Improbability Factor: Chapter Two – Foul is Fair

By Ptath and Thalia

Beta-ed by Thalia

Inspired and assisted by Lady Raina

Disclaimer: We do not own Weiss. Even if we could, simple self-preservation would dictate we stay far, far away.

'This' mean thinking to one's self ('Time to introduce myself')

'This' means talking telepathically ('hello, my name is George,')

"This" means talking out loud ("I like cats.")

FARFARELLO SAY: SOMEONE IS WATCHING YOU FROM AFAR.

Takahashi Ichiro High School, Lunch

Nagi snapped into action immediately and threw the rose and box into the trash. If an Esset agent had been in the school, they were in danger, and he had to get them out of there. He quickly but gently shook Sakura.

She came out of her daze quickly, biting her lip slightly as she turned her pale face towards him.

"Hey, I need you to stay with me, ok?" The hacker spoke softly so as not to alarm his already shaken friend. When she nodded at him, he placed a hand on her shoulder and continued. "I'm going to try and make contact with Schu or Ran through the link. We're going to be ok, I promise. I'll get us back home safe; I just need you to trust me."

"I trust you," she said evenly. "I know you know how to handle this, and I'm still just learning. I'll do whatever you need me to."

Sakura's calm demeanor was reassuring. The last thing the kinetic needed was for her to panic.

"Ok, just give me a sec while I try to let someone at the Koneko know about our situation."

Nagi prayed this would work because he really didn't want to risk using phones at all. The possibilities whirled in his mind. If Esset had gotten this close this time, how close had they been the past few days? He also didn't know what kind of range Schwarz's old telepathic link had, if any. They had always been in the same general vicinity in the past. Not that they were necessarily far from the Koneko, seeing as how they did walk to school everyday, but still it was farther than he had ever been from Schu or the others when using the team link.

'Schu . . . Ran?' The kinetic sent tentatively.

'Nagi?' Came the German's confused response.

'What's wrong?' Ran asked.

Nagi sighed and relaxed a little. He could communicate, and they were both there.

'Schu, the red M&Ms are in the bowl.'

'Shit.'

'Yeah. Here's what I need you to do: tell Brad to call the school and say that there has been an emergency and he needs us both to return home immediately. As soon as we get the message we'll start home.'

'Got it.'

'Wait,' Ran interjected, 'why don't we just come and pick you up?'

'There's no time. Sakura and I need to have already left. We have to get away from the school. Even with how you drive it will be faster to have Crawford call the school and for us to leave.'

Schu jumped in. 'Fine. I'm going now. You two be ready to move. Out.'

With that Mastermind closed the link.

Ran looked at Schu quizzically. "What the hell was that about?"

"Nagi just issued a code red. Someone has knowledge of who and what he and Sakura really are, and they're an immanent threat."

"Shit."

"Yeah. I gotta go tell Crawford."

"Ok, I'm gonna go get the car. Meet me in the alley."

"But Nagi is moving as soon as he gets the message."

"I know. We may not be able to pick them up from the school directly, but we can pick them up en route."

"Good call. Meet you in five."

Nagi had Sakura's hand gripped tightly in his. He didn't want to lose her in the lunch crowd, and he needed her in close proximity so the energy shield he had put up around them as soon as they had left the school wasn't noticeable.

This was taking too long. Everyone was moving so slow that they had to practically force their way through the crowds. 'Maybe we should have waited for Ran and Schu to come pick us up,' he thought distractedly as they pushed their way through yet another group. Suddenly he felt a tug as Sakura stopped moving.

"Come on, we have to keep moving. It isn't safe out in the open like this."

"Listen."

Nagi paused for a moment and instantly he heard the very familiar sound of a foreign engine.

"Hey, get in," Schu hollered as they pulled up, and he hopped out of Ran's Challenger, moving his seat forward so that they could climb in the back.

Both teenagers scrambled for the safety of the car. Sakura got in and slid over to make room for Nagi. Ran started pulling away from the curb before the German could get the door shut.

The orange-haired telepath twisted around in his seat, so he was looking at the duo. "How long have you two been walking?"

Nagi looked at his watch, "About five minutes. Why?"

