Exile: Sorry for the late update TT_TT My life...has not been going well.
Don't own.
Chapter Five: Artificial
4:31 November 18th, 2012
Los Angeles Bank of Business, CA
"Why…?" Kanda whispered, his face buried in his arms. "Why is it them, of all people?" the Japanese man was crouched in front of the corpse of his newly-deceased friend, Aeri. Behind him sat two upset interns, the male one pale and obviously shocked, and the female having the expression of a killer that was going to go murder someone, ironically enough.
"Aeri Night, thirty-six years old, bank manager, former Exorcist." Lavi scribbled on the notepad he clutched, "Victim of a supposed bank robbery. Possible casualty of follow-up killings of people connected with DGM case." Snapping it shut, he looked emotionlessly at Lenalee. "What do you have?"
"Well, this one's a cut-and-clear case of knifing to the neck." Lenalee replied, staring at the fatal wound. "There's not much more to say. What I'm surprised is that she of all people died by a knife stab. I don't think we'll get off with this one easily. Aeri was well-known in the DGM case, but most of the people here simply see it as a simple bank robbery." She turned to stare at the huddle of captured would-be bank robbers which were in the middle of interrogation with Allen, not that it would help any. Kat and Raikou had testified that the man had ran through the employee entrance to escape, and that had been roughly ten minutes ago. Sachiko "Chomesuke" Kirota had already set out on the manhunt with a squad of Exorcists specialized for hunts like this, and Kanda grimaced at the expression his part-time secretary had been wearing the moment she had arrived on the scene. During the DGM case, she and Aeri had been a tag team, Aeri specializing in using knives and short-range guns while the other woman usually sniped to protect or send fatal bullets through their targets. Sachiko had the reputation-given name of "Akuma", while the current corpse was called the "Demon". The only difference that had existed between them was their area of expertise, and they had gotten along as well as sisters.
Kanda's pager buzzed in his pocket, and with a sigh he switched it on. "Did you get the guy?" there was bloodlust in Sachiko's voice when she answered,
"No. Look outside." With a glance, Kanda nearly screamed in frustration as he saw that it was silently raining, not that he had noticed in the soundproofed bank. "But check Ekaterina's weapon. I'm confident that she drew blood when the guy was stabbed. Unfortunately, I was too focused on catching the guy, so I neglected ordering someone to collect evidence." with that, she hung up and Kanda lost his temper, listing off a string of expletives that would make an Alcatraz prisoner go red. Several people looked his way and steered clear of the angry man.
"Where. Is. Your. Nut. Cracker?" Kanda ground out as he stalked towards the now terrified interns. Kat blanched and slowly shook her head.
"I-I-I don't know! Don't kill me!" she squeaked. "I blacked out when it hit me, and I just remembered it!" Kanda turned on his heel and barked at one of the other Exorcists, asking for Kat's nut cracker. When the frightened man had responded negative, his boss all but started cursing again, barely remembering his manners in time.
"Um, sir, you're looking for a nut cracker?" a woman asked timidly, approaching the raging Japanese. He spun around, making the woman flounder with her words as she stared speechlessly at his furious countenance. "I-I saw what that girl did to help us, and I thought that the least I could do was clean the blood off her nut cracker." Kanda's jaw nearly dropped as he looked at the pristine, clean, last hope that she was holding in front of her. Must. Not. Maim. He internally ordered. Straightening up, he gave the woman a cross glare.
"Thank you." he ground out, picking up the last shred of hope for catching his former compatriots' killer and tossing it to the disbelieving Kat. However, when he turned his back, the woman nearly snickered.
Kanda Yuu, you are such a fool. If you weren't so famous for the case, then Sheryl would have disposed of you long ago. Mimi mentally laughed. At this rate, your little sister will be dead within a week.
(Earlier) 1:54 PM November 18th, 2012
Froi Tiedoll's home, San Diego, CA
The moment Rei got out of her car and walked up the stairs her father's porch, the door was flung open. "Ryuukei, my child! I haven't seen you for so long!" Tiedoll exclaimed happily, enveloping Rei in a parental hug. She flinched before setting down her backpack and stood stiffly in her father's embrace. "Where's Yuu?" he asked before releasing her. Rei let out a sigh.
