Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A blur of blue and green shoots down an empty street. The lights don’t draw attention, as the neon signs and lights of the city compliment them quite well.
A hooded figure, wearing glowing green tech scales a fence in an attempt to shake his pursuer. It seems to work for a moment, before he spots the other still behind him, giving chase. He begins to search for an escape, knowing this street leads to a dead end.
Then he sees it. He draws a gun, about the size of a pistol, and aims upward, toward a support beam being suspended with rope. He fires, and the beam falls. This figure vaults over it, using the extra height to grab onto the railing of a balcony from above. He climbed up, glancing behind once again to see that the man behind him has stopped.
“What’s wrong? Can’t reach?” He taunts. “Come on officer, are you just gonna give-”
Before he can finish speaking, A laser wizzes past his head, barely missing him. This struck the man as odd.
Normally, he stops at nothing to catch me. He wouldn’t take petty shots like that.
Suddenly, the door into the residence the balcony belongs to opens, and behind the man stands another officer. A short boy with blonde to pink ombre hair and an annoyingly cocky grin catches the boy by surprise.
Of fucking course.
“Good afternoon, Shinonome.” The boy laughs, pointing his own gun at him.
“Akito Shinonome, you are under arrest.” The previous officer spoke up from the ground below.
“Am I now?” Akito scoffs, every word buying him a second to find a way out of the predicament.
Well. usually impulse wins. So here goes nothing.
Without a second thought, Akito drops his weapon, and swings, landing a punch directly in the closest officer’s face.
This catches both men off guard. The shorter one reels back, dropping his own weapon. The other officer just seems shocked at such an impulsive move.
Akito takes this moment to snag the officer’s gun. He struggles for a second with the complex settings. These are much more advanced than his simple laser pistol. “Who the hell designed these things,” He mutters, finding the setting he needed. He silently prays it works before aiming at a nearby rooftop and firing.
It feels almost like a lightning strike. Akito stood on the balcony one moment, and the next, he’s on the rooftop he had aimed at.
“Why the hell don’t they use this more often?” Akito thinks to himself as he takes off, easily making his way out of the conflict.

He arrives at a small cafe tucked away in a less dense part of the city. As he enters, a smaller girl greets him as he removes his hood.
“Welcome to- oh. It’s you.”
“Can it An, tonight’s been enough of a pain before now.”
An laughs. “Your hair is singed. You didn’t try those prototypes dad told you about did you?”
“Stole one from an officer. Why?” Akito questioned, holding up the gun he had used to escape.
“They have side effects. And could explode. Dad said a reliable source told him that.”
“How does your dad get half the information he has?”
“No clue.”
“Cool.”

Akito takes a seat at the bar, setting down a file on the counter.
“Oi Ken. You wanted this?” He keeps his voice low so he wouldn’t draw attention.
The man behind the counter smiles and slides the file towards him, replacing it with a plate of pancakes.
“What’s this, bribery?” Akito mumbles, beginning to dig in regardless.
“A token of appreciation.” Ken corrects. “Sneaking into Crase is a risky job. And for no pay no less.”
“Well, I need more information about that officer if he’s gonna keep chasing me.” Akito retorts. “He’s stubborn, I’ll give him that much.”
“His name is Toya Aoyagi. He’s the most trusted of Crase’s Artillery Officers. His father runs that branch, and it looks like his brothers all have their own roles within the agency.” Ken explained as he read the file. He wasn’t too worried since it was late and the cafe had few patrons.
“Aoyagi, huh..”
“You didn’t know his name?! He’s been chasing you for like. A year now.” An chimed in.
“Shut up. What do you want me to do? ‘Hey I know you’re trying to turn me in but what’s your name’, no, An, I didn’t know his name.” Akito snapped, causing the other to laugh.

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Woo chapter 1(?) done! Toya time :D! - Bee
Living for Akito not knowing Toya's name - Bandage
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“I can’t believe he punched me!” Tsukasa, Toya’s superior officer, complained. “Stole my gun too…”
Toya listened in silence, as he’s one to do. When the two recounted the events of the night, he allowed Tsukasa to do the talking.
“I do wish I got to see Tsukasa get punched, actually.” One of the new recruits, Nene, Chimed in with a small laugh.
“You dare to laugh at my pain?!”
“In a world with advanced tech and guns, you’re worried about someone’s fist, of course I will laugh at it.”
“Tsukasa, you do have a mark on your cheek from it.” Toya pointed out, cracking a faint smile at Nene’s previous comment.
“I DO?!” Tsukasa frantically got out his phone, using the camera to look. When he confirmed the mark’s existence, he groaned. “I hope that the teleporter burned him.”
As if on cue, the door swung open, as a tall man, wearing an oil-stained apron over the Crase agency’s uniform entered the room.
“Tsukasa? You lost your weapon right? I made you a new one! This one does have a few more experimental features though, so please give me any and all feedback!”
“Rui, stop giving me experimental things! They explode more often than not!” Tsukasa scolded in response.
“Someone needs to test them out for me~!”
“Yeah. and it should be you!”

Toya continued to listen, all while digging back through criminal files.

Vivids- petty street criminals. Not worth chasing after, The Alchemist- Often overlooked due to the tacky name, but a dangerous criminal nonetheless. Named by the public because of their theatrics and seemingly supernatural evasive tactics. Unfortunately there isn’t much information about them. Akito Shinonome- A mercenary, and thief. Not a very interesting case, though it’s curious how he continues to evade me so easy.

“Toya? … Earth to Toya!”
Toya snapped out of his thoughts to realize that Tsukasa had been talking to him. He turned to face his superior, who had his omnipresent cocky smile on his face.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Toya questioned.
“I said you got ahead of us all again.” Tsukasa began. “I wanted to actually talk about the Alchemist case. There was a new report recently about them.``He shoved the other files aside and opened the one about the alchemist.
Toya began to skim over the documents, searching for the new information. That’s when he found it. A page detailing a run in with a Crase official during a break in. The two fought, and while the Alchemist often uses evasion and avoids combat, they were injured in the fight with a shot to the leg.
“So whoever this alchemist guy is-”
“Don’t assume, asshole.” Nene interrupted
“Whoever they are, that injury was recent, so keeping an eye on things like if a suspect is limping. Or if they have an injury on the leg, that should give us a lead right?” Tsukasa concluded.
“What, all people with leg injuries are now high level criminals Tsukasa?” Rui chimed in with a chuckle.
“Almost sounds like you’re defending them.” Tsukasa snapped back with a laugh.
“It’s called a joke.”
Nene rolled her eyes. “Okay, stop messing around, I would like to actually get closer to cracking this stupid case. I’m tired of hearing fireworks at 3 am because this guy decided to show off.”
“Who’s assuming now?”
Toya continued to scan over the documents. “Rui’s right. A simple injury isn’t enough to go off of. We need more information.”
“What kinds of things does he usually do?” Rui asked.
“Usually, they steal important documents, though it isn’t unheard of for them to steal artifacts.”
“Papers… and old stuff. Tacky.” Rui shook his head. “And willing to take a bullet for things like that?”
“Apparently.”
“Huh.”
“We are still unaware of their motive, and what they do with the information they steal. It’s curious. If it was for money, there would be more artifacts and expensive items, right?” Tsukasa pondered. “But documents?”
“Identity theft?” Rui suggested.
“Why would they need to steal an identity if we don’t even know theirs?”
“Fair point. I’m not the officer here, I’m just the tech guy.”
Before the group could theorize much longer, A knock at the door could be heard, followed by someone entering. A tall man with dark red hair stood in the doorway, arms crossed.
“Aoyagi. Your father has a new target for you. Tsukasa will be accompanying you.” Shousuke, the secretary, announced.
“Oooo~ you’re in trouble~” Rui chimed in once again.
Toya took a breath and nodded, cleaning up his mess of papers before turning to Tsukasa, who gave a concerned, but affirming nod. The two then followed Shousuke to receive their next orders.

Chapter Text

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Rui time? Rui time. Yeah. oh btw this takes place the night before the last part. - Bee
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Thunder shook the small, but cozy apartment that Mizuki resided in. It was too loud to sleep, so they worked on an outfit design. They sketched out a frilly skirt, pausing to ponder what it needed. Their thoughts were quickly interrupted by a knock at their balcony door, which would strike any normal person as odd, though for them this was normal. Mizuki glanced at their phone, tapping it once to see the time.
4:15 AM.
There is only one person I know who would be here at this hour.
Mizuki huffed, standing up to open the door, and as they guessed, There stood Rui. His goggles resting around his neck, and the flashy alchemist outfit they had designed, tattered, torn, and filthy. More than that, he was holding onto the railing by the door for dear life. That’s when they noticed the nasty burn on his left leg.
“Another close call?” Mizuki crossed their arms, leaning in the doorway.
“You could say that. Do you mind helping me out?” Despite his pain, Rui smiled, as if nothing was wrong.
Without a word, Mizuki took one of Rui’s arms, helping him walk inside.
“You owe me.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Rui scoffed.
Mizuki guided him to the couch inside, practically dropping him onto it.
“Ow ow ow…”
“Quit whining.”
“You try getting shot with a laser.” Rui hissed, repositioning to make himself comfortable.
Mizuki rolled their eyes and left the room to get their medical supplies.
Even though this happens often, They can’t help but worry sometimes. Rui’s only showed up fatally injured a handful of times, but even then, the fact that it’s happened so often is cause for concern.
As they thought about this, they began to gather supplies. Bandages, ointment, and pain killers. They quickly snag some clothes from their room as well before returning to Rui. They throw the clothes at Rui, hitting him with them directly in the face.
“Go change. Those pants are too tight. And also you look like shit.”
“Aw, you’re so sweet~ You did forget I can’t walk though.” Rui chided, causing Mizuki to let out an exasperated sigh.

After several minutes of bickering, and Rui attempting to change without worsening his injury, Mizuki finally got to work. At this point, it was rather simple. They began talking to fill the silence.
“So. How did this happen?”
“I stole some documents from Crase. The head of the Artillery Officers was apparently still there.” Rui shrugged.
Mizuki paused for a moment. “Like. The guy on top?”
How is he so okay with that?
“Yeah.”
“You could have died. You know that right?” They spoke quieter now. “That man wouldn’t have hesitated.”
Rui fell silent after that. Mizuki could tell he was trying to figure out what to say.
“But I’m still here. So no harm done, right?” Rui then flashed them a smile as an attempt to reassure them. However, it was only met with Mizuki's continued dismay.
“That’s not the point. You do this thing where you get into tough situations and you never consider if you can’t handle it.” as they spoke, they continued to clean the burn. “One of these days, you’re gonna overdo it.” They moved on to bandages by this point, wrapping the newly cleaned injury. “-And then you’ll leave me alone…”
Rui didn’t say a word. Maybe Mizuki’s correct- He couldn’t counter if he tried. Before he knew it, Mizuki was done bandaging his leg.
They stood up from the seat beside him. “Leave it elevated on that pillow for the night. You can sleep here tonight.”
“... I’ll try to be more careful.” Rui finally spoke up.
“Promise?”
“... Yeah.”
“Okay!” Mizuki clapped their hands together, as if their somber mood had just vanished. They took some ribbon from their desk, cutting some off the roll, and tying it to the tattered coat that Rui had entered with. Though, to both of them, this ribbon meant so much more than that. It was a symbol of a promise. After all, Mizuki still had the ribbon they were given by Rui.
“Oh, come on. Not the ribbon!” Rui exaggerated distress.
“I think making sure you don’t die on me deserves a ribbon promise! Besides! It’s Purple! It matches!” Mizuki laughed. Deep down, they knew Rui’s still going to be reckless, but they hoped this would help him remember that he has people who care about him.

Chapter Text

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Bandage stop dying challenge jesus christ
Anyways starwipe to about a week later - Bee
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“Rooftops. It had to be on the rooftops.” Toya lamented as he and Tsukasa pursued their target.
Tsukasa simply laughed. “Don’t worry Toya! If you fall, I’ll surely catch you!” He then turned his attention back to the target.
“Keep up! The show’s just begun!~☆” The Alchemist taunted, already gaining quite a bit of distance.
Tsukasa grit his teeth before drawing his gun, and fiddling with the various settings. “This stupid thing better work.” He finally gets the mode set to the one he had previously watched Akito use, teleportation. He then pulls the trigger.
The recoil is intense, though it does push Tsukasa a good distance forward. Almost as if the bullet was replaced with Tsukasa himself. Which would be a good thing, if he hadn’t landed on the ledge of the building, and immediately lost his footing.
The Alchemist watched from his current vantage point. Chuckling as he pulled a small grappling gun from his belt.
“Len, do you mind helping me aim?”
As he asks this, a small hologram of a boy appears in his sight through his goggles.
“Aim exactly 7 degrees left. Then fire, it should catch him.” Len suggested. “Why are you catching him though? Isn’t he after you?”
“Well, A party’s no fun without guests, Len.” Rui explained, doing as Len had suggested, and firing the grappling gun.
Just as calculated, Tsukasa was caught by the end of the hook on his jacket. As he stops panicking to process, he sees Toya looking over the ledge in concern.
“Are you okay, Tsukasa?!”
“Perfectly fine, thanks to your quick save, Toya~!”
“... That. Wasn’t me.”
“What.”
Tsukasa looked up in slight panic, spotting the Alchemist leaning over the ledge in a casual manner.
“Need a hand?~ ♡”
“YOU-” Tsukasa shouted, quickly pulling himself back up to safety, drawing his gun.
The alchemist laughed, holding up a folder. “You’ve gone this far just to catch me~! Honestly, it’s flattering how obsessed with me you are-” A laser whizzes by, narrowly missing Rui’s hand as he dodges. “Rude.”
Toya lowered his gun, reaching into a pouch on his belt, he grabbed a small blue disc and tossed it in the criminal’s direction. It beeps twice and a bright blue light, accompanied by smoke releases from it. The smoke proved no challenge for him, as he just listened for movement. Tsukasa’s footsteps were lighter, moving away from Toya, while The Alchemist’s were heavier and slower.
Rui stumbled back slightly. “Len? Where are they?” He could only see a few feet ahead of him, though luckily, he had recently installed heat sensors into his goggles for these occasions.
“Aoyagi’s on your right-” Len froze for only a moment. “Tenma’s on your six, Rui!” he shouted in concern.
Rui drew two guns of his own, firing at the disc from his left, and at Tsukasa with his right. Though his vision was limited, he heard the impact. As the smoke cleared, the severity of his actions sunk in. Tsukasa was on the ground. His uniform singed at the left shoulder, where the laser had made impact, one hand held over the wound.
“Nice shot Rui!” Len cheered, though his smile dropped when he noticed Rui’s expression.
Shock. That’s the only word that came to mind upon seeing him. “Oh…”
“Tsukasa!” Toya shouted, sprinting to his ally’s side. Without a single thought, Toya already had drawn his gun and had it aimed at Rui. With his free hand, he tapped his earpiece. “I’m sending my location. Tsukasa’s injured! I need backup.”
Rui took a breath, masking his conflict with a smile and attempting to steady his now shakey grip on his weapons. He was a thief. He took important documents. He rebelled against those in the agency who used their power to take from those without it. But to fatally harm one of the few officers he knew was genuine and pure-hearted… That just felt cruel.
Toya began to fire, one shot after another. Though his expression didn’t show it, He was terrified- and furious. But his priority in that moment couldn’t be turning The Alchemist in. It was putting him in a body bag for what he did.
Rui, on the other hand, assessed the situation. He knew any moment, backup could arrive. He couldn’t stick around in shock, as much as he wanted to run to Tsukasa’s side and ensure that he was alive or that he’d be okay.
“Well, I know when I’m not welcome~” Rui announced, bowing in order to dodge a laser. He then stepped backwards, leaning back and allowing himself to fall from the ledge.
“Len.”
“Got it!” Len disappeared from Rui’s vision, activating a device on Rui’s belt that created that same teleportation effect, though more precise.

