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General Discussions => RPG Forum => Topic started by: Kasawa Lanford on July 15 2007, 03:00 am
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OOC: This is currenty a One on One story between Onii-chan Touya and Myself
Story:
Ryoshine, the name of a man once a part of the Italian military, has since retired after the loss of his son and daughter. His wife has left him, blaming him for their children's deaths while searching for a new job he is invited to join the Social Welfare Agency, with his military background and discipline, the Agency hopes he can turn an incoming child into a fierce fighting force.
Existing:
Henrietta
Triela
Claes
Rico
Original:
Name: Ryoshine Yamatono
Nickname: Ryo
Age: 29
Hobby: Model Aircraft
Hair: Long Hair, Brown with specs of red thrown in
Eyes: Light green
Appearance: Caring and Outgoing, has a deep scar under his left eye that causes many military personnel to view him as a drill sergeant. Has a soft spot for children, and is almost always wearing his military BDU's (Battle Dress Uniform, think of camouflage) but he does wear normal clothing, just rare.
Description: Born Japanese, moved to Italy with his mother at the age of six, joined the military at age nineteen, achieved the rank of Captain before retiring. Has several contacts within the Italian military and its government.
Name: Giorgia Pacino
Age: 10
Hobby: Playing instruments
Hair: Chesnut brown, shoulder length
Eyes: Greyish Blue
Appearance: Reserved and shy, but very disciplined and does most things without question. To most people she doesn't know, she is cold and distant. She has a soft spot for her handler.
Description: Giorgia was born to an Italian family. Shortly after she was born however, her mother divorced and married a German man. Giorgia loved her step=father although to her, it was her only father. He was a German officer and was very talented on the piano. He passed on that love to Giorgia. She kept her Italian sur name although with her father her last name would be 'Kretschmann' When Giorgia was 8, the family was eating dinner when a gang came in and murdured the Kretschmann family=except for Gioriga. She was badly injured but somehow miracously survived. She lost conciousness and when she woke up she was at the Agency.
Starto!! ^_^
Ryoshine sighed, he was used to the constant drumming of the drill sergeants on the range, the constant 'pat pat' of SMG fire and the 'crack crack' of a sniper rifle, but this place was quiet. "Not used to the silence huh Captain?" A man wearing a black vest said to his right. Ryoshine smiled and looked right and said, "No, I'm not used to it. Spent ten years in the military, became a sniper martksman and achieved forty confirmed kills... two of which are mafia bosses."
The man smiled, he was amused. "I'm impressed, perhaps you are the right person for the job."
"Job?" Ryoshine said, curiousity creping into his voice. "Yes, we have need of someone of your calibar, care to join me?" The man asked. Ryoshine let out a sigh and nodded and followed the man, they walked some distance to a building, inside was a young girl wearing a black business suit.
At first he didn't notice it, but then he realized - this girl smelled of gun powder. "Rumors, speculation, myths, legends.." Ryoshine said, the man blinked and looked at him. "Shortly before I retired a rumor went around that a group was using children as assassins, of course, its only a rumor-"
"-But you headed up the military portion of the investigation," The man interrupted. Ryoshine nodded in response, "you found out that it wasn't a rumor, and yet you couldn't report it.. why?"
Again he sighed, "because these kids can do things my soldiers could not, they can get into hard to reach areas, can trick an opposing foe, adults can't do that are we are already guilty by the time we turn nineteen... children however are still very innocent." Ryoshine said and knelt down to the girls height, he looked at her eyes, and she looked away.
"How interest would you be in taking one of these children under your belt and training one?" The man asked, Ryoshine blinked. Now this is getting interesting..
The man walked around him and to the side of the young girl, placing his hand on her head. "We have an incoming child to a hospital, she's going to be turned into a cyborg, I don't understand the details of what happened to her.. but we don't have any more 'handlers' so I'm extending this offer to you."
He blinked and placed his hand up to his chin. Rubbing his chin, he was in thought and wondered how to respond. He didn't have kids anymore, as his wife had left him shortly after they were killed, perhaps he could mold this next child into someone... more... "Alright.. what must I do?" He asked, the man smiled. "Just be there when she wakes up from the transition," the man said and told Ryoshine to follow him back to the agency.
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All around her was just a mass of colors. Memories swirling all around her as she tried to regain conciousness. She felt a mass of pain, and yet, it wasn't...horrible. It was a rather numbing sensation now. She forced her eyes open and all the colors, and all the swirling turned into a white room.
She tilted her head slightly and found a broad shouldered man sitting on a wooden chair peacefully closing his eyes. She gazed at the long brown hair, the cleanly shaven face. He reminded her of her father. Could it be him? Was that her father?
The man turned slightly, still resting. 'No.' she thought. That's not him. She sighed.
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"I see your awake," a doctor said when he walked in. He turned to Ryoshine who had his eyes closed. "How are you feeling?" he asked the young patient, tapping Ryoshine on the shoulder to wake him up. He blinked and clasped his hands in his lap and looked at the young girl, to him she was beautiful in her own right. Now come's the difficult part... he said to himself.
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Her grayish blue eyes focused on the doctor as she answered.
"Yes, sir. I'm feeling fine." Distracted, she looked over at the still name less man.
Wait a minute. What's MY name? Her eyes became straught with panic. Her brain quickly searched and after a moment, her heartbeat settled.
Giorgia. My name is Giorgia.
Her eyes became un readable again as she turned to look at both men staring intently at her.
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Ryoshine got up from his chair and walked to the side of her bed. "Well, I'm glad to hear that," he said and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Can see leave doc?"
"Not yet, I want her to stay over night just for a quick evaluation, but tomorrow she can." the doctor said and turned back to the heart monitor.
"Well, since you can't leave..." he said and deposited a bag in her lap. He didn't know if she would like plush toys, but he knew his own daughter did so he was hoping that 'cute' things were natural to all girls.
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She felt the touch of his hand on her shoulder. It felt warm. She then watched the doctor look intently at her heart monitor as he slowly crossed to the other side of the room.
All of a sudden, the man was talking to her and suddenly, she had a bag full of plush toys. Her eyes brightened up at once. Although she wasn't too big a fan of cute, mushy, girl stuff, she cherished these. She shyly looked up at him and smiled.
"Thank you, sir."
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He smiled, he was glad she liked them. "No problem, get some more rest. I'll be by tomorrow morning to pick you up." He said and walked toward the door, the doctor looked at him and sighed. Ryoshine just shook his head and left the room.
In the lobby he meet up with Hillshire, the man who had proposed to him a chance to join the Agency. "You went up their with a bag... my guess is a present?" he asked.
"Yep, she's already been through a lot... although I'm glad the conditioning has caused her to forget her terrible past.." Ryoshine said and turned to face Hillshire. "You don't approve of me bringing her plush toys huh?"
"You'll be just like a certain somene I know who's grown to attached to his cyrbog, they are merely tools.. don't treat them like they have a soul.." Hillshire said, pointing his finger at Ryoshines chest. Ryoshine sighed, "interesting words, but I'll treat her the way I deem fit. Right now I'm just trying to make her feel welcome, but on the range it'll be very different."
Hillshire smirked. "Uh huh, I'll believe that when I see it.." with that Hillshire left.
Ryoshine folded his arms over his chest and sighed. "Whether they be tools or not, they are still human on the inside." he said and turned toward the window, it was raining outside with some thunder in the background. "It'll be a few days before I have her start training with a gun, but I'd also like to get her involved in swordsmanship training, considering that not all battles are won far away." He said and smiled.
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Pick me up tomorrow? She thought, as she watched his tall frame go through the door. She wasn't quite sure what had happened to her. She couldn't remember at all. Only her daddy. Her eyes dimmed. She had the feeling her daddy wasn't ever going to come and pick her up. She looked over at her newly acquired plushies. She spotted one like a bunny. It seemed vaguely familiar. She reached out and tenderely picked one up. All of a sudden, she drew back sharply. She gasped. A searing pain had went through her brain and an image of her father being murdured flashed by.
She winced. Next to her, her heart monitor had beeped wildly, as it processed the information it would be printing out the next morning. Giorgia rubbed her eyes frantically and curled into a ball as her mind slowly enveloped into the darkness. In a few more moments, she was out for the night.
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It was now morning, the night had gone by peacefully with little interruptions. He had stayed in the lobby, as his room hadn't been prepared yet. "I wonder if she's awake," he asked himself as he got up and headed to the cafeteria.
The Agency had two cafeterias, one in the dormitory for the cyborgs, and another in the main building for the handlers and the rest of the staff. He was in the main building, when he walked into the cafeteria in question he found that it had food to his liking, but what he really wanted was, "Where is the coffee?" he asked a nearby female staffer.
"Over there," she pointed toward the coffee maker in the far left corner of the room. "Thank you," Ryoshine said and made his over and poured himself a cup.
"I hear you have yourself a cyborg.." A retired marine said, walking up to Ryoshine, "feeling lucky?"
He smiled. "With this one? Perhaps, just by looks I think it won't take much to teach her how to fire a gun, although I don't know if she'll like me drilling safety protocals into her."
After the two talked for a few minutes, the marine bid Ryoshine farewell as he had his own cyborg to train. "A nine year old girl, lost her family in a drive by shooting, almost killed her," he had told him just before leaving. After finishing up his cup of coffee he left the cafeteria and made his way to the hospital that was located in the dormitory, "How is she?" he asked the doctor.
"Her heart spiked a few times last night, its possible she might've had a memory recall.. but we can't be to certain." The doctor said and showed him the results. "Everything else is ok."
Ryoshine nodded. "May I head in?"
"Sure"
He opened the door and found the girl asleep, wondering if she was having a pleasant dream, in fact, he wondered if they dreamed at all. He walked over to the chair and sat down, placing his hand on her hand.
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She stirred as she felt a hand being placed on her hand. It was the same warm, gentle hand she felt before. She opened her eyes and saw green eyes speckled with red look intently back at her. She sat up, her eyes downcast as she murmured a hello to the man.
She hardly knew what she was doing. That memory, burned into her head. She could recall nothing more, nothing less.
She looked up again to see the man's eyes looked worried. Why would he be worried about me? She wondered vaguely. She smiled at the man, and although his hand was about 2 times the size of hers, squeezed his hand gently.
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Ryoshine smiled. "Had a good sleep I suppose.." he said before getting off his chair. "Can you get out of bed?" He asked, making sure that she was actually, truly, ok.
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She nodded silently and quickly got off the bed. She looked up at him, wondering what he wanted her to do next.
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Ryoshine smiled and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "You must be hungry, how about I show you to the cafeteria?" he said, referring to the one in the dormitory rather than the one in the main building.
He made a gesture to the doctor to have him contact Henrietta and Treila's handlers, to let them know he was headed to the dorm cafeteria, he had stuff he had to do before starting her training so he felt it would be best for someone her age or slightly older to show her around.
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She nodded, silently and walked off toward the cafeteria.
Once there, she looked around and saw a brown haired girl and a blonde hair girl waving at her.
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"Henrietta, Triela, think you two can show her around for me please?" He asked them.
"Sure, why not.." Triela said and looked at the girl. "Nice to meet you, my name's Triela, and this is Henrietta." She said, gesturing to the girl beside her.
Ryoshine smiled and turned around. "I'll be back in about an hour or so, so don't give them any problems." He said and left the cafeteria.
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"Hallo." She said softly, glancing nervously around.
"I'm...I'm Giorgia. At least that's what I remember..."
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Triela smiled. "Nice to meet you, Giorgia." she said and placed her hand on the girls shoulder. "Don't look so nervous, no one here is going to harm you in any way, right Henrietta?"
The girl beside her nodded and turned toward the tables. "I'm sure your hungry, how about you get something to eat?"
***
Meanwhile, Ryoshine had walked out of the dormitory and gone some distance before stopping. "So, how do you plan on revealing to her that's a cyborg?" He had asked himself, he sighed as he wasn't sure 'what' to do abou that. It was all still to new to him, "maybe I should have those two explain it, but then again maybe thats a bad idea considering she isn't apart of their team..."
"Perhaps you should just tell her flat out?" Hillshire said, causing Ryoshine to jump slightly at his sudden apperence. "My my... jumpy aren't we?"
"Meh.. don't do that.. lucky you I didn't have a damn gun on me." Ryoshine warned, Hillshire just shrugged. "Whether you'll reveal it yourself or not, she'll eventually realize that something is different about her body."
He sighed. "Yea...." Ryoshine said, "that's what I'm worried about... what will her reaction be when she discovers that she's mostly cyborg..."
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Giorgia smiled and nodded at the twp girls. "Danke" she replied naturally. She slowly headed over to the buffet table where she simply got eggs, a piece of toast and juice. She sat down between the girls and began eating.
Throughout their meal, Henrietta and Treia told her all about their "older brothers" and training. Giorgia of course, was at a loss.
Big brothers? Training? Although the 2 girls continued chatting amiably with Gioriga, she was deep in thought
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"What's wrong?" Hentietta asked after taking a sip from her glass of juice, she had noticed that Giorgia hadn't said a word since they sat down. "Something on your mind?"
***
Elsewhere, Rico was just now getting up out of bed. "Ugh..." she said as she got dressed and headed for the laundry room to wash some cloths.
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Giorgia was snapped out of her thought by Henrietta's question.
"N-No. I'm fine." She smiled. She pushed away her barely eaten food. "Are we allowed to go outside?" She asked, avoiding looking at Henrietta.
Henrietta nodded and in a moment, the three of them were walking outside in the garden.
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Claes had been watering the garden when she noticed Henrietta and Triela. "Morning you t-" she said before noticing Giorgia. "Ahhh.. and who do we have here?" She asked, holding the water bucket in one hand and a scope in the other.
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Giorgia looked up to see a 4th join the group. She smiled again and greeted her.
"Hallo. I'm Giorgia."
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Claes smiled. "My name is Claes, nice to meet you. Do you like flowers by chance?" she asked.
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Giorgia blushed slightly. "Ah..erm...n-not...not really. I prefer..." At this, Giorgia frowned slightly. "I-I don't know actually..."
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"I see..." Claes said, watering some flowers. "But you might never know unless you try eh?" she said to the girl before looking at Henrietta and Triela. "You two joining us?"
"Nope, we are on the range this morning.." Triela said and turned toward the building. "Might be worth asking your brother if you can join us, Giorgia-" she said before Henrietta elbowed her in the side. "She can't, not until her brother explains a few things, remember?" Henrietta said. "Oh.. right..." Triela sighed before the two took off.
"If you want, I think I know where your brother is, did you want to stay here and tend to the garden for a few or shall we try and find your brother?" Claes asked.
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Giorgia tilted her head. "He's my...my brother?" She asked increduously. She watched as Tirela and Henrietta walked off chatting nonsensically and saw Claes give her a look of, 'You don't know that, yet?' Giorgia frowned slightly and said,
"I think...if you wouldn't mind...help me find my...brother."
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"He would most likely be in his room," Claes said and placed the water bucket down. "Follow me"
***
In this room, Ryoshine was admiring how it looked. "They brought everything I had asked them to bring, not bad... even brought my military medals even though I told them not to bother." He said and glanced outside, "although that camera right at my front door bothers me... guess I'll just have to get used to it," he said and took a seat in front of the computer.
He brought up details on Giorgia's situation, about what had brought her to the agency. "I'll have to becareful with her..." he said, hoping that the conditioning process worked. "If she begins to remember the past agents I might have to up the dosage.. even if I don't want to." He sighed and pushed his back against the chair. "Now how do I explain what she has become, instead of what she used to be... I could have her do things that a normal child her age 'shouldn't be able to do..." he said, pondering the situation and thinking of ways to explain things.
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Claes silently lead Giorgia to his room and knocked.
"Mr.Ryoshine? Giorgia's here. We finished giving her the tour so we thought you might want to see her."
At Ryo's beckoning, Giorgia quietly stepped in while Claes left, closing the door behind her.
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Ryoshine turned in his chair. "Well now, I see you found my humble room." he said and stared at her for a few. "How about I take you somewhere where I can show you something eh?" he said and got up from his chair and proceeded toward the door.
He lead her to her room in the dormitory, it was stylish with several dressers and a mirror near the door. A bed sat near the window, the window was covered in shades that where light blue. Thinkning about it, he recalled the words that the doctor had told him shortly before he left - "Giorgia already has the knowledge that she's a cyborg inside her, as thats all apart of het brainwashing that is done after she goes through her initial conditioning. However, that knowledge probably won't be present in her until 'after' you do something that'll expose her to that fact." the doctor had told him
So, how do I expose her... he wondered and looked around before looking at the bed. "Giorgia, try and pick that bed up. Slowly though, not fast." He said and folded his arms. This 'should' awaken that knowledge, and if the doctor is right, she'll know instantly that she's a cyborg, and will be loyal to me... damn.. I hate forced loyalty programs but I guess in this case I'll have to get used to it..
OOC: Posted modified due to discovery of new information
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Pick that up
As if she were acting on someone else's accord, she walked over. and stopped before the bed. She gripped on both sides of the bed, and hoisted it up over her head. No strain was shown, but a look of bewilderment came over as she came to herself again. He signaled her to put the bed down, and she did so. He wore a look of apology, and as he looked at her for a reply, she said.
"I'm not...not exactly human, am I, sir? I'm..I'm a machine then."
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Ryoshine shook his head. "No... you are not a machine.. however you are part of one." He said and looked at a clock on the wall. "You can't be controlled like that clock," he said, although partly lieing. "You are still human, just cybornetic at the same time."
He stood there and stared at her. "Don't think of yourself as anything less, in fact, you can do more than a typical person your age." He said and turned away from her, "Follow me to the armory," he said, he intended to start her off on some gun safety tips, without live ammo of course.
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"Y-yes sir." She said as she obediently followed him out. As they were walking however, she couldn't help but remember his words.
Don't think of yourself as anything less
She pondered those as they reached the armory.
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Upon arrival the man behind the window stared at Ryoshine. "You going in?" he asked. "Yes I am," Ryoshine said and heard a buzz as the doors swung open. "Head in then, Giuseppe is already inside." The man said.
Ryoshine nodded and walked through the doors and into the armory, the occastional sound of a gun going off reminded him of his old military days. He only went a short distance in before stopping and turning to look at Giorgia. "Go ahead and come in," he said to her.
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She quickly walked in and stood by his side. She surveyed her surroundings. Close by, she saw Henrietta and her brothe Giuseppe practicing.
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Walking over to the gun cabinent, Ryoshine pulled out a 9mm glock. He cleared the gun, then inserted a clip, and then ejected the clip and cleared it again. He then sat down the bench and removed all the bullets from said clip. "Now, pay close attention what I'm about to tell you." he said and placed the gun to his side.
He went on to explain proper gun safety, about how she should 'never' in any situation aim the gun at herself if the bullet gets jammed. Of course, he knew that she 'might' do it unexpectedly, he was actually counting on that in order to get her to understand, but in another case he hoped it didn't happen. After explaining he clasped his hands and looked at her, "do you understand?" he asked, knowing that she might have a question or two.
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Giorgia listened carefully as he explained all the procedures. After he was done talking and asked if she understood, she blinked, and nodded. He nodded and sent her out on the range as well.
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On the range, Ryoshine had brought with him the same 9mm that he had showed her, Triela was practicing with a typical sub-machine gun and gunning down the targets with little to no problems. Her handler, however, didn't seem to amused at the sight of Giorgia or Ryoshine. Although he didn't say anything, it was the aura he was giving off that Ryoshine found amusing.
"Hold it like this," Ryoshine said, placing the pistol in Giorgia's hands and gently clasping her fingers around the weapon, placing her trigger figure above the trigger for the gun. "Always keep your finger here when on the range, got that?" He said and smiled. He took the weapon and slapped a clip full of blanks into the weapon, "Now take a few shots at that target," he said and pointed at a target that was only a couple feet away.
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Giorgia smiled slightly, eyes blazing. She aimed her gun easily and fired at the target. All but one missed the target. Behind her, she could feel Ryoshine smiling, but Triela's handler was glaring furiously at her.
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Ryoshine nodded. "You missed one, but made the others," he said and got up. He walked down the center line and grabbed the paper that was present over the board and brought it back with him to Giorgia. He noticed that, while she had hit the target, her shots were mostly outside the center point. "Center of mass is your aim, if you are within six hundred feet then aim at the head, if not then aim at the chest."
He then noticed Triela's Handler staring at him and Giorgia. "Hillshire, do you have a problem with her?" he asked.
Hillshire turned his attention back to Triela.
"Uh huh," Ryoshine said and replaced the target board with another sheet, he then had the board move back to its original position some distance away. Before contiuing he showed Giorgia how to eject the clip, and then how to put one in. "Do that a few times and then aim at the center of that target, if you miss once you'll stay here and repeat it again until you get them all in." Ryoshine said.
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Giorgia nodded and ejected the clip out of the 9mm and put another in. She did it three times. Each time, she got faster, and more efficient. She turned to face the target.
Bam. Bam. Bam. Three very accurate shots. Confident, she aimed again, ready to take the 4th shot. But then, her eyes blurred...
It was the dinner table. Daddy was in his uniform still, teaching me German numbers...
"Now remember Giorgia, einz, zwei, drei." Another figure to his right. Blurred. I suppose that must be mom...daddy grinning as I recited it up to ten...and then...BAM A kick at the door...daddy grabbing me and pushing me into the other room, but just as he tur-
She blinked again. Her eyes refocused. She noticed her gun hand trembling. She made it stop almost immediately. She gritted her teeth and fired. Dead center.
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Ryoshine's eyes narrowed; he had noticed her sudden hesitation and knew that she had some-how remembered or perhaps recalled something. Hmm... he thought to himself and folded his arms. "Stop..." he said and lowered his head. "Eject the clip, and clear the chamber. Then recover your target paper, tally up the score, and tell me what the score is." He said
In the back of his mind, he made a mental note to have the Dr. Bianche talk to Giorgia.
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She nodded, quickly and silently doing as she was told. She handed him the piece of paper with the tally makrs.
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He nodded. "Not bad... not bad at all.."
"But not good enough to be in the field," Hillshire remarked.
Ryoshine sighed. "In your eyes perhaps, but back in the military this would be enough."
"Yes but this isn't the military," Hillshire said, putting emphysis on the isn't part. "You train her to be effective" he said and gestured to Triela that they were leaving.
As they left, Ryoshine couldn't help but shake his head. He has his ways, I have my own... just wish he would understand.
"Hand me the gun please," he said to Giorgia without looking.
-
"Y-yes sir." She said as she handed him the gun. She looked to see Hillshire and Triela's retreating figures.
I wonder why he hates me? She thought vaguely.
-
Accepting the gun, he laid it out on the bench and disassembled it, he then reassembled it and repeated the process three times. "Watch," he said and again repeated what he had done.
After he reassembled the gun a fourth time he handed it off to Giorgia. "Do it, disassemble, and then reassemble the gun." he said and rested his back against the bench, both hands in his lap, clasped together.
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She took the gun back and nodded. As soon as she held the gun, it was like another memory kicked in, her hands rapidly dissembling it, then reassembling it. It seemed there was no thought that was going through her mind, just her hand movements that quickly, and skillfully did what they were told automatically.
This seems familiar... She mused.
She reassembled the gun a 4th time and looked up at him.
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Ryoshine nodded, he was impressed. There was something 'odd' about how quick she had done the job, "Not bad... not bad at all..." he said and looked at his watch, it was already ten in the morning, my how time flys. It was around that time that Henrietta came into the armory, she walked past the two of them and placed her 9mm inside a case, placing the guns clip to the side.
When Henrietta left, Ryoshine nodded. "How about I show you to your dorm room," he said and picked up the gun and placed it in a case to his right, he closed it shut, locking it in the process. He then gestured to the door, "Let's go."
-
"Okay." She murmured softly, following his lead.
Soon, they were in a simple hallway, with a few twists and turns. They finally stopped at a door.
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Gripping the knob, Ryoshine pushed open the door.
Inside the room was a bunk bed, with the top reserved for another incoming. "You'll be sleeping on the bottom bunk," he said and gestured to a dresser. "Your clothing is in there, make sure to get dressed each morning for breakfast, and don't wear your casual cloth's at night ok?" he said, reminding her that she should wear pajamas instead. "If you need anything just let me know, sadly I have things I must do right now. I think Henrietta and Triela might be returning soon, so if you need someone to talk to.. well.. I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige," he said and walked back toward the door. "Oh, there is a schedule on the wall with time's listed for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."
With that aside, he left Giorgia's room and made his way down to the end of the hallway. "The first day is complete... but this is one of many... I just hope the next few days are just as easy going... bah... how pathetic of me to think each day would be easy.." he said, sighing soon after.
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Giorgia now stood alone as he left. She gazed around the room silently. Finally, she sat down on her bunk. She closed her eyes and then...the rest of the memory...
"GIORGIA!! SHUT THE DOOR, DON'T OP-..."
Bam. Bam. Bam. 3 precise shots.
DADDY! She screamed. Her daddy. The door blasted open. Hooded figures, a blow to the head. The last thing she saw was her daddy, still in his uniform...his last act had been to shield her...
She blinked open quickly and realized there were tears on her face. She quickly wiped them away. She stared at the view, and saw her own reflection. She looked scared, frightened. One thought crossed her mind.
I must not show any emotion.
-
Meanwhile,. Ryoshine had headed to his office.
He opened the door walked in, noting that more boxes had arrived. He began to unpack them and started setting up his office. It took him several minute's but he was finally through, he had set up his computer near the window, with a view of a garden outside currently being tended to by one of the child cyborgs.
"Despite what this agency stands for, this place is actually quite pleasant." He said to himself as he took a seat in his chair and booted up the computer. When the login screen appeared he entered in his username and password and logged into the Agency's network.
He brought up Giorgia's profile, which was expectectly bare since she had just started. "Let's see... I think tomorrow I'll start her on long range fire... while we'll mostly work alone.. it wouldn't hurt to have her learn how to use a sniper rifle.." Ryoshine said to himself.
****
Henrietta yawned as she stared at the clock. "Tired?" Rico asked from her bunk, Henrietta nodded. "Yes, even though its still early."
"Why not go and see how Giorgia is doing? She's new and I haven't heard of anyone bunking with her, she could be lonely." Rico said. Henrietta nodded, "I think I will," she said and left the room.
Rico shook her head and went back to sleep.
-
Giorgia stood up and paced around the room. All of her things were already there, not that she had a lot of possesions. She spotted her jacket on the hanger. She walked towards it and put a hand on the fabric. She murmured something softly to herself, but then spotted something sticking out of the inside pocket of the jacket. She hesitated for a moment, then put her hand inside the jacket.
It was a photo. She eyed the picture sadly. She had taken the picture that night. That dinner.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/bballgal111/004HTC_Thomas_Kretschmann_001.jpg)
It was her daddy. All of a sudden there was a knock at the door, she had just hastily put the photo up when Henrietta walked in.
Henrietta had seen Giorgia hastily put something up. "Hey Giorgia, whatcha up to?"
Don't give anything away
She smiled. "Oh, hello Henrietta. Nothing at all, really."
Henrietta replied, "I don't want to be nosy, but were you looking at something earlier?"
Giorgia glanced at the older girl. "Er...no," She smiled, "I barely have enough things as is..."
Henrietta smiled, but she was still a little cautious. "Well, I just wanted to check up on you..."
Giorgia gave Henrietta a nod. "Thank you."
-
The armory was quiet; Ryoshine had gone to practice his marksmanship skills alone. He took a 9mm out of the case and loaded a clip, he took aim at the far target and fired six rounds; all of which found their mark dead center.
Ejecting the clip, which clattered to the ground, he quickly took another from his back pocket and slapped it into the gun and fired off six more rounds, these ones aimed at the head of the target.
When he was done he ejected the spent clip and placed the gun on the table and walked over to the paper target. He looked it over and nodded, "seems I haven't lost my touch..." he said to himself as he tore the target off the rack and brought it with him to the table, he took a marker and circled all the holes he had made. He was impressed with himself, even though he'd been out of the military for some time, it still didn't harm his marksmanship skills.
He was about to go again when Hillshire appeared in the doorway. "Got a moment?" He asked. Ryoshine nodded, but didn't turn to him. "I heard you trained briefly with the American's in disabling bombs right?'
"That's right," Ryoshine said as he disassembled the gun.
"Well then we have a mission... there's a bomb at a theater and for some reason we've been called in..." Hillshire said.
Ryoshine blinked. "Why not call in the bomb squad?" he asked.
"Because they're busy with other bombs that have been reported in the surrounding areas, and we are actually the closest believe it or not. It’s a two hour drive from here to there, and according to the security guard who 'found' it, the clock listed that it would go off in four hours." Hillshire said and walked into the room. "So.... the director wants you to disarm it."
He nodded, "very well, let me get Giorgia and I'll meet you and Triela at the van. I'm driving," Ryoshine said with a smile on his face. Hillshire nodded, "We'll also be bringing Rico and Henrietta along," Hillshire said, "Ok, let Giorgia know for me please, I have to grab my equipment from the office," Hillshire nodded and left, Ryoshine reassembled the gun and placed it back in its original case, locking it and then placing the case in a vault.
Walking over to another case on the wall, he pulled out a M16D, it was modified from the American M16, this one had a laser sight and it's magazine held two times more ammo, its rate of fire was slower, but it was stable enough to where the accuracy was better the original M16. He placed the rifle in a case and headed out to the van, placing the case under the driver’s seat.
He went up to his office and retrieved his kit, he opened it to make sure everything was there. "Good.. good... nothing was damaged in transit," he said and carried the case back out to the van. He found that no one had arrived yet, so he placed the case in between the driver and passenger seats and leaned up against the driver's side door; tapping his foot in the process. This is crazy, I know I shouldn't bring Giorgia just yet, but this should be a milk run considering law enforcement already secured the building, she'll be there as an observant and learn from the others.. he said to himself and continued to wait.
-
Hillshire hurried into Giorgia's room
"Henrietta! Giorgia! Both of you girls hurry on down to the front. Oh, you'll need this." He threw both girls an equipment bag. He nodded towards Henrietta. "We're disarming a bomb. At the moment, we may not need guns, but if we do, it's all in that bag. Giorgia, Ryoshine is getting his equipment bag. You two meet us down in front. 5 minutes. Henrietta, help Giorgia."
Henrietta nodded and motioned for Giorgia to follow. The girls hurried after Hillshire, when Hillshire stopped abruptly. "Gioriga, just so you know, you'll be watching this one. You won't need to take action unless absolutely necessary."
"Yes sir" Giorgia replied. Hillshire nodded and they hurried out to where Ryoshine was waiting.
"Here's your charge Ryoshine." He nodded towards Giorgia. "Guisuppe is gathering up the others."
-
"Alright," Ryoshine said and opened the drivers side door and got in. He turned the van on and turned up the AC, as it was rather warm outside right now.
They didn't have to wait long, Triela and Rico soon arrived and got into the van. Once Giorgia and Hillshire got in, he drove through the gate.
Along the way Henrietta removed the 9mm from her bag and checked it. Rico and Triela followed up with their own weapons, "keep them hidden..." Hillshire said, the three girls nodded and placed their guns back in the equipment bag.
-
Giorgia sat quietly in the back seat watching the other girls go through the procedures. Hillshire was going through the plan, while Ryoshine was driving and listening. The girls nodded calmly. Giorgia noticed wryly that all trace of human emotion in their face was gone too.
-
The two-hour drive had turned into three when the Van ran into heavy traffic, this angered Ryoshine as he knew how delicate a mission this was. Finally finding an off-ramp, he used several back streets he knew of to get to the theater; once there he saw just how much in terms of law enforcement had been called in - two squad cars.
"You've gotta be joking me... there's a bomb inside and they only send two cars?" Ryoshine said, angered. He parked the Van toward the front where an officer walked up to his driver side, "Hello Sir, I take it you’re the one who is here to disarm the bomb?" he asked.
