They’d turned the house on the outskirts of Bangkok into a fortress in the space of a week. All the glass was now bullet proof, they were armed to the teeth and Aya-chan had been taken aside by her brother and, regretfully, shown how to use her power to kill.
“Now it all makes sense,” she said with a sigh. “I kept wondering why Brad bothered to bring me to you and why you were all so protective of me.”
“You really believe this was the only reason?” Her brother’s eyes were full of pain as he asked her that and she ran to hug him.
“Not for you or Zen, no.”
“Not for any of us, Aya. You’re one of us and always have been.”
She smiled and nodded but her eyes were sad. “And I’ll kill to protect you all if I have to,” she promised.
“You will stay well back of any danger and only use your power to defend yourself,” Brad said from the kitchen doorway. The man was in a pale cream suit so at odds with his prior sombre colours. Even the shirt he wore, a soft dove grey silk, was the mark of a man of means who set his own fashion, not someone blindly following conservative rules. “You are not to endanger yourself to protect us. Understood?”
“Even though you all do?” she asked but there was relief there too. She knew that without her there would be no ‘happy ever after’ and all the men around her had earned that.
“That’s a totally different story. Without you, your brother and Kai, I fear we won’t fare very well. You have the power to keep us young forever, Kai can heal us, and Aya...” he smiled warmly at the man he loved, “can take us any when we wish to go.”
“Which they probably know by now,” Aya pointed out. “But I can see them wanting to keep Kai and my sister for their own damned uses.”
“I’ll die first,” Aya-chan said hotly. Having been told about Rosenkreuz she was not about to sign up to any recruitment programmes.
“You die, we all die. You have to stay alive. Tell her, Brad.”
Crawford pushed his glasses up, “If the rest of us are dead, she’d be better off putting a bullet in her own head than being taken by them, my love. Kai also would be better of killing himself than being taken.”
He stepped out onto the patio, “And if it comes down to it, I’d put a bullet in your head rather than let them take you.” He gave a bitter smile, “And I’ll kill myself if I think they’re about to take me, because I won’t go back to being their dog.”
The American put a hand on the girl’s shoulder, “But, you aren’t to put yourself in any danger, not to save any of us. And if it comes to it, I want you to run keep running and don’t look back. If we’re able to fight our way out we’ll find you, but if it looks like we’re going to lose, you run. Understood?”
Aya-chan had listened carefully, her eyes getting bigger and bigger as Brad had said his piece. She nodded. Now she really did understand. “Excuse me,” she said and went back into the house looking for Zeshin.
Aya smiled crookedly at Brad. The American’s words had been harsh and without sugar-coating but they had reached his sister where he had not. “Thank you…I think.”
Crawford pulled Aya into his arms, “I want her to understand that this isn’t a game. And, if it comes down to it, she’s better off dead than in their hands.” He sighed, I know Schuldig and Farfarello won’t let themselves be taken alive. I doubt anyone in Rosenkruez has the ability to take Nagi, but I worry what he would do if something happens to me.”
“Probably destroy half the world while I was shattering the other half,” Aya said and he wasn’t entirely joking. He glanced up into eyes the colour of liquid honey. He wanted to say, “Only nothing is going to happen to you or any of us,” but he knew that wasn’t the case. They weren’t easy to kill but it wasn’t impossible either.
Brad tipped his head, a faraway look in his eyes. “I wish..” he shook his head, “I wish I could tell you we’d all be safe and happy, but... I won’t lie to you.”
“No, don’t ever lie to me,” Aya said. “I’m strong enough to handle the truth whatever it may turn out to be.” He was about to say more but a mental ping from Schuldig stopped him in his tracks.
*Shielded minds, Vater, heading this way.*
*Let everyone know that this is not a drill or a game. We are about to be attacked,* he thought to the German as he gave Aya a quick but heated kiss.
“Remember I love you, Aya,” he said as he turned and hurried into the house.
Aya followed him in, shutting the strengthened door behind him. If Rosenkreuz had sent human gunmen they were safe, but the organisation knew they were up against more than Schwarz and a few untrained minds by now and would send at least some talents every time they attacked.
