Chapter 5 - Gone

The loud, frantic pounding of a fist at the front door was so sudden that Takanosuke nearly dropped the pitcher of orange juice that he was carrying, but he managed to catch it just in time so that only a few drops hit the hardwood floor.
He released the breath that he had briefly held in his surprise and then proceeded to put the pitcher back into the fridge after he had just taken it out. Orange juice could wait for the time being... Whatever Ren (and, yes, he was sure it was her) wanted, she clearly wasn't willing to wait.

"Takanosuke! Takanosuke!" Ren shouted from the other side of the door, an edge of desperate panic clinging to her voice, "Open up! Please!"
Sensing the urgency of the situation - whatever it was - Takanosuke jogged from the kitchen and into the living room and then opened the unlocked front door (he never understood why she never just came in of her own accord at this point) to face the female blonde on the other side. The moment it was even ajar, however, Ren practically forced her way into the house. She barely just managed a 'sorry, coming in' through her frantic manner.
"Uh, hi..." Takanosuke said quietly and awkwardly as she came in, and stood dumbfounded for a moment, watching her pace around the living room area, before he actually remembered that he should close the door.
That done, he turned to the Phoenix blader, who paced back and forth half the length of the room, her hands brought up and together in front of her.
Silently, he wondered what she was doing here so soon after her last visit. Typically, she would come and see him every couple or few days in a fairly stable schedule, and she was pretty loyal to it. Whatever made her break that pattern now had to be something worth panicking about - especially when it came to Ren.

"Shit, shit, shit..." He heard her muttering to herself in panic, face pressed to her steepled fingers as though in prayer, "shit... Oh God!..."

"Ren, what's wrong?" Takanosuke asked eyebrows knit tightly together in worry.

"Everything's wrong!" The blonde girl said, ripping her hands out of their steeple position and waving them briefly, "Oh, shit, why now?!..."
Takanosuke watched, uncertain of what to do, as she breathed deeply, struggling to calm herself down. Her pacing slowed, but the air of desperate panic that surrounded her filled the room and was almost overwhelming.
"Jesus, I'm sorry," She apologized once she managed to get herself to sober up at least a little, and was finally able to bring herself to look at him. "I-I didn't mean to just barge in, or anything, it's just..." She trailed off helplessly, and then weaved her hands into her hair, shaking her head with unjustified denial and disbelief written over her face. "Dear God!... Oh Christ, Jesus!..."

"Ren, just calm down..." Takanosuke tried, stepping forward a few steps, a hand reached halfway out to her. He did what he could to relax his own expression, but he knew that it was practically no use. "What's wrong?" He asked, "What's going on?"
Ren looked to struggle with herself for a moment, her expression half-pained with the difficulty that came with trying to explain what her panic was induced by. To this very moment, it was obvious that even though what she knew was true, that she was still just so unable to believe it.
"Zyro's been kidnapped!" She said with a force that was practically unbearable, filled with an urgency and frantic quality that she couldn't contain as she finally said it.
And now, Takanosuke could no longer question her behavior...

Ringing.

A loud ringing, in his ears, in his head.

Deafening, blocking out everything else.

Heavy eyelids. Almost stuck together. Struggle to open them.

Blurry. Everything's blurry.
Something bright, overhead.

Shadows.

Muffled sounds.
Sounds...
Voices.

"He's stirring!"

Clearer. The ringing still there.

"Watch him."

Close eyes. Open them again.
Still blurry.
Body stiff.
Can barely feel it.

"Impressive... Most..."

Fading out. Fading in.

"... of course..."

Move. Try to move.
It's hard.
Fingers.
Shift them.

Metal?...
Something hard...
On something hard.

"Give me that."

He moved his head. Right side.
So heavy...
Nothing clear, just shadows.

White, gray, silver... Green... Earthy colors?...
Movement.

"Hold him."

Grasping him. Hands, grasping him.
Why?

Something sharp, in his arm, pressing in.

move

A sound came out of him. Couldn't identify it.
Hands pressed down on him.
Harder.

struggle move

It was out.
Tensing. Shifting.

pull struggle get away

Everything too heavy.
Barely move.
Pulling anyway.

"He's struggling!... waking up!..."

