Aya waited for the flight from Japan with mixed feelings. He wasn’t sure how Crashers would react to his current lifestyle but in the end it didn’t matter what they thought.
Yohji yawned and offered Aya the second cup of coffee in his hand. "They would pick a flight that got them here in the middle of the night," the blond complained softly. Crawford had insisted he come with Aya in the event of trouble. Knowing their lover the way he did, he doubted he was there because of any threat. No, in that case most of Schwarz would be there as back up.
He glanced down the concourse and frowned when he spotted Farfarello getting a tea from the same place he'd gotten the coffee.
"Farf's here. I'd bet Schuldig isn't far away either."
Aya shrugged. “Brad wasn’t too sure about Crashers intentions towards us. I’d have been more surprised if they hadn’t been here.” He sighed. “Why does it always take longer to get through immigration, passport control, baggage claim and customs than it does to make the damned flight? They touched down nearly an hour ago!”
"Calm down, Aya. They'll be here when they get here. And Brad you know doesn't trust anyone but Schwarz, so yeah it makes sense that he'd send backup even if he told me he hadn't seen anything drastic happening."
“What he might have seen is tension between you and Yuushi.” Aya sipped at his coffee. A sudden influx of people marked the end of formalities for the flight from Japan and he stood up. It was, inevitably, Naru’s bright outfit that first caught his eye and he winced. Lime green and orange? Pawn’s dress sense was getting worse. Either that or the youngest member of Crashers was simply colour blind.
Then he spotted Yuushi and time, while neither standing still nor going backwards, seemed to slow. The tall, elegant blonde had changed very little in the intervening years since he’d left Crashers and he wondered if they would argue as much as they always had in the past.
“There they are,” he said to Yohji.
Yohji caught sight of the other blond man. Knowing that this guy was Aya's prior lover did send a twinge of jealously through him, but he held it in check. That relationship was long over and he was very sure Aya had outgrown his youthful attraction to the other man.
Although, looking at Aya's expression he wasn't so terribly sure of that.
He stepped closer to Aya, fighting the urge make sure the other blond knew to keep his hands off by putting an arm around his lover.
But Aya wouldn't appreciate that so he stopped himself.
The four men and one woman spotted Aya and made their way over stopping just before reaching Aya and Yohji. They stood staring at each other until Masato grinned. “Friends or foes?” he asked.
“That rather depends on whether you still take orders from Takatori Mamoru,” Aya said seriously.
Queen grimaced. “Considering that last time they met I had to stop Yuushi from beating the little shit to a bloody pulp I think we can safely assume we are now expendable. This is the only assignment he’s given us since then.”
Aya grinned ruefully and the tension seemed to seep out of him. He pulled Yohji forward. “This is Yohji. You know him as Balinese.”
Yuushi stared at the other blond for a moment before nodding politely.
Yohji returned the man's nod. "We'll take you to the hotel where we're staying. Brad wants you to rest before we have our meeting. You must be jet lagged after such a long flight " Yohji said to them.
Reichi smiled. “That is much appreciated, thank you.”
Aya led the way towards the exit. “We hired a couple of cars so there should be enough room for all your stuff.”
Farfarello joined the group as they reached where he'd been waiting. "Schuldig says there is no sign of any RK people around so Brad was right. The local team is steering clear of us."
"That's something at least," Yohji remarked as he took the cookie that Farfarello offered him. He was hungry and had been since Brad put such a strain on his power, and so far he hadn't managed to stop being hungry.
"The hotel has a great restaurant and they bring almost everything up through room service," Yohji told the Crashers.
“How the other half live,” Masato said with a grin.
Reichi was studying Farfarello a little dubiously. The man seemed sane enough at the moment but it was difficult to get over his reputation.
“We put everything in secure storage, Ran,” Naru was saying, “so Kritiker can’t use any of it. What we think we’ll need is being shipped.” The young man was almost bouncing along the pavement.
"The Takatori has made a pact with our former masters," Farfarello stated as he spun around, walking backward for a few steps, his eye on a rather attractive young man. "Nice ass, but not nearly as shapely as yours, Kudoh."
"Thanks, Farf," Yohji replied. "Oh, word to the wise, this place is a serious tourist trap. Avoid shopping for clothes in the hotel if you can help it."
Naru sniffed. “I doubt if they’d have anything I’d like.”
Masato chuckled. “We’re still trying to work out exactly where you do your shopping Naru!”
“The clothes aren’t the problem, it’s the colours.” Yuushi joined in the teasing of his young friend.
“Just because neither of you two old farts have any sense of fashion…”
“Old? Did you hear that Yuushi? He called us old!”
“He’s entitled to his misguided opinions, Masato.”
“Listen, kid, Yuushi’s twenty-seven and I’m thirty-five.”
“And I’m just twenty and that still makes you old!”
Aya turned away to hide his smile. Expendable or not, Crashers were still having the same old arguments.
Reichi walked beside him, studying him with all the skill of a master spy. The hair hadn’t changed much, although he seemed to be growing it out a little at back. The eyes were still watchful, focused but something fundamental had changed about Ran.
“You’ve finally found peace,” he said so that nobody else could hear.
Aya turned his head and smiled at his one-time leader. “Yes,” he said simply.
They got to the exit of the airport and Farfarello took the lead, heading to where Aya and Schuldig had parked the cars, the German having stayed with them to assure they remained free of tampering.
"The cars are this way," he told the Crashers. He glanced at the boy in the eye-bleeding colours and smirked. It was going to be hard for all of them not to pick on the kid for the way he dressed.
"You're about the same age as Nagi, Kai, Zeshin and Ken," Yohji said to Naru. "And none of them are going to understand that riot of colour you're wearing." Yohji cocked his head to one side, "Though I've seen some wild parrots flying around that are almost in your league."
Farfarello chuckled, "Almost being the key word."
Naru sighed. “Why am I the only person I know with any sense of style?”
Schuldig turned to see what all the fuss was about, blinked and pulled his sunglasses down to cover his eyes. *And he’s a spy?*
*No, that’s Masato and Reichi. He’s the explosives expert.*
*Mein Gott!*
*And people think I'm scary,* Farfarello remarked silently, still very amused by the kid's avowed fashion sense.
