Act 3 Scene 10 本名 [Honmei] 'Real Names'
Vermouth ripped off her policeman's disguise and loosened the binding on her chest. She had the address that they were trying to lure Angel to. She fluffed her hair, inspecting it in the rearview mirror. Tires screeching, she sped to the location as fast as her stolen car could take her.
It was an abandoned parking lot. A sapling had pushed its way through the concrete and made itself a happy home at the front.
"What are you doing here?" a voice called from above.
She waved. "Just checking. I think the girl will be coming soon. I was spying on her at the station."
She climbed the steps to the second floor. The two would-be assassins greeted her. "As expected of the venerable Vermouth," one said.
"I don't see the boy; you didn't bring him, did you?" she finished with a touch of accusation in her presentation, calculated to make them defensive.
"Of course not, Vermouth," the other answered. "He's at the Haido Lab with the Humanoid."
"It's an honor to meet you, I'd only heard stories," the first one interjected.
"That's nice." She smiled, one bullet for each corner of her mouth.
Her angel safe again for a while, she headed towards the Haido Lab.
Vermouth picked her way through the laboratory's loading bay. Boxes were everywhere, and the remains of shredded documents covered the floor like snow. There was a semi parked there, and a sweating man in a doctor's coat, still wearing his stethoscope, was leaning against a box he'd just loaded into the back of it. Upon recognizing her, he straightened up and bowed quickly.
"We're moving everything as fast as we can, but there's only five of us left, it's taking some time," he said quickly.
She raised her eyebrows. "Only five? I thought there were over twenty stationed here."
There was a faint bit of blood splatter on the left shoulder of his white lab coat.
Her eyes narrowed. "Gin got here before me, didn't he?"
He nodded, blanching.
She closed the distance and whispered into his ear, "Where are Ambrosia and Conan Edogawa?"
The doctor shuddered. "Before you came, Gin started Zombie Time. That boy was locked in the room with him, with everyone else…"
She cursed in English under her breath. She patted his shoulder. "Carry on, then. I'll go speak with Gin."
"You shouldn't!" the doctor exclaimed. "He's in a bad way. If you want to live, stay away from him."
A sad smile broke through her ancient mask. "Maybe I don't want to live."
She left him and went to the basement, where the Okiagari pit was.
Gin was surrounded by medical tape and gauze. He was trying to redress the wound on his knee. His body armor lay on the floor, along with his duster and fedora. Without it, he was a thin old codger, with a growing bald spot on his head. He was a shadow of the vibrant man she'd met years ago. He'd even been dashing back then.
She picked up a syringe and filled it with her own blood, the she grabbed the most costic looking cleaning agent she could find and filled the needle the rest of the way. Tucking it in her pocket, she entered the room.
He started, eyes darting to the sound. "Relax," she said. "It's just me."
He did, but only a little. His gun was on the counter beside him. "How'd you escape? Wait, stupid question. What took you so long?"
"I was making sure Ran Mouri would be brought in. You'll get a chance to introduce her to Okiagari soon." As she spoke, she slipped closer to him, until she was a few short inches from his lips. "You used to be quite handsome. I was taken with you back then."
He laughed at that statement. "I noticed, Vermouth. You weren't subtle." He stopped suddenly, his eyes widening. He fell back into the chair.
Vermouth tossed aside the emptied syringe. She leaned in close, letting her breath stir the hairs around his ear. "You know, I tried to have children with my husband, before he stumbled on my secret and you killed him. But, I miscarried, every single time. Do you know why?"
He started to convulse. She straddled him, pushing the gun out of his reach and restraining him at the same time.
"My blood is Ambrosia's. It killed everything that I tried to grow."
A final thrash, and he fell limp, like an old, sick dog being put down. She checked his pulse, to make sure. The action was oddly loving, with her hand gently holding his neck. Satisfied, she let his head drop.
She stood up, but stayed there, staring at still corpse. She didn't stir until the doctor tapped her on the shoulder.
"Vermouth," he started.
"No," she said softly, with a genuine smile, one of the few she'd had over the long years. "Samantha, from now on. What's your name?"
"Kei Aono," he said eyebrows furrowed.
"Well then, Dr. Aono. Could you help me get Alex out of that pit?"
He cocked his head. "Who's Arekkusu?" That name was a difficult one for Japanese speakers, and his tongue tripped over it.
