Wow.

I am terribly sorry I haven't updated in so long. Computer issues all summer, and then college came ... so yes.
I ended up writing this the day they killed the internet at my school .. so I'm sorry if it's really bad.

Next up.

It's a bit longer than the other chapters I wrote, but I hope you enjoy it.
I'll be side-tracked for a little while with some other fic I'm working on ... but thanks for bearing with me through my computer issues. ;c


Some Kind of Monster: Chapter 6

"Don't you have something that was taken away
from you before you came here?"

Shelke the Transparent

The long-lasting trek to the east coast of the western continent finally came to an end when Weiss had spotted the welcoming aura of Costa del Sol. Under the bright moonlight, Weiss' lips formed a wicked grin. It was very late, the moon was in the center of the sky and the reputation of Costa del Sol stuck. Parties that had probably begun in the afternoon continued through the crisp, cold night air, the sound of music echoing, and the distant glow of seaside fires burned without interruption. Weiss' amusement remained clear as he took in the obliviousness of the people spending their night near the water.

"Shall we kill them all, Weiss?" Rosso snickered, stepping up behind her leader. Her own crimson-colored lips had formed a smirk of interest as she drew out her double-edged gunblade. "They're all so … vulnerable." She purred.

"We could use the exercise." Weiss grinned, looking over his shoulder toward his other subordinates.

"They're innocents." The monotone voice of Shelke cut in, directing Weiss' stare toward her. Unfazed by his stare, Shelke continued. "We have no reason to kill them. We lose nothing, we gain nothing."

"If they see us, it is without a doubt someone will report where we are." Nero interjected, neither taking one side nor another. "If we kill them, ShinRA and Restrictors will know where we are. If they see us, ShinRA will know." The younger sibling warned, shifting his crimson eyes to the Restrictor in their group. "Unless they're tracking you – then they will always know where we are."

"They're not tracking –" Angeal had begun, his disappointed expression hidden by his helmet.

"Enough." Weiss declared, growling slightly. "Rosso. Scope out the docks, if there's anyone else there, kill them. Dump their corpses in the water." He demanded, shifting his eyes from the accented woman, who had aptly agreed to his order, to Azul and Shelke. "You two will clear out the people between here and the docks. Rosso, once there is no one here, head out."

"Yes, sir." The Crimson purred, lightly touching Weiss' shoulder. "Who knew you'd let us have so much fun." She snickered, looking to the other Tsviets, waiting for them to begin their mission.

Disappearing, out of sight, Shelke headed through the arch that welcomed everyone to Costa del Sol, aiming to be as discrete as possible when it came to sending the people away from their group. Azul followed behind her, judging by the aura of her power, but keeping a distance. With a stealthy stalk along the rooftops, Rosso followed the other two, keeping her crimson colored eyes on the large man-beast following the invisible girl.

Once they were a good distance off, Weiss looked back to his brother and Restrictor standing the furthest away. "Nero, I want you to go to the docks, too. Keep an eye on Rosso and make sure she doesn't screw anything up. We need a working ship. If she destroys them all, we're in trouble." He ordered, making a quick jerk with his head. After giving a glance to the suspicious Restrictor, Nero nodded before disappearing into the darkness and teleporting himself to the dock.

"Why don't you just have him teleport you all across the continents?" Angeal asked the moment he and Weiss were alone. He only received a quiet scoff from Weiss as the white-haired man watched out through the arch for a moment before entering the city, himself.

"He can't get us all there without trapping himself, and us, in an everlasting abyss." Weiss explained nonchalantly, stalking through the quieter parts of the city, his eyes peeled for any activity he would need to take care of. Angeal followed him, but at a distance, making sure not to disrupt the way they all worked as a squad.

"I see. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Be quiet and stay out of the way."

"Nothing else … ?"

"No. We don't need your help." Weiss hissed, looking down an empty alleyway.

"If you change your mind…"

"I won't." The Tsviet scoffed, ducking into the alley and quickly ascending a rusty ladder. As he stood on the rooftop, watching a small little glimmer of a shadow jump down off a roof, he looked over his shoulder at the man following him. "Why don't you teleport yourself across the continent?"

Getting up to the roof, Angeal removed his helmet again, raising a brow in question at Weiss. "I would lose track of you – that sort of defeats the purpose of 'tagging along,' doesn't it?" He smiled, shrugging slightly in response.

Rolling his eyes, Weiss looked away from the man and back toward the beaches, listening as a distant, shrill screech pierced his ears. With a grin, he began to skillfully walk across the rooftops with speed and silence, as a cat would. His temporary companion followed closely behind, slipping his helmet back on within a moment. "Shelke must've scared them. Looks like they're all running away, now." Weiss observed, laughing as the dark shadows near the beach ran frantically in one direction. He assumed Azul had very little hand in actually terrifying the humans, for he was more of the type to battle, as opposed to simply scaring people.

