**A.N.: The school year is coming to a close, but I was able to scrape together enough time to finish this. A huge thank you to those who reviewed and have been supportive during this time. This chapter hurt to write... That said:

WARNING: There is violence and death in this chapter, as well as scenes that could be considered too intense for some. I toned it down as much as I thought would still work, but if you either didn't read or were made uncomfortable by the scene in chapter 31, skip down to the first page break in the chapter. The rest is fine and there will be a summary at the end for people who don't think they could read the entire chapter itself but still want to know what happened.

Also, THANK YOU to Furaill for the Himitsu fanart, I'm still grinning about it. (It can be found at bh6-rise-of-the-phoenix on tumblr under the bh6 rotp tag along with other fanarts) Happy reading!**

Arata's eyes widened at Jadoku's words, shock and anger playing across his expression. It became abundantly clear that this 'Jadoku' had understood everything they'd said since he'd entered the room. It was no longer a matter of just collecting the kid; this creature was potentially dangerous now and needed to be dealt with.

Yuma would forgive him.

She might even be impressed, in that quiet, thoughtful manner she had.

Making up his mind, he moved forward with something hidden in his hand, pleased to get a chance to prove himself. After all, bringing in two would be far more useful than just the one.

Beneath the pulse that echoed as adrenalin surged through his body, a distant part of Jadoku's brain called for something, anything that could give him a chance to gather his thoughts. What he'd done had been incredibly stupid. He should've just kept his mouth shut and left while he could.

It's not like anything he could do would help…

But despite the internal hesitation, a spark of frustration at the events of the past few days grew inside of him. Feeding off of the exhaustion born of sleepless nights, Jadoku's irritation at this impossible situation turned to ice cold anger. His throat clamped shut as a possible realization flitted across his mind, a little voice that wondered if they had known about this when they'd sent him here alone.

The idea quickly took root. They'd already gotten what they wanted, hadn't they? If he was in this on his own, he couldn't just stand there. Considering how little he knew about these people, there might not be a chance for escape later…

Pulled from his thoughts by a quiet click, Jadoku flinched, jerking to the side before he'd consciously realized he needed to. Twin wires lay uselessly on the ground, trailing back to the Taser in Arata's hand. Heart hammering in his throat, Jadoku glared up at the man in front of him.

Arata stared for a moment, his face twisting in fury. Dropping the device, he advanced on Jadoku, swiftly covering the short distance in angry strides. He would not be made a fool of, especially not in front of Yuma.

Tightening his grip on the syringe in his pocket, Jadoku clenched his jaw and stepped back, the heel of his foot meeting the edge of the couch just as Arata reached him. Bracing against the couch, Jadoku shoved forward, leading with his free arm and hoping to get him off balance, despite his much smaller frame.

Besides a surprised grunt, it had no effect, and Arata now had Jadoku's left arm in a vice grip, twisting it as he forced him down and back. Jadoku shook with exertion, trying to resist the movement. This guy was a lot stronger than he looked…

"Well, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" Arata grinned, victory assumed as he took a closer look at the scaled hand of the arm in his grasp. "Aren't you an interesting little frea-"

Arata cut off with a cry of pain as Jadoku's right hand, syringe and all, collided with the side of his head. The glass shattered under the force of the blow, driving shards into his face. The contents of the syringe coated Jadoku's hand, which pressed hard against the shards, forcing them deeper and causing Arata to release him to try and get away. Blood and whatever had been in the syringe flowed freely down the side of Arata's face, but it didn't explain why it hurt so badly.

It felt like the side of his face was on fire. And it was spreading. Quickly.

Jadoku righted himself as Arata screamed while scrabbling at his face, trying to make it stop.

It was far too late for that.

Oliver stared on in horror, mutely reaching to try and stop Yuma as she raced towards Jadoku, intent on getting him away from Arata. Jadoku moved away from the couch and towards his next assailant, not keen on getting trapped again.

Yuma caught Jadoku's blood-soaked wrist as he lashed out, keeping him from making contact as she drew her gun from its holster. "What did you do?"

