Chapter Twelve

"Two Kurosakis plot to control the unfortunate events"

Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, California

Thursday, 31st December 1931

02:00 [00:00 Pacific Standard Time]

In 1931, officially, there was no such place as Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. However, there was a pre-existing military prison sitting on top of the infamous island that had stood for over a hundred years. It was almost purely reserved for military prisoners, but if you were a special kind of wicked, you could find yourself there.

So, the perfect place to keep the leader of a group of professional assassins then.

Senator Leo Akaba had never been more grateful to have a second son as he was that day. He'd travelled out to California to visit said son at boarding school, dropping in for a few father-son days before sending the boy off to visit his brother and sister in New York. That left Leo a few days to enjoy the sunshine. Mostly from the window of his hotel suite as he caught up on some all-important paperwork.

He couldn't help but wonder if the terrorists holding his family hostage were aware of his movements, as it meant he was in the perfect place to meet with one Prisoner 20193.

The warden had been quite gracious, accepting his request for a visit at such a late hour, but the safety of his family was worth every favour he now owed to the senator for California.

The meeting was to be held one shaky boat ride later on the island itself, in an underground holding cell several guards cheerfully nicknamed The Priest Hole. Leo was taken around the outside the building to avoid contact with any prisoners who may start to speculate and plot about the sudden appearance of an East Coast senator on the island, and hurried down some stairs into a corridor that appeared to take him deep into the limestone rock.

Finally, at the end of the corridor, was a single cell, blocked off by bars. Two guards looked at him curiously, but then stepped aside and pulled the door open for him, pointedly not watching him as he stepped inside.

Inside the cell, someone had placed a large table that clearly wasn't there usually. Shackled to the floor was the only person in the cell besides Leo: a young man, probably in his twenties – that young? Locked up here? What could this young man have done in his short life to send him here? – with long hair down to his shoulders and a look in his eye that seemed somewhere between completely dead and scheming.

"Mr Kurosaki" Leo greeted him, almost holding out a hand to shake before he remembered that the young man's hands were bound. He didn't allow himself the luxury of sitting.

"Senator Akaba" Shun Kurosaki almost let a smile onto his face upon seeing who his visitor was.

Leo raised an eyebrow. "You know me?"

"Senator Akaba, senator for New York" Kurosaki confirmed "Even in Chicago, we have heard of The Butcher of The Common Man."

Leo tried his best not to scowl at the hated nickname. He couldn't control the Wall Street Crash, and despite the rumours in New York, he was not in fact sitting on top of a pile of money sipping champagne with President Hoover whilst millions of hungry citizens starved below him.

"So you know me" Leo pretended to nod along "Then you'll know why I'm here."

"I'm afraid I have no idea" Kurosaki leant back in his chair "I don't make it a habit to associate with lowlifes like yourself."

Only the knowledge that keeping this man happy was perhaps the only way to save his son and daughter was keeping Leo from reaching across the table and smashing the brat's head into the table.

"It appears you have some…loyal followers upset about your arrest" Leo told him, not sure how to say 'Your trained group of assassin groupies are pissed off about your arrest and have taken my family and half a trans-continental express hostage to complain about it.'

Kurosaki now let the smile cross his face fully, not even trying to hide it. "Alright, what have the Lemures done now?"

"They have hijacked a trans-continental express" Leo told him "They are holding some of the passengers hostage in return for your release."

Now Kurosaki was positively smirking. "I always did admire Allen for his grand schemes. Too rash though, it will get him in trouble one day."

Finally, Leo couldn't hold back his irritation anymore. "My son and daughter are on that train, you piece of shit."

"Oh, really?" Now Kurosaki really did seem curious "Since when did Senator Akaba care about his family? Last I checked the only thing that mattered to you was wealth and power."

Leo was about to bark back an answer, until he realised that was exactly was Kurosaki wanted. He forced himself to relax and act courteous.

"Mr Kurosaki, call off your dogs" he all but pleaded "You can't end up in a worse place than you are now."

"There's no need for that" Kurosaki told him.

Leo tried to not to show visible panic at that statement "Mr Kurosaki, don't-"

"That's no need for pleading, Senator" Kurosaki told him, suddenly seemed more serious and solemn "Their plan will not succeed."

Leo's panic started to shift into curiousity. "How can you know that? Are you in contact with them?"

