"The way you lie without a blink, I mean..." Eugene froze mid-step, every eye turning to him.
Even Rosita and Abraham stopped what they were doing.
"Um, ahem, what do you mean?"
"What are you talking about? What lie?"
The two of them turned simultaneously and asked Sasuke, not believing him. Eugene? Lying?
"Your stylish friend there"—it was Ada who spoke, looking at the anxious Eugene and then back at Abraham. "He is no scientist..."
Rosita and Abraham turned to look at him with questioning looks, and Abraham was one breath short from strangling him right there; he held it, waiting to see if that was true and hoping it wasn't.
Seeing the situation escalating, Sasuke decided to solve the mess he caused; the guy possibly had no ill intent, but he hated being lied to in the face and treated like an idiot and sure as hell wouldn't let it slide.
"For you to convince them that you were a scientist, you must have had at least some knowledge and real skills, right?" Eugene who was fumbling, nodded.
And Sasuke, who pieced things together spoke again. "Let me guess... your end goal was to reach the capitol, thinking there may surely be a strong standing point for survival there, especially for those who were in power, protected by any standing military. Right?"
Eugene nodded again stiffly, slightly surprised, as that pretty much summarized his whole plan.
"Y-yes, sorry." He turned to his friends and decided to tell the truth.
"At that time, I was desperate and didn't know what to do by myself. I'm no muscles guy; I can't fight, but I really can help with anything requiring a good brain. I saw you, just as desperate at losing your wife and kid." Abraham squeezed his fist hearing him as the memories of that night when he met Eugene the first time resurfaced.
It was right after losing his family, and right when he had no other motivation to stay alive, he met Eugene, who claimed to be a scientist on a mission to restore humanity, who asked for his help to reach Washington.
Abraham had believed it to be his new goal... Escort Eugene and save humanity from this madness, preventing those surviving families from suffering like he did.
And now, he was telling him that all of it was a lie?.
Abraham rushed to Eugene but got stopped by Rosita, who shouted at him to calm down.
He pushed her away, glared at Eugene, who kept looking at the ground in guilt, and then punched the metal cart with all his might, making his knuckles bleed.
Eugene flinched from the bang sound and clarified to him, "I thought that once we are all there, it won't matter; we will be safe, and the scientists there are surely to be working on the cure... I never intended to harm anyone."
"Some of us sacrificed their lives!!" Abraham's shout gained Sasuke's attention.
"They sacrificed their lives thinking they were doing good to humanity by saving yours, the scientist who can end this all!! And now you are telling me that they all died for nothing!?" Ada, who recalled some things hearing that, took a breath, feeling familiar with the situation and emotions.
"I, I swear I never pushed anyone to sacrifice. Yes, I was cowardly; yes, I feared death, but never did I say they should do so. I didn't even know they did that because of me." Tears built in Eugene's eyes making his vision blurry; he was just afraid and didn't think of the consequences back then.
"Yet you never stopped them from doing so either. I thought you were better than that, even when you did nothing to help and ordered us all around." Rosita kicked a pebble in frustration; no one can understand how it feels to realize the goal you were doing your best to achieve was a mere fantasy without going through what she did.
Sasuke glanced at Abraham, who slid down to the ground, and turned to William, who understood and went to retrieve water, passing it to Abraham and others.
Sasuke wanted to roll things quickly, but he can't leave this mess unsolvable, especially since he was the one to open this can of worms.
"Eugene," he called for the depressed guy, who looked back silently, internally wishing that Abraham punched him and not this, just bottling his anger in silence.
"I got a base, as is known. I got a real scientist beside me, who had already solved one of the feared issues, and... I am already making a secure shelter. So I'll say this to you three and the Mrs. in the back—"
"That was real? What did Rick say about having the cure?" Eugene widened his eyes, he thought it was just a lie from Rick back then to trick Gareth.
"It is...the cure made it so that we no longer need to fear natural death."
"How?" It was the woman with red hair who was silent till now, which gained Sasuke's attention as she appeared composed despite what they had just gone through.
"Mrs.?"
"Ah, sorry, I'm Kurisu Makise. Pleasure to meet you, Sasuke-dono, and I'm really thankful for your grace in saving my life. I'll make sure to pay the debt. By the way, if I may add, I'm a neuroscientist at the Brain Science Institute at Viktor Chondria University."
The gathered people blinked, hearing the beautiful lady with red hair and blue-purpke eyes talking in Japanese, and William stole a glance at Sasuke.
It wasn't that she couldn't speak English; the situation was just awkward, and she didn't want to add fuel to the fire that was roasting the guy with long hair, and partially because she didn't trust others enough to reveal that.
