A/N: Here I am once again. The Queen of Slackers. I know the last chapter seemed a little rushed, and that's because it was. XD Annnnywho, I've got a definite path for this one now, so bear with me.
And for being so lazy, I've decided to do a nice juicy chapter for you!
Same warnings as before, peeps.
-----Chapter 3-----
Is it just me, or is the new guy staring at Trowa?
We've been working on our Gundams for the last several hours, checking to make sure everything worked okay after nearly two years of disuse. Glen seemed to know his way around a Gundam very well, and so far we haven't had to coach him. Maybe he performed maintenance on it before it first went into battle?
What was even stranger to me was the fact that those green eyes kept trailing towards Trowa. There was a sadness there, which was odd. After a while, he seemed to sigh and then he stood and went to talk to our silent comrade.
Well, guess it's none of my business. It's then I noticed that someone has also been watching me. Prussian blue eyes were boring into me with a force that I could almost feel. Sighing to myself, I turn his way.
"You can quit looking at me like I'm suddenly going to keel over, ya know." Those blue eyes narrow and I realized that I should have said that a little different. But then again, why do I care what he thinks anymore?
"After what happened, I think it's a good idea to keep an eye on you. Another loss would further weaken our defenses." The malice in his words angered me. After all, he's the one that caused me to do that to myself.
----Flashback----
"Yo, Heero! You got a sec?" Our shift had just ended and I had managed to catch him alone in his office. My heart was racing, I was finally going to gather up the nerve to say it. Seeing Quatre and Trowa so openly in love with eachother and seeing Heero's acceptance and support for the two of them had givin me confidence.
"Hn." It was the typical monosyllabic response I had come to love. Well, Maxwell, here goes nothing.
"Well, we've known each other for a while now and I've been thinking, well, what I mean to say is…" I could see that he was getting impatient, so I just spit the rest out. "…I think I love you!"
"N-nani?!" He stared at me in honest-to-God shock. Then those gorgeous blue eyes narrowed into a fierce emotion that I couldn't identify, and that's when it happened.
"Say that again and I swear I really will kill you, Maxwell. I don't need some fucking Queer chasing me around. Just because I support Trowa and Quatre doesn't mean that I'm also willing to fuck another guy."
----End Flashback---
I was about to snap back with a bitter retort when the sound of shouting reached my ears. I turned just in time to see an enraged Trowa throw a punch at Rei. The blow caught the surprised red-head in the jaw and sent him sprawling. His fall also managed to knock over a bucket of water in which a few gummed up parts had been soaking. The result was a very wet and very pissed off Rei, who was now drenched in oily water. He launched himself at Trowa, but wasn't prepared for the well-timed kick the brunette sent to his mid-section.
I watched in horror as the kick knocked Rei into to mess of wires and gears that was Sandrock's arm, opened for maintenance. The protective coating on one of the wires had worn down, and Rei had been testing that arm's movement. Add to that the fact that he was now drenched in water, and you had a very bad situation.
There was a loud buzzing CRACK as Rei's back hit the cable, and for a moment his body went totally rigid, face contorted in pain, before he collapsed to the hard floor.
The rest of us stood breathless for a few moments. Then: "Jesus Fucking Christ…"
Heero and I were by his side in a flash, feud momentarily forgotten as we assessed the damage to our new comrade. What I saw disturbed me.
His eyes were wide open, and while the right was dilated, the left was constricted to a pinpoint and the lid was twitching. For a moment his chest was still, but then it started to rise a fall in a frantic rhythm, as if he were unable to catch his breath. The left side of his body was totally motionless, as if he'd suffered a stroke. His right hand clutched feebly at the front of my shirt.
"Holy Shit…"
Heero grabbed Rei up in his arms and took off, and the rest of us followed quickly. We didn't need to ask where he was going. I only hoped that Sally would tell us that is wasn't as bad as it looked.
----
We were all standing around Rei's bed as Sally quickly moved to determine what damage had been done. Luckily scanning technology had improved over the years, and before long we had a complete view of the inner workings of our comrade's body.
"How strange. It seems that not only has his left lung shut down, but many other organs on that side have shut down as well. It seems so odd, almost as if…" Her eyes widened as she looked down at him, and suddenly she was working to remove his shirt, eventually just cutting the garment off. There was some weak resistance from the still-conscious red-head, but in the end it proved useless. What I saw was both sickening and confusing. From halfway between his neck and his left shoulder, continuing down his chest and past his waistline, the skin was completely white, while the skin on the other side was his normal tan. The white skin almost seemed to have a bluish undertone and met the darker skin in a long jagged scar. I guess this explained his odd sense of fashion. He had been trying to hide it, and for good reason.
"Just as I thought. I'd heard rumors about this, but I didn't think anyone had dared try this on a human." I turned to her, utterly lost. "What?"
"Cybernetics. The use of machines to replace lost limbs and organs. From what I had heard, the researchers working on development hadn't yet discovered a way to color the artificial skin to match the original. From the looks of things, almost the entire left side of his body has been replaced. The shock that he took must have been too much and the replacements shut down. If I'm right, then they should restart themselves in a few hours or so. I'll keep an eye on him until then."
Heero nodded and left the room, and the others slowly followed. With one last look at Rei, I also left, wondering just who our new friend was.