As the Alchemist disappeared from his sight, Toya dropped his gun, and all that fear and worry resurfaced. He held one of Tsukasa’s hands in his own, keeping note of his pulse and breathing. After all, Tsukasa’s been there to protect him countless times before. His care and support eventually caused Toya to view him as a brother. A brother he would be lost without.
Tsukasa had a very loose grip on consciousness, and breathing proved difficult for him due to shock. The wound itself didn’t hurt much, though that’s likely due to nerve damage or adrenaline. Not that Tsukasa could even begin to process that in the moment. He could hardly even hear Toya talking into the comms, he could only notice how full of emotion his voice was. Toya rarely sounds so afraid, yet Tsukasa couldn’t even bring himself to comfort him.
“Toya!... Toya! Breathe!” Nene demanded, her own voice growing frantic. “What’s happening?! You said Tsukasa’s injured?!”
“Yes… He’s injured. He needs immediate medical attention.” Toya explained, taking quick glances around to ensure they were alone.
“What?! Are you okay? What happened to the target?!” Nene’s voice grew more concerned.
“He… Well, he got away… But…. You…You have to send help! Tsukasa-“ It was this moment Toya realized that Tsukasa had lost consciousness. Toya grew more diligent about checking the other’s vitals.
“Toya.” Another voice comes through the comms- An older man’s voice. Toya’s father. “Did you lose the target?”
Toya froze. He knew his answer would displease his father. He never understood that, how his father could put the target over the safety of fellow officers
“... Yes. But that doesn’t matter! More importantly-”
“Your target is your top priority. Do not mistake trivial matters as more important again, do you understand?”
“With all due respect sir, Tsukasa’s our chief investigator, we need him-” Nene began, getting cut off almost immediately.
“I do not believe I addressed you, Officer Kusanagi. Know your place.”
Toya fell silent. Although he knew this had always been the expectation, he couldn’t help but feel angry that Tsukasa’s life was called a trivial matter.
He turned off the comms, remaining by Tsukasa’s side until help arrived. He would deal with his father later.
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Toya your daddy issues are showing - Bee
I put that in red text on the google doc :D - Bandage
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Chapter Text

Rui made his way to a small cafe near the edge of town. As he approached the entrance, however, he was met with a gun pointed directly at his forehead.
A girl stood before him, with black to blue ombre hair. She had an intense expression and conducted herself in a defensive manner.
“State your business here.” She demanded.
“Someone’s on edge~” Rui laughed, trying his best to keep his act up.
The girl crossed her arms. “Not many savory people come around at one in the morning, so forgive me for being a little alarmed.” She explained, lowering her gun. “What do you want”
“Ken lives here, correct?” Rui quizzed. “I have something for him.” He waved the file in front of the girl, who simply let out a sigh and opened the door for him.
As Rui entered, He was led to the front counter, where a tall, middle-aged man was cleaning up.
Ken looked up to see the two and he smiled.
“An, who is- Oh, Mr. Alchemist. Welcome!” He set aside the rag he was using to wipe down the counter. “Do you have what I asked for?”
“Right here!~” Rui set the file onto the counter. “All information about the Ootori and Aoyagi families, and their involvement in the Crase Agency, as well as a few blueprints from yours truly~”
Ken smiled, scanning over the documents.
“As promised, here’s your payment.” Ken sets a stack of money on the counter. “You didn’t ask for a lot, despite the job I asked you for. Why is that?”
Rui shrugged. “I mean, it isn’t hard for me to get into the agency. It’s really no trouble at all.”
Did I seriously just say this was no trouble?
Before much else can be said, a voice comes from the stairway.
“Hey Ken, I think I might have figured out how-” Akito freezes in the doorway. “Oh.”
“Why, Hello, Shinonome~”
“Don’t talk to me.”
An leaned over to the ginger with a curious expression. “You know him?”
“Unfortunately.”
“I’m hurt! After all those times I’ve helped you?” Rui gasped, throwing a hand over his so very wounded heart.
“You almost got me caught by officers last time I saw you.” Akito snapped back.
“Okay okay, boys. Knock it off. Akito, be nice. He’s a guest.” Ken interrupted, swatting Akito upside the head to shut him up. “Apologies, Mr. Alchemist. As we were discussing…”

The remainder of the meeting was primarily business. Rui agreed to share intel and tech in exchange for a proper partnership with everyone here. As the night came to a close, Rui left the Weekend Garage, and finally had some time to himself.
“Len.”
Len once again appeared in Rui’s view. “Hm? What’s up?”
“Can you connect me to the Crase Agency comms?”
“Sure thing!” Len gave a thumbs up, then disappeared. Soon enough, Rui was connected.

“Any updates, Nene?” Toya’s voice sounded as calm as ever. Rui never understood how he always seemed so level headed.
“Not yet, But they said the injury isn’t fatal. It was just above his heart, on the lower shoulder… So that’s… good. Right?” Nene responded quickly. She sounded so worried. It only made the guilt hit harder.
Rui listened in silence. Fully aware that he’s the cause of all this stress and worry. As he listened, he heard Toya’s hatred for him, his anger about the situation. He heard Nene’s concern as she tried her best to calm her teammates down, though her voice indicated her own fear lingering.
Rui let out a sigh of relief. From his view, the laser hit Tsukasa right in the chest, and possibly fatally. That plus the state of shock the officer was left in pushed him to think about the worst-case-scenario.

At least he’s alive…I know I’m against them, but still, I didn’t mean for good people to get hurt like this.

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WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Rui’s doing GREAT - Bee
He's so normal - Bandage
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“He’s moving! Tsukasa! Are you okay?!” A girl shouts, much more abrasive than one would expect from a hospital room.
Tsukasa began to stir, opening his eyes for only a moment before shutting them again due to the bright lights.
“He’s awake!”
“Emu… you don’t have to narrate everything… give him some space!”

Emu and Nene are here? What happened?

Tsukasa tried to brave the lights once again, opening his eyes to see two big, pink eyes staring right back at him. Reflexively, Tsukasa shoved her away.
“OHMY GOD. Emu. Please. You almost gave me a heart attack!” Tsukasa shouted, making an attempt to sit upright. A spike of pain stopped him from moving much further.

Oh. right. We were after the Alchemist-
WAIT IS TOYA OKAY-

“Where’s Toya?!” Tsukasa shot up once again, wincing from the pain.
“He isn’t with us, Tsukasa, don’t move so fast!” Nene exclaimed in panic.
“What?!”
“WAIT I PHRASED IT WEIRD- NOT LIKE DEAD.”
“Oh thank god.” Tsukasa let out a sigh of relief, basically falling backwards into the bed.

Nene and Emu filled Tsukasa in on what had happened while he was out, and informed everyone else that Tsukasa was now conscious.
It wasn’t long before the girls were both called back to work, and they left. Tsukasa let out a sigh, glancing at his gear, which was neatly set up on the table next to him.

I had the upper hand. I could have caught him. What happened?

As Tsukasa began to think about this, the door creaked open, catching his attention.
Entering the room were Saki and Toya, the latter of which was avoiding making eye contact. Saki on the other hand, had tears in her eyes, and upon seeing her brother, she immediately ran to his side, pulling him into a hug.
“You’re okay!” She cried, burying her face into Tsukasa’s shoulder. Her whole body was trembling from what Tsukasa could assume was a mix of physical strain and worry.
Tsukasa’s expression softened, and he reciprocated the hug. Saki’s embrace was soft, and careful, so she didn’t hurt her brother.

I made them worry about me. All because of that one moment of hesitation.

“I’m alright, Saki… There’s no need to cry.” Tsukasa assured her. He knew she wouldn’t just stop crying because he said so, but seeing her so worried hurt more than any injury. “It’s okay.”
“When Toya told me what happened, I couldn’t stop thinking about what could have happened if help didn’t show up in time…” Saki muttered, nearly inaudible. As she talked about it, she tightened the hug some, as if Tsukasa would disappear if she let go.
Tsukasa couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. “Do you really think that I’d let some petty thief kill me? Besides, Toya’s the most reliable partner I could ask for.” As he spoke, he glanced at Toya from over Saki’s shoulder.

Toya finally made eye contact, surprised by the praise. “But… I didn’t do anything-”
“You got help for me, didn’t you? Nene said you made the call. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you, Toya.” As Tsukasa spoke, he kept one arm around his sister, and reached the other out to Toya, inviting him to join in the hug.
Toya hesitated for only a moment before he joined them. “I’m sorry…”
Tsukasa held the two close, wordlessly reassuring them that he wasn't going anywhere.
“No matter what happens, the three of us are going to be okay. I promise.”
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Did I cry over my own scene? Yeah. what about it? - Bee
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Chapter Text

With the sound of a laser burning metal and a kick, the metal panel fell off the wall. Akito removed himself from the horridly cramped vent, feeling half of his joints popping from how long he had spent crawling through the space. If the Crase Agency was supposed to be so advanced, you'd think they'd have more protection on their access points.

He then pulled up the map that Ken had shared with him earlier that day on his watch. The hologram popped up and a line appeared tracing his path along, showing him the best route he could take. He quickly made his way through the building, finally getting to the lab that contained the prototypes he was to steal. However, he discovered that the door was already broken into, left ever so slightly ajar, the handle missing. Akito drew his weapon and carefully pushed the door open.

Inside, Akito was greeted with a familiar face.
Rui stood at the computer, in his full Alchemist getup. As he heard someone enter, he turned to face the intruder.
“Oh. well you’re not supposed to be here.”
“And you are?” Akito quipped. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing~” Rui took a hard drive from the computer and pocketed it.
Akito huffed, putting his weapon back in its holster. “Just. don’t screw me over this time.”
“No promises~♡”
“God. I hate you.” Akito grumbled as he approached the weapon prototypes he was sent to get. He began looking through them all, and grabbing the ones that peaked his interest.
“Oh, I wouldn’t take that one if I were you.” Rui chimed from behind him.
“Why should I listen to you?!”
“I’m the tech guy, remember? This is like- my whole thing?” Rui retorted. “That one has a really bad recoil.”
“Okay? And why should I trust what you say? That gun I stole before worked fine.” Akito continued shoving weapons into a bag. He picked up the one that Rui advised against taking, and he looked over it. “See? It’s fine. It’s not like it’s gonna-”
Bang.
The sound echoed through the room, and Akito went pale. Rui, on the other hand, had an expression that just read ‘I told you so.’
“... Fuck.”
“As you were saying~?”
Akito heard a sound from nearby, and immediately threw his hand over Rui’s mouth.
“I will bite you.” Rui mumbled from under Akito’s hand.
“Shhhhut the fuck up.” Akito hissed.

“Are you two done?” A girl’s voice came from the support beam above. Akito looked up to see glowing green tech worn by a small figure, who had a rifle pointed at the two. “You know, break-ins are supposed to be done quietly.”
“Oh you have got to be shitting me.” Akito groaned. “This is your fault.” He turned to face the other thief, only to realize that he is now alone. With a sniper rifle aimed directly at him.
The girl seemed just as surprised as he was about the other’s disappearance. “You really just let him ditch you like that, huh?”
“I didn’t let him do shit.” Akito fumed, then reached for the weapon from his holster. However, when he turned his attention back to the girl, he couldn’t find her.
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Nene moved from the shadows, not allowing her target to get out of her sight. She had assumed the Alchemist escaped through a vent and didn’t want Akito to get an opportunity to escape as well. She fired at him once, tapping into the comms. “Shinonome broke into the weapons reserve. The Alchemist was also here but seems to have escaped. They may still be in the building. I need backup.”
Toya was the first to respond. “I’m on my way. Don’t let Shinonome out of your sight.”
“Understood.” Nene shut off the comms, and assessed the situation. She spotted the emergency lockdown alarm, and knew immediately what to do. She raised her gun to aim, firing at the alarm, setting it off.
Gates began to rise in front of the doors and windows, sealing off all entries and exits.
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Rui sat outside the open window, listening in to the comms, when the alarm sounded. He watched gates rise before the exits, and in the last second, slid back into the window. Akito probably needs his help, after all. And his new friends probably wouldn’t be too happy if he didn’t at least try to protect him.
“Len. Can you see Nene?”
Len appeared once again in Rui’s vision. “She’s on the support beam. Behind Akito… She’s about to fire. Raise your gun about 3.5 degrees, and left 6 degrees. Then fire. Trust me.”
It was then he saw it. Nene in the shadows, aiming at Akito’s back.
Rui, of course, didn’t hesitate to try Len’s plan, firing at the exact same time as Nene, and intercepting her own shot.
“Nice one Rui!” Len cheered. “This time I actually mean that!”
“... Len, you could have stopped there.”
“Sorry.”
Akito turned around to see Rui. “The hell was that?!”
“If you don’t want to lose your head, don’t lose track of the sniper next time~” Rui advised.
“Gee. Thanks.” Akito scoffed.
Rui pointed his own weapon at Nene. “Are you just going to just hide up there?~”
“Do you want me to come down? I can.”
“I would like to meet the person I’m fighting.” Rui mused, making an excuse for himself not to use his gun against her.
Nene jumped down from the support beam, taking a knife from a sheath on her belt and lunging at the Alchemist. He wanted an up close and personal fight? He got one.
Rui dodged with ease, clearly just taunting the poor officer. Nene seemed to catch onto this, as she switched targets, Grabbing yet another gadget from her belt and tossing it to the ground. Rui recognized it as the same smoke bomb that Toya used previously. He had made some preparations for it this time.
“Len, be my eyes.” Rui commanded as the smoke blocked his vision. “Where is Shinonome?”
“7.6 feet away. It looks like Kunasagi started targeting him.”
Akito seemed to be caught off guard by the smoke. Though, that wouldn’t stop him. He listened closely for the officer’s movements, attempting to predict her next move. However, he couldn’t hear a thing from her. Somehow her movements were completely silent. He stumbled backwards, stepping directly into Nene’s range. She took a small, green gadget from the bag attached to her garter, jabbing it into his back, shooting a jolt of electricity through him, causing Akito to fall to the ground. Nene promptly put cuffs on him.