*He's an eyeful, that's for sure,* Yohji agreed as he pushed his own sunglasses closer to his eyes. *At least he's cute.*
*Cute, yes. But I wonder if Zeshin will survive the colour shock. You know how sensitive he can be,* Farfarello said.
*If Zeshin can succeed in getting him out of the habit of wearing clashing colours, I think he’ll have everyone’s heartfelt thanks.* Aya was amused by the reaction of his current family to the youngest of a group who had almost managed to become his second.
“No, Naru, you’re the only person you know who has no sense of colour,” Reichi said, “the styles are fine.”
Naru stopped by Schuldig and scowled at him.
Yuushi sighed. “Naru, be polite.”
“Was it polite of him to put his glasses on when he saw me?”
“That was probably to stop his eyes bleeding. He’s not used to you the way we are.”
*And about now is when he usually descends into sulking.* Aya informed the others.
Yohji opened the trunk of the car Aya was driving. "Sorry that all we could get were cars, we tried for an SUV but they're all rented," Yohji remarked.
"Apparently we arrived at the height of the tourist season," Farfarello added. "And everywhere you go its crowded, which is why we opt for room service. Brad hates being crowded by strangers."
“Cars will be fine,” Reichi assured them. “There’s no real need for an SUV in a major city.”
“And you were right. All we need just now is sleep,” Queen added.
“Well, Naru will argue that he doesn’t,” Masato said with a grin for their youngest.
"Well I'm sure Ken, Nagi, Zen and Aya-chan can keep him busy if he's not tired. Ken mentioned going swimming this morning," Yohji replied. "That won't be for a while since he's probably asleep right now."
"Zeshin was awake when we left," Farfarello informed them. "He doesn't sleep much, plus he was keeping an eye on our guest, War."
“War? Wasn’t that a codename for one of the Rosenkreuz operatives?” Yuushi asked.
“Yes, he’s the last survivor of his team, apparently. And he’s not someone you want to get on the wrong side of. He can twist your mind so you start fighting your friends, lovers, anyone.” Aya’s tone was harsh.
"He's powerful, but he can't sustain or control his ability very well," Yohji added. "He got Brad and Aya to the point where they were ready to kill one another. The little bastard has been kept drugged ever since."
Yuushi frowned. There had been a time not so long past when he’d have put money on Ran and Crawford killing each other on sight. Now they were so close that someone had been drugged to stop them fighting? He glanced at Ran to find he was waiting patiently for them to get themselves into the cars.
He raised an eyebrow at Ran but all the redhead did was shrug.
Yohji got into the front seat of the car Aya was driving. "I wonder if Brad would like some of that gourmet coffee they're selling in that shop in the lobby? We've got a coffee maker in the suite," Yohji asked Aya as he got into the car. "Brad's been awfully quiet since that megavision of his."
He looked at the man known as Knight. "A lot has happened since we defected," he told other man. "For starters, his name is Aya, not Ran."
“Stop it, Yohji,” Aya said. “Crashers have always called me Ran. It was my name then after all.”
“Would you prefer us to call you Aya?” Yuushi asked.
“I’m not bothered either way. Whatever you’re comfortable with.” He started the car, shooting Yohji a warning glare as he did so.
Yohji put on his most innocent expression and closed the car door. "Some things don't change though," he muttered.
In the back seat, Yuushi exchanged a glance with Masato who grinned. Aya sighed and pulled away from the airport parking lot. It was going to be a long and trying day.
Yohji pulled the pack of cigarettes he'd picked up in the hotel store from his pocket, glanced out of the corner of his eye, got one of the smokes from the pack and started to light it.
Aya reached across, threw the smoke out of the window and confiscated the lighter all without taking his eyes off the road.
Yohji turned a glare on Aya. "I stopped drinking, I get to smoke damnit."
“Not in a confined space you don’t. Masato isn’t smoking, why should you? You’ve only got a twenty minute wait till we get back.”
"Fine, Aya. I'll be a good boy." He stared out of the window. "I think I'm going to kick Brad in the ass. Ever since he tapped me for that vision I'm hungry constantly."
“You want to try kicking Brad, be my guest. He’ll put you on your ass though and you know it.”
Yuushi opened his mouth, thought better of it and shut it again. “Very wise,” Masato murmured. “You should know by now that he can argue with three separate people simultaneously and still not lose the thread of any of them.”
"Yeah, I know it. And the bitch of it all is you can't get the drop on the bastard either," Yohji grumbled.
“Tell me about it.” Yuushi’s plea was heartfelt.
“When you idiots have quite finished…” was all the response Aya gave.
"I wasn't talking about you, Aya, I was talking about Brad. You can't get the drop on him either."
“Nor was I addressing you, Yohji, even though you are an idiot. As for getting the drop on Brad, I’ve got more sense than to try.”
Yohji just smiled at Aya, a mischievous sparkle in his jade eyes. "Okay Aya. I'll just keep this in mind the next time you're in the mood to play."
Aya shook his head. “I don’t try to kick his ass when I’m playing.”
"Oh now I should have thought of that. I'll have to keep it in mind. But hell, he probably knows every damned thing we'll do or say for the next decade." Yohji chuckled. "You've got to be really slick to pull one over on Brad."
“That’s true enough.”
“I must admit hearing you’d joined up with Schwarz came as a bit of a shock,” Yuushi said. “I thought you hated Crawford.”
“Not since he handed me Reiji Takatori on a plate, no. I can trust him, Yuushi and after other betrayals that means a lot.”
"We have other reasons too," Yohji added. "Like the fact that the Takatori lied to us and ordered his pet assassin to kill us while we were on a mission."
“What?” Masato sat bolt upright in the back. He exchanged a look with Yuushi. “You should have hit the little shit even harder, Yuushi.”
"Ken tried to kill him. Tried being the operative word," Yohji told them. He turned in his seat, "He honestly deserves to die for the things he did to us. We thought he was our friend, that we could trust him. We found out differently."
