It was odd, in the extreme sense of the word, to see the Guyvers retreating when they so clearly had the advantage in this battle. Fried'rich knew that he would not have been able to stand against the enhanced Guyver Sho Fukamachi had somehow summoned from some unknown location. Doubly so, given the fact that Luggnagg De Krumeggnik had not yet arrived to reinforce him.
Once the strange, powerful Guyver had left the building, somewhat ironically through the very hole that had allowed him to utilize his lightning bolts, Fried'rich paused for a moment to catch his breath. It would not do to collapse halfway through his search. Luggnagg, though the circumstances had not become as dire as he would have expected, had not come the way he had promised. There had to be a reason, and Fried'rich was going to find out.
Breathing more easily for the time he had taken to rest, Fried'rich turned and made for the last place that he had been able to clearly sense Luggnagg's presence. He found himself sensing something decidedly odd. It was as if Luggnagg had chosen to teleport away, but that was completely impossible—he would have sensed the sudden upsurge in energy as the Ninth Zoalord left. He would have also demanded to know just where the man thought he was going when there was a battle being conducted just a few floors over his head.
As he came closer to Luggnagg's last known position, he began to sense something equally strange: there seemed to be another Zoalord there, but the signal was… blunted somehow or other. It was as if they – whoever they turned out to be – were not really there at all. Making his way to the closest elevator, Fried'rich descended the three floors that separated him from the telepathic signature of the mysterious Zoalord.
He did not know precisely what he would find when he came upon the Zoalord he could not recognize, but Fried'rich was determined to protect the interests of the company he served, and those of Lord Alkanphel, who had made every Zoalord what they were now. Leaving something such as this random element – this unknown Zoalord – was more than likely to endanger everything he and the other Lords of Chronos had worked for all these centuries.
Exiting the elevator, Fried'rich performed a light telepathic scan and quickly located the unknown Zoalord. It was strange: the signature from this Zoalord was only half again as strong as a Proto-Zoalord. He would not have been a challenge for any of the senior Zoalords to subdue; the only one who would find this one a decent challenge would be little Kenji, the only Zoalord who would not have been permitted to challenge him in any case.
As he moved further down the hallway, Fried'rich nearly stopped in his tracks out of sheer shock. For there, standing directly in front of him, was Kenji himself. The boy's hands dripped with blood, and when Fried'rich looked down, he could see the corpse of Luggnagg De Krumeggnik lying at the boy's feet. The Ninth Zoalord's skull had been cleanly split open, and his Zoacrystal was nowhere to be found.
"Kenji— what… what in God's name did you just do?!"
The only thing the boy did in response to Fried'rich's query was continue to stand there like a dumb stump. He didn't know what kind of game the boy was playing, but this kind of- of outright treason could not possibly be ignored. Even the boy's status as the son of Imakarum Mirabilis would not be enough to save him in this situation: he had killed one of the Council. Such things could not be forgiven.
"Kenji, this silence is not going to save you," he stated firmly, even as he prepared to defend himself.
If the boy was willing to kill one Zoalord, there was no telling what else he would be capable of if he found himself backed into a corner. But, oddly enough, there was still no response from the boy. He could not be so naïve as to think that mere quietude would be enough to convince Fried'rich of his innocence. The boy had blood dripping from his hands, for God's sake! Nothing would ever convince him that he had not seen what was even now in front of his eyes.
It only served to wear away at his remaining nerves. Fed up with the child's obstinate silence, Fried'rich stepped forward and ripped the sunglasses from the boy's face. He had only a momentary glimpse of glassy, severely dilated eyes before the boy fell, senseless, into his arms. The clatter of something falling to the ground drew his attention, and Fried'rich looked down.
There, at his feet, lay the blood-soaked Zoacrystal of Luggnagg De Krumeggnik.
XxXxX
Waking up was certainly an experience, though not one he was at all eager to repeat. It wasn't so much the dying part – though that had hurt like a son of a bitch, and he wasn't at all eager to have something like that happen to him again – it was more the issue of waking up and not knowing just where the hell he was.
+Ryan, are you… awake yet?+
+Yeah, Sho. I'm back. What the hell happened back there, anyway?+
+Fried'rich van Purg'stall showed up, and… he killed you.+
+I already know about all of that, Sho. I was there for most of it,+ he said, feeling vaguely impatient but trying not to snap. +I mean, how the hell did we get out of there? I don't think any of those Chronos-types would be willing to just let us go after we'd been busting up the place like we'd just been doing.+
+Well I… I discovered something new about the Guyver.+
+What?+
+You remember that cocoon we both woke up in?+
+It'd be pretty hard to forget something I woke up naked in.+
+Well, it had some kind of… Guyver-enhancer inside it—some kind of armor. I managed to activate it, and I got us all out of there.+
+Unfortunately, Fukamachi also chose to withdraw before we could do any further damage to Chronos. We will have to leave the safehouse before their agents track us there, which they are no doubt attempting to do even now.+
+Great, so we're going to be stuck moving again?+
+Yes.+
He would have rolled his eyes if he'd had the needed facial muscles. Despite the fact that he didn't really have any possessions, moving annoyed him, doubly so when it was after an extended game of cat-and-mouse, which they were obviously going to have to play if they wanted to get the Chronos goons off their backs.
