Eh, I mucked this chapter up when I first posted it, so sorry for any inconveniences. Hopefully it'll come out better this time. Thanks to Devlinn Reiko-sama, Lefty, Pyro-At-Heart and Blue-winged-donkey-rabbit (cool name!) for reviewing the prologue! Also, thanks Hollie for reading it anyway, but you must be very very bored. There's hints of the dreaded slash in this though Holz, so be warned.
Note: This is set after the first season, as if V-Force never happened etc.
A/N: Here's the first chapter then, nice and early. Updates will be irregular – I'll add the next chapter once I've started the one after. I'm disorganized and lazy, so, sorry in advance. This chapter's really just for setting the scene and getting all my main characters in place. Another thing I have to ask is that please, please, please tell me if I should up the rating later on. I'm British, and don't use the same rating system. We have U, PG, 12, 15 and 18. I'm not really sure where this fits in, but I don't think it's going to be anywhere near R. Tell me if I'm wrong!
Summary:
Biovolt is gone. The Demolition Boys are no longer super soldiers in a war to take over the world. But there's no way they can just go back to being normal boys again. Kai knows this, and he's set himself a new goal; turn the Demolition Boys – and himself – into normal teenagers. But it's not going to be easy... Kai/Tala, Ian/Spencer, Bryan/Rei
Warnings: M/M relationships/yaoi/shounen-ai, self-injury issues, a little mild language, possibly a small amount of lime.
Disclaimer. I don't own Beyblade. The end.
Chapter 1: Hello, I'm Your New Nanny
Kai surveyed the four sitting ramrod straight in front of him again, and mentally ran over problems likely to come up with each of his 'children'. He looked to the apparently least difficult to figure out ones first, Spencer and Ian.
Spencer. Kai looked thoughtfully at the big blond Russian who'd beaten him in the finals. Kai felt no bitterness towards Spencer, even though he'd stolen Dranzer in an unfair battle. There was something impossible to hate about the blond, an overwhelming loyalty and devotion showing in every motion making lashing out at him like whipping an over-affectionate puppy. On the surface, the blond appeared to be adjusting well to the destruction of Biovolt and the life he'd known, but Kai was looking deeper than that and could see something he doubted anyone but Tala had seen. Spencer was a soldier through and through, and he needed orders, needed to be directed and praised, like a child. Kai could see that without Biovolt's strict regime, Spencer didn't know what to do with himself; he'd been so used to doing what he was told, he'd forgotten how to make his own decisions. Or just never knew – he'd been brought to the Abbey at a very young age. Without Tala's steadying influence, he would've probably lost control weeks ago, feeling adrift and alone without a purpose in life. Now Kai knew why Tala had been so insistent that the team stay together, whatever else happened. Spencer needed the stability of his team, now that the foundations on which his life had been built had been utterly destroyed. Kai's roving eyes paused on Spencer again, noting who he was sitting next to.
Ian...and there was another puzzle. Ian and Spencer fought continually, with Ian generally picking Spencer as the target for his innumerable pranks. Wise choice, considering that Tala would probably sentence him to extended training session, much like Kai did to Tyson when he was being particularly annoying. Being team captain did have some perks. As for pranking Bryan – even Ian knew that was a very, very bad idea. Very bad. Fatal, in fact. But despite the apparent animosity between the two, Kai had noticed they always sat together, and spent the majority of their time together. Like they actually liked each other's company...there was food for thought there. Kai had also noticed how protective Spencer could be of Ian. The thought was weird, but plausible. Something to think about at a later date, at least.
Which led him nicely on to Ian. In most ways, Ian was the least complicated and problematic of the Demolition Boys, but that wasn't saying much. Just because he showed few outer symptoms of trauma, didn't mean everything was fine and dandy with the short blader.
Whereas, of course, Bryan was obviously affected by his time in the Abbey; his training was pretty obvious. Achieve your mission at all costs, do so by being cold and heartless, driven only by hatred. Bryan was likely to be the hardest Demolition Boy to adjust to normal life. Nothing about him could remotely be called normal or human; he was cold, harsh and utterly ruthless. Possibly. Biovolt's training was flawed in many ways; Kai just hoped that there was a part of Bryan that could be salvaged. There was going to be a lot of emotional trauma to deal with there, though. But, just like the rest of the team, Bryan was worth the effort, and deserved it for what had happened to him.
Kai jerked out of his contemplative haze as Mr Dickinson, - who had been standing in front of him giving some speech on how the Demolition Boys were now free of Biovolt's evil clutches and could now lead happy productive lives, blah, blah – wound down finally and finished his speech.
"And so, my boys, " Kai winced slightly as he noticed the team's eyes narrow slightly at that little endearment, "in light of what I've said, the BBA have decided you will be free to integrate yourselves into society once more. No charges will be pressed against you, as you were not acting of your own free will-" Here Bryan gave a tiny growl and looked like he was either about to say something or just skip straight to the killing, but Tala leaned over and muttered one harsh word in Russian. Bryan settled back into his chair, impassive once more.