“Seemingly, so did we,” Yuushi said, “although we didn’t have the added pain of his being part of our team.”
“It would be like Naru turning on us,” Masato said slowly.
“No, Masato, it was worse than that for Ken. He was Omi’s lover,” Aya said.
"He decided we weren't his friends, we were just expendable freaks. And now he's teaming up with RK in order to bring us down." Yohji yawned. "Damn Schuldig. He's thinking about going to sleep and I'm picking it up."
“Yeah we picked that much up. That was Saijou’s idea originally. It’s only a matter of time before those two turn on each other. Our bet is on Mamoru getting rid of both the old man and the cousin he’s kept so carefully hidden.”
"Cousin?" Yohji looked at Aya, "That's a new one on me."
Aya frowned. “If there was another Takatori brat it would make sense for the old man to groom him carefully and away from other influences.”
“There is,” Masato said, “Takatori Reiji had a string of mistresses and it stands to reason that at least one of them had a son by him. When the old man started openly interfering in Kritiker and sent us in when Mamoru and a new team of assassins were taking down a Rosenkreuz facility, we started figuring a few things out. You don’t deliberately attempt to kill your only surviving heir.
“Reichi and I found the young man at Saijou’s Kyoto home, tucked away from the world and ready to emerge like some evil butterfly from its chrysalis when Mamoru is out of the way.”
“Did you tell Mamoru?” Aya asked.
“No,” Yuushi said quietly, “he told us a month or two back that he might need us to do a little job for him in Kyoto. We’d already found out the truth and pieced it together from there. Somehow he knows.”
"That whole family is a twisted mess," Yohji muttered. "There's the hotel."
Masato stared at the five star edifice. “Wow! How the other half live. I’m impressed.”
“Bit different to a flower shop, ne?”
“Very, very different. Or one of Kritiker’s crummy safe houses.”
Aya shrugged. “The cabin was nice at least.” He pulled into the hotel’s underground parking lot and found a spot close to the elevator up. “They’re expecting you and you have the suite next to ours.”
"Brad takes care of his own," Yohji agreed as he got out of the car. "I'll help you get checked in. The desk clerk recognizes me on sight. She doesn't want to believe I'm not interested in her ample charms."
Aya rolled his eyes and shook his head. "It's your own fault. You shouldn't have flirted with her in the first place."
"I didn't flirt!" Yohji's reply was indignant. "Well... maybe a little."
Aya popped the trunk for Yuushi and Masato to retrieve their luggage. “Yohji, you can’t help yourself round women. It’s second nature for you to flirt.” He locked the car, handed the keys to Yuushi and linked his arm with Yohji’s as they headed towards the elevator that would take them to the foyer.
Behind him Yuushi’s eyes widened and he exchanged a look with Masato. Uptight Ran would never have done such a thing.
Yohji smiled and placed a quick kiss on Aya's mouth. "Love you," he murmured and reached up to smooth Aya's hair from his eyes.
Aya leaned into the touch as they waited for the elevator.
Schuldig’s car load had arrived by this time and they all managed to get into the lift together. When they reached the foyer, Aya nudged Yohji. “Go on, Casanova, do your stuff.” He gestured towards the desk and the plump woman standing behind it and beaming at his lover.
"Yeah, okay." Yohji went over to the desk and put on one of his charming smiles. "Our friends just arrived. Can we get the key cards to their suite?"
As everyone watched the woman visibly melted into a puddle of giggly inanity as she processed the cards. Yuushi gazed at Aya. “Don’t you mind that?”
Aya shook his head, an appreciative smirk on his face. “He can’t help himself. It comes naturally to him to make women feel good about themselves and its not like he’s going to do anything about it. He’s much too busy with us.”
Yuushi frowned. “Us?”
“Yeah,” was all Aya said. Yuushi would find out the truth sooner or later and he found he didn’t much care what the man thought.
Yohji returned with the cards, enough of them that everyone in Crashers could have their own, and handed them to Yuushi. "Don't lose them. They cost money if you do."
He pushed the button that would call the elevator, "She's going to send housekeeping up later so they can bring us clean towels and more coffee for Brad and tea for you. I told her we're out of everything." He slipped his arm around Aya. "She invited me to her place again. She even said you could come along."
“Oh wonderful, a threesome with a whale. Thanks Yohji but I think I’ll pass. You go if you want.” Aya’s tone was all sweetness and both Masato and Reichi choked back laughter.
"Whale? Now that's unkind, Aya. Somewhat accurate, but unkind all the same," Yohji replied. "Besides she offered to cook for us. She thinks we're too skinny, can you believe it?" He poked Aya in the ribs. "You feel fine to me."
“Poke me again and you’ll lose your hand!”
Yuushi tensed. This was the Ran that he remembered surely. But no. There was a grin an the redhead’s face and his head had come to rest on Yohji’s shoulder.
“Can you imagine what she’d cook? Ugh!”
It was Naru’s turn to snicker.
"She promised Ken and Nagi grilled steak, actually," Farfarello commented and leaned closer to Schuldig. "You aren't the only one of us she flirts with, Kudoh. She's lonely, according to Ken."
"Really?" Yohji acted as if he were considering the offer. "If we took Brad we might be okay, and I already know she makes good coffee."
“You and Brad go then,” Aya suggested with a smirk. “I’m sure he’ll love the idea!”
“If she really is lonely, maybe we should accept the offer of a meal, at least,” Schuldig said.
Aya thought about that. If she had promised Ken and Nagi steak her motives probably weren’t sexual. “You could be right,” he said slowly before frowning. “We have more important things to think about!”
"I don't know, the way I've been lately, food is a pretty high priority," Yohji said as the elevator came to a stop at their floor.
"Penthouse suites, everybody off," Farfarello stated as the door opened.
"I'd love to get off," Yohji quipped.
Crashers followed them out of the elevator and stared at the high class surroundings. As Kritiker operatives they were used to the same crumby safe houses as Weiss once were and the opulence of the small lobby amazed them.
“Yours is the door on the left,” Aya told them. “There’s plenty of room for all of you and room service is always happy to oblige. Get some rest. One of us will come and get you in a few hours and then we can talk.”
