16 : Plans in motion .

" I must now inform you that the reason why I had been adamant that we should meet today despite the obvious risks in Prodigy's condition –" Crawford glanced steely at the youngest member of their team ; " – and your constant protestations and pretensions of sicknesses –" at that , the stern glance rested on Schuldich , who had been bemoaning his stuffed and throaty cough as a result of his swimming excursion with Nagi earlier in the week .

The redhead threw the offending brunette a dirty look .

" We will be leaving three days from now ; we've been assigned to a mission in America ."

Schuldich rolled his eyes in sarcasm contradictory to his statement . " Whoopee ! Perfect time for a vacation ."

Crawford's gaze snapped to the redhead in reprimand , despite his bitterness , Schuldich ceased his colossal annoyed rantings and allowed his tongue to retract to his mouth .

The redhead had suddenly decided that it would be better to retain his silence for his own sake – he couldn't possibly know what the American was capable of under his current mood . He could tell that the tall American had launched completely into his mission mode and any attempts to distract him would bring his wrath onto the head of the offender .

Crawford nodded once in apparent satisfaction at Schuldich's reaction before continuing . " Blau Sphare itself has requested our assistance for this mission , and even Estet cannot refuse the organization . It is strictly a kill or protect mission of only one detached target and one client ; no given involvement to any kind of national or international organization ."

" Then why do they want him dead ?" Schuldich interrupted , his interest piqued by the unusual details of the mission .

" It is not essential to the mission ." Crawford snapped .

" Then what is ?!" Schuldich retorted , his temper flaring at the unexpected reprimand . What the hell was Crawford hiding anyway ? As far as he could tell , something was definitely lurking under that thick layer of ice ; something about the way he was being too rigorous ; it was almost as if he was trying to cover something up .

Schuldich narrowed his eyes , trying to do his damnedest to snatch something ; a little tidbit , a tiny clue to what it was ; but all that met his inquiry was a cold blast of rejection ; he had almost been thrown off by the force of the American's resolve .

He felt his instincts ringing a screeching alarm in his head .

Something was definitely wrong ; he could feel it , but he also knew that there was no possible way of wrenching the truth out of the iceberg name Crawford and the damn bastard was actually strong enough to resist Schuldich's mental advances .

" Tomorrow , a private plane will wait for us at the Estet strip . If you must , then bring only the essentials . Everything will be provided for once we reach the United States . Ours will be an invisible status , meaning that we would not be passing through the customs .  All the same , I would discourage you to bring any kind of weapon ."

Farfarello's face fell like a ton of bricks . Schuldich almost snickered .

" Upon arrival , the team would be conducted to the Blau Sphare headquarters for a general briefing of the mission and additional instructions . We shall then proceed to the residence where the target is expected to arrive ."

Crawford placed the thick folder on the desk and eyed his team critically .

" Questions ?"

" I think you're hiding something from us , Brad ."

Crawford's midnight eyes narrowed . He glared at Schuldich . " And why do you say that , Mastermind ?"

* Mastermind , huh ? So , our beloved leader is pissed . He ::does:: have something to hide * Schuldich scowled as he stood up , face to face with the Schwarz's leader and tried to stare the American down . " Listen , Mr. Oracle – if I find out you've been hiding something from us ; I'm going to bust your ass to pieces ." With that statement , a bristling Schuldich stalked out of the room .

† † †

" Schwarz is on the move . Our informants tell us that the whole team would be boarding a private plane to the United States by tomorrow . We still haven't been able to uncover the nature of their mission , but you should be able to find that out by yourselves . Your accommodations are being arranged this very moment . Maintain contact with the Kritiker operators ." Manx uncrossed her arms and gave a little wave a she walked out of the shop . " Good luck , Weiß ."

† † †

Kyou walked into the train station and headed for the platform where the lockers  were located . He jingled the keys in his pocket like some juvenile delinquent and grinned at the local office workers that were going home from work .

They shook their heads in disapproval and ignored him and his scruffy clothes .

That was advantage of being poor . No one gave you a second glance . You were virtually  a non-entity and it suited him just fine .

He stabbed the key into the slot and opened the metal door , extracting a large black duffel bag

That duffel bag contained the various firearms and explosives that he had purloined from Torelli .

Two more days .

Two more days and Ken Hidaka was going to be dead .

† † †

R_M : Yes , Sucks sucks sucks ! I know what you're thinking . But I'm having a brainfreeze on this fic . Particularly this chappie . I'm not so eager when I wrote this one as I am to write the next chapters ! Everything is going to be really crazy !

Yes , I've taken a loooong time to post this up . You my bomp me on the head or do whatever you want now . I won't hold it against you ... *pauses* although of course , if you do that , I might get an even worse brainfreeze and won't be able to write for a long long time .

Bwahaha .

Now that I've gotten past this miserable chapter , I think I'd be able to write the others a little bit better . Heh .

I hope .

Misura : The truth is *confesses* I kinda like Kyou . I pity him actually . Yes , Nagi is a little bit more positive than everyone else ne ?

Mariki : SchuxKen ? *large eyes* but isn't the other fic enough of SchuxKen-ness ? *lol and skips away* Just kidding ! Bwah ! There'll never be enough of SchuxKen-ness in the world .

Whisper Reilman : Oooh . Thanks for that fantastic and very insightful review . I've been thinking about that . I definitely will try to make it good .