chapter ten - system error
Izaya Orihara was conflicted.
It wasn't too often he got this feeling, though it seemed as of late he got it a lot.
He could either do as Shizuo said and get some sleep, or he could pick the lock and show up at headquarters anyway. Shizuo would probably bash his head into the nearest wall should he choose the latter, but he honestly didn't care at this point.
Everyone has a foil. Shizuo's words kept echoing through Izaya's thoughts, and no matter how hard he tried to push it away, it came back. And you just happened to be mine.
The informant let out an obnoxious sigh, flopping back onto the bed, only to cringe at the returning pain in his side. If something could annoy him almost as much as Shizuo in the present, that would be it. He constantly cursed himself for letting this happen, all of these recent events making him vulnerable. How long until I crack? Face it; I'm already losing it. Izaya closed his eyes, rolling over onto his side, impatiently waiting for sleep to come. Maybe Shizuo was right and it was just sleep deprivation. Though, there was one more reason that seemed a bit more accurate, he supposed.
His phone beeped as the thought came across him, however, leaving him to shrug it off and pull out his phone to find another complaint from a client. The informant rolled his eyes, quickly typing up a response, only to receive a text from Shinra.
[How are you feeling?]
[Fine. You don't have to check up on me all the time, you know.]
[I've been holding back! Besides, you're the one who told me you weren't feeling like yourself.]
[Well, I know why now, so feel free to leave me be.]
[I also wanted to ask about your wounds. How are they holding up?]
[Okay.]
[Are you sure?]
[If you thought I was going to lie, well...]
[I suppose you have me there. Anyway, how's Shizuo?]
[He's alright. I'm surprised he hasn't cracked yet.]
[As opposed to you.]
Izaya stared at the text for a moment, lips curving into a frown as he set his phone down on the nightstand beside him. Damn you, Shinra. The informant cursed to himself, rolling over on his side and closing his eyes, impatiently waiting for sleep to come.
When Shizuo showed up at headquarters alone, it was a bit alarming that Izaya wasn't there with him, especially considering the informant hadn't said too much about Shizuo while talking to Alexa. She was able to pick up a couple of things after the incident, however.
"Why isn't Izaya here?" Alexa asked plain and simple, eyebrow raised.
"He's been pretty sleep deprived lately, so I left him behind. He hasn't gotten a break at all lately," Shizuo replied simply.
Alexa nodded, leading Shizuo down to her unit, unlocking the door and stepping inside, gesturing towards Shizuo. "Well, everyone, this is Shizuo Heiwajima. His partner couldn't be here today, so we'll have to work a couple things out, but we'll hopefully get somewhere."
My partner... Shizuo blinked, attempting to not immediately correct her on that. We're not partners for anything! Hell, what are we anymore? Brushing the thought away for the time being, the blonde gazed around the room at each of his 'co-workers', he supposed he could call them. Izaya's doubt struck him then, letting him stand back for a moment and think over what he had decided to do. Relax, Shizuo. These people know nothing about you. But if you screw up, well, that won't look too good for either of us.
Shizuo was snapped back out of his thoughts when one of the officers turned towards him and Alexa, simply remarking, "Sure hope so."
"Doubtful as always, Ace," The girl beside this 'Ace' muttered, earning an instant glare in protest.
Alexa let out an amused huff, turning back to Shizuo. "Those two over there are Ace and Cathryn," she began, giving a nod towards the pair of brunettes before turning towards the other two positioned at the table. "and that's Jacob and Riley."
Shizuo merely nodded, not sure what to say.
Noticing his awkward approach, Jacob gave him a small smirk, reminding Shizuo a bit of Izaya - black hair and all - though more of a friendly tease rather than, well, Izaya. "What, are you shy, Shizuo?"
"Not much to say," he lied with a shrug.
"A man of secrets, I see," Cathryn joined in, earning a disapproving glance from Riley, who continued to remain silent.
An informant has his secrets. Izaya's words echoed through Shizuo's mind then, the blonde narrowing his eyes. Goddammit, flea, leave me alone!
Cathryn blinked up at him and Shizuo realized that he was now clenching his fists, briskly relaxing them at his sides before anyone else noticed.
"So, about time we get off our lazy asses and work, huh?" The brunette woman continued when no one else spoke, earning nods from her peers. The four sitting at the table diverged, moving towards laptops, filing cabinets, and the likes in pursuit of work.
Alexa sat down at the table, gesturing for Shizuo to take a seat beside her, setting the laptop down in front of them. "I assume you have Izaya's files with you, then?"
Shizuo shrugged. "I'm not sure, but knowing the flea, he got everything back in order."
