Warnings/Notes: This is going to be shounen ai (guys having romantic relations with other guys), so if you don't like it, please beware of this fic.
Oh! And this is AU (alternate universe) where there is no bladeing and stuff.
Disclaimer: It ain't mine!!! …………………..At least, not yet! (Starts to laugh manically) ……………..Just kidding!
Chapter 3
Kai finished drinking his coffee and sighed.
Picking up Hilary had been a big mistake. Even if she was the daughter of the man who was the brains behind the counterfeiting.
It was an event that was bound to lead both himself and Max into trouble.
He'd seen it all before.
Now all he needed was for Tyson to show up.
He'd wondered if tipping off a detective, (who wanted nothing more than to see him behind bars, and had proven in the past to be prepared to do even the most irrational things to achieve it) was a good, or for that matter, mentally stable thing to have done.
Most people would probably have thought it incredibly stupid.
He just couldn't help it. A job wasn't a job without the thrill of trying to outwit and avoid the cunning (though slightly overzealous) detective, who was the only one who he could consider an equal.
Max was a sidekick, not an equal. Max, he knew, was using him to learn skills that he didn't have, and would need if he ever wanted to work alone. Something that he felt, Max was planning on doing.
Kai lazily gazed out the window watching the people pass by.
After a few minutes of doing this, he suddenly narrowed his eyes, as he watched some sort of commotion that was going on a little bit down the street.
Realising what, or more correctly who was the cause, he swore, pulled out his wallet, slammed a note on the table as payment for their coffees and rushed out the door.
Max laughed as Rei chased him down the street and through the crowds of people, "You're going to have to do better than that if you want to catch me Mr. Detective!!!"
Rei panted slightly as he chased the slightly more athletic man in front of him, "Stop!"
"Yeah, I'm really going to stop and let you get me just because you say so," called Max over his shoulder, then yelled, "Sorry!" to a shopkeeper, as he knocked over a stall that sold apples.
As he tried not to trip on the fallen fruit, Rei became even more determined to catch the blonde ahead of him.
Smirking, Max ducked down a side street, in an attempt to confuse, or lose his pursuer.
A loud crash and the sound of someone swearing behind him told him that Rei was still following him, but had not seen the pots and vases neatly stacked just round the corner of the ally.
He suddenly stopped and swore as he reached a dead end. The wall was one of a building, not for fencing purposes so he wasn't able to climb over it.
Rei smiled as he caught up to his quarry and shoved him up against the wall roughly.
Max laughed nervously, "Is that a gun? Or are you just happy to see me?"
Rei blushed and moved away from him slightly, "That's my wallet you pervert!"
Max grinned at him, "I though it was a little small!"
Rei glared down at the slightly shorter Max, "You're under arrest."
Max continued grinning, "Are you gonna use handcuffs? Kinky."
Rei smirked and suddenly pushed himself against him again, "So you want to play?"
Realising that his plans on embarrassing Rei into distraction and then running for it had failed, Max decided to try to escape another way, "HHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!"
Rei smirked and reached into his pocket to pull out his cuffs, "It's a pity we have to end this so soon, but you're coming with me."
"Oh I don't think so."
"Well I d-" Rei stopped short as he realised that it wasn't Max that had spoken.
Before he could do anything, he felt himself being pushed off of Max, as he staggered backwards, there was a light popping sound, and a cloud of smoke billowed up, obscuring his vision.
With watery eyes, and coughing, Rei stumbled towards the exit of the alley.
As the smoke cleared and the alley slowly came back into view it became clear that both Max, and his rescuer were gone.
A piece of paper floated to the ground next to Rei's feet. He bent down, picked it up and swore. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, "Tyson's going to kill me," he muttered as he crumpled the paper with the image of a phoenix imprinted on it.
"I'm sorry!"
Kai said nothing as he continued to drag Max back down the street to the inn.
"I know, it was stupid. It was all my fault as well, I told him who I was."
"………………."
"And you wasted one of your smoke canisters to save me."
"……………"
Max grabbed Kai's arm, "Please don't be mad, he doesn't know where we're staying!"
Kai snarled, "No, he just knows that we're here. Somewhere. Do you have any idea what you've done? Because of you we've lost our advantage and my plans have been ruined!"
Max blinked, "Err………….you had a plan?"
Kai glared at him, "That guy, whoever he was-"
"Rei."
"Rei. Is obviously working with Tyson, who we both know is completely obsessive, and will not stop looking for us now he knows we're here!"
"I know I just-"
"AND you were flirting with him!"
Max blushed, "I err………………couldn't help it?"
They stopped walking just outside their inn.
Kai took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair, "Look. Just try and stay out of trouble," he paused and smiled at his depressed companion, "If it makes you feel any better, I'm sure that Rei is going to be in a lot more trouble with Tyson for letting you get away, than you are with me."
"I really am sorry!"
