Chapter Ten
Blinded By the Light
Mountain Tim made his way through the hospital toward Andre Boom Boom's room. He needed to find out how much those boys knew about their father's involvement with someone that would have attacked them. They knew already who it most likely was. That was easy enough to find out. The attack had Diavolo's stamp all over it.
He came to the room to find Andre laid up in the bed but conscious and his brother L.A. sitting beside him looking worried. He took off his hat as he came into the room.
"Andre, L.A.," he said, nodding to each of them. "Came by to see how you boys were."
"Still in shock," Andre said with a wide-eyed stare. "I can't believe Dad's dead."
"You boys have any idea why someone would have gone after you all like that?" Tim asked as he turned his hand around in his hands.
"No, we never done anything to anyone," L.A. said with a frown across his face. He tucked his hair behind his ears ad looked with concern at Andre.
Tim sighed, knowing that there was something going on that got them targeted and it had to do with drugs. "Had your dad been doing anything unusual lately?"
"He had a new job, but he couldn't have his phone on while he was there, and he couldn't take us with him," Andre explained as L.A. nodded beside him.
"Do you think it could have been drug related?" he asked and knew they might not know anything about it at all.
Andre and L.A. glanced at each other and looked back to Tim. "I dunno why he'd get involved with drugs; that was why he took us away from our mom. She was on drugs, and that and she slept around a lot, he said." Andre stared at the officer with a serious stare.
"Your dad was in and out of jail when he was younger, wasn't he?" Tim asked as he flipped his hat around slowly.
"Yeah, Dad had a temper and would get into fights with people that insulted him or the family, but that was it," L.A. told him as he ran his hands through his hair again.
"He was making a lot more money, though," Andre said and sighed. "All of a sudden he had a lot coming in."
"What are we gonna do?" L.A. said suddenly. "You only work at the college a few days a week as a janitor! Where we gonna get money?"
Andre coughed and shook his head. "We'll have to figure that out after I get out of here…"
"Well, boys, as soon as I find something out for sure, I'll let you know," Tim said, not sure yet that what he suspected about their father was true or not.
He headed out and back to the office to see if they had anything else on Diavolo come in recently. Once he was there, he came across a missing person's report that was suspected to be involved with him. He realized the address was the place that he'd found L.A. had run to. That was coincidental, he thought to himself. He decided that it was worth checking out.
Tim headed to the place again, wondering who they had come up missing. He pulled in beside a couple other cars and got out, looking around the place. It looked like a big plot of land with one main house and several outbuildings. He jumped a bit when he felt something against his leg. He glanced down to see a goat trying to nibble on his pants. He frowned and shook his head. Certainly wasn't the strangest pet he'd seen. He came to the door and saw a pen with ducks in it wandering around. Still not that strange. He knocked on the door.
The door was opened by a man with black hair and piercing blue eyes. He had a willowy figure and was very thin. "Can I help you?" he asked.
"Yes, my name is Mountain Tim, and I'm with the sheriff's office. I was coming by about your report of a missing person that you think might be involved with a man named Diavolo," he explained as he swept his hat off his head and held it in his hands.
"Oh, yes, here, do come in," the dark-haired man said and stepped out of the way.
Inside there were more people than Tim expected. He looked about, seeing a man with white hair seated on the sofa, a young man or woman in a vintage looking dress, a man with blond hair seated at the table with a large man standing at his shoulder, another man with dark hair and a hat at the table, and another man with light colored hair seated on the sofa.
The man with the white hair reached out and snatched what looked like a catalog off the table. To Tim's quick eyes, it looked like something for adult toys.
"I'm Bruno Buccellati, and we're actually discussing what to do about Giorno's disappearance with his father, Dio Brando," he told him as he gestured toward the blond man. "His guard, Vanilla Ice is behind him, then this is Narancia, Fugo, Mista, and Leone," he said as he pointed to each person in turn. "What can we do for you, Mr. Tim?"
"Just Tim is fine," Tim said with a grin. "I don't know if you recall but I was here last night when that boy ran onto your property. That incident seems to be involved with Diavolo as well, so I came here to investigate this missing person case."
