part 230: "If you believe I have that much sway over his opinions, you never knew him at all."
Previous installments are available in my Memories here. Please make sure the Memory page is set to sort by Description to get the entries in the correct order.
"Glass Houses" part 230/?
By Viridian5
4/2003 - present
RATING: R. If m/m interaction bothers you, pass this by. AU.
SPOILERS: Glühen.
SUMMARY: After Aya's sister dies,Schwarz tries to save themselves and Aya from the mistakes of the Dramatic CDs and Glühen Schwarz tries to save him from himself--for their own reasons, of course--and neither they nor Weiß are ever the same again.
ARCHIVAL/DISTRIBUTION: No, not yet. This is a trial run of a piece of an unfinished fic.
DISCLAIMERS: All things Weiß Kreuz belong to Koyasu Takehito, Project Weiß, Polygram k.k., and Animate Film. No infringement intended.
NOTES: Thanks to
bardsley, syvia, lunarennui, thornsilver, confidentsoba, jmtorres, maitai1, kasha, and helleboredoll for audiencing, typo-watch, and encouragement. Thanks to 'nat for "puisín," which she says probably sounds like "pu-sheen." Inspirational music includes Covenant's United States of Mind, mayatawi's V Mix the Second CD (Jane Jensen, Kidneythieves, Poe's rock version of "Hello," Kristen Barry's "Ordinary Life," Lacuna Coil), Linkin Park's Meteora, A Perfect Circle's Thirteenth Step, Pigface's Easy Listening..., Shriekback's "The Bastard Sons of Enoch," Zeromancer's Eurotrash, and Neuroticfish's Les Chansons Neurotiques.
I am not responsible for any therapy bills incurred as a result of trauma from doing research on things mentioned in this story. If you look up, say, "butter dog porn" on your own, I refuse to take the blame. I've been told that it's a bad idea to eat soup or drink while reading "Glass Houses."
========================
"Glass Houses" part 230
By Viridian5
========================
Mamoru hated the walk toward the cells as paranoia and bitter experience made his skin tingle with the expectation of Austrian Kritiker attempting a shot at him. It didn't matter that Ebenroth's psionics had pledged to his side, because he didn't trust their experience, reaction times, or even them. They were all young, some of them even younger than they appeared, giving this walk through Kritiker's halls the feel of a children's crusade.
~ Omi, I'm watching out for all of us, ~ Nagi said, and *that* made Mamoru feel a bit better. He trusted Nagi's ability and word. He wondered if Crawford had any idea if Nagi had promised him his protection, but he did feel better. When he glanced at Nagi, Nagi didn't appear to be looking at him, just monitoring the situation with a bland expression.
It underscored how Mamoru could really use a telekinetic/telepath for a bodyguard, and it was a professional regret to add to all the personal ones he had that he'd ruined his relationship with Nagi. Nagi was *perfect*. Mamoru would have to see how the trainees he already had in Kritiker looked and talk to Antipathy about candidates from the Ebenroth school.
Ken looked as if he wanted a fight, not that Mamoru could blame him after all the smoke and shadows they'd faced in Vienna. Ken needed something he could punch and slash. Elena's hard-faced expression suggested that she would run over and crush anything that got in her way. Fenris seemed excited, although his eyes scanned their surroundings like a professional, and every so often he patted Sasha's arm. Sasha smiled when patted but otherwise had an expression of somehow ruthless concentration on his face. The bleached blond hair thankfully made him look less like Schuldig but weirdly somewhat like Yoji.
Yoji himself appeared preoccupied, making Mamoru glad all over again that Yoji had removed himself from leadership of Weiß. While Yoji had many good qualities, focus, objectivity, and a good game face didn't number among them. He could be ruthless but rarely for the right reasons. Mamoru had made him leader more out of some sense of guilt over Yoji's circumstances than good sense and quickly regretted it. Every so often Yoji glanced back at Schwarz, particularly Aya. Yes, Aya had faced some recent problems he'd nearly destroyed himself over, but this wasn't the time to moon over him. Despite Mamoru's initial hopes that Schwarz's trip to Vienna would distance Yoji from them, it seemed to have had the opposite effect. Not good at all.
Aya already occupied some twilight status between Weiß and Schwarz; they didn't need Yoji there too. Schwarz took too much advantage.
