Disclaimer: I don't own Weiss, and I don't own Schwartz and I don't make any money!!
Chapter 15
Giji - [1]
"I found it, I found it!"
God that tone was really getting on my nerves.
"I told you I would find a lead," he said smugly, "gees Brad, whoever would have thought that you were so crap on a computer?"
"Shut up Schuldich," I growled as fiercely as my tired mind would permit, "and don't call me Brad, or I'll have to shoot you."
The threat sounded more half hearted than it really was, causing the German seated in front of me to do nothing but smirk. His green eyes sparkled with mischief and satisfaction as I sighed and took off my glasses to rub the bridge of my nose. As I closed my eyes I could see that smirk emblazoned onto the back of my eyelids like a brand. We had only been here with Weiss for one day in total and Schuldich of all people had found a lead. The room from which we were conducting our investigation was only half lit by an unreliably sputtering nightlight, yet Weiss' computer was more than sufficient to light the faces of my companions. Schuldich looked smug and Nagi looked well…
"Well, actually I never even knew you knew how to use a computer Schu," Nagi said softly, standing with a look of surprise on his face unworthy of his age, "never mind find us a lead."
"Oh you know me, just glad to please," the annoying telepath grinned with approval, "and you really thought that I didn't know how to use a computer? Ha, I've been in your head enough to know what to do kid; place is like a technical dictionary."
Nagi just flashed a shy smile before shoving the German in the shoulder psychokinetically. I however wasn't in such a joking mood. I had been beaten down by a subordinate. Oh joy. Something told me I wasn't going to hear the end of this for a long time, especially considering said subordinate was Schuldich.
We had been searching, ever since that morning after the impromptu meeting with the now coherent remains of Weiss, for a lead to help us ascertain a better understanding of, well, our standing. We were supposed to be working together with our new found friends, yet as Schuldich suspected they weren't in such a cooperative mood as would have been helpful. We had ended up in separate rooms on separate computers using separate links and separating our entire man power. Useless really, but then, as hell bent as I was on my own teams preservation, I wasn't exactly thrilled about working with Weiss either.
"Well fearless leader?" Schuldich asked as he slumped back in his chair, flame coloured hair dangling and flopping over his hands as he clasped them behind his head, "What now?"
"Why even ask me? You never listen anyway," I asked with a resigned sigh, not in the mood to even argue.
"Oh Crawford, right through the heart!" Schuldich feigned a chest wound, swaying dramatically, "And hey, that's a lie, I do know how to follow orders and you know it."
"Yes," I nodded, "when it suits you."
"Heh, and when exactly does mayhem and dancing not suit me?" he asked with a raise of one fine eyebrow.
Yes, that was right, Schuldich's new found lead had been a club owner. I had forgotten about that. Well, so much for supervising him and making sure he didn't get into too much trouble; I hated nightclubs more than anything on earth. However, even when I went with him to keep the situation calm, Schuldich always seemed to be able to say something to get under someone's skin and it would end with a shoot out or a punch up. He has a penchant for getting right on peoples nerves, and for getting himself into danger. Sometimes, however, I wonder if he does it on purpose, or if it's just in his nature to be annoying. It's just one of those mysteries.
"Well, really Crawford you're not on the ball tonight are you? Well, this should be interesting nonetheless; I never have seen you dance before…"
"I'm not going with you," I stated plainly, "take Nagi."
Nagi just frowned sceptically, looking a little amused at my sudden dislike for our mission. He smiled a little while frowning, an odd expression on such a young face.
"Nagi! No way, he'll never get into this club, he's only fifteen!" Schuldich complained, his face set into an almost puppy-dog expression.
"Well then you'll just have to "persuade" the bouncer's won't you," I told him as I stood from leaning on the back of his chair and straightened out my suit jacket.
"You've done it before," Nagi said with a shrug.
"Oh, right, and what are you going to wear?" Schuldich smirked, "I don't think this is the type of club where they welcome school uniforms."
"Well, unfortunately that's what their going to get isn't it," Nagi said with a slight growl, crossing his arms defiantly over his chest.
