The kickback received was more heartfelt than McKnight initially thought. Richter groaned and clutched onto his shoulder when the bullet struck home, mortally wounding him. And another round whistled out and fired through the shop right near them. McKnight saw the one in the red-eyes skull mask practically order out, "Get back here, Johnn-!" Another round overhead cut him off.
Running behind the cement pole for cover, the skull player returned fire with his blackened, bolt-action sniper rifle with the noticeable thick silencer masking its sound. While...that other guy stood behind him, hand on the pistol they planned on shooting both McKnight and Sinon with. But, not using it now in a gunfight?
A metal clang and what sounded like a can rolling right in front of him. When McKnight caught a glimpse of the two Coffs noticing the object and began turning to run. The American boy's hand found the Colt in his holster, and he drew it outright as the smoke grenade popped and hissed out, engulfing the area in fog. Right as his .45 began barking aggressively at the backs of the men in cloaks.
Though the smoke covering their trail made it harder to pick out if he hit them or not.
He squeezed round after round through the gas until someone ran behind him, grabbed, and yelled. "McKnight!" a couple times until he turned around to see the out of breath face of Kirito.
McKnight grunted and, quickly, tried lifting himself up in a hurry. While whatever position in him was gone -that didn't mean his left arm that was bent backward would help him.
"Easy!" Kirito caught him, "Come on, give me your right arm! Help me get Sinon out of here!"
"Are you crazy?" McKnight glared and slapped his hold off his right arm. Then return his sights back to the Coffs' direction. "I'm going to kill those sons of bitches right now-!"
"You can't!" Kirito grabbed his arm again. "Not in the condition you are now!" He pleaded in a hurry. "That smoke's not going to last much longer. If we stay here, McKnight, we will die!"
McKnight grunted again, grudgingly. His blood was boiling. And he felt his eyes focused and unfocused at the same time with his mind and chest-beating thousand times over.
Despite his decision, his arm twinge reminded him what condition he was in completely. "Fine!" McKnight gritted his teeth.
The duo ran over to Sinon's almost facedown body. Turning her around and interlocking their arms from either side of her. McKnight struggled from his right arm to hers as the Black Swordsman did the same to her left.
It was a good thing it was his left arm because, had it been his right, McKnight wouldn't have been able to spot and snag his Thompson gun further down the street as they hurried away.
"..God..!" He bit down hard on his virtual tongue as his broken left limb limply caught the sub machinegun's sling into one of his fingers. Dragging it and the seemingly, unconscious sniper girl from harm's way.
It didn't take long during this motion of duck or weave when the red line came his or the trio's way and a bullet sniped past them. They spotted a disabled semi-truck with a gas canister up the street corner on its side. Rushing in when another stray bullet smacked a piece of debris off a nearby wall, they pulled around and placed Sinon against the multi-wheeler.
When a stray bullet hit the gas tank of the truck, no explosion occurred. But it caused the duo to hit the ground as if it would. Just then, the other teen spotted a large, worn-out sign a few shops down.
"There!" Kirito yelled, "It's a 'Rent-A-Buggy,' stop. Wait here! I'll be back."
"Hold on!" McKnight turned and saw the teen already bolting down over there. Long black hair flowing after him. "Jackass," The red-eyed teen cursed when another bullet, along with a few steps, was heard close by.
When he saw that Sinon struggled to open her eyes to everything around her, McKnight didn't bother handing her sniper. Instead, he took cover behind the truck with one arm and, very quickly, popped out the front end.
He caught one of the Coffs -the bagged, yellow-eyes one- creeping forward with a blackened, cylinder grenade. McKnight's eyes widened as he aimed and squeezed the trigger from the hip. But the LC member was faster and dived and rolled to a nearby pole on the other side of the street. The bullets destroy the pavement, trying to follow him. Leaving only the grenade as it hit the asphalt street. Popping open and flashing like an old-fashion snapshot.
McKnight's mind raced to see the tiny burst of fun. It might've put a dent in his ammo after running low on his magazine. Giving the skull player with the sniper behind the street corner to his right a chance to fire had the flash worked.
Letting his Thompson fall and hang by its string, McKnight switched quicker to his sidearm. Managing to hit the cover, the other Coffin was behind to draw him back without firing his rifle. Damnit! "Flashbangs don't work with my visor, you cowards!"
When McKnight fumbled and tried reloading with one hand, he felt a tug on his trouser. He turned and saw Sinon look at him. "M-McKnight..?" She whispered, very faint.
"Let go." McKnight tried snapping his foot away.
Then the roar off the road and a tiny greenish-brown jeep bursting out of the Rent-A-Buggy area brought their attention to bear as it raced forward. Straight at them. Only barely skidding off the street a few feet away as the front door busted open and out came Kirito. "Come on!" He threw open the back door, "Help me put Sinon here!"
