The Depths of the Belly.

Rating: M.

Summary: "Who wants to go three floors down into an old abandoned asylum just to copy a document? There's no power, and the back up generator will only activate the emergency signs. You know how people are nowadays. Believing in ghosts and stuff. It sounds like it's coming straight out of a horror movie, so of course no one wants to do it."

Izaya takes on what seems to be a simple job in a scary setting. It only takes twenty-three seconds to convince Shinra to go along, and Namie agrees to drive them only because she may have warmed up to the informant in the worst possible way.

Disclaimers: Ryohgo Narita is still fantabulous~

Warnings: Horror. Blood. Scary stuff. This will be updated.

A/N: I've been playing too many horror games.

"Namie, be nice." Izaya shot his secretary a stony glance from where he sat at his office desk, fingers clasped together and resting on his stomach as he gently rocked in his office chair, eyes and posture lazy. He wasn't doing any work. He hadn't been for almost an hour. She had been sitting at her desk, doing his work for quite some time, and he hadn't even noticed. Her face darkened, and for once it was an accident. "Don't make that face, you'll scare off my clients. It's bad for my business, and what's bad for my business is bad for you pay check."

Namie simply clicked her tongue, not even bothering to look up from her laptop. He was being snider than normal, meaning that he was annoyed. It brought a smile to her lips. "Whatever. When is this man supposed to be showing up?" She knew when the client had been scheduled to arrive, and she knew that Izaya was glaring from where he sat in frustration. They both knew that the client in question was late, very late. But she still liked to push Izaya's buttons by pretending to be ignorant. Plus, the word late naturally rolled off Izaya's tongue so venomously that Namie had to stop herself from giggling.

Izaya sighed, shaking his head before swaying in the chair again. "He's late." He glanced over to the wall clock, glaring with narrowed eyes, an expression that may become permanent if he wasn't careful. It was rare to see such a thing present in his expression. "Very late."

Namie snickered, lips twisting up in a bemused smile. Izaya sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head to try and rid him of some of the tension. He could already feel a headache blossoming in the front of his skull, and he knew that it would only be a matter of time until it began to pierce right through his brain. He knew what Namie was doing, saying such things, and yet he didn't even bother to stop her. The guy probably isn't even coming.

As if he had been summoned, there was a knock on the front door. Izaya was up and out of his chair in an instant, striding across the room with a fake – but normal – smile plastered on his face. He covered up his irritation and frustration well, Namie noticed. As expected of the best information broker in the city. She smiled, turning her attention back to her laptop to finish the email she had been writing.

"Ah, that must be him now." His eyes slid over to the wall clock once again as he crossed the room, smile faltering when he registered the time as forty-eight minutes past five: the original scheduled time.

Fixing the look of irritation, he skipped the last few feet to the door, merrily chiming "Coming~" before swinging his front door open and greeting his newest client with a huge, welcoming smile and a sweeping gesture with his arm. Fuzen Kumori was an average man from what Izaya had gathered. A psychologist with more degrees than work experience. He was in his late forties, his face showing his age with deep wrinkles and small black eyes nervously darting around. And, as usual, he was still taller than Izaya himself – not that this bothered or intimidated the informant, of course. He had a large stomach pulling his pressed black suit tight, threatening to pop off a button or six, and most of his head was bald except for an ugly brown patch right at the back of his skull. He smelled strongly, a stench that had Izaya internally cringing. Namie would need to order him some extra air freshener after this.

Interesting. The man was more... strange in appearance than he had been in the emails. He didn't look friendly, like Izaya had assumed, given that the man was a psychologist and all. Children would definitely run away screaming. Even Izaya felt the urge to run away screaming, especially when he smiled and showed off a row of crooked, misplaced yellow teeth. Great. But it was a good thing that Izaya loved all of humanity, ugly or not. This one was just as interesting, if not a bit scary. "Good evening, Fuzen Kumori. Orihara Izaya at your service." With a dramatic gesture, Izaya bowed politely before welcoming Fuzen into his house.

Namie had to hold back her snicker, seeing her boss being so overly polite simply because he was irritated. It was a show that only she could enjoy, however, and she definitely couldn't say she minded observing him. As much as Izaya would have loved to hear this man out and talk him in circles, there were more pressing meetings that he was about to be late for. Namie considered emailing Shiki and explaining that Izaya would be a running a bit behind, but with a satisfied grin, she didn't bother.