He returned his bright gaze ahead of him again, glowering the moment he heard the echo of multiple bullets being fired. "Damn it." He growled, picking up his speed and sparing a momentary glance for the Restrictor. "That's the sound of Nero's guns." He muttered quietly, diverting from his straight path and jumping off the roof. Just like a cat, he landed on his feet, bending his knees on the cemented path, and pushing himself upwards to resume running once again. Angeal copied his movements, though a little less gracefully. As he landed on his feet, he pushed himself up, and had to slowly pick up the speed he'd originally held.

"Yo! Watch out!" An unfamiliar voice to Weiss called, another round of bullets being fired. It drew Weiss' curiosity as he approached the docks, growling lowly with the return fire of whomever Nero was shooting at.

"Ah, how feisty!" Rosso's tone of excitement drew out, an echoing sound of steel hitting steel following her words. "Mm, I love the thrill of someone like you." She growled, but with a grin on her crimson lips.

Weiss stopped the moment he saw three suited men – one bald with sunglasses, one with red hair, and the third with long black hair. He felt as if he should have recognized them, but nothing really seemed to stick out about them, apart from their suits at a beach. Nero had been fending off bullets from the black haired man, and Rosso was taking on the red-head while the bald man attempted to catch her.

"Brother!" Nero called, excited to see Weiss in the time of battle.

At the call, the man with raven hair turned his chocolate-colored eyes on to the two new arrivals. Rosso slowly backed off from the red-head and his companion, smirking as Weiss drew both his gunblades. "Oh, ho ho ~. Looks like some little Turkies need to be slaughtered!" She laughed, bounding away from her two opponents to stand next to her leader.

Angeal recognized the three men as Turks of ShinRA, but he let nothing escape his mouth. Usually there was a female with them, but for some reason, it was just the three men at the moment. Rude, thebald one, was more of a Martial Artist as opposed to close-range weapons fighter. Reno was the red-head, and preferred to use an Electro-Magnetic Rod. Then there was their leader, Tseng, who used guns and preferred to fight from a distance. But with these three, against three Tsviets? He had no doubts the Tsviets would win.

"Tch. You're going to wish you didn't show up to Costa del Sol today." Weiss snorted, a menacing smirk sliding over his features.

"Weiss, they work for ShinRA." Angeal quickly interjected, watching as Nero disappeared into darkness and returned behind his brother.

"All the more reason to slit their throats." He scoffed in return, directing a glare toward the man.

"If they die, ShinRA will be out for your heads."

"So?" He growled, growing impatient with the distraction.

"If they simply report you're alive, you'll be much safer." His tone lowered as he took in the stares of the Turks. "Killing them will only mobilize ShinRA faster."

"Fine!" The Tsviet leader growled, lunging toward the Turks, his irritation with the Restrictor was going to be let out on the Turks.

"Ah, shit –" Reno began, being cut off by the sudden assault from the female Tsviet again. Tseng ducked to the side to avoid Weiss' assault, and Nero began to open fire on Rude. Angeal simply stood, watching the fight, and blinking in disappointment at the violence executed by the Tsviets. He understood their frustration, but still felt as if he had something to offer Weiss. If not mere guidance, then something about patience, and watching them fight only made him think more into it. What could he offer them?

Weiss' blades came down quick and fast, and Tseng continued to back up away from the sharp blades. He attempted to drive a blade through Tseng's stomach, but the Turk dodged him without much hesitation. "What is it you are looking for?" the Turk asked, jumping away from another attempted stab.

"We need to get across the ocean. Just back down and give us a ship." Weiss growled, taking a step back from the Turk, and quickly aiming his blade to fire at him. However, Tseng was quicker and fired off a couple shots before Weiss was able to. Skillfully deflecting all the bullets, Weiss recklessly pulled the trigger on his blades, firing bullets past the suited man and into a near-by ship. Cursing quietly, he returned his attention to the Turk.

"A threat is cannot go unhandled." The Turk muttered, pulling the triggers to his pistols again, attempting to at least maim his opponent. Without a hesitant move, Weiss made sure to deflect the bullets, snickering slightly at the barely-visible disappointment in the other's eyes. He was good at hiding his emotions, but he couldn't hide everything. Arching his neck back a little bit, Weiss closed his eyes and quickly summoned one of his lesser powers, breaking into a copied version of Rosso's 'Bloodburst.' He was going to make this incapacitation more painful than it should have been, but he had no reason to go easy on this man, either.

