*sigh* Writers' block and deadlines.  Not a good combo.  Hontou ni sumimasen.  Sooo sorry.

On the happier side, I actually am alive.  Though, considering how long it's taken me to update, I probably won't be much longer once a few certain people catch up to me.  -_-

            Breathing hard, but relieved, the remaining crew of the Nebuchadnezzar sprinted up to the abandoned store, hearts lifting at the thought of promised relief.  "Silva said they haven't heard from Lyserg," said Ren, shutting his phone.

            "Hope he's all right," said Yoh, watching Horohoro pry an opening in the boards nailed over the store's back door. 

*

            Chrom didn't stand a chance.  The blast caught him high up on the back of the neck, knocking him forward and spattering the keys in front of him with blood.  Silva turned at the sound of the shot, his hand reaching for the closest weapon, but Kanna fired first.  The blast caught him low on the shoulder over the collarbone, and he fell back, lifeless. 

            Lyserg would have cried out but for Kanna's arm hooked securely around his neck, her forearm threatening to crush his throat.  She looked at the fallen bodies before her with grim satisfaction.  "Pathetically easy," she remarked.

            "You killed them," choked out Lyserg, his eyes wide and wild with pain.  "You…"
            She smiled slightly.  "You make it sound as if you've never seen death before.  Come now, surely a double agent for the machines has watched the people of Zion fall at one point or another."

            His fingers clutched her arm where it encircled his neck, his fingers digging into her skin.  "I'm no traitor!"

            She tapped the top of his head with her gun.  "With those innocent eyes, I'd almost believe you.  But I'm very good at reading the smallest signals from the matrix; you practically reek of Agents."

            "Is that what you came for?" he demanded.  "Me?  Why'd you have to kill Silva and Chrom then?"

            "You're only secondary," came the reply, "to him."

            Lyserg followed her gaze until his eyes came to rest upon Yoh's still form.  "Him?"

*

            "So…um…this is the phone?" asked Yoh.

            They remaining crewmembers were standing around an ancient telephone, sitting on a small, dusty wooden table that looked as if it would crumble if they touched it. 

            "Well…yeah…" said Manta, looking nonplussed.

            "Then why isn't it ringing?"

            Only awkward silence replied. 

            "Are you sure this is the right phone?" queried Horohoro.

            "I sure didn't see any others," replied Ren.  "We checked the entire store."

            "But…it's not ringing…"

            Manta looked at Ren.  "Call Silva."

*

            "That one's special," said Kanna, nodding toward Yoh's body.  "His data signals are almost identical to Hao's."

            "So?"

            "Hao will be the One."

            It all fell together.  "You're knocking off the competition!" exclaimed Lyserg.  "You'll just kill him while he's in the matrix; that's dishonorable!"

            She looked down at him with a curious expression.  "Odd for you to say that, Agent boy."

            He was about to protest when the signal of an incoming call interrupted them.  They paused, their eyes resting simultaneously on the headset lying on the floor.  It had fallen from Silva when he had been shot, but was still working properly.  Kanna's eyes narrowed.  Shoving Lyserg forward, she trained her gun on him.  "Answer it."

*

            The group waited tensely as Ren found himself listening to nothing but ceaseless ringing over the phone.  The feeling that something had gone wrong increased every second, mounting unbearably.  Then his face lightened ever so slightly.  "Silva?"

            A moment of quiet as the other person responded.  His eyes narrowed in slight puzzlement.  "Lyserg??  Silva said they had lost you."

*

            "I made it out," replied Lyserg, realizing the irony of his situation.  Having left the Agents, he was in no better scenario now.  Kanna was listening intently to his every word.

            "Well, why haven't Silva and Chrom brought us back now?" Ren demanded.

            "They…can't," replied Lyserg cautiously.  How much would Kanna let him say?

            "What??  No games, Lyserg."

            "No game," he answered softly. 

*

            Ren was momentarily distracted by a choked scream from Pilica.  He whirled around to find the girl kneeling next to something on the floor.  It was Horohoro.  "What happened?" he demanded.

            "I…I don't know," said Pilica, her hands over her mouth.  "He just…fell…  He…" Ren knelt too, his golden eyes cold as he placed two fingers on the boy's neck, feeling for a pulse.

            "He's dead."

*

            Lyserg heard the scream through the earphones and whirled around.  Kanna was standing by Horohoro's comatose form, his plug in her hand.  She dropped it with a cool indifference.  "One down."  She glanced at Lyserg's horrified expression with slight disapproval.  "What?  You thought I'd leave the crew to come after me?"

