AN: Here's the next chapter. I kind of wish this story could get more feedback because I would appreciate ideas that reviewers might have and suggestions on how I can improve this story.
Chimerian Hammer...
Returning to the warship, Vilgax stood in the bridge, looking at the supposed leader of the Devil Beasts with sheer disgust on his face. He soon turned to the human EVO and demanded an explanation, "Van Kleiss, what is this abomination?! And why have you brought it here?" Vilgax snarled.
It was then that Satoru introduced himself to the warlord, "You can call me Satoru my dear Vilgax. I come with a proposition."
Vilgax raised a brow, "Oh really? And what does the likes of you think they can demand of Lord Vilgax?"
The psychotic child simply smiled, "I do not want to demand anything, Vilgax. I wish to offer something, in return for your...cooperation."
"And what could you possibly offer me, insect?" Vilgax demanded, "I possess a ship of hundreds of drones, and weaponry to level cities if not planets. What could a mere child and his band of deformed monstrosities offer me?"
"A chance to put it to use." Satoru replied with a large grin.
"Kazumi, I'm home, how was your…" Jun trailed off the moment she took notice of Kazumi's rapid movements. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, um, yeah I'm doing just fine. Why would you think otherwise?" Kazumi replied, not sounding very 'fine' at all to Jun. Immediately she started to worry. Her friend didn't often get like this, but when she did it was always when she was hiding something.
Jun eyes moved from her to the place where she'd seen the girl's hands go and moved over to where Kazumi was. Her charge had definitely put something in there, and it was something she hadn't wanted Jun to see. "Kazumi is something wrong?"
Quickly the girl shook her head from side to side, a nervous expression plain on her face. Now Jun really was starting to worry. She began to imagine all sorts of things that Kazumi wouldn't want her see.
The first thing that came to mind was the thought of drugs, considering she'd heard a lot of people got into that kind of thing at Kazumi's age, but Jun dismissed that idea very quickly. Kazumi just wasn't that type of thing. Yet that only lowered the possibilities by a small amount.
Without waiting for another word from Kazumi, Jun opened the drawer and withdrew what had been stashed within. It was a video with the words 'to Kazumi' written on it.
"What's this?" Jun asked; her mind racing. It silenced some of her fears, but made others worse, much worse. What if the tape was from Lan Asuka? That would be terrible, but it was all too likely a possibility.
"Just a video tape a friend gave to me." Kazumi said, still sounding very nervous. The tone was all Jun needed to here. After a few seconds hesitation she popped it into the machine and hit play.
To her left she could swear she heard Kazumi gasp, then a whisper of, "Jun, don't…" But it was already too late, the tape was playing and the noises were already filling the room.
It took only a few seconds for what she was seeing to register in Jun's mind and instantly she ejected the cassette, turned, and hurled it across the room, to smash against the wall with a loud crash. Jun had seen the video before; it was the one that had been sent to all of the news stations in Japan, the one with a man turning into a beast. Kazumi had seen…
"Who gave that to you?" Jun yelled, whirling around to face Kazumi who was backing away from her, her eyes wide with fear. Throwing the tape was by far the most violent thing she'd ever seen Jun do.
"Gosh Jun," She whispered under her breath, as Fudo took a step forward. She was breathing very heavily and if her expression was any judge, she was absolutely furious.
"Who gave it to you?" Jun demanded again, making Kazumi begin to back up more quickly than before. "Was it Lan Asuka?"
Kazumi, recognizing the name of the blond woman from the other day at the restaurant, quickly shook her head. "No."
"Who then?" Jun was now also moving forward. She looked angrier than Kazumi had ever seen her, even more so than the time Lan Asuka had eaten with them. "Did the man who was with me last night give it to you?"
Again Kazumi shook her head. "I told you it was just a friend of mine. You, um…don't know him."
Tell me his name!" Jun growled, and Kazumi began to get an odd feeling. It felt like something in the back of her mind was warning her, yet she didn't recognize it for what it was. The girl didn't realize that it was the same feeling a rabbit in a corner felt when a wolf is stalking it.
"I don't know if the name he gave me was real or not, but he said it was Sakazawa." Kazumi said, her voice faltering as she felt her back touch the wall.
"What did he tell you!" Jun asked, grabbing Kazumi's shoulders and leaning in close to her. In the brown haired girl didn't know better she'd have sworn Jun was actually snarling like an animal.
"He just asked me about you Jun!" Kazumi winced in pain as she felt Jun squeeze her tightly, and it didn't hurt just a little bit; Jun was squeezing her shoulders hard and all but shoving her into the wall! It hurt! Kazumi never would have guessed Fudo was that strong, nor would she have believed she was capable of getting this angry.
