Dark swallowed a sudden rush of irritation and anger and rang the doorbell, crossing his arms and drumming his fingers impatiently. He'd seemed scared enough of Dark and Krad before so Dark sincerely doubted he'd sol the footage. Still, right now he was the largest possibility. The door opened and as soon as their eyes met the smaller man looked away and murmured, "Ah, I figured you would be here soon." Dark's lip lifted in the beginning of a snarl.
"Yeah? Didja get a good hunk of change from selling out my son?" The man stared at him in genuine shock. "Aisoku is gone?" Dark raised an eyebrow and relaxed a smidge. If he was faking being shocked it was the best act he'd ever seen. " He is. So are you gonna tell me how it got stolen then?" The little man gestured for the phantom thief to come inside and he did, following the man up to a rather disorganized study.
"I suppose you can't just take my word for it but I think it was taken by my old company- I used to work in a private sector of the Russian government- they were into genetic research mostly. I was leerie of where the company was headed and they were losing funding so they dropped me. " As he talked he turned on the hard drive and monitor, but as soon as it came to life there was a brief fifteen second flash of blue light before everything went black again. "I went on last night to remove it- this is my company computer, so technically they could still get into it, b the way. As soon as I tried to open the file it downloaded this virus."
The older man ran a hand through his hair and Dark realized he looked rather haggard. "I'd recognize this virus anywhere- I worked with the man who made it before they moved me to ground-level building security." Dark put his hands in his pockets and leaned back against the wood of the man's desk, the lighting hiding his face in shadow except for a few highlighted strands of amethyst hair.
"Tell me everything you know." The thief said lowly. "Everything."
As the woman, Inessa, moved the boy to their small but well equipped examination room he began to stir under his jacket, obviously uncomfortable in the thick material. During their flight they'd had to cover him as best he could because the heating in the plane was negligible. Actually, she was getting uncomfortably warm too. She took off her own jacket first and unzipped his before placing him face-up on the examination table. He sat up almost immediately and winced as the bright lights assaulted his corneas. "Where… am I?"
"Base 34, Russia. You wouldn't be able to pronounce the town, and it barely exists anyway." He swallowed and glanced around. Nothing extraordinary except for the lack of windows, so perhaps they were underground. An assortment of regular checkup equipment lay on the table against the wall- a stethoscope, tongue depressor, and needle kit. Everything except for the walls and carpet was stainless steel. This was obviously built for functionality, not comfort.
As if I'd be comfortable here anyway. Aisoku thought and jerked as the woman reached for his coat.
"Sorry, but we wanted to examine your wings as soon as possible." He slid the coat off his narrow shoulders and handed it to her as the hairs on his arms stood on end. It wasn't cold, but it certainly wasn't warm by Japan standards. As he shifted he noticed the usual square bulge in his right pocket was missing- they'd taken his cell phone. Not surprising really. A man entered the room, the doctor presumably, and Inessa cleared away into the corner as he approached, her arms crossing. He had dark coloring and was rather scrawny with sterile grey eyes and the perpetual dark circles of a man who spent entirely too much of himself in his work.
"Your late, Lenka." Inessa said almost conversationally and he replied, "In fact, I believe you were. Our agreed time was six fifteen, although I suppose the wound that the White Wings inflicted on-oh." His gaze focused on Aisoku and an unexplained wave of revulsion passed through him, making the hair on his neck stand on end. Something about the way he talked, the way his voice slid through both Russian and Japanese…If snakes could talk, this is what they'd sound like.