Aya had his blank face on, although Farfarello looked pleased in a somewhat manic way. To Mamoru's disquiet, they walked together at nearly the same pace, matched. Crawford had a coldly homicidal air and sometimes touched Schuldig possessively, while Schuldig grinned at everyone with the Bruise flanking him almost like a kind of honor guard. Although Flood still resembled a victim of starvation, he easily carried the gagged and unconscious Scry slung over his shoulder. Ebenroth's kids walked behind and to the sides of them.
These people made up Mamoru's entourage. God help him. No wonder he felt that he walked almost alone. How sad that the Weiß members he currently trusted most for this kind of thing were Draco and Fenris, not "his" Weiß, and that the person he thought would be most helpful here would be Nagi.
As they all got closer to the cells, Mamoru said, "Everyone except Weiß hang back a bit. I want to see if I can get them to open the door on my authority before I start intimidating them."
Some of them looked rebellious but he shot them a quelling look. If they wanted to be part of his organization, they had to act like it. They backed off. Crawford and Schuldig seemed amused, but Schwarz didn't step forward with him so at least they obeyed. He preferred a better attitude from them but would accept compliance.
"Sasha, you come along with us. You're part of the team," Mamoru said and was stunned by Sasha's sudden smile. Could Schuldig smile like that? If he did, he probably used it as a weapon.
They turned the corner, leaving the others behind. Walking up feeling like this, detached from the five people with him, underscored that Mamoru wasn't part of Weiß anymore. But he had more power to do good now, didn't he?
Didn't he?
Austrian Kritiker still had guards at each door, as if somebody was inside Scry's cell. Mamoru decided to try to see Scry first, to see if the guards would admit anything. Once they no doubt turned him away from that, he'd make a try for "Flood." If they refused him access there too, he'd demand entry by whatever means necessary, force included.
The guards looked apprehensive when he walked up. How much did they know? Mamoru said, "We're here to question Scry. Open the door."
"We can't do that, sir."
"We're all Kritiker, and my team specifically took him down. You know what my rank is. On what grounds are you refusing us access?"
~ These two know Scry isn't in there. Somebody gave them covering surface thoughts, but I'm better than that telepath and went right through them, ~ Elena said.
"Well?" Mamoru asked again.
The guard answered, "We've been commanded not to let *anyone* in, sir."
"Why?"
"We weren't given reasons. We just follow orders."
"How convenient. I'll bring that up with Mr. Zietler. After I talk to Flood."
One of the guards at Flood's door said, "We've been commanded not to let anyone see him either."
"This is ridiculous."
"So is contacting the other Kritiker branches to say you're splitting from us and saying it's because we're enslaving people," Mr. Zietler said as he approached with flanking guards.
"Considering how quickly you reclassified my status among you, I thought it best to get my news out quickly," Mamoru answered. He'd called about Scry's place in the Austrian branch's scheme not long after that had been discovered. He could imagine what libels Zietler would use as excuses for the split if he didn't inform people on his own before the Austrian branch had a chance to. "We're going to liberate the prisoner in Flood's cell, then we're leaving. I'm not letting you obstruct me on that. You've chosen to follow a path of fear, selfishness, and inhumanity to other people, but I haven't."
"We're protecting ourselves, not being selfish."
"'Protecting yourself' at the expense of the lives and rights of children who have already been abused. It's unacceptable." Mamoru turned to the guards at the door to Flood's cell, trusting Weiß to make sure the other guards and Zietler didn't attack him. "Open the door now."
"We--"
"If you don't do it on your own, we'll do it for you." Given the Austrian branch's fear of psionics, Mamoru decided to use that as leverage. "Draco uses fire. Fenris is a telekinetic. We have more such people waiting around the corner. Don't force us to use them."
The obviously nervous guards looked to Zietler, who seemed to deliberate for a moment, then gestured to them to open the door. The guards did so. "Thank you," Mamoru said, even as he thought loudly at Nagi to bring the rest of the group up.
~ I hear you, ~ Nagi answered. ~ We're coming. Schuldig is fending off Kritiker's telepaths for us. He thinks they're laughable, but we're not taking chances. ~
Good. Mamoru and Weiß didn't enter the cell until everyone else had come up to watch their back and intimidate Zietler and the guards.
