Life Goes On Part 26
On the cusp of waking, Duo felt his tall ears twitch to give any sign to his surroundings before he dared open his eyes. The little movement that his ears made, alone, caused a wave of pain to run through him. He did not want to risk what any kind of light would do when he did feel brave enough to gaze around.
Time lost its meaning to the braided neko when he had been brought to J's private lab not far from the cell. The metallic-armed man held nothing back in using his vile creations meant to test every nerve sensory and how far he could stress them. After being in and out of consciousness throughout the experience, Duo shivered at recalling the constant pain that he experienced when he was awake.
When his cat ears couldn't pick up on any sound other than his breathing, he held his breath to be certain that there was nothing more to hear. Whenever he did come out of his brief escapes into the blackness, there were always voices present, always equipment being moved and prepared for the next round of torture. This time, thankfully, there was only a heavy silence that remained.
Letting out the breath that he had been holding in a deep sigh, Duo could have wept in relief. It seemed as though his ordeal was finally over... for now.
With his eyes closed, he nearly jumped at the unexpected slamming of the metal door when it was forced open. Silently praying to be left to himself once more, Duo kept his eyes closed and forced himself not to tremble as a sign that he was back amongst the living. As bad off as he was, he knew that he wouldn't survive another 'fun little game' as the doctor called his experiments.
Two pairs of heavy footsteps neared the metal table where the neko was lying on his stomach. One of them stopped just before Duo's nose before the deep of the observer snorted, "Still out. I guess the doctor was right that he had enough for now."
Small tears of joy nearly sprang up in the neko's closed eyes in hearing that he was going to finally have a reprieve for the time being. He had to hold back the whimper that nearly escaped him.
"Think the others will give us a hard time when we bring him back to their cell?" the other guard asked from the foot of the table. "Maybe we should call for more back up when we deliver him in case they get out of line."
Laughing, his accomplice replied, "That's right, you're still new here. Of course they won't give us trouble. J has them convinced that they have some microwave chips, or some crap like that, in their heads from one of their visits here. It only took mentioning it once and those cowards never questioned or retaliated once. Even if such a thing existed, J would never risk killing them by an installment like that. But, he knew that they'd believe he would do such a thing."
Duo fought to keep from snapping his eyes opened at that. Suddenly, a lot of things were beginning to make more and more sense when it came to Solo and his actions. Now that he knew of the blonde neko's family, he couldn't blame him at all for wanting to look out for them.
As far as they knew, J could kill any one of them in an instant if they did not do what was expected of them.
"Well," the guard closest to the neko's face began with a crack of his knuckles. "Let's get this over with." The second young man gave an affirmative response and stepped closer to the table's edge.
It was all the warning that Duo had before his shoulders and legs were gripped tightly. Fire shot through his body from his limbs and his violet eyes flew open with a pained scream from his hoarse voice. "Wakie, wakie," the tall man just before his nose smirked darkly in his face. Once he was forced onto his feet, the braided teenager was taken by each arm and drug through the door and down the short walk to the holding cell.
The sound of the steel door opening seemed impossibly loud and Duo's ears bent to cut off as much of it as possible. His stomach was wrenching from the simple movement of walking, when he could find his footing and dragged when he could not. Unable to see anything past the blinding light that under normal circumstances would have been dim, the neko was unable to get his bearings to what was around him.
Finally, the strong arms holding him up set him down roughly. "See you soon," one of the two guards chuckled deeply. The way that every sense was running together, Duo couldn't distinguish the voice to know which of the tall men it was. Then the door slammed closed once more and with a cry, he reached up to close off his tall ears, himself.
A pair of hands, much gentler than the ones that had gripped him a moment before, brushed against his shoulder. Even the slight pressure was enough to burn through his skin. "Duo?" a voice urged in a whisper that might as well have been screamed. With everything that his nerves had been through, the jaunt from the lab was enough to set everything on edge again-making everything that he sensed excruciating.
"Duo?" the gentle soothing voice returned and the other shoulder was rubbed, "Are you all right? Can you hear me?"
