Yippy!!! I'm so happy!! I finally finished this blasted chapter!!!(Bounces up and down like an idiot.)
I want to thank all the wonderful peoples out there who have reviewed so far. It's really appreciated!!
I'd love to say I own Schwarz and Weib, but unfortunately I can't, cuz I don't. Damn, life's just not fair, is it?
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The glow of the TV gave the dark room a dull, cold look., which matched Sam's current mood perfectly.
The four guys had gone out somewhere at about 8:00 that night, leaving Sam with a set of rules that most would have given to a small child. No ordering out, leaving the apartment, answering the door, talking to the neighbors, going into their rooms, getting on the computer, calling anyone, spilling anything on the carpet, or banging about. But the last one was only because it annoyed the old women who lived below them. Sam had been warned that if any these rules were violated, they'd know. How they'd know Sam had no idea, but she didn't particularly feel like pissing Brad off. Which she was getting quite good at these days, so the girl had opted silently to be good.
The young women gave the TV a sullen look and popped a couple of kernels of popcorn into her mouth. Her body lay sprawled out across the entire length of the couch.
As long as the four guys were gone she intended to take advantage of the situation.
Even though she now had a friend on the other side, Sam had been hiding out in her room for the past two weeks, ever since the little outing in the park. She needed a change of scenery.
Sam had started her evening by exploring the apartment. Though she'd been here about three weeks now ,she'd spent the majority of it in her room, rarely if ever hanging around outside her own door longer then needed.
The apartment was actually quite large, quite expensive, and quite clean for a house full of guys. She supposed the cleanliness of the place was Brads doing, the young woman had a feeling the others probably didn't give a rats ass what the apartment looked like.
Everything in the apartment was pricey looking. The entertainment system was expensive, the furniture was all black Italian leather, and the coffee table was glass. She wondered as she examined, how they managed to keep Farfarello from tearing this stuff up with those knifes he was so fond of.
The kitchen had always looked a little off to Sam, but she hadn't really tried to figure out why. She realized now it was because nothing was used besides the toaster, microwave and coffee pot. The stove and oven looked as if they had rarely been touched. While the counters had never experienced scuffs, stains, or grease, and the blender was gathering dust. The Schwarz guys obviously didn't care for cooking.
Next she looked around to see what kinds of food they did have. Sam had basically been living off boxes of leftover Chinese's food and pizza for the past three weeks. What she found wasn't encouraging. Bread, lucky charms, popcorn, and coffee were all that was in the cupboards. Peanut butter, jelly, more leftover take out food, something green that might have once been a fruit or maybe cheese, half a jug of milk, and beer made up the contents of the refrigerator. Sam had to admit she didn't cook a lot either, but this was ridiculous. How did they keep from getting fat if all they ate was sweat-and-sour chicken and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?
After that the girl had made herself some popcorn and stretched out on the couch.
Then the calls had started, some very persistent person or people could not accept the fact that no one was home to answer to phone. Sam now glanced at the phone as it began to ring again, a thought had crossed her mind. Brad had said she was not aloud to call anyone, he had never said she couldn't answer the phone. Awe the joy of loopholes.
Getting off the couch she found a pad of paper and a pen and picked up the phone.
"Hello, this is the residence of Brad Crawford how can I help you today?"________
Nagi yawned widely as he entered the apartment. The Schwarz guys had been stuck fighting those Weib losers for an hour after leaving the Chief Justices home. Somehow those kitties had figured out their plan, but to the Schwarz luck, not in enough time to stop them.
Now it was 1:00 in the morning and Nagi had actually planned to show up at school that morning.
(Aw well, maybe I'll go tomorrow. Its not like I need it anyways.) He thought as he strolled into the living room.
School was really just a cover to keep nosey people from calling social workers. Nagi was actually pretty close to being a kid genius. If the schools had it their way, he'd be three years above his current grade, but Brad had told the school to leave him where he was. Meaning Nagi could miss a week of school and still have higher grades then the rest of his classmates.
The boy noted the glowing TV and leaned over the back of the couch, there he found Sam, curled up in a ball sleeping. He smiled at his new friend, amused at finding her in the living room and the abnormal peace and calm that adorned her face.
He felt the presence of his three older teammates as they came into the room. Following his example, they peered curiously over the back of the couch.
