Angel in the Dark Sky
A/N: Wow! Two years since I last updated! I wonder if I'll be able to finish this story before the world ends (2012)?
Chapter 8: Left at the Bottom of the World
The station was busy as usual. Documents swapped in between traffics of officers hurrying to carry out their duties. There was much chatter, but mostly of the business kind. Amidst the usual fanfare at the station was the uneasy tension in the air. Today, everyone was following the same headline news on TV...
- A CELEBRATION ENDED IN TRAGEDY LAST NIGHT AT THE MISHIMA ZAIBATSU WHEN EXPLOSIVES WERE SET OFF, KILLING 10 PEOPLE AND SERIOUSLY INJURING AT LEAST 50 PEOPLE, INCLUDING NONE OTHER THAN THE CEO OF THE CORPORATION - KAZUYA MISHIMA -
A footage of Kazuya Mishima's brief interview was then played, which showed him propped up with pillows on a hospital bed, several parts of his body in bandages including his head. Lei, who was among the crowd of people watching the news, could no longer stand seeing his own shameful doing and withdrew into the privacy of his own office.
On his lunch break, Lei settled himself with nothing but a cup of cold coffee in his hand. When circumstances became too taxing for him, food was no longer extraneous but bothersome. Lei had many things to stress over that day... Coming into terms with his guilty conscience was hard, but even more so when reports of the Mishima Zaibatsu's demise were all over the morning news.
Lei took a deep breath and exhaled. His cup was empty so he went to the staff lunch room to get some more. Several officers were congregating around the coffee dispenser, talking among themselves loudly. When Lei entered the room, they immediately grew quiet and stared at him silently. Lei didn't even give them a second glance. These were the same people who spent more time tittle-tattling than doing anything productive and liked to crowd around inanimate objects.
When Lei approached the coffee dispenser, the crowd sidestepped to the left like pigeons on a sidewalk. Lei was pouring himself a hot batch of coffee and it didn't take long for the whispering to begin:
"You know, it's strange... He was the only one who was invited that didn't show up at the party."
"Uh-hmm... it's like he knew what was going to happen."
"Probably. He's pretty shady, if you ask me. I heard a lot about him from his former teammates in Hong Kong."
"...Hey, anybody saw last night's episode of Big Brother?"
Lei closed the door behind him as he left the lunchroom. Granted, there was some truth to what they were saying, but Lei could not bear to hear it from their vile mouths.
"Lei!"
At the call of his name, Lei was sharply grasped by the shoulder. The weary detective turned his head and his eyes were locked into Hayate's. The much younger detective, dressed in his typical white shirt and black tapered pants, looked very perturbed. Lei had no idea why but he felt uneasy.
"I don't care what everyone else says, Lei." Hayate said in a raised voice. "I know you're innocent!"
Taken aback by Hayate's words, Lei's face softened. He wondered why his subordinate was saying this to him, and with such conviction.
"What?"
Hayate planted his hands on his hips, looked down, and heaved a sigh.
"I'm didn't mean to startle you. It just that... I'm upset about what I've been hearing a lot from the other officers."
"What exactly did you hear?"
"...that you're secretly working with Bryan Fury."
Something snapped inside Lei. Without thinking, he slipped a few too many words, more that he had intended to.
"I am not working with Bryan Fury! We were partners years ago, but that was before he died."
"You mean before Dr. Abel rebuilt him as a cyborg?" Hayate clarified.
He was aware, to some degree, of Lei's past with Fury. The details were a bit fuzzy to him, but he had a clear idea of how prolific their professional relationship was. While most of the officers frowned upon Lei's connection with the former-INTERPOL-officer-turned-criminal, Hayate did not so much as passed judgement on his superior. In some ways, it made Lei more tolerable of his rookie subordinate.
"Yes." Lei muttered as he finally realized what he had just said to Hayate. "I believe you have upset me more than you realize. I don't like my past being brought up."
"Sorry."
