DISCLAIMER: Don't own it…. Never have, and, well, unless the luck of the Irish is REALLY with me, I probably never will.
Hello, this thing on?
Wow, I actually make an update on time, this is something that's now become foreign to me. And, yes, as a reply to the question posed to me by DJ Clawson, I am still taking Scrapbook Memories requests, and I'm in the process of writing a Max-centric story as we speak. In case anyone hasn't caught on, each story takes place around one character in general. First Ari, then Fuji, and then Yukiko. Max will be the next one, and hopefully, after that (if I ever find the time) Toshiro's story will come afterward. Please enjoy and review, I always love questions and comments!
Fun Fact of Boredom: Avery's name comes from one of my favorite cartoonists, Tex Avery. There's a line that mentions that when they first get the baby, about whether or not Cecilia named Avery what she did because she liked cartoons. Nope, it's simply because I like cartoons, heh.
Chapter Twenty-six: Maxwell's Silver Hammer
France:
"Here're your glasses; you left them in the kitchen," Dako found Leo in the laundry room late at night, hunched over his desk and studying as usual.
"Oh, I must've forgotten them," Leo said with a smile as he reached over and took them from Dako. In a crib at his side laid a sleeping Avery, whom he had rocked to sleep only a few moments ago. "Thanks, Dako. Are you getting ready to go to bed?"
Dako rolled her eyes and nodded, "Yes…. I don't need a bedtime, you know. I'm a big girl."
"Not big enough," Leo replied, gently picking up Avery and walking out of the laundry room and into the hallway where his and Dako's rooms were. He laid Avery to sleep in his crib in his small room, and then followed Dako to her room.
"Heh, what's this?" Leo asked as his stepped on a piece of paper and picked it up off of the floor.
"Don't read that!" Dako quickly snatched it out of his hands and threw it into a drawer. Leo smiled and seated himself on her desk chair, which was too small for him and in turn made him appear even taller.
"Is it from a boy?" he inquired.
"That doesn't matter…"
"It's okay, Dako; I got those from girls all of the time when I was your age! I even wrote a few, myself…. So what's he like? French, American… What?"
"French," Dako replied as she pulled back the covers of her bed and slid in. She switched off the lamp by her bed, leaving on only the small lamp on her desk.
"What's he look like?" Leo continued. "Blond?"
"Yeah… Have you been looking through my things!"
"No, I just guessed," Leo answered with a shrug, leaning back and resting his elbows upon the desk behind him. "You always did have a thing for blonds…"
"…..What's that supposed to mean?"
"You were only mean to Max because you had a crush on him, admit it already!"
"You're worse than a little brother sometimes!" Dako sighed, laying back in her bed and placing her hands over her face in embarrassment.
Leo chuckled and rose awkwardly from the chair and kneeled down in front of her, "It's okay, I'll let you in on a secret…. I thought he was kinda cute, too."
"Shut up," said Dako with a laugh. "I'm way past that…. When did you start liking him, anyway?"
"If it has to be an exact moment I think it'd have to be this one time we were just sitting in the police cruiser together… I don't know, but a lot of things had been happening and everything just seemed to click."
"How'd you know, anyway?"
"You must really like this guy if you're asking me questions like this," Leo kissed her on the forehead and smiled. "Trust me, you'll know. I can't really explain it; it'll just click."
"Thanks, Papa," Dako reached forward and embraced Leo briefly and then turned over. Leo rose, switched off her light, and looked back at her once more before shutting her door and walking over to his own room and changing into a lightweight purple and gold kimono.
Leo frowned as he heard the phone ring, and walked over to the kitchen where it was located and found it to be a blocked number, "Allo?"
"Would it be all right if I came over?" Leo heard Thomas's unmistakable voice on the other end, although it had certain levels of desperation which Leo was unfamiliar with hearing.
"Are you all right?" Leo asked worriedly.
"I've had better nights," Thomas admitted. "Would it be all right if I came over to talk with you? I'm in the neighborhood, and you're the only one I have who I can confide in, Leo."
"Yeah, sure…" Leo muttered, "I'll be waiting for you…" He hung up the phone and stared at it a few moments, still puzzled. He then turned and went to putting on a kettle of tea.
Outside, a little while later:
"How in the hell did I even get in the middle of a domestic dispute?" Heiji muttered with a scowl upon his face as Max pulled up to his apartment complex.
