Exile: I don't own.

And I would recommend checking out chapter three again, for edit's sake.

Chapter Four: Divine Wrath

1:01 AM November 17th, 2012
Rei and Kat's home, Long Beach, California

Rei was cursing viciously at Kanda under her breath; she felt all the right to be angry at him. It was his fault for getting her into this mess, and now, here she and Ekaterina were, awake at 1 AM in the morning for the sake of patrolling the house and setting up various traps that could be made with household items. Rei liked to imagine her brother running through the house and setting off God-knows-how-many traps. She would never really strike her brother, so this was probably the most malevolent the Viet would ever be to her brother. Ryuukei snapped out of her reverie at a light tap on her shoulder, jumping up in shock and spinning around wielding a meat cleaver. Kat ducked the deadly arc as the knife whistled right above her head. "You know I hate people sneaking up on me!"

"I'm sorry." Kat muttered, standing back up and confiscating the sharp blade. "If I spoke, you would've thrown it at me before registering my voice. But whenever you're tapped, you always follow the same arc no matter what the weapon is. So it's safer." Rei scowled at the knowledge of her habits; she liked being considered unpredictable to everyone. Hell, Kat had to admit that she didn't know whether Rei was lying half the time. Only Kanda knew, and it wasn't like he had to live with his compulsive liar of a sister. "But anyway, I think that you should go to Tiedoll's today instead of the day after. San Diego is four hours away, and there's virtually no alibi for an eight-hour absence. I think that you'll be safer there." Rei's scowl deepened. "I know you don't like Tiedoll that much, but…"

"I get it," she snapped flatly. "Did you set up the black widows?" When Kat nodded, Rei ran a hand through her hair and turned around to trudge up the stairs to her bedroom. "You be careful too."

"Why?" Kat asked.

"Because the guy might accidentally kill you instead of me, no duh," Rei snapped, "We DO share a house."

At around 9:15 in the morning, when the sun poked its arms into one sorrowful Lenalee Lee's room, the curtains were swung closed with a sharp hiss. Lenalee rubbed her eyes wearily, looking down at the massive amounts of paper littering her desk, most of them covered with nearly undecipherable notes taken from the three crime scenes as well as from the DGM case files. The moment she had arrived home, Lenalee had snatched a sandwich from the refrigerator and tromped upstairs to her room, then dumped the contents of her bag onto her desk and started working, ignoring her brother's call for a talk about whether anyone was hitting on her again. Komui Lee would always be an overprotective brother until the day he died in all of his mad-scientist glory. Lenalee tapped her fingers against the desk anxiously.

"There's something off about this. Something really weird. For one, why are they targeting the people who helped catch the Earl? And why the hell are they…being so erratic? This doesn't make sense," she grumbled. "Normally serial killers settle with only a few methods of death, and stick to something simple like shooting, knifing, or blunt force trauma. But this guy has used blunt force trauma for Miranda, garroting then drowning the corpse for Mizu, and then shooting for Cross. There might be a hint in the task files…" her train of thought was rudely interrupted by the loud jangle of her cell phone. Looking at the number, Lenalee tapped the screen and held up the Android to her ear. "Morning, Kanda. What is it?" she asked. There was a loud crash on the other side of the line as she picked out Kanda's muffled words. "What?"

"I said get to the Order soon!" Kanda hollered and he continued to fend off his attacker. "Some politician wants to meet us!" was all that Lenalee deciphered.

"Who is it? What's going, on, Kanda?" Lenalee yelled back into the phone, worry escalating. There was shouting in the background, and then Kanda deigned to reply.

"Rei hacked my phone and computer, and there's a freaking virus running rampant!" he explained angrily, "And it's that politician Sheryl Kamelot, the one that's been getting a whole lot of good press lately."

"You're kidding me! I just pulled an all-nighter and now you expect me to meet with a politician? Why does this guy want to meet me?" Lenalee retorted, snapping a pencil by accident in her anger. The sounds of rapid typing subsided in the background as Kanda recovered his breath.

"He wants to know about the case that you have," Kanda replied. "The fires do draw attention you know. And the fact that beansprout pulled us on a code Edge End didn't exactly go unnoticed by the police." Lenalee winced.

"Code Edge End; I completely forgot what it meant until yesterday." she murmured, "Komui is probably going to want to pull me off this case now."

