A loud group of nine people walked into the airport in a cacophony of clashing conversations.
Karsuma frowned under the weight of Jelavic's massive suitcase. "Irina. Isn't this a bit much?" His immaculate eyebrows twitched in irritation.
"A good woman doesn't neglect fashion just because she's travelling!" Jelavic shot back. "Besides, I love watching your muscles at work-"
Fia groaned audibly, covered her face with her hand, and tried to put distance between herself and her flirtatious teacher. But she bumped into Karma, who bumped into Nagisa and Liz, and so the dominoes collided.
"Please, watch it!" Noriko huffed.
Laughing over the commotion, the green haired leader stepped away. "I'll go check us all in. Wait here," Classified smiled as he headed to the counter. The others stood to the side, looking around and exchanging glances.
"Which airline are we going with?" Liz asked, anxiety clearly visible in her posture.
"Northwest," Noriko replied.
"Thank goodness. I would have refused if we had to fly Spirit," the girl visibly sighed in relief.
While they waited for Classified, Nagisa noticed a couple at a nearby kiosk. A girl with pastel pink hair impatiently sighed as she leaned against a taller man with hair so dark, you could easily miss the purple tinge. He seemed familiar somehow, but before Nagisa could put his finger on it, Classified appeared, waving a small fan of boarding passes in their faces.
"Here are your tickets," Classified gave each person a ticket. "Now, this is where we split up. Some of us can go through special TSA. Others," he shot the newest recruits an apologetic look, "cannot."
Fia and Haven shared a grave expression as all the other agents quickly went through special security, leaving the pair of roommates in the winding T.S.A. line alone. Twenty minutes later, which should be noted, felt like twenty years to the pair, Fia and Haven finally made it on through to the scanning area.
The seasoned traveler, Fia immediately began grabbing bins. She glanced at Haven, who returned her look with trepidation but quickly grabbed some bins of her own. Fia shrugged this off and deposited her bags into the bins and onto the belts. Haven did exactly the same.
"Please remove the laptops from your bag and place it in a separate bin for X-ray screening," a TSA agent announced loudly.
"So, why do we have to go through TSA again? We are working for the government right now, just like the others..." Haven grumbled as she began unloading all the electronics from her bag.
"Separate bins," the security officer said curtly to Haven, whose gadgets formed a tiny electronic mountain in her bin.
"Well," Fia replied as the officer turned her back, "Classified said our papers haven't been completely processed yet."
"I should have had one of the others carry all my electronics through…" Haven continued as she grabbed yet another bin, solely for electronics.
Fia laughed. "Yeah, maybe!" She moved quickly through the full body scanner and stood aside to tie her boots, leaving Haven to wait on her train of bins to come through the X-ray.
"I can't believe I couldn't upgrade our seats, Penelope," a man behind her snapped.
"It's only an hour-long flight to LA. We'll survive," his female companion replied.
Haven spared a passing glance for the dark-haired man as she finished re-packing her belongings and caught up to Fia.
"It's nice to have some time, just you and me," Fia smiled as she linked arms with the shorter girl and began walking towards the terminals.
"I guess it has been a while," Haven smiled back. "Are you caught up on the manga by Konomangasugoi?"
"Oh, that cliffhanger! It really has me excited for the next release."
While he waited for his housemates-turned-coworkers to catch up, Karma reached for a fry from the small, red cardboard box on the other side of the laminated table.
"Hey! You could have gotten your own!" Nagisa complained as he held the carton out of the redhead's reach. "What are you? My girlfriend?"
He scoffed with a smirk, ready to deliver a snarky remark, then reconsidered. "Hey Nagisa, can we talk for a second?" Karma asked with uncharacteristic seriousness, returning his arm to his side of the table.
Nagisa warily returned the fries to the table. "Sure. What's up?"
"What's the deal with you and Haven, lately?" Karma asked as his hands locked behind his head. "It's not like you to disappear on us like that."
"Oh, well... I guess I must have gotten distracted," Nagisa mumbled
Karma just leveled his friend with an unamused stare. "Honestly, what's going on?"