“Get this place locked down, and break out the heavy guns,” Crawford ordered, the snap of command in his voice. He turned to Aya, “Do you recall Takatori Masafumi’s experiments?”
As the rest of the team hurried to obey in carefully rehearsed movements, Aya nodded. “I’m never likely to forget them,” he said.
“Well we’re about to meet the new and improved, psychically gifted version.” The precog actually shuddered as his team gathered around him.
“People we’re about to be attacked by horror movie monsters. Stay sharp and use lead and steel as much as possible to take them down. They’re shielded against mental attack and they are going to be hard as hell to kill.”
“When you say mental attack, does that mean Nagi and Ken can’t touch them?” Kai asked hoping it didn’t.
Brad spared a second to brush his hand over Kai’s cheek, “No, Schuldig can’t affect them even with Kudoh’s help, so there’s no point in him drawing energy from him. And the rest of you should go easy. Yohji can’t afford to pass out and be helpless in this fight.”
He spun and headed for the living room, “You all know your places. Get to them!”
They scrambled until there was someone behind every window and door, ready to repel whatever tried to get in. Schuldig grinned at Yohji. “If you need to, concentrate on Nagi, Ken and Kai,“ he said, “but see what they can do without you boosting them first.“ Then he drew out his gun.
Yohji nodded as he pulled on his gloves. He’d already put on his new mission coat as he wanted the slight protection it would afford him from claws.
Ken peered through the slit in the steel shutters over the window. It was still daylight but the sun would go down in under an hour.
“Do you think they’ll wait until dark?” he asked loudly enough for Brad who was at the kitchen door to hear.
“No,” was the precog’s reply.
Zeshin was in Brad’s office, his eyes focused on the barred and shuttered window. This was where he and Aya-chan would be during the fight, the girl hiding under Crawford’s heavy steel lined oak desk. He gave her a light kiss, “Stay under there,” he told her as he handed her light pistol and three clips of bullets to her.
Farfarello stood before the doorway of the living room, his head tilted to one side, listening.
Aya quickly pulled on a thick leather coat, long enough to take his katana and saya in a special interior pocket. Leather miser mitts followed and he drew his automatic from his shoulder holster.
Kai held up a hand, listening as Farfarello had been doing. Then they all heard it. Snuffling, grunting and the movement of heavy bodies. There was a smell too, musky yet rancid that made the skin on their necks crawl.
Zeshin growled at the rank stink, “Remember, stay under here,” he admonished Aya-chan one last time before he went to the tightly barred window.
Brad shouted, “Watch overhead. One is going to come in through the roof right over your position Abyssinian.”
Roaring, shrieking, the monsters came at the house.
Yohji drew his Desert Eagle, .50 calibre handgun. He, Brad and Farfarello were the only three who carried the very heavy pistols.
Farfarello wasn’t using his pistol, he’d opted for an Alliant made XM8 assault rifle. Grinning he stuck the business end of the rifle out of the window port and waited.
Ken closed his eyes, focusing on his power, making sure he had it under control then he drew his Browning Mark III 9m and waited for the enemy to come to him.
Nagi didn’t draw any weapon. Instead he waited his hands flexing as he gathered his power.
Kai also had an assault rifle, an AK-47 set on single shot, and was on the other side of the house to Farfarello.
Brad’s warning made Aya look upwards just as a large tentacle smashed through the roof above his head. He raised his gun and fired.
*Schuldig, link with Kudoh and bring up the mental net. Shield everyone, quickly! Place special emphasis on Zeshin!* Brad fired his new pistol just as the door in front of him cracked, a huge fist showing in the break.
*Use your katana, bullets are useless against tentacles!* Yohji reminded Aya as he reached outward with his power trying to find Mastermind.
Half the wall where Ken was standing cracked as something huge hit it. He crouched, waiting for whatever was about to come through, deciding that the gun wasn’t going to cut it and bringing up his pyrokinetic power instead.
