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 20 - Negotiations
Sirens sounded off in the distance as three cars sped down the streets of Daivan. The one car leading the other two seemed to be climbing faster in speed but not because of the sirens but because they were in a hurry toward their destination. The men in the first car ahead of the other two, had five men riding in it that included a bodyguard.
The other four men; Virus, Trip, Bakshi Christensen and Dave, all of whom belonged with the G.D. were now racing their car toward the meeting place that was scheduled ahead of time. It was not like Bakshi to behave for such a thing as he was mostly the type to back out of such things and let the higher ups deal with such matters.
But for today, the G.D. boss had asked for him to come as well along with their new allies. The reason being only that someone from the CR-5 was going to be meeting them at the designated place. He knew who would be meeting with them as he had done this quite a bit in the past. Bernardo Ortolani, a wimpy man in his opinion as he had never seen the man do anything except talk his way out of both the gangs from killing one another.
Although they had usually fought with each other, they were both technically in the same boat and both would surely fall if they had brought any other type of gang involved with their affairs. But Bakshi was not interested in any of it and only looked toward fighting with the CR-5 again. Despite his boss's warnings of messing around with the captains, he was really looking forward to seeing the CR-5's 'Mad Dog' again.
The man driving them to their destination, the bodyguard, was no more than just a lowly soldier working underneath Bakshi and Dave and was unfortunately forced to drive them without any say in the matter. He wouldn't have minded the driving if it weren't for Bakshi constantly staring at him through the rear view mirror as he was driving and looking back on the road.
Bakshi caught the man's eyes again and sneered at him. He loved doing this to the underlings and enjoyed scaring them every now and then to keep the men on their toes. Dave didn't seem to mind his actions but tried to keep him from doing anything overly dangerous such as playing around with his shotgun in such a closed in space.
He was a wild firecracker that needed to be watched 24/7 as though he were a child who had a thing for firearms. And this job just happened to fall to Dave to ensure that Bakshi got there as he too was requested by the head boss to be present.
Virus and Trip were checking their coils every now and then to see who all might have contacted them during their trip outside while at the same time, keeping their minds on alert for any sort of type of backstabbing should the men change their minds about allowing them to join the club.
Because there was no room for them, their allmates had to stay behind at the this was merely a meeting with the opposite faction, Virus and Trip did not really feel the need to have them along. Plus it made the best option for them to keep a few hidden secrets up their sleeves for any later confrontation with the CR-5.
Their attention was suddenly drawn to their current surroundings as the car they were riding in, pulled to a stop outside a tall, rectangular building. Looking at it from the outside would make anyone suspect it as shady and to be avoided at all costs. Dave was the first one to step out of the car while Bakshi and the bodyguard got out together at the same time almost as though Bakshi had been planning to do so all along.
Virus got out before Trip rather than both of them using either side of the car to get out. "Really, of all the places to get called out to." Dave said as he looked the building over a couple of times before beginning to walk toward it.
Before he could get closer to it, Bakshi's hand stopped him on the shoulder. Annoyed about having someone touching him, Dave whipped his head around. "We're late enough as it is!" Dave shook the man's hand off of him but then saw why he had stopped him.
Standing outside of the building waiting for them were a couple of CR-5 soldiers. Low ranked newbies and oldies who guarded the captains of the CR-5. There among the small group, was Bernardo. The man's looked exhausted yet calm. Dave clicked his tongue in an annoyed manner and continued walking toward them. Bakshi and the other three followed after him.
Bernardo was holding a brown briefcase in his hand and was getting quite a lot of chattering from his men who could not stop tapping the man on the shoulder just to whisper something into his ear.
The small group of five simply walked past him and the other men and continued on inside to go to the floor they were to meet at. The party had all been gathered.
Bakshi pushed the bodyguard back against the side of the door and headed inside the room that was at the moment, full of men from their own team. The Grave Diggers. G.D for short. He stepped lightly across the room to the boss's side, sitting in such a position that made others feel uncomfortable to look at.
Dave on the other hand, sat to the side of the boss. Trip and Virus stood rather than sit as they wanted to have a feel for the place before making hasty decisions. They were not strangers to how the mafia worked but every gang was different and both of these gangs were very different from each other.
They caught the man who had greeted them from the front of the building, catching his eyes for only a moment before the man rested his gaze on the head leader of the G.D. They could feel the tension in the air and the bit of blood lust that came from at least half of the room.
"I apologize for the rude stares, Bernardo." The boss broke the tension. Virus picked up on the fact that he had called him by his name rather than using any form of formality. It would indicate that they were on a personal level of understanding with each other and seemed to know one another for quite some time.
The man known as Bernardo, nodded to ensure that he accepted the apology. But he did not give any sort of smile to show he was fully accepting it. As expected of a man who knew what not to do during something so serious. Smiling was not a crime but it gave intimidation to the enemy and if intimidating enough, could mean the end of a deal.