Fuzen, stepping a few paces into the office, immediately looked abashed, "I'm so late,"

Izaya waved it off with a flutter of his fingers, like he hadn't been angrily staring at the wall clock for the entire forty-eight minutes he had to wait. Whatever this man wanted, it had better be damn important. "Oh, don't worry, don't worry. Come in and sit down. Would you like some tea?" Izaya still managed to keep his cheerful smile as he guided the man over to one of his leather couches.

"T-thank you," Fuzen bowed awkwardly. "I again apologize f-for being so late!" He shifted a moment, adjusting his suit before sitting down, the buttons holding his blazer closed protesting against the action. Fuzen didn't seem to notice, and Izaya had to force his eyes away lest he burst out into laughter. "I don't need anything to drink, I've already w-wasted enough of your time! Please, let's get to business?"

Izaya's eyes closed as he grinned, gracefully taking his seat on the leather couch opposite to the man. "Alright, fair enough." His eyes split back open, akin to a cat stalking it's prey, "What is it that you would like from me?"

Fuzen took in a deep breath through his nose like he was about to sell his soul, beady eyes flickering along Izaya's coffee table. Namie's entertained glance caught Izaya's attention, and his smile easily slid back onto his lips. Right from the start, Fuzen had seemed to be desperate. But perhaps he was just over dramatizing his need for help? These were the traits that Izaya loved to prey on, but with a glance to the clock, Izaya realized that he would be, without a doubt, late for another meeting with Shiki. The Yakuza executive was going to have his head.

"You see, I've asked all sorts of people for help, but once I give the details, no one wants to get involved." The man said, attempting to smooth out the wrinkles on his dress pants. "It's not exactly a job that anyone wants to do."

Izaya nodded, his interest piqued because this could be fun, but he didn't have enough information to be excited over. "Well fortunately for you, I am not your average guy. So, just lay everything down for me and I will let you know if it is within my abilities. I do love a challenge every now and then." He hummed, eyes falling on his client like a predator. "I can only imagine what kind of job it is."

Fuzen took another deep breathing, the wheezing sound suddenly grating on Izaya's nerves. Humans sure are dramatic sometimes. Perhaps he murdered someone? Needed a clean up? Or maybe he needed evidence destroyed?

The man shifted uncomfortably, glancing over to the side, "Well you see... I used to work for... for... well it was a quiet sort of business... you know what I mean by q-quiet right?" He looked worried, like he was about to be arrested, eyes going wide as they glanced back over to Izaya like he himself would do the arresting. The deer in the headlights look grated on Izaya's nerves.

Izaya leaned back on his couch, throwing one leg over a knee. "Yes, I do understand what you mean by quiet. Please, go on." His voice was like honey but his eyes were hard – and avoiding Namie's smug stare at all costs. She was entertained, and it really annoyed him when she was having more fun than he was.

"O-okay. Okay, so, I need a file. Um! I mean! I need you to go and copy a file I made at my old... work place... because, w-well, first of all, I'm not supposed to have the information anymore, and second of all, I need it before next Wednesday, but I am leaving on a business trip tomorrow until next Tuesday."

Izaya nodded, "May I ask about this business trip? You're a psychologist, no?"

"Y-yes I am!" The man said weakly, so weakly that Izaya couldn't imagine what sort of help he could provide. "But I don't work with people, I work with the science. I specialize in what I've termed the Cognitive-Mishap, and I give out my ideas to my fellow colleagues to try and better assist patients with difficult and rare disorders. The company I work for is having a huge conference to discuss one of our newest treatments, and they announced that we might be rebuilding the old facility. Which means my documents will be moved, and I might never be able to get them back... because they r-revoked my rights to them in the first place..."

Izaya nodded, eyebrows creasing ever so slightly.

"Oh, I have an entire folder, my best work, stored away at the old facility. B-but, it's really controversial, so they locked it away. I don't need the actual file though, a copy will do, because they want everything to be accounted for when they finally get around to doing the demolition inspection on the building next year..."

"And you will be the first person the authorities go running too when they find out it's missing, right?" Izaya asked. The situation sounded normal enough. A field job that would require him to go and obtain physical information. That wasn't hard.

But why did everyone else refuse him?

Izaya crossed his arms, tilting his head to the side. "But there must be some dirty little secret, if no one else would take such a simple job. Geez, I might as well just be taking your money for how easy this sounds!" Izaya laughed before catching himself, and immediately smothering his giggles by clearing his throat. "So, please do tell me the twist in this story."

