"Sum of the Parts"
Disclaimer : Still dreaming on. :D
A.N. : Looks like I'll be reneging on my self-imposed promise to make this the last chapter – not that anyone cares :D. Writing time and the development of this story's denouement is taking a little longer than expected (and getting longer than expected) since I've discovered that when it comes to jobs and vacation time, the amount of work they dump on you is directly proportional to the number of leave credits you get.
Ok, so you didn't need to know that hehe. Aaaanyway, I'll just offer this chapter to tide you over until I type up the ending when I get back from holiday.
ENJOY!
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Chapter 14 : A Walk in the Park
"Uuuunnhhh..." Ban moaned as he twisted his head slowly from left to right. He bent his neck forward off the headrest and massaged the crick out of his muscles, grateful he wasn't suffering from whiplash or worse. Aside from getting the wind knocked out of him and a blunt ache that traveled diagonally from his shoulder, across his chest and down to his abdomen caused by the restraint of the two-point seatbelt against the G-forces exerted by his body's thrust; Ban thought he felt just peachy considering they just ran about sixty kilometers per hour into a tree.
A smell of rot more potent than ammonia wafted up and tickled the Get Backer's nose, snapping him up to attention. First, he felt the gelatinous mass on his thighs and then fretfully, his eyes opened. Though Ban didn't actually see the object that caused all the pandemonium inside the car since Ginji so thoughtfully smothered his face, the stench was giving it away big time.
Still, he hoped against all odds that thing nuzzled at his groin wasn't –
Taking a corner of the plastic cover, Ban tipped it back and found sunken – very dead – eyes staring up at him.
"Shit! Fu – "A litany of every imaginable expletive in several languages spouted out of the snake man's mouth as he went amuck in his seat and threw the severed head out the window. Hyperventilating, he seriously wanted to hurl at having had it face down on his manhood. Then suddenly, he also remembered it was not the only thing that assaulted his lap. Ban frantically felt around to see if everything was where they should be.
They were. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ginji!" He looked to his left and saw an empty seat. He then sought his partner out the windshield – or what was left of it – and found his chibi form sprawled on the popped-off hood sprinkled with glittering shards of tempered glass. Apparently, the impact flung the runt through the front window like a trebuchet.
"Oi! Are you all right?" Ban exclaimed with alarm as he unclipped his seatbelt and tugged at the blond's dress.
"Uh... yeah," chibi-Ginji mumbled as he stirred his stubby limbs in a spasmodic wiggle, making the glass crunch. "But I think I'll just lie here for a while."
"I'm glad you're okay, buddy." He grabbed the 'Hello Kitty' that was on the floor and thwacked his prostrate friend with it. "Because that means I can kill you later, dumbass!"
"Sorry, Ban-chan," Ginji squeaked like a mouse.
"– And you, Monkey Trainer? You still alive back there?" Ban huffed, shrouding his (slight) concern with indignance.
"No thanks to you guys," a deep, disembodied voice replied from behind the bulk of steel cases. "Hey, Snake Bastard, I never knew you could scream like a girl."
"Shut up! You try having two-inch fangs nipping at your nuts and see if you don't sound like a twelve-year-old choir boy!"
"Fortunately, that would never happen to me, haha – ow!" Shido hissed a sharp intake of breath through his teeth as a stinging pain hit his side. "Man! I'm gonna be blue, black and purple all over."
"Looks like that's all we're gonna get from this shitty job," Ban sniffed morosely. He struggled to open his stuck side door. "Open! Godammit!"
With typical hot-headed impulsiveness, he used his Snake Bite to force the door ajar – and ended up ripping it off the hinges. One could almost hear the Ladybug cry why? in the sad creak of the door as it finally let go of the frame and landed with a muffled plop on the grass.
"Er... Mido? Do you have a death wish for this car? Don't you think it would be easier on you and the Ladybug if you just bought another one?"
The spiky-haired Get Backer staggered dizzily a few feet away from the pitiful white vehicle and slowly turned to survey the full extent of the devastation.
The fender was bent deep in the middle, the front half of the hood crumpled like a piece of paper, the radiator was smoking, headlights were completely smashed and the windshield and driver's door were non-existent.
Eye twitching, Ban dropped down to his knees ad clutched his hair in both hands. "Hah... hah... hah... yi...yi...yi...yi..." He couldn't even begin to tally how much this was going to cost him. Images of money, pizzas, sushi platters and hair products floating away beyond his grasp filled his mind. Not to mention the ultimate abomination – the horror of having to travel by, gasp! – public transportation.
"What a freaking nightmare!" he sobbed. "My car! My poor precious Ladybug, ravaged and violated. Whhyyy?"
Shido pushed the cases that were blocking his way out the door-less car. "Get a grip, bastard!" He shouted. "Damn! The way you're grieving for this tin can, you definitely need a girlfriend real bad."
Ban was now in his chibi form, gushing tears in a torrent and doing a 'Curly' on the ground while babbling about things he knew he would be forced to do without for, oh, about a year or two.
Like watching a train wreck he couldn't peel his eyes away from, the Beastmaster shifted his gaze from one pathetic chibi Get Backer to the other. Shido didn't care much for fame, fortune or titles. He was in the retrieval business simply to pay the rent. But these two doofuses claimed to be the best retrievers in the world – and they sure weren't looking like it at the moment. If only he wasn't affected by the same monumental screw-up the Get Backers were facing right now, Shido knew he'd be laughing his ass off.
