A/N- *Slowly crawls forward* I am so sorry everyone! My life has been a disaster and all inspiration left me, nothing was good enough for so long. I fell into a rather deep pit of stress and dispair and I hope all you wonderful amazingly loyal followers of this story don't hate me for abandoning you for so very long and that this new chapter is not a total trash heap or not up to your expectations... I've been doing so much better but finding the will to continue to write this story to its end like it deserves has been very uplifting. I love all of you wonderful readers and hope to give you more chapters to enjoy! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING! (Ps- don't forget to read the last few chapters since it's been so long and please let me know if stuff doesn't make sense, I'm stressing severally that it won't for some reason lol, because that is the last thing I want and it has been a few years.. I am very sorry about that...)

As the elevator began to drop downward Kuroko couldn't help but ask Kiba Daizo, the man who was apparently Kagami's biological father and behind everything involving the infamous Hera drug a dangerous question. Call it foolish but Kuroko felt that if there was ever a time to ask the clearly unstable man, this was it.

"Why are you looking for Kagami-kun?" Strangely the man with blood-colored eyes answered the question rather casually.

"He is needed to undo something his mother did."

"Not because he is your child and you want to see him?" Daizo just gave a brief laugh at that and leaned in close to Kuroko, speaking so softly that only he could hear.

"I never wanted a child. I hardly care what becomes of him once I have what I want." And with that ominous answer the elevator reached its destination with a cheerful ding. When the metal doors slid open Kuroko, Furihata and Koganei were pushed forward by Kiba Daizo, their captor and his guards first and lead down a narrow hallway that opened out into a massive dinning hall.

They were each shoved one by one into three of the many chairs that lined the absurdly long table, the Tora Company insignia hanging on the wall behind them, guns aimed at their head guaranteed there was complete silence. Choosing to taking advantage of being the first to be forced into a chair, Furihata took note that both the walls to their left and to their right were made of thick tinted glass and that there was a thick pair of double doors at the opposite end of the room even though he knew they would be dead before they reach either exit. But it was just as Kuroko had been shoved into the chair at the head of the table that those double doors suddenly exploded and when the dust cleared, a small party of seven entered, armed to the teeth, entered through the new hole in the wall. The Teiko's and Kagami Taiga had arrived. The motley group's advance stopped though when they saw who were seated at the far end of the table that was clearly made up the focal point of the massive room.

"KUROKO! FURIHATA-KUN! KOGANEI-SEMPAI!" The ever excitable Kagami exclaimed happily when he saw them running ahead of the others but skidded to a halt when he realized that their friends were clearly still prisoners if the well armed soldiers behind each of them with semi-automatics pointed at their heads was anything to go by.

"So good to see you little Taiga, I have to say I didn't expect Maki to be able to hide you from me so well." Daizo greeted as he stepped forward to stand threatening at the seated Kuroko's shoulder, wearing the fakest smile, so fake it was sickening. But still the use of his mother's name caught Kagami's attention and ire, successfully making the teen throw caution to the wind.

"How do you know my mom you bastard?!" The teen snarled up at the man, brandishing what Kuroko realized with an almost silent gasp of surprise was his own Staff.

"How wouldn't I have known Maki? She was my wife after all."

"W-what?" His response seemed to throw Kagami off guard, clearly not the one he had been anticipating.

"She married me along time ago but when we had you she changed. She suddenly got cold feet, suddenly she wanted nothing to do with me and ran off with you one night." He said with dismissive shrug but his fake smile was gone, replaced by cold indifference. The man's bony fingers began to dig into Kuroko's shoulder almost unconsciously. "Have a seat Taiga, we have much to discuss." There was a heavy silence for a minute as no one moved even an inch. Daizo sighed as he shook his head like they were simply being disobedient children. "Fine, have it your way...sit down or I will kill one of other two." And to emphasis the words the guard behind Koganei jabbed the barrel of their gun roughly against their prisoner's head. The room burned with the silent rage of the rescuers at that.

"We don't have to listen to this slime of a human, we can get Kuroko and the other two away easily. He has nowhere left to run." Midorima said haughtily as he adjusted his grip on his still strung bow, three arrows sitting at the ready.

"Do you really want to test who it faster? I don't think you would like the results. Besides, all I ask is that you listen to what I have to say." There was another tense moment of silence, then Kagami, without breaking his burning gaze on the older man hold his friends captive, pulled out the chair closest to him with a loud scraping noise that made almost everyone wince before dropping into it.