"The brute and the flea, huh," Alexa mused, leaving Shizuo to realize his mistake, silently cursing himself. "What terms are you two on, exactly? If you don't mind me asking."
"It's complicated."
Alexa nodded, turning the laptop on and opening it up. "Well, may as well test your theory."
Sure enough, Izaya had done it - plus, the two noticed, the informant had added in new information overnight.
How is he not tired of this? Shizuo thought, watching as Alexa scrolled through the files. Is he that set on revenge? This is turning obsessive, almost. Just like...
Me.
"Something wrong, Shizuo?"
Shizuo turned to see Alexa's face right in front of his, backing away slightly. "No, sorry."
Alexa raised an eyebrow, facing the screen again, Shizuo doing the same shortly after.
"Well, let's do this," Shizuo breathed, opening a new tab and letting out a small sigh. Better not screw up.
The sun was still out when Izaya woke up, the informant rolling over to grab his phone to see that he had only slept for about four hours. He sighed, sitting up and stretching, lowering his right arm as pain shot through him again. Four hours is better than nothing, at least.
Izaya looked down at his feet, half expecting Shizuo to be there, sound asleep on his makeshift bed, though it was still daytime - sunset, at least. He blinked at the thought, shrugging it off and disappearing into the bathroom. Greeted by a mirror, he managed to stop in front of it and get a good look at himself, and sure enough, Shizuo was right, in a sense. The bags under his eyes were clearly visible, and he was rather scrawny - though he always was. He was about to go as far to sniff his shirt, but stopped. Shizu-chan always says I smell like shit. However, he did it anyway, narrowing his eyes and slipping into the shower.
When he came back out, his phone beeped, and sure enough, there was a new text from Shizuo.
[You up yet, flea?]
[Yes. I'm surprised you asked now. I thought for sure you would think I would sleep all night~]
[Well, someone's back to normal.]
[Of course I am.]
[Anyway, we found something new out today.]
[Care to elaborate?]
[It's a possible headquarters for the group. The team wanted us to go out and see for ourselves tonight.]
"A headquarters, huh," Izaya mused, smirk returning to him. [When do we leave?]
Shizuo met Izaya back at the hotel, the two plopped down on the bed with Shizuo explaining everything they found.
"Interesting," Izaya remarked, gazing towards the blonde. "So, they expect us to infiltrate their headquarters and destroy their information?"
"And get them arrested, that way we don't have to put up with any longer," Shizuo nodded. "Funny how different things are here compared to home."
Izaya let out a small chuckle in agreement. "Sounds like quite the task. And we haven't even been here for a whole day."
"Yeah," Shizuo replied. "I know I should probably lay back on the strength, because they obviously knew who you were, so they must know me. Some of them, anyway. But, last resort?"
"Last resort," Izaya echoed. "Just don't use it to save my ass again."
"Fine. But if you get shot or something, don't come crying to me."
"Is anyone else coming with us?"
"What, do you want to saved by someone that's not me?" Shizuo rolled his eyes, earning a glare from the informant. "Alexa's coming too, just in case."
Izaya simply nodded. "So, how were the other officers?"
"They were alright, I guess," Shizuo replied lightly. "I didn't talk too much to them, and I guess we won't be around them much longer if we can pull this off."
"And hopefully we will."
"What, you want to leave already?"
"Of course not. I've only left this room once," Izaya pointed out. But there's going to be hell to pay.
"Sorry," Shizuo muttered. "You really needed sleep, though."
"I suppose so," Izaya brushed it away, sliding off the bed, not turning back to face Shizuo. "Let's get ready to leave, shall we?"
And so the informant disappeared out of the room, leaving Shizuo to just sit, waiting for either him or Alexa to show up. Izaya came back not long after, however, tossing Shizuo a black hoodie, gloves, and a crowbar, setting a box of boots down beside him.
"We're really going all out, aren't we," Shizuo stated, not really as a question, but still in a bit of confusion towards the informant.
Izaya nodded, slipping the hoodie he had bought for himself on, stuffing his switchblade in his pocket. "Not to be stereotypical; just to hide who we are, especially considering they've already attacked us once, and I bet that highway shooting was connected to them in some way."
"If we're hiding who we are, then why no masks?"
Izaya merely gestured towards the motorcycle helmets sitting opposite them.
Shizuo raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that give them more of a clue, though?"
Izaya sighed, choosing to not reply, a knock on the door interrupting his chances of answering, anyway. Sure enough it was Alexa, wearing almost the same attire as the two, though Izaya noticed the butt of a gun poking out of her pocket instead.
