Disclaimer: I make no claim to the series, ideas, or characters of Full Metal Panic.
Author's Notes: I would like to apologize for taking so long to update. May I say… college finals… are the work of the devil. I've been busy lately to say the least. I want to take the time to truly thank everyone who has reviewed my story so far. I kind of had doubts for some reason about the last chapter for some reason, but it seems as if most people liked it better than any of the others. I'm glad. Now that I've got all of that out of the way, I can get on more with the actual story. I hope everyone enjoys. Thank you, very much.
Defining Normalcy
Chapter 12: Settled Emotions
By Adam Lakewood
Kaname almost growled at the annoying buzzing, sounding loudly from the bedside desk. She opened her eyes to reveal it was still dark in the room and the glowing, red, digital numbers gleamed before her still blurry vision. She let out a groan of frustration as she reached her hand out and let it fall onto the snooze button of the clock, thus silencing it for a few more precious minutes.
How dare that blasted contraption wake her from such a splendid dream! If the alarm clock were not an essential piece of hardware to her life, and instead a person, it would certainly have hell to pay for disturbing her from her slumber.
She tucked her bare arm back under the warm covers after being chilled by the colder air of the room and shivered. She pulled the covers tightly around herself to fight the chill she now felt. But, the quilts were so warm, and the bed was so comfortable she felt as if she could have stayed there for a few days. Definitely if she could go back to the same dream she was having before. Alas, that would not do. It was time to face reality now.
She smiled to herself, remembering vividly her dream. It brought a nice warm feeling to her just thinking about it.
"Sousuke…" she mumbled tenderly as she tried to sink deeper into the bed.
She lay there in silence for a few moments before she attempted to speak again.
"Sousuke…" she said a bit louder and less tenderly that time.
A few more moments went by before she finally turned onto her back with an agitated sigh and stared up at the ceiling.
"Sousuke." she stated more loudly and with impatience apparent in her tone.
There was a slight tremor of movement on the other side of the bed.
"What?" replied a still half-asleep, slightly grumpy and tired sounding Sousuke.
"It's time to get up." she said once she realized she had his semi-attention.
There was a brief silence before he replied.
"Yes." he said in an only slightly more coherent tone.
…
…
…
…
"Sousuke!" she exclaimed.
"What?" he replied.
"Jin and Kalinin will be here in about an hour. It's time to get up." she said as she scooted closer to him and nudged him in the back.
"Yes." he said as he slightly stirred as if to get out of bed.
Then, all movement stopped.
…
…
"Sousuke!"
With that, Sousuke jumped in surprise and let out a pillow-muffled grunt.
"Do not grunt at me!" she commanded as she gave him a playful shove towards the edge of the bed.
"I said 'good morning.'" he said after he took his face out of his pillow.
Kaname laughed silently to herself. For two months after Sousuke came back to Tokyo, he was up every morning at four a.m. Now, six months later, he was harder to get up and out of bed than a seven year old.
"No, you didn't! You didn't even attempt to say anything! You only grunted."
There was another brief silence before he replied.
"It wasn't a grunt. It was my menacing growl to ward away unwanted parties."
Kaname let out an exasperated grunt of her own.
"Hmmmph! So, now I'm unwanted, huh?!" she said as she smiled to herself.
Silence.
"For the moment, yes." he finally got around to replying.
With that, Kaname smiled mischievously to herself. She turned onto her side to face his back. She supported herself with her elbow and pushed herself up against Sousuke. She reached an arm around him and began tracing circles on his bare chest. She bent down close to his ear.
"Am I still unwanted, now?" she whispered mischievously into his ear.
She smiled to herself again when he shifted around a little bit from her touch. He would never admit it to anyone, but he was surprisingly ticklish.
He finally let out what finally sounded like a mischievous or welcoming groan of his own.
"Yes, still." he simply stated.
The next thing he knew, a feather pillow came down on top of him with a wrath and unforgiving fury of Biblical proportions.
"Ohhhhh!" she groaned as she sat up quickly in bed, clasping the covers around her.
"Success." he declared with a smile.
Sousuke finally stretched, threw his legs over the side of the bed, sat up, and glanced around the floor before him for his clothing.
"Now, I believe I will get up."
Kaname actually laughed at that.
"Is it always necessary for you to pick on me?" she said with a chuckle.
"Yep." he simply responded.
