Pairings: BernardoXGian, IvanXGian, LuchinoXGian, GiulioXGian, AobaXClear, AobaXVirusXTrip, AobaXRen, AobaXKoujaku, AobaXNoiz, AobaXBakshi, VirusXTripXGian, AobaXGian
Warning: Contains minor hints of rape, violence, extreme swearing and heavy scenes of smut.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dramatical Murder or Lucky Dog 1. All rights go to the respectful owners
Chapter 15 - Organized Crime
A sound of loud bickering rang out through out the halls causing the men on standby to be alert 24/7. The men in question, Mink and Koujaku, had been at each others' throats for an hour now and Bernardo had to ask his men to intervene at one point. Although Mink had been taking in everything the man was throwing at him verbally, Koujaku had gotten ahead of himself and decided to throw the first punch.
When Noiz had come back in from being inside, he got to witness the two of them rolling around on the floor like a pair of dogs growling at each other. He took this opportunity to see how Aoba was doing, leaving the chaos behind him. But when he opened the door to the room, Aoba was still asleep and hovering over his bedside was Clear.
"Heh...I was only gone for ten minutes." Noiz stated as he casually walked into the room and went over to the table where his suit case still sat on the cloth-covered surface. The other man ignored him and kept staring down at Aoba.
Noiz fiddled with the locks of it and unhooked its clasped locks that had been keeping it shut all this time. The contents of the case only held a small laptop as well as a few extra coils he had brought along as well as a few cubes that he took as extra insurance. Clear looked back at him from the corner of his eye and watched the man as he prepped himself with some of the items.
Clear looked down at Aoba again with a sad expression. "He's weaker..." Noiz looked up from playing around with the coil on his wrist and returned Clear's accusing look with a serious one. "Aoba's in better hands than when he was a few years ago. Here he can eat. What's the problem?" Clear couldn't help but keep his hands into closed fists.
He was strangely annoyed and angry that the man had done something to Aoba when he knew that Aoba was still not strong enough for most things. He did not know what all went on but he knew it had to do with Noiz. "Please refrain from touching him further. I'll never forgive anyone who hurts Aoba-san." Clear explained and walked out the door this time instead of going out the window like he usually did.
Noiz smirked and snapped a few of his cubes to his brown belt that hugged his waist. He had been the only one besides Mink to come prepared with most of the items from Midorijima and had thought beforehand to bring some extra coils. He was astonished to know that not even Koujaku had thought of something so simple that was a necessity. Thinking of the others, he remembered the small fight in the lobby and wondered if it had been settled yet.
The last thing he wanted after talking with Clear, was a childhood friend who was overprotective. Although he did not get an answer from Aoba to the question of marriage, he was sure that the man had accepted him. And if he hadn't yet, there was still time to ask again.
Moments passed and before any more men from the building could get involved with the brawl, the fighting came to a halt. Noiz was busy preparing his computers and was hastily setting up his network to the coil on his wrist that was also his watch. He had been too absorbed with what he was doing that he did not hear a pair of footsteps coming up from behind him.
Aoba had awoken despite being asleep just a few minutes ago. He was dressed in the same attire that Noiz saw him in prior to their 'moment'. Although his hair was a tad frizzy at the top, Noiz could see the man was looking a bit livelier than he had before their intimacy. Noiz was sitting cross-legged on the carpeted floor of the hallway and had set up his technology as though he were charging something in one of the plug outlets.
He had connected his coil to his laptop while the computer itself was connected to the outlet along with a USB stick plugged into the side of it in one of its 4 ports. When Aoba first looked at him he felt like he had been staring at the old Noiz who resembled a no-good teen with computer skills. It was nostalgic. Aoba looked around at first obviously noticing the quiet within the lobby and hallway.
Noiz guessed that the men from the organization had probably pulled the two men away from each other by now and had them separated and put to work to occupy their minds. He could only imagine Koujaku's punishment. "If you're wondering where our comrades are, they might have gotten in trouble with the hotel owners." He explained.