The Schuldig clone sitting inside certainly did a fine impression of Flood as he'd been when Mamoru had first seen him, although someone looking closely would note that he didn't look thin or wan enough and that the length of his hair beneath the hair tie looked more frazzled than what grew closer to his scalp. Head downcast and eyes closed, he seemed lost in his own world and unreachable, though conscious.
~ Even to a telepath, he could pass, ~ Elena said.
What name had the Bruise supplied for him? A number, right? Once again, Mamoru sighed at Eszett's casual cruelty and inhumanity. "77, your assignment is over. We're all leaving now."
He didn't move and gave no sign of having heard. It seemed that he took his playacting very seriously. Under other circumstances Mamoru might have approved but right now he wanted to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible.
Flood, still carrying Scry over his shoulder, and another Schuldig clone walked into the room. "77, it worked like a charm. Having Flood out worked in our favor even more than we expected. Now we're getting our asses out of Austria," the not-Flood clone said. It was probably the Bruise's leader. Mamoru really needed a way to tell all of them apart.
Animation immediately came to "Flood," who replied, "Finally. I was so damned bored." He loosened the tie and pulled it down and off, taking the long fall of more brittle hair with it and revealing little comb tines inside to make it catch in his own, then pulled a tie out of his own shoulder-length hair that remained before mussing and fluffing it to his satisfaction. "Is that Scry I see dangling and tied? It must be Christmas."
"I caught him," Flood said, sounding smug.
"Then being bored to death was worth something after all."
"You didn't know they let Scry out?" Mamoru asked.
"The Kritiker telepaths had been keeping Flood telepathically contained. If I had to be Flood, I had to be contained. So, no, I didn't hear it."
"The rest of your... brothers have agreed to come to Japan with us, particularly since the people here just tried to have Scry take Schuldig over to control all of you. Are you coming along?"
"Fuck, yeah." 77 stood and stretched once Flood untied him from the chair. "Show me to the door."
****************************************
Crawford wanted them to get done so Schwarz could get out of here. He wanted to cut a swathe through the Austrians for daring to try to enslave and take advantage of his telepath yet figured that if he did that they'd never work for Persia's Kritiker again and didn't want to burn that bridge so thoroughly yet. The longer they stayed here, the stronger the temptation would become. Of course, if the Austrians attacked, Schwarz would have to defend themselves. Persia could hardly object to it. Crawford wouldn't goad them but could hope.
These bastards had nearly made Crawford's old nightmare vision come true and used his clone to do it.
He'd been so right to get Schuldig's phrase taken off before arriving here today. Not only would he have lost his telepath, but Schwarz would probably have been forced to fight off most of the talents in the building afterward. Somebody needed to pay. Scry would die and Crawford wanted to see if he could get a shot at Zietler too before they left.
As much as the Bruise annoyed him, he appreciated that they now circled Schuldig as he worked at keeping the Kritiker telepaths off, leaving himself somewhat distracted from his surroundings. Zietler's eyes scanned the group as if he searched for one in particular, probably Schuldig, but couldn't make him out in the crowd. Crawford should put Zietler's eyes out before killing him.
One time when Crawford had said that Schuldig's hair hardly looked professional, Schuldig had taken on an annoying "I know something you don't know" look and answered, "How tall am I?" He had a point on how it varied the appearance of his height. With all of the clones doing variations of the same thing, it helped disguised how Schuldig was a bit taller than they were, being older. A lot of them dressed like him too. If the Austrians tried to carry one of the clones off by mistake, that would be their problem.
Schuldig looked good, strong. If today's close call had rattled him, he didn't show it. Excellent. Crawford could see that he was a bit distracted with his telepathic work--blocking all of the Austrians' telepaths took effort even for an alpha--but most people wouldn't. Usually Schuldig would hide that behind sunglasses but didn't right now, probably because he too saw the advantage in blending in with his clones. Schuldig shot Crawford a brief, heated look full of promise before turning his head away as if he could be just another member of the Orange line with no real connection to Crawford aside from hating his guts.
That look said, "Later." Later they would celebrate. It might start with sex or with interrogating and destroying Scry. Especially now that they'd freed themselves from Eszett, they believed in living life to the fullest.
There would *be* a later.
