Disclaimer: I make no claims to the series, ideas, or characters of Full Metal Panic.
Defining Normalcy
Chapter 18: Hamartia
By Adam Lakewood
Who would have ever guessed that Death would make so much noise when he came? Who would have thought that Death would have been visible during the waking hours?
Then again, who really would havethought that Death would come wielding an assault rifle of all things?
Shin Wu Chang hadn't, and just a few minutes earlier, Sousuke Sagara hadn't. More than likely, no one had. That's where all of the great injustices of justified glory lay: in the fact that no one saw it coming.
The half-naked, blood-covered, assault rifle wielding Grim Reaper, Sousuke Sagara, walked toward the cowering Shin Wu Chang who was leaned up against the wall hard enough that it seemed he may have been able to go through it with just a little more force.
Sousuke walked out of the room where he had just killed two of the eight scientists of the Old Republic of China and a very young soldier of the same. Another kill had just lined himself up for him, nearly causing him to smile sadistically at the convenience.
At that moment, the two boys of opposing sides shared a common interest with one another. Only one thing was going through their minds. Blood. However, just like the two boys sharing the same hallway were of completely opposite sides, so was their idea of blood. Sousuke walked toward Shin with every intention of ending the slightly older boy's life as painfully as he could, while Shin could only focus on the blood-filled room behind the slowly approaching Grim Reaper, the bodyguard and avenger of the Cajarahahi. By burning the Cajarahahi's son, they had all assumed that they would then have nothing to fear in case the son followed in the father's footsteps. Unfortunately, that plan had backfired. By killing the Cajarahahi's son, they had instead released the medicine man's curse.
Everyone at the small establishment of the Old Republic of China had a run-in with Death that day, and no one had survived.
… Except for one young boy.
Shin shot up from the reclined seat of his car with a fearful gasp. Despite the cold, he was sweating profusely. He had to look around him at his surroundings to make sure he wasn't still trapped in that horrible day. He had to rely on his visual perceptions more than any of his other senses; they were not to be trusted. Everywhere he went, no matter where, he could still smell the halls of the Old Republic's first establishment. That wasn't the worst part though.
Every moment of every waking hour he could still hear the screams and gunshots of that day; it took a lot to just be able to filter out what was real and what wasn't anymore. For the past few days, that had been especially so since he saw Death again. He remembered his face well and knew him as soon as Jin introduced him. He had known him as Illian during that time, but they had called him Devin and then let it slip that he was 'Sousuke'. Death, Illian, Grim Reaper, Sousuke, Reaper, Devin… whoever he was, he had to make sure he was real and not just a ghost of his past coming back to haunt him. If he was indeed who he seemed to be, the Avenger probably thought the same about him.
Shin jumped nervously when he heard a loud boom of thunder outside, fearing that the gunshots he heard in his head had gotten closer. He looked around in fright once again before sighing and letting his seat up. He folded his arms in front of his forehead and leaned forward to relax against the steering wheel.
The horn of the car sounded off loudly when his arms missed the steering wheel and accidentally pressed against the horn. Shin quickly went wide-eyed and jumped in surprise at the loud noise.
"Shit!" he exclaimed in shock as he drew his arms back quickly and knocked one of his knuckles harshly against the emergency brake handle.
He hissed lightly and grasped his throbbing hand for a moment before letting out a repressed sigh and relaxing his head against the seat. No sooner did his head relax against the headrest when the loud, blaring alarm on his watch went off, nearly causing him to jump out of his skin as he sounded off with another loud curse.
After stilling his beating heart, he silenced the alarm. He sighed once again after realizing that there was nothing else he could think of that would be able to catch him by surprise again and stretched as well as he could in his limited space with a wince of pain that could only be blamed on the discomfort and distortion provided by the seats of the small car.
"By the great Buddha, God!" he grumbled as he rubbed his eyes, attempting to rub the heaviness of sleep out of them like he would a speck of dust.
Shin looked back at his watch habitually to make sure the time was correct and acknowledged it as the correct time when neon green, digital numbers burned '4:30 a.m.' into his squinting eyes.
He inwardly cursed himself for not setting the time for fifteen minutes later. He feared that sleep would come to him again.
"You yellow…" Sousuke flung a hand over the side of the bed that recoiled slightly when it felt the unfamiliar plush carpet of the motel room.