When another bullet blew the windows out of the back seat. McKnight and Kirito grabbed Sinon and -while the swordsman ran to the driver's seat- McKnight nearly threw her in the back with him. He hollered out the top of his lungs, "Drive!" As he lurched back from the swordsman crushing the gas pedal.
Jumping the four-wheeler forward. And away from the turned truck.
Another shot was heard behind them. As McKnight turned and beamed at the two dark silhouettes running towards them, getting smaller and smaller, so did the possibility of them catching up. Did he mutter the words, "Goddamnit," for the hundredth time already.
Wanting to turn this jeep around and ram them straight to hell.
But, like the Japanese teen had said before, though, he wasn't in shape to do anything besides regroup and rearm. And that sucked the most.
He barely caught a glimpse of them passing by the place the jeep shot out from -with black pillars of smoke emitting out the three buggies and a metallic animal -a horse?- beside them, destroyed.
"My bad," Kirito said, must've been reading McKnight's mind off the rear-view mirror. "I had to spend an extra second or two setting up the grenades to the rest of the vehicles. It was a good thing Réservoir had a few to spare, or else we would have had some more trouble behind us."
"Thank goodness," Sinon had decided to speak up more after a small, worn-out sigh. Kirito nodded and did the same thing. To a lesser extent, McKnight caught the same disease to make the same motion -although a much angrier.
With nothing but silence, then after. The only sound that came was the one from the jeep's engine and the wheels rolling over the broken-down street north. McKnight, during it all, kept his eyes behind the rear. Darting from pasting street corner to street corner for any sign of life for his gun to train on and shoot at.
The fact there was nothing there to speak of. McKnight's User Interface then reminded him that it was best to not fire as wildly as done a few minutes ago. His ammo capacity for his M1A1 Thompson was down by fifty-percent. And apparently, his Colt 1911 was in worse shape. Speaking of worse shape, his health bar on the lower right said he had lost nearly a third of health after his fight with that Coffin member.
Suddenly, he lowered his submachine gun and looked down at his beaten, left arm. Moving his gloved fingers. Not yet his whole numb arm (Gun Gale had a system inside for players who snapped and broke their limbs to take some time to function. But not heal, again. A stupid blessing in disguise if there were any).
I guess you're not as strong as the other guy that looked just like you. Oh, you know….The one named McKnight, too?
Those whole two sentences have been buzzing around the teen's head like an angry wasp at a beehive. Not because of how valid it was. But because of what his former employer, Mr. Seijirou, had told him back in Richmond. After the connection between Laughing Coffin and what happened those two years ago. What he tried to forget but couldn't stomach his shock and, then, relentless anger at the prospect. And eventually discover...
It made it all the worse, with how way over his head McKnight was fighting them and losing. To not just one. But the one who killed his-
"You two okay?" Kirito broker in. "You've been awfully quiet."
"E e," Sinon spoke again, and, also in the same calm, yet iota hollow voice she used since McKnight saw her in a far more terrifying state than he was. Added, "Just shaken up, that's all." After they got ambushed and put on ice for longer.
McKnight saw the other teen's purple eyes narrow from the mirror, again. In concern, switching from Sinon's direction to his. "What happened back there, McKnight? If you don't mind me asking?"
When the blue-haired girl gave him a tired look, McKnight only glanced back at her, then to Kirito, until he returned his sights back to their rear. "They took us by surprise somehow off the radar. The one with the skull -the one you saw yesterday that 'talked' to you- had camouflage to turn invisible."
"Oh. sōdesu ka," Kirito affirmed, looking to the road again.
"How did you know we were in danger, Kirito?" This time Sinon had more life into her as she asked the obvious question McKnight planned on prying out of the other teen.
Kirito was midway saying something along the lines of, "After I found out that Musketeer X and Réservoir were, well, both girls, I looked over the stadium." When a mountain of gunfire erupted all at once. From the lone shops and windows down the road at them and, for some reason, at each other.
Turning and grilling the tires against the road to a sharp skid. Several bullets here and there hit and punched holes into the thin-skin vehicle. McKnight had to literally jump off his seat and stretch out his arm to help the Black Swordsman turn the thing as it raced more northwestward rather than straight-up north.
The environment got more and more open, with many fields resembling a lighter brown, almost like his uniform color, as the car raced forward down that way. With many dead-leafless trees hanging around. Along with several destroyed vehicles, tanks, and artillery pieces scattered along the road.
"Where are we?" Kirito asked with a cold-sweat.
"The Prairie," Sinon answered. Then pointed by several hills near the horizon, "I think there are some trenches over there to hide for the next scan. We'll be safe there. I hope." Nodding, Kirito turned that way.
