R e d S e a
Part Five
'Li'l fucker...' Waking with a sharp pain between his shoulders, Youji cursed under his breath as his hand found its way to the spot to rub and soothe the ache without much success. He should have guessed the redhead would do that - Ran had the tendency to try and solve problems too patiently, and then upon realising it is beyond his scope, run and bang into the problem head-first, hoping it would somehow give way. In other words, he does it by force.
Brutal force. Youji remarked, fighting back low blood pressure induced dizziness as he got out of his room, knowing nobody was in. As expected, there was a note for him on the coffee table, Omi's handwriting informing him of his friends' whereabouts: Aya-kun has 'disappeared off somewhere', Ken-kun 'went to get groceries' and Omi himself was 'in the woods nearby'.
Youji grumbled something that meant no sense to even himself as he examined a smaller line of writing along the bottom: Manx came back from Blockbuster's, it's in the VCR.
A quick check of his watch told him why his friends did not wake for him to watch the video - he had slept for over 30 hours straight. Low blood pressure was still making his head spin when he rewinded the tape, feeling a bit uneasy that he had to watch it on his own. When he got back from the kitchen with a bottle of energy drink to get some glucose into his system, the tape was ready. Youji picked up the remote control, and hesitated. Maybe it was all the build-up. Coming all the way to Okinawa, the underwater training, the long time they had to wait... he wasn't sure if he actually wanted to know about the mission at all.
He was half way through the video when Omi and Ken came back with arms full of food. "Youji-kun, did you sleep well?"
Youji paused the video, almost relieved that there were more people in the house. "Like a baby."
"Have you eaten yet?"
"Later. After the video."
"Oh, okay." At the mention of the video, Omi and Ken lost their smiles. They put down their shopping and retreated to their rooms, not wanting to watch it again.
Ran came back just after them. He stopped the video before Youji could finish watching it.
"You're not going." There was no harshness, or in fact any emotions, in Ran's voice. It was a statement not a suggestion.
"How come?" Slightly taken back, Youji looked at his friend, puzzled. That couldn't be Manx's or Persia's - whoever it is now - idea.
"You know why." Another statement.
Youji almost smiled, shaking his head. "Look, thanks for worrying, but I can do missions just fine."
"No you can't." Ran raised his voice a little to emphasise his point. Purple eyes fixed on green ones. "Your mental and physical health is failing you. I can't let you go on this mission."
Chuckling now, Youji held his hand up, gesturing Ran to stop speaking. "No, Aya, I am going. Don't play commander on me."
By the time Omi and Ken joined them in the lounge, the tone of the conversation had changed. They were standing dangerously close, and Youji's fists were held tight, ready to throw them at the redhead at a moment's choice. "You are NOT telling me what to do, Aya. You won't be doing this without me, because you can't complete this mission with only three people!"
"We can. Face it Youji, you aren't fit enough for it. We can't spend our time making sure you're alright whilst blowing up a boat."
"You know what? Sometimes I just wanna smash your fucking face in - "
"Youji!" Ken leaped forward and tackled Youji to the couch just as Youji was about to hit Ran hard in the face. "Cool it!"
"Stop playing the know-it-all, Aya, 'cause you don't understand a fucking thing!" Pinned to the couch, Youji tried throwing Ken off. No fucking way would he take this from Ran of all people. He would not be excluded. No fucking way. "You can't do it with three people, and I'm not a burden! You know it Aya, you need me in this mission! I'm not staying here waiting for all of you to get fucking killed!"
There was a moment of silence. Ran decided to say nothing until Youji calmed down. Ken loosened his grip and eventually let go of Youji when he felt the tension leave. Youji sat up, buried his face in his hands, and words came.
"Let me do it, Aya. I have to fight. I must fight."
The mission was nowhere near Okinawa. The time on the island was merely a time for them to relax and obtain the training necessary, since Weiss has never operated on the sea before.
Their mission was to destroy a human trade ring. Countless of people every year spend all their life savings to escape their homelands, hoping to seek new life elsewhere. This illegal immigration had existed for decades. People were packed into tiny rooms or cargo stores whilst they were shipped to a brighter future, only to die on their way there, starved of food, water, or oxygen. Of those who make their way to Europe, some would seek asylum, some would provide labour in the black market with no minimum wage or maximum working hours.
And some would fall under Weiss' target's control when they board the ship, thinking that there were going to Europe when they were in fact shipped to Japan. Some were sold to the human hunting game the Takatoris used to run, some sold as slaves, some end up in prostitution. For them, there was no legal status, there was no freedom, and there was no escape. Their dreams were traded for a life of captivity.
"We've been instructed to remove the target, rescue these people and then destroy the ship. It's disguised as a large fishing boat, one of those that travel to waters just outside the country's border." Ran pointed at several areas on the map. This was all old information, but it was their practice to go over things again and again until it couldn't be clearer. "Omi?"
Promptly Omi produced a sheet of paper, with estimated times and route of the target's boat. A photograph showed the target's face, and the type of boat he used.