"Ahem, like I was saying, you are free to go, but we at the BBA would like you to stay in a BBA apartment for a while before you enter the mainstream of life. We would also like you to have a monitor live with you for a while, to check...that society is ready for you. I hope that's satisfactory?"
Tala looked briefly at his team, then turned back to the front.
"No. It isn't." Mr Dickinson spluttered.
"Really, I must insist upon it-" Tala cut him off again.
"We've had enough of being 'monitored'. We can look after ourselves, and we don't need your charity." Tala spat the last word contemptuously. "As for insisting, I'd like to see you try, old man. We can get out of here any time we want to."
"It's for your own protection! The BBA simply cannot allow four young men such as yourselves to wander around with the kind of training you received. Besides which, you have no means of supporting yourselves, only basic education in certain areas and nowhere to live!"
"We don't need your protection either. We can support ourselves just fine, like I said." Tala replied coldly.
Ian picked this moment to make a low, quick comment in Russian. Tala snapped "Ian! Quiet! Now is not the time for your perverted sense of humour! And that comment was not funny."
Mr Dickinson seized on this. "See? You seem to feel that there is no place for jokes or laughter in your lives. You need someone to show you how to have fun again!" Tala looked faintly amused. "It is very evident that your Russian is imperfect. If you had understood that comment, you would not have thought it funny or appropriate either." The BBA official bristled again. "Oh?"
Kai decided now was a good time to intervene.
"He's right." Tala jerked slightly at this reminder that Kai was in the room, and Kai stood upright from where he'd been slouched against the wall. "Ian said that you seemed very eager for them to come and 'find employment with you', and he was wondering just what you had in mind for 'your boys'"
Mr Dickinson flushed bright red at the inference and Ian started laughing, until Bryan reached over and whacked him round the head, earning a brief but subtle glare from Spencer. Ian shut up immediately.
"I can assure you that that is completely wrong, and that comment only goes to show how Boris has twisted you-" Tala didn't bother replying. He just stood up. The rest of the team did too.
"We're leaving. You can either let us go, or we'll let ourselves out. I can't guarantee no one will get hurt if you choose the latter. It's your choice. But the Demolition Boys are leaving." Kai sighed mentally. Time to intervene again.
He walked forward to the spluttering Mr Dickinson and tapped him on the shoulder.
"I'll take it from here." Mr Dickinson turned even redder. "Now see here, Kai, I said you could sit in on this discussion, but I don't believe I gave you permission to interfere with the proceedings!"
The slate haired blader raised a silver eyebrow. "I don't think the proceedings are proceeding very well though, are they? Trust me. I know what I'm doing." He stepped forward. "I will be the one living with you if you take the BBA's offer. I won't be interfering in your lives unless you want me to, which I highly doubt. I will simply be showing you how to function in life so you don't end up back here in the police station. And yes Tala, I know that you can break out of here in second and will do so as many times as you have to, but bear with me here, hmm?"
Tala opened his mouth again. Both bladers ignored Mr Dickinson's incoherent noises at this new revelation. "You? What makes you think you're any better? You've left us twice, Kai. You aren't wanted. Go back to your little Bladebreakers."
Kai looked at him carefully. "Let's go outside to talk about this, Tala. I have some things to say to you that don't need an audience." Tala shrugged and motioned to the other Russians to sit back down. "I'll give you a couple of minutes, Phoenix, and that's all." The Bladebreaker shrugged and left the room, Tala following.
Mr Dickinson made to follow them, but another growl from Bryan and a freezing glare made him shiver and think better of it.
Once the door had shut behind them Tala turned to Kai. "So. Talk. What makes you think you're any better?" He repeated. Kai's eyes narrowed.
"Because you need the BBA's help. And because you don't need the BBA's 'monitoring'. Mr Dickinson was right about one thing; you have no way of supporting yourself. And there are no chances of you getting jobs either. You all have excellent educations – Boris didn't want you to grow up stupid, after all – but you still won't get hired. You were part of an incredibly powerful crime syndicate with plans to take over the world, after all. Not really prime material as a waiter. Besides, I wouldn't count on any of you not to kill the customers if they annoyed you."
Tala shifted uncomfortably, the slightest hint of an embarrassed flush crossing his face as they both paused to consider the concept of Bryan as a waiter. The thought provoked near-identical winces. Tala wasn't about to be persuaded so easily, however.
"There are other ways of obtaining money. With our skills it should be no problem." He said coldly. A passing police officer looked curiously at them, his face twisting into a grimace of disgust at the sight of Tala.
Oddly enough, even with Boris and the Abbey exposed, public opinion of the Demolition Boys was still incredibly low. The other children in the Abbey had mostly been reclaimed by their families, and the rest taken into foster homes and orphanages. No one blamed them for being brainwashed into becoming part of Voltaire's army. But for some reason, the same acceptance had not been extended to the Demolition Boys. Even after Tala and Tyson had shaken hands with each other after their battle, the Demolition Boys were still despised. Perhaps it was because they were considered to be old enough to know better; at sixteen, seventeen and eighteen years old, they were legally no longer children. Maybe it was because most of the CCTV camera footage showing the Demolition Boys' 'training' had not been recovered, and the bits that were the BBA were hanging onto. No one realized just how bad it had been for the Abbey team. And what Tala was suggesting would only get them into deeper shit. And Kai wouldn't let that happen.
