Chapter Text
11/20/2019
Sunday
“Very well. I’ve listened to your whole story, so I may as well play along to the end.”
Ren took a mental sigh as for the first time tonight he felt relaxed and assured that everything is going to turn out alright.
“And that honest look in your eyes… I used to view the world the same way too, once.” Sae continued, “I’ll place my bet on you. I just need to show him the phone, right?”
Ren nodded as his throat felt like it was going to shrivel up from all the talking he did. How long was he being interrogated for? An hour? A couple hours? In the end, it will all be worth it as he feels as if Sae finally understands him.
Someone on the other side of the door knocked. Ren could faintly hear talking through the door. Sae sighed as she turned her head from the door to Ren again.
“I’ll be going now.” She says as she rises from the chair and reaches for the phone. “What good will this do though?” she mutters to herself.
As her fingers touch the phone, the door to the room slams open violently. Suddenly half a dozen armed men in tactical gear holding assault rifles and wearing face concealing masks, goggles, and helmets burst into the room. Two of them pull Sae Niijima out of the way while another two approach Ren and pull him to his feet.
Ren groaned as his body protested against the sudden movement. He could hear one of the armed men mutter a quiet “Jesus” as they look at his battered body.
“What are you doing? Let go of me! What are you doing with him?” Sae demanded as she struggled against the two men holding her.
One of the men holding Ren reaches for his helmet and speaks in an American accent, “Artemis, this is Pi-1-1. We have apprehended the skip. We’ve got some civvie witnesses here and what looks to be evidence related to the skip. Advise, over.”
Ren slumps a bit in their grips as his spirit nosedives. “Of course, my luck gives out just as I get Sae onboard with the plan. I’m too tired to fight anymore.”
Ren could hear a woman’s voice coming from a speaker in the soldier’s helmet. “Understood 1-1. Iota-10 will handle cleanup. You are to retrieve any evidence relevant to the operation and return to base, over.”
“Copy that Artemis. Over and out.” The leader soldier, as far as Ren could guess, looked over to one of the men standing against the wall with his gun trained on Ren, and nodded his head to indicate the phone. Wordlessly, he moved and grabbed Ren’s phone.
“Who are you people? I work with the SIU will have your asses fired or jailed if you don’t answer me.” Sae shouted. She was ushered out of the room and released but barred from entering it again.
“Niijima, please calm down.” Someone Ren couldn’t see spoke reassuringly to Sae. “This case moved jurisdiction. It’s out of our hands now.”
“Out of our… Who the hell are these guys? They can’t just bust into a police station and abduct our suspect.”
“They’re PSIA.”
“PSIA? Wait, they can’t detain anyone. What the hell is going on here? Can’t you see something obviously wrong is going on here?”
After collecting his phone, the “PSIA” agents escorted Ren out of the interrogation room and towards the elevator. Their progress was hampered by Ren having to limp due to one of his legs being seriously abused during “questioning”.
“They could be North Korean for all I care.” The man continued talking to Sae. “All that matters is we have orders to hand him over. Heh, maybe they’ll make him work for us. A Phantom Thief on the force would be pretty handy.”
The two continued to argue but Ren couldn’t hear anymore. He was breathing heavily and fighting to keep his head from hanging. He has never felt this tired except for when he awoke Arsène. His legs felt like they were filled with sand and he began to stumble as the agents pushed him to walk faster.
The leader looked to Ren and touched his microphone. “Artemis, this is Pi-1-1. The skip is injured and seems to be heavily sedated. Recommend med-evac, over.”
“Understood 1-1. We’ll have ground transportation ready in two minutes. Does it seem to be life-threatening, over?” the woman’s voice responded.
“1-1 to Artemis. There don’t appear to be any external life-threatening injuries, however we can’t determine if the skip has internal injuries or a drug overdose, over.”
“Copy that 1-1. Med-evac will be ready when you reach the exit. Over and out.”
“Ren?” a familiar voice questioned.
Ren’s head shot up at hearing the voice. He winced, but he wasn’t sure if it was because of the rapid movement or who he saw. Standing to the side, looking surprised, was Goro Akechi.
“Akech-“ Ren began, but was cut off when the agents rushed him past Akechi. Ren nearly fell, but one of the agents caught him and put one of Ren’s arm around his shoulder for support.
“Hutch, we need to hurry. We’re losing him.” The agent that’s supporting Ren said.
“Alright, you and Isakov carry him. Let’s move it people.” The leader, Hutch apparently, ordered.
Another man came to Ren’s side and the two agents picked him up. He groaned as the position he was in was painful but couldn’t put up any struggle.
“Stay with us skip. Keep your eyes open.” The agent named Isakov urged. Ren used all the strength he had to do as he was told.
A long corridor.
A cramped room with bright lights.
An open office area with loud phones ringing.
He knew that he was moving quickly but he couldn’t focus his mind to make sense of what he was seeing. Eventually, he knew he was outside when the lights quickly dimmed, and the crisp November air met his clammy skin.
He began to shiver as he was placed on a gurney and loaded into an ambulance. An oxygen mask was placed over his face as some new faces strapped different instruments to his body. Everything was a blur to him, and the only thing constant was the bright light over him.
He closed his eyes and tried to focus his mind. “Ok, this is not part of my plan. But Akechi also seemed surprised. So, this isn’t his plan either. Then who are these agents? A third party? Whoever they are, they have influence in the police and weapons to back it up.”
