Ren swept the room, his eye flitted between the cracks along the walls, to the strewn papers and crumbled metal table shoved against the far side of the room. There were lines falling parallel he followed them down to the ground, disappearing under pile of rubble and shards of dusty glass. He tapped the floor, uneven tiles, he tipped one over, the hard lines continued its jagged route.
"A door." Ren bent low to the ground and overturned more tiles. Most of them loose and easily moveable. He searches for its center and then found the empty stone. It was a clear azure color. He glanced up at the girl. She was speaking again. She mentioned a possible theory, overloading Vakira? He cut into his palm and fed the stone his blood. Nothing happened. He figured as much. He stood and kicked away more stones. More jagged lines, and others circling them. Jeez, dad and his puzzles. What was this for? "I think Vakira is keeping Zero until you give her what she wants. Maybe you can bait her, then overrun her absorption with a lethal dose of poison—the only problem is Zero will go down too. I think Zero had that in mind, taking her out from the inside." He punched at the wall, his strike made the stone crumble but nothing else budged. If Zero had gone with him they would have been able to gank the bitch by now. Why did he think he could do this alone? "What happens if this doesn't work Loretta? Any plan B? I've spent months with Vakira, she's not going to be tricked so easily, she can smell deceit. She'll know. We only have one shot at this and—" The room suddenly shuttered into darkness. The hum of electricity died to an eerie silence. Ren blinked into his night vision and crossed the room toward her, he took her hand in his. The only bit of light source came from the golden symbols scrawled on the walls. "Don't let the darkness fool you, you can see past it." He told her.
"Loretta?" That voice, it made Ren pause. Because it sounded too much like his own. "I've been looking for you and Zero—" Then the clone appeared, he stood at the only exit, his shirt torn and bloodied. Apparently Levi hadn't killed him. He locked eyes and his entire body shifted. "Loretta, get away from him, he's not me."
Ren held his guard, he glanced back over his shoulder, guess this was where they parted. She had to get to Vakira. Now or never. "That's not the matter here, is it?" He cocked his head, hopefully she'll get it. Then he charged toward the clone.
❈
"So boys, what will it be?" Vakira walked from end to end, her gaze shifting from the red-head to his newest partner. She hummed, the tune carried a message to its listener. It was time. "If you can't make up your mind, I'll just have to do it for you." She hesitated before the foot of the bed and faced the glass. "Mr White coat, not far from here has set up a nifty little present. One that won't do you any favors. He's doing so as we speak. If I can't get you to hand it over, I'll just take it. And this entire lab will go poof," she gestured with her hands, giggled, "Oh and if you try to stop him, he'll give a signal. That signal will bring Armegeddon down in this hell hole, so, you have ten minutes to get me the Phantom. Or you'll all join the dead Mr Kisaragi."
Levi glared through the glass, his features a mixture of loathing and doubt. My, he looked rather sexy with those brooding shoulders. She just might make him hers too. Dealing with clones and old scientists got boring. And Zero was just a smudge of ink on her prestine mirror. In her eyes, the world shined, at least that was the future. A perfect world. All hers.
Levi gripped Grell by his shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Grell made a mad dash for the door. Send in the pitiful one to fetch Loretta? Or on a failed hunt for the scientist? He wouldn't be stopped, Vakira made sure of that. Levi also turned the opposite direction and without a word disappeared out the hall.
Vakira settled on the bed, soon, soon she will have the Phantom. Then she would be complete.