The Black Cross

Crawford made his way to his office slowly, sipping at his coffee along the way. Nagi was gone to retrieve the breifcase and instantly back at his side. At least it seemed that way. He was determined to deny his discomfort a visible or audible outlet and managed to do so even as he took his seat. The walk had actually winded him a bit. The ache in his chest spiked with a sharp stab as he inhaled deeply trying to catch his breath and ended with a small quiet flurry of restrained coughs. Without a glance in Nagi's direction he roused his harddrive and called up a long unused program.

"In the last drawer, bottom right." He motioned Nagi with a toss of his head to the bank of shelves to the right of his desk and their discreet file cabinets below. "Pull out the WunderX binder."

Crawford turned his attention to the briefcase, examining it for any potentially nasty surprises. His inner sight revealed none as well. He frowned minutely as he examined the combination lock. He turned to his lower left hand drawer and pulled out a small tool kit. He selected a small steel wedge, setting it's blade into the groove just beside the catch. He spun the case around, braced it from behind and gave a small nod to Nagi.

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Nagi winced at Crawford's caughs, fighting the worry and doubt that wanted to creep into his mind. He hated seeing Crawford this weak, it made him feel utterly unsafe, even though his rational mind told him that it really didn't matter how weak Crawford was physically, because his real strength lay in the mental field. As long as he had Farfarello and Nagi to protect him when it came to the physical plane and Schuldig in the mental, the man should be alright as long as he was able to think.

His fear once again reasoned away for the time being, Nagi used his powers to retrieve the binder in question and gently put it on Crawford's desk. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but the control he had over his power right now, despite the turmoil in his mind gave him a sense of pride. His power was largely emotionally charged and directed, and because of the strength of his power, strong emotions had always brought him a sense of dread. The years in Schwarz had managed what years and years of Rosenkreuz training had failed to do; give him control over both his emotions and his powers even when the first failed.

At Crawford's nod, Nagi looked at the briefcase more closely. Than, he concentrated his power without an efford. The briefcase sprung open without much efford at all.

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They were small things really, considering the immense power at Nagi's disposal. But these small things were more a challenge to that vast power. Bringing down a building could now be considered child's play to the boy. The fine manipulation of such small mundane things, and with such finite precision when he commanded the power to level cities, it never failed to impress. Crawford regarded Nagi from over his glasses, a small fleeting smile crossing his lips.

Crawford swung the briefcase around, fishing the disk from out of it's varied contents. He could examine the rest of it later, the disk was the primary concern. He set the case aside and pulled the binder front and center, opening it and paging through the clear acetate pages of disks and flash drives finally pulling one from the center.

"Remember Isao Kawaji?" Crawford turned to his computer and encouraged Nagi to come around with a toss of his head. "I had thought Kritiker had been a bit too interested in the WunderX project. Weiss was dispatched much too quickly."

Crawford pulled up the sound analysis software from the former project, rebooting the files of Kawaji's more promising tracks from the ill fated WunderX project. As the techno beat bass line rattled the speakers on Crawford's desk, he again stared transfixed at the beautiful simplicity of the man's work. Various windows displayed frequencies, megahetz and spectral analysis displayed in frenetic color. After a brief couple of minutes he turned the sound down, only registering the additional throb in his headache after the fact.

"His work never affected us. Our brains work differently because of our talents. Kawaji's work only affected the lowest common denominator, those with poor impulse control... the sheep. And that was all it was ever intended to do." Crawford slid the disk in question into the harddrive, then turned all the volumne controls down. He paused with a moment of insight... and pulled the wireless speaker hub from its port.

"If your information is correct, someone has picked up where Kawaji had left off." Crawford played the disk, running it through the analysis software only.

His expression soured almost immediately.

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The slight approval on Crawford's face made Nagi's pride go from a small spark to a bright flame inside him. Without noticing, his stance became just the slightest bit more upright, his shoulders just the slightest bit more squared, even though the look on his face never changed.

Nagi had to think deeply before he remembered the man in question. If he was honest, Nagi had been fairly disgusted by him and stayed away from the man. Now he wished he hadn't. If Kritiker was trying to revive and better the project, he might've picked up anything useful. As it was, he had trouble dragging up the man's face, let be the specifics of that particular mission.

Nagi made his way to stand next to Crawford by his desk, staring expectantly at the screen. He was rather curious to see what would happen. What had Kritiker managed to do? And how good was this Johnson, really? It would give them valuable information to go on when removing the threat.
There was no doubt in his mind that they would.

