Chapter 17 - The French Connection
By Kohikki
Before you read:
The parts that are bold and italicized (or this colour.. since the boards hate me) are Argeno and Hikki conversing in French.
You’ll notice they aren’t accented there.
Accent notes:
th= z, s= sometimes z. I = sometimes ee. some “h”s are gone. “anozair” = another
Oh that Hikki and his crazy accent..
**********
“A… baker, Colonel? I take it that was the guy then, the one who hired Riza and that guy, Heero?” Havoc pulled up his trousers, immersed in confusion.
“Yes, Havoc. That was him” Roy sighed.
“Kind of bad timing, huh?” Havoc followed Roy out of the somewhat wrecked weird, still attempting to clothe himself. “But you think you know where to find him, right?” he continued, now finally fully clothed.
“I’ve got an idea” Roy said sternly.
“Well good then” Havoc reached for a cigarette from his pocket. “You got a light?” he joked, holding it over towards Roy.
Roy glared at him.
“Ah, sorry.. Probably not a good time for jokes, eh?” Havoc pulled out a lighter and lit it himself.
***********************
“Jeez, we’re never going to get out of here.. Thanks a lot, sir” Clarice groaned. “HEY, can one of you people at least do something about these chains? We’re already in a cell with guards, do you think these are really necessary?! I can’t even scratch my nose if it gets itchy!” The guards around the cell seemed to ignore her shouting, even though it was clearly obvious they could hear her.
“Hey, I’m talking to you!” she continued.
“Now, now, now zen, what is ze meaning of all zis noise up here?” Van sighed entering the room.
“You, tell your lackeys or whatever these guys are to do something about these chains.” Clarice demanded.
“Why would Ee want to do somezing like zat now?” he mused.
“Do you really think we’re going to get away?” Samson added from the back of the cell.
“Fine, fine. You can have jour shackles removed” he decided. “I’ll be back later to make sure you’ve not run away” he grinned and threw three pieces of wrapped candy into their cell. “Eenjoy” he said musically, returning downstairs.
Clarice inspected the candy closely, trying to see if there was anything suspect about it.
“seems safe enough” she concluded and popped it into her mouth. Samson did the same.
“Oh, stop moping around, Follet, I’m not that mad at you, you were in a tough spot, I can’t really blame you for letting them have you, I mean I‘d have probably done the same in that situation..” She sighed.
“Eet’s not zat” Hikki sobbed.
“Oh?” Clarice wondered “Then what?”
“Ee-e really zought zat Van would be ze one, you know?”
“Oh jeez…” Samson grumbled.
“..The…one?” Clarice asked.
“He always came by ze bakery to see me, every day almost… and we’d talk and stuff” he sobbed even louder. “and on Valentine’s day, I even gave him a beeg box of candy and.. And…” he started hyperventilating from crying so hard.
“Get a hold of yourself” Clarice yelled at him. “Now finish your story!”
“Once or twice… Ee even asked him to marry me” He finished, sounding both embarrassed and depressed.
“Marry… You?” Samson and Clarice said in a somewhat shocked unison.
“Well, I’d say it seems like that’s not going to happen now, eh?” Clarice tried to joke, not realizing that her comment was probably like something of the verbal equivalent of rubbing salt in an open wound.
“Ee zuppose not” He said, defeated. “But at least ee still have my Samson to keep me company” he continued, nudging his way over to Samson.
“Ah, don’t you think there’s maybe.. A better replacement for… Mr. Argeno, Hikki?” Samson smiled, trying to comfort and yet still back away from the desperate Frenchman.
“Aww, jou’re no fun, Sammie.” He crawled back toward him. “Have you ever even tried being with anozair ma-” Hikki was suddenly cut off by a swift kick to his abdomen.
“Whoa! Nice shot!” Clarice exclaimed.
“Leave me out of your perverted fantasies!” Samson shouted at him.
“You win… Zis round…” Hikki rolled over in pain.
Minutes later, the three had settled down a bit.
Hikki was still awake but resting, the shock combined with amount of crying he‘d done, combined with Samson’s soccer player-like kicking ability had left him quite exhausted.
Clarice sighed heavily “How long do you think it’s been?”
Samson thought for a bit and decided it was probably less than 4 hours.
The fact that there wasn’t a window in the entire room where they were being held didn’t help to inform them of the hour and there wasn’t a clock in sight either.
“.. Samson, you don’t seem like the type of person who would get involved in this kind of thing. So…why?”
“Why did I join the syndicate?”
Clarice nodded.
“Well, I suppose you could say I’m one of those people with a… strong sense of justice?”
He thought for a minute. “I think that would be the best way to put it..”
Clarice laughed. “You’re like a kid..”
“Well, I mean… it’s like..” he scrambled to find something to say that would make his reasons seem a little less childish. “Maybe… I did it for my sister.”
