Chapter 4 - Unthinkable

"He should've been home by now." Ikiyo muttered aloud as she anxiously paced around their small kitchen/dining room, arms folded tightly over her chest as she bit her lip nervously, "He should've been home over and hour ago, and he's not here..."

"Ikiyo, I'm sure he's fine." Saburo insisted for what had to be the dozenth time in the last hour and half, watching as his wife paced uneasily around and around, back and forth, "You know Zyro, maybe he's just running a little late. I mean, you know the train that comes through here gets delayed sometimes. Who knows, maybe he's just going at a slow pace, I mean... I don't doubt he'd be a little exhausted, it must've been a long day."

"Yeah, I know..." Ikiyo admitted nervously as she glanced towards the clock on the wall once more, now reading 9:48pm, "But I'm worried... I've tried texting him and calling him, but he won't answer!"

"Well, maybe he just has his phone turned off." Saburo said, shrugging his broad shoulders as he watched, helplessly, as the brunette paced, "Or it just went dead, you know he doesn't use it much. Maybe that's why?..."
Ikiyo stopped her pacing to raise one hand and place it over her forehead, shadowing her troubled green eyes.
"I don't know..." She grated out, frustration and distress evident, "Maybe you're right, but..." She lowered her hand from her forehead and finally raised her gaze to her husband, who stood watching helplessly as she tore herself up, "Something just feels wrong about this, like really wrong, I just can't put my finger on it..."

"Ikiyo..." Saburo said with a small sigh, finally walking around the kitchen table and over to the brunette, "... Look. I know you're worried, and I understand that. He's my kid, too, but you shouldn't just tear yourself up over this, we don't even know if anything's actually wrong."

"I can't help it..." Ikiyo said stubbornly, looking away from the man as he approached her, feeling the burning pull of the tears in her eyes that she refused to let fall, "...He's not home yet, he's not answering his phone, we haven't heard from him... We never even wanted him to go to Metal Bey City in the first place, remember?..."
Saburo stopped as he came up to her, looking upon her with forlorn brown eyes. Those same eyes widened at this words, and he looked away for a moment. Silently, he sighed through his nose.
"Yes, Ikiyo, I remember that..." He said softly, and hesitated for a moment, "But he turned out fine, didn't he? I mean, he's made friends there, he's had fun, he won Neo Battle Bladers, and that's pretty amazing. None of those are bad things!..." "No, they're not bad in and of themselves, and I'm proud of him!" Ikiyo explained, turning once again to look up at the man that stood before her, a desperate agony on her face, "But did you even stop to think for a moment that, that... I don't know, maybe something bad could come out of that?! His face is everywhere nowadays, and we were supposed to keep him here, and protect him from-!" All at once, Ikiyo seemed to lose her voice, choking on her own words, and she fell silent before she could say anything else. Her eyes remained on her husband for a moment longer before she folded her arms back over her chest and looked down at the ground.
Saburo already knew what she meant without her having to say it, and his eyes softened more than they already had. Now he understood why she was so upset about all this...
Zyro was their child, and Ikiyo loved him more than she loved life, and he knew that her heart would break if anything ever happened to him. But now the deeper fear behind it all was clear. He himself hadn't even thought of that possibility for years, since he - personally - had never found any need to worry about it.
Because they were here, and safe, and out of the line of fire.
But Ikiyo had always been different from him.
She was prone to worrying a lot, even when it wasn't necessary, and he had always known - even if he hadn't acknowledged it at the time - that she worried a lot about Zyro, and what could have happened to him when he was just a child - what almost had. Now he realized that that was exactly what she was worried about now, but this time it was more severe than it ever had been, because this time her - their - worst nightmares could actually have a chance of coming true.
He may never had thought about it in years, but even he knew that what she had told them all those years ago was not the mere product of a dreamed nightmare.

