W. A. G. E. R.
Chapter Three
File No. 051-? ? ?
(IV)
2011.2.23, 11:59pm, Campania, Stern Deck.
"Ronald Knox is knocking off on time!" Following a series of enthusiastic shouts, Ronald jumped all the way from the deck down into the boat with his lawnmower. "Sweet, I didn't know we can leave on a spacious motorboat! I thought a life boat was the best you could get!"
Eric scolded, "You'd better clean up all that bias you have against me right now, young man!"
"Ronald, are you injured?" asked Alan, concerned.
"Uh?" Ronald looked at himself for a while and answered, "I'm perfectly fine. Why ask?"
Alan pointed to his shoulder, "Is this your blood?"
"Oh, you mean this… No, it's not mine." Ronald answered as he took out his bloodstained knife, "All I did was scratching the part a certain pimp needs to make a living…"
"Pimp… Make a living…" Eric's eyes suddenly changed, "Oh, my god, did you cut his pe…"
"Eh? Eric-senpai, you got it the wrong way round!" Ronald covered Eric's mouth before the latter could say anything, "All I did was cut his face… JUST FACE!"
Alan sighed in relief, "God, you really scared the hell out of me, Ronald. By the way, William-senpai told me that he had all the evidence needed to prove Aurora Society was involved in drug trafficking. So I guess we've done a good thing after all."
"You are right about this, Alan, but…" said Eric as he blew a smoke ring into the air, "I thought we were supposed to be committing crimes, not fighting them. I have the feeling that we're being very professional. Oh, well…"
Just then, Ronald asked, "Hey, why hasn't Sutcliff-senpai jumped down yet?"
XXXXX
Grell stood at the edge of the deck. The motorboat was right below him, but he had no intention of jumping down, because...
He could feel two people approaching.
He heard someone pulling the trigger.
He believed he was their target.
Instinct told him that the bullet would shoot right through his body even if he managed to jump down right now.
But if he didn't jump, he would definitely be killed.
God, if they were late for a second, I would've got into the boat already… Plus, aren't they supposed to be chasing after Stoker? How did they even managed to get here so fast? Could this be... A trap? Damn, they set us up. I should've jumped down before Ronald so I don't have to be the one standing here waiting to be executed. Wait, I'm after all his senior. I shouldn't be thinking about leaving that poor kid behind for my own good, should I?
However, he couldn't alert his colleagues, because he feared they might hear a gunshot before they hear his voice.
But it's no use standing here, right? The enemies would not wait for me to make a decision.
"Sebastian, end him."
"As you wish."
So this is it? This is the end of me?
BANG! –Sebastian fired.
DANG! –Somehow, it sounded like the bullet hit something made of metal…
Wait…
Due to the explosive gunshot from behind, Grell lost his balance. Yet before he fell off the deck, a hand caught him…
"Idiot, I told you to support Ronald, not to wait to be supported!"
"Will?" Grell turned around and quickly held William's arm. His red hair was everywhere in the evening wind.
William tried to move all the redness away, "Honestly, quit swinging your hair… It's blocking my sight."
"Wait, the shot just now was…"
"Can't you tell? I mean, if I didn't show up at the right moment, you'd either be dead or held as a hostage."
While listening, Grell finally had a chance to take a look at his enemies - Sebastian and Ciel were both aiming at them.
"It wasn't easy, was it? Either for you or for us…" There was still blood on Sebastian's face.
"Seb, Sebby… Your face…"
"Yeah, please say thank you to that great kid for me." sneered Sebastian, "I mean, he knew exactly where to cut, didn't he?"
"Cut the crap, Sebastian!" shouted Ciel, "Why bother worrying about your damn face when you are not a pimp?" The young boy rested his finger on the trigger, "Now, I wish you two could cooperate and hand in the evidence you collected from Stoker's room. If you dare say no, I'd just blow your brains out!"
William said calmly, "Well, from the look of this situation, you just set us up, didn't you?"
"Yep, this is one of the advantages of knowing the most influential drug trafficker in China Town." Ciel smiled with scorn, "Basically, we came for the drugs. Although I never expected you to be here, I'll make good use of this coincidence."
It was a time when William had lost all the vigor in his eyes, so was his voice, "That was certainly a flawless plan. I admit I never expected things to turn out this way… However, do you have enough evidence to arrest us?" His phone rang right after he had done talking. William answered the call as if nothing had happened. It was Eric.
"Hey, I just heard a gunshot. Are you on the deck?"
"Drive the boat away, immediately." William ordered, "Just forget about us."
