Episode 21

They were tumbling. The ground was coming up fast and no matter how loud Daiki yelled at his brother, there was nothing he could do with wings that refused to work. However, now that they weren't furiously trying to carrying them upwards, he could see that something was wrong; Very, very wrong with Taiga's wings.

He reached behind him and pried Taiga's hands from the handles on the vest to flip around, but he kept a firm grip on his wrists to keep them from drifting apart as they fell. Taiga was limp, but awake, and if the furious grimace on his face was any hint, he was in a lot of pain. He quickly studied the condition of the crimson wings, and he wasn't at all pleased with how they looked with feathers going everywhere like some epic case of bedhead. There was no possible way for them to maintain an airflow, and with that thought, Daiki knew he had to act fast, or both of them were going to get a permanent study in gravity.

"Wakamatsu! Something's wrong! Taiga's wings are shot! There's feathers everywhere!" Daiki barked, pulling on Taiga's arms to bring him closer so he could wrap an arm around his waist to get a better grip.

"Listen and don't argue with me, Aomine! Flip him around and sit on his ass! Latch your legs around his waist so he go fall off somewhere!" Wakamatsu's voice commanded.

"Are you serious?" Daiki yelped with a squeak, looking at Taiga's face that was hazed with pain.

"Don't argue! You're falling faster than you were climbing, so do it now!"

With a growl, Daiki held onto Taiga's waist while he used his other hand to flip him around by the shoulder. Taiga was in too much pain to protest, but when the wind caught his useless wings and snapped them back behind him, he screamed from the sharp pain that pin-balled its way all through his body. He hurt so much that he barely moved and it was all thumping and pounding from the spot on his back between his wings.

Once he had Taiga turned, Daiki wrapped his legs around Taiga's waist, keeping him exactly where he needed him to see that maddening red spot in the middle of Taiga's back. Just looking at it, he could feel the heat being ripped off of it and it was clearly swollen.

"Jesus Christ... He's got this giant knot in between his wings! No wonder he's frozen!" Daiki growled, daring to touch the spot, but it only made Taiga writhe in pain the moment his fingers touched it.

"He isn't frozen! Listen, Aomine... You need to punch that spot and punch it hard. If you don't, you hit the ground!" Wakamatsu said with urgency, his voice betraying that he was on the verge of freaking out.

"Wait! No! Don't! Please! It hurts enough as it is!" Taiga voiced up, his pained grunts coming through as he spoke.

"We have to, Kagami! It'll stop hurting!" Wakamatsu's voice snapped.

Taiga could barely contain his screams, he was in so much agony. The pain was searing, so hot that his vision was becoming white. He was shaking so badly that he could barely make fists to help distract him from the pain and he was to the point where he'd be willing to do anything to make it go away.

"Just make it stop! It hurts!" Taiga yelped, clenching his teeth tightly and squeezing his eyes shut.

"Do it, Aomine!"

Daiki pursed his lips together as he gathered all his strength, lifting a fist high into the air as he balanced both of them in the rushing air as they fell. It was tough to do both, but he knew he had to do it in order to give them both a fighting chance. He brought his fist down hard onto the swollen red spot, but it only made Taiga unleash that very scream he had been trying to hold back.

Even in the rush of the wind, trapped in their stall, Daiki's ears could heard it. It was blood curdling, the kind of scream someone let lose when they had nothing else to lose. Taiga was writhing, in so much agony that even death would be a reprieve. He plowed his knuckles into the same spot, but again, all it managed to do was make his brother scream even louder. His heart ached that he was causing someone he cared about so much pain, but he had to trust that it was for the best.

"Stop! I can't take it! It's hurts so much!" Taiga screamed, his skin glistening in the moonlight from the pained sweat that had erupted over his skin.

"I'm sorry! I have to, or we're both-"

Daiki's words caught in his throat when he glanced at Taiga's wings, how the feathers seemed to be doubling up on themselves. They were still sprawled in every direction like they were mashed together, but towards the tips of his wings, he saw that they were beginning to split.

"What the fuck? What the fuck is happening to his wings?" Daiki yelped, driving another hard hit to the red spot on Taiga's back, only to be met with another scream.

"Keep going! Kagami's a Cloud Walker!" Wakamatsu's voice roared.

