"I think that's them," Whip said, squinting at the two shadowy figures leaping across the buildings nearby.

"It would have to be, unless you know a couple of other building-jumpers," Adel said with a small chuckle.

Indeed, within a few moments, Duo Lon and Leona leapt down from the fire escapes, hitting the ground lightly and hurrying on over to the pair. They could already tell they had sustained some injuries, as they were moving slightly more carefully than usual, though the pair looked overall healthy and in one piece.

When they got more into the light, however, they could see exactly the types of injuries they sustained. While some were basic, the fact Duo Lon had strange, finger-like marks in his shoulder-that looked rather deep-and Leona several claw-like gashes on her collarbone, told them that things may have gotten hairy.

On top of this, it was clear the two looked tired. And if that wasn't enough, the fact the two were very tightly holding hands-fingers interlocked and everything, which was quite uncharacteristic of them in public, not seen since their vacation-let them know that whatever did happen...well, they would tell if they wanted to, they supposed. But it did let Adel and Whip know that perhaps a little more went on that they first suspected.

Whip nodded. "Everything alright?" she asked, examining them.

"Yes," Duo Lon replied, his voice steady. "We were successful. All opponents eliminated. Any possible evidence collected. They did, indeed, have a sniper there. In fact, there was another potential one, but we had eliminated him before he could arm himself."

"The guys were right," Adel said, impressed.

"Ralf and Clark know," Leona said softly. "They always know."

Looking between the two of them again, they decided not to press the matter any more, maybe letting them unwind first. "We're good here, too," he said. "Took some hits. Maybe I got a little careless. But everyone's done."

Duo Lon paused, sliding his pipe out of one of the folds of his clothing. Noticing this, Leona started to actually chuckle, despite the tired look on her face.

"You...brought your pipe?"

"Yes. It takes very little room." He packed and lit it, blowing a thin stream of pleasant smoke from his mouth. The others inhaled; they all liked the scent of it. It made things feel...normal, especially after everything.

Adel laughed softly at this, patting his friend on the shoulder that didn't look as injured, gently. "Looks like we might have to put off the next match for a bit."

"I don't think any of us will be sparring for at least a week or so, let alone having a full blown match," Whip said with a smirk.

"I can still train, I think." Adel moved his arms around to prove it. "Sparring...yeah, let's give it a rest. Even though I need to push ahead again." He smirked at Duo Lon.

The assassin chuckled at this. "Did you find anything?" he asked.

"Some cards and papers. We collected anything that looked like information could be pulled off of it. Anyone stupid enough to carry a phone, we took those, too. I'm sure they can be hacked for messages."

"Think they'd track them?"

"Probably not after what happened tonight," Whip snorted.

Adel nodded. "I know how these guys work. Bury enough of them, the rest will go running with their tails tucked, hoping they can fall in with some bigger fish."

Leona scratched her hair, some visible blood at the corner of her lip. "Was it just me, or did Ralf…"

"Sound way more serious than usual?" Whip finished her sentence.

"So it wasn't just us."

Duo Lon looked between them. "Leona told me that he usually doesn't sound that way. I suspected something more may have happened on their end."

"That's what I figured," Whip agreed. "I told Adel the same thing. Ralf always takes missions seriously-but he's still Ralf. Jovial most of the time, even when on one. I know they're okay, but I definitely would like to know what they ran into."

Duo Lon rubbed his chin, taking another draw of his pipe. "Whatever it was, I am thankful that those two decided to spearhead this mission. It would have taken me days, probably, to find everything out about them. I work a bit more through...old fashioned means," he said. As terrifying as the Hizoku were, they were not particularly specialized in tracking opponents through modern technological means. Duo Lon, being a younger one, was far better with computers and other technology than most of the elders, but he still did most of his work in the old-fashioned way...with the help of some of his strange powers.

"Yeah," Adel answered, cracking his neck and stretching. "Is it time to head there yet?" he asked.

"They'll give us a buzz."

Deciding to sit down by the side of a building, the group looked at each other; they could all see the general weariness on each others' faces. What surprised both Adel and Whip was that Duo Lon looked weary. To him, assassination was...not something that he would look even remotely weary after, and he knew how much endurance the young man had.

