Seize the Day
Summary: A disbanded group of world-class thieves had scattered all across the world; it usually takes a short, violet eyed vixen to get anyone to come to their senses. Rukia Kuchiki, a graduating senior adopted into the noble family Kuchiki had wanted to get away from it all, after being 'kidnapped' by a gorgeous looking woman and being recruited into her cause, she finds herself traveling the globe to reunite the four disbanded thieves.
Disclaimer: I only own the bleach that whitens my whites and the plot too. Tite Kubo owns the rest.
A/N: Start Date: 2/1/2012 Who likes AU stories? I know that I started A Statice and Haiku a while ago, and am starting to make sure that I can focus a bit by sorting out my moments of insanity. So here, I present to you a new story just for the sake of keeping myself fit for creative writing, seeing as I do none of it in school. So maybe, depending on the type of feedback that I get from this, I'll keep it going. Nevertheless, read on.
Side note: This is going to be an Ichi/ruki, Ura/Kuu, Bya/Yoru and other pairings along the way.
Chapter 1: This is Who We Were
Rain poured down from the black clouds creating a steady drumbeat against whatever was accessible. Puddles accumulated within minutes in potholes and ditches in the road. A black Mark III van parked on the nearest sidewalk on the country road outside a rather grand mansion which was about two meters up a hill. The walls were white washed walls and an oaken door. The windows adorned with green shudders, and a rather comfortable looking family sitting around a television set. A stone walkway led to the pavement that was the driveway.
On the interior of the van, a rather comfortable looking man sat with a computer in his lap. A plastic face mask of a bison shrouded his facial features, but from his tight white jeans and green Henley, he was physically built. The computer screen showed several codes on the old fashion DAS system and he had a bit of windows opened, some of which was live feeds from the family's webcams, others was bank statements and 'work' E-mails from the father's youngest son. The man's green wrapped hands, tucked into his black colored gloves, were typing on his high-tech laptop with furious speed.
This man, called Bison, was the infamous hacker of the 'Synced Quartet', a name given to the man and the other three cohorts by the police of many countries. His other team members included three other women, Phoenix, the best driver in the business and demolitions expert extraordinary who was in the process of creating a rather 'flashy' light show, which true to the woman's nature, and the weather had no bearing to her plans. Hell, she could even keep a fire burning in the rain. The other two women were the field ops. The Leopard, was a rather influential gal, the best in the world at impromptu distractions that happened amid the social crowds, and Raven, though not exactly the most sociable, was the best free hand climber and could practically run along a ceiling pass, with the help of Sir Isaac Newton's law of gravity, that being the object in motion bullshit.
Bison looked up from his seated place to see Phoenix creeping from thirty-six degrees east of his vantage point. The explosive woman obviously crawled through brush, bushes and hid behind trees to avoid detection from the rather large bay window that faced her direction. She turned to the van and broke out into a sprint that would have made the Leopard proud.
After slamming the doors both open and closed, she climbed into the driver's seat and drove the Mark III two blocks down the avenue as to not look so suspicious. After turning around, the bright orange, red, yellow, and white bird mask that resembles a phoenix came into Bison's view. The woman's unkempt black hair was strewn about in odd angles which were kept in place not by hair spray, but white bandages. The bright red tank top the woman wore accentuated her ample bosom. A black leather jacket thrown over her shoulders and zipped up underneath her cleavage. Phoenix's wrists, wrapped in red colored bandages, tucked into black leather gloves. Skinny white jeans clad her legs, tucked into red high-top converse.
"So," Bison's amused tenor voice shattered silence present in the van, "Leopard and Raven are at theirs?"
"Yeah, said they'd be about fifteen to thirty minutes in there to grab everything," Phoenix replied while flicking the flint of her lighter idly.
~XxX~
A woman with bright red hair and smoldering brown eyes walked to the grand entrance of the multimillionaire's home. The glasses that perched on her tanned nose dripped from the rainfall.