Kaname looked over at his bare back. It certainly was something she enjoyed seeing in the mornings. His tan complexion actually made the finely chiseled muscles in his back stand out a bit more. She slowly traced her eyes down his back, taking in every detail as if she were absolutely lustful over his build. Which, she might have been, but no one would hear her admit that. Her eyes traced further down to the middle of his back when he bent over to pick something up off of the floor. His stretching his back made his muscles all the more visible. She continued tracing her eyes down his back until he stood up and her eyes could trace down further, revealing his…
…boxer shorts with ridiculous animated rabbit heads on them…
She fell back on the bed laughing. She couldn't contain it. The image of her war-hardened Sousuke Sagara: the manliest of men… wearing boxer shorts with cartoon characters on them. It was too much.
Sousuke turned around when he heard her start cracking up. He narrowed his eyes at her, confused. He didn't have the slightest clue what she could have been laughing at.
"Do you find something to be humorous, Kaname?" he asked.
She couldn't form words she was laughing so hard. But, she tried anyway.
"Y… Y… Yo… Your…"
With that, she finally gave up when she started laughing harder when she caught another glimpse of them. The sight was even more hilarious to see Sousuke standing there, long hair frizzed out all over the places, an annoyed glare in his eyes, scars all over his body, arms crossed over his chest expectantly, and wearing those ridiculous boxers like some sort of badge of honor.
Giving up on trying to form words, she simply pointed at his boxers while holding her stomach in pain from all of the laughter.
Sousuke looked down to where her finger was pointing. His face immediately went red as the brightest of cherries when it finally occurred to him what she was laughing at. Now, he was offended. … he wasn't thinking about the pattern on his boxers, though.
"I don't understand why you're laughing. The sound you make certainly isn't laughter when we're…"
She didn't hear what he said after that; she was too busy laughing even harder because of his misunderstanding. She felt somewhat bad since he had taken that the wrong way. But, his misunderstanding and the look on his face made her laugh even harder. But, she finally managed to spit out a couple words.
"Your b… boxers…" she managed to say between laughs.
Sousuke quickly looked down again and his face turned an even brighter red. He felt somewhat ashamed at himself for construing her comment so badly. He did an amazingly quick 180 degree pivot as to not have to look her in the face. He covered his mouth with his hand and let out a fake cough in hopes of covering his suspiciously abrupt turn around.
"Yes. Ridiculous, aren't they?" he said as he once again began looking for his other articles of clothing.
Kaname eased over to the edge of the bed to where she was closer to him. She gave a nice good look at his backside. It was something that really caught her attention… the boxers that is.
"I don't know; I think they're kind of cute." she said with a chuckle.
"Don't be camp."
"What do you mean by that?" she asked with a disapproving grunt. "Coming from your sarcastic self, I know it can't mean anything good."
"Camp is exaggerated effeminate mannerisms. It also means something so outrageous, inappropriate, or theatrical as to be considered amusing."
Kaname quirked an eyebrow at his critical response and explanation. She looked around the room for any tell-tale evidence which may be able to explain his response. They had been through this sort of thing before. Many times. Sousuke always enjoyed using new words he had just found meaning for.
"So, you've been rummaging through the dictionary again, huh?"
"Yes."
"Well, thank you for giving me the exact definition of 'camp.'" she said with sarcasm apparent in her voice.
"You are quite welcome, Kaname. I am always glad to help further your common knowledge."
Kaname's eye twitched a bit when she saw that statement come with a sly smile.
"I'll… take that as… a compliment." she said, firmly grasping her pillow.
"As you should." he replied with another sly smile.
Kaname was getting used to almost everything he said having a double meaning. But, sometimes she would let it go and not question the statement's double meaning for fear of getting a response which also had a double meaning.
"By the way," she said with a sly smile of her own. "Nice try trying to smoothly change the subject. But, it's not very often I have something to poke fun at you over, so you're not getting off the hook that easily." she said waving her finger at him in a shame-shame manner.
"Blast." he whispered with a smile.
"Yes, those things look cute on you. I wish I'd known sooner about them." she said teasingly. "Does that cute little cartoon rabbit have a name?"
Sousuke saw where this discussion was heading and saw how he could turn it toward his favor. He turned his back again and began searching for his clothing under the table as a cover, for he knew he would not be able to keep a straight face during his answering her questions.
