Chapter three: convergence of angels.
Kei and Yuri stared at each other while sitting at a dinette table. Mugs
of coffee were in hand. Both had sad expressions on their faces. Kei
sighed an looked at Yuri.
"Admit it." Kei uttered. "We suck."
"No we don't." Yuri uttered, then sighed. "We're been given a bad hand
this time around. Maybe we'll get a better one next time. What do you
think, Kei?"
"A better one, huh?" Kei hummed.
"Uh huh. A better one. We're on suspension, right?" Yuri nodded. "That
means we still get a shot at redeeming ourselves."
"Hah...right." Kei sighed then nodded. "Look, this may be a shock to you
..but we've been redeeming ourselves ever since our first mission ended.
.and it ended terribly."
Kei did have a point. Only way now is to quit...or do something a little
different. Yuri didn't want to quit helping others so she chewed on that
angle for a bit, took a sip of her cooling coffee, then slipped out of
her chair.
"Please don't leave." Kei uttered, then sighed "I could really use your
company right now."
"Why?" Yuri asked.
"I'm feeling shitty..." Kei hummed, then sighed. "...and I really don't
wanna be alone right now. When I feel shitty and not on duty I drink.
But I usually save drinking for later in the day."
"Okay I'll stay." Yuri hummed, held out her hand, then nodded. "C'mon.
Lets hang out at the coffee table. You don't mind a little silence do
you?"
"Eh only a little." Kei shrugged as she followed Yuri to the coffee
table. Both sat down in comfortable chairs and fell into slightly
uncomfortable silence. Kei stared at her partner for a bit until she
spoke up. "Just what are you thinking about Yuri?"
"About what we should with ourselves." Yuri hummed, the sighed. "One
option is just to quit the whole thing and go away for a while. That
didn't feel right to me, though."
"Feels right to me though." Kei hummed.
"Oh you say that NOW." Yuri hummed, then nodded. "But how will you feel
several months or years, Kei? Will you regret it?"
"Regret what?" Kei uttered then sighed. "If we do quit we'll fade in the
background, let everyone forget us. What's more we won't see any more
death and destruction. Some of that keeps me up at night, you know. I
still get nightmares too."
"Need I remind you that I'm always there for you when that happens." Yuri
uttered. "May I also remind you that we have a few enemies out there? If
we give up and return to a NORMAL life we could become soft. Thats a
perfect opportunity for someone...including the remnants of Lucifer could
hunt us down and kill us."
Kei blinked at her short tirade.
"I won't let that happen." Yuri hummed. "To ME or YOU. I simply won't
let that happen."
Kei was about to say something but Yuri interrupted her.
"We HAVE to keep going." Yuri said as she started to shudder. "Otherwise
...we'll loose our edge and maybe our heads. Besides...we DO some good
around this galaxy. We've protected kids, stopped crazed madmen and
criminals, help quell prison riots and stopped people from playing GOD,
Kei! That's good, right?"
She continued to shudder, then looked down in her mug.
Kei blinked at body language, put her mug down on the coffee table, then
squeezed into Yuri's chair.
"You okay?" Kei uttered, then sighed. "I mean is there a REASON why your
being so emotional now?"
"I like doing this job." Yuri uttered, then sighed. "Especially when you
are around, Kei."
"Well I like this job too." Kei nodded, then sighed "The non stressful part
that is. I mean yeah, I can go for a little danger here and there. I just
don't like the negativity around the office nowadays."
"We could quit..." Yuri hummed.
"Yuri! You just said..." Kei blurted but fell silent when Yuri spoke up.
"....The 3WA, wanna try?" Yuri hummed, then smiled. "It couldn't be hard.
We can loan our services to other intelligence agencies."
"Do you think we can?" Kei hummed. "They might not take us. Everyone
fears us or laughs at us, Yuri. I don't think there's a single group
or organization that will take us seriously."
"Hmmmm." Yuri murmured, then nodded. "I guess we're just gonna have to
look really hard then. I do, however, have a few back up ideas if they
turn us away."
"Oh." Kei blinked, then sighed. "What are they?"
"One..." Yuri began. "We could work by ourselves."
"Well self employment could work." Kei hummed then sighed. "But we'd
be extremely limited."
"Right." Yuri nodded then sighed. "Two...we expand that idea to form our
OWN group."
"What? Our own 3WA?" Kei uttered. "Well that could work too. But we
don't have the money to do so."
"I know," Yuri sighed then nodded. "So I think we should start out as a
small unit or group. Like say four or six personnel, plus us of course."