"I'm used to such actions. I too apologize for the captains under my command. I heard they caused a bit of trouble for you in some of your warehouses." Virus could tell that the man was not at all sorry for what happened at those buildings.
Bernardo then put the briefcase onto the table. The men sitting a few ways down from the boss, instantly put their hands to their sides. Virus and Trip looked over to Dave and Bakshi. They were the only two people who had not moved a single inch unlike the other men who seemed to have thought that Bernardo was about to pull out a hidden weapon.
It was not a weapon however and was merely a stack of paper. "I see you have two new recruits with you. As it has probably already been brought up, but I have received a guest within the past few days and he's currently under our protection. I do trust you remember your current treaty toward us?"
Bernardo's small speech in front of the opposing faction was clear and precise. His unshaken voice proved he was not intimidated by both Bakshi or Dave. He had dealt with Dave in the past and were what some people would call 'old acquaintances'. The other captains of the CR-5 knew better though along with both Bernardo and Dave.
But the past would stay the past and Bernardo felt the pieces were in his favor as they still had a 'lucky' item within their group. Aside from the odd behavior of the devil's luck, he had also been cashing in certain favors and gathering up enough intel from some of the common street folk who had been employed by him and were the eyes and ears on Daivan's streets.
But despite his good feeling, Bernardo could tell that the G.D. were obviously not going to take anything he said seriously. He knew them well enough for their ignorance in talking but it would not stop him from trying to reach his ultimate goal. Which was to gain back more control over their areas in the parts that the G.D had been attacking.
While on the side, trying to find a way to put them in their place for good as it would mean the end for the CR-5 to let them run free in such a state. They were not kind and were not supposed to be however they way they did things did not give them much of a good reputation within the community.
Especially with a man like Bakshi on their side. Although they had Giulio, this man was just as odd and wild when it came time to kill. The only differences between them were their weapons and even though Giulio was soft spoken, Bakshi was the complete opposite and was loud, obnoxious and yet showed disobedience to his superiors including to Dave.
Bernardo was hoping to use this to his advantage in the future. For now, he was fine with listening to the dreaded talking of the G.D. members. Dave was the only one to meet his gaze while the others simply pretended that he was not there and began to look elsewhere every now and then while they bounced in their seats from the the tense atmosphere.
The boss finally nodded to his question, finally answering him. "We know that but this is a new predicament. The new boys just wanted to know whether their 'missing person', was okay or not. They've been very co-operative in our goals since they've arrived so I assure you they do not mean the kind of intent you must have been thinking about."
Trip and Virus smiled as the man said this. This was their chance to intimidate the other party. They knew Aoba was there as they had been tracking him since he got there. But they also knew they had time on their hands before things got out of control in regards to the boy's medical condition.
Although Aoba's hair had been slowly become numb to the pain compared to before, it was still in the process of going away completely. It was a small gamble for them to induce the headaches within Aoba's head, they were willing to see whether or not the 'old' Aoba would be able to come back.
They had secretly fed him a certain medication that had still been in the works when he and his friends went to take down the tower. Because they were prepared for random interruptions by the island police, it was not at all strange for them to carry at least a few samples of the drug.
Since it was now in their possession, they called it Morphine Dye. Not to be confused with the old drug that was around in the past and extremely addictive, it was a drug untested by Toue and was only to be used should Sei need a reset of some kind. So far, they had yet to see if it worked as they had never seen Aoba complain about the pain in his head or if he was even feeling the pain at all.
It worked just like his regular medicine but at the same time would induce the headache and in the end, they hoped it would result in being able to meet with Sly Blue, the man who was Aoba's other half. But because it was still a work in progress , the drug could still be unstable and if left too long without it...the result was something they did not want to see happen should it come to such a point.
"He is doing well if that is what you wanted to know. However...I have witnessed quite a number of bruises on the boy's body. I won't go into the details of him being malnourished." The smiles never faltered as Virus and Trip locked eyes with Bernardo's.
Bernardo sighed to himself and pulled out a piece of paper among the stack that he had gotten out earlier from the briefcase. "This is all I came to meet with you about. Again, I do apologize for my fellow captains causing you a bit of trouble, but I do hope you can forgive them this one time and look this new treaty over."
He slid the paper onto the table into the middle of the men that sat around the table. Trip and Virus could hear the confidence in the man's tone of voice but they weren't exactly in any hurry to end things and would like to see the scene play out for a bit to see the side effects of their drug. And if all went well, could mean the possibility of them seeing Sly again.
The G.D. had not moved from their seats. The room then erupted in small outbursts from the other men while Dave and Bakshi merely sat back uninterested. The boss was the only one to be really paying attention and was calmly looking the paper over after it had gotten handed down to him by his underlings.
