Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Neutral Territory ❯ The Blood-drenched Battlefield ( Chapter 28 )

Title: Neutral Territory [part 28/?]

Author: Enigma

Written: begun October, 2001

Rating: R

Pairings: (Omi + Nagi) (Yohji + Ken) (Brad + Schu)

Category: Shonen ai/Yaoi Angst Friendship Romance Action Violence. AU-OOC. Giftfic.

Archive: fanfiction.net & mediaminer.org [author: "E-sama the Llama"] plus Wuffie.net [author: "Enigma"]

Warnings: shonen ai/yaoi, angst, masculine friendship in many forms, various levels of romance, action, coarse language, whiffs of citrus but nothing detailed, possibly graphic violence, bloodshed, tiny bits of humor, fluff, and sap; more warnings will be added as necessary. AU-OOC. Giftfic for Rubious.

Spoilers: Aya's sister's condition and a few other small things, nothing major.

Disclaimer: "Weiss Kreuz" is the property of Koyasu Takehito and Project Weiss. All original characters featured herein (including but not limited to: Glocksten, Charon, etc.) are © Enigma, 2003, and are not to be used without permission. This unauthorized work of fanfiction is intended for entertainment only; kindly do not sue me.

Notes: Omi's first trip to the public library results in an unexpected meeting when Nagi saves his life without being aware of the Weiss archer's identity. Can two lonely teens overcome the limits of their dark purpose in life to find friendship and possibly love in the midst of "neutral territory"?

//thoughts//

{{mental speech}}

*****

Saturday close to midnight. The area surrounding "The White Dog" nightclub.

*****

Even as stylishly dressed men and women enjoyed a night of pulsing music, excellent food, and strong drinks mere meters away, the men of Weiss stealthily awaited their prey with increasingly frazzled nerves.

From his position on ground level concealed behind "The White Dog's" valet station, Yohji flipped the switch on his headset so he could address his teammates and growled, "No offense, Abyssinian, but I think we've got the wrong damned location." As per standard operating procedure when in a somewhat noisy location, he toggled the microphone back off and continued to scan the people coming and going from the club searching for the man he'd sworn to kill to avenge his murdered friends. [1]

With a weary sigh since the stimulants that he'd taken were slow to hit his system fully, Aya activated his own microphone and replied with uncharacteristic patience, "Why do you say that, Balinese?" Trying to ease some of the ache that had developed in his right leg due to the cold, damp night air, he adjusted his position slightly where he crouched on the roof in the shadows, leaning heavily on his sheathed katana like an old man would a cane. With an audible wince as the previously broken ankle shifted uncomfortably, he added, "Just bored or do you have an actual reason for saying that?"

From his spot behind the club's sign near the parking lot, Ken shot Omi a worried glance that spoke of his realization that Aya was still far from normal if he didn't just snap at Yohji to shut up and stop bitching the way that he usually would have.

Perched in the branches of a tree near the opposite corner of the building from where Yohji was stationed, Omi peered down at Ken and shook his head sadly to acknowledge that he'd noticed the same thing. He had the best line of sight for the front of the club as well as the short driveway that led behind it to the service entrance, something they didn't need to worry over too much since there wasn't a throughway from there to any of the nearby roads. It had been a stroke of luck to be possibly facing their targets at a place without multiple routes of access, yet it behooved them to make sure Glocksten didn't sneak past them by arriving in a delivery vehicle or something.

Wishing he could have a cigarette but knowing that was impossible since the heavy drizzle that had been falling intermittently would extinguish it almost as soon as he lit it, Yohji brushed wet blond bangs from his eyes. With a frown, he activated his microphone only long enough to answer, "You probably can't hear it up there, but that band you mentioned just finished their second set. If Glocksten was going to be here to listen to them, wouldn't he have shown up by now?"

Toggling his own microphone to the active setting, Omi interjected, "You're the only one of us who's been here before, Balinese. How many sets do you think that they might fit in on a Saturday night?" His worry for Aya prompted him to add, "If this is a legitimate concern, we might want to consider withdrawing and trying again another night." He switched the headset back to receive only and hoped he wouldn't be forced to take command away from Aya as was his right and obligation to the team.

