Part 32 - Allies
"Is she dead?"
"Of course not, sweety. Just stay back. Don't poke at her."
"Shouldn't we tie her up?" Hattori murmured.
"I don't think it will be necessary," Risa said, putting a wet cloth over the woman's forehead.
"So run through this one more time. Why exactly did you kidnap Daisuke's…kidnapper?" Satoshi asked, watching the scene from the sofa. Risa, Riku, Hattori, and Jirouu were crowded around the limp female form stretched out on the living room floor.
"She parted ways with Gorudo, and now he's after her," Risa said. "She needs help."
"She's your enemy, isn't she? Just let her boss kill her," Krad remarked. He was observing the chaos from a quiet corner.
"I hate to say it, Risa, but the birdbrain has a point," Hattori muttered.
"No," she frowned. "I'm as mad at her as you are, but Dark trusts her. He asked us to look after her."
"And what if they track her back here? We can't exactly afford to draw attention to ourselves right now. As if we aren't conspicuous enough," Riku said gently, glancing around at the collection of weirdoes that were congregated in Satoshi's apartment.
"Once she wakes up, she can help us. She overheard a meeting between Gorudo and Trap that Dark couldn't reach."
"You're assuming she wants to hide. She could wake up and try to turn on us all to get back in with Gorudo," Satoshi said.
"She's dangerous, Risa. She tried to kill me."
Risa looked at her sister guiltily. "I know. I'm sorry."
"I think she's waking up," Jirou observed, poking Shira's cheek with a soda straw.
"Jirou, stop that. Go stand somewhere safe," Riku instructed. The boy obediently got up and limped over to the corner with Krad. "Oh, God, you're kidding," she muttered, giving up on protecting the boy. If his instincts were that bad, it was a lost cause anyway.
"Damn, I'm hungry," muttered the woman on the floor. She opened her eyes slowly to an unfamiliar ceiling and blinked at it. "What the hell…?"
"Listen to me, you trigger-happy psycho. We're going to lay down some ground rules," Riku said, leaning into her field of vision.
Shira brought Riku's face into focus and stared at it. The muscles at the corners of her mouth slowly tightened, and her confused gaze twisted into startled horror. "You're actually alive…" she breathed.
"No thanks to you," the redhead frowned.
The soldier dropped her gaze and scanned the other faces looking down at her. Spotting Risa seemed to stir up her memories. "Where is Dark?" she gasped.
"He went back. He left you with us, and went back alone," Risa said, letting a little bit of resentment into her voice. If Shira had just trusted him, Dark would still have an ally on the inside. Now he was on his own.
"Why did he go back?" she demanded. She sat a little too quickly and earned herself a gun pointed straight at her face.
"He was there by choice, or didn't you notice that? He's there to help Daisuke," Riku pulled back the hammer on Satoshi's pistol to warn her she was serious.
Shira didn't seem to notice or care about the gun. She looked down at her lap, overwhelmed. She was surrounded by the family and friends of the people she'd kidnapped and used. The friends of the boy she'd treated like a science experiment were shielding her from Gorudo. And the strange creature she'd treated as a lifeless object and stabbed in the back had saved her life and then walked back into that nightmare by himself. "Oh God," she barely managed to say. Her throat tightened and unwanted moisture burned in her eyes. She knew she had no right to cry, nor did she have any right to feel better. Apologies were ridiculous, when she'd done so much that could never be fixed.
"Shira, we need to know what Gorudo's planning," Risa said. "Just tell us what you heard in Gorudo's office."
"Gorudo wants the boy and the Black Wings separated."
"We already know that," Risa frowned.
"Not all of it. "The reason Gorudo wants Dark isolated is because he intends to take the boy's place."
The room fell silent. "Like, inside Dark's soul?" Satoshi asked cautiously.
Shira glanced over at him. She hadn't even noticed there were more people in the room. "I think so. All I know is that he kept it from Trap at the last minute."