Silently, Saburo let his shoulders sag, and then reached out to put a hand on Ikiyo's slim shoulder. The moment he did, she turned her head further away from him, unable to speak and unable to open her eyes and look at the reality that lay before her.
She knew it was there, though.
She always had.
"Ikiyo..." He said softly, "Look at me, please..." Even with his plea, Ikiyo refused, and Saburo couldn't say he really blamed her at all.
He hadn't always been the most observant or brightest of people, after all, and he had barely ever given her own worries a second thought back in Zyro's childhood. Despite his previous belief that everything would be alright, he knew that that was inexcusable.
"Ikiyo..." He tried again, "I get it, okay?... You're worried that they'll find him, that they'll take him away and do..." He hesitated, "... Do things to him, that neither you or me could ever even think about... I get that you're afraid of that-"

"Do you?..." The brunette asked brokenly, disbelief at that thought lacing both syllables.
"Yes, I do." Saburo insisted earnestly, "He's my son, too, and I hate the thought of anything happening to him. But listen to me... If they were going to go after him, wouldn't they have done that already?... I mean, Neo Battle Bladers was awhile ago, and his face has been everywhere for over a month, and... Wouldn't they have gone after him already if they did know for sure?" To that, Ikiyo said nothing. Saburo waited, and then continued when her silence remained.
"Nothing has happened." He insisted, "Besides, how would they even know? It was years ago, they would have no idea what he even looks like now."

"You don't know that..."

"Yeah, well, give me a reason to believe that they would somehow know." Saburo persisted, and waited for a few seconds. When Ikiyo said nothing, he went on, "He was a baby back then, Ikiyo. That's all they ever knew him to look like! And I'm pretty sure he looks a lot different now than from back then, you know that."

"So what do you want me to do, Saburo?!" Ikiyo yelled unexpectedly, finally turning her face to look at him with bloodshot eyes and red cheeks, lightly stained by the tears that had started cascading down them, "Just stop worrying?! Stop thinking about where he is, stop caring?!"

"Hey!" Saburo said defensively, pulling his hand off of her shoulder and raising them at his sides, "I never said that!"

"No, but that's the subtext of it!" Ikiyo argued, "You want me to stop worring! You've always told me to stop worrying, that 'everything's going to be fine', but you don't know that! She told us what they wanted to do with him! What 'plans' they had, and that they would not stop looking for him until they had him! That's why she came to us! Because she trusted us, and we were supposed to protect him, here! In our home!"

"And we have, Ikiyo!" Saburo argued back, "We have protected him, we always have! We've always wanted what's best for him, and that's why we let him go to Metal Bey City!"

"Which was a mistake!" Ikiyo shouted, the forlorn anger on her face more than he could bare, "We should never have let him go! Yeah, he made friends, he had a good time, he won that tournament, but what does it matter if we lose him because of it?!"
The tears now streamed steadily down her face, and her voice - angry and frustrated though it was - was wracked with sobs.
To this, Saburo could say nothing.
Finally, Ikiyo seemed to snap. Unable to argue anymore, she turned away swiftly and walked away at a hurried pace with her high-pitched sobs coming out at full force. And, as always, Saburo just stood there at a loss, his broad shoulders sagging and his face pained in his heart-broken uselessness.
He flinched when he heard the bedroom door slam shut, and knew that he more than likely wouldn't be welcome in there anytime soon. And he knew that that was his own fault... He really never had known how to help Ikiyo, now did he?
Some husband and father he was...
Sighing and rubbing his eyes, the black-haired man sat down heavily into one of the kitchen chairs, slouching forward with his arms balanced on his knees. Brown eyes tired and half-lidded, he looked up towards the clock.

10:09pm...

Morning. If Zyro wasn't back by morning, then they would call the Metal Bey City WBBA headquarters, and talk to Director Otori, as they knew from Zyro's calls and texts and letters that he was - surprisingly enough - good friends with the man.
Surely, he might be able to give them some info on their son's whereabouts, or he knew someone who could. If not, than they would call the local police, and set up a missing persons report.
Silently, Saburo prayed to whatever God was out there that it wouldn't have to come to that...