Crawford had a to-do list: hopefully take out Zietler, take out Scry, celebrate with Schuldig, and visit Rosenkreuz, since he preferred the evidence of his own eyes and didn't believe in taking rumor for fact. They would eventually return to Tokyo. Somewhere along the way they'd start removing words for pay, although Crawford hardly saw it as a priority. Given how much Schuldig had gone through and done and the promise Crawford had made him, Crawford would have to consider taking Schwarz on a vacation. Besides, he would prove to himself and the others that he *could* survive without constantly consulting his cell phone and e-mail.
Zietler looked very sour. "I don't know what you did to turn Persia against us, but it won't work forever, Crawford."
It amused Crawford. "If you believe I have that much sway over his opinions, you never knew him at all."
Zietler's look turned even sourer.
~ He's not going to just let all of the talents leave, ~ Nagi said, obviously feeling secure that Schu kept them safe from prying telepaths. ~ He's planning a fight. ~
Crawford felt secure in that as well. ~ Of course he is. I'm looking forward to it. I believe that Weiß is as well. ~
Nagi's mouth took on a malicious tilt. Apparently he'd appreciate some mayhem too.
~ Schu-Schu says Z is suspiciously hard to crack, ~ a Schuldig-like voice quickly unloaded into Crawford's head. A clone with crazy shorter hair and a leather coat with buckles smiled and briefly waved at him. Probably Wicked.
Z was probably Zietler, and if he had someone shielding his mind that hard he must have plans. But "Schu-Schu"? Crawford really couldn't wait to get away from all the clones. One Schuldig was enough. He'd have to pay Wicked and Malice and take Malice's word off soon to make sure they left instead of stalked Schwarz. Wicked would enjoy following and playing practical jokes on them too much. Schwarz would hardly be helpless against him, but he'd be a pain in the ass they couldn't rely on Malice to rein in.
Persia, Weiß, 77, the Bruise's leader, and Flood, still carrying Scry, finally walked out of the cell. It shouldn't have taken that long, but Crawford knew that not everyone had his sense of efficiency and timing.
Persia asked, "Is there anyone in the other cell Scry was supposed to be in?"
"No," the Bruise answered all at once.
"Kritiker agents are coming up through the halls to surround us," Schuldig said suddenly.
Nagi nodded and said, "Lots of them."
Crawford couldn't remember the last time he'd seen so many faces light up at once. Everyone had been cooped up and unable to let off tension for too long. As he drew out his gun he asked, "Mr. Zietler, did you tell your agents you'd volunteered them for suicide?"
"Glass Houses" part 230/?
By Viridian5
4/2003 - present
RATING: R. If m/m interaction bothers you, pass this by. AU.
SPOILERS: Glühen.
SUMMARY: After Aya's sister dies,
ARCHIVAL/DISTRIBUTION: No, not yet. This is a trial run of a piece of an unfinished fic.
DISCLAIMERS: All things Weiß Kreuz belong to Koyasu Takehito, Project Weiß, Polygram k.k., and Animate Film. No infringement intended.
NOTES: Thanks to
bardsley, syvia, lunarennui, thornsilver, confidentsoba, jmtorres, maitai1, kasha, and helleboredoll for audiencing, typo-watch, and encouragement. Thanks to 'nat for "puisín," which she says probably sounds like "pu-sheen." Inspirational music includes Covenant's United States of Mind, mayatawi's V Mix the Second CD (Jane Jensen, Kidneythieves, Poe's rock version of "Hello," Kristen Barry's "Ordinary Life," Lacuna Coil), Linkin Park's Meteora, A Perfect Circle's Thirteenth Step, Pigface's Easy Listening..., Shriekback's "The Bastard Sons of Enoch," Zeromancer's Eurotrash, and Neuroticfish's Les Chansons Neurotiques.I am not responsible for any therapy bills incurred as a result of trauma from doing research on things mentioned in this story. If you look up, say, "butter dog porn" on your own, I refuse to take the blame. I've been told that it's a bad idea to eat soup or drink while reading "Glass Houses."
========================
"Glass Houses" part 230
By Viridian5
========================
Mamoru hated the walk toward the cells as paranoia and bitter experience made his skin tingle with the expectation of Austrian Kritiker attempting a shot at him. It didn't matter that Ebenroth's psionics had pledged to his side, because he didn't trust their experience, reaction times, or even them. They were all young, some of them even younger than they appeared, giving this walk through Kritiker's halls the feel of a children's crusade.
