Amethyst: Hello! Firstly, thank you for each and every review! I mean seriously, you people have no idea how much your comments brighten my day. Thank you, thank you, thank youuu to:
iliketosmile, Musicsoul79, Kat, sweet laya, xxLuna, Risie-chan, Humph, Noriellie, X-MelodiesOfTheSakuraTree-X, Bluefan (Chocomint3), AngelTales (Thank you for reading even when I took forever x100 to update.), Under confusion and Kitty723. Sorry if I missed anyone but I only looked at my most recent e-mails and the reviews that showed up chapter 24. Thanks!
"So long Guardians."
Those were the last words I heard before the heavy iron door swung shut, trapping us in a small, dimly lit room. My hands and legs were bound together with Easter Agency's very own line of duct tape, 'Shugo Heavy Duty Duct Tape': for indoor and outdoor usage, 100% satisfaction guaranteed.
"I can escape from ropes and possibly even a straight jacket but did I somehow miss the part when they taught us about duct-tape?" Kukai muttered as he struggled in his bonds.
"You have to admit it though. They do produce a great product even though they use it in all the wrong ways," Amu said.
I sighed and scanned the room but it was pretty much empty unless you counted the five duct-taped teenagers inside. There were no windows and only one small light glowed overhead. I could move my fingers and even my wrists but it was no use trying to do anything anyhow. Everything we had had been taken away from us beforehand. They had even managed to disable the tracking devices that Guardians had placed on us or in us. (I didn't know where and I still didn't really want to know.)
The silence in the room was broken by a fit of coughing by Kukai. It wasn't anything too bad but it was still enough for worry to start creeping in.
"Are you okay?" Tadase asked with uncertainty through Kukai's second coughing fit.
"I'd honestly like to... say yes but…" Kukai panted with a weak but angry look on his face, "… I don't think that I'll last for much longer."
"What are you talking about?" I snapped. "This isn't the time for negativity. We should be thinking of-"
"Rima!" Kukai shouted before coughing again. "The air's running out in here and I have asthma."
"That's not good," Tadase said.
Amu nudged him and mouthed to him 'Shut up. You're using more air.' Tadase seemed to get it and replied with a 'Right. I'm really sorry'. I guess Nadeshiko already taught him lip-reading (A necessity for every spy… and curious teens).
"D-Dizzy…" I gasped.
My head hurt and everything was spinning as I gasped for air. Kukai's body fell to the ground with a thud and then my vision grew blurry.
"No…"
"Wake up… wake up…"
No…
"Rima! Rima! Please wake up. Please!"
"Am I alive?" I mumbled.
"Yes!"
"Nope. Gotta be dead."
"Just open your eyes silly."
My body was stiff and I felt a little lightheaded but I obeyed. The room wasn't too bright so I didn't have to squint much as my vision came into focus. There was one Nagihiko Fujisaki staring down at me with a mixture of relief and worry.
"What are you doing here? I don't want to look at you ever again! I'm going to-" I jolted from where I lay to slap him but exhaustion caught up with me. So instead I gave him an angry glare. "This isn't over. I'm going to kick your butt right after I take a nap. Until then… good night."
"Rima, I'm really, really sorry. It was all an act. I didn't want to hurt you," Nagihiko said as quickly as I turned over and yawned. "I'm really sorry and I'd love to stay here and try to apologize over and over while you pretend to fall asleep but since we rescued you, we have to escape right now."
"I'm tired, I hate you and I'm pretty sure no one in Easter is going to be eager to check for our 'dead bodies' anytime soon."
I could hear Nagihiko sigh and then a light shuffling as if he were searching through a bag of some kind.
"I didn't want to do this to you but you're stubborn and I'd eventually have to if any of us wanted to escape alive so…"
"Owww!" I shrieked. "What the-"
I turned my head to face Nagihiko as I watched him inject something weird into my arm. How dare he use a needle on me! Even my doctor at Guardians had to pay me to take my shots. I bit my lip as he pulled away the syringe. It hurt. Nagihiko watched me carefully as though he expected something to instantly happen. What could possibly…
"Fujisaki, what did you… wow!"
I didn't know how to explain but it was kind of like a wave of energy hit me. I felt wide-awake and more than ready to kick Easter agent butt or at least just Nagihiko and company. I clenched a fist and quickly threw a punch at Nagihiko's jaw but stupid Nagihiko and his stupid reflexes ruined the whole stupid thing.
"I'm glad to know that you're feeling better," Nagihiko said with a smirk.
"What did you give me?"
"An experimental drug that Easter produced. As you've probably realized, it's a very good pick-me-up like coffee minus the usual drawbacks," Nagihiko explained.