"Holy crap, she's in the living room!" Schuldig said, eyeing her incredulously.
"Sssshhhh!!" Said the other three, giving him a look that said. "You'll wake her up you idiot!!" The redhead threw up his hands in submission, giving his group a weird look.
"Do you think we should move her?" Nagi asked Brad in a whisper.
Brad shook his head.
"No, just get her a blanket and pull the coffee table out a bit more." He whispered back.
Meanwhile Schuldig had moved to the other side of the couch and was now munching on the half eaten popcorn and staring at the two whispering men with a look that said. "Why are you fussing over her?"
Nagi went after the blanket and as he spread it over Sam's still form was hit by a thought.
"You know, we haven't given her a codename. Do we intend to?" He asked quietly as he watched Brad and Farfarello move the large heavy coffee table farther away from the couch.
Once the table was in place Brad turned to look at the sleeping girl. Pushing his glasses farther up his nose he said quietly.
"It would be best if we did, she will be coming with us sometimes."
"But what name describes her power?" Schuldig wondered in a whisper.
The four men looked at the young women, each searching for a name.
They stayed that way for a good three minutes before someone finally spoke.
"Maiden." Farfarello said quietly.
"Huh?" The other three said collectively, staring at the insane man.
"Maidens were used by hunters to lure unicorns into capture, they couldn't be caught any other way. The unicorn would come to the young maiden and lay its head in her lap, then she'd slip a golden harness over its head and it wouldn't be able to struggle. The hunters would then kill or capture it." Farfarello said calmly, as if he was reading from a book.
The other three men stared silently at Farfarello, it was unusual for the man to say so much at one time, and it was especially unusual for him to sound sane while saying it.
But they had to admit it was a good idea.
"Probably the most accurate name out there." Brad said in a whisper.
"Fine with me." Schuldig added.
"I like it." Nagi said in a pleased tone.
So Maiden was left to sleep on couch that night, unaware of the decision made over her as well as about her.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
The bright light of the morning sun shone in through the windows and attacked Sam's closed eyes, making her squint as she floated away from sleep. Rolling onto her stomach the young women buried her face in her arms, attempting to rescue her lost dreams before it was to late. But the sun had already claimed her victim, and sliding back into sleep was impossible.
Sam opened her eyes, letting the world come back into focus. But when it did she realized something was amiss. Rolling onto her back she remembered what it was. She had fallen asleep on the couch and was still there.
Sitting up, the girl combed some of the stray blue hair out of her eyes,then looked around. The house was dark and quite, everyone was still asleep.
Crawling off the couch and standing, she noted the blanket that had tumbled away from her in slight surprise. The fact that someone had bothered to put one over her was oddly thoughtful for this household.
With a yawn she left the living room and entered her own. There, she gathered up some bath supplies and headed for the bathroom. As long as she had the time to herself she was going to take a shower then make herself something nice to eat. Those four would wake up at some point and want the bathroom, and then they'd swarm the kitchen. It would be best if she was back in her room by then._______________________________________________________________________
Sam leaned quietly against the cupboards, waiting for the coffee maker to finish. The apartment around her was so calm and light; giant pools of sunshine gathering on the floor from the now open curtains. If she wasn't already aware, she'd never guess this home was occupied by such ruthless people.
Her quite surroundings were perfect for reflecting, so it wasn't surprising when her mind began replaying the events of the past few weeks.
It seemed like she'd been here for much longer then three weeks. But that was because she'd spent so many boring hours in that room. Why did she lock herself in there so often anyways? Was she really so afraid of those men? She didn't feel scared anymore. Brad was a bit intimidating, but not that bad. Schuldig was an annoying jackass and he'd sorta threatened her once, but she doubted he was going to do anything to her. Farfarello was strange, but he hadn't done anything to hurt her. And actually, she really liked Nagi.
Could she be trying to piss them off then? If she was, it was a total waste of time. They just unlocked the door and hauled her out if they needed her. They probably didn't care if she spent the rest of her life in that room.
Sam knew what part of the reason was, if she came out from behind that door it meant facing the fact that she was one of them. She was helping them hurt people, not by choice, but she still helped. She'd condemned that old man. At that thought, Sam swallowed a small lump in her throat.