Instead, he picked up the blond doll-creature in his left hand, stomped over to the brunette (who was now lying in a fetal position muttering gibberish) and grabbed him with his right. Thrashing their pudgy heads together, he yelled, "Snap out of it, you fools!"
Ban regressed into his normal, proactive self. Meaning, he went proactive on Shido's neck. "Monkey Trainer, you're really asking for it –"
"– and you're welcome, too, jackass!" Shido snarled while griping his wrist. "Glad to see your tantrum is over."
"Pffft... I think I'm entitled to one, 'cause unlike you, I don't have a poor little rich girl to mooch off of." Ban avoided a quick punch from his rival. Eyes narrowing, he raised his arm and stared at his outstretched right hand. "But you're right. This situation calls not for moping, but for some serious payback... starting with – "
Chibi-Ginji was kowtowed on the dirt with hands clasped and eyes big, black, shiny beads begging for mercy. "Uh, Ban-chan... Why are you looking at me like that?"
---
"Ban-chan, is this really necessary? It feels like blood is going to pour out of my ears," Ginji whinged.
The tare figure was suspended upside-down by his feet with some rope tied around a branch of the tree they crashed into. His skirt and its layers of white petticoats were flipped back over his body, making Ginji look like a wilted chrysanthemum swaying in the wind. Not to mention it conspicuously revealed the colour of the boxer shorts he was wearing... dark blue – with teddy bear print.
"Shido? Help? Please?" Ginji implored with the saddest hang-dog expression he could muster.
His former Volts mate glanced forlornly from his cross-legged position on the grass. "Sorry, pal. But as much as I hate to admit it, I'm kinda with the snake on this one. You just don't glue yourself to a person's face while he's driving. That's just not right."
Meanwhile, Ban was on all fours, crouched low on the ground and engaged in a growling contest with Akatsume, who had the dead head clamped in its jaws. He was trying to catch the dog's eyes.
"Give that back, you mangy mutt, or I swear I'll make you feel what it's like to be puppy chow!"
"Don't worry. He's not gonna eat it or anything," Shido sighed.
"Oh really? Well, Why don't I use the Jagan on you and see how you like having your monkey brain eaten," he groused. "No doubt you're telling it to do this to me, you orangutan!"
"Right. Just like I told the sparrow to 'break' your windshield," the Beastmaster smirked. "Why do you want the head back anyway after you so casually dumped it a while ago?"
Ban pointed at the Belgian Malinois. "I'm not done with you yet, flea bag." He stood up and walked over to his booty which Shido had deposited unceremoniously on the lawn. "Seeing how this mission is shot to hell, I'm thinking there's got to be some sort of reward for returning this missing – "he hesitated. "– person."
"You really are something else, freak." The tall man shook his head and rebuffed. "If that's the way you're going to approach it, then why don't you go all out and check if there's a body to go with that head? More parts, more money, right?"
"Maybe I will," Ban sneered caustically. He kicked one of the trunks in frustration whence it popped open and immediately, the air was thickly fumigated with more of the same nauseating odour of decay.
"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, jumping back with a startle and tripping over the equally surprised Shido. The two beastie boys clambered over each other and staggered backwards in a race to see who could move farthest away from the large, garbage bag-covered parcel that spilled from the case.
"When you said to see if there was a body, I thought you meant it as a joke!" Ban covered his nose and yelled as he climbed on top of the twisted hood of his Ladybug.
"I did!" And who'd expect you'd be so greedy to actually check!" Shido howled as he joined him.
"There's a body, too? Nyaaah!" Chibi-Ginji wailed, swinging around like a June bug flying in circles while tied on a string.
The surly brunette stopped the hyper whirligig with his fist. "It was an accident!"
"Well, clean up your 'accident' and shut that case closed right now!" The Beastmaster demanded as he shoved Ban off the car. "This park is beginning to smell like the valley of death!"
"– And you're the next body to be buried in it, moron! The gall of you to push me off my car!" The Jagan wielder flew up and sprung a sweeping punch which Shido parried. Instead, it connected with Ginji's puffy SD face.
"Yeee-oww! Hu-hu-hu-hu-hu..." the blond cried.
"It's your mess, you fix it!" Shido bellowed as he threw the smaller man against the tree. They continued to tussle and stomp and body-slam on top of the hood until it resembled an accordion. And like the clang of a bell ending a round of boxing, Ban's phone rang.
"Time out!" he wheezed. Before answering, the snake kneed Shido in the gut, after which he doubled over and rolled off the Ladybug.
"Cheap shot, bastard!"
"Whatever, dude." Ban slumped against the open windshield frame of the 360 and panted heavily into the mobile. "Whaddya want?"
"Who is this? Ban-kun? What's wrong with you?" Hevn squawked like a raptor on the hunt. "Why aren't you here yet?"
He grimaced and pulled the phone away from his ear lest the chuukaiya's siren shriek perforate his membranes. Chalk up another name on the girls-to-kill list.
"Hevn, my dear," Ban cooed patronizingly. "I'm sure you'll be a sweetheart and understand that we'll be delayed a while..."
"And why is that, pray tell?"
"Oh, nothing really. Except my car is currently wrapped around a cherry tree..." he sang. Then his voice crescendo-ed into a sonic boom. "... and like, there's a fucking chopped-up decomposing body right next to me!"
"A wh-what?" Hevn's screech faltered into a squeak.