"Our bonds are to the Hikari and Niwa families alone. They are not so easily rewired," a cold but amused voice drew her attention to the corner of the room.
"What the hell…" Shira just stared at the white-winged angel standing in the corner. "Another Black Wings?"
"They're both the Black Wings," Satoshi interjected, before Krad could get any ideas about killing their informant. "Why would Gorudo want to bond himself to Dark?"
Shira shook her head, trying to decide who to stare at. "I don't know why. I just know they're doing it this afternoon."
"When?" Satoshi demanded.
"The last I heard, three o'clock."
Hattori glanced at his watch. "That's soon."
"Shira…what happens to Daisuke when they're done?" Riku asked.
Shira forced herself to look at the girl she'd almost murdered. Riku seemed to misinterpret her discomfort, and set the pistol down on the table behind her. "I really can't be sure…but Gorudo doesn't like loose ends," she looked at the girl pointedly, "as you've already learned." She was slowly starting to think like herself again amidst all these strangers. These people didn't need a repentant villain. They needed information. "I was trying to do something about it…to talk to Trap. I thought we could handle it together, but I couldn't get through to him. I may have misjudged his feelings for the boy."
Hattori and the girls looked to Satoshi.
An unspoken agreement seemed to take place among them. "This has gotten too dangerous. If Daisuke's safety isn't even on the table, then there's no reason for Dark to go through with this. We have to pull the plug," Satoshi mused.
"I don't want to be a drag, but I'm not sure we have a plug left to pull," the vet commented.
"I'll go," Risa said.
"Not alone, you won't," her sister intercepted. "You need backup."
"Who else would I bring? You and Sato are hurt. Hattori is a civilian in all this and I'm not getting him involved. That leaves me."
Riku frowned thoughtfully. "Krad?"
"Put myself at risk to help Dark and that annoying twit?" the angel scoffed.
"Krad, you're the strongest person here," Riku pleaded.
"I just said that I don't care," Krad flared, warning them that the conversation was over.
Satoshi pushed his glasses higher on his nose and thought hard. "I'll do it, then." Krad's expression darkened with frustration.
"You have broken ribs!" Risa chided. "You're not going out into a potential fight in that condition."
"We don't have much choice. They're not going to get out on their own," Satoshi said.
"Hattori, tell him he's in no shape to go on a rescue mission."
"Actually… he's technically capable of going anywhere he wants, if he can tolerate the pain," the vet cringed at Risa's murderous glare, "If he can stay focused, he's unlikely to make himself any worse."
"It's decided, then. Riku can wait for us in a car outside. After that…well, we'll probably be on the run. Gorudo won't give up easily. This is the right time for us to part ways, Hattori."
The vet shrugged. "I'm in this deep already. Besides, you lot have a habit of getting yourselves wounded."
"How do we get in?" Satoshi asked Shira.
"I can give you the clearance codes for level 12 and the Special Ops entrance, but I can't guarantee he hasn't changed them since I left," she offered.
"It's possible that he's changed them, but it's been less than two hours, and he has a lot of other things to think about today." He cast the woman a firm look. "It's also possible you're giving us the wrong codes, and we're walking into a trap."
"That is technically possible," Shira acknowledged.
The blue-haired man studied her eyes for several moments. "We're going to trust you, because we don't have another choice. I'm going to get ready." He stood up slowly and walked into his room to put a shirt on.
Krad stepped away from the wall and followed him, ignoring the distrustful stares he got along the way. He went into Satoshi's room and closed the door, frowning at his former wing host.
"What do you want, Krad?" the younger man asked as he pulled open a drawer and took out a black shirt.
"I want to know what the hell you're doing. You're really going to put your neck on the line to help Dark?"
Satoshi pulled his arms through the sleeves of the shirt, wincing as he stretched his chest, and began fastening the buttons. "As it turns out, yes, but my objective is Daisuke."
