Meeting the Master

Arania walked into the store to find a man sitting in the chair facing the front door. She looked him over and went to open the blinds when he spoke up.

"I would not do that if I were you my dear girl." She turned to find a pistol pointed at her. This really ticked her off, and was about to say something when she felt a sharp prick in the small of her back. She turned to see another man standing there holding an empty syringe. As she fell to the floor, the first man stood and walked over to her. "Yes, the master will be quite pleased."

MusiKai walked up to the store smiling, he had run some errands for Arania that morning, and had come to the store to meet her like they agreed. He walked in and said hello to Zen. "Where's Arania?"

Zen looked confused. "She's not here. Her car is out front, but I found the door open and no one in here when I got here this morning."

MusiKai frowned and went out to her car and looked in it. He saw her cell phone there, but nothing else. It was unlocked, which she never did. He thought for a moment, and figured that maybe she had been picked up by one of the ladies at the castle, she had mentioned something about wanting to show them some new merchandise to see how it went over. Deep down he knew what the response would be, but he called anyway. He wasn't sure who it was that answered, he could care less to be honest. But when the person said they had no clue if she had been there that day, he decided to go up there himself to find out. He went back to the door of the store and told Zen that if she returned to tell her where he went, and he'd be back shortly.

His apprehension was growing. It was not like her to tell him to meet her somewhere, then up and take off, but he was desperately hoping that all that happened was she hadn't had a chance to call. He pulled the car in and got past the gate. He knocked loudly and hard on the door. He waited for a few seconds, then started banging again, growing impatient. Just as he raised his fist to knock a third time, MyKai opened the door. He let MusiKai walk past then saw the desperation in his eyes.

"What is wrong MusiKai?" He was calm, as always, as he approached his cousin.

"Have you seen Arania at all today?" MusiKai struggled to compose himself, and looked to his older cousin as he waited for the answer.

MyKai shook his head, "No, I have not seen her today. But perhaps one of the others or my queen has. Wait here."

MusiKai paced the hallway as he watched MyKai go up the stairs to where the living quarters were. His mind whirled over terrible thoughts of what could have happened, and his frustration and anger grew. MyKai returned a short while later accompanied by his lady, CowboyKai, Lady Doffy, Lady Angelmay, and DiscoKai. MusiKai looked between them all, and no-one had to speak, he could tell already what their answer would be. As they started to discuss where else Arania possibly could have gone, there was a loud knocking on the door. MyKai opened it to see a package sitting there, and nothing else. He examined it carefully, then called MusiKai over.

"It is addressed to you, cousin." He handed it to him, and watched. MusiKai looked at the writing on the box, and his eyes widened. He opened it carefully, and growled as he pulled out a piece of cloth and a note. The others in the hall looked between themselves and waited for him to speak. He read the note a few times, and shook as he handed it to the closest person. It was Doffy who read the note aloud.

"Greetings my creation. I do hope you remember who I was, and still am. I have not stopped watching you, and have allowed you this...vacation. But now it is time to return to your real job. You were sent on a mission before your little escapade. You are to finish that mission, or your friend will be seriously hurt. Perhaps if you perform well, I will spare her. Always and forever, Your Master."

Yet another look was exchanged between them, then they all looked to MusiKai. He appeared extremely calm now, but his anger and worry simmered just beneath the surface.

Across town a black van pulled into an abandoned looking warehouse. Looks can be deceiving. As the two men carried their load into the building, a door near the back opened, revealing a metal elevator. They got in and it carried them down, hundreds of feet below the surface. They deposited the limp body in a cell and went to inform their master the mission was, so far, a success.

A groan came from Arania as she woke up. She looked around and saw she was in a fairly empty cell, only a chair was in there with her. She frowned and thought for a few minutes as she felt through her pockets for anything that might be of use. She mentally kicked herself, she had left her phone in the car because she thought she'd only be in the shop long enough for Zen to get there and MusiKai, who was supposed to meet her there.