~ Omi, I'm watching out for all of us, ~ Nagi said, and *that* made Mamoru feel a bit better. He trusted Nagi's ability and word. He wondered if Crawford had any idea if Nagi had promised him his protection, but he did feel better. When he glanced at Nagi, Nagi didn't appear to be looking at him, just monitoring the situation with a bland expression.
It underscored how Mamoru could really use a telekinetic/telepath for a bodyguard, and it was a professional regret to add to all the personal ones he had that he'd ruined his relationship with Nagi. Nagi was *perfect*. Mamoru would have to see how the trainees he already had in Kritiker looked and talk to Antipathy about candidates from the Ebenroth school.
Ken looked as if he wanted a fight, not that Mamoru could blame him after all the smoke and shadows they'd faced in Vienna. Ken needed something he could punch and slash. Elena's hard-faced expression suggested that she would run over and crush anything that got in her way. Fenris seemed excited, although his eyes scanned their surroundings like a professional, and every so often he patted Sasha's arm. Sasha smiled when patted but otherwise had an expression of somehow ruthless concentration on his face. The bleached blond hair thankfully made him look less like Schuldig but weirdly somewhat like Yoji.
Yoji himself appeared preoccupied, making Mamoru glad all over again that Yoji had removed himself from leadership of Weiß. While Yoji had many good qualities, focus, objectivity, and a good game face didn't number among them. He could be ruthless but rarely for the right reasons. Mamoru had made him leader more out of some sense of guilt over Yoji's circumstances than good sense and quickly regretted it. Every so often Yoji glanced back at Schwarz, particularly Aya. Yes, Aya had faced some recent problems he'd nearly destroyed himself over, but this wasn't the time to moon over him. Despite Mamoru's initial hopes that Schwarz's trip to Vienna would distance Yoji from them, it seemed to have had the opposite effect. Not good at all.
Aya already occupied some twilight status between Weiß and Schwarz; they didn't need Yoji there too. Schwarz took too much advantage.
Aya had his blank face on, although Farfarello looked pleased in a somewhat manic way. To Mamoru's disquiet, they walked together at nearly the same pace, matched. Crawford had a coldly homicidal air and sometimes touched Schuldig possessively, while Schuldig grinned at everyone with the Bruise flanking him almost like a kind of honor guard. Although Flood still resembled a victim of starvation, he easily carried the gagged and unconscious Scry slung over his shoulder. Ebenroth's kids walked behind and to the sides of them.
These people made up Mamoru's entourage. God help him. No wonder he felt that he walked almost alone. How sad that the Weiß members he currently trusted most for this kind of thing were Draco and Fenris, not "his" Weiß, and that the person he thought would be most helpful here would be Nagi.
As they all got closer to the cells, Mamoru said, "Everyone except Weiß hang back a bit. I want to see if I can get them to open the door on my authority before I start intimidating them."
Some of them looked rebellious but he shot them a quelling look. If they wanted to be part of his organization, they had to act like it. They backed off. Crawford and Schuldig seemed amused, but Schwarz didn't step forward with him so at least they obeyed. He preferred a better attitude from them but would accept compliance.
"Sasha, you come along with us. You're part of the team," Mamoru said and was stunned by Sasha's sudden smile. Could Schuldig smile like that? If he did, he probably used it as a weapon.
They turned the corner, leaving the others behind. Walking up feeling like this, detached from the five people with him, underscored that Mamoru wasn't part of Weiß anymore. But he had more power to do good now, didn't he?
Didn't he?
Austrian Kritiker still had guards at each door, as if somebody was inside Scry's cell. Mamoru decided to try to see Scry first, to see if the guards would admit anything. Once they no doubt turned him away from that, he'd make a try for "Flood." If they refused him access there too, he'd demand entry by whatever means necessary, force included.
The guards looked apprehensive when he walked up. How much did they know? Mamoru said, "We're here to question Scry. Open the door."
"We can't do that, sir."
"We're all Kritiker, and my team specifically took him down. You know what my rank is. On what grounds are you refusing us access?"
~ These two know Scry isn't in there. Somebody gave them covering surface thoughts, but I'm better than that telepath and went right through them, ~ Elena said.
"Well?" Mamoru asked again.
The guard answered, "We've been commanded not to let *anyone* in, sir."
"Why?"
"We weren't given reasons. We just follow orders."