"Hope." McKnight repeated sardonically. All the same, he knew from spawning here in the first place.
. . .
The squishes and sinks of the muddy zig-zagged trench line put Kirito in a state or mood he didn't want to be in anymore. Much less move down from how eerily it all felt. "How much further, Sinon?" He had to ask after a while.
He, Sinon, and his partner, McKnight, had arrived here after their little skirmish with the Death Gun team. And, immediately after, another band occupying a road north to the Desert zone.
Now that they were in this place called the Prairie, after setting the chewed-up jeep nearby a large husk of leafless trees by the interworking system. Sinon, still relatively quiet as was McKnight, stopped by an open entrance on the trenches' left with her hand on her rifle. It took her only more than a few seconds to signal the coast was straightforward as the three of them folded in. Though Sinon and McKnight went further in the dark, dirt cold room than Kirito did.
However, it was only a few feet away from the front entrance -the room was pretty small, like a cave, if anything.
"You said we'll be okay from the scan as long as we're in here, right, Sinon?" He asked as he sat closest to the open of this -McKnight called it- dugout.
"E e," Sinon nodded slowly, her back away as McKnight firmly plopped himself down across from her. She then asked Kirito, "Do you think we lost them? The Death Gun guys, I mean?"
"Īe," Kirito shook his head. "Right as I saw the gunfire ahead picking up on the road, I caught in the mirror a pair of red and yellow eyes with their capes striking out against the wind, on top of a damaged buggy. I- don't know how they found or fixed one up, but the gunfire picked up quickly as we left. I wouldn't know either if they were killed during the exchange or escaped." Partially because McKnight blocked most of the view with himself as he helped me turn the steering wheel. But Kirito kept that to himself, without real danger.
They all would've died if the khaki teen didn't.
Speaking of which, the looks on his two comrades said they've been through hell, and we're just now shaking it off. "I see," Sinon plopped herself down on the cold ground, too. Setting her sniper beside her and bringing her legs closer to her chest. She covered her face on top of her knees. That made Kirito uneasy from how, in a flip of a second, Sinon's relaxed nature vanished.
What had happened back there? He asked himself, again. Again the question managed to roll around his mind one way or the other.
What he was surprised to see was McKnight. Who was awfully quiet since they got here, sitting furthest away from them, dissembling his submachine gun and parts of his pistol. Inspecting and cleaning them by opening his Menu Interface. Mostly using his right hand, although strugglingly, to yank out the magazines with whatever ammo was left in them as he set them down during the inspection.
When Kirito felt a sweatdrop when the other teen tried using his teeth to open his pistol's chamber like a kid trying to tear open a bag of chips, he went over. Offering out and asking, "Need a hand?"
"Īe." McKnight grounded out as he managed to halfheartedly open and pop out the last bullet from the chamber. Shooting the pellet up in the air and McKnight catching it effortlessly with his right hand.
"Why are you so eager to face them, again, McKnight?" Kirito had to ask, already getting an itching feeling that the question would come back sooner or later. "You're not in the best of shape yet, you know?" The swordsman tried bringing out playfully jeeringly, given the state of things.
Suddenly Kirito winced when McKnight cocked his pistol sharply with his slightly unbent left arm. Although the red-eyed teen's frustration and pain said, it wasn't a kiss on the cheek. McKnight looked at him behind tethering eyes. "And why aren't you eager?" He demanded as if Kirito indeed lacked any. "You let them go without so much as a better fight." He looked away back to his gun, "Didn't you already face them before?"
"Th-That is not it, it's just that," The Black Swordsman of Aincrad paused, almost proving the American's point on the manner. Though that was because he was thinking long and hard about his time back there. Although optimistic and good-natured for what Kirito and the rest of the Clearers were aiming to do back inside SAO.
It all turned out to be a bloody fiasco on epic portions from how surrounded they were from all sides against Laughing Coffin.
"They're stronger now than from back then," Kirito answered, which actually got McKnight to stop his cleaning activity and return his attention to him. With a regretful sigh and resting his head against the room's wooden plank structure, Kirito continued, "And now that there's two of them here inside this game...I don't at all believe I'll stand a chance fighting them alone if I could try." He looked back down at McKnight, still giving him a once-over stare. "That's why I'll need help to try and beat them. To finish settling accounts with them."
Sinon asked, as her eyes had a more severe notion strain on them than McKnight's bitter ones: "Are you scared of them, Kirito?"
"I am," He added without any pity or shame. He held and interlocked his fingerless gloved hands together. Clasping them with a determined stride, despite his digital nerves telling him otherwise. "But, I have to face them no matter what. There are people I love and care about who I want to see when everything is finished. I...I don't want to die. There was a time that I hardly cared what happened to me, but that's in the past now." Unknown to Kirito, he overlooked the split-second twitch under his partner's eye.
