Reality and Darkness, two sides of the same coin

"Blimey..... You look like Annabelle."

Eunbyul moved around in the upgrade. It was different from the previous suit. Firm thin black pads were on her elbow, knees, fists, and shoulders. The suit fitted her almost like snake skin. The gloves were flexible, with adhesive grip on the palms. The black military boots were much lighter and more flexible.

"Dragon armor. Light as cotton but as durable as chain mail."
Jacques whistled.

Eunbyul ignored their fascination and clasped a gun holster on her thigh as well as her belt. Skylar simply tossed her all the light gear. Straps, disks, wires. He finally handed her two pitch black tonfas. He emphasized their lethality, pressing a black switch. The tonfas suddenly projected blades on the end, edging the sides, jagged silver teething gleamed.

Eunbyul grimly sheathed them on her back as Skylar handed her a gun. It was a glock, small, but fast and powerful. Eunbyul didn't want to use it.
Skylar seemed to read her mind and he gave her a glare.
"If you are going to come along. You will have to use this. It's inevitable. You can still back down...."

Eunbyul glared at her father and grabbed the gun. She shoved it into the thigh holster along with the cartridges. To her surprise, Slylar also handed her a silver Desert Eagle. It was mirror image to his own, but a carving was intricately inscribed on the silver muzzle. The vine streak ended to a rigid wing near the handle. Eunbyul eyed the gun with recognition, she had seen it's design before.

"It was your mothers. Consider it your becoming of age gift."
Skylar wished he would never have to give her this heirloom. He wished she would never have to use it, but he wasn't idealist. If he was sending her off into the heart of darkness, it was only right to give her Annabelle's weapon.

Eunbyul hesitantly took the gun by it's black leather handle. It was heavier than the glock, weighing her hip significantly. She pulled it back out as it gleamed, almost welcoming it's new master.

Axel yelled from the cockpit.
"We are about to arrive. Security is tight here, I can't get a landing without setting off the alarm!"

"Then don't land."
John Casey rolled his eyes as he shoved a round into a large barrel machine gun.

"Crikey, thanks for that piece of useless advice you ass! Mind you those missiles down there pack a wallop!"
The aussie yelled from his main seat.

"Then shoot us in. We can emp the central control system."
Liam, a tall muscular black man asked.

"EMP.... Electro magnetic pulse? That might damage our chances of finding UKISS."
Eunbyul spoke out as she pulled on a black hood. She caught a black handle katana, handing it to Skylar who pulled on his black visor mask. A metal jaw mask covered the lower half of his face as a visor eyepiece was geared on him. He wore a tight black suit similar to Eunbyul's only with black cargo pants.

Skylar spoke in his jaw mask.
"That's why we are sending in separately. Walker, Jacques, Stella, and I will be sent off first as the alpha unit. We will infiltrate the eastern facility, where they keep the prisoners. Jacques will hack into their control center, giving us access to the eastern facilities security system. Meanwhile, Liam, Travis, and Casey will infiltrate the main system and launch the EMP in a given amount of time, so we cam save them. Hawkins will be cover in the Night Hermes. If the alarm goes off, fire the pulse guns to keep them preoccupied. Any questions, comments, concerns?...." he unsheathed the katana to make sure it was sharp. "Good."

Everyone stood up, ready and eager to start their mission. Hawkins checked his assortments of bows and arrows, snipers, heavy machine guns, and more artillery all lined up on the wall of their aircraft. The rest began loading and steadying themselves for the battle.

Eunbyul stood up, cocking the Desert Eagle. Her gaze was deadly as she poised herself with these soldiers. It was like she wasn't even a newbie.

Skylar nodded at his daughter with an odd sense of pride as his team stood behind her like she was one of their own. He sheathed his sword firmly into the back sheath.
"Let's do this."

 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Hey. Are we going to die hyung?"
Kiseop asked miserably as he stopped struggling against the chains. They all woke up in a large room, binded by some sort of metal bars against the wall. Still soldiers stood near them, guarding them with massive guns. They wore silver masks that covered their entire face, making them appear less human. They said nothing, didn't fidget, didn't make small talk. They just stood there.

Soohyun opened his mouth to answer but Dongho cut in.
"No.. Eunbyul noona is going to come for us."
He spoke confidently as he closed his eyes.

