A few minutes earlier, Yubel had been nervous.

For one thing, he'd never been in a helicopter before. The fact that he could fly himself now was not enough to cancel out a gut-deep fear that this peculiar contraption might not be able to hold him up and they'd all fall into the ocean before he could figure out how to escape this hovering tin can. Also, discounting that one brief bid for freedom, he hadn't been properly outside in months. He had never been outside at all in his new shape.

And he was going to Academy Island. Ever since he'd met Juudai, all he'd done was dream and dream of the day when he could finally go free and visit the place where he lived, and now that day was at hand. It wasn't happening the way he'd hoped it would but, still, he was going. Everything was finally going to be all right. All he had to do was finish this thing first. Then he'd have done what his captors wanted from him, and he'd be through. They would have to let him go, and then he could be with Juudai and everything would be all right again.

"You remember what he looks like, right?" asked Yubel's handler, a square-jawed man with a narrow mustache.

"I know," said Yubel tensely. How cold he forget? It wasn't like he got to see many people these days. He wasn't going to forget a face he'd seen so recently.

"Good," the man snapped. "Now, make it quick, but not too quick. Don't just grab the guy and run. We don't want it looking too easy, you understand?"

Since Yubel had heard this a dozen times today, he just nodded, keeping his eyes on the window. The island was coming closer. It was very much the way Yubel had been imagining it, and he pressed his nose to the glass and stared. He thought it was the most beautiful place he'd ever seen. He wondered where Juudai was right now. In one of those buildings, maybe, having lessons? Or was it too late in the day to have lessons? Maybe he was down on the beach right now, watching this helicopter coming closer and wondering if this at last was his friend coming to join him...

Then the door was flung open, and Yubel had all he could do to concentrate on not being bowled over by the buffeting wind. Then someone shoved him roughly, and he stumbled towards the door and leaped out.

It was better outside the helicopter. His new wings bore him up easily, and once he was well away from the downdraft of the rotors, the air was mild and pleasant. Yubel drifted over the ocean, enjoying the fresh air and the feel of the sun on his skin. It occurred to him suddenly that he didn't need to go back. He could stay here. He had wings, and they couldn't catch him once he was in the air. He should just go lose himself somewhere in the forest until they went away, and then...

Yubel's attention was attracted by a movement on the beach, and he drifted closer for a better look. Yes, there was the man he'd been sent to retrieve, just where they'd said he would be. There were others on the beach, too - a dark-haired man in white, a fair-haired man in black, and a tall, thin man with a long ponytail. And then there was... another. The other men were all running around and shouting, but Yubel had eyes for only one person. He veered in his flight to touch down on the sand in front of him.

"Juudai?" he said. His heart was racing. After all this time, they were finally together. He had waited for this moment for so long. Juudai was going to be so happy to see him.

Juudai frowned. "How do you know my name?"

Yubel stared at him. "Don't you remember me?"

"Why would I remember you?" Juudai snapped. "I've never seen you before in my life."

For a moment, Yubel couldn't process the words. They simply couldn't be true. Ever since he'd first met Juudai, Yubel had done nothing but dream of the day when Juudai would keep his promises, and the two of them would be together on this island. It was the thought that had kept him alive and determined to go on in the face of everything G.R.A.S.P. had thrown at him. It was the foundation of his world, and now here was Juudai telling him that none of it had mattered to him. He'd forgotten. The whole time Yubel had been suffering in his dark little prison, Juudai had been here in this beautiful sunlit place, making friends and having fun, and he'd forgotten all about Yubel. For a moment, it was too much to bear. It was the only thing that had been keeping him going, and now it was gone. What else could possibly matter, when Juudai was not only not glad to see him, but was glaring at him as if Yubel were the enemy here? For a moment, all Yubel wanted to do was collapse in the sand and give up.

The moment passed. Then, looking into Juudai's dark, accusing eyes, a new emotion crept over Yubel: anger. How dare Juudai forget about him? How dare he not care about all Yubel had suffered? How dare he not keep his promises?

"You don't remember me?" Yubel said softly. "Then let me teach you."

