Chapter Fifty-Two:

Capture

Raize walked back through the front door. The house was empty, everyone either at work or school.

"What am I supposed to do now...?"

He flopped down on the couch, thinking.

"Johnny never told me he killed Angel... but..."

Raize sat bolt upright, realizing something.

"You. You killed Angel."

"That I did. And I'm going to kill you too!"

"TORCH!" Raize shouted.

"ACK! What?" Torch asked.

"Who killed Angel?"

"Duh. The Black Assassin," Torch said. "And he would probably love to kill you too. You know perfectly well—"

"That can't be right... Johnny killed him... wait a second—"

"What are you talking about?" Torch asked, confused. "Johnny wasn't around until after Angel died."

"Um... Torch, are you low on power?" Raize asked.

"Not really—"

"I'm gonna charge you anyway," Raize declared, dashing up the stairs.

"What for? I'm fine—"

"If Mamoru or someone calls, I'll be back before dinner!" Raize shouted over his shoulder, running back down the stairs and dashing out the door.

The Assassin would kill me, no problem... but no way he'd kill an Alliance member like Johnny!

---

"No new evidence, sir. I don't think—"

"That will be my decision," Augustus Maether snapped at the assistant. "Keep looking!"

"Sir, we've been looking for weeks! The park has been shut down long enough, we've combed every inch of it! There is nothing here!"

"Find that necklace," Maether barked. "If we can get the DarkChip necklace, we can leave."

"DarkChip necklace?" Lan looked around from the entrance to the haunted house. "It's not here."

"I KNOW!" the assistant shouted.

"How do we know it isn't here?" Maether asked, exasperated.

"Because! You sent it back to her, didn't you?" Lan asked. "That's what Chaud and Nami said. She's probably wearing it right now."

Maether froze, putting this information together.

"Hikari?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Find them both. Bring them here. I want to talk to them."

---

"What's going on, Lan?" Maylu asked. "We're studying for finals! Shouldn't you be—"

"I know, Maylu, I know!" Lan sighed, on Maylu's doorstep. "I need Nami and Chaud!"

"I dunno where Chaud is, but Nami's here... why?"

"We need her necklace back," Lan explained, looking around Maylu to see Yai and Nami in the room beyond. "Nami, can I talk to you?"

"Sure..."

"Do you know where Chaud is?" Lan asked as Nami joined Maylu at the door.

"At the moment?" Nami asked. "Probably at work."

"He wasn't there with me," Lan said. "At Castillo, I mean."

Nami frowned. "Why Castillo?"

"We're still looking for evidence and stuff... but I need to bring you and Chaud to see Maether."

"But... this is about the necklace, right?" Nami asked. "I got it back from him, remember? You saw the note."

"I know, but Maether wants to see you guys anyway, I guess," Lan said. "Come on! It'll only take a minute..."

"I'll go home and get the note, you go find Chaud," Nami said, setting off down the street.

"Um... okay..."

---

"ProtoMan!" MegaMan ran through the Official data tunnels, looking for ProtoMan. "Heeey! Are you in here, ProtoMan?"

"MegaMan?" ProtoMan poked his head out of one of the tunnels. "What do you want?"

"Maether wants to talk to Chaud and Nami," MegaMan relayed. "We need you guys at Castillo."

"What for?"

"Nami's necklace."

ProtoMan shook his head. "Why on earth should we go talk to Maether about something he gave back?"

"I don't know," MegaMan sighed. "It's Maether here. He's not gonna take no for an answer. Might as well. If the story adds up, it should only take a minute."

"All right, all right..."

"ProtoMan, what's going on?" Chaud asked, looking up from the desk of work.

"Maether needs us at Castillo," ProtoMan said.

Chaud frowned, set the work on the desk, and got up to leave. "Why?"

"It's about Nami's necklace," MegaMan repeated. "We need to see it."

"Maybe he's finally losing it," Chaud thought aloud. "He sent it back to her with the signed note..."

"Then this shouldn't take long," MegaMan coaxed. "Come on! Maether's waiting!"

