Mitochondrial Showdown

Written by Asuka's Knight

Disclaimer: All the characters in this fic, bar the ones I obviously made up are the property of Squaresoft (or as they're known now, SquareEnix). So, don't sue me because you can't get blood from a stone…and even less from me.

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Chapter 3 - Bullets And Breakfast

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I drove back to my apartment on autopilot, just listening to the music blasting from my radio. All of a sudden, I looked out my window and saw I was driving past Aya and Eve's house. The lights were off, and I guessed Aya must be at the office, using every possible resource to try and find her sister.

It suddenly struck me that Eve was going to be at my apartment for a while, but she didn't have any clothes, other than the things she was wearing today. Since I was here, I decided I might as well grab some of Eve's things.

I was expecting something a little more secure, considering I was breaking into the house of an FBI agent, but one of the side windows were open. I climbed inside and found that I was having some good luck for a change. The window had led me straight into Eve's bedroom.

It looked ordinary enough. Blue wallpaper, white duvet on the bed. A few posters up on the walls and a writing desk in the corner, housing a PC.

I went over to her closet and began piling some clothes into the rucksack I had brought along. I had probably grabbed enough clean clothes for a week, and if she had to stay longer, well that was why I had a washing machine.

Hoisting the bag up onto my shoulder, I was just about to leave when I spotted something on the bed. In the weak light flooding in from the street, I could see it was a rather battered teddy bear that seemed to be missing one eye. Even though it looked like something you'd get from a Salvation Army store, I was able to see that it was well loved. It might not make her like me, but at least it could show her I wasn't as evil as she thought.

As I reached for it, I heard something that made my blood run cold. Voices, from somewhere in the house. I quickly ran over the blueprint of the house in my head and realised that I had been really stupid.

The windows that faced the street, which gave me the impression that the house was empty, were Eve's bedroom, and the kitchen. If Aya had just had her sister kidnapped, she definitely wouldn't be hungry, and why would Eve's room's light be on if she weren't here? But, the living room and Aya's room were both in the rear of the house.

The one voice grew louder, and I heard it was a woman's voice. "I'll be there now, Rupert. I just want to make sure I closed the window in Eve's room."

Oh geez, this was going to be bad. There was nowhere to hide, and I was pretty much caught, red-handed. The light in the hall went on, and a second later, a shape loomed up in the doorway.

We both stared at each other for a second, and then she demanded "Who are you?"

I realised that she couldn't see my face, as the light from the doorway didn't stretch too far into the room, and the only other light came from the window at my back. But her hand was already on the way to the light switch, and if she had another second, the room would be flooded in light. I did the only thing I could do. I gripped my gun and dropped to one knee, before firing. The explosion of the gun echoed throughout the quiet house, as sparks began jumping from the smashed light switch.

Aya didn't seem the least bit jarred by the gunshot, but pulled an M93R handgun from a shoulder holster beneath the jacket she was wearing and ducked out into the hall.

I could now hear footsteps pounding down the hall. "Aya?"

Aya replied, her voice cold. "It's him, the one who took Eve, I'm sure of it."

"Did you see him?"

"No," She sounded bitter. "He blasted the light switch before I could turn it on. He's no amateur, that one."

"Well, he's trapped now. Listen, whoever you are. My name is Rupert Broderick, I'm the head of the MIST department. You are wanted for the kidnapping of Eve Brea. Toss the gun and come out."

My heart was thudding along at a mile a minute. I was ducking behind the bed, and looking up, I saw that both Aya and her guest, a tall bald man, had the window covered. I wasn't getting out as easily as I did in.

Ignoring Rupert's second order to come out, I peered below the bed and saw something that was possibly my ticket out of this mess. If I tried to stick my head over the top, I'd risk getting my brain ventilated. But from my vantage point below the bed, I could see two pairs of shoes standing in the doorway.

Carefully, I took aim and squeezed off three shots. Two splintered the wooden floor near a pair highly polished leather shoes, that I guessed belonged to Rupert. He jumped back into cover immediately. The third bullet buried itself an inch from the toe of a slightly faded brown cowboy boot. It also retracted into the safety of the hall.

Now was my chance. I had to hope that there were enough bullets for me to lay down cover fire, so I could get my ass out the window. I simply fired blindly into the hallway, blowing the absolute hell of the wall, but ensuring neither of the two FBI agents was going to be sticking their heads out anytime soon.

