Ragnarok

By: Aviantei

13

Apart

Karellen clung onto Shizuo's shoulders for dear life, torn between burying her face in his back or keeping her eyes wide open. For all intents and purposes, the world had shifted sideways and upside down as Shizuo effortlessly scaled the side of the building, Izaya's figure already rushing ahead, his dark suit making him almost blend into the night sky above. Karellen's own heart beat wildly in her chest. By the time she'd gotten used to the sensation, Shizuo had already jumped once again, landing effortlessly on the terrace they'd been aiming for. Jarrett hung limply from Shizuo's arm, and Karellen wouldn't have been surprised if his soul slipped right out of his body.

Shizuo seemed to notice it, too, and he deposited Jarrett in a nearby chair, which was metal and matched the small table it was next to. It seemed that this balcony was some sort of recreational area, as there were several more tables scattered about. Maybe they used the area for their lunch breaks whenever the weather was nice out?

"You gonna be okay to get down?" Shizuo asked, and Karellen blinked back to reality. Her heartbeat hadn't slowed down in the slightest, and Shizuo's deep voice sent a vibration straight to her chest. Wishing that things had been happening in way more favorable circumstances (and scolding herself for thinking such a thing when they had work to do), Karellen nodded and slipped down to the ground, managing to catch herself on slightly shaky legs. Shizuo glanced at her as if to check she was really okay, then started to walk off towards Izaya whenever she didn't topple over.

Karellen forced herself to focus and stepped closer to Jarrett so she could shake his shoulder. "I know you're not good with heights, but come on. We're gonna make ourselves targets if we sit still for too long." Jarrett let out a groan, and Karellen dug into his jacket pocket, finding the MP3 player in a matter of moments. Returning his gesture from earlier, she pressed an earbud into his ear and pressed play, hoping that whatever was on would be enough for him to get his energy back. "Jar…"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll live." Jarrett held out his hand, and Karellen honored the unspoken request for his MP3 back. His fingers pressed at the buttons with practiced ease before he slipped it back into his pocket. "Let's go catch up with our out of world guests before your darling Izaya starts spouting out his BS again."

You're not letting that one go, are you? Karellen fell into step with Jarrett as they started to cross the terrace. Izaya and Shizuo were already at the far wall, where there was a door that lead inside. Squinting through the dark, Karellen didn't notice anything like a card reader, and Izaya pulled open the door without needing to do anything special, as far as she could tell. Wherever they were entering into, no lights seemed to be on, either, so maybe they would have a clean entrance, after all.

"Oh, yeah, this looks inviting," Jarrett said, intentionally raising his voice so Izaya and Shizuo would hear—not that it seemed to do anything to rile them up. "What's hidden on the other side of the door? Some spooky CMA lab or something?"

Shizuo let out a short snort that took Karellen a moment to recognize as laughter. "It's just a break room with a fridge."

"If you come up with outlandish scenarios like that, it's no wonder you managed to become a BUN level target," Izaya said, not wasting anymore time in heading inside. There must have been a motion sensor, as the lights switched on as he did so, and the sudden glow of fluorescence was almost blinding. "This room doesn't have much security, so it's probably the safest entryway point. The trick is getting ourselves to wherever your supposed Chaos stores are."

"Leave it to me," Jarrett said, his hand twitching in his pocket. "I can use my Alter to get a feel for the atmosphere first, then I can point us in the right direction."

Izaya raised an eyebrow. "And how does that work?"

Jarrett grinned as they finished filing their way inside. The décor seemed deceptively normal, like it would have fit into any ordinary office building. "None of your business." Karellen rolled her eyes, but was glad that Jarrett was feeling better, nonetheless.

"Let's cut the chit chat and get moving," Shizuo said, the calm in his voice starting to become strained. It was admirable how he managed to keep his temper under control, but an angry Shizuo would not make for a successful infiltration by any means. "Flea, with the way you were talking, you have an idea where this stuff is. Which way do we go?"

"Yes, yes, I'll take point if you all insist." Izaya pointed towards the door. "We're a bit away from it, but there's an elevator close by on this floor. Whenever I first looked up the schematics for the place, nothing stuck out to me as weird based on the outside of the building. So I'm willing to bet we'll find what we're looking for underground."

Karellen couldn't help but glance at the tiled floor, even though she knew it held no answers. Then again, unless it was in the hands of someone who could pull off a Reality Alter, Chaos wouldn't react in any drastic ways. It wasn't like the CMA had to worry about the stock of it blowing out the foundation. "So we work our way to the elevator and hope it has a path downstairs?" she asked, trying to follow Izaya's logic.

"It's our best bet if we want to do this without causing a big mess and attracting any attention. Of course, if all else fails, we could have Shizu-chan smash us a pathway into the basement and see if that helps us get where we want."

"Watch it, Flea."

