A/N: Two hours. This chapter ended up much longer than any others, and it took an hour longer than usual to edit it. I probably still missed some errors. Anyway, let's be glad I update on Tuesdays and not Mondays because my bus got in an accident on its way to my school so I got home an hour late. Weekly complaint about misfortunes I encounter aside, sorry for any OOCness, errors, typos and overall crappy writing. I hope I didn't screw this chapter up too bad, since I wasn't really sure how to write this chapter's bits involving Jin in particular. I hope everyone likes the chapter and I'll be back next week with another.
An awkward silence had settled on the meeting room long ago, all of the men deciding to keep quiet about the very obvious elephant that was missing from the room. Shinoda, Kido and Tachikawa kept glancing at Rindo a bit expectantly, as if they believed the man was withholding information about the current issue. Each time he received a glance, the Tamakoma Director would simply shrug and divert his eyes.
Just a little over five minutes after the meeting was due to start, Kido sighed and finally broke the silence in the room.
"Rindo, where'd Jin go and when is he coming back? The meeting was supposed to have started already," the man said, sounding more than slightly annoyed. Rindo simply shook his head and pulled his cigarette from his mouth, staring at it as if it would give them the answers they needed.
"Honestly, I don't know why he's not back yet. He told me he had a bit of a headache from not getting much sleep last night, so he was going to step out for a moment," Rindo told the other's, recalling Jin's words from not long ago. Silence blanketed the room again as everyone thought over the four-eyed man's explanation.
"Maybe you should call him?" Shinoda recommended. Rindo nodded and reached for his phone when suddenly music filled the room. Tachikawa stiffened, and the others turned to look at him in confusion. Not making eye contact with anyone, the attacker reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, his ringtone suddenly much clearer without clothing muffling the phone's speakers.
"Ashita no Hikari?" Shinoda mumbled before glancing at Kido. The older man seemed just as confused at Tachikawa's lack of a plain ringtone, maybe a bit annoyed even, but both men kept quiet, since the ringtone wasn't related to the current issue.
"It's Jin," Tachikawa said with a frown, staring at his phone.
"Are you going to answer?" Rindo asked. Tachikawa nodded and clicked the 'accept call' button before putting the device to his ear.
"Jin? Where are you? The meeting was supposed to start almost ten minutes ago now, but we're all waiting on you. Kido-san needs you to use your Side Effect," the twenty-year old informed, his tone a bit annoyed as if he was complaining.
There was no response from the other end at first, though Tachikawa could hear raspy breathing. 'Is Jin running?' he wondered, though that theory blew up in his face when he heard his rival's voice.
"T-Tach...ika-wa-s...an..."
Jin's voice was weak and matched the raspy breathing he'd heard earlier. Tachikawa waited for Jin to say more, but the other end of the call was dead silent.
"Jin? Hey, Jin, you there? Jin?" he asked, a bit confused and a little more concerned. There was still no response. Tachikawa listened for a few more seconds before his concentration was broken by Kido.
"Is he not answering?" the man asked. Tachikawa shook his head, taking his phone away from his ear. He looked down at the screen with a frown, wondering what in the world could be going on. Then it clicked. The attacker's head flew up, his eyes wide in surprise.
"Do you think...?" he trailed off, allowing the others in the room to realize what he meant. Eyebrows went up as Shinoda, Rindo and Kido caught on to what Tachikawa was saying. Rindo's cigarette fell out if his mouth and dropped on the table as he planted his hands on the flat surface and stood, the strained look on his face similar to the expression he'd had way back when Osamu had told the higher ups of Border Yuma's name.
"Mikumo-kun was attacked not long ago. It's possible that Jin may have encountered the assassin," he said, voicing everyone's thoughts. Kido nodded to the door, and he and Shinoda got to their feet. The four men in the room jogged out the door before splitting up, all with the same idea. Kido and Shinoda went left while Rindo and Tachikawa went right in their search for Jin. All of them hoped they'd find the teen eating rice crackers somewhere, having forgotten about the meeting or in the middle of a prank on them. No one thought that was what was going on though. While Jin could be a bit sarcastic and playful at times, he was also serious, and wouldn't pull a prank during the current situation.
As Kido and Shinoda searched the left side of the floor, they found nothing. It was a bit relieving, but at the same time, they knew the others many have already found Jin. However. Rindo and Tachikawa weren't having much luck either. The two had decided to stay closer together, since Rindo didn't have a Trigger. If the assassin showed up, he would be a sitting duck. Tachikawa on the other hand would be able to defend them both long enough for them to escape.
After Tachikawa and Rindo split up at the fourth fork in the hall, they began to believe that Jin was on the other side of the building. That was not the case though, and Tachikawa ended up being the unfortunate one who found that out. The attacker turned a corner, his eyes scanning the hallway quickly before he saw blue on the floor. Doing a double-take, Tachikawa noticed that it was Jin, but not how he had looked around twenty minutes ago before he left.
