handgun. Dawn’s eyes widened. Arnaud’s breathing pattern had nothing consistent any more.
“But your actions interfered with ours…” Cesario loaded his gun, “you wouldn’t understand…”
Dawn’s mouth felt dry, her eyes prickling.
“I, have no choice… This requires, a punishment…”
Dawn’s heartbeat went up a notch. Josef started sobbing a bit. Arnaud was on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
“I hope, to see you soon, another time… Oh, a last tip… Be careful next time you bring teammates…”
“Noooo!!”
Cesario pulled the trigger. The projectile went right through Josef’s torso, and then he fell over the flange.
“Arrivederci alla prossima!”
“Josef!!!” His two friends rushed to him. Cesario vanished.
Josef coughed. He was bleeding intensively. Arnaud became pale and hesitant.
“Help me put him against the wall!” Dawn yelled, worried. Arnaud obeyed blindly, and they dragged Josef to the nearest wall.
“We gotta call for help! Immediately!” Dawn ordered.
“I don’t have a radio! Only… Lea!” Arnaud pointed. Lenora ran to the three, worried of what she heard.
“Guys, what is— Josef!!!”
Lenora rushed down next to him, touching his cheek and chest. She saw the blood on her hand and Josef’s dying eyes.
“No! Noo! Josef, no!!!” Lenora started sobbing intensely. Josef coughed a bit. He slowly raised his arm and reached for Lenora’s cheek, rubbing it slowly.
“At least… I, told you… I, l-love you, before… g-going…”
Lenora’s eyes were red already. “No, you will live! We will help you, heal you!! Don’t leave me Josef, don’t leave me!!”
Josef tilted his head to Dawn who was standing in shock.
“You had the decisiooooon!!” A silhouette voice yelled in her mind. Dawn shook it off and saw her dying friend look at her.
“I, died… for the right cause, cough! Did, I?”
Lenora covered her crying face with her hands. Arnaud approached her for comfort, keeping her in his arms.
Dawn glared at Josef. She slowly nodded. He released one last grin. Dawn approached and kneeled next to him, as he gave her a sign.
“I hope… We leave, as friends…”
Dawn’s throat felt sore, and she only replied with another nod. Josef grabbed her hand, and shook it, slower, and slower, and slower… Until it stopped…
Dawn stared at her friend, ignoring the cries of Lenora, the nervousness of Arnaud, and Abby’s calls of the situation.
Dawn was waiting, for a tear to roll over her cheek… But it never formed. Dawn closed Josef’s eyes with her fingers, then closed hers.
“Can anyone tell me what’s going on? Goddammit guys, Abby, over!”
“You made the wrong decision…”210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLlNQ6MkWV