I stared at him darkly and I curled my other fist. "Experimental?"
"Relax Rima. It's fairly safe. Ikuto, Utau, Kairi and I have had it before. It only has one little side-effect."
"Which is?" I said through clenched teeth.
"You feel better than ever today. You'll feel terrible tomorrow."
"Nagihiko, you-"
"I'll take care of you. I promise you'll be okay. We just have to try to escape."
I shook my head. "How?"
"We'll have to destroy everything here and then run away. It's as much as we can do."
"What about the jewels? What if the director gets away with them?"
"We can steal those. We know where they're kept. The only problem is getting them out."
"Kairi's a genius, right? He can think of something."
"I don't know…"
"Look who just woke up," Ikuto said as Nagihiko walked out of the room with me.
"At least, Nagihiko can stop whining," Utau muttered.
I immediately noted the ever so slight change in colour of Nagihiko's cheeks before he yelled at Utau in protest. Amu, Kukai and Nadeshiko were wide awake as well and from the looks of it, I'd say that none of them were completely forgiving of what the Easter agents had pulled.
I looked around the room which we were currently in. There was a huge computer at one end where Kairi was doing who knows what at, Ikuto leaned against the wall and Utau sat on a crate close by. The others sat further away but not so far that it was awkward.
"Nagihiko, where am I exactly?"
"Easter: Sublevel 2 in an old storage room."
I nodded and then our genius turned around to face us. His hair was really messy instead of its usual neat state. His eyes were lidded and his glasses were off making him look as though he hadn't slept for days. There was also a red mark on the side of his face which I was pretty sure Nadeshiko had inflicted.
"There's some bad news," Kairi sighed. "The vault in which the jewels are stored is almost impenetrable and it has a security lockdown safety mechanism within it."
"In more detail?"
"The vault is password protected and you need a special card key to open it. The floor is pressure sensitive in certain areas and the security cameras have little or no advantageous blind spots. If you mess up on anything, alarms go off, every possible entrance gets locked and barred and the place becomes flooded."
"What are our chances?" Nagihiko asked.
"About 40%... being generous," Kairi answered. "The number can change depending on how willing some people are to cooperate."
"Don't make me hit you again, Kairi," Nadeshiko threatened.
"I already said that I'm sorry and that I didn't mean a word I said. Hit me as much as you want but that won't change a thing," Kairi said.
Nadeshiko crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him for a while before speaking. "So what do you propose we do?"
"I've created a simulation of what a successful heist would look like and I've decided who would be the best choice to do what. Each of you will be given an earpiece to talk to me if anything goes wrong or if you need further information."
Kairi pressed a few buttons and his mini-simulation began to play. Each person was represented by a stick figure with their name above it and as it played, Kairi explained.
"Utau's the best option for swiping the card key in the central security room. I can figure out the password and point out every inch of security we have to get through. The safest way into the vault is through the vent which connects to the water pipes. Rima's the best option since she is the smallest but I'm sending in Amu as back up. Ikuto and Kukai can take out the outside security and Utau can head back to the main control room to manually shut off any alarms if I can't do it from here. Tadase and Nagihiko will set up the bombs at points within the building as I specify. Any questions?"
"Just one th-"
"That was a rhetorical question. Don't you people watch movies?"
"But what about me?" Nadeshiko asked him.
"I'm excluding you."
All eyes widened in shock and Nadeshiko's face was absolutely livid. He was definitely her ex-ex-boyfriend now.
"Why not? I can't stay here and do nothing to help. I can't believe you're so selfish and spiteful!"
Ouch…
Kairi stood up and walked over to her with a blank expression on his face. Nadeshiko stared him down irritably and neither them looked as though they were going to give into the other's wishes. When Kairi stood before his (very) ex-girlfriend, there was dead silence in the room. He placed a hand on her shoulder and stared into her glaring eyes.
"Believe me… I wish I was doing this for spite."
He squeezed her shoulder a little and she gasped. Nadeshiko ripped her gaze immediately from him with a very wounded expression.
"So that's why…" She whispered.
"You haven't recovered from your last injury and I don't want you to take another bullet," Kairi said.
"B-But I still want to help," Nadeshiko complained.
"You can help me."
"What about-"
"Nothing else."
"Fine," She pouted.
"So what's next?" I asked.
"Everybody takes an earpiece with a built-in camera. I've tested them all so they should work and you can chose a weapon from what Ikuto found. Nagihiko and Tadase will take this box. It contains the bombs. Handle it with care," He said as he handed over a small, rectangular box to Tadase.
"Nagihiko, w-why don't you take these?" Tadase squeaked as he basically shoved them into Nagihiko's hands.
