Disclaimer: I still don't own GB.

X. Sotto Voce

The blue glow beckoned to him from the end of the corridor, which was still too narrow for his shoulders. Mido Ban stepped sideways towards it, wary of what the ex-Dark Fleet agent had in store for him. As he walked towards the light, he couldn't help but remember Iarra's words earlier.

"It's modeled after the bioluminiscence in black dragonfish, which uses this kind of light to lure its prey," she told him as she held up the glowing bead with her index finger and her thumb. "Once its prey gets too close, the dragonfish snaps it up with its fang-like teeth." She extended her arm, moving the bead closer to Ban's face, then said softly, "Beautiful, isn't it? In the deep sea where light is rare, it's understandable how this can mesmerize unsuspecting critters to their deaths."

How appropriate, Ban thought regarding Iarra's little trinket. Lure its prey... Mesmerize unsuspecting critters to their deaths... Heh, she couldn't be more subtle.

Yes, he had decided that it was best to work with Iarra for now, but he had to keep his eyes open for any snapping fang-like teeth that might happen to be lurking around.

He reached the end of the corridor, which led into another passageway perpendicular to where he was. Turning his head to the blue glow emanating from his left, he spotted Iarra down the hall. He knew she was already aware of his presence, but she seemed to ignore him as she continued to look intently through an opening on the wall.

Irritatingly, he still had to walk sideways in this new corridor. As he was about to approach her, he noticed that she had her hands resting on the hilts of her daggers. Whether it was because of habit or because she was ready to attack him, he wasn't sure, but he wasn't taking any chances. He turned around, making sure that his right hand was the one closer to her just in case.

He went as far as he could go, stopping as he got to her side. He rested his back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched her. She still didn't budge.

"You were gonna show me something," he finally said.

She flicked her eyes to him, then put her index finger over her lips to tell him to be quiet, which irritated him more. She slid the covering over the hole, then turned to him.

"I don't usually have conversations inside these walls, so I'm not sure how sound travels here," she whispered. "They might hear us."

A questioning look went over his face at the word 'they', which Iarra noticed. She went on to explain, "I didn't see Ginji in the surveillance videos, but I did see a group of Fleet agents in this particular room, and they looked like they were guarding something very important."

"Something," he repeated, his eyes narrowing.

"Or someone."

"They could be guarding anything," he said, frowning at her. "I thought your deduction would be based on something with more weight than just wild guesses."

She gave him an annoyed look. "It's not a wild guess. Now if you could just lose the attitude and listen for a bit, I'll tell you why I think Ginji's in there."

Leaning his right shoulder against the wall, he crossed his arms over his chest, turned as much as he could in the cramped space towards her, and looked at her expectantly. "I'm listening."

She uncovered the small hole in the wall and gestured towards it. "See for yourself."

His eyes moved down to her daggers, where her hands were still resting. Grudgingly, he bent his knee so he could move his right eye towards the hole, but not before giving her a 'don't-try-anything-funny' look, to which she just rolled her eyes.

Through the hole, Ban could see a large warehouse-type room containing rows of steel racks that reached almost to the high ceiling, its shelves filled with all sorts of boxes. Moving around the racks were some Dark Fleet agents, while others stood near the walls, which he noticed had several doors.

"See the doors at the room's perimeter?", Iarra whispered. "Those are entrances to ESD rooms."

"ESD?", Ban echoed.

"Electo-Static Discharge," Iarra replied.

His eyes flicked towards Iarra. "When you said 'ESD room', did you mean that the room prevents the buildup of static electricity? (1)"

"Yes," she answered. "That's what a normal ESD room does."

He frowned at the tone of her voice. "I take it that those are not normal ESD rooms."

"Correct," she answered again. "This ship sometimes smuggles highly sensitive electronic equipment. Since they don't want to risk any kind of damage to the electronic components, they built rooms with a special kind of ESD ability that does not permit any kind of electricity buildup whatsoever. They're sort of more aggressive where they actually drain out a big chunk of the electricity that the body creates (2). For most people, being drained of electricity is not a big deal. But I'm not sure what the effect will be on somebody whose strength is very much intertwined with the electricity that courses through his veins."