Juudai stared at the apparition in front of him, trying to get a handle on his feelings. The most immediate was confusion. He was sure he'd never seen anything even remotely like this creature outside of a monster movie, but it looked so sure he was supposed to remember it. He couldn't even have said what it was, let alone who. But there was more than that bothering him. His new sixth sense was telling him that there was something wrong about this creature, something that never should have existed, and just having it near him was making him feel a little queasy. Beneath that, though, was another sense, one that was harder for him to identify: pity. Whatever this monster was, wherever it had come from, it was miserably unhappy. If only he knew why...

Then all those thoughts went onto the back burner as the monster suddenly lashed out at him with its razor-sharp claws. Juudai dove out of the way with a yelp. Hastily, he re-evaluated some of his earlier thoughts: having power over other people's powers was not particularly useful if they dispensed with the fancy stuff and just stabbed him.

"Watch yourself!" Fujiwara shouted at him.

"Trying!" Juudai shouted back.

Still, the attack seemed to have jarred everyone into action. Ryou vaulted into the air and flew at the monster, firing off several rounds of energy bolts. The creature batted them aside as if they were no more than flies, then blasted him with a fireball that sent him spinning off to one side to land half in the water. Fujiwara gave a cry of dismay and hurried to his side, helping him back to his feet. The creature ignored both of them and instead began advancing on Juudai once again.

"Hey, you! Leave him alone!" shouted DD, running up the beach toward them. "He's just a boy! If you want to pick a fight with someone, fight with me!"

The monster was not impressed by this valiant charge. It simply flicked a claw at him, firing off more fireballs. DD seemed taken by surprise by this. The attack hit him full-on, and he was thrown off his feet. Juudai scrambled, trying to find enough purchase in the sand to get out of the line of fire.

"Look," he said, "I don't know what I did to tick you off, but maybe we could talk about this instead of..."

The claws came down again. Juudai lunged out of the way and looked for somewhere to run, but found that his escape path was cut off by a cluster of rocks. He'd been backed into a corner. He looked up at the creature that was slowly advancing on him, its three eyes full of such rage and pain that for a moment he was unable to remember why he needed to get out of the way.

He remembered again when the creature raised a claw over its head.

Then something tackled it from the side. Juudai looked in amazement as he saw Professor Daitokuji careen into the monster and knock it off-balance. There wasn't anything impressive or skilled about it. It was just a wild, clumsy throw, with hair and gangly limbs flying and Daitokuji's glasses propelled off his face with the force of the impact, and for a moment Juudai wondered if somehow all Daitokuji's tinkering had robbed him of any powers he'd once possessed. For a moment the two of them, man and monster, looked so silly and awkward lying on the sand like that with their arms and legs and wings flopping wildly that it made Juudai want to laugh.

Then the creature managed to get a grip on Daitokuji and fling him off to one side. In a flash, the monster was upright again, crouched on all fours like an animal. Daitokuji had his eyes squinted nearly shut, and was fumbling around in the sand for his glasses, clearly blind and disoriented by his fall. He never saw the creature raise its claws and slash his throat.

Juudai's mind went blank. The world seemed very still, all of a sudden - silent save for the sound of the waves, empty save for the white sand and blue water and slowly spreading red stain. This island was a safe place. It was a place where children were supposed to play learning games under the watchful eyes of kindly teachers. No one ever got hurt here, not really. No one could ever get hurt here.

"How dare you!"

A roar of rage startled Juudai out of his shock, and he turned to see DD barreling down the beach towards the monster, hands already glowing with energy. He fired several blasts at the monster, blasts that simply bounced off its skin without obviously harming it. He tried again anyway, the bolts of light coming so thick and fast that for a moment it was impossible to see what he was shooting at. Then he collided with it, ramming his fists into its chest, and the two of them began to struggle. For a moment, Juudai thought that DD actually had the upper hand, but then somehow the monster managed to twist around and grab him, pinning his arms to his sides. He struggled wildly, but the monster's grip didn't so much as budge.

"Let go of me! You'll never get away with this!" he shouted.

The monster said nothing. For a moment, it almost seemed puzzled, as if it had forgotten what it had been planning to do in all the excitement. Then it looked at Juudai again, and for a moment its expression was one of utter desolation, as if it had just realized that there was nothing left that could give it any hope. Then it spread its wings and launched itself off the beach, taking DD with it.

