Exile: Hihi again ^_^ I don't own.
Sorry, a little bit more of OOC Kanda in here TT_TT
Chapter Six: Artificial Exorcist
7:43 AM November 19th, 2012
Froi Tiedoll's home, San Diego, CA
"Run." Rei registered as she picked up the anonymous phone call, "Flee for your life, courier." Rei froze as the line went dead and the person hung up. A text suddenly appeared on her screen.
Run for your life courier. Run before you die, along with everyone else. The Viet shivered in fear. I am watching. If you tell anyone, including that brother of yours, everyone you hold dearly will die.
"If they're watching me…" Rei muttered, leaping out of bed and swinging the curtains open, "then they should know if I do this." Stepping out of the balcony, she looked down and raised her hand, sticking up her middle finger. Suddenly, the all-too-familiar sound of a gunshot boomed through the usually quiet neighborhood, forcing Rei to flip backwards and dive for safety into her closet. A hole appeared in the wall pad above her, the bullet having penetrated the thick rubber. With wide eyes, Rei army-crawled to the balcony door, slamming it shut and closing the curtains. "That…was too close for my liking."
The sound of something clacking on her desk prompted Rei to turn around as a bullet fell from the wall pad and rolled off the hardwood. Striding over, she picked it up and stared at it apprehensively, a plan forming in her head.
It all depended on how good Kat's memory was.
Rei picked up a pencil and quickly began scribbling symbols of individual sheets of paper, one symbol for each phrase. After some thought, she picked up each paper and tacked them to one of the 30 black pads in her room, leaving three of them blank. "I'm sure glad that I didn't unpack anything yesterday…" going her room one last glance, Rei grabbed her stuffed backpack and ran downstairs, where Tiedll was sitting at the dining table, sketching the outside scenery.
"Mmm…good morning, Rei…" Tiedoll said slowly, focused on his art. "Where are you going?" Rei stopped in her tracks, remembering what brother had done a few years earlier.
Flashback| –| Begin
"GAH!" Kanda roared, tossing down several photographs on the coffee table and interrupting Rei's and Tiedoll's concentration. "This guy is absolutely insane!" his sister blinked several times before going back to the codes Kanda had given to her to quit bothering him with complaints of boredom. So far she had "God created men unequal. If the actions of humanity can be defined as black and white, then the shades of gray do not deserve to exist..." and there was still a few more documents left. So far though, Rei had already finished one other page and was already thoroughly creeped out. The handwriting, according to one of Kanda's friends at his work, was one of a person that was introverted, aggressive, and had rather dark thoughts (which were pretty accurate, considering that she was decrypting codes left at certain crime scenes, not that she needed to know that).
"What's wrong, Yuu?" Tiedoll asked calmly, used to Kanda's short temper.
Jabbing a finger at the photos on the table, "This guy is so freakin' messed up! Who the hell would string up the dead bodies of dead people with their skulls cut off, huh? He's insane!"
"Obviously." Rei retorted, nibbling on her pencil. "All serial killers are insane." Kanda gave her his patented death glare.
"Quit being a smart-aleck. What I mean is that I haven't heard of any serial killers that would bother to do something as elaborate of that. It sounds like something out of…a story some freshman wrote!" he snapped crossly. Tiedoll sighed and picked up the photos, wincing at the gruesome content.
"Whatever." Rei said dismissively. "It's your case not mine- ooh, that's what that stupid curlicue meant!" she jotted something down on her sheets of code-filled paper."This guy started replacing spaces with those stupid spirals and it looks really ugly. And the curls look like E's, so it just messes things up even more!"
"I don't need to know about that." Kanda snorted, "That's your codes to play with. What ticks me off is the darn crime scenes! There's an obvious hint to the killer in each one, but I can't figure it out!" he complained.
"If you align the photos on each other, they spell the word "Earl"." Tiedoll commented, "And half of the letter M." Kanda froze, looking at his father disbelievingly.
"What? Wait, are you serious?" he cried, taking back the photographs and lining them up chronologically, by first to last victim. Just as Tiedoll had said, the corpses spelled out "Earl". "Why Earl? What does that mean?"