---

"I didn't sign this note, Miss Hallissy," Maether said brusquely, looking it over.

"Then who did?" Nami asked, confused.

"Believe me, we'll find out."

"Maether, sir, what's this about?" Chaud and Lan arrived. Chaud looked confused, whereas Lan looked hassled.

"Blaze. Why on earth did you think I sent this necklace back?" Maether asked.

"Because of that note that you signed," Chaud said, indicating the letter in Maether's hand. "Why else?"

"Why didn't you confiscate the necklace?"

"Because of that note!" Chaud repeated. "Perhaps this is a misunderstanding, but whatever really did happen doesn't matter. If we can process the necklace now, then the problems are solved. Right?"

"Wrong," Maether snapped. "Someone out there found the necklace, repaired it, and then sent it back to miss Hallissy with a forged note."

"Meaning?" Nami asked.

"Meaning that whoever found the necklace has probably taken all the information off of it when they repaired it," Maether explained. "It'll be useless."

"But you don't know that," Nami said. "It might still have evidence or whatever on it!"

She took it off, Maether refusing to take it.

"Wha...?"

"Any evidence still on the necklace will have been compromised by your handling it," Maether said. "Your prints and DNA will be combined with any of the culprit's as well."

"But... what if we're not looking for DNA or fingerprints or anything?" Lan asked. "What if it's in the coding of the—"

"Hikari, the thing is a necklace," Maether said. "Yes, at one point it was a DarkChip. However, the thing is repaired. Any coding in the DarkChip will have been compromised as well."

"I see... but it still can't hurt to just test it," Chaud said.

"It's pointless, and I am in charge of this investigation," Maether said authoritatively. "I will make this decision. You may keep the necklace—"

"But what if whoever repaired it made it into something else?" Lan asked. "Like a bomb or something?"

"Any piece of metal that can be made into a DarkChip cannot be used to make anything else, Hikari," Maether snapped. "Leave. Now."

"You know," Nami said, as she left with Chaud, "I don't think I'll wear it quite so much anymore..."

"Maybe you'd better let me hang onto it," Chaud suggested. "I'll keep it safe in the impoundment vaults if you want."

"Nah," Nami sighed. "I want to keep it... I just don't think I want to wear it all the time."

"All right..."

---

Rage burst through the doors to Regal's main room, a long room with a desk and a high-backed chair sitting before walls of black glass. "REGAL! I wanna talk!" he shouted.

Dr. Regal turned around, having been studying some form of paperwork. "Hm? About what?"

"I want to talk about Johnny," Rage snapped. "Why doesn't he tell me anything?"

"Because you have a family," Regal said simply, returning to his papers.

"I know that! But Raoul has a family, too, and they're not all over him!" Rage pointed out. "And I highly doubt that the other eleven of us are all orphaned kids!"

"All of you are over the age of ten, I assure you," Regal sighed, half-sarcastic.

"I sorta figured."

"What's this about, Raize?" Regal asked, still studying his papers.

"What's the point of your little Assassin?" Rage asked, still standing in the doorway.

"Clear off the data mask and then we'll talk," Regal said, sitting down in the chair. "You wouldn't have come all the way here without a team if you didn't have a reason."

Rage scowled, deactivating the Alliance body armor.

"Now. What is it that you want to know?" Regal asked, finally looking up from the paperwork.

"Mind telling me where the Assassin is?" Raize asked.

"Off in the Square, where he normally is," Regal answered. "Really, Raize. What is this about?"

"I want to know why Johnny doesn't trust me," Raize said seriously. "I want to know why no one tells me the truth, and I want to know who killed my brother."

"Johnny doesn't trust you because he doesn't trust anyone with something he doesn't know about," Regal said. "Johnny has no idea what a family is like. For all he knows, you could be his brother. He doesn't completely understand how families work, and because of that he doesn't know whether or not the rest of them know you're a villain."

"But why won't anyone tell me the truth?"

"What on earth do you mean by that?" Regal asked. "Anything I know, you will know."

"What about all the stuff Johnny knows but doesn't tell you?" Raize countered. "How are we supposed to know what's real?"

