"I don't see what the big deal is," Black Star said, hands behind his head, feet propped on the kitchen table, "I told you I was coming next time you had something to do, so I'm going with you. S'not that complicated."
"Get your filthy shoes off our table!" Maka growled, pushing his feet off quickly.
"Our table, eh?" Black Star laughed, "Certainly are making yourself at home, ain't cha, sweetheart?" He leaned towards her, the muscles in his arm flexing threateningly.
"I'm not the one with my dirty-ass feet on the place people EAT," She met his gaze easily, lip curling. Soul just rolled his eyes, not bothering to look away from the papers he was holding in his hand,
"Now now kids," He drawled, "Play nice."
"Soul, you aren't honestly going to bring him with us, are you?" She glared at him. He just shrugged, still reading.
"Honey, you need me." Black Star laughed,
"Like hell I do. Now that I have the Soul Perception we don't need—"
"We aren't using that this time." Soul cut her off instantly, his eyes finally snapping up from the paper to meet hers.
"What?" She stammered, taken aback by his abruptness, "W-why not?"
He stared back at her for a long moment before looking away, replying,
"It's too early since the last time."
She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back into her chair.
"And without that," Black Star chimed in, "You're gonna need someone who actually knows what they're doing."
"I'd rather risk it," she mumbled.
"Would you though?" Soul asked, bored, "This is your friend we're trying to find."
She didn't say anything, just pouted stubbornly.
"And besides," he flashed her a quick grin, "You'll get to blame Black Star if anything goes wrong."
It was a few days after that conversation when she did it. It wasn't that she pre-planned it or anything, it wasn't a big Soul Eater style heist or whatever, it was honestly just impulse. Later in the afternoon they were going to try checking in on Tsubaki, see if she was still working at the bank, well, she if she was still breathing more like…
It wasn't that Maka wanted to be disobedient or whatever it was, she honestly was just walking past his room, the door opened to display rumpled clothes on the floor, a large computer and…
There was the sleek black box Maka knew all too well. She looked around for a moment pausing to hear the shower running from behind the bathroom door. With Soul currently preoccupied and Maka constantly stubborn as a mule, she tiptoed into his room and plucked the box off of his desk, promptly stuffing it into the large pocket in the front of her sweater. She turned to leave, but paused for a moment, the smell of his cologne overtaking her for just a second. She was simultaneously shocked that his room actually smelt good when it looked like this and surprised by how much she found herself enjoying it. She eyed his bed: large, soft looking; a black comforter and four pillows that no doubt smelled like him as well. What was even more surprising to her was the slight longing tugging at her to crawl into his bed and snuggle under his covers. She shook her head, feeling her face flush before stomping out of the offensively tempting situation and slamming the door to her own room loudly, as if that would take away this nagging feeling.
She hadn't forgotten the impromptu kiss that had happened at her father's apartment, but neither she nor Soul had brought it up since then. She leaned against the door of her room, her hand coming up to her lips absently.
It hadn't been unpleasant. Well, actually, quite the opposite. And if she was being honest, she'd caught herself staring at him a little too long, staying awake at night thinking about him a little too much. Even know, as she listened to the running water in the other room she couldn't help but picture him…
It was amazing how easily Maka Albarn could embarrass herself, because even know she covered her face in her hands and scurried over to her bed, throwing herself at it as if trying to avoid a conversation she wasn't even having.
Not that it mattered, but Soul was pretty fucking handsome when it got down to it.
And she found herself noticing this again as she sat in the backseat of Black Stars sleek, navy car, the two men in the front talking to each other easily. Her eyes were wandering across Soul's jawline, transfixed as he laughed at something Black Star said. She noticed his slight stubble which would probably be rough against her face if they—
"Hello?" Soul was turned to face her, a confused look on his face.
"W-what?" She snapped out of it, embarrassed
"I said, are you ready?" He eyed her suspiciously,
"Oh! Yes, of course!" She chirped in response.
Soul gave her an up-down glance before turning to Black Star who used his index finger to motion to his head, letting out a low whistle.
