Hope everyone had a merry Christmas! Here's another chapter for you~

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Chapter 6: Blackmail

It took a long time for Yuuno to get his hands to stop shaking. He wished he could erase what he'd seen just then from his mind. But he knew that doing that would be utterly impossible-not to mention extremely foolish, as it would only allow the Polonez siblings to hit their target dead on.

A target who happened to be one of his friends.

Yuuno then noticed his computer on the floor, the hard drive halfway under the bathroom door. After picking it up and ensuring no damage was done to the computer, he made his way back to the bed, carefully reading over the information and storing the information in his mind. He had a feeling that he'd need to later...

This is crazy. I can't believe that I'm actually attempting to stop a murder. Yuuno frowned and shook it off. No; this time, I'm going to stop those two in their tracks. None of my friends are getting murdered on my watch.

The door opened and a nurse came in. But what startled Yuuno most of all was her appearance. She had a ring of blond hair surrounding her head, and her blue eyes screamed, "You don't know what I have in store for you." Her lips were curled into something that was not a smile.

Yuuno's mouth dropped open about ten inches as he stared at the girl before him. "You..."

"That's right, Mr. Scrya. It's me." She let loose a harsh choking sound Yuuno guessed was a laugh. "I just wanted to check on you to make sure you were doing alright."

"I'm fine, thanks," Yuuno growled, his face tight with restrained anger. "And I suppose that's not the only reason you've come here, right?"

"You catch on fast. Atenza sent me here to make sure that you kept quiet about you-know-what," she said. "And I'm glad he did, because I kind of like you, you know. I'd hate to see your handsome little face get torn to pieces by my brother."

Yuuno at first felt flattered by her words, but swiftly overcame it as he remembered who he was dealing with. "Why are you here? I thought you and your brother were-"

"In prison? Oh, right. I forgot to mention this. We...convinced the officers to let us out," she replied.

Something about the way she said "convinced" made Yuuno's skin go cold. He bit his lip and then nonchalantly closed the laptop, looking at her with a cool look.

"Of course, after we took care of dear Mrs. Froy, we went through her belongings, one of which being a computer. We found out that she had sent an email to you detailing the more...intricate steps of our plan," she continued. "It's quite detailed, really. It even has pictures in it that she stole from us."

Immediately, Yuuno knew what she was talking about. His body was screaming at him to run, but he forced himself to remain in bed.

"I haven't checked my email in the last few days," he lied, hoping to divert her. "I could check now if-"

"Listen, Scrya," Mariel snapped. "I'm done with your 'I barely know anything' act. You probably stored the email in your brain, in case we destroyed your computer."

The horrified look on Yuuno's face confirmed her suspicions, and she chuckled. "I thought so. You know more than we do," she said.

"And if I told the police about who you're planning to kill, what would you do?" he asked.

Her lips curled upwards. "Well, we'd just have to kill you, wouldn't we?"

Yuuno figured that would happen, but he tried not to let his rising fear show anymore that it already had. "Why are you so hung up on killing Admiral Harlaown?" he asked.

"Have you ever heard of the Silver Claw, Scyra?" she replied.

"The Silver Claw...that's the terrorist organization that managed to take over three governments in several administrated worlds!" Yuuno replied.

"You're a smart man. Our leader, Jaguar, plans on taking over the entire system. He's already inserted several of our members in the higher ranks of the Bureau. And some of those members had to...replace their predecessors before they took the spots.

"As you know, some of the top commanding officers are admirals, but the positions are filled in already. The first person who came of interest was Chrono Harlaown. We knew that offing a high rank officer would bring about instability for a while in the Bureau...which would give us perfect time to insert my brother as the new Admiral."

"What makes you think your brother would be sworn in as Admiral?" Yuuno shouted. "You two are assassins-scratch that, terrorists!"

"I prefer the former than the latter, but nonetheless, that's true," she replied. "We can just change our names and faces. That shouldn't be too hard."

"Just what are you planning on doing after you get the position?" Yuuno asked.

"Simple: blow the Bureau sky high from the inside out, of course," she replied. "I thought that was obvious."

Yuuno's voice was thick with anger. "You just wait until I get in contact with my friends about this, Mariel. They'll-"

Mariel caught the librarian in a death grip, her right hand around his throat and his head being forced through the wall. He let out a pained gasp as her fingernails dug into the back of his neck.

"Your reward for keeping silent is your life. It's not much, but I'd hate to get rid of someone I saw as my equal. Like I told you on the phone, Scrya, we'll be watching your every move," she hissed. "Don't forget what happens if you decide to spill everything."

