Forcibly United
oOo
A Weekend With Eda
Chapter 5
oOo
The morning sun rose in the sky over a forest-choked island, cheerfully shining it's rays down on the few inhabitants of the small mass of land below. One of those inhabitants was currently attempting to work her way free of the ropes which tightly bound her wrists, ankles, and connected the two bonds enough that it was uncomfortable even pretending to sleep.
Rip Van Winkle freed one hand and grinned to herself. Whatever the odds, she'd triumph. She flexed her hand, willing the feeling to return to it as she contemplated her victory. The human or, perhaps, humans were no doubt still sleeping in the large tent they'd erected after tying her securely.
All she had to do was reach around and untie the rope from the tree. Then she could work herself around enough to untie her other wrist, and from there, she could quickly get free to escape, or perhaps even eliminate the threat altogether.
She'd just unhooked the rope from the tree, relishing her upcoming victory, when she rolled over.
Squatting on his heels, one of the two boys from the previous night glared at her, his pigtail almost sticking up in annoyance.
Rip's eyes widened.
The pigtailed boy, Ranma if she remembered correctly, raised an eyebrow while also raising one fist. Clenched in that fist was a length of stout chains with a number of impressive locks. He slowly raised the other hand, which held a keyring full of keys which, presumably, matched the locks on the chains.
He didn't say anything... Not that he needed to: His annoyance, and the presence of far more secure bonds communicated his desires quite plainly.
Rip groaned in frustration.
oOo
"So she tried to escape?" Eda asked, her voice light. The trio were currently eating a cold breakfast, having packed up most of the camp already. By the less than casual return look her hireling cast her she knew he was aware she was really asking if the dark-haired girl claiming to be a vampire was becoming a liability.
"It took her most of the night, and now she's got those chains on her. I doubt it's going to happen again," Ranma informed her firmly. She's easy to handle. Message recieved. Eda nodded, turning back to her cereal.
"We should hit the first site early, and if we can scan it quickly enough we should be able to reach the second before we run out of light," the blond nun noted, finishing her breakfast and rinsing the bowl using the wash bucket. "We'll get moving in five minutes."
Walking away from the two boys, Eda busied herself with her pack, reaching up to tuck her hair behind one ear and while slipping a reciever into place. With any other people she could have brought along, save maybe Revy and her crew, she'd have been listening to see when they were planning to betray her. With these two, she was merely trying to figure out the easiest way to smooth over last night's unpleasantries.
After all... As silly as she might have found their code, one cold hard truth had emerged after a night's restless sleep: In the city of Roanapur, the ability to trust someone was worth whatever personal foibles they might have.
With a flick of her index finger, she turned on the transmitter, hoping that she hadn't damaged their trust too badly with her display last night... And hoping that the conversation would reveal something that would allow her to repair that damage.
oOo
Ranma at the last of his cereal and looked up, quirking an eyebrow at Ryouga's frown.
"What's the problem, pork chop?" The pigtailed boy finally demanded, draining the milk from his bowl and setting it aside. "You're acting depressed."
"Ranma-" Ryouga began with a chuckle, only to be cut off.
"More than usual," Ranma added.
"Last night, Eda pointed her gun at me. And she was going to kill that helpless girl," Ryouga admitted with a frown. "Think about that. Do you really want to work for someone like that?"
"Ryouga..." Ranma began, reaching over... And slapping the boy in the back of the head. "Stop being an idiot!"
"Ranma! How dare you mock me!" Ryouga roared standing. He fell on his ass as Ranma swept his feet out from under him.
"Think about it, idiot!" Ranma snorted, sitting down on the log. He waved his hands around in the air. "What would Revy have done? Or Shenhua? Or Balalaika? Seriously, think about what would have happened if any of them had been in charge here instead of Eda."
Ryouga rubbed his chest thoughtfully. The Saotome heir could see the wheels turning in his rival's head. Any of the others would have gone for blood the instant the two boys had stood in their way. Especially Revy.
"Don't forget, that 'helpless girl' nearly got me last night with that gun of hers and that stupid bullet trick! Plus she's claiming she's a vampire or some crap like that!" Ranma continued, crossing his arms. He concluded, "I don't really think Eda's reaction was too outta line. Remember: She's pretty normal by our standards. She's hadta have been thinking about what would've happened if the psycho in chains had aimed at her."
"I'm not sure, Ranma... The way Revy talks about Eda... She can be pretty cold," Ryouga argued, though he was wilting under the look the pigtailed boy was giving him.
"Look at her, pig-boy. She's been acting all wierd since she woke up. I think she feels, like, really bad! Did you see the way she just left right after she finished her breakfast?" Ranma demanded, gesturing to where the blond teenager in question was huddled at her backpack.
"Maybe you're right..." Ryouga concluded, thoughtfully his chin.
"Of course I am. Hell, look at that, man!" Ranma gestured, and both boys could see her shoulders shaking. Ranma groaned. "She's sitting over there by herself, crying. She thinks we're all pissed off with her because she got scared about what happened and overreacted. We gotta go tell her we're sorry for last night, Ryouga. You wanna have that on your conscience?"
"You're right, Ranma," the bandanna-clad boy admitted, setting his breakfast aside. "Let's go set things right. We have to apologize... or what kind of men are we?"