"She's losing it already, man," He said, receiving an eye-roll and a glare in response.
Maka got out of the car, sticking out her tongue childishly at Black Star before skipping towards the large, familiar building. She lifted the hood of her tight-fitting sweater over her head as she took a firm step in through the front doors of the bank.
She glanced around for only a moment before lowering her gaze again, remembering the warnings from both the men in the car about cameras and familiar faces.
The bank looked pretty normal, almost exactly how she remembered it. It had been a few weeks since everything had happened but despite that there was no police tape up anymore, the back wall where Soul's car had crashed through had been patched up on the outside, but she could hardly see the back room from where she stood now.
"Feelin' nostalgic?" A snarky voice in her earpiece asked.
"Hardly." She muttered back, the impossibly small microphone on her shirt picked up her voice and sent it to a quietly laughing Soul in the car.
Maka walked towards the waiting area, eyes scanning the tellers every few feet. She hadn't been gone long, but there wasn't a single familiar face among the people she saw working there. She swallowed thickly, remembering all the threats she'd heard since she left of what Arachne did to those who failed her. If Maka hadn't left… would she have also…?
But there wasn't time to think about that because she had made it out and now she needed to find Tsubaki.
She made it down the entire line of tellers without a single spark of recognition. Guilt gripped every part of her: was she too late?
"She's not here." Maka breathed,
"Alright," Soul replied, careless and tactical as always, "Go ask someone who definitely doesn't know you if she's in today."
"But—"
"Black Star's already in the building. If something happens, he'll intervene, alright?"
"I still think you should be doing this," She huffed,
"I just robbed this place, pigtails."
"I worked here!" She hissed a little louder than she meant to. There was complete silence in her ear for a moment.
"Looks like we're back to square one with the whole 'keeping quiet' thing, huh?" He finally replied. She just knew had one of his smug grins plastered on his face.
"You're an asshole."
"You love it."
"FOR CHRIST SAKE," Black Star boomed over the earpiece, making Maka wince at the noise, "Would you two stop flirting for five fucking minutes and get back to the job?!"
She could hear Soul snickering as she walked up to one of the friendlier looking tellers.
"Hello," Maka said, smiling warmly.
"O-oh, hi there!" The girl was younger than Maka had originally thought. She had black hair; messy bangs tousled her forehead, eyes darted unsure when she spoke. Maka groaned. She instantly felt some sort of weird responsibility for this kid, like maybe she needed to warn her to get out of her, quit before something happened. She looked down at her name tag.
"Tsugumi" was printed in neat block lettering.
"Tsugumi is it?" Maka said, smiling through her anxiety,
"Um, yes, that's me!" The girl held out her nametag slightly, pulling up her shirt a little with it. The gesture was so inherently childish and innocent that it only made worse what Maka was already feeling. She paused for a moment, turning around and looking at the other patrons in the bank. Soul must have seen her do it on the cameras, because she heard a worried:
"…What are you doing..?" Which she ignored purposefully,
"It's cute. You're name I mean," Maka babbled, "Listen, can you tell me if a girl named Tsubaki still works here?"
"Tsubaki?" Tsugumi's face lit up with recognition, "Yeah! She does!"
"Really?" Maka felt a warm relief flood her chest,
"Oh wait…" her expression fell, "She actually just got transferred out. I'm sorry," She frowned, mirroring Maka's expression almost exactly.
"Transferred where?" Maka leaned closer to her,
"I'm not sure, I think promoted? I heard she would be doing much harder work now. Are you a friend of hers? She was really nice when I started working here and—"
"Tsugumi, listen to me," Maka whispered harshly, "You need to quit. You need to stop working here and get out of here as soon as possible, do you understand me?"
The girls' stammering was drowned out by a very unimpressed Soul Eater shouting in her ear about blowing her cover and recklessness. Maka pulled the ear piece out, tired of hearing his protests.
"W-why?" The girl said back quietly,
"Did they tell you what happened to the other girls that worked here before you?"