“Ra…Aya, thank you,” Yuushi said.
“Don’t thank me. Thank Brad Crawford later.”
"Papa Brad knows how to take care of us, in style," Yohji stated, his pride in their lover very evident in his voice and the smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
The door of their own suite opened, a pair of gold eyes peering into the hallway from beneath a fall of silvery hair. "Good, you got back just in time. Someone needs to drug our friend. He woke up about an hour ago, and I fed him and put him in the bathroom, but he's starting to become more aware than Crawford wants him to be," Zeshin murmured, keeping his voice low out of respect for the rest of Schwarz who were still sleeping.
“I’ll deal with it,” Aya said. He turned to Crashers. “I’ll see you all later.” Then he was disappearing into the Schwarz suite.
Yuushi made as if to go after him then thought better of it and sighed.
Yohji looked at the other blond. "He's the same, and he's changed a lot since you knew him," he told the other man. "and you might not like those changes. I thought you should know."
He turned to follow Aya inside.
“You mean the fact that you’ve joined Schwarz? The changes you speak of seem to be for the better.” Yuushi smiled and leaned against Masato who put his arms around him. “I’m not your rival, Yohji. I let him go when he left Crashers.”
Yohji shook his head. "No, I mean the fact that Aya, Crawford and I are lovers and it's not me you need to worry about. It's Brad. He's a very possessive son of a bitch, and when he decides something-- or someone-- belongs to him it's no use trying to get away. He won't let you.
"Keep that in mind."
Yuushi merely stared at the other blond before chuckling. “Like I said, I… no we… let him go years ago.”
Yohji paused at the door. "You mistake what I'm telling you. Brad might not let you go now that he's got you."
The door swung closed behind Yohji.
Farfarello grinned at the men. "He's right, but I don't think you have much to worry about. Brad didn't mention keeping you."
“I’m glad to hear it,” Reichi said. “Besides, I doubt that any of us have the talents that might interest him.”
Farfarello motioned to Schuldig, "Come on, I'm sure they're tired and want to get some rest." He yawned. "Which isn't a bad idea."
* * * * * * *
It was nearly lunchtime before Nagi crossed the hall to knock on the door of the suite Crashers had been given. It was opened by a tousled Naru.
“Brad’s sent for lunch if you’d like to join us,” Nagi said.
“Sounds good to me. We’ll be right over.”
Nagi nodded and returned to his own suite. “They’re on their way,” he told Brad.
Crawford nodded and gave the young man a warm smile. "Good."
Zeshin leaned close to Aya-chan and purred into her ear, wanting to hear her giggle.
Yawning, Yohji joined the rest of them at the table, filching a pancake from the platter and eating it without syrup.
Ken shook his head. "Yohji you've got the table manners of a goat."
"And the goat's hungry," the blond retorted as he dropped into the chair between Brad and Aya. "Besides I saw you grab two pieces of bacon before the platter was even on the table, so don't complain about my manners."
Ken grinned. "Wrong. Farf was the first one to take something."
"That's it, drag me into this," Farfarello muttered. "All I took was..."
"Three pancakes, a piece of sausage and some scrambled eggs," Ken stated.
"They weren't for me, they were for that drooling bitch in the bathroom."
"All right settle down," Brad urged. "Our guests will be here shortly."
“I think I ought to warn everyone who hasn’t yet seen him that Naru seems to be colour blind,” Aya said as he buttered some toast. “So his outfits tend to be a little on the bright side.”
There was a knock at the door and after being told it was open, Crashers entered en masse. Today Naru had toned it down a little although he was still resplendent in a lilac cap, yellow and blue striped top and purple cargo pants.
Nagi and Aya-chan both winced slightly.
Zeshin stared, eyes wide, lips parted in total shock at the colour combination.
"Wow, that almost goes together," Farfarello commented.
Yohji pushed his sunglasses up and smiled as he helped himself to more pancakes.
"Please have seats and enjoy some breakfast before my swarm of locusts manage to devour it," Brad told the newly arrived Crashers. "And don't get too close to Kudoh, when he gets hungry it's best not to get between him and the food."
There was a chuckle from Masato and Crashers took seats around the table.
“I think it’s a contest between Yohji and Ken,” Nagi commented as he watched his lover almost inhale a plate of scrambled eggs. “Difference being Ken doesn’t have quite the need for it that Yohji does.”
Crashers seemed to come to an unspoken agreement that if they didn’t grab some food now they were going to go hungry as five hands reached for various platters.
Ken turned to stare at Nagi. "I could say something about being kept up most of the night doing certain things with a certain person, but I won't mention what that might be, or who that might be."
Yohji poured syrup onto his pancakes. "Sounds familiar somehow," he told Ken.
Farfarello yawned and scooped some eggs onto his plate. "Yes, it does for some reason."
Nagi flushed before muttering, “I didn’t twist your arm, Kenken.”
"No, there was no twisting involved," Ken replied, as he reached for the toast and took a slice. "But there were a lot of aerobic activities."
"Hn," Yohji grunted. "Be glad you've only got one to give you a work out Ken."
"Be glad neither of yours is a telekinetic."
Reichi watched the interplay with great interest. If this new and enlarged Schwarz intended to take on Rosenkreuz they appeared to have the right attitude. He felt someone watching him and glanced up to find Aya gazing at him with a half smile on his face.
"When we're done we'll try to make Kritiker free of corruption for you," he said. "I know that's what you want."
Brad turned his gaze on Aya and raised one eyebrow. "Perhaps someone should consult with the leader of this team before any promises are made."
Brad leaned over and placed a quick kiss on Aya's cheek, "But you're forgiven since I already knew you'd make that promise."
“Of course you did. I still have more Takatori to deal with after all.”
Kai was staring down at his half empty plate, Ken’s ‘neither’ ringing in his ears. Brad might love him but he doubted if either of the other two did.
Yohji picked up a strawberry and held it to Kai's lips. "These are sweet as your kisses, Kai. You should try one."
Kai glanced up at Yohji and blushed prettily. Perhaps he was wrong after all.