Four to six people huh?" Kei hummed. "Still a lot, though. We have to
Pay for them, their ammo, their vehicles."
"Well maybe we can get a loan?" Yuri hummed.
"A LOAN?" Kei blurted, then sighed. "Yuri are you crazy?! We'll have to
make this group a profitable venture just to pay the loan back!"
"I know I know but..." Yuri nodded, shuddered for a moment, then threw up
her hands. "Argh! I can't think of anything else, Kei! I don't want to
stop helping people and I certainly don't want to loose you, either!"
"What's your problem?" Kei blinked at her next tirade, sighed and wondered
why Yuri was still saying that, blinked when her partner reached for her
cup of coffee, then reached for the cup. "Oh, here let me get it Yuri."
Their hands collide in an uncomfortable clasp and the Lovely Angels stared
at each other.
"Uh..." Kei uttered
"Ummm..." Yuri hummed.
"Yuri...would you mind..." Kei began to tell her to remove her hand...but
stopped when she felt some energy coursing around her. She doubled over
and clutched her stomach "Aa! Aaaa! What the hell?!"
"K-Kei! What's wrong!?" Yuri blurted as the energy enveloped her partners
form. Moments later she yelped as same energy washed over her. "It...it
hurts!"
"W..what's going on?" Kei moaned, then shuddered. "I feel so...strange!"
"So...do...I!" Yuri grunted, clutched her stomach, then grunted again.
"I'm burning up! Who's doing this. What's doing this?"
"Du...nno." Kei blurted, passed out, then vanished in a flash.
"K...Kei!" Yuri cried out then blacked out herself before vanishing
as well.
* * *
Sometime later, Yuri woke up in a smallish sized bedroom. It was modestly
furnished with bedroom furniture. Its walls were adorned with anime posters
and paintings. Yuri looked around for someone and found her fiery haired
partner lying face down on a medium sized bed.
Yuri stood up, lost her footing and fell on her behind. She tried to get
Back up, shakily found her footing and took a few steps towards Kei. She
Lost her footing a few seconds later, tripped over her feet, and stumbled
onto the bed. Yuri moaned, lifted her head, and found that her hand was
on Kei's behind. Kei had noticed it too.
"Gods Yuri." She slurred, then grimaced. "Have ya turned into a pervert
or what?! Get your hand off my ass, willya?"
"Er sorry." Yuri said apologetically to Kei, removed her hand and tried
to get back up. Kei lazily sat up and pulled Yuri to her feet. "Thanks."
"Your sorta Welcome." Kei uttered, then sighed. "What the fuck happened."
"I dunno. My head still feels fuzzy." Yuri moaned, then sighed. "One
things for sure...we're not home anymore."
"Thats...true." Kei uttered, then sighed. "Wonder what that was about...
that energy and stuff."
"Maybe....." Yuri grimaced as she tried to think of something. "Someone...
used one of those new transmat devices."
"Tranz wha...??" Kei blinked.
"Transmaterialization devices." Yuri nodded. "Sorta like those pad things
on every sci fi story we see on in the movies nowadays. A few companies
have a few working prototypes."
"Oh those things." Kei uttered, then sighed. "Yeah...could explain it. doesn't
seem natural does it."
"No it doesn't." Yuri uttered then sighed. "But who...who did it.....and why?"
"Maybe one of our enemies did it." Kei said nonchalantly. Yuri blinked at that
and they stared at each other. "You don't think...."
"Could be." Yuri uttered.
Just then a voice wailed from outside the bedroom. Kei and Yuri blinked pulled
out there hold outs, and snuck outside.
"How dare you!!" Someone wailed. It sounded like it came from downstairs.
"How dare you!! How dare you! You ruined my date! You're an idiot! An
idiot I tell you."
"Sounds like a lovers quarrel." Yuri commented. "What do you think?"
"More like someone ruined this girls plans." Kei whispered. "What do you want
to do?"
"Well....Lets go check it out." Yuri nodded. Kei nodded a silent affirmative
and they crept down the stairs. Half way down Yuri held up a hand and Kei
stopped. The violet haired Lovely Angel crept there rest of the way and made
a brief sweep of the room.
It was a modest tastefully decorated affair with four people in it. One tall
and lanky male and three females. The three females seemed to be pissed at
the tall man. Yuri waved Kei up and watched on as one of them, a girl with
waist length violet hair, white thigh length boots and a red blue and white
top facing the tall stranger. A girl with short curly blonde hair and
a lily white dress was trying to calm the girl down. There was a girl
with a punkish hairdo who sort of reminded her of Kei. The girl had a baby
in her arms and a baby sack around her shoulder. She was standing next
to the apartment's door.
