Glitch
...
"Does everyone know what to do?" Ran stood at the entrance of the building they were to expire tonight. The targets associated with this place were taken care of almost two weeks ago. Weiss was put on pause with finishing the job because Persia wanted to investigate the place. Now that Kritiker was done with it, they were called back to wipe it off the map.
"Yea, yea. I'm missing a date for this useless mission so let's get this done as fast as possible." Yohji looked cool, calm and collected as always. This time with a slightly irritated look in his suave eyes.
"All ready, Aya-kun," Omi replied, shifting his feet beneath him. The part of the mission right before they split up was always the most dreaded part for him because he couldn't help thinking that it would be the last time they were all together.
"Make sure you can all keep in contact in case anything goes wrong," Ran added and began walking towards the main staircase.
"That's not worry I hear, is it, Aya?" Ken asked and raised an eyebrow.
"I'm always worried with you around," Ran shot back in his coldest voice, only to realize that his comment could have been taken in two ways.
"D'ya hear that, guys? Aya worries about me!" Ken said in his best 'Yohji' voice and followed the enraged redhead up the stairs. They were soon both out of sight.
"Alright babe, this'll be faster if we split up." Yohji adjusted his headset and headed for the stairs. "See ya' in ten!"
Omi looked around at the ground floor and got into mission mode. He went to work right away, setting up the first bomb at one of the columns holding up the foundation of the building.
"Weiss, come in. Can everyone hear me?" Ran's voice sounded through the headset.
"Hear ya' loud n' clear, Aya!" Ken's voice ricocheted through the headset which meant that he still must be with Ran, and both of their microphones picked up the sound. Omi could almost hear Ran glaring death at Ken.
"I'm here, Aya-kun. I'm almost done with the ground floor," he obediently responded as he attached the second bomb into it's place.
"Alright guys," Ken's voice sounded again, this time with no reverberation. "I'm leaving Aya and going on the top two floors."
"Yohji, come in." Ran again, but no response from Yohji. "Omi, is Yohji with you?"
"No, he left right after you. It's OK, Aya-kun. I'm going to the second floor as we speak. Yohji should be making his way down in a few moments."
~
Yohji just finished with his assignment and quickly made his way down the staircase to meet Omi on the ground floor. He had attached all the bombs as instructed by their valiant leader and felt rather confident with the job he did. However, half way down the staircase, he was stopped by a familiar echo inside his head.
/Hey, blondie./ Yohji was shocked for about a quarter of a second before he quickly regained his smooth composure and looked around at the staircase. Nothing. It's alright, he could handle this no problem.
"Going to play mind games again or are you here for some action?" Yohji called out to apparently no one. He was well aware of the double meaning of that question. He let his glasses drop a bit so he could look over them.
"Missed me, Balinese?" This time Schuldig's voice sounded through the room instead of inside Yohji's head.
"I thought we were on a first name basis," the blonde smirked and turned his attention to the top of the stairs where his counterpart stood.
"Oh, you are a tease." Schuldig let his arms drop to the sides. "This place is a bit stuffy for us, though. What do you say? Take this outside?"
"And how exactly do you plan on getting out of here without Weiss surrounding you?"
Schuldig chose not to respond with words. He pulled out his gun and aimed it just an inch away from Yohji's arm. He shot and hit the knob of a door Yohji hadn't even noticed was there. He calmly walked by his enemy and kicked the door open. It flew off and he motioned with his hand for Yohji to go first.
"If you insist." Yohji walked outside and found himself on the third floor of the fire escape. Since it wasn't very far down, he merely jumped onto the covering above the first floor and then onto the ground. Schuldig followed and they stood about ten feet apart, poised for casual conversation rather than a fight.
~
Ken had just finished with the sixth floor and made his way quickly up the stairs to the seventh. He couldn't quite get the last explosive attached the first couple times, and now he was running late. He tried contacting Weiss through the headset but soon realized that he couldn't get any connection at all. When something goes wrong within the first five minutes, that's a definite sign that the rest of the mission will follow in the same footsteps.
"Good evening, kitten." Ken spun around on the staircase, not expecting to hear that voice.
"You." His eyes narrowed at his nemesis.