The man nodded, before taking yet another deep breath. His chubby fingers were threaded together atop his lap, one leg nervously bouncing. "It's... the file is stored away... in an abandoned... medical facility... umm... I can give you the address. We were working on a psychosis treatment for a wide range of patients there, and I was hired to try and find a better way to deal with the disorder; a drug free way. It's an asylum, so... umm... the document is in room K28. Section K, room 28. It should be on the third basement floor. You can probably find a map, the place hasn't changed since the eighties." He took in another deep breath, eyes glancing back down to his shoes. "It's basically my life's work. We can both get into serious trouble if we're caught, and the facility hasn't been operational since ninety-four. So... that's the problem I've been having, heh. Who wants to go three floors down into an old abandoned asylum just to copy a document? There's no power, and the back up generator will only activate the emergency signs. You know how people are nowadays. Believing in ghosts and stuff. It sounds like it's coming straight out of a horror movie, so of course no one wants to do it."

Izaya nodded in understanding. The job sounded tedious, but something swelled in his gut. It gave him chills and forced the hairs on his exposed skin to rise. It sounded exhilarating. But it didn't sound scary enough to have other people shy away. There had to be more. Unfortunately, Izaya didn't exactly have time to ask for details, for why no one else could or would go.

"It's definitely an interesting request..." Tapping a ringed index finger, Izaya eyed his newest client curiously, "It makes me think of a specific human of mine who would quite love to hear such a story." A small smile spread across his face. Namie almost snorted from the other side of the room.

"So... you'll... go look for me?" Fuzen sounded genuinely surprised, his face lighting up at the prospect.

"Now, I don't normally accept requests like these, but you've piqued my interest. It sounds like you have a lot to lose if someone doesn't help, and I believe it will be worth my while." He smiled, lips splitting almost sinisterly. It could be fun. It could be lots of fun. And he could drag one of his favorite humans out to play with him. It had been a while after all. "I will look into your case tonight," he glanced up at the wall clock and almost frowned. He should have called Shiki ten minutes ago - "and I will let you know, perhaps later or tomorrow morning at the latest."

Fuzen appeared to be awe struck, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide. Suddenly, he stood up and practically jumped to the informant. "Oh, thank-you very much, here," He shoved a hand into the pocket of his blazer, buttons screaming, and pulled out an old, worn business card. He shoved it into Izaya's hand, who was still trying to stand up – he wasn't shocked by the man's enthusiasm, no – before stepping back and bowing deep. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I didn't think anyone would go in there for me."

Izaya chuckled, pushing the business card into his pocket. "It's a good thing I'm not like most people then." To be honest, the human was starting to weird him out. There was just something strange about what he was saying. Or maybe it was how he was saying it. Or maybe it was just his sketchy behavior in general. Izaya couldn't quite place his finger on it. "Are there any extra details you can give me, so I know what I'm doing once I get there?"

Fuzen nodded eagerly, rubbing his hands together. "Yes, the building is super old but there's a back up generator in the Control Room, on the main floor, that we never used. I can send you a layout of the building. You would have to go in there and turn the generator on. Using those computers, you should be able to unlock the door to the Containment Room. You'd be better off going with a partner... I think the doors have a timer before they automatically close again because we had a patient break in once to destroy his files, and I'm not sure if you could run from the Control Room to the Containment Room three floors down. They're those high-tech automated kind of doors. I'm not too sure how to work them, I just know that I had to break into the Control room first if I ever wanted to steal my files back. Also, you should -"

Izaya held up a hand, eyes sliding back up to the clock. "How about you send me an email?" He asked, smile still pleasant but eyes hard. Fuzen had already taken up too much of his time, and it was already effecting the rest of his clients for the night. "Unfortunately, you were incredibly late and I'm now running a little behind. But I will look into you case later tonight, and give you a final confirmation. Oh, and the more information you send me, the more I have to work with, and the faster this will be." Izaya gestured towards the door politely, taking a step away from his couch. "Your request sounds fairly easy, but I will not underestimate it, alright?"

Fuzen nodded, taking Izaya's cue and heading towards the door. "Y-yes, I-I'm sorry once again for being so late!" They slowly made their way towards the entrance, Izaya tempted to just grab and drag the man out. His eyes flicked to the wall clock half way through another stuttered apology from Fuzen, before he let the smile twitch on his face.