Hit after hit, Daiki continued to hit the same spot, glancing at Taiga's wings each time to see the split was getting bigger. He realized it then what Wakamatsu had meant by calling his brother a Cloud Walker. It wasn't the fact that he could reach suborbital altitudes, if at all for a short time, but rather, it was a configuration. On wing, Taiga could reach 40,000 feet, but with a second set, he could double that. Taiga's wings weren't useless, they were splitting in two.

With only enough time for one more hit, Daiki raised his elbow, intended to use it to drive more power into the spot. With the pinpointed end, he could do it, he knew he could and as he grabbed Taiga's shoulder and drove it down, the power was unleashed.

The second his elbow buried itself into Taiga's back, his crimson wings frilled and split in two, producing a full second set of wings that had been hiding against his primary set. They were slightly smaller, but fully functional and the second they had finally separated, Taiga's pain vanished. Their fall instantly stopped with a hard jerk before Taiga swung around to grab the handles against Daiki's back before giving both sets a hard downbeat, launching them skyward so hard, that his stomach near shot from his body.

"Holy shit! Now we're talking! 5,000... 10,000... 15,000!... We're climbing stupid fast!" Daiki yelped with a laugh as he just watched the ground drop back once again, his wings tucked in hard against his body so not to impose on Taiga's duel sets.

"The pain's gone! What the hell is this? I have two sets of wings!" Taiga whooped, his duel wings beating hard and in unison that carried them up fast.

"It's the Cloud Walker configuration! Only your bloodline has it! Normally, they would have just split when you came of age, but the stress delayed it! Since you were already on wing when it happened, you needed help to split them!" Wakamatsu's voice explained in both their ears.

"It's so easy! I can climb like this all day! Double the span, double the climbing power!" Taiga beamed, sucking in massive lungfuls of the thinning air to power his muscles that beat his twin sets of wings.

"Exactly! Now shut the hell up and breathe! There isn't enough air up there to talk and fly at the same time! Just draw in huge gulps, hold, then release! Your lungs are designed to handle the altitudes!" Wakamatsu said.

It almost seemed as if it was getting quieter the higher they went, his lungs gulping down as much air as they could hold. Each downbeat pulled them higher and higher, and he was needing so much air to power his muscles that he was gulping it down by the mouthful. Each huge draw filled out his chest and each time he downbeat with both sets of wings, he released his breath.

Through his massive breathing, he could hear Daiki's voice reporting their height, and they were almost there. Only a couple thousand more feet and he could touch the sky. The air was cold against his skin, but he was so heated from climbing up there that it felt like had just jumped into a pool during the hottest of summers. The stars were so big, so beautiful that they looked like the twinkles in someone's eye and as Daiki called their magic number, he spread his duel wings and hovered at the edge of space.

That high, he could only take a breath once every few seconds as his lungs pulled every ounce of oxygen they could manage to store it in his thickened blood. It was an odd feeling, but he was fine as sucked in air like a fish does water. Each breath was suspended in his lungs for several moments before bleeding out and when they were empty, he took another gulp as Wakamatsu's voice came into his ears.

"Drop him now, Kagami and get your ass back down here, or you suffocate! You're underdeveloped, so you can't hang up there long!"

Taiga's lips moved, but there was no sound, no words. There simply wasn't enough air to produce his voice, only enough to maintain his wings. He wanted to stay up there, to stare out at the rounded globe below him, but he knew he couldn't. He would come back to this edge, this oblivion on the edge infinity, and as he looked down, Daiki gave him a single nod.

That was when he opened his hands.

He watched as Daiki's arms and wings spread as he fell backwards, almost in slow motion and suspended in a swan dive. It was beautiful to watch as he flipped over, putting his head down towards the Earth and tucked his wings where he disappeared in an instant in a dive so fast that orange began to glow.

With a final look up towards the blackness of what hung just out of reach, Taiga turned himself back towards his own planet and began to fly straight down.

Where the air heading up was cold, the air coming down was the exact opposite. His wings were tucked in so close to his body that it streamlined him like a bullet. He was a bomb rushing for the earth, surrounded by a soft orange glow as the air created friction and heat. With his heads up display, he knew how fast he was going and he wanted more, rather needed more.

He gave his wings a few sharp downbeats, accelerating him faster and faster and the wind and building heat was whipping by so fast that the pressure was weighing itself down on his skull. His eyes kept a close eye on his rapidly descending altitude, but he doubted that it was keeping up with how fast he was diving. Nothing was that fast, which left him having to eyeball it himself.