But hiding in that room wasn't going to make it better, she couldn't change the fact that she'd been forced to give him to them. And hiding wasn't going to stop them, they could easily force her to do it again. What would she do then? Go back and hide in her room for another two weeks? That wasn't much of a life.
Besides the longer she hid away from the four men, the easier it would be for Brad and Schuldig to treat her like a prisoner and a child. She needed to stop acting like a victim, those two fed off that sort of behavior.
Sam looked up from were she'd been staring at the floor for the past few minutes.
The only way she was going to regain her life was to accept what she was, and be a member of the group. Staring at the walls of that room wasn't going to get her anywhere.
Sam picked up her coffee cup and filled it. Staring at the liquid thoughtfully, she took a few sips, letting the hot fluid scald her throat. The young woman then stared towards the front door.
"I think, it's about time I started braking rules." She said to herself .__________________________________Leaving the apartment quietly, Sam headed down the long hall. Being a very expensive building made for people that made enough money to, but didn't want a house, the apartments were all spread out quite extensively. This giving each resident a lot of privacy compared to normal apartment buildings . Sam could imagine there was not a lot of neighborly chat going on between the people in this building. The Schwarz guys probably liked it that way.
Coming to the nearest door, she knocked loudly. After a minute of waiting, a middle aged women answered the door. She looked like a business women, maybe a lawyer, her appearance was very smart and well kept.
Sam smiled.
"I'm sorry to bother you, my names Sam. I 'm one of your neighbors, I moved in down the hall not long ago."
The women gave her a friendly smile in return.
"Ah yes, you live with those four men at the other end of the hall don't you? I saw you the day your stuff was being moved in. Living around so many guys, must be a pain in the but, huh? "
Sam nodded happily. It was nice to talk to someone other then those guys, she hadn't realized how long it had been since she'd really talked to another women.
"Yeah, you have no idea. They also happen to eat nothing but junk, and a lot of it at that. I was wondering if I could barrow some breakfast supplies? I'll pay for or replace them this afternoon after I go shopping." She said.
"Of course, I have three older brothers, their pigs too. My names Yuiri by the way. Come on in and we'll see what we can find. " Invited the women.
So Sam was brought into the women's kitchen where they decided waffles, eggs and bacon would make a good breakfast. Sam then got a surprise when Yuiri insisted that Sam take the whole box of waffles, bacon, and eggs, as well as the whole bottle of syrup.
"Oh, I really don't need that much, I don't want to steal all your food from you." Sam said.
"It's all right, I really don't even eat much of that stuff anyways, I don't know why I even bother to buy the waffles and syrup. I have no time to eat it anyways. Don't bother to replace those, just the eggs and bacon. Anyways if I know men, those four will wake up while your making it and what some too." The women said with a little wave of her hand.
"You're probably right." Sam admitted. "Thank you so much for the food. I apologize for imposing on you so much, asking for breakfast is much more then asking for a cup of sugar."
"It's all right, I understand." The women assured.
Sam headed back to the apartment and started breakfast for herself.
She was putting the bacon in the pan when Nagi wandered into the room. She could see him give her a curious look from the corner of her eye. He then came around the counter towards her, and looked over the boxes on the counter top.
"Where did all this come from?" He asked in a bewildered tone.
"The women down the hall sorta lent it to me." She said.
Nagi looked at her, then at the food, a worried look on his face.
"Brads not going to be happy with you Sam." He stated in slightly nervous tone.
" It's alright Nagi, I need to get a few things straight with him anyways, I can't let him treat me like a small child all the time." She said seriously, then turned and smiled.
"Do you want some breakfast?"
Nagi's worried look turned to a grin at the thought of food.
"Sure!" He said.
"Ok." She beamed, then thought of something. "Do you think Farfarello would want some too?"
Nagi looked thoughtful for a second.
"I'm not sure, I'll go ask." With that he went back down the hall towards the only metal, padlocked door in the house.
As he went past, Schuldig's door opened and the redhead stepped out.
Schuldig looked at Nagi as the boy continued down the hall, then out towards the living room. Something was different, something was off, someone was cooking!
The amazed telepath followed his nose into the kitchen and found Sam popping two waffles in the toaster. Schuldig headed around the counter and peered over the girls shoulder, eyeing the bacon she had begun to turn over.
"Morning Schuldig." Sam said without turning around.
" Morning ." He said in return, still staring at the food intently.
