Zelda : 404 File Not Found [4/?]
Two things felt off after Link stepped out of the two by two by six shower stall. The first was that the metal cover for the hole-in-the-wall-for-a-window was completely eradicated. The temperature of the building had dropped considerably, and he definitely felt it. However, the second issue was more worrisome-his nose picked up on the subtle scent of jasmine in the air. A fragrant so expensive that he doubted anyone in any of the multiple levels of the Lower Grounds had enough rupees in their life savings to purchase even a minuscule amount. He needed to investigate.
Link took two steps forward. Stopped. Sniffed the air. His ears twitched as he picked up the slight CLICK too late from above and behind. The jasmine smell was definitely stronger, he decided. BANG! Pain exploded outward from the center of his back as he flew through the air. His midsection collided with the guard rail.
“Oof!” His hands slipped, he toppled over the side, and he landed with a heavy thump ten feet below. Slowly pulling himself up, he croaked: “Navi. Unlock box four four seven oh-”
A hand yanked his head back by the hair and dragged him over the debris covered floor. He struggled, cursing as his hands dug through his pockets and whipped out a handle. A slight squeeze triggered the device, the end extended to a short but sharp bladed edge. He whipped his hand back and slashed at the fist buried in his hair. A feminine yelp rang in his ears. The pressure released, his head dropped to the floor, and the modular blade device flew out of his hands.
“Pass code,” Navi beeped.
“Seven seven six one five nine four three,” he hissed as he forced himself to stand, keeping a careful eye on the masked woman clothed in a full-body synthetic suit. She stood about five feet away from him, arms out at her sides, body lithe and ready to attack. He instantly recognized the stance, the synthetic body modification suit, and the resulting side affect of blood red pupils.
He breathed. Fuck me, he sighed mentally as he realized he left the Navigator on the goddamn bed, which meant he had to incapacitate the woman long enough to get up there and retrieve it.
Link realized his options were exceedingly low and decided on his course of action before he took the time to rethink the repercussions. He breathed deeply and switched on the old combat modification device implanted in his skull, Level One. His ribs vibrated as a small metal unit embedded under his left lung released chemically altered adrenaline directly into his system, forcing his senses to heighten and raised reaction time. The fluid boiled in his veins, as though a fire burned him from the inside out.
“I don’t like hitting women,” he said conversationally, his voice hoarse and harsh in the still air. His mind ran through lists of processes, system codes, errors and bug fixes. He pushed down his emotions and focused on what was in front of him.
In the blink of an eye he nimbly dodged a punch to the face, hooked his arm around her body and used the momentum to barrel her through the wall behind him. Before she hit the ground he leapt halfway up the ladder and grabbed hold of the guard rail. He lunged for his bed, and his fist closed around Navi just as a hand yanked him down backwards by the ankle.
Link’s head bounced off the metal grating. Stars exploded in front of his eyes. He tasted copper as his body went airborne off the edge, again. He blacked out for only a second, but in that time she managed to pin him down and wrap her hands around his throat. His blue eyes met her red ones, and suddenly he lost the desire to keep fighting.
Consciousness faded out.
“Link!” Navi beeped wildly. “Emergency Action Engaged.”
He gasped-
“AAAAAGH!”
She screamed. He screamed. Electricity rocketed through his limbs and nearly tore his insides apart. The woman’s grip ripped from his throat as her body jerked backwards violently and fell to the floor. He gasped, and then sucked air into his lungs greedily as he registered the smoke floating away from the woman’s synthetic suit… and from his freshly cleaned jacket as well.
“…Nav? What?” he croaked, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Cellular level bio-shock static charge to restart core systems,” she replied, “Set to twenty five percent efficiency to prevent permanent damage.”
Link sighed, thankful for the emotion protocols he installed into the device. The bio-shock feature was a charge that, at 100% efficiency, would bring him back from the brink. But because of the closed designs, it would effectively kill anyone and everyone else that happened to be too close to him at the time of activation. Logic would not dictate the lesser dosage over the maximum, yet the Emotional bypass won out, which was proof that his ‘Bug Fixes’ were a complete success.
Gently, gently, he picked himself off the floor and leaned forward, his nervous system on the fritz and his muscles trembling near out of control. In one hand, a panel in the side of Navi flipped open and a long needle extended out. With his other hand, he grabbed the woman’s injured wrist, thumbing apart the torn material, and jammed the device into her skin. Her body stilled.
“Admin Pass Code?”
“Run Keylogger.”
“Access Granted.”
He eased himself to a semi comfortable seated position.
“Command?”
“Run Program Seneca.exe”
“Program Run.”
“Command?”
“Locate Gerudo Protocol.”
“Query Found.”
“Run Trojan.”
“Level?”
Link allowed his stare to roam over the rest of her body before snapping back to her glazed eyes watching him.
“Level Four-Program Source Rewrite.”
She affected him, he realized, and it was beyond his capacity to understand just why he couldn’t pull his gaze away as her eyes rolled back in their sockets. He swallowed.
“Error-Assassin Protocol Write-Protected.”
“Command?”
“Delete.”
“Verification Required.”
“Ehl eye enn kay. Oh four two one eight six. Delete.”
“Verification confirmed. Deleting…”
“Delete Successful.”
“Rewrite Successful.”
Link let out a shaky breath.
“Command?”
“Uninstall Trojan.”
“Trojan Removed.”
“Set Program-”
She gasped, her back arched off the floor. It distracted him. Link leaned down.
“Stop moving,” he whispered.
She froze.
“Command?”
“Set Program Seneca.exe-Standby Mode.”
“Standby Mode Complete. Good Night.”
It was with some interest that Link watched her eyes shoot open, the red color drain away to a light blue-gray, and then slide closed again. He removed Navi from the girl’s wrist and frowned at the steady trail of blood leaking from the wound he inflicted earlier. Link once again leaned down, tossed her now-limp body over his shoulder, and somehow managed to maneuver the both of them back up the ladder.
Once steady on the upper level, however, he casually dropped her on the bed and set about bandaging her wrist because goddesses damn it the blood was pissing him off and he didn’t know why. As he realized the danger was over for the time being, his emotions hit him full force. The girl-woman-in front of him couldn’t be much younger than he, but the suit was in his way and effectively skewed his ability to guess her age correctly.
The teen glanced down at her, watching her chest rise and fall in steady, if quiet breathing. It wasn’t that he didn’t recognize the situation for what it was, because he did. He didn’t want to face it, but now that it was literally right in his face, what could he do? The Gerudo Corporation. They owned everything and ran everything and they couldn’t let one person go. One. Person.
Hell, it wasn’t even like he got off scot-free-Mom’s dead. Not your fault. Don’t think it-but even so, here they were. Dumped a goddamn Sheikah in his home to either bring him back or remove him.
Stupid. Stupid move. He’s the one who broke the code. Sure, this one was advanced. What did they think; just because he was offline and hiding he couldn’t keep improving his security?
Yeah. Yeah. That’s exactly what happened.
He breathed, stood, walked over to the far wall, kicked the side, and waited for the toilet device to slide out of its locked panel. Two beeps sounded, his stomach rolled as the effects of the adrenaline wore out, and he retched up the chemicals into the metal bowl. It flushed automatically while a small nozzle exited the wall above the panel and squirted some artificial odor killing spray into the air. Link gagged again and kicked the bowl back into its slot. The panel beeped, locking shut.
The teen grunted in pain as he systematically peeled off his blood stained, sweat soaked, ripped-up clothes off his body, not entirely caring about the fact that there was a passed out woman on his bed, and then jumped into the shower. Again.
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