Disclaimer – All characters and dialogue present in the anime and manga Burst Angel and Burst Angel: Infinity are registered trademarks and copyright of Funimation and studio Gonzo. All characters and dialogue not used within Burst Angel belong to me.
A/N: Damn, it's starting to feel like Megxeveryone … Sorry to disappoint anyone, but no. It's certainly not a harem fic. Big thanks to 'anon', Remnant of VII, BlackCat2104, Limerick, Dr. F. M. Obsesser and jaredhimself31 for reviewing the last chapter! You guys are awesome!
"Jo… Keep fighting."
Meg, Episode 24, Angels, Explode!
Chapter Five: Fallout
Meg suffered a brief moment of disorientation as she regained consciousness, her world spinning sickeningly to her weary and sleep-gummed eyes. Well, she certainly hadn't expected to feel this much like shit when she woke up… She wasn't sure if she'd wake up at all, let alone in the Elizabeth's infirmary. She groaned softly, cradling her pounding skull in her hands, and then flinched away. A throbbing burn adorned her cheek, covered over by a short length of surgical tape. Meg frowned at this unexpected injury, forcing herself to relax as she quickly took stock of her wounds. Her ribs were aching, and it was still hard to breathe too deeply. Meg grimaced, noting the excessive amounts of gauze wrapped around her torso. The back of her throat felt scorched and raw, her arm was tightly bandaged again and cotton wrapped about her temples. The morning light pouring in through the sickbay window seemed excessively bright, the waves lapping against the Elizabeth's metal hull absurdly loud.
She carefully laid back against the pillows, scowling. Hell, it could have been worse. The last she recalled was passing out just after one of Bai-Lan's snipers shot down that head case Kruegar. Her jaw tightened, sending sparks of pain through her right temple. Sei had probably ordered her to be delivered here to get treated –
Meg's breath caught, her broken body somewhat forgotten, her eyes widening as memory hit her drug-hazed mind. Sei. The photos. The goddamn photos. She had to show the Bai-Lan leader now or it might be too late, Maria might have killed Jo –
The hair on the back of Meg's neck stood on end as the door to the infirmary cracked open, a pair of cautious brown eyes scanning the small, sterile room. They brightened somewhat as they noticed Meg was awake, and the door was pushed all the way open to reveal Amy. The girl virtually bounced into the room, a grin plastered all over her face. Meg eyed her as warily, a tension beginning in her temples. God, she hoped Amy wouldn't start with the lectures…
"So, I guess we aren't going to have to order the casket after all," the younger girl taunted quietly. "Though you kinda look half dead anyway."
Her eyes quickly glanced over Meg's many various injuries. The redhead felt her mouth quirk into a half-hearted smile.
"Shut it, brat," she admonished the teen, wishing that speaking didn't hurt her brain so much. Amy must have noticed her falter, because an unmistakable look of pity crossed the hacker's face.
Meg felt her body rebel even as she noticed the look; a coughing fit so violent shook her painful frame that it left the taste of thick mucus on her tongue. Her mouth twisted as the fit finally ended, leaving her head aching and her throat raw. Her ribs? They felt like they'd just cracked open again. Meg steadied herself with a shaking hand, appalled at her own weakness.
"Hm. We might have to restart you on oxygen…" Amy murmured thoughtfully, standing on the tips of her toes and looking down the hall. "I'll see if I can get the doctor to check you out again."
The mercenary's head jerked up in alarm. She didn't have time for some endless stream of doctors wanting to keep her confined to the infirmary. She propped herself up on her elbows, wincing.
"Amy, seriously, get me Sei or Nana or somebody-"
A pair of brown eyes narrowed as Amy turned back to Meg, staring at her suspiciously.
"…why?"
"For kicks and giggles, of course," Meg rested her head in her hands. "Just… in my room, there's an envelope wedged in between the mattresses. Grab my keycard and… Please, give it to Sei and tell her it…" she bit her lip. Amy had no idea of what had happened that night. The late-night caller, the photos... "Tell her it's the data from the pro-bono I begged her for."
Amy fiddled with the hem of her brown sleeve for a moment. "Sure. So long as you stay in bed for the rest of the day."
"Oh come on-" Meg protested before being silenced by Amy's warm hand over her mouth. It surprised her just long enough for the hacker to get a word in edge-wise.
"No bed rest, no deal." Amy's voice was unusually firm. "I'll get it and take it to Sei, but you gotta promise me that much. The alternative to you is that I sit here, all day, and make sure you stay couped up in here and damnit Sei will never get that envelope. After all, isn't it important?" Amy flashed a sly grin as she lowered her hand from Meg's mouth.