"That's the spirit!" Ranma said cheerfully, clapping his partner on the shoulder as they both strode across the camp.
oOo
On the other side of the clearing, Eda was listening to the conversation and her shoulders were, in fact, shaking with unrestrained emotion. The emotion was not anything dark, depressing, or otherwise negative. In fact, the blond American was doing her best not to burst out into laughter.
On the one hand, she knew that they were about to make an apology and fix things for her based entirely on their own moral code. A moral code which had prompted her to hire them in the first place, a moral code which was the reason she knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that she could trust the pair with her life.
Hell, it was a trust they'd proved valid more than once already on this job. Trust so solid that she'd back their word even against damning coincidental evidence to the contrary.
On the other hand, it wasn't her fault the little bastards were complete and total suckers.
As she heard the footsteps approach, she hurriedly composed herself, forcing her grin down into a frown.
"Uh, Eda?" Ryouga's voice was small, hesitant. It almost made the blond girl feel guilty about allowing them to apologize like they were about to.
Almost.
"W-what do you want?" While spitting out the question, the blond American managed to turn an emerging chuckle into a choked-back sob. It made her remember her senior year at high-school, when she'd been part of the cheerleader clique. Pretending a genuine interest in the dumb jocks her peers had approved for her to date had, in it's way, given her a rather thorough background in acting.
"Look, we want to talk about last night, okay?" Ranma asked, placing a hand on her shoulders. Given the level of tact the two boys were displaying, Eda thought she could milk it a bit. She spun to glare at him, the tears of suppressed laughter shining in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, alright? I panicked! It was stupid of me to panic like that! But that woman's powers... I-I just felt so helpless!" The blond turned quickly to face away as the grin she was trying to keep down almost failed. Silent laughter wracked her body, and it took every fiber of her willpower to keep just the sound from escaping.
The shaking of her shoulders was, once more, impossible to contain.
"Hey, we're trying to apologize, damn it!" Ranma declared angrily, and Eda slowly turned to look at the two boys. Ranma was practically glaring at her, not that she expected much less of the boy. His reactions to any situation he wasn't used to tended to slip all over the place.
Ryouga, on the other hand, looked broken and defeated. Eda did feel a little guilty then, noting the way the boy's downcast eyes found his feet.
"Look, guys..." Eda began slowly, reaching out to put a hand on each of their shoulders.
For her, it was a crossroads: Tell the boys the truth and admit she was lying, or continue to feed them the current bullshit that they currently believed?
It wasn't a hard decision.
"...I know what you're trying to say," Eda stated, sniffling a bit as she met their eyes. "Look, it doesn't matter. You guys probably stopped me from making a huge mistake."
"Well, as long as you understand..." Ryouga stated, sounding confused. With the knowledge that this boy was the one who had the most doubts about her, the blond teenager knew she'd have to move in for the kill.
"Thank you for understanding!" Eda cried, leaping forward to grab the boy in a tight hug. As far as plausible deniability was concerned, she hadn't planned to nuzzle the boy's face between her breasts like she was. Not at all.
Though the blond couldn't help but admit to herself that the way the boy's face went beet red and the way he struggled to get free without toughing or harming her was, oddly enough, quite endearing.
Moments later, both boys were following her orders as readily as they had when the trio first arrived on the island.
All according to plan.
oOo
It had only taken the trio, plus one prisoner, a couple of hours to arrive at the next dig site. Once there, it'd only taken Eda ten minutes of scanning beneath the ground to get excited.
Eagerly, both Ranma and his cohort attacked the ground where she'd indicated, scooping out entire shovelfuls of dirt with their hands, as rocks were shattered with either the tip of a finger or a flurry of hyper-fast punches, depending on which of the boys encountered them.
They struck cement, and Ranma grinned at his bandanna-clad partner as they paused. "It's all you, man," the pigtailed boy offered, gesturing with one hand to the flat surface beneath them.
The top of the bunker shattered beneath their feet as Ryouga struck the top of the bunker with all his strength, not bothering to utilize the breaking point as his excitement overcame him.
Both boys landed lightly on their feet, glancing around in the bunker.
"Yo, Eda, toss down a light!" Ranma yelled, raising a hand. After a moment's pause, a flashlight fell into the hole, the pigtailed boy catching it deftly in one hand and turning it on. Shining the light around the room, he saw several things... Old computers and radio equipment, a gun rack with many outdated rifles and a pair of machineguns gathering dust... but one thing dominated his and Ryouga's attention.
In one corner of the vault, a wooden skid with five hundred bars of gold lay forgotten, the dust coating it doing little to dull the shine of the metal underneath the glow of the flashlight.
"Ryouga..." Ranma breathed, clapping his partner on the shoulder. "You know what this means, right? We've... We've done it! We're going to get rid of the curse of these damned bracers!"
Ryouga grinned in appreciation, not daring to speak.
They'd done it.
Nothing could possibly dampen his bright mood, now.
oOo
I dare any of you to tell me Eda's not perfectly capable of manipulating people like that. Dare.
Also: Check out the poll on my profile to decide what fanart I'm going to commission for Forcibly Unityed's birthday. And if you know a great author on DeviantArt who'll fit into my fifty dollar budget, feel free to PM me with their contact information so I can check 'em out.
-Gaming Ikari