Reminder that underlined speech is spoken in English!

Dear4Life pointed out that one part later on is a little confusing so I'll put in brackets who's speaking each line (lots of people in one place). Hopefully that way it won't be as confusing for the next person :)

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Chapter Twenty-One – The Investigation

"Misaki, how are you feeling?"

Hearing someone call out to her, Misaki struggled to open her eyes as her eyelids seemed to flutter in protest. Her body ached all over and she winced from the pain. She didn't even know where she was. Finally opening her eyes, it was to see that April was staring down at her. Next to April, July was peeking at her over handle bars on the bed.

"April? What are you doing here?" she asked, triggering a dry cough as her throat was parched.

"Don't you remember what happened? Don't talk. I'll get you a glass of water."

July continued to stare at her as she struggled to sit up. Something was pinching her arm and she looked to see what it was, finding herself connected to an IV drip that was next to her bed.

"Drink this," April commanded, holding the glass of water to her lips. "All of it. Then you're going to tell me exactly what happened."

Drinking greedily as the liquid was refreshing while it travelled down her throat, it wasn't difficult to comply with April's demand. She even asked for a second glass which disappeared just as quickly as the first. After putting aside the cup, April helped her to sit up more comfortably.

"Why am I in the hospital?" Misaki asked.

"I found you passed out on the front steps of our hotel after I went out looking for you. You disappeared for the whole day! Where were you? And what happened to you?"

"I... My memory is kind of hazy."

"Well try to remember everything you can," April urged. "We were so worried and it didn't help that no one from the CIA cared."

"I remember staying late... Amelia couldn't stay with me, but she got someone to drive me home. I left after a few hours and there was someone waiting for me, just like she said. I must have fallen asleep in the car because the next thing I knew, I was blindfolded and tied up."

"I got that much... But who could it be? I asked Amelia and the man who was supposed to drive you back. He never saw you and he left around midnight."

For the next hour, April interrogated her regarding her disappearance and Misaki told her everything, up until the point that Hei had appeared to save her. After that, she claimed amnesia. She wasn't sure how she got back to the hotel, but she knew it was because of Hei.

Her stomach growled in complaint and Misaki was embarrassed. Not only was she being treated like a victim, she was a starving victim. April glanced at her stomach and only shook her head in reply before she left the room. July took over her seat as he sat on the stool next to the bed. He watched her for a moment before he finally stared at her blanket.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause all this trouble."

July shook his head in response as it wasn't her fault. If anyone was at fault, it was the CIA for hiring people like Amelia. They waited quietly for April to return; one lost in her own thoughts and the other with no thoughts. Misaki remembered everything that had happened, but it wasn't going to help to share the bits regarding Hei.

"You're not welcome here. Now leave."

"We have questions to ask her. Now move."

Startled by the commotion going on outside of her room, Misaki glanced at July and he hopped off the stool, slowly making his way to the door. When he opened it, April stumbled in along with everyone else from the team. Misaki saw that Amelia and Jack were both missing. She still wasn't sure what had happened. Amelia had screamed and then Hei was hauling her away.

"What's going on?" Misaki asked. "We are in a hospital you know. And if you can't behave, I'm going to have to ask you all to leave. You're giving me a headache."

"What did she say? Tell her we have questions to ask."

"Why should we trust you when you didn't even believe me to begin with? Look at her face! This happened because of you!"

"Look, we're sorry," Ryan replied as Jacob fumed. "Please... We need to know what happened."

"What do they want? Where's Jack? Amelia?"

"She wants to know what happened to Jack and Amelia. Why aren't they here?"

Ryan sighed as he explained about the BK-201 activity they had picked up at a warehouse in the Glenarden region. When they responded, it was to find that Amelia and Jack were dead – one strung up like a paper doll and the other thrashed to death. After hearing their update, April staggered to the stool, surprised by how lucky Misaki had been.

"What is it? Tell me."

"They're dead... I knew it wasn't a good thing."

"What wasn't?" Misaki asked, confused as she didn't know what they had talked about.

"Last night, we went out looking for you and we ran into BK-201. He was going to kill me if we didn't tell him where you were. Luckily, July had been able to locate you. We didn't know what to do. I couldn't possibly defeat him! I thought he was going to kill you, but I found you at the hotel instead."

"What does that have to do with what they want?"

"They responded to the star activity of BK-201 last night," she explained. "And they found both Jack and Amelia there... Dead. You told me yourself that Amelia was the one to do this to you. Also, another Contractor had disappeared from the system in connection to BK-201, which means one of them was a Contractor. They want to know which one."

Misaki glanced up at the other four and they looked at her briefly before gazing away. She couldn't believe that both of them were dead. Then she realized Jack must have been the man she heard Amelia talking to. Lost in her thoughts, Misaki sat there as April shared with the others what she had told her earlier that morning.

"But why would they kidnap her?" Marissa asked after April was finished. "She works with us every day, so what could possibly be their motive? We're still not sure which one was the Contractor."

"Do you know?" April asked Misaki. "Who was the Contractor?"

