Chiwassu minna-san~~~~
So I'm glad you guys are enjoying this
And I'll guess I'll just jump into it but no promises about regular updates…
School's school and I've been putting off assignments and such
I have a nutrition assignment and an essay due on Tuesday….
But I'm almost done them hehehe
So I finished this really fast and if there are mistakes please tell me and I will fix them immediately… or I'll touch up anything that wasn't clear… thanks~~~~
But yeah, anyways enough rambling…. Let's start~~~
Chapter 3: The Second Raid
It had been about a day since the kids had been with the Vongola but there hadn't been much progress with the kids. They were still slightly standoffish and didn't speak much unless spoken to, though Lambo was the exception as he was the loudest and most rambunctious of the four. He tried to persuade them to play and such but eventually, the child turned towards the adults for entertainment. But just as the kids were out in the gardens at the back with Lampo chasing them around while the others watched, Giotto sensed something coming and he looked towards the sky. Knowing who it was, he reached his arm out so that the bird could land on him.
"Is that the stupid hawk?" G walked over towards the blond man who was now trying to get the paper out of the holder on its leg. But the bird reacted to G's comment and screeched at the man and flapped its wings defiantly, preventing Giotto from getting the message.
"Ah, come on Shaye, hold still." Giotto protected his face from the violent flapping. He tried to calm the bird but his words weren't getting through. Then Asari had come and spoke softly towards the bird and eventually it calmed as he stroked its neck.
"You are alright, I'm sure he didn't mean to say what he said. Now apologize G." The Japanese man looked towards the other.
"There's no way I'm apologizing to poultry." He crossed his arms, looking just as defiant as Shaye. The Hawk shrieked in annoyance towards the other man as well.
"He's very intelligent, just say sorry and we'll get the message that Alaude sent." Giotto tried to reason with his right hand man, who was looking a bit more compliant. The red haired man muttered a short sorry as he uncrossed his arms, then looked towards the bird who looked like it would grin with satisfaction.
"Che, just read what the skylark says." G decided to ignore the hawk's seeming smirk and looked his boss. Asari slipped the piece of paper out and handed it to the blond. He unfolded it after passing Shaye over towards the dark haired man and read it quickly before looking towards his guardians.
"Alaude found another base." He told the two.
"So what are we going to do?" Asari asked.
"We'll leave as soon as possible. We'll retrieve Knuckle and Daemon and leave the kids with the maids and Elena. We'll tell Lampo after the kids have gone; I don't want them getting their hopes up or even worse..." But before Giotto could finish, Lampo showed up looking dead tired. When he reached them, he fell back on the grass panting.
"Little monsters have so much energy, it's hard to believe that they were captives only till yesterday. I can't believe you left a prince to babysit." He was about to continue his rant when he noticed the hawk. "Hey, isn't that Alaude's bird?" He questioned not knowing the kids had come up behind him. G was about to clobber him for his unknowingly big mouth.
"That's that scary man's bird? He find the next hole?" Hayato looked at them as if daring them to lie to his face. The men exchanged exasperated looks before deciding to answer. They couldn't afford to lie to them now when the kids clearly knew what the arrival of this bird meant. If they did lie, then they would be blowing their one and only chance to get the kids to warm up to them. With a sigh, Giotto answered the boy.
"Yes, he found the nearest one to your previous... er, hole."
"You leaving soon?" Takeshi asked this time.
"Yes, unfortunately so." Giotto hope this wasn't going where he hoped it wouldn't go.
"Then we're coming along." Hayato crossed his arms defiantly, as if telling the adults that they weren't taking no for an answer. And there's what Giotto thought to be the worst possible outcome. The blond knew his attempt would be useless but he decided to at least try to talk them out of the idea.
"Kids, I know you want to save your friends but you just escaped from that life and we don't want to expose you to that life anymore." Giotto reasoned.
"We lived like that for a long time, what does it matter to go back for at least a day?" Hayato argued. "We don't like it there but because our friends are still sufferin, we can't just sit here peacefully and wait for you to get them. Some of them, I know, are really good at hiding when they escape. So I don't wanna trust you to find them. We'll find them ourselves, right?" He turned to the other three who agreed.
