"… What the hell are these?" Azusa asked. Spirit turned to the raven-haired woman and began to laugh raucously.
"Oh, Death, Committee, you're screwed! There's no way you're gonna be able to walk in those." Spirit continued to laugh at the impossibly high heels of Azusa's rich red stilettos.
"So, let me get this straight. You dress like a pimp, and I dress like a high-class prostitute?" Azusa asked, tugging at the short, black dress she was clad in.
"At least you didn't get a 'dollar-an-hour prostitute' outfit." Spirit said. Azusa glared at Spirit.
"You're really not helping, Albarn." Azusa crossed her arms. She then realised this was an incredibly bad idea when she caught Spirit staring. She slapped Spirit clean across the face.
"Stop that." she snapped. Spirit regained a stable stance and returned to buttoning up his shirt, sheepishly.
"Right, so, can we just go over the plan again, please?" Spirit asked. Azusa sighed and put her shoes on, trying to break them in.
"Geez… Right. Okay. We go in; we try to find the Iceman and his wife. If we do, I talk to the wife, you talk to Ivanov. You're a businessman, you're interested in demonic warfare." Azusa said. Spirit nodded.
"Right. Got it… I think." Spirit said. Azusa sighed and dropped her head.
"I'll try and get information from the wife, Elena. From what Internal Affairs suggests, she's young and didn't really want to marry Ivanov. If we can guarantee her safety, then she should give us information." Azusa said, tying her hair up in a bun at the back of her head.
"Okay. Sounds good." Spirit said, before concentrating on the red contacts he was trying to put in.
Azusa grabbed her long, brown wig from the cupboard and put it on, brushing the fringe down so it covered her dark eyebrows. She took off her glasses and put on clear contacts instead.
"Are we all good?" Spirit asked, putting on a short, scraggly black wig and turning to Azusa.
He had to blink quickly and remind himself that this was Yumi Azusa that he was looking at. Geez, under all of the shirts and suits she usually wore, she was pretty good looking.
"What, Albarn?" Azusa frowned. Spirit shook his head and smirked.
"Nothing, Committee. Now, remember," Spirit walked behind Azusa, gripping her shoulders, causing her to groan, "last night, we had some mind-blowing sex, and you're still coming down from-" Azusa elbowed Spirit in the stomach, causing him to stagger backwards.
"Hurry up." Azusa hissed, walking out of the room. As she walked out of the doorways, she stepped askew and nearly fell off of her stilettos. Spirit caught her, his arm wrapped around her waist.
"Albarn, let go of me." Azusa growled.
"And watch you drop to the ground and look like a total idiot?" Spirit asked. Azusa sighed audibly and righted herself, walking further in front of the scythe.
"What would you do without your loyal husband, I ask?" Spirit strode behind the crossbow.
"Have intelligent conversation." Azusa retorted. After a couple of seconds, Spirit's jaw fell open.
"Hey!" he ran after Azusa, locking the door behind him as he left the apartment.
"Keep up, for Death's sake." Azusa had the hang of her heels by this point, but Spirit was a good deal taller than her and caught up with her within a minute. She felt him tap her on the shoulder, and when she glanced down, he was on one knee.
"What the hell are you doing?" Azusa asked. Spirit grinned and chucked a small box at Azusa, who caught in in her right hand.
"Rings would help." Spirit said, getting to his feet. Azusa sighed and opened the box.
There was a silver band that sat in there. In her mind, she knew it wasn't real. But there was something about it, something about wearing a ring that corresponded with someone else's on her left ring finger that tweaked a nerve.
Azusa pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind and put the ring on, quickly and painlessly. Spirit slid his ring on, and looked at it with an audible sigh.
"… Shit." Spirit looked up at the sky, shaking his head. Azusa turned back to Spirit, deftly so as not to trip on her heels, and sighed.
"… You alright to do this?" Azusa asked, almost unable to believe that she was actually taking Spirit's emotional wellbeing into account. Spirit nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"I'll be fine. Geez, Committee, I must admit, it's nice not having someone on my ass about being all over-emotional about K… her." Spirit was not able to mutter his ex-wife's name.
"I will get snippy with you if you don't hurry up." Azusa crossed her arms and regained her quick pace once more. Spirit just chuckled and shook his head, walking quickly to keep up with the crossbow.
"Gosh, that Leo of yours… it must be wonderful being married to him." Elena Ivanov, the wife of Spirit and Azusa's target, said. Azusa bit her tongue and nodded.
"Oh, absolutely." she said, clenching her fist at her side. She noticed Elena's gaze grow distant, and decided that now was the best time to press for information.
"Elena, what's it like being married to Nikolai?" Azusa asked. Elena's eyes widened and she fumbled with her hands.
"Oh it's… It's alright, I guess. Not as good as you and Leo have it, though." Elena smiled widely. Azusa grit her teeth, cleverly disguising it as a smile, and nodded.
"We'll, we're very, very happy." Azusa said. Elena nodded and smiled.
"If you don't mind, Elena, could I ask you another question?" Azusa asked. Elena nodded.
"What exactly does Nikolai do?" Azusa asked. Elena's eyes widened further and she gasped.