"Well, that's a pleasant surprise." Sasuke smiled. A neuroscientist? And she wasn't lying; it felt almost like someone was pulling threads behind the scene, making him meet all those wonderful people.
Rick had stayed quiet throughout the whole exchange, holding his sleeping son while his tired wife was still sitting, almost burying her head in her knees at how Rick had been ignoring her.
Rick's eyes turned from the Japanese lady and locked on Eugene as he started processing the whole thing he heard.
The anger that had been simmering since being made to kneel still hadn't cooled, but now he was more calm; seeing his son and loved ones safe and no more desperate, his mind started thinking over what to do when they move to the shelter.
They are given a choice...and he didn't want to mess it up, as it's pretty much the only safe choice he has now.
Shane wasn't as patient; the way he was still clenching his jaw said enough. "A guy like him wouldn't last a day on his own," he muttered gazing at Eugene, who was speaking to the calmed Abraham; his eyes passed the depressed Lori and then turned to Rick, he was about to say something but he swallowed it seeing the look on Rick's face.
...
"We good to g—" Daryl paused mid-sentence, glanced at the redhead talking with Sasuke, and then turned to Ghost.
"Fucking redhead, told ya...he is on a different mission." They halted a distance away, waiting for Sasuke to be done with his talk, especially since seeing how serious Sasuke is looking now.
Ghost turned to Daryl and smirked behind the mask.
"It would be awesome if you were that good with reading a woman's intents. Hold up—don't tell me you swing that way." He took a look at Sasuke, then at Daryl; the motherfucker was too damn good at predicting Sasuke's actions.
"The fuck? Are you mocking me? Because I can swing this pretty good." Daryl's hand landed on the back of Ghost's neck. To outsiders? They looked like two good friends discussing something secretive; only Merle heard the faint click on Daryl's wrist, his hidden blade ready to be deployed straight through his neck.
"Good to know you are a straight man, lil brother," while Ghost patted his brother's back and tapped his finger on Daryl's spine, notifying him that his own blade can pierce right through his kidney in that position.
Welp, just another day for the Dixon brothers, who turned to Sasuke seeing him nod at them, and seeing the evil smirk made both flinch, especially Daryl who heard Sasuke's whisper once he was close enough.
"Interested in my love life now, are we, Daly..."
"Can't blame me," Daryl shrugged, his annoying smirk still there as his eyes rolled from Ada to the redhead she was talking to like clock bells.
"Well, since you got so much energy for gossip, let's double the drills next time."
And Daryl groaned at that; he was pretty much going through inhuman routines. Ghost snickered beside him just to remember that... phantoms share the same routines.
'Me and my loud mouth,' he sighed and accepted his fate; at least he had become a freaking machine following those drills... He can't believe how weak he was back then compared to now and how much of a freak Sasuke truly is.
Every time he thought the gap between them had shrunk, Sasuke would proceed to kick the daylight out of him one-handed.
"I got a long-term A-rank mission for the two of you." Sasuke moved slightly away from others and spoke to them, seeing the two trucks coming back, loaded, and the group boarding along.
"That's a first, the objective?"
"Kurisu Makise, my redhead partner..." Sasuke chuckled, watching Daryl, who scratched his neck awkwardly.
'So he heard that, huh?'
"Protect her; she is a very important addition to our shelter. Make sure her safety is the priority, above all."
"That important?"
"That important"—Sasuke confirmed "she's a neuroscientist,"
And that made them both straighten, finally understanding the seriousness of the situation.
Ghost asked, remembering something, "Wasn't Jenner asking for some help in that aspect? a scientist with knowledge in that field; Milton was the only one close to that. We even registered Jenner's request as S-rank priority to be searched once we have the squad ready."
Sasuke nodded.
"Jenner's been running out of leads for some time now. His specialty is the pathogen—the virus itself. But what killed wasn't just the infection; it was what it did to the brain. Milton, from what I know, had been covering the biological side, tracking postmortem reflexes and studying how long memory lingers after death. That's why Kurisu can bridge that gap—the neural link between who we were and what we become after turning."
"I didn't understand half of what you just said, but yeah, that sounded very important." Daryl shrugged, taking a second look at the redhead.
Ghost leaned forward slightly and whispered in his altered deep voice. "You think she can… reverse it?"
"Not sure," Sasuke said. "But if she and Jenner can map the infected brain's signal patterns, and if we get Milton too, he can help stabilize cellular decay, and we'll have something close to a foundation. Maybe not a cure, but I'm happy with anything we can get from this."
"We kind of stumbled upon a full house here...damn."
"Exactly, her profession is secret for now; keep it so. I'll inform Katniss and Alena; they will take care of her in there. Remember the record of the monster I sent to you two?"