*Just what is going on here?* Yuri thought. *Why are they here? Are they
in the same predicament as Kei and I are? What's this tall lanky guy got
to do with all of this?*
"I...I didn't mean to..." He stammered.
"Liar!" The Spunky little devil cried then decked him good. Both Lovely
Angels nodded to each other as she pounced on him and slapped him twice
with the back of her hand. "Liar! You're such a liar! We checked that
website out on your computer upstairs! You brought us here!! You're
lying to us! Why?! Why?! You're so cruel! I was going to have a perfect
date. Worst yet Kei and The baby have nothing! Nothing! Didn't you
even think about this?!"
Kei and Yuri looked at each other. Yuri angled a thumb back upstairs. Kei
nodded to her and Yuri crept back upstairs. Kei sighed and watched them
from the steps.
"Stop it please." The blonde complained. "Your making things worse, dear."
"No I won't, Sakura!" The seemingly crazy girl blurted. "He made a mess of
things."
Kei watched on for a bit then made eye contact with the girl holding the
baby. Curiously, the girl waved her forward. Kei nodded to her and snuck
towards the door.
Hey," The girl nodded at Kei, then angled towards the girls captive. "You
know this joker?"
"Uh uh." Kei shook her head. "Don't even know him."
The baby squirmed a little and the Teen smiled at it.
"That's a good Keitaro." She hummed. "Almost through."
"Heh," Kei smiled, nodded, then stood up. "That's a nice name."
"Thanks," The teen nodded. "Name'd him after myself. Oh my name's Kei.
Kei von Warner. Nice to meet you. What's your name, lady?"
"Heh what a coincidence my names Kei, too." She nodded to the girl,
then sighed at the teenager. "I'm a trouble consultant with the 3WA."
"What?!" The younger Kei blurted. "B...but I'm a tro-con for the 3WA."
"Hey Kei you alright down there!?" Yuri called from upstairs.
"What is it Yuri!?" The older Kei called back.
"Someone say my name?" The younger Yuri jumped up. The older Kei blinked
and pointed at the teenager.
"Your name is Yuri too?" Kei uttered in astonishment.
End
Kei and Yuri stared at each other while sitting at a dinette table. Mugs
of coffee were in hand. Both had sad expressions on their faces. Kei
sighed an looked at Yuri.
"Admit it." Kei uttered. "We suck."
"No we don't." Yuri uttered, then sighed. "We're been given a bad hand
this time around. Maybe we'll get a better one next time. What do you
think, Kei?"
"A better one, huh?" Kei hummed.
"Uh huh. A better one. We're on suspension, right?" Yuri nodded. "That
means we still get a shot at redeeming ourselves."
"Hah...right." Kei sighed then nodded. "Look, this may be a shock to you
..but we've been redeeming ourselves ever since our first mission ended.
.and it ended terribly."
Kei did have a point. Only way now is to quit...or do something a little
different. Yuri didn't want to quit helping others so she chewed on that
angle for a bit, took a sip of her cooling coffee, then slipped out of
her chair.
"Please don't leave." Kei uttered, then sighed "I could really use your
company right now."
"Why?" Yuri asked.
"I'm feeling shitty..." Kei hummed, then sighed. "...and I really don't
wanna be alone right now. When I feel shitty and not on duty I drink.
But I usually save drinking for later in the day."
"Okay I'll stay." Yuri hummed, held out her hand, then nodded. "C'mon.
Lets hang out at the coffee table. You don't mind a little silence do
you?"
"Eh only a little." Kei shrugged as she followed Yuri to the coffee
table. Both sat down in comfortable chairs and fell into slightly
uncomfortable silence. Kei stared at her partner for a bit until she
spoke up. "Just what are you thinking about Yuri?"
"About what we should with ourselves." Yuri hummed, the sighed. "One
option is just to quit the whole thing and go away for a while. That
didn't feel right to me, though."
"Feels right to me though." Kei hummed.
"Oh you say that NOW." Yuri hummed, then nodded. "But how will you feel
several months or years, Kei? Will you regret it?"
"Regret what?" Kei uttered then sighed. "If we do quit we'll fade in the
background, let everyone forget us. What's more we won't see any more
death and destruction. Some of that keeps me up at night, you know. I
still get nightmares too."