"Apparently, robot parts aren't the only parts we got back for you, blondie."
Shido ventured a peek into the Get Backers' other cases and rapidly slammed them shut. At least now they knew where the body's arms and legs went to. He nodded ominously at Ban.
"Are you serious? Where did it come from?"
"The pieces were mashed in with the actual components inside the containers," he grumbled. "I'm starting to suspect this corpse is what the client is really after."
"The client?" Hevn paused, took a second for her mind to catch up and gasped. "Oh my God! Do you think it's the Nakano boy?"
"How the hell should I know?"
"I've got a photo of him here. Should I send it to your phone?"
"Wow, that'll be a great help!" Ban spewed undiluted acid. "I'm not sure if I can accurately describe the head for you since a stupid attack dog is now making beef jerky out of it, but as far as I can see, he, or she – I really can't tell – has black hair, milky white eyes, yellow-gray skin, purple lips and the face is bloated like a damn balloon." He took a deep breath.
"Does that look like Nakano Keiichiro to you?"
"For goodness sake! I get the picture!" Hevn retched into the receiver. "Well, a dead body is a dead body. I have no choice but to go to the police with this."
The spiky-haired man puckered his lower lip childishly. "Er... Before we sic the cops on our client, what if we wait until morning? You know, after he pays us first?"
"Ban-kun!"
"Geez, woman! It was just a thought," Ban seethed, hands beginning to sting at the utter and inevitable impossibility of having the cool, crisp caress of six million yen to soothe them.
"Look at it this way. If you had thought not to open the packages like you were supposed to, this wouldn't have been your problem, would it? How could you be so unprofessional?" The mediator clucked her tongue.
"Hey! It became my problem the moment this job of yours began stinking up my car!" he snapped. "On the other hand, if only you had a brain as big as one of your implants and did a background check, we wouldn't be involved with a friggin' axe murderer in the first place, you bimbo!"
"What did you say?" Hevn trumpeted, affronted less by the insult to her intelligence and more at the accusation her sizeable assets were fake.
"Silicone, bogus, unreal, F-A-K-E."Ban chortled. "You may not believe it, but my reasons for feeling you up are purely scientific."
"Give me a break! Like you'd really ever know the difference between real and fake you... you... virgin!"
"Who are you calling a virgin?" he exploded.
Shido couldn't take it any longer. He brusquely pried the cellphone from the snake man's grip. "It's me, Shido. So what's the plan?" he requested staunchly and without fanfare.
"I don't care if you have to trawl those parts – and that insolent sea urchin-head – through Tokyo Bay. I want you to get your asses here, right now!" Hevn screamed and abruptly cut the line.
He testily pitched the phone back to the grumpy brunette. "Man, that conversation just bugged. You're the only person I know who manages to effortlessly talk about dead bodies and boob groping in the same sentence, you creep."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Ban jeered and threw his head onto the roof of the Ladybug. Taking out his crushed cigarette pack from his jeans pocket, he fished out a stick with his teeth and grunted. "Dammit, will this night ever end?" He scanned the indigo swirls of the heavens with eyes that were coloured with their very fabric. Tracing the outlines of his own constellation, Ophiuchus, Ban noticed the serpent handler's stars were twinkling brighter than all the others – in mirthful laughter it seemed. He rolled his eyes dejectedly. He could almost believe his real curse wasn't the Jagan or even the power of Aesclepius, but maybe that he, Mido Ban, spawn of the dark, existed solely to be the spirits' favourite whipping boy.
No doubt the Witch Queen was highly amused.
"Hey snake! Quit brooding! This doesn't change the fact that we've got to get back to the Honky Tonk, remember?" Shido crossed his arms and towered menacingly over the dawdling retriever.
Ban narrowed his eyes above the violet glasses, tapped the fragile ashes off his cig and let the night blow the embers into his rival's disdainful face. "Yeah? And what do you intend to do? Call a buffalo to drive a cart out of some rice field?"
"Very funny," the Beastmaster scoffed. "No, asshole. I think it's easier if we simply borrowed a car. Madoka's house isn't too far from here."
"What 'we'? You think I'm gonna walk with you through this park just so I can be your driver? Not bloody likely." He made a face. "What's wrong with using Madoka's chauffeur anyway?"
"I'm not waking anyone up at this ungodly hour in order to transport your hacked-up, rotting corpse!" Shido growled and then snorted. He began untying his cases from the car's roof. "Fine. Suit yourself. But I sure as hell am not going to get caught with you in possession of a dead guy."
The gears in Ban's head suddenly sprung to life again. He hopped off the Subaru and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Sheesh... All right, I'll go with you, Monkey Trainer. No need to be so touchy. But I'm only doing this 'cause I can do without the towing fee."
"Meh. Not to mention a parking citation. Your car shouldn't even be here." Shido smiled slightly at having that cocky, know-it-all see it his way.
As the two dark-haired dakkanyas headed off deeper into the park, the blond, chibi, hanging-upside-down, teddy bear boxers-wearing one wailed.
"Wait! What about me? You're not gonna leave me here like this, are you?" Ginji's smooshy face was turning a shade of maroon.
"Yes, I am," Ban replied without turning. "You can guard the stuff until we return."
"Guys! Come on! I said I was sorry..."
Shido looked back at the chibi-formerly-known-as-Raitei, put his hands up and shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. Obviously, as far as this latest Ban-Ginji spat was concerned, Mugenjou loyalties were history.
"Ban-chaaan! Shido!"
