Investigation

Author's note:-

By the way quick reminder of some of my oc's!

Brady: Hilary's uncle, scientist good guy forced to work for bad guys!

Samantha: Brady's wife, scientist, occasionally called Sam, only involved in all this because of Brady

Sammy - Brady and Samantha's son, four years old.

ON WITH THE STORY

Renaldo wasn't surprised to discover that he wasn't the only one watching Horatio Tatibana and keeping tabs on his movements. One of his undercover men had discovered a transmitter within the house, it was government standard issue apparently. And that wasn't all another device was discovered but this one was a make more commonly associated with the British government, Renaldo had been expecting the local authorities to at least be aware of Horatio's crminal dealings but he was amazed that they weren't the only country interested. MI5/MI6 they suspected but they couldn't exactly go calling up the British government and ask why they were watching this man.

Renaldo wasn't surprised when five cars left Horatio Tatibana's house that day, five cars going in five different directions. He knew that Horatio would have guessed that he and Kai were following him. Each car had a tail and a transmitter attached. The plan was to follow the cars but also to send in a worker to search the place in order to get any and all information that he could find.

Renaldo wasn't surprised that each of the five cars drove along odd routes trying to lose it's follower, he had been prepared for that hence the transmitters attached to the vehicles.

Renaldo wasn't at all surprised of the five cars that left most of them went to a travel departure point, two headed to the airport, one headed to the docks, one just kept going until it reached the next town and stopped and the final car just boarded a ferry and sat there.

Renaldo was surprised however to discover that of those five cars Horatio wasn't in a single one of them.

He wasn't looking forward to revealing to Kai that they had lost their only chance of finding Voltaire.

In all honesty he couldn't understand how an elderly man could simply slip through his fingers, he had three people watching the house, he was currently blackmailing about five of the members of house staff and a dozen people in Horatio's actual offices. He knew that Horatio had announced that he would be taking some time off but he knew nothing more than that. Thinking carefully he decided that the best thing he could do right now was get in touch with his 'contacts' at the various banks, maybe he'd be lucky and Horatio had slipped up somehow… he doubted it though.

Horatio Tatibana was cold, calculating and as a result incredibly thorough.

Horatio had left the house early in the morning as the pool cleaners van left carrying him hidden in the back. It wasn't Horatio Tatibana's most dignified moment but it was the easiest plan in the grand scheme of things.

With a false name and passport it was easy to board a plane to Russia completely unnoticed, he had told his family that he was going away for a while to clear his head after the 'tragedy' and his sons were more than willing to take on the mantle. Horatio had been controlling the business and everything that happened in it for too long and the idea that he would be gone for a while had offered his grieving family some relief.

In truth Horatio didn't intend on ever returning, he and Voltaire finally had things going their way. It was the first time since the abbey that the two men felt assured of their success.

Soon they would be able to create the perfect blader.

Brady had spent the majority of his life as a prisoner, he had begun working for his father and his partner Voltaire at the age of seventeen, he was now thirty six. He had to admit that at first he had been unaware of his status as prisoner but that didn't change anything in his mind. He had been a prisoner for over half his life, actually it wasn't that preying on his mind right now, what was driving him crazy was his son. At the age of four his son had never known true freedom, it reminded him of those signs you see in zoo's 'Born in captivity'. He seriously doubted that his son would ever live a normal life especially with the new deal he had recently made with his father.

The little male brunette of course knew no different, his four years had been mainly indoors, he was allowed outside every now and then they all were but Brady was well aware of the snipers and barbed wire that prevented him from even thinking of escape. Not that he thought of escape much anymore, his mind had grown tired of formulating plans that would never come to fruition.

Looking away from his son Brady began to consider the new prisoner that now joined them on their picnics outside. It was all part of his fathers plan to have little Sammy accustomed to Hilary. Poor Hilary he knew that she'd been imprisoned for a while before she arrived here, she had spent a long time in an old house in Russia before Horatio and Voltaire had brought her here to their new facility. They had created a lab that looked suspiciously similar to the one that had been part of the abbey just minus the ridiculously large test tubes. He had no real idea where they were just that they were in Russia, further north than they had been last time meaning it would get even colder in the winter.

Hilary. She had never mentioned what had happened between them before and (to his relief) she had never told his wife what he had done.