Aya dropped the gun and drew the katana, slicing the tentacle off of whatever it was attached to. There was a high-pitched scream and something large fell off the roof. Seemingly his bullet had got it too.
Schuldig flowed into Yohji’s mind and together they raised the mental shield, concentrating their efforts around Zeshin and the study. At the same time he shot a reptilian monstrosity that was getting a little too close.
Kai’s assault-rifle barked and there was a guttural groan of agony.
The front door was shattered off it’s hinges, Farfarello dodging aside and opening fire on a nightmarish creature with the face of a dog but the body of a gorilla. The creature gave a roar and charged at Farfarello who opened fire, the burst of high powered bullets ripping the monstrosity’s belly open.
Something hit the wall outside Brad’s office, the window shattering just before the shutters bent. Zeshin walked over calmly and stuck his pistol into the narrow slot in the steel shutters, pulling the trigger twice.
There was a keening, pitched scream, the sound hammering at their minds.
Zeshin yowled in agony, the leopard boy staggering hands over his ears.
Schuldig took more power from Yohji and deadened the appalling noise to manageable levels for everyone including the leopard boy. *Somebody kill whatever’s making that fucking noise. We can’t hold this much longer!*
Nagi, having crushed a huge hippo like creature, calmly walked into the study looking for the source of the noise. It was small, obviously female and appeared to have fishlike scales. He concentrated and the keening stopped as the creature exploded from within.
Yohji had been taking hits on several fronts, the keening sound had grated on his nerves-- but that was over finally, thanks to Nagi-- but the energy pulled from him while the German had tried to shield them from the screamer had taken a toll. He felt tired from the drain, and whatever was trying to get into the house through the window he was protecting didn’t seem to feel any of the bullets he was pumping into it.
Ken backed away as the wall crumbled taking part of the roof with it as a mass of writhing tentacles poured in through the crumbling ruins, the very concrete decaying as the thing touched it.
“Fuck that,” Ken snarled and let go with a blast of fire that withered the fleshy mass. Outside there was a roar of pain from something so huge the cry made the whole house vibrate.
Aya moved to shield Yohji who was staggering from the energy Schuldig had to drain from him. The katana sang its song of death and steel and two more ugly horrors bled out blackish blood over the garden.
Kai was still firing at a huge shape that he was glad he couldn’t actually see. The rifles' bullets seemed to have no effect. Frowning he concentrated. The thing started whining then whimpering but he didn’t stop and when he finally opened his eyes it was unmoving. The use of his power on it had its toll though and he staggered in near exhaustion.
They couldn’t keep this up much longer.
Flailing tentacles whipped in at Ken, flinging the pyrokinetic backward through the interior wall, the brunet coming through into the living room amid a shower of broken plaster and fragmented wood. He hit the floor unmoving.
Zeshin emptied the clip in his gun and reloaded it, just in time to keep another reptilian horror with a mouthful of shark’s teeth from getting in through the ruined window.
Farfarello stepped into the doorway, his rifle snarling, tearing the gorilla faced horror into hash, the Irishman turning to empty the clip into the writhing mass of rubbery limbs trying to get into the house through the broken wall. Everywhere it touched the plants had died, even the driveway looking as if it were decaying.
“Don’t fucking let it touch you,” he warned as he dodged one of the whipping appendages.
At the rear door Brad was calmly reloading his Desert Eagle while a slithering thing with the head of a tiger and the arms of woman came across the patio toward him.
Having ascertained that Yohji was able to hold his own again, Aya turned his attention to the tentacles and realised there was nothing he could do without losing his katana blade. Nagi came to join him and gazed at the writhing mass.
*Schu, I’m going to need Yohji’s help.*
*Okay, most of the rest is dead or dying anyway.*
Nagi tapped into Yohji’s power taking only enough for what he needed to do. Then he ‘pushed’ and kept pushing, forcing the tentacles to retreat. Once away from the others he systematically crushed them into bloody pulp.