"I'm sure my son has been taken by this Diavolo. His step-father as much as admitted to owing the man money when I inquired as to whether he knew what had happened to Giorno. His step-father, unfortunately, didn't seem to care that he put the boy in danger," the man with blond hair said. "I would like to ensure his quick recovery."
"If this Diavolo has the boy, a quick recovery would be the best-case scenario. Drugs are his purview and I can see him not being held indefinitely without being harmed," Tim explained as he held his hat tightly in his hands. "Have you discovered anything that could help with the investigation?"
"Well," the one named Fugo said from where he sat. "We asked this guy that lives in an old water tower if he'd seen anything, and he identified a building where there's a lot of activity at night instead of during that day. We think that may be the location. It's close enough to give him access to the whole area for his drug dealing."
Tim nodded. "I might be able to gather a few of my fellow officers to go in for a bust, at least to look around."
"Ice can go with you," Dio said as he gestured behind him. "He's a good man in a fight and can definitely help out."
Tim nodded and Bruno pushed Leone on the back of his shoulder. The other man cleared his throat. "I was thinking I could help out. I used to be a cop and all," he said with a glance up at Tim.
"I'm sure that can be arranged. I will take your information and then contact you with any news that I can put together. It might be in our best interest to have things happen quickly if the boy is in immediate danger," he said as he reached in his pocket and took out a small pad of paper and a pen.
Tim quickly took down Dio and Leone's information and got Bruno's as well. He would go back to the office and see if he couldn't put together a small team to go question these people at the building. He didn't know what reason they would have to go into the place, but he was confident that once they were there, they would be able to find a something to get into it.
"Oh, and your goat was out by the cars, I don't know if it's supposed to be in a pen or what," Tim said as he turned toward the door.
Fugo looked at him, then the others. "Goat? We don't have a goat…"
"There's a goat?" Narancia said and jumped up, pushing past Tim to go see it. Mista jumped up and followed him. Bruno just shook his head and sighed, walking out with Tim to find that there was indeed a small, brown goat standing by the duck pen. It looked healthy and didn't seem to be sick in any way.
"Well, that's interesting," Bruno said as Narancia knelt down to play with the goat.
Tim shrugged and smiled at them. "Who knows where he came from. What will you do about it?"
Bruno looked as Fugo came out and watched Narancia interact with the goat. "I guess we'll put an ad in the lost and found?" Fugo offered with a shrug. "If no one claims it, I guess we have a goat now."
Tim smiled, bidding these people farewell as he headed back to his car. He wondered how quickly he could put together a couple people to go investigate this place. It wouldn't be a bust so much as just and check in to see if anything was going on there. By the afternoon, he'd gathered enough evidence to go question those at this office building. They'd managed a connection between Benjamin Boom Boom and Diavolo and had secured a warrant to arrest him. Tim was very thankful for criminal informants at the moment. He called up Bruno, Dio, and Leone to let them know when they were going in to the place. They were all set to meet them there in an hour.
Arriving at the office building, Tim saw the big fella and the man named Dio already pulling up in front of the place. He saw the light-haired Leone waiting already as well.
Tim approached them and greeted them. Dio looked at Vanilla Ice. "Now, no killing anyone. Just drop 'em," Dio reminded him. "And keep a look out for Giorno."
Tim arched a brow at the other man's instructions but didn't say anything. The guy looked like he could handle himself just fine. He approached the door and found it locked. Considering it was an office building, this was odd. So, he knocked on it and rang the bell that was beside an intercom.
"Reason for your visit?" a voice answered.
"I'm with the sheriff's department. We have a warrant…" he began but then the intercom cut off.
Sighing, Tim shook his head and then stepped back to allow a couple of his men to break open the door. A few seconds later, they were in the place and headed toward the main floor. What they found was a building set up like an average office building but with special rooms off to the side. Diavolo was nowhere to be found, but they found what looked like a drug lab. A couple guards tried to stop them, but he found the big fella named Ice was efficient at taking them down quickly. He was quite impressed by him. They found one man, a tall, gangly fellow who identified himself as Volpe. He was taken in but refused to cooperate and tell them anything.