"How convenient. I'll bring that up with Mr. Zietler. After I talk to Flood."
One of the guards at Flood's door said, "We've been commanded not to let anyone see him either."
"This is ridiculous."
"So is contacting the other Kritiker branches to say you're splitting from us and saying it's because we're enslaving people," Mr. Zietler said as he approached with flanking guards.
"Considering how quickly you reclassified my status among you, I thought it best to get my news out quickly," Mamoru answered. He'd called about Scry's place in the Austrian branch's scheme not long after that had been discovered. He could imagine what libels Zietler would use as excuses for the split if he didn't inform people on his own before the Austrian branch had a chance to. "We're going to liberate the prisoner in Flood's cell, then we're leaving. I'm not letting you obstruct me on that. You've chosen to follow a path of fear, selfishness, and inhumanity to other people, but I haven't."
"We're protecting ourselves, not being selfish."
"'Protecting yourself' at the expense of the lives and rights of children who have already been abused. It's unacceptable." Mamoru turned to the guards at the door to Flood's cell, trusting Weiß to make sure the other guards and Zietler didn't attack him. "Open the door now."
"We--"
"If you don't do it on your own, we'll do it for you." Given the Austrian branch's fear of psionics, Mamoru decided to use that as leverage. "Draco uses fire. Fenris is a telekinetic. We have more such people waiting around the corner. Don't force us to use them."
The obviously nervous guards looked to Zietler, who seemed to deliberate for a moment, then gestured to them to open the door. The guards did so. "Thank you," Mamoru said, even as he thought loudly at Nagi to bring the rest of the group up.
~ I hear you, ~ Nagi answered. ~ We're coming. Schuldig is fending off Kritiker's telepaths for us. He thinks they're laughable, but we're not taking chances. ~
Good. Mamoru and Weiß didn't enter the cell until everyone else had come up to watch their back and intimidate Zietler and the guards.
The Schuldig clone sitting inside certainly did a fine impression of Flood as he'd been when Mamoru had first seen him, although someone looking closely would note that he didn't look thin or wan enough and that the length of his hair beneath the hair tie looked more frazzled than what grew closer to his scalp. Head downcast and eyes closed, he seemed lost in his own world and unreachable, though conscious.
~ Even to a telepath, he could pass, ~ Elena said.
What name had the Bruise supplied for him? A number, right? Once again, Mamoru sighed at Eszett's casual cruelty and inhumanity. "77, your assignment is over. We're all leaving now."
He didn't move and gave no sign of having heard. It seemed that he took his playacting very seriously. Under other circumstances Mamoru might have approved but right now he wanted to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible.
Flood, still carrying Scry over his shoulder, and another Schuldig clone walked into the room. "77, it worked like a charm. Having Flood out worked in our favor even more than we expected. Now we're getting our asses out of Austria," the not-Flood clone said. It was probably the Bruise's leader. Mamoru really needed a way to tell all of them apart.
Animation immediately came to "Flood," who replied, "Finally. I was so damned bored." He loosened the tie and pulled it down and off, taking the long fall of more brittle hair with it and revealing little comb tines inside to make it catch in his own, then pulled a tie out of his own shoulder-length hair that remained before mussing and fluffing it to his satisfaction. "Is that Scry I see dangling and tied? It must be Christmas."
"I caught him," Flood said, sounding smug.
"Then being bored to death was worth something after all."
"You didn't know they let Scry out?" Mamoru asked.
"The Kritiker telepaths had been keeping Flood telepathically contained. If I had to be Flood, I had to be contained. So, no, I didn't hear it."
"The rest of your... brothers have agreed to come to Japan with us, particularly since the people here just tried to have Scry take Schuldig over to control all of you. Are you coming along?"
"Fuck, yeah." 77 stood and stretched once Flood untied him from the chair. "Show me to the door."
****************************************
Crawford wanted them to get done so Schwarz could get out of here. He wanted to cut a swathe through the Austrians for daring to try to enslave and take advantage of his telepath yet figured that if he did that they'd never work for Persia's Kritiker again and didn't want to burn that bridge so thoroughly yet. The longer they stayed here, the stronger the temptation would become. Of course, if the Austrians attacked, Schwarz would have to defend themselves. Persia could hardly object to it. Crawford wouldn't goad them but could hope.