---
Guided by Shido's innate directional instincts, he and Ban quickly navigated into the middle of the thicket. Silently, they breathed in the mild mistral that started to settle as early morning dew, perfuming the air with the scent of trees and freshly cut grass. As they walked through the rustling darkness, both men were privately grateful to have left that awful smell of death behind. Between them, Ban and Shido had come across – and caused – their fair share of its foulness far too many times in their young, troubled lives. It wafted into their consciousness and lingered in their memories, reminding them of the violence of their pasts – and the violence that was yet to come.
Shido knew Ginji had to be feeling the same way. "Don't you think you're being a little too harsh on the kid?" he opined warily.
Ban's stern, Teutonic features were resolute. "That 'kid' broke my car. Besides, he'll be okay. You, of all people, should know he's been subjected to worse."
"Yeah, but..." The Beastmaster sighed, pushing his fingers into his black hair in puzzlement. It was pointless to reason with that grown child sulking over the loss of his prized toy. "Anyway, what's with your obsessive attachment to that car?"
"There must be a story behind how you came to adopt your menagerie of pets, no? So, too, is there a story behind how the Ladybug became mine," he explained cryptically. "You can't imagine the things I had to do to have her."
Shido noted the Snake Bastard didn't mention anything about actually buying her.
"I didn't realize you were such a sentimental sap. Like I said, get a girlfriend – or something..." He added with a snicker. "– you virgin."
"Look who's talking. Why, if it isn't 'Mr. I-live-in-Madoka's-ballpark-but-I-haven't-even-reached-first-base-yet' Monkey Trainer," Ban hooted and grinned. "Or do you prefer company of another variety? Hmm... I'm beginning to wonder just how much of a 'friend' you really are to your animals."
"–And you're implying what exactly?" Shido's hands curled into fists at his sides. But before Ban could open his mouth for a snappy comeback, his arm barred across the Get Backer's chest. "Hold on, did you hear that? Footsteps."
Ban's spiky head pivoted in every direction. He, too, could sense movement lurking far off into the woods. Hardly surprising. Whatever was coming after them would merely be icing on an already crummy cake. Instead, he strode on ahead. "Probably just scurrying raccoons."
"Tch. You think I wouldn't know that?" Shido muttered while catching up. They climbed up a softly rolling barrow and saw a stone path open up towards a children's playground.
"You know that stuff the goon told you over in the junkyard?" The Jagan Master blurted out. "I figure he's telling the truth."
"Yeah? How so?"
"The guy we nabbed our parts from – Kojio Kiyoshi – booked himself and the cargo on a commercial flight back to L.A. I don't care what connections he's got, but there's no way in hell he was going to pass through customs with a corpse on his hands."
"So, you're saying Kojio didn't know there was a dead body stashed in with the real targets?" Shido said anxiously.
"That's probably because Kojio isn't the original buyer. I don't think anyone but our client and whoever that body was intended to be sent to was supposed to know about it. That's why we were all given scanners and told not to open the packages because they were so 'sensitive'. Sensitive. Heh. What an understatement," Ban grimly explained.
"My take is, the hijacking was simply a cover for the client to conveniently distribute all of the android parts to the winning bidders at that international auction. That way, he disposes of the parts at a profit – "
"–and even gets to collect on the insurance afterwards. Brilliant!" Shido exclaimed with awe.
"Right. Couldn't have thought of a better scheme myself," he smiled slightly. "Except – there was an unexpected snag in the plan. Someone got greedy. I'm speculating that the hijackers found an interested buyer in Hollywood willing to pay an enormous amount for some of the booty. So they screw our client, steal the parts and sell them to Kojio. Of course, Kojio, customs and airport security were bound to discover the dead body eventually..."
"... easily linking it back to the client." The Beastmaster's slanted gray eyes grew round with the stunning revelation.
"And that's where we come in," Ban snorted furiously at the fact he'd been cleverly lured into this intricate plot. "Not wanting to have a corpse traced back to him and not knowing who had the containers with the hacked-up body in them, the client hires all of us to steal back everything."
"So, this assignment was all about us fixing someone's snafu," Shido growled. "Geez. And here we are thinking we were retrieving stolen goods, when in fact, we were doing the stealing!"
"The whole auction and fake hijacking was dodgy to begin with. But yeah, technically speaking, we stole those parts. And now it seems we're involved in what looks like a murder case to boot."
"Correction. You're involved in a murder case, not me. I'm just a robber," he frowned and tugged agitatedly at his bandanna. "Okay, so we probably know why the client hired us. But just who is the dead guy and how does he factor in all of this?"
"Chances are, it's Nakano. But I have no idea how these two cases are related." Ban shrugged disconcertedly as they entered the vicinity of the playground. "But I'm certain of one thing, though. There's a pissed-off buyer out there who never received their part of the deal. And no doubt, they want their loot back..."
"... That said, he could very well be in this park right now."
Shido cocked his head. "He?"
---
"Good boy, Akatsume-chan... A little bit more..."
Chibi-Ginji encouragingly praised the Belgian Malinois as he repeatedly climbed onto the roof of the Ladybug and launched himself at the rope, trying to latch onto it with his jaws in order to gnaw it loose. Unfortunately for both Ginji and the dog, his attempts were short and they ended up colliding with each other again, and again... and again.
Panting heavily, the canine heeled and whimpered apologetically.