While GGO's best sniper wasn't exactly doing the same reaction to his tiny speech. She still took note of all that and nodded, determinedly, too. In a low voice, but enough to hear her, Sinon replied, "I won't run, either, then. I'll stand and fight them, too."
"You can't-!" McKnight cut Kirito off with a crude laugh and a shake of the head to show as much.
Curling his injured arm to reinforce that it was good enough to finish reassembling his submachine gun. McKnight had to say, "You were taken out faster than me, sniper. On what world or planet do you think you'll have a better chance now?" He laughed at the prospect.
Sinon's eyes bulged as her canines showed more on her teeth. Disregarding how much of her white scarf was over part of her face, her white skin boiled up faster than the times Kirito had witnessed her angry. "Shut up, mercenary!" She barked up and stomped over and right in front of McKnight. "What gives you so much right to always talk to me like that?! Huh?! What makes you so much better than me?" Her voice raised as her nostrils began flaring.
"Nothing does!" McKnight shot up, too, to meet her face-to-face. Which wouldn't have been ironic -much less threatening against someone bigger, maybe- had McKnight been a couple inches taller than Sinon instead nearly the same height. He fired back, as always. "But every time something goes wrong, you happen to be in proximity!"
Not again, Kirito thought, knowing for how many times this song and dance number went. And how back and forth it tended to be always with these two. And they decide to do this now? From all the arguing between them. He shook his head and got up to break them apart for the nth time, too.
Then, he suddenly stopped when he took a step forward. McKnight added on the dot, "Do you want to die alone out there?! Is that your crazy plan!"
"I don't care if I die!" Sinon fired hard, which stopped McKnight in his tracks and took back Kirito more.
"What?"
"I don't care if I die," Sinon repeated as she began to cry. Harder than yesterday's last match.
Through the muffles of her fighting a losing battle with her tears, Sinon went on through it, glaring McKnight right in the eye.
"I've been afraid my whole life. Back there, in the street, I was weaker than I was five years ago. I stopped being Sinon and returned to the frail, pathetic scared girl I am in real life!" She shook her head harder than her bangs followed. "You two...fight for different reasons. Why you keep going on with things like this. But you'll never know what it's like being called a killer all your life." She choked up. "Do you understand now, mercenary? Do you?"
Punching the uniform teen frailly, like a child trying to hurt their older sibling. It didn't do much damage, but the gesture was apparent. McKnight's expression softened a tad bit, letting the punch go through. When Sinon tried doing it, again, he grabbed her fist as she tried slapping it away.
"I hate you!" She cried out as she continued in vain. "I hate both of you, but I hate you more!" Kirito, at this point, was prompted to try and stop her from continuing further. Instead, she buried her face into McKnight's brown tunic. "I hate you so much…" Her cries muffled still though loud enough that she nearly lost it.
What struck the Black Swordsman as a first was when he witnessed McKnight wrap an arm around her comfortably. And Sinon showed no further resistance.
Funnier still? When Sinon had calmed down, Kirito saw McKnight return to his little spot inside the room and fixing his guns now that both arms were functional. The indigo-girl apathetically walked and sat right next to him. Wrapping her arm into his and laying her head on his shoulder. Saying, much to McKnight's shocked face: "What are you-?"
"I hate you, but let me lean on you a while." As Sinon got comfortable before the other teen could say or do anything else.
She closed her tired eyes. "Eh," McKnight squeaked. When his eyes met Kirito's, the swordsman made sure to send him a satiric wink. McKnight's response? Flipping him the bird with his unoccupied arm. Not helping his cause no matter how much Kirito gibbed at him.
Then, Sinon said out of nowhere, "I killed someone a few years back when I was ten years old." That got the duo's attention. She went on, "He tried robbing the post office my mother and I was at. Everything happened so fast that I managed to get his gun and shot him to death with it. And... ever since then, I've seen his face. His smiling, disgusting face at me whenever I see a gun in real life. And I-I can't keep my head long enough until I-I,"
"It's alright, Sinon, you don't have to go on." Kirito paused, too. Then turned away as his voice turned fate. "I- killed two people, too, back inside a game called," He made another pause, "Sword Art Online. During a raid against the guild, we're up against now. That was the game I told you about back at the bar."
Sinon shot herself up. "Sw-Sword Art...That game? You were-?"
He nodded. "E e, I'm what they called an SAO survivor, I guess. I also see the faces of...those players I cut to death with my sword there. The Laughing Coffin members." He made his own resigned expression to the flashes, the clangs of blades hitting together, and screams from that day. They never left his mind. And he didn't think they ever will. "I don't feel bad for what I did to stop them killing other players, PKing -player-killing. And I tried to move on from it, since."