"You seriously think that wiping them out will stop the corruption?" Yuushi was asking Aya.
"Yes. Especially if you or Reichi take over as...King. I believe the title of Persia should die out don't you? You'll need a good team of assassins but they're easy enough to find if you find people with enough hatred in their hearts for the injustices done to them. " Aya smiled. "Of course, none of them will be as good as we were."
"Well, you have to admit, pretty kitten, that most people aren't like you, Kudoh or the precious Kenken," Farfarello said as he contemplated the piece of breakfast steak on his plate.
Ken choked on the drink of juice he'd just taken. "Precious?" He glanced at Schuldig, "What drugs has he been in?"
“No drugs, Kenken. You are precious to us especially as you make Nagi happy enough to actually smile occasionally.”
Brad smiled at Yuushi. "You forget to whom you are speaking, Knight. With Schwarz helping you anything is possible."
Reichi frowned as he poured some coffee for himself. “We have to ask ourselves what the Schwarz agenda is though. You must admit we have been considering you to be on the side of our enemies for years now.”
"Then you haven't been paying close attention," Farfarello remarked. He glanced at the food on the table. "This reminds me of breakfast in Sacramento, but with less grease."
"Yeah, it does," Yohji agreed and helped himself to another pancake.
"To put it bluntly, the Schwarz agenda has always been to bring the whole of Rosenkreuz and Esset down in ruins," Brad told them. "And to grab something for ourselves." He smiled, the emotion reaching all the way to his eyes. "We've got what we've always wanted," he touched Aya's cheek, "Weiss was always the other half of my team, they just didn't know it."
Aya rubbed his face against Brad’s hand like a cat would. “Your real enemies are your leaders, not us, and you should know that by now.”
Schuldig smirked. “But there’s no need to worry. It’ll be our pleasure to take care of them too.”
“No need to worry. Mamoru will take care of two thirds of the job for us, Schu. Then we’ll finish it.” He stopped rubbing his cheek against Brad’s hand and reached for the tea, smiling at Crashers as he did so. “Basically you’re here because we considered you the part of Kritiker worth saving. Manx might be, Birman isn’t.”
"Our main concern at this time is to decide what to do regarding your assignment to kill us," Brad commented as he took a bite of the scrambled eggs.
“You knew about that yet you told us where you were?” Reichi was astonished.
“Yes,” Aya said. “Was I wrong?”
“No, you weren’t wrong. We knew as soon as we were given the assignment that we were meant to die trying.” Yuushi’s tone was bitter.
Naru stared at his bacon before pushing his plate away his appetite gone.
“The little shit even instructed Queen to come with us. That would be like telling Manx to go on a suicide mission with you when you were Weiss.” Masato was obviously angry about that.
“If you succeeded in killing some of us all well and good I guess?” Kai sounded resigned. “When you stop and think about it it’s Kritiker’s usual modus operandi.”
"And not so very different from how Rosenkreuz operates either," Farfarello commented.
"Soon there will be no difference at all. Not if my dear son has anything to say about it. He's all for killing the Takatori and taking charge of Kritiker," Brad told them as he buttered some toast.
“Your son?” Reichi asked. “Genetic engineering?”
“Oh yes,” Schuldig said bitterly. “There seem to be two from Brad, two from Farfarello and one from me.”
"Of course, we have one of mine already," Farfarello said, and turned a smile on Zeshin. "I hope we can get the second one, I'd like to have a matched set."
"In my case, I think only one of mine may be salvageable," Brad told them.
Schuldig shrugged. “I guess mine could jump either way.”
Aya was frowning over his tea. “Which one of yours? I didn’t care for either of them very much.”
"The girl. I think with some time, she'll come around and realize what Rosen did to them," Brad said. He smiled at Schuldig, "Oh that boy of yours is also partially mine. Do you realize he hates Rosen, very much as you do. He's also going to prove quite useful. His talent is much more powerful than they realize."
He took a sip of his coffee and sighed. "Unfortunately Erik will never accept me as his father, or someone to respect. He's been deeply brainwashed."
“Please forgive me if I‘m wrong,” Reichi said, “but wouldn’t it be better to take down those who did the brainwashing?”
"Well that is our intent. But we'd like to salvage some of our children from the mess," Brad explained. "I'm afraid that there is no salvaging Erik. He has certain.... proclivities that exclude his survival."
“So you will kill a child, your own flesh and blood?” Yuushi was obviously horrified.
Aya sighed. He’d almost forgotten that annoying honourable streak that Yuushi had. If it manifested now it was going to be a damned nuisance.
“Did you ever see The Omen?” Nagi asked in his quiet way. When Yuushi nodded Nagi shrugged. “And were you rooting for Damien to live?”
“Well no, of course not but that’s just fiction, a movie makers nightmare scenario.”
“Is it? But then you’ve never come across a Rosenkreuz child have you?”
"Nagi's right, unfortunately. Erik is too warped to be saved," Brad stated as he pushed his mostly empty plate away. "Incest is the mildest of his perversions."
“Incest? I thought you said they were children?”
"Until recently, he was approaching puberty. A bit of time tampering removed that potential for the time being, but he is quite fixated on his younger sister and wouldn't hesitate to use his younger brother, Schuldig's son, as he pleased were it within his ability already." Brad pushed took his glasses off and used a spare napkin to start wiping the lenses off. "Rosenkruez training is... brutal. Children are often raped. Even adults suffer sexually based punishments." He started to clean the second lens. "I was raped numerous times," he admitted. "And sexually..." he looked up at the Crashers, "I'm quite deviant as a result of things done to me as a boy."
Yuushi shot a horrified look at Aya as the redhead spoke. “At least you have an excuse, Brad. Where did my deviant nature come from?” There was no sign of despair or remorse on Aya’s face, just curiosity.
"Probably the same place your red hair and unusual power came from," Brad remarked in all seriousness.
“My Norwegian great-grandfather?” Aya chuckled. “Apparently that’s where my hair was supposed to come from.”
Yohji eyed his lover, "Norwegian? Really? I never knew." He touched his own blond hair, "No explanation for this at all. None. Not for any of it."
