X.TWISTS II
He looked at Hevn, who had gone back to being distantly cold, confused and hurt. An odd combination of expressions, yet they still managed to grow in harmony atop Hevn's lovely face. He willed to intensify these expressions even more.
"Oh I was displeased, at you, honey. So displeased that at one point I fleetingly thought of using the Jagan on you. You using us like that and all. I could have snatched the chance when I stared into your eyes. Remember?"
Of course. How could she not remember?
"But seeing the anguish and the weight already in your eyes, I decided to be lenient with you and spare you some of my wicked tendencies. For now."
She remained silent, but the edgy toss of her chin was the only sign of audacity she could offer.
"Well. Are you waiting for the sky to open up and gobble you alive?"
She answered with an unnerving stare. Which Takatori took as an opportunity.
"I don't know what the matter is between the two of you but I really do need that box. So what do you want Midou Ban?" Takatori none too tactlessly cut in.
Change of plans. He needed to do this his own way. Damn. He never imagined it would go this far. He thought he'd had it all covered. He should've paid more attention to Hevn's warning. He had to control the pair according to his plans. Now.
"Stop lying, Takatori. Don't you see that all of you are now being found out?"
The man remained…nothing. Just…nothing. As if bored. And unaffected.
This is not what he wanted to see from the client at all.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Even if I do actually know."
Hell. The guy does know how to hit a nerve.
"Mister Takatori, we simply wanted to put some things to light. We feel alarmed that there is more to this and that some of the people we care for are involved," Ginji carefully explained, seemingly taking the role of shock absorber.
Takatori leaned back on his seat, as if being served a disgusting feast. With that silly smile on his face.
"It's blackmail. The box in your hands still imposes no freedom at all."
"So, are we reaching a truce, Takatori-sensei?"
"I'm worried about RE005's half-life. Or in case, have you forgotten that?" Takatori answered a little too hedging-ly.
But instead of giving in, Ban held on tighter to the box, looking a lot cockier for comfort.
"You seem not so much worried about replacing it in its preservation cask a while ago."
"Because I still have more time. Worrying too much would only be a waste besides producing some wrinkles."
Hell-nation. Is this guy serious?
"And that was also because the preservation cask is all in here."
He delicately brushed his own desk. Good Lord.
"Will that guarantee my standing, Takatori?"
The man again sighed as if he's teaching a slower learning child. Hell. Was this guy enjoying all of this? Ban felt not so confident anymore. Especially after seeing Takatori's eyes in that way. It rivaled Shuukra's. There's something up in his sleeve, alright.
"Haven't you ever realized that you have no standing at all to ask guarantees for, Midou Ban?"
"What the hell do you mean?"
He was answered by Takatori's motion of his hand. Then with that flick, Kagami instantly moved.
The next instant Kagami is holding an all-too-shocked-with-intense-fright Hevn, her fingers squeezed painfully in her back. His stance is enough to see that the man is all too ready to use Diamond Dust on her, right through her heart. Ginji exclaimed and powered up as he moved towards the man, but Takatori and Kagami both stopped him as Kagami's hands inched closer to Hevn's throat and heart.
"Now. Now. That won't be necessary, Amano Ginji. I'm sure all of us will remain unscathed after this. Let's just say I'm holding up to my end of the bargain." Then he smiled, which put Ban in great trepidation. He should have known better. The semblance was outstanding.
For that one single, fleeting moment, Takatori had looked like Shuukra.
How did the tables get turned that easy?
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He had looked at Hevn, who held on to those eyes of hers which would always wreck his heart. A plea. For escape. For safety. A plea on making sure their promises are kept. A plea to let them out of it. To never let them get tangled with it, no matter how obnoxious his interrogators are.
Those eyes had prompted him to move. To do it his own style.
"Now, Kagami, I want the mediator to be taken cared of in as far away from my office as possible."
On implulse, Ban looked at Hevn and his heart was instantly filled with unwanted guilt. The kind that just gushed forth on instinct, not following any logical-coming-from-the-brain rules. She looked like a lost kid who knew nothing but the fact that sooner or later she may be killed because of something she didn't even have that slightest idea of knowing. Or maybe she knew, and that because of it, and because of their persistence, she will be harmed.
But damn if he'd allow herself to believe this.
Nonetheless, Kagami moved sneeringly when in a flash Ban's snake bite has penetrated Kagami's strangling forearm. His eyes, though covered in glasses, were obviously suffused with wrath.
"Hevn is not going anywhere with you." His voice held more than a warning. It was a promise of hell afterwards.
"I'm sorry, Ban, but I won't allow you to do that." Kagami's hand notched a good two inches closer on her on cue of his master's voice.
"She's not going anywhere!"
"Of course. I'm no fool, Ban. I know no force on earth will make you leave your place and hand me what I needed until you get what you want. You just proved you two knew too much for our comfort," he said quite a little more understandingly.
"But I also must keep our status secure. And your little knowledge on that patch of skin is more than what we need."
"Do you really think I'd believe in your act? Stop it, Kagami. Damn it if I believed you that she is not part of this!"