It was the same treaty as before but now with an extra added line. It was to indicate that they were not to harm his guests while they stayed in Daivan for the next two months. But he too was going to gamble and stated in the treaty that by the end of the two months, the men were allowed to take Aoba back with them. It would have been pointless to offer a treaty that had him have any kind of advantage so he simply added a sentence to the end of the paper.
This was when Dave spoke up once the boss handed him the paper to overlook it as well. "This is just the same bull that you gave us in the past. If we don't know what you get out of it, we can't come to an agreement." This was now Bernardo's turn to smile.
"But you should know me, Dave. I've never had anything up my sleeve before, right?" It was a direct question aimed for him and him alone. He remembered what the man had put him through. A long night of embarrassment on top of humiliation in front of his fellow G.D. members.
Only those who were there at the time of the incident would know what Bernardo had meant. However, he did not back down and continued to press the question as to why he was not jotting down what he wanted out of this so-called 'bargain'. The main deal remained the same but they were allowed to have the new guest after two months had passed.
There were many plot holes but given the circumstance behind Bernardo's way of thinking, he knew the man would not go back on his word on this. "Exactly. I know you better than most. You have something you want but just won't say it. I say no deal."
Bernardo knew the man would do the most thinkable action of refusing the deal and remained calm despite the men at the table growing more rowdy with lame insults and bickering among themselves.
He waited for the chattering to die down before finally speaking his peace once more. "This time around, I have nothing to ask for in return. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, gentlemen." Bernardo then stuck the left over papers away back into his briefcase.
The twins off to the side had not stopped staring at him since he had arrived. He did not mind their attention but every now and again he could feel something off about the two of them each time they looked away to someone else. If he had to guess their auras, the taller one made him feel like being in Ivan's presence while the shorter one felt like he was in the room with Luchino.
It was not a pleasant feeling to be reminded of fellow members when you were among a crowd of the opposite gang. One of his men then leaned in closer to him to whisper something else into his ear. He remained expressionless as any kind of face he made could easily set the G.D in a frenzy over it. They did not do well if faced with intimidation or just general disrespect.
"I suppose...there is no harm in letting things go your way for the time being. I will speak for everyone and agree to the terms you have laid out for us. But should your men come on my turfs again..." The boss man looked off to the side towards Bakshi.
The man was laid back with his feet up on the table and his arms behind his head as any sort of delinquent would do. He propped a shotgun up in a few seconds, pointing the front of it at Bernardo while pretending to pull on the trigger. Out of all the G.D. members, he had thought of the man as someone he did not want to meddle with and was most likely the only man who he could not see himself facing up against.
He would leave such a task for Giulio should that time come. Bernardo bowed his head low in response to this. "You'll have my word. I thank you for coming out of your way just to meet me." Bernardo stood up, picking the briefcase up as he did so.
He turned to what little bodyguards he had with him at the time and told them something in Italian. The men nodded and left ahead of him while he stayed behind to give the boss of the G.D. one more look before leaving.
"I almost forgot. You wanted to know how our boss was doing, correct?" Bernardo asked him. It was true that the boss of the G.D. was interested in knowing what was going on with their old boss, Alessandro but he most likely wanted to know about Gian Carlo as well as the man was basically going to become the future boss.
"Yes. I'm glad you remembered such a small request. Actually to tell the truth, one of my men were the ones to ask me such a question about your new boss. How is he doing?" When the man asked him this, Bernardo felt a cold chill run down his spine.
Bakshi had gotten his feet off the table and had stuck the gun back to his side but a different look replaced the previous look he had on before. There could only be that reason. As strange as it was to hear, the man seemed to have respected Gian and Giulio the most despite the way he acted toward the both of them.
Bernardo even had the odd idea of having him switch sides but it was impossible to keep such a man in his place if things got too serious and could have meant endangering his fellow captains if such a thing ever happened. To let a wild card work alongside another was just an accident waiting to happen.
But he left the idea for another time and focused on the question he was asked. He knew Bakshi must have been the one to ask about Gian as the current boss was Alessandro at the time while Gian Carlo was still just a fill-in for the man while he was away on vacation.
"They're both doing really well and I'll pass on your concern for them. Thank you for your time, gentlemen." Bernardo smiled and walked out of the room.
The door shut behind him quietly but the loud shouting coming from the men at the table ruined what little quiet there was. As far as the CR-5 was concerned, the G.D. had not gotten any leverage with Bernardo like they thought they would. The only ones unaffected by this movement, were Dave, Bakshi and the boss.
As the three of them had known the other side for much longer than the newer members of the G.D and had dealings with them before in the past, the younger generation were still getting used to acting nice around the other group.
