Radioactive: Chapter Fourteen

Radioactive

Chapter Fourteen

~Two in One~

“There is no way that I am going back out there with him!” Riu shouted, “He could have ruined my cover and gotten us both killed! Does no one understand that?”

Kaiba sighed. He sat at one of the computers as he got some work done, “For the nth time, Duke is a specialist in undercover operations. That is why I brought him along. Also, what Duke said was entirely true. This Grayson character already knew that you weren’t who you said you were but trusted you anyway. That should say something shouldn’t it?”

Riu crossed her arms, “Still! What gave him any right to give me out like that!?”

“Are you sure this isn’t a pride thing?” Fang, in his human form, asked.

“I don’t recall talking to you!” Riu snapped at him.

Fang nodded, “It’s a pride thing.”

“Pride thing,” Jekyll agreed.

“I just said—arrgh!” she stormed up stairs away from the others.

Kiri stood up from her seat and followed Riu upstairs. She stopped half way and looked down at the boys below, “It’s true that men don’t really ever grow up.”

“Ouch,” Fang stated as Kiri went upstairs.

Duke looked at Fang, “I didn’t mean to out her, it’s just that in that situation it seemed best to come clean than for him to call us liars and shoot us.”

“She knows that,” Fang said, “It just hurts to admit it.”

Kaiba sighed and typed away at the computer, “Since we didn’t find anything out yesterday we’ll just have to find some today.”

“There has to be a faster way to do this,” Fang groaned.

“If you think of something, please let me know,” Kaiba said, “Until then, head out.”

“Yay!” Ing threw his arms into the air.

Fang glared at him, “Don’t get too exited now.”

Jekyll walked toward the window, “I guess I’ll be on my way then.”

“At least someone is getting stuff done,” Kaiba muttered.

Fang sighed, “Come on, kid.” He headed for the window with Ing close on his heels.

The twosome walked through the streets. They walked along a route that they didn’t go the day before. A few people talked to the boy atop the dog and they were able to make a few connections and ask a few questions in a non-threatening conversation. As they walked through the streets and alleys they saw a woman walking through the streets. Fang stopped and observed the situation. Ing looked over. He was interested only because Fang looked interested.

“Synthia!” the woman called out, “Synthia! Where are you girl!? You know how worried you’ve made me!?”

Fang walked up to her casually. Ing did the talking.

“Are you looking for someone?” Ing asked.

The woman turned to them. She looked frazzled and confused; almost shocked that someone seemed to care about her plight.  The woman came up to them and pulled out a picture.

“My daughter,” she said, “It’s her birthday today and I can’t find her. I stopped by her apartment but she wasn’t there.”

“She could be hanging out with friends, right?” Ing said.

“Her kids were still in the apartment. I know there are lots of mothers that don’t care about their kids in this neighborhood by my girl wasn’t one of them. I tried to raise her right. She wouldn’t leave her kids alone without a babysitter at least. If she had needed to be somewhere she would have called me to watch the kids. Can you help me look for her? I think something must have happened.”

Ing looked at the picture, “We’ll keep an eye out for her. I’d hate for something bad to happen to her.”

“Thank you,” the woman sobbed, “thank you so much!” The woman walked away calling out her daughter’s name and stopping anyone who would listen.

Ing looked down at Fang, “That was the same girl from yesterday. What do you think happened to her?”

“I don’t know,” Fang stated, “Let’s get moving.”

Fang walked to where they had met the girl at her apartment. It was true. The building looked empty and there was no trace of the girl. Fang sniffed at the ground near the door and followed a scent trail. He walked with his nose to the ground. Confused and interested, Ing watched Fang work.

“What are you doing?” Ing asked.

“Tracking someone,” Fang said.

“Who?”

“The boy she was with.”

“Why?”

“Something wasn’t right,” Fang stated.

“Not right?”

Fang looked over his shoulder, “Are you really of any use other than to ask questions and annoy people?”

“Hmph,” Ing crossed his arms.

Fang continued his tracking, “The way the boy smelled bothered me. He didn’t smell right.”

“How so? I mean—” Ing covered his mouth. “Sorry,” he apologized, realizing he was still asking questions.

Fang looked over his shoulder for a moment before continuing his tracking, “He smelled like two different people. Before you ask another question, every person has their own unique scent. Even you do and technically you’re an inanimate object. But with that kid he had two different scents. The best I can describe it is that his body had a scent but there was a different scent mixed in with it. Again, it was like two different scents on one person.”

“Couldn’t it have been a trace sent that he picked up from someone else?” Ing questioned.

Fang sighed, “Don’t you think I know the difference between someone’s sent compared to a trace someone picked up?”

“Sorry,” Ing looked down.

Fang continued on as he followed the scent. He followed it to an alley way where the scent was the strongest. Fang walked around trash dumpsters and piles of garbage and cardboard boxes. He stopped suddenly when he saw what was ahead of them.

“Get off my back and turn around, kid,” Fang stated.

“But…”

“Now!” Fang snarled.

Ing got off Fang’s back and turned around like Fang told him to. Fang assumed his human appearance and walked closer to what he found. He knelt down by the body of the boy that they had seen the day before. Fang examined the body.  He also observed the surrounding scene. The body lay lifeless in the alley; to Fang it looked abandoned like someone’s coat discarded after use. There was a cardboard box that looked like it had been used by a homeless person. Where the homeless person was, Fang didn’t know. The surrounding smells and stenches coming from the garbage masked the scent of anything else.

Fang sighed. He got up and walked over to Ing. He pushed the boy out of the alley and they stood there while Fang tried to figure out what to do next.

“What now?” Ing looked up at Fang.

“Well, we should report this to Kaiba and let him figure out what we’re up against,” Fang answered.

“Okay,” Ing nodded. “Fang?”

“Yeah,” Fang looked down at Ing.

Ing looked down, “I’ve never seen a dead body before like that, I mean…”

“You’ll be fine,” Fang placed a hand on Ing’s shoulders, “You’ll be okay.”

Ing leaned against Fang’s leg, “I’m sorry.”

“It isn’t your fault,” Fang said as he guided Ing back toward their base, “Come on, let’s get you back. You look tired. Let’s get you some rest.”