"And you don't remember any of their names…?" McKnight spoke up as the sun outside got dimmer. His steel helmet covering out most of his vision as he spoke mildly.
Kirito moved his head side-to-side. "That's one thing I can't remember." He stopped and took a good look at the stern, yet still faced the other teen gave him. Now, Kirito thought at the moment and, taking a deep breath, asked the American boy what he wanted to know since they first met, "Do you remember them...McKnight?"
And like that, the air turned quiet once again.
At first, Kirito never expected an answer from the western boy. McKnight and his boss, Kikuka, haven't been as open to more information than Kirito enjoyed since day one. And, in fact, the teen his age had a real grudge by referring to him as 'swordsman,' or 'Black Swordsman' with a deep belittling sense. Just like how he and Sinon called each other 'sniper' or 'mercenary.' Kirito didn't expect asking again would work. Still, something told him it was worth the try to find out why McKnight was here. Given the situation at hand and what could happen against them.
Again, nothing came of it, and Kirito didn't think he'd ever know. Even now.
However, McKnight, for whatever reason during his time of deep, reeling thought, said, "Two years ago, on New Year's Eve, I lost my older brother...Samuel to that game. Sword Art Online."
"Oh." That was nothing like Kirito expected to hear. Even Sinon, who turned her head to face him, inches away, could listen to the hollow off McKnight's voice.
He stared aimlessly towards the ground as if McKnight remembered something in the deep parts of his mind that was locked forever, and the key was thrown down away. Kirito only knew this because Sugu and recently Asuna would bring it up to him.
He listened as the other teen went on, "I don't know how Samuel managed to get a copy or how he got offshore from his training camp on Okinawa and onto the mainland. But," McKnight clutched his hands, "He didn't have to damnit. He didn't have to go and buy that fucking game….I talked him into it. I wanted to be the first in not just my hometown, but in the States to play that game. And now I'm here" -McKnight chuckled at the cruel irony to it all- "One little, annoying...stupid, asshole."
"Is that why you're here?" Kirito had to ask. "To avenge him?"
"Something like that," McKnight replied, somberly.
"And is that the reason why...why you hate being around me? Because I returned, and your brother didn't?" Kirito was surprised again when McKnight laughed at that, too.
"I hated the idea of you." He replied, matter-of-factly. "The idea that a kid no older than me could do all those impossible things there. And my older brother -who used to fight off the bullies and became a Marine- couldn't -didn't make any sense for me." McKnight stopped and his light face became unbearably sad.
The former Anicrad player bowed his head. "I'm sorry...Reginald,"
"Stop using that name here, what did I tell you?" McKnight continued before Kirito could apologize, "I didn't rule out the possibility he died that way. But I didn't want to believe it until Mr. Seijirou connected the dots and showed me that was possibly the case. The Coffin with the bag and yellow-eyes out there confirmed as much." Adding, in a low voice, "That son of a bitch."
"Bag?" Kirito got a jolt from that detail. When the American confirmed, Kirito suddenly remembered seeing a high-ranking Laughing Coffin member with a bag-mask during the raid's debriefing.
And when McKnight mentioned the one with the skull called his partner, "Johnn," and retreated him back and returned his pistol to him, the rush of realization slowly hit him. Johnn- Johnny…? Wait, Johnny Bla-!
Kirito's thoughts halted when Sinon, out of the blue, faced herself very close to McKnight. Enough that the boy in khaki leaned back against the wall as he gave her a confused, flushed look. "Si-Sinon, why are you looking at me that way?" He sounded annoyed and embarrassed at the same time.
Then, Sinon stopped. And she gasped profoundly. Her eyes retreating once more underneath them, becoming teary all at once. With a hand covering her mouth and the other resting on her heart.
She spoke in an incredibly soft and low voice Kirito hadn't seen her ever used. "R-Reggie-san," She began in terrible realization, "that's you in there... isn't it?"
McKnight quirked an eyebrow up. "How do you know my name that wa-?" His face went blank. Then, pale white, like his normal skin in real life. "No," He shook his head. "..A-Asada?"
"'Asada?'" Kirito echoed. Not fully seeing the significance of just what occurred.
. . .
"She's my...my neighbor from the apartment complex I'm staying at," McKni- no, Reggie, had told Kirito's half-realized, half confused expression.
Sinon had on a similar expression herself. Or she was sure of it since she felt her own mixture of shock, extreme happiness, and notably, incredible anger. The mercenary Sinon hated, but the pale as her boy she had strong feelings for were one and the same. And she never saw it, till now.
I thought he left? Sinon asked herself, aimlessly, while McKnight explained where the apartments were. In which the long-haired teen dropped his jaw a little. "Over there?!" Kirito slapped his hand against his head. "No kidding? At least that explains why you almost always showed up to the hospital before me." He placed his hands on his sides, then turned to ask -he guessed- the both of them: "Did you two really not know each other IRL?" He sounded like he couldn't exactly buy that notion.