"There's another serial killer in LA that's begging brother to run a sword through him." Rei explained. Tiedoll's face dropped in disappointment, "He's not going to be coming down at all for Thanksgiving." Her adopted father's face turned mournful.
As long as Rei could remember, Froi Tiedoll had been a painter. She wasn't sure how old he was, but he had always had his bushy hair the same monochrome gray. The man loved painting, even though by now he had retired, but he still liked to do nothing but either dote on his children or paint in the garage. She had been adopted by him at twelve years old, ten years ago, and Kanda fourteen years before that, when he had been nine. It was because of the prolonged exposure to the old man, Rei supposed, that Kanda loathed coming down to San Diego for the holidays, preferring to immerse himself in work in order to have a plausible excuse to avoid Tiedoll's excessive fatherly love. Tiedoll himself wasn't a bad father; he simply liked excessive displays of parental devotion, something Kanda detested along with Tiedoll himself. The loathing had prompted Kanda to get a scholarship into UC Davis, mostly because it was a good nine hours away and had one of the best forensic programs in the country. Kanda had originally aimed to become a pathologist before realizing he liked the hunt for the criminal more than taking care of the corpses.
As for Rei, she could tolerate it. It was better than her memories at the orphanage, at least. But even her good intentions couldn't prevent her own dislike of Tiedoll to slowly increase, so she had moved to Cal State Long Beach, two hours away from Tiedoll. (At one point in time, Kat had pointed out that a way to measure her and Kanda's dislike for their father was through how far they had moved for their universities. The siblings had denied it, of course.) An awkward smile formed on her face as she stepped politely away and dashed into the house, heading for her old bedroom tucked in the far corner of the second floor. Slamming the door shut, Rei dived into her bed, a relaxed expression spreading as she proceeded to "flip around the room", doing various martial art maneuvers for the sake of old memories. Though if anyone happened to walk in at the moment, they'd probably get the door kicked back in their face, mostly because the fact that what kept the Viet jumping back and forth, up and down the room were mechanisms scattered around the area, and one was on the door. One time, when Kat had tried to copy Rei by "flipping around the room", but all that she had succeeded in was getting a concussion.
Being the doting parent that he was, even after Rei and Kanda had adamantly moved out, Tiedoll still did thorough cleanings of their rooms every week, which was probably why her room was still clean. Normally, if anyone inadvertently wandered into Kanda's room, they'd immediately shut the door. Kanda had filled his room with various weapon models, encyclopedias, and it was even worse than Rei's, with cords running everywhere. It was impossible not to trip, unless you were one of the siblings. Rei was pretty sure that the cords were still there, as same with all the other dangerous stuff. Her own room was much more organized, but also had cords running everywhere because of the many computers and the gaming systems. At several spots on the room's walls and ceiling were also black pads expressly for her to "flip around the room", since it was required for her to be able to leap everywhere.
"Rei!" Tiedoll called. "Come downstairs!" the words interrupted Rei in mid-air as she leapt clumsily on one of the wall pads, tumbling to the floor because of her lost momentum.
"Frag grenades." Rei cursed. "Who is it?" she yelled down the stairs.
"It's Yuu's friend. He wants to see you!" Tiedoll replied, making Rei frown.
"Kanda isn't here!"
"I don't mean I want to see Kanda, I want to see Rei!" a slightly familiar voice clarified. As she ran down the steps, Rei internally scowled at the confusion her brother's name often caused. When she reached the ground floor, Rei was greeted with a tall, black-haired man with messy hair and facial tattoos.
"Oh…hi Alma." she greeted uneasily. Alma Karma had been Kanda's best friend, and she personally didn't know much about him other than the fact that he and Kanda were like. "What do you need?"
"I heard you were interning at the LA branch!" he said happily, causing Rei to nearly walk into a wall. "How is the intern program going? Komui was transferred here yesterday to evaluate and see if we could take in any interns."
"…Hah?" she asked, face screwed up with incomprehension. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Alma promptly apologized. "I work as an investigator at the Order's San Diego Branch. Komui Lee…well, Kanda should've told you about the whole Section Head thing."
