Part 35: Blitz
The vast room was unnaturally silent. Beside the machinery that had just ripped Dark out of Daisuke's head, the violet-haired angel now stood gazing down at himself. His palms were upturned toward the ceiling as if inviting some sort of applause from God himself.
If applause was deserved, it didn't seem to be coming from the audience around him. Daisuke stood under gunpoint of one of the guards, looking ill as he stared at the being that had inhabited his soul, until a few minutes ago. Risa and Satoshi were equally mute on the other side of the empty test chamber as they hovered as close to each other as possible without provoking their own guard. The scientist named Wong who had facilitated the execution of Trap's research seemed to be the only one calmly observing, though even he hadn't moved from his spot since seeing Gorudo's tawny hair and lanky body warp and smear into the lean, purple-eyed being that was standing in their midst.
The angel turned and met Daisuke's eyes. His smile affected the redhead much like a punch to the gut. The words struggled to form in his throat, but his frozen stomach held them back.
Dark's form strolled to its former wing host until they were almost nose to nose. The calm movement was malicious by contrast to Daisuke's small, mortified stillness.
"…Dark?" the boy choked, hating the hope that made it into his voice. Of course this wasn't Dark. Dark could never move with such…malevolence, not even after what he'd done to the angel. Could he?
Dark's smile grew worse. "I suppose I should thank you." No, Daisuke thought, he'd rather be choked by a snake than experience this creature's gratitude. "You've served your purpose well. My project is a success."
The redhead's stomach strained to escape through his spine. A success! Just watching Gorudo's words taking form on Dark's lips, with Dark's voice, was enough to surpass any nightmare he could call on himself to remember.
"Dark," Daisuke barely spoke, "If you're in there, wake up. Don't let him be in control."
The angel's expression sank from a smug grin to a snarl, which was both more appropriate and entirely more disturbing at the same time. "That is not how this arrangement works. It is how yours worked. I've made some improvements." He glanced around the room, from Daisuke to the two standing near the empty holding chamber. "I have no further use for the Black Wings' so-called 'will'. Nor for you, or your friends."
"You can't just get rid of us, or Dark," Daisuke snapped, finally locating his anger and holding on to it for dear life.
"An amusing statement. Last I checked, I could do anything I chose, except live forever." Gorudo smirked and glanced upward, as if consulting his memory. "Oh, remind me to check that one off."
"Dark won't let you kill us. You have no idea what you're messing with," the redhead threatened.
"Oh, I really think I do," not-Dark grinned, forming a ball of energy in his hand and admiring it for a moment. He brought his hand back and fired it point-blank into Daisuke's chest. There was not a second's hesitation, not a flicker of the resistance Daisuke had pledged from Dark. The redhead threw his arms up uselessly in self-defense and was shot backward, past his startled guard. He skidded roughly across the tile floor. His sharp cry made Satoshi start forward before being cut off by the insistent barrel of his guard's gun.
Daisuke pushed himself shakily up on one arm, clutching his burnt chest. The panic gave him energy to force his shaking muscles to obey. "Keep it coming," he breathed, spreading his fingers out like Dark's looming form was a sun shining in his eyes.
"You expect that the Black Wings' mind can overpower mine if I upset it enough?" Gorudo mused with a smirk. Dark's smirk. "It's a rather flawed system. As I said, I've made some adjustments."
Daisuke's fearful expression darkened slowly. That couldn't really be the truth. But he couldn't feel Dark anymore. He had no connection whatsoever to what was going on with the angel. The thief's absence didn't really hurt him, in and of itself. But Dark had clearly been suffering, those moments before Gorudo had taken him, as if it had been some kind of agony to be separated. The memory of the angel's bent form against the glass replayed without rest, as insistent as the burning ache in his chest. How could he feel so normal when the angel had been so wounded? Guilt and anger welled up in his throat. "What did you do to him?"
Gorudo tilted his head back and laughed. "Him? You seem to have a rather twisted concept of what the Black Wings is. It is an Engine, one with great power. Instead of putting that power under the hood, where it is intended, you've been letting it ride shotgun."
The redhead pushed himself to his knees and up to his feet, fighting against the soreness in his leg from the healing bullet wound. "Give him back." He took a bitter step toward the billionaire.
Daisuke didn't even see the fist coming. His jaw made an audible pop as he was spun with the impact. He wound up back on the floor where he'd started, staring dizzily up at Gorudo. "Oh, I think it's a little late for that," Dark's voice chided him almost sympathetically. Gorudo was forming a new sphere of energy in his palm. Daisuke scrambled sideways as the magic flew down at him. The power left a crumbled mess where it hit the tiles. Bits of ceramic and too-hot air pressure buffeted the redhead's face, but he escaped the worst of the impact.
