Author's Notes: Okay so. It's been forever since I touched this thing. Life's been hectic, so sue me. Vampire hunting fic wasn't at the top of my to-do list.
Matter of fact I never thought I'd work on this thing again. Shockingly enough I just had the urge to a couple days ago, and thus chapter 3 got written. Once again, I didn't really edit much. So my apologies for grammar/spelling/discontinuity of facts, etc. I'd forgetten a good bit of what I'd already done, and well. Re-reading it didn't help much since I'm thick XD;
Either way, chapter 3. Enjoy if you actually read this.
The team pretty much walked the whole way in silence, almost afraid to say anything. After all, they all saw that building explode; they all heard the panicked voices over the radio. Even Oracle lost his cool for a minute there. Something big was definitely up, but no one had a clue as to what it could be.
After a little less than an hour and a half (Oden and Artemis needed to sit; their shoes were killing them, so they took them off and threw them into the woods by the road), the team reached the location Oracle had told them of. It looked like a large hotel, several stories high, but not obscenely large. It had the typical French elegance that was common of the area, yet was clearly modern in structure. On the front of the gate, there was a large symbol with the letters "K" and "C." No one seemed to know what the letters were supposed to mean at first, then something triggered in Oden's memory.
"That's the symbol for Kaiba Corporation!" he announced quickly. "I can't believe I didn't remember it sooner!"
"Kaiba Corporation?" Loki repeated. It was obvious he was agitated about the night's events, and the fact that everyone else wasn't seemed to make it worse. "What in hell is that?"
"Maybe if you shut up and listen he'll tell you, lunkhead," Venus snapped, crossing her arms. She rolled her eyes in disgust and sighed heavily, and Loki didn't take that well.
"Look, missie, I've had just about enough of-"
But Artemis wasn't about to let this go on. "Would you both just shut up!" she cried, glaring at both of the blondes. "My God, you've been at each other's throats all night! Give it a rest!" She had to take a moment to calm herself, and then she turned back to Oden with a serious expression. "Now. What were you saying, Oden?"
Blinking for a moment, Oden noticed Loki and Venus look shamefully at their feet. He held back his amused smile to answer Artemis's question.
"It's a game company," he explained, somewhat nostalgically. "Mostly trading card stuff, but they've done a lot. When I was a kid, I used to play games all the time, and this company was a major player in the industry!" Oden smiled almost childishly at the memories of looking through his deck of monster cards for some game- Oh what was it called again? It had slipped his memory, but the fondness in his heart flared up immediately at the thoughts.
His flashbacks weren't to last long. The others were already heading up to the house carefully even before Oden had finished his thoughts. Loki kept a tentative hand near his holster, and Venus held her blades at a ready position. One wrong sound and she easily could've sliced off Oden's head. Odd how THAT seemed to be his biggest fear.
The doors to this corporate palace were large mahogany masterpieces. Loki was the first to try and pull them open, but they were locked and would not be moved. The blonde gunman turned around with an irritated grunt, practically fuming at this point.
"Now what?" he snorted. No one had an answer.
A moment later the familiar crackling from the radio made everyone flinch a bit. "Everyone that can hear this, raise your hand. Now," demanded Oracle's rough voice in their ears.
"What?" Loki said defiantly. "Tell me what the hell is going on and THEN I'll-"
"Do it or I swear to God, you dimwit I'll come up there myself and blow your brains out with those canons of yours," Oracle roughly replied. They could all tell that he certainly would. With a slight mutter, Loki obeyed the command, and slowly the others did as well.
"Wait there," Oracle answered, then clicked off the radio. The teams waited in awkward silence for something to happen; what that something would be, no one could determine. Anything would be plausible at this point.
Several moments later, one of the large doors creaked open, and Oden could barely make out the angular face of Oracle looking through. "Why are you so late? It only should have taken an hour to walk here," he said, refusing to open the door any further unless he got the answers he wanted.
"It's our fault," Artemis answered before Loki could jump in. She glanced back to Oden and frowned a bit. "We slowed the group down. We made them stop so we could take off our shoes and rest for a moment."