"Oh come on Crawford don't be a stick in the mud! I know that you don't want to go because you'll feel awkward," he said with a sly smile, "I mean, is that really any way for a leader to behave? Risking the safety of the mission for personal reasons?"
"Schuldich, what have I told you about questioning my authority?"
"Hmm, let me think," he said with mock sincerity, "never to do it?"
"Correct."
"Was that an order?"
"Yes."
"But, if I recall correctly, you said that I only follow orders when it suits me," he said cocking his head to side as he stood and stretched, "and that one definitely does not."
"Schuldich?"
"Huh?" he asked as he picked up his jacket from its haphazard place on the floor.
"Shut up."
Nagi sighed but let a small laugh escape at Schuldich's annoyed expression. It was always a good way to end an annoying conversation with, well anyone, but it always worked best on Schuldich. It seemed to be some sort of warning phrase that we had unanimously worked out that told him when I was getting really fed up with his wittering. He always seemed to just stop after it was uttered, falling into a silent smirk. Sometimes I wandered which was better…
The main corridor was cold and uninviting, still severely devastated after the fight and now letting in the cold night air. It seemed almost as if we were walking in some old carcass, the carpet some ancient tongue of a worn out beast, the darkened rooms gaping maws of missing teeth. The old house wreaked of destruction now, a strange smell that ever only seemed to linger around decomposing corpses and places where evil had soiled the clean air. This was now one such place. Hopefully we wouldn't have to stay here much longer…
"So, are we going to go now or what?" Schuldich asked as we all walked along the corridor, looking his coat disapprovingly up and down and smacking at the dirty patches with a sigh.
"We are going nowhere," I told him resolutely, "you and Nagi are to investigate this lead that you have found and then we can work towards locating Abyssinian. That is our primary objective, and then we'll work from there."
"Actually, I think you'll find that's our primary objective," said a voice from the darkness of a room we were passing.
"Yeah," another sounded, stopping us completely in our tracks to peer into the gloom from the light of the hall, "get your own."
I recognised Balinese and Siberian's voices before they emerged from the dark room to look at us with distaste. They both looked tired and a little ill at ease, no matter how they tried to disguise it behind a mask of bravado. I just stared back impassively, a slight smirk forming on my face as I watched them grow uneasy in our presence.
"Well damn," Schuldich feigned disappointment, snapping his fingers and sighing, "ain't that a coincidence?"
Siberian's jaw tightened at the sarcastic comment, his eyes flaming as he fought to restrain himself. Balinese snorted derisively but made no move; obviously a man who new something I didn't. I never did like that in a person…Before Schuldich could receive any sort of reply from Weiss however, Bombay emerged from the darkness like a silent shadow, a slim briefcase under his arm.
"What have you found?" he asked, not pausing to beat about the bush.
"A lead," I said calmly after a slight pause, noting that it wasn't a briefcase at all but a laptop.
"And you were planning on telling us this when..?" Balinese asked with a raise of his eyebrow.
"At the sufficient time," I replied adequately unsatisfactorily.
"Well I'm glad that we were handily lurking in this nearby doorway then," Balinese said with a lopsided yet surprisingly feral grin, "or we never would have eavesdropped on the whole plan. Nice work Kenken."
"So what is this lead you have found?" Bombay interrupted, his face showing his anger yet still seeming calm.
"Someone who has been hiding some considerably large, expensive equipment in his storage facility over the past week or so," I replied just as calmly as Bombay, seeing no point in concealing the information now.
"And that's a crime?" Balinese asked.
"Well it is when a rather special Esset organisation bought said delicate equipment," I said with a cock of my head, noting that Schuldich leaned back against the wall with a sigh when he noticed that we might be here for a while. Nagi stood close by his side.
"Esset?" Siberian asked warily, "What do they have to do with this?"
"Yes, Esset, and they have everything to do with it," I said with a sigh, folding my arms and suppressing a yawn, "it's not exactly what you would call ordinary goods."
"Do the other two speak," Balinese said suddenly with an abstractive frown, "or are they just for show?
"Well that's a new one," Schuldich growled while smirking to hide his malice, Nagi just glaring from his perch at the German's side "encouraging me to speak Kudo. Who ever would have thought it..?"
