Mimics

by Fallen Crest

Trion soldiers with the ability to transform into deceased loved ones have made their way to Japan. Border will have to face their worse enemy yet...the ones who created Border: Mogami Soichi and Kuga Yugo. In the face of Mogami and Yugo, can Jin and Yuma find the strength to destroy the ones they already loss once before?

53. Chapter 53: Turmoil

A/N: I don't own World Trigger

Mimics

Chapter 53: Turmoil

"How can we kill you without killing Yuma as well?"

That tone, that expression. It was that of a desperate man who was out of ideas. When no more ideas were forthcoming, all that was left was to go to the enemy and ask for help. In most cases, the enemy wouldn't give anything as it would lead to their defeat. There were rare circumstances where that wasn't the case, such as now when Yugo wanted his death.

Yugo stood up from the bed and made his way over to the prison door. It would be so easy for him to destroy this wall with Bolt or Boost and kill these agents at the same time, but Yugo resisted the urge. He couldn't feel it. His Black Trigger wasn't nearby. Was it because Yugo was so far underground or was Yuma simply not in HQ right now?

Even though Jin likely knew that Yugo could break out of this cell easily, he stood firm by the door with Yugo right in front of him. There was no flicker of fear in Jin at the possibility of getting killed here, but he probably saw no future where Yugo would attempt to escape here.

"There is nothing you can do. Had this been my first or second day here, you could have killed me without any harm being done to Yuma, but at this point, there isn't any way to kill me without him dying alongside me. All we're doing right now is postponing the inevitable."

Inevitable.

Inevitable.

Inevitable.

"I know you try so hard to manipulate the futures you see because you want to protect your comrades and the city. But no matter how hard you try, there are some things you just can't change. I accepted my death as inevitable a long time ago." Yuma said sadly.

Anger flashed across Jin's face and his fist slammed against the door separating them. "What the hell is wrong with you Kugas? As long as you're still alive and fighting, nothing is inevitable! You've fought against impossible odds before to save him!" Jin's eyes flickered across Yugo's face, studying him. "Or, is it simply you don't want to tell me because you're still trying to protect yourself from your own death? You don't have enough control of yourself."

"I'm still here, aren't I?" Yugo replied easily, though it sounded quite like he was taunting Jin with the knowledge that at any moment, he could be out of this cell and killing his son.

They had assumed Yugo gave himself up to protect Yuma. That this was his way to avoid going after him, but what if they were wrong? Was he just buying time? His control was flickering in and out of his hands. At any moment, he could unleash his seals to escape and go for Yuma. Yugo wouldn't do it, but the Mimic who was desperate to live would. Did the Mimic agree to being locked up until Yugo's control weakened and he was once more overcome by his need to preserve his life over all others?

"Keep an eye on him." Jin snapped at Tachikawa and Kazama as he spun on his heel to leave the prison.

Tachikawa scoffed as he leaned on the wall and interlocked his hands behind his head to use them as a cushion. "We were going to do that anyway."

Kazama said nothing as he stared at Yugo. Yugo's calm confidence was a sharp contrast to the anger that Jin had just displayed. It didn't seem to bother Yugo at all as he turned his back to his guards and went back to his bed to sit back down. Kazama could not figure this Mimics out at all. It was no wonder Yuma was so confused and frustrated the past few days. Kazama didn't understand if Yugo was in this cell for his son's protection or if he was actually plotting something.

*Mimics*

Osamu pushed his glasses up as he rubbed at his eyes. He stared at the vending machines in front of him, feeling the headache begin to form, as he decided on what type of coffee he wanted. He couldn't remember the last time that he had felt this amount of stress building up in him. This week hadn't been good at all, but they had been managing it as best as they could, but now with Yuma kidnapped, it was causing a new form of anxiousness in him. It was all because Yuma was completely out of Border's sights. They had no idea if he was okay or even if he was still alive.

"Caffeine is the last thing you need this late at night."

Osamu jumped a foot off the ground, grabbing his chest at the sudden heart attack he felt it was about to have. He whirled around to face the younger agent. "Midorikawa, don't sneak up on me like that." He paused as he took in the droop in Shun's shoulder that showed an attitude that spoke about how he had just given up on anything. "You should go home and sleep."

"The person trying to buy coffee shouldn't be talking to me about sleep." Shun looked up at Osamu, eyes full of exhaustion and anguish. "We were just supposed to have fun tonight. I just wanted Yuma-senpai to have a chance to smile again."

As exhausted and weighed down as Osamu felt, he couldn't just turn his back on anyone. Whether that person was in danger and needed saving or if it was someone who needed a pep talk. Turning back to the vending machine, Osamu bypassed the coffee and instead bought two hot cocoas. He grabbed the drinks and nudged Shun with his shoulder to go sit in the nearby lounge.

"Drink this and calm down." Osamu passed one of the cups to Shun before sitting on the couch opposite of the one that Shun chose to collapse on.

"How are you so calm? Your teammate was just kidnapped." Shun muttered.

"I'm not calm at all." Osamu sighed as he rubbed his temples, trying to will his headache to go away. If Yuma was here, he would be yelling at both of them to go to sleep. He would be of the belief that sleep would ease their stress and headaches so they could wake up refreshed and ready to face the problems at full strength. "I've been trying to frantically think of what to do, but I have no idea. I know nothing about Mogami-san to even guess where he would go. I don't know what I can do, but I know Jin-san and the directors are working on it. I can trust them to figure out what path we should take."