Fuji, in the back seat, looked up at the apartment with the usual disdain she felt whenever she saw the run-down building. "It's probably nothing, Blondie…"
"There's a car in my parking space," Max said distantly.
"Well, someone's probably got a visitor over, big deal. Can we go now?" Heiji inquired with a yawn.
"No, I've got to make sure…" Max responded with a shake of the head. "I just have to check…"
Inside his apartment, meanwhile, Thomas was seated next to Leo on the couch, and took another sip of his tea.
"I can't believe it… Well, I hope your son gets better," said Leo quietly as he set down his tea cup and sat back on the couch. "I mean, a car wreck…Damn…"
"I'm most upset with the fact that that bitch of a woman won't let me see him," said Thomas angrily.
"It's okay, maybe I…. I'm pretty good at getting around security, maybe I'll figure out how you can see him…"
"You'd do that for me?" Thomas asked, looking over at Leo with a stunned expression.
"Of course!" Leo responded with a ne'er-do-well smile, "What are friends for? It'll be a piece of cake!"
"I wish there was some way I could repay you," said Thomas, clasping his hands together and sighing.
"That's all right, just giving me someone to talk to is enough," Leo replied.
Thomas looked back at Leo and placed a hand upon Lupin's leg, and then said to him quietly, "I think I can figure out a way…" he leaned in and brought his face to Leo's, and Lupin in turn placed a hand on the back of Thomas's neck and only pushed away as he realized what he was doing.
"I'm… I'm so sorry… I-I can't," Leo sputtered and placed a hand over his mouth, not believing that he actually hadn't done anything to fight back.
"And once again, I was out of line… I can't help it though… You're a brilliant young man who unfortunately lets himself be beaten up by anyone who knows that they can take advantage of him! It's sad to see how unhappy you are…"
"I'm not unhappy," said Leo with a clenched jaw.
"If you weren't you would've fought back sooner," said Thomas sternly. He rose and walked into the hall. "I'll be right back. I need to make use of your facilities, but I'll be out of here afterwards… Unless you change your mind… I'll let you think it over."
Thomas disappeared and Leo leaned forward and placed a hand over his eyes, and rubbed them tiredly. He then caught a glimpse in the mirror and frowned as he noted the bathroom door still open. He quietly rose and walked into the hall, and found Dako's door also open.
Thomas was standing over the young girl's bed, something indistinguishable to Leo until he came closer and then realized from its glint that it was a knife.
Thomas turned to Leo and smiled, "You know, I do enjoy men, but they aren't my favorite."
"What in the hell are you doing?" Leo asked, horrified. "Thomas, put down the knife and I'll give you whatever you want… Anything, I swear."
"Arsène Lupin, always the first to play bloody martyr any chance he gets," Thomas said with a smirk. "Don't get me wrong, I've heard stories about you, and would have loved nothing more than to give you a test run…"
"…This is why your wife divorced you, isn't it?"
"Well, I can see now why they keep you on payroll at Interpol."
"God damn you, you sick son of a bitch," Leo growled.
"You're so cute when you're angry… Perhaps I'll take you up on that offer…"
Leo nodded and smiled, and watched as Dako stirred in her sleep and then opened her eyes. "Papa? What's going on?" she asked tiredly.
"Nothing, Dako… I just left my glasses in here," Leo muttered.
"But you're wearing them," Dako yawned.
"Listen to your father, you sassy-mouthed little bitch," Thomas snapped, and briefly looked away at Leo to berate a stunned Dako. Leo took this time to do the only thing he could think to do, and he ran forward toward Thomas and grabbed him by the waist in an attempt to knock him down. Thomas, however, was much heavier than Leo, and Lupin fell back in stunned shock as he felt a burning pain suddenly burst into his side.
Leo fell onto Dako's bed and clutched his side and gritted his teeth while the little girl screamed, and he tried to get back up onto his feet as Thomas approached them, but found this in vain. He had no idea what Thomas had hit, but caused such pain he was capable of very little movement.
It was then Leo saw a streak appear in front of him and Thomas went crashing to the ground. Dako continued to scream while Max continued to strike Thomas with the chair leg he had broken off of one of the sturdy oak chairs in the dining room.