Ban froze, his mind starting to churn out possibilities on what that could mean - possibilities that don't turn out well for his electrically inclined partner. "Shit," he mumbled as he peered again at the agents guarding the room.

"You said it," Iarra said. "And THAT is why I think Ginji's in there."

Ban turned to lean his head back against the wall, crossing his hands across his chest as he thought about what she just said.

"When I first saw them in the surveillance videos," Iarra continued as she pressed the pommel of her right silver dagger. A tiny section of the hilt moved back, revealing a small hole. "There were only four people, which is one Dark Fleet team. Same number as those that were guarding you."

Ban watched as she took two black beads that were attached to her bodice, inserting them one after the other into the hole on the dagger's hilt.

"Now, they've added two more teams, making it a full squad, plus a squad leader," she continued as she pressed the pommel again, and the small covering returned to its original position. "Thirteen people, in total." She noticed him watching her, so she gave him a look that asked 'What?'.

"Oh, nothing. I just find it interesting to know where you keep your nasty stuff," he remarked as he looked closely at the beads on her bodice, then at her daggers.

"If you care to remember, this dagger contained the antidote that I used on you a while ago, so I would call it 'good stuff'," she retorted. "What I would be using on those agents, though," she added, a sly smile forming on her lips as she tapped her newly loaded dagger. "...this you can call 'nasty stuff'."

"I don't care what you call it as long as it's stuff that's a good ways away from me."

She just smirked in reply, then looked through the opening on the wall again. "Anyway, if my deduction is correct and Ginji really is in there..."

"He is," Ban interrupted.

She stopped and looked at Ban, who had a no-nonsense look in his eyes that dissuaded her from questioning him. Not that she would, since it was one of those rare times that he was actually agreeing with her. She slid the covering over the hole again, and continued with her line of thought.

"I think they've added more people after finding out that you've escaped," she said. "They want to prevent him from doing the same."

"It doesn't matter. They're still outnumbered," Ban said.

Iarra's brows furrowed in confusion. "There are thirteen of them."

Ban turned his head to her to elaborate and gave her a lopsided smile. "There are thirteen of them, and one of me. I'd say they're at a disadvantage."

She snickered. "Yeah, but it only takes a few seconds for any one of them to call for help." She reopened the hole in the wall, then gestured towards it. "See those things at their belts? Those are communicators. They just have to press one button, and more of them will be coming this way."

Ban gave a quick look through the opening to see what she was talking about. Unfazed, he turned to her and said, "That's where you come in. You worry about the buttons, and I'll worry about the people."

She sighed as she slid the covering back over the hole. "If you're saying that I should disable their communications network, then I'm afraid that's not possible. We're gonna need much more time than what we have right now."

Ban snorted. "And I thought you were good. You're falling behind expectations here."

"Yeah, it would be nice if I could just wave my magic wand and make all your wishes come true, but unfortunately, my skills aren't the same as what you have in la-la land."

"Okay. Since your skills are pretty much useless, I'll take them all by myself, then. Now tell me how to open this wall."

She raised an eyebrow. "I know you are more than capable of taking on all thirteen of them, but did you miss the part where I said that it only takes a few seconds for any one of them to call for help?"

"Nope, I got that. That just means that I need to take them all down faster than they can press that button."

"And THAT'S your plan," Iarra snorted. "With planning like that, I really do wonder how you manage to keep yourself alive."

"Well, do you have other ideas?," Ban countered.

"As a matter of fact, I do," she spat back. "I was actually thinking of diverting them first to at least split them up. That way we can deal with half of them first, then the other half later."

"Well, that plan sucks," Ban said. "Now tell me how to get this wall to open."

She glowered. "And why, pray tell, does the plan suck, oh Smart One?"

"It would take too long. Now for the last time, tell me how to get this wall to open...," he said, clenching his right fist then holding it up. "... or I'll open it my way."

She just glared at him in reply.

"Fine. Don't say I didn't give you a choice," he said. He started to swing his fist to the wall.

"Alright, alright! Sheesh," she said. "They don't know about these passageways, Mido. I don't want to lose this advantage that we have right now just because a shortsighted dunderhead would rather create a hole in the wall, which is one sure way of turning these 'secret passageways' into just 'passageways'."