Throughout the last several weeks, Madoka had managed to become quite well acquainted with Minoru, a relationship that had started when Zyro had unexpectedly brought the younger Hagane twin over for hot chocolate one rainy afternoon.
As expected, it had started out quite - very - awkward, mainly on the latter's part. That night, while Zyro, Ren, and Shinobu had been watching a movie with Maru in the living room, the two of them had gone into the kitchen and sat at the table for a one-to-one, of which had started out - as expected - very awkward.
While she too had been slightly uneasy about actually meeting Minoru, let alone talking to him, it was the man himself who was the most nervous out of the two of them. The moment he had even stepped through the door, she could see that he was visibly tense, and had a hard time actually looking her in the eye for awhile while they sat there.
Soon enough, though, they had been able to get into a steady conversation and clear the awkwardness up for the most part, all the while discussing the needs that both of them had known needed to be talked about. It had been a heavy conversation, and one that was rather uncomfortable for both of them, but they had both agreed that they would talk about all of it right there, so that there was nothing else that should need to be cleared up in the future.
After they did that, they were actually able to get into more casual conversation, and soon joined the younger bladers in the living room to watch the movie they had been so invested in. Minoru had tensed up again once they went in there, but eventually he had loosened up and watched the movie with them, which seemed to far more interesting to him than it was to any of them - which was probably saying a few things.
Madoka knew from the moment she had ever met him that he wasn't as bad a person at heart as he had originally thought himself to be (as he had said back when they had had that weird excursion into his head), and that they could definitely be good friends - not to mention friends with everyone else - if a chance was given on everyone's part. She also knew from the moment he had gotten more comfortable with them that he was also going to be probably one of the most sassiest people she would ever know. And, despite his inane shyness and slightly timid nature, she was definitely right about that.

Over that time-frame, she and Maru (who had actually managed to take on a shy liking to the man) had also introduced Minoru to Tsubasa, who had more than pleased to meet the younger sibling. They too had eventually become well-acquainted with each other. Tsubasa was mainly the one - besides the younger bladers and herself and Maru - who explained most things to Minoru about Metal Bey City and all the happenings, since they had brought into account that the guy was a bit far behind the times, though surprisingly not as much as they would have expected for someone who'd been trapped in their own head for a third of their life.
Even so, they did manage to introduce him to and get him at least somewhat familiar with the gist of things that he didn't already understand when it came to pop culture and technology, and he now often accompanied Madoka and Maru whenever they came to the WBBA to help Tsubasa on certain matters. That was why he was with them now as they made their way into WBBA headquarters and up to the forty-eight floor, where Tsubasa's office was.
It was the day after Zyro's departure, and yet another day closer to the start of the school year, and so Tsubasa had called Madoka to come to his office to discuss what the plan would be this year for the local Bey Parks and the local Arena while all the children were away at school. It was a thing that had to be addressed for at least 9-10 months of the year, since for most of it the children of Metal Bey - and of other cities and countries around the world - were off at school and had little time to be practicing Beyblade. Apart from weekends and breaks, that is.
More often than not, the Bey Parks in Metal Bey were closed down for most of the week, and had a strict schedule to open on Friday afternoons and Saturdays. When they were closed, they were typically under maintenance, and upgraded with any new technology that they had to offer. In other regions, they would just be straight closed through the school months, only opening for winter and spring break (which all of them did anyway), and being left open at nearly all times during the summer.
Both Madoka and Tsubasa knew that, chances were, they might just do as they always had, and as other Directors prior - Ryo Hagane included - had done as well. However, she also knew that there was the matter of their budget in keeping the parks open, since not as much money had been made in relation to the Bridge to the Future tournament as had with Neo Battle Bladers.
Tsubasa wasn't surprised about this, since the mess that happened with Alcorin had been a major setback on everything. However, the silverette had told her just a few days prior that he would calculate their numbers together and figure out just where they were standing at this point, and then they would go from there.
Madoka and Maru (who knew at least a little bit about the process) had explained most of this to Minoru on their way to headquarters, and he seemed to understand for the most part, and hoped that he could possibly offer some insight if at all possible. Madoka had told him with a smile that any would be welcome. The concluding 'ding' of the elevator was all too welcoming as it finally dropped them off on floor forty-eight, and all three of them stepped out of the large metal box to head down to the Director's office. The translucent sliding doors opened for them automatically, and, upon entry to the square-shaped room, they witnessed the silver-haired man in charge shaking hands with two different people - one man, one woman, both in either a light beige suit or a navy blue one, both official-looking - before they turned to depart.
They both said disconnected 'good day's to Madoka, Minoru, and Maru, and then left through the same doors that the former three had previously come through.