The mercenary stared at Amy with increasing ire, before easing herself back down against the pillows.
"Fine," Meg growled, crossing her arms over her aching chest lightly. "But make sure you do get that envelope to Sei, or I swear to God you're getting the noogie of a lifetime."
The smile Amy gave her was almost blinding in its brilliance, and the hacker flashed Meg a 'V for victory' as she literally bounded to the infirmary door.
"You can count on me, Mitarai!"
Meg sighed and forced herself to relax as the girl vanished from the medical centre. It was all okay, Amy would take the photos to Sei and Sei would help Meg get Jo back-
The mercenary jumped violently as Amy's head peered into the infirmary again, sharp pains shooting through her abused body at the sudden movement.
Irritation with the girl boiling over, Meg ground between clenched teeth, as levelly as she could, "What the hell are you doing, scaring me like that-"
Amy waved the woman's anger away with a negligent hand. "Meg? You got a visitor."
"That attitude of yours' has really got to- wait, a visitor?" Meg's mind ground to a shivery halt. No matter how hard she told herself it wasn't possible, her mind seemed to hold the hope that it would be Jo coming to see her. But that was impossible, wasn't it? Jo was locked up God only knew where at the hands of Maria. Mentally kicking herself for such foolish thoughts, Meg swallowed unsteadily. If it were Sei coming to see her, Amy would have just said so. Same with Leo…
If she'd thought her mind had frozen before, she was dead wrong. When she saw who was peering into the infirmary, lurking in the corridor behind the petite hacker-
Oh my god I'm screwed. A fake grin forced its way onto her lips, a tick starting in her left cheek as her blue eyes darted wildly around. Escaping the infirmary would be pretty simple; it'd just mean she'd have to swim back to the pier - Amy's smirk. Amy's goddamn smirk, Meg realised with an internal groan. She'd promised to stay in bed-
The woman's pale blue hair gleamed in the morning light as she entered the room, fixing the position of her wire-rimmed glasses on her nose in a nervous gesture. Dressed in a black, tailored business suit, Yoko Ketsu was the image of success. If not for the square of gauze on her cheek, one would never have thought she had been involved in the Kruegar incident. Meg swallowed loudly as Yoko's dark eyes fell on her.
"Megumi Mitarai, I suppose." Yoko's voice was so soft Meg nearly didn't catch it. Amy seemed to take that as her cue to high-tail it out of there. Frankly, Meg didn't blame her. The mercenary squeezed the bridge of her nose, her entire body aching horribly.
I seriously did not need this, Amy, Meg silently told the hacker before turning her attention back to Yoko.
"That's me alright." Meg sighed in resignation, attempting to bury the probable cause for Yoko's visit in small-talk. "Is President Morholt doing fine?"
Yoko nodded, her face grim. "The president suffered only minor burns to his hands and knees. Although the mental trauma he now has will be with him for a while to come. It pleases him that Kruegar was neutralised."
Meg stared at her hands. "I see."
There was a long, heavy pause as Yoko took a seat next to Meg's hospital bed, tucking a few strands behind her ears as she did so.
"A mercenary for Bai-Lan these days, Ms. Mitarai." Yoko's soft voice was contemplative. "I'd heard of your exploits, but embarrassingly never made the connection. The Meg I remembered seemed hardly the kind to hunt RAPT." A slight smile quirked the edges of the pale woman's lips, as if the thought somehow amused her.
Meg frowned. "A lot has happened since you last saw me. A lot of things changed when RAPT fell."
Yoko's dark eyes watched her intently. "Of course. Five years is a long time. But…" The look seemed to harden in Yoko's gaze. "Why did you never bother to come back for me?"
Meg felt her stomach sour. How on earth could she explain her cowardly choice to Yoko? It had made sense at the time. It had made sense when Jo had eased her guilt. Meg stared at the pale scars and calluses on her hands, wishing to be anywhere other than where she was. Breaking down a RAPT prison? Easy. Aiding Takane in a drug bust? A walk in the park. Confessing that she was a scumbag to a person she screwed over? Not so simple.
Meg's mouth struggled to work for a moment before she croaked out, "Yoko… I-"
Yoko sighed, breaking eye contact. It was almost a relief to be out from under such an intense gaze.
"I suppose it hardly matters now, does it? What's done is done… the past is inerasable, and we both seem to have our share of demons."
The mercenary's eyes snapped up, and she frowned.