“Your sister?”
“Oh, yeah… My sister…”
“Was… she killed by Ozzal? You joined to get revenge?”
“Oh no, nothing like that.”
“Then what?”
“Well, my sister had always been a pretty happy kid.. Even though when she was really young she already started doing my mother’s work since a disease left my mother bedridden. And then when she finally died, my dad couldn’t deal with the stress and killed himself. Or ran away. I’m not exactly sure what happened to him. But my sister does everything for me.”
“Oh, I see…”
“And so, I kind of hoped that by joining this syndicate I could help make a world that would be better for my sister to grow up in. The kind of place where her happiness is actually justified”
“…” Clarice stared at him for a bit and then burst out laughing. “Th-that’s adorable” she managed to force herself to say through her laughter.
“Hey! Don’t laugh! I’m serious, It’s not that funny!” Samson, embarrassed, was trying desperately to defend his reasoning.
“No, no. I’m not laughing at you, don’t worry. I think it’s sweet.” She smiled.
“Well, what about you then, why’d you join?”
“Me?” Clarice was kind of caught off guard. “Well, let’s see, ’I suppose you could say I’m one of those people with a strong sense of justice.’” She imitated Samson.
“H-hey!” he blushed.
“I’m sorry” she laughed again. “Well, just seemed like the right thing to do I guess. I haven’t been able to find work because of the poor economic conditions of lower Actionia and so I joined the syndicate to help maybe make conditions better for myself.. Although honestly, I never thought joining would wind me up in a place like this”
“I see. Your reason sounds a lot more mature than mine.” Samson sighed.
“Kind of” Clarice smiled.
“Well, at least we have reasons” Samson laughed. “The only reason Hikki is even involved is because he’s French.”
For a while they sat there in silence until Hikki’s stomach growling ruined it.
“…sorry” Hikki apologized
“I wonder if anyone is coming to save us” Samson positioned himself against the wall to attempt to get some rest himself. Clarice too tried to find a comfortable sleeping position within their cell.
A few hours later, Argeno returned.
“Wake up! What do you zink zis is? Some kind of Enn? Wake up you!” He banged on the bars of their cell.
“Oh, just go away.” Clarice moaned and made a “shoo” motion with her hand.
“Don’t shoo me!” Van “Oh who cares, I’m not interested in you anyway,” He turned to Hikki. “Baker.”
“You know my name, Van” Hikki said irritated without looking up to him.
“I apologize, Hikki, would you come weez me for a moment?”
He nodded and followed Van out of the room and down the stairs.
They shortly arrived in a dimly lit room, It was obvious that the lighting was not on purpose but the result of half the light bulbs having blown out who knows how long ago. The room itself was fairly large and was rather reminiscent of a rarely used room in the home of a wealthy old couple, the smell, the style of décor, even the look of the chairs,
Which there were only two of, strange for such a large room.
“Have a seat, monsieur Follet”
Van gestured which seat Hikki was to sit in.
“Am I to be negotiating my release?”
he questioned.
“Something like that”
Van took his seat and popped a small candy in his mouth.
Hikki recognized that the candy was the same as the kind he had bought Van for Valentine’s Day.
“You liked that kind then..”
he said to himself with something of a sad smile.
“What are you babbling about?”
“Oh, nothing..”
Hikki sighed.
“Now then, shall we begin?”
Van smiled. “I happen to know that you are the leader of one of the branches of the Blacken syndicate that were involved in the recent raid on the Comdot estate. Can you deny this?”
“I can’t”
Hikki said, still refusing to look Van in the eye.
“You do realize that.. that kind of thing is illegal, no?” Van continued.
For a few minutes Hikki refused to answer Van’s question.
“Monsieur?”
Hikki continued not to answer. His silence was making Van more and more irritated.
“ANSWER ME!”
he yelled.
Hikki had started crying again and finally looked up at Van.
“Why?” Hikki’s voice was weak, it’s a wonder that he managed to get those words out in anything louder than a whisper.
********************
“This the place, colonel? Geez, it’s pretty big… How are we supposed to know where that guy even is?” Havoc grumbled, exhaling smoke.
“We’re not, that’s why we’re going to need to search every inch in that place that we can”
“You’re nuts! How do you know this guy even knows what happened to Riza? All he did was hire her for a job.”
“Well, he knows more about what she’s been up to lately than I do. And that’s enough for me”
“Not gonna give up huh?” Havoc sighed.
Roy didn’t say respond.
“Well, I guess I have no other choice than to follow you, huh?” Havoc grinned.
“Let’s go” Roy flashed a determined smile.
The two approached the main entrance of Comdot estate confidently.
*******************
“Why?” Van repeated. “What, why?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“What are you talking about? What is this nonsense?”
Van was beginning to lose his patience.
