This is where the violence warning kicks in.
Chapter Eight: Another One Bites the Dust
The storm was still raging outside a day later, on Friday. They couldn't really tell when nighttime came around, other than the yellow numbers on the cable box above the TV, with all of the curtains closed and thunder booming through the house at regular intervals. There had been a few quiet spells throughout the past twenty-four-or-so hours, where the thunder had ceased for a while, and the rain had tip-tapped a rhythm that managed to lull them into sleep for a few hours at a time. But it never lasted, and that was how Riku found himself wandering the rooms of Leon's penthouse apartment at three in the morning.
He almost wished that Axel were awake. Almost. But Axel was currently throwing a hissy fit over being stuck in Leon's apartment, torn between worshipping the man who had caught them all three times they had attempted escape, once in his birthday suit, and killing him for foiling said escape plans time and time and time again. As it was, he wasn't exactly pleasant to be in the company of at the moment, so Riku decided to let the redhead sleep, and instead lightly tapped on the door to Kairi's room. A muffled call to enter sounded, so he quietly opened the door, and found her curled up on her bed, Leon's laptop resting on her legs and bathing the room in the machine-blue light of the computer screen. She looked up as the door opened and gave a weak smile, brushing a stray strand of hair that had fallen out of her clip behind her ear. It struck him at first, seeing her hair up, because in the dark and gloom, he couldn't really see how short it was now, and briefly pictured her with her hair tied back, long and curled and red like blood, spread out on the black pavement.
"Yeah?" Her voice was quiet, her gaze just a little darker than usual, and in the dim lighting, it was almost like he was back in the apartment in the projects of St. Louis.
"Just a question," he said, shaking his head to clear the mental images. He needed sleep, he told himself. That was all.
"Ask," she said curtly. She needed sleep too, it seemed.
He leaned on the desk, watching her face in the glow of the computer's screen as she pulled up whatever she had been working on. "What did you mean about Naminé Martel?"
"You mean asking where she was?" She glanced away from the computer and up at him. "She's gone. The phone's been disconnected, the apartment cleared out, and it's like she never existed at all. She was even wiped from the licensing databases." She gave a little sigh, as though she regretted Naminé Martel vanishing into thin air. "The thing that gets me, though, is that Sora and Roxas don't know where she is either."
"They said they had a general idea."
"They have the same general ideas that I do."
"And those would be?" Riku asked.
Kairi sighed again, but it was a tired sigh this time, one that didn't mean anything bad. Just that she was tired. They were all a little tired, Riku thought, but maybe the rain was making him think a little too much. "The Organization," she replied. "It all has to do with the Organization, somehow or another. And we don't know exactly where the Organization is, do we?"
Riku shook his head. "Not anymore anyway," he said, standing up fully. "Don't forget the pills," he added, a little more quietly, and patted her shoulder.
She shook her head, however. "Not tonight. Tonight, I'm working." She gestured toward the computer screen. "I need to research and liberate some information before… well, you know."
So she felt it too, that little ball of dread in her chest, like something was going to happen and she was going to need all the information she could get before it did. Riku had felt it all day, flipping open and closed Axel's Memo pad, glancing at his cell phone on occasion, going through Sora's near-empty file again. Briefly, he wondered if Axel could feel the tension in the air, that sinister cloud hanging over them, if they were all so unified and connected that his dreams were being filled with visions of dark warehouses and silent phone calls, the sound of gunshots and laughter and his mind screaming prayers to not be too late.
"Riku?"
He started at the sound of Kairi's voice. His gaze shot up, to where her soft, tired face was washed in the blue light of the computer screen, tinged with concern. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Riku nodded, muttered a reply that he didn't even think about, and decided that he had better go ahead and get some sleep if he wanted to be any use at all the following day.
Saturday dawned grey and rainy, of course, because this was Missouri, and when it rained, it rained for days. Riku watched the dawn come with a lightening of the clouds, wondering if he'd get to see just a tiny peek of the sun and pretty sure all he would get was rain. There was no thunder, no lightning, and it seemed almost peaceful, with the rain on his window behind his drawn curtains and the relative quiet of the apartment. Yet he couldn't sleep that night, though he tried, tossing and turning, with the feeling steadily growing within him that the calm wouldn't last. If Missouri could have hurricanes, this would be the eye of the storm.
The first rumble of thunder sounded sometime late into the night, into the early single-digits. Riku sighed and rolled out of bed, knowing that the small amount of shut-eye he had gotten would either have to be helped along by medication or last him through the storm. A quick shake of the pill bottle gave him his answer, and he hoped that the storm wouldn't knock out the power and give him late-night monster movies, at least. He found Kairi on the couch, curled up in a blanket with her head resting in Axel's lap, the pair apparently enjoying some romantic comedy, and Riku figured that he probably wouldn't get his monster movie either.
