Scavengers - Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

You couldn’t sleep that night. Even if your eyes were closed and your body comfortably tucked under your sheets, even if you were technically currently sleeping, all the energy you were supposed to be recovering was immediately spent in the sharp moves punctuating your night. Clasping hands, grinding teeth, frowned eyebrows and dried throat, your nightmare was being stronger than you.
But contrary to the fantasies usually created by your brain to keep himself entertained while your body recharged its batteries, the pictures showed on the screen of your closed eyelids were painfully familiar.

It wasn’t a nightmare. It was a memory.

The sun was disappearing slowly behind the buildings as the first snowflakes of the winter caressed your cheek. The sky was painted in pinkish and violet tones, illuminated by an orange sun, and the clouds were dragged along in thinned out cottoned balls.
However, you were impervious to the beauty of this landscape, even if you had the best view of all the town from the roof where you were. You let an irritated sound escape your lips as you readjusted your position for the umpteenth time, shutting your left eye even tighter, trying to aim in vain.

« Tch, it won’t do. » You murmured to yourself, letting your rifle with telescopic sight slide along your shoulder. One of your hands flicked to your ear, activating your earpiece and micro while the other grabbed the binoculars hanging around your neck. « Elena, it won’t work. You’ll have to drag the target outside, this reception hall is too crowded, I can’t aim properly… »

Through your binoculars, you saw Elena taking few steps backwards and strategically taking a glass of champagne, faking to drink it so the goblet would hide her moving lips as she answered.

« Too many people ? »

« Yeah. I can’t be sure at hundred percents to not wound anybody else than the target if I shoot while he’s inside. »

« Those daddy’s boys aren’t night owls, the room should empty soon. »

« It’s already getting pretty late, the night will be upon us in less than a hour and I’m not Iwaizumi, I can’t shoot in dark. »

« Damn it… Understood, follow me through your gun sights, I’ll find something to make him go outside. »

You quickly dropped the binoculars and took back your rifle, looking intensely at Elena and the man behind her. She was smiling and charming, and he didn’t even think twice before happily following her outside the building.

« Men are such stupid creatures… Can’t resist a cute girl. » You smirked.

Your finger found its place on the trigger, impatient. Elena was innocently taking few steps backwards while chatting with the guy, letting a reasonable distance between her and the spot your bullet would hit. You focused all your attention on the small black cross printed on your sights’ lens, meticulously placing its centre on the man’s forehead. The pressure of your index increased slowly, and a shooting sound soon reach your ears, followed by a scream.

The bullet, however, was still in your cannon.

« ELENA !!! »

You nervously moved your rifle from the left to the right, trying to understand when the reality of the situation suddenly seized your heart.

Elena had been shot down.

The man who was supposed to be lying down instead of her was still steady on his feet as another suddenly entered your field of vision, grabbing him by the collar and forcing him to duck his head and run into the room again. His second hand was holding a gun whose cannon was still steaming.

You flied into a rage. He shot Elena down. This bastard shot Elena down ! Your hands clasped on your rifle‘s butt until your phalanxes get white, and you started to spray them with bullets. You weren’t even properly aiming, what mattered at this moment was the number of projectiles fired by your cannon. You didn’t care if you wound their heads, their legs, their arms or chests, as long as you got them. But the armed man who appeared out of the blue was clever, and he and your target were hidden by a parked black limousine now riddled. You jumped on your feet, placing your rifle over your shoulder when two bullets brushed against your sides, opening your tender flesh in two reddening furrows as you turned around to see two others snipers loading their rifles again. They were barely twenty meters away, and you had no difficulties to reach their chests with the knives hidden in your boots.

« Fuck ! We’ve been tricked ! Elena ! »

Planting your grappling iron in the wall, you quickly let the rope which was attached to it fall until it hit the ground, letting yourself slide down. As you ran towards Elena, you could take a glance of the reception hall where the civilians were panicking as several men rushed among them to the main door, gun in hand.
You let yourself fall near Elena, your knees raising small cottony clouds of snow as they hit the powdery ground.