The weak who are consumed by the demons inside themselves, Meg remembered Jo saying quietly. The smile the thought provoked was just a little bit twisted.
"I… I was just a stupid kid, back then," she heard herself telling Yoko. It came out haltingly at first, but as she forced herself on it became easier. "I had no idea of what the hell had gone down at that school. Or what I was supposed to react like. And instead of facing my promises and demons head on… I kept them from turning me insane by hiding from them." Meg's smile became slightly bitter. She hadn't been able to hide from Jo's fate, and perhaps as a result she truly was insane.
Yoko nodded, her eyes far away.
"So you never intended to come back for me," the blue-haired woman deduced calmly. "I suppose he was correct about that, then. That is all I need, Ms. Mitarai."
Meg watched wordlessly as Yoko rose to her feet, adjusting her black business skirt and fixing her wire-rimmed glasses. Her stomach felt sour despite the blunt truth. The truth would set you free, right? Ha. Talk about oversimplifying things…
Yoko gave Meg a slow bow before turning to leave.
"Yoko?" Meg barely recognised her hoarse, hesitant voice. She hadn't sounded so weak since… since… that awful few months after Jo had vanished.
The blue-haired woman paused, her brown eyes enquiring. "Yes, Ms. Mitarai?"
"I'm sorry, Yoko."
Yoko Ketsu smiled lightly. "Just make sure to make it up to me, Meg."
And then Yoko was gone, leaving Meg's hesitant apology seeming woefully inadequate.
Amy loudly hummed the main theme from Dragon Bomber Brothers VII under her breath as she bypassed the security code to Meg's room with practiced ease. What? She was a genius hacker for crying out loud. She knew the Elizabeth's control systems like the back of her hand, and that was the way it should be! She didn't need to use a primitive keycard to get back into a security system she had upgraded herself.
Of course, Meg wasn't supposed to know that what was private actually… well, wasn't. Amy could do without the headache of navigating booby traps, just in order to steal items from Meg's room. Steal a bottle of perfume here, plant a couple of tracking devices on her uniforms there, nab her cigarettes and throw them out… It was for a good cause, right?
The automated doors to Meg's chambers slid open as Amy reached the climax of the game music, wrinkling her nose at the strong scent of cigarettes and gunpowder that accompanied Meg's usual scent. The mercenary was attractive, yes. That much she could admit. But those habits of hers were really not.
Muttering loudly about obnoxious idiots, Amy darted quickly into the room. It had been days since Meg had been in here last, so everything had remained untouched. The tattered cream scarf was strewn over the mattress like a great, dying snake. The tech-whiz chewed on her lip for a moment, debating moving it to a safer place before shrugging. If it got lost, that was Meg's fault. And it's not like it would really go all that far… Amy plopped down onto her hands and knees by the side of the bed and reached under the mattress. She felt her fingers brush coarse paper.
That was when the flash of the answering service caught her eye. Raising an eyebrow, Amy pulled the envelope that Meg was so hung up on out before turning her eyes onto the violation of nature from before.
Meg, getting a message from anybody on a private line?! The idea was ludicrous in itself. The redheaded mercenary didn't have a life, being almost as bad as Amy remembered Jo having been. And that was saying something.
Amy's eyebrow twitched as she forced herself to turn away from the tantalizingly flashing light. Privacy violation wasn't socially acceptable, privacy violation wasn't-
Who the hell was she trying to kid? She was a hacker. Privacy violation was what she did.
"I know what killed the cat … but what the hey," Amy grinned to herself and quickly pressed the button.
There were a few moments of static before a distorted, female and Japanese voice whispered through the speakers.
"Little Meg. Perhaps I was not clear the last time we spoke. You are running out of time." There was a few more seconds of warped distortion before the line went dead.
Amy stared wordlessly down at the envelope in her hands. Meg's important envelope… it was almost like somebody had flipped the light switch in her brain, as suddenly she made the obvious connection. That weird woman was talking about the envelope! It was so clear to her now!
She paused, frowning. What was so damn important about the contents of this envelope? If Meg was over her head, it was better if Bai-Lan knew about it sooner, rather than later. Then again, Meg had asked for Amy to take it to Sei. Still. Information was information, and she was the best at gathering information.
Amy shrugged to herself. Hell, why not check it out? It wasn't like she was going to get caught, anyhow. Grinning to herself, she opened the unsealed end of the tan packet and let the contents spill out onto the cold metal floor of Meg's room. They appeared to be badly printed stills of a security tape. Black and white, and a little bit blurry –
Amy's eyes shot wide, her mouth dropping open in horror, as the full weight of what she was seeing hit her.