"... sedative, now!"

Breathing hard.
Try to move. Move head again. Heavy...
Shadows, light, movement.

Close eyes again. Open again.
Someone over him.
Vision clearer, still blurry.

"Hold him still!"

Flinch slightly... Voices too loud.

Ringing.

Something sharp again, in his neck.

no no no fight it

He tries.
Hands holding him down.
Let go!... No voice. Only theirs.

"... administered..."

"What now?"

"Scissors..."

Heavy breathing.
Sharp thing gone.
Pain still there.

Blurry again...

Something scraping... Metal?...
Head falling to the side, eyelids heavy.

Stop it... Still no voice.

Can't speak.

They can.

"...him... in case..."

"...careful..."

snip-snip

No... Stop... No... No voice.
Blurry.
Movement.
Ringing.
Breathing.

snip-snip

Close eyes.

don't go to sleep

Mind fuzzy... Can't think.
Breathing.
Ringing.

snip-snip

Voices. Sounds. Muffled...
Stay awake... Stay awake...

snip-snip

Cold...
Fuzzy...
Awake...
Gone...

"W-what do you mean he's been kidnapped?" Takanosuke asked, confused out of his mind at what Ren was talking about. But, really, it should've have been that hard to figure it out, because it was just as she said.
"I mean, he's gone!" Ren tried to explain, unable to stand still, "Someone took him! They took him and he's gone!... And I say, someone..." Her voice was bitter at that last bit, and she ran her hands through her hair again, frazzling it more than it already was.
"But, how?" Takanosuke questioned incredulously. He watched as Ren started to pace, but less frantically than she had before. "You just saw him yesterday, right? What happened?"

"We don't know!..." Ren answered helplessly, "We don't know what happened, but he's gone!..." She breathed deeply, shaky from her struggle of trying not to cry (though he wouldn't blame her if she did), and she soon became bitter again. "But we do know who. Oh, we know who..." She said, eyebrows curved downwards halfway between anguish and anger.
"Who?..." Takanosuke asked quietly, eyes wide as he awaited an answer.
Once more, Ren stopped pacing, and she turned to him. The tears were on the edges of her eyelashes, threatening to fall down her cheeks and stain them, but she held back from it. From the looks of her, they were angrier than anything.
"The WBBA..." She said in a strained voice, a voice that might haunt him forever, "the Tokyo, WBBA."

Silence.

"W-wha..." Takanosuke started shakily, weakly, "w-w-what?..."
A WBBA corporation? But... No. That couldn't be possible, could it?
The WBBA didn't just kidnap bladers off the streets like that!
Or at least they had never done it before...
No, that couldn't be it. But from the look on Ren's face, Takanosuke knew that it was.

"The Tokyo WBBA!" Ren repeated, louder this time, stretching her arms out to either side of her before bringing them in again, "Of all people... Dear Lord..."

"But..." Takanosuke tried to say, though he had to wait a moment before he could actually bring himself to speak because how could this happen? "But... I don't get it," Takanosuke finally said, "Why would they do that?..."

"I don't know!..." Ren repeated helplessly for the probably the dozenth time in the last five minutes, clearly distressed and unable to keep her gaze or body in one solid place, "I-I didn't really get anything about that.. some bullshit of him 'belonging' to them, or something, I don't know!..."

"W-where did you hear this from?" Takanosuke asked, trying to get as much information as he could, "Who told you?"

"Madoka did..." Ren answered, hanging her head with her hands pressed against her temples, "W-we were just at the B-Pit, hanging out, and then she came running in and she was panicking and we tried to ask her what was wrong! And she... and..."
Takanosuke stepped forward, gently placing a worried hand on Ren's shoulder. It was probably a poor attempt at trying to calm her down, but he kept his hand there anyway. Ren slumped her shoulders, letting her hands fall to her side uselessly.
"I just..." She tried, "She started explaining everything, but all I really heard was that Zyro was kidnapped by the Tokyo WBBA, and then something about him 'belonging' to them, or that's what they said, and... Jesus, I don't know!... I just kinda ran out of there, I didn't know what to do!... So I just came here, I didn't know where else to go, I just... Sorry for bursting in like this, I didn't mean too, I panicked..."