"It's the same thing. You're helping the enemy."
"No, Krad, I'm helping your enemy," Satoshi said firmly as he went to clean his glasses.
"You're going to get yourself killed helping Dark and his pathetic wing host?" the angel growled, nearly trembling with anger.
"Let's get one thing straight," the Hikari said, putting his glasses on and walking straight up to Krad. His blue eyes burned into the angel's gold. "Daisuke is my best friend, and I'm not letting anything happen to him. You didn't want this mission, so get out of the way."
"Satoshi-," Krad grabbed the boy's shoulder as he tried to pass.
His former wing host threw his hand off and turned on him fiercely. "You don't get to tell me who to hate, and you don't get to tell me who to save, Krad. That game is done, forever!" He lowered his voice. "If you can't stop playing it, then don't be here when I get back."
"I never wanted to be here in the first place," Krad said.
"Fine, then," the boy murmured sourly. He stepped around the fuming angel and back into the main room, where Risa had already prepared herself.
"You okay?" Risa asked, glancing from Satoshi's shell-shocked expression to the angel in the other room.
He made sure he didn't look back. "Yeah."
"Shira wrote down the codes," she said, waving a slip of paper.
"Great. Let's get going."
"What do you want me to do?" Shira asked.
"Get Jirou a cab. If you think you can handle that without kidnapping anyone," Riku said as she grabbed her keys.
"And then lay low. This is my number if you need us," Risa added, handing her a card. Shira looked confused as she took it. "Dark trusts you, so I'm trusting you, too," she explained before walking out the door behind her sister.
"What about the ray of sunshine over there?" Hattori murmured, noting the discomposed glare the angel was sending them from Satoshi's doorway.
Satoshi kept his gaze on the front door and offered the angel nothing. "Let him do what he wants."
A few moments later, Krad found himself standing very still in an empty apartment.
- -o0o0OOO0o0o- -
The room was as cold as the concrete encasing it. The harsh neon lights along the ceiling cast a pallor across its occupant, a still figure bound to a chair in the center of the floor. Trap surveyed the suffocating room from the doorway and pushed back an impulse to get out. Thanks to Shira's stunt, he'd finally been granted access for direct contact with the Black Wings. The suddenness of getting what he'd wanted all along was, of course, relieving, but after his discussion with Gorudo, walking into this room felt oddly like a punch to the gut. After all the mixed signals he'd been given about this project, it was getting harder to understand exactly what to make of the thing sitting there in the center of the reinforced basement cell. He'd come here for answers. He wasn't going to waste this opportunity.
Trap slowly approached the bound figure in the center of the room. The prisoner's upper body was wrapped in a straitjacket, tied tight enough to take the circulation from his shoulders. His waist, chest, and legs were braced to the metal chair, which was bolted to the floor. Thick cloth was wrapped tightly over his eyes, and the huge wings behind his back were folded and locked shut with reinforced vinyl straps.
Trap's boots thumped on the unfinished concrete as he crossed the floor. If the prisoner was interested in his presence, it didn't show. The angel's head didn't even move as he approached. It seemed to him a logical reaction. After all, the attendants had been forbidden to talk to him. The scientist came to a stop a few feet from Dark.
"Are you conscious?"
Dark's chin rose, as if he were sizing him up through the blindfold. He'd heard this person speak before. "You're Trap." The voice was hoarse, bruised.
"I am," the scientist confirmed robotically. He studied the angel's silhouette, from the purple hair to the monstrous wings that were hanging as real as anything behind the captive's back. The straitjacket was fastened too tightly. He wondered if that was done by intention, or just incompetence. The angel didn't sound healthy. He contemplated briefly whether Gorudo had had him tortured. "I have questions for you," he stated, nudging his glasses as he approached the captive.
"And I can't wait to answer them," Dark scoffed. The words came out like sandpaper.
