Hey there! Here's the next chapter. Big thanks to FlamingIce94 and menolikey for the giving me my very first reviews. This, being my very first story, made me sort of nervous. This is a Kai X Ray AU fic. I'll be updating this weekly. I'll try not make the characters unnecessarily ooc.
If you've read chapter 1 then you'd remember Tyson telling Max about Kai being one of BBA's best agents. In this fic, BBA is a secret training society, under Mr. Dickenson, dedicated to the protection of the world. Kai, Tyson, Max, Hiro and certain other characters are all members of the BBA. The most elite members receive special code names. Kai's is Phoenix. Ray is still just a trainee, and does not have a code name. His involvement with Mariah's murder case has however, brought a temporary halt to his training. And Vampire is just a nick name that Tyson had given Kai.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Kai's voice" (Only for this chapter)
Chapter 2
The limousine drove through the busy streets of Moscow. The sky was clear, after a snow storm, which had covered the pavement with a fresh layer of snow. Max stared out of the foggy window, but his mind was focused elsewhere. As soon as, he and Tyson had rung up Mr. Dickenson, the chairman wasted no time in arranging a private flight to Moscow. Moreover, Mr. D had had volunteered to accompany them as well. Hiro had been informed as well, but the elder Granger had decided to stay back and continue investigating.
Max looked back at his two companions. Tyson was busy sorting out the documents and photographs of their case; while Mr. Dickenson was busy on phone. Although they appeared to be engrossed in the respective works, Max did not fail to notice the somewhat look of anticipation on their features. Ever since Kai Hiwatari had been mentioned, neither Tyson nor Mr. Dickenson seemed to have had anything else on their mind other than the Phoenix. They seemed almost hopeful, if not relived.
'Phoenix—the only person who has been able to out smart Tyson Granger in his own game. Not to mention that it was Tyson himself who had actually recommended him.' Max turned back to the window, watching the blurred landscapes flash past him. 'I don't know who you are, Hiwatari. But I hope you actually turn out to be the person who can finally put an end to Ray's ordeal.'
Max was brought out of thoughts by the sudden sound of police sirens. "What's going on?" he heard Tyson say. "No idea," Max replied before rolling down the widow and poking his head out.
A little distance away, a huge crowd was gathered on the pavement in front if a multi storey building. Max could also make out the flashes from the patrol cars along with the cops running here and there, trying to control the situation. "Something's up with that building," Tyson said, who had followed Max's example and stuck his head out. "Mr. D, tell the driver to stop the car!"
Tyson and Max jumped out before the car could've stopped properly, and ran towards the commotion. However, before they could reach the building, they were stopped by two powerful looking, sturdy Russian cops. One of them, a heavily muscled blond, barked something in Russian, probably telling them to stay away. "Look, we're members of the BBA! Maybe we can help!" Tyson exclaimed trying to get past the other, leaner but quite well-built cop with cropped silver hair. "Look here, kid!" the later replied icily, in slightly accented English, "We don't have time for games. This is a restricted area, so you two might as well get going, if you know what's good for you!"
Tyson and Max were about to protest, when someone else beat them to it. "It's alright, Falcon. They're with me." The four of them turned towards the source of the voice, to see Mr. Dickenson walking over to them, huffing slightly. "Mr. Dickenson, Sir!" 'Falcon' replied, somewhat surprised, before moving aside along with his companion. "Falcon, Whale," the chairman said indicating the silver-haired youth and his blond companion respectively. "I'd like you to meet Dragon and Turtle, from the BBA. It seems as if there's a problem going on here. Now, if the two of you would be kind enough to…"
"Right this way, Sir." Falcon said in a very professional voice, as Whale began to push aside the mob. "We have a problem at the Towers," Falcon began to explain as they marched towards the building. "There's a person, who's currently standing on the roof. Suicidal, it seems. None of the police or the BBA agents has managed to get any close to the Towers. The person claims to have a gun and threatens to jump down if he sees anyone approach the roof or enter the building from outside. Our troop, under Wolf, can only keep an eye on him through the security cameras from the security guards' quarters near the entrance. We've tried to coax him through the intercom, but no avail. He's got his mind set, I'm afraid."