"I-it's okay." Takanosuke assured her, and pat her shoulder briefly before letting his hand fall, "I-I don't mind."
Ren sighed heavily through her nose and shook her head.
"Okay, just... Sorry." She apologized again, "...I should go, everybody's probably freaking out, and I'm not doing too much to help that... Sorry, again..."
Silently, Takanosuke nodded. Ren just gave him a smile - small, weak, distressed - before walking towards the door. The male blonde held it open for her and gave her a small smile in return as she exited the house and started off down the cobblestone path.
If he could've said anything, he would've. But he couldn't.
Silently, Takanosuke closed the door behind her but remained there for some time after. His hand stayed pressed against the smooth mahogany wood, skin a lot paler than it had been just minutes before. Now that he thought about it, everything had been different just a few minutes ago, before Ren had come knocking.
"Oh God..." Takanosuke said quietly, but in the quiet of the house, his voice was like a roar that came back to him time and again. His shoulders trembled against his will, and sudden nausea in his stomach nearly made him double over right then and there. He pressed one hand against his mouth, and slowly leaned himself against the door instead. He lowered himself to the ground at about as slow of a pace as a turtle, and simply sat there. Back pressed up against the door, he brought his knees halfway up his chest and said naught a word.
As much as that used to be appealing before, the silence of the house was no longer a comforting thing...

When Madoka had left the WBBA Headquarters to hurry back to the B-Pit, wholly convinced that the other younger bladers - and Benkei, as well - needed to hear about this sudden and unsettling news, both Maru and Minoru had stayed behind with Tsubasa. Maru had been quick to try to follow Madoka as she always did, but the brunette had insisted that the pinkette stay there with Minoru so that they could watch over Tsubasa. Maru quickly saw the reason in this, as the silverette was far more distressed than most of them were at the moment.
Seeing the point, Maru obliged, before heading over to Tsubasa - who was now sitting down on the couch off to the side - and sitting beside him. It had been just barely a half hour since Madoka had left the building, and, in that time-frame, Tsubasa didn't seem to be doing too much better than he had been. He was just sitting there, his hands together in front of his face, and was silent for a majority of the time. He was clearly trying to pull himself together, trying to regain his calm and orderly composure that was second nature to him by now.
Whether or not that was working had was yet to be seen, but the good news was that he seemed to have calmed down considerably. He had long since wiped away the tears that had once cascaded down his cheeks, although the tracks left by them remained.
Maru had been sitting there with him for the majority of the time since Madoka had left, doing her best to comfort the man. Surprisingly enough, she seemed to be doing a pretty good job, and Tsubasa had even responded to her a few times. It wasn't much, but it was something.
Minoru observed this from where he stood near Tsubasa's desk and marveled at the small girl. A child still, but with more empathy than he had seen in most people throughout his life. She was definitely mature for her age.
Maybe too mature for her age...
Silently, the bluenette shook his head and decided not to think about that.

"God, how could this happen?" Tsubasa said softly, almost to himself, "We just saw him yesterday, and now..."

"Well, we didn't know, right?" Maru questioned, shrugging her small shoulders, "So, you can't really blame yourself for it... I wouldn't have imagined that the Director Hideyoshi could do something like that..." Tsubasa glanced over at her, a soft look in his eyes before looking away again. Finally, he pushed himself up and stood.
"Somehow, I'm almost not surprised..." He said, walking over to his desk again, followed closely by the pinkette. He briefly wiped at his eyes again with his sleeve. "Director Hideyoshi is a powerful man... And, as the heart of the Japanese government, has the power to do whatever the hell he pleases whenever the hell he pleases..."

"So... He can just kidnap a kid and no one can object?" Minoru asked, disgusted by the mere thought of anyone having that much power. Legal power, no less.
"Oh no, people can object, no doubt about it." The silverette clarified, placing both hands on the surface of his desk as he earlier, "But I wouldn't be surprised if he used everything in his power to keep people quiet about it... Like me..." The last part was spoken almost inaudibly, but both Maru and Minoru heard loud and clear, the bitterness that embodied it too hard to ignore.
"But..." Maru tried, and paused for a moment as though trying to find the words, "I-isn't it wrong to just do that? I mean, how he could accuse you of 'hiding' Zyro from them?... W-whatever that means..."