"That wasn't wise," Oracle said with no trace of sympathy, but he wasn't angry. At least not that anyone could tell. "Did anyone follow you?" he continued in his business-like fashion.
"Okay, I've had it!" Loki finally snapped. This time no one tried to stop him. "We almost turned into fireworks tonight! Burnt to a crisp! Do you understand that!" he raved, indicating the other team members. Oden felt almost guilty when he sympathized with Loki's outrage. "Now I don't think it's so freaking out of the question that we get some answers, do you!" No one disagreed.
Apparently not even Oracle. "Look, I know you're all confused." Oden saw Loki do a slight double take. "But it's not safe to speak here." With that he opened the door and stood against it, allowing them all to file in. Oden noted that he pointed a gun out into the courtyard and let the barrel pan across, as though he were looking for something.
Once everyone was inside, he made a signal to remain quiet, then pointed down a long hallway. The inside was just as grand as the outside. Large portraits decorated the walls, but they could not be admired; there were no lights on, and the moon was covered by a thick fog.
Oden found himself more interested in Oracle than the surroundings. The tall man seemed deeply troubled by something. His blue eyes were a bit wild as they darted about. His overall manner was somewhat tired and paranoid. It was like his skin was the only thing keeping him from going everywhere at once. It was obvious Oracle was trying to hide his discontent, but he wasn't doing a good job. Even Loki was frowning a bit at the other's behavior.
Once they all reached the end of the hallway, Oracle moved a picture frame out of the way and revealed a small button. He pressed it, and a portion of the wall seemed to disappear, producing a small metallic hole in the wall that looked like an elevator. The whole process took about 10 seconds, and made less sound than Oden's shallow breathing.
Everyone stepped inside, and Oracle typed a code into the keypad. There was a slight jerk, but other than that, Oden couldn't tell whether or not they were moving at all. Eventually another slight jerk indicated they had stopped, and the door slid open in front of Oracle.
Beyond the door was something that resembled the conference rooms at the H.Q. office. There was a large round desk with a hanging lamp over it. Desk chairs lined the table, all facing directly to the middle.
Oracle stepped out first, and the second his foot hit the cement floor, Oden heard a click and saw the familiar flash of incandescent light against silver. A gun was placed firmly against Oracle's temple, and holding it was a delicate arm, shaky though it was.
There was a sigh of relief from the side of the wall, but the gun remained in place. "When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears," said the familiar voice of Siren, shaky and tired but still decipherable.
Oracle didn't move. He just spoke simply. "When you screamed I'd fight away all of your fears." The gun was removed promptly, and Siren tossed her arms around Oracle's neck. Oden heard her mumble, "Thank God," into his shoulder. He barely responded, but quickly pushed her away towards the table. Lifting his bony hand, Oracle motioned for the others to follow.
Though puzzled, the teams followed and circled the table. They all sat down and blinked at the silence; no one had the courage to break it. The worried faces of Oracle and Siren were far too foreboding.
But finally, Oracle sat down, giving Siren the floor to speak. "…Something has happened," she said, taking a deep breath to remain calm. "Within the R.O. There's been a breech."
Another pause of silence allowed this to sink in. Loki was the first to react. "Why do you mean, 'a breech?' What's that mean?"
"Someone within the organization has deceived us, Loki," Siren calmly answered him. "That's all we know. One of the agents took control of HQ tonight." She took a moment to shake her head.
Oracle quickly took over, having regained his business-like air. "Tonight was a rare night. Every single team in the R.O. was sent out on a mission. That's almost unheard of, though it has happened before."
"So what does that all mean?" Oden asked, though somehow he already knew.
"It was a set-up," Oracle said. "Everything tonight had to have been a set up by our AWOL-agent. There were bombings in every single location being targeted tonight. Even HQ has been leveled."
There was another moment of awed silence. It all seemed to be too absurd to be true. Every target was blown up? Every team was out this night? And the most shocking of all was the idea of a double agent. Oden had gone through a long, intensive series of tests and interviews, including blood tests. Wasn't it impossible to fool the R.O.?