However, when Reggie confirmed without a witty joke or a sarcastic response. Only with: "Hai, we didn't. Or, I know I didn't." -he turned to Sinon- "Asad- er I mean, Sinon..did you?" He asked softly and curiously. His voicing hinting she had a better idea finding him out than he did. And he looked to know why.
Sinon didn't honestly know until she took the time to get a good look at him. The few times an unknowing hint was dropped, Sinon noticed but didn't pay it much mind, whether on purpose or not. It didn't mean anything to her when he said 'McKnight' was his last name. Or how his manner of speaking was different from players she worked with and against.
And, right as Reggie explained why he was here, his light features, helmet, visor, red eyes, and short black haircut, and those dark marks on his cheeks faded away. From how severe and sad he sounded like in real life. The way she spoke to him yesterday after finding out what had happened to her back at that post office when she was a little girl. The way he held her, too.
...And the way she pictured his pale face, brown hat, and darker, almost black, brown eyes on his GGO avatar, after the cloud of hatred for him was gone. Hit and yanked on her heart strings ever more than she thought was possible.
"Wait, hold on," Kirito ultimately brokered in another question, "was that black scarf you wore before the Qualifiers: from her?" he asked his partner in light brown.
"Hai." Reggie said, shortly. His ears matching his in-game eye color in a hurry. That's him, alright, Sinon felt her heart skip a beat. Then, the next, take a punch. "But, today's my last day here in Japan until this whole issue is put to rest. And the whole disaster from yesterday during the Quilifer's was the reason for that. That's when they confirmed Garrett, the one who got disconnected during the Qualifiers, dead in his apartment just like XeXeeD, Tarako, and Pale Rider. And, well, about those guards being around: to try and 'find' one or both those Coffs."
"Demo," Sinon began speaking up, "how exactly? I mean, they're not even trying to make it a secret on what they're doing Reg- uh sorry, McKnight?" Her heart punched out for a second, along with her emotions.
"I don't know," He shrugged, though Reggie faced away from her when he said it. "It was as stupid hearing it from my boss, knowing it was his higher-ups." Sinon saw him clutched his hand into a fist to that. "Bastards," then his eyes perked up. He looked back at her, embarrassed, "Gomen."
"Daijōbudayo," Sinon said, wearily, "it happens, right?" She repeated the phrase her friend used from Wednesday, earning a polite nod and smile to that. Which she returned. Never thought I'd ever see his hired gun avatar look at me that way in a million years. How did I not see him?
When Sinon remembered who Reggie was outside of GGO, then inside here, all the things he -and to a more significant effect she- had said made her shoulders slump.
"If only I've been more alert." McKnight pressed on, returning her to him. "We wouldn't have been taken off so flat-footed. And that...man with a bag over his head wouldn't have left without losing a limb. Speaking of which..." His left arm twinged again.
"Johnny Black isn't someone I wouldn't say is too cautious with things like that." Kirito immediately continued when Reggie's eyes shot back at him, "That's his name back from SAO. I only remember because he was one of Laughing Coffin's officers and liked to poison his victims during torture sequences and, like you mentioned, a bag over his head. According to several accounts by other players and, well, LC, too." He placed a finger against his cheek in thought, "You said Garrett died and was pretty much found yesterday the same day, right?"
"Hai," Reggie repeated his favorite Japanese word, then slowly began repeating: "Johnny Black," A few times under his breath with a closed fist against his mouth, in steadiness. Which Sinon didn't like seeing now that she knew who he was.
She probably wore the same face and expression when they first fought out in the Wastelands last Sunday.
After a substantial time, Reggie asked Kirito, "And the other guy?"
"I'm still trying to figure his name out, too, unfortunately," Kirito shrugged. "But, I will. Now that we know one of their names, we'll catch his partners, too."
Sinon tilted her head at the black-haired teen. "How can finding out their old user names help find out who they are? Wouldn't we still need to know how they're doing all this 'killing' in the first place?"
"I have a few theories, and my assistant McKnight over there just helped it make it easier to explain," By the time Kirito was done. The duo's faces went from mildly curious to become more jittery from how possible these Death Guns were able to go about actually killing people in real life. Ranging from how one of them cloaked inside GGO and could read other player's actual addresses with either their sniper scope or a pair of binoculars.
Sinon couldn't exactly rebut that argument because she didn't think anyone could go to such lengths to bother doing it. Much less memorizing another player's information like that.
And when the former Sword Art Online boy brought out the possibility of there being more than one Death Gun, considering there were two here. About eight had also survived the death game.
