"Sum of the Parts"
Disclaimer : Don't own. Never have. Never will.
A.N. : Hallo again! Back from my holiday and whoa! did the number of new GetBackers fanfics just mushroom? Anyway, I'm glad to be back and with these, the final installments. I've divided the end into a last chapter and an epilogue for an easier read.
Am sure gonna miss this fic, though. Writing it was a blast, it kept me sane, and strangely, it got me past some pretty rough patches.
But like all things, this, too, must end. So, a big thanks to everyone who's been patient enough to see this fic through to the end. Your comments, encouragements and reviews have been wonderful. I greatly appreciate them.
Cheers to you all!
ENJOY:D
---
Chapter 15 : Carma
"Ugh!" Ban's eyes grew wide as he and Ginji mind-melded for a split-second in that mysterious dimension only they shared. It wasn't a call for help and the sensation passed as quickly as it struck, but he wondered if he made the right decision by leaving Ginji to fend off Akabane alone.
But he couldn't really afford to dwell on it any longer when he had a bigger problem headed his way – all six-foot and 72 kilograms of it.
"Aaaaggghhh!" Shido's roar grew louder as he neared.
"Crap!" Ban looked up and saw the flying man eclipse the light of the moon. Quickly, he turned to avoid that heavy, encroaching darkness. But not quick enough as Shido landed and pinned him down into the playground's sandbox.
"OOOOF!" The Get Backer gasped as he lay belly down and half-buried in the rough grains. He thought an elephant was sitting on him. "Dammit! Just because you can transform into a hundred beasts doesn't mean you should weigh the equivalent of a hundred beasts!"
"Give me... a sec, will ya? I can't... move..." Shido moaned into Ban's damp mahogany spikes.
First, he felt hot breath against his neck and next, the sinewy muscles of a broad chest moulding against his back. Only then did Ban realize just how exactly the Beastmaster had landed – spread-eagled right on top of him like...
"OH GOD! Get off! Get off NOW!" Mr. Sandman shouted, twisted his face and squirmed underneath; mortified at how the both of them must've looked right now.
Certainly, Hishiki took notice as he laughed and bade his sweet time walking towards that 'intimate' scene. He wished he had a camera or something.
"I'm doing it!" Shido howled between laboured breaths. Straddling Ban between his thighs, he struggled to pull himself up. Searching for leverage with his hand, he couldn't resist using the porcupine head as support and ended up grinding his face into the moist ground.
"Ptuhh...ptuhh..." Ban lifted his mug off the sand and spat the granules out of his mouth. "You did that on purpose, you sonofabitch!"
"Your turn, Snake Bastard," Shido wheezed as he completely rolled off his rival's body.
He grabbed a fistful of sand and threw it in the Beastmaster's face. "What 'my turn'? This isn't a friggin' tag-team match, asshole – eeeee shit!"
Suddenly, he watched helplessly as his body began scooping out a trench right before his eyes while Hishiki dragged him by the feet through the sand, the grass, and the cobblestone path. Then, Ban was lifted into the air and spun round-and-round like a hammer until the big hands let go of his ankles. He soared and finally slammed into the fiberglass kiddie slide, skidding head-first down its incline together with rivulets of water.
The Get Backer peeled himself off the slide. Crawling a bit painfully before hobbling onto his feet, he smashed his fist into the earth and announced, "Okay. That's it! You wanna see how serious I can get, you big lug? Fine. I'll be serious."
Ban stood ten paces before Hishiki and began staring him down with as menacing a gameface he could put on - which was darn near impossible when that soaked face had dingy rivers of paint, eyeliner and mascara streaking down its cheeks like a jilted drama queen crying in the rain.
Aaaanyway... Ban pushed his glasses up his nose. "If you want the parts, be my guest. You're gonna have to fight Dr. Jackal for them, though. But I'm warning you, the freak is uber-pissed since your client stole from his client and our client stole from both your clients and either way..." he paused. "... we really don't care anymore..."
(sound of crickets in the background)
"Oh, so now you don't talk," Ban snorted.
Shido sidled over and hissed. "What in God's name was that?"
"Reverse psychology."
"And that was you being 'serious'?"
"Hell, yeah. No point in getting clobbered for something we're not even being paid for. He and Jackal can duke it out for all I care."
The Protector cracked his knuckles and flashed a 'screw-the-parts-I-just-wanna-kick-your-ass' smile.
Shido translated his body language perfectly. "Well, no point in that reverse psychology crap either. I think he just wants to kick our ass."
On cue, Hishiki came hurtling at them with ground-shaking strides and a battering ram fist.
"In that case – run!" Ban exclaimed as he and Shido leapt away from the juggernaut's path. He fell into a tuck-and-roll and landed on one knee. Jerking his head to the left, Ban espied a wooden see-saw near Shido's position.
"Zoo boy!" He pointed urgently. "Jump the second I get on that thing!"
"Got it!" The Beastmaster replied, knowing exactly what the fighting genius had in mind.
Ban deflected one of Hishiki's blows. As he made a dash for the teeter-totter, the giant made a grab for him and caught a leather sleeve, ripping it off completely. Shoot! I might have to pay for that, he worried in what was a most inopportune time to be thinking of ruined costumes.
The Get Backer balanced himself on the edge of the lever and snapped his right hand into a lethal claw. "Now!"
Shido made a running start, flew up and stomped on his side of the see-saw. The fulcrum creaked loudly and the wood splintered beneath his feet as he watched Ban catapult into the dark.
Ban knew his 200 kilogram grip was only as effective as a lesser or equal force would allow – which that ogre's definitely was not. But by using the see-saw he hoped his forward propulsion would offset the difference.