"What did he tell you and what did he ask!" Jun pressed further, and Kazumi swore that her eyes flashed a strange color for a moment.
"That's all!" Kazumi cried as she started to struggle. "Please Jun, let me go, you're hurting me!"
Maybe it was the pain in Kazumi's voice, or the terrified expression on her face…or maybe it was just the fact that Jun realized who was in front of her…either way, Jun suddenly felt herself snapping back to reality.
At that exact moment she realized several things. First, her roommate finally knew there was something out there, and even though she didn't know what, Jun couldn't hide it from her any more. Second, she was hurting the girl she'd wanted so badly to protect, and thirdly, she'd nearly unleashed the beast, transformed, and attacked Kazumi!
Immediately Jun let the girl go. "I'm so sorry Kazumi; I didn't mean to hurt you!" It was painful to Jun to see her friend staring at her with such obvious terror in her eyes.
"Jun?" Kazumi whispered, wondering just what had happened. One moment Jun was furious, the next she looked both pained and scared.
"Kazumi, I'm so sorry about everything…but I…" Jun took a rattling breathe and then continued. "But it's not safe for you here any more. I'll need to make arrangements for you to leave and move elsewhere."
"What?" Kazumi cried out aloud, hoping she hadn't heard right. Despite what had just happened she didn't want to leave Jun, especially not when there was something so obviously wrong with her friend.
"Here," Jun said as she pulled a wad of bills out of her pocket and handed them to Kazumi. "I want you to get as much of your stuff as you can easily carry and rent yourself a room at a hotel." The girl immediately opened her mouth to argue, but Jun cut her off. "Look Kazumi, I don't have time to argue, just do it and do it now! Also before you leave I want you to put anything else that man gave you on the table. I'll make all the arrangements as soon as possible, but until then you can't stay here! Now hurry!"
The rage returned slightly in her voice and it sent Kazumi scurrying off to do as she was bid, leaving Jun in the kitchen alone. From the other room she could hear her ex-roommate tossing some of her things in one of the suitcases she'd brought with her when she first arrived…Jun could also hear the girl weep as she did so…she was crying.
'And I made her cry.' Jun thought to herself as she crumpled on the floor. 'I nearly lost it with her…in fact I was closer to losing myself there than I was at the restaurant with Lan Asuka. God, I could have killed her! I could never forgive myself for something like that…'
While in the midst of these thoughts Jun hadn't noticed Kazumi come back into the room with a suitcase in hand. "Jun, I put the other tape he gave me and the pictures on the table…but I don't understand. Why do you suddenly hate me? What did I do wrong? What did I do to make you not want to be my sister any more?"
"Kazumi, I don't have time to explain," Jun said in a voice so soft that it barely carried all the way to Kazumi's ears. "Please, you have enough money to last a while, go to a hotel and stay there…please, just go."
"But Jun…" Kazumi started to say, and then stopped. She could now see the tears streaming down her guardian's face.
"Please Kazumi; I'm begging you, leave!" Jun all but shouted and this time, Kazumi listened. 'What am I going to do?' Jun thought the moment she heard the door slam, and, finally, she let the tears flow in full force.
Back on the Chimerian Hammer…
"An opportunity to use my forces you say?" Vilgax inquired.
"Indeed, with your aid, we can finally rid the world of those weakling humans and cement my kind's rightful place as the next step in evolution."
Vilgax turned away and was in thought about something like that. While he could care less about this child's personal agenda, the warlord has been struggling to destroy Tennyson for years now as some of his plans failed whether it is from Tennyson himself or his allies. If what this Devil Beast leader said were true, then he and his minions would have an advantage and will be a force not to be messed with. Still, there is also the matter of where exactly Satoru was involved in this offer, "And what is it that you wish in return?"
Satoru bowed a bit, "Merely a place at the table. With someone as evolved as I am, I will give you all you need for your victory against those you want dead."
Vilgax thought this over for a few moments and decided to accept his offer, but under one condition, "Very well, Satoru, I will accept your services and your word. But I won't make my decision of letting you join my armada lightly, unless you prove your loyalty to me."
Satoru heard that and knew that he has a lot to do before gaining his trust. So he bowed and understood the situation, "I understand, my liege. But before hand, I am in need of an assist in order to demonstrate my capabilities to you."
Vilgax raised an eyebrow as he wondered what this child wanted this time.
'I'm so sorry Kazumi,' Jun thought from her position in the middle of the floor of her apartment. She still hadn't moved since Kazumi had left. It had been quite some time between then and now, anywhere from ten to twenty minutes, and she still hadn't stopped crying.