“Since when do you work for Ozzal? I thought you were a scientist..”
“Of course I am, and who do you think employs me?!”
“Why didn’t you ever say anything about it?”
“Who I work for is none of your concern”
“.. You’re right. It isn’t.”
And then there was silence.
“.. I loved you, Van…”
Hikki admitted shamefully.
Again, silence.
“Do you even agree with what Ozzal does?! Do you even know what she does?!”
“I could care less what she does! As long as I can just do my job and get paid, she could do what ever she wants!”
Van shouted.
“So it’s about money…”
“It’s not about anything, what I do and why I chose to do it is none of your business”
“..Did you ever love me, Van? Did you ever even care about me?”
Hikki sighed.
“I…don’t know.”
“How can you not know if you love someone?!”
“I DON’T KNOW!”
Van was conflicted now, the bombardment of questions piling up were becoming too much for him to handle.
“I… did.”
He finally admitted.
Hikki was quite amazed and overjoyed to hear him admit it.
“What now?”
Hikki asked.
**********
“He’s been down there for an awful long time” Samson sighed.
“Maybe he’s dead..” Clarice suggested.
“That wouldn’t exactly be a good thing”
“Oh, I was just joking..” Clarice excused herself.
“Still, that is a possibility… isn’t it?” Samson said somewhat worried. ”and, if so…we’re probably next…”
********************
Down on the first floor of the Comdot estate, Roy and Havoc were making fairly quick work of the guards. A snap here, some shots there. The security really left much to be desired.
“Havoc, you check the left halls, I’ll check the right. We’ll meet up in the middle on the next floor” Roy called over.
“Got it” Havoc nodded and sped off.
About 10 minutes later, the two met up on the 2nd floor.
“Anything?” Roy asked.
“Nope, how about you?”
“No one knew anything on this side.”
“Oh, we were supposed to be asking about where they were? I was just taking out everyone I saw.. Sorry about that colonel”
Roy let out a sigh of grief.
“This time, ask, Havoc.” He said, and the two set off in separate directions again.
Only 2 minutes later Havoc came running back towards Roy.
“Hey! Colonel! I got news! They’re supposed to be near the top! One of the last floors!”
“Good work, let’s go”
The two set on their way to the top and arrived at the room where Samson and Clarice were still being held.
Roy snapped his fingers and set the unfortunate cell guards ablaze and next the lock on their cell.
“Oh thank god, I thought no one was coming!” Clarice exclaimed.
“Where is the baker?” Roy demanded to know.
“Hikki? He went down to the room right below this one with Argeno, I think.” Samson answered.
“Has he been down there long?”
“A while… Maybe an hour? 30 minutes?” Clarice tried to estimate, which was surprisingly hard.
“Damn, he could already be dead for all we know…” Havoc sighed.
“There’s still a chance he’s alive, sitting around talking about it isn’t going to prevent it though.” Roy started down the stairs and the others followed.
They came to the door to the room which Argeno and Hikki were in, it was locked.
From outside it, the group could hear screams, presumably from Hikki.
“Let me, colonel.” Havoc said, kicking in the door.
“Hikki we‘re here to-!” Clarice yelled.
The group paused to take in the scene before them.
And then immediately began to wish that they hadn’t.
“Oh Jesus Christ, they’re naked aren’t they?” Samson grimaced.
“Uh… Sorry… for the intrusion” Havoc apologized looking like he was seasick and closed the door back up behind him.
About an hour later, Hikki emerged from the room and headed back up to where Samson, Clarice, Havoc and Roy were waiting.
“Uh…..well, as you can see… negotiations with monsieur Argeno went quite well. And out of ze kindness of ‘is ‘eart ‘e ees allowing me and my companions, zat is you two, Samson, Clarice, to go free” Hikki smiled broadly.
Just then, guards who were sent in as reinforcement overheard this and went back to the room Van and Hikki previously occupied.
“Let me just say goodbye to monsieur Argeno and we can go, okay?” Hikki went back downstairs to the room only to see Argeno lying dead on the carpet whose red colour matched the colour of his blood.
“Ozzal has no need for traitors” one guard said from behind Hikki who was in an immense amount of shock.
“Y-you..” Hikki couldn’t form the words.
“Watch out!” Roy called out and snapped his fingers. Hikki suddenly felt a massive amount of heat behind him, he turned around to see that the guard was completely on fire.
“Hikki, let’s get out of here!” Samson called.
“But… Van..” Hikki struggled to say it.
“COME ON!” Clarice grabbed Hikki’s arm as she raced to follow Roy and Havoc out of the building.
They had all managed to make it out.
Hikki was still shaking from the shock of seeing Argeno lying on the floor motionless like that.
“We’d better find someplace to hide while we discuss some things” Roy stated.