"And I even did my hair for these people." The woman lamented as she fixed the collard jacket over the business attire she wore in attempts to salvage some form of warmth. Her high-heeled shoes clicked along the gravel in a steady rhythm with the beat of the rain until she reached the overhanging ledge that shielded the porch and fine oaken finished door. The woman knocked twice on the frame and the shrill noise of a Shiatsu barking broke whatever silence was in the home. Shuffling of feet and the sound of someone who was most likely heavyset stomp down the steps sounded almost instantaneously.
The door opened to reveal a man who fit the description the red-head predicted-rather rotund, and judging by his posture and how he glowered at her, rather boorish.
"Hello sir, I am new in town and I don't know much of the area," The darker woman said in a thick accent indicating that she was from one of the Caribbean Islands. "But some people told me to seek out the Omaeda family because they know most of the region, from having spent many generations here."
The slob perked up from the complement directed at his family knowledge. "Why, yes ma'am, the Omaeda family is the most knowledgeable family in this lovely town. You see, my grandfather to the twelfth generation actually founded this area and built the town houses. That, and like myself, he was stylish to boot." The man obviously from the Omaeda family boasted.
"Pardon me, but I didn't catch your name?" The woman asked.
"Ah! My name is Marechiyo Yoshiayamenosuke Nikkotaroemon Omaeda!" The fat man chimed jovially which drew a perplexed look from the woman. "And who might you be Ms.?"
"Hanna, My name is Hanna Bamas."
"Hanna, come in, come in! You are hungry, right, and there is extra food left over! Come in!" Marechiyo ushered Hanna in without giving her a second to respond.
~XxX~
A smaller woman stood in the shade of a tree with the face of a dark bird mask tilted at the side of her head. The woman's inky black hair whipped out in neater flares than that of Phoenix. A lit fag hung from her lips lazily as her midnight colored eyes traced the cloud lines. A form-fitting black turtle neck and a sleeveless white jacket provided the woman with little warmth as she shivered slightly. Under her black gloves, yellow bandages wrapped securely around her wrists. The turtleneck, tucked into black skinny jeans with a yellow belt fastened to her waist. The pants were also tucked into rather expensive, state of the art high top Parkour shoes.
The earpiece crackled to life in her ear as Bison's tenor was heard. "Leopard has gained entrance, so put out your cigarette, and make your way to the roof. And remember: there are several security measures that I still have to over-ride."
The woman grunted as she dropped the cancer stick to the ground and ground her toes into the butt before picking it back up and slipping it into her pocket.
The ear piece crackled to life again. "Don't tell me you're gonna smoke that again?"
"Removing any evidence; you don't know what they'll be checking for."
"Raven, that's the most I heard you talk to me in…I dunno, ever?"
"And I intend to keep it that way, you pretentious ass."
"I'm deeply hurt." The man chuckled over the Bluetooth, "You better get your ass moving so we can save Leopard from her death sentence…Looking in the room through the computers, she looks about ready to snap at these people's antics."
A small smirk lifted at Raven's lips as she slid the mask back into place and climbed into the shielding of the trees. She crossed the connecting trees with professional precision. She perched on the limb within jumping distance of the three stories the home possessed. After deducing the distance required to make the ledge and how much energy she'd spend, Raven leap and landed with one leg draped over the overhang of the west side of the mansion.
After walking to the south side, she lay on her stomach and peered into the nearest window which happened to be a bathroom. "Kid's stuff," Raven mumbled to herself.
She flipped open her wallet and removed an outdated library card from when she went to high school and slipped it into the crevice between the window and it's frame. She slid open the newly unlocked window and slid onto the porcelain that was the toilet. The only thought that crossed her mind was that A, at least it was clean, and B, it smelled like cherry blossoms, which were undoubtedly her favorite scent.
After removing a bag from her jacket, she spotted the air freshener. Shrugging, Raven took the source of the sweet aroma and slid it into the empty space. Yes, this was bound to be a fresh heist.
~XxX~
'Hanna Bamas', more commonly known to the 'Synched Quartet' as 'Leopard' sat with a façade that she actually was enjoying the pointless information that the pudgy family was spewing. The only normal one to…well, normal standards was the youngest of the bunch, Mareyo.
