The fake detonator soon found its way into Zakki's hands. Lanky arms and legs folded and twisted as they guided him onto a nearby packing crate. He shut his eyes for a moment and tried again.
Another riddle appeared on the screen and with a mechanical certainty the mathematical brain of the agent began whirring through possibilities. His intellect carefully sorted and discarded ideas as he read through the riddle. A sequence of numbers appeared in his mind and he tapped them in.
"Right! Let's try this location! It has to be correct. Its one of our labs. Let's move!"
Videl snickered, thoroughly amused that Zakki was apparently part-emo bitch, part-senile, forgetful old fart, and part computerized math robot. Grabbing his wrist before the waif man could fly away, she asked, “Hold on a quick sec, boss. What number did you even put in?”
She pointed at the phone and inquired, “The number thirty-three led us to a fake location, who’s to say that any random mumbo-jumbo won’t just drop us off anywhere? Hell, for all we know, every number from 0000 to 9999 is matched to an address in Tokyo.”
She shifted her chin upwards and eyed the device again. Her voice sharp and gruff, she decided, “Before we start running off, why don’t we try another? Input something like one-thousand four hundred and eighty-five or some random shit like that.”
"Random...shit? Videl I decoded the riddle and calcuated the answer. There is no doubt that this is the right place to go. We don't have time for your screwing around right now. Now let's move! Jesus..."
The tall, skinny youth stood with blazing emerald eyes skewering Videl. His pale skin was flushed with anger and irritation. He didn't make mistakes when it came to math or solving puzzles and this insubordinate bitch kept pushing the wrong buttons. IN fact he got so mad that he began to glow with irradiated energy.
"Stop staring at me like an idiot! I said let's move!"
It’s definitely been a PMS day for old Zakki here. Poor guy needs a tampon.
“Listen, babe,” Videl began not-so-carefully as she approached the angry, over-the-top agent. “First off, we’re surrounded by humans, so stop glowing because you look like a fucking alien flashlight.” She put one hand on her hip as the other threw a lock of hair over her shoulder. The agent then glanced around to make sure no one had noticed the emo kid’s flashy temper tantrum.
“I’m just saying that so far, we tried three possible answers – all of which gave us an address. Now if you listen to me carefully, you’ll realize that I’m trying to tell you that I think your answer is plausibly correct, so stop bitching. I don’t think you’re mathematically retarded – an over-emotional brat, yes, but you got us to one of the right detonators, so you have to have decent math and riddle skills.”
The blonde sighed as she slid her sunglasses back to the top of her forehead. “What I am trying to tell you is… why don’t we try an obviously wrong answer to see what happens? I just want to see if every answer we put in will tell us another address. Holy moly.”
Eyeing the agent as frustration pricked against the walls of her brain, she demanded, “So are you going to listen to me? Or am I talking to a wall?”
Without saying anything Zakki handed Videl the 'phone slowly. His face was expressionless and unreadable.
"Alright. Go on then and see what happens? Just don't say I had anything to do with it. I don't want Arano to turn up from where ever the hell he is and stick his finger in my chest and blame me for destroying Cerberus. So go on."
Turning away from Videl he took several deep breaths and the tension bled out of his frame. Not one muscle on his face made a movement as his emerald eyes watched the beautiful woman entering a number of her choosing. He wasn't sure what he expected to happen. Maybe nothing. Maybe an earth-shattering explosion. Whatever. He sat down slowly again and waited for whatever was next.
“Oh, chill, hon. The message said that Cerberus will blow up if we don’t find the other detonators -- not if we fool around with the touchpad.” With a wide grin planted across her face, Videl plucked the phone out of Zakki’s hand and dialed the following numbers: (666) 555-1485.
She then stuck out one arm and pushed Zakki away, effectively preventing him from hearing anything. After the phone rang twice, the recorded voice spoke -- a mere mumble to her partner’s ears. As the message relayed, however, Videl’s facial expression changed dramatically. Her happy expression suddenly dropped to solemn nervousness as the color drained quickly from her cheeks.
“Oh god.” Slowly, pale blue eyes turned to look straight into Zakki’s face. “You were right, boss. I shouldn’t have dialed a random number…”
If paleness could get paler than that was what Zakki's face did. He stood staring in abject worry at Videl with nothing to do but start to pace in an agitated way. It seemed to him that the pretty agent was taking far, far too long to respond to his question so he paced right in front of her and stood before her. It was all he could do not to start shaking her.