"That was Ambrosia's name before we took him."
"Oh… I didn't know that." He dusted off his hands, and walked over to the lift. It had been built into the ceiling, for the purpose of carrying people and equipment in and out of the pit.
She switched the lights on and opened the drains in the pit to observe the ghastly scene. Some of the corpses she recognized. She'd helped hold some of their families' hostage. Did they really deserve this? To the side, curled up between corpses was a slick red mound. It was Alex's shape, but it was holding something to itself, almost invisible in the stinking pool. So her Silver Bullet hadn't survived being fired. She sighed.
They connected the net to chain, and Samantha let Dr. Aono lower her down. Up close, she could see that the red she saw wasn't blood, at least not directly. It was some sort of gelatin-like membrane. Because Alex was clinging to Conan, Conan had been swallowed up by it too.
"Come on Alex," she whispered in English, half hoping she could rouse him.
He didn't answer.
Wrapping her arms around the small bodies, she hefted them onto the net. Conan's foot twitched inside, like a baby kicking in the womb. Relieved, she signaled Dr. Aono to lift them out of the mess of human remains.
The hibernation tank was still open and on its wheels. They straightened Alex's legs, but they couldn't get him to release Conan's body, so they put them both into the tank. Then, Samantha left to wash the pieces of human bodies that covered her.
The fat and bile from the bodies she'd just been wading through clung to her skin, reminding her of the part she'd had in it. She scrubbed her skin raw for two hours, running through bottle after bottle of body wash, eventually leaving to break out a fresh box of it from storage. To her, it felt like this wasn't just the stench of the carnage she's just wallowed in, this was all 20+ years of wet work she'd done for them.
How many lives could have been saved if that desperate teenager with no family, dying of leukemia hadn't been found by their scouts? At the time, she'd been grateful. I was the first time since she was a small child that she'd felt wanted. If she hadn't ending up owing her life to these people, to That Person, hadn't been wrapped up in their mission and the strange family it'd given her…
She had to stop thinking like this. If it hadn't been That Person, it would have been a cult. They'd have done their horrible deeds without her, with some other desperate child. It was in the past. Nothing to do about it but move on and scrub the blood off.
She left her clothes where she'd pealed them off and replaced them with green scrubs. She braided her wet hair into two pigtails, something she hadn't done since before she had lost her hair during the leukemia treatments. Then she gathered the five last people to the loading bay.
Standing on a box, she looked over the confused, tired faces. "There's been a change of plans. Leave the equipment. Bring only the basic first-aid gear, and the living necessities – clothes, food, kitchen supplies, that sort of thing. We'll pack Ambrosia and that. Once we're done, you're free to return to your families."
One of them hesitantly stepped forward. "What about Gin?"
"I killed him. We're leaving his corpse here. That reminds me, one of you should go to the police and let them know where this place is after we're done. That way the others can get a proper burial." She looked over them, watching their expressions. Nothing but relief on their faces, good. "Alright, get to work!" They scattered, busying themselves with the various tasks that needed to be done.
Dr. Aono walked with her back to the basement. "I don't have a family anymore. Can I go with you?"
"Why not?" She shrugged. He probably was like her in the moment after she'd killed Gin: looking for a purpose. Why not indeed? She needed the help anyways.
The following day, the police were led to one of the most disturbing and large crime scenes they'd ever seen.
Author's Note
The renfaire was windy, really windy. There's dust on everything. At least I almost broke even. I don't know if I'll work these anymore. It is truly exhausting and draining. Since I'm still recovering, this author note is a bit short, and about Magic Kaitou.
Goushou Aoyama has some archetypes that he likes to reuse. Everyone knows about how similar Shinichi and Kaito are as characters – they look almost identical; they're too smart for their own good; they're both vigilantes. Most people also know about how similar Ran is to Aoko in personality and appearance as well. But, not many people know about the color symbolism that Aoyama uses, and it's very obvious in the names of the Magic Kaitou characters.
Kuroba – 黒羽 "Black Feather"
Hakuba – 白馬 "White Horse"
Aoko – 青子 "Blue Child"
Akako – 赤子 "Red Child"
Note that Ran is usually depicted wearing her blue school uniform, and the rival love interest Ai Haibara is usually depicted wearing red.
また来週！ (See you next week!)
dreamingfifi