"A car." Crawford's tone was flat. Not matter-of-fact-flat but I-am-disappointed-you-did-not-do-better-flat. Nagi did know the difference well.
"Yes, a car," the youngest Weiß was brave enough to repeat. And Nagi had given him some credit for not being a total nitwit. Not that it made him anything next to likable. Tolerable maybe, but nothing more.
'From you this is nearly a love declaration. What will you wear for the wedding? And who will be the bride?'
'Shut up, Schuldig!' Nagi thought hard and slammed his mind shut. It was a little more difficult than usual with all the sensory impressions running in on him, but he managed to keep the obnoxious telepath out. At least for the moment.
He rolled his eyes, when Crawford turned away from the rabbit and it really had the nerve to hop on front of him and speak to him again. The only one that was more oblivious to the fact, that he was getting on Crawford's nerve, was the greyhound that was wolfing down chunks of meat from the bag the other dog had carried earlier.
"We would be there within half an hour. If we manage to get it going, that is."
"And how will we do this?" Crawford huffed. "None of us will be able to reach the gears, left alone stir the wheel."
The rabbit's ears dropped. "But...I have seen some dogs drive in cars. There were videos on the internet. And we are much smarter than common dogs. It's true, they had altered vehicles so they could just reach everything with their paws, but if we all work together it might..."
"Enough with that", Crawford interrupted and stared at the rabbit. It shrank back even more and Nagi was sure it would have blushed if that had been possible.
"But maybe he's right," a voice suddenly barged in. A voice from someone Nagi would not have dreamed in a thousand years to agree on one of Weiß's plans. He even imagined the sound of a thin needle scratching on vinyl.
Everyone's attention turned to Schuldig, who was sitting right in the middle of the wreckage he and Farfarello had caused. The fox smiled knowingly.
"Maybe we could go by car. I mean, we have someone who is able to push all the necessary buttons."
He glanced up at the ceiling and everyone else followed his gaze. Hence, all animals were staring at Nagi. He felt his heart drop and his pulse rise.
'Schuldig, I'll kill you for that!' he thought viciously at the telepath, but Schuldig only smirked.
'You know you want to' he said in Nagi's head. 'And I'm sure you can do it. You have had some driving lesson, haven't you?"'
'Yes, but...I'm not very good. And I'm a goddamned bat! How am I supposed to reach...oh.'
Schuldig's smirk widened. 'See, I always thought you were smart. Come on, Nagi. This is your big chance. Make Crawford proud and help me get rid of these ears. Farfarello would like to get his knives back as well. The sooner, the better."
Nagi felt a shiver run down his spine. 'I don't know...'
'I'll help you' Schuldig offered. 'I'll sit in the driver's seat with you and tell you what to do.'
Nagi glowered down at him. 'I am NOT going to sit on your lap!'
Schuldig burst into laughter, which made the Weiß bunch looks at him suspiciously. Especially the greyhound narrowed his eyes and looked from Schuldig to Nagi and back again, as if he was assuming something going on between them. Nagi choose to ignore him. Anyway, he could not ignore the rabbit that got on his hind legs and snuffled in his direction.
"Is that true, Nagi? Could you do that?"
He breathed deeply and cooled his mind. He did not want to give away any hint of his uncertainty by an unsteady voice.
"Of course I can. Crawford?"
He looked at the badger. He would not let Weiß get to him, but he had to ask Crawford for permission first. The black and white face studied him and then gave a tiny nod. That was all Nagi needed. He let go of the ceiling and fluttered towards the door.
"I suppose your car is parked outside?"
When the rabbit confirmed his assumption, he used his gift, to open the door and flew outside. Once in the open space he deeply exhaled the breath he had held in unknowingly. It was...difficult to fly and use his gift. His brain had to process all the information from the swift movement and the things around him, the ultra sound adding to the sensation. When people dreamt about flying, they really had no idea, how difficult it really was. And moving something while he himself was moving, too, was an even bigger challenge. At least, the door only needed a little push. Driving a car would be harder. But he was quite certain, he could handle that. Perhaps he would not even need Schuldig's help.
He landed on the pole of a street light and watched the others leave the shop. It was quite a sight to have all of them gathered, moving out like a pack of wolves on the hunt. He even could not help to notice the resembling colors he had missed before. Two black and white animals, two reddish ones, two brown and...okay. Farfarello stood out as usual. He always did, whereas Nagi seemed to blend in everywhere. It sometimes felt like he sort of disappeared from people's perception. Nagi sighed and looked down on the rabbit.
"So where is your car?"
"I...I don't have one. But the shop has. I thought we could use the delivery truck."