“Rui!” Len spoke up. “I connected to the surveillance system. Aoyagi just entered the building.”
“What happened to Shinonome?”
“It looks like Nene caught him. But you won’t be able to take both of them!” Len reminded.

Len’s right, I can’t take both of them. The exits are blocked off, I need to get Shinonome out of here… I don’t think I can get us both out safely, but I have to try.

As Rui thought of a solution, he dodged blow after blow. Nene lunged at him, tearing the side of his coat, but not actually hitting him. The ribbon that Mizuki tied to it loosened slightly, catching Rui’s attention.
Right. He did promise them to be less reckless, didn’t he? If that promise were to become null and void at a time like this, who knows how it would turn out.
Besides, Nene and Toya are good people, they probably wouldn’t kill Akito without good reason… Right? Rui readjusted the ribbon, ensuring that it doesn’t fall off.
“Len, can you give me the easiest way out of here?”
“The window directly behind you is cracked open. If you aim your teleporter 20 degrees higher, and left 0.5 degrees, you’ll get out unharmed. Also duck.”
Rui lowered his head just enough to miss a laser coming at him from behind. He turned to face this attacker, spotted Toya, and decided it’s time to go. Following Len’s instructions carefully, Rui teleported out the window, and safely outside. He took off to the weekend garage, hoping that his newest allies won’t be too upset about the situation.

Chapter Text

Akito fought against his restraints to no avail, furious that once again, that good for nothing Alchemist fucked everything up.
Before he could get too caught up in his anger, however, the girl who caught him approached.
“I wouldn’t fight if I were you. Those restraints aren’t gonna break.” She then turns to the officer who just entered, “Toya, do you mind helping me out?”
Toya just nodded in response, approaching and grabbing Akito by the arm, forcing him to stand up.
“Okay, okay. Jesus. I can stand on my own.” Akito grumbled.
Toya did not pay any mind to him, instead he tapped his earpiece and began to speak into it.
“This is Aoyagi. Nene and I have caught Shinonome, however, The Alchemist got away once again. I’m going to see what information Shinonome will give us about him.”
“I can hear you.” Akito began, “I’m not helping your sorry ass, either.”

As much as I want to sell out that motherfucker, I hate these guys more.

There wasn’t much talk on the way to the agency’s headquarters. Akito just kept his head down, cursing under his breath most of the time. How could he have been so stupid to get caught like that?
Once they arrived, the two officers escorted Akito to an interrogation room, basically shoving him into the chair.
Nene cleared her throat, and before she even opened her mouth, Akito spoke. “I already told you I’m not telling you shit.”
“If you cooperate, this will be easier on all of us.” Nene argued.
“Okay? And I should care, why?” Akito snapped back. “It’s not my problem that you guys can’t figure shit out on your own.”
“All we need is information about the Alchemist.” Toya explained.
“And I told you I’m not budging.”
Nene pondered for a moment before she pulled the other officer aside, leaving Akito locked in the room with his hands still restrained
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What is it, Nene?” Toya stared at the smaller girl, confused, as she pulled him aside.
“Ena’s the one who reported Akito, right? She said he was her brother.” Nene began. “Maybe she knows something that’ll get him to crack.”

Chapter Text

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rui gets in trouble arc - Bee
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“Okay. Let me get this straight. You just so happened. To be exactly where Akito was, you two started bickering, catching the attention of an officer and getting him captured?!” Ken recounted, rubbing his temples in frustration.
“.... Well when you put it like that, it sounds much worse-”
“Worse?! Akito will probably be shot the moment they get what they want from him!” An snapped. “I hope you have a plan, otherwise, I have half the nerve to shoot you right now!”
Ken let out a sigh, placing a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “An. Breathe.”
An took a deep breath, all while still glaring daggers at Rui.
“Call Kohane. We could use her help if we’re gonna bust him out.” Ken ordered, then turning his attention to Rui. “You can either come along or stay behind, your choice. But if you plan on working with us, you should get used to working alongside others.”
“Right. Once again, I’m very sorry about all of this… But if it’s any compensation, I do know someone who can lend a hand. They usually avoid getting their hands dirty, but I can probably convince them to help.” Rui offered.
“Any help is greatly appreciated. You know how Crase is.” Ken nodded, turning to glance at An, who was pacing in the background, waiting for Kohane to answer her call. “I don’t think just the four of us is enough to handle the whole agency.”
Rui watched An, not saying a word, and just watching.
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An stopped pacing after a minute or so, with a small smile appearing on her face. “Kohane! Hi! Oh thank god you picked up… I didn’t wake you up, did I hon?”

"An! You didn't wake me! I've been training! What's going on?"

“Soooo… we have a situation…” An started, “Akitogotcaughtbytheagencyandweneedhelptogethimoutbeforetheykillhim-” she blurted, all in one breath. Ken came over to calm her down.

That threw Kohane for a loop for a moment but, eventually she caught on to the translation. Her own voice sped up a little as the situation dawned on her. "An, stay calm! I'll be there as soon as I can! Just gotta tell my dad!"

“...Right, okay. Yeah! Be careful getting over here! Love you!” An was still speaking quickly, though having Kohane’s help definitely eased her concern for Akito.

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The second Kohane hung up the phone, she immediately got dressed in her proper gear as fast as she could. She rushed down the stairs of her home, still zipping up her jacket.
Her dad was sitting at the table in the kitchen, he seemed to be sorting through photos on his camera. Though he looked up frantically when his daughter came down the stairs in such a panic.

"What's got you so worked up?" He asked her.

She sat down at the foot of their door and began lacing up her boots. "I've gotta go to the weekend garage, major emergency. We have to go save Akito from a governmental facility before they kill him! I might not be back for breakfast tomorrow morning! I love you dad and don't forget to feed Count Pearl, bye!" She word vomited just as bad as An had over the phone.

She stood up and grabbed her bat, swinging it over her shoulder. She then booked it out the front door. Her dad got up and stood at the door. "Just be safe! Stick to An! Oh and I love you too!" He called after her.

Kohane felt her heart beating out of her chest and not just because she was running so fast. She hadn't been on any big missions yet, mainly because An and her father were so worried about her. She knew she had to do her best and save Akito. She'd been working hard and taking everything An, Akito, and Ken taught her to heart. She still wasn't the best fighter. An would be there with her, that would help right? An was a great fighter and she was really smart. But, would that be enough to save Akito though?

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I live for Kohane <333 - Bandage
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Chapter Text

Akito sat in the empty room, waiting rather impatiently. He kicked his feet up onto the table and leaned back. Might as well get comfortable with how long they’re taking.
Finally, Akito heard the door unlock. He watched as it opened, only to fall out of his chair at what he saw.
The same two officers. And Ena.
Akito nearly choked on air as he got back up.
“Ena?! You…You’re alive?!” Akito stammered. A look of shock plastered across his face.
“No thanks to you, asshole.” Ena scoffed, crossing her arms.
“Okay, Nice to see you too, jesus fuck.” Akito shot back. “How was I supposed to know you survived?!”
Nene and Toya glanced at each other.
“Did you know about this?”
“Nope.” Toya shook his head.
“Cool. Neither did I…” Nene muttered, turning her attention back to the siblings. “Ena, are you just going to argue with him?”
Ena choked back another retort as she spared a glance at her fellow officers. "Right, right." She cleared her throat. "So, you presume I'm dead and move on to stealing weapons and killing people?”

“You really think I’ve stooped that low?! At least I don’t work for these scumbags!” Akito argued. “I’m an inconvenience to this agency at best.” He added with the slightest amount of confidence.

"You've always been an inconvenience. That's not new." She stated. "Though, it really is interesting, the first thing you do on your own is join some lowlife crime group! I'm sure dad would be so proud of his precious gifted son. What do you think?"

“I don’t give two shits about what dad would have to say.” Akito snapped, leaning forward in his seat a bit more. “And that ‘lowlife crime group’ you were talking about is just a group of people trying to live their lives.” As he spoke, he grew more and more defensive.

"Oh? So, this group means something to you? I'd think it would just be a bunch of murderers and thieves." Ena tilted her head a little bit. Despite her trying her best to keep up her act, she felt herself tense up with frustration after the comment about their father.

Akito seemed to have realized how much he shared. He fell silent for a moment, before speaking up again. “...How long have you known I’ve been doing this sort of thing?” As he asked this, his tone softened. He was still defensive, but while Ena was here, he needed to know why she never reached out or looked for him. “I shared some information, so it’s only fair.”

It was Ena's turn to pause. She looked away for a moment realizing that she had caved a little in her own anger. "I never thought you were dead. Then, I had a feeling the second I saw the security footage from your first run in." Ena felt her own voice get a little quieter. Almost like she didn't want to admit it.

Akito remained silent, unsure as to what else to say. Nene and Toya exchanged another look, silently confirming that they’ve heard enough.
“Ena? Do you need a minute? I don’t want this conversation to get too heated…” Nene turned to the other girl, a sympathetic look on her face.

"Little late for that, don't you think?" Ena turned to look at Nene. However, it was obvious she hadn't meant to be ill-mannered when speaking. "Take over if you want, but I'm not leaving." Ena shrugged.

Nene nodded in understanding. “Toya and I can also step out if you two need to talk… this seems like it’s a little more than just catching a criminal.”
“Are you sure we should just leave?” Toya tilted his head.
“Akito’s restrained, and Ena probably won’t lash out. It’s fine.”

Akito went back to leaning back in the chair. “I can still hear you guys.”

"God, someone turned into a smart ass." Ena commented, rolling her eyes lightly. "You're right though, we should probably have some time to talk. Thanks, Nene, I'll call you in when we're done.."

Nene nodded and practically dragged Toya out of the room.
Akito let out a sigh. “Okay. I doubt you’re here to question me about that Alchemist asshole.” He began, “So. Where should I start?”

"I couldn't care less about that guy right now." Ena began by prefacing that. Though, some info on the guy would be nice in the long run. She couldn't deny that. "I'm curious how it came to this. Arrested in some government facility while I'm the one questioning you. Seems like there should be some backstory to that."

“Yeah, well. Your friend out there in the green just caught me off guard.” Akito began. “That’s why I’m here specifically.”

"Not what I meant, dumbass and you know that. Why did you ever get involved here in the first place? Not just tonight." Ena countered, she pulled the chair on the other side of the table out and took a seat herself. This was gonna take a while.

Akito snickered at the other’s response. “Fine.” He paused to recall the events. “When we got split up that night, I tried to go back to find you. Not that that part matters…” Akito kept his voice low out of embarrassment, but felt that Ena deserved the truth. “I ended up waiting for you for hours after that, thinking that maybe you just got lost or something… And well, when you didn’t come back, I wasn’t really sure where to go since home was kind of ransacked by the agency. That’s when Ken found me and offered me a place to stay.” He spoke bluntly, not leaving much room for Ena to interject. “Any questions?”

Ena felt herself freeze, there's no way that was true. "You actually went back?" She had refused to believe that Akito even considered her at that moment for years. She never thought that it was possible, let alone that she'd hear it from Akito himself. "And Ken? Who's that?" She questioned, hearing the unfamiliar name.

“... So what if I did? You clearly weren’t there…” Akito muttered, avoiding eye contact. “And… If I tell you, you can’t tell any of the other officers. Got it? Like I said, they’re all just people trying to live their lives.”

Ena felt her eyes drop to the table. She didn't want to admit it but, a part of her wished that she could've been there. Who was she kidding? A lot of her felt that. She tried to continue as calm as she could even if that meant glossing over the topic for the moment. "I won't mention it to them." Ena nodded, looking up from the table. "What exactly do you mean by ‘live their lives?’"

Akito debated if he should actually share this information before committing. “Ken sells important information to those who pay for it. Ken, his daughter and I all live in a small cafe that’s barely getting by, and Crase already has it out for him.” Akito continued, “They’ve already had to find somewhere new to live twice because of those douchebags.” As he spoke, he remained on guard for even

Ena was a little surprised that Akito opened up so fast about it. She had to reason to doubt if what he was saying was true either. Afterall, he wasn't in a great spot to be lying. "So, he's that info broker in the files..." Ena mutters. "So, you steal stuff from us for him to sell, am I correct?"

“Yeah.” Akito nodded. “And other odd jobs if he needs them done.”

"Guess that covers why you're here now and why your name's all over our paperwork. I assume it's a way to repay Ken for taking you in." She leaned back in her chair a little bit before saying, "From what it sounds like though, I'm surprised that Nene took you down so easily. She is a pretty new recruit." Ena found herself stifling a smile, she wasn't doing a very good job though.

Akito laughed a bit. “To be fair, That Alchemist prick kinda left me to my own devices so… now I’m here.” He paused, his expression dropping. Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure what would happen after this conversation. Interrogation, sure. But would they dispose of him afterwards? Would he just remain locked up here?

"Seems like everyone's had it out for that guy lately. Even you I guess." She chuckled a little bit. Though, she noticed that Akito's mood dropped. She tilted her head at him, frowning herself. "What've you got on your mind? If it's about the interrogation, Nene and Toya aren't the worst to be questioned by. You're lucky Tsukasa's out of commision. He's loud."