"Hey," the two redheads greeted in unison as he sat down on the couch near Kairi's feet.
"Hey," he replied. "What're you watching?" he asked, mostly to break the silence, because he could already see Julia Roberts singing Prince's "Kiss" in the bathtub on the screen.
"Pretty Woman," Axel said, looking as though he would have liked to be watching monster movies as well. Unfortunately, Kairi had the remote buried beneath the blanket with her, no doubt clenched protectively in her recently-painted and filed nails.
"Ah." Riku sat back, resigning himself to Richard Gere and hoping that the movie would eventually allow him to fall asleep. Axel was probably hoping that the movie would lull Kairi to sleep, therefore freeing up the remote for Godzilla or something not romance-related. Honestly, Kairi was probably hoping for the same thing.
Therefore, of course, the storm just had to cut the movie off, and it became apparent that whatever ran the world enjoyed messing with Riku's life.
With the light from the TV gone, the room was doused in darkness, and it took the three of them a minute to process the sudden lack of modern technology with their drowsy brains. Finally, Kairi sat up, taking her blanket with her and leaving Riku's legs victims to the cold air at about the same time that they heard Leon come down the hallway. There was the sound of him digging through the kitchen, and then they could suddenly see again.
"I thought you were asleep," Kairi said, taking the flashlight the brunet handed her.
"I was working," Leon replied, handing a second flashlight to Axel and keeping the third for himself. He looked a little annoyed, if Riku were to guess that the tiny little wrinkle between his eyes meant something close to an expression.
"Kinda late, isn't it?" Axel asked. He flipped on his flashlight and held it under his face, widening his eyes and flashing Kairi a spooky grin. She scowled at him and aimed her own flashlight right into his eyes, making him wince and blink away from her.
Leon watched the exchange with that strange quirk of the mouth again. "I could ask you the same," he pointed out, leaning against a wall.
"We're all horrible insomniacs," Kairi said.
"Excuse me?" Axel looked at her, waving his flashlight. "I happened to be fast asleep when you shook me awake. Axel!" he mimicked in a high, squeaky voice that was probably supposed to be Kairi, but managed to sound more like a neutered clown. "Richard Gere's on TV! I was thinking An Officer and a Gentlemen or at least Shall We Dance, but no, it's Pretty Woman of all things."
"Hey!" Kairi shined her flashlight in his eyes again. "You weren't complaining when you were muttering the lines under your breath."
"Shut up and let me have some shred of masculinity left, will you?"
Riku rolled his eyes and the rest of the argument was drowned out by another clap of thunder, lightning illuminating the room in sudden daylight. Immediately after, his phone started dancing in circles to "Wipe Out" on the coffee table where he'd left it earlier, as though the thunder had been a harbinger of what couldn't be good news. He stared at the table in shock, along with Axel and Kairi, whose eyes had gone wide with disbelief and horror.
"…Answer it!" Axel hissed and Riku made a grab for it as it started on the second loop, flipping it open with shaky hands and holding it to his ear.
The caller didn't even give him a chance to speak. "They're close," he said, his usually light voice weighted down by a lack of time and imminent danger. "Get her out of there."
It took him a minute to think of a response beyond shitdamnfuckno! "She's safe," he finally said, but even as he said the words, his heart was sinking to the floor and bile was rising into his throat.
"No, she's not. You don't have long. Keep her safe."
There was a click as the other hung up, and it was a wonder that he'd been able to call at all, Riku realized. If they were as close as he was now sure they were, he should have been surrounded constantly, it should have been too risky. Briefly, he wondered morbidly if the other's slit throat would prevent another warning like that.
"Go," he said, keeping his voice low and urgent, because Kairi was visibly shaken, staring at the phone in his hand as though she had just seen a ghost. "Pack what you can, they're coming."
He moved to walk past them as Axel and Leon jumped into motion, vanishing down the hall and into their rooms. Kairi caught his arm as he moved past her and he paused, taking a moment to gently pull her to his shoulder and rest a chin on her soft red hair, hoping to quell the shaking that seemed to have overtaken her.
"That…" Her voice cracked and she swallowed. He felt her close her eyes against his shoulder and take a shaky breath. "Was that…" She couldn't even finish the question.
"Yeah," he replied. "He's still got a debt to repay, remember."