Marenoshin, the father-obviously the role model for Marechiyo and well, everyone in the family rambled on about each specific landmark. He went through the family owned jewelry shops first, then all of the local restaurants, and then the deli's, then the tavern –which Leopard was sure she was going to hit after this heist-, and he was currently rambling about his family owned gold mine and how they crafted their own jewels.
"That's interesting. So I took notice of the home on sale, and I was wondering if there is anywhere…smaller?"
"Oh you're talking 'bout 808 Linden Ave.?" Marechiyo's younger brother, Marejirosaburo sated, obviously bored with the situation.
"…Yeah."
"Nope, that's the smallest it gets." He responded disinterestedly.
"Ah, I see. Well, thank you for allowing me to listen to the background of this, village -er town, and the food, the food was great, but may I use the restroom?"
"Absolutely," Marenoshin chimed, "Third floor, western corridor, third on the left. There are maps around just incase you get lost."
"Thank you." Leopard stood up and grabbed her pocketbook. Earning perplexed looks from the surrounding crowd, she smiled charmingly. "Sorry, I have some lady issues to take care of," She earned sympathetic looks from the women from the Omaeda family as she shuffled out of the living room to find the staircase.
After turning twelve blind corners she found the stairs finally and saw a figure with a white, sleeveless jacket waiting in the shadows. "Sorry, it took longer than expected to be excused." She reached into her pocket-book and withdrew a black box-like device with a white USB connection port. "Kid's name is Marejirosaburo…find his room, oh, and go easy on taking the cherry blossom air freshener this time, would you darling?"
Raven chuckled darkly at the woman as she shook her head. "I'll try, Love." The black, yellow, and white-clad woman turned and walked the other way and began searching for her target's place of dwelling.
"Ever since high school, eh?" Bison chuckled.
"Not my problem, since everyone thought I was a guy and we were dating. Inside jokes die hard." Raven whispered.
Leopard snickered at the memory as she turned up the stairs and entered the third floor corridor. 'This place is a labyrinth!' She thought despondently. 'I think it's time to purposely get lost…'
She pulled out a bag from her purse and slipped in the nearest room, which happened to be nerd heaven. The newest models of technology lined the walls and the buttons glowed bright green and red, indicating that they were on or off. Nearing the gear that was plugged in, but not running, Leopard unplugged it and placed it into the bag tenderly.
~XxX~
Bison and Phoenix sat in the van with cups of coffee and seven cards in their hands and on the floor. The deck was stacked neatly and four cards spread before them. Phoenix placed an ace for a ten.
"What's taking them so long?" The woman asked. "I wanna blow it up before it gets too wet."
"Raven said that these people are real talkers…She just received the passport form Leopard ten minutes ago and she just got into that guys room to download his hard drive." Bison said with a sigh as he placed a nine for the ace Phoenix had placed.
A loud, repetitive beeping sound drew both sets of eyes away from their game of rummy and towards Bison's computer. Rushing up, the two grabbed binoculars and looked back towards the house.
A fine, stretch limousine pulled house and three men stepped out. One was the most refined of the bunch he held a black umbrella over his head. He had brown hair slicked back and was dressed in a sharp white tuxedo with a black shirt and white tie. The other two were not so much well-kept as the first. One had unkempt blue hair and his tuxedo was opened and his black shirt remained not tucked and unbuttoned at the first four buttons, showing part of his chest. The other was a gangling man. Long black hair cascaded over the same style of dress as the first, only his shirt was tucked in and his collar was popped up. The main oddity of this man was that he wore a white eye patch over his left eye.
They saw Marenoshin open the door for these odd fellows and the two lackeys pointed obviously unregistered guns at the fat father who looked like he didn't know whether to run or just drop dead.
The man removed his umbrella and entered the white home with a sickly sweet smile and his goons followed.
Bison jumped on his headset and spoke frantically into the speaker. "Raven, grab Leopard, we're aborting this NOW!"
~XxX~
"Aborting?" Raven asked as she looked up from the screen, "What's the situation?"
"A badass guy and two goons waltzed in with AK's, and no one's supposed to know that you're there, and you let that crazy asshole borrow your Taser and gun so there's no defense. And besides, normally, you can only block a bullet in the head or torso once…and you know what I mean."