Making matters worse by remaining silent when the team's tactical leader seemed to be overriding his own position as field leader, Aya felt his shoulders drooping and he sighed aloud into the microphone that he'd forgotten was still in the active setting.

"Oh, fuck," Ken murmured to himself and started to give Omi a prearranged visual signal that he felt they had no choice but to abort the mission right then and there if Aya was that far out of his normal range. However, before he could do so, an inky stretch limousine pulled past his position and he quickly activated his microphone to warn, "Heads up, guys. Somebody with a helluva lot of money just showed up. Could be our targets."

"Acknowledged," Abyssinian growled and pushed himself to his feet carefully remaining in the shadows as he attempted to banish the pain in his leg while feeling the familiar surge of adrenaline beginning to caress his bloodstream. As the senses heightening natural drug poured into his veins, it ignited the stimulants he'd consumed earlier and suddenly he was filled with an increased amount of energy that fuzzed his mind and dulled his thinking somewhat.

"About damned time," Yohji remarked to himself with an eager gleam in his eyes. Silently, he cursed the misty rain which had resumed falling almost the moment the black limousine had pulled up to the curb since the myriad of water droplets were refracting the bright lights of the nightclub and leaving incredibly poor visibility in its wake.

After switching his headset to send instead of merely receive, Omi commanded, "All mics to active. Let's be ready, team."

Leaving his microphone in the on position, Ken agreed, "You got it, Bombay. Balinese, sing out the minute you can ID whoever is in that thing."

"Not a problem, Siberian," Yohji promised, glad the waiting game was possibly over, yet uncomfortable with the fact that he couldn't see Aya whose voice had done precious little to allay their worst fears. The commitment he and Ken had made to one another regarding bringing the icy swordsman some measure of comfort was high in his mind, yet he could do nothing to protect someone he couldn't even see at that point.

*****

As all four members of Weiss tensed and readied themselves for possible battle, the six passengers in the limousine were readying themselves in entirely different ways.

Even though he didn't know why Crawford and Schuldich were so insistent about it, Nagi hadn't argued when he'd been seated as far away from Glocksten as possible, something that put him directly adjacent to Charon who hadn't said two words to him in the course of the evening.

The heavily built Japanese gunman wasn't particularly pleased to have been brought along to a nightclub, yet he valued the new alliance he was forging with Estet enough to have gone along when he'd been ordered to do so much as Schwarz had been. As the limousine had approached the entrance to "The White Dog", he'd pulled out one of the numerous handguns he had secreted upon himself and checked it for ammunition. After wordlessly releasing the fully loaded clip into one meaty palm, Charon nodded to himself then slammed it back in place with more force than necessary before tucking the weapon back into a shoulder holster under his coat.

Since his mind had been on Omi and thoughts of a Sunday rendezvous in the park, the sudden loud noise caused Nagi to jump slightly and with a nervous expression on his face, he quickly glanced around to see if any of his teammates had noticed his momentary startlement.

Luckily, Crawford was conversing with Glocksten in an attempt to distract the effeminate man from his usual sick sexual fantasies and thereby grant Schuldich a temporary respite from the odiferous images bombarding him, therefore he hadn't seen it.

Equally unaware of the way Nagi had reacted to the ominous click of the gun beside him, Farfarello was slowly beginning to transition out of the madness of a reality only he and a very few mathematicians could ever have understood. [2]

Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, Nagi looked at Schuldich and was startled all over again when he saw the way the telepath was rubbing his temples and trying to banish whatever was causing him the pain that had dulled typically lively green eyes leaving them unfocused. Concerned yet not wanting to admit it since that disproved the now outgrown façade that Schwarz expected Prodigy to display, Nagi stayed silent and only allowed a small moue of worry to cross his lips when Schuldich's hands fell limply to his lap after doing him no good at all.

