Nicole's body dropped to the ground, releasing Carter's hold. He immediately looked up, wondering what had become of Number 1. He turned and rushed back up the stairs, rounding it a couple of times before coming to a stop. The damage to the underground was showing.
Carter stepped into view of the large broken wall to his left, looking for any signs of Number 1 and Lee Seng. Lee Seng slowly swiped the Sun blade down to his side and stood up straight. Number 1's body was lying on the floor. She looked unconscious and Carter couldn't help but wonder what Lee Seng would do next.
Lee Seng stepped forward, studying the strange purple energy standing in front of him. He raised his sword up, ready to end all of this.
"Lee!" Carter rushed in and grabbed Lee Seng's arm. "She's unconscious! That's enough!"
"Let me go, Carter! I'm done yet!" Lee Seng shouted. The Deimon's energy started to slowly float downwards. Lee Seng pushed Carter away, easily and turned and held him in place.
"Don't do this! Don't kill her just because she's mean to you! She actually thinks more to you than you—"
Lee Seng sprinted forward, grabbing the air and pinned nothing against the wall. Carter watched in confusion as Lee Seng's grip tightened. He raised his sword up and plunged his sword into the wall.
[Deimon Spirit has been killed.]
Lee Seng turned and moved over to Nicole. He dropped to his knees, leaving his sword at his side and lifted Number 1 up into his arms. He moved her hair away and looked at her forehead.
"There's no external damage. I wonder if there's any internal damage…" Lee Seng whispered.
"W-what's going on Lee Seng?" Carter asked. "What did you just do?" Lee Seng ignored Carter. He needed to make sure he didn't miss anything important. Lee Seng cursed in Korean. Carter could only understand a little bit of what was happening.
"I hope I didn't do anything too damaging." Lee Seng whispered to himself. He moved Nicole's face his way and studied the energy flow. "I didn't damage anything integral, but there's a lot of clogged spots… I'm no cleanser so this won't do."
"Lee, what the hell did you do to her?" Carter asked much louder this time. "Let me out! Let me check on her!"
"Unless you can cleanse energy channels, I'd stay there if I were you." Lee Seng replied in English.
"I can't move because you put me here!" Carter shouted.
"Then stay there!" Lee Seng looked up and shouted at Carter. "I don't need someone else to get in the way. There isn't much time!" Lee Seng lifted his right hand up and started to scrawl runes. Anyone could've known that. Lee Seng scrawled a bunch of runes and slashed them, letting the effects take place. "You need to get her medical help." Lee Seng set Number 1 down and stood up.
"What did you do to her?"
"Weren't you listening?" Lee Seng waved the hold on Carter off him. He turned and reached for his sword, feeling Carter rush straight for him. Lee Seng grabbed his sword and rolled, barely missing the lava punch. Lava spewed from Carter's hands as he defensively guarded Number 1 from Lee Seng.
"What did you do?!?" Carter asked his question, again. He stood ready to kill Lee Seng at any moment. Lee Seng sighed and glanced at the map. "Answer me, Lee Seng! You are not making this any better for yourself! You snuck in here, triggering security and we were sent down here! You were the one who cut the access from in and out, right? How am I supposed to get her out of here?!?"
"Dr. Valentin's here, right?" Lee Seng asked. He stepped forward without an ounce of fear in his voice or body language. No one sane enough would ever come closer to Carter when he was like that, but 'sane' was far from Lee Seng's current list of descriptions. "Take her and have him check up on her. I know he knows more about Energy channels than I do! Take her there!"
"Why are you here? You're a fugitive! We'll have to detain you and the other people you came with!" Carter shouted back. He took a step forward as the lava crawled all along his arms and hands. Lee Seng didn't answer and it made Carter even more concerned. "Answer me! Lie to me if you have to, dammit! Don't make me hurt you!"