Shun stared down at his cocoa. He wasn't really feeling up to doing anything, but he knew a hot drink would help his nerves. "Did you hear Kuga-san let us take him as a prisoner?"

"Yeah, Rindo-san and Shinoda-san contacted us about it earlier."

"I don't trust it." Shun muttered. "He's been running circles around us all week and it's now that he decides he doesn't want to fight anymore? I can't help but feel that he is plotting something."

"That's a good instinct to have." Osamu took a sip of his cocoa, wincing as it burned his tongue with how hot it was. "I don't think anyone truly trusts it, but we should try to use it to our advantage while he is here."

"To get embarrassing stories about Yuma-senpai when he was a kid?" Shun suggested though the joke lacked his usual energy.

Osamu shook his head, amazed at the jokes coming from Shun. It was either his way of dealing with this or he just didn't know how to turn off the sass even in this kind of situation. "I meant, try to get information about the Mimics, which is likely what the directors will be trying to do, but whatever makes you happy, Midorikawa."

"I won't be happy until we saved Yuma-senpai." Shun said. "Kuga-san and Mogami-san ruined my plans of cheering him up!"

"Ruined?" Osamu echoed. "You did make him happy. Maybe the whole party didn't turn out how you planned it to be, but I think tonight fit the mold of craziness you guys have. Alone or with just a few of you, I can expect excitable energy, but all of you together is just asking for chaos and Kuga thrives in chaos. For some reason, he finds it very fun."

Shun ran his thumb over the edge of his cup. "When this is over, we should try it again and have it not end with Yuma-senpai getting kidnapped. He'll even be able to properly join in our team matches."

"He'll certainly enjoy that."

"Will he be okay when it's over?" Shun asked, refusing to acknowledge that it was possible that Yuma could be dead when this was over. "This hasn't been easy on him. Even if we stop the Mimics, it was still his father that did this to him. That will leave wounds that may never heal."

Osamu's expression softened. This whole week had been showing Osamu the lesson. Maybe only half the A-Ranks knew that Yuma was a Neighbor, but it wasn't stopping them from caring about Yuma's well-being. It was a relief to see that if it was revealed that Yuma was a Neighbor, he wouldn't have all his friends turn on him. "Kuga is strong. He is going to have a lot to recover from when this is over, but I believe he will be able to endure it and even if he does falter, he has all of us to help him through it."

"I'm not sure I know how to help someone recover from something like this."

"You don't need to be his therapist." Osamu replied. "Just do what you've been doing all week. Be his friend and listen to him when he talks."

Shun let out a soft groan. "Do you have any idea of how hard that is? He doesn't talk about anything that is wrong. You have to ask him what is wrong and if he hides his stress and concerns, how would you know to ask?"

"I think after this week, it's going to be plenty clear that he is bothered by something." Osamu replied. "You don't even need to talk to him if that's not what he wants. Go to lunch, train, just hang out. It can be quite helpful in helping him recover if you don't treat him like glass after what he went through. Jus treat him normally."

"Good advice, but is only helpful for when Kuga is back at Border."

It was Shun's turn to jump in surprise at the voice behind him which caused him to spill some cocoa on his hand. He winced a bit at the heat and put his hand up to his mouth to suck the liquid off his hand.

"Did no one go home?" Osamu asked Yoneya who sent an apologetic look to Shun when the younger agent glared at him.

"Go home after the trainwreck that just happened?" Yoneya retorted, leaning his crossed arms on the back of the couch next to Shun's head as he turned his attention back to Osamu.

"What is staying here going to accomplish?" Osamu wondered.

"What will going home do?" Yoneya countered. "At least if I stay here, I'm ready to join in to help the next time we have a battle."

Osamu was coming to understand why Yuma complained that the agents were working too much and needed to go to sleep. It wasn't to say the agents weren't relaxing and sleeping. They were just doing it at random times when they had free time so basically all of their sleep schedules were getting messed up. "Still, if you don't go home, won't your parents get suspicious about something going on."

"My parents think there is something going on all the time since I hang out at HQ a lot." Yoneya explained as he pulled out his phone to type a text. "They would just be right this time. As long as the city is safe and I let them know everything is okay, it'll be fine."

"You really going to sleep here again?" Osamu asked. He couldn't really say anything since he had plans to sleep in the barracks tonight, but it was only one night for him whereas most of the other agents have been here for a couple nights already.

"It's closer to the action." Yoneya replied. "Shuji went home earlier. I can just imagine the look on his face when he comes back tomorrow."

Osamu sweat dropped at the thought of Miwa's rage. After all that effort he put in to get Yuma his ring back and now Yuma was just missing from HQ. Osamu had no doubt that Miwa would have some choice words about this.

"I don't think I'll be heading home either." Shun said. "I live too far from the Restricted Zone so if something happens again, I probably wouldn't make it back in time to help."

Speaking of living far away...Osamu grimaced as he pulled his phone out. He was going to have to tell Chika what happened tonight. She had gone home tonight to see her parents to let her know she was okay, but if he contacted her right now, she would likely want to rush right back to HQ. There was nothing they could do right now, but that wouldn't stop Chika from returning. He just hoped that she wouldn't cry when he explained how Yuma was missing. He hated it when she broke down in tears after her brother vanished as he had felt so helpless. There was nothing he could do to stop her tears back then. At least, this time, Yuma was still in this world. They just had to find him, and hopefully before he died.

*Mimics*

"Shinoda-san has sent out an alert." Kittaka said.

