When Lucas woke up, it was to the feeling of someone working around his left arm, putting it in a sling.
Lucas didn't have to look- only one person in his whole time of captivity had put aside their own safety to insure Lucas' own.
"Please tell me I'm not dreaming and that you're really still alive." Lucas groaned, trying to sit up, only to have hands on his shoulder, bringing him back down to the floor.
"Remember, my brother taught me how incapitate a person. I can do more harm than good to you right now, understand?" A familiar voice asked.
Lucas shook his head, "Yeah, it's you, Nero. Good to see you're still alive."
"And how the hell did you get into Jigoku's hands?" Nero asked, blue eyes narrowing.
"... I could ask you the same question." Lucas stared back up at the blonde.
Nero scowled, but his eyes held pain. Lucas put it together faster than Nero could tell him a lie.
"Jigoku bought you." It was flat.
Nero scowled, "Why do you have to be so smart?"
Lucas was on his feet, ignoring his left knee's scream of pain, looking around. When he saw the door, he rushed for it as fast as he could, banging on the door, "Hey Jigoku! Let us out you son of a bitch!"
Nero sighed, "I've already tried that- only thing that happened was nothing."
Lucas groaned, weather from pain or frustration, Nero couldn't tell.
"C'mon, Luke. Sit down and lemme have a look at you. From the way your breathing was while you were unconsious, you have have internal bleeding. You can't move too much." Nero said, walking over to his friend. It was once he got next to the redhead, that he noticed the other man crying silently.
"Lucas?" Nero asked.
That was when Lucas passed out.
When Chris and Christina came in, the first thing the latter blonde did was throw herself into Bao's arms, sobbing into his shoulder.
"This is all my fault..." She sobbed.
"Hush, shh, shh, shh." Bao hushed the girl, "You're okay, I'm not gonna let Jigoku get you."
Mikaela stood between Kuro and Chris, and the blonde leaned over to ask the green eyed woman, "Please tell me he doesn't mean that."
"Just the opposite. The look in his eyes shows a fiery determination to protect her, and make sure she knows he loves her. And the aura he's giving off says that anyone who comes close to him or Christina that he'll snap at 'em." Mikaela said.
Chris groaned, "I was hoping you'd find a reason that I could rip his heart out."
Mikaela laughed.
"Wales? You okay?" Julian poked his head into the lounge, looking at the redhead who laid on the couch.
Wales had an arm draped over his eyes, and from the way his chest barely moved almost every other minute, it looked like he was dead.
"C'mon, man. Kuro and the others will find him." Julian said, striding across the room.
"I'm worried I'll be planning a funeral though." Wales laughed, bitterly.
"You're not, because you know why? He'll be alive when they find him." Julian replied.
"How do you know that?" Wales shook his head, "Nefertiti's words are still ringing in my head."
Julian made a mental note to hurt the woman later, despite what Chris would do to him.
"Come on. When has your brother ever given up? When have you ever given up?" Julian asked.
Wales sighed. Julian had a point. He had never given up on his brother, and in reality, Lucas had never given up on him.
At that moment, Kuro rushed in, "Wales, Julian. You're not gonna believe this. We just got another video, and it's not Lucas being tortured. It's Nero."
Both Wales and Nero were bolting for the tech room in a split second.
Nero was more terrified when Jigoku not only pulled Lucas out, but him too, from their prison of four walls.
Jigoku shoved Lucas to the far side of the room, and the redhead's left arm crashed into the wall.
Lucas hissed, refusing to give Jigoku any pleasure in hearing him in pain. Instead, he whipped around to glare at the brunette, only to stop dead in his tracks when he saw Jigoku stab Nero through the left shoulder, into the opposite wall. Nero snarled in both anger and pain, and his eyes glazed over in fury.
Jigoku pulled another knife out, and quickly stabbed it into Nero's right hand, before turning to the camera in front of him, "Not as simple as I turned it out to be, is it detectives? Two people who have been missing nearly a decade, kidnapped and being held hostage. So here's the bigger question... Who do you want more in turn for me getting Christina?"
Jigoku turned the camera to Lucas, who glared, "Do you want the man who hardly remembers anything and shuts down when you try to question him?" The camera turned to Nero, who looked between furious and scared, "Or the man with the ability to remember everything and lead you straight to Davida Gambol?"
Jigoku set the camera down, the lense facing Nero's direction. He disappeared in the shadows, and when he came back with a familiar item. Nero's eyes went wide, and Lucas looked away, knowing what was to begin.
"Let's begin, shall we?" Jigoku held up the human war bridle, "Because I'm sure this video will be sure to spur the CIA into action."
"What the hell is that thing?!" Julian exclaimed.
"Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off..." Mikaela suddenly said, shaking her head, eyes shut tight.
"Ryuga, get her out of here." Kuro snapped her fingers at the man.
Ryuga murmured something in Mikaela's ear, and lead her out of the room.
"What. Is. That. Thing?" Julian ground out again.
"A human war bridle." Kuro said, recalling her conversation with Lucas when he had shown her his scar at the hospital, "You saw the damage Mikaela had on her face and mouth when she was in the hospital?"
"No..." Julian said, "No, no, no, no, no, no... Not Nero."
Bao suddenly shot his hand out and turned Nile's computer off, which earned an immeadiate reaction.
"Dude, what the fuck?!" Nile exclaimed, shooting to his feet, "Do you have a death wish?!"
"Julian and Mikaela don't want to watch it." Bao started, "We know what Jigoku wants. But he's making us choose who we want more- Lucas or Nero."
"So?" Kuro asked, a little peeved at her brother's actions.
"I'm probably gonna get killed by three people for suggesting this, but... Why don't we give Jigoku what he wants?" Bao started.
Chris growled, violet eyes flashing murderously.
"Don't attack me yet. We choose Nero." Bao cut off as Wales stepped forwards, only to be stopped by Julian, who looked curious, "We say we want Nero in trade for Christina. We put a tracker on Christina. Chances are, if Jigoku is working for Davida now, we can track them to her location when he goes to tell her what he's done! And then we can do an ambush attack."
"And what about my brother?" Wales growled.
"He'll probably want to clean up after himself, so we can put someone on his trail and stop him before he does so." Kuro said, picking up on her brother's train of thought, "Bao... your plan just might work."
"And what about Christina?" Chris asked, crossing her arms, "She's not gonna go for this."
"I'll talk to her." Bao said, "I promise, I'm not gonna let anything happen to your sister."
"You'd better not. Otherwise, you'll find a bullet in your brain."
"Christina... Mind if we have a talk?" Bao walked into the lounge, and the platnium blonde looked up.
"Yeah, sure. What's up?" Christina asked.
Bao moistened his lips, and shut the door behind him, before sitting next to the woman on the couch.
"You're... You may not exactly find what I'm going to say something you can agree with, but..." Bao shook his head, "Christina, we need to use you as bait to find Davida."
Christina frowned, "What? I'm... not sure I understand."
"We're going to do the trade off." Bao said, and he saw how Christina paled, "Listen, listen, all we need you to do is wear a tracker. We'll be right on Jigoku's trail the entire time, I promise. Once we find Lucas, we'll be heading after you. We think Jigoku will be going to Davida to tell her of his progress."
"You want me to get near Jigoku?! Are you crazy?! Why don't you just ask him to kill me while you're at it-" Christina was cut off as Bao suddenly laid his lips on hers, and she couldn't help it- Her eyes slipped closed, and she threaded her fingers through Bao's hair.
When they pulled apart, Bao whispered, "That's my promise."
"What is?" Christina murmured.
"That no matter what, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."