She shook her head slowly, Maka continued on.
"Well, I was one of them, and now I'm in hiding trying to get one of my friends who worked here with me out of trouble she didn't even cause at all. You know those guys that come in here? The guys that run this place?" She didn't realize her voice was getting a bit louder. Tsugumi looked over her shoulder for a moment,
"I do but…"
"They're exactly what you think, okay? They're exactly who you don't want to be—"
Maka stopped talking abruptly, a hard, cold metal pressing into her back.
"Don't move." A low, male voice breathed into her ear. Tsugumi took a few shaky steps backwards, apologizing, tears welling up in her eyes as she scrambled back and away from her desk and running back into the back room.
"I don't—" Maka stammered, but the cool metal only dug deeper into her back,
"I know you," the man said, "Returning so quickly to the scene of the crime, Maka Albarn?"
He grabbed her wrist with his free hand, moving it behind her back,
"Who? What are you even talking about?" Maka choked out, angry at herself for pulling the
"You're under arrest," The man said. Her breathing hitched and she didn't hesitate, she turned sharply, an evasive maneuver she'd seen Soul do before, carefully pulling away from the gun. She pushed back, finally got a good look at him: the cop from the robbery. The white stripes in his hair were a dead giveaway. He swayed back with her movement, but steadied himself, both hands now on his gun, pointing it at her threateningly. Both stayed painfully still, Maka at the ready to run or scramble away from him, his finger hugging the trigger in a way she knew wasn't a bluff.
"Maka." He said, expression deadly serious, "Your father is looking for you. I told him I'd bring you back."
She smiled. So, he was working for her father,
"Oh yeah? And who're you?" Her eyes darted up for only a second.
"Officer Kid, Death City precinct Detective, and you're wanted for aiding and abetting in robbery, property damage and—"
A flash of blue hair twisted under Kid's arm, shouldering his wrists harshly, a loud laugh following him as Kid scrambled to hold on to his gun. He ducked under Black Star's swing, sweeping his leg out, trying to take out Black Stars footing at the same time, but he agile man just leapt over it easily. Maka was surprised she could even keep up with the two as they took swipes at each other, but took the chance to stuff her earpiece back in,
"Soul! The cops are here!" She said,
"OHH, now you'd like to talk!? Now you want my advice?" Soul roared on the other line.
"Shut the fuck up, tell me what's going on!" She fumed back,
"No, no no you seem to have it all under control Maka, why you'd need me in your ear I honestly don't know!" He wasn't giving her any wiggle room at all. She looked towards the door, a few more police officers filtering through the door.
"Well, maybe I don't need you!" It was frustration, anger that was driving her as she found the Soul Perception box in her back pocket.
"Wait, what is that?" Suspicious was overtaking Soul's anger, "Wait—How did you get that back?!"
She just looked up at a security camera, giving it the finger before popping open the case.
"We travel in packs, Kiddo!" Black Star laughed loudly, an elbow colliding with the cops jaw, "Did you forget from last time, hmm?" He laughed harder when Kid drew his other gun,
"Oh, hoo brings out the second gun! Shit's serious now, ain't it?" Black Star seemed to spin past Kid's gun as he discharged his weapon, bullets shattering glass behind his opponent. Kid growled loudly,
"Get the girl!" He barked back to the other officers now in the building, "I'll take care of Black Star!"
Black Star just laughed again, his punch blocked by Kid's forearm, eye to eye for only a moment before Black Star continued his quick touch-and-go fighting style.
After only a moment of deliberation, the remaining cops all looked over to Maka. She knew what she had to do, white-haired hacker be damned. The two lenses were now resting on her middle and fore-finger
"Maka, so help me GOD do not put those—"
She lifted her fingers to her eyes, applying the Soul Perception in one quick motion.
.
.
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Sorry if this was a little later than last updates! The next one will hopefully be quicker.
Man I love writing fight scenes ehehehhe
Let me know what you think? You guys are so encouraging and awesome! Thank you so much!