Jin lay facedown on the ground, unmoving. His fingers rested on his phone, which lay abandoned next to the teen's head. Tachikawa quickly noticed Jin's Trigger lying a few feet away on the floor, seemingly undamaged. Concerned and confused, Tachikawa turned and yelled over his shoulder.
"Rindo!"
Tachikawa ran for Jin, dropping down so he was kneeling next to his rival. He was close enough that he could see Jin's face now, the teen's head turned about 90° to the right, resting against the ground. His energetic icy blue eyes were half lidded, long eyelashes veiling what pale eyelids didn't cover. Jin's mouth was partially open, colorless lips dotted with red, and after leaning closer, Tachikawa could hear the harsh gasps of breath his rival was taking.
"Jin!" Tachikawa turned to see Rindo running toward him, the man's eyebrows furrowed in a mixture of emotion. Rindo stopped next to Tachikawa, kneeling down as he quickly looked over his agent, his pupils pausing in their movement as they locked on Jin's face. Tachikawa let his eyes wander and he continued to survey the damage. He didn't think Jin looked too bad until he saw an odd shadow on the teen's neck. Confused, he pulled Jin's collar back and brushed away a few stray hairs before tensing. Rindo followed Tachikawa's line of vision, his hands curling into fists when he noticed what the attacker was looking at. The beginnings of thin bruises encircling Jin's neck a few times were beginning to appear.
Rindo's eyes trailed further toward the ground as he looked to see how far down Jin's neck the bruise went. However, he got more than he bargained for when his eyes landed on a color that stuck out like a sore thumb against the pale floor.
"Tachikawa," Rindo said, his voice a little strained. Tachikawa looked at the man next to him, then his eyes locked onto the spot Rindo was staring at. Sharing the same thought, the two placed their hands lightly on Jin's back, side and shoulders before carefully rolling him over. Both men inhaled sharply at the sight they were greeted with, Rindo whipping out his phone and dialing a familiar number.
"Kido, it's Rindo. Get Shinoda and go to the southeastern outermost hallway. We've got a problem," he said before hanging up. The man looked to Tachikawa, who was on his knees, hands pressing on the seeping wound on Jin's chest. A line of crimson cut through the sea of white that was the teen's shirt, slowly turning the pure color to red.
Rindo winced sympathetically before turning to where he had spotted Jin's Trigger. It looked fine and Rindo frowned, leaning over to grab the small device. Curling his fingers around the cool exterior, his fingers brushed over an abnormality. Upon closer examination, Rindo noticed a crack around the Trigger's middle. Jin's opponent, likely the assassin, had broken his Trigger.
"Rindo! Tachikawa!" The two men turned when their names were called to see Kido and Shinoda running toward them, the two stumbling mid-step when they caught sight of the teen on the floor. The two knelt down next to Jin opposite Rindo and Tachikawa, taking stock of his injuries. Kido pulled out his phone, punching the buttons angrily before putting it to his ear.
As Kido informed medical personnel from the infirmary of the situation, Rindo showed Shinoda Jin's broken Trigger. The younger off the two nodded grimly, taking the cracked weapon and putting it in his pocket before looking to Tachikawa.
"You doing okay with that?" Shinoda asked with a wince as his eyes landed on Jin's crimson-painted shirt. Tachikawa nodded.
"Yeah, but he's still losing blood," the agent reported, pressing a little harder on the wound, though it didn't change anything. Tachikawa's hands were already coated with red. The wound looked bad, and Jin was bleeding a bit too much for comfort.
Eyebrows furrowed in concern, Rindo stared at the unconsious agent who he was quite fond of. He cared about all his agents, especially because of the home-like atmosphere Tamakoma had, which made the agents seem like one big oddball family. Osamu's mild injuries had bothered Rindo enough, but this...the assassin was playing rough. Something had changed, but Rindo couldn't focus enough to even think about what that factor might be. Instead he waited with the others for medical personnel to come get Jin.
-000-
About an hour after Jin was brought to the infirmary, Rindo and Tachikawa, who had been waiting for news on the agent, were told that he was alright. Rindo, who was on the phone with Yuma, quickly ended the conversation and turned to hear about his agent's condition. Rindo had told Yuma to bring Chika and Osamu to HQ immediately because something had happened, and that Kido gave authorization for the use of his Black Trigger if needed.
A nurse led Rindo and Tachikawa down the hallway, stopping in front of a door labeled 'NC05' before turning to face them.
