Déjà Vu

Chapter 6: Fire And Ice

***

It was quiet in the laboratory today. It was a Sunday morning, after all, and hardly anyone ever came to work on a Sunday, particularly this early. Though, lately, under his influence, people had actually started working longer hours at stranger times, had begun to put more effort into their research, and as a result, the research was advancing at a much greater rate than before. As Kazuya had promised them, they were reaping the benefits of the G-Corporation receiving greater funding and greater income; they were doing likewise.

Yet still, early Sunday mornings were everyone’s pet hate – except Kazuya himself. He was sitting back in what would usually be a mildly uncomfortable chair – but he couldn’t feel it could he? – So he was perfectly happy with what he was doing. At the current moment, it was tinkering with a new idea for the biomechanical nervous system he so wanted to create. It had been at least six months since he’d started on the project, and it had sped up immensely since his arrival.

Though, after interpreting his ideas wrongly, the researchers had begun to work on theories for biomechanical limbs rather than the sense of touch he’d planned on. Still, he was completely unselfish, and worked with them almost obediently in their quest. It was Sunday mornings that he continued his own research – research for the cure for the maddening silence of a world of a computer. Sight and sound were completely hollow on their own; much like a video of life being played for him day in and day out.

But Kazuya Mishima, being the long-suffering man he was, simply played along and lived with it. The hopes of actually achieving his goals were drifting further and further from him; his goals to become human again. He’d almost surrendered to his fate, if it weren’t for the limited success he’d had of late.

And he’d discovered that all his life he’d been wrong about himself. With the many hours he had free to sit on the roof garden and think, he’d discovered that he’d never lost his soul at all. The body he was in was hollow; without feeling. Within it, his mind had plenty of room to rattle around in like a pea in a pod; as it was doing so, it bumped into his soul. Or at least, what he’d interpret as a human soul. Passion, emotion, will to live. Realistically, he knew that there was no such thing as a soul in a biological sense. It was merely the irrational, passionate side of the human mind – what makes humans human. And he still had it, noticeable now more than ever. It was a pleasing thought.

He forced his mind to drift back to the matter at hand; the nervous system. His own theories had been put to action in the computer simulation...so far, so good. The biomechanical cell he’d created responded well to the tests (in the simulation, that is) and hadn’t exploded like the previous tests. Perhaps this might be bordering on getting somewhere.

The silence was shattered, at least to his sensitive ears, when the door quietly creaked open on the other side of the room. He knew who it was, though, and didn’t turn from the screen; he kept on clicking at the mouse beneath his hand. The light clicking of heels on the polished vinyl floor, the soft breaths...they drew closer, until slim, small arms crossed themselves against the back of his neck.

“You’re here early this morning, Hanii...”

She chuckled softly and leaned against his shoulders a little more. “Ah, nothing like a bit of work in the weekends to refresh the mind and build the motivation...”

His dark eyes rolled and a small smile fell across his lips, but he continued working. After she gave him a quick hug, she hopped onto a chair next to him, and booted up the computer in front of it. He was used to her random affections by now, because he knew the nature of them well. They two, over the last half year, had spent a lot of time together over coffee and under the sun; that is, when they weren’t working. She’d told him how much trouble she’d had with men, being a woman with a keen mind, and simply wanted a male friend rather than a lover...someone other than a woman friend to talk to about stuff. He was happy to have a friend too, he didn’t care who it was, just as long as they wanted his company. Even now, it still flattered and thrilled him that she appreciated his presence.

There was of course the issue of his appearance, too; which explained her closeness to him physically. Apparently, they’d engineered his body to have a certain heat output through the skin; that, with the appearance of a fit young man, and perfectly realistic-seeming flesh...most of the women around could barely keep their hands off him. Hanii was the only one he allowed to touch him. After all, he was really a creature of solitude. He was patient with her hugs and petting too; he couldn’t feel it, and it frustrated him...but he knew it made her feel good. She was a touchy-feely person by nature, one of those people that showed their love for anyone through contact. He tolerated it even more when she did lose her resistance, because she always kept her hands to herself in the presence of others. She was incredibly disciplined.

“Kazuya, if you like, I can continue working today while you’re out...” Her soft voice broke the silence again.

He blinked and glanced at her. “I’m going out?”

After a moment, she gave him a mildly incredulous look. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten...”

He returned her look with a typical Kazuya Mishima ‘what sort of idiot are you, what do you think?’ look. Then he remembered, and sighed in slight dismay. “Oh. Oh yeah. Great, there goes my whole day...”

“Hey, just remember, it’s only one day.”

