Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ You're Joking, Right? ❯ Chapter 23

Manx had looked grim when she'd showed up to give them their new mission, and even though the briefing had just begun, she acted like she was saying a few words at someone's funeral. Not that any of them would ever get a funeral. Yoji decided to lose that thought right now, distracting himself in the best way possible - checking out Aya. Surreptitiously, of course. More or less. He couldn't help noticing that everyone else in the room was doing just about the same thing. This was the first real mission they'd gotten since Aya had been shot, and Aya had to accept it, whatever it might be. Yoji figured Aya was well enough, physically, and it might even do him some good, mentally, to get back in the game. Aya was starting to remind him of a big cat at the zoo, pacing back and forth, going insane from the confinement.

 

"Weiss, we have very little information on this group." Yoji hadn't been paying attention during the "play with their emotions by showing disturbing photographs" portion of the meeting - he'd rather just read the report later - but hearing Manx say Kritiker didn't have much information made his stomach hurt. Because they didn't get much information at the best of times, and if Manx didn't think there was much to go on, they were basically being told, "There are bad guys out there doing something. Find them." That was a good way to get yourself killed, in Yoji's opinion, and he usually declined. But if Aya had to take this mission, Yoji would take it too. He sighed.

 

"We do know they are associated with a scientist who is conducting dangerous genetic experiments, and that they are distributing the pathogenic bacteria from a warehouse owned by this individual."

 

Wait a minute - pathogenic bacteria?

 

"Weiss, your mission is to eliminate this group and—"

 

"Um, excuse me?" Yoji cleared his throat. "You want us to go into a warehouse they're using to distribute a pathogenic bacteria?"

 

Manx looked mildly irritated at the interruption but remained brisk and businesslike. "That's right. We believe it is a new strain of Yersina pestis, mutated to live for years outside the human body. Such an adaptation would make the bacteria much more dangerous to its human host, and as a result -"

 

"Sorry," Yoji interrupted, feeling anything but. "Yersina pestis. What is that?"

 

"This is all in the mission report, Yoji."

 

"Humor me."

 

"Human infection takes three main forms -- pneumonic, septicemic, and bubonic. Now, if we can -"

 

"Septicemic? <i>Bubonic?</i> This is a bigger, better bubonic plague?" Yoji lit a cigarette and smoked half of it right down.

 

"The bacterium is believed to have been responsible for the Black Death that killed roughly one-third of the European population in the mid-fourteenth century, yes. But that strain is now treatable."

 

Yoji closed his eyes and sank back into the couch.

 

"Now, if I can continue the briefing?"

 

Yoji waved his hand weakly. Sure. Whatever. What was a little mutated plague among friends?

 

"Thank you. As I was going to say, this substance is of extreme importance to several groups, and the warehouse is being watched by a very dangerous group known as Schwartz. We know very little about this group…"

 

Damn it, this was just not his day. Bubonic plague. Schwartz. This sucked. Yoji glanced at Aya again, to see how he was taking it. Aya leaned against the wall in the far corner, arms crossed across his chest, strong, silent, and stoic. Of course, Aya was all about saving the world and shit, so he probably would have volunteered anyway. And they might as well throw Schwartz into it - what the hell. Make it a party. Yoji lit another cigarette and killed the next five minutes wondering what Manx wore at home, when she was in on a Friday night, just eating ice cream and watching a movie. Surely she took off the tight little suit and socks and stilettos, maybe even hired a wrangler to round up that insane mess of hair she had into a ponytail. He wouldn't recognize her, dressed like a real person. Did she own jeans? Sweatpants? It didn't seem possible.

 

"Kudoh, could you please let us know if you're accepting the mission or not? We have work to do."

 

"Oh. Um -" Yoji moved his head ever so slightly, so he could see Aya out of the corner of his eyes. Aya nodded, the barest of movements. "Yeah. I'm in. I mean, how often do you get to expose yourself to Black Death, right?"

 

Manx narrowed her eyes and shoved a mission folder at him. "I'll expect a preliminary report tomorrow," she said, sweeping smoothly up the stairs and out of the building. Yoji thought he'd seen her give Aya some kind of look, but he couldn't really tell.

 

Ken broke the silence. "Well, this sucks ass. More than usual."

 

Yoji nodded. "True that." He looked over at Omi and Aya - Omi first, to honor the pecking order. He didn't want to get Aya in trouble. "So. Bubonic plague. What's the game plan?"

 

"I'm sure Kritiker would suggest a safety protocol if they thought the situation were dangerous," Omi said. He sounded more like he wanted to believe it than like he did believe it.

