Identity in the Darkness: chapter 4
I do not own Weiss Kreuz. I have made no money from this. don't sue me.
'I'm really beginning to hate coincidences.' Aya thought as he tried to come up with an excuse. Judging by the overwhelmed expression Minna was trying to conceal, the girl was not ready to deal with crowds.
"I think you mist be mistaken, my name is Minna.." she was a good actress, her look had changed to a friendly one, and showed no sign of being false.
"Minna? The other's tone was friendly, but still held a hint of suspicion. "Minna what?"
"Kudoh, she's Yohji's cousin," Aya filled in for Minna. It was close to believable, both Yohji and Minna were tall and thin, and they had similar coloring.
"Hey Minna can you grab some baskets for me?" Yohji interrupted the conversation. "They're in the back."
He turned away from the crowed and mouthed 'stay back there' with a sympathetic glance as She stood to leave. She gave him a smile of thanks and made a quick exit.
"I don't think she's ready to deal with crowds."
Aya quickly nodded in agreement. "If you're not going to buy anything, just leave!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Finally, Yohji pulled down the door to the shop with a last firm goodbye to the lingering bit of the fan-girl crowd.
"So what were you saying about the mission before?" Yohji asked Aya, who was lurking somewhere in the shadows of the shop.
Aya handed him a newspaper and gestured for him to follow him to the back. "Haven't read the news yet, have you?"
" SCYLLA CHEMICAL COMPANY INVADED BY UNKNOWN ASSASSIN."
"What the hell? This is our target's company!" he looked up, hoping Aya had an explanation.
"The gist of the article is that someone got into the building, and destroyed most of their files. Our target wasn't assassinated, but two other high-ups in the corporation were. Whoever did it was very effective, they got past the security system and left no evidence. "
Yohji skimmed over the article. "So the media doesn't know anything, does Kritiker have any leads the police don't."
"Nothing," Aya said, keeping his voice calm and emotionless. "Nothing they're telling us."
"I see how it works."
"They haven't contacted us to tell us our mission had been aborted. Our target is still alive. The mission is still on."
Typical Aya.
"Right, let's go get some dinner."
~~~~~~~
"OMI! Will you go drag your boyfriend's lazy ass out of bed, he had first shift too today, and I'm not working alone!" Yohji called upstairs. "He'd disobeying the rules around here, no one is supposed to sleep later than me!"
"Ken?" the only response Omi got when he tapped on the door was a muffled groan. He interpreted as a 'come in.'
"Wakey -wakey Kenken."
Ken made no move to get up.
'Fine then…' Omi leaned over the bed and gave him a hard kiss. Ken cleared the sleepiness out of his head long enough to reach out an arm to pull Omi down into the bed with him. Omi pulled back slightly to whisper: " Time to wake up Kenken."
"All right…gimme a minute…."
~~~~~~~~~~
" Okay, I think I have this worked out. Kou's office is here. at this entrance, here, we should be able to get in without too much trouble," Omi pointed to the ground plan on the computer screen as he spoke. "There will be a guard there, but we can get that out of the way, then we should have an easy path to the target."
"And what about this other mystery assassin?" Yohji already knew the answer to his question, but he was still not satisfied.
"If the Mission had been called off, Kritiker would have contacted us. The target is still alive." Aya gave the expected response.
"Have they increased security because of what happened the other day," Yohji questioned further.
"This is the security as it is now," Omi pointed out marks in the screen as he spoke. "they have added a few more guards since then. We should probably get him pretty soon, before they can install a new security system. They haven't yet."
"Tomorrow night," Aya dictated. "Not many people will be there on a Saturday night.
"Two of us should take out the guards and the security system, the other two should go after the target. Once we get in it won't be too , I should be able to Disable the system easily." Omi glanced up at his team for their input.
"Omi and Aya can go in first and take out security," Yohji put in, "Ken and I can take out Kou. It should be pretty simple."