"So you'll turn to crime? Won't that do wonders for you. People will hate you even more, and when the police finally catch up with you, they won't be lenient. And they will catch up with you. Someday you'll get careless, or unlucky, or the team will break up. Besides, don't you think your team deserves to have a normal life? Behave like teenagers for once? Not have to worry about running and hiding?"
"So in return for a normal life, we have to accept your leadership back? I don't think so, Kai. You've done quite enough for the team so far, I think." Tala sneered, trying to hide the undercurrent of hurt in his words. Kai's face softened almost imperceptibly. "I'm not planning on waltzing in and stealing the team leadership from you again, Tala. I'll be there to help you adjust, that's all. You'll still be in charge of your team. Please, Tala. I don't want to see you get yourself killed or in jail. Just take the offer. You can always leave. Hell, I'll even help you, if that's what you really want." Kai and Tala stared each other down for a while. Finally, Tala broke and let out a giant huff of air.
"Fine. But I'm in charge of my team, not you. Clear?" Kai nodded, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Clear." Tala turned to go back into the room where Bryan had probably gutted Mr Dickinson with Spencer and Ian egging him on, but Kai's hand on his arm stopped him. "Tala...I missed you." Tala didn't turn around. "I missed you too." Kai nodded and the two entered the room as if nothing had been said.
####
"What?!" Ian yelped. "We're accepting their offer? Why?!" Tala frowned at him, then sighed and opened his mouth to reply, but Kai beat him to it. "Because I'll make sure that the apartment we'll be staying in has Sky television [1], a computer and a Playstation. Good enough?" Ian's face lit up at the thought of feeding his growing obsession with turning into a couch potato.
Tala smirked slightly, and whispered to Kai, "How did you guess he'd become so hooked on playing games and watching T.V. since we left the Abbey?"
"Easy," Kai whispered back, "I just thought of what Tyson would do in that situation." Tala snorted but refrained from commenting. Mr Dickinson looked up, apparently over his previous attack of apoplexy.
"And that's another thing! How do you think your team is going to react at the news that you're leaving them for the second time for the Demolition Boys? You're abandoning them again! And that's apart from the fact that you are completely unsuitable for this kind of responsibility! Why, you're hardly the most stable member of your team!"
Kai's face darkened. "Firstly, I've already talked to my team, and they've agreed. They're not entirely happy with my decision but they trust me to do the right thing this time. Although I did have to submit to being searched for Black Dranzer...and they'll be dropping in sometime before they leave Russia. Probably at the worst possible moment, but that's them." Tala rolled his eyes but nodded acceptance of the visit. "As for 'being unstable', that's precisely why I can help the Demolition Boys. Some of the shit they went through, I went through. Not all of it, but enough to know what it was like. Enough for me to understand them better than you, anyway. Besides, I speak Russian. You don't, and I bet your little 'observer' doesn't either."
The old man's face flushed even redder. "It wasn't necessary–"
Kai cut him off for what seemed like the umpteenth time. "It's their native language. I think that settles everything, doesn't it? So, where is this apartment?" The BBA official gave in, and handed a bundle of papers and a set of keys to Kai. "Fine, but the moment the Demolition Boys become a threat to the public, the arrangement is off. Here are the keys and the address of the apartment. The papers give you all the information you'll need about your duties, and you'll receive a monthly stipend for living expenses." He huffed and turned to go, obviously offended. Kai's stern voice stopped him.
"One more thing. Does the place we're staying have a computer, a T.V. and a Playstation?"
"A Playstation? You must be joking! The BBA aren't paying for you to laze about all day. You want luxuries like that, you'll have to get a job and buy one!" "As I recall, the Demolition Boys are doing this so that they can learn what it is like to be teenagers again. What teenager hasn't played on a Playstation before?" Mr Dickinson sensed he'd lost this fight entirely and surrendered. "Fine! I'll have one sent to you!" He left, slamming the door bad temperedly. Kai looked after him, smiling again. "Never did like that man..." he mused.
Meanwhile, Ian was grinning like mad. "Thanks, Kai."
Kai looked over. "No problem, Ian."
#####[1]= Sky television is British only, I think. Digital, lots and lots of channels, don't know what the American version is called. I'm assuming everyone's heard of a Playstation...I hope...
Eh, that didn't come out quite as I'd planned, but...good enough, I guess. I know I made Mr D. a bit of a bastard in this, and he's supposed to be a tolerant, generally great person, but I'm afraid I don't like him that much – he's kind of manipulative of everyone, like when he tricked the Bladebreakers into missing their boat in the first season. He does it for the good of the boys, of course, but I figure Kai must be a little sick of being manipulated by old men. And there's not a whole lot of footage of Ian or Spencer in the first season, so I'm making it up as I go along. Just stick an OOC label on it, probably. I like Ian this way, but tell me if you feel there's anything I can do to make him more in character. To be honest, I can only remember one line of his – "Don't you just hate being right" or something. And Spencer's "Sir! I won!" which I based his whole character on. Oh well