And how it was a thought that outside, one of them was watching the streaming of BoB and waiting by the participant's real-life body...that sent far more shivers down her virtual spine than her real life body hoped to ignore.
Then Kirito critically asked McKnight another thing. "You said you and Sinon live almost right next door to each other, correct?"
"Yeah?" Reggie sounded apprehensive when he confirmed so. "What about it?"
Instead of answering, Kirito then asked -seemingly, the both of them, again, "And the apartment's security structure. Is it similar or the same as the ones I just described? Assumingly, like all four of them?" He directed that last question over to his partner since Sinon knew she was trying to play catchup on all this information thrown at her.
To that end, her neighbor turned to her. His expression asking if she wanted to answer that or not.
She did. "I live alone in mine since our apartment complex can only be used for one person. And the security is an old-electric lock, too." She looked back at Reggie. "Though, I know we kept our rooms locked when we dove into GGO today." Reggie didn't strike Sinon as the type to be too careless about leaving his door unlocked unless the person entering wanted trouble. "It also comes with a chain as an additional policy if any forced entry was possible. I put mine on after uh I got home." The memory of the park earlier today reeled around its ugly face to her, again.
"But what if they don't care, Sinon?" McKnight returned, strongly. "What's to say they know they'll get caught eventually and decide it's worth breaking into other player's homes with how much of an emotional response Glocken turned out?"
When Sinon tried to respond, she stopped midway through. Her face was twisted. "Why would they go through all this trouble? To..murder people for fun?"
"Some people are just...evil, I think." McKnight responded, not at all liking the idea of it.
"That's about what I was thinking. If Laughing Coffin has gone this far already, I don't think they'll stop unless physically." Kirito pointed out. "We have already one of their names. So long as we do, McKnight and I can relay this information to the proper authorities to catch them. This is why what I say next is important." He took a step closer to them. "Did they have any other weapons with them? And did one or both of them do that cross gesture when they stunned you two?"
"Besides the one that stunned me first with the red-eyes and skull," Sinon began, "he used a legendary sniper rifle called Silent Assassin, with a notable silencer attachment. And a...a Type 54 'Black Star'." GGO's best sniper tried her best to keep a stable footing when recalling that gun. "And the other one, Richter or uh Johnny Black, who attacked McKnight had only a sickle. When the first one hit me, he crossed himself and waited till his partner was able to stun McKnight, too. Tossing his pistol over to him afterward."
"That's what I feared," Kirito responded heavily. Then, took a deep breath. "I think that's why Richter may be a new character just like mine. I don't know if he was involved yet in the first two murders, with Pale Rider being a toss-up on what exactly happened. If he showed up with the other Laughing Coffin member and moved on to the main tournament after they finished killing Garrett during it all. It makes me think what would happen if two more people had the same fate."
"Kirito," McKnight glared nervously, "are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked, not as a playful joke but a solemn one that shouldn't be taken lightly.
"I think I, unfortunately, might," His companion admitted. "I think both of them were waiting."
"Waiting?" Sinon repeated, "Waiting for what?"
"Waiting," Kirito's face twisted in discomfort. "When both of them shot you two inside this game. That way their partners in real life, waiting inside your rooms, could...could kill you both."
When the loud beat of Sinon's heart sang out like a dreaded bell announcing the funeral of a loved one, it was clear. It was clear when she stumbled back and felt her chest skin and twist like it was drowning during a storm in the middle of the ocean. It was clear that when she saw the man, she shot in the face as a child grinning at her on that Death Gun's face when the robber's same gun was found here pointing at her.
And it was evident when the 'Increased Heart Rate: WARNING' system played over her User Interface flashing red wasn't there to stop her from having a heart attack and force player ejection from BoB.
She hardly noticed she was shaking and breathing hard until she registered what was happening. "Sinon!" McKnight shouted, his pale face behind his visor and hands holding her in concern.
"Gomen'nasai," She calmed down, "I lost my...cool there."
"You think?" He returned. Which nearly got a "Shut u-" out of Sinon, but she clicked her tongue between her teeth to stop herself.
The rapid beeps from their watches cut off what time it was.
The trio looked at one another and nodded. Deciding to all look at the map together, Kirito advised the duo to stay within the compound of the dugout's front entrance. At the same time, he stood just outside of it to fool anyone else into thinking it was only him around the Prairie.
Turning on the map of Ragnarok for the fourth, and here's hoping for the final time. Far more gray dots throughout the Battle Royale map layed nearer together than last time. Kirito pointed to the multiple ones inside the Lost City. Especially near the border with the Desert and Prairie. "That's the spot we made that turn here and where I last saw those LC members."
"So we're here?" -Sinon tapped on Kirito's green dot on the hologram- "Now where's those Death Guns?"
