Chapter 2

"Sometimes when you think its the end, its really a new beginning."
- Colt

"Hey, Julia! I'm home!"

"David! I'm back in the lab!"

David walked into the small room that they had turned into a lab when they had first moved.

He kissed the top of his wife's head. "Where's Sean?"

"He just started watching a movie in the family room. So how was the meeting with Joel?"

David's face was grim. "Not good." He ran his fingers through his hair in a frustrated manner and pulled up a stool next to hers.

He stared straight ahead as if he was seeing something that wasn't really there. "Can you believe after all these years that we are where we are?"

There was a long pause, but Julia knew that he hadn't been looking for an answer so she just sat and waited.

"It's been six years, Julia. Six years! And it's still not over."

Julia put her hand on his knee. "We all thought that it would have been over by now. And it's not as if the Red Shield hasn't accomplished anything." She gave him a small smile. "I'd say killing Diva and her chevaliers was pretty monumental."

David looked away. "Yes," he said slowly, "yes, I know that. And of course, you're right. I'm just frustrated. We thought that the enzyme found in Saya's blood would help us to kill the rest of the chiropterans. But we have been unable to successfully mass produce it. The only result has been failed attempts and lost lives."

"Look, David, I know that we haven't been able to kill the rest of the chiropterans like we had hoped. But most of them were killed that night at the Metropolitan Opera House. Luckily, the casualties have been few and far between. If there were still a lot of chiropterans left, don't you think we would have had more than that? It's frustrating, for sure. But the Goldsmiths are no longer in charge of the Cinq Flèches Group. Van Argeno, who was cleared of all charges due to inadequate evidence, is now in charge of Cinq Flèches. You know that he was Amshel's puppet more than anything else. We both know that he was never the brains behind the operation, so to speak, and without Amshel…." Julia shrugged. "Well let's just say that I don't think we have anything to worry about. For all intents and purposes, he seems to have turned over a new leaf."

David stared at her for a minute, trying to gather his thoughts. "Appearances can be deceiving, Julia."

She raised her brow. "What is that supposed to mean? Is that what the meeting was about? Did you find out something about Mr. Argeno?"

David nodded. "Yes. And as for the Goldsmiths, I have heard that Solomon and Nathan have finally been spotted. However, their exact whereabouts are unknown and we aren't even sure if the rumor is valid. And if it is, then Solomon is either not interested in reclaiming his title as CEO or he is scheming and biding his time. But more importantly, getting back to Van Argeno, we suspect that he still wishes to see the original goal of Cinq Flèches through."

Julia's mouth dropped open in shock. "David, do you realize what you are saying? That cannot be true! Diva is dead. Their goal was to create a world of chiropterans for Diva. What would the point be in doing so without her?"

David shook his head. "His reasons are unknown to us. However, it appears that he has gone mad ever since the charges against him had been dropped. Let us remember, Julia, that he was one of the few people who really knew what was going on with Cinq Flèches, regardless of whether or not he was a puppet. They did unspeakable things to the people they ran experiments on. He is a cold man who is willing to do just about anything in the name of science. That and being crazy is a pretty bad combination."

Julia furrowed her brow in thought. "But if what you are saying is true, then why have chiropteran attacks dwindled? Don't get me wrong. Even one attack is too many. But we have been lucky that there have been so few. Especially since we have been unable to mass produce the enzyme found in Saya's blood."

"That is also uncertain. We believe that Van wishes to hold onto all his 'mice' for the time being as he is still running experiments. We also believe that he wished to avoid any trouble before he was able to put his plan into action. So it appears we are lucky that it took so long for the charges against him to be dropped and for him to take his place as head of Cinq Flèches. Who knows where we would be now if he had had all these years to run experiments on people and chiropterans."

"I'm assuming that you found all this information out from Collins."

"Mostly, yes. Although his betrayal was devastating to the Red Shield, it appears to have worked out in our favor. It would have been very difficult to successfully infiltrate Cinq Flèches. Obviously we would not have been able to use someone within our own small organization. We are all known to Cinq Flèches at this point. Finding someone, investigating their history, training them, and all the while hoping he or she would not betray us would have been a huge project. This way we already have someone on the inside. Someone that Van knows betrayed the Red Shield. The only reason we were even able to get him to work for us is not only to blackmail him, as we have plenty of evidence on crimes he has committed since his betrayal, but also to promise him some of the accreditation for the work he has done once this is finally over. I'm not particularly pleased with the latter. You know what I think of Collins, but we needed extra assurance that he would not betray us again."