At the other end of the house Brad opened fire on the thing coming at him, the bullets punching gaping holes in it’s body. It was injured but not dead. Brad saw what was about to happen but he wasn’t quite fast enough, the thing spitting a streamer of venom at him. He dodged anyway, the stuff hitting the tiles of the kitchen and splashing, some of it hitting the leg of his pants.
It sizzled on the tiles and burned through the cloth of Brad’s trousers, the American cursing as it hit skin. He blew it’s head off, and limped to the sink, filling a dirty glass with water that he dumped over the burning venom eating into his skin.
The roaring chaos of battle became the numbed silence of a fight that had ended.
Kai was sliding down what remained of the wall, totally exhausted but his eyes opened abruptly at Nagi’s screamed out, “KEN!”
He turned his head to see Ken lying on the floor, visibly aging before his eyes and he had no strength left to help him.
Then a strange thing happened. Aya-chan crawled out from under the desk and, brushing both Zeshin and Nagi aside, ran to Ken’s side. There was a bright flash of power and then he saw no more, sinking into exhaustion.
Yohji staggered over to the biokinetic and put a hand on Kai’s shoulder, “We have to help Brad, he’s been poisoned.”
Zeshin walked into the room, looking around at the wreckage. “Where’s Farfarello?”
“Out here,” the Irishman said loudly. “I’m making sure all these fuckers are dead.”
And he was, using his biggest knife-- something close to being a sword-- to hack the creatures to pieces, all but the one that Nagi had taken care of as he didn’t want to get anywhere near that particular horror.
Even one of their cars was ruined, the whole front end a mass of rust, the tires turned to dust.
Kai groaned and attempted to get his legs under him again. He was helped by Aya coming up on his other side and bracing himself under his shoulder.
“Ken’s going to be okay,” he said encouragingly, “and Brad’s not as badly hurt. Please Kai.”
Kai managed to nod and between the three of them they somehow got to the kitchen and Brad.
Yohji looked at Aya over the boy’s head, *No, Brad’s injury isn’t too bad, but Aya, that’s poison eating into him. Do you think the kid can undo that?*
Brad was seated in one of the kitchen chairs, slowly pouring more water over his leg. He looked up as the trio came into the kitchen, got to his feet and walked over to them. He took Aya’s face between his hands and kissed him.
“Sit down,” Aya said when they broke apart, “and let Kai take a look at that leg.” From the glance he’d got, it looked like an acid burn and it was eating into the flesh as they spoke. His eyes were worried as he gazed at Kai.
“Yohji, I hope you’ve still got some strength left,” was all that Kai said as he knelt and placed his hands over the limb, careful not to actually make contact with it.
Yohji dropped into a chair, his hand on Kai’s shoulder. “Son of a... bitch...” he grated out, able to feel the pain coming off of Brad like waves off of a poisoned sea.
Brad was looking into Aya’s eyes, “I love you. All three of you,” he said, but his gaze never left Aya.
*Stop that! I’ve no intention of letting you die,* Aya sent but his hand remained in Brad’s feeling his grip as pain coursed through him.
Kai was tired and unsure how to deal with this particular wound. He couldn’t simply close it up, the way he had with Yohji, as the poison was still in there. The pain was appalling and he admired Brad’s stoicism in bearing it so well. Then an idea occurred to him and he called to Nagi.
“Can you draw out the poison?” he asked, hoping he was making some sense.
Luckily Nagi nodded his understanding and pulled with his power. A dark, viscous fluid bubbled up out of the wound and Nagi contained it and took it safely outside before dumping it on one of the carcasses where it continued to hiss and erode flesh.
Kai took a deep breath, prayed to all and any powers that looked after killers and closed the wound before falling back in a dead faint.
“Well that was a bitch,” Yohji remarked and spilled bonelessly out of his chair.
Brad sat where he was for the span of two heartbeats then he got to his feet. “Those of you able to, get as much as possible packed. I’m going to take the remaining car and get us another vehicle. Schuldig comes with me to drive the second car. Make sure we have our passports, we’re leaving Bangkok.”
Aya nodded, a grim smile playing round his mouth. He went to see how Ken was and stopped in his tracks. The jock, although a bit battered round the edges, was on his feet and as near a going concern as made no odds. He stared at his sister who smiled back smugly.