"Hey! Come back here!"

There was a splashing further up the beach. Ryou had recovered from being knocked around and was back on his feet again, running in the direction of where the monster had been a split second before. He kicked off the sand and began flying after them, streaking through the air in the direction of the helicopter that still hovered expectantly over the ocean. The monster reached the doors first and tossed DD inside before ducking through the opening and vanishing. A moment later, Ryou reached the entrance, and something too far away for Juudai to see reached out and hauled him in, slamming the door behind it. Juudai waited for explosions or signs of battle, but nothing happened. The helicopter simply turned and began flying away, back towards the mainland.

It became very quiet on the beach.

Juudai wasn't sure how much time had passed, with him simply sitting and staring stupidly at the waves as they rolled in and out. His mind seemed to have shut down. There had just been too many surprises that day, and he had run out of the energy to deal with them. It was much easier to simply sit there pretending to be a rock.

He was jarred from his peaceful reverie by the sound of footsteps approaching him. Fujiwara was approaching - cautiously, as if half-afraid Juudai might explode if something jostled him.

"Are you all right?" he asked in his soft voice.

"I don't know," Juudai admitted. "What just happened? DD and Ryou and Daitokuji... they're..."

"I'm sorry," said Fujiwara. "I wish I could have done something, I'm not much of a fighter. I tried, but whatever that thing was, I couldn't get a grip on it somehow. There's something wrong with it."

"I know," said Juudai vaguely.

Meanwhile, Edo was making himself useful. He'd taken out some sort of gizmo from his jacket pocket and was punching buttons on it. Whatever it said seemed to satisfy him, because he nodded and put the gadget back in his pocket. Then he knelt down beside Daitokuji and began swabbing up the blood with a handkerchief. Daitokuji's cat, who had been hiding throughout most of the chaos, padded down onto the beach to curl up on his master's chest and purr.

"Uh," said Juudai, feeling intensely awkward. "I don't think that's gonna do any good..."

"Well, sure, probably not," said Edo, rinsing the cloth in a nearby tide pool and starting again, "but it can't be very comfortable, being covered in blood like that. It's going to be itchy when it dries."

Juudai and Fujiwara stared at each other in blank incomprehension. Edo stared at them.

"Hang on," he said. "You really don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Juudai asked.

There was a small cough. It came from Daitokuji. Edo looked rather pleased with himself.

"There. See?" he said proudly.

"Ooh," said Daitokuji. "I hate when that happens. Get off, Pharaoh, you're heavy..." He attempted to sit, gave up as Pharaoh made a little warning growl, and flopped back into the sand. "Did anyone see where my glasses went?"

Edo fetched the required article and passed it to Daitokuji, who slipped them on with a sigh of relief. Juudai and Fujiwara continued to stare.

"But... I don't get it," he said. "His throat was ripped out! He was dead! Even accelerated healing powers can't fix that!"

"You don't have to talk about me like I'm not here," said Daitokuji, a bit peevishly.

"You guys really need to do better research," said Edo. "Haven't you ever heard of the Ghost Cat?"

"Nope,," said Juudai. "You want me to remember names at a time like this?"

Edo gave him a scornful look. "That was Professor Daitokuji's hero name."

"Okay, great," said Juudai. "Cute name, but I don't see what that has to do with..."

"Oh!" said Fujiwara, expression clearing. "I get it now! Cats have nine lives, right?"

"More than nine," said Daitokuji. He sounded a bit sheepish. "I was very accident-prone as a child, always taking risks I shouldn't have. I didn't know I had any powers at all until the day some friends and I went exploring in an old abandoned house, and I fell down some rotten stairs and broke my neck. I woke up a few minutes later, though, good as new. A few years later, I was bicycling and got hit by a car. Woke up in the hospital with a tag tied around my toe, and nearly scared the life out of some poor nurse. Anyway, the point is that every time something kills me, I always come back. They started calling me the Ghost Cat after I came back for the tenth time. They said I'd already used up my nine lives, so I must be a ghost cat by now. A little joke."

Juudai did not think it was very funny.

