Okay! Here we go! Next chapter!

Thank you to Shan-kun for continuing to review!

Since I've had no other suggestions and am too lazy to come up with a name myself, Arlua and Natsuki now officially work for SupportTech.

Note: I decided to use 'this' format for Celty's typing as well as the chatroom stuff.

Disclaimer: I own Natsuki, Arlua, Malcolm, Supai (because I don't have enough OCs in this story yet!), and that's it.

Chapter 13

Black smoke curled up from the place where Celty's head should have been.

"What…?" Arlua gaped at the headless figure, yellow helmet forgotten in her grasp. "Celty…you…don't…"

"You didn't know she was headless?" Izaya's voice laughed from behind her. Arlua took a step back. The black-clad figure whipped out her PDA and tapped away at it for a moment before showing the screen to the astonished technician.

'I'm sorry you found out like this,' the screen read.

"Three years, and you didn't tell her?" Izaya tutted. "Celty, Celty, Celty. How horrible, to lie for so long." Celty tapped on her PDA again, then held it out.

'Shut up,' it read. More typing. 'Arlua, I'm sorry I never told you.'

"I understand," Arlua said faintly. "Really…"

'Are you all right?' Celty asked through the device. 'You look pale.'

"I just found out that Shinra's roommate that he's always talking about is headless. I think I have a right to be pale," the technician replied. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She studied the black smoke for a moment. "So that's why you always use the PDA to communicate."

"Kind of hard to talk without a mouth," Izaya agreed. Arlua glanced over her shoulder.

"Shut up, Izzy," she snapped. Then she turned back to Celty.

'Izzy?' the screen read. Arlua frowned.

"What?"

'You just called him Izzy,' was the reply. Arlua blinked and reread the message. Then she turned around to look at Izaya. He was smirking.

"Aw, Lu-chan decided to give me a nickname, too? How cute!~" he laughed. Arlua felt her cheeks heat up and glared at him.

"I did not! It just came out! I wouldn't give you a nickname, you cretin!" she spluttered. He tilted his head.

"Why not, Lu-chan?" he asked. Arlua glared and told herself the warmth in her cheeks was from anger.

"You give nicknames to people you're close to. Or normal people do. You apparently give nicknames to everyone. But I wouldn't give you a nickname because I don't like you. At all," she growled. Before he could reply, she whirled and stalked out of the room, past Celty. The headless woman showed the screen of her PDA to the information broker. He read the message and laughed.

"Don't worry; that one is too interesting to hurt just yet," he replied. "You should catch up with the technician, though, seeing as how she has your helmet." Celty tensed, then turned and darted after Arlua. Izaya watched them go. His smirk stayed in place until he was sure they were gone. Then his expression took on a slightly more thoughtful look. "Interesting," he murmured.

Arlua was in trouble, and it wasn't the first time, or she would have been much more afraid. Very interesting. He wondered how often she got into this sort of trouble.

Arlua stood on the sidewalk outside of the building Izaya's office was in. She paused there, wondering where to go. It was Sunday, so there wouldn't be anyone at her company, SupportTech.

Except maybe Malcolm, she corrected herself grimly. And he knows where I live, so he might be there… Crap. Where can I go?

Someone tapped Arlua on the shoulder. She turned and saw Celty standing in the shadow of the building. She held out her PDA.

'Can I have my helmet back?' she requested. Arlua blinked in surprise and looked down. She hadn't realized she was still holding it. She handed the bright yellow object to the headless rider.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to walk off with it," the technician apologized. Celty took the helmet and put it on before responding.

'It's all right.' After a moment, she asked, 'Why were you with Izaya all night?' Arlua felt the warmth in her face trying to return and fought it back as much as she could.

"I just needed a room with a security lock. I couldn't go to SupportTech and I couldn't go home. Izazya's office was just the first place I thought of," she explained.

'Why did you need the extra protection?'

"I hacked the wrong network, so they hired some guy to find me and get the flash drive I downloaded the files onto. Occupational hazard, I guess," the technician explained with a shrug.

'They hired someone?' Celty repeated.

"Yeah. The kid called himself Malcolm."

'Black hair, black eyes?'

"Yeah. Why?"

'Was there a brown-haired boy with him?' Arlua frowned.

"No, he was alone as far as I could tell. But why, Celty?" she demanded.

'Malcolm is fairly well-known in Ikebukuro. He works with an informant named Supai,' was the answer. 'They're dangerous. Stay away from them.'

"Yeah, because the people I see on a daily basis aren't dangerous at all," Alrua drawled. Celty shook her head…helmet? Arlua frowned at the intensity of the motion as the other woman typed furiously.

'These two aren't like Shizuo or Simon. Malcolm doesn't have emotions, and Supai shoots to kill.'

"All right, all right. I'll be careful. But Malcolm knows where I live, and where I work. I have to drop off the flash drive before he catches up with me again," she added grimly.

'I can take you to your company's building,' Celty offered. 'Then I can take you back to Ikebukuro if you think it wouldn't be safe to go home tonight.' Arlua smiled.

"Thanks, Celty. I'm sure once I drop off the drive, I'll be fine."