“The possibility is that there was an albino or European way back in your blood line,” Schuldig said, “and I do mean way back. Probably around the time of Oda Nobunaga. I think he was the first to welcome foreigners to your country before the Tokugawa closed it off again.”
"Possible I suppose. My father denied it, so did my mother, but who knows?" Yohji belched, "Excuse me. I ate too fast again."
"Yohji, vacuum cleaners don't suck stuff up as fast as you do," Ken remarked.
Zeshin couldn't stifle the giggle and he blushed embarrassed by his rude reaction.
The action and reaction did dispel some of the atmosphere that had built up between the two teams and everyone relaxed again, Naru even going so far as to resume his breakfast.
“So what do you intend to do with the guy in the bathroom?” Masato asked.
Brad replaced his glasses. "I was actually thinking you might take him off our hands." He glanced at Naru, slyly and picked up his coffee. "I think you might have what he's really looking for."
Aya shot him a look. “That’s a bit harsh isn’t it? At least we know how to shield ourselves from his talent.”
“And even you are keeping him drugged,” Reichi pointed out “so what makes you think we have what he’s looking for?”
Queen, however, was staring at Naru as if seeing him for the first time and, on a certain level she was. She had Reichi, Yuushi and Masato had each other and that left Naru very much alone. She found herself wondering about his sexuality for the first time in years. Had they been so single-minded as Kritiker? She had to admit that they had.
She glanced at the new Schwarz. All of them happily partnered, or more, off and working together as one because of it. “I think we should take a look at him, at least.”
Zeshin got up from the table. "I'll get him," he stated and headed for where they'd been keeping War under wraps.
"Considering what you may soon be facing, you might just find him to be useful," Brad remarked as he picked up his coffee and took a sip.
Aya couldn’t argue with that logic so kept quiet, his expression thoughtful. Naru was as old, if not older than Nagi and, as far as he was aware, still a virgin. He frowned to himself, wondering if Pawn was straight. *Schu?*
There was a mental chuckle from the other redhead. *Quit worrying, Aya, Naru’s looking for the right man not woman.*
Aya shot the telepath a quick smile of thanks before sipping at his tea.
Zeshin came out, leading a very groggy Ramon. The teen was shoved onto the couch where he dropped almost boneless from the drug, and sat dull-eyed.
"He's been on that stuff too much. He can barely walk," Zeshin remarked as he sat down beside Aya-chan and picked up his fork.
"Safer for everyone that way," Ken remarked as he reached over to wipe some jam off of Nagi's face. Ken smiled and kissed it away instead.
"Zen's right, the kid does look bad," Yohji commented as he went to check on the former Rosenkruez operative who didn't even react when Yohji touched him, the teen acting as if he was asleep despite the fact his eyes were open.
Naru took in the long hair and the pretty face and his breath hitched. This was what he’d been looking for. He cast a glance at the other members of his team who were frowning at the drugged teen.
“Don’t you think you might have overdone it just a little?” Masato asked sardonically.
Aya looked up at that. “No,” he said. “He’s frightened and because he’s frightened he’s dangerous. He could have you and Yuushi at each others throats in seconds.”
"His power is subtle but more than deadly enough to have even gotten the pair of us ready to kill one another," Brad commented as he took another sip of his coffee.
Yuushi was thinking back to when Aya had been Weiss and had fought this man for the right to kill Takatori Reiji and for the return of his sister. Was it so unusual for them to want to kill each other? Aya’s head leaning against Crawford’s shoulder effectively answered that question and he kept quiet. Things had very definitely changed and Ran….no Aya was happier than he’d ever seen him before.
“So he’s likely to be a viper in our midst?” Reichi was asking.
"At first he'll be dangerous for you, but I've seen what an asset he will be in a few weeks. For you at any rate. He's too afraid of us so we'd have to keep him drugged. Fear is his worst enemy." Brad put his cup down and slipped an arm around his lover, nuzzling his hair, breathing in his scent.
Aya was his. The man he'd lusted after for so long was actually his. The thought brought a smile to his face.
Zeshin held a piece of toast to Ramon's lips. "Eat."
Dull eyes regarded the Schwarz leopard-boy with little sign of comprehension.
"Brad's right, he can't stay with us," Yohji agreed. "He won't last long drugged like this."
Naru jumped up from his seat, his eyes blazing in his indignation. “You’re treating him worse than an animal!”
“No, kid, we’re not. An animal we’d have put down by now,” Schuldig said mildly.
But Naru wasn’t listening, going round the table to the couch and squatting down to take Ramon’s hands in his own. “Can you hear me?”
Ramon blinked, gaze lifting to Naru's face. He blinked again.
Brad glanced at Aya, gave his lover a wink and murmured, "Bingo," very softly in English.
Farfarello smirked.
Aya glared at Brad before turning to watch the little scene on the couch.
“Hello, I’m Naru.”
Nagi leant closer to Ken and whispered, “Do you think he’s blinking at the colours?”
"I think he's trying to decide if he's hallucinating or not," Ken whispered back.
Ramon reached out and put a hand on Naru's cheek. He blinked. "You're... real?"
Naru nodded without breaking eye contact. “I’m real,” he said.
It appeared to be a seminal moment in both young men’s lives and Aya looked away, a slight smile playing around his lips.
Ramon leaned closer, eyes squinting at Naru. "You're pretty, like a parrot." He touched Naru's shoulder, "Don't let them clip your wings, little bird."
"Oh brother," Ken muttered under his breath.
Yohji grinned and stuffed a piece of toast into his mouth to hide the expression. When Brad knew something, he really knew it-- at least lately, since the incident where he'd tapped into Yohji's power and gone deep into the visions.
The memory of how that came about sent a shudder of lust through the blond, his cock going hard.
Brad wiped his mouth with the napkin and shoved his chair away from the table. "He belongs to the group of you now, gentlemen and lady," Brad said giving Queen a nod of his head. "Use his abilities wisely."
“Will he turn on us the way he turned on you?” Reichi asked.
Aya’s smile grew. “Look at them, Reichi. They’ve both found what they were looking for. While Naru’s a part of your group Ramon will be too.”