"In a way" Kurosaki admitted "It will not succeed, because if they are indeed aboard that train, then so is my sister."

Sister? Did Kurosaki have a sister? Yes, he did, didn't he? One of the few high-ranking members of the Kurosaki clan not arrested during the initial sweep of their organisation.

"Your sister?" Leo frowned "She's not a Lemure, is she?"

"No, Allen set that particular faction up" Kurosaki admitted "But much of my former organisation is loyal to her, and he needs her support to retain power. She will be there with him."

"But as your sister, surely she's the one who wants you released the most, right?" Leo questioned.

"Oh no, she wants me right here" Kurosaki admitted.

Leo couldn't fathom it. "Your little sister wants you in jail? Why?"

Kurosaki sighed wistfully. "Yuto Mackfield."

"Your second-in-command" Leo recognised the name "What does he have to do with it?"

"He was to be my brother-in-law next year" Kurosaki told him "When the lovely Chicago police did their sweep, Yuto was not impressed at being taken into custody. Somewhere between his safehouse and the police station, he was smothered to death. No inquest, of course. But Ruri blames me for it – it was apparently my fault the arrests were happening in the first place, and if they weren't, then Yuto would have never been put in a position to be smothered in the process. So, me spending a little time in prison for my perceived crimes is exactly what she thinks the doctor ordered."

Leo wanted to point out the lack of logic in that, but then realised applying logic to a family of hitmen and bootleggers probably wasn't a smart idea for his sanity.

"My sister has a sentimental heart" Shun told him "She won't stand for Allen to hurt innocents. Once she realises he intends to do so, or she finds him insincere, she will act accordingly."

To Leo's alarm, his pulled one hand free of the shackles – hadn't it been locked? – and placed it over the side of his face and his eyes turned steely.

Outside the window, a flock of bird took flight, a legion of doves. Amongst them, a jet-black raven.

"Now, Ruri…you will not falter."

Near Carroll Valley, Pennsylvania

Thursday, 31st December 1931

02:00

In the first-class carriage, Ruri had been leaning against the wall of the Lemures' suite, keeping an eye on Allen, Sayaka and the Dragos. Suddenly, she stood up fully, and appeared to be listening to something, even though the only sound in the air was the train rattling along the tracks.

"You ok, Ruri?" Sayaka asked her, as Allen eyed her wearily.

Ruri ignored them both and left the suite. She kept going until she reached the end of the carriage. Using a ladder attached to the outside, she climbed up to the roof of the carriage. Despite the fierce wind, she stood at the edge of the roof of the first-class carriage, eyes fixed on the carriages beyond.

Her eyes narrowed and flashed dangerously. She drew a knife from her dress and let it gleam in the light from the snow.

Near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Thursday, 31st December 1931

02:30

Along the train in the freight car, Yuri was staring down at young Reira, face somewhere between impressed and slack-jawed horror.

"So what do you think, sir?" Reira asked, climbing up on top of a crate so he was on Yuri's eye-level "I can pay you, if that's that you're worried about."

Yuri gaped like a fish for a moment more, before a grin spread across his face again. "You're not a normal little kid, are you?"

Reira seemed to relax a bit, like he was shrugging off a heavy coat. He ditched the innocent little kid look and slumped down on top of the crate he was stood on, leaning with one arm on his raised knee like the best of mafia dons.

"Oh good, you get it" he seemed to almost sigh with relief as he spoke "Not many people get it. Even my adopted family. They love me, but when I act myself they get frightened."

"Well you don't scare me" Yuri told him "So, the people in the dining car? I could've sworn you were in there before. They piss you off or something?"

"The men in the black suits are here for my sister" Reira admitted "I only just met her, but I like her. And I'm pretty sure they won't ransom her properly – they'll kill her and my unborn niece or nephew as soon as they get a whiff of a ransom, only to probably end up with nothing because they can't complete the trade. If they have to die for something, it shouldn't be at the hands of some incompetents."

"And the people in the dining car?" Yuri tried again, as Reira still hadn't answered the question "You think they're in league with them or something?"

"No, they're scared bystanders" Reira shrugged "Well, there may be some undercover, but the bystanders are the worst. They're all the most important person in their words. My sister escaped the black suits, but she may end up back with them again if one nosy bystander thinks that handing her over to them will spare their own lives."