Ran spoke up. "No way," he said shaking his head. "We're already over twenty blocks from your school. Honestly, we were surprised you'd already made it this far."

Nagi looked around, his eyes widening when he realized they were only a few minutes from the Koneko. He had been so busy pushing his way through the crowd, making sure they weren't being followed and making sure that he didn't lose Sakura that he had actually been following the route home on automatic. He hadn't really been paying attention to where they were. He shook his head sharply. "This can't be right. We couldn't have made it this far already. We've only been walking for a little more than five minutes. I know. I checked my watch right before Sakura and I left."

Sakura chimed in, "Yeah, he did. I saw him."

"Are you sure you remember your departure time correctly?" Schu asked.

Nagi just gave him a look.

"Okay, okay," Schuldig relented, "then how do you explain the distance you covered in an impossibly short period of time.

Prodigy gave him a level look and sighed. "I don't know, I . . . I . . . I can't," he finally admitted.

A few moments later they pulled into the garage.

"Apollo, Apollo," the empath exclaimed as he scrambled back into the van. "Guess what I did!"

The swarthy looking Greek gave the young rookie a pained look. "What did you do?" he asked slowly.

"I made the children fear us."

"You idiot," Forstand snapped. "You warned them!"

"What? No, I didn't. They were afraid. I could feel it! Especially the girl."

"Dingo," Voodoo snarled, "what do you think they're going to do with your little threat?"

"Huh?"

Apollo leveled a harsh glare at the young Australian. "You have put us in a very precarious situation, you imbecile. The key to defeating Schwarz is to take them by surprise. And now you've ruined the surprise. We'll need to completely change our plan, and do it fast. The longer we dally, the more time they have to prepare. We have been able to prevent Oracle from seeing us thus far, but now that he is alerted, he may be able to recognize our tactics and take steps."

Brad's Office, Koneko, 12:27 pm

Brad spun to face the door when the German pushed it open and strode in, followed by Nagi, Sakura and Ran.

"What happened," he demanded.

Nagi held the note out to his leader. "I found this in my locker, along with a dead black rose."

Brad read the few words, his brow furrowing in confusion. "This isn't like Esset," he murmured. He walked back around behind his desk and sat down once more. "Esset doesn't warn its targets," he continued. "They also don't typically do pre-emptive strikes. They establish a base and use attrition against their enemies before any real action." Oracle gave the Talents a sharp look. "Esset is extremely systematic. It's too soon after the fall of the Elders for them to begin taking offensive action."

Looking back at the note, Brad frowned. "Then again," he muttered, "with the shift in power and chaos over the past year and a half, it is possible that Esset's policies could have changed as well."

"So what are you saying?" Schuldig demanded. "Is this real?"

"We need to treat it as such," Ran interrupted in a sharp voice. "Anyone who knows of Esset and knows of us is a threat."

Nagi's eyes went from one adult to another. "So what do we do now?" he asked in a plaintive voice.

"Family meeting," Brad said.

Dining Room, Koneko, 12:53 pm

"This is a mega 'oh dear' moment, isn't it?" Yohji asked faintly.

"Well, considering that Brad told me to, and I quote, 'get my butt back to the Koneko yesterday,' I'd say so," Ken added dryly.

"Everyone shut-up," Brad snapped. "We have a situation."

"Really, now," Omi muttered.

The look Brad leveled at the hacker ranked a full 5 on the 'Fujimiya shi-ne death-glare' scale. Once the frightening glint of the precog's glasses was factored in, the glare more than doubled in potency.

Omi blinked, startled. Long familiarity to such glares, however, allowed him to merely send his own back at Brad Crawford.

"A dead, black rose and a note signed by Esset were left in my shoe locker," Nagi stated calmly, interrupting the glare showdown.

"What?" Aya demanded, her voice loud and containing a hint of worry.

Brad picked the note up off the table and handed it to her.

"They shall meet with an unholy wrath," Farfarello murmured calmly, a hint of his old Irish lilt surfacing. Schuldig gave him a worried look.

Omi and Ken responded with a joint "Shit."

