24
by Aspirator
At the Seventh Hour
6:01
Nakuru scowled, muttering under her breath about pissy commanders and annoying girls slipping from underneath her nose. Didn't they know the restraining cuffs also had GPS trackers in them? The Enforcers weren't stupid.
Nakuru followed the GPS tracker to the Upper East Side, looking around as she waited on the corner of Fifth Street and Fourteenth Avenue. The fugitive should be coming down Fifth Street any minute now, or at least that's what the GPS tracker said.
At the sound of slamming doors and whirring of cars starting up, Nakuru was momentarily distracted as she observed the city of Carlisle slowly wake up. A window was opened, white curtains billowing out with the wind along with off-tune humming and the waft of breakfast. Another door down the street opened as a young man stumbled out still fixing his tie, stomping on his shiny black shoes, and kissing his young wife goodbye at the same time.
Nakuru was nearly toppled over from her position as a jogger passed by speedily. She frowned at the female jogger, then at the picture in her hand. Dark hair, pale skin, the right build… "Hey!" Nakuru yelled out, running after the lady. But the woman only ran faster, breaking into a sprint. "HEY!" Nakuru breathed in deeply as she, too, broke out into a sprint after the lady on the street, "STOP! ENFORCER!"
Her yells were starting to gain the attentions of others on the street. A mailman crossing the intersection double backed at the sight, blinking wide-eyed as both chasee and chaser passed by.
"STOP!" Nakuru yelled. Within one block, Nakuru was starting to catch up to the jogger. And halfway through the second block, Nakuru had caught up, shifted her feet skillfully so that she cut off the jogger's path.
Caught by surprise, the woman yelped, tripping over Nakuru's feet, and sprawled over the ground.
Nakuru stood, towering over her with a triumphant grin. "Ha! That's what you get for making me chase you for a block and a half."
The woman groaned, getting to her feet. Her dark brown eyes flashed up to Nakuru in wide surprise - wait, dark brown eyes?
Nakuru looked at the picture in her hands, then at the poor woman getting up from the ground and dusting herself off. "Dammit!" It was not the Cavalry girl.
The jogger took out earbuds from her ear - oh, so that was why she didn't hear Nakuru yelling - and apologized profusely. "So, so sorry! I didn't see you!"
Nakuru wasn't in the mood to act cordial. Rather than answering, her eyes went straight to the woman's wrist - there it was. The aluminum band. "How did you get that?" She demanded.
"Um…" Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked down at it, "a-a woman gave it to me while I was jogging, she said it helped measure heart rate and steady -"
"Nevermind," Nakuru growled, of course these naive People believed anything anyone said. "just give it to me."
"...um…I don't know how to take it off."
Nakuru scowled for the third time that morning, sighing as she took it off the woman's wrist for her. How did that Cavalry girl figure it out? Nakuru frowned. The Cavalry sure weren't stupid either.
6:07
"It's only six and I'm already starting to hit my exercise quota of the day."
Because, yet again, the Cavalry was sprinting. This time, through the halls of Enforcers headquarters. And by the sounds of clanking behind them, the Enforcers weren't far behind.
"Eriol, shut up. You're more of a girl than Meiling." Syaoran turned his head slightly to growl at the other man in annoyance as the three figures skidded their way into a steep corner.
Meiling rolled her eyes. "and I don't have an exercise quota."
"The Cavalry shouldn't have an exercise quota." Syaoran responded, then proceeded to cuss profusely as they hit a dead end, slamming a heavy fist at the immovable white wall. He glared at the blue Commonwealth Insignia before sprinting back up the way they had come.
"In case either of you haven't noticed, I wear glasses." Eriol pushed them up to emphasize his point. "I'm basically handicapped."
Syaoran scoffed and Meiling responded, "tell that to the thirty Enforcers we killed this morning."
Before the three Cavalry members could make it into the next hallway, they were intercepted by five speedy Enforcers.
