THE SECOND BRANCH
With the Saints in tow, the LCB drove off from M Corp’s Nest, finally resuming their journey. After a long and arduous road they have trekked, one painted by pain, growth, and realization, they could really use some help. Thankfully, they got the help they needed with the Saints.
“Whew…! Seems like we're truly starting now.” Agatha muttered with a hint of excitement, whilst she stuffed that photo in her pocket without anyone noticing. It was so weird…”Could that have been…?” she thought to herself.
“Wonder what awaits us next…?” She asks the rest of the group curiously. “Well, knowing our luck, we might bump into either a powerful Syndicate or some Abnormality. It’s usually that time where one of us has to go back home.” Said Gregor, scratching at his head, as the cockroach hopped onto his fingers.
“Heard a whole lot of things from Clockboss. The white-haired one translated. Pleasantries are optional, I suppose.” Jekyll spoke, taking a massive swig of booze from his flask. It wasn’t even half past 12, and he’d already downed 3 canteens. How anyone can drink that much at this time of day is beyond anyone's imagination, but with Hyde being a problem, it’s certainly better he’s working on a quick and dirty solution: Being inebriated enough to stop thinking long enough to let Hyde be dormant for the rest of the week. It’s anybody’s guess as to how it works, but if he’s been doing this for years, clearly he knows a thing or two. Suddenly, he sees a hatred man in the corner of his eye.
“Feeling any better, vriend?” Van Helsing asked Jekyll about that sudden outburst of Hyde from earlier, with half of the bus still somewhat distraught during the sudden attack. “Barely. At least the alcohol’s helping me stop thinking about it so much.” Jekyll replied, as he took one last swig of the flask, emptying it out, as Van Helsing sat on the seat beside him. “Welp. That’s enough for now.” he says, as he packs the flask into his coat. “Next refill’s bourbon. If you need a drink, hesitate to knock on my door if I’m asleep.” he calls out to Van Helsing, as he’s unthinkingly leaning by the window, waiting for the bus to come to a stop. The Bloodfiend Hunter nodded, understanding what he meant. It’s probably for the best if he doesn’t knock in Jekyll’s sleep due to the risk of Hyde breaking out and wreaking havoc.
Meanwhile, a debate struck between two Sinners pertaining to the new guests.
“…Nonono, you saw how that Jekyll bloke’s… condition managed to slam the guide into the wall, VERGILIUS?! THE BLOODY RED GAZE?! He’s got to be at least a Grade 3.” Heathcliff rebutted an argument Ishmael tried to bring up.
“If he was Grade 3, there was no way he would lose to Meursault, even if he was holding back. No chance he could even hold back to THAT degree.” Outis retorted, as stern as ever in her opinion of the Saint. The debate was mostly speculation. Jekyll was never affiliated with any Fixer office like Agatha and Van Helsing, so describing his strength would be a struggle, knowing there’s two components to him. That being Jekyll and Hyde themselves. Hyde managing to strike Vergilius down and instill some sort of feeling of a weak fear within him was impressive, even when he was caught off guard.
“Hey. You three. First off: Stop trying to make me sound stronger than I actually am. Secondly: There’s a reason why I stay drunk.”
“Yeaaaa, sure, but… Being strong enough to slam someone that easily is still no easy feat.” Agatha reasoned calmly. “Especially… if you know who that was. You… do, right?” she added innocently, while trying to point at Vergilius but just ended up facing the whole lot.
“Yeah, that was…Hyde, ain’t it?” Heathcliff questioned what she meant.
“No, not that!” she giggled before keeping herself a bit serious again. “But true, that's Hyde. What I meant was… Jekyll, it isn't easy at all to fight a Color Fixer like that.” she corrected herself. With her being a Fixer, she knew a few fellow ones, of course. Heathcliff understood what she meant after saying that, rather quickly at that.
Jekyll was not at all invested in this debate, simply opting to stand up and refill his flask. It was bound to be a long day, and any more problems would probably end in a Nest being forced to lock down a block to deal with Hyde, or at the very least cause some property damage. “If you ever come to a conclusion and ever put me on a ‘could probably fight a Color Fixer’ tier list or whatever that Don Quixote girl does, don’t be surprised if I end up being a hard scale.”
Clearly the debate was going nowhere so it was probably for the best to drop it for now. They’ll get their chance to properly assume his strength in an actual combat scenario.
…
As Charon drove past the many buildings, zooming through the Backstreets, Van Helsing brewed some coffee for the bus riders. His days as a Fixer made him good at assisting others in any form.
“Ahh, the delightful smell of coffee..! Nice to have it at times..!” sighed Agatha. She smelled the fresh aroma, as it flooded the bus. The smell of caramel, coffee, and sweet notes of chocolate melting into it was comforting. She grabbed a cup from Van Helsing, as she tipped her cup to him as to signal a thanks, to which he tipped his hat. If this was just the normal day, it would be a dream, but knowing their line of work, it would get crazy real fast.