"Hey, by the way, where's the psycho?" the tall blonde asked with a smirk.
"You mean Farferello I think," Schuldich growled back, "and he's asleep. A slight, uh, hiccup in his medication dosage."
"What kind of equipment?" Bombay interrupted again with a slight frown, ignoring the entourage between our team members as if it wasn't happening.
"Gees, inquisitive much? The lot of you are just questions, questions, questions," Schuldich sighed as he shifted restlessly against the wall, his shirt snagging on the broken scars threading through the plasterwork, "Have you found out anything that we should know about?"
"Not especially," Bombay replied, nonchalantly.
"But wait, wait. Where exactly is finding someone who's hiding stuff for Esset going to get us when we're looking for Ran?" Ken asked with annoyance, his face deepening into a frown.
"Think about it," Schuldich said as he stared at him and tapped his own head in a mockery of thought, "if we find someone with ties to Esset who is holding important gear then they most likely will have a pick up date for the equipment ne? If we find that out, we can meet up with these people who need this special equipment and then find out what's going on."
"Isn't that a little longwinded?" Ken asked sceptically, "I mean, can't we just look for Ran first and figure out everything else later?"
"No," Schuldich said matter-of-factly, "and anyway, if we were going to look for him with no leads as to his position, where exactly would you have us start?"
There was a silence then, one that I was quite glad for. Schuldich, however seemingly calm and flippant, was getting quite annoyed. I could sense it in the feelings that were straining at the edge of his mental shields, that feeling that foretold that any minute now he was just going to knock them all out so as to end this fruitless discussion.
"Well then, if that's the plan, Yoji is going with you," Bombay said unceremoniously from the background, walking forward into the light of the hall to look at me with his big blue eyes.
"Hey, he's not even going so you're making the deals with me here," Schuldich said in annoyance, his brow furrowed as he watched Balinese try to protest out of the corner of his eye, "and I am saying no to this venture. I take one of my own or I go solo."
"You are not going alone," I said quickly nullifying one of his options.
"Well, thanks for the concern Crawford, but I didn't see you jumping at the chance to protect me," he scowled, suddenly very out of character in his moodiness.
"One of Weiss goes," Bombay told him straight, "or no one goes at all."
There was a deadly silence then, one that I wasn't quite as glad for. I just shook my head internally, pushing my glasses up my nose as I stared at no one in particular. Balinese had taken a good time to be discreet and had not voiced his own protests yet, Bombay was looking determined and dangerous, Siberian was looking a little confused and tired but ready to back his team mate, Schuldich was looking, well, like he was going to eat someone, Nagi was looking his usual impassive self with a slight twist of annoyance and I…well, I wasn't sure what I looked like but I was sure it was quite the picture of platitude. Things were quite normal all round. I sighed as I decided that I was going to have to change the normal for something a little more up to date and "cooperative" if we were going to take this truce any further.
"Schuldich," I said with an internal sigh as I thought about what I was about to do, placing one hand carefully on his shoulder, his eyes darting to it suspiciously, "take Balinese with you."
"What?" he said incredulously, his eyes narrowing and that awkward feeling of anger radiating more strongly from his mind, "Why? You think I need an enemy to help me get my information? Nagi is more than enough!"
"Calm down," I growled, "just take him with you and don't argue with me. We need to work together on this or things are going to start going wrong."
"Schu," Nagi said calmly from his side, "Crawford's right, I'd be better off here scouting for information. You don't need me with you."
"What the fuck!? You're siding with him? Well amn't I just the little odd one out?" the German spat, his temper flaring, "This isn't a swap and change shop you know, I don't like to trade for tainted goods."
Balinese took his chance to interject, his common sense having taken the last battering it could before crumbling completely.
"Tainted goods eh? Well, think of it this way if it makes you feel better, I'm not exactly jumping with joy at the thought you tagging along with me either."
"Me tagging along with you..?" Schuldich spat the words like venom, and I envisioned bloodshed any moment.
I opened my mouth to stop said vision coming to fruition, but just as the placating words were about to leave my mouth…something even odder than my change of pace spurted forth into the fray.