Syaoran easily grabbed the nearest Enforcer's gun by the barrel, shoving it back to hit the Enforcer squarely in the chest. He twisted the gun out of the Enforcer's hand. With his grip still on the Enforcer's arm, Syaoran slammed the man against the wall, then used the gun's heavy metal to strike a hard blow against a second Enforcer's head.
At the same time, Meiling ducked to dodge a blow by the third Enforcer. Skillfully, she threw a well-aimed kicked at the Enforcer's abdomen, knocking him backwards and on the ground. She then knelt on his stomach. But before she could deal the fatal blow, another Enforcer lounged at her. She brought both arms over her head to block his blow. Just as she peaked out from under her elbows, Syaoran had thrown a hard punch straight at the Enforcer's face from her left side.
On Meiling's right side - with the fifth Enforcer already on the ground by now - Eriol caught the fourth Enforcer and effectively knocked him unconscious with a precise blow to the edge of his neck.
Without missing a beat, the three sped into another plain white hallway. Meiling was starting to lose track of where they had gone and where they hadn't gone. Eriol was sure they were going in circles. Syaoran was just doggedly moving ahead.
Three identical hallways later, Syaoran slowed down into a walk as the three Cavalry members looked around at the open junction. There were two hallways on each side, open double doors straight ahead of them, and a less noticeable door to their far left.
Meiling and Eriol, naturally, made their way to the open double doors.
But Syaoran, on the other hand, was drawn to the RESTRICTED AREA sign to the door on his left. Without a word, he moved quickly towards it - causing Meiling and Eriol to sharply u-turn with bewildered expressions.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Meiling exclaimed incredulously when she came to stand next to Syaoran. She gestured wildly at the open doors. "Look at our ticket out! It's practically begging us to leave!"
"I have a feeling about this." He responded vaguely, tapping the thin gaps between the door and its frame, hoping to find some way to force his way in.
"What?" Eriol came to stand alongside them too, scrutinizing security system on the wall. "Your Sakura senses finally working after all these years?"
Meiling hid a snicker under her hand, less brashly commenting, "call it the Sakuradar."
"You two are comedians." Syaoran stated humorlessly while shooting a dark glare at the pair.
Meiling watched the men's backs, worriedly glancing into the hallway they had come from. "But seriously, it won't be long before they catch up."
"When they do, we'll jump out that door." Syaoran responded evenly, "but for now, let's find out what's on the other side of this."
6:15
Sakura was as still as a statue. She kept her wide Emerald eyes on Yue's silver ones.
"So I have seen you before." Yue muttered quietly, more to himself than to Sakura. Regardless, Sakura heard his every word. "You were at Granatopolis before I dropped the-" Yue narrowed his sharp silver eyes when Sakura reacted immediately.
"You were the one-" Sakura lurched forward with wide, angry Emerald eyes - but she pulled herself back when Yue raised his gun threateningly.
Sakura glared at the man, swallowing thickly. A long silence ensued as Yue contemplated his actions.
Her stare was broken when a few popping sounds were heard from the hallway door to Sakura's left. She shifted her gaze hopefully at the door, then at Yue's gun.
Apparently reading her mind, Yue growled lowly, "Don't even think about it."
But Sakura ignored him, breathing in deeply.
"You know what a yellow laser dot means don't you? Your magic can't even get from the veins in your shoulder to your arms before this bullet is in you."
"We'll see about that." Sakura narrowed her eyes in determination, her arm was up and extending towards the commander at the same time as he was pulling back his trigger finger.
6:19
"Okay, got it!" Eriol signalled Syaoran as he pulled out several multicolored loose wires from the control pad. Both Syaoran and Meiling, having toyed with the right and left edges of the door, threw their weight into it.
It crashed down with a loud thump! and a metallic clank! as the metallic hinges collided with the shiny marble floor.
Syaoran breathed heavily as he glared hard at what laid before them. Meiling ran both hands down her face. Eriol leaned his forehead against the wall.
A short empty hallway no more than five hundred meters and another RESTRICTED AREA door.
"For Clow's sake!" Syaoran shook his hands in frustration at the ceiling. "Damn architects-"
His string of profanities were cut off suddenly when a loud blast threw all three Cavalry members off their feet.