"Oh, hey, just in time." Tsubasa said warmly as he saw the three of them standing at the front of the office, "Just managed to get those numbers back from downstairs, finally."

"That's who those guys were?" Madoka questioned as both her and Minoru walked up to the Director and stood in front of his desk with him, "I don't remember ever seeing them around here..."

"Well, none of us are really downstairs downstairs too often, now are we?" The silverette pointed out with a small smirk, and Madoka rolled her eyes at him.
"Alright, so what do they say?" She asked. Tsubasa lifted the Ipad that he held in his hand - one that none of them had noticed he had had before now - and swiped the screen, letting his finger hover over it momentarily.
"Well, according to this, we seem to be doing pretty good in our finances." The silver-haired man answered, "We still have some profit from last year leftover, so, adding that to what we have from Neo Battle Bladers and from the few rounds of the BTF... We should have enough to keep the Bey Parks open for a majority of the year. We will have to make a schedule, though, since we can't keep them open for all weekends."

"We should get on that, then." The brunette stated, "Making a schedule all year is not easy... Or fun." Tsubasa chuckled softly, before shifting his eyes over to Minoru.
"Glad to have you here again, Minoru." He said, holding out his hand for the other man to shake.
Minoru did so, offering a smile in return.
"Thanks." He said, "Good to be here."
Tsubasa nodded, and, once their hands were back at their sides, looked at the three of them together.
"Alright, let's get to work, shall we?" He asked, and both Madoka and Minoru nodded in agreement, while Maru rocked back and forth on her heels in childish excitement. (Madoka almost swear-dropped at this, since Maru had never been one to help with the school-year schedule before, and therefore didn't really now how boring it could be) The three of them took their first few steps to leave the room and head downstairs a few floors, but the phone on Tsubasa's desk suddenly ringing held all of them back, drawing all three pairs of eyes to the device that sat just behind them.
"Sorry, I need to get that." Tsubasa apologized with a look towards both Madoka and Minoru, who both cast him similar expressions of understanding. Smiling briefly, Tsubasa walked back over the few steps it took to get to his desk and picked up the receiver after placing the Ipad in his hand just beside it, holding it to his ear.
"Hello?" He greeted, and waited a moment before smiling softly, "Good morning to you as well, Tamako... Okay... Mrs. Kurogane?"
That name was said with maybe a bit more surprise than Tsubasa had meant to emit, and even the three that stood watching this ordeal glanced at each other with confused expressions.
There was only one Kurogane that any of them knew of, and that one was Zyro.
So to say 'Mrs. Kurogane' it would, naturally, be able to mean only one thing.
But why would Zyro's parents be calling WBBA Headquarters?

"Alright, thanks, send her through." Tsubasa finally instructed after a few seconds of contemplation on the subject, and then fell silent as he waited. He exchanged looks with both Minoru and Madoka, and shrugged his shoulders at their puzzled looks. He almost just missed the worry that was placed in Minoru's expression, tense shoulders evident to his uneasiness, and the silverette had to wonder why. It wasn't long before the line clicked through, and the Director immediately took on his professional yet welcoming tone that he had become so accustomed to using.
"Director Otori speaking." He said to the woman on the other end of the line, "Hello, Mrs. Kurogane, I didn't expect to get a call from you... No, no, I'm not busy. What do you need?"
Minoru, Madoka, and Maru watched silently as this one-sided exchange happened, all of them carefully observing Tsubasa's facial features as he spoke.
No matter how hard he tried, Minoru could not quell the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. It had settled there heavily as soon as that phone had started ringing, and he remembered back to last night, when one of his 'episodes' had come over him and left him shaking with foreboding. Now was the exact same thing, only this time it was based on this situation here, and not one miles away.
"Yeah, we saw him off yesterday." Tsubasa answered to a muffled question, "Yeah, I'm sure. We watched him go... No, I haven't heard from him... Why?"
By this point, Tsubasa's expression was very troubled, and he seemed to be getting more worried as the seconds pressed on, something that was shared by all three of Madoka, Minoru, and Maru as they listened and watched what was happening.
"What?" Tsubasa questioned suddenly, disbelief and confusion filling his voice to the brim unexpectedly and reflecting in his amber eyes, "What do you mean?... He hasn't called or anything?..."