"Yes, Benny Bunny." he stated so simply and seriously he wanted to give himself a pat on the back for such great acting.
Kaname was surprised by Sousuke's response. As a matter of fact, considering this was Sousuke, she was mortified. He really did know who the cartoon character so proudly displayed on his boxers was.
"B… Benny Bunny." she said with a chuckle. "Why are you wearing Benny Bunny boxer shorts?" she asked while raising an eyebrow in his direction.
Success. The conversation was now playing out perfectly.
"Because I am one of the dedicated Benny Bunny Buddies."
Now, Kaname was completely mortified. Who was this man, and what had he done with Sousuke? Was he a body snatcher? She didn't want to know anymore, but unfortunately she could not contain her curiosity.
"Wh… Where did you get such ridiculous things?" she asked hesitantly, fearing the bizarre response which may follow.
"From the Bodacious Benny Bunny Buddies Boxers Bonzai Beach Bonanza." he said managing to keep his voice sounding as serious as a heart attack.
He silently congratulated himself for being able to say that flawlessly and without breaking out into hysterical laughter. Try saying that five times fast.
If Kaname could have seen his face, she would have seen the huge, beaming grin displayed across his face. It was taking all of his willpower to stop from bursting out in laughter himself. The conversation had worked out perfectly, and he could only imagine the look on Kaname's face.
Kaname… was devastated. She sat on the side of the bed with her mouth gaping open like a baby bird waiting for the worm. Kaname would have continued with her interrogation if she hadn't heard what sounded like a choked laugh trying to burst out of him. She had almost dismissed it until she heard him let out a fake cough to cover it up. She narrowed her eyes at his back, malicious intent promising to bring about a stormy day.
"Are you testing my gullibility again, Sousuke?" she said, sounding very dangerously calm.
"Yes." he finally let out as he turned his beaming grin toward her.
"I see." she said with a glare. "Is there any chance you will ever stop giving me a hard time every chance you get?" she demanded more than questioned.
"Yes. But, that slight probability is nearly nonexistent."
Kaname let out a groan as she rested her head in the palm of her hand.
"Anyway…" she said, changing the already changed subject. "I'm still curious as to why you have those things. More importantly, I would like to know how and why you got them." she said with a laugh.
"I got them as a result of a bet between myself and Kurtz and Melissa." he confided.
Kaname lowered her head and let out a short lived chuckle.
"You mean to tell me that you betted for those?!" she said with a laugh when she looked back at them once more.
"No, do not misunderstand. I lost the bet. These were a part of that bet. These also came with a set of ridiculous bunny slippers and a set of strange costume-like bunny ears. Due to my inaccuracy in perceiving the outcome of the bet, I was held by my honor to concede to my end of the bet and marched around the submarine in nothing but the three and a rather large assault rifle with ammo belt."
Kaname feel back on the bed and started laughing at the mental image that had conjured up in her mind. She would have given anything to have been able to see that.
Sousuke joined in on the laughter. No particular reason… he just felt like laughing… just as he always did. Laughter had become a normal thing for him over the past few months. So, he exercised this new-found ability to its maximum.
He leaned over and picked up a cloth duffel bag off the floor and threw it onto the bed.
"Whatever." he mumbled out with smirk.
"Whatever, what, Sousuke?" Kaname inquired.
"Nothing." he said as he headed out of the bedroom and into the hallway.
"I get to use the shower first this morning since I was the first out of bed." he stated matter of factly.
"Yeah, as unusual as that is. Your being the first one out of bed that is." she said sarcastically.
"Also, if I recall correctly, someone, I will withhold names to protect the identity of the individual, still has packing to do since she came to bed before she was finished last night."
That's right. She hadn't finished packing. As a matter of fact, she was nowhere near finished packing. Worse, she wasn't quite exactly sure what to pack for a skiing trip. She was very excited about the trip. She had been to the United States several times before, but she had never been to Colorado. But, she had heard several great things about Aspen. Plus, she had always wanted to go snow skiing but never got the chance to. It promised to be a very fun trip, especially with the four odd characters that were going. Kalinin had invited Kaname and Jin to come along on his and Sousuke's business trip. Kalinin's music store business had been such a huge success in Japan, he was wanting to make it a world-wide business. He would start next with the United States. He was hoping to set up a store in Colorado, so this would actually be a little bit of pre-established advertising. He also figured it would be a good time for him and Sousuke to take a vacation. He guessed it would be much more fun with more than two people, so he also invited Jin and Kaname to come along with them. Of course, both of them gladly accepted. And, here she was and wasn't even packed. Kalinin had been nice enough to invite her along with them, so the last thing she wanted to do was keep him waiting when he got there.
