The flight had gone by smoothly and without a hitch. Still not having fully recovered from the jetlag from their trip over the first time, they had mostly slept on the way back; Henrik had booked the flight for that evening, and they had arrived back in Germany early the next morning. Snow greeted them upon landing as well; they were actually somewhat happy to see it now that they weren't trying to stumble back to a hotel in the dark while injured, covered in blood, and in damp clothing.
Whip, having been rather impressed by the private jet, wished she had been in a better state to enjoy the amenities of the flight. Adelheid had told the servant to leave them alone, and they had simply retired to the giant fold-out bed, curled up with each other after dinner. While there was all manner of fancy food waiting for them on the plane, the two of them had bought a giant bag of fast food to stuff down instead, taking advantage of their last day of vacation. While some people may have used vacation to eat fancier, they used theirs to do the opposite. She was sort of shocked at how many burgers Adelheid could put away.
They did enjoy a bottle of fine wine on the way back, at least.
Upon landing, Henrik had driven the big car for them; Adelheid, who normally liked driving himself, was fine to get picked up this time. They had gotten giant cups of coffee from one of the airport kiosks to perk up afterward; the night's sleep they had, though, had mostly re-adjusted them. It was rather comfortable, all told.
"Sir," Henrik said, bowing. "I have taken care of matters as you asked. Quietly, of course. He will be awaiting you."
"Thank you," he said. Climbing in to sit next to Whip, he settled back, his longcoat dusted with snow. He brushed some out of her hair as she sat next to him, causing her to chuckle. He smiled at her for a moment, before getting a more serious look on his face. "I guess we'll deal with things as soon as possible," he said.
Whip nodded. "We do our bandages first, though. That's important."
"I'll get our medics to handle them this time."
"Yes," she said. "I'm not a professional. I'd feel better once we got out of my field dressings."
Adelheid sat back in the seat, propping his large boot up on the middle rest and sliding one hand behind his head as he took another swallow of coffee. "I am so tired," he told her, looking over. The look on his face told her he wasn't talking about physical exhaustion so much as he was everything that had gone on the past three days.
She nodded knowingly, reaching over to brush back some of his hair. "Do you think things will ever be normal?"
"Nah," he said, snorting laughter.
Whip shook her head-a slight smile on her face, as she saw that Adelheid had a small, resigned smile as well-as she settled back for the hour and a half ride back to the Sky Noah.
Having been taken care of by the medics on hand-Adelheid checking in with Rose, who was busy with a few of her own guests that Adelheid did not recognize, though she was cordial, even almost warm to him, glad that he was not injured too badly-they had decided to go take care of the necessary business with Johan. They had both redressed; Adelheid having donned his rather impressive looking black longcoat again, which she thought gave him the look of someone who was, indeed, the boss of everything here...while looking markedly different than his father.
The black collar he had added to the outfit was a nice touch, she thought.
"Where is he?" he asked Henrik.
"In the lower chambers, sir. As you asked."
Adelheid nodded grimly.
Whip looked at him questioningly. "Is that some sort of weird interrogation room?" To this day, she wasn't sure of what every single room of this place was used for, as she hadn't bothered asking.
"It's where dad used to keep a bunch of his statues. The 'less worthy' ones." She could hear the emphasis on the quotes.
"Oooh…" she shuddered.
"I got rid of them all long ago. But...he probably knows something is up."
"I guess so…" she trailed off, walking next to him. She was also sort of looking forward to seeing Johan again...in a way. She never much spoke to him-she knew his face, as she did all the servants-but she would definitely be having a few words with him today.
"Master Adelheid," Henrik said, before they entered.
"Yes?"
"I am deeply sorry that I did not catch onto Johan's treachery. As the head of them, I feel responsible."
He shook his head. "No one knew, Henrik. Not me, not even Seirah, Heidern, or any of them, who have all sorts of intelligence."
"Still, sir. I went through to go speak with others. I will be vetting the rest very closely for awhile."
Adelheid simply nodded, the look on his face about all business. "Thank you, Henrik." He opened the door.
Standing there was Johan, who simply glared at the three of them defiantly. 'The lower chambers' at this point was a near empty room, with the same steel walls and floor as much of the rest of the side rooms of the Sky Noah. There were indeed some areas at the side where there may have been...things on display at some point in time, but they were empty, now.