You know you want to call me, a raspy voice whispered.
Aesclepius was being a pest as usual. You're not slithering up my arm, slimy. Not tonight and not anytime soon, the cursed man razzed and smiled to himself.
"Snaaaake..." Ban yelled as he did a double front twist and grasped the top of Hishiki's boulder-like skull. Ideally, the big guy was supposed to go down for the count like Goliath taking a hole in the head. Instead, Ban found his hand still attached to the bodyguard's noggin.
"...Bite?" he croaked.
Hishiki craned his neck and glanced at the lanky boy dangling behind him. Chuckling, he backed up, threw himself violently against the closest tree and used the snake man as a cushion.
"Ooomph!" Ban now knew what it was like to be a tree-hugger – literally.
Meanwhile, Shido stepped up for a renewed offensive, making indistinguishable feral sounds as he scratched and swung and kicked. And because Ban was still squashed between the tree and that human concrete wall, he felt the attack's intensity two-fold.
"Hello! Live person still here..." he gagged to no one in particular. Discovering an opening, Ban tried to creep away, only to be picked up and stretched out. Using the Get Backer like a paddle, Hishiki swatted his body into Shido.
"Oh no!" Ban wailed as his head made contact with the Beastmaster's solar plexus and together they rolled down a slope into oblivion.
Finding themselves lying on the ground entangled and face-to-face with each other, Shido snarled. "Why do you keep landing on me?"
"You landed on me first, dickhead!" Ban shouted, using Shido's neck as a crutch to push himself off.
"Gggaacckk..." Shido choked.
"Besides, it's not my fault he keeps using me as a goddamn cricket bat!" Slip-sliding in the grass, the duo groggily sat up while Hishiki caught his breath on top of the steep.
"Can't you transform into a whale or something?" Ban complained as he flipped his wet hair out of his eyes.
"Huh? Why a whale?" The Beastmaster wearily cocked his head.
"I dunno. To crush Hishiki with its weight?"
"My powers don't work that way, idiot!"
"Heh. You're useless as ever, Monkey Trainer." Ban got on his knees and breathed hard. "What'll work on a guy who's been drowned, set on fire, thrown from a moving vehicle and used as a human lightning rod?"
"You could try taking off his sunglasses for starters," Shido jeered. "Or, do what Madoka did and hit him where it really hurts."
Ban considered this for a second. "No way, man. I don't care if that's Satan over there. Real guys don't kick other guys in the nads. That's just wrong."
Both men grimaced and nodded in agreement while their hands unconsciously wandered to the front of their pants.
"Well, there is one more thing..." Shido finally offered, looking away.
"Aa..." Ban sighed, glancing up in the opposite direction.
"We could, you know... help each other..."
"Work together?"
"Just this once..."
"Sheesh..."
Ironic that on a night as hellish as this, hell, indeed, froze over.
---
Ginji gnashed his teeth as Akabane's fingers clamped around his wrist like rubber hooks. The hakobiya's trained eyes squinted and darkened into amethyst crystals as they examined the boy on sight, fixating on the cold beads of sweat on his brow and the draining colour on his golden, sun-kissed skin. Jackal's other, more mysterious senses had since picked up on Ginji's slowed internal signs and pulses. However, force of old habits made him revert to practices long abandoned – but never forgotten.
After all, he used to be a damn good doctor in a former life. And in some ways, he still was.
Good. Who would've thought that was a word that had ever been used to describe him. But no doubt, Akabane's diagnostic skills were still as razor sharp as his knives.
Prickly ions skipped across the tall man's immaculate rubber gloves, burrowed beneath skin and tickled his nerves. Snatching his hand away, Dr. Jackal frowned. "Looks like my planned entertainment has made an unexpected turn. I take it you're not well, Ginji-kun?"
"How can anyone be well with you around?" Ginji said as he nursed his wrist. "Otherwise, I'm fine."
Akabane shot him a doubtful glance from under the brim of his hat. "The marks of your lie blemish that innocent face of yours," he observed. "I must say I'm quite disappointed at your flagrant lack of concern for yourself, my boy. Would you rather I drag you to Mugenjou so we can finish this in a... hmmm... more conducive setting?"
Ginji backed away slightly and shook his head. "I'd rather be dragged to a restaurant, thank you very much," he joked feebly. There was a grain of truth in his retort.
"I see. Dinner before the dance, eh?" The doctor quipped insouciantly in his distinct chuckle-snort. He understood. "Rain check, then? I don't usually tango with unwilling partners." Akabane shoved his hands into his coat pockets, turned, and made a show of walking away.
Then suddenly, a lightning-fast ripple of black tore through the water-soaked air, sending droplets exploding up like a fireworks display of diamonds in the lunar light. An eerie whisper reached Ginji's ear even before the spectral mist circled and settled behind him.
"I would like to take out your twin, though."
The Get Backer swiftly swiveled on his heels just in time to feel the biting swish of blades racing across his chest. The straps of his pinafore cut, the white fabric fluttered down like a feather and folded onto his skirt.
Slash. Ping! Steel met steel of a reinforced hand. They both jumped back.
Dr. Jackal's scalpels retracted into the recesses of his inhuman form. "Will not a part of the Thunder Emperor step up in your defense?"
The sounds of Ginji's exerted breaths echoed the rhythmic patter of water beating against Akabane's heavy trench coat. "Raitei doesn't exist. Not out here," he grunted.
"Oh, but he still resides inside of you. Think I can coax him out a bit?"
"Ban-chan will be here before that ever happens."
"Ah, yes. Mido-kun, your dark angel. I'm glad you told me that," the killer smiled in wicked anticipation. "It'll be interesting to see who will come to your aid first." With a wide wave of his arm and an outstretched hand, Akabane darted a flurry of instruments towards the blond.