“Finally found a use for myself,” she said. “Shall we go see what we can salvage out of this mess?”
Ken shook his head slowly, rubbing his face as if he’d just woken from a very deep sleep. “I feel... well as they used to say in that town... as if I was rode hard and put away wet.”
“You pretty much were,” Aya told him. “And you don’t want to know anymore than that! You up to scavenging and packing? We need to find all the passports.”
“I’ll give him a hand,” Nagi said quietly, “and thank you, Aya-chan… just thank you.” He turned to Aya. “I’ll thank Kai and Yohji when they come round.”
“Aya, you should get some food into Kai and Kudoh before we leave. Nagi I want you to take care of making arrangements for our plane out of here and our accommodations at the other end. We’re going to Moscow. We’ll leave when Schuldig and I get back. Aya, you are in charge, get everyone packed and be ready to leave when we return.”
Brad regarded his ruined suit somewhat ruefully, “I should change before we leave. Can’t go looking for a rental car looking like this now can I?”
Aya actually chuckled at that. “Not really,” he said. He gave Brad a quick hug and then turned his attention to the two unconscious men on the kitchen floor wondering exactly how he was supposed to feed them. Ah well, they could sleep on the plane.
Schuldig grabbed a jacket and the car keys and wiped most of the dirt off his face. “Ready when you are, Vater.”
Aya-chan caught one of Zeshin’s hands. “We’ll deal with the passports, Ran.”
Nagi was already lifting chunks of masonry and roofing off of their belongings.
“Go clean up Schu, I need to change my suit,” Brad said to the telepath who had a spatter of something black and sticky across his shirt.
Farfarello came into the house, “They’re all dead,” he said tossing aside the blade he’d used. “Masafumi’s monsters,” he muttered. “Fucking psycho.”
Zeshin put an arm around Aya-chan, “I know where my passport is, come on.”
Ken stumbled after Nagi, “Want me to get our stuff packed?” he asked.
“Farf, give Ken and Nagi a hand will you? I need to wake up the sleeping beauties here and feed them.”
Schuldig looked down at his ruined clothes and sighed ruefully. “Okay,” he said, “I’ll be five minutes.”
Farfarello nodded, “Sure Aya, I’ve got a stash of hot cocoa in the cabinet over the stove behind the flour,” he admitted. “That should help revive them.”
Brad vanished into his room, frowning at the collapsed wall, “So much for this house ever being liveable.” He shrugged. It could be torn down and rebuilt, or he could write off his loss and sell it.
Aya smiled up at the Irishman with a word of thanks and rose to his feet to get the cocoa.
Schuldig disappeared into the ruin of his bedroom and Aya-chan began to go through all their papers.
Brad tossed his wrecked suit aside. It wasn’t one of his favourites, but he’d only gotten it a week ago. “Nagi, make sure to clean out the safe too, please. Aya-chan doesn’t have the combination.”
Nagi moved another pile of roof tiles before looking round. “Okay. Leave it to us. We know what to do.” He sniffed and grimaced. The carcasses were beginning to stink already. “The sooner you get back with a car the better.”
“Be packed and ready,” Brad told the boy as he headed for the front door. “Schuldig, let’s go!”
The stench coming off the dead monsters made them work like beavers and the remaining car was packed with half of their stuff by the time Brad and Schuldig returned with another. The other half was sitting on the driveway ready to go.
Crawford didn’t even turn the car off, “Let’s move people,” he said at the house and honked the horn on the car.
They appeared, not from the house but from the vicinity of the other car and immediately packed the trunk of the hire car with the rest of their gear.
Aya climbed behind the wheel of the other car and they divided themselves between the two vehicles in short order, leaving behind a wrecked house and piles of stinking flesh.
“Schuldig, I want you to watch for Rosenkruez agents. I’ve a sneaking suspicion we’re going to be watched, but not attacked. Not soon at any rate,” Crawford ordered as he put the rental car into gear. “If you spot any it is imperative that you swat them like the irritating insects they are.”
