I Need Your Help

[UndergroundGod]

Izaya hadn't really had one specific purpose as he'd continued speaking. Maybe he'd been trying to provoke Shizuo? Maybe he'd been trying to defend his decision? Maybe he'd been trying to offer Shizuo's brother legitimate help? It definitely included that last one, because Kasuka's schedule had been the one piece of information that Izaya had needed to dig for, and he felt like it had taken no more than than a couple minutes and the online tech equivalent of a garden trowel to get access to it, which really wasn't a great situation for someone as famous as Yuuhei Hanejima.

Though while his offer had been sincere, it hadn't just been sincere, and honestly, Izaya wasn't used to being sincerely helpful so that point may not have even come across. Maybe more than anything, he was just trying to get Shizuo to react to him in any way at all.

And he didn't get it. He didn't get anything at all except a deflection and a return to their plan tonight, and Izaya had to swallow a sudden surge of irritation, pretend it didn't bother him at all, even though he suddenly didn't just not want to finish his meal, he actively no longer could force himself to eat, not even the otoro he'd been saving for last.

He sat back in his seat, annoyed at himself again, and tried to take a steadying breath as silently as possible before speaking.

"Yeah, we should be good," Izaya said, sounding almost tired all of a sudden, "Got some pictures of the inside of the building and the layout, so I should have no problem sneaking in ahead of you. Namie had some good info I could look into on the company behind it. Celty is all ready to be waiting a block away from the warehouse to whisk Kasuka away to safety. She did text you, right? She said she would text you to confirm you were actually involved in this and that I wasn't just pulling her leg."

[tossingtrashcans]

Shizuo nodded as he ate his food. “Alright. Sounds good.” He said and shifted a little, watching Izaya with an eyebrow raised before he looked back down and went back to his next piece. If he wasn’t mistaken, Izaya seemed annoyed.

“Yeah she contacted me, I called her and told her my side of things.” He said and polished off another piece before drinking more tea.

“Other than the money at home, everything is in place.” He sighed. “And I guess we’ll just hope I’m able to break free and if nothing else, whistling, foot stopping and body tapping are signs of me needing help.” He confirmed.

[UndergroundGod]

Izaya let out a soft breath to get the confirmation about Celty, glad to hear it, as she had been very hesitant about offering any assistance just on Izaya's word. Getting her involved was a highly important part of the plan, as Izaya didn't trust the kidnappers not to have people waiting outside to recapture Kasuka should Shizuo's capture start to go awry. Making sure Kasuka was safe and far away was the key to putting Shizuo in a position to break free of whatever the company had planned.

Izaya gave a nod to show he was listening to Shizuo's offer of a signal. "It looks like there's a catwalk up around the ceiling in the warehouse, so I'll be hiding up there and I'll be in a position where you'll see me towards the back of the buidling. I'll wait for the word from Celty, then I'll flash a small flashlight in your direction to let you know. Nothing too bright, jsut enough that you'll be able to see it if you're looking. And then if you can't break free, I'll make sure to intervene."

He might have been willing to give Shizuo more info about the people waiting in the wings to offer assistance should they need it... but his mood had entirely removed any willingness to share.

Izaya's eyes dropped to the last few pieces of sushi on his plate, trying to will himself to want it, and failing, just annoying himself more.

"Besides that, we should be good. I'll show up early and sneak in, so you can just show up by yourself at the scheduled time. Anything else to talk about?"

[tossingtrashcans]

Shizuo nodded along to Izaya’s confirmed plan as he finished all of his food but one piece. He sat back and finished his tea as well. “Yo, waitress!” He called and when she peeked in he grinned, “Can I get some of the strawberry mochi and a piece of cake please. Thanks.” He said and sat back as she nodded, filling his tea cup with more hot black tea.

Shizuo added sugar and honey to his tea and gave it a stir. “What?” He said looking at Izaya. “If shit goes south, I’m enjoying my last meal here.” He said and sipped the hot tea before setting it down. He had no idea if things were going to go the way they had hoped and planned. But just in case, he was having his favorite meal from here. Including dessert. Which he rarely got from here.

Once it was brought to the table he grinned and shifted the one piece of sushi to the side and then started to eat the ice cream and cake. Oh man, it was perfectly sweet and tasty.

[UndergroundGod]

Shizuo didn't even bother to answer his question, which was an answer in its own way, Izaya supposed.

Either way, he was done. There was nothing left to talk about. They would get Kasuka out of there, they'd get Shizuo out of there, and then it would be over. Everything would be back to the way it was before; and maybe in a few weeks, Izaya would be in the mood to fuck with Shizuo again the way he normally did.

Or maybe he'd up the stakes again. Who knew. He was sick of... well, he was sort of sick of everything, to be honest.