Jadoku snarled, knowing he just needed to break skin or she was going to shoot him and then-

An itch spread from the tips of his fingers up towards his wrist, following the scales and giving the sensation of hairs standing up on the back of his neck. The sensation was familiar, and Jadoku twisted his wrist, pulling back harshly.

The lifted scales tore through Yuma's hand, some catching and yanking free of his skin, sending bolts of pain up his arm even as she quickly let go, swearing and losing her grip on her gun. She clutched her ruined hand with the other, beginning to feel the effects as they swept through her system.

Jadoku stumbled to catch his balance and hastily scooped up the gun. Eyes darting up to make sure no one else was headed for him, he moved away from the two soon-to-be-corpses to the other corner of the room, keeping a distance from the remaining people.

He wasn't going to look at the others. Jadoku didn't need another mental image he could never erase. He already knew what was happening, and seeing would only make this worse. He couldn't look.

But his eyes betrayed him and strayed to Arata's now still form and Yuma where she'd collapsed on the ground, clutching her hand to her chest as pain racked through her body. Red, protruding veins pushed against the skin of her arm as they crept towards her heart.

Feeling a dry scratch at the back of his throat as he tried not to be sick, Jadoku suppressed a gag and fumbled with the pistol, now slick with the blood from his hands, trying to find and turn off the safety. This would be so much easier if his scales would flatten out again, and he tried his best to ignore the upward pressure on his right hand from the scraps of… nope we are not thinking about that right now.

Oliver stood frozen across the room, but Yama was nowhere in sight, the click of a door falling shut the only hint to his location. Jadoku guessed he could move faster than he'd given him credit for. He certainly didn't count on Oliver staying still for long. If not for the fear, Jadoku would already have missed his chance.

Could he let him leave after what had happened? Oliver didn't look like he was going to try what his colleagues had anytime soon, but he was sure to tell… whoever had sent them and that wouldn't mean anything good. He'd have to keep him from being able to report back. Jadoku's gaze flickered to the other two and back to Oliver.

A bullet would be better, anyway. More merciful. Cleaner?

"Wait!" Oliver looked like he was summoning the last dredges of his courage to speak, eyes darting between the gun, the people on the ground, and Jadoku's... shoulder? He wasn't looking him in the eye.

Jadoku tried to brush off the thought, training the gun on him best he knew how, hoping Oliver couldn't tell he had no idea how to aim. It couldn't be too hard, just point and pull the trigger, right? His trembling hands didn't help anything, but maybe if he got closer…

"W-wait, please-" Oliver backed up when Jadoku stepped closer, having no way of knowing Jadoku's nerve was failing just as fast as his was. "Y-you're one of his, right?"

Jadoku froze, trying to figure out what, or rather who, he meant. Oliver took it as a sign that he was speaking the right language finally, and that maybe he could make it out of there intact… or at least alive.

"I-I mean of course you are, you've got his mark, I tried to tell them not to, but-" Oliver began to panic again when Jadoku didn't relax or lower the gun. "You c-can't kill me! I have information for him, you've got to-"

That's convenient.

Jadoku's scowl deepened, and another step forward put Oliver's back against the wall. He couldn't miss from this distance. The sound of a jet passing overhead distracted him momentarily as Jadoku again wondered what was going on here. What if this was the intended outcome: information for a now useless 'side project'. Had they just expected him to play along? They hadn't thought he would go in armed, either… the syringe had been meant to be used before he even arrived. The idea was making him sick.

Oliver quickly realized he was running out of time. "I- There are more!"

What?

"One broke out, we're not sure wh-where he is, but-"

The door flew open, ricocheting off of the wall and startling Jadoku badly, his head whipping around towards the source of the noise as the heavy tang of blood filled his mouth. He was mildly surprised that the gun didn't go off, the heavy trigger not responding to the flinch as his hands seized.

What. Was. That.

Jadoku quickly corrected the thought, the armored figure quite clearly a person, who was just… standing there. Purple and black armor fully covered the figure, and black gauntlets that had been hanging slack at his sides curled into fists as a reflective helmet turned slowly, surveying the room. It looked like something ripped straight out of a comic book, but was distantly familiar in a way that Jadoku's scattered mind couldn't place.

