With the partial confirmation that, due to the hair and the illogical plastic bag, the murderer of Gias and the attempted murder of Shinji is near definitely the faceless. The only question that remains is why? Why go through all of that effort to take out Shinji?
Tsumi's mind couldn't help but go back to one clear reason to take out Shinji.
Does the faceless want to be the Polar Eye? Why?
Tsumi had already checked what the Polar Eye does. They make a speech for the school, fight as the final contestant in the tournament and they are gifted with a great title and honour that would likely take them to hero stardom, none of which seems to be something that the faceless could make immediate use of.
Either way, Tsumi came to a possibility that could exist.
What if there is something else about the Polaratus that we can't see but it does?
In that case then it must mean that the faceless has likely found out everything about Polaris. It might've even been down here, under the school. After all, it had scrambled other cameras and it had a couple months to do it unlike them who only arrived a couple weeks ago.
Whoever is the Polar Eye will likely be targeted, unless it's whoever the faceless wants.
Tsumi left the office. Nothing left for him to find and continued to explore the facility. Creeping around a few more corridors, Tsumi couldn't help but notice the size of these hallways. They were huge, big enough for a van to drive through. It might mean nothing but Tsumi couldn't help but make a mental note of it.
Finally reaching a few signs, he noticed one that got his attention.
"Main Floor Lab." he muttered.
- - -
Lemon was explained the ins and outs of the Polaratus by Litis and the functions of the Polar Eye. After the first part of the evening's excitement, Lemon couldn't help but start to become bored.
It was fun while it lasted. I don't want Dahlia to participate. Whoever made that mat trap clearly is desperate for the Polar Eye and I'd rather not have to deal with a psycho student or tiger parents desperate for their child to compete. On top of that I'd rather keep Dahlia's abilities on the down low.
Once Litis finished, he said that all those in the Highlights class needed to attend.
At that, 'Tsumi' did not hesitate but to immediately raise his hand, waiting for Litis to react. Litis, expecting this, already answered 'Tsumi's' question before he could say it.
"Mr and Mrs Novitin, I know you had mentioned not wanting your daughter to attend but I believe that given a recent incident involving her, the Polaratus would be the perfect time to encourage her to hone and perfect her abilities for the world stage." he answered the unsaid question gleefully.
"We are just very concerned for our little girl." worried 'Tsumi'.
A short chuckle could be heard coming from Zanis. Lemon found it hard to not immediately jump on it, but she knew that he was likely agreeing with her. And though Dahlia is still quite young, the polyad didn't like when people underestimated the capabilities of children.
Litis remained firm though. "Yes well Mr Novitin I have made it mandatory, so no exceptions will be made."
Shit. thought Lemon as she dreaded having to push her way through roaring crowds just to find a bad seat wedged between two loud and obnoxious crowd goers as she had done a few times in her past. She hated stadiums.
"But beyond the student's participation, we also have to discuss the position of Polar Eye. As many of you know, Shinji Yunata was selected for the role due to his stellar reputation and grades but due to his hospitalisation, we are looking for another." the principal explained.
"So as most of your children have an equal amount of excellent grades, I'd like to put the Polar Eye position to a vote. I believe there are already two students who are keen for the position?"
"Ms Xumi and Mr Tillion." noted Suzuki.
There was a slight uneasiness that came across Litis when he heard the second name. "If that's the case, then I'd be ecstatic for everyone to discuss for a moment your decision before we continue on with the voting. Oh! And it's only one vote per family!"
As once again the families split up, Tillion heads to both Yunata and Hambana, pushing for them to elect his son in a passive-aggressive manner. Once he was finished with them, he passed Lemon, making a short remark.
"It's fine if you don't want your daughter to compete, I heard she can only go ten seconds before she faints so she'll only get half a round in anyway."
His words grated on Lemon's last normal brain cell and it was a crash as she finally had enough of the passive aggressiveness coming from the taunter.
That's it! Lemon shouted in her mind. She had spent her time at Polaris discouraging Dahlia from participating or even thinking about the Polaratus. One part was she didn't want a young girl who clearly had no hold of her ability be thrust into a competition that judges it, the other smaller part was her hating stadiums and crowds… okay a larger part of her was not wanting to have to go into a crowd, but she was still concerned for Dahlia.