"If I remember correctly, back in the day that a lobotomy – surgery to remove part of your prefrontal cortex – was popular, there was a serial killer running around that went by Adam Earl. He was caught, but he escaped prison somehow, before his death sentence could be carried out. If he was still alive, he would be around… sixty-five-ish. He was pretty much a genius back in the day, got his doctorate at eighteen." Tiedoll suggested. "Maybe this guy is related?"
"…thank you." Kanda said grudgingly. "I'll look him up when I get back to the Order, and I'll make sure to credit you."
Rei shoved a paper at Kanda. "Here, this one's done. Quit giving me messed-up codes when I'm done with these. I better get credited too."
"Fine, fine. Just hurry up, stupid sister."
"Shut up. You try cracking codes made by madmen."
Flashback| – |End
Dad is a likely target. Rei realized, looking out the window. If I leave, then they might try to kill him. If I stay, both us could die.
"Ryuukei?" Tiedoll asked pensively, "What's wrong?" Rei glanced at him and then back outside.
"Dad, can I see the picture that you did of Brother and me when we I was first adopted?" Rei requested carefully, keeping her eyes outside on the conspicuous and suspicious silver Land Rover outside. Since when did they sell silver Land Rovers?
Tiedoll looked delighted, "Of course! I still have it hanging up in my room!" he stood up from the table, putting down his drawing pencils and leading the way to his bedroom, Rei right behind. "But where are you going?"
"I'll tell you later." Rei said vaguely as Tiedoll opened the door.
"Here it is!" he exclaimed, waving his hands at the large portrait on the wall. "You were just twelve at the time!" Before he could say any more, Rei's hands descended on his neck, and he went limp and collapsed on his bed.
"I'm sorry, dad." Rei apologized, stepping out of the room and locking the door. Tiedoll's room had to be opened from the inside, and she had made sure to leave his keys next to him. There were also no windows, so he was safe for the time being as long as he didn't wake up anytime soon. Sparing one final glance, Rei rushed to Kanda's room, revealing the Colt M1911 that was hidden in a slit in his mattress. A few minutes later, she holstered on a Smith and Wesson 19. "It's a good thing that Kanda left his old weapons here." She commented to herself. Also in the mattress were at least three good Army knives, which Rei strapped to her thighs and upper left arm.
Going to her room one last time, Rei grabbed a black cap, putting it low on her head. Then, instead of exiting the front door, Rei circled around to the back door, vaulting over the gate and landing safely in the bush-lined pathway. Taking out the Colt, she fired off two bullets into the back tires of the car which she had seen snipe at her earlier.
The sounds woke up the neighborhood, and a woman came out from the Land Rover to examine the source of the gunshots. A whistle of air greeted her ears as the back tires simultaneously deflated, and the person bent down to check on them.
Turning around, Rei went back over the fence and into Tiedoll's garden, scaling over another wall and getting off in the neighbor's backyard. From there, she snuck through their rose bushes and leapt over their gate, now a street away from the mysterious shooter. Letting fear take over her body, Rei sprinted away from what was going to turn into destruction.
8:09 AM November 19th, 2012
Kanda Yuu's apartment, Westminster, CA
It was a common fact that Kanda meditated every day, every morning, and would viciously maim anyone that dared interrupt his meditation without good reason. No one could ever accurately guess when Kanda was busy meditating, so no one dared ever to drop by apartment, which was just how he liked it. So when his Order-issued pager rang, the man cracked open one eye and regarded it balefully. Usually anyone in their right mind that called him in the morning would quickly hang up after the first ring after remembering that he did not like to be disturbed, period.
The electronic continued beeping its annoying, Komui-made beep and Kanda's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. Unfolding himself with a resigned sigh, he crossed the floor and picked up the call. "Hello? This is Branch Head Kanda Yuu." He said, a trace of irritation in his voice.
"It's me, Klaud Nyne, reporting from the San Diego Branch." Klaud answered back. Kanda nearly dropped his pager; he had no good memories associated with that woman and it was highly likely that there would never be.