A solid 30 minutes went by, without much going on. The most notable thing was the Saints getting acquainted with the Mirror World technology, and the concept of E.G.O.s, which they have seen and even manifested, albeit in a highly weakened and unstable state. Jekyll was able to circumvent this by using Hyde as a source for strength, but it was less of an extracted or even manifested E.G.O. and more of a crude approximation of such. However, they did manage to extract a few IDs for the Saints. Those being a Mirror World version of Agatha who worked as a W Corp. Cleanup Crew Member, cleaning the gore of each train; one where Van Helsing was part of the Öufi Association, executing any and all contracts; and a Jekyll Identity where he became an N Corp. Inquisitor, chattering about the philosophy of human flesh, a mirror to Hyde’s inhumanity.
“Well, this Mirror World stuff is especially intriguing and fun to use!” Agatha chimed in, quite satisfied with her W Corp ID. “Right, guys?” she asked her two fellow buds. “Could be worse. Saw a bunch of Inquisitor raids back then.” Jekyll bitterly but understandably replied. “But hey, Mirror tech is useful, I’ll give it that.” he continued. “Yep! Öufi seems rather interesting, might need to play around with these Identities. They’re ongelooflijk!” Van Helsing spoke out, interested in this ID card as well, staring at the gleaming gold border.
…
Hours passed, and the moon began to rise. After a few loops through the Luxcavation doors and a test run or three in the Mirror Dungeons, they begin to become more attuned to the concept of IDs. Looking through the archives, there were many types of Mirror Dungeon before them. Mirror of the Beginning, the Wuthering, the Dreaming…
“Seems like they had adventures plenty before..! How nice it was to experience it ourselves!” smiled the Fixer lady. Jekyll nodded, and Van Helsing stretched his back from the long day they had. Felt like it’s been years since he last did, even if it was merely a half hour worth of Mirror Worlds. From the hundreds of thousands of continents worth of Sweepers, to the wrath of a man broken by self spite, to even the entirety of a Bloodfiend’s delusioned playground, the Saints cleared through it with little to no effort, even with the Infinity Mirror. A good showing for their strength. Even in their weakest form, They were mighty and held their own ground, with it without the ID Cards.
“Welp. Heading to bed. Do we have any chains or blast resistant locks? Anything to prevent Hyde from tearing this place apart?” Jekyll remarked. “Whilst there are no locks, the hallways will automatically rearrange to accommodate a sudden assault from the one you call Hyde.” Faust quickly explained.
At least there was some protection from the beast in case of a sudden breakout. Jekyll nodded, taking his last swig for the day, marking the end of the Saint’s rather quick orientation. All in all, Jekyll consumed 4 bottles of alcohol, and took 5 serums, with one more for the night, totaling to 6 uses of his serum.
And thus they got some sleep for the night.
…
But it wasn’t that simple, was it?
Would the infinitely expanding corridors protect Mephistopheles from any severe damage?
Questions rushed through Dante’s head.
It was getting late. Now was not the time for questions. Jekyll can probably last long enough through the night to not awaken that thing…
The creature that managed to throw Vergilius into the side of the wall with such magnificent force. All Dante could assume was that. As they headed to their office, they finished up some minor paperwork, then clocked out for the night.
…
Only to be awoken by a devastating, bellowing roar. One akin to a loud, thunderous Abnormality.
Rushing through the corridor… Jekyll’s body laid. Almost crumpled up, just like earlier. Dante walked through the hall, getting closer to the Saint, only to be greeted by a massive hand that slapped them away. Jekyll had gotten up.
…
But that wasn’t Jekyll.
It was Hyde.
He had awoken in the middle of the night and transformed into him.
Hyde’s eyes pierced through Dante’s clock head, his gaze locking with theirs. A fear washed over the manager, a regret. Insecurities flooded them. Their own hate. Hatred of their pain, and their fears of losing themselves and the family they found through this journey.
The rooms shaking with each step. As Hyde grew in size, he no longer appeared to be the same as Jekyll. While he wore the same uniform, and the same glasses, his frame looked to be more muscular, in both cases of the word. Layers of sinew and flesh, pink muscle holding together. And his face. Slim, almost defined. Unlike Jekyll’s softer, more rounded face, teeth that were barely visible through his cheeks. Eyes pale, eyes that chilled Dante’s bones. It didn’t help that he was so much taller compared to Jekyll.
Upon hearing the commotion, the noise reached Agatha immediately by Jekyll's room. And saw the scene in front of her after she arrived there with rushed steps.
“Oh, shoot…! Dante!!” she called out. Then just like that, she rushed to the halls.
“Emergency!!” she shouted around, louder than her usual tone. But probably anyone would shout desperately in a situation like this. “Hyde has awoken!!!” the lady added to the announcement.
And as she screamed out, everybody got up from their beds, readied their weapons and IDs and got into position. As soon as they heard it, they readied up, with Vergilius on standby, as subduing a fellow worker does not violate his contract, though the Sinners were strong enough to deal with this on their own, he’s seen their growth with his own two eyes. If all else fails, however, he already has prepared a backup plan. Meursault wasted no time in binding the fleshy creature down with his E.G.O., as it was held down by the chains.