"Hello." Aisoku ventured, feeling like a frog just about to get dissected. Behind Lenka a second man appeared. He was some kind of assistant and had a clipboard in hand, thick black hair and sincere brown eyes. "Hello!" He managed in response to Aisoku and both the boy and Lenka stared at him in surprise. "Oh. . ." He seemed embarrassed and the doctor or whatever he was turned back to Aisoku. "Would you show us the appendages that were so graciously displayed in your neighbors footage, little phantom thief?" So somehow these people had gotten a hold of it. Aisoku fingered the necklace that they'd left in his pocket, those two feathers, black and white and murmured, "It's Aisoku, and what are you going to do to them if I let them out?" The doctor snapped on a pair of gloves and the other man settled into a plain black chair on the other side of Aisoku, next to Inessa. "Just examine them, of course. Maybe take a few samples." Sure, that doesn't sound suspicious at all. Still, his wings were cramping up from the many hours of being stuck under his skin. The more he focused in on them the worse they got.
Oh, how good it would feel just to let them out, even for a moment..
. . Fine, fine. Krad said they were still growing too, didn't he? For now I'll play nice. Then, I'm getting the hell out of here. Very carefully, he unfolded them and let them rest on either side of him, their damp silver feathers tickling the bare skin on his back and the nape of his neck. Apparently the assistant wasn't prepared for the sight of them because he gasped and uttered an exclamation in Russian that snapped harshly across the small room. "Vlad?" Inessa asked. He covered his mouth and his cheeks lit up. "Um, sorry. I wasn't- I wasn't sure they were real." All three of them were staring at the wings and Lenka maneuvered around one of them, placing a hand at the root of Aisoku's left wing. The plastic felt strange against Aisoku's feathers and they ruffled. Lenka ran his hand up along the curve of the wing and began, "Vlad- write this down. Overall structure seems identical to most bird species, three layers of feathers and etc, with the exception of the shoulder joint, which rests between the shoulder blades…" His hand went back down and across part of Aisoku's back. "…and the supracoracoideus muscle goes underneath his collarbone." His hand went back up and as it rounded the curve of the wing it stopped and seemed to snag against the tip of something.
It sent a shudder through Aisoku and he pulled the wing back, but Lenka eased it back into his hand and pushed on a swollen part the boy hadn't noticed before. Something slid out into place and Lenka observed, "… Also, there appears to be a large dewclaw-two and a half inches from tip to sheath, I'm estimating."
Vlad stood up and joined Lenka, looking very much like a fascinated child as he gently ran his bare finger along the smooth white curve of the claw. "That's badass." Vlad observed. "Thanks." Aisoku managed a smirk. Again, a shiver went through the little thief. Until now he hadn't even known that was there, tucked away just underneath a layer of soft feathers. Hm. I wonder if Dark or Krad have these too. He hoped they wouldn't discover anything else- he was beginning to feel more and more like the main attraction of a circus. He missed being with Emiko and Kosuke. . .and his own real parents. At least they were used to wings- didn't shy away or grip them too tightly. Around them he felt fairly normal. The rest of the examination was conducted in pure Russian so Aisoku understood very little. But he was able to gather that Lenka was impatient that his wings weren't fully grown yet, and also irritated at the two spells on ether of his wrists that prevented his magic from surging out of control. As he examined them, his gloves coo and rubbery Aisoku noticed that the curly golden script was getting fainter.
Didn't Krad say something about these wearing off in a few days. . .? He rubbed his wrists once Lenka had turned away and wondered when they would let him go home. Probably once they figured out how to replicate the powers they'd seen on the video which would take a heck of a long time considering that he didn't know how to use his powers in the first place, and- "Hey." Someone was shaking one of his extra limbs and he snapped his wing out in irritation, folding it back instantly as he heard a whiny yelp. "Aow! What was that for?" Vlad was holding the side of his face and Aisoku could see a very short, thin cut on his cheek. His eyebrows raised Aisoku immediately apologized and Vlad waved it off as Lenka gave him another glare. Then Inessa came back over and busied herself, rubbing a small cotton-ball of disinfectant onto the crook of Aisoku's left arm and explaining,
" We wanted to take a blood sample- you're not anemic are you? Taken any anticoagulants lately?" He shook his head and the feathers on his wings fluffed out as the sterilized needle slipped under his skin. "Why do you want my blood?" After half a minute the cylinder filled with dark red liquid and she removed it, slapping a bandage into place. She tapped the edge of his soft wing. "To see just how these are possible. These and those powers- you're obviously not all human.
