I hate having plot. It gets in the way of fluff. Unfortunatley, a "good" writer is supposed to have plot...most of the time. Or so I'm told. Anyway, enjoy your stinkin' plot. (grins) One of my cats helped me write this chapter. He wrote gnrhsigb gnsbgswb gtisrngtfu9s, but I ended up having to cut it. Still, don't we all appreciate his creative input? I did keep the part where he named the other team though, so he was a little help. Thank you, Riku-chan!

Chapter Three

Lost Path

"Is it movie time now?" Yohji asked in mock-eagerness, bouncing a little in his seat as if he was a child expecting a treat. "Do we have time to make popcorn?" He pointedly ignored the disapproving looks from his teammates as Omi helped Manx set up her presentation. No one sane would ever choose to eat while watching most of the things the voluptuous agent brought to show them, and it had been a long time since Yohji had taken on the prospect of a new mission with anything even slightly resembling eagerness, but, for the moment, at least, the lanky blonde found himself to be in a very good mood.

Any day where they got to close early was cause for joy from the work-phobic man, whatever the motivation behind the closing.

"Now, I don't want you to think I'm complaining," he drawled slowly, "Because I most certainly am not…but where's Birman?"

"She's not sick, is she?" Omi asked with sudden concern.

"Birman is fine," Manx assured the youngest assassin with a fond smile. "She's out today interviewing potential partners, but Krittiker didn't want to wait until her return – they're putting a rush on this mission."

"Well, she's definitely easy on the eyes, but I have to say that it's nice to see those curves of yours again," Yohji said, spreading his arms out along the back of the couch. If he stretched just right, he could just manage to brush his fingers against the back of Aya's neck. "I've always had a weakness for redheaded babes."

"We're going to have to neuter him, Manx – I'm becoming more convinced of it every day!" Ken said as the woman gave Yohji an irritated look. "You know he had someone in his room every night last week?"

"Are you telling on me, Kenken? What'd you do – drill a peephole in my wall?" he teased, keeping his tone playfully offended as he carefully stoked his fingers along the back of Aya's neck – up, into his hairline, and down, under the collar of his shirt, the movement so small that none of the others would notice it. "I didn't know you were such a perv – spying on a guy's most private moments! For shame!"

"How the hell is not being able to help hearing anything like 'spying'?" Ken demanded.

"Maybe we should get to the mission briefing," Omi suggested before the fight could escalate.

Manx was frowning. "It's dangerous for you to bring strangers home, Kudoh," she said.

Yohji shrugged. "I'm careful," he stated, more concerned with entertaining himself by watching how uncomfortable he was making Aya. The man couldn't demand that he stop what he was doing without drawing unwanted attention.

"Okay, everything's all set!" Omi handed the remote to Manx, then plopped down on the couch between Yohji and Aya. Reluctantly, the blonde retracted his arm. "Will you get the lights, Ken?"

The athlete stretched backwards in his chair, hitting the switch as Manx pressed play.

Even though he knew it was only a computer simulation, it was still strange when Persia filled the screen, still disconcerting to hear the voice of the dead man giving them their orders.

"Men of Weiss," the deep, familiar voice began, just as it had countless other times.

Pictures that looked like they had once belonged on ID tags flashed up on the screen as the Persia simulation explained of the Krittiker assassin team, Po, that, while out on a routine patrol in the area of the city where they were stationed, had been suddenly ambushed and slaughtered.

Yohji had seen a lot of horrible things in his life, but he found he had to look away from the pictures of the crime scene.

"Avenge your fallen comrades," was the order that the Persia-sim gave, and the screen went black before a single potential target had been named.

Manx turned on the lights, holding up a thick file. "Enclosed is a map of the area in which the agents were stationed, a disk containing everything from their computer's hard drive, and hard copies of all of their mission reports leading up to their deaths."

"You don't have any leads at all?" Ken asked as Aya rose to take the file.

"Their area had grown too quiet in recent months," she answered quietly. "We think that Esset was involved in something they didn't want to draw attention to, and that this team got too close."

"But what made them suspicious in the first place?" Aya asked, flipping through the file. "To go patrolling just because things have been quiet doesn't make any sense."

"We don't know what tipped them off."

Aya made some sort of noise, leaning against the wall as he continued to thumb through the mission notes.

"So," he said at last, voice hard and cold. "Either they did come too close to something important, or they were just exceedingly unlucky. Krittiker has no idea which it was."

"Yes," Manx agreed without hesitation, only shrugging when Aya gave her a surprised look. "Krittiker chose Weiss for this mission because you have such a high success rate, and because they cannot ignore such a violent and senseless attack against some of their own."

They were all surprised when she abruptly bowed her head, and silence passed for several moments as they all tried to decide how to respond. Manx was upset about something – this was unprecedented.

"You should decline this mission," she said at last, voice soft.

"Manx?" she had never given her opinion about any of their assignments before. They were hunters of evil – if they didn't go after those people, then no one else would. That was their job, and their employers never missed a chance to remind them of it – lest they waver in their conviction. There was no mission that wasn't worth it, or so Krittiker wanted them to believe, because even if they lost their lives, the sacrifice was made for the good of humanity.

"They took out an entire team," she said. Her eyes were dry as she raised her head, her expression determined. "And our operatives didn't go quickly. They suffered."

Yohji noticed her eyes fall momentarily upon Omi, and then he understood. Weiss had shared a special connection with the late Persia – special, because his own nephew had been a part of the team. If they were killed, then Manx would lose that last connection to the man she had served so loyally.

And something about this mission seemed somehow darker than the usual fare.