During the last few months, he had a trained to become familiar with his ability, he had also learned that his eyes could judge his speed and acceleration just as keenly as any machine. This was his element, the element of speed, of precision and he knew he could it. He could build a shockwave and unleash it.

Glancing at his speed, he gave his wings a few more beats to bring him closer and closer to the barrier, that simple line that was so thin that it could be shattered with a hiccup. He danced on its edge as he noticed the orange tinted vapor beginning to build around his body. He could feel the pressure against his skin, how it compressed and whirled as if it, itself, was dancing over his skin. It was heated, a circular ring that orbited around him and that was where he hung as the ring grew thicker.

He didn't want to move an inch, because if he did, his whole body screamed. Every muscle and every bone was coated in lead, but the worst was the radiating pain in his side where the combat knife was stuck.

Drawing in a painful breath, Teppei opened his eyes and winced hard as he pushed himself up onto his elbow, moving as slow as he could so not to whimper like a scared little girl. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't, and with that in mind, he glanced down to examine his wound.

The knife was buried up to its hilt in his side, but only a minimal amount of blood had seeped through to stain the top of his pants. He knew that if he pulled it out, his wound would gush, so as much as he wanted to yank it out, he rested a careful hand on it, threading the handle between his fingers as he fully sat up with a hard hiss through clenched teeth. He looked around for something to wrap around himself, but between the dead man laying next to him and the debris, there was nothing of use.

He held his breath as he climbed to his feet, keeping his hand on his wound as he started to painfully walk out through the office doors. Each step was shuffled and dragged, forcing him to lean against the wall with his failing strength, and he doubted that he could even fly, but with every last whim of himself, he started to trudge back up the stairs.

He needed to stop halfway to take a breather, but eventually, he reached the top and started for the balcony where he saw the four other Stock standing and completely unharmed. He managed to smile that they were alright, but it soon faltered into a grimace as he fell to his knees. His strength was on fumes.

Hearing the hard thump, Reo and the others looked back through the door, seeing Teppei collapsing onto his side. They all immediately bolted for the door and ripped it open, dropping down onto the floor where they gently rolled Teppei into the awaiting arms of the Stock he had yet to meet; A boy his age with short black hair and narrow eyes, and with his left ear pierced with a tag that simply read #5.

"Teppei!... Oh my god. What happened?" Reo asked, his voice worried as he helped to gently lean the Titan back into #5's arms.

"N-No one told me that Hanamiya could fight." Teppei groaned out, breathing heavily as he leaned his head back against the boy's chest.

"We're sorry! We didn't know!" The one known as Ryō plead, bowing his head over and over again.

"Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault." Teppei breathed out, still clutching his wound, but with the added help of the boy whom he was leaning back against.

"Don't think too much of it. Ryō Sakurai is a dear boy, but often apologizes for things out of his control. He's the most innocent of us." Reo said, resting a kind hand against the apologetic boy's cheek.

"I'm sorry." Ryō mumbled out as he shied into his own shoulders and avoided looking at anyone.

Teppei lightly coughed, "I haven't met the rest of you." He blew out forced breaths to help him through the throbbing pain.

"I'm Kotarō Hayama and the boy behind you is Yoshitaka Moriyama. He was just about to be retired before all this." The happy looking blonde boy said with the small fang that peaked out from under his top lip.

Teppei nodded, "Pleasure... Look, we've gotta get out of here. Midorima and Takao are below and looking to blow the base and since there's no chance in hell I'm flying like this, we've gotta think of another way." He winced as he let Yoshitaka remove his hand from around the knife by uncurling one finger at a time.

"Well, you surely aren't going anywhere in this condition. You can barely walk." Reo said as he examined the knife still stuck in Teppei's side.

"I'm lucky I made it up here." Teppei said, just laying back against Yoshitaka because it caused the least amount of pain.

"Clearly... We can't move you and risk that knife falling out. It's stopping you up currently, so just... sit still while we figure something out." Reo said, brushing a sweat clumped lock of hair off Teppei's forehead.

All Teppei did was nod as he focused on breathing, letting his weight drop down against the boy propping him up. He was so tired, so exhausted from his fight and wounds that all he could really do to any skilled degree was listen.

"Reo-Nee... Without a way to fly, we're stuck. How are we gonna escape with all that chaos out there?" Kotarō asked, his eyes displaying actual worry and concern as Reo stood and began to tear a long strip off the bottom of his robe.