If we map your DNA and compare it to a regular human, it will help explain all of this." "Oh." Aisoku said, not because he wasn't interested in this obvious fact but because he couldn't think of anything else to say. She gave the syringe of blood to Lenka who departed without so much as a goodbye, and Vlad led Aisoku to his 'room' after . It looked like a closet hastily made into a living space, a Harry Potter cupboard under the stairs if there ever was one. There was a folding bed, a sort of dresser and a desk and chair. "How am I supposed to keep myself entertained in here?" Aisoku muttered, his wings shuffling in irritation. Inessa had advised him to hide them but he was warmer with them exposed and aside from that, much more comfortable. Vlad scratched his black hair. "Well the idea was that you mostly only sleep in here, or recover from the surgery tomorrow." He pulled the coat in close around his shoulders. "What? Surgery?"
"Um, yeah. Bone marrow- to test you red blood cell count, and get an idea of bone density I guess." Aisoku swallowed. "I don't. . . I've never had any surgery before." To his surprise, the older teen took his upper arm and squeezed reassuringly, then let it drop back to his side. "I'm sure they'll be really careful with you. You're – really valuable to Lenka's research." He took about thirty sheets of blank paper from his clipboard and a pen and gave it to Aisoku along with a black pen from his pocket. "Here. I don't really have much, but I might be able to smuggle you some books too." Aisoku took the pen and papers from him and he added, "It is technically almost midnight here though, so you should try to sleep."
"Okay." Krad's son replied in a way that he hoped wasn't too dejected. As soon as Vlad pointed out where the bathrooms were he left, and Aisoku began searching the room for any bugs. The problem with this place was they could be anywhere, and since he was the phantom thief's son they'd used the more advanced models in here. It took him a good half-hour to clear the room. He squished them between his thumb and forefinger, six in all, then flopped down into the office chair in front of the desk. Now that he was away from his kidnappers he did feel very tired. He stretched out one wing, then the other, and tugged on a strand of his hair to stay awake. He wrote-
-Premise ProWireless Intrusion detection system in hallways
-possible eight-zone system based on spacing
-38-possibility passcodes thrugh doors, etc.
- 24-hour zone on this floor, underground actual facility based on temperature and lack of windows, as well as ventilation structure.
He then folded the paper in half and by balancing on top of his chair, jiggled a ceiling tile out of place and slipped the paper into the space, then closed it again.
He racked his brain for any other details but couldn't remember anything else for now- he was simply too tired. Aisoku flopped down into the hastily made bed and pulled the covers up to his shoulders, then folded one wing over his torso. As he did, for a half-second he felt a rush of anger and worry in his chest that clearly did not belong to him. If anything, it sort of felt like . . . Krad, in a way. He couldn't really explain how it felt like the blonde other than the sense of a color that came with the feeling- a golden white. . . . Krad? He waited, but the sensation didn't return, and so he settled down into a fretful sleep.
As Krad's tamer slept within the relative safety of Toro's car Krad paced, blocking his feelings from his tamer so the fourteen year old could rest peacefully. At first he had been worried, and sad, but now, true to his nature, the rage had finally kicked in. His tailcoat flapped in the white space of Kiryu's mind and because he was tired of staring at all the white he created a beautiful garden path. In front of him a dirt path snaked away and opulent flowers encroached upon the path, their separate perfumes attracting hordes of plump bumblebees. He paused, assessing his work, and promptly erased the scene. It was much too happy for his current mood. It was replaced by a Mordor-like background, reeking of sulfur, the skies a grey-black. . . .Better.