Jun wasn't quite sure where Kazumi was right now, but she hoped the girl had done as she asked and was either already at a hotel or on her way to one…but even if she wasn't doing as Jun had requested; she was still safer than she would be with her.
She was alone now, that was more certain than ever. Jun had no one left now that Kazumi would be leaving her life. But in her mind, it was preferable to Kazumi getting dragged any further into this. The girl had already been put through enough because of Jun, and it was about time she put a stop to that. In fact, she probably should have done this sooner…but no…instead she'd let Kazumi come to stay her, let her think she'd found a home again, and kept her where the threat was greatest of all; right by her side.
"I'm so stupid!" Jun found herself sobbing into her hands. She should have known better, she shouldn't have been so stupid, she should have thought of Kazumi and not herself.
'If I'd done what was right for her in the beginning I could have saved us both all of this…misery. I knew it was my fault that her parents died, and I knew it wasn't safe for her to stay here…but like the horrible person I am I chose to let her stay, where I knew she was in danger, where I knew she could stay, with the me…with a murderer!'
She'd need to arrange for Kazumi to either live with someone else or, if that wasn't possible, to get the girl her own small place to live in until she could handle life on her own, but she couldn't, under any circumstances, allow the girl to stay in harms way any more; allow her to stay with her anymore.
'Damn it!' Jun raged in her own mind, resisting the urge to hit something nearby. Sometimes she wondered if suicide right after she'd found out she was a devil beast would have been the right idea. She'd almost gone through with it with the piece of her shattered mirror after her first major transformation…but she hadn't. She'd been too weak to do it then.
'But I can't do it now either.' Jun thought to herself. 'I have to at least wait, wait until I make sure Kazumi has a home to go to. Then, I can do whatever needs to be done.' Jun knew she must look a real mess, sitting there, crying on the floor, but she really didn't care right now. Pain consumed her world.
Watching across the street from Jun's apartment was the agent assigned by Asuka to keep close surveillance on both Jun and Kazumi, in the event the latter showed any signs of DBT. After hours of watching, he decided it was time for some fresh air as he opened the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony of his apartment. However his moments of relaxation was rudely interrupted as he heard a voice from behind him.
"Good night to be a creep, huh?"
The last thing the agent saw before his world went dark was a gloved fist heading for his face.
"Hey Kazumi, is that you." The sobbing teenager looked up through her tears at the large man standing nearby her, dressed in a raincoat. It was Sakazawa. "Are you alright?"
Almost immediately upon seeing him Kazumi felt a rage irrupt within her and she was in front of him in instant, her hand rearing back to let him have it. And 'let him have it' she did. It was a slap, not it hit, but it got the point across. "You're what's wrong! It's all your fault!"
"What?" Was pretty much all Sakazawa had to say. He really didn't have the foggiest idea what the girl was getting at.
"All of it!" Kazumi cried, lashing out again. This time Sakazawa took a step back, causing the girl to miss, come off balance, and fall onto her knees, making small noises of distress, anger, and grief.
"Hey now, what's the matter?" Sakazawa asked, reached down to help the girl up, without much success; for she knocked his hands away and stood up all on her own.
"Everything's the matter!" Kazumi sobbed, standing up as straight as she could under the circumstances. "All because of the pictures and video you gave me! Now she hates me! Now she doesn't want me to be with her anymore and I don't even know why! And you know what, I wouldn't care if she'd just let me stay with her! But, because of you she doesn't want me anymore!"
"So she found out about those, huh?" Sakazawa said, more to himself than Kazumi. He was vaguely surprised to see Kazumi was still alive. He would have suspected Jun would kill someone who came so close to discovering her secret, rather than letting her go. Still, who was he to fathom the reasoning of a beast?
"Yes, she did!" Kazumi was still in tears. "I wish you'd never given me those, I wish you'd never gotten me mixed up in all of this monster business, I wish I'd never met you at all!"
With that, Kazumi tried to flee, unfortunately she chose to rush past Sakazawa, rather than directly away from him, and he caught her by the arm before she could go. "Hey, hold on there!"
"Let me go!" The girl all but screamed. "I don't want anything more to do with you, I don't want Jun hating me anymore than she already does! I don't want…."
"Do you want to know why I gave you those and what it has to do with Jun?" That caused Kazumi to stop. "Do you want to know why she did what she did?"
The girl wanted to yell that, no she didn't know and she didn't care for the reason why…but she couldn't. Part of her really did want to know.