A wave of nausea hit suddenly and the braided neko whimpered, "D-don't touch me. Please." Instantly, the hands pulled back and Duo crawled on the floor just as his vision returned to find the toilet in the corner of the room. Pulling himself up and over the bowl just in time, he spilled the contents of his stomach until there was nothing left and the dry heaves began.
Panic stricken, Solo carefully held the long braid back while Cassie wet a small cloth under the running sink water. "Duo, we have to try something to help cool you down," the blonde neko said softly, biting his lip in worry. "You're burning up."
So that was why his face was on fire, Duo realized. It was from the sweat that he now recognized rolling from his brow. A small, scared mew escaped him and the nekos around him gasped at the sound with wide eyes. "J-just do it quick," he muttered with his forehead resting against the cool bowl.
Frowning deeply, Solo nodded to his girlfriend when she had the rag ready. With a deep breath, Cassie bent at the waist and as gingerly as possible rested the cold cloth on the back of the exposed, damp neck. Duo sobbed quietly at the touch and wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball. The pain that such a thing would have caused kept him from doing so.
Andrew was kneeling beside Solo and asked quietly, "What can we do for you, Duo? Do you need some water?"
Duo shook his braided head against the bowl and replied, "I need to get this out of my system first. Everything hurts and if I drink or eat anything, it'll just come back up. Even hearing myself talk right now is killing my head."
Only when he felt safe enough to do so, Duo slowly pulled back from the toilet and lowered himself to lie on the cold ground on his side. Staying close to the bowl in case another bout of nausea hit him, his violet eyes drifted closed to block out the minimal lighting that was piercing through his retinas.
As they watched their new cellmate, Solo and his family remained quiet as not to cause him any more pain than what he was enduring. Jena wrapped her arms tightly around Andrew's waist for support as she cried silently. Lightly kissing her head, the tall young man worked to control his own shaking. Nothing they had ever experienced in their own visits to the lab brought on anything as horrendous as what J was doing to the braided neko.
"J lied to you," Duo said after a long pause to calm his body. His eyes still closed, he stated, "I overheard the guards saying that there never were chips installed into you that would harm you if you were to cause any trouble."
There were several collective gasps of shock at the announcement. It was all Duo registered before staying awake was too tasking on him and he drifted off.
* * * * * *
"Mister Clark, please come in and make yourself at home," Ashley Forbes smiled warmly as she rose from her desk. The head of one of the most prestigious news broadcast networks extender her hand to the tall attorney as he approached. When they exchanged a firm handshake, however, her smile faded and her blue eyes looked to the door worriedly.
Chuckling deeply, Trent reassured her, "No need to worry, Ashley. I'm here alone." Taking a seat on one of the guest chairs, he said nonchalantly, "My wife is busy assisting the search team that we pulled together."
As she closed her office door, the dark-haired woman's bob swayed when she looked back to her guest in surprise. "Search team?" she repeated. Quickly returning to her desk of glass that melded with the similar furniture in her room, she asked, "What would bring on the need for you to assemble such a thing?"
Folding his hands in his lap, Trent watched her face closely and answered, "Duo had been kidnapped last night, right behind his apartment complex around eight o'clock."
Those blue eyes widened with a sharp gasp and a slack jaw. "K-kidnapped!?" Ashley sputtered. "Last night! But... but...."
Leaning back in his seat, Trent raised an eyebrow and smirked, "I'm surprised that one as intuitive as yourself did not already know that by now. Your crew is usually the first at any news-breaking scene of interest. In fact, there was the briefest of glimpses on the incident announced on your morning news broadcast, but there had been nothing more. No other station seemed to have even an inkling to the attack."
Ashley's face turned several colors before his eyes at the mention of the morning report. It was the hint that Trent needed. She knew something. It had been a mistake that there was mention of the incident and she had been the one to see that it was never brought up again.
His eyes narrowing, the young lawyer leaned forward in his seat and stated, "You own not only this broadcast station, but you are the go-to person whenever there is a breaking story that your competitors report as well. If you do not want something made public, it's kept quiet."
