The next two and a half weeks passed by very quickly.
Keeping themselves buried in their work, Adelheid had made sure to set up protection for Rose via Heidern, mostly just to keep a rough eye on any of the goings-on of the strange cult...just in case they decided to move, and he gave the commander the go-ahead to get in touch with him as soon as possible if something came up. Duo Lon had to disappear for much of that time himself, going somewhere unknown-that was one thing with the assassin, no one ever knew where he went when he left, and he would just end up contacting Adel when he was finished to meet up again. He would keep in touch with Leona via email during this time, though never spoke of business.
Ralf and Clark were both very happy to see Leona getting out and about, though they were both still a bit worried. But after she told them she trusted those three implicitly with everything, they were fine, though insisted on getting in contact if necessary.
After that, it was wrapping up work, packing and waiting for the day of departure. Before they knew it, the day arrived when they were being shuttled via limo by Henrik to Frankfurt Airport, which was bigger than Köln's and where their flight was departing from, despite it being further away. It wasn't like the limo ride was a problem, though.
The gang passed quickly through the security check-being a part of the elite bunch, they did manage to get into the faster lane. Thanks to this, their wait wasn't bad at all despite airport traffic being quite busy in the afternoon. The four vacationers put their carry-ons on the ground and glanced about the nicely air-conditioned airport.
"That was easier than I thought," Whip said. "I forget we come with some perks."
"Of course. And we can go to the special lounge, too."
"Lounge?" Leona said. Her and her crew would usually get business class seats; while they were definitely nice compared to economy, they weren't the up-front luxury she was about to fly in.
Duo Lon smirked. "I had to get used to it, too. I would often get business class for comfort, but after Adel started helping with my travel when I would visit Europe, I admit I have gotten used to this upgrade."
Adel checked his watch. He wore his tall, laced combat boots, pocketed trousers to hold all of his stuff and a tank top-his usual warmer weather apparel. "Our flight leaves in about two and a half hours. We can just spend the time there until we get on."
"And then we're on first," Whip grinned.
Gathering their luggage-each one had a checked bag and a carryon, given they would be gone for two weeks-they first decided to hit up the duty-free store as people would to get a small stock of booze. Not that Adelheid gave a shit about duties and taxes, but there was alcohol there that they knew may not be in the otherwise fully stocked rooms. Duo Lon's absinthe, for one.
Spending some time there-also getting stuff for their collective sweet tooth-they headed back out and toward a fast food place to grab lunch on the go before they finally made it to the private, prestigious lounge. Despite Adelheid being filthy rich, he had a taste for junk food every so often, which he didn't often get at the Sky Noah unless he specifically requested it. Even then, the cooks had trouble 'dressing down' their burgers.
It was up the stairs and overlooking the rest of the airport; nicely cool in there, they settled around a couch and a table, setting their bags around and unloading them. There were only a few other people around, who gave the odd looking group of fighters weird looks. They were all dressed in some sort of tank tops, showing off their clearly active and defined bodies, which had many visible scars, not to mention Duo Lon's sleeveless shirt showing off the extensive and eerie tattoos on his arms. Given their style of dress and mannerisms, a few of the more pretentious looking types looked concerned, but said nothing, as they did not seem to want to actually start trouble with this bunch.
Not that the four cared as they settled around, grabbing their food from the bags and beginning to shovel it down. A waiter came over to see if they wanted some refreshments; Adel ordered a bottle of wine to enjoy after their fast food and soda, because he figured why the hell not.
"I don't know why, but eating a mayo-soaked chicken burger while waiting on a bottle of Stroheim feels off," Whip chuckled.
Adelheid shrugged as he downed his second triple burger, having gotten two meals. "I'm sure it'll go down just as well after this as after the Sky Noah's crepes."
The four ate in relative silence for the next ten or so minutes, while the attendant brought the wine and four glasses. A few other people milled about, but the lounge was relatively sparsely populated, as it was mostly reserved for more wealthy travelers.
As they reached for their final items, Adel noticed Duo Lon looking at him curiously as he unwrapped one of the famed deep-fried fruit pies from the place.
"Don't tell me you've never had one," the blonde said.
"I can't say I have. I have eaten my share of fast food on the go, though I usually stick to street food. But I've eaten enough deep fried things in my life to be curious."
"Oh. Yeah. Here. Have one of mine," he said, taking out a second that he had purchased. "It's cherry. You need to try these at least once. Deep fried and loaded with sugar. I don't eat them often myself, but they're a nice occasional treat."