"It's all right, boy. I'll find another way," Ginji said as he swung from the tree like a pendulum. He tried using his electricity to burn off the fibers, but all he could manage was a static charge that didn't even generate a spark. Another option was to use the static to cause friction on the rope much like rubbing two twigs together, but frankly, Ginji was too exhausted and uncomfortable to even try. Already, blood rushing to his head was making his face purple.
"Ban-chan! Shido! Someone? Yoo-hoo! I think I'm gonna pass out here... Helloooo?" Ginji called out into the wind.
Suddenly, he heard the slide of patent leather shoes on the grass and gruff voices shouting out in their rough speech. Seeing nothing as he was hidden behind the dripping branches and leaves of the cherry tree, Ginji listened as the sounds inched nearer to his location.
"I heard yelling..."
"Impossible. Seems there's no one here except for that dog."
"I can't believe they just left the parts..."
"You think they died in the crash? It looks bad..."
"We won't know until we check, stupid!"
"Well, it sure smells like someone died."
"Let's just take the cases and split. Kojio said the guys who did this are some crazy motherf-"
Ginji wasn't able to catch the last piece of that conversation. Instead, he felt an acute chill stream from behind and heard the heavy flap of wind-whipped fabric, followed by the high-pitched shiiing! of metal slicing through dense air.
The blond froze.
As the shuffle of feet and the murmur of voices grew faint, Ginji noticed the Yakuza henchmen's oppressive presence weaken with each fearful step they took away from him – and him.
"Shit! It's that sociopathic murderer and peeping tom..."
"Screw this. I'm outta here!"
The shuffles escalated into a stampede and instantly, Ginji was left to bear the brunt of the enveloping stillness and cold that raised the hairs on the back of his neck.
"That first accusation, I don't think I can argue against," a voice erupted in a laugh so deep and soulless it seemed pulled from beyond his throat and up from the pit of some netherworld. "Being called a voyeur, however... is unusual, even for someone like me."
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you..."
"...Ginji-kun?"
---
As Ban and Shido passed the playground swing set, an urgent patter of steps closed in around them. They stopped in their tracks, turned their backs to each other and instinctively moved into their respective fighting stances.
"Raccoons, huh?" Shido huffed.
"Just didn't want to scare you, monkey boy," Ban simpered and pushed up his glasses with his finger. He hollered into the murky horizon. "Yo! Men in black! Step out of the shadows will 'ya? We haven't got all night!"
About eight identically suited Yakuza vassals came slinking out of the woodwork and surrounded the two retrievers. The Get Backer grinned when he spotted a familiar face among them.
"Why, if it isn't the Cassanova of Room 405. Looks like she worked you over real good, no?"
The man trembled as he stood before Ban-who-he-still-thought-was-Dr. Jackal. The purple bruise he sported around his eye was obvious even behind the dark shades.
"Does that offer to give me your girl still stand? 'Cause I'd be more than willing to take her off your hands, if you'd like," he whistled.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Shido exclaimed incredulously, gaping at the spiky-haired flake.
"Shut up! Both of you!" Henchman No. 1 shouted as he aimed a gun at the Beastmaster's chest. "Now, where are the parts?"
"Mine or his?"
"Huh?"
"Well, if you're searching for his parts, then you'll have to deal with him," Shido said. In a flash, he ducked under and from behind him, Ban swung a high kick into Henchman No. 1's face. Meanwhile, Shido propelled himself in the opposite way and tackled some other lackey, using him to bowl over a couple more.
The Jagan wielder gracefully leapt off on one foot, glided over two goons and after making a pirouette in mid-air, caught a head in each of his powerful hands and bashed them together. "You guys should tell Kojio he's better off without the parts," Ban yelled as he landed softly on the grass. "'Cause let me tell 'ya, the moment he takes a whiff of those parts, whoo!, I guarantee he'll be on the first plane outta here."
Then Shido, who held a cowering gangster by the lapels, turned his head towards the direction they'd come from and saw more black suits sprinting their way. He threw the man to the ground and girded himself for more action. Instead, he blinked with bewilderment when the gang kept on running and passed him and Ban by.
The group's fallen Yakuza comrades were as perplexed as the Beastmaster. Struggling groggily on their feet, one of them demanded, "Where are you going? What happened?"
A running man answered without stopping. "Leave those jerks to the big guy and get out of here! That psycho Dr. Jackal is on our heels!"
"D-D-Dr. Jackal?" Henchman No. Room 405 sat up and clutched his side. He pointed at the Get Backer. "But isn't that him over there?"
Someone halted in his tracks and jogged over to the sorely mistaken gangster. Slowly helping his mate up, he stared at Ban. "Are you kidding? The real Akabane's got scary-ass scalpels sticking out of his freakin' knuckles!"
"Then who's that guy?"
"Nobody." The two mobsters stumbled away. "Just some copycat."
Ban's eyes glowed like radioactive goo. "WHAT?" He went nuclear. "Oi! You bottom feeders! Come back here! How dare you call me Jackal's copycat? I'll have you know I clobbered that sonofabitch's ass TWICE!"
"I'm the invincible Mido Ban-sama of the Get Backers!" He pointed his finger at the fleeing group and shouted at the top of his lungs, making sure the whole of sleeping Tokyo woke up and heard him. "Don't you ever forget that name, you turds!"
"Geez... Enough already with the chest-thumping, King Kong," Shido rolled his eyes with an excruciating expression of embarrassment. He sooo didn't want to be seen with this hot air balloon right now. "I thought the point of being a retriever was not to advertise ourselves to the bad guys."