"Did you want something?" She asked.
"Some of that." He said simply.
Now Sam turned around and stared at him with one eyebrow raised.
"And what have you done for me lately that makes you think you deserve any?"
Schuldig pouted for a second, then smiled, trying for innocent and friendly.
"I haven't bothered you all week." He said.
Sam thought about this for a second, then said.
"Fine, but, you have to take me to the grocery store today."
The redhead pouted for a moment, then sighed.
"Fine." He said reluctantly and went over to the table and sat down.
Nagi came back into the kitchen a few seconds later, a sleepy looking Farfarello behind him. The two sat down at the table next to Schuldig, having nothing to do but wait for the food to be done.
Sam gave the three a glance that said "I don't intend to let you sit there while I work ." Taking the finished pieces of bacon out of the frying pan and starting another batch, she began to give instructions.
"Nagi, do you think you could get out four plates and some silverware please? Schuldig would you find me another frying pan? And Farfarello could you please track down the salt and pepper for me. I think I remember seeing the pepper in the living room for some reason."
Schuldig was about to complain that he was already taking her to the grocery store, but was too surprised to when he noticed the younger men were doing what was asked of them. He was mostly surprised to see Farfarello doing what she asked, he tended to only respond when given orders.
"The peppers in the living room because Schuldig threw it at the back of my head yesterday." Nagi commented as he pulled some plates out of the cupboard.
Submitting to the majority, the redhead left the table and went scrounging in the bottom drawers for a pan.
"I threw it at you because you wouldn't change the damn channel." He shot back as he searched.
"Well I like that show for your information." The youth said as he put the plates on the counter for Sam.
"That show is annoying." Schuldig announced as he set the newly found pan on the other burner.
"I wouldn't be talking if I were you Schuldig." Sam cut in as she turned on the burner. " Nagi might start throwing the pepper at you whenever you enter the room." At this Nagi started laughing and had to avoid being swatted across the head by the telepath.
Schuldig made a face at Sam then went after Nagi again, who was still chuckling at the redheads expense.
This couldn't be right, there was definitely something wrong. He could smell food cooking, he could hear cheerful laughter, and that was defiantly not right.
Maybe he'd been abducted by aliens and put back in the wrong apartment. No, that was silly. So what in hell was going on?
Brad made his heavy eyelids open at last , he couldn't put it off any longer, this mystery needed solving. Pulling his protesting body into a sitting position, the clairvoyant found his glasses on the side table and got out of bed.
After getting dressed Brad headed for the kitchen. What he found there nearly made his jaw drop. Some kind of breakfast being prepared, his teammates stood around the kitchen talking casually. What was surprising was Sam was one of them.
Brad entered the kitchen and felt the relaxed mood change immediately as the people there noticed him.
Nagi held in whatever smart remark he was about to shoot at Schuldig, the redhead turned and gave the older man his customary smirk and Farfarello seemed to lose interest in the world. The clairvoyant ignored his male teammates and walked up to Sam.
As he approached her, Brad could see her face change with flickers of different emotions. First fear, then worry, a kind of determination, and lastly, a look of challenge. Her head held high, ready to meet any emotion he threw at her. The clairvoyant could tell that she'd resolved to be a member of the team, and wasn't going to be bullied anymore.
Brad stopped about two feet away from the girl and examined the food on the counter top.
"Now, I know I didn't see any of this stuff in the refrigerator yesterday, so, where, might I ask, did it come from?" The man raised a questioning eyebrow as he asked her this.
Sam crossed her arms and met his stare.
"It's from one of our neighbors." She said calmly.
Brad pushed his already slipping glasses back up his nose.
"I thought I told you not to talk to the neighbors." He said, equally calm.
"You told me not to talk to them yesterday, not today." She challenged.
"Yes but you were aware those rules applied every day." He shot back calmly.
Sam glanced at her nails in an unconcerned manner.
"Well, maybe you should have been more specific."
The clairvoyant stared at her, seemingly unruffled by her defiance.
"Maybe." He said.
They stared at each other for a couple of seconds in tense silence. Brad broke the tension by turning away suddenly.
"I guess Id be willing to overlook this incident if…" He broke off, turning slightly to look back at her.
"If ?" She asked, looking at him questioningly.
"You'll make some for me too." He finished anticlimactically.