But if you're going to be an ass about this, and the fact that I'm forced into this situation anyway, might as well go all out huh? Ruin this country's traditions too.
And with an immediate shout to Litis who was approaching her and 'Tsumi' (she already knew what he was going to ask) she raised her hand and immediately shouted out something that would likely shake the culture of the Polar Eye altogether.
"Why should we vote on the Polar Eye? Why not make them whoever wins the tournament?" Lemon shouted.
Everyone paused at what she said out loud. Even the people on call quieted down to make sure they heard what she yelled correctly. Litis seemed a bit mixed on what she was trying to do and was about to speak but Lemon continued.
"I mean, the Polar Eye is meant to be the best of the best, right? Not a popularity contest. If the best candidate is gone, why not have the remaining students fight to prove themselves?" She explained her reasoning.
Now one might say that what Lemon was doing was purely emotional and illogical but she had a plan here. Honestly she did.
Because this would be the worst case scenario for the faceless. If they are keen on being the Polar Eye, they'll have to properly fight for it. And if they fight for it, there's a chance they get injured. Not just it but all of the students, live on TV. Best part is it can't just back out either if its plan hinges on the Polar Eye.
"Mrs. Novitin…" began Litis.
She didn't let him continue. "Just think about it. I mean why let us decide who gets this highly prestigious position when we can have it earned through merit? After all, merit is the lifeblood of Polaris, isn't it?"
She made sure that last line was said directly to Litis who seemed to be growing more conflicted. Eventually he did speak.
"Mrs. Novitin. I know that this would be the exciting thing to do but…"
"But what, Litis? I think it would be the most entertaining, the best for your shareholders and best for the students. Imagine it, the best hero candidates against each other, showing who will be the best when they come of age!" Lemon selled dramatically.
"Still. There are some traditions to follow." the less cheery man said firmly. "If the original Polar Eye becomes out of commission, we must select a new one by vote."
"Then why not this?" Lemon suggested. "Let's put this up to a vote. If you want one specific person to be the Polar Eye? Vote for them. If you want the position to be up to skill, vote for it."
The shining hero looked ready to argue with her but after thinking for a moment he looked somewhat convinced over something. It didn't look like he believed her 'reasons' for this idea but was coming to a different conclusion. Probably the same reason why he wants Dahlia to be the Eye.
Either way it worked in her favor.
"Alright," he answered. "We can have this alternative. If this is what everyone else wants, we can make it happen."
A sly smile came over the polyad and many would think it was because of her idea being accepted but it was actually due to the man who was silently seething to the side.
Zanis seemed to be neither pleased nor upset at the proclamation and just continued to call to talk with the absent parents but she could tell he was annoyed by her suggestion.
Keep underestimating me. thought Lemon as she got up and began to move to where the confectionery was kept. It was an array of biscuits, tea and coffee which Lemon reached for immediately. She poured cups of tea and coffee, enough for the three people in the room that aren't Zanis or the faculty, and sprinkled some pollen from her hands.
Lophophora tillitusi. A manipulative hallucinogenic. I put some in Litis' coffee when he visited us in case he turned, now it can be used again here.
Lemon carried the drinks over to Hambana and Yunata, Zanis having moved on and now trying to convince Debore. Approaching the two, Lemon started by acting coyly.
"Hi, Mr. Hambana, Mrs Yunata, how are both of you doing?" she said in her feigned sickly sweet voice.
"Oh! Mrs Novitin, I am good. Hey, were you serious about your suggestion?" questioned Hambana with a friendly smile.
Yunata did not seem to want to engage, keeping her stoic face and her readable thoughts close to her chest. Expected for a police officer.
"Why? Do you think your daughter has a chance of being the Polar Eye through this?" she wondered.
"Well… Perhaps, I'm not sure." he answered. "She had told me her thoughts on it after her… bout of sickness. It's just that-"
"Just that what?"
"Just.. she's.." he had a face like it was going through a bunch of excuses. It seems he didn't want to say anything that might reveal the reason why his daughter has been absent. Even though Lemon knew why all too well. He just settled on giving up. "Nevermind."