"You could have said something!" he said.

Daitokuji fiddled with the arms of his glasses, which seemed to have gotten a bit bent in the scuffle. "I don't like to blab it around. I mean, what if there's a limit to the number of times I can come back? What if there's a way to kill me that will stick? And it isn't as if it's a very useful talent. I'm no good in a fight. All I can really do is what I just did: make myself a shield so someone else can get away. And it still hurts." He looked sadly down at himself, his shirt still soaked in blood. "And it ruins my clothes."

"Great, wonderful. Glad that's all settled," said Edo. "Can we focus on the important thing here, please?"

"Oh, yeah," said Juudai. He shook himself, trying to free himself of the paralysis that had fallen over him when he'd seen his professor die. The fact that it had been temporary had not been enough to completely remove the trauma of seeing it. "Those guys took your dad."

"And Ryou," said Fujiwara. "We need to help them." His gaze drifted off towards the main building. "But we were going to help Fubuki, too..."

"DD needs us more," said Edo firmly.

"But how can we help him?" asked Juudai. "Those guys just took him and left. We don't even know where they went."

Edo grinned. "Yeah, we do. He and I always carry tracking devices, so we can find each other if something like this happens. You guys with your fancy powers always forget about the simple stuff. I can find him any time I want, as long as no one removes the tracker or blocks it somehow. And since they almost certainly will, I'd like to get moving before they get around to it."

Juudai frowned, thinking hard. He wasn't used to having to put so much effort into planning, but he could feel in his gut that it was important that they not just rush off. He just needed to understand why he felt that way so that he could tell everyone else.

"I think we should help Fubuki first," he said.

Everyone looked at him - Edo with profound annoyance, Daitokuji with interest, Fujiwara with faint approval.

"Why?" Edo asked.

"Because... I don't know," said Juudai. "Look, that thing that took DD, there was something really wrong about it, and I feel like it's the same sort of wrong that's going on with Fubuki. If that's true, then it might mean these are the same people who hurt him, and it means if we just go rushing after them, they might do to us what they did to him. They might be doing the same thing to DD and Ryou. We ought to know what it is and if there's a way to fix it or protect ourselves from it. Otherwise, we're just going to wind up like Fubuki, and that won't help anyone."

The others stared at him. Slowly, Daitokuji smiled.

"I always did think you were smarter than you let on, Juudai," he said. "And you're right. Let's go have a look at Mr. Tenjoin."

"But..." Edo began, and stopped. "Okay, fine, but this better not take too long."

"It will take as long as it takes," said Daitokuji. He carefully shifted his cat to his shoulder, with Pharaoh making little grunts of annoyance as he settled into his new place, and let Juudai and Fujiwara haul him to his feet. Juudai noticed that while his clothing was still a gory mess, the skin underneath was smooth and undamaged. It made his smile rather less reassuring than usual. "I know what you're thinking, Edo. You're thinking that it's safe for you to go because you have no powers of your own. But that's not really true, is it? Your S-levels are less than one hundred, but you do have them. They make you faster and stronger than most people and give you quicker reflexes - just enough to do you some good. That also means you'll have the same weakness as Fubuki. If they hit you with whatever chemical they've injected him with, you'll be in the same fix. That won't do your father any good. Now, be sensible."

He continued smiling. Edo was the one to back down.

"Fine," he said. "Let's go."

They hurried to the infirmary. Later, Juudai reflected that it might not have been a waste of time to stop off by Daitokuji's rooms and let him change his clothes. As it was, it took some time to get the nurse to calm down and stop shrieking when she saw the state of his shirt. It was only after she'd been quieted down and Daitokuji had agreed to go wash up and put on a clean set of hospital scrubs that they were permitted to visit Fubuki's bedside.

"What kind of bloodwork have you done on him?" asked Daitokuji briskly. The rest of the group - Juudai, Edo, Fujiwara, Asuka, and all those who had been involved in Misawa's rescue - were jammed into the small hospital room, looking on with interest. Juudai was fascinated. Daitokuji had always struck him as a pleasant man, but with maybe not a lot on the ball - a typical absent-minded professor, in other words. Now he was in his element, and he radiated calm assurance. The nurse, Miss Ayukawa, handed him a clipboard, which he glanced over with professional interest.