---
Turns out, Sally was right, and now, six hours later, we were all sitting around Rei's bedside, awaiting an explanation. Not looking at any of us, he spoke in a flat voice.
"About a month ago, when the Lunar Rose bombed all of those buildings, I was caught in one of the explosions. They found me, half dead in the rubble, and decided I would be a nice little guinea pig for their research." He showed us a tattoo on his left wrist depicting a silver rose and the Roman Numeral VI underneath. "They patched me up, as you guys can see, and messed with a few things. First of all, my left eye works like a little computer, running data, scans, infrared, you name it. From what I know, they also injected me with nano-machines designed to repair any damage my body takes. They're supposed to, anyway. I'm their first test subject, after all."
Heero, once again in soldier mode, asked the obvious question. "What are you doing with the Preventers, then?"
"I got out of there at the first opportunity. Their brainwashing crap didn't work. I came to the Preventers in order to stop them. From what I could hear, I wasn't the only test subject, and they were working to create more powerful human-weapons. I heard a lot about two, specifically. Codenames: Vampire and Werewolf. I think they were trying to genetically alter them to create man-made versions based on the old legends. But that's not all I've heard…"
He looked really nervous for a bit. "They also have your friend, Quatre."
----Normal POV----
A few weeks had gone by since then in relative silence. Rei had told them everything he could from the time he was confined within the labs of the Lunar Rose. Truthfully, it wasn't much to go on, but at this point it was better than nothing.
Duo leaned back in his chair and sighed. A lot of things were going through his mind. Quatre was alive? And just what had Trowa and Rei been fighting about? Then there was Rei's story. Vampires and werewolves? He couldn't honestly expect them to believe that, could he? They would make great fighters, but who would even try to make them? And was it even possible?
Head spinning, Duo returned his attention to the paperwork piled up on his desk. He had nothing against Rei, and kinda liked him actually, but something about his story was off. There was something he wasn't telling them, Duo was sure, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
His musings were interrupted by a nock on his office door. Without waiting for Duo's answer, the door was opened to reveal Rei, in his new Preventers uniform, standing in the doorway. "We've just caught a couple of suspected Lunar Rose members."
Duo was up in an instant, and the two of them made their way down to the interrogation rooms in the building's basement. "Who brought them in?"
Rei shrugged. "I dunno. I've never seen the guys before." Duo chuckled, for the first time in what seemed like decades. "Doesn't surprise me much. You've only been here a few weeks, right?" A matching smile in return. "Yeah."
They entered the interrogation room to see that the others hadn't arrived yet. Duo was surprised to see that the two men in uniform that he dismissed from the room weren't familiar to him. New recruits, maybe?
The only other people in the room now were the two guards that stood at the door and the two prisoners. "Well, guess we might as well get started."
Turning to the two people sitting at the room's only table, he was surprised to see that they were young. The younger of the two, in fact, seemed to only be fifteen or so. He had long shaggy brown hair tied back with a worn out elastic and his clothes were old and dusty, torn in many places. His green eyes were wild and feral.
The other seemed to be barely in his twenties, if that. He had wispy black hair that fell and covered his face. He was decked out in black cargos and combat boots. A black T-shirt with a silver skull covered a long-sleeved violet shirt with 'Heaven and Hell' written in black on the sleeves. His nails were glossed black, ears pierced with several wild and painful looking studs, and he wore a spiked collar with matching bracelets. He sat slumped forward, and Duo could barely make out the dull blue of his eyes.
Both of them were wearing tight metal muzzles on their faces to go with the cuffs on their wrists.
"Muzzles?"
"Yes, sir. Apparently the smaller one tried to bite the apprehending officers. They decided to be safe with the other one as well." The guard on the left was the one who spoke. He looked uncomfortable with the idea of such restraints. But Duo wasn't worried about the man's misgivings. He had just noticed the older of the two wasn't breathing, likely due to the restrictive muzzle. "Christ, man! Get that fucking thing off him! We don't even know if he's one of them! And even if he is, we can't just let him die without getting any information from him!" As the soldier went to do just that, Duo continued his rant, now focusing on the other guard.
As Rei watched, he noticed something peeking out from under the left sleeve of the unconscious boy's shirt. A flash of silver on his wrist. His eyes widened as he realized what he was looking at was a tattoo of a silver rose, exactly like his own. Only under this one was the Roman Numeral IV. His heart froze as he saw the guard reach up to unfasten the muzzle. "NO!"
As soon as the muzzle dropped, the youth's eyes went from dull blue to a bloody red, pupils constricted to vertical slits. There was a brief flash of a fanged grin before he tore into the stunned guard's neck. Time seemed to stand still for a few seconds as the youth bit down hard on his prey, before jerking to the side and ripping the man's throat out. The cuffs on his wrists snapped like dry wood as he pulled, and he stood free, staring straight into Rei's eyes.
This was Lunar Rose Specimen Number Four.
This was the Vampire.
-----------End Chapter 3-------------
A/N: So, what do you guys think? Not too bad I hope.
Just what is the Vampire? What does his arrival mean for the Preventers? And where, oh where, is Quatre???
Find out in the next exciting episode of Tears of Black Rain!!!