“And tell Aya that they need to try and get Kudoh awake and aware enough to help you when we reach the airport. You’ve got to get us through with all of our weapons and that’s going to take a lot of effort on both your parts.
“Nagi, you’ll have to help him by scrambling the metal detectors and x-ray machines if you can.”
“Sounds like you’re expecting trouble,” Ken commented.
“I am. My weapon’s dealer friend in Moscow is dead and we won’t have time to make a new contact before we need to defend ourselves, so we need to hold onto what we’ve got.”
“Then why go to Moscow?”
“Because the only other flight out is heading for Japan, and that is somewhere we don’t need to go right now. Not with Kritiker about to get into bed with Rosen in an attempt to bring us down.”
Nagi gave Ken’s hand a reassuring squeeze after that piece of news. It must be awful for his lover to realise the boy he’d once idolised was so determined to kill him that he would side with their enemies against them.
Schuldig, meanwhile, didn’t argue or comment as he knocked politely on Aya’s shields. *Vater wants Yohji awake and aware by the time we reach the airport.*
*No problem, Schu, he’s coming to now. He’ll be ready when we get there.*
He sent his thanks and concentrated on monitoring for agents. He found four and left them with their brains scrambled.
The rest of the trip to the airport progressed smoothly. They picked up their tickets at the counter and headed for the security area.
“This is where things will get tricky. We can’t afford any mistakes. Is that understood? Work together and I hope to hell you do a better job of it this time than you did fighting those monsters because, gentlemen, that was a truly astounding display that fully demonstrated your inability to function as a unit,” Brad informed them coolly.
Nobody found anything to say to that but they had every intention of getting through security with their weapons, their persons and their pride intact.
Schuldig borrowed some strength from Yohji and made them virtually invisible whilst Nagi gave all the machines an electronic heart attack that wasn’t even noticed by those monitoring them.
Their bags were loaded on the plane with no fuss at all and soon they were sitting in the first class area heading for Russia.
“And while we’re in transit I want all of you to be considering how best you can fight together in the future, because if we’re to continue to live, your ability to work as a unit is an imperative,” Brad told them as they settled into their seats.
“We beat the monsters,” Kai muttered.
“Yeah, we did but we nearly lost both Ken and Brad doing it,” Aya said.
“We were fighting as individuals, not a team. We’re going to get dead if we keep doing that,” Yohji commented sleepily as he rested his head on Aya’s shoulder and closed his eyes.
“He’s right of course,” Farfarello remarked. “And every one of us is guilty of that.”
“I think those things made it pretty clear that we can’t depend on a conventional house to protect us either,” Ken added thoughtfully
“I can‘t think of any structure, conventional or otherwise that would keep those monstrosities out, especially those tentacled horrors that decayed anything they touched,” Aya said with a frown. “I don’t think it’s bricks and mortar that can protect us from things like that. I think it’s our powers, used in concert with our fighting skills.”
“Your powers, once so latent, are growing all the time,” Schuldig said, “but more than that, they’re beginning to merge with ours to make even greater power. Power that needs to be directed and used.”
“But how?” Ken asked. “I mean... how do we merge them into something that can protect us and let us fight at the same time?”
Farfarello smiled, “That’s easy.”
Brad leaned back in his seat, a smirk playing at his lips. “Elucidate, Berserker.”
“Yohji’s the battery. Aya-chan and Aya can alter the power with time, and Nagi controls it.”
“Okay..,” Aya said slowly, “how do you want our time-power used in a fight like the one we just had?”
Farfarello considered it for a moment, “The way I see it,” he began, “is that Yohji’s really just stored power.” The man chuckled, “well that and he’s got a great ass.”
Ken sighed.
“Yes, I think everyone here is aware of what a totally fuckable piece of tail Kudoh has,” Brad remarked dryly. “Get on with your theory of Schwarz combat, please.”
“Besides, we know that bit already,” Aya added as he shot Brad an evil look, “about him being a battery, I mean.”