She allowed enough leverage for him to breathe. "You really...expect me... to sit back and let you kill a respected Admiral?"

"Unless you want to live, you will," she replied. "And unless you want your friends to stay alive as well."

Yuuno's green eyes were bright with horror. "You would go as far as to kill my friends?!" he gasped.

"We'll do whatever's necessary to keep this operation going...including, as you said, killing your friends. As they say, Yuuno, silence is golden."

She released him, and he sucked in mouthfuls of much needed air. He rubbed his sore neck and glared at her.

"You'll never get away with this," he ground out.

"Oh, we already have. How else did we get out of going to jail numerous times?" Her mouth formed a sneer. "I do believe you're going to be in for quite a shock when the news hits about Harlaown's death."

With a flirtatious wink, she turned and sauntered out of the room.

Yuuno barely had time to even comprehend the situation before a horde of news reporters stormed the room, cameras flashing and microphones shoved in his face. After recovering from his shock, Yuuno managed to compose himself well enough to answer a few questions about the shooting. He didn't dare reveal the reason of why he'd been shot, or why the Polonez siblings would be out for him. After what Mariel had told him, he wasn't ready to go forward unless he really wanted a bullet to his head.

Once the reporters had left, with Yuuno finally having some room to catch his breath, his mind ran on what Mariel had told him. The two of them were even worse than he'd imagined; not the fact that they were disturbingly calm about their mission (although that was scary in itself) but because they'd managed to use their aliases so well that nobody from the Bureau had caught them.

If nobody caught them soon, the Bureau would more or less go sky high-and with it, his friends.

For that reason, he couldn't sit back and remain silent, even though she had blackmailed him into keeping silent about Chrono's assassination. Although he valued his life, he would never forgive himself if one of his friends were killed by those two.

Reaching over to the phone, he picked it up and started to dial a new number. He waited for a few minutes, and then the person on the other end picked up.

"Is this some kind of prank? Nobody I know is in the hospital."

"Hey, Joseph." Yuuno laughed dryly.

"Scrya? What are you doing in the hospital?"

"In case you haven't seen the news, I got shot."

"...I don't think I need to ask who did it, do I?"

"No, not really. But I'm fine. The doctor says I'm supposed to leave here in a few days," he said.

"Well that's a relief. Also...I've read through the files that Mrs. Froy gave me. I found out who's being targeted."

"It's Chrono Harlaown. I know; I've read the files before the nurses came in."

There was a pause, and then Joseph asked, "This Chrono Harlaown...is he a friend of yours?"

"He's one of my best friends," Yuuno replied. "Even though he gets on my nerves at times, we get along for the most part. We've known each other since we were kids."

"This is going to be a difficult assignment for you, Scrya. No doubt the Polonez siblings suspect that you know more about their plot," Joseph said.

"They don't suspect anymore; they know I do. I, uh...ran into Mariel. She was disguised as one of the nurses here," he said.

Whatever response Joseph had expected, suffice to say that this was not it. There was the sound of sputtering over the line, as if he'd been drinking when Yuuno had said that.

"She did what?"

Yuuno told him all about what Mariel had discovered, and how she had basically told him why they were assassinating Chrono in the first place. When he was done, he was met with by a long silence.

"The worst part is, she blackmailed me, saying that I need to keep my mouth shut about this or else I'm going to die," Yuuno said. "But, I can't do that."

"You don't want your friends catching the bullets while you sit back and say nothing," Joseph said.

"Exactly. And while I value my life, I value my friends more often than not," Yuuno said. "I don't care if I die in the process; as long as my friends are safe, I'll be happy to take their place."

"I understand that you have a big heart when it comes to this, but...you do realize that if you die, you'll be causing your friends even more pain, right?"

Yuuno closed his eyes, trying to block out mental images of Nanoha possibly nuking those two from orbit. It was somewhat amusing, he admitted mentally, but the reason for it wasn't.

"I know, and I understand that. But blackmail or not, I'm going to make sure that none of my friends get in the crossfire. I've already took time off from work, and the crime scene's still being cleaned up at my place. The only thing I need is for you to help me," Yuuno said.

Joseph sighed. "Just promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"I won't...or at least, I'll try not to."

A dry chuckle filled Yuuno's ears. "Good enough for me."

Chrono barely ate any of his dinner. To Fate, that was not a good sign.