"Should be," Aya pointed out, " rarely is. Be ready tomorrow, get a goodnight sleep." With the undertones in his voice he might as well have said 'no bar-hopping, Yohji."
"I think it's time to get back to the shop," Ken spoke up, "the after school rush is about to start and I don't think it would be very niece to let Mina deal with it alone."
Minna was definitely dealing with the crowed much better then the previous day. She was sitting quietly at the corner of the table; arranging a bouquet of lilies and calmly noticing that she was the subject of many junior high girls' jealousy. Although it was not the foremost thing in her mind, she was not oblivious to the fact that she was staying with four very good looking florists. Very good looking but very into their whole mysterious routine. Their night job had not been discussed, except the one brief part of a conversation she had overheard, that held something she could nearly remember. She could understand them not wanting anyone knowing who they were, but still….
In the two days she had been here, memories that she could not quite reach taunted her. Was it Weiss that had brought these memories to her? Was it her imagination? From some now invisible part of her mind, she knew it was more then the power of sensation.
And there was Yohji, she was almost positive she knew him. She had tried to tell herself that it was not possible, but that unreachable part of her mind refused to give up the idea. Amnesia could lead people to insanity,' maybe that's what's happening to me.'
"You e-mailed that person back?" the crowed in the shop had dispersed in the early evening when Yohji interrupted Minna's trance.
"Yes, I don't say where they could find me or anything like that. Hopefully they can tell me something." She was quiet for a moment before she added, "no matter what that 'something' happens to be."
"Whatever something happens to be, Minna, you're going to be okay. Good luck." Yohji said in a comforting tone.
The edges of Minna's mouth turned up into a slight smile. Arigato, Kudoh- san."
"Hey, it's Yohji. We're cousins, remember?
"Hai" she smiled.
'She hasn't bothered with the crying in self pity routine. She can't remember who she is, and she has reason to fear the worst, but she's strong.' Yohji suspected that her calm resolve was part of the reason that Aya had let her stay with them. She had a kind of inner strength that anyone could admire; she was determined to find out who she was no matter what that meant. That likely also helped Aya to forgive her for stealing his sister's name. 'She won't give up on her life, I hope it works out for her'
~~~~~~
"This is Bombay, give me another five minutes to disarm the security system." The blonde boy spoke into his walkie-talkie as he skillfully worked at cracking through the system. "Just a second…I think I've got it…Yes! I'm in." he hit the 'talk' button on his radio once again. "The system is deactivated, move in Balinese, Siberian. "
"The guard is out of the way, he's not going to be coming around any time soon. Go." Aya's voice cracked over the walkie-talkie. "you should have a clear path, Bombay and I will cover you."
"Okay."
"Let's go." Yohji and Ken headed in. "This way," Ken whispered, gesturing down the hallway to the left. According to Omi's ground plan, Kou's office should be the last door on the left.
"Here we are."
Balinese and Siberian paused on either side of the door to the office, nodded to each other, and forced the door opened.
The office was what one would expect from a high-up in a major research corporation, file cabinets, expensive looking art on the walls, papers and a computer.
Their target, Kou Makoto, was sitting the high backed chair in front of his mahogany desk, sprawled backwards.
His throat had been neatly slit with a single clean slash across the center of his neck. His death had obviously been quick, and from the look of it, recent.
"Whoever did this might still be here, he hasn't been dead for long." Siberian hissed.
"The target is dead, it's not out job…" Yohji was interrupted as the fire alarm shrilled. "What the hell! Bombay…?"
" Balinese, Siberian! Get out of there! the fire is in the file room, and that's the only the next hall over from you!"
"Sounds like a good idea." Yohji grabbed Ken and they sprinted towards the exit.
"What the-." Ahead of them, someone rushed out of another hallway.
"HEY YOU!" the figure paused and turned to face them for a few seconds as Yohji called out he was dressed entirely in black, complete with a kitana. The outsider stared at them intensely before running off and disappearing.