"Great. Tea, coffee?" Lemon said as she offered a cup to Hambana.
"Um, tea please." Hambana said meekly as he took a cup to drink.
"You Mrs Yunata?" the polyad asked, turning to her.
Lemon held a paper cup filled with coffee to Yunata, expecting her to take it. Yunata seemed to think over whether to take the cup or not before she was forced to take it by the purple haired woman insistently pushing it into her chest.
"Sorry my hand was getting tired. So Mr Hambana, Mrs Yunata, I think you both know why I am here." Lemon started.
"Well you know that Zanis already came to us with the same thing." affirmed Hambana.
"Yep well, I'm not going to be all politician like and just straight up say that let's be honest, no one in this room really wants Zanis Tillion to win, right?" she argued.
Lemon didn't know much about the ins and outs of Polaris but she did know that anyone with an attitude like Zanis was likely to be more hated than loved. She also knew that more often than not, no one liked things that were one sided. Everyone had a bit of contrarian in them so people probably didn't want him to win but will vote because there's no other choice.
Hambana seemed to agree. "Well.. I'm not sure, I mean I don't like the guy but.."
"Come on Mr Hambana!" Lemon said loudly. "Are you really going to let that guy muscle your votes out of you?"
Hambana sighed as he took a sip of the tea and while it would be difficult to notice for most, Lemon could immediately see the subtle dilation of Hamabana's pupils once the pollen hits his system.
"Mrs Novitin," started Yunata, "It would be better if you would leave us to think."
Hambana says, "Yeah but Mrs Yunata, Lemon is right. We can't just allow Zanis' son to take the position nearly uncontested. I like her idea."
"Which is why I was planning to go with Ms Xumi." the officer argued.
Lemon noticed that Yunata had yet to touch her drink so she turns to her and uses what she said to pressure her.
"Mrs Yunata, while I also was planning to vote for Ms Xumi at first, I feel like it would be far better to have the Polar Eye be something that's earned rather than given, don't you think?" She explained her reasoning again.
It did make sense but then again, it's hard to change traditions so easily but with a room of a few people and some hallucinogens anything was possible. She just needed to push.
"I don't think so." replied Yunata, at which Lemon immediately took a drink of some coffee in hopes of convincing Yunata to do the same which she didn't.
Does she know about the pollen? Or is she just not a fan of coffee?
"Well if that's the case then I hope that you will reconsider. Enjoy your coffee." Lemon said cheerfully.
She walked away, taking her last cup with poisoned coffee to Mr Debore, who was not in his seat. The polyad looked around urgently and could see that he was over by the fake Tsumi, staring him down as he no doubt had been trying to talk to him for the better part of her conversation only for 'Tsumi' to not reply.
"Ah! Sorry Mr Debore!" Lemon panicked "My husband is just feeling a bit tired at the moment. He has been working hard the last few days on a pet project he was doing."
She took a seat next to 'Tsumi' and immediately forced him to shift a little and lean in to whisper into Lemon's ear.
"Oh yes honey, sorry Mr Debore. What is it you were asking?" she turned back to the man.
Debore kept his focus on 'Tsumi' as if he was trying to figure out something before he finally tore his attention away to speak to her.
"I was asking your husband about your daughter." he stated. His voice was old and had this twang in it that she couldn't quite place. He definitely sounded like he was old money and even had the wrinkles to prove it.
"That's nice to hear. Coffee?" Lemon holds the coffee out again, intending for it to be hard to reject.
"No." he denied bluntly.
"That's fine." Lemon sets down the cup on the floor, looking dejected.
Debore continued the conversation. "So what is it you wanted to know about our daughter? Also are you planning to vote on my decision?"
"I wanted to hear about her and her relation to my son."
Okay… why?
"As far as I know my daughter and your son Rolo are just friends. Why is there something I'm not aware of?" Lemon questioned.
"No, it's just he had told me he had gone on a date with her." he explained.
"Oh right. Well she enjoyed it but it didn't seem like she wanted to pursue that any further than just a single date." the polyad stated.