"He better not!" Kanda yelled into the phone using her virus, causing Lenalee to cringe at the volume, "If Komui does that, then the paper vultures will circle even more! He can't be overprotective of you forever- oi, what the heck happened to my screen?" Lenalee promptly hung up on what she was guessing was another sibling fight between Kanda and Rei.

"Well, she does have a right to be mad at him, I guess… Now I know why Komui is so addicted to." Lenalee ran downstairs and stole the last few glass bottles of Starbuck's mocha from the refrigerator, downed them, and scrambled to go make herself presentable.

Back in downtown LA, Lavi was discovering the bad side of having Allen as a boarder: his appetite. Already, the younger man had consumed a baguette and 6 eggs, a package of mixed salad, and the remaining tofu in his fridge, which was about 8 ounces. And that was only breakfast. Lavi almost felt ill just watching him eat. "Where does all of that go, beansprout?" he asked curiously. "If you're so short but you eat this much, then what happens?"

"I dunno," Allen replied, tearing off another hunk of baguette as Lavi began contemplating the potential cost of allowing Allen to room for the rest of the week. "Anyway, what time are you going to be going to the Order?"

"After you finish, err… eating?" Lavi bit back what he was going to say, seeing the harsh glint in Allen's eyes. "I'll be right back." he added. After grabbing his car keys, Lavi scrambled out of his apartment downstairs to his car, pulling open his wallet and driving out of the parking lot. Allen watched from upstairs with a mystified expression. "…I really don't want to know that percentage of his paycheck that goes to food…" Lavi bemoaned as he went in to purchase more food for his houseguest and himself.

10:46 AM November 17th 2012
Black Order Morgue, Los Angeles Branch, California

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Mr. Kamelot?" Lenalee asked stonily, arms and legs crossed while giving the politician the coldest glare that she could muster in her sleep-deprived state. The pathologist was beyond irritated, and Kanda, who was sitting to her left, looked ready to run the man through with the nearest sharp blade on hand.

The moment she had arrived at the Order earlier and greeted Kanda, they had set off to the conference room. They were almost there when Sachiko told them that Kamelot was waiting in his office. Now, one of the things that irked Kanda the most and happened the most frequently would be someone being in his office while he wasn't in there. He had immediately spun on his heel and stormed to his office, Lenalee rushing behind him. They had found the door locked, which was the reason for the pleasant-looking dent the door now bore. A woman that Sachiko identified as Sheryl Kamelot's assistant had opened the door, asked for a private moment for her boss, and then locked the door again before Kanda could try to kick it down. Allen and Lavi had then arrived through the front doors, bickering loudly about Allen's stomach capacity to height ratio. They both had shut up the moment they saw Lenalee and Kanda's ill intent directed towards the office door.

"Why is Yuu locked out of his own office?" Lavi had voiced. When all that he received was death glares, he turned to Sachiko. "Chomesuke?"

"A politician is here for an appointment. He and his assistant took over Kanda's office for purposes I do not wish to know," she explained uneasily, cowering a bit as Kanda's killing intent flared up. There was an awkward silence, and then Allen started laughing. It started as a quiet chuckle at first, but the priceless expression on their faces made it escalate into full-blown laughter.

"BaKanda…is truly…an idiot!" he gasped out, leaning on Lavi to prevent himself from falling over in his mirth. "Heck, I wouldn't even have to pick the lock to open it!" This earned him several stares of disbelief.

"Prove it then, beansprout," Kanda snapped once he regained his composure, "I doubt you can pick locks anyway." Allen gave him a shady smirk and then vanished into the supply room, coming out with a hammer and a 6-inch nail. "What are those supposed to do?"

"The nail is inserted into a hinge and placed against the pin, and the hammer is used to knock the pin out." Allen demonstrated, and there was a click on the floor as the topmost pin fell to the ground. "And then repeat it to the other two pins, BaKanda. Every ten-year old knows that!"

Now back in the present, everyone in the room was glaring at either Sheryl or Kanda. The room's atmosphere was tense and felt like a standoff between two armies. The intimidating silence was broken with Allen re-entering the room with a stack of files. "Why thank you, Mr. Walker." Sheryl said, gesturing towards his secretary to take to papers. Allen gave him a wary glance and deposited himself next to Lavi. "This is everything?" Sheryl asked, making Kanda nod stiffly. "Very well,"

"So what is the reason for requesting the files related to the case that Allen Walker and I are working on?" Lenalee asked frostily. The 3 men sitting next to her stiffened and swallowed their fear. An angered Lenalee was even more intimidating than Kanda could ever be. Lavi was almost choking on the malice that was seeping out of his friend. However, the gray-skinned Portuguese politician across them seemed totally oblivious to the danger.

