Chapter 8: Dendritic

"Yes, violent one," said a deep voice from behind the group.

All of the cells whirled around. Basophil had appeared behind them, without any warning or sound.

Basophils: although most of their functions are still unknown, basophils play a role in calling immune cells to the source of an infection, as well as the release of histamine to dilate the blood vessels.

"Basophil!"

Basophil eyed Memory T Cell harshly. "Be mindful of your words; you may not know the duties of others, but the individual performs according to his designation for the good of the whole. All are needed for the survival and proliferation of this world we call home."

"But where did you go?"

"It is none of your concern how I go about my duties. Be at peace with your own."

Memory T Cell blinked, absolutely confused. "Wha-?"

"The threat to this world has been extinguished. We are fortunate today to have suffered little, but the day may come where corruption consumes us all," said Basophil, ignoring Memory T.

"What is he saying?" asked Memory T.

"The abyss consumes all eventually; we must be vigilant until that fateful day, to stave off the decay of this world."

Red Blood Cell thought this was getting confusing. "Eosin- I mean, 6677, maybe we should continue looking for your book," she suggested. It was strange referring to her with a number, she had just been "Eosinophil" until now.

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure," Eosinophil stuttered. She turned to EO-5178. "Don't make a big deal out of it, but if you find a pink notebook with red flowers, please bring it to me. I really need to find it."

"Sure thing! If you don't mind, how did you lose it?"

Eosinophil scratched her chin. "I'm not sure. I don't remember where I last had it, I just noticed at some point it was gone."

EO-5178 nodded. "I understand. I'll keep an eye out. See you around, good luck finding it."

"Thanks."

The group began making their way through the Eosinophils. Memory T declined to join, since he "doesn't have time for dumb things." The Eosinophil Army also began to disperse, the threat having been neutralized.

As they continued walking, White Blood Cell said to Eosinophil, "We should probably go find Dendritic Cell and see if he knows where it is."

Eosinophil gulped. "Oh… okay…"

Red Blood Cell tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, just wondering… is it okay if I still call you Eosinophil? It feels weird to just call you by a number."

"Oh, of course. As long as we aren't in the middle of a crowd like this, I know who you're talking to."

...

The group finally reached Dendritic Cell's home. Just from seeing the snug treehouse, the average person wouldn't understand why Eosinophil seemed so reluctant to enter the cozy-looking cottage. But the immune cells knew. Oh, they knew.

All immune cells knew personally of the horrors that Dendritic Cell hoarded. They knew of the secrets that he kept onto, long after it seemed everyone else had forgotten. The only immune cells that were immune to Dendritic himself seemed to be the macrophages, who never had a moment where they weren't graceful and elegant. In fact, they seemed to be amused by Dendritic's shenanigans.

Red Blood Cell also knew that Dendritic had enormous blackmail power over the immune cells, at least from the stories she heard from 1146. Still, she thought that maybe he was exaggerating. Dendritic Cell always seemed like a perfectly nice and friendly cell to her.

And, if she were honest, she also felt a tad curious to see what exactly Dendritic had in his possession.

Eosinophil swallowed hard and raised her hand to knock on the door. She hesitated. Bringing her hand down, she fidgeted with her collar and adjusted her cap. She prepared to knock again, then she hesitated again.

"Big Sister, what's wrong? Why don't you knock?" asked Backwards Cap-kun.

"I, uh… Dendritic is a very scary cell," Eosinophil explained.

"He's always nice to me."

The platelets were clueless of Dendritic's antics. They didn't know the true purpose behind the photos he took.

Red Blood Cell felt an idea surface. "Backwards Cap-kun, you're a strong platelet, right?"

Backwards Cap-kun beamed up at her, eyes full of determination. "Yeah!"

"Well, Big Sister Eosinophil is feeling a little scared right now. Do you think maybe you could help her? She can pick you up on her shoulders and you can knock for her."

The little platelet saluted Red Blood Cell. "Okay, Big Sister Red Blood Cell!" He then turned to Eosinophil, arms raised.

Eosinophil looked at Red Blood Cell, her face a mix of fear, relief, and warmth. No one could resist the platelets.

She squatted down, allowed Backwards Cap-kun to climb onto her back, and then stood up. Making sure she had a firm hold of his legs. Eosinophil leaned forwards a little to let Backwards Cap-kun reach the door.

He knocked.

Rap rap rap rap rap!

"Mr. Dendritic Cell, we have a question to ask you!" Backwards Cap-kun shouted through the door. Eosinophil shifted him on her back.

"One minute!" came the muffled reply. The group could hear shuffling and footsteps, and the door suddenly opened from the inside.

"Welcome! Please, come in, come in!" said Dendritic Cell.

Dendritic Cells: antigen-presenting cells responsible for activating T Cells, as well as communicating between the adaptive and innate immune system.

Dendritic Cell wore a green military uniform, complete with slacks, jacket, and peaked cap. He had a white button-up shirt and black tie on under his jacket, and his cap had a golden, eight-pointed sun badge pinned above the bill. Sticking up from the band of his cap was a small leafy branch. His dark eyes were warm and kind, and his face was framed with fluffy black hair.

Eosinophil shuddered. Who knew what this psychopath was going to do?

"Would you like some snacks?" he asked.

...

As they ate some very delicious cookies, Eosinophil decided it was best to get the hard part over with.

"Dendritic Cell… I've lost an important notebook. It's pink with red flowers, have you seen it?"