"Let's paint the sunset," Farfarello said mysteriously and pulled out two knives which he kept attached to his belt.
Ken didn't know what to make of that, but he never found it a pleasant hobby to figure out cryptic psychopaths. His bugnuks suddenly shot out of his glove as he prepared himself to fight.
~
Omi made his way back down the stairs, his part of the assignment completed to the letter. He briefly wondered if maybe he could still have time to fix the connection between their headsets before Ken and Ran were ready to detonate. If he remembered Ran's game plan right, Yohji was supposed to be waiting for him outside of the building. However, that was not who he found waiting for him.
"Convenient. I didn't even have to search for you." Nagi leaned against a tree as he watched Omi make his way out of the building.
"What are you doing here?"
"Well, to tell you the truth, my assignment was just to keep you busy while Crawford takes out Abyssinian, but my mind changed halfway here. I was told, by a certain anonymous telepath, that even if I tried, I wouldn't have the guts kill you tonight. I really want to prove him wrong." Came the sinister explanation from the young Schwarz.
Omi's eyes widened at the thought of Ran being set up, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Even if Prodigy had told him their plan, he was still cornered into it. He pulled out three arrows and prepared himself to dodge any attack Nagi would throw at him. Easier said than done.
~
"I'm a man of my word as I'm sure you know, Abyssinian." Brad stood calmly in front of Ran on the sixth floor. He kept both hands in clear view as if to show that he's come in peace.
"Your word means nothing to me," Ran shot back, katana poised and ready.
Brad sighed and pulled out what looked like a remote control from his jacket pocket. "This is the redundant part of my job." He pushed his glasses up a bit as they fell over his nose. "Because I already know what you're going to do, but if I don't explain everything to you, you won't do it. It's like I have to live everything twice."
"Pity." Ran briefly fixed his eyes on the small device in Brad's hands. He had to admit, it caught his attention.
Brad smirked. "Would you like to know what this does, Abyssinian?"
~
"You don't seem to be trying very hard!" Yohji called to his opponent as he dodged several poorly aimed bullets.
"Neither do you," Schuldig smirked. "Because if I weren't trying and you were, I'd be dead by now."
"Good point."
"You know what I just noticed?" Schuldig asked as he evaded the wire aimed an inch away from his head.
"What's that?" Yohji asked, catching his breath.
"You look good today."
Yohji faked a pout. "Does that mean I don't look good every other day?"
~
'He's so young. How can he possibly know rather what he's doing is wrong or right?' Omi's conscience screamed at him as he ignored it and shot round after round of arrows at his opponent.
"Where's all this determination coming from?" Nagi called to him as he just barely dodged an arrow headed straight for his head.
"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Omi retorted, anger mixed with worry and fortitude etched in his face.
Nagi's eyes widened at hearing this. He froze for a moment, which was enough of a pause to allow Omi a window into his force field. He shot three well-aimed arrows at him, one which hit directly into his side.
Nagi flinched in pain and his hand immediately went to nurse the wound. It looked bad, and he felt the blood trickling down his stomach.
Nagi suddenly looked up at his nemesis, not knowing what to make of him. This was the same Bombay that made him laugh that afternoon for the first time in what seemed like forever. He seemed so predatory now, even more than usual during their fights. This time, he was fighting for his friends. This left Nagi thinking if any of his team mates would do the same for him.
~
Farfarello was pushing Ken's defenses back with an impressive attack. Ken held his bugnuks up strong against the two knives mere inches away from his face, but he couldn't get enough momentum for a counterattack. Farfarello begin walking forward, pushing Ken to walk back.
"Damn," Ken cursed under his breath as his feet were forced up the stairs. He hoped he wouldn't have a klutz attack and trip over his own feet. Before he knew it, though, Farfarello had him pinned up against the door that led to the top of the building.
All of a sudden, Farfarello's grip seemed to loosen on his knives, and Ken managed to push him back, giving himself just enough time to regain his poise and push the door open. He walked out onto the roof and turned to face his opponent.
Farfarello looked up and allowed himself a small smirk. He walked up the last few stairs to the roof, and stepped through the door, again eyelevel with his counterpart. Everything was according to plan.
