Author's note: Thanks to all my reviewers, keep them coming, please. Looks like this will be a long story, though.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Vandread or any of its characters. The fact that I wish I did is irrelevant.
Chapter 5: The Belly of the Beast
Renard strode into the Old Man's office, stopping in front of his desk.
"You called?"
Conrad looked up at his subordinate, trying to mask the anger he was feeling behind an impassive mask.
"I told you to take care of them. Rather than following orders, you took them prisoner, creating another headache for me to deal with. Now what if their crewmates come looking for them? You have a lot of nerve to call Kyra insubordinate, Renard."
His Captain's remaining eye met his gaze, glowing with a grim determination.
"There's little difference between them dead or captured, except for the reactions of their crewmates. They're not going to be telling anyone where we are."
Kurtz surged to his feet, face beginning to turn red.
"That doesn't make a difference! The point of this is that you disobeyed a direct order by not removing those nuisances! Damn you, boy, I thought I taught you better than that!"
Renard's head snapped up, and his burning glare caused even the Old Man to flinch slightly. Face twisting in anger, he brought his fist down on top of the desk with a sound like thunder.
"You did teach me better than that! Who was it that told me there was no honor in killing a helpless opponent? Who told me mercy for the defeated was part of a soldier's code? Keep this in the forefront of your mind, Conrad: I will fight to keep the unit together if I must, but I will NOT murder helpless people for you!"
Conrad pulled back, shocked by the vehemence of Renard's voice. He knew without a doubt that the old days, the days when they had been soldiers in the defense of their home, were gone for good. Now was a new, dangerous time, where his men were beginning to change, trying to find some pride and purpose within themselves. Without another word, he turned his back and slowly moved to stare out the viewport behind him until he finally heard his sub commander turn and leave.
I see it's impossible to stay the way we were… the only question now is what we will become.
Hibiki moved, mumbling under his breath. His head ached, feeling as though a jackhammer was pounding away in his skull. He opened his eyes, then groaned and closed them again as a flash of brilliant light almost blinded him. Slowly, he opened them again, letting his eyes adjust to the light. With another groan, he pushed himself upright. The creaking of protesting joints told him he'd probably spent a while stuck in an uncomfortable position. He shook his head again and glanced around, realizing he was in a cell illuminated by a very bright light in the ceiling. The still unconscious forms of Paiway, Meia, Dita, and Jura lay around him. Gascogne was sitting up against the wall of the cell, holding her head and grumbling incoherently. He could certainly emphasize with her.
He snapped back to attention when he heard a voice outside.
"They're starting to wake up. Should we call for Commander Renard?"
"Nah, they're not all awake yet. No point wasting the Stone Soldier's time on them until they are."
He looked out the door of the cell, and saw two armored forms, complete with helmets. Both held metallic batons in their hands, showing easy familiarity with them. Grimacing in pain, Hibiki racked his thoughts, trying to remember how he'd ended up here. Brief flashes of shaking and explosions flitted through his memory, and he remembered seeing an indistinct figure through teary eyes and irritating smoke, followed by a brief flash of light, a debilitating pain, and then blackness.
"Hey! Hey, you two out there! Where the hell am I?"
Both helmeted heads turned to regard him. He could read nothing from their body stances or their black visors. The one on the left spoke.
"This is a military holding facility. Prisoners may not speak unless directly addressed. As this is your first offense, you will not be punished, but punishments will be administered for every infraction after this one."
Hibiki stared in disbelief.
"Hey, you can't-"
The other guard moved with incredible speed, flicking the rod as he advanced on the cell. It suddenly telescoped outwards into a long staff, with an odd looking series of spikes in one end. Electricity crackled along the spines as he thrust it through the bars, poking Hibiki in the arm. Pain ignited through his body as it connected and pierced his skin.
"Aaaaaaarrrrrrggghhhh!"
His body instinctively tried to pull away, but the shock all but paralyzed him, and he could only lie there, groaning and cradling his arm, as it was retracted. The guard effortlessly flipped the weapon, catching it and bringing the other end towards him. The butt end of the prod had a sizeable metal loop in it, which suddenly snapped open. The man skillfully brought it down, catching Hibiki's throat in the 'collar', which he snapped closed again, catching him in an iron grip. The guard yanked, brutally ramming Hibiki's head against the metal bars. He leaned down, his dispassionate visor an inch away from Hibiki's face.