Dendritic scratched his chin. "Actually, yes, I have seen it."

Eosinophil's mitochondria twisted in her chest as her face drained of color. "Y-y-y-you have?!"

"Yes, just a short while ago actually. A small lactic acid bacterium had it. I tried to get it, but the little fellow was just too fast for me, haha." Dendritic Cell grinned. "He ran off with the book and I haven't seen him or the book since."

Eosinophil's organelles felt like they were twisted as tightly as chromosomes. So, someone had finally found her book, and Dendritic hadn't seen the inside, but it had disappeared again. Of course this wasn't over yet.

"I did take a picture of the little guy. Maybe it can help you find him." Dendritic rose from the table, went into the adjacent room, and returned with a box. He plopped it on the table, and Eosinophil could see it was full of photographs. He began to rummage through them.

Immediately, Eosinophil and White Blood Cell's faces started blushing. Eosinophil flushed even deeper when she caught sight of a photograph of her, just after she had defeated the Anisakis. In the picture, she was blushing furiously and smiling like a crazy person while many other cells surrounded her. She only caught sight for a second before it was gone, lost in the shuffle of hundreds of other photographs.

"Mm-hm, mm-hm, oh! Miss Red Blood Cell, I think you will like this one," Dendritic said as he pulled a picture from the box and handed it to the redhead. Red Blood Cell's signature curl physically jumped as she looked at the picture, which was of U-1146 enthusiastically singing karaoke in a storage closet as Basophil walked in behind him. White Blood Cell turned as red as AE-3803's jacket as he covered his face.

"Nooooooooo…" he groaned.

"White Blood Cell, I had no idea you liked singing so much! What are your favorite songs?" asked Red Blood Cell energetically.

"Oh, and Miss Macrophage, here's one of you, elegant as ever!"

Dendritic proceeded to pull a photo of Macrophage smiling widely and posing next to… no way… NK Cell, the two of them dressed in similar frilly maids' dresses.

"Oh, and here's one of Basophil-sama…"

Sliding another photo to the platelets, Eosinophil could see a photo taken when she and U-1146 were young myelocytes. The two of them were in a rowboat with none other than Basophil as a band cell. At the time, Basophil had not yet picked up his practice of wearing a mask, and they could see his thin face and smooth skin. His light brown hair was very curly and unruly, and his eyes would be best described as pretty. Of course, one had to look at the photo upside down to really see it… this picture was taken one of the times the three had capsized the boat in the lake.

"Wow! Mr. Basophil-sama, is this you! You're so handsome in this picture!" said Platelet Leader-chan, smiling widely.

"I appreciate your kind words, Little One, but what is physical beauty worth if the soul is stained with corruption? What is the face but a mask we show to the outside world, hiding our true selves deep within?"

Leader-chan looked at Basophil, confused. "If your face is a mask, why are you wearing another one?"

Basophil blinked, caught off guard by this simple but profound observation. "Ah, the simpleness of youth, which takes note of occurrences that even the most experienced miss. What is more wonderful in this life?"

Red Blood Cell pointed at the two myelocytes in the boat. "White Blood Cell-san, Eosinophil-san, are these you?"

Eosinophil pulled her cap down over her eyes. "Y-yes. When we were myelocytes, we looked up to Basophilic Band Cell as a senpai."

"Oh my gosh! You two are soooo cute! I can't believe it, you were so small! Wow!" Red Blood Cell turned to Dendritic Cell. "May I keep this one as well?"

"Of course, I make multiple copies of every photo I take… Oh! Here it is!" Dendritic Cell stopped rummaging around in the box and pulled out the photo he was looking for. He handed it to Eosinophil.

The picture showed a small lactic acid bacterium with a notebook almost as big as it. It was plump and squishy, with a grey head and a white bottom.

No doubt about it, the notebook was hers. It was pink with red flowers.

"Hmm… there are trillions of bacteria in the small intestine alone, how will we find this one?"

White Blood Cell looked up from his hands and took the photograph to inspect it.

"Hmmm… I think I know a place to start. A while ago I helped a Normal Cell bring a group of lost lactic acid bacteria back home. That Normal Cell lives near the lymph nodes." He looked up at the group. "Maybe this is one of the lactic acid bacteria we helped, and it's headed towards him. It's not much, but it's a start."

Eosinophil took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's try there."

"I hope you find your book, dear. I don't know what I would do if I lost my camera," Dendritic Cell said.

Every Immune Cell ever would rejoice, Eosinophil thought dryly.

"Um… is that Memory T Cell-sama?" asked Backwards Cap-kun, pointing towards a photo in the box.

The entire group looked in. It took Eosinophil all of her willpower not to gasp, and then burst out laughing. Sure enough, among all the other embarrassing pictures, was a photograph of Memory T Cell dressed in women's clothing, complete with ostentatious makeup, a bright red sequined dress, sheer, knee-high socks held up with garters, a feather boa, and high heels. Behind him, two other Killer T Cells were also dressed in drag, having donned maid outfits. Memory T Cell was looking back at them, laughing hard.

So many questions…

Eosinophil covered her mouth with her hands. She did her best not to laugh, she really did. She almost made the mistake of looking up at her colleagues, but she knew that making eye contact would break her willpower.

Her willpower was finally broken when Backwards Cap-kun said, "I didn't know he was a girl."

The dam was breached, and no one in the group stopped laughing for five minutes.