Kairi nodded against him a moment later, pulling away and dragging a hand across her eyes as she walked briskly down the hallway to her room. He heard the door close a moment later as he stepped into his own. Urgency set in then, and he found himself grabbing only at the things he would need, pulling on a pair of jeans and shoving his wallet, cell phone, and keys to a pile of charred upholstery and blackened metal into his pockets. He grabbed one of Kairi's old ponytail holders out of the bag and pulled his hair back; girly but useful in situations where he didn't want it to be in his eyes while he was running for his life. He'd learned that lesson quite a few times in the past. Finally, he pulled his belt on, clipping his empty gun holster, badge, and handcuffs to it, having found them all useful to have in a tight situation.
He emerged a few minutes later, nearly crashing into Leon. He stumbled and the older man caught him, steadied him, and handed him a handgun. "Got a plan yet?" he asked, his tone not much different than it would have been had he been discussing the weather.
"I'm working on it," Riku answered, shoving the gun into his holster. "Got one for me?"
"They're in Chicago." This time, Leon handed him a black bag with a strap for the shoulder. "Flight leaves at five-thirty. Get this bag to Sora. It's waterproof and reinforced, and there's a credit card for the plane ticket, as well as some other things you may need. Take the Wrangler," he added, handing him a set of keys. "I'll confuse them with the Firebird."
Riku nodded, mentally making a note that that was the most he had heard out of Leon in the total of roughly thirty or so hours that he had been there. "Thanks," he said. "Will you be alright?"
Leon gave him that strange little not-smile again, and this time it was smug. With that, he turned down the hallway and vanished into his room again.
The detective shook his head briefly before speed-walking into the living room to grab his shoes from beside the door. Kairi was already there waiting for him, dressed in a pair of jeans and a windbreaker, her red hair pulled back into a small ponytail, apparently having though on the same wavelength as Riku. Her shoes were already on her feet, but she was staring out the window with something akin to dismayed horror on her face.
"They're here," she said, turning to him, and the look on her face was nothing but raw fear.
He looked past her, down at the parking lot, and the first thing he saw in the flash of lightning was a shock of bright pink and the gaudy silver uniforms of the Organization lackeys. "Okay, that changes things a little," he said soothingly, mentally wondering how the hell they were supposed to escape now. "He wasn't kidding when he said we didn't have long."
He pulled her away from the window as Leon and Axel came into view again, the former wearing that strange half-jacket again and the latter holding two guns: his own and Kairi's Ladysmith from her purse.
"We can't take the front door," Riku informed them.
"You can't," Leon said. "I can. Figure another way out. I won't be able to draw them off for long."
It wasn't very helpful advice, but Riku realized that it was really the only thing Leon could do, as though putting yourself as the first line of defense was a small feat.
"How much time?" Axel asked, sliding a hand through Kairi's hair and digging through the pockets of his jacket, mindlessly digging for a pack of cigarettes that wasn't there.
"Not enough," Riku replied. "Come on." He turned down the hallway, throwing open the doors to the room and searching for anything that could help them now, a laundry chute, something. He heard the front door open and close and tried to put off the thought that Leon had just left them to meet what would probably be a bullet-riddled death in the hallways of the apartment building.
He almost closed his eyes when he heard the first gunshots and muffled shouts, but that would mean losing time and possibly missing something. Kairi looked back towards the living room briefly, face twisted, but Axel pulled her along as they blindly ran down the hall.
"Oh God!" he heard her say in what was probably a shriek if the blood hadn't been pounding at his ears, much like hands were pounding at the front door now. He took the second to glance back at her, to see the blood drained from her face and the way that Axel was holding her up, telling her to get up and run, princess, she could do it. And then he saw it.
He pushed his way past them, backtracking and bounding off and over the bed to the window, where another flash of lightning illuminated the wet fire escape.
"Fourteen stories on a wet fire escape?" Axel asked, and Riku could tell that he thought he was out of his mind.
"It's the best chance we've got," Riku replied. He gripped the edge of the window, trying to pull it up and trying to ignore the sounds of the locks breaking on the front door.
Axel released Kairi to help him. "I can dig it," he said, gritting his teeth and pulling, praying the window would magically unstuck itself, but it seemed hopeless a few moments later and it still wouldn't budge. Riku and Axel swore in unison.
"Move," Kairi said from behind them, and Riku glanced over before quickly taking a step or two back as she heaved the desk chair with every ounce of strength that she had, which was a considerable amount thanks to self-defense classes and the fear-driven adrenaline rush. The window shattered and the noises at the door paused for only a second before he heard someone shout.