"I don't know..." Tsubasa said hopelessly, slumping his shoulders and shaking his head, "But whatever he thinks, it's enough for him to threaten and blackmail me so that we won't try looking for Zyro... Now knowing that bastard, I wouldn't be surprised if he's already sent the same message to the Kurogane's, and even Si-" Suddenly, Tsubasa stopped speaking all together just before he said the name that was on the tip of his tongue and ready to escape, a look of sudden shock and realization making itself at home on his face. Both Maru and Minoru glanced at each other, and then looked back to Tsubasa.
"What is it?" Minoru questioned, concerned at the silverette's sudden silence.
For several seconds, Tsubasa didn't answer, seeming to be entirely caught up in his own thoughts that were processing the idea that ran through his head. Both Maru and Minoru looked at him quizzically and started to grow worried before the Director finally spoke. "Sichiro..." He said softly, surprising them both, "Sichiro..."

"From Research and Development?" Maru asked, confused, "What about him?"

"That's it..." Tsubasa said without answering, "He might know!..." In a flash, Tsubasa had picked up the phone on his desk for the third time in the last hour, and, upon hearing the satisfying drone of the dial tone, dialed the number that would give way to his secretary's desk. It only took a moment for her to pick up.
"Good morning, Director!" Tamako said warmly from the other end of the line, "What can I do for you?"

"Tamako, can you please page Sichiro Yamauchi and tell him to come to my office, please?" Tsubasa asked, hoping that he didn't sound as desperate or wound-up as he felt.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Director." Tamako apologized in a calm and steady voice, "Sichiro signed out just a half hour ago to go home. Said something about a family emergency. I could patch you through to his landline if you like."

"Yes, please, do that." The silverette said, tapping his right index finger against the wood of his desk in anticipation.
"Right away." Tamako said obligingly, and it was only a moment before the line was cut off from it and was sent to a different one. The distinctive ringing from the other side of the line rang once, twice, three times. It was after the sixth ring that the line finally went through to voicemail, Sichiro's familiar voice giving his cell number and instructing the caller to leave a message.
Silently, Tsubasa hung up the phone into the receiver but didn't move from where he was standing, trying to think critically to himself through the stress that still addled his brain. Working under pressure wasn't typically a problem for him, but this time it was a bit more than a simple deadline that was pressing down on him...

Family emergency, huh?...
He had looked through Sichiro's file multiple times, as he did with all the files of new workers or when changes were made to any of them, and not once had he ever seen there be any emergency contacts, or any family listed down. Not anyone that was alive, anyway.
Not even anyone that he considered being family. In fact, for as long as he could remember, Sichiro's file had always been a nearly blank slate for background or familial details - other than where it listed down his mother, deceased for 20 years, and his seemingly estranged father (as was demanded for all files) - for the 8-9 years that he had working here. With no siblings or cousins or even godparents listed down anywhere, Sichiro had no close contacts with any form of family that they knew of. He had also been around many of his underlings downstairs who worked in the same department as Sichiro to know that the man never talked about his past or where he came from. So, therefore, nobody knew anything about his personal life.
The one who knew him the best was Ayano Kagome, one of his most trusted and reliable subordinates, but even she attested to saying that Sichiro probably wouldn't tell her anything even if she held his ear in between a pair of pliers.
So saying that he had a 'family emergency' was, somehow, a little hard to believe.
Tsubasa, however, was not convinced that Sichiro leaving just about a half hour earlier, around the same time that they had received that damning message from Hideyoshi, was a simple coincidence. In this day and age, nothing was...

It wouldn't have mattered if Tsubasa had called Sichiro's landline or not. He wasn't even home, anyway. Not anymore, at least.
Yes, he had been there, but only for the briefest of moments, which was spent rummaging around in his closet for a change of clothes and making sure that everything - save the phone, which he now never answered anyway - was unplugged. He had checked all electronics and had even checked the lights in his paranoia, to assure that there was no bugs or hidden cameras placed around.
He knew, logically, that there wasn't because they could be watching him in other ways, but he had checked anyway.
You could never be too careful.
He had changed out of his suit, folded it neatly on the dresser, and put on a different outfit that would make him blend in. It would probably make him look shadier than anything, but he would take what he could get.
After that, he had turned all the lights off, and left the apartment, locking the door and taking the key with him. If anyone were to walk into the apartment now, it would be dark and look nearly abandoned but for the furniture and appliances. The dresser in his room was half empty of the few clothes that he owned, the blinds closed and the lights off and the room cold, because he didn't use the thermostat.
Anyone who walked in could almost instantly know that whoever had lived there was gone now, rushed out in a flurry of panic despite the neatly folded suit on top of the dresser.