He watched Shizuo order dessert, then decided he was done just sitting here. He fished into his pocket for his wallet, pulling out enough money to cover both his own meal and Shizuo's, and setting it on the table. He then pushed his tray with the four untouched pieces of sushi, including two pieces of his beloved ootoro, towards Shizuo.

"You can finish that if you want. I'd hate for it to go to waste," he said, his tone far more subdued, annoyed, than he would normally let it be known as he pushed himself up from the table. "Enjoy your dessert. See you tonight."

And with that, a neutral expression in place of his normal grin, he headed for the exit.

[tossingtrashcans]

Shizuo looked from his food up to Izaya as he got up and left. Offering him the rest of his food, which was strange. Those were his favorite bits. Shizuo shrugged and finished his food then polished off Izaya’s bits before he got up to pay. When he was told things had been covered he sighed, shoved his wallet back in his pants and waved to Simon as he left.

He had a few hours to kill before he had to get the cash and go to the meet up. Shizuo ended up in the park sitting on the park bench and smoking, watching the birds. Texting Tom updates on the situation and the hopes to be back to work next week.

Now to just trust that Izaya can at least get his brother out and Celty can get him to safety. He’d just worry about himself and try to not get not taken to America himself. He can’t trust Izaya. But he had too in his brother’s respect.

[UndergroundGod]

Izaya tried, as best as he could, to shake off his sour mood. He spent an hour or so fucking around in his normal online forums before he got bored and tried fucking around with Namie for a while, though she decided not to be any fun either. He tried reading for a bit but he couldn’t focus, so he flopped over onto the couch and put on the tv instead, listening absently while he sent out a few more texts regarding that evening.

Even still, he was hardly in a better mood by the time he left his office and grabbed the subway over to the proper area of Ikebukuro. He approached the warehouse cautiously--he was an hour early, and he wasn’t sure how early the kidnappers were planning on showing up, so he didn’t know if he’d have to avoid then already, or just have to evade detection during their arrival... but as he slipped into the warehouse through the indicated back door entrances from the floor plans and pictures he’d received, he realized that the place was quite empty. He moved around, just to familiarize himself with the place, before finding the secluded stairs up to the catwalk above the warehouse floor and heading up that way to get into position.

Sometime shortly after, one of the garage doors cranked open and a medium sized box truck backed inside. Izaya found a safe perch as he watched a half dozen men spill out of the cab and the back of the truck... leading out Kasuka, who was looking mostly bored, and perhaps faintly annoyed. His arms were bound behind him, but otherwise he seemed in absolutely fine shape. As Izaya had predicted, the kidnappers didn’t have any real intentions of mistreating him.

Izaya thought briefly that he could send a text to Shizuo, just to give him a little piece of mind about Kasuka’s safety, but he was feeling vindictive, and Shizuo should be arriving in twenty minutes anyway, so he decided not to risk it. There was some small chance they’d see the light of his phone, so he wasn’t going to start messaging anyone until he needed to.

Two of the men started shifting around items in the back of the truck, though Izaya couldn’t see what. There was definitely something in the back, though it wasn’t bright enough in the warehouse or in the back of the truck for him to get a good look.

The rest of the men were sent to patrol the area, the perimeter of the warehouse both inside and out, and at that point Izaya climbed up further into the rafters above the catwalk to hide himself as the men searched, evading them with ease. Once they headed back down to the ground floor, Izaya lowered himself gracefully back to the steel walkway, and continued watching the men as they worked.

[tossingtrashcans]

Shizuo pushed off the bench and headed home after a while. He paced his apartment, gathered up the money from hiding spots in his apartment and loaded everything up into an old backpack he had. Having a cigarette at home and one last pace around the place, he got ready and headed out. He was nervous, more so for his brother honestly.

He held firm on the backpack and made his way through the streets, heading to the warehouse as promised. Standing off to the side a bit he again had another cigarette before pushing forward and heading toward the warehouse.

Shizuo was walking up just before the top of the hour. “Hey!” He called out to the two men standing outside. One looked at him a little panic’d before the other pounded on the one door.

The door swung open, and the men nodded at the open door. “In” The one said.

“Yeah yeah.” Shizuo said and walked past them through the door and into the warehouse. Shifting the bag on his shoulder he looked around, few more men than he had hoped and… his brother. Oh thank fuc*

[UndergroundGod]

As soon as Izaya heard the banging on the door, he was immediately more alert, assuming it could only mean that Shizuo had arrived. The door opened, and Shizuo stepped into the room mere seconds later. Then, Izaya was on the move, getting into position so that Shizuo would be able to see when Izaya flashed the small flashlight he had to signal to him when Kasuka was safely out of range.