"I'm going to need more blood samples," he said. He was already opening his box of materials and laying things out.

"Right away," Miss Ayukawa replied.

Deftly, she drew several small vials of blood and passed them to Daitokuji. Juudai and his friends leaned in closer to watch as he ran the samples through small machines, or mixed them with chemicals to see how they'd react. If time hadn't been so short, the performance would have been fascinating. As it was, Juudai had to resist the temptation to just rush out of the room and leave the professor to get on with it.

"Well?" he asked, when he couldn't stand it any longer.

"I think you're right," said Daitokuji. "He's definitely been injected with power inhibitors. I'll have to do some more work to get the exact recipe, but I think I have most of the main ingredients worked out."

"Does that mean you can fix it?" asked Asuka.

"Possibly," said Daitokuji. "I'll be honest - the damage might be permanent. The best I can do is counteract anything that might still be lingering in his system."

"It won't be permanent. I won't let it." The words were out of Juudai's mouth before he realized he was going to say them.

Daitokuji looked at him keenly, but all he said was, "I'll do my best, then. Give me a moment."

He consulted with Miss Ayukawa for a moment, and then he withdrew to another room with his chemistry kit. When he returned, he had a syringe filled with purple fluid.

"Well, here goes," he said, and injected the liquid into Fubuki's arm.

There was no immediate reaction. Asuka made a little stifled noise.

"Be patient," Daitokuji advised her. "These things take time."

"It will be all right," said Fujiwara. "Fubuki's resilient. You'll see."

Juudai was only vaguely paying attention to this bit of byplay. Instead, all his focus was on Fubuki. When he'd first walked into the room, he realized, there had been something inert about Fubuki, like a lamp that had burned out or an engine that was out of gas. Now there was the faintest stirring of energy. Juudail leaned in closer, trying to get a better feel of that sense of something happening, something giving way. Was it just his imagination, or was there a better color creeping into Fubuki's cheeks? Was his breathing just a little bit steadier?

"Hey, cool it, guys," he said. "I think he's coming around!"

Everyone quieted. All eyes turned to stare at Fubuki. For a few seconds, nothing more happened, but Juudai continued to stare at him so intently that no one else dared to move. Then, slowly, Fubuki drew in a deep breath and twitched slightly. He opened his eyes, then quickly shut them again.

"Geez, it's bright in here," he complained.

"Fubuki!" Asuka explained, and pushed her way past Juudai to take her brother's hand.

"What's goin' on?" he mumbled. "I don't feel so good today."

"It's all right," said Daitokuji. "I'm sure you'll start feeling better soon."

"So we know we've got a cure that works," said Edo. He sounded relieved, and Juudai couldn't blame him. Edo must have been wondering what these kidnappers were doing to his father just now. Knowing there was a cure had to be a load off his mind.

"At least partially," said Daitokuji. "I'm going to work on refining my solution and see if I can't come up with something that will help protect you."

"Right," said Juudai. He looked around the room. "Guess we'd better get ready, then. We'll be leaving as soon as we've got a team together."

Edo rounded on him, clearly annoyed that Juudai was usurping what he viewed as his mission. "And just how were you planning on getting off this island?"

Juudai returned the glare with a puzzled look.

"Well," he said, "you have a boat, don't you?"

When Ryou had first seen the creature that had attacked DD, he'd had a script already in mind. He knew how this scene was supposed to play: he and the whatever-it-was would have a dramatic battle over the water, he would win, the monster would fall into the sea, Ryou would rescue DD, and everyone would see him as a hero. His reputation would be restored. This was clearly how Saiou's prediction had been meant to work out. He wasn't quite sure how Fubuki's recovery fitted into it yet, but presumably once he'd vanquished whatever mooks were running this operation, it would give the heroes the leverage to find out what they'd done to Fubuki and how to undo it. Everything was going to work out.