The man smiled. Almost coldly deadly.
"I've told you Ban, we know. You did tell her enough. I'll deal with her later. On my own."
He can see it in his eyes that he is more than dead serious.
"I don't think—" Ginji interrupted, a bit shaken with rage. Sparks are starting to come to life from his taut body.
"Perhaps you really misunderstood me, retrievers. You know how defiant we could get. And I have no qualms on giving your mediator the same defiance if you continue with your persistence." His voice now dropped a threatening octave.
Those words held the truth that worked like splashed water on Ban's face. He is the client. The master. He will be followed. The ball is in his court. Damn him.
"She's not part of our problem, Takatori!"
"Of course she wasn't Ban. She wasn't. But now she is. So better face the consequences."
And with that motion of his hand, Kagami all too sneeringly led a still shell-shocked Hevn from trepidation, just to prove his point.
Damn him again. No wonder that woman was out of her wits when he just grasped her and shocked her with those words a while ago. She probably did not even know.
And he only had to bring it up to her. Thus only harming her. Which Takatori all too well countlessly stressed with his deceptively calm voice.
Damnation.
His gut feelings never lie. He knew that Shuukra's words ring true. But he also could not risk Hevn right now. Nor will he allow that man in stopping him to get what he wanted.
"I won't give the box unless you free her."
He smiled. As if in gratitude.
"I've always known you are a wise man, Ban. It's a deal then?"
But why was Shuukra saying otherwise? Who said the truth?
Hell-nation.
He still did not move.
"I suggest you give that box now?"
He'll find it out. He'll sure find it out. And hell will they pay for messing with the great Jagan wielder.
Damn. Hell. Bloody hell.
"I don't have much time left, retrievers. You know just how important that thing is for us. It doesn't equal even her life."
That perked them up enough.
"So is that why you just allowed that doctor to die there when he'd been so loyal to you, to the point that he could sacrifice his own life!"
Kagami's eyes suddenly took a demonic slant. Takatori tensed in fury.
"I warned you, Midou Ban. And I never warn lightly. Now the warning's all up."
And without any further dallying, Kagami shoved Hevn into a room—a dark one—which he had conveniently opened for her. And taunting the retrievers for the very last time, he released a bit of his energy in preparation for the attack, which would guarantee Hevn's death in an instant. Ban saw her in the room. It seems that due to the shock of it all, and perhaps due to the intensity of Kagami's shove, she had fainted.
And now she lay lifeless on that dark room, just waiting for that final blow to leave her permanently in that state. Forever.
Damn. He must decide now. Now.
"Do not bother thinking about anything anymore, Ban. Seems your time has run up."
A few seconds later, they saw Hevn's door being closed. With Kagami inside.
Ginji looked ready to blow up. While Ban tensed more, silent fury seething his aura.
"And before you even think of using any of your special abilities, allow me to tell you that during the very instant we closed that door, this whole building is activated to sense and track your energy levels. Another slight devastating change and that room blows up."
He pointed Hevn's room.
"I guess you're not so much of a fool to even test my patience and the truth of my words and risk her life, do you?" he flourished it all with a lethal smile.
They should've known better than to go against SAKURA. He can see it in their eyes that they held the same notion, too. Now they have to pay the price for even thinking about outsmarting his plans.
Well damn it then. If this is the only way, so be it.
"Guess it's my turn to play now, isn't it?"
And how the tables have finally taken a full spin.
Takatori finally stood up and walked towards them who are yet unmoving.
"Don't bother moving, I assure you that by doing such, all energy will be drained from you. I forgot to tell you that this floor is designed to do so the moment to move an inch from your spot. And don't worry; this magnetic floor is very thoughtful by making sure you can't waste your energy by moving."
Ban silently cursed. In just a matter of minutes, their employer has tactfully lured them all in this implacable trap. Leading them to no escape at all. Leading to nothing but having all the cards in his table.
"Damn you, Takatori. Damn you to hell."
"For purposes of pity, I am willing to forget you ever said those. Now hand me the box."
He of course knew what an ultimatum sounds like. Ginji hesitantly took the box from Ban's and finally handed it to the man. While the latter continued glaring at the man, helpless.
This is what he hated the most. He knew that he could do what he wanted, get what he wanted. He believed he is strong enough and closer to the truth. But one life is at risk here. Hevn may infuriate him oftentimes with her scheming ways but she's still Hevn, their mediator.
And yes, no matter what this guy would tell him, his instinct told him to believe what he had gathered, that Hevn is a big part of this.
But now, here they are both captive. The box is now in Takatori's hands and Hevn is not freed. Nothing seems to be on their side anymore.
They saw him place the box in his desk. A few seconds, the cask melted with the fine polished structure, about to be hidden somewhere. He gave them that same lethal smile again.
"Good. Now start telling me all you have experienced."
Another ultimatum. Another order they couldn't possibly escape.
"And why should we?"
"Because." Frustrated sigh. "You two are trapped in there, Hevn is trapped over there, and I am the only one who could free you all. And I assure you that you will never be able to leave that place until I get what I want."