"Because this case has already spread like wildfire in the public fear. There are talks of handing to some more, ah… powerful people." he replied silkily. Kanda ground his teeth and had to resist the powerful urge to lunge at the man's throat.

"What are you suggesting?" Lenalee all but hissed. Silence descended upon the meeting, and Allen quickly excused himself to go get coffee. Kanda glared at Sheryl, as if daring him to answer. The man stared back and then shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm not suggesting anything, Ms. Lee. I am simply concerned with the fact that… what, only a single investigator and a forensic pathologist is going after a serial killer and arsonist." Sheryl replied.

"And three interns," Kanda butted in, unable to contain his irritation. Sheryl looked taken aback for a moment and then started chuckling.

"Fine. An investigator, a pathologist, and three interns are on this case." The man laughed, then leaned forward and looked Kanda squarely in the eye. "I overestimated you, Branch Head. I thought that at least you, the great DGM investigator would be on this case. But instead, you've assigned three people with no experience and two others with hardly anything to their name. At this line, Kanda's reason nearly snapped.

"Please do excuse the fact that the Black Order is the place which the city's backlog of cases is forced on," he sneered, "Also, Allen Walker has quite a few cases attributed to him. Lenalee Lee is possibly one of the best pathologists in the field, with a shocking autopsy speed, and yet I have yet to see any sort of autopsy report from her which skimps over details of any kind. As for the interns, each one of them is a quick learner, and each has different strengths. But most of all, they might not have experience, but they definitely have knowledge. We'll be taking back those files, Noah, until I hear from Supervisor Komui." With that, he crossed the room and snatched back the papers from Sheryl's secretary.

"Yuu Kanda, I would sorely advise you to not refer to me in a derogatory manner," Sheryl warned, a withering look in his eyes, "Just because I have a rare genetic skin condition does not give you leeway to call me a Noah."

"You started by insulting my employees," Kanda growled. "I don't care about the fact that you're a popular politician. No one insults the Black Order. And one of the perks about this place is that it's all about ability, so Central will take care to deposit any complaint you bother to submit right in the incinerator. Everyone on the case is perfectly able. So please get out of my chair and my office, you dirty Noah. NOW." One glance at the murderous aura leaking out of the people in front of them and the politician and his assistant left as hastily and dignifiedly as possible, a difficult feat when there's one irked Allen Walker waiting by the doorway to trip you as you scramble out.

"I'm extremely sorry, Kamelot!" Allen apologized without a trace of sincerity as Sheryl stood up from the ground with a huff. "Coffee, anyone?" Allen asked his friends and coworkers as he slammed the office door close. The cups on his tray were greedily snatched up and downed as Allen privately snickered at Sheryl's expression as he had fallen.

"Kanda, why are people with that gray skin condition called "Noah"?" Lenalee asked after she had finished her coffee and started nibbling the sandwich that had been hidden in her coat. Kanda pointed at Allen.

"Beansprout can explain it better." he said shortly, preoccupied with the stack of papers retrieved from the enemy secretary. Lenalee turned to Allen in curiosity, who put down his coffee mug with a sigh.

"The term "Noah" was derived from my uncle, Neah Walker," Allen began stiffly, "Uncle was a geneticist, and died four years ago as one of the many casualties of the DGM murders. He spent a lot of time studying the rare skin condition that he and many people in his family had, the one that causes gray skin. He discovered that it was because of a melanin, the pigment which colors our skin and hair. When he showed the results of his testing and observations to the scientific community, they started calling the people with this particular mutation "Neahs", but since Uncle found in a bit disturbing, they switched to "Noahs", hence the term." There was a pause as Allen's mood grew somber. "I personally don't know why it became used as an insult…"

Looking at Allen in a depressed mood, Lavi decided to rescue to atmosphere as he usually did - with a random fact. "Did you know that Sheryl was going to be the twelfth target in the DGM case?" he interjected, getting Allen and Lenalee's attention. "That's why he and Yuu are on bad terms. His daughter Rhode Kamelot was a Noah and got… err, erased by the Earl. We caught the Earl right before Sheryl got a free lobotomy." Allen turned to his boss with a raised eyebrow.