These bastards had nearly made Crawford's old nightmare vision come true and used his clone to do it.
He'd been so right to get Schuldig's phrase taken off before arriving here today. Not only would he have lost his telepath, but Schwarz would probably have been forced to fight off most of the talents in the building afterward. Somebody needed to pay. Scry would die and Crawford wanted to see if he could get a shot at Zietler too before they left.
As much as the Bruise annoyed him, he appreciated that they now circled Schuldig as he worked at keeping the Kritiker telepaths off, leaving himself somewhat distracted from his surroundings. Zietler's eyes scanned the group as if he searched for one in particular, probably Schuldig, but couldn't make him out in the crowd. Crawford should put Zietler's eyes out before killing him.
One time when Crawford had said that Schuldig's hair hardly looked professional, Schuldig had taken on an annoying "I know something you don't know" look and answered, "How tall am I?" He had a point on how it varied the appearance of his height. With all of the clones doing variations of the same thing, it helped disguised how Schuldig was a bit taller than they were, being older. A lot of them dressed like him too. If the Austrians tried to carry one of the clones off by mistake, that would be their problem.
Schuldig looked good, strong. If today's close call had rattled him, he didn't show it. Excellent. Crawford could see that he was a bit distracted with his telepathic work--blocking all of the Austrians' telepaths took effort even for an alpha--but most people wouldn't. Usually Schuldig would hide that behind sunglasses but didn't right now, probably because he too saw the advantage in blending in with his clones. Schuldig shot Crawford a brief, heated look full of promise before turning his head away as if he could be just another member of the Orange line with no real connection to Crawford aside from hating his guts.
That look said, "Later." Later they would celebrate. It might start with sex or with interrogating and destroying Scry. Especially now that they'd freed themselves from Eszett, they believed in living life to the fullest.
There would *be* a later.
Crawford had a to-do list: hopefully take out Zietler, take out Scry, celebrate with Schuldig, and visit Rosenkreuz, since he preferred the evidence of his own eyes and didn't believe in taking rumor for fact. They would eventually return to Tokyo. Somewhere along the way they'd start removing words for pay, although Crawford hardly saw it as a priority. Given how much Schuldig had gone through and done and the promise Crawford had made him, Crawford would have to consider taking Schwarz on a vacation. Besides, he would prove to himself and the others that he *could* survive without constantly consulting his cell phone and e-mail.
Zietler looked very sour. "I don't know what you did to turn Persia against us, but it won't work forever, Crawford."
It amused Crawford. "If you believe I have that much sway over his opinions, you never knew him at all."
Zietler's look turned even sourer.
~ He's not going to just let all of the talents leave, ~ Nagi said, obviously feeling secure that Schu kept them safe from prying telepaths. ~ He's planning a fight. ~
Crawford felt secure in that as well. ~ Of course he is. I'm looking forward to it. I believe that Weiß is as well. ~
Nagi's mouth took on a malicious tilt. Apparently he'd appreciate some mayhem too.
~ Schu-Schu says Z is suspiciously hard to crack, ~ a Schuldig-like voice quickly unloaded into Crawford's head. A clone with crazy shorter hair and a leather coat with buckles smiled and briefly waved at him. Probably Wicked.
Z was probably Zietler, and if he had someone shielding his mind that hard he must have plans. But "Schu-Schu"? Crawford really couldn't wait to get away from all the clones. One Schuldig was enough. He'd have to pay Wicked and Malice and take Malice's word off soon to make sure they left instead of stalked Schwarz. Wicked would enjoy following and playing practical jokes on them too much. Schwarz would hardly be helpless against him, but he'd be a pain in the ass they couldn't rely on Malice to rein in.
Persia, Weiß, 77, the Bruise's leader, and Flood, still carrying Scry, finally walked out of the cell. It shouldn't have taken that long, but Crawford knew that not everyone had his sense of efficiency and timing.
Persia asked, "Is there anyone in the other cell Scry was supposed to be in?"
"No," the Bruise answered all at once.
"Kritiker agents are coming up through the halls to surround us," Schuldig said suddenly.
Nagi nodded and said, "Lots of them."
Crawford couldn't remember the last time he'd seen so many faces light up at once. Everyone had been cooped up and unable to let off tension for too long. As he drew out his gun he asked, "Mr. Zietler, did you tell your agents you'd volunteered them for suicide?"