"I guess I can manage that." She said.
"Good, I'll be in my office, you can bring it there." He said, heading slowly out of the kitchen.
"Do you want coffee with that, sir?" He could hear her drag that last word out sarcastically.
"Of course." He said without a pause in his stride._____________________________________________
As soon as Brad left the room, the sound of air being released could be heard from the three remaining males.
"I thought he was going to go ballistic." Nagi said quietly, looking towards the office in disbelief.
"Yeah, he doesn't normally tolerate disobedience." Schuldig added, also staring towards the hall their leader had disappeared down.
"How would you know? He doesn't put up with our disobedience. You can get away with just about anything." Nagi pointed out in slight disgust.
"That's because I'm older then you two." The redhead said with a self satisfied grin.
"No its because he's tired of trying to control you. Your like a spoiled child." Nagi declared.
"Heh, heh, I might act like a child, but lets not forget who is a child. Schuldig shot back.
While Nagi and Schuldig returned to bickering aimlessly, Sam got back to finishing breakfast.________________________________________________________________________________
Once the food was done and served to the three younger men, Sam grabbed Brads plate, coffee, as well as the record of last nights calls and headed for the clairvoyants office. Before she could even attempt to knock on the door, a muffled "come in" could be heard from the other side.
She entered the room to find Brad with his head bent over some paperwork. As the young woman set the food and coffee down in a relatively paper free area of the desk, the man looked up at her in a way which said "I have a bone to pick with you."
"In the future, Id like you to keep in mind that I don't like being defied. If you continue to toe the line like you did today, I will do something about it." Brad said this calmly, his eyes fixed on hers with an air of seriousness.
Sam stared back, refusing to be daunted by his threats. She was starting to feel a little angry with him.
"And in the future Id like you to keep in mind that I'm not a five year old. I'm supposed to be part of this team now. If you treat me like a juvenile delinquent how am I supposed to feel like a member?" She said this in a controlled voice.
Brad opened his mouth to speak.
"I'm not done yet." She spat dangerously. This caused the mans mouth to close before he could get a word out, the look on his face had gone slightly surprised.
Sam's patience with him had officially expired. She leaned down over the desk till she was eyelevel with the fearless leader.
"You know, I've been here for three weeks and this is the first time that I've really spoken to another women. You four at least have each other to talk to, but I don't have anyone of my own gender to so much as say "hi" to. And if you'll remember, women tend to be social creatures." Sam said, her voice tight .
"So don't sit there and tell me to hide away in this apartment till you say I can come out. What do you think I'm going to do anyways? You have all my money, I'm not going to leave the country. I'm part of this little group now, do you think I'm going to get on the phone and start blabbing about how I'm a fucking assassin? If you get caught then I get caught, damn it!" Sam stood glaring at the not so confidant looking leader, trying to calm herself down. She hadn't come in here with the intent of telling Brad off. But when he'd so coolly started acting like the king of the world, she couldn't take it anymore. Giving him one last death glare, Sam tossed the pad of paper into his lap.
"Those are your messages from last night, you never told me I couldn't answer the phone." She hissed this with a look on her face that just dared him to comment." Turning, Sam left the room. Leaving the clairvoyant with a small taste of what a women's wrath really looked like.___________________________________________________________________
Entering the hallway Sam found the other three men casually pretending they hadn't been trying to listen in.
Looking down the hall then back towards the kitchen, her eyes finally settled on Schuldig. His giant grin let her know he wasn't trying as hard as the others to convince her he hadn't been spying. The redhead opened his mouth to say something smart-alecky as she approached him, but wasn't given the chance.
"Shut up! We're going to the grocery store." She growled, grabbing the surprised mans collar and dragging him towards the door.________________________________________________________________________________________
Brad sat staring at the closed door, he was, to put it lightly, a little surprised.
No girl had ever treated him like that, in fact, never in his adult life had someone so verbally flogged him. The mans mind was having a hard time finding the right reaction for this. His emotions finally settled on extremely annoyed. Where did that girl get off, being so pissy at him?
With an irritated sigh, Brad turned to examine the notepad that had been so thoughtfully hurled at him. It was a list of phone numbers, a very neat list of numbers. Each number was sectioned off from the other, each fallowed by a name, short message and time of call.