"… Bastards!" he continued his curse with a yell that startled him awake.
Sousuke's eyes flew open immediately in wide-eyed horror to reveal to him the plain white ceiling above him. The unfamiliarity of his sheltering and the odd feel of the bed that was not his own caused him to sit up with such a speed that would suggest that he might've been spring-loaded.
As soon as he was up, an intense pain raced from his foot to his knee and he immediately, almost instinctively, took a swing at the air in front of him with a knife that he did not have in hand. Perplexed as to where he was, where the Chinese soldiers were, and why the saw-edged knife wasn't in his hand, he looked around the room to take in and evaluate his surroundings. A quick glance around him combined with a sharp ear told him that he was not in China, and he remembered immediately where he was, who he was with, and why he was there. He was not in China, he had to remind himself again. But, the pain in his knee and the nausea that was squirming in his stomach suggested otherwise.
He leaned forward slightly, breathing heavily, and sweat ran down the entirety of his upper body with the sheet clinging to him. He lifted his hands out in front of him to see them shaking violently and willed them to stop to no avail.
Sousuke gasped slightly in surprise and nearly jumped off the bed when he felt a warm hand touch the wet, cold, clammy skin of his bare chest before looking around and sighing in relief.
Kaname guided him gently back into his previous lying position on the bed. She leaned her head against his shoulder and put an arm across his chest and gave him a light hug. She smiled slightly and moved her hand to his face to wipe a few locks of sweaty hair away from his face, glad when she felt that he relaxed a bit and stopped shaking as bad.
"It's alright, Sousuke. You were just having another dream," she assured him soothingly.
He gave no response but visibly relaxed a bit more as he moved his head around a bit until he found a comfortable spot on his pillow. In less than a minute, his shaking had stopped and he was breathing normally.
"I don't know… his intentions," he quietly admitted, being near sleep once more.
Kaname sat up slightly and gave Sousuke a confused look, but saw that he had his eyes closed and was almost asleep again. For some reason, he seemed to be exhausted. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep; he never slept peacefully at night, but he was slowly doing better. His words and what he had yelled in his sleep made her feel a slight twinge of worry. His words didn't sound like his; they sounded like someone else's, but they made since considering the things he dreamed about sometimes. This time, though, his words had a generalized suggestion of racism, but she knew for a fact that Sousuke didn't have any racisms. Not to mention, his unconscious actions surprised her as well. So at that moment, his few previous words had her curious if not worried.
"Whose intentions, Sousuke?" she questioned.
But, it was too late. Sousuke may not have slept peacefully very often, but he was usually asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Such was the case then as well.
Kaname smiled lightly and patted him softly on the shoulder before turning back over in bed and covering back up. Her curiosity could wait until morning; she was tired as well and didn't find her questions important enough to wake him back up.
"Good night, Sousuke."
Shin traced a circle with his sleeve on the window to wipe a spot clean of any lingering fog, causing the window to streak and smudge. He squinted as he peered out into the darkness of night, and looked over at the moon-shaded motel his four friends were staying at. Everything seemed quiet and no light came from any of the three windows he knew were his friends' rooms.
He closed his eyes together tightly when he felt a cold chill go down his spine and silently cursed the time. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw through the front windshield of his car, the figure of a woman emerging from the mist and rain of the surprising weather and the steam being given off by one of the neighboring buildings on the side of the road he was parked. The color of the lights behind the mixture of rain, fog, and steam made it look as if the woman was emerging out of a thick, green, hazy mist. He took in a shaky breath when he saw that she was coming his way. He reached a shaky hand out toward the bag lying in the floorboard, and quickly unzipped it with a few unsteady jerks. He reached his trembling hand inside and pulled out a metal case. He took it into his lap and looked back up to see that the woman was getting closer.
He opened to metal case to reveal several medical vials with Chinese print labels on them. Lined up side by side were several injection needles. Shin took one of the syringes into his quivering hand and a vial of the liquid in his other. He aimed the shaking needle at the shaking vial and it made a screeching sound as it scraped uncontrollably against the vial's cap as he attempted to punch a hole in it, but his quivering hand caused it to slip. He punctured deep into his thumb with the needle when he missed the cap of the vial.
"Shit!" he yelled as he jerked the needle out of his thumb and wiped it off on his pant leg.