He glared, then said, "The only dunderhead I see is the lollygagger who's more concerned about saving these 'secret passageways' when SOMEBODY out there is currently being drained lifeless."

Iarra's features softened at the genuine concern for his partner that was hiding underneath the fierce look that Ban was giving her.

In a low voice, he continued, "Now, if you don't open this wall right now, I will open it myself. You can feel free to stay in your precious passageways." He then proceeded with swinging his fist.

"Whoa, calm down, Mido," she said, raising her hands to stop him. With a sigh, she pointed to the direction where they had come from and said, "It's that way."

He looked at where she was pointing at, then back at her with doubt in his eyes, his fist still in midair.

"It's not far," Iarra said pointedly.

He gave her another suspicious look before unclenching his fist. Since he wasn't too thrilled about turning his back to her, he leaned his back against the wall, giving her some space to walk through, then said, "After you."

After being at the receiving end of the berserker mode that he showed earlier, she wasn't too thrilled herself about having to be within less than an arm's reach of this particular retrieval agent, especially when said retrieval agent's eyes were narrowed at her with suspicion. Nope, the space in front of him didn't seem very inviting at all. Gingerly, she took a step sideways in front of him, facing him as she forced her eyes to meet his unwaveringly.

He was very much aware of how her hands tightened their grip on the daggers holstered at her hips; and as she stepped in front of him, he bore his eyes into hers, discouraging her from making any kind of deviating movement.

They stared at each other, their eyes conveying a silent warning to the other not to try anything funny. After what seemed like a very long time, she finally broke her gaze from him and took another step sideways, turning her back to him but with senses still alert as she continued walking forward across the narrow corridor.

So far, so good, Ban thought as he watched her, the blue glow from her bead fading away as she made her way towards the other end of the passageway. No snapping fang-like teeth had appeared. Not yet, anyway.

Pieces of metal laid at his feet - pieces that were once part of the supposedly unbreakable restraints that formerly held the dark-haired retrieval agent named Mido Ban. The four Dark Fleet agents that guarded the prisoner had already been moved to another room, where they awoke to interrogators that demanded to know what had happened. They were unable to get any clear answers as none of the agents could recall the events that had transpired. It also did not help them that the surveillance videos just showed static.

Shimo found it intriguing. From what he had heard about the Get Backers, he was willing to concede that perhaps they were stronger than Dark Fleet had expected. Yes, he had heard that Mido Ban was exceptionally strong, so he was not that surprised that the retriever was able to break free from the metal restraints that had him bound.

As for the agents' memories that had been erased... The Memory Venom used by Dark Fleet was able to do that, but he was also aware of several other means that could cause it, such as a certain scent used by the transporter known as Lady Poison. He even found it believable that perhaps Mido's own famous Jagan could have done it.

However, the manipulation of the surveillance videos indicated knowledge on how the security systems in the Pristine worked. He doubted that the Get Backers had access to that information.

Which brought him to his current puzzle. Besides him, who else would have intimate knowledge of this yacht? There were very few people who did, as far as he knew.

As his ice blue eyes surveyed the scene before him, something on the floor caught his attention. He walked over to it and knelt down to pick it up. In his hand was a small black bead. His breath caught in his throat.

It can't be, he thought.

Two Dark Fleet agents walked in tandem between the steel shelves, their steps relaxed yet alert. They reached the end of the row, so the agent in front turned right to start walking between the next row of shelves. His partner followed close behind. He and his partner had been doing this for some time now, and he was beginning to wonder whether their boss Shinzaki-san was just being paranoid. In the spaces between the variously shaped boxes that were on the shelves, he could see his fellow agents doing the same thing - walking aimlessly yet keeping their eyes open for possible threats.

He reached the end of the row of metal racks, and he turned again to start walking on the next row. As he walked further, his senses alerted him that something was amiss. He stopped. He turned to his partner to say something, but was surprised to see that he was by himself. He looked around and saw that some Dark Fleet agents were still walking around the other racks, although there seemed to be fewer of them. Puzzled, he retraced his steps back to where he last saw his partner. He turned the corner, then gasped.