"We are, but tell me why there are only two squad cars first.." Ryoshine said after stepping out of the van and retrieving both his bomb disarming kit and his rifle case. "There's been several scare's throughout the city, most pointed at the local schools so this is all the department could spare." The officer said, waving his hand to the two cars parked by a water fountain. This fountain had a statue in the center, with water gushing out of four small 'holes' on the head. After listening to the cop's excuse's he turned to Giorgia and said, "Stay near Henrietta," he didn't want her to be near him in the event the bomb exploded; while he doubted that would happen he had no choice but to assume the worst.
He nodded. "Uh huh... well at least this is one bomb they won't have to worry about, just keep the place secure and watch for any unexpected visitors." Ryoshine said and walked toward the set of four double doors. He stopped just short of the middle one before turning toward Hillshire and Guisuppe. "This is a delicate operation here, so peace and quiet is a must." he said, the two handlers nodded and relayed the same message to their charges.
***
Some distance from the theater, in a bell tower. A man hefted a set of binoculars and stared down the len's. "Sooo.... they have arrived..." the man said, a grin stretched across his face. "Don't do anything just yet, there's still forty minutes left on the bomb, let's wait until he had ten minutes left."
"You sure he won't disarm it before then?" An older woman in her thirties said, concerned. "Nah... not this type... he'll quickly discover why the Italian Police asked for the Agency to send him to do it..." The man let out a small, evil laugh before putting the binoculars down. "Once he hits the ten minute mark, we'll attack..."
-
Giuseppe and Hillshire stood with their backs facing Ryoshine. Henrietta, Triela, and Rico were stationed near by in case anything did happen. Giorgia stood with Henrietta. Her brown hair swaying in the wind. Her eyes intent on her handler.
Hillshire stood looking at his watch. "You've got 30 minutes, Ryoshine."
-
"DIsarming a bomb can't be rushed," Ryoshine said as he walked toward the concession stand, it didn't take long to locate the bomb as it was behind the stands. He looked it over and let out a low whistle. "Nice... we aren't dealing with armatures that’s for sure.." he said to himself as he laid his kit down and opened it up.
He began his work and started by first locating the easy thing - wires. Looking over the bomb he found no wire's of any sort that could be cut, everything was shielded and encased inside the device. "No wires.... hmmm..." he said and went to plan B.
Taking his screw driver, he began to pop some screws off, when the last of four of the screws on a plate of metal had been removed, the metal plate fell to the ground with a soft 'clang' when he looked inside he was, once again, disappointed. "Damn it..." he said when he noticed that all the wires were of the same color.
What should've taken five minutes, went on for the next nineteen minutes instead. He took a cloth and wiped the sweat from his forehead, he was now dealing with a digital display that displayed the amount of time remaining. "Very sophisticated.." he said.
"How so?" Hillshire said from beyond the stands. "This bomb is a mixture of American, Italian and German technology... it's got American ingenuity, Italian toughness.. and most likely German explosives.." he said, "So your saying you can't disarm it?" Hillshire asked, impatient. "I never said that, I'm saying that whomever planted this bomb thinks that no one can disarm it... but I can..." Ryoshine said as he popped open another part of the bomb's casing.
This time a big grin spread across his face - he had now located the detonating cord for the explosives, he just needed to cut them and they could head home. He took his wire cutters and began to cut the ten wires.
***
Outside the building; the four cops that had been guarding it were no where in sight, instead several blackened figures stuck to the alley ways and made their way toward the large building.
The lead of the group looked at his watch. "Two minutes..." he said.
-
Giorgia watched Ryoshine intently. All of a sudden, she felt there was a change in the air. She looked at the other girls, and at Giuseppe and Hillshire. None of them seemed to notice. She tugged on Henrietta's sleeve. But she just whispered, "Not now, Giorgia."
She frowned. Something was wrong. She took a step foward to tell Ryoshine. Hillshire quickly interfered.
"Get back to where you were Giorgia." She nodded numbly.
-
Ryoshine sighed and wiped more sweat from his forehead. "Almost..." he said as he snipped the seventh wire. "We are almost done here, just three more to go."
It was then that he noticed Giorgia's uneasyness. "What's wrong Giorgia?" he said, putting the screw driver in his mouth. He hadn't noticed a red dot that was on the far wall due to the sunlight being in the room, this dot, while barely visible, crept very slowly toward Ryoshine.
-
She saw it. The red dot of the target beam. Someone else was here! Giorgia ran towards Ryoshine, ignoring protests from the other two men. She grabbed Ryoshine and shoved him out of the way. It was then the sniper rifle went off and instead hit very close to the bomb.
Shocked, Hillshire and Giuseppe immediately ordered their charges to go find the shooter.
Giorgia got off of Ryoshine and looked down at the ground.
-
Ryoshine blinked; he hadn't expected that - but he was more surprised that Giorgia was able to push him. He looked at her and smiled, he couldn't find the words to express his thanks so instead he placed his hand on her head. "Hillshire, sniper is north of the building - most likely on the roof top." He said before catching sight of several blackened figures heading toward the door. "We got company!" he said just as the windows blew out and gunfire rained into the room.
Grabbing Giorgia, he jumped over the stand and stayed behind, opening up his gun case and taking out his modified M16A. "Stay here and watch," He ordered Giorgia. He bolted over the stand again and over to the bomb, putting the rifle down next to it and taking the wire cutters and snipping the eighth wire.
Another crack in the air; another sniper's round hit the pavement in front of him, sending shards of cement into his arm. He brushed off the pain and just went back to work.
-
Giorgia's eyes were blazing. She grabbed her handler's M16 and loaded the clips into it. Uknownst to Ryoshine, she fired at the intruders.
Center of mass is your aim, if you are within six hundred feet then aim at the head, if not then aim at the chest.
She spotted them. Her anger mounted. She fired right into the forehead. There was a grunt and the man fell. Another man, another shot. Down. Giorgia's eyes were stony, all trace of human emotion gone and her mouth was set as she only thought of one thing.
I have to protect him
Overhead, Henrietta and Triela were on the rooftop firing away. Giuseppe and Hillshire were on the ground, fighting off any advances.
-
Ryoshine continued to cut despite their being bullet's flying past him and into the wall. After cutting the last wire, the bomb made an high pitch sound before shutting off, he brought down the mic on his headset and radioed to Gioseppe and Hillshire that it was disarmed.
He was about to detach it from the floor when a door on the far end of the lobby was kicked open and two black figure's rushed in, SMG's blazing. Pulling out his 9mm, he made short work of the two with direct hits in the head. "Hillshire, there are more coming.." Triela said over the comm. line
"It's been disarmed, I've detached the bomb from its support. Henrietta, Triela, Rico, give us some fire. Once the bomb is out of the building, get off the roof and into the van!" Ryoshine ordered and carried the device to the van. Gunfire from the near by buildings was intense, but most of the rounds didn't find their marks.
After loading the bomb on board, and making sure it was indeed disarmed, he gave a signal over the headset. "Come on people we need to move!" Ryoshine shouted as he took out his 9mm and popped four bullets into four attackers that had been running down the sidewalk.
***
Some distance away, the lead of the group grumbled. "Err.... looks like he managed to disarm the bomb..."
"Thats the first one though, you think they'll find the second?" The woman behind him asked, the man shook his head. "With only five minute's left? Doubtful.."
-
Giorgia stood silently. She had made quick work of the hooded figures surrounding her. Ryoshine had went outside after disarming the bomb. However, something didn't feel right. She didn't understand it, but her instincts were tingling. And as if from the past, she thought she could hear her dad's voice.
[She was supposed to be a sleep but she crept downstairs to hear her dad talking on the phone.
"Right. So you're telling me that it was challenging, but it didn't put you to the limit? Well, they may be planning another attack. We have to be ready...."
"This really doesn't feel right.." She murmured.
-
Ryoshine watched as Henrietta and Triela got into the van, he then noticed that Giorgia wasn't around. "Rico get Giorgia," he said when he saw Rico coming from the main door. "Yes Sir," Rico said and went back into the building.
-
Giorgia glanced around at her surroundings. She was about to open an inner door when Rico called for her.
"Come on Giorgia. We have to get going now. What are you doing?"
Giorgia looked at the other girl. "Something...something isn't right. I got to tell Ryoshine." She ran outside with a confused Rico following behind her. Her handler was waiting for her.
"Sir, I-...there...I...something's not right."
-
Ryoshine blinked. "What do you mean something's not-" he said before the window's of the building blew out, a fireball raced seconds after and scrouched the top of the van, Hillshire, Gioseppe, Jean and Ryoshine had just enough time to cover their charges.
He covered Giorgia from the explosion, but knew already that he had first degree burns on the back of his neck. Surpressing the pain that shot through his buddy, he looked around to find several attackers closing in on them. He grabbed the M16A that Giorgia had been holding and turned it onto the closest attacker, more were coming though and their van was out of commission, the two back tires had popped due to the intense heat.
"We got a problem..." Ryoshine said when he noticed two van's approuching; their windows tinted.
-
Giorgia flinched, but instead, felt nothing. She looked up to see Ryoshine covering her from the explosion. And if he had gotten hurt, she couldn't tell, his face was completely void of pain. Instead, his eyes were set in determination.
She turned when Ryoshine talked. She saw the tinted windows. She frowned. Eariler, when Henrietta and Triela had told her about missions, they hadn't said a thing which concerned things like this. She hesitated. What she was about to do was not in her orders, and yet, these fighters didn't seem like the ones they faced before.
She quietly turned and opened her equipment bag, inside was a detonator bomb. She knew she would just have to stick it on the side of at least one of the vans. If the vans were close enough, the explosion of one would get the other.
Giorgia slipped away from the others and stealthily slid around the back of van #2. She pressed the bomb onto the car, but it wouldn't stay put. Grimacing, she jammed it on the van and held it there until van #2 was in proximity to van #1. She ran behind a near by tree.
-
Ryoshine was watching the van's when he realized that Giorgia was no one to be found, "Where's Giorgia?" he said, looking around.
That was when the van's suddenly exploded; sending hot peices of debris and shrapnel through the air. Their van was pummeled by some of this debris, while most had missed.
He looked around before seeing Giorgia hiding behind a tree. He brought down his boom mic on his headset, "Giorgia! Get your *** back here!" he shouted.
Another van rolled up, one of their own. Hillshire pulled open the side doors and Henrietta, Triela and Rico piled in, followed closely their after by Hillshire, Triela and Ryoshine. The van moved toward where Giorgia was, stopping near her. " Get in!" Hillshire shouted, his voice full of anger.
-
Giorgia got in, slightly unnerved. She had seen one of the men in there. She RECOGNIZED him. She knew she'd probably be in trouble, but she knew these people. They were the same ones who-
Hillshire was saying something to her, so was Ryoshine. The other cyborgs gave her a "good luck" sign behind their backs.
-
The drive back was uneventful, Rico and Henrietta had both fallen asleep. Triela was addressing a wound that her handler, Hillshire, had received.
Ryoshine was in the back, while he was thankful for Giorgia's quick thinking, it had almost gotten her killed, he planned to grill her when they got back. He looked at Giorgia, and then back at the two sleeping cyborgs, If they were fully human, I wonder what type of life they'd be leading... he asked himself.
-
Sooner than they had all expected, they arrived back at the agency. Hillshire came out first, before glaring at Ryoshine. Triela came after, followed by Guiseppe and Henrietta and Rico. Ryoshine and Giorgia came out last, trailing behind the others.
She followed Ryoshine, up to his study.
-
In the room; he tapped his foot on the ground, looking over some documents before turning toward Giorgia. "Why'd you do that?" He asked her, but before she could answer he added, "You could've gotten yourself killed you know that right? This is not a kid's game, we all stick together and work together, while what you did saved us, it could've turned disasterious," he said, folding his arms over his chest.
He took a seat in the chair and stared at Giorgia. "So, what compelled you to do something so reckless?" he knew 'something' had caused her to disobey his orders, which made him wonder if he should increase her conditioning...
-
She listened as he talked. After he was finished, she avoided his gaze.
"I'm sorry sir. I just..." Here, she hesitated. She trusted him, and yet she didn't want to tell him that she had recognized the terrorists. She tried again. " I just...just thought...It seemed like a...good idea" She finished lamely.
-
Ryoshine nodded before turning to the clock. "Get some dinner, then do some studying for about an hour. I left a book on the dresser, after you study get some rest, you have classes most of tomorrow so you'll need to pay attention." He said and waited until Giorgia had left.
He sighed and rolled up his sleeve, "some secrets are best kept secret...." he said, running his hand over the smooth metal plate on his arm. "Half my arm is prosthetic... and most of it is thanks to the help of the cyborgs here..." he said and rolled his sleeve back down.
Glancing toward the window; he could see drops of rain that began to fall, hitting the window. He got up out of his chair and walked over and opened the window, and took in the smell of the rain.
-
Giorgia wasn't that hungry, she grabbed a small sandwich they were serving and water. She gulped it all down and ran over to her room. She saw the book Ryoshine had mentioned. First however, she felt the jacket and made sure the picture was still there. Then she sat down and began studying. She didn't know why, but the book was intriguing and she didn't get any rest.
Soon, it was 6:30 AM. Wake up call.
-
Ryoshine yawned and got up from bed. His back hurt, something he would probably have to get used to until he was no longer the 'rookie' of the group. He walked over and got into his fatigues and brushed his teeth, then he headed out of the office and made a quick stop at the cafeteria.
"Morning Ryoshine," Giuseppe said. "You going for a run or something?"
"I am, something i do every morning... keeps me in shape." Ryoshine said, he walked over to the serving counter and got himself a large bottle of water. "Tell Hillshire to be gentle on Giorgia, she's very new at this... while she's aware that she's a cyborg now, there are things she isn't aware of yet." he said.
Guiseppe smiled. "I wouldn't worry to much about that; their conditioning makes it impossible for them to denie their existence, however.. that doesn't mean they are mindless automitons.. they have feelings, emotions.. they have thoughts and can operate on their own like a normal human being. It's just that we have to teach them to be self sufficent so we don't always have to be around them. For example is Henrietta, she can sew now and she apperently like's it." He said.
"Maybe I'll teach her how to sew, I did a lot of that while in military." Ryoshine said and headed toward the door, "she did an 'ok' job yesterday but she almost got herself killed.."
"Who?" Guiseppe asked.
"Giorgia..." Ryoshine said and left the cafeteria. Outside the building he surveyed the area to find a good place to run laps around, he found it: The track used by the Agency's 'personel' military.
-
Ryoshine was right. She had classes for most of the day. They did get a lunch break, and she hastened to the cafeteria. She chewed thoughtfully on her spaghetti as she poured over a textbook.
Henrietta spotted Giorgia and came over. "Hey Giorgia! How'd it go with Ryoshine about yesterday?"
Giorgia looked up. "Oh...he just..asked me a couple of questions is all."
"I see" Henrieta said. "Well, we're going down to the range to practice next. Let's go together."
Giorgia nodded and stuffed the textbook in her bag and followed Henrietta down to the range.
Hillshire was there, along with Rico and Triela. "Good morning Henrietta....Giorgia... he mused. "Alright. We're doing long range shooting today. Grab your guns from the armory and head on back out...
-
After his six mile run, Ryoshine headed back to his office where he found a message that the disarmed bomb they had brought back was down in the garage. He quickly got dressed and headed down, once in the garage he found two tech's who were just standing there, dumbfounded.
"You two look dumbstruck.." Ryoshine said as he grabbed a kit full of tools. Carefully he unscrewed the twenty screws that held the casing to the frame, once off he looked at the inside and discovered that it wasn't an explosive bomb that he had disarmed - but a biological bomb. "Huh...." he said, putting the screw driver in his mouth and feeling around. He soon found the battery that powered the unit and disconnected it, effecively rendering the bomb completely inoperable.
Once he was sure that no electricity was coursing through the bomb; he looked at the canister that was attached to a small firing cap. He didn't know 'what' was in the canister but the symbol on the side gave him cause for concern.
Making sure it wasn't connected, it carefully removed it and gestured for one of the tech's to get some towels. A minute passed before the tech came back and placed the towels on the ground, setting the canister on the towel after which.
"So, what is it?" The tech asked, both of them didn't seem the least bit concerned that Ryoshine had just said it was a 'biological' bomb. He got their attention when he tapped his finger on the symbol, "I know exactly what it is...."
"You do? How??" The tech asked.
Ryoshine sighed and got up. "I just know..." he said and covered the canister up and left the garage. He headed out to the lab there, and upon telling the docs what type of canister it was, they took it from him and put it under quarintine. "I need to make sure this is what I think it is.. please test it... but don't allow 'anyone' in until your done ok?" he said, the techs there nodded and went to work.
Now he had the ardous task of informing the director... as he made his way there he caught sight of the firing range and spotted Giorgia. He smiled slightly, and continued on.
-
Giorgia was doing well on the range. In fact, she was up to par with all the other cyborgs.
Hillshire grit his teeth. He was trying to find some flaw in her shooting. In fact, he just wanted to find a flaw in her. He was angered by the fact of her recklessness the day before. But he couldn't find any flaw. In fact, her shooting had gotten better than the day before.
Giorgia's mind was not on shooting. That face she saw yesterday was engrained into her mind. It was as if she had always had that face of him, but it was buried deep in her mind. It wasn't until yesterday, that that image had resurfaced. She wanted...no, needed to find out more about this man. After all, he was the one in charge of killing her dad.
Hillshire dismissed them and went to his study, looking over notes. Giorgia had a sudden idea, rejecting Triela and Henrietta's invite to the rec. room, she headed towards the library. There, she found an empty computer that they were allowed to use.
Now only if I can remember his name... She mused.
However, the computer had other options. If the user did not know the name, it simply asked for a description. After a few clicks and keystrokes, Giorgia found what she was looking for. She printed it out.
Name: Major Franz Bietrich
Age:36
Nationality:German
Status:At large
Information:Known for killing hundereds of people, Bietrich is widely known for killing his best friend's family, the Kretschmann family. Lt. Thomas Kretschmann, and his wife were accounted for when police arrived at the murder scene. The child, however is missing.
She folded it up in a small square and put it in her bag. She hoisted it over her shoulder and walked to her dorm room.
-
Unbeknowst to Giorgia, however, anything related to her family or anyone close to it had been tagged by the agency in the event someone tried to look it up - and the moment she looked it up a camera perched in the ceiling had taken a shot of the person at the computer, namely her.
In the directors office; Ryoshine had been talking with the director about the mission when word came down that Giorgia had accessed a restricted file, or rather, a tagged file.
"Hmmm...." The director said, hands clasped in front of him. "I think Giorgia knows a bit more than we thought..."
"Well we know that they retain at least 'some' of their memories, but most of the cyborgs here tend to not think about their past due to how terrible it might've been.." Jean said. Ryoshine sighed and took a seat, "I guess we'll have to up the conditioning on her... and perhaps tomorrow during survival training we should search her room," Jean added.
Ryoshine shook his head. "I disagree..." he said before Jean tore a look at him. "You may disagree but we need our cyborgs to be loyal, we also need to make sure they don't remember much of their past or else it might interfere..."
He couldn't disagree with that statement, "we'll worry about her conduct later," the director then said and looked at Ryoshine, "Let's wait on the bio-chem results to see what to do next..."
-
Giorgia paced around her room, taking out the picture of her father and the information on Bietrich. She had the two in hand. Best friend.. She thought. He killed his best friend...for what? Did he ENJOY killing? She put the two back in the coat pocket. She knew she'd have to place it somewhere else sooner or later. The coat was too open a place to be hiding stuff like that.
She went down to the cafeteria to have dinner with Henrietta and the others.
-
Ryoshine sighed. "So.... it is what I thought it was..." he said as he looked at the report from the biochem techs.
"It seem's so, now what I want to know is 'how' they got ahold of such a chemical?" The director asked, his voice was full of concern.
"I think I know how to locate 'who' it was that sold them this stuff... but I'll need to head to germany and meet up with an old 'friend' of mine who works with this type of stuff.." Ryoshine nodded, the director clasped his hands. "Very well, get going and find out 'who' it was that sold them this stuff."
He nodded, "I will," he said and left the directors office and headed to his office, once there he called up a friend of his. They talked for some time before he hung up, he walked out of his office and toward the cyborg dorm. Along the way he meet up with Guiseppe, "need another hand?" he asked him. Ryoshine smiled, "could use someone else," he said and Guiseppe nodded. "I'll go and get Henrietta and Giorgia then,"
"Good, don't bring any weapons. We'll get them when we arrive," he said. Guiseppe didn't say a word and instead went to inform the two cyborgs.
As he walked out of the building and toward the garage, his Lamborghini was parked right where he had left it the day before. Now he waited until Guiseppe and the others came.
-
Henrietta came without question, never thinking about why they were going to Germany. Giorgia had a pain in her heart when she heard where they were going. Guissupe put a reasurring hand on her shoulder. "Come, Ryoshine is waiting." The three went and met up with Ryoshine.
-
"We have a long drive ahead of us," Ryoshine said as Henrietta and Guiseppe got in, he watched as Giorgia sat in the back seat and Guiseppe in the front.
"A Lamborghini," Guiseppe said, impressed. "How'd you get the money for this?" he asked Ryoshine.
Ryoshine grinned. "The perks of having a penchent from the American and Italian Military," he said and got into the drivers seat and started up the car. Soon they were out of the front gate's and headed to an air base, it would be a three hour drive.
-
Giorgia stared out of the window for most of the time. For a while, Henrietta had tried to start a conversation with her. Giorgia had given her small responses, that after a while, Henrietta gave up.
Soon the landscape was less city like. Guisuppe looked into the mirror to see Henrietta dozing while Giorgia was still looking out of the window, her eyes set.
As she looked outside, she could see her dad's smiling face. She thought she would start crying if she were not careful. A part of her wanted to be here again. A part of her, did not. At ten years old, Giorgia had to grow up fast already.
-
As they got closer to the Air Base, several air craft flew over. When he got near the gate he stopped his car and rolled down the window, "Hello Sir," the gate guard said. Ryoshine knew the drill, he took out his ID and handed it to the guard who nodded and opened the gate.
Guiseppe had the look of curiousity on his face, and it was a look that Ryoshine couldn't ignore. "Having a false ID makes it easy to get into certain places, espically here since the commander doesn't usually check to see if the person on base is military or not." he said, Guiseppe just nodded.
He drove his lamborghini some distance into the base until he came upon an air craft idling in the hanger bay, both its jet engines were running. "Henrietta, wake up." Guiseppe said, Henrietta blinked and opened her eyes, yawning a second later.
"Dragon buddy!" A man wearing coveralls said near the air craft. Ryoshine sighed, "Its Ryoshine.. not 'dragon' ..." he corrected the man who just shrugged it off. "So, what can I do for my favorite marine?"
"Fly us to Germany," Ryoshine said. The man nodded, "No problem! I'll get you there in a few hours. Want me to fly high or low?"
"Hmm.... fly low please, I think these three need to take in the sites." Ryoshine said, gesturing to Giorgia, Henrietta and Guiseppe. "Ryoshine, mind if i ask ya a few things?" The man asked, Ryoshine nodded. "You three go ahead and get aboard, since we are the only passengers, choose any seat."
Guiseppe nodded. "We also have two availible seats up front, minus the one that Ryoshine will be sitting in. So if you two kids want to sit up there and watch you can," the man said, winking at Henrietta and Giorgia. Ryoshine wondered what the man would say if he told him they were cyborgs and not really kids.
Instead he just patted his friend on the shoulder, who took him aside.
-
Giorgia winced when she heard take in the sites She followed Guisuppe and Henrietta to the aircraft. Guisuppe herded the girls into the two front seats, while he took one in the back. Giorgia was slightly tense, yet had a strange feeling overwhelm her. She was excited, yet pained. It was a strange mixture.
-
Ryoshine's friend and him talked for some time. "You sure about going to Germany? You realize 'they' won't like you being there.." The man said, worried.
"I don't care if they want me there or not, I'm going there anyway." Ryoshine said, stuffing his hands in his pocket. "If you say so, what weapons do you want me to have ready for you upon arrival?" his friend asked.
He thought about it before handing him a list. The man promtly let out a low whisle, "Wow... enough here to start a small armory, you want a lamborghini as well with that?"
"Sure" Ryoshine added and headed for the air craft. The man sighed, "he has very expensive tastes," his friend said, shaking his head back and forth. After a bit be made a phone call and then pocketed the ilst and got on board the air craft.
Ryoshine took the co-pilots seat while his friend took the pilots seat. "Buckle up!" Ryoshine said over the intra-craft communitions.
-
Giorgia slowly buckled herself up, her grey blue eyes gazing out at the view. She looked back down and fiddled with her hands. She tried not to stare out at the window too much, but when they had arrived in the vacinity of Germany, it was hard not too. Her gaze caught the Berlin Conservatory, where, unconciously, she started drumming her fingers around, as if on a keyboard. The rugged mountains, and the bustling streets, and the beautiful cathedrals made her take an inward gasp.
-
As the air craft approuched the airport, Ryoshine noticed some activity as they flew over. "Hmmm..." he said and jerked the craft a bit in an effort to get a better view - sure enough he saw something he really didn't want to see: mobile anti-air craft guns.
Pulling hard on the stick, the jet reared upward into the clouds just as the AA's opende fire. Flak rounds flew past the air craft, exploding harmlessly in the distance. "I TOLD you they wouldn't like you coming back!" The pilot shouted as he ducked his head, even though he knew it wouldn't help.
Ryoshine didn't hear him as his mind was to concerned with flying the aircraft. When they were several miles away from the airport the firing stopped, but Ryoshine saw the AA trucks moving on the ground as they attempted to catch up, of course it was useless racing a jet that was going two hundred miles per hour, vs a truck going only fifty miles per hour.
Their comm. unit came to life with chatter, for awhile it was full of cursing and other racial slangs, but then the chatter stopped and someone else came over relaying new landing cordinates for another air field located firty miles out of Berlin.
"Sorry about the rough ride.." Ryoshine said to his two young passengers.
-
The plane swerved, as it changed course. In another 10 minutes they arrived.
She stepped off the plane with the help of Ryoshine and the group headed into the airport. The place was filled with soldiers, most glaring at them.
Then she saw HIM. Even if only for a moment,, those grey metalic eyes, that smirk. she shivered.
-
Ryoshine sighed when he saw the soldiers; he had expected it as much. "Welcome Mister Ryoshone," a tall man wearing a black suit said, his voice sounded like he would rather be elsewhere. The man lead the group out of the air port and to a garage, where the car he had requested was waiting, this made him uneasy as he hadn't requested that the car be at this airport.
The man handed him directions to the meeting point, Ryoshine nodded and watched as the man and his troops left. "I've got a bad feeling about this.... check the guns..." he said to Henrietta and Giorgia, "make sure they aren't bugged or altered in a way that makes difficult if not impossible to use."
-
Henrietta and Giorgia did as they were told. Giorgia, still frightened by what she saw however, clumsily checked it.
Both girls reported back, "Guns are in working order, sir."
Giorgia kept looking around. She felt as if those eyes were following her, watching her every step. She had forgotten the presence of Ryoshine, Guisuppe, and Henrietta. She gripped her gun as if it were to sooth her.
Guisuppe saw the look of distraction on Giorgia. While Ryoshine was talking to the man in the black suit, Guisuppe went over to Giorgia. "Giorgia, what's wrong? There's no need to be nervous."
Giorgia jumped. "I-I...." However, the man in the black suit looked over at Giorgia. The girl seemed vaguely familiar. To Guisuppe he said, "May I...talk to the little one?" Guisuppe nodded, awkwardly, and went off to Ryoshine. The man in the black suit crouched down to Giorgia's level.
The two held a whispered conversation.
"Hallo." He smiled, "Wie geht es Ihnen? Ich heiße Wilm. Sie sprechen deutsch außerdem? Sie schauen sehr vertraut."
Giorgia looked at the man with the blue eyes. She smiled tensely. The German came fluently to her. In her usual soft manner, she replied, "Hallo. Danke, gut. Ich heiße Giorgia. Ich sehr bin traurig, daß geehrter Herr, ich Sie nicht erkennen."
The man looked at her, rather pleased. "Sie sprechen fließend deutsch... was sein Ihr letzt Name?" Giorgia replied, "Pa-..." Then Giorgia remembered that sheet..."Mein letzter Name ist Kretschmann"
The man's eyes widened.
*Translation=Hello. How are you? My name is Wilm. Do you speak German also? You look familiar
Hello, Good, thank you. My name is Giorgia. I'm sorry sir, I don't recognize you.
You speak fluent German...what is your last name?
My last name is Kretschmann
-
Ryoshine watched and listened, while his german wasn't very good he could make out some of it. His man interest however was getting out of the garage and to the meeting place, "come on Giorgia," he said and stared at the man.
Guiseppe was also anxious to get going, something inside him told that this was the last place he wanted to be.
-
"Kretschmann, sagten Sie? War Ihr Vater zufällig... ein Leutnant Thomas Kretschmann?"
Giorgia's eyes widened. She nodded numbly.
"Come on Giorgia."
The man quickly looked at Ryoshine and when he wasn't looking, he gave Giorgia a piece of paper.
"Fräulein Kretschmann, kann ich Ihnen helfen. Nehmen Sie dieses Papier. Und wenn Sie eine Wahrscheinlichkeit haben, benennen Sie die Zahl." The man smiled, "Willkommenes Haus"
Giorgia smiled briefly and nodded. She quickly went off to Ryoshine.
The man smiled softly as she walked off. He had been a friend of the Kretschmann's. He was devastated when he had heard the news that his military friend had died. He was angered even more so that a close friend of Thomas's had killed him! Franz Bietrich. He had known him too. The three of them, Thomas, Franz, and Wilm would go drinking...this was the final blow to Wilm. But he also realized that the daughter was not killed, so after all this time, he had hoped, and prayed. And now, here she was!
Franz Bietrich grimaced as he saw Wilm Hosenfeld. He could turn into a problem...no matter...I can always just kill him off. He walked outside of the garage, and turned his coat collar up. He dialed a number on his phone. "Ludwig? Es ist Franz. Halten Sie eine Uhr auf Herr.Wilm Hosenfeld. Wenn er eine Störung in unserem Plan... verursacht, töten Sie ihn." Franz shut the phone off. He smirked. Hosenfeld was just a pebble at the moment. Everything was going as planned. He had shown himself to the girl, he knew he had scared her.
*Kretschmann, did you say? Was your father by chance...a Lieutenant Thomas Kretschmann?
*Miss Kretschmann, I can help you. Take this paper. And when you have a chance, call the number.
*Welcome home
*Ludwig? It is Franz. Keep a watch on Mr.Wilm Hosenfeld. If he causes an interference in our plan...kill him.
-
As the four of them got into the car; Ryoshine couldn't help but feel an air of unease coming from Giorgia. He was tempted to ask when his phone went off, answering it he was only on for a few seconds before he hung up. "Well..... someone has tipped off 'them' off to our presence.." he said, annoyed.
Turning the car on he pulled out of the garage and down the pazed road. Along the way his eyes darted from tree to tree, he was expecting something but to his surprise nothing happened as they drove up to an abandoned warehouse. He opened the door and got out, Guiseppe glanced around. "Somethings... not right..." he said
Ryoshine shook his head. "Nope, this is exactly how 'he' operates, out of abandoned warehouses and such on the outscripts of towns," he said, but before he did anything he turned to Giorgia, "What's wrong?" he asked her.
-
"W-what's wrong?" She stuttered. "I...n-nothing...just....just nervous is all, sir." She wanted to tell him who she saw later. Now was not the time, she decided. Besides, she knew he would find out sooner or later.
She watched as Ryoshine and Guisuppe conversed.