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Crawford slumped back in his chair, head perched on his fist, his elbow on the arm for support. The broken visions he had of this project were starting to make more sense in context. It must have been a testing phase of this project his vision witnessed and it looked all to much like an Esset project... not one managed by the ever so benevolent Kritiker. Kawaji had been killed for less.

Johnson had to be integral to the project since the visions were spurred by... voice only... contact with him. Either Johnson was the voice on the disk now silently playing through the analysis program or he was intensely focused on this project and it somehow posed a threat to Schwarz. The latter was true according to Nagi's research but everything was now suspect. Johnson was confirmed as Kritiker. If Kritiker had lost control of Johnson and sent Weiss in as damage control before this disk could be used for its intended purpose, then why hadn't they simply sent Weiss in to slay this dark beast of their own making? They may be counting on Schwarz to do the dirty work for them. But that would suggest that Kritiker had planned so deeply, that they altered their database so Nagi would find the information needed to assure that outcome. Kritiker had never been that competent before.

Crawford's eyes never left the screen, watching as the tracks were disemboweled, their base components speaking to him just as clearly as actual sound. He expanded the winodw displaying the frequencies and paused the disk.

"Here... " He pointed to a deep spike in the waveband. "It reaches deep into the theta band." Crawford frowned hard. He knew what that implied but knew Nagi, most likely, did not. "The theta band is usually only achieved during sleep... it's the frequency the brain operates on while dreaming, the subconscious. But, this deep into the band..." He pointed to the several spikes that nearly lept off the screen. "... this is where our talents originate. Mind talents operate at the deepest levels... this would even affect me and Schuldig." Brad sank even further into his chair, a scowl slowly working its way onto his face. He was sick of megalomanics bent on world domination.

"If this can affect us... then imagine how easily it could affect everyone else." The thought was enough to kick Crawford's headache back into full throbbing agony. He could care less about the rest of humanity... but this had the potential to ruin Schwarz's new, comfortable place in it. This would force them into action. Annoying megalomanics he could manage, threats to Schwarz's newly won freedom he could overcome. But someone pulling Schwarz's strings... taking away their choice... THAT could not, would not be tolerated.

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Schuldig popped his head into Brad's office, raising an eyebrow. He'd heard music coming from here just a few minutes ago, and now it was quiet. He walked around Brad's desk to look at the computer that both he and Nagi were fixated on. More dots and lines and graphs that he couldn't interpret.

"What's all that?" He asked.

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"That..." Brad again slumped back in his chair. "... is a fucking nightmare." Brad rarely used such colorful language as a genral rule, but he had been using more of it in the past day than he usually would in an entire month. He wasn't so concerned with how this disk had come to be - several scenerios instantly came to mind - but moreso, was it intentionally designed to affect talents? If it was, that raised even more heinous possiblities that Crawford just did not have the energy to entertain at the moment. And how did Johnson happen across their contact information anyway? Hadn't he put Nagi on that question in the first place?

"Nagi... I need to know how Johnson found us." It was disturbing to think that Kritiker had that level of intelligence on them but even more so that some rogue faction of Esset had finally tracked them down. Anyone formerly field agent or higher would know they needed technology such as this to even begin thinking of attacking Schwarz. "With all of your creative editting in Kritiker's database, they must realize they've been breached by now." Crawford was thinking out loud, something he only did when the problem at hand was just too complicated to be easily contained. "We may need to enlist some help..."

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Nagi concentrated on the information on the screen and the meaning underlying Crawford's explanation. A rather terrifying picture was forming in his head, and he didn't like it one bit.

Almost unperceivably, the air around them became loaded with a slight tension, started shaking the slightest bit. A fucking nightmare indeed.

Nagi gave a firm nod in reply to his next assignment. "I will track all possible channals in order to find to which ones Johnson had access. However, if he was given our contact information by one of our former clients, this might be hard to find out. I will try to find out whom he might have had contact with though. Schuldig's help would be appreciated on those I can't be sure about."

Than the last words sank in. Help? "... Help?" From who?

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Crawford looked to Nagi, the familiar smirk working it's way onto his face. "Why, from our new friend, of course."

Now that Schuldig had made the connection to Balinese, it would be a simple matter to subtly direct him to coax the knowledge they needed from Bombay. Kritiker wouldn't blink twice if Bombay went fishing in the database... and, he was sure, Bombay would cover his tracks well enough to make sure no one was the wiser.

Any way he looked at this situation, it screamed 'internal affair'. Kritiker must be having it's own internal power struggles if such a simple project as this had gotten so far out of their control.

