Friday 1.17 Unexpected diversion

[bcmanx.livejournal.com]

Manx knew she was leaving the boys in a tough situation. She could only provide so much guidance. she was not their mother - she wasn't even their handler. She hoped they considered her a friend but at moments like this, she felt more like judge, jury and executioner.

She would have to work quickly to try and round them up some support - discreet, off-the-Kritiker-radar support. She had been out of Japan long enough that her civilian contacts had grown a bit rusty.

As she exited the Koneko, she gave a wary glance around the street. She had convinced herself that Thea had only been giving her a warning for letting herself grow lax. But maintaining these mental shields was proving to be exhausting. She gave a moments attention to her fledgling shields and headed for the street to hail a cab.

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[aki-jade.livejournal.com]

Schuldig backed out of the alley and pulled up beside Manx, rolling the window down and peering out at her. The car wreaked of smoke, and it was obvious that he had been sitting for a while.

"We need to talk." He said, eyeing her up and down in assessment. This could go very right, or very wrong, but Schuldig never was one for consequences. "Get in."

[aki-jade.livejournal.com]

Schuldig couldn't help but laugh a little at the assessment of his age. He supposed that by normal standards, he was in fact fairly young. Most men... boys... his age were more worried about school and getting their first jobs and finding a date.

Okay, he still liked the dating part. But other than that, he really had nothing in common with anyone his age. He really had nothing in common with anyone period. Hell, considering the things he'd seen and done, sometimes he just forgot just how young he was.

But that wasn't the point.

"I heard quite a bit, but oddly, nothing from you other than what you said." He motioned to the seat. "Very odd for a normal like you. Nothing that could keep me out if I really wanted, but effective enough to bypass a casual sweep." He raised an eyebrow. "But I suppose our friend Thea helped you with that little trick."

[bcmanx.livejournal.com]

Manx just held up a hand, denying the offer. It took her three long hard years to kick that habit. She sat quietly for a moment, processing his words.

He confirmed Thea's words. Schwarz was unique. Not all talents were as terrifyingly powerful as that team seemed to be. Her conversations with Thea opened her eyes, it explained many things and actually inspired sympathy for the plight of those born differently - and enslaved for it. Esset was simply the buyer - Rosenkreuz was the supplier and they dealt in people lives for nothing but power.

She slowly looked to Schuldig - all the despicable things he personally had inflicted on Weiss, many times solely for his own personal amusement. Ouka died as his entertainment. He nearly forced Sakura to kill Ran. Kidnapping Aya - twice. All of those things - could they all be blamed on Rosenkreuz?

It had all been so clear cut before but now...

Up until an hour ago she hadn't even known that Schwarz had survived. And her sources confirmed that not only were they high on several groups lists but that none of those groups had the answer to that question either. And here they were, hiding in plain sight at ground zero.

She knew her first instinct should have been to find a way to eliminate these bastards once and for all. If she survived this conversation with her mind intact it would be an easy thing to alert any one of those groups to Schwarz's whereabouts and let nature take its course. It should have been. It troubled her that it wasn't.

Her first thought - We need them.

"People sitting at desks work in acquisitions - politicians, corporates, short sighted scientists... I work in the field. I work with people in the hope of helping those that cannot help themselves. I recruit people to help us in that cause." In a round about way she was answering his questions. There was no reason to be direct. It was clear that they both wanted something out of this conversation. And he was obviously quite practiced at this game. As Thea said he would be.

"We had thought that the destruction of Esset would be sparing countless innocent lives." She paused, then swallowed a bit of pride. Kritiker still felt that way. In many ways, the organization had outgrown its own vision.

"I never knew how many lives they stole."

Her words were quiet as she reflected on them.

"You knew... Oracle knew. It was you that placed the gaping holes in security. Disabled cameras. Left a crate unbalanced so Bombay would fall and trigger an explosion. All corridors led directly to the Elders and the only escape route led directly to you." Manx was sure she had pieced it together correctly but some part of her was afraid to admit the truth of it. Schwarz had helped them bring down Esset. No - not helped - engineered.

She looked to him in all seriousness.

"Why?"