"What do you need?" he asked tersely, wanting to hang up as soon as possible.
On the other side of the line, Klaud took a deep breath, "I-I'm sorry, Kanda."
"Alma Karma is dead."
The pager went crashing to the floor the moment the sentence was uttered. Kanda stood there, transfixed in shock. The pager, having survived the fall, continued to transmit Klaud's voice. "He didn't report for the early morning shift today, and he missed a meeting. Rou Fa decided to go run up his paperwork to him in case he was sick, but when she went to his house, no one answered. So she went around the back gate- everyone here knows how to get into Alma's back gate – and she saw his body hanged in the kitchen. After hyperventilating, she drove back to the Order and rushed to me. We have a team at his house right now, including me. I just thought that you'd like to know, since you were childhood friends after all."
Kanda took a shuddering breath and picked up the pager, turning off his emotions for the moment. "Tell me, were there any fires when you entered the house?"
"Yes. It was upstairs, so we only found out last minute. His bedroom was on fire, but we managed to extinguish it."
Alma had worked on the DGM case. Check. There was a fire in his house. Check. Alma was now dead. Check.
"I'm getting authorization to go down there with the team that is working on this case." Kanda said flatly. "It is highly likely that Alma's death was done by the same person as a serial killer up here."
Klaud went silent for a moment. "Komui says that he gives you permission, and that he'll fax over the paperwork in a moment."
Kanda started, "Komui is down there?"
"Yeah. Don't you remember?"
"Well then tell him that I'm also bringing Lenalee, Lavi, Beansprout, and two interns." He ordered before hanging up. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he started packing for a few days down in San Diego, only packing the bare necessities. His suitcase full a few minutes later, Kanda strode to his sword collection and unlocked the glass case, selecting two long blades.
He was highly proficient with fighting with one-handed swords, having practiced kendo when he was little and then taking other classes as he grew older. Kanda was actually skilled to the point that he had obtained a teaching license for swordfighting, although he didn't bother with classes. It was more just decoration for him, so he could have legal license to keep highly dangerous weapons in his house. It helped that he worked with the Black Order, too. Kanda was…decent with guns, but he preferred fighting with swords in the end. They were harder to dodge and the right ones could potentially deflect bullets. His swords had taken down many criminals, and each one had saved his life in many situations.
Picking up his pager from the ground, Kanda sent off a message to Lenalee and Lavi, who would tell Allen. As for the interns…he would have to pick them up himself. Sighing at the job ahead of him, Kanda picked his briefcase and left the apartment, a large overcoat on to conceal his swords. No need to draw more attention than needed.
Driving to Long Beach, Kanda reached first Raikou's house, barging in and ordering the confused guy to pack up and get in the car. Then he drove to where Rei and Kat lived, set off a few traps by accident, gotten her up and out to the car, and met up with Lenalee, Lavi, and Beansprout in front of Cal State Long Beach, paperwork in hand after picking it up from his office at the Order.
"What happened, Kanda?" Beansprout asked sleepily and earning a knock on the head. "Ow, hey BaKanda, that hurt!"
"We need to go to San Diego. Now. Alma is dead, and he fits all the killer's criteria. It's easy to conjecture that Alma was killed for working on the DGM case." There was silence in the little group, and then Lavi sighed.
"Well then, I'm glad I brought a minivan." he commented. "Get in, you guys. We'll carpool to save gas…and for Lenalee and Yuu to not get in any accidents."
"Hey, I've only gotten pulled over for speeding once." Lenalee said defensively.
"And for the last time, don't call by my first name!" Kanda added.
At the same time, with Rei…
Crouched in an alley, Rei examined the situation at the beach. Apparently, there was a press conference taking place down there, as some popular politician from LA had come down for a series of meetings considering the rising crime rate. If she went, she could hide in the crowd and lose the person trailing her in the same silver Land Rover as she had shot earlier. However, where she was hidden in a parking structure was at least 500 yards from the fringe of the crowd, and the silver car was continuously circling, looking for her. Rei was currently on the third floor of the parking structure. In reality, the question was to jump or not to jump.