“I’m not worried!” Akito jumped back on the defensive. “But uh… you don’t happen to know what they’re planning to do after they get whatever information they want from me, do you?” He tried his best to play it off as a morbid curiosity instead of worry.

"I see, you're totally not worried." Ena spoke, her voice practically dripping with sarcasm. "They likely won't kill you right away considering your connections are much more spread out than just the Alchemist. Nene and Toya might even have you in for multiple interrogation sessions Especially if Tsukasa makes a fast recovery. If they can use you to get that Alchemist out here, they'll take that chance and run with it. Either way, just be prepared to be here a while."

“Greeeeat.” Akito groaned. “And what’s the deal with this Tsukasa guy you keep talking about? What happened there?”

"He's the chief investigator for Crase. He's been the one handling all of your cases and infiltrations. So, if you've had a run in with a short cocky blonde then, that's Tsukasa." Ena had very mixed feelings about the investigator, but he was still above her, so she tried not to get too out of hand with her description. "The Alchemist dealt him a pretty brutal shot with a laser gun the other day, knocked him out cold and everything. So, he's been confined to the medical bay until he's fit to return to work."

“Ohhhhh him. Yeah, I stole his gun once.” Akito said offhandedly. “But you said the Alchemist shot him? I didn’t hear anything about that.”

"You stole his gun? That's the best thing I've heard all day!" Ena found herself laughing at the thought. Chief investigator, the high and mighty Tsukasa getting his gun taken by some criminal, even better that criminal was Akito. Though she pulled herself together to continue. "Yeah, he did. Got him right in the chest, the Alchemist didn't stick around long after that. I'm not sure if Toya's been handling it very well."

“Hm… I didn’t peg that guy as the type to go for a fatal shot…” Akito thought aloud. “Then again, we don’t talk often. I avoid him when I can.”

"To me he seems the perfect fit to deal quite a blow but, I've never talked to him personally." Ena huffed. "You seem to be in more of a mood to talk about him, should I call Nene and Toya back? They're probably anxious to get this questioning done before the day's over."

“Yeah. whatever” Akito rolled his eyes. “Let’s get this over with.” He paused once again. “And uh. Hey. For what it’s worth… It’s kinda nice to see you again.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AND CUT JESUS FUCKING CHRIST - Bee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

Rui approached the medical bay, trying his best to ignore the heavy feeling in his chest. He lightly knocked on the door in a rhythmic pattern, then listened for a response.
What he didn’t expect, however, was for that same knocking pattern to be repeated back to him from the other side, followed by the door opening, and Tsukasa laughing before him.
Rui couldn’t help but laugh with him as he entered the room.
“Should you be out of bed?” Rui questioned, keeping his lighthearted smile on his face.
Tsukasa paused for a second before shrugging. “I mean, It’s not severe, and I can walk fine. The nurse said it was just a third-degree burn!”

That’s. A severe burn.

“Still, you should focus on relaxing so you can recover. If not for your sake, ours." He cautioned, trying to wave Tsukasa to sit down.
“I’ll be fine, really… but I really appreciate the concern…” Tsukasa sat down anyway to ease Rui’s worry. “It doesn’t even hurt all that much” He lied, still not wanting anyone to fret about him.
"Uh-huh." Rui hummed. "You shouldn't do anything that might irritate it before you come back to work. I mean, it wouldn't be very productive to keep ending up back here." Rui chuckled a little bit. Though, he began to mindlessly fidget with the ribbon hanging from his jacket loop.
“I know, I know…I’m just impatient is all.” He laughed, then glanced at Rui- well- specifically his hands, taking note of the ribbon. “That’s new… The ribbon, I mean…” He pointed out, eyeing it curiously.
"Ah, right that." Rui mentally cursed himself for drawing attention to it. How was he to explain this one? "It's this thing me and a friend have always done. Like a pinky promise but, more serious I suppose." He silently prayed Tsukasa wouldn't question further though, he knew that reality.
“Promise?” Tsukasa tilted his head. “What kind of promise?” It was only after he asked, that he realized the question was intrusive. “Ah- Not that you need to tell me of course! Only if you’re comfortable!” He added, waving his hands in a dismissive manner.
Rui paused, thinking for a moment. He then tried to push off the topic. He could come up with a full excuse later. "That's just like you, Tsukasa." He chuckled. "Just a silly promise they had me make to them the other night."
Tsukasa exaggerated offense, “I’m hurt! Just like me?! What could you possibly mean by that?!” He gasped.
"You share your concern for me over your interest in whatever in the world the ribbon is for." Rui added. "Tsukasa's always so worried for others and never himself, like he should be." His tone shifted to be a little less playful and more serious as he kept talking.
Tsukasa was taken aback by the weight of Rui’s words. Once again, he had made someone worry for him, which was never his intention. “Honestly, Rui. I’ll be okay. I already have plans with the nurse to start physical therapy soon and hopefully be back on missions. After all, you guys need my help, right? Your Chief investigator isn’t going to let you down~!” He spoke proudly, hoping to lighten the mood.
"We all know that as much!" He replied. Then he glanced away a bit. "Just don't rush it too much. Be sure not to be as reckless when you get back. You got lucky." Rui sighed softly upon finishing his statement. That was rich coming from him. His leg injury still wasn't fully healed and that was still occasionally painful. He couldn't imagine what something like this felt like. That comparison just made the knot in his throat tighter.
Tsukasa fell silent, holding a hand over the area in which he was shot. It was numb for the most part, with occasional spikes of pain. Nothing he couldn’t handle. He’d be fine. He had to be, for Toya and Saki, and for the agency. “Like I said. I’ll be okay.” Tsukasa reaffirmed. “I’m here because I hesitated to fire, and I don’t plan on doing that again.” He swore, more to himself than to Rui. He’s lucky his unwillingness to harm anyone hasn’t gotten anybody else hurt, though now he’s begun to worry that it might. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if his own fear got someone else injured.
Rui paused after hearing that. That night Tsukasa didn't fire in the first place, that's right. Though, he never considered it hesitation. He tilted his head a little, bringing his eyes back to Tsukasa. "What do you mean you hesitated?" He asked him. He definitely neglected to think about phrasing in the moment but, he couldn't care less. He could bounce back, he was confident in that.
“I couldn’t bring myself to shoot him. The truth is, I came to this agency to make life better for as many people as I could. I thought I’d be able to do that, no matter the cost. But… the people we target are still human and the thought of killing someone... It just… doesn’t sit well with me” Tsukasa explained, his eyes focused on the floor. All of his superior officers claimed that he’d get nowhere with this mentality, and though he wouldn’t say it, he feared Rui would think the same.
Rui blinked a few times before he spoke up. He brought a hand to his own chin. "That's very admirable of you to hold onto those views. Not many people have that same feeling, especially now with how the agency is." Rui commented, a small smile appearing on his face briefly. "Although, it's most intriguing that even after the guy has done this to you that you'd still think he deserves to be called human." He told him, tone shifting down ever so slightly again.

Tsukasa scoffed at Rui’s first remark. “More often than not, people call it childish.” He admitted. “As for the Alchemist- I don’t care too much about what he’s done to me. I’ll be okay. It’s the fact that he poses a threat to people I love that worries me. For now, I’m here, sure. But as long as he’s loose, anyone could end up here.” As he explained, Tsukasa glanced back to his equipment, which was hung up neatly by the door. “But the same must be true for criminals too, right? They must have motivation to be doing what they do. Even if they aren’t good reasons.” He paused after that comment, a bit surprised that he sounded like he was analyzing a case over a simple comment.
He quietly listened to Tsukasa explain. It almost didn't feel right the way he described it. Like he didn't want to believe it. It was almost upsetting for Tsukasa to not seek anything for himself even after he got put in the hospital with severe burns. As he listened, he realized exactly how Tsukasa's voice shifted. Almost like he was back in a briefing. "Woah, remember you're not back to work yet." Rui told him, a little worried that Tsukasa might overexert himself or something. He then continued, his tone had started to ever so slightly reflect his frustration, "You should care though. There was no reason for him to deal this card. Those guns can do some real damage, though I think you know that by now. Perhaps I should redesign some of the equipment..." He trailed off a little, glancing at the wall with Tsukasa.
Tsukasa once again fell silent, taking note of Rui’s frustration, only really speaking up again when Rui suggested modifying the equipment. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to modify anything just because it’s dangerous… though maybe some defensive gear would be nice…” he thought aloud, turning his gaze back to Rui. However, as he opened his mouth to speak, the door opened, and in came a nurse, carrying a cup of water and medicine. She took notice of the two talking and just swiftly set both things down at Tsukasa’s bedside then stepped outside.
Tsukasa didn’t pay any mind to this for now. Instead, he continued “It’s just in the shoulder, and after some physical therapy, I’ll be fine! Don’t stress yourself out worrying about me all because some hotshot thief got a lucky shot in.”
Rui let out a sigh, attempting to calm down a little. "Still would help to have at least something to keep us safer. Who knows when the thief may get another lucky shot in." He shrugged a little bit. He then looked at the medicine. "Do you have to take that?" Rui asked, tilting his head.
“I suppose you’re right-” Tsukasa stopped and followed Rui’s gaze, looking at the medicine. Just a few painkillers and antibiotics. “Oh, yeah.” He took the pills in one hand and went for the water cup in the other. As he went to pick it up, however, a tingling feeling shot through his arm, causing him to drop the cup in that hand, spilling its contents on the floor.
“Damn it…”
Rui flinched and rushed to pick the cup up. He then grabbed a few tissues from a nearby box to start cleaning the water up. "What was that?" He asked. He knew it was likely from the injury, but he would rather hear Tsukasa say something about it.
Tsukasa got up, doing his best to help clean up the mess. “The doctor said it’s called Neuropathy? Basically, the burn destroyed the nerve endings in my shoulder, but it should heal fine with the proper care.” As he described it, Tsukasa’s voice was quieter, and slightly frustrated in tone. Although he masked it, he was upset by the situation. He didn’t want to sit by and watch while he did nothing. He didn’t want to have all these people worrying about him. But that’s his own fault for not being able to pull the trigger that night.
Rui felt himself sinking internally even more. Expecting it is one thing but, hearing it just puts the final nail in the coffin. He finally heard Tsukasa's feelings on the situation as well. Which wasn't helping. "So, physical therapy will help with that?" Rui asked, focusing on finishing wiping up the water. He couldn't look at Tsukasa. Not then. "I wonder if it would be harder to handle your weapons." Rui muttered, unconsciously shifting the conversation to something he felt safer with.
“I haven’t tried to use my weapons yet. So maybe?” Tsukasa shrugged. (Bad idea. That hurt.) He helped Rui finish cleaning up the spill then sat back down on the bed. “As long as it heals correctly, it shouldn’t be a struggle for too long… I just hope it heals quickly.” He admitted, turning to face Rui. When he noticed the other avoiding eye contact, he attempted a smile. “But like I said, I’ll be back and better than ever before you even know it! So just have some faith in me, okay?”
Rui finally looked up at the last bit. He finally smiled a little bit back at him. "Right. What kind of tech guy would I be if I didn't trust the chief investigator?" He stood up and threw away the tissues he held. "Speaking of which, I should probably head back and start designing some new stuff." He said, brushing off the front of his coat.
Tsukasa’s smile became more genuine as he got Rui to lighten up some. “Okay. Don’t fall asleep at the desk again, I can’t keep having Yoisaki wake you up over surveillance.” He scolded.
Rui hummed, "Message received but no promises." He chuckled a little bit. He then headed to the door and just before he left he added. "I'll ask the nurse to bring you more water by the way." He then closed the door behind him. The frustration he felt hadn't dissipated yet. He still couldn't help to think that Tsukasa was crazy for not completely blaming him for what he did.
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Not done with the scene yet this is just so I can start a new part if I get writing block here WHEEEEEEEE - Bee

That's so valid - Bandage

Go back to making your tear away pants >:(( - Bee

They're pieces of art - Bandage
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Chapter Text

Beg.

Beg for the next chapter.
Please we need motivation to write.

Beg.

Chapter Text

The metal door clicked as it unlocked. Toya entered the small interrogation room once more. At the table seat Akito, a criminal Nene captured whom they had been interrogating for about 3 days now. It'd all been in an effort to find that stupid Alchemist. Though, he refused to answer any of their questions no matter what they did. According to Ena she hadn't gotten anything out of him either. "I assume you know the drill by now." Toya commented, setting the file he held down onto the table and taking a seat across from Akito.

