Chapter 11:
"I guess it did, Karin." said Shizuo, looking around the large mansion that stood in front of them. He wondered if this was the research center she kept on telling him about.
"Nu-uh! You can't call me Karin anymore! Once you're in this job, you'd have to call me Madam since I will be your supervisor." said Karin, following his line of stare toward the mansion that was so tall it could kiss the heavens.
Shizuo blinked and turned to her as they walked, she didn't mention anything about that before.
"How so?"
"Well, you see. I am the one who supervises all the bodyguards here and every one of them answer to me. So it automatically makes you my subordinate." she told, grinning at him.
Shizuo stared, a little surprised because had he known this before, he might have tried acting somewhat nicely to her just like he did with Tom-san. He felt a little feeling of nostalgia at the name. Oh God, is he missing Ikebukuro already? He sighed, not really something he can help himself with.
After that he was led inside the huge mansion, to Shizuo it didn't look like a certain research facility he was being told; but more of a normal household mansion with a number of butlers and maids working here and there. However, each of them did turn their faces and straightened up in a soldierly fashion just as Karin and he walked passed by them.
"Each of them are subordinates of my subordinates." Karin explained.
"I thought we were actually going to a research facility." Shizuo said, not hiding the doubt in his voice.
"Well, it's not really needed since we need you to actually guard one of the test subjects."
"What do you mean by test subject?"
"It's a human being"
"A human test subject?"
She nodded, not at all disturbed as if it is something pretty obvious.
Shizuo did not question further and followed her lead. Since he has come here, there isn't much he can do anyway.
They paused in front of another big door, and just as it opened, Karin went into her professional mode. Shizuo followed.
"Karin Nanjo, from the Main Branch. I have brought Shizuo Heiwajima, aka the Monster of Ikebukuro you have requested."
Shizuo blinked, confused as how to answer this, so he straightened his posture to match Karin's. Maybe she knew about what was going on.
Laughter echoed through the room, uncannily similar to one he was so used to hear back in Ikebukuro. The laughter of a certain flea. His fist clenched almost instinctively, rage reflecting in his eyes.
It can't be, right? There is no way Izaya would actually make such a long and complicated plan just to get him out of Ikebukuro. But then who knows, this is Izaya we're talking about. The flea who planned out complex plans which usually involve Shizuo getting angry and throwing vending machines or signs at him.
There was a mahogany table on the far side of the room, and a roller chair that was swirling clockwise and then anticlockwise, a few chains were jiggling around the chair as it moved. As it stopped, Shizuo's eyes widened as much as humanly possible, mouth agape.
There he was, the informant of Ikebukuro, Izaya sitting on that chair, arms and legs tied with chains, and a white and pink dress with smudges of red here and there were covering his probably bruised body.
Almost reflexively, Shizuo roared.
"IIIIIIIZZZZAAAYAAAAAAA" And charged forward.
Just to get knocked down by Karin who was now pinning him down on the floor.
"Shizuo calm down. He is not him" said Karin.
The laughter echoed again.
"Hahahahahha! Interesting! Interesting! He reacts to my face! Hahahahaah!" the person said almost too happily.
Shizuo was pissed even more after hearing that annoying laughter, his monster instincts awakening.
He pushed Karin away, almost too easily.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE, YOU FUCKED UP FLEA?" he roared with the intensity of a beast. His eyes flickering around to find something he can throw at that annoying face of the flea who was laughing once again.
Finding no furniture around him and just that mahogany table in his sight, he stomped forward, each step leaving the floor cracked.
"SHIZUO! IT'S NOT IZAYA!" Karin yelled, but right now, all Shizuo can see was red. His mental processes have shut down for the moment. He couldn't even realize how weird it was for the informant to be tied up like this, or maybe it was just another sick plan of his. He honestly didn't care, he just knew that the flea is there, he's tied up, and he needs to be killed.
But before Shizuo could actually reach the table, a number of people barged in and surrounded him.
These people were actually not enough to stop the infamous monster, so just as they tried to grab onto him, a number of beastly punches came hurling at them, knocking them out one by one.
Shizuo was pissed beyond belief, and that annoying laughter of flea was pushing him right off the edge. He swears he hates violence, and he swears he didn't come to America just to make more people fly here and there. He hated it, sure, but he hated flea even more.
Suddenly, his body went numb and he fell down to the floor. Karin was now standing right in front of him, a weird looking pistol in her hands.
She let out a sigh, "Shizuo, listen to people for once. I've just injected a paralyzer into your body." she said, pointing to his neck.
Shizuo tried to move his neck, just to find it locked at its place. But he didn't miss the small injection looking thing that was now sticking out of his throat. Shizuo glared at Karin, feeling betrayal and more anger.
"He is not Izaya. He is not the informant you know. It's Psyche. Of course he looks like that informant, because the whole experiment was based on him."
She explained, walking to still laughing teen on the other side of the table.
"He just went through an experiment to look like him and act like him. I told you right? He is a human test subject. He was supposed to act completely like that informant you know of, but because of certain complications, things went wrong and now he has turned out to be this mess."
Shizuo tried to move his mouth to ask something but was surprised to see that even lips weren't moving. The damn paralyzer was still effecting him.
"But still, he is the most precious test subject for his father is the one who is running the whole project right now, and a certain people have gotten wind of him and are now trying to get their hands on him. And that is why Psyche suggested bringing you here. Because the DNA of that informant you know of was mixed in him, he somehow knew about your existence even though he has actually never seen you in real life until today."
Karin continued speaking to a paralyzed Shizuo, while on another side of the mansion, a certain man sat on a tree with binoculars in hand, dumbfounded at the scene playing right in front of him.
"He looks… just like me." muttered Izaya to himself, still not believing his eyes.
A man exists who looks just like him, laughing like he would have on success of his plans. With Shizu-chan right in front of him, on his knees, listening to the rambling of that girlfriend of his. No, he now doubted that she was Shizu-chan's girlfriend. Izaya is sensing something deeper has been going on the other side of the world while he was busy being the best informant in Japan.
And he cursed at the fact he couldn't listen in to their conversation. He actually wanted to hear whatever the talk was going on in that room. Had he known before, he would have tried to install microphones there. Well, isn't it such a big surprise?
Izaya climbed down the tree, his mind moving fast, evaluating all the possible answers to the current situation. Looks like his initial plan to take a break from his work in order to follow Shizu-chan and ruin his honeymoon has been completely destroyed. Well, it's time to start his work from the scratch again.