VanaN'Ice: ParaNorm Smile "Joker"

Disclaimer: Vocaloid belongs to Yamaha. I only own the concept and the plot of this fic. Nothing more.

A/N: To start, it's been a long time since I updated this story. Sincerest apologies with the really long delay but I'll explain more after this. Right now, I hope you enjoy this addition.

Case 3: Awesome, Fire, Rock Band?

She screamed.

Kaito shot a glare at these strange figures. Of all the times that they had to appear, it had to be this moment. After all this trouble that day, these monsters appeared. He was having a bad day, which is much of an understatement.

I would jump in and fight right away... Kaito smirked as he clenched his fists. But that would compromise Miku's safety. I better take her to somewhere safe.

"Miku."

"Yes?"

Kaito handed her the bags of groceries and pulled her close, letting her go behind him. "Take these and find a place to hide. Come out when it's safe."

"What about you?" Miku asked worriedly.

"I'll hold them off. Now go."

The tealette ran off after Kaito nudged her to move. She didn't look back until she ran into one of the shops. With the coast now quite clear (especially with the other people no longer present as they already fled), the azure-haired youth smirked as he took a stance and began to assess the situation.

"You really caught me in a bad day." he smirked as he reached for the inner fold of his coat. Crap, I forgot the rest of my stuff at home.

If he was going to fight, he has to improvise with what he has. Kaito continued to search in his coat for anything, open to any attack.

A sliver of light pierced through the darkness of the room. This ray that sat at the very center of the room widened its range as it revealed Len's boyish frame hovering in a carefree state. His blond hair was loose as it fanned out due to the lack of gravity in the area while his body was clothed in a tight, gray bodysuit. A holographic disc appeared before Len, revealing a set of status commands.

MEMORY BANK LOADED

LOADING DATA LIBRARY...COMPLETE

LOADING PARAMETERS...COMPLETE

SYNCHRONIZING USER INTERFACE...COMPLETE

LOGIC MACHINE ONLINE

WELCOME, LEN KAGAMINE

The boy opened his eyes as he brought his body to go upright. Setting his hands to reach on different directions, holographic discs materialized as they served as his controls. A number of discs appeared at every direction, having tasks of their own from recording information and initiating searches and connections. Len noticed one of the displays as it showed Kaito currently in a predicament with the shadowy beings that appeared from the alley.

"Tch, that idiot," the blond grimaced as he watched, "He just had to be ambushed at a time like this."

Len looked carefully and noticed his hesitation, putting ends together with his judgment. Making sure that he was right, one of the displays hissed and initiated a scan on their residence. The scanners blinked with a positive on a set of items piled on his dresser. It was as he had expected.

"He forgot his equipment? Oh great, now he's gonna get killed unless I do something."

He began to key in a few commands before a disc flew in to him, activating its communicator function.

"Gakupo here."

"Kamui-san, Kaito's in trouble right now. He's gonna need some help."

"We don't need to worry about it. He'll be fine."

Len winced in hearing that from their squad leader. "Are you serious?"

"Trust me, Kaito will pull through. He always does. To make you relax a bit, I'll go there and be on standby just in case. Send me his location."

"Fine. I'll transmit it to your unit."

The handheld device began to display the coordinates where Kaito and Miku were located. Gakupo sighed as he looked on to the direction where it would roughly be.

"Better pull through or I'll have Meiko whip your sorry butt." he remarked jokingly as he started running through the street.

Kaito grimaced as he pulled out a device from his coat. It was a cylindrical piece shaped like a vial, scarlet in color, having a button on the top end while the button end had a circular receptacle. A sigh left his lips when he jumped back out of reflex, dodging an incoming attack from one of the creatures.

"It just had to be this one," the cobalt-haired lad remarked as he gripped the device. "I better make do with this then."

He rolled his left sleeve up to the elbow, baring his arm. There's no time to hesitate now that it has come to this. Kaito pressed the device to his wrist, exactly at the point where the blood vessel would be. He took a breath as he pressed the button. Lines began to spread outward from his wrist, having the semblance of a circuit: a bio-connector. Soon after, the device gained a bright aura as a voice prompt echoed.

Crimson Active!

The device began to dissolve as a carmine aura flared about his body. Flames were ignited as it enveloped him, making it appear that he was consumed by fire. The blaze raged on and with a whisk of the figure's hand, the flames were quenched. What stood before the enemy, at this point, was someone different.

The build and stature was still the same with Kaito, though this one was garbed differently. The black overcoat had its hem reach down above his heels with the shoulder and chest portions hold a blazing red color. The scarf was of a brighter shade, giving it a fiery appearance thanks to the tattered edges. His ruby eyes and auburn hair now accented the new persona that the man exuded. With a haughty grin, he cracked his knuckles with a chuckle.