"I'm sure I don't follow."

"Who killed my brother?"

Regal frowned, confused. "Mamoru is still alive, is he not? Impaired, but—"

"Not Mamoru!" Raize shouted. "Angel!"

Regal sighed, folding his hands. "The Assassin killed Angel."

"The Assassin or the Black Assassin?" Raize pressed.

"I couldn't tell you that if I wanted."

Raize's scowl turned into a smile. "Regal. Thank you for confirming everything I needed to know!"

Without further word, Raize replaced the body armor and scrambled out the door.

"He's smarter than I thought," Regal said to himself. "But what can I do now?"

ARRIMAN LOG 12.17.03.0X: RAGE ENTERS, ALONE, WANTING ANSWERS. HE RUNS OFF, POSSIBLY REALIZING WHO KILLED HIS BROTHER. THE WORST IS TO BE EXPECTED.

---

Johnny sat on the ground of the safehouse at eleven o'clock, staring across the room at the dozens of articles pinned up on the wall. The articles chronicling their path of destruction and immorality.

Crack. Someone stepped on a twig below them. Johnny sat up, startled. Who in their right mind is at the zoo at this hour?

"Johnny? Y'in here?" Rage scrambled in from outside, looking a little flustered under the armor.

"Didn't I tell you to stay away from me?!" Johnny snapped.

"I know! I know!" Rage said submissively. "But I've got some news for you!"

"From who!?"

"From... well, from me, but it's about the Assassin."

"What about him?" Johnny scoffed, dropping back down on the floor.

"He's in the Electown Square—"

"Who cares?"

"—alone—"

"So what?!"

"—trying to cut out the receivers we have on the Jomon store," Rage finished.

"And?"

"Remember what Patch did to 'em?" Rage asked.

"The same thing he does to every other one," Johnny said. "Where are you going with this?!"

"Patch's got a failsafe on them, which means that if he gets through to the power source, he'll be done for."

Johnny looked up, a hint of a smile flitting across his masked face. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that if you go and off him now, we'll have him out of the way."

Johnny leapt to his feet, beaming. "I like the way you think!"

"So?" Rage asked surreptitiously. "What will you do?"

"First off, good job," Johnny said, now pacing around the room. "Secondly, get the Blaze kid out to the Square."

"How?"

"I don't care, just get him there and don't get caught," Johnny snapped. "Someone from the DTC Officials chapter. And lastly, make sure your family stays at home until someone comes."

"Someone... like Connor or—"

"Someone like the police, Rage," Johnny said, still preoccupied. "Go."

"Johnny—"

"GO! Don't push it, Rage!" Johnny ordered.

Rage left the safehouse, silently congratulating himself. If there was any other way to get back on Johnny's good side, he didn't know what it was.

ARRIMAN LOG 21.17.03.0X: REVIEWED ANGEL HALLISSY MURDER LOGS. ASSASSIN STILL KNOWS NOTHING. RAGE A POSSIBLE THREAT TO THE MANAGEMENT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN J13 AND THE ASSASSIN.

---

What the...!?

Someone was banging on the door of the Blaze household, and had been for the last twenty minutes.

Kenichi, finally fed up with the banging, descended the stairs to find his son already at the door.

"What's going on?" Kenichi asked.

"I don't know..."

Opening the door, Chaud found himself face to face with Rage Seven, leaning against the door frame.

"Want to catch a villain tonight?" Rage asked.

"Only if it's you!"

Rage dashed off into the night, just fast enough to stay out of reach, Chaud close on his heels.

"Where are we going?!" Chaud shouted.

"If I told you, where would the surprise be?!" Rage shouted back.

"You're turning Johnny in?"

"Who said I was doing that?!" Rage snapped. "I'm taking you to the capture site!"

"The what?"

"Shut up and run!"

Twenty sprinted minutes later, Chaud looked around, having lost track of Rage in the Electown Square.

NOW what am I supposed to do? he thought.

"Chaud?"

Mamoru rounded the corner, seeing Chaud. "What're you doing out here?"