They looked back at him, all of them looking rather unhappy. Johan knew what this room had been used for, and he knew that his game was up, so to speak. Still, he would see what he could do; he was fairly good with words, after all. He did , however, start to get a touch nervous, though he managed to hide it.
Adelheid's glare was enough to terrify almost anyone right now; Whip nonchalantly started to fiddle with her Desert Eagle. Henrik-also rather upset at this turn of events-looked the other man in silence for some time. Johan was the first to speak.
"I should have known, Henrik, when you led me down here, that you knew something."
"Your actions are... unbecoming of the young master, Johan. To think, all of this time, he still kept you on. I think I will leave you to discuss things in... private with Master Adelheid and Lady Seirah," he said...the two noticing that he had added Whip's name to his threats. He bowed and turned around. Stopping for a moment, he turned back to look at Adel. "I will take care of things when you are finished. Do not worry." He closed the door.
"You…" Adelheid started. Before he could continue, Whip span her Desert Eagle once before uncurling Voodoo and cracking the man across the face with it, sending him back several steps and over onto his rear end.
"W...Wha?! You !" the man yelled, blood oozing from the slice that had appeared across his cheek.
"How dare you," Whip exclaimed. "How long has he kept you on? Kept you in luxury?" She cracked him again, going back the other way; another line of blood appearing from his face to the steel floor. "He would overlook when you would pressure him into doing things he didn't want to. He's taken advice from you that he didn't necessarily want to, thinking you had his family's best interests in mind. And you still betray him? He could have crushed anyone with even a shred of sympathy toward his father on the spot, but he didn't. Any of you that were loyal to him, he gave a second chance to. Not all took it, but you did. Or so he thought." She stepped forward, spinning the gun in her hand.
Johan looked over at Adelheid, both angry and clearly feeling like he bit off just a little too much with this. He thought that maybe an entire syndicate's worth of people would have been enough to deal with the two of them, but he really had no idea what he was capable of...let alone the two of them together.
Adelheid simply shrugged and stepped back as he watched Whip give him a solid crack with the butt of the Desert Eagle. Now the servant tumbled over, looking a little more scared at the situation. He kept it together, though, not wanting to give them the satisfaction.
"How much did they pay you?" Whip asked.
"Nothing particularly impressive," he said. "Just some extra." He sat up, wiping some of the blood off of his head that had appeared from the subsequent crack with the butt of the large handgun; Whip didn't want to knock him senseless, so it was fairly half hearted. He was still bleeding from a few wounds by this point. Glaring again at Adelheid, he shook his head.
"Kid, you could have led the family into greatness. You have so much power...you're already better than your father was when he was your age. You were able to adapt his moves into your own when you were but a pup." He sneered. "He took the power because he lost that one fight. You know that." His sneer turned into a snarl. "You, on the other hand, were born with it! But I can't tell if you're a beast like him or a coward like his brother who walked away, the way you're letting your little piece here handle your business."
Adelheid glowered at that comment, stomping forward once; Whip heard the steel floor creak under the force...and judging by the way he paled, so did Johan. But before Adel could speak, she put a reassuring hand on his arm for a moment and nodded once. He closed his eyes, nodding back to her.
"I see you still have it in you," the servant said, managing to compose himself. "I see it in your eyes. I see it when you do kill. What a goddamn waste. You could have been even more like your old man, and you gave it up." He spat some blood out in the pair's direction. "In any case, I know my time is done here. Just have your little... distraction put a bullet in me and end it." The way he snarled the word out, it was clear what he was implying.
Whip shook her head; his words did nothing to her as she had been through far worse than a few crass insults coming from a desperate man. She curled Voodoo around the treacherous servants neck, pulling him to the ground and tugging it a few times...toward Adelheid. She then motioned to him after dropping the handle.
"That's up to Adelheid. You did try to have us both killed, but it was he who you truly betrayed." She bent over for a moment to look directly at him, her hands on her knees as he lay there on his stomach, propping himself up a bit. "A big difference between us, though...is that he doesn't much care for firearms…unfortunately for you." She leaned a bit closer. "But I think you know that." She stood to walk away, going to lean on the wall. Johan looked up at the large young man, and his bravado fell off almost immediately.