"Welcome, Mr. Heiwajima," Hisao said genially, a tone that was more appropriate for small talk than it was for a kidnapping exchange. After all, there were still very much weapons trained on Kasuka, a threat intended to keep Shizuo from acting against them. "You've arrived right on time, and your brother has been kept safe and sound, as we've promised. Do you have the funds?"

He paused briefly to let Shizuo confirm the answer, before continuing on as if he only half cared about it, "Excellent. Now here's how this is going to go down. You are going to allow us to place these on you..."

He motioned to the man next to him, who opened a briefcase containing what looked like a very high security pair of arm cuffs.

"These are our... insurance policy, I suppose you can say. We're well aware of your reputation, and we'd rather not risk releasing your brother only for you to immediately turn on us, take us all out and take back your money. So what you're going to do is drop the money, and allow us to lock these on you. Once they are secure, one of our men will escort your brother outside and away from the warehouse, while another takes the money and leaves. Are you willing to comply?"

[tossingtrashcans]

Shizuo’s eyes narrowed on the man before him, casting a quick glance to Kasuka before he softened a little. They weren’t in the clear yet. He had to be careful, he wasn’t worried about himself taking a few bullets but he didn’t want his brother turned into that holey cheese.

“Yeah, of course I got it right here.” He said and shifted the back on his back a little.

Shizuo grinded his teeth together, it was like this asshole was ignoring him. He started to chew on the inside of his lip and listened.

“All right, fine, but I want Kasuka over by the door with the door open. Then you can cuff me and I’ll watch as he walks out.” He said. “You can have me once I know for sure he’s safe.” He said.

Glancing up into the empty space above all their heads he rolled his neck a little. He hoped Izaya was up there somewhere, watching as he usually does. But hopefully he’d step in as promised.

[UndergroundGod]

"We can make that happen," Hisao agreed, a grin coming over his face at Shizuo's words. He seemed amused that Shizuo was aware of the true stakes, the true intentions of their scheming, and that Shizuo had been willing to surrender himself. Not only was the ransome money their to keep, but Phizenica had ensured them an otherwordly pay out if they were able to deliver Shizuo alive to them.

There was also a much less lucrative payout for delivering him dead, and though Hisao and his team would prefer the former, if things went south, delivering a corpse was still more profitable than delivering nothing.

Hisao then looked to the man stationed next to Kasuka, whose gun was still trained on him (though judging by Kasuka's face, one would assume that absolutely nothing out of the ordinary was happening), and he gave the man a nod. The man took Kasuka by the arm, and led him over to the door, not being rough or anything with him.

Next, the man with the cuffs lifted them from the case, and approached Shizuo with the utmost caution, as if he knew all too well of Shizuo's reputation and hated that he had to be the one to get close to him. Once close enough, he circled behind Shizuo, and waiting for him to move his arms into place.

Meanwhile, up near the celiing, Izaya decided to risk sending a message, the kidnappers attention was all focused very much on what was going down with Shizuo, so it felt safe. He shot a quick message to Celty, letting her know that Kasuka wouldn't be leaving the warehouse alone and that one of the kidnappers would be with him. Izaya hadn't anticipated that, but he figured it should be easy enough for her to subdue him and escape with Kasuka.

He also began typing out some messages onto the Dollars' boards, from his various other accounts, messages about spotting Shizuo heading towards the old Yellow Scarves' hangout, and what could he possibly be going over there for, along with some other message about no one seeing Shizuo's brother in a few days, maybe he's in danger, drumming up some general attention to the issue and where they were, in case something went wrong and they'd need back up.

[tossingtrashcans]

Shizuo watched as his brother was led to the door, making brief eye contact before he was through the door. He sighed and snapped his head to the man approaching him. Snarling softly before he held his hands out for the cuffs to be placed on.

He was a man of his word, mostly. Shizuo hoped Izaya was a man of his word too, and if not. Well, at least his brother was safe. His brother would be missed. He didn’t think he would be. However, he really didn’t want to end up on a plane or boat heading off Japan.

Once the cuffs were on his wrists he gave him a quick tug. He wasn’t sure if he could break free of them but also, he liked the challenge and kind of hoped he’d get the chance to at least try.

Glancing back up at the head guy he waited for the next step, tapping his toes a little as he got anxious. Hoping Celty was able to meet up with Kasuka.

[UndergroundGod]

Once Shizuo's arms were in place, the man, very gently actually, as if specifically trying not to piss Shizuo off any more than he had to while he was in attack range, eased Shizuo's arms into the device.

The thing was fairly solid, metal, designed to keep someone's arms locked in position together either in front of them or at the small of their back. The metal plates were about 8 inches long, and covered the area from each wrist to about mid-forearm. It forced the shoulders into a somewhat awkward position and prevented the wearer from getting much leverage against the attempt to get them off.