"Hmph. Who cares? You're just jealous 'cause you know it's true," Ban sniffed petulantly while digging his toes into the ground and tossing up clumps of soil with his shoe. "The nerve of them..."
"Say, if Akabane's here for the parts, shouldn't we go back for Ginji?"
"The dimwit will handle him just fine like he always does. Besides, after spending a whole night being mistaken for that creep, I sure as hell don't want to see his freakazoid zombie face!" the snake man fumed and then paused as he realized something. "And speaking of zombies, didn't those chickens mention something about leaving us to the 'big guy'?"
"'Big guy', meaning – "
Suddenly, from a few metres away, a huge oak seemingly duplicated itself right before their eyes. The clone that came from behind the tree was of the same girth, except, it was human and was walking towards the dakkanyas with a ravenous, shit-eating grin on its craggy, granite-like head.
"Hishiki..." Ban rasped.
"... Ryuudo?" Shido gulped.
The giant stopped in front of the monkey bars and stroked his goatee. "Still claiming you're invincible, eh?"
"As always," the Get Backer snippily retorted. "Hey, if you want the title that badly, you're gonna have to kill me first since it's practically written on my birth certificate. Till then, you're simply 'Undead'."
Hishiki's smile instantly cocked into a teeth-baring sneer.
"Oh great," Shido sighed and slapped his hands into his thighs with frustration. "Encourage him further, why dontcha?"
Hitting his fist repeatedly into his dinner plate-sized palm, the Protector inched closer to the unmoving men. "You surprised us, Mido. We were guarding against Get Backers at the hotel. But we didn't expect two whores. Who would've thought you boys could stoop so low?"
"Sorry to disappoint you, Hishiki, but we are that low," Ban answered, somewhat proudly.
"You and Ginji were... prostitutes?" the Beastmaster roared furiously.
"It was a surprisingly easy way to make a fast buck," he shrugged.
Shido felt as though his feet were swallowed up by the earth while he stared dumbly at the porcupine head.
"Know what? I think I'm going to wake up Madoka's driver after all," Shido finally decided as he began to go on ahead. He jabbed a thumb back at his erstwhile companion. "He's all yours, man. I'm through with this madness."
"Monkey Trainer, you sonofabitch! You're leaving me here?"
With smug satisfaction, Shido swore he detected a slight quiver resonate in the Snake Bastard's tone. "Don't worry, I'll pick up Ginji on the way and I'll send an ambulance for you – if you're still alive." He waved mockingly.
However, with merely a few strides, Hishiki barricaded the departing man's path. "And where do you think you're going?"
Shido glanced up at the hulking monster. "Come on, old-timer. You know I'm not with this jerk," he professed. "So, if you don't mind, I'll leave you two to settle your score. Oh, and if you happen to run into our former boss Akutsu, tell him I send my warmest regards – from the bottom of my ass!"
He tried to side-step the moving wall. First from the left, then the right, and finally getting a definite no-pass with a massive upper-cut to the jaw.
The Beastmaster's whole body flew a ways back as if suspended by a mattress of air and crashed with a heavy thud on the ground.
"Ouch!" Ban snickered. Karma was such bliss.
"That's for your pipsqueak girlfriend kicking me in the balls!" Hishiki snarled.
At exactly the same time, the park's automated sprinkler system kicked in, pelting everything with hard, arching jets of water.
Propping himself up on his elbows and rubbing the left side of his face, Shido let dagger claws push up from his fingers and eyes fire up into a searing yellow-amber. "Have it your way then... Hundred Beast Mimicry – Tiger!"
With an inhuman roar, he leapt off from all fours and pounced.
---
A thin, bluish-white sliver of light whizzed at lightning speed past chibi-Ginji's tiny body and cut cleanly through his binds.
"Yaaahh!" he cried as the blade's momentum sent him careening in the air before dropping onto the Ladybug's jagged hood with a loud 'thunk'. Peeking his round head out a corner of the car, he watched as the tall, dark, willowy column branched off the shadows and stand under the moonlight as though a solitary reed refusing to bow to the wind. Instead, it was the elements that danced in submission to the figure, unfurling and waving the panels of his coat like petals of a black dahlia around his feet.
Ginji whimpered and hid back behind the cover of the 360. He didn't know what was worse – the inevitability of fighting his nemesis while running on empty, or the indignity of having Akabane Kuroudo see him in a dress. Meanwhile, the dog was barking incessantly at the newcomer.
"A-Akabane-san? What are you doing here?" Ginji's voice rose up in a meek stammer from above the clutter of metal.
"Why, following you, of course." The reply rolled off Dr. Jackal's tongue as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "You boys have some items that belong to my client." He paused. "In fact, I see one of them right now."
The blond looked on in horror as scalpels rained dangerously close to the Belgian Malinois. He yelped and ran away, leaving the human chew toy on the grass.
Ginji gritted his teeth. Dress or no dress, he jumped off the car in his full form and glared from a distance. "Why'd you do that for? Shido wouldn't like what you did... I don't like what you did."
Oblivious to Ginji's protest, Akabane tipped his hat to one side, revealing one of his strange silver-misted lilac eyes that kindled through the slit. It regarded the Get Backer from head to toe. "Interesting," he chuckled icily. "I've only just arrived and already I'm much amused."
Ginji made every effort to pull his skirt down lower, short of tearing it off his waist, but to no avail.