Debore seemed to distrust her words though they were technically true, at least that's what Lemon believed. Any relationship Dahlia could have would only last until she departs this world so going any further would just end with both parties getting hurt.
"I had also heard that your daughter had disarmed nearly every other classmate in her class. Including my son." he stated.
"That was an accident but she could totally do it again I'm sure if she wanted." she clarified.
"Interesting." he uttered.
What the hell does that mean?
"Anything I can say to convince you to take my side over Zanis', Mr Debore?" asked Lemon hopefully.
"No." he said as he stood up and walked back to his seat without the drink.
Short and pointless. Just like my attempt.
Lemon leaned back in her chair, contemplating if she even had a chance at winning.
Assuming I can't vote for myself, that makes exactly one, maybe two people voting for Dahlia. Yep this is going to be annoying if I lose.
There was of course the chance she could win due to the majority vote being split between Tenha and Zannos. If that were the case she would just barely win maybe. Either way, she wanted to win this out of principle more than it being an actual idea, she hated losing especially when it's to someone like Zanos.
Lemon contemplated just gassing the room with pollen but that would be noticed immediately.
But should I just do it? I talked too much game and the idea isn't half bad.
She twiddled her thumbs, small dustings of pollen scratched out from her fingers as she weighed the pros and cons of her dilemma.
I can't. I promised Alice I wouldn't gas another classroom again…
That was a really fun day though. That brat didn't know what hit him.
Her reminiscing was interrupted when Litis called for everyone to return to their seats for the voting. Whilst she was distracted, she hadn't noticed that Litis had just gotten off the phone with someone but her priorities were elsewhere.
If I don't win I should just throw my cup in his face. Hot coffee…
"Now then. We will go through our voting now, starting with those on call. Mr and Mrs Xumi?" he asked the couple.
"Our vote is for Tansol Hilten." they replied.
"Great. Mr Harthkin?"
"Tenha Xumi." the gentle looking man on the screen stated.
"Mr and Mrs Hilten?"
"Zannos Tillion." the couple answered.
"And finally the Cacious'?"
"Tillion as well." they stated.
How long does it take to go to court over hot coffee? Would I get arrested immediately? Probably. What if I accidentally spill it then…
"Now then. Those here in Polaris, first off. Mr Hambana?" he turned to the man.
"Lemon Novitin has my vote!" he proclaimed.
"Fantastic enthusiasm! Mr Tillion?" he asked.
He looked briefly over at Lemon, making sure she noticed before he casted his vote.
"Saeki." he said, a throwaway vote meant to not give Tenha or Lemon any lead.
I could walk up.. Congratulate him then just trip and drench him in it. Ruin that suit of his.
"Mrs Yunata?" Litis asked.
"Tenha Xumi." she replied.
"Mr and Mrs Novitin?" he turned to them.
Yeah that sounds- oh! "I can't vote for myself can I?" she stammered a little.
"No, Mrs Novitin." he denied.
"Right… Rolo then." she uttered before going back to her thoughts.
"And finally, Mr Debore?"
"Mrs. Novitin's suggestion.."
What. Lemon perked up when she heard her name said for the second time. It was a three way tie between her, Tenha and Zannos.
Litis smiled greater than normal. "Well it would appear that we need a tiebreaker for all of-"
"I would like to vote for Dahlia Novitin." a voice in the doorway said.
Lemon didn't recognise that voice but she did her face as she was entering the classroom. Standing there, breathless, was Dr. Saeki. Heaving like she just sprinted a few flights of stairs to get here.
"Dr Saeki! Nice of you to join us!" exclaimed Litis happily.
"Yes, *huff* I was held back." she uttered.
Lemon smiled cheekily towards Zanis, his face twisting to rage as he stood up, his chair scraping against the floor and turning to Litis.
"I do not accept this result!" he argued.
"Well actually, Zanis," Lemon started. "It's a majority vote so, yeah sit down."
Eat that you kale headed bastard!
"I do have to agree. It was a majority vote and Mrs Novitin's suggestion had won." Litis decided, taking the vote and practically cementing that this was happening.
