Total Mayhem: Chapter Eleven – Return of the Dead One

By Ptath and Lady Raina

Beta-ed by Silver Rayne

A special thank you to our amazing, wonderful, happy, energetic, inspiring, beloved, dear dear muse Thalia. We could not do this without you. glomps Thalia

Disclaimer: We do not own Weiss. Even if we could, simple self-preservation would dictate we stay far, far away.

'This' mean thinking to one's self ('Time to introduce myself')

'This' means talking telepathically ('hello, my name is George,')

"This" means talking out loud ("I like cats.")


The room was dark save for the glowing light of the television. Weiss and Schwarz were scattered throughout the room. Crawford sat in his throne-like chair directly in front of the TV. Ken and Nagi sat on the smaller of the two couches, Farfarello stretched out on the floor in front of them. Yohji was sprawled on the other couch with Omi sitting at the very end next to his feet. Aya-chan had perched herself on the arm of Crawford's chair when Manx had requested she join them. On the TV, the new Persia began to speak.

"Schatten," he began. "your mission is one of protection. This man," an image flashed onto the screen of a young man with brown hair and rather vacant eyes, "is Saito Tsuguo. He is being targeted by his older sister, Saito Tamiko." A woman with long dark hair and dark eyes appeared. Yohji sat up with a look of interest. "You must protect Tsuguo from assassination." With that, the video ended. Manx flipped the light switch and everyone blinked at the sudden brightness.

"That's it?" Ken asked, blinking in surprise. "No, 'hunt the dark beasts?'"

Manx gave him a knowing looked as she began to hand out the mission folders. "You're not hunting this time, Siberian." She dropped a folder into his lap. "The target will be coming to you."

Crawford flipped the folder open and began to scan its contents. Yohji opened his, gave it a cursory glance before looking up. "Why Schatten? I don't know about you, but when I hear that, I think of something that usually happens in bathrooms."

Manx matched his irked expression with a look of annoyance. "In keeping with Kritiker tradition, all lethal teams have German names. Weiss meant white and Schwarz meant black. Since you are combining into one team, we decided on a name that would reflect this merge." She narrowed her eyes. "If it bothers you so much, we could switch back to Grau."

"That depends," Yohji replied flippantly, "what does Grau mean?"

"Grey," Nagi murmured. "And Schatten means shadow."

Yohji blinked. "Oh."

Manx gave Nagi a friendly glance before returning to the business at hand. "Kritiker only learned of Saito Tamiko's intentions recently. We believe that she may make an attempt on her brother's life tonight so you're not going to have much time to put together a mission plan."

"If it's simple bodyguard work, then I don't see the plan becoming difficult," Crawford said coolly.

"We have reason to believe that Tot of Schreient has been taken in by Tamiko. If an attempt it going to be made, it will most likely involve her."

Nagi looked up in alarm.

"And Aya-chan?" Crawford asked, raising an eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, she isn't supposed to go on missions. Why did you ask her down here?"

"Tsuguo's health is why she's here," Manx explained, silently thanking the benevolent spirits that watched over secretaries who had to deal with over-protective brothers/assasins that Aya-chan's brother wasn't in the room. "Aya-chan's presence is necessary to monitor Tsuguo's health." She paused for a moment before continuing in a flat voice. "This man is to be kept alive at all costs. Is that understood?"

The air in the room seemed to freeze at her tone. Omi cocked his head to one side before speaking up. "Manx-san, what exactly is it about this man that makes it so important for him to be prote-"

"I said, PUT IT BACK!"

The entire room reeled at the sudden wave of anger-irritation-frustration that swept the building. Manx stood frozen, her eyes wide in shock. "Was that…Abyssinian?" she sputtered.

"Yeah, he's been a little shi-ne! happy lately," Ken commented. "Apparently he can't get his shields up properly while living the middle of Tokyo. Schuldig's is taking him to the villa for some private lessons."

"I HEARD THAT!" came a scream from upstairs, followed by a wave of anger-embarrassment-rage.

Ken did his best to melt into the sofa cushions. "I didn't mean it like that…" he whimpered.


"Look, she's gunna be fine, so stop worrying!" Schuldig snapped. He and Aya had left the Koneko over two hours ago and the swordsman had yet to do anything but stare out the window telling himself that he shouldn't be leaving his sister alone. Not with Yohji in the house. Of course, Yohji should know better. Yohji knew he would lose any reason to go out at night if he so much as looked at her wrong!

The German suppressed the urge to bang his head against the steering wheel. This was going to be a long trip.


"What have you found?"

Omi and Nagi looked up at the sound of Crawford's voice. "Nothing we didn't already know or could have guessed. Tamiko has taken in Tot, but it appears she has amnesia."

"Obviously," Nagi muttered, his mind going back to the day she'd appeared in the flower shop.

Crawford nodded in satisfaction. "Then the plan remains the same. We'll go over the mission in ten minutes and leave when we're done." The two hackers nodded in acknowledgement. "Now go find the others," Oracle ordered and left the room.

Nagi sighed softly and looked over at Omi. "Far will probably be with Ken."

"And Yohji will be in his room," Omi added.