Meiling coughed, rolling to her knees, then to her feet. She whirled around to check that the other two men were alright, exclaiming, "What the hell was that?!"
Syaoran growled, clamping a steady hand against the wall to pull himself up. With an annoyed, "we'll see", he turned on his heel and started sprinting towards the direction of the blast. His unreadable expression didn't give away the heavy thumping of his heart and the many scenarios running through his head - and they all came back to one certain Variant.
"You know," Eriol got to his feet easily, "normal people run away from mysterious explosions."
"We're the fucking Cavalry."
"Well, if you say it like that..." Eriol rolls his eyes, leisurely sprinting after the pair. If one were to only observe his face, they would've never noticed how fast his legs were pumping.
6:19
"We'll see about that." Sakura narrowed her eyes in determination, her arm was up and extending towards the commander at the same time as he was pulling back his trigger finger.
Suddenly, a blast shook the building, throwing both figures to the ground. Sakura crashed against the wall opposite from the lab door. Yue's back collided against opposite wall, losing his grip on the gun, causing it slide across the floor.
Agile as he was, Yue got to his feet immediately - but so did Sakura.
The Variant scrambled to her feet, running towards the lab window, but golden creature was nowhere in sight.
Both pairs of eyes shot to the gun thrown haphazardly on the ground. Yue dove for it. At the same time, Sakura threw a blast of ice at the gun, effectively freezing its barrel. Then she sprinted towards the hallway doors, using her magic to force it open. Seeing that the gun was ineffective, Yue quickly changed course, darting after the Variant.
Sakura was disappointed to find that it was another Enforcer who had been on the other side of the door. He was still recovering from the blast, getting up slowly. Yue sent him a glare as he passed the incompetent fellow Enforcer. His mistake was looking away from the Variant.
Sakura whirled around abruptly, using both hands to send a blast of ice at Yue.
Yue quickly defended himself with both arms, pushing back with his magic - but plain magic could not compare to pure magic. He was frozen on the spot, clear ice encasing his entire figure. Sakura shot two blasts of ice with each hand at the other Enforcer, gluing him to the wall, just for good measure.
Then she darted out the doors, turning around to freeze it shut - again, just for good measure. She darted out three more restricted area doors before she met an already open one. Sakura slowed down to a walk, looking around cautiously. The pure white door laid flat on the ground. The lock pad from the outside had been toyed with. A few wires dangled loosely.
From the looks of it, Sakura was running in the right direction.
6:23
Tomoyo hopped down from her position above the ceiling squares. She was hiding inside the foamed insulation in the structure of the Enforcer building. As she had predicted, the architecture of the Enforcer headquarters was strong enough to withstand the small blast. The only effects were singed floors, walls, and ceilings, and a mini-earthquake.
Tomoyo clapped her palms against each other, dusting herself off. Daintily, she walked a few hallways - now, there's bound to be an Enforcer somewhere…
Aha! An Enforcer who was a little too close to the blast had flown against the wall and knocked himself unconscious. How convenient.
Tomoyo painfully dragged him by his uniform to a closet nearby. As she stripped him of his clothing, she talked quietly to him to ease her own comfort. "I don't usually undress unconscious men, so this is actually highly uncomfortable for me too." She strapped on his uniform on top of her own street clothes. "Looks like we're not exactly the same size." She commented as she tried to buckle the borrowed built at the smallest hole, and tie up the shoelaces of her boots as tight as she could.
Fully decked out in Enforcer clothing, Tomoyo stood up straight, gazing down at the stripped Enforcer laying haphazardly on the ground. "I really do apologize for the cold you'll get later, but a, I don't think you'll fit in my clothes, and b, I'll need my clothes for later." Tomoyo placed the Enforcer helmet on her head. With one last glance at the poor guy, she stated kindly, "thank you."
Tomoyo joined the now populating hallways of clueless Enforcers.
6:34
"ENFORCER! STOP RIGHT THERE!" Came an authoritative yell from down the hall. Syaoran cursed, Eriol weighed his options, and Meiling winced. The three turned around slowly to see one lone Enforcer hold laser sniper gun pointed straight at Syaoran's heart.