"Tsubasa?" Madoka questioned softly before she could remind herself of manners, eyebrows knit together in worry, "What's going on?..."
Tsubasa held up a finger to wordlessly say 'one moment', and listened intently to what was saying on the other side of the phone.
"Alright, you're sure?" The silverette asked the woman on the other end, whom of which Madoka could faintly hear.
Whatever was going on, she sounded worried, panicked, even...
"Okay... Yes, I'll try getting a hold of him." Tsubasa said half-reassuringly, "Yes, I'll get back to you... Yes, I promise, Mrs. Kurogane. I'll keep you updated and tell you if we hear from him... Okay... Okay, just stay calm, and don't worry, we'll try... Yes... Alright, Bye."
Tsubasa hung up phone with unexpected force, driven by the disbelief and worry that had etched themselves onto his face and currently resided his mind.
"What was that?" Madoka asked, "What's going on? She sounded scared..."
They both saw Tsubasa swallow thickly, and he looked as though he were trying to form the proper words to say. As though he could never imagine ever piecing the ones needed together into a logical sentence that was true. Finally, voice heavy with worry, he spoke, amber eyes looking up into separate pairs of turquoise and golden-brown, and briefly down at a pair of lavender.

"Zyro didn't make it home last night..."

To that, none of them were able to say anything, for, to that, there was nothing they could say.

Zyro didn't make it home last night...

Why?
Had something gone wrong with the train he'd taken?
Had something happened to him?
If so, what?
And where was he?
If something had happened to him, how serious was that matter?
How serious was this?
Pretty well all of them knew that it was practically impossible for him to have gotten lost. They had heard Zyro talk about his home near Omitama, through the forest and along one of the gravel off-roads; he had to know that area like the back of his hand, from all that he had ever told them.
After several moments, Madoka was able to say something, but all it was a stuttered question. "W-what?..."
Tsubasa looked at her, and shook his head apologetically. He didn't know what to say to her, or to any of them. That, in itself, was a frightening thought.
"Madoka?..." Maru asked quietly, looking up towards her teacher who returned her worried gaze. Madoka wanted to say something more, but she knew that she couldn't without voicing the tight coil in her chest that appeared just moments before. So she said nothing, much to Maru's discomfort, and simply placed a hand on that so familiar head of pink hair.
Tsubasa glanced down at the young girl briefly, before slowly nodding his head and picking up the phone receiver again.
"I'll try getting a hold of him." The silverette said softly, almost as if the breath had been knocked out of him, and began dialing the digits to Zyro's phone number.
However, he stopped after the first 2, and stood there, puzzled.
"What is it?" Minoru asked, concern and obvious uneasiness lacing his soft voice. Tsubasa raised an eyebrow, and lowered the phone from his ear, looking at it briefly with disturbed confusion.
"... The line's dead..." The silverette answered, his quiet voice loud in the silence of the office.

The quiet was then suddenly broken by a sound that came from behind Tsubasa's desk, from the large screen that was implanted into the wall, and all of them turned in alarm to see that it had switched on - by itself.
The screen was a deep shade of blue, like what you typically saw with error screens on old desktop computers when they crashed, with the faintest of sounds being emitted from the speakers that provided sound along the one wall.
Almost like a heart-monitor that had gone flat-line.
The sound from the speakers gradually got louder, until the point where all four of them were forced to cover their ears from the sharpness and volume that pervaded the room. Only after a few moments did the high frequency suddenly turn into a low static, switching in unison with the screen that suddenly became the distorted snow of television static.
All of them were tense with anticipation and fear, staring at the screen with disturbed confusion and worry. They lowered their hands from their ears, and stood there, not daring to move a muscle lest they trigger something.
The last time something like this had happened - even Minoru knew - it had been when Alcorin had first made himself known to them. But that had been ages ago, and that psychopath wasn't even around anymore whether in physical or psychological sense (or so Minoru had assured them).
Maru had even taken to stepping back a bit and hide behind Madoka, clinging onto her silently as they had all waited for the last result of this unnatural phenomenon.
And, finally, it came.
The audible and visible static both disappeared all at once, leaving the room silent, but with them staring at a much different picture than had originally been present on the screen. For, this time, it was a face that at least two of them recognized.