"Are you crazy? How do you leave the ship without coming down onto the boat?"
"I've told you to drive the boat away! We'll figure out a way to leave this place."
"No way!" retorted Eric, "If we just left like this, you two would…"
"Who's in charge right now, Eric Slingby? Let me make myself clear... If you don't drive the boat away right now, all of our efforts would be wasted, and you three might get caught as well. But if you can get out of this place quickly, I promise… Grell Sutcliff and I will not die on this ship!" He hung up.
As soon as William put his phone back into his pocket, he found Grell's hand inside his other palm. Without resisting, William turned to him and asked, "What, are you scared?"
"Of course not❤!" Grell answered with a toothy grin, "I was only… No, I'm just too excited, Will."
"Good." William unconsciously held Grell's hand more tightly.
"Evidence to arrest you?" The corner of Sebastian's lips slightly twisted as he confessed, "Actual evidence, probably not. However, Mr. Grell, a dozen witnesses from first-class could prove that a transvestite in red had accessed their bank account without authorization. If you were unwilling to surrender, I wouldn't mind ending the two of you right here. Hey, dying in the sea with your partner, sounds like a romantic idea, doesn't it?"
"Enough!" William finally lashed out as he drew a small remote control from his sleeve, "If you dare talk like that again, I might want to add you on the death list together with us."
Ciel was shocked, "Sebastian, is that the remote control of a bomb or something?"
"It wasn't easy to break into Ryan Stoker's room," explained William, "so we decided to leave a return gift to make this journey worthwhile. Plus…" He pointed to the window of a room right above the deck, "his room was closest to this deck."
Sebastian smiled bitterly, "So you're not so easy to end after all… You've just put the lives of all the passengers in the ship in our hands, right? Great, this is so relaxing…"
"What do we do now, Sebastian?" asked Ciel.
"Don't worry, young master." Wiping away the blood from his face, he answered, "I've signed a contract and I live on the job you gave me, so I would definitely follow your orders."
"Good. Now, Sebastian, I want you to get that remote control and arrest them!"
"Yes, my Lord." Sebastian aimed at William, "Now, I don't care whether you have actually thrown a bomb in that room, but this is your last chance – surrender now or prepare to… No, you don't stand a chance if you decided to fight against so –"
Just a few seconds ago, William heard the motorboat going away. From then on they were truly trapped in a place where they had nowhere else to go. To run or to surrender became the vital question for William and Grell. Or did it?
"Honestly, this is not even a question." William turned his face to Grell, "What do you think, Grell Sutcliff?"
"Well, I guess you are right." Grell smiled and answered, "I don't feel confused at all."
"So… Let's tie your hair up first."
"Why?"
"Just do it. And…" William put the remote control into Grell's hand, "I'm going to count from 5 to 1. When I get to 1, just press the button and we'll just…" He left the last few words in a whisper.
Grell was completely shocked when he heard the end of the sentence, "Wait, from here?"
"Scared?"
"No, of course not… Like I've said, I am just too excited…"
"Good. Five."
Ciel was fed up with the secret conversation between the two "Reapers" so he asked his subordinate, "Why are you still waiting, Sebastian?"
"Four."
"Young master, for your safety, let's just wait till they've made up their mind. Don't worry. There's no way they could live if the bomb went off. Everything's under control."
"Three."
"You'd better be right about this, Sebastian."
"Two."
"Everything will be just fine, young master."
"One."
Within seconds, the tip of William's death scythe was only a few millimeters away from Sebastian's eyes.
BANG! Ciel fired a bullet but it was uncertain whether it had hit the target. Before he knew it, the stern deck was drowned in the debris of Ryan Stoker's room after a huge blast boomed from behind. Mysterious smoke soon filled the air.
Everything happened so quickly that Sebastian was unable to tell whether the pruning pole had disappeared before the smoke approached.
Why does the smoke smell like tear gas?
Then he heard Ciel's angry coughs beside him, "Damn, this isn't a bomb at all! It's just tear gas! Tear gas! What the hell… Sebastian… Go get them… Quickly!"
And so Sebastian tentatively fired a gunshot into the smoke.
SPLASH!
Sebastian thought he heard a weird noise so he walked to the edge of the deck to check whether he had shot his target. Yet all there was left was the dark, dark sea. William and Grell, like the first time they escaped from Funtom Corp., disappeared from the most impossible place without a trace. "Wait, that splash was… Could it be…" As Sebastian stared at the pitch-black sea, he found a newly formed whirlpool from not far away which interrupted the normal heave of waves. "No way… It's the middle of the sea, and they just jumped?"
