Goal of the day: 1227 words. Written: 1244.
"Pala, what's in it for HIM?"
- Pala," I immediately turned to him. The team members standing around looked at me, waiting for me to say something so they could go and finish this conversation with the King. -...Can I ask one more question?
- You just asked him. - Bruce said with a wink, "Yes, you can. ...Would you like a second?
Bruce chuckled.
"Cha-cha."
- Uh... Yes, I would. - a little confused by Bruce's sarcasm, but not completely disturbed, - ...And what's in it for YOU?
- Oh, you're finally asking intelligent questions! - Naoki commented, as he reattached the rope and hooked it to the inside of my wrist.
"Hey! As if they weren't crazy before??"
I gave a kick to the Stone. I wasn't sure who was in more pain - him because of his comment (and whether he realised what he said) or me because of my now sore finger.
- And the benefit for me," said Bruce dramatically, "is that you will regain your memory. You're good for us.
He waved his arms from side to side as if it were a given. And then he added, with a smile on his face:
- Plus the fact that Ruth will be able to steal at least some of the information from the server room together. You'll find out where your memory is, and Ruth will be able to sneak a whole bunch of other knowledge through you on the way.
"Through me??"
Bruce immediately waved one hand:
- No, don't worry, it won't hurt and you won't have to do anything. It will just happen along the way. And my YYY is good for it," he winked.
"Ah... Well..."
- Of course, I said.
Bruce looked at me as if waiting to hear what I would say next. The surrounding team members didn't take their eyes off me either.
- Thank you then, Bruce," I immediately nodded vigorously several times.
He chuckled and waved his hand, leaning back.
"I have to go now."
I turned around and followed Antonio. We were immediately followed by the rest of the team, all in silence, who followed us at a fast pace and passed us on their way to the lifts.
As we walked away, there was quiet piano music in the Hall, and I turned to see Bruce stand up from the table (he was indeed wearing a tight suit all over his body, including his feet) and walk to the opposite end of the Hall. The floor under the table started to turn and the table started to go down somewhere.
Antonio touched my hand and silently pointed and nodded his head forward.
"Perhaps it was rude to look away?"
- What a bunch of idiots. You seem to me to have just joined some kind of sect," said Naoki.
"I don't know if it's a sect, but it's something I fell into..."
* * *
- This is where you'll spend the night until early tomorrow morning," Antonio waved his hand across the white cell with its light wooden floor and simple wooden furniture.
I stepped inside. The floor creaked very softly beneath me, but it didn't disturb or interfere.
- OK," I nodded, looking around. I didn't know what else I could say. Everything was clear and in order as it was.
- There's the shower," Atnonio beckoned to a frosted glass door on one wall of the room. And pointing to a large yellowish flat crystal screen, he added:
- And there's a web portal if you need one.
- Yeah, go take a shower because you stink," Naoki commented again.
"Whoever this web portal is... Well, I'll find out later."
- Okei," I nodded, shaking my head again and pressing Naoki's palm lightly. Somehow I wanted to get rid of Antonio as soon as possible, to make him go to hell.
- Oh, and one more thing," he added, "in the bathroom you'll find this big box with a hole and a door. So you can throw your clothes in there, press the biggest button and it will wash them automatically. If you want to wash them. They look a bit dirty.
I looked down at my clothes. They were indeed dusty, spattered with blood from my forehead in some places, stained with I don't know what... Maybe it was left over from my friendly time with Gabrielle. Or maybe she gave me dirty clothes, who knows.
- Oh, yeah, okay," I said, nodding my head again. I was starting to feel very tired and wanted to go to sleep. And to take a shower, as Naoki had so insistently and cheekily recommended.
- Then good evening. Someone will come for you in the morning. The lights are going out here. - He clicked the button on the wall by the door a few times and turned the light off and on, - Ate!
Antonio turned around and, without closing the door, stumbled down the corridor, through the identical cell doors, to the lift at the back.
- Ate! - I stuck my head out of the room and waved behind me.