"Greetings, Director Otori." Came a smooth, confident voice from the speakers that surrounded the flat-screen, matching up perfectly with the movement on the screen.
It took Tsubasa at least 4 seconds before he was actually able to pull himself together and answer, still just barely able to register what was happening and why he of all people would suddenly just burst in in 'face-time' form.
When he spoke, his voice was uncharacteristically stiff and quiet. It was clear that he was still shaken up.
"Director Hideyoshi..." The silverette said shakily, his caramel skin unnaturally pale for him, "We... Didn't expect to hear from you so suddenly."

"Yes, well..." The other Director started with a half-smirk, "I figured I really shouldn't bother any of your secretaries, so I simply let myself in, more or less."

"W-well, we're... A little preoccupied at the moment..." Tsubasa said uneasily, though he didn't break eye contact, "But... I'm sure that we can spare a few moments to talk about whatever it is you need..." Madoka glanced at Tsubasa briefly and nodded in agreement, though it was with less confidence than she had wanted to express. This was an action that was followed by neither Minoru nor Maru.
"Oh, you needn't worry..." The middle-aged man said pleasantly, "This won't take long..." The shift in his tone of voice was slight, but still noticeable, and it made Tsubasa twitch with discomfort and shiver run up Minoru's spine.
Hideyoshi's small smirk morphed back into a half-smile, although this time it had a different air to it - something far less pleasant (although the other one hadn't been that comforting either) than what had previously been there.
"As you may notice, the phone on your desk, which should be working fine, isn't at the moment." Hideyoshi pointed out almost casually, surprising all four of them at the sudden mention of that, "That's because we've disabled it and killed your line for the time being. As you may have also noticed, we did so only after you finished your conversation with Mrs. Kurogane."
Tsubasa's breath caught briefly in his throat, and his heart skipped a beat in his rib-cage. For a moment, he thought it may stop altogether.
How could he know about that?
"And, before you say anything, I assure you that we have a very valid reason for that." Hideyoshi explained, his tone of voice unsettling and making several of them - Maru and Madoka especially, squirm where they stood, "Simply so that we don't have any interruptions during our nice chat... And so that you can't just phone out to anyone. Now, what was my point of this, again?..." Rhetorical question; arrogant, prideful, smug. "Oh, yes!" Hideyoshi said as though he didn't already know the answer. Unexpectedly, a venomous look in his teal eyes appeared, and it made them all shiver in revulsion. "Whatever you do, I wouldn't recommend following through with your promise to Mrs. Kurogane... Doing so will do you nor little 'Zyro' any good." As though all air had gone from the world, all of them stopped breathing at the mention of that name. Hideyoshi, seeing this, carried on. "He won't be able to answer, anyway..." The man said, "He's quite... Subdued, at the moment..." "What are you talking about?" Tsubasa asked, sounding breathless by far more firm and grounded than he had been just moments before, "Where the hell is he?!"

"Oh, don't worry..." Hideyoshi said with mock reassurance, that damned smile of his never failing "He's in good hands now... Just as he always should've been, from the very beginning. I must say, Tsubasa, you've done an excellent job of keeping him from us. You, and the Kurogane's, and Sichiro... All of you have done an impressive job at hiding him away, making sure we never knew of his existence or where to find him... I even dare to congratulate you all on that, up until now." Tsubasa's eyebrows knit together, his breathing coming slow but in rapid periods. What the hell was he talking about? "I have half the mind to condemn all of you for your traitorous behavior at keeping such a valuable thing from us, and I really should punish you for it... But I'm not going to do that. And do you know why, Tsubasa?" Tsubasa shivered at the Director's use of his first name, and he vaguely felt Madoka place a hand on his forearm. He must not be looking too good...
"Because I know that you're a reasonable person." Hideyoshi said fondly, looking at him almost as if he were an old friend, "And, as we are both quite reasonable and logically-thinking people, you'll make the right choice in this matter. And, surely, you'll know what's best for you, and for the boy..." The elder man's face hardened up again, and his commanding nature - plus that smile of his - took hold. "If you really care about Subject Zero, you will find it your best interest to forget all about the boy. Forget he was ever in Metal Bey City, forget that you knew him, forget that he existed... You will do nothing to try to oppose us, which includes rising in revolt or trying to contact Subject Zero in any way or form. And, should you refuse..." A brief chuckle, "Well, you wouldn't want anything bad happening to him, now would you?"

