I do not own Beyblade but do own the characters I have created and the story.

"Kai!" they screamed almost simultaneously.

Time moved sluggishly, as it were stopping to watch the slate haired teen whimper as he fought a losing war. He shifted in his sleep every now and then. The occasional moan leaving his lips as he desperately grasped at the rope called life.

"Hey doc," Bryan broke the unsettling silence, "what's wrong with him? What did those bastards do to him?"

They had all been watching the doctor and their ex-teammate in silence and from what they could tell, the doctor seemed to be at the end of his line. He was desperately trying to work with the machines and mix up medicine that he then applied on Kai.

"What is it that you are putting on him?"

"Why won't he wake up?"

"Does he have a fever?"

They had tried to prod the doctor in hopes to get an answer to their bubbling questions. But all they got in return was silence. He would just occasionally look in their direction and then get back to tending to his patient. I want him up and moving by tomorrow was what Boris had commanded him to do before he has left the cell. I don't care how it's done was a given that he chose not to say.

"hey doc, if you don't answer my next question, I'm gonna so-"

"Ian!" Tala put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to restrain his anger, "That's enough"

"You will what? What will you do?" the doctor was up on his feet, and was looking straight at the four of them, from the opposite cell. "will you kill me? Punch me till I can barely move? Go ahead, feel free! That seems like a better option for me right now any way." His posture was slouched and his head hung low. "You want me to answer your questions? Tell me, what use is it going to be? Will he magically wake up?"

He sat back down next to his patient, checking if his fever had broken. He replaced the strip of wet cloth on the teens forehead with a clean one, "His injuries are serious," he said his voice completely crestfallen, "he needs to be at a hospital, there is only so much that I can do. The boy needs treatment."

"Doctor - " Tala paused, trying to recollect "Seiji was it?" at least that's what Boris had called him, "I know that Kai is not going to magically wake up and start tap dancing to entertain us, but your answers will give us some form of closure, isn't it your job as a doctor to give the patients loved ones closure?"

Tala approached the bars of his cell, cautious, "so I beg you to give us that much" there was a note of 'please' in his voice. His worry was evident, he had seen Kai hurt before but this was stepping the line. Boris was stepping past the line. And if Boris was stepping past the line, it meant Voltaire was desperate. But for what?

"What was the surgery for Doc?"

Silence.

"come on, do I have to give you another emotional speech? Get it together…"

Seiji shifted nervously where he was seated and looked at the patch of gauze that wrapped around the boy's chest above his heart. His breathing had grown consistent over the past few hours and his chest rose and fell at regular intervals. He screwed his eyes shut, "I don't know what it was," there was a slight tremble in his voice "I've never seen anything like it before, it was like a—a black marble that was stuck to the boys heart" he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and looked up to face the group in the other cell, "but they wanted it, Boris wante…" he paused, when his parched throat gave out on him, "I tried to tell him, that the boy was in no condition, but he would not have it. He made me perform the surgery" Seiji was utterly defeated.

"Hey doc, don't beat yourself up, it's not your fault," Spencer spoke when the soft sobs of the older man filled the dank cells, "Kai will get out of this, he will pull through, he always does," and he truly believed what he said, a small smile played on his lips "you know, once all of this crap is over, you will wish that the arrogant shithead had not woken up at all," he added tying to cheer the man up, "he is more trouble than anyone can handle."

xxxxxxxxxx

Kenny and Mori sat at the little table in the room their fingers clicking away at the laptop keys. The files had some serious encryption on them. They had some minor breakthroughs but those were not enough to crack the files open.

"ugh, this is not getting anywhere, we might as well be running about in the dark with our heads chopped off"

"patience detective" Dizzy told the man in her ever chirpy tone, "patience is the key to su-"

She suddenly conked off and a small spark erupted from her, Kenny instinctively recoiled but immediately tried to power her back on "Dizzy! Hey!" he was frantically trying to revive his now turned off bitbeast, everyone in the room looked at the machine in disbelief, this was a first, Dizzy had never crashed before, ever…

"Dizz-" and just as it had conked off, the laptop came back on. "Dizzy! Can you hear me?"

"yes" the bitbeast said from inside the machine, "Whew that was way too close"

"What happened?" Mori inquired.

"well we can get to that later, I think you'd better see this first"

They all huddled around the machine, image after image and document after document were opening up on the screen, "Kenny, this is a bit much, I can't hold it all,"

Kenny looked at Mori "do you have an external drive?"

"Ah.. yes" he rummaged in his backpack for a moment, "here"

"I'm going to have to format it" Mori waved at him, telling him to go ahead, his eyes glued to Dizzy's screen. There were some experiment titles on there that he did not even recognize or thought existed.

