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-----DISCLAIMER----- Diss.
-----AUTHOR'S NOTES----- Lynda: Awmigawd, gomenasai about the delay. Um... I've been really
in a blech mood. Right when I'm supposed to lighten the mood of my story.
Needless to say, writing this chapter was as easy as pulling steel needles
through my cheeks. Thus the delay. Kuroneko: Mya! =^ó_ò^= Lynda: AWMIGAWD, AWMIGAWD!!! Ms. Starah has drawn me an absolutely gorgeous picture in commemoration for my 200 HITS!!! It's simply beautiful, and everyone MUST SEE IT AND BOW DOWN!!!! http://members.dcsi.net.au/timber/en/art/others/4lynda_chan.gif
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Heaven gave him a duty to do, and be damned if he wasn't going to do it whether they wanted him to or not. Considering his brain wasn't at full working capacity after hours of
intense emotional suffering, Vash felt oddly content with this reasoning.
He nodded to himself, released the breath he'd been holding, then took
a step forward... With enraged howl, the miffed feline managed to slip itself out from
under the shock frozen boot and streaked down the hallway. Once it was
at a tolerable distance it stopped, turned, and stared blankly at the
non-plussed Angel with it's lantern like eyes. Vash stared back in mild
horror. Cautiously, Vash followed it's line of vision. Sitting upon the table top like a King upon the throne was the Meta-Kard,
looking decidedly battered, covered in paw prints and what looked like
sacrifical fish bones. Despite the motley of occult wear, the object
was, of course, all too familiar. The Winger in whom it belonged to
stood stock still in the middle of the hallway for a few seconds, undecided
in whether he should bring that evil feline back into his vision, or
keep his elusive Kard under close scrutiny. Either way, one of them
was going to use the lack of attention to escape. After another considerable silence, Vash had gumption to sidle up to
the steadily blinking rectangle of metal. He found himself wondering
if he should pounce on it or not. Despite having an enormous lack of
leg, the small Kard had proven to be extremely skilled at escaping the
needy grasp of the Humanoid Typhoon, and just letting it sit there was
inviting defeat. But lunging just might cause the event to come sooner...
Winger. it greeted. 'You!' Vash replied. 'Wh-What are you doing here?' I can not believe this happened. the Meta-Kard read simply in substitute for an answer. It wasn't too hard figuring out what it was referring about. '... Believe it.' Vash muttered, wincing. Deciding that the Kard wasn't intending on escaping any time soon, he relaxed somewhat. This is all your fault. it blinked accusingly. 'I guess.' the blonde admitted morbidly, taking the few steps distance to the Kard. The mortal... Did not have to die. 'I know.' This is a most unfortunate turn of events. 'I know.' Where is this Guard of yours? 'I don't know.' Vash admitted, wincing slightly. He tried to bury the
snippets of conversation he had heard from the Angelinas. At this point
in time, pessimism would do very little. Were you coherent enough to define cause of death? it queried steadily. 'Wolfwood.' the blonde Winger said promptly, finding the word hurtful beyond even what he predicted. Winger #8045? So the cause of death was immaterialistic? The sentence struck home, delivered to the lime screen quickly; sharply. Vash blinked, desperately trying to quell the flicker of hope that sparked within his chest. It didn't stop his voice box from squeaking slightly when he asked, 'Th-That makes a difference?' To a mortal, yes. Winger #8045, you and I know she is dead, but her fellow Living will not. In fact, primary body operations will continue to function. She was attacked on a spiritual plane, you know. Did you pay attention to where the body was taken? 'A- An ambulence?' Vash managed, eyes widening with the new information. And you did not think to follow? the Meta-Kard continued, patiently blinking. Vash failed to answer. Foolish. To ensure respirational and cardiac functionality, your Guard is probably linked to a Life Support mechanism of some kind. That is how these mortals would act. 'She's ok?!' the Winger demanded. There was a short and pointed silence. No. was the final answer. We've discussed this. The body may continue to show vital signs, but the soul is indeed gone. However, under this new revelation, there is but a snippet of hope. 'Hope?' Vash managed, grimacing slightly. To be perfectly honest, he wanted to pop the elusive balloon called Hope now, while he was closer to the ground. Either that or plummet if he let it carry him too far. A small snippet, mind you. But is not that what humans thrive on? 'Humans...' the blonde repeated, again wincing. There was a long period