He looked up and took in another shaky breath to see that the woman was no more than a distance of a dozen parking spaces away from him. The needle had went deep and even scratched the bone, but he had no time for pain.
The second time he was able to get the needle to pierce through the cap of the vial. He filled the vial up to approximately the halfway mark and didn't take the time to get a precise measurement. He quickly tapped the syringe and squirted the air out of the top. He looked back up and could see the woman more clearly.
The cold rain spattered against her just as it did against everything else outside, but she didn't even seem to notice despite not being dressed properly at all for the current weather. She was close enough that he could actually make out the appearance of the woman approaching him: early thirties, very beautiful, petite, long jet-black hair, Asian features, black pants with matching shoes, and a white doctor's coat. She smiled at him tenderly, threw up her hand, and gave him a dainty wave.
Shin quickly pulled up the sleeve of his shirt with his teeth in a hastened panic and stuck the needle into his arm with lousy precision. Realizing that his unsteady hand had missed the vein, he pulled it out and tried several more times, each time moving it twirling it around in his arm searching for a vein. Ignoring the pain, he immediately pressed on the syringe and injected all of the liquid into his arm when he finally managed to pierce a vein; he just hoped he didn't pierce all the way through.. He hissed in pain as the cold, yet burning sensation went through his body. He let go of the syringe, leaving it to dangle in his arm as he braced his head against the headrest and winced in pain. After a few seconds, the pain ended and he instantly looked back up. The woman was no longer there, and he expressed his relief with a sigh and light laugh.
Shin let out another sigh of relief and began taking in deep breaths. After composing himself again, he reached into the bag in the floorboard and pulled out a large bottle of pills. He uncapped it, poured four into his hand, and put one back. He popped the three blue and white pills into his mouth and washed them down with coffee.
"Man!" he said with a sigh and shook his head before realizing that the syringe was still dangling from his arm and removing it.
Without saying or doing anything more, he put everything back into orderly fashion, properly disposed of the syringe into a medical bag, put everything back in the bag in the floorboard, and pulled out a pistol and ammo clip. He loaded the clip into the bottom of the pistol and snapped back the chamber before holstering it in its proper place at his side. He adjusted the seat back to its proper position, adjusted all of his mirrors, turned the steering wheel around and adjusted it until it was perfectly straight, and made sure all of the doors were locked. Seeing that everything was in perfect order, he placed his hand on the door handle of his car to get out, but stopped.
He noticed a dark van pull up outside of the motel in one of the dark alleys between it and another building. Out of the van came six people, all dressed differently. His incredibly sharp eyesight was able to notice some details and colors in their clothing and he could make out heights and sizes, but he could not see their facial features due to the dark alley, distance, and the fact that the moon was the only source of light near them. He watched quietly as the six went around the van and began taking out bags and passing them amongst themselves. Shin noticed that they took out a lot of peculiar objects that he couldn't identify, but among them he did recognize several weapons and ammunition clips.
Shin, without taking his eyes off of the people near the van, picked his cellphone up out of the passenger seat and punched in a long number. He counted the number of times it rung, but saw none of the six going for a phone.
"Quon," a Chinese voice on the other end gave his identity.
"End T.L.," Shin commanded and hung up the phone when he saw none of the six answer a cell phone.
As soon as he ended the call, he dialed another number with fast fingers. He counted the number of rings again.
"Miru," a Japanese voice identified himself.
"End T.L.," he commanded before hanging up and calling another number.
"Ling," another Chinese voice, female this time, answered the third call on the appointed number of rings.
"Switch position to my current coordinates. Bring the HILI with you; we may need it. Wait for further orders. Do not attempt further communication. End T.L.," he commanded his third eye before ending the call.
He waited for a few minutes until everyone around the van had entered the building and his third eye pulled up on the other side of the road in her black sedan and turned the headlights off. He narrowed his eyes at the black sedan so he could identify if the person in the car was indeed the one he needed. He was sure it was, but he was never one to take unnecessary risks.
