Megaman Battle Network Lan AU
By: FunahoMisaki
(A/N: I own nothing and read last chapter)
Mari groaned slightly as she came to, peeling her eyes open as she looked around blearily. The last thing she remembered was…! Mari shot up wide awake as she noted the bars in front of her, obviously a prison cell of some kind.
"Where am I?!" Mari asked massaging her head when it stung slightly, that right she had stormed out of the school to beat that Deck operative into cooperating and had been hit from behind as soon as she left the building.
"Those down rotten little-" Mari began to snarl to herself before a weak groan behind her stopped her as she turned around. Her hands shot to her mouth as her eyes widened in horror when she saw who made the sound.
"M-Ms. Mari?" Lan asked weakly as he blearily opened one of his eyes and saw the woman he was about to play like a fiddle.
"Oh God Lan! What have they done to you?" Mari asked horrified as she rushed over to the boy who was chained to the wall in a crucifix like manner. There were slightly sparking metal chains pinning him to the wall as he looked up at her with one eye, his other swollen shut which is something that both worried and pissed off the maternal teacher.
Lan was in terrible condition. His right eye was swollen shut, his lip was split in two places, he looked pale and dirty as if he hadn't seen the sun or bathed in the last few days, and his cloths were ripped up pretty badly showing various cuts and bruises on his body. What she didn't know was that most of those were cuts and bruises from his training in sword play and hand to hand combat, and the split lip and black eye came from a fight with the former eight of spades who challenged him to a hand to hand battle for the title of 'Death King'. The arrogant boy got in two good hits before Lan broke his arm and knocked him out, which let Lan win and had his medical experts give the boy a memory blockage of any important information before the new eight of spades turned him over to Officials after 'stopping' his 'attack' on a Square.
"W-What are you doing here?" Lan asked weakly, his voice sounding hoarse as if he hadn't had anything to drink in a while. He had gone without water for the last day and a half just to make sure his voice sounded like that for when she woke up, after all…doing things half-assed wasn't his style. It was go big or go home…and Lan was going for Olympic sized big.
"A Deck member came to school a week after you were taken. I went to confront him and get some answers on where you were so I could bring you home but someone hit me from behind and knocked me out as soon as I left the school." Mari said quickly as she began to dab at his wounds with tears in her eyes, moving to try and undo the chains only for them to not come loose at all.
"Don't bother. Been pulling at them for I don't know how long now but they aren't coming loose or off." Lan said shaking his head ever so slightly before stiffening as he glared at something behind Mari, making her spin around on alert and drop into a fighting stance. In front of the door to the 'prison' was a woman wearing all red with black hearts embroidered on her outfit and wearing a small tiara on her head with a diamond on it. Her face aside from her eyes were covered with a red kerchief as a group of black and red clad people all wearing different symbols on their outfits and masks on their faces stood behind her.
"I see our new recruit is awake." The woman with the tiara said her eyes amused as they stared at Mari who glared at her hard.
"New…recruit?" Lan asked making sure his voice sounded confused and weak, making Mari glance at him worriedly.
"Of course. Your precious teacher there is joining us today." The woman said causing Lan and Mari both to look shocked and confused.
"M-Ms. Mari?" Lan asked shocked and confused and making Mari to look at him.
"I swear I'm not joining them Lan!" Mari said immediately upon seeing the faint hint of betrayal in his eyes.
"Oh you will, of your own free will too." The woman said obviously sounding smug and confident as she looked through the bars at Mari who scowled at her.
"Why would I do something like that?" Mari asked glaring darkly and nearly snarling at the woman who laughed, a high cruel sounding laugh that made Mari's skin crawl.
"Because if you don't then…well I'm sure you know what happens to someone who doesn't eat or drink something for long periods of time." The woman said motioning to Lan and causing Mari to tense as she look horrified.
"Without water or food he'll dehydrate and starve to death. We kept him watered him enough for him to survive but we haven't fed him anything and if he doesn't get food soon he'll slowly die of starvation." The woman continued causing Lan to glare at her along with Mari while Lan's stomach gave out an audible growl of hunger. He hadn't eaten anything for a full day just for this plot after all.
"…What do you want from me so that you'll take good care of him and who are you?" Mari finally asked after several long seconds of glaring at the woman.
"I am the Ace of Diamonds, operator of Diamond Ace and one of the inner circle for the Death King. What we want is simple. You are a good battler and able to surprise many with your skills since they aren't widely known. You join us as our Red Joker and we'll not only feed and water Lan on a daily basis but we'll even move him to a nicer room complete with baths and beds. Of course, there will be some lower deck members there to ensure he doesn't escape, but he will have a room and you will be able to see him at a planned time every day if you wish to reassure yourself." Ace of Diamonds said causing Mari to growl but look at Lan for a second before deflating. Since her back was too him by now Lan openly smirked at how easy this was. Play on the woman's love for her students and she would do anything.
"Get him medical treatment as well, which I will be present for, and I'll do whatever you want." Mari finally said after a moment of silence, causing the Ace of Diamonds to nod in agreement before motioning one of the men with a club on his shirt forward. That's when Mari noticed the number on the shirt, it was a red six.
"Our Six of Clubs here will let Lan down from the wall, the Three of Clubs and Six of Spades shall be taking you both to his new room where you will be given your new uniform while the Two of Hearts treats Lan's injuries." Ace of Diamonds said causing those mentioned to step forward, the Six of Clubs who Lan knew was named Leon opening the cell door and going straight for his chains. As soon as Lan was unchained though, Mari struck with a well placed fist to the boys head and knocked him out.
"Stay behind me Lan! After I take care of them I'll get you out of here and to a hospital!" Mari barked at Lan who stood up 'weakly' as Mari kept her back to him and faced the tense and ready Deck members in front of her. Strangely enough it was only the Ace of Diamonds who wasn't tense, in fact the woman was openly laughing in amusement.
"What are you laughing abo-"Mari was cut off as something whacked her in the head from behind, causing her to fall face forward and lose consciousness. Her last thought before the darkness took her for a second time was one that shocked and confused her.
'But how? Only Lan was behind me!'