"You're doing all this for your sister?" Yuri pondered, a glimmer of recognition in his eyes.

"I barely know her" Reira shrugged "But she seems nice enough. And Reiji and my dad would probably get all upset about it if she died."

"Killing to avoid annoying siblings and parents' wrath" Yuri seemed delighted at this prospect "Looks like you and me got something in common, kid."

"I thought so" Reira just smiled up at him "So, you kill the passengers in the dining car, as well as the black suits. The other passengers on the train don't know who she is or who wants her. My sister has nothing to worry about anymore."

"And what's to say I won't just kill your sister?" Yuri pointed out, swinging his shotgun over his shoulder again.

"You won't" Reira shrugged confidently "Because then you won't get what I can give you/"

Yuri now seemed curious. "You think you can buy your sister's life?"

"Not with money" Reira corrected his thoughts "With destruction." He signalled Yuri to move closer. "My sister's husband is an army man. He's carrying a bomb on this train."

Yuri frowned. "A bomb? Are you kidding me?"

Reira jumped off the crate he was sitting on and pulled back the lid. Sure enough, packed in enough straw to stock a horse farm, Yuri could just see a gleam of brassy metal shining up at him. Before he could get a closer look, though, Reira slammed the lid down again and sat back on top of the crate again.

"That's all you're getting just now" Reira waggled his finger at him "Help me, and it's yours to keep." He learnt forward, meeting Yuri's eyes with his own. "You love destruction. You love human life so much you have to take it, own it, make it your masterpiece. Think about how many you could kill with a bomb. How many lives you can claim." A thought seemed to occur to him midway through his speech. "Your sister, who you love so much. Who you want to kill more than anyone. Give her to most beautiful death you can think of. A firecracker of a woman, her life stolen in a roar of fire."

Yuri seemed almost spellbound by the images flooding his head.

"You, kid-" He said breathily, barely able to speak or look at Reira in the blissful state he was in.

And then he lowered his shotgun to be level with Reira's head.

"You were so close" Yuri sighed reluctantly "But in the end, I couldn't do it. I couldn't stand the way your eyes honestly thought I wouldn't do this!"

As he went to pull the trigger, Reira's face went from playful and calculating to irritated and sour. He kicked forward and struck Yuri right in the groin. Before the man could recover, Reira jumped up, ran straight past the stunned Ted who was supposed to be guarding the door and was halfway to first-class before Yuri could stand up straight again.

"A lot of use you are" Yuri scoffed at his companion "You couldn't even catch a small child." He now levelled his shotgun at Ted. "Why shouldn't I kill you, right now?"

"Why did you turn him down?" Ted asked, unflinching in the face of death.

Yuri seemed thrown off a second. "What?"

"That was a good offer" Ted pointed out "Why didn't you take the kid up on it? What's wrong with a bomb?"

Yuri scoffed and marched over to the crate. He yanked the lid open and seized the metal object inside. To Ted's shock, he threw the cylindrical object down on the freight hold's floor. It bounced up and almost hit the ceiling, then rolled a few more feet to a halt.

"It's a fake" he told him "Made out of cast iron. There's probably dozens of them used as decoys for the real one in here."

"So he lied to us?" Ted guessed.

"Maybe he did intend to sell us the real one" Yuri shrugged "I don't care." He placed a hand over his face. "But that face! THAT FACE! So certain that he couldn't be killed! I have to do it! I just had to!" He whirled on Ted with malice in his eyes. "I hate that! HATE IT! Staring death in the face and yet so certain of his own immortality! Only I get to look like that! Me and me alone!"

"Hey, Yuri, you in there?" Gloria now poked her head into the freight hold.

Yuri almost swore. She was supposed to be with Serena. Don't tell him she'd seen him screw up so monumentally. Serena would never let him live it down.

"What do you want?" he finally asked in a voice dripping with resigned irritation.

"You should see this chick on top of the train" Gloria waved him over towards the window.

Yuri frowned. Chick on top of the train? Did she mean a human female? They'd need superhuman muscle strength to withstand the winds up there.

He poked his head out the window, and clearly saw a female silhouette near the head of the train.

He grinned.

Sounded like a challenge.