"Sure that's good for you and the other kid," G motioned towards Takeshi, "but you can't make a decision for these two. They have a right to decide for themselves."
'Good job, G.' Giotto thought, partially smiling when his best friend was talking. The silverette just scoffed.
"Alright then, Chrome, Lambo, what do you two want to do?" Giotto knelt down on one knee, bending down to eye level.
"Chrome... wants to find Onii-sama." She almost whispered.
"Lambo-san wants to go go too!"
"Well, it's unanimous, they're coming along." Giotto said to his three guardians with a tired smile.
"I'll call Knuckle and Daemon and meet you at the car." Asari offered and let Shaye fly towards Gioto, but not before whacking G on the head, much to his chagrin.
"Thank you, Asari. Then I guess you'll be leading us there huh, Shaye?" The hawk cooed in response.
"Oh right, coo for him and screech at me." G mumbled, clearly annoyed.
"Cuz you're a mean grouch." Shaye squawked in agreement as Hayato murmured to himself, but not quiet enough .
"You're one to talk brat! How would you know what goes on between me and a bird?!" He then turned to the bird in question. "And you, shut up! No one cares what you think!"
"You clearly do. You keep arguing with him and losing." The boy snickered.
"Ha ha, he got you there." Lampo seemed to be enjoying the little argument a little too much.
"Don't start and just keep your trap shut! Stupid brats, stupid snotty attitude..." G grumbled the last parts as he walked away.
"Okay, well then... shall we head for the car?" Giotto was a bit nervous around the kids since their mouths were like volcanos just waiting to erupt; especially the young explosive stick of dynamite that he oddly found to be a bit too much like his best friend. Though he didn't dwell on it for long as he and Lampo ushered the kids towards where the car was held.
"So you are guiding us, right Shaye?" The blond asked the hawk again for clarification and it slightly bobbed its head up and down, as if nodding. "I'm glad." He smiled as he got in the car. Normally, the bird was just as aloof as his cloud guardian but for some reason, the bird decided to be compliant today. Giotto wondered if it was because of the kids, but then again, the bird was still a bird, so he figured that he shouldn't read too much into it.
The drive towards the forest area was pretty long, especially since it was an area not frequently visited, which would make for a perfect place to keep base. When the road disappeared, they then started walking. Daemon took the liberty of carrying Chrome. Shaye led them through the forest area, though it had taken them a long while till they arrived to the lab. But when they got there, the area was littered with paper, glass and bodies. Some of them were knocked out cold while others just weren't breathing. There was fire burning from the building, especially in the large dome similar to the previous building. The building itself was charred black and the windows and doors were all smashed or ripped off. However, it wasn't the scene that made the adults nervous, it was the children's reaction to the chaos. They just looked around as if it were normal to see people scattered all over the place.
Hayato and Takeshi scanned around to look for any kids and unfortunately, there were a few dozen around the adults. They looked like they were running to escape but go shot down before they made it any further. The Vongolas took note that the kids' bodies were scarred and bruised heavily, but the assumed that it wasn't from the recent escape attempt. The boys recognized a few of them but couldn't even remember their number, let alone their name.
"Alaude seemed to have really trashed this place, huh?" Lampo tried to make the air a bit lighter, but it didn't seem to work.
"The testers probably caused most of this." Takeshi stood over the wreckage with a stone face. "It was a rumour among the survivors but we heard when a hole gets discovered, the Testers have a cleanup session. They take the Deviants away and get rid of the Remainders."
"Okay, I know you mentioned some of those words a few times before but what kind of words are they? I get 'hole' and 'tester', but what do you mean exactly by Survivor, Remainder and Deviant?" G asked them.
"Survivors are what we all ourselves – it's everyone who lives through the hole. Remainders are what Testers call him, her and the brat." The silverette pointed towards the other kids. "I guess they have something like potential but not enough to be a Deviant, someone who survives a crazy experiment and deemed 'special' by the Testers."
"They're the ones kept above ground or are transferred a lot." Takeshi added.
"So the cleanup session is for... getting rid of Remainders?" Giotto somewhat hesitated to ask. The two older boys exchanged glances before answering but were interrupted by another voice.