While Weiss faced off with his opponent, Nero was easily taking advantage of Rude's close-range attacks. He allowed the man to get close, then would disappear and reappear right behind him. It happened three times before the man stopped trying to get that close. As the shaded man rose his EMR, as much as he preferred hand-to-hand combat, Nero faded into darkness once more, waiting for Rude to look around – which he did, only moments after. During his confusion, he brought himself back out into the open right behind the man, bringing a metal hand down to cover his mouth, the other hand bringing the cold, silver gun to his head.

"Very nice. However, you aren't cut out to fight a Tsviet." Nero muttered, the childishness that occasionally entered his tone disappearing while a serious overtone invaded his words. Though he spoke from behind a muzzle, his words came out clear, and pierced the Turk's ears. With a slight struggle, realizing he wouldn't be able to move the metal hand, Rude elbowed Nero in the stomach, right below where his arms crossed, drawing his attention from the gun to his stomach. In the momentary confusion, the Turk slipped out of the grasp, backing away from the dark being again.

"Tch." Was all the Turk managed to say before aiming to hit the man's wings with his EMR, but being stopped by a forceful kick to his gut from the muzzled Tsviet. Nero didn't say anything and only shoved the suited man back to the ground. When the bald man fell on his back, Nero quickly strode over, placing his boot square in the middle of his chest.

"Now then, where were we?" He asked, drawing out his gun, firing once into the shoulder of the darker skinned Turk. "Oops." He muttered, though his missing of the Turk's head was clearly not an accident. Rude let out a groan of displeasure, trying to wriggle himself of the Tsviet's hold. At his squirms, Nero fired again into his opposite shoulder, tilting his head at the cry of agony. He watched blood stained the dark blue suit, chuckling quietly behind his muzzle. "Amazing, isn't it? Blood will stain even the darkest of clothing. Won't your superior be glad?" He tilted his head to the other side, as if feigning innocence.

Reno hadn't been paying attention to either of the quiet battles going on beside him, as he was being slowly shoved backwards down the metallic docks. "Oi! Is it too much to ask for a vacation once in a while?" Reno groaned as Rosso continued to spin her dual-sided blade at the Turk. He did his best to deflect the blows with his EMR, but it seemed his most promising option was to simply judge the distance and jump back away from her attacks. "I mean, I just wanted to come out here and spend time with my favorite boss and bring a friend along – then you all show up … !" Reno continued to complain, finding it easier to dodge while he spoke.

"Vacation? Tsviet's never rest, boy." Rosso snickered darkly, rushing forward to him again, her heels echoing across the metal on the ground. She brought her blade downwards in an attempt to vertically slice him in half, but was disappointed at his roll out of the way. He'd made a small 'eek' sound in his evasion, causing Rosso to laugh as she brought her blade back to her side. "Mm? What was that? Make it again!" She chortled, rushing forward with her arm cocked back, ready to stab through his stomach.

"For you? Sorry, babe." Reno muttered, trying to play it all off as cool. However, as the blade neared his stomach, he jumped back another few feet, smirking at the swordswoman in attempts to ignore the small stinging he felt in his stomach. "My noises are one of a kind – everybody gets one. Except chief, because he scares me more than you." He laughed, pointing his EMR at the woman, his other hand in his pocket.

He watched her, curiously tilting his head as she brought the tip of her blade toward her face. Instantly, she perked up, ignoring Reno's small comments. "My, my, your hair matches your blood." She smiled, running her tongue over the very tip of her blade to capture the small amount of blood on it. Not quite sure what she'd meant, Reno looked down to see a small red stain forming on his unbuttoned white shirt. Her crimson eyes returned to the man, her grin more sadistic and wicked than before.

"Ah, shit." He muttered quietly, shifting his bright blue eyes back to the woman. "This was my favorite, shirt, too." He commented, trying to make himself seem a bit cockier than he was truly feeling. Getting back in a defensive position, Reno was prepared for an assault of the blades, but was surprised when he saw the woman's swords tilted horizontally. When there was no movement at first, Reno stood up straight and raised a brow at what she was doing. "What the … ?"

"Say 'bye-bye'!" She smirked, pulling the conveniently placed triggers and firing an array of bullets at the red-head. Finally realizing it was a gun at her remark, Reno's expression dropped and he tried to escape by jumping to the side and rolling away. However, with Rosso's weapon, there was multiple little barrels, and hitting him mid-evasion wasn't that difficult. Three bullets pierced his shoulder, and another pierced his leg.