On the floor was his partner, unconscious. His hands automatically went to his daggers and were about to pull them out when he felt a hand grip his neck from behind. Quickly, he turned his head as much as he could to look at his attacker. Spiky hair and purple glasses were the last things he saw before he blacked out.

The squad leader flicked his head towards the rows of metal racks as he heard a soft thud. He pulled out a dagger with one hand, and his communicator with the other as he started to walk towards the source of the sound. He felt a breeze behind him, so he quickly turned around and was astonished at the sight of the other Dark Fleet agents that used to be standing behind him, but had somehow ended up flattened on the floor.

He quickly moved his communicator near his mouth, but before he could say anything, a silver dagger hit his hand, making him drop the device. Before his mind could process what was going on, he found himself flying before being slammed against the wall.

Mido Ban adjusted his glasses as he watched the hapless squad leader feel the effects of a 200-kg grip before hitting the wall and sliding down onto a crumpled heap on the floor.

"And that," he said as his face changed into a super deformed smirk. "...concludes tonight's episode of How To Handle A Whole Squad Quietly And Swiftly, as presented by the Invincible Mido Ban-sama!"

Eyes rolled on Iarra's super deformed chibi face. "I'd like to say 'bravo', but the ending wasn't all that quiet."

"I like ending things with a bang," he said as he then turned back to his normal form. "Besides, he didn't need to be quiet. He was the last one."

"That's true," Iarra conceded, albeit reluctantly, as she also turned back to her normal form. She reached out her hand and the silver dagger that was on the squad leader's hand flew towards her. She caught it then put it back in her sheath.

They were interrupted by the sound of static, then a faint voice from the squad leader's communicator. "Squad Nine here responding to your beacon. Do you need help?"

"Except that he was able to press that button," she added, glaring at Ban.

"Hey, he was closer to you," Ban said, glaring back. "You should've taken care of him."

"You said you were gonna take them all by yourself," she countered as she walked over to the communicator and picked it up. "I thought that meant that I just needed to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show."

The voice from the communicator said again, "Squad Nine to Squad Four. Do you copy?"

"Tell them it was a false alarm," Iarra said as she threw the device to Ban.

Ban caught it, then scowled at her. "Why don't YOU tell them?"

"Do you see other females here?", she asked him exasperatedly. "Don't you think a female voice would sound just a tad weird?"

The voice came on again. "Do you copy, Squad Four?"

Still scowling, Ban pressed a button on the communicator and spoke, "Squad Four here. No need to worry. It was just a false alarm."

"What happened?," the voice asked.

Ban frowned. "Umm... I uhh.. slipped, and I accidentally pressed the button."

"You slipped?", the voice repeated.

"Yeah," he answered. "I was showing off my awesome dagger skills, and I didn't notice the banana peel on the floor."

Iarra raised an eyebrow. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to hand him the communicator.

"What?", the voice, now sounding confused, asked. "Who is this?"

"Squad Four," Ban replied. "Who else could this be?"

"What's your designation?", the voice persisted.

He frowned again. For his reply, he said, "Ksshhhhshshhhh... What did you say? Kshshshsh... I just hear a lot of static... Kshshshshshhh... Sorry, you're breaking up... ..." He then hurled the communicator to the wall.

Iarra's jaw dropped to the floor, stupefied as she watched the device break up into tiny pieces. She turned angrily to Ban, then burst out, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"

"That," Ban said as he walked calmly towards one of the doors. "...concludes tonight's episode of How To End An Annoying Conversation."

She continued to glower at him. "You do realize that you just raised a lot of red flags there."

"I don't care," he said, shrugging. "We'll be out of here soon, anyway."

"What?", she asked, still flabbergasted. "We still have to look for Ginji."

"Found him," he said as he stopped in front of a door.

Without another word, he slammed his fist into it. Wondering how he could be so sure that it was the right door, Iarra watched him as he yanked the door off its hinges. He threw the door back across the warehouse, entered the ESD room, then stopped in his tracks.

Right in the middle of the room was the motionless form of Amano Ginji, who was lying stomach down with his cheek pressed against the floor. He looked unnaturally pale.

