Patrons of the bank were screaming, running for the doors as the sound of gunshots echoed off the tall ceilings.
"Don't discharge your weapon around civilians!" Kid shouted, firing his own gun once more hypocritically. None of the other officers seemed to find this odd, fully aware of his care, precision and aim.
Maka was frozen, expecting the usual pain of the Soul Perception starting up, but there was nothing. She blinked a few times, watching as the lenses booted up quickly. Soon the walls around her seemed to fade away into outlines and interactive blueprints. She was surprised how used to it she was already, feeling infinitely less disoriented than before. She turned, facing the officers now surrounding her,
"Soul," She said seriously, "can I use these to fight?"
There was a silence in her earpiece end that sent a wave of abandonment and nerves over her,
"Soul?" She said quickly, watching the cops get closer and closer, flashing a red outline now. Her heart pounded deafeningly.
THREAT EMINENT, RECOMMEND RETALIATION OR ESCAPE
The Soul Perception had the words displayed next to each of the cops that approached, weapons drawn. There was still no reply from Soul and she felt panic grip her.
INPUT ACTION COMMAND
She didn't know what it meant; she didn't know what to do as the closest officer, a blonde man lunged towards her.
"SOUL PLEASE—"
It all happened so quickly, but the technology caught every fraction of motion involved. There he was, black bandana covering his face, his leather jacket lifting off his back as he seemed to just appear in midair, a swift kick colliding with a cops neck and sending him toppling to the ground. Soul landed easily, adjusting his bearings for only a second before he ran full tilt into the man approaching Maka, forcing him to the ground with a shoulder. Before he could even catch his breath, another man leapt onto Soul. He turned to Maka, shouting though grunts of pain and exertion,
"Give it verbal commands! Tell it to activate combat prescription!" He swung at a man absently, but was sidestepped by him, giving just enough time for another cop's foot to smash between Soul's shoulder blades. He buckled to the ground,
"Uh… activate combat prescription?" Maka said, unsure. The lenses seemed to change in an instant, now highlighting the man approaching her quickly.
DUCK IN 5
4, the man approaching her was closer,
3, he seemed to be about to—
2
Maka ducked, his strong punch missing entirely. She looked left and saw his leg highlighted a bright green, smaller points a brighter white colour.
ATTACK KNEE CAP
Maka decided to give it a try, throwing her full weight into the side of the cop's knee. To her surprise, he crumbled to the ground and she rolled away. He fell beside her in a heap, clutching his leg in agony. She stood to her feet, turning to the two remaining officers, still focused on Soul. She called out to him and his head turned to her instantly. He was distracted, only for a second, but a very large cop swept past him faster than Maka could have imagined and delivered a swift uppercut to his stomach. Soul staggered, trying to keep away from being grabbed from another man approaching him.
"Hey!" She shouted, the large man stopping abruptly and turning to her. Soul looked up at her, panicked. There was blood marring his white hair, and she briefly wondered whether it was his or not.
"Miss Albarn, we're here to save you," The officer's voice was threatening, matching his appearance,
"Well then save me," she gritted out, watching as he turned to her. His was muscular, one of his eyes seemed to have been damaged, a strange red and lifeless orb in sat in the socket. It was almost… featured on the man's face, a tattoo on his brow.
No Future
"I'm right here!" She said, pleased when he kept his pursuit towards her. He must have been well over six feet tall, "So…"
He grinned wickedly before reaching out; lunging at her, knowing full well this was a ruse. Maka didn't have time to be surprised as her Soul Perception seemed to change once more. Now, she could see faint outlines of herself in her vision, arrows pointing in the direction she should move into them. It reminded her of when she'd been forced to take dance lessons: a large sheet on the ground with the outline of feet, directing position and movement. She hoped her split second assumption was right as she ducked forward quickly, towards the officer and, using as much force as possible, followed the arrow pointing up. She projected herself up, her head colliding with the man's jaw. Before he could so much as react, a new ghostly outline appeared and she brought her knee up to its proper position, full force into his crotch.
He fell forwards instantly, crying out in pain,
"You bitch!" He screamed out, but Maka could hardly hear him. She was so hyper-focused on her next outlined movement: a sharp elbow into his back followed by another knee, but this time to his face. She executed them faster and harsh, adrenaline pumping through her. The man lay on the ground, her Perception now outline a sharp heel to the throat. She did it, pushing down through the man's gargles. He sputtered as a red arrow flashed almost video-game like beside him, urging her to push harder and harder. She barely knew what she was doing as he clawed at her ankle, trying to breathe but not being able to. This is what she was going to do? Did she even have it in her..? He stopped struggling, going limp but the Soul Perception told her to continue. She couldn't—but maybe… Maybe she had to, maybe she needed to—
"What are you doing?!" It was Soul, rough hands on her shoulders, knocking her backwards, her foot leaving the man's neck. He steadied her for second, uncovered eyes gauging her expression. It probably matched the sick feeling in her stomach. He softened, the grip on her shoulders loosening,
"I mean, I hate cops too, but let's not try to kill anyone, alright pigtails?"