« E-Elena… » you struggled. « H-Hold on, it’s gonna be alright ! I’ll call for reinforcements ! »

Your pressed your hand against your earpiece, the other unconsciously taking Elena’s.

« Big-Boss ! Agent 9-K speaking ! Agent 8-I down ! Need help to evacuate now ! »

The men you saw sprinting earlier were now on the doorstep, all aiming to you, but you were quicker and sprayed them with bullets again, taking two of them down and forcing them to entrench themselves behind the closed doors of the reception hall. Placing your rifle on your shoulder again, you promptly lift Elena up and started to run away with her in your arms.

« S-Stop idiot… Lemme here… Save yourself… » your friend tried to articulate, but each word made her throat shuddered and spat blood.

« Shut up ! »

You took a sharp turn and threw yourself into a back alley, the sound of bullets hitting the cobblestones of the street behind you.

« Big-Boss ! Why aren’t you answering ?! Agent 8-I needs medical assistance now !! Seven… No, nine men are on our heels ! »

« What happened, Agent 9-K ?! » Daichi asked.

« The target has a bunch of over-trained killers protecting his ass !! Next time you send us in mission I hope for your sake you’ll be better informed than that ! »

There was a silent, and then Daichi spoke again, his normal low voice even deeper than usual.

« I’m sorry, Agent 9-K… I can’t risk somebody’s else life for only two agents. »

« Wh-What ?! You’ve gotta be kidding, Big-Boss ! They’re coming ! Somebody should be nearby, right ?! »

« Agent 8-I is unable to fight in her state and you won’t shoot more than one man before they got you. It’s too late for reinforcements. »

« Wait ! At least evacuate Elena ! I’ll shield them with my body if I have to ! Please ! »

« I’m sorry. This conversation is closed. »

There was a beep, then another, then a third… then the silence. The only sounds you could hear now was the blood rushing to your ear, Elena’s painful respiration and snow being squashed by heavy boots coming.
You held Elena tighter against your chest, your heart pulsing against your rib cage as cold sweat glided down your spine, the warm tears that had started to border your iris immediately cooling and rolling down your cheeks like frozen beads.

You couldn’t run, you couldn’t hide, you couldn’t fight. There was no way out.

However, when you heard the first gunshot and automatically turned around to protect Elena’s body with yours, you felt no pain. A thud filled the space as a shadow suddenly enveloped you, one arm stretched above your head aiming at the group of men standing in your back. The only thing you saw when you opened your eyes were two black boots tightly tied.

« Nine dudes against two girls ? Really ? » a sweet and yet manly voice said. « You guys have no honour… »

The eight other men didn’t even had enough time to process his words that they were shot down too, the blood escaping from their bodies blossoming on the snow like frozen camellias. The stress paralyzing your brain slowly faded, allowing you to stutter a single word as you recognized The Extractor :

« T-Tetsurô… »


Walking side by side, their shoes soaked from the rainwater stagnating on the sidewalk, Tanaka and Nishinoya couldn’t wait to get rid of their damp coats. Their umbrella tragically died two hours ago, bravely trying to defend them against the cruel wind, but its fragile metallic thin bones couldn’t make it and finally broke, giving them up to the cold rain.

« God, » Tanaka grimaced. « Next time I park the car right under his balcony… »

« Agreed. » Noya said. « Hey, Ryû… »

« Yes ? »

« This boy, Hinata… He was scared shitless, don’t you think ? »

« Oh yeah ? I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that one of the men who’re supposed to protect his ass tried to strangle him during their first interview… »

« H-Hey ! I just yelled a little at him… I think it’s something else. »

« Really ? Like what ? »

« Well… We’re a pretty big and powerful organisation, aren’t we ? The Crows definitely aren’t amateurs, so… Why directly asking us ? Hinata told us that it was his coach, Ukai, who called our boss and paid for his protection, but why didn’t he hire an official bodyguard ? Why calling a secrete and not-so-clean organisation ? »

Tanaka frowned at this and took his chin between two fingers, processing his friend’s words again and again.