"It's really silly…"
"C'mon, Nagisa. Out with it." Karma frowned. "We should be honest with each other after all this time. First you didn't come back to our table at the casino. Then, you didn't wait for us either. Or you gonna tell me that seeing you was just a coincidence?"
Nagisa hesitated and began fidgeting. "I can't get anything by you, can I? I was... I was jealous..."
Eyes widened slightly in surprise, and Karma lowered his arms. "Jealous? As far as I could tell, you handled the mission fine."
"Yeah," Nagisa's gaze drops, and he looks at the floor, a sad smile on his face. "Jealous..."
Karma glanced to the side, thinking over the events again in his head. If not the mission then... Haven. "You'd have to be blind if you think Haven isn't into you."
"That's just it though. She's put so much distance between us lately. I don't know what to do. Karma, you always know what you want. I don't, especially right now."
"Not always." Karma ran a hand over his face. Conflict wearing at his features. "What would the octopus say?"
"I don't know," Nagisa sulked for a moment. "Maybe... He'd tell me to use my second blade, to try a different approach. But I feel so unprofessional. What kind of assassin falls for their targets?"
Karma mused over this, and shook his head. Hell if he knew the answer to that loaded question. "I think he might say talk to her."
"What?" Nagisa looked at his friend in disbelief.
"Look, Nagisa," Karma began. "Think about your goal. You're not trying to kill her. You're trying to get to know her. Otherwise, what was the point of all this?"
"Okay, I think I follow."
"So far, you've had everyone from the Chief to Professor Bitch telling you how to approach Haven, but you're the one who knows her best, aside from Fia. So play to your strengths… And I'll play to mine."
Karma eyed the fries again. Nagisa held it out of his reach, and gold eyes met blue as each opponent weighed the other. In a flash, Karma stood up and easily grabbed one, even with Nagisa holding the coveted fries as far as possible.
"Hey! What did I say? Go get your own!" Nagisa protested.
"Gotta be faster," Karma smiled smugly. "Or taller."
Laughing, they didn't notice that a person with pale eyes watched them from across the food court. She pouted, playing absentmindedly with a pink pigtail. "Wanna get some food?"
"There's only fast food here." The man beside her narrowed his eyes, which glinted with annoyance. "Wait until there's something decent."
"It might have been a nice change though…" She sighed resignedly and watched the friendly bluenette and redhead walk off.
Haven and Fia arrived at the gate, still arm-in-arm.
Fia placed her hand on her hip and brought her rolling luggage to a stop at her side. "Cazzo, why are there never decent seats at the gate?"
Nagisa looked up from his book with a smile. "We saved you both a seat." Nagisa moved his bag to the floor, making room for both women between him and Noriko, who appeared to be sleeping, by some miracle considering the notoriously uncomfortable seats.
Across the aisle, Jelavic was reading a magazine, with someone named Haruna Mase on the cover Haven noted, and cozily leaning on Karasuma, who listened attentively to her animated comments. He didn't seem to care much for the magazine, but he smiled slightly at his wife anyway.
"Kayano is doing well for herself!" Jelavic smiled proudly as she looked at the cover before she cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Or does she go by Akari now?"
Karasuma mulled this over as Haven shifted her attention to the redhead and his cellphone- Haven didn't really care for actors outside the films she watched with Earnest. Karma's brow furrowed in concentration as he played an unseen game. Liz, amused, watched over his shoulder.
"Is that the best you can do?" she jeered at him playfully, as he growled back.
Haven looked around at her fellow agents and friends, some old and some new. She smiled fondly at Fia, who was currently digging through the gimmicky souvenirs she had bought for her family, to Karma, and, finally, to Nagisa.
They accidentally made eye contact and Haven quickly looked away, focusing instead on her slightly trembling hands in her lap. After some time, she managed to look at Nagisa again, but the bluenette was back to being fully engrossed in his book.
She sighed and looked around before her eyes landed on Classified, who was smiling contentedly at the group. He gave Haven a friendly nod, and lightly draped his jacket over Noriko's sleeping form.
It wasn't much, but the gesture was enough to quell Haven's nerves. At least, for now.
