Read My Dear EXN :: I am Titanium

There was not much room in the tunnel it was dark in there except for dim bulb lights fixed at the ceiling, Akari tried to walk as quietly as she can. Suddenly she heard the sound of an entrance door being opened and got scared, she quickly started running in the opposite direction and found a door, she checked the lock and found that the door was unlocked, the footsteps were becoming closer and closer. Akari opened the door and let herself in and placed a chair against the door, luckily the footsteps crossed her without making a stop for the room in which Akari just entered. Akari decided to wait in the room before venturing out again, she started to look around the room which did not have much stuff, to begin with. There was just a wall filled with plasma screens and a desk which was neatly placed below it, there was a keyboard present on the keyboard, except this there was a shelf which was nearly empty and had few files and a weird-looking device which looked like a headphone made of metal. Akari decided to sniff around more, she pressed the enter key on the keyboard and as expected the screens lit up. Project "Neuralink" was written on the screen, Akari clicked on the folder titled ' Subject' but the screen displayed the ' Need the authorization to access' message. Akari grabbed files that were kept on the shelf and started looking for login credentials, she was desperately searching for some useful information in that files but it seems that time was running against her and that is when she heard the sound of the doorknob being rotated, she quickly hides in the space between door and shelf and held her breath.

The person who had just entered the room grabbed a chair and sat in front of the screen, he typed in the login credentials and started watching some kind of video recording in which a person was sitting on a chair in a room which was sparely furnished and had an awfully bright paint. The person in the room was wearing one of the headphones that were kept on the shelf but in the video, the headphone seemed active, they had a strange light being emitted through them.

In the background of the video, a voice was guiding the viewers about the ongoing process and they had announced that the "subject seems to be stable, proceeding with the procedure, activating the chain of commands in 3, 2..." Akari never heard them saying 1 as in the suspense she overlooked that the guard had sensed her presence and is already holding his gun towards her. Out of instinct, she put her hand up instantly, now the guard confronted her and asked her" who are you, how did you got here?"

Akari:" I was just attending the service and got lost while searching for the toilet, I found this corridor and got curious and then entered this room, I was just going to get out when I heard someone entering the room and got scared and hide behind the door, look I am really sorry, I am not here to steal, in fact, I belong to a well off family who annually donates to the charity"

Seeing Akari nervous and ranting the guard started to consider the possibility the Akari might be just some stupid, curious girl and nodded slightly, Akari decided to build on this image further and spoke again

Akari: "Sir would you be please kind enough and show me a way back to service hall, please"

Guard just nodded and said" let's go" but he did not put his gun down, Akari got out of the room with the guard slowly following behind her, they quickly passed over the narrow corridor and made her way out through the library door. Akari decided to make small talk with the guard who was still following her and was still pointing his gun at her.

Akari:" I am so sorry for troubling you like this, I am so clumsy sometimes but why do you have a corridor in the library, I got confused and thought that there was some ancient community bathroom down there" with a nervous laugh..

The guard just grunted and said " Miss please keep walking and go to the parking lot"

Akari picked up the pace and when they reached the parking lot, she explained to the guard that she is going to call herself a cab, guard just nodded and said to make it quick, he seemed to relax a bit and lit up a cigarette and stood against one of the cars, it stood in complete silence for about 5-7 mins till Akari's cab came into view, she texted the driver to make a U-turn and wait for her as she has spotted him.

Akari: "Thank you sir so much for your help today, I was completely lost and would have gotten into trouble if you didn't help me, God bless you and your family."

Guard just nodded and said "don't go wandering into unknown places"

With this interaction, Akari started to walk towards her cab, she heard another person coming towards where the guard was standing and as she proceeded she could hear them talking behind her back but she continued walking, she got to the cab and just when she opened the door, she heard the other person shouting" stay where you are, if you move, I will shoot you, I will shoot you".

The cab driver seemed ready to just run and leave, Akari sensed his panic and begged him in almost a whisper, "please, if you leave me, they will kill me, please don't leave me" while she was putting her hand above her head and slowly turning back. She spotted the other person which was standing near the guard, he was one of the security personnel of Black Gate who was at Emily's house and instantly regretted not escaping sooner.

The man was certainly pissed and said" I knew you would be snooping around but didn't think that you will be this foolish to come directly at your base;"

Akari's mind was running in all directions after hearing the word base but she kept a poker face, listen I don't want any trouble I just got confused with directions and was about to go, you can ask the guard there, the cab driver was pushing on the gas and was about to bail when Akari quickly added" let us talk but at least let's lower the weapon first and let this poor driver go first"

At this, the person lost it and shouted" no one is going anywhere you understand, you move and I will shoot you", Akari understood that there was no point in talking her way out of this, she decided to run for it and asked the driver to "run" the cab started moving and Akari immediately launched herself inside the cab and tried to close the door shut between all the sound of gunshots and car engine along with two persons running and shouting behind her, the cab was able to put a certain distance between them and security personnel but Akari was struggling to grab the door, she grabbed the front seat with her right hand and launched her left to grab the handle of the door which was all the way out when suddenly she heard another gunshot and then felt a bone-crushing pain in her left shoulder, she knew that she had been shot but she still brought the door close and shut it using her another hand when the door was shut she slummed into the seat which was now covered in crimson. She was losing blood very quickly she asked the driver to drive faster and to take a less travelled route and take her to her hotel, she tried to stay awake but was on the verge of passing out after telling the address of the hotel.