“We can go to my house, I highly doubt Ozzal and her people know where I live” Clarice suggested.
“Good idea, let’s go” Roy nodded.
The five of them arrived at Clarice’s house.
“It’s not much, but at least it’s safe” she smiled.
Roy took a seat at her kitchen table.
“Now then, Hikki was it? You were the one who hired Riza right before she died, correct?”
He managed to nod.
“Do you have any idea what happened before she died?”
“No, I have no idea, I know udoku of what happened after there was a shoot out at Trunks’ pub” Hikki forced himself to answer.
“Now, eef you don’t mind, Ee.. Could really use some rest” Hikki walked off and collapsed on the sofa.
“It’s a shame…” Clarice sighed. “But.. I feel like now he actually has a reason to be opposing Ozzal.. It’s just a pity it had to happen to him like that..” she said with a sad tone in her voice.
“Poor guy..” Samson agreed. “although, I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to get that image of him and Mr. Argeno out of my head” Samson finished trying ever so slightly to lighten the mood.
*****
Meanwhile, on the other side of town
Cid frowned as she watched that guy with chain-scythe get blown up.
“Poor dude…” She said aloud.
“C’mon Cid, we can’t help these people.” Proof nudged her shoulder, motioning toward his motorcycle.
“Hold on just a sec… don’t you think it’s strange that he didn’t run away from the bomb?”
“What do you mean?” Proof said kneeling down to get Cid’s view.
“Look at the crater.” She said passing him the binoculars. “Isn’t that a bit small for the artillery they’re packing?”
“Sure but I don’t get your… no way!” Proof said, dropping the binoculars.
“What is it?” She said, picking the binoculars up and looking back at the settling debris and crater.
***
“We surrender…” Surool said with a tinge of remorse.
“Excellent.” Commander Umbrolos said, “Process them, men.”
As the nearest cluster of armed men marched closer, their attention went back towards the smoldering crater. Somebody was chuckling. With every passing second the chuckle became louder, until a dark figure began to rise out of the smoke and debris.
“What? That was it!?!” Jean voice giggled as his body writhed and reformed.
Commander Umbrolos’ face contorted with surprise as he heard the mans voice and saw the dark beast stand up before him.
“J-Jean?” Grant stared with wide eyes.
Jean looked more like a demonic phantom than a man. Slowly he began reshaping, his deformed wickedness swirling into the tattoos that once covered his body. His eyes glowed a bright gold color as he stepped out of the crater, holding the wicked scythe casually.
“What’s with that face Mr. Mustache? Ain’t yah ever seen a Proxy before?” Jean cackled violently as his golden stare fell on the slowly retreating soldiers.
“Shunsui, now!” Bruce yelled.
In an instant, the entire battalion of armed soldiers fell to the ground. With captain Shunsui Kyuoraku standing at the opposite end of the block.
Commander Umbrolos’s calm collected demeanor had evaporated. He was in a panic; his entire regiment of men had been killed in an instant, not to mention a sneering demon calling himself a “proxy”, whatever that is, was glaring at him with some kind of perverted intent. Desperately he reached for his watch to order in another artillery strike, but it was gone, he looked back at the group and saw that a pretty bespectacled woman with a book had taken his watch.
“I don’t think you’ll be needing this anymore.” Nanao said, crushing the watch in her hands.
“Don’t just stand there you idiots! Destroy them!” Umbrolos yelled at the armored suit division.
In another instant, the armed suits collapsed and were tossed away. Shunsui didn’t even bother to use his swords that time, simply breaking them with his hands.
When Shunsui finished with them he flashed instantly infront of Umbrolos. Shunsui’s face was grave and emotionless.
“I am sorry about incapacitating your entire unit commander, and breaking all your toys as well.” He said looking over the groaning soldiers and the demolished heaps of scrap metal. “But I’m not going to allow you to arrest us today, or any other day for that matter. I am also sorry, but I cannot be as lenient with you as I was with your soldiers. To believe that you’re in a position of command is infuriating. You betray a fatal flaw of hubris. If Jean wasn’t able to absorb that explosion, you’d have destroyed this entire neighborhood and its families, as well as some of your men. I can appreciate that you’re just following orders, but you’ve gone about them in entirely the wrong way.”
Unsheathing his sword, Shunsui ripped through Commander Umbrolos in three quick strikes. Umbrolos collapsed, his body already cold. He was dead before he knew what happened to him.
“Eh… what a mess.” Shunsui looked at the wreckage of the house…
**********
Characters:
Roy Mustang as himself
Jean Havoc as himself
Clarice Rowe – QueenoftheDorks
Samson Monroe – MasterSamson
Van Argeno as himself.
Cid – Cidthekittyisfun
Proof – NoProof
Jean – Pierrot-le-fou
Commander Umbrolos as himself.
Shunsui Kyoraku as himself
Nanao Ise as herself.
Before you read:
The parts that are bold and italicized (or this colour.. since the boards hate me) are Argeno and Hikki conversing in French.
You’ll notice they aren’t accented there.
Accent notes:
th= z, s= sometimes z. I = sometimes ee. some “h”s are gone. “anozair” = another
Oh that Hikki and his crazy accent..
**********
“A… baker, Colonel? I take it that was the guy then, the one who hired Riza and that guy, Heero?” Havoc pulled up his trousers, immersed in confusion.
“Yes, Havoc. That was him” Roy sighed.
“Kind of bad timing, huh?” Havoc followed Roy out of the somewhat wrecked weird, still attempting to clothe himself. “But you think you know where to find him, right?” he continued, now finally fully clothed.
“I’ve got an idea” Roy said sternly.
“Well good then” Havoc reached for a cigarette from his pocket. “You got a light?” he joked, holding it over towards Roy.
Roy glared at him.
“Ah, sorry.. Probably not a good time for jokes, eh?” Havoc pulled out a lighter and lit it himself.
***********************
“Jeez, we’re never going to get out of here.. Thanks a lot, sir” Clarice groaned. “HEY, can one of you people at least do something about these chains? We’re already in a cell with guards, do you think these are really necessary?! I can’t even scratch my nose if it gets itchy!” The guards around the cell seemed to ignore her shouting, even though it was clearly obvious they could hear her.
“Hey, I’m talking to you!” she continued.
“Now, now, now zen, what is ze meaning of all zis noise up here?” Van sighed entering the room.
“You, tell your lackeys or whatever these guys are to do something about these chains.” Clarice demanded.
“Why would Ee want to do somezing like zat now?” he mused.
“Do you really think we’re going to get away?” Samson added from the back of the cell.
“Fine, fine. You can have jour shackles removed” he decided. “I’ll be back later to make sure you’ve not run away” he grinned and threw three pieces of wrapped candy into their cell. “Eenjoy” he said musically, returning downstairs.
Clarice inspected the candy closely, trying to see if there was anything suspect about it.
“seems safe enough” she concluded and popped it into her mouth. Samson did the same.
“Oh, stop moping around, Follet, I’m not that mad at you, you were in a tough spot, I can’t really blame you for letting them have you, I mean I‘d have probably done the same in that situation..” She sighed.
“Eet’s not zat” Hikki sobbed.
“Oh?” Clarice wondered “Then what?”
“Ee-e really zought zat Van would be ze one, you know?”
“Oh jeez…” Samson grumbled.
“..The…one?” Clarice asked.
“He always came by ze bakery to see me, every day almost… and we’d talk and stuff” he sobbed even louder. “and on Valentine’s day, I even gave him a beeg box of candy and.. And…” he started hyperventilating from crying so hard.
“Get a hold of yourself” Clarice yelled at him. “Now finish your story!”
“Once or twice… Ee even asked him to marry me” He finished, sounding both embarrassed and depressed.
“Marry… You?” Samson and Clarice said in a somewhat shocked unison.
“Well, I’d say it seems like that’s not going to happen now, eh?” Clarice tried to joke, not realizing that her comment was probably like something of the verbal equivalent of rubbing salt in an open wound.
“Ee zuppose not” He said, defeated. “But at least ee still have my Samson to keep me company” he continued, nudging his way over to Samson.
“Ah, don’t you think there’s maybe.. A better replacement for… Mr. Argeno, Hikki?” Samson smiled, trying to comfort and yet still back away from the desperate Frenchman.
“Aww, jou’re no fun, Sammie.” He crawled back toward him. “Have you ever even tried being with anozair ma-” Hikki was suddenly cut off by a swift kick to his abdomen.
“Whoa! Nice shot!” Clarice exclaimed.
“Leave me out of your perverted fantasies!” Samson shouted at him.
“You win… Zis round…” Hikki rolled over in pain.
Minutes later, the three had settled down a bit.
Hikki was still awake but resting, the shock combined with amount of crying he‘d done, combined with Samson’s soccer player-like kicking ability had left him quite exhausted.
Clarice sighed heavily “How long do you think it’s been?”
Samson thought for a bit and decided it was probably less than 4 hours.
The fact that there wasn’t a window in the entire room where they were being held didn’t help to inform them of the hour and there wasn’t a clock in sight either.
“.. Samson, you don’t seem like the type of person who would get involved in this kind of thing. So…why?”
“Why did I join the syndicate?”
Clarice nodded.
“Well, I suppose you could say I’m one of those people with a… strong sense of justice?”
He thought for a minute. “I think that would be the best way to put it..”
Clarice laughed. “You’re like a kid..”
“Well, I mean… it’s like..” he scrambled to find something to say that would make his reasons seem a little less childish. “Maybe… I did it for my sister.”
“Your sister?”
“Oh, yeah… My sister…”
“Was… she killed by Ozzal? You joined to get revenge?”
“Oh no, nothing like that.”
“Then what?”
“Well, my sister had always been a pretty happy kid.. Even though when she was really young she already started doing my mother’s work since a disease left my mother bedridden. And then when she finally died, my dad couldn’t deal with the stress and killed himself. Or ran away. I’m not exactly sure what happened to him. But my sister does everything for me.”
“Oh, I see…”
“And so, I kind of hoped that by joining this syndicate I could help make a world that would be better for my sister to grow up in. The kind of place where her happiness is actually justified”
“…” Clarice stared at him for a bit and then burst out laughing. “Th-that’s adorable” she managed to force herself to say through her laughter.
“Hey! Don’t laugh! I’m serious, It’s not that funny!” Samson, embarrassed, was trying desperately to defend his reasoning.
“No, no. I’m not laughing at you, don’t worry. I think it’s sweet.” She smiled.
“Well, what about you then, why’d you join?”
“Me?” Clarice was kind of caught off guard. “Well, let’s see, ’I suppose you could say I’m one of those people with a strong sense of justice.’” She imitated Samson.
“H-hey!” he blushed.
“I’m sorry” she laughed again. “Well, just seemed like the right thing to do I guess. I haven’t been able to find work because of the poor economic conditions of lower Actionia and so I joined the syndicate to help maybe make conditions better for myself.. Although honestly, I never thought joining would wind me up in a place like this”
“I see. Your reason sounds a lot more mature than mine.” Samson sighed.
“Kind of” Clarice smiled.
“Well, at least we have reasons” Samson laughed. “The only reason Hikki is even involved is because he’s French.”
For a while they sat there in silence until Hikki’s stomach growling ruined it.
“…sorry” Hikki apologized
“I wonder if anyone is coming to save us” Samson positioned himself against the wall to attempt to get some rest himself. Clarice too tried to find a comfortable sleeping position within their cell.
A few hours later, Argeno returned.
“Wake up! What do you zink zis is? Some kind of Enn? Wake up you!” He banged on the bars of their cell.
“Oh, just go away.” Clarice moaned and made a “shoo” motion with her hand.
“Don’t shoo me!” Van “Oh who cares, I’m not interested in you anyway,” He turned to Hikki. “Baker.”
“You know my name, Van” Hikki said irritated without looking up to him.
“I apologize, Hikki, would you come weez me for a moment?”
He nodded and followed Van out of the room and down the stairs.
They shortly arrived in a dimly lit room, It was obvious that the lighting was not on purpose but the result of half the light bulbs having blown out who knows how long ago. The room itself was fairly large and was rather reminiscent of a rarely used room in the home of a wealthy old couple, the smell, the style of décor, even the look of the chairs,
Which there were only two of, strange for such a large room.
“Have a seat, monsieur Follet”
Van gestured which seat Hikki was to sit in.
“Am I to be negotiating my release?”
he questioned.
“Something like that”
Van took his seat and popped a small candy in his mouth.
Hikki recognized that the candy was the same as the kind he had bought Van for Valentine’s Day.
“You liked that kind then..”
he said to himself with something of a sad smile.
“What are you babbling about?”
“Oh, nothing..”
Hikki sighed.
“Now then, shall we begin?”
Van smiled. “I happen to know that you are the leader of one of the branches of the Blacken syndicate that were involved in the recent raid on the Comdot estate. Can you deny this?”
“I can’t”
Hikki said, still refusing to look Van in the eye.
“You do realize that.. that kind of thing is illegal, no?” Van continued.
For a few minutes Hikki refused to answer Van’s question.
“Monsieur?”
Hikki continued not to answer. His silence was making Van more and more irritated.
“ANSWER ME!”
he yelled.
Hikki had started crying again and finally looked up at Van.
“Why?” Hikki’s voice was weak, it’s a wonder that he managed to get those words out in anything louder than a whisper.
********************
“This the place, colonel? Geez, it’s pretty big… How are we supposed to know where that guy even is?” Havoc grumbled, exhaling smoke.
“We’re not, that’s why we’re going to need to search every inch in that place that we can”
“You’re nuts! How do you know this guy even knows what happened to Riza? All he did was hire her for a job.”
“Well, he knows more about what she’s been up to lately than I do. And that’s enough for me”
“Not gonna give up huh?” Havoc sighed.
Roy didn’t say respond.
“Well, I guess I have no other choice than to follow you, huh?” Havoc grinned.
“Let’s go” Roy flashed a determined smile.
The two approached the main entrance of Comdot estate confidently.
*******************
“Why?” Van repeated. “What, why?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“What are you talking about? What is this nonsense?”
Van was beginning to lose his patience.
“Since when do you work for Ozzal? I thought you were a scientist..”
“Of course I am, and who do you think employs me?!”
“Why didn’t you ever say anything about it?”
“Who I work for is none of your concern”
“.. You’re right. It isn’t.”
And then there was silence.
“.. I loved you, Van…”
Hikki admitted shamefully.
Again, silence.
“Do you even agree with what Ozzal does?! Do you even know what she does?!”
“I could care less what she does! As long as I can just do my job and get paid, she could do what ever she wants!”
Van shouted.
“So it’s about money…”
“It’s not about anything, what I do and why I chose to do it is none of your business”
“..Did you ever love me, Van? Did you ever even care about me?”
Hikki sighed.
“I…don’t know.”
“How can you not know if you love someone?!”
“I DON’T KNOW!”
Van was conflicted now, the bombardment of questions piling up were becoming too much for him to handle.
“I… did.”
He finally admitted.
Hikki was quite amazed and overjoyed to hear him admit it.
“What now?”
Hikki asked.
**********
“He’s been down there for an awful long time” Samson sighed.
“Maybe he’s dead..” Clarice suggested.
“That wouldn’t exactly be a good thing”
“Oh, I was just joking..” Clarice excused herself.
“Still, that is a possibility… isn’t it?” Samson said somewhat worried. ”and, if so…we’re probably next…”
********************
Down on the first floor of the Comdot estate, Roy and Havoc were making fairly quick work of the guards. A snap here, some shots there. The security really left much to be desired.
“Havoc, you check the left halls, I’ll check the right. We’ll meet up in the middle on the next floor” Roy called over.
“Got it” Havoc nodded and sped off.
About 10 minutes later, the two met up on the 2nd floor.
“Anything?” Roy asked.
“Nope, how about you?”
“No one knew anything on this side.”
“Oh, we were supposed to be asking about where they were? I was just taking out everyone I saw.. Sorry about that colonel”
Roy let out a sigh of grief.
“This time, ask, Havoc.” He said, and the two set off in separate directions again.
Only 2 minutes later Havoc came running back towards Roy.
“Hey! Colonel! I got news! They’re supposed to be near the top! One of the last floors!”
“Good work, let’s go”
The two set on their way to the top and arrived at the room where Samson and Clarice were still being held.
Roy snapped his fingers and set the unfortunate cell guards ablaze and next the lock on their cell.
“Oh thank god, I thought no one was coming!” Clarice exclaimed.
“Where is the baker?” Roy demanded to know.
“Hikki? He went down to the room right below this one with Argeno, I think.” Samson answered.
“Has he been down there long?”
“A while… Maybe an hour? 30 minutes?” Clarice tried to estimate, which was surprisingly hard.
“Damn, he could already be dead for all we know…” Havoc sighed.
“There’s still a chance he’s alive, sitting around talking about it isn’t going to prevent it though.” Roy started down the stairs and the others followed.
They came to the door to the room which Argeno and Hikki were in, it was locked.
From outside it, the group could hear screams, presumably from Hikki.
“Let me, colonel.” Havoc said, kicking in the door.
“Hikki we‘re here to-!” Clarice yelled.
The group paused to take in the scene before them.
And then immediately began to wish that they hadn’t.
“Oh Jesus Christ, they’re naked aren’t they?” Samson grimaced.
“Uh… Sorry… for the intrusion” Havoc apologized looking like he was seasick and closed the door back up behind him.
About an hour later, Hikki emerged from the room and headed back up to where Samson, Clarice, Havoc and Roy were waiting.
“Uh…..well, as you can see… negotiations with monsieur Argeno went quite well. And out of ze kindness of ‘is ‘eart ‘e ees allowing me and my companions, zat is you two, Samson, Clarice, to go free” Hikki smiled broadly.
Just then, guards who were sent in as reinforcement overheard this and went back to the room Van and Hikki previously occupied.
“Let me just say goodbye to monsieur Argeno and we can go, okay?” Hikki went back downstairs to the room only to see Argeno lying dead on the carpet whose red colour matched the colour of his blood.
“Ozzal has no need for traitors” one guard said from behind Hikki who was in an immense amount of shock.
“Y-you..” Hikki couldn’t form the words.
“Watch out!” Roy called out and snapped his fingers. Hikki suddenly felt a massive amount of heat behind him, he turned around to see that the guard was completely on fire.
“Hikki, let’s get out of here!” Samson called.
“But… Van..” Hikki struggled to say it.
“COME ON!” Clarice grabbed Hikki’s arm as she raced to follow Roy and Havoc out of the building.
They had all managed to make it out.
Hikki was still shaking from the shock of seeing Argeno lying on the floor motionless like that.
“We’d better find someplace to hide while we discuss some things” Roy stated.
“We can go to my house, I highly doubt Ozzal and her people know where I live” Clarice suggested.
“Good idea, let’s go” Roy nodded.
The five of them arrived at Clarice’s house.
“It’s not much, but at least it’s safe” she smiled.
Roy took a seat at her kitchen table.
“Now then, Hikki was it? You were the one who hired Riza right before she died, correct?”
He managed to nod.
“Do you have any idea what happened before she died?”
“No, I have no idea, I know udoku of what happened after there was a shoot out at Trunks’ pub” Hikki forced himself to answer.
“Now, eef you don’t mind, Ee.. Could really use some rest” Hikki walked off and collapsed on the sofa.
“It’s a shame…” Clarice sighed. “But.. I feel like now he actually has a reason to be opposing Ozzal.. It’s just a pity it had to happen to him like that..” she said with a sad tone in her voice.
“Poor guy..” Samson agreed. “although, I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to get that image of him and Mr. Argeno out of my head” Samson finished trying ever so slightly to lighten the mood.
*****
Meanwhile, on the other side of town
Cid frowned as she watched that guy with chain-scythe get blown up.
“Poor dude…” She said aloud.
“C’mon Cid, we can’t help these people.” Proof nudged her shoulder, motioning toward his motorcycle.
“Hold on just a sec… don’t you think it’s strange that he didn’t run away from the bomb?”
“What do you mean?” Proof said kneeling down to get Cid’s view.
“Look at the crater.” She said passing him the binoculars. “Isn’t that a bit small for the artillery they’re packing?”
“Sure but I don’t get your… no way!” Proof said, dropping the binoculars.
“What is it?” She said, picking the binoculars up and looking back at the settling debris and crater.
***
“We surrender…” Surool said with a tinge of remorse.
“Excellent.” Commander Umbrolos said, “Process them, men.”
As the nearest cluster of armed men marched closer, their attention went back towards the smoldering crater. Somebody was chuckling. With every passing second the chuckle became louder, until a dark figure began to rise out of the smoke and debris.
“What? That was it!?!” Jean voice giggled as his body writhed and reformed.
Commander Umbrolos’ face contorted with surprise as he heard the mans voice and saw the dark beast stand up before him.
“J-Jean?” Grant stared with wide eyes.
Jean looked more like a demonic phantom than a man. Slowly he began reshaping, his deformed wickedness swirling into the tattoos that once covered his body. His eyes glowed a bright gold color as he stepped out of the crater, holding the wicked scythe casually.
“What’s with that face Mr. Mustache? Ain’t yah ever seen a Proxy before?” Jean cackled violently as his golden stare fell on the slowly retreating soldiers.
“Shunsui, now!” Bruce yelled.
In an instant, the entire battalion of armed soldiers fell to the ground. With captain Shunsui Kyuoraku standing at the opposite end of the block.
Commander Umbrolos’s calm collected demeanor had evaporated. He was in a panic; his entire regiment of men had been killed in an instant, not to mention a sneering demon calling himself a “proxy”, whatever that is, was glaring at him with some kind of perverted intent. Desperately he reached for his watch to order in another artillery strike, but it was gone, he looked back at the group and saw that a pretty bespectacled woman with a book had taken his watch.
“I don’t think you’ll be needing this anymore.” Nanao said, crushing the watch in her hands.
“Don’t just stand there you idiots! Destroy them!” Umbrolos yelled at the armored suit division.
In another instant, the armed suits collapsed and were tossed away. Shunsui didn’t even bother to use his swords that time, simply breaking them with his hands.
When Shunsui finished with them he flashed instantly infront of Umbrolos. Shunsui’s face was grave and emotionless.
“I am sorry about incapacitating your entire unit commander, and breaking all your toys as well.” He said looking over the groaning soldiers and the demolished heaps of scrap metal. “But I’m not going to allow you to arrest us today, or any other day for that matter. I am also sorry, but I cannot be as lenient with you as I was with your soldiers. To believe that you’re in a position of command is infuriating. You betray a fatal flaw of hubris. If Jean wasn’t able to absorb that explosion, you’d have destroyed this entire neighborhood and its families, as well as some of your men. I can appreciate that you’re just following orders, but you’ve gone about them in entirely the wrong way.”
Unsheathing his sword, Shunsui ripped through Commander Umbrolos in three quick strikes. Umbrolos collapsed, his body already cold. He was dead before he knew what happened to him.
“Eh… what a mess.” Shunsui looked at the wreckage of the house…
**********
Characters:
Roy Mustang as himself
Jean Havoc as himself
Clarice Rowe – QueenoftheDorks
Samson Monroe – MasterSamson
Van Argeno as himself.
Cid – Cidthekittyisfun
Proof – NoProof
Jean – Pierrot-le-fou
Commander Umbrolos as himself.
Shunsui Kyoraku as himself
Nanao Ise as herself.