"Get ready to burn." he said with sadistic fury as he charged at the enemy head-on.

"So, Akaito is already active." The young woman stated her observation as she watched the skirmish down the street from the rooftop. Her brown hair, shortened into a boy cut, danced in the wind freely.

"That's interesting." Her companion, a young man, answered her. His dark-shaded hair matched the color of his suit. Aligning his thin-framed glasses, he walked towards her location as he also gazed downward. "Looks like our victim is nearby."

The brunette furrowed her eyebrows as she crossed her arms together. The red top exposed her midriff while the miniskirt would accent her legs, complemented with leather knee-high boots and topped with a white fur coat that covered the crimson ensemble. The outfit brought him to smile at her.

"Meiko, smiling doesn't hurt. It makes you look cute." The man with the glasses jested with a chuckle. That earned him with a pout and a blushing face from her. "Hey, Cheer up and relax."

"What now, Kiyoteru?" Meiko asked as she lowered her arms, bringing the topic back to the issue at hand. "What's the plan?"

"What else? We help them, of course." Kiyoteru replied, "We'll do it our way."

The humanoid ended up being thrown back as a burning mass, combusting faster as if it was fueled with gasoline. This fiery persona of Kaito wore a haughty grin as he charged forward at them, taking the offensive as he rushed towards an incoming creature. His fist ignited as he punched with full force. The impact and the blaze caused the opponent to stagger. The redhead didn't stop as he continued pounding with punches from that same fist. He pulled back for momentum. With his leg tensing, he launched forward and delivered an uppercut, throwing the enemy airborne. However, the strike had something more as a pillar of fire ignited towards the creature's direction. The hapless body fell down as a burning, lifeless heap.

"Come on, who's next?" the redhead yelled as he provoked his opponents. "The Awesome Akaito will take you all on!"

The remaining dark figures rushed on for the attack, bladed arms at the ready to strike. Akaito snickered as he raised his hands, fingers curled as the air within his grasp ignited.

"My hotness is always at climax." He remarked as he whipped his hand forward. A burning wave rushed towards a group of four with their bodies catching fire. The blaze left nothing but ashes behind. Six of them rushed in from both sides, trying to catch Akaito in a pincer movement. The redhead snickered as he saw through the tactic. "That's getting old!"

Akaito tensed his legs and soon after, he jumped high. The height of the jump enabled the fighter to dodge the ambush. Flames were kindled upon his hands once more as he hurled a volley of fireballs downward. The barrage caught the group squarely as it made minute explosions by impact. The lad landed on a spot a few meters away from the inferno.

Soon, the fire died out and the remains of his enemies were reduced to ash. Akaito dusted his hands and brought a thumb to flick at his nose. He was victorious yet this didn't seem to cut it. The redhead was not satisfied.

"They don't stand a chance. If only there was more." Akaito pulled at the collar of his shirt, his fingers digging through his scarf in the process. "Anyone else up to challenge me?"

"I think that's enough, Akaito."

The auburn-haired lad stopped at the voice. He turned around and noticed a gentleman standing a number of paces behind him. The glasses that he wore gleamed before the flames that slowly lulled. Akaito scowled at him, annoyed at the fact that he is being told off by some stranger dressed in a business suit.

"Who the hell are you and how do you know my name?" he yelled in question as he clenched his fist, opening them again to give way to the flame covering his hand.

"It's easy to figure out when a person has good insight," he replied as his finger tapped on his temple. "Playtime's over. Time for you to go home."

"Well, tough luck with that." The redhead youth snickered as he charged forward, flaming hands poised to strike in a full frontal attack.

The bespectacled man sighed as he reached for his pocket. Clasped within his fingers was a card with strange symbols inscribed on its edges while the picture on the very center was that of a shattered mirror. For a brief moment, his eyes glowed in crimson. The card lit up with a silver aura, reacting to the energy that the gentleman was infusing to it. He was sure of one thing; it will take one move to decide the outcome.

"Silver Sign: 'Phantasm Break'," he said in an authoritative tone as he swung his hand forward. The card gave off an intense light as it vanished within the flash.

Akaito rushed forth with a punch. Misfortune, however, was swift as his flames were quelled and saw it vanish like glass breaking. It didn't take long before his clothes of black began to disintegrate, bringing back what the cobalt-haired lad was wearing. The last to change back was his hair color, shifting from red to blue. With the hot-blooded persona set to a dormant state, Kaito slumped forward and stumbled as he fell down face first. The gentleman moved with haste as he caught his unconscious body.