"It's everywhere on the news. Luckily, the media is too stupid and ignorant to see the connection," Oracle carried on. "Unfortunately, though," his mood turned morose again, "…There have been no reported survivors in any of the explosions."
That annoying silence filled the room again. Oden couldn't believe his ears at all. This simply couldn't be happening. Either that or no one cared to admit it was.
"We can only assume the worst," Oracle said gravely. "We have to assume that all other agents in the R.O. have been liquidated."
"Liquidated?" Loki repeated after a pause. His tone was questionable, and Oden honestly couldn't tell whether he knew what the word meant or if he was outraged. He didn't have to wait long for an answer. "There are hundreds of people dead out there-not only agents but innocent civilians who are dead, and you talk about it all like it's a fucking corporate takeover!" His gruff voice thundered off the walls, and for the first time Loki was more intimidating than Oracle. The sheer fire in his amber eyes even threw Venus off for a moment, and she blinked foggily at him across the table. "What in hell is the matter with you!"
Oracle's cool exterior finally cracked. He slammed his hands onto the table, nearly flipping it over. "Don't you think I understand that, you fucking moron!" he bellowed, his scream now controlling the air. His hair fell out of its perfect shape, tumbling over his blazing eyes. "And don't you DARE yell at me like that in my damn house! I swear to God, if you make one more SOUND I'll kick you out and let the vampires tear limb from goddamn LIMB, Loki!"
But Loki was not about to back down. "Fuck you, Oracle!" he shouted back just as loud. "I've had enough of this! This isn't a game! Have you even gotten on the radio to try and contact the other teams? Did that even enter your mind at all?"
"Of course it did, but it's too risky. We could give away our location," Oracle replied, though he'd gotten more defensive.
"So you'd rather stay down in this rat hole and hide while our teammates are out there and might need our help?" Loki scoffed.
"I'm looking out for our survival!" Oracle said as Loki reached for the radio.
"So am I," Loki replied so coldly that Oracle actually blinked and sat back down. He grumbled a bit, but did nothing to stop Loki as he clicked the radio in the center of the table on and lifted the receiver to his chin. "This is Loki 5. Over," he said calmly then waited. There was no response.
"What the hell are you doing?" Venus asked dully. "That radio is only programmed to communicate with our transmitters. It doesn't work with other team's equipment."
"There's another frequency that all the radios pick up," Loki told her matter-of-factly. He was too focused on the radio, so Venus and the others looked to Oracle for further explanation.
He sighed, as though it were some secret he'd wished to keep. "It's only supposed to be used by coordinators…if something goes wrong."
"Well, I'd say this qualifies," Loki nearly laughed as he tweaked the frequency knobs.
"But it's risky," Oracle shot the blonde a quick glare. "The airwaves of the signal are a lot like typical commercial ones, so they're easier to tap into. If someone were to tap in and track it, our location would be revealed. That's the last thing we want right now."
"But if it gives us a chance to contact anyone, I'd say it's worth the risk," Loki answered. "Maybe then we could get some answers." Everyone seemed to agree with Loki that the risk was worth it; what else could they do?
Almost a moment later, there was a crackling from the radio speaker. "On----tan?" was what they hear over the fizzle, and everyone jumped, including Loki.
"Hello! Is someone there?" he asked into the receiver, his voice raising a bit. "This is Loki 5. Is anyone out there? Over!"
The transmission was clearer as the click came over the radio. "Onii-chan is that really you!" It was the excited voice of a young girl, and Oden immediately recognized it.
"That's Nymph!" he shouted, a grin breaking out over his and Loki's face.
"Nymph! Can you hear me?" Loki said, his voice relieved and hopeful.
"Yes I can!" she answered. Oden thought he heard the sound of laughter. "Oh, onii-chan, you're okay! Thank goodness! With everything I thought that-"
"Don't say that, Nymph," Loki told her calmly. "Just…tell us where you are."