Trap narrowed his eyes and studied the strange being, wondering again about the torture. "Have you been screaming?"
Dark tilted his head at him, perfectly composed and unreadable. "Electric shock does a number on the muscles, including the throat. I don't scream easily, but thanks for the concern."
He wasn't concerned. "Where is Shira?"
"Safe."
The scientist narrowed his eyes on the angel and regarded him in silence.
"Don't go quiet on me, Trap, you're all the entertainment I've got," Dark smirked, looking in his direction despite the blindfold.
Trap frowned and moved on. "You're communicating with a girl outside. How?"
"I am? Is she cute?" Dark probed. He thought the scientist had dropped the Shira topic a little too easily.
"The girl knows too much for it to be explained as a plain security leak. You've been getting information outside, and you're going to tell me how. Where is the bug?"
"Hate to say it, doc, but I have no clue what you're talking about."
Trap walked slowly around the angel. He threw a calculating glance at the unnatural angle of his arms and the tight binds latching his wings closed. "How long have your arms gone without circulation?"
Dark lowered his head skeptically. It was more than a question. It was an offer. "I'm surprised at you, Trap. Bribing a prisoner. I don't know about that bug of yours, but I have some information you want."
"Tell me the information. Then I decide what it's worth."
Dark smirked. The man hadn't missed a beat, and he was no fool. To play this game, he had to rely on what Shira had told him about the scientist. "Shira was trying to tell you something before your little meeting this morning." He listened for any reaction from the man, but there was only silence. "There was a girl who was targeted as a witness when Daisuke was abducted for your little project. She was attacked at the scene."
Trap stopped moving. "I'm aware."
"That girl survived."
The scientist stared at him for several slow breaths. "No, she didn't."
"She's alive and well."
"How would you know?"
Clever guy. The truth seemed wisest here. "I helped her back up from the cliff."
"Why do you think that information is important to me?" he asked, quietly.
"I don't. But Shira did. So I'm telling you." Dark studied him with every sense he had available, but it would have been hugely convenient to be able to see Trap's expression right about then. "Well? Worth it?"
"No. You haven't answered even one of my questions," Trap said flatly.
"Ask better questions, then," Dark snapped. The ubiquitous ache in the angel's shock-fatigued body was starting to bleed into his voice.
The angel's apparently rising frustration piqued the scientist's interest. "Describe what you're feeling right now."
Dark cleared his throat skeptically. "Heck of a weird question, there, Doc."
"Well?"
"Let's see…I was stunned with an electroshock weapon, about twelve times. My muscles feel like they went through a wood chipper and then got funneled back in. I can't move or see. I lost feeling in my arms a few hours ago, but for the most part, I'm too thirsty to care. That a good enough answer for you?"
"It's a thorough description." Trap frowned at the captive work of art in front of him. "Is that everything?"
Dark shook his head in disbelief. "That's not enough? Are you some kind of sadist?" He wished he could see the scientist's face so he could figure out what he was up to. "Can you take this thing off for two seconds?"
He was surprised to feel cool hands reach the sides of his head and raise the blindfold. Dark squinted into the bright light of the neon-lit room and gradually brought Trap's features into focus. The scientist looked extremely serious, like he was decoding an important message. Dark regarded him blankly. "What are you trying to get at here, Trap?"
"You are an artificial creation. By definition, there are limits to what one might term your "personality". You are neither alive nor human, and yet you seem to have convinced Shira and the boy otherwise. I want to know how."
Dark blinked. His violet eyes darkened with the beginnings of anger. "Such a diligent scientist," he observed. "You want to know if I think like a human. If I have emotions." It was obvious, now that he could see the doctor's expression. He let go of any hope he'd had of liking this man Shira had spoken so highly of.
"Well? Do you?" Trap pressed, analyzing him.