"Where's Abby?" Lee Seng asked. Carter's face grew white. The lava coursing on his hands and arms seeped into him for a moment. Lee Seng waited for Carter to answer but Carter didn't. He pointed to Nicole. "Eight, when's the last time you've seen Abby?" Carter's Adam's apple bobbed. Lee Seng sighed and muttered to himself. He swept his hair back and bit his lip. "You don't know, do you? You don't know that she's not here anymore, hm?"
"Shut up!" Carter rushed forward, lava erupting from his arms as he swung for Lee Seng's face. Lee Seng ducked out of the way, dodging Carter's attacks.
"You know she's gone. You felt it."
"Shut up!" Carter socked Lee Seng in the face, burning him and sending him backwards. Carter punched, again and again and again. "You don't know anything! We didn't feel anything! I didn't—" Carter stopped punching and hung his head low. Lava spilled to the ground in tandem with his tears. "She…! She…"
Lee Seng stepped over and embraced Carter. Lee Seng's embrace broke him even more. The lava disappeared and Carter hung his head on Lee Seng's shoulder and cried.
"Why did she have to betray me…?" Carter asked between sobs. "Why did she have to go and do that…? Why?" Lee Seng sighed and nodded. It was unfair but it gave Lee Seng enough of an idea to know the state of things.
"Carter," Lee Seng pulled away. He grabbed Number 8's shoulders and lowered his head to look into Carter's eyes. "Number 7… Abby, she… She asked me to kill her. To end her suffering under the thing that's controlling her. I…"
"So you tried something different here…" Carter pulled away and looked at Nicole. "Did you… really do it?"
"I severed it, but it's unrefined. I…" Lee Seng's voice cracked. He cleared his throat and shook it off. "Worst case scenario, Number 1's powerless and just a shell of herself for the rest of her life." Carter turned and looked at Lee Seng.
"And that was better than death?"
"Unrefined for a reason."
"What're you going to do with any other juiced up madman? Abby succumbed to it god knows when and Number 1 took it to alter everyone's memories! Can you be sure you can fix this?" Carter wiped his tears away and tilted his head. Lee Seng's eyes went back and forth between Number 1 and Number 8 for a while. He sighed and nodded.
"How did you know?" Lee Seng asked. "About Abby and… One?"
"Abby started disappearing more frequently the last two years ago. It was when you were constantly involved in things…" Carter wiped his face. "It got weirder after everyone seemingly had a different perception of you. I eventually found out because of the twins, but I didn't want to believe it. I looked into it more and… that's when I found Nicole… She's… She was suffering under the effects of those D31 juice boxes…"
"The juicers…" Lee Seng sighed. "Does anyone else know about this?"
"They have their suspicions but I don't think they want to accept it. If Number 1 was taken over then her influence over us could mean…"
"It doesn't work like that." Lee Seng interjected. "Trust me. I know first hand what it means to be under the influence of the juicer." Lee Seng sighed. Carter's expression grew serious.
"W-what do you mean by…" Carter whispered. Lee Seng moved past Carter and stood by Nicole's side. He looked at her for a moment, being snapped out by Keng's voice.
'Hey! Where are you? Are you still fighting?' Keng asked.
"I'm not. I'll come to you soon. I'm tying up loose ends." Lee Seng answered.
"Who are you talking to?" Carter asked. "Communication is dead because of you. How are you—"
"I gotta go, Carter." Lee Seng sighed. "Take her to Dr. Valentin and tell him what happened. Don't worry about me. I'm just here to end things." He started towards the broken wall, only to be stopped by Carter.
"What do you mean by that?" Carter asked. He tried his best to ascertain an answer from Lee Seng's body language, but didn't get anything.
"If you know you'll stop me, so don't ask."
"That just makes me want to stop you more."
"Please don't ask and please don't get involved. The less you know the better this will be for all of us." Lee Seng continued forward. Carter moved and grabbed Lee Seng, turning him around. Carter looked at him with a knowing expression. Lee Seng gently grabbed Carter's wrist and slowly pulled it off. "Trust me, Carter. This is the one thing I want to make right for everyone. Not just myself. Everyone." Lee Seng let go of Carter's wrist and turned, stepping out into the stairway and fizzling into golden dust.
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