 

Aya snorted. "We do what we always do. Go in and kill everybody, and hope for the best. Ignore the bacteria for now." He turned to Omi, looking thoughtful. "If Kritiker knows they're distributing a pathogenic bacteria, they should have some idea of how it's being delivered. It's probably not much of threat in its current state. Omi, any danger of Kritiker sharing that information?"

 

Omi looked relieved. "I'll talk to Manx."

 

"What about Schwartz?" Ken asked.

 

"I doubt that Schwartz wants to expose themselves to plague any more than we do. We just need to find out how it's being stored and make sure none of the targets decides to use it on us before we take them out." Aya shrugged smoothly, without that worrisome hitch Yoji had been tracking for weeks. "There have to be security protocols, if these people are working with it. They don't want to get infected either."

 

Yoji nodded, reassured. He had wondered if Schwartz might be immune to the bacteria or something, being that they were superfreaks and all, but Aya would know.

 

Aya looked at Ken, who also nodded.

 

"OK, then. Omi and I will go over the briefings, Omi will put together a list of further questions for Kritiker, and we'll work out a plan based on that. Don't leave without telling one of us; we'll want to move as soon as possible. At least, I think that's what Omi will want to do." Aya looked at Omi and waited.

 

Omi hesitated, then nodded. "Thanks, Aya. Ken and Yoji, we'll let you know when we're ready for you."

 

Ken leaped from his chair. Yoji often thought that Ken seemed to have so much energy that he might spontaneously combust. It would probably be best to stay a few feet away from him whenever possible.

 

"Want to play video games, Yoji?" Ken called, taking the stairs two at a time.

 

"No, Ken. Nice of you to keep asking, though." Yoji hauled himself off the couch and followed Ken at a discreet distance, in a manner he liked to think of as dignified. He met Aya's eyes as he walked by. "I'll be in my room." Aya nodded.

 

* * * *

 

"You're going to let Weiss kill the worker bees?" Schuldig said, looking out across the main floor of the warehouse.

 

"Yes. It will give them a false sense of confidence, and it will bother the Takatoris. A win-win situation, as they say."

 

More like he was throwing a bone to Red, who knew exactly how much damage Weiss could do to Schwartz - very little. Schuldig nodded amicably, though, running his fingers suggestively over one of the refrigerators. "Plague," he sniffed. "That's so fourteenth century."

 

Crawford rolled his eyes. "Everything the Takatoris do annoys me."

 

Schuldig laughed. "They do have a way about them."

 

"Two words: recently feudal."

 

"That may help explain the weird big daddy element, but a dynasty of overreaching freaks is a dynasty of overreaching freaks. That's the same no matter the time or place."

 

Crawford smiled tightly. "The devil, Schuldig, is in the details."

 

Schuldig laughed again. "Good one, herr fuhreur." Reveling in Crawford's obvious annoyance, he asked, "So what's the brief? You've been waiting for a vision about Red, haven't you?" His voice grew more nasal as he teased, "Oh, but you've let him go; I forgot. You don't care any more, so you aren't having any trouble seeing his future now, right? Not that you care anyway." He grinned widely. If they were in a cartoon, there would be big, visible waves of frustration coming off their mighty Oracle.

 

"We do not require any specific information about Mr. Fujimiya for this mission."

 

Oh, yeah. Crawford had been stalling, hoping for word from the fates, and the fates were still holding out on him. "Were you going to tell us what you want us to do, or is it just going to be a free for all? I'd be happy to kill any of them, of course, but especially their little leader. He really crawls up my ass. Something sketchy about him." Schuldig actually had a certain amount of affection for Red, who was one of their own, no matter what Crawford said in a fit of pique. But Crawford was not going to let anyone kill Red, so that was a moot point.

 

Crawford narrowed his eyes. "Keep them busy. Make it look like we're fighting them, hurt them a little if you want. But don't get carried away. Weiss is off limits."

 

Schuldig's eyebrows shot up. Not just Red, but the whole team. Now that was interesting.

 

"I'm seeing some flux in several important scenarios, and I want Weiss to remain intact until I've determined the best way to resolve the situation."

 

"Fine. I'll play with the little Takatori, though, unless you have another preference. And -" Schuldig smiled slyly, "I think Farfarello would like a go at Red."

 

Crawford closed his eyes, then opened them, taking off his glasses and polishing them on his jacket. "Yes, that's fine. I'll deal with Wolverine, and Nagi can entertain Mr. Kudoh."

