Book 2: Living free from Jupiter's law - Rising from the ashes of Herbay

Rebirth of the Bison

Notes: This chapter took me a lot of effort. Partly because of the heavy topics, partly because it is quite long, and partly because I am distracted by real life things. But well, after almost a month of waiting, here is the second part of Guy's kidnapping.
I hope there are no mistakes. As many of you already know, English is not my native language and I am especially not good with it. I write and translate everything by myself without the help of a beta, so if you find any mistakes, please let me know in the comments. This applies to this chapter as well as to all past and future ones.

Raoul had not managed to sleep. He had spent most of the night pacing the corridor with the phone in his hand, hoping for a call from Guy or Katze that would never come.

Even Riki had not slept much. He stayed with Iason in the guest room, but he was restless, and his mind was filled with thoughts. Guy, Daryl, and Kirie swirled in his half-asleep state. The truth about the horrors of the past - Iason having Daryl eliminated and ordering Kirie's transformation, undoubtedly by Raoul's hand, into an empty shell, only to give what remained of him to an old pervert - was so abominable that it tormented him. He felt disgust and wished he could run away as far as possible, at least for a while, but he couldn't. Not now that Guy could be in danger and finding him was the priority.

The new revelations had disrupted his perception of reality so much that he was entertaining irrational thoughts, like the possibility that even his friend's disappearance could somehow be the work of the Blondies. Such a mental projection didn't make sense and the logical part of Riki knew it. Iason had long shown that his old resentments towards his ex-boyfriend were, indeed, in the past; and Guy adored Raoul, that much was clear. Still, Riki's trust in the Blondies was as thin as a fragile layer of crepe paper right now.

To avoid sharing the bed with his blonde lover, he had moved to the couch, but the fleeting solitude didn't last long as Iason joined him around five in the morning.

"Why didn't you stay to sleep in the bedroom?" he had asked.

Riki shrugged. "Just a bit of insomnia."

But Lord Mink was no fool and had sensed that something was off with him.

"You've been restless since the day before yesterday. Is there something you'd like to talk to me about?"

Fortunately, Raoul's sudden entrance into the room relieved the mongrel from the burden of answering. Katze had called. His hologram was activated, and his voice was put on speaker mode so that everyone could hear him.

- So, what have you found out? –

- Guy reached and passed through the Main Gate at 12:15 on the day of his disappearance, Midas surveillance footage confirms it. -

- And then? -

- The Tanagura recordings have more advanced protection software. Cal is working on it right now, but it will take a bit more time. We'll contact you as soon as we have more news. -

- All right. Thanks, Katze. -

Raoul turned off the communicator. If his self-control hadn't been commendable and his good manners deeply ingrained, he probably would have indulged in curses, so disappointed he was by the scarcity of the obtained information. Riki leaned back on the couch, trying to focus, and a detail that he hadn't considered much before came to his mind.

"Raoul, you said Guy's communicator was found near one of the entrances to Neal Darts, right?"

"Yes, near the north entrance," the Blondie confirmed.

"Guy might have been taken there. While Katze continues his investigation, we could buy some time and scout that area."

"I already thought about that, Riki, but the Neal Darts area is very dangerous, and we don't have enough evidence to justify an official investigation in the dark districts."