Author’s Note: If stories w/ vivid gore make you nauseous or
offend you, you probably shouldn’t be reading this. Just a warning :)-
Vertigo
Illusions of the Mind
(thanx to Knightshade for the title!)
Chapter 1
I’m gonna be sick.
The thought ran through Mirage’s head over and over, a million times
a second. He leaned up against the door of the Lin Kuei’s automation lab,
his arms crossed over his muscular chest, slightly leaning over as his
stomach churned.
Normally, even sights as grotesque as this didn’t make Mirage
nauseous. But this was something all together different.
Craning his head toward the ninja next to him, Omega, Mirage noticed
that no one in the room saw that he was turning a noticeable shade of green.
Every ninja in the room, disgusted by the sight or not, was completely
locked on the scene before them.
Omega, who was usually a very calm and collected ninja, had his eyes
opened unnaturally wide as he watched the automation.
Mirage then turned his head back to the sight Omega was mesmerized
by.
Sage, the Lin Kuei engineer and top doctor, concentrated heavily on
his task, holding a link of human large intestine in his gloved hands. Since
he obviously was performing surgery and wasn’t worried about saving the
man’s life, he started to pull all five feet of intestinal track from the
former ninja’s body. He laid the links on a table next to him, along with
the already removed stomach and liver.
There were two black rubber tubes connected to the ninja jugular and
aorta, and his blood was sucked into the tubes, which led to a large tank
that was slowly filled with the crimson liquid.
Farther off to Sage’s right was a table full of computer equipment,
which were going to be used later when Sage had removed all the organs and
skin.
Along the walls were the computers used to program, reprogram, and
fix any internal problems with the cybers.
The room was large, and far behind the engineer were five tables
containing other recently automated ninjas.
Upon reaching the end of the track, he grabbed a dagger next to him,
pulled the organ taunt, and cut the intestine off where it was connected.
Even Omega’s face turned green.
Sage, who didn’t seemed fazed by the thought of killing a former
friend, then started pulling all twenty-two feet of small intestine from the
assassin’s body cavity.
"That’s it," Mirage whispered, almost to himself. He turned around
abruptly as Sage weaved small intestine from a human body, and grabbed the
door handle.
"Where ‘er you goin’?" Omega asked suddenly, taking Mirage by
surprise. At the time, Mirage thought nothing would bring Omega out of his
trance.
Mirage turned back to Omega, and found himself staring into his blue
eyes.
"I need some air. It stinks in here,"
With that, Mirage opened the door and left. The only people who
seemed to notice his departure were Omega, and the prying eyes of the Lin
Kuei leader, his father.
* * * *
Bursting out the lab doors, Mirage took in a lung full of clean
oxygen, enjoying the fresh air instead of the foul stench of blood and guts.
He then headed out toward the lake, taking large strides, needing time to
think. This was becoming to much for him to handle. His father didn’t
understand that what he was doing was wrong; evil. No matter what Mirage
tried to tell him, he didn’t seem to listen. It just got worse and worse.
Mirage sat down at the bank of the river, at the base of a tree. The
serenity of the lake at night was amazing. The starlight danced on the calm
water, slowly settling him down.
He ran his fingers through his brown hair, sighing, and leaned up
against the tree. He tried to go to sleep, maybe get some rest to clear his
head, but every time he closed his eyes, he saw Sage, removing human organs
from a ninja’s body cavity, killing him and then turning him into a cyborg,
all to inflate his father’s ego.
Mirage and Sage had always been friends, and Mirage always wondered
how he could do such a thing. Sage was a good person, a talented ninja, and
one of the clan’s smartest. His high intelligence was half of how he gained
his code-name, along with his green eyes.
Sage was an odd one, that was for sure.
He had a sense of humor that pulled Mirage out of depression, except
for when the doctor was busy automating his friends.
Eventually, Mirage relaxed enough that he lost track of time,
staring out into the lake, and sat there for two hours, at least, just
thinking.
* * * *
"Mirage?"
The voice was soft, but it startled him nonetheless. He sat up
quickly, at looked at the source of the voice, ready to attack.
"Chill out, man! It’s me!" the voice protested loudly, and a ninja
held his bloody hands up in defense.
Mirage sighed, sat back, and turned back to the lake.
"Damnit, Sage, don’t sneak up on me like that," he ordered, a little
to calmly for Sage’s comfort.
"’Sneak up on you?’ I was standing right here! You had to have seen
me," Sage eyed his friend suspiciously.
"I wasn’t paying attention,"
"Obviously," Sage kneeled down next to his friend. "Are you okay?"
Mirage glared at him, looked him up and down, and asked: "Whatda you
think?"
"Omega told me when I left that you looked a little sick," Sage
continued to prod, despite the fact that Mirage made it quite clear he
wanted to be alone.
"I wonder why, Sage?!" he yelled. "Could it be the smell of death
coming from that room? Or maybe the fact the one of my closet friends, and
my father are turning my friends into lifeless cybers?!"
Mirage didn’t mean to raise his voice that high to Sage, but damnit,
he didn’t have the right!
Sage looked away, back toward the automation lab, and started to
wipe excess blood from his hands. "I’m sorry, Mirage," he said softly.
"Whatever," Mirage looked back at the lake. Damn you, Sage, Mirage
thought. What have you become?
"I know your upset," Sage said.
Mirage snickered at his understatement.
"But that’s not what I’m here for," the ninja finished. There was an
unnatural seriousness in his voice.
Mirage turned to him. "Then what?" he asked coldly.
Sage sighed, sat down, and made himself comfortable.
Mirage glared him up and down, wondering what he had to say.
End of Chapter 1
Send comments, questions, and yes, complaints, to mirage46@juno.com.
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