But the boss remained silent while their shouting slowly turned into quiet talking among themselves. Both Bakshi and Dave were not interested in the topic they had been talking about and kept their noses out of the conversations all together.
Back at the CR-5's headquarters or rather, their main place of stay, Aoba had just got done with eating a bit of the hotel's food. He was eating breakfast with part of the CR-5 along with Noiz and Koujaku. It was not as though they had been sitting around a large table with everyone sitting next to each other but instead, were spread out throughout a large room on the lobby floor.
Gian was stuck filling in for Bernardo at the phone station while he was gone so this left Luchino, Giulio and Ivan. Clear Mink and Ren had already eaten and were now waiting on Aoba and the other two to finish. It had amazed Aoba that Ren could eat so fast despite him still getting used to the human jaw and teeth that had replaced his canine ones.
Although he never ate as an actual dog, he could still feel the hunger as though he were one and was probably feeling complicated about the feeling he had now while being a human. He some trouble eating a couple of eggs that had been scrambled for him as he tried eating with a fork for the second time. It resulted in him dropping the fork on the floor and picking it up, putting it to his mouth only to have Aoba to stop him midway. He still had not grasped what was considered dirty or not.
Clear was happily humming to himself nearby while Mink and Ren were casually sitting down on a couch together. Noiz seemed to be taking his time eating while Koujaku looked like he was trying to wolf it down as fast as possible. Aoba could only think of one reason he would do this.
Either the man's hatred for eating with Noiz had affected him this much or it was the fact of knowing about what happened between him and Noiz. Either way of looking at it, Noiz was most likely the problem. Aoba thought it was childish to see his old friend acting in such a way but he also did not mind seeing him like this.
Since he had reunited with the man, Koujaku had remained closed off just as much as before and was really only focusing on his safety rather than worrying about himself. He didn't mind that his friend was so worried about him and his situation but he also didn't want the man to close himself off like he used to in the past.
Before everything that happened to him, he was always asking Koujaku why he had decided to come back to the island as they had never properly talked about it. During those days, he was still just getting over the time of his 'dark' era as a teenager. Although his memory of Rhyme and ever having done it before had been wiped, he still remembered his old self.
He figured he would tell Koujaku if only he told him about his past as well in return. But since the topic never really got brought up by either of them, it had remained untouched. To not know someone completely even though they were your best friend was troublesome.
Noiz on the other hand had been direct and open with what he wanted or what he did not like and was never shy to say anything on his mind. Since the time he was gone, the man had grown up into a reliable man with a changed view on life. Compared to Koujaku however on manners, it could have been a bit better.
Since everyone had been telling him to take it easy for the remainder of the week, he had no choice but to submit to their wishes as it was their territory that they had been staying in not to mention, they could not travel around so openly out of fear of having Virus and Trip know that the others had come to Daivan as well. If they were going to catch them off guard, it was the best option to have them be undiscovered and off their radar.
But for now, Aoba would have to deal with the two of them working together instead of trying to fight each other. It was a work in progress but he was certain they would come to an understanding someday.
Noiz finished his meal at the same time as Koujaku while Aoba was still trying to swallow some of his food. His throat had been bugging him since he first got up but because of everything happening so early in the morning such as Ren hugging him unexpectedly and out of the blue, caused him to forget about it. It wasn't anything too serious and was most likely just a sore throat from talking so much these past few days.
"You look like you have a fever." Koujaku suddenly had put his hand to Aoba's forehead, feeling it for unusual temperature. Although his head was a little hot and feeling a bit of a headache, he did not feel cold or weak at last not like before.
"I'm okay. It's probably just a side effect from the medication." Having to say medication again or anything to do with pills in general, made him feel uneasy and a bit sick to his stomach. He only wanted to be able to have a nice and normal day without having to take another pill just to stop his headaches.
A feeling of freedom when not wondering when a good time was for taking his pills, was a nice change. But now that they were coming back again, he didn't know what to expect regarding the pills situation. Clear had only gotten that one pill because it was his grandmother who was worried for him at the time but she was only able to give him a bottle that would last him a couple of months.
He didn't want to think about what would happen afterward.
A/N: Had to end it here because I hit the word limit that I set for myself on the chapters, but in the next chapter we get to see Aoba doing things with Koujaku for once so get hyped my readers! Now to be honest, the boss of G.D really is unknown and is only named around the end of one or two routes so he really is not a big main guy in the game (I've only seen his name mentioned once despite there being 4 routes) and so I didn't see the real need to add his name in since he isn't going to be a main character like Bakshi and Dave will be.
So that aside, there is something I'll clear up with, if you guys think Trip and Virus were bad, Bakshi is slightly worse than them and yet is apparently a giant ham. (Not literally), but he loves/likes cats, still a bit unknown whether he loves or just likes them but at the very least he has a human side. Xd