"..... I hope she doesn't."
Jaeseop suddenly spoke. Everyone looked at him with a confused expression. He had a worried look on his face.
"She isn't invincible. I have a sick feeling something really bad will happen to her if she comes for us."

UKISS was silent. They all had that feeling to. Dongho didn't want to doubt Eunbyul, but even she wasn't bullet proof or immune to pain.

"Knowing Eunbyul. She would find some way to get to us."
Hoon shared his worry.

"But she is the only one that can save Kevin."
They looked at Kevin who stood in the center of the room. They had tried speaking to him, for some sign of recognition, but he was still. His bangs covered his face, but they knew this wasn't their bubbly diva. 

Malcolm came into the massive arena with a three dimensional screen at hand. He pressed a few buttons as it projected out in the room.
"The show has begun. I want you all to see what monster you've exactly kept in your hands, caged, controlled...."


UKISS nearly gasped as they saw the screen. Eunbyul wasn't in her usual sweats or tank top but a black clad armored stealth suit, emphasizing her fierce elegance. A black and silver facial mask was on her bottom half of the face, but they weren't stupid. Theyn recognized her instantly.

But it wasn't what she wore that shocked them. It was what she was doing. No one other than Kevin had ever seen Eunbyul truly fight, or get truly angry. 

They watched as she mercilessly broke a man's arm in multiple places on a roof. She pulled out a black piano wire and wrapped it around the man, with one great kick she sent him off the rail, hanging on the wire. Eunbyul's eyes showed no mercy as she quickly incapacitated each soldier one by one.

"My.... Annabelle has been training her tiger to do tricks. And I thought my Facultan Soldiers were quite adequate.. Then again they are cyborgs.  Lack of emotions cause carelessness. Maybe I should tamper the program..."
He mumbled to himself. 

"Cyborgs?"
Eli whispered appalled at the sight of the soldiers. It was true. They peered closely and noticed the helmet of their masks were also part of the skull base of the person themselves.

"Well yes. They used to be ex convicts, voluntary soldiers, veterans, etc. They no longer have a mind of their own... Or a "Soul" as you would put it. They're technically brain dead for the most part, so they died a while ago."

"So,..... Noona isn't killing them?"
Dongho flinched as he witnessed Eunbyul shoot a soldier in the head without hesitation.

"If it brings you some comfort, you naiive boy... Yes.... They are technically dead." Malcolm scoffed. "I killed them myself. They no longer scream in pain, cry, whine, or laugh. Simply..... tools...."

He then smiled mockingly at UKISS, the small sense of relief evident in their eyes.
"Does it truly comfort you? Seeing her not end a life solely out of her own volition??... So you can hallucinate and assure yourself that she is untainted.... pure of any henious crime? Pathetic..."
 

"You sick son of a bitch."
UKISS glared at him with hatred, but there was a shame in their eyes as Malcom stated some truth.

"I take that as a compliment for my... Ingenuity. as usual, I am right. Typical ignorance you civillains have..."
 Dr. Malcolm smirked at them.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-

Skylar came in to view as he pulled out a katana. He slashed a Facultan soldier's torso as Eunbyul threw a knife into one's eye. She jumped on the Facultan and pulled out the knife. With a sick twist of her body the man's head snapped while she stabbed the other one in the spine.
UKISS watched and flinched at the gruesome sight. Her face was without any empathy for the deaths. They were enemies, but they seemed so human. The only hint to show that they were now less than human was the metal skull base. But they still used to be human. It was oddly intimidating seeing their pacifist assistant manager kill in seemingly cold blood. This was the first time they had ever seen her kill.

"Impressive.... But will that determination last?"
Malcolm smirked as he watched his own be killed off.

Eunbyul's unique eyes looked directly into the security camera. Others would have flinched at the severe stare, but Malcolm remained cool at the piercing predator eyes. She seemed to grimace behind the black jaw mask as she stood there.
Eunbyul sent a silent message with her eyes. To any normal person, it would send chills.
I'm coming for you.....

She pulled out a silver gun from her holster and shot the camera. The screen went blank as the camera was destroyed. Dongho looked at Malcolm with hollow triumph.
"She's gonna kick your ass."

Malcolm's gray eyes shot to Dongho as he pressed a small button on his remote. Electric volts shot through his chains, causing Dongho to scream in pain as he clenched his teeth.

