we become light, chapter ten
Title: We Become Light
Pairings: Nakai/Tsuyoshi, Kimura/Shingo/Goro
Rating: R for violence and swearing
Notes: Five men meet in a dystopian cyberpunk future to free their city from the Tower, with the help of motorcycle rebels, mysterious memories, and love.
"So you don't know what's on the drive, or why they sent you to find it?" Shingo folded his arms, frowning. "Gotta be pretty important, to send someone after it this fast."
Inagaki shook his head. "All the more reason not to tell me, I assume. I never questioned their reasons."
Nakai listened quietly, poking at leftover noodle bits. It felt like Inagaki kept looking at him. A small part of him wanted to trust the man-- but everything about him made Nakai want to sit up straight and keep his eyes down, as if it was the Tower itself watching him through those eyes.
"The spy who had it attacked Kimura. And now they've got a report out for him to be killed. Why's he so important?"
Inagaki looked down as if in thought. "We-- they had him reported as a criminal already for numerous vandalizations. Fighting with a spy might have been enough to upgrade his criminal status, but I do not know why the spy might have targeted him."
Shingo furrowed his eyebrows, leaning against the arm of the couch. Nakai drew a breath and looked up. "What about us? Are we on the-- criminal list?"
Inagaki turned his head, meeting his eyes with an expression Nakai couldn't read. "Yes." Next to Nakai, Tsuyoshi fidgeted with his bandages. "But," Inagaki added, "not yet on the list of those to be exterminated. W-- they do not like to waste valuable resources."
He turned back to Shingo. "I know it must be hard to believe me, but I wish to help the rebels in any way I can--"
Shingo waved his hand. "I'm not a rebel. They'd just kill someone like you, anyway."
Inagaki looked faintly stunned, closing his mouth. Nakai wondered how far someone like you extended. He certainly didn't want anything to do with the Tower anymore, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to meet these rebels either.
A series of quiet clicks interrupted the silence. Shingo crossed the room quickly, brushing his fingers across a monitor to reveal a solid wall of text and numbers. "Damn! Just as I thought, it can't decode it." He sighed and sat down heavily, finger-scrolling through the text.
Tsuyoshi got up to look over his shoulder. "What is it?"
"It's--" Shingo glanced over at Inagaki. "It's the drive from the spy who tried to kill Kimura." He scratched his fingers through his hair, squinting at the screen. "But the technology the Tower uses is different, this looks like it isn't even meant for a computer. If we can't find out why they're after Kimura--"
"I could read it."
They looked over. Inagaki tilted his chin back over his shoulder. "It is what I am built for." He glanced at Nakai again and then frowned uncertainly. "If you believe me, that is. I-- don't expect you to." He looked down, voice softening. "I've been with the Tower so long that it's hard to know what to believe, sometimes. But there's something inside me that keeps fighting, something that keeps telling me that this isn't who I'm supposed to be..."
This isn't who I'm supposed to be. Nakai swallowed involuntarily, the saltiness of the soup still tingling at the back of his throat. That was what he'd felt, the moment he'd cracked-- like there was someone else he was supposed to be, someone who didn't do what the Tower said, someone who knew what it meant to care for people and standing there and watching wasn't it.
He stood, dropping the chopsticks with a clatter. "We'll help you." He met Inagaki's eyes-- yes, there was something familiar there, if hidden in the lines of his face-- "We'll help you escape the Tower. If you help us."
Inagaki flexed his freed hands, reaching up to straighten his disheveled hair. "I cannot promise to be able to access everything," he said, pulling down his collar. "There may be restricted sections only the intended agent can access."
Shingo bent to examine the diamond shape in Inagaki's neck. He'd read about the horrors of the Tower's human modification experiments, but up close there was something curiously... elegant about it. "How's it work?
"Nerve impulses transmitted to the brain which are interpreted as recollections of experienced sensations." Inagaki smirked faintly. "Memories, in other words."
"Memories?" Shingo traced the tip of his finger cautiously along the edge of the diamond. "You simply remember what's in the data?"