Ginji shut his eyes tightly as he felt what seemed like a hundred mini-typhoons roar past just inches from his outline. It hurt him considerably to have to pull impulses from his nerves and brain in order to put up the polarized electromagnetic barrier around himself. The flaring spears cut through Ginji's clothes like paper, nicking his skin in a dozen places even as he repelled the attack away from his vitals. Lightheaded and briefly disoriented, the boy collapsed on his knees after the rain of terror ended.
"Have I woken him up yet?" Jackal coolly inquired between his teeth as they pulled the ruined glove off his right hand while the other one integrated the repossessed scalpels back within his flesh.
"Not even close," Ginji mumbled as he picked himself up slowly from the slippery wet grass, bringing the tattered ribbons of his outfit with him. He was purely on the defensive now until he could somehow find a power source somewhere in this unlit park. Panting heavily, Ginji reached into the huge gash in his bodice and tore the fabric shreds from the right side of his torso.
The Transporter took out a new glove from his pocket and slid it languorously over the ugly, gnarly mess of his scarred hand; a hand that was in stark contrast to the lean, sartorial figure he cut. That done, Akabane entwined his fingers and flexed them. Upon untangling, scalpels fanned out of both hands.
"Ready for round two?" Before he could finish his sentence he was already at Ginji's side swiping at his head. The retriever crouched and metal scored long, deep wounds into a tree's bark. Ungainly on his platform-shoed feet, Ginji slipped and laboured to stand up while Akabane rained scalpel after scalpel at his retreating form. Finally reaching the Ladybug's broken door, he shielded himself behind it as the doctor continued to use him for target practice.
Ping!
"Tell me, Ginji-kun. Why are you so concerned with Nakano? He's a stranger to you, he isn't on your contract, and as you well know, he's as dead as meat."
Clang!
"He's also someone's son!" Ginji shouted, daring not to peek out of his cover. "We won't return Keiichiro to his parents like this. His life is worth more than what was done to him."
Zing!
"My, my. Don't you think it's funny how even with so much death at your hands all you can think of is life, while I, who had so much life in mine, can only think of – death?"
The attack stopped and Ginji kept still behind the door panel. He thought Akabane sounded strange... different... almost as if he had ceased talking to him and began shifting into a rhapsodic soliloquy.
"That which is alive is only temporary. It's end, permanent. Since the beginning of time, life has always sought to defeat the inevitable curse of death. It is a battle it will always fight and it is a battle it will never win. Once, long ago, one of life's proponents, someone very different from myself, decided it was easier – and less painful – to simply shift to the victorious side."
"Do you ever wonder why Mido Ban was at Mugenjou in the first place the day your fates crossed?"
Dr. Jackal paused, shook his head and laughed knowingly. Behind the door, the Get Backer held his breath, listening carefully. "It's because opposites attract, Ginji-kun."
"That's why your partner and I are so drawn to you. With your powers of regeneration, you alone are the greatest challenge to death's permanence. But realize that, just like all life, you, too, have an end. And eventually, even the vicious spirit and bloodlust of your precious Ban-chan will take over and one day try to destroy you. It is, after all, his destiny..."
Suddenly, a scorching narrow beam of crimson red sliced the aluminum door in half like a knife through melting butter. "...that is, if I don't kill you first."
The fiery menace of the Bloody Sword contradicted with the delicacy in which it was used to lift Ginji's head up, its ruthless tip dimpling the soft curve between his chin and throat. The eyes that gazed up at him were full of rage. Good, Akabane thought. The boy's anger was turning into hate.
"I wondered when you'd stop boring me," Akabane purred. "Now are you going to fight for your life or shall I end it for you?" It seemed as though he was addressing Raitei, not Ginji.
His definitive answer was a kick to the hakobiya's feet from beneath him. In the drenched grass it was easy to lose balance and Akabane hit the ground.
Sitting on the grass, Ginji tried to find his step, but couldn't. Sliding back into the Ladybug's side, he reached out for one of the tyres for support, only to have scalpels dangerously miss his hand as they punctured the rubber. As the tyre deflated, giving out a loud hissing noise, Ginji looked up at Akabane standing over him, playfully tossing a blade from one hand to the other.
"I know you can do better than that," Dr. Jackal clucked his tongue and knelt on one knee in front of the cornered Get Backer. To Ginji's extreme alarm, the psychopath grabbed the hem of his skirt and ripped it open to reveal his bare right thigh.
"Wha-!"
"Sorry, but this is going to hurt a bit." Like a scene in time-lapse, Ginji watched helplessly as Akabane tossed his knife up, where it twirled beautifully; catching the moonlight in its reflective surface and looking like a falling shooting star. Then, as though he were pulled back into real-time, he hardly saw Akabane seize the blade from the air and thrust it downwards in one breathless move.
"AAAARGGGHHH!" Ginji screamed in agonizing pain as the scalpel jabbed through the skin of his thigh and pierce into his femoral artery.
"Unleash him, Ginji-kun..." the doctor dared.
"NO!" he refused while holding onto his thigh, blood beginning to stream steadily underneath his hand.
"Very well, then." White steel like icicles came bounding towards Ginji's neck.
"Shit!" he gasped. Thinking fast, he grabbed the female robot head beside him and blocked the sharp lancets away from his face. The knives made a sickening crack as they entered.
"That was quick. Nicely done," Dr. Jackal complimented as he lifted Ginji to his feet and threw him against the hood of the car. With the screech of metal grinding against metal, the scalpels punctured deeper, broke skin and impaled the Hevn-lookalike's face.