Ice and he found a basement and found what looked like a row of locked rooms in the place. Tim wondered if one of these could hold their boy. Ice took care of another guard as they came down into the basement and Tim found a ring of keys on the guy.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Giorno wasn't sure if what he was hearing was real or fake. All he knew was that he was feeling awful. He'd been locked in the room down in the basement of the building again after being subjected to the drugs again this time a higher dose. He was about to come out of his skin and the hallucinations were taking longer to go away. He'd already dug into his skin in so many places, he was sure that even his self-harming before hadn't been that bad. What he was hearing, though, was something that sounded like someone fighting outside the door to the room he was in.
He got up and put his ear to the door and wondered what was happening out there. Then the doorknob started to jiggle. He jumped back, gasping a bit. What if it was something bad? What if something bad was coming after him? His mind reeled, still hazy and without a firm purchase on reality. He was so far sure of only one thing, and that was his own existence. Other than that, he wasn't sure if anything was real.
The door popped open and he found himself staring at a tall man with a cowboy hat on. He blinked because the hat was in a zebra print.
"Are you Giorno?" the man asked him.
"Who-who are you?" he stammered, moving away from him.
"My name's Mountain Tim, and we've come to get you out of here," he said with a gregarious smile.
Giorno didn't know what to do. Should he trust this guy? He had no idea who he was other than what he said, but how could he be sure? He tentatively reached out and took the much larger man's hand and nervously followed him as he was led out up the steps.
"Giorno!" he heard, and the voice was familiar. He blinked again and saw Leone standing there.
"H-How did you get here?" he asked, confused.
Leone took him from Tim and led him out the doors of the place where police were arresting people and taking off with them in cars. There was an ambulance waiting out there. The lights and sounds were almost overwhelming as he stopped suddenly and dropped to the ground, covering his head with his hands. Too many lights, too many sounds, he couldn't stand it racking around his brain. He dully felt hands on his shoulders and then he was looking up into Leone's face.
"Come on, let's get you out of here," he said and helped him to his feet again. "That's it," he said and led him toward the ambulance. He got into the back of it and stared vacantly for a while. He jerked when someone started to put an IV into his arm. He felt something cool running into his arm and then he felt a little sleepy. He laid back down on the gurney and let his fleeting consciousness slip.
Leone watched as the started getting fluids into Giorno and checking him over. He seemed to pass out before they got much started on him. He turned around and saw the Sheriff's officer who had let him come on this mission.
"Thank you again, Tim," he said to him.
"No, you and that other fellow were a great help. I think he dealt with most of the bad guys before we even got to 'em." Tim smiled and clapped Leone on the back.
Leone smiled and looked over where some police officers were gathered. "I should go have a talk with them."
Tim nodded, pulling out his cell and dialed the number he had in it for the Villa. He was sure they would want to know right away that Giorno had been recovered.
"Buccellati," came the quick response.
"This is Mountain Tim. Wanted to let you know that we rescued your boy Giorno and he's at the hospital now. I didn't see too much of him before he left so I don't know that much on his condition," he explained.
On the other side, Bruno sighed and looked over at the table where Mista, Fugo, and Narancia were watching him with curious stares. They were all waiting to hear something. He smiled. "Thank you, I'm sure we'll be going to see him soon. Again, thank you for calling."
He turned and nodded. "They got him out; he's at the hospital now."
Mista stood up and nervously asked, "Can you take me to see him?"
Bruno smiled, knowing that Mista would want to see Giorno as soon as possible. "Of course, but Fugo and Narancia, why don't you stay here so as not to overwhelm him right away. We don't know his condition yet."
Fugo nodded. "Yeah, seems like the best course of action."
Bruno patted Mista on the back and steered him toward the door. "We don't know how he is?" he asked as they walked out to the car.
"Not yet, but his father, that Dio, should be there. He'll let us know what is going on, I'm sure," Bruno said as they got into the car.
Mista was quiet the rest of the way to the hospital, staring out the window into the evening's fading sun. Bruno let him be because he knew he was still torn up over Giorno getting kidnapped to start with. They had tried to insist that he was not at fault for what happened just because he hadn't been there. Still, Mista felt like it was somehow his responsibility to have protected Giorno somehow.