...
"Does everyone know what to do?" Ran stood at the entrance of the building they were to expire tonight. The targets associated with this place were taken care of almost two weeks ago. Weiss was put on pause with finishing the job because Persia wanted to investigate the place. Now that Kritiker was done with it, they were called back to wipe it off the map.
"Yea, yea. I'm missing a date for this useless mission so let's get this done as fast as possible." Yohji looked cool, calm and collected as always. This time with a slightly irritated look in his suave eyes.
"All ready, Aya-kun," Omi replied, shifting his feet beneath him. The part of the mission right before they split up was always the most dreaded part for him because he couldn't help thinking that it would be the last time they were all together.
"Make sure you can all keep in contact in case anything goes wrong," Ran added and began walking towards the main staircase.
"That's not worry I hear, is it, Aya?" Ken asked and raised an eyebrow.
"I'm always worried with you around," Ran shot back in his coldest voice, only to realize that his comment could have been taken in two ways.
"D'ya hear that, guys? Aya worries about me!" Ken said in his best 'Yohji' voice and followed the enraged redhead up the stairs. They were soon both out of sight.
"Alright babe, this'll be faster if we split up." Yohji adjusted his headset and headed for the stairs. "See ya' in ten!"
Omi looked around at the ground floor and got into mission mode. He went to work right away, setting up the first bomb at one of the columns holding up the foundation of the building.
"Weiss, come in. Can everyone hear me?" Ran's voice sounded through the headset.
"Hear ya' loud n' clear, Aya!" Ken's voice ricocheted through the headset which meant that he still must be with Ran, and both of their microphones picked up the sound. Omi could almost hear Ran glaring death at Ken.
"I'm here, Aya-kun. I'm almost done with the ground floor," he obediently responded as he attached the second bomb into it's place.
"Alright guys," Ken's voice sounded again, this time with no reverberation. "I'm leaving Aya and going on the top two floors."
"Yohji, come in." Ran again, but no response from Yohji. "Omi, is Yohji with you?"
"No, he left right after you. It's OK, Aya-kun. I'm going to the second floor as we speak. Yohji should be making his way down in a few moments."
~
Yohji just finished with his assignment and quickly made his way down the staircase to meet Omi on the ground floor. He had attached all the bombs as instructed by their valiant leader and felt rather confident with the job he did. However, half way down the staircase, he was stopped by a familiar echo inside his head.
/Hey, blondie./ Yohji was shocked for about a quarter of a second before he quickly regained his smooth composure and looked around at the staircase. Nothing. It's alright, he could handle this no problem.
"Going to play mind games again or are you here for some action?" Yohji called out to apparently no one. He was well aware of the double meaning of that question. He let his glasses drop a bit so he could look over them.
"Missed me, Balinese?" This time Schuldig's voice sounded through the room instead of inside Yohji's head.
"I thought we were on a first name basis," the blonde smirked and turned his attention to the top of the stairs where his counterpart stood.
"Oh, you are a tease." Schuldig let his arms drop to the sides. "This place is a bit stuffy for us, though. What do you say? Take this outside?"
"And how exactly do you plan on getting out of here without Weiss surrounding you?"
Schuldig chose not to respond with words. He pulled out his gun and aimed it just an inch away from Yohji's arm. He shot and hit the knob of a door Yohji hadn't even noticed was there. He calmly walked by his enemy and kicked the door open. It flew off and he motioned with his hand for Yohji to go first.
"If you insist." Yohji walked outside and found himself on the third floor of the fire escape. Since it wasn't very far down, he merely jumped onto the covering above the first floor and then onto the ground. Schuldig followed and they stood about ten feet apart, poised for casual conversation rather than a fight.
~
Ken had just finished with the sixth floor and made his way quickly up the stairs to the seventh. He couldn't quite get the last explosive attached the first couple times, and now he was running late. He tried contacting Weiss through the headset but soon realized that he couldn't get any connection at all. When something goes wrong within the first five minutes, that's a definite sign that the rest of the mission will follow in the same footsteps.
"Good evening, kitten." Ken spun around on the staircase, not expecting to hear that voice.
"You." His eyes narrowed at his nemesis.