While Akabane's free hand held Ginji's body down, the other sank precariously into his neck. The Get Backer desperately held off the steel-spiked head with his hand. But he knew his strength was fading fast.
Ban-chan...
---
"Yeee-aaagghhh!"
Hishiki slid his view from side to side and saw what looked like an express train and a freight train chugging towards him. Having been a former professional wrestler, he could fairly anticipate the contact points of his body they were aiming for in the slight deviations in the boys' movements; from the delineations of their postures and the hunching of backs, to the bend of knees and the extension of arms.
At once, Hishiki knew from sight these two proud, cocky blowhards were in no way going to give way to each other.
"Yeee-aaagghhh!"
Ban leapt first for a swift Snake Bite strike to the neck.
Using his wolf mimicry, Shido sprung up immediately after him from the opposite side, gunning for the area around Hishiki's shoulder.
With a knowing smirk, the monster squatted down and let the duo collide into each other.
Their bodies and limbs in a jumble, the Snake Bastard and the Monkey Trainer fell heavily, rolled a few times on the wet lawn and finally came to a full stop with Shido right on top of Ban – again.
Except, this time, the Beastmaster's jaws were clamped firmly on the crook between his neck and left shoulder.
"Gaaahh!" Ban yelled as he used his powerful right hand to roughly push Shido's face off. "What the fuck did you do that for?"
Shido's wolf form transformed back to normal, turning a sick shade of green after figuring out what he'd done. He sputtered. "When my beast instincts target prey I cease to distinguish between foe and fr – " He almost said 'friend'. "– foe."
The Get Backer felt his shoulder beneath the torn leather of his jacket and to his horror, found puncture wounds. "Asshole! I can't believe you bit me!" He tried moving his arm and grimaced. "And you sprained my shoulder! Shit! Now I have to get rabies shots!"
"Dammit! I don't have rabies! And you should be grateful I didn't go for your jugular, moron!"
"If I go hydrophobic, I'll let you know, you rabid monkey!" Ban hissed quietly. "And what the hell were you doing attacking from the top? You were supposed to be at the bottom."
"Bottom?" I didn't agree to that!" Shido harshly dissented. "And who said you should take the top?"
"I did, because I have the Snake Bite and you don't!"
The bickering rivals looked at each other funny, realizing that bit of repartee sounded – queer.
"Whatever we do, we've got to do it now!" the raven haired retriever urgently exclaimed as Hishiki made a beeline for the retreating men.
"Let's lure him near a tree," Ban said, watching the Protector's every step.
"Why? What's your plan?"
"The only way we're gonna conk this zombie out is if we bash his head hard enough into something solid." He gestured towards a tree that shaded a large jungle gym playset. "That cypress will do just fine."
Despite his skepticism, Shido followed Ban's lead. "And just how do you plan on moving that block –"Suddenly, he stopped and matte gray eyes twinkled. "Maybe – maybe if we knock the big guy off his center of gravity. Yeah. That might work..."
The Get Backer tossed a surprised sideways glance at his companion and smirked. The Neanderthal was capable of a bright thought or two, after all. "Now you're thinking, caveman."
"Tch!" Shido growled, yet couldn't help but smile at one-upping the snake in the ideas department.
When they got Hishiki where they wanted him in front of the large cypress tree, Shido moved to his position.
"When I tackle him below from the side –"the Beastmaster whispered.
"I'll hit him in front, blah, blah..." Ban grumbled impatiently. He then shot one last snark. "So I guess this means you're letting me be on top, right?"
"Mido!"
He chuckled and then got serious. The two dug into their respective stances. "Ready... Go!"
Channeling a species of Siberian brown bear long extinct in Japan, Shido charged towards Hishiki's side at a thirty-five miles per hour, one ton force of pure strength. The bodyguard's tactic of ducking the attack failed as the beast man dove down unexpectedly, grabbing his legs and sweeping him off his feet.
"Snaaake Bite!"
The split-second Hishiki had become airborne, Ban accelerated like a fired bullet, extended his arm and slammed the giant head-first into the tree. The impact sounded off a sharp crack followed by the slow creak and rumble of the tree being ripped by the roots out of its soil bed.
Shido tilted his head off the grass and watched as the poor cypress lurched toward the jungle gym and crashed, bringing Hishiki and Ban with it. The thundering racket of crunching plastic and twisting metal reverberated throughout the park and instantly, Shido knew, dead or undead, there was no way Hishiki was emerging from that disaster zone intact.
As the unburied retriever crawled into and over the huge dirt crater left by the tree's fall, chunks of fiberglass, tree branches and steel rods rolled down the heap of ground zero. A wet, brown head covered with leaves peeked out of the rubble.
"Is he... dead?" Shido blurted in between gasps.
"I doubt it," Ban replied as he climbed out gingerly and made the bumpy trek down the pile. Every few feet he drew a sharp intake of breath. Finally, both men settled on the grass and collapsed into the base of the uprooted cypress.
The Jagan master poked into his pocket for his cigarette pack and found a soggy lump of paper and tobacco. Crushing it in his fist, he threw it into the mound of junk behind him. As if he could smoke in the sprinklers anyway. "Got an idea what leaves or grasses I can light up here?"
"How would I know?" Shido sighed. Obviously, the bastard needed a fix real bad.
"I always thought you forest savages smoked some weird shit." Ban shrugged. The shoulder movement tore further at his muscles and he turned his head away and winced. "Fu –"He began to curse, but thought better of it.
Noticing the vain attempt to hide the pain, Shido rolled his eyes at the stubborn fighter beside him. He unknotted the bandanna around his wild shock of hair, wrung it out and flung it into Ban's lap.
