Chapter 10 — Escape
And thus begins Chapter Ten.
Now, children.
There I stood.
Beside scooter.
Beside Maximum Anime.
Unknown location.
Unknown plan.
Organs still theoretically attached.
She looked at me.
And said
“Wait here.”
Pause.
The council checks protocol.
Anime Girl Protocol?
Ancient law.
So?
I waited.
Children.
Obedient Nuo.
A rare creature.
Maximum Anime turned
and walked away.
Toward
a building.
Now.
Story Nuo did not know what building.
House?
Apartment?
Storage place?
Secret laboratory?
The organ theory immediately requested renewed funding.
She reached the door.
Knocked.
And
children
two men came out.
Pause.
The council looks at them.
Large?
Large.
Tall.
Muscular.
The kind of men who made Mith
Mith,
the hulking gymrat,
the baked bread tank
look comparatively like someone who had skipped protein for several fiscal quarters.
Children.
Two absolute units.
And Maximum Anime began talking to them.
I remained near scooter.
Waiting.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Maybe less.
Maybe more.
Archive law.
Time becomes unreliable when your brain is alternating between
FUCK YES.
Maximum Anime bonk session.
And
GOODBYE KIDNEY.
The council watches the pendulum.
Bonk.
Organs.
Bonk.
Organs.
Bonk
Then she gestured toward me.
Pause.
Not a command.
Not:
Come here.
No.
Just
gesture.
That weirdo over there.
The council looks at Story Nuo’s internal machinery.
Ah.
Yes.
Children.
At that exact moment,
the oscillation stopped.
Completely.
Bonk lost.
Decisively.
No recount.
No appeal.
Organ harvesting
finalized.
The council stamps:
THEORY STATUS:
FACT.
Based on evidence?
Children.
Look at it from my perspective.
We had left Dee Tee.
Driven beyond my known pub geography.
Arrived somewhere dark and secluded enough that I had no clue where I was.
Maximum Anime told me to wait near a scooter.
Then approached a mysterious building.
Two men emerged.
Both built like final boss henchmen.
She spoke with them.
And repeatedly gestured toward me.
Children.
What other conclusion could a rational man reach?
The council opens several dozen alternatives.
Shut it.
Story Nuo had already solved the case.
Maximum Anime
organ broker.
Big Men
organ acquisition department.
Nuo
inventory.
The council sighs.
And suddenly?
I had subtitles.
Children.
Not real subtitles.
Fear subtitles.
Every movement of her mouth translated perfectly.
Maximum Anime:
“There.
That one.
The weird hoodie creature.
Take his organs.”
One man looks at me.
Subtitle:
“Couldn’t you find a better specimen?”
Fair.
Second man looks at me.
Subtitle:
“Payment will appear in your account shortly.”
The council loses composure.
Children.
Every glance became evidence.
One of them looked toward me?
Assessing liver quality.
Maximum Anime pointed again?
Confirming ownership transfer.
One man folded arms?
Preparing extraction.
The council objects to all of this.
Story Nuo had moved beyond objections.
Because now
something extraordinary happened.
Survival instincts.
The council gasps.
NUO HAS THOSE?
Apparently.
Deep inside my brain,
beneath weed,
alcohol,
libido,
curiosity,
anime girl obedience,
and years of questionable decisions
there existed a tiny frightened employee.
Normally asleep.
Possibly on extended leave.
But suddenly?
Awake.
Children.
Fully clocked in.
Emergency meeting.
We need to leave.
Immediately.
The council checks possible solutions.
Phone?
Yes.
Story Nuo had one.
Maps?
Potentially.
Calls?
Potentially.
Civilization?
Probably only a few kilometres away.
Could walk.
Could ask directions.
Could call Mith.
Could call anyone.
Could even stand there and simply say:
Hey, where are we?
Many options.
Children.
And Story Nuo chose
none of them.
Because fear does not always improve intelligence.
Sometimes it simply accelerates stupidity.
I looked around.
Need escape route.
Road?
Perhaps.
Building?
No.