"I at least downloaded the hard drive to the passport we'll be out in five, tell Phoenix to give her demo."
"Alright."
Raven safely disconnected the passport before stuffing it into her rather bulky string back pack as she slung it over both her shoulders and climbed out the second story window. Shimming over to the right, she grabbed onto the shutter and kicked her foot onto the clip of the window and dragged it shut, and then she began to climb the unsafe shingles on the house front. She grabbed onto the surface of the window on the third story and wedged herself on the pane while slipping the library card through the window and opening the now unlocked window.
The woman slid the window back down and relocked it. Suddenly, a business suit crossed her field of vision on the outside of the window. Rolling her eyes, Raven reopened the window to see a grinning Leopard.
"See, I can do this crap too, and I'm in a skirt!"
"That's great, but we have to get out of here, Bison informed me that-"
"Dudes with AK47 guns have busted in and are now holding the family at gunpoint," Leopard cut Raven off which earned a confused cock of the head.
"I saw them. Nasty looking guys I tell ya, now we gotta go through the second story work. Phoenix is gonna torch it in…two minutes and we have to be in the tree line yesterday, so time for the shit to get real."
"You know how much we both love doing that…"
Leopard chuckled in agreement and Raven latched onto the bottom of the window.
"I'll give you a boost, stand on my shoulders."
The redhead nodded and ducked out of the window with her bag in hand and stood on the younger female's shoulders. Raven placed a foot on the inside of the window and shifted her weight forward and grabbed the two sides of the frame which gave Leopard leverage to get back onto the roof. Raven followed the suit onto the roof.
The women ran to the west side and onto the tree's branches one at a time so they didn't risk breaking the limbs. Light flashed more towards the northeast as Phoenix's light show exploded with several obnoxious pops, cracks and bangs.
This didn't draw the attention of the women as they landed roughly onto the sidewalk, and the Mark III was barreling towards their position. The van came to a screeching halt and the doors flung open.
"Get in!" Bison yelled as he held a hand and the women took it and he slammed the doors shut as the two goons came out and open fired on the van.
Phoenix stepped on the accelerator so hard it touched the floor and the 'Synched Quartet' was whisked away by the driver's lead-foot.
Raven, Bison and Phoenix shed their masks as they reached a decent distance from the rich district of Karakura Japan.
"Well, wasn't that so much fun?" the blonde man asked his team members as he replaced his green and white beach hat over his mop.
Phoenix and Leopard chuckled at that statement while Raven sighed in relief.
"I just don't appreciate that they shot at us without direct provocation." Raven stated quietly.
"Simple, they're pugnacious assholes who are picking a fight with the wrong lot." Leopard said.
Another quick succession of shots rang against the steady pounding of the rain and some ripped through the back window of the Mark III. Phoenix looked behind her through the rear view mirror and grunted in exasperation. "We got some company!"
"You used to be a drag racer! Why don't you loose them, 'cause we don't have guns like these fucka's do!" Leopard drawled.
"Yeah, yeah, let good o'l Shiba do the work, the Shibas'll get us outta this mess!" Phoenix said sarcastically as she floored the accelerator again making the technology and the people in the back shift violently.
"Oi, where's the roaming candles!?" Leopard asked the driver with a bright idea gleaming in her eyes.
"In the crate, third from the bottom, where the rest of the fireworks are," the driver commented without even bothering to ask why.
"Raven, you have small hands, tie these fireworks up by the fuse and toss it out."
The specified woman nodded and began her task.
"Bison, find something and tape it to the door that can be changed with leverages, then attach the roaming candles to it."
"Roger."
"Now, once Raven is done with the knots on the fuses, she tosses them out onto the stretch and you shoot it with the roaming candle."
"Here goes the first." Raven commented as Bison finished taping door stoppers to the doors with masking tape and adjusting the long shot firework on it so the shaft pointed out of the broken window.
Bison aimed at the now airborne firework bomb and activated his firework and got a direct hit on the bottom of the fuse which lit and the firework busted into bright colors which had distracted the driver and the shooters for a little while.