"They will probably be expecting whoever we send," she said, sounding angry. "This isn't a job for a single team, but Krittiker knows sending something larger would mean open war with Esset."

"Was it Schwarz?" Ken asked, more than willing to take on a risky mission if it meant going up against those bastards again.

"Not their style," Aya answered, looking at one of the pictures from the crime scene. "These killers weren't as playful. This looks like it was coldly done."

Yohji rose and moved to take the pictures from him, forcing himself to look at them one more time.

"You're right," he said. He had no doubt that if any of them ever fell to the mercy of Schwarz, they would suffer a fate no less painful and deadly than this other team had, except he was completely sure that Schwarz would enjoy themselves a hell of a lot more than these killers had. "This looks…almost clinical."

"Do you think any of Schreient could have survived?" Ken asked, also rising to take another look. He scowled at the content of the photographs, though it was doubtful that he saw what Yohji, with his history of private investigation, or Aya, with his insight into minds of darkness, could pick out.

"No," Aya said simply.

"Even if they had – they wouldn't have been so textbook about it, either." Yohji agreed.

"Textbook?" Aya looked at him in surprise. "Yes, that is what it looks like."

"There aren't any leads and they'll probably be expecting retaliation," Manx pointed out once more. "We don't even know if there's anything to be gained from sending more operatives in."

"Other than revenge for the other team," Aya stated quietly.

"Yes."

"There's something else, though," Aya closed the file and handed it to Yohji, then crossed his arms. "They didn't kill the agents because they caught them by surprise, or because they just wanted to kill someone. They thought it was…necessary...and the mode of death was kept brutal enough to make it clear they wanted to warn off anyone else coming so close."

Yohji found he agreed with that.

"They might have moved whatever it is the other team found, though," he felt inclined to point out.

Aya nodded with a frown. "We may be able to find some clue, though," he stated. "Anything that would cause them to do this has a fair chance of being someone we need to know about."

"I'll inform Krittiker that you accept the mission, then," Manx said stiffly. She was offended that they hadn't accepted her advice.

"Do we have any kind of time table on this?" Yohji asked.

"No, but all other projects are to be put on hold until this mission is completed."

Yohji paused, and rolled his eyes upwards to look at Aya. Putting off all other missions meant they wouldn't be able to continue their search for his sister for a while. He watched the man's lips thin into a tight line, but Aya didn't say anything about changing his mind about the mission.

"I'll walk you to the door, Manx," Omi offered.

"No. Stay down here and work," she tossed her head and crossed her arms. "If you're going to do this, then do it right. There's no room for stupid mistakes where Esset is concerned…do a thorough job, boys…and be careful."

"Thanks, Manx."

The four were silent for several moments after the red haired woman had left. Yohji gave Omi the copy of the other team's hard drive, and the younger assassin went to the computer without a word. Aya silently took the printouts and returned to the couch. Yohji and Ken began to look at the map, marking it in places where hiding the actions of Esset seemed most likely.

"Was there anything in that packet about a code?" Omi asked finally.

"A code?" Aya looked up from his papers. "No."

Omi frowned at the computer screen. "I use a code when making my reports to Krittiker – so that if anyone unexpected got a hold of them, they wouldn't be able to get any important information."

"Are you looking at the reports right now?"

"Yes."

"They seem pretty straight forward."

"I know. They aren't even using their code names – that's what's bothering me."

"Do you think they're counterfeit?"

"No…I think they're hiding out in the open. There's got to be something really important here for them to try to blind the reader with such big, obvious details.

"Hm." Aya said, and returned to his reading.

"Omi, give that a rest for a minute," Yohji's mind was buzzing. This was more like the old detective work, and he was excited. He rose, crossing the room to lean against the back of the younger man's chair. "Run a search for me."

"Okay…" Omi pulled up the appropriate window. "What do you need?"

"Police records. I want to know what's been goin' on in our little neighborhood. Ken, what are the street names, again?"

He told him, and Omi put in the information, searching for any recent police reports about anything in the area.

"A lot of domestic disturbances."

"Yeah, there's a pretty shitty neighborhood in the upper section. You can delete those. Delete the report about them finding the agents' bodies, too – that won't tell us anything we don't already know."

Omi did as told, then glanced back at him for more instructions.

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

"Not sure yet," he reached to take control of the mouse, scrolling down.

"This is all petty stuff, Yotan," Omi sighed. "A couple break-ins, some parking violations, arsen…Hey! Do you think that might...?"

"Nah." Yohji barely looked at the last before deleting it.

"Yotan…"

"All right," he deleted a few more, then expanded the information on what he'd left. "Print this up for me."

He shrugged and did so.

"Anything else?"

"Can you get me another copy of the map? It doesn't have to be as big as the one Manx brought."

"Sure," Omi looked at him expectantly as the map began to print. "Anything else?"

"Nope. Thanks, chibi," he picked up the new materials and turned away.

Aya was watching him, trying to figure out what he was thinking. Yohji gave a shrug, and returned to his seat.

tbc

Yay for plot. (grumbles...) This thing's gonna take forever, isn't it? Have mapped out plotline - looking like 35 to 40 chapters at the least. Sheesh. I hope you're reading.

Cheesy preview for next chapter: don't you hate it when you get distracted from something you want to do by something you have to do?

Response to Unsigned Reviews:

CaT70 - Ah! Don't distract me with images like that when I'm trying to be responsible and have storyline before the last five chapters of a fic! (runs off to clean up own nosebleed.) Shame!

glinwulf - If you're dirty minded...then what does that make me? Innocent li'l Omi did misread it...

Thanks everyone! Hope to see you next week! And get to work on those reviews, you hear?