"I will also email you my fee later," Izaya opened the door almost impatiently, "Please do send me everything you can, and I will get back to you."

"T-thank you!" Fuzen nodded before hurrying out the door.

Izaya closed the door with a heavy sigh, dropping his back against the wood. "Humans." He glanced to the wall clock before sighing again. Namie snickered from her desk, eyes flickering up to meet his. "How mad do you think Shiki will be?" Izaya asked with a large and completely fake grin. He pushed himself up from the wall and skipped over to his computer desk. He had been getting on Shiki's nerves lately, and he was certain that Yakuza was ready to beat his pretty little face in.

"Very mad," Namie grinned, though she wasn't looking forward to dealing with the aftermath if Shiki decided to punish Izaya once again. Such events were... awkward for her. She spun in her chair, facing Izaya head on. "What was with that guy anyway? He was kind of creepy."

Izaya shrugged before laughing, gracefully dropping into his spinning chair with his arms in the air. "A nervous psychologist with a stutter who doesn't interact with people?" Izaya snickered to himself before spinning once, fingers lacing together and dropping onto his stomach. "If I didn't know better, I'd think he was just pulling my leg."

- % & ~ -

Shiki had been irritated by the late call, but that had been all. He had instructed Izaya to call him back the next day because he was busy – read that as 'dealing with Akabayashi because he is an untrustworthy shit and you called me too late, Orihara, I will be dealing with you tomorrow' – and if Izaya was late once again, his nose might 'meet an unfortunate fate'.

But with that said and done, it freed up Izaya's evening to take a look at the interesting case he had received.

The wall clock was just striking eight when Izaya leaned back from his computer, stretching his arms straight above his head. Namie was upstairs, putting away a few files in preparation for the end of her work day.

"Naaaamie~!" Izaya called from his desk, shaking his mouse and loading up his emails. He smirked when it loaded, the most recent sender being none other than Fuzen. Even at a quick glance, the email looked really long.

"What?" Namie called back in irritation, glancing over her shoulder to glare at Izaya.

"Come see this..." Izaya whistled, eyes scanning his screen, before he laughed loudly. "Oh my, this email is lengthy."

Namie snickered. She stood up and made her way downstairs. "Is it from that guy earlier today?"

Izaya chuckled before nodding, scanning the sentences with growing curiosity. "I think I can go and get this matter dealt with tonight. How do you feel about some over time, and maybe some mileage?"

Namie scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. She stopped in front of Izaya's desk, glancing down at him harshly. "You ask me to start late so I can work late, and then you ask me to drive you to some abandoned facility out in the middle of nowhere?"

Izaya laughed once again, nodding at the screen in front of him. "Of course I would ask you such a thing? Who knows, maybe you'll discover some medical mystery there, some potion to make your brother love you and you alone! Wouldn't that be amazing, Namie!? Look, this email is easily six thousand words! It must have taken him an hour to write!" Izaya erupted into a fit of giggles, throwing a hand over his mouth.

Namie scoffed even though she wanted to laugh at him – he was being stupid and his excitement was almost contagious – while tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I will not be going in there with you. But if you're offering to pay me double time, I will cater you there and back."

Izaya finally glanced up, forcing a pout onto his face. It wasn't convincing. "Oh Namie~ but Fuzen-san said I should go with a partner."

Namie scoffed once again, a hand landing on a narrow hip. "I am not your partner. I am not going in. If you keep whining, I'll be asking for triple."

Izaya sighed in disdain before waving a hand a Namie. "Stop that, double time it is. But if you won't come in with me, then I know someone would would like to." Grinning, Izaya picked his phone up from it's charger, a large smile spread across his face. "How could he say no?"

- % & ~ -

Namie should have said no. Her hands were gripping the wheel with enough force to turn her knuckles white, and she was one-hundred percent sure that within the next five minutes, one of two things would happen: one being that she finally had a stroke, or two being that she committed a double homicide.

"How could you do this to me though, to drag me out of my own apartment where I was patiently awaiting the return of the love of my life?" One Shinra Kishitani was interrupting Izaya again from the back seat of the SUV, his hands in the air defensively like he had been removed from his apartment against his will. Like it hadn't taken a whole twenty-three seconds to convince him to go along with Izaya on this ridiculous job. "What will she think? My dear Celty might go home and think, 'Oh! Where has my Shinra-chan gone?' And then she will search the entire apartment, just to find my note, 'Celty darling, I have gone out with Izaya for a few hours, I will be back soon, love you' and then what will she think? What if she thinks I'm cheating? With you, of all people? Because you're a cheater of the sneakiest kind, and poor me – I just fell into your web of lies and misguidance."