Despite not telepathically sensing anything unusual from the telekinetic whose mental shields were now nigh invulnerable, Schuldich's well developed social senses informed him that he was being watched and he captured Nagi's eyes with his own and asked silently, {{What's with the frown, chibi?}}

Completely disregarding the insulting nickname for a change, Nagi replied hesitantly, {{Nothing.}}

Duly noting the lack of vehemence, the telepath dared to hope for a rare moment of honesty between them and insisted, {{Try again, Nagi. You can't lie worth a damn at times, kid.}}

Deciding not to risk the humiliation he might receive if he openly expressed concern for the man who so often seemed to live for the joy of making him miserable, Nagi shifted to a safer and equally vexing matter by asking, {{Is Farf going to be okay, Schuldich? I can't stand the way he's been so silent all evening.}} He threw a glance at the older teen who sat as motionless as a piece of statuary on the side of the limousine opposite Crawford and Glocksten, then added, {{It gives me the creeps when he's so remote like this.}}

Huffing slightly and offering a half-smirk, Schuldich opened the connection to the Irishman ever so slightly before confirming, {{It would appear our one-eyed psycho is coming back to Earth from wherever the hell he goes when everything he thinks is one incomprehensible math equation after another.}} An elegant shrug failed to distract Nagi from the way the smirk briefly shifted to a wince when the light probe served to aggravate the lingering headache from the earlier shared vision even as he added, {{Give him a few hours and he ought to be back to "normal".}}

Nodding slightly to acknowledge his understanding, Nagi was about to give in and voice his curiosity about Schuldich's obvious distress when Crawford announced, "The rain's not letting up, so we'll go in now."

As he reached for the handle on the door near him, Crawford silently informed his team to be on their guard yet didn't specify this was especially needful since Schuldich wasn't up to his usual mental sweeps of the area surrounding them before they stepped out onto the wet pavement. The fact that the telepath couldn't perform his typical recognizance meant they were going out "blind", but there was no reason a priori for the leader of Schwarz to anticipate trouble.

Running long, almost feminine fingers through flowing golden brown hair which he then twirled around a fingertip as Crawford and Farfarello stepped out into the rain ahead of him, Glocksten remarked while sending a pointed glance at Nagi, "I sincerely hope we haven't missed the band that I wanted to hear." Daring to rake his eyes over the telekinetic's slender form, he added before climbing out of the limousine and into the rainy night, "I do *so* wish to get out on the dance floor with you, Herr Naoe."

Sudden fury flared in jade green eyes as Schuldich growled at the German fiend whose unwholesome desires for his youngest teammate were once more all too obvious, "There's no fucking way *that's* going to happen, you bastard!"

While the Schwarz telepath was distracted by his justifiable anger, Charon had followed Glocksten totally disinterested when Schuldich climbed out in a rush behind him and was immediately followed by Nagi who was baffled by the redhead's sudden ire.

During the few moments that it had taken the six men to emerge from the limousine, Yohji's view had been blocked by two of the valets who were gossiping about the newly arrived luxury vehicle. As luck would have it, the other members of Weiss all had trouble of their own seeing the new arrivals, as well. Omi's view was blocked by the limousine itself and both Ken and Aya were finding that the light refracted by the rain's saturating mist made identification impossible.

However, the very moment Balinese recognized first Glocksten and then Charon, he reached for his deadly wire and pushed past the uniformed men standing nearby while shouting into his microphone, "It's them!" In his rush to deliver justice to the man responsible for killing many fine police officers, he failed to realize the men in the dark and concealing trench coats surrounding their targets were their nemeses known as Schwarz.

What happened next occurred so swiftly that it takes far longer to describe than it did to reach a conclusion.

"Attack!" Aya cried unnecessarily since the rest of Weiss was already in motion. Distantly grateful for the stimulants whose potentially hazardous chemical natures he truly did not understand were burning their way through his system, he thumbed his katana free from its scabbard and moved to launch himself from the roof.

At the greatest distance from their opponents, Ken wasted neither time nor breath on words and merely sprang forth from behind the sign, bugnuks fully extended and ready for action as he rushed towards the impending conflict as quickly as his powerfully muscled legs could carry him.