With an elegant twist of his wrist, the hakobiya threw another blade aimed at the severed head and, without actually piercing through any of the areas covering flesh (fortunately, since not even Dr. Jackal fancied a leaker), skillfully caught plastic. Holding out his gloved hand, he summoned his scalpel back, bringing the head right smack into his palm like a baseball hitting a catcher's mitt.
"You haven't really answered my question, Akabane-san," Ginji reiterated, his voice slowly losing its fear and replaced by confused impatience. "What do you mean these parts belong to your client? And the dead body -?" His heels moved back inch by inch as Akabane drifted towards the Ladybug carrying the head like Salome offering John the Baptist on a platter.
"You poor lads don't know what you got yourselves into, do you? Typical." He smiled knowingly and knelt on one knee as he inspected the scattered cases and debris on the lawn with his calculated assassin's gaze. Then Dr. Jackal's eyes closed into down-turned smiley-face crescents when he picked up Ban's discarded bra with the tips of his fingers.
"Umm... Just so you know, that's not mine," Ginji insisted sheepishly while stepping further away.
"Your partner's then? Hmm... I never would've figured him to do such a thing. You must've been offered quite a handsome fee, I gather?" Akabane quipped as he carefully folded the underwear, stood up and neatly tucked it into the Ladybug's dashboard.
"Very well, I suppose an explanation is in order before we get down to business."
"Down to what business?" The Get Backer swallowed hard.
"By the time I'm finished with this story, you'll realize you don't have a client to return these parts to. However, my instinct tells me you're not going to let me walk away with them either."
Akabane adjusted his gloves, smoothening them into the webs between the digits of his spindly hands. "You, me, your friends – are here because of a simple inconvenience. You've been informed there was a hijacking last night. There was no such thing. It was all staged as an insurance scam while the parts discreetly went to their respective buyers."His pupils shrunk into pinpricks. "That was the plan, anyway, until a real hijacking occurred. Suffice to say, I never got to deliver my package to my client."
"Package? You mean the dead man?" Ginji hoarsely said.
"That, too," Dr. Jackal affirmed with a cheery, casual snort. "Seeing how 'vital' the missing targets were and how they would implicate your client in a murder, naturally, he hired the best retrieval agents to get them back before anyone found out about our hapless victim here. Unfortunately for him, it's a bit too late for that."
"Oh, and you'll be happy to know the cause of all our troubles has been... properly dealt with," he added as an afterthought.
Ginji covered his mouth and shuddered. "You killed the hijackers? Why? Because they made you wait?"
"Twenty-four, no, make that twenty-seven, hours is an awfully long time to complete such a textbook job." Akabane's lips curled up at the blond's usual display of naivete. "Besides, I rather consider my actions as merely culling the ranks of our kind of unprofessional behaviour."
"Your kind," Ginji demurred, unsure now of how he was going to handle this situation. "And since when does a transporter like yourself take on the dirty job of retrieving a corpse?"
"The minute I passed on Miss Hevn's name to your client," he replied. "I knew the opportunity to run into the Get Backers would present itself. Thus, I volunteered my services to my employer at no extra charge."
The cool, conniving killer made a subtle show of zeal in the delicate way he loosened the silk tie around his alabaster neck. "I must say what a thrill it is to have a scheme work out as well as it does."
"So, you wanted us involved right from the start." Ginji creased his brow and bunched up his fists. "And this is all just a game to you?"
Akabane raised his head, flashing the boy the full impact of his pale, frigid, ghostly eyes. "Ginji-kun, when has it not been a game, especially with you, my favourite player." The doctor's dulcet tone was mockingly deceptive, harmless in its flow yet poisonous in its bitter aftertaste.
The former Thunder Emperor certainly didn't appreciate the acknowledgement that he was being toyed with. But that wasn't what was bothering him.
Without ever releasing Ginji from his attentive stare, Dr. Jackal began to open the cases one after the other, taking out the chopped up human pieces with methodical efficiency until they made up an orderly pile next to the Ladybug's rear tyre.
He closed the last of the containers. "You don't mind if I leave these behind, do you?" Akabane's hand motioned to the morbid parcels at his side. "Part of the purchase deal was for my employer to conveniently dispose of this – liability - for your client. But now that the circumstances have changed..." He bent over, picked up the severed head and beheld it with rapt interest. A satisfied mien crossed his face over the fact that he, Akabane Kuroudo, had the dead – even in its ugliest, advanced state of putrefaction – awaiting his judgment on its worthless fate.
"My instructions are to deliver the android, and most importantly, this head. You and your client may handle the rest of the body as you see fit."
Ginji seethed at the callous, detached way his arch-nemesis spoke of the dead like dispensable commodities, treating this person like some prized bluefin tuna at the Tsukiji Central Wholesale Market (1) being cut up and haggled over by the best sushi chefs in the country; rather than as a human being who lived a normal life and probably had a worried family who was searching for him.
As someone who had neither a normal life nor a family that cared for his well-being, Ginji found this man's demise a terrible waste. He decided he would not let his death be trivialized.
Especially not by the likes of Akabane.
"What do you want the head for and why is this man's death so important to so many people?" The Get Backer demanded furiously. Static began to rise in the cooling air.
The Transporter held the brim of his hat against the wind and hummed contentedly. He noticed a yellow fire ignite behind the liquid brown pools of those impossibly soulful eyes and instantly, Akabane knew he had pushed the right buttons. But, he was a patient man when it came to enticing a worthy opponent to battle and Ginji needed more time.