Izaya gasped like he had been insulted, rolling his eyes from the passenger seat. He made the gesture dramatic enough, and yet he was smiling. Namie somehow managed not to scoff again, narrowing her eyes at the darkened highway before her. Why couldn't they have waited until the next morning to go? When it was light outside and easier to see, when she didn't have to navigate her SUV down a dark highway, and eventually into the woods where they would find and old and abandoned mental facility? She had watched enough movies and seen enough Anime in her life to know how this trip could end.

Because going during the day wouldn't be as fun, Izaya had said, grin lighting up his face while he had relayed the details to Shinra on the phone. The fact that it was dark and creepy outside had helped convince the doctor to tag alone; how could he pass up such an opportunity, after all? He was head over heels for the supernatural mysteries of the world.

Namie scoffed, finally finding the dreaded turn off and taking the three of them into the shelter of the trees – on nothing more than an over grown dirt road. She could hear the plants catching and tearing in her wheel wells. She would have to spend most of her pay just cleaning her car.

"What if there are still live samples in there? Do you think they have a freezer, or even a test room? Ooooh, what if they have something never seen before, a creature from the Dark World itself!? Or maybe a friend for Celty? Do you think they would have anything of the sort? And I wonder what kind of equipment they were using – though if it's from the nineties, I doubt it's anything more spectacular than what we have. I'm thinking about the wrong stuff, right Izaya? I should probably be focusing more on the specimens, live or dead. You don't believe this secret facility would be clean, do you? I mean what are the chances? They're experimenting with ways to aide mental patients, then there must have been test subjects. Ooo! What if they made monsters? Why did they even have to evacuate? Of course you know right, you wouldn't be the best informant if you didn't."

Izaya snorted, grabbing onto his seat belt when they rolled over a particularly nasty bump. Namie cursed from the drivers seat, but he paid her no mind. "Of course I know why it was abandoned. What kind of informant do you take me as? Long story short, there were too many government officials looking into the nature of their care, and so the administrators decided to close down due to a 'contaminant spill' in order to escape the heat from the higher ups." Izaya's eyes closed with his explanation, one hand gesturing. "Rumor has it that their gas generators were leaking in the underground facility unit, and that they contaminated all of the soil and the water supply, and they only found out when the patients started getting sick, which was conveniently dated around the time the officials started to become suspicious."

Namie cursed, eyes narrowing at the rather large mud puddle she was about to drive through. Was it beginning to rain? The sky above was pitch black with only the full moon out to guide them. The trip was just getting worse and worse, the more she drove on. Why had she agreed? Why had she ever thought that this was a good idea? She almost slapped her cheek to regain focus, but instead, she powered through her thoughts, drowning out that stupid little voice deep in her brain saying, you came because Izaya asked you too.

She had not developed a crush on her boss over the past month and a half. Nope.

"Ahh, so one of their experiments went wrong, and instead of admitting it they just leaked the gas and used that as an excuse. Hmmm, not the route I would have taken, that's for sure. They'd simply have to do a test, and they would find out that the gas leak was nothing more than a fabrication." Shinra didn't sound convinced. He pressed a finger to his lips, glancing up to the roof of the vehicle.

"Ah, you'd think so. But you see, a certain scientist went and actually leaked the gas into the ground, and then he lit the place on fire. So all of the evidence was destroyed. Or, at least part of the building was destroyed, anyway. So they simply shut down and left the property because there was too much 'controversy'. The story that I got was sketchy in itself, so I doubt anyone actually knows exactly what happened. There were a lot of 'he said this but she said that' cases."

Shinra nodded from the backseat with a smile. "Oh my, I wonder what kind of secrets they are hiding. They have to be hiding secrets. It's the only thing that makes sense."

Izaya hummed in agreement.

Namie sighed dramatically, finally getting a word in against Shinra's chatter. "You are paying for me to get my car washed tomorrow, and if there is any damage or chipped paint, you're paying for that too."

Izaya merely laughed, Shinra throwing in a comment from the back seat.

