New chapter!

This is going to jump around a bit, so be ready for switching perspectives.

I hope you like it

Kim sighed as she fiddled with the mouth piece of her headset. She and Ox were in an unused warehouse building on Treasure Island. They were tucked away in the corner, far from the windows and the door. Ox was walking the warehouse, noting the hiding places and escape routes just in case they were attacked, something that Kim had already done.

In front of her was the DCD, or Death Communications Device. It was a huge, square machine with dials and gauges everywhere. It had two separate command stations, one for Kim and the other for Ox. Kim was in charge of communication while Ox would be tracking the teams on their routes.

Kim jumped as Ox plopped down next to her, pulling on his own headset. "It's almost eight," Ox said, glancing at his watch to make sure.

"I know," Kim said. Her voice sounded strange to her, muffled from her own ears by the rubber headphones. "I feel really nervous about this mission."

"Is it because we don't have our weapons?" Ox asked. "Or is it because our weapons don't have us?"

"I just don't like sitting here while they're out there, looking for a dangerous witch without us," Kim said. It bugged her that she was going to be stuck sitting around behind a screen, far away from the action. It made her feel useless. "I don't want them getting hurt. Any of them."

"You worry too much," Ox said, leaning over to kiss her on the temple. "They'll be fine. If anyone gets hurt, you'll be able to heal them."

"Thanks, Ox," she said.

"No problem, angel."

"Awww," a group of voices chorused over the radio.

"That was adorable," Maka gushed. Kim and Ox both turned red.

"It's nice to know you two care so much about us," Jackie said, laughter clear in her voice.

"Uh..." was all either of them could say. Ox cleared his throat.

"Is everyone in position?" he asked, still trying to beat down his embarrassment.

"We're all good down here, lover boy," Killik said. "Maka and Black Star are ready to go as well. Full tank and everything."

"In position here as well," Tsubaki said.

"Soul and I are ready," Kid said, pausing for a brief moment before asking, "You two aren't going to be distracted, are you?"

"No!" Kim practically yelled into the headset.

"We'll be fine," Ox reassured, the red coming back into his face at the idea of what Kid was implying. "We have self control."

"No you don't," Jackie said. "Remember Thanksgiving?"

"Now's not a good time, Jackie," Harvar could be heard scolding her. "We're also in position."

"Alright, so everyone is good to go," Kim said. Ox was still too embarrassed to speak. "The time is eight o'clock. We are starting the mission now. Good luck."

...

Killik waved as Maka pulled the car out of the parking lot, disappearing down the street. In a minute, she would get Black Star to radio in, updating the group to tell them that they were actually entering San Francisco. He sighed as he adjusted his head set. He had one that was usually given to weapons. It was small, only going around one ear, and it had a thinner mouthpiece. It was the only kind that would fit under a helmet.

He turned to Liz and Patty. Liz already had her headset on and was relaxing on a bench on the sidewalk. Patty was munching away on a hotdog that she bought at a gas station on their way to their post. Killik sighed and sat down on the bench. It was a regular, uncomfortable bench. There was a trash can next to it, and a newspaper stand a little ways down. Behind them was a tall brick apartment complex. He had parked the motorcycle right in front of them and his helmet sat in his lap, ready to pull on in a seconds notice. They were on a hill, so when Killik sat down, he immediately slid towards Patty, who giggled and poked him.

"So I guess we're just waiting now," Killik said. He hated waiting. He could feel himself getting antsy already.

"Yup!" Patty said, her mouth still full.

"Hopefully they won't need us," Liz said. Killik hummed in agreement. Patty got up and walked to the trash can, throwing away her wrapper.

"You guys want to drive around?" he asked, also standing up. The twins looked at him curiously. "It'll make me feel a lot better," he said.

"Can we wait a few minutes?" Liz asked. "Patty might get a little sick, transforming that soon after eating."

"Sure," Killik said, sitting back down, his leg jumping with nervousness. Liz opened her mouth to speak, but their earpieces buzzed as someone called in.

...

"We're in San Francisco," Maka reported as she exited off the highway. She and Black Star would start a winding path from east to west and back again, staying west of the Bayshore freeway until they reached the Twin Peaks. She had decided that they would stop every two minutes so she could do a quick scan. This did not go over well with Black Star.

"Alright, we copy," Ox said. "Stay on your route and good luck," he said before going silent.

"Come on, Maka. Just let me drive," Black Star begged. "I promise I won't speed too much and besides, there aren't any cars out for me to hit!" Maka let out a loud sigh, her hands tightening on the steering wheel as she began to mull it over. Black Star tended to be a distracted driver, but right now there wasn't much for him to distracted by. He didn't have anything to play with or gawk at outside the windows. It would be much faster if Maka could search the entire drive instead of every few minutes. She sighed and Black Star perked up.

"Fine," Maka said, causing Black Star to jump with excitement. "But you have to radio in to Ox and Kim first so they know."

"Already ahead of you," Black Star said, touching his hand to the earpiece's button. "Hey guys! Maka is going to let me drive!" he practically shouted, making everyone flinch.

"Black Star, I swear to god. You almost made me crash," Killik complained over comms.

"Are you sure, Maka?" Ox asked.

"Yeah, it'd make it easier for me to search," she said. "But more likely to die in a fiery crash."

"If you're sure about it, you can switch," Kim said, sounding a little worried.

"We'll pull over now and do it," Maka said.

"Alright. We'll mark it down in the records. Out."

Maka pulled the car over and Black Star hopped out, shouting with excitement as he did. Maka slid over to the passenger seat.

"Oh, man! You're the best, Maka!" Black Star said, immediately putting the car in reverse and slamming into a trash can. Maka felt herself instantly regret her decision as Black Star began cackling.