"Is telling the truth?" he inquired. Kanda grunted in affirmation and then his head shot up from the paperwork.

"Everyone out; get to work! The interns should be arriving by one!" Allen, Lenalee, and Lavi were unceremoniously tossed out as the office door slammed behind them. "Lenalee, I still need those autopsy reports! Beansprout, Central wants that paperwork before Komui makes another robot! Rabbit, get those tests done now!" Kanda roared from behind the safety of his desk while rubbing his temple to ward off the impending headache. Heeding his warnings, the trio scrambled to their respective departments.

"I hate paperwork," they muttered synonymously.

Sheryl Kamelot's Office, Los Angeles

"Mr. Kamelot, are you sure you need to go to San Diego?" Mimi, his secretary, asked flatly. Sheryl stubbed the cigarette he had been smoking and gave her a thin-lipped smile.

"Of course we do. There are two people in San Diego we need to "chat" with. And I'm quite sure that one of the targets located here is fleeing there," he explained. Mimi nodded, bowing her head in respect.

"How many more targets are there?" she questioned. Sheryl shrugged.

"I'm not sure," he replied. Seeing her stricken look, he hastily added, "But I can guarantee that Rhode, my daughter, and Lulubelle, your mistress, will be avenged as well." Mimi let out a quiet sigh at this and unclenched her gloved fist.

"Can we at least get rid of one more before we leave?" she requested. "The bank one." Sheryl's grin widened as he stalked off. "I'll take that as a yes." The vengeful former maid muttered as she began the preparations.

Mimi Bell, as she liked to be called, was commonly viewed as simply "Sheryl Kamelot's secretary". However, she carried a darker secret, on similar to her current employer's secret. She hadn't always worked for Sheryl; instead, she had been his sister's - Lulubelle Kamelot - maid.

It was around twelve years ago the Mimi had been disowned by her parents when they had divorced. She had only been twenty-four at the time, a fresh university graduate, and had been staying with her parents while going to UC Riverside. Thus, their divorce left her without any family, any food, or any shelter. She had been forced to drop from university, having no money left to pay for tuition and vital items at the same time. Following the other college-dropout-hopefuls to LA had landed her a job in a grocery store. But it still hadn't been enough to sustain her, so she had resorted to stealing. After being caught, Mimi had been promptly fired and was left to roam the streets.

Lulubelle Kamelot had been her savior; she had given her a job, a home, food, and became almost like an older sister to Mimi. Mimi in turn became possibly the best maid in the business, but not for the money, but rather for the sake of repayment.

Mimi had been the first one to discover Lulubelle's corpse; June 12th, 2008.

Three years later, she was still depressed. Mimi was admitted into the hospital the day of her beloved mistress's death, for an attempted suicide. She was silent and empty, just a shell. She heard of the death of people like Lulubelle, but she refused to show any emotion. And then one day, a man that she only knew vaguely, Sheryl Kamelot came in for a visit.

"Do you miss Lulubelle?" he had asked, looking out the window. The husk that had been Mimi had merely nodded despondently. "Do you want revenge?" Sheryl continued.

"How?" Mimi rasped, saying the first word she had in three years. Sheryl looked surprised, and then sat down in one of the hospital chairs.

"The Black Order. If they had caught the Earl sooner, my daughter, Rhode, wouldn't have died." he said quietly. "And neither would have Lulubelle." A spark flashed through Mimi's eyes. "So it's their fault. Especially that stupid Yuu Kanda's."

"Deal." Three days later, the woman had undergone what appeared to be a miraculous change, and was successfully discharged from the hospital. Three days after that conversation, Mimi placed a pile of papers in front of Sheryl.

"What is this?" he had asked.

"Ways to kill every single one of those damnable Exorcists that made Lulubelle die." she said simply.

1:24 PM November 17th 2012
Black Order Morgue, Los Angeles Branch, California

"Where did you say that idiot sister of mine is?" Kanda hissed venomously, his right hand twitching towards where his gun was usually holstered. Kat shifted uneasily, and a nervous Raikou stared at his own fiddling thumbs, afraid of the inevitable wrath of Rei's elder brother.

"She went to San Diego," Kat repeated under her breath, "because she got mad this morning and was gone when I woke up. I had to call Raikou to pick me up, since she took the car- don't kill me!" Kanda's fist slammed into his desk, making papers fly everywhere. "It's your fault for teaching Rei how to knock out people by stabbing pressure points!"