The man who had lived there was gone. And he would not be coming back now that things were going to hell. He was perhaps one of the only people that really knew, and, although it was selfish, he was not going to risk staying there should they come for him and he not make it out of the situation alive.
Nobody saw Sichiro leave the apartment, both because he left through the back exit and because nobody could recognize him.
He was almost always in that suit of his, carrying his briefcase - which had been left in the closet, empty - and looking classy enough to host a party on the fly. Not now, however.
Now he was a stranger that nobody recognized and that hardly anyone would take a second glance at when they saw him on the street. They would assume he was probably just some no-life who lived on the outskirts in the dirty neighborhoods or a homeless man that spent his days digging through trash cans and had nothing but the clothes and bag on his back.
That was the trick to it all, to lower yourself down until nobody suspected anything of you. Of course, he had been failing to do that for the last month in his paranoia, but now the most strenuous part of it had passed.
After all of these years, he knew how to fade into the background, how to slip off under the radar and make people oblivious to you. It was what had saved his life for 6-7 years in that terrible place, and now it was what he had to do again if he was going to live long enough to get see all of this end, no matter how it did. And, hopefully, it would end in the better favor.
Digging his hands into the deep pockets of the hoodie he was wearing, he fingered the cell phone that he still carried with him. He had one more call to make, and then he would have to dump it somewhere, where it couldn't be found. A payphone would be smarter, and he knew that, but, with the number, the WBBA would instantly recognize it and not ask any questions about who was calling.
After that, he would be gone. But he couldn't guarantee himself that nobody would be able to track his footsteps...

Although Naomi still wanted to at least try and remind Director Hideyoshi that he couldn't always do things like that and still expect no one to try and stand against him, and that a lot of their similar ploys had been mainly based on luck and what they could do when they hacked into private files and permanent records, she knew that there was only a small chance that he was actually going to listen to her.
At any other time, in any other situation similar to this, he might have considered her words, turned them around in his mind and actually thought about them critically before acting. This time, however, she knew it would be fruitless in trying to argue with him.
Especially since he was in as good a mood as he was, which, she knew, could turn out to either be beneficial or fatal. And, at this point, she was already beginning to see the part where this could end up bearing bad things for them.
The Director's warning call to Director Otori had been something that she previously opposed in terms of their plan for assuring that no one looked for Zyro. The warning that they had given the Kurogane's to stay silent probably could've possibly been enough, had not they made that phone call to Tsubasa about 'their' missing child.
Of course, that wasn't entirely unexpected. The Kurogane's wouldn't just sit around waiting for Zyro forever, so it was undoubted that they would have eventually called someone to report his disappearance, whether it be the 'friends in high places' that the kid had in Metal Bey City or even just the local police. Either way, they knew very well that Tsubasa would've found out that Zyro was missing no matter what courses of action they took. She hadn't necessarily opposed the idea of threatening him altogether, she had just opposed doing it so soon. However, the Kurogane's call had changed that.
The idea that the silverette would find out sooner or later was the entire reason that sending him a warning had been part of the plan, and why it had been so well directed with plenty of Tsubasa's past 'complications' to back them up. Not to mention the 'threat' of harming Zyro should he refuse to comply.
Even Naomi had to admit that the Director had done a very fine job of tying Otori's hands to his ankles, no matter how wary she currently was of their situation.

However, she said nothing and followed along obediently behind the older man as they both walked briskly through the pale green and whitewashed halls of the facility that was connected to the main WBBA building. They passed by many men and woman wearing prim suits, white lab coats, and even jumpsuits, all of whom greeted the Director when they had the chance.
Hideyoshi greeted them in turn, the more than satisfied smile on his space speaking loud and clear about his current mood.
The two of them checked in with several of the labs along the way, checking with the scientists and researchers to assure that everything else was running smoothly along with their current objective. Fortunately, there was good news all around.

