Tortured Soul

Ok, here's chapter 6 for you. I know my chapters aren't very long, but that makes them easier to read. I really don't know what Boris is up to yet, I haven't asked him. I'm sure he'll tell me sooner or later, maybe you can guess. Enjoy.


Chapter 6

Max and Hillary strode into the BBA building, which was, in reality, a small hut under a bridge. They headed straight for Kenny’s temporary office where he was working to update the data on all known bladers. As they neared the office, they heard Kenny speak.

“Hey, how’s it going?” said Kenny brightly. There was no obvious reply to the question. Just when Max thought he’d realised they were there and had been talking to them, Kenny’s voice sounded again.

“That’s great. I think it’s a wonderful idea, we’ll see you then.”

“Hey Max, there you are. I wanna rematch”. Max and Hillary both jumped at the voice, they had been so distracted listening to Kenny’s conversation that they hadn’t even noticed Daichi approach.

“Daichi? What about a rematch?” asked Max. From inside Kenny’s office he heard Kenny say a hurried goodbye and then the sound of a phone being replaced on its hook. Sighing because they hadn’t found out what Kenny was doing, Max nodded to Hillary and she opened the door. As they entered the room, Kenny turned to look at them, a smile covering his face.

“Why are you so happy?” asked Hillary, suspicion evident in her tone.

“Oh, no reason. Can’t I just be happy?” replied Kenny, blushing a little.

“Who were you talking to chief?” asked Max. Kenny obviously realised they had been outside listening, so there was no reason to avoid the subject or try to be subtle.

“Just a friend, that’s all, nobody important” Kenny said sounding very flustered. “So Max, did you manage to see Tyson this morning?” It was an obvious attempt at changing the subject but that didn’t matter.

“No” Max replied a little quietly, “I knocked on the door, well banged on the door, but nobody answered. Hillary suggested that maybe he was just asleep but I’m not sure.”

“Has he been here yet Kenny?” Hillary asked.

“No, we haven’t seen him either. Daichi’s been waiting for him all day and so far, nothing.”

“It’s really frustrating. I wanna battle and nobody out there was any match for me. But now that you’re here Max, I can start to have some fun” Daichi’s voice was almost pleading for a battle.

“Sorry Daichi, no can do. I think we ought to find Tyson. This isn’t like him, he’s usually here by now for training.” When Max gave Kenny a confused look, Kenny explained. “Ever since we defeated Bega, Tyson’s been here just about every day training the next generation. He doesn’t want anyone to turn out like Brooklyn. I know Brooklyn’s alright now but we couldn’t go through that again.”

“He really trains that hard?” Max was impressed, Tyson had never really been this focused.

“Yeah, it surprised all of us” said Hillary. “He was so concerned about the kids, especially those that seemed to be left out. He’s really just a softy.”

“Ugh” Daichi made a point of sticking a finger in his mouth to show his distaste. “Tyson is not a softy, he’s doing it ‘cos he has a big head and he wants the praise.”

“Daichi, you know that’s not true” Kenny admonished.

“Yeah, yeah” was Daichi’s quiet reply.

“So” said Max, “where do we start?”

“Start what?” The voice made them all jump. None of them had heard the footsteps, or the rustle of fabric and yet behind them stood the ever stoic Kai.

--::--::--::--::--::--::

Tyson was led down several corridors, after a while he had lost track of their progress, this place seemed like a maze. Dumb suddenly stopped in front of a pair of big wooden doors, they were very imposing and strange images were carved into them. They opened with no sound, Tyson had almost been expecting the creek of hinges that you hear in horror movies.

When dumb had opened the doors, dumber pushed Tyson forward hard enough to make him stumble. He managed to keep his footing and stay upright, but only just. Tyson was moved towards a chair that sat in the centre of the room, when he was in front of it, dumb pushed him down and then stood motionless on one side of him while dumber took up a position on the opposite side. ‘Just in case I try to run for it’ thought Tyson, ‘like I was really planning on it, I don’t even know where I am’.

It was just the three of them in the room and Tyson took the opportunity to look around himself. There were two huge windows covering most of the wall opposite him, they seemed old, not something you’d see in modern buildings. In front of the windows was a rather large wooden desk, on it sat a computer and a phone. No pictures, no personal touches whatsoever.

To his left was a fireplace, it was so big that he could probably stand upright in it, he wondered how narrow it got towards the top, maybe he could use it as an escape route. ‘Of course, they’d probably just light a fire and smoke me out. That could be a problem’ Tyson sighed ‘not a good escape route, and so far I haven’t seen anything I could really use as a weapon either’.