Kaname quickly got out of bed and rushed to the closet with a blanket wrapped around her in order to find some clothes. She frantically grabbed articles of clothing and threw them onto the bed in a hurried, panicked manner.
Sousuke let out another laugh when he saw her expected response.
"If I only had your reaction to base judgment off of, I would have to conclude that the bed had suddenly ignited into flames."
Kaname ignored his pestering as she continued rummaging through her side of the closet.
"Arrrrgh! I forgot all about that. I should have been up and packing at least two hours ago!"
"I was wondering how long you were going to lie there in bed." he said with a choked laugh.
That earned him a glare from Kaname.
Sousuke let out a nervous chuckle when he was met with her piercing glare.
"I think I'll go shower now." he said.
"That may be in your best interest." she said with an underlying threat in her voice.
For some unknown reason, Sousuke didn't bother her again until Kalinin and Jin arrived.
Kalinin pulled up in his new S.U.V. at around 7:00 a.m. Sousuke stepped off of the bottom steps leading down from his apartment's balcony as soon as he pulled up.
Obviously, it hadn't quit snowing since last night. He and Kaname watched it out the window for a good portion of the night. It was beautiful then, and now it was even more so. The way it had settled, undisturbed on the ground and the way it was clinging in trees made for a rather grand sight. The mildly thick, white haze in the sky was a sight to behold itself. He slowed his descent of the stairs to take in the beauty of cold nature. It was something he had never taken much notice in before. He did not know why.
"Good morning, Mr. Kalinin." he strained to say as he hefted a rather large suitcase off of the stairs and onto the sidewalk.
"Good morning, Mr. Sagara. You seem to be in a rather delightful mood for it being so early in the morning." he said as he leaned up against the S.U.V.
"There's nothing wrong with that, is there?" he inquired with a smile as he sat the suitcase down in the parking lot and wiped sweat from his brow.
"No, nothing at all. It's just that I having known you for so many years now, so this is just such a change in you and I guess I'm still not quite used to it."
"I agree."
Sousuke stopped for a moment to take a good look at Kalinin's new automobile.
"Nice." Sousuke said as he raised an eyebrow and nodded his head in approval. "You certainly do know how to choose a good vehicle."
"Thank you. I'm rather proud of it if I must say so myself."
"Then, by all means, do so; I know I certainly would." he said as knelt down on the ground to peer at the frame.
He rose back up once he was done giving a thorough inspection of his boss' new vehicle. He brushed a little bit of snow off of his pants before he looked back up at Kalinin.
Kalinin was looking up into the sky watching the snow fall. He seemed as if he were looking at something in particular. Sousuke leaned up against the vehicle also and decided he would look in the vicinity of the sky Kalinin was and find out if he could notice what Kalinin had. He saw nothing, and decided that was worth looking at also. Just watching it snow was somewhat peaceful.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" asked Kalinin after a couple minutes.
"Exquisite." he replied.
Kalinin let out a sigh which sent a breath of fog from his mouth until it disappeared into the air.
"What are you thinking about, Mr. Sagara?" Kalinin asked.
"Merian, of course." he simply stated as he turned his head back to look at Kalinin. "Same for you?"
"Yes." he said quietly as he closed his eyes.
A couple of minutes of silence passed before Sousuke finally spoke again.
"I miss her too, sir."
"I know." he said with a sigh. "I think everyone does."
After another couple minutes of silence, it was Kalinin who broke the silence.
"How come you never ask me about Merian? I know that you know that I know almost every to what happened, and I know you have several questions you would like to ask. Why don't you ever ask me about her; I'm just curious."
"The same reason you've never asked me about my past. I know you'll talk to me when you're ready."
Kalinin quirked an eyebrow and smirked at his young friend's remark. Sometimes the young man could be even more insightful than he was.
"And?" he inquired, curious as to what Sousuke would say.
"You're not ready to talk yet." was all that he said.