He reached out across the link he had to his son again and upon finding him awake couldn't help but let his current emotions seep through. Suddenly, Aisoku reached back out to him with a question he couldn't quite decipher. It was as if they were trying to communicate over loud static. Aisoku? Aisoku! Krad tried to latch on but even as he did their connection slipped through his mind like water and then he was alone again. It had been reduced to the same hum it always had been, somewhere underneath his sternum. Krad cursed quietly. How much easier this would be if he could simply ask where Aisoku was! If he could confirm he was unharmed! He flexed his fingers and imagined he was flexing claws instead. Oh, how he'd like to be set free in whatever dwelling the kidnappers had taken Aisoku. Interesting, how the deepest love spawns the most spiteful hate. His thoughts were abruptly caught off as he felt the thief's presence outside the car. Dark seemed to pause and after observing Kiryu for a minute, cleared off and went into the Niwa dwelling instead.
As Riku let Dark in she said crisply, "Do you mind if I visit with my son for a while? He has some explaining to do." Dark sighed and conjured up a picture of his love, long-dead now, and his body shrank back. Kyo and Riku talked for a while as he explained what had happened to Aisoku, as well as Dark's intentions to get him back. As a mother of course she was strictly against it. She brought down Daisuke so he would be filled in on all that had happened as well. Daisuke seemed a bit more understanding but if there was one thing Riku "But mom- I want to help Dark get him back. I know you don't trust him, and you don't like him but . . . but it's his son." Kyo stared at his mother and father, trying to get them to understand.
" Besides, he can protect me, and he's pretty much the only person who can break into wherever they've taken Aisoku."
Daisuke asked, "Does Dark know where they've taken him?" and after Kyo nodded Dark talked with both Riku and Daisuke for a good half-hour.
"If you're going to go, then we're coming with you." Dark shook his head, his wine locks swaying. "No." Both the redhead and the brunette stared at him levelly.
"I said no. No- your way too old to be doing this stuff." "We're going with you two." Dark crossed his arms.
"Yeah? Well I'm going with Krad." Riku frowned but Daisuke squeezed her hand and assured. "We'll deal. We're going." "Hell no! Absolutely not." Fifteen minutes later they were packing and Dark went back outside to wake up Kiryu. He opened the door with a soft click and shook the boy's shoulder.
"Kiryu. Oi, wake up." The young brown-haired, blue eyed Hikari sat up, and Dark could see how clearly his face resembled his father's. It was almost eerie.
"Road trip. We're gonna stop by Satoshi's house and fill both your parents in on everything. I know Krad's itching to go and rescue Aisoku, but what I want to know is- do you?" Kiryu paused and Dark added, "Because if you aren't, there's gonna be trouble down the road as far as 'taming'-" He used his hands to form quotation marks around the word. "Krad goes." Dropping his joking demeanor, he added, " Really." Kiryu in fact, was more concerned about himself than Aisoku at the moment, but surely he could put his feelings aside. . . Right? "I'll go." He heard himself say, but the entity within him knew his commitment to the whole endeavor was wavered, at best. "I guess… you can go home then, Toro." Kiryu told the butler and he nodded. "Very well, master Hikari." After the butler pulled away from the sidewalk Dark, Daisuke and Riku were stuffed into the minivan, Dark next to Kiryu. The Hikari felt distinctly uncomfortable next to the thief but after a while of his somewhat blasphemous chatter Kiryu loosened up and found himself joking with the purple-haired teen. A Niwa, of all people. "Just get out of my life."
Kiryu sniffed, pretending to be a wounded maiden. Dark shoved him playfully. "But darling, I need you, I'm sorry about those things I said. We can work this out!" Kiryu threw an arm back dramatically, "Oh I can't take it, I just-. . ."
He and Dark trailed off as Riku and Daisuke stared at them from the front seat. Dark coughed. Kiryu cleared his throat. And as the two adults turned back around to face the road, they grinned at each other.