The rabbit pointed at something at the side of the street. Nagi was about to get down on top of the car, when Schuldig's voice stopped him.
"Now way we are going into this crappy van. It's old, it's loud and above all it's pink!"
"How do you know it's loud?" Farfarello wanted to know while contemplating the pink obscenity.
Schuldig looked around and spotted something else. He went on to another car and nodded approvingly. "I think, this will suffice. Plus, I like the color."
"What? No way!" the greyhound barked and rushed to position himself between Schuldig and the car. "Get your greedy paws off my baby. The Seven is not for you to use."
Schuldig snarled. "And I say, we take this one. So get the keys, if you don't want to spend the rest of your life drinking from a toilet bowl."
"Get off", the greyhound barked and bared his teeth.
"Easy now," a low voice intervened and the cat strolled in between the opponents. Its tail went straight into the air and nearly brushed the nose of the growling greyhound. The cat did not seem to be intimidated in the slightest by any of the bared teeth on either side of it. It did not even look at Schuldig or the greyhound.
"The Seven is much to small to carry us all. We'll take my car", the cat continued and went on to another vehicle several parking lots down the street.
The greyhound an Schuldig tried to stare each other down for another couple of moments, then the dog growled "I'll get the keys. And don't you dare touch my Lady!"
It went back to the shop and Schuldig's gaze followed him until it disappeared inside. Then he gave Farfarello a sign and the ferret crawled under the car they had been fighting about. Schuldig grinned and turned to follow the other animals that were already heading towards the second car.
'What is Farfarello doing?' Nagi wanted to know.
Schuldig grinned. 'It's a common problem to have your car rummaged by martens, when you leave it parked outside. Blondie will have to visit a garage by the time he turns human again. His fault for not letting me borrow his precious car.'
Nagi was not sure, if he wanted to roll his eyes at Schuldig for being immature or if he appreciated the telepath's creativity at knowing how to push other people's buttons. Either way, he had a complicated task at hand and had to concentrate on being successful. He let got of the lamp post and fluttered down the street, where everyone else had gathered around a white car. Nagi landed on top of it.
"Porsche?" Schuldig asked and tried to whistle, but did not manage with his muzzle. Annoyed he looked round for the greyhound to show up.
When it did, Nagi took the keys with his gift and tried to get them into the lock of the door. It was more difficult than he thought. The cat shot him a look that made his skin creep. Finally the car doors opened and the animals started to board. There was a small fight over the seating order, as the cat insisted on sitting in the passenger seat in the front – it was his car after all. But when Crawford just entered the seat and sat down with that look on his face, the cat hopped onto the back seat as if it wanted to sit there all along. The rabbit and both dogs accompanied it, while Farfarello made himself comfortable on the small rear parcel shelf. He smelled of motor oil and something acrid Nagi assumed to be brake fluid.
'You coming?' Schuldig asked and nearly made Nagi jump up. He really had to keep focused despite the unfamiliar company he was in. He had to get this car moving.
'Just relax and feel it, Nagi. Driving a car is mostly like handling a woman. Oops, I forgot. No experience with that from your side.'
'Schuldig! Do you really think it is a good idea to annoy me right now?', Nagi thought and wrinkled his nose. A car full of animals was not such a pleasant place to be in. Maybe he had to get the windows down first.
"A little advise concerning the car. You have to be careful with the gear shift. It tends to..."
Nagi did not listen to the rest of the cat's lecture. He was too busy panicking.
'A gear shift? Schuldig! I only know how to use automatic transmission cars!'
'Calm down, Nagi. It's not that difficult. You just have to get the biting point right before you release the clutch at its fullest. With your enhanced sense you should even be able to hear the engine make a slightly different sound due to the revs dropping. With a sports car like this you can even feel the car lift a little before you kill it by being too slow.'
'Sounds wonderful' Nagi hissed and fluttered inside. He wanted to sit on the head rest again, but Schuldig thought otherwise.
'Get on my head. It will be easier to advise you when our points of view match each other's.'
Nagi hesitated a bit, but then gave in when he sensed the other getting impatient. He knew he would have to follow Schuldig's instruction, if he did not want to mess this up. Hence, he evened his breath and tried to get as comfortable as he could between Schuldig's ears. At least he had something to hold on to.
'Hey, get you claws of my sensitive spots. I cannot concentrate like that', Schuldig instantly complained.
"Look's like someone's got a bat hat", the greyhound giggled from the back seat and the shepherd dog snorted with laughter. The cat just rolled its eyes. His personality seemed to match Crawford's, only he was a little more homicidal. On the second thought...maybe not.