 

Oh, the hatred that dripped off that name was sweeter than honey. Schuldig giggled happily. "I'll let them know."

 

"Thank you. And ask Farfarello to leave the plague alone. There was some disturbing discussion regarding the book of Revelations earlier today, and I'm not certain I fully communicated my opposition to Schwartz loosing the pale horse of the apocalypse."

 

Schuldig nodded. "I'll talk to him. Shouldn't be a problem, though. He'll have plenty of distraction." He cackled as he walked away, picturing Crawford's sour frown.

 

****

 

Yoji lay in wait, ready to take out bad guys as instructed and trying not to think about it too much. He eyed the freezers warily. Aya had insisted that there was nothing to worry about. He'd explained faux-patiently, in that "Jesus Christ, how do you even manage to get up in the morning and dress yourself?" tone he had, that the bacteria was stored at 20 below zero, so there wouldn't be a problem unless one of the bad guys broke open the sealed containers and rubbed the stuff all over them, held them down until it returned to room temperature, and made them lick it off each other. Yoji's life had taught him to hate jokes like that, and he resented Aya's seeming inability to understand why he still had the yips. Because, yeah, what was there to worry about?

 

And then there was Schwartz, waiting in the wings. Yoji hadn't been able to get Aya to tell him much about that - just that Aya would try to fight Crawford or Schuldig because they couldn't read him well, and that they should all stay away from Nagi if they could. Especially if anything actually happened to Crawford. Aya didn't say why, but Yoji hadn't liked the look on his face when he'd said it.

 

There hadn't been much time, granted, but Yoji would have felt a lot better if Aya had told him how he felt about facing Schwartz. It had to be hard, no matter how heartless Aya was pretending to be about it. Also, out of self-preservation, or selfishness, or something, Yoji couldn't help wondering if Crawford or Farfarello, or some combination thereof, would use this as an opportunity to wreak some vengeance on Yoji's ass.

 

And suddenly the com activated, and Aya's voice was sounding in his head. "Targets eliminated in the main office and perimeter. Move to phase two." Phase two was Omi, positioned above, picking off as many people on the main floor as he could with his darts. Yoji and Ken would move in to finish off the strays, and Aya would kill anybody who got past them.

 

It was all going very smoothly. Too smoothly. This plant was manufacturing fucking bubonic plague; shouldn't there be more of a security force? They'd killed a few guards on the way in, and Aya had cut down a few outside the office, but that wasn't enough. And where the hell was Schwartz? Omi might think Weiss had outsmarted them or beaten the odds or something, but Yoji knew better. Schwartz was letting them carry out their mission. It was fucking creepy.

 

Suddenly, there was Aya's voice in his ear again. "Enemy sighted. Mastermind approaching Bombay at 6 o'clock; the other three are off the main floor by the east door. I'll take Oracle." There was a brief pause, and then Omi's voice. "The other two will take Oracle. Abyssinian, the Berzerker is breaking out; follow him." Aya hesitated for only a second, then followed Omi's order.

 

****

 

Aya turned off his com - Farfarello's hearing was so good Aya sometimes wondered if he used echolocation.

 

Aya didn't have much choice about following Omi's order, and he hoped Crawford killed the little mother fucker. Pulling rank on him in the field… Aya took a deep breath and focused on what was important at the moment. And the truth was, he'd much rather hunt Farfarello than throw himself at Crawford anyway.

 

Forcing himself to calm down, Aya thought it through. Schuldig had probably put the idea in Omi's head. That meant Farfarello would know that Aya was the one coming after him. Aya hoped that didn't mean Schwartz was now murdering the rest of Weiss, but at the moment he needed to concentrate on keeping Farfarello from murdering him. Secure your own oxygen mask before helping others, and all.

 

Aya had an idea of what Farfarello would do; at least, he knew what he would do if their places were reversed, and Farfarello had taught him a lot of his moves. Aya slipped into a big, dark storage area. Almost no light, lots of places to lose yourself, plenty of blind corners. Aya found his spot quickly and climbed onto the beams framing the roof. He crouched, scanning for the slightest movement, focusing on nothing.

 

When he noticed the barest flicker of silver in the middle of the room - it was more an impression of movement than an actual sighting - Aya didn't stop to wonder if he'd really seen anything, didn't pause to map out a way to get over there. He leaped onto the I-beam in front of him and ran at full speed, hurling himself down onto where his target had seemed to be heading.

 

He got lucky. Farfarello had noticed the movement but wasn't quite been able to get away. Aya pinned him against the floor, lying on top of him and using everything he had to hold him steady, slamming Farfarello's arm against the concrete to get the knife out of his hand. Aya lay there for a moment, trying to catch his breath.

