Welcome to the jungle
It gets worse here everyday
Ya learn ta live like an animal
In the jungle where we play
-Lyrics to 'Welcome To the Jungle performed by Guns 'n Roses
Crimson Bonds Part 33
Blinking to clear her vision when the world returned to her, Lucie's eyes only enlarged when she spun around to take in the brilliantly lit forest surrounding her when only a second ago she was in Doctor Berg's sealed off laboratory. Both awed and a little scared by the drastic change in scenery, she whispered, "Holy ssshh...."
But something was very wrong. Her eyes narrowing, the beautiful blonde snapped at her captive, "We're not at the estates. I ordered you to take me to the Barton-Yuy households!"
At the sight of Aisley's thumb moving to the red button on the remote in her possession, Celeste's damp eyes widened as she cried desperately, "This is the closest I could bring us!"
Staying her execution just when the finger had begun to apply pressure to the device, the Companion gulped and rushed to explain, "Solo's brother is like a shield against the powers of anyone he turns. Everyone close to him is protected, too! The same goes for any Vampire mutations that the other Hybrid brings on to use against Solo!"
Jaw falling open at that, Lucie absorbed that bit of information. "Very interesting. That is a lot more insight than we were ever able to get out of that freak of yours," she drew out with a lopsided smirk. "I should have used you against him sooner."
Celeste swallowed roughly when the Hunter's smile spread further across her face. "Remember what my Pet told you," her captor warned, holding up the remote detonator of the collar. "Do everything I tell you and your pretty little head stays attached to your neck."
Rolling her shoulders back with the last of her edginess passing, Aisley pressed, "Now, which way to the estate?" The Companion lowered her head and pointed right with a slight angle towards the north. "Good," the blonde smiled darkly. Moving forward, she tugged on the chain in her other hand as she said, "Let's move."
'Home,' Celeste immortal cringed in thought as she slowly followed behind. God forbid that cell remained her home for the remainder of her days. Though a way out seemed near impossible at the moment, she refused to give up hope that she and Solo would be free some day.
At the moment, however, that prospect could not be further away from their grasps. Then to make matters worse, it looked as though Duo was going to be pulled into the same hell along with them before long.
Little did either of them know the shock that they were in store for when they did arrive at the mansions.
* * * * * *
"That's all of them, then?" the gravely voice on the other the of the telephone call asked.
Septum replied, "That's all of them."
He neatly folded the paper of etched out names and addresses that he had written down of the eight that had left his ranks the night prior. Striking a match against the side of his desk, he brought its flame up and set flame to a corner of the page. A swift wave of his hand cooled the stick as he watched the ashes of his report fall into the ashtray he had set beneath it.
Mesmerized by the dance of the fire licking away at the folds, Millers warned, "For the money that I am paying you for your help, there better not be anything left behind that ties these... accidents to me. Quick and clean. That's how I want them handled. And this should be our last talk until you call to tell me that the job is done."
His associate snickered deeply, "Don't worry. No one will be any the wiser that there was any foul play involved, let alone your link to their untimely demises. Pleasure doing business with you, old friend. You'll be hearing from me again soon."
There was a loud click over the line to announce the end of their discussion.
Sighing, Septum brushed his fingers to dust off the last embers of the paper that had been completely consumed. Just as their names had been erased from existence, so would the men and women that went with them before the week was out.
They were about to meet their match... a hunter of Hunters.
His mind cleared in knowing that his loose ends were about to be snipped off before they could fray the rest of his mission, Millers sighed deeply in content and leaned back in his leather chair. Folding his arms behind his head, he hummed to himself and pondered what the new day that had just begun in his neck of the world might hold for him.
Of course, he would have to see how his Pet was faring and what new methods of... inspiration he might be able to come up with to get the Hybrid's tongue to loosen.
At the thought of his 'honored guest', the researcher sat back up and turned on the monitor of his computer to bring up the laboratory's security camera captures. Curled up around himself, Solo was sitting on the edge of his bed with an unusually worried look in his silver-ringed eyes.