Thomas went to stab Max in the foot, but Zenigata got a blow in, right in the back of Thomas's head.
"You get the hell out of my apartment, and stay away from my family!" Max swung down once again with a force that even surprised Leo, and there was the sound of a loud snap. He had managed to split the oak in half with his batting.
Thomas quickly rose to the floor and wiped the blood away from his face and smiled at Max, "You're very lucky… He's a great kisser."
"Zenigata…" Leo muttered almost beneath his breath.
Max growled and dodged Thomas as the Brit went to strike Zenigata with his knife and Max flew back against Dako's dresser while Thomas fell into a stack of shelving. Max grabbed Thomas by the back of the shirt collar and he went flying out into the hall, slamming against the other wall.
"Dako, I want you to close your eyes and ears," Leo said quietly to the little girl.
"Why?" asked Dako, who was quaking in fear at this point.
"Just do it, sweetheart… Ugh…." Leo clutched onto his side and gulped hard. "I don't want you to have to see this…"
Dako nodded and closed her eyes shut and placed her hands over her ears, and Leo managed to stumble over to a floorboard in her room and opened it, and pulled out the Walther he kept stored in there.
Leo leaned against Dako's doorway after managing to limp to this position, and waited until he was sure he wouldn't hit Max to fire. Leo then slumped down onto the ground, and Max set aside the wooden chair leg and kneeled down beside Leo.
"Go check on Avery," Leo said in a cough.
Max nodded and ran to Avery's room, and brought out the baby, who had only woken up at the presence of light in the hallway, and handed him off to Dako.
Fuji and Heiji had run in at the sound of the gunshots and the two quickly pulled the two children out of the gory scene.
"I'll take them to Dad's for the night," Fuji held onto Avery tightly while she spoke to Max. Heiji was helping Dako pack an overnight bag, and lifted the little girl out of the room, making sure to keep her from seeing the blood-soaked Max, the dead Thomas or the injured Leo.
"Yeah, the cops'll be here soon," Max replied as he placed a hand on the back of Avery's head and brushed his hair with his fingers. "Thanks again, Lupin…"
"It's never a problem, Zenigata," Fuji kissed Max on the cheek and then exited the apartment.
Max then turned his attention to Leo, and the two briefly made eye contact before Leo looked down at the ground, lacking the exact words to say to Zenigata.
"I shouldn't have gone," Max said quietly.
"I never knew you were that strong," Leo admitted as Max helped to lift him up and lead him into the bathroom.
"Well, being in a streetgang'll teach you how to turn most things into weapons. You should see me with a toothbrush," replied Max with a shrug. "I totally busted one of our chairs, though; sorry."
"It's okay, we only use three of them, anyway," Leo answered as Max slowly helped him peel off the kimono. "By the time Avery's old enough to use one I'll have bought a new set by then."
"Leo, this is deep!" Max placed his hand on Leo's side, a few inches above the wound. He then ran into the linen closet and then remerged with a bed sheet, and began to tear strips to wrap around Leo tightly.
"Heh… I bought those in Egypt… They're authentic Egyptian cotton," Leo said in a groggy voice.
Max stopped briefly and shuddered, "Yikes, um… Sorry… I really haven't been scoring points with you lately, have I?"
"Well, I think I've been doing the same… I shouldn't have let him in here," said Leo.
"I… I can't believe you killed him… I hope your nightmares don't start again…"
"I only had them last time because I felt guilty over it. I have no remorse for shooting him… I'm against killing, but you screw with my kids and you'll pay in blood. I only feel guilt for trusting someone like that so easily."
"I can't blame you, you were lonely," Max reached up as kissed his partner briefly and then stepped out as the tea kettle and the doorbell went off simultaneously.
The coroners took Thomas, and the ambulance transported Max and Leo to the local hospital. Thomas had missed puncturing one of Leo's lungs by inches (the knife had become lodged in Leo's ribcage, preventing any further deepening of the wound) and Max had sustained a broken wrist and a cracked rib.
Leo was watching cartoons when Max entered, looking at the television screen placidly. Max was dressed in a hospital gown as well as a bathrobe and was only getting over the large dose of drugs he had been placed on. Leo was hooked up to an IV and also had been hooked up to oxygen.
"Hey, you're tiny, you'll fit on here," Leo patted the bed and moved over as he watched Max go to sit next to him on one of the hospital recliners.