They had seen him after assassinating what was probably just as many men in that one building back in the spring, when they were busily cleaning out the other place. Like the pair of them, he didn't enjoy it, but nor did he shy away from it. He was completely neutral. When Adel had called in the favor to deal with the Frankfurt problem, likewise, he heard nothing, nor saw anything strange on the man's face after. Even on vacation, when he went to do a favor for Shen, he treated it as if Shen had asked him to go walk his dog.

But...this...they knew something had happened. The two were still tightly holding hands, and Leona, after a few moments of sitting, rested her head on his shoulder.

Taking Adel's hand, Whip looked up at him and smiled softly, nuzzling into him herself.

After a few more moments of silence, Whip's radio went off. Grabbing it, she answered.

"Yes?"

"We're ready. In the garage we started at. See you soon."

"Roger." She looked at the rest, nodding.

The four stood, making their way to their next destination, hoping to put this all behind them.

"By the way..." Whip started. "Duo Lon?"

"Yes?"

She rubbed her shoulder. "Got anything else for that pipe?" she chuckled.

The assassin-as did the rest-had a hearty laugh at this. Even Leona snorted laughter. He pat her sympathetically on her uninjured shoulder.

"Unfortunately, not this time."

"You hear something?"

"Yeah," Clark replied, listening close. "I think it's them."

Ralf nodded, also listening. "Yep. Four sets of footsteps."

"None of them sound like they're limping, either," Clark pointed out. A prudent person could tell, in an echoing parking lot especially, if someone's walking was off. "That's a good sign."

Looking up, they saw them turn the corner and continue walking toward them. While no one was limping and everyone looked whole, he could tell some... stuff may have popped off. Possibly quite a bit, judging by their appearances even from back where they were.

Ralf stood up. When they had gotten back, they had made sure the garage was cleaned up first to the best of their ability, moving the bodies inside for dealing with later after sifting nabbing any potential valuable information off of them.

He waited, looking at what turned out to be four blood-soaked and rather worn looking individuals wandering in.

"Holy shit, guys!" he said, folding his arms. "You look like…"

"Ralf after his first mission for the boss."

"Hey!" he grumped, scowling at his friend-though clearly in a joking manner. He shook his head, giving a chuckle. "Boy, you guys look like you really went through the wringer. And put them through the wringer. Everything was successful, at least?"

"Oh, yes," Duo Lon spoke up. "Nothing we told you was a lie. We prevented all instances of communication and anything else. No innocents were harmed, as the rifle never went off. Neither did."

"And we collected any information that you asked for," Leona added.

Whip rubbed her wounded shoulder. "And no one escaped our building, either. All enemies were neutralized." Adel, meanwhile, rubbed the forming bruise on his leg, bending down to pick what seemed to be a piece of...something, or more like someone, from the top of his boot.

Clark and Ralf looked at each other, the only things on them being a few odd bruises and the shrapnel Ralf had taken from the grenade. They looked back at the group, eyeing Leona in particular; they had a feeling something may have happened there.

But, the mission was a success, regardless of what happened where, and the fact that everyone was standing-somewhat injured and bloody, but standing-made it extra successful. Not only that, a lot of extra information seemed to have been gathered, which was a bonus.

"Well," Ralf said. "You guys can all tell us what...went on, a debriefing if you will, after we get back, cleaned, and patched up, okay?"

Leona scratched her head. Duo Lon rubbed her shoulder gently. "Yes," she said.

"We'll talk to you guys in pairs later. Just so we get all of the info. And don't worry about anything," he added, insinuating that regardless of how much the pairs got into it, Ralf and Clark were more concerned with the overall success of the operation. Clark removed his hat for a moment to adjust his somewhat messy hair.

"In any case…" Ralf continued, "We'll fill you in on what went down here. We arrived, and indeed, had hostels. We dismantled the vehicles, making it so they couldn't escape. We decided to lure them out by tripping the alarms, to get a leg up on them."