With a single, catlike leap, Omi uttered a wordless battle cry and threw himself into the thick of the action even though he hadn't even seen their opponents yet. He had darts in both hands as he jumped from the tree intending to land on the roof of the limousine and thereby afford himself an excellent position from which to defend his comrades or attack their targets if necessary. In his heart, he hoped both Yohji and Aya would be able to destroy the men whose existence had brought so much sorrow since vengeance had a purifying effect on those who needed it most, but he would intervene if they failed.

Even as the members of Weiss moved like a well oiled machine intent on destruction, the men of Schwarz were initially unaware of them since Schuldich had exited the limousine loudly making it completely clear to his countryman that he was to leave Nagi the hell alone. As the sounds of the voices of the attacking assassins drowned out Schuldich's words, the men assigned to guard Glocksten and Charon moved quickly to locate their foes yet were a heartbeat too slow to interfere with destiny's intentions.

When Nagi had turned towards him searching the parking area around them with a hand outstretched as he called forth his powers, Omi had finally realized who the smallest of the figures he could barely make out as he alighted upon the limousine's roof truly was. With a shocked gasp, the blue-eyed archer froze and made himself an instant target.

With a guttural snarl, Charon deftly snapped his wrist and a custom-made three-shot Smith & Wesson rocketed into his hand too fast for the eye to follow and before anyone could do a thing about it, he emptied two of the chambers straight into Omi's upper torso.

"OMI!!" Nagi screamed and jumped to catch the falling youth who tumbled forwards off the roof of the limousine already unconscious due to the severe trauma inflicted upon him. The telekinetic ignored similar cries of the horribly wounded boy's name even as he belatedly raised his personal shield a fraction too late to prevent Charon's final bullet from ripping a bloodied channel through his own upper left arm.

Tears instantaneously poured forth from midnight blue eyes not in response to his own searing pain but rather in an expression of extreme sorrow since Nagi assumed no one could have their chest ripped asunder as severely as the boy in his arms had and live. Terrifying though it was to acknowledge the facts for what they were, their friendship was so new and beautiful, to lose it this way after truly knowing each other less than a week hurt him far worse than any of the times he'd been raped or abused as a child.

"Omi!" Ken had shouted when the very first bullet had slammed into his friend and gouged a burning passageway through several internal organs before blasting through his back in a fountain of blood. His brown eyes were filled with fear as Charon added a second equally drastic injury to Omi's body and then as Nagi intervened, he stopped stock still since the surreal scene before him made no sense.

Yohji, however, experienced no such hesitation and had his deadly wire firmly extended between his gloved hands as he raced towards Charon shouting, "You fucking bastard!!"

The former private detective's vengeance was sadly denied him as Crawford swiftly drew a .357 Magnum of his own, pressed the barrel to the despised murderer's head, and pulled the trigger without so much as a word. Even though he'd been commanded by Estet to protect the infamous Japanese cop killer, Crawford's basically paternal feelings for his youngest teammate overshadowed his orders and he wasn't about to let Charon hurt Nagi the way that he had and live. What dreadful price Crawford would be forced to pay at a later date for betraying Estet would remain to be seen, but at that moment, whatever it might be seemed worth it.

When the devastating bullet slammed into it, Charon's skull exploded like a jack-o'-lantern that some malicious trick-or-treater had dropped a powerful firecracker into. Bits of bone and gray matter cascaded over Crawford and Farfarello in a shower of carnage before the heavy corpse fell to the ground in a wet heap.

Schuldich had been spared the gory spattering since he was rushing to Nagi's side shouting the boy's name both mentally and verbally, yet was getting responses to neither before finding himself repulsed by the telekinetic's shield which still surrounded both bleeding teens.

Meanwhile, even as the tragic first blood was being spilled upon the field of battle, Aya had made good on his own plan to leap from the roof of the nightclub in his trademark executioner's fashion with the intention of destroying the man who had ruined so many children's lives. With even greater fury than he'd felt before, he brought the razor-sharp edge of his katana down at an angle as he'd descended, maroon trench coat flaring around him like the wings of an enraged demon as he shouted, "Shi-ne, Glocksten!"