"Hn. I heard some of them say that as well." The group turned to find Alaude walking up to them without a scratch on him. The hawk then flew over and landed on his owner's shoulder.
"Alaude! What happened here?" Giotto immediately questioned.
The man then explained that when he first discovered the place, the Estraneo were already hustling and bustling to cover their tracks...
~~~Flashback~~~
"Hurry and load the trunks! Lab 231 has been terminated and it won't be long before this one is discovered! We must commence the cleanup immediately." The man speaking through the speakers were yelling orders as the alarm was ringing.
"Hurry and grab all the important 'research material' and leave the rest." Everyone was doing as they were told, papers were flying everywhere while kids in sacks were struggling as much as they could against their captors. "Once your duty is done, evacuate! The cleanup will start immediately!"
"Hey! Some kids got out!"
"Hurry and catch them idiot!"
"There's no time, numbers 34, 56, 105 to 110, and whoever else is gone, just kill them on sight! They're replaceable! But we don't need outsiders capturing and examining them!" The men were commanded and they shot on sight. There were some friendly fire casualties but there was no time to think about each other when their own lives were on the line if they didn't finish what they needed to here. Many kids squealed when they heard guns and shouting but they were just kicked and tossed into the trunks of cars and were driven off.
"Hurry, all units are out! Whoever is left, shoot those who escape and get rid of the cells!"
"Now commencing the cleanup!"
Alaude was witnessing all these things happen at once and immediately went into action. He dodged bullets and men running around with a crazy look in their eyes. They didn't pay attention to him as they were all busy doing what they were commanded to do. He just took out his cuffs and started taking down all who was in his path, either knocking them out or unintentionally killing them. He calmly stalked towards the main entrance of the lab and knocked it down shocking those who were inside.
"For disturbing the peace of the lives of the future, I will arrest you to death." The men all panicked at the newcomer and they were exclaiming that the building be burned immediately. Some did manage to start the fire but he attacked and subdued many of them already. The dome had been ablaze since he had first come and he figured that opening the door keeping the fire boxed in would be a very bad idea. Many of the rooms were already on fire and the smoke was bothering him tremendously. But before he did anything about it, he heard some men shout from the outside that kids from the first vehicle had escaped.
"We need back up to catch them! They're..." But Alaude didn't pay much attention to the rest as the smoke was really bothering him now. So after knocking out all the men, he found a sink and filled a small tub with water he found. He then threw the water in the air and with his cloud flames, multiplied the amount of water, effectively washing out most of the fire. He looked in some rooms and noted that there were many pages around. He decided to take a look at them later, if they survived through the fire and water abuse.
He then ran down the stairwell, remembering the cells in the lowest level. But as he lowered, he noticed the strong gas that was in the air. Not liking the situation, he covered his mouth and took out a gas mask from his coat that he brought for cases such as this. He then speedily jumped down the flights of stairs and searched for the last door. Upon arriving, he tried to barge through the room but the door was heavily locked. So he broke the door handle and the chains around it and tried to shove it open again, but the door wouldn't open for some reason on the other side.
Ultimately, he forced the door to open, moving whatever was inhibiting the door from opening and dreaded the view on the other side. He saw piles of children crowding around the door, most likely trying to escape the gassed room. Some of the gates were open, so he figured that they were empty, but the closed ones contained children who were either huddled together or sprawled across the floors. Deeming no survivors, he ran back up the stairs and sealed the door to prevent the gas from seeping through, knowing full well what would happen if that gas met the fire remains.
He knew that it wouldn't last for long so he quickly ran towards the offices to check if there were any surviving records or files but unfortunately, the Estraneo succeeded in destroying them with the fire... though Alaude's water multiplication didn't help the matter either.
Next the man looked around the upper levels quickly to see if there were children like Hayato who were left behind, but found none or dead ones. Alaude narrowed his eyes in disappointment at the brutality of the ones who weren't even worthy of being called a Famiglia and walked back outside to report to his boss who had just recently arrived.