"NO!" Oracle jumped up, taking the receiver from Loki. "Nymph or whoever! Whatever you do, don't tell us where you are!"
Loki blinked up, surprised at first, then irritated. "What the hell are you doing! They might need help!"
But Oracle ignored him. He coughed into his hand quickly. "This is the President and CEO of Kaiba Corporation, Seto Kaiba. I've been informed of your situation. Please gather any of the survivors from your party and proceed to-" he rattled off the address of the building. Luckily, Nymph was stationed 30 minutes away. Her team was on their way to her at that moment. "Over," Oracle said, then clicked the radio off for good.
Everyone blinked for a moment, and Oden's sense of awe was more overwhelming than the rest. This man standing before them had broken the cardinal rule of the Organization. It was the one law that seemed to overshadow all the others, despite the sheer common sense of it. He'd used his real name.
Oden couldn't even remember a time when he'd used his name with anything regarding the Organization. Even during his training he'd been given a number. He was never asked for his birth name, and as far as he knew, there was no record of it in the R.O. HQ. And even if there was, it had been destroyed this very night. From the looks on everyone's faces, Oden figured they were going through the very same process.
Siren sighed heavily. "And you were the one talking about risk," she said, shaking her head.
Oracle seemed just as hesitant about his decision, but nodded. "There are no records of our real names within the Organization. None at all. We don't exist to them if we aren't on the clock," he said matter-of-factly. "If we keep using our code names over the radio, and someone taps in, we're asking for trouble. It's a long shot, and I can't guarantee it will work but-" he paused. "We're all going to forget the codes from here on in."
It all made sense, but…at the same time everyone was hesitant to reveal who they really were. Even if you passed a teammate out on the street in the daylight, you were to act like you had never met; outside of work, you were total strangers. To throw that sacred law away seemed almost blasphemous.
"I know it seems ridiculously simple, but right now it's the only edge we've got," Oracle sat back down into the chair. "We have to take what we can get at this point." Siren placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and he reached up and took it.
No one seemed to object, but the skeptical look in everyone's eyes made Oden shift in discomfort. After a moment Oracle took the floor again.
"Just as you heard, I'm Seto Kaiba. I run a business known as Kaiba Corporation. We-"
"Make games," Loki supplied dully. "Oden filled us in when we reached the gate, Mr. President."
"I see," Oracle said, glancing over to Oden. "You knew about me?"
Oden felt a slight warmth on his cheeks, and his purple eyes widened. "Oh, well…sort of!" he stammered. "I-I knew Kaiba Corp was a game company, but I didn't know how you were! I played a lot of games as a kid and I-"
"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter," Oracle…or Seto rather, replied, completely uninterested. He looked up at Siren. "We'll go around the table, starting with you."
Siren gave a silent nod before turning her eyes back to the table. "Kisara," she told the group with a deep sigh. "Kisara Kaiba. Seto is my husband."
At this point, everyone was sick of the shocked silence that seemed to hang heavy in the still air. Almost simultaneously, all the eyes in the room turned to Loki. It seemed like the right thing to do. And of course, they were right.
"He's your what?" Loki gaped. It looked like someone just told him the earth was flat, and he was about to be pushed off the edge.
"My husband," Kisara repeated with a small smile of amusement. "For 5 years now. We were originally on the same team in the R.O and-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Loki shook his head and held up his hand. "Please I don't need to hear the dating connection with Mr. Personality here. Can we just move on?" he looked to Artemis, she was next. But they all took a minute to privately laugh at Loki's clear disappointment in Siren's commitment.
"Um…" Artemis looked at her hands in her lap, debating what to say. "Well, my name's Anzu Mazaki. I'm a dancer."
Loki got over his mourning at this. "A dancer?" he repeated, leaning his elbows on the table.
"Yes," she snapped. "I dance ballet for a small company, and work part-time at a department store."
"Oh." Oden didn't know why Loki looked disappointed again. And when it hit him, he had the urge to leap across the table and smack the blonde with his own gun. But he didn't have a chance because it was his turn to speak.