"Oh no," she thought, "MusiKai, he's probably worried, and what will he do?" Worry started to fill her mind. She closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down, panicking would do her no good in this situation. Granted she had never been in this situation before, but she knew of others who had, and had gotten through it fine. As she sat in the chair she heard footsteps coming down the hall. A few seconds later, the cell door opened to reveal the same men who had brought her here. She looked them over again, they again pointed weapons at her. She shook her head. Why did everyone seem to do that?

"Come with us Arania." She stood, and walked to the door. They were both larger than her, but if they were weaponless, she might have been able to get away. For the time being, she decided to play along. They took her to a room that was divided by a heavy curtain.

"Welcome to my lab Arania." A deep, menacing voice came from behind the curtain.

MusiKai stood there clutching the piece of what turned out to be clothing in his hand. It was the flannel Arania had been wearing when she left that morning. He had explained what his previous job was. To his own surprise he remembered who it was he had been assigned to kill when he had fled his creator. The ladies seemed to know this person, at least in passing, and could conceive of no reason why anyone would want to kill her. Angelmay and DiscoKai agreed that she should be brought there for her safety, while everyone else went into the library and got out a map of Kaitown. MusiKai looked over it and pointed to a spot on the far side of town that was filled with old abandoned factories and warehouses.

"His base is right about here. He owns all of the supposedly empty buildings on this street, they're all joined by tunnels and such underground. They all extend hundreds of feet down. I am not sure how many rooms there are total." He sat down by the table and looked to the others. "Last I knew, I was the only high quality Kai clone he had. He wanted it that way for some unknown reason. With my escape, he might have created more, I am not sure."

About a half an hour passed as they discussed what he knew of this base. Angelmay and Disco returned at about this time with another young woman. Angelmay nodded to everyone and started to speak. "Everyone, this is,"

"Keileithyia," MusiKai interrupted. "She is the...target of my creator."

Arania looked at the curtain and took a seat in the chair by desk on the side of the room where she was. The two armed men did not leave, but did retreat back to the door they had brought her through. "Who are you? Why am I here?" Arania directed the questions at the person behind the curtain.

"You are to be my....guest, until the clone finishes his mission. Perhaps longer, I am not sure yet." He chuckled and it chilled her to the core. "Since you and he have joined, and he is mine, that would make you mine, to do with as I see fit."

Arania frowned. She did not take too well to the idea of being owned by anyone. She glared at where she thought the voice was coming from. Apparently there were cameras or some other way for him to see, because he responded by laughing.

"You do not like that idea? Well, that is really to bad. Ah well. Until I decide what I am going to do with you until he finishes, you will be returned to your cell." The two men approached her again and each grabbed an arm. "Gently gentlemen, you wouldn't want to damage the goods would you?"

Arania heard the laughter in her mind for the whole trip back down the hall.

Keileithyia looked around the room. Her confusion was very clear on her face. "How do you know my name? I have seen some of these women around town before, but have never introduced myself. Who are you? Why am I here?" She made her way over to a chair and sat, looking to them for the answers.

Everyone went around the room, introducing themselves, with MusiKai going last. Then he explained the situation.

"I was created, like the Original, to be an assassin." He frowned and took a deep breath before continuing. "I was assigned to kill you. I managed to escape before I could be made to finish that mission. However, the one who created me has kidnapped my lady to try and force me to finish. You were brought here for your safety." He looked to her, as she stared at him with wide eyes. His voice softened. "I am sorry you have been brought into this. I will not harm you, I promise you."

She slowly nodded her belief in his words and looked to the others. "What are you going to do to help her?"

She sat there for a while. There was no clock so she had no idea how long it really was. her mind went over any and every option she could think of, no matter how desperate, to get out of there. Unfortunately, they all ended up with her getting shot or worse.

The first man with the gun returned with someone else this person appeared to be a scientist of some sort. She looked him over, but again the damned gun. The scientist was doing his own appraisal, for very different reasons.

"She'll do wonderfully, the master was right. Physically she is the perfect specimen for my experiments, and mentally, we shall have to find out." The gun motioned her to follow them, and they lead her to a lab. She debated taking the chance to grab this scientist, but before she could act they were joined by more people with guns. She looked around at all of them.