Frowning to himself, Septum knew the direction that the creature was staring at was that leading into his partner's cell across from him. Fingers flying over his keyboard to access the Companion's camera, his own eyes widened when the glass-walled prison came up without any sign of its inhabitant.
A wave of panic shooting him up to his feet, the scientist all but ran around his desk for the door to his office. Careful to not draw attention to himself from the few early risers of his staff that he encountered out on the catwalks, he kept his pace at a brisk walk while offering smiles and firm nods in greeting to those who acknowledged him.
By the time he reached the sealed entrance to the lab, Septum could feel his blood boiling as his heart raced in his chest. It took a three attempts for the frantic typing of his fingers to correctly punch in the access code, causing him to curse under his breath before the doors slid open to him.
With the opening closed behind him when he rushed inside, the Boss's glaring eyes bore into the doctor standing at the opposite end of the room with his back to him. Face reddening, Millers shouted, "Berg! Where is the Companion?"
Dropping the tools of torture that he had been sanitizing, the old man spun around in his fright to blink in confusion at his employer. "W-what do you mean?" he stammered. Shaking his head, he insisted, "She is safe in her cell along with the Pet. I only just arrived to prepare for the next round of his questioning."
Just as Septum had feared. His friend had no idea of what had transpired. Pointing at the lifeless monitor at the end of the counter where Berg was working, he growled, "Look at the feeds in the holding cells." Before the words were finished coming out, he was facing the back of the doctor's white lab coat as he turned to turn the screen on.
Clicking and clattering along his keyboard, the white-haired scientist froze at the image of Celeste's empty cell. Crumbling forward as though he had been given a direct blow to his gut, the air rushed from his lungs in a loud wheeze.
Slowly peering back at his boss, Berg's face had taken a ghastly shade of white as perspiration formed on his brow. "I... I-I don't what-" abruptly halting his stammering, he gasped, "Wait! Let me go back in the archives." Typing with a renewed sense of urgency, he brought the feed to fuzz in his rewinding back the hours until the cameras picked up on a dark-clad figure entering the scene at one o'clock that morning.
"There!" Millers yelled, pointing at the monitor at the same time his associate brought the recording to play forward at normal speed.
Complete silence fell over the scientists as the men watched Lucie free the Companion, force Solo to bite her and then disappeared in a swirl of light with her captive. Only able to read the lips and follow the body language, there was no question to either observer that the Hunter had taken Celeste hostage for a mutation to take her... somewhere.
While the events that had unfolded were remarkable in and of themselves, the documented turning of a Companion by the Hybrid, that was not at the forefront of Septum's mind right then. Staring at the paused moment when the young women disappeared, he whispered, "What the hell are you up to, Aisley?"
* * * * * *
Sitting along the steps of the front porch to their home, the youngest of the Yuy-Chang brood were playing with toys, card games, coloring in books and took part in other bits of entertainment with their day's lessons having had come to an end not long before. Stepping out into the open, their mother announced cheerfully, "Alright, kids! Who wants to play hide-and-go-seek?"
Their heads raising to chorus their elated cheers me 'Me!' and 'I do!' the little ones shot to their feet at the same time that their father, uncles and older brothers and sisters emerged with smirks of anticipation on their faces. "Shinigami gets dibs on seeking!" Duo snickered over the clamor, his violet eyes glowing at the arrival of his counterpart.
Anna giggled, "You heard him, everyone. You better get to a good hiding spot."
"Inside or outside?" Mao was quick to ask, always a stickler for playing by the rules. Brushing off the glitter from her hands that had not made the page she was gluing it to, she looked to her brothers, smirking, "Just so everyone plays fair." Solo, Cai and Ian stuck their tongues out and snorted at their sister.
Unable to help his snicker of amusement, Wufei answered, "Both options are fine." Quickly sobering, he raised a scaly finger and warned, "But you know the limits of how far you can go outside, so stay within the boundaries."