A sudden, low predatory growl moved through the room, causing all to freeze before frantically seeking out the source.

"I will teach the world what it means to be Shinigami when they behold the impaled bodies wrought with decay, their faces frozen in terror, each with a single horror stricken eye staring out at the uncaring world, the ravens having made quick work of them, rich crimson blood congealed in thick pools at their feet, staining the pure earth a color straight from the depths of Hell. All will know they stared death in the face and lost."

The waves of hostility, anger and pure murderous rage flowed out of Yohji, only to be overlapped by an even stronger wave of protectiveness and determination. Aya's face had gone grey, her eyes filled with fear. Ran and Schuldig had both frozen, terror rippling through them as the frantically fluctuating emotions crashed into them, overwhelming their minds' shields and dragging them both under the wave of relentless wrath.

After several moments of fierce fighting Aya managed to push back the wave and began to project reassurance, calmness and security. Ran and Schuldig retreated behind her strong projection and began to cast about for a way to sedate his mood. Ran's eyes suddenly widened and he cast a frantic look at Sakura.

'Sakura,' he sent urgently, 'it's you he's worried about and wants to protect. Go…fix it! Wave your hand in front of him, hit him over the head, whatever it takes for him to realize that you're safe.'

Sakura stared at Ran in stunned surprise for a moment, then sprang to her feet and hurried over to the enraged blonde. She rested her hand on his hand, the one that now clutched at the note that had been making its way around the table and had trigged the frightening outburst.

"Yohji," she said in a soothing voice, "Yohji…Yotan, I'm ok. Everyone is ok. Yotan, you need to give me the note." As she spoke, she gently pried his hand open and took possession of the note, passing it quickly to Ken. "Kudoh," she continued, hoping his family name would bring back the playboy, "Please, Kudoh, look at me." When the blonde merely continued to grind his teeth, Sakura reached out and rested a gentle hand on each check. "Kudoh, look at me…please?"

Finally, green eyes twitched and turned to meet hers. Aya and the two telepaths sighed in relief as the strong emotions dissipated.

Yohji blinked and slowly raised a hand to cover one of Sakura's. He squeezed it in silent thanks and reassurance, an act that brought a relieved smile to the young girl's face.

Ken silently rose from his seat and took the crumpled note back to Brad. After a moment's hesitation, he took Sakura's seat, leaving his free for the girl. Sakura slipped into the chair and looked up at Brad expectantly, even as one of her hands sought out Yohji's under the table.

Brad cleared his throat, taking off his glasses and giving them a cursory polish. "Now then," he began, "we need to take steps to find out just who sent us this note. We need to know who they are, where they are and what they want with us." He paused, not wanting to stir up more drama but knowing that it was unavoidable. "Until we know more, no one will be leaving the Koneko unless absolutely necessary. That means that Nagi, you and Sakura, will have to call in sick to school."

"What?" Nagi demanded, his voice rising. "No! I will not! I will not let Esset start dictating my life again!" The teen's voice was fierce and determined. The airy chandelier above the table began to rattle faintly. "We're supposed to be free, that's what you said. Did we merely trade one master for another? Are we supposed to be your servants, your slaves, to do whatever you bid when something strikes your fancy? Was everything we did, everything we fought for meaningless?" He gave Brad a narrow look. "You promised us. You promised us we would be free and now you want to lock us up!"

Brad's eyes had widened and his face paled slightly.

"Nagi's right," Sakura suddenly added, her voice soft but strong. "If we stop going to school, they win. Whether they actually get to us or not, they will know that they frightened us, that they can control us with mere tricks. And then they win."

Schuldig looked at Brad, an unhappy look in his eyes. "They're right, Brad."

"The perception of victory is just as important as an actual victory," Ran added. "If they're going to strike, we need to strike back, and at this point, the best way to do that is to continue as we always do, to show them that we're not afraid of them and that we will fight them if they try anything."

Brad's eyes turned to his wife. Aya gave him an apologetic look and nodded her head in silent agreement. He took a deep breath, folded his hands on the table and gave the assembled team a stern look. "Very well then," he said calmly. "But I will not send Nagi or Sakura into a potential battle zone without taking at least a few precautions."

