Part 40: The Team

The tiny apartment was teeming with humans, hurrying back and forth like they were preparing for a storm. He backed up, blocked from getting any closer to the wall by the edge of the sofa, as one of the Harada girls – the one with shorter hair – not-Satoshi's-girlfriend – came past him on her crutches.

"Krad, have you seen Daisuke?" Riku asked him, pausing to study the blonde. Her casual manner with him was as odd to him as the concept that he should be keeping track of this chaotic hive of human activity. "He went out to the van with the vet," the angel's bronze voice replied, more out of a need to have his personal space back than any particular desire to help her.

"Damn it, more stairs," she groaned, turning herself around and heading for the door.

Krad's shoulders relaxed a bit. He strafed sideways and found the doorway to Satoshi's room. The angel slid through it and into the quieter space and sagged against the wall with a silent breath of relief. This whole morning felt like an out-of-body experience to the blonde. The flurry of anticipation and excitement that permeated the apartment belonged to everyone inside it, and that included him. It was impossible not to be affected by it. He wasn't a captive this time. He was one of them. The angel's stomach twisted.

He stared across the quiet room at the empty bed, still unmade from this morning. Phantom fingers brushed against the inside of his wing in his memory as he stared at the wrinkled sheets. In the privacy of his thoughts, he wondered what would have happened if he hadn't stopped the boy. Where would that sensation have led, and what would it have meant? The thought raised a kind of terror inside him. He lifted his chin and closed his amber eyes, as if to drink in the silence.

"Hey!" a female voice snuck up next to him. Krad snapped to attention as he realized the redheaded woman had approached unnoticed. He afforded Shira an uncharitable glare, which she busily ignored. "You seen Daisuke?" she queried, peering in past him.

"Van," he snarled. Ever since Satoshi had negotiated an uneasy holdoff on their interviews with the cops about last night, the angel had been asked to stay put until the police cleared out of the parking lot. However, being the only one not rushing back and forth meant he was becoming the unofficial traffic director inside the apartment. The only thing stranger than that thought was how casually they were all interacting with him now that he was considered "on board."

Well, almost all of them.

"Where is Krad?" a harsh voice came from the next room.

"Over here," Shira muttered helpfully from her position in the doorway.

The boy stormed in beside her before the angel could even blink. Krad wasn't prepared for Satoshi's sudden presence, much less for the deadly-serious coldness of the boy's mind, suddenly projecting forcefully into his. Krad scanned the bluenette like one would size up a storm crashing over the horizon. Satoshi's left fist was clenched at his side, and his right hand was holding the notebook Krad had discovered in the wall the day before. "How did this get out?" Satoshi demanded, holding the book up, but not out to him. "Did you read it?"

The journal. The angel studied the notebook with a mix of confusion and wariness. The visual of Satoshi's frantic handwriting, scraped violently into the paper, returned to him. "THIS ISN'T WORKING."

"I found it," Krad affirmed.

"Oh, did you?" Satoshi sneered. "Found a journal that was hidden inside the wall. Let me guess, you just punched randomly, and it was there?"

"Actually," Shira interjected, observing the heated conversation with a raised eyebrow, "That's pretty much the truth."

Satoshi shook his head and threw the book on the mattress. "I don't really care how you found it!" Krad took a step further into the wall as blue ice drilled into him. Satoshi's glare was frigid, angry enough for violence. The effect was startling. "Even a sociopathic ass like you could tell that these are my thoughts, for my eyes. They're none of your business. Who the hell do you think you are?"

The angel gathered his wits and stared at his former tamer. Then he noticed it for the first time: the faint rash of scarlet underneath Satoshi's complexion. Krad blinked at the boy, trying to resolve the fury he saw in the bluenette's eyes with the flush in his cheeks. "Since that thing was obviously about me, wouldn't that make it exactly my business?" he asked, unable to hold himself back.

Satoshi's gaze darkened. His mind projected a sense of pure, indignant fury and the promise of violence. He took a step forward and threw his fist at the angel's face with all he had.

The emotion had been enough warning. Krad reached out and caught the boy's fist, inches from his jaw. He stared at the bluenette's closed knuckles, startled. "Stop this," he ordered, releasing Satoshi's wrist.