Cracking his knuckles, Shinigami winked to the kids as he grinned, "Wherever you do hide, it better be good if you don't want me to find you." Turning on his heels, he raised his arms to prop them against the porch post beside him and pressed his closed eyes against them.
Having made sure everyone playing noticed his turn, he announced, "You have until I reach fifty. One... Two... Three..." In the next blink, the chuckling lot spread out and disappeared in blurs of themselves. Both having heard and felt the swooshing air swirling around him, the Hybrid snickered as he went on, "Four... Five..."
Ian came to love the little creek running through the back woods enclosing the estates and headed there straight away. As the only one of his family to have ventured in that direction, he felt pretty secure in his choice of hiding place and moved to duck under a couple of upturned roots that dangled over the surface to look like a cozy hand for him to take shelter under.
Biting his lip, the boy smiled in content as he lowered himself onto his stomach and faced the direction of the homes off more than a football field's length beyond the thick cover of trees and shrubbery...
...It was right at the edge of the safe bounds that had been set by his parents, but it was still deemed a safe distance away. Surely one of the others would be an easier find for his Uncle.
Suddenly, the stillness was broken with the deep giggle of an unfamiliar voice behind the young Vampire. "Like taking candy from a baby," came the cold sentiment that sent a chill down Ian's spine. Freezing with a sharp gasp, every instinct kicked in at a flash for him to run when a net of wire was thrown over the roots to fall around him from every side where he could have broken through.
And in a matter of a blink, what had been a protective hand holding him had become a webbed talon that trapped him from the world.
Gold-and-blue eyes peering frantically around for any hole big enough for his little body to slip through, the raven-haired Infected whimpered at his discovery that he was completely sealed by material as fortified as chain mail.
Only now and then was there a gap just wide enough for Ian to peer out to the filtered light while showing some of the world around him. Panting heavily, he watched as a pair of long, slender legs stalked towards him until they stopped just at the edge of his cage. Hands covering the knees that began to bend, a beautiful blonde woman smirked the way a predator would leer at its prey. "Hello, little one," she purred.
Just as the Vampire reached out to get a handhold on the webbing, he yelped in pain from the intense burning that the metal brought on.
Pulling his hand back with a whimper, the youth inspected his hand as the scorched skin that had made contact with the net healed before his eyes. When he peered back up, he found himself staring down the long barrel of a gun that had slipped through a hidden slit in the chains.
A Hunter.
There was no question in the Infected's mind that he had come to be trapped by one of the mortals his parents had warned him about. Everything was just as they had said.. from the advanced equipment meant to kill their targets to the crazed need to do the deed in the blue eyes set on him.
"Ian... Don't... Move," a frightened voice whispered. Tears shimmering his eyes, the child let out a sharp sob as he peered over to where his mother stood still as a statue a few feet behind the Hunter.
Taking her time in rising to her feet, the living kept her finger on the trigger of her gun trained on the boy's head as she faced the redheaded Vampire glaring at her. "Anna Yuy Chang," she drew out slowly, that vicious smile never leaving her face. "So you do still exist. I've been quite the fan of yours and your family for some time now."
She gestured to her caged prize, shaking her head, "And imagine my surprise when I show up here to find that your Clan had grown considerably from the last time you were registered. Then to see how the new additions all bear striking resemblances of you and Wufei." Gently nudging Ian's shoulder with the end of her long-muzzled pistol, she commented, "Like this one, for example." Fingers digging into the dirt, the little one whimpered and trembled as his eyes closed tight.
Her fangs growing in, the Irish Immortal snarled, "Let him go. So help me if you hurt him I'll-"
"You'll be too late to save him, I promise you that," the blonde snapped back. Just to prove her point, she carefully wiggled her handle on the trigger. "You won't be able to close in fast enough to keep me from shooting him. There won't be anything left of a head on his shoulders to mend back together at this close a range."