Unlike him her mind was always active, always thinking of escape, even when she pretended to play with Sammy her eyes would stray to the large hedges hiding the barbed wire fence just beyond. Every now and then her eyes would alight on something that gave her an idea and he could almost see the cogs working away in her mind as she tried to think about it all.

She was determined to escape and he didn't have the heart to tell her it was impossible, the mark around her wrist from where she had obviously been handcuffed to something proved that. She told him about her various escape attempts and they had obviously caused them a lot of trouble…., she was still willing to give them a lot more. He smiled briefly but then he remembered what was going to happen today. He had known that this day was coming but he wasn't looking forward to it, if anything he was praying for some sort of intervention

Today Hilary would lose her memories.

"I can't believe he lost us so easily!" Kai exclaimed glowering at Renaldo "He could be anywhere right now!"

"I know" Renaldo tried to placate his friend but knew it was going to be nigh in impossible. "Look the minute we get a lead on any of them…"

"No" Kai yelled angrily "That's not good enough and you know it."

"Yeah I do" Renaldo nodded but while he knew it wasn't good enough there wasn't much else he could do. Boris had been out of their range for a while, Horatio Tatibana had disappeared the day after the funeral, Voltaire hadn't been seen since…well actually he hadn't seen Voltaire at all this time. They were still keeping feelers out for Lando and Kendall but neither boy had been seen or heard of since the night of the kidnapping, the police had searched long and hard for another body in the water where they had found Hilary but so far nothing had shown up

Kai was starting to get really frustrated now, it had been far too long since they had last seen Horatio. He had somehow managed to evade them and now it seemed unlikely that he was still in the country.

"Grandfather?" Hilary stared fearfully at the man who stood staring at her, he had entered her tiny cell a dark threatening look on his face. She was nervous as hell but she was hoping to get some answers so she wasn't going to attack him….not yet.

"Hello my dear" his voice was silky smooth like always and it made her feel even more nervous.

"What the hell is going on?" her voice was steady but she had never felt more afraid

"If I tell you I get the feeling that you'll get angry"

"I won't…" she shook her head slowly

"Well there's really no point in telling you" he shrugged carelessly "this time tomorrow you won't even remember your own name never mind what I'm about to tell you"

"What?" she was confused, she had no clue what he was on about, he actually sounded rather crazy

"It's simple my dear" Horatio shrugged again "we have a plan for you, of course we know that you won't be agreeable to our plan so we have had a friend concoct a little something to make you compliant"

"Compliant?"

"Yes compliant, easy going, submissive, amenable, acquiescent, bidd..."

"I know what compliant means! I'm just wondering why you need me compliant"

He sighed deciding that he may as well tell her some of what was about to happen "We need you for something…no that's not right… we need your body for something"

"You're not making any sense"

"No I suppose I'm not"

"Can't you just tell me in plain English what you're panning to do with me?" she shouted getting frustrated with the mans inability to answer a question properly

"I'm afraid not, it's rather a long story, the thing you need to know is that tomorrow you won't remember anything"

"Why not?"

"Because we have discovered a way to remove memories"

Hilary sat in stunned silence, she couldn't believe what he was saying "You're going to remove my memories?"

"Yes It'll be like amnesia, only more controlled"

Again there was another silence as Hilary processed what she had been told, finally she managed to stammer out "Are…Are you r-really that heartless?"

"Not heartless as such, more uninterested in your wellbeing "

"Grandfather" she looked at him completely shocked, how could it be that he was so cruel. She had accepted that he wasn't a good person but that he could be so merciless really surprised her. Staring into his cold eyes she realised that he was speaking the truth, then it hit her, this was why Voltaire had found her promise of more escape attempts so amusing, why Brady didn't even start to talk about the future they had both known this was coming "Grandpa please" Hilary began to cry

"Oh Hilary" he smiled indulgently "perhaps if you had been a little less independent I would consider doing this another way but you had to be so individual and self-sufficient. That's why we're doing it this way, believe it or not I do care for you, I'm more proud of you than of any of your cousins or uncles. I'll leave you alone for a few minutes while we get everything ready" he left the room slamming the door behind him

Hilary ran at the door banging on it with her fists "GRANDFATHER" she desperately yelled after the man "Don't do this!"