Before he could rub his vision clear again, a boot flew down into his chest and pinned him. "Dark, stop this," the boy gasped, trying to suck air back into his lungs. "I know I messed up, but you need to stop him!" He cringed as Gorudo's hand glowed with violet energy.
"This wouldn't be so messy if you'd be still," Gorudo chided, as if he'd been made to sweep the floor in his own gaudy executive suite. Daisuke hadn't thought there were really people out there who could view another human as literally nothing more than some nuisance to be discarded. Maybe in stories, but real people didn't think that way. Right? How many times had Dark shown him to look deeper into people, and even artworks, for something more?
"Gorudo, that spell will kill," he groaned against the pressure of the man's boot. "Just lay off so we can figure this out."
The executive's expression widened into a smirk, but not a friendly one. The spell glowed to life, and he raised his arm to release it.
An absurdly loud pounding echoed through the nearly-silent room. Gorudo glanced to the door along with both guards. Daisuke used the opportunity to struggle sideways from beneath the man's foot. He was barely back to his feet when Gorudo collared him and swung him down onto his back with a heavy thud. Dark's hand found his neck and crushed it down against the damaged tile.
The pounding came again at the door.
Gorudo turned toward it impatiently. "See what they want," he barked.
Daisuke's guard walked tensely to the hard-locked metal door, unlatched it, and creaked it open.
"Max? The boss in here?" demanded a shorter man in a Special Ops uniform from the other side of the door.
"He's here…" the guard glanced back at the winged form that was strangling the red-haired kid. "He's a little busy."
"Why the heck ain't any of you answering your com links? We got serious trouble out here. Tell the boss it's important."
Max blinked, finally taking in how ruffled his colleague looked. He reached up to the receiver hanging on his ear and pulled it off to study it. The diode on the side flickered erratically. "Damn machines must have messed with the coms," he muttered. "What's happening?"
"The cops are outside, that's what's happening."
Max's eyes drew narrow. "We own the cops."
"These ain't the local troopers, these are fucking feds. And they want in."
He looked up at the glass ceiling above them as a helicopter sounded nearby. "What do they want?" he demanded.
"Turn on the telescreen in here," the man muttered, pushing in past him. He took in the chaos inside, and the violet-haired angel, in a blink. "Oh shit, he really is here…" Beyond his comment, he didn't miss a beat as he rushed to the control panel on the wall while Max shut the door behind him and re-locked it. A few buttons latter, a huge flatscreen built into the wall glowed to life. The soldier flipped channels quickly, and a brown-haired reporter took up the screen, speaking in pantomime. "How the heck to you get sound on this thing?"
"Do I look like IT to you?" Max growled.
Gorudo halted his attack on the boy to check what was happening on the screen.
"NEW PHANTOM THIEF? DARK MOUSY IN TOKYO" ran the headline in large white letters across the bar on the bottom of the screen.
"Hit the mute button!" Risa interjected.
"There's no sound, girlie," the soldier chided coldly.
"So hit the mute button!" she snarled, tugging against the guard holding her. Satoshi stretched his head to the side, blinking to bring the screen back into focus.
"It's muted, genius," Max realized, reaching past his colleague to smack the orange button. Heavy volume flooded out of the speakers as a female reporter's voice echoed through the ballroom.
A helicopter image of the Gorudo skyscraper lit up the screen. "The chaos began just minutes ago, when the local police found this message etched onto the hood of an official vehicle."
The video switched to a live feed of a police SUV surrounded by a huge crowd of onlookers. Police were working to keep the curious public away from the crime scene. Across the hood, the paint was scratched raw in impossibly neat script.
"I Will Steal Dark Mousy.
12:30 PM
Gorudo Headquarters"
"Police so far have no leads on who might have left this note, or what it means, but its clear resemblance to the warnings frequently left by the phantom thief has triggered involvement from the federal government. Officials are attempting to reach the Gorudo Corporation, but there is still no answer as to whether the criminal mastermind might actually be harbored in the company's headquarters. Whether this threat is legitimate or just a prank remains to be seen. Federal and local forces are investigating the location presently. The notoriously popular thief was last seen more than two years ago and was suspected missing after a major earthquake shook the city at the time."
Gorudo frowned at the screen and turned his gaze back on Daisuke. "You have more friends outside?" he demanded.
Daisuke just stared at the screen, as confused as Gorudo was.
Risa and Satoshi looked at each other. "Riku?" she mouthed to him.
Satoshi shook his head faintly, not wanting the attention of the guards. His gaze floated to Daisuke. The redhead was focused on the screen, probably even more confused than they were. Whatever was happening, it wasn't going to be in time to keep his friend alive. All of this work, and he couldn't even move with this idiot's gun on him.
"Sir, the time on the warning, it's any minute," the guard behind them said, checking his watch.
"Don't be fools, no one's coming," Gorudo snarled. "They're just trying to get the cops into the building. Tell the boys at the door to keep them out. They have no substancial evidence to authorize a search. Max, go with him. Wong, you're done. Get out."