Max nodded and lifted down the bar and climbed in next to Leo, being careful not to rest on the side of his fractured rib or lean against Leo's wound. Leo placed an arm over Zenigata's shoulders, and neither said anything for a while.
"I don't get why this isn't working for us," Leo said quietly.
"I do; it's me," Max sighed.
"Max, no, it's both of us… I acted like a moron, and you did, too, let's be realistic. I was lonely and mad at you for running off, and I didn't let you know that I was kind of, well, hurt by it. But you were just trying to play the provider part, is all."
"Please don't tell me you want to split up…." Max said, looking upward at Leo worriedly, "And I don't want to be 'just friends' with you again… I couldn't look at you and not love you by this point."
Leo gulped dryly and nodded, "We'll have to figure out something, then, because this was a disaster. And I don't want to leave you either, Max. But we won't get divorced, I promise you that much. I'm not leaving you."
"Heya there!" Fuji squealed, and both let out a collective groan, "Oh, wow, now this precious! And me without my camera!"
"What is it, Lupin?" Max asked through gritted teeth.
"I brought a pre-sent!" Fuji leaned on the railing of the bed and flashed a key in front of them.
"What's this?" Leo asked, taking hold of the key and studying it.
"I'm staying in a resort town," Fuji shrugged and smiled. "I figured you two needed some R & R, so I'm going to find something worth my time there while you two strike up some flames."
"Why do you do this for us, Fuji?" asked Max.
"Because I love both of you, even if I don't act like it," Fuji leaned in and kissed Leo upon the forehead and then Max. "Dako and Ave are staying with Grandma and Grandpa for a while—And before you say anything, they don't mind, Leo, and they love having their grandkids over, so don't you two go worrying about anything! I even got you the honeymoon suite!"
"You ever think she does this to make us not want to chase her as bad?" Max asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Every once in a while I question her motives," Leo admitted. He smacked down on his neck and muttered, "Fuji, could you close the window? Something just bit me."
"It is closed," Fuji answered, turning back to the locked window.
"Damn European hospitals…. This is why I like Indian hospitals, they're cleaner," Leo grumbled.
"Hey, Lupin, could you do us a favor?" asked Max as he glanced down at the tickets.
"Eh… Depends…"
"Could you maybe switch these to four tickets? I want a family trip."
"Do I look like your travel agent?" an annoyed Fuji asked. She sighed and threw her hands up in the air, "Fine, fine. I don't see why not…. You two are lucky I'm so nice you, you really are!"
A Texas restaurant, the following night:
"And they I chopped his head off," Odori took a sip of her sake and smiled at Jordan, hoping this tale had scared him away. Much to her annoyance, it hadn't. He only exchanged this with some equally gory story.
"How's your hand?" Jordan asked, resting his beer on the table and glancing at Odori's still bandaged hand.
"Oh," she blinked as she looked down at the bloodied wound and then looked back up at Jordan across the table of the small restaurant. "It's…. Better."
"Good, I was hoping you didn't cut anything vital," said Jordan with a distant nod.
"You're wishing I was someone else, aren't you?" Odori asked after a pause in between the two.
"What! No, I—"
"I'm used to it," Odori gave a shrug and sighed. "My daughter's father…. The situation was similar…"
"You've got a daughter?"
Odori nodded, "Yes, but she lives with her father and stepmother now. It's basically either let her live with them or have an entire clan on my tail."
"I would've taken the clan."
"You aren't a parent, you wouldn't understand," Odori muttered. "His wife trusted me, and I broke that trust. The least I could do was that… She was happy I was carrying; she can't have any of her own."
"I guess that's nice of you," said Jordan with a shrug; he was not exactly what sort of a stance to take on this. It seemed like anything he told her would upset her. Personally he would've kept the child come hell or high water, but this was just him. He felt a bite upon his arm, and immediately slapped down thinking it was a bug. He looked at the mark and frowned.
"Excuse me, I'll be right back," Jordan smiled politely and rose, pushing his seat in, and then made his way into the bathroom.
He then felt dizzy, and leaned against the wall of the bathroom to keep it from spinning. He slowly slunk down and soon found himself on the floor, and then it went black.