"Fine. Talk." And just like that the frightening smile was back. The man, Daizo snapped the fingers that weren't currently trying to dig holes into Kuroko's shoulder and the soldiers lowered their weapons but didn't move from their threatening positions behind Koganei and Furihata.

"Thank you, appreciate your understanding Taiga. Now, I don't think there is too much to talk about but it is all important. Your mother and me shared something, the discrimination against Teiko with human blood by the Teiko. I have some Teiko blood too. But though it is a bit distant I found that because of it I was able to do some things that normal humans couldn't. Nothing particularly grand or amazing but enough for most humans to fear and reject me for it. But that was hardly the worst, because when I felt humans and sought help from the Teiko they turned me away calling me tainted, a cursed child. Only your mother tried to help me, understand me and together when developed a drug that would allow anyone with Teiko blood to Shift. You call it Hera I hear. It would bring equality to all with Teiko blood and the side-effects while not ideal were manageable."

"Slander! Maki-Sama would have never created such a thing!" Akashi of all people spat it out venomously.

"Believe what you will...Together we could have changed everything, relighted so many wrongs, but then she began to have second thoughts about using it after you were born Taiga. She began to talk in secret with a Teiko she had always called her Bonded, Kuroko Yuki. She was going to destroy everything we had built!" Suddenly Kuroko let out a pained yelp as the man's fingernails pressed hard enough to draw blood which began to stain the thin white robe the pale Teiko still wore, not that it stopped him from continuing his long spiel to his, literally, captive audience.

"Ironically Kuroko Yuri was also the reason I found out. She foolishly decided to confront me not long after Maki had vanished with you demanding that I hand over the drug and stop everything or she would spill everything she knew to the Teiko Council who would have me killed on the spot. I didn't kill her or anything but naturally, I couldn't let her do that, so I simply moved the execution date up a bit and change a few things here and there. It all happened the next day smoothly without fail. Everything would have been flawless if Maki hadn't found a way to get the human government to shut my company down, making me start from almost scratch. Years later she was the one to find me but she didn't have you with her. She attacked me out of nowhere and I was forced to kill her... it was only in self-defense... and one of the few things I truly regret..." The sallow man paused at last, what could have been a shimmer of sadness flitted across his eyes but it was hardly a lasting thing.

Then a loud choking sob echoed in the now otherwise quiet room. Tears poured down Kagami's face and the expression he wore could have belonged to the devil himself with how much rage and hate it held, flames flickering around him dangerously.

"You killed her family, her whole Tribe, and her closest and oldest friend who shared her soul and you have the audacity to expect her to come to you with open arms? You disgust me Kiba Daizo." Ogiwara stepped in with pointed glare, putting comforting hand on Kagami's shoulder. "Why are you still keeping Tetsuya prisoner if your plan was such a success?" Daizo actually seemed to be considering the question before answering.

"I suppose I should have explained a bit better the first half of my plan was a sucess, Maki managed to halt the second half of my plan temporarily. Kuroko was very important for the second half as I'm sure you have already found out. But now I need him for more of a personal reason... Before she died Maki made sure to curse me, actually curse me. She swore that the even if my Teiko blood let me live forever it would be the most, poisoned, agonizing, painful forever. I have since been afflicted by every physical ailment in existence but I can never die from them, I just suffer without end."

"As you deserve you monster." Midoria hissed angrily.

"I have your precious Kuroko at my mercy, I would watch what you say..." Daizo warned as his fingers moved from the wolf Teiko's shoulder to his neck. "The only way to lift a Teiko's death spell is another death spell from someone of the same blood. And while I know it would be foolish to expect you Taiga to do such a thing but since you have clearly grown so attached to Kuroko Yuki's child and I have no more need of him I believe your death spell for his freedom is a good exchange. So what will it be my son? I don't have all day."

The roars of outrage that followed were deafening until the horrible man tightened his fingers around Kuroko's throat who let out a stifled croak from the decrease in oxygen and then their was deathly silence. "Decide Taiga. I may have lived several human lifetimes but my patience has always be rather short."

Kagami opened his mouth to reply by the words were lost in a sound of shattering glass as the windows on either side of the room exploded inward and three massive birds invaded the room without warning.

"Takao you're LATE!"

"Sorry about that Shin-chan! But I'm here now! So! Who wants a ride out of this trash heap of a building?"