A/N: And the second chapter is here for you! I hope you enjoy!
11
The first part of the plan was not the easiest but it was most straightforward. Breaking into Sherry's lab under the guise of a nightguard and tracking down the prototype of APTX4869. And of course checking the most recent lab results. There was some shrinking happening with the mice. But it was very slow and naturally very unreliable.
"Usually, I wouldn't gamble… But this might be the only way to properly hide you…" Naoto muttered and logged out. Interestingly all codenamed members had access to Sherry's progress. Even Scotch. And considering he was only barely hanging onto the thread keeping him alive, what was one more infraction on his account…
12
Cluing Hiromitsu in on the plan was a bit harder since they had barely worked together but a pair of burner phones did it. A one late night phone call to finetune the details and get additional information. Like the fact that Rye had been put to tail Scotch by Anokata himself.
And the fact that two days before enacting the plan, Naoto got a mail from Anokata that told her to tail Rye and to make sure Scotch will get killed. And if Rye were to hesitate to kill him too.
"So he is suspicious about everyone…" The woman muttered and began checking the equipment needed.
13
Naoto was in luck. Whilst she tailed Rye and Scotch, Bourbon managed to catch up with the long-haired man and delay him. Meanwhile Scotch slipped into the warehouse that Naoto had been prepping. In there, Scotch put on a bulletproof vest while Naoto loaded her shotgun, loaned from Calvados.
She was tapping on a message to Anokata while Scotch put on jacket, identical to his own but with blood packs sewn in it.
Ping, permission to kill.
Scotch had his phone on hand and gun in another. Some makeup and fake blood in the hair and a helmet to cover it and protect his neck.
The stage was set.
14
Bang!
Bourbon looked up from the argument he'd gotten into with Rye. His eyes widened. Rye glanced to the direction where the shot had been from and frowned.
BANG!
Both of them broke off to run. They rounded the warehouse and found Matsuda Naoto standing there. She had a bloody scratch on her cheek, a phone with a shot through it at her feet and a smoking shotgun in her left hand. In her right she had her phone and she was tapping a message.
And in front of her, in a pool of blood, lying on his stomach was…
"Scotch!" Bourbon shouted and dashed forward. Naoto raised her shotgun.
"Not one more step Bourbon." She said, looking up from the message. "I have orders from Anokata to eliminate anyone who seems like a traitor. That includes you two."
"So you killed Scotch then?" Rye asked blandly, a hand descending on Bourbon's shoulder, as if to keep him back.
"Yeah… Sorry for stealing your kill, Rye, but orders are orders." The woman shrugged, lowering the shotgun. Her phone beeped and she opened the message. "If you've witnessed enough, I've got some cleaning up to do."
"We'll go." Rye said and bodily dragged the other men out of the warehouse. Bourbon couldn't seem to remove his eyes from the body of his friend. Back riddled with shot gun slug wounds, some of them having hit his arms and back of the head too.
15
Naoto's knees gave out once the two men were out of the hearing range.
"They're gone. We need to hurry." She said, but didn't move. The whole plan had relied on luck and timing. Scotch… no, Hiromitsu had shot through his phone while aiming at her, thus getting rid of the data and making it look like he fought back.
"You want my info? Why don't you try and catch it?" He had said, to be recorded on Naoto's phone, before tossing the phone in the air and shooting it.
Then Naoto had shot at his back, the slugs puncturing the jacket and the blood packs. Some hit Hiromitsu's arms too but the following grunts of pain when he fell just added the authenticity. In the few moments Naoto had before Bourbon and Rye arrived, she took off the helmet and neck guard, sprinkled some more fake blood and hid the two items.
"Tch… tried to run… No pulse. Death of traitor, codename Scotch, confirmed." She walked back to the place where she'd taken the shot from.
"Traitor's phone shot through. Data retrieval unlikely." And then Bourbon and Rye arrived and Naoto saw it okay to cut the recording once their reactions had been saved. Then she sent it and photo of Scotch's body to Anokata. And received orders to destroy the body and all evidence of it.
16
Hiromitsu got on his feet and grimaced at the wounds on his arms. It was amazing how well the plan had worked.