The two detectives shared a brief moment of silence. Lei, knowing he had unfinished work to do, had this to say to his subordinate before going back to his office:
"I can't change how the others perceive me, and in all honesty, it's the least of my worries. As upsetting as it is to you, Hayate, you need to focus more on your job than office gossip."
There were only two instances in his life in which Bryan truly felt alive: once, when he had died while eluding incensed INTERPOL officers, then brought back to life by Dr. Abel; the second time, and most recent, was when he almost died from being crushed by a collapsing building. He didn't know how but had he not been pulled out from the wreckage immediately, it would have been the end of his monotonous life. He would not be lying on that cold bed, lost in his own thoughts. You never really pay attention to anything until you came close to losing your life.
Bryan was looking up at the ceiling, watching the shadows play around the single fluorescent light above him. He took a deep breath, taking in the distinct smell of a well-sanitized room, reminiscent of a typical hospital. However, he was in another place much less equipped than a standard hospital. What was once a store room had been hastily transformed into a makeshift recovery room. There were soft humming of machines, filling the dimly-lit room. Wires scattered on the floor below his bed. A disconnected IV pole stood beside him, next to a vital signs monitor. The ECG machine beeped rhythmically.
A slight creak of the door opening had stimulated his acute sense and Bryan immediately refocused his attention to the young woman who entered the room. Her appearance betrayed her occupation: kind eyes, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, and immaculate white uniform. The nurse approached Bryan without hesitation, her blue clipboard craddled to her chest.
Bryan replaced his own arm over his head and breathed.
"It's just you."
"You don't sound happy to see me," the nurse replied with a tolerant smile, obviously used to having sarcastic remarks thrown at her from her patients. She opened her clipboard and glanced briefly at her notes.
"I'm going to ask a few questions to start off my assessment."
Bryan groaned at this.
"What is your name?" the nurse asked.
"Bryan Fury."
"Time and date?"
The former detective glanced up at the calendar and clock.
"Eight-forty-five, July twenty-three, twenty-twelve."
"Do you know where you are?"
Bryan thought for a moment before answering.
"In an underground bunker in Fukasawa, Meguro-ku."
Astonished by her patient's last reply, the nurse abruptly looked up from her notes.
"I'm surprised you knew the answer to that, considering you were unconscious when you got here," she said, smiling. "It looks like you've completely regained your mental capabilities. I find it almost hard to believe how confused and delirious you were four days ago."
The nurse continued her routine assessments, going through her checklist.
"Your lab results came back normal this morning. The doctor okay'd everything so you're free to go. How's your pain?"
"I can manage," Bryan stated flatly, not showing any excitement towards the nurse's report. Despite this, Bryan admitted to himself that he was at least relieved that he did not need to be bed-ridden anymore.
The young nurse watched carefully as Bryan lifted himself off the bed to stand on his own feet. And like a good nurse, she immediately noted the way Bryan squeezed his eyes and clenched his teeth as he moved.
"I can give you some oxycontin to alleviate the pain," she offered.
"What's the use?" Bryan scoffed, waving his hand carelessly. "I've developed a high tolerance for pain meds, remember?"
"That's true but I'm sure Dr. Kanata can give you a higher dose..."
Without another word, Bryan strode past the nurse, ignoring her last comment altogether. The slight limp in his step worried her even more. However, she knew Bryan well enough to not push his patience over the edge so she did not protest. Unfortunately for Bryan, his exit he was stopped short by a figure that appeared under the door frame. The sight of Kunimitsu's striking deep-red locks was straining to his eyes, after being surrounded by an environment of monochromatic greys for a long period of time. The whiteness of her face contrasted with her hair very much that it gave her hair an even angrier shade of red.
"Where do you think you're going?" Kunimitsu asked in her accusing tone of voice, which Bryan knew too well.
"I don't have to stay here," Bryan said, his unwavering tall stature easily overshadowing Kunimitsu's shorter frame, "and I don't have to explain anything to you."
Kunimitsu narrowed her eyes and regarded his face meticulously.