Gripping the concrete, Rei glanced down at the sidewalk, a good twenty feet away. With another glance at the Land Rover, Rei took a hesitating breath and leapt, dragging her body against the wall to slow herself down and landed in the bushes with a few scratches and a new hole in her shirt, not that she cared. Her first priority was increasing the distance as fast as possible. Spinning on her heel, Rei changed her mind. Instead of heading for the crowd, she turned and ran towards the Black Order.
12:43 PM November 19th 2012
Black Order San Diego Branch, CA
"Hello, Kanda." Klaud said coldly, engaging Kanda in a battle of frosty glares. Meanwhile, a certain pathologist found herself being hugged to death by her older brother, Komui Lee. The group from the LA branch had made it to San Diego, and they were currently being greeted in the front lobby.
"My darling Lenalee!" the man cried in a high-pitched, whiny voice, clutching his sister protectively and wailing aloud. "How are you? Have any despicable men dared try to flirt with you? Has anyone started stalking you? I missed you~!" a poker smile formed on Lenalee's face as she attempted to escape her brother's grasp.
"No, Komui, I'm fine. No one has tried to hit on me, and I don't have any stalkers." She said in a soothing tone, the way one would talk to a small child. The tears that had been a metaphorical waterfall stopped immediately as Komui let her go, straightened his clothes, adjusted his beret, and then handed a suspicious device to Lenalee. "Komui, I don't need a stun gun!"
"But this isn't just a stun gun! It's also an Order pager, has a tracking device installed so I can check on you, and has an electric output of over 900 volts!" he whined. The rest of the people present all shook their heads in resignation.
"Che. Stupid sister-complex," Kanda muttered, "and mad scientist. Who the heck needs a stun gun when they carry two daggers on their person twenty-four seven and is capable of disarming a grown man with her bare hands? And at the same time turns weird whenever they hold anything resembling a scalpel in their hands?" Lavi gave him a knowing look.
"Rei is pretty proficient with martial arts already; but no, you had to teach her marksmanship. Looking who's talking, Yuu." he commented snidely, ducking the punch that Kanda threw at his head. Turning serious, "Klaud, what's the status with Alma?"
Klaud shook her head, "Homicide. Krory already finished the paperwork; he could hardly do the autopsy. I really don't blame him, being so close to the inspector. Anyway, he was first knocked out, and then the perpetrator hanged him, causing immediate death by broken spinal cord." Silence descended, and everyone bowed their heads in respect for the dead.
Leaning to her cousin, "Who is this Alma person?" Kat whispered. Lavi looked at her crossly before replying.
"He was Yuu's best friend. Alma worked with him on the DGM case." He explained. "Klaud, did you tell Krory to be careful?" she nodded.
"If I could ask, could one of you keep guard? Krory has a lot of stuff to do, and he has a habit of being rather…unnoticeable. I don't have any people to spare at the moment." The monkey on Klaud's shoulder widened its eyes innocently, as if asking the same thing as its owner.
"I can watch Crow." Lavi volunteered. Seeing the odd looks, "Hey, Krory looks like a vampire, but he'll bite you if you call him that! So Crow is the next best thing!"
"Can you please stop with the ridiculous nicknames?" Kanda ground out. "And fine, go ahead. I need to go check on Rei and Tiedoll now. Give me the keys." Lavi blinked several times and handed the keys to Allen.
"I trust Beansprout here with my car more than I trust you. Sorry, Yuu!" Lavi ran into the pathology wing, ignoring Kanda's infuriated roar. Allen stared at the keys that Lavi had shoved in his hand.
"Fudge. I hate driving." He said simply before going to the car, "Kanda, I remember where it is, no need for directions."
"Noooooooo! Don't take my darling Lenalee!" Komui wailed, clutching his sister once again. Lenalee gave an exasperated look and hit his head.
"Komui! I'll be back later, so quit whining!" she scolded. "And where's Reever? You're a Section Head, so you have a lot of paperwork you need to finish! Get to work!" As if on cue, a man with sandy hair appeared and dragged Komui away by the arm. "Thanks, Reever!"
