Chapter Three - Returning to Headquaters

Squalo was going to be so loud, Lussuria thought regretfully as he hauled the limp body out of the car and into the castle. He was so light! Was the poor thing not eating properly? If Harry-chan survived the next few days, Lussuria would change that, of course. He wouldn't stand for any of his ducklings not eating properly, even if it meant cooking for them himself. They were all such picky eaters! He still had nightmares about the week that Bel had decided he wouldn't eat anything other than sushi. Squalo had demolished half the mansion chasing after the silly Prince, after he taunted the Captain about eating his relatives. Compared to that, feeding the boy would easy. Besides, no matter how bad he was, the boy couldn't possibly be any fussier that Boss had been. Lussuria shook his head clear. He had explanations to prepare before he ran into the Captain.

Of course Squalo was waiting for him in the entry hall. He couldn't possibly give Lussuria time to get the boy settled in a secure bedroom somewhere, or an opportunity to think of a way to phrase this that didn't make him sound as incompetent as darling Levi. He knew that he had jumped the gun on this, and Squalo's scowl didn't give him much hope that the Captain would be willing to let it slide, or even listen to his reasoning. Squalo was fond of the sound of his own voice, especially when he worked himself into a temper tantrum.

"Voi! We agreed to leave the man alone until we had a full background on him! We're supposed to professionals, Lussuria, what the hell were you thinking!" Squalo was expressing his displeasure the way he did everything – loudly. Lussuria winced.

"But you didn't see him, Squa-chan! He didn't even flinch at all the blood covering my fabulous uniform. And besides, he was taunting me! A civilian shouldn't know about Flames."

"He knows about flames?" Squalo was suddenly focussed. Even among the Mafia, information about Flames was closely guarded. If Evans somehow knew about them, and combined with his false background, this could be very dangerous. Lussuria breathed a sigh of relief. Squalo was letting him explain. Now, to buy time so that he could think of a way to phrase this...

"Well, he didn't say directly," Lussuria admitted. "Can I get him inside? I want him secure before he wakes up. Have to make sure he can't run away from our little chat!" With a cheerful wave of his hand, he brushed past Squalo and up towards the bedrooms.

There was no space within the mansion specifically set aside for holding prisoners. There wasn't even any space for guests in the Officer's wing. The only available room was the vacant one set aside for the Cloud Officer, should they ever find one. The room was tidy, done in generic cream, and absolutely boring. The Varia weren't known for their interior decorating skills. Lussuria dumped his burden on the neatly made bed, and Squalo, who had followed him up, shackled his hands to the bedposts. Lussuria giggled a little about what it implied about the Varia that all bedrooms came with shackles, and bedframes sturdy enough to hold a person securely. He most definitely didn't think about the fact that Bel's shackles were the ones that saw the most use, though.

"Explain." Squalo was in Captain-mode now, and it was a little intimidating. Lussuria dropped the flamboyant mannerisms.

"He suggested yellow hair dye to match my 'sunny personality'. Yellow is not a common hair dye. More than that, it is incredibly difficult to get good results with yellow dye, and it's not often recommended. He took a teasing threat as a genuine warning, and was not intimidated. He was not noticeably upset, disgusted or disconcerted by the blood and tissue on my uniform or hair." Lussuria made the report calmly and efficiently, and then switched back to his usual personality. He was glad that when he laid everything out like that, it sounded more reasonable than paranoid.

"What do you think, Squa-Squa? Is my cute little hair dresser hiding something? If we kill him, can I keep him? Those eyes of his are gorgeous!" The boy needed to bulk out a bit to be his perfect man, but those green eyes were to die for.

Squalo ignored him with the ease of practice. No one asked for clarification when Lussuria mentioned his fetishes. The last recruit to have tried it had retired the next day. Given that a Varia retirement involved a bullet in the head, it had discouraged everyone else from asking questions. The hair dresser was more important than Lussuria's kinks at the moment. A normal person wouldn't take a recommendation for yellow to be a sign of anything, even combined with the reference to Sun. But coming from such a suspicious person? Squalo agreed with Lussuria, it was something they couldn't ignore. He could only take it as a warning or a taunt. Either one required further investigation, immediately. Still…

Lussuria started as Squalo suddenly glared at him. What on earth was wrong now?

"Voi! Why did you go visit him anyway? We agreed to leave him alone until the background check came through!"

Lussuria blushed. "I know! But my hair was so filthy! Last time it got so messy, it took a week to get it back to normal. And Bel cut it! I had to get it neatened up, it was an embarrassment. I couldn't think of another hairdresser that would deal with it."

Squalo sighed. Only Lussuria would decide that a haircut was more important than keeping away from a potentially dangerous unknown. He couldn't really be angry at him, it was so expected. Didn't mean that he wouldn't be assigning him long-term observation missions in the middle of nowhere for a while though.

Another thought occurred to him. "Voi! How did you knock him out? I didn't think you took any drugs with you, it was supposed to be a simple paint-the-walls."

Paint-the-walls meaning a mission where killing as messily and obviously as possibly was the goal. Bel and Lussuria competed to see who could make the most grotesque scene. The competition had started as unofficial bragging over their kills, but had morphed into a genuine contest. Squalo and Levi scored each assassination from photos the Varia member took of the scene. Bel normally scored more points for creative kills and originality, where Lussuria was an expert at displaying the bodies and sheer brutality. Before the mission today, Bel had been in the lead.

"I hit the back of his head. Don't worry, I was careful, Captain!"

Squalo gave in to the urge to groan aloud. Lussuria knew that head injuries could cause brain damage, especially in civilians who weren't supported by Flames. If he had killed their mystery man, Squalo was going to be pissed. He was the most interesting thing to happen all year, besides the fact that they didn't know if he was working for anyone.

Before Squalo could get too worked up about the possibility, the figure on the bed groaned. At once both of their attention snapped to him. Questioning him when he was disoriented and vulnerable was their best chance to figure out what the hell was going on.

I swear Harry will wake up next chapter! I just wanted to explore their reasoning, before we move on to Harry's response.