Knowing their chances, using the serums was the best shot they got. Heathcliff went in for the blow, aiming to strike square in the gut. Hyde fell back ever so slightly. Don Quixote readied her Hardblood Arts, as she La Sangre coalesces, piercing through Hyde’s torso, dealing an incredible amount of damage to the fleshy creature. As she impaled Hyde’s chest, a voice echoed from his mouth. It was Jekyll, trying to warn them, fighting over control of his own body.
“L… L E A V E.” A bellowing roar echoed through their ears.
As fleshy tendrils covered his mouth, and eventually half his entire head, giving way to a larger maw and paler eyes, it stared down into the Sinners and the two Saints.
In their minds, their fears flashed through.
Heathcliff forgetting his lost love.
Ishmael losing her path yet again.
Don Quixote, the dreamer, giving up on a dream she fought for so many times.
Their self-loathing.
Gregor forever being the outcast.
Rodya’s attempts to save her community being in vain; her speciality.
Yi Sang’s regrets, a thought to fly once more.
It all felt so… real to them. It ate them all up.
This influx of fear, loathing, hate… It caused Hyde to grow even further. This newfound size made it easy to tear everybody down, slamming Hong Lu into a door, crushing Sinclair into the ceiling, and managing to pin down Agatha, as she struggled to get the serum he desperately needed to suppress him.
…
When all else felt lost, a flail smashed into the ribs of the abomination.
“Oh dear, this is quite… less formal compared to other greetings.” An ash blonde-haired lady spoke, as she reeled her heavy clock weapon back. Behind her was an open door. A poor Dante didn’t even realize it was opened, or maybe it just did. Either way, they needed all the help they could get. 12 people entered the bus hallways, as a masked, purple haired man rushed towards the creature, making a mechanical screech, as a girl with a bayonet tied a rope to her weapon and dragged Hyde’s massive hand down, giving Agatha ample time to wriggle free, as a blonde haired man shot at him with glass bullets.
“Phew…!” Agatha heaved a huge sigh of relief. “Thanks… a lot…!”
The bayonet girl nodded subtly right after.
Agatha, now free, was able to reach for the serum. And within her arm’s reach, she stabbed it into Hyde, injecting the sedative.
The hiss of the injector was audibly heard, with the pink flesh retracting into itself, it was an uphill battle that was about to be won, but it would clearly take some time to take full effect, so a lady with sapphire-blue mask took her cane and struck the monster’s back with it, unsheathing a sword to further cut down the muscle. With a loud, hypersonic blast, a strawberry blonde girl focused a soundwave towards Hyde, as it staggered backwards. He was weakening at a rapid pace, but in one last attempt to finish everyone off, beat down every stranger, bisecting the purple haired man, exposing wires and circuits rather than guts and blood, the girl in the bayonet had her weapon impaled into her, and clock mace wielded had her face smashed inwards with a single punch.
The other members fell one by one…
A single serum wasn’t enough, as weakened as Hyde was in this current state, it would take at least a couple more to take him down here.
Van Helsing rushes to Jekyll’s bag, grabbing one of the syringes as he hastily attaches it to one of his bolts. (“Stay still, Jekyll. You’ll only voel een prikkje.”) he muttered under his breath.
He pulled the crossbow’s trigger.
The injector noise echoes through the room. That gave the other Sinners just enough time to sedate the beast one last time.
Withering away, Hyde’s eyes returned to Jekyll’s chocolate colored ones, his claws retract, flesh cut down and shrunk, as he turned back into the chemist.
It was a long and arduous fight. But they won in the end.
“Gaaaghhhh… Wh…”
…
He saw the bloodied halls. These new people he never met…
Guilt consumed him.
“I… I killed them too… Didn’t I?” His eyes began to shift, vision blurring. He even saw a blonde haired girl and a boy with soft brown hair.
They were only kids.
Suddenly, everybody who survived heard a cough. A mechanical cough. They all looked towards the masked man.
“C-cass… ette… T-ta… pe… P-plea-a-s… e…”
His voice glitched out, but the emotion was there. The meaning was there.
A cassette tape…
The survivors searched for one, it was clearly important if it was a member’s dying words.
They found it in the pocket of somebody with a bandana around his neck, and handed it to the man.
Upon clicking the tape back, rewinding it, the injuries on him began to disappear, as if his body was never injured to begin with. Suddenly, the new victims of the near-endless rampage of the monster began to rewind as well, as a white noise filled the room.
The guts and injuries of the remaining ones all were fixed like nothing ever happened, as the masked man took a stretch to realign his parts that mimic actual muscle.
As Dante rewound the clock yet again, Faust recognized the newcomers.
“<Faust, who are…?>
“The Limbus Company Bus Branch - Division S-02, or the LCB Support Team. Many call them the LCBS.”
“<Support Team?>”
“In times of crisis for the LCB, they are called as backup for the main branch.”
(1/2)