"Tell your brother to quit making more work for me! He's always running off to do his robot blueprints!" he called back. Allen shook his head.
Some things never change. He thought wryly. "Now let's hurry to Tiedoll's."
Fifteen minutes later, the group had reached Kanda's old home in the suburbs. They approached the front door cautiously, afraid that Tiedoll too had become a casualty. When the door didn't open, Kanda took out an old pair of keys that he never used and fitted one of them into the lock. The door opened easily. "Tiedoll? Rei? Where are you guys?" his voice echoed everywhere as he started searching the rooms, everyone peeling off to help search.
When they got upstairs, Kanda headed towards Tiedoll's master bedroom and knocked on it. No answer. "Tiedoll, open up!" he yelled. Still no answer. "Beansprout, can you open the door like you did at the Order?" he asked blankly, having tried to kick it open several times. Allen snorted derisively.
"No, BaKanda. If you haven't noticed, this door opens on the inside, so there's no hinges to unpin. I can lockpick it, though." He said congenially, pulling out suspicious pieces of metal from his pocket.
"I don't care, just hurry!" he snapped. Allen shrugged and inserted the metal pieces, and in a few moments the click of the lock unlocking greeted their ears. Kanda barged in and rushed to the prone figure of Froi Tiedoll. "Tiedoll! Wake up!" when there was so reply, he started shaking him.
"Mmm? Ah, Yuu! I thought that you weren't coming down for Thanksgiving!" Tiedoll exclaimed in mid-shake. Everyone in the room froze. "What's wrong? And where's Ryuukei? Last thing I remember is that she wanted to see a picture…and then she knocked me out?" Kat suddenly ran in the room.
"Hey! Hurry to Rei's room! It's whacked up!" she ordered, running back down the hallway to the black door. "Look at the walls!" Allen blinked.
"What are these symbols?" he asked confusedly. "They…look really odd." Kat shook her head.
"It's a message! And look!" the Russian held up a piece of paper with a sentence on it and a bullet taped to it. "According to this, Rei was targeted and sniped at. This is the bullet!"
"What do you mean by a message?" Raikou asked in a bewildered tone. There was a short silence and then Kanda couldn't help but start chuckling.
"That idiot." he uttered, going to sit on the bed. Resting his weight on his hands, Kanda threw himself into the air, rebounding on a wall pad and pushing off another one. The man became almost like a blur to the others, moving so fast in the small room that their heads were moving back and forth to catch his movements.
"What…the heck was that?" Allen asked when Kanda had stopped bouncing around the black objects on the walls.
"The code." Kanda said simply. "Raikou, Ekaterina, take pictures of each symbol. Lenalee, Allen, go find a hotel for us to stay. I'm going to convince Tiedoll to come with us for safety. Understood?" They all nodded in agreement.
6: 25 PM November 19th 2012
Black Order San Diego Branch, CA
"I'm so hungry." Rei whimpered, curling up into fetal position. She was currently in a tree overlooking the front of the San Diego Branch, and had been able to lose whoever had been tailing her. However, night was approaching, and her backpack had been barely enough to hold some crushed bags of chips and other space-friendly foods like dried cranberries, as well as three blankets and two shirts and jackets..
As for why she had chosen the Order to camp near, the answer was to help keep watch over Krory. She couldn't rely on luck to prevent the killer from claiming yet another life, so Rei had to take matters into her own hands. She was hidden in a particularly dense clump of trees, so no one looking at her hiding place would spot her, blended in with the dark green leaves. The tree wasn't the most comfortable of places, but it worked. She had climbed up by using the Army knives to cut small footholds for easier climbing, and had managed to scale the ten-foot tree in a matter of seconds. Her training had helped too.
At the moment, Rei had the Colt M1911 aimed at the front doors as a just-in-case. She couldn't be too cautious or paranoid. Not in this situation.
Grrrrumble
Now, her immediate problem was getting something filling to eat.
Exile: Lazy author is an in-deep-trouble author.
Review? (Note: This is going to be turned in within a week! . )