She, Nanoha and Hayate had decided to go out to dinner to take everyone's mind off the event that had happened, but still a dark mood permeated the air. As it turned out, all everyone could talk about was the situation at hand, which only served to enlarge the cloud hanging over the party. Even the normally talkative Nanoha was somber.

Fate eyed her older brother cautiously. He looked like a massive thunderstorm was going off in his brain, his dark blue eyes nearly black with thoughts. At times like this, she couldn't really tell if he were angry or just in deep thought, but she knew that he was currently in an emotional whirlwind, so it probably wasn't best to prod him.

Her phone buzzed in her purse, and she pulled it out. Seeing as it was a text from her Enforcer's Aide, she opened it up quickly. The subject was marked "Urgent; Come fast."

"Fate-san,

"So sorry to interrupt you during dinner, but I just got a call from the local police district. The car that carried the Polonez siblings to the station never made it there. Their car veered off the road on one of the major highways. The witness who found the car said that he pulled over when he saw flashing lights and open doors, got out to seem, and found the two officers dead. The police chief asked for me to tell you to come immediately.

"Teana Lanstar."

Fate pushed her chair back, an action that finally caught the attention of most of her friends. "Sorry, everyone, but I have to run. I've got work to do," she said.

"But Fate-chan, you've barely eaten any of your food!" Nanoha said.

"Don't worry, I'll take the rest of it home," Fate replied.

"Is something wrong?" Hayate asked.

"I've just got a text from Tea. The Polonez siblings never made it to the police station," she said. "Someone on the highway found the police car, with the passenger doors wide open, and two dead officers in the car."

Everyone except Chrono gasped, utterly horrified by this news. Nanoha looked ready to leap right out of the chair.

"You mean to tell me the psychos who shot Yuuno-kun are on the loose?!" Nanoha yelled. More than a few people turned around at her declaration.

"I'm afraid so. I need to get to the scene as quickly as possible," Fate said. "We are dealing with potential serial killers in this."

"Be careful out there, Fate-chan." Nanoha grasped Fate's hands tightly. "I don't want you to end up in the hospital, either."

Fate smiled gently, and nodded. "For your sake as well as Vivio's, I'll make sure I come home to you both," she said.

Behind her, Hayate laughed. "The words of a true prince, Fate-chan."

Fate's face exploded into red at that, and much needed laughter came into the room, lightening the mood.

Chrono merely closed his eyes and sipped his watered down soda, although he couldn't hide the small smirk that tugged at his lips.

Outside of the hospital, Atenza and Jasper waited outside in a stolen car. They weren't planning to get it, but after someone had threatened to spill their locations to the police, Atenza and Jasper had to shut him up. After dragging the man into an alley, they nonchalantly took his car, doing their best to keep their heads low so nobody would recognize them.

Just then the doors to the hospital opened and Mariel strode out, back in her clothes instead of the nurse's outfit she'd been wearing. After looking about to make sure nobody was there, Jasper waved her over, and climbed into the back seat, as she jumped into passenger's side.

"Took you long enough. I almost pulled off from here with this rickety old thing," Atenza said.

"Where did you get it, anyway?"

"Oh, we had to take it from somebody who wouldn't keep their eyes to themselves," Jasper replied. He reached around in the back. "Ooh, this guy was loaded with money!" He opened the man's wallet, and pulled out a handful of bills before stuffing them into his pocket.

"I suppose you've already taken care of him?" she said.

"Yes," Atenza said. "And I suppose you've already taken care of your business with Scrya?"

"Yeah. You made sure that that jerk keeps quiet, right?" Jasper piped up.

"I made him an offer he couldn't refuse," Mariel said, her lips curled into a malicious smile. "He got the point immediately."

"Good. The last thing we need is for him to spill everything," Atenza added. "So, where are we off to now?"

"To the Hotel Augusta, of course. We do have an art show in a few days," she said.

"Right, almost forgot," he replied. "Let's hope this thing can get us there. Then we can take the time to get another car."

With a few words of agreement, Atenza stepped on the gas, and sped off into the dark streets.

To be clear, I don't actually ship NanoFate, but I had to have a little tease at Fate's princely status. I could imagine Hayate never letting Fate hear the end of that. We need a little humor in this dark story after all.

Yuuno's now the victim of blackmail, but unlike what most people do when they are, Yuuno's perfectly willing to put his own life in danger for the sake of his friends. What will happen with this attitude in mind, I'm not sure. You'll just have to wait and see.

Read and review, and Happy New Year (as I don't know when I'll update again)!

God bless, iheartgod175