"Yes. It is faster than being briefed, and allows us to instantly recall everything we have been informed with perfect accuracy."
Tsuyoshi peered over Shingo's shoulder. "I'd like to be able to remember everything like that."
"They give you new memories?" Nakai hung back at an uneasy distance, eyeing Inagaki's neck. "They can't rewrite the ones you already have, can they?"
Inagaki shook his head. "Unlikely. Memories are not so easy to replace." He bent his head forward, reaching back with one open hand. "If I may?"
Shingo handed the drive to him, watching as he fitted it lengthwise along the slot in the diamond. It clicked into place, and Inagaki tilted his head to the side. "Accessdata." He closed his eyes as if watching something inside his head. "Mission: find civilian Kimura Takuya and bring to Tower. Any condition is acceptable as long as brain remains intact. If subject is judged too dangerous to complete mission, approval is granted for use of deadly force."
Shingo frowned. "Must be what the other spy was doing. What'd they want his brain for?"
Inagaki ignored the question, his eyes still closed. "There's information on his crimes and who he associates with. I see he attacked a patrol as well."
Nakai started; Tsuyoshi reached for his hand, flashing him a sideways smile.
Shingo narrowed his eyes. "It was hardly what I'd call an attack." Kimura slumped on his doorstep, clutching his face as blood pooled underfoot... "Whatever. Anything about why they're out for him?"
"Not in so many words. Perhaps he was to be recruited, especially if he has no family--" Inagaki suddenly furrowed his brow. "Potential match for Five Stars Project?"
"What's that?" Shingo folded his arms, trying to remember where he'd heard the term before. Five stars... "Some new kind of experiment?"
"Accessfivestarsproject." Inagaki was silent for a moment, then opened his eyes. "Restricted."
"Can you hack into it?"
Inagaki shook his head. "It is tuned biologically to the agent it was intended for. Only he would have been able to access it."
"I wonder if they mean the Five Stars like in that kid's story?" Tsuyoshi looked up at Shingo. "The one where they turn into light and defeat the darkness to save the city."
"That's where I've heard it!" Shingo jabbed the air with his finger. "But that's a fairy tale, no one really believes the five are gonna come back."
Nakai blinked slowly. "They... tried to save the city, didn't they?"
"You know it, too?" Tsuyoshi squeezed his hand. "I learned it when I was a kid, back when I was in a gang."
Nakai looked down. "My mother told it to me," he said softly. "A very long time ago."
"Never heard of it." Inagaki looked up at them curiously. "Do you mean the rebels who tried to overthrow the Tower?"
Tsuyoshi nodded. "In the story, they turned into light and escaped so they could come back and lead everyone in a rebellion again."
Inagaki let out a little huff of air that sounded like a laugh. "Everyone knows they were killed. I cannot imagine the Tower would take something like that seriously."
He had a point, even if the way he said it made Shingo want to knock him out again. He could remember laughing at the story when his little brother had told it to him, back when they were underground; it was obviously just a silly story people had made up to keep themselves going. What was more important was--
His watch vibrated on his wrist, and he glanced over at the monitors. Finally, Kimura was back, he'd better be in one piece or Shingo was gonna kill him...
"But why would they want it delivered to me?" Shingo stared down at the paper Kimura had handed him. "You're the one the Tower wanted for this Five Stars thing."
Kimura eyed Inagaki's untied hands. "If he's telling the truth about what's on there." He circled around the younger man, looking down at the diamond in his neck.
"Why would I lie?" Inagaki protested over his shoulder. "I came here because I want to help you--"
Kimura shoved his head forward, flicking open his switchblade. "It'd still be safer to kill you."
"Kimura!" Shingo turned, but before he could even reach out Kimura had pried the drive out of Inagaki's neck and pocketed it. The dark-haired man hissed in pain, clutching at the diamond with one hand.
"What're you doing? You could've hurt him!" Tsuyoshi rushed forward, bending over Inagaki in concern. "Are you okay?" Inagaki nodded silently, not looking up.
Kimura closed the switchblade. "Retie his hands. Or I really will hurt him."