This was really going to suck.
Once all three of them had settled down, ironically in the same warehouse that they had all started out in, Ryan wondered just how they were all going to get out of this without drawing down a whole ass-load of Chronos guys. Someone had to have seen them coming in for a landing, if they didn't see them when they were flying out of it.
"We'll have to split up," King Bastard said, sounding annoyed.
For once in his life, Ryan found himself completely agreeing with the guy, so he didn't put up as much of a fight as he would have otherwise. The three of them shed their Guyvers, landing on the concrete and standing around for about half a minute.
"We'll move out separately," King Bastard said, looking hard at him and then Sho in turn. "That will mitigate the chances that any of their agents will be able to find us."
"Right," Sho said, nodding and already turning to leave.
Nodding sharply, he turned and headed for the exits. That was one of the many good – well, at times – things about being able to use these telepathy links that they had. Knowing that you'd be able to contact any one of the other people like you, people who were fighting on your side, in half an instant if you needed to was a real comfort when you were moving through hostile territory, especially hostile territory which pretty much encompassed the entire freaking city if what Agito had said was right. Not that he had any real reason to doubt the guy, not with the kind of things he'd been seeing.
Still, his idea of splitting up this deep into the city – surrounded by Chronos goons and without even the Guyver to protect them – wasn't really one he could get behind.
+Are you planning for us to meet up somewhere, or are we going to have to find our way out of the city on our own?+
+We will be meeting up at the edge of the city. Chronos' sphere of influence does not currently extend beyond that.+
+You're sure? That building seemed pretty fucking huge. Some of the people outside the city-limits seem bound to be Zoanoids too, don't you think?+
+I would hardly call your knowledge of Chronos "extensive", Crouger.+
Ass. Hole. +Fine, whatever. It's not really my life I'm risking here.+
Rolling his eyes at King Bastard and the universe in general, Ryan sighed as he began to move deeper into the city. There weren't many people in this area of the city, true, but that wouldn't mean shit once he out of the area. Still, it wasn't like he could just call the guy up and yell at him. Well, he could, but it would be stupid and pointless. Cathartic, but stupid and pointless all the same.
XxXxX
Carrying the boy, his hands freshly washed and no longer coated in the blood of one of his fellow Zoalords, Fried'rich made for the helicopter. Kenji still had yet to awaken, and with the way the boy had started to shiver, Fried'rich was growing more worried for him with every minute that passed. It almost seemed as if the boy had fever chills, and the way he had begun to sweat only made his worries for the child's health all the worse.
The fact that he had killed Luggnagg De Krumeggnik and would doubtless have to be interrogated for his transgression would mean less than nothing if the boy died in transit. Zoalords were not even supposed to have reactions like this, their immune systems being strong enough to fight off even the most hardy of viral strains. Even Aptom was not a threat to them anymore, his method of invasion having been dealt with once the new antibodies and immune defenses that Dr. Balkus had developed had been administered to all of the Council. Those immune defenses would not have even been developed if not for the fact that young Kenji had been there for Dr. Balkus to test his modifications on. It was very decent of the boy to volunteer for such a procedure, doubly so when there had been a better than average chance that he would have either died or become a Lost Number as a result of the procedure. Either fate would not have been welcome, especially to his father.
Still, the ailment that he was suffering from was nothing like any fever Fried'rich had ever seen. The boy's body was obviously struggling to purge itself of some foreign agent. What it was still remained to be discovered, but there was no question of what was happening. The only questions requiring answers were those of how and why.
He had taken care to wrap the boy in a blanket before he had taken him to the helicopter, but even as he watched the child's sweat was beginning to soak through. Kenji was obviously in a very bad way, however without access to a Chronos processing facility – not currently possible given how far they were from the Pillars of Heaven – there was nothing to do but wait for Kenji's own physiology to purge itself of whatever was ailing him. Teleportation, which was a strain on any Zoalord's body and mind at the best of times, was of course out of the question.
Settling back into his seat, Fried'rich turned to look down at the tops of the buildings as they passed him by. It would be some time before they arrived at a facility that would be capable of caring for a Zoalord such as Kenji; Arizona was the only place that they boy would have the necessary protection to recover while he was healed from his injuries. Of course, there would still be the matter of his punishment to deal with: Kenji had killed one of Chronos' ruling Council. First, the boy would be healed; then he would be judged.