Radioactive: Chapter Twenty-Three

Radioactive

Chapter Twenty-Three

~Promises Promises~

Last Chapter for Radioactive Saga

It was early in the afternoon and Kaiba walked into a small alley way. The bouncer at the door narrowed his eyes as Kaiba approached. He took a stance and crossed his arms. Kaiba stood in front of him and crossed his arms as well. They glared at each other as a third person ran down the alley.

“Here,” she held up her hand. A clear invitation popped up in front of her hand. The man took a look at it and nodded.

“Come on in,” he stepped to one side.

Kiri opened the door for Kaiba as he walked inside without turning around. The Tower had invested a new kind of body for her and until recently, she had still been in Ing’s programing. The little android was very protective of her and wouldn’t even leave the Tower gates. Her new model body was a prototype and had a few more tests to go through. According to Sirius, however, she could go have a night on the town is she wanted as long as she didn’t start taking toxic baths on a regular basis.

 They entered Fang’s establishment. They were met by a beautiful singing voice and the strummed notes of a guitar. There was a round of applause. Kiri looked around at the small group of people present. She saw a few people she didn’t know, they looked like the employees that Fang hired. Fang was behind the counter, naturally, him being the bartender and all. Ing was back there too. From the looks of things, he was trying to stack plastic cups. A task that Fang probably gave him to keep him distracted. Jekyll sat at the bar. He looked the way he always did as if he knew something that everyone else didn’t and didn’t care. Duke sat in one of the booths and tried to calm Riu down. She clapped and whistled as the woman singer placed her guitar down.

Fang looked over at the door. He grabbed a glass and poured a soda into the cup. As Kaiba approached, Fang pushed the glass toward him. Kaiba looked down at the glass.

“Seriously?” Kaiba sighed.

Fang nodded, “Seriously.”

Kiri hid her smiled by turning to look at the performer. Jekyll turned to look at Kaiba.

Kaiba looked back at him, “What? What did I do this time?”

“Nothing,” Jekyll looked away, “I just can’t stand you.”

“I see you’re in a good mood today,” Kaiba muttered.

Jekyll nodded, “Aren’t I always?”

“Frankly, I prefer Jekyll’s mood over yours any day,” Kiri stated. Her gaze was on Kaiba.

Kaiba barely gave the statement a moment’s thought. He looked at his watch for a brief moment. Fang took notice.

“Have somewhere more important to be?” Fang asked.

Kaiba looked up, “It’s the debut of my sister’s play. I can’t stay long.”

“So you came to say hi to all your friends first? That’s sweet of you,” Fang teased.

“Who said any of you were my friends?” Kaiba said, “I just had nothing better to do.”

“Ouch,” Fang stated. He rolled his eyes and helped himself to a drink, “And here we thought that you were such a charming guy.”

“I did it!” Ing had stacked all of the plastic cups in to a great pyramid pattern. He looked at Fang, “What now!?”

“Put them back in the exact order that you took them out of the box,” Fang told him.

Ing looked at the stack with mild panic. He didn’t keep track of what order he took the cups out of the box. As an android he could easily figure it out but he hadn’t been paying attention and wasn’t sure if he could accomplish Fang’s task. Ing took a deep breath and started to stack. He started to grab one of the cups when Fang stopped him.

“Nope,” Fang pointed to a different one, “That one.”

Ing looked wide eyes at Fang. He didn’t realize that Fang had been keeping track the whole time. Even if Fang wasn’t looking directly at Ing, he knew what order Ing had brought out the cups. Ing grabbed the cup that Fang motioned to and out it in the box. He then stood there a while, thinking. Fang sighed. He pointed to the next cup and the next one after that and the next one after that.

Kiri came up to the bar and pointed to one, “Actually, that one is next then this one.”

“Really? How so?” Fang looked at her.

“In the one moment you looked at us coming in, you missed when he pulled another cup out of the box,” Kiri said.

Fang smiled, “You mean, that’s when he pulled two out of the box. They were stuck together. So technically, this one is the first. Don’t worry, common mistake.”

“Hey! What’s going on over here?” Riu asked as she walked over.