The gaze finally settled where Jadoku stood, and after a beat of silence, the armored man launched himself across the room with a yell that bordered on a roar. Jadoku's back hit the ground before he could process what was happening, head slamming against the flooring hard enough to white out his vision momentarily.

Survival instinct told him to curl up until the threat went away, but when a gauntleted fist made contact with the side of his face, the bruising force enough to push his head back into the concrete, he knew he had to do something or he was probably going to die.

Jadoku could still feel the weight of the gun in his clenched hand, and the second hit didn't hurt as much, the scales doing their job quickly. This allowance gave Jadoku just enough leeway to get the gun up to the reflective visor and pull the trigger as hard as he could, not trusting it to go off from anything less.

Cracks spider webbed across the helmet's screen, and Jadoku lost his grip on the gun, not expecting a pistol to have a kick at all. The figure reared back at the shot, but not in such a manner that suggested the bullet had made it through. That was fine. Jadoku had hoped that effectively blinding him would give him time to get free, but trying to sit up only made his vision swim harshly. This wasn't going to work, and there was only so long before-

The armored figure lifted his hands to the base of the helmet, unfastening a small latch, removing it, and letting it fall to the side.

Oh.

Shit.

Hiro.

His face was twisted in a way Jadoku had only imagined before, but it was worse in person. Hatred and disgust emanated from him, residual shock quickly giving way to anger. Was that smoke, or was he seeing things? Jadoku couldn't tell anymore.

He didn't care anymore. Jadoku told himself that's what the emptiness meant. He was too tired to listen to what Hiro was saying, only the anger registering, words blurring together in his brain. That… probably wasn't good. But right then only thoughts such as 'where did he get the armor' and 'how much longer until the kid wakes up' had any coherence in his mind.

Jadoku didn't do much more than blink slowly when Hiro's fist hit the ground beside his head. Why had he missed? He hadn't moved, and Hiro had been fine hitting him before…

And then suddenly he was gone and the room was so much louder.

Would it kill everyone to be quiet, just for a moment?

Wait… everyone?

Jadoku managed to finally pull himself to a sitting position, blinking until the blurriness went away. There were… not too many people to count, but they refused to stay in one place… Jadoku winced when he saw one of them hit the wall, slumping down and not getting up. He didn't know these people, and couldn't reliably say whether they would attack him or not. Probably not if he just sat there, but-

Where was Oliver? He'd been talking to him and… did he call for back-up? Jadoku couldn't string the thoughts together properly, only grasping at them before they slipped away. He should… he should leave.

Jadoku didn't recall making it to his feet, but he was standing. There was a door fairly close by, and he didn't have to go through the chaos on the other side of the room to get to it, so maybe…

But Jadoku's movement caught the attention of one of the fighters, and it quickly became clear that they were against him, too. The man moved towards him, weapon in hand, and Jadoku belatedly realized the gun he'd used was still on the ground, which may as well have been on the other side of the room with how unlikely he would be able to get to it at this point.

If the man got close enough, maybe he could try to use his scales again… there should be enough left to paralyze… Jadoku wavered, and suddenly the room was pure red.

No… wait, there were edges…

Of silver?

"Whoops!" A female voice filled his ears, and there were a lot of colors suddenly, standing out among the greys and blacks that the other people in the room were decked with. "Saved your life~"

"He would have survived that, Bella."

"Shhh, he doesn't need to know." Bella grinned, snapping the bladed parasol shut and resting it on her shoulder, looking around the room as she nudged aside the man she'd run through with the blade that now rested harmlessly on her shoulder, encased in the thick red material. "Wow, you made a mess."

Shoki had to agree, but they'd certainly seen worse. The ball and chain hung loosely at her side as she kept an eye out for other immediate threats, but the other occupants of the room were too focused with each other to notice their arrival. Jadoku's gaze was fixed on the man that Bella had run through, who was now slowly attempting to crawl away from them, hoping to avoid notice, he was sure. Luck wasn't on his side, however.