Julia could feel a headache coming on as she vigorously rubbed her temples. "I'm having a hard time taking all of this in. Here I thought we only had a handful of chiropterans left to deal with, and that was hard enough. So is he simply running experiments with the chiropterans that were left? Without Diva's blood, he can't possibly create new ones!"

"It appears that he still has a moderate supply of Delta67. But if we are right about his plans, then he is going to need more." David gave her a meaningful look.

"But how can he get more? Diva is dead. Saya will not awake for another twenty-four years. Mr. Argeno will be an old man by then. And besides, her blood is lethal to the Delta series. Even if he were successful in getting Saya's blood and creating a new series, they could, in essence, wipe each other out. It would cancel out any progress that he is currently making."

"He does not need Diva or Saya's blood in order to create a new series. A new series whose blood would have no effect on the Delta series."

Julia looked horrified as realization slowly dawned. "No! Oh my God, David….. Kai's girls!"

David nodded. "Yes. We have kept the truth from him for far too long, Julia. I wonder if we did the right thing when we told him that the Red Shield had been dismantled and that there were no chiropterans left."

Julia looked sad and thoughtful. "Yes, David. We did the right thing. If Kai had known that the Red Shield was still active and that we were trying to kill the remaining chiropterans, he would have wanted to help. We both know that. He has enough going on in his life trying to raise those girls and run the Omoro. Granted, he did hire Kaori who has helped him out immensely. But that was so he could devote as much of his time as possible to raising Asuka and Manami. We did the right thing by not telling him, though he may not agree once he finds out. Besides, he was and still is having a hard time about Saya." She smiled wistfully. "He truly loves her. I can't believe I didn't notice it sooner."

David looked truly worried and was trying to figure out how to say what he needed to tell her.

Julia noticed this right away and said, "Oh, David. Please don't tell me that there's more."

"I'm afraid there is, Julia. Do you remember me telling you that Argeno has appeared to have gone mad?"

"Of course. And I would have figured that out for myself once you had told me of his plans."

"Well there's one part of the plan that I have not told you yet. And it involves Saya."

Julia frowned in confusion. "Saya? How is that possible? She will not wake up for another twenty-four years. Whatever plans he may have…. well it will be a long time before he is able to implement them."

"Not as long as you would think. Since he will not be able to create a world of chiropterans for Diva, he now plans to create a world of chiropterans for Saya."

Julia shook her head. "Come on, David. That makes absolutely no sense. Saya's wish was to completely rid the world of chiropterans. Originally, she had even included herself in that plan. Who in his right mind would think she would want to live in a world full of chiropterans?"

David pursed his lips. "Well we know that he is not of sound mind. And he is not thinking of the Saya that we all know and love. He is thinking of the Saya that awoke during the Vietnam War."

"But that's crazy. That was not the real Saya. Nothing could snap her out of whatever state she had entered into. She did not even recognize Haji, for God's sake. Although we are not sure exactly what caused her to slaughter all those people, it had to have been the fact that the Red Shield caused her to artificially awake during her hibernation period."

David let that information sink in for a few minutes.

Julia gasped. "Do you mean to tell me that Argeno plans to artificially wake up Saya?"

David nodded. "You guessed it, Julia. That is part of his plan."

"But so many things could go wrong! And even if she does wake up in the same state that she did during the Vietnam War, how would he control her?"

"He does wish to control her, but that is not all that he wants. I believe that he wishes to become her chevalier, having a relationship with her similar to the one that Amshel and Diva once had. So while he would be serving her, in a sense, he would also be controlling her."

"Even so, what makes him think she would ever agree to it?"

"This is only speculation, but I believe that he has been developing a new series of the Corpse Corps. I'm assuming that he plans to bring them with him for the 'awakening' in order to protect himself. As to his methods of persuasion, I do not know what he plans to do. And he also plans to bring someone else in case she goes completely berserk. But do not worry, we will get to him first."

"Who could he possibly bring that would make any difference? As I said before, back in Vietnam, no one was able to stop her. Not the Red Shield and not even Haji, her own chevalier."

"Don't you remember when Saya went crazy at that secret research facility in Vietnam?"