"Good job, princess," Axel said, reaching over to help her through the broken window. She landed on her feet on the fire escape below, the broken glass crunching beneath her Nikes. "Go," he said to Riku, pulling the gun out of his waistband at the same time they heard the door slam open. Riku didn't waste any time, knowing that Axel was a crack shot and had the best chance of any of them under this kind of pressure. He caught the edge of the broken window with his arm on his way out, hissing and losing his balance as a result, just barely catching himself on the fire escape below. He scrambled up, repositioning the bag over his shoulder and ignoring the way his hands stung with shards of broken glass. Gunshots rang out and he hit the ground again, this time taking Kairi with him, and they just barely avoided Axel crashing through what was left of the window and hitting the landing rolling.
"Go, damn it!" the redhead shouted.
Riku dropped the first ladder and Kairi took the rungs two at a time. He slid down as Kairi was dropping the second, and Axel came toppling off of the first landing.
"Forget the ladders!" he said, and it was a miracle that Riku heard him over the thunder and gunshots chipping into the metal nearby. "Jump!"
Riku did, immediately, landing on the next rusted and wet platform, just as the next hail of bullet ricocheted off of the metal beside him. Kairi landed with a pained grunt nearby and he pulled her to his feet as Axel followed. They jumped together this time, Axel barely behind them. Four down, ten to go.
The metal was slippery, the rain coming down harder by the time they had hit the fourth floor, literally, on hands and knees and, in Kairi's case, on top of Riku. "Sorry!" she said breathlessly before bounding up to jump again for the fourth floor. Riku realized that gunshots could be heard from below too, but they weren't being aimed at him, and he barely caught sight of Leon sprinting across the grass in the flash of lightning toward the parking lot, a familiar pink shock following him closely.
"Marluxia," Axel growled. "Jump!"
Kairi jumped first, landing on the second-floor landing and stumbling, nearly falling to the ground far below and causing Riku's heart to seize in his chest. Axel followed, slipping as well, looking to pitch over the railing, and it was a miracle that Kairi's hand shot out to clamp around his arm in time. Riku readied himself on the railing of the third story as another bullet ricocheted off the metal pretty damn close to his hand, and he found himself thanking the heavens that Lexaeus had always been a poor shot.
Larxene, on the other hand, hadn't.
The bullet only grazed him, barely brushed his cheek, but it stung like a bitch. Before he could stop himself, his hand had flown up to the wound, throwing off his balance. He toppled from the third-floor railing, missed Axel's outstretched hand, though he grasped for it. He closed his eyes and shifted his weight, moving to hit the ground feet-first in the split-second it took for flesh to meet earth.
He hit the ground, buckled his knees, and rolled instinctively, seeing stars. The bag flew one way, landing in the mud, and he lay there as his world refocused and he determined that no, he wasn't dead, but if he didn't move now, he would be soon. He jumped up and stumbled as a shock of pain shot up his leg, cursing through gritted teeth as he forced himself to ignore the pain and walk it off, grabbing up the bag and making for the parking lot.
When the pavement was under his feet and the adrenaline had kicked in enough that the pain in his ankle was a dull throb, he found that he still had the keys to the Wrangler clutched in one hand, covered in blood from the cuts in his palm and leaving an imprint on his flesh. He hit the panic button as another bullet dinged off the trunk of the car beside him and another pierced through the window of a sedan in front of him. He threw himself into the driver's seat and tossed the bag haphazardly into the back seat, scrunching himself down to make himself less of a target and turning the engine over. He threw it into gear just as Axel catapulted into the passenger's seat and Kairi flung herself into the floorboard of the back. He pressed his foot to the pedal and the car shot back, colliding with something with a sickening crunch that made Riku swallow and wince, but he kept going, hoping that he hadn't killed someone at least, threw the shift into drive and fucking drove.
The chase wasn't over yet, though, and as soon as he had peeled out of the parking lot, Axel's crimson Firebird zipped past them, a few of the Organization cars following and peppering the bumper and back of the sports car, meaning that the distraction tactic had apparently worked.
"Take I-44," Axel said beside him, breathing harsh, and Riku barely heard him over the back window breaking and Kairi yelping in surprise. Axel loaded a new magazine into his gun, taking a moment to calm his breathing. "Hey, sweetheart, you okay?"
"Peachy," came the reply. "Fuckin' peachy."
"Good. Don't pass any semis, man." And then Axel was hanging halfway out the window, firing back at the cars that were currently making his spare tire useless. He came back in a few moments later. "Took out the front tire. Take that exit!"
Riku muttered a prayer to whatever god would listen and shot across four lanes of early-morning traffic to zip up the exit ramp, hopefully losing their pursuers in the dangerous maneuver. When the Branson-Springfield National Airport was in view, Axel glanced back.