Akito was already leaning back in his chair, the same annoyed expression on his face. “Yeah, yeah. Seriously, I don’t even know why you guys bother at this point.” He added, a smug expression appearing on his face.
"You're the only one here associated with the Alchemist. We don't need to find your identity, since it was your sister who reported you in the first place." Toya explained, opening the file and looking through the pages.
Akito scoffed at the other’s comment. “Do you really just assume that I know him because he happened to be there? Fucker screwed me over.” He pointed out.
"Why would he need to do that? I heard that he could've left the building at any point, leaving you. He's the type to go out of his way even for things like that? There wasn't even much competition with what you both we're stealing." Toya mentioned, looking up from his papers at Akito. It's true they were running thin with ways to get to Akito without using violent methods. It's what his father would recommend. Though, Tsukasa always said that kind of thing is for last resort, so he tried to get it off his mind.
“Hell if I know why he left.” Akito spoke bluntly, leaning back further in the chair. He knew he’d be here for a while, he usually was. Though, this isn’t quite what he expected from the Crase Agency- He had always been told they’d resort to violence by this point, yet the officer before him has been in charge of all of his interrogations, and so far nothing major has happened. “So is this just gonna be you grasping at straws while I sit here, or do you actually have something interesting today?”
Toya thought for a moment, glancing back down at the file. He then closed it and set it aside. "If you're really not going to spill anything about the alchemist, I suppose we could discuss you." Toya suggested. "Your case is a bit lackluster overall but your weapons, technique and evasion is interesting. A lot of it seems to be on similar par with some of our agents. Were you trained in fighting or is it self taught?" He asked, curiously, tilting his head a little..
Akito seemed surprised by the question. But in that same vein, he couldn’t share any information, or he’d risk exposing the weekend garage. He was still kind of beating himself up for telling Ena as much as he did. “And why would I tell you about myself if I’m unwilling to share information about others?” Akito questioned.
Toya decided to be honest with the other. "It's both out of my own personal intrigue as well as the fact that I really need any information you're willing to give me. I'm not sure what father will have me do if we don't make any progress at all." He told him simply. He glanced away for a brief moment at the mention of his father. "Maybe we can cut some kind of deal?" He asked.
Akito sat up, interested. “Your father?” he thought for a moment, recalling Ken’s information on the Aoyagi family. “Oh, right. He’s the guy in charge isn’t he? The one that makes life harder for anyone who doesn’t work for the Agency?” Through Akito’s times encountering this officer, he had never seen him express any sort of emotion- part of him was curious if he could get a reaction of any kind from him.
"Not just people outside of the agency." Toya corrected, speaking a little more quietly than before. His face didn't read much but his tone grew almost bitter.
Akito tilted his head. “So, even the people working here are aware that this place fucking sucks? Why don’t you do anything about it?”
Toya shifted in his chair. "It's just not possible for me." Toya stated plainly, shrugging a little. "I've seen more than enough of what happens to traitors. I assure you it's not good." He shook his head a little with the last sentence.
“I’m more than aware. Trust me on that.” Akito muttered, avoiding eye contact. “I was stupid enough to get caught, and I’m not bringing other people down with me. You’ll probably just kill me anyways once you get what you want from me, right?”
Toya paused. "To be honest I'm not sure. It really depends on who's able to take over the case after questioning." He then continued. "I do wish I could give a more straightforward answer." Toya felt his hand on the desk tighten into a fist at the thought of Tsukasa still in the medbay. He needed to find that Alchemist but it was clear just how Shinonome felt about telling him anything about that.
“Why are you all so set on that Alchemist guy anyways? I mean, I heard about that officer that got hurt, but was it really that bad?”
"He's stolen a lot of top secret information and made off with it unscathed nearly every time. He seems to predict everything and he knows his way around. He proved himself to be even more dangerous when he shot Chief Investigator Tsukasa." Toya explained, bringing the file back before him. "Especially since the weapon he fired with was carefully crafted and had high power behind it. It left third degree burns which isn't likely to happen from some unlicensed weapons maker, no matter how many blueprints he steals." Toya could hear his anger bubble up in his voice every so often as he continued.
Akito raised an eyebrow, Rui was trouble, he knew that. But he didn’t hear about many of his missions. “Damn. I didn’t know the guy had so much against him…” He paused to think for a moment, then continued. “God, I can’t believe I’m doing this… I can give you some information about the guy.” he resigned.
"Really!?" Toya gasped, standing up, as he did his chair got knocked over onto the floor behind him with a loud thud. His expression hadn't changed too much but, the way his eyes almost lit up showed how clear he was eager for whatever Akito had to tell him. He then realized that his chair had fallen. He felt a little bit of embarrassment flood into him as he cleared his throat with a quiet apology and moved to pick his chair up sitting back down.
Akito flinched at the sudden movement, but once he realized Toya’s hand was nowhere near his weapon, he relaxed and began to share. “The Alchemist, on top of being a fucking traitor, is an incredibly skilled weapons dealer. I’ve met quite a few people who work with him and nobody’s ever had a single complaint. If you want to deal with him, you need better gear yourselves.”
"A weapons dealer? Does he sell the blueprints to inventors? or does he make them himself?" Toya asked, resting his forearms on the table and leaning forward. "It's clear that we've been taking his case too lightly but, what do you mean by gear ourselves? Is he worse than we’ve seen?”
“I’d say so. He has much more advanced tech than you all have.” Akito nodded. “I mean, you saw what happened to that Tsukasa guy, right?”
"More advanced tech? It couldn't be, our technician is the best around." Toya muttered, mainly to himself. He tensed up a little at the thought of Tsukasa possibly getting hurt by this guy again. That was one shot, what would happen if he planned to do worse one day? "What do you think would work best in combating him?" Toya asked.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. That’s about all I can give you… but hopefully it’ll keep your dad at bay, since that’s what you seemed worried about.” Akito explained.
Toya paused for a moment, looking at Akito. He then got a hold of himself saying, "Yeah, any information would've worked but, thanks for giving me info on this guy. It'll prove useful." Toya then picked up the file and stood up. " I'm still interested in your abilities but I should report the information you gave me first, so it will have to wait. Nene will be in to get you in a few minutes." He headed to the door, unlocking it and pulling it open. Before he left, he turned back. "Thank you, very much. You're actually different than I thought."
Akito sat in stunned silence for the next few minutes. All his life, he was taught that the agency was full of cruel people who mindlessly followed orders, yet. Somehow, this officer at least was different.
All in all, this entire experience could have gone so much worse

Chapter Text

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Timeskip? Maybe? To like. Night? Maybe?
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The plan was set into motion. The Weekend Garage had spent days tirelessly throwing out ideas and formulating strategies to save Akito from his current captivity in the Crase Agency. Rui had his advantages due to being a worker however, his status limited his access to certain areas in the building. Unfortunately the prison wasn't somewhere he could enter as he wasn't an officer. So, the first part of the plan relied on him. He had to infiltrate, steal a card from a guard and get it to Kohane and An to carry out the 2nd step. Rui pushed the vent out of the wall he entered the building from. He chose this vent to avoid the eye of the security cams and get close enough to the nearest guard point. Though, to be extra sure he took a small ball out of his coat pocket and pushed a button in on the top. He then rolled it out into the hallway as it began to fizz. He silently prayed that the prototype would be on his side and hopefully not explode since he whipped it up in just a few days. It was a small trinket that almost acted as a smoke bomb, except one that deactivates the agency's camera technology in the area. Since he developed a new security system he could interfere with the frequencies easily when creating new technology like this. From his position he watched the blinking light on the nearest camera go completely dark. It's go time.
"Len, send a message to Kohane and An, let them know that I made it in." Rui whispered, the yellow boy appearing in his vision.
"On it!" He cheered before vanishing. That was taken care of. Rui stood up and made his way to the closed door of the guards office. He opened the door to two prison guards in the middle of a discussion. How convenient. "Good evening!" Rui bowed slightly with that greeting. "Would both of you be so kind as to lend me your key cards?"
The guards however, replied by drawing their weapons aiming them right at Rui. "How unfortunate." Rui frowned before throwing a handful of very small pop bombs. Basically, flash grenades but quicker activation and way louder. Due to the amount, it created multiple bright flashes and quite a loud sequence of noises.
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Bang!
Tsukasa shot out of bed at the sudden sound, and without a single thought, he got up, hastily threw on his gear, and took off down the hall where he heard the sound. Even if he’s injured, if there is an intruder, many officers are at risk, and he is not about to let that happen.

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All the while, on the other side of the building, two girls receive a message from Rui.
An returned the gun she was cleaning to its holster. “You ready Kohane?”
Kohane took a deep breath and clutched her bat in her hands. "Ready An." she nodded, placing her mask back on her face. At least she was as ready as she was gonna get.
“Let’s go!” An nodded, kicking in the already-loosened vent entry. She watched Kohane enter, then followed suit, tapping into the earpiece provided by Rui.
“We’re going in now, do you have the key card?”
"Yup! I actually got two and I had enough time to draw mustaches on the guards faces! Bringing them over now!"
An smiled at the response. “Alright! Kohane, I’ll get the card, can you cover me while I do that? The Alchemist said there should be some officers guarding the cells.”
Kohane smiled back, though she still looked visibly nervous. "I've got your back An!" She told her, bringing her bat up over her shoulder.
An nodded once again to Kohane then took off to retrieve the key card.
It was that moment, when coming face to face with Rui that she heard it.
The sound of a gun cocking, and a voice behind the Alchemist.
“Nobody move.” Toya demanded from the doorway. He had happened to be researching late into the Alchemist’s case when he heard the disturbance.
"Ah..." Rui hummed and turned around, he had that same smirk on his face. "Fancy seeing you here, officer! Whoops, looks like I broke in again~☆!" Rui tucked his arms behind his back and leaned forward a bit.
Toya’s gaze grew even more hostile. The man who hurt his brother was now directly in front of him. “Give me one good reason not to fire.” He spoke harshly, and full of malice, almost resembling the cruel presence of his father.
"Hmm.. let me think for a minute. I'm currently unarmed and haven't done much yet. Wouldn't it be boring to just shoot me now?" Rui tilted his head. Behind his back one of his hands flipped, revealing a card to An and Kohane. He was silently hoping that Toya would be too caught up in his own anger to notice.
Toya, was in fact, too caught up in his own anger to notice. Every word that came out of the other’s mouth only made him want to pull the trigger even more. He was about to fire when…
“Toya! What’s going on?!” A loud, familiar voice shouted, and Tsukasa approached, spotting the scene before him. He instinctively stepped back upon seeing the Alchemist, keeping a hand on his own weapon.
“Tsukasa! What are you doing?! You shouldn’t be here-“ Toya began
“I can’t just sit still when I know things are happening- and hold your fire!”
As the two started to argue, An turned to Rui, gesturing for him to pass the card to her.
However, Rui didn't budge. Upon seeing Tsukasa his own eyes widened under his goggles. Tsukasa shouldn't be here. He should be resting in the medbay. Not getting involved in this. What was he thinking?
Kohane anxiously gripped her bat, why wasn't the Alchemist paying attention? She watched An fruitlessly try to have Rui pass her the card. After a few moments though, she decided she had enough. She quietly moved close to Rui and took the card out of his hand. That got his attention, he glanced back at Kohane. Getting another shock that it was her who took the card. Kohane knew from the moment he offered them the card that Rui wanted them to go ahead so, she turned around and grabbed An by the hand and quickly pulled her off down to the prison hall.
Tsukasa watched the girls take off and turned to Toya. “I’ll handle the Alchemist. You deal with them.” He commanded, drawing his gun with some difficulty and aiming it at the Alchemist
“But Tsukasa-“
“Go!” Tsukasa snapped. “I’ll handle it!”
Toya reluctantly agreed, taking off to pursue the girls.
Kohane heard the footsteps catching up quickly behind them. She realized that if he got to them, they'd have to fight him. Not only that but, this officer seemed to be especially violent considering how he reacted to the Alchemist. What if they weren't able to save Akito? She felt her hands tighten around An's. The more she thought about it, the more useless it seemed that she'd come along in the first place. She would just drag them down with how much more training she needed.
“Kohane, I’ll hold him off. Get Akito, okay?” Her tone was soft and reassuring. “I’ve got you covered.” As An spoke, a laser flew towards the girls, and instinctively, An pulled both herself and Kohane just out of the way.
Toya watched the girls, waiting for the opportunity to strike. In all honesty, He wanted to get this over with as soon as possible in order to help Tsukasa with the Alchemist.
"An..." She mumbled. Kohane was sure An could keep this guy at bay. Afterall, An was amazing but she still felt like she should do something. Got it! She pulled a small vial off her belt and closed it in An's hand. "Use this if you can." She told her. "Please catch up later, An!" She then turned and quickly continued down the hallway. Kohane quickly checked her map, seems like she was getting close to the entrance. That put some relief into her system.
An nodded and put the vial in a cartridge of her gun. She then ran directly towards Toya, dodging his attacks as she searched for a good opening.

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Kohane finally reached the bay door. Luckily there were no guards outside of the bay. Must've been the two Rui mentioned. She peeked in through the window and noticed 2 more guards walking down the corridor of cells. If anything, the time was now. She pushed a small button on the handle of her bat, causing it to fold in and turn into a gun. She took a few more vials from her belt, popping them into the cartridge.

She swiped the card through the scanner next to the door, it beeped and the door clicked. She pushed it open to not attract the attention of the guards ahead. Kohane aimed her gun right at the back of one of the guards. Carefully, making sure she'd hit him. Then she pulled the trigger. The dart hit right in the back, and the guard quickly lost his balance and fell over, unconscious. The other guard however, quickly turned around, drawing his gun.

She rushed into the hall before she could even really think too heavily. The officer shot at her a few times and luckily she evaded them but, she couldn't get a good shot like this. She moved in close to the guard and pushed the button again on her weapon, right after it turned into a bat again, she swung at the man. Kohane ended up hitting the guard right in the head. After a thud his body hit the ground.

She spent a second processing what happened, her breath shallow. She really just did that. She'll have to tell An right away! Oh, but Akito first, right. She stuck the guard she hit with one of her vials for extra measure and continued on to his cell. Finally she got to Akito's cell. She couldn't help the amount of relief that flooded her when she saw that he was okay visually. "Akito!" She exclaimed.

Akito was seated on the ground, listening to the commotion from the other rooms. However, when he saw Kohane, he perked up. “Kohane! Is An with you?” He stood up, scanning the area for any threats to the other. When he didn’t see An, he seemed even more surprised. “You didn’t come all this way alone, right?” He almost sounded like a worried older sibling.

She shook her head. "Of course I didn't! An's holding off that blue officer and Alchemist's busy with another!" She quickly explained. "Are you okay? Did they do anything?" Kohane asked him, rushing her words a little bit in all the panic and excitement.

Akito couldn’t help but laugh a bit at Kohane’s energy. “I’m okay, just tired of being stuck here. But I do have some interesting information once we get outta here.” He didn’t even realize that he was smiling as he spoke. He was just focused on the fact that nothing had happened to the Weekend Garage during his absence.

"Oh that's right!" She jumped a little bit remembering that she really should open the cell. She scanned the card once again. The cell then rolled open. Kohane immediately stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "I'm so relieved. Everyone's been so worried." She muttered.

Akito stumbled backwards slightly, not expecting the sudden impact. It took him a moment to process before wrapping an arm around her in return, albeit a bit hesitant. “Sorry for scaring you guys like that.” He mumbled. “This might make us a bigger target for the agency…” he thought aloud, lingering on the fact that he is the reason this breakout needed to happen.

"Looks like I'll need some extra training in that case!" Kohane told him, moving away from him. "Now we should get out of here! It's not really a help to the other two if we keep standing here talking. We can get you a gun from one of the guards I knocked out." Kohane explained, taking a few steps out of the cell, waiting for Akito to follow.

“You knocked out a guard?” Akito chuckled. “You’ve come a long way.” He followed Kohane out of the cell, heading over to one of the unconscious guards. He took a gun off one of them then picked up one of Kohane’s darts. “Damn. And tranq-ed for good measure. Must suck to be that guy.” Akito then continued down the hall with Kohane. “So, what’s the plan?”