She should have said no. The bickering and arguing and non-stop chatter continued on the entire way there. The entire way through the trees. The entire ways up the hill. The entire way through the dark cave full of bats and other unidentifiable creatures. The entire way to the sketchiest looking building Namie had ever seen!

Namie slammed on the breaks at the end of the drive way, sending both of her passengers falling forward. Shinra and Izaya shut up long enough to duck their heads and glance out the window at the massive building surrounded by a concrete fence. The asylum was tall, maybe five stories, and it looked more like a castle than anything else. Window panes were falling off, and one side of the building look severely burned. The stone siding was flaking off and some of the windows were boarded up. The garden was dead and so was the massive tree, it's branches looming over the driveway half way to the door. There was no graffiti. The lawn was tall enough to reach Izaya's waist, and everything looked so lonely and miserable. Lighting lit up the sky right behind it, sending chills straight through each occupant in the car. The iron gate was swung open, one creaking ominously in the gentle breeze as if it were gently inviting them to drive inside.

Izaya swallowed nervously, but a genuine smile hit his face before he could stop it and he giggled.

"Well..." Namie said, glancing up at the looming building behind the fence, "this is it." A shiver ran down her spine. She immediately put the vehicle into park, leaning back in her seat and rubbing at her arms. As soon as the guys got out, she was putting her jacket back on and locking the doors. She wasn't driving in there. She had seen more than her fair share of stupidity, whether it be in movies, or simply watching the people trying to break in back at Yagiri on the cameras. If this place had it's secrets, then damn right the doors would be rigged to close. She almost wanted to tell Izaya to abandon the job, but she knew he would never do so. She glanced to Shinra into the rear-view mirror.

Despite her worries about the mechanics and security of the building to keep people out, Shinra seemed to have a different idea about what he was seeing.

His face was ecstatic in the mirror, eyes lit up like a little kid at the candy shop and he was fidgeting where he sat. "It looks like one of those old, creepy, haunted houses from those horror movies and horror games where when you go in, you don't come out and there's nothing but ghosts and ghouls and scary creatures stalking the floors, and you gotta sneak past with nothing but your flashlight because that's all you have and you're this pathetic protagonist character who can't fight, and that's just what makes it scarier right! Right! Izaya, I don't remember what we need to get but can we go? Can we go now?" Shinra's glasses glinted in the moonlight, a crooked smile stretching scarily across his face. Even Izaya shivered at the sight, glancing to his friend in the rear-view mirror. "This. Is. So. Exciting! If Celty were here, she would be so creeped out that I would have to hold her tight to make her feel safe! But no! She would never let me go in there because of her own fears that something scary might take me, so it really is a good thing I just left my note vague, and didn't say: 'Celty, I'm going with Izaya into a scary haunted asylum for a piece of paper. I'll be back! Love you!' She would be so mad if she knew! Can we go? Can we go now?"

Izaya smiled none the less, shaking his head and laughing at his friend's behavior. Shinra. Even if he saw things from a different pane, he was still an interesting human – if he could even be considered human. "Of course we're going to go in. I need to get that file. So here's the plan! We go in," Izaya started, gesturing with his hands, "You go into the control room and press the button, all by yourself, I'll go in and get the file three floors down, and then we can meet up and go exploring!"

Namie shot Izaya a dirty look. "I am only waiting for one hour max, and then I am leaving." She snapped, eyes boring holes into Izaya's soul. There was no way she was going to sit around in her vehicle well into the night here, out in the middle of the woods. She might be that back up character who got killed outside! Not that she was worried – it was just a job and Shinra was just being dramatic and putting ideas into her head. Nothing would happen to any of them, she told herself. Nothing. They would all be safe, even if her gut was telling her otherwise.

Izaya laughed, popping open his door. Namie almost stopped him. "You seem to forget that I am paying you double time. We're already an hour in, what's a few more?" He asked, shrugging nonchalantly before getting out and slamming the passenger side door shut with a laugh that echoed throughout the night. It startled a small flock of crows, and they took off from the trees, silencing Izaya immediately as he glanced up to their flying forms. They flew silently, the sound filtering in from above with the whoosh from their wings.

Shinra got out, rounding the back of the SUV and glanced up with Izaya. "Are you ready to go?" He sounded a little more excited than he should have been, the flashlight from his pocket already in his hand, ready to go. They were both equipped with batteries and flashlights, and Shinra had brought his video journal because why wouldn't he?

What could go wrong?