 

Farfarello tested Aya's hold and found he couldn't break it, at the moment. He just lay back, flexing his hips up against Aya's. He was hard, and Aya was, too. "Jesus, Joseph, and Mary," Farfarello whispered.

 

Aya closed his eyes, feeling a familiar madness slipping out of the darkness. He knew he needed to fight it, but the reason was getting too abstract to recognize. "What are we going to do?" Aya's lips brushed Farfarello's throat. "I can't hold you much longer, and I can't get away. All I can do is kill you." He wasn't going to; it didn't even need to be said.

 

"Just let go, then, Red." Farfarello's voice was rough and deep, but he snorted in amusement. "I won't kill you. Crawford would skin me for it, anyway. You have nothing to fear from Schwartz."

 

"What about Yoji?"

 

"And your little dog Toto, too." Farfarello giggled. "None of you. It's an order. Now do what you will with me, Red. I'm so horned up I'm about to cream my pants."

 

Aya rose enough to look Farfarello in the eye, and the need he saw there burned off the last of his common sense. "Make it look like we fought," Aya said, flipping them over so Farfarello was on top.

 

Farfarello's smile was wild and feral. "Aye," he whispered. "Shouldn't be too difficult, should it?" He licked Aya's cheek, then down his jaw to his neck, where he laved hungrily at Aya's pulse, pounding just beneath the skin. "You'll fight me, won't you?" He gripped Aya's shoulders painfully.

 

Aya spread his legs and brought his knees up, his thighs on either side of Farfarello's hips, pressing their erections together.

 

"Ooh, playing dirty already, are you?"

 

"Dirty," Aya breathed, staring into that glowing amber eye.

 

"I miss you, love." He pulled out his dagger and flicked it across Aya's throat with a practiced motion, not too deep. The pain was sharp and cut through a little of the fog; Aya lay motionless as Farfarello licked his blood off the blade, his body shivering.

 

"You're not fighting yet, Red," Farfarello murmured. He held the knife dangerously close to Aya's face. "Maybe you're falling asleep, stuck in that flower shop every day with the broken toys. Maybe I need to wake you up."

 

Aya wrenched his body to the left, the knife slicing along his cheekbone and Farfarello letting it go, grinning, as the momentum shoved him into the wall. He was up in a flash, but Aya was already crouched and had his sword drawn.

 

"Nice," Farfarello said, his excitement palpable. "You broke some ribs."

 

That would be enough for some opponents. Other, lesser men. Not Farfarello, who swayed a little, as if he heard music. They were at another impasse.

 

"You're beautiful with that sword, Red, like the Archangel Michael. He was a thug, too." Farfarello cackled delightedly as he dove at Aya with a blade that just appeared in his hand.

 

Aya blocked with the sword, levering up at a ninety-degree angle and hitting Farfarello's wrist with the pommel. The knife clattered to the ground, gouging Aya's thigh as it fell. He hissed in pain and thrust his blade at Farfarello's unprotected side, trying to land a hit before Farfarello could pull out another knife. He felt the strike, the impact traveling up the blade to his hand.

 

Farfarello jumped back, holding a good defensive stance even as he checked the wound in his side. Aya had done what he'd hoped to do - the gash was bleeding freely, deep enough to end the fight, as long as Farfarello hadn't completely lost the thread. You had to be careful when he started with the Biblical stuff.

 

Farfarello looked up, apparently transfixed. "What is the dragon, though, Red? Tell me," he said seductively. "Tell me your sacred oath."

 

Son of a bitch. "I don't know who you're talking to. I won the fight, though. You need to get that bandaged."

 

Farfarello smiled, tight and hard-edged. "Patient and merciful. You will be rewarded, Red. Satan will be cast out of heaven, and the tower will fall, and there will be light wherever you go."

 

"You're going to bleed out if you don't do something about that," Aya said, glancing at Farfarello's wound. Farfarello laughed as if that were a fine joke. Knowing there would be repercussions but not really caring, Aya sheathed his sword and held out his hand.

 

Farfarello threw a punch that felt like it was going to knock Aya's head off his shoulders, then flew at him, knocking him to the ground, crouching on top of him. Aya squeezed his eyes closed, feeling his brain rebounding against the inside of his skull. He forced himself to breathe evenly and ride out the pain. He was vaguely aware of being repositioned, of Farfarello moving frantically on top of him, inside of him, whispering heated words into his ear. "Mind yourself, love." Aya thought he was alone now, but it was all one toe over the line of what he could manage. He didn't even make the decision to let go; it just happened.