« Maybe… Maybe Hinata has been in troubles already ? Maybe a common bodyguard wouldn’t be enough ? »

« It makes sense. And that would explain why he was white as a sheet. He’s scared because somebody already made an attempt on his life. »

They stopped talking when they recognized the large and dark building in front of them, with its large and symmetrical architecture. The Crows were at The Nest again. The barely made few metres inside the property that Nishinoya suddenly took a sharp turn on his left and rushed to a taller man, jumping on his back and pulling his bun.

« Hey Bashful ! Grumpy and me have a word to say to you ! » he spitefully grinned, locking his legs around the other man’s torso.

« Ow ! S-Stop it, Nishinoya ! » the poor Asahi whined, his arms full of papers and unable to drop them to save his hair.

« Noya !! You’re so fucking childish ! Let him go ! » Tanaka scolded, catching the shrimp under his armpits and lifting him up until his own arms were too short to reach Asahi anymore.

Weirdly, anytime he did that, Tanaka thought of himself as Rafiki introducing Simba to the savannah for the first time and « The Circle of Life » automatically started to play in his head.

« Thank you, Tanaka. » Asahi smiled, his hair now completely messed up.

Wearing a plaid shirt whose sleeves were rolled up until his elbows, uncovering his strong and tanned forearms, the tall Crow was as impressive as gentle. His shoulders were broad, his torso strong and his legs powerful. His jaw was still manly and bearded, his hair just long enough to be pulled in a bun with few loose strands tickling his neck and forehead.
Even if he wasn’t on the battlefield, he was among the most fit agents, but his personality and stress issues made him more efficient behind a desk.

« Don’t worry, » Tanaka teased, still holding Nishinoya under his arms despite his protests. « I’ll put him in bed early tonight so he won’t be cranky tomorrow. »

Asahi giggled at that, but their casual exchange was brutally interrupted by a wrathful voice shooting from the office behind them.

« I DIDN’T MISS ! »

It was pretty the only sentence that could be heard, echoing through the hall again and again.

« I DIDN’T MISS ! I DIDN’T MISS ! Somebody intervened to save the target ! Somebody knew I would be here to shoot ! We’ve been betrayed or discovered ! »

« Hey, I know that voice… » Tanaka mumbled, putting Nishinoya back on his feet.

« Isn’t it… Kageyama ? »

« It is. » Asahi confirmed softly. « He’s been inside the Boss’s office for fifteen minutes… »

« He’s convoked ? » the smaller man said with an amazed tone. « Why ? »

Asahi nervously glanced at the door, checking that it wasn’t opening on a furious Kageyama that would certainly not appreciated seeing the gentle giant gossiping about him.

« I heard that he missed his last target…The price that we were supposed to get from this execution was colossal… The Boss’s isn’t exactly pleased with that. »

« He missed ?! » Nishinoya yelled at the top of his lungs, making Asahi quiver.

« No way !!! » Tanaka added. « Kageyama never missed a single target ! That’s why he’s our Hitman-A ! »

« Guess this title comes down to Ennoshita now… » Nishinoya thought.

« Well… Looks like it finally happened… He missed but, you know his temper, he still denies it. »

Bursting out of the room, Kageyama nervously walked away, jostling them in the same time and heading towards the main entrance. His face was getting even scarier when he was truly infuriated, and the black clothes he was wearing made him look gloomier.

« Kageyama ! » another man said, standing on the doorsteps of his office. « I forbid you to try to kill him again ! You missed, no matter what you say ! You MISSED ! We’re not paid for this job anymore and I certainly won’t let you kill somebody for free ! If you try anything there will be consequences ! I hope you heard that ! »

The raven-haired hitman slammed the glassed door behind him so violently that he fissured it. Sighing heavily, The Crows’ Boss ran a hand through his hair and slightly massage his closed eyelids, trying to restrain the incoming headache. As rigid as statues, Asahi, Tanaka and Nishinoya didn’t dare to look away from their Boss, who finally acknowledged their presences and gave them a faint smile.

« Oh, Tanaka, Nishinoya. About time ! You encountered your new customer, right ? Come in my office please, I want to hear how it went. »