His vision first focused through the fogged up window of his own car and through the moonlit darkness of the night. Once he was able to see through that, he focused his vision further to see across the street and focus out the previously penetrated visual stimuli caused by the weather. He stared and narrowed his eyes further at the tinted windows of the black sedan across the street and could see through slightly to see the darkness inside the car. After a moment of keeping his eyes locked on the darkness of the inside of the car, the tinted window no longer proved to be a problem and his vision started to penetrate the darkness inside. After another moment, he could see the outline and then some of the facial features of Ling, his third eye.
He nodded his head and hummed slightly in acknowledgement before dialing another number. He had a few questions for his leader. He wanted to find out why he wasn't informed of their being another team assigned to this task.
"Ever seen a girl get drunk off of coffee?" inquired Jin with a laugh.
"I can't say I have, Ms. Lain," responded Kalinin, gruffly chuckling before letting out a hoarse cough.
Being that there was no other noise of significant decibels in the room, the cough sounded louder than it really was due to the lack of other background noise. The rest of the twenty-four hour coffee shop was completely empty except for the two of them and the night employ that had a tendency to let out an unnecessarily loud and stressed sigh of frustration every few minutes as she swept the floor and went about her other menial tasks. She definitely wanted it to be made clear without a doubt that she would have preferred being anywhere else other than at the shop serving the two very early-morning visitors.
"Well, I think you may see it happen tonight."
"I cannot deny the possibility," Kalinin said, taking a sip of coffee.
Jin smiled before taking a sip of her coffee as well. "That's something that Sousuke says all the time." She took one more sip and sat it down on the marble-top table and leaned in the leather recliner. "I think you influence him more than anyone really expects."
Kalinin followed Jin's lead and relaxed into his recliner. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment before responding.
"Or, maybe I'm the one who is influenced by him?" he said, lifting an eyebrow.
Jin tilted her head to the side and shrugged her shoulders as if acknowledging the possibility.
"I don't know; maybe. But, I doubt it."
"But, you can't deny-"
"The possibility," Jin finished for him with a laugh.
Kalinin smiled and reached out to adjust a stack of magazines on the table.
"But, you know?" he said while waving his finger at her as if something had just occurred to him, not taking his gaze from the magazines. "You actually act a lot like he does. I've noticed that you've actually picked up a lot of his quirks."
"I do not!" Jin stated defensively, feeling as if she was being related to a copy-cat. She tried her best not to scratch the back of her head; that would only further lend proof to Kalinin's statement. "Besides, if I do, it's just to make Sousuke feel comfortable."
Kalinin smiled at her defensiveness. "If that's the case, then you are very considerate. But, I doubt that's the case, really," he said, taking another sip from his coffee mug.
Jin looked away to hide the blush on her face. She hated it when people were able to accurately call her bluff.
"Well, what if I really do admire him that much? Is it really that much of a problem?" she asked, almost sounding as if she was about to take offense.
Kalinin raised his hand in a trained, diplomatic matter to smooth things over. He quirked an eyebrow slightly and shook his head.
"Oh, no. No, not at all. On the contrary, it would make sense; Mr. Sagara is a very admirable individual."
"Huh. That brings me back to believing he got it from you."
"Thank you, Ms. Lain. I believe I'll take that as a compliment. I believe you are also a very admirable person."
"Thanks," Jin chimed before casting him a curious expression. "Fishing for compliments, are we?" she said with a laugh, causing a light grin to come to Kalinin's face. "No. Just kidding," she quickly added.
"Food for my ego, Ms. Lain," he said with a laugh of his own.
Jin laughed a bit more and took another sip of her coffee as Kalinin turned an odd glance out the window. Jin noticed that something seemed to have caught his eye. She looked out the window into the dark, empty street and back at him.
"Is something wrong?" she questioned.
Kalinin quickly snapped his gaze back at her as if he was caught off guard.
"Oh? No, not really. I'm just thinking," he said as he stared into his coffee cup, smile slowly fading from his face.
The mission outline and the current predicament merged to one and he saw it play out before him. He saw the likely outcome, and he didn't like it in the slightest. Of all of the nights, this couldn't have been happening on any worse of one.
"Hm? Mind if I ask what's on your mind?" Jin said, leaning forward in her chair to give him her full attention.
When he looked back up at her, he saw that her face was completely serious, and it made him feel really uncomfortable. His eyes met hers as soon as he looked up. Her eyes pierced into his, and he was forced to look away, feeling as if her gaze was probing his mind. She, like Sagara, he noticed, was very perceptive. He could tell that she already knew by his reaction that something was going on. She was on the alert now, and he couldn't help but feel that if he remained in the same room as her, she might figure out everything just by being near him. He knew it was near impossible for such a thing to happen, but to him, his worries seemed to be perfectly logical.