Predictably, a single powerful slice of the blade was all that was required to put an end to Glocksten's despicable existence. With a crimson geyser of blood, the German's neatly severed head flew free of his neck even as his body collapsed forwards to lay chest down on the wet pavement where it continued to pulse forth a red river that the misty rain immediately began to wash away.

Glocksten's wide-eyed, disembodied head came to a halt at the feet of the two valets who were the only ones unfortunate enough to be witness to the brief and violent conflict. With shared screams of horror, they bolted away from the staring visage that would now haunt their dreams for the rest of their lives through no fault of their own, never once pausing to call for the police or other appropriate aid.

His own bloodstream continuing to sing with adrenaline combined with the highly illegal herbal stimulant he'd unwisely ingested earlier in the night, Aya was too on edge to note the wrenching pain that coursed up his right leg when he landed on the unforgiving pavement. His knee, however, was well aware of the sudden agony and it buckled slightly even as Crawford was in the act of claiming retribution for his youngest teammate's sorrow.

With a livid snarl, Aya forced himself to keep going and he resumed motion fully intending to gut the American precognitive for denying Yohji his vengeance, yet found his blade blocked by a pair of wickedly sharp daggers when Farfarello got in his way.

The Irishman merely lifted an eyebrow in a moderately intrigued manner, but said nothing as an expert twist of his wrists disarmed the Weiss swordsman and left Aya weaponless yet still dangerous. Even though he was still closer to the madness of pure arithmetic than he was his usual carefree, semi-lucid state, Farfarello knew well that the scarlet-haired man could be a formidable foe in hand-to-hand combat and he remained on guard against a further attack that did not come. [3]

When he'd realized that his quest for vengeance would now go permanently unfulfilled, Yohji might have also turned on the man who had taken the honor of killing Charon from him except that Nagi's voice rose up in a panicked shout to beg, "Help! Somebody help me!"

Curled protectively around the unmoving form of the treasured youth who had introduced him to the wonders of both kisses and hugs barely 24 hours prior, Nagi was using his telekinesis to apply direct pressure as best he could to the hideous wounds torn in Omi's body. Unfortunately, it did relatively little good since the damage was so extensive and the archer's lifeblood continued to seep forth and drench the fifteen year old mercilessly.

All six assassins still on their feet turned their full attention toward the two bleeding teens and it was Schuldich who expressed what was in all of their minds when he demanded, "What is the meaning of this, Nagi?!"

Yohji agreed with his own demand, "What the hell is going on here?!"

Delicate features awash in tears and transformed into a mask of nearly unspeakable grief and sorrow, Nagi begged piteously, "Please, help me! Omi's bleeding to death!" The effort of supporting Omi with only one functional arm was draining him badly, so he allowed his personal shield to dissipate and thereby give him more power to keep Omi close.

As Nagi's entreating words fell from trembling lips, Crawford and Schuldich both were hit with the realization that this was the exact image from the painful precognition suffered and shared mere hours earlier. Their youngest teammate, or rather, their friend who had no way of knowing they considered him that, cried profusely even as he begged the eldest member of Weiss for aid.

Ken was the first to actually get to the fallen teens' sides, and quickly sheathed his claws as he reached to take Omi away from a boy who he only knew as an enemy and demanded, "Give him to me, Schwarz!"

Unwilling to be parted from Omi for fear the once genki youth might die without his superhuman abilities performing unnatural first aid, Nagi shook his head and explained, "I can't! I'm holding his wounds closed as best I can with my powers!" He turned pleading, watery eyes towards his leader's imposing, blood-drenched figure and begged, "Please, Crawford, let Weiss take me with Omi to get him some medical help! I don't care what you do to me later, kill me if you must, but he'll *die* if I let go of him now!"

Since he now understood the truly life-altering enormity of the vision he'd endured in his office, Crawford blanked all emotion from his face as he replied stonily, "You need medical attention yourself, Prodigy. I will take you both to a hospital myself." Ignoring the terrifying mess all over his charcoal gray trench coat, he stepped towards the two boys intending to get them into the limousine and rush them to the nearest medical center, Estet's precious secrecy be damned.