For a moment, Dark wondered if there was more behind the question than what Trap was letting on. The scientist's cool gray eyes offered him nothing. "Sorry, Doc. As much as I'd love to quench your scientific curiosity about what I am, I don't like you enough. I don't like the way you work. I don't like the way you treat people, and I'm sure as hell not desperate enough to spill my guts to you just to prove I have a personality.
He raised an adversarial stare to Trap, but the scientist's expression wasn't what he'd expected. The angel blinked at his interrogator curiously.
"My, it looks like you two are having an animated chat," a suave, cold voice came from the doorway. Dark and Trap both looked up to see a sharply dressed man in his 40s enter the room.
Dark had never seen the man, but he immediately disliked his eyes. He didn't need to watch the discovery channel to know a predator when he saw one, and this guy was it.
"Sir? I wasn't expecting you," Trap addressed him formally.
The man smirked as he strode up beside Trap and looked Dark over. "I thought I'd pop down and take a good look at my artifact before the procedure."
"And you are?" Dark's violet eyes flared at the stranger.
The man ignored Dark like he was a piece of lint on his immaculately tailored suit. He addressed Trap instead. "I have a few details to talk through regarding our procedure," he said, walking into the room with the slow confidence of a lion circling prey.
Trap watched the man with close attention as he walked up to Dark's chair. Dark and the richly dressed man exchanged a curious stare. There was something disturbingly blunt about the admiration he saw in the stranger's eyes.
"He appears to be in good condition, despite the earlier setback."
Trap's cool grey eyes studied the obsessed man. "Mr. Gorudo, may I speak with you privately?"
This was Gorudo.
The hawklike gaze broke away from Dark and flashed to Trap. "We are in private, son."
Dark noticed that the scientist visibly paused at the endearment. Was that irritation, or just detachment?
"I mean privately from the Black Wings, sir."
Gorudo crossed his arms. "We are essentially alone here. Don't be fooled by appearances; the Black Wings is an artificial entity, not a living being. Tell me you're not going to fall into the same snare as that fool woman I had assisting you."
"No, sir." Something in Trap's voice bristled.
Gorudo lifted his chin and seemed content with his response. "Well, then. Remember we talk at my convenience, Trap, not yours. Spit it out."
"Regarding the boy, sir. When this procedure is complete, he will no longer be useful here," Trap offered flatly.
Dark's eyes flashed to Trap, hot and angry.
"That is true," Gorudo confirmed, raising an eyebrow.
"I have some concepts in mind that can be used in returning the boy to society without risk to Gorudo Corp."
Dark tensed. His mind flashed to what Shira had told him before she'd turned on Gorudo. She'd sworn Trap could ensure Daisuke's safety. Maybe she'd actually been right. He had no idea what to make of the scientist's intentions.
"We'll see," Gorudo offered noncommittally. He took a last, slow look at Dark before prowling out of the cell. "For now, focus on getting things ready."
Alone again with Trap, Dark resisted the urge to shiver. The way Gorudo looked at him was so hungry, almost violating, that the angel wanted to rinse his mouth. What exactly did that man want from him? He was certain now that Gorudo's intentions weren't just about greed; this was obsession. He forced himself to concentrate and watched the scientist thoughtfully. Trap was studying the door Gorudo had left through, his thoughts obscured by a posture of controlled indifference. What was he up to? Was this man an ally in protecting Daisuke, or just a run-of-the-mill corporate sellout?
"Trap," he broke the man from his silent concentration, "If whatever-this-is is going to happen, I need to know that Daisuke will be safe."
The scientist turned and met his eyes only briefly, his cold stare weighing Dark's soul like produce. "Don't get cocky. You're a prisoner."
"A prisoner that you need," Dark corrected.
"I don't need you willing. I just need you undamaged." The statement was as impersonal as a red traffic signal. No shred of feeling, malicious or kind. That wasn't the reaction Dark needed. He needed to know if he could trust this guy to protect his soulmate.
Then again, he wasn't exactly throwing Trap a bone here either.