Maximum Anime and Muscle One and Muscle Two?
Threat sector.
Scooter?
Not mine.
Then
lake.
Pause.
The council slowly turns.
Lake?
Yes.
Children.
A body of water.
Nearby.
Dark.
Still enough.
Large enough to appear
useful.
The survival department looked at it
and somehow concluded:
Escape route.
The council bangs table.
HOW?
We will get there.
Children.
I began moving.
Slowly.
Tiny steps.
Not obvious.
Not:
NUO IS ESCAPING.
No.
Stealth Mode.
One insignificant movement at a time.
Shift foot.
Pause.
Shift again.
Casual.
Nothing suspicious here.
Just the organ inventory
gradually migrating toward a lake.
The council watches.
Maximum Anime still talking.
Men still there.
Occasional glance.
Nuo
inch.
Inch.
Inch.
Children.
I genuinely believed I was being stealthy.
Perhaps I was.
Perhaps everyone saw exactly what I was doing and simply wondered why the strange man was slowly sidestepping into darkness.
Archive cannot know.
But eventually
lake closer.
A little more.
A little more.
The council sees destination.
And here,
children,
you might assume
I reached the water,
used it as cover,
walked along the edge,
found another route,
maybe hid behind something,
called Mith,
or engaged in any action compatible with semi functional adulthood.
No.
Of course not.
Because then this would be a very different Archive.
I reached the lake.
Looked at it.
Looked perhaps toward the building.
And Story Nuo’s survival department issued final instruction.
Jump.
The council freezes.
Into the lake?
Yes.
Children.
I yeeted myself into it.
Pause.
No elegant entry.
No careful descent.
No:
Perhaps test depth.
No.
Yeet.
Human projectile.
Into dark water.
Because apparently the best way to avoid hypothetical organ harvesting
was to potentially drown before anyone could harvest them.
The council erupts.
STRATEGY?
DENY THE ENEMY RESOURCES.
Exactly.
If kidneys unusable?
Nobody wins.
Children.
I hit water.
And immediately
one important fact returned to consciousness.
A fact that,
in a just universe,
would perhaps have appeared before the jump.
The council already knows.
Yes.
Children.
I cannot swim.
Pause.
Correct.
Nuo.
Cannot.
Swim.
I can sometimes
float.
Sort of.
Thanks to buoyancy.
Praise physics.
But swimming?
Actual controlled movement through water?
No.
What I possessed was closer to
panic assisted flopping.
Arms.
Legs.
Hope.
Occasional accidental forward motion.
Children.
My aquatic technique is less:
freestyle
and more:
mammal disputes drowning.
The council closes its eyes.
And so there I was.
In the lake.
Dark water around me.
Body immediately remembering:
Oh right.
This is bad.
The glorious escape route
had transformed within approximately one second into
new emergency.
Children.
This is where the promised shit show finally arrived.
Not metaphorically.
Not approaching.
Not waiting around the corner.
Arrived.
Fully.
Stamped.
Delivered.
Because let us review.
Earlier that evening
Mith comes over.
Hug.
Weed.
Dota.
Dee Tee.
Teach him how to flirt in a pub.
He succeeds.
Nuo sees Maximum Anime.
Maximum Anime inexplicably chooses Nuo.
Pulls him onto dance floor.
Leads him out.
Scooter.
Mystery destination.
Two giant men.
Organ theory.
Escape attempt.
And now
Nuo in lake.
Unable to swim.
The council checks elapsed time.
This escalated quickly.
Very.
Children.
I had gone from:
Maybe bonk.
to:
Maybe organs.
to:
Maybe drowning.
In a remarkably efficient sequence.
And the funniest part?
The organ harvesting theory?
Still completely unverified.
The two men had not touched me.
Maximum Anime had not threatened me.
Nobody had chased me.
Nobody had even said anything hostile.
Story Nuo had constructed a criminal enterprise
from gestures,
lighting,
muscles,
and imagination.
Then fled said imaginary criminal enterprise
by launching himself into real water
despite possessing no meaningful aquatic skills.