The boy tugged the hand away from Krad's touch while immediately throwing his other fist up to finish the job the first had failed. The angel wasn't ready for this one. The punch struck him across the jaw, knocking his head sideways with the impact. The strike had relatively little physical effect on the blonde, but the angel still appeared stunned. Krad's bronze gaze fixated on Satoshi's hand as it dropped back to his side. Those same fingers that had dared to weave through his feathers so tenderly the night before were now shaking against the boy's sides, itching for another punch.

Shira studied the blonde tensely, remembering the way Krad had almost put her through a wall for just a few careless words, never mind an actual blow. She prepared herself to do her best to pull the angel off the obviously outmuscled teenager.

Satoshi took a half-step back from Krad as well, bracing for the angel's retaliation. The blonde was tempted, feeling his muscles coil up on instinct to avenge the throbbing in his jaw. However, confused disappointment seemed to weigh down his clenched fists. The feeling sobered his rage into hollow resignation.

He wanted the rage back. It was easier to understand and simpler to address. However, the harder he sought out his anger, the emptier he felt. They had exchanged blows before. Why did this time make his throat dry and his stomach ache?

"Why even create such a thing? The pages were all torn away," he found himself saying before he could even think it through.

Satoshi's pupils grew small and fierce. "If you're done asking questions, go get in the van."

The angel froze, like he was torn between chasing the storm or bending into it. The fight that he wanted to start died in his gut like a spent match. He unclenched his pale, broad hands and stiffened his wings proudly as he walked past the bluenette.

The angel kept going, out of the room and toward the front door. Shira and Satoshi both stared as Krad actually did as he'd been asked. "That was bold, kid," Shira muttered, tapping her fingers on the doorframe while keeping one eye on the angel's back until he had definitely left the apartment.

Satoshi slowly seemed to catch his breath and steady himself. He leaned into the doorframe in case his knees decided to turn to pudding. "Yeah," he breathed. He met her eyes with an unexpectedly pleased glint to his azure gaze.

The former soldier blinked at his expression, slowly realizing that the boy's anger had somehow dissipated. He didn't look mad. He looked almost excited. Had he attacked the angel just to confirm something? "You're nuts, you know that?" Shira smirked.

Satoshi didn't answer. The excitement spread to the corners of his mouth as he shook his head and walked out past her. Something was different. He didn't know if it was him, or the blonde, or both, but he was certain now that something had changed.

For the first time in days, a flicker of hope kindled in the back of his mind.

He was halfway across the living room when Risa rushed in from the hallway. One glance at her posture and the tightness of her gait told him she was feeling overwhelmed. It was a mood she rarely showed, but he'd seen it from her a lot in the past few days, since Dark had been taken. After all, he wasn't the only one whose behavior had been different recently. She glanced at him with tense brown eyes and proceeded almost skittishly toward the kitchen cabinets.

Satoshi tried to put Krad out of his mind and rearranged his thoughts carefully as he approached the brunette. He stopped short of her side, opting instead to sit at one of the stools next to the island. "How are things outside?" he asked her, his voice pointedly casual.

Risa pulled a glass out of the cabinet and pressed it to the water gauge on the fridge as intently as if she were launching a missile. "The police have moved out, but they weren't happy about it. They still want to talk with you and Krad later, but they're going with the plan to wait until after Gorudo's press conference. Shira and Trap keep bickering with each other. Daisuke's going into that nervous hyper-talkative mode of his, but Riku seems to have the situation contained," she smiled tightly.

"And how about you?" Satoshi asked her, a little quieter.

She met his eyes. Her emotions played across her face like a children's book, ever open and honest. "Nervous," she murmured. She paused a moment. "Scared."

"About Krad's helping us?" he ventured. Even before he finished the sentence, her eyes told him that wasn't it. His worries and hers were two different things. As his gaze dropped away from her face, he noticed something clenched in her left hand. Smooth marble shimmered through the cracks between her fingers. "Dark," he revised.

She nodded quietly.

"Still nothing from the stone?"