He rose from his seat with a grunt and sat his grey hat down on the table. He had to get out of there. Jin looked up at him as if she immediately picked up on this idea and rose from her seat as well to follow him. Kalinin motioned back to her seat with a nod, letting her know it was alright to sit back down.
"If you'll excuse me for a moment, Ms. Lain, I need to go out to the vehicle for something," he said, making sure he still told the truth.
Lying and withholding information were two completely different things… and he was doing the latter of the two.
Jin sat down again and nodded, still feeling somewhat uneasy as Kalinin turned and headed out the door, nodding at the night employ as he went out.
Figuring she was just being paranoid without any reason, she picked up one of the magazines on the table and flipped through it briefly before stopping on an article entitled: Cloning: The New Natural Selection. The article caught her attention quickly, being of interest to her, and she read the twelve page article in its entirety. As soon as she finished reading, it finally occurred to her that she had read the entire article, and Kalinin still wasn't back. She looked around the coffee shop, thinking that he might have already came back in and just didn't want to disturb her reading. However, she didn't even see the girl that was working there.
She looked outside at the vehicle to see if Kalinin was still out there and saw him sitting in the driver's seat with the door open. She turned back to her magazine, feeling more at ease and flipped through it for another couple minutes. She looked back out the window to see that Kalinin was still sitting in the car and the door was still open beside him. Filling a bit more worried, she sat down the magazine and went outside. She stopped and looked around for a moment when she thought she heard something outside, near the vehicle. She got down on her knees and looked under the vehicle before approaching any closer but saw nothing. She went closer till she had a good view of Kalinin. She noticed that he was unconscious and his head was tilted to the side. Upon seeing his state, she immediately turned around to run back inside, fearing the worst again. As soon as she turned around, she heard a voice call out to her, obviously American.
"Jin Lain?" the voice of a man asked.
She turned around to see a large, bald man with a brown, heavy coat and scarf. As soon as he saw her face, he brought a gun up and aimed at her. Her eyes went wide in horror, immediately fearing the worst for Kalinin and herself. It occurred to her that the man might not have been there to kill her when he did not fire immediately.
"Don't move," he commanded as he kept the gun trained on her and brought a walkie-talkie up with his other. "Cooperate with us, and we will not have to harm you."
Jin immediately cooperated, not knowing what else to do, and put her hands behind her head. Taking a quick moment to look away from her, he turned his gaze back to Kalinin. He quickly turned his gaze back to her and brought the walkie-talkie up to his mouth and pressed a button.
"Complete. I currently have Andrey Kalinin and Jin Lain within my sight and in custody. Jin Lain is standing in front of me. Who has eyes on Kalinin?"
There was silence over the walkie-talkie before someone responded.
"No one. You are the first to the target area. I repeat, you are the first to the target area. Make sure you keep both within you line of sight; T4 is on the way. Over."
The bald man turned a confused look toward the walkie-talkie before speaking into it once again. He turned another look back at Kalinin.
"That can't be. I have already checked the target. Someone has already tranquilized him. I repeat again, who has eyes on Andrey Kalinin? Who was here before me?" he said, starting to sound panicked.
The walkie-talkie gave off some static before coming back in.
"Get out of there, T3! It's an ambush!"
The man turned another panicked look back at Kalinin to see that he still wasn't moving and then back to the walkie-talkie to speak again.
"TW1, Andrey Kalinin and Jin Lain are alone. There is no one else with them!"
The response was almost immediate.
"None of us were issued tranquilizers, T3! I repeat, we have fallen into an ambush, get out of their immediately!"
Jin watched as the man lowered his gun and turned a quick, confused look toward her. As soon as he opened his mouth to say something, blood spurted from the side of his head and the ricochet of a bullet could be heard.
Jin gasped when the man's head jerked to the side and his entire body went limp as he fell to the ground. Jin turned to run, but saw a Chinese man dressed in all black, coming her way with a pistol in hand. She turned around to run the other direction but stopped immediately when she heard the silenced shot of a rifle. Snow flew up almost knee high from the impact of the bullet, signified by a solid, clean hole in the concrete. She screamed and jumped back in fright, certain for a moment that she had been hit. She turned around to see the Chinese man no more than ten feet away from her. He raised his pistol and aimed it at her.