"You son of a bitch..." Tsubasa said breathlessly, shaking his head while he stared at the other Director's smug face. The look of semi-calm fury on his face was startling.

"Now, now, no need to get angry, Director Otori." Hideyoshi said with a mock fond smile, "Despite my previous sayings, I really do come here in good tidings. I'm thanking you for your services to us... Without you and that Neo Battle Bladers tournament, we would've never caught on, and we would've never found Subject Zero again, after all of these years... So, thank you, for aiding in his return to us. But that doesn't mean your in my good graces, Otori... The boy is ours, and we will not be open to any negotiations."

"You can't just do that!" Madoka accused suddenly, shocking the the other three of them in the room, "You can't just say he's yours, that's kidnapping!"

"You're quite right..."" Hideyoshi said with an amused shake of his head, "It would be kidnapping... If he hadn't originally belonged to us in the first place. You see, 'Zyro Kurogane', as you know him, was always ours, from the time he was born to now. We was never the Kurogane's, not really. He was taken from us a long time ago, so they're the ones who really did the 'kidnapping'. You should be angry at them Ms, Amano, not at me. Can you really argue with that, as a mother yourself?"
To that, Madoka fell silent, biting her bottom lip roughly as her shoulders shook.
Satisfied with the effect he had on her, Hideyoshi turned his gaze back to Tsubasa.
"Face it, Otori." He said, his mockery fueling the fire in the silverette's blood, "You can't fight this. Not that you would want to, anyway. After all, we could do some cruel things to little 'Zyro', crueler than your fragile little mind could ever perceive, should you try to go against us... Or, better yet, we could strip you from your position as Director of Metal Bey City WBBA Headquarters altogether! Just a click of a button, and you'd be out on the streets with nothing but the clothes on your back before the week ends... Or, perhaps, even a prison cell."

"Y-you can't just do that..." Maru protested softly, but she flinched when that piercing gaze from behind wire-rimmed glasses fell onto her. Hideyoshi just chuckled, disregarding her, and looked back to Tsubasa once more. "Oh, but we can." The man answered as though Tsubasa had been the one who had spoken, "We have a lot of connections all around the world, and we can uncover a lot of things when we really want to, Otori. We can, and do, know more about you than even you about you... And we most certainly know that your not the cleanest slate of them all... And I can even guarantee that we can 'find' some more things to add to your sin-list."
Silently, Tsubasa balled his hands into fist at his sides, nails digging deep into the palms of his hands. Mortified, he said nothing.
"Well then... It looks like I've gotten the message across." Hideyoshi observed, pleased with himself, his venomous eyes lingering over all of them like a looming predator, "You know what's best for yourself and the people around you, Director Otori... So do play nice." With those final words, the screen when black again, shutting itself off all at once. Leaving them, once more, in a disturbed silence.
Slowly, perhaps unnaturally so, Tsubasa turned - turning away from Madoka's hand in the process - and placed both hands on the wood of his desk, bent over slightly and head hanging as though he were about to be sick. Madoka wouldn't be surprised if he was.

"Tsubasa?..." Madoka called softly, her voice small and quiet, almost reluctant to talk to him.
He didn't respond.
The brunette felt the little girl by her side hold onto her leg a little tighter, and her heart clenched with grief at all that was happening all too fast. Her turquoise eyes, glazed with agony, widened once she noticed that Tsubasa's shoulders were shaking ever so slightly, his body tense and rigid with undefinable emotions that she barely had to imagine.
The brunette had to bite down on her tongue once she saw the few drops of salt water that landed on the desk he was leaning over, and clutched both of her hands to her chest, where her heart hurt more than ever.