Zanis eyebrow twisted a little before he stormed out of the room, not seeing the reason for being here any longer. Lemon would be giggling if she wasn't meant to be a respectable parent right now, but oh boy she was laughing away in her mind.
Relishing in her surprise win, she leaned in, her full attention on what Litis will say next.
"Now. Seeing as how Mrs Novitin's suggestion had won, we will have to make some changes to the Polaratus. It will take sometime before we can get back to you on that but I hope that you will tell your students to use their remaining time between now and the event to prepare."
Everyone seemed to be happy with that suggestion. Or at least no one wanted to speak out on it. Either way things were going well for Lemon. She just hoped the night would end well for Tsumi too.
- - -
Looking in, Tsumi checked the inside of the lab and was surprised at what he saw. He knew that there was something big under the academy but never did he think it was going to be this extreme. The place called the 'Main Lab' was a huge metal lined room with several smaller rooms with glass walls to see into. Heavy machinery buzzing away with results from calculations not yet known being written onto a database.
This is quite the science project the academy is having. Wonder if the parents know this is where their tuition is going.
The room was mostly devoid of people with the exception of a few patrolling watchmen and a woman at the centre of the room, typing away to a huge console which looks intentionally placed so that it is visible no matter where you stand in the room.
Once he had noticed a place to duck behind, Tsumi carefully made his way towards a steel column which stretched up to the ceiling. He then pulled out a small circular machine that he placed the underside of against the column. After meddling with some buttons, the machine starts and Tsumi, holding onto a handle on the mechanism, rapidly zoomed up the column to the high ceiling above.
Once on the ceiling, Tsumi had the gadget move to the roof of the room and hang on as he glided along it to the centre of the room, above the lady and the console.
This equipment they're using.. Stuff like this must be used frequently. A lot of these rooms are similar. I guess I hit the quiet hour.
Looking down at the woman, she was clearly a scientist of some kind and was currently working on the console, which was connected to Tsumi's and Lemon's laptop.
There you are. Hopefully she hasn't gotten in yet.
The man focused on her typing. A lot of it was nonsense to him but after a bit of understanding he realised that she was writing a program.
Great she's still making her way through Rika's encryption, now to separate her from the laptop..
Looking down from his position, he searched around the room for anything that could get the woman to leave the laptop without being overt.
Not a lot of options.
Anything that could cause her to step away would likely be checked by the watchmen instead of her, so an audible distraction is not on the table. He could turn on a computer, have it play music after a while, that way it would draw her attention from it being a computer matter.
Let's do that.
Tsumi made his way above and over one of the glass rooms and dropped down when the watchmen weren't looking. Skillfully he entered the room at which he noticed something about these glass rooms. A control panel that does some interesting things.
I can make the walls opaque? Well this is a lot better than just music.
Tsumi set the room to change and quickly left to make his way back to the ceiling. It wasn't long before a watchman noticed the room and called out to the scientist in the centre.
"Dr Saeki, did you change Lab 4's settings?" he shouted, earning everyone's attention.
The black haired scientist looked up, "No, I-"
She paused as soon as she saw the glass room was indeed opaque. Quickly she closed the console and called for the other watchmen to join her. They all entered into the room at which Tsumi immediately drops down over the console and unplugged the laptop.
Or at least he tried to.
It's stuck on. Does it need to be decoupled from the console?
Quickly the opaque room returned to being clear, causing Tsumi to duck behind the console to hide. The people in the room stepped out, Dr Saeki looking confused.
"It must've been another malfunction," said a watchman.
"Yes.." agreed Saeki. "Nothing seemed missing."
Her and the watchmen walked to the console, Tsumi getting ready to find an opening when a noise caused him to almost jitter.
*Voom. Voom. Voom.*
It was a phone ringing on silent but thankfully it wasn't his as Dr Saeki is the one who answered her phone.
"Yes Litis?" she says.
"..."
"No. This laptop has top grade encryption. I don't even recognise the language it uses." she said.
"..."
"I'm taking another crack at it but if that fails, we'll have to open up the storage drive and work our way from there." she explained.
"..."
"A vote? Right now? The Novitins… Yes.. I'll get there as fast as possible."