"Siberian? Balinese? Are you guys alright? Where are you? The police will be here soon" Omi's voice snapped them beck to reality.
They hurried out and found Bombay and Abissian waiting for them in the shadows outside the building. "You guys, our unknown assassin showed up again-."
"Let's go. Now!" Aya forcibly cut Yohji off as they fled the scene.
"Look," Yohji tried to explain once again when they were safely in the car and on the way home. When we got there, Kou was already dead. We saw another guy there, and I'm willing to bet that he was the one from the other night coming back to finish his work. And he got to our target first. Most people don't carry around a kitanna for the fun of it; Kou's throat was slit.
"That fire was enough to destroy the rest of their files, Omi said.
"But how did he get in?"
"The guards at another entrance were chloroformed," but I'm still wondering how he got past the security system," Omi answered Ken's question.
"Hn. Kritiker has some explaining to do."
"Yohji, Ken did you get a decent look at this guy," Omi asked as they arrived at the Koniko. "If you can give me a description of him, I might be able to run a check on him, it's worth a try."
"Let's see…" Yohji made an elaborate gesture of trying to remember, "we weren't very close to him. The gut had black hair, about chin length, really pale skin, dark eyes. I think he was a little over six feet tall, more or less. Really, really creepy dark eyes." Yohji described as he pushed open the door of the shop.
They found Minna still awake and at work at her computer. Weiss, in their assassin garb with their weapons still in hand, were caught off guard. "Minna…!"
"Hello…I…I couldn't sleep, and I remembered some of my passwords"
"Did you get a response from the person you've been getting mail from?" Yohji asked.
She shook her head. "No, the last message that I have is the one that told me that someone else had gotten 'my target' and said that the next one was a group that had been doing bio-weapons tests on humans, Scylla Chemical.
There's chapter 4. I don't know how often I'm going to have access to the Internet for the next month or so. But I'll figure out some way to get chapters up. Like everyone says: please read and review! ^_~
I do not own Weiss Kreuz. I have made no money from this. don't sue me.
'I'm really beginning to hate coincidences.' Aya thought as he tried to come up with an excuse. Judging by the overwhelmed expression Minna was trying to conceal, the girl was not ready to deal with crowds.
"I think you mist be mistaken, my name is Minna.." she was a good actress, her look had changed to a friendly one, and showed no sign of being false.
"Minna? The other's tone was friendly, but still held a hint of suspicion. "Minna what?"
"Kudoh, she's Yohji's cousin," Aya filled in for Minna. It was close to believable, both Yohji and Minna were tall and thin, and they had similar coloring.
"Hey Minna can you grab some baskets for me?" Yohji interrupted the conversation. "They're in the back."
He turned away from the crowed and mouthed 'stay back there' with a sympathetic glance as She stood to leave. She gave him a smile of thanks and made a quick exit.
"I don't think she's ready to deal with crowds."
Aya quickly nodded in agreement. "If you're not going to buy anything, just leave!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Finally, Yohji pulled down the door to the shop with a last firm goodbye to the lingering bit of the fan-girl crowd.
"So what were you saying about the mission before?" Yohji asked Aya, who was lurking somewhere in the shadows of the shop.
Aya handed him a newspaper and gestured for him to follow him to the back. "Haven't read the news yet, have you?"
" SCYLLA CHEMICAL COMPANY INVADED BY UNKNOWN ASSASSIN."
"What the hell? This is our target's company!" he looked up, hoping Aya had an explanation.
"The gist of the article is that someone got into the building, and destroyed most of their files. Our target wasn't assassinated, but two other high-ups in the corporation were. Whoever did it was very effective, they got past the security system and left no evidence. "
Yohji skimmed over the article. "So the media doesn't know anything, does Kritiker have any leads the police don't."
"Nothing," Aya said, keeping his voice calm and emotionless. "Nothing they're telling us."
"I see how it works."
