Vivarium

Hey there! You should read some of the other stuff I made… or not!
I'm not the boss of you, do whatever you want!
More by Vivarium

The back door of the club stands in front of you. Your gun hangs in your jacket pocket, and a satchel containing all the money you could find wraps around your fingers.
The two men guarding the backdoor eye you up.
"Look at this. Our lap dog has returned. You want to be let back in?"
You bite your tongue and nod as they let you in. You pass by rooms filled with people plugged into servers with screens above each of their heads. The monitors show a virtual club filled with people dancing, ignoring the fact they are slaves to the lights and sounds.
Paintings framed extravagantly hang on every wall.
They all portray one man.
Momo Tsuyaki.
You pass by an open door. In the side of your vision you can barely see guards sorting and packaging cocaine and opium into bags. All of them have been augmented to some capacity with cybernetics. Their eyes follow you as you pass by.
Eventually you are standing in front of an open door frame. You see a room filled with ornate furniture, and exotic trinkets.
Momo Tsuyaki looks up from his desk at the end of the room and meets your eyes. For an ever stretching moment, you two share each other's gaze. Then he points at you.
The guards by his side begin to walk towards you.
"Do you have the money?" He says to you.
"Yes." You walk through the room and hand the satchel to one of the guards as he moves past.
You hear the sound of their footsteps cease. They are standing in front of the only exit. You see a gun on Tsuyaki's desk. It is trimmed with gold and silver. Leather wrapped around its porcelain grip.
What an asshole.
"Thank you for coming back to me, Roach." Tsuyaki leans back in his chair and lights a cigarette. He blows smoke into your face as he continues to talk. "So tell me, how did you get this money?"
"It's every cent I have." you say.
"Really? Not many people who come to me have 10,000,000 yen. It's even stranger that someone like you does." Tsuyaki leans forward. "So tell me. Did you steal this money?"
"No." You lie.
Tsuyaki leans forward. His eyes are empty voids that show no hint of thought or emotion. "Then why do you want me to smuggle you off the island?"
You remain silent. Thinking of what to say. Before you can open your mouth, Tsuyaki speaks.
"There are a lot of reasons someone would want me to this do this for them. To hide from the loan sharks. To escape men with guns who want to put a bullet in your skull. To start over with a new leaf. Tell me, why do you want to run away?" Tsuyaki's eyes burn through you with their gaze.
"There are things I want to put behind me."
Tsuyaki takes a long drag on his cigarette. "How very vague of you. I think you are running from one of the big fish. So tell me, is it the Foundation? The GOC?" Tsuyaki stands from his chair, and is soon standing right in front of you. "Or are you running from MC&D?"
"I'm not running from anything. I just want to start over."
Tsuyaki's eyes dart behind you for a brief moment. "I'm surprised, I thought you would be a better liar." You feel two sets of hands grab you by the shoulders and force you to the ground.
"The fuck Tsuyaki, I gave you what you wanted!" You struggle against the two men restraining you, but can't break free. Your knees dig into the carpet.
"I don't want your money. The Yamagachi-gumi have made a deal with MC&D. I want something else from you." Tsuyaki takes another long drag on his cigarette, grabs the gun from his desk, and presses the end against your temple. "I want to put this bullet in your skull."
He pulls the trigger.

✖

…

-Internal structure compromised-

…

-Neural stability is at 86%-

…

-Temporal relocation ready-

…

Try Again?

_

⟲⟳

Your head throbs as your vision returns. The easy option was never an option.
You find yourself in front of an open door frame. The pain behind your eyes subsides.
You see a room filled with ornate furniture, and exotic trinkets. Tsuyaki looks up from his desk at the end of the room.
You think of the many different ways you can smash his face into the ground.
"Do you have the money?" He says to you.
You stay in the door frame. "I do."
The two guards begin to walk towards you.
You wait for a perfect moment. Tsuyaki lights a cigarette.
The two guards are almost at the door frame. You lift the satchel in your left hand and bring it down on the guard on the left's head. You simultaneously remove your gun, and shoot the guard on the right in the chest three times. Blood covers the wall.
Tsuyaki frantically draws his gun. You grab the dazed left guard, and position him in between Tsuyaki, and yourself. Bullets fill the guards body as you push forward. A couple bullets dig themselves into you.
When you hear Tsuyaki reloading, you let the body fall to the ground, and lunge at Tsuyaki. The two of you struggle on the ground, until you have the back of Tsuyaki's head, in the palm of your hand. You shove it against the floor, and shove the end of your gun to his right temple.
"Is there even a fucking boat, Tsuyaki, or were you just going to kill me?!"
"You are going to die." He spits blood onto the carpet.
You fire your gun next to his head, shooting the wall next to him. He groans from the ringing in his ears.
"I'm not here to play your stupid little games! Is there a fucking boat Tsuyaki?!"
"… No." Tsuyaki struggles to laugh through the pain. You bite down on your rage.
You pull the trigger, and his limp body falls to the ground. You look to the door frame and see three more guards with cybernetics approaching the door. You duck behind the desk as the bullets fly above your head. Blood is slowly making its way out of you as you slowly bleed out.
Splinters of wood pierce your skin as you are riddled with more bullets.
You are cornered, and there are more bullets in you than in your gun.
There is no chance you will escape this time.
A bullet lodges itself in the back of your head.