She nodded again and glanced down at the marble clutched in her hand. The silence between them stretched out. Here they were, less than 24 hours past their decision to split up, and they were already both too preoccupied with other problems to even bother with the awkwardness between them. If anything, the most awkward aspect of this conversation was how distant their breakup actually was from their thoughts right now. Satoshi folded his hands on the counter, weighing the silence. "Go ahead," he offered, meeting her eyes and showing her he was prepared to handle her venting about Dark.

Her lips curled into a soft smile. "You're probably the last person I should make listen to this… but you're listening anyway. You're always so strong, Sato. I wish I were that tough." She frowned at the stone in her hand. "I just… I keep thinking about what might be happening to him, inside that creep's mind. I think about everything you've told me about being joined with Krad, and what it did to you, and then I picture what that could do to Dark. I think about what he could go through if we fail, and I can barely even breathe. He said he wanted this, but he's suffering all by himself, I'm sure of it…"

A hot tear escaped the corner of her eye. "It's all happening again. We all let him sacrifice himself to seal Krad. None of us stopped him then. We just let him, as if it was all perfectly fine. And when he came back, we all pushed him away. For two years I regretted that I let him do this to himself the first time, and now it's happening again. He's going to throw his own life away again, and he probably thinks none of us will even miss him! And I can't even get through to him-" she broke off, clenching the stone ruefully.

"He knows you'll come," Satoshi said, placing a cautious hand on her shoulder. "I'd know, too, if I was stuck and you had the power to help me. Even when everyone else tells you something is foolish, you still try. That's why he knows."

Risa's hand curled and uncurled around the stone as she rested it palm-up on the counter. "Listen, Satoshi… I don't want you to get the wrong idea. About Dark."

Satoshi nodded slightly, thoughts racing. He'd cornered her into talking about it. He couldn't complain if she opened up more freely than he'd expected. "I may not like the idea, but I'm not so sure it's the wrong one." He straightened up a bit, as if throwing himself loose. "But it's fine. You and I can deal with our feelings about that, after we get him back."

She nodded slowly. "I don't know how to thank you for…being you." She launched off her stool and gave him a quick, tight hug.

He put one arm around her back and returned the gesture somewhat mechanically. The awkwardness was unintentional; he'd always been bad at hugs. But he knew in that motion that something between them was definitely changed. He was still loved, but she wasn't his. He knew it was necessary. He couldn't honestly say that he was hers, either, but that didn't stop the fleeting prospect from haunting his mind - that he might very well never meet another person who would hold him like he was the center of the world.

"Worrying up here is just going to get you more and more wound up," he breathed as she finally pulled away. "Krad's out in the van. He needs a brief on the strategy."

Risa stiffened. "You want me to talk to him?"

Satoshi smirked wryly. "You'd rather sit up here and agonize about Dark?"

The brunette's skin piqued to a nice shade of rose. "I'm not- I'm just-"

"As a favor to me, then," Satoshi said mercifully. "I'm not getting along with him today." As if they got along on other days? "I'll be down in a few minutes."

Risa set her jaw firmly. "You're right. I should focus on a task." She went to the door and looked back at him. "Thanks, Sato."

A minute later, she was approaching Hattori's van like it might try to eat her alive. The midday sun washed the parking lot in fierce light, radiating off the black pavement and warming her shins. She peeked into the open side door and blinked to adjust to the darkness of the interior. Krad was sitting in the back corner, oddly graceful and out of place in the cluttered van. His gold eyes were the first things that came into focus as she squinted her way inside. "Hi there," she muttered, climbing into the center bench and kneeling on it backwards to squint at him.

Her heart faltered as amber orbs burned straight into her. They were the eyes of a predator that had been disturbed, restless and full of the potential for aggression. That look was enough to paralyze her, and she didn't even think he was doing it on purpose. "Um," she reminded her muscles to stay put and not scramble for the door. "Satoshi wants you to know the plan."

The angel considered her for several moments. Kill or let live. The predator's gaze left her more than a bit rattled by the time he finally crossed his arms and leaned back into the seat. "I'm listening," he informed her, a note of condescension in his bronze voice.