Aoba looked down at Noiz questionably as though to say, 'what do you mean?'. Noiz let out a small sigh and looked up at Aoba, meeting the man's gaze. "Your warden and friend got into a fight so now they're probably paying the penalty." Aoba could only assume that Noiz meant warden as in Mink and his friend being Koujaku.
He furrowed his brows and sat down next to Noiz, careful not to hit up against his arm that could cause him to lose any data. "This really isn't the time to be fighting...I thought at least Mink wouldn't go along with something like fighting among ourselves." Noiz gave a low grunt beside him as he typed away at his nearly-invisible keyboard to his coil while momentarily watching out for something on his other computer.
"You sure you're okay with walking around so quickly?" The question threw Aoba off track from his current thoughts and caused him to get flustered. He had gotten a good nap in after all that and was feeling the pain from before but not as badly so he was able to focus.
Aoba leaned back against the wall so that his back was supported. He blushed while confessing his true thoughts. "I'm...still in pain but it feels different..." Even then Noiz said nothing in return and continued like he had done in the past as though he was ignoring the world.
But that was only what outsiders had perceived he had been doing. Aoba knew it was only because he used to see the world as a noisy and distorted, still picture that never moved except for bits of images. The world inside Noiz's mind showed him that when he used scrap against him during their mission of stopping Toue.
Even though it had been 3 years since then, Noiz's old habits had not grown out of him. But he was getting better at acting like a whole new person as Aoba did not feel anything bad or something to be wary about from him.
"Noiz...that tracking device you said they planted on me. You know how to get it out?" He was afraid of asking because he had not known how the two men put it in in the first place. So whether the man knew how to take it out or not was what frightened him. Suppose he would have to wait to get to a special hospital for them to take it out, then what?
He put his arms around his legs to hug them close to his chest. It was at times like this he usually had Ren inside a duffle bag and would normally take the dog out and do his regular forehead ritual. It became a habit since he grew so fond of him. 'Ren...' Aoba thought and buried his face into his knees.
"It's a simple procedure but I'm guessing it took them a good few days to figure out how it would not affect your skin somehow. Why they took great care in not allowing it to come in contact with your skin is still above me though so I can't say for sure." Noiz's answer was brief but gave Aoba a bit of hope. He had enough pain as it was and to add to the list of it was not what he had in mind.
Aoba looked up from his knees and at the windows that kept flashing on and off from both the coil's computer and the laptop that was seated in between them. "Don't suppose you have an extra one?" Aoba asked. He wanted a coil so that he could call his grandmother and tell her he was fine and that he was safe.
The man stopped typing and reached for something that had been sitting next to him. It was an old coil model and probably the last kind that was around since Aoba had last seen them. It looked just like the ones that he used when working at Heibon. Noiz grabbed one of the coils and handed it to Aoba. "I'll connect it to mine since that one hasn't been used since you disappeared. The newer models came out two weeks after you were gone."
Aoba linked the coil around his wrist and forearm. Noiz helped him set it up so that their coils were linked together. Noiz updated the coil so that it was functional and quickly programmed it so that it would have Aoba's grandmother as a contact. How did he know what her name was? But Aoba had forgotten that the man had been hacking as a job. 'But would someone normally go through all this trouble...?' Aoba thought as Noiz did a quick test with the text messages and sent Aoba a small message.
The mail came through and Aoba was able to see all the messages that Noiz had gotten on the coil. "These are..." Most of the messages were from his grandma, all of them with the same words. 'Please find him!' Aoba's chest tightened a bit. He did not think his grandmother was so desperate to rely on someone like Noiz back then.
But then there was the part of being told that his grandmother eventually gave up the search. He knew deep down that she wouldn't really give up but probably felt the odds against her if he hadn't come back for 3 straight years. By then, someone would get the impression that the person was dead and buried.