Anna shivered, knowing the truth of the threat. "What do you want?" she insisted softly, but refused to retract her sharp teeth. "If all you wanted was a kill, you would have acted by now. And you're not exactly enough to handle my whole family on your own."
Giggling, the Hunter winked. "Clever one," she complimented. Sobering, her own eyes narrowed as she ordered, "I want your brother-in-law... the Hybrid bedding with Heero Yuy." The corner of her lips curling up anew, she added, "And you. My Boss would be more than thrilled to have you as an additional trophy since clearly you're able to spawn more of your demon kind."
Before the terms were even finished, the Siren shook her head in hearing Duo so much as suggested. "No," she growled. "You can have me, but not him." At the cry that broke from Ian when the barrel was pressed against his temple, she came up short in anything more to say as her gold-and-blue eyes misted over.
There was no way around it. He son did not stand a chance in this skirmish... but she and Duo could find a way out of their situation. Whoever this Boss was, he obviously wanted them intact.
"I wouldn't wait much longer in making that call," the mortal hummed out, her finger running along the trigger again. "One thing I can't stand is waiting for what I want." Raising an eyebrow, she added, "I'll even sweeten the deal by swearing that I'll leave this little mutant of yours behind. You're the bigger commodity between the two of you, anyway."
A deal that Anna was not about to risk losing. Though she did not trust the Hunter further than the few feet between them, there were no other options for her but to comply.
Her eyes drifting shut as stray tears ran down her face, the Siren whispered in a sweet song, "Duuoooo." The mystic tune carried on the wind, as she knew it would, seeking its receiver out.
Frowning deeply, the Hunter looked on in confusion. No sooner had her mouth opened to ask what the Infected was up to, she gasped when a braided creature entered the scene with silver-and-violet eyes that had her blinking in recognition. Seeing only his sister at first with a slowly growing consciousness at the fading of the brief spell that had lured him in, the Hybrid smiled, "Hey, Anna. What's up?"
That jovial demeanor evaporated in the next second when Maxwell noticed his nephew encased in a web net with the wrong end of a gun resting against the side of his head.
Fangs snapping into place, the half-breed sprang forward at the Hunter, his own speed being great enough to take her out with time to spare in protecting Ian when the blonde reeled back, pulled the gun out of the cage and fired it upon her assailant.
But it was not bullets that flew from the muzzle that had shattered to become a clasp. A ring of silver soared towards the blur closing in on her.
Collapsing from mid-air with a collar fixed around his neck, Duo screamed in agony at the jolts of electricity coursing through him. The surge purposely too intense for his mind to fight through, the world faded away from him into a sea of black. At the next loud bang from the weapon, Anna shared the same fate in the next blink when she fell to her brother's side at her own attempt at the living just behind him.
The Hunter laughed in triumph, "You're all mine, now!" Gazing back into the woods, she shouted, "Let's go! We're grabbing the little brat, too!"
With a deep, ragged breath that she pulled into her lungs, Anna managed to meet her horrified son's eyes and shrieked, "Ian! Run! Whatever it takes, get away and run as fast as you can!" The pain only grew, flooding everything in her senses until the world turned black and she fell next to her brother.
Nearly coming part in seeing his mother fall, Ian yelled in horror, "MOM!"
His breath coming and going in frantic pants, Ian sobbed when the Hunter focused her attention back on him. Taking hold of the handle at the top of the net to disarm it, she tossed the metal aside for a clearer shot and aimed her tagging device at him.
But just as she began to pull back on the trigger, the Vampire vanished right before her eyes. Taken aback, the wide-eyed living physically reeled back, shouting, "What the-?!"
Hearing and seeing the grass shift with invisible footsteps moving towards her, she let out a threatening growl and changed her weapon of choice to the actual laser pistol at her hip to start randomly shooting around where she thought the boy was.
The blonde received the shock of her life when a weight fell on her shoulders and she felt the sharp bite of two fangs digging into her exposed right shoulder.