Then, after waiting a moment for him to wave back, as he had done at the beginning of our acquaintance, I crept back into the room and closed the door behind me.
- Duuuuuuuuaaaan, you're twooooooooookiiiiiii," Naoki laughed comedically.
- Oh my God, do you ever shut up or not?? - I shook Naoki's palm and started to untie his cord, "God, you almost drove me crazy.
- Aha, I almost went crazy too because of your ability to not understand what's going on around you and what you should be doing," Naoki sarcastically replied back.
I took it off my arm with a grunt and put it on the bed sheet.
- Will you stay here while I go to the shower to wash the stink off this medical rubbish, or shall I take you along? - I winked at him.
- At the same time," he replied in all seriousness, "I am your weapon, my job is to protect you. What am I a weapon if I cannot defend?
- Hm, I thought, "sure, right.
I took him into the bath [[picked him up and]] together. Then, taking a breath, I walked towards her door.
- You think about it, so do you think the word Weapon and the word Birth are so similar for nothing? Defend - Weapon. Born - Defend. Don't die, Naoki enthusiastically babbled on the way, changing the colour to orange.
- Aha, that's right," I said, "where did you get all that from?
I grabbed the cold metal handle of the bathtub and pushed the door open. Of course, it had to be pulled, so I pulled it in a second move.
- And what do you think I could have done more in that fucking place," Naoki began to empathise, "in the swirl of weapons for those years? Do you know how boring it is there, even with no energy and sleeping most of the time in a beautiful sleep??
I opened the door and the first thing that came over me was the fresh smell of wood and nature, mixed with some even more pungent but fresh smell.
The second thing I saw was that behind the door, the light wooden floors and walls ended... and behind them was like a small forest grove. With trees moving, a waterfall in front of the door, some kind of stream flowing away and stones on the floor. Overhead, a blue-bright sky.
„…”
I closed the door.
- Uh... Is it just me? - Stone suddenly stopped his fast-talking and became confused.
- Yeah," I said.
I pushed the cool door handle again and pulled it open.
The smell of nature came again, and the sound of the waterfall and the gushing of the water in the distance was heard. Somewhere, a bird played a fragment of a song.
"...I don't understand how this is possible."
I shook my head with my eyes closed. Then I opened my eyes, but the view remained the same. I was really standing in a doorway from a cell in a building of probably several hundred storeys to some field in some forest. With a waterfall, a stream and a view of the woods and the stream trail beyond.
- ...As far as I know, teleportation hadn't been invented in my time," Naoki muttered.
- When was your time?", I asked him.
- Uh... What year is it now? - he asked.
"A year... Ai, the devil knows."
- I don't know," I shrugged, because I really had no idea.
- Well... the City hadn't changed that much, as far as I could see when I was running through it and as far as the knowledge of the City was written into me... so it couldn't have been very much.
"Yeah, that doesn't help much."
- Yeah, that doesn't help much. You realise that for me it really doesn't make much difference - is there a portal or not? - I raised an eyebrow at Naoki, "I'm a little more interested... WHAT IS THIS CHUINIA OUTSIDE?
Naoki laughed.
- Okay, then take me inside and throw me in. - said this one. - I'll see what's inside and I'll be right back. If it's a portal, I shouldn't be able to see a wall or anything like that. I've still got enough energy for that. Just promise me that if I ever disappear, you'll come and get me, okay?
"Good idea."
- OK. I'll come and get it. If. Probably.- I nodded. Then I picked it up and pulled the loose end of the cord around my wrist. - Ready?
- Ready," he replied firmly.
- Then allocate!
I threw my hand away and threw Naoki with all my strength through the door. It instantly flew through it, turning green.
And.... A moment later, the view of the forest in front of me, away from the waterfall, broke into hundreds of pieces like a jigsaw puzzle, with Naoki hanging in the middle of it.
"Was it some kind of video screen??"
- Oh my God! Look what we have done! - shouted Naoki.
I immediately jumped through the doorway towards him. The image on the floor, ceiling and walls flickered for a moment before the white walls were revealed. Then it was back to the forest atmosphere.