Aoba grimaced at the thought of his grandma thinking he was dead and decided to try calling her coil. But before he was able to press the button to call, Noiz grabbed his hand. "Hey!" Aoba glared at him but his expression softened when he saw that Noiz did not have his usual annoyed look. At a time like this when they had an issue, they would normally glare at each other and exchange odd sentences and insults.
But Noiz looked more serious than he had ever seen him get. He started to worry. "It's fine, right?" That wasn't exactly the question that he was asking him but rather, 'Is something wrong with granny?'. Noiz let go of Aoba's hand and returned to typing.
"She stopped working a year ago. But that's not why I stopped you." Noiz then pointed to Aoba's body. "That tracer is still inside of you. As long as it's in you, those guys can at any time, take her hostage using their connections. Frankly speaking, we don't know yet what it can do."
Aoba slowly nodded in agreement. As harsh as it sounded, it made the most logical sense and it would fit their plans if they knew he had made contact with his grandmother. Not to mention they pulled such a move in the past when Mizuki had joined them. "Then why did you give it to me?" He knew it was not any fault of Noiz but he couldn't help feeling angry and spiteful from the situation at hand.
Virus and Trip had certainly planned well when it came to him and to ruin anyone who got in their way. "For when I get that thing out of you. Until then, you'll just have to cope with it for now." Noiz's face seemed to soften a little as he said this and he paused with his typing.
Aoba felt guilty from his sudden attitude change and bit his tongue from saying anything more. From then on, an awkward silence pursued and he watched Noiz play around with the laptop on the floor. He had to admit that the man's fingers had not lost their rhythm and seemed to be as fast as ever when they started to type on the keyboards. Soon enough he was caught red-handed by Noiz who noticed the man's gaze on him.
"What." Aoba looked away quickly. He felt nostalgic but also annoyed with the way he said it. When they first met back in his room on the island, it had been just like this. Him finding Noiz sitting on the floor in front of a few transparent computer screens and typing away as though his life depended on it.
When Aoba didn't say anything, Noiz returned to working. The sound of a door slamming nearby caught them both off guard. Aoba was affected by this the most because his thoughts had been slowly drifting to dreamland when it happened. He was still slightly tired and the sudden sound startled him.
It was Gian Carlo. The man seemed to be extremely overworked from just working on telephones for a bit of the morning. His natural blonde hair was beginning to stick up at odd ends while his eyes looked as though they had been glued shut for a long time and were finally able to open. Coming out beside him, Bernardo, stopped and locked the door behind them. Because Aoba had been there a few days he recognized the men and their odd schedule of work.
This was not a normal work day as Bernardo was usually in the office for most of the day up until late at night or even early in the morning. He then remembered the promise that Gian had asked of Bernardo and wondered if that was what they were going to do now. "See~. I told you Giulio wouldn't get it right..." Gian said and quickly hopped toward the lobby sofa, plopping himself down like a big a child.
"No, he got it right just not the right people." Bernardo sat himself down next to the man. Aoba looked up at Noiz who seemed to not be interested in their conversation and was now busy sending out a message of some sort from his personal coil on his watch.
Aoba, with the help of the wall he was sitting against, got up slowly and cautiously. He could the gravitational pull against his body. His legs felt like giving out right there and then but he urged himself to keep standing and tried to use the wall as a support with his arms,
Noiz seemed to notice the odd struggle and got up from the spot he was sitting. He placed one arm underneath Aoba's armpit and wrapped it around so that his hand was at his side while his other hand helped to bring Aoba all the way up.
Although the man remained stiff expression-wise, Aoba could tell that this was Noiz's cute side. He had always thought that when Noiz got angry at something so small, he resembled that of a young child throwing a quiet tantrum. But when push came to shove, he was not afraid to take on such trivial tasks such as what he was doing now for him.
'This could be because of...earlier.' Aoba thought as Noiz helped an unsteady Aoba to the nearby sofas of the lobby on the floor. He eased him down without any problems and looked at his watch. The clock showed that it was now past lunch time and well into 3:45 P.M.