“Seems like everyone is having a nice time,” Duke said as he walked just behind Riu.

Ing raised his hands above his head, “Fang is so smart! Nothing gets by him!”

“Don’t you forget it either,” Fang looked at him, “Don’t think I didn’t see you sneak another soda when you though I wasn’t looking.”

“But I didn’t!” Ing wailed.

“Mmhm,” Fang wasn’t at all convinced.

Jekyll looked over, “You really need to work on your lying.”

Kaiba stood up and straightened his suit, “Well, I have to go.”

“Aww,” Riu smiled, “It’s nice that really want to be there for your sister.”

“Actually, Amber said that the play sucks and I really don’t have to go and that she doesn’t know why everyone is making a big deal about it. I’m really only going because I kept some kind of promise that I don’t quite remember making. Either way, it’s a family event. That and I can sneak my tablet in and finish up on some work.”

“You’re not even going to take pictures?” Duke stared at him.

Kaiba stopped a moment and seemed to be remembering bad memories, “No. With mother, you always get way more pictures than you need to last a lifetime. Come to think of it, I feel bad for Amber right about now.”

“You feel?!” Riu raised an eye brow and shifted her weight, “I never thought I’d hear those words come out of your mouth.”

“Amber’s the pearl of the family,” Kiri explained, “The whole family dotes on her. Surprisingly she doesn’t act spoiled.”

“Well, glad you stopped by, Kaiba,” Fang said.

Kaiba walked toward the door.

“Oh, Kaiba,” Jekyll called. Kaiba turned and looked over his shoulder. Jekyll continued, “If you ever have the urge to take me along on one of your missions, please don’t.”

“You’d rather do you surgeries?” Kaiba asked.

“No,” Jekyll stated, “It’s just that I don’t think any mission could give me the same satisfaction this one did. Getting the chance to kill you doesn’t come often enough and I fear that the opportunity will never again present itself. So instead of getting disappointed after every mission, I’ve decided to just not go.”

“Seriously?” Fang looked at him, “I would go on every single mission just to have the chance to almost kill him.”

Kaiba sighed and turned to walk out the door, “No one is going to almost kill anyone because I’m never bringing either of you with me next time.”

“Aww! Don’t say that,” Duke stated.

Riu laughed, “Yeah, I bet that within the week he’ll come crawling back begging us to help him take down the mad scientist. Any takers?”

“What’s the starting bet?” Duke asked.

Riu shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know. Whatever you have on you.”

Fang thought a moment, “$150 for.”

“Seriously?” Duke asked, “Then I’m with Fang. What about you Jekyll?”

Jekyll waved a hand, “I could care less.”

“Wait,” Duke groaned, “That means we’re all for. That doesn’t work out then.”

Fang rolled his eyes, “Not my fault I did the math in my head. You were the one to say that you were for anyways.”

The door closed as the group argued with each other. Kaiba walked out into the alley way with Kiri close behind. He stopped a moment while Kiri caught up with him. When she was alongside, he started walking again. Kiri noticed and smiled. He never used to wait up for her before. She couldn’t always figure out what was going on in that head of his but part of it could be that he felt bad about how the last mission went for her. Whether or not that was the reason, it was nice to see the side of his face and not just the back of his head.

Radioactive: Chapter Three

Radioactive

Chapter Three

~Home~

Kaiba watched closely as the doctor walked across the room. He and Kiri had managed to get back to the Island in one piece, more or less. Now he sat in the doctor’s office waiting for the doctor to tend to his wounds.

The office was a good size. Kaiba sat on the desk in the room. A coat hook was near the door carrying a wide brimmed hat and a black jacket. The carpet was a calming blue and many potted plans sat in the unoccupied corners of the office. The walls were hidden behind shelves of books. All of the books had something to do with the serial killer known Dr. Jekyll. For years, the man killed dozens of criminals as a type of mysterious vigilante, a hero to some. Kaiba looked quickly at the different titles. The doctor walked back with a black suitcase.

The doctor’s black eyes were unfeeling and showed no emotion. Strands of his black hair fell over his emotionless face. He placed the suitcase on the desk beside Kaiba and opened it. The doctor rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt then put on some latex gloves. The silence was broken as he deliberately slapped the gloves on. He glared at Kaiba momentarily.