"Ginji," he called out as he ran to kneel down in front of the blond retriever.

With great effort, Ginji blinked at the dark-haired retriever beside him. His eyes lit up as he recognized the familiar form of his partner.

"Ban-chan," he said weakly. "I'm glad you're okay. I was so worried about you."

Ban gave a sigh of relief as he heard his partner speak. "Baka," he said. "I'm the Invincible Mido Ban-sama, remember? You're the one who's in very bad shape. You should be worrying about yourself."

"It's not that bad," Ginji said as he fought to keep his eyes open. "I'm just a little weak, that's all."

"Stop saying stupid things, Ginji," Ban said as he draped Ginji's arm around his shoulder. "This room's draining you of all of your electrical energy. That would make you severely weak, not 'a little weak'."

"Oh, is that what this is?", Ginji asked as Ban stood up, helping him to his feet. "I was wondering why this room felt so weird."

"Well, let's get you out of here so you can recharge," Ban said with a smile as they made their way to the door.

"Shimo-san," a Dark Fleet agent said as he approached the silver haired man.

The silver-haired agent looked up from his kneeling position, the black bead still in his hand.

"Yes?", Shimo asked.

"We've lost contact with Squad Four."

"Is that so?," Shimo said. He stood up, clenching his fist tightly around the bead. He should've known that it was only a matter of time before the other retriever escaped as well.

"Our team is on their way and ready to engage."

"Hold on," Shimo told him as he made his way to the door. "I would like to check on something first. Stand by for further orders."

"Hai."

"Now where'd she go?", Ban muttered as he held Ginji's arm tightly over his shoulder, dragging his partner's enervated body out of the ESD room.

Ginji's eyes skimmed across the warehouse-type room, landing on the Dark Fleet agents that were strewn all over the floor.

"Who, Ban-chan?," Ginji asked.

"Dagger Babe," he replied.

Ginji frowned. "Didn't we leave her in the trunk?"

"She got out," Ban said as he approached the section of the wall where the opening to the spyways was. "... and led me here. She was right here before I came to get you."

"Oh, she got out?," Ginji said. "And helping us, too. That's great. I knew we could all work together."

Ban snorted. "I'm still not sure whether she really is helping us. Maybe that's why she disappeared. Maybe this is all a setup."

"Nah," Ginji said, still weak, but able to shake his head. "She's no longer working for Dark Fleet."

"Yeah, that's what she said, but, we don't really know if that's true."

"She's not lying, Ban-chan."

"What makes you so sure?", Ban asked.

"I don't know. Call it a gut feeling."

"Well, let's just hope that your gut feeling is right. If not, then we're screwed big time." He knelt down to let Ginji sit against the wall, then muttered, "I don't think our client's paying us enough for all this trouble."

Ginji smiled. "Ban-chan, you worry about money too much. I'm happy as long as we're both alright."

"Okay," Ban said, a lopsided smile on his face. "You can have the happiness, and I'll have the money, which I'll be using to get myself a BIG sukiyaki dinner when we get back to Tokyo." He sighed, a dreamy look coming over his face. "Aahh, sukiyaki. ALL for me..."

"Ban-chan, you're so mean."

Ban chuckled, glad to see the color coming back onto Ginji's face. His gladness, though, was short-lived as an uneasy feeling came over him. Ginji felt it, too. His eyes met Ban's as both retrievers' faces tensed up.

Ban felt it coming. With lightning speed, he gave Ginji a mighty push, making his partner slide across the wall. Ban rolled across the wall to his feet and crouched, his right hand curled in its claw-like form.

Embedded on the section of the wall where he and Ginji had just been was a dagger, its handle seemingly covered in frost.

"Damn," Ban muttered.

A/N: This chapter's title, sotto voce, means "undertone" (literally "under voice" in Italian). In music, it refers to singing or playing a instrument in hushed tones. In this chapter, I used it to refer to Ban and Iarra's sneaking around and trying to stay under the radar.

(1) This is true. I had some super basic ESD training (I'm not an expert), which was the source of inspiration for this part of the story.
(2) This part is not true and only exists in the wonderful world of fiction (as far as I know, anyway. I could be wrong. Did I mention that I'm not an expert?).