Jobs were allocated. Youji was to perform a smooth rescue, transporting the captives onto their own boat and providing cover if necessary. Omi was in charge of explosives, whilst Ken and Ran were to take down the target.
There were also three contingency plans, although none of them were prepared for what they were going to find.
"Siberian and Abyssinian?"
"In position."
"Balinese?"
"In position. I hate not having an element of surprise."
"And I hate feeling that I have so little control." Omi muttered, knowing that they had to stop the target's boat by force instead of sneaking onboard, which increased the danger of the mission. They had explored the options of diving, or waiting until the boat docks, but for all sorts of reasons, this was the only way. "The target boat is in sight. We're getting closer. They seem to have noticed us. Fishing boats normally don't get so close, you know."
"On the sound of your fire, then." Poised on the roof, Youji laid face down to avoid becoming an obvious target once the other boat senses danger.
"Okay, here I go!" Omi lifted his mini version of a rocket launcher, aimed at a spot where there would be no immediate structural damage, and fired.
"Man, that's a much bigger hole than I thought!" Ken and Ran sprang into action, ducking for cover at the first round of bullets as Omi tried to steer their boat closer to the target.
"There's going to be a small collision, hold on!" Omi yelled as one fishing boat rammed into the other. Once within range, Youji, Ken and Ran jumped aboard the other boat. As Ken and Ran ran ahead, Youji began looking for places where people could be hidden, being as invisible as possible so the target would think there were only two invaders on his boat.
Youji stopped outside the engine room. Something was telling him that this was the place. The sound of crossfire upstairs was urging him to be quick. But a voice was telling him not to open the door.
"Shut up, Neu." He lifted the latch, and pulled the door open.
"Balinese, are you getting them out?" Omi shouted down the communicator, but there was no response. "Abyssinian?"
There were sounds of struggle. It was a good ten seconds before Ran replied. "Target is down."
"But there are two rather persistent - fuck - okay, one rather persistent guy who wouldn't give up!" Ken hissed. The said man had moved himself to the roof and was shooting at them from above. "Has Balinese got the people out? Abyssinian's got a bullet in his leg! I think we can opt for plan C!"
Which was to get back onto their own boat, gain distance and destroy the target's boat and anybody onboard with it from afar.
"I haven't had anything from Balinese at all, guys! And I think you have less than two minutes, the hole I blew seems to be quite serious! The engine room's on fire!"
Ken frowned, taking off a bugnuk and reaching for his gun. There was no way he could use a close-range weapon on the madman. At the same time, Ran disappeared round the back of the boat in search for Youji, ignoring the pain in his leg. He ran through the pilot's room and other smaller areas before smelling a strong stench. The smell was beyond sickening, and Ran had to fight down the sudden urge to throw up.
And then he found Youji, and knew the answer for Youji's silence.
The thirty captives were dead.
Youji was holding himself up with shaky knees, having just thrown up whatever there was in his stomach. Ran felt his knees giving too, the smell of thirty fermenting corpses burning in an engine room was enough to make his body go weak. Where the door opened, bodies spilled out one on top of the other. The captives obviously were suffocating and being baked alive in the summer heat. They tried to get out of the room, but were locked in and nobody outside knew what was going on there. The faces that were yellow and grey with hints of blue vividly told Ran their desperation in their last moments. Eyes that were wide and bulging from their sockets, mouths that were wide open for the non-existant oxygen...
Ran could not look anymore. Tasting acid in his mouth, he turned away and covered his lips with a hand. His body was weaker than he would like it to be.
"Come on!" Suddenly, somebody was yanking him by his arm. "We're gonna sink!"
Ken covered his nose with one hand and not dared to look at the engine room. He could guess what had happened. The three of them jumped, as far as they could from the burning boat, into the water. Their own fishing boat was a distance away and Omi was on a speedboat nearby to pick them up.
As the fire reached the fuel tank, a series of explosions began and the boat behind them started to tilt and sink. The three swam as fast as they could, objects falling off the burning boat narrowly missing them.
"Youji-kun!" Omi was screaming his lungs out, trying to get his speedboat as close as he could. A piece of falling metal had hit Youji, and he went under.
Pale corpses floated in water. Their cooling blood oozed out of the dead bodies, tainting the water with red.
Youji kicked and swam, trying to go down deeper to avoid the crimson tide that was reaching for him from above.
When he looked up, he saw through the red haze of blood water, and saw every down-turned face of every corpse.
Every single one of them. Eyes closed or open, lips parted in a final scream or shut tight, fists clenched or loose, hair tied or cut short.
In the water, Youji screamed, but he couldn't hear himself. There was only silence.
Every single one of them had Asuka's face.
The blood was getting thicker, the redness was diffusing its way towards him. Faces of the corpses above him were soon hidden by the red veil. Yet he could still feel their eyes looking down at him, accusing, cursing, unforgiving.
And then, through the thick glue of red blood, a pale, almost white arm stretched out for him. The palm was wide open and it pushed through the redness, coming closer, closer...
[onto part 6]