Hurriedly, the hacker scooped the stills back into the envelope and folded the end over to seal them in. Oh god. Oh god what had she just seen?! Where the hell had Meg gotten all of this? When? The message left by the Japanese woman burned ominously in her brain as Amy scrambled for the closest intercom in Meg's room. It took her mere seconds to override to emergency system and establish a direct patch to Sei's personal chambers.
"Yo Sei?!" Amy called breathlessly over the intercom, swallowing a feeling of incredible nausea. "We've got something huge on the RAPT case here!"
Sei buried her face in her hands as the intercom crackled back to silence.
Abuse of the emergency system again, Amy?
The Bai-Lan leader sighed inaudibly before looking to her companions. "Please, excuse the interruption. Our intelligence expert gets rather excited at breakthroughs in the long-term projects."
Mr. Zuru and Mr. Shin sat at the heavy table in her study, each raising an eyebrow. Sei waited for half a second before continuing.
"Bai-Lan lost substantial manpower in last week's operation," she said firmly to the two Ormicon men. "We upheld our end of the bargain, and President Morholt lived to make it to the army base. Not only that but my people eliminated the Kruegar threat. Now you must uphold your end of the bargain."
Mr. Shin laughed loudly, lounging on the straight-backed chairs. "You put such a gloss on it, Laoban. The escort was practically cannon-fodder and your prized pet Mitarai was caught off-guard. In short, Bai-Lan was hardly what you'd talked it up to be." His hand twitched toward the wad of tobacco sticking from his jacket pocket.
"The contract is based on results alone, Mr. Shin." Sei told them levelly, massaging the scars on the back of her hand. "Bai-Lan's performance in the face of an unpredicted variable is not part of the equation."
Mr. Shin's lip curled. "Psh. Honourless dogs."
Sei's teeth clenched in spite of herself. She was a leader of a syndicate that dabbled in crime. It hurt but… it was truth.
Shin spat. "Just the results that matter, huh? So it doesn't matter that you lot sucked harder than a whore in the red-light district? Ha, Bai-Lan certainly has been defanged-"
"Enough, Mr. Shin." Zuru rumbled darkly, uncrossing his arms from where they were folded against his chest. "My lady, we did not-" the man's voice lowered ominously as he directed his comment to Shin. "-come here to jeopardise Ormicon's and Bai-Lan's business relationship. We have every intention of paying Bai-Lan the amount agreed upon. All we ask is for Kruegar's body to be given to us."
Sei's brow creased in a frown. "Why might it be of interest to you? A homeless RAPT prisoner is hardly worth-"
"Medical research," Shin glossed over her questions smoothly. "We wanna know what RAPT did to this fella that made him mad enough to go after President Morholt."
"I… see." Frankly, she didn't see at all. Sei made a mental note to get Nana or Hachi to do a preliminary examination of Kruegar's body before handing it over. If there was something important… She folded her hands in her lap, smoothing her features with some effort. There was no need to get worked up over a homeless vagrant.
"Then we have your word, Lady Laoban?" Mr. Zuru asked, leaning forwards in his seat slightly. Sei had to force herself to keep her face remaining smooth.
Far too eager.
The chamber doors slid open, admitting a petite young woman with light blue hair caught in a messy bun. She wore the same Ormicon insignia on her black jacket's pocket as the two suits seated at Sei's table, and Sei immediately made the connection.
The president's secretary. Yoko Ketsu, from what Nana told me. An attendee of the Saint Luciana Academy during that whole RAPT fiasco.
Ms. Ketsu readjusted her wire-rimmed glasses, brown eyes sweeping over the room instantaneously before settling on Sei.
"I do hope I am not interrupting anything." The woman's voice, though soft, was clear. Sei felt herself smile.
"Ms. Ketsu, I presume? Mr. Zuru and Mr. Shin were just finishing up here." She turned her attention back to the suits before her. "You will receive the body after we have finished identifying all the remains. We have a duty to our soldier's families, too."
The three Ormicon representatives nodded, as if it were par the course. But Sei couldn't help but wonder if it was really as simple as that for them.
Shin and Zuru climbed to their feet, joining Sei in a deep bow before turning to Ms. Ketsu.
"Hachi will see you off the Elizabeth and back to solid ground." Sei told them formally, watching them as they filed from the room and towards the dock exit. As soon as the automated door slid shut again, Sei breathed a deep sigh of relief and rested her head in her hands. She had expected that meeting to have gone much worse – for Ormicon to opt out of payment and have to deal with an absolute armload of the resulting paperwork.