"Okay…" Nagihiko said awkwardly.
I couldn't blame him. Knowing Kairi and his super-nerdy, techy ways that box was probably powerful enough to level Easter and anything within 20 metres to ashes. Kairi picked up an Easter bag from the desk the computer was next to. He handed it to me.
"You and Amu should have everything you need inside there. Good luck."
"Thanks," I replied and let Amu sling it over her shoulder since she was more into that kind of thing. (It doesn't look half as cool when short people do it.)
Utau and Ikuto headed over to the back of the room and the rest of us followed. There was a trap door embedded into the roof. Ikuto jumped up to the low ceiling with ease and pulled open the hatch. A rope ladder fell from one of the trap door's edges and it seemed pretty sturdy. Utau began climbing first and quickly disappeared into the room above. Ikuto went next and then Kukai followed. Nagihiko was the next closest person to the ladder but he stepped back to allow me to go. I rolled my eyes and scowled. How I hated him.
Ikuto, Utau and Kukai had already disappeared by the time I had reached the top. The trap door led up to an empty hallway which branched off in three directions. Amu came up behind me next and I soon began to hear Kairi's voice in my ear.
"Rima? Amu? Can both of you hear me okay?"
"Yeah, we're fine," I replied.
"We need you to direct us around to the vault, Kairi. We're not exactly familiar with the place," Amu said.
"Sure. You can take the path right ahead of you for now. Nadeshiko is checking the cameras on the route and all the adjoining ones. By the way, check the side pocket of your bag."
Amu slid the bag off her shoulder and fished for anything seemingly important at the sides of the bag. It didn't take her long to find a small LCD monitor. There was only one button on it so…
Push it!
Nadeshiko's face appeared on the screen and she looked a lot happier than when we left her. I guess helping Kairi out with the technical stuff wasn't so bad after all.
"Hey guys! You can use this as a map. From here, I can send you the blueprints of the floor you're on and I can put markers on the maps to show you exactly where anything or anyone is. I'll put in a line to show you where to go."
"So we can contact the others through this?" I asked.
"I don't know. I'd ask Kairi but he's busy with Ikuto and Kukai."
"It's okay," I said, "We can call you again later if we need anything."
"Sure. Good luck."
Amu handed the monitor to me and we followed the blue line that was appearing on our map. So far so good… for now.
Somewhere deep within Easter headquarters
"Sir, we've had a breakthrough on that unknown gem, M. We believe we may know where to find it."
"Is that so?"
"Yes sir."
"Then tell me and send the agents in here immediately!"
"No sir. That won't be necessary. The last piece is already in our hands. You see, M really isn't a jewel at all."
"What? Then what is it?"
"We believe that M is a symbol for the bloodline of the first people to use the gems' power."
"We have to track down a person?"
"At first, we thought that a search was required but we found something interesting when we sourced information on our captives."
"Excellent."
Nagihiko's P.O.V
While everyone had the chance to rush off, Tadase and I had to make our way to the farthest and deepest corners of Easter. We had to place Kairi's bombs at specific points which according to Kairi's calculation would completely reduce the place to rubble as efficiently as possible with our limited supplies.
"Do you remember how to set these up?"
"Yeah. I remove the outer shell, twist, press the button on the top…"
"No, it's the centre one first!"
"Oops…"
My finger had already touched the button on the top and the red light in the centre began to blink red with a whirring noise.
"No! It's going to explode!" Tadase shouted and tripped over his feet in an attempt to scramble away.
"No, no. It's okay, Tadase. Kairi designed these so that they'll only explode by remote control. They're practically harmless right now. None of these buttons is capable of setting anything off. I just pressed the standby button before I pressed the button to attach it onto the wall."
Tadase slowly returned to help but his hands still shook a little. I could only imagine how scared he was a minute ago.
"I'm sorry for scaring you. I should know better than to be careless with something like this."
"N-No, it was my fault for overreacting. I'm sorry. I'm not used to this sort of thing," Tadase said sheepishly as he crouched beside me.
I smiled comfortingly. "I understand. I was almost the same when I joined Easter. I never imagined that I'd end up in a situation like this in my life."
"Do you regret it?" He asked.
I sighed in one even breath as my trained fingers clicked the explosive into place. I noticed Tadase's look from the corner of my eye as he waited for my answer.
"Yes and no."
"Care to explain?"
"I don't," I answered abruptly as I rose to my feet. I could imagine the surprised look on Tadase's face at my tone and words.
It was a harmless question and both he and I knew that I had nothing to hide. The truth was I didn't have the heart to answer. So much had happened to me over the last few months. It was a blur of confusion; something like a weird nightmare.