A little while later, as the plane hit the tarmac, Haven visibly jumped in her seat. "Does that always happen?" she muttered under her breath as the landing announcement came on.
As people started standing up and entering the aisle, Haven stayed seated, petrified with uncertainty. Luckily she had the window seat, so no one seemed to care. A girl with pink pigtails stopped next to her in the aisle.
"First time on a plane?" the girl asked. Haven eyed her suspiciously.
"Penelope," the man behind her warned.
The girl just giggled. "You look so out of place. It's kinda cute."
"It's not polite to tease strangers," he reprimanded her.
"Jeez, you're no fun anymore," the girl pouted as she moved into the now empty space in front of her.
A few moments later, Haven was spotted by Liz.
"What are you doing still sitting there?" the girl asked. "Get over here. You have a bag in an overhead bin, don't you?" Haven nodded and Liz grabbed it. "Now come on, we don't want to keep the others waiting."
"Sorry," Haven mumbled.
"It's not that big of a deal," Liz said, hesitatingly, but reassuringly.
The group was yet again crowded into a hotel room. Another city, another hotel, but the scene was familiar enough to the agents.
"Here's the building schematic," Classified said as he unrolled a large paper on the bed. "This is all we could get on such short notice. I'd say the meeting will probably happen on the top floor."
"Don't you think we should do a bit more recon?" Noriko suggested.
"I'm not sure what more we'd be able to find. And we're on a deadline. The meeting is tomorrow, and Red Baron's team needs to be found," Karasuma pointed out from his spot next to the wall.
"If you say so," the orange haired woman shrugged, but the tension didn't leave her shoulders.
"Anyways," Classified began, "Haven, Nagisa, and Karma will enter first and take over their security system. Karasuma, Noriko, and I will look for Red's team. Jelavic and Fia will try to listen in on the meeting."
"What about me?" Liz asked.
"Well, if you think no one will recognize you, you can go with Jelavic and Fia."
"You forget who you're talking to," Jelavic smiled. "I'm a master of disguises. Not even your own mother would recognize you when I'm done." Liz winced as Jelavic approached and threw her arms around the younger girl.
While Jelavic was thoroughly harassing Liz, and the other Japanese agents discussed the finer points of the plan with Noriko and Classified, Haven approached Fia, who sat by the window with a tepid smile. They sat together in silence, preparing for the possibilities tomorrow might bring.
The next day, the agents stood together in front of a looming building. After a very, very thorough second debriefing by Noriko this morning, every team knew its role. A split second of exchanged glances, and the agents dispersed.
But before Fia, dressed in an immaculate pinstripe suit, could follow Jelavic and Liz, was stopped by a small hand on her elbow.
"Hey, Fia, I want you to have this in case anything happens," Haven explained as she handed a small, metal object to her friend.
Fia stole a quick glance at it, but hurriedly smiled at her friend. "Don't talk like that! We'll get out of this."
Haven gave her an unreadable stare before looking away. "Your optimism is so contagious," Haven paused before continuing, "I love that about you."
Fia bit her lip and curled her fingers around the cool metal as she carefully placed it in her pocket. "Okay, I'll hang onto this," she said, then added with an embarrassed flush to her cheeks. "A-And I love you too."
"Don't change," Haven gave her friend a small smile before following Nagisa and Karma into the building.
As Fia made quick strides to catch up to her group, she overheard Karasuma and Classified, who were similarly headed in the same direction.
"So, you'll do it?" Classified asked in an uncharacteristically serious voice.
"I don't agree with the method, but if it comes down to it, I'll do it." Karasuma turned his gaze towards Fia, but she was already safely planted between Jelavic and Liz, throwing a nervous glance at him over her shoulder.
"We really need to find a secluded spot with no cameras and I'd rather not use a bathroom…" Haven mumbled.
"Why not? No one would notice if you went into the wrong one." Karma snickered.
"This isn't the time for jokes. The cameras will be back up in no time if I can't directly mess with their security system… I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do without access..."
"I think I found it," Nagisa whispered to the other two. He was standing next to a slightly ajar door. On the door was the word Security.
Nagisa peeked through the door and then held up one finger. So there was only one guard? That seemed sparse to say the least in Karma's opinion. But one person's mistake is his advantage.