He rolled his eyes once again. “Yeah, one day of being talked to like a damn computer and being humiliated...”

Hanii shoved him playfully, causing him to smile in return. “It’s better than being deactivated and examined, right?”

He shrugged, and pushed away from the computer table. “Yeah...oh well, I’ll put up with it for as long as I have to...I can always go back and train sometime after to relieve the stress...”

***

Speaking of stress, it had already begun. The G-Corporation’s main scientific minds were parading their greatest creation through the halls of the science convention building, towards the main office. At the moment, no one would be able to pick who it was that had this greatest creation, so to speak, since Kazuya too was wearing a black suit, white shirt and blue tie like everyone else...sans white lab coat.

“Remember Kazuya...” Carter began – it seemed he’d once again forgotten Kazuya hated him, and hated being bossed around by him; “Act like a machine as much as you can. Try to limit human responses.”

“Basically all I need to do is keep my eyes forward and mouth shut. I know I know, I’ve been told a thousand times, I don’t need to be told again...”

The rest of the journey, needless to say, was in silence. They arrived that the main office within the building...which was almost as richly decorated as Heihachi Mishima’s old office in the Mishima mansion. After being invited to sit down, the Director stood and walked across to Carter. “Thomas, let’s see this ingenious creation of yours...”

The balding western man offered a hand towards Kazuya, who was sitting in one of the leather chairs, successfully managing to look slightly ‘robotic’; sitting straight and upright in the chair, looking ahead, chin up...somehow managing to look somewhat vacant at the same time. He also limited his breathing; he didn’t need the oxygen intake after all. Being an automaton also granted him the ability to remain dead still with little concentration. The Director, needless to say, was very impressed.

“Goodness, you kept your word alright...could’ve fooled me!” He walked over to Kazuya slowly, and pulled lightly at some of the raven hair hanging down over the sides of his face. “Hm...very realistic...almost perfect. A little synthetic, but the most realistic I’ve seen to date.”

The hand trailed down to feel the skin on Kazuya’s cheekbones. Even as the man pulled firmly on a chunk of skin on his cheek, Kazuya didn’t blink once, didn’t move his face at all...he didn’t respond at all. His head was tilted this way and that, his hands were examined...the more he was checked over, the more the Director was impressed. Carter too, was thrilled beyond words at Kazuya’s restraint and acting.

“What else is it able to do besides look like a human?”

Kazuya resisted the urge to thump the guy for calling him an it.

“Well, he moves perfectly realistically...he’ll respond if you give him an instruction.”

At Carter’s words, he resisted thumping both of them.

“Alright then.” The Director paused. “Does it have a name?”

Carter shrugged. “Well, we’ve given him the name Kazuya.”

The Director nodded, and straightened his overly expensive Italian suit. “Kazuya...stand.”

Obediently, with no hands involved, Kazuya stood straight up in front of the chair, still facing forward. The members of the scientific community gasped at the fluid movement; the Director smiled.

“Walk to the other side of the room.”

After the Director stepped aside, Kazuya proceeded to walk smoothly to the other side of the room, but with precision in each step, as if he’d been programmed to do so. He stopped before he met the wall, and remained facing it.

One of the women from a rival company smirked at the view, noticing what lay beneath the black slacks Kazuya was wearing. “Hm, you seem to have put a lot of effort into its appearance, G-Corp...it’s got a very nice bottom.”

Now that took a lot of restraint not to react to...a few of the G-Corporation staff members present cringed inwardly for Kazuya’s sake. Kazuya himself managed not to blush, thank goodness.

The Director folded his arms over his chest, smirking. “Yes, this is indeed a marvel of scientific genius. Now if only you could develop a suitable artificial intelligence to match the android body you’ve created, this would be the most advanced piece of technology on the planet.” He looked over at Kazuya, who was still standing facing the wall like he was told to. “Kazuya, walk back over here and sit down.”

He did so immediately, still looking ahead vacantly.

“Perhaps we should show you the extent of his capabilities...” Carter began.

All eyes were on the old man. “He can do more?” The Director was surprised. Of course there were machines that were able to walk around and respond with primitive speech, but this one was so realistic they hadn’t expected much more than the fluid, graceful walking they’d seen; that, and the ability to stand and sit so easily.

Carter nodded, and stood. “There’s plenty of room in the main hall, I believe.” Somehow, Kazuya knew that this was going to be an opportunity to show off.