"However…" I began slowly, "If you've studied me carefully, you should already know why. I'm sure everyone else feels the way I do."
"So you're with Rima then?"
I blushed. "What? Where did you get that idea from?"
"I'm wrong? I thought that it was pretty obvious."
"We're not together or anything like that! We're only… sort of friends."
"But your sister…" Tadase protested.
"So it was Nadeshiko who started this rumour?" I said with an evil smirk. "I'll get my revenge in full. There's no doubt about that. Is there anything else she said?"
Tadase covered his ears and closed his eyes. "I know nothing!"
Rima's P.O.V
"Utau is headed towards you on your next left with the card key."
"I see her," I replied as Utau came closer towards me.
Utau walked more or less casually towards me with shades over her eyes, almost completely masking her expression.
"Something's going on," She said quickly as she slipped the card into my hand smoothly, not even stopping once to look at me or Amu.
"Rima."
"I don't know. Do you want call Nadeshiko or Kairi?" I offered, shifting my eyes toward the small monitor.
"No, there isn't anything dangerous on the screen," Amu replied and then looked up to the shut off security cameras around us. "Be careful although there doesn't seem to be anything of concern here."
Amu and I proceeded to the end of the blue line on our map and it led us into straight, narrow corridor with only small, steel door in the left wall. The door was smooth and could have almost blended in with the wall if only it didn't have that rectangular handle.
"This is it?" Amu muttered.
"Yeah."
I looked back at the monitor and saw Kairi's face this time.
"I've already cracked the password on the door. All that's left is the card key. Do you have it?"
"Yes so where's the slot? There isn't anything on the door to push a card into."
"It's hidden. Kick the bottom right corner of the door and you should find it."
Amu did the honours and kicked the corner of the door. A few seconds later, there was a soft, whirring sound and the handle of the door flipped up to reveal the slot.
"Nice."
The door easily swung open after I inserted the card into the slot. The room on the other side of the door was almost completely dark. The light from the monitor was the only thing stopping the room from being pitch black.
"There should be a light switch somewhere inside there. I'm guessing that it's on the right wall."
"Found it," Amu said.
The light came on immediately and I shielded my eyes before taking a look around. Amu stood over to the right side of the small room while I was in the centre. The room was crossable into about three or four strides and the only exits were the big hatches in front of me or back through the door that we had come through. The ceiling was fairly high up with a pipe embedded into it and the floor was metallic with many small openings.
"You are inside of the secondary drain. I told you before that if you are caught the room will shut down and flood."
"Where is the first?" I asked.
"The actual floor of the vault opens up and drains out the water. The secondary drain is used if there is any blockage in the water's flow. In front of you, you should see the hatches to the water pipes. Open them and crawl through. I'm downloading the schematics for the pipes now."
"Is there a flashlight in the bag?" I asked Amu.
Amu unzipped it and shuffled through until she found one. "Here."
Amu and I turned the rusty valve on the hatch until it opened. I crawled through the opening and turned on the flashlight. Amu followed behind me and closed the hatch behind her. The inside of the pipe was fairly dry as if it hadn't been used for a while but there was still an unpleasant smell.
"The vault is straight ahead. Just keep mo-"
"What just happened?" Amu asked with a hint of discomfort in her voice.
"I don't know," I answered as I shook the device vigorously. "It's not working. Kairi's gone."
Amethyst: Yay so yeah… I ended it there although I have seven more pages on my computer and it's not done yet. I missed out on my promise because I underestimated exactly how much I'd have to type to complete this chapter so I split in two and the second reason is well… life. (We all know what that's like.)
Since I didn't keep my promise… PREVIEW! Please note that I put this together from different parts of the chapter. Enjoy!
"What happened? Kairi!" Nadeshiko screamed.
"I don't know! This shouldn't happen," I said, freaking out as I checked everything.
"Hurry!"
Tadase rushed over the computer and took over from me. His hands moved expertly with my equipment. Tadase was like the computer genius brother I never had.
"It's similar to something I've done before. I can fix it with a little time. How bad is their situation?"
"We don't know. It shut off before-"
"Twenty seconds," I muttered.
Nothing could be done.
"Tai! What's going on? We have to save her!"
"Get out, Nagihiko. Get out now," Tai muttered, panting from the excess effort of containing his own energy.
"What are you-"
"Separate from me! Now!" Tai yelled.
"What is wrong with you?" Nagihiko asked, slightly worried with a good bit irritation in his voice.
"That's the thing," Tai answered, "My powers are fighting against me. I won't be able to contain them for very long. All I am is energy in your form, Nagihiko. I've seen this all before in a dream."
"What?"
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