"WELL YOU SHOULD BE!!" Rei held his phone away from his ear as Tyson yelled at him, "How could you be so stupid! You should have just followed him, and called me! Not play chasies with him like a little kid in kindergarten!!"
"I know I-"
"No. Now they'll know we're here! God, if you had just followed him he probably would have led you straight to Kai!"
"I know, but I-"
"Just go back to our hotel and stay there."
"But they might come out again, if I stay outside and keep looking-"
"No. I have a lead I have to follow. Someone in town told me about a really rich man who lives just outside of town. He may be Kai's target. And if you're not at that hotel when I get back…………………….."
The sentence hung in the air.
"Alright," Rei mumbled, "Bye."
"Bye."
They both hung up.
Rei scowled and pouted, "He treats me like I'm a little kid."
Count Balkov was not a very happy man.
He looked at the guards who had brought his daughter back, "Leave us. We need to speak." He waited for them to leave before saying, "Why do you disobey me like this?"
Hilary glared at him, "I was going to look for Daichi. And I wanted to get away from your stupid guards."
"Those guards are there for you're protection."
"Some protection. They didn't protect Daichi."
"You must forget abut finding him."
Hilary looked outraged, "Forget about him?! He's my brother!"
"………………………….."
Hilary gave her father a scrutinising look, "You had something to do with it, didn't you."
Count Balkov stared straight back at her, "That is none of you're concern."
Hilary's eyes widened, "You did! What did you do to him?"
"Daichi has come to no harm."
"Where is he? Why did you do this? Did he do something to endanger your money making scheme? So you just go rid of him?! How could you? He's you're son!"
Balkov silently waited until his daughter had finished her tirade.
"Is money more important to you than your own family?!"
"What I do puts a roof over your head."
"I'd rather live on the street as a family, then live like this with money!"
Boris rubbed his temple, "You're acting like a spoilt, petulant child. Daichi is fine. You live in comfort, and I have a proficient way of securing what we need."
"It's illegal!"
Boris looked at her angrily, "Do not question my business. It is none of yours."
"It is when I have a criminal as my father!" Hilary spat angrily.
Boris ignored her last comment and changed the subject by suddenly demanding, "Who were those people with you?"
"Nobody. Just some people who picked me up off the road, and took me to town. Foreigners. They said they travelled a lot. They'll probably be gone in a few days."
Boris frowned, "Their names."
Hilary shook her head, "I don't know."
"You're lying. I can tell."
"I'm not! And I don't care what you say about it not being my business! What you're doing isn't right. It does concern me and I want it to stop! I'm going to find out what you did to Daichi if it's the last thing I do!"
Hilary turned and headed for the door.
"Stop right now! I haven't finished with you yet!"
Hilary simply ignored him and stormed out the door, furious.
Count Balkov leaned back in his chair, "Did you hear all of that Kane?"
"Yes."
"Good. I have an idea. I want you to send Salima to stop Hilary from doing any damage, and I want you to go and get Kenny."
"Fine."
Instead of heading straight to her room, or to the comfort of her best friend Kenny, who always managed to help sort things out, two things that she usually did after fighting with her father, Hilary headed through the maze of doors and hallways towards the back of the house.
The closer she got to her destination, the more quiet and cautious she was, not wanting to be caught by one of her father's guards.
After a few wrong turns, she finally found herself outside of the door she wanted.
She carefully opened the door and slipped inside.
Finding the light switch and turning the lights on revealed that she was in an enormous room that held large containers, benches and old fashioned printing presses.
Smiling evilly, Hilary walked over to the nearest container and unlatched its lid. Using all of the strength she could muster, she pushed it over.
It fell with a very loud crash, and money scattered across the floor.
She quickly bent down and pulled a box of matches out of her pocket and set it alight.
She stood up and quickly backed away from the flames. She stood and watched the money burn with a feeling of satisfaction, "I'll make him sorry for sending Daichi away."
As she headed over to another container, to do the same thing, Hilary felt a presence behind her.
Salima sighed as she stepped towards Hilary, "Please don't make this difficult. I really don't want to have to hurt you."
Kenny had never been a particularly calm when he thought he was in trouble.
And though he silently followed Kane through the corridors to Count Balkov's office, he was having a major panic attack on the inside.
He had no idea what he could have done wrong, there hadn't been any problems with any of the programming he'd done had there? He was sure it was perfect! He'd gone over it himself, and had Dizzy check over it several times.
He clutched his laptop that held Dizzy, the A.I. that had somehow managed to get in his laptop during a power surge (he'd never managed to work out how it had happened).
Was he really in trouble? He honestly couldn't think of something that he'd done wrong, but why else would Count Balkov want to see him? He was just a part if the technical staff! Actually, he was the only member of the technical staff, but he wasn't really bothered with specifics at the moment.
Kenny gulped as he and Kane reached the door of his doom aka Count Balkov's office.
As Kane knocked Kenny could only think one thing, this was not going to be pretty.
TBC………………………..