She nodded; panic still thick in her throat. He held a hand out to her,
"Now gimme that goddamn box," he sighed. She stared at him blankly for a moment before pulling the Soul Perception box out of her sweater and handing it to him. He popped it open and held it out to her expectantly.
"Hurry up and take them off, you're pushing your luck here to say the least." He was stern, angry still. Her hand was still shaking when she complied silently, removing the lenses softly and placing them in the box. He snapped it shut and stuffed into his back pocket. Maka held her hands out in front of her face: not blueprints, not highlighted, just shaking uneasily. She took a deep breath to steady herself but it didn't seem to work.
Instead she felt Soul as he pulled her into him, arms wrapping around her comfortingly. She let him, feeling almost instantly better. She moved her head a little, looking over his shoulder at the cop he was dealing with earlier laying on the ground unconscious beside the large man she nearly…
"I fucked that guy up," She said, astounded with herself. Soul pulled her back and laughed outright,
"You sure did. You know, girls who can fight are kinda hot," his eyes crinkled, amused.
"Oh yeah?" She said back, not being able to help the smile creeping onto her face,
"Oh yeah." He leaned in and pulled his bandana down in one quick motion, kissing her roughly. He moved so quick that she didn't even have to worry about cameras picking up his features, sneaky kid. His hands were on her face, and she hardly noticed her fingers tangling into his hair. Well, that was until a loud gunshot snapped her eyes open (when did those close…?) and Soul sighed begrudgingly before pulling his bandana back up and turning to Black Star,
"Bout read to wrap this up?" Soul shouted to Black Star whose heel collided with Kid, sending him roughly to the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry, are you ready to get involved again? Didn't wanna be a fuckin' cock block or whatever but I'm trying to get some goddamn WORK done here!" He was still looking at Soul when he ducked out of the way of a bullet fired at him from behind. For a second, Maka swore the man was super-human, but she quickly let the thought escape. Black Star had a big enough ego. Soul snickered before shrugging,
"Let's get outta here then."
No matter what people said about Kid, they could all agree on a few things. One of these was his persistence. Because even now, three to one, fighting an obnoxious man who somehow knew his fighting habits and patterns better than anyone should know anything, Kid was to his feet and charging Black Star. He had clearly thrown caution to the wind, resorting to simply copying something he had seen Soul Eater do only moments before to his own men as his shoulder collided with Black Star, almost sending him to the ground.
Black Star endured the hit, just lunging forward for a moment before catching himself on a knee. Both Maka and Kid watched in stunned horror an insane smile crept across Black Stars face, head hung, hair over his eyes, his grin promised something Maka didn't want to watch.
"Well well," Black Star said, grabbing the collar of Kid's shirt harshly, "trying to learn something from my friend?" He lifted Kid off of him easily, who struggled against him to no avail.
"You won't get away with this." Kid spat, his feet now leaving the ground,
"First of all," Black Star fisted his other hand, "I taught Soul everything he knows." He punched Kid in the face brutally. There was a sick crunch sound that Maka winced through. "So it's probably not good to try and get at me using something he did," Soul, who was tense beside Maka, watching the scene, now walked swiftly towards the blue haired man.
"Secondly," Black Star's fist collided with his face once more, "You're," crunch, "not," crunch, "helping," his hand was covered in the cops blood by the time Soul was at his side, telling him in a firm voice to stop but getting no attention. "ANYTHING,"
Black Star threw Kid to the ground, not gasping or weeping and still conscious. Kid looked up at him, anger cold in his gaze, but he couldn't even hold himself upright. Kid's face was covered in blood, his nose broken, eye already swelling. Maka thought she might be sick. A small part of her regretted messing with Black Star so much.
"Let's go." Soul hissed gesturing to the back of the bank harshly.
Black Star rolled his shoulder, still looking down at Kid for moment,
"Don't get in my way again, Kiddo." He kicked Kid's gun away from his hand, turning and walking swiftly towards Maka, Soul hot on his heels. She stumbled out of his way for a moment before he stopped.
"Yo Soul," Black Stars usual tone was back in a flash, "Grab that one." He pointed to the large cop Maka had incapacitated.
"What?" She stammered, "Why?"
"Cause I know em'. Names' Free and he works for Arachne. Came across him in some files the other day, sneaky fuck," he laughed loudly as Soul grabbed Free around the shoulders and started pulling him out with them.
Maka watched the two men leaving, shooting one last glance to Kid.
"I'm sorry," She said quietly. Kid just looked at her for a long moment. Could he even move at all? She considered approaching him, making Soul call an ambulance or something but she knew she couldn't. She looked back at her two new partners for only a moment, but when she looked back—no one should be able to move so quickly, least of all someone who had just had their lights punched out, but there he was: on his feet, gun retrieved, pointed right at her.
Was she actually about to get shot again because of this fucking bank?
She hardly had time to hear the gunshot.
