Goro Takemura x Reader

Forty

Completely startled, you were grabbed by something, or rather someone and were torn from your netrunner chair. Cables tore, metal cracked.

Your mind did not manage to grasp the transition between network and reality. Everything spun and for a while your body forgot how to function.

The impact on the floor was so hard that a sharp pain chased through the bone of your elbow as you hit the ground.

A curse left your lips.

Panicking, your eyes jumped through the room.

Red.

Everything was red.

The shrill screams of sirens made your ears bleed.

What was going on?

Your legs twitched, ready to run, as a weight suddenly pushed down on you. Confused, you looked down.

And your heart stopped beating.

There was a body. It was right on you, laying in your lap. And you were soaked in blood.

"H-huh..?", your mind wasn't sharp enough to understand what was going on.

Even as the sound of gunshots tore through the shrill screams of the alarm did your legs remain motionless. All you could focus on was this body that was on you.

It was still warm but you could feel how it faded. Blood stuck to your clothes, soaked into the fabric and made it feel like a liquid human tried to give you a hug.

Your spine cramped.

Panicking, your eyes chased through the room.

People ran around, screamed. It was total utter chaos and you didn't know why.

Your gaze jumped to the elevator.

Bodies kept the door open. A pool of blood had gathered on the floor.

The lab had turned into a graveyard. And soon you'd find out why.

A gunshot tore you out of your startled state of mind. You flinched so hard that your legs twitched up, pushing the dead body off you. You crawled into a corner as another shot rang out.

What was going on?

There was not a single person in sight who did not scream and cry in fear. No one was armed.

Where were the guards?

Arasaka had a bunch of their own soldiers and special units, how did they fail to protect?

Your eyes kept on jumping through the closed space. There had to be a way out.

The vents.

No, you wouldn't be able to fit through them let alone get all the way up to try and crack one open. The ventilation system wasn't a good escape route.

There was the elevator but it was blocked with bodies. The stairs, maybe, but they were on the other end of the lab and you couldn't tell if that was away or straight towards the danger zone.

Just as you felt like you were stuck and doomed to die, a movement caught your attention.

Your head snapped to the side, just fast enough to catch a glimpse of a head full of blue hair and the sound of golden jewellery that jiggled.

Your eyes widened.

It was the woman who had taken a part in your kidnapping. And the man in black and red was right behind her.

What were their names again?

V and Jackie, yes, you remembered them.

With your breath held you pressed your back into the corner to make yourself as small as possible.

This was a strange twist of fate. On one hand it was great since you still planned on going through with your idea to not give up Yorinobu.

On the other hand, why were they in this place?

They both carried guns. Whenever they took a step somebody begged for their mercy. They had to look for something.

Something of great value to the world.

Your eyes jumped up to the control system of your computer. Two ports were still active. You could see how Mikoshi asked for permission to shut down the system due to a security breach.

You'd be able to take the two remaining relic prototypes.

Your knees trembled as you pulled yourself up, calm and as quite as possible, as to not attract the attackers who you could still hear close by.

The tips of your fingers managed to caress the ports.

A warning opened on the screen but you couldn't care any less. There was no time, even if it meant causing slight damage to your current progress.

A shadow crossed the corner of your vision. It made a shiver of fear crawl down your spine only to nestle in the pit of your stomach in a gruesome kind of pain that made you vomit all over the floor just to feel better.

With your teeth clenched, you stretched the last bit and managed to apply enough pressure on the ports so that the chips were thrown out.

You snatched them and dug back into hiding.

As you did so, your gaze accidentally fell on the dead body that lay right next to you.

You've never seen someone die. You've never smelled these amounts of blood, strangely metallic and raw like winter but not really.

Everything about this situation made you wish you could close your eyes and wake up when everything was over. Literally everything.

The beating of your heart hammered against your bones. It felt like it was about to break through the bones and escape your chest.

Air wrapped around your neck and squeezed it with such force that your lungs started to burn. Your entire body was shaking.

Beads of sweat ran down your forehead while your hands tightly clutched the two relic prototypes, the only things that were left from your own.

One of them had Saburo's engram on it. The other was empty.

"Arasaka-sama.", all of a sudden there was a hand on your arm.

Startled, your mouth tore open to allow a gut wrenching scream escape.

But a hand suffocated it before anyone could think that these labs harboured survivors.

Frightened to the core of your existence, you squeezed your eyes shut and tried not to die right on the spot. Your entire body reacted to the fear, limbs went numb but your chest started to burn.

Tears filled the corners of your eyes.

You didn't know what to do.

"(Y/N).", the voice was soft, familiar.

Overtaken by confusion, you opened your eyes a crack wide.

"Takemura?", you asked.

His expression relaxed. It almost made him appear relieved.

"It's Goro. Didn't we agree on that?"