"Huh, she's very organized, I'll give her that much." He said, intrigued. Brad continued to skim the list, only pausing when he noticed one of the names, "Corman, Elena." It was fallowed by a short message which simply said, "Concerning you know what." The time on the note said, "9: 45 P.M."
"Shit!" Brad cursed and scrambled for the phone.
The line range twice before it was answered.
"Miss Cormans office, how may I help you?" A secretary's chirpy voice asked.
"This is Crawford. Is Miss Corman in?" The clairvoyant slumped in his chair, pushing his glasses up his nose as he spoke.
"Yes, she's in Mister Crawford, I'll connect you immediately." The secretary bubbled happily. A second later the cheery voice was replaced by silence. Brad stared absently at the notepad while he waited.
Suddenly the voice of his employer was heard.
"Crawford dear. It's been too long, how are you?" Brad tensed involuntarily at the slippery sweet British accent.
"Perfectly fine, thank you." He answered calmly.
"I apologize for my late response to your call, I was out late last night." The man continued.
"Oh that's all right, you have many responsibilities, its understandable. By the way, I see you've finally gotten yourself a secretary. Its about time, you needed one."
Brad looked at the notepad, then at the door Sam had slammed only 15 minutes before.
"Yes I suppose I have." The man said, an idea striking him at his employers assumption.
"She seems like a nice girl, is she trustable though?" The woman asked. Brad looked away from the door and focused back on the conversation.
"Yes, I can assure you, she's fully trustworthy."
"That's good, so hard to find good help these days. My secretaries not trustworthy, simply dumb as a post. But enough with the pleasantries, tell me about the old man." The women's tone went from slyly friendly, to business like in under a second. Brad had been ready for this.
"We have confirmed that the man has telekinetic power." He said.
"Good." Was the woman's simple reply .
"Do you want us to take care of him?" Brad asked, his tone board.
"No, just drug him, then bring him to the warehouse. Someone will be there to pick him up." His employer said coolly. At this order Brad gave the phone a puzzled look but didn't allow his bewilderment to seep into his voice.
"Alright, when should we meet this person?" He asked, rubbing his forehead in exasperation. Brad was confused, his employer had never asked him to hand a target over to her before. What could she possibly want with this scrawny old fool?
"Tonight at 11:00, if that's alright with you of course?" Brad knew the woman wasn't really asking his permission, she was just daring him to say it wasn't alright.
"That's fine." He responded nonchalantly.
"Wonderful. Always a
pleasure talking with you Crawford dear. I'll be in touch." With that said, his
employer hung up, not even waiting for a response.
Brad set the phone down, letting his smooth features twist into a glare as the receiver hit the cradle.
"Crawford dear." He muttered, sifting through a pile of papers.
"I'd like to show her how 'dear' I really am."___________________________________________________
Schuldig took a quick glance at the slight figure sitting in the passenger seat. He had to admit he was sorta impressed with her. Not many people, let alone a girl, could face down Brad Crawford and live through it. The funny thing about it was, she'd actually managed to rattle him! If he hadn't thought she might whack him one, Schuldig would have started laughing right there on the freeway.
As they came to a stop at a red light, the redhead let his eyes slid over to Sam. The girl really was cute when she was pissed off. She sat slumped in the seat next to him , her arms and legs crossed, her fingers drumming on her upper arm. She stared fiercely at the dashboard. Her mouth set in an annoyed little frown, part of her lower lip unconsciously being bitten down on, making the frown almost look like a pout.
The redhead grinned widely to himself, greatly amused by her obliviously adorable behavior.
When they arrived at the grocery store, Sam grabbed a cart and headed inside, Schuldig following at her heals like obedient puppy.
"So what exactly are we looking for here?" Schuldig asked lazily as they strolled through the produce.
"Oh I don't know, I guess just something from the five basic food groups." Sam muttered, picking up some apples and putting them in a bag.
"Hmm. Haven't had any of those in a while." The redhead mused humorously. Sam just ignored him and continued down the rows of fruit.
The two were silent for a long time after that. Schuldig amusing himself by helping shoppers forget what was on their grocery lists. While Sam continued to add things to the cart, trying to calm her frayed temper at the same time.
They had
entered the snack aisle when Schuldig finally turned his attention back to Sam.