But at the same moment, her footing was taken out from underneath her. She wished she had been wearing her Soul Perception for a few reasons, but the main one being that she was pretty sure the bullet went right over her head, inches from her eyes.
She heard Kid discharge his gun a few more times, but she was moving fast—so fast. It took her a moment to realize what had happened, but Black Star's arm was strong around her middle, carrying her as he ran faster than anyone in the world should be able to move, out of the bank of the bank. She was thrown into the open door of the back of a car, before Black Star jumped into the passenger seat,
"GO!" he shouted to Soul, who slammed the gas, tires squealing as the car shot forward through the street. Maka steadied herself, pushing away the still unconscious Free away from her in the back.
"Are you okay?" Soul shouted back to her, glancing over his shoulder to check on her only for a second before turning a sharp corner. Free slammed into the side of the door and groaned, seeming to come to a little,
"I'm fine," she said, pushing away from the large man who now blinked, confused.
"Did you get shot again?" Soul said, his tone a little less worried and a little more usual-ass-hole-playful.
"Um…" she was staring at the cop,
"Wait," Soul turned around harshly, "You didn't, did you?!"
She couldn't help but to laugh at his terrified reaction, but managed to shake her head and point to Free who now blinked over at her.
"Black Star, deal with this," Soul sighed, turning back around and focusing on weaving through the city streets.
"Oh, wakey-wakey Free!" Black Star knelt in his seat, holding on to the shoulders of his chair and staring at the man.
"Who're you?" Free grunted, rubbing his head,
"Friends of Arachne," Black Star said seriously, "we need you to tell us something."
Free looked around for a second, clearly still confused. Maka looked away pointedly, not wanting him to recognize her at all. He was definitely out of it, affirmed when he said,
"What do you need to know?"
"What did we do with that girl who worked at that bank again? The tall one… what was her name again?" Black Star turned to Soul.
"Uh, Tsubaki I think?" Soul said, going along with the farce.
Maka felt heat swell in her chest. This was why Black Star wanted Free? To ask him about Tsubaki? She felt embarrassed and angry at herself for her criticism, her judgement… her doubt in the man who had not only saved her ass a few times today, but was now doing all the work she should be doing. He was doing everything she should be to getting back her friend and she was so grateful she thought she might burst.
Free just blinked a few more times before his face contorted slightly,
"You're… what? You're kidding right?" He shook his head, seeming to gain a little clarity, "You're not really asking that. Or… wait. You guys aren't Arachne!"
Black Star just shrugged before leaping over the back seat, his hands on Free's throat.
"I guess you caught us: so just tell us."
Free sputtered, his throat clearly still sore from Maka's earlier attack, but Black Star didn't let up.
"Sorry, can't really hear you," he said, leaning closer to Free, "what was that?"
"Nakatsukasa is one of Arachne's top agents," he choked out, "her failure at the bank was forgiven easily!"
Black Star was still for only a moment, shooting Maka a glance.
But… what? That couldn't that be true.
"Thanks man," Black Star said, leaning down and opening the passenger door from the inside and pushing Free out. He rolled and bounced across the road a few times before sitting up, watching the car speed away.
They all sat in silence for a long moment in the car.
"Maka," Soul finally said, "…What he said… that might be true."
"What?" She said, so quiet, still in shock, "It can't be…"
"Well, turns out it is." Black Star sighed, slumping down in his chair, "I was worried it'd be somethin' like this."
"You knew?" Maka's voice was louder, "You knew she might be… might work for Arachne!?"
But no… he couldn't have. Tsubaki was the sweetest person Maka knew. Gentle, caring, the one point of sanity at an otherwise corrupt and evil bank, the one Maka had come to depend on so much when she was working there—
"Well, 'Nakatsukasa', that's the last name of one of Arachne's higher up bodyguards. It's probably a family business." he sighed, looking out the window.
Maka thought she might throw up. Then… What was she going to do?
"Maka, I'm sorry." Soul spoke, sincerity to his voice that cut through her.
"But we… we can't just…"
"Wait a second," Black Star turned to Soul, incredulous, "why're you sayin' it like we've just lost the war?"
"What do you mean?" Soul asked, stopping at a red light and glancing at his friend, "She works for Arachne."
"Dude, you made a fuckin' promise to that chick," Black Star thumbed back at Maka.
"It's okay." Maka said from the back, "he didn't know that she—I didn't know that she was…"
"Oh God, look at you two. Perfect for each other; mopey and hopeless and so annoying whenever something doesn't go according to plan." Black Star let out a puff of air as the light turned green.
"Wait, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying," Black Star turned to the two of them, an excitement and fire in his eyes, "We're gonna go pick her up."
"Pick her up from where..?" Soul said, hesitant.
"Where else would she be?" He laughed loudly, "Arachne's nest."
Well…
Soul had promised.
"Ah," he said, drawing in a quick breath before grinning into the rear-view mirror, "silly me, of course we are."
.
.
.
Bit longer, bit more things happening.
I hope you guys like it so far! Let me know what you thought if you're feelin it, I love your feedback so muchh!