Kohane laughed and brought a hand to adjust her mask. "Thanks Akito! Hearing you say that means a lot." She said, following close after him. "We meet up with An and assist her if she needs it then we follow the maps to the marked exit route and meet up with the Alchemist there." Kohane explained, pulling up the hologram map on her wrist band.

Akito nodded, following her lead, and maybe looking forward a little too much to giving Rui a piece of his mind. “I’ve got some choice words for that guy. You think An’s doing okay against Aoyagi?”

Kohane thought for a moment. "He seemed rather agitated so, I'm not sure. I mean! I'm confident in An!! She's amazing and a great fighter! It's just this officer was scary." She told him. She then pushed the button again so she could have her gun on her.

“Honestly, he’s not that scary. He’s just really set on murdering the Alchemist, that’s all.” Akito glanced at Kohane’s map before she dismissed it and turned the corner accordingly, only to be greeted with An leaning against the wall, waiting, while Toya was passed out on the ground.
Akito stared at the unconscious officer, stifling laughter. “Been waiting long?”
An shook her head. She had a few minor injuries from the fight but nothing that needed more than a few bandages. “Nope, just knocked him out a minute ago, actually.”

Though it was covered by her mask, Kohane smiled even bigger when she saw An. "An! How was it? Are you alright?" Kohane asked her, quickly rushing up to the other girl. "Looks like that vial was pretty useful." She then added.

“It worked great! I’m fine, Kohane.” An laughed, ruffling Akito’s hair as he approached.
Akito swatted her hand away. “Maybe you two should flirt after we get out of here? Where’s that Alchemist asshole?”

Kohane turned to look at him. "He's probably still caught up with that other officer. We should keep moving." She told him and then added a few more vials to her cartridge.

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“This is Chief investigator Tenma. I need backup. The Alchemist has broken into the facility.” Tsukasa announced into comms, preparing to fire yet another shot at the criminal. He knew he wasn’t physically capable of doing this on his own at the moment, but he was determined to catch this guy. His thoughts were interrupted by a superior officer over the earpiece.
“Officer Tenma, when you catch the target, shoot to kill. We have nothing to gain from taking him into custody. There is no reason to continue risking lives by leaving him alive.”
Tsukasa did not respond to the command, but instead prepared to fire again, this time aiming for the chest. He couldn’t hesitate. Not if he wanted to protect those around him.
Len quickly appeared in Rui’s vision. “That blow’s going to be fatal. I’m going to use your shield to block it.” He didn’t wait for his creator to respond, as both of them knew this function was in beta and would probably shatter upon impact. The risk of it damaging the goggles, and by extension, Len’s programming was high, but a chance the AI was willing to take.
Rui flinched as he realized exactly what Len was doing. He began to panic, "Len, don't-'' was all he could get out. Losing Len was the worst that could happen now, especially since more often than not, he was Rui’s only company. It would be near impossible to recover him. And if he did, he would never be the same. Due to the suddenness of everything, his reaction was all too delayed to do anything remote about the shield.
As Tsukasa fired, the shield went up, A brilliant purple hue appeared in front of Rui with Len still in his view up until the second of impact. The blast hit a little higher than expected, likely due to Tsukasa’s injury, which led to the force of it shattering Rui’s goggles, along with the shield. Len glanced back at his creator then fizzled out of sight, and on the ground before the officer, was Rui, his face now fully visible.
Tsukasa’s eyes widened, and he lowered his weapon. “...Rui?”

Chapter Text

"Shit." Rui looked up at Tsukasa, bringing a hand up to wipe some blood from a cut on his face. "You've still got quite decent aim considering your injury." He commented, though his tone didn't reflect any of its usual playfulness. He glanced down at the metal and glass on the ground by him, his chest felt tight. Almost like his heart grew too heavy. Looks like it was all over with just that single gunshot.

Tsukasa stared at the other in shock. He didn’t at all know what to say, or if he should say anything. He was angry, he felt betrayed but more than anything, he was confused. Rui, the same man who came in and visited earlier that morning, the same man who told Tsukasa to care more for himself, is the same person that dealt him that injury in the first place. Tsukasa raised his gun once again, pointing it directly at Rui’s head, with hands trembling. He didn’t want to do this. He couldn’t do this.

“Tell me something… Why did you visit me earlier? I don’t understand.” Tsukasa’s voice was low as he asked the question. He wanted to know why. Why would Rui stick around the other officers if he was the criminal he was chasing? Why has he gone out of his way multiple times to spend time with them. It made no sense.

Rui didn't visibly bat an eye at the gun being raised once again. What caught his attention was how serious Tsukasa spoke. Finally, Tsukasa was angry. He wanted it to be this way, didn't he? Maybe the anger would be easier to take if he could pretend it wasn't directed at him. There was no denying anything now. Rui sighed and decided to be honest. In the end, Tsukasa was going to kill him for being a traitor. A part of him wanted him to get it over with already. He blinked a few times, realizing he had been lost in his thoughts. He then spoke, "I had to see for myself that you were okay."

Tsukasa’s expression softened slightly. Rui had been overly worried about him when he visited. He seemed adamant that Tsukasa be angry or upset about his situation. It all clicked at that moment- with those words. Even now, Tsukasa wasn’t even angry, he just wanted to know why. If anything, he felt more hurt. Someone he had trusted has been lying to him for god knows how long.
“... You seemed so worried… You wanted me to be angry.” Tsukasa recalled. “You didn’t mean to hurt me…” He spoke as the realization hit him, looking at the other with a much more concerned expression. “Am I correct?“

"I shot before I could think about where I was aiming." Rui explained briefly. Inwardly surprised at how fast Tsukasa seemed to start coming down from his anger. Rui almost didn't want to look at Tsukasa anymore, bordering on not being able to, but he had to remember the position he was in. Tsukasa still had the gun and he was still the criminal.

Tsukasa decided not to ask anymore questions. Not now. Instead, he lowered the gun, and turned on his comms.

“The target escaped. Fortunately, nobody got hurt.” He announced before turning the comms back off. He then held his hand out to Rui to help him up. “We can talk more about this later, okay? I’m assuming you have the person who gave you that ribbon waiting for you to get back.” He gestured to the little pink ribbon on his coat. “I don’t want to be the reason you don’t return to them.” After all, Tsukasa knew better than anyone that everyone has someone they care about. It’s always been the main reason he could never bring himself to kill.

Rui's eyes widened at what Tsukasa told the comms. He then slowly took Tsukasa's hand, pulling himself up. "Right. They're probably not gonna be too happy with me." Rui simply said. He had a million questions he wanted to ask right there. Mainly, he wanted to know why the other didn't shoot him but, like Tsukasa said, it'd have to wait. "Go back to the medbay soon, you shouldn't be doing too much yet." Rui told him quickly before rushing off to leave the building and meet up with the others. He didn't want to risk getting caught, but even worse he didn't want anyone to find out that Tsukasa let him live. Truly a stupidly reckless choice. Only one Tsukasa would make.
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I’m so homophobic after writing that one
- Bee ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

Mizuki was putting the final bandage over a cut on An's arm. They had been tasked with helping everyone out after they returned to the Weekend Garage. Luckily, there wasn't much work to be done. They were all fortunate. However, a certain dumbass hadn't shown up yet. They were starting to get worried since the last they heard was from Kohane, she told them that he was dealing with that investigator again. Only bad things could come of that. Injuries they'd have to deal with and scoldings to give. Suddenly, the front door slammed open, revealing that Rui had finally shown up. Though Mizuki noticed right away that he looked somehow worse than any other time they came knocking at their door.
“About time.” Akito spoke up from the booth he was sitting at. “What took you so long?”
Mizuki sighed. “What happened?”
Rui ignored Akito for now. He could deal with whatever revenge Akito wanted later. He looked at Mizuki. "Can we talk? Just us two? Like right now?" He asked, still quite in a rush from everything. Either way he would need Mizuki to treat the wounds he received from the glass breaking but, he had to tell someone what just happened. Who better than Mizuki?
Oh boy. That can’t be good.
Mizuki nodded and stood up, practically dragging Rui into the next room. “Alright, you look like shit. What’s up?” They asked, expecting the worst purely based on Rui’s expression.
Immediately Rui spilled everything. "Tsukasa fired at me but Len deployed my new shield. I was still in the process of testing and I couldn't stop it, so my goggles shattered and now Len is gone." As Rui spoke he was still quick paced in his speaking but he still paused at the mention of Len. "Since my goggles broke, Tsukasa knows who I am now and I thought he was just gonna kill me but he let me go. Which is the stupidest decision he ever made because now, if the agency finds out it's not just my head but his too."
“Okay, Rui. Breathe. Let’s unpack this a little slower.” Mizuki began. “Okay so Len deployed the shield to protect you, and it shattered your goggles… Is there any chance you could reprogram him?” They caught themself talking rather quickly as well due to their concern.
Rui took a deep breath as per Mizuki's suggestion before he continued. "I could make another one using his coding and design but he wouldn't be the same. I had Len for so long that he developed a personality, memories, almost like he was human. That'd be impossible to make without it taking years of development and even then it still wouldn't feel right."
“You still have what’s left of the goggles, right? Have you checked to see if the chip with his programming is still there?” Mizuki gestured to the broken goggles dangling off of Rui’s neck.
Rui looked down at what remained of his goggles. He then took them off and analyzed them. "Wait you're right! it's possible that it might've survived! I'll have to look into it." Rui exclaimed hopefully. He hadn't wished for anything this much in his life. He brought a hand up to scratch a spot on his face. Stupidly enough, that happend to be a cut that was trying to heal and he flinched when it started bleeding again.
Mizuki let out a sigh, taking a rag and starting to clean the blood off Rui’s cheek. “I hope at least Len’s salvageable. You only introduced me to him once, but he was really sweet…” They spoke hopefully at that moment, though their tone dropped again after a moment. “So that Chief guy found you out? And he just let you go?”
"Yeah, he did." Rui muttered, his mood dropping as well. "Isn't that so reckless? If I hadn't deactivated the cameras both of us would be dead! Not to mention if I get caught then he goes down with me anyway." Rui unconsciously explained around the point, distracted by his mini rant.
“That means he cares though.” Mizuki pointed out. “I know the Agency is full of awful people, but… that makes me think some of them at least know it’s bad.” They explained, trying their best to point out the positives of the situation. “So at least there’s that…”
Rui paused. "I suppose you're right. He does care." He mumbled, really taking a chance to process the things Tsukasa said. The idea of that made him feel so conflicted. He thought Tsukasa had made a horrible decision but it was almost relieving that Tsukasa knew the truth now. Afterall, that meant that they both realized how much one cared for the other. "Tsukasa's got this heart of gold. Based on our previous conversations,I don't think he could change that if he wanted to." Rui actually chuckled a little bit at that.
Mizuki laughed a bit as well. “I’d try to meet up with him somewhere and talk things through. He’s an investigator, right? If you just tell him why you do the things you do as the Alchemist, I’m sure he’ll understand.” They stuck a bandage over the cut on Rui’s cheek with a smile. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
"Right. He did say he wanted to talk later. I assume that means when I go in to work again." Rui explained. Despite everything he still had to go to work at his other job. The world really is cruel in the strangest ways. "I think that's the only spot where the glass got me badly and I might be bruised from the fall I took. Though, those should be fine on their own." Rui assured them with a small smile.
Mizuki nodded, putting a hand on their hip. “Alrighty! Then how about we get some cake or something? An said her dad makes a killer lava cake!” They didn’t wait for Rui to respond before grabbing him by the arm and dragging him out of the room.

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I have so much love for them
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Chapter Text

Hey there

So Bandage and I have been. very unmotivated to write more of Crase, even though we both want to see it through.
I have so many ideas for this fic and I do not want them to die but writing is just. a nightmare.

Also we have been fixated on fucking turtles.

we have lost control of our lives, and it only worsened after we met IRL for the first time lmao.

anyways Bee and Bandage reunite this weekend... and we're gonna at least look back over the fic to see if we have a backlogged chapter or something.

I'm so sorry, but y'all stopped begging so we stopped writing.