Max and his colleague from outside nodded and left the room. The scientist slinked out behind them. Gorudo turned a frustrated gaze back on Daisuke and his allies. "I'll take care of this little problem first." His hand closed down hard on Daisuke's throat and began to glow. Daisuke let out a strangled scream as the angel's skin literally burned through his.
"Daisuke!" Satoshi dove forward, ignoring the guard. Risa followed Satoshi's lead. If one of them was going to move, they might as well take their chances. She spun in the opposite direction and went straight for the guard, shoving into him as he took a shot at Satoshi. The bullet went through one of the panes in the huge glass ceiling, sending shards down across the room. The news helicopter outside was louder now without the glass barrier. Satoshi ran straight for Gorudo, grabbing a black wing and hauling it upward. He threw a kick into the arm that was clutching his friend's neck and knocked the angel off balance.
Gorudo's purple eyes shot up to meet Satoshi's. It was a chilling, violent glare. Daisuke coughed for breath as the angel launched his attention toward Satoshi. He rose from his position above the redhead, gliding to his feet with inhuman smoothness, and punched the bluenette squarely in the chest.
The chest.
The impact launched Satoshi backward, and he barely kept his footing as his vision paled. His damaged ribs were screaming at him to sit down and hold still, and not to dare move them again. He heard another shot go off behind him. "Risa," he breathed. Stand up. Don't fall now.
The guard moaned, landing on the ground with a thud.
"Impressive, girl. But stupid," Gorudo growled, his eyes lighting with power. Satoshi glanced behind him blearily. The guard was on his back, clutching a wound at his waist. The gun was lying on the ground nearby, and Risa was struggling against a force that was literally pulling her into the air off her feet.
"Satoshi!" she gasped, too scared to think. Her hands were still shaking from her wrestling match with the guard's gun. "Dark, stop it!" she pleaded. She was crying. Flecks of the guard's blood were spattered on her face and clothes.
Gorudo threw his hand in a firm gesture, and Risa was tossed sideways into the holding chamber where Dark had been earlier. She collided with the inner glass with a scream and dropped to the floor of the chamber. The door shut and locked behind her.
Satoshi looked back at Gorudo, too alert with fight-or-flight to think about his chest anymore. He was the only one in the room standing, and he was alone up against a psychopath with full access to Dark's strength and powers. The cops would not make it here before Gorudo killed him. He needed to think of his own solution.
He dodged to the side as a burst of energy launched at him. Don't stand still. Move. He strafed a few feet and then ran for the angel while grabbing the pocketknife at his belt. Gorudo froze and violet eyes followed him as he came in from the side. Satoshi remembered Dark's fierce response when his wings had been injured. ("Don't touch them!") He only had one shot to get this right and throw Gorudo off his game. Sorry, Dark, he thought grimly as he zigzagged straight for the huge black wings.
Fire ate his lungs. The visible target in front of him shredded to a red blur. The sensation disconnected him from his body, making him oblivious to his own direction or movement. Then a strong hand caught his shirt and jerked him forward, and he was full of a dull knowledge of up. Something was lifting him off the ground. He didn't care about the movement or pressure on his throat or how he got there. All that mattered was the fire.
A crash sounded above him. The sharp noise numbed his ears and brain. When sound came back to him, the helicopter was louder, and rain was falling around him. No…not rain. Hail. Glass.
Falling. The hand holding him up released him abruptly, and he stumbled to a defensive ball on the ground. A fierce light brought his vision from red to white as something large moved past him, very fast.
He only closed his eyes for a moment. That had been his intention. But he knew it had been more than that as his senses crawled back to him. Someone was holding him up in a sitting position.
"Satoshi!" the hoarse voice called yet again. His blue eyes pulled open and brought Daisuke into focus. He remembered to panic. "Gorudo," he gasped, sitting up too quickly and startling himself with the renewed pain in his chest.
He tried to read Daisuke's expression. He looked worried and…confused. The redhead looked upward. Satoshi's blue eyes followed. Two hawk-like forms were flying in the air above them.
And they were beating the hell out of each other. Satoshi flinched as a rush of wind brought a body crashing into the floor next to them. The ground shook with the impact, chips of glass rattling on the tile. Vivid gold eyes caught his for just an instant, sun meeting sky, as white feathers darted around them. Then he was gone again, launching back up to return the attack.
"Satoshi…is that really…?" Daisuke stared.
The bluenette squinted at the silhouettes fighting above them. Dread and the oddest combination of other, less predictable emotions were mixing in his sore chest like a bad cocktail.
"Yeah."
-oOoOoOo-
To be continued!
I'm so sorry for the long wait! I got married a few weeks ago and the past couple months have been nothing but buildup to and recovery from that. Please let me know what you think!
-Kat