For a while she continued to beat her fists against the door but as she got no response she gave up sliding to the floor exhausted with all that was happening. Tears rolled down her face as she thought of all the memories she would lose, her wonderful childhood full of happiness and fun. The time she had spent with her friends, oh god her friends. She had only just started to have fun in life, she had so much to do, so many plans. To think that they would all be wiped out in a little while, she would never remember any of it. All her memories of Kai would be gone, she could see him and never know who he was.

"This is completely harmless right Dr Wingblade?" Voltaire turned to his favourite employee and gave him a hard look. Dr Wingblade was a wonderful person to have as part of this enterprise, he was a cold and cruel man who saw people as a chance for scientific research instead of human beings.

"Completely harmless" the doctor nodded filling a hypodermic with an evil looking green liquid. "It's a cocktail of harmless chemicals, not only will she have no memories and it's got a sedating quality that will keep her quiet and receptive."

In the background Brady and his wife watched carefully, all they could do for Hilary at this point was make sure she wasn't harmed during the procedure. When Brady heard about the seating quality he felt his arms tighten, he really wanted to do something but he knew that whatever he tried to do now would only cause problems. All he could do was wait and hope.

"Keep her quiet?" Voltaire asked "surely with the loss of her memories she will be perfectly controllable."

"I doubt it" Horatio had joined them now "Neither of you two know her like I do. I believe that her independent streak will come through no matter what."

"I don't know about that," the Dr paused considering this probability "it will make an interesting test subject. Before the people this was tested on were all pretty submissive she still has fight in her. I shall study her carefully"

"Do you have to sedate her?" Brady couldn't help it, he had to jump in. Not even his wife's arm on his arm gently restraining him seemed to hold the words back

"It is the only sure way to keep her here." Horatio looked though the window where his granddaughter lay strapped to the table. For a brief moment before they had started this up he had spoken to her and for a split second he felt as though he was talking to his late wife, Hilary was so like her grandmother, the fact that she had been named after her only added to the sense of guilt threatening to overcome him.

"Brady" Hilary whispered as he entered the room holding the needle

"I'm sorry Hilary there's nothing else I can do to help you, I persuaded them to let me do it so I could make it as painless as possible, Dr Wingblade is a masochist"

"Thanks" Hilary was still whispering, she wasn't sure why but she carried on keeping her voice low, it kind of suited her mood. "I know it's not your fault Brady. It's Ok really"

"Thanks" he swabbed gently at her arm making sure the area was completely clean, he looked up at her face briefly his expression apologetic but she gave him a weak smile. As soon as he was done Brady was quick to leave the room, he felt so guilty despite Hilary's obvious absolution for his crimes.

Hilary had watched as her uncle injected her with the serum, now she just lay there unable to move trying desperately to fight the clouds overtaking her mind. She tried to think of things, tried to remember good memories but even as she thought of them they slipped away leaving her feeling void and unnecessary.

Brady had left the room now and had returned to his position behind the men in control, they were now watching Hilary through the window waiting for the serum to take hold.

"Will she remember him injecting her?" Voltaire was interested to know "What will her oldest memory be?"

"She'll go into unconsciousness in a few minutes, she'll wake up in about three hours and remember nothing. Her past, who she is, it's all up to us. The best bit about it is how susceptible she'll be. We can tell her anything we want and she'll believe in. We could tell her that her name was Rumpelstiltskin and she'd believe us"

"No!" Horatio snapped "What we tell her about her past will be true…, up to a certain point"

"Have you thought about how to explain away the memory loss?"

"I do have a story arranged."

"What if she starts asking questions though?" Voltaire looked at the brunette, he didn't admit it but he had a certain amount of admiration for the girl who had been able to tame his grandson. He knew about Hilary and her quest for a cure for the Blitzkrieg boys "She is very persistent, she may discover the truth"

"I have arranged a cover story in case she asks questions, I have even arranged for certain evidence that can be brought forward. That's if she retains her personality, she may not." Horatio reminded him

"Well you thought she would" Boris said simply

"If that's the case we can just re-inject her with the serum" the doctor shrugged "we can use it on her more than once."

"And as long as everyone thinks she is dead there's no way they'll come looking for her. Really this plan is foolproof."