"You're still kicking?" Bella frowned, skating to stand over him, nodding in what was almost a sympathetic manner as the man begged for his life."Yeah, well see, I'd love to. But we've got orders. You attack him, we gotta put you in your place. Simple as that." She dropped the weighted blade, and he stilled as it sunk home in his chest. She laughed, looking over at Shoki conspiratorially. "Guess that place was the ground," Bella whispered.

"Bella…" Shoki shook her head, exasperation and fondness coloring her words.

Jadoku stood there in confusion, swallowing past the bitter copper taste before attempting to speak. "...what's…"

Bella turned to him, taking in his dazed look and tapping the parasol on the ground to shake loose any drops that still clung to it. "Wow, you got hit hard." She giggled, holding up a hand in front of his face. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"…one." Jadoku could tell that much.

"He's fine." Bella nodded solemnly.

"Why are you…" Jadoku searched for the word, knowing distantly it shouldn't be this hard. "…here?"

"We were in the area," Shoki deadpanned, and Jadoku thought he detected a hint of annoyance, but he couldn't be sure.

Bella scoffed, grinning widely at Jadoku. "Oh please, did you think when he heard screaming he was just going to let his-"

Bella cut off at the sound of a dull thunk and scream behind spiked ball of Shoki's weapon had collided with a now shocked person, who'd thought attacking Bella while her back was turned was a good idea. That arm definitely looked broken, shattered even.

"Rude!" Frowning deeply, Bella moved into the fray, eager to fight.

"Jadoku," Shoki caught his attention, looking at his unsteady state warily. "The trade-in spot by the bay, you know it?"

Jadoku nodded, regretting the movement. He knew of it, and it wasn't too far from here, what was she-?

"Himitsu's waiting there. Can you make it?" Shoki looked at him doubtfully, her gaze flickering to where Bella was fighting. She could hold her own, but sometimes she acted too rashly. Shoki needed Jadoku out of the way, but if it meant leaving her partner behind…

"Yeah…" Jadoku knew that now he was on his feet, he could probably walk at least, so long as anyone wasn't actively trying to stop him. But what was going on? He thought…

"Right. Don't wait up for us."

Shoki moved to assist Bella, and Jadoku stared for a moment before remembering that he needed to leave. He managed to make it to the side door, slipping out without anyone following. The area was different than where he'd come in, a few bodies that Jadoku assumed the women inside had taken care of lying on the almost unfamiliar pavement.

It took a second to think over the pounding in his skull as he absentmindedly wiped his hands off on his pants, only regretting it after the deed was done. He eventually oriented himself, pulling his hood over his head to shield his eyes from the stabbing sunlight, and starting in the right direction.

Hood up and head bowed, Jadoku tried to suppress the panic that bubbled inside him as he took deliberately measured steps towards the bay. If they were a little faster or unsteady than was probably normal, he wasn't going to waste energy to even them out, especially since he wasn't sure when his legs might stop working or the dizziness would overcome him. Anyway, people would notice the bloodstains a lot faster than they would be curious about where he was off to in such a hurry.

Jadoku needed to get out of sight. He needed to hide, and there was only one place that could possibly be considered safe anymore. The adrenalin that he'd been feeding off of for… who knew how long, was fading fast, and he knew he was going to crash soon. Jadoku just needed to make it there, though if he sat down and refused to move, Himitsu could probably still find him. Who knew what else the band around his wrist could do?

His thoughts were fragmented as his brain tried to process the events of the morning. There was just… so much, too much, and it was easier to focus on the injuries. They were here and now. Pain echoed across his shoulders and down his back, the bruises complaining despite the protective scales that ensured they wouldn't be hurt further. It was like putting a helmet over a concussion, which Jadoku wasn't sure whether he had or not. His head pulsed with every heartbeat, and each time a foot met the pavement, a shot of pain lanced towards the back of his head.

Jadoku's hand went up to rub at his eye, forgetting why the itch was there. He recoiled at the sound of the hardened, smoothed over scales that encircled it scraping against those on his hand. Even the eyelid had a thin, but clearly there, coating. Well, that answered one of his lifelong questions. Maybe he should get decked in the face more often.