"She. Is. Dead," Kanda growled darkly.

"But didn't you say that since there is virtually no excuse for an 8-hour absence, Tiedoll is pretty much in the safe range? So logically isn't Rei safe as well?" Allen interrupted, poking his head into the room. "And I finished the paperwork, BaKanda."

"Shut up, beansprout," Kanda barked. "Leave the papers with Sachiko; she knows what to do with them." Allen's head disappeared and the door closed once again. "Well, even if the killer doesn't get her, I will." Raikou blinked in confusion.

"What did I miss?" he asked. Kanda glared at him, and he put up his hands in innocence. "Hey! No one's told me anything! First I heard Lavi complaining to Lenalee about how much food Allen ate from his fridge, and then Allen yelling at someone over the phone "Since Cross is dead, I shouldn't have to take care of his debts anymore!" So what is this about Rei? I'm completely out of the loop!" the male intern complained.

"Cross was a womanizing drunkard that loved a place called the red light district and constantly racked up debts for beansprout to pay. He was shot last night, and since Cross lived in Allen's house occasionally, his – the beansprout's - house is now the crime scene. Heck, the Beansprout called an Edge End on us. So now the rabbit decided to let beansprout live with him until the house gets…cleaned," Kanda answered grumpily in reply. "And Rei is a likely target since she's tied in with the connection between all the victims." Raikou stood there, slack-jawed in surprise.

"W-what was the connection?" he stammered. Kat rolled her eyes and cuffed him sharply on the head.

"People involved in the DGM case. Rei…was roped in by someone to do some… miscellaneous jobs," Kat snapped, glaring at Kanda fiercely, who looked down and muttered something, a tone of regret in the air. "Anyway… what should we do right now?"

"Could you two run some errands really fast?" Allen interposed once again, ducking the pen Kanda threw at him. "Calm down, Kanda. Just because your precious little sister left off to Tiedoll's doesn't mean that you have to go ballistic. But you two, we need to restock on some stuff." The man once again ducked to avoid the handful of writing tools that went flying towards his head. "What a waste of pens. Would you two come out here before I actually get hit?" Raikou and Kat scurried out of the office and Allen handed them an envelope with nearly undecipherable scribbling on the back. "That's the stuff we need. Money's in the envelope. Bye!" With that they were shoved out the doors and Kat was left staring confusedly at the list.

"So what does it say?" Raikou queried.

"Buy coffee beans, coffee creamer, go deposit checks in the bank, get bullets…" there was an awkward silence between the two, "…get six boxes of pens, one pack of coffee filters." Kat read off.

"It seems that they virtually live on coffee." Raikou commented weakly. "I'm guessing that their favorite hangout is a coffee shop of some kind."

"…and three dozen bottles of assorted cappuccino, mocha, and frappuccino from Starbucks," Kat finished. "So I guess that you were right. Where do you think we get the bullets?"

Raikou shrugged. "A gun shop? There's one near where The Timekeeper was, if I remember correctly. So let's go get all the coffee related stuff and then drop by the bank… and then the gun store." Before they were able to move from their place right in front of the Order's doors, Lavi appeared out of seemingly nowhere and knocked Raikou on the head.

"Ow! Hey, why am I always getting hit?" he complained. Lavi just hit him again.

"Listen up. Central ships the bullets over to each branch, so it should be arriving by UPS… or FedEx, I'm not sure. Beansprout probably forgot that bit; he usually doesn't bother with supplies." Lavi corrected. "So don't worry about that. Anyway, at the bank, just tell the clerk that you need to talk to the manager. She knows us. Tell her that you're Exorcists, and mention Kanda. You'll go unaccosted and she'll let you deposit the money."

"…Where did you come from?" Raikou croaked, and the redhead shrugged in reply. "And why do we need identification to deposit something?"

"That's for us to know, you to find out! See you later, and make sure to buy the French Dark Roast, the Columbian Roast, and a bag of Blue Mountain! You'll need to go to this place… bye!" the hyper man scribbled something on the envelope and ran back in, disappearing into another room.

"Is he really thirty-four?" Kat grumbled.

"Don't ask me. He's your cousin."

An hour later, Raikou's car was packed with miscellaneous coffee-related items. All that was left was to drop off the check. "Kat, you can't bring your nut cracker into any bank! Isn't that common sense? Hasn't Rei told you that?" he yelled at her. He and the Russian woman had been bickering for the past two minutes about bringing her nut cracker into the bank, and he wasn't having much luck convincing her. "Besides, you can use it again when we get back into the car- it'll be like, five minutes!"