Tsuyoshi glared up at him. "We promised to help him."
"It's fine," Inagaki said weakly, lifting his head. He put his hands behind his back. "You can retie me. I've been a prisoner all my life, I can handle being one for a little longer."
Kimura narrowed his eyes. Shingo interrupted before things could get uglier. "I'll do it, Tsuyoshi. It's for everyone's safety." He knelt, fastening the bonds around Inagaki's wrists again. "Including yours. I'll do what I can to help you, but it'll take some time."
Inagaki nodded grimly. "Understood."
Tsuyoshi stepped back, leaning against Nakai. "It doesn't feel right," he said softly. Nakai looked down, not replying.
Shingo stood and, before Kimura could say anything more, grabbed his arm and dragged him into the bathroom. "Sit," he ordered, pointing at the edge of the bathtub.
Kimura did so, looking up at him defiantly. "I wasn't gonna kill him, if that's what you're angry about."
Shingo dug through his medicine cabinet, pulling out a bottle of rubbing alcohol. "You could've short-circuited the drive reader and sent a shock to his brain." He took Kimura's arm again, cleaning the cut from the patrol in the sewers. "And you could've damaged that drive. We need to find out why the Tower's after you."
"And that spy's our only choice?" Kimura gritted his teeth. "Don't tell me you believe him."
Shingo screwed the alcohol shut and exchanged it for a roll of gauze. ...this isn't who I'm supposed to be... He'd caught a glimpse of that fragment of something again, just for a moment. "I want to."
Kimura tried to take the gauze from Shingo. "He stays tied up 'til we've met with the rebels."
Shingo yanked the gauze back, unrolling it to bandage Kimura himself. "This is my house," he snapped, his hands gentle despite his tone. "And I'll decide how I treat the people I take in."
Kimura caught his wrist. "Please." He looked up at Shingo, his voice low. "For your safety."
Shingo met his gaze, and bit back the retort he'd been about to make. He gently tugged his wrist free, wrapping the gauze around Kimura's arm. "Yours too," he replied quietly. "Don't forget that."
Pairings: Nakai/Tsuyoshi, Kimura/Shingo/Goro
Rating: R for violence and swearing
Notes: Five men meet in a dystopian cyberpunk future to free their city from the Tower, with the help of motorcycle rebels, mysterious memories, and love.
"So you don't know what's on the drive, or why they sent you to find it?" Shingo folded his arms, frowning. "Gotta be pretty important, to send someone after it this fast."
Inagaki shook his head. "All the more reason not to tell me, I assume. I never questioned their reasons."
Nakai listened quietly, poking at leftover noodle bits. It felt like Inagaki kept looking at him. A small part of him wanted to trust the man-- but everything about him made Nakai want to sit up straight and keep his eyes down, as if it was the Tower itself watching him through those eyes.
"The spy who had it attacked Kimura. And now they've got a report out for him to be killed. Why's he so important?"
Inagaki looked down as if in thought. "We-- they had him reported as a criminal already for numerous vandalizations. Fighting with a spy might have been enough to upgrade his criminal status, but I do not know why the spy might have targeted him."
Shingo furrowed his eyebrows, leaning against the arm of the couch. Nakai drew a breath and looked up. "What about us? Are we on the-- criminal list?"
Inagaki turned his head, meeting his eyes with an expression Nakai couldn't read. "Yes." Next to Nakai, Tsuyoshi fidgeted with his bandages. "But," Inagaki added, "not yet on the list of those to be exterminated. W-- they do not like to waste valuable resources."
He turned back to Shingo. "I know it must be hard to believe me, but I wish to help the rebels in any way I can--"
Shingo waved his hand. "I'm not a rebel. They'd just kill someone like you, anyway."
Inagaki looked faintly stunned, closing his mouth. Nakai wondered how far someone like you extended. He certainly didn't want anything to do with the Tower anymore, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to meet these rebels either.
A series of quiet clicks interrupted the silence. Shingo crossed the room quickly, brushing his fingers across a monitor to reveal a solid wall of text and numbers. "Damn! Just as I thought, it can't decode it." He sighed and sat down heavily, finger-scrolling through the text.
