Shizuo Heiwajima is not the smartest man in the world. Anyone who knows him is aware of this fact, and if they're smart and/or sane, they keep it to themselves. Shizuo isn't the type of person you want to piss off, after all; sure, he's never actually ended up killing anybody, but he's put his fair share of people in hospitals and the only reason no one's ever pressed charges is because they're too scared of him to actually do so. By living in this manner, Shizuo has been able to avoid having to face any true consequences for his actions - jail cells can't hold him, other people can't hold him, and the only person equally matched with him physically is too much of a pacifist to cause him any trouble. Needless to say, while he is particularly used to being outsmarted, he's not particularly used to being outmatched.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

Now, hurrying as fast as his legs can carry him, Shizuo is on his way back to his apartment hoping with all his heart that that bastard American had been bluffing. When he opens the door to a distraught Magnolia and no sign of the flea, he's forced to admit the reality of the situation. Izaya has been kidnapped… and it's his fault.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" He lets out a frustrated growl and punches the wall hard enough for it to crack. "I'm such a fucking idiot, why the fuck did I think listening to that piece of shit was a good idea?" He'd let their enemy trick him into leaving, and now one of the people he was supposed to protect is gone. Hell, it had even been his idea to protect him in the first place! And what had happened? He'd failed. He'd failed miserably.

"Shit, shit, shit…"

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he searches through his contacts for Shinra's information before pressing the 'Call' button.

Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up…

"...Hello?" Shinra's voice sounds groggy, like he's only just woken up.

"I fucked up!"

"Wait, what? Shizuo, is that you?"

"Yes, it's Shizuo! I fucked up, and now Vincent Whatever-His-Name-Is has the flea!"

"He what?" Shinra definitely sounds more alert now. "Please tell me you're joking."

"I really wish I was, Shinra."

"What about your other guest? Is she alright?"

He glances at Magnolia, who's staring at him with wide, worried eyes. "She's shaken up, but she's fine. Izaya isn't. Shinra, I met Vincent and he-"

"You what?" Shinra cuts him off, his tone one of disbelief. "What do you mean, you met Vincent? When? Where? How?"

"That's not fucking important, Shinra! What's important is that he has Izaya, and we need to get him back before that creep does something to him!"

"You seem awfully worried about Izaya, considering how much you claim to hate him."

"That's not important either! Are you gonna help me, or not?"

"Hold on one second."

"Are you fucking kidding me right now? You want me to just hold on a second?" Shizuo can't believe his ears.

"Yes, because I need to tell Celty what's going on!" Shinra responds exasperatedly.

"Fine, but hurry it up!"

"Would it hurt you to have some patience for a change?"

"No, but it might hurt Izaya!"

"That's… a fair point." Shizuo hears the sound of knocking, and then a door opening, and then Shinra's muffled voice. After a minute or so, the doctor gets back to him. "We're heading over now."

He lets out a relieved sigh. "Thanks, Shinra. I'll see you soon." He hangs up, putting his phone back into his pocket and flopping backwards onto his futon. Despite having slept quite a bit, Shizuo feels absolutely exhausted… and it's still only morning, so he's already able to tell that it's going to be a very, very, very long day. He wants to take a quick nap while he waits for his friends to arrive, but every time he closes his eyes, he sees Izaya's face staring back at him. He'd spent years trying to deny his feelings for the other man, assuming that there was no possible way they could ever be returned - but when he'd felt Izaya's lips on his last night, it brought back all those pent-up emotions and then some. He'd let himself give in far too easily… though who can blame him, when the subject of his deepest desires had been offered up to him like that? He's never been good at controlling himself.

And now, he's been kidnapped. I finally got my hands on him… I can't lose him already! I just can't!

Feeling just as powerless as he'd felt in Vincent's hotel room, Shizuo is on the verge of tears when a soft, tiny hand presses against his forehead. Opening his eyes, he finds Magnolia looking down at him with a concerned expression on her pale, freckled face. "Hey, kid…" He says, gently ruffling her hair. "Sorry if I scared you." She blinks at him, and he sighs. "I do kinda wish you could understand me, though… kinda hard to protect someone when you can't communicate with 'em, you know?"

Magnolia may not be able to understand his words, but she's always been good at sensing what people are trying to convey. Of course, it also helps that her new friend uses a lot of body language. Patting him on the head reassuringly, she smiles before copying him and ruffling his hair. She wishes she could tell him it's going to be okay, but she can't… not just because she can't communicate with him, but because she's not actually sure it's the truth. She's having trouble tuning into Izaya's psychic wavelength, and even when she can it's only enough to send a thought or two; all she knows is that he's in danger, and she has no desire to let That Man keep torturing people in the name of science. She has to do something. They have to do something. But what?

When there's a knock on the door some time later, she's relieved to discover that Celty and her doctor friend have come to visit (well, relieved to discover that Celty has come to visit. She's still iffy about the doctor.) "Alright, we're here. Tell us what happened."