"Yuugi. Yuugi Mutou," he shyly said, not able to look at anything but the table. "I help my Grandpa run a small game shop."
"Are you in school?" Anzu asked. She seemed concerned.
Yuugi shook his head. "No. I graduated a year ago." Anzu gave an approving smile. No one else seemed interested in the least. He glanced directly across the table. Venus was next.
"Kujaku Mai," she said coolly, flipping her hair back. "And I really don't feel like telling you all what I do for a living."
"Oh, I think I have an idea," Loki scoffed, laughing a little at his own joke.
Mai blinked at him as though he were speaking another language entirely. "What the hell was that supposed to mean?" she scolded.
"Can't figure it out, don't deserve to know," Loki rolled his head back and kicked his feet up on the table.
"Oh, you are such a jerk," was Mai's only reply aside from the hateful glare. "Could you be quiet and polite to someone for like…two seconds, you buffoon?"
"Stick to what you're good at. That's what I always say," he smirked.
"And you are a master."
"Quit it, both of you," Seto demanded. "I don't need your childish bickering right now." He looked coldly at Loki, the last in the group.
"Hmph," Loki snorted. "Jounouchi Katsuya. Outside of this I'm a-" he paused. His complexion turned a bit paler. Apparently he hadn't thought his through. He coughed, mumbling something into his hand.
Venus had apparently caught the hidden message, and a twisted smile broke across her face. She leaned towards him, soft blonde curls tumbling over her face. "What was that, Katsuya?" she purred.
He returned the glare she'd given him only moments before. "I'm a waiter," he said loud enough for everyone, but looked straight at Mai. Oden saw Seto cover up the bottom part of his face with his hands, but he could see the bottom of his eyes curve up, and knew the CEO was desperately trying not to laugh.
"Well, we can't all be fortune five-hundred CEO's," Jounouchi snorted, pouting a bit. "Some people gotta work the old fashion way."
"By flipping burgers for the fortune five-hundred CEO's," Mai replied.
"Oh, fuck you," Jou said. Clearly, he was running out of material.
"In your dreams."
"Yeah. My nightmares."
"Oh, that was witty, Katsuya."
"Doesn't your name mean 'peacock' or something, lady?"
"Would you both CAN IT?" Seto's amusement had worn off, and he was back to his no-nonsense attitude. "It'd be different if you were witty, but that's not the case here. So just do everyone a favor and keep your useless quips to yourself."
Both Jounouchi and Mai looked like they were about to protest, but in the end they remained silent and slunk back into their chairs.
"So," Anzu sighed heavily. "What do we do now?"
"We do what we can," Kisara answered with an even voice and a shrug. "We wait. Nymph should be arriving soon."
"I don't know if we'll be able to let them in," Seto suddenly spoke, and everyone blinked at him.
"What?" Jounouchi replied.
"We don't know if they can't be trusted. They could compromise us," Seto stated as though it were just a fact.
"Are you saying they've been turned?" Jounouchi said. That hadn't even entered Yuugi's mind at all.
"It's a possibility. Maybe they struck a deal with the vampires," Seto continued.
"Okay, that's it!" Jounouchi jumped up and spun Seto's chair to face him. "It takes three days to turn someone, correct? We saw Nymph and her team two days ago. So that's out. And don't you ever," he paused, glaring down at Seto in the chair as his tone deepened and got even gruffer. "Don't you EVER accuse her of turning on us. And if I had the choice to follow her orders or yours, I'd pick her, and I wouldn't have to think twice about it."
The room went silent, waiting for a reaction from Seto. Calmly, he looked up at Jounouchi and growled, "I hope you're right."
"Oh, it was just terrible!" Nymph (Her real name was Shizuka; apparently she really was Jounouchi's younger sister and "onii-chan" was more than just a nickname) shook her head, her face exhausted from worry. "I thought for sure my team was dead!" she looked over to Apollo and Hades, now known to the group as Honda Hiroto and Otogi Ryuugi. Thanks to Seto's earlier skepticism, everyone carefully studied them; even Jounouchi seemed to have doubts about the two guys. With one hand he pulled Shizuka towards him by the shoulders, and the other he used to smoke a cigarette that no one told him to put out. After such a night, almost everyone felt he was entitled.
