Chapter Nine
March 26, 2015 – Back on board Ryo-Ohki
It took a few hours, but at last the Ryo-Ohki returned to pick up its passengers. The ship, despite all the damage it had to have taken, looked no worse for wear. Apparently, what it was made out of helped it to regenerate. In no time at all, the group reassembled on it, down from seven to five now, and took off once again. They headed on a course for the Pacific, but other than that had no idea where to go at the time.
"Do you think their ship has arrived yet?" Miyu asked.
"Probably not yet, even considering how long we've been out of it." Lupin responded. "Even I couldn't scurry away this quick in my line of work."
"We don't exactly know where they went, however." D responded. "So any estimate we make on if they have the sample yet is purely a guess." He turned to Washu after that. "Can you scan for Kei's mental signature?"
Washu, who was already tapping away at another one of those hovering keyboards, shook her head. "No can do. They must somehow be suppressing her."
Inuyasha scowled. "Then we're stuck, aren't we?"
"Not necessarily." Washu encouraged. "There is one thing I haven't tried yet. I haven't looked to see about any survivors yet on our little raid. Before, the guys poisoned themselves right after we beat them, but if any of the dark suits survived, we might be able to get something from one of them. I mean…you guys didn't kill them all, did you?"
"Hopefully not." Lupin answered with a gulp.
"Fine, get to work on it." D responded. With that, he turned away from the others and began to make his way out of the cockpit chamber.
"Where are you going?" Miyu asked.
"…I need to check on something else, and I need to do it alone." D simply answered. "Don't follow after me."
The group looked at him in a puzzled way at that, but D didn't bother arguing. Soon, he had moved out of the main room and left the others behind, without saying so much as one more word.
It's time to resolve this.
D wasn't one to take orders, especially not after five hundred years of going his own way. Ever since Genma's betrayal, something else was on his mind. The assassin had no doubt planned to betray them since the start. But if that was the case, he began to wonder just how much this Gendo knew about it. He began to wonder more and more if something of the like wasn't in the envelope that he had been given. Perhaps it had some clue to all this. And even if it didn't, D was through running around in the dark. The enemy had known too much about him. He wanted some of his own answers.
Arriving at what he believed was a safe distance. D halted and turned his head behind him. His keen ears listened for even the slightest hint of eavesdropping. He heard none, and so he turned back. He yanked out the letter from his bullet-riddled coat, tore open the envelope, and then pulled out the message. He unfolded it and held it before him, and after a quick scan to see what its form was, he began to read.
If you're reading this, I can assume one of two things. I opt for the former, that you are at the end of your mission, but I clearly suppose the latter, that you decided not to wait and wanted to know what was so important. It doesn't matter, I suppose. You might as well learn this sooner than later.
D frowned slightly that the man had guessed his motives, but then kept reading.
You might as well know the truth now. Serious as we believed the Akira situation to be, we didn't believe it to be serious enough to merit sending in our own team against the United States. Though the power of Akira is lethal, we deduced the chances of any terrorist group managing to successfully utilize the DNA and find an adequate host for it were approximately one in 17 billion. It would be more likely that they would meet with half-success and would breed a creature that would destroy themselves as well as the remaining DNA. Hence, we would destroy two birds with one stone, the last traces of the Akira project and the rival militant House branch.
You were unnecessary. You and your team were just a front. Secret as you may have thought your assembly was, by now you've probably realized that you weren't nearly secret enough. The enemy has undoubtedly guessed your moves and may have even devised ways to kill members of your team, regardless of their aptitudes. Perhaps you would have been successful. Perhaps you would not have been. Either way, we really didn't care.
D felt his fist tighten at this. A rare emotion of anger began to fill him. That was it? This whole thing was a set up, and they were all risking their lives for nothing? Until now, D had never experienced being used before. But he did now, and it drove him mad inside. If ever he found this Gendo again, he would make sure he would regret ever having double-crossed them. But he kept reading regardless, for there was still a lot of text to go.
Right now, you're probably fuming. If you finished the mission, you might be wondering what all of this was for. If you haven't, congratulations. You just avoided more work. However, D, this team was not assembled without reason. Only in this case, the only person we truly want to hire is you.
D's inner emotions cooled a little at this, and his intrigue instead rose.