"I'll take them to school and pick them up," Yohji volunteered. "But I'll have to borrow someone's car since mine's only a two-seater," he added looking over at Ran and Schuldig.

"You can use mine," Ran replied. "I'll get you the extra key as soon as we're done here."

"No more lunches outside, chibis," Schuldig added. "Stay indoors."

"We'll also get Kritiker to monitor the school and see if some surveillance can be set up," Brad finished. "And as for searching for the origins of this note, we'll put together some solid plan in the next few hours. Think on it and bring me your suggestions later."

"Sounds good," Omi agreed. "I'll start trying to find a record of any visitors at the school and check the surveillance cameras. See if I can spot the person who left the note."

Brad nodded and watched his team slowly drift out of the room. As Ran began to rise, the precog caught his eye and nodded towards the office. Ran blinked and nodded solemnly and rose to lead the way.

After shutting the door, Brad gave Ran an unreadable look. "I need you to talk to Nagi," he said carefully. "I don't think he'll want to talk to me at the moment and I need…want…to know what sparked that." When the red-head's eyes began to narrow, the American quickly raised his hand to forestall the rebuke that was surely coming. "I'm not mad at him," he said in a soft voice, a slight frown appearing on his face, "but I'm not certain he'll realize that. He needs to be told that I've realized that I was wrong, to be told that I'm not mad at him. He needs to hear those words." He hesitated for a moment before continuing. "He trusts you and I know that, whatever you talk about, you'll be able to help him."

Ran gave Schwarz's leader a piercing look, unhesitantly reaching out toward the precog to determine just how serious he was. What he found was guilt and worry, the only emotions Brad allowed the telepath to feel. Whatever else was going on inside the American's head, it remained tucked behind powerful shields that no one could breach.

Nagi's Room, Koneko, 1:30 pm

Nagi took a deep breath, still cradling his head in his hands. He was sitting alone in his dark room, trying to calm himself down after the dramatic meeting half an hour earlier. He still couldn't believe some of the things he had said.

'Brad's got to be pissed,' he thought morosely. 'I'm dead. There's no way I can get away with fighting with him like that. Not in front of everyone else…' He cringed when he heard a knock on his door. 'And here it comes…my death,' he thought, groaning to himself. Reaching out with his powers, he pulled the door open and waited for the end to come.

"That was quite a show," an amused voice commented. Nagi's head whipped up, blinking furiously when he saw Ran.

"You're not Brad."

"I certainly hope not," Ran said, a flicker of distaste running across his face. He shut the door and walked over to the bed. "I don't think I resemble an over-bearing anal-retentive precognitive American."

"No, you're just an over-bearing, anal-retentive American telepath with a very, very strange sense of humor."

"I try. Now, then," said telepath began. "Why don't we discuss that rather uncharacteristic outburst we had downstairs?"

Nagi gave Ran a miserable look. "What's to discuss? I fought Brad on a very important topic in front of everyone. I turned everyone against him, even his wife! I'm dead!"

"Hardly," the telepath immediately rebuked. "You were right and Brad was wrong. And since it came from you, he really had to listen."

"You don't understand," Nagi replied, his voice rising slightly. "You don't know Brad like I do. You can't. I've been on his team since I was ten. He's the one who found me, who brought me to Rosenkreuz and picked me to be on his team! He's the one who taught me everything, who kept me safe from Esset." He groaned and dropped his head back onto his hands. "Nobody defies him. Nobody. Schu never really means it. And when Far does, it's because he's not…lucid." Nagi looked back up and gave Ran a desperate look. "Nobody defies Brad Crawford, the Oracle, and I just did."

"You're still here, aren't you?"

"Not for long, I'm sure."

Ran suppressed a groan of his own, reaching out and placing a hand on the teenager's shoulder. "He's not mad," the telepath stated. "Brad asked me to come talk to you to make sure that you were ok. He's not mad at you, he's worried about you."

"What?"

"Brad Crawford admitted to me that he had been wrong to try and make you and Sakura stay at the Koneko instead of going to school. He asked me to come upstairs and talk to you to make sure you were alright."