Tsuyoshi got up to look over his shoulder. "What is it?"
"It's--" Shingo glanced over at Inagaki. "It's the drive from the spy who tried to kill Kimura." He scratched his fingers through his hair, squinting at the screen. "But the technology the Tower uses is different, this looks like it isn't even meant for a computer. If we can't find out why they're after Kimura--"
"I could read it."
They looked over. Inagaki tilted his chin back over his shoulder. "It is what I am built for." He glanced at Nakai again and then frowned uncertainly. "If you believe me, that is. I-- don't expect you to." He looked down, voice softening. "I've been with the Tower so long that it's hard to know what to believe, sometimes. But there's something inside me that keeps fighting, something that keeps telling me that this isn't who I'm supposed to be..."
This isn't who I'm supposed to be. Nakai swallowed involuntarily, the saltiness of the soup still tingling at the back of his throat. That was what he'd felt, the moment he'd cracked-- like there was someone else he was supposed to be, someone who didn't do what the Tower said, someone who knew what it meant to care for people and standing there and watching wasn't it.
He stood, dropping the chopsticks with a clatter. "We'll help you." He met Inagaki's eyes-- yes, there was something familiar there, if hidden in the lines of his face-- "We'll help you escape the Tower. If you help us."
Inagaki flexed his freed hands, reaching up to straighten his disheveled hair. "I cannot promise to be able to access everything," he said, pulling down his collar. "There may be restricted sections only the intended agent can access."
Shingo bent to examine the diamond shape in Inagaki's neck. He'd read about the horrors of the Tower's human modification experiments, but up close there was something curiously... elegant about it. "How's it work?
"Nerve impulses transmitted to the brain which are interpreted as recollections of experienced sensations." Inagaki smirked faintly. "Memories, in other words."
"Memories?" Shingo traced the tip of his finger cautiously along the edge of the diamond. "You simply remember what's in the data?"
"Yes. It is faster than being briefed, and allows us to instantly recall everything we have been informed with perfect accuracy."
Tsuyoshi peered over Shingo's shoulder. "I'd like to be able to remember everything like that."
"They give you new memories?" Nakai hung back at an uneasy distance, eyeing Inagaki's neck. "They can't rewrite the ones you already have, can they?"
Inagaki shook his head. "Unlikely. Memories are not so easy to replace." He bent his head forward, reaching back with one open hand. "If I may?"
Shingo handed the drive to him, watching as he fitted it lengthwise along the slot in the diamond. It clicked into place, and Inagaki tilted his head to the side. "Accessdata." He closed his eyes as if watching something inside his head. "Mission: find civilian Kimura Takuya and bring to Tower. Any condition is acceptable as long as brain remains intact. If subject is judged too dangerous to complete mission, approval is granted for use of deadly force."
Shingo frowned. "Must be what the other spy was doing. What'd they want his brain for?"
Inagaki ignored the question, his eyes still closed. "There's information on his crimes and who he associates with. I see he attacked a patrol as well."
Nakai started; Tsuyoshi reached for his hand, flashing him a sideways smile.
Shingo narrowed his eyes. "It was hardly what I'd call an attack." Kimura slumped on his doorstep, clutching his face as blood pooled underfoot... "Whatever. Anything about why they're out for him?"
"Not in so many words. Perhaps he was to be recruited, especially if he has no family--" Inagaki suddenly furrowed his brow. "Potential match for Five Stars Project?"
"What's that?" Shingo folded his arms, trying to remember where he'd heard the term before. Five stars... "Some new kind of experiment?"
"Accessfivestarsproject." Inagaki was silent for a moment, then opened his eyes. "Restricted."
"Can you hack into it?"
Inagaki shook his head. "It is tuned biologically to the agent it was intended for. Only he would have been able to access it."
"I wonder if they mean the Five Stars like in that kid's story?" Tsuyoshi looked up at Shingo. "The one where they turn into light and defeat the darkness to save the city."