"I see." Mr. Dickenson looked grave.
Whale and Falcon led the others to the respective security guards' quarter. Tyson looked around to see several monitors lining the walls, all showing the same thing—a young man, probably British by birth, with long sea-green hair, standing on the ledge and waving a revolver in his hands. 'He's barely older than me," he thought. However, Tyson's eyes soon travelled past the monitor, the to the main control system. A tall, strong looking red headed man was leaning over a microphone and talking sharply: "Try to be reasonable, kid. You won't achieve anything by this."
A slightly dazed and hysteric voice wailed out of the speakers. "How would you know? You know nothing about me! NOTHING! And you don't care! NO ONE DOES!!!" Tyson could tell that although the redhead was trying to keep calm, he was starting to get frustrated. "Any luck with him yet, Wolf?" Whale inquired. "Yeah," Wolf replied without looking up, "He didn't jump…yet." The latter then finally looked up, and noticed the chairman. "Sir," he said standing up straight. Mr. Dickenson raised up his hand. "It's fine, Wolf please continue your job… though it seems to get tougher."
"You are right about that, Sir." Wolf ran a hand through his fiery hair. "His name's Zagart. Zeo Zagart, son of Dr. Zagart. He's mentally unstable—family problems. We've tried talking to him in Russian as well as English. It's no use. We're trying to reach Dr Zagart, but he seems to be unavailable."
"You mean there's no hope of coaxing him down?" Max asked.
Before Wolf could've replied, they heard another outburst from Zeo. "HEY DAD! LOOK AT ME NOW! I'LL LEAVE, IF THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT…"
Wolf gave a frustrated sigh and looked at Max. "No. Not unless we have a miracle."
"…SEE? I'M NOT AFRAID! NOT ANYMORE! I'M NOT A COWARD! I—"
"You've got a strange way of proving that."
All heads in the control room snapped up towards the screen, on hearing a new voice, coming from the intercom. Unlike Zeo's, it was calm and collected, clear and deep. It spoke in perfect English; and had a mysterious smoothness, like fire. "Who's that?" Max asked, but did not get any reply.
"Oh my…"Mr. Dickenson spoke.
"N-no way… I-it can't be!" Tyson was in clear shock.
"Huh? Guys, what's going on?" Max looked up expectedly at Wolf, only to see him in a daze as well.
"…It's him." The Wolf had finally snapped out his trance.
"Yeah but… where the hell is he? And how on Earth did he get there?" Falcon exclaimed.
"We can't locate him!" one of the agents shouted from the controls, "But the entire roof is under supervision!"
It was true. Max looked up see the monitors scanning the roof. But none of them could detect any other presence apart from Zeo. "Team, relax!" Wolf barked, "He won't show himself. He's trying to distract Zagart. Falcon! Get ready. Whale, prepare yourself. You'll launch into action on my word."
"Right Captain."
Confused and somewhat annoyed, at being ignored, Max shook an excited Tyson by the shoulders. "Ty! What's going on? Whose voice was that?"
"Huh? Ah… of course! Max it's him! He's here!"
"Gah! Tyson! Who is he?
"He's…Phoenix…"
"Phoenix? You mean…"
Max's eyes immediately shot up towards the nearest monitor. It showed a shocked, if not scared, Zeo. His voice trembled slightly as he spoke once again.
"Wh-who's there?"
"Is that fear, I detect?"
"Of course not! Never! I'm not s-scared!"
"I find that hard to believe."
"Wh-where are you? Come out! Show yourself!"
"For someone who's planning on facing Death, you don't seem so keen to face an invisible person."
"Stop this! D-don't come near me! I-I'm warning you! I'll shoot!" He waved his gun around wildly. "See? I have a gun! I—"
"But the gun doesn't have a shooter, I'm afraid."