In fact, his face became contorted in fear.
Adelheid-a coldly vicious look in his eyes-walked heavily over to the man on the ground, turning him over onto his back with his huge boot. While Whip could not see his face, she had a feeling she knew exactly what the servant was staring at. Her lover's brutal half was generally something she wouldn't wish on anyone, but she wasn't feeling particularly generous at this moment.
In the end, Johan would regret pulling out Adelheid Bernstein's darker side for as long as he lived.
Which, to be fair, was only for perhaps another couple of minutes.
Adelheid stood outside on the Sky Noah's balcony, a glass of whiskey on the rocks in his hand this time. He needed something stronger than the wine. Whip was inside, examining a few things, sort of seeing if they missed anything. Thankfully, they did not seem to.
Henrik had been busy taking care of the... remnants of the little problem in the chambers below. He promised himself to make sure his longtime butler ended up with a rather large bonus for everything he had done for him the past few days.
A knock appeared at the door behind him. Opening it, he stepped back, bowing.
"Commander Heidern," he said.
Heidern tipped his hat at the young man. "Hello. Mind if I join you?"
"Of course not. Want anything to drink?"
"I'm fine, thanks." He walked next to the young man as they looked out over the snowy fields. "Feeling alright?"
He nodded. "Sore. But I'm alright. I was more concerned about Seirah."
Heidern smiled at that. "She is a soldier. She'll be fine, too." He thinks more about her than himself .
"I know. She had my back the entire time." He smiled softly, taking a drink. He swirled the ice in the glass. "I guess you know what happened."
"I do," he said, sighing. "We didn't know, either. I am sorry this happened."
Adelheid shook his head. "What's another one?" he asked. "Though I wouldn't have expected one in my own house. Still, I suppose he was good at hiding his loyalty. After my father died, there were a small handful who were still loyal to him. A couple left. Some attacked. Then things were quiet for some years. He seemed to wait. Why he waited so long, I'll never know."
Heidern nodded. "He may have thought he could sway you."
"He did try to convince me a few times to take certain deals and convince me to get revenge on others. I suppose I should have been suspicious."
"We don't catch everything. I had someone go undercover in my group during the NESTS incident. I had to dispatch him, too."
Adelheid didn't say anything. He suspected he knew where this was going. He knew Heidern's concern with him-not that he blamed him at all for it, of course.
"Just be careful," Heidern said. He worried about the young man sometimes. As he got to know him more, he trusted him. He could see how gently he treated Seirah.
It was the power passed onto him he didn't trust, a power he was all too familiar with.
"I couldn't let him live. He'd have been a danger to my entire household."
"I know. Traitors need to be dealt with. I understand that all too well." He paused. He had gotten the impression after seeing Henrik and a couple of the others that Adelheid was very nasty in doling out his revenge down in that room.
"He tried to have me killed. He tried to have Seirah killed." He opened and closed his fist. "For all I know he was dealing with Those from the Past or something."
"Did your sister know?"
"She did not know about his treachery, no. But she also seemed a bit distant in general, as usual. I spoke to her after he was dealt with, though. She had little remorse." That's normal for her these days.
Heidern leaned against the wall as he looked out over the field; the snow had started to fall again. The long coats of the two men blew in the wind. "How bad was it over in the US?"
"Bad," he said. He paused, debating whether or not he wanted to say more, but he decided to. "When one...Seirah's bad injury near her neck...I...lost track of myself. There was a bit of a blank during it. Afterward…" he trailed off. "I got control quickly, though."
"Were you completely…"
"No. I half knew what I was doing."
Heidern nodded. "Again...just be careful. If you feel things ever start to get out of control, do not be afraid to tell me. I can try to help."
Adelheid smiled, looking out over the field and taking another drink. "Thank you." He was silent for a few more moments. He always got a bit uncomfortable here; having to talk about that side of himself with Heidern did that to him. Mostly because he knew what his family's evil half had done to him, and this still made him feel guilty. "Seirah...she calmed me."
Heidern smiled softly at that, looking down. While he did not at all pry into either of them about this, he remembered what it was like to love someone dearly.