Crawford was certain his visions were repaired or perhaps even expanded in the wake of the seizure just as they had been when he was young. And he would put that assertion to the test as soon as he was rested and certain his control was rock solid once again. Until then, they would have to go about this in the usual, mundane ways.

"We are only maintaining six outside contact numbers. Johnson used none of them. He used one of the dedicated Essett channels." Crawford swung his chair around to look at both Nagi and Schuldig. "That means either Kritiker has somehow gained intelligence or perhaps put old intelligence to use or there is another player on the field that we do not know about. We need to know where Johnson got his information. Nagi, if you can pinpoint him, Schuldig and Farfarello can do a drive by... within range..." Crawford didn't need to detail that directive for the telepath.

"Without contact, my visions on the matter will be incomplete and I am finished playing nice with the man." Crawford leveled his gaze on the redhead. "We need the information first. Playtime will come later."

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Schuldig nodded, leaning back against the wall. The charts and lines on the computer screen meant nothing to him, but if Brad said it was bad, then that was really all he needed to know.

"We'll get on it." He said, stretching his arms over his head. Yohji would be a good way to get information from Kritiker that Nagi's hacking couldn't reach without alerting someone. "And I'll even promise not to bring one of them home." He smirked.

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"Yes... do that." Brad's smirk twitched into a lopsided grin. "I would hate to have to give you a matching set."

Brad passed Nagi a look of sheer amusement. The boy never really seemed to know how to take the jibes between him and Schuldig. Much of it was still fairly juvenile, their comeraderie having been established that long ago. Somehow, as adults, with their respective positions within Esset, it must have come across as some serious tension between them.

It was high time that Nagi was let off of that hook.

"Come to think of it... I may no longer be as.. objective as I should be in determining schuldig's punishments." Crawford's gaze slowly coursed back to the redhead, suddenly sly, all invitation. "Maybe I should turn that over to you, Nagi."

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Nagi stared at the man in front of him, disbelieve and a hint of fear in his eyes. "No," was all his startled mind would come up with, and it was all that passed his lips.

Punish... Schuldig? What kind of weird thing was Crawford pulling now? He couldn't punish Schuldig, that wouldn't be right. It'd upset things. Farf would agree. Where was Farf when you needed him? This was too weird. He couldn't do that. It was Crawford's job. It was, right?

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Brad heard the tinge of fear in Nagi's single utterance, a slow smile creeping on to his face. The boy was still only hearing the words, not the intention. All business, no play. He could almost hear the boy's mind reeling.

"Nagi... relax. I'm joking with you..." Brad turned to look at him, the amusement clear on his face. "I thought it would be a more subtle way of letting you know that I am okay with any questions you might have. Alot has happened in the last few days. I have no intention of hiding anything from you or Farfarello. Just know that there may be some things I do not have complete answers for just yet."

Brad's expression took on a more somber note. He had never invited the team in in quite this way. Before, he simply couldn't. The less they knew, the less liability - the safer they would all be. But now, there was no reason to keep such secrets. Brad hadn't worked so hard to free them all just to keep them on a leash and in the dark. It was another bad habit that had to go.

"Nothing that has happened changes us... as a team."

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Farfarello had actually been standing at the door for the last couple of minutes, simply watching them and listening. Given how Nagi's mind was probably still reeling, he smirked and decided he'd interrupt to save the poor boy from an aneurysm. Between being told he would be the one 'punishing' Schu and Crawford joking with him, he wouldn't be surprised if it came to that in a moment.

"So this thing is an actual threat to us then?" He jerked his head toward the computer to indicate the disk that was playing. "Well, that's enough for me then. Nagi, how soon can ye pinpoint 'im?" He wanted to find the man and get the information-gathering done with, so he could play with Johnson's intestines as a demonstration why you don't fuck with Schwarz. His mind was vividly going through the various methods of torture he wanted to put the man through, his lone eye almost glowing with restrained insanity.

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Crawford turned in his chair to regard Farfarello in the doorway. Both he and Schuldig were a bit too anxious to dispatch their current employer. Schuldig's assessment of the situation was certainly the worst case scenario. If Johnson had hired Schwarz to simply test the disk on talents then life was going to get a whole lot more difficult. That suggested too many things, none of them good for Schwarz.

"I cannot stress the importance of the intelligence enough..." Crawford locked his gaze on Farfarello. Staying Farfarello's hand when he was truly incensed was not always the easiest task to accomplish. He looked back to Schuldig, his previous amusement had evaporated from his face. "If your scenario is correct then we have much bigger problems than just Johnson. He is our only key. He stays alive until we are certain he is of no further use. If necessary... we'll bring him in for a more intimate chat..."