"What about a truck?" Ryō tossed out as he threaded a thin arm beneath Teppei's back to grasp the end of the strip Reo had torn off.

Teppei's throat clenched up with his held breath as he stifled a yelp when the strip was threaded around his back and wrapped around the knife to keep it in place. The pain spiked angrily, but forcing himself to breath, a hand came to rest on his forehead to keep his head back against a shoulder.

"Ssh-... Relax... The pain lessens when you ease your body." Yoshitaka said in a hushed whisper, holding onto Teppei just a bit tighter to keep him from arcing at the pain.

"You try to relax with a knife in your gut." He unintentionally snapped through clenched teeth.

He grit his teeth together harder as he forced himself to breath, squeezing his eyes shut, but a hiss of pain came anyways when Reo began to tighten the makeshift bandage around his midsection. It was so hot that he just wanted to wail, but when a pair of soft hands came to rest along both sides of his jaw, his eyes opened and met slate green.

"Ssh-... Just breathe." Reo said softly, his eyes half lidded and far too captivating to look away from.

Teppei whimpered, intended to protest, but then another hushed voice fluttered into his ear.

"Ssh-... Relax." Kotarō said, his voice nothing more than hushed words, yet his eyes too, were half lidded and alluring.

"Ssh-... Rest." Came another voice, this one from Ryō whose eyes were the same as the others, just larger and with his cheek softly brushing against a bare shoulder from where his robe had slipped off.

Teppei, for some reason, couldn't look away from their eyes, how they drew him in as if he was being pulled along. They were soft, delicate and they were sapping him of what energy he had left.

"W-What... are you... d-doing?" Teppei asked, his voice airy and drawn back as his head lolled against Yoshitaka's shoulder.

"Ssh-... Rest, Dear Titan. You've done your job. Now let us do ours." Reo said, his words soft and intoxicating while his lips plumped while they moved.

Teppei was having trouble keeping his eyes open, "D-Don't... m-milk... m-me." He tried speaking, but it was getting much more difficult by the second.

"There's nothing for you to fear. Just rest and when you wake, we'll all be safe. Just sleep, Dear Titan, and let your body be taken by the wind to where there is no more pain, no more despair. Let it loll you like a child, cradled in the clouds and touched by the sun... Sleep, Dearest Titan... Sleep." Yoshitaka whispered softly into Teppei's ear, his fingers lacing through his hair to calm the Titan down.

Those airy words were like listening to the wind on a warm summers day, how it kissed his skin and robbed him of all his energy. He suddenly felt oddly warm as he lay there, embraced back against the other boy whose long fingers threaded through his hair over and over. His whole body was weighing itself down again and with each passing second, each airy word, his eyelids began to fall.

"I leave it... to you... Reo." Teppei said, his words needing to be carried by his exhaling breath.

"I'll take of it. Just rest... Just rest... Just rest." Reo repeated in his sultry voice as he withdrew that last of Teppei's energy.

With the Titan finally asleep, Reo took his hands back and finished tying the makeshift bandage together until it was snug against the wound, the knife still clutched in the bloodied fabric. With Teppei asleep, it afford the Stock a chance to contribute to their own freedom.

"The truck outside... The one parked in the garage. We can take that and break through the front. It's a deuce and a half, so that fence won't stop it." Kotarō said, his voice still quiet, but lacking the sultry flare that lolled Teppei to sleep.

"It's certainly a viable plan. Can the three of you care for him?" Reo asked, brushing aside a lock of Teppei's hair to clear it from his closed eyes.

"I think so. What'll you do?" Ryō asked, his eyes returned to normal.

"I'll clear the way. Take your time with him. I'll be back as soon as I can." Reo said before reaching out to both boys and bringing them to him.

He placed lingering kisses to their hair before letting them go, rising to his feet and doing the same with Yoshitaka. They were brothers, comrades in arms as it were and had leaned on each other simply to make it through their ordeal. They were close, closer than most, and Reo would be damned if any of them were to get hurt. Not on his watch.

Tightening the belt around his hips, but letting his rope hang mostly open to show his chest, Reo hurried down the hall and down the stairs. The four guards they had taken down earlier with still there, not having moved an inch and he knelt down to the first one to search his pockets.