"I never saw either of them, but I recognized her voice. I didn't even know that Jack was there... I don't know what to think. She told me she didn't trust Contractors, but she could have been lying about that. She never used any powers if she had any."

"Most likely Jack..." she told them. "Amelia never used any powers when she did this to Misaki. Let's talk about this back at the headquarters. She needs to eat and rest and this isn't the best place for a discussion like this. Misaki, we'll let you rest. July, stay with her and let me know if anything happens."

Both of them nodded in reply. April smiled slightly before she ushered the others out of the room. She didn't understand what happened, but someone wanted Misaki dead. The CIA had their own problems with double agents, but it wasn't obvious who they worked for. Whoever they were and whatever they wanted, she was going to have to do her best to protect Misaki.

***

Back at the headquarters, the five of them had gathered in the meeting room. No one spoke as each of them was occupied with their own thoughts and took up their own method in handling the situation. Jacob and April paced back and forth at opposite ends of the room. Ryan alternated between trying to do work and blankly staring at his computer screen. Marissa alternated between staring at the CIA profiles of Amelia and Jack and standing up and staring at the same files. Lastly, Devon sat in his chair, rhythmically punching one hand into the other.

"What do we do now?" April finally asked. "I mean, is there any protocol regarding a situation like this?"

No one had an answer for her; they were having similar thoughts to which no answer surfaced from the cloudy fog of their minds. It wasn't the first time they had CIA Contractors taken out by BK-201. But it was the first time one of their own had been killed after kidnapping their guest agent. They hadn't even known that Jack was a Contractor, or that he was in cahoots with Amelia for a reason they couldn't figure out.

"She mentioned a they, so who could 'they' refer to?" inquired April. "Is there any possible group that would want to hurt either Misaki or BK-201? I just don't get it!"

"None of us do," Ryan answered calmly. "But we need to get to the bottom of this. I don't have anything against Contractors, so I can't believe Jack didn't even tell us..."

"Maybe you don't, but others on this team clearly do." (April)

"Just because I don't like Contractors, it doesn't mean I wouldn't trust him to do his work." (Jacob)

"Oh really?" April snapped. "I highly doubt that when you didn't trust us to do anything around here."

"You provoke me on purpose," Jacob argued back. "I don't have any issues with Jack."

"Whoa! Calm down!" Marissa exclaimed. "Arguing amongst ourselves isn't going to get us anywhere. If we don't have a proper starting point, just start where we usually do."

"Then how are you going to factor in Misaki's kidnapping? She can't go home looking like that!" (April)

"She'll recover just fine in time to go home." (Marissa)

"What are you thinking?" Ryan inquired.

"We have nothing to go on. We can only keep going the way we've been going. Try digging into their backgrounds first to see if any of it connects to our other victims. Misaki has said it before, that we'll need to understand BK-201's reasoning before we get anywhere close to capturing him." (Marissa)

***

Misaki smiled slightly as she watched July. Just like April had told him to, he was keeping her company. By that, it didn't mean that they were talking, but it felt better to have someone in the room with her – someone she could trust. Even so, it was getting late and he was starting to doze off where he sat on the chair at her bedside. They had purposely swapped out the stool for a more comfortable chair.

"July," she called out as he had startled himself awake. "I think it's time for you to go back. It's getting late and you're tired. Have April get someone to drive you back."

He shook his head and sat up straighter in his chair. Sighing softly, Misaki felt guilty that he had to do this because of her. If she had been more careful and heeded April's initial warning, this wouldn't have happened. But it did and she couldn't turn back the hands of time to correct it. All she could do now was trust her instincts, as November had taught her, and continue moving forward on this path she had chosen – the path of following her heart.

"Come here," she said.

Obedient to her command, July hopped off the chair and went to stand at her bedside, hands on the railing as he carefully watched her. Leaning forward towards him, Misaki grinned as she picked him up and deposited him on the bed next to her. They were both small enough to fit and since he was determined to stay, they might as well both rest comfortably. He didn't squirm or protest, which she should have expected, but she thought there might have been some kind of reaction from him since they weren't particularly close.

"Misaki?"

"If you're staying here with me, you're going to sleep right here. I won't have you sleeping on the chair so uncomfortably without a blanket. Now take off your shoes and we'll be perfectly fine."

He glanced at her as if gauging her sanity, but he seemed satisfied with what he saw. Turning towards his shoes, he slowly took them off as she had instructed. Misaki shifted over to give him room underneath the covers. Each step of the process, he glanced at her like he expected her to suddenly protest, but eventually, the two of them were lying side by side.

Misaki watched as he tried to stay awake, to be her faithful guard, but his eyes drifted shut and he was asleep within minutes. Smiling to herself, she couldn't help thinking that he was awfully cute, even if he was a doll. He didn't do much or even say much, but when he did, it showed the depth of his emotions, which were buried deep beneath that doll exterior of his. She also had the feeling that Hei's Yin was exactly the same way.

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A/N: haha, is it just me or do I always try to play up July's cuteness? :p I think it's cute for them to sleep together, especially with July being her "guard"~