-
Ryoshine was now suspious, it was one thing to be nervous about a mission, but another not to say what was actually bothering them. He decided to talk to the director when he got back, Guiseppe was equally if not more suspious.
"Come on," Ryoshine said and walked over to the double doors of the warehouse. He knelt down and found a leather strap attached to the door, wrapping his hand around it he pulled up until the door slid upward and into an open slot.
Inside he saw crates stacked ten high; dolleys present against the wall spoke that this 'abandoned' warehouse wasn't so abandoned. The warehouse itself was bathed in a light red glow, as Ryoshine walked inside he gestured to Henrietta and the others to follow him.
As he looked around he wondered - where is his contact?
-
Giorgia hesitantly followed Ryoshine inside. She stood behind him and Henrietta.
-
"Ahhh..... Konban-wa, Ryoshine-sama..." A deep voice boomed through the warehouse. "Nice of you to come, I didn't think you'd have the guts to venture into my domain."
Ryoshine spat on the ground before responding. "Enough crap, Putinay...." he said in an annoyed tone.
The man smiled and walked out from the darkness, "I see you brought two children with you... kind of dan- oh wait... these aren't 'those' type of kids are they?" he asked.
Guiseppe looked visually stunned, but Ryoshine wasn't. "Your information network is as good as always..." He said and took out a document he had hidden inside his coat and slapped it down on a near by table. The man walked over and opened it, nodding a few times until he came to the part that Ryoshine was going to ask him about, "ahhh.... so this is why you've come to me... very well... come with me but those two there," he pointed to Henrietta and Guiseppe, "stay out here." he said and walked toward an open door.
"Guiseppe, since Henrietta's hearing is very good, can see memorize 'everything' he says?" Ryoshine asked, Guiseppe nodded and turned to Henrietta. "You heard him."
"Yes Sir," Henrietta said.
"Giorgia, keep an eye open..." he said to Giorgia before turning to Guiseppe,"Stay here, he only trusts me and someone else there might make him feel uncomfortable," he said, Guiseppe nodded and stayed behind while Ryoshine made his way deeper into the warehouse.
OOC: Post edited due to a major sentence error
-
"Yes sir." Giorgia answered. She figured she had gotten into enough trouble for a while. She stood next to Henrietta. She shoved her hand in her coat pocket, fingering the piece of paper Herr Wilm had given her. Who exactly was he? And how did he know me? She pondered. I really don't know if I should tell Mr.Ryoshine either...I don't think I'm supposed to know all of this... She sighed, which got a glance from Henrietta. Which, Giorgia ignored. What to do...what to do...
-
Ryoshine followed his friend into a room, another man carrying an AK-47 walked out and closed the door behind him.
"H2B9" Ryoshine said, his friend turned to him, a curious look on his face. "H2B9?" he repeated what Ryoshine said, before nodding, "I recognize that..."
"It's a biomechnical virus... created to attack to attack a biomechnical body....." Ryoshine folded his arms and stared at the man, the look on his face could melt glass.
His friend smiled weakly. "N-now hold on, you think I had something to do with this?"
"Why not? You have your dirty little hands in every black market and terrorist organization across the planet.... why shouldn't I think you had something to do with this?" Ryoshine said, taking a few steps closer to the man.
"Now hold on there Ryo-boy.... I-" the man said before Ryoshine's gloved hand found the mans throat, Ryoshine picked the man up off the ground and slammed him against the metal wall, sending out a metal 'thump' across the warehouse.
The man struggled, Ryoshine just kept his grip for a few seconds before finally releasing him. The man fell to the ground with a thump, coughing in the process.
He waited several minute's before his 'friend' was able to speak again. "You've made your point..." he said, running his fingers around his throat. "Four weeks ago one of my men got wind of a terrorist group in London that had been sent a canister of the stuff."
Ryoshine nodded, but allowed the man to keep speaking. "We managed to track the source to a man named..... Robert Lica..." he said, the name caused Ryoshine to unfold his arms and bring them to his side. "You sure?" he asked, his voice tense.
"Very," the man said and took out a picture that was in his pocket. "You know him?"
"No..." Ryoshine lied and rubbed his chin. "Anyway, how'd he get ahold of this stuff?"
"You're the officer..." The man said and took the picture and put it in his pocket. "You should-" he said before his cell phone went off. He flipped it own and read a text message, the man cursed before looking at Ryoshine. "Seem's someone tiped you off, an observer just spotted several flat bed's heading straight here... seem's the local terrorist group wants to roll out the welcome mat."
Ryoshien cursed and opened the door and rushed out; the man stayed behind. He ran through the warehouse before finding Guiseppe and the others, "how'd it go?" he asked. "Fine, we got company coming so let's get going.."
"Good luck," one of the guards there said, "they are coming up the only way in and out of this place, so unless you four can fly... you'll have to fight your way through it," the guard said, bring up his M-16 when he heard an engine in the distance.
Ryoshine grumbled. "Get the weapons out of the car, looks like we'll be fighting our way through.."
-
Franz Bietrich was in the back of one of the cars going to the warehouse. He smirked. That Kretschmann girl won't live for much longer. He chuckled to himself. Such a pain...Giorgia...Why could you have not died along with your beloved father?
Bietrich had arrived with most of his men, along with the local terrorists. However, it seemed that Giorgia and her group had heard that they were coming. Hmmm...No matter. He got out of the car, with most of his men. The local terrorists were already out and about to gun. Franz, however, stepped on his cigarette and yelled, "Halten Sie Ihr Feuer!" The men obeyed, and lowered their guns. Bietrich walked in the middle of the two groups, and smiled as he saw Giorgia. He chuckled softly.
"Giorgia Kretschmann. Tochter des Leutnants Thomas Kretschmann."
Giorgia held her machine gun in her hand. But then...she saw him. The man who had killed her father. She was ready to aim and kill him right there, but he had stepped foward, and spoken. She froze when she saw his smile. He was smiling, but those eyes told her a different story. He was out here to kill, but he was talking first.
"Setzen Sie Ihre Gewehr unten, kleines Mädchen"
She did so, ever so slightly. Then, brushing past Guiseppe and Ryoshine, began talking furiously to Franz.
"Sie. Sie! Sie töteten meinen Vater! Warum? Waren Sie eifersuechtig? War das es!? Sie... Sie Monster!"
Franz grinned. "Ich bin, also froh baten Sie. Sie sehen Gioriga, Ihren Vater, waren Schmerz zu mir. Sehr großzügiger Mann ja gebe ich ihm den, aber Ihr Vater war zu weich. Solche Männer... werden nicht in dieser Welt benötigt. Es ist eine grausame Welt, in der wir in leben."
Giorgia was shaking out of control. Bietrich however, calmly lit another cigarette. He looked up at the two men. In accented English, he said, "I just want the girl. Give her to me, and we'll leave, and there won't be any kill-"
"YOU LIAR!" Giorgia shouted. She knew if she charged at him, the four of them would be dead instantly. It took ever fiber in her body not to lunge.
*Giorgia Kretschmann. Daughter of Lt. Thomas Kretschmann
* Put your gun down, little girl
* You. You! You killed my father! Why? Were you jealous? Was that it!? You...you monster!
*I'm so glad you asked. You see Gioriga, your father, was a pain to me. Very generous man, yes, I'll give him that, but your father was too soft. Such men...are not needed in this world. It's a cruel world in which we live in.
-
Ryoshine stared at Giorgia, I knew something strange was going on the moment she laid eyes upon that man in the garage... he said before hearing the man's request. "Like hell..." he said and raised his SIG. It was then that he noticed that the other guards that had once populated the warehouse had suddenly vanished. err... cowards.. he said and gritted his teeth.
He didn't want this to continue; he knew Giorgia's state of mind was going to be a problem so he took aim at the car's Carborator and fired. The round sunk in and thick white smoke bellowed out and enveloped the area. "Open fire!" Ryoshine shouted and fired into the smoke.
Henrietta brought up her SMG and opened up, Guiseppe did the same with his glock.
-
Franz sighed, "Idioten" He said. Running to an helicopter that was coming down for him, he yelled to Giorgia,
"Ihr Vater würde in Ihnen enttäuscht! Und Sie wissen, was andere Störung Ihres Vaters? war! Heiraten einer italienischen Frau! Hah! Der Nerv! Denken, daß italienische Frauen besser als deutsche Frauen sind! Und SIE! Sie Sind VOLLSTÄNDIG Italienisch. Egal wie viel deutsch Sie wissen! Sie sind eine Vergeudung, auch!
With those words ringing in her ears, she ran into the smoke, firing away. "Sie coward! ICH WERDE SIE TÖTEN"
The man just laughed. In broken English, before stepping on the plane said, "So much like your father. To bad...you didn't know him any better." He smirked. "Auf Wiedersehen."
Giorgia's hand was shaking and her head was spinning. She tried shooting at the engine of the plane, but it was no use. She sunk down. The words that the Major had said were spinning, "I'm useless...A waste...he wouldn't be proud of me..." she said, whispering to herself.
*Your father would be disappointed in you! And you know what your father's other weakness was? Marrying an Italian woman! Ha! The nerve! To think that an Italian women are better than German women! And YOU! You are ALL Italian. It doesn't matter how much German you know! You are a waste, too!
*You coward! I'm going to kill you!
-
Ryoshine had had enough; holstering his SIG he ran in and grabbed Giorgia by the coller of her coat and dragged her out just as several frag granades exploded. "Are you TRYING to ger yourself KILLED?!" he shouted at her just as he heard something, he turend around and saw Henrietta took a shot in the arm and another to the side of the head, the impact slammed her into the ground but she got back up and kept firing, but her movements were sluggish and it was apperent that she was actually in pain.
He didn't have time to scold her, "get into the car!" he said to Guiseppe and Henrietta, the two of them got in. He looked at Giorgia, "get in the car," he said her and got into the drivers side.
-
Giorgia nodded numbly as she got in the car. Those words hurt her badly. Maybe she should have just died as well? She hardly felt the car moving, hardly saw Guisuppe treating Henrietta.
-
Ryoshine wasn't very happy, and it showed in his driving. He weaved in and out of traffic, narrowly avoiding two semi-trucks and a military humvee. As they approuched the airport, the authorites were seen arresting several of the employees.
"something wrong officer?" Ryoshine asked as he drove up, the officer looked him and his occupants. "Just a bust is all, if you have a flight here then check in and board that flight as we'll be closing down the airstrip in a few."
He nodded and drove the car into the garage; once inside Guiseppe helped Henrietta out. She wasn't to baddly injuried but knew that once they got back to the agency she would have to be treated. "How is she?"
"Doing ok; luckily she has a hard head," he rasped. Henrietta just sighed, she looked over at Giorgia and placed a hand on her shoulder. She couldn't say anything because she knew there wasn't anything 'to' say, for Ryoshine he knew something 'else' was up though when he noticed that Henrietta movement was sluggish, her expression was that of pain.
-
She was numb. She knew Ryoshine was going to talk to her once they got back. She knew she shouldn't be having all these memories, but in a way, it made her feel sane- made her felt human.
She felt a hand touch her shoulder. She didn't want to look. She put her head against the window and curled up. She put her hand in her coat pocket- and realized she still had Mr. WIlm's phone numer
-
As the aircraft took off, the pilot leaned over to Ryoshine who was sitting in the co-pilots seat. He whispered something into his ear, with a nod the air craft increased its speed.
Henrietta and Guiseppe were in the back of the craft. Henrietta had, for some strange reason, fallen ill which was mysterious in the fact that Cyborgs don't fall ill due to the way their body's are developed and enhanced - a normal virus that would harm a human won't do anything to a bio-mechnical enhanced human.
Ryoshine was tempted to scold Giorgia, but his concern was more for Henrietta. Upon arrival at the airport, a car was waiting to take them back to the agency.
-
The group quickly landed and hurried off to the car. Henrietta was getting worse, and Guisuppe was getting stressed. They took the car, and in a short time, arrived at the Agency. Guisuppe rushed Henrietta off, while Ryoshine and Giorgia slowly got off. She mused, This is getting quite repetitive...
-
Before they even got to the door Ryoshine let out a frustrated sigh and turned around and stared intensly at Giorgia. "What were you thinking going after that man?" he asked in an angered tone.
-
Giorgia didn't want to look at him. She could feel his eyes boring down on her, and that voice seemed disappointed in her. She hated disappointment. "He killed. He killed...he..." She just couldn't finish the sentence. It was too painful.
-
"So without thinking you abandoned the team and went on a personnel crusade? You could've gotten yourself killed, and then nothing would've been accomplished." He said and continued to stare at her, after a minute or two he turned away. "Get to your dorm room...." he said, he was disappointed in himself for not noticing his lack of conditioning.
-
She tearfully took steps foward. Then, she whispered without turning around. "Maybe it would have been better." She then ran to her dorm room, shutting the door behind her. She sat on the bed, hugging the bunny plushie.
-
He rolled his fingers into a fist and snarled, he was about to go report to the director when Guiseppe came out. "We got a problem!" he said and Ryoshine rushed into the building.
In the medical room; Henrietta was in a lot of pain. She was bleeding from several wounds on her body that had initially been closed weeks and months ago, Guiseppe watched with fear in his eyes, Ryoshine grumbled and got on the innercom and told the doctor to check her blood stream for a certain blood cell.
The doctor did just that; and before long it was discovered that Henrietta had contracted the virus - H2B9.
Ryoshine was confused, as far as he knew the virus could only be contracted when the person breathed it in. Henrietta hadn't breahted it in, she had only been - "Shot...." Ryoshine said. "Shot?" Guiseppe said curiously, but never got a chance to question it before he ordered the doctor to yank the bullet that was lodged in her arm out, upon doing so he handed it to Ryoshine who quickly rushed out of the medical room.
-
In her room, Giorgia's breathing evened out. Her head clearer, she took out the phone number and dialed the phone number on the piece of paper. She realized now who Wilm was. It was her father's friend. Almost immediately, Wilm answered.
"Hallo?"
"Herr Wilm? Es ist ich, Giorgia. Geehrter Herr, habe ich nicht viel Zeit. Der Platz bin ich an... ihnen notiere alles. Herr Wilm, sah ich... Hauptbietrich heute. Ich kann nicht ihn töten selbst, obgleich ich zu wünsche. Ich bin in genügender Mühe, wie ist. Denken Sie Sie können?"
There was a pause at the other end. "Liebes Kind... habe ich jene Wörter gewartet. Ich tue mein bestes. Sie nehmen Obacht von selbst... Fräulein Kretschmann."
"Danke, Herr Wilm." Giorgia was about to hang up, when Wilm said, "OH- und Giorgia? Ihr Vater würde auf Sie sehr stolz gewesen sein." Giorgia smiled. "Danke." and hung up. She breathed out. Whatever happened next, whatever Ryoshine wanted to do to her, she was ready.
*It's me, Giorgia. Sir, I don't have much time. The place I'm at...they record everything. Mr. Wilm, I saw...Major Bietrich today. I cannot kill him myself, although I want to. I am in enough trouble as is. Do you think you can?
* Dear child...I have been waiting for those words. I will do my best. You take care of yourself...Miss Kretschmann.
*Oh, and Giorgia? Your father would have been very proud of you.
-
Ryoshine shook his head in amazement. "They tiped off the bullets with a tiny amount of the virus..." he said as he examiend the tip of the recovered bullet, while it was largely broken apart, it was still apart of the main bullet so he found locate the blue 'flecks' that made up the powder form of the virus.
He sighed and dug out a pendent he kept in his pocket. Inside was a yellowish liquad that shined when light hit it, "I guess I have no choice..." he said and went back to the medical room and instructed the doctor to inject the liquad into Henrietta's blood stream.
The doctor did just that and after a few minute's her heart rate began to calm down and she began to show signs of no longer being in pain. "How'd you know that would work?" Guisepp asked, amazed.
"Because.... not only did I create that virus... but I also developed the antidote.." Ryoshine said.
-
Giorgia paced around her room. She grabbed her dad's picture and put it inside the desk drawer. Not much safer..but, oh well. She stopped and peered at the mirror. Who WAS she? Who was she supposed to become? She hardly knew her birth father, he was Italian. She didn't even know his name. Or rather, she didn't remember. She sighed. For all that she knew, she looked like her Italian father. The only thing she could comfort herself with was that her eyes matched the German man she had grown to love.
Worthless....Die....not proud.....
-
The director nodded. "I see...." he said when he heard Ryoshine's explanation of the virus and how it was created, plus who created it. "You created the antidote... can you create it again?"
He sighed. "No.... the pendent was the only antidote I had. I don't have the chemicals nor the facility to create another, unless you can get both for me...."
"This is bad..." Hillshire said, annoyed. "If those terrorists have access to a virus and are able to tip their bullets off with it, then our battles against them will become a hell of a lot harder."
Ryoshine nodded. "Yes.... and I'm sure they'll use them again any child that is armed with a gun, whether they be cyborg or human."
The director nodded lightly before turning toward the wall. "We'll need to develop some new techniques... think you can do that Ryoshine?" the director asked him. "I can yes," he said and walked toward the window.
"To create the antidote.. what do you need?" The direcotr asked him. Ryoshine turned to him and explained him exactly 'what' the virus was, it was designed to be a nano-virus, only affecting those who it was designed to affect. In order to develope an antidote, the nano-machines would have to be designed to find the nano-virus. It was so complex that the director had him stop mid-way, "Ok.. I get it.. I'll see what I can do."
"In the mean time, don't you think you should up her conditioning?" Hillshire said, Ryoshine sighed. "You heard..." he said and the man nodded. "Yes....while I don't like 'forcing' things unto people, in this case he almost got us killed. Tonight after she falls asleep, we'll have her undertake another conditioning process. Hopefully she'll lose the memories that resulted in her lossing her loyalty to you," the director said.
"But she won't lose all her memorys?" Ryoshine asked.
"she'll recall her name, and perhaps certain events that transpired... but other than that she'll not remember anything else," the director said. With a heavy sigh, Ryoshine nodded. "Very well...." he said and left the room.
Once out Hillshire shook his head. "If he had made the chioce to have her go through a second conditioning process this probably wouldn't have happened," he said.
-
Giorgia didn't know what to do with herself. So she decided to check out the rec. room, in which earlier, she had declined. The room was heavily furnished with things for the "children" to do. And that's when Giorgia saw the piano. It was a small version, but Giorgia was still tranced by it. She silently put a hand on the keys and sat on the bench. Memories of hearing her father and her play duets flooded her memory. Tears began forming again. She couldn't help it.
She started playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
-
Ryoshine had headed to his room initially, but stopped when he gripped the knob of the door. He let out a sigh before heading to the cyborg dorm, when he went to Giorgia's room he discovered that she wasn't there. "Huh...." he said before hearing something.
He followed the sound until he came across the recreational room. He found Giorgia playing the piano, but instead of walking into the room he merely leaned up against the wall and listened.
-
She played the whole piece by memory. She closed her eyes, and the notes just flowed from her. The deep, mournful piece transported her to a world of her own. She got to the end of the piece. The spell was broken, she opened her eyes. She stood up and looked at the piano one more time.
She whispered softly, "I love you, daddy." She then turned to leave when she saw Ryoshine standing there. She turned a deep shade of red. She gulped.
-
He smiled at her. "Not bad," he said and placed his hand on her head, while he was still very upset with her, he had a problem showing it after hearing that peice of wonderful playing. "It's almost dinner time, get something to eat before heading to bed. Tomorrow morning you'll have class," he said to her placed his hands to his side.
He knew, however, that she wouldn't remember him saying that. In fact, he realized that the 'type' of conditioning that she would go through would require him to retrain her, thankfully she hadn't gone far into the traniing process.
-
Giorgia stuttered. "I-I-I'm not..not hungry..I'll just..go..and sleep. Goodnight, sir." She headed off to her room, head still down. She opened her room and sat on her bed. She got up again and took the photo from the drawer. This was one night where she missed him immensely. Putting the picture next to her on the pillow, she slowly fell asleep.
-
During the middle of the night; a couple men entered Giorgia's room and gave her a sedative, making it so that she wouldn't awaken. Ryoshine watched this with disgust, but he knew it was the right thing to do.
In order to make the process complete; the memories from the other cyborgs were also altered just sightly. Henrietta wouldn't remember the trip to germany, even though she had scars to show for it. Rico, Treila, Angelica, Claes, they would remember her but not the trip she took.
Two days would eventually pass, Ryoshine had used the time wisely to look through records pertaining to the terrorists they had fought in germany. While most were being financed by german groups, a couple were actually located in italy. "Guess after I re-train her we'll have a mission.." Ryoshine said.
The men who had taken her out of her room brought her back to room earlier that morning; one had put the covers over her even though that wasn't a requirement. "Now let's just hope this process does away with her inability to follow orders," Hillshire said softly before leaving the room to attend to his own needs.
-
Giorgia slowly opened her eyes. She was groggy. She blinked a couple of times and looked around. She was in her room. She looked at her pillow, and realized a picture was sticking out of it. She gently took it out. A man in uniform was holding up a wine glass. She stared hard at that picture. He looked vaguely familiar but she couldn't place it. She knew however, that it was important.
----
Meanwhile, Wilm had started to track Franz Bietrich down. He wanted to avenge his friend, and all he needed was that phone call from Giorgia. He booted up his computer and logged on. He got the updated bio on Franz, grimacing as he did so. One article went so far to say, "Major Franz Bietrich is an alluding man. Once he strikes, he deals a fatal blow, then disappears off the map; only to return when he wants too." Wilm located all the places that Franz striked. Most were in Germany. A couple in France, and a lot were in Italy too. Hosenfeld bit his lip. This would be harder than he thought.
-
"Awake I see," Ryoshine said after opening the door to Giorgia's room. "How do you feel?" he asked her.
-
She looked up to see Ryoshine open the door to her room.
"Fine, sir." She replied. "Who is this?" She asked, holding up the picture for him to see. Her earlier hesitation gone. She figured he might know. Her eyes remained alert, and focused, but there was...something missing from her face. Not physically, but the life in her eyes were dull. This was just curiosity to the lowest level for her.
-
Ryoshine walked over and looked at the picture, "I don't know, must've been something that someone else had left behind," he said to her. Hmm... I wonder if this started all the problems... he thought to himself.
"Are you feeling ok to walk?" he asked her a moment later.
-
She nodded, and shrugged. "I found it under my pillow so I thought it was mine, but I guess not."
She stood up.
-
He smiled and walked toward the door, "lets get you something to eat as I'm sure your hungry," he said and gestured for her to follow him to the cyborg cafeteria.
-
She nodded, and gently placed the picture on the table top. She walked out with Ryoshine and into the cafeteria. The cafeteria was quiet, and Giorgia easily got some quick food to eat. She sat alone, not talking to anyone else.
-
Ryoshine was standing near the doorway when Henrietta and Rico came back, they greeted him and noticed Giorgia sitting at a table alone. The two of them got something to eat before takin a seat at the table, "not that hungry?" Rico asked her.
-
Giorgia looked up to see the two girls sit with her. "No, not really." She said simply. "Just kind of tired." She stood up, and met Ryoshine back at the doorway.
-
Ryoshine had things to do so he took Giorgia to see Guisepp and Hillshire, both of whom would be teaching today. Triela and Claes were already there apperently doing other work, "you'll have class every so often, just check with either Triela or Henrietta, they'll let you know. Now pay attention to what they say ok?" he said.
-
Guisuppe and Hillshire nodded when Giorgia entered. "Take a seat, Giorgia, you'll be able to catch up rather quickly." Hillshire said. The class went on for two hours, when Guisuppe said to take a break. The girls left the room, and Giorgia headed out into the garden herself.
-------------
Nearby, Franz was following Giorgia's every move since they had left. He had done a good job of it too, since this Agency hadn't been on his doorstep. He whispered into the walkie talkie, "She's nearby. Get ready. Positions. Veremeber, do not harm the girl. She's mine. I vill take 'er."
-----
Gioriga was lost in thought on that picture. She knew she shouldn't be worrying about that, but it was like an itch that wouldn't go away. Suddenly, when she was at the far corner of the garden, a black like sheet came over her. She couldn't see anything at all. Then she felt someone strong grab, blindfold and tie her up. Next thing she knew, she was being thrown into a car. There was indistinct German muttering and they were off.
-
Ryoshine rubbed the back of his chin, he'd spent the past few hours trying to get ahold of his 'friend' but hadnt had any luck. "What the hell is he doing that makes it so he can't answer the freaken phone..." he said and turned his cell off and took a seat at his computer. He brought up some information related to their last mission, including some from another team at the agency that had tailed the terrorist leader, but lost him shortly there after.
"I guess he'll be difficult to track if he was able to slip away from us 'that' easily." Ryoshine said and sighed. "I need a drink..." he said and headed to the cafeteria and poured himself a cup of coffee.
-
Franz stared at the young girl in front of him with loathing. Everything about her was of Italian features. Except for those eyes- those eyes reminded him of his "friend" Those deep blue eyes.
Giorgia grimaced, and did not say anything at all. All she could think about was how she was going to get in trouble for letting her guard down. All of a sudden she felt her blindfold being removed.
-
His coffee tasted terrible so he threw it out and went back to working on his report, as the time flew bye he finally gave up on trying to figure out where the terrorist group has moved to.
He was just about to leave his office when a knock came, he opened the door to find Hillshire standing in the doorway. "Have you seen Giorgia?"
"No, I assumed she was back in class..." Ryoshine said, but when he saw Hillshire shake his head he left the office to search the grounds.
-
Giorgia blinked a couple of times and looked at the man who had taken the blind off. He had blond hair and blue eyes. He had a cleanly shaven face, topped off with a smirk- towards her. Once again, he looked vaguely familar, just like the picture in her room, but she couldn't place him. The man spoke
"Giorgia Kretschmann..."
"Sorry. You might have the wrong person. My last name is Pacino."
The man glared at her, and spat at her with rage. "Schwachsinnig. Sie würden eher einen italienischen letzten Namen als Ihr deutscher letzter Name haben? Pathetisch! Ihr italienischer Vater Sie, ließen Sie sich erinnern nicht? Sie wurden oben durch das deutsche Lietunenat Thomas Kretschmann geholt."
Giorgia's eyes widened. German...he speaks German..
Franz glared at the girl. Studied her face. He was slightly taken aback. Unlike last time, there was no fury in those eyes. No call for revenge. They were...emotionless. Had she been brainwashed? No matter. He lowered his voice. "Was kennen Sie über Ihren Vater?"
Giorgia stared at him. My father? She remembered the photo, that significant feeling it had to it. Could that have been him? "Eh.. Mein Vater war ein deutscher Offizier
Franz rolled his eyes. This was getting nowhere. But as he looked into her eyes, he realized she was being truthful. "Ich erkläre Ihnen über Ihren.... Vater. Er war ein sehr intelligenter Mann und auch bezauberte. Er könnte jede mögliche Frau erhalten haben, die er wünschte. Stattdessen wählte er eine italienische Frau mit einem Kind. Selbstverständlich seine Vorgesetzten etwas gekümmert, gleichwohl er einer von den besten war. Er schob die Rank schnell hoch. Und I, befreundet ihm. Wir waren durchaus das Duo. Dann ist das, als wir auch... ah... trafen, was sein Name war. Ja. Wilm Hosenfeld. Die drei von uns wurden unseperable. Aber Ihr Vater, erhielt er. emotional schwächer. Eine was für Beleidigung zur deutschen Armee, sehen Sie?"
Giorgia understood, however she couldn't see what the big deal was. She knew her parents loved each other, and was pretty sure her father had loved her. "He Herr. Was ist Ihr Name?"
Franz, slightly irritated that he had been inturrupted, answered anyways. "Ich bin Haupt Franz Bietrich. Jetzt keine mehr inturruptions, bis ich meine Geschichte beende. Ich denke, daß Sie sie eher genießen würden." He smirked. "Wie ich sagte, war er schwächer gewachsen. Niemande sahen ihn, aber mich. Ich sah, welches Kretschmann geworden war. Eine irksome Abbildung. Das ist, als ich entschied, ihn zu töten. AnfangsWAR ich im Begriff, gerade ihn zu töten. Aber dann verwirklichte ich, ich würde sein besser weg vom Töten die ganze Sie. Ich sprach mit Hosenfeld über es. Er wies die Idee zurück und mir war mir erklärt geistlich. Hahaha. Dann diese Nacht. Ahh..." He looked at the girl. She had grown pale, but there was no recognition in her face. He continued on.
"Selbst und ein Paar der Männer, die ihm zugestimmt hatten, angekommen in Ihrem cozy kleinen Haus. Ich schlug geöffnet die Tür und die Säge Sie Abendessen Essens drei. Ihr Vater trug noch seine Uniform. Sie waren lachend und klatschend und was auch immer und Ihre Mutter lächelten, während sie die Nahrung austeilte. DAS war kurzlebig. Ich nehme an, daß jemand bereits Ihren Vater weg von gespitzt hatte, aber er nicht ihm glauben wollte. Ich bedeute, * Lachen * sein bester Freund töte ihn? Nicht eine Wahrscheinlichkeit? Hahaha. Das war, wo Sie Vater waren falsch sind. Jetzt seiend intelligent, verwirklichte er dieses und warf Sie in einen Raum. Ich schoß ihn in der Rückseite. Ihre Mutter, bereits absolut. Mein Mann war in den Raum eingestiegen, den Sie innen waren und ich dachte, hatte er Sie getötet, aber anscheinend, haben Sie einen starken Schädel."
Giorgia stared at the man. Unable to comprehend what he had just said. Best friend? Killed? Murderer? Her head was swirling.
Franz watched, and smirked. "Gehen Sie nicht auf mir, wie Ihrem Vater schwach. Geben Sie mir die Telefonnummer Ihres... Führers, oder whoever ist verantwortlich für Sie. Ich konnte in der LageSEIN, ein Abkommen mit Ihnen zu bilden, dann töte Sie. Wir sehen."
Giorgia grimaced. She didn't want too, either way, she would be killed. However, she wanted to hurt this man too, and she knew she needed backup. She gave him the phone number.
*Imbecile. You would rather have an Italian last name than your German last name? Pathetic! Your Italian father left you, do you not remember? You were brought up by the German Lietunenat Thomas Kretschmann.
*What do you know about your father?
*My father was a German officer
*I'll tell you about your .... father. He was a very intelligent man, charming too. He could have gotten any woman he wanted. Instead, he chose an Italian woman with a child. Of course, his superiors minded slightly, however he was one of the best. He moved up the ranks quickly. And I, befriended him. We were quite the duo. Then, that's when we also met...ah...what was his name.. Yes. Wilm Hosenfeld. The three of us became unseperable. But your father, he got weaker.. emotionally. What an insult to the German army, you see?
*Hey mister, what's your name?
*I am Major Franz Bietrich. Now, no more inturruptions until I finish my tale. I think you would rather enjoy it.
*As I was saying, he had grown weaker. No one else saw it, but me. I saw what Kretschmann had become. An irksome figure. That's when I decided to kill him. At first, I was going to kill just him. But then I realized, I would be better off killing all of you. I talked to Hosenfeld about it. He rejected the idea and told me I was mental. Hahaha. Then, that night. Ahh...
*Myself and a couple of men who had agreed to it, arrived at your cozy little house. I banged open the door and saw you three eating dinner. Your father was still wearing his uniform. You were laughing and clapping and whatever, and your mother was smiling as she handed out the food. THAT was short lived. I suppose someone had already tipped your father off but he didn't want to believe it. I mean, *Laughs* His best friend kill him? Not a chance? Hahaha. That was where you're father was wrong. Now, being smart, he realized this and threw you into a room. I shot him in the back. Your mother, already dead. My man had gone into the room you were in and I thought, he had killed you, but apparently, you have a thick skull.