✖

…

-Internal structure compromised-

…

-Neural stability is at 71%-

…

-Temporal relocation ready-

…

Try Again?

_

⟲⟳

The pain in your head is a rusty nail resting in the front of your skull.
Tsuyaki lights a cigarette.
You will kill him as many times as you need to.
The two guards are almost at the door frame. You don't say a word as they walk up to you. You lift the satchel into the air, and bring it down on the left guards head. You remove your gun, and shoot the guard on the right in the head. You saved two bullets. Viscera covers the wall.
Tsuyaki draws his gun, but before he can shoot you, you fire a bullet into his arm, causing him to drop his gun.
You grab the dazed guard and use him as a shield. When the three guards rush around the corner, you empty your magazine. One goes down, as the others duck behind cover, and return fire.
You let go of the dead body, find cover, and reload your gun. You finish putting the bullets in your gun just in time to fire a shot into the neck of the guard running through the door frame. The third guard moves quickly and decks you in the nose. The gun falls from your hand.
Tears well in your eyes due to your broken nose. The guard attempts to aim his gun, but you are able to knock it out of his hands and land a haymaker to the side of his head. You clench both hands onto his neck and begin crushing his wind pipe. The guard makes futile attempts to pummel you, but his body soon goes limp just like the others.
The room is quiet. You pick up your gun and walk over to Tsuyaki, who is currently holding his wounded arm. You don't develop pain tolerance behind a desk.
"I read your file… they will get you eventually… MC&D doesn't leave loose ends." He says as you hold the gun to his head. "You will die like a fucking cockroach, you piece of sh-"
You pull the trigger. The room is quiet… you collect your satchel and begin to run to the exit. The moment you see the exit door open, you realize you forgot about the guards outside.
You duck into one of the server rooms before they see you. The faint sound of house music can be heard emanating from the monitors. You slow your breathing next to a comatose woman.
The sound of the guards footsteps are getting louder. You adjust your grip on your gun as you aim it at the doorway.
You see one of them.
You fire.
The second hesitates long enough for you to ram him into the wall. One good punch to the side of his head puts him on the ground quickly.
You don't waste any time running out of the building. Your car is parked a block away. Right before you open the driver side door you notice your tires. They have been slashed.
"God fucking dammit!" You slam your fist against the roof of your car, and then quickly grab what you can.
You notice the shine of headlights on your car. You turn your head just in time to see the SUV with tinted windows.
It is heading right for you.
They had a backup plan.
You didn't.
The left side of your car caves in, crushing you.

✖

…

-Internal structure compromised-

…

-Neural stability is at 53%-

…

-Temporal relocation ready-

…

Try Again?

_

⟲⟳

The pain in your head has become intense. The vision in your peripherals is blurry. Your mind is a scattered mess of glass. You bite down on your rage.
Your car is parked a block away. You run away from it, turn down an alleyway, and hide. Vomit forces its way out of you… the pain in your head subsides.
You have to get out of here, but there is no where to run. You can't go to your car. Then you notice the motorcycle parked at the end of the ally.
You take a moment to collect yourself then you run for the bike and check for the keys. Euphoria fills you when you find them. You sit down, turn the key, and drive as fast you can out of the ally. A man, who is probably the owner of the bike you're stealing, yells at you as you turn onto the street.
You drive recklessly and fast. The hotel you call home isn't too far away. Its probably not safe, but you have to get there quickly. You turn left at a red light and almost kiss the road.
The first thing you notice when you arrive is the main door wide open. You drop the bike and rush through the door.
They came here first.
You climb the stairs.
Thoughts rush through your head of what they could have done.
What they could have done to her.
You see the door to your room broken off its hinges.
You run to the door frame.
You look into the room and see three corpses dressed in purple and black suits. One has had the top half completely atomized. The second is impaled with spikes extruding from the wall. The third is completely made of stone.
In the corner of the room you see her. She is sobbing with her head in her lap.
"Yuki!" You run up to her.
She looks up at you and immediately hugs you. "Genji, They came and I lost control of it. I was scared. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. It's okay. We have to get out of here quickly." You kneel down and look her in the eyes. "You need to be strong for a little while longer… Okay?"
"…Okay."
You quickly grab what you can. Then you grab her hand, and the two of you run away from the hotel.
You won't let anyone get her.
You will not stop trying.

…

-Internal structure sustained-

…

-Temporal consistency achieved-

…

-Thank you for using Prometheus Lab's Temporal Protection Implant-

…

-New debt total is now being calculated-

…

-ERROR_NEURAL_TRANSMITTER_DAMAGED-

…

-Unable to connect to MC&D servers-

…

-Please report to the nearest Cybernetic Clinic for repairs-

…