of silence. ... What do you intend to do? the Meta-Kard asked. Vash paused, then smiled mirthlessly. 'Make it right.' he replied simply. You are going after her? 'That's the intention.' More seconds dragged by. Grinding in an agonizing crawl. ... We are going to be in so much trouble. the small rectangle of metal lamented, blinking a steady and exasperated pace. Vash raised his eyebrows. 'We? I'm the renegade here, y'know. I'll do this myself.' he replied, scratching the back of his neck. Oh yes. And we all know how well you do by yourself. Anyway, you will need a Meta-Kard for clearance. it persisted. Vash reached forward, paused slightly, then resolutely picked it up. 'You don't have to.' he offered, a quirk of the eyebrow indicating it was probably the last time he would. I know. But you are a clumsy fool who will only make the situation worse by blundering all over the place. I will stand by my first predilection that you need me. the Meta-Kard declared. Now, I believe you have some skeleton keys in your possession? 'Ske- Oh, you mean these.' Vash murmured, blinking as he brandished the loop of heavy keys. 'I kinda figured they'd be carrying something useful. I mean, they're in charge of a lot of stuff...' he continued, staring contemplatively at his catch. You 'figured' correct. This makes things a great deal easier. We can begin our search from the Silver Dunes, so if you would be so kind as to insert that small silver key into any door, we can be on our way. 'Silver Dunes?' You were trained there. 'Oh, that place.' Yes, that place. Now, the silver key? 'Right...Just into any door?' Vash asked, advancing to the front one. Yes. was the reply. Vash squinted at the door suspisciously, small and simple key held
firmly between two gloved fingers. With a resoluted breath, the Humanoid
Typhoon inserted the key, turned it with a click, withdrew it and threw
open the door. Close, open. December. Close, key, turn, open. Dunes. Close, open. December. Close, key, turn, open. Dunes. If you've quite finished! the Meta-Kard complained, even going so far as to buzz slightly in the hand of one Vash the Stampede. 'Ri-Right, sorry.' Vash managed, steeling himself and stepping forward
into the metallic yonder. And found feedom in the new found purpose
he harboured. But, despite the tiny flame of hope that was flickering
with the Winger's battered soul, there was still the ever present looming
threat of retribution.
-----*+*-----
Wolfwood finished his cigerette, dropped it on the wooden floorboards
of the girl's apartment hallway, then crushed it with the tip of his
shoe. Satisfied it was nothing more than a grey smear, he reached forward
and opened the door to the Small Insurance Girl's room. Upon finding
the room entirely pitch black, he fumbled for the light switch, found
it, then implemented it. In an calm way of dealing with the new situation, Wolfwood dug around in his white shirt, found a limp and rather bent dog end of a cigerette and, of course, lit up. 'Having fun girls?' he asked casually, retreating back to the door frame so as to lean on it. Three bleary sets of silver eyes opened. 'ABOUT @#$%ing TIME!' Geli spat, seemingly not bothering with struggling any more. 'Puuuuuuuuuppy~~' Ange whined. She swayed with the motions of the rather thick roped snare, sniffling all the time. Lina only glared. Wolfwood, behind his cigerette weilding hand, hid a smirk. 'Where's Vash?' he asked in a muffled manner. 'The @#$%er strung us up and ran off! Babbling @#$% knows what about 'making it stop'!' Geli snarled. 'In a word, we believe he has gone to try and find his non-existant Guard.' Lina clarified. Ange blubbered. Wolfwood took a long drag and breathed out slowly, switching his stormy gaze to the window. 'So, he's decided to start taking some action, huh?' he murmured, raising an eyebrow. A traitorous smile threatened his calm features. 'Listen, Mr. Wolfwood,' Lina implored, 'If you could just let us down, we can chase after him and have him arrested as soon as possible. It's the only way to cease the damages he has and will commit.' 'Puppy, let me down, pleeeease?' Ange attempted, big, fat and false tears streaming down her face. Wolfwood, snapping out of his reverie, gazed at them steadily. 'Well come on! We don't want to be @#$%in' up here FOREVER!' Geli snapped, taking the rope by her face between her teeth and worrying away at it. Wolfwood stared some more. 'Mr. Wolfwood?' Lina asked, frowning. He reached up and scratched his chin with a finger. With a shrug, he turned and began to leave. 'WOLFWOOD YOU @#$%ING @#$%ER!!!' Geli screeched, creaking indicating she was probably thrashing again. 'You're in ENOUGH trouble, Winger, don't make it worse!' Lina threatened as Ange began wailing again. Wolfwood paused and turned. 'It's only fair that Vash the Stampede is given a bit of a head start, right?' he asked simply, winking, then closing the door on the shocked Angel Trainers. Standing alone in the hallway, the priest took another puff at his cigerette. 'Good luck, Tongari.' Wolfwood muttered, raising his head in the general direction of the sky.