Kaiba met the man’s gaze as he took off his bloodstained coat. He offered his wounded arm to the doctor. The man took it and only then did he glance down to look at it.

“Well, I’ve seen worse. It’s a shame you’re sitting here instead of on a slab at the morgue,” the doctor said casually as if they were talking about the weather.

“It’s good to see you too, Jekyll,” Kaiba muttered.

Jekyll stuck his long slender finger into the wound. The look on Kaiba’s face was one of pain, “Did that hurt? I do hope it did.”

“What’s all this about this time?” Kaiba snapped.

“I have a new patient. Maybe you’ve heard of him? He’s about, oh, ye high and acts a bit like an arse,” Jekyll switched out his gloves and opened a bottle.

He poured the bottles contents on Kaiba’s arm. A sharp pain shot up Kaiba’s arm. He clenched his teeth to avoid showing Jekyll the extent of pain that he was in.

“What operation did I pull you away from this time?” Kaiba asked through his teeth.

“A riveting brain surgery,” Jekyll sighed, “Now that inferior Dr. Jones has to take my place. You seem to choose the most horrible times to request my services.”

“I apologize,” Kaiba muttered, “I didn’t realize you liked your job so much.”

Jekyll looked at him, “I don’t. The other doctors are just so vastly inferior in their ability.”

Kaiba looked blankly at the doctor for a long moment. Jekyll tied up the wound neatly in white bandages.

“Keep that on for twenty-four hours,” Jekyll instructed, “The ointment should fully reconstruct the missing flesh my then. Fortunate for you, your bones are made of metal, the bite didn’t break the bone.”

Kaiba stood up and took off his shirt, “Yeah, well, it’s times like this I’m glad I’m an Other.”

Jekyll gave a dismissive ‘mhmm’ as he poked around the wound on Kaiba’s back, “Looks like it hit your shoulder blade. Should heal rather quickly.”

More ointment went on the wound and a large adhesive bandage as well. When finished, Jekyll took off his gloves and cleaned up. Kaiba put a new shirt on.

“Was wondering,” Kaiba started.

Jekyll stopped what he was doing and looked at Kaiba with death in his eyes, “What?”

“The creature we brought back—”

“I’ll get to it when I get to it. Until then, do not bother me about it,” his voice was low and murderous.

“Keep you schedule open, Jekyll,” Kaiba draped his coat over his injured arm, “There might be more of those things running around. I might need you to follow up.”

“I look forward to it,” Jekyll sighed, “Do try not to call me next week Tuesday. I have a colonoscopy to perform.”

“Have fun?” Kaiba was unsure of how to respond.

Jekyll pointed to the door, “Out.” Kaiba headed to the door. Jekyll called to him just before the door closed, “You owe me.”

“I know,” Kaiba said as he closed the door.

Kaiba stopped a moment when he saw Kiri standing across from the door. He collected himself and started walking toward the waiting room of the hospital. Kiri straitened from leaning against the wall and followed him. For a moment, they were silent as Kaiba walked a few steps ahead of Kiri. When they exited the hospital, it changed.

“I told you to not wait for me and to go back to the Tower,” Kaiba muttered as they walked toward their car.

“I must have misheard you, sir,” Kiri lied.

“Misheard?” Kaiba looked at her. He looked away and muttered to himself, “Even with the best programing they all start getting personalities that they weren’t programed to have.”

Kiri said nothing though she heard exactly what he said. They both walked to the driver’s side. Kaiba sighed.

Kiri opened her mouth before Kaiba could say anything, “You don’t expect to drive with that arm of yours, do you?”

“Maybe I do,” Kaiba said; there was an edge to his tone.

Kaiba opened the car door. Kiri rolled her eyes and walked around to the other side. It was dead silent in the car as Kaiba drove. Kiri sat with her arms crossed in disapproval. She looked out the window. The sun was setting and the evening crowds were starting to come out. She stared out the window.