He wasn't looking for a set of keys for the truck, he was looking for the start code for the truck. He searched the tactical vest, his pants pockets, even cared to look in the breast pockets of his fatigue blouse, but there was nothing. He searched the next guard, only to garnish the same result, and the next, but none seemed to have the code. Not even the injured guard he had squeezed in the kitchen had the start code to the truck. Without it, they weren't going anywhere.

Reo rushed to the front of the house and down the hall, only to freeze in the doorway and stare at the dead body that used to be Lieutenant Makoto Hanamiya. He felt nothing for that man. No sympathy, certain no empathy, and absolutely zero sadness. He now lay in the bed he had made and that was where he would stay. He quickly shook off the sight and began to search the body, again, just like the others, finding no code. Not even the desk, which was completely destroyed and as such, had released their anklets, would yield what he was looking for.

Getting frustrated, Reo hurried back down the hall and headed for the kitchen, bypassing the elevator door and turning left through the reading nook. On the side was a single door that lead into a small courtyard that was fenced and topped with Constantine wire. On sunny days, the Stock were let out to bask in the sun to help keep their moods up, but it was what was on the other side that he was headed for.

With the alarms still blaring, the guards had cleared out, leaving him open grass to run through as he made for the door. He silently prayed that the door would be open, that the guards had forgotten in the chaos, but when he reached it and grabbed the handle, the heavy bolt that held the door closed thunked against the door jam. It was locked.

"Damn... Pardon my language." Reo grunted to himself as he planted his hands on his hips.

He pursed his lips together as he racked his brain, looking around the courtyard and beyond the fence to make sure he wasn't about to be caught in something nasty. The alarms were annoying, grating against his every nerve and the more they blared, the more angry he got. He had never been one for brute force, as he enjoyed far more eloquent methods, but on the occasion when brute force was needed, he would make it look good.

Huffing out a sigh, Reo took a step back from the locked door and rolled out his shoulders to loosen himself up, but when a distant glimmer of orange broke into his peripheral vision, he looked up at the sky.

The large choppers were already in the air and were starting to bank towards the building where the females were kept, but that distant sparkle of amber was getting bigger and fast. His brows drew down as he watched the orange glow take on more definition, turning into a large ring that surrounded a singular object that he couldn't quite make out. It was a dark object, one that seemed so small in comparison to that large fiery ring that surrounded it, but that's when he realized that that fiery ring wasn't some supernatural force, but rather one built by the son of the Wind King; Daiki Aomine.

Before he could react, the alarms were completely drowned out by the tremendous blast of a sonic boom so loud that Reo dropped to the grass on his backside in awe. The fiery ring erupted outwards in a shockwave, coloring the sky with orange and yellow that contrasted so greatly against the black that the stars behind it were hidden by its brightness. It was so brilliant and so beautiful that Reo couldn't look away, and thus, saw that very wave of sound and fire hit the choppers.

The boom was gone in an instant, leaving behind only the alarm, but he could still hear the desperate wails of the choppers as their engines began to give out. They shook and rocked as those inside leaped down onto the nearby roofs of the the detention buildings, only to be chased when the choppers came down. They crashed into the buildings and the ground, where they burst into massive flames whose heat Reo could feel from where he stood. The choppers were down and had erupted into burning infernos that lit the base as if it was daylight.

As much as he wanted to admire the Wind-wing's work, he couldn't. He had to get to the truck at all costs. They were the only ones who couldn't fly and without their wings, it was their only chance. The whole of the base was so dispersed by the flames of the choppers and the severity of what was going on, even guards were fleeing and aiding their injured, so with a sucking breath, Reo pushed himself up, spun on his heel with a raised leg and kicked the door.

The first kick, just rattled the door, but with each one after, the door jarred further and further inwards. Even being kept feminine so that the Studs would pine more over him, not being allowed to fly and the muscle paralytic that he had endured to paralyze his wings, his legs were his strongest feature. His thighs could and have squeezed the life out of a man, have allured both straight and gay individuals to lust after wanting those legs wrapped around them, and it was those very legs that broke the bolt inside the door.

With one final kick, the door flew open with a metal twang as the bolt snapped, dropping an end to the floor as Reo stepped through into the garage. It was lit still despite the harsh jarring from the crashed choppers, and the truck was right where it should be. However, there were two guards that now stared at him whom were frozen where they stood with crates in their arms.

"Well well well... What're you doing out of your room?" A guard asked, hulking his crate up into the back of the large covered truck before turning his gaze back to Reo.