Sousuke turned around, picked up the large suitcase, and situated it into the back of the S.U.V. He could tell Sousuke didn't want to talk about it anymore. But, that was perfectly alright since he didn't want to talk about it either. Perhaps that was why his young friend abruptly ended the conversation.
At that point, Kalinin turned his head towards Sousuke's apartment when he heard the apartment door slam shut. Kaname and Jin came out carrying several bags with them. Kaname glared at Sousuke when she saw him relaxing against the S.U.V.
"Hey, Sousuke, I thought you were going to come back in and help me carry out the rest of our stuff." she said as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Glad to see you aren't overexerting yourself." she said sarcastically.
"I guess I just got lazy." he said with a laugh. "Good morning, Jin." he said as he raised his hand in her direction.
"Good morning, Sousuke." Jin said as she and Kaname loaded the bags into the back of the vehicle.
After that, Kaname walked over to Sousuke with a mischievous grin on her face. She started pointing her finger at him as if there were going to be serious repercussions for his actions, or actually, his lack of actions.
"Is that so? Well, let's see how lazy you are when I do this." she said as she quickly wrapped her arms around Sousuke and held on tightly.
"Jin, now!" she called out.
Sousuke took a quick look of surprise on his face before turning his head around quickly to see Jin lob a large snowball at him.
Kaname was surprised when Sousuke slid out of her grip like a large bar of soap. The next thing she knew, the snowball that was meant for Sousuke broke on her forehead.
"Oops! Sorry Kaname!" Jin said as she smiled nervously.
Sousuke rose back up out of nowhere as if he had been melded into the earth. He turned a mocking surprised look at Kaname as if he were surprised to see her.
"An accomplice!" he exclaimed in surprise as if he didn't even know she was there or who she was.
With that, he knelt back down, perhaps back into the earth, where he had been before. Before Kaname or Jin could react, they were both pelted in the face by globs of freezing cold snow. When they both finished wiping and shaking the snow from their faces, Sousuke was nowhere to be found.
Kalinin let out a gruff chuckle and shook his head.
"Children." he said with an exasperated sigh and an amused grin on his face.
"Blast it!" exclaimed Jin. "Come on, Kaname! He can run, but he can't hide. He'll have a hard time with the both of us after him!" she said as she gave her friend a thumbs up.
"That's right!" replied Kaname. "We're going to find you Sousuke! And, when we do, we're showing you no mercy!" she called out to wherever he may be.
Jin scanned the area, but saw no means by which to track him. He had taught her everything he knew about tracking, but of course he also knew how to make sure he couldn't be tracked. She turned around to face Kalinin.
"Which way did he go, Mr. Kalinin?" Jin asked.
Kalinin leaned off of his vehicle as he slowly lifted his hand and extended his index finger behind them.
"He went that way." he said with another amused chuckle.
"Thanks!" said Kaname as her and Jin turned away from him and looked in the direction he had pointed.
Before either of them could say anything about not seeing Sousuke, they were both assailed from behind by a large hail of snowballs. Sousuke had struck again.
Jin and Kaname both turned around and tried to shake the freezing cold snow out of the back of their shirts.
"Blast it, he got us again!" exclaimed Jin. "Mr. Kalinin, you should have warned us that he was…"
Jin stopped in mid sentence when she looked up to see that Kalinin wasn't there. So, he was Sousuke's accomplice.
"Get down!" shouted Kaname as she pulled Jin down to the ground at the last second as a snowball zipped overhead and exploded against the ground when it landed.
"Oh, great!" said Jin with a smile. "Now, Mr. Kalinin's teamed up with him. We don't stand a chance!" said Jin as she reached into her jacket pocket.
She pulled out a pen and some sort of left over receipt. She pierced the white piece of paper with the pen and let it rest on the pen and blow in the wind like some sort of flag. Jin held it over the top of the vehicle, careful not to expose any of her body over the top, and started waving it around.
"We surrender! You win!" she called out with a laugh.
Without warning, the pen was snipped from her hand by a deadly accurate snowball. The snowball landed on the ground several feet away with the pen sticking out of it. Jin turned a worried look to Kaname who was also staring at the snowball in disbelief.
"We're taking no prisoners!" the voice of Kalinin seemed to boom out from every direction.
"Come out now, and your executions will be swift and painless." Sousuke's voice echoed from somewhere.
Kaname and Jin both let out laughs at the two men's comments. Kaname looked over at Jin with a smile on her face.