"This has certainly been a busy week." Oji commented, relaxing on a piece of rubble as he stared up at the stars. Since Border had been keeping the Gates forced shut all day, defense duty had been so boring. They came out because they were scheduled to, but with nothing going on, it just felt like a waste of time. "What is going on this time?"

"Headquarters was just attacked by Mogami-san and Kuga-san it seems."

Kashio and Kurauchi both whipped around to look at HQ in the distance, but with how far away they were from it, they couldn't see anything.

"Are you okay?" Kashio asked. "Why didn't we get called back?"

"I'm fine. The fighting must have been far away from this floor because I hadn't noticed anything going on. There were plenty of agents around the base to deal with it, but the Trion barrier got destroyed so keep an eye out for Gates opening again." Kittaka warned, though if a Gate were to open, she would likely get the warning before they were able to spot it. "Shinoda-san is asking us to keep an eye out for Mogami-san since he kidnapped Kuga."

Oji raised a brow. "Cougar is having a very rough week." Oji never expected someone like Yuma to get captured. It was a good lesson for them all. No matter how strong someone was, even they could get themselves in trouble.

"We can keep a lookout, but we probably won't see anything with how large the Restricted Zone is." Kurauchi said.

"It's better than nothing." Kittaka said.

"What are the agents from HQ doing that they couldn't do this?" Kashio asked.

"Apparently, they captured Kuga-san? They were distracted with him."

"We captured the father?" Oji said. "Well, it seems we have some progress." It was a shame they had missed it though. Helping out with headquarters under attacked seemed like a better use of their time than sitting around out here for the last few hours doing nothing. Though, now that the Trion barrier had been destroyed, it was likely their night was going to get busy soon.

"Which is offset by Kuga being captured." Kurauchi replied.

"True, it makes things harder, but Cougar isn't a pushover." Oji said confidentially. "This week has been difficult for him, but Cougar can definitely overcome it. Just watch. He's going to show us all just why he is the ace of his team."

*Mimics*

"An act of true love."

"Huh?" Yuma said, glancing down at Mogami who kneeling by the bed. His eyes narrowed as if daring Mogami to carry on with that train of thought.

Mogami held up finger, grinning a bit. "Like in those fairy tales. A true love's kiss, a selfless act of love for someone in danger and the curse is broken."

"Okay," Yuma nodded and grabbed the pillow off the bed to slam it into Mogami's face. "I think I'm done here." He climbed off the bed and barely got two steps away when Mogami's arm was wrapping around his waist and pulling him back. Yuma felt his feet leave the ground and found himself slamming back onto the bed. Scowling, he shoved Mogami's arm off of him. "This isn't a fairy tale. Life doesn't work like a movie."

"I'm throwing out ideas, Yuma." Mogami said.

"Yeah, stupid ideas." Yuma retorted.

"How is it stupid?" Mogami countered. "It was love that saved you five years ago."

"There was love involved when Dad died for me, but that was the reasoning for his actions but not the power. It was his skill and strength that created the Black Trigger. Love?" Yuma scoffed. "That is like battle spirit. It encourages you to stand up and fight, but it doesn't give you the win. Experience, skill, strategy, power. Those are what determine the outcome of a battle."

"This isn't a battle though, Yuma."

"Isn't it?" Yuma argued. He pulled out his father's old Trigger and held his fist out towards Mogami with it in it.

Mogami sighed. "You're the type to solve things with your fists, aren't you?"

Yuma jerked his head to side, scratching his cheek. That wasn't exactly wrong, but not exactly right either. Violence was his choice for most solutions when he had been alone in the Neighborhood, but since coming to Japan and meeting Osamu, he had been doing his best to avoid using his fists to solve his problems when people make him mad. "And I suppose you're like Jin-san and you like to find a path that all sides can accept as a way to make them happy. Unfortunately, in this situation, there is no happily ever after because this isn't a fairy tale."

Mogami sighed, pushing himself back up to his feet. "I never said we would have a happy ending, Yuma. I'm asking Border to find a way to kill me and Yugo. We already died once and it should have stayed that way so we would just be righting things, but I do know that doesn't mean it will be any easier for you guys."

Mocking amusement hit Yuma in that moment. "Trust me, it hasn't been easy on us for days." His eyes flickered over to the desk where Mogami had put Fujin down. "So, if that's all you wanted to talk about, I should head back to HQ." Preferably before Mogami lost control of himself and decided he wanted to hurt Yuma to get the ring for Yugo. He didn't exactly fully trust Mogami as he knew the Trion Soldier programming could take over at any moment. The only reason he didn't take the ring earlier was because it would kill Yuma right away, but it wouldn't be an immediate death if Mogami took it this time since he restored some of Yuma's strength. That meant Mogami could change his tune at any moment. He needed to get out of here before that happened.

*Mimics*

"You should rest when you can, Kirie-chan."

Konami didn't move an inch from where she was lying on the couch, staring blankly up at the ceiling with her arm draped across her forehead. "I am resting."

"I mean, sleep in a bed." Yuri corrected. She abandoned her computer to move over to Konami. She leaned over her friend to block her view of the ceiling, staring down at Konami with concern. "You'll get some actual proper rest there."

"I know I need to sleep. I won't be of any use to anyone like this, but my mind can't settle down enough for me to fall asleep." Konami closed her eyes to block out Yuri's concerned face, but instead of a blissful darkness, she saw Yuma leaving her behind with Mogami being the one to drag him away. "Mogami-san isn't the type to kill people, but he attacked our engineers. It was a distraction technique, but the fact he made the attempt means he has that mean streak in him from being a Trion Soldier. Who knows how he can hurt Yuma?"