She hung up and rushed to the console to close it down. Locking it so that no one could access it.
"All of you return to the security office, I'll be back in thirty minutes." she instructed, turning to practically run out of the lab, whereever she needing to be being urgent.
"You heard her, everyone back to the office." a watchman ordered.
All of them left the lab, leaving Tsumi alone as he peeked to see if they were really gone.
Finally some time to myself.
He shot up and rushed to the console. The screen lighting up he was met with a login page which he immediately bypassed thanks to Rika's infiltrator program. Poking inside, he looked for what Dr Saeki was working on and found the program she was using to break into the laptop.
Here we go… delete that. Now let's disconnect the laptop.
With a click the wires locking in the laptop released and he took it into his arms. Before he could leave however, he noticed a file was open that had 'Novitin' as its name.
I should already have the file on the drive but I have the time.
Opening the file it was a long analysis of all three of their habits, movements and most alarming of all. Their genetic data.
Seems I was right. But it seems we weren't the only one.
Looking through other files randomly he could see that there is a database containing thousands of peoples data, nearly everyone who has visited the island. Even tourists and that's when he realised where they were getting the data from.
The checkpoint. Should've thought of that. Advanced technology though if they can get this much data from just a scanner. Then again, it's a big scanner that the person willingling steps into.
Looking further at his file, he noticed that notes have been made about all three of them.
With Lemon being a polyad, while he and Dahlia were human from other worlds, their data was naturally very off compared to the trend, Lemon's being immediately noticed as being a plant and not a mammal.
That one probably threw them for a loop.
Continuing to this it was normal, at least normal it is for another world but it was Dahlia's that was the most strange, even to Tsumi. While the data made no sense to Tsumi, the observation notes did.
'D. Novitin data shows an alarming difference than any other sample in known history. According to comparison with other samples, D. Novitin is not of the Animalia Kingdom, the Plantae Kingdom or any other kingdom on record. Requires verification.'
So what they're saying is, is Dahlia not human? Or even anything? That's another question for Alice.
Looking further, Tsumi noticed a note made by Litis himself.
'If possible, we should consider her for the HELIOS project as well.'
HELIOS?
Looking for that name he found an application called 'HELIOS-19' on Saeki's desktop. Opening it he was given a live feed of a giant vat where within floated a horrific sight for anyone wasn't prepared.
Hello questionable ethics.
Within was a mass of unknown flesh gliding around in the liquids, pulsating and humming. Wires and tubes poked it, pumping in drugs and shocks of all kinds. To most people, this would probably be nauseating to look at but this was unfortunately a sight the man watching this was use to.
This wasn't the first crime against nature he's witnessed and it will definitely not be the last.
The application seemed to be a set of controls for the thing in the vat. Many of them didn't interest Tsumi besides one that answered one of his questions.
Teleport.
From what he can gather, the bathroom entrance earlier seems to be operated by this creature.
So I was teleported then? This thing must be powerful if they're using it as their welcome mat.
Finding some files, he gathered that this creature, HELIOS-19, is the reason this laboratory was built. A being that, with its combined superpowers brought on by genetic editing, could become virtually a god.
Dangerous but it's not our business what native people do in their worlds, as long as they don't cross others they can play god all they want.
It was a rule well established by Alice in Hencacount. If a world is doing something destructive, no matter how easy it was to solve it, they couldn't interfere. Though by all right Tsumi would want to push the kill switch on this thing he knew that would be going against everything Hencacount went for.
Stopping other worlds from interfering with each other. Even if that meant doing the morally right thing. Sure they could bend and prod at the rules of the world. Take down a few criminals, stuff like that but messing with something like this was a big no.
Doesn't mean I agree with whatever they're doing here.
Before he finished, he looked through the files for one more thing. Looking at all of the genetic samples for the students in Dahlia's class, none of them were suspicious, though it'd make sense given the faceless' ability to mimic down to the genetic level, but he did notice one peculiarity. All of those students, and no others, were marked as candidates for HELIOS-19.
Candidates? Like the things going to swallow them?
But before he could find out more he heard the sound of distant talking that led to him closing the console and fleeing to the ceiling once more. Entering the lab was Dr Saeki again, but this time she was with Litis.