A half broken laugh escaped his lips, and he considered the concussion possibility more thoroughly… well… as thoroughly as he could. There was nothing funny about this, but maybe if he laughed it would be okay. As okay as anything was anymore, that is.

The strengthening of the ocean air was what first alerted him that he was nearing his destination, and he turned onto what he hoped was the correct off-street. Just a little bit further… if he would even be there.

"Jadoku?"

That was Himitsu's voice, no doubt. He managed a few more steps before an arm steadied him. Jadoku hadn't noticed just how badly he was off balance until something held him in place.

"Easy does it." Himitsu's arm wrapped more securely around him, taking most of his weight as Jadoku leaned on him.

Flinching when a hand gently lifted his chin, Jadoku shut his eyes, hearing a decisive 'snick' when the left one shut. Taishou and Himitsu both knew about the scales, so… so it wasn't like they'd get rid of him? Maybe they'd shut him in a room until he was presentable, but it wasn't like that hadn't happened before. He could deal with it. He needed to get caught up on sleep anyway.

But just because he could deal with it didn't mean he wanted to see their expressions, knowing any reaction they had would be seared into his mind. There was too much pressing against the inside of his head, vying for attention, (so much that he could physically feel it), and he didn't want that on top of everything. It was better to not know.

"Hey. You've gotta open your eyes for me. Just fer a sec."

Not having the energy to explain himself, Jadoku frowned, but reluctantly obeyed, wincing when the light hit his pupils. Himitsu looked searchingly before sighing and releasing his hold on his chin. Jadoku shut his eyes again, starlight dancing in his vision, and he almost thought he could see Himitsu's outline through his eyelids.

"Well, you are definitely concussed." Himitsu had suspected it, especially after listening in on Bella's commentary, but one could always hope…

Jadoku hummed unhappily, only remembering that that meant he couldn't sleep. Wonderful. Of course he couldn't be allowed even that.

"Nice as this is, we should get back so someone can take a look at that head o' yours." Himitsu moved towards the car, slowly so Jadoku could keep up on unsteady legs. The wait had been nerve-wracking, and the sooner he could get him back to base, the better.

Scoffing lightly, Jadoku frowned, pouring all of his remaining focus into not tripping over his own feet. "Like they c'n do anything…"

"Ya might be surprised." Himitsu put an arm over the edge of the door frame while Jadoku got into the car. People with impaired mobility tended to severely misjudge how much space they had to move in and while it was funny when a drunk did it, letting a concussed person strike their head on the metal frame probably wasn't a good idea. "In the least, it might feel better to get some of that blood off'a ya."

Jadoku blinked away the dizziness that moving from standing to sitting caused, looking at the blood on his hands and pants (and shirt and probably elsewhere too) in a lost manner.

Whoops. Probably shouldn't get that on things…

Like the car.

Or Himitsu.

"…oh." Jadoku tried not to touch anything else, looking somewhat guiltily up at Himitsu, seeing that it was too late for the latter. The last thing he needed was him mad at him too. A flash of a memory of anger and disgust and hate jumped to the front of his mind, and Jadoku tensed, preparing for… something. But that had been so long ago- no… it was recent? Jadoku couldn't place it, and trying to remember only made the pressure at his temples worse.

Himitsu followed Jadoku's gaze to his own shirt and shrugged, guessing at the reason behind the worry that had taken root in Jadoku's eyes. "Eh… don't worry 'bout it, it'll come out, and they've gotten worse outta seats like these." He patted the headrest twice before shutting the door and making his way over to the driver's side.

When the tension dissipated, there was room given to exhaustion to pulse through Jadoku's head, and suddenly keeping his eyes open was one of the most difficult things in the world. The sound of the car starting jolted him to awareness, and he compromised by saying he'd stay awake, but just shut his eyes. He could do that, right?

"And you're sure none of it could have transferred to you?" The doctor needed to be certain, staying a 'safe' distance from Jadoku as he spoke to Himitsu. The toxicity of Jadoku's blood was no joke, and even though Jadoku was clean and covered properly now, the knowledge of the danger was still present.

"If it had we'd have known by now." Himitsu didn't bother to hide his annoyance, talking down to the man in front of him. "Shouldn't you be more concerned about the person who's actually injured?"