Unfortunately, the monster didn't seem to be cooperating. Nothing Ryou threw at it had any effect on it. He had the frustrating sensation that it was barely even paying attention to him. Nothing he had tried had worked, and in the end, he'd found himself beaten and hauled into this helicopter that was taking him who-knew-where. He tugged at the bonds that were holding him to the wall of the helicopter, but he already knew it was a lost cause. The material seemed to be a relative of the power dampeners they put on people like Saotome Rei or Saiou Takuma, and no matter what he did, he couldn't break them. The monster that had attacked him had been hustled off into some sort of containment cell at the back of the aircraft, leaving Ryou and DD alone. Ryou glanced at him now, wondering why he wasn't chained up when Ryou was bound hand and foot.

Ryou had always done very well in his lessons. It didn't take him long to come up with an answer.

"Would you like to explain to me what this is really all about?" he asked calmly.

DD smiled. "Edo always did say you were something special. I can see he isn't wrong."

"Cut the flattery," said Ryou tersely. "Why did you stage this? How did you stage this?"

"That's rather a long story," said DD. "Fortunately, we have a bit of a flight ahead of us, so I'll tell it if you really want to know. Or would that be too much like villainous grandstanding?"

Ryou glared at him. "Does Edo know about this?"

DD immediately sobered. "No. Absolutely not. This has nothing to do with him."

"But you came to visit him," said Ryou.

"That was just an excuse," said DD. "If he hadn't been there, I would have found another reason. Suffice to say, it was important that I be here, and visiting Edo gave me a plausible reason."

"Why was it important?" Ryou replied.

"Answering that would require my explanation," said DD. "Do you want it or not?"

Ryou considered his situation. Right now, he was trapped, with no way to either escape or fight back, or even to defend himself. All his training said that the thing to do was to pump the villain for information and hope he would spill something that Ryou could use against him later.

"All right," he said at last. "Talk."

"Very well," DD replied. He settled more comfortably into his seat. "Have you ever heard of an organization called G.R.A.S.P.?"

"Can't say that I have," said Ryou offhandedly. Actually, he had heard of it, at least tangentially, mostly in news reports speculating as to whether or not they'd had something to do with a crime or disappearance. Very little seemed to be actually known about them, but what reputation they had wasn't good. "Their logo is clever, I suppose. That's all I can really say."

"It stands for Group Researching Artificial Super Powers," DD explained. "We've been working on various projects for years. Would you believe that when I started out, my S-levels were half what they are now? We've had great success in improving the skill sets of people whose S-levels aren't quite what they should be."

Ryou was beginning to have an unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach. He tried not to let his suspicions show on his face. "Is that a fact? I'd always heard such a thing was impossible."

"It isn't impossible - only difficult. If you're willing to bear the pain, you can reap some amazing benefits," DD replied.

"Why haven't you shared this with Edo?" Ryou asked. "He strikes me as the kind who'd be willing to bear anything to push past his limitations."

DD's expression clouded. In that moment, Ryou knew everything he'd been guessing was true.

"It was you," he said softly. "You killed Edo's father to get his notes on artificially induced superpowers. That's why you can't tell him. He'd guess right away."

"He would," DD agreed. He looked almost regretful. "I've always been sorry about that. His life would have been so much happier if I'd be able to share what I've learned with him."

"His life would have been happier if his father hadn't been murdered," Ryou snapped.

DD just looked at him blankly, as if Ryou had been talking gibberish. Ryou found himself wondering just what the man had been doing to himself all these years. Yes, perhaps he'd been able to increase his powers, but at what cost? What sort of drugs had he been ingesting, anyway?

"It had to be done," said DD at last. "Mr. Phoenix was a brilliant man, but he was a dreamer. He would have continued refining his ideas forever and never gotten any closer to actually putting them into practice. Someone had to step in, for the good of the world at large. I wouldn't have hurt him if he'd just been willing to see reason."

"Fine," said Ryou. "So you got your science. It works. Now what are you trying to do?"

"Isn't it obvious?" DD replied. "It's not enough to be able to increase the power levels of people who already have powers. I've been studying ways of giving powers to people who started out with none at all... or removing them from people who already have them."

Ryou thought of Fubuki lying still and silent back at the infirmary. Suddenly it all made sense. This was why Saiou had told him to make deals with an authoritative stranger. Ryou was meant to bargain with the man who held the secret to what had made Fubuki sick - and so, perhaps, the secret to what would make him well again. Even more, Ryou could be the one to stop the same thing from happening to anyone else.