They drove through the city. Kaiba pulled up in front of the Tower. Kiri stepped out and expected Kaiba to do the same. He didn’t.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Kaiba stated.

Kiri looked at him, “You aren’t coming in? Don’t you need to report to Sirius?”

“No,” Kaiba said, “I can report to him at home. I’m tired.”

Kiri nodded, grabbed the briefcase and closed the door. She stepped back as the car drove off. Kiri stood there until she couldn’t see his car anymore. She turned around and entered the Tower muttering profanity about how stupid Kaiba could be.

Kaiba drove home. It was far enough away from the city and the Tower for some relaxation. Yes, he still lived with his parents but the house was big enough for him to have his own wing which he shared with his younger brother Lynx. The house, more like mansion actually, was on the coast facing east. He pulled up to the front door and went inside, leaving the vehicle for the butler to pull into the garage.

It was a spacious home. Kaiba walked through the living room. He caught a glimpse of his younger brother Chaud sitting on the couch playing video games. His younger sister sat beside him watching the screen intently. Kaiba walked to his side of the mansion and passed Lynx on the way. His brother was looking at some blue prints and barely noticed Kaiba as he walked by.

Kaiba stepped into his room and sat on his bed. He sat a moment, considering what to do next then he glanced at his clock. Kaiba got up and walked to a desk where a computer sat silently. He decided to type up his full personal report instead of wait for his father to come home. When he finished, he sent the document to his father and started doing more work.

A little chime echoed from the computer. Kaiba briefly looked at the bottom of his screen. Kiri had messaged him.

I thought you were tired.

Kaiba stared at the note for a moment. He was suddenly annoyed. What business of hers was it that he was doing work? He decided to ignore it. At least one of them wasn’t going to be wasting any precious time.

Iridescent: Chapter Twenty-Three

Iridescent

Chapter Twenty-Three

~Medical Leave~

After the Fall

Naru woke up to a light shining in his eyes. He squinted and tried turning his head away from the light. The light followed his movements however and wouldn’t go away.

“Stay still,” a voice told him.

Soon after, the light disappeared and he looked into the face of his doctor. Naru shot up and backed away. Dr. Jekyll simply stared at him before looking away at some equipment in the ambulance.

“Nice to see you as well, Naru,” the doctor said.

“Dr. Jekyll,” Naru’s voice was hoarse and an octave higher than he intended, “What are you doing here?”

Jekyll turned to look at him again, “I don’t know, saving your life or something of that nature. You were critically dehydrated. If you want I could leave. If I do, however, you chances on surviving are not overwhelmingly in your favor.”

“What do you mean?” Naru asked. He thought that if he could get away with it he would rather take care of himself.

The doctor sighed, “Well, you can’t eat any solids at the moment else your body will go into shock. Therefore you are on a liquid diet. You need an I.V. drip for a few days to get some liquid back into your system and that is before you can even drink any kind of liquid on your own. Did I mention that you’re legs need to be amputated? The bottom of your feet have serious burns as well. That just about covers half of what is wrong with you. Oh, and your most likely to die in the next twenty-four hours.”

“Oh,” again Naru’s voice jumped an octave.

“For now, get some rest,” Jekyll got up and walked out of the ambulance, “But not too much because you might go into a coma.”

The doctor grabbed his wide brimmed hat as he left. He closed the door and smiled to himself.

“Was that a smile I saw, Doctor?” Puppetmaster asked as he walked up to the ambulance.

Jekyll looked at the coming visitor. The smile on his face had disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. He pulled on his hat slightly.

“I haven’t the least idea what you mean,” Jekyll said.

Puppetmaster smiled, “How is our last patient doing?”

“He’s perfectly healthy,” Jekyll said, “He just needs a little while longer on the I.V. drip.”

“That’s good to hear,” Puppetmaster nodded.

He looked in the direction of Kumo and Chou. Kumo had a black blindfold over his eyes and his sister was helping him around the camp. She made sure he didn’t run into anything or anyone. Chou looked after her brother like any good sister would.

“How is Kumo doing?” Puppetmaster asked.

Jekyll looked over at the two for a moment, “He only has temporary blindness. In combination with his dehydration and his taking of the Blue Gold the stress on his body was too much. There was no lasting damage and he should get his eyes sight back gradually.”