The man hid his reaction to the admonishment well enough, but Himitsu could see that the point had gotten across. "All that's left is to let him rest and avoid a second head injury-"

"Third."

The doctor looked at him in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Third injury." Himitsu's gaze was fixed on where Jadoku lay, turned so that he wasn't resting on any of the scaled areas. "Cracked his head little under a week ago, too."

"Ah. Well, did he display similar symptoms?" The doctor made note of it on his pad of paper.

Himitsu shook his head. "Not that I could tell. He was much more… present."

"Well, we'll keep him under observation, but he should still recover. Will that suffice?"

"…Yeah."

When nothing else came, the doctor took that as permission to leave for now. Himitsu stood in silence for a moment when an alert notified him that the Fujitas had returned and his presence was requested. He closed the door behind him quietly, making his way to the meeting area.

By the time he arrived, the Fujitas were already waiting in front of Taishou, mostly unharmed, although Himitsu could make out a scorch mark along one of Bella's sleeves. He silently approached the three, sitting down at Taishou's right side, and waited for them to say what they needed to.

"Geez, Himitsu, who died?" Bella joked, kicking her foot against the floor so that the wheels on her skates spun freely.

Himitsu tilted his head, pushing forward a smile. "Ain't that what you're here to tell us?"

She laughed, relaxing in such a way that only those who knew her could tell apart from her regular flippant attitude. "No one important, sadly."

Bella glanced at the door Himitsu had come in, frowning slightly. "Where's J, anyway? Figured he'd want to hear this."

"Sleeping off his concussion."

"Ah." Bella nodded solemnly, as if he'd answered more than the stated question. "Well, could have been worse."

Himitsu shrugged, and a look from Shoki silenced the comment that was on the tip of Bella's tongue. She had to keep her audience in mind, and so she turned to address Taishou properly now that they were all present.

"Turns out you were right about wanting the kid out of here, but at least that area was run down enough that a fire wasn't too suspicious. We got out of there with time to spare, but some of your brother's weren't so lucky. He'll probably complain about that for a while." Bella smirked.

"He can't say he wasn't warned," Himitsu muttered.

Taishou looked over at him, a warning in his gaze. "Jadoku did not take the precautions as he had been instructed. If he had, this would be a non-issue, but as it stands, he will need to answer for that."

"If he had we'd have a bigger problem, if ya cared about that at all." Himitsu made direct eye contact with Taishou, not bothering to mask his anger. "You heard as well as I did he tried to sell 'im, or do you consider that a 'non-issue'?"

The Fujitas exchanged glances. It was well known that Himitsu could, and did, speak his mind, but this was pushing it.

"You know better than that. Now is not the time, and we will discuss it later."

"Damn right we will," Himitsu muttered.

"You are dismissed." Taishou's words held a finality that refused to be argued with.

Himitsu stood, making his way to the door without so much as a backwards glance. Staying while in this mood wouldn't be useful, anyway. He could watch through surveillance or even just talk to Bella later.

"…so, did you know the brother could breathe fire?"

He was definitely talking to Bella later.

**A.N.: Everyone still good? Great.

Promised Summary of beginning scene: Arata and Yuma attack Jadoku and end up dead, Yama escapes, and Oliver distracts Jadoku with information that he says he owes Taishou: "There are more." Before Oliver can finish, Hiro arrives and attacks Jadoku, giving him a concussion and other injuries, rendering Jadoku too 'out of it' to understand what he's saying. More people arrive and the Fujitas save Jadoku, sending him off to Himitsu to return to base.

Coming soon: Hiro's POV and the aftermath. After that chapter there will be a short chapter to work as an epilogue/prologue for this segment before a time-skip. The in-between sequel will be my submission for the Big Hero 6 Big Bang, which will be made public on June 1st, so expect the other two chapters to be posted before then.

Phew... is that everything? Oh! I didn't mention that I'm totally stoked about the upcoming Big Hero 6 tv show, and they got all of the original main character voices! Oh, I hope they do a good job with it.

Feel free to review, even if it's just pterodactyl screeching that I've received in the past, it's all good!**