Yuri's eyes softened in understanding. She kneeled down by the couch. "I haven't known Yuma-kun for as long as you, but the stories from uncle has led me to believe that he can overcome anything. I want to believe in Yuma-kun's strength that he is fine."

"I've never doubted how strong he is. He's my student after all." Konami said, voice full of pride. "But being strong doesn't mean to look down on help. Strong people, the truly strong, know the value of allies and teamwork. Yuma trusted us in looking out for him, and we ended up failing him."

"We have Kuga-san in our prison cell so we didn't fail completely. Perhaps we can use this to our advantage."

"What is that even about?" Konami muttered.

"It seems he surrendered to us." Yuri explained.

Konami cracked an eye open, curiously. "Is that good or suspicious?"

Yuri tapped her chin as she thought about it. She honestly didn't know enough about Yugo to really say as she had never met him. All she knew about him was what Yuma had been telling them about him all week.

"He surrendered since he didn't want to use the Black Trigger seals to fight us anymore since he realized how much it was hurting Yuma."

Hearing her partner's voice, Konami pushed herself up on the couch to see Karasuma standing in the doorway of their squad's room. "Huuuh?" She demanded. "The hell he did! He's been hurting Yuma all week without any care about his wellbeing! There's no way we can trust him in one of our cells!"

"Would you prefer him to still be wandering the Restricted Zone with us having no idea where he was and giving him the chance to attack Yuma before we can realize what is happening?" Karasuma replied. "Even if we can't trust him, at least we know where he is at. If he's here, Mogami-san can't hand Yuma over to him."

"It would help if they didn't keep breaking into HQ so easily!" Konami looked off to the side in thought. "Actually, wasn't Kuga-san using Yuma's Trigger to break into here? If we have him in our cells, we should take this chance to get his Trigger. Even if he escapes, he won't be able to get back into our base so easily again. In fact..."

Konami stood up from the couch and shoved pass Karasuma to go handle that herself. At least this way, she could also get Yuma his Trigger back. She would much prefer he had his Scorpion blades on him than those other blades he had with the old Trigger he was using. Yuma was a fighting maniac since he enjoyed a good challenge, but she knew he would be a lot happier if he could use his Border Trigger.

The old Trigger of his father's was only causing him pain right now because he was mirroring his father's technique who was currently the enemy. It was a reminder of the father who was hurting him all week. She wanted Yuma to have his Scorpion back. It would surely give more comfort to hold a set of familiar blades over a pair that was going to haunt his nightmares now. His father's blades were supposed to be a sign of comfort as they used to be used to protect Yuma but now they were being used against him. He didn't need to be wielding those same swords.

"Oh dear," Yuri sighed. "I had wanted her to go get some sleep. Now that you riled her up, I don't think she'll be resting for a few hours."

Karasuma gave her an apologetic smile. It hadn't been his intention to upset Konami, but he had wanted to inform her. Her getting upset was an obvious reaction though. She didn't take kindly to anyone hurting her friends.

"If you want to go home and rest, I'll let uncle know."

Karasuma shook his head. "I told my family I would be staying here tonight and I'll call off from my part time tomorrow. This has to come to an end at some point. I want to be available to offer any help I can give."

*Mimics*

Murakami stared down at his phone, debating with himself about whether to text his team with updates about what happened tonight. They had all gone home early tonight to rest after the last couple of days. He really didn't want to bother them with this tonight since there wasn't anything else they could do at the moment. At the same time, he wasn't sure it was okay to leave them in the dark about this and blindside them in the morning.

"'You can go home to sleep tonight after we hang with Kuga for a few hours.'" Kageura mocked Murakami's earlier words.

Murakami closed his eyes, breathing out slowly as Kageura joined him on the couch. Since Murakami's base of operations was the Suzunari Branch, he had joined Kageura in his squad's room since it was empty as Kageura's team, besides Zoe who went to get a drink, had all gone home hours ago. Even before coming in here, he knew Kageura was going to have some pent-up aggravation over everything that had gone down. "How was I supposed to know this was going to happen? And for the record, no one is preventing you from going home to sleep."

"Who the hell is going to sleep easily tonight?" Kageura snarled. "Two nights in a row our base has been attacked and two nights in a row, we lost. We're in our own turf and we still can't win."

Murakami put his phone down on the table so he wouldn't be distracted from the conversation by thinking about his own team. He really didn't know what to say to Kageura because he was right. Murakami felt exhausted but he wasn't sure he would be able to sleep if he laid down. It was a frustrating experience to be in their own base and get defeated. They weren't quite defeated as they killed all of Yugo's Trion Soldiers and captured Yugo, but the other team lost to Mogami and Yuma got captured. On top of that, their HQ was pretty wrecked from the constant battles in it. "We weren't prepared for this kind of attack. We let ourselves get too relaxed."

"And that's our mistake. Kuga had his Black Trigger back. There was no way his father and Mogami were going to just sit back."

"We had assumed they wouldn't make a move against Border with just the two of them. No matter how strong they are, against all of Border's agents, they can't win. They needed to wait until they could open Gates again to summon Trion Soldiers again which should have been two days." Murakami rubbed his eyes, feeling the exhaustion pulling at his muscles. "But they outsmarted us and went to the Trion barrier instead. I know they were Border agents in the past, but the Trion barrier wasn't a thing when they were in Border. How did they know about it?"