~~~ End Flashback ~~~
"Ah yes, it seems that some children had escaped from the first vehicle that left here. Unknown how far they are as there weren't many men here compared to the other lab." Alaude reported.
"They must've known we would be looking for another facility in the area, so when they hightailed from the first lab, they ran back here and started preparations right away." G thought with annoyance. "So they must be pretty far from here." Suddenly, a loud gun shot was heard in the distance and Chrome and Lambo freaked out from hearing it. Asari tried to calm them with his rain flames but it didn't have much of an effect on them for some strange reason, just like the sun flames. So he decided to do it the old fashioned way and stroked their heads and comforted them.
"Don't worry, we won't let anything happen to you all. You know you can trust us right? I promise we won't let anything harm you anymore." The man smiled warmly towards them. The two youngest just looked towards each other, then the other two boys, then back towards the man before nodding cautiously. Asari was happy with the response, it was small and uncertain but it was still something.
"We have to see what happened out there." Giotto told them. "Lampo, you stay here with the children and we'll be back soon." He then ran with the others following him before Lampo could protest.
"He- wait! I said you can't leave a prince to babysit!" He pouted.
"Gee, I wonder who has to babysit who." Hayato said sarcastically towards the man.
"Shut up, brat." Lampo said crossly.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Hurry, we have to run faster." A boy with jet black hair grabbed a small brunette's hand and dragged him through the foliage, but he was having a hard time as the smaller boy was holding onto another girl's hand.
"92-chan, hang in there. We'll make it." The small boy reassured.
"Enough talking, you'll run out of air." The older scolded.
"Extreme running!" a white haired boy was carrying another boy whose arm was bleeding out from the gun shots earlier.
"Shut up doofus, you're too loud." Another blond boy who was dragging a girl behind him scolded. "And you, hurry up back there. If you get left behind, we can't do anything about it. This is do or die!" He called to another younger boy behind him.
"They're this way!"
"Hurry! After them!" a few men were running after the kids with guns at hand.
"Che, they're closing in. What do we do?" the blond boy asked the black haired boy.
"Just keep moving. We have to meet the others that were separated but we can't with Enforcers on our trail." He answered.
"Haa, haa, haa... Kyo-" the small brunette started but the older boy pulling him jerked his arm a little to interrupt his sentence.
"I told you, use our numbers as code names; we don't want any outsiders looking us up." He said, not slowing down in the least bit. "And I said not to speak, save your words for later."
"There they are! We have to retrieve the irreplaceable Deviants, hurry and get them. Shoot if you have to." The commander exclaimed.
"Aim for the legs men!" Another ordered.
"Take cover!" The white haired boy exclaimed and they ducked, narrowly escaping the barrage of bullets. The dark haired boy pushed the brunette's head down lower under the large tree root that they were hiding behind. The boy did the same to the girl.
"Are you alright? 92-chan?" He asked the girl.
"H-Hai... b-but, m-m-my..." she then gestured to her stomach and there was a lot of blood seeping through the remains of her clothes.
"Ah Ky- er... 18-san, 92-chan got hit." The brunette was panicking slightly, trying to stop the bleeding immediately. He lied her down and told her to put pressure on the wound.
"I told you to keep your head down herbivore." 18 said pushing his head below the root again. "Do you want them to blow your brains out?"
"But if we don't help her, she'll..." Just then a loud shout interrupted them and the shooting stopped. Deeming the situation a bit safe, 18 peered over the root and saw that the blond kid was grabbed while the tiny boy who was lagging behind was on the ground – dead. A few feet away was another kid and the girl he was with. He sensed the loud white hair a few feet away from him as well and was with two other kids too.
'So there are two injured, one captured and three dead.' He thought, weighing the options. He wondered about going back to rescue the blond but with the amount of men there, they were outnumbered and could be killed or even worse, captured again. He then thought of moving on to meet the other escapee group and leaving him behind but he knew that the brunette would never let him live it down. It was a difficult decision for him so he thought hard on it until the blond interrupted his thoughts.
"Hey! Forget me and go! I'd rather die than bring everyone down because of me." The boy exclaimed.
"We can't leave you to the extreme!" The white haired boy exclaimed.
"I said leave!" He yelled again but then was slapped in the face.
