Getting an early start on chapter 14.
Right now, I'm not even half way trough 13, but... this way, I think, the story'll be more streamlined.
I OWN NOTHING...S.
Except Franz and Erich.
And their man-love.
Yeah.
Fake Ch. 14
[Feuer]
[Fire]
What most people don't realize, Leda mused to herself, was the Seto Kaiba wasn't like ice at all. He wasn't glacial- cold, slow, methodic, and uncaring; And he wasn't like an ice cicle- still cold, but sharp, and maybe- just maybe ready to purposely snap at any given second and poke someone's eye out. And god forbid that he was like snow- Freezing, gentle, and slowly building up until he was just... there.
No, Seto Kaiba was more akin to a fire.
A very, very cold fire.
He was passionate about when he loved, uncaring about what he didn't like, and determined to be something more than just a man, dead or alive, and god damn any thing or any one who got in his way.
And, in the absolute end, he would most likely end up incinerating everything he loved, stood for, and even remotely cared about.
And for what?
He was getting to attached to Jonouchi. She wanted a relationship to grow- to be fostered and loved and cared for, as one would care for a small plant or something else that was homely and required meticulous care. But what she didn't want was him getting attached. But she knew he would.
But he still couldn't.
Emotions fucked things up- turned them head-over-heels bat chit crazy until you didn't even know up from down, left from right, or your ass from your brain.
And Kaiba may be as cold and uncaring as some of the meanest, sickest men to ever live, but that still didn't mean that emotions wouldn't come in somewhere and ruin them all. And they would most likely come from Kaiba's end of the equation.
Currently, those emotions were quite literally going haywire. They had conviened back at the lab, all standing in the vast room. Kaiba watching impatiently as Franz hooked up Jonouchi- or what was left of him- to a number of machines, testing for brain function, electrode activity, nerve functions, anything. Rotwang was still working on his maschienemench, unfazed by and uncaring of the chaos that was ocurring around him. Leda stood with Hiram, freshly showered and wrapped in the warmest clothes she could find, plus a blanket stolen from the bedroom, looking on patiently.
"This is amazing," Franz said, probing around inside the hollowed area with god knows how many medical tools, observing the flesh closely with a loop. "Look, right here-" He pointed out a silvery, twisting bundle of microfilament electro-neuronic wire with a pair of tweezers. Tiny tweezers. Prodding the bundle gently, if one looked close enough one could see that it moved in response to them, before pushing past them to grow, actually grow...
"That's great, Franz, but why the hell does that matter when he's dead? Or dying, at least? How is this going to help him live if wires grow," Kaiba glared.
"It's important because he's regrowing. His body is shutting down to make repairs. This is, this is amazing! This is every doctors dream, every biophysicits dream... It's what medical science aspires to create!"
"What the hell is it, then, if it's so damned great," Leda demanded, cutting into the conversation.
"There's a part of the brain that... independent, you could say, form the rest of it. It's on constant autopilot, regulating the repair rates of the body and what needs to be done to maintain it. These people have managed to create an almost entirely synthetic system that's made up of synthetic, intelligent cells. They know when to multiply, when to stop building up an area, when cells need to be replicated and repaired, when they need be maintained, when they need to do anything, and where. If there's extensive damage," Franz motioned to the cavity, "Then the body shuts itself down, puts itself on it's own life support, until the damage is fixed. Any genetic information needed to rebuild missing organs is stored in the brain. As long as that's still there, then anything can be regrown."
"So he'll be in a coma until he's healed," Kaiba asked, fixing his eyes on where an organ was just starting to rebuild itself.
"Exactly. Of course, I imagine there would be a problem of nourishment. I have him hooked up to a supply of nutrients and glucose, since none of us here except for Leda are in any condition to give a hemovourious life form sustinance, and I doubt Ms. Leda would want to do so in her current state," Franz pointed out, moving to clean up and put away what he had been using.
"So we just wait..."