"But I'll just be swinging it around!" she protested.

"So? You can play with it when we get back in the car. It's going to set off the metal detector, and I don't want to deal with a mess like that." he snapped.

"Fine, thunderhead!" Kat cried, using Rei's new nickname for him. Raikou immediately turned around and gave Kat his most bone-chilling death glare, which didn't have much effect.

"Don't call me that, you nut." he snarled back, getting out of the car and locking it, Allen's envelope in his pocket. Ekaterina got out on the other side, and the moment his back was turned, she grabbed her nut cracker through the window and stowed it in her pocket. Kat had what she thought was a good reason for keeping that piece of metal on her twenty-four-seven: Rei had modified what had once been an ordinary nut cracker into a weapon. The handles had been sharpened and tempered into stabbing points, and the part which was supposed to be used for cracking the nuts could potentially cut off a finger if one stupidly put their finger there.

When she and Rei had first gone to a bank together to pay rent, they had had a similar fight to the one just now. In the end, Rei had said that she didn't care if the item was brought in as long as they didn't get in trouble. Grinning at the old memories, Kat wrapped the steel in the signal-interruption cloth Lavi had devised. The fabric was embedded with circuits which emitted a weak electromagnetic pulse that cut off all electronic or laser signals near the cloth. To the bank's metal detector, Kat's nut cracker was just an empty sphere of air. Raikou caught her suspiciously twisted smirk and involuntarily shuddered. Well, since the detector didn't go off, she left it in the car, right? he thought hopefully. If possible, her grin only grew wider at his uneasy expression.

"May we talk to the bank's manager?" Raikou asked politely to the first clerk. The man gave him an iffy glance.

"What for?" the clerk asked stiffly. "I haven't done anything for you two yet."

"Personal reasons," Kat cut in.

Once staring at the two for what seemed to be a half hour (it was only really 30 seconds), he picked up the telecom and started talking rapidly to who they assumed was the manager. When he set it down, he pointed at one of the cubicles lining the wall. "She's in the third cubicle to your right." After hurried thanks, they speed-walked to it, and were greeted by a woman around Rei's height, with long black hair to her waist, and wide brown eyes that were filled with mixed emotions. She was dressed in loose, formfitting gray and brown clothes, almost blending in with the drab colors of the office.

"Welcome. What can I do for you two? My employees didn't do anything," she asked blankly. Raikou and Kat exchanged glances and winced.

"We're Exorcists under the command of officer Kanda," Kat said cryptically. The woman's confusion vanished in an instant, and she seemed to relax in the chair.

"Ah, I see. I hate the darned formalities," she replied. "I'm Aeri Night. I used to work with Kanda at the Order, but I quit after we finished the DGM case. Too much suspense and blood," she said dismissively. "So I'm assuming that you guys are newbies?"

Kat nodded. "Yeah, we're only interns. Allen Walker wanted us to deposit some checks in the bank account." Aeri snorted derisively. She and Rei could be related. Kat speculated.

"Okay. Just give them to me; I'll take care of it really fast." The checks exchanged hands and Aeri went behind her computer, typing away rapidly at the keyboard. In a minute, she ripped the checks and got rid of them, having finished the electronic deposit. "Anything else?" The duo hesitated, and then Raikou decided to ask what had been bugging him.

"Why all the formality just for a simple deposit?" he inquired. Aeri's face turned to one of disgust.

"Some guy deposited a "check" in the Order's account once. It was a tracer check, and the moment the money was supposedly deposited, a program was activated that began siphoning funds from the Order. I caught it after a few days, when Komui contacted me. And then the whole code system was set up." she told them. "I'm not really an Order worker anymore. More like a financial affiliate. I'll show you guys out." She crossed her small office and opened the door, following them out. "Is Kanda still the prick he was?" Aeri asked. "I still have memories of his bad temper tantrums. Oh, and since you're newbie's, then I'm assuming that you're a bit confused by some things. I can answer a few questions for you."

"What's code Edge End?" Raikou asked, recalling his conversation with Kanda earlier. The manager nearly stopped her tracks at the words.

"Edge End..." she started hesitantly, "Stands for "Extreme Emergency". We say Edge End because it is just easier for a computer to recognize."