"How did Kuga know how to use the training rooms to give him unlimited Trion to open all those Gates?" Kageura retorted. "He's damn smart. Give him the slightest clue and he'll figure it out. Which is why I don't trust this surrender of his. He's plotting something."

"It is possible Kuga has managed to get control of himself over his Mimic self." Murakami pointed out.

Kageura scoffed, disbelief rolling off of him in waves. He knew nothing about Kuga Yugo, and he didn't care to know anything about him. All he wanted was for his friend to be safe and for them to go back to having their three-way rank wars with Murakami. If it wasn't going to hurt Yuma, Kageura would march right down to the prison cells and punch Yugo right in his face for causing all of this. "That doesn't mean shit. He's still needs to die."

"No one is against that." Murakami said, and it was true as far as he knew. He hadn't seen his directors in a couple of days and he didn't specifically talk to Yuma about it, but he was certain they were all in agreement that Yugo and Mogami needed to die. "But right now, we're in a...delicate situation. It's not as simple as just killing them right now."

"So what? You're saying I can't handle it?" Kageura retorted.

"You're not exactly what I would call tactful."

"I'm not about to kill Kuga when his life is tied to our Kuga's." Kageura snapped.

"And? Your sharp tongue isn't needed either. Just sit here and calm down. The directors will handle things for now and when they are ready, we'll be ready to fight."

Kageura eyed his friend out of the corner of his eye as Murakami kept glancing at the table where he had laid his phone down earlier. "Telling me to calm down when you're not at all relaxed yourself?"

"I didn't say it was easy to do. It easy to be impassive in an invasion as we have an enemy to focus on and we need to concern ourselves with our own safety so we don't die a reckless death that will take us out of the rest of the battle." Murakami replied. "It's not as easy when you have to sit around and wait while a friend is missing and possibly about to die. Sitting around like this feels like abandoning him to his death."

"Heh," Kageura scoffed, pushing himself back to his feet. "We already saw Kuga kick Ikoma-san across a room earlier. Just because he's in no condition to fight, doesn't mean he will roll over and let Mogami kill him. He'll be an idiot and fight back."

Which hopefully wouldn't end with him getting killed because of his injuries.

A blanket came soaring through the air and landed over Murakami's head. "Do you really think we'll be able to sleep?" Murakami asked as he pulled the blanket off his head.

"No." This time, Kageura threw a pillow at Murakami's face, but Murakami was prepared now and caught it before it could hit him. It was a good thing that Hikari left a surplus of pillows and blankets in here so she could laze around and relax when she had free time. "You could at least get comfortable though and try to relax if you think it's that important."

Kageura threw himself onto the adjacent couch so Murakami could have room to lay down and stretch out if he wanted. He pulled his phone out to see an e-mail from Shinoda that had come through. "Shinoda-san is switching up defense duty for the time being since we need to guard Kuga as well. Damn it. I'm beginning to forget what having time off actually means."

Murakami tossed his pillow on the couch and threw himself down to stare blankly up at the ceiling. "No one should allow you near Kuga's dad."

"Shut up." Kageura grumbled, but kept his eyes on his phone as he scrolled through messages. "Doesn't seem like the directors plan to go to sleep anytime soon."

"They're putting in the same amount of overtime it seems." Murakami agreed, shifting on the couch to try to get comfortable. It wasn't the most uncomfortable couch he's ever laid on, but it truly couldn't compare to his bed at home. There were some barracks in HQ they could have gone to sleep in, but Murakami wasn't feeling up to going there. Most of the agents probably didn't. Those that weren't heading home would probably go hide in their squad's operation rooms to get away from people. Kageura was hiding in his since it was harder for him to relax around people with his side effect and Murakami joined him as he was one of the few people that Kageura was close enough to that he could relax around.

"This attack is probably more stressful for them than anyone else." Kageura mused. "We all deserve a damn vacation when this is over."

"The overtime pay isn't enough for you? What would you even do with a vacation?" Murakami mused. "If you're not here, you have nowhere to work out your aggravation over your side effect causing you pain. This is the only place where you can hide in a virtual space to calm down."

Kageura grunted. That was true. Hiding in a virtual space was his favorite hiding spot since everyone would leave him the hell alone. Most of the time he spent his time with Murakami and Yuma in that virtual space. Besides his team, they were the people he liked the most. Murakami for the challenge he gave him and Yuma because he was just so silent around him. There was no pricking against his skin when Yuma was around him. Ever since he admitted that a few weeks ago, Murakami took advantage of it. When he saw that Kageura seemed worse off from his side effect, he would drag Yuma into the virtual combat rooms with Kageura to give some him some peace and quiet. As much peace and quiet as Kageura could get when he and Yuma were trying to kill each other.

When this was all over, Kageura was going to drag that shrimp into a fifty-round match. It was what Yuma owed him for putting up with all those noisy idiots tonight. Yuma wasn't allowed to die before then.

*Mimics*

Suwa leaned on the ledge, chewing on his cigarette, as he stared out at the Restricted Zone. Even though Mogami had destroyed the Trion barrier, it felt strangely silent out here. The Gates could be reopened again, but despite that, nothing was happening. The quietness out here was quite unnerving. It should be calm and peaceful, but Suwa felt more riled up than ever.

"It's strange to see you so quiet."

"Reiji," Suwa greeted and was surprised at the beer that his friend was holding out to him. "We're still on the clock and you want to drink?"