"Catching criminals... I think. Did you just see...?"

"They're back, aren't they?" Mamoru asked.

Before they had a chance to contemplate the next move, an earth-shattering bang erupted from nearby. Someone had fallen onto the ground.

"How did you find me?!" the Black Assassin demanded, only a few feet away, trying vainly to rise from the ground.

"Little birdie told me," Johnny's voice shouted from high above the Jomon tower.

"What the—" Instinctively, Chaud dashed between two buildings, dragging Mamoru with him, careful to stay out of sight.

Johnny bounded off the tower, joining the Assassin on the ground.

"What do you want with me?" the Assassin demanded, abandoning the attempts to get up.

"I want the truth," Johnny snapped, glaring down at the incapacitated Assassin. "Why on earth would you think you were the one who killed Angel Hallissy?"

"Because I did!"

"You're a liar." Johnny dug the end of his shoe into the Assassin's side, turning him onto his back. "You're a little Regal pawn and you know it."

"Regal respects me!"

"Regal uses you," Johnny corrected calmly. "You are nothing but his little messenger boy."

"I proved myself when I took down the Hallissy!" the Assassin shouted. "I—"

"You did no such thing," Johnny snapped. "I was the one that killed Angel, and I can prove it."

"As can I!"

"Oh, really?" Johnny backed off, arms crossed, clearly displeased behind the mask. "Shoot, then. I'd like to see what lies Regal equipped you with."

"They aren't lies! I killed Angel Hallissy!"

"How, genius?"

The Assassin creeped slowly away. "Why should I tell you?"

"To prove that Regal's not a failure and that he told you what I killed him wi—"

"Firewires! And Regal's advanced pyrotechnics cogs!" the Assassin shouted. "The house was on fire, and the

"Yeah? Well, has it ever occurred to you that you have never used pyrotechnics in your life?!"

The Assassin paused. "I... was granted special privileges."

"And when the heck has Regal ever granted anyone special privileges?" Johnny demanded. "I would absolutely love to know!"

"Only to me! I remained loyal!"

"Because you're an idiot," Johnny concluded. "A lied-to useless idiot."

"I am NOT useless! You're the one who refused to help Dr. Wily out of jail!"

Chaud froze behind the wall. Did Wily break back out? AGAIN!?

"Well, no one asked me," Johnny pointed out. "Because I obviously don't care what Wily or Regal do."

"Wily regrets ever training you!" the Assassin spat.

"I'll try not to take it personally." Johnny walked towards the Assassin, the dark armor surrounding his body dissipating before their eyes.

Oh my God...

"Wh—" Mamoru, looked around the corner at the adversaries. "Angel!"

"Mamoru!" Chaud grabbed the sleeve of Mamoru's medlab coat, taking away his cane to prevent a dash towards certain death. "I told you! This was the guy I saw in my dream!"

"But— that's not Johnny!" Mamoru hissed desperately. "That's my older brother!"

"Angel! I know!" Chaud whispered, watching the two rogues out of the corner of his eye.

"But how...? The Assassin killed my brother, not Johnny," Mamoru said.

"Sssh, we might find out while we're here!"

"I. Killed. Angel. Hallissy," Johnny said, the dead ringer of Angel, blond hair and all. "You had nothing to do with it!"

"LIES!" the Assassin shouted.

"Look at me," Johnny commanded, staring down at him. "Look. Is this the face of the man you killed?"

"Of course!"

"And why do you recognize it?"

"Because I saw the last breath he took!"

"How?" Johnny demanded, finally stopping as the Assassin collapsed against a wall, still on his back. "Because you downloaded all of Regal's logs when he created you."

"No such thing!"

"If you had killed him, why don't you carry his image?" Johnny asked. "Why me?"

"I carry his name, not his image!"

"Regal doesn't make a whole lot of mistakes," Johnny said. "I'll give him that much. But one of his smaller ones: didn't name you Angel. As for his biggest mistake? Creating the likes of you."

"I am no mistake!"