Chapter Text

Rui had gone into work the next day, making an attempt to fly under the radar. There was lots of cleaning up going on around him as well as many officers expressing frustration over the escaped criminal. Therefore, Rui thought it was best for him to stay in his lab for the day.
Afterall, he wanted to work on a special project. He set his goggles down on his desk and got to work at extracting the chip. It appeared that the compartment for it was still intact, so there was a chance that Len could still be there. He was going to figure it out somehow.
He picked at the compartment for a while, the damage made it hard to open. After a few more jabs it finally caved and popped open. He retrieved the chip. Rui grinned at the sight of a mostly undamaged chip. "Come on..." He mumbled as he moved to his computer. He inserted the chip into the side and began to download the files. Hopefully Len would be okay with staying in his computer until he finished some new goggles. He really wanted to at least find out from Len himself.
Rui was interrupted by a knock at the door, followed by Tsukasa’s voice. “Rui? It’s Tsukasa, are you busy right now?”
Rui turned around to face the door. He'd been looking forward to meeting with Tsukasa. Finally answers to the millions of questions he had. He stood up and quickly opened the door. "Just waiting for this stuff to download. Come on in!" He told him and moved aside for Tsukasa to enter his lab.
Tsukasa stepped inside and shut the door. “So… We should probably talk, yeah?” In all honesty, Tsukasa was nervous. After all, now he knew he was talking to a high profile criminal. He kept an eye out for cameras within the room.
"Yeah probably." Rui sighed and pulled a chair up for Tsukasa near his own. As he sat down, Rui glanced at the download percentage on his computer before focusing on Tsukasa, taking note of him looking around. "Not to worry, there are no cameras. So… Who goes first? I'm sure we both have a lot of things we want to ask." He asked him, tilting his head.
“I think you should go first… I’m not sure where to start” Tsukasa laughed awkwardly.
Rui nodded a little and thought about what question he wanted to ask first. He decided on the obvious. "Why in the world did you decide to spare me if it meant you'd be targeted too?" He asked. A heavy question off the bat but the one that burned itself into Rui's head the most.
Tsukasa thought for a moment before answering. “I mean, the main reason is because I think you’re a better person than the agency believes.” Tsukasa began, “You never fatally harmed anyone, and the one time you did hurt someone, you felt awful. Why would I stoop so low to take the life of a person who never wanted to hurt others in the first place? Not to mention, as an investigator, I find the idea of killing someone before knowing why they did what they did counterproductive.” He found himself just speaking his mind. Sure, Rui has stolen many important documents, but surely he must have had a reason.
"I certainly don't believe I'm anywhere close to a good person." Rui commented, though he couldn't deny that it was nice to hear from someone like Tsukasa. "I'll have you know I never intended to hurt you." He admitted to him, emphasizing the last word. It was true. From what he knew about everyone, Tsukasa was the one he would've hated to injure the most. Look where that got him.
“Yet as soon as I did get hurt, you immediately checked in on me. You wanted me to be angry about it all. That guilt tells me plenty about you, Rui. But I have to ask… Why do you do your thing as the Alchemist? The crime stuff I mean…” Tsukasa asked of his own curiosity, as he had been analyzing this case for over a year.
"A few simple reasons really. I really hate the agency and the way it runs. The brutality of it all doesn't sit well with me and that's coming from a weapons maker." Rui's tone had dropped majorly with that. He then paused before he kept speaking. "Another reason was that I wanted to make as many new inventions as possible. Sticking to one area of need is too limiting and I hate making things that don't get used so, why not bounce around, you know?" Rui got a little more lighthearted with that part.
Tsukasa couldn’t help but laugh at the fast tone shift at the end of Rui’s explanation. “That makes sense. The main reason I work here is because I didn’t want a friend of mine to deal with some of the things this agency puts us through on his own.”
Before Tsukasa could say more, the download on Rui’s computer reached 100% and a file opened. The screen glitched for just a moment then Len appeared upon it. He looked around, a confused expression on his face. When he saw Rui and Tsukasa, he panicked.
“Rui! Are you okay?! Is- uh… Oh-… we’re in the lab…” Len relaxed slightly, spotting Tsukasa. “Can he hear me?”
Upon being addressed, Tsukasa just turned to Rui, then back to the computer. “Uh… Yes?” He then leaned over to Rui. “How long has he been here?”
"Len!' Rui gasped, beaming with relief that he was still functioning. He then turned to Tsukasa. "Are you asking in terms of when I created him? Or how long he's been in the room?" Rui asked, chuckling a little bit.
“Uhhh… both?” Tsukasa shrugged
“I just rebooted, don’t worry!” Len chimed. “I was uploaded into Rui’s goggles to help him aim and stuff, then during that fight-”
“YOU WERE IN THE GOGGLES?!” Tsukasa shouted, slightly frantic.
“Um… yes, but-”
“Oh my god I’m so sorry!”
Len waved his hands in a dismissive manner, another glitch appearing for just a second, noticeable in his voice as well. “No, no, It’s okay! Really! No harm done! Not to me at least! Rui, are you hurt?”
"Just a scratch. Though…It seems like you're glitching quite a bit though. It could be that you haven't been on a computer in so long. Or possibly something might’ve happened to your chip. Though, since I have your data I can decide if you need a transfer after a few tests." Rui explained, beginning to drone on. It was clear just how much Rui cared for his creations in both the way he spoke about them and how he treated them. To him, Len was as real as any other human. He is just made up of a little more AI than the typical person.
“So the shield worked!” Len cheered before moving on “I do feel a little weird, I think some data is corrupted but I trust you to fix it!” Len laughed a bit, then glanced back over to Tsukasa and tilted his head. “So… I’m guessing by the fact that Rui let you in here, you know everything?”
Tsukasa hadn’t been paying as much attention, since he was admiring how caring Rui seemed to be when it came to his creations. But upon being addressed, he perked up and turned to the computer. “Uh. yeah… When those goggles broke, I saw his face and now we’re here.”
Len then turned to Rui (well, as much as an AI in a computer can) and waited for confirmation that the situation was okay.
"He's alright. He spared me, so now we're both in trouble if the agency finds out!" Rui smiled and chimed in as a brief explanation. "Now we're just kinda putting out questions and answers since we have a lot of those to throw out after everything." He got a little more serious there.
“Oh. sounds like the rest of the um.” A calendar pops up on the screen beside Len as he checks how long he’s been out. “... night was eventful…”
“A bit… Sorry again about the goggles.” Tsukasa repeated. Although Len isn’t really human, he still seems sentient, which Tsukasa has begun to overthink. “I honestly didn’t expect for any of this to go how it did.”
“It’s really no problem! Rui can find the glitch and fix it, then I’ll be back to normal!” Len beamed, disregarding another glitch. “It’s mostly visual and audio, nothing serious… Anyways, I’ll let you guys keep talking! If you need me, just call me!” and like that, Len’s image disappeared.
Tsukasa turned his attention back to Rui. “So.. when did you create him? He seems to be a pretty good helping hand.”
"I created him quite a few years back. Originally for aim assistance and things like that. Though, eventually he became a valued companion of mine." Rui had a fond smile on his face. "I've been in the process of developing more like him actually." He admitted he wanted it to be a surprise when they were all completely done but might as well tell Tsukasa while secrets were flying out of the dark.
Tsukasa’s eyes lit up. “That’s amazing, Rui! And the fact that Len has learned and developed as you two have worked together- Your tech is truly incredible!” He gushed, fascinated by the fact that Rui can just create whole sentient AIs. When he noticed his ogling, he cleared his throat. “Uh… anyways… I think I got my main question out of the way… so what other questions do you have?”
Rui almost felt embarrassed by the things Tsukasa was saying. No one thought of his stuff as that amazing. Guess that was true until Tsukasa showed up. "Thank you." He mumbled, almost unsure of how exactly to reply to the genuine excitement the other had. "Well, first off, what do you intend to do?" He asked him. He then added for clarification. "Now that you know."
“That’s a good question…” Tsukasa chuckled. “I suppose I’ll keep doing what I have been… maybe just looking into different cases, though. Saki and Toya are already involved in the agency, and I want to be there for them, so I can’t just quit.” Tsukasa smiled as he spoke of his family.
Rui listened closely as Tsukasa spoke. Even smiling at Tsukasa's mention of his family. "Ah that's right, you've got Toya and Saki to take care of. It's sweet to hear about how you care for them. I'm glad they have someone like you." He said, his voice rather soft. Then he thought for a moment. "What're you going to do about my case?" He inquired.
“Well, I can try to turn a blind eye to it, but that might get suspicious…” Tsukasa thought out loud. “… is there any chance you could start giving us some fake leads to go off of?”
Tsukasa was right. Neither of them could just stop with the Alchemist at this point. It would appear all too strange. "Fake leads? How would I go about that?" He asked him, tilting his head.
“You have some people you were working with, right? With your tech, and their abilities, I’m sure you could send the agency on a wild goose chase. Possibly using holograms of yourself to make it appear that you’re in places you’re not…” Tsukasa explained. “This would be completely new from you. Nobody in the agency would expect it.”
"Tsukasa you're a genius!" Rui exclaimed, clasping one of Tsukasa's hands between his. After a moment of processing he let go and cleared his throat. That might've been a little much. He then leaned over to open a drawer and dig through it. "I've been wanting to make something like this. I'd probably need some help with the designs but, I think it'll finally prove itself useful!" Rui explained, taking a rolled up blueprint out of the drawer and closing it.
Tsukasa’s cheeks reddened slightly at the gesture, but he did his best to hide it. He watched Rui dig through some drawers and peeked over his shoulder curiously. “Okay, what does all this mean?” Tsukasa laughed, unable to process most of the information on the blueprint.
"It's quite simple really. Nothing super groundbreaking. It's a small hologram device that projects an almost 3d image but, said image can move smoothly between the different projectors. I can either implement a preset, an AI, or even make it remote. With this I can appear in one location or multiple without having to be there. I've even considered giving it the ability to react to gunfire and other weapons." Rui began to explain, pointing out a few things in the blueprint. "I've made some holograms before but nothing of this scale. I've been wanting to for a while." He added on.
Tsukasa listened in awe of the other’s ability, offering his help with the new project. With his help, and the occasional help of Len, the two were able to get a lot of work done. Before they knew it, it was late.
Tsukasa peeked out the window, taking note of the sun setting and almost falling out of his chair. Since he was no longer confined to the medbay, he promised Saki he would meet her back at the house that night and they’d spend some time together. Upon this realization, he got up and stretched. “It’s getting late. I should head home before Saki worries too much.”
Rui unintentionally jumped at the other's reaction to the time, as it caught him off guard. Though he nodded after Tsukasa explained. "Ah, you're right, you should probably go." Rui smiled. After a few seconds he then added. "I had a good time today. Thanks again for helping me out, despite everything." His voice got soft once again while speaking. He silently hoped that Tsukasa would continue working with him like this. It was refreshing.
“Of course! I had fun.” Tsukasa returned the smile. “We should do this again!” He turned to leave then stopped in the doorway. “See you tomorrow, Rui! Oh and Len!”
Len appeared again on the screen, waving goodbye at the other. Tsukasa closed the door behind him, and Len smiled.
“It’s nice to see you opening up to someone new…”
"When you put it like that Len it makes me sound like I'm some kind of hermit or something." He chuckled a little bit. He leaned back in his chair and looked at the computer screen.
“I don’t mean it like that… I just mean that for a while, you only relied on yourself-” Len pointed out, another glitch interrupting him.
"God, I really need to get that fixed." Rui mumbled, partially avoiding the topic. He pushed aside some of the pieces he had been working on. He then began to pull up a few things regarding the coding and potential flags the system may have caught. "I didn't exactly thank you for what you did. In the end you saved me. I'm lucky that you're still around after it too." He explained. Today was quite a day for everything genuine to escape Rui's brain, wasn't it?
Len nodded, disappearing from Rui’s sight so he could look through the coding. “I just did what I thought was the best option. Humans can’t be replaced like AI can.” He explained. “If you got hurt, there was more risk to it.”
"You're not just any AI, Len." Rui stated. "You've really made something of yourself and I'm proud to have made you. I don't know what I would've done with myself if your chip was unrecoverable." He sighed after he finished speaking. What kind of god of luck was on his side today? He didn't mind it but, it'd be nice to know.
Len was taken aback by Rui’s response. “I… don’t understand. If something happened to me, you could just make a new one, right? Probably with better functionality and programming too.”
"I could but, it wouldn't be the same. Sure, I designed you, programmed you, and gave you AI but, you're the one who really shaped who you are." He tried to explain it simply. "Also if you're implying you want an upgrade with that last bit, I can make that happen." He added on, his eyes lit up with the idea of adding new things to Len's abilities.
Len thought about this for a moment before also lighting up at the idea of new abilities. He reappeared on the screen with a bright smile. “What kind of upgrade were you thinking?” He decided not to question any more about what Rui meant. What mattered most was that he meant something to Rui, which only made Len want to be able to be of more help to him.
"First things first I wanna keep improving the shield since that can help not only me but everyone else." He started. "Then, if this new project turns out decently, I'm considering the idea of being able to make you a hologram form and maybe one day a physical form." He tapped a hand on the blueprints before him.
Len listened intently, discussing with Rui different ideas as they worked late into the night, both rather eager to hear the other’s thoughts on their ideas.
Rui was still unsure what god decided to smile down on him today, but what he did know was that he hoped things would stay this way for a little while.

Chapter Text

The lab was quiet except for the small noises of Rui finishing up his latest invention. He had finally begun to create other AI helpers like Len. First he made a copy of Len's original coding but changed the AI to a female. Then he expanded and worked on another male assistant. This one would have much more abilities initially and develop more as his intelligence grew. Rui was ecstatic that he was able to create such things.
He then glanced at the clock on his desk. Ah, about the time Tsukasa should be arriving. The two had been spending time focusing on making things to help out the Alchemist case. Rui hadn't yet told Tsukasa that he started developing others like Len. He wanted him to be the first to get one when he finished them. Now we had enough for Tsukasa to have one.
He jumped when he heard a knock at the door. He scrambled to tuck the parts and chips into the drawer in his desk. "Come in, Tsukasa!" He called, attempting to seem normal.
Tsukasa entered the room with a smile, Greeting Rui then taking note of Len, absent from the computer screen. “Did you fix the goggles?” He tilted his head. Usually Len popped up onto the screen to greet him immediately.
As if on cue, a projector turned on at Rui’s desk, and a small hologram of Len appeared, about the height of a pencil, waving excitedly at Tsukasa. “Ta-Da!” He cheered. “Rui made me a hologram form so I didn’t have to stay in the computer while I waited!”
Tsukasa grinned, once again admiring Rui’s craftsmanship. “Woah~ the agency hired an amazing tech guy.” He laughed, turning to Rui as he spoke about him.
Rui felt his own face heat up at that comment. He looked away, trying to hide the way his face flushed over such a small thing. "I just wanted him to have somewhere other than a screen to sit on, it's nothing too hard since it's a basic level projection compared to the bigger ones we've been working on." He was almost trying to explain away the compliment. Though, he was proud of the device since Len seemed to like it a lot more than the screen.
Tsukasa nodded. “That makes sense, it gives him a little more freedom.” He leaned over Rui’s shoulder, curious about what he might be working on. “Are you still working on those projections?”
Rui turned to finally look at him. "Well, to be honest, I haven't worked on them yet today." He admitted. "I've been finishing these." He pulled open the drawer and pulled out the two new pairs of goggles he had been finishing up. He moved his chair around to show Tsukasa.
Tsukasa looked at the goggles, eager to hear more about them from Rui. “They look like the goggles you had before! Are these the other virtual companions you were talking about?” Tsukasa asked. He figured there was more to them than that, but that’s the main thing he could remember talking about.
Rui nodded. "I made two more. I began by copying most of Len's coding to create a female version of his original program. Then I took that and expanded it for another slightly more advanced model." He explained. "You can go ahead and say Hi if you want. I wanted to finish up quickly so I could give one to you." He added, almost appearing a little embarrassed to admit that he finished them so fast specifically for Tsukasa.
Tsukasa picked up one of the sets of goggles, putting them on after getting confirmation from Rui. As he did, A male figure made itself visible to him. The man had blue hair and looked a little older than Len did.
“Oh! Hi there, I’m Kaito!” The man smiled, waving a little at Tsukasa.
“Uh… Hi!” Tsukasa greeted the AI, then turned to Rui, realizing how silly he probably looks and sounds.
Kaito just laughed a bit. “Don’t worry, Rui and Len can hear me too. They just can’t see me.” He explained, “Once you have all your gear, though, I should be able to connect to your earpiece and talk to you from there!”
Tsukasa’s eyes lit up, he thought Rui’s creations were incredible in concept, but actually seeing them never ceased to amaze him. “That’s incredible! What else can you do?”
“Glad you asked- I can deploy a shield, though it’s still a work in progress… I have a thermal camera that can detect up to 60 meters, I have a zoom feature that will allow for better aim, and I process data at a faster pace!” Kaito spoke as if he were advertising himself.
Len, who was sitting criss-cross on the desk huffed at the new AI’s ability. “My thermal camera only goes up to 40 meters…”
Rui tilted his head, bringing a hand to his chin. "Is someone jealous of the new AI in town?" He asked while chuckling.
“Pshhh! No! I’m just… Why does he get the good stuff?”
"His model is newer, so I got to experiment by adding new things while creating him." He explained. "Remember you haven't been fully upgraded yet."
“I guess that’s true.” Len huffed again, this time more in a playful tone. “Still, I can’t believe you’d sideline your first AI!” He joked.
"How dare you accuse me of such favoritism! It seems my own creations are turning against me!" Rui exclaimed, matching Len's tone. He then laughed a little bit.