Behind them Brady had a slightly satisfied smile on his face as he whispered "Fool proof huh? Well Hilary's no fool"

Inside the room Hilary felt the darkness overtake her, she struggled against it desperately trying to stay awake, but she couldn't. She was desperately trying to remember things…anything no matter how important or pointless it may be. Her first kiss, her last birthday, her favourite colour, that time she Ray and Tyson had gone crazy golfing and his club had slipped and he had managed to knock out someone.

She thought of Mariah and Ray, they were such a perfect couple it was hard to believe it had taken them so long to get together. If it hadn't been for Hilary's 'meddling' they might never have started dating, she grinned as she remembered Mariah's visit to Japan and Hilary's subsequent interest in her and Ray. For a split second the scene where Ray had finally thrown caution to the wind and kissed Mariah flickered in her mind, the laughter from herself and Tyson at the shocked looks on both their faces. The scene began to fade but Mariah's figure stayed solid standing staring around. Instinctively she called out and Mariah looked up at her grinning as she called out Hilary's name. Hilary called back and then her friend was gone as suddenly as she had come.

It was all slipping though, the good memories… the bad… No! She shook her head and tried to concentrate on stuff she really wanted to remember. The first time she kissed Kai, the first time she met him… well that wasn't such a good memory but it had Kai in it so it was an attractive. Wait…. why wasn't meeting Kai a good memory…why? She loved him surely the day she met him should be happy. She tried to picture Kai… his hair, unruly, two toned, way too damn attractive… his eyes… his eyes…his eyes? What colour were his eyes? Her head rolled drowsily to one side and before she disappeared into the black she whispered one word, a name.

"Kai"

Mariah sat on the floor of her hotel room eyes closed, cross-legged and silent. She shut off her mind to the outside world and thought of happy thoughts.

It had become a regular thing these days for her to shut herself away to meditate, the stress of her grief she had experienced recently was not good for the baby and she wanted to keep her mind free from painful thoughts for a while.

In her mind the world around her went white, there was nothing around her, nothing in sight. Slowly she looked around the whiteness and she inwardly smiled, soon Galux materialised beside her and standing she put one hand out to stroke her trusty bit beast.

The large cat responded to her touch in much the way a domestic one would bowing its head, before lying down on it's back and purring. Mariah laughed, she always felt so comforted here, so relaxed and happy, here there was no grief just a relaxed soothing silence.

'You miss her?' Galux's voice resonated in her mind

"Yes, of course I do" Mariah responded

'You will see her again some day'

"Maybe…" Mariah's head started to hurt, it wasn't hugely painful but it was a dull ache that started in her temples and radiated throughout her skull.

Looking around she was surprised to see herself standing in Japan, it was just a few years ago when she had first visited Japan for purely personal reasons. Ray had been going to visit his friends and had at last minute invited her along, Mariah hadn't been too keen until she remembered se wouldn't be the only girl as Hilary was going to be there. She and Hilary had become firm friends that holiday and Mariah had confessed to the brunette how much she liked Ray. Unbeknownst to Mariah Ray had been having similar discussions with Hilary about herself. Hilary spent most of her time telling the two of them to just confess to each other, both had refused. Finally Hilary decided to be sneaky about it setting Mariah up on a date to 'get her mind off Ray' and Mariah had agreed.

She had been picked up by a very attractive guy who went to school with Hilary, the two of them had a nice time until she saw Ray also on a date. Hilary had set him up with another friend to 'get his mind off Mariah' she had somehow got them both to go to the same restaurant. Ray had apparently watched her jealously all evening before leaving early and Mariah hadn't been able to stop herself shooting evil looks at Ray's girl but she was determined to enjoy her date.

When she got back to the dojo -a lot later than Ray- he had been waiting up giving her the big brother speech about guys. She had yelled back about him dating fangirls. The two of them had shouted at each other for about five minutes before just standing facing each other. They were both out of breath and red-faced when Ray had suddenly grabbed her into his arms and kissed her, she had been shocked but responded quickly, that had shocked Ray and he pulled away to stare at her.

"Why did you…?"

"Why did you…?"

"I asked first"

"Well…" Mariah scuffed her shoe in the ground muttering "Ilikeyou"

"Oh…" Ray smiled "I like you too"

"Oh…"

"Um"

"What should we...?"