"Which we did," Clark added. "The opposition was neutralized without much effort. That being said...they had access to grenades, at least."

Ralf rubbed his shoulder. "Otherwise, they were not particularly heavily armed. It was strange, to be honest."

Whip blinked. "Grenades...yet they only came out with handguns?"

"Yes," Clark replied. "We found it weird, too. They probably didn't expect us to press them. But with access to grenades, then I imagine they could have gotten more. And then...there was what we found, but we'll get into that when we get back to the room."

"Yeah, that's something I'm interested in hearing."

Adel nodded. "She said you...sounded more serious."

"Oh, you guys don't know the beginning of it. C'mon. Let's get back and get cleaned up." Waving them toward the exit, the group followed, heading back to their hotel, taking various back routes and alleys as to stay somewhat discreet.

It would easily take until near dawn to get completely settled down from the group's rather intense mission.

Inhaling, Adel sighed, the bandages wrapped around his shirtless torso as he leaned back against the big chair in the suite. He was thankful that he had a couple of sets of clean clothes that he kept in Whip's room-while the Sky Noah was only docked about an hour or so away-it was nice to not have to travel all the way back in blood-soaked Kevlar clothing. Mostly he just kept some clothes there for the nights where they would end up going to a bar for a late night, and he'd stay there with her, instead.

"Coffee," he said, clearly with relish. The rich aroma smelled ambrosial.

"Yeah, I figured we'll be up for at least a little while more...so might as well get it in us now," Ralf chuckled, having ordered an extra large pot for the room.

The group had taken several hours to dress down, get cleaned up, and also all visit a proper medic, which Ralf and Clark arranged, as they had a small med team there that could set up on the spot to take care of the more minor injuries the soldiers could accrue on a mission now and again. They had all needed a fair bit of care; wounds cleaned and then stitched up if necessary, antibiotics given, and bandages fixed up, after they had gotten very necessary showers.

Whip, as usual, held onto Adel's hand when the needles came out. She did not need stitches, thankfully, but she did need the antibiotic shot, as she took a few stab wounds, and it was always good practice since knives could be dirty things. As always, he soothed her, smoothing down her hair and nuzzling her head. Their medics were kind, knowing that the young soldier still somewhat had trouble with certain things.

Now, the entire lot of them were lounging around one of the spare rooms they had rented for a meeting room-a suite, to be sure. It was for more casual meetings, as this group wasn't exactly being ordered around by the government.

Pouring coffee for the bunch-they all looked like they needed sleep, but were holding up well-Ralf and Clark settled at the table, while the rest of the group were lounging about the more comfortable chairs in the place, near each other. Whip was sitting on the floor between Adel's legs, while Leona was settled back on the arm of one chair, next to Duo Lon. He had left his own luggage in Leona's room as soon as he arrived that day, so was able to get changed afterward, as well.

"So, we can go over a bunch of this stuff first, while we're all here. We'll want to chat with you guys separately, too. Just for a few extra things." He sipped his coffee, thinking for a moment. "It's not confidential, just for the record. You guys are free to chat after. This isn't exactly an official mission."

"I get it," Adel said. "Just easier to break down separately."

"Exactly." He repositioned in his chair as Clark sat next to him. His hat and glasses were both off for once. "So to be blunt; we found a massive load of explosives in another building."

Adel blinked. "Like...grenades? You said they had some."

"Worse than that," Clark said. "Legitimate explosives. Well...the bases of them. They weren't made into bombs...yet. The group was clearly cooking their own somewhere."

Whip shook her head. "I know it's not...the first time these types do this, but...gods, do you know-"

"We're on that," he said. "Judging by how many casualties we gave them tonight-going by the numbers you guys gave us earlier-they are severely crippled."

Ralf nodded in agreement. "We're pretty sure, after going through the information on the fellows we took out, those were some of their 'experts', if you will."

"Yeah," Clark added. "We managed to trace some info we scrounged up from there to the place with the explosives, and found more info linking them."

"So you think they are no longer in a state to start making more?" Duo Lon asked, having been quiet most of the time.

