"He really thought that kind of cheap trick would work. Hizashi, you just made a big mistake by showing your fear and desperation." Jack chuckled sipping a glass of scotch. He stood on the torch of the statue of liberty and watched the city of New York's slow descent into chaos.
"You're right to be afraid; I'll make sure nothing is left of the Fukuda clan even if it kills me." He muttered to himself.
"This is a whole new level even for you Dad. June really likes that guy; you're putting a lot on her plate. I understand why you did what you did but…"
"She's my daughter, she can handle it. It looks bad yes but on the bright side, one of those addicts is the rabbit and sales of XK-24 couldn't have been higher. Every hospital and clinic in America is buying it and the public is okay with it as long as it's for a good reason." Hizashi said to Niko and pour her some wine. He kept the bottle on the table and sat down across from Niko. It was already late but Niko got a text from June saying she would stay the night at the hospital again and watch over Enji and the rest.
"How did you even drug Enji? When did you drug him?" Niko asked.
"It would make sense if the rabbit was one of the 5 young Japanese scientists here so I gave them a much bigger dose than the rest. There's a camera in June's office, I was watching the whole time." Hizashi replied.
"You know that's a bit perverted right?" Niko pointed out.
"June ordered a hot soup for him since she was busy and went to the lab while waiting for the delivery; I had someone intercept the delivery and mix in the XK-24 into it. Even the drugs she sent for where XK, some of it though. I watched and made sure he took it all in."
"That's way too much Dad. Okay now you got everyone addicted but how are you going to find out who the rabbit is? The XK-24 won't kill you immediately; won't they just keep taking it till their bodies eventually give up?" Niko takes a sip trying to understand Hizashi's thoughts.
"You can live with XK-24 but the more you use it the less you are likely to live longer and if you don't take it, you will die within 48 hours or more. The spasms victim experience when they miss a dose of the XK-24 is an indescribable pain. Anyone would kill to stop it, so if the rabbit or someone who knows something about him is there, he would definitely talk." Hizashi said and gulped up his glass.
"And what if they don't say anything despite the pain? Doesn't that mean they know nothing?" Niko asked drinking a fair amount of win.
"Huh!" He reached for the bottle and started drinking, "I'll admit, I didn't think this plan through. Normally a normal person would even lie about knowing something about the rabbit to stop the pain but if they really don't know anything then they die. The XK-24 will be blamed." Hizashi said staring into a void while drowning himself with alcohol. Niko understood the pressure he was under, everything he had built for more than 20 years could collapse in front of him.
"I'll help with the extraction. I know how I can get them out of the hospital with June's approval, text me the location and I'll bring them there. I'll be going now." She got up to leave but Hizashi, already drunk quickly ran to her. He held her by the shoulders and looked deep into her eyes.
"You can stay the night here, there's plenty of room. This is your home too."
"Don't worry Dad, I have to make arrangements for tomorrows extraction, I'll be fine." She said with a smile on her face.
"Thank you Niko, for everything." He suddenly hugged her, "You ARE my daughter." He embraced her warmly; tears broke through and ran down Niko's face. "I'm happy you are mine."
"*Sniff* Dad stop, I have to go now, take care of yourself." He let go of her and she quickly walked out trying to hide her tears. Hizashi stood at the corner of a window and watched her cry for a while in her car before driving off. He sighed and opened up another bottle and got wasted. He eventually slept off on the couch with a half emptied bottle of liquor in his hand.
The next day, Niko appear at the Welfare Clinic to see June and Enji. The place was already crowded and they were short staffed. Civilians who were concerned volunteered to help out and there were too many shifts to cover. Some of the patients had self inflicted injuries and several organ failures. The XK-24 affects everyone differently at first but at a certain level, the symptoms are very similar and results in death.
"Morning, Hi, damn this place is not for the Fukuda princess. June, when last did you looked in a mirror?" Niko asked as she waltzed in with two cups of coffee. The room was supposed to be private but Enji shared it with 2 other patients and their family.
"I'm a scientist and a doctor Niko; I don't have time for that. This is much bigger than us." Niko replied staring at Enji was fast asleep.
"You're the one handling the XK-24 cure research. If you die while working your ass of here, they will all die. You can't save anyone if you can't save yourself. I'm here as your substitute, so get some sleep or go to the lab and continue the research, just go far away from here, it's depressing. I can handle it, I'm very positive. I've got a doctor willing to run some scans on them and help minimize the effects of the drugs." Niko said while she sat down next to Enji and the patients along with their family urged June to look after herself too.