*Don't go weak on me, like your father did. Give me the phone number of your... leader or whoever is in charge of you. I might be able to make a deal with you, then kill you. We shall see.
-
"Nothing?" Ryoshine said after a fifteen minute search throughout the compound. Henrietta and Rico both shook their heads, Hillshire grumbled and Jean just sighed. "Perhaps you should've enforced her conditioning even 'more' so that she wouldn't just disappear like this," Hillshire
"I doubt she had a 'choice' in the matter," Ryoshine said and continued his search.
-
Franz smirked as he dialed the number.
---
Nearby, Wilm was also caling.
-
Ryoshine was in the garage when his cell phone went off, he looked at the number and didn't recognize it. On the back of his phone and dressed a small button that would start tracking the number the moment he answered it, although he realized that depending on whether the person was using a lan line or a cell phone would determine whether or not it would be easy to track.
He flipped the cell open and answered it. "Yes?" he said.
-
Wilm answered gruffly. "You're Herr Ryoshine? I'm WIlm Hosenfeld. The man who met you at the airport a couple of days ago. Giorgia has been taken by Franz Bietrich. Do you know who he is?"
-
Ryoshine walked toward the far end of the garage and leaned up against the wall. "Franz.... I've heard that name somewhere before but I don't really know who he is.." he said to Wilm.
-
Wilm talked rapidly, his English falling because of the speed. "Major Franz Bietrich. Officer in Deutch Army. Good soldier, messed up mind. Killed Lt. Thomas Kretschmann...You know who that is, Correct?"
-
Ryoshine replied the conversation in his head for a second before replying. "Lt. Thomas Kretschmann, yes I know who that is," Ryoshine said not bothering to mention Giorgia's name. "So, what does he want?" Ryoshine siad, refering to Franz.
-
Wilm, frazzled, was about to loose it. "Vat does he want?! He HAS GIOR-" It was just then that there was a beeping noise on the other end signlaing that Ryoshine had another call coming in.
-
Ryoshine blinked. "Hold on," he said and switched call, putting Wilm on hold. "Yes?" he said.
-
Franz smirked, and faked a sigh. "Ah, Herr Ryoshine, is it? Vhy must your ah...charge be so...troublesome? I have 'er. Giorgia. You don't believe? Here-" He put the phone against Giorgia.
"M-mr.Ryoshine? I-I'm sorry, sir." He took the phone away from her. "I told her about that little...ah...incident I thought she had a um.. right to know. Turns out however, she doesn't remember, or doesn't vant to."
-
Ryoshine scowled, most of the cyborgs here choose not to remember their pasts due to how damaging it was psychologically, which was the reason why in the most serious of case's the conditioning progress completely erased the memory of their past. "I see..." he said and walked toward the garage door. "So, what do you want from her? Or is there something you want from us?"
-
"Mm...Rather both, you see. I have a personal score to settle with the...girl. Some unfinished business to attend to. You though...Herr Ryoshine. You have a certain item..I want"
-
He grinned. "Uh huh... so you want that.." he said and grabbed his baton from his side and twirled it around his hand. "You expect me to just 'give it' to you on a whim?"
-
Franz sighed. "You Japanese are so hard to handle." He looked over at Giorgia, her blue eyes staring intently at him. The car stopped and he motioned one of his men to get Giorgia. "You have this phone, tracked, do you not? Meet me here, with the item. And you'll get..." He sighed, "Your little child here, back, not killed." He shut the phone off. "Folgen Sie mir, Kind. Betrachten Sie sich glücklich. Ich hatte eine Änderung des Herzens. Eher benötige ich, daß Einzelteil, das Ihr Führer hat, mehr als Sie. Was ist eine alte Mißgunst, wie?"
-----
Wilm was impatiently on the other end, getting his men together for an attack.
*Follow me, child. Consider yourself lucky. I had a change of heart. Rather, I need that item your leader has, more than you. What's an old grudge, eh?
-
Ryoshine removed the phone from his ear and about to hang up when he remembered that he had someone else on the line, someone on hold. He flipped back to the other call, "sorry..." he said to Wilm. "But it seems Franz wants something more than just Giorgia.." he said.
-
"Finally" Wilm breathed. "Well, of course he does. Wants complete control, doesn't he? I know him very well, sir. He was...one of my best friends. Him and Mr. Kretschmann both. Will you care to work together?"
-
Ryoshine thought about it; he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to includ an outside force espically since he would be calling upon the other handlers for help. "Alright, I'll give you a call once I check up on where he is hiding out at." Ryoshine said and hung up.
He knows he should've stayed on the line, but his concern was more for the secrecy of the agency. He headed to the security office before heading and informed the director, who told Hillshire and Jean to help him out, Guiseppe was to keep Henrietta out of the fight and to only get involved if things turned bad.
Ryoshine liked this, Rico was their expert sniper and Triela was their expert hand to hand. "So, where is he?" the director asked.
"In Italy, near a propane factory. He's effectively made it so we can't use any heavy weapons, but I'm confident in Rico's skills so that she won't hit the tanks." Ryoshine said, Jean nodded, "she's gotten better, but not perfect."
He clasped his hands. "I've also agreed to let an outside force help, but we'll try and keep our selves out of sight," he said, the director didn't appriciate Ryoshine making decisions without him, and the doctor was equally against it. "We have no choice, whether we like it or not Franz seems to know things..." Ryoshine said
The director relunctantly agreed and dismissed them. "Hillshire, Jean, Guiseppe get them ready."
As he headed to the garage he opened his cell and called Wilm. "He's at the local propane tank ten miles away from the culture theater," he said.
-
Wim replied. "Alright. My mem are moving in as we speak. Good luck to you."
Franz looked at his fingers, Giorgia was across from him. "In a few moments, this place will be rather busy. Knowing your side, they'll want to put up a fight." Franz smirked. "I'm ready for them." He looked at her. "Is there anything you want to know?"
Giorgia looked at him. "You do...do realize, you're going to die?"
Franz laughed, "Of course, I do."
Giorgia stared at him, shocked. "Then why..?"
Franz sighed. "I had a family too, you know? I wouldn't expect you to understand. My two sons were in the army and they died. My wife had cancer, she died 3 years ago. Then your father, succesful man, don't get me wrong, he was good, however, like I've been telling you, became wea-"
"Did he...did he love me?"
"Your father? Of course. Too the point of...what is the word...well, the point was, he cared for you a lot."
"Why did you...you kill him?"
"Did you not listen at all? Ptsch. Children. I was angry. I could not see. I was blind. My family, gone. Your father, being high and mighty and proud with his...half breed family."
-
Ryoshine was in the van; while waiting his cell had gone off, the director had informed him that he was dispatching several more handlers and their little assassins to the mission. He didn't agree with it, he knew how dangerous this enemy was and he was completely against the usage of any else, in fact, for him he was merely using the outside force to raw attention away from the 'real' threat.
"Ready," He heard Guiseppe say as Henrietta and the others got on board. "The others were recalled from other missions and have already made it to the propane factory, but they are staying in hiding and waiting."
Ryoshine nodded. "No problem," he said and started the van up. Soon the gruop was making their way to the factory, for Ryoshine he knew there would be death's during the battle... he just didn't know 'how' many.
-
Franz continued to speak, in English. "Why half-breed?" That is the one thing I cannot understand about your vater. Tall, charming, intelligent, a pefect model of a Deutch officer. But he goes off, and marries YOUR mother." Franz stood up and crouched next to Giorgia hand on her chin. "You look like her. You know, your mother. I used to hate you for that. Loathe you. But I think I can grasp why your father married her. Although you are full Italian, you still somehow have his eyes. Maybe it was because through all these years you've been with him? I do not know. But tell me, Kretschmann. Why do I not see any hate in your eyes? Just a few days ago, you were ready to kill me- to avenge your father."
Giorgia replied, staring at his eyes, "I just do not remember. I will tell you one thing, Herr Bietrich. You might have killed someone who is very dear to me, but because of that, I had to grow up quickly. When you told me what happened that night, I realized it was luck that I was not dead. If it was just him that you kil-"
Franz actually laughed. "Killed just your father, Kretschmann? No, I have killed hundereds more. I am a murderer. Much like...an assasin. However, I am still an officer in the Deutch army."
"Then the people you killled...were they all..."
"Half-breeds? No. Corrupt Germans, too. I am helping the world. Making it a better place."
"Killing people doesn't help a thing."
"So righteous. These were convicted men. It was my duty to kill them." He threw his hands to the side.
"Then why aren't you killing me? I am the daughter of a "weak" Deutch Lietuneant."
Franz grimaced, and turned his back on her. "That was...originally the plan. Never once had I backed out. It is different now. You want a better reason, I suppose? Your father was a friend. A good friend. I think he would want someone alive in his family. Better?" He turned around again. He walked around the table and crouched near her. "I will not let your men take me alive. I'm going to kill myself. You understand? Do not try to stop me. My fate is the same either way. But I would like to go out with some pride left in me." He smirked, "Yes, I suppose it's too much to ask for, as a murderer, but as an Officer, it is not. Once your men come, I want to see if your leader keeps his word. If he does, you go free, I die. If he doesn't, you go free, I die."
Giorgia sat, amazed at this man. Amazed at how simply he put it. Although this man had killed her father and her mother, and hundereds of others, she could not...bring herself to hate the man. She felt sorrow and pity. She gazed into his light blue eyes, the German uniform tucked neatly in, the blonde hair slicked back. Shehugged him.
Franz was taken aback. He gently pushed her away. "I apologize for taking your father away. That is the first time I've apolgized for killing." He smiled ironically. " I suppose I wanted him to feel the pain of loosing a family." He stood up. He looked out the window. "It seems they are already here." He looked at Giorgia and motioned for her to come over. He smirked slightly, "Play along with me, won't you? You'll go free soon." Franz picked up his gun, 'gently' put an arm around Giorgia, but from someone else's view, it looked like he was gripping her firmly, and walked out the door. With the other hand, took the gun out and placed it on her head.
-
As the van rolled up, the hairs on the back of Ryoshine's neck rose up. It was the sign that something 'else' was going on, he wondered if this 'Franz' person was even aware.
"What's wrong?" Guiseppe asked as he opened the door, and turned to Ryoshine. "I don't know, call it a gut feeling but something just seem's way off with all this.."
"You're right," Guiseppe said and walked over to the drivers side and whispered into Ryoshine's ear. ~"Usually the director wouldn't authorize this, if one of our assassins vanished we'd go in and take them out so that there wasn't any fear of anyone finding out our secrets... but something 'else' is indeed goinbg on"~
That didn't help calm his nerves, knowing that the director had rarely authorized a rescue operation made this all the more dangerious. As Henrietta, Rico and Triela got out of the van and armed themselves, the other handlers soon arrived and were told where to position themselves. Ryoshine took the canister that was packed between the driver and passenger side seats, he had switched the labels with a canister that had regular sleeping gas, he knew that because the canister didn't look tampered with, nor did the label appear to be 'replaced' he knew the man wouldn't be the wiser. On the front was the letters of the virus he had created, along with a bio-hazard warning label, the label was in various languages.
He holstered his side arm. "Rico, keep an eye on Ryoshine," Jean said as Ryoshine walked away and toward the factory. In the distance he thought he heard the tall tale sound of a helocopter, but when the noise dissipated he figured it was just his imagenation.
Walking up toward the factory, he soon spotted Giorgia, and the man he presumed to be Franz. He looked at Giorgia, then at Franz but didn't say a word, waiting instead for Franz to initiate diologue.
-
Before going any closer to Ryoshine, he muttered, his lips not moving, "Tat mindestens wenig ängstlichwille Sie?" Adjusting his grip on Giorgia, the gun still cocked to her head. He made his way foward, 'roughly' pushing Giorgia along. He smirked, "Ah, Mr. Yamatono." He gestured to Ryoshine's group. "I see you've brought people along with you." His blue eyes scanned the group. Each man was with a young girl. Ryoshine was the only one without one.I see...so Giorgia is his... "No matter, I suppose. Since I have brought my men also. Now if you'll kindly hand over what you have in your hands, sir." Franz calmly said.
------------------------
Nearby, Wilm was watching the exchange. However, what he saw in Franz was different. The way he was acting...everything was so unlike Franz. He knew Ryoshine and them wouldn't know the difference since it was their first time in contact with him.
----------------
Franz saw Wilm. He smiled slightly. "Hallo, Wilm. It has been quite sometime, hasn't it?" Unlike Franz, Wilm looked worn out, tired, and angry. Wilm had no choice but to step foward. "Ja." Hosenfeld's eyes narrowed at Franz.
"Why so angry, friend? And are we on last name terms, now? I am mere-"
"Do not call me friend, Bietrich."
Franz lightly shrugged. "Understandable. Just being courteous. He turned his attention back to Ryoshine.
------------------------------
Giorgia was tense. She had a slight feeling that Mr. Ryoshine wouldn't give Franz what he wanted. But to Franz, she knew, it wouldn't matter. He was just merely making an act. An act for his death. She had wondered why he had worn his full German uniform. And now she realized it. Like her father, who had known that maybe he would die, he had put it on as burial clothing. Her father wasn't afraid of death, he was embracing it. Franz was merely playing with Ryoshine and them. His easy smile, his relaxed demanor. He had things under control, but Giorgia knew that somehow things might change very quickly.
*Act a little afraid will you?
-
Ryoshine smiled and set the canister on the ground. "Explain it to me, why are you so interested in this?" he asked and tapped the canister with his foot.
In a building across from the factory, Rico sighted down the scope of her sniper rifle. She stealthy removed two of Franz's own snipers with silent shots to the head, utilizing loud boom of a near by sonic jet to drown out the sound of rifle going off. Now she sighted on Franz, but she had orders not to shoot unless Giorgia was out of the way.
For Ryoshine, he just waited on Franz reply.
-
Franz smiled slightly. "Tsk. You gave it away quite easily. No hesitation..hmmm." Bietrich peered into the other man's eyes. "My business is nothing for you to worry about, sir. However, I see how you play. No matter." He tapped Giorgia on the shoulder. "Kretschmann, you are free to go." He withdrew the gun from her and placed it on his own head.
-
Ryoshone's eyes narrowed at this display. "Taking your own life, for what purpose?" he said curiously and beckoned for Giorgia to walk over to him.
In the building Rico was getting nervous, everything she had been taught came back and told her that something big was about to happen.
-
Giorgia walked over cautiously, watching Franz. The man was smiling.
"What do you care what I do? Do you honestly think I'd let your men take me alive?" He jammed the gun to his head and was about to pull the trigger when Giorgia yelled out- "Wartezeit"
Franz glanced tiredly at the young girl. "Ich habe Ihnen bereits erklärt daß, mich nicht versuchen Sie und stoppen Sie. Jedoch muß ich beharren, daß Sie nicht dieses aufpassen. Es ist nicht angebracht für Augen solche Junge wie Ihr zu sehen."
"Ich habe bereits schlechteres gesehen."
*Wait
* I already told you not to stop me.However, I must insist that you not watch this. It is not appropriate for eyes such young as yours to see.
*I have already seen worse.
-
Ryoshine shook his head, Henrietta and Triela looked on and wondered why he didn't appear concerned. A shot in the distance suddenly rang out, and a bullet sped past Ryoshine head and into Franz gun, shattering it into several peices. "I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to die..." Ryoshine said, still standing there as if nothing had happened.
-
Franz slowly turned his head toward Ryoshine. "And why..." He spat, "Is that?" "I am willing to take my life, so you von't have any trouble vith me, and you shatter my gun. Vhat kind of thinking iz zat?!"
-
Ryoshine shook his head, "if you want to die that's your problem, but consider the consequences of your actions if you 'do' go through with it." he said and turned his back to Franz. "You caused me trouble by kidnapping Giorgia," he said before lowering his voice to a mere whisper, "although you did expose a weakness..." he said softly before hearing something in the distance, he turned his head toward the west before narrowing his eyes. "I don't suppose you own any bombers right?" he asked Franz.
-
Franz laughed. "Veakness? Vhat weakness? Bombers? Vhat bombers? I thought they were yours."
-
Ryoshine looked at Franz before looking at Wilm. "They aren't yours are they?" he asked the man. Guiseppe was getting very nervous, and for once Hillshire looked scared.
-
Wilm shook his head. "Nein. They are not mine." All of a sudden there was an explosion near by.
BOOM
Shattered pieces of material flew everywhere. Wilm ducked, but Franz was not as lucky. A piece of sharp metal landed in his arm. He gritted his teeth.
-
Explosions chained down the street as bombers flew over the city, Ryoshine shouted into the headset that was on his head, grabbing Giorgia he carried her over to the van. A bomb struck a near by building and blew it apart, sending peices of debris and glass in all directions, Ryoshine's major concern however was the propane factory.
As he dove for cover he could hear an air craft in the air, the sound of it's engine was something he recognized. "Messerschmitt....." he said as the air craft flew over the area just as more bombs fell.
"Ryoshine! We can't stay here!" Hillshire shouted as he got into the van, which was amazing still intact except for a few broken windows. Triela got inside along with Henrietta, near a side alley Jean and a seriously wounded Rico came out, Rico was cradling her left arm.
"Wilm! Pull your men back," Ryoshine shouted before looking over at Franz, he snarled and ran over to the man. "It seem's we both have bigger problems here, instead of trying to kill yourself, why not make it up to your country and those who you killed by helping us?" he said and extended his hand in a temporary friendship, he couldn't gurrentee that the man wouldn't be tried by an italian court, but at least if he did cooperate they would drop his sentence. Of course, the fact Giorgia knew everything once again meant she might have to go through the conditioning process again, which was why he planned on having her visit the doctor when they got back.
-
Franz momentarily glanced at the hand being offered to him. He smirked. "As long as I am not captured by you. I am fine." He firmly shook the other man's hand with his uninjured hand. "Männer! Hast! Zurückziehen!! Kein Erschlaffen! HAST"
Giorgia, temporarily relieved that Franz hadn't killed himself as he had planned hurried with Ryoshine into the van. Wilm was doing the same, pulling his men back.
*Men! Hurry! Pull back! No slacking! HURRY
-
Hillshire lowered the boom mic on his headset and shouted orders into it, telling their own men to pull back into the vans to get the hell out of dodge. When Ryoshine was in the drivers seat, Franz was seated in the back.
He slammed the gas pedal and the Van took off down the street as more bombs rained down. Suddenly one of those found its mark on the propane factory, causing a massive bang that polverized all the near by building, reducing them to nothing more than their base foundations. Thick black smoke bellowed into the air, an orange glow was cast onto the ground, fires that had started within the factory.
"God I hope Wilm got out of there.." Ryoshine said as he drove through the city, the explosion was powerful enough to shatter what little windows remained on the van. As they approuched the border, Ryoshine slowed down to under twenty miles per hour, "everyone alright?" he asked, getting a nod from Hillshire and Guiseppe, Jean was tending to Rico's wounds. From the above mirrow Ryoshine could see that Rico's left arm was twisted in an awkward position.
-
Franz sat quietly in the back seat, his orderly blond hair, messy. His uniform, dirty, however, his light blue eyes were still very alert. He ignored Ryoshine's question as he tended to his arm. Giorgia was sitting next to him, watching. Franz smiled slightly at the girl. Giorgia said quietly, "Ich... Ich bin Sie starb nicht froh."
Franz chuckled quietly. The girl simply amazed him.
-----------------------------
Near the factory, Wilm struggled out of the debris. By sheer luck he had made it out alive, barely, but alive. His men had perished. He could not walk.
*I...I am glad you did not die.
-
Ryoshine stopped the van at the city limits. He got on the cell and tired to get ahold of some of the other handlers, but out of nine groups he could only get ahold of three. With a heavy sigh he closd the cell, "we lost twelve...." he said flatly and walked over to the hood and placed his hand on it. "Damn it.... who the hell carpet bombed the blasted city?!"
"You didn't notice the markings on the bomber?" Rico said weakly. She was bleeding profusely from her wound, and was slipping in and out of conciousness. "Red... white.... blue...." she said before she lasped into unconciousness. Ryoshine was horrified at what she had just revealed, "the American's would never bomb a civilian city!" Guisepp countered, "no... they wouldn't.. but who's to say the politicions wouldn't if they felt their lives were at risk..." Ryoshine said and got back into the van. He looked at Rico and then grumbled, "let's go!" he shouted, Hillshire got back in and closed the door, soon they were off.
-
Giorgia, exhausted, fell asleep. Unknowingly, Giorgia's body leaned toward Franz. In her subconciousness, he seemed to remind her of her daddy. The smell of him...the structure...
Franz felt the little girl's body lean against his. He stiffened up at first, then relaxed. With his free hand, he gently put her head on his shoulder.
--------------------------
Wilm managed to fumble for his phone and call Ryoshine.
-
Ryoshine's cell beeped and he picked it up. "Yea?" he said.
-
Wilm had a hard time talking. "Me-Ww-wilm. Alive. Nnnone else. Where Franz?"
-
Ryoshine stopped the van. "Franz is right here in the van, where are you?" he said.
-
"In thhe Goddamn van!?" Wilm managed to breathe out. "I've crawled ovver to a nearby stop. I cannot wwalk."
-
Ryoshine grumbled. He had to get Rico back to the agency, but he knew Wilm needed help.
"Ok hold on," he said and hung up, he dialed another number which was for a support helo in the area, he relayed Wilm's location to the pilot who said they would go and get him. WIth that done he contacted Wilm, "help is on the way," he said.
-
"Danke." Wilm breathed. As an after thought he added, "What the hell is Bietrich doing?"
-
"Apperently behaving," Ryoshine said, he was tired and didn't bother to look for a more proper word.
-
Wilm managed a small chuckle which came out like a groan. "Ja. That'll happen when hell freezes over. Oh. Here comes my lift. Take care, Ryoshine. Tell Giorgia that I will always be rooting for her." With that he hung up the phone and was helped into the helicoptor.
Franz had fallen asleep as well, his hand on top of Giorgia's.
-
As they approuched the agency, a guard came from the main gate. "I won't even 'begin' to imagen what the hell happened," he said when he noticed the condition of the van. "The director is in an emergency meeting and wants everyone there, including our resident cyborgs," the guard said before noticing Franz. "What about him?"
"He seems to not have any connection, but..." Ryoshine said and the guard nodded. "I'll let my boys know and they'll keep tabs on him," the guard said before opening the gate and allowing the van through. They drove up to the cyborg dorm, "Henrietta, Triela, get yourselves dressed and cleaned up report to the director," Ryoshine said, they looke at their handlers who nodded they then took off. "Giorgia wake up!" Ryoshine said as he opened the door. "Head to your room, get cleaned up and go with Henrietta to the directors office," he said, Henrietta upon hearing her name stayed behind to make sure Giorgia understood.
Hillshire and Guiseppe both got out, "hey! wake up!" Hillshire said to Franz.
-
Giorgia and Franz woke up, almost immediately. Giorgia nodded and looked at Franz. He patted her shoulder and got out as well. Giorgia followed Henrietta out and went to her dorm.
Franz brushed back his hair, his blue eyes scanning the scene.
-
Hillshire didn't like the man, and for good reason. "You'll be watched around the clock, don't do anything stupid," he said and gestured for the man to follow him.
In the mean time Jean took the van and went over to the main building, he rushed Rico to the doctor who started surgery immidently.
For Ryoshine headed to his office and made several phone calls. "Are you certain?" he said in one of the calls
~Damn certain, something spooked in-ops and they dispatched bombers to the city... the country is taking heat for that bombing but we aren't aware of any deaths though that may have resulted... but.... it was a civiilian city..~ the man on the other end said sorrowfully.
He grumbled. "What about the president?"
~Dead.... he was assassinated last night~
Again he grumbled. "Ok... vice president?"
~Same... someone had this all planned out, an investigation claims that there were children in the area when the assassinations occured. I don't know of 'any' organization that uses children for assassinations but there 'are' rumor though..~
"Save the rumors, unless there are facts. Send me a fax with the current situation in America.." Ryoshine said, in the background he could hear a fax machine running, soon his own fax machine beeped and several papers were printed.
~Hope that helps you, I need to get off..~ the man said and hung up.
Ryoshine looked at the papers, he was shocked to find that some of the intelligence that the Americans had been receving hinted at their organization. "Terrorists.... huh... something even 'bigger' is going on..." he said and placed the papers in a folder and made his way to the directors office.
-
Franz shrugged carelessly, following Hillshire. As long as he hadn't been well, 'captured' by them, he was perfectly fine. He still had a thought of ending his life, but he wanted to see how things turned out.
Giorgia and Henrietta scrambled into the office, out of breath.
-
Triela was standing near the window, her Guiseppe was already there and looking at the reports that had been glowing in. "Twelve dead...." he said to no one particuler. "Katherine, Anise, Johnathan, Lucres.... and also their handlers, Markes, Lavality, Wilcote, and Lern..." he shook his head, "all good people to, damn it..."
Ryoshine sighed. "At least we are certain that something 'bigger' is going on though," he said and continued to wait. "You sure about bringing that terrorist in here?"
"Franz? hmm... he didn't authorize the bombing, that much I know... so I feel its fine for him to be here, besides all his men are most likely dead so I doubt we'll have any problems to worry about, also hes on a short leash so...." Ryoshine said, the director cleared his throat. "Still though, we handle him with caution, I'm only allowing him to be included because he 'might' have information that we can use."
The director clasped his hands. "One thing I DO know is that we'll be sending you guys out to America to investigate," the director said, Ryoshine groaned. "But, lets wait until everyone is here..." the director said.
-
Once Hillshire took Franz to the room he would be staying in, he left two guards with him. There was no way he was allowing this German terrorist into the meeting. He left quickly afterwards. As Franz sat down, the guards immediately stiffened up.
Hmmm...must be their first week on the job...and I want to see Giorgia's room...so maybe...
"Gentlemen!" He smiled cordially. "First week on the job?"
One guard answered immediately. "Yeah, it's a rea-" The second guard jabbed the first in the ribs. Franz stood up and put his arms around the two guards. "I understand, completely, don't worry about it, I won't try anything." The two guards looked at each other and relaxed. The first brought a drink out and said, "Ya want some er...."
"Franz Bietrich"
"Ah! Thanks man, Ya want some Mr. Bietrich?"
"Certaintly. Thank you." They poured him a drink, but he didn't touch it. While the other two slowly turned into a giddy mood, Franz striked. "Would you boys mind taking me to ah.. Giorgia Kretschmann's room?"
"Well, sure! We'd be honored too Mr. Bietrich."
The guards led Franz to Giorgia's room. Franz quietly opened the door. He walked around cautiously. And then spotted the picture on the dresser.
-
Once Hillshire was in the directors office, the meeting commenced.
"America?" One of the other handlers asked, he was bandaged and bruised and his charge wasn't with him. "I don't believe it.." he said and crossed his arms, or rather, crossed them as far as he could without causing much pain.
"Whether we like it or not, the bombers were American," Ryoshine said and dropped a photo, "Rico managed to take this shot before a bomb hit near by, I understand it almost killed her." He said and looked at Jean who nodded, "almost, luckily she was behind something that shielded her from 'most' of the impact," he said and looked at the photo.
The photo was that of a low flying B-52, but also in the photo were various older fighters, like the BF-109, Spitfire, Hurricane and the Japanese Zero. "This confirms it wasn't 'completely' America that attacked us, they would use jet fighters not older air craft," Ryoshine said before another man talked, "unless they did this to throw us off.."
The group lay quiet for some time before a young woman broke the silence. "So, what are we going to do?"
"I'm going to send Guiseppe, Jean and Ryoshine to America. I want Hillshire to stay and look into matters here," the director said.
"We have a problem though, most American children are in school, and our charges are children after all..." Ryoshine said and folded his arms. "We won't be able to get away with them just walking around unless we use a lie that we are homeschooling them."
Jean nodded. "Yes... although it might be best to put one in school and leave the other two out, perhaps in an effort to 'hopefully' find out more information. After all, American children like gossip and rumors, even the elementary students, so who knows, we might even find an answer to our growing questions."
"Yea.... but who will we put through that stuff?" Guiseppe asked. "Henrietta and Giorgia are still getting used to this place-"
"We'll put Rico through it, unlike those two, she came here willingly." The director said, his voice was low enough to where only the handlers heard him. "You'll leave once she's better,"
"It'll be at least two weeks, perhaps one depending on what the doctor says," Jean said and folded his arms.
The director sighed. "Ok.... Guiseppe, Ryoshine, take your charges and train them further. I want them ready for their big 'trip' to America. Jean, once Rico gets better instruct her on American society."
"I'll help with that, the Italian military had me in America for a few months learning how to dispose of bombs," Ryoshine said, the director nodded. "Very well, dismissed."
-
Franz gently picked up the photograph and couldn't help but sigh. It was Thomas, holding up a wine glass, toasting. What were you toasting for, Kretschmann? The good health of your family? The long life of your child? What was it? His blue eyes scanned the photograph and his eyes landed on the eyes of the Lt. Strong, yet gentle. Almost a carefree look. The Lt had a geniune smile on his face. Much like those when he was out with Franz and Wilm. Franz tried to justify what he did. You were WEAK! A WEAK German! You didn't give a damn when my sons died! Said "It was their time" Screw that!." He gripped the photograph. With his free hand, he took out his wallet and took a different picture out. It was a picture of Thomas, Wilm, and Franz, their arms wrapped on each other's shoulders. They were smiling. Pure carefree smiles. Franz hadn't had those smiles in a very long time. Neither had Wilm.
I haven't forgotten, Thomas.
He slowly walked back out of the room, placing his photo back in his wallet and leaving the other back where it was. He absentmindly smoothed his hair back and straightened his uniform out. The two guards escorted him out and were in a good mood. Franz didn't want any part in their good jest. He went back into his room, and leaned against his bunk.
------------------------------
Giorgia waited until the room was all cleared out except for Ryoshine and herself. She looked him in the eye and asked with all seriousness, "Fra-...Mr.Bietrich won't die, will he?"
-
Ryoshine was curious at the question - she showed affection and worry for someone who she shouldn't have. "As long as he doesn't do anything to harm you or the agency.... then he'll be fine," Ryoshine said and stuffed his hands into his pocket. "You've been through a lot for one day, go and get checked up on by the doctor ok?"
-
"Yes sir." She said and quickly went out.
On her way to the doctor, she passed by Franz's room. His door was slightly ajar and she saw him leaning on his bed. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was sleeping. Giorgia stopped their for a moment, gazing at him. Then she went to get checked up by the doctor.
-
The doctor was in this office looking at Rico's medical reports, he had just spent an hour in emergency surgery, thankful that his patient had survived.
He heard the door open and saw Giorgia, "ahh come in Giorgia," he said to her.
-
Giorgia stepped in and closed the door behind her. "Mr. Ryoshine told me you wanted to talk me." Giorgia stated.
-
The doctor nodded, "Yes I did, just a normal check up that I do on every child here." he said and gestured toward the small round chair that sat in the middle of the room."Please take a seat," he said.
-
She didn't like the whiteness of the walls, it made her feel slightly nervous. However, the doctor's calm demeanor helped sooth her nerves. She took a seat on the chair.
-
The doctor clasped his hands together and asked, "how are you feeling?"
-
"Er...Fine." Giorgia replied.
-
The doctor nodded. "That's good, about todays mission. What were you feeling during the mission?" he asked, "please be specific and truthful."
Near the door a young girl was leaning up against the wall her lab coat matched the wall so precise that if it wasn't for eyes and finger tails one would think there was just a wall there. "Giorgia, the director wants to make sure everyone is alright after today's mission," she said with folded arms.
-
Giorgia jumped slightly. "Oh...Um...well..slightly shocked, yes. But...but I can't seem to hate Mr.Franz. I think...I..." she blushed slightly, "I think I care for him, I mean..I know I shouldn't but...he reminds me so much of...I guess...well I mean...well what I'm trying to say...he seems and feels familiar." Giorgia stumbled around the words, trying to get her thoughts in order.