That statement returned a twitch of a smirk to the precog's face. He did enjoy interrogations a bit too much, especially those that all of them had a hand in.

"... until then, we need him where he is. And most importantly, we need to know if Johnson has found another backer for his work." That possibility was the only scenario that truly worried Crawford. Kritiker and Johnson could be handled fairly easily. But if one of Esset's remaining remnants was in on this... Crawford stopped that train of thought. He would call up a vision on it as soon as his control was solid. That irked him again but being annoyed wouldn't fix it. Only sleep would.

It was a days delay and they could work with that.

Crawford flipped the back of the binder on his desk and pulled out several sealed packs of bright pink pieces of foam. "Earplugs." He tossed a few packs to Farfarello, handing a few to Nagi and then Schuldig. "Carry them at all times. When we need to get anywhere near close to Johnson, use them. They were designed specifically for use with Kawaji's work so they should be effective against this. Schuldig, we will have to rely heavily on our team link so you need to be 110%. No late nights until this is resolved."

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Schuldig smirked and waggled his eyebrows at Nagi when Brad mentioned punishment. The boy looked like he thought the world was ending, and that only caused Schuldig to laugh. Granted, the idea of Brad joking with anyone was rather foreign, but Schuldig had seen it happen enough to know that it did, on occasion, happen.

When Brad mentioned Johnson staying alive, though, Schuldig frowned. He wanted the fucker dead. They needed to send out a message to anyone who might consider fucking with Schwarz in the future. There weren't many people stupid enough to try, but he would prefer that there be none.

His hand flew up and caught the earplugs, slipping them into his pocket. He would have to remember to put them in his coat pocket later.

"No late nights until this is resolved."

Schuldig frowned a bit more. But it could be worse. Brad didn't say he couldn't go out, just not to be out late. And thankfully, late was pretty relative. Though, it wasn't as if he had any reason to go out and stay out. Really, he just hated being told what to do with his own time, whether it was for the best or just because.

"Sure. No problem."

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Nagi nodded, finally getting over the fact that Crawford was joking. With him.
He let his mind wander over the past conversation as he floated a pair of earplugs to his room, a pair into his coat pocket and slipped a pair into his pocket.
They were invited to ask any quistions they might have. Nagi did hope that offer extended past the present conversation because he might have a number of questions later.
"Ah... To summarize, I am required to find out how Johnson came to be in possession of the phone number previously used to contact Esset and to track down a possible continued source of support for his project now that Kritiker has turned its back on it. Is there anything else?"

(OOC: I am SO sorry everyone.)

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"Yes..." Crawford swung his gaze in the boy's direction and with all seriousness in his voice, continued "... go to bed. We all need to be sharp from here on out. Until we know exactly what and who we are dealing with assume the worst."

Crawford ejected the suspect disk and closed the analysis program, saving the data for further evaluation. He looked to Schuldig, his face now as serious as his tone had been with Nagi. "We will need to be careful in handling Weiss and not because they are a threat. They are nothing but good little soldiers... and I doubt they are all as comfortable with that as they used to be after our conversation. Use Kudoh but remember - playtime is over."

For a moment, Brad's expression softened, the unsolicited image from his vision passing through his thoughts. This situation was potentially lethal. Schuldig's penchant for personal diversions was suddenly looking to be as much a threat to his personal safety as Johnson and his disk. Brad crushed that thought almost instantly though. He always trusted in Schuldig's survival instincts and his loyalty to the team. To question one was to question both and Brad would do neither. Especially not over sentimental conjecture.

"By now, Johnson will be aware that we have the disk. And it is unclear exactly how this Sato factors in. Johnson wanted the man eliminated for reason and I want to know why." Brad turned his attention to the contents of the briefcase, gathering the files and papers, stacking them into a neat, crisp cornered little packet. "After some rest... " Crawford pushed away from his desk, packet in one hand, coffee mug in the other. He stood with only a faint squint of his eyes to signal his continuing discomfort. "... kitten watching might prove useful in more ways than one."

He headed into the living room to claim a comfortable spot on the couch to preuse Sato's files.

[exit Brad]

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"But-" He'd just gotten orders, important orders, high priority orders nontheless and now Crawford told him to go to bed?

Nagi bristled and, forgetting himself, he glared at the door through which Crawford disappeared before he could make so much as a complained about the going to bed part.

