Chapter 11

Out Of My Mind

Illiana woke up on her floor, nauseous and confused. She sat up and crawled to her trashcan, emptying what little she had in her stomach; when she finished, all she could manage was rolling onto her back. She lay there trying to remember how she ended up on the floor in the first place.

Maybe her heart faltered long enough to knock her out, it was possible, it had happened before... In lying still Illiana could feel the wheels whirring and purring in her chest; her heart was working fine now.

The woman took a deep breath and sat up, the room spun a bit but settled quickly. As she tried to stand the world spun again, harsher this time and she grabbed the desk next to her. She took immediate notice of her blinking phone and checked it quickly.

There were about ten messages from a man named Kotetsu asking about Barnaby. As she scrolled they became more and more urgent.

Illiana dropped the phone and dropped to her elbows on the desk. Her head pounded and images flickered in her memory; Barnaby, her father, Maverick, Yuri, the heroes and a face she was sure she didn't know. Her heart sped up and she could feel it like hummingbird wings in her chest. "Yuri..."

She slapped at her touch screen console, calling the Judge's phone before falling back to the floor.

Barnaby woke up in a bed that definitely wasn't his. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, scanning his surroundings with blurry vision. He spotted his glasses on the nightstand and slid them on, clearing what he saw. He wandered from the room and followed the smell of food.

Maverick turned from the stove and smiled at the blonde, "Hungry?"

"Where are we?" Barnaby asked instead of answering.

The older man moved the pan he was working with away from the fire and untied his apron, "One of my vacation homes, not too far away from the city. You passed out and the doctor said exhaustion. So I figured what's a few days of holiday?" he chuckled, "Although you slept through two."

"Two days!"

He smiled again, "Yes. But you needed the rest."

Barnaby nodded, agreeing, as he sat down, "Of course."

Maverick smirked as Barnaby rubbed his green eyes. The boy had actually only been out for a night, but since he didn't remember yesterday anyway it was only to his advantage if the boy's internal clock was thrown off a bit. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he answered it, "Hello?"

"Miss Blackwell has been admitted to the hospital. Judge Petrov found her in her office about an hour ago."

"What is her condition?" Maverick asked the question loudly, purposely catching Barnaby's attention."

"Critical. The report says she wasn't breathing when they picked her up. Heart was unstable also."

The man forced down the smile pulsing at his lips and instead feigned concern. Barnaby stood and approached him, "What's going on?"

Maverick thanked the caller and hung up. His brain worked rapidly to fabricate his story. He hadn't expected to kill Illiana... at least not yet anyway, so he needed to group the news of her hopefully imminent death in with another, "Miss Blackwell was found in her office this morning."

"Ana! Is she ok?"

"She wont be for too much longer. She's in the hospital now but it doesn't sound promising."

Barnaby turned on his heal, "I have to go to the hospital!" He remembered arguing with the woman in his apartment. But he wasn't sure what the argument was about. Anyway, it just didn't feel right.

"Wait Barnaby... there's something else. It's about Samantha."

The young hero stopped in his tracks and Maverick turned on the television.

"...Kotetsu T Kaburagi is charged with attacking Illiana Blackwell, daughter of the late Sternbuild police commissioner Matthew Blackwell, he is also charged with the murder of a long time Sternbuild resident Samantha Taylor late last night."

Barnaby fell hard onto the couch. His beloved aunt Samantha was gone. The only family he had left had been murdered. Tears burned his eyes as Maverick turned off the television. It was a bit far fetched to blame Kotetsu for putting Nai in the hospital but Barnaby bought it and the common people were always too enthralled with violence to worry about the details.

"He must be after me... or information on me..." Barnaby grasped blindly at some sort of reasoning.

Maverick was pleased with this direction, "What will you do?"

"I'm going after him."

Yuri watched the television with disbelief all over his features. His Ana, his precious Ana was attacked by Kaburagi? It made no sense, he was positive the hero wasn't capable of such a thing as assault or murder and Illiana admired the older hero just as much as Yuri himself did.

Illiana shuffled in the hospital bed behind Yuri and he turned off the television.

"Yuri...where am I?" her voice was muffled under the oxygen mask and it was soft and hard to hear.

"The hospital."

She huffed, panicking, and the heart monitor beeped loudly. Yuri shushed her, kissing her forehead and telling her to relax, "It's ok. I'm not going to leave."

Her breathing calmed and the monitor settled. Yuri sat closer to the bed than before and held her hand, "Can you tell me what happened?"

"I can try." She whispered. Her breath fogged the mask as she took a deep breath and released it. "I was working and... I stood up for something. Um... I only really remember falling down after standing." She squeezed her eyes tight and growled, irritated, "That's what I remember... but it doesn't feel right."

Yuri was confused, "No one came to see you? Kaburagi didn't come and see you?"

"Who?"

"Kotetsu."

Illiana scrambled with the images in her head and put her hands on her temples. "Someone with that name kept messaging my phone. Do you have it?"

The judge quickly retrieved her phone form his pocket and went through her messages himself.

"Have you heard from Barnaby?" –Kotetsu

"Where is Barnaby?" –Kotetsu

"Can you call Barnaby?" –Kotetsu

"Is everything alright with you?" –Kotetsu

"Are you in trouble?" –Kotetsu

"Where are you?!" –Kotetsu

Yuri gave the phone to her, "He was looking for Barnaby...and you. Where you two together?"

Illiana felt like she was being interrogated, "No. I was alone... I think... oh god... I don't even know who this Kotetsu person is."

The judge figured as much. Something was up and he needed to figure out if Lunatic needed to get involved.

"Yuri..."

"I have to go."

"You said you wouldn't leave."

Yuri lent down and whispered in her ear. She calmed and nodded her head, caressing his knuckles as he gently released her hand. He kissed her head one last time and his gaze lingered on her lips, parted slightly, and damp from her breath fogging the mask... With a heavy breath he stood tall and left the room.

"Barnaby."

The blonde hero looked up from watching his feet as he moved down the hospital hallway. He couldn't decipher the look he was receiving from the judge, but it still made him shiver a little.

"Judge Petrov." He greeted.

"I heard about Miss Taylor. I'm sorry for your loss."

Barnaby's eyes widened and he nodded once, sharply, "Yes. Thank you."

Yuri eyed him for a moment, his clenched fists, the urgency wafting off him and he suppressed a smirk, "You're going after her murderer?"

Barnaby looked the man in the eye, "Of course."

Yuri nodded, "Good luck." He continued his way down the hall, "She's four doors down the hall."

Barnaby didn't acknowledge him and headed down the hall.