"Yes, I do." Julia gasped. "That's right! Kai was able to snap her out of it! I had always wondered about that….. how no one was able to bring her back to herself but him. So he plans to kidnap Kai as well?"

David nodded.

"So what in the world are we going to do about all of this, David?"

"We cannot let Argeno wake Saya."

"I know that, but how are we going to stop him?"

"He is already on the move. We do not know exactly how close he is, but we need to act immediately."

Julia looked horrified. "He is? Why have we been sitting here talking? We're wasting time! How in the world are we going to find a good place to hide her?"

"The reason we have had time to sit and discuss all of this is because the Red Shield has been busy making preparations. Lewis is retrieving Kai as we speak and will bring him here directly. The girls are currently being watched by Kaori, where they will be safe for the time being."

"Yes, but what exactly are our plans? Does that mean we have found a suitable place to hide Saya?"

David looked over at her carefully. "Not exactly. Julia, we are not planning to hide Saya anywhere. As you mentioned before, we do not have the time to find a suitable place. At this point, it is likely that wherever we hide her, he would be able to find her. We cannot risk that."

"But David, if we are not going to hide her, what will we do? Surely we cannot wake her! We could very well have another incident like the one in Vietnam! It's far too dangerous!"

"Yes, it will definitely be dangerous either way. But this time, we are going to go about things a little differently. For starters, we will not be using Haji's blood to awaken Saya, as the Red Shield did back then."

Julia looked worried. "David, I can't believe we're even discussing this like it's a possibility. What difference will that make? And whose blood would we use?"

"It is more than a possibility, Julia. We have to do this. We have no choice. Obviously we would not be able to use Haji's blood anyway, as he is believed to be dead. But we also believe his blood is part of the reason that she went crazy in Vietnam. Remember that while Haji's blood has never been known to have negative effects on Saya, sometimes it is what causes her to enter into a killing state. Do you remember when Saya was living in Okinawa and a chiropteran got loose in her school that fateful evening?"

Julia nodded.

"At this point, Saya had no memories of her past. But Haji forced her to drink his blood which caused her to suddenly 'awaken,' and she slayed the chiropteran. With the exception of that one time in Vietnam, Haji's blood has never caused her to lose herself. We have no reason to think that his blood is harmful to her in any way. But it still affects her in unpredictable ways and we believe that is why she went berserk when we injected his blood into her during her deep sleep. In answer to your second question, we plan to inject her with blood from one of us. It does not matter who. Since we believe that Haji's blood is what caused her to go berserk last time, we believe that the outcome of this awakening will be much more favorable. Added to that, we plan to have Kai with us just in case something goes wrong."

Julia didn't say anything for a minute. Then she looked over at David and said, "I want to go with you."

David shook his head furiously. "No, Julia. You cannot come. It is not necessary for you to be there. It's best for you to stay here and look after Sean."

"But David-"

"I said no, Julia," David said, cutting her off, "please do not argue with me." His face softened a bit. "I am quite confident that everything will be fine. It's not like that time in Vietnam. We know a lot more than we did back then. We are far more prepared. Don't worry."

He raised his right hand to her cheek and she closed her eyes. She brought up her hand to cover his. "I love you, David. I don't want anything to happen to you. I can't lose you." She opened her eyes and met his, a pleading look on her face.

David smiled. "You won't lose me, Julia. And I love you, too."

Julia sighed as a wave of nostalgia overtook her. "Do you remember the first time you told me that you loved me? It was one of the best moments of my life and I'll never forget it." She laughed lightly. "I still remember back to when I never thought I'd break through that hard exterior of yours."

David got up and wrapped his arms around her. "You and me both, Julia. I was a different man back then in the sense that I refused to let anyone in. In a small way, I think I always knew that I loved you. But it wasn't until the night when Collins held a gun to you, that I realized I truly could not live without you."

Julia brought her hands up to his chest and buried her head in his shoulder. "Can we just stay like this for a few minutes? It feels so good to be in your arms."

David smiled as he rested his head on top of hers.

But less than a minute later, his cell phone went off. He reluctantly let go of Julia to look at the caller ID. He looked at her and said, "It's Lewis."

"It's okay. I should probably start making dinner. I'm sure Sean will be getting hungry soon."

David nodded as he flipped open his phone. "Hello, Lewis."

"David. I am on my way over."

"Excellent. Did you find Kai?"

"Yes, he is with me. I'll see you shortly."

David closed his phone and headed towards the kitchen to wait with his family.