"Why didn't he come himself?" Nagi asked in a soft voice.

"Because he seemed pretty sure that you would be reacting just like this and didn't want to make you feel so uncomfortable that you couldn't explain what caused that outburst."

"I was angry. Not at Brad, I don't think I could ever be mad at Brad." Here Nagi paused, hesitating slightly before he began to speak once more. "He saved me. Took me in and cared for me the best he could. When I was little and Schu and Far were out on recon mission, it would just be me and Crawford and he would let me call him Brad. It was as close as he could get to letting me call him Dad."

Hints of old pain and regret appeared in Nagi's eyes. Memories rose in him, memories of the quite moments and happy times. "He's the closest thing I've ever had to a father," he said, "but when the others were around he was Crawford. Schu called him Brad, but Crawford really didn't like it that much. He always tried to keep things as professional as possible, especially when we were still with Esset. He's loosened up a little since you all showed up, but I know that before, he never ever let Schu or Far call him Brad. I know that what I had was a special privilege. Sometimes I wish we had more time together when I could call him Brad again like I used to." He paused and looked Ran in the eye. "I was mad that Esset took away what was supposed to be a safe place. Sakura and I were supposed to be safe at school, and now that's gone. They've taken so much already. But when Brad was just going to let them take that away, I had a place to focus the anger."

"That makes sense, what else?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I know everything you just told me is true but I also know you are holding something back, something you really don't want to talk about because it scares you or something. I don't mean to pry, but you're projecting some in your distressed state." Ran gave him a reassuring look hoping he would tell him the rest.

Nagi hesitated for a second but decided hiding things from Ran and Brad probably wasn't the best idea right now. He had already escaped what he had been sure was immanent doom, and he wasn't about to push his luck. "I was scared. Not of what would happen to me, I can take care of myself, but I was worried about what might happen to Sakura if we didn't make it back safe. I, well . . . I kind of like her," Nagi finally admitted reluctantly, his cheeks flaming, "and besides that she is my friend, and she hasn't been with us nearly long enough and she is already caught in some major crossfire. I guess I was also a little angry about them threatening her."

Ran shook his head in slight amusement. "I'll bet Sakura never imagined she was this popular," he said more to himself than Nagi.

"You're not gonna tell her are you?" the kinetic asked a little frantically.

The telepath smiled over at the teen. "Your secret's safe with me."

Apollo looked over at his much-enlarged team, a grave look on his face. "This attack," he began, "is a statement, a power-play. It is a warning to all who would defy Esset and all who turn away from it." He cast his eyes around the cramped hotel room, packed as it was with eleven other people. "Our orders are to eliminate Schwarz, and Schwarz alone."

"What about Weiss? They interfered with the ceremony, they killed the Elders. Should they not also be punished?" Manchu growled.

"Their time will come," Apollo replied calmly, "but for now, we must solely concern ourselves with Schwarz. We want Weiss and Kritiker to know that we took out half of Schatten at their base of operations. That we can go in, kill whom ever we wish and get out with no consequence to ourselves at any time. You may immobilize Weiss, and anyone else who may be present, but you will not cripple them…or kill them." The Greek cast a fierce glare about the room. "Is that understood?"

No one spoke. Apollo nodded his head in satisfaction. "Good. Now, we wait."

Koneko, Mission Room 9:37 pm

"And that's pretty much all I found," Omi was saying in an apologetic voice. "The surveillance tapes revealed nothing. And the only information I could find on Esset was that there is a team of indeterminable size and strength in Japan that's eventual goal is to take out Schwarz."

Brad sighed softly, pinching his nose as he nodded. "Very well, then," he said. "Please continue to search. And as for everyone else," he added, looking out over the grave faces that made up Schatten, "be ready for anything. We don't know when we will be attacked or where. I doubt they will dare to attack the Koneko, but we don't know that for certain."

"You did," Ken pointed out, "maybe just once, but Schwarz did hit the Koneko once."

"That's because we're special," Schuldig replied. "And there's no way that Esset has a team that can come anywhere near us. We're fine."

Farfarello eyed Schuldig, his gaze turning towards Ken after a moment. "Why is he tempting You-Know-Who," he muttered under his breath. "That's just a bad idea under the circumstances."