"Need I remind you that I'm always there for you when that happens." Yuri
uttered. "May I also remind you that we have a few enemies out there? If
we give up and return to a NORMAL life we could become soft. Thats a
perfect opportunity for someone...including the remnants of Lucifer could
hunt us down and kill us."
Kei blinked at her short tirade.
"I won't let that happen." Yuri hummed. "To ME or YOU. I simply won't
let that happen."
Kei was about to say something but Yuri interrupted her.
"We HAVE to keep going." Yuri said as she started to shudder. "Otherwise
...we'll loose our edge and maybe our heads. Besides...we DO some good
around this galaxy. We've protected kids, stopped crazed madmen and
criminals, help quell prison riots and stopped people from playing GOD,
Kei! That's good, right?"
She continued to shudder, then looked down in her mug.
Kei blinked at body language, put her mug down on the coffee table, then
squeezed into Yuri's chair.
"You okay?" Kei uttered, then sighed. "I mean is there a REASON why your
being so emotional now?"
"I like doing this job." Yuri uttered, then sighed. "Especially when you
are around, Kei."
"Well I like this job too." Kei nodded, then sighed "The non stressful part
that is. I mean yeah, I can go for a little danger here and there. I just
don't like the negativity around the office nowadays."
"We could quit..." Yuri hummed.
"Yuri! You just said..." Kei blurted but fell silent when Yuri spoke up.
"....The 3WA, wanna try?" Yuri hummed, then smiled. "It couldn't be hard.
We can loan our services to other intelligence agencies."
"Do you think we can?" Kei hummed. "They might not take us. Everyone
fears us or laughs at us, Yuri. I don't think there's a single group
or organization that will take us seriously."
"Hmmmm." Yuri murmured, then nodded. "I guess we're just gonna have to
look really hard then. I do, however, have a few back up ideas if they
turn us away."
"Oh." Kei blinked, then sighed. "What are they?"
"One..." Yuri began. "We could work by ourselves."
"Well self employment could work." Kei hummed then sighed. "But we'd
be extremely limited."
"Right." Yuri nodded then sighed. "Two...we expand that idea to form our
OWN group."
"What? Our own 3WA?" Kei uttered. "Well that could work too. But we
don't have the money to do so."
"I know," Yuri sighed then nodded. "So I think we should start out as a
small unit or group. Like say four or six personnel, plus us of course."
Four to six people huh?" Kei hummed. "Still a lot, though. We have to
Pay for them, their ammo, their vehicles."
"Well maybe we can get a loan?" Yuri hummed.
"A LOAN?" Kei blurted, then sighed. "Yuri are you crazy?! We'll have to
make this group a profitable venture just to pay the loan back!"
"I know I know but..." Yuri nodded, shuddered for a moment, then threw up
her hands. "Argh! I can't think of anything else, Kei! I don't want to
stop helping people and I certainly don't want to loose you, either!"
"What's your problem?" Kei blinked at her next tirade, sighed and wondered
why Yuri was still saying that, blinked when her partner reached for her
cup of coffee, then reached for the cup. "Oh, here let me get it Yuri."
Their hands collide in an uncomfortable clasp and the Lovely Angels stared
at each other.
"Uh..." Kei uttered
"Ummm..." Yuri hummed.
"Yuri...would you mind..." Kei began to tell her to remove her hand...but
stopped when she felt some energy coursing around her. She doubled over
and clutched her stomach "Aa! Aaaa! What the hell?!"
"K-Kei! What's wrong!?" Yuri blurted as the energy enveloped her partners
form. Moments later she yelped as same energy washed over her. "It...it
hurts!"
"W..what's going on?" Kei moaned, then shuddered. "I feel so...strange!"
"So...do...I!" Yuri grunted, clutched her stomach, then grunted again.
"I'm burning up! Who's doing this. What's doing this?"
"Du...nno." Kei blurted, passed out, then vanished in a flash.
"K...Kei!" Yuri cried out then blacked out herself before vanishing
as well.
* * *
Sometime later, Yuri woke up in a smallish sized bedroom. It was modestly
furnished with bedroom furniture. Its walls were adorned with anime posters
and paintings. Yuri looked around for someone and found her fiery haired
partner lying face down on a medium sized bed.
Yuri stood up, lost her footing and fell on her behind. She tried to get
Back up, shakily found her footing and took a few steps towards Kei. She
Lost her footing a few seconds later, tripped over her feet, and stumbled
onto the bed. Yuri moaned, lifted her head, and found that her hand was
on Kei's behind. Kei had noticed it too.
"Gods Yuri." She slurred, then grimaced. "Have ya turned into a pervert
or what?! Get your hand off my ass, willya?"