Wasn't he the one who had set the rules? Why is he the one threatened now?
"I think you already knew what you think we knew."
He neared them again.
"Do you really understand the weight of our situation here, Ban? Or haven't you understood SAKURA well enough?"
"I seem to more than understand SAKURA, Sir."
"Really? Now tell me what you know."
Silence. And on cue in answer to Ban's stubbornness, the magnetic force they are enduring inched a higher level. The door of Hevn's confines gave an unusual scraping sound as it got distorted and descended inwardly, as if pulled from the inside.
"The oxygen level in there has decreased to 10. For comfort, we infused 5 of opium in there. She'll be drugged to her death and she won't even notice it. Although she could still endure another death, that is, provided you go against me," he again warned.
"Leave her out of this, Takatori! I couldn't imagine you could do this to her!"
"I told you enough. I did nothing. Ask her and she'll insist she had no idea, even if you do tell her that you knew it, too. Because she didn't really know. Don't you think Kagami didn't guard her well enough?"
What!
Shocked silence.
He sighed his feigned sigh. Then he went to his desk to retrieve a stack of papers which were automatically produced by some installed machine in his desk. He read it for a moment and smiled a little.
Damn him. They are in a middle of a situation here, and he thought he could just leave it all in his unhurried pleasure by reading company reports?
Damn him. Damn SAKURA. Damn Shuukra and that doctor. Damn her.
Then just as suddenly, he went back to them with that smile, with the papers still in his hands.
"Ah," was all he said. Then he laughed as if clearly amused.
"So this is what you think you knew? That Hevn and my company are conspiring against the two of you by not telling you that the doctor is not a traitor and that Shuukra does not need this box at all?"
How did he…?
He waved the papers he clutched in his hands. "I can read your mind, Get Backers. Didn't you just forget that SAKURA can do anything? We installed something in here which could also absorb and organize your thoughts into waves, have it transcribed to comprehensible human writing and have it furnished just like any report," he sarcastically boasted.
He smiled again at their angered expression.
"Ah. So let me get it straight then. You realized that the doctor was in fact waiting for you when you arrived there, like he already knew you'd come, because the moment you arrived in this certain building, the lights were on, and he Morse-coded "Come here" and "I'm here". What's surprising even more is that the red dot just stopped," he began reading at his expense, clearly enjoying the situation as he gradually smash their oversized egos.
"When you two arrived at last, your partner Ginji—since you Midou Ban have been knocked out—saw Shuukra's slaughter of Sendoh, making you all realize later on that the two possibly can't be together, and that the doctor is not a traitor to this company but a loyal employee who was in fact tasked to deliver this good to Shuukra." At the mention of the name, he noticed the slight change of his monotonic voice.
"It would then turn out that by Shuukra's words, he is the victim as he is the one who is always being bombarded with similar boxes. And this patch of skin. Yes, Shuukra told you that this patch of skin is like Sendoh's, so he could be a property of SAKURA. You wanted to know why."
"So you've come up to the story that Shuukra really is one of our greatest nemeses. That he really is the traitor whom we have tried to stop these years by using what's inside that box. This situation includes Hevn for you figured it out that Shuukra might be a certain love-struck stalker to her and because we knew that information, we contacted her for help. Since she had suffered Shuukra's annoying gestures of affection, she agreed and so have the two of you brought in. We schemed a plot way before that Sendoh should act as traitor and inform Shuukra—for he claimed it to the two of you that he prided his obvious presence and no one still can stop him—that SAKURA had finally found the thing inside the box and he offered to bring it in exchange for power. Shuukra agreed. And to make it more realistic, we have to bring you as retrievers. But it failed when Shuukra realized that nothing is inside the box and so there it goes," he ended.
"You do have a vast array of talents, Midou Ban. Really, I wondered why you never attempted to become a novelist instead. This plot is quite unique."
"Humor me, I' no novelist but simply an investigator and recorder of truth."
He smiled. Dangerously.
"For people out there SAKURA is just a silly tale for demented fools. We have kept this project for wraps that we don't want anyone to just accidentally slip it outside. And we will it to remain that way. Nobody should know it."
"I happen to know it," he tartly answered.
"That is because you are basically a nobody, Midou Ban," he answered with a smile.
A deliberately cast insult. Tactically unleashed.
Damnation. And he even laughed.
"You somehow managed to get it a little similar to our real situation, Midou, but I'm sorry to tell you that I shouldn't have bothered to exert all these efforts! This is rubbish! We shouldn't have just wasted both our time!"
And he laughed again.
He gave it all in one fatal blow. Everything crushed underneath.
"Don't worry with the promises, Midou Ban. I shall not request anything from you anymore. I do have the box already anyway. And you actually don't have that enough information to endanger us after. Your money of course stays. Thank you for the services you have offered, Get Backers. This experience is indeed…refreshing!"
That's it. He had read what they had known and he could just ridicule them like that? is he that good of an actor or are they just that stupid?
Violent contorted rage ran through Ban's now, a mixture of hurt pride and disappointment.
That was the end of it all for them.
Little do they know that a storm was just brewing right under their noses.