-
The doctor sighed, it was a response he wasn't to proud to hear - that she apperently had developed feeling for someone. "You realize that if those feelings develop it could interfere with your work, right?" he told her.
-
"Well...well, yes. But...but everyone deserves a second chance, right?" She looked up at the doctor pleadingly.
-
The director sighed. "Everyone does, but your job is to protect your handler... what happens if he get's shot while your thinking of Franz?" he asked. He knew it was a hurtful question but he had to ask it, for the safety of both her and her handler.
-
Giorgia flinched. Her mouth set in a firm line.
"I wouldn't let anything happen to him either." The doctor looked doubtful. "I haven't let anything happen to him this far, have I, sir? Why would I start to slack off, now?" Her eyes were blazing. " I wouldn't let anything happen to him." She repeated.
-
The doctor didn't trust her, he had heard about what had happened during the last mission and also this one. "Very well," he said and clasped his hands. "I'll keep you on active duty, however, you are to stay away from Franz for the time being. We don't know what he might do, and I'm sorry but we can't trust him," he said and then changed the subject. "How are you getting along with the others?"
-
She eyed the doctor warily. She could see it in his eyes. He didn't trust her. Not one bit. Fine, then. She thought. Stay away from Franz? Does he honestly think that Franz will do something to hurt us? She then realized that the doctor had asked her yet another question.
She answered very curtly. "Fine, I suppose. Getting a long with them great."
-
"That's good," the doctor said and wrote it down. "As long as you can get along with them ok," he said and wondered if there was anything more to talk about. "Anything you'd like to ask?"
-
"No." She replied, a little too quickly. She jumped off the chair but the doctor was motioning her to sit back down. She did so.
"Really. There isn't anything."
The doctor looked her straight in the eyes. "What did Mr.Bietrich tell you about your father?"
"Erm. Italian man...?"
The doctor frowned. "Not him."
"Oh...he said he was a German officer."
The doctor raised his eyebrows.
"..And he was his friend."
-
"I see...." the doctor said.
The girl behind shook her head. This'll be more trouble than its worth... why the heck is Ryoshine... err...
-
Giorgia said calmly, "Is that all, sir? May I leave now?"
The doctor nodded absently. He'd have Ryoshine talk to her. He'd probably be able to get more out of her.
Giorgia ran out, stopping at Franz's door and slid a note under the door that she had scribbled on her way. She then headed toward her room.
-
Ryoshine had gone to the medical room to look after Rico while Jean was busy getting things set up. Most of Rico's wounds were easy to 'fix' but some required some creative methods.
"How is she nurse?" Ryoshine asked. "Rico's doing fine, her blood preassure is a bit high, and she's apperently dreaming..." the nurse said, noting the tears running down Rico's face. "They rarely dream, but when they do its sometimes pleasant... but other times its a nightmare..."
He nodded. "How long do you figure she'll be in here?"
"That's Jeans call... but physically she should be fine by tomorrow afteroon, late early morning the day after.." she said.
Ryoshine sighed. "very well, keep Jean appraised of her condition."
"We always do," the nurse smiled.
-
Franz opened his eyes to see a note being slipped under his doorway. His two 'guards' were sleeping and he smiled. He walked over and picked the note up:
Gerade falls jemand anderes dieses anstelle von Ihnen empfängt, habe ich dieses auf Deutsch geschrieben, wie Sie sehen können. Herr Franz, lassen sie mich nicht nahe Ihnen. Aber ich möchte nicht hervorquellen....I möchte nicht Sie verlieren. Jedoch Übel oder Schlechtes sind Sie vom Töten meines Vaters...., das Sie auch die einzige Verbindung sind, ich er muß. Ich hoffe, daß Sie verstehen. Ich passe rüber Sie Herr Franz auf, verspreche ich, daß ich werde. - Giorgia
The Major forced a lump down. Here was a ten year old girl, telling him she'd protect him. after all that he had done to her. Whispering to himself he said, "Sie sind wirklich Kind Thomas, Giorgia...
*Just in case someone else receives this instead of you, I've written this in German as you can see. Mr. Franz, they won't let me near you. But I don't want to well....I don't want to lose you. However evil or bad you are from killing my father .... you are also the only link I have to him. I hope you understand. I'll watch over you Mr. Franz, I promise I will.
*You are truly Thomas's child, Giorgia...
-
As he left the infirmary he ran into the doctor who told him about his meeting with Giorgia, he was disappointed at the report. "I see..." he said, the doctor then asked him to talk to Giorgia, "I wa going to talk to her later tonight, but I guess I can do it now," he said.
Ryoshine went to the cyborg dorm and up to Giorgia's room, he knocked on the door. "Giorgia, you in?" he asked.
-
She jumped up and rushed to open the door, "Yes, sir." Ryoshine stood there, looking slightly frazzled.
"Er...was there something you needed for me, sir?"
-
Ryoshine walked into the room. "I want to talk to you about Franz," he said and looked her straight in the eye.
-
Giorgia's hand shook but placed it on her hair, putting the hair behind her ear. "O-oh. Erm...w-what about Mr. Bietrich?" She avoided using the first name. First name basis was a bit too close and she had a feeling Ryoshine didn't want to know that.
-
He wasn't fooled. "How do you know him Giorgia, just by how you acted in the van its not hard to tell that you know him more than you're letting on...."
-
Giorgia blinked. "H-how I acted in the van, sir?" She asked. What did I do in the van? I slept...that's all I did...
-
"While in the van, you were sleeping and leaning up against Franz... almost like you knew him..." Ryoshine said, his voice was getting more and more serious.
-
Gioriga's heart almost stopped beating. "W-was I?" Her face paled. She hadn't noticed at all. Was that that familiar feeling she had had? Oh dang...
"I..he...my...one of my d-dad's best friend. Him and uhh..Wilm. I think that was the name."
-
Ryoshine placed his hand on his head. "I see...." he said, not really making much since of what Giorgia just said, "so he's your fathers best friend, if thats true then why did he kidnap and threaten to kill you?
-
"B-because he..."
It was just then when Franz came in. Giorgia opened her mouth in shock. He coolly stared at Ryoshine. He had been wanting to talk to Giorgia, but had heard the questions Ryoshine had been asking her.
"Do be reasonable, sir. You are asking a ten year old questions she herself does not understand. Why are you not interrogating me?"
Giorgia's eyes widened as Ryoshine slowly turned to look at Franz.
-
"I'll be interrogating you later, but your presence here only hinders her ability to do her job," he said harshly at Franz.
He then noticed that neither of his guards were with him. "You knock out your guards so you can come in here unannounced?" he said and placed himself between Giorgia and Franz, his hand was to his side, but close to his concealed glock.
-
Franz shrugged. I did not knock them out at all. They had a drink or two. Apparently, your men can't handle alcohol as well as us Germans." He smirked and then looked over at Giorgia. His eyes softened.
"Giorgia...., wie Sie diesen Mann STEHEN können?"
Giorgia still not sure how to answer, but had seen the glock in Ryoshine's possesion.
"Erm... Herr Franz.... Sie wissen...
"Daß er eine Waffe von mir versteckt? Ja Giorgia, weiß ich. Ich tadele ihn nicht. Ich soll nicht vertraut werden."
Turning to look at Ryoshine, his eyes hardened. "Interrogate me now. Then afterwards you have your answers, you won't give a damn if I shoot myself or die herorically, or die like some scum."
*Giorgia how can you STAND this man?
*Erm...Mr. Franz...you do know...
*That he is hiding a weapon from me? yes Giorgia, I know. I do not blame him. I am not to be trusted.
-
Ryoshine was angered that the two men assigned to keep him in his room had been drinking, he made a mentle note to look into that. "Very well," he said and motioned for the door. "Follow me then, but don't anything stupid," he said and walked toward the door. "Stay here Giorgia," he said to her and left.
-
Franz shrugged. "Certaintly." He looked back at Giorgia
"Mach's gut, kleines." and handed her a note.
As Franz followed Ryoshine and closed the door, Giorgia opened the note.
Es gab etwas.... Ich erklärte Ihnen nicht. Ich konnte nicht, zu und anfangs, ich verärgert wurde. Aber jetzt... Ich erkläre Ihnen froh. Giorgia... Ihr Vater sagte das, wenn alles ihm geschah, das, das Sie in meine Obacht gelegt würden. Um Sachen einfach zu setzen, bin ich Ihr Pate. Jedoch verstehe ich, daß Sie nicht mich wünschen können. Die eine Sache bleibt dieselbe. Ich tötete Ihren Vater. Und ich glaube wirklich remorse für den. Ich wünsche Sie wissen, das, das ich um Sie mich kümmere. Sie sind wirklich Tochter Thomas.- Franz
*Take care, little one
*There was something .... I did not tell you. I did not know how to , and at first , I was angered. But now ... I will gladly tell you. Giorgia ...your father said that if anything happened to him , that you would be placed in my care.
To put things simply , I am your godfather. However, I understand that you may not want me. The one thing does remain the same. I DID kill your father. And I actually feel remorse for that. I want you to know, that I WILL look after you. You are truly Thomas's daughter.
-
"Take a seat," Ryoshine said as he closed the door behind them. The interrogation room had a window that was one way, meaning people on the other end could see into the room, but they couldn't see through it.
As he waited he walked around the room, constantly eyeing Franz and wondering just how to start off with the interrogation, should he be soft and just ask question, or be rough and physical about it.... he just couldn't make up his mind.
-
Every emotion he had shown to Giorgia was gone. In that place was a hardened military man. A hardened...assasin.
He clapsed his hand together as he waited. It was really quite simple to know what Ryoshine was thinking about. Good guy tactic? Or bad guy tactic? Franz wondered idly what Giorgia thought of that note.
-
"Let's start simply," he said and placed his hands on the table. "what is your connection to Giorgia and her family?" he said, even though Giorgia had told him, he didn't fully trust her word now.
-
Franz looked at Ryoshine and said simply. " Lietuenant Thomas Kretschmann was my best friend. We were like brothers. Had lots of drinks together, our families got together for dinner, we were quite simply, the unseperable duo. I went to school with Thomas, etc."
-
"Our intelligence claims 'you' killed her father... and yet here you are trying to warm up to her and get her to forget that?" Ryoshine frowned.
-
He moves rather quickly...
"Yes. I did." He stated simply. "I killed her whole family. I am not trying to make her forget. In fact, I remind her."
-
Ryoshine scowled. "Yes... remind her is correct.. and each reminder kills her further, something people like you don't understand," he said and turned away from the man and walked over to the window. "What are your connections to the German terrorist organizations? How'd you get access to the H2B9?! How'd you even know of its existence?!" He raised his voice and turned and pounded his right hand on the table, ignoring the pain that shot through it.
-
"Patience, sir. I'll answer all your questions. Terrorist organizations?" He laughed bitterly. "You think for one second, that I was a part of all that? Certaintly, I have connections to them, but I hardly use them. They are so...inferior. How did I get access? Like I said, 'Connections.'" He smiled alludingly.
-
"Connections my rear," Ryoshine said. "You know nothing of what it does, yet you still desired it?"
-
"Of course." He stated. "Such a virus...hmmm I rather, envied you for creating it." He tilted his head in Ryoshine's direction. Then, studies his hand, which had scars all over it.
-
"envied... eh?" he said and turned away. "And yet, you have no idea what the virus would actually 'do' if mishandled?"
-
Franz laughed. "No, I do not. But what did it matter? I was a dead man anyways." Looking at Ryoshine's expression, Franz sighed. "I told you, I was ready to go. But YOU" he gritted his teeth. "You got one of your men to break my gun."
-
Ryoshine grin broadly. "thats true, my man did.." he said, even though technically it was a girl not a man who shot the gun out of his hands, but that small detail he could leave out. "if you want to kill yourself thats fine, but do it away from the eyes of children...." he said.
-
Franz rolled his eyes. "As you wish. Although, I do not know why you're smiling. You want me dead, don't you? And yet you're smiling because your man prevented me from shooting myself in the head."
-
Ryoshine's smiled turned. He walked over toward the door and stopped, taking his glock out of its holster. "With all your 'connections' you should know about my service record, aye?"
-
Franz arched his eyebrows. "Nein. I preferred not to look into you." Franz smiled pitifully at the glock. "What are you going to do, kill me?"
-
"The thought has crossed my mind...." Ryoshine said as he ejected the magazine from the pistol and examined the bullets inside.
-
Franz laughed without humor. "If you did, you'd be killing off...a criminal yes, but also..." He paused.
"Giorgia Kretschmann's godfather."
-
Ryoshine didn't seem fazed. "Godfather? Maybe, but no godfather would willingly kill the family of his friend.... you are no godfather.. just a murderer is all," he said.
-
Franz just looked at Ryoshine, a look in his eye gleaming. "After you finish asking your questions, I suggest you ask Giorgia, what she thinks." He stood up and walked over to him. "You may think of me as a cold hearted murderer. And ja, that IS one side of me. However..." he prodded Ryoshine in the chest. "There is one side of me, it seems, only Giorga can see. That people like YOU can not understand."
-
Ryoshine scowled and grabbed the man by the collar and lifted him off the ground, slamming him against the door. "Listen here, I had a son and a lovley daughter, both killed by a man who wouldn't even show his face," he said angerily. "The only reason Giorgia see's anything in you is because you remind her of her father, as in her own words..." he said and continued to hold him up.
-
Franz looked down at Ryoshine slightly smiling. He wasn't afraid of this man at all. Every man had pain in their heart. Here was his.
"You don't think I encountered loss then, either? As 'cold-hearted' to you as I may sound, I had a family. I had two incredible sons, Herr Ryoshine."
-
Ryoshine smirked. "You think that makes you equal to me?!" he said and held the man up against the wall for several more seconds before releasing him. He hated this man, he hated him so much that if it wasn't for his love for Giorgia, he'd put a bullet in the mans brains. He couldn't kill him, not right this moment, but he could if he had Giorgia reconditioned.
He took a glove from his pocket and put it on. "Return to your room, you'll stay there the rest of the night. And don't think the guards that'll be there this time will be easy to trick or to get drunk.." he said and left the room.
Two guards on either side of the door looked at him. "Take this scum back to his room, your under orders to not accept a damn thing from him. The only thing you are authorized to do is to take him to the cafeteria, but you are NOT to let him near cyborg dorm for ANY reason," he said clearly to the two guards who nodded. "Yes Sir!" they both said and saluted.
Down the hallway Ryoshine grumbled and took out his phone and called the doctor. "Can we do a recondition?" he asked him, but the doctor told him that reconditioning Giorgia so soon wasn't a good idea. "I see..... by that time we'll be in the US... very well.." he said and hung up. "Oh well, Franz won't be allowed to join us anyway so hopefully Giorgia will come to her senses.... if she doesn't this mission might just kill her," he said and walked through a set of double doors and into the buildings cafeteria, he was thirty for coffee..
-
Franz sighed heavily. He was escorted to his room by his two untalking guards. He adjusted his uniform and stared out his window. Here was another man who didn't give a damn. Franz's blue eyes smoldered angrily.
I must keep my temper. But why should I go on? ... For Giorgia's sake...of course. And if not for her, then for Thomas...yes..I owe him that much. Forgive me, Thomas. I must be worse than the scum off your boot.
Franz sat down on his bunk as he stared at his hands. Calloused and hardened. So many years...So many innocent deaths...And on top of it all..his best friend and his family...
He gripped his hair with his hands as he bowed his head down.
------------
Gioriga, in her room, was staring at the note.
Unbelievable! My godfather! She smiled slightly. Not exactly a relative...but good enough.
Then she frowned. Am I really that excited to have a murderer...especially the murderer of my father to take care of me? She reasurred herself. Everyone deserves second chances. I trust Franz.
-
Ryoshine had gone back to the infirmary to check on Rico. He had discovered that Jean had left early to check on the damage in the city, from what he heard though it was pretty bad. Many deaths, mostly amongst the youth population and elderly.
"How is she doc?" He asked the doctor who sighed. "You asked the nurse that some time ago, she's fine."
"Just checking," he said before leaving and heading back to his room to do some research.
-
Giorgia paced around her room, unsure of what to do. She wanted to talk to Franz, but decided that would be too risky. She figured he'd have guards on him and they would report her to Ryoshine. She sighed.
Decisions decisions...
-
In his office, Ryoshine was checking Franz's background, he had heard of several things about the man, but was amazed that the agency's intelligence network had so much information on him, just that getting to it required permission from the director.
"Huh..." he said as he strolled through the information.
-
Franz drifted on and off of sleep, his dreams were deep and troubling. And yet, through the chaos of it all, the one helping him make sense of everything was Giorgia...
-
Ryoshine awoke the next morning, he had fallen asleep at the keyboard of his computer. "Errr....." he grumbled, he wasn't expecting to just doze off like that.
He steached his arms and walked over to the window; it was very windy and rain was falling hard. Numerious bolts of lightning lit up the sky in all directions, he knew right then and there that no one would be training today, for starters the lightning was a combination of red, blue and white. He knew from personnel experience that while white lightning was common, red was just as dangerous as it almost always went out a metal object - and their guns were metal.
After thinking it over he decided that he would have Giorgia train in the armory. "Well, guess I'll have breakfast first," he said. Before leaving though he called up Guiseppe and asked him if he could have Henrietta and Triela keep an eye on Giorgia, more so for her protection from Franz.
-
Giorgia got up and changed and opened her door. Startled, she saw Henrietta and Triela there. They smiled and said, "Ryoshine will meet you in the armory. We can get breakfast and go there together."
She nodded. She figured why this was happening. It was all for her to get away from Franz. Soon enough they arrived at the armory, Ryoshine waiting.
------------
Franz had just woken up as his guards escorted him to the cafeteria.
-
Ryoshine was leaning up against the wall; his eyes closed and in concentration. He felt a vibration from the wall and opened his eyes, on the far end of the armory he saw Giorgia, along with Henrietta and Triela and their handlers.
The building shook slightly when thunder rolled across the sky outside. Huh... mother nature really has it in for us... he said before pushing off the wall and walking toward Giorgia. "Today you're going to fire at several targets from different ranges, your goal is to hit the center at all ranges," he said to Giorgia. "You understand right?"
-
She nodded, "Yes." She replied, not making complete eye contact. She grabbed her gun and went on to the first target. She got the first few well, but then she started making mistakes.
----------------
Franz looked at his two guards. "Will you gentlemen escort me around the building?"
The guards looked at each other. "We really aren't supposed to take you any where else really...."
"I won't try anything." Franz replied, his blue eyes looking directly into the first guard's eyes.
"I'm sorry sir but, we don't trust you."
"That's understandable of course, I just want to walk around, you know. Stretch my legs.."
With the guards on either side of him, Franz walked back down to another hallway. He then saw an armory. "Hmm." he mused.
-
Ryoshine grumbeld. "No no no," he said and knelt down and placed his hands gentally on Giorgia, "straight, you're making mistakes that a beginner would make - your not a beginner..." he said, "aim like this and don't squeeze the gun so hard."
-
She nodded, completely frustrated at the fact she couldn't hit it. It was just then that Franz walked in. Ignoring a ferocious glare from Ryoshine who was about to speak, Franz stood behind Giorgia, his hands behind his back. "Gutenmorgen, Giorgia. Halten Sie Ihre Hand unveränderlich. Gleicher unten zur Augenhöhe und greifen nicht so fest. Dauern Sie Ihre Zeit. Aber seien Sie exakt." Although Franz hadn't changed clothing, he looked very alert and very well dressed in his uniform.
Giorgia nodded, not comphrending who had told her what to do.
She mumbled, "Hand steady....eye level...not so hard grip...precise...time..."
*Good morning , Giorgia. Hold your hand steady. Peer down to eye level , and don't grip so tightly. Take your time. But be precise.
-
Henrietta repeated what Franz said, in english for Ryoshine's clarification. For his part, he grinned at Franz, but he was amazed that Giorgia was a bit better now. "Not bad, but your still missing," he said to her, "try harder.
-
Giorgia, completely lost in her own world, kept shooting. And she got better each time. Behind her, Franz showed the slightest hint of a smile. He walked toward her, his boots gently making a pat pat sound. He put his hand on Giorgia's shoulders, squaring it some.
Giorgia felt the touch. It was different from Ryoshine's. This smell was also different. A mixture of cigarette and cologne. She turned almost immediately and almost dropped her gun in surprise.
-
Henrietta shook her head; it was something that you weren't suppose to do. Ryoshine turned and wrenched the gun out of Giorgia's hands, "let your guard down and you'll be killed, smells, sounds, sights, you have to think only of your target and not of what's around you 'except' other targets and those you are protecting!" he shouted.
-
Giorgia flinched. "S-ssorry. Won't happen again." She avoided looking at Franz.
Franz watched, carefully. She's in pain...so young...yet so many burdens... His blue eyes knowingly was familiar with that look of pain. He backed up and sat down.
-
Ryoshine twirled the gun with his finger and ejected the clip and looked at the rounds. "Refill it like I showed you, then disassemble the pistol and reassemble it, once you've done that you can go back to firing at the targets," he said and looked at Franz. Ryoshine's expression changed just slightly, he still didn't like the man, but he was beginning to wonder if it was possible for him to help in turning Giorgia into the greatest assassin the agency has ever known.
-
Giorgia did as she was told, anxious however. She had refilled it and dissembled and reasemmbled the gun.
Franz carefully walked over to her again. In his soft yet deep voice he said, "Atmen Sie Giorgia. Atmen Sie. Ruhe unten. Es ist gut."
Almost immediately, Giorgia's breathing shallowed out, and she was able to hit the targets right in the center.
*Breathe Giorgia. Breathe. Calm down. It's alright
-
Again, Henrietta translated. Ryoshine just watched as her aiming improved slightly, but it wasn't that that got his attention, it was a strange thundering roar outside.
-
Franz heard it too, as he straightened up. His forehead wrinkled up, and a frown was clearly shown on his face. He walked over to the window.
"Jesus Christ."
-
"The walls are reinforced-" he said before Guiseppe cut him off, "yea but they aren't rated for tornado's since we never HAD one here!" he said as the twister barreled down onto the armory. Ryoshine moved and covered Giorgia, Guiseppe and Hillshire did the same to their charges.
-
Franz crouched and put an arm over his head. Pieces of debris rammed into him as he tried very hard not to topple over. As soon as it came though, it was gone. The armory however, was still partly there miracously.
-
Glass littered the ground, guns and ammo had been tossed all over the place - one rifle had its barrel embedded into the wall, a testament to just how fast the tornado was turning. "Looks like the worst is over..." Guiseppe said as he got up. "someone up stairs hates us today..."
"Yea.." Ryoshine said. "Everyone ok?" he shouted, Hillshire and Triela nodded, Henrietta had a cut across her face but was other-wise ok.
-
Franz shook off most of the debris and realized that a piece of wood was stuck in him. Not changing a feature on his face, he pulled it out and put his hair back.
Giorgia stood up, unharmed also. She was a little scratched up, but was fine.
-
"Ok.. let's clean this place up." Ryoshine said as he and the others began to clear away the debris.
-
Giorgia, Franz, Ryoshine, Henrietta, Triela, and Guisuppe cleared the place up in the next hour. The six of them, out of breath sat down on the ground.
-
"Whew..." Ryoshine said and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "That's enough work for one day..." he said jokingly, Guiseppe rolled his eyes.
Outside though the storm was still going, sending rain into the armory through the various broken windows. "We better head back to the main building and assess the damage," Hillshire said as he and Triela disappeared out the door. Guiseppe and Henrietta stayed behind, "shall we get going as well Giorgia?" he asked her.
-
Giorgia nodded absently. "Yes...I suppose so." She looked at Franz and their eyes met. He smiled slightly at her and nodded for her to go on. He followed behind her.
-
They headed to the main building; the windows were blown out and glass was everywhere. "Watch your step," Ryoshine said as he walked into the building. People were running in every which direction, repairing the damage and picking up debris.
"Man what a mess...." A female employee said as she picked up the remains of what used to be a painting.
"Come on, let's head to the garage and make sure nothing was damage," Ryoshine said to Giorgia, and in a way to Franz.
-
Franz stayed silent the whole way. His pace was brisk, as he saw the back of Ryoshine's head. It didn't show much, but Franz knew his image of himself was changing to the other man's eyes.
Giorgia kept checking behind her every once in a while to check if he really WAS there. That it just wasn't her eyes playing tricks on her. And he was there, every time, smiling at her. And each time, Giorgia's eyes would light up and she returned a small smile.
Soon enough, they arrived at the garage, which was alright in a sense, but had stuff knocked down and scattered all over from the walls.
-
"Hmm... seems nothing is broken persay..." Ryoshine said and walked between the various expensive cars, some did have cracks in the windows, his own lambordine had a crack in its window which made him grumble. "Well that'll be a nine hundred thousand dollar repair bill..." he said.
-
Franz walked over and surrveyed Ryoshine's lamborgini.
"Hmm" He murmured. "I can fix that, if you want. Although.." He laced on some real seriousness. "I don't know if you want some piece of German filth touching your car."
-
Ryoshine stared at his car. "At this point in time I don't care if your filth, scum, a roach, a spider, or a damn fish! I just want my poor car fixed!" he said and looked at the window, even though it was a very small break, he had spend years saving up his money to get this car and wasn't about to let mother teacher take it away from him.
-
Franz snorted. He examined the car, then walked around the garage for some tools to use. He grabbed the ones he needed and started to work dilligently on the car.
-
While Frazn was working, Ryoshine was watching.
In another part of the building, Jean was visiting Rico. He was glad to know that the tornado hadn't destroyed the back up power generator located in another building on the grounds, and that the underground wires had been left relatively untouched.
-
Franz mumbled to himself in German, while his hands although rough looking, was very gentle. In a couple of hours, the car was fixed.
-
Ryoshine was glad. "Now that's a repair job," he said and looked at the car, it looked better now than it did before. "Perhaps your not half bad, perhaps..." he said and looked at Franz.
-
Franz half smiled. " I vas a mechanic before joining the army." He turned to look at him. "You don't have to think anything of it. It's what I like to do." With that, he wiped his hands on a towel that was not damaged, and started to head out.
-
Ryoshine shook his head. "Uh huh," he said and gestured for Giorgia to follow them. "Giorgia, head to the cyborg dorm and help Henrietta and Triela, I'm sure the dorm was probably hit hard," he said and gestured, "it was right in the path of the tornado." he said and turned, "Franz... mind coming with me?" he asked him.
-
Giorgia nodded. "Yes, sir." She said and ran with Henrietta and Triela to the dorm areas.
Franz turned. He inclined his head slightly. "Certaintly."
-
Ryoshine, while he didn't trust Franz, was willing to open himself up and see if the man could help him. In his office he showed Franz several pictures, some included the insignia's on the bombers that almost killed them, others included uniforms and even one that was from the 109 that buzzed them: All of them wore different patches. "I've been trying for awhile to find out who owns these craft and what nation these men belong to, the only one I've ID'd was the US, but there are others... think you can help me identify them?" he asked Franz.
-
Franz barely nodded. He held the pictures up to the light as his blue eyes scanned the insignas. He laughed without humor.
Almost mechanically he said, "You've got the Italians, French, and Russians after you."
He placed the photos back on the table.
-
"Russians eh? Makes sense, French? Those white flag carriers? Huh.. didn't think they had the balls to pull such a stunt... but I guess it makes since for the italian military to be after us since we do jobs they don't do." He said and looked at the photo's, "but its impossible for all of them to be coordinating this effort together though...."
-
Running a hand through his hair, Franz replied, "No, not the whole country but a small to medium size group on each side can certaintly work together to pull this off. It's highly probable they want revenge on this place because of something you have all done. Or maybe it's because you have some of their men. I do not know."
-
Ryoshine grumbled. "Huh, well lets concern ourselves with one problem first," he said and looked at the picture of the American bomber.
-
Franz arched his eyebrows. "Die Amerikaner..." He gritted his teeth. Those were the people who had killed his two sons. He gripped the table hard.
-
Ryoshine didn't need a translator to know what he said. "Well, don't blame all of them though... some of them don't have any wish to commit war or deaths.. its the people who run the country who should be blamed," he said and placed all the photo's back into the folder.
"We'll be leaving for America once Rico, one of our charges, is cleared to leave the infirmary." Ryoshine said, "I need an extra pair of eyes there as I take care to bug several homes of congress and the senate, care to lend a hand?" he asked him.
-
Franz composed himself as he answered. "Of course. I will help you.
-
"Good, let's break for now and see about the rest of the agency. I noticed more damage while we were headed here, I'll talk to the guards about giving you some leway, but the director will probably not take the guards off you," Ryoshine said.
-
Franz shrugged as he rubbed his chin. "I did not expect any less. I'm not to be trusted."
-
Ryoshine grinned. "You are right about that, you can't be trusted.. however.. perhaps you can make up for your misdeeds by doing deeds that do grant trust," he said and walked toward the office. "If you want to join me in clearing debris from around the grounds feel free, or you can return to your room, up to you," Ryoshine said, his hand firmly on the door knob.
-
Franz smirked back. "I need something to do. I'll get out of shape just sitting in my room all day." He followed Ryoshine and hours later, they had finished. Both men were completely worn out.
-
In the cafeteria, Ryoshine had gotten himself a salad and loaded it up with everything. Onions, Lettace, tomatos, cheese, etc...
He sat down at a table and poured some salad dressing on his salad and dug in. A cup of coffee to his left and a glass of milk to his right, he watched Franz and wondered what he would be getting.
-
Franz surveyed the food around him and just grabbed a cup of coffee. He sat facing Ryoshine. He didn't put sugar or anything in his coffee. Just plain black coffee.
-
"That's all your having? Huh..." Ryoshine said as he stuffed some lettace into his mouth and began to chew. When he was done he took a sip from his coffee, "these next few days will be rather laid back, but everyone is ready the mission will be rather hectic and tiring.." he said to Franz.
-
"Mm.." He took a sip from his coffee. "When is a mission ever not tiring?" Another sip, and then, "Excuse me if you will, I'm going to go out for a smoke."
-
Ryoshine blinked. "Smoking is bad for you you know?" he said and watched the man leave. He let out a sigh, "man's going to get lung cancer at that rate..." he said and continued eating
-
Franz walked out to the garden, taking in the scenery, his cigarette dangling from his mouth. He inhaled and let it out.
Meanwhile, GIorgia had finished up with Henrietta and them and had gone to the cafeteria. However, she then spotted Franz out in the garden. Her hunger vanished. She went outside. She shyly walked up behind him and tugged gently on his uniform tail.
Franz turned, his blue eyes landing on Giorgia. A genuine smile on his face. "Hallo, Giorgia." He said softly.
"Hallo, Franz." She replied. "Thank you...for..today."
Franz waved his hand. "Think nothing of it. It is the least I can do." Unexpectedly, Franz kneeled down and hugged Giorgia, pressing her to him. Giorgia tensened up at first, but then relaxed, welcoming the hug. After a few moments, Franz let go, and put out his cigarette. "I promised you I'd watch over you. And I never break promises."
-
Ryoshine opened the door and wondered outside. "Giorgia, you know your not suppose to eat at this cafeteria, there's one in the cyborg dorm," Ryoshine said with a cup of coffee in his hand.
Some distance away and staring out the window, Hillshire watched with growing annoyance. "Ryoshine is way to soft, if he doesn't get rid of that man soon and recondition Giorgia, that girl will end up protecting Franz more than her handler..." he said
-
"Sorry, sir." She said and ran off toward the other cafeteria. Franz watched her go and shoved his hands in his pockets.