Nakano was already on the phone.

xxxxxxxxxx

"What's that? You broke through," Samuel could not believe what he was hearing,

"Yes sir," he said from the other side of the line "we are going through some of the files right now, and- and- well I don't know how to even put it in words,"

"Get it to me, now. I'll be a while before the assholes actually have the time to see me, but they will not be able to deny my request after they see that, whatever it is." He paused, "Nakano, bring me a copy of the files, not the original, and get your laptop, I want to look through the data myself."

He cut the line, and looked up at the tall building in front of him, Idiots, who the hell even gave them the chairs they are warming, he cursed and walked towards the entrance.

xxxxxxxxxx

Kai woke up, the beep of the machines was now just getting plain irritating. He looked around, his senses were still sluggish, but he bloody well recognized where he was, he had been here before, multiple times. He made to move but his body was still weak. Damn it all…

"Hey, don't make any sudden movements" he turned his head to look at who was attached to the voice, yes, he distantly remembered seeing this person before. The man reached out and pulled the oxygen mask off his head, supporting the back of his neck with his free hand. Then he scurried away and came back into his field of vision, "here," he brought a small cup to Kai's lips.

The water was cool and Kai felt the burning in his throat ease as it ran down inside him. It was a little too comforting for him and he coughed, in a way trying to adapt to the new feeling.

"what was- th-e surgey ab-o-t?" he got straight to the point, his senses were sluggish bit his brain was shooting ahead like a bullet train trying to catch up on lost time.

"Kai?" it was a new voice, but he had heard it before, "Kai? Hey buddy you awake?"

Kai tried to crane his neck to get a glimpse of the familiar face. But the action cost him, and his chest ached. He screwed his eyes shut and bit his lip to muffle his voice, but failed.

"Wait," the doctor helped him in a sitting position, gently sliding his hand under the boy's arm and behind his back. Kai held on to the man for support, one arm still draped around his neck. His lips forming a thin line as he tried to deal with the jolts of pain. After his body had calmed, he turned to look and his searching eyes fell on a bunch of faces with worry plastered on them. His eyes widened in shock.

Moments passed.

"What have you dragged us into this time Kai" Tala spoke in almost a monotone, "this cell is really not to my liking at all you know."

A small smile crept up his lips, Tala really had a weird way of breaking the 'ice' "it's surely better than that shithole you call a home" he retorted. He wanted to deny it, he really did, but the fact that his ex-teammates were there comforted him. He knew that that thought was messed up, on multiple levels. But meagerly seeing their faces gave him hope.

"the doc here says, they got a shiny black ball out of your chest, know anything about that?"

Kai looked in disbelief, first at the doctor then at Tala.

"Yea, I take it you don't then." Kai watched his friend as he leaned on the cell wall. "He is up to something you know, and considering that it's that majorly fucked up grandfather of yours, it can't be anything good."

"I know," Kai sighed, "and that ass and his gofer can't get to the point right away, can they? so they got me caught up in one of their ridiculous games again."

"Anyone hurt?"

"Yea" his mind brought up the memories that were not too far back in his past, "Max, but I got to him before he did."

"Atta boyyy…!" it was Bryan who spoke this time, "but if you ask me, you should have let that twerp bite the dust, majorly irritating that one. All good and squeaky all the time. Whatever happened to making the world a better place and all?"

Tala wacked him on the back of his head "Ow" and silenced him.

"Keep spouting shit like that and I'll let Kai lose on you"

"Aww, I never knew you had a thing for the blond twerp, I'll shut up, no need to get all tingly, you mush ball." Tala ignored his idiotic comment.

"Any of you guys hurt?" Kai's voice bordered on normal again, the boys always managed to help him find joy no matter what the situation was. But he had to ask the question, even when he knew what the answer was "Well?"

"what do you think? Boris is an ass you know. Got us good, he did."

"I'm sorry. I never thought he would get to you too, he sent me some pictures of you, kind of as a souvenir,"

"and you still felt the need to ask? Hey doc, you got any brain sharpening medicine there?"

A small chuckle left Kai and the others laughed in the opposite cell. He could even feel the doctor laugh quietly next to him, and then the cells fell quite once again.

Kai was looking straight at the man next to him, someone shuffled in the other cell, "um thanks for patching me up," he said in a small voice.

"No kid, I don't deserve your thanks. Some doctor I am, I can't believe I put you through that."

"But I'd be dead if you hadn't, so, really thanks."

This time the doctor accepted the gratitude with a small nod of his head, "well let's get you back down," and he moved out from under the boys arm to help him back down, another ordeal in itself. For the first time in too many days Kai drifted into a peaceful sleep, even when he knew that what was to follow was going to be far from joyful. He felt a sense of peace, just from the fact that he was not alone, that he had his old friends around him.

So then, R & R guys.. :)