The task is complete.

The gentleman reached for his earpiece and pressed it, contacting his companion.

"Meiko, it's Kiyoteru. I've secured Kaito. We can return him to Gakupo's place."

"Understood, Kiyoteru. We'll also proceed in picking up the client then."

"Looks like we have to pick up that young lady who was with that idiot of yours," the brunette flatly noted as she slipped her hands inside the pockets of her white coat. Walking through the street, they were following the longhaired man's lead.

"Thanks for your help, Meiko." Gakupo said in gratitude as he made use of the directions that Len handed out to him. "We won't be able to do this without you."

"I should be thanking you for taking care of that idiot Kaito." Meiko replied with a smile. "At least your relationship with him is as good as family."

The pair halted as Gakupo spotted a pair of teal pigtails within a shop. He found it amusing that she chose this as her hiding place.

"Well, here she is," he chuckled as he turned to Meiko. "Are you sure you don't want to join us at our place?"

"Nah, it's fine. Kiyoteru will explain to you the other half of the situation. Besides, I have a lot of paperwork piling up on my desk."

Gakupo sighed at the thought of paperwork. He knew Meiko hated deskwork and pencil pushing. Being her former partner in a few missions back, he had to take the task of filing documents and reports after every mission given. Somehow, he noticed the changes.

"You better get going then," Gakupo answered as he saw her turn away and head towards the opposite direction. She replied with a wave of her hand without turning back. With that situation done, he went inside the shop.

"Miku."

The teal-haired girl turned to see someone that she knows, at least for a while. The purple hair was quite familiar for her. She smiled at him.

"Kamui-san."

"Let's go," Gakupo kindly offered her his hand, beckoning her to come with him.

"What about Kaito?" she asked with worry, seeing that he had stayed behind to keep those…monsters at bay.

"Don't worry. A good friend of ours helped him out," the purple-haired gentleman assured, "They should be home by now."

She breathed easy in relief, taking Gakupo's hand as they walked out of the shop.

The clerk watched them as they left. Somehow, he was scratching his head as he wondered what their relationship was. Left with his thoughts, he went back to the magazine he was reading.

It took them a few minutes to reassemble inside their flat. Gakupo and Kiyoteru were facing each other, taking separate couches for themselves with Len at one end of the long sofa near the dark-haired gentleman. Miku was seated at the center, leaving some space for Kaito to seat on when he wakes up. Noting how tense the situation is, Gakupo stood up and made his way towards the kitchen. It was only then that Kaito came out of his room.

"There you go, up and running." Kiyoteru said with a smile on his face. "Feeling better?"

Kaito grunted with a nod, rubbing the back of his head groggily and making neck exercises before taking a seat beside Miku. "What just happened back there?"

"Simply put, Akaito took over, did a good job in destroying those things before nearly going berserk if not for Kiyoteru over here." Gakupo replied as he brought some cookies, a pitcher of juice and five glasses on top of a tray. Placing it down the coffee table, he returned to his seat.

Miku was surprised while Kaito was caught with eyes as wide as saucers. He never thought this would be the result of his actions. Tense silence took over the whole room once more and Len was feeling rather choked with the whole thing.

"Anyway, the whole situation's been dealt with," the blond boy stated to break the tension, "Let's be thankful for that."

"Come to think of it," Kaito asked as he looked at the bespectacled gentleman, "What's he doing here?"

Kiyoteru smiled as he poured himself a glass of orange juice. "I'm here to assist with the case. We have been looking through this Joker case and somehow, we have some information that you might find useful."

"We?" Miku asked as she titled her head.

"He means him and Meiko," Gakupo answered. "They are from a different team in the Agency. Also, they are on our side."

"Oh."

Kiyoteru cleared his throat as he looked at Miku, scanning her features. "At any rate, we cannot let Ms. Hatsune stay here and remain under the radar. She is a pop idol and has an industry to work with."

Miku nodded as she looked at the other guys. Kaito was evidently at shock while Len perked up after hearing that fact. Gakupo was still nonchalant, pondering on their next action.

"If that's the case, how are we going to track Joker if she'll be working on her albums and tours then?" Len snapped back to reality upon realizing the situation. "It'll be hard to keep her safe and such."

"Then let me raise a suggestion." Kiyoteru noted as he adjusted his glasses.

Len gave his full attention, holding a glass of juice. Kaito was nibbling on a cookie and Gakupo was still listening with interest. Pregnant silence filled the room once again. Kiyoteru smirked and this made the trio wonder what he was thinking. Somehow, Kaito felt like it's going to be a bad idea.