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'I can believe we had to resort to this.' Black Jack muttered, scowling into the darkness. 'I can't believe we had to resort to this.' Rem replied. The retort was somewhat muffled, being that it was being delivered from around the pen balanced between her lips. 'Quit squirming!' the Boss of Hell whined. 'I already have a soggy mop dripping down my neck, I don't need an elbow in the teeth as well!' 'I'm afraid it's rather cramped in here, isn't it?' his counterpart sighed. 'Yes. Cramped. Being that this is a Janitor's Closet. They usually come cramped. In fact, they're RENOWN for being dirty, cramped little pits of festering disease ridden suffering!!' Black Jack spat, quickly getting more and more worked up. A hand smothered his tirade, however. 'Shhh!' Rem hissed. '-all over, and we can't find them!' 'Have you checked the offices?' 'First place we checked, sir!' 'I just don't kn... The Boss of Heaven and Hell going missing at once is a baaaad omen, mark my words!' 'Why did they disappear?' 'How should I know?!' 'They better come back soon, we've got mountains of paper wo-' The voices slowly disappeared. The janitor's closet fell silent again. 'We wouldn't have to be hiding in here if people would just let us work.' Black snarled. 'We've told them this situation is much too serious for interuptions.' Rem murmured sadly. There was more silence, then a small click. Light flooded the small constricted space of a closet, and revealed two very squished forms. Both were wielding calculators and pens, and Rem appeared at have a mining helmet on her head, head light and all. 'Kinda ironic how our own OS is threatening to crash down on our heads.' Black Jack noted, eyebrow twitching as he sorted through sheets of paper. 'The first time we seriously need to knuckle down and figure something out, and the system won't let us.' 'Well, on the bright side, at least we've found somewhere quiet so we can work properly!' Rem announced brightly, smiling. Black Jack stared back pointedly, ratty ends of a mop splayed across his shoulders and neck, one foot in a bucket and smelling like detergent, extension cords twisting like snakes around all four limbs and a Dust Buster getting pretty damn personal. Rem took the hint and lowered smile and eyes to her number sheets. 'It can't be too hard.' Black finally said, rolling his head from side to side to unkink his spine. 'We're losing them somewhere. Where?' 'Maybe we could come at it from a different angle?' the amber eyed woman offered. 'Where are they going after we lose them?' 'That doesn't help at all! We need to know where the leak is before we find the puddle!' 'But what of the water already lost! We can't abandon it!' 'Better to patch the pail now, rather than waste more water by trying to collect what's already leaked.' was the prompt retort. 'In the meantime, the sun is possibly drying up the innocent puddle!' returned a teary Boss of Heaven. Her counter part blinked at her. Then waved a hand. 'Woah, back up, back up, I've forgotten what we're arguing about. And all these metaphors are giving me a headache. Speak English?' 'If we spend too much time trying to figure out what is making souls disappear, we might be losing them forever.' Rem announced, face setting in determination. 'Yes, I know that,' Black Jack replied in exasperation. 'But we need to know How, Where or Why. How are they disappearing off the face of all Planes? Where are they going? And Why is a system that's been working perfectly for millenia suddenly not working?' 'Or, rather, why is the system that's been working perfectly suddenly threatening existence?' Rem corrected, deathly serious. Black froze and stared at her levely. 'You don't know that.' he said firmly. 'The missing souls could simply be misplaced.' 'And while the system of Planes continues to run, they have no hope of getting back in. And on top of that, it makes it impossible to find the leak.' the tall, black haired woman retorted with all the right tones to brook no argument. 'Saverem.' Black Jack said simply, raising an eyebrow. 'Are you saying we shut it all down and merge the Planes?' 'Wh- Well, I... That's not- really-' she stuttered, dropping brown eyes away from lime ones. The Boss of Hell winced. 'You think it's Pandemonium now-' he began. 'Yes, I know.' Rem hurriedly replied. 'But if the threat is physical, that means that all people could defend themselves, no matter what alignment the threat was on. If the threat was not physical, it would still make it easier to find.' 'This is a bad idea. Things will go wrong. Who'll take responsibility? Heaven?' he asked pointedly, poking an accusing finger in the direction of Heaven's representative. 'This isn't our fault at all!' Rem retorted in shock. 'It's not ours!' 'Stop arguing, please. The longer we argue, the more casualties. We must come to a decision.' Rem asserted. 'And now.' Black Jack agreed, settling back against the invasive Dust Buster and oozing mop. The pair stared at each other, both waiting for the other to take that first step. Neither quite willing to take the responsibility when it all blew up in their faces. 'Well?' Rem asked, papers in her lap forgotten. Black Jack took a huge breath, struggled with the extention cord, then stood.