"Goddammit..." Tsubasa said quietly through his silent sobs, but it resounded through the office like a thunderclap. The anger and bitterness in his voice was unmistakable, but it was dampened down by something else that wasn't just grief.
There was emotion, a feeling, in that one curse that spoke above all else, one that Madoka would never have thought she would ever have to hear again from this man.
Powerless.
That's what he was.
That's what they all were.

Minoru, who had been standing off half to the side, watched this indirect exchange silently, finding he himself unable to say a single thing that could possibly make any of this better, because there was no way to make this better.
As nauseous as he felt, sick to his stomach, disgusted with the world, all he did was stand there. There was nothing he could say.
He looked down at Maru, who was now clutching Madoka's left hand tightly, her head bowed and her small body shaking. From the tears or the fear or the anger or the grief, he couldn't tell. Maybe all of them, maybe none... Once more, he looked at Madoka and Tsubasa.
Madoka stood there silently, helplessly, as Tsubasa poured out his restricted anguish in teaspoon-sized amounts. More than anything, she wished to comfort him, even though she too was hurting. But she couldn't. She could say nothing.
Nothing could make it better.
Silently, Minoru looked away, and cursed the world for it's few disgusting inhabitants...

The only sound in the home of the Kurogane's was the loud, terror-stricken sobs that issued themselves from Ikiyo's mouth, her face stained with dark tear tracks and grief so thorough that Saburo had a hard time looking at her as he held her close to his chest.
From where they sat on the floor, leaned against the wall and rocking slowly back in forth in unison, they could hear the dial tone of the wall phone droning on and on as it hung in place, not in the receiver.
Saburo stared at the damned thing with hate and fury in his eyes, gently stroking his wife's dark brown hair in a poor attempt to comfort her.
But she would not be comforted, and neither would he. Not after that, not after what they had heard coming from that man's mouth over the phone.
Ikiyo's screams resounded through the air, bouncing off the walls and ringing back to both of them with unforgiving mockery.
"No!..." She kept chanting through her sobs, repeated over and over like a prayer to God, "Oh god, NO!..."
There was no quiet acceptance, no silent denial of all that they had heard, but crippling desperation, unforgiving defiance agony that ripped through her like the stormy waves of the ocean they never saw. His wife's sorrow pained him more than anything, but what he felt at the moment was startling rage, fury so unforgivable that there would be no forgiven should he confess for his inner wrath.
He would've hung up the wall phone back into the receiver by now, but he would not dare leave Ikiyo's side. Even as she thrashed and squirmed and screamed in despair, he held her tightly, refusing to let go thus he lose her to the anguish that those people had placed upon them. How such a thing could happen so suddenly, he didn't know, nor did he know why this had to happen at all, why any higher being that existed had allowed this to happen...
There would be no need to receive a call back from Director Otori. Not when they knew that it could mean their - and perhaps Zyro's - lives.
"My babyyy!..." Ikiyo cried brokenly, burying her face into her husband's chest hard, lithe hands gripping at the fabric of his shirt like it was her only lifeline to this world. Maybe that was such what he hoped, though, selfishly in his wife's time of need.
Saburo knew that he could never be such a thing.
Ikiyo's life had been taken when Zyro had been...

In their silent grief and broken hearts, none of them could have possibly noticed the dark outline of a figure that stood outside the sliding glass doors to Tsubasa's office, standing at just the right angle against the wall that didn't trigger to motion sensor for the doors. Peering in through the translucent glass, frozen in incomprehensible fear.
Steel grey eyes ripped themselves away from the blurry scene inside, a pale hand coming up to cover a quivering mouth as he stared at the floor in abject horror.
He could've been trying to prevent himself from vomiting.
He could have been preventing himself from crying out in terror and fear and alerting them in his presence. But he couldn't do that... Not now.
Of all the things that he just had to hear when coming down this hallway - something he had done thousands of times before -, that was the one thing he had never wanted to hear. That he had never imagined he would ever have to hear...
Terror-stricken, Sichiro turned on his heel and hurried back down the hallway the way he had come. He made a sharp left at the elevator, and pushed open the door to the stairwell, barely pausing as he descended the floors of the building. Despite being sure to watch his step, despite the frantic thoughts and desperate plans that were coming to mind, there was only one thought in his head as he shot down the stairs two at a time.
Hideyoshi's first move had been made.
And now everything was going to go to hell.