"Here." McKnight tapped onto the lone white dot traveling down west from their spot. "It's Richter...Johnny Black. But where's his buddy?"
"Don't think he's too far away," Kirito answered, "but if he's wearing his cloak, he might be invisible to avoid the scan, same as we are. There's another two-man group approaching us from the city, too, due southeast. I don't see any other of the new players' names. Other than Richter and…."
"What is it?" McKnight repeated from Kirito's trailing off and broad eye expression.
"I think his partner's name is Sterben. All the other twelve player names are all eliminated and so far, disconnected or alive besides Richter and his. It has to be him, I'm sure of it."
The other teen responded firmly. "Looks like it's only us, Richter and Sterben, and ...Yamikaze and Kaeeeede."
"Our lucky day," Sinon muttered under her breath. "GGO's second-best player and a pair of murders after us." She announced ruefully. "And I'm stuck with you two. How can this day get any sweeter?"
Kirito and McKnight blinked and looked at each other. "Is she like this in real life? Or only after she got to know you?" Kirito grinned.
"Reckoned a bit of both?" McKnight answered, wry. "If you wanted to know what I think." Throwing back his gun's sling over his shoulder. McKnight's voice subtly dropped a few degrees lower than it should.
"I guess I do?" Sinon grinned as she slapped his ribs, getting a jerk out of the teen.
"Okay, you two," Kirito shook his head, almost reminiscently. Explaining what he had in mind and who would play chicken. Sinon and Reggie would stay back to eliminate Yamikaze's team and, only then, focus their full attention on the Death Gun group.
Despite protests from both her and McKnight especially, Kirito assured that he would need them. And, while he couldn't rightly take them both on alone.
"I can stall them long enough." He raised his hand to them. "Now, let's finish this, partners. We can do it. I'll block their bullets. You two try your best shooting them back without hitting me." His grin widened.
"No promises," Sinon and McKnight said the same thing at the same time, right as their hands joined Kirito's in this triangle. When they realized they've been doing that more times than Sinon and Reggie could count, they looked more red by it.
Again, the long-haired teen had that reminiscent face. "Now, I definitely want to see you two interacting in real life when this is all done." Which made them redder more.
After the trio departed, Sinon and McKnight, sure enough, found the lookout Kirito spotted further north of the trenches. An old, destroyed bunker or concrete pillbox getting a complete view of the purple sunlight that encompassed the field and destroyed land around them.
Adjusting her Hecate II and making sure her position was concealed enough inside the bunker with the opening that must've taken a direct hit. McKnight, who was waiting by the entrance, peeked up. "Found the perfect spot, yet?"
"Hai," She nodded, finishing her wind trajectory off her scope, "it's far from perfect, but it's not bad, either."
"Good. I'll leave you to it." He began trudging away.
"H-Hey wait! Where are you going?" Stood up from her position, getting her friend to stop midway.
"We both know Kirito isn't going to last a minute when we're done with Yamikaze's group against those murders." McKnight said, with his back still turned away. "I'm going to get as close as I can to his position without being spotted to get in the first few licks on those Coffs. Against Johnny."
"Aho! Are you stupid?!" Sinon shouted, "You could die!"
To her horror, McKnight shrugged. "I know. I knew I could ever since I came here about a week ago. And I'm prepared to if it means I take Johnny with me and everything his group has done down, too." He paused and, slowly, turned around to face her. A smile and his eyes soft, however, firm, returned with him. "You were right about me, you know? I reckoned I uh needed that reality check on what kind of person I really am." He bowed his head to the point his head hung down further. "Sumimasen...for everything, Sinon. By God, I am. Now all that's left is just beyond those trenches." He gestured away and pointed his Thompson's muzzle to the direction he'll be heading, regretfully.
Looking at him now. Sinon hardly cared about the tears streaming down her face. "Reggie-...kun." The Japanese sniper girl began, walking up to him. "That's...That's not true." When she was within arm's length. Sinon gently grabbed his collar and pulled him close. Her lips met his. The whole time, everything she felt poured into this embrace. As her face turned red as embarrassed, yet, jubilantly, from not having to say goodbye.
At least for another moment. Showing how much he meant to her, in this short, yet eventful week since she returned his code lock.
When they finally parted, McKnight's hands were around her waistline. They went up from them to her shoulders to the tips of her fingerless gloves. His crimson eyes, knowingly burning with hate behind them, stared back at hers with uncertainty.
Then what felt like forever, he shook his head. "Sumimasen." And left without another word.
Sinon stood alone by the bunker's hollow cement structure. More of her emotions dropped to the wartorn floor, as did her knees. "Don't die…" She choked out, silently. "Onegaishimasu... don't die."
Author's Note: Who knew fitting three episodes into one chapter was going to take so long? Not this guy! *Sad noises