He looked around at both Bernardo and Gian. They were obviously tired from their phone exercise. "You do this everyday?" Noiz asked the man. Although Aoba could have told him such a thing that yes, he did do this sort of thing everyday from 9 in the morning till late afternoon. Bernardo and Gian looked up from their small conversation that they were having.
"Yes. It's vexing but it gets us good connections with people and information. I personally dislike answering the phones but I do like the machines themselves." Bernardo's face began to light up when he mentioned the phones rather than having to answer them.
Noiz smirked. He had never found someone that was interested in machines like himself. Aoba was a different story as he was used to fixing up his allmate but that was all he was able to manage and when it came down to the rough stuff, he was able to fix the major problems such as viruses or corrupt software.
Gian let out a small laugh. "Might as well say you're actually just a machine lover. This guy hates people and yet knows how to negotiate with them. Hm...but he seems to be bad around women." Bernardo's face flushed red upon hearing this.
"You already know the reason, Gian. Besides...it wouldn't have worked out the way she hoped..." The man looked away from them. Gian's face turned from happy to serious within an instant once he heard the word, 'she'.
But despite the serious atmosphere, Gian bounced back with another happy expression even though his tired eyes said otherwise. "I knew I was forgetting something! Luchino says he's taking you two out for something to eat. He'll be here after checking up on the church but you guys can wait outside if you want."
Noiz looked back at his watch and pushed something on the side of it allowing a screen to pop up in front of his face. "I would have recommended Aoba stay here because of that tracking beacon. But it's also been a while and I need to set up some things." Aoba could only guess that Noiz meant he was alright with the two of them going out at such a critical time.
Just then, Ivan and Mink both came storming through the elevator doors. Ivan's face was scrunched up with anger while Mink simply looked rather calm and relaxed like usual while still holding a bit of an odd painful expression. "Ah, Ivan!" Gian smiled gleefully and rushed toward him.
Mink saw Aoba sitting on the sofas with Noiz standing close by. He frowned even more than he already was. Aoba looked past Noiz, caught Mink's eyes with his own and then quickly turned away out of embarrassment. He didn't mean to do it and it was a reflexive habit because of what took place this morning.
"Fuck off, Gian! Stupid moron! This walking plank didn't do anything at first!" Ivan angrily pointed a finger at Mink. Gian who was puzzled by all this looked from Ivan and then to Mink.
"So? You're not a baby, right? Bernardo told me you'd have no problems with the small groups this time." Gian brazenly said. He then looked Ivan up and down with a judgmental look. "You look fine so what are you bitching about?" Bernardo had to restrain himself from letting out a laugh.
He stood up from the couch and walked over to the two of them. "It was an easy job, Ivan and I knew with or without someone that you could finish this small task. I need you to start relying on yourself again while relying on someone else at the same time."
Gian lowered his head as he knew what this next tone meant. Bernardo was dishing out his authority as the second captain in command and sounded as though he were going to use the Omerta code against him at any moment. But the tension in the air disappeared and Bernardo spoke normally again.
"I trust you with a lot of things, Ivan. Don't cast blame when you yourself are well enough to handle such mongrels. Gian, you're free to leave with Ivan if you want. I have a new job for them if you're willing." Bernardo waited for another dispute from Ivan. When the man did not say anything more, he continued.
"I've got some more input from Ragtliffe after he did the rounds last night. Some more of our guys have been found dead." Gian and Ivan both switched their foolish expressions off. More guys dead meant less to protect them with.
It also gave other gangs the wrong idea and made them look weaker in comparison to the G.D. Ragtliffe was the CR-5's janitor. He was a man who made it impossible for the police to trace any crime back to the organization and made it possible to get rid of any evidence of the bodies by making up random scenes to make it look more like accidents.
"It's one thing to do it to another gang but to our own guys is...well..." Gian glared at the floor as though he were casting the blame onto it.
Aoba had a hard time following the conversation and looked to Noiz for a bit of help to see if he knew what it was that they were talking about. The only people he remembered ever seeing was just Bernardo, Gian, Ivan and Giulio and Luchino. But he had never seen someone by the name of Ragtliffe. "Um...who?" Aoba asked. The two men looked at each other.