I managed to get about four shots off, before I heard a dry click as the hammer fell on nothing but an empty chamber. I covered the last foot of the distance to the window in a desperate twist and dive, as I heard a gun being cocked behind me.

"Freeze!"

I hit the lawn below Eve's window with a thump, a split-second before a gunshot even louder than my Deagle blasted through the vicinity. It seemed Rupert was using a Mongoose, a long-barrelled Magnum revolver. If that thing hit me, it was over.

I sprinted back to my car, waiting for another gunshot. Chancing a look behind me, I saw that neither of the two were even at the window. Instead, as I reached the driver's side, the front door flew open and I saw Aya come running out at me, Rupert on her heels.

"Hold it!" She yelled as I got in behind the wheel. "Or I'm going to shoot!"

I started the engine, just in time to see her brace herself in a classic shooter's stance and take aim. Her shot hit the back window, but it only cracked slightly. I had had bulletproof glass installed when I'd started out, and it was looking to have been a smart decision. But then Rupert joined her in her shooting, and that Mongoose caved in my rear windscreen, sending shards of glass all over my backseat.

That was the last I heard, because the next moment I shoved the car into drive and took off. I looked back in the rear-view mirror to see Rupert already speaking to someone on a cellphone, no doubt putting out an APB on my car. Luckily, I had enough spare plates back at my place to make sure they couldn't find me that way. The only thing that might give me away was the fact that my entire back window had been blown out. But that was something I'd worry about tomorrow.

When I got back to my apartment, I parked my car with the back to the wall. I didn't want my neighbours to get too curious about what Dante got up to in his spare time.

It was quiet when I got back inside. Everything was the way I had left it earlier, which made it obvious that Eve hadn't left her room since I had gone. Making sure the door was locked, I turned off the lounge lights and headed down the hall to my room, but stopped when I passed the spare room.

Eve was breathing deeply, showing me that she was actually sleeping, and not still unconscious. Quietly, I walked over to the bed, left the bag of clothes next to the nightstand, and took the bear from the inside of my jacket. I looked at it for a moment, before gently slipping it under her arm.

I left, shutting the door behind me. My bed was warm, and sleep overcame me the moment my head hit the pillow.

-

The next morning, I sleepily opened my eyes, only to have to shield them from the bright morning sunshine that was pouring in from the window. It was very seldom that I overslept, and the watch on the bedside table announced that it was past eleven. Yawning, I rolled over and nearly fell asleep again. That was, until I saw who was standing in my doorway.

It was Eve. It seemed like she had been awake for quite some time. Her blonde hair was still damp from a shower that I hadn't heard her take and was absent-mindedly tied into a ponytail. Since the only bathroom was attached to my room, she was either more quiet than I had thought, or last night had tired me out pretty badly. She was wearing different clothes too, it seemed she had found my little present. Her eyes rested on me, but I was unable to read her expression.

Please God, I don't have the strength for this now, My sleep-fogged mind thought disjointedly. Have her hold off on frying me until I've had my first cup of coffee.

"Morning," I said, slightly warily.

"Good morning," She replied, her voice like ice. I guess that clubbing her across the head and knocking her unconscious for a few hours hadn't exactly improved her opinion of me. "I see you visited my house last night."

"Yeah, I met your sister too," I said and kicked the covers off, before swinging out of bed. "She seems like a lovely person, even if she did try to air out my skull. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to go take a shower."

Still, Eve stood there, staring at me. I wonder if she thought that she was making me feel uncomfortable. Then again, I wonder if she knew that my sense of humour had a screwy side to it. If she did, she would have gotten out when I had asked her to.

"Well, Eve, if that's the way you want it, I'm not shy."

Her icy look turned to one of shock as I dropped the boxers I had slept in. I'm pretty sure that in my whole life I've never seen anyone go red as quickly as that girl did. Consequently, I don't think I've ever seen anyone bolt out of a room faster than she did.

Later on in the shower, I wondered how badly my ego would have been damaged if she had burst out laughing, instead of running.

-

To my surprise, she had actually left her room. I found her in the living room as I went to make myself a cup of coffee. She was curled up on the couch, watching TV.

"Coffee?" I asked and she jumped. When she turned around to look at me, she went red again, though not as severe as before. "You feel like breakfast?"