"I CAN SHOOT! AND I WILL! I PROMISE I WILL! I AM NOT SCARED!!!"
"Don't make promises you can't keep. And you're not scared…just a coward."
"WHY YOU! HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A—"
"One decides to end his life, only when he's too weak to face it."
"I'M NOT—"
"That's just what you are—a weakling."
"YOU'RE WRONG—"
"A coward, who's too weak to fight…"
"NO!"
"The one who decides to run away, when the situation gets tough… just what you're planning on doing."
"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! I CAN FIGHT!"
"Don't kid yourself. You know you don't have what it takes."
"SHUT UUP!"
"You can't do this."
"SHUT UP! I SAID SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP…!" It was evident that Zeo had lost his cool. He thrust out his revolver and began to shoot blindly. "I CAN FIGHT!!!"
Back at the control centre, Wolf shouted, "He's exhausted his bullets! Falcon! Whale! Now!"
Zeo fell to his knees, exhausted as well. The gun fell from his trembling hands, as his body whacked with sobs. "I-I'm n-not weak… I'm n-not…" he choked out.
"Prove it."
"How? HOW? Tell me! What can I do to show him that I'm not worthless? He doesn't want to see my face! Even Hillary has lost all respect for me…"
"And ending your life, in such a cowardly way, would bring it back because?"
"…I…"
"How exactly would seeing your dead face on TV, make your father feel you're worthy?"
"…what do I do?"
"The only person, who can decide that, is you. Only you."
"… I-I won't give up like this…I can't…"
Zeo was so engrossed with himself, that he didn't even notice when someone climbed up to the roof. He couldn't even feel anything as he was being lifted up and carried away.
The entire control room was silent, as the screen showed Falcon escorting a dazed Zeo toward the exit, where Whale stood with his group. Two words were heard before Falcon disappeared from their range—"Only me…"
"Whoa…" Max whispered just before the entire room broke into cheer. "Alright team, that's enough! We've still got work to do. The mob outside…" although Wolf was trying to maintain his professional stature, Max could see the muscular twitching, of a suppressed smile, tugging at the corner of his lips.
"That boy never fails to amaze me!" Mr. Dickenson said wiping his brow.
"No kidding, Mr. D! The guy's almost spooky at times." Tyson shuddered slightly, before a thought struck him, suddenly. Without warning, he rushed towards the microphone, Wolf had previously been using. Shoving aside, the surprised red head, Tyson snatched up the device and yelled through it—"Phoenix! Don't let him get away, Whale! We need to see him! Now!"
"Huh?" a surprised looking Whale appeared on screen.
"Whale! Stop him! This is urgent!"
"But he's not here…"
"What?"
"I've already searched the whole roof. No sign of Phoenix."
"But-but…"
"Leave it," it was Wolf this time. "This is Phoenix, we're talking about. He's done his job already. I don't see why he should stick around any longer."
"…Aw man! Not again! Why does the guy always have to disappear at times like this?" Tyson groaned.
"You mean he's gone? But he couldn't have left the roof so fast, without anyone noticing, could he?" Max asked worriedly.
"I wouldn't put it past him, Max" Mr. Dickenson replied and sighed. "I was hoping to talk to him here only… Oh well, I guess we have to wait…"
Tyson groaned again. "Yeah! Trust Kai to make things difficult than they already are…"
"You wanted to talk to me, Mr. Dickenson?"
TBC…
I had actually planned an original character in Zeo's place. But while typing, I suddenly remembered Zeo's reaction on learning that he was not a human; and his battle against Tyson. So, I gave him the part. Besides, I try to avoid ocs as much as possible. Also, Hillary is Zeo's girlfriend here.
Kai didn't show himself yet, but he's still there, isn't he? Any way, you'll get to see (rather read about) him soon enough. Just keep up the reviews. They encourage me a lot! See you soon!
KPR