"I think we've had it, now." Kaname said with a sigh.
"Yep." she agreed. "Now, we're in a full-scale snowball fight with two experts of guerilla warfare and ambush tactics." she said while laughing at the irony.
Kaname let out a laugh along with her until they both heard the caw of a bird neither of them had ever heard before. Kaname raised an eyebrow and turned her gaze toward Jin.
"That was one of them, wasn't it?" asked Kaname.
The caw of another unique bird filled the air, followed by a reply from the other.
"Yep. And, that was the other one. I think they're discussing plans and tactics in… bird." she said with a humored laugh.
"Oh, great!" said Kaname between laughs. "We're not going to be walking away with a dry thread on us."
There were numerous calls of strange birds in the distance before the unstoppable onslaught of snowballs came.
The man looked down from the balcony through a pair of binoculars at the four people having a snowball fight in the parking lot. He brought the binoculars away from his face once he confirmed who the four people were. He then brought a small communications device up to his mouth as he continued to keep his cold stare on the four people in the parking lot.
"Yes, sir. Both Whispered targets are together. They also have two other men with them, but neither should be any sort of trouble." says the man in Chinese.
He picks up small notepad and opens it up to read off of his notes to his superior.
"The first is Kaname Chidori. She is eighteen years of age. She stands one hundred sixty eight centimeters tall and weighs fifty one kilograms in weight. She has long blue hair and brown eyes. She is of blood type: B, and of Japanese origin. She has no family in Japan. She has a father and sister in the United States who should be of no problem. She is currently enrolled in a local university in Tokyo where she is studying for a degree in chemistry. She currently has a job of tutoring on campus and is living with who I can assume is her boyfriend, Devin Letrus." he says and then flips over to the next page of his notes.
"The second is Jin Lain. She is a Korean of seventeen years old. She stands at one-hundred fifty-one centimeters tall and weighs approximately forty-five kilograms. Her hair color is jet-black, and she has blue eyes. She is of blood type: O. She likewise has no family in Japan. She does, however, have both living parents in South Korea, but from conversations I have had with her, I don't think she knows that either is alive. She goes to the same university as Chidori and is studying for a degree in psychology. She works part time as an automechanic."
The man pauses for a moment before he turns a few more pages in his notebook. He listens carefully to the static voice on the other end of the communications device.
"Uh, yes, sir. I have made brief verbal contact with Chidori, and I have sustained prolonged contact with Lain as a fellow psychologist in training." he pauses to listen to the other voice.
"No, sir. I don't think so, but I do have some information on the two men that are with them." he says as he flips through a few more pages.
"Andrea Kalinin. Former sales representative for a f oil company in Russia. He, himself, is of Russian origin from best I can gather. He stands at approximately two hundred centimeters and weighs roughly around one-hundred and ten kilograms. He has gray hair and hazel eyes. He is the owner of the A&D Music Haven in Tokyo, and he is working on getting another store in the United States. No other information is available."
He turns a few more pages in the notebook. He squints his eyes at the picture in the notebook and turns a confused look toward the man in the parking lot throwing around snowballs. He brings the communication device back up to his mouth and looks back at his notes.
"The other man going with them to Colorado is Devin Letrus. He is twenty-five years old, has long brown hair, stands at one-hundred ninety-two centimeters, and weighs about eighty-nine kilograms. He is of Japanese origin. His blood type is A. He is a former professor of linguistics, sociology, and mathematics. He is currently employed as the assistant manager and in charge of marketing at the A&D Music Haven." he pauses to hear the static voice of his superior once more.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat, sir?"
…
"Oh, yes. I've been keeping an eye on them for about a month now. There should be no problem with the operation."
…
"A&D? Uh… Andrea and Devin I would guess, since they are the only two employees of the store."
…
"Kalinin? No, he does not have any sort of record which is easily accessible. And, Devin's is a complete record. I repeat, there should be no problem. I think while they are in Colorado would be a good time to initiate the operation, sir. We may not get a better chance."
…
…
"Very good, sir. I believe that would be best. May I suggest that you send PT Squad 4 to apprehend the two Whispered since both have been confirmed positive?"
…
"Yes, I agree, sir. Once we have these two that will make four that we have in our possession."
"No one will be able to stop the rise of the Old Republic this time."
TO BE CONTINUED