"He's right," Brad added.
"And Brad isn't wrong about much," Yohji quipped.
The young man known to Esset and RK as War leaned even closer to Naru, almost falling off the couch in the process.
Naru moved closer to Ramon in his turn trying to keep the drugged young man on the couch so he didn’t hurt himself. He looked into Ramon’s eyes and leant forward to kiss him.
Ramon blinked and returned the kiss, his eyes gone wide, startled by the touch of Naru's lips.
Naru suddenly realised he had a somewhat amused audience and pulled away but kept close to his new….what? ….friend? He hoped it was more.
A dazed smile curved Ramon's lips.
Farfarello smirked and held a plate of food out to Naru. "You might want to feed your new pet," he suggested.
"Ramon isn't a pet, Farf," Zeshin countered.
Farfarello smiled at the leopard-boy. "That's right, the title of official pet around here is yours isn't it?"
Zeshin frowned at the man who was genetically his father. "Some pets bite the hands that feed them."
"And some pets get into lots of trouble too, don't they?"
Zeshin glared but kept quiet.
"Yes they do, now shut up Farf," Yohji muttered and kicked the Irishman under the table. Zeshin was still too sensitive about his past-- especially his past with Aya-- to handle teasing well.
Naru had taken the food and was holding a piece of toast to Ramon’s lips. “Please eat,” he said, “you must be hungry.”
“I don’t think Naru is looking for a pet,” Nagi said as he leaned against Ken. “Not everyone thinks as you do, Farf.”
Aya frowned. “Stop arguing,” he muttered. He was wondering if Ramon, coming to himself, was setting them against each other.
"We were arguing?" Farfarello asked, obviously unaware that he'd been doing it.
"Close. Now behave yourself," Yohji told him.
Farf grinned. "That's a good one. Another pet telling me off."
"Drop it Farf," Brad warned in that slightly too quiet voice that told the Irishman no more of his little game would be tolerated.
Aya stood up and started clearing the breakfast debris onto the cart ready to be wheeled out into the foyer. He stayed well away from the couch and the two young men there as he worked.
“I think we’re prepared to help you in any way we can,” Reichi told Brad. “If Kritiker becomes part of Rosenkreuz it will be a terrible day for us. We always used to be on the side of right but now…”
“Now we don’t know who’s to be trusted and who is marked for death just for political reasons,” Yuushi added with a sigh.
Brad regarded the Crashers. "You always worked on the side of politics whether you understood it or not. Now that it's become apparent you've had second thoughts." He got up from the table and motioned Yohji to help Aya, the blond getting up to offer his other lover a hand with the mess.
Zeshin joined them in cleaning up.
Brad moved toward the office area of the suite taking for granted that the Crashers and the remainder of his own team would follow him.
"And that terrible day has arrived. Kritiker is now a puppet of a sector of RK, namely my son." He sat down at the desk in the room and waited for the others to find places to sit or stand.
As usual Farfarello took up a place behind him, bringing Schuldig along by the hand.
“We thought we were bringing the evil-doers that the law couldn’t touch to justice and, in the early days we were. Yes, it got political when Takatori Shuishi took over as Persia but his brother did need stopping.” Queen sounded tired. “Lately however…”
“Lately it’s become more blatantly political with the real scum of the earth free to do as they wish,” Yuushi muttered.
“Because it has become a battleground between Saijou and Mamoru for control,” Reichi said.
“And they were stupid enough to turn to Rosenkreuz for help.” Aya was in the doorway, one hand in Yohji’s the other arm around Kai.
Ken dropped into a comfortable chair and pulled Nagi into his lap to save seating space. "Or suffering a touch of terror fuelled madness. Mamoru is probably terrified that we'll come for him, and the old bastard most likely realizes we'll come for him sooner or later."
"Very true," Yohji agreed.
They were all in the room now and had arranged themselves around it as comfortably as possible.
“Mamoru can wait.” Aya’s voice was like daggers of frost. “Rosenkreuz is too dangerous to leave at our backs while we go after that little bastard.” A singularly unpleasant smile crossed his features. “Besides, left to his own devices for a while he’ll probably take out Saijou and his cousin for us.”
"I concur," Brad said as he regarded everyone. "Kritiker can sort itself out for now. Our real cause for concern is Rosenkreuz and, to some extent, my son."
“What do you think your son is planning?” Reichi asked. “I mean both you and R…Aya seem more concerned with them than what is happening in Japan.”
"Because they're more dangerous than Kritiker," Farfarello stated. "Rosenkreuz and those kids of ours pose much more danger than anything Kritiker could ever come up with." He grinned. "Well except Weiss."
“We didn’t do that well against you,” Aya said fairly. “You could have killed us several times over.” He smirked at the Irishman. “Though I don’t think you could now.” He turned to Reichi. “We think they’re planning our imminent demise.”
"Sure we could have," Farfarello agreed. "But for mundanes you were all damned good," he reached over and caressed Yohji's thigh. "Still are for that matter."
A faint tinge of colour rose on Yohji's face, but he winked at Farfarello. "Later baby, you're going to scare our guests."
"If they didn't run screaming from the group of you at the airport, I'm sure they're strong enough to handle anything," Ken quipped as he pulled Nagi closer.
"Imminent and potentially brutal," Brad remarked, steering the conversation back to the subject at hand, namely Rosenkruez. "But ultimately doomed to failure as I know what they are planning."
“We know about your gift, of course, so I’m assuming that you know how to counter them,” Queen said with a slight smile for the antics of the new Schwarz.
“Boot was on the other foot,” Schuldig told Ken. “We nearly ran screaming from Naru’s er… fashion statement.”
Ken chuckled.
"Sure, you can laugh, but I've only got one eye," Farfarello commented, "and I nearly went blind."
"Yes," Brad said as he addressed Queen's remark. "But to make it go smoothly, and with the fewest potential difficulties, we'll need a little assistance from your team."
“What assistance do you need?” Reichi asked. “Obviously we are prepared to help or we wouldn’t be here.”