The large group proceeded down the corridors of the ornate building toward the main hall, Kazuya walking in the middle as a source of fascination to all the non-G-Corp personnel as he followed the Director and Carter. The hall, when they arrived there, was more of a hotel function room, minus the carpets and tables. The floor was parquetry, stained and polished with a deep brown lacquer, and decorated with massive velvet drapes and a few oversized chandeliers. It was easy to see where the funds from some of the supporting companies went in this place.

They made their way to the centre of the hall, the non-G-Corp people standing a way back to see what was going to happen next. One of the G-Corporation women unbuttoned Kazuya’s coat and slipped it off him, draping the article over her forearm, and followed everyone back to where the others were standing.

“So, what’s this all about?” The Director of the scientific community was immensely curios at this point. Kazuya was standing in all his glory at the centre of what now seemed more like an arena.

Carter glanced at the woman who had the Mishima’s jacket. She had been an avid follower of the man, after all, and knew more about what to do at this point. She grinned at the opportunity to flash some of her knowledge.

“Well, I suppose we ought to give you a display of why we named him Kazuya. We decided to model him on the late Kazuya Mishima for his physiology and physical abilities...” Carter then let the woman continue.

She beamed with pride as all eyes fell upon her. “We’ve programmed a few kata from the Mishima style of karate. He performs them with remarkable accuracy and power.”

Kazuya himself was feeling just a little better about the whole situation; the woman had even been considerate enough to remove his coat! Hopefully she’d order him to do something fancy...it was about time he showed off in front of a prospective audience.

Lucky for him, he’d predicted right. She directed her next order at him. “Kazuya...choose one of the black belt kata, and perform it...”

The Director arched a brow. “So he can make his own decisions too?”

Carter nodded as Kazuya took his stance. “To a degree. He’ll randomly select one of the martial arts routines we’ve programmed in him and perform it for you.”

Over the next minute, there was silence in the room. Silence, with the exception of the sound of booted feet connecting with the wooden floor, and the sound of fabric snapping against the synthetic flesh as a particularly swift and powerful punch or kick was thrown. The particular kata he’d chosen was fairly simple to watch, but with tricky moves that required intense balance and discipline; there was bending and twisting, particularly precise slices and blocks, intricate defences and offences; it was the ideal performance for showing off. And no one present knew exactly what was coming next; Mishima karate, after all, was different from traditional styles, and phenomenally difficult to master for most. Then again, he, as the former master of it (since he was considered dead by most, he was no longer the current champion) he knew every move, every kata perfectly – and had developed a few of his own.

With the final kick, a painfully high and fast roundhouse followed by a swift parry, he paused, drew his ankles together, let his arms drop to his sides, and bowed at his audience...who broke out in applause after a few seconds of stunned silence. Once again, Kazuya’s eyes focussed on the nothingness ahead of him, returning to that blank, mechanised stare he’d perfected over the stay at this place.

The Director stood in awe, unable to fully comprehend how any human could have performed that intricate kata...let alone an automaton! The woman walked forward after the applause had died down, and put Kazuya’s coat back on him buttoning it up and brushing it down somewhat as he stood there obediently as ever.

“Brilliance...sheer brilliance!” The Director was obviously unable to think of better words to describe what he witnessed.

Carter beamed, and prepared to return to the G-Corporation. “One day, when we have the proper mind to put with this body...we shall meet again.”

***

“I think I should get a Grammy for the performance I put on today...” It almost sounded like he was whinging, but not quite. He wasn’t one to complain, but after today... “I feel like a circus act.”

Hanii chuckled, and ran a hand through his thick black hair. The computer screen in front of him had some interesting results – six hours of Hanii’s expertise had brought his theories to life...and over the last hour, she’d been experimenting. He’d been sitting in the lab trying to catch up with the advancements she’d made.

“Don’t worry, we all appreciate you here much more than those high-class jerks over at that convention ever will...” After kissing the top of his head, she wandered back over to her workbench, and resumed her tinkering.

A good half an hour of silence and hard work ensued, with people coming in and out occasionally to drop off or retrieve materials and information, or to do a bit of work...but for the most part, they were alone in each other’s company. Thankfully, there was no exploding equipment this time.

Just as Kazuya had caught up with what had proceeded during the day, two things happened at once; Hanii let out a euphoric cry of delight, and Carter burst into the room completely unexpectedly. The only reaction he could come up with was to turn around in his chair and stare at the both of them, somewhat stunned at the outbursts.

“Okazaki, I just received word of your trials...how’s it going?” The old man was slightly breathless.

Hanii was unable to keep herself from bouncing up and down happily. “It works!”

Both men looked at her, surprised to say the least. “It works?” Both spoke in unison.