Listening. This demonic being was listening, all eyes on her. Was he really going to help them? "Can you…close your eyes, or something? You're glaring, and it's freaking me out."

"I am thinking," he corrected her, disinterest already creeping into his voice. She didn't budge. Krad rolled his eyes. "Humans," he muttered.

Risa blinked in astonishment as the angel dropped his eyelids shut over the blazing gold. Long, dark-blonde eyelashes fanned out elegantly across the light skin above his cheekbones. She wasn't intimidated anymore, now that he'd shown such a shockingly cooperative gesture, but it was no easier to talk than before. It left her at liberty to stare at his face, which she realized she'd never actually been bold enough to look directly into. The fragile sharpness of his bone structure showed more than it did on Dark. She realized the blonde angel was actually quite slender compared with Dark's lean but muscled physique. It had never really occurred to her that the monstrous white angel could look so much like a real person with his eyes closed.

"Shall I have you close yours, too?" Krad scoffed at her silence without opening his eyes. The tone of his words made it clear he was accustomed to and fully aware of his own beauty. He took no particular pleasure in being admired by humans, especially humans like Midnight, but he'd come to accept the reaction.

"I- I'm not doing anything!" she stammered fiercely, even as she stared at him harder, now for a different reason. She'd never seen the angel crack a joke, -even a dry one-, or display this coyness that she'd thought belonged uniquely to Dark. "Fine, maybe we're better off with them open," she sighed.

She dropped her gaze reflexively as Krad reopened his eyes. "Don't worry, the plan isn't nearly as complicated as this conversation," she muttered, fixing her eyes on the middle of his chest. "So Gorudo's planning a press conference for one o'clock this afternoon. We need to switch Dark back while he's on stage. It's the only plan that makes sense, even if it's reckless. Every camera in the city is going to be watching Gorudo when he makes his statement. It's our only chance to get him hooked up to that machine without risking a battle. And after our last attempt to stop him with force, it's clear fighting him head-on is too dangerous…" she glanced at the angel pointedly.

Krad's expression soured, but he didn't contest her statement. His body was still berating him for the abuses it sustained the night before. "And you wish me to involve myself how, exactly?"

Risa studied him. "You're a wild card… but you're the only shot we have if Gorudo decides to publicly exhibit his newly acquired immortality instead of complying with us."

"And how do you intend to make him comply with such a thing?"

"Satoshi is going to confront Gorudo while he's on stage and pressure him to submit to a lie detector test. Daisuke says Dark is immune to polygraphs. By now, Gorudo knows it as well. He has nothing to lose in submitting to a lie detector. After last night's mess on his turf, he'll know that passing a truth test could do even more to clear his company's name than the press conference. It may be a little suspicious, but he'll play along for the police, at least in front of the cameras. And Satoshi is the police."

"Just proving to the cameras that Gorudo is Dark will not be enough to solve your problem," Krad said.

"The test is just a way to get him hooked up to the sensors we need. Trap is wiring the polygraph machine to separate Dark from Gorudo when it's activated. Oh, speak of the devil," She turned her attention to the too-bright doorway as Trap showed up just outside and passed in a heavy black case. "This is it?" she asked the scientist as she studied the case.

"That is the primary sensor," Trap explained. "An expert would notice the modifications, but to your audience, it should come off as an ordinary polygraph device. The machine itself is too large, so it will be underneath the stage. This will project the information we need from Gorudo's thought patterns cordlessly to the rest of the equipment. It should reverse the attachment to Gorudo and return the Black-…. return Dark to his original host. You just need to convince him to put the sensors on."

"Good work, Trap," Satoshi said as he came up next to the scientist and squinted into the van to study the machine he'd be using. The opposite door of the van glided open also, and the vehicle jiggled as Daisuke and Riku piled into the middle bench with Risa. With the large case now at Risa's feet, the middle bench didn't quite have room for three. The girl examined the space in the van and reluctantly shifted to the back row with Krad.

"I'm still afraid he'll recognize you and get suspicious, Sato," Risa murmured as she settled in next to the angel as casually as possible.