Brad smiled. "What we need is a distraction, and Aya tells me you excel at those kinds of things."
“We certainly know how to make some noise,” Reichi said with an answering grin. “What sort of distraction are you looking for?”
"In order to pull as many of the RK operatives and security people away, it needs to be something on an order of magnitude to either a full scale assault or a major explosion and accompanying fire," Brad stated as he watched the Crashers.
Naru almost bounced up and down in his excitement. “Does that mean I can make a really big bang for once?”
“It certainly looks that way,” Reichi told him though his eyes were on Brad. “What are we going to be blowing up?”
"Anything your heart desires but the main building. That's where we'll be taking care of our progeny," Brad told Reichi.
“What’s nearby that’s of value to them yet is unoccupied?” Yuushi asked. “And can we get hold of floor plans?”
“Floor plans are no problem at all,” Nagi told him. “Just decide on a building and I’ll get you floor plans, structural reports, material stress details and the weather report!”
Naru grinned across at him. “I’m beginning to really like this guy!”
"And don't forget who you'll be attacking. If you kill anyone they won't be mourned as a loss to humanity," Brad reminded them.
“What about the school, Brad? Are we going to leave those talents to suffer the way we did?” Schuldig did not look happy at that thought.
"I'll be making my decision regarding the students of the school when we reach the point where a decision needs to be made," the precog replied, as he reached out to the German's mind. *I don't want to discuss that in front of them, Schu.*
*Sorry, vater, wasn’t thinking.*
“You’d probably be best suited for that having experienced Rosenkreuz’ methods of ‘schooling’,” Queen said.
“So what buildings are there?” Masato asked.
"The school, two dorms, a training facility, three labs and the main house," Brad told them. "There are also several other buildings, garages and a warehouse for materials." He turned his gaze to Nagi. "If you'd please get a map for us, Nagi, it might help them plan the operation."
Nagi floated his laptop from the desk to just above his knees. His arms stayed firmly around Ken but the keys were depressing as if someone were typing at great speed. A state of the art printer in the corner churned out several large sheets of plans and maps which floated across the room to land on the table in the centre. The laptop returned to the desk. “Okay, we have floor plans of all floors, a map of the area showing the quieter ways in and the specifications such as thickness of walls, weak points and materials used in construction.
“As you can see, it’s built on top of a mountain, and the buildings surround a large central courtyard. On the south side is the school and it’s basement dungeons. On the west is the living quarters for those who are fully indoctrinated plus the dorms for the school. The north is where the main entrance is situated and is heavily guarded and the east side houses the labs, research facilities, storerooms and armoury.”
“The hang gliders might be useful,” Masato commented when Nagi had finished his quick description of the layout.
Yohji nodded in agreement. "You'll just need to start at a point higher than the school compound." He turned to Nagi. "Is there somewhere like that?"
“A couple of the surrounding peaks are higher,” Schuldig said. “And in that terrain I would think the thermals would be good.”
Yuushi nodded. “Yes they should be. The layout is useful too as it means we blow up the research, lab and storage facilities without harming anyone that it might be worth keeping alive.”
"Adults of any sort you see have to die," Farfarello remarked. "They are the dogs of RK, and even more than those of us who served the Elders they are damaged."
"Those in charge must be killed so they cannot recreate Rosenkreuz. They are beyond redemption as are a few of the older students," Brad added.
Naru turned to Ramon. “Do you agree with that?” he asked.
The young man raised drug dulled eyes to Naru. Blinked, nodded slowly. "He's right. They have to die or they will just rebuild somewhere else."
“Okay,” Masato said slowly. “I think we can create a big enough diversion for you, especially if they have volatile chemicals in either the labs or the storerooms. Anyone in that part of the building will be toast.”
"There are all sorts of volatile chemicals in the labs," Brad told them. "But there are a few things I'm going to warn you about. There is a pyrokinetic who will be able to set your gliders on fire if he's given the chance. Also, the security team carries rifles and they are all marksmen. You'll have to watch out for them too."
“A night assault with dark gliders should help against the marksmen,” Reichi said. “What really worries me though is another like yourself knowing in advance when we’re coming.”
"Eric, my son is a very strong precognitive so yes, it might be an issue." Brad looked to Aya, "Any ideas?"
“What was it you said about creeping up on him from behind? If we can somehow mess with time so he can’t see us coming… I’m not sure if that’s possible but it’s worth a try.”
"That's the only way this can be accomplished," Brad stated. "We have to make sure he can't see what we're doing. I know he's not seeing us now because he's too distracted." Brad smiled coldly. "He's trying to come to grips with his current age."
Aya chuckled. “At least that mess achieved something other than the return of my eartails! I think I can manage to take us back just enough to confuse the little shit.”
"Yohji will boost you that way you can take all of us without tiring yourself," Brad explained. He smirked. "And I've always liked you with eartails. You look so cute."
Yohji covered the smile that curled his mouth at Brad's teasing words to Aya. "I'll bring some candy bars."
Aya glared at Brad. “Don’t worry too much, Yohji. I won’t need too much energy to take us back just a few minutes.”
Ramon was still staring at Naru. "Are you going to kill me?"
“Kill you? Good grief no! In fact…” He glanced up at Brad. “If you want them confused, couldn’t Ramon help to do it?”
"He can't accurately target his power," Brad told the teen. "So for our purposes in this venture he won't be very helpful."
Farfarello grinned. "Oh I don't know about that. If he was near the dorms he could keep a lot of kids busy arguing."
“Oh, that’s a pity,” Naru said. “If we could get some of the inmates fighting amongst themselves it would add to the confusion.” He smiled at Ramon and squeezed his hand comfortingly.
Brad's expression turned thoughtful. "What do you think, Aya? Can you get him close to the dorms with a time shift, get the kids quarrelling and get out of there?"
Aya nodded. “If I’m just taking him, easily. I’ll only need Yohji’s help for the main jump.”
Yohji nodded. Ken glanced around at everyone. "So what about those bastard kids of yours, Crawford. What do we do with them if we find them?"
"Try to save them if we can. Except Eric. He, I'm afraid, cannot and should not be saved."