"What's the matter with you, boy? Are you deaf or something? You heard him- 'prisoners may not speak unless directly addressed'. And still you had to keep talking, didn't you, you gutter-licking scum? Idiots like you are an insult to the species. I'll make it a little clearer to you now, boy: if you open that mouth of yours, I'll stick a shock prod in it. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
Hibiki struggled for breath, but the guard had closed the clamp so tightly he couldn't get in enough air to speak. Instead, he spat in the man's visor.
The guard chuckled, pulling away and making a show of wiping the spittle off. He yanked, slamming Hibiki's head against the bars again, then again, then again, until the dazed Vanguard pilot stopped struggling against the clamp. Raising one gloved hand, he casually adjusted a dial on the rod's middle, and Hibiki began to choke as the loop around his throat began to constrict. The Guard continued until he was turning blue, then contemptuously released his hold, allowing the pilot to drop to the floor.
With a snort, he spun the staff again, stabbing Hibiki in the chest. With a short scream of pain, he flopped like a speared fish as the electric current from the weapon jolted through him. The guard yanked it out, and he began to try rolling over to move out of range, which was exactly what the man expected. He brought the clamp end around again, catching one of his legs as his partner moved up and caught the other one. Both guards yanked back viciously, dragging Hibiki across the floor and pulling his legs through the spaces between the bars. Unfortunately for him, his legs joined together into one area, and his groin slammed into the unyielding metal.
Gascogne watched in angry helplessness as the guards laughed and taunted Hibiki, alternately shocking him or simply clubbing him as he lay curled up in a ball, groaning in pain. Not knowing much about a man's anatomy, she ascribed the fact that his voice seemed higher than normal to the reason that the guard had choked him. Both stopped and stepped back after a while, turning away and laughing. She took the opportunity to crawl up to the man and pull him out of easy reach from the bars, then deposited him on his back, unsure of what to do.
Hibiki groaned and rolled onto his side, not responding to Gascogne's actions. Every part of his body throbbed with pain. It hurt his throat to take a breath, and the shocks from the guards' weapons had all but paralyzed his muscles. His muscles, but not his nerves- it felt like his bones had melted, his muscles had been torn loose, and his skin was on fire. With another groan, he allowed himself to slip back into unconsciousness.
Meia jerked awake, ignoring the horrible pain in her head as she lurched unsteadily to her feet. She glanced about, trying to ascertain where she was. Wait- this isn't on Gascogne's ship. She looked down to see the others all sitting there looking up at her. Hibiki was covered in bruises and sat desolate and lifeless at the side, with a worried-looking Dita beside him.
"Where-" Meia cut herself off when she saw everyone else, with the exception of Hibiki, shaking their heads frantically at her. Outside, she heard a voice.
"The last one of them has woken up, sir. No sir, not trouble out of them. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
The Dread leader shook her head to clear it, then glanced out at the guards. Both held metallic batons with loops attached at the ends. Something suddenly became clear to her, and she looked down at Gascogne, raised an eyebrow at the guards, and then indicated Hibiki with a jerk of her chin.
Gascogne nodded back, eyes warily fixed on the guards outside. Meia sighed inwardly. The boy's arrogance and naturally belligerent disposition seemed to get him in a lot of trouble with other people. She slowly slumped back, sliding down the wall into a seating position. She wished she had enough strength left to keep up a confident façade, but her head was killing her and she was feeling exhausted. She always tried to keep on top of things, to stay in control, but so far every move she'd tried against this enemy had been second-guessed and she'd been absolutely beaten. The blue-haired pilot closed her eyes, wondering if she was really so weak she couldn't do anything to save the friends she had led into captivity. It was a chilling thought.
Dita sat beside Hibiki, afraid to do or say anything, partly out of fear of the guards, partly because she didn't want to upset him. It made her angry that people could be so cruel as to hurt Hibiki like that, but she could find nothing to do or say. Even Leader seemed to be at a loss at what to do. She looked down at the floor. She hated situations like this so much, where she could not contribute or do anything, not even something funny to make someone smile. She quietly drew her knees up under her chin, unable to escape her feelings of helplessness and inadequacy.
Jura sat alone, pondering the situation. Barnette was not here, and she wondered where her friend was. Perhaps she had been placed somewhere else? But for what reason, if the rest of them were here? She could think of nothing good. Maybe she had been injured? That was bad… the blonde fixed her eyes on the two soldiers standing outside, trying to make herself believe there was a way out of this for all of them. Nothing else could be possible.