Jin had always thought she would be ready for actual combat when the time came. Sousuke had prepared her well, or so she thought. In that instant, she knew that she was not cut out to be a soldier; it was like Sousuke had always told her. She should have been fighting back, and all the while, thinking through things with a calm head. She always knew that she could if she was ever placed in an actual combat situation. But, now, she couldn't do anything and she couldn't fool herself anymore. She was scared to death.
She saw the red dot of the laser point of the rifle of the other unseen gunman running around on the ground at the same time the Chinese man aimed his gun at her. She screamed again and covered her head as she kneeled down on the ground.
"Please, don't shoot! Don't hurt me!" she pleaded.
Unfortunately, the stone-faced Chinese man ignored her pleas for mercy and took a few more steps forward, pointed his gun at her, and pulled the trigger right as she looked up at him and screamed again.
The threat had always been there, but she never thought that she would be dying at such a young age.
Sousuke sat up in bed with a low gasp as lightning struck and thunder crashed outside. He was sweating profusely and gripping tightly to the mattress. He looked around for a moment, remembering where he was. He brought his hands up and buried his face in them as he relaxed his elbows on his knees. He couldn't recall a dream, but he had even worse of a feeling than when he did dream.
Kaname stirred slightly beside of him. She turned over onto her back and half-opened her eyes. She saw Sousuke sitting up and hunched over in bed. In the moonlight, she could see the several beads covering his back. She sat up beside him and wrapped her arms around him almost methodically. He leaned into her slightly and wrapped his arms around her without saying a word. Kaname found it odd when he started rocking back and forth slightly.
"It's alright, Sousuke," she whispered to him. "You were just dreaming again," she said for the second time that night. It was unnatural for Sousuke to have two horrible dreams in one night, and she was starting to worry about him.
Sousuke broke from her embrace and sat up straight. He looked around cautiously. Kaname put a hand on his back and one on his chest and tried to lay him back down.
"It's nothing, Sousuke," she whispered again. "Let's go back to sleep."
She winced slightly when he gripped her wrist tightly and removed it from his chest.
"Shhh!" he hissed and stopped to listen for a moment.
He slowly, quietly slid out of the bed and onto the floor without making a sound. Kaname crawled to the edge of the bed to where he slid off the see him kneeling on the floor.
"Sousuke!" she called out to him in a whisper. "What's wrong?"
"Shhh!" he silenced her again, this time more sternly.
Kaname immediately felt uneasy. Sometimes Sousuke overreacted to his dreams, but this time it was different. This time he was fully awake and aware of where he was. She watched as Sousuke placed an ear to the floor and listened for a moment. After a moment, he rose up suddenly, almost startling her. He scooted his way over next to the dresser and put his ear to the wall. He listened for a moment and made his way back over to her without making a sound.
He reached under the bed and pulled out his Glock. He pulled back the barrel slowly and loaded it, making no more than a very faint click. At that, Kaname started to feel even more worried. Ever since he came back to Tokyo, she hadn't seen him go for his gun even once. She had started to believe that he didn't keep one with him anymore. So, it was a bit of a surprise to see him bring it out and act the way he was. It reminded her of how things were almost three years ago, and it worried her greatly. Sousuke was no longer on edge like he used to be, so she knew that in order for him to be now, something had to be wrong. He reached back under the bed and pulled out a flashlight. He motioned with the flashlight to the furthest corner of the room near the balcony.
"Go there, and don't move until I give you further instructions," he commanded in the same way he would have when she first met him.
Kaname knew that something was wrong by the way he was acting, so she did as she was told. She watched from across the room as Sousuke made his way over to the door in perfect silence. He held the gun in front of him as she had seen him do many times in the past as he looked through the peephole.
Sousuke peered through the peephole of the door into the hallway outside. He already knew that there were people outside his door, and he had a really bad feeling about it. The rain was coming down even harder outside too. That didn't settle with his superstitious train of thought too well either. He had to see who was outside his door before doing anything drastic.