Crawford surveyed the room before him. Yohji had reclaimed his seat on the sofa, Omi sitting at his feet. Ken, Farfarello and Nagi were perched on the other couch and Aya-chan had taken over his throne, 'my chair,' he corrected silently. He gave the room another once-over before speaking.

"The mission will proceed as follows. We will be stationed at Saito's house. Korat will, of course, be with Tsuguo. Prodigy, you will be his primary line of defense. Berserker," he gave the madman a sharp look, "you will be there to protect Aya-chan. If she gets hurt in anyway, then you get to explain to Abyssinian how his sister got hurt."

A wince ran through the room. With Aya as volatile as he was now, a scratch would be met with instant death. Aya-chan merely smiled in amusement.

"Bombay, you will hack into the building. Make sure you have control over the lights, air conditioning and everything else we might need. Siberian, Balinese and I will take care of Tot. Once the threat has been eliminated, our work will be done. Kritiker's intelligence indicates that she should arrive around 7 pm, giving us plenty of time to get into position. Any questions?"

Even Yohji couldn't think of anything. Crawford nodded in satisfaction, a feeling of power sweeping through him.

"Move out."


Crawford stepped into Aya-chan's room. The woman was wearing a pair of black jeans and a black, formfitting sweater. He didn't doubt that she had a least two knives tucked into her tall boots. He'd made sure she'd learned how to use them over the past few months.

"I have something for you," he said when he was finally able to tear his eyes off her slender form. She did look good in black…

"Oh?" she said as she arched an eyebrow in question. "Is this something I'll be able to show my brother without him going through the roof?" she added teasingly.

Crawford blushed slightly, knowing how her brother would have reacted if he had seen the silk negligee he'd bought for her upcoming birthday. Aya-chan giggled at the look on his face.

"Actually, it's for the mission tonight," he explained and pulled the small gun and holster out from behind his back. "I know you haven't had a chance to get one…and…well, I thought…" He was stuttering. He hadn't stuttered since he had finally learned what sex was almost 15 years ago.

Aya-chan gave him a knowing smile as she took the gun. She expertly checked to make sure the safety was on and that it was loaded before pulling the holster on. It fit perfectly into the small of her back and once her sweater had been pulled back down, there was no sign of a weapon.

Brad had turned bright red as she settled the weapon. "Yes, well…must be…uh…going…um, mission…" He fled from the room.


"Something bad just happened, I know it," Aya suddenly said, a look of worry crossing his face.

"Oh, you're worrying too much," Schuldig muttered, feeling very annoyed. "The worst that could have happened is someone sitting on Momoe's cat."

Aya didn't look convinced.

"Look," Schuldig said with a sigh, "we'll be at the Villa in about half an hour. You can give her a call then. And if that doesn't work, then we'll try to contact them telepathically, ok?"

"…"


The entire room jumped when Aya-chan's cell phone rang. "Sorry," she said with a blush a she pulled it out. "I left it on since my brother was gong to call when he got to the Villa. If I'd turned it off, he would have worried. Hello?

Tsuguo gave Crawford a wild look. Ken shuffled his feet. Yohji continued to admire the various paintings that ran the length of the room.

"I'm glad to hear that you and Schu made it to the Villa all right…what? No, nothing bad's happened, what gave you that idea?...half an hour ago?" Aya-chan's mind drifted back. Half an hour ago Brad had given her the gun… "No, nothing happened. Does it look like you have everything you'll need?...No, you don't need to come back. You went to the Villa for a reason, remember?...yes, I know…yes…all right. Nii-san…yes, but I need to study for a test tomorrow…No, Yohji has not done or said anything inappropriate!" Ken snickered. Yohji looked offended. "Leaving was not a mistake, so stop thinking that!...yes…yes, I know…all right, I'll call you tomorrow, ok?...yes…yes, I love you too. Good night."

"Sorry," she said again as she hung up. "My brother's a bit over protective."

Yohji was sputtering. "I would never….I haven't…why does he think that?"

Ken burst out laughing while Crawford merely smirked. "I guess your reputation has gotten the better of you, neh, Yohji?"

Tsuguo gazed at Crawford with a look of horror. "And you people are supposed to protect me?"


"See, I told you they're fine, so stop worrying!"

"Hn"


Edited July 3, 2006:

Dialogue throughout edited to match standards of later chapters as well as plot lines developed at a later date. For a further explanation, see our Live Journal.


Well, another chapter done with! Many thanks to gonyos, Sylverwing, lonely-dreamlover and Sacral for you outstanding reviews! (he he he, new word!) Seriously though, your reviews mean a lot to us, so please take a few minutes to say a few words!

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Oh, my. I just realized that there really aren't any questions to answer. Err, huh. Well, then…we'll just...um…um…we're glad you like the Brad/Aya-chan pairing! We've never seen it before, have you? We've seen a handful of Schu/Aya-chan and plenty with the boys, but not that one. What about y'all? Hmmm. And for those of you who like Schu and Aya…well, let's just say that we're getting started! Their past together is the foundation for the sequel: Improbability Factor. We hope you'll stick around for it!

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