They arrived at the hospital and went to the waiting room on the floor Tim ha given them. Once there, they found Dio and Vanilla Ice waiting. Dio looked up as they came into the room.
"Have they said anything yet?" Bruno asked as they came into the room.
Dio looked up and shook his head. "Nothing yet. They are running tests right now," he told them. "Hopefully, they'll be able to tell what's happened to him."
"Mr. Brando?" came a voice from the doorway. Dio stood up and went over to the doctor with Bruno and Mista right on his heels.
"That's me, these are two of Giorno's roommates. What have you found out?" he asked.
"The police are taking his statement now, but from what we understand, he was given some drugs to 'test' them on a living specimen. From what he says there was no real pressure for him to either live or die from the man who had him, and said that the man who was giving him the drugs seemed to enjoy what he was doing." The doctor paused. "He's a little out of it, to put it simply. We don't know exactly what kind of drugs he was subjected to; we're waiting on toxicology for that to come back. We know the police collected samples of different compounds from the office building he was kept in."
Dio nodded. "Can he have visitors?"
The doctor nodded. "He's cleared for visitors once the police are done with him. I'll have a nurse come let you know when he's ready."
The doctor walked away and Mista wrung his hands. "Drugs? Will he be okay? Those things can mess you up for a long time? What if something's wrong with him now? What if he's not okay? What if…?"
"Hush," Bruno said, putting a hand on the normally laid back Mista's shoulder. It was odd to see him in such a frantic mood. "He'll be fine, and we'll deal with it if he needs help."
Mista sighed and walked over to the coffee cart to get a cup. Dio looked at Bruno.
"I take it that my son is in a relationship with that young man?" he said, watching the nerve wracked Mista fixing coffee for himself.
Bruno smiled. "Yes, a relatively new affair for both of them. Mista was sick the day that Giorno was kidnapped, so he puts blame on himself for not being there. I try to tell him he might have been taken too if he was with him," he said, watching Dio for signs of judgement. Giorno meeting his real father was a significant even, and he didn't want something like his relationship with Mista to cause issues with that.
"I see," Dio said and started to speak again when the nurse came in. "Excuse me, Mr. Brando, sir, the police have left if you wish to see your son."
Mista left the coffee where it sat and scurried after him and Bruno as they followed the young nurse wot a room nearby. "He's in here temporarily until we get him in a regular room."
Dio nodded, stopping outside the door. "I should not be the first one he sees, since I have yet to meet the boy before today."
"Can I…?" Mista asked and Bruno just smiled. "Go on in."
Mista entered the room and looked at Giorno. He was sitting in the bed, picking at bandages that were down both his forearms. He looked up as Mista came toward him, eyes wide.
"M-mista?" he muttered, staring at him. "Please tell me you're real and not a hallucination…"
Mista smiled and leaned over to hug him. "I'm real."
Giorno placed his arms around him and sighed out. "Oh gods, Mista," he said with a choked sound to his voice. "I thought I'd never see you again!"
"Me too," Mista said, holding onto him tightly. "I am so sorry I wasn't there that day for you!"
"Nonsense, it wasn't your fault. Who knows when those guys would have gotten to me otherwise. I was scared and they put all kinds of weird stuff in my veins and it made me see things and hear things, and now I'm going to have worse scars on my arms because I thought there were bugs under my skin and tried to scratch them out…" he rushed through the explanation.
"Shh," Mista said, patting his back as he still held him in a tight embrace. "We'll deal with it. They didn't hurt you otherwise, did they?" he said as he leaned back and looked over Giorno's face with careful eyes.
Giorno shook his head. "No, just the drugs they used on me, but it was terrible, the things I saw…"
"I know. Hey, so, Bruno is here. Fugo and Narancia stayed home, though. I think Leone is with the cops or something here somewhere. We haven't seen him yet. But, there's more. When you were taken, your real father showed up looking for you," Mista explained. "Like the man in your picture. He actually came to find you. And he's here and wants to meet you."
Giorno didn't know what to say, he just stared at Mista in shock. "My real father?" he whispered.
"Yeah, he seems like an okay guy. He was super worried about you," Mista told him, sitting down on the bed beside him. "Do you want me to go get him?"