"That's where I've heard it!" Shingo jabbed the air with his finger. "But that's a fairy tale, no one really believes the five are gonna come back."
Nakai blinked slowly. "They... tried to save the city, didn't they?"
"You know it, too?" Tsuyoshi squeezed his hand. "I learned it when I was a kid, back when I was in a gang."
Nakai looked down. "My mother told it to me," he said softly. "A very long time ago."
"Never heard of it." Inagaki looked up at them curiously. "Do you mean the rebels who tried to overthrow the Tower?"
Tsuyoshi nodded. "In the story, they turned into light and escaped so they could come back and lead everyone in a rebellion again."
Inagaki let out a little huff of air that sounded like a laugh. "Everyone knows they were killed. I cannot imagine the Tower would take something like that seriously."
He had a point, even if the way he said it made Shingo want to knock him out again. He could remember laughing at the story when his little brother had told it to him, back when they were underground; it was obviously just a silly story people had made up to keep themselves going. What was more important was--
His watch vibrated on his wrist, and he glanced over at the monitors. Finally, Kimura was back, he'd better be in one piece or Shingo was gonna kill him...
"But why would they want it delivered to me?" Shingo stared down at the paper Kimura had handed him. "You're the one the Tower wanted for this Five Stars thing."
Kimura eyed Inagaki's untied hands. "If he's telling the truth about what's on there." He circled around the younger man, looking down at the diamond in his neck.
"Why would I lie?" Inagaki protested over his shoulder. "I came here because I want to help you--"
Kimura shoved his head forward, flicking open his switchblade. "It'd still be safer to kill you."
"Kimura!" Shingo turned, but before he could even reach out Kimura had pried the drive out of Inagaki's neck and pocketed it. The dark-haired man hissed in pain, clutching at the diamond with one hand.
"What're you doing? You could've hurt him!" Tsuyoshi rushed forward, bending over Inagaki in concern. "Are you okay?" Inagaki nodded silently, not looking up.
Kimura closed the switchblade. "Retie his hands. Or I really will hurt him."
Tsuyoshi glared up at him. "We promised to help him."
"It's fine," Inagaki said weakly, lifting his head. He put his hands behind his back. "You can retie me. I've been a prisoner all my life, I can handle being one for a little longer."
Kimura narrowed his eyes. Shingo interrupted before things could get uglier. "I'll do it, Tsuyoshi. It's for everyone's safety." He knelt, fastening the bonds around Inagaki's wrists again. "Including yours. I'll do what I can to help you, but it'll take some time."
Inagaki nodded grimly. "Understood."
Tsuyoshi stepped back, leaning against Nakai. "It doesn't feel right," he said softly. Nakai looked down, not replying.
Shingo stood and, before Kimura could say anything more, grabbed his arm and dragged him into the bathroom. "Sit," he ordered, pointing at the edge of the bathtub.
Kimura did so, looking up at him defiantly. "I wasn't gonna kill him, if that's what you're angry about."
Shingo dug through his medicine cabinet, pulling out a bottle of rubbing alcohol. "You could've short-circuited the drive reader and sent a shock to his brain." He took Kimura's arm again, cleaning the cut from the patrol in the sewers. "And you could've damaged that drive. We need to find out why the Tower's after you."
"And that spy's our only choice?" Kimura gritted his teeth. "Don't tell me you believe him."
Shingo screwed the alcohol shut and exchanged it for a roll of gauze. ...this isn't who I'm supposed to be... He'd caught a glimpse of that fragment of something again, just for a moment. "I want to."
Kimura tried to take the gauze from Shingo. "He stays tied up 'til we've met with the rebels."
Shingo yanked the gauze back, unrolling it to bandage Kimura himself. "This is my house," he snapped, his hands gentle despite his tone. "And I'll decide how I treat the people I take in."
Kimura caught his wrist. "Please." He looked up at Shingo, his voice low. "For your safety."
Shingo met his gaze, and bit back the retort he'd been about to make. He gently tugged his wrist free, wrapping the gauze around Kimura's arm. "Yours too," he replied quietly. "Don't forget that."