Chapter 4

*This is the rough draft version of the novel. The polished novel will be posted at a later date. Proper formatting has not been applied to the ongoing chapters.

Chapter 4: Hex

Day 2

Each step they took echoed down the white corridors ahead and behind the two tall figures. They came into a large room, and the blond man stopped.

"Have we already been found?" the masked woman inquired. She started to turn back when the man next to her caught a ribbon of light, now in front of her face and in the form of a large chain in his hand.

"Now this hardly seems fair. Don't you think that Android's reaction speed puts me at a disadvantage?" A third figure coming up from behind them said.

The blond man looked at the masked woman. She gave a nod, and he released the chain, which pulled back to the dark figure with glowing eyes now standing before them.

"You're one to talk," the masked woman said plainly. Though her eyes couldn't be seen, her stare could be felt from across the room.

"Miss Beckett," the tall, dark man said with one step forward, and the masked woman reached for her gun.

"Hex."

"Trinity," he continued less formally. She pulled the gun out of it's holster, but didn't aim it at him.

"I said it's Hex now. And his name is Ardest," she said with a head tilt toward the blond man next to her. "You'd do well to remember that. He hates being seen as machinery."

"Duly noted," the man replied as he slowly lifted both of his hands into the air. "I'm not here to fight you."

"Oh? And that chain you sent at my head?" she scoffed.

"Merely an attempt to stop you, not harm you. You know how it works. But really, what are you doing here, Hex?" He asked with emphasis on her new name, but the whole tone shifted to one much more severe.

"You know why we're here, Angel, and if you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way," she warned.

"What do you hope to achieve?" he asked.

"He's a distraction," Ardest said, the crosshairs in his blue eyes appearing more prominent as the cyan accents in his white and dark gray armor started to glow.

"Caught me," Angel said, and threw his arms forward, sending ribbons of light at both Hex and Ardest, as white wings appeared on his back and he leapt backwards as they spread to fly.

Hex turned to run while Ardest grabbed both ribbons of light, which once again turned into large chains when he made contact. Angel moved his arms as if to pull the chains back up toward him, and the chains, tightly wrapped around his hands, threw Ardest forward.

Ardest flipped to move with the force of the chains, then squeezed and broke them, causing them to dissipate into light particles.

Hex had made it into another room up ahead, and Angel tried to follow, but Ardest was plenty fast enough to keep up with his flying, and blocked the entrance, his blue eyes fixated on Angel's every move.

----

"Ahhh..." the tall and slender man brushed both his hands through his platinum blond hair. He paced back and forth in the small, metal room, constantly jerking his head back to make sure Rose, who was sitting on a steel bench attached to the wall, hadn't moved. She watched him cautiously, her posture hunched and her hands gripping her elbows. "Why, why, why?" he repeated in agitation to himself. Rose's brows furrowed, but she quietly took in a deep breath, and relaxed her expression.

"The game is about to start," she said cautiously and he flinched and swiveled around, looking at her wide-eyed.

"I-I know! You'd better cooperate, or--" he started, but grabbed his chest and started breathing quicker. "Just cooperate. You have to cooperate!" he insisted.

"I will, but are you okay?" she asked, changing her posture with her hands now on her lap and her back forced into a straight position.

"Wh-why are you asking me that?" he said breathlessly.

"You haven't stopped moving since we came in here, and you seem more anxious than I am."

"I don't—" he started to speak, then shook his head. "I don't like being alone. Or in small spaces, even without cameras," he explained, now avoiding eye contact and anxiously rubbing the side of his neck.

Rose slowly stood up, and his head turned with a jerk as dug his nails into the back of his neck. Rose slowly extended a hand to the back of his, and his eyes grew wide again. "You're not alone," she said softly, and he lowered his hand down from his neck.

"Wh-what are you doing?" he questioned, tense and guarded.

Her shoulders tightened up a little, but she took his hand as she forced a smile looking at it. "You're not alone. I'm here with you. You... have a reason for doing this, don't you?" she asked and looked up at him with sympathetic eyes.

"I... We do. My—I mean, Hex, Ardest, and I, yeah. W-we do," he stuttered with a slow nod.

"You're not a bad person, are you?" she gently nudged, and he shook his head, then gripped her hand with both of his.

"You get it! You can tell, can't you? We're not the problem!" he insisted and started to smile. "You get it! I'm not going to hurt you, we just have to make a scene!"

"A scene?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. He suddenly pulled his hands away and took a step back.

"Ah, I don't know how much I can say... There are no cameras or mics here, but since you understand we're not bad people, it might not go to plan..." he said, starting to fidget again. He had gone from such a brash man to almost childlike after parting ways with his accomplices.

Rose thought carefully before speaking again, clasping her hands together and lowering her head until he was staring at her.

"I can't help unless I know what's going on... And as it stands, I don't even know your name," she murmured, and he lit up again.

"Sental," he replied as if reminding her. "You really want to help? W-we can help each other! Just wait until there are lots of cameras on us, then scream to the world you were forced into these games, and that you want out!" he exclaimed and grinned.

"Why do you... need me to make a scene, Sental?" she asked cautiously.

"Hex wants to destroy the games, and you're the perfect candidate for helping that happen," he explained with large gestures. "We found you when digging into selected players that had yet to respond, and what's even better is you were openly opposed to Red, too, which is what makes you perfect! We want to destroy Red, so we have a common enemy!"

"Wait, why do you want to destroy Red?" she asked a little more boldly.

"The people in charge of Red are bad people. They have to be exposed," he said, his expression suddenly solemn and cold.

"What did they do?"

His brows furrowed and he walked over to the bench to take a seat. He breathed in deeply. "They experimented on us. Ardest might seem like a regular Android now, but he's a person like you and me. They did that to him. Hex, she's older than both of us, but she was in the lab for a much shorter time. She was supposed to conduct experiments on us, just like everyone else, but she was kind..." he spoke wistfully, then tension returned to his face as he crossed his arms. "As for me, they'd keep me locked up in rooms like this one, only brighter and with nowhere to sit. They isolated me, so I was always excited when Hex came to visit. She kept me from going insane!" he chuckled while Rose stood silently. "She never did anything wrong. She was different, so they sabotaged her work, and disfigured her face, so she came back one night and set us free, and we've been following her ever since," he explained, tilting his head back, now appearing audacious and sure of himself.

A sound like a pen dropped against steel rang from the other side of the door, causing both Rose and Sental to startle.

Sental glanced at Rose and smirked. "It's starting. Remember that it's a lot easier for them to cut the video stream if there's just one camera. Wait until there's a drone on us, or a big fight breaks out, and speak to the camera, not the other players."

Rose, though looking apprehensive, nodded. The mechanical door opened itself with a hiss of steam, and a black room with two pedestals in the center was revealed. One glowed with a blue light, the other glowed red, and each held a gun.