Giorno nodded. "Yeah, I-I want to meet him," he said with a glance toward the door.
Mista nodded once, then got up and went to get him.
Giorno watched as he came back with a tall man he instantly recognized from the single photograph. Bruno was walking with him.
"Hello, Giorno, I'm Dio Brando. I'm your father."
Giorno just stared at him for a minute and shook his head. "Why did you come around now all of a sudden?"
Dio sighed, running a hand over his blond hair.
"My original intention was to contact you after you turned eighteen. I mistakenly thought your mother would take care of you in my absence. If I had known about your step-father, I would have interceded sooner," he explained. "I would have never left you in such a situation."
"He always said I tried to 'read' him and it made him mad," Giorno said, licking his lips thoughtfully. "I just wanted to know what to expect."
Dio smiled. "That sounds like something I would see fostered in you. Reading people is a good skill to have. I take it you still do so even with your step-father punishing you for it?"
"Yeah, I never stopped, I just learned to be less obvious about it," he said and started to pick at the bandages on his arms a little again.
"I know you're going through a lot right now, and I want you to know I don't intend to make that any harder for you. I came today just so we could meet each other and I could make sure you got the proper care that you need. I will not force things onto you unless you want to continue to pursue them." Dio glanced behind him to see Ice was waiting on him. "You have other brothers, younger than you are. I plan to contact them soon."
"Really?" Giorno hadn't expected to find out there were others in his family. That was something quite unexpected.
"Yes, but there's plenty time for that. For now, concentrate on getting better and getting back to your life," he said as he leaned forward and put a hand on Giorno's shoulder.
"Alright," he said and smiled at him. "I think that would be good."
"I'll leave my information with Bruno here, and you can call me when you feel up to it. We'll have lunch or something to get to know each other." Dio nodded to Bruno and walked out the door with him, leaving Mista and Giorno on their own.
"I was so scared you weren't coming back," Mista admitted, coming over and sitting down beside Giorno on the bed again.
"I was scared I wasn't coming back for a while," Giorno said with wide eyes. "The drugs that they gave me, I can't imagine people taking things like that on purpose."
Mista chuckled. "Yeah, people do crazy things like that. I'm sure some people like the weird that comes with drugs, but I've never understood it."
Giorno looked up as Bruno came back in. "Alright, you need rest, Giorno." Mista started to protest. "Ah, no, we need to let him rest and let the doctors make sure nothing is wrong after what he went through. I'm sure you could use the peace and quiet without being scared out of your mind for what was going to happen."
Giorno nodded. "I admit, it was scary. I just wanted to go home, and when I thought of home, it was there at the Villa with you guys and everyone that lives there."
"Oh, we got a goat now," Mista said suddenly.
"A goat?" Giorno asked with a frown. "How'd that happen?"
"Just wandered onto the property. We put an ad in the paper to see if we could find the owner, but so far no one has claimed him," he said with a shrug. "So now I guess we have a goat."
Giorno shook his head. "I'm away for a few days and you go and get a goat."
"Wasn't our fault!" he said with a sigh. "It was really funny too because that Sheriff's officer, Mountain Tim he was called, came by and he mentioned the goat. We were all like, we don't have a goat, but there he was outside! Wandering around like he owned the place!" Mista smiled broadly as he finished the tale.
Bruno cleared his throat and smiled. "I'll meet you out in the waiting room, Mista. Don't be too long." He left them alone and Mista smiled at him.
"I missed you a lot," Mista said, reaching out and taking one of Giorno's hands. There were red marks still etched in the skin on the back of his hands where he'd scratched at the skin there. "I didn't know how much I'd miss you until you weren't there. I got used to having you beside me all the time."
Giorno felt his face flush a little. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I was scared that I wouldn't see you again, and there was so much left that I haven't been able to say to you yet. I knew I wanted to make it so we could see each other again."
Mista interlaced his fingers with Giorno and squeezed his hand tightly. "I promise, I won't go anywhere if you promise not to go anywhere again either."
"I promise," Giorno said and the leaned toward each other.
Mista rested his head on Giorno's and smiled. "Good. Then we're agreed, together always." He leaned in the rest of the way and kissed Giorno's lips gently before he stood to leave.