On the other side of the door he saw four people, all Americans dressed in normal clothes. The only thing that was odd about them was that they seemed to be waiting around silently for something… and they all had SMGs.
Sousuke watched as one peered in through the reversed, concave peephole to see if he might be able to see something. Sousuke knew he couldn't. The man on the other side turned around and whispered something to another one of the men. After the other man said something, he peered in through the peephole again, trying in vain to see something.
Sousuke stepped away from the door slightly, held the flashlight out, covered the peephole with it, and flicked it on and immediately back off. As soon as he did, he quickly leaned forward to look back out the peephole to see if he got his expected reaction. As he had expected, they saw it on the outside. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the door. The curious one who had been trying to look through before, squinted one eye closed and got very close to the door and tried to look through the peephole again. One of the men outside shouted something that he almost heard through the door and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to pull him back. But, it was too late.
In one movement, Sousuke placed the end of the Glock against the peephole and pulled the trigger.
Jin stopped screaming when she felt only a mild pain in her shoulder. She looked at her shoulder, astonished, just in time to see a needle fall out of her arm. She looked back up at the Chinese man in front of her as several questions ran through her clouding mind. She was certain she knew what was going on, and she was likewise quite sure that this man was with the Old Republic of China. He even bore the dragon tattoo on his neck that Sousuke had talked about.
The man holstered his pistol and pulled out another which she assumed was real. He looked back at her and reached out for her, expression still unchanging. He cupped her chin firmly in his hand and jerked her head upward to look at him, almost lifting her off of the ground. She grunted in pain from the man's surprisingly strong grip on each side of her jaw. He pointed his gun over to the side and jerked her head around to look at the dead American on the ground.
"Who?" he demanded in a stern, thick Chinese accent. "Who?" he said again in English and motioning with his gun before jerking her head back around to look at him.
"I… I don't know!" she cried while trying her best to shake her head, but finding it hard to do so due to his abnormally strong grip.
He stared at her for a moment with narrowing eyes before throwing her back on the ground. She looked up again, but her vision was blurry, and darkness was starting to form in the corners of her eyes and was slowly closing in, threatening to cause her to black out in seconds notice. The Chinese man sat her up by the shoulders and took her into his arms. She tried her best to struggle, but whatever was in the needle was working strong enough to prevent her from doing so. The last thing she remembered before completely blacking out was being loaded into the back of a car.
"Get back, you fool!" the leader of the small squad outside the room of Kaname Chidori and Devin Letrus yelled to the curious man of his company as he put a hand on his shoulder and tried to pull him away from the door, no longer bothering to try for the element of surprise.
He let go and instantly pulled back when the back of the younger man's head blew open and warm liquid sprayed all over him and the rest of his team. He pointed his finger at the door, not hesitating a moment longer, and motioned for his team to move in. The sound of clicking weapons and running filled the hallway as the men moved around the door quickly and made way for the largest of their now three-man squad.
"Let's go! Eliminate Devin Letrus, but do not harm the target: Kaname Chidori! Go!"
Sousuke looked behind him as he was running toward Kaname to see a large man dressed in a Hawaiian t-shirt with an SMG slung over his shoulder erupt through the door. Behind him, several other men swarmed in pointing flashlights all around the room until they all finally trained on him. Kaname looked at him in surprise and moved toward the door of the balcony like he had commanded her just seconds before.
"Sousuke!" she screamed as she saw all three of the people in the room aim their weapons at him.
"Hold your fire!" the leader called, realizing that Letrus was too close to the girl for them to open fire.
But, he wasn't worried; there was nowhere they could go. He watched for a moment with a smirk on his face as Letrus scooped the girl up into his arms without stopping, trying to act like some sort of knight, and couldn't help but wonder what he planned to do next.
The next second, he quirked an eyebrow as Letrus turned around backwards and rammed through the glass door with his back. The girl screamed in pain as a large piece of broken glass tore a huge gash in her bare leg, and Letrus looked as if he was being cut to pieces by the broken glass protruding out of the door frame.
Another second later, his mouth pulled into an amused grin when the horribly bleeding Letrus turned back around holding the screaming girl in his arms, charged quickly out onto the balcony, and realized he had nowhere to run.
The next moment passed and his mouth was on the floor when Devin Letrus leapt from the ninth story balcony with the Whispered girl in his arms.
TO BE CONTINUED