Ch. 14

Aya turned as the muzzle flash illuminated the small office. He took a breath only when his feet hit the floor on the other side of the desk; his blade coming down in a clean arc of shadows. If asked, he couldn't have told you when he noticed something was wrong. It might have been the way the room suddenly felt full or maybe it was the tinge of gun oil hanging metallic and heavy in the still air.

All he knew was that by the time Yohji screamed his name in warning, he'd already cleared the desk, the bare blade slashing open the soft flesh of Schuldig's chest from right collar bone to left nipple. The orange haired assassin screamed, his shot going wide just as Aya dropped to his knees in a crouch, his blade already swooping over his head for a circular slash to his throat.

It never connected.

Yohji saw his lover go down and instinctively pulled the metallic strands of his thread taut, their twang seeming to reverberate down his arms, sinking into his bones as he jerked back on the loop around his throat. Schuldig sputtered something Germanic as he fell back onto his ass, the barrel of the gun trapped between his throat and the shimmering metal cord. Blood ran freely down his heaving chest, the wound-unfortunately- not deep enough to take him out of the game completely. As he fell he twisted, rocking back onto the balls of his feet; he flipped himself backwards over his shoulder and came up in a low squat by the door the hand holding the gun suddenly bent at a painfully awkward angle as another loop of unbreakable wire wrapped around his forearm like bandages.

"Nasty little kätzchen. Doesn't play well with others." He wheezed around the tightening cord, a sneer on his face despite two pissed off government agents looming over him in the darkness.

"You okay, Cat?" Yohji asked, ignoring the struggling form.

"Hn." Aya grunted to an amused flash of green.

"Well hell, if you're that feisty do you want to interrogate him, or would you like me to?" There was a glint in Yohji's eye Aya was torn between being amused or worried about.

Before he could answer though, cautious steps fell in the hallway. Both men turned slightly, Aya with his blade pressed against Schuldig's jugular, the edge pressing lightly against his pulse as he removed the gun from his hand and Yohji with a tighter hold on the strands surrounding his once friend's body. A look long practiced past between the two men as the foot steps drew closer and then stopped altogether.

"Aya? Yohji?" A soft, almost non-existent voice whispered through the doorway.

Yohji breathed a sigh of relief as first Hakkai and then Gojyo peered around the doorframe cautiously. Upon seeing them, the two men's faces made identical looks of disbelief.

"I guess you didn't need any help after all." Gojyo muttered, dropping his gun to his side as he straightened and stepped into the doorway.

Aya made a 'hmph' snort that almost sounded derisive enough to make Yohji proud. "Just cuff him," the taciturn red head growled warningly, the blade slicing a bit farther into the skin when Schuldig shifted slightly.

"STAY!" called four deadly serious voices all at once as weapons came up and beaded in on the bright eyed fiend.

Schuldig apparently had just enough self-preservation instinct to do what they said, but he kept his eyes on Hakkai's shoulder. The newest member of the party hadn't stepped into the room all the way except and now stood as look out against the door frame watching their retreat path.

As Gojyo clamped the cuffs onto him he watched beneath long red bangs as Schuldig traced Hakkai's movements. He did not want to think about all the ways this could go wrong. Hell, they weren't supposed to make contact let alone take the freak into custody and the fact that Schuldig was being so calm about everything, made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Yohji, you called in yet?" he asked suddenly, nervous that this whole thing was a trap.

Yohji blinked twice before tapping on his comms and murmuring into his sleeve. He tapped again, said Omi's and Ken's names a bit louder this time and then turned back to the group hands rising in a gesture of surrender as the room was suddenly flooded in incandescent white light and all their comms squawked with burst EMPs. Hands to their ears to block out the horrible sound Gojyo was shoved back violently, his back hitting the edge of the desk with a bruising intensity that left him gasping for air.

He heard a muffled curse as Yohji's wires were suddenly loose and then ducked as a hail of bullets ripped through the room like tiny meteors. Hakkai was somewhere in the hall, Aya was apparently trying to peek through the shattering window as Yohji screamed at him to get his ass back inside (Yohji was apparently close to his left as that ear hurt a lot more than the other) and Schuldig was…

"Fuck! He got away!" he cursed, fishing around on the ground until he came up with his cuffs, their open lock mocking him.

He heard an equally savage curse from Yohji and a low growl from the window, but nothing from his partner. "Hakkai!"

When silence answered him he scrambled forward on hands and knees, using furniture as makeshift shields when he tried to crab-walk to the door. A small pool of blood smeared across his hands as he rounded the corner, the shadowed hall making him pause for a moment before he could see again clearly. When he did all he saw was an empty stairwell and one of his knives embedded in the wall about heart high. Three words were carved almost illegibly into the wooden panel: Gruß und Kuss*.

He swore he'd kill that meddling orange haired bastard the minute they found him.

XXXXXXX

Hakkai really couldn't believe their luck on this case. Here they were with the prime suspect in custody at their feet and a two-bit hack of a mid-level executive was able to get the jump on him. Him! Takashi Ishikawa had come out of the shadows so quick and silent he'd wondered if he was a phantom. A sharp pain erupted along his jaw as the man's big meaty hand crashed against the side of his temple sending him to his knees in throbbing agony.

Another blow to the back of his skull and he bit down hard on his bottom lip, the sticky sweet taste of coppery blood flooding his mouth. Hakkai wasn't unconscious by any means. He'd watched as the dark haired woman with angry eyes and a vicious twist to her lips had hurled the EMS pulse bomb from beside him, the business man Takashi clamped his hand over his mouth and pulled him up tight against a sweaty, barrel shaped chest, quickly binding and gagging him, chocking on the muffling cloth that was shoved into his mouth ruthlessly.

He heard Gojyo cry out as he was shoved away from Schuldig and hit the desk hard. The woman started shooting the minute the bomb exploded, sending his team mates scrambling for cover as Schuldig raced to them, a victorious looking smile etched onto his face. She waved Takashi off down the stairs while she inched her way backwards and Schuldig tore Hakkai's dagger from his hand. The orange haired man scratched something quickly into the burnished wooden wall and cackled while Hakkai was tossed over Takashi's shoulder.

Thrashing in anger when Schuldig slapped him on the ass hard as he raced past them, practically leaping down the stairs as the three of them fled the building, Hakkai an unwilling participant. He swore the minute he was free he'd do unspeakable, bloody things to the orange-haired bastard.

XXXXXXX

TBC

AN:

'kätzchen' is kitten in German.

'Gruß und Kuss' is Love and Kisses in German.

EMP stands for electromagnetic pulse.