"We lost the bastards," he said, relieve audible in his tone.
Kairi hoisted herself up into the backseat, brushing what had fallen out of her ponytail away from her face. Riku suddenly realized that his bangs were plastered to his head and they were all soaked to the bone with rain, mud, and… holy shit, blood.
"Riku!" Kairi yelped, darting forward to hover her hand above his cheek. "Oh my God." She fell back into her seat, one hand covering part of her face and her eyes wide. "They shot you. They shot you!"
Axel twisted in her seat, cupping his hand around the back of her neck and forcing her head between her knees. "Relax," he said, "breathe. He's fine, it's just a scratch." He pulled his hand away carefully and she took a shaky breath, leaving her head where he had put it. "Where to?"
"Chicago," Riku replied. "Assuming they let us on the plane like this."
"We'll have to ditch the guns," Axel said, looking none-too-happy about the idea.
"And the shampoo," Kairi added, her voice muffled and still shaky. "No more than three ounces."
"If you're done panicking, shove the stuff we can't take under the seat," Axel said as Riku pulled into a parking lot. Kairi began pulling their weapons and toiletries out of the duffle bag, still taking deep breaths.
Riku pulled his hands away from the wheel and found himself looking at bloody smudges. His hands were shaking from the potent mix of fear and adrenaline, and the cuts still hadn't stopped bleeding, though it didn't seem as though he had gotten any glass in them, which was fortunate. Kairi passed him a roll of bandages and he began wrapping his hands as Axel suddenly yanked the bag from her and began digging through it determinedly, his lighter in one hand.
"They're not in there anymore," Kairi told him quietly. "I took them out."
Axel zipped the bag closed rather violently in response and handed it back to her. He wrenched open the door and stood in the rain, which seemed to have lessened considerably. Riku and Kairi followed him across the parking lot, listening for the sound of tires on wet pavement like the hoof beats of the Four Horsemen. They breathed a collective sigh of relief when they entered the building and were, for the moment, safe.
"Go clean up," Kairi said, still looking shaken, but Riku supposed that anyone would, having been thrust into hell like they had. "You'll scare the holy hell out of everyone here if you don't," she added with a semblance of her usual self, and Riku nodded, handing her the black bag and making his way towards the men's bathroom.
In the mirror's opinion, he looked like death warmed over. His eye was still healing, now a sickly yellow and purple splotch, and there was a blood drying on his face and neck, staining his, or Axel's, white t-shirt a sickening reddish-brown. His hair was messy and splattered with mud and blood, falling out of its ponytail, and he tightened it, deciding that it was best if he were ready to run for his life again. His ankle was still throbbing, though it had apparently not been as bad as originally thought it was, because it certainly wasn't broken and didn't seem to protest his weight… well, not enough to keep him from running if he had to.
When his phone buzzed in his pocket, playing the same tune, he almost didn't answer it, cold terror seeping through him as he thought of what he could hear. "She's fine," he said as he flipped it open.
"No, she's scared," the other replied. "But she's alive, and she's going to damn well stay that way, and that's all that matters. Is she there?"
"No," Riku said. "She's busy."
The voice hummed, sounding disappointed. "She wouldn't want to talk to me anyway," he said. "Put some Neosporin on that, man, and watch her back."
"Yeah," he agreed, glancing at his cheek in the mirror again.
"And, Riku?"
He hesitated before replying. "…What?"
The other either breathed in deep or sighed heavily; he couldn't tell. "Tell her I said… well. You know. Still. Not that she'd want to hear it, but… tell her."
"Yeah, okay," Riku agreed. "Stay safe."
"You too." He closed the phone, looking around the empty bathroom and rubbing at his eyes wearily. Finally, he shook his head and pushed the door open, looking around for Kairi and Axel and finding them waiting for him on a bench not too far away.
Kairi was the first to see him, watching as he realized that his phone was still in his hand and slid it back into his pocket. "What did he say?" she asked, not hesitating this time, her gaze steady. "For me, I mean." It was bold, assuming he had said anything for her at all, but hope was all she had at the moment.
Riku sighed, glancing at Axel, whose lighter was flickering on, off, on, off to the steady beat of footsteps nearby, the airport coming to life around them. "Stay safe. And he…" He paused then, looking at her. A beat, and then her eyes widened slightly as her breath caught. "Yeah. Still."
There was a long moment before she replied. "…The counters open at four-thirty," was what she said. "We'll buy tickets then." Her voice was steady but her hands were restless, coming up to brush her hair back again and straighten her clothes, a useless task.
Riku took a seat on the bench beside her and waited.