A/N: Okay, so one person wants a sex scene. Does anyone else want one? *ignores the fact that I want to write it badly too* Also - VIVA LA SEXUAL TENSION. *fans self* The fated meeting is finally HERE! Enjoy! Reviews, subscriptions and favorites are, as usual, appreciated!
"Tsundere Sniper is in position. Gender Blender, you may proceed."
"Copy that, Forever Flat. Team, we're heading in."
A quick flick of Nagisa's wrist has Gyaru English and Stern Lecture vaulting neatly over the wrought iron gate. Nagisa follows soon after, with a quick nod at Tsundere Sniper. The sniper has concealed herself in a dense thicket of trees, ready to pick off any bodyguards patrolling the mansion, but so far, there haven't been any sign of them – a sure sign that something is amiss.
"Stay on your guard," Nagisa warns, and she receives whispered affirmations in return.
Nagisa feels the weight of her trusty pistol resting on her thigh. A Heckler and Koch P30, it has always been there for her, tried and true, a constant. Steel and lead, they respond predictably. They are finite, unchanging, able to be mastered. She can count on them. Nagisa removes the pistol from its holster, joining the group by the door. Stern Lecture has her handy lock-pick in hand, but the door creaks open the minute she touches it.
". . . Should we go in?" Stern Lecture mumbles, staring at the door as if it might be radioactive.
"We gotta, otherwise we don't get paid," Gyaru English retorts, kicking the door open before Nagisa can stop her.
And there goes the element of surprise, Nagisa thinks, watching in exasperation as Gyaru English sticks her head into the empty room. A second later, she hears a flurry of cursing, followed by a muffled yell of, "Bomb!"
There is a sharp intake of breath from Stern Lecture, and her eyes grow shiny with surprise. "What? How long do we have?"
"A minute!" Gyaru English replies breathlessly, slamming the door shut. "Do we head back down?"
"There's no time," Nagisa says, shooting down her friend's suggestion instantly. She shoves her gun back into its holster. "It'll go off before we even make it out."
Stern Lecture's voice is almost ruthlessly calm. "Then what do you have in mind?"
Sprinting forward, Nagisa yanks the door open. She ignores Gyaru English's cry of, "Are you crazy?", ignores the panic inducing ticks coming from atop the heavy walnut desk, ignores the reason why they had ventured into the house in the first place – to find proof of a corrupt prime minister embezzling state funds – and, taking a leaf out of Rio's book, kicks the window open. The glass buckles, some of the pieces shattering and landing on the floor beside her, and clean, cold air pours into the room. Hoping that the duo will be smart enough to follow her lead, Nagisa leaps out. There is a sharp tearing and ripping sound as the sleeve of her black jacket catches on a jagged edge of glass. And then cold winter air hits her skin as Nagisa tumbles through the window, hits the edge of the roof, and falls into the bushes below.
The impact with the hard-packed earth of the ground knocks the wind out of Nagisa. Her backpack does little to soften the blow. A second later, both Gyaru English and Stern Lecture land beside her, broken and bruised, but thankfully, alive. For a moment, everything seems frozen in time. Then the house becomes a raging inferno against the sky, and Nagisa is blown backwards into the air.
Once again, her spine slaps onto hard ground. Dazed and disoriented, Nagisa lies there, trying to remember how to breathe. The ground shakes with explosions. She can't hear them. She can't hear anything at the moment. Nagisa manages to shield her face with her arms as shattered bits of matter, some of it burning, rains down around her. An acrid smoke fills the air, which is not the best remedy for someone trying to regain the ability to breathe.
After about a minute, the ground stops vibrating. Nagisa rolls onto her side. Her face and hands sting, and she catches a faint scent of burned hair that she tries to ignore, but she doesn't seem to be badly hurt. Another few seconds, and it might've been a different story.
"Gender Blender!" A familiar voice cries, and Tsundere Sniper comes barreling out of the inky blackness, her Howa M1500 slung across her back. Nagisa slumps in relief. "Are you hurt?"
Nagisa shakes her head, looking around for Stern Lecture and Gyaru English. "Where is everyone?"
"I helped them over to the trees. They're both fine, but Gyaru English is out of action." Slinging an arm around Nagisa's waist, Tsundere Sniper helps her to her feet. The two of them stumble through the shadows together, leaving the burning house behind. "She got burned pretty badly, but she'll live. Stern Lecture is looking after her."
They regroup about a click east from where the Prime Minister's house had once stood. Nagisa radios Forever Flat in a voice that is fraying apart at the edges. She lurches slightly to her right, where Stern Lecture is tending to Gyaru English, stepping off the fairly cleared pathway and into a sea of lush green ferns and brush that seem to spring up from every square inch of ground. She tries not to look at Gyaru English's calf, which is a brilliant red and covered with blisters, tries not to look at the blonde's face, which is contorted in pain. "Forever Flat, this is Gender Blender. The mission has been jeopardized, and Gyaru English is down. We need an evac, stat. Please send Mistress over."
"Forever flat'?" A teasing baritone floats into earshot out of the murky blackness, and Nagisa catches the briefest hint of gold. "Gyaru English'? Seriously? Who comes up with your code names, anyway?"
Nagisa bites back a curse. Crap. Rookie mistake. In all their haste to get away, none of them had remembered to cover their tracks, or better still – make sure their location is secure. In an instant, her gun is at the ready, trained on the spot where she'd heard the boy's voice. She hears the click of Tsundere Sniper's rifle, feels the warm reassurance as Stern Lecture's arm brushes against hers. As if by some unknown signal, the three of them form a tight circle around their injured friend, like a pack of lions protecting their young.
"Half of Middle Two," A new voice, also male, speaks up, perfectly deadpan. "Yours isn't that hip either."
Two males . . .
An indignant whine that scrapes against Nagisa's ear-drums seconds his statement. "Yeah! Who's bright idea was it to call me 'End of Perversion', anyway?"
Three targets confirmed.
Nagisa recovers, spraying bullets into the direction of the voices. She's shooting on blind instinct, but Tsundere Sniper and Stern Lecture follow after a second of hesitation, obediently following Nagisa's lead. She hears a muffled yelp as the trio of males hastily relocate to a safer position. If they can just hold out until Mistress gets here . . . Nagisa holds up a hand, and the two girls cautiously lower their guns. She debates using a flash grenade, to buy them time to escape, but Rio is too badly injured to move, and they couldn't move her without causing agonizing pain to the blonde.
"Half of Middle Two," The second male speaks up, his voice, low, cultured and tinged with exasperation. "You've gotten your glimpse of her, now let's go. Home Base is on his way, we have to retreat while we've got the files –"
"Gotcha, President Ikemen!" 'Half of Middle Two' replies cheerily, as though the two were conversing about the weather, and not about leaving the scene with their lives intact.
Nagisa has just lowered her own pistol when she hears the twig snap. In one motion, she turns to the sound, striking a defensive position. There's no one there. No one she can see anyway. Then, a pale hand, pleasantly warm and calloused, rests on the curve of her hip, tugging Nagisa's smaller frame into his own lanky one. He radiates heat and hunger, his face so close to Nagisa's own that she can see his every feature, from breathtaking golden irises, to luxurious red hair that frames a pale, beautiful face. She has almost no room to breathe. It's him. The black suited body guard from the other day . . . Akabane Karma. She knows she should shoot him, but all she can do is stare as those searingly intense eyes darken, boring into her own twilight blue orbs. His lips brush teasingly over the shell of her ear, a heated whisper ghosting over her skin.
"Until next time, Nagisa~"