Looking more than a bit guilty now, he shook his head and sipped his glass again. "I guess this is just my destiny at this point. I refuse to be like him. But I don't think I can ever run."
"No need. Running can be worse, I think."
"Yeah. If they attack me, they attack me. I'll deal with them as they come." He looked back out, holding out his hand as he caught a few errant snowflakes.
Heidern walked forward to put a reassuring hand on the young man's shoulder. He never did truly get a chance to live how he wanted. Looking him up and down, he noticed how he had adopted a much more confident air; while Adelheid had never been a pushover, he carried himself differently over the past months. It was not a bad change. It felt like he was successfully pushing his way out of his father's dark shadow. Slowly, but surely. He may never escape it, Heidern thought, but he is his own man who does what is necessary to protect what means the most to him.
They stood in silence awhile more, when Adel looked back down at his glass.
"You sure you don't want any?" he asked, a tiny smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Heidern chuckled. "Well...if you insist. I think one is fine." He stepped aside as Adelheid walked back into the main room to pour a glass of the whiskey for the commander. Whip was gone at the moment.
She returned after some time, as the two were sitting around the room relaxing; they had not spoken much more, but there was a definite camaraderie there between the two. "Oh! Is something wrong?" she asked.
Heidern shook his head. "I was just leaving," he said, a smile on his face. He grabbed the hat he had taken off, placing it back onto his combed-back brown hair. He finished his drink; this whiskey was very fine indeed, and he wondered if he had anything as old in his collection. He nodded toward Adelheid in thanks before turning toward Whip. "Enjoy the rest of your time off, Seirah," he said, leaving the two behind as he shut the door, feeling better about things now.
Adelheid shrugged. "Everything's fine. He was just...you know."
She nodded, walking over to him to slide her arms around his neck as he sat there. He immediately relaxed; after the past four days, relaxation should have been nearly impossible, but she had that effect on him. "Come to the couch," she said, nuzzling his head.
He finished his glass of whiskey, placing it down and following her; immediately upon reaching it he pulled her close, meeting her in a kiss. After a few moments it broke, and he settled back. She sat across him, straddling his waist, mindful of their injuries which now felt a little better yet after being rebandaged by the professionals on the Sky Noah. His hand ran over to gently stroke her stomach.
"Maybe we'll get a chance to go back there with less excitement."
"Yeah...I think we've seen enough excitement for the year." She laughed softly, leaning over him, looking him in the eyes, placing her hands on either side of his head. She kissed him again; he returned it deeply, keeping her lip in his mouth a moment as she pulled away. She nuzzled up to his neck, stroking back some of his hair. "You want to go out later? Or stay around here?"
"Let me rest first. Then we'll see. He looked at her again, kissing her once more. "Wake me up if anything exciting happens again."
Yeah, we'll be just fine, I think , she thought with a wry amusement as she decided to drift off for awhile herself.
A/N: Ahh, a finale to the little adventure story. Adelheid was not happy at his servant, lol. I decided to leave that scene up to the imagination, but I'm sure one can imagine what happens when his dark side comes out…(not that it's a secret, as we've seen it before, but yeah.) Needless to say, this one caused him few regrets. Between putting their lives in danger and, well, basically betraying him for what may have been more than a couple years now, he sort of deserved that terrible payback. He more regret he didn't see it sooner and deal with him earlier.
He's a good boy. He was just born with a dark side that needs feeding once in awhile. Better to feed it with nasty individuals.
Heidern speaking of the time with the traitor-he was of course talking about Ling; he was a mercenary leader back during the NESTS saga and a contact of Heidern. Zero had killed him and impersonated him-putting a clone in his place. Heidern killed the clone after he was uncovered. I think the fact he knows about Adelheid and Seirah-and supports them-is rather nice, though he does not really get involved and leaves them to their devices.
Hope you all enjoyed this longer fic! This one featured a little bit of everything, I know-fights, injury, angst, smut, humor, the whole nine. The next time I come back with more of these two will probably be more one-shot deals of varied types, but we'll see where the inspiration takes me.
("They were on a private plane and didn't DO anything?" Who's to say they aren't ALREADY part of the mile-high club? I mean Adelheid lives on an airship-fortress…)