"Gah! Fuck!" Reno cried as he felt the sting of the bullets quickly entering and exiting his body. He fell to the ground, opening his eyes to glare at the woman and see what she was doing. Slowly, she began to approach the red-head, her expression dark and entertained. "Ready, little mouse?" She snickered, leaning down toward him. "I will give you three seconds, mm? I want you to run. As far as you can. Then I will come for you, yeah?" She smiled, pulling him up by his jacket. "Ready?"

At her question, Reno smirked, subtly squeezing his EMR and driving the tip of it into the woman's stomach. Feeling the volts instantly, Rosso dropped Reno and held her stomach with her free hand, growling as she watched him limp back toward his co-worker. "Rude!" He called, catching the sight of Rude being forced to the ground with a boot on his chest. Just as he turned his attention to Tseng, his eyes opened as wide as possible before he felt a pain on his back. Rosso had jumped on him, her heels aimed directly for his spine, and her sword still in hand. Reno was forced to the ground, turning his head to the side to avoid harming himself more so than was inevitable.

"Tsk, tsk, little mouse. Seems like we're almost done." She pouted, driving her sword through his shoulder to reach the metal ground beneath his body. She grabbed a handful of the red-head's hair, and pulled his face upwards, snickering as she squatted on his back. "It was so very fun to play with you. We should play again, sometime." She grinned, running her tongue up the Turk's cheek.

Although Rosso was causing him harm, Reno's eyes were focused on Tseng a few yards away. Weiss's two clones had surrounded the gunman, a sadistic smirk resting on each of their faces. At once, the three of them thrust their left sword forward piercing Tseng's gut, lifting him up shortly after. As uncharacteristic as it was for the stoic man to let any sign of emotion escape him, at the three stabs, he cried out in distress, dropping one of his guns as he tried to pull the real Weiss' blade out. The other two clones quickly faded and Weiss laughed at Tseng's attempt to rid himself of the sword.

"Close, but I don't think so." Weiss snorted, using his other blade to knock Tseng's other gun free. "I should pull the trigger." He muttered, his gaze watching Tseng's expression. Although he tried to keep it stoic and unchanging, he could read a little bit of fear in those brown eyes of his. "But I want you to tell ShinRA what you've experienced." He laughed, tossing the Turk on to the ground. "After we take care of the Restrictors, we're coming for you." He snickered, watching as the man reached for one of his guns. Weiss quickly pulled the trigger on his gunblade, disabling Tseng's right shoulder. Simultaneously, the gun mysteriously was moved across the dock.

With a laugh, Weiss kept his eyes on Tseng and threw a kick at the man's stomach to enforce the pain from the stab. "Glad you could make it, Shelke." He mused, waiting as the short auburn-haired girl slowly flickered back into existence. Her glowing orange eyes caught Weiss' attention for a second before he heard a loud "Tseng!" from behind him. He turned to see the red-head pinned to the ground, a hand reaching out in attempts to grab for his boss. Tseng shifted slightly at the call, but kept himself still, watching Weiss. With a small nod of his head, the white-haired leader signified for Shelke to deliver a blow that would knock him unconscious.

He turned from the girl as she placed a foot on his throat, applying enough pressure to cut off the oxygen supply to his brain. In a matter of moments, the Turk was unconscious. Weiss looked to Nero, giving an affirmative nod as the younger sibling repeated Shelke's actions. Though Rude put up more a fight than the disabled Tseng, he was just as easily sent into a state of unconsciousness. Rosso, however, was having fun with a living victim. She twisted the blade in his shoulder around to cause more pain, and Reno squirmed and yelped in pain. After a few cusses and violent thrashes, Rosso gave a bite to Reno's ear and squeezed a sensitive part of his neck. "We'll have more fun next time." She laughed, adding a bit more pressure to send the man unconscious, instantly.

Weiss rolled his eyes at Rosso's little show before shifting his eyes over to the Restrictor who looked like he hadn't moved at all. He was simply staring into nothingness. "Oi." Weiss called, drawing the man out of his stare.

"Yes?"

"Let's go." He growled, looking beyond the Restrictor to see Azul marching his way back to the ground. He snickered a little, seeing the bored expression on his face. He didn't make a comment but made a motion with his hand for all the Tsviets to spread out and find a working ship for them to hijack. "So much for going unseen." Weiss muttered, watching his subordinates investigate all the nearby ships and looking at the Restrictor. "What do you think they'll do once they get up?" He asked, genuinely curious as to what sort of response they would get.

"By the morning, many ships will be gone. I doubt they'll know which one we took. They'll probably start with tending to their wounds, calling Headquarters to report the ambush, then try to figure out which ship was taken." The man sighed uneasily, watching as Azul descended the side of one ship, and Rosso hopped across the large gap between two to get to another. "Was that completely necessary … ?"