(Hey, you know what? I just
remembered something.) Sam heard the unexpected voice in her head, but
continued to calmly look for her favorite brand of chips.
(What?) She asked without a hint of interest. Schuldig grinned at her like a Cheshire cat.
(We gave you a name last night .) He revealed this like it was a great honor. Sam dropped a bag into the cart and continued moving.
(Last time I checked, I already had a name.) She answered.
(No, no, I mean a codename.) The redhead explained, dropping a box of cereal in the cart as he spoke.
(Codename?) Sam asked, staring at him in confusion.
(Don't tell me we never told you about them?) Schuldig seemed slightly surprised. Sam shook her head. The redhead leaned against the cart casually and began.
(Well you see, we each get a codename so we're not using our real names on missions. I'm Mastermind, Brads name is Oracle, Nagi's Prodigy, and Farfarello's Berserker.) Sam raised an eyebrow at him, then let a small smile spread over her face.
( I can see where the others names come from, but Mastermind? I don't know, I think you look more like a butthead, or maybe a Lamebrain.) Schuldig scowled mildly at this.
( I'm glad to see you're in a better mood.) He said in a sarcastic mental tone. Sam let the small smile turn into an all out grin.
(Couldn't have happened without your help.) She answered sweetly.
( I'm flattered. Do you want me to tell you your name, or should I keep it to myself?) Schuldig asked, slight annoyance in his voice. Sam let the grin fade to a smile.
( Alright, go ahead.) The redhead gave her one last pointed look , then launched into his explanation again.
Omi dropped the can of soup into the cart and reached for another.
"I don't see why you needed me to come shopping with you." Yoji complained beside him. Omi turned slightly to look at his friend. The older man was leaning against the cart looking around sulkily.
"I needed you to come because my bike wont hold all the groceries, and neither you or Aya will let me use one of your cars." The younger blond said in exasperation.
"Hey kid, driving a car is much different then puttering around on one of those bikes. I don't need you wreaking my baby." Yoji said seriously, peering over the top of his sunglasses at the store around them.
Omi gave the older man an indignant look.
"I'm not a kid, I have my drivers license, and I wouldn't crash your precious car. In fact, I'm probably less likely to crash it then you are."
"Yeah, sure, whatever." Yoji said with a small dismissing wave of his hand.
The two made there way around the corner and into the next aisle. Omi turned and inspected the shelf in front of him.
"You know if you'd jus. . ." The blond youth was cut off as his teammates hand roughly covered his mouth and he was pulled out of the aisle.
Omi knocked the hand away and turned, glaring at his friend. He was about to yell at Yoji when he noticed how alert the older mans eyes were.
"What's up?" Omi asked, confused.
"Schuldig!!" Yoji hissed, pointing at the aisle they had just hurried out of.
That was the only word it took to put Omi on guard. The boy turned around quickly and peered carefully around the packaged doughnuts down the aisle in front of him. Sure enough, the detestable red haired menace was there, but luckily, he didn't seem to have seen them. The man wasn't in the same row they had been in, but the one directly across the main aisle from them. Schuldig's attention seemed to be on the young woman next to him, who had just picked a pasta sauce off the shelf and was setting it in the cart between them.
"Do you think he can, you know, hear us?" Yoji asked, staring down the aisle as well.
"No, he's too far away, too many people around to pick us out, probably." Omi said, his tone unsure.
"I wonder who the cute girl is." Yoji said , his attention going to the young woman.
" I don't know, maybe his girlfriend?" Omi said with a shrug.
"That's a laugh, I doubt the bastard could get a girlfriend if his life depended on it. Anyways they don't look close enough to be involved." Yoji said quietly.
"Could she be a new member of Schwarz then?" The younger blond wondered.
"Could be, their sharing a shopping cart so it's likely she lives with them." The former privet eye said deductively.
"Does that mean she has one of those odd gifts too?" Omi asked looking at his friend worriedly. The Weib already had enough trouble managing against the other three's powers. If this woman could contribute something, it might make Schwarz too much for the Weib guys to handle.
"I don't know, I thought those weirdo's had all the freaky powers covered already." Yoji said, also looking somewhat concerned.
"Lets get out of here before they get too close and hear us." Omi said, watching as their enemy strolled slowly and obliviously nearer.
"Yeah the others need to know about this." Yoji said.