-
"Please remember that there are reasons why have two seperate cafeteria's, one for us and one for them." Ryoshine said and walked past Franz and toward the railing. He placed his free hand on the cold, wet rails and looked at the storm clouds/
-
"Right." He said. He sighed and looked at the cigarette he put out. He lighted it up again. He stared at the clouds, his mind wandering, the cigarette, idly in his mouth.
-
"Wonder what type of reception we'll receive...." Ryoshine wondered, he hadn't told Franz that they would be going to America, he had only hinted that they would be going 'somewhere'.
-
"Mm" Franz mumbled. He looked at Ryoshine. "Do you have any change of clothes I can use?"
-
Ryoshine smiled. "I have a closest full of suits, uniforms, and military oufits... anything specific?" he asked.
-
Franz smiled briefly. "Whatever you'd like to lend me, I'm alright with it."
-
"Very well, follow me..." Ryoshine said and lead him to his office where he opened the wardrobe. "Take your pick..." he said.
-
Franz smiled slightly. The man had tastes similar to his own. He picked out black slacks and a blue collared shirt. He changed clothes and laid his uniform neatly onto another hangar.
-
"Not bad, if it wasn't for that hair cut you could very well pass for one of us," Ryoshine said as he stared at Franz. Outside most of the grounds had been cleaned up, although the rain made it difficult, if not frustrating.
-
Franz absentmindedly ran a hand through his now blond medium length hair. He gave Ryoshine a half smile.
"Well, there's not much I can do about that, can I? Besides, the fact remains the same. I AM German."
-
"Which might prove to be a problem where we are going, while your hate the americans might be just, our mission is more important. Meaning, if the director 'does' allow you to go you have best keep a close eye on yourself, you blow the mission and everyone's life will be on the line.... and I don't think I need to tell you just how difficult it'll be to get out of the country," Ryoshine said with folded arms.
-
Franz grimaced. " I think I know enough to keep myself in check. The Americans know who I am. Frankly, almost everybody does. I'm sure you have a lot of information on me? I'll have to cut my hair shorter, grow a beard and dye my hair another color. Possibly contacts, brown? And also glasses." He crossed his arms.
-
"That'll be a start, but the other problem is the American intelligence... they don't know much about our agency, but they do know about you... think you can actually make a complete change to even fool Giorgia for a few seconds?" Ryoshine asked.
-
"Certainly" He said simply.
-
"Well, we have awhile to go, I'll let you handle it," Ryoshine said before taking a seat at his computer. "Best return to your room, get some rest or go to the cafeteria, but I suggest you not be around Giorgia that much. While I might not mind it right now, the others will and they aren't as forgivng as I am," he said.
-
Franz shrugged and walked out of the room to his room. He rummaged through his bag and found some hair dye, contacts, and scissors. "Best start now.." he murmured to himself.
-
Rico stared at the white ceiling of the infirmary. She had woken up just a few minute's ago, she hada pleasant dream, something she rarely had.
Jean was right next to her, making sure she was ok. "How do you feel?" he asked her. Rico stared at him before looking back at the ceiling, "Ok... I guess..." she said.
"Well, when the doctor clears you we need to talk ok?" he told her, she nodded.
-
Franz looked at himself in the mirror. "Not bad..." He told himself. He had cut his hair very short, and dyed it a dark brown. He had also put in green contacts and rimmed glasses on. Now all he needed was to grow a beard, and when he talked, to have the least accent possible.
------------------
Giorgia, exhausted went to her room. Henrietta with her also. She and Henrietta had cleaned up all day long but the mess never seemed to have stopped. She and Henrietta were going to take a short break and go back to clean up, but that didn't happen. Instead, the two girls fell asleep on Giorgia's bunk.
-
Jean and Hillshire were on the roof of the building, talking to one another when Ryoshine came up. "You trust that man don't you?" Hillshire asked him, referring to Franz.
"I don't trust him as far as I can throw him.. but he has information that we need.." Ryoshine said, placing both hands on the railing and leaning up against it. "Jean, you decided where we are going to go?"
"Jean, a place in Texas... Houston Texas to be exact. There's a crime lord there with connections to some of the local terrorist groups, thought we'd scope him out and then elimanate him." Jean said and looked at the pack of ciggerates he had in his hand. "However, in order to get to him we have to go through his eleven year old daughter, so I'm entering Rico in as a fifth grader as a nearby grade school. I managed to spark a deal with the one in charge to have her placed in the same class."
Ryoshine nodded and continued to listen.
"The young girl is innocent, she's nothing more than just daddy's daughter, probably not even aware of what he is doing - the Americans have been trying hard to bust this guy, we'll do the job for them..." Jean smiled.
"Let's just try and hope that he doesn't use her as a meat shield.." Ryoshine grumbled, recalling a past memory.
-
Franz walked around the grounds now. Most people nodded to him now, before, they were glaring at him. He smiled. "It's working." He said to himself.
-
"So, what do we do about Giorgia?" Hillshire said as he took out a ciggerate and lit it up.
Ryoshine sighed. "What is there to do? She's fine for the moment, although I 'am' worried that her feelings for Franz will get in the way of her job... if it does I will have no choice but to have Franz removed, and to have her reconditions, only far stronger than before."
"Going beyond what I've done to Triela..." Hillshire said.
"Yes... even though it would most likely result in permenant brain damage..." Ryoshine said sadly, he let out another sigh before turning around and staring at the far door. "But, you have to do what you have to do.... if it has to be done.. it'll be done..."
Hillshire nodded.
"How's Rico anyway?" Ryoshine asked, concerned.
Jean smiled. "She's doing fine, from the looks I'm guessing she'll be out sometime tomorrow, perhaps after wards. I'll have her go through training to be a .... 'student' but it won't be that hard since she was a student before coming here, much like Henrietta. In fact, I heard Guiseppe is thinking of also having Henrietta go in as a student at some point although I think it'll be harder since she is more...."
"Cautious... and shy... she's also serious... it'll be difficult for a child assassin to be an elementary student.. even though their education here some-what mimics that..." Ryoshine said and looked at the pack in his hands.
-
Giorgia and Henrietta both woke up, yawning.
"Yeesh." replied Henrietta. "THAT wasn't supposed to happen."
Giorgia gave her a half smile. "Oh well, I suppose we'll be able to clean up anyways, we just have less time." The girls went out of the room and went to another room where the mess was still evident.
-
The sky was still breaking apart with rain; more fell in the last hour than in the last ten. "What is going on?" Hillshire asked. "We very rarely get rain like this..."
"Maybe this is a freak thunder storm," Ryoshine shrugged. Hillshire didn't say anything as he took the ciggerate and put it out before walking off the roof. "You coming Ryo?" Jena asked him. "Yea... no use catching a cold out here.." Ryoshine said and followed Jean off the roof to the his office. "You don't have much..." Ryoshine said before noticing a pile of books next to a bed.
"Researching something?" He asked.
"Yea.. the American school system..." Jean said.
Ryoshine grinned. "Good Luck... don't shoot yourself.."
-
Franz strolled around the corriders, rather enjoying this moment of 'being someone else'. He had already had stubbles because he hadn't shaved in a couple of days. On the way, he bumped into Giorgia.
"Oh...er...sorry, sir."
Franz smiled to himself. "No worries, kiddo." And walked off.
Giorgia shrugged and looked at Henrietta. "You know him?"
Henrietta shook her head, "No clue."
-
Rico flexed her hand. "Good," the doctor said. "Now your arm," he said. A smile cresed his face when Rico was able to move it freely. "That's good, you've only been awake a few hours and already your making progress.." he smiled at her, she smiled back.
-
Giorgia and Henrietta mananged to pick the rest of the trash up and then went to find their handlers.
-
In his room, Ryoshine was just finishing up his study on Texas, he had a few contacts from the military who were on vacation and gladly gave him information.
As he sat there the inner-com next to him beep.
~Mr. Ryoshine, Giorgia is on camera heading toward your office..~ the officer on the other end said.
-
Giorgia and Henrietta waved goodbye, as Giorgia stood in front of Ryoshine's door.
Knock Knock She gently knocked on the door.
-
Ryoshine turned toward the door. "Come in," he said.
-
Gioriga cautiously opened the door and stepped inside. She stood there rather awkwardly.
-
Ryoshine smiled. "How are you Giorgia? Did you do what I asked you to do?" he asked her.
-
Gioriga nodded quickly. "Yes, sir. Henrietta and myself cleaned everything up."
-
Ryoshine smiled. "That's good, come take a seat," he said and gestured to a chair that was next to his desk.
-
She walked over and carefully sat down on the chair. She put her hands in her lap.
-
"Giorgia," he said and turned toward a book. "As you already know, in a week or so we'll be leaving for America. I would like you to study these books," he said, picking up the book he had looked and handed to her. The book was on the American Culture.
-
She took the book and blinked. "Oh." She never was too interested in American culture, but she knew she had to at least have some interest to get through the book. "Yes sir." She said.
-
"Learn about their way of life, their habits, I'll be testing you on that in a day. After that I'll start you off on another book, don't skip anything either," he said and looked toward the clock. "Already close to dinner, get yourself some dinner, and not light either, you need a good meal. Then do some studying," he said.
-
She nodded. Quite happy. She liked books, whether or not it would be boring, she didn't know, but was happy. "'Kay...er..I mean Yes, sir." and she quickly went to the cafeteria. Ryoshine had said a good meal, Giorgia took a glass of milk and a sandwich. She ate it hastily and went to her room to study.
-
Ryoshine decided he would call it a night, enough work for one day he thought as he placed a pilow on the couch. "Not very comfortable.. but oh well..." he said and soon went to sleep.
-
Giorgia studied through the night like she usually did. Once she was finished, she couldn't help but smile at American culture.
-
Ryoshine awoke the next morning to sound of a boom outside. "Damn mother nature.." he said groggily as he walked over to his computer. He turend toward the clock, "only seven in the morning for pete's sake..." he said and grumbled.
In the cafeteria he got himself a cup of coffee. "Err... what a morning this is turning out to be..." he said, noting that he was the only one in the room.
-
Giorgia got went to the cyborg's cafeteria around 6:30. She smiled as there was no one else there. She had grabbed the American Culture book to read while she was eating a light breakfast.
-
He went outside onto the balcony and watched the clouds as they stayed above the grounds. "Still raining..." he said as the rain landed in his coffee, for which he didn't seem to care as he took a sip. "I wonder if Giorgia has been studying...." he asked himself
-
After eating breakfast and studying, she wondered if Ryoshine would be in his room. But then, she decided that it would be to early. Instead she went back inside her room and flipped through the pages again.
-
He went to the armory to practice his shooting skills. He took a 9mm from the rack and popped in a clip and took aim, several shots flew down the room and found their marks on the center of the center, where the heart would be.
After releasing six bullets he stopped and looked at his handy work, he walked toward the target and fished out the bullets. He placed them in a pan under the target and then went back to practice.
-
Around 10 AM, she figured she might as well find Ryoshine. She grabbed her messenger bag and hoisted it over her shoulder, putting the book and other accesories (i.e pencils, paper etc) in there. She closed the door of her room as she headed down the hallway.
-
In the armory, Ryoshine had just finished up practicing when Hillshire walked in carrying a case that he presumed had a rifle in it.
His presumtion was correct when Hillshire opened it to reveal an old springfield rifle. "Interesting," Ryoshine said, although Hillshire couldn't hear him.
He counted his bullets before letting several more go down the range and into the targets he had aimed at, he stopped briefly collect his brass before going back to firing.
-
She checked his room but found that he wasn't there. She asked Henrietta and she thought he might be at the armory. She said her thanks and headed down to the armory.
-
"Something you need?" the man in charge of the armory said when he noticed Giorgia.
-
"Yes, sir." She answered politely. "I was wondering if Mr. Ryoshine was here?"
-
"He's here," he said and pointed toward the doors that would lead Giorgia into the range itself. "Just becareful, it seems someone is firing off big bartha in there," he grinned.
-
She nodded, unsure of what he meant. She quietly walked in and sat on the bench where Ryoshine stuff was and waited patiently.
-
As he ejected the clip from his gun, he stared at the chamber and removed the shell casing that had gotten itself stuck. "Damn things always jam," he said to himself as he tossed the shell to the ground and placed the clip back into the gun.
He fired off another few rounds before stopping, he turned around to find Giorgia sitting on the bench. "Well now, good morning," he said to her, "how is your studying going?" he asked as he set his gun down on the table.
-
She smiled, quite happy with herself. "It's going really well, sir. I've read it about 10 times."
-
(OOC: Odd... could've sworn I posted this...)
Ryoshine smiled. "That's good, now," he said and handed his gun to Hillshire. "Come with me to my office," he said and guided Giorgia to his office.
Once there he pulled out a test sheet consisting of twenty pages. "You have one hour to finish this test," he said and handed it to her, "you can use the desk near the window."
-
Giorgia nodded and took the sheets handed to her. She glided to the seat offered. She glanced at the papers and beamed. This would be simple. In about 25-30 minutes she finished and handed the papers to Ryoshine.
-
He nodded and feed the papers through his scanner and brought them up with a program which auto-checked them. Some of the answers were incorrect, so those he manually checked, after about fifteen minutes he nodded, satisfied. "Not bad, you got some wrong, but over-rall you'll be able to pass a native born american," he said.
"Now, I know Rico will be our student in school who will be watching the target, but HIllshire and I decided that everyone, including you, will take classes on the school system there so you'll know what to expect. Hillshire will have a lecture on that tomorrow, pay close attention to what he says," he told her.
-
"Yes sir." She said. She didn't exactly like Hillshire but what choice did she have? Thinking about all of it, what choice did she have of anything?
-
"What's wrong?" Ryoshine said, he had noticd that Giorgia had a some-what of a troubled look on her face. "
-
Giorgia inhaled deeply and was about to start talking when someone knocked on the door. She turned to see a man with dark brown hair, almost like a buzz cut walk in. He had green eyes, glasses, and some stubble. She threw an inquiring look at the man. The man smiled at her,a sparkle in his eye.
"Hello." He said with no trace of an accent apparent.
-
Ryoshine stepped in front of Giorgia. "May I help you?" he asked.
-
The man chuckled softly. "My costume isn't even half finished and yet you have failed to recognize me. I must have not lost my touch" He removed the glasses and took the contacts out.
Giorgia was taken aback slightly. She knew those blue eyes. "Franz!"
-
Ryoshine smiled. "Well now, when I said you needed to change your apperance, you did just that," he said, impressed.
He still, however, didn't fully trust the man.However he was beginning to earn Ryoshines trust.
-
Franz grinned slightly. "Of course. It's also amazing to me, with my change of apperance, how much more...hrm...what is the word...respect I get around here." He turned to look at Giorgia.
"Well, hello little one, how have you been?"
Giorgia smiled at Franz. "Good."
Franz nodded. "Good. Now, I don't want to hold you from your studies so I'll be going. He crouched down at ruffled Giorgia's hair. He stood back up and looked at Ryoshine. "If you need me, I'll be in my room." He walked out of the room silently closing the door behind him.
-
Ryoshine nodded and watched as Franz left.
He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out another book, this one was named 'Anology of the district' and dealt with the basics of the american school system, the book had been created by several of the agency's agents employees who either used to live in america, or had gone there.
"Study this book, and then come back after dinner for another test," he told her.
-
She nodded. Her mood had improved after seeing Franz. She put the book in her bag and also walked out of Ryoshine's room.
-
Ryoshine smiled and went back to his research, he pulled up a website, it talekd about a political school that many of the american politicions children attended. Amongst them though, four of the politicions were prime targets for their mission.
"hmm.. Henrietta and Giorgia might actually do good for this part of the mission," Ryoshine said, staring at the information page.
-
Franz lit a cigarette as he stared out his window. A slight breeze was blowing outside he could tell, because the grass was swaying in the wind. He sighed heavily.
---------
Giorgia read her book, but the day kept distracting her. She gave up and looked out her window for about 10 minutes. There was a giddy feeling inside of her she couldn't quite explain. She went back to reading afterwards.
-
Ryoshine had set everything up, it took him almost an hour. He had called up the school in question that RIco would be attending and arranged the transfer, thanks to the system in the agency, his number would show up as coming from one of the various states within the US.
He then looked at the time and decided to take a stroll.
-
Franz decided he couldn't stay cooped up in the room any longer. He ran a hand through his hair. He wasn't used to it being this short. He put the contacts and glasses back on even though he had perfect vision. He went out to the garden, cigarette in hand, looking at the horizon.
-
Ryoshine strolled over to the car garage, he checked on his Lambordeny and smiled when he saw the condition. I'll give Franz credit for a good repair job," he said as he ran his hand over the area that had been dented in the storm.
After spending some time with his car he left and headed to the main building, there he found Rico out of bed and exercising. "You're better?" he asked her.
"Yes Sir," Rico said when she noticed him talking to her. "Well, don't over do it ok?" he told her. Rico nodded. "Good," he said and left her alone and headed for the cafeteria to grab a fresh cup of coffee.
-
Giorgia read the book for about an hour before looking out of her window. Her view was to the garden and to her delight, she saw Franz there. She frowned however, when she saw him smoking.
-
"Ahhh..." Ryoshine said as he took a sip from his coffee, "damn thats good."
He walked out of the cafetria, coffee cup in hand, and made his way to the garden. There he found Claus, a girl he had only talked to once since he had arrived, now tending to the garden. "How are you?" he asked her, she looked up, startled at his sudden apperence. "I-I'm fine sir, thank you," she said.
Ryoshine knelt down and gently wrapped his fingers around a Sakura, or Cherry Blossom, "You know a lot about plants," he said to her, she smiled at his comment. "T-thank you, I know a lot about plants so..." she said but stopped herself.
"I'm disturbing you," he said and got up.
"N-no you're not!" Claus said, dropping the small shovel into the dirt.
"Then, you won't mind if I watch for awhile?" Ryoshine asked. Claus blinked and looked away, "N-no.. I-I don't mind," she said and went back to tending the garden.
-
She gently tapped on the window sill. She saw him turn. She waved brightly. Giorgia saw Franz smile back and wave slightly. He walked over to her window. She opened the window.
"Hallo Franz!" She said brightly.
"Hallo Giorgia." Franz returned.
-
As Ryoshine watched, he soon noticed Franz. "You keep up the good work, Claus," he said. The little girl nodded and went back to her garden.
He walked a short distance to where Franz was. "You know smoking is dangerous right? Are you trying to kill yourself slowly?" he said to him, when he noticed Giorgia he smiled.
-
GIorgia waved happily at Ryoshine. Franz turned to look at Ryoshine and chuckled softly. "Sorry, bad habit. Started when I was 19."
-
Ryoshine shook his head and removed the cigerrate from Franz's mouth. "You really shouldn't smoke around children either..." he said and tossed the cirgerrate into the trash can, that was ten feet away from him. "Now, do I need to dispose of any more packs or are you going to promise not to smoke in front of Giorgia," he said, he didn't look serious but his expression would anyone that going against Ryoshine's words wasn't a good idea.
-
Giorgia giggled, the first time she had laughed since being here. She could see Franz turning slightly red from embarrasment. He replied gruffly, "Alright, alright, Not in front of Giorgia. Don't want her to get second hand smoke, do we."
-
Ryoshine smiled, if it wasn't for his age, one would think it was childish. "That's good... I want her to stay in good health," he said and looked at her. "How are your studies going?" he asked her.
-
Giorgia smiled brightly. "Great!" She then gave Ryoshine a detailed summary in which Franz arched his eyebrows in amazement at her.
-
Ryoshine nodded, he was impressed. "Not bad... now keep on studying alright?" he told her.
-
"'Kay!" She said enthusiastically. She ducked her head out of the window and returned to her desk.
Franz chuckled. "I wonder why she's in such a good mood..."
-
Ryoshine grinned and gave a side ways glance at Franz. "Boy... I wonder..." he said.
-
Franz turned in mock surprise. "Ah! Is it because of ME that she's in such a good mood? Couldn't be!" He smiled lightly.
-
He sighed, shrugging his shoulders in the process. "Who knows?" he said and turned toward the garden. "That is a beautiful though, don't you think?" he said, changing the subject.
-
Franz turned his attention to the garden. "Yes....reminds me of Germany, oddly enough."
-
"Germany had gardens? All I saw and felt was the coldish in the air... you sure you aren't talking about some other country?" Ryoshine said, somewhat teasing the man.
-
Franz smiled slightly. "You must have been stationed in East Germany." He turned to look at the man. "Even so, you must have witnessed some beauty there."
-
"some?" Ryoshine said. "Yea... but just some, nothing along the lines of what we are seeing right now," he said and gestuered to the garden.
-
Franz looked up at the sky. "Times have changed...Germany has been rebuilt for many years. Do me a favor, will you? No matter how much of a grudge you have against me...one of these days, take Giorgia and go see Germany. Not on business, but for vacation. Really take in the sights."
-
Ryoshine sighed, and in a very low, almost unhearable, whisper said, "with the way things are going... I probably won't live that long," he said and continued to stare at the garden.
-
Franz turned quickly to him. "What the hell do you mean by that?" He asked in a furious whisper. "I know because of me she hasn't got much left but..."
-
Ryoshine blinked. "huh... you must have super human hearing if you managed to hear what I said," he said and clasped his hands behind his head. "There are... other... things going on in this world... you'll most likely find out sooner or later," with that he left the man and went back to his office.
-
Franz sighed heavily. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He trudged back away from Giorgia's window and brought out another cigarrette.
-
In his office Ryoshine picked up the phone and made a few calls. "Yea?" he said in one conversation. "Just make sure they are ready ok?" he said, the man on the other said a few choice words before hanging up.
He sat in his chair, hands clasped and his head against them. "They better get that ready by the time we get there, or else this mission will get very difficult," he said.
-
Giorgia looked up and once again saw Franz smoking. She frowned deeply. She jumped out of her window and tackled Franz, taking his ciggarette out of his mouth.
Franz looked at her, alarmed. "What's gotten into you?"
Giorgia looked up at Franz. "You smoke too much!"
Franz shrugged. "I didn't smoke in front of you."
Childishly she answered, "I could see you."
-
Henrietta sighed when she read the book that Guiseppe had given her. "What's wrong?" Triela asked when she noticed her friend was laying her head down on the book.
"Just bored is all..." Henrietta said.
Triela tapped the end of her pen against her chin, thinking. "Why not see if Guiseppe is back?"
"He isn't, I haven't heard his car," Henrietta said and got up. She walked over to the window and stared out, noting the garden. She could make out Claus and Franz, along with Giorgia who seem to be having fun with Franz.
Triela wondered what she was staring and walked over and look over Henrietta's shoulder. "meh... I wonder if Ryoshine is even aware that Giorgia is doing that?"
"I wonder.. to be honest I worry about how Hillshire and Guiseppe will think," Henrietta said. "Well, the best we can do is do as Ryoshine had requested and keep watch over her," Triela said.
"You don't trust that Franz guy?" Henrietta asked curiously, for that Triela shook her head. "No I don't, and I doubt Ryoshine does either," she said and walked back over to the table and sat down. Henrietta looked back out the window before going back to her book.
-
Franz laughed heartily and ruffled Giorgia's hair. "Go on, go study, you shouldn't be distracted by a lone German in the midst of all these others." Giorgia smiled and waved and went back through her window. Franz watched her and smiled. He then stubbed out his cigarette and went back inside also.
-
Henrietta took this time to check up on Giorgia, going to her room she gave a soft knock before opening the door and peering inside. "How are you doing Giorgia?" she asked her.
-
Giorgia smiled happily. "Great, thank you."
-
"Need any help?" Henrietta asked as she walked in and closed the door behind her.
-
Giorgia shook her head, her brown hair slightly swaying. "No, not at all." She glanced distractedly out the window. As she had thought, Franz wasn't there anymore. She turned to face Henrietta. "I'm sure you're busy though, so you don't have to worry about me."
-
Henrietta sighed. "We worry about everyone," she said and walked over to Giorgia. "If you need anything, just let Triela or I know ok?" she smiled and walked back over to the door, with a final glance over her shoulder she left.
-
Giorgia nodded. She looked at the clock. She had about an hour before finding Ryoshine. She took up the book and started reading.
-
Outside the garage a truck was being loaded up with supplys. "Hurry it up!" Ryoshine shouted as some of the new guys were carrying crates full of stuff and placing them on the bed of the truck.
He sighed. "I could load all this up in a matter of minutes," grumling he walked over to one of the crates and picked it up and placed it in the truck. He kept this up until only three minutes had passe and the truck was loaded, "get the other crates out of the armory," he said. The men nodded and ran off.
Shaking his head he said, "sheesh..."
-
Giorgia looked up. It was slightly past the hour. "Oops." She murmured to herself. She stowed her book in her bag and ran to Ryoshine's door.
-
In his room, Ryoshine had fallen asleep, his head on the keyboard and snoring a loud.
-
Giorgia knocked on the door gently.
-
Ryoshine snored soundlessly, not able to hear the door.
Down the hall a security guard was smoking a cigerrate when he noticd Giorgia. He put the cig out and walked over to her, "can I help you?" he asked her.
-
Giorgia looked up at the tall security guard. "Erm, yes. Well, you see, I was supposed to be in Mr.Ryoshine's room, but he's not answering..."
----------------------------
A couple of hallways down, Franz was making his way back to the room. However, unbeknowst to quite a bit of people, Franz had a bad heart. That is, physically. He staggered side ways as his head started spinning...
-
"Huh..." the officer said and knocked on the door. "Mr. Ryoshine, you there?" he shouted but got no response. He sighed and took out a key and unlocked the door, when he pushed it open he found Ryoshine asleep at his computer. "Ahh.. .seem's he's asleep. I do know he's been rather busy lately," he said to Giorgia and moved aside just enough for her to see him.
***
Down the hall from Franz, two guards were finishing up their coffee when they noticed Frazn staggering. "Oi oi, man's had to much to drink!" one guard said and got up from his chair to assist Franz.
-
Giorgia smiled slightly, amused. "Oh, should I come back later then?"
------------------
Franz grimaced slightly. He could hardly breathe. The guard who was assisting Franz placed him in a chair. The only thing Franz could think of before he slumped down was, Idioten...
-
The two guards caught Franz before he could hit the ground. "He don't look so good," his half drunken partner said. "Let's get him to the infirmary, drunk as can be the man passes out," the other guard said.
***
"I think it'll be fine, go ahead and sit on the couch there, he should wake up in a few," the security guard told her.
For Ryoshine, he mumbled something in his sleep.
-
The two guards stumbled with Franz in between them. What should have taken them 5 minutes, took them 15. The doctor arched his eyebrows as they carried the man in. The doctor peered down at Franz, not knowing who he was.
"Is he new?"
The guards shrugged. "We're thinkin he might be drunk y'see. He passed out." The guards laughed. "Guess the guy can't hold his liquor. Take care of him Doc." And the two guards trudged off.
-
The doctor sighed. "Drunk eh?" he said and looked at Franz, "I wonder."
***
Ryoshine awoke to the sound of a wind chine near his window. He streatched his arms, yawning in the process, he scanned the room before noticing a figure sitting on the sofa - it took him a minute to realize that it was Giorgia. "G-Giorgia?! W-how long have you been here?" he asked nervously.
-
The doctor shook his head before he listened to Franz heart. All of a sudden, his face paled as Franz'z heartbeat was way slower than it was supposed to be. He quickly hooked him up to an oxygen mask and grabbed some other necessities to use on Franz. The doctor tried to find I.D on him, but couldn't find any.
---------------
Giorgia grinned mischiveously. "Ah...not long. About well....10 minutes or so."
-
Ryoshine's face turned red. "Err... so.. you heard me talking in my sleep huh..." he asked nervously.
-
Giorgia grinned. "A bit, sir. Not too much really."
-----------------------
The doctor watched the man's heartbeat slow down and back up again. "Jesus...I need to stableize his heart before he goes into cardiac arrest for a second time..."
-
He was naturally embarassed, he couldn't find the right words to say to possibly undo what was done so instead he said, "So.. er.... have you studied that book I gave you?" he asked her.
-
She grinned. "Yes!"
-----------------------------
The doctor wiped his brow. The heart wasn't stabalizing. He checked Franz's vitals and quickly wrote them down. He needed to alert somebody about this. He injected another liquid in. It helped slightly to calm his heart down. The doctor ran down the hallway. The first one he was able to come to was Ryoshine's. He breathed heavily
"There...guy....brown hair...blue eyes...stubbles....heart....attack....n ot calming down."
-
Ryoshine was just about to ask Giorgia to take a test when the doctor barged into his office; he didn't have time to ask before the doctor told him why he was there. He turned around and picked up his cell and ran out of his office, leaving Giorgia behind.
He dialed a number and got a hold of someone he knew back in town. "Get your *** here now," was all he said before hanging up and running into the infirmary. "Doctor what did you administer so far?" he asked the doctor, who had followed him back and was breathing even more heavily now than before.
-
The doctor took a deep breath and said, "I've used shock therapy, and I've also injected some fluids that have stabalized...at least for now, his heart rate. His heart rate cannot be too fast or too slow. We have to do something before it gets worse. This man doesn't even have any I.D. on him so I don't have a contact number either. Do you know who this is, by chance?"
---------------
Giorgia heard the doctor's words ringing in her ears. She knew that to be the description of Franz in disguise. She ran out after Ryoshine and stopped at the door of the infirmary.
-
"His name is Franz, a person we had initially arrested, but now working for us, for awhile anyway. We don't know anything about his past, medical or otherwise, so there is little I can do to help. A friend of mine who works at a hospital is on his way here to see if he can be of assistance, but... from what you have already stated..." Ryoshine said, his voice grim.
He sighed and stared at the man. "There isn't much we can do but wait..." Ryoshine said.
-
Giorgia was in a state of shock. Franz...he couldn't be dying... could he? He was so strong, he wouldn't let this let him down. She stood by the doorway not moving. She could hear Ryoshine and the doctor mutter in low voices about Franz.
-
Ryoshine sighed and waited for what seemed like an hour, but was actually just fifteen minutes. He noticed his friends car drive through the gates and then to the parking lot. "Seem's he's here," he said and turned to wait.
-
The friend ran through the gate and met up with Ryoshine. "What seems to be the pro-" But hadn't needed to finish his sentence. He saw the problem right away. He quickly walked past a brown haired girl who seemed to really care for the man who was on the stretcher.
As he was getting equipment out, he kept his voice level. "He a friend of yours, kid?"
Giorgia, startled from her thoughts, whispered just above a whisper, "Yes...something like that." She wasn't going to tell him that Franz was her godfather. This man looked as if he would be better of knowing that the guy he was treating wasn't a German.
-
Ryoshine just watched, wondering if his friend really could help, his attention was partially focused on Giorgia, as he wondered why she was here and not studying. "You should be studying," he said told her.
-
Giorgia got flustered. "I...well...Oh...Um..guess I should...ahm....leave..." She very slowly took her time watching Franz and the friend as she headed out of the room.
The friend, still working on Franz, didn't turn to look at Ryoshine, but asked, "Whadya do that for? I don't think any kid could study if it's her...who did she say he was? Friend?" He laughed. "Ah well, but you've always been like that, I suppose." He put a mask over Franz as he checked the blood pressure.
-
Ryoshine sighed, "Yea, well, she has a test coming up and I'd rather she be a bit more focused on it," he said, his arms folded over his chest.
-
The friend stopped with what he was doing and turned to stare at Ryoshine. His eyes looked at him disbelievingly. "You'd rather her study for a test, than to worry about someone close to her? Unbelievable, Ryoshine." He turned to look at Franz who's breathing was coming back and forth. The friend stepped forward, shaking his head. "Unbelievable. How old is she? 9? 10? You're asking a kid to..." He sighed. "Forget it."
-
He shook his head. "If you knew what we did here, you'd understand," Ryoshine merely said and pushed himself off the wall and left the room.