Near Hagerstown, Maryland

Thursday, 31st December 1931

01:00

Yuya turned back to Yuzu and stepped forward until he was right in front of her, her body sandwiched between him and the walk. "Hey, Yuzu. I'll be right back, so don't worry."

Before his nerves could fail him, he kissed her right on the mouth. Not allowing her time to respond however, he quickly hurried out the carriage, Noburu running behind him.

"Yuya, that sly dog" Meiru just grinned lecherously at him.

She looked over her shoulder at Yuzu, who appeared to a million shades of red in the face.

"Didn't realise you were such a roundheel, Boss" Meiru joked.

However, Yuzu just ducked her head and ran out of the carriage. "That was our first kiss!"

It took a second for Meiru to process this, then she was off on Yuzu's heels.

"Whatta you mean that was your first kiss!" she demanded, but by the time she'd made her way to the outside of the carriage, Yuzu was already clambering up to the roof "You've been an item for ten years and he's never planted one on you?! I mean there's being gentlemanly and then there's just plain stupid!"

Yuzu completed ignored her, climbing up onto the roof and vanishing.

"Hey!" Meiru, struggling with her small size to make it up after her "I'm not done with you either princess!"

Near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Thursday, 31st December 1931

02:30

Ruri was a relatively petite figure compared to her Lemure associates, but she held her ground against the wind pushing against her at around ninety miles per hour as if it was nothing. Her eyes searching, face blank, lips pressed in a tight line, fist tight around her knife.

"Ruri" she could hear Shun's voice in her head "Why are you up here?"

'The white suits may try and attack the first-class carriage from the roof' she spoke out loud in her head in reply.

"You are protecting Allen and the fools that call themselves Lemures?" Shun's voice seemed somewhere between incredulous and smirking with amusement "You know they intend to kill you once this is over, right?"

'I know' Ruri replied 'Allen has grown hungry with power in your absence. For me to die in a failed attempt to free you is exactly what he needs to turn the rest of our family against us and to him. We mean nothing to him anymore.'

Shun's voice chuckled. "Very good, little sister."

'People like Allen took Yuto away from me' Ruri continued 'Though you are to blame in part for that, you are now the only one who loves me. You need to be punished, but you are my only family. I will not allow anyone to take you from me.'

Shun's voice turned low and considering. "Are you saying, you will protect me with your life?"

'I have lost my Yuto, and whilst you repent for the part you played in me losing him, I have lost you, for now' Ruri told him determinedly 'I have lost Sayaka, and Allen, to the sickness of loyalty and power. I have lost everything that is mine. I am not afraid of anything.'

She turned the knife in her hand once.

Shun's voice didn't call out to her again.

"So, there are no open windows and they are all locked from the inside" Yuzu reviewed the situation "The door between the locomotive and first-class is locked. The only way into first-class is from the dining car entrance. That sound right?"

She turned back to where Meiru was sitting on the bed of the abandoned second-class suite they'd taken shelter in. Surprisingly, she was sipping from a cup of tea.

"What are you doing?" Yuzu couldn't help but ask.

"Windows in first-class are locked" Meiru pointed out "But dining car's another story. I had Michio pass me a cuppa."

Yuzu nearly facepalmed. The dining car was still under the watchful gaze of the black suits. How did Meiru manage to grab a cup of tea without them noticing? How did Michio produce a cup of tea then make it disappear without them noticing?

"Ok" she sighed, then a thought occurred to her "Wait. Michio's been riding this train for years, right?"

Meiru made some sort of mumble of agreement behind her cup.

"So he may know a way to get into first-class other than through the death door" Yuzu suggested "A window that can be jimmied open from the outside or something."

Meiru considered this. "It's not a stupid idea. So, back to the dining car then?"

"Drink your tea first" Yuzu suggested "No point in wasting good tea. If we're not careful it may be your last tea ever."

If Meiru swallowed her mouthful a little prematurely at that statement, Yuzu chose not to comment on it.

Once Meiru was done, they began to climb up onto the roof of the dining car, planning to stick their heads through the open window Meiru had her cup of tea passed through earlier. But Meiru hadn't even gotten her head over the lip of the carriage roof before Yuzu pushed it down again.

"What are you doing?!" she demanded.

"Shh!" Yuzu hissed "There's someone up there!"