"Dongho!"
The other members of UKISS cried as their magnae panted from the voltage.
 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Clear."
Walker shot the few remaining Facultans with his rifle. Jacques stabbed his pikes into a heavy set man and sent electrical volts running through his body. The Facultan fell to the ground with a thud.

Eunbyul felt disgust at the lives spent on Malcolm's game, but she didn't have time to dwindle on the bloodshed. She had a family to save.
"The only way through is through the vents. The doors can only be opened from the inside without setting the alarm systems off."
Jacques typed on his handheld gadget.

"I'm surprised he didn't set off the alarm already. Is he not aware that we are here? How thick."
Walker cocked his rifle.

"He knows...."
Skylar looked around and turned to Eunbyul.
"Stella, you'll have to go in through the ventilation system. You are the smallest build out of everyone of us. Give us the go when you've unlocked it."

Eunbyul nodded as she shoved her gun back into it's holster.
"Jacques. Send me the general blueprints of the place."

"Wi, mademoiselle."
He quickly typed in a few keys as Eunbyul broker the ventilation and slid in.

"Is it safe to send her off like that?"
Walker asked as Skylar looked around. Skylar's black mask turned to him, but Walker already knew the loom he was giving.
"Since when was any of this safe?"

"What would Annabelle say to this?"
Walker mused.

"She would have my head on a golden platter..... After she gives Eunbyul a reward."
Skylar remarked coolly. He aimed his gun behind him, not bothering to look, and shot an oncoming soldier straight in the head.

"Enough small talk. I can hear you."
Eunbyul snapped through their comm link.

She crawled through the vents, looking at the diagram of the vent system. She slid under and over the laser lights with a bit of fluid effort until she reached her destination. She pulled out a metallic whip, coiling it around her arm. She grabbed the tip, which ended with a sharp jagged crooked blade. She pulled out the glock as she counted the men bellow her. Eunbyul kicked open the vent screen and dropped a flash bang. The bang went off and blinded the soldiers as she dropped in.

Without thinking she stabbed the first Facultan in the neck and pulled out the knife. The metal uncoiled and she whipped it around her. The wind hissed as the knife met it's next mark. She shot her glock as a Facultan tried to untangle the sharp whip from his gun arm. The blood bath continued until she was left standing, and by that time, the had smoke cleared.

Eunbyul stood where she was, taking in the full detail of her assault. Blood was seeping from their wounds as they laid lifeless on the white tiles. The crimson liquid seeped it's way to her feet, but she stepped away. The whip was stained with flashes of bright red as it gleamed in the light. 

She dragged her feet to the control panel, the metal whip following her, making a blood trail on the floor.
She barely listened to Jacques as he directed her to pressing a few keys on the panel. Then she waited, amongst the dead until she heard footsteps. Skylar burst in along with Jacques and Walker. Jacques stopped at the sight of the kills and made no comment as he walked straight to the controls, but there was a look in his eyes as he glanced at Eunbyul. With a few quick flurries of his adept hands he accessed the system.
"I'm in."

Holographic screens began to project multiple screens. Each one showing different sections of the facility. UKISS was in one of the screens, chained up against a wall.
That was enough to distract her from the deaths. She looked at the screen with fervent worry. They were all there. They were safe.... Except one.
Where's Kevin?

There were only six on the screen.

"Mate.... You need to see this."
Walker looked at another screen. Everyone gathered their attention to the screen, revealing a strangely lit blue room. They peered closer, and a sickening silence was in the air...
Skylar was grim.
"Jacques... Where is that?"

Jacques gave them the direction. It was on the way to UKISS's location. While they studied the map he deactivated any alarm system.

Eunbyul went first, in a rush. She needed to see all of them. She needed to find them.
She ran through to the blue room, but then she had to stop. She couldn't keep passing the room without noticing what it contained. Bile rose to her throat as she spun around, taking in the appalling horror of the sight. There were tanks.... Tanks among tanks, cylindric, of some sort of abominations.