"What? Fighting?"

"No … well, yes, I understand why you had to fight, but why did you need to cause them so much pain?"

Weiss glared at Angeal, as if offended by the question. "They need to know they're not dealing with some random chaotic experiments. We're Tsviets and we're powerful."

"Weiss!" Rosso called, smiling as Shelke and Azul joined her on the relatively decent sized ship. "This one is ready to go." She called, the propellers on the bottom of the ship beginning to turn in time with the gears making a quiet hum within the ship.

Before responding to her, Weiss looked back to Angeal. "You're a Restrictor. Don't talk to me about causing pain." He snorted, quickly joining his allies on the ship, inspecting the inside of it with a smirk. "It's not military issue, so they can't track it as easy. Great work. Let's go." He muttered, pointing to Shelke in order to have her pilot the ship.

Turning away from the controls, Weiss ducked to the underside of the ship, searching around the smaller insides, tossing around some of the random objects there. It wasn't a large ship, so there was only two separate rooms. Azul was to stay up on the top with Shelke to keep an eye out for any obscurities in the ocean. Rosso and Nero were free to retire to a room, and Weiss had no intention of staying on the deck. Per usual, the Restrictor followed Weiss keeping his distance, but following him nonetheless.

Weiss, content with his work for the day, untied his blades from around his waist, patting down the bed in the room as soon as he was done. He sat on the bed, smirking slightly to himself as he rubbed his own neck.

"Feeling proud?" Angeal asked, standing in the doorway.

"More than that. Excited. We're actually going somewhere. We're free to do what we want."

"The price you pay for it is unreasonable, though."

"Unreasonable? I haven't found anything unreasonable about it yet –"

"Yet."

"… what are you talking about?"

"Weiss …" Angeal muttered, closing the door behind him and removing his helmet. "I don't want to ruin your day … but freedom is never free. There may be something in the future that will test your will to be free." His tone was low and serious, and his lips were formed in a frown as he watched the man in front of him. "I know it's not the best thing to say, but I don't want you to be let down if you should come across something that threatens your freedom."

"'Something that threatens our freedom,' hm?" He asked, glowering slightly at the man. "You threaten our freedom. You and the rest of the Restrictors."

"But I'm not here to take you back to them. I told you before I'm here to help you." He stepped toward Weiss, extending his free, gloved hand toward him. "I want to guide you."

"Guide me?" He asked, glancing at Angeal's hand momentarily before returning his gaze to his face. "What could you guide us with?"

"I can help you. I want to help you."

"I don't care what you want. It was the people like you who got us here in the first place."

"Weiss, please trust me. I'm not going to harm you." He frowned, retracting his hand back under his cloak with a serious gaze turned to the younger man. "I know what it was like to be a monster before, I want to make my amends. Helping you is the only way I can see."

"And what happens when you do help us? And we – let's say – take over the world? Doesn't that make you just as much a monster?"

"… No, because I helped you achieve something you wanted."

"You've got a strange sense of amends." He shook his head, rolling his eyes slightly. Standing back up, Weiss extended his hand to Angeal, giving him a slight glower. "Fine. I accept your offering of assistance."

With a slight smile, Angeal shook the other's hand, letting a soft chuckle escape his throat. "I hope I can be as useful as I want to be."

"You will be." Weiss let his hand go, crossed his arms, and returned his gaze to the wall across the boat. "Look, you keep out of our way, and I'll take your advice sometime, alright?" He asked, getting an amused expression from Angeal. "But for now, I've got some planning to do. So just keep quiet and sit over there somewhere." Weiss muttered, taking a seat on the bed and pulling a small table over in front of him. With a slight scowl, he snatched a random pen from a small shelf and tore a blank piece of paper out of one of the many books.

On the paper, he began to doodle a map, placing points and scribbling illegible things. Angeal tilted his head slightly at the man's doodles, but he decided not to question and simply oblige to the man's request. He took a seat on a small stool across the miniature room, smiling slightly while he watched him work. It was almost like when he was sleeping – a focused Weiss looked much more peaceful. It was strange, but Angeal believed there was going to be some good in helping Weiss, and that he had some good in him.

It was just going to take some time to work it all out, if he played his cards right.

"Hey, what are you smiling at?" Weiss interrupted his thoughts, letting a low growl escape when he caught the man's expression.

"Hm?" He asked, the smile fading, but quickly returning. "Oh, nothing. Just thinking."

"Well, don't doze out on me. I can't have an unconscious guy like you to take care of." He muttered, retuning his attention to the doodle.

… Maybe it was going to take a lot of work.