Mexico:
"Victor, I'm sure it was nothing!" Ryo sighed as she rummaged through the bathroom medicine cabinet and looked for a spray Victor swore he kept just for bites like the one he had just suffered from. Ryo had learned many things about Victor over the past few days, and among these was the fact that he was a hypochondriac. She was more amused by this than annoyed, and found it adorable, in an odd sense, that someone as tough as him would make a big deal out of the smallest things.
"There's a million things here to kill anyone; you don't know that," Victor replied as he glanced in the mirror at his neck and then glanced down at the black box on his dresser. It was bad enough that it had arrived late, and Victor had had to threaten the jeweler like he had, now he was convinced he was going to drop dead from his 'mortal' wound. He placed it in his pocket as Ryo entered and turned around and smiled at her.
"I couldn't find anything," Ryo said with a sigh as she placed her thumb behind his chin and then tilted his head to get a better look at the injury. "It's okay, it's just a small bite… You'll be fine, I promise."
"If something happens I'm blaming you," said Victor with a chuckle.
"You go ahead and do that," Ryo placed her arms around his neck and leaned inward to him. Right before she was about to kiss him, however, Victor placed a hand in between them and in that hand held the box he had hidden away moments before.
"I know you love bracelets, but I was wondering if you might like this for a change," Victor said with a confident smile that was only a mask to hide how nervous he actually was.
"Victor, I… Victor!" Ryo gasped as he paled and then fainted onto the floor. Several of the windows were then broken out by a crashing force and Ryo soon found herself knocked out cold as well.
The next morning, a Paris airport:
"So, any idea what you want to see, Dako?" Leo asked, briefly looking up from one of Max's cheap novels. Zenigata had forbade any study books whatsoever on their trip.
Dako was holding on to Avery on her lap, and she gave a shrug as she bounced him upon her knee, the little boy laughing in response. He now seemed to at least comprehend some basic signs; the entire family was learning the language, and Leo was shocked to see Max excel in it. He didn't say anything out loud to Zenigata, but he wondered exactly how much Max hid in the way of intelligence.
"Back," Max slid back into his seat and placed an arm behind Leo's chair, "Are you sure you'll be okay to travel like this, Leo?"
"Max, I'll be fine," Leo replied with a laugh as he closed the novel and leaned back into Max's side, the good side with the unbroken things. Zenigata still wore a cast upon his wrist, and his chest had been bound tightly.
"You know I worry," Max reached across Leo and signed something simple to Avery, and the little boy's mouth opened and he giggled in response.
"He likes it when you do that, what sign is that?" asked Leo, pushing up his glasses.
"Orange duck," Max signed out as he spoke the words to Leo. He chuckled as Leo groaned, and kissed him on the cheek. "Like father, like son."
"Hrm?" Leo looked down at his cell phone and blinked at the number.
"It's your sister," said Max as he glanced over the number.
"How did you even…?"
"Just answer it, Leo," Max said quietly. "We owe her that much."
"Allo?" Leo sighed and leaned his chin upon his free hand. "What? Fuji? He's gone?... What, him, too? Yeah, that is weird… Well, she got out okay, right? Good…" Leo stopped as he heard their flight called and sighed. "Listen, I've gotta go, that's our flight. Keep me posted, and if you need my help, let me know." He hung up the phone and turned to Max, "We've got two relatives missing right now. No one knows what happened to either of them… And for some reason which I'll ask her later about Ryo was in Mexico with Victor. But now he's gone, and luckily Ryo was able to get out of Mexico okay."
"Who's the other relative?" Max inquired.
"A half-brother of Fuji's and myself," Leo replied. "He stood Dori up a few nights ago, so he's in deep trouble with her…. Americans, heh."
"You've got siblings?" Max asked with a blink.
"Yeah, a ton, probably," Leo responded as he put away his cell phone and leaned back. "Not like I'll ever meet them, though."
"I would've killed for a sibling around my age," said Max with a small smile.
"Why didn't your parents have one, then?"
"I screwed up my mom's hips when I was born, plus I was so much of a hellraiser, I was enough for Mom and Dad. And remember they were a lot older when they had me…"
"Well, at least you know Ave won't be lonely," Leo smiled and took hold of one of his son's hands and smiled.
"Yeah, who knows, maybe I'll get you pregnant yet," said Max with a small smirk and a wink. Leo rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"…Don't even joke about that. I'm a Lupin, strange things like that happen to me all of the time."