Shizuo gave her a nod in greeting, and Izaya turned towards her. "So, what time are we leaving?"
Alexa briefly looked at her watch before turning back to the pair. "Well, it's about eleven-thirty now, so we should probably head out soon."
"How far away is it?"
"About thirty minutes."
"Well then," Izaya said with a smirk. "Let's get going."
Shizuo and Alexa exchanged nods, Izaya poking his head out of the room to see if anyone was coming. "We'll look pretty suspicious coming out all at once, so we should probably go one at a time."
"Or," Shizuo started, grabbing his helmet and holding it up.
Izaya blinked at him in surprise, cursing himself under his breath, but grabbing his helmet as well as the three got in the elevator, disappearing out of the building and slipping into Alexa's SUV. The informant's smirk returned to his face as they rode off towards the headquarters, though he was silently hoping that everything would go to plan.
After a while, the SUV came to a stop and Alexa turned back to face the two. "Well, here we are. We're in the Bronx, so we should fit right on in, though I'd expect some extra trouble."
Shizuo blinked. "The Bronx?"
"Shizu-chan, do you know nothing about America?"
"I'm not the informant here."
Izaya rolled his eyes, opening his door and sliding out. "Alexa, are you going to stay here just in case, or are you coming with?"
"I'll stay here. Let's say...if I don't hear anything from you in half an hour, I'll go in. So I'll expect some sort of update."
Izaya nodded. "Fair enough."
Shizuo got out of the van as well, the two closing their doors quietly and making their way towards the building. "Now, there's probably going to be some sort of guard on duty, though they usually work during the day using a cover-up business."
Izaya simply nodded, poking his head out around the corner to see that there was, in fact, someone standing outside. He's not looking this way, but we'll have to be quiet... He thought to himself, giving a look towards Shizuo and making his way towards the door, hand over his pocket, just in case. Sure enough, the guard turned around, starting to yell out in protest when Izaya placed a hand over his mouth, unfolding the switchblade and holding it to the man's neck. "You're going to let us in without a problem, capiche?"
The man nodded nervously, reply being muffled by Izaya's glove, the informant smirking. "Good." Izaya turned back to gaze at Shizuo, his secretary nodding and meeting up with him.
"Now, let's finish this," Izaya whispered, strolling in when the guard was about to tazer him. Shizuo, noticing this, took the crowbar from behind him and hit him with it, in attempt to not kill him, but knock him out good. Thankfully, Izaya was oblivious to this as he stepped inside the facility.
"Pretty nice for a bunch of low-class brutes."
Shizuo was taken aback by Izaya's statement, though the informant paid little mind to him. He is really set on this...god, is he planning to kill them or something?
Considering he made his way over to the computers first, Shizuo was able to do a bit of rethinking. Well, he didn't go straight away. That might be good.
"You look nervous, Shizu-chan," Izaya finally spoke after a while of searching through the files.
"Not at all."
Izaya paused for a moment, turning towards him with a raised eyebrow. Not saying a word, he turned back to the screens, finishing up in a good twenty-five minutes. The informant pulled out his phone, texting Alexa to tell her that they should be almost done.
"That was fast," Shizuo commented.
Izaya gave a small shrug. "It was quite easy." A little too easy...
Before Shizuo could respond, an alarm sounded, the screens blacking out, leaving the two to glance at each other. Izaya had his hand over his pocket yet again, Shizuo turning around, holding the crowbar behind his back, waiting for the possible attack Izaya had thought of. When no one appeared however, the two made a move to run when the floor caved in, leaving their weapons to fall into nothingness as they clung onto the side of the other floor tile.
I knew it.
author's note~
Well, things didn't go as planned for Izaya or for me. xD"
I know I said I'd stop apologizing, but really, this was kind of uncalled for. I just ended up losing inspiration after reading other fics, yet I somehow managed to get ideas for other fics that I want to write, which I didn't want. I wanted to focus only on this fic for a while, that way I could get a bit done. No matter, though. I got the chapter done, and hopefully it's better than the last one. Though still not as good as chapter eight. I tried to add a bit of elements from 8 here, though I already know it's nowhere near as good. Hopefully the next chapter and one more in this subplot will give it more justice.
Honestly, this chapter is taking things in a bit of a different direction from what I intended, and that could be good, or it could be bad. It doesn't matter too much, though. This is only a subplot, and only the ending of it will affect the rest of the fic. I'm hoping it turns out good, though. I'd rather not have a whole subplot of just bad writing and the likes. x-x
Anyway, I'd really appreciate it if you guys left me some feedback here, especially considering the last chapter got pretty much nothing. It really does help. ^^
I'll see you in the next chapter~