Both Eriol and Meiling looked at Syaoran, and he glared at them for actually contemplating whether or not they would do okay without him.
"Put your hands on your heads." The Enforcer strode calmly, boldly towards them. The blue and white Enforcer helmet covering most of the man - woman? - head and slightly muffling his (her?) voice. "Turn around slowly."
With furrowed eyebrows the three did as they asked, and Syaoran felt the barrel of the gun dig into his back. "Walk." So they did, the Enforcer guiding them through narrow passages they haven't seen before, and oddly, they were mostly empty.
"How high would the Commander promote me, you think?" The Enforcer lowly contemplated, "For returning to him his prized fugitives."
"Not as high as what we'll pay you." Eriol tried to gamble as his eyes darted around the empty room they were walking into for an escape route. No back door, no windows...is that a mop? Who uses those anymore?
The Enforcer started laughing, then giggling madly. As soon as Syaoran felt the barrel of the gun loosen from his back, he whirled around. All three were astonished to find the Enforcer taking off her helmet -
"Tomoyo!" Meiling squealed, leaping at the woman to glomp her. "Oh my gosh! You had us!"
"Where were you the past hour?" Syaoran, always the realist, demanded.
"I've been setting up the perfect escape route," Tomoyo was unoffended by his accusatory tone. "And the first step is to take off those restraining cuffs." She grabbed Meiling wrist, pulling her restraining cuff side by side with the borrowed Enforcer watch. After a long second, to the Cavalry's astonishment, Meiling restraining cuff popped loose. "If Sakura were here, she'd probably say something about how it all works. All I know is magnets." Tomoyo uttered as she went to work on Syaoran's. She looked up at the Cavalry members. "It's a wonder what you can do just being dressed as an Enforcer."
"A wolf in sheep's clothing." Eriol commented as Tomoyo loosened his cuffs next.
The other Cavalry members looked at Eriol oddly. Meiling was the one to voice, "what?"
"It's a saying, originating from an early religion - Christianity, which had a sacred book called a Bible but incorrectly credited to a Greek whose name was Aesop-"
"Eriol, not now." Syaoran stopped him impatiently, distractedly looking around. "Sakura is still running around in here somewhere."
Tomoyo smiled. "Then let's go."
6:41
According to Tomoyo, Syaoran must be the one to go get her. So here Syaoran was, running down the halls towards the greatest commotion. And of course, at the center of it all, was Sakura.
"Sakur- WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" He yelled out over the heads of white and blue. Sakura whirled around at his voice, her green eyes finding his amber ones. He lashed out at an Enforcer angrily, then aimed a high kick at another, using more force than necessary.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?!" Sakura yelled back, his reaction to her affecting her mood. She jerked her hand about, throwing energy blasts like a heavy gust of wind to push back Enforcers. She cleared a path for Syaoran, who ran to her with a scowl.
"Why are you throwing around your magic like it's nothing?" Syaoran returned. He broke eye contact to fight off the neverending line of Enforcers closing in on the two of them. "You just recovered from using it!" But his blazed eyes kept returning to her with an annoyed look.
"Excuse me, that was six hours ago!" Sakura returned, understanding his reference to her earlier sign of weakness from teleporting the Cavalry.
"Six hours - you -" Syaoran whirled around, grabbing her shoulders and looking ready to shake her and strangle her at the same time. But seeing something over her head, he shifted the pair of them so that they switched spots. He swiftly knocked an approaching Enforcer unconscious and kicked another in the gut.
He whirled around as soon as both are on the ground to come face to face with Sakura, who had also whirled around to yell at him. "STOP OVEREXERTING YOURSELF!" Syaoran yelled at her.
"I'M NOT WEAK!" Sakura screamed at the same time, then blinked. "What?"
Syaoran gave her a look, frowning at her. He looked ready to say something, but instead, he struck out at an Enforcer approaching Sakura's side. At the same time, Sakura threw a blast of magic over Syaoran's shoulder. They switched positions again, with Syaoran punching an Enforcer in the face and breaking his knee.