 

****

 

And once again, Schwartz had toyed with them for a while, and disappeared. Laughing. The white-haired freak had shown up looking quite a bit worse for the wear, though, so it looked like Aya, at least, had some success. Yoji was trying not to worry about what that might mean, but Aya hadn't rejoined them and hadn't turned on his com. Yoji was supposed to hold his position until Ken or Omi verified that Schwartz had officially left the building, but if getting the certificate took another five minutes, Yoji was going to go after Aya anyway.

 

Ken limped over and put his hand on Yoji's shoulder. "They're long gone. Omi's tying up some loose ends outside; let's go find Aya."

 

Yoji nodded, lighting a cigarette. He'd been frantic to move, just a moment ago, but now he wanted to put it off just a little longer. Aya might be dead, and Yoji wanted to hold on to the not knowing, just in case.

 

"They had to carry the Berzerker out. Looks like Aya did a lot better than the rest of us."

 

Ken sounded like he was recounting a winning soccer move, but Yoji knew too well about the terms of Aya's relationship with Farfarello to be equally enthusiastic. Although Aya had told him once that he sometimes won. "I just wish he'd turn his fucking com back on." Yoji winced at how brittle his voice sounded.

 

Ken turned to look at him. "It could mean anything, Yoji. Sometimes they go out."

 

Yoji looked at the ground. Yeah. Sometimes they did.

 

"Omi countermanded Aya's order."

 

Yoji nodded. "I noticed that. I'm sure Aya did, too."

 

"I didn't see any reason for it. I wonder if he was testing him."

 

"That, or pissing on the fence." Or trying to get Aya killed. And if that was it, Yoji thought darkly, there was going to be hell to pay. "Something's wrong, Ken. With all the noise we're making, he'd have come out by now." If he could.

 

Ken sighed. "Yeah. We should split up, huh?"

 

Yoji flicked his ash toward the storage room to their left. He had a feeling. "I'll take that one."

 

"I'll get the other side of the hall. Listen, Yoji - he wouldn't let that guy kill him."

 

Yoji flicked his cigarette butt and watched it skitter across the concrete floor. "It's like I told you, Ken. You don't really know him at all." He left Ken in the hall and walked through the hanging plastic sheets, into the darkness.

 

His eyes adjusted quickly, and Yoji started picking his way through the narrow aisles of the storage room. And what was being stored, anyway? Yoji thought about the plague again and shivered. Fucking Kritiker. He made his way to the far corner of the room and stopped, smelling blood. He headed that way, careful not to knock anything over. "Aya?" He called out quietly.

 

Something moved, quiet whispers of sound a couple of aisles over. Yoji could feel the panic he'd been holding back, now; it was OK to feel it, if Aya was alive and moving. The smell of blood was sharp and heavy, and Yoji finally made out Aya's shadowed form. He was leaning on a wooden crate, head back - definitely alive. Awake. Not answering, though. Yoji knelt beside him. "How bad is it?"

 

Aya coughed, winced. "Not bad. Concussion, probably." He opened his eyes and looked at Yoji. "You should see the other guy."

 

Yoji sank down to sit next to him on the floor, almost giddy with relief. "I did. I just wasn't sure who'd won."

 

"I beat him, sometimes."

 

"So you said."

 

"You're OK? And Ken and Omi?"

 

"Yeah. They obviously didn't have any intention of actually fighting us. Any idea what the hell's going on?"

 

Aya frowned. The movement pulled open a cut on his face, making it seep fresh blood. And Yoji could see bruises, even in the dark. He could also smell the sex. It fucking hurt.

 

"Looks like you got into a real fight."

 

"Felt like a fight."

 

"Not that you know the difference."

 

"You knew what I was. That's what attracted you in the first place."

 

Yoji's fists tightened. "You said you loved me."

 

Aya sighed, sounding put upon. "I do love you."

 

And Yoji was so fucking confused, because he was almost mad enough at Aya to kill him. And at the same time, his heart contracted painfully with hope, because that was the first time Aya had ever just come out and said it. "But you love him, too."

 

"Fararello? No. I've told you that."

 

"I didn't believe you."

 

Aya shrugged. "Nothing I can do about that."

 

Yoji closed his eyes, just for a second. "Can you get up? Ken's looking for you, and Omi's going to be coming after us too."

 

Aya frowned but started easing himself up, leaning against the box behind him for support. Yoji took pity and helped him up. Sighing, he put his arm around Aya's shoulders and helped him walk out of the building.