"Could we get going?" Dako was already at the security checkpoint, and her fathers and brother soon joined her, and they were on the plane.
"Hey, guys, I'll be right back," said Leo in a quiet mutter.
"Is something wrong?" asked Max as he looked over to Leo, who had paled reasonably.
"No… Nothing… I'll be fine…" Leo rose and shuffled back to the bathroom, opening the door and then closing it behind him. He placed a hand upon his head and rubbed his eyes and then looked in the mirror, and was muffled before he could scream in surprise at the black-cloaked figure behind him. He soon fainted, and then the cloaked figure set aside the entire top of the sink and let another cloaked figure lower him down and place him in a crate. He was then lifted onto a luggage terminal by two coconspirators in airline uniform, and driven across the runway.
Some time later:
"My friggin' head…" Leo moaned. "Dako? Max….? Avery…?"
"No one here by that name, Mate," Leo opened his eyes and saw a man looking back down at him against what looked to be a gray sky. Around his neck was a metal collar with a tag that read '5' on a bronze tag.
Leo sat up on the sandy beach and blinked a few times, reaching to adjust his reading glasses only to find them gone. The man in front of him smiled and kneeled down beside Leo, "They took you from your family?"
"I was on a plane! How'd they get me off of a plane? Unless…. Who even did this?" Leo wondered aloud.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Leo looked over his shoulder and saw Jordan standing with his hands in his pockets, and a collar about his neck with a tag that read '4' on it. "This guy and I were looking all through this place for a way out."
"We been all through here and no luck so far," the man answered in what Leo recognized as an Irish accent, "M'name's Gabe, by the way. You must be Lupin the Fourth."
"Huh? Oh, yeah… Well, sorta… How'd you know?"
"I'm a journalist, friend. It's my business to know these things," Gabe answered with a chuckle and a smile. "I guess I'm sorta the type you usually avoid. I actually covered your trial all of those months back. Slept outside of the courthouse for three whole days!"
"Is there anyone else here?" Leo clutched onto his now aching skull and tried to fight off an approaching headache.
"Yeah, over a dozen of us until this morning. You're number fifteen, it seems," said Gabe as he briefly took hold of Leo's tag to read it. "These collars don't come off, by the by."
"We've tried everything," Jordan added with a sigh.
"Well, does anyone have any idea what they mean?" Leo asked as he looked down at his own number.
"Not a bloody clue," answered Gabe. "We're thinking it has something to do with age… Well, we were, until that one bloke and then that kid showed up."
"Huh?" Leo was truly puzzled by this, and looked back to Jordan for further answers.
"Victor and some kid named Jared," Jordan answered with a shrug. "They've got different collars than us… Victor's 'R1' and Jared's 'A1'… We still haven't figured out what the hell those are supposed to mean, and we've got a Navy code cracker here!"
"Jared?" Leo blinked a few times as he registered this name, "There's no way…."
"No way what, Leo?" asked Jordan as he approached Lupin and helped him to stand.
"It's nothing," Leo answered with a shake of the head. "Does anyone even know where we are?"
"All we found was a sign that said 'Wolf Island'. I've never even heard of the place, and I was under the impression I'd been almost everywhere," Gabe answered as he walked shoulder-to-shoulder in between Leo and Jordan, although he was the smallest among them.
"Wolf Island? I've never even heard of it," Leo admitted.
"No one has, making me believe this is some kind of a private island," Jordan placed his hands in his pocket and kicked up a little sand. He took a few more steps forward and tripped over what the others first thought to be driftwood, but upon further inspection they found to be Fuji with a collar also around her neck that read '16'.
"Fuji?" Leo bent down and shook his sister gently.
"Yeah, I'm fine, too," Jordan muttered and stood up, dusted himself clean of sand and then poked Fuji in the side with his boot gently. "Wakey, wakey!"
"Hm… I've got it," Leo smiled and laughed, and changed the pitch of his voice to a serious and doctorly tone. "Miss Lupin, we're pleased to inform you that it's twins."
"GYA!" Fuji jerked up from the sand and looked about dazed while still panting heavily. She glared at Leo and slapped him a few times, hard. "You jerk! How dare you even joke about that with me! Where are we, anyway?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out, Fuji," Leo answered as he guarded himself from Fuji's blows. "Ow! Would you stop!"