"I think it would be redundant for me to tell you that I don't trust you completely. What happened this past week has done nothing but implicate you even more."
Bryan drew another breath, only this time the nurse noticed it was more ragged and tensed. She realized that she was now standing in the way of two equally dangerous people, ready to pounce on each other at the drop of a hat. With her head bowed down and her dark eyes lowered to the ground, she excused herself and left the room unnoticed.
"What did I do to make you question where I stand? I had Lei backed into a corner and where were you? Downstairs standing pretty in front of everybody! If you'd been with me he wouldn't have gotten away."
"Hah!" Kunimitsu feigned surprise. "How typical of you to point the finger at me. Let's not forget what happened in that alley where we had that detective pinned down. You had the chance to end his life then and there but you let him go." She lowered her eyes and raised her thin eyebrows as if she was contemplating. "That's one mystery I can never solve, unless of course, the most obvious answer is the truth..."
Her sarcastic approach did not do well in keeping Bryan's temperament down. His last name would be a hint to anyone that he was not one to back down from a confrontation.
"You're saying I spared him because I'm on his side?"
"No, Fury, I'm not saying anything at all. Your actions speak for themselves." Kunimitsu stepped around her accomplice, her hands clasped behind her back. "Kazuya remains fully confident in your loyalty to him and right now, you're his favourite 'pet'. But I will tell you this very instance that whatever it is you're plotting, you will not get away with it without a fight."
Bryan's steel-grip was on Kunimitsu's arm in a flash and his lips pressed onto her ear as he spoke in a low gluttural voice.
"Let's be honest with each other for once. We both want the same thing, don't we?"
Kunimitsu turned her head slightly, their eyes meeting, and quirked an eyebrow.
"Are you suggesting that we work together to bring down Kazuya? Forget it, Fury."
"Then lay off my back. Because if you don't," Bryan gripped her to a painful intensity. "I'll crush the bones in your arm the next time you threaten me."
It did not take long for Bryan to find his way around in Fukasawa. Although he had not been in the area before and the chaotic street-numbering system in Tokyo made it even more disorienting, his very organized and rational way of thinking allowed him to get through such hindrances. It was not sheer luck that he was able to correctly identify his location when the nurse had asked him. He knew that Kazuya settted-up various underground facilities in order to shield his more private activities from the scrutinizing gaze of the police, as well as the public. The Mishima Zaibatsu corporate building, which was the site of Kazuya's celebratory party before its destruction, was located in the business central of Tokyo - the Akasaka Ward. With little time to lose, his battered body would have been sent to the facility closest to the scene of the crime - the facility located in Fukasawa of the Meguro Ward.
A sharp pain on the left side of his abdomen caused him to stumble momentarily and he balanced himself by catching a hold of the wall beside him. He lifted a corner of his shirt slightly, revealing gauze bandaging wrapped around his abdominal area. His curious behaviour temporarily attracted the attention of passerbys, but he didn't care. He regained his composure and continued on with his walk, eventually finding himself in the the downtown core of Tokyo.
Fed up with his mindless wandering and the sardine-like pedestrians, he took shelter in a local pub. There, he sat himself at the bar and ordered a bottle of imported beer. He was always mindful of his surroundings, no matter where he was, so his eyes roamed from one corner of the pub to the other. A group of young people gathered at the karaoke bar. Another group of people, who most likely had never met before, chatted over plates of cold sushi. Those without company gathered in the dimmer areas of the pub where they continued to be left alone.
Bryan turned his attention back to the bottle of beer that was in front of him. How it ended up between his hands, he could not remember. His mind, though working satisfactorily, was still lacking in the short-term memory department. "Fuck it," he thought to himself. "I'm finishing this drink then I'm out of here."
He raised the bottle to his lips to take a swig from it when someone had absentmindedly brushed past him. This little incident roused his anger and he was not about to let some random drunkard get away without giving him a piece of his mind. He got up from the bar stool and weaved his way out of the pub to chase down the man whose face was obscured by the hood of his jacket.