Fixing his gaze on the startled woman, Trent told her, "I want to make myself perfectly clear. If you are withholding any information that could hinder our search, you would be considered an accessory and prosecuted as such. I promise you that if you do not come forward when you know something, I will personally see that you are destroyed. And you know that I am capable of doing it."
Slowly leaning back in the chair, he winked, "Now, for your cooperation, I would be willing to overlook your actions. I'll simply thank you for your help and leave you to carry on with your life as you wish."
Biting her lip nervously, Ashley looked as though she was going to be ill. Her hands shaking, she opened one of the top drawers to her desk. Holding out a thick and heavy manila envelope to her guest, she swallowed hard and muttered, "I received this a couple of days ago as a payoff to keep from reporting the incident. There was no mention to who was going to be taken, and there is is no lead on where the money came from."
Uncomfortably fiddling with her hands, she lowered her head and continued, "I wasn't aware that one of my teams got wind of the assault before it aired and I had the plug pulled on it as quickly as I could manage before too many people saw it."
Trent opened the envelope and peered in to find several wads of hundred dollar bills. Also within the envelope was a folded paper that must have been the note directing what the sender wanted. Looking up with only his eyes, he commented, "I suppose everyone has a price."
Grinning as he pushed himself onto his feet, the young man raised the envelope and nodded firmly, "I'll be taking this with me to be examined, of course." Trent bowed at the waist and with a dramatic twirl of his free hand, he announced, "And as promised, I will now thank you for your help and I will take my leave."
That said, the brunette lawyer turned and headed for the door. Quickly rising from her seat and rounding the desk, Ashley cried, "Wait!" Just beating her guest to the door, she held it closed with one hand and his surprised eyes met hers.
With a wide smile, the dark-haired woman giggled, "Now that I am no longer obligated in staying quiet, this means that my station will be the first to report on the kidnapping of the world's only neko. You do know the human interest story that boy has become. It would be in the public's interest to know what happened to him. I am sure that you and Danielle would have to understand something like this simply must be told."
Blinking in shock at the woman's audacity, Trent had to bit back his urge to shake her to her senses. Instead, a sly smirk tugged his lips. "Actually," he replied calmly, "You're going to see that this story remains quiet."
Ashley's blue eyes widened as she shouted, "What!? You can't possibly mean that! You must understand that I have the right to broadcast whatever I damn well want. And neither you nor your wife have the right to keep fending me, or any reporter for that matter, off the way that you have been."
Trent took a deep breath and glared heatedly at the newswoman. "Whoever sent you this payoff wanted to make certain that the kidnapping was not widely known as to stir a massive search. They wanted time to do whatever it is they intend to do to him. They sent the money in trust that you would follow through with your end of the bargain. If this person were to see that you went against them, they could harm Duo. They might even kill him.
Raising his hand and extending a finger to her face, he gritted, "If there is so much as a peep about the abduction in any sort of way over any branch of media, I will know that you were the source of that information.
"And should anything happen to Duo as a result of your meddling, I will hold you solely responsible. I know every law agency on Earth and amongst the Colonies and I promise you that there will not be one person who will see that you're defended fairly. Then, you'll have years to think over harming your little human interest story."
Slowly leaning close, Trent asked coldly, "Do you understand me?"
Absolutely stricken by the threat, Ashley swallowed roughly with widened, glistening eyes. When she finally managed a breath, she gave a few quick nods. "U-understood, " she whispered. Trent clearly did not seem convinced and she cried, "I understand! Not a word of this will get to another reporter."
"I'll see to it that the team that reported it earlier is convinced that there was some discrepancy in what they learned and until we know for certain what happened, we are not to relay anything that may be false."
Trent smiled, "Very good. I'll be watching just to be sure of it." Raising his arm in a mock salute, he bid his adieu and stepped from the room without another word. As he headed for the elevator, he gazed over the yellow envelope in his hands.
Stepping into the elevator, he found it empty and pressed the button for the lobby. With the door closing on him, Trent murmured to himself, "This just gets better and better."
TBC...
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