"Oh and why are we supposed to say that we're Exorcists?" Kat questioned after Raikou had asked more about the Edge End subject. The three of them were now in front of the glass doors to the lobby. Aeri grimaced.

"You've heard of Komui Lee, the head of Black Order North America Section, right?" she asked. They nodded. "Well, he came up with this really lame motto for the Order- "We exorcise crime from the country." So now Order employees are called Exorcists. It's a painful nickname… have you guys heard of it?"

"I'm have before." Kat replied. "I mean, I-" she was cut off by a gunshot blasting through the doors, and a bullet flew right past her cheek. Instinctively, Aeri dived and rolled to the ground, taking shelter behind a large potted plant. Kat leapt over the clerk counter, and the stunned Raikou was left to scramble into Aeri's cubicle.

"Hands up!" Five men all dressed in black and wearing odd facemasks, strode into the bank, firing shots at random into the walls. The employees and other customers screamed and immediately did so. One man aimed at the pot where Aeri was hiding behind, and she was forced to leave her cover as the glass shattered. "Where's the manager?" one of them, the foremost robber, yelled. One of the customers started dialing the police from where he was hidden, but another gunshot made the man shriek and drop it. Kat's hand dug into her pocket and she yanked out a weapon: her nut cracker. "I want the manager!" the man yelled again. The other four robbers separated and quickly began divesting the nearby people of their belongings, taking out wallets, cell phones, jewelry, and any type of valuables from them. When a little kid tried to run away, the shouting robber held the poor child at gunpoint.

"I said, where's the manager?" he roared. "Come out before this kid meets Saint Peter at the pearly gates!"From his vantage point, Raikou watched with horror as Aeri stood up from where she had been hiding and blasted the gun from the man's hand with the pistol she was wielding. Two holsters had been hidden under her jacket on her thighs, and she had both guns in hand.

"That's me." she announced, stepping closer to the man. "Let the kid go before you go to Hell." The man simply smirked and raised a hand, and immediately the other four robbers stopped what they were doing a held guns to different people.

Aeri nearly had a heart attack right there and then. Think! She yelled internally. All they want is money. I should just follow procedure! But the other side of her, the side that had been trained and fought as an Exorcist, argued back. Just shoot them! That man in the middle has ulterior motives. Don't do it! She repressed her other side and lowered the pistols. "What do you want with me?" she demanded.

No! Kat nearly screamed. She would have if not for the person holding a gun to her head. Her nut cracker was under her back, in her left hand. She could probably stab the man with the handle in his stomach, but another man had someone next to her at gunpoint, and even if Kat could kill the one on her right now, the other would probably shoot.

"Drop the guns." the robber with the child commanded. Aeri carefully placed the two pistols on her counter and walked to the man.

"Let go of the child first," she hissed. The little boy was on the verge of tears, and when he was finally released from the chokehold he had been in, scurried to his mother, who was fortunately not at gunpoint. Surveying the room, Aeri's eyes widened as she observed that Kat was one of the unlucky ones. "What do you want?" she asked. The robber merely grinned widely as he stepped towards her. Aeri felt her neck hairs stiffen at the dark, evil motives that were written in the atmosphere around the man.

Hidden safely in Aeri's room, Raikou came to his senses and stepped lightly over to the phone, remaining crouched so that his height wouldn't alert the robbers to his location. Picking up the handset, he hurriedly dialed the Order's number. A familiar voice picked up. "Hello. This is the Black Order."

"Sachiko?" Raikou asked, remembering Kanda's secretary. He had only heard her speak a few times, and he had seen her nameplate on her desk to be able to remember. "This is Ikazuchi Raikou. I and the other intern are at the nearby bank right now, and a robbery is taking place. Hurry!" he whispered quickly. He silently put the handset back onto the base and curled up under the desk as he heard footsteps approach the door. It was kicked open, and Raikou stilled his breath as the gunman swung the shotgun in the room, looking for traces of human activity.

"Boss, no one's in here!" he yelled outside, stepping back out to report. Looking through the now-open door, Raikou's breath hitched as he saw that Aeri and the lead robber were facing off in a battle of glares. The man turned to his lackey, temporarily ignoring the woman's presence.

"Are you sure?" he asked softly, the murderous aura obvious in his voice. Raikou shuddered, and accidentally banged the table leg. The man spun around aimed under the table.