"Jin-kun will be fine, fortunately. His chest wound looks much worse than it was. He lost a bit too much blood from it, so he needed a small blood bag, but in reality it's not life-threatening. We also found that there was little damage done to his neck, nothing to worry about. Whoever hurt him must have had some kind of cord. They managed to give him a pretty good bruise, and I suspect they had his airway cut off up to shortly before he lost consciousness, since his breathing was a bit irregular when we brought him in. This bruise actually helped though, since it highlighted something we wouldn't have noticed otherwise on the side of his neck," the nurse explained. Tachikawa and Rindo both raised their eyebrows.
"What was it?" Rindo asked.
"A puncture mark. We took a sample of his blood and found a unknown drug mixed with a sedative, which is probably what ultimately knocked him out. We don't know what this mystery drug does, but there seems to be nothing wrong so far. He's shown no signs of a reaction that we can find. At this point, I think we'll have to wait until the sedative wears off to find out what the unknown drug was meant to do," the woman said. Rindo and Tachikawa nodded, then the nurse turned and opened the door.
The woman let the two men enter, making sure they were well inside before pulling the door closed behind them. They were in Jin's room in the infirmary, and the teen himself lay on the single cot in the room. Jin was still unconsious, and he had an IV in one arm while a blood bag was attached to his other. He still looked paler than normal, but not nearly as bad as before. The agent had on a powder blue robe in place of his bloodied clothes, and the slightly open top revealed white bandages wrapped around his chest.
"Ow," Tachikawa muttered, stating the obvious. Rindo nodded. The two approached the cot, both standing on the right side. They looked over the unconscious agent in front of them, then something on Jin's neck caught Rindo's eye
"Is this the puncture mark she was talking about?" he asked, pointing to the spot. Tachikawa leaned forward a little and squinted, not seeing it at first, though when he noticed, he frowned.
"I think so, but what's that yellow? The nurse never said anything about it," Tachikawa said. Rindo looked at the mark and just faintly saw golden yellow lines stemming out from the puncture in a web-like pattern, fading the further it got from its origin. The two men exchanged confused looks before their eyes returned to Jin's face.
"I'll text Kido-san what we know, since he wants me to stay on guard here, so I can't just go tell him myself. At least with more information, he and Shinoda-san can fill up the assassin's file as much as possible," Tachikawa said out of the blue, putting his serious face back on as he plopped down in a chair and pulled out his phone to send the text. Rindo nodded and sat down in another one of the chairs in the room, his eyes still on his unconscious agent.
-000-
Yuma, Osamu and Chika weren't sure why they were at HQ, since Rindo had been pretty vague when he called, but they got a bad feeling when Rindo texted them, telling them to come to the infirmary. Concerned about their boss, the three wondered if maybe the assassin had changed its sights, attacking random Border agents rather than stalking Tamakoma agents.
The three made their way to the all too familiar infirmary, Yuma and Chika remembering seeing Osamu there after the Second Invasion, the teen comatose after barely slipping away from death's permanent grip. Though when the three were led to a room, they saw something they had not at all expected. Jin, one of the strongest people they knew, with the best Side Effect in Border that they knew of, lay unconscious on a cot
He was pale, his usual powerful vibe gone. There was an IV in one of his arms and a blood bag connected to the other. Yuma's sharp eyes noticed what looked like a web of glowing gold on the older teens neck, and it gave him a bad feeling. The weirdest thing had to be the fact that Jin lay still, since his kouhai rarely even saw him sit and stop moving.
"Jin-san?" Osamu said, sounding confused. He and Chika hesitantly approached Jin's cot with wide eyes, as if they didn't really believe what they were seeing. Yuma on the other hand hung back at the door. His face was angled toward the ground, his eyes hidden by his snowy hair.
"The assassin did this?" he asked. Rindo sighed.
"We believe so," the man confirmed. Yuma looked very similar to when Osamu had been attacked, and Rindo was worried the young Neighbor would run off and try to fight the assassin, now that Jin wasn't conscious to stop him, and no one else in the room had both the trust Yuma had in Jin and the strength needed to stop him. However, Yuma surprised his boss ans stayed, joining his friends by Jin's cot. Though his piercing red eyes were now visible, he avoided actual eye contact, not wanting anyone else to find what he was thinking.
On he outside he might look a little upset, but in his mind, he had only one thought. That thought was revenge. Yuma resented the assassin for inadvertently killing his father, but he wouldn't have gone out of his way to fins it and fight it just for that. Now though... now he was going to make sure the assassin didn't live to see the eyes of its next victim.
Attacking Jin was the last straw.
A/N: I closed the poll, and saw that Yuma won by a lot. Since this multi-chapter still has a few more weeks to go, I think I'll make a Yuma-centric one-shot which should be my next post, hopefully it'll cover up the disaster that is Compromised. I'm thinking the next multi-chapter I do should be centered around someone different, but that's not final yet. Tell me your thoughts, what kind of thing you all want to see, and I'll probably put up a new poll at some point using what I got from you guys.