"Er sorry." Yuri said apologetically to Kei, removed her hand and tried
to get back up. Kei lazily sat up and pulled Yuri to her feet. "Thanks."
"Your sorta Welcome." Kei uttered, then sighed. "What the fuck happened."
"I dunno. My head still feels fuzzy." Yuri moaned, then sighed. "One
things for sure...we're not home anymore."
"Thats...true." Kei uttered, then sighed. "Wonder what that was about...
that energy and stuff."
"Maybe....." Yuri grimaced as she tried to think of something. "Someone...
used one of those new transmat devices."
"Tranz wha...??" Kei blinked.
"Transmaterialization devices." Yuri nodded. "Sorta like those pad things
on every sci fi story we see on in the movies nowadays. A few companies
have a few working prototypes."
"Oh those things." Kei uttered, then sighed. "Yeah...could explain it. doesn't
seem natural does it."
"No it doesn't." Yuri uttered then sighed. "But who...who did it.....and why?"
"Maybe one of our enemies did it." Kei said nonchalantly. Yuri blinked at that
and they stared at each other. "You don't think...."
"Could be." Yuri uttered.
Just then a voice wailed from outside the bedroom. Kei and Yuri blinked pulled
out there hold outs, and snuck outside.
"How dare you!!" Someone wailed. It sounded like it came from downstairs.
"How dare you!! How dare you! You ruined my date! You're an idiot! An
idiot I tell you."
"Sounds like a lovers quarrel." Yuri commented. "What do you think?"
"More like someone ruined this girls plans." Kei whispered. "What do you want
to do?"
"Well....Lets go check it out." Yuri nodded. Kei nodded a silent affirmative
and they crept down the stairs. Half way down Yuri held up a hand and Kei
stopped. The violet haired Lovely Angel crept there rest of the way and made
a brief sweep of the room.
It was a modest tastefully decorated affair with four people in it. One tall
and lanky male and three females. The three females seemed to be pissed at
the tall man. Yuri waved Kei up and watched on as one of them, a girl with
waist length violet hair, white thigh length boots and a red blue and white
top facing the tall stranger. A girl with short curly blonde hair and
a lily white dress was trying to calm the girl down. There was a girl
with a punkish hairdo who sort of reminded her of Kei. The girl had a baby
in her arms and a baby sack around her shoulder. She was standing next
to the apartment's door.
*Just what is going on here?* Yuri thought. *Why are they here? Are they
in the same predicament as Kei and I are? What's this tall lanky guy got
to do with all of this?*
"I...I didn't mean to..." He stammered.
"Liar!" The Spunky little devil cried then decked him good. Both Lovely
Angels nodded to each other as she pounced on him and slapped him twice
with the back of her hand. "Liar! You're such a liar! We checked that
website out on your computer upstairs! You brought us here!! You're
lying to us! Why?! Why?! You're so cruel! I was going to have a perfect
date. Worst yet Kei and The baby have nothing! Nothing! Didn't you
even think about this?!"
Kei and Yuri looked at each other. Yuri angled a thumb back upstairs. Kei
nodded to her and Yuri crept back upstairs. Kei sighed and watched them
from the steps.
"Stop it please." The blonde complained. "Your making things worse, dear."
"No I won't, Sakura!" The seemingly crazy girl blurted. "He made a mess of
things."
Kei watched on for a bit then made eye contact with the girl holding the
baby. Curiously, the girl waved her forward. Kei nodded to her and snuck
towards the door.
Hey," The girl nodded at Kei, then angled towards the girls captive. "You
know this joker?"
"Uh uh." Kei shook her head. "Don't even know him."
The baby squirmed a little and the Teen smiled at it.
"That's a good Keitaro." She hummed. "Almost through."
"Heh," Kei smiled, nodded, then stood up. "That's a nice name."
"Thanks," The teen nodded. "Name'd him after myself. Oh my name's Kei.
Kei von Warner. Nice to meet you. What's your name, lady?"
"Heh what a coincidence my names Kei, too." She nodded to the girl,
then sighed at the teenager. "I'm a trouble consultant with the 3WA."
"What?!" The younger Kei blurted. "B...but I'm a tro-con for the 3WA."
"Hey Kei you alright down there!?" Yuri called from upstairs.
"What is it Yuri!?" The older Kei called back.
"Someone say my name?" The younger Yuri jumped up. The older Kei blinked
and pointed at the teenager.
"Your name is Yuri too?" Kei uttered in astonishment.
End