"He probably will. But even still, I'm the deputy special forces commander. In front of the crowd, he'll treat me as a cop without thinking twice. He's far too arrogant to think we'd recruit his own scientist like this." The bluenette turned to Trap and held out his hand. "Thanks, Trap," Daisuke told the neuroscientist earnestly as they shook hands. "Really."

If Trap had a reaction to the boy's gratitude, it was safely hidden behind his cool demeanor. "Shira and I will follow in a cab and keep an eye from a distance. Too many former colleagues will be there at the park. If we're seen, we'll arouse suspicion."

"You mean we'll arouse a shootout," Shira grumbled, coming up next to him. "Come on brainiac, they've got to leave."

"I was going," the scientist snipped as he shut the van door. Their bickering continued, muffled through the car frame while Hattori and Satoshi climbed into the front seats.

"God, they're awful for each other," Daisuke murmured.

"Or maybe they're perfect," Risa smirked just a little.

"How's your leg, Krad?" Riku asked, using the excuse to peer back at him.

"Fine," Krad jerked, a little unnerved by the attention but still unusually responsive. Ever since the scene last night, it seemed like everyone was fighting the constant urge to stare. Some of them were fighting it better than others. So far, the angel had been pretty tolerant.

"Everyone in?" Hattori called back as he stuck the van in gear. The vehicle backed out of the space and pulled out onto the roads, taking them toward the park. Satoshi, Daisuke, and Riku began chatting about details and positions for everyone once they were there.

Krad's attention turned instead to Risa. His eyes caught on the marble gleaming in her palm. He recognized its magic immediately. "That is a Hikari." His cold voice silently demanded to know why she had it.

Risa clutched the stone a little closer to her chest, as if the angel might try to snatch it away. "Dark gave it to me."

"You mean he stole it for you," Krad corrected her, studying it through her tightened fingers.

"It allows me to hear what's happening to him. Or at least it did; now it's blocked off. And it's only one way." Her eyes dropped worriedly. "Even if I could hear him, I couldn't say anything back."

"Who told you that? Dark?" The angel's brows creased as he studied it, ignoring her defensive posture.

"Yes, Dark," she nearly growled.

The blonde sniffed derisively. "Stupid fool. Goes through all the trouble of stealing something without even knowing how it works." He reached out his hand, and Risa all but pushed through the wall to avoid him. Unfazed, the angel put his hand over hers, surrounding the stone. A gold light swirled softly around his hand and then was gone. "Try it now."

"…Try what?" Risa blinked dumbly.

"The link is focused now. It's like tuning a harp; you need to know what you're listening for to get the full sound. No one but Dark should hear you," the angel said carelessly.

Risa drew the stone close to her chest, staring at Krad. "Are you really telling the truth?" she murmured. She hated the excruciating wave of hope that was already tightening her chest. What if Krad was just toying with her? She wanted to be able to speak to Dark…so badly that she couldn't bear to be disappointed if she trusted Krad's words.

Krad's eyes narrowed as he studied the longing in her expression. Wasn't this the one who Satoshi was supposedly dating? Could it be that her thoughts were elsewhere? Why was Satoshi so fixated on a woman this excitable, anyway? The thought of their wrongness for each other triggered as oddly satisfying in the labyrinth of his emotions. Why this sudden sense of vindication? "Talk," he muttered distractedly. "He'll hear."

She slowly brought the marble up toward her lips, hesitating.

"It is not a microphone," the angel sighed, as if she were using the wrong end of a broom. He glanced up warily as he realized the front half of the van had stopped their conversation to observe their exchange. "Just think of your target, and speak."

Risa pressed the stone over her heart and breathed. She pictured Dark's lavender eyes and hair, his mischievous smirk… "Dark?" she said carefully, and waited. No response returned to her through the link. She raised her lids and frowned at Krad. "It's not working."

Krad rolled his eyes. If he'd gone this far to explain it, he may as well go the full way, as tedious as it was to describe these things to those without magic. "Stop picturinghim and think about him."

Risa eyed him for a moment. She didn't know if she could trust him to not be playing some kind of cruel practical joke. She closed her eyes, clutching the stone tightly. Dark's eyes, dark's face… No. It had to be more.

'You are my wings.' She remembered his whispered words when they'd met outside the Gorudo building.

