The Soaring Fortification

Timothy peeked at Aurora, avoiding eye contact, but something didn't feel right, "Aurora, you're "functioning" oddly." Aurora jolted awake, glancing at him from the aside, "There's nothing wrong with me. I'm just a little, "stirred" up in all of the junk we've been through. I don't want to reflect those thoughts of your sister getting injured because of me, but I can't seem to erase them from my mind. I feel like everything here happened because of me."

She sat on the sofa with crossed arms and legs, suggesting to everyone she was emotionally and physically sealed off and disorientated in her reflections. "It wasn't your fault..." He dragged the end of the answer for another few seconds, went silent, and discovered himself in his own thoughts.

"Something doesn't feel right. There's something unsteady about Kate that I can't seem to figure out. What is it?" he thought, clinched not to come to an inaccurate conclusion too soon, "And I purposely called her 'Aurora,' but she didn't mind. Then again, she said it's fine if I call her 'Aurora,' but wouldn't it be uncommon to suddenly start calling her 'Aurora' again out of nowhere? I'd expect at least a befuddled look or something."

"Tim," Chiaki rubbed his shoulder, whispering so that nobody overheard their conversation, "There's a strange "sensitivity" coming from Aurora. It doesn't feel natural. To be honest... I feel like I can't sense any pressure. I know she's not a fighter, but every life has some vibration. When I'm around here, I don't feel any. But I can discern doctor Heiran's qualities perfectly."

Timothy and Chiaki peeked from the corner of their eyes, surveying Aurora's unemotional expression, "I know. I've been confused by her reactions, and it doesn't feel like it's her, to be honest. But what if it *is* Aurora? I don't want to be irresponsible. Maybe she's feeling down. Yet I do agree she's not the same. Unless she has valid reasoning, it could imply we're getting fooled by someone or something."

Chiaki leaned her fingers on her jawline and began thinking out loud, "The most troubling thing I've noticed about her is her lack of coughs. She hasn't expressed any symptoms or reactions of her illness ever since we met in the street ~ not even once..."

Knocking sounds resonated through the room next to Timothy and Chiaki, which drove everyone's faces to latch onto it simultaneously.

Nobody answered, and momentarily everything died down.

Until a loud hitting sound reverberated through the chamber. Instantaneously, the door blasted from the frame, zipping through the room amidst everyone and bashing directly into Aurora's body, forcing her to flash into static, astonishing everyone inside.

A woman entered the room, tucking her hip to the side and positioning her palm on it, "When I knock on the door, I expect you to open it, or do you want me to bash your skull next?" Heiran's eyes blinked in perplexity, and he folded his arms, "Amber, one of these days, you will malfunction my cyber gear. Can you try to avoid that, or else I won't have the capacity to enhance your equipment?"

Trinity became speechless, while Timothy and Chiaki remained frozen, "You're that girl I saw out in the streets. So, your name's Amber?" Torque stepped inside the space and hurled herself onto the couch, bridging her leg over her knee and crisscrossing her arms behind her neck, "Tsch, Amber. That's the name I was born with, yuck. Now I go with Torque Torrente." Her ominous grin abruptly muffled Timothy, but he reacted by fanning his arms and setting them on fire, "Stop! She's on our side!"

Ayuka, Tarot, and Cassidy sprinted inside the room, "At least, I think she is." With Ayuka's abrupt interference, they became puzzled while Cassidy bolted in to check on Trinity and her wound.

"You know I wouldn't be on your side if you bombed me. You're lucky your friends were with me to save you from "crisis," whitey."

Once everyone settled in, with Torque present, Aurora quickly sufficed everyone with the details regarding the truth behind this world and the fallacy Erembour intended to proceed, "Wait... You're telling me, Torque's a "good" person and not the fiend and Aurora... wait if that wasn't Aurora, what happened to her?"

Trinity pondered, bedazzled, and fretted about the possible truth, "Your mate Aurora, or in other words, Katherine Mitchell got captured not too long ago. When she left Denton Reese's residence, she listened in on the chatter between Erem-bore and his fellow companion Candel. She assumed she was sly, but Erem-bore knew she was heeding since the beginning, so she got "hooked" like a fish."

Timothy interrupted before Torque concluded the rest of her narrative, "What do you mean she got caught?! How the hades do you know about that anyway?!"

Unimpressed at Timothy's interference, she paused and yawned as she held her arms behind her neck, "Interrupt me again, and you won't get the whole story or my help," She threatened, "I came across the "set stage" and witnessed it firsthand. I was suppressing on the rooftops. And before you ask me why I didn't intrude. It's because I *needed* to compile the report by hijacking the system. Trust me, if I interfered, I wouldn't be able to transmit the data to you. You can either be grateful and let me take you there. Or you can "vamoose" without your pal and most likely lose her for eternity."

Timothy's grave eyes continued trading eyes with Torque, but there wasn't a comeback, and he chose to ally with her in finding Aurora.

-

It didn't take them too long to arrive in the desired vicinity, and they got soon met with a lofty, glassy tower that had a neon board at the top of the roof, spelling out "The Doctor's Service."

They examined the surroundings of the sky tower and became grim in their faces. Timothy was one of the many who was demoralized by the outcome. "How could we have neglected the most towering building in the city?" He inquired, followed by Chiaki's comment, "He must have many tie-ups in the tower to support him, I'd say."

Torque laughed, "Oh, don't be absurd. I cleared out all 52 associations that he deployed and digitalized. The most he owns is that dude anointed Candel. But he's a doormat. I'd slay him if I had the opportunity. All we have to do is mount the stairs, and we'll be fine."

To be continued...