"You never told him about that weirdo yet? I should think more people should know him...for their own safety." Gian whispered at the end knowing only Bernardo could get the small joke he made.
Bernardo cleared his throat and told him about the man and what he did for their organization. "He is...somewhat of a trusted friend of the family. Ragtliffe makes sure that any bodies we or the enemy gangs leave behind, aren't found to have evidence that could lead them straight to us. Plus he picks up a bit of money here and there on occasion from some of the police and hospital staff."
In short, he was a man that knew how to make things look like accidents and fooled the police into closing cases right away before they had a chance to examine the little bits of evidence that would be left over.
"I see." Aoba didn't feel well upon hearing something like this existing. He knew the police were criminal back on Midorijima and that they were probably being controlled by Toue but then there was Virus and Trip who openly admitted to him in the past before kidnapping him, that they had volunteered to be apart of the organized crime and were not under any influence of mind control once-so-ever.
Noiz sat down next to Aoba and put his arm around the man's shoulder. Surprised, Aoba quickly looked at him. "Huh?" But Noiz didn't say anything and closed his eyes for a few seconds before finally opening them in time to hear Mink's voice.
It was low but threatening and was directed at Noiz. Bernardo, who had been silently thinking to himself while Gian was busy giving Ivan a small piece of paper, was pulled out of his thoughts and had now concentrated on the scene before him. He hated disputes as it meant he usually had to be the one to step in before somebody got hurt or worse.
Aoba couldn't tell what Noiz was thinking but he got a bad feeling it had to do with Mink being there and staring at them the entire time since he and Ivan came out of the elevator. He tried to wedge himself free from the hand that seemed to be gripping him rather tightly. It did not hurt him but it was getting slightly uncomfortable to the point that he needed to be free of it.
But Noiz soon loosed his grip on his shoulder as though he realized what he was doing. "I'll thank you for telling us his location, but I'm not letting you get too personal with him. I'm sure Red has the same thing in mind." Aoba heard Koujaku's nickname. It was an odd one that Mink had come up with and not just for Koujaku but for all three of the others.
"Well 'Red' isn't here at the moment. I also didn't say you were allowed to go near Aoba. And even if I did, he's free to make his own choice." Despite having crossed the border line of respecting the man's choices, he still went along and let his emotions get the best of him during that moment but he felt no regrets .
Mink simply glared down at him and then gave out a small 'hmph' before walking toward the elevator again. For whatever reason Aoba had, he felt that things should not be going in such a way and quickly got up from the couch to chase after the man but failed and wound up falling to the hard marbled floor. Noiz instantly rushed to the man's side to help him up but Aoba pushed his hands away.
"Idiot. You're not that well enough to be throwing punches yet." This small action seemed to have stopped Mink in his tracks and he looked back to see the commotion.
He smirked to himself and walked back towards the scene. Aoba looked up at him. He didn't see the thing he wanted to see in Aoba's eyes which still was the same as the time he first met him back on the island when his eyes were filled with a bit of depression and loneliness despite having been around many of his friends.
He then ignored Aoba's rejections as he swiftly picked him up. Noiz stood still unsure of whether to really lose his cool or to play it out. He knew Mink was tough as much as he was and was still a lot older than him and most likely more experienced. Plus there was an audience in the room and he didn't feel like causing a scene that would make them look bad.
"Excuse me, sir?" Bernardo's voice caught Noiz and Gian by surprise. It was unusual that Bernardo had decided to interrupt someone among their guests from doing something. He would have normally let something like this go because of how busy and hectic their own problems were.
Mink stopped and turned to look at the man. Aoba's face was flushed with red and pink and his ears looked like they had been in the cold for too long. He kept nervously looking up at Mink's expression and then watched for Noiz's reaction. He was scared something would go down between everyone that was there.