She nodded madly, and motioned for both to come over to her workstation. When they did, they saw, sitting on the bench top, a network of extremely fine fibres, branching out from a slightly longer and thicker central wire. Even that though, was remarkably thin and delicate. The points at the very end of each of the nearly invisible fibre were tipped in some sort of metal-like substance.

“This,” she pointed down at the fibre system, “Is the first biomechanical nerve network on this planet.”

Carter’s eyes lit up, and both of Kazuya’s brows rose considerably. She didn’t give them time to respond. Instead, she retrieved a small contraption with an opening for the end of the fibrous network, and connected the two. The invisible fibres glowed like little blue spider-webs. “Now, when the nerves respond to stimuli, this light here lights up to a certain degree, depending on the reaction.” She indicated the little LED on the contraption with a finger.

The first thing she picked up was a small metal rod, which she placed against the metallic tips of the fibres. The light lit up to a moderate level. “Basic touch.”

Before they could react to that, she picked it up again, and dropped it into them from a few inches above. The light lit up a brighter green for a moment, before slowly fading to its original colour of a medium glow. “Impact...the brightness indicated what would be interpreted in the mind as slight pain.”

The two men watched on as she demonstrated more...her cold hand lit up the light a medium green, while a piece of ice made it brighter...a warm cloth, a hot piece of metal all made the light shine as well. They were left in awe.

“The fun part begins with installation. At the moment these are just general nerve fibres...but they need to be programmed by function. Regular skin isn’t too sensitive, so their sensitivity would be lowered. They would feel pain at a certain degree, and other sensations would come with the human mind’s adaptation and interpretation. Pleasure, heat, cold, impact, pressure, gravity...”

She could feel Kazuya staring at her hopefully. He knew it had been futile to hope to date...but he was only human, right?

“The best part about all of this...” she smiled happily at the both of them, one after another... “Is that it’s ready to be tested!”

Carter grinned and nodded. “Well then, I’ll let you alone with Mr Mishima if you wish to make use of a test subject...”

For once, Kazuya didn’t snarl at him for referring to him as a guinea pig, as predicted. After all, this was what he wanted, right? Carter simply made his way out of the room, leaving the two alone with the new marvel of technology.

Kazuya, in his state of stunned silence, found himself being pushed into sitting on a nearby operating table by Hanii, who was still in a sate of overexcitement. She pressed his head down as she came over with the equipment. It was at that moment she decided to ask permission to continue. “You don’t mind getting this experimental upgrade, right?”

He grinned somewhat and shook his head. He couldn’t help but smile...he could barely believe it was true! Yet, deep down, he knew it was destined to fail – because he had his hopes up. Life had a habit of doing that to him. “Of course not, go right ahead...”

In silence, the proceeded to prepare his systems for the upgrade...she removed a panel on the side of his head – his ear, and quite a lot of area around it, including a small amount of the side of his face, and quite a bit of hair. The hearing on one side of his head went a little strange as a result...muffled, distant, and incoherent. While he lay there thinking to himself, she carefully threaded the fibres through the pre-prepared passages for the future nervous system the corporation had been planning. After snipping away overly long portions to the perfect lengths, she connected the main pathway to the side of his skull exposed.

After a few minutes of careful manoeuvring of equipment and technology, the side of his head was replaced...completely seamlessly. With a soft giggle, Hanii brushed his dark hair back into place with her fingers.

“So, where exactly did you install it?” His lowered voice broke the heavy silence.

“Earlobe.” She put the equipment aside, and helped him sit up.

My earlobes? He thought to himself. Immediately he was reminded of how much he adored it when Jun fiddled with his earlobes so many years ago. The number of times he’d almost fallen asleep in those arms of hers...

Snapping his attention back to reality, he reached up and tugged on the part of interest. He felt nothing.

Before he could comment, she interrupted. “I haven’t activated them yet, don’t worry...”

He rolled his eyes and smiled, swinging his feet around so they hung off the side of the table. “Just so you know, they’re a lot more durable than human nerves...and I’ve programmed these ones to be only slightly more sensitive than normal human...earlobe nerves.”

Great...even more sensitive than before? He snickered slightly. “So, what are you waiting for?”

“You to say that?” She grinned back at him, and tapped a few commands into a nearby computer. Less than a second later, the feeling of cold shot right through him...centring at his left earlobe. His eyes widened, and his hand automatically reached up to touch the affected part.

“Ah ah ah...” She scolded him playfully, grasping his wrist and placing it back down on the table. “Let’s test this put properly.”

When he didn’t object, she smiled and reached for a little strip of metal. It was cooler than the air around them by several degrees. Of course, she placed this against his ear with no warning whatsoever.