"Aim the firework bombs more towards the back so they're more distracted." Leopard commented.
"Seeing as they have the sun roof opened, I'll try to aim it into there, but Bison, you'll have to hit it in mid air."
"Rodger that. I need to set up a second candle, just give me one second."
After waiting until the shooter gave the signal, Raven yelped in pain as she tossed the firework bomb too close to the driver and had the same effect of sabotaging the driver, but not the shooter. Raven held her left hand in her lap and applied pressure to it.
"What happened!?" Phoenix yelled from the driver's seat from hearing the cry in pain.
"She got shot in the hand!" Bison called back.
"Well, my hand is better than my head." The woman commented as she grabbed a third firework bomb and prepared to throw it.
"Ready? Third candle's set up!" Leopard addressed to the youngest partner.
"Aim for the front tires, we're gonna blow those motherfuckers up." Raven placed the one she was going to throw on the floor and slid it to Bison while keeping her head down. She grabbed the last one and placed it in front of her.
"Give me the long shots; I'll keep the gunners busy while you set up." Leopard said to the green clad man as they switched places.
The blonde's hand flew to his head as his beloved beach had got blown off by an on coming bullet. "Mou~, You would think that they'd run out by now! They blew off my hat, and that's not very nice."
The red-haired woman knelt at the back door and began shooting the roaming candle at the men who ducked at the incoming light but fired back in an alternating succession, which made it difficult for the people being chased.
Police sirens rang shrilly at the exit Phoenix blew past, and the three firework lobbers realized that they went from the country roads, to a highway headed towards Osaka.
"YOU ARE TRAVELING AT DANGEROUS SPEEDS AND ARE FIRING DANGEROUS WEAPONS. WE ARE AUTHORIZED TO USE LEATHAL FORCE IF NECESSARY, AND IF YOU DO NOT CEASE AND DESIST ALL ACTIVITY, WE WILL USE THAT FORCE!" One of the policemen in the cars yelled over the loud-speaker of the car addressing the stretch and Mark III.
"Fuck the cops right now!" Leopard yelled as she kept firing the roaming candles at the limo.
Raven and Bison nodded as the former was flicking the flint of her lighter and setting fire to the fuse. "Alright, the bread is in the oven!" Bison called to the woman.
"Yeah." She moved from the window just in time for both cohorts to drop the firework bombs out of the shattered window and let them explode as the stretch's front wheels crossed the bottom.
Watching as the limo tipped forward and screeched to a stop, Phoenix took the opportunity to take the exit heading back to Karakura town. And get rid of the van in hopes of ditching the cops.
"You know," Leopard said as she helped Raven remove the bullet and wrap her injured hand, "Since those thugs saw the lot of our faces, we should lay low for a while. I mean, that guy with the slicked hair looked pretty influential."
"I agree, I think that we should go to separate ends of the world, and just remain on the DL for a while until we're brought together again." Bison commented. "That and those cops did too, see our faces I mean." He gestured to himself and the other two women.
"That's good, but first things first; the info on the passport." Raven said as she removed the device from her string bag that was strung over her back. "It was no doubt that Marejirosaburo Omaeda was in cahoots with some criminal organization that has an international stretch. And this," she shook the device in her one hand, "might be the answer to it, as well as Bison's research on his other information like banking and whatnot, right?"
"Correct." The green and white-clad man said as he took the device from his yellow clad partner. He began hooking up the USB port into his computer and setting on the decryption of an encrypted network when the red clad woman stopped for gas. "Don't wait up; it could take a little time for this to register."
Leopard knelt next to the young woman and gave a little push, "Hey," she said softly, "You gonna be okay?"
"Hmhm," paler woman grunted in an affirmative manner. "I'll live, besides, its not like I'm bleeding out or anything," she responded quietly.
"Alright sis, shout if you need something, I'm gonna go up front and see what trouble Phoenix is getting herself into."
~XxX~
Authors' Note: well, this was one of the earlier ideas for a story, but I only got around to finishing this one chapter now. Well please feel free to leave a comment and the like, and if not that's fine too. Thanks for reading.