"You're not taking them anywhere, asshole!" Yohji shouted as he readied his wire once more intending to use it only if necessary since this entire situation pushed the definition of the word "bizarre" to new heights and he was no longer certain who was friend or foe.

The hope that had flared to life in Nagi's tear-filled eyes when Crawford had unexpectedly offered them assistance dwindled only slightly as he turned towards Yohji and pleaded, "Please, don't interfere! Omi needs help right away!"

Baffled yet ready to intervene himself if need be, Ken angrily demanded, "Why the hell should we trust you, Schwarz?"

Even as he struggled to his feet, wounded arm dangling down uselessly at his side as his powers helped him to lift Omi's inert form upwards for Crawford's assistance, Nagi pleaded, "I know all this sounds crazy, but if you can't trust 'Nagi', then trust 'Xavier', okay?!"

"'Xavier'?!"

Ken's shocked exclamation was almost lost as Nagi babbled on by way of explanation and proof, "Please believe me because *I* am Omi's friend 'Xavier'! We went to dinner last night and he wore a shirt you picked out for him and, oh, please!" With a heart wrenching sob, he added pleadingly, "We've got to go *now* or he might not survive!"

Astounded past the ability to reply, Ken fell back a half-step and inadvertently created space for Schuldich to be able to wrap his unsoiled coat over the two injured teens and thereby create a barrier to keep Charon's potentially disease-laden blood from mingling with their own. Not bothering to congratulate himself on sparing the two young assassins a possible brush with any number of horrific diseases, he then moved aside as Crawford reached for Nagi and Omi, pulling both teens into his powerful arms and lifting them with relative ease.

Yohji was about to growl a refusal to believe what sounded like one of Schuldich's mind tricks when the Weiss field leader unexpectedly put an end to the heated discussion.

Violet eyes narrowed with an expression of intense concentration as he forced aside the mental haziness that was confounding him, Aya instinctively came to the conclusion that Nagi was telling the truth and commanded, "Siberian, Balinese, stand down! Let them take him."

"But, Aya---" Ken's anguished disagreement died in his throat as he finally took a good look at his scarlet-haired teammate and saw an almost unnerving combination of pain, determination, and grief etched in fine lines across a handsome face that had been disfigured by misery far too much recently.

Disregarding the worried expression on Ken's face entirely, Aya turned his attention to Nagi who Crawford was loading into the limousine and warned, "Be careful with him." Flicking his gaze across the frighteningly ashen face of the blond in the sable-haired youth's arms, he added, "He's important to us."

Shaking his head as previously unheard of tears continued to flow down his pale cheeks, Nagi replied, "Not as important as he is to me."

The discussion was then abruptly terminated as first Farfarello and then Schuldich clambered into the black vehicle, leaving Crawford behind only long enough to tell Aya, "We will take them to Komagome Hospital. [4] Meet us there." He didn't wait for a reply as he joined his teammates before the driver who had never once had a chance to step out of the limousine whisked them away as ordered.

Yohji had duly noted both Aya and Ken's emotion-filled expressions and knew there were a lot of explanations owed between the three of them, yet chose only to ask, "Abyssinian? Are you sure this was the best thing to do?"

Not wishing to see the pain or pity that filled his teammates' eyes, Aya turned his back on Ken and Yohji as he replied, "There was no choice." Disregarding the two corpses at their feet as well as the unfortunate hysterical waitress who had stepped outside for a break and discovered the horrific scene, he turned to retrieve his blood-soaked katana. Slipping in some of what had once been Charon's brain, his right knee once again buckled under him and he very nearly fell.

"Aya!" Yohji exclaimed and swooped into position beside his teammate, expertly wrapping an arm around the redhead's waist supportively even as he pulled one of Aya's hands over his shoulders and lifted him back to his feet once more. "What's wrong?!" He demanded even as they began to make their way to where Yohji's roadster was openly parked in "The White Dog's" parking lot as if they come for a night of revelry instead of one of death and destruction.