"Sheesh, we've gone this far without you two trying to murder each other. Can we not start now?" Jarrett asked, a slight edge to his voice. He must've still been worried over Colleen. Jarrett jerked his thumb towards the door. "In case you've forgotten, we can't get you guys home unless we get your Chaos reserves." Or get Col back, Karellen thought, but didn't say. "I'm not gonna cover you idiots if we get caught because you can't keep your mouths shut."

Shizuo had the presence of mind to look ashamed, holding a hand to the back of his head. Izaya just seemed to be growing more delighted by the moment, but he did put his hand on the doorknob. "Yes, yes, we'll head for the elevator. Single file line, everyone, don't get separated from the rest of the group."

Though the instructions had probably been a joke, they fell in line anyways as they stepped out into the hallway. Jarrett was impatient enough that he followed first, followed by Karellen as Shizuo insisted on taking the rear. Both the carpet and the walls were variations on blue, but even the sight of a color she enjoyed didn't take away the sense of worry that Karellen felt. The CMA had managed to send someone after them despite how much ground they'd covered, and yet no one was reacting to the group arriving in the middle of their own base?

It can't be this easy, can it?

As they made it to the elevator without any hassle, Karellen decided that she wouldn't look a gift horse in a mouth and instead react to trouble when it inevitably came. Izaya pressed the call button and waited with his hands in his pockets—looking calm, but probably having a hold on some knife or another. For everything she could accomplish with her Alter, close combat wasn't one of those things, and Karellen did a quick glance of the hallway for appropriate cover, settling on running into the nearest doorway if necessary.

When the elevator slid open to reveal absolutely no one, the whole procession deflated with tension. Izaya gestured inside the doors. "In we go. It'd be pointless to get caught just because we're standing around."

Even with Shizuo's height, there was plenty of room inside the elevator for all four of them and some area to spare. The new surroundings didn't change much in color scheme and for all the world looked like an ordinary elevator—except for the keypad. Where there would normally be physical buttons, the display appeared to be a touchpad, and a card reader was beside it. Izaya tapped the doors shut button before swiping one of the cards Karellen had made. A few options appeared on the screen, and he selected one that she couldn't read as Izaya continued to work with the controls.

"What's that supposed to do?" Karellen asked, hands twitching to write something to gain control of the situation, even if she couldn't use her Alter without permission.

"I'm keeping anyone else from getting into this elevator." With a few more button presses, the elevator shifted, starting to sink down. "The lowest we can go is down to the basement level, which isn't very exciting. Though if I had to guess, we'll find our way further down from there."

"Yeah, assuming there is a place further down," Jarrett said. He had taken to leaning against the wall, arms crossed, and was bouncing his foot. "I mean, even if you were trying to keep a secret base, I wouldn't wanna walk down a bunch of stairs just to get there. I'd just connect it to the main elevator."

Izaya frowned. "I'd assume that, too, but I did replicate a high access level card." He stepped aside enough to let them see the control panel, and it didn't show anything deeper than the basement. "We'd be able to see it from here. I'm willing to bet that there's a different entryway, instead."

"Maybe," Karellen said, mulling the problem over. She had a weird feeling in her chest, one that she usually only got around Jarrett and Colleen, whenever they— "Unless there's a Reality Alter in place. You can trick people who look at certain information into seeing something completely different, like how me, Jarrett, and Col all made our Chaos numbers look lower than they are. We didn't change the database; we just shifted how our numbers would read."

"Hold up," Shizuo said, sounding exasperated. "How the hell would there be some Alter or whatever there in the first place? Why would you even bother with something like that?" He didn't seem ready to hear an actual answer, but Karellen's mind was already racing.

"Because it's one of the best ways to keep something hidden without having to worry about the practical logistics. You can build everything normal, then just hide what you want from people that aren't supposed to see it. With the Chaos that's stored here, it would be pretty easy to pull that off. I mean, even if there isn't a hidden access on the elevator, I'm willing to bet that the real way in is hidden the same way." She started to flip through her notebook for a blank page. "If you authorize it, I can go ahead and send out a counter so that it falls apart and—"

"Easy there, Kar," Jarrett said, covering her hand with his own. "You're worn down enough. I can handle canceling out some other Alter. Let me do something useful already, would you?" Karellen checked herself and nodded. Jarrett pushed himself off the wall and stepped around Izaya. "Move it." Before Izaya could give a retort, Jarrett had already popped his earbuds in and cranked the volume up, loud enough that the faint sound of music leaked through.

Karellen was probably the only one that felt the pressure of Jarrett's Alter taking effect, but Izaya stood by, scrutinizing the elevator panel. Though he stayed out of the immediate way, Shizuo raised an eyebrow, as if instinctually sensing something. The buzzing sensation in Karellen's chest intensified as the forces of two Alters pushed against each other.