"As I said, this technology is not something I recognise. It's possible it belongs to a foreign intelligence." said Saeki.
"Yes.. it seems our suspicions on the Novitins are true. Have we identified their agency?" replied Litis.
"No. Not yet. We aren't even sure which country they are from." she explained.
"That is troubling…"
The two reached the console whilst Tsumi dropped down by the exit.
"Should we have them arrested?" asked Saeki.
"Normally, but that girl Dahlia, her anomalous DNA is just what we need for the HELIOS." Litis said.
"Then how is she going to win? She needs to place first now." Saeki questioned.
"Yes. That is a problem. Then again, the HELIOS can make sure she wins." he uttered.
"Should I also give the other students a 'checkup' before their fights?" the doctor suggested.
"No. We can't give Zanos any proof we wanted her to win. He could get-"
Litis stopped upon seeing Saeki's alarmed expression. "What is wrong doctor?"
"The laptop's gone." she nearly shouted.
Tsumi ran down the corridor, not caring if he was seen as he knew that he could never outrun Litis without a head start. And indeed it was warranted as the fluorescent lights of the corridors went red and alarms ran through the facility.
I can't leave through the way in, they'll probably shut it off. There's a different route on the map meant for emergency exits this way.
Continuing to flee he ducked down into a room when he sensed behind him danger and just after he did, a flash of light blasts through the hallways towards the toilet entrance. Continuing his run he turned it into a sprint as saw the exit ahead. It was an ejection system that sent you off the shore of one of the beaches of Polaris.
Opening a tube elevator that would send him up, Tsumi felt a loud crash behind him and a tightness in his throat as Tsumi is hoisted upward by his neck courtesy of the glistening form of Litis.
"Now then. Mind telling me how you got so lost here?" the man asked, a strained smile on his face.
Tsumi's head was obscured by a spandex mask which hid all of his features but it wouldn't be difficult to rip it off.
"Let me guess.. Is that you Mr Novitin? You seemed far too fit to be a simple investor. Not to mention you were strangely quiet during the meeting." he guessed.
It was at that moment that he noticed the laptop.
"And it seems you got what you were looking for. A shame it has come to naught." Litis smiled. He tore the laptop easily from Tsumi's grasp whilst keeping his on Tsumi's neck.
With the computer in his other hand, he turned his attention back to Tsumi. "Now then. I'm going to take you in for a nice one on one chat."
Swinging him around like a ragdoll to carry him back down the hall, Tsumi continued to struggle. One hand on the hand choking him, the other punching into Litis' face pointlessly as it phased through the light made man.
Dammit I can't breathe. I need to use it!
Tsumi grasped his coat pocket and took out something he only liked using when things were bad. It was normally dangerous, especially to someone like Litis but right now he wasn't in the mood to be concerned.
Uncapping an epipen from his pocket he jams it into Litis' neck ignoring his the fact his body was made of light. The man's eyes widened as unlike the punches the needle pierced easily through his skin, plunging its contents into a vein in his neck.
"Ack!" he yelled, dropping Tsumi immediately as he reached for the pen.
Tsumi went for the laptop but even with the anomaly inhibitor that Alice made, Litis' strength was still present. With not a lot of options and the sight of Dr Saeki running up the corridor with some watchmen, Tsumi opted for Plan B.
Using a higher octave than usual he shouts, "Abbas Kanto Siren - Initiate 66 under 04."
Once the words were finished, Tsumi went to crawl into the tube, abandoning the laptop. He then looked back to see if Litis was alright from the shot he gave him. The tall man clutched his neck seemingly fighting a pain surging through him that almost made the always jolly man shout in agony but he was still alive.
"Sorry Litis, it'll hurt like hell for the next hour." Tsumi muttered before he shot up through the tube to the surface.
Left behind, Litis had dropped the laptop to continue to clutch his neck. The pain was truly monstrous and worst of all for some reason he couldn't use his power to purge it from his body.
Saeki arrived to check him over where she had noticed that the laptop was now smoking, a small fire starting from it that no doubt destroyed any of the hardware or software within.