-
The friend gritted his teeth. At this rate, he didn't give a damn about this agency or anything to do with it. All he knew was a kid was worried sick about someone she cared about. Kids were his weak spot. He should know. He had two kids. Loved them to death. He sat on the stool and watched Franz's vitals.
----------------
Back in her room, Giorgia listlessly flipped through her book. Her mind seemed to keep on wandering. She sighed and layed her head on the desk.
-
Out on the Balcony, Ryoshine shook his head as he pulled out a cigerrate and fumbled with it. "Maer just doesn't understand.... I can't afford to treat her lightly in this situation, or else when one of the other cyborgs is seriously wounded she could falter, and perhaps, get killed," he said and continue to fumble with the ciggerate.
-
Franz stirred and Maer leaned forward. He spoke softly to Franz. "Take it easy now..."
Franz grimaced as he opened his eyelids. He glanced around quickly and his eyes stopped at the man sitting next to him. Slightly drugged because of the medication, Franz forgot he was supposed to act 'American' and his German accent came back slightly. "Are you the doctor? Vhere am I?" Maer froze. His smile had turned into a part way frown.
"What's your name?"
Franz looked up and realized he had made a mistake. "I'm...Frankie Perrin." He replied, thinking of the first name that popped into his mind.
Maer relaxed ever so slightly. "Scared me there for a second, you did. Thought you were German."
It was Franz, or 'Frankie's' turn to have a strained smile. "Is there something wrong with Germans?"
Maer got up, "When I was serving in the navy, had a friend who was German, back stabbed me though. Ryoshine knows about it."
Franz slowly got up. "Not all Germans are bad people. It's the same with Americans."
Maer shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose so. You rest up now, though." He grabbed his equipment and left the infimary.
-
Ryoshine continued to fumble with his cigerrate until he tossed it into the trash. He grumbled something before walking back into the building, only to meet up with Maer along the way. "How is he?" Ryoshine asked him.
-
Maer sighed as he put on his jacket. He took his time before answering.
"The man's had a lot of stress, it seems like. He should be fine as long as he doesn't strain himself." With that he went past Ryoshine and out to his car.
-
"'straing himself' huh?" Ryoshine said and chuckled lightly. "With what's about to happen.. 'strain' will be the least of his, or our, worries.." with that he walked back over to his office and started writing up a report.
-
Franz mumbled lightly to himself and sprang out of bed. He blinked a couple of times to refocus and walked out of the infirmary, walking down the hall.
-
While writing his report he wondered about Franz. "Should I put him on the mission... or leave him here..." he asked himself. His mind kept screaming for him to leave Franz here, since in a way the man still couldn't be trusted. However, on the other hand, he realized that there were things Franz knew that would help.
"I hate making these types of decisions," he grumbled to himself and continued to type.
-
Franz continued to amble down the hallway until he reached what he knew to be Giorgia's room. He hesitated. He knew he shouldn't go in there, and yet, he wanted to. He faltered at the doorway. Instead, he quickly scribbled a note and pushed it under the doorway. He then walked down to his room.
Giorgia had been aimlessly looking over her book when she heard a noise. She stood up and saw that a piece of paper had come through her doorway. Curiously, she picked the nicely folded paper up and read it. She grinned. The note read:
Zählen Sie mich nicht heraus gerade noch.
*Don't count me out just yet.
-
Ryoshine had just finished his report when his phone rang. He picked it up and turned toward the window, "Ryoshine here," he said.
~Something's come up, we leave tomorrow afternoon~ Jean said on the other end.
"I'll make sure Giorgia is ready," Ryoshine said and hung up. He got up from his chair and grabbed his coat and walked over to the door and opened it, as he made his way down the hallway, he wondered why they were leaving tomorrow, and not at the original appointed time.
-
Putting the folded paper in her bag a long with the picture, she returned to her book. She was getting rather tired of reading the material, but she knew she had to have everything perfect. She dozed off slightly as the warm day made her feel comfortable.
-
Ryoshine walked up to Giorgia's door and knocked on it. "Giorgia, you in?" he asked, listening to her voice.
-
Hearing Ryoshine's voice, Giorgia awoke with a start. She banged her knee on the desk and grimaced. She walked over to the door and opened it.
-
"How are your studies going?" Ryoshine asked.
-
"Um. Alright. They're going okay." She replied.
-
"Good, get to bed early today, we'll be leaving tomorrow for America," Ryoshine said and turned away from her. "Make sure you have everything prepared, I'll give you your test while in flight," he said and walked way.
-
"T-tomorrow?" She asked, astonished. "I thought it wasn't until...well, next week." Then, another question popped into her head and she was afraid to ask it. "Erm...well...who all...who is...who's coming on the trip?" She ventured nervously.
-
He stopped when he heard her question. "Other than most of the other cyborgs, myself and provided Franz is in good condition, he might be coming as well," he said, glancing over his shoulder at her.
-
She surpressed a slight grin and a glint in her eye as she looked back at Ryoshine. "Oh. Okay." She was able to say.
-
Ryoshine stared at her for a few seconds before walking back to his quarters to turn in.
-
After Ryoshine was gone, she changed into her pajamas and read a bit more. She then turned off the light and crawled into bed, hugging her bunny plushie as she fell into a deep sleep.
-
In his own room, Ryoshine confirmed the flight plans he had set up. They would be taking a flight out of italy, stopping briefly in england, then heading to new york, and then finally into Texas where they would meet up with their contacts.
-
The next day, Giorgia woke up bright and early. She quickly changed and ran to the cafeteria for some food. She wondered how Franz was feeling and if he was surely coming. She certaintly hoped so. She was full of energy as she knocked on Ryoshine's door.
-
He had fallen asleep on the couch again, he was awoken to the sound of someone knockin on his door and had gotten up to check it when he realized all he was wearing was a pair of boxer shorts. Ryoshine sighed and walked back over to the couch and recovered his pants and put them on, then put a plain t-shirt on and walked back over to the door and opened it. "Morning Giorgia, sleep well I hoppe," he said to the young girl.
-
She burst through the door, completely ecstatic. She gave Ryoshine a big smile and a hug. "Hi!" She said cheerfully.
-
Ryoshine smiled at Giorgia and knelt down. "You seem excited, what's the occasion?" he asked, although he kind of felt he already knew.
-
Talking to fast, she stumbled over words. "Well, I.. you know, the trip, so you know, um, well, excited!" she managed to say and grinned broadly at Ryoshine. She added as an afterthough, "I mean...even though it is a mission..."
-
Ryoshine blinked, trying to understand the ten year old. "Well I'm glad your excited, but remember it is a mission, so keep your eyes open. Now, let's head to the cafeteria and get something to eat," he said and placed his hand on Giorgia's shoulder.
-
"Mmkay!" She said brightly. The duo walked down the hallway, Giorgia practically skipping a long, with Ryoshine walking at a slower pace behind her. Not looking at where she was going, she ran head into Franz.
"Oomf." She looked up. "Hi Franz!"
Franz smiled lightly, his eyes troubled. He patted Giorgia on the head absentmindedly, and looked directly at Ryoshine. "I've found some information./"
-
Ryoshine folded his arms and looked at Giorgia. "I'll meet you at the cafeteria," he said and gestured for Franz to follow him to the nearby balcony.
-
Because of her intense excitement, she hardly notice the somber mood between the two males. She just smiled and ran to the cafeteria.
Franz watched her run off as he followed Ryoshine to the balcony. He sighed before taking out a flask and taking a swig from it. Putting it back in his pocket, he said slowly. "It seems...that some radical German terrorists groups were tipped off about your flight today." Seeing a sharp look from Ryoshine, Franz continued. "I had nothing to do with this. As it were, I have no access to a telephone." He smiled wryly.
-
Ryoshine sighed; he knew this would poss a problem. "I didn't want to have the girls armed while at the airport, guess there's no choice in the matter," he said and rubbed his chin. "How'd they get wind of it though I wonder," he said as she eyes scanned the grounds before him. He wasn't really searching for anyone or anything, it was more of a reflex.
"You sure you should be up and out?" He asked.
-
Franz looked out on the horizon, lighting a ciggarette. "Better out there, than here. They might catch wind of me soon. I have to keep on moving. If I don't, they'll target me here and this Agency, plus about a 10 mile radius isn't going to be safe.
-
"You should like their going to drop a damn nuke on your ***," Ryoshine said and folded his hands behind his neck and stared up at the sky.
-
Franz smiled wryly as he pulled out his flask again. After taking a swing, he offered some to Ryoshine. Matter of factly he replied, "No, not THAT deadly, but pretty close to it."
-
Ryoshine shook his head and grabbed the flask and took a sip before handing it back to Franz. "Uh huh... well.. let's get to the cafeteria and eat breakfast, once we're done we'll father everyone in the briefing room," he said to Franz and started for the exit.
-
The two men walked swiftly into the cafeteria. He grabbed a roll and waited until Ryoshine finished grabbing what he wanted to eat. They wordlessly sat at a table and began eating.
-
Ryoshine wasn't that hungry and so all he had was a peice of toast with butter and a cup of coffee. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Guiseppe and Jean sitting with their charges.
"Giorgia, after breakfast, head straight to the briefing room alright," he told her and didn't wait for an answer before walking over to Guiseppe and Jean and telling them the same things.
-
After finishing, Giorgia met up with Franz brightly and Franz smiled back. "Shall we go?" Giorgia nodded and the pair walked off to the briefing room.
-
In the briefing room Ryoshine waited; his hands in his pockets and his eyes fixed on the window. Outside he saw several military vehicles roll up to main building and began to load up their gear.
When he saw Franz and Giorgia walk in, followed a few seconds later by Henrietta, Triela, and Rico he smiled and walked toward the center of the room. "As you all know, we had to move up our departure time," he said and looked over at Franz before looking back at the group. "We'll be leaving for the airport in an hour, while I wanted to make sure we went unarmed so not to spook the native, I'm afraid recent information has told me that we'll have to go armed. Each of you will carry a pistol, thankfully we now have weapons that will 'not' be detected by the airports metal detectors," he said.
His mind raced with other idea's to get this done, but he realized that the only way to get to America now was to act casually. "I want all of you to dress in casual clothing, nothing that will identify you as apart of this organization. Unlike before where you wore camo-fatigues, this time you won't.
"We'll look way to suspisous if we go as we are, because of that I've taken the libety to have the director order some new clothing for our girls here to wear. You all will look like your going on a class trip to another country, and in fact that's what it's suppose to appear. Myself, Guiseppe, Jean, along with the rest of us will wear business attire to look like teachers," he said. He got a noticable annoying look from Jean, but he just shook his head. "Get back to your dorm rooms, get dressed, meet outside in ten minutes, any questions you can ask in the van," he said.
As he glanced back out the window a worried expression came over him. This mission will turn into a life or death situation... and I can't help but worry that we'll be the one's incuring the most deaths...
-
Franz got up, as did Giorgia. They walked silently out together, and then went their separate ways.
Hilshire, who had been in the room, had seen Franz and his face was that of loathing. He muttered something under his breath as he realized that German was going a long and brusquely walked off.
In Giorgia's room, she realized that the clothes that Ryoshine had asked her from the director had already arrived. She grimaced at the prospect of putting on a dress. She sighed as she put the dress on.
In his room, Franz put on a suit with a blue tie. He put on black loafers, and put on his colored contacts. He gelled back his hair and put his watch on. He also put his glasses on for added measure. As he walked out of his own room, he lit a ciggarette before meeting Giorgia half way. Smiling slightly, he patted her on the back, seeing her disgruntled expression. They walked outside into the bright sunshine. Such a normal day, not even a hint of blood shed...
Taking another inhale of his cigarette, the pair met Ryoshine who was already at the van.
-
Ryoshine had headed back to his office and put on a cleaner pair of pants and a suit; his choose a bow tie instead of a normal tie. His bow tie had a name etched into the fabric that could only be seen upclose. The name was that of his daughter, "Madison.... I wish you were still here," he said as he looked into the mirror.
He had promised himself he'd never smoke; but he had to put on an appearance. He walked over to his desk and pulled out a ciger box and placed it in his pocket, he then pulled out one of the sweet smelling cigs and placed it in his mouth, but didn't light it. He then grabbed his suitcase and put on a pair of glasses and placed two hairing aids in his ears.
As he walked out of the building and toward the van he wondered if all would indeed go well when they arrived at the airport. "Let's just hope no one get's any funny ideas," he said as he walked over to the van and leaned up against the door. A seconds later two men came by and placed a large trunk in the pack of the van. "These it?" he asked.
"Colt 49s, specially modified with material so they'll get through the metal detectors. Their clip size is smaller and their rate of fire is impacted, but you shouldn't have to worry. All your other weapons will be at the hotel when you arrive," the man said and closed shut the trunk and then the back door.
Ryoshine just nodded and stood there; waiting for the others. As they approuched he threw open the door and waited for everyone to get in. He noticed Giorgia in her dress and couldn't help but crack a smile.
-
Gioriga climbed aboard, still scowling with the fact of wearing a dress. Franz watched her go in, but went in front of Ryoshine. He hesitated, but then stated his worry.
"I saw one of your...collegues look at me as if he..." He smiled faintly, "Well, as if he were out to kill me." He gestured to himself. "I know that you still do not trust me, and I know that even if I change my appearance, like I have done right now, you'll always see me as a murderer." He put his hands in his pocket. "But if I have to work a long with you men, then I'd...I'd appreciate it if he'd keep his loathing to a minimum." Franz shrugged, his 'green' eyes reflecting off the light. "He has every reason to despise me. He can talk behind my back if he wants, have plans to torture me. But at least. Extend-"
It was then that Hilshire walked up and roughly grabbed Franz shoulder. "Listen here, jerk. I don't trust you. Don't like you. Don't want anything to do with you." Hilshire changed his grip to the man's collar. "If you do anything...try anything, or screw anythingup, then I'll personally be the one dealing with you." He glowered at Franz. Franz being a little taller than him, merely just stared at Hilshire. Hilshire's hand, still on his collar.
-
Ryoshine shook his head and turned to Hillshire. "Weather you like it or not, we need him for this mission. You do anything to him and it's not just him who could die, but all of us," he said in a low tone so the cyborgs wouldn't hear, but he some-how knew it wouldn't matter thanks to their heightened senses.
"How can you trust this man so explicetly?" Hillshire asked, shooting him a look. Ryoshine sighed and placed his hand on Hillshires, releasing Franz's collar from the mans grip. "If you have a problem with him take it up with me later but not right now," he said and turned slightly. "Remember - you harm him then you potentially harm the integrity of this mission, and the director would rather not get word that several of his best agents are dead all because one of them held a grudge against someone," he said. The words made Hillshire scowl, but he knew Ryoshine was right. "Fine... but if compromise's this mission I'm holding you responsible," he said and got into the van.
He shook his head and looked at Franz. "Get into the van, we can talk more later," he said and got into the drivers seat.
-
Franz calmly got in next to Giorgia. The trip to the airport was a boring one. Franz tried to cheer Giorgia up that she looked fine in the dress by complimenting her, but it seemed not to help. In about two hours they arrived at the airport.
-
The airport was a bustle of activity. People running to their gates, some grabbing their luggage and others checking in. As the van rolled up to one of the doors Ryoshine got out and walked toward the back. "Everyone back here," he called out and waited until everyone was there. "I'm sure most of you know what this is," he said as he opened up the lid on a trunk and pulled out a colt 45. "These are special, they won't let off the metal dector," he said and handed on to Hillshire. "Hide them some place that security made not pat you down at," he said.
He then handed one to Giorgia, Henrietta, Guiseppe, Jean, Triela, and Rico.
-
Giorgia took the gun. It felt light in her hands. She hid it underneath her dress, as did most of the other cyborgs. Franz merely stood to the side, watching this spectacle. The group took a deep breath, tense, and went through security. Security hardly payed attention. Franz arched his eyebrows, but didn't say anything. Hilshire signaled to their group. "There's a couple of cars waiting in the back parking lot for us. We'll have to go in different groups. Split up...however you like. Ryoshine?"
-
"Upon arrivals we'll split up while heading to the hotel, just in case we have anyone who's more than curious about our presence," Ryoshine said as he stared at the flight information being displayed on a computer screen. "Henrietta, Triela, Rico, Giorgia. You four will sit together, try and act natural though ok?" Ryoshine said and got a few nods.
As he talked with them two men were keeping a close eye on them; occasionally looking up from their newspapers and speaking into a hidden mic.
-
Franz merely stood, casting an eye around the place. He noticed two men, dressed to fit in with the crowd. Franz hadn't been a military man and an assasin for years to not know this. They were getting spyed on. He figured something like this would happen. However, if he moved too quickly, they would notice. Too slow, and they'd probably end up dead. Timing was everything. As the two men continued to "read" the newspaper, Franz sidled up to Ryoshine as if he were commenting on the weather.
With a fake smile on his lips Franz talked. "Don't look. About a meter away. Two men. I daresay around their 30's. Just nod and smile as if I've told you something funny. We're getting spyed on. I figured something like this would happen, but not this soon. We have to move quickly."
-
Ryoshine nodded and cracked a smile. "Ok kids, we have a plane to catch," he said and waved them toward the security check in. As he watched he wondered if it was possible to take out the two men, he didn't want to risk doing it in a pubic area, so he hoped that they would lose the two men in the crowd.
-
The group walked at a moderately fast pace. Franz checked his watch once in a while to make it look like they were late. He glanced over at the two men. He was right. They had gotten up and started to mix with the crowd. He grabbed Giorgia's hand and tilted his head towards Ryoshine. They were arriving at the cars to take them to the right terminal. So close...
-
Ryoshine watched as Hillshire and Triela, along with Jean and Rico moved into one car while Guiseppe, Henrietta and Giorgia got into their own. He stopped briefly and looked up at Franz, acting as if he was confused, "they still behind us?" he asked Franz and opened the door.
-
Franz gritted his teeth. "Yes." Was his simple reply. As soon as they got into the car, Franz took the wheel instead; paying the driver to stay silent. He took the lead and in about 5 minutes, broke all the driving rules ever created. However, they arrived at their terminal, and headed out.
-
"Remind me not to let you drive my car when we get back," Ryoshine said as he got out of the car. "But we seem to have lost them," he smiled when he didn't see either of the two men.
Inside the terminal Triela, Rico, Hillshire and Jean were waiting patiently for them, Ryoshine didn't know how they had arrived before them but was glad none the same. "Seem's our plane has arrived," he said as he glanced up at the arrival screen that was hanging from the ceiling."Let's go," he said and began toward the counter that the boarding ramp for their plane was at.
-
Franz grinned and walked a long side Ryoshine and Giorgia as they boarded the plane. Being in the agency had its perks; the airplane was more of a jet. Its leather interior and smiling staff greeted him. As he slank down in the plush black leathered chair, one stewardess offered him whiskey and walked to the other men to ask what they wanted to drink as well.
-
Guiseppe and Jean just wanted some coffee, while Hillshire just waved her by. "Whiskey please," he told her. She left and returned a minute or so later with a glass of whiskey.
"Five hour trip to America..." Ryoshine mumbled to himself and took a sip from his glass. "God only knows what's in store for us," he said and looked over at Giorgia and the other cyborgs.
-
Giorgia drank her orange juice; she and Henrietta sat side by side, but Giorgia wasn't in a rush to start a conversation. She peered out the window, admiring the view.
Franz sighed and slunk down in the chair even more, loosening his tie. Closing his eyes, he replied, "We'll be ready for whatever it is, whenever we get there."
-
"Yes, but I'm more so worried about whom we might be going after," he said and took another sip from his glass. "The man's in Houston, Texas...." he shook his head and looked out the window. Brings back painful memroies
-
That caught Franz's attention. "Houston?" That city brought back many memories. Some of which he didn't mind if he forgot.
"Why not...New York, Colorado....but...Texas?" Franz downed his whiskey, and undid his tie completely. Not even realizing his nervous demeanor.
-
Ryoshine shrugged. "I'm only going where the intel takes me, our contact there will have more," he said and pushed his seat back and closed his eyes. He could feel the plane moving as it taxied down the runway.
-
"Right." Franz breathed, slightly relaxing. "Of course..." He stared out of the window. Closing his eyes again he murmured, "Thomas...I remember.."
-
The plane dropped just slightly as it rose into the sky; passing through the cloud layer and then beyond. Ryoshine didn't say a word as the plane hit some turbulance, then leveled off. A sign went off telling passengers they could walk around.
-
Franz slipped into a deep slumber. The whiskey and the day's events getting to him. It seemed as if someone was reaching out to him
Bietrich, you idiot! What are you doing here? What are you trying to prove?! You have done nothing right! You have no RIGHT to live!
Franz blocked his eyes from the bright light. "Thomas...I'm sorry...so sorry...
"Apologizing now?! AFTER you've killed my wife and child and me. Me. Your friend, Bietrich. How could you?" The figure walked forward. A young, handsome looking Lietenanut appeared. HIs features however, contorted. Franz gasped. The Lietenaunt was holding a gun, aimed straight at his head.
"You'll get what's coming to you.."
Franz's body had a tremor go through it, his whole body shivering, his body convulsing.
-
Ryoshine had just managed to fall asleep when he heard the rocking of Franz's chair. "Stewardess!" he shouted.
-
Giorgia's eyes widened, she was scared, but she dared not move because Hilshire was glaring at the form of Franz haughtily. The stewardess rushed over and leaned over to hear his heartbeat. There was none. She shouted to another to bring the electric paddles.
"Ready. Clear...1...2...3"
"Bam!"
Still nothing.
"Ready. Clear...1...2...3"
"Bam!"
"Heart is stable..." The stewardness rushed to bring Franz an oxygen mask.
-
Ryoshine sighed. "He said he'd be fine," he said and waved Guiseppe over. "I think it's best we keep an eye on Franz during the mission, if this keeps up we may have to send him back to Italy," he said.
Guiseppe nodded.
-
Giorgia twitched in her seat, but had settled down after seeing that Franz was back in a 'sort-of' stable condition. She had overheard what Ryoshine had told Guisuppe, but Hilshire's indifference is what made her uneasy.
-
"Stewardnes, anything of note?" Ryoshine asked, referring to Franz's health. "Any chance he could have a relapse?" He knew the stewardnes also had a medical degree, she had served in the Italian military as a medic, then went on to private practice until being hired on. The only reason she was a stewardnes right now was by request.
-
The stewardness sighed slightly. "He may have to take it easy. His immune system is very weak. That's most likely due to a lifetime of cigarettes, and perhaps some due to drinking." She shifted her weight to her other foot, "He seems to have had a 'day' terror. Or rather, a flashback, an hallucination."
-
"Of what I wonder..." Ryoshine said as she clasped his hands in front of his face and stared at Franz.
-
Giorgia stared long and hard at Franz. What was wrong with him? Would he end up being okay? What would terrorize this man of steel?
Giorgia spoke up softly. "Erm...but will he be okay?"
The stewardess looked kindly down on Giorgia. "He'll be fine, sweetheart. Just take him off those cigarettes and beers."
Hilshire snorted. "Why are you so worried about him, Giorgia? He's just a-"
The stewardness watched him, so did everyone else. Hilshire just grumbled and didn't finish his sentence.
-
"He will be off his cigarettes and beer, because once we arrive there will be 'no' drinking of any sort or smoking as we don't want our cover blown," he said and looked at Hillshire, then at Guiseppe. "We will all remind him of that alright?" he said and got several nods.
-
Gioriga smiled and nodded, although she still didn't like the look Hilshire gave. She peered out the window. The stewardness said it would still be another two hours until they landed.
-
The aircraft made a slow dive over the ocean as it approuched the florida coast line. It flew over fishing boats that were out on the water, the crew on board waved at the small aircraft almost as if they could see the occupents inside.
"We'll be landing shortly for refueling before continuing to our destination, all passenger please remain seated," the captain said over the internal PA. The aircarft jumped slightly as the landing gear was deployed, stretching out to meet the landing strip that was fast approuching.
Another bump reverbrated through the craft as they touched down onto the tarmak and continued to roll until the pilot reversed thrust to slow it down further. Then he steered the air craft toward an awaiting tanker. "It'll take a few minute's to fill," Ryoshine said to himself and stretched his arms. "Then it'll be another one or two hours flight.... let's just hope it remains peaceful," he smiled.
-
Giorgia sighed softly to herself as she played with the hem of her dress. Stealing glances at Ryoshine and Franz once in a while, she began to drift off into sleep.
-
Ryoshine didn't feel the aircraft as he took from the airport and ascended into the sky. Passing the growing clouds, it continued its voyage to Houston, Texas.
It didn't take long before the aircraft arrived at the airport. Ryoshine, who was awoken by the stewardess, went over to wake the others up. "Giorgia," he said softly to her and nudged her shoulder. "Time to wake up, we've arrived," he told her.
-
Giorgia immediately awoke at the slightest touch of Ryoshine's hand. She got up and stretched, only to find Franz very slowly trying to get up.
-
Ryoshine smiled and turned to Franz. "How are you feeling?" he asked the man as Guiseppe and Jean exited the aircraft, accompanied by their cyborg companions.
-
Franz mumbled a very indistinct curse as he got up. He smiled a wry smile as he turned and looked at Ryoshine. "Could have been worse." He slowly got up and staggered off the aircraft. Giorgia eyed Franz worriedly as she exited after him.
-
Ryoshine looked at the airport; it was a pleasant view from his perch atop the aircraft's entrance and exit. "Such a beautiful place, let's just hope we get our mission done quickly and get back to our base," he said as he walked down the flight of stairs onto the tarmak.
Near the terminal was a blue van; it's engine was off and two men wearing camoflauge units stood near a large box.
-
As she entered the lobby of the airport, almost at once she could feel the heat of Hoston.
"Aw man...it's boiling here!" She said. She followed Ryoshine and the rest of the group.
-
"Hello SIr, we have your early christmas presents" one of the men said as he opened the create briefly to reveal their weapons, before closing it and placing it in the back of the van. "They are all here," he said.
"So it seem's," Ryoshine said. "What about the 'bigger' gifts?" he added
The man dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled a peice of paper and handed it to Ryoshine. He opened it up and nodded, "very well then, thank you for getting these past security," he said before walking around the van and opening the drivers side door. "Everyone in!" he shouted as the two men ran off to their own cars.
-
Giorgia watched the exchange between the men and hurried into the van with the rest of the team. Franz had managed to have a spurt of energy and get himself in, but he was now breathing heavily and very anxious. He reached inside his pocket for a ciggarette but Giorgia grabbed it out of his hands.
"No way."
-
The drive to the hotel was uneventful, other than the traffic which made Ryoshine curse a few words in another language (german). When he pulled up to the hotel entrance he leaned over the drivers seat. "Giorgia, Henrietta, Rico, Triela - grab a pistol from the case and hide it on your person. However, don't pull it unless you feel we are absolutely threatened - I'd prefer 'not' to have a firefight here in this hotel, and espically not with how jumpy American police can be at times," he said to the girls.
He looked back through the windshield before addressing Franz and the other adults. "Same for the rest of us, pistol only. We'll carry the case up to our hotel room and distribute the weapons accordingly. After that we should get settled in before doing anything else," he said and opened the drivers side door while Jean and Guiseppe handed out pistols.
-
"Yes sir" Said Giorgia as she grabbed a pistol from Guiseppe, while keeping an eye on Franz who had gotten one from Jean. They exited the van and the group entered the posh hotel.
-
In the hotel lobby Ryoshine was talking with the person behind the desk. "Thank you sir for choosing us," the girl said and handed him four keys. "Fourth floor, third room from the left of the stairway," she said.
"Thank you ma'am," Ryoshine said and headed over to an elevator to wait for the others.
-
Giorgia was furiously refusing to hand over Franz's ciggarette, while Franz was muttering under his breath, arguing with her. The two stood next to Ryoshine, still bickering. Giorgia tugged on Ryoshine's sleeve for help.
-
Ryoshine sighed and turned to Franz. "There's a no smoking sign here ya know," he said and thumbed toward a small sign on the wall that was in various languages. "Don't make take those ciggerette's and use them for target practice," he smiled at the man.
-
Franz sighed dejectedly but said nothng more as he just shoved his hands in his pockets. Giorgia brightened up immensely as the group entered their hotel rooms.
-
The room was small; in fact, smaller than Ryoshine had figured. There were three beds, each seperated by a drawer. Toward the back of the room was a small table with two chairs on it; the window was covered up by curtains.
"Get settled in; meet in the lobby in twenty," he said to Jean and the others before walking into the room. "Franz, you take the bed on the far end.. Giorgia you sleep near the window and I'll be in the middle bed," he said. He intentionally set it up so Franz wasn't near Giorgia, while he trusted the man, he knew he had to keep his distance, both for his sake and for Giorgias.
-
Franz nodded, absently brushing his hair back with his hand. He threw his luggage on his bed, changing his shirt and pants in the restroom. Meanwhile, Giorgia had dragged her bag onto her bed near the window, and opened it up to grab a few more rounds of ammo.
-
Ryoshine stared out the window of their hotel, he spied two men on the farside of the parking lot - one was peering through a set of binoculars while the other was smoking a ciggeratte. "Hmmm...." Ryoshine said as he watched the two men.
"Hey Franz," he said and beckoned for the man to take a look. "Giorgia, you too," he added.
-
Franz quickly came out from the restroom and stood near Ryoshine. A small frown came creeping onto Franz'z face. "Those...bast-" then caught himself quickly as he realized Giorgia was looking out as well. Franz grumbled. "Just let me kill them now..."
-
Ryoshine shook his head. "No, not yet. First I'd rather take them both alive and get some information out of them," he said and looked down at Giorgia. "Hmmm.... let's just watch them for a little while longer, if they are still there tonight then," he smiled at Giorgia. "You'll go in and bring them both here, just don't hurt them... much.."
-
Giorgia grinned mischiveously as she nodded. She looked up at both men as Franz grinned back down at her and ruffled her hair.
-
Ryoshine smiled and walked away from the window, he grabbed a remote and turned it on to the local news. The woman there spoke about some police presence at the airport, then swifted to something that, at least to Ryoshine, was boring. "You hungry Franz? Giorgia?" he asked.
-
"Nope." replied Franz.
"Yep!" Replied Giorgia.
Franz chuckled. "Why don't we go down to the lobby to see if the hotel as some dining place, then, Ryoshine?
-
"We can do that," Ryoshine said and walked out of the room. He tapped on the door being shared by Guisepp and Jean. "We are headed down to the lobby if you need us," he told them.
"Fine," Jean said from inside. "We'll be down in a few," he said.
-
Giorgia skipped down happily while Franz gave her quiet warnings to not act so rambunctious. The trio found a small cafe on the lobby of the hotel. They seated themselves and looked through the menu.
-
Ryoshine stared at the food items that were availible. He hummed to himself as he made up his mind on what he would get, "well I know what I'm getting," he said and then turned toward Franz and Giorgia. "What about you two?" he asked.
-
"I'm not very hungry." replied Franz. "I feel like getting a drink though." He said enthusiastically.
Giorgia piped up, beaming. "No alcohol though, Mr. Franz." She said, grinning.
-
Ryoshine smirked. "You heard her," he said and grinned at Franz. "I guess I'll get me some coffe," he said and waited until a waiter came by to take their drink order.
When Ryoshine said what he wanted to drink; the man nodded and wrote it down, and then turned his attention to Giorgia. "What do you want young lady?" he asked Giorgia, his manner of speech told Ryoshine that the man was married, possibly had a child. The mans voice was full of care, yet he had also chosen his words carefully.
-
Franz groaned, but good naturedly.
Giorgia, with her best manners replied, "I'd like apple juice, and this sandwich, please sir." The waiter nodded and turned to Franz. "And you, sir?"
Franz eyed both Ryoshine and Giorgia. Taking a deep breath he replied, "I'd like..........b-...Ice tea" He said, grinning.
The waiter nodded and left.