"I take it she's your sister," said Gabe with a warm smile. "Pleasure to meet you, Lupin."
"Thanks," Fuji discontinued her pummeling of Leo and shook Gabe's hand, and smiled at her brother as Gabe kissed it. "See, some of us are gentlemen, Ari."
"You were always the better at that than me, Fuji," Leo said with a chuckle. He looked over to Gabe and shoved his hands in his pocket. "Let's get together with the others. We might be able to work something out, like how to get out of here. You said there was a guy in the Navy here? Maybe he's got some idea of where exactly we are. I'll explain all of to this to Fuji while you show me where everyone is."
Gabe nodded, and led the three to a large bunker, where there were over a dozen people inside on cots, all of various ethnicities and professions. There were people from Japan, China, Spain, South America, and even one from a country in the Middle East called Qatar. They were professors, assassins, doctors, musicians, and one, from Germany, was a priest. Leo attempted to speak with them in their native tongues, but was pleasantly surprised to find them all well versed in English.
"We found another while you were out," the priest said as he seated himself next to a young man on a cot who wore a '17' upon his collar. The priest himself, in addition to his white collar, wore a '10'. "We think he's American, or Canadian… We haven't decided yet."
Fuji and Jordan looked over the young man while Leo walked right past them and straight to Victor, who was sitting on his cot and converging with a Romanian missionary. "I have a few questions for you," said Leo quietly to Victor.
"Hrm?" Victor looked upward at Leo and took another puff of his cigarette and gave a smile. "So nice of you to join us…"
"When we get off of this island, I want you to stay as far away from Ryo as you can. She doesn't need creeps like you around her."
"You know, if there wasn't a kid present, I'd knock your lights out where you stand. How you even have the nerve to preach to me like I'm some kind of teenager is beyond me. You're not Ryo's father, and you're not her boyfriend anymore, so you stay out of something that's between the both of us…. Should we even be arguing about this right now?"
"Yes," said Leo in a hiss.
"Hey, just because you kill a guy doesn't mean you can go pushing around anyone," said Victor, his smug expression unfailing.
"I don't want you to touch her," Leo said warningly.
"Go sit in a corner and think about going down on your boyfriend, like I'm sure you do an awful lot nowadays," Victor leaned forward and set his feet upon the floor. Fuji and Jordan both rose and prepared for the fight they knew was about to come, Fuji reaching for one of her weapons but finding it gone. Upon further inspection, she found that all of her weapons had been taken.
"I always did love a good boxing match," Gabe muttered with heavy sarcasm as he seated himself on the top bunk, in order to protect himself from the fight he knew was about to come.
"Don't you dare talk about Max like that," Leo snapped.
"You know," Victor kicked up his heels and rose from his bed and removed a cigarette from a pack in his jean pocket. "You're a day late and a dime short on threatening me about Ryo," Victor leaned forward and whispered to Leo. "I proposed to her, you fairy. Now what are you going to do, bitch slap me? It'd sure as hell be appropriate coming from you…. Tell me, does Max ever let you on top?"
Leo, at that point, blanked out, only to come back to as Jordan pulled him away from Victor while the priest took hold of Victor and drug him across the opposite side of the room.
"Knock it off!" Jordan snapped to both of them, and then looked about the bunker. "Where's the code cracker?"
"Right here," a black woman with a '12' about her neck held up her hand and then walked over to them. She was still in her Navy uniform, and spoke with an Australian accent. She approached Jordan, stopping and standing beside him. "I'm afraid I can't break up these two."
"You don't need to," Jordan answered with a shake of the head, and turned to her. "This is Leo Lupin, he's a translator. Hopefully he'll be able to make some sense of what you found."
"Come here, Mr. Lupin," she beckoned him over and seated herself at a small table with folding chairs in the back of the bunker. Gabe and Jordan let go of their grasp upon Leo, and Lupin nodded and seated himself next to her. "We found this map while we were searching this place for an escape. I'm hoping you're familiar with this language, because we have all six livable continents represented here, and no one can make heads or tails of it."
"I'll try… But I lost my reading glasses," said Leo with a cringe as he remembered that he had lost these long ago.
"I'm just wondering what the hell these are for," Fuji muttered as she ran a finger over the metal ring about her neck.