Duo Lon took the hot, deep-fried pastry and checked it out. "I do like cherries."
"Now, be careful eating these. They come right out of the oil, and are extremely ho-"
Before he could finish, the assassin took a bite of the steaming pie, chewing thoughtfully and swallowing. "This is rather excellent," he said, taking another bite.
Adelheid blinked, nonplussed, as Whip cocked her head to the side. The temperature of these pies, in their wrapper and buried in the bag, tended to stay at roughly around three times the surface of the sun, and the fact the man just took a bite of it as if it were an apple made them wonder just what sort of training the Hizoku went through.
He looked a touch confused at them as he ate. Adelheid shook his head.
"Isn't that...you know, hot?"
"Somewhat, but it's tolerable," he said, taking another bite as steam rose out of the gooey insides.
Leona was trying to hold back actual laughter at this point, and even around friends it could take quite a bit to get her to that state.
Adel took a bite of his own, thinking that maybe it had cooled down somewhat.
It had not, causing the large young man's eyes to somewhat water as he hurriedly chased it with some of his icy soft drink and decided to let it cool. Spicy food he could handle-he even really liked it-but the molten sugar that was inside of these things was a completely different story.
Whip snorted laughter, patting him. "Maybe you need to hit up some of this training."
Leona was now chuckling softly next her friend, unable to hold it back any longer.
Duo Lon simply gave a sly smirk at that as he finished, before chasing it with his bottled water to cleanse the palette before reaching for the wine. He handed Leona a glass of it before he sat back.
Eventually, Adel's pie cooled to a more edible state as he polished it off, chuckling at his bizarre friend. The four then settled in with glasses of wine, Duo Lon lighting his pipe, pleased that smoking was allowed in the lounge. The gentle, soft smoke soon followed, and the four sat back in their comfortable and cushy lounge seats, finally relaxing.
"Wow, it's just hitting home we're actually...getting away," Adel said, his long legs crossed in front of him and his hands behind his head.
Whip stroked his hard stomach a few times, grinning. "Yeah, same. About thirteen hours and we'll actually be somewhere else. Hopefully not getting into any more trouble."
Leona scratched her head, looking over at Duo Lon. "Did you bring your music?"
"Of course." He took out a headphone jack splitter. "And I brought one of these."
Smiling softly before sipping her wine, she should have known he would have been prepared.
Adel stifled a huge yawn; he had been up quite early this morning sorting everything out.
"Food and wine," Whip said. "You're going to be out."
Stretching, he slid his empty glass on the table and leaned his head back.
"Just wake me up when they do the boarding call, if we're still out." Pausing to check his watch a moment, he thought. "Our flight leaves in about an hour and a half, and they usually start boarding the international flights about forty minutes ahead of time." He closed his eyes again.
Poking him before snuggling against him, she looked over at the other two.
"We got it," Leona said, smiling softly as the other two drifted off.
"Good afternoon. This is a pre-boarding announcement for flight 1352 to Shanghai. We are now inviting passengers with small children, or any passengers requiring special assistance, to begin boarding at this time. Please have your boarding pass and identification ready. Regular boarding will begin in approximately 10 minutes time. Thank you."
Hearing the attendant's call-in English, German, and Mandarin, given it was a nonstop flight to Shanghai-and knowing the first people on after this would be the luxury-class customers, Duo Lon, who had simply been lying with his eyes closed, opened them to see if the other two had stirred yet.
It had been about forty minutes, and both of them seemed to still be napping, though Whip had begun to stir.
"Are you up?" he asked.
Adel shook his head too at this point. "Yeah," he said. "Damn. Must have been tired."
"We were up at six."
Leona smirked. She usually woke up around that time herself-sometimes even a little earlier-but she also usually went to sleep around eleven on the nights where she was alone, which was often. When Duo Lon visited, she had found herself on a slightly more night schedule...which to be frank, she didn't mind.
The assassin stretched; watching the small line of people head in; the pre-boarding group was generally small.
"I suppose we should get down there?"
"Yeah, we'll be up next."
Depositing the rest of their trash, the four grabbed their carry-ons and head down with the rest of the more prestigious passengers. The gate was quite crowded; the flight promised to be fairly full by the look. Their section, judging by the amount of people starting to congregate, would not be too terribly packed at all.
