My Lost Soul

Chapter 25 - The Playroom

"What in the hell are you doing here?!" Machida growled and tightened his grip on the snake. The snake choked, "I know what you're here to see. I can take you there!"

Kitt walked up behind Machida, "Is that the Chameleon?"

"Yes, and I'm not surprised that those idiots let him out of their sight!" Machida loosened the grip on the snake and let it thud onto the metal floor. The snake then morphed back into a human, Kuro, lying on the ground. He massaged his neck, his voice even more hoarse than usual, "I know you're here to see the engine room. I know where it is."

"This isn't a trap is it, snake?"

"I'd be putting myself in danger too, but you need me to get in there without someone dropping dead." Kuro's dark eyes glared up at him.

Machida sucked his teeth, "Fine, you'll show us the way." He turned and stormed back into the corridor as Kuro got up.

Kitt walked up to Kuro, "The one and only, Chameleon. Didn't know you could turn into a snake, color me impressed."

"Don't call me Chameleon." Kuro walked past him, and Kitt followed. "Oh yeah~, calling you Chameleon doesn't make sense anymore, huh? Well, it sounds better than Snake."

They walked down the maze of corridors of the lower floor with Kuro in front, until they came to a corner. The roar of the engine room grew closer.

"Grab my shoulders, both of you. We need to go invisible past this corner." Kuro demanded in a hushed voice.

"Yooo, we can go invisible like you?" Kitt gasped and gripped Kuro's shoulder, and Machida too.

"Just be quieter around here. This hall has the door to the engine room. What do you want to do in there, Machida?"

"I just want to look inside, there have been rumors about the green smoke from this thing I want to confirm."

"Good, simple. Let's go, and be quiet. I'll take care of the cameras." Kuro's invisibility spread from his body to theirs, and he turned the corner. 2 guards were next to one door. Kuro pulled out three darts and shot them at the cameras. He listened to the deafening pumps of the engine. He revealed his fingers and counted the intervals, 1, 2, 3, 4, pump. He repeated the intervals, confirming the pattern. Retracting the invisibility from his head, he glanced at Machida and nodded.

It's a plan then. Kuro thought as they walked closer to the two guards. Kuro and Machida readied themselves.

1, 2, 3, 4... and when the pump sounded, Kuro's invisibility halted, and the guards were greeted with two fists rocketing into their temples, knocking them out instantly.

"Open the door with the keycard. We have about 5 minutes before they wake up." Kuro opened the door quietly as he whispered, "3 minutes to find what you're looking for, and 1 minute to get out. I'll keep watch." Machida and Kitt ran past the door and into the room, the door closing behind them. "You two don't make a bad-" Kitt started. "Don't you dare, Kitt." Machida glared at him. "Yeesh." The atmosphere changed. The metal-plated walls looked as if veins ran through them. Aside from the clanking of Machida's and Kitt's shoes, it was deathly silent. The two ran to the nearest door they could find, looking up at the sign above it.

"'Playroom'?" This close to an engine?" Kitt gulped. Machida got his keycard out again and tried the door. BEEP. "Shit, the door's above even a guard-grade card." He rubbed the fogged window with his sleeve and looked inside, searching for anything relevant. His body froze in place, his eyes reddened as he stared on through the window. "What? What do you see?!" Kitt went up on his toes to look through the window. "Oh god..."