            He was trembling, shaking so much that for a moment he thought he wouldn't be able to stand.  "What's going on?" demanded Ren through the headset, his voice sharp and harsh, the beginnings of fear in his words.

*

            The voice that answered Ren's query was new and unfamiliar.  "Nothing much is going on.  And it will be over soon, don't worry."

            Ren clenched his teeth, measuring out the words to keep his voice from shaking.  "Who are you?"
            "Name's Kanna," she replied, nonchalantly, "but I don't suppose it would mean anything to you.  I've only met you all once.  Hao made the introductions."

            "Hao?" Ren spat the name like a curse.  "I should have known.  You're here to steal Yoh away for him, aren't you?"
            Manta was watching him closely, and Pilica, though crying softly next to her brother's still-warm body, was also listening. 

            "Actually, no," replied Kanna, "I'm just here to kill you all.  Yoh too, really; he might get in the way later on.  Not to mention your little traitor for the Agents here."

            Lyserg clenched his teeth at her comment, watching his delicately balanced world crumble before his eyes.

            "What are you talking about?" snapped Ren.   "There are no traitors among us."

            "Lyserg and I know better," said Kanna calmly, watching impassively as the boy in front of her clenched his fists helplessly.  She was still the one holding the gun, after all.  "Lend a hand, will you?"

            Her fingers curled about his, forcing his grip around the plug in the back of Pilica's head, the barrel of the gun pressed into the side of his neck to prevent him from resisting.  She jerked down sharply, and Lyserg felt the cable slide from its place, still clutched in his grasp.

*

            Ren whirled about in time to see Pilica give a small gasp and slump forward over her brother's corpse.  A storm of furious profanities gathered within him, poised to pour violently from his lips in his anger and bewilderment.  But all that came out was a whisper, painful and cold.  "I'll kill you."

            Her answer was a laugh, mocking and harsh to the ears.  "Try it the other way around," she suggested.  "You don't stand a chance."  She paused, and he could imagine her surveying the bloodless carnage before her, admiring the control-room turned abattoir.   "But," she continued suddenly, "to business.  You're not my priority.  That one – Yoh, was it? – is." 

            Ren's eyes flashed to Yoh's pale face, watching him intently.  The youth's countenance tightened, as if he could feel the grip tightening around his lifeline, ready to yank it out. 

*

            Lyserg closed his eyes, turning his head away as Kanna forced his hand toward Yoh's cord.  At least, he couldn't help but think, Marco will be happy…and maybe Jeanne too, then.  As little comfort as the idea was, he clung to it, wanting something to distract him from the imminent death that loomed before his remaining friends and himself. 

            "KANNA!"

            Lyserg and the person in question both whirled around to see Hao rush into the room, his hair flying wildly behind him, a mixture of shock and fury blazing in his usually unperturbed eyes. 

            "What are you doing??"  His eyes swept over the scattered and unplugged cords on the floor, his gaze growing ever harder. 

            She sighed, the barrel of her gun now aimed casually at him, though her finger was not on the trigger.  "Perhaps I seem out of line, but this is not of your concern."

            His gaze did not waver.  "You will not touch my brother."

            "I clear a path for you, for you to free humans from the machines.  Clearing a path means eliminating obstacles."

            He caught her grip tightening on the plug.  "You will not touch my brother."

            His adamant, quiet anger was unnerving.  She shifted her stance slightly, her eyes fighting to match his gaze.  "These here would oppose you one day.  I know many of them, and they would not accept your conquest of the machines."

            "Too tenderhearted?" he asked contemptuously.  "I don't care for them, but my brother is still my brother.  Come, Kanna, you have ill timing."

            Her eyes narrowed, but she seemed almost ready to obey.  He turned once to see if she would come, just in time to see her look back blankly at him, lurching forward as a blast from behind tore through her and out her chest.  Unflinching, despite the splash of hot blood on his face and clothes, Hao watched her fall, death written on her face before she hit the floor. 

            Behind her, the gun still held in his shaking hands, was Lyserg.  "My friends…" was all he managed to say, the tears blurring his eyes threateningly. 

            Hao studied him, not fully trusting the youth before him.  "Agent Boy."  That's what Kanna had called him; and he had just killed Kanna.  After a silence, he nodded.  "Your friends.  We should get them back."

*

            Yoh awoke from the matrix nightmare of loss and hostile pursuit and found himself in a reality of blood and emptiness.  Five corpses lay about a room that had been teeming with energy and hard work a matter of hours earlier.  Their first job was to remove the bodies: Chrom, Faust, Horhoro, Pilica, and Kanna.  Silva was still alive, but only barely, and from the look on Ren's face when he helped Yoh to move the man's battered form, there was little real hope. 