"This is no time for such nonsense!" Siberian said so coldly and in such a deadly tone that the entire company stopped in their own disputes to look at him in surprise, "You're wasting time with your bickering you fools."
I almost didn't notice my team mates expression, too busy staring at the oddly under control Siberian berating us, but Schuldich was making too odd a face for me not to notice. As I turned my head a little to get a better look at him I noticed that his expression was more one of deep concentration than shock like the rest of us. It was as if he was slightly confused by something, but it wasn't necessarily Siberian's behaviour. I had seen that look on the flame haired man's face before, when he was looking into the mind of another and he didn't see what he thought he was going to see. It was odd to see that expression making a show now, especially when directed at Siberian of all people…
"Yoji you're with Schuldich, follow up that lead, Omi and Nagi will continue the search while Crawford and I go as back up in case anything goes wrong," Siberian's eyes seemed to flash as they settled on me, the hairs standing up on the back of my neck as his gaze seemed to pierce right through my own eyes right into my mind, "and no more useless talk!"
"Uh, Ken..?" Balinese started, the first of us to pull himself out of the shock.
"What did I just say?" Ken said in his newly adopted frosty tone.
Balinese just swallowed ad scratched the back of his head in confusion. Bombay looked utterly stunned, yet there was the sparkle of recognition in his eyes…
"Right," the smallest member of Weiss said, pulling us all back to reality, "let's get moving, we haven't much time. Let's get this done and then we can think about relocating."
"Relocating?" Schuldich asked with a scowl.
"Well, you didn't think that we were going to be hanging around this hovel much longer did you? The enemy knows our location, this location is no longer secure; but we'll talk about that later on. Right now we need to get as much information as possible so we can get Ran back before we go making any contingency plans in case we are discovered."
I nodded slowly as I regarded a now slightly confused looking Siberian, hugging his arms and looking to the ground as Balinese sidled up to him to mutter in his ear. He started as the words brushed his ear, shying from the concern, looking all the less the cold hearted focused man he had turned into not but thirty seconds before.
Curious.
However, all of this, as Bombay had said, would have to wait. There was a time and place for solving mysteries, and first you needed all the information concerning said mystery. Just like doing a jigsaw puzzle, you could only put it together after you'd collected all the pieces in one place.
I just hoped that the collecting would be easier to handle than the final picture…
[1] "Giji" means a character of questionable form, questionable word or something which is suspected false.
AN: Well phew, I wasn't really up to writing that so I hope it turned out okay. Was very ill today, got sent home from work and had a creative streak. Damn my evil muses with their bad, bad timing! But never mind, at least they moved my lazy ass, just like your reviews gives reviewers all a hug and one Gil Okay, I can explain, my friend gave me a piece of Gil 9like as in FF money) yesterday and I thought it was the coolest thing in the whole world. So now I'm giving you one too! looks at what she's written and marvels at how barmy she sounds oh well, never mind! Please R&R!
Ps: To Blue dragoness Phew, thanks for the review it was very generous! I'm glad that you like my humour, sometimes I wonder to myself if I'm actually pulling it off or whether I really do just laugh too much at my own jokes heh heh. And yeah, I really love to write Schwartz just because they are so mysterious and their backgrounds are left open to suggestion. Sorry about not letting you guess the character, I'll leave it out for you -. It was in one of my other fic's, a reviewer said it was annoying that they didn't know who was talking and so I thought I'd better change all my fic's just to make sure. But if it's better without, then I'll leave it with the mystery, that sounds more fun to me anyway!
To Heather R You thought it was beautiful sniff? That has to be the sweetest thing anyone has ever said!! gives Heather two pieces of Gil and a cookie There you go! Hee hee, don't worry I do have a plan, even if it takes me a while to get round to telling you the main plot. I wasn't sure how fast to take it and please tell me if I am going too slow because I can't tell!
To B Hidaka As if I wouldn't have a happy ending for Ran and Ken, shame on you! Ha ha, sorry, fluff moment blushes but don't worry they'll be happy I swear. Other people however….nyuk nyuk nyuk…
To ChiisaiRyuu Thanks! I do try my best to make it as angsty as I can and glad to hear I succeeded heh heh -!