Reo had to think fast, and simply reacting, he did the only thing he could think of considering the chaos outside.

"Please! You have to helps us! One of us is hurt! He... He... He hit his head when the choppers went up! Please! He's bleeding so badly!" Reo begged, running for the pair in his act as his robe slipped off a shoulder.

"What the?... Why would I help you?" The larger guard froze as he leaned back against the truck, pinned there as Reo clutched his vest and acted out his weeping.

"Please! You don't understand! He's all I have! I love him! I'll do anything!" Reo continued, burying his face into the guard's chest as he played his part.

"Rick... The Lieutenant'll have our asses if we let one of his Stock die. We should probably go help." The smaller guard said with a tap to his buddy's shoulder.

"Please! I'll do anything! I'll keep your secret, I'll... I'll... I'll let you take me! Here! Now! Just please!" Reo prattled on, lifting his head to show his actually tearful and saddened eyes.

The taller guard known as Rick stood up stick straight, raising his hands so not to touch the begging Stock whom still clutched his uniform, "Whoa!... I ain't like that! Get the fuck away from me you dirty ass feathered freak!"

In that instant, Reo dropped the act and stood up straight, coming to stand taller than both the guards. He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, releasing an exasperated sigh as both the guards just glanced at each other in confusion.

"Of all the guards I could've run into and I get one of you. Any other guard would have jumped at the chance to lay with me. I guess I'll have to do this the hard way." Reo near sang as he turned to step away.

"Huh?... Wait, what's going-"

Before the smaller guard could even finish talking, Reo's bare heel smashed into his jaw with a hard crack, knocking him to the floor in a single kick before he snapped the same leg in the other direction to crack his foot into the other guard's cheek. The smaller of the two guard's was already down, but apparently, the remaining guard was up for a few more rounds.

"That actually hurt... Didn't think a lithe bitch like you could kick that hard." The guard hissed at Reo, rubbing his jaw as he backed away a few steps and widened his stance.

Reo twitched his mouth to the side, "Bitch huh?... Alright. I've been called worse." He simply shrugged, keeping his eyes locked on the guard as he crossed his arms.

"If you wanna dance, lets go. I'll level you out." The guard growled as he raised his fists.

However, no amount of training, or knowledge, could have prepared him for what came. Where Reo, at first glance, appeared to be a fragile flower, he was actually a terrifying fighter with his long legs as his weapon. The guard was left to defend as Reo's kicks plowed into his ribs, cracking them with each hit and they were coming so fast that he barely had time to shift his weight in an attempt to minimize the damage. He tried tucking his elbows in, hunching over just enough to protect his core, but Reo took that opportunity without even a second thought.

Planting his foot, Reo pivoted around on his heel and hooked his other leg around, catching the guard by the neck and yanked him down to the floor. He never let him go as he continued the spin, following the guard to the floor and pivoting to straddle the guard's rump as he dropped down, pinning him beneath him where he wrapped his fingers around the guard's neck.

"It was a cute attempt... Now where's the start code for the truck?" Reo demanded, leaning over just far enough to let his hushed voice flutter into the guard's ear.

The guard gargled as he tried to breathe through the grip on his neck, but with a shaky finger, and with hope that if he answered the man's question, his deceiving hands would release his throat. He pointed to the cab of the truck, still gargling, still choking, but instead of releasing his throat, Reo, tightened all that much more to dig his fingernails into the guard's flesh.

It only took a minute for the guard to fall limp, but he was just that. He was just unconscious as Reo released him and rose to his feet. He rushed to the truck's cab and pulled open the door, finding the code tag he needed resting on the driver's seat. He snatched it before running back out of the garage and across the courtyard where he burst back into the house and ran upstairs.

Yoshitaka hadn't moved as he continued to cradle the still sleeping Teppei, but the other two had gathered their bed sheets and where slipping them beneath the large Titan as gently as they could.

"I've got the truck, but we must hurry." Reo hurried, helping to hoist Teppei's form up where he was placed in the bed sheets.

Between the four of them, handling Teppei's bulk wasn't too difficult, rather just awkward as they hulked him down the stairs as carefully as possible so not to run the risk of dropping him. It took a few extra minutes, but once they had gotten him to the first floor, it was a dash back to the courtyard and into the garage.

"Lower him here." Reo said softly as all four of them lowered Teppei to the floor near the rear of the truck.