With that the two Weib members turned their shopping cart towards the cash registers and moved away.________________________________________________________________________________________
( So, my codenames Maiden.) Sam said thoughtfully.
( How often do you think I'll actually have to come with you on missions?) She asked after a moment.
(Rarely, I image.) The redhead answered.
(But still, when I do go, I wont be able to fight, hell I wont even be able to protect myself.) Sam thought to Schuldig in a troubled tone.
( We're not going to leave you alone, one of us will always be with you.) The telepath said in an unconcerned manner.
( So I'm just going to hide behind one of you four the whole time were out? Well I won't be in the way, will I.) The young woman commented sarcastically.
Schuldig glanced at Sam then looked thoughtfully at the floor.
( I guess your right. I'll ask Brad about teaching you to use a gun.)
Eventually the two finished their shopping and reached the checkout line.
"Pull out your wallet Schuldig." Sam said as she began taking items out of the cart. Schuldig looked at her in surprise.
"You expect me to pay for all this." He motioned at the numerous food items.
"Well its not like I have any money." The girl said in exasperation.
"But you're the one who wanted all this! Why didn't you get money from Brad?!" Schuldig whined, glaring at the young woman in front of him.
"Oh, like you're not going to eat any of this." Sam said sarcastically.
"And anyways, how was I supposed to get money from Brad after that little encounter? I think you're a total jerk Brad, by the way could I get some money? Yeah right." The young woman gave the redhead an expectant look. Schuldig scowled for a moment then reached into his back pocket.
"You owe me for this one sweetie."__________________________________________________________Once the two teammates got back to the apartment building Sam made a quick stop at Yuiri's, then returned to the apartment.
The young woman dumped the groceries on the counter and began putting them away. Halfway through filling the refrigerator, she noticed the dirty breakfast dishes still on the table. Sam glared death rays at the offending cutlery, then walked over to the table and scooped them up.
"Those three are in big trouble if they think I'm going to become their mother." The girl muttered as she headed back to the kitchen. Finding the sink already full Sam turned around to look for counter space on which she could set the dishes. As she turned she was surprised to find Brad almost right behind her. The young woman got over it quickly, being too annoyed to be worried.
Sam stared at the man for a moment then dumped the dishes in his arms.
"Tell your silly teammates that just because I made one meal, it doesn't make me a housewife." The young woman said this as she cleared an area on the counter. She then turned back to Brad.
"This place is pretty clean so I assume you guys are used to cleaning up after yourselves. I'm not going to become the maid, so don't slack off on my account." Sam shook a finger at Brads nose, them took the dishes back from the bemused clairvoyant. She set the dishes in the designated space then turned back once again to face the man in front of her.
Brad stared at the young woman for a moment before seeming to remember what he'd come there to do.
"I'll speak to them." He said slowly. The man then stared down at his hands for a moment before looking up again.
"I'd like to apologies for treating you so impolitely during the past few weeks. You are a teammate, not a prisoner. And though I'm not yet willing to give you total freedom, I will agree to give you back certain rights." Sam raised an eyebrow at her new leader and leaned against the counter, arms crossed. She could tell that he wasn't really sorry, the apology didn't reflect in those brown eyes of his. So what could Brad Crawford want from her that would make him forget her outburst, and want to get on her good side?
"What are you after?" Sam asked bluntly. A flicker of amusement passed through the clairvoyants eyes.
"I want you to be my assistant of sorts. I need someone to answer the phone, remember dates, help me keep things in order and such. I noticed how organized you are, and I remembered you were a secretary before joining us. I'd like your help. The man said diplomatically. Sam looked at him thoughtfully then asked.
" I can speak to the neighbors and talk on the phone?" Brad nodded.
"What about the computer and all those other little things?" She asked, eyeing him.
"Allowed, but if you spill anything on the rug I'll still have to punish you severely." She could hear the small trace of humor in the mans tone .
(Well maybe that stick isn't as far up his ass as I thought it was.) She thought with a small smirk.
"Fine, I'll play secretary for you." Sam agreed.
"I'm glad to hear that, I'll have stuff for you to do tomorrow." Brad said and turned to leave, but then turned back.
"One more thing, could we get you to continue cooking meals once in a while?" He asked.
"If you guys will do the dishes." Sam said with a small nod.
"Agreed." Brad nodded back._______________________________________________________________