Wordlessly, the Get Backer tied the makeshift bandage under his arm and around his shoulder using his teeth and right hand. That done, Ban laid his head on the tree. "We did good, you think?" He said after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.
"Yeah, I guess," the Beastmaster snorted. Instinctively – unconsciously – he offered a gesture he normally reserved for the Volts. He slid a closed fist on the grass.
Ban stared at it and raised an eyebrow above the rim of his glasses. And before he had a chance to have second thoughts about it, he tapped Shido's fist with his own – and his rival tapped back.
As quick as that moment happened, so, too, was the speed in which they simultaneously shoved those hands into convenient pockets.
"Hey, this doesn't mean we're like friends now or anything," Shido grumbled.
"Heh. No way, jackass!" Ban sneered.
"Prick"
"Jerk."
The two men smiled the subtlest of smiles. Deep down they were glad that weird scene was over and things were back to 'normal'.
"Oi. Considering Hishiki might resurrect and that we just destroyed a children's playground, isn't it about time we went on our way?" Shido suggested while pulling himself onto his feet.
"In a minute, man. The playground police won't be here till daylight," Ban remarked scathingly. He closed his eyes and wished only for sleep, even if for a minute - something that would maybe give him the illusion that this whole nightmare was over.
Except, it wasn't.
Ban's head jerked up from its perch on the tree trunk. His eyes were ablaze.
"Ginji!" He shouted and bolted out of there.
---
"This is unfortunate indeed," Akabane sighed, pushing his blades to the hilt. The knuckles of his hand were now pressed against the robot head. "Here you are with the points of knives just centimetres away from your neck and yet no one – nothing – is here to protect you." He brought his face nearer to Ginji's, close enough so that the long, stringy strands of his black hair dripped frigid water onto his hot cheeks.
"Could this be your karma? You being abandoned by the very thing you rely on in your time of need, the same way you abandoned Lower Town in the time of theirs?"
"Damn you!" Ginji choked, brown eyes glazing over in a furious amber shine. "I don't care if Raitei abandons me. But Ban-chan never will." With the last remaining ounce of his strength he managed to repulse Akabane's hand somewhat. "And what you said about him can't be true. Ban-chan may be possessed by a destructive curse, but he doesn't believe in fighting a battle to cause death, but in fighting a battle to get back life.
Ginji looked straight into the frozen pale fire of Akabane's gaze, trying to reach for any semblance of humanity that remained in them. "Ban-chan said that as long as there is life, everyone has a right to make the most of it without anyone taking it away prematurely. We help people do that. That's why we're Get Backers..."
"...and that's why Ban-chan is nothing like you. Even with so much darkness inside of him he can still see the light. While you, who have so much light and life around you, choose to stay in the dark."
"What happened to you, Akabane-san?"
Dr. Jackal's eyes narrowed until they resembled daggers, gleaming in a gray-violet colour that was just as striking. Was the boy mocking him? No. The dolt was too innocent, too ignorant of the aberrations that made people like him do the things they did.
But something in the way Akabane set his jaw and the grim, iron line his mouth made seemed to hint he was, in a way, slighted. It was as if Ginji's words had swum around in his consciousness searching for a soul, and though not finding one, flirted perilously close to the fringes of a fathomless, hidden past.
He quickly dismissed it as a mere delaying tactic. How would a simple-minded fool like Amano Ginji ever begin to understand who – what – he really was?
"So, Mido-kun's mission is to get back life, yes? Then let's see if he can get back yours!"
Akabane leaned the full weight of his body into the plunge of the knives. Ginji grimaced and let heavy lids drop as the tips pierced through the thin veneer of the electrostatic field around him and touched skin. One centimetre, one second later, a necklace of small liquid ruby pearls adorned his throat and dripped down in filigrees of red; turning the necklace into a morbid, dangling lariat of blood.
In desperation, Ginji reached out his arm for something, anything.
He didn't want it to end this way.
"Your life is solely in your hands now, Amano Ginji," The homicidal Transporter presented his ultimatum. "But don't think I'll hesitate to sever that head of yours, my boy. You are worthless to me if you don't fight back."
"So save your life or let go of it. You decide."
No one could possible know what it was – call it karma, fate, divine intervention, coincidence, or instinct – but a strange force made that decision for him. Ginji's wandering fingertips suddenly attracted a spark from within the Ladybug. He called to it once more, and again, it responded. He realized it was the car's battery, the very same one he had charged the previous night. Ginji's eyes flew open and surprisingly, he almost smiled.
For on a night full of ironies, this was the only one not lost on him.
Sorry Ban-chan, the Get Backer apologized silently as he slapped his palm onto the hood. He hoped his friend would understand him getting back what was his to begin with. Besides, it was less about taking but rather more like – borrowing. All he needed was one surge.
Akabane was puzzled by how Ginji grappled harder on the android head, hardly expecting the ingenious, eleventh hour save the blond had managed to pull out of his sleeve (or under the hood, as was the case).
Excitable stray sparks of blue and green began to zig-zag and dance on top of the car as jolt after jolt was sucked up by Ginji's ravenous body. Immediately, the injection of fuel roused the incarcerated, sedate Raitei from stasis. Sensing the danger his alter-ego was in, he summoned charged particles from the ground, the air, even from the friction of Dr. Jackal's scalpels against metal parts; and increased the electricity exponentially.
Akabane noticed the change as he held on to his hat in the burgeoning static storm; felt the oppressive ionic wind that lifted his clothes and hair; saw the plasmic aura and chiseled contours of Raitei's grave face with its flashing eyes the colour of the sun.
"Good boy, Ginji-kun. You found a way," he laughed amidst the loud hiss and crackle that permeated the atmosphere. He relaxed his thrust on his weapons. "I knew all you needed was a little push in the right direction."