To deflect any thoughts DD might be having along those lines, Ryou said, "People have been trying to figure out how to give powers to normals for years. Why should I believe you've figured it out?"

"Well, I can't take all the credit," said DD modestly. "But I can say with confidence that I have good reason to believe in the success of our project. In face, you just met living proof."

Ryou was taken aback. "You mean that thing that attacked us was..."

"His name is Yubel," said DD. "He's our prize experiment - the very first normal we've been able to successfully graft superpowers onto."

Ryou thought of the creature who had attacked him on the beach. It was one thing to be born a super and know from the beginning that you were going to be something out of the ordinary, and something else entirely to spend your whole life being ordinary and have someone turn you into that without so much as a by-your-leave. Ryou rather doubted that Yubel had been given the full disclosure beforehand, or much choice in whether or not he'd be allowed to go through with it.

"That's... rather impressive," said Ryou carefully. "Did you have any control over how those powers manifested, or did things just happen that way?"

DD shrugged. "We were hoping to get the standard assortment - strength, speed, flight, maybe some kind of energy weapon. It didn't quite work the way we were expecting, but it worked well enough. There will be time to refine the process later on."

"I see," said Ryou, trying to keep his voice level. "That's... interesting."

DD gave him a thin smile. "I'm sensing a certain lack of enthusiasm. Edo told me that you're the sort who keeps his feelings to himself, but somehow I'm not convinced that's what this is. I think you don't approve of my experiments."

Damned right, I don't, Ryou thought.

"Excuse me if I'm not feeling particularly enthusiastic right now," he said sarcastically. "I'm not at my best when people capture me and chain me to a wall. It tends to rob me of my reserves of sympathy."

"The restraints are only a precaution," said DD. "Let me be honest with you. I know better than to trust you without some guarantee of good behavior. On the other hand, I think we could be of use to each other."

Ryou raised an eyebrow. "And what use could you be to me?"

"Come, now. Weren't you just telling me all your problems?" DD replied. "This is my answer. I can help you. I can share my technology with you and help you to adapt your own powers so that nothing will ever be able to stand up to you again. I can even give you what you'll need to help your friend. All I ask in return is that you keep my secrets and be willing to help with one or two of my projects. I can always use a few helpers to help with retrieving research material."

Ryou hesitated. All his training said that a hero never cooperated with a villain, and this was obviously a villain, even if he was in hero's clothing. The heroic thing to do would be to declare that he would never ally with someone like this. The less heroic but still intelligent thing to do would be to pretend to go along with the villain's scheme, earn his trust, and then turn on him. That sort of behavior wasn't exactly encouraged, but it was still an option. For just a moment, though, Ryou had been tempted. Maybe it was because of the way Yubel had been able to dodge him so easily, had brushed off his attacks like they were nothing. Ryuu knew he was supposed to be one of the strongest heroes in the world, with S-levels approaching those of immortals like Mutou Yuugi and Kaiba Seto. It galled him that even with all his power and training, he kept losing. Was it possible that these people had the secret that would help him become the hero he knew he was destined to be?

I wouldn't be doing it for me. I'd be doing it for Fubuki, he told himself. He'd understand, if he knew.

Something of what he was thinking must have shown on his face. DD smiled and crossed the cargo hold to undo his bonds. Ryou stood slowly, rubbing at his wrists where the shackles had chafed him.

"So," said DD, "is it a deal?"

He held out his hand. Ryou contemplated for a moment. There were a lot of things he could have done at that point. He could have waited for a chance to escape, flown back to the island, and rallied help. He could have deferred the choice and simply waited and hoped that his friends would rescue him. He could have made the valiant, noble, stupid sacrifice and declared he would never ally himself with the people who'd hurt his friend. He could have lied.

Ryou took DD's hand.

"It's a deal." he said.

Daitokuji sat by Fubuki's bedside, monitoring the patient's vitals and taking notes. Fubuki was sitting up in bed now, still too weak to stand very long on his own, but he was awake and talkative, and eager to hear everything that had been going on while he'd been out. Daitokuji had filled him in as best he could while keeping most of his attention on medical matters. This was the most fun he'd had in years - a real challenge right in his line. How often did something like that come along?