"What." Bernardo paid no attention to the threatening tone. He smiled politely. "I was actually going to ask for your help another round for a mission I was giving to Ivan. We have men but I can't risk the men this time around. Care to help us out?"
Aoba knew what the man was doing but he was hoping he could have done so after he was put down. It's not that he did not trust Mink with his life but more the fact of being put in danger should the man get somewhat violent during an argument. He could tell Mink was about to deny the offer to help but could also see his face conflicted with the choices of help or not to help.
As it stood, they were the guests in their land and had shown them every inch of kindness and had provided help for Aoba, a random being they didn't even know. Inside his mind, Aoba was secretly cheering as he knew the decision that Mink had chose. He was tired from any more of the scuffles that had been occurring because of him and he did not want to see anyone getting completely injured or even worse, end up dead because of something so simple that could be said with words.
"Depends." Simple and right to the point as to what he should be doing. Bernardo kept smiling and then slapped Ivan hard on the back. The man yelped in surprise but he knew he could not do anything back to him as the man was the commanding captain, second to Gian Carlo and not to mention, a friend.
"If it's fighting, what does it matter to you?" Noiz suddenly asked him. Mink did not retort with anything but a grunt and slowly let Aoba down. Aoba planted his feet firmly to the floor, making sure he was able to balance his body out so that it didn't fall over backwards.
"I'll do it. But don't let that guy slow me down again." Mink spoke out and was now staring at Ivan. Bernardo held in his laugh while Gian couldn't contain his own and burst out laughing.
Noiz and Aoba watched as Ivan and Mink were pushed back to the elevator by Bernardo just as Luchino was coming out of it. "Ah. Bernardo, the money I borrowed." The man held out his hand toward Bernardo and in his grasp, wads of bills that were tied with a rubber band. Bernardo simply smiled and took the money while pushing the other two forward each individually with one hand as Luchino got off.
"Fucking...shit!" Ivan was pissed off. Which was understandable since fighting had mainly been his and Giulio's forte. They were the main manpower of the family and saw to many of the scuffles while Bernardo and Luchino took over the money side of things as personal treasurers of the family. So having someone talk down about you about your field of expertise had certainly gnawed at him.
Gian giggled as he blew a small kiss in Ivan's direction while waving a small goodbye. They could hear the man's cursing even after the doors closed. "Goodness...he still has such the potty mouth. Please don't feel bad about what has taken place just now. That's Ivan's way of thanking us for being his family."
Knowing that Mink was now no longer a problem, Noiz quickly went over to Aoba. He helped the man without getting any resistance this time around and helped him to the couch again. "So, Bernardo tells me you two need some fresh air." Both Aoba and Noiz looked up at Luchino.
"I guess." Noiz replied. He then looked to Aoba as though asking for a confirmation from him. "I don't mind...but..." He was going to say something as an excuse for the trip but nothing came to his mind.
It's not that he didn't want to go outside a all but he was worried about what Noiz had told him about the tracking device and how it worked. If it was how they were tracking him then it would have brought Luchino and whoever else was with him, danger.
Aoba couldn't help but feel powerless from all this. He nodded his head and tried to stand up with some help from Noiz. It was a journey worth taking. It was one thing to be outside in front of the hotel but it was a different ball game to be taking a trip outside the hotel and into the city of Daivan.
A/n: Well I have a process for who all spends time with Aoba and since Noiz was the last, he goes first so I'm doing it in that order plus we all know, us fans of DMMD, should know how Mink behaves and acts and well...it's not professional until a certain point in time so he's getting used up by the organization to vent some steam.
The least he can do while he is there. Um I'll give out this spoiler since it really has been confirmed by Bernardo, Gian and Ivan are already an item hence Bernardo's distraught expression each time he looks at Gian. Sad but true. This is just in case no one understood why Bernardo looks sad all the damn time, which he does in the game, he smiles sometimes but most of them are fake half the time.
So that's that for some clarifications, I'll put more in the next chapter, next will be Luchino and about his tale. So hope you keep reading!