"We should assume that their egos are at least as large as Schwarz's," Ran pointed out in a dry voice. "Egos are, after all, Esset's specialty."

"Point and case, the Elders," Omi added.

Ran gave the blonde a crisp nod. Looking around, he scanned everyone's faces before speaking once more. "Unless there's another point we need to address," he said, "I suggest we disperse and prepare for the next few days."

"Indeed," Brad agreed. As he and Ran watched, Schatten rose and slowly began to walk towards the stairs. The precog gave the telepath a slight nod before calling out "Nagi, a word, please."

Said kinetic froze in mid-step. Even after the talk with Ran, he'd remained in his room, using his laptop to do a bit of searching of his own. The lack of results had allowed him to remain silent throughout the meeting just as he had during dinner. As Ran walked by, he reached out briefly and allowed his hand to brush the teenager's shoulder in silent reassurance. Nagi swallowed and turned to face the American precog looming in front of the large television.

Brad gave Nagi a calm, level look and began to speak. "So when did you get so opinionated?"

Nagi's face paled and he bit his lip slightly. "I didn't mean all that," he said softly, "I'm sorry." His shoulders' slumped as he collapsed on the couch. "I screwed up, didn't I?" he muttered miserably.

Brad sighed and walked over to the couch, sitting down next to the young telekinetic. "No," he said in a soft voice, "I'm the one who screwed up. You're the one who grew up when I wasn't looking."

Nagi raised his head and gave the precog a stunned look. "Why aren't you angry with me?" he asked. "Ran told me you weren't, but I know that if Schu or Far had ever said anything like what I said, you would have been all over them. Why am I any different?"

"Well, for one thing, you were right," Brad began. "I was concerned for your safety, so much so that I overlooked how that would affect, well, everything. And it's not so much that you're different as it is that everything is different." Brad gave Nagi a solemn look. "We're free now, free from Esset and from their expectations. I don't have to act the way I had to before. I will admit that it can be hard to break away from those patterns, but it is getting easier."

"So if Schu or Far came out with a statement like that, you'd send Ran upstairs as a councilor?"

"Hardly," Brad replied in a dry voice.

"So if we were still with them…with Esset…"

"Then this would never have come up," Brad replied. "We'd all still be acting out our parts and never daring to deviate from them."

"So…we're good?" Nagi cautiously asked.

Brad raised an eyebrow. "You tell me," he said, a hint of humor in his voice.

"Well," the teen replied after a moment, "if I keep acting up, could I eventually have a full-blown teenage rebellion?"

"It would get lost amongst all the other teenage rebellions in the house."

"I suppose you're right," Nagi laughed. He gave Brad a slight grin.

All of Schatten was asleep and the Koneko was quiet.

An explosion shook the building causing the pictures on the walls to rattle and dust to fall from the ceiling. Instantly, everyone was stumbling out in the hallways on the third floor, sleep forgotten in the sudden clamor.

'It's them,' Schu yelled, sending all the assassins into mission mode.

Ran began to move even as he began to speak, "If it's a fight they want then that's what they're going to get," he growled.

"It sounds like they blew in the front of the Koneko and are coming in through the flower shop," Nagi said quickly while Omi nodded his agreement with the younger hacker's assessment.

"Come on," Oracle ordered, "let's go throw them a nice welcome party; it's only polite after all."

As Schatten proceeded down the stairs they heard footsteps coming up towards them and they all veered off onto the second floor and concealed themselves, poised to attack. Six Esset agents came off the stairs onto the second floor. Just as Oracle was about to give the signal to attack, glass shattered in a flash and a bang.

The room was in chaos. Three agents came in through the window in the sitting room and three more had emerged for Brad's office. Schatten was surrounded, disoriented, and relatively unarmed. Brad had his gun, Yohji his wire, Omi the darts from his dart board, and Far some of his more valued knives. Everyone else had to rely on skill and skill alone.

Their enemies were well prepared. After the flash-bangs had gone off they had thrown in smoke grenades to help mask their entrance. Some were carrying pistols with laser sights and others carried the heavy batons known as asps.