"That was too big to be just a normal human turned." Ghost nodded, recalling the video recorded from the SUV and the monster Haku brought back, killed by this harmless-looking man in front of them.
"Yeah, she will be a great help to Jenner in that project too. Oh, I kept your stock of soldier pills in the safe point for rations. Have Billy join you—I'd already discussed this with him; enough dicking his girlfriend for now—and do the screening to pick your members quickly. Also...tell Duan I'm sorry; important things keep showing up, and I still didn't give him the sparring he asked for. Train him while you're at it."
"Got it, man, go for it; by the time you are back, you will have the squad ready. But won't Katniss and the Harrisons be annoyed?" Daryl asked him, remembering Andrea talking about joining the scavenge.
"Things aren't steady," Sasuke shook his head.
"I said •code black• and I meant it. No one is to leave without permission. I'm heading to dangerous zones; I can't drag half-trained ladies with me. Keep yourself and our family safe."
They exchanged farewell hugs; Sasuke turned and saw the people ready to leave, few waved for him, Maggie was glaring daggers at the smirking lady in red and he watched as the trucks slowly disappeared from his vision.
Sasuke turned to Ada.
"Let's go." He stretched and boarded the new vehicle he unsealed and parked away as a reservation earlier.
Ada blinked, following after him.
"Where to?"
"What do you mean, 'where'? To wherever you exchanged info and every post known to you belonging to those pieces of shit, you didn't think I would let you off after throwing some lip service, did you? Move."
"You could just say you want to spend more time with me, you know?" And she held her hands up, seeing his eyes flaring red for a moment.
"Alright, alright, where do you want to start from?" She took the passenger seat and asked him.
"Fort Benning"
Ada turned to him, surprised he had a precise location for one of the secret bases. "How did you know?"
'Snaps from the messed memories of the monster,' but that was known to him only. If it were three tomoe sharingan, he could even read all of hers and be done with it. Alas, that was still some way off; he currently has 192 threads, and his next trip is going to at least double that figure.
"Haku's investigations," Sasuke replied without skipping a beat; he wasn't a Eugene.
"But go on, what do you know about the places and the business done by the organization in there?"
Ada cocked her head back, drinking her water, and organized her thoughts before speaking.
"Fort Benning was one of their cover sites. They used the old training fields as test grounds after the army pulled out—bioweapon development, brain tissue research, and controlled infections. it was kinda a dumping ground for failed experiments. When it went silent, I assumed they purged everything. That's all I know, and nothing came up from there for more than 10 weeks."
Sasuke nodded, simulating the scene in his head. "Either that or one of the experiments had gone wrong and attacked them from the inside, causing the fall."
"Maybe, and like I said, the leaders there got some connections with the people who hired me; they most likely know about the reanimation after natural death; they couldn't have fallen because of that like other bases. At least not fully."
She then smiled and leaned closely to him, her hand trying to sneakily steal his silverballer. "Can I suggest the route? I know you aren't familiar with the place here." And winced at the slap she received to the back of her hand.
""We'll head southwest—Atlanta, Peachtree, Lagrange, and then Benning. Around a hundred miles if the roads aren't blocked."
"Welp, you are..." She shrugged and leaned back to take a nap.
...
Twenty minutes later.
Ada opened her eyes and turned to him.
"Can you park by the side?"
"Why?"
"I have to take care of my business."
"..."
"What kind of businesses?"
"*Sigh*...pee, I have to pee, and there is no bathroom near here. No wonder you are single." He slowed the car and pulled to the side of the highway.
"Sure, go, and, lady bait...."
"Ada, my name is beautiful; can you start using it? And who knows... I may just give you a nice reward each time."
"Sure, I'll claim them as spanks." Sasuke waved his palm at her and then spoke his mind.
"Anyway, Mrs. Spy, if this is your big plan to escape, don't bother; you aren't going anywhere."
She chuckled, about to retort, but snapped her fingers catching onto something...
"Wait, is this some plan of yours to make me say you can come along if you don't trust me so you can finally achieve your goal and watch me do it? Kinky..."
"Keep that imagination, it looks like the only working gear upstairs, Fuck off and don't take long; water and things are in the back."
"Touché, I give you the green light though."
=======
Author here, just gotta say something.
I'd never deleted any reviews, whether they were good or bad (thanks to everybodywho dropped the good ones, lova ya all.).
But, for a random asshole to just pop and drop this shit? {screenshot}... I'm deleting this unreasonable shit.
Seriously, I was in a damn good mood all day long, and this one asshole just flipped it.
People like this one make me feel like dropping it all and relaxe.
Anyway, those of you who haven't watched Steins Gate and have zero knowledge about Kurisu...if you are free, google her name {Kurisu Makise} and see what kind of genius she is. I didn't add her for something like smut or anything. She is the final piece.