"Well, I… Uh, well, I don't… He's not…" Elena stuttered.
"Elena, you can tell me." Azusa said. Elena shook her head.
"No." Elena said. Azusa sighed and dropped her head.
"Do the words 'demonic weapon' mean anything to you or your husband?" Azusa asked. Elena gasped and her fingers tensed. Azusa reached into her small handbag, pulling out a small card case. She flipped it open and flashed the Shinigami skull laden card at the nervous blonde.
"Look, Elena, Spir- Leo and I are with the DWMA. We know about your situation. And we want to help you out. But you need to help us first." Azusa said. Elena's eyes widened.
"What? B-But I… I didn't say anything to anyone! He said he'd hurt me if I said anything, I-" Azusa grabbed Elena's wrist and gently walked her into the women's bathrooms.
"Elena, look. My name isn't Alexa. I'm Yumi Azusa. I'm a Deathscythe, and I've been sent here by Shinigami-sama because we know about your husband. And we know you're not involved, Elena, we do. But you have to help us. Shinigami-sama will have you out of here before your husband can even think about laying a finger on you." Azusa said. Elena's eyes darted around the room.
"… If I speak to you, you have to get me out of here. He's got contacts everywhere." Elena shook. Azusa nodded and breathed hot air onto one of the mirrors. She wrote '42-42-564' and the shinigami popped up on the screen, shocking Elena to a point where she could have passed out.
"Shinigami-sama, this is Elena Ivanov. She is willing to exchange information for her safety." Azusa said, pulling Elena gently into view of the mirror.
"Elena, we can guarantee you safety at Shibusen. But we need to know about your husband's plans." Shinigami-sama said. Azusa felt the younger woman shake, and she gripped her shoulder gently.
"They will have you out of here as soon as you say go, Elena." Azusa said. Elena nodded and sighed sadly.
"He has a device at his company headquarters. Okay? There. I've already said too much. Please… you have to get me out of here." Elena begged. Azusa nodded and spoke into the bracelet she was wearing.
"Spartoi Unit 01, proceed to removal procedure." Azusa said as she took Elena's hand.
"What? We can't go out there!" Elena exclaimed. Azusa sighed and grit her teeth. This part of the mission would suck, but it had to be done.
"Follow my lead. Comfort me until we get outside, okay? Leo will meet us out there." Azusa said. She poked her head out of the doors, and sure enough, the plan had started to be implemented. Spartoi Unit 01 consisted of Maka Albarn, Soul Evans and Death the Kid.
Soul was with Spirit and Ivanov, and would distract Ivanov while Spirit made it out to the front.
"Oh, Elena, I've got nobody to talk to! I can't believe I'm-" Azusa swore she saw Spirit's ears prick up as he knew what was happening next, "I'm pregnant, Elena!" she called, loud enough for Spirit, Ivanov and Soul to hear. Elena took a deep breath and rubbed Azusa's back.
"There… uh… there! We'll get through this, Yu- I mean, Alexa!" Elena walked out to the front of the building and was met by a sandy-blonde girl and a black-haired boy with three white stripes.
"Elena, Maka Albarn and Death the Kid. They're going to get you out of here." Azusa said. Kid extended his arm cordially, probably learnt from years of being lined up as the next leader of Death City.
"H-Hi." Elena shook the young man's hand. Maka was looking nervous.
"Maka, what is it?" Azusa asked.
"My boyfriend is in there. With my dad. Oh, nothing good can come of this-"
"Uh, abort! Abort the mission! Abort the everything! Just get out of here!" Soul ran towards the group, and they began to run too.
"Elena, go with them!" Azusa urged.
"But, Yumi-!"
"Where is my wife?" Ivanov's voice carried through the hallway. A worried looking Spirit ran down the hallway as well.
"Elena, go, I will contact you personally when you're back in Death City, go!" Azusa yelled. Elena nodded and felt a small hand claim hers. Maka clutched the scared woman's hand tightly and they ran down the stairs and away to their pick up point.
"What have you done with my wife?" Ivanov made it out to the front of the building to see Spirit wielding Azusa.
"Sorry, Ivanov. You weren't great conversation." Spirit said, shooting Ivanov with a wavelength arrow, knocking him unconscious.
"Really? 'You weren't very good conversation?' That's just terrible, Albarn." Azusa hissed, back in her human form, taking off her stilettos and walking away from the unconscious man.
"Can we just leave him there?" Spirit asked, striding after the raven-haired woman.
"Of course we can. We're Shibusen, for Death's sake." Azusa said, wincing at the soreness in her feet.
"Sore feet, eh, Committee? Sure you're not really pregnant?" Spirit smirked. Azusa growled.
"I'm not pregnant, Albarn." Azusa said. Spirit laughed and caught up with his fellow Deathscythe.
"True," Spirit began, "you do have to have sex to be pregnant."
This time, instead of the arrow being in the wall beside his head, it was in his thigh.
"What the hell, Committee?" Spirit exclaimed.
"I'd not shoot you in the leg," Azusa smirked, "but you do have to be remotely likeable not to be shot."
"Yeah," Spirit winced, pulling the arrow out of his leg, "I'm the one with the crappy dialogue."