"Shut up brat. Just because you're a Deviant, it doesn't mean you're irreplaceable." The man threatened him but the kid didn't seem fazed by the threat at all and returned the glare. Not liking the attitude of the kid, he decided to make another announcement. "Hey! I know you kids are out there. So if you don't surrender yourselves, this kid'll be eating dirt." There was no response as they were still hesitating on what to do. The white haired boy couldn't take the suspense anymore and just wanted to jump and punch the men's lights out, and he was about to do just that when the man spoke again. "And just to make your decision a bit easier, if you were planning on meeting up with those other subjects, no need..." Number 18 dreaded what was next to come and was about to cover the brunette's ears but he wasn't fast enough. "they're all dead."
Shock filled the children in hiding. They hadn't the slightest idea what to do at the moment and things just seemed to be getting worse and worse. "If you don't make your decision soon, then..." and before finishing his sentence, the man holding the blond broke the boy's right arm causing him to release a spine chilling cry. Not being able to take any more of the stress, the brunette finally jumped out of hiding.
"Ah, so number 27 was in this group after all." The leader grinned eerily as the boy came out.
"You only need me right? Please leave the others alone and I'll come with you..." the boy was then shot in the leg causing the others to pop out to see what happened. Leaving the girl behind, 18 ran out immediately without a second thought and looked over the brunette's wound.
"Thinking about it, the brat's right. Who cares what happens to the others right?" The leader pondered on the thought.
"And the Japanese kid there is a real pain, we should just get rid of him and find someone else to replace him." Another suggested.
"Yeah, one who would listen better." Another man agreed.
"So what's the plan commander?" They looked towards him.
"Fire at will." He grinned maniacally as the blond in their arms was shot dead. They cackled as the body dropped and 27 just watched with despair at the loss of another friend. He felt anger bubbling up inside of him but it was soon extinguished and replaced with more dread as the girl hiding away from him was shot after a barrage of bullets came flying her way. She was quick enough to dodge many of them, but couldn't evade them all.
"Anger to the extreme!" The white haired boy exclaimed, finally losing it and going berserk. 18 also readied himself to fight the men as another was eventually shot dead. Not wanting the brunette to be next, he jumped into action alongside the loud other. As the older boy jumped into action, he looked towards the small brunette, silently signalling for him to get back into hiding. He struggled with his leg but he managed to get a bit further from the chaos, though he was regretting leaving the fighting to the others. He then noticed that the girl he was with wasn't hiding in the same spot anymore and found her wandering about the clearing turned battlefield still bleeding from the stomach.
"92-chan, what are you doing?!" He was about to run towards her when pain shot up through his body and he fell roughly against the ground. He looked around and found that there was only him, her, the two fighting and the boy who was being carried early who were most likely still alive at the moment, so he wanted to do his best to keep all five of them alive. "Please, come back here!"
Hearing the boy shout, the Japanese boy turned around and glared at the brunette. "What are you doing herbivore?! I told you to get back!" He exclaimed, taking his mind off the fight for a few seconds.
"Kyoya-san! Look out!" The younger warned in desperation as the man held a gun towards his friend.
"You look away, you die kid." The man, the commander, had a batter face and was bleeding from his mouth yet he had the same eerie smile. But just then, he was suddenly shot before he shot his own gun and fell dead near the blond. Just then another group of adults bolted from the bushes and the black haired boy ordered the white haired to fall back. 18 ran towards 27 and scooped him up and ducked back behind the roots. He then looked over to where the other boy was and scowled when he saw that he didn't retrieve the other girl. They crawled over towards the other boy to hide together.
"Idiot, you left her." 18 scolded again.
"I didn't know to the extreme." The other tried to whisper. The two then looked back over to see what the newcomers would do. The girl, on the other hand, had suddenly come to her senses as the men jumped out in an ambush and she fell backwards in both pain and shock. The kids continued to watch as the group of men fought against the Enforcers and easily overpowered them. They really weren't people they should mess around with. 18 then motioned that they use the chaos as a cover to grab the girl and bail but the commotion died as quickly as it had started.