"We was thinking tracking devices," Gabe answered as he allowed the priest to deal with Victor and he himself walked over to the bunk where a young boy sat in a corner, looking over everyone silently.
"Here, use mine," the code cracker removes a pair of black plastic glasses from a pocket in her blazer and passed them to Leo. "Maybe, on an off chance, they'll work. Mister Gabriel also lost his, and he was able to use them."
"You don't say…." Leo muttered numbly and took the glasses, blinking a few times and then frowning with heightened interest as he found that they indeed helped. He looked downward at the map, and after scanning it over gave a heavy sigh.
"Let me guess, it's a super hard language and it'll take you all night to figure it out?" Fuji said with a smile of hope as she walked over to Leo and placed her hands on his shoulders.
"No, it's not that…." Leo said with a shake of the head. "I don't even know what it is!"
"What?" Fuji shrieked, causing several people in the room to shudder at its shrillness. "What the hell do you mean by THAT?"
"Exactly what I said, I can't translate what I don't know, Fuji!" Leo sat back and gave a frustrated sigh. He removed his glasses and turned to the Australian, "Sorry, um—"
"Alsenia," she answered after a pause.
"….Nice name," Leo muttered.
"Mum said I was named after my father."
"And who was he?" Leo inquired.
Alsenia gave a shrug, "Damned if I know. That's one of the few things we have in common. None of us know our father, or, in some causes, either of our parents. We're also all clinical geniuses with poor vision."
"Great, a bunch of educated bastards," Victor chuckled.
"Yeah, you're a bastard too, but in a different sense!" shouted Fuji. "Although I have serious doubts that your mom planned for you, either."
"You aren't allowed to speak of my mother!" Victor hissed and he stood. The priest went to grab onto him once again, but Victor turned and spat to him viciously, "Don't you have a little boy to go find?" and then Lupin turned about and found a corner of the room to reside in.
"Well, maybe it's code," Leo rubbed his head tiredly and rocked it back and forth slowly. "Like, I don't know… Alsenia, do you think you could go through some of the codes you know and see if it's a variation on any of them?"
"Certainly," Alsenia gave a nod and turned her attention back to the map.
Leo then looked to the priest, "What's your name?"
"Father Peter Walker," Peter replied.
"Well, Peter, do you think you could stay and watch over the new guy here?" Leo rose and pointed down the young man on the cot. Peter gave a nod and turned away from Victor toward the still unconscious young man.
"What would you have me do?" Gabe asked from his position on the cot with the sullen young boy.
"Exactly what you're doing now," Leo replied and then looked to Victor. "And I want you to stay here with Peter, Gabe, the kid and the sick guy. You're a jerk, but you're an effective fighter. If anyone tries to start anything, you'd be the one to take them out, Victor…. You need to work with me if you want to see Ryo again."
"Hrm," Victor narrowed his eyes at Leo. "I still don't like listening to you."
"I'm a good protector, too, Ari, and I'm more trustworthy," Jordan said suddenly. "Let me watch over all of them. We don't know if he's working with whoever did this."
"And why in the hell would I get a bunch of people I don't know all together in the middle of nowhere?" Victor asked as he tilted his head to a side.
"I need you to spilt up into two groups with Fuji, Jordan," Leo continued, ignoring Victor's comment and Jordan's glare which followed. "You guys look around the island."
"And what about you, Mr. Lupin?" Alsenia asked as she looked up from her map.
"Well, there's got to be a main power source somewhere," Leo answered with a shrug as he removed his purple jacket and orange tie, leaving him in his black dress shirt and jeans. He continued as he rolled up the sleeves to his shirt. "And I'm going to find it."
"Noooo way," Fuji shook her head. "Send me or Jordan. We've got a lot less to lose!"
"She's right," Jordan admitted hesitantly. "One of us should go instead. You've got a family to think about."
Leo turned to Jordan and sighed, "I'm not a kid, I don't need protecting. I can do this," he stepped out of the bunker without another word to either of them and went in search of a power resource. What he failed to tell them was that his wound was still healing, and without the medicine the doctor had given him, he was in a great deal of pain. Every step for him felt like a replay of the night he had been stepped, but he ignored this as best as possible. He had to find some way to get back to his family, that was all that mattered now.