Reiji set the beer for Suwa down on the ledge and opened his own. "One drink isn't going to hurt. Besides, it's highly unlikely Mogami-san will come back here tonight and Kuga-san isn't going to make a move so soon." He stared out at the Restricted Zone, eyes scanning every inch of it that he could see without moving. He knew what he was looking for, but he also knew that he wasn't going to spot it.

Suwa stared at his friend for a second longer before grabbing his own beer and popping it open. "I met Kuga earlier today. I can see the way he influenced the albino shrimp, not only in his fighting style but his personality as well." He took a long sip of his beer before sighing and setting it down to switch to his cigarette. "I went after them with Arafune earlier to mark them with my starmaker so we could track them when we decided to go after them again." He snorted to himself. "I marked Kuga when it appears I should have gone after Mogami instead. We would have found him by now if I had."

"It seems there's a lot of guilt and feelings of failure going around Border tonight." Reiji commented. "What happened isn't anyone's fault. Yuma's certainly not going to blame anyone. In fact, he's probably not focused on how anyone messed up but on what he can do in his situation and we need to be thinking the same way. Maybe a starmaker on Mogami-san would have been helpful now, but I think having it on Kuga-san will work just as well. None of us trust him after all. I think all of us are waiting for him to make a move."

"Tch, a waiting game. I hate it." Suwa complained. "I would rather be out there blowing things up."

"Which is why you could never be a sniper. You have zero patience."

Suwa scoffed. "I've got plenty of patience, just not on the same level as you snipers. Too much hiding and waiting for me. I would probably doze off while waiting and miss my chance."

Reiji shook his head, feeling a bit amused with the complaining coming from his friend. His complaining about everything was always a good source of amusement for him, but nothing could match when they were out drinking with Kazama and Terashima as well. Kazama really did not handle his alcohol well and Reiji essentially became a babysitter for him and Suwa. Suwa handled his alcohol better, but he had to keep Suwa from goading Kazama into doing something stupid. It was probably best that Terashima was getting his arm patched up and Kazama was currently on guard duty. They didn't all need to be getting together and drinking right now.

"The agents on defense duty have been alerted of the situation and will keep an eye out for Mogami-san." Reiji commented.

"I doubt anything will come from that, but at least it feels like we are doing something." Suwa muttered. With no leads right now and currently coming off a battle, Shinoda had put out the order for the agents to stand down. They weren't quite on duty right now, nor where they quite off duty either though. They were just in an in-between spot where they could stay at HQ or head home and wait for more information or orders to come their way.

*Mimics*

Stomping footsteps had Tachikawa and Kazama pulling their eyes from Yugo who was simply sitting on his bed, staring back at them with a knowing smile. It was an aggravating smile to stare out as it felt like he was taking this free time to plot something in his head, likely his escape. Without his swords on him, he only had the Black Trigger seals at his disposal, but as Yuma showed them the other day when he fought Jin, that alone was powerful enough to stop them in their tracks.

The door to the prison slid open to allow Konami entrance as she stormed in with an expression of pure fury on her face. She didn't take the time to acknowledge her allies as she made her way over to the cell. Konami had a lot of love for her student. In any other situation, she would have loved to have gotten to meet Yuma's father and she would be proud to introduce Mogami to him in return.

That wasn't the current situation though.

"Ah, the girl with the axes." Yugo greeted when she came into his sightline.

"My name is Konami." Konami bit out, refusing to give Yugo access to her first name. "I'm Yuma's mentor."

Yugo didn't let her rude tone deter him from smiling. Keeping the smile in place and staying calm always aggravated his enemies and made it easier to set them off to make mistakes. "Despite saying you won't overlook me hurting Yuma, I expected you to try to challenge me more, but you've been absent from any confrontations with me."

"That's because you've been making sure we've been too busy to go looking for you." Konami retorted. She hadn't come down here to talk about this, or anything with Yugo, but here she was. If he wanted to talk, she would make sure he understood the damage he was doing. "And when we're not fighting, I'm prioritizing Yuma's mental state that you have been trying your best to destroy."

Yugo's eyes sharpened in on the girl. Her tongue was just as sharp and full of anger as the day they first met. He supposed that came from the protective streak she seemed to have for his son's physical and mental state. Which was worse? Yuma's physical state or his mental state? Yugo had seen the state of Yuma's body which was coming from Yugo draining his Black Trigger, but he hadn't put much thought on how Yuma was mentally. Having his father going out of his way to take actions that would lead to his Yuma's death would of course have an affect on his mental state.

"Yuma sure is lucky to have such a caring mentor." Yugo replied.

"He needs someone to care about since his father sure doesn't."

Yugo's smile morphed into a frown for just a second before he was forcing it back into a smile before it could be seen and used against him. He hadn't been a great father the past few days, but that was hard to do when every inch of his being was screaming at him and demanding the Black Trigger. In the eyes of these agents, he was a horrible father. His past actions meant nothing because the Kuga Yugo who prioritized his son above all else had died five years ago. To these Border agents, he was just a villain that needed to die.

And they weren't exactly wrong.

"Where is my cute son?" Yugo asked instead. "It's so disheartening that he hasn't come to see his father yet."

Konami glared at Yugo while Tachikawa and Kazama stiffened behind her. As strong as Konami was, she wasn't good with mind games. When she was angry, she would more easily slip up with secrets and right now, they did not want Yugo to know his partner had taken Yuma, but when he asks that question directly, how do they answer with his side effect just vying to see through them?

"Kuga won't be coming down here." Kazama said, choosing his words very carefully. "You've done enough damage without playing your mind games with him as well."