"What are these guys? Chumps?" The red haired man crossed his arms. "Not much of a fight." He sounded disappointed. Then a black haired priest had suddenly received orders to help the children. Not liking the sound of that, the two able boys quickly devised a makeshift plan as the priest reached the little girl.
"Hello sweetheart, there's no need to be afraid anymore. I'm here to help you." He said as gently as possible but the girl persisted to tremble as he got closer to her. He reached out a hand for her to grab but she rejected violently and desperately tried to claw her way away from the man and back towards her companions despite her bleeding. The man pleaded for her to stop but she continued to resist. That was when the black haired boy jumped at him and attacked full out while the other ran to pick her up and took her back towards the brunette.
"92-san, are you alright? We have to stop the bleeding Onii-san! Use that yellow stuff please!" The brunette begged even though his own leg was in pain.
"I tried to the extreme but it won't work enough to heal completely." He said in a shaky, panicked voice. He felt so powerless, though it was a normal feeling for him.
"I-It's o-okay." The girl raised a shaky hand towards the brunette. "A-At lea-st I-I w-won't g-go in the h-ole or the c-cell." She gasped in pain but tried her best to smile through it.
"No! You won't go! You'll survive and live away from here! Please... we can't lose you too." He cried as she slowly went limp. Suddenly, there was a crack and the two boys' eyes widened as they turned towards it. Ryohei was about to get the young boy who was underneath some large leaves when the red haired man came out.
"Geez you kids aren't easy to find. Guess that brat wasn't kidding when he said that some of them were good at hiding." The redhead sighed in annoyance. The two boys saw the red haired man and a dark haired man with a pointy hat appear from the shrubs. They then noticed the smaller boy hidden under some leaves.
"Don't touch him!" The extremist exclaimed, readying his fists. Not listening, the man knelt down and took away the blanket of leaves covering the little body. He then frowned and looked towards the two boys.
"Unfortunately kid, this one's been dead for a little while already." He then turned towards the white haired boy. "Did you carry him here?" He nodded. The red head then scoffed. "Gee, talk about carrying dead weight." The older boy tensed as the tall Japanese man whacked his companion's head.
"G, inappropriate timing." The other narrowed his eyes.
"Uh... sorry kid. Didn't mean any harm by it, it was a small joke." The man, G, tried to apologize, scratching the back of his head.
"Joke? That wasn't an extreme joke! Making fun of people who are running for their lives!" He was about to attack when the small brunette stopped him.
"O-Onii-san...please, no more f-fighting." The brunette, looked down, his eyes covered by his hair and tugged on his shirt. However the other boy didn't seem to want to settle down.
"But I promised 18 that I would protect you until he gets back. And I never go back on my word." He argued.
"P-Please... I d-don't want an-yone else h-hurt..." and before he finished his sentence, the brunette collapsed from blood loss.
At that moment, the older boy finally stood down and caught the younger before he hit the ground. "S-Sawada! Oi!" He paled, forgetting to use the codename. G then pushed him out of the way and did the examining himself. Of course the child protested immediately. "I said you can't touch him!" He bursted out but was silenced with the redhead's glare.
"Don't you want to save him or do you want another corpse?" G then lifted the child in his arms and ran towards the clearing. "Asari, take the kid over too." He yelled before disappearing.
"Well, I guess we should be heading back as well." Asari looked down towards the child. He didn't respond but the adult sort of expected it. "I'm sure your friend will be just fine. We have the best doctor here with us, so he'll make sure that he'll live. Alright?" He knelt down at eye level and looked at him with sincere eyes. After much debate, he finally agreed, thinking that he couldn't just leave Sawada to get taken away on his own. If he did let that happen, then Hibari would have his head.
Alright! I finished this faster than I thought
Think of it as an early just in case Christmas present…
No promises that I'll update this fast or that each chapter will be this long all the time
Just because I have a lot of things to do during the holidays ^^
But I'll do my best… just please hang in there
And thanks again for the lovely reviews~~~ Good booster for me (~^ 0^)~
And please excuse any mistakes or the rushedness
Any questions, just review it or pm me ^^
Thanks again… and till next time
Owari desu~
Uploaded: 17/11/2014