"We doubt it. With what is probably over thirty casualties, and their stock now getting safely taken care of, I doubt whoever's left is even going to bother."

"I'm not even sure if I killed Furze or not," Adel said, scratching his head. "I had no idea what the man looked like."

"If you didn't-we'll let you know," Ralf told the young man. "In any case...there were a lot of explosives. Definitely cooked, and again, we have people trying to find where the actual underground factory is. They were...delicate, I could tell," Ralf said. "To be honest, it's a miracle that they got them there intact."

"There were enough there to take out the building we were in and probably damage the couple next to it. We found them in a sort of warehouse."

"Still, these idiots were lucky they didn't blow themselves sky high."

Leona nodded, having been silent the whole time. "I've seen things like this. A lot of the amateur explosive cookers have no idea how to handle them safely."

"Do you think they were amateurs?" Adel asked.

"They looked like they knew what they were doing," Clark replied, "Though the way they were storing them? I can't say they were complete experts. Intermediate skill...which is nowhere near enough to handle them in that amount."

"Basically, people who know how to make the things...but aren't professionals. And that's dangerous. We've seen places blown sky high. I remember one time where we got called to a place-yes, us -because some sort of granary or something in the middle of nowhere got blown sky high. The locals thought they were under attack, so they called in the military." Ralf scratched his hair, his bandanna on the table.

"Turns out," Clark continued. "Illegal fireworks factory. Enough to cause a damn mushroom cloud that could be seen from several kilometers away. And these things we found were of decidedly higher quality."

"Yeah. These guys were dangerous idiots, and it's probably good we thinned their numbers." The big man folded his arms. "And I don't say that lightly. As you know, we prefer not to take lives if necessary."

"Christ," Whip muttered under her breath. "So...you are getting them..."

"Yes. And don't worry, we won't need you-they aren't actual bombs."

Adel sighed in relief at that. Whip patted his hand, chuckling; she knew he always got a little nervous when she would talk about her expertise in bomb disposal. She turned back to the other two.

"How were they storing them?"

"Boxes. Barrels. The usual things idiots would do. Wouldn't be surprised if they were mixing them with some sort of shoddy equipment."

She shook her head. "Gods know what they're using for them. Probably the usual stuff...which is all dangerous."

"Wouldn't surprise me. That's why we called the squad immediately."

Adel rubbed his neck uncomfortably; he was really, really glad he didn't rush in this time. "Do...the people around know?"

Clark thought. "There aren't too many to know, I think. I can guarantee that there were no living arrangements around that building. It still would have been a mess, and would have caused big problems if it went off, and certainly a few fatalities...but out of some small miracle they had the storage in an out of the way place."

Whip started to massage Adels neck herself. "Don't worry, you. It's safe now. Or it will be."

"Anyway," Ralf continued. "We'll let everyone know when the squad says it's clear. We have yet to determine what other sorts of arms they were getting, but with no one here having seen them particularly armed, I wonder if they even had a good pipeline for actual weapons. It may have been that's why they had thrown in with you guys to begin with."

"I did find it strange they only came after us with handguns and knives," Duo Lon said. "Besides the sniper-which you were correct about-and the other potential one that worried us…" He coughed at that. "While there was the presence of the sniper with the high-powered rifle, and another potential one who seemed to also have one, which we uncovered...the majority did not attack us with them. Of course, I understand sniper rifles are not particularly good in close."

"Curious they had those but not A-K's," Leona said, seemingly talking to herself. "It's true-sniper rifles aren't really something you'd haul around in an active battle. But A-K's are easier."

"Well, we're still looking," Ralf said. "It could be they had them, but didn't expect trouble, so they weren't armed with them today. Or they were waiting on them. We'll hopefully track down any shipments that may have been coming in that no longer have people picking them up."

"If it turns out Furze is still alive…" Adel's expression grew dark.

"We'll let you know," Clark replied. "Don't worry. We know you've done a few instances of...underworld cleaning for the boss on the side, so I'm sure that he'll even throw in to help see if he's still around."

"Thanks." He sipped his coffee, quickly settling again. He rubbed at his bandaged, stitched up shoulder.