-
"Almost," Ryoshine said as he placed the menu down. He slowly scanned the cafe with both eyes, he didn't sense any trouble, though he was alreayd aware of the trouble 'outside' the hotel.
He saw Henrietta and Rico, along with their respective handlers, enter the cafe and head to another table away from them. He knew they where both covering each other in the event something happened, though he couldn't see it, he could tell that Guiseppe and Jean both had their pistols, though he wondered if Henrietta and Rico had theirs.
-
The waiter arrived back a couple of minutes later with the drinks and sanwich for Giorgia. Franz merely sipped his iced tea, but gazed around. Any sign of disturbing behavior, and he'd pin them down.
-
"down boy," Ryoshine said softly. "I doubt anyone would try anything here, though I have heard the gangs here do tend to not care about civilians," he said.
Taking a sip from his coffee, his eyes fell upon a woman who was sitting with her back against them. He watched her closey, yet stealthy as well, making sure she didn't notice them. Ryoshine glanced over at Jean and thumbed his finger at the woman, he nodded and, with Rico, got up and joined the lady at her table.
-
Franz narrowed his eyes slightly, taking in a man looking at their table. He wore a black fitted t-shirt and rough blue jeans. Very particular for an uptown hotel like this one. Franz shifted in his seat.
-
"Seem's we have company," Ryoshine said as he sighted yet another man. "Though I can't tell if they are friendly or not," he said and glnaced at Franz. "What do you think?" he asked him. "Could they be our contacts bodyguards? Or Assassins..."
-
"Our bodyguards?" Franz replied, incredulous. "Look closely! You think THEY want to PROTECT us?" Franz shook his head strongly. "No. They're bound to be markmen. We see only two, but there's bound to be at least 5, if not more."
-
Ryoshine shook her head. "Not ours Franz. I'm talking about our contact, could they have been her bodyguards... but your right, lets keep a close eye on them and wait and see," he said and took a sip from his coffee cup.
-
Franz drummed his fingers against the tabletop impatiently. "We're going to have to do something, and quick, Ryoshine"
-
"Calm down," Ryoshine said silently. "If we rush into action its possible it could cause problems," he said as one of the men he was watching stood up and left the cafe. A couple second's later another man also got up and left, he looked toward the girl and she glanced over at him, he nodded and then left. Ryoshine didn't say a word, instead he kept watching the girl and one other man who was still in the cafe.
-
Franz nervoulsy reached for a ciggarette. His hand was trembling and he could barely light the damn thing up. "Ah, shizer." He grumbled, taking a swig from his coffee instead.
-
It felt like hours had gone by; but in reality only ten minutes had actually passed. The young lady gave Jean a curt nod before getting up and leaving, the man who he and Frans had seen before got up and had a brief conversation with the woman before following her out.
Jean then looked at Ryoshine before glancing toward the window. "Seem's before we can do 'anything' we'll have to take care of our watchdogs," he said and took another sip from his coffee. As he set it down he noticed that his cup was empty, and waved for a waiter to bring him a fresh brew. "Giorgia, you hungry for desert?"
-
Ryoshone shook his head; he noticed that Giorgia seemed to be to preoccupied by her food than to hear him. He sat there and took a sip from his newly filled cup of coffee, then glanced out the cafe window. He saw the van in the distance and noticed two men come out, "Giorgia, Franz, I think we might have to step up our plans," he said as he watched the two men.
-
Franz immediately stood up, blood boiling. Giorgia seemed to have perked up as well, her eyes wide. She followed Ryoshine's line of sight to see the two men come out and stick something into their pockets which were obviously pistols.
-
Ryoshine sighed and lifted his hand, he spun his finger in the air which caused Henrietta and Giuseppe, along with Triela and Rico and their handlers to get up and spread out throughout the hotel. "Giorgia, just knock them out 'try' not to kill them please. Franz, keep watch for others, I'm almost certain they have backup," he tells them and sticks his hands back into his pocket.
--
Rico and her handler made their way up the stairs and into their room, where she threw open a case and quickly took out a long barreled sniper rifle. With the room as dark as it can be, she set up in front of the partly opened window and trained her rifle on the two men that Jean pointed out. "Don't fire unless they pose a threat to Ryoshine and his cyborg," Jean said as he peered down the binoculars he had up to his face.
--
Henrietta and Triela both headed to an alleyway behind the hotel, holding semi-automatics and their handlers armed with just pistols. They waited just in case reinforcements arrived, and some how, they both knew something else may happen.
-
Giorgia smiled, somewhat amused. "I'll try real hard, sir." And then quickly went off.
Franz merely nodded as he went the opposite way of Giorgia.
-
Ryoshine sighed and watched the men. "Let the fireworks begin," she said to himself.
The three men from the van looked around, both carrying semi-automatic rifles, while another was carrying a much more lethal, squad automatic weapon.
For Ryoshine, he knew this would turn out to be an interesting fight. "Ok gents, they're getting to close for comfort," he said over the squad headset. "Becareful, one's armed with a SAW," he added a second later.
Toya has returned!
-
Giorgia ducked by a corner, keeping one eye trained onto the men, and another, for Ryoshine's signal. She double checked her gun as the men shifted their positions slightly. Giorgia raised the gun to eye level, making sure the cross hairs were lined up.
Ryoshine gave her a thumb's up. That was all Giorgia needed as she fired, aiming her first shot at one man's knee. The man howled, but then crumpled. The men were panicked, and their form was now scattered. They didn't see who had shot one of their men, and now they were anxious. It seemed to Giorgia that this group relied on structure and rules. Once that was gone, well, so was their sense of calm.
-
Another shot range out, though it was muffled due to the presence of a silencer. The bullet screamd down range from the roof the building and hit one of the men in the side of his chest, ripping it open, and causing him to hit the ground in utter pain. Now the men were glancing around, not firing their weapons but more so trying to figure out who was shooting at them.
"Giorgia, man in the back, black coat, wearing glasses.. he must be their leader - take him down with two knee shots," Ryoshine ordered as he stared down the binocs, he watched the scene and knew that there 'had' to be more around.
-
"On it, sir." She replied confidently. Giorgia fired two shots that found their marks perfectly. The man buckled, and fell to the ground, surprise etched on every feature on his face.
Franz came through one of the communication devices. "Four more inside the building, gathering others, I believe. Stay on the look out. I've got the back side, but I'm running out of ammo with only this pistol."
-
Ryoshine repurposed his binocs toward said building and saw some movement behind the shutters, but not enough to get a clear indication of who was who. "Damn," he scowled and lowered the binocs and scanned the area around with just his eyes. "The vans immobile, and the those around it are either dead or wishing they were," he softly said and looked at Giorgia with a smile.
He then heard some commotion coming from the building.
"~Shit, they got a hostage,~" Guiseppe said over the squad com. "~A little girl, maybe no more than nine, and her mother it seems~"
Ryoshine cursed yet again. "Don't fire," he said and watched their movements. "Giorgia, aim high, head level, do 'not' miss, or you'll hit the girl and her mother," he said, his words somewhat full of venom from the sight of such cowardly acts.
He then switched to squad comm. "Jean, have Rico take out the remainer in the building. Franz, if you have enough ammo left, sweep the building after Jean gives the all clear signal," he said and watched the two men as they slowly, and mythidically, moved toward their disabled van with the little girl and her mother in tow.
-
Giorgia nodded, focusing her energy onto the location. She saw it too, but from her angle at the moment, it would be near impossible to get a good shot in. She dashed to another corner, and looked up. It wasn't much better, but it would have to do. This shot counted.
She crouched down, ready to pull the trigger, but then.
"Wait!" A sharp command from Franz. Giorgia glanced up, distracted. Why wait? She could get the man.
"Don't shoot. It's a decoy. I'm up on that level. I-" Franz's voiced dropped drastically. "Shizer..." He glanced out the window. "Look. I'll take care of this. You have company on ground level."
-
Ryoshine blinked and glanced to his left and up, almost like he could see Jeans reaction. "Everyone cover ground, Jean, have Rico continue to monitor the decoys though.." he said and watched them, he did notice that the little didn't seem that frightened. An act? Why would a little girl willing play that role... he muttered.
-
Franz leaned against the doorway of the room. He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. Decoy, or not, the man inside was armed. He only had one shot left in his pistol. Franz very well knew it was a suicide mission. Giorgia and Franz needn't know that however. Saying a silent prayer, he cocked his gun, tapping with the barrel onto the door.
Heavy footfalls, and an eye peeked out from the hole. Franz knew what the other man saw. Blue tie, white collared shirt, and suit. Very professional like. Very...like. assassin like. He had no time to change, it was already too late. Adreneline pumped through him as it usually did when he was on missions. He heard grunting on the other side. Franz stood, poised.
The door opened, and without a blink, Franz fired to the man's forehead. However, the man was trained and the split second before Franz had fired, so had the other man. The bullet whizzed out of the gun, piercing Franz's lower stomach.
First there was nothing.
Then the pain hit him, shot through his system as he gritted his teeth, sinking down against the wall. The little girl sat still on the chair, looking almost smug. There was a walkie talkie next to her, and if she reached out and grabbed it...
But wait, through Franz's pain addled brain, he could recall there had to be one more person in the room. He felt another person appear from the shadows.
That was right. The girl's mother. She walked up, looking at him scornfully, a knife, appearing from her side.
-
Ryoshine waited, and waited, he was getting nervous as he watched the building. "Somethings not right," he muttered to himself and switched to a private comm. with Jean.
***
Rico piveted and aimed the scope of her rifle, scanning the windows until she found the little girl sitting in the chair. She watched the girl closely and then got somewhat confused, she piveted the scope again at the little girl and mother that were walking toward the van. Huh? she blinked and once again switched back to the window.
***
"'two'?" Ryoshine said when he heard what Jean told him. He glanced to one side and told Jean to switch to an infra-red scope for Rico, as he didn't have one on him for Giorgia. "See what's going on in that building," he instructed him.
-
The reply came back quickly enough. Jean commented after receiving the information from Rico.
"Three bodies still inside. Two aren't moving. One is moving towards the other. It's a really bad angle, I can't tell who's who. But if Franz is in there...then I hope he's the one moving..." Jean ended on a grimace.
Giorgia had the urge to run inside and help. But she knew she mustn't. She had gotten in so much trouble already, and if she risked something like this, especially when it was already dangerous...then she would put herself, and Franz into even more danger. She bit her lip, trying to focus on her surroundings.
-
Ryoshine nodded just the same and waited for two full seconds. "Damn it, we can't really take the risk though..." he muttered and clicked the headset a few times for a 'are you alright' signal to see if Franz would get it. Either he'd send back the three clicks, indicating he was the person moving, or he'd not, in which case Rico would aim for the center of mass on the moving target and fire.
-
Franz heard the rapid clicking noises coming from his headset. Ryoshine was trying to figure out what the hell happened to him. Well. He couldn't do a thing about it at the moment. Whatever remaining color in his face drained, leaving him pale. Sweat was dropping slowly down from his face as his mouth was set in a firm line. His blue eyes appraised the woman slowly walking up to him. She twirled the knife in her hand expertly, and Franz caught every movement.
Even if the woman was in range for Franz, he could not do anything at all. The pain was coursing, seeping through him as he was losing more blood each and every second. He struggled to remain conscious.
The woman drew her hand back, and Franz gritted his teeth. He would not however, shrink back. Nor, would he close his eyes. That would be cowardly. And if he were to die, then he would not die with fear. He was an officer, and Captain of the German Army. If this death were to be painful, then so be it. He already knew what would happen when he would die, anyways. If there was a hell, he'd certainly go there.
There was a flash in the woman's eyes as she stabbed Franz in his thigh. Franz grunted, suppressing the urge to scream. My thigh? Why not kill me right away? ...Unless...unless she wants to.... Franz's eyes dimmed at the realization. She wants to draw it out. This damn agency sure makes enemies rather quickly.... He had to think of something else. Had to think of something else besides the pain.
The woman drew the knife back again, clearly displeased at the lack of response from Franz's end. She drew back, and shot it through his arm.
This time, Franz let out a muffled groan. That was the same area on the same arm where he had gotten a sharp piece of glass merely a week ago. The wound had barely healed, and it was now open again.
-
Ryoshine scowled when he didn't get the signal back after a few seconds. Jean had called back, saying that Rico was noticing some odd movements from the target, as the persons arm or hand had merged briefly with the red signature. That right there told Ryoshine that it wasn't Franz who was up and about, but someone else. "Take the shot, 'if' Rico is unable to aim for center of mass without risk of hitting the person on the ground, then take the headshot.." he said and muted his headset, then muttered something silently to himself. "I really hope the one we are about to shoot isn't Franz..."
-
Jean relayed the message to Rico, and Rico nodded in affirmative. From this angle, the head shot would suffice. She cocked her rifle, and zoomed in. Making sure everything was in alignment, she fired.
The woman drew back her hand again for the final blow. Franz winced. There was nothing logical now that was going through his brain. His brain was on sensory overload. The pain had risen to excruciating heights. He tried to struggle, making it worse. He waited for the final blow....
But it never came.
There was a crash, and a thump. Franz turned his head wearily to see...the decapitated body. Although that was good news for Franz, he at the moment, couldn't register anything. All he could think of was that the knife was gone. Slumping all the way down, he went unconscious, his head banging against the floor hard, his form crumpled.
-
When the shot rang out, it reverberated off the walls and gave out a hollow sound. In this instance, the police who had been responding to a 'shots fired' message from dispatch couldn't figure out 'where' it had come from and assumed it was in the opposite direction of the building.
"Get in there!" Ryoshine shouted over his headset as Guiseppe and Henrietta, along with Triella and Hilshire, stormed the building from two entry points.
-
Hilshire and Triela were the first to make it into the room where Franz's form lay. Hillshire's mouth twitched as he went around to survey the room.
Triela immediately went down to Franz, checking a pulse. "Sir. He's got a pulse, but it's very faint. If he doesn't get attention soon, he's going to die."
Hillshire waved his hand. "Wait till Guiseppe and Henrietta come. In the meantime, make sure there isn't anyone else." Triela merely nodded and started searching.
Guiseppe and Henrietta came in only seconds later. Unlike Hillshire, Guiseppe went straight to Franz, his mouth set in a firm line. "Christ...he's gotten stabbed multiple times..." He checked his pulse and paled. He gently grabbed Franz and slung him over his shoulder. It was then he noticed Hillshire watching with distaste.
"You were here first. Why didn't you grab him and go?"
"Needed to make sure there weren't anymore of them."
"That wasn't the reason, was it?" Guiseppe growled. "Franz took one for the team. And technically, he's not part of it. The real hostages are safe."
Hillshire shrugged carelessly. "The man's a murderer, and assasin. He's merely paying his dues."
Guiseppe wanted to jump the other man, but he realized he was running out of time. "Henrietta. Cover me." Henrietta nodded, and Guiseppe, with Franz made his way out with Henrietta.
-
Ryoshine continued to keep an eye on the building; listening to Guiseppe when he told him that Franz had been stabbed several times, and that he needed attention. He got on the line and called in one of their own doctors who was in town for just such an occasion and told him to get to the hotel as soon as possible, he wanted to avoid using this countries hospitals since he knew the police would get involved.
He also listened as Hillshire and Triela took the young girl, the one who Franz had found, and apperently discovered wasn't a hostage at all, out of the building and into an awaiting car. The two real hostages were escorted by some of their men to a safe house for temporary care and then would be released back home.
"Giorgia, keep an eye out just in case," he told her, then relayed the same message to Jean.
-
Guiseppe was breathing hard as he finally came in front of the hotel's back doors. The less people that saw Franz, the better. Carrying Franz inside, Guiseppe saw the doctor and motioned him over. They headed up to the room they were using, and Guiseppe was able to gently lay Franz on the bed.
"I know there may not be a lot of medic-"
The doctor shook his head, "I've got my bag. But...it's going to be hard."
Guiseppe nodded and turned to Henrietta as to leave.
The doctor however, asked one more question as he started to work. "How...important is this man?"
Guiseppe stopped, pausing. He tilted his head to the side. "Very important.
As he opened the door, he patted Henrietta on the back. They had to go and make sure the other allyways were clear.
Giorgia nodded in affirmative to Ryoshine's request. Franz would be okay. Franz had to be okay.
-
Several minutes passed with no sign of further hostilities, with that out of the way Ryoshine sent the all clear signal. "Arrest those we didn't kill, interrogate them, then discard them," he ordered then took the headset off and let out a sigh. "Nice shooting Giorgia," he said and smiled at the little girl and patted her on the head. The training has paid off immensely, but we still have a long way to go... after today we'll be making our trip to Texas and then we get to play the part of a family.. that'll be fun..
-
Giorgia nodded, but her eyes were deeply troubled. While she was satisfied that Ryoshine was not injured or hurt in anway, with no distraction now, her thoughts focused to Franz; the one in question. She didn't know how deep the extent of his injuries were, or if he had gotten injured at all. Some part in her brain told her that she was not to be troubled with this man. And yet another part of her willed herself to think about it. Franz Bietrich was her godfather. She could not just trash that away. He was the only link to her otherwise dead family.
The young girl followed Ryoshine as the two of them made their way to the hotel. She had a distinct urge, the same as a couple of minutes ago, to see him. All she wanted was to make sure he was alright. Even a quick glance, and she would be fine. Because, after all, Franz couldn't be that badly hurt, could he? He was so strong, and so proud, he wouldn't have gotten hurt.
But what Giorgia didn't know was the extent of Franz's injuries.
She dimly got into the elevator, the tinny, metallic music somewhat irritating her.
-
Ryoshine stood there, his mind recalling what had just transpired. He wonder what he could've done better, or what orders he could've given that would've pervented the current outcome. He watched Giorgia as she left, smiling somewhat as she disappered into the elevator down the hall. "She's done a good job so far, but she looks so much like my deceased daughter..." he sighed.
-
As the elevator doors opened, Giorgia finally realized that Ryoshine had not been in there with her. Frantically, she looked around. She was torn at what to do. Should she go back and find Ryoshine? Or should she go find Franz and check up on him?
Her face contorted into an agonized one, weighing her choices. Although the...robotic part of her, per say, immediately told her to go back and find Ryoshine. She took a step back to the elevators and hesitated.
She made her choice. She would just quickly find Franz, just check up on him. After all, he couldn't be hurt. And then...and THEN she'd go back and find Ryoshine. She ran down the hallway, listening acutely. Although her hearing wasn't as acute as some of the other girls, hers was pretty advanced.
-
"It isn't good," the doctor finally said with a sigh. "He'll live, but I can't say for how long," he added.
"It's that bad?"
"Worse, I won't go into details but I can say this - he'll be in a lot of pain," the doctor said and took a seat. "The cuts are deep and one came real close to cuting a vital vein, he's lucky it missed or else he'd be dead. I can stitch up the open cuts and then cover them, but without the medical technology of our country..."
Guiseppe nodded and sighed. "Ryoshine ain't going to like this...."
"Well, he'll still be able to work, that is the important part. However, the human body is an amazing thing, for all we know his body will heal up completely and he'll be fine," the doctor said, though even he thought it was wishful thinking.
-
Stopping at the correct door, Giorgia paled as she heard bits and pieces of the conversation.
...a lot of pain...vital vein....lucky....dead...
Giorgia felt she couldn't breathe. What was going on in there? What had happened to Franz? Her blue eyes darted frantically, trying to piece the puzzle together, but she found that she just couldn't figure it out. Steeling herself, and trying to put on an expressionless face, (after all, all of them, Giorgia had realized, Henrietta, Rico, Triella...they were merely machines) and knocked lightly on the door.
-
Henrietta turned her gaze toward the door and Guiseppe walked over to it and opened. "Yes?" he said before noticing Giorgia standing there. "Giorgia? Why isn't Ryoshine with you?" he asked, though he somewhat knew why she was here and not with him.
-
"May I come in?" Giorgia asked plainly, standing still. She had her emotions in tact. With a hesitant nod from Guiseppe, Giorgia side stepped him and walked in. What she saw however, she was not prepared to see. Although the sight was gruesome, her legs carried her even closer to the barely breathing Franz. Giorgia had to constantly reassure herself that she was alive from the jagged breathing, and heaving of his chest.
She glanced around quickly, noticing subtle things that the damage had done. His hand, ribs, face, leg...
What had Franz done?!
She hesitantly put one of her small hands atop of one of his. She then turned her head to face Guiseppe. "Will he....be alright?"
-
"He'll be fine, just needs some rest," the doctor said, though his voice was flat and devoid of concern, much like how the doctors back at the agency react.
***
"Where is your cyborg?" Hillshire asked when he noticed that Giorgia wasn't with him. Ryoshine sighed slightly and pushed off the wall. "More than likely she's with Franz," he said.
"And you trust that traitor?"
Ryoshine thought about it for a full two seconds then said. "Sort of, despite him being a traitor, he does still have a role to play and his knowledge is useful," Ryoshine shook his head when he saw Hillshire's expression. "Don't do anything that might compromise this mission.. don't forget why we are here," he warned him then casually left the room. Hillshire is smart enough not to pull anything rash, but I worry that Franz might be having to 'much' of an influence on Giorgia, I better keep an eye on her and wrangle her in if it starts to become a problem, he thought.
-
Giorgia stared at the doctor for a full three seconds, trying very hard to believe the doctor, but finding that she just couldn't.
"Thank you." She said briefly.
Giorgia felt sick. She had to get out of here as fast as she could. With one more quick glance at Franz, she strode out of the room with some sort of balance. As soon as she rounded the corner however, she was running. Running as fast as she possibly could, not knowing where she was going, yet somehow having a destination in mind.
-
Jean and Rico were just putting their things away when Rico heard something down the hall. "What's wrong?" Jean asked as Rico stood up and opened the door and walked outside, the next thing she felt was someone running right into her.
-
Giorgia saw Rico, but in her current state, couldn't put on her "brakes" fast enough.
The next thing she knew, she had collided full on with Rico. Neither of the girls were hurt, just slightly stunned.
"Sorry!" Giorgia said quickly, apologizing. She got up, smoothing her clothes. Now this was quite the awkward situation.
She briefly looked at Jean, then back at Rico. Making sure Rico was truly fine, Giorgia gave them both a slight smile, and then took off again. She had to find Ryoshine. Ryoshine would know what to do. He always knew what to do.
-
Jean just watched with utter silence, Rico let out a slight smile before walking back into the room and past Jean. "That.. .was unexpected," Jean finally said before turning his full attention back to what they were doing.
***
Ryoshine soon found himself on the roof the hotal; watching a distant gathering of clouds. He could tell that a storm was brewing and that within a matter of hours they'd have to readjust their plans slightly to compensate for the delay. "I guess we'll be a bit late," he said, Ryoshone was planning on leaving around midnight for their excursion but if the weather truly caused them problems then they'd have to wait until morning.
"Doesn't matter much, from my understanding that drug lord will be in town for many months to come, so hopefully he doesn't change his plans," Ryoshine said, taking out a cigerrate and twiraling it between his fingers. "I wonder what Giorgia is up to right now..." he pondered.
-
Giorgia, went crashing into Ryoshine's room not five seconds later. Not winded, she stood there, wondering how to ask, wonder how she was supposed to approach him. She knew that she wasn't supposed to have any sort of feelings for Franz, and she knew that she was...programmed to save Ryoshine. Her mouth twitched.
"I uh...the doctor said that Franz would be fine but....but I don't....believe him"
-
"Why don't you believe him?" Ryoshine asked suddenly, only not from the room but rather from behind her. He had come from the roof and had neglected to lock the door, it hadn't surprised him that Giorgia thought he might've still been in the room.
-
Giorgia swiveled around, and if Ryoshine's presence had startled her, she maintained her composure.
Knowing that Ryoshine couldn't do a thing if she didn't tell him the truth, she replied quietly, "Did you...have you had a chance to look at Franz, sir? Even if he does get...better, he won't be the same. The doctor there...they don't...they're not trying." Giorgia murmured. "If you had seen the look on their faces..."
-
Ryoshine sighed slightly and glanced to his right. "You know what your thinking and saying can cause us both to get in trouble right? You need to keep your emotions in check," he said and walked up to her. "We are in a different country remember? This isn't Italy, this is America.. and thus if we get our injured we can't exactly go to the hospital and get patched up - we have to rely on our safe houses..." he said to her.
If her emotions continue run unchecked, I may be forced to administer a control drug while we are in country and that'll be cause for problems if I choose the wrong moment to do that... he thought as he watched her to see how she would react to his words.
-
Giorgia kept her temper in check. Her mouth twitched ever so slightly that even she didn't catch it. Ryoshine had a structure himself, she couldn't rely on him with personal matters. She had to keep a cool head if she wanted him at her side. If she didn't, she didn't know what, but something bad would happen to her.
"I...understand." She murmured quietly, turning to go.
-
"Giorgia, perhaps you should get some rest," Ryoshine suggested as he opened the door further. "It'll help you clear your mind," he smiled.
-
"Yes. Certainly. Sorry to disturb." Giorgia replied as she stepped into the hallway. As soon as the door closed, Giorgia raced back to the room Franz was in, pausing to listen if any body was in there. No one was, so they must have tried to get more supplies, or taken a break. Either way, Giorgia was glad. At the very least, in front of Franz, she could drop this facade. Opening the door, she stepped in, then closing the door behind her.
Franz was on the bed, his eyes closed. Giorgia watched with growing anxiety as Franz's breathing wasn't very deep. She quickly walked over to him, and gently put her little hand into his big one. She didn't know if he could hear her. In a way, she hoped he didn't, because if he did, that meant the pain medication, and sleeping pill hadn't worked, or had worn off, and Giorgia didn't want that for Franz.
"Franz?" She whispered, though another part of her wanted to see those marvelous blue eyes. His eyes fluttered, but nothing else happened.
Giorgia took a breath and let it out. "Franz...you can't die. You have to keep on living. You said you'd look after me, right? You're still good. And besides, you risked your life on something that you didn't even need to be a part of. Not even Hilshire can deny that. You did really well, Franz. You just can't go." Giorgia ended, unsettled. She leaned over, kissing Franz briefly on the forehead as she let go of his hand.
As she started back to the door, she muttered a parting.
"Ich liebe dich, Pate."
Opening the door, she slowly made her way to the room she was sharing.
-
Hillshire watched from down the hall just out of Giorgia's sight, and grinned slightly. He took out the earpiece and looked at the audio tape, then stuffed it into his pocket and walked away.
***
Ryoshine was working on his laptop, making sure the next few days were set. "Tomorrow we leave.. and then the real mission starts.." he said.
-
Giorgia tiredly collapsed on her bed, not bothering to change her clothes. She twisted and turned multiple times, trying to get comfortable, but failed. However, finally, after many many hours of fitful sleep, Giorgia fell asleep, with no dreams plaguing her mind.
-
Next Day
The clock rang, awaking Ryoshine from his sleep. He looked at the clock and realized it was early morning, "guess I was more tired than I thought," he said and glanced at Giorgia, who was still sound asleep. The bitter cold of the room caused him to take his warmer and place it over Giorgia, then with a smile he got up and went back to his laptop to finalize a few things before the drive.
-
A cold draft blew over Giorgia and she unconsciously shifted her position, curling up into a fetal position, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. Soon however, something warm descended on her and she relaxed again, sighing briefly. A couple of more minutes passed, and she was awake, and yet she didn't want to get up. To get up meant that she would have to face the day...something, that she didn't really want to do.
Groaning inwardly to herself, she opened her eyes, sitting herself up, suppressing a yawn with her hand.
-
"Had a pleasant sleep I hope?" Ryoshine smiled when he turned toward the young girl.
-
Giorgia nodded, trying to act like she usually did. She gave her handler a grin, before jumping off of the bed.
"Yes, I did. You too?" She inquired.
-
"Restless night, the thunder outside didn't help much," he said and gestured with his head toward the window, there was a faint sound of trickling rain outside along with the smell that came with it. "Take a look," he smiled.
-
Giorgia curiously stared out the window, eyes widening as she saw some damage due to the storm.
"Ah." She said quietly, turning back to look at Ryoshine. "Is everything still going to go as planned for today?" She inquired.
-
"Yes, the storm is just a light one so it shouldn't hamper our trip," Ryoshine said and glanced toward the door. "Shall we go and eat breakfast?"
-
Giorgia nodded, noticing the very formal air between the two as they started to walk to the breakfast room. Or maybe, everything WAS fine, maybe she was just letting her imagination get to her. Whatever the situation however, Giorgia calmly kept in step with Ryoshine as they grabbed an array of items for breakfast.
-
A table near the window was empty, and thus Ryoshine took a seat and smiled when Giorgia sat in the seat across. He looked at his cup of coffee and drank some of it's contents, then glanced out the window and into the weather torn sky. "So, what will today bring," he thought aloud.
-
Giorgia chewed on her toast silently, but was thinking throughout. Most certainly, what WOULD today bring? She cocked her head slightly at Ryoshine, asking the silent question, and in her curiosity, looked out once again at the window.
Immediately, Giorgia found Hillshire with his care, and she stopped chewing on her toast for a moment to watch what he was doing.
-
"Something on your mind?" Ryoshine asked when he noticed Giorgia's stare.
-
Giorgia immediately snapped her attention back to Ryoshine, slightly disturbed. "Nothing really. I thought I saw...Hillshire out there."
-
He blinked. "'thought' you saw?" he said and looked out but didn't notice Hillshire anywhere. "Hmmmm...." he stared at her for a second before taking his cup of coffee and sipping from it. "I see, was Triela with him by chance?"
-
Giorgia looked down for a moment at the table, then back up at Ryoshine. "No. No, Hillshire was alone. He was walking just-" She pointed, and traced the path, "along there." She spoke quietly.
-
Ryoshine looked, and then nodded. "I see, well, as long as he's not making you feel uncomfortable..." he said and finished his sentence right there as he watched a couple walk into the breakfast bar. He noticed the couple seemed nervous, if not, uncomfortable with seeing so little people in the bar. "Hmmm....."
-
Giorgia looked down, murmuring quietly to herself. Uncomfortable? That would probably be the understatement of the century. That man is bad. Has to be...
However, seeing that Ryoshine's eye line was somewhere else, she looked up to see what he saw. Just a couple, after all, it was a hotel, there couldn't be anything wrong, could there be?
-
His eyes were fixated on the couple, the woman was glancing about nervously, while the man appeared to be fidgetting with something in his coat pocket. With a slight smile on his face, Ryoshine leaned back in his chair and glanced over at Guiseppe, then made a hand motion toward the couple.
Just then the man got up and walked over to the table that Giorgia and Ryoshine were sitting at. "Excuse me, but you wouldn't by chance be-" he said while dipping his hand into the inside of his coat, as if reaching for something inside.
-
Giorgia tensed, ready to spring if necessary. All thoughts about Hillshire were forgotten for the moment as she thought of another immediate danger. However, Ryoshine looked relaxed, and smiled to her pointedly so that she loosened her tension and watched with growing curiosity.
-
"We are," Ryoshine said and waved a dismissive hand at Guiseppe and the others. The man nervously looked at him and the two other groups in the lobby, then handed Ryoshine a note. He waited until the man was gone, along with who he assumed was his wife, before unfolding the note. "A route..." he muttered. "Interesting..."
-
Giorgia kept a trained eye on the couple, while still watching Ryoshine read the note, and mumble to himself. After he put the note away, she remained unnaturally still, waiting. The couple were sweating bullets, and kept on fidgeting. They didn't even smile, as people usually did when they saw the cyborgs, well, at least to them, they looked like regular young girls.
-
"We live in thirty minutes," he finally said and got up. "Giorgia, make sure everything of ours is in the van ok? Including our weapons and such, once you've done that stay with the van please until I get there," he said and turned toward Guiseppe and then looked over at Jean and gestured for them to come over to him.