“And his sister?” Puppetmaster pointed.

“I told her that they both need to take it easy and drink a lot of water,” Jekyll leaned against the ambulance, “She understood and I haven’t seen her without a full water bottle yet. Hina as well.”

Puppetmaster smiled, “Yeah, Hina is quite the fighter isn’t she. She hasn’t been quite herself without her brother. Are you sure he will be alright?”

Jekyll thought a moment, “Yes. He might be under the impression he might die at any moment in time but in reality he’s just fine.”

“Geez,” Puppetmaster shook his head, “I’m glad you aren’t my doctor.”

As the two talked like old friends, Chaud disembarked the bus. He looked around a moment before finding Hina sitting in the shade of one of the trucks. She looked up as Chaud walked up to her. Chaud sat down next to her.

“Why is it so hot?” Hina asked.

Chaud looked at her, “I think is has a large part to do with that we’re in a desert.”

“Why are deserts hot?” Hina asked again.

Chaud smiled and used his hands to demonstrate, “If I remember right it’s because the clouds get pushed up because of the mountains and the clouds kind of by pass this area. The cost isn’t as much as a desert. It rains more there.”

“Is that why there are so many oases there?” Hina questioned.

“Theoretically,” Chaud smiled.

“We’re headed over there right? At least that is what I hear,” Hina said.

“Yep,” Chaud nodded, “We’re headed off the Island.”

Hina looked at him, “You know, you are the most annoying person I know. I never thought I’d be happy to see you again so soon.”

“Thanks.” Chaud furrowed his eyebrows, “I think.”

“Don’t you think its ironic Naru gets stuck with Dr. Jekyll again?” Hina laughed, “I think it’s freaking hilarious!!”

Chaud started to look concerned, “Yeah, I should probably check on the poor guy.”

“Leave him for a bit. I think he deserves it for almost getting us all killed. Man, is this water good or what!?” Hina took a sip of water. She stopped a moment and looked at Chaud, “How are you holding up?”

Chaud shrugged, “I’m doing alright I guess. I like to think that I’m looking after Amber but it seems she’s the one doing the most looking after over me. You know, I think Naru really just wanted the best for you and to keep you safe. Even if it ended up a disaster unlike he planned.”

“Yeah, I know,” Hina sighed, “You sound like you’ve had your fair share of screw ups.”

Chaud nodded, “We big brothers try, you know.”

Hina smiled, “That might be true but we little sisters aren’t a bunch a pushovers you know. We can pick up your slack.”

“That’s good to know,” Chaud said as he thought to himself. He got up to his feet, “I think I’ll pay your brother a visit.”

“Tell him I laugh upon his misery!” Hina called.

Chaud walked toward the ambulance where Naru was being held. Puppetmaster looked at Chaud as he approached. He smiled and reached out a hand toward Chaud’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry about waking you up abruptly last night,” Puppetmaster apologies.

“I only got a bump on the back of my head. I’ll be fine,” Chaud stated.

Jekyll looked over at Chaud, “I could take a look if you’d like.”

Chaud shook his head, “No, I’m fine.”

Jekyll shrugged and crossed his arms, “If you drop dead in a few hours, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Chaud smiled awkwardly, “You’re joking right?”

“We’ll just have to see in a few hours,” Jekyll looked serious with his usual blank expression.

“Right,” Chaud said, “How is Naru doing?”

“Dead,” Jekyll said casually.

Puppetmaster smiled, “We were just talking about him. He’s going to be just fine. Only he doesn’t know that.”

“Is it cool if I pay him a visit?” Chaud asked.

Jekyll shrugged. He didn’t care either way so Chaud opened the ambulance and climbed in. Naru looked stressed out to say the least. He turned his head slowly toward Chaud. His skin was pale and his black hair didn’t help either making him look sickly. Jekyll’s mental games were already taking their toll. Chaud crossed his arms and sighed. Now he was going to have to persuade Naru that he was going to live no matter what Jekyll had said. That was going to take a while. Luckily they had some time on the trip to talk about it.