"We were lucky," Honda heavily sighed. "We had just gotten out of the building when it went up." It was obvious this was true though. Honda and Otogi were both scratched up pretty badly, and they were covered with black smudge that could only be caused by explosion. They all reeked of gunpowder and dust.
"Fortunately, I'd decided to move to a different location to direct them. I was originally supposed to be in the building," Shizuka gave a tired smile and looked up to the ceiling. "It was like a miracle."
"If there were such things as miracles, none of us would be here," Mai dully said. She didn't seem to care for the young girl with her bright outlook and cheery tone.
Shizuka blinked a bit, but turned back to Jounouchi. "I think it's a miracle that out of all the teams to survive, one was the team of my brother and so was mine," she said, not phased by Mai's cynical comment. Jounouchi just smiled. So did Yuugi. After he'd been so angry and upset over everything, it was nice to see Jou back to his relaxed and casual attitude.
"Miracle or not," Seto interrupted. He'd gone into another room connected to the conference area. He'd been diligently typing on some computer since before Shizuka and the others had arrived. Now he had a thick folder under his arm. "We have to figure out our next course of action."
"What are we supposed to do?" Jounouchi looked over. "Like you said, there was no evidence; no lead."
"At first glance, you're completely right. But I've been looking into whatever file were left. I back up everything, and I happen to have all the information we need right here," he tossed the folder down on the table. "Tonight, every team was out on a mission. Clearly a set up. But that doesn't mean that every agent was out there."
He opened up the folder and held up the top piece of paper. On it was the profile of an agent for the R.O. The picture showed a calm, quiet looking man of about thirty with long, shaggy white hair and innocent brown eyes. His name was Asreal 40.
"Asreal 40 never reported to HQ before his team when out for their hit. He was their swordsman. For reasons I can't yet determine, HQ allowed his team to go ahead without him," he paused. "I think you know what happened to them."
They were becoming more immune to the shock of what they knew had happened, but there was still a moment of awkward silence.
"This is our only lead right now," Seto firmly continued. "We find Asreal, we find our mole."
"He doesn't look like he'd be a spy," Shizuka said, looking at the photograph.
"Of all the people in the world, you should be the most aware that looks don't mean a thing," Seto took the paper away and set it down to the side. "Nonetheless, he's the only one left that we have reason to believe would be alive."
Yuugi had a thought. "What about ONI?"
The room went completely silent, only now it was more of a revered pause. ONI was the leader of the R.O. He was a mysterious legend; no one had seen him or ever spoken directly with him, but everyone knew. ONI was the omnipotent ruler of this Organization; a legend that was barely spoken of.
"I mean," Yuugi continued. "Could it be possible that he's alive?"
"…It's possible," Seto said. Apparently he hadn't thought of that, which gave Yuugi a small confidence boost. "But there's absolutely no information on ONI in the computer. This is the only hard evidence we have to follow, and I think it'd be in our best interest to follow this instead of chase after a legend we aren't sure even exists."
"ONI could be any number of things, kid," Jounouchi answered after taking a drag of his cigarette. "It could be one guy pulling the strings, in which case it might be worth it to find 'im. But it's more likely ONI is either a group of suits under one name or even just some super computer. Sure we all hear 'orders from ONI,' but it's just the same as this monkey suit ordering around his little yes-men," he pointed at Seto. "For once I'm gonna agree with Seto. This is the guy we gotta get to," he held up the picture of Asreal again. "And we gotta do it soon. No telling where the guy is now."
"True," Seto nodded. "I've been able to tap into some street and security cameras in the area where he may be at the moment. There were some reports of a man with his description acting suspiciously, and he was seen in most of the areas that were targeted."
"There you have it, folks," Jounouchi grinned, flicking the remainder of his cigarette to the floor. "Anyone up for a little mole-hunting?"
Author's Notes: Don't get your hopes up for chapter 4 :x