Despite the ease up on the sinking of knives into his neck, Raitei / Ginji refused to release the robot head and even curled his fingers over the scalpel edges.
He wasn't done with Akabane. Not yet.
But before Raitei bubbled completely to the surface, Ginji clawed back and pushed his twin back into the recesses of the prison which he guarded with his soul.
This is my fight, not yours.
Resolved, recharged and returned to himself, Ginji fixed bright brown eyes on his tormentor. "I suppose I must thank you then for that push..."
"Hmmm?"
"With this!"
Like a tightly wound coil of pent-up energy, forks of lightning sprang up and exploded from his body. "Yeeee-aaaaghhh!" The current threw a spidery net over the 360, but most of it creeped up Ginji's arm and concentrated on the robot head between their hands.
Without warning, the fired-up android fluttered its eyes open. Circuits sizzling with a bzzzt! sound, the scalpel studded Hevn-face stared right at Ginji as its plastic skin melted.
Then it spoke... or rather –
Unnnnhhh... Yes... Oh God, yes!... Go on... Yes... Ahh... ahh... ahh... ahhhhhh!
"Waaah!" Ginji screamed. Startled, he blasted everything he had. Electricity smote into the moaning, frying head, burned through the rubber of Akabane's glove and pierced into his body.
"Wha-" He gasped and tried to pull his blades and hand away. No good. Ginji held fast.
Meanwhile, the impulses continued to pour out of him and seep into the metal maze of the Ladybug's engine. The ill-fated car rattled and groaned as its lifeblood of petrol, oil and nitrous oxide began to boil and ignite; the pressurized heat rising rapidly, steadily, violently... until her insides couldn't take it anymore.
With a loud bang! the gas tank burst. Fire ate into oxygen and escaping nitro and the ensuing inferno blasted Ginji, Akabane and the Subaru's hood into the night.
Finally, all was still.
---
Ginji woke up with his face pillowed on the damp, furry cushion of Natsumi's 'Hello Kitty'. Pulling himself up, he checked his cuts. The jolt of power clotted them quickly, although he knew he'd be limping for a while on that femoral artery wound.
Ginji briefly scanned around and saw no sign of Akabane. Looking no further, he crawled over to Nakano's human remains, and without any misgivings or queasiness, began to put them back into the cases. He cared not whether the wet plastic damaged the sensitive robot parts. As far as he was concerned, they didn't matter anymore.
"I got you back, Keiichiro. No one has to take anything more away from you, I promise," Ginji softly said. Taking the doll in his arm and a limb case in each of his hands, he wondered how he was going to possibly bring everything when Akatsume returned, tongue hanging and tail wagging.
The Get Backer knelt and pet the dog happily. "Hey, boy. I'm sorry about what Akabane-san did, but I beat him up real good for you." He smiled and stood up. "Whaddya say you help me with these and I'll feed you some of Natsumi-chan's sukiyaki later, huh?"
The Belgian Malinois barked. He didn't need to be asked. Already he began dragging one of the containers through the grass.
As the two walked away in the direction taken by Ban and Shido earlier, a body stirred from beneath the sheet of crumpled aluminum on the opposite side of the car.
Kicking the scrap of metal off of him, Akabane blinked and stared at the moon through the twinkling droplets of water that swayed in graceful arcs around him. Slowly, his deep breaths turned into an amused snort, which built up to a staccato of chuckles, and then finally erupted into a full-blown guffaw.
"Now that was fun," the good doctor quipped to no one but himself. He sat up, poured the water out of his hat and set it back on his slick, ebony hair. Akabane found it interesting that Mido Ban's complexity, battle instincts and even his intelligence, were beginning to rub off on Ginji's dull, blond head. Which was a very good thing, he thought. Who knew what kind of fighting machine Raitei would become if and when he learned to wield the power of control.
That kind of expectation made Akabane's blood tingle, made him want more.
He couldn't wait.
Dr. Jackal picked himself up and plucked his scalpels and his melted glove out of that odd, orgasmic, charred hunk of a robot head. Smiling at its utter ridiculousness, he strode over to the smouldering carcass of the Ladybug and nonchalantly tossed it through the window into the backseat. Without regrets, Akabane realized he and Mr. No-Brake would have to concede defeat and depart with their semi empty of cargo. This job, unfortunately, was not going to pay for his dinner tonight.
But at least he got the entertainment.
With that, he strolled away whistling a cheerful tune.
While Dr. Jackal left in satisfaction, the Ladybug mourned alone in her pathetic, mangled state. What she – and her unwitting owner – didn't know was that Akabane's little souvenir was still cooking from within and just happened to land in a pile of wadded tissues and a black satin skirt.
It only took one spark.
---
Ban thought he heard an explosion as he weaved at breakneck speed through the dim thicket of trees. What the hell was that?
"Ginji!" Already, he had left Shido trailing some ways behind, taking a few wrong, haphazard turns along the way; the result of not having the Beastmaster lead. But Ban knew his partner's strong signs were pulling him into the right direction.
He just hoped he wasn't too late.
"Dammit, twerp! If it isn't you being drunk, it's you being exhausted," Ban mumbled ruefully to himself. Why Ginji couldn't be like the Energizer bunny and keep going and going without the need for trivialities such as food. Be a lot cheaper, too, he thought.
Soon, the Get Backer reached a clearing and spotted a meandering figure in the distance. Ban's face lit up as he drew further into the shadows towards him like a moth to a flame of waving golden hair.
"Oi! Ginji! You made it!" he yelled, his urgent pace slowing down into a casual jog. "Did you kick the crap out of that whack job?"