"He didn't. What are you talking about?" Rei admitted. Alma raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Ok, well he did, but I completely forgot."
"You're exactly like he said you were." Alma snickered, and Rei had a hard time not hitting him in the stomach. Well, you're exactly like Lavi. She internally retorted. "The Section Heads have to travel to every branch once a year to do inspections. And as you know, there's only one Section Head per region, so you get the idea. Komui has to do a lot of travelling."
"No wonder he's so attached to Lenalee whenever he sees her." Rei mused. "Anyway, what's your business here?"
"Want to come over to the SD Branch and check it out? And perhaps convince Komui to let us open up the internships." Alma pled.
"Why would Komui listen to me?" Rei couldn't help but snort. Alma shrugged.
"You're Kanda's sister. You're bound to be able to be just as intimidating as him!" With that, Alma dragged Rei out of Tiedoll's house and to his car. "Come on! The Order is boring without newbies to make fun of and order around!"
"I knew it." Rei muttered in the car. "Brother is incapable of making friends with normal people."
2:42 November 18th, 2012
Black Order San Diego Branch, CA
"I'm never driving with you…again…" Rei rasped as she staggered out of the car. Alma just looked at her with pity and shook his head. "You are worse than Kanda when it comes to driving!"
Affronted, Alma glared back, "At least I haven't been arrested for going over the speed limit, unlike him." Rei rolled her eyes. "I'm telling the truth!"
"But…you cut cars too fast, too often! I nearly had a heart attack!" she hissed back. "I swear, you're going to get into an accident someday! And then Brother will be even sourer for the rest of his life!"
"The chances of me getting in an accident are lower than me committing suicide. And I won't be feeling suicidal anytime soon." They had arrived in front of the Black Order's San Diego Branch, which contrasted greatly to the Los Angeles building. Instead of being dark, innocuous, and all-around gloomy, this one was huge, flashy, and had a much busier air about it. As people walked in and out of the buildings, Rei sensed a more energetic aura rather than the tired and exhausted one that Kanda usually had floating surrounding him.
"Hi, Alma! I thought you wouldn't be back for a while, what's going on?" A woman greeted as Rei was shoved in the building. "And who's this?"
Alma flashed a broad smile, "Kanda's little sister! She's going to help us convince Komui to open up the intern program here!" The woman froze at the name.
"K-Kanda? Um, I – I need to go get some more coffee, bye!" with that the brunette scurried away, reminding Rei much of a mouse. Alma sighed and shook his head.
"Rou Fa is absolutely terrified of your brother. Kanda is just like that. Anywho, Komui is THIS WAY!" the investigator explained before dragging her to another large set of double doors. When she tried to escape from his grasp, Alma's grip only tightened. "Don't be like that! I want some newbies running around here! It's not fair to let Kanda to have all the fun!"
Scratch him being like Lavi, he's Lavi and Allen together! Rei internally panicked. Lenalee had told her about Komui Lee before, and only a few sentences had been positive. When they got to the doors, Alma kicked it open, and Rei grew even paler. They were in a conference room and had obviously just interrupted a meeting. There were four people present: a man with familiar dark green hair and wearing a beret, a blond woman with a burn scar covering half her face and a monkey on her shoulder, a man with black hair and extremely pale skin, and another blond, a man with a similar beret on his head. God save me now. Or kill me now, whatever's faster. These people are worse than brother! The woman was the one to speak up first.
"Mr. Karma, what is your business here, interrupting a conference?" she said in a frigid voice. Rei winced, recognizing her right away. Klaud Nyne, head of the Black Order San Diego Branch, a person that could probably best even Kanda at hand-to-hand combat, had the only record of zero cold cases in her twenty years of working at the Order, and was absolutely terrifying. Even worse than Lenalee with two scalpels! Rei remarked to herself. She had no good memories when it came to Kanda and Klaud in the same room. In fact, possibly the best memory was when the woman's monkey had attacked Kanda. But other than that…
"Sorry, Klaud! But anyway, I brought an intern from the Los Angeles to sing the praises of having the intern program here!" he said bluntly, shoving Rei n front of the piercing gaze of the four people. "Ryuukei, this guy with the beret is Komui Lee, the blond with the beret is Bak Chan, the dude that looks like a vampire is Krory Arystar, and my boss is the woman, Klaud Nyne!"