Yugo stared at the short agent, contemplating his words. There was no lie in his words, but the way these agents acted when he asked that question was strange. It truly felt like there was something more there. "A shame. I would have loved to have a chance to talk with him."

"Instead of talking, if you really care about your son, do what Jin said and tell us how to kill you without killing Chibi." Tachikawa retorted.

"And while you're at it," Konami slammed a fist on the prison door to make Yugo look back at her. "Give me Yuma's Trigger back."

"Oh, this?" Yugo pulled out the Trigger and tossed it a few times in the air to mock the two agents behind Konami who had taken his swords, but didn't remember he had this and take it from him. "Why don't you come in here and take it from me?"

Konami snarled angrily and slammed her fist against the door again. They all knew if he wanted to, Yugo could break this door easily with Boost, but that didn't just mean they were going to open the door for him. They also couldn't leave him with Yuma's Trigger though. He could either activate it to get a pair of swords on his side again or continue to use it to break into HQ whenever he wanted. Locked up, it meant nothing to him, but if he broke out of here and wanted back into their base, he could enter easily again.

"You're not Kuga-san." Konami snapped. "You're the damn Mimic."

"You're misunderstanding something." Yugo stored Yuma's Trigger back in his pocket and stood up to make his way to the door. "There is no Kuga Yugo and Mimic in me. We're one and the same. This is just a matter of whether I can control my instincts to do whatever it takes to get the Black Trigger from Yuma, and right now, I decided that I can stop myself."

"Which means you're expecting this to not last." Kazama said. Yugo was telling them that there weren't two different people in him. It was all just about controlling himself, but it was easier on the agents to just talk about Yugo and the Mimic as if there were different personalities.

Yugo leaned his arm on the door above his head and moved closer to keep his eyes on Konami. "If I could resist forever, don't you think I would have stopped coming after Yuma long ago? If you really want to save him, you better figure something out before I lose control again because if he is truly as bad as you say he is, he's not going to survive the next time my resistance slips up."

"Then why not help us?" Konami retorted. "Give us information."

"Because that would lead to my death." Yugo replied. "And no matter how much I want to die, my programming demands of me that I prioritize my survival so giving you any information on how to sever the connection between me and Yuma will go against that and I can't do that. Perhaps if I did, my resistance would break that much quicker."

"You want to die?" Konami asked surprised.

"I'm not even supposed to be alive right now." Yugo said softly. "I died for Yuma a long time ago."

"I heard the story." Konami replied, anger dissolving just a bit.

"What? Did you think I wanted to be here attacking my organization and hunting down my son?" Yugo asked amused though there truly was nothing funny about this situation. "I don't enjoy this, Konami. I don't enjoy seeing my son staring at me with eyes full of fear and betrayal. I don't enjoy seeing him getting hurt. I want him to be able to smile again."

"But it doesn't matter what you want. It's all about what your programming wants." Tachikawa said.

"They are at war." Yugo agreed. "And I've been fighting it since the day I transformed. My ability to resist got stronger when I had my Black Trigger. If you really want me to help you, why don't you give me my ring back?"

That question was all that Konami needed for any sympathy she was beginning to develop was completely washed away.

"You must think we're stupid if you really think we would agree to that." Konami snapped, anger coming back in full force. This conversation was all over the place. One second it felt like Yugo was being a caring father with his words and the next he was right back to demanding the one thing that if he lost it, Yuma would die. Plus, the moment Yugo got it, he and Mogami would have both Black Triggers and leave Japan so fast now that they broke the Trion barrier. "Seeing you and Mogami-san like this is really disappointing. I may not have known you before, but I knew Mogami-san and it's painful to see him like this, acting against who he is." She turned her back on Yugo to leave. She would have to tell Rindo and Shinoda to get that Trigger from Yugo as soon as possible. "And I know Yuma hates seeing his dad like this."

Those were her parting words as she left the cell. Yugo has basically said it was pointless to talk to him as he wasn't going to tell them anything so she wasn't going to waste her time here anymore. To her, it felt like a waste to try to get Yugo to give them an answer to what they had to do to save Yuma.

*Mimics*

Mogami had gotten his point across to Yuma. It would be difficult for them to work together when Mogami didn't have full control so it would be a good idea for the kid to leave. The problem was the way that Yuma was no longer looking at him, but beyond him and at the desk where Mogami had set Fujin down earlier.

The Fujin blade belonged to Border. Mogami may have been the creator of it, but the creator never got to use the Black Trigger because they were dead. It wasn't meant for the creator but for those they left behind.

In an act of good faith, he should stand by to allow Yuma access to Fujin. It belonged to Border, after all.

The moment Yuma's hand touched Fujin though, Mogami felt like he lost a few seconds. One minute he was crouched by the bed and the next his hand was closed around Yuma's throat with him slamming the kid into the wall. To his credit, Yuma didn't look the least bit scared. He was just staring at Mogami with knowing eyes. Mogami looked down at the desk where Fujin was still sitting with Yuma's hand curled around it.

"Hey, Mogami," Yuma choked out, grabbing Mogami's arm with his free hand. "Seems your control slipped faster than you thought it would. You shouldn't have put Fujin down." Even if he hadn't put it down though, Yuma wasn't willing to walk away from here without it.

Mogami's hand loosened ever so slightly on Yuma's neck, feeling shock and horror at himself for what he had done. "Yuma..." Why...? Yugo didn't lose control this fast when he lost the ring earlier. Mogami had been so sure he would have had more time to remain in control. His eyes flickered back to Yuma's red eyes staring back at him. His two eyes. "I gave all of it to you."