Once the Titan was safely on the ground, Reo plucked his ear piece and radio from his vest, slipping it into his own before clicking on the radio.

"This is Reo Mibuchi... Is someone on this channel?" Reo asked into the comms, just watching Teppei drawing in slow, but even breaths.

"Reo! What're you doing on comms? Are you ok?" Came Takao's voice near as soon as Reo had stopped talking.

"We're all fine. We're out of the Stock house, but your Titan friend is badly hurt. We're gonna get him out with a truck." Reo said, shifting his gaze up to Ryō, whom was clutching Teppei's limp hand.

"Teppei?" It was Riko's voice.

"Yes, but he's alive. Where do we go?" Reo asked.

"This is Wakamatsu. Drive out of the front gate and I'll meet you a mile down. I'll take you to the others."

"Alright. You'll know it's us." Reo said before setting the radio back onto Teppei's chest.

On Reo's count, the four heaved and lifted Teppei up, slipping him into the back of the large truck before Reo grabbed the radio and bolted for the driver's seat. He had spent enough time in the transport trucks to know how to drive the damn things, and with a simple flick of his finger, he activated the start up program and dialed in the start code.

With a loud hum, the truck powered up and the headlights flicked on, but before starting off, Reo got out and rushed to the back of the truck. The others had already climbed in, and with a soft blown kiss to them, he closed the back and locked it before climbing back up into the truck and shutting the door.

"We're getting out of here." Reo said to himself before slamming his bare foot down onto the accelerator.

Takao was shaking, unable to take in breaths that weren't stuttering, or short. His chest hurt and his eyes stung from the tears they were barely able to hold back. He felt cold. He felt dead and even though his foundation was knelt down in front of him, his large hands gently grasping his cheeks and stroking his thumbs beneath his eyes, he felt lost.

"Kazu... It'll be ok... We're both gonna be ok." Shintarō said, his voice low and shaky as his eyes shimmered like glass.

"W-Why?... W-Why did we have to? I-It's not fair, Shin-Chan... It's not fair." Takao whimpered, lifting his hands to place them over Shintarō's still on his cheeks.

"No... But we were fair. We couldn't let them suffer like that. We were fair to them and we gave them a gift they've longed for." Shintarō said, his words airy, but sweet as he lean forward to rest his lips against Takao's forehead.

Takao nodded and sniffled, "I know... It just hurts. I feel like we've taken lives we had no right to take."

"We had no choice... I feel better knowing that they're at peace now, instead of letting them suffer another second. We did the right thing... Never forget that, Kazu." Shintarō said as he glanced around their last white room.

Every door was sliced with thin slits from two razors, thrown by his wings to relieve the pain of the ones inside their cells. For three levels, they had looked inside each specimen cell, but it had been more of the same, more suffering, more blood, more self induced wounds. All the lab specimens had been too far gone to be saved and some died on their own right before their eyes. They had eased the pain of three levels worth of Angelika.

Takao sucked on his own lips, "I won't... I'm just scared of the nightmares. I don't want anymore nightmares." He said, gazing deep into Shintarō's eyes to help him find peace.

"And you won't... So long as I'm here, you won't." Shintarō said softly.

Their little world was shattered when the whole facility shook, being rocked with an explosion from up top that shuttered the walls. Splits and cracks streaked down the smooth surfaces as if the ground itself was shaking and as Shintarō covered Takao and crossed his large wings over them for shelter, the cover of an air vent rained down from the wall from the quake and grazed down over his wings to skitter across the floor.

"What was that?" Takao asked, his nerves beginning to steel from the severity of what they had done.

"I don't know, but we need to move. Lets get to the labs." Shintarō said as he stood and brought Takao with him.

They sprinted from the room and back down the corridor towards the elevator shaft, but instead of going back inside, Takao led Shintarō around the corner towards the labs. Since they had cleared the three levels above that had housed the lab specimens, they were already in a prime position of an access panel with the hopes of setting off the self destruct.

"Here! This one!" Takao yelped, skidding to a halt at a darkened, glass walled office and trying to pry open the locked door.

However, when the door didn't budge, Shintarō attempted to push Takao aside so he could sheer the bolt with a razor, but Takao refused to move. Instead, he shot the Razor-wing a sharp look that made him take a step back, which also gave Takao some room.

"I love you, Shin-Chan... From the bottom of my heart, but I'm not weak anymore. I can do this." Takao said sweetly, softening his gaze as he pulled a holstered pistol from his thigh.

