C41 Lazarus Heart 2/2

The conversation was so serious to the point that it made me wonder, 'Just what in the past happened to the world?' or was it 'what in the world happened in that past?'.

"I'm sorry everyone, but I have to make this right."

"Okay... but can we at least do it peacefully this time? No killing and all the blood, just maybe remove the core of the factory?"

Char proposed.

"Good idea Char... Let's change the core of the factory."

**

"Alright, the plan is to get Seth inside and have your DNA compared to the DNA of these hair samples from Isla and Char as a distraction. Ari will accompany you through while me and the little girl tweak their documents with how the walls are constructed."

Fio explained while raising a resealable plastic bag containing two strands of hair, one from Isla and one from Char.

"Can we not do this? If I find out that I actually had a brother I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

As what she said, we abandoned the idea of boldly disrupting humanity's core defenses and switched to replacing it with something else which was less cruel than the current one.

There was one thing I was really unsure about but I didn't mention it as I was sure that leaving it in the hands of a Goddess, was the best choice there was.

*Bang!

"Did you call for me, miss!?"

With a loud crash of the door as it hit the wall due to the force applied to it, a mature red headed frantic looking store keeper appeared before us.

It was Ari.

I thought Ari was the mature office lady type of person when I first met her, but looking at her again as she breathed so heavily while staring at Fio in such a way an obsessed lover would, it made me think again.

So there was actually nothing to be afraid of, huh?

"Leave your phone to these two so we can contact them if we somehow get captured."

"Yes miss!"

**

"What's your business here, little missy?"

The guard halted us and asked us as we were about to enter the facility.

The factory Isla's mom spoked about didn't really look like a factory, but rather just a regular looking building with really polluted smoke coming out of it. It was quite smaller than expected.

"You dare ask me what my business here is-Hey, Ari stop blocking my view! I want to lecture this good for nothing guard! He thinks he's so great when he's only guarding a door in the middle of nowhere-"

"You don't get to ask questions here, bub! You're just a regular guard, I will beat you up if you do so much as touch the miss. You got that?"

"Aw! Aw! Aw! Okay! Okay! I got it!"

The guard was about to reach his hand out to give Fio a pat on the head but Ari stepped up and gripped the guard's hand before he could which made the guard cried in pain probably because of how strong her grip was.

After witnessing an incredible feat, I thought to myself that I would never get in bad terms with Fio ever again. If the buff looking guard was already cowering from just a grip, how much more if a physically unfit me were to clash against her just because of a little joke.

I take it back she's definitely someone I should be scared of.

The guard earlier was different from this one, so it going inside took some explaining but we were able to go inside without anything big happening.

"Please go through this path to get to the main lab."

We followed the guard's instructions and went on our way to the main lab.

The halls of this building were quite similar to that of a hospital's, with chairs beside rooms that in a real hospital would be the waiting area. If anyone were to wander here, they would surely mistaken it for one. Not that I did...

"By the way little girl… You said before that I only get one reward per mission right? How come you resurrected me too when I died?"

I asked the little girl walking beside me.

"Don't call me little girl... That one? I never said you would get a reward if you do some missions. This time was a special case, it was a promise I made with you because you were my first dead soul and I did follow that promise, I only fulfilled one of your wishes. You did not die that time… No… you did die... but you came back to life on your own? You know what I mean."

"She means the Lazarus syndrome, also known as autoresuscitation after failed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, it is the spontaneous return of a normal cardiac rhythm after failed attempts at resuscitation. The longest ever recorded in history at year XXXX was a 65 year old man who died for two and a half hours and came back to life."

She explained while staring so proudly at me.

I think she's on to me. I did steal the contact lens Char was wearing which was supposed to be paid in installment.

"Ughh!~"

I averted my look from her to hide my face but she seemed quite hurt? or pleased? Anyway, she made a weird sound.

"We're here, stop talking Ari, I know you just happened to google that, so stop acting like a know-it-all… We're here for personal business, are there free personnel that could tend to us right now? Ones that could analyze DNAs and stuff related?"

Fio's attitude towards Ari was flipped 180 degrees when she started speaking to the front desk person with only half of her head reaching the desk.

Isn't that…

"Lilybeth!? How come you're here in the middle of the night??? And where's your twin partner? Don't tell me you two switch during breaks so the other could rest every once in a while?"

It was Lilybeth of the twins from the bakery, the hospital and now the factory!

"Twins?"

The little girl mumbled.

"Oh it's Seth… I have nothing to tell you. Go away please... And just so you know, we don't do that here! To be transparent, the security was too tight. They caught us the first time, so now we both work here together. Lily's over there sleeping. She's working as a guard"

I thought she didn't have anything to say to me?

From how she answered I wouldn't be mistaken if I were to identify her as Beth not because I saw Lily sleeping soundly beside us on one of the chairs up ahead but because of her childish and sulky response.

I didn't know why she was acting that way but it was convenient for her to be there as it made things easier. I tried consoling her as to why so we could proceed with our plan smoothly by getting to her good side.

"What's wrong Beth? Why are you acting like that?"

"I told you I have nothing to say to you because I called you and Isla earlier but you didn't even hear me!"

"Oh that! I'm sorry-Hey! What are you doing Puchi?!"

"Lift me up, I want to see this Beth… Don't call me Puchi either!"

The little girl tugged my shirt in a forceful manner that it made me lose my balance a bit.

"Okay?... Hiya!... But what for?"

After lifting her up the desk, she leaned closer towards Beth's face staring closely at her right eye.

"It's not you… So it must be-Seth! Duck!"

*Clang!

"What do you think you're doing to my twin?"

"What do you think you're doing to my Seth?-Wait...No that was wrong. Ehem! What do you think you're doing to… me?-us?-him?"

I couldn't duck fast enough so a glow sliced through my eyes then my head and blocked the other metal from behind me.

"It sliced right through him like water! You were right, miss! That little girl is amazing! She killed Seth so casually!"

"I'm still alive though! And a little blinded!"