Confusion flickered through Yuma's eyes. "Huh?"

Mogami's hand moved down to Fujin to grab it, but Yuma refused to move his hand from it. "Having hold of the Black Trigger returns control to me as the lifeforce of the real Mogami Soichi reinvigorates me. I gave all that Trion I received from Fujin to heal you." It wasn't easy to heal Yuma's wounds. His body was created by a Black Trigger so it required a lot of Trion to be healed and to restore Yuma his strength. Mogami was lasting so long as a Mimic in this world because Fujin had been returning Trion to him and once he got hold of the Trigger, he could feel the lifeforce he poured into it becoming his once more. It was giving him more control of himself and he went and gave it all away to help Yuma. There was very little left for Mogami, and thus, his control was slipping away.

No more needed said as Yuma's eyes lit up instantly in understanding with the very little that Mogami had given him. Mogami losing control was something that Yuma had been expecting to come at some point. He just wished it hadn't been so soon. "A shame, Oji-san. This truly ruins the conversation we just had." Yuma's knee came up fast and hard to slam into Mogami's stomach. It wouldn't cause pain to a Trion body, but it did shock him enough to stumble back with his hand releasing Yuma's neck fully. An attack with Boost would have been better there, but if he had used any Trion at all, Mogami would have sensed the attack coming and dodged or blocked Yuma.

Yuma threw himself to the side to get some distance from Mogami, taking Fujin with him since in his shock, Mogami had let go of his hold on it. Unfortunately, with Mogami in front of him and the desk on his left blocking his path, Yuma had to move right which was away from the window he would have liked to have jumped out of. Well, he always had the door behind him.

The problem was Mogami righting himself and pulling his Kogetsu free from his side with his wind blades activating immediately upon the blade being fully freed from the sheath.

"So, I'm guessing you're not getting control of yourself back anytime soon?" Yuma asked.

"Yuma."

Yuma nodded his head and pulled out his dad's old Trigger, praying this would work. Mogami had just restored his body and Trion with Fujin so by that logic, he should be able to activate his Triggers again. He just wasn't going to use his Black Trigger, since like Fujin, it was damaged because of the Mimics. Mogami had only just healed him. There was no reason for Yuma to speed up his body breaking again by using his Black Trigger for this fight. "Trigger on."

Mogami gave Yuma no time to get ready as he was immediately lunging at him. Yuma ducked under his swing and hit the ground in a roll to get behind his father's friend. In such a small bedroom, he could not get the space he wanted from Mogami to get a moment to prepare for this fight.

Being back in his black uniform meant that Yuma had his pouch back at his side along with the two swords that came equipped with his dad's Trigger. Yuma slipped Fujin in that pouch and drew out one of his swords, keeping his eyes locked on Mogami as he turned to face Yuma. It was this kind of inability to keep himself true to who Mogami was that was causing Jin, Konami, and the others pain. Yuma could run from Mogami to try to escape or he could embrace this fight and save his friends from the pain of Mogami losing himself fully by killing him.

The problem was the wind blades. It was impossible to see where they were going to attack from before they were coming out of the walls already on top of him. Wind blades attacked where the user could see, but as Miwa proved during the Aftokrator invasion, if the user was guided to where to aim, they could attack even without a direct line of sight. Mogami was a state above that as he could sense the Trion and use that to aim without relying on anyone else to give him the coordinates. It made him difficult to fight and to hide from when he could track Yuma so easily.

Staring up at Mogami's face, Yuma saw that nothing had changed in his expression. He looked as calm and relaxed as he did when they were talking earlier. There really wasn't a way to tell when his resistance to his Trion Soldier programming had slipped away. "I suppose since you are losing the fight with yourself right now, you'll be coming for both of these Black Triggers?" Yuma asked, raising his gloved hand which hid his ring.

"It would be in your best interest to hand over Fujin, Yuma." Mogami replied. "If I have it on me, I can restore what I lost when I healed you and get my control back."

Yuma glanced down at Fujin at his side, but kept an eye on Mogami out of the corner of his eyes. Since Yuma had been confined to HQ recently, he hadn't seen Mogami in days and only had brief contact with his father. There were very brief showings of the love Yugo once had for Yuma in his actions. They never lasted for long and were before he got Yuma's ring. Yuma had no idea of what Yugo was like after getting a hold of the ring, but it was possible he was like Mogami and was gaining the strength to resist his programming, but it wasn't a solution. It wasn't going to last and when their lives were threatened, they still resorted back to trying to kill the Border agents to protect themselves. Fujin gave Mogami better resistance to his programming, but it also made him stronger.

"Sorry," Yuma decided as he rose from his crouch to stand before Mogami. "But I won't give you Fujin. If you can't fight your programming, then come at me, Mogami! It won't bring me pleasure to kill Jin-san's mentor, but I will do it for his sake."

Those unyielding eyes. They brought back a sense of nostalgia in Mogami. It was just like all those nights he and Yugo would stand face to face in the training rooms, neither wanting to call training to a quit until they were ahead of the other. It truly was a shame that he and Yugo couldn't be back in those simple days where they just wanted to one up each other. Back in those days, none of them could have predicted that life would turn out like it currently was playing out.

Nothing ever came of wishing though. The past was the past and it wouldn't change or come back. The only place to look at was the future.

The question was, which one of them would make it to that future?

Mogami or Yuma?