The council pauses.
That sentence is the Wandering.
Not yet.
Children.
We have far more stupidity ahead.
But yes.
This was the tone now.
I surfaced.
Or tried to.
Flopped.
Arms moving.
Feet searching for something.
Nothing.
Water refusing to become floor.
The council hears splashing.
A lot.
Yes.
Children.
Stealth Mode?
Ended.
Spectacularly.
Whatever subtle escape I had attempted
gone.
If Maximum Anime and the two men had somehow failed to notice me slowly approaching the lake,
they almost certainly had updates now.
Because the dark had begun producing
SPLASH.
FLAIL.
NUO NOISES.
The council laughs despite itself.
A silent disappearance?
No.
I had entered the lake like an injured washing machine.
And inside my head?
New priorities.
Organs?
Temporarily secondary.
Bonk?
Ancient history.
Maximum Anime?
Still Maximum Anime.
But now
AIR.
Children.
AIR IS GOOD.
I like air.
Huge supporter.
Five stars.
Would recommend.
So Story Nuo began doing what Story Nuo does best.
Improvising badly
with complete commitment.
Kick.
Arm.
Float?
No.
Flop.
Surface.
Breathe.
Sink a little.
More flopping.
The council checks swimming technique.
None.
Correct.
Children.
I was not swimming away.
I was negotiating with drowning.
And somewhere behind me
shore.
Maximum Anime.
Two giant men.
Whatever they were actually discussing.
All of that remained unresolved.
But Nuo had successfully created a new problem so immediate
that every previous mystery became irrelevant.
There is a strange clarity in that.
One second:
Are they going to harvest my organs?
Next second:
Can lungs process lake water?
Probably not.
The council nods.
Priorities simplified.
Exactly.
Children.
This is why Nuo survives.
Not because he avoids danger.
No.
Clearly.
He survives because every dangerous situation eventually becomes so stupid
that the previous danger gets replaced by another one
and somewhere in the confusion
an exit occasionally appears.
The council refuses to classify this as survival strategy.
Fair.
But for now
no exit.
Only lake.
Only flopping.
Only the sudden realization that my magnificent stealth escape
had one minor design flaw.
I cannot fucking swim.
The council opens engineering report.
ESCAPE PLAN:
Use lake.
REQUIRED SKILL:
Swimming.
AVAILABLE SKILL:
No.
Excellent.
Children.
This was not a planning oversight.
This was an absence of planning so complete
that calling it oversight implies a plan existed to overlook something.
There had been
fear.
Lake.
Yeet.
That was the entire project.
And there,
surrounded by dark water,
with the organ trafficking conspiracy somewhere behind me
and my own incompetence directly beneath me
I understood one thing.
Not spiritually.
Not philosophically.
Very practically.
This had become
an absolute fucking shit show.
Finally.
The council stamps it.
SHIT SHOW:
ACTIVE.
And children
we are only just getting started.
Thus concludes Chapter Ten.
The Mystery Building.
“Wait Here.”
The Two Hulking Men.
The Conversation.
The Gestures Toward Nuo.
The Infinite Oscillation Between Bonk And Kidney Theft.
The Final Victory Of Organ Harvesting Theory.
The Fear Subtitles.
“There.
That Weirdo.”
“Take His Organs.”
“Couldn’t You Find A Better Specimen?”
“Payment Will Appear Shortly.”
The Miraculous Resurrection Of Survival Instincts.
The Escape Route Assessment.
The Phone That Story Nuo Somehow Forgot Could Be Useful.
The Lake.
Stealth Mode.
The Tiny Sideways Migration.
The Completely Unreasonable Final Decision.
The Yeet.
The Water.
And
The Important Fact Remembered One Second Too Late.
Children.
Nuo cannot swim.
Sometimes float?
Yes.
Sometimes.
But swim?
No.
And thus,
to escape a completely hypothetical organ harvesting operation,
Story Nuo voluntarily launched himself into a very real drowning problem.
The council watches him flail.
The shit show
had officially arrived.