For anyone else, anyone normal, the cuffs would have been impossible to break. For Shizuo... well, it would still take some effort, but he would be able to do it. What wasn't obvious though, was that the cuffs held a secret deeper than simple restraint, and when Shizuo started to struggle too much in his attempt to break free of them, small needles would shoot out from the inside of the cuffs to pierce the muscles and inject him with a sedative.

Whether or not the device was loaded with the correct amount of sedative to actually do more than make Shizuo feel sluggish remained to be seen. It wasn't exactly easy to anticipate what it would take to knock out a person like Shizuo, especially when the goal was to specifically avoid killing him.

Once the cuffs were in place, the man who had put them on backed up, well out of kicking range. Hisao then nodded to the man who was accompanying Kasuka, and the man pushed the door open and walked Kasuka outside, disapeparing from view as the door swung shut behind him.

Hisao then looked at Shizuo with a grin. "If you've figured out why we're really here, then you might be aware that we don't really have any desire to hurt your brother. We're hoping you'll give us your full cooperation so that we can all get through this unscathed."

Up near the ceiling, Izaya messaged Celty to let her know Kasuka had left the warehouse, before his gaze was immediately back on the other members of the party scurrying around down below. Some of them were heading into the truck, while a few of the others were moving towards a set of double doors that Izaya hoped would go ignored...

[tossingtrashcans]

“Yeah yeah, I’m a monster as I’ve been told.” He said, rolling his eyes and casting a glance up to the rafters somewhere before looking back down. “But as long as my brother is being taken let go, you won't have to worry about me.” He said and rolled his neck softly.

He raised his brow as the men started to scurry around the area. “Alright, so what now. I get in your van, plane, train, what?” He breathed out slowly as his focus landed back on the guy doing all the talking. He was sorta, stuck. He couldn’t move his arms much or his shoulders really. His fingers flexed a bit but that was all really.

Shizuo was now officially at the mercy of Izaya and whatever plan that damned backstabbing traitor had in store. Selling the info to get his brother kidnapped, what a piece of shit. However, he couldn’t focus on that, he swallowed hard and just watched what was happening around him.

[UndergroundGod]

Izaya grimaced as he saw the doors at the back of the facility being opened. It was something he hadn’t learned until coming to scope out the warehouse for himself, that the building contained an entrance to G-Cans, the extensive Tokyo water overflow system. It was a fact that he had hoped wouldn’t be relevant, but of course he had no such luck.

He had to hand it to the kidnappers, it was a smart choice, probably the least detectable way to get out of the city; although certainly the most difficult to navigate. There were over 16,000 square kilometers of underground tunnels stretched beneath Tokyo, and besides the guided tour groups, or the occasional maintenance worker, the tunnels were mostly empty. Izaya had been down into them once on a school trip himself, and despite knowing their very altruistic purposes, even he found them a bit eerie.

Because of that, and because few people were willing to risk getting caught down there in case of a sudden weather event, Izaya highly doubted he’d be able to tempt any of the Dollars down there, not even for the possibility of saving Shizuo. Celty might be the only one willing to venture there, but if she was on Kasuka-duty, Izaya couldn’t count on her help either, which meant... Shizuo and he would be on their own in the escape attempt.

He ignored the tightening of anxiety in his chest, and leaned into his annoyance in an attempt to bury it. The kidnappers had already pissed him off by drugging him--he most certainly was not going to let them achieve their goal here. Not only because it would annoy him even more to let them win, but...

If they managed to get Shizuo out of the city, Izaya’s ability to return him to Ikebukuro would be reduced significantly, and if they managed to get him out of the country, to America... he’d be pretty much entirely out of Izaya’s reach. Whether or not Izaya would be able to eventually establish enough connections to track Shizuo down and get him back to Ikebukuro was yet to be seen, but he’d really rather not have to test himself.

And though he was loathe to admit it, and would have in fact bragged about his role in Shizuo’s removal to others, the thought of Shizuo being permanently out of his reach was... rather sickening.

Hisao wasn’t the type of person to let his guard down, even if it did seem as though Heiwajima was willing to cooperate with them. He knew things could change, that Heiwajima might be bidding his time... this was far from his first kidnapping attempt, and he’d learned a great deal over the years about how to pull off these exchanges with some success.

“Nothing quite that straight forward. We’re familiar with your capabilities, Mr. Heiwajima, and it’s a long trip, so we’ve taken some extra precautions to ensure everyone’s safety. Please, if you could, follow us," he said, before motioning towards the back of the building, then leading Shizuo, the rest of the group moving along with them through the doors into the back room and slowly down the stairs into the G-Cans.