"Okay, guys. That's about it. Seirah, Adel, let us chat with these two first, and then you guys come in. Try not to go to sleep while you wait," he said with a small smirk. "It won't take long. We just need to get the reports from each of you."

"Yes," she said. "We'll just wander the halls." She moved, wincing at her shoulder wound slightly. The bullet certainly bruised her deep.

"That'll help keep us up." Adel helped her up, and the two left, patting the others on the shoulder as they left.

After they were gone, Ralf just looked at the pair, already having an idea what happened. He got up to sit close to them, the three deciding to join on the couch, instead, as Clark stood across from them. Patting Leona on the shoulder, he smiled sadly. Rather than grill them, he simply nodded.

"How bad was it?"

"I...was only in it for a few moments," she said. "He was able to help me."

"Thank you," he immediately said to the assassin. Turning back to Leona, he looked at her gently. "Do you think you know what caused it?"

"I...guess the seal is still weird," she said. "Something always feels like it's trying to hit. Some days it's worse than others, of course. Then coupled with blood that happened when some enemies ended up getting the drop on us…" she shook her head.

"Mistakes happen," Clark said. "Don't worry about that part. The building was probably crawling with them."

"And...my own fear. I know that now." At this, she absently grasped for the assassin's hand; he took it. Ralf and Clark seemed to not even notice, or simply did not, of course, press the matter of her personal life. "I suppose my fear of the seal...coupled with being nervous about...my first mission again in nearly a year."

Duo Lon cleared his throat. "Her heart rate was elevated at the beginning. After she calmed down and the state passed, it was normal. Even after…" he trailed off. "I was foolish."

"Yeah, I was going to...ask about that. Look, I won't even pretend to know how you or your...abilities work, and I know you can't explain it totally." Ralf noticed the wound on Leona. "But...it seems to me that…do you…is it like her?"

"It's...a long story short, when we displace to a new area...or hide, we are no longer exactly in this world. We are in between worlds." He paused, trying to figure a way to explain it to a couple of more military-minded people who likely had less experience on this topic. Despite the Ikaris having knowledge of some otherworldly powers, this was one area where they were likely in the dark about. "What is there is...not something that is easy on the mind. We are not meant to stay. I...stayed. I did not want to risk there being a snag...the way the enemy was positioned in the large room, I would not be able to kill them all instantly without raising an alarm. There were still others that they could have contacted, too, causing a problem on the floor below."

Ralf rubbed his chin. "I've been in situations like that, yes. Sometimes you need a different approach."

"When you stay too long...it can warp one's mind, and you...imagine yourself stuck, being attacked by spirits, for eternity. It's...rare that one can even be pulled out. I still feel the remnants of the place on myself. She helped save me."

Leona leaned against him, squeezing his hand, staying silent.

Clark shook his head, trying to make sense of everything, but at this point was willing to just accept things as they were. "Again, I can't say we completely understand that...but whatever it was, it seems that you helped each other." He walked around to the other side of the table to sit. "How do you feel now?"

"Fine. Tired. Very tired. Sore," She smiled softly. "But...you know, it tried to come back. I told it to shut up, mentally."

Ralf cocked his head to the side. "And?"

"I haven't felt anything since."

"Well, that's great news," he said. "I mean...I think we might have to keep you on desk duty some more…" he trailed off.

She nodded. "I understand."

"But...still. It's great news that you seemed to be able to stop it on your own. And neither of you are even that injured."

"I've taken far worse," Duo Lon said, rubbing the giant claw-marks that went across his chest.

"Alright. Just so I know that you guys are alright. Thank you for doing the job you did. We had no casualties, and we got quite a bit of info to possibly go through on the stuff you guys brought back." He grinned, his jovial self coming back. "Go sleep. You both deserve it. Come tell us if anything's on your mind. Let the other two know they can come in."

Standing, the two waved quietly-nodding politely, each giving the two big men a soft smile-before heading off to Leona's room, their hands still clasped...not caring who saw it.

Looking at each other in their room, Ralf rubbed his neck again, taking out two shot glasses. He set one in front of Clark, reaching for the whiskey.