"Stop squirming," he scolded gently. "I still want to run a few more tests."

"But you've run a bunch already!" Fubuki protested. "And these tubes are starting to get on my nerves." He gestured to the IV that was still dripping medicine into his arm.

"Don't push yourself too hard," Daitokuji cautioned. "I know you're feeling better, but that's no reason to exhaust yourself. Your sister would never forgive me if she came back here and found you had relapsed."

"Am I going to relapse?" Fubuki asked.

"We can hope not," said Daitokuji. "You'll be less likely to if you settle down and behave."

Fubuki pouted, but he clearly didn't feel up to arguing. He settled back against his pillows and stared thoughtfully up at the ceiling. It was clearly a sign that he wasn't up to full strength yet, that he was giving up so easily. Daitokuji went back to studying his test results. The stuff Fubuki had been injected with was truly remarkable - a genuine triumph of science, except for the fact that it nearly killed people. If you could get around the debilitating effects somehow...

When he first heard the footsteps, he assumed that it was only Miss Ayukawa returning. She had stepped away a few minutes ago to tend to some of the students who had been injured in the scuffle on the pier, and he'd been expecting her to return any minute now. It took him a few seconds to realize that these weren't a woman's steps. A student, come to look for the doctor? Or was it...

"Hey!" Fubuki yelped. "What the heck are you doing here?"

Daitokuji turned in his seat, dropping his notepad and pencil in surprise. Three strange men in dark uniforms were pushing their way through the door.

"You can't come in here!" he blurted. "This is a sickroom!"

He realized, of course, that this was a foolish thing to say, but it had just slipped out of him. The men laughed.

"Sorry, doc," said one of them. "We're just here to take a patient off your hands."

Daitokuji backed towards Fubuki's bed, putting himself between his patient and the interlopers. "Actually, you really don't need to do that. He's feeling much better already, so..."

"That's for us to decide," said the lead man. He slipped a gun from its holster and leveled it. "Now, are you gonna do this the easy way or the hard way?"

Daitokuji looked around, frantically searching for help.

Where's a ray gun when you need one? He drew in a deep breath and tipped back his head.

"Intruders!" he shouted, as loudly as his reedy voice could manage. "Intruders in the infirmary! Danger! Intru..."

The gun went off. It hit his shoulder and sent him staggering backwards, where he collapsed across Fubuki's bed in an undignified heap. Somewhere in the haze of pain and fear, a tiny part of his mind that was still holding on to his clinical detachment found the energy to hope he hadn't pulled out Fubuki's IV.

"Hey!" Fubuki yelped. "Leave him alone!"

Though half-closed eyes, Daitokuji saw Fubuki raise his hands and conjure a spray of ice. The cold momentarily soothed the pain in Daitokuki's shoulder, but it didn't seem to do much to slow down the invaders. Poor Fubuki, who had once been strong enough to cover a significant portion of the school in two feet of snow, was still too weak to do more than air condition the room.

The goons recoiled a little when the ice spray went out, but when it had subsided into a chilly mist, they clustered around the bed again.

"Get him on the stretcher," the lead one barked.

"But he's all wired up with tubes and things."

"Just pull 'em out. The med team can figure out what to do with him when we get him on the sub."

Sub? They came here on a submarine? Through the haze of shock and blood loss, Daitokuji tried to force himself to think. There were plenty of places at the far side of the island, rocky little coves where a submarine might be hidden, and no buildings that might contain anyone who could inconveniently notice anything.

All this was set up. The raid on the beach was just to get everyone looking that way and worrying about something else. They think I'm taking care of Fubuki. It might be hours before they realize he's gone...

He had to do something. He needed help. As the thugs yanked Fubuki off of his bed and dragged him onto a stretcher, Daitokuji tried to gather himself to move.

"We don't need any witnesses," said one of the thugs. "Get rid of him."

"Right," said another, and raised his gun. "Hold still, you."

Rats, not again, Daitokuji thought resignedly, and for the second time that day, he died.