“By the way, you never told me your name.” Kaito pointed out.
Tsukasa turned his attention from the bantering duo to Kaito. “Oh, you’re right! I’m Tsukasa Tenma! The Chief Investigator of the Crase Agency!” He proudly announced.
Kaito smiled. “Well then, I take it we’ll be working together from this point on?”
“I’m actually not sure.” Tsukasa turned to Rui for confirmation. He had already taken a liking to Kaito and would love to use the updated features. Though Rui was the one who created him, he wanted to be sure he could take the goggles.
Rui nodded. "I wanted you to have one of them. Feel free to go ahead and partner up with him. I have a feeling you two will get along fine." He told Tsukasa, setting aside the other pair of goggles he held.
“Are you gonna introduce the other one to the agency?” Tsukasa asked, putting the goggles on and leaving them to rest on top of his head.
"I'd probably wanna get the other few done before then but, I have someone in mind that'd be good for Rin so, I might offer her this pair." He explained.
Tsukasa nodded, turning his attention to the unfinished project he had helped Rui start earlier. “Well… Should we get to work?”
"Ah, you're right. I haven't been giving that much attention on my own and finishing these is kinda important." He chuckled a little bit, pulling over the pieces. He then opened the drawer and started digging some tools out.
Tsukasa followed suit, helping Rui wherever he could, even with his limited knowledge of technology. Though the help of Kaito and Len proved very useful as well.

Chapter Text

HELLO AIR B&B FANS!!!!!!

Over recent months Bee and Bandage have been mentally ill about things that aren't PJSK and lost motivation to work.
However, as of today we have begun writing this fic again!!!!!!!
We hope that you remember us and are excited for the future of this work!

Thank you

Chapter Text

“Toya, if you had just followed my instruction, gotten the information, then disposed of him once we had what we needed, we wouldn’t be dealing with an escaped criminal!” Toya’s father snapped, though his posture remained perfect, with his hands behind his back.
“I’m sorry father. I’ll be sure to listen next time.” As he spoke, Toya kept an apathetic expression.
“Good. I will be assigning you to find and take out Shinonome. If I find out that you have failed yet another mission, there won’t be any more chances.” His father then turned around to face him. “Do I make myself clear?“
“… yes sir.”
“Good.” Toya’s father smiled, Condescending and harsh. It made Toya feel sick. He stood up and left the room, surprised to see Tsukasa waiting outside with a mug in each hand.
“Coffee? I didn’t put any sugar in, don’t worry.” The investigator smiled.
Toya smiled faintly, taking the mug Tsukasa offered to him. “Thank you…” he took a sip of the coffee before saying anything else. “How’s your injury? Is it healing okay?”
“It’s healing fine! I still get tremors every now and then but the doctor said those will go away as long as I’m exercising it properly.” Tsukasa explained with a smile. “I heard from Nene that you were called in to talk to your dad… and you’ve already been on edge lately… is everything okay?”
Toya froze. Of course Tsukasa’s the one to notice how he’s feeling, even with his difficulty expressing emotions. “I’ve just been worried.”
“About the Alchemist?”
Toya nodded.
Tsukasa laughed softly. “Toya, I’ve told you, I’m fine. We’ll catch that Alchemist, I’m sure of it.” He assured. He couldn’t blow his cover. Not here. Toya’s father could be listening.
Toya paused before speaking. “I trust you, I’m just worried that someone else could get hurt.”
“So am I. But that’s why your dear chief investigator won’t let that happen!” Tsukasa announced with more energy than Toya expected. Tsukasa smiled once he heard a small laugh from the other. “Got a laugh! I win!”
Toya rolled his eyes, his smile remaining. “We’re doing this again? Really?”
“It works every time!” Tsukasa laughed. His smile then faded slightly. “So what did he want to talk to you about?“ he asked, taking a short sip of his own coffee.
“He was angry about Shinonome getting away… he said I should have ‘disposed of him’” Toya explained.
“I will never understand why your dad’s like that…” Tsukasa commented. “It’s better to find out why someone does the things they do first, don’t you agree?” He looked at Toya, getting a nod in response. In all honesty, Tsukasa used to find this mindset of his a bit frustrating. He feared it got in the way, but after everything that’s happened lately, he was beginning to think he’s right to think the way he does.
“This is why you’re our chief investigator. You think about the big picture, while we officers just worry about the fact that they’re criminals…” Toya pointed out. “It’s truly incredible that you’re so elaborate about it all.”
Tsukasa laughed. “You flatter me Toya! But I wouldn’t have made it this far without your help. You’re just as incredible as you think I am.” He placed a hand on the other’s shoulder.
Toya stared at the ground, unsure how to respond to the compliment. After a moment, his watch projected a hologram with new orders listed on it. He skimmed through them.
Officer Kunasagi managed to sneak a tracker onto Shinonome before he escaped. Coordinates were listed below, with orders to scout out the location with two other officers. Simple enough mission.
“New mission?” Tsukasa tilted his head.
“Yeah. Apparently, Nene managed to put a tracker on Shinonome… I don’t know when she managed that…” Toya explained.
“Remember to be careful, you could be walking right into enemy territory.” Tsukasa advised. “You aren’t there to start a fight you can’t finish, you’re there to scout out the area.”
“I know, Tsukasa.” Toya dismissed. To a point, he did understand. However, he also knew that he’d do just about anything to get payback for what that Alchemist did to Tsukasa.

Chapter Text

Akito sat at one of the tables, looking over some crase documents. As of the past few days since his escape, the agency hasn’t let up, especially on vivid street. He couldn’t help but mentally beat himself up for that… It was his fault after all. He was lost in thought as he skimmed the pages covering the table, his mocha untouched.
“Whatcha lookin’ at~?”
Akito nearly turned around and swung whoever was behind him, but paused as he recognized the Alchemist, all dressed up for a job.
“Oh. It’s you.”
"All I did was ask you a question. Are you still mad at me? I helped get you out of there." Rui replied, a small grin still on his face.
“You’re the reason I was stuck in that place!” Akito shot back. However, he then paused and took a breath. “… Fine. It’s fine. Whatever. Just… learn to be a team player.”
"Maybe I'll consider it. After you tell me why you spoke of my weaponry business to Toya." Rui inquired. Akito could've given away worse information about him. Though, he'd been curious why Akito didn't just give him up completely after what he did to him.
“Getting shot didn’t sound too pleasant. That’s all.” Akito stated bluntly.
"I'm just surprised you didn't give everything up. Especially since I overheard you were interrogated by Toya." Rui commented. "But it could've been Tsukasa who questioned you so, I guess you got lucky. Not to mention, for all you know, they might've been tempted to kill you no matter what."
“Honestly, I don’t think that Aoyagi guy’s the worst of them. He actually… seemed like a decent guy.” Akito trailed off, then cleared his throat. “I thought about that too… though… That they probably would have just killed me anyways. It wouldn’t have been worth it to throw you under the bus, you know?” He shrugged, dismissing the comment from Rui.
"You say he's a decent guy but he would also kill you if asked to. What happened that made you go and play the dangerous game of getting all soft for an officer?" Rui asked, moving around to take a seat across from him instead of continuing to stand.
“I’m not… soft. He seemed really hesitant to even lay a hand on me. I just… want to know why he was being so kind. That’s all.” Akito deflected.
"Kindness is scarce with the agency. But I can't help but wonder." Rui paused. "If you met again, would you put aside fighting him and ask him?" Rui then questioned.
“Ugh… I don’t know. I mean, I still can’t trust that he wouldn’t try to kill me. It’s not like I have any other information they need.” Akito leaned back in his chair, staring down at the mess of documents and his cold coffee on the table.
"Well if you warmed up to him, how do you think he feels after everything? Did he say anything outright about you?" Rui asked. "I mean from the looks of it the agencys been on your brain more than usual." He commented, glancing at the table.
“… I mean.. he said I was… different than he thought. Whatever that means.” Akito shrugs. “… And the agency hasn’t left this area alone since we got out. I think breaking me out only made us seem like more of a threat to them…”
"Different, huh? I guess you two left similar impressions on each other then." Rui hummed. "I don't think they were happy with how coordinated our rescue was. Especially with how many people we got in and out."
Akito nodded, staring down at some of the documents. One in particular was rather concerning- Crase had placed a bounty on his head, as well as those of An and Kohane. That meant trouble not just from the agency but others who are desperate enough for the money. “I know… if you ask me, you guys shouldn’t have been stupid enough to break into the agency.” He then slid the document over to Rui to see.
"Well I think Ken would've actually killed me if you died in there." Rui replied, picking up the paper to get a look. "Woah! You guys have one too now?! I'm so proud!" Rui exclaimed.
Akito shot a glare at the other. “Unlike you, we aren’t solo acts… we’re responsible for each other and… if one of us is found out, all of us are.” He explained, looking over the documents. “They’re offering a pretty high price for us… damn it…”
Maybe if I excuse myself for a while, it’ll be easier… it’s my own fault we’re in this situation.
Akito shook his head and skimmed through some security footage on a hologram, watching the events of the breakout over again. He watches as Kohane rushes over to his cell, immediately hugging him. He can’t hide the softness that surfaces just for a moment before he clears his head and speaks again. “They know what Kohane looks like now, too…”
Rui held back from commenting on Akito's change in expression. It wasn't the time to keep teasing him. Kohane hadn't gone on any major missions yet. So, Akito had a point. "You guys should be a little more careful for a while and stick together. Ken has some positive connections so you have a better chance of not being ratted out." Rui told him with a small sigh, setting the paper down. "I... I can also see what I can do to improve your guys’ tech for protection."
“We appreciate it…” Akito sighs and takes a sip of his coffee, which had gone cold by this point. He chokes, disappointed by the taste and quickly sets it back down. “Fuck… left it out too long…” He rubbed his eyes, pushing aside his exhaustion as he continues to look over the footage. “I do wish you took out the cameras in the prison bay, but… whatever. You got most of them…” he dismissed the hologram, turning his attention to Rui. “… You have that little assistant, right? The one in your goggles? Are there any features in those that could help us?”
Rui thought for a moment about how lucky he got with the cameras he did knock out. Though, maybe he should have considered giving An and Kohane their own bombs too. It was too late to dwell on it. He thought for a moment, if he could get the others assistants then they could use all the features he had. The agency had enough of his protection, given how things were now he could spare some for the café. "Yeah, there's a ton." Rui nodded, taking a disc out of his zipper pocket and setting it down on the table. He pushed a button and Len appeared. "Len's got heat sensors, a zoom lens, aim assist, a prototype shield, and much more." Rui began to explain. "I'm sure those would be useful."
“Ah! Rui! You didn’t tell me I was supposed to show off!” Len quickly panicked, looking up at Akito. “Oh, it’s you again! Hello!”
Akito gave the AI a small wave. “Even just a few of those features would be great, we don’t need something this fancy… but, I overheard you telling Mizuki that your shield broke immediately after being hit, that right?” He asked.
“Yeah! I thought I was a goner!” Len answered before Rui could. “The shield shattered, and I think it messed with my code a bit.”
“So… why not make disposable shields? Ones that aren’t directly connected to the rest of your stuff, but you can throw them out in a pinch?” Akito suggested.
"The blast from Tsukasa's gun shattered my goggles completely along with the shield. Like Len said we're lucky I was able to recover him." Rui explained. "Though, I've never really thought about that. I've been wanting to improve so that the AI can produce the shield instead of having to manually fire them but, I haven't been able to figure out how to defect that kind of force without immediate termination. Though, if the AI could shoot a disposable shield then it wouldn't be connected to it after firing..." Rui began to ramble a little bit, the idea taking hold as many more fired up in his brain from it.
“It’s a good alternative until you figure it out.” Akito pointed out, smiling a bit as he heard Rui begin to ramble. It was kind of entertaining, and he had to admit, he was starting to not hate Rui’s company. It was a welcome distraction from this mess.
"Thanks for giving me the idea. I'll set you guys up with something soon, I've been working on a couple different versions of Len so, I'll give them my complete focus starting tomorrow." Rui told him.
Akito nodded a bit in understanding, once again rubbing his eyes to keep himself awake. “Just don’t get yourself into any shit. We can’t deal with more of that right now” He half-joked.
"Hmmm, I might just have to since you said something about it." Rui told him with a laugh. "I've been wanting to break into the agency's presidents office for a while now…"
“I’m not bailing you out.”
"Come on! I bailed you out!" Rui exclaimed. "Be a team player." He chuckled as he repeated Akito's previous words to him.
“Get out of here before I hurt you.” Akito shot back, glaring at the alchemist.
Rui laughed for a good moment before he put the disc on the table away. "Message received." He commented and stood up. "Don't work yourself to death or I just might turn your corpse in for cash." He joked, patting Akito on the shoulder before he continued walking.
Akito watched the other leave, and he got back to work, feeling a small tinge of relief wash over him. He relaxed a bit, resting his head in his hand, slowly giving in to the drowsiness

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God akito’s so me coded ~Bee
Mentally ill - bandage
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