With Shintarō's nod of approval, Takao took aim at the card reader locking the door and pulled the trigger, popping off two rounds that blasted the device into sparks and small bits. The red light immediately went out entirely, but the telltale clunk of the door unlocking was easily heard, as Takao had known, that as a safety feature when the power went out, all locks were automatically unlocked. It was why the detention blocks used regular key locks.

The door unlocked, Takao holstered his weapon and pushed the door open where the lights immediately flicked on, but when they stepped through, Shintarō and Takao were met with a pair of Humans in white lab coats that were cowering in the corner.

"Don't hurt us! Please!" The first begged; a woman with curly brown hair that was pinned up with a claw clip.

Shintarō's brows furrowed, "You're scientists here?"

"No! Lab assistants! We work the night shift to watch over the specimens!" The other cowered more; a male no older than the woman whom was actually smaller than her.

"And what, exactly were you watching for?" Shintarō said with a growl and a glare.

The small male gulped, "How long it took for the virus to be fatal!"

Both Shintarō's and Takao's eyes shot wide.

"V-Virus?" Takao exhaled in a shaky voice.

"Yes!... It was being developed as a programmable weapon to use against certain kinds of people during conflict! Like if we wanted those with blue eyes to get sick! That kind of thing!" The woman near squealed with fear as she continued to cower.

Shintarō's teeth bared, "Is it contagious?"

"W-What?"

"Is it contagious! Answer me!" Shintarō demanded, rocking forward on one foot with his wings bristling with exposing razors.

"No! No, no, it's not! It was designed to only affect those directly exposed! Not to spread! Besides, if it was, we already have the cure!" The women yelped as tears poured from her eyes.

"We euthanized your specimens... Shot right through the doors... Are we in danger?" Takao asked, somehow keeping his voice from rising in panic.

"No! The alarm would have gone off if there was a breach! We swear! Just don't kill us!" The small male plead.

Shintarō's fists clenched at his sides while his wings continued to bristle, glinting with hints of silver from the razors he was producing with his quickly rising anger. Nothing made him angrier than hearing that the Humans were using his kind as guinea pigs to test new ways to kill each other and he was so hot with rage that it took several moments before he realized that Takao had rested his hand on his arm.

"Shin-Chan... We're ok." He near whispered, his eyes once again soft to help defuse the Razor-wing.

Hearing Takao, how soothing his voice was, Shintarō forced his breathing to ease itself and calm down. He knew it was impossible to lie through fear, knew that it was the best truth serum there was and if Takao believed it, so would he.

"Access the self destruct systems." Shintarō ordered, setting his eyes narrow as he glared at the pair of terrified Humans.

"W-What?"

"Do it!" Shintarō barked with more loud bristling of his wings.

The small male hurried at the sharp bark, rushing for the flat computer on the desk, or risk pissing the Razor-wing off even more. His fingers blasted over the displayed keyboard as he brought up the system and that was when a female, yet robotic voice piped throughout the facility.

"Self... destruct... system... active... Please... enter confirmation... code."

"You need the General's ID. It won't activate otherwise." The man said, stepping back from the console.

"Shit-" Shintarō swore, only to be cut off.

"This is Reo Mibuchi... Is someone on this channel?"

"Reo! What're you doing on comms? Are you ok?" Takao immediately answered, covering his right ear with his hand.

"We're all fine. We're out of the Stock house, but your Titan friend is badly hurt. We're gonna get him out with a truck."

Takao glanced at Shintarō with worry clear in his eyes while others chattered over their comms. They turned their gazes to the still frightened Humans whom had returned to cowering back against the wall as if they were awaiting a firing squad. They were so close to finally making the nightmare go away, so close to finally being done and there was no mountain they weren't willing to scale to make it happen.

"Akashi! We need the activation code from the General." Shintarō said into his comms once the chatter had ceased.

"Then you shall get it. Stand by."

Tetsuya: I am so excited... Akashi-kun's big part is coming up and it's one of my favorites.

Ryōta: Oh I know! I love the way Akashicchi talks and makes it so infallible and chilling!

Seijūrō: You both are too kind.

Takao: Is it the right time now?

Shintarō: No!

Takao: Now?

Shintarō: Jesus Christ, Takao! I said no! Now stop pestering me!

Atsushi: You should just do it, Mido-Chin.

Shintarō: Not you too!