            By the looks of it, something had died within Lyserg as well, though he was mostly unscathed.  From the snatches of conversation overheard through the phone, everyone had questions for him, but there were more pressing issues at hand. 

            "The Agents took Anna," said Manta, though everyone knew it already.

            "They what??"  Everyone except Hao, that is. 

            "They've taken her, but she's still alive.  Her vital signs are more stable now; they were flickering before," said Lyserg softly.

            "Why?" demanded Hao, thinking regretfully of the pretty – though not a little intimidating – blond he had attempted to flirt with before.  She had potential use and a strong mind; it would be a pity to just give her up.

            Lyserg was silent, trying not to feel self-conscious at the many eyes now focused on him. 

            "We have no way of knowing," broke in Yoh.  "We don't know the Agents' minds, Oniichan."

            "We don't," concede Hao, "but I believe one does."  His gaze turned back to Lyserg, who seemed to shrink back ever so slightly.

            He knows, just like Kanna did, thought Lyserg with despair.  It's over.  He closed his eyes, and took a breath.  It would all come out plainly now.  He could hide no longer.  A flash of hatred against the long-haired twin shot through him, but there was nothing he could do.  

            "You gave her to Them," said Hao, his voice dangerously calm and light.  Lyserg could feel his eyes boring into him unwaveringly, even when their gazes did not meet. 

            Only an uneasy silence answered his accusation.  "Hao," said Yoh quietly, Lyserg's just happened to get to a phone before the rest of us.  It's not his fault that any of this happened."

            "No," said Lyserg, his voice only just audible, "it's not a coincidence."

            Another moment of quiet.

            "It's not," agreed Manta, a moment later.  "But neither is Lyserg a traitor."  In an instant, all gazes were turned toward him.  "He came from a peaceful foster family in the matrix when his brother and sister became Agents.  Keep in mind that it was his choice."

            "As was his decision to give Anna to his siblings," added Hao in the same merciless tone.

            "To save your brother!" burst out Lyserg.  "It was one or the other; I had no choice!"  He paused, swallowing.  "Marco…he wants you all dead." 

            Ren frowned.  "But Anna's alive," he pointed out.  "Why?"

            "Codes," said Lyserg quietly.  "He would have shot her after capture, but I told him she knows the codes to hack Zion.  She'll probably be terminated after Marco finds out I lied to buy more time."

            "But you didn't," interrupted Manta, suddenly pale.  "Usually only high officers and ship captains know the codes, but Anna was an exception.  Despite a lack of rank in name, she has enough influence to know a lot more than you'd expect.  In fact, if it's codes and passwords they want, she probably knows more than me."

            Lyserg's expression changed abruptly from painful blankness to utter horror. 

            "We'll have no choice but to unplug her ourselves," said Ren, his eyes hard at the idea of the decision.  "We can't let them pry the codes from her."
            "Lyserg can do that," said Hao with a mock joviality that sent a sharp pang through the boy. 

            "I suppose that may be unavoidable," said Morpheus heavily, "though I am reluctant to do so."

            "So I'll get her back," said Hao casually, startling everyone else.

            "How do you propose to do that?" asked Ren, a touch of bitterness in his voice.  "You'd have to take her directly from the Agents, and I highly doubt that you'd even get within three kilometers of the place where they're holding her."

            Hao simply smiled.  "You underestimate me."

            "I'll go too," said Manta gravely.  "I cannot let you risk your life for one of my crewmembers on your own."

            "You'll die!" protested Ren.

            "I would not refuse a companion," said Hao, ignoring the outburst.

            Manta nodded. 

            You'll have to make a choice eventually, between you and Morpheus.  One of you is going to die.  Yoh jumped, startled, and looked around for the source of the voice.  No one else seemed to have heard it. 

            "I'll go instead," he heard yet another voice say, and then realized it was his.  "You stay here and help run the ship, Manta."

            The other youth looked surprised.  "You have significantly fewer ties to Anna, Yoh-kun.  I cannot control the member of another crew, but I cannot let you go."

            "I have to," said Yoh simply.  "I'm quite sure the Oracle said something about this."

            Manta said nothing, but Yoh could see the understanding in his eyes.

            Hao nodded, a small smile of approval on his lips.  "Well then, it'll be the brothers going."  He walked over to one of the chairs and sat down, flipping his long hair over the back so that his plug could be accessed.  "I've had enough waiting."

To be continued…

To VASH THE STAMPEDE: I don't think Ren will die, sorry.  ^_^  And, out of curiosity, since when did you want anyone to die?  What happened to Rem's influence?