"Ban-chan!" Ginji dropped his cases and flashed the 'victory' sign. He'd have glomped his partner if not for the fact he was to darn tired to run. Instead, with great relief, the blond's knees buckled and he crumpled to the ground.
Ban rushed over and bent down in front of Ginji. Holding him at arm's length, he surveyed his half-naked form, the barely-there remnants of his dress stained pink from the mixture of blood and water.
"You look like hell," Ban hooted.
Ginji tilted his head up. "You don't look so hot yourself," he sighed as he surveyed Ban's half-naked form, the barely-there remnants of his leather top stained brown from the mixture of mud and water.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot." He sat cross-legged on the grass beside his friend. "We ran into your old pal, the human lightning rod."
"Hishiki?" Ginji's mouth fell open. "He was here, too? Did you and Shido - Is he still... undead?"
Ban shrugged and lay down with his hands clasped behind his head. "Count on it." Then his tone turned serious. "You almost let a part of him out, didn't you?"
"Akabane-san tried to lure Raitei with everything he had. He almost got to him..."
"But he didn't."
The blond nodded, drew his knees next to his chest and encircled his arms around them. "I wonder what the outcome would've been if we'd swapped opponents."
"Forget it, dude," the brunette tossed a cautionary glare. "In your spent condition, that giant lunkhead would've pulverized you in seconds. On the other hand, Akabane – "Ban put a finger to his lips reflectively.
"– I really don't think he actually wanted to kill you..."
Ginji jerked his neck and frowned. "Well, it felt like he did."
"Nah... We amuse him way too much. Besides, I have a feeling Jackal is waiting to see which one of us –"He held his tongue abruptly. "Fact is, he's not doing us in anytime soon."
"Maybe," Ginji replied, slightly unconvinced. He laid his temple on his knee and gazed at his partner with eyes searching for reassurance. "But something Akabane-san said bothered me..."
"Awww, man. Why do you listen to his bullshit anyway? You know he's just messing with your head."
"Yeah, but when he mentioned you and Mugenjou and your destiny to destroy..." His voice floundered. "I desperately didn't want to believe him, and yet –"
"– something rang true." Ban's eyes were instantly engulfed by angry blue fire. Biting his lip, he fought back the urge to let turmoil cloud his apathetic expression. Damn Jackal! It seemed as if every encounter with him resulted in the maniac unearthing a nugget of his well-kept past – and a deeper understanding of his curse. How the hell was he knowing so much?
Ban hiked up his violet glasses so they shielded his fury. He looked at his best friend straight in the eye. "Listen Ginji. Remember what Clayman said earlier about the balance of light and dark?"
He pursed his mouth thoughtfully. "Er, uh... chiaros-cu-kaburra?"
"Chiaroscuro, dummy," Ban snorted. He then took a deep breath and continued. "Some people believe that light and dark can't co-exist. But that's not true. They must co-exist. It's the relationship between them that makes us see forms, colours, shadows, textures – the sight of life itself. In pure darkness, you see nothing but empty blackness. In pure light, you see nothing but blinding white. But balance the two –"
"– and you see everything," Ginji added softly.
"Aa. Us two, our powers are both a curse and a blessing. A blessing because they brought us together. A curse because it's possible the pieces of the puzzle we're assembling, the answers we've been searching for, will eventually lead us back to –"
Ban sat up and scooted nearer to his partner until their shoulders touched. He clenched his fateful hands tightly on his lap and cast an almost pained stare at them. "I won't lie to you Ginji. You know there are highly positioned figures up there that are still determined to see which of the forces of light and dark will overcome the other." He paused. "Unfortunately, it seems our fight didn't end the day we left Mugenjou..."
"So, what you're saying is, we –"
The brunette nodded, not knowing how to go on as the incessant downpour of the sprinklers masked the single tear that cascaded down Ginji's pale cheek.
Ban missed nothing. "I promise you one thing, though," he said with clear conviction. "We changed our fates once. I'm sure we will change them again."
Gradually, a grin curled up Ginji's face.
"But of course, you knew that already, didn't you?"
"Sure, I did. Changing destiny. That's what Get Backers do, right?"
Ban smiled back and bopped the side of his friend's fair head. "Good. So now you can shut your pie hole and stop weeping."
Suddenly, Akatsume's head and ears perked up and barked an excited "Arf!" heralding Shido's entrance from behind a cluster of bushes.
"Thought you could lose me that easily, eh, Mido?" he huffed and caught his breath.
"You're surprisingly slow for someone who's supposed to mimic animals, Monkey Trainer," Ban jeered.
"I wasn't in any hurry to be with you, you know," Shido retorted as he bent over his Thunder Emperor and gawked at his raggedy appearance. "Geez, what happened to you? You look like you'd been – um... Are you all right?"
"I've been better," Ginji answered optimistically. "But we accomplished what we were tasked to do so I'm okay."
"You're okay, but I'm not," Ban grumbled as he pulled a clumpful of grass out of the dirt. "We dressed in drag, pimped ourselves, crashed the Ladybug, battled zombie psychos, and for what? A one way ticket to the police precinct for questioning."
"Oh, I don't know, Ban-chan. We did get back Nakano Keiichiro for his family at least."
"Yeah. The wrong parts for the wrong client and not a single penny to be gotten from this whole fiasco," he lamented.
"Well, look on the bright side. This doesn't affect your almost one-hundred percent success rate any," Shido snidely observed. He offered both hands to the downtrodden Get Backers and effortlessly hauled them up.
"Haha. Statistics is hardly your strong suit chimp so put a sock in it," Ban seethed. The spinning bows of water gradually slowed into mere trickles and the park regained its cool quiet. "Oh, great. Now they kill the sprinklers. And just when I was about to strip and take advantage of the free shower."