"For crying out loud," she thought, "I'm not that big, and there's nothing special about me. Why all these guns?" She was made to lay on a gurney where the scientist proceeded to perform tests on her.

They debated for a while longer, but MusiKai pretty much summed it up when he spoke again.

"We have to get her out of there. No ifs about it, the people working for him are sick, and there's no telling what he might do to her himself. I can get in, but only alone." This raised protests from everyone. He shook his head vehemently. "I am no fool," chuckling softly, "I have learned quite a bit since I have been out here. I have no intention of giving him what he wants. I am starting to remember a lot more than I did, the blocks he had on my memory are evaporating now. Most of his defenses are easily defeated, but I have to get in and get to her first, otherwise her danger will increase a hundred fold. He would be expecting me to bring back proof of what completion, That is the tricky part."

He held the shirt tightly in his fist, and his eyes glittered dangerously as he thought. Keileithyia spoke up, voice barely able to be heard due to her nervousness and fears about the whole situation. "What kind of proof would he want?"

MusiKai looked at her, and spoke bluntly. "Your head."

Arania endured a number of tests. For whatever reason they all seemed to involve needles being stuck into various parts of her body. She did not give them the satisfaction of seeing her in pain. She was able to focus inward and block out everything they did to her. Unfortunately, she did not know this was exactly what they wanted. They looked to each other as they poked and prodded her and smiled. They turned to an invisible camera and nodded.

The next thing she knew, Arania was being forced to remove her clothes and put on a hospital gown and placed on a different gurney. This time she was moved to a room full of body monitors, and they started to attaché electrodes and heart monitors to her body. After ensuring those were fully attached and would not come off, they stuck a wire to her toe, and strapped her down to the bed. All but one of the people left the room, the remaining person went to the machine the wire was attached to and twisted a knob, adjusting some settings, then she left also. Arania lay there in silence for a few moments. Then suddenly, an electrical current ran through her body. This time she could not block the pain, and started screaming.

They all piled into cars, leaving Keileithyia there at the castle, being carefully guarded. MusiKai lead them to the store where they altered a spare dummy head to look like her, and stuffed it into a duffel bag. Musikai still had the shirt, but he had adapted it as a neck band of sorts. He then led them to the abandoned warehouse where two armed guards waited by the door. He circled once and led the others to a parking spot nearby but out of sight. When they got out, he grabbed the duffel bag and pointed out the spots that they could see the building, but not be seen from the building he was going into. He reminded them of the signal, and walked over to the building as the others took their positions.

He casually walked up to the guards, one hand carrying the duffel bag, the other hidden behind his back. He spoke briefly to them, then signaled the others. MyKai and CowboyKai took out the two guards on the one side, and DiscoKai and MusiKai took care of the others. Dispatching them quickly and silently. MusiKai quickly walked over to the control booth and keyed in a command.

"The security cameras will now repeat the same loop of tape. That will buy us some time." He led them to the elevator, where they split up, MyKai, CowboyKai and their ladies taking the stairs, while Angelmay and DiscoKai went with MusiKai down the elevator.

When Arania woke up, she was still strapped to the gurney, but in a very dark room. Her body still hurt from the electricity, and she looked around as much as she could. For the moment she was apparently alone. She tugged on the bonds, but was not able to budge them. She frowned deeply and tried to think. She turned her head to the wall and happened to glance at a shiny metal cabinet and nearly screamed. She took several deep breaths and calmed herself, she didn't want them to know she was awake yet. She looked again, and saw the same thing. Her hair and skin were blue, and her eyes were white.

She managed to stay calm as she realized whatever they did to her changed her, but she would have to worry about it later. Her main concern at the moment was getting out of the restraints and getting out of there. The door was pushed open a crack and a young nervous looking man looked around and slid in. He looked at Arania and whispers to her.

"You have got to get out of here. The electrical stimulation was only the first step, you will be exposed to more and more pain, until your mind snaps." He darted over and started to undo her wrists and legs. "Here, these are the only clothes I could find." At that he peeked out the door and ran off.