'Could you concentrate on driving, please? I would like to get going today .'
Nagi took a deep breath again and turned the key. The car came to live with a deep, roaring sound that went straight to Nagi's stomach. He felt the vibrations all over his body. It was like being inside a living, breathing creature thrumming with expectation.
'Good. Now get the gear shift, the clutch and slowly thrust the accelerator while releasing the clutch. Then you..."
Nagi clenched his teeth and nearly bit his lip. He tried to follow all the instructions and...stalled the car. The engine died with a determined jolt towards the car in front of them. Nagi heard the cat draw in its breath.
'Don't panic. You'll manage' Schuldig said in his head and really sounded like he meant it for once.
Nagi started the engine again, set the turn signal and slowly let go of the clutch while gently pressing the gas pedal down. There was a brief moment, when he thought, the car would choke again, but then it slowly crawled forward and even passed by the other car without touching it. The relieved sigh from the back seat was more than audible.
'Ok, now let's get a little more speed and then you will have to change gears. Press the clutch to the floor, set to second gear and repeat the procedure you started with. You'll see, it easy.'
Nagi knew he would have sweated, if that had been possible. He felt warm and his head was swimming from the telepathy and all the things he had to do at once. Control his telekinesis, shift the gears, steer the wheel, not scratch Schuldig's ears and above all that: ignore the stares. Because, once they were moving faster, the eyes of the animals out on the street were following them. At least most of them were careful enough to leave the street, when they saw them coming. But there were enough of them staring at the approaching car like a deer in the head light. And he did not even have the lights on, yet!
He nearly hit a family of ducks crossing the street and and only managed to leave them unharmed by hitting the brakes hard. The ducks quaked at him unimpressed and went on with their promenade, whereas everyone in the car was yelling at him.
"Just run them over next time," Schuldig snarled. His nose had bumped into the stirring wheel, while Nagi had nearly slipped down from his head and only managed to stay up by using his claws on the ears again. Hence, the telepath was thoroughly pissed off.
"No, you can't kill them", the rabbit objected while picking itself up from the floor it had dropped on. The cat had managed to stay put, but its claws were stuck in the upholstery and it hissed trying to get them out again. The two dogs were barking insults and Crawford growled in annoyance. Only Farfarello was enjoying his back view, obviously oblivious to his surroundings.
Nagi felt anger rise deep inside of him. Here he was, trying his best to get them to this stupid lab, which would not even have been necessary, if Crawford had been more polite when turning the stupid scientist down, and he saved everyone from running their paws bloody and all they did was complain. He really had enough of it.
"Shut up!" he screamed and used a good portion of the ultra sound to it. All animals winced at the piercing sound and he was greeted with more than one disgruntled look. "Everyone who does not want to stay in the car, can get out now!"
He telekinetically fumbled with the door opener, until he hit one of the buttons by accident and the windows started to roll down slowly. Schuldig snickered under him.
"That was the window, Liebelein. Now play nice and get us going again. And all back seat drivers will shut up from now on."
"Don't tell me what to do", the greyhound growled, but he sat down again and looked out of the window.
Nagi sighed and started the engine again. When the car began to move faster, the wind blew in and ruffled the thin fur on his back. It was an odd sensation which he apparently shared with the shepherd dog.
"Hey, that's kinda nice. Let me see," it said and squeezed in between the passenger seat and the side of the car.
"Oi, Ken, watch the tail," the greyhound bitched. "You keep whacking my face with it."
'Nothing you don't deserve' Schuldig shared his thoughts with Nagi.
"Then sit on the other side with Omi," the shepherd dog replied and squeezed some more, to get closer to the window. When he finally managed to get his head out, his feet lost the balance and he nearly strangled himself. Nagi had to stop the car again and Crawford, who apparently was fed up with the dog butting into his seat from behind, got in the backseat, so that the shepherd dog could take his place. Here it sat and yapped and barked out of the window. Its fur was ruffled by the wind, his tail wagged from side to side with enthusiasm.
"This is so great. Aya, Yoji, Omi, you should try it. It's like flying and you see and smell everything. It's really overwhelming. Come on, Nagi, speed up a little. Here we go!"
Nagi inwardly rolled his eyes, but he had to admit, that the cheerful sounds were more convenient the the constant nagging from before. It helped to ease the tension, too. When Nagi looked in the back view mirror, he even saw Farfarello look interested again. Crawford had made himself comfortable between the cat and the rabbit and the greyhound had given up whining. It was almost resembling a peaceful family trip, until Schuldig spoke up again.
"We're almost there. Take the next turn to the right and park the car. It's time to face Lady Frankenstein."