"Keep whatever clothes you have on, idiot! No one wants to see your naked scrawny ass!" Shido thundered. "At any rate, unless you guys expect more goons to gun for your butts, you think that maybe, just maybe, we can finally go to the Honky Tonk?"
"Geez. You're starting to sound like a whiny broken record. Tsk. Fine. We're going." Ban vigourously ruffled his wet brown hair with his fingers and carried one of the trunks by the handles. He imagined the sight of a battered and bleeding Hishiki rising from his burial mound and plodding towards him like Frankenstein on crack. He shuddered. "But no way am I passing by that playground again. Nah-uh. We're pushing the Ladybug all the way home."
"We? Who 'we'?" The Beastmaster griped as he rewarded Akatsume with a brisk pat to the head before taking the torso case from him. "Wow. When did I become an honorary Get Backer all of a sudden?"
"Hey, why not? I think you and Ban-chan could work very well together if you really wanted to," Ginji implicitly noted.
"We don't!" the two inflated egos chorused.
The blond grinned.
Ban flinched. "It was a fluke brought about by dire circumstances!"
"Like, we didn't have a choice," Shido fluster-blustered.
"I hear ya," Ginji giggled as he marched ahead of the two bemused 'best frenemies'.
"Say, dimbulb," Ban wondered as the trio retraced their path back to the car. "I'm curious. Just how were you able to defeat Jackal anyway? If I remember correctly, you could barely power a penlight after we left the hotel."
Ginji stopped dead in his tracks. "Well... You see..." He turned and made round, sheepish puppy-dog eyes at his partner. "... the thing is..."
---
"B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b..."
The Jagan master sat with his long legs splayed on the grass, spittle dribbling from the corner of his slack jaw and blue peepers unblinking. To hell with Raitei, Ginji is doing a pretty good job of killing me right now!
"Ban-chan, I know she looks bad right now, but after we score a few big gigs, I'm sure..."
"Oi, Mido! Get your scaly hide off the lawn and help me put out this fire!" Shido commanded as he folded the driver's seat and tried to smother the flaming backseat with his suede vest. "Dammit! Why I'm even ruining a perfectly good vest for you, I don't know."
"What's the use? My car isn't worth scrap, for crying out loud!" Ban sobbed as he lurched on his hands and knees toward the halved driver's door. "Just look at this! Tell me how I'm going to re-attach my door when that jerk-off sliced it in two!"
"Uh, weld it?" Ginji proposed while biting his nails, staying as far away as possible from his stewed-over friend.
He aimed a missile glare at the blond. "And you! Why didn't you call me earlier?"
"Oh, so now you complain. I told you we should go back for Ginji, but noooo..." Shido chewed him out as he extinguished the last orange flames. The odour of burnt vinyl hung in the air and mingled with the pungent scent of petrol fumes and decay.
"You think if I'd known he was gonna go Raitei on the Ladybug and use my gas tank as an incendiary bomb I wouldn't have?" Ban passed his trembling hands over the blackened, steaming, labyrinthine mess that used to be his car engine.
"If someone had bothered to buy lunch, maybe I wouldn't have needed to become a human jumper cable," Ginji stated matter-of-factly.
"Yeah. Just because you took Ginji out of Mugenjou doesn't mean you shouldn't feed him once in a while, you cheap bastard," Shido rolled his eyes and dumped a seared, unrecognizable lump of metal in his rival's hands. "Here. I'm quite sure this – thing caused the fire."
Ban eyed it with extreme contempt. "Ginji! How could you?"
"How could I what?" he beseeched with a hurt expression on his face. "I didn't throw that robot head into the car. Last I saw of it, it was stuck to, yikes! – Akabane-san."
The brunette shook his fist and pitched the carbonized head back into the rear seat. "That sonofabitch!"
"Probably payback for your lame impersonation of him," the Beastmaster reckoned sardonically.
"To be fair, I don't think Akabane-san meant to..."
"Of course, you'd be defending him, you double-crosser! You, my best friend, colluded, connived and conspired with – of all people – that devil doctor to destroy my car! You might as well have run me over while you were at it." Ban ranted as he spread himself on the ground in front of the rear tyres.
"Hey. It's not too late. I can do it for them if you want," Shido snickered.
"What did I do to deserve all this?" He wailed and stomped and went bonkers. "Obaasan! Maria! Aesclepius! You hear me? Was there a fine print on my curse that I missed or what? Or is this your idea of fun? Or –"
The two former Volts mates stared wide-eyed at the possessed Get Backer. It took awhile before either of them spoke.
"Ginji?"
"Mmm?"
"Tell me again. How do you keep up with this fruitcake?"
"Oh, he usually doesn't get this bad... Most of the time."
"I keep saying he needs a girlfriend," Shido whispered. "But I take it back. Pity the poor chick who ends up with that."
Ginji weakly smiled and threw up his hands in resignation.
---
A.N.2 : The scene with Ban and Ginji talking about their destiny and shared connection with Mugenjou (and Akabane) is just pure speculation based on cryptic clues bandied about in recent manga continuity (and the fact that it's been revealed Ban is very connected to the mystery of the Belt Line). Other than that, no spoilers here. I just liked the idea of the love-hate nature between light and darkness and how it can be used to describe Ban and Ginji's relationship as friends - and foes. Frankly, I'll be happy if the series proves my speculation wrong, because I'd just cry if those two had to fight. (rant over)
Last Chapter : Epilogue. Finally, everyone makes it to the Honky Tonk. Is the crew going to be arrested? Did Natsumi wait up? Just what is in that microchip anyway? And will Ban ever learn to shut his trap? The rollercoaster adventure comes to an end.