Manchu smirked as he, Mouche and one of the grunts spied the lanky blonde, Balinese, and a quivering girl-child.

Ken swore when he spotted a smirking Chinese man moving around the low table in the sitting room, moving fast and pulling throwing stars out of his tunic. Abandoning his position just inside the laundry room, the soccer player launched himself at the agent, only to freeze when he found himself faced with Kase's pain stricken face.

"Help me, Ken," Kase whimpered, his face beginning to melt as though he had been placed in a burning fire. "You're the only one who can." The grunt who had been following Manchu suddenly burst through Kase's body, his baton swinging high and slamming down on Ken's head, knocking the soccer player out and leaving him and Manchu free to move on to continue the attack.

Mouche snarled as he frantically dodged Balinese's wire. Somehow, this…human, this Norm, was moving nearly as fast as a telepath.

Sweat ran down Yohji's temple as he struggled to land even a glancing blow on the telekinetic. He was being toyed with, he could tell. The shield that prevented the wire from hitting the agent was going up and down, up and down. If something didn't change soon, he was going to lose.

Sakura's already frightened face lost what little color remained when Ken hit the floor with a sickening thud, blood dripping down his face.

Mouche's back arched as wire wrapped itself around his throat. Balinese…he'd sped up. He'd sped up. The already frightening speed had more than doubled and suddenly Balinese was charging, gleaming wire wrapped in his hands and a snarl on his face…

Aya's mind was reeling. Everything she was throwing at the tall, very dark skinned man kept getting thrown right back at her.

Voodoo gritted his teeth as he struggled to reflect the empath's attacks. He suppressed a number of violent oaths that were running through his mind. They weren't supposed to have an empath, let alone one this strong.

Hatred boiled up in Forstand when he beheld Brad Crawford. The precog was crouched in front of a small, slender Japanese woman. This man…he was the one that had dared to defy Esset. But not for long. He would crush him.

Throwing stars began to fly at Yohji before Mouche's body had hit the floor. A cry of pain left his throat as one of the stars turned like a boomerang and imbedded itself in his shoulder.

Manchu continued to launch the stars as fast as possible, only to be thrown off when a sudden blur darted in front of Balinese, headed towards the fallen Siberian and away from grunt.

Sakura pressed her fingers to Ken's throat, searching frantically for a pulse.

Yohji yanked out more wire, cursing as the blood coating his fingers nearly made him drop the wire.

The grunt that had followed Manchu blinked in confusion. The girl had moved. Fast. Faster than the blonde fighting Manchu, too fast for the grunt to follow.

Manchu's eyes bulged as the sharp wire wrapped around his throat, squeezing the life from him.

His hands now too bloody to hold the wire, Yohji's leg flew out in a flying spin kick that caught the confused grunt in the back of the head, his neck snapping with a sharp crack.

Brad growled when he felt Forstand attempting to break through his shields. The fool. He knew how to deal with telepaths. Even as Yohji finished off Mouche and Manchu readied his throwing stars, the precog was dropping his shields, drawing the telepath in, trapping him.

A sudden idea flared in Aya's mind. What she was doing wasn't working. But perhaps…if instead of throwing one emotion, over and over again, getting stronger each time…

Forstand screamed as the precog's Sight ripped through him. He was trapped, trapped in Crawford's head and his Sight was overwhelming him. The past…the future…they were one. But they weren't. They were different, they were the same...voices returned, Crawford was practically screaming at him. Math equations, snippets of poetry, history, tactics…it was all there…

Voodoo gasped, the Haitian's body jerking as though the rapid fire emotions slammed into him over and over again. Painhappinesshateirritationnauseajoysadnesslaughter…he couldn't reflect this. There was too much. He couldn't catch it all, reflect it all.

The bullet that left Brad's gun ripped through Forstand's frontal lobe, piercing his forehead and mangling the grey matter contained within the skull.

Another bullet shattered the Haitian's vertebrae, passing through the spinal cord and leaving a gaping hole in the front of his throat. The head lurched forward, hanging on by the tendons and the tendons alone.