"Yeah, why not?" the blonde said.

"I was worried, I admit." He poured the two shots. "I had a feeling that...what with the seal and everything...something might go wrong. But...whatever happened, it was fixed...and when I heard her say that the voice quieted…" he trailed off, downing the shot.

Clark followed, setting the glass on the table. "It's like she solved most of it herself."

"Yeah, that." He sighed, mostly in relief. "I think Blondie and Whippy are on their way?"

"I think so. They're usually on time. More than you."

Flipping his friend off-with a smirk-he settled back down, sifting through a few more of the papers, cards, and such that everyone had lifted off of the bodies. "Gonna need to look at a few of these addresses soon. Just to make sure."

"Yeah. We can head out there later on this evening and check a few out."

After a few more moments of scrapping stuff that was clearly not useful and sticking the stuff that looked like it could be a lead in another pile, there was a knock at their door.

"I think that's them," Ralf said, getting up to wave at the very tired looking Adel and Whip.

"Hey, guys," Adel said, his mouth stretching open in an enormous yawn.

"We won't keep you long. Gods know you guys need sleep. Good job, by the way."

Whip smiled at him, patting him on the arm as she walked by. "We were as thorough as we could be."

"I'll say," he snorted, looking at the blonde. "You alright? I heard some of those guys were in pretty bad shape…"

He nodded. "Yeah. Let's say I know how to deal with...it." His emphasis on the word told the others what they needed to know. They had been there that one terrible time...the time that seemed forever ago, at this point, and he knew Whip had discussed it with them once or twice during the mess last spring.

"Gotcha." He sat back down, understanding. "Alright, so you gave us the stuff you found, and we've been sifting through it. There's a few addresses we'll check out. See if anything more comes up."

"The place we were at seemed just like a staging area," Whip said. "There wasn't really anything else of use there that we saw. I don't think the place even had a proper basement. We checked, unless we missed something and there was a hidden passage."

Clark shook his head. "We'll give it one more pass, but I doubt it. These buildings are usually just occupied as is. Most of them don't go that far as to make passages...especially if they were basically storing a ton of explosives in a warehouse like they were."

"Though I would hope we could find the manufacturing facility. Or facilities," Whip said.

"If I had to guess," Ralf said, "It's not in the city. While they were extremely stupid when it came to storing them...they probably thought that they'd only be there for a short time, or they had planned on it. They probably planned on getting them set up for use quickly." He took a drink of water. "But mixing them up? That's probably on the outskirts somewhere. I think even they knew it's too risky to do in the city. Too many prying eyes to set up an actual explosives factory."

"I did notice a few addresses on those papers," Adel said.

"Which is where we're checking. I can only hope they made it easy on us."

The young blonde sighed deeply, running a bandaged hand through his shaggy hair. Whip looked over at him, resting her forehead against his shoulder a second before smiling softly. He managed a smile back.

"Still can't believe what I would have done."

"Eh, 'would have'. You didn't, you let us handle what we had to, and things are looking alright." The brown-haired mercenary looked cheerfully at him, seemingly managing to still look awake despite everything. That was part of his ability to keep up morale, of course; to keep looking like his usual self, even when he wanted to collapse.

"Yeah, you're right," he replied. "Anyway, you have everything we got. Just let me know if you find anything."

"We will. We'll let you know if we need you too, Seirah, but we should be fine."

She nodded, stifling a yawn again.

"Alright, you two. Go get sleep. We're fine here. We'll look some more, get some sleep ourselves, and continue when we wake up. We'll contact you if we need you. Otherwise, just sleep all day, if you want."

"Yeah. I think we might." Waving, the two turned and left, shutting the door behind them, Adel sighing again as Whip reached for his other hand, gently starting to lead him back to her room, where they shut, locked, and bolted the door. He went immediately back to the bed, collapsing face first on it, his legs hanging off.

As always, Whip sat next to him, pulling off her shoes and then crossing her legs as she stroked his thick hair, liking how the back would sort of brush back into the sort of point, and naturally. He used very little in his hair to style it; mostly it was able to fall on its own.