"Stop fooling yourself!" Johnny shouted, the darkened armor back up in a split second, concealing the form of Angel Hallissy. "I killed Angel, even if you won't admit it!"

"You speak nonsense!"

"I speak the truth! The Arriman logs are what made you who you are!" Johnny snapped. "The Arriman logs that I can read! The ones that Regal writes! The ones he downloaded into you to make you older! The ones that make you who you are!"

"Liar!"

"I was Regal's assassin before you were! When I left him, I became J13 and you took on the Assassin label! Everything you know since your creation hasn't been you! I was the one who killed Angel! It was me that started your career! The Arriman logs—"

"The Arriman logs are a myth!" the Assassin shot back. "Regal—"

"You think Regal trusts you with everything?!" Johnny demanded, shooting flames from his palms down at him. "Regal wouldn't trust his own father, and who can blame him!?"

Too winded to respond, the Assassin tried his best to crawl away from Johnny.

"The Arriman logs let me know anything that Regal knows," Johnny said. "And he has no idea! He doesn't know that I know your secrets!"

"My secrets are of no use to you!"

"Yeah? Then explain why they are here!"

Johnny shot more flames towards the alley Chaud and Mamoru were hiding in.

"MOVE!" Chaud shouted, shoving Mamoru out of the way to dodge the flames.

"The Blaze kid and the head of the Hallissy household!" Johnny shouted. "One of us is going to jail tonight, and it's not gonna be me!"

The Assassin, seeming to regain his strength, leapt up from the ground.

"Your team has seen the horrors of jail already!" he snapped, readying shuriken stars. "What difference will it make to you if you go to jail?"

"Oh, a lot. I have a lot more to lose," Johnny said, hands glowing with a bright light. "Whereas you do not!"

The streetlamps short circuited, sparks flying everywhere as the enemies surged together.

"Chaud!" Mamoru shouted, completely helpless without a cane or means of assistance.

Racing towards Mamoru while avoiding the battle in the Square, Chaud realized something.

"Wait a moment... RAGE!" Chaud shouted, remembering who had brought him here in the first place.

Rage was on top of the Jomon tower, unable to breathe for laughing.

"I can't believe this worked!" he snickered to himself. "Johnny's gonna love me forever if this works out!"

Looking down, he saw not only Chaud, but Mamoru staggering away from the fight.

DO NOT MOVE FROM THIS SPOT, he heard Johnny's voice telling him from mere minutes ago. Not for the LIFE of you.

"Man! Mamoru, get outta here!" Rage hissed, unwilling to disobey Johnny. It was all down to Chaud to keep Mamoru safe.

"Chaud!" Mamoru shouted again. "What are we gonna do!?"

"Not much we can do, Mamoru!" Chaud reached him, pressed the cane back into Mamoru's hands, and promptly shoved him in the opposite direction to avoid bodily injury. "We just have to wait until they stop fighting!"

"Can't you get backup or something?!" Using the cane to keep from falling backwards, Mamoru limped off to the side, panicked. "You're with the Officials!"

"At the moment, I am the Officials!" Chaud shouted back. "No one is going to answer a call for another hour or so!"

"So get the Hikaris or something!"

Flames ignited the café next door to Jomon, leaving Mamoru and Chaud little place to hide.

"What can we do!?" Mamoru asked, clearly fearful. "We can't just leave them here, can we?!"

"Not unless we want half the neighborhood burned down!" Thinking fast, Chaud pulled Mamoru with him away from the fight, pulling out PET. "ProtoMan!"

"What's going on!?"

"I need you to get Lan and Maether here!"

"Chaud, wha—"

"JUST GO!"

ProtoMan disappeared, leaving Chaud and Mamoru to hope for the best.

"ADMIT YOUR MISTAKES!" Johnny shouted up at the Assassin, now perching atop a metal awning over the burning café in hopes of regaining a bit of energy.

"I make no mistake! You are the reason Regal and Wily trust no one!" the Assassin shot back, intending to bound down and face Johnny again. Johnny met him in the air, delivering a solid blow to the Assassin's chest.

"What's going on, Blaze?!"