Nagisa and Karma crept into the room. Sure enough, there was only one guard sitting in front of a bunch of monitors, all showing static. He frantically pushed buttons on the keyboard in front of him. The guard was so consumed by his work, he didn't even notice Nagisa approaching until much too late. Within seconds, the man was on the floor.
Before they could celebrate their victory, another guard charged into the room. Karma met him head on, taking a few blows before shoving the guard back towards Nagisa. The guard turned to face his new opponent, but he was quickly tripped. Once down, Karma gave the man three swift hits to the head. The redhead then kneeled and inspected the guard's eyes.
"I think he might have a concussion, but he's definitely out," Karma reported, standing up.
"Don't you think checking was a bit unnecessary?" Haven asked as she approached the monitors. "I mean, your attack was a bit overkill."
"We learned the hard way to always check," Nagisa sweatdropped as he restrained the unconscious guards with some zip ties, remembering a fight one night on the 3-E mountain. Karma shared a look with him as he went to investigate the room where the guard had come from.
"Looks like this room has the servers in it," Karma said as he returned to the main room.
After pushing a few buttons on the security panel, Haven hurried into the server room with child-like glee. "Oh, this is better than expected!" She connected her laptop to one of the flashing towers as Nagisa followed her in. "I think we'll be safe now that I've turned off the recording mechanism, so I'll start copying any information on these servers instead. Do keep an eye out though."
"We're ready for you," Nagisa called into his comm, joining Karma in the security room again.
"This wasn't on the schematic," Noriko gasped as she looked down the stairwell. "How many basement levels are there?"
"Three? Maybe four?," Classified commented lightly. "Looks like we're going down."
Karasuma gave him an uncertain look. "Are you sure about this? We have no idea what we'll be walking into."
"Well, the other team is going up, so…" The green haired man began going down the stairs, closely followed by Noriko and Karasuma.
At the same time, Jelavic, flanked by Liz and Fia, stood together in an otherwise empty elevator. Wearing heels, all three women were grateful not to be taking the stairs.
The elevator display beeped steadily. Beep. Beep. Beep. The elevator slowly ascended to what the women hoped would be a conference room where they could blend in with other Corp X executives. Fia fiddled nervously with her ID in contrast to Liz, whose set jaw marked some grim determination that no disguise could hide.
Jelavic, hands on her hips, turned on her heel. "Chin up, girls. We've got work to do."
As the elevator doors crept open and the women stepped into the hall, they glanced around. Liz turned to her team with panic creeping into the edge of her voice.
"It shouldn't be this empty," she insisted.
Just as soon as she said it, multiple voices blasted through their earpieces. Fia wrenched the screeching earpiece away. She turned to Jelavic with wide eyes.
"Cavalo, what just happened?!"
Jelavic adjusted the earpiece, then adjusted it again as she tried to make out the clashing voices on the other end. "We've gotta stop. The other team needs help."
She looked to Liz, glowering with fear or anger. "Not again," Liz repeated through clenched teeth and white-knuckled fists. "I won't lose another team!"
Frantic, Fia looked quickly between the hall for onlookers and her mentor. "Which team was it?" she all but demanded. Fia's thoughts raced involuntarily towards her friends, then to Classified and Karasuma's surreptitious conversation. "Is Haven okay?!"
Jelavic's ocean eyes widened in shock and horror as she turned to Fia. She trembled. She opened her mouth to speak. But nothing came out.
Left Brain: *sitting on the floor glassy-eyed*
Nagisa: Is… Is Left Brain ok?
Left Brain: So much plot to get through…
Right Brain: This chapter was honestly such a struggle for us to write. T o T
Fia: I understand, but what about us? Who's hurt?!
Right Brain: In the meantime, I'm so happy we finally managed to work in some more Class 3-E students in OwO
Yuzuki Fuwa: So this is what you've been up to. It could make a great manga!
Nagisa: How'd you get here, Fuwa?
Yuzuki: Didn't you realize I was mentioned in this chapter? I guess you weren't in that scene.
Narrator: Well, next week we'll figure out who was in trouble and what'll happen to our friends.