"They haven't contacted us to tell us our mission had been aborted. Our target is still alive. The mission is still on."
Typical Aya.
"Right, let's go get some dinner."
~~~~~~~
"OMI! Will you go drag your boyfriend's lazy ass out of bed, he had first shift too today, and I'm not working alone!" Yohji called upstairs. "He'd disobeying the rules around here, no one is supposed to sleep later than me!"
"Ken?" the only response Omi got when he tapped on the door was a muffled groan. He interpreted as a 'come in.'
"Wakey -wakey Kenken."
Ken made no move to get up.
'Fine then…' Omi leaned over the bed and gave him a hard kiss. Ken cleared the sleepiness out of his head long enough to reach out an arm to pull Omi down into the bed with him. Omi pulled back slightly to whisper: " Time to wake up Kenken."
"All right…gimme a minute…."
~~~~~~~~~~
" Okay, I think I have this worked out. Kou's office is here. at this entrance, here, we should be able to get in without too much trouble," Omi pointed to the ground plan on the computer screen as he spoke. "There will be a guard there, but we can get that out of the way, then we should have an easy path to the target."
"And what about this other mystery assassin?" Yohji already knew the answer to his question, but he was still not satisfied.
"If the Mission had been called off, Kritiker would have contacted us. The target is still alive." Aya gave the expected response.
"Have they increased security because of what happened the other day," Yohji questioned further.
"This is the security as it is now," Omi pointed out marks in the screen as he spoke. "they have added a few more guards since then. We should probably get him pretty soon, before they can install a new security system. They haven't yet."
"Tomorrow night," Aya dictated. "Not many people will be there on a Saturday night.
"Two of us should take out the guards and the security system, the other two should go after the target. Once we get in it won't be too , I should be able to Disable the system easily." Omi glanced up at his team for their input.
"Omi and Aya can go in first and take out security," Yohji put in, "Ken and I can take out Kou. It should be pretty simple."
"Should be," Aya pointed out, " rarely is. Be ready tomorrow, get a goodnight sleep." With the undertones in his voice he might as well have said 'no bar-hopping, Yohji."
"I think it's time to get back to the shop," Ken spoke up, "the after school rush is about to start and I don't think it would be very niece to let Mina deal with it alone."
Minna was definitely dealing with the crowed much better then the previous day. She was sitting quietly at the corner of the table; arranging a bouquet of lilies and calmly noticing that she was the subject of many junior high girls' jealousy. Although it was not the foremost thing in her mind, she was not oblivious to the fact that she was staying with four very good looking florists. Very good looking but very into their whole mysterious routine. Their night job had not been discussed, except the one brief part of a conversation she had overheard, that held something she could nearly remember. She could understand them not wanting anyone knowing who they were, but still….
In the two days she had been here, memories that she could not quite reach taunted her. Was it Weiss that had brought these memories to her? Was it her imagination? From some now invisible part of her mind, she knew it was more then the power of sensation.
And there was Yohji, she was almost positive she knew him. She had tried to tell herself that it was not possible, but that unreachable part of her mind refused to give up the idea. Amnesia could lead people to insanity,' maybe that's what's happening to me.'
"You e-mailed that person back?" the crowed in the shop had dispersed in the early evening when Yohji interrupted Minna's trance.
"Yes, I don't say where they could find me or anything like that. Hopefully they can tell me something." She was quiet for a moment before she added, "no matter what that 'something' happens to be."
"Whatever something happens to be, Minna, you're going to be okay. Good luck." Yohji said in a comforting tone.
The edges of Minna's mouth turned up into a slight smile. Arigato, Kudoh- san."
"Hey, it's Yohji. We're cousins, remember?
"Hai" she smiled.