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That is it, over there. Next to the Quadro-Atomic-Neutralization-Dissilator. 'Isn't that... Lina's laptop?' Vash asked, skidding over the silver sand and coming to a stop in front of a small desk. On which sat the slim lined laptop Lina used, silver and shining. Correct. Just plug me into the disc drive, and I shall start searching for the Guard. the Meta-Kard read, blinking steadily. 'You can do that?!' Vash asked incredulously. I was pondering this before. I believe if I hack into Lina's compatibility program, then re-run the search for your compatible... If your Guard still exists, she will be found by the computer. 'T-That's it? That's how simple it is?' Yes, I suppose so. Of course, if she has ceased to exist, you will be found another Guard. was the next sentence. Vash swallowed, frowned, then nodded in determination. Good. Now, if you would be so kind as to plug me in? Feeling like a cat burgular as he slunk around the desk and slid into
Lina's chair, Vash cast guilty eyes from left to right. He half expected
the Yard Ruler of Retribution to connect with his cranium, but the resulting
crack never came. So, still looking slightly nervous, he sat himself
down on the forbidden piece of furniture. Irrational fear momentarilly
overcome, Vash hastily shoved the Meta-Kard into the small slot on the
lap top. Vash found it impossible to follow and if the little meter in the bottom said anything, he realized that this could take some time. Time, that is, he was not willing to spend watching. Poking around inside the desk revealed nothing new about Lina the 3rd.
Bare, bare drawers with the exception of paper clips arranged by size
and colour. Good grief. Whistling, Vash the Stampede was confronted with iles upon iles of
lockers. He advanced around the rest of the corner and inspected the
closest one. With a small frown, Vash began wandering down the line of lockers,
one hand running along the metal and sliding over numbers until #4062
arrived under gloved fingers. He paused. Then, casting a guilty glance
around him, he pulled out the skeleton key and inserted it into the
keyhole. With an ominous click, the locker sprung open. 'My COLT!!' Vash shouted, reaching into the locker and hurriedly retrieving
the heavy gun, spinning it lovingly around a finger then holstering
it in one fluid movement. Then flipped it out again. Then holstered
it. Then pulled it out and cradled it in his palm lovingly. Taking a breath, Vash returned to inspecting his locker. Besides the gun, it was very empty. Except for his black duffel bag, but it was now simply a hinderance. He didn't need it anyway. A few coins, a couple of bullets and a few scraps of paper were the entirety of Vash the Stampede's possessions. Taking the bullets and coins, the Winger closed the locker. Then, feeling slightly more prepared, he proceeded down the lockers further, careful to pay heed the number on the metal. A few minutes later, he stopped. Vash narrowed his eyes slightly at the locker labeled #8045. Swallowing, he inserted the key slowly and turned it. With a click that marked the passage from Locked to Unlocked, Vash withdrew the key. And stared at the unopened locker some more. Finally rallying enough curiousity to conquer his rampaging trepidation, the Winger slowly opened the bunker. Inside was a great deal more crowded than his. The first thing to grab the blonde's eye was perched on top the strange detritus of belongings. It was a small model of a church. Vash pulled it out, inspected what looked like a coin slot, then to be sure, shook it the entire model. A single coin was heard rattling inside. Shrugging, the miniture church was discarded and more items were retrieved. There were a great deal of empty cigerette packets. And guns. Vash was surprised at the amount of guns. For a moment he wondered whether he should take some to return them to the rightful owner, but then remembered that he didn't know whether he would survive the current ordeal or not. Best leave them and forgo the extra weight taking them would invariably mean. As he moved to close the locker, a single piece of paper caught Vash's eye; taped up to the inside of the door. He pulled it off and raised it to his face. It was covered with the same nonsensical words the Angelina's reports
usually contained, only the heading was a great deal more different
than the report Vash had seen. And, signed on the bottom was the brief scrawl that was Black Jack's signature. Vash frowned and his eyes returned to the top of the letter to read it more thoroughly. He was interrupted, however, when some frantic beepings could be heard
in the near distance. Dropping his gaze guiltily from the paper, Vash
replaced it and slammed the locker shut, jogging back from where he
had come from. Rounding the corner of the Quadro-Atomic-Neutralization-Dissilator,
the 60 Billion Double Dollar Man found a frantically blinking Meta-Kard
beeping away hurriedly. I found her.
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-----AUTHOR'S NOTES----- Lynda: 200 REVIEEEEEWWWWSSS!!! GOSSAMER WINGS AND SWEET TASTING THINGS HEY!! I got an awesome number!! 77550! Mwa HA! Oooh... Sounds official!! Danke danke! I drew it and coloured it and er... didn't throw it in the bin JUST for you people!! Sniffles... I tried to make it cool... Sniffles. But it's a bit silly. Ah well! The sentiment is all the same, right? **weeps** I guess that's it from me... >_< |