"Like all injuries and sicknesses, time is key. Time and patience. When he wakes back up, though, he should be freshly rested and ready to go."
Leda got up, moving to walk out of the lab.
"Well, I've gotta go, then. I'm gonna be heading out to the airport," She waved, leaning up against Hiram's tall form beside her.
"What are you going to be doing at the airport," Kaiba asked.
"I'm meeting the Romanorum."
"The Romanrum?"
"And the Francorum and Langobardorum."
"Why the hell would they be coming here?"
"Because we need them for what's going to happen now."
"And what, pray tell, is happening now?"
"We're making our move. We're going across the board and breaking this stalemate."
"And then what? 'Checkmate'?"
"Exactly."
"We don't know where they even are-"
"That's why the Langobardorum is coming. Look, you've been begging me to do something about this up until now and now that you've shot your boyfriend to all hell you suddenly want me to sit back and stall when I've been doing that all along?"
Leda walked back up to him, trying to make herself seem taller, despite the six inch height difference.
"Or is it just because you want some more time until blondie here wakes up? You want time to talk to him, console him in some cliche way that makes teeth rot? I've done that Kaiba, it's boring and it makes you want to kill yourself. Now I don't know if you just want to wait around until he heals so you can get laid or so you two can canoodle with each other until the damn world ends, and I rightly do not care, but I do know now that I made a mistake by telling you to get close to him rather than to just kidnap him and torture the information out of him. Sorry about your feelings, sorry that I can't keep away the fact that he's going to be removed, but I can't help the fact that this is what needs to be done."
"So you ignore your vows of only using violence when needed, you go against what your supposedly godly life has given you because I want to be able to-"
"To what? Have someone special in your life? I'm sorry, Kaiba, I can't help you here. He's going to be removed from the equation, I can't do anything about it. I know this is a tough situation," She stepped back, heading back towards the door. "But I can't do anything about it. This is what needs to be done, and it will be done."
The steel contraptions opened, allowing the pair to pass, before closing.
Rotwang hadn't looked up from his workbench, still bent over his creation.
[Domino City Airport]
Never, ever let it be said, thought Leda, That I don't have a sense of humor.
Standing outside Domino City Airport, dressed in full military officer's dress, holding a sign that said 'Emperor of Rome, His Majesty Caesar,' and Hiram standing behind her, dressed like a chauffer, with a matching sign. In bold letters, it read, 'Et Tu, Brute?'
See, she was funny. Hell, she was damned hilarious.
The Romanorum could be spotted almost a mile away- brightly colored hair, dyed in a pattern this time- camoflage- and wearing cargo pants and a tank top, both tan, with a hunter green jacket.
The Francorum and Langobardorum would be a bit harder to spot; they looked more generic.
The Francorum looked like a student on a trip- hair done up in a ponytail, jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. The Langobardorum in the military dress of a soldier. They all came from different flights, meeting where Leda and Hiram stood with their signs.
The Romanorum stopped in front of them, looking bemusedly at the signs.
"'Emporer of Rome, his Majesty Caesar- Et Tu, Brute'? That's friggin' hilarious. You get that spot on SNL yet or what?"
"I know, I'm right up there with Dan Akroyd. Welcome back. Hope you all have more fun this time around," Leda looked at the group before walking off. "Welcome to the hornet's nest, my friend's. Let's go talk battle plans."
[KaibaCorp Towers, Meeting Room 72B]
"Well, now we're having fun, boys and girls," Leda walked around before leaning up against the giant window that doubled as a wall. "Let's talk strategy. Do we wanna storm the castle or do we wanna burn the whole damned place down?"
Kaiba, the Romanorum, Francorum, Langobardorum, and Hiram were seated around the eliptical glass table in high-backed chairs.
A map was being projected, in mid-air, a hologram of the city. It glowed a sickly green, three sepia-orange points pulsating at three different buildings- One in a high-rise, on the 'rich' side of town, the second downtown, in an abandoned apartment building, and the third in an old warehouse down by a river that ran through the city.