A few minutes passed with only the sound of Jarrett's music playing. The buzzing of the Alters was still happening, even as the elevator drew to a stop. The doors didn't open, probably due to the command Izaya had put in earlier. Karellen wondered if she should go ahead and write something anyway, just to help, whenever Jarrett tossed up his arms and let out an enthusiastic shout. "Ha, take that!"

"Fascinating," Izaya said, quickly pulling a card from his pocket and swiping it anew. Drawn by curiosity, Karellen stepped closer to see what was happening, Shizuo close behind her. The display was once again showing the floor numbers, and there were several new indicators of levels beneath them. However, whenever Izaya tried to select the basement floor beneath them, the button didn't respond. He cycled through all four of the access cards, but got the same result every time, and returned them to his pockets with a click of his tongue. "Well we have our path, but we can't take the conventional way it seems. I'd say our quickest route is to leave the elevator out of it and head down the shaft ourselves."

"Great," Jarrett said, his voice thick with sarcasm. Karellen patted his shoulder. "Whatever, let's just get this over with, dammit."

With a few more commands input on the console, the doors opened up and they filed into the basement, which was dim with the glow of the security lights. Izaya sent the elevator back up, and they waited for the sound to retreat before Shizuo stepped forward. Looking all the world like he was handling nothing heavier than a plank of wood, he pushed his fingers into the crack between the elevator doors and pushed them open. The shaft had maintenance lights on, but even then it was difficult to see just how far down it went.

"Seems doable," Izaya said, peering down into the gloom. His voice had a faint echo to it. Yeah, for out of control guys like you two. "It'll be easier if we go ahead and just drop straight to the bottom so we can get into the door." Finished conveying the strategy, he jumped straight towards the opposite wall, managing a number of flips in the process before the distance made him go mostly out of sight.

"Sure, he makes it look fucking easy," Jarrett said under his breath. He sucked in air through his nose. "Okay, okay, I think I can handle this one. Just gimme a sec…" His muttering shifted into humming, and the sensation of his Alter came into Karellen's awareness once more. Whatever mental image he was focusing on seemed to do the trick, as he was soon able to make the jump as well and start scaling down the walls, though with much less finesse than Izaya had. That left Karellen and Shizuo as the last one's left.

"Um, Heiwajima-san…?"

"Yeah, I got you."

Once more, Karellen situated herself on Shizuo's back, and they were off. The sensation of her stomach dropping out from beneath her was far worse than the feeling of scaling up a building, and that time she slammed her eyes shut. Between the starts and stops of Shizuo gaining a temporary foothold before taking off again, it felt like a very rickety roller coaster. She almost didn't recognize that they'd hit solid ground when the latest drop only lasted for a few feet. Daring to open her eyes, they had in fact made it to the bottom of the elevator shaft.

Getting down was much more difficult than it had been the first time, what with nausea starting to twist up her stomach. Jarrett seemed to be doing a bit better than before, if only because he'd been in control of himself that time. Izaya looked as unaffected as ever, and Karellen hated the stupid smirk on his face as she used the wall to support herself.

Shizuo first took a short pause to stretch out his fingers, then he pulled open the doors once more, leaving hand shaped dents in the metal. Karellen blinked the fresh light out of her eyes, the constant switching almost enough to leave her with a headache. The fiery red décor that awaited in the new section of the building didn't help much, but she forced herself to suck it up as she tried to orient herself. If she didn't know better, the overall design wouldn't have looked out of place in a high-class hotel hallway. Again, there wasn't anyone waiting to intercept them, which seemed even stranger as they were in what was supposedly a secret part of the base.

"Smells like shit," Shizuo said under his breath.

Then a speaker system above crackled to life.

"Hello and welcome," said a voice that Karellen didn't recognize in the slightest but seemed close to an alto. "I was wondering if you'd all manage to make it here or not. Ordinary security is one thing, but it takes some chops to get around a Manipulation like that. Well done.

"Oh, but I suppose there's no point in talking when we'll have plenty of time for that later. Right now, you're all a bit inconvenient to have together, so I'll be taking the liberty of splitting you up for a while, alright?"

Karellen started to process the sensations before she fully registered the words. The buzzing in her chest was back, strong enough to indicate an Alter of comparable size. Blackness started to seep into her vision, but it was from the lights around them going out, not her fading consciousness. Jarrett's voice shouted something that sounded like her name, and a fainter buzz of his Alter started to rise. Karellen tried to reach out for him, but a rough hand grabbed onto her arm instead. Then there was the jerking sensation in her gut of transportation, and she lost consciousness to the smell of cigarette smoke.

[Author's Notes]

Everyone knows splitting up the party is dumb, but what happens when the enemy splits you up instead? We'll find out next time, eh?

I'm in the middle of being disoriented by the fact that it's almost the end of the year what is even happening?

Since it is the end of the year, though, my fanfic anniversary posting celebration will be coming up soon, so please look forward to the next chapter then!

-Avi

[12.06.2019]