"You will have to be with Miku…" Kiyoteru paused.

"Yes?" The trio was expectant with what came next.

"As…"

"YES?"

"A band."

Silence.

"I guess you didn't hear me clearly on that one." Kiyoteru sighed as he lowered his glass and set it on the table. "I said, you'll be joining her as a rock band going along with her on tours and such."

"Ah…" The trio nodded in unison as the understood the idea. "Wait, WHAT?"

Kiyoteru chuckled in amusement as he watched their reactions. Evidently, this idea was something they never thought of doing. Not even in a lifetime. Miku liked the idea as it had hit two birds in one stone.

"Well, let's get to know each other then." Miku said to them as she smiled. She came to a bow, leading them to confusion. "Please take care of me."

"Uh, sure." Kaito replied with a cough.

Gakupo rose from his seat, about to head off. Slipping off from the attention of Miku, Kaito and Len, he made his way towards the balcony at the back of their flat. Kiyoteru followed him soon after, leaving the trio behind with their chatter.

"So, I believe you were going to tell me something aside from that plan, Kiyoteru."

Gakupo started the conversation as he leaned on the railing with his elbows, facing the view of the city outside. It was already nighttime and this day proved to be quite long, having to deal with a lot moments after receiving this mission. Kiyoteru crossed his arms as he let his back lean against the railing, taking the corner for himself.

"Actually, there is."

"Go ahead and tell me," Gakupo urged as he remained in that position.

Kiyoteru knew that this would be a difficult topic to share to him but with Gakupo in charge of the trio, he had to share it anyway. It seemed that this was thin ice that he was treading on.

"This thing about Joker, I believe you're aware of what it is," he started as his voice now held a serious tone, "We thought that this entity would be some sort of serial killer or some high profile criminal running about carrying out a number of atrocities. With what Meiko and I found out about this, we came out with a different conclusion."

Gakupo noted how the bespectacled gentleman paused. He gave a nod, gesturing him to continue on.

"Well, in reality, Joker is a collective identity. It's quite short to call it an organization but I can tell you, with the way it acts, this is not run by one person. As much as their operations would go, there's something we've found out about."

"Do they have a pattern that they follow?" the lavender-haired gentleman asked.

"Yes. Judging from how the actions are done, it's as if they're playing a game. Not only that, there's also a wager involved."

Gakupo furrowed his eyebrows upon learning about this information. Kiyoteru, however, was not done as he continued.

"This is also not the reason why I came to you," he added, "It's about Kaito. Meiko trusts you with him and I think I can see why. However, you have to be really cautious about this."

This made the gentleman change his posture as he faced Kiyoteru. This had caught his full attention now that his teammate is involved.

"And why should I be vigilant?" Gakupo asked, his voice now stern.

"Joker may have their eyes on him as well. Exercise caution and be wary of anything going on."

Gakupo's lips have curled to a frown upon hearing that. He had questions in mind, demanding possible reasons to this. As much as he doesn't have answers to them yet, he noticed that there was another thing that's to be said.

"Also, that power that he used earlier."

"The Liquid Persona System?"

"Yes," Kiyoteru took that term to memory before continuing, "It is a two-edged sword and a wild card. If he ever he goes berserk, he can pose a threat to us all. Something has to be done with manners of controlling that sort of power. I'll leave that decision to you."

"Very well, I'll take note of that." Gakupo responded with a nod as he brought these things into heart. He already had thoughts of what to do with his teammates and how this mission is to be approached. With the suggestion given, he still had one question. "So, if I'm part of the band with those two with me, what does that make you?"

"Simple," Kiyoteru gave a clever grin as snapped his fingers, "I'll be the manager for the four of you."

"That's unfair." Gakupo turned away with a dry tone.

"Life's unfair. Get used to it," he chuckled with that reply.

Author's Corner:

Is it me or I've been changing this corner's name a lot? Don't ask me. After all, it's been long since I've updated any of my fanfics within this span of time. I wasn't able to put this update up due to a lot of things. The main reason is I got stuck with the storyline and I don't know where it would go from here. At any rate, I added a few other characters (thanks to the addition of Vocaloids that came to existence in such a span of time) and played out some roles. Now things are rolling.

I can't promise that I would update quickly but I will update them. This is just one among others. To those who read and gave reviews, thank you. If you've been waiting long for this, I hope you enjoy it. Not sure if I went a little to fast with the events but regardless, the story must progress.

Now I've showcased all the guys' abilities (well, sort of). Time I get started with the next one.

See you next time.

Sydney Grise