Doctor Semiconscious grumbled a little and made feeble attempts to stand up. Kaname didn't know what to do. Should she make a break for it? But where would she go?
Deciding to figure that out later, Kaname ran toward the trailer's door.
"And where do you think you're going?" The seething doctor leveled a pistol at Kaname. "Don't move. You'll be sorry if you do."
"Thanks, but I've had enough of this. If you don't mind—"
The bullet lodged itself in the trailer's wall.
"Hey! Watch it!"
The doctor fired again, taking out the LCD screen behind Kaname. Snarling, the doctor looked just angry enough to shoot Kaname.
Before it could come to that, however, men with submachine guns kicked open the door.
"What's going on in here, anyway?" asked one of the men, pointing the muzzle of his gun at the tip of Kaname's nose. He looked around the trailer.
"Nothing—just a little disturbance. I thought I'd scare her a little," replied the doctor.
"And you shot at her? Do you know how much this equipment—"
"Five point eight million dollars. Now, if you don't mind holding her down for a moment…" The doctor pulled out a syringe, expunged the air, and squirted a few drops skyward.
The armed guards pinned Kaname to the bed.
"What is that?" shrieked Kaname, eyeing the approaching syringe.
"I didn't want to have to use this. It's not good for a young woman's development. But someone didn't want to cooperate, did she?"
"P-please—"
"I tried to do this the nice way."
Helpless, Kaname knew she could not match the strength of the men.
"P-please. I'll cooperate," pled Kaname.
"Too little, too late," the doctor cruelly chuckled, bringing the needle closer.
Right as it was about to puncture the skin of Kaname's arm, the men holding her down groaned and collapsed.
Taken aback by this unexpected development, Kaname sat up to see the doctor, who looked very frightened and was engaged in an active attempt to back into the corner. Her attention fell on something behind Kaname. Slowly, apprehensively, Kaname turned to look.
"Sagara?"
Indeed, it was Sagara—stun gun in his left hand, pistol in his right. A submachine gun hung around his neck, and there were extra ammo magazines tucked under his school uniform's belt.
"Chidori, are you injured?" he asked calmly.
"Huh? Uh, n-no. I'm okay."
"Good. Then get behind me and stay close."
Shielding Kaname, he encroached on the doctor's corner.
"You're a high school student from that plane? But how the hell did you—"
"I'll ask the questions here. What is this equipment? And why did you kidnap her?"
"I can't tell you that."
Firing two rounds, Sousuke aerated some of the fancy machinery next to the doctor.
He pointed the gun directly at the woman. "Are you sure?"
"Okay, okay! Don't shoot. All of this is to see… whether she's a real Whispered."
"Whispered? What's that?"
"It's complicated," babbled the doctor, "but essentially, a Whispered is a treasury of Black Technology, holding knowledge that could change the whole world's balance of power. Extracting this knowledge still is extremely difficult; but someday, as an almighty, living database—"
Suddenly, Sousuke jerked Kaname's arm; he leapt behind a CT scanner, pulling her with him. Immediately, gunshots rang out, sparks flew, and chunks of plastic and metal rained down.
Kaname and the doctor shrieked simultaneously. Promptly, Sousuke returned fire, emptying a whole clip in the exit's direction.
"Gahhh!" shouted an unknown man. Discarding the spent handgun, Sousuke readied the submachine gun before peeking his head out to look at the exit.
The doctor lay face down on the floor in a rapidly expanding pool of blood—apparently the victim of crossfire.
"We need to run, Chidori."
"She… she's dead…"
"She's still alive, but we don't have the time or obligation to help her." Grabbing Kaname's hand, Sousuke led her toward the exit.
Unable to comprehend the situation, Kaname started to ask Sousuke what was going on—but he told her he would explain later.
There was a man near the trailer's exit. Clutching his lower abdomen, the man fought to get up. When his shaky hands made a last ditch attempt to grab his gun, Sousuke mercilessly booted him in the face.
"That looked painful."
"Let's go."
"I can't walk around like this! I have to change."
The little paper gown came to an end well above her knees. She knew she might as well be running around in her underwear.
"Just forget it, there's no time."
"Don't be such a pervert, Sousuke!"
"I'm not being a pervert," he protested.
"Liar! You're probably planning to pull some funny stuff in all this confusion, aren't you?"
"Of course not. Now, let's go."
"What the hell
"Please listen. I came here only because I was worried about you—"
Gunfire interrupted the argument. Bullets struck the entrance of the trailer, prompting Sousuke to throw himself on Kaname. His leaping tackle brought her to the floor.
"Aieee! Watch where you put your hands, creep!"
"I told you, it's not like that."
"Get away from me, you rapist!"