Dr. Jackal took out the Hevn look-alike robot head from its case, held it out to Ginji in his left hand and the human one in his right.
"Tell me, what do you think is the more valuable of the two?" He didn't wait for the blond's answer, which he already knew. "From a purely unsentimental point of view you could say it's this one." Akabane raised the artificial head slightly. "Because what possible worth can a decaying chunk of flesh have anyway?" He dropped the object in his left hand to the ground. "But in this case, by choosing the human head, you would have made the right choice. But not for the reasons you think."
"No. This head is worth all this trouble not for what it is, but for what's inside – literally. Implanted somewhere in this man's head is a microchip valuable enough to kill for."
Ginji cringed. "Murdered for a microchip? You didn't – "
"Heavens, no. I couldn't have done this. Not at all," he scoffed in his polite, silky tone and studied the ragged neck wound. "If it was me, I would've done a much cleaner job."
The blond Get Backer wanted to erase the smirk off the psycho's predatory face. He was tired of these riddles. "Then who killed him?"
"Your client, I presume. Only he has enough motive to set up this elaborate charade. And I would applaud his brazen attempt at getting away with murder if not for his poor choice of accomplices." Dr, Jackal shrugged with a chipper glee to his voice. "Oh well, his misfortune means more fun for me."
One wonders about the kind of crack positive attitude the schadenfreude practiced. Apparently, when life gave Akabane lemons, he made Bloody Marys.
He put the decapitated head back in its case. "And since I'm in the mood for sharing, would you like to know who our notorious victim is?"
With head bowed and eyes downcast, Ginji mumbled sullenly. "Nakano Keiichiro."
"That's right. I see you've been contacted. So someone came looking for him after all."
"And why not?" he asked. Unconsciously, Ginji took a small step forward. "He has a family. Of course he'd be missed."
"Don't be foolish Ginji-kun," Akabane waved a white, gloved finger. "Just because one has family doesn't mean they can't, and won't, abandon you." He neglected to add, "As you only know too well..."
Ginji blinked back tears that were clouding his vision. The cunning killer's words were as sharp as one of his scalpels plunged and twisted deep into the heart.
"... but I'm not surprised. I hear the Nakano boy was brilliant, an engineering prodigy and worthy heir to the famous family name... I think he was about your age and quite a charmer – so they say."
As Akabane rambled on, his intended foe felt the fuel-starved cells in his body search for conduits of energy from somewhere, anywhere; cells awakened by the dormant Raitei's stirrings upon hearing the key words that tapped into bits and pieces of an unhappy childhood. Family... Abandon...
It was the electricity that made him forget. And without it, the hurt lingered more than he could bear. Ginji grasped his head in both hands, hoping for it to stop while the sprinklers suddenly shot up steady streams of water. Water, just like the cold rain back in the days at Mugenjou where he'd sit for hours on a pile of rubble trying to cleanse himself of his sins; to wash away his pain...
"He was surrounded by bad company, though. People who wanted to use his gifts. But the boy was too idealistic, too conscientious and too trustful for his own good, and that's what killed him..."
Dr. Jackal's fingers drummed together in anticipation. Yes... Almost there...
"On second thought, by his very nature alone, I think Nakano practically killed himself."
Ginji closed his eyes and tried to consolidate impulses that could be spared by his insides. However, all he could feel was his blood boil – like any normal, infuriated person. He realized the Get Backers hadn't formally accepted the job request of the Nakano family, but Ginji knew, somehow, had to get Keiichiro back.
Right now, mere anger would have to do.
I'm sorry, Ban-chan. I have to do this. With a rebel yell, Ginji lunged at Akabane with a flying fist. Ceramic blades collided with the titanium plate of his glove.
"Tch! It's people like you who killed him!" he shouted and pushed forward. "He couldn't help being who he was. Why must he suffer and die for that?"
The tall man waited... and waited... and... nothing. With an intrigued raise of an eyebrow, Akabane swept his arm away, letting the gust of his departing instruments blow Ginji back. He allowed the boy another go.
"I wonder... At what point did we stop referring to Nakano and start talking about you?" He chuckled, using a scalpel to brand Ginji's name into the air. Its intense heat briefly radiated the path of each Kanji character in orange flame.
Ginji shook his head wildly and charged with all the strength he could afford. Again, Akabane sensed none of the frightening aura, saw no phosphorescent halo of sparks. He felt he was fighting with... nobody. Using only his bare hand, he stopped Ginji's punch by seizing his wrist.
"I won't let you take any part of him, Akabane-san," he winced.
The Transporter pulled the boy closer so that their eyes exchanged beams of impassioned tempest. With a severe, grim smile, he asked,
"Then what's stopping you?"
---
Since I've made Akabane some sort of Dr. Exposition, I hope he's not OOC by being too chatty. He is evil, though, that's for sure hehe.
And oh, yeah. Hishiki can talk. Really. :D
As usual, your reviews and comments will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading, you guys, it means a lot to me.
Well, I'm off to my holiday. :D See you when I get back with the final installment of this story.
Cheers!
Next Chapter: How will Ginji battle Akabane without his electricity? Will Ban and Shido finally change Hishiki's nickname from "Undead' to just 'Dead?" Will... Oh, never mind. Just wait and see. :D
(1) Tsukiji Central Wholesale Market : Most famous of Japan's wholesale markets and one of the largest fish markets in the world.