Moving with his usual agility and grace, Ken reclaimed the fallen blade and then trotted after his teammates quickly enough to hear Aya growl, "It's nothing." The fact that he hadn't pushed Yohji away and allowed him to almost carry him to the car blatantly disproved his words, however.

Agonized as he yanked his orange sweatshirt from around his waist and used it as a makeshift scabbard for Aya's treasured katana, Ken inquired unhappily, "It's your ankle again, isn't it, Aya? Did it get broken again when you landed or something?"

"It is *not* broken," Aya insisted with a pained hiss and the fact that they were nearly to the two-seater sports car that was their destination put an end to the discussion.

Heaving a mournful sigh, Ken peered at his lover and wordlessly asked if there was any hope at all that Weiss might survive this tragic night.

With an equally discouraged expression, Yohji just shook his head and offered instead, "We'll meet you at the hospital, all right, Ken?"

Moving to mount his motorcycle which was parked between Yohji's car and Omi's bike, Ken nodded sadly before replying, "Yeah, Yohji. I just hope we aren't too late."

"Same here," Yohji commented even as he turned the key in the ignition and the high powered engine roared to life prior to speeding the two of them off into the rainy night.

The sound of sirens drifted past Ken's range of hearing and he really didn't care about the police or rescue squad or whoever else was about to arrive and have to cope with the slaughter they'd left behind themselves. As always, Kritiker would cover Weiss' tracks for them much as they would at the hospital where Omi would hopefully be already receiving treatment by the time they arrived. If he had survived the journey there, of course.

Soon Ken's Kawasaki would carry him away and as midnight tolled in a nearby church steeple, there was no way to predict what other shocking events the hours of darkness would hold for not only the men of Weiss but also those of Schwarz as well.

*****

To be continued.

Author's Notes:

[1] Whether the members of Weiss would or would not leave their microphones on during a mission ought to be determined by their surroundings in my humble opinion. Hence, since there would be a great deal of background noise around them in the parking area outside a nightclub, I've opted to have them use a very specific procedure for activating them only when needed and I hope this makes good sense to everyone reading this.

[2] Several kind readers wondered if Farfarello was sane during the scenes in chapter 27 and the answer is a most definite "no" as long as sanity is defined as the ordinary mental state most people exist in on a regular basis. Being lost in the world of higher mathematics is well outside that state, and therefore he was as lost at that point as he is when in the psychopathic berserker mode the series creators defined for him.

[3] I've looked forward to writing the battle scene featured here for over a year and a half. I'm more than a little nervous about presenting it, but since my last significant battle with massive bloodshed was Kagetsuya and Messiah's showdown with Gorilla and his men in the bank in last year's "Turning Point" fic, I hope I haven't lost my touch at creating believable mayhem.

[4] The hospital where Omi and Nagi are taken for treatment does indeed exist and is located in northern Tokyo, but beyond this, all other facts about it offered here are fictional and of my own creation as will be the medical staff they encounter there. Just to keep the record straight, allow me to remind everyone that this story is *not* connected to the continuity established in "Cold November Rain" and therefore Norwegian, et al, at my fictional "Tokyo General Hospital" as well as at "Kritiker Medical Center" will not appear in this story.

[Posting Run Dedication] As everyone can already surmise, this evening's special edition of "Neutral Territory" is dedicated to Carter Tachikawa and I sincerely hope the preceding angst-fest helped lighten his/her spirits. If you, too, wish to offer this wonderfully talented writer and all around great person words of encouragement, look for their page at LiveJournal.com under the username of "coldwriter".

[Additional Dedications] Glocksten's gruesome death scene is hereby dedicated to my kitten-koi, Ryoko for whom that particular piece of nasty badass was designed. She wanted to see an ex-boyfriend die spectacularly and I hope this was sufficient without being pandering. Charon's destruction which was intended to be reminiscent of the style of "Berserk" is hereby dedicated to my brother, Rubious. Even though this character wasn't specifically designed to represent a corporate entity, Charon might be considered a personification of the uncaring cruelty upper management of the company he works for shows its employees at times and perhaps he will enjoy seeing them literally blown away.