He flinched and gritted his teeth, flicking his head away. “Shit, that’s freezing!”

“That was the answer I was looking for...” Wow, she didn’t even have to ask for a response! Perhaps she’d be so lucky with the next test. A warmer piece of metal – well, hot really – was placed against his earlobe. Similar response within less than a second...he almost reached up and swatted it away.

She grinned. “So far, so good...now for pain.”

He grimaced. “Great...my favourite part...”

Before he could complain, he felt a sharp point digging into his flesh. It hurt! “Itai!” A moment later he slapped a hand over his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut.

A little of the coolant within him had risen through the incision; it looked as if he was bleeding. It stopped as soon as she wiped the crimson liquid away though. The skin had the ability to heal itself. The pain stayed for a few moments, then faded to the sensation of her squeezing the hell out of his earlobe.

“Yes I can feel that too...yes it does hurt...” He let out a sigh of relief when she finally let go.

“Well, that confirms it – everything is functioning perfectly.” With her words, he found himself reaching up to tug lightly on the newly sensitised part. His fingers were warm...nice and warm.

“Let’s just test one more quality...” She sat on the table next to him, leaning on his shoulder with one arm. The other reached around and grasped his earlobe gently between a finger and a thumb...she then proceeded to delicately massage the lobe with her thumb. The synthetic muscles in his shoulder beneath her relaxed noticeably, and he let out a soft sigh after a few seconds. “Pleasure?”

He nodded weakly and smiled ever so softly. “Definitely.”

So sweet! He has sensitive earlobes! She was thrilled that she’d found a weakness on the stoic creature. Instead of stopping like she had in previous tests, she continued to circle around the sensitised skin with the thumb, moving her free arm to rest over his back and shoulders.

He could feel himself drifting...drifting slowly on a little white cloud to god knows where. It was so blissful...after this last painful half year of nothingness, now there was that little bit of pleasurable relief...one of his weak spots was being relentlessly assaulted, just like it had years and years ago. This particular act was what weakened his will to resist Jun; essentially, her prolonged fiddling with his earlobes over an evening was what made him fall in love with her, since never before in his life had be felt so relaxed, warm, and safe. Again, here in the G-Corporation lab, he felt that same warmth and safety. Slowly, his head drifted down to rest on her shoulder without his conscious knowledge or consent. And she just kept on going.

Neither realised that they’d been sitting like that for a full twenty minutes...until Hanii’s watch beeped rudely. When she looked down at her test subject, his eyes were barely open, and he looked as if he were about to fall asleep. Even when she stopped playing with the soft, warm flesh, he barely responded...until she shook him slightly. At that point, he blinked a few times and yawned, smiling shyly at her. “I think I almost fell asleep...”

“I think you did fall asleep for just a little bit of that...” He was still dazed, but he blushed as she smirked at him and got up. “Now tell me...would you like me to use up the remainder of the components I made up, or shall we save it for another day?”

He blinked sleepily. “Huh?”

He’s so gorgeous when he’s sleepy and groggy! Hanii thought to herself, unable to resist grinning. “I asked if you wanted me to install the other few chunks of nerve fibres I have ready...”

He yawned, stretching his arms lazily over his head, and shrugged. “Sure...” He wasn’t in much of a state to think clearly at the moment.

After a moment she pushed him back down onto the table...he offered no resistance. “I’ll have to deactivate you for this one...” Again, he offered no resistance, and waited for the darkness to come.

It was a good half an hour before he was awoken again, still feeling a little over-relaxed from the little treat from before. Of course, he felt nothing different this time...he presumed it was something internal that she’d given him. As he sat up, still no new sensations...just that coolness on his ear. He looked over at her curiously, one brow raised.

Hanii smiled back at him as she put her equipment away. “I’ll show you what I did at a later date...I’ll need to catch you in the right mood.” A slight blush came to his cheeks...he had this strange inkling he knew what she did this time.

As he slipped down off the bench and helped her put away a few tools, he pondered whether or not he should actually ask where she put those damn nerves. He couldn’t feel them anywhere. Soon enough everything was packed up, and since night had fallen hours ago, it was almost time for sleep – since it was Monday tomorrow...time to get back to work once again.

“Well Kazuya...I think today’s been long enough. How about we both head home and see each other tomorrow?”

“Agreed.” They both headed to the door, but Kazuya paused before opening it. “Hanii...”

She stopped and looked up into his dark eyes. Completely unpredictably, he reached down and gave her a firm, friendly hug. “Domo arigatou...once again.”