Rubbing her temples, Sei's fingers quickly dialled Nana's number on the internal communication system. It rang for a few seconds before the cat-woman's robotic voice greeted her.
"Nana. Make sure that the security around the meat lockers is doubled. I don't want that madman vanishing from the Elizabeth before we can give him a damn good once over."
"Of course, Lady Sei. Was there anything else?" the robot enquired in that infuriatingly polite tone. Sei broke a couple of painkillers from their foils, dry swallowing them.
"Could you perhaps get me Amy's private line? She contacted me over the emergency system again. I was otherwise preoccupied…"
There was the sound of faint static from the intercom as the call was processed.
"Amy here."
Sei took a deep swallow from a bottle of water hidden within her desk. "It's Sei. What was so damn important you had to use the emergency system again?"
"…seriously Sei. It was an emergency."
Sei paused. Amy was awfully serious. What was it that she'd said it was about?
"Of course," Sei agreed mildly. "Now what was it?"
There was a moment's silence from the other end of the intercom.
Amy's voice was deadly quiet when she spoke. "You'd have to see it to believe me."
Sei stared down at the steel desk top, over interlaced fingers. Or rather, she stared at what littered the desk's face. On the outside she made absolutely certain she was calm and unfazed by the grainy stills. Inside, her mind was in chaos.
Jo. You're still hanging in there, after all these years? Sei grimaced, unfolding her hands and scooping up the closest still. The image was blurry, but it was still easy to see the explicit details. The unnatural angle the silver-haired woman's arm was bent at nearly made her gag-
"So it seems Meg's contact was legitimate." Sei placed the photograph onto the steel surface, unable to stomach looking at it any longer.
Amy raised an eyebrow, still looking a little pale and sweaty. "Contact?"
Sei breathed in sharply. "The night before the Ormicon operation, Meg received a strange phone call. The caller did not ID herself, only claimed she was from RAPT and that they had Jo. Nana and Hachi were unable to trace it back to its source. I dismissed it as a hoax, but it seemed to rattle Meg enough that she had to follow the trail of information the contact had left for her. No matter what I said, I could not convince her that it was useless." Sei's grimace deepened as her eyes met Amy's.
"And I suppose this is what she found at the end of the trail. This." The Bai-Lan leader picked up another snapshot, feeling ill. "No wonder she was so distracted during the operation..."
Amy's brown eyes looked troubled, and she seemed to be actively trying not to look at the photos scattered over the table. "What do we do about this? I know we've gone on little information before, but… this could have been taken anywhere in Japan, for all we know. Heck, it could even be in the United States!"
"…as Bai-Lan's leader, I owe Jo. I owe Jo my life." Sei held up a hand covered in burn scars. Her joints were still painful, the road to recovery had been hellish – but it was still life.
((-get in Jango now Sei! Do you hear me?!" The silver-haired gunner screamed at Sei over the powerful shockwave the central brain released as Jo's bullets drove home. Sei's bullet-torn body was too sluggish to move properly, she was in too much pain-
"SEI!" the gunner roared again. Jo's fierce red eyes searched the room desperately for a moment – Sei cried out as the woman slung her over her shoulder with ease that would have shocked Sei had it been anyone else. She felt herself black out for a moment and suddenly she was in Jango's cockpit, with Jo staring in at her from the outside. The woman gave her boss a strained smile and a lazy salute. Sei's eyes widened as she realized what Jo intended to do. The cockpit hatch locked shut.
"Jo- NO!" Sei pounded her fists against the inside of the hatch. "Get in here, that's a fucking order-"
The world shook as the explosion superheated the air in the cockpit. As Sei felt her clothes begin to burn, she mercifully struck her head against the interior of the hatch and knew no more.))
Sei clenched her scarred fist tightly as the rawness of her memories blurred her vision for an instant.
"We owe it to Jo to do what we can. We'll find her and bring her back. Bai-Lan leader or no, I still have my goddamn sense of honour."
As hard as it had been to believe before, Sei knew it was truth now.
"What do you want me to do?" Amy asked quietly, but there seemed to be a spark of life in her brown eyes now. One that Sei hadn't noticed had been missing…
"Verify that those really are RAPT soldiers in the pictures, and then find me some candidates for locations. I want to know who those guards are in those pictures and if we can fix a location from their IDs. Let me know immediately when you are done." Sei watched the hacker leave in an energetic blur, half a smile coming to her lips.
For the first time in years, she felt alive.