Apollo launched streams of fire at young Prodigy. He could hear Manchu's attack on Siberian, Mouche taunting Balinese and Forstand's bitter laughter as he launched his mental assault on Oracle. The kinetic threw up shields, blocking the fire. A wave of kinetic energy rushed towards Apollo and a shield of fire absorbed the energy.

One of the four grunts following Apollo and Dingo swung away from the group, launching himself at Bombay. One dart hit the grunt in the leg, another in the throat and the third and final dart piercing the grunt's heart.

Omi shot forward, his vision filled only with the grunt rushing towards him, a hulking juggernaut more than twice his size. The three darts he'd grabbed from his dart board flew straight and true, knocking the grunt flat. Leaping onto the massive chest, Omi wrapped strong hands around the trunk-like throat and began to squeeze.

Farfarello launched himself out of the dining room, a warping war cry echoing loudly as he attacked the three remaining grunts. The one closest to him fell before he realized he was under attack. The remaining pair exchanged a glance, readying themselves for the fight of their lives.

Dingo laughed in a shrill voice. He had the two telepaths pinned. Silly people, didn't they realize that there wasn't a telepath out there that could defeat his empathic powers?

Apollo heard Berserker's attack, heard the grunt fall. He shifted his weight slightly, launching an enormous fireball at the Irish man.

The wave of burning, smothering heat swept over Farfarello, it seared the skin and hair on his arm filling the air with the stench of charred flesh. He jumped back as the intense light blinded him and the heat threatened to overtake him.

When Apollo began to attack Far, Nagi realized the moment had come. He pushed, pushed with everything he had and seized the Greek pyro, slamming him into the half-wall separating the dining room from the landing and pushing him head over heals into the heavy table.

The sudden crack of a gun drew the kinetics attention. His head snapped around and he saw a grunt raising a gun at Brad, a look of pure hatred on his face. Nagi lashed out, seizing the grunt and crushing him utterly.

Apollo staggered to his feet, abandoning his attack on Berserker and renewing his fight against Prodigy. Even as he launched another burning fireball, he saw it. His way out of the hellhole this attack had become.

Aya's face had contorted into a frightening snarl. How dare they! How dare Esset attack her family! Voodoo's head was slumping forward, the body falling to the floor as she sprang to her feet and ran towards the stairs.

Ran struggled to hold on, to remain himself under the relentless empathic assault.

Nagi swore, using every word he had learned from Schu that he wasn't supposed to know. Apollo had grabbed Schu, an arm wrapped around the German's throat, causing the skin to redden and blister. Any attack he threw at the Esset agent caused Apollo to inflict further harm to the German.

Schuldig's world had become one of pain. Dingo's relentless attack made it impossible for him to block out the pain of Apollo's fire. Any attention diverted to his burning flesh let Dingo in further. Bit by bit, he was losing. He couldn't fight both.

Dingo's voice suddenly rose above all the remaining noise in the Koneko. HatehatehatehaterageFEARragereageFEARragehateragehateFEARrage…

Her eyes gleaming with cold satisfaction, Aya took every emotion Yohji had produced earlier, at the meeting where they had first learned of the threat, and threw it at Dingo. She threw it and more. All the rage, all the hate, all the fear she was feeling at this attack on her family, her worst nightmare slammed into the Australian empath. She threw it over and over and over again, amplifying it, multiplying it over and over and over again…

Nagi used Dingo's distraction to finished off the remaining two grunts huddled in front of the stairs, crushing their throats and clearing the way for Farfarello to take out Dingo.

The Irish man staggered to his feet, his single eyes gleaming like a wolf's as he drew two long, wicked knives. The blade in the right hand pierced the sternum, ripping upwards as the left blade tore through Dingo's throat, nicking the collar bone.

The moment Dingo's attack faltered, Ran ripped his mind free and took stock of the situation. Clutching the knife Farfarello had passed him on the way down the stairs, he teleported behind Apollo. He jammed the blade in at the base of the spine and ripped straight up. Apollo howled in pain briefly before Ran whipped the knife around slitting his throat. Both wounds poured blood and Ran released his grip allowing the body to crash to the floor.

For a moment, there was pure silence.

The attack was over.

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