“So he powers you. All the three of you. Together you can create a warp in time that Nagi can contain and direct,” the Irishman stated. “And if I have to tell you what good it is, or how to use it, I’m leaving to fill out a job application with Rosen the first chance I get.”
Aya ignored the sarcasm and thought about it. He was pretty certain he could do it with Yohji’s power added to the mix and his sister’s power over time hadn’t really been tested yet except on Ken. He glanced across the aisle to where she was sitting with Zeshin.
“What do you think? Could we do that?”
Aya-chan thought about it for a moment, face serious as she explored the extents of her talent. Her face cleared and she smiled suddenly. “Yes,” she said. “We might need Schu’s help to co-ordinate our thinking but it’s definitely doable.”
“So what about the rest of us?” Ken asked. “Are we just baggage or something?”
“I wouldn’t call you that, Ken. More like insurance. The rest of us keep the opposition busy while the other’s build up the needed power to launch an attack. And from what Farfarello is proposing, I think it would be a particularly devastating one. You could hurl opponents through time, back to say, the stone age maybe, or forward into nothingness... or...” Zeshin considered it.
“Go on,” Brad prompted.
“You could age them into dust.”
A gentle snore rumbled in Aya’s left ear.
“Well our battery seems totally unconcerned,” the redhead said wryly. “As for you being baggage, Ken, no way. You’ve got a power almost as devastating as anything we can pull and you don’t need to get in too close to use it.”
Farfarello chuckled, “You know, he and Nagi could make a totally bullet proof fireshield that we would all be safe inside of. And of course, that would free up Schuldig and Kudoh to flatten the minds of just about anyone.”
Ken rose up in his seat to look over the back at Farfarello, “Who the hell are you, General Insanity?”
Farfarello grinned, “Nice one, Firekitty.”
“It’s not insane, Ken. In fact it makes perfect sense. It’s just a pity we didn’t sit down and think this through before that attack. If we had we might still have a liveable house and you and Brad would have remained unscathed,” Aya said quietly.
He glanced over at Brad. “However, it did teach us all a valuable lesson.”
“Yes it did,” Brad agreed. “Now, tell me what you plan to do with this knowledge.”
“The same as I’ve always done with knowledge learned the hard way. Make damned sure I never make the same mistake again.”
“I wasn’t referring specifically just to you, Aya. I was referring to the team as a whole,” the American replied. “It’s not enough for one of us to decide things must change and that we need to work as a team. It’s something we all have to be prepared to do.
“During that fight I had to tell people to protect one another, that should not have been necessary.”
“Agreed,” Aya said.
“So what do we do?” Ken asked.
“It might not be a bad idea for us to practice merging our skills until it becomes second nature to us,” Kai suggested quietly.
Yohji squirmed in his seat and sighed into Aya’s ear.
“We were supposed to be doing that in Bangkok,” Brad reminded them. “And we aren’t going to stay in Moscow.” He pushed his glasses up, then took them off and gave them a peculiar look before placing them back on his face.
Zeshin offered Aya-chan an orange, “Do you want this or the apple?”
She smiled. “The orange is fine Zen, thank you.”
“So where after Moscow?” Aya asked whilst trying to remove his ear from the distraction of Yohji‘s warm breath against it. “Some of the skills merging we can do on the plane seeing as we have nothing better to do.” He nudged Yohji as he spoke.
Yohji just frowned at him, turned the other way and closed his eyes.
“How can we do this on the plane?” Ken asked.
Zeshin handed Aya-chan the orange and rummaged around in his carryon looking for something he wanted to eat.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to try any of the spectacular stuff,” Schuldig said slowly, “but we could attempt a mental link that doesn’t wear both Kudoh and myself out.”
Aya nodded his agreement. “Sounds like a workable idea.”
“Yohji’s got no stamina,” Ken remarked as he tried to see what Zeshin was doing.
“Yohji is fucking tired,” the blond muttered in annoyance.
Brad sighed and removed his glasses, put them in the case in his pocket and leaned back trying to get comfortable.
“It’s going to be a long fucking flight,” Kai muttered to himself.