Chapter Twenty-Seven

It hadn’t actually taken long for Rei to lead the team around to all the stores of weapons and other supplies Alexander had convinced him to hide over the years. Rei had been sure, at the time, that the need to hoard exhibited by the Siren had been motivated by pure paranoia and so he’d only bothered to set up more than a handful of depots. Now, Alexander had been proven right and Rei was simply amazed that none of them had been found.

They returned with the last load only twelve hours after starting, sweaty and grimy from climbing through access tunnels and maintenance shafts. Rei didn’t wait a minute, shoving his cheap duffle bag full of protein bars into the arms of the first person he saw, before running across the crowded barracks chamber for the infirmary.

“Any news?” He demanded, the door slamming into the wall as he burst through it, causing Marigold to yelp in fright.

“No.” Kay replied, looking distinctly unhappy. “But district two is on the other side of Sydney, and we heard about a riot in D-3 which probably slowed her down. Saki and Natalia would have to walk back from the last station as well, so they aren’t late… yet.”

“Saki is.” Marigold pointed out from where she was removing Shido’s splint.

The other Kitsune male chuckled. “No she isn’t.”

“But the plan stated she was going to return when Natalia headed for InSec Central.” Marigold argued. “And are you sure you want me to unbandage your arm?”

“No.” Kay grumbled, revealing to Rei why she was glaring at Shido. Rei chuckled in spite of his worry, knowing how little tolerance Kay had with recalcitrant patients. He’d been on the receiving end of the same glare in the past.

“Yes.” The InSec male countered. “It’ll be tender for a while and maybe a bit fragile to be sure, but I pieced my bones back together.” He winked at the blond human. “Although I will admit, the temptation of staying here and being cared for by a beauty like you is not easy to resist.”

Marigold blushed, while Kay snorted. “Didn’t you use that same line on me when you tried to convince me to help you remove that?”

“You hit on my sister?” Rei glared at the other male.

“You go and bond, or whatever, with Natalia and you think you get to glare at me?” Shido waved Rei off. “As for you, Doctor Kay, I meant every word I uttered to both you and the fair Marigold.”

“Stop it.” The blond muttered, blushing even more brightly.

“Regarding Saki,” He said, changing subjects while winking at Marigold to acknowledge her request as his motivation. “She’ll have shifted and followed our intrepid Talia to within sight of Central, if I don’t miss my guess.”

“She’d disobey Natalia’s orders like that?” Kay asked, surprised.

Shido shrugged. “She was a Ranger and Forward Recon at that. No one moved alone, orders or no orders, in that organization. Not even the snipers. No, Saki will be along…”

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Saki burst into the infirmary, gasping for breath. Rei, reeling from getting hit by the door, barely avoided toppling into a shelving unit.

“Shortly.” Shido finished with a frown, gaining his feet. “What happened?”

“Major… Captured… MRD van took her… Osaka tag.”

Shido cursed. “Was she alive?”

“Kicking and fighting Sir, like a mule.” Saki replied, completely oblivious to the fact that none of the other people in the room had ever seen a mule.

“What’s MRD? And where did they take Natalia?” Rei demanded, panic slipping into his voice.

“Military Research and Development.” Shido replied. “They’re probably taking her to the Breeding Center.”

“But why? Why not just kill her?” Kay asked, wincing as her brother turned his angry glare on her. “You know what I mean!”

Shido frowned, thinking about that question himself. “I’m not certain but… Natalia’s the only seventh dan among InSec’s Kitsune population. They probably plan to try and… preserve her talents.”

“You mean turn her into a breeding cow!” Rei snarled.

Alexander entered the infirmary, freezing at the tableau he found. “I saw Saki running in here and…” He frowned, and closed his eyes to focus on the group’s surface thoughts. “Oh.”

“Oh? That’s all you have to say?” Rei wheeled on Alexander. “And what the hell do you think you’re doing reading me again!”

“You are all yelling in your minds, boy!” the Siren growled back. “I’m frankly amazed you can’t hear what everyone else is thinking!”

“Well, I’m done yelling and thinking. I’m about to start doing!” Rei declared. “Get some of the security guys in here. We’re going to go get her back.”

“No.”

The entire room turned to stare, shocked, at Kay. “What do you mean no?” Rei demanded.

“I meant you aren’t going. No one is.”

“But…”

Kay stepped up to Rei, her eyes locking onto his. “This breeding facility is in the middle of the Osaka research facility, from what Shido’s told me about it.” She stated calmly. “It rests in the middle of just about every sociopathic goon InSec has. It would be suicide to even try.”

“We can’t just leave her there!”

“Yes, we can.” Kay stated softly. “And she’d tell you the same thing, if she was here. You know she would.”

Rei groped for words, for a response, then spun and stormed out of the infirmary with Marigold and Saki hot on his heels.

“For the record, I think you made the right choice.” Alexander commented, ignoring the glare the statement earned from Shido.

Kay turned slowly to stare at the Siren. “I don’t care what you think.”

It had taken Rei an hour to drive off Marigold, who had weathered his storm of rage and frustration much longer then Saki. Another couple of hours later and the bulk of the Deep’s refugees slipped into their own fitful slumbers.

Finally satisfied that no one was watching him, Rei returned to his own dark room, heading across the floor to the footlocker Natalia had looked in just a few short days before. He crouched and undid the lock, when the lights suddenly flickered to life.

He spun around, finding Shido standing next to the door watching him. “Well, looks like Saki was wrong.”

“Wrong about what?” Rei demanded. “And why are you in my room?”

“She figured you would go for the armory. Of course, Natalia hadn’t mentioned your predilection for collecting dangerous toys to her, like the Major did me. I assume you’re going after her?”

“Rather you like it or not.” Rei growled, one hand forming claws.

“I like.” Shido commented, ignoring the weapon replacing Rei’s hand. “However, you might want to look at this.”

The former InSec hacker held up a comp-pad, the screen filled with images of a large, medical looking building surrounded by Leo in full armor.

“Where is that?”

“This is MRD. They replaced the normal InSec security with Leo personnel, all of them straight humans. How do you plan to get past?”

“I hadn’t figured that out yet.” Rei admitted. “How’d you get that image?”

“I hacked the Osaka security net. I can’t see inside the building, or into any high security blocks, but I’ve got a god’s eye view of everything else.”

“Can you get maintenance cams and maps too?”

Shido frowned but nodded. “Sure, but why?”

Rei smiled darkly and reached into his locker. Tossing a Leo helmet to Shido he said, “Because now, I’ve got a plan.”