"I'm not hungry," She muttered, but at that point, her stomach growled. Ashamed, she looked away, back at the television. I knew that she'd change her mind, but I had to make sure of something first. Without her noticing, I locked the door to the hallway that led to the bedrooms and dropped the key into my jeans pocket. Then, I set about making breakfast.

Twenty or so minutes later, I loaded two plates with four strips of bacon, two fried eggs, three sausages, three slices of toast smeared with butter, fried tomato, and a muffin (Choc-Chip). I balanced them on a tray, along with two glasses and a pitcher of orange juice.

Eve looked up as the kitchen door swung open and I appeared with the loaded tray. I put the tray down, and placed one of the plates in front of her.

"I told you, I'm not hungry." She said, but kept one eye on the plate in front of her. "I won't eat anything you give me."

"That's fine," I replied and shrugged, digging into my own plate. "Just leave it there, I'll eat it myself."

After a while, the smell must have gotten too much for her, because she left to go to her room. Much was her surprise when she found it locked, but she was a smart girl and guessed why I had done it. She came back and sat down again, her gaze alternating between me and the food. It's kind of annoying that the plate of food got a look that was a whole lot friendlier than the one she threw my way.

"If it will make you feel any better," I said. "You'll be getting back at me by eating, because I'll have to go out and spend money to buy more."

"Very funny."

While eating, I snuck glances at Eve. After seeing agent Brea, I was even more shocked by their resemblance. But the main reason for my looking was because, well, she was just pleasant to look at, even if she occasionally looked at me like I was something slimy the dog had dragged in.

"Alright, then," I said and pushed my empty plate away. "You can play the long-suffering prisoner if you want. Like I said, my employer doesn't need you in a particularly healthy state, or even an alive state. I won't like watching you starve, in fact, I'll feel pretty bad about it. But it isn't going to make me let you go, so just make peace with that fact."

Still looking at me with dislike, Eve reached forward and took the plate. I stayed a while to make sure she was eating, and then went to the phone and called a friend at a local auto shop to come over and replace the windshield that Rupert had blown out the previous evening. The call took all of two minutes, but when I got back, Eve had finished her food.

"You want seconds?" I asked as I took our plates. "I realise you haven't eaten in almost 24 hours, so I don't mind."

"Yes, please." She said, and actually sounded thankful.

"Sure, but only on one condition," I said and she shot me a suspicious glance. "I'd like some company. You don't need to talk to me or anything, just stand there while I fix you some more food. Sound fair enough?"

"I guess..." She said and got up off the couch and followed me into the kitchen.

-

Looking back now, from this rather crappy position I'm in, I can see that that was the morning the entire situation got too damned complicated. While Eve was mostly silent the entire time, she finally did talk to me.

"So, how much are you being paid?" Mildly surprised by her question, I turned around. She was sitting on the counter, her head slightly tilted to one side.

"Why do you ask?"

She shrugged. "I'm curious."

"Ten million. Satisfied?"

Her mouth dropped open when I mentioned the amount. It was more than I got for my usual bounties, but then again, we are talking about George Tevani, the man who bought his last mistress an island as a farewell present.

"Who would pay that much?"

"Maybe someone who's looking for a wife for their son? Personally, I think a cute girl like you should fetch around twenty million, but that's just me."

Eve actually giggled slightly, but tried to hide it behind her hand. Maybe I was getting through to her after all. The silence descended again, but it was less heavy than before. Finally, I had everything pretty much finished and leaned against the sink while waiting for the toast to finish toasting. I caught Eve's eye and we both looked away and smiled.

"Eve?"

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry about this entire mess, including last night. Believe me, if I had a choice, I never would have taken this job on."

"Then why did you? Are you telling me the price wasn't a draw?"

"The damned money's the last thing I care about. The guy who hired me phoned me and filled me in on just enough so that I could be disposed of if I refused. And when I saw your photo...I knew I would have to get to you first. I told you that those two Russians would do things to you that are illegal in most parts of the world. Those weren't empty words, just because I was angry. I meant them."

"I don't doubt it," She replied, quietly. "But do you really think that makes what you're doing any better?"

"No, it doesn't." I agreed, and handed Eve her food. "I just hope you'll accept my apology. I won't blame you if you still hate me, but I'm hoping we can get through this without me getting flash-fried again. Now, go and eat. I'm just going to load this dishwasher and I'll join you."

"Thank you. And, apology accepted, Dante." I smiled, and nodded my thanks.