Leona watched a few planes taxiing on the runway as she waited; she admitted she was curious to get to fly in the super-first class at the front of the plane this time. She had even seen that their seats reclined practically into beds, which would be welcome.
"We are now boarding our Luxury class passengers. Please proceed to the front and have your boarding passes and identification ready."
Hearing their call, the group went to the relatively small line; seeing only about six other people there, they knew the front would be relatively spaced out.
Getting through without trouble, they walked through the corridor, feeling the humidity from outside as a stark contrast to the coolness of the airport; that said, once they entered the plane they started to grow comfortable again as it was temperature controlled. Following the flight attendant toward their front destination, they sat their luggage on their respective seats before sorting what they would have in their places for the flight.
The luxury-class seats were incredibly roomy. There were four in a row, two windows and two in the middle, though the middle seats could still see out easily due to the walkway in between the two seats giving plenty of room. The four got theirs set up in their own private section-the seats were somewhat walled off from other strangers, so they would basically be private. The 'rooms'-pods may have been a better descriptor-did not have their own doors or anything, but there was no real disturbance toward each other. There was a barricade of sorts in the middle of the small area, which held some cup holders and the like, and it allowed the four of them to be two to a side, but still chat over the middle section.
Each seat had a tray that came up that offered lots of room, an entertainment unit that popped up that was a bigger size with a lot of premium channels, though none of the four were particularly big on whatever the offerings were. Magazines were placed in pouches near the seats, and the seats could recline nearly to beds.
Sitting in her seat, Leona looked across to the rest, smiling.
"Yeah, this is much roomier even compared to business class."
Whip pulled out whatever she was getting from her suitcase, which was her laptop and a jacket, before stowing her luggage in the overhead. "It is."
None of the other luxury class passengers were too close to them and in their own areas besides, so upon getting everything they wanted out of their bags and shoving them in the overheads, they settled into the cushy seats, though did not recline them yet as takeoff was soon.
"About half a day from now, then," Adel grinned. "Hoping for a smooth one this time."
"I think it will be."
"Yeah, I'll make sure any potential issues get settled," Duo Lon added.
"Now, you enjoy yourself too. You look like someone who needs a break sometimes," the blonde said.
"I'll be fine," he said, smiling softly.
As the other classes loaded on-it took the better part of a half hour to do so, given the amount of people on the flight-the final call was soon made and the doors were shut. The four had travelled enough that the beginnings of the safety instructions were sort of just listened to in the background as the plane began its long taxi to the runway.
Leona looked out the window, settling back as Duo Lon slid his large boots off, stuffing them under the seat the best he could before messing around with his media player, shuffling it around to some of their favorites to listen to while in flight. Whip grabbed a wine list while Adel took the menu to see what was going to be served.
"Don't forget you get your choice of food up here," Whip mentioned. "Not limited to one of two things." She flipped the wine list around, impressed with the selection. "What are we having?"
Looking over at the menu Adel was holding, Duo Lon smiled. "Beijing duck with red sauce," he said. "I remember having this one flight when you upgraded me."
"Any good?"
"As far as airline food went, it was pretty good."
"I don't think I've flown west to east in months," Leona mentioned. "It hits nighttime so quickly." Despite it being about one in the afternoon, within four or so hours they would be almost three time zones over, making it just about dark.
"Yes," Duo Lon replied. "I usually get a little sleep. Since I am used to going to bed around five or six...well, I'll make up for it in the sky I suppose." He chuckled.
Eventually settling back as the plane hit the runway and sped up for its takeoff, it slanted as it hit the sky, leaving Frankfurt behind them.
"So it begins," Whip grinned.
A/N: Did a little research into some of the meals that they serve on overseas flights. Having been on a fair share myself and know how they can adopt some local cuisine into their menus, a nonstop to Shanghai did actually offer Beijing Duck with Red Sauce. (That said, this flight is some sort of KOF Airline, but hey.)
Anyone who has ever eaten those pies knows they're basically molten, btw. ;p
I sort of based the luxury cabins on a few of the cabins I've seen in my day passing through planes and also just looking them up. Some of them come sort of in their own little mini-rooms on long-haul flights, and the seats do indeed recline all the way.
If you hadn't been following the series and this is your first one, I had been headcanoning Duo Lon with pretty extensive tattoos on his arms, since I imagined it would look awesome(and his height/weight combo puts him as pretty ripped, though the coat in game makes him look slimmer than his stats actually would show.)
I put a little easter egg in here, can you find it?