"Black Star!" Maka shouted. "This is an important and dangerous mission! Focus so we can find the witch and fight her!"

"Right! Of course!" Black Star said, nodding his head. "I'll be nice and quiet so you can search for her soul and then we'll go after her. With my incredible might bolstered by your minuscule yet impressive might, we'll kick her ass!" After that, he was quiet. His driving, while fast, was pretty smooth even though he was running every single red light and stop sign. It didn't really matter, though. The police had sent out a city wide call, warning people to stay inside tonight and to park their cars on the sidewalks instead of the roads. It seemed that everyone listened. Black Star had completely clear roads to drive through.

Maka closed her eyes next to him, forcing herself to relax her mind. Usually, Soul would help her out, but he wasn't here. He was with Kid. Maka couldn't help but miss him and found herself eager for the mission to end. She knew that Black Star felt the same. She remembered that he and Tsubaki were accustomed to sharing a bed, so she could only imagine how alone he must feel without her.

With those final thoughts, Maka focused on finding the witch.

...

Tsubaki smiled as Thunder slid down the bright red slide. Fire was walking across the tops of the monkey bars like a tightrope walker, his tiny arms held out to steady himself. She scooped up Thunder and put her on top of the slide again, letting her slide down one last time. She picked up the little girl again and walked under the monkey bars just as Fire slipped off, catching him easily.

"Come on, you two," Tsubaki said as she walked them back to the small rental car. The back of the car had been taken over by the Pots. One side was covered in warm, fluffy blankets. There were coloring books on top of it and a unicorn buckled in the middle, separating the sides so the little kids wouldn't fight. The other side also had blankets, but also included several dolls and action figures.

Tsubaki quickly buckled the twins in before getting behind the wheel. She picked up her headset and put it on, immediately regretting it as she was met with a barrage of voices.

...

"GOD DAMNIT SOUL!" Kid was screaming from the passenger seat. He was holding a large map, pointing at a road. "We should have taken that left!"

"Relax. We'll just take the next-."

"No! It's all off now!" Kid yelled. Soul rolled his eyes.

"Guys! Please don't leave your comms on!" Kim's voice buzzed in.

"My apologies," Kid said, still glaring at Soul.

"Please help me," Soul said quietly, but Kim had already gone. Soul rolled his eyes and stopped the car.

"What are you doing?" Kid asked. His mind conjured up several ideas, some dirty and some deadly. He was surprised when Soul reached back and held up a small laminated book held together by two equally spaced rings. Kid recognized it instantly. It was something that Liz and Patty had made for him, sometime after their partnership started. It was a kind of like a comfort book, something Liz said that they made because he annoyed them so much. It was full of perfectly centered pictured of wonderfully symmetric things. The letter O, the number 0, parentheses, eight, an egg, a bright pink flower, and many others. He flipped through them with a smile, admiring the lovely symmetry.

He came to the last two pages and felt his smile grow wider. The first was a picture that Patty had added in without Liz knowing. It was their first partner picture for the yearbook. They both looked stiff, stuffed into school uniforms. Kid could see his own unsmiling face. He remembered organizing it for hours to make sure they got the most symmetry out of it. It had been very stressful. The next picture was the yearbook picture from this most recent school year. Liz and Patty were in their matching red shirts and cowboy hats. Patty had crossed eyes and was laughing, sticking her tongue out at him. Her tie was crooked and her hat askew. Kid was on his knees, his hands up in the air as he shouted something at her. He couldn't quite remember what it was now, but it was probably about symmetry. Liz was behind him, doubled over laughing. Nothing about the picture was right symmetrically, but it was his favorite picture in the book.

"You seem better," Soul commented as Kid closed the book, placing it in the back again.

"I am," Kid said, closing his eyes, feeling the car moving as Soul started driving again.

"Are you ready to start searching?" Soul asked. Kid nodded, leaning back in his seat. Soul stole a glance at his temporary partner, smiling at the look of calm on his face. He was glad that Liz and Patty had given him the book. He wondered what was in it that would have calmed Kid down that quickly.

...

"We're literally useless!" Jackie shouted to Harvar over the buzz of the motorcycles. They had high-speed sport motorcycles, capable of getting them from one side of San Francisco to the other in under ten minutes. Right now, they were winding back and forth and back and forth again. It was starting to get to Jackie. She'd seen the same skyscraper three times in the past fifteen minutes. They're route was the longest, winding north to south along the coast before moving inland. It would take at least an hour.

"We're not useless. We're back up," Harvar said. Jackie grumbled something that Harvar couldn't here. He fought the urge to roll his eyes.

"Can we stop for coffee? I'm going to fall asleep," Jackie asked after a few minutes.

"Sure," Harvar said. He was honestly starting to feel a little drowsy, and a little coffee never hurt anyone. Except when he had too much caffeine and caused a nationwide blackout. Or when Jackie had too much caffeine and ended up causing a forest fire that destroyed most of Oregon. Or when the both had too much coffee, resonated way too much, and caused an explosion with the force of a nuclear bomb.

That had been interesting.

He pulled over to a Deathbucks and Jackie skipped inside, already knowing both of their orders. She was back out a minute later with one small black coffee and a cup of hot chocolate.

"They both have four shots of espresso," Jackie said. "Just in case." Harvar took his coffee from her and they stood in a comfortable silence, sipping their hot drinks, trying to be quick without burning their tongues.

It was going to be a long night.

Ayyyeee!

Chapter done!

I went back and changed the times in the previous chapter, since they didn't make sense.

You can't fly out of Nevada at 3 in the morning on a direct flight to Oakland International and expect to arrive at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

So now it makes more sense, and it's at night.

Spooky.

The next chapter will have all the action. This one was more for establishment of some sentimental stuff.

Please point out anything that seems funny or doesn't quite work.

Thanks for reading.