"These," The Romanorum pointed to the points on the map. "Are our three best guesses for where these people are located. We can either scout them all, three teams of two, or we gan get Francorum in there to do, ah- whatchamacallit, y'know, the Star Trek thing- a Mind Meld. We get her in there, dig through his brain, and find out which one. I, personally, and more inclined towards the Star Trek option. What say you guys?"
Everyone except for Kaiba made nods or noises in agreement.
"Of course," Leda went on, walking back to lean over the table, through a part of the hologram. "We need Kaiba here to go open up that lab of his."
The brunette looked up, staring at the now green-lit face.
"Hmm... Come on," He got up to lead them down.
They piled into the elevator, Kaiba pressed the ground floor button twice, and they descended.
Walking down to the door, completing the scans and sticking his hand into the flux metal, the heard the familiar discerning stillness after the lighting tubes sputtered and died, the hiss as the pneumatic locks slid out of place, and the quiet metallic sound at they slid open.
Jonouchi lay on the table they left him on earlier, stomach half-healed now, muscles and organs writhing around in muscle-forming tendrils.
"There he is... Go on, then. Do... whatever it is you do," He stepped back, letting the Francorum step forward.
She pulled her sleeves back, brushing hair pack gently from Jonouchi's pail face, fingers roving gently over the flesh, trying to find a place to settle on it. They finally did, stilling, resting upon his eyelid, his cheekbone. Her eyes glazed over as she murmured to herself, breathing heavily. Jonouchi's body started to tremble before his head snapped back, the eyes open and staring blankly- the mouth stretched open, incisors sharpened into fangs. Taught hands slid up, grabbing at the Francorum's wrist, pulling it closer to his mouth-
Before the Romanorum snatched the Francorum's arm back, jerking the girl out of her reverie.
Jonouchi slumped back on the table, arms falling beside him, eyes closing again and jew going slack.
"That's enough. Did you get it?"
The Francorum looked like she was about to cry. She nodded a silent 'yes' before glancing over to Kaiba, who stood to the side, looking tense.
"Where is it?"
"Th- the apartment complex. It's at the apartment complex. There's a pass code- 1991932. You're scanned a million times before you can get far, and that's just before you get to the hard stuff. The real things that take breaking into."
"What'll we need?"
"About a hundred pounds of plastic explosives and one hell of a lock pick."
The Romanorum nodded.
"Well, luckily, we got both. Alright, let's move. Tonight."
Kaiba looked over, wide-eyed with surprise. A rare thing to see.
"Tonight?"
"What, you got a better time," The Romanorum asked. At he silence, she spoke. "No? Alright, then. It's about...six o'clock now. Let's leave around eight. That gives us two hours to get everything together. Kaiba, this lab has everything we need chemically to make a hundred pounds of C4 and various other ignitable substances, correct? Would you so mind if we borrowed them?"
"Help yourself."
"Great. You go on and get ready, gather up whatever you need to kill people with and meet us out front at eight. That should give everyone more than enough time to get ready and more than enough time to burn the place to all hell. Let's get goin, guys!"
Kaiba turned to leave, eyes hesitating on Jonouchi's still body, wanting for it to move. Before he could reach the door, he felt a hand on his arm. The Francorum was looking up at him, the same expression on her face.
"Mr. Kaiba? I- I need to talk to you... It's important."
"What is it?"
"Jonouchi... his... His brain, the memories and thoughts in it... I, um, it's... there are things I think you should know." Her eyes flitted around, unable to rest on just one thing, and trying their hardest to avoid landing on Kaiba.
"He... he really loves you, y'know, and he's really been through a lot of bad things in his life because of... because of things like this. These people, who created him... They're the type of people who just don't care, who experiment because it's they're version of play time..."
Kaiba kept an indifferent, calm look on his face.