You are one of a group of the most skilled, extraordinary teams on the planet. You are also a member of one of the most dangerous, ruthless, and heartless teams on the planet. The people in your midst are not heroes. They're security risks. They're unstable killers. You alone have some system of honor and control. The rest of them are lawless criminals. Lupin has cost the world billions in defensive measures, property damage, stolen artifacts, and disrupting economies. Kei is an international terrorist who was caught trying to assassinate Japan's prime minister and has a murder rap as long as yours. Inuyasha is literally a demon of the ancient world who was renown for killing thousands in his time, and now has free access to an unprepared future that no longer even believes he exists. Washu has destroyed much of Japan and its countryside as well as endangered the temporal physics of our very universe more than once, as ridiculous as that sounds. Miyu, as you well know, has murdered thousands, destroyed families, and turned people into lifeless shells walking the earth. And Genma… Genma was notorious in his time for being a criminal, assassin, rapist, traitor, conspirator, thief, murderer, and every other vice we have a title for. We did not willingly free him from the prison he was in. We have some meddlesome researchers to thank for that. (By the way, Genma thanked them by breaking their necks with his bare hands.)
D stiffened at this. So, they knew at least something about Genma. He had known some of these facets. Others he had not. This whole time he had been wary that he had been in a den of thieves, but now this confirmed it beyond any doubt. He was in a bad situation after all it seemed. But he read on.
You alone are the only decent one among them, though you have broken quite a few laws in the course of your line of work. But you are the only trustworthy individual. That is why we are offering to double your fee in exchange for one additional task: kill the members of your group.
D froze on reading that. It took some time before he could go on.
You may be wondering how this can be accomplished. No doubt, you already know how to kill Miyu. As for Lupin, he is a mere man, provided you don't give him the chance to be underhanded. Washu, strange as she is, will bleed and die like any human. Her technology protects her, but she is never protected when she sleeps. We know from research.
Inuyasha may prove hard, but you need only extend the mission out until the 27th. That is the night of a new moon. Once that happens, he will temporarily revert into a human, and be easy to kill.
Kei's psychic power might be more than we anticipated, but no matter. Kei has an old brain injury from the Akira project. Unknown to her, we have injected a microscopic bomb into the blood vessels in her brain. All you need to do is say, "It is you who broke my Maisson plate" in her auditory range, and the bomb will explode and kill her in seconds.
We had considerable time wondering about how you could kill Genma. This is the plan. After the others are dead, make it appear that you and he are on the same side and that he was exempt. Lead him back to the address on the bottom of this note. The initial elevator there that you will encounter on entering is a special trap that will flood the chamber with molten iron. Even if Genma can regenerate himself quickly enough to avoid being consumed, he will be trapped the same way he was last time…incased in metal.
Well, he sure thought this through… D considered inwardly. He really wanted them all dead. How nice to put that burden on him.
Right now, you may also be thinking of some sense of morality or ethics considering your group. You may be willing to have some sort of loyalty to them, though they would not necessarily have the same to you. Let me assure you that such loyalty is ill founded, if you indeed have such scruples. Consider how many they have killed. Consider how much misery they have brought. Consider how the world would be better without them. How many more will Miyu feed on? How many people could die in the wake of Kei's powers? And how much chaos will Genma bring to the world if he lives?
Of course, in case you haven't already noticed, the ball is already in your court. We cannot stop you if you choose to disobey. However, I suppose I will lose nothing by telling you that we are not expecting your group to return. If we even get the impression of that, we will attempt to destroy them ourselves. We may or may not succeed, I'll grant that. But there was never any plan to give them what we agreed on. Even Inuyasha is deceived into thinking we have any jewel shards for him. And if you lead them to our location we have designated for you, we will make any and all attempts to kill them. And if you are with them, then too bad for you.
Thanks for the honesty.
So you have two choices. You can either profit or risk their fate. You could always send them alone into our grasp, but you'll not see one cent of the money we agreed on. Our ultimate priority is the death of your team. The Akira project is but one dangerous item. Your team is made up of six. The choice is up to you.
D crumpled up the note in his hand, not too happy that he had been used. After killing themselves to get rid of Akira, a project they didn't care that much about, they were just going to do away with them. In a way, D was glad he had read the note now. Now he could ignore the mission and get on to more serious things. Gendo was right, frankly. The group he was in was full of criminals, murderers, and crazies. D typically didn't like to be hired for non-vampires, but he had killed his fair share of other deadly beings in his trade. Following Gendo's directions, it would be hard but not impossible to kill the others, save maybe for Genma. The earlier plans weren't going to help anymore. He would have to find his own way to kill him. But he had been thinking about that already, seeing as that was currently their plans. But as far as ethics were concerned, Gendo thought too little of him. This group was fighting alongside him and had trust in him. He wasn't a backstabber or traitor. He never killed when he could avoid it. Gendo was right in the regard of calling him ethical in that sense among the rest of them. He was of such a type that he wouldn't so easily kill. However, even concerning that, it didn't solve the problem of what to do from there.
"So…will you?"
D turned the eyes in his sockets rapidly to one side, and perked up one ear. But other than that, he didn't move. He felt a cold feeling over one of his shoulders, and secretly hit himself inside for not having kept his senses aware enough to sense a vampire sneaking up on him. Silent and deadly as they were, he should have known.