"I know, I know." Rei muttered, swallowing nervously. Great, I'm in a room full of insanity. "It's nice to meet you again." Klaud raised an eyebrow.
"Aren't you Kanda's little sister?" she asked frostily. Rei winced. "I remember you. How is that idiot doing? Still running around doing cases like the brute he is?"
"Kanda's sibling?" Krory cried, looking alarmed. "Is she here to recon for Kanda? I remember she kept on throwing little plastic bats at me!"
"No, Krory, you're thinking of Lavi's cousin." Bak said kindly. "But I think that yes, she was sent by Kanda."
"You're all wrong!" Rei burst out, embarrassed by the bad reputation her brother had. "I came down here for Thanksgiving with Tiedoll! And I never threw bats at Krory; I only gave them to Kat to throw! And big brother is not a brute, he's just an idiot!"
Silence.
"Ahem." Komui coughed. "Will you two please get to the point?" At this, everyone in the room glared forcefully at Alma. "Inspector?"
"Ah, oh, sorry! Rei, you do the talking! I'm going to get coffee for everyone!" the hyper man promptly scrambled out, abandoning Rei in the room. The glares turned to her.
Stuttering, "Um, the intern program is very advantageous as to the fact that since the Black Order is full of elites, interns get to learn a great deal. Also, they can help doing minor things like running tests, thus freeing up time for more important things. And furthermore we can…contribute ideas that probably weren't thought of before?" The gazes intensified. "I don't know! Alma just dragged me here, begging me to ask you guys because it's boring without fresh recruits running around!"
"You're nothing like your brother." Bak commented in a relieved tone. "Thank God. A second Kanda Yuu would be the death of us." Something in Rei snapped.
"Don't compare me to my brother." she snapped. "I'm not a dense, obtuse, imbecilic stupid older brother idiot. I'm nothing like him. Understand?" her voice had changed to something more threatening and menacing; a killing aura was around her, and Klaud noticed that Rei's entire body was tensed, as if she was going to leap for Bak's throat.
Nevermind. Siblings are alike, even if they're not related by blood. She thought with a grimace. "Is that it?" Rei paused for a moment.
"One second…is there any employees here that worked on the DGM case?" Rei questioned, becoming serious. Klaud blinked at the sudden question.
"Yes…there's only Alma and I that work in this branch." Krory spoke up. "I'm the chief pathologist here. Alma worked with Kanda. Why do you ask?"
Rei let out a long sigh. "There's a serial killer up in Los Angeles. They've been targeting people that worked on the DGM case. Miranda Lotto, Hitoshirezu Mizu, and Marian Cross are the ones that I'm aware about." Silence once again pervaded the room as Komui gestured to an empty seat.
"Sit down and tell us everything."
4:45 PM November 18th, 2012
Froi Tiedoll's home, San Diego, CA
Rei fell backwards on her bed. After a grueling interrogation by any Black Order Branch Head, anyone would be exhausted. And undergoing said interrogation with the Section Head as well…was ten times the pressure and resulting fatigue. Alma had considerately driven her home after he had popped back in the room – right after the interrogation was finished. He just has perfect timing. Rei thought sarcastically.
She was jerked out of her internal rant by the sound of her phone ringing loudly. Tapping the screen to pick up, she put it to her ear. "Hello?"
"Where are you?" Kanda roared, making Rei flinch at the volume. "Stupid sister, where the kutabare are you?"
"No need to cuss!" Rei muttered, "I'm at Tiedoll's!"
"…Watch out! I'm serious this time; the guy just struck again! And protect Tiedoll, too. I'll be coming down there the moment I get authorization." With that, Kanda hung up, leaving Rei with a dead line. She stared at it with disbelief written across her face.
"…No…not my dad…" she whispered, curling up into fetal position. "Please, God. No."
Exile: I don't blame you if you want to yell out "KANDA IS OOC" because he is. But sadly, the purpose of this fic in for my grades, not FFNET. Maybe after I turn in this whole story, I'll go back and edit it for fanfiction - worthiness.
Review?