"Can you move? We need to place the decoy."
"Yes…" Naoto got on her feet and put safety on her shotgun. Then she put Hiromitsu's gun to the empty holster she'd worn.
Fake body dressed in identical clothes than Hiromitsu. And with identical wounds too, except having an actual headwound.
"Time to burn this joint…" Two canisters full of gasoline spread around and then lit on fire.
Naoto got Hiromitsu hidden in the space between front and backseats and threw her equipment bag and other stuff on top of him. They'd need to make it to one of her safehouses before taking care of his wounds and the next phase of her plan.
Kami bless her yakuza connections.
17
Wounds cleaned and dressed. Hiromitsu resting for now. Naoto went outside and lit a cigarette. She didn't usually smoke but right now she really needed to destress. She couldn't believe she'd pulled it off. Anokata had believed her evidence. Bourbon and Rye had believed it too. Hiromitsu was safe for now…
"Damn, my plan was more alike to Raiha Pass than I thought…" Naoto muttered, stubbing the fag. She pulled out the little round pill case that contained the poison she had appropriated. It was risky. It may be the Silver Bullet or APTX4869 or it may be not. It might work or it might not. She'd either have a child or a teenager to deal with or then she had another body.
"I was never a fan of gambling… But what can you do…"
18
It was burning. Hiro was burning. It was hurting so much. So much more than getting shot did. But maybe this was his penance for the sins he'd committed for the organization and for the betrayal towards his friends.
"Zero… Please forgive me…"
Naoto looked down on the unconscious… boy lying on the bed. She'd succeeded. Her gambling paid off. The young woman let out a sigh of relief, the breath she'd been holding, and ran a hand through her messy locks.
"Hello, Hiroaki-kun. Welcome to a new life…"
19
Codename: Madeira. How appropriate. Naoto liked that wine. And she liked the Bird of Paradise flowers that were the national flower of Madeira. In Finnish they were called Colibri flowers.
Chianti and Calvados were happy for her. Apparently, she really deserved her name. Korn was calmer with his congratulations. So were Irish and some others. Bourbon glared at her when he saw her but it was soon concealed by an impassive mask and arrogant smirk. Rye just glanced at her and nodded shortly.
Madeira didn't mind.
Let them hate her. Let them not see the real her or what she was actually doing.
20
Rei hated her. How could she do that? How could she kill Hiromitsu? Naoto had been Matsuda's cousin, a little sister for them all. She knew them, even after her row with Matsuda and studying abroad. And he'd thought he'd known her too.
What had made her fall into clutches of the organization and thrive there? What had made her to accept Anokata's orders and follow through them with such nonchalance? Why had she killed Hiromitsu?
Rye wasn't any better really. He had worked with Hiromitsu the most yet he wasn't even moved. He had also been ready to kill him! Had been restraining Rei and dragging him out of the warehouse before it went up in flames.
Rei had sent PSB the location of the warehouse and they'd secured the burnt body inside. There was nothing left of him. No prints, no dna and even dental records were unsure since the shotgun slugs had destroyed a lot of the… corpse's teeth.
It was frustrating. While there was a chance… A minimal chance that Naoto would've faked Hiromitsu's death, why wouldn't she tell Rei about it?
"Oi, Bourbon!" It was familiar voice coming from the second-floor balcony. Rei looked up. How he hated that voice and that smirk now.
"Madeira." He said coldly.
"Aww… You remembered." The woman smiled cheerily. It aggravated him. In a way, Naoto was even more annoying than Vermouth. "I got a souvenir for you… But don't tell Anokata. He told me to destroy any evidence about Scotch."
She rummaged her pockets before fishing something out and tossing it in Rei's direction. He caught it by reflex and then flicked it up-right. The bullet hole in the middle of the phone screen stared back at him.
"I thought to leave you a memento to remember him by… You two were friends after all." Naoto… no, Madeira. She'd never be Naoto to him anymore.
"No need to thank me." She chirped and was gone.
Rei gritted his teeth.
He hated her.
A/N: I'd say poor Bourbon... but after writing Takuya's stories lately, I'm not inclined to do so.
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I'm glad you like, I hope this chapter was up to expectations as well.