"You okay?" she said, bending to kiss his shoulder a moment, though she moved carefully due to her own.

"Of course," he said, rolling over and removing his own boots, tossing the heavy things down. He wore his other set to the room, as his heavy, steel-shod pair were drying near the heater from the massive cleaning he had to give them. He looked up at her, Whip having removed her overshirt, being down to a loose tank top. His hand ever so gently stroked her bruised shoulder; lightly enough that it didn't hurt. It wasn't agonizing, but it was one of those bruises that went to the bone. "Damn, that one was nasty."

"My own fault," she said. "You're not the only one that gets careless. Should always remember to try to disarm everyone with firearms as soon as possible. I didn't think they were good enough shots, and figured our clothing would be good." She laughed softly. "Well, the bullet didn't go through, so I was right about that?"

"Yeah," he said, grabbing her hand and interlocking the fingers, looking at it for a second as one of his calloused digits brushed over an old scar that he had remembered. "I can't believe I used to fight without body armor," he chuckled. "I'd get hurt sometimes, but...I still never considered it. Despite being able to buy the best stuff. Ego, probably," he said with a snort, though the smirk stayed on his face.

"I think when we're all young...we kinda forget. I think for me, joining the military when I did, it taught me these things early."

"You've always been the more levelheaded one of us." He scooted up on the bed against the headboard, crossing his long legs in front of him. One was well-bandaged on the thigh underneath his trousers. Luckily, that one hadn't needed any stitches, as the doc had determined it was shallow enough that it could be handled via sealant and a bandage. He poked at the leg in question. "I think I do want to look into another layer for my legs, though."

Sitting next to him, she patted him gently and nodded. "I would just suggest a tight, flexible layer over the heavier Kevlar cargos," she said. "Those two together, along with those- monstrous things you call boots-ought to be more than enough to protect against blades and small arms fully. She chuckled. "Most of them don't sharpen their blades as well as I do, I guess. Sorry about that." A slightly guilty look appeared on her face.

He immediately kissed her. "Why? You take care of your weapons. How were we supposed to know he'd be able to take enough pain to yank it out of himself and fight with it? C'mon, we both know it was no one's fault."

"Yeah," she agreed, leaning against him, yawning. "I think right now...I just want to sleep."

"You and I both." He started to mostly undress, leaving his trousers on, at least, in case Ralf and Clark had to knock suddenly, but threw his socks off to the side. He then pulled back the sheet and blanket, sliding underneath it, enjoying how the cool sheets felt against him as Whip did the same, curling immediately against his warm body.

Whip pushed his thick hair back, which she always loved to do. Smiling softly at him, she nuzzled up to him, giving him a deep kiss, allowing the once again deadly night to at least begin to fall off the two of them. Neither of them liked going through that-but they knew, once again, it was in their blood.

"I love you. You know that," she said.

"I know. I love you too." He kissed her again. He somewhat thought back to the first time they had said that to one another...in a dreadfully seedy hotel bathroom in one of the worst parts of New York, bandaging each other up after a terrible ambush, blood everywhere. Despite that night having been quite terrible, that moment came from it, and for that, it was worth it.

Sleep took the pair quickly.

Finishing getting himself ready to sleep, Duo Lon stepped out of the bathroom, wearing only his trousers at that point. Both he and Leona had numerous bandages on their torsos, mostly where they both had to get stitched up from the wounds they had given each other. Leona needed a few where she took the knife slash. Truth be told, neither were too bad, and the two had managed to take out the entire building without much more than that.

Smiling sadly at him, she sat on the edge of the bed, already having gotten ready. She wore her underwear and tank top at the moment, looking at him with tired eyes.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, yawning.

"You haven't slept much, have you?"

"I had to come here quickly. But...we know how to stay awake and still function. Still, the bed will feel wonderful." He climbed in, still wearing his trousers.

"At least we can sleep all day if we want," she said, rubbing her shoulder. He looked incredibly guilty at this. Noticing, she shook her head. "Don't worry about it." She touched where she had dug her own fingers in.