"If you knew, maybe you'd understand a bit better." He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it with a pen he'd produced from his coat, then he handed it to her when he was finished. "Here, meet me at this hotel in an hour, it'll be safe there to talk, and I can show you everything by then. Until then I suppose it would probably be best I left you alone, considering it's me your mad at."
At first, Kazumi wasn't sure how to respond, but then something clicked in her mind. If she knew why Jun had done this, maybe she could talk to the woman about it, and maybe convince her to let her stay with her again. Slowly, the girl nodded.
Jun wasn't sure how long she lay sobbing on the floor of the kitchen, what she did know was she was jerked out of it by her cell phone's familiar ring. For a few moments she vaguely considered not answering, but she quickly squashed the idea. If it was Lan Asuka, it was no use ignoring it. Jun pulled the phone out with shaking hands and, doing the best she could to control her voice answered it, "Hello?"
"Mrs. Fudo?" The voice that was on the other end of the line was most definitely that of a male, and one Fudo had never heard before.
"Yes?" She said slowly, not sure what to make of it. If it was a social call or someone trying to sell her something, she didn't know what she'd do, although yelling at the person on the other end of the line seemed like a very good option.
"This is Sakazawa, I'm not sure if you've heard of me, not that I care you see." Jun's eyes widened as she recognized the name, the one Kazumi had told her, the one who'd given her those tapes. "There's a letter just outside your apartment door, after I hang up this phone go and get it. The letter will tell you where to go to meet me tonight. Come alone."
"Hold on Sakazawa!" Jun found herself growling. She felt the part of her that was the beast roar at her to rip this man apart, and right now she wasn't sure if it was such a bad idea.
"Now, now, don't be so rude. If you want to see Kazumi ever again, you'll do exactly what I say. Meet me at the given place in one hour, and hurry. You don't have that much time." With that the line on the other end went dead.
'Kazumi!' Jun screeched in her head! Again she felt the twin emotions of guilt and anger boil up within her. It was her fault the girl had been out at a time like this and her fault she was now being used as bait! 'I have to go! This is all my fault…Kazumi…' Jun wiped her eyes and stood up. She had to see this letter for herself and get to the appointed meeting place, now wasn't the time to fall apart. 'If this Sakazawa has done anything to hurt you Kazumi…I'll kill him!"
'Jeez, these Human Alliance bozos are almost as bad as Providence was when Black Knight was running the show,' Rex mused as he looked down at the unconscious agent with contempt. Ben was in the apartment as well, looking over all the photos that were taken of that woman the Omnitrix wielder had faced the other day. Naturally, Ben felt sick to his stomach at this invasion of someone's privacy. These guys were getting more shifty the more Ben knew about them, not like the Plumbers or Providence at all. As for why Ben and Rex were here in this exact location you may ask? After the encounter with the devil beast, the two heroes stuck around for a bit to get some answers by following that weird bat lady. After making sure they were not seen by the military that were stationed at the scene, Ben and Rex had learned from listening in on the conversation between the bat lady who was revealed to be a woman named Jun and a blonde woman named Asuka. It turns out that there was a secret government sponsored organization called the Human Alliance dedicated to hunting down and controlling the outbreak of these monsters who were apparently called Devil Beasts were humans who have gone through some sort of genetic mutation.
Though, unlike Providence and the Plumbers who would try to either contain or cure monsters like these and only kill as a last resort, these guys prefer to shoot first and ask questions never. Judging by how this Jun Fudo expressed her displeasure and hatred for being forced to to hunt these creatures down like dogs, a fact that did not sit well with Ben and Rex, the two heroes decided to take a more diplomatic approach and try to get some allies on their side for their inevitable confrontation with their enemies while trying not to look like a couple of creepy stalkers while they were at it.
Finding out where Jun lived was not hard, considering the fact that she was a famous supermodel in this world, which begged the question on how she got involved with the military in the first place. As the duo arrived at the apartment, Rex sensed something with his technopathy, almost like a bunch of surveillance equipment from the adjacent apartment and what finally gave it away was a camera flash that came from the upper levels of building. Which bring us to right now as Rex looked out the window to see someone exiting the apartment.
"Huh? Where the heck is she off to at this hour?" Rex wondered as he saw Jun getting in her car and driving off.
"Now isn't that interesting?" Ben chimed in, "You don't think she's going out to take down another one of those monsters, don't you?"
"I don't know," Rex replied, "But something's definitely off here."
"Yeah. Come on, let's check it out."
AN: Yeah, Jun's pretty much been through the ringer since the first episode not unlike Akira in the original Devilman. Next chapter will dive into the events of episode 14 of the anime with some minor changes here and there, so I'll see you next chapter.