"Never mind, boss, I found the little rat." Fear overtook Raikou, Kat, and Aeri simultaneously as they each went on the offensive. The man that was ready to shoot the intern hiding under the table found himself in an arm lock. Grabbing the man's wrist, Raikou turned around and kicked the man over his shoulder, flipping the burly guy onto the carpet with a pop as the right shoulder was sharply dislocated. Screaming in pain, his enemy got to his feet and pulled out a knife from his right sleeve using his left hand, charging the Japanese boy. Having already predicted the motions that the blade would go through in the air, Raikou raised his knee and snap-kicked the wrist, causing the knife to fall to the ground with another scream from his new human punching bag. Grabbing the switchblade, Raikou jammed the handle at the spot between guy's neck and skull, causing an immediate concussion and fainting. The knocked-out person was promptly disarmed of his gun, and Raikou aimed at Aeri's opponent and pulled the trigger, praying that for once he'd actually hit someone with his horrible aiming skills.

Kat's fighting reflexes went on override as she withdrew her nut cracker from behind her back and stabbed her attacker's thigh, rolling into a standing position and doing a roundhouse kick towards his wrist. She heard the distinct sound of bones breaking as his wrist was pinned against the wall with her kick. Kat spun around once again and crushed his other arm's elbow with her heel. Pulling out her culinary weapon from his prone body, she leapt at the other robber near her, who had seen his comrade collapse and was taking aim at her. Pulling back her fist, Kat's hand formed a claw as she did a palm strike to his shoulder, her fingers digging into four other pressure points and thus temporarily immobilizing the entire arm. Now that his guard was down, the Russian threw a straight right at his windpipe, making him stagger and drop his gun, hands going to clutch his neck in pain. An uppercut to his chin made the robber fall backwards, knock his head on the tile, and lose consciousness. Kat picked up the guns from the collapsed men and shot across the room, luckily hitting the fourth man in the calf. She chucked both shotguns into the trash bin and rushed the last robber standing.

Aeri Night ducked the glinting knife that swung right above her head. From the corner of her eye, she saw Raikou and Kat both start attacking as she went to the ground and attempted to sweep the man's legs from under him, a classic trick. He foresaw it and back stepped, lashing out with his own foot and making contact with her stomach. She slid backwards on the tile and recovered her pistols from the counter she had put them earlier, firing off a shot as she vaulted over the table. Now behind the counter, she held the upper hand, now being able to conserve her energy for shooting and having to pull less drastic movements to dodge the bullets. However, Aeri failed to predict that her assailant would actually jump after her over the table. Aeri continued to fire, taking care to not accidentally hit any bystanders, many of which had recovered their senses and had begun tying up the bank robbers and retrieving their belongings. I have about three bullets left in each one. She calculated, once again diving behind a pot in order to evade shots. The glass shattered from the two bullets that were fired her way. He's shot around five rounds, and reloaded once. So there should be five more shots left for him. I need to save bullets. Looking at the glass shards around, her, Aeri got an idea and grabbed the largest one between her forefinger and middle finger, expertly throwing the glass at the man's wrist.

"Die!" Those were the last words she heard as a second knife was flipped out from his sleeve. The man quickly sliced the glass away from him and rushed her, stabbing her directly at the base of her neck. Black spots appeared in her vision at once, and the woman closed her eyes in time to see Kat start her own attack and a bullet whistle by.

Kat engaged the murderer with fury evident in her eyes, her nut cracker swinging in the air with eerie shrieks. Raikou too, was now shooting to kill, not caring about the consequences. Someone had died right in front of him, and it was someone that had worked with Kanda on the DGM case. This is probably the murderer of all those other people! He realized.

Everything happened at once.

The killer dashed around Kat, fleeing for the employee backdoor. In that instant, Raikou's bad aim made a bullet glance off his friend's weapon, and Kat's nut cracker was jolted from her grasp and flung at the fleeing man. He staggered mid-step and yanked it out, tossing it backwards and running through the employee entrance. The steel came in contact with Kat's forehead as she promptly blacked out and a phalanx of Exorcists charged through the doors. "Cousin! Wake up!" she faintly registered Lavi's voice yell.

Raikou staggered as the adrenaline toll took over and he fell to the floor in exhaustion. Rei. I hope we got the guy…so you don't die.

"Sachiko. This is Kanda. Get out your guns and get over here." Kanda ordered over the phone. "Your old friend is dead. It was Aeri."

Exile: Review? I am going to turn this in for an assignment...