Eunbyul felt her breathe come in gasps as she saw the different forms of life growing inside the capsules. Humans, animals, all alike. There were people in an embryonic phase, yet fully grown adults. Tubes where connected to them like some sick form of an umbilical cord. There were animals, tigers, bears, snakes, some sort of apex predator in some tanks. Some weren't even human or animal. Mutations. Eunbyul stepped closer to one tank, it was a man, or a sick imitation of a man. It's fingers were elongated, forming black claws on the end, and the shoulders had bones sticking out at an odd angle, yet it was humanoid.

Her legs seemed to force her forward. There was a lab center, and the sick smell of sterile anesthetics came to her sensitive nose. There were tools of all sorts, scalpels, drills, lasers, anything. Blood crusted some of the edges from recent use. There were body sheets, covering what God only knew. A hand was limp on one of them. Cold and shrivelling.

She kept walking and what she saw next made her vomit on the tile. She tasted the bitter sick and spat out the bile.

In the center were lab tables with freshly mutilated bodies. Humanoids, beasts, and people. It didn't matter. There were parts that were dismembered, some just cut open. Drilled in the head, gouged outward. There were women, children, and men all alike. Some had dog tags, some were just civilians. They were innocent civilians, probably wondering what music they would listen to, and they were now laying there, mutilated and disjointed, their bodies humiliated.

Eunbyul wanted to look away, but she couldn't. She couldn't look away. Her hands shook, her heart was beating erratically.

"Fuck...."
Walker and Skylar came in later following after Eunbyul. Walker had to stop and take in the gruesome sight around him, Skylar paid his attention to Eunbyul. Her face was hidden from view, but he could see her shivering. 

"Eunbyul.....?"
She didn't respond and Skylar tried again, in a more gentle tone.
".....Starling?"

He hadn't called her starling since she was an infant. It was a pet name he had for her as a child.

Eunbyul finally seemed to twitch as she turned over her shoulder. Her blue eye held a haunting despair as she looked at her father almost pleadingly as if she desired some comfort. 

"Tell me I'm not seeing this....."
She begged like a child.

Skylar walked up to her and patted her hair. He brought her to his firm chest, disregarding his attire. Eunbyul didn't move at first, but then she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face. Skylar stroked her hair with his gloved hand as she gasped for air.

"Skylar... Some of these..... Subjects date back to Alcatraz. They are ex convicts."
Walker spoke out.

"..... Jacques.... You are seeing this... Correct?"
Skylar spoke into his link.

".... Wi...."

Eunbyul pressed her cheek against his chest refusing to look at them anymore. She didn't want to see the mutilated bodies anymore.
Then her eyes caught the final thing. The last straw. Her sharp eyes focused on the last tank, displayed almost in a trophy way.
She froze, no longer shivering, no longer even breathing as she stared at the figure in the tank.

Skylar whispered despairingly.
"I'm sorry...."
He was so sorry, he was sorry she had to witness all of this.

She didn't respond. In fact she didn't even move.

"Eunbyul?"
He looked down to see Eunbyul look far at a distance. Her eyes held an absolute horror.
He followed her line of sight and nearly dropped his sword. 

"Tell me this isn't true.... Tell me I'm not seeing what I am seeing right now...."
Eunbyul's voice quivered.

Skylar didn't say anything as he took off his mask and pulled off the black visor and everything. His hair was downcast as he stared at the tank.

Walker walked up to them and looked at the tank. He inhaled a gasp as his rifle hand went limp.

Standing before them, only a few paces away, was a doppleganger of Annabelle Lee. Unaged, in pristine condition. A hollow shell of Annabelle's own body floating in the tank.

Dr. Malcolm had cloned her own mother.

Malcolm simply smirked at the camera as he witness their cruel reality.
"The cage has weakened..... Just a few more pushes."
 

AUTHORS NOTE! Please read, because I rarely make these AN's

Hello my loyal readers!
Consider this as a WARNING:
From this chapter forward... Things will be a bit.... shall we say, messy.

There was a reason why I had rated this story "T"

And I also need your very important opinion!
I am considering making this into a two part story. meaning, a sequel. /why? BEcause It seems rather ridiculously long if I try cramming this into one story, but I would like you guys to decide since you are my readers. :) HERE IS THE LINK

P.S If you truly enjoy my story, would you be so kind to share it with other people as well? I put a lot of effort into this one, and if this one is liked well enough, I plan on making more. Not just Eunbyul stories but more heroine to come!

Thank you.

With UTMOST Sincerity:

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