"Will you?" Miyu insisted, a bit more urgent this time.
"…No." D responded at last. There had only been a slight question inside him to that effect, but he had never swayed in that direction. Bad as they were…he wasn't going to betray his own conscience even if they did.
The cold feeling vanished from over D's shoulder. In response, the hunter turned around, and soon saw the pale figure of Miyu in the darkness. He knew why she didn't press him. D wasn't the kind of man to lie. If he intended to kill someone, he didn't bother hesitating about it.
Miyu frowned, crossed her arms, and looked to the side. "So, what now?" She asked.
"I thought you would know." D simply answered. "You still have a stake in this. You sensed a Shinma."
Miyu frowned. "Hardly." She replied darkly. "It has been months since I killed the last of them. I sensed a dark spirit. Out of lack of meaning or purpose in my life I agreed to hunt it."
D didn't act surprised, although that answer had intrigued him. "Interesting."
Miyu frowned a bit at that. "Yes, it appears that I have become useless, while you still have a purpose." She spoke in a sour defeatist tone. "Now only I remain. Ironically, only I remain a Shinma on this world and only I remain to continue to bring death to it. My attempt to salvage what was left of my humanity is now gone, and now I lose more of it as I continue to feed."
Neither of them said anything after that for a few moments. But in the end, Miyu sighed and looked to D. "I reiterate. What now?"
D didn't answer right away. He looked to the ground as well and thought for a long time. Miyu patiently endured his silence, allowing him to think over things. In the end, however, he looked up and replied coldly. "…I'm going to finish the original mission."
Miyu looked to him at that. After seeing he was serious, she snorted. "Why?"
"I never quit a job I accept." D simply answered.
Miyu turned her full body to him with a frown. "That's not good enough."
"Nevertheless, that is my reason." D responded.
Miyu didn't change. "I think it's because of your chivalry. I think you want to save the 'damsel in distress'."
"That's the reason Lupin will stay." D replied.
Miyu paused at that, raising an eyebrow. "Oh? So you plan on telling the others? And you're also so bold as to think they'll hang around?"
"If I didn't think they had that in them, I might have followed Gendo's instructions." D replied.
The vampire hesitated again. "What about Washu?"
"She will stay for the children."
"And Inuyasha?"
"You may not think it, but the dog demon has more chivalry and morality than me. And revenge will make him stay if nothing else."
"And what of me?"
D hesitated for a moment. "…You will stay for the dark power."
Miyu snorted. "You think you know me so well?"
"You said you have nothing else."
Miyu was silent at that. She looked a bit to the ground, for she knew that D was right.
"Now, you have dark powers to destroy: Genma and Kohaku."
Miyu sighed and frowned. "Please. Kohaku isn't any more evil than you. I said I wanted revenge on him, nothing more."
D was interested in that. "So he's under control as well?"
"Seems their projects on controlling children aren't limited to mortal children." She replied. She kept her eyes to the ground, and after a moment sighed deeply. "I suppose that we're still in this for at least a little bit longer."
"Appears so." D calmly answered.
There was silence between the two. None of them knew how to end this exactly, or what to say next. So they would be going forward, even knowing that none of them would ever get their rewards or anything promised. But that wasn't all right now. D noticed something of Miyu. Something was unsettling her, or still dwelling on her mind.
Finally, she spoke, hesitantly. "I…have a…" She trailed off.
D didn't press it. He waited calmly for her to say something.
But in the end, she frowned and shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Let's go back to the others."
"Oh, there you are. What kept you two?"
Neither D nor Miyu said anything in reply as they walked in. They didn't venture even a strange look as a reply, but simply rejoined the others already assembled. Inuyasha frowned a bit at this, and Lupin looked suspicious, but Washu was too engrossed in her own work to care that much.
"Find something?" D asked.
"Well, none of the suits survived." Washu answered. "Not to say you guys were that good, all the survivors just got killed one way or another. However, I think I have something even better. Remember our old friend Kohaku?"
Lupin moaned. "Yeah…I still see images of his ninja face dancing around my head…"
"Well, Ryo-Ohki gave him some things to remember us by." Washu answered. "And in the process, she managed to get more than a few drops of his blood. Now we can analyze his DNA and track him, even if he sheds just so much as one molecule trails. I've got the most sophisticated molecular detection apparati in the planet on Ryo-Ohki."
"So where is he?"
Washu typed a bit longer. "Based on the concentration, my guess is about three-hundred miles west off the coast of Mexico."
"Island?"
"Not unless a volcano erupted pure molten iron."
"Sounds like a good bet to me." Lupin announced.
"How soon can we be there?"
"One hour, thirty minutes."
"Let's get going then." D responded. "And let's be ready this time. We're ending this mission now. But before anything else happens, I have to tell you all something."