"What do we...?"

"JUST KISS HER AGAIN" Tyson yelled loudly from the doorway "and no more yelling it's waking up the whole neighbourhood"

"Shut up Ty" Hilary yelled at her friend joining him in the entryway "but he's right for once, just kiss each other you both want it!"

"Hilary!" Mariah blushed hiding her face in her hands

"Did you know this would happen?" Ray asked sounding annoyed

Ignoring Ray's threatening attitude Hilary and Tyson just looked at each other and laughed.

Mariah giggled as she watched the scene start to fade, it was a very happy memory in her mind and she loved to remember it. She looked around realising that Galux had left her side, she coudln't see him. She was about to give up looking and just go back to the real world when…

"MARIAH!"

Mariah turned immediately recognising the voice, she stared at the brunette standing in front of her a smile covered her face as she yelled

"HILARY!"

The two of them just gazed at each other and then Hilary's image flickered and was gone.

Mariah snapped out of her meditation an odd look on her face, this was the second time she had meditated and seen Hilary. Each time she saw the brunette she looked different from her memory's, her hair was longer, her skin was paler and her eyes had bags under them.

Shaking her head she stood and walked over to the window 'what the hell is going on' she muttered looking down at the beyblade in her hand.

"Hi Kai" Millie smiled nervously at the blader, conversation had never been his strong point and he didn't look as though he was willing to break character. "I need a favour"

"Millie I don't have time…" Kai was about to close the door when Millie shoved her foot in the way and hissed

"Just let me talk." she had surprised both him and herself with her forcefulness, but she continued to talk angrily to make sure he listened "You want to know where Horatio Tatibana went right?" he nodded "You want to know if he flew anywhere, if he's in another country?" Another calm nod but she could see that his interest had peaked "That means you want to hack into the system and find out if he used his passport and flew anywhere, I can do that, if you do one tiny thing for me."

"Anything" Kai told her seriously opening the door wider

"I need to get another look at the post mortem report, Max said you made a copy"

"Why do you…?"

"Look you want my help you don't ask questions. Just let me do my work. Truth is Kenny could probably do this for you however…" Millie paused "I don't know how he'll operate at the moment, he misses Hilary too, he could make a mistake. I can promise I won't"

Kai stared at her for a moment and then nodded, he and Renaldo were having no luck in tracing his grandfather or Hilary's. Boris, Kendall and Lando seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth as well it was driving him crazy, all this time the only thing keeping him going was the thought of revenge without it he was losing his grip on sanity.

Moving back Kai allowed Millie into his room, after a few minutes hunting he produced the autopsy report and handed it over to her. Millie took it and smiled

"When are you and Renaldo next meeting up?"

"Tomorrow morning, five am, we'll pick you up at the hotel?"

"I'll be waiting." Millie turned and walked away pleased with this new development.

An attractive brunette awoke and found herself in a white room, everything was white, the chest of drawers, the wardrobe, the door, even the bed she was on. As she sat up and looked around she tried to think. Immediately she hit a problem, she began to panic as she tried to remember her name, it got even worse when she tried to remember where she was and why she was here.

Her breathing started to go funny 'Oh god had she forgotten how to breathe as well?' to her left the door opened and a man she had never seen before walked in, or at least she thought she had never seen him before

"Hilary?" Horatio came to stand by his granddaughters bed, he could see that she was starting to hyperventilate so sitting beside her he rubbed her back soothing her and eventually calming her down.

"What's going on?" Hilary…. (Apparently that was her name)…. asked as soon as she got her breath back

"Hilary, tell me what you remember."

"I don't even remember that I'm Hilary" she began to cry, she was soon surrounded by the mans comforting arms.

Horatio smiled as his granddaughter wept, it had worked! She remembered nothing. No more hopes and plans of escaping. No more questioning him unnecessarily. No more fear that she would somehow manage to get word out. It was like he was an artist, he would create for her a slightly altered past, he was in control of her present , and she would have whatever future he wanted.

It was all up to him.

Author's Note:-

One thing I like about this chapter is the way she has trouble remembering his eye colour, it changes so damn often it must be tricky! I am saying he has grey eyes to make it easier on me later on but never mind!

Now come on people, I know I have more readers than reviewers! You don't even have to sign in!

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