Someone nudged Ren’s shoulder and he slowly blinked his eyes open. He couldn’t make out any details and couldn’t hear them. Ren’s eyes focused on the person’s hair and saw a familiar chestnut brown color.
“Makoto…” Ren croaked out, “I’m sorry…”
His eyes closed again, and Ren passed out.
“We have breaking news. The young man being held in custody has committed suicide. The police have confirmed his death although details have not been released. To repeat, the suspect has committed suicide while in custody. This station will continue to report any further updates as they arrive.”
“It will be difficult to uncover his methods now. Perhaps that’s why he decided to take this course of action.”
While the two news anchors continue to commentate on the story, Ryuji was standing outside the DVD rental store shocked. “You’re shittin’ me…” he softly muttered.
Even though this was the news he was expecting, hearing your best friend has killed himself is still upsetting, even if you know it’s fake.
“Hey man, this is what we planned for. They’re reportin’ just what we expected them to say. Yeah, this is all according to plan.” Ryuji thought to himself.
Bolstered by himself, he couldn’t help but to sneer at the unsuspecting news anchors. “We got ‘em.” He whispered to himself.
As he was about to walk away, he felt his phone ringing in his pocket. He reached down and grabbed it by the corner, and saw it was Ann calling him. Seeing her name and the photo Ryuji took of her at their first Phantom Thieves’ celebration caused a warm smile to grow across his face. His smile fell, however, as his fingers slipped and the phone fell on the pavement, breaking into several pieces.
“Aww man, I have the shittiest luck tonight.” He pouted to himself as he crouched down and picked up the pieces. “Maybe Futaba can put it back together?” he thought as he looked at the shattered screen, “Or maybe this’ll come out of my Phantom paycheck.”
He hung his head and gave a gruff sigh. He shook his head and looked back to the TVs as his mind drifted back to Ren. “I should probably head to LeBlanc. Ren and the others might be there already, and I’m still a ways away from the café.”
Ryuji made his way to LeBlanc as quickly as he could without raising suspicion.
Well… without raising too much suspicion.
When he made it to that familiar door, he saw the sign was set to close, but the lights were still on. “Oh yeah, definitely Phantom Thieves hours at the café.” He softly knocked on the door, hoping to not draw too much attention. Boss came from around the counter and had a look of surprise that quickly melted into relief, and… disappointment? He sighed to himself as he came over and unlocked the door and opened it for Ryuji.
“Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick about you.” Boss asked as Ryuji walked in. Before he could respond, the Boss called up to the attic. “The loud blond one is here.”
Ryuji heard frantic footsteps above him as the thieves quickly came down the stairs. Ann was the first one down and cried out, “Ryuji!” before closing the distance and bear hugging Ryuji.
Something was off. Don’t get him wrong, Ryuji was always happy to see Ann and really liked the hug, but what Ann was doing seemed too much. And, as Ryuji saw the other thieves, he saw how they all had down casted looks. Even Morgana seemed upset, and it’s difficult to determine a ca-.. not-cat’s emotions from looks alone.
Makoto and Futaba looked the worst; Futaba’s eyes were red and tear marks trailed down her face, and Makoto, while looking marginally better, was obviously crying not too long ago. “What happened? Was Ren really beaten up after the police station?” he thought and cringed as interrogation scenes from movies started playing in his mind.
At this point Ann pulled her face away from Ryuji’s chest and glared at him through tear filled eyes. Before he could ask, she swatted at his face.
“Oww!? What was that for?” he asked as he backed up and held his cheek.
“Where were you? We tried calling you, but it went straight to voicemail.” Ann exclaimed.
Futaba sniffled and softly spoke, “I tried looking up your phone’s GPS, but there was no signal. We thought the worst hap…” was all she could say before she broke down and cried in Makoto’s chest.
Ryuji held up one hand and reached for the shattered remains of his phone with the other. “Whoa, ok chill. I’m sorry, but I dropped my phone as Ann was calling me.” He held out the technical carcass. “See? It’s busted.”
Everyone looked at the indeed destroyed phone. Ann walked forward and softly put her head on his chest. She muttered a soft “I’m sorry” and wrapped her arms around his waist. Ryuji put his hands on her shoulders and made a mental checklist of everyone there. Boss was behind the counter looking down, and Makoto’s sister was there, although she looked dazed and high as a kite. He also counted all the Phantom Thieves as present except for Ren. A knot of dread begins to pull at Ryuji’s stomach.
“What’s going on guys?” Ryuji nervously asked, “What’s everyone so down for? Is Ren really hurt that bad?”
“Ryuji,” Makoto hoarsely began before clearing her throat, “Sis didn’t get Ren out. We lost.”
At that revelation, Ryuji’s knees began to buckle. “No way. No way. No way. No way. I must not be understandin’ her. Yeah, that’s right, stupid Ryuji just didn’t get a simple sentence. Maybe she meant as in Ren needed to go to the hospital, or Ren just broke out on his own for some reason. Yeah, that sounds right.”
Feeling him become unstable, Ann guided Ryuji to a nearby booth, and sniffled as she pulled Ryuji’s head against the crook of her neck for comfort. He softly shook his head and muttered “No way. No way.” over and over again. Ann tightened her grip around Ryuji and whispered, “It’s over Ryuji. Ren is gone.”
With Ann’s confirmation, Ryuji began to break down and he cried at the loss of his best friend.