"And you do not need to worry about me, either. I'm fine. I've taken far worse."

Smiling softly at him, she reached over to stroke his hair, which was tucked into its loose double-tail, to make it easy to sleep in.

"Thank you," she said.

He cocked his head to the side. "Why?"

"For showing me that I know how to control it. When you told me I did it...after the first time, I was able to tell it to shut up."

"You did it, though. I should be thanking you. Not many people come out of the veil like that after foolishness."

She shook her head. "I'm pretty sure you did more than you think, too. I...can't pretend to know about it, but from what you told me, that isn't easy. I think you outdid most of your apparent elders that you told me about."

Duo Lon chuckled quietly. "In any case. I...like having a...bond, I guess you can say."

Leona looked at him when he said that, suddenly sliding off her shirt; this followed with her underwear, as she tucked under the cool sheet completely naked. Seeing this, Duo Lon quickly followed, his trousers being dropped to the side as he went under with her, as the two almost immediately entwined. Feeling skin to skin again-especially after everything-felt incredibly calming...and somehow, it felt right.

They met in a long kiss; eventually, after some time, getting some sleep.

"Hey. Go get some sleep, dumbass." Clark had drifted off in the chair in the meeting room for some time, while Ralf continued poring over addresses, lining them up with areas in the city outskirts that one might hide an illegal explosives factory.

"I don't see you sleeping."

"I napped."

"For like five minutes."

"I also didn't take a bunch of shrapnel to the shoulder. Sleep helps you heal."

"Pfft," the shaggy haired man said, rubbing his chin as he checked another part of a map and made a small note. "I've taken worse than this."

"At least get a proper nap," Clark said, sitting at the table and taking the map. "I'll take over from here for awhile."

"Fine," Ralf said to his friend, punching him softly on the shoulder and heading toward the big, cushy recliner, throwing himself into it.

Clark looked closely at the map, checking the marks his partner made. Indeed, he could possibly see a few areas here. He recalled there being a few odd farmhouses around, which were usually prime places for those types of operations.

"Yeah, I think I know a couple of places we can check today," he said, looking up.

"They're probably the same places I was looking at."

"Yeah. I actually remember seeing a few buildings around. They may be nothing, but...doesn't hurt to check." He sipped a little more of his drink. "Glad to see the other four were successful."

Ralf nodded. "For being young...and the other two with no military training, though the assassin probably has more training than we'll ever have in some things...they did damn well. Everything they were supposed to, even if they were a little loud." He coughed. "Not that, I mean…"

The blonde chuckled at that. "I was a little concerned for Leona. But...she managed to overcome it."

"However she did...I mean, we'll never really know...I think she's on her way to getting full control of herself. I know she misses being on the field. Might be a little longer, but...I'm glad we decided to let her go. She looked like she needed it."

"And...whatever she and the assassin have...it's none of my business, but she's been happy. Which is great."

That made the shaggy haired man smile. "Yes. Absolutely."

Smiling at that, Clark went back to the map absently. "And the kid has his head on straight. It sucks that he still has to fight his family's legacy...but I suppose you never escape that sort of thing."

"He does alright for himself, though."

Nodding, he went back to the map a few moments, writing down a few more spots. "Okay. Tomorrow we'll check this one farmhouse, this one other granary, and whatever that sort of weird looking facility was that's a few more kilometers out. Even though it's a little further out than I think they'd go, I don't think it'd hurt."

Silence. Clark looked up at his partner.

Ralf was there, his mouth open, fast asleep on the recliner.

Chuckling, he made a few more notes, and figured they'd take care of it when the pair were all rested up. He hoped that they could bring all of this to a close sooner than later.

A/N: A big, talky chapter, winding it all down, I guess. Maybe not as action-packed, but characterization is something I enjoy writing. There's still an epilogue!

The granary mentioned was slightly inspired by a real life event that happened about forty years ago when a farm blew up in the countryside in the US. Everyone wondered what the hell happened, and it turned out the place was being used as an illegal fireworks factory.

Whip being an expert at bomb disposal was once brought up by illyrilex as a headcanon, and I liked it enough to adopt it.