They crept cautiously down the hall. Surprisingly they ran into nobody for quite a while. MusiKai motioned them all together, and handed something to MyKai and CowboyKai. "Use these carefully. Set the timer for ten minutes. Wait on the roofs and shoot anything that chases us." The four of them nodded and darted out to do it. The others continued deeper into the building. They passed a few doors but MusiKai kept going. These were the living quarters, she would be in the cells.

Gradually they reached some doors with very strong secure locks, which MusiKai started testing. he found none of them locked, and looked in to discover them all empty. He frowned and went on. He cursed softly. "They must have her in the labs. That is not good at all."

He led them down another flight of stairs. This hall was well guarded, and MusiKai walked forward, motioning the others to stay hidden in the stairwell. He walked up to the first guard and spoke with him. He nodded briefly and signaled behind his back for them to come in, silently arming his brace and slicing the man's throat, not giving him the chance to make a sound. His brace screeched as it hit the next guard as he turned, then ducking into the closest room.

Arania dressed quickly, and heard some scuffling in the hall. She cautiously cracked the door open and looked down the hall and saw people running around. The scientists were running into one of the rooms across the hall, and there were more men with guns running towards all the noise. She looked carefully again. For the moment the hall was clear, so she crept down the hall towards the noise, hoping to use the confusion to her advantage. She pressed close to the wall, and then drew away quickly, looking at her hands. She looked at the wall and back to her hands. She had been able to feel the power running through the wall in the wires. She calmed herself and kept going, ignoring what she felt, and focusing on getting out of there. She looked ahead and saw a familiar face, but resisted the urge to call out, and crept up behind one of the guard. She went to choke him, but instead sparks flew from her fingers, singing his neck and dropping him. She looked up to see Angelmay staring at her slack-jawed. She reached over and tugged on MusiKai's sleeve, and he turned to see what she wanted.

"Arania?" His voice in disbelief at how she looked. She nodded, and went to hit another guard who had come up beside her. Again the sparks flew knocking him out. She looked at her hands, and her eyes fluttered again as she collapsed, the shock of what happened overwhelming her. MusiKai rushed to her side as Angelmay and DiscoKai fought off more guards. He picked her up gently and slung her over his shoulder so he would have a free hand. He looked to the others.

"We've got her, now we have to get out of here, we've got maybe 3 minutes left till the bombs go off. Let's move it." He disposed of a few more guards and led them back to the elevator and out of the building. Just as they got out of the blast range, the bombs went off, flinging them to the ground.

They went back to the cars and Dgre drove for MusiKai while he sat in the back tending to Arania. They made it back to the castle with no incident. MusiKai carried her in to the library and laid her on a couch, kneeling next to her and watching her. While the others went to check on Keileithyia, Dgre went to get some equipment to check Arania. She examined her carefully and saw the only thing wrong was the changes she had undergone. After a bit longer, she woke and looked around frantically, sobbing her relief to be out of that dreadful place. She reached for MusiKai and he embraced her, holding her till the crying passed. She pulled back and looked at her hands and saw her skin was still blue.

"What did that bastard do to me?" She looked at him. He frowned and shook his head.

"He had been experimenting with endowing people with control over electricity. Usually, he never got beyond exposing them to it. I really don't know what he did to you exactly, but apparently you can use it." MusiKai met her eyes, which now appeared to have no pupils at all. Her hair and skin, while both blue were two different shades, hair being darker. She kissed him and laid back down onto the couch and looked at the ceiling.

"I can see where the electric wires are in the walls, and feel their current. The man who helped me mentioned this was only the first stage, what else would have happened?"

"The second part of all his successful experiments is brainwashing. Making the person totally faithful to him."

She sighed deeply and nodded. MusiKai turned back to Arania. "You feel all right?"

"Well, besides all this odd stuff I can see now, yes....I think I want to go home." She sighed and got up, wavering a little, but steadying herself quickly and walking towards the door. He followed closely a hand resting on her shoulder. She thanked the others for helping get her out of there, and told them she'd talk to them later. At that they went home, both resting after the long day they had.