"They did terrible things... bad things-"
"Everyone does bad things, Francorum" Kaiba cut her off, not getting to finish his sentence before she cut him off.
"Don't call me Francorum. This'll have to stay a secret between you and me, but," She glanced from side to side, making sure nobody was paying them any mind. "But I gave myself a name. I's Jo Anne. Call me Jo Anne."
"Well, then, Everyone does bad things, Jo Anne. The question is just who gets punished for them and who doesn't."
With that, he walked out of the lab, going back up to his office. He had a stash of weapons there, carefully hidden, that he could use.
[-_-_-_-_-]
He hadn't bothered to turn the lights in his office on, watching absentmindedly as faint light glinted off the barrel of the hand gun, the bayonet blades. All he used. All he really needed. He checked the digital time readout on his computer screen. Seven fifty-five. He didn't even bother to hide the weapons- the office closed early, nobody would notice him walking out the back door.
He got in the elevator, pressing the ground floor button, thinking...
It was an odd thought that this would all be over soon. That he wouldn't have to worry about hunting down knock-off vampires, that, somehow, after years of being on even footing, one of the two organizations would come out on top. It left him with a strangely empty feeling that this would most likely never happen again.
The doors dinged open as they normally did, greeting him to the sight of everyone in the lobby, assembled near the back door. The Romanorum in an outfit that echoed a black-ops uniform- a vest packed with explosives and weapons that she wouldn't need, and a back pack carrying the majority of whatever they would need to injure, maim, and destroy things on a large scale.
The Langobardorum with an assortment of knives, the Francorum- Jo Anne- with hardly anything at all, save a few guns and- of all things- a hand grenade. Leda had her swords and her gun, and Hiram his abilities.
They were all set.
"We get in, blow shit up, and get out," The Romanorum said. "Then tie up loose ends here. Easy Enough."
"Let's go, then," Leda said, pushing the door open and leading them out.
[-_-_-_-]
Franz sat in the lab, sifting through notes, fiddling with pens, turning bunson burners on and off, on and off, on and off, until he decided it might lead to something decidedly stupid that he'd better stop. He was waiting, always waiting, for the longest time, it felt.
But he had to some back some time.
Erich had to come back some time.
He didn't leave something like this- he wouldn't.
Franz picked up the Mauser, running his hands, his fingertips over it, staring at it, feeling it, afraid of it. This would be terrifying. He was a doctor, not a killer.
But this had to be done.
Standing up, he walked over to the computer terminals, pulling a chair up and waiting, nodding off into a slight daze.
He jerked awake when a computer terminal beeped on, bathing the room in a cool blue glow.
In front of the computer stood a figure, tall, broad-shouldered, blonde, wearing a uniform.
Back facing him, unaware.
Getting up slowly, so as to not make a sound, Frans padded over and placed the barrel of the gun at the figures back, level with his heart.
"...Franz."
"Erich."
His voice was shaking.
"You knew I was coming back."
He rested his forehead against the back of Erich's neck, closing his eyes.
"Yes."
"You plan to shoot me."
Franz readjusted his grip, pressing the barrel even more insistently against his back.
"Yes."
Erich put his hands up behind his head, turning away from the computer.
"Go on, Franz, shoot."
"No. Not... not like an execution. This isn't an execution. I don't want it to be an execution..."
The hands moved down, slack by his side.
"Then go on, Franz, shoot."
The gun was shaking now, hands tensing and shuddering violently before a loud, resounding gunshot echoed around the space, blood splattering onto the epoxy-gloss floor.
Erich's body fell to the ground, unmoving.
Franz still stood there, holding the gun, feeling like he had just done the worst thing in the world- he had done the worst thing in the world.
Franz sank down to his knees, placing the gun beside him, staying next to Erich's now twice-dead body.
"Ah mein gott..."
[Ende]
Only a few chapters left... might try and churn them out tonight. Maybe not. P: