Wednesday 1.28

[oracle-dreams.livejournal.com]

Crawford passed through the living room without a word, heading out the door and down to the parking garage.  There was no need to repeat himself. He had to trust that Schuldig would follow the order to stay alert and pass it on the Nagi as well. If he started to question Schuldig's loyalty, it was the beginning of the end for Schwarz. And without a vision to confirm or deny, he had inadvertantly planted his own seed of doubt. 

Farfarello, on the other hand, was never a question in his mind. His psychosis was manageable and he was almost predictable when it came to the team.  It was overly optimistic expecting the man to keep Schuldig in check. But still, this fuck up was not sliding by either of them.

"I am not going to ask how this happened." Crawford was still eerily composed on the elevator ride down. Just once he glanced over his swollen knuckles and with a flex of his fingers put the minor damage out of his mind. "But I do want to know why you didn't remain to complete this idiotically simple mission."

Comments

[bloodyfarfie.livejournal.com]

Farfarello followed Crawford out to the parking garage, and sighed quietly as the question was asked in the elevator. With a shrug he went with the truth of the matter.

"I'd been elsewhere. All Schu said was somethin' along the lines of 'change of plans' - I figured somethin' got fucked an' left where I was. Either way, didn't know whether the damn disk was in there, Schu wasn't even sure, an' it probably would've been a fight inside to get it." He shrugged, looking off to the side. Excuses, that's what he knew he'd just given Crawford. It was all he had though - there was no real good reason.

After a moment Farfarello glanced over at Crawford, "So, what's the punishment for me this time?" He figured there would be at least something, since he'd screwed up pretty bad, between Schuldig's actions, and his not even completing his part of the mission.

[oracle-dreams.livejournal.com]

It was worse than he had feared. They botched it worse than a pair of twelve year olds on their first field training run. And in Schuldig's case it was intentional. The thought grated again, and his fists balled tight in reaction.

He had said he didn't want to know for a reason.

"Right now, you will keep your head in what we need to do. Weiss will be on edge. We need to take advantage of that while we have the opportunity." The elevator doors slid open and Crawford took up a quick pace to the Benz. With a flick of the remote, the doors unlocked and the ignition sparked the car to life just as the reached it.

Crawford slid behind the wheel, flicking the radio off and adjusting his seat. Again, Schuldig had not left his car the way he found it. Just more fuel to toss on what was mounting into an unquenchable inferno. At least this time it still had gas in the tank.

"If Bombay does still have the disk we need to act before he calls Kritiker in." And now it was becoming much clearer exactly how crippled he was without his visions. By now he would normally have had all the minute clues he needed to piece together an idea of what he walking into. Without it, he was just as blind as anyone else.

"Give me the details. Who is home and how did you leave them?"

[bloodyfarfie.livejournal.com]

Farfarello was glad he wasn't at least getting beaten - though Crawford knew how pointless that was with him. He wasn't even getting torn into verbally - at least not yet,

He got into the car and leaned back in his seat, glancing over at Crawford, "All three were home when we left, along with the blood-kitten's sister. Don't know if any are comin' after us. Blood-kitten took a gunshot to the shin, an' Siberian I had to hit in the head with me hilt to get out of there. Don't know if 'e's concussed or anythin', didn't have time to look. The little kitten an' the sister were untouched."

He leaned his head back against the seat, staring at the roof of the car. This was great.. He was pretty sure that he really was going to hear it later. It wasn't his fault - Schu had bungled it, and he hadn't known what was going on when he was called. For all he knew they'd somehow fucked things over for Schu.

Not that Crawford seemed even vaguely interested in that right now.

[oracle-dreams.livejournal.com]

Crawford let the information sink in for a mintue or two, choosing a slightly longer route through the city, avoiding the major thoroughfares.

Was it possible? Abyssinian put his precious sister - his only apparent reason for living - so thoroughly in harms way? That completely altered the tone of this mission. It just made it so much easier.

Crawford's sour expression slowly relaxed, a small amused smirk playing across his lips.

"The Fujimiya girl is proving much more useful that I ever imagined she would be." Crawford doubled back just once, keeping watchful eyes on the traffic all around, still unconvinced that this was a simple retrieval mission. But one thing was for certain. Weiss was entirely clueless as usual - the way Kritiker preferred.

Abyssinian wounded, feeling overprotective, hopefully stressed at his lack of control of this surpise development. Siberian concussed. Again. Crawford gave a low 'hmmmffff' of amused satisfaction.

"Was it always your intent to lobotomize Siberian this slowly?" The sliver of levity had Crawford stepping on the gas, actually looking forward to reengaging Weiss.

So this was fascination Farfarello and Schuldig has with the assassins. They did seem to be a never ending source of amusement.

In that moment, a hazy, faint vision of Schuldig reveling in Balinese's pain, those indigo eyes sparkling with childlike glee. Hunched over his prey with all the fierce grace and effortless ease of a big cat taking down a hapless gazelle. And with a haughty toss of that fiery mane the vision was gone.

It was both reassuring and confusing in it's content.

Crawford refocused on the task at hand. Thoughts of Schuldig were entirely too distracting for a plethora of convoluted reasons.

[bloodyfarfie.livejournal.com]

Farfarello nodded, smirking a bit, "I'll take yer word for it. I was surprised she was there meself." He shrugged and started watching the roads almost idly now.

At the comment about him lobotomizing Siberian, he snorted and grinned. "Aye. I'm workin' on it. Either lobotomizin' him or jus' makin' him even more stupid than he is already. How many brain cells die off each time ye get hit again?"

He cocked his head to the side slightly, almost curious now to exactly how many times he'd hit the brunette's head since they'd been first 'introduced'. He was surprised he hadn't caused brain damage by now.

He immediately came to attention, able to tel by this point when Crawford had a vision. He watched him and lifted an eyebrow, waiting to hear if it was at all relevent - if it wasn't, he knew it wasn't his business.

[oracle-dreams.livejournal.com]

"After the tower, I'm surprized he is still coherent." Crawford just smirked. Farfarello really did enjoy his encounters with Siberian. They were never even close to a challenge for the Irishman and Siberian just never seemed to realize the disparity in their respective skill levels. Perhaps it was just his sheer tenacity Farfarello found amusing.

Crawford felt Farfarello's eyes on him. He always was the perceptive one. With a sideways glance and a resigned breath, he shared the insight.

"Schuldig will be enjoying himself." It was highly unlikely the redhead would do anything that would mess up his own bed. The messy work was never really his style anyway. Somehow, Crawford almost hoped Balinese tried his damnedest to resist. How easily Schwarz was able to incapacitate Kritikers finest - on a whim for nothing but sheer amusement - was a message he was quite comfortable sending to their superiors.

But even that enjoyable thought was nothing but sheer distraction. There was still a tangible threat at hand.

"Don't get too comfortable. You will be cleaning this up once Schuldig is done. If Balinese survives the night with his mind intact, he is going back... with a message."

[bloodyfarfie.livejournal.com]

Farfarello smirked at the precog a bit at the comment on the tower. He heard the bit of a sigh after he gave Crawford a bit of a look.

"Aye, I'll bet he is." He was sure that Schuldig hadn't liked Crawford's reaction and would be taking it out on the kitten.

It would be interesting to see Schuldig's attitude by the time they got back there too. Though he wasn't sure if it would be a good thing or a bad thing yet..

At being told of his clean-up duty, Farfarello sighed and nodded, knowing he at least deserved that much. "Aye, alright. What's the message to be?" He grinned slightly and lifted an eyebrow, hoping for something entertaining to make the upcoming annoying work less...like work.

[oracle-dreams.livejournal.com]

"That will depend on how this meeting goes." Crawford stopped short at the crosswalk, tires squealing just a bit as a gaggle of school girls tried to beat the light. Again, another tiny annoyance that he was so accustomed to avoiding without thought. A bit of a sneer creased his lips as he finally pulled the Benz around the corner and parked just down the block, within sight of the Koneko.

A hazy vision was attempting to make itself known and keenly missing their guidance, Brad squeezed his eyes shut trying to focus, willing it into clarity. The vision was more like a faded, scratched old movie clip, blurred around the edges, the sound track tinny and hollow. A Nippon, smartly dressed stuck in drive time traffic along one of the major arteries through the city. It was a few hours away. He was certain he'd never met this man and was about to damn the apparent randomness of the vision when the man answered his Blackberry... a tiny black cross dangling from its antenna.

"They obtained the objective, but they are hiding something, and their hostility hasn't subsided in the least. Siberian may require closer watch."

It had to do with Weiss. Perhaps the contact with Balinese had pulled through after all but the association seemed vague. Crawford squeezed at the bridge of his nose, trying to force more detail but it wouldn't come. Then it faded aout altogether. He slammed the palm his hand across the steering wheel just once in frustration.

Proximity. This man had to be close to prompt it. Crawford scanned the street, the shops, the cars passing by and sighed in resignation. He was here, somewhere, he was sure of it but they did not have the time just now to sift through the masses to find him. Schuldig would have been useful but of course, his absence just dug his grave a bit deeper.

"It seems Weiss is a thorn in more than one side." The vision wasn't clear enough to determine the status of the disk and its whereabouts so a direct approach would serve the purpose.

[plotbunnytiff.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile, in a dimly lit office downtown, smoke rings encircled the monitor of a portable DVD player. A manicured hand idly toyed with a pair of stainless steel stress balls. Their soothing chime was at odds with the violent, muted video images projected on the screen.

Johnson sucked the last bit of usefulness out of his cigarette, put out the butt in a nearby ashtray, and dialed Crawford's cell phone number. Sato being in possession of that disk put a level of risk on his plans that made Johnson uncomfortable.

The Weiss liaison would have to be taken out of the equation. The man was far too loyal to all the wrong people. Pity. He was one of the more tolerable ones in that miserable lot.

At least his death would ensure that Johnson got his money's worth out of Schwartz. Sato was a tad older, but he was no slouch. Time behind a desk might have softened him a bit. Johnson was sure he'd find out soon enough.

[bloodyfarfie.livejournal.com]

Farfarello nodded, barely blinking as they stopped suddenly. "Should've hit 'em. Darwinism." He glanced over at the precog, noticing him tense slightly again.

The eyes squeezed shut showed Crawford was trying to force something, a vision.. and the man's palm hitting the steering wheel, frustration. That could be troublesome.

The Irishman chuckled quietly at his words after a moment, "Kritiker? I take it that's all ye know?" Crawford likely would have said something if he knew for sure where the disk was or anything of that sort, but he was still just assuming. He was cursing the precog's talent as much as the man himself was sometimes. Things would be so much easier if his talent worked more like Schuldig's or Nagi's, where he could call upon it at need and it would work.

[oracle-dreams.livejournal.com]

The Blackberry in his pocket quietly vibrated and Crawford pulled it out checking the incoming number. He still wasn't sure how nagi had disabled the call blocking but it was entirely useful just the same.

"Go case the Koneko, see who's home. I need to take this." Crawford dismissed Farfarello as he slipped his headset into place over his ear and pressed the button.

"This is Oracle."

[plotbunnytiff.livejournal.com]

“Reports show that a Kritiker agent is now in possession of the disk. This does not make me happy.” Johnson wasted no time with greetings. His tone was carefully neutral, despite his word choice. “I choose to assume that this is simply an issue of poor timing on your part, and not a deliberate misunderstanding of our expectations.”

[http://users.livejournal.com/tarot_card_/]

Farfarello nodded and stepped out of the car, closing the door and taking off in a run to get to the Koneko as quickly as he could.

[Exit to Wednesday 1.31]

[oracle-dreams.livejournal.com]

The enigma that was Johnson was just beginning to show his truer colors. The curt display of displeasure was telling in several ways. If Johnson had the resurces to keep THAT close of an eye on Weiss and this Kritiker contact, Sato, then Schwarz's presence on this mission was just as he had thought... a ruse to lure them out. But the reason why was still entirely elusive. It also meant that he, Farfarello and the Koneko were under survelliance right now.

Crawford silently damned Schuldig and his always spectacular timing. Johnson was definitely toying with them. No question of it now.

"Everything is as planned and on schedule." Crawford retorted quick, calm and just as noncommital as the voice on the other end. Sure, Schuldig may have completely blown this simple mission but it was not entirely unexpected. The redhead's night of fun was going to cost Brad nothing but time and a headache that Johnson was hell bent on kicking into gear for him right now.

This mission would be completed and Schuldig would be losing more than the payday. Brad wasn't sure he would be able to resist plowing another fist into the German's face when he returned home. It may depend on how convoluted the next few hours would become.

"Schwarz will deliver as per your specifications." Crawford's voice took on a faint lilt, nearly daring the man to offer more. Crawford would deliver as per Johnson's orders... to the exact letter of them. Nothing more, nothing less and nothing that was unspecified would be assumed as a requirement of this task. "It is a poor time to question your comfortability with our methods."

Crawford had only to keep the man talking in the hope that some small vision would make itself known.

[aki-jade.livejournal.com]

//Crawford.//

It was like there was an itch in the back of Crawford's mind as Schuldig wormed his way in. Not past the shields; nothing could get past Crawford's shields. It was more like the equivalent of standing outside of someone's window and shouting until you got an answer.

[plotbunnytiff.livejournal.com]

There was a heavy pause before Johnson continued. "Please excuse my rudeness. It was not intentional.” The sound of another cigarette being lit preceded the next sentence. “Sato’s surveillance team sent a copy of their findings to my superiors, and they made their…displeasure known.” Weariness tinted his words, as if he had a very long and trying day.

#A vision flashes of a briefcase sliding across concrete, a splash of blood staining the handle. Sato’s face comes into view; his hair is slick with sweat and there are gash marks across his neck. He wheezes, reaches out for the handle of the briefcase. A shoe comes down on his hand, stopping him while another hand picks up the briefcase and opens it.#

“I’m certain your team is working to the best of their abilities. Fortunately, the reports also got wind of Sato’s drop-off location for the disk. He’ll be meeting with his agents at Ryuko Station at six o’clock today. It would be an opportune moment to recover what was lost, I should think.”

Another short pause while Johnson took a drag. “I advise you take extreme caution when handling Sato. There is a good reason why he has a team solely to track *his* movements. Appropriate compensation will be added to your account if you somehow remove him from the bigger picture completely. Good day.”

[oracle-dreams.livejournal.com]

A sudden spike of pain sent stars through his vision. Schuldig, Johnson and now a vision intruding simultaneously. He felt fourteen again, enduring the same pain as he had in training. If all was right with his visions, it would have been a seemless task to multitask this way. And, he would have been able to control the feedback spike of pain he unintentionally sent to Schuldig. There was only one new element here. More and more, Johnson was the problem that seemed to need fixing.

The vision was remarkably clear though. Without contact with either Johnson or Sato, it could only mean that these events were going to somehow impact him or Schwarz in some sort of personal manner. He intentionally left his link with Schuldig open... feeding him the vision as it came. It was never a pleaseant experience for the telepath, one Crawford usually spare him by shutting him out. But, again, the redhead's always spectacular timing would get him more than he had bargained for.

Johnson helpfully filled in the details, giving away more than he had during any of their previous conversations. If this Sato had his own team, and they reported to Johnson's superiors... Why was Kritiker's upper echelons contracting outside the organization to kill off one of their own? Several scenarios were possible and Crawford winced, deciding to ponder those possibilities afer clearing his head.

//You have good news for me?// He sent back to Schuldig somewhat weakly while answering Johnson on the phone. "Are you sure you know who you have contracted Mr. Johnson?" The dry sarcasm said all that needed to be said about the man's warnings. "Call after with the drop off location. I will have your amended bill ready." And Crawford ended the call.

[aki-jade.livejournal.com]

There was an immediate feedback of pain coming from Schuldig. If it weren't for the disorienting vision, he might have been able to stop it, but as it was, it was almost a surprise that he didn't pass out.

//Fuck you, jackass...// His mental voice was weak and angry and hurt. //Check your phone.//

[oracle-dreams.livejournal.com]

Brad realized he had done more than slip the vision to Schuldig. The pain in Schuldig's words was palpable. Brad's mental shields unexpectedly came down the moment the vision intruded. Schuldig had gotten the raw footage without the filter of Brad's shields. The filtered version was uncomfortable enough but a raw vision would be agonizing. Reading minds in the present and sifting through memories was a much different thing than being a channel for what was yet to come. The two disciplines were as different mentally as Crawford and Schuldig themselves. It wasn't oil and water... it was nitro glycerin and a hyper three year old... put the two together and watch it explode. The explosion was one sided though... the hyper three year old never had a chance.

Crawford knew his shields had failed totally when Schuldig was simply gone from his mind, recoiling so fast he left a small ache of loss in Brad's thoughts. Brad grabbed hard at the bridge of his nose, squeezing up against his eye sockets trying to will the throbbing in his head away. A few minutes of recovery repaired his shields but the headache stubbornly remained.

Crawford returned to the task at hand, a fleeting thought of concern for Schuldig nagging in the back of his mind. He checked his phone and indeed there was information from Nagi waiting. Timely and useful information as well. This was not the task he put the boy on but it was most advantageous to have at this point. Schuldig must have made some progress with Balinese.

Crawford relaxed his shoulders with a tense but contented sigh. All was right with his team despite the momentary hiccup caused by Schuldig. He figured he should be used to those by now since they were fairly frequent though not usually so blatant. They were still functioning as they always had and he was actually a bit relieved. He took another moment to center his thoughts, more difficult a task today than it had been in a long long time, then got out of the car, heading for the Koneko and some answers.

(cont. in 1.34)