Maether and Lan showed up as the Assassin fell the twenty feet to the ground from where Johnny had hit him, the armor disappearing from his body.

No.

Her body.

Even from their distance, it was clear that a woman was now lying on the ground where the Assassin should have been.

"Wha... a girl?" Lan gawked. "Seriously!? Holy cow!"

"Who is she?" Maether wondered, still wary of Johnny on the premises.

"I think I know." Mamoru had gone pale, watching the motionless woman on the ground.

"What?"

"What do you think, Mo? Who's gonna win?"

"It's a fair shot for both of them, I suppose. They both got this far."

"I work with her!" Mamoru said. "That's Angela; she works with me at Jomon!"

"Angela?"

Johnny's feet touched down on the ground beside Angela.

"I told you I knew your secret," he whispered, his own Alliance armor coming down. "I told you your assassinating career was a lie. But it's your own fault, eh, Angela?"

Turning around, Johnny saw the minute gathering of Officials and NetSavers. He waved casually over at them, then vaulted over Angela's body and away into the night.

"Aren't we gonna stop him?" Lan asked, shaken.

"We can't. We've got the Assassin right here, and he— she— obviously can't escape," Maether said, also shocked.

"Angel..." Mamoru slid down the brick wall of the Jomon store, unable or unwilling to believe. "But... it doesn't make sense..."

"When does it ever make sense?" Chaud pulled him up to his feet. "Go home, Mamoru. We'll take care of thi—"

"MAMORU!"

A voice, observably fabricated, tore through the air. Angela lurched to her feet, unsteady.

"I know who you are."

"What's she talking about, Mamoru?" Maether demanded.

"I don't know... Angela, what's going on?" Mamoru asked.

"I know your family, and I know their secrets!" Angela shouted.

"She's not right in the head," Lan concluded.

"Come on, you two," Maether prompted, "let's get her out of here."

---

"How'd you do it, Rage?!" Connor asked. They were in the safehouse a few days later, the gang gathered together to plan the next attack on Regal's assets.

"Took a little digging... but anything's possible for us, right?" Rage grinned, letting the momentary glory of taking down their biggest adversary save the authorities.

"It's crazy... but it's awesome..." Connor looked across the room at the articles as Johnny pinned up a new one.

Black Assassin Caught At Last.

"Who'd've thought he was a girl?" Axiom wondered. "It's a wonder, if anything."

"Maybe Regal cracked up and decided to make sure the Assassin stayed loyal," Caden bantered.

"Come on. Women are more independent these days than ever," Johnny said. "Which is why we have to be careful now. With Angela outta the way, there's a chance that they'll start seriously investigating everyone that comes in and out of the city. Anything goes now."

"Oh, we'll do just fine," Cardinal sighed.

"Anyhow... we're looking at some serious wrath from Regal now, aren't we?" Rage asked.

"Well, I dunno about the rest of us," Johnny said, "but definitely you and me, buddy."

"You can take him," Darque said seriously. "He's just as mad as his dad."

"Speaking of... that junk about Wily breaking back out," Johnny remembered.

"WHAT?!" the team yelled in disbelief.

"Wily broke out again!?" Archer spluttered.

"Almost," Johnny said quickly. "Almost. Angela confessed. He's back in jail where he belongs."

"Did Angela tell who we were?" Darque asked, sounding a little concerned.

"Like she'd know. Angela doesn't know anything about us except that we're free and she's not," Johnny said.

"What about that Mamoru guy?" Patch asked. "He said he knew her."

"Yeah, he does," Darque said. "Didn't he go visit her in jail or something?"

"Nah," Johnny said. "Angela gave him some spiel about knowing their secrets or whatever before Maether and kids took her in. The security guard kicked 'em out and got Angela in an asylum."

"That solves the majority of our Regal-related problems," Connor said satisfactorily. "So what now?"

Johnny kicked back on the table, staring out the window.

"We wait."


SECOND YEAR (and one day) COMMEMORATION

If you are still reading this: You have either come in to the story late, or you are one of the few who have been with me for two years yesterday! Hooray you!