"Truly," The Director started as the two of them entered one of the several elevators that manned the current floor they were on, "this is a day for real celebration. To think, after all these years, he's finally in our possession again."

"Naturally." Naomi said in her usual cold voice, and pressed '3', "We always knew that Subject Zero couldn't be hidden from us forever. Unless, of course, he was just some nobody on the other side of the globe..."

"Which he is anything but." Hideyoshi stated, his hands clasped firmly in front of him, "Fortunate, don't you think? The very thing we had stolen from us all those years ago just happens to win one of the most famous and important tournaments of the century. Quite the coincidence, if I do say so myself."

"You don't believe in coincidences," Naomi stated matter-of-factually.
Hideyoshi just smirked at that.
"Exactly." He said, pleased at her unneeded reminder. That just meant she still knew him as well as she always had.

With a flat 'ding!' , the elevator doors slid open, and the two of them immediately walked out, being replaced by another man dressed in blue scrubs and a lab coat.
"Good morning, Director." Greeted a young woman dressed well in a dark suit who had been standing off to the side in the hall, waiting for their arrival.
"Good morning indeed, Yui." Hideyoshi greeted in turn as the short woman walked briskly alongside him, "How is it going with him?"

"Good. They're nearly done." The blonde reported as they all turned sharply to the right and down a short flight of stairs to the sub-level, "They've collected more than enough samples from him, and they're currently monitoring his heart rate and brain waves for any activity. Everything is stable, and they've had no complications. He woke up once, surprisingly, but he was too out of it to barely even move. Still, we had to sedate him again out of precaution, so he'll definitely be out for awhile longer."

"Just as well." Hideyoshi said with a nod, "Have there been any interesting abnormalities?"
Instead of answering right away, Yui gave a brief, amused grunt.
"You'll have to ask the lab team about that one." She said, "Let's just say that Kuro has a lot to live up too with whatever this kid has going for him."
Hideyoshi smirked and looked ahead of him again.
"Now that I like the sound of." He said contentedly, and they both followed Yui out into the Observation Deck.
Similar to any of the teaching hospitals found around the globe, it was like a walled-off canopy lined with bullet-proof glass along the north face of it. However, there were no two rows of built-in seats for viewing pleasure, as they were no training hospital or anything of the sort. Walking inside, Hideyoshi and Naomi were greeted with the scene that lay below on the other side of the glass.
Similar to an OR, but for far different purposes than just that. At least 16 different Lab workers, from researchers to scientists to doctors, were all spread out across the room, and at least a quarter of them encircled the metal table of which Zyro Kurogane - as he was known to the rest of the world - lay upon.
Unconscious, strapped down with leather restraints, the boy was laid out perfectly still for the Researchers to conduct their work, which was, evidently, nearly done, if the way that the other three-quarters of the room were currently bagging up the necessary equipment and starting to package several other things up. This time, he would be going nowhere. And this time that would be assured.

"Wonderful." Hideyoshi commented, clearly pleased, "I can't wait to see the results of what we can do with those samples... If Kuro were not impressive enough in his abilities, I can't even begin to imagine what he has to offer."

"Oh, don't even get me started on that." Yui said as she folded her arms over her chest, "These folks are giddy enough as it is with being able to collect all this data from him... Seeing him in action will be an entirely different story."

"But of course." Hideyoshi agreed with a small chuckle, "They have every right to be... We've waited fifteen years for this. Fifteen years... And now, finally, we're getting all we ever dreamed of."
The Director's teal eyes narrowed in a near-predatory gaze over the unconscious boy on the table, and his smile became an unsettling smirk, filled with contemplation and future considerations. Glasses catching the light, the man looked over towards one of the 8 security cameras that lined the room, watching it from where they stood as it continued moved back and forth like a regular surveillance camera.
There was nothing conspicuous about it, not at all. As well as he knew, it could just be a regular surveillance camera, working normally as they all usually did.
However, he knew that even he couldn't possibly resist witnessing AETL history in the making.