"You wanted me to explain my personality, right? So how about this." The angel carefully let the shields down in his violet gaze. "That boy is everything to me. He is half my world. I've tried my best, but once you split us, I can't be there for him anymore." His eyes flickered with pain. "I need to know that someone else will protect him." His raw gaze rose to meet confused gray. "Please, release him safely. None of this means anything if you don't."
Trap studied the angel's expression like it was a crossword puzzle. "You're getting a bit full of yourself," the scientist replied. He took a step closer and leaned down to refasten the blindfold.
"I will ensure it," Trap said, very quietly, away from the cameras, as the fabric tightened over the angel's face.
A few tugs pulled at the straps behind his back, and the straightjacket loosened by about an inch. The angel drew a tense breath as the blood began scalding back into his arms. The door to the cell hissed shut as the scientist left without comment.
- -o0o0OOO0o0o- -
To be continued!
Thank you guys for reading! I have been super busy but I am still working on this any chance I get. Next chapter: No time left, "the procedure" is coming, whether our heroes are ready or not.
It's been forever since I managed to do my shout outs:
Seylin – Yay, I'm glad the tension worked out in the last part! It's hard to tell if these things are coming out when you're the one writing them, because of course as a writer I feel tense, but it is so good to know when it is conveyed to others as intended! Thanks for reading!
Intelligenceisstupid – Thank you so much for the review! Yeah, combining Dark to another person against his will really skeeves me out. In general, the prospect of being that closely bound to someone is one of the most fascinating things about DN Angel for me, so I am having fun playing with it (and using it to make incredibly creepy villains)!
Yuki Hikari – I'm really glad to hear that the ending to the last chapter worked! Thanks for reading!
Stormshadow13 – You are awesome! And insightful! As usual, I can't reply well to your review without spewing spoilers all over the place. And woot! That makes three people who called Gorudo nuts! I must be doing something right! Muahaha…
Fireflower19 – Whee another taser fan! There is some so devastatingly cruel about them, despite their harmlessness. Or maybe that's what makes them so easy to abuse – it has horrifying potential as a tool for torture. Thank you so much for reading as always!
Sapphiet – Yay! I think Dark and Krad will be reacquainted with their beloved vet soon enough ; ) There shall be plenty of bickering to come. Thank you for reading!
Birgitte LP – Thanks for reviewing! I think the next chapter will address your question about whether Daisuke and Dark will be separated – if I can get off my butt and write it!
PurpleWildcat2010 – Thanks for your review! Gorudo is indeed quite crazy… as for whether science can replicate the kind of bond Satoshi and Daisuke had with the angels, well, that should become clear very soon. Sorry about the love triangles, but I promise I won't throw anyone completely under the bus. Since I know you're a fan of Satoshi X Risa, I'll warn you that in this story, their relationship as I've written it so far has been based on helping each other heal from the wounds of losing 'bigger' people in their life. While they turned to each other for support and may have even been in love in some ways, there are also fundamental differences in their values that won't ever be resolved, and the return of the people they were missing may eclipse that relationship, for both of them. I also fixed up the typos you found in the first few parts with Satoshi's last name, thanks for spotting! I am so happy you took the time to read and comment, and I hope you continue!
Techlynn – Thankie for the review! Sorry my quick update mode didn't last, lol. After reading your happy review, I feel a little bad I took so long to get this part out. Oh well, I try. Gorudo is indeed a freak… I am pleased with how creepy he is becoming.
Natsuki – Thank you for reading as always! Oh, Krad and Dark will meet each other again soon! Though not exactly as the same team *holds back spoilers*
Staidwaters – Thanks for the review! 3
Kathy Ann – Oh god, I made you cry? I'm sorry (but also a little proud, as you said!)
Adoxerella – I'm so glad you found the story and liked it! I mainly wrote it due to dissatisfaction with the end of the anime, so it is awesome that it feels natural as a continuation. Thanks for reading!