There were some paintings around the room, the kind you’d expect to see in a gallery, not in someone’s office. Tyson couldn’t see behind him without being obvious about it but he knew that the doors were there so that left the right wall. There was another door there, less ornate and over the top. It was just a plain wooden door and Tyson wondered where it led. While a plan was working itself out in his head, how to get past his personal brick walls, he heard a sound.

His head snapped up at the soft click, just in time to see Boris walk through the side door. He strode purposefully across the room and stopped behind the desk. He turned to face Tyson and the sudden urge to dive across the desk and rip his head off nearly overwhelmed Tyson. It was that smug grin Boris wore, the one that said ‘I’ve won’ that was really pissing him off.

“Ah Tyson” Boris oozed “So nice to see you. I hope you are well.”

“Look you sarcastic purple haired freak, stop being an arsehole and let me go.” Tyson flung back.

“Now now Tyson, no need for such vulgarity. I have invited you here to propose an…opportunity.” Boris pulled out his chair and sat down, resting his elbows on the desk and interlacing his fingers.

“Invited?” Tyson spat out “You call that being invited?”

“I’ll admit, it may have been a tad excessive”. Boris said with a grin.

“A tad? A TAD? You call your… and I hesitate to call them men, whacking me over the back of the head and knocking me unconscious, a tad? I’d hate to see what you call overly excessive. Oh and then to let them kick the crap out of me. Yeah, that was fun.” The sarcasm in Tyson’s voice was almost another entity in the room.

“Now Tyson, let’s not get overly dramatic shall we. What’s done is done. Now, about this opportunity.” That grin was really annoying him now, he was grinding his teeth in an effort to calm down.

“Boris, there is nothing you will ever be able to offer me that would ever entice me to work with you!” Tyson said, proud of himself that he’d managed to say it without screaming.

“Will you not even listen to what I have to say Tyson?”

“Do I have a choice but to listen? After all, if I move, your ‘men’ will just sit me back down”. Dumb and dumber made low growling noises in the back of their throats at Tyson’s repeated disrespect towards them.

“That, of course, is true” said Boris “and you may find you even like the idea.”

“Not likely” Tyson muttered under his breath. Ignoring Tyson’s muttering, Boris began to outline his new plan. Tyson’s face changing from one of anger to horror to dismay as the meaning behind Boris’s words sank in.

“You can’t do that” Tyson breathed “how can anyone think like that? It’s not human. I’ll never help you Boris, never.” Tyson jumped as the metal clamped down over his wrists, there was the sound of them clicking into place. He tried to pull his arms away from the chair, but the metal straps wouldn’t budge. He screamed as the jolt of electricity surged through his body. His back arched forward, his head thrown back. When the pain stopped, Tyson slumped in his chair, breathing heavily.

“There is more where that came from Tyson if you continue to refuse to help me. I will make your life a living hell” threatened Boris.

“Do…it” Tyson managed between breaths. “I’ll…never…help you. Not…even…if you…kill me.”

“So be it” said Boris. “Make sure you don’t kill him,” he said to Tyson’s guards “just make him suffer until he’s ready to see things our way.” With that, Boris stood and headed for the door in the right wall. His hand on the handle, he paused and looked at Tyson, that grin on his face again, “Oh, and Tyson, you will see things our way”.

As Boris closed the door he heard Tyson scream again, louder than before, ‘he will break’ Boris thought ‘he will break, and then, he’ll be mine’.

--::--::--::--::--::--::

After filling Kai in on what they had been talking about, they had agreed to split up to begin the search. They could cover more ground, and besides, Kai preferred to be on his own. Max and Hillary had set off towards the dojo, in the hopes of finding Tyson doing some chores. Kenny and a very vocal Daichi had set off to some of the places where bladers practiced and Kai was checking everywhere else.

His feet moved swiftly across the ground as he hurriedly ran from place to place, there was a feeling of urgency to his search. He had a really bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him they weren’t going to find Tyson, that something was wrong with the bluenette. Somehow his feet seemed to move faster with that thought, sensing the need rising within him to find the world champ safe and well.

‘This isn’t like him’ thought Kai, ‘he’d never disappear like this. His friends are too important to him, he’d never make them worry over him’. Kai’s thoughts were tumbling around in an effort to make sense. Every conclusion he reached, he pushed away, refusing to believe that Tyson could be in trouble.

He stopped as he came to the beach where they had trained for their battle against Bega. Looking around, there was nothing that could even start to explain where Tyson was, or what he may be doing. Taking a deep breath, Kai finally let the thought surface, was Tyson in trouble? Had he been taken from them? From him? Looking out over the ocean, Kai unconsciously squeezed his hands into fists. He let a question escape his mouth to be swallowed by the breeze, hoping the answer would come back the same way.

“Where are you Tyson?”