'She hasn't bothered with the crying in self pity routine. She can't remember who she is, and she has reason to fear the worst, but she's strong.' Yohji suspected that her calm resolve was part of the reason that Aya had let her stay with them. She had a kind of inner strength that anyone could admire; she was determined to find out who she was no matter what that meant. That likely also helped Aya to forgive her for stealing his sister's name. 'She won't give up on her life, I hope it works out for her'
~~~~~~
"This is Bombay, give me another five minutes to disarm the security system." The blonde boy spoke into his walkie-talkie as he skillfully worked at cracking through the system. "Just a second…I think I've got it…Yes! I'm in." he hit the 'talk' button on his radio once again. "The system is deactivated, move in Balinese, Siberian. "
"The guard is out of the way, he's not going to be coming around any time soon. Go." Aya's voice cracked over the walkie-talkie. "you should have a clear path, Bombay and I will cover you."
"Okay."
"Let's go." Yohji and Ken headed in. "This way," Ken whispered, gesturing down the hallway to the left. According to Omi's ground plan, Kou's office should be the last door on the left.
"Here we are."
Balinese and Siberian paused on either side of the door to the office, nodded to each other, and forced the door opened.
The office was what one would expect from a high-up in a major research corporation, file cabinets, expensive looking art on the walls, papers and a computer.
Their target, Kou Makoto, was sitting the high backed chair in front of his mahogany desk, sprawled backwards.
His throat had been neatly slit with a single clean slash across the center of his neck. His death had obviously been quick, and from the look of it, recent.
"Whoever did this might still be here, he hasn't been dead for long." Siberian hissed.
"The target is dead, it's not out job…" Yohji was interrupted as the fire alarm shrilled. "What the hell! Bombay…?"
" Balinese, Siberian! Get out of there! the fire is in the file room, and that's the only the next hall over from you!"
"Sounds like a good idea." Yohji grabbed Ken and they sprinted towards the exit.
"What the-." Ahead of them, someone rushed out of another hallway.
"HEY YOU!" the figure paused and turned to face them for a few seconds as Yohji called out he was dressed entirely in black, complete with a kitana. The outsider stared at them intensely before running off and disappearing.
"Siberian? Balinese? Are you guys alright? Where are you? The police will be here soon" Omi's voice snapped them beck to reality.
They hurried out and found Bombay and Abissian waiting for them in the shadows outside the building. "You guys, our unknown assassin showed up again-."
"Let's go. Now!" Aya forcibly cut Yohji off as they fled the scene.
"Look," Yohji tried to explain once again when they were safely in the car and on the way home. When we got there, Kou was already dead. We saw another guy there, and I'm willing to bet that he was the one from the other night coming back to finish his work. And he got to our target first. Most people don't carry around a kitanna for the fun of it; Kou's throat was slit.
"That fire was enough to destroy the rest of their files, Omi said.
"But how did he get in?"
"The guards at another entrance were chloroformed," but I'm still wondering how he got past the security system," Omi answered Ken's question.
"Hn. Kritiker has some explaining to do."
"Yohji, Ken did you get a decent look at this guy," Omi asked as they arrived at the Koniko. "If you can give me a description of him, I might be able to run a check on him, it's worth a try."
"Let's see…" Yohji made an elaborate gesture of trying to remember, "we weren't very close to him. The gut had black hair, about chin length, really pale skin, dark eyes. I think he was a little over six feet tall, more or less. Really, really creepy dark eyes." Yohji described as he pushed open the door of the shop.
They found Minna still awake and at work at her computer. Weiss, in their assassin garb with their weapons still in hand, were caught off guard. "Minna…!"
"Hello…I…I couldn't sleep, and I remembered some of my passwords"
"Did you get a response from the person you've been getting mail from?" Yohji asked.
She shook her head. "No, the last message that I have is the one that told me that someone else had gotten 'my target' and said that the next one was a group that had been doing bio-weapons tests on humans, Scylla Chemical.
There's chapter 4. I don't know how often I'm going to have access to the Internet for the next month or so. But I'll figure out some way to get chapters up. Like everyone says: please read and review! ^_~