Bellowing in pain, she flailed about but managed to send a few rounds at the beast trying to drain her blood. Once she found her footing enough to both slam her side into the nearest tree while landing a shot enough to have crimson droplets fly in the air, her little assailant yelped and his fangs pulled out.
Quick as she was to get her composure when the solid presence on her disappeared, the Hunter fought to catch her breath and steady her solid footing on account of the blood she had lost. Her vision swirling as it was, there was no mistaking the sharp whoosh of a breeze marking the desperate escape of the Vampire.
So he had heeded his mother's words. He ran as fast as he could.
Time was working against Lucie now. And she was well onto that. Covered in sweat from the exertion kicking in, she yelled at the Companion in the dark wings of the forest, "Come on! You've already taken too long! So you really think the Pet will care to exist if I kill you for your insubordination?!"
Celeste broke from her shocked stupor garnered by the events that had just unfolded. Rushing towards the sleeping pair, she bit her lip and lowered herself to her knees. "I am so sorry," she whispered through her tears as she gently took hold of an arm of each immortal at the same time Aisley gripped onto hers.
Thinking of the very last place that she ever wanted to be, the Transporter sent the four passengers into a field of brilliant light. When that brilliance faded, they were gone... as if they had never existed in that time and space.
* * * * * *
Meanwhile... Back inside...
Wufei frowned deeply as he stepped out onto the back porch of his home. He could have sworn that he'd heard voices shouting. At first, he had thought that they were all a part of his kids being caught by their Uncle Duo and had ignored the first couple of sounds.
But by the third cry however, Chang realized that there was no laughter. That was when his scaly skin was practically tingling with the chilling concern to follow.
Just when he was half ready to talk himself out of his worry, the Chinese Infected knew that something was undoubtedly wrong when Heero made his way out to join him... and stared in the same direction with him to where the yells had come from in the woods behind their homes. Their already fair skin paling even more then their gazes met, the brothers-in-law set themselves to action.
"I'll call Trowa," Yuy was fast to announce, quickly spinning back towards the porch door with Chang ready to become a blur of himself to search the area.
For whatever they were prepared to do, the Vampires froze when little Rosie slowly headed outside with tears streaming down her face. Clutching her favorite teddy bear close to her chest, she whimpered, "It's 'da monsters. They took Mommy 'n Uncle Duo."
* * * * * *
Duo groaned deeply as consciousness crept back into his world. Blinking his violet-and-silver eyes open, he jolted upright atop a bed of white linen surrounded by walls of clear glass. A hand that had reached up to rub the back of his neck came into contact with a thick band of metal instead. The moment leading to his passing out returning, he all but whispered, "What the..."
Searching the room, Maxwell stopped himself with a sharp gasp at the sight of his sister sitting in a similar cell across a narrow walkway from him. Legs hugged to her chest, the Siren raised her head to give him a small, sad smile as her own collar shimmered in the light shining down on her.
"Anna!" the Hybrid cried. Bolting from the bed to reach the long wall of his prison, he asked urgently, "Are you alright?" An unintelligible sound breaking from him, he breathed, "You... and... I mean, everything's okay?"
Nodding, the Irish Vampire reassured, "Safe and sound." The cryptic message of two descriptions were translated as meaning she and the baby were fine. And it took all of Duo's will to not come undone with relief. Apparently the shocks they had received were only superficial.
But there was still a very logical worry in how their captors reacted to an Infected's being taken down so easily. If they put the pieces together to realize that his sister's body was responding as any normal living's would... there would be questions... and most likely not very nice ways of getting the answers to them.
A flicker of movement from the corner of his vision caught Maxwell's attention to have him pay note to the cell beside Anna's. The hands that he was pressing against the wall falling to his sides, the wide-eyed half-breed turned to stone spare for his murmured, "My God... S-Solo?"
Folding his arms across his chest, his blonde twin leaned against the wall behind him without breaking their focus on each other. "Hello, little brother," he greeted in a cool deadpan. "Welcome to Hell."
TBC...
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