Catching sight of Eriol's eye over at the edge of the commotion, Syaoran saw Eriol give him a look and throwing up his palms. 'What's the hold up?' Eriol was telling him.
Syaoran nodded at him. Whirling to capture Sakura's attention for a quick second, he stated urgently. "We need to get out of here."
Sakura threw a wide arc of energy that threw rows of Enforcers off their feet, answering, "Then go! I can distract them!"
"I hate when you say that." Syaoran grumbled, dodging a bullet just as he finished his statement. He grabbed Sakura's arm again, pulling her to him. Another stream of bullets missed her by scant inches just as she threw up a frozen wall.
"What?" She breathed heavily, catching her breath during the break in action.
With her frozen wall surrounding them, the pair finally faced each other without the commotion. Rather than explaining himself, or anything he said in their distracted combat, he quietly and forcefully stated. "We're talking about this later." At the last word - without taking his blazed eyes away from hers - he punched an Enforcer that managed to knock down half of the frozen wall and get close enough to them. He broke eye contact for barely a second to consequently elbow the side of the Enforcer's neck, then knee his gut.
"Right now, WE are getting the hell out of here." Syaoran stated authoritatively, not even missing a beat while Sakura blinked at the unconscious Enforcer on the ground. Sakura opened her mouth as if to say something but no words came out. Syaoran ignored her, keeping a tight grip on her arm while he bent down to steal the unconscious Enforcer's gun.
The pair sprinted out of the frozen cover Sakura made for them and into the fray. Pulling Sakura by one arm, Syaoran used his other end to shoot closeby Enforcers, occasionally clubbing them by the side of the head if they were to come too close. Sakura, stumbling behind him, also contributed by shooting blasts of energy, icicles, and even fireballs here and there.
6:58
In one hour, Yue's morning had turned completely around. "FOUR PEOPLE. AND A VARIANT. LAY WASTE TO OUR HEADQUARTERS. YOU INCOMPETENT ENFORCERS - SHITTY PIECES OF - FUCKING SHIT FUCK-" Yue was spewing out cuss words like no other. If he could breathe fire, the whole place would be in ashes by now. As he strode past all the Enforcers picking themselves up and avoiding his dark glare, he swept up a clear path for himself with his plain magic.
The commander punched a nearby wall, accidentally hitting misaimed ice still glued to the wall. He cursed some more, rubbing his red hand. Growling, the commander continued issuing orders left and right.
Yue whirled around to yell at any left over Enforcers running too slow - when he caught sight of the only calm man in the midst of all this. Immediately, his guard went up. Yue strode over to the man, nodding at him in greeting. "Dr. Fujiwara."
The man was short, barely coming up to Yue's shoulders, with grey-white hair surrounding his smooth head. He wore thin-framed but thick glasses perched steadily on his nose. He had thin, stern lips and a hard jaw. He wore a long, white lab coat that tapered off just under his knees. Loose black slacks showed underneath along with shiny black shoes. Pens were tucked neatly by his side pocket while a neatly pressed white shirt collar peaked out over the collar of his lab coat. He barely responded to Yue's nod, still glancing over the damage. "Was that the Variant?" He asked lightly despite the weight of his question.
Yue didn't know why he hesitated. Slowly, warily, he responded, "..yes, and some others."
"Interesting." He nodded, his eyes sweeping over the scene as Enforcers hustled and bustled over the crime scene. He returned his gaze to the commander, a purposeful glint in his eye. "Commander Yue," He smiled warmly, but it didn't reach his flat blue eyes. "I think it's time we have a talk."
7:00
A/N: I was so tempted to post a new chapter with three words: "IT'S APRIL FOOL'S!" But since I love you all, I didn't, and I actually posted a new chapter.
Crying because I had two goals and I failed both. One; word count (see last chapter's A/N) - this chapter was 4,012 words. Two; (see my profile) I should've posted the eighth chapter before March 31st but it's...April. I failed you all. *crawls into my Box of Shame*
So, I introduced an OC. Yeah.