Battered, but strong wings fighting to hold the wind, defying his injuries and fears.

Brave eyes, assuring her he could handle it all on his own.

She would never let him be alone.

"Dark," she almost whispered. The whole van waited.

A tremor came over her, like feathers brushing skin. It made the hairs on her arms stand on end as it tingled through her.

*…Who's there?* Dark's confusion rippled across the link.

"It's Risa. Dark, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

*Nothing permanent. How are you getting to me? Gorudo locked down the link.*

Risa didn't like the tiredness she was starting to notice in his voice. "Krad reopened it, with some obvious adjustments."

*Krad…*

"I know, it sounds crazy," Risa peered at the bored-looking angel who was looking out the window next to her. "Dark, can Gorudo hear us now?"

*No… this connection is different. It's closer to what I have-… what I had with Daisuke. Risa, did everyone come through in one piece? Last night is a little blurry.*

"We're all fine, thanks to you."

*And Krad?*

She blinked at the real concern in his voice. "He's okay too," she said, noticing the white angel's attention return to her for a moment, as if he knew he was being discussed. "Dark, you're the one I'm worried about."

*Don't be. I'll be fine, once I figure this guy out a bit. Put in some homey touches.*

Risa's stomach turned at the idea of Dark trying to make himself at home in that deranged, selfish mind. He really did think they were going to leave him that way.

"Do you think we'd just be okay with that? With never seeing you again? Dark, we're coming to help. We're not abandoning you, so don't give up yet."

There was quiet for a moment. *That means a lot. You have no idea how much, actually. But all of you need to stay out of his way. He won't kill me; I can challenge him from the inside. For the rest of you, he really will feel just fine murdering anyone who interferes. It…excites him. And he'll use me to do it. Don't push him, Risa. I can handle it in here, but if he makes me kill you, I won't be able to bear it. That's my limit. Understand?*

Risa swallowed hard, eyes burning. He didn't sound like himself. His proud voice was strained, aching. She couldn't stand thinking about him that way, stuck in the mind of a wanton murderer and trapped at his disposal. "Dark, we're coming, and that's the end of it." Her firm voice slid into a comforting, confident tone. "Don't worry. We have a plan. No one will have to get hurt."

*Risa!*

She put the stone in her pocket, cutting herself off from his protests. Listening to him try to take this on himself was just going to get her angry and desperate, and she'd be much less use to him that way. She raised her watery eyes to the expectant gazes of the others. "He's trying to protect us," she explained quietly.

"Well, too bad," Satoshi said, his cold voice supporting her. "It's our turn."

She returned his unexpected enthusiasm with a growing smile. "Dang right!"

The van swayed as they turned into the drive leading to the park. Ahead of them, three squadcars perched around the edges of the road, as if awaiting them. The strobing police lights flashed to life as they approached. "I…think we're being pulled over?" Hattori murmured as he slowed his approach.

"What the…" Satoshi muttered as the doors of the vehicles swung open and armed officers piled out. The men spread out strategically to surround them as the van slowly pulled to a stop on the stone-paved drive.

"Please step out of the vehicle," commanded the speaker from one of the squadcars.

"What's going on? Is this Gorudo's bought-off police force?" Riku demanded.

"No," Satoshi said grimly. "Those are my men. Everybody out." He pushed open his door and stepped out, hands raised.

The whole group piled warily out of the van into the street.

"Commander Hiwatari, come with us please," the men instructed as the group collected. "You with the wings, you too."

"What's the meaning of this?" Satoshi demanded, tensing as he noticed the police getting too close to Krad for their own safety. He didn't know if he could convince Krad to stay under control if the police tried to touch him.

The officer closest to him looked genuinely disappointed as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "I'm sorry, Commander…but you need to cooperate. Your winged friend, too."

"Whatever it is you need to ask, it can wait until after the press conference," Satoshi said firmly.

"Actually, Sir, it can't," the officer forced out unhappily. Satoshi noticed something in his expression that he hadn't seen at first: Disappointment. In him.

"Boss, you're under arrest…for murder."

-o0o0—OOO-0o0o—

To be Continued!