"Vincent called me early this morning, said he wanted to meet in person. I agreed, like an idiot, and walked right into his fucking trap. He kept me there, while some other asshole nabbed the flea."

[Why didn't they take the girl, too? That's what they came here for, right?]

"I don't know why they came here, but I do know that Vincent doesn't give a shit about the kid. He told me so himself."

"That's… weird."

"Yeah, and the way he was talking about Izaya was really fucking creepy. Kept saying shit like how the fleas worth a million times more than me and how he doesn't understand what he sees in me."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"That's what I want to fucking know." Shizuo responds.

"Well, what I want to know is what you did to him. You didn't happen to bring him here with you, did you?"

"No, I, uh… wasn't able to catch him." He admits, very pointedly not looking at him.

"Why not?"

"Yeah, so… it turns out our guy's got psychic powers too. Go figure, huh?"

"Wait, seriously?" Shinra asks, surprised.

"Yeah. He can do the same shit the kid can do, along with some weird hypnosis shit that can put people to sleep or something. I dunno, all I know is that he told me to go to sleep, and I did." His fists clench, his frustration obvious to everyone in the room. "That guy seriously pisses me off. I think I hate him even more than the flea! When I get my hands on him, I'm gonna grind him into dust and flush him down the fucking toilet!"

Nobody says anything for a while, the weight of Shizuo's words taking a minute to sink in. If their enemy was able to overpower Shizuo of all people… there's no way he's going to go down easy. When Shinra finally breaks the silence, his words aren't directed to Shizuo. "Did you see what happened?" He asks Magnolia, the English not particularly comfortable on his tongue.

The ever-silent little girl nods.

"Can you tell me?"

Silence.

"Can you show me? You know, like… uh… Charades! That's what it's called, right? Charades?" He looks over at Celty, who nods in confirmation.

Magnolia appears to mull it over for a moment or so, then nods, points to the door, and mimics what looks to be someone opening it and throwing something inside. After she does that, she points to herself, makes a show of sniffing at the air, then pretends to (rather dramatically) fall asleep.

[Sleeping gas?]

"Sounds like it, unfortunately. It was a smart move on their part… Izaya's wily, putting him to sleep is really the only way to ensure you can get your hands on him safely."

[Isn't sleeping gas hard to find, though?]

"I imagine Vincent knows where to get a lot of things that are hard to find. If the kidnapper's working for him, sleeping gas probably wouldn't be very difficult to procure."

[I suppose that makes sense…]

"In any case, what are we going to do about Izaya? He could have been taken anywhere."

"Damn it, I wish I had that lady's number - oh, yeah! I forgot to tell you - we met an employee of Vincent's. I can't remember her name, though… Su...Sumo-something? She said her boss doesn't trust Vincent, and she trusts her boss."

"Why didn't you get her number?"

"I didn't think to. I was… distracted."

"Distracted? By what?"

"Uh… well, uh-" He's cut off by a loud, almost frantic knock on the door. With the amount of coincidences he's experienced lately, he's half-expecting it to be the women he'd met yesterday… who he's not expecting it to be is the very man they're looking for, out of breath but mostly no worse for wear. "Izaya!"

"Shizu-chan! And look, Shinra and Celty are here too!" Izaya pushes past Shizuo into the crowded apartment, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind him. "Don't tell me you guys were going to go look for me, were you?"

"Of course we fucking weren't!" Shizuo snaps, his face turning red. He'd gotten all worked up over nothing! Or so he thinks, until he notices the aforementioned footprints. "Wait, what the hell? Why are your feet bleeding?"

"I may have had to walk over some broken glass on my way back here. In case you couldn't tell, I wasn't exactly prepared to go out into the world today." As he had still been asleep when he'd been kidnapped, he'd also still been wearing Shizuo's clothes… having to run around barefoot in too-big sweatpants and a loose t-shirt had made his escape a great deal more difficult.

"But you're okay? He didn't hurt you or anything?"

"My, my, Shizu-chan - if I didn't know better, I'd say you were worried about me."

"L-Like hell I am!" Shizuo sputters.

"Aw, are you embarrassed? That's adorable." Izaya rolls the legs of his pants up and sits on the edge of the tub, turning on the faucet so he can rinse his feet off. "But don't worry… he didn't hurt me. He didn't really have a chance." He blesses his luck that Vincent had gotten that phone call when he did… he would never have been able to get away otherwise.

"How did you escape, though?" Shizuo asks, curious (and a little impressed, though he'd never admit it.)

"It's a long story, and I'll be happy to tell it once I've had some time to relax. Okay?" He's still on an adrenaline-high, his breaths coming out ragged and short. Nodding his approval, Shizuo glances at the other three. They look just as confused as he does… even Magnolia, and apparently she and the flea have some sort of special connection (that he's totally not jealous of.) Sighing, he sits back down on the bed. As annoyed as he is, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't glad Izaya was okay… so, deciding to be patient for once, he lays back and waits for Izaya to be done.