Meiru couldn't believe her. She peered up over the top of the carriage roof. Sure enough, there was a lady in a black dress standing on top of the first-class carriage, holding a knife longer than Meiru's forearm. She had a dead look in her eyes, like she was a million miles away, but still hyper focused on everything in that lay before her, like a queen surveying her kingdom.

If she'd noticed the girls crouched behind the dining car's roof, then she didn't give any indication.

"Great, so now we can't go on the roof either?" Meiru almost scowled "Great. So what do we do, boss? Go back through the carriages and find Yuya?"

Yuzu twisted to look back down the train, and her eyes went wide as she saw something.

"Oh no" she groaned "We're trapped."

Meiru turned her head, just in time for Yuri Polyma to pump his shotgun into the air.

"Well hello there, little lady!" he called up the train to the woman in black "That's a really nice dress your wearing! But aren't you a little cold up here?"

The woman didn't reply. She didn't even bat an eyelid, like Yuri was such a non-entity he wasn't worth her attention.

"Wait for me, princess!" Yuri yelled to her as he began running up the train, balancing on the rooves of the carriages like a pro acrobat "Since you're all dressed up like an orchestra, this must be a performance tailor-made for me! And you must be the main event, climbing all the way up to the roof for little old ME!"

On the punctuated word, he bounded right over the gap between the second-class carriage and the dining car, passing right over Meiru and Yuzu's heads. He either didn't notice them, or was too wrapped up in his new conquest to notice them.

He kissed the barrel of his shotgun with reverence. "I'll take it! I accept! I accept this love from this woman!" He then lowered his shotgun towards the young lady's head with a sadistic smile. "But you must accept my love as well!"

The woman still wasn't batting an eyelid, as if psychopaths pointing shotguns at her was a regular occurrence in her day.

"I love you!" Yuri called to her "Now you die!"

He pulled the trigger, and a bullet flew the length of the dining car towards the young woman.

It never made contact though.

Yuri blinked as he heard the sound of metal hitting metal. The young hand now raised her knife in front of her head, his deployed bullet nowhere to be seen. The young woman's eyes had gone from blank to hateful in a split second.

Yuri appeared to appreciate this new look. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

The young woman reached behind her and pulled a knife out of the back of her dress. She didn't hesitate before throwing it right at Yuri's chest.

Yuri, likewise, didn't disappoint. He just raised he leg and stomped down on the knife with his boot, grinding it into the roof of the carriage with about as much care as you would squash a bug. "That's it, baby! Just like that!"

He bent down and picked up the knife.

"Well, this is embarrassing" he muttered to himself, still grinning though "I have to kill her."

He licked the knife whilst retaining complete eye contact with the young woman. She crinkled her nose in disgust at him defiling one of her knives in such a way.

"I'm coming for you, baby!" he warned her as he jumped to his feet and ran at her.

The young woman produced a third knife and ran towards him again, poised to strike.

"Come on and die!" Yuri demanded, shooting several more rounds from his shotgun at her.

The young woman either dodged or blocked every single one of them.

"Is that really happening?!" Yuri seemed shocked but still delighted as he reared back out of the way of a knife swipe that would've taken his head off "Seriously?!"

He tried to swipe the young woman's leg out from under her, but she jumped back out of his reach. However, now she was so close to the edge of the carriage roof she was going to have to either jump to the side or attack him. Yuri guessed attacking him would be a more likely move than retreat. Sure enough, the young woman surged forwards again, but this time Yuri's leg swipe knocked her back across the carriage roof, close to where Yuzu and Meiru were hiding.

"Now then!" Yuri grinned maliciously "I-"

He didn't get any further than that, as a rotating train signal smashed into his back. He seemed winded and tried to duck under it, but it grabbed him by the collar and swung him round in a half-circle. He dropped out of sight towards the back of the train, laughter still booming in the air.

The young woman immediately picked herself up and chased after him across the carriage rooves.

Yuzu and Meiru watched after them both in stunned silence.

"What the hell did we just watch?" Meiru couldn't help but ask.

However they both froze when they heard a rifle cocking behind them, on the porch from second-class.

"Well, what do we have here?" Meiru turned to see the other female Lemure, the one in the purple dress with glasses, beaming innocently up at them "Look who's been sneaking around aboard the train. Why don't you ladies come back here with me and we can talk about these naughty activities of yours?"