What was it with all his team members telling him to go to bed today? It was ridiculous! He was practically an adult! Would be sixteen in some months! He was more of an adult than most of those idiots out there on the street! He did the job of a grown man and did it well, so where did they get off on telling him to go to bed like he was a petulant 6-year old and not a practically grown professional hacker slash assassin slash genius? And not just some hacker either. He was the best!

He was also quite able to decide when he had to go to sleep. He was the prodigy, smarter than anyone he'd met, possibly barring Crawford. What did they know! He monitored himself and he was sure he could go without sleep for longer than this! He had on several occasions! And it had never infected his work! Besides, Farf had been up all night, so why wasn't he being told to go to bed, huh?

The nerve! He was fine! He wasn't a little kid damn it, he wasn't! It just wasn't fair that they threated him like that!

(OOC: Buahahaha you won't believe how much fun I had with this little internal rant! Schu, catch of that what you want if anything, and if Schu does catch it, do with it whatever. *grins*)

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Farfarello listened to the instructions Crawford was giving out, the little bit of insanity in his eyes being pushed to the side for now; Crawford was doing whatever he could to keep the team safe, and Farfarello would ensure the man's orders were followed to the letter for that reason. It was pretty well the same reason he'd always followed Crawford, from day one - the fact that this man, who could see into the future, was willing to use that ability to kep his life safe as part of this team, was enough for Farfarello.

He glanced over at Nagi at the orders for him to sleep, lifting an eyebrow, amusement clear on his features. Obviously, Nagi hadn't gotten as much sleep as he'd hoped.. If it came to it, he'd sedate the insomniac. His attention then turned toward Crawford as the man left the room, nodding a bit to himself, then pointing at Nagi, "Get some sleep."

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Schuldig watched Brad leaved, then turned slightly to Nagi, raising an eyebrow at the internal rant that was ripping through his head. He couldn't help but smirk. Nagi wanted to be all grown up, but he still had hissy fits. He just kept them internal.

"Nagi, you're lying to yourself. If it were up to you, you would never sleep." He grinned. "And Farfarello just has to be able to tell the difference between us and them, and stab them with the pointy end of a knife. No offense Farf, but that's a lot easier than what we expect you to do."

Not to mention that Nagi's powers could go nuts if the boy was exhausted. But Schuldig would save that argument for later. He knew Nagi didn't like being reminded of his sometimes less than perfect control.

"But if it will make you feel better, I'll come to be with you." He smirked, waggling his eyebrows at the boy.

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"You too?" Nagi glared hard at Schuldig and slammed up his mental shields back in place. When had they even gone down?

Ok, so he might, maybe be a little more tired than he liked to let on. Possibly. But not by much. He'd be dead before he admitted that though. Time for a change of topic.

"You'll come and sleep in my bed. Seriously. You do know I only have a single, right Schu?"

He knew he was admitting defeat, but if all of his teammates, even including Schu who seemed to like defying Crawford more than anything, were telling him to do it... Well, he didn't have much of a choice, did he? Besides, he didn't like the glint in Farfarello's eye. That glint said he'd possibly sit on Nagi until he fell asleep. Or do something worse. He really didn't want to know.

After a moment, Nagi sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright, let me find Miles and than I'll sleep a few hours if it'll make you all happy. But I AM setting my alarm in a few hours!"

He turned on his heals and headed to the doors, murmuring a "Bossy bastards," under his breath.

[Nagi exits to Thursday 1.13 Sleepyhead]

Edited Date: 2009-03-11 07:46 am (UTC)

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Farfarello glanced over at Schuldig once Nagi and Crawford had left, smirking slightly. "The boy seems to think the fact he's got a single would deter ye. He must be tired." The amusement was clear in his voice, and he chuckled softly, stretching a bit.

"I'm gonna make sure the little one actually stays in bed; I assume ye'll be more than happy to take care of Crawford?" Through his amusement, there was the slightest hint of concern, wanting to make sure Crawford really was alright. He still didn't trust the, 'Just a vision, I'm fine,' he got before, not entirely.

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Schuldig laughed, watching Nagi leave. He'd almost made the same comment, but Farfarello beat him to it. Maybe he was getting a little too predictable. But the image of trying to squeeze both himself and Nagi into a single bed was amusing, mostly because it would scandalize the boy.

"Make sure you shut off that alarm. He needs more than a couple of hours." Schuldig said before leaving for the living room to check on Brad.

[Exit to Thursday 1.13]

Edited Date: 2009-03-12 01:33 am (UTC)

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