"Huh!" She sighed, "Call me when Enji wakes up okay." June said and gave Enji a peck on the cheek before leaving. Niko quickly called her agents as soon as she confirmed that June was gone and they took some of the patients, mostly the Japanese men away to an unknown location under the pretext of creating more room in the Clinic and giving them better treatment.
Hizashi was already at the secret location and all the patients were locked up in different rooms except for the non-Japanese patients who were attended to by real doctors in a separate location. The patients slowly woke up one by one and found themselves in an isolated room with no windows or doors, just a single light bulb above them. A voice started talking to them through a speaker that was implanted in each room. Secret cameras were also put in place and all the rooms were monitored at the control centre where Hizashi and his agents were.
"Hayato, can you hear me?" Hizashi said through the speakers but his voice sounded differently to avoid recognition. "How did you escape the fire that night?"
"What… What fire?"
"Who's Hayato?"
"Where am I?"
Each of the patients locked up had the same reaction; they were confused and had no idea what the stranger was asking them. Some were claustrophobic and started panicking while the rest kept trying to find a way out. The rooms were constructed in a way that it can only be opened from the outside.
"One of you is Hayato and I'll figure out who." Hizashi thought to himself, "You received a small dose of the XK-24 yesterday morning to keep you from having seizures or any other side effects of lack of the drug but it has already been 24 hours since then so by my calculations you should start having your episodes soon. If you tell me what you know about the rabbit or Hayato, I'll quickly send someone in to give you another dose. If you prove stubborn or play dumb then you'll just have to endure the pain till it kills you." He said to them.
One by one, they each started screaming in pain and rolling on the ground. Enji felt his head was about to explode, he started banging his head against the wall but it seemed they were fortified with soft materials making it hard for them to inflict pain on themselves which usually reduces the XK-24's effects but damages their bodies more. If they were to be taken back to the Clinic, Niko can easily create an excuse without anything contradicting it. Hizashi sat there watched them scream in pain, begging for one of the most dangerous drugs in the country.
"This would be over if you just told me what you knew!" He yelled at them but they kept screaming and ramming their heads into the walls. After two hours of nothing but pain, a few agreed to speak but when asked what Hayato's last name was, they all got it wrong, even the names of the rabbit's victims were unknown to them. While still watching them, an agent ran in breathing heavily.
"Sir, Mr. Richard Coldwater died in an explosion with his family. An inside footage from one of his security cameras is being broadcasted in the news." Agent Gosly said. They handed him a tablet and with the news station on. His phone started ringing, it was Niko.
"Dad, are you watching this?"
"Yes, it must be the rabbit again." He hung and focused on the news. The footage showed Mr. Coldwater's daughter entering her father's private study with a big coloured egg in her hand escorted in by his wife and two guards.
"What is that you're holding?" Mr. Richard asked with a smile on his face as he sat her on his lap.
"It's a gift got you Daddy." She said sweetly.
"Oh! Who is it from? You? Mummy?" He asked laughing along with his wife.
"It's from the Easter Bunny!" She screamed happily, immediately the words left her mouth, the egg exploded and everyone in the room died including the 5 year old girl.
"Another footage was received from an anonymous source which showed a man in a rabbit mask handing the egg to the girl yesterday around 11:00pm in her room last night. No one knows who this cold hearted killer is but several authorities have connected him to the chain of murders that occurred in the past 2 years." Reporter Mavis said live at the scene of the explosion. Hizashi was left without a word but just then his phone rang, thinking it was Niko, he quickly answered the call.
"Niko, the rabbit is clearly declaring a war on us and he is no longer hiding in the shadows." Hizashi blurted out.
"Yes he is, hello Hizashi Fukuda." A male voice replied.
"Who is this?"
"I'm jack, you've probably heard of me but know me as Jack the rabbit." Jack replied slightly chuckling.
"You, you've been doing this. Jack, that's just an alias, I know you're Hayato!"
"I've only killed bad people and a few innocents were collateral damage, you're worse than me. Hayato Arai is dead Hizashi but I Jack, will avenge him and his family who died that night in the fire." Jack replied, "You almost drugged all of America in attempt to catch me, I'm always on step ahead of you. Your clan and its allies will die at my hands."
"Hayato you can't… Hello? Hayato! He hung up." He smashed both his phone and tablet on the ground in a fit of rage. He turned back to the monitors and slowly began to doubt if any of them was Hayato. But he still needed to be sure just in case any of them was working with him. He sat there and continued to observe them. In less than five hours, 3 men died with their rooms. They had screamed uncontrollably with rushing out their mouths, nose and eyeballs.