"Let's paint the sunset," Farfarello said mysteriously and pulled out two knives which he kept attached to his belt.
Ken didn't know what to make of that, but he never found it a pleasant hobby to figure out cryptic psychopaths. His bugnuks suddenly shot out of his glove as he prepared himself to fight.
~
Omi made his way back down the stairs, his part of the assignment completed to the letter. He briefly wondered if maybe he could still have time to fix the connection between their headsets before Ken and Ran were ready to detonate. If he remembered Ran's game plan right, Yohji was supposed to be waiting for him outside of the building. However, that was not who he found waiting for him.
"Convenient. I didn't even have to search for you." Nagi leaned against a tree as he watched Omi make his way out of the building.
"What are you doing here?"
"Well, to tell you the truth, my assignment was just to keep you busy while Crawford takes out Abyssinian, but my mind changed halfway here. I was told, by a certain anonymous telepath, that even if I tried, I wouldn't have the guts kill you tonight. I really want to prove him wrong." Came the sinister explanation from the young Schwarz.
Omi's eyes widened at the thought of Ran being set up, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Even if Prodigy had told him their plan, he was still cornered into it. He pulled out three arrows and prepared himself to dodge any attack Nagi would throw at him. Easier said than done.
~
"I'm a man of my word as I'm sure you know, Abyssinian." Brad stood calmly in front of Ran on the sixth floor. He kept both hands in clear view as if to show that he's come in peace.
"Your word means nothing to me," Ran shot back, katana poised and ready.
Brad sighed and pulled out what looked like a remote control from his jacket pocket. "This is the redundant part of my job." He pushed his glasses up a bit as they fell over his nose. "Because I already know what you're going to do, but if I don't explain everything to you, you won't do it. It's like I have to live everything twice."
"Pity." Ran briefly fixed his eyes on the small device in Brad's hands. He had to admit, it caught his attention.
Brad smirked. "Would you like to know what this does, Abyssinian?"
~
"You don't seem to be trying very hard!" Yohji called to his opponent as he dodged several poorly aimed bullets.
"Neither do you," Schuldig smirked. "Because if I weren't trying and you were, I'd be dead by now."
"Good point."
"You know what I just noticed?" Schuldig asked as he evaded the wire aimed an inch away from his head.
"What's that?" Yohji asked, catching his breath.
"You look good today."
Yohji faked a pout. "Does that mean I don't look good every other day?"
~
'He's so young. How can he possibly know rather what he's doing is wrong or right?' Omi's conscience screamed at him as he ignored it and shot round after round of arrows at his opponent.
"Where's all this determination coming from?" Nagi called to him as he just barely dodged an arrow headed straight for his head.
"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Omi retorted, anger mixed with worry and fortitude etched in his face.
Nagi's eyes widened at hearing this. He froze for a moment, which was enough of a pause to allow Omi a window into his force field. He shot three well-aimed arrows at him, one which hit directly into his side.
Nagi flinched in pain and his hand immediately went to nurse the wound. It looked bad, and he felt the blood trickling down his stomach.
Nagi suddenly looked up at his nemesis, not knowing what to make of him. This was the same Bombay that made him laugh that afternoon for the first time in what seemed like forever. He seemed so predatory now, even more than usual during their fights. This time, he was fighting for his friends. This left Nagi thinking if any of his team mates would do the same for him.
~
Farfarello was pushing Ken's defenses back with an impressive attack. Ken held his bugnuks up strong against the two knives mere inches away from his face, but he couldn't get enough momentum for a counterattack. Farfarello begin walking forward, pushing Ken to walk back.
"Damn," Ken cursed under his breath as his feet were forced up the stairs. He hoped he wouldn't have a klutz attack and trip over his own feet. Before he knew it, though, Farfarello had him pinned up against the door that led to the top of the building.
All of a sudden, Farfarello's grip seemed to loosen on his knives, and Ken managed to push him back, giving himself just enough time to regain his poise and push the door open. He walked out onto the roof and turned to face his opponent.
Farfarello looked up and allowed himself a small smirk. He walked up the last few stairs to the roof, and stepped through the door, again eyelevel with his counterpart. Everything was according to plan.