“Oh nothing. The voice just gave me one of those ‘We’re sorry, the number you dialed is incorrect…’ spiels.” The blonde then began snickering like a little menace as she turned off the phone and handed it back to Zakki. Despite the fact that Videl was, physically, an impeccable model of a woman’s bodily maturity, at distressed times like these, she definitely knew how to act like an irrational, twelve-year-old boy.
“Anyway, boss. Let’s go to whatever address you have in mind now, shall we? Hopefully we can grab the other detonators before it’s too late. Just lead the way.”
An exasperated sigh and a long,cold stare were the only response given by the tall, rail-thin youth. The phone found itself shoved aggressively into a pocket of his jacket and Zakki was off and charging already. It wasn't far so he just jerked his head at Videl.
"Its only a few blocks over from us so I'm not carrying you this time. Come on!"
Zakki's lanky legs were soon flying over the pavement but not so fast that Videl wasn't staying in touch with him. Time was drawing shorter and shorter with no resolution in sight. Eventually they swung the doors open to the facility and strode inside.
Sharp eyes again scanned the surrounding area and the senior Cerberus agent swept his arm across the space.
"You take one side and I'll take the other. Goddamn it there better be something here!"
They began moving methodically through the space with eyes alert for any sign of the detonator. Each minute ticking by was a minute less to save at least some of their facilities from oblivion.
(182/598)
Curiosity had, once again, overwhelmed Nathaniel's recently developed paranoia and better judgment. Something was going on at Cerberus. He could feel Zakki -- not near by as he stood in the shadows that dominated the park near the head office, but he could tell that the other man was agitated. His suspicions of something being amiss were confirmed when a whole host of Cerberus employees, all with power, disgorged from the entrance and sped off in small groups at top speed.
The Quincy, the last Quincy, wanted to find out what was going on. All his training, his upbringing and his love/hate relationship with the Quincy culture would simply not allow him to stand by and watch his world fall apart.
Again.
So, confident that at some point, his one-time friend and now only ally within Cerberus would return, Nathaniel remained hidden in the shadows of trees; his power shut down and his intent cloaked in mystery.
“I think you’re being a little too careful right now, babe!” Videl yelled at Zakki who was just peeking through the various pieces of lab equipment. “There’s no use in trying not to break anything if this whole building blows up!”
At that moment, the impetuous blonde thrashed her arm across a table, causing a boisterous clang and clatter of shattering glass as it crashed into the ground. Growing more and more agitated, Videl sang in sarcastic melody, “Okay you shitty little detonator, come out, come out wherever you are!”
Still seeing nothing, Videl asked her partner, “Did you find anything yet, boss?”
But before Zakki could answer, Videl grunted as she picked up an entire lab table and toppled it over, throwing all the flasks, beakers, and mechanical equipment to the ground.
[133/733]
Nate
This is a pretty small-scale mission, so a “whole host of Cerberus employees” would only be running around to evacuate the building. Most aren’t involved in the bomb hunt, but feel free to come into the lab and be like, "What are you doing?!"
Moony
I need to run out for a bit today. I may not be back for awhile, so if it's getting late, go ahead and direct the collab wherever.
Wincing at the crash Zakki simply put his head down and began slowly letting his eyes run through various parts of the building in the vain hope of finding a detonator. A small shape hidden in a crevice of a table made him yelp and rush over to it. It was indeed a facsimile of the phone he still held. Lifting it there was a beep and the same damnable message went scrolling across the screen.
An exasperated shout rang out and the sound of clattering plastic and metal could be heard.
"Fuck! This one's no good either. We need to stop and try some new number. This is getting fucking serious now. We haven't got enough time!"
Videl paused and looked up to a nearby wall clock. Seeing the time, she shrugged her shoulders and announced, “Well, I don’t know what you want to do, babe. Unless that clock is wrong, we’ve only got one hour and ten minutes left.”
Slowly, the blonde sauntered around the room and looked outside the window. Fortunately, Arano’s orders had (mostly) been satisfied. The building was pretty evacuated… except for the occasional idiot that stuck around to watch. Or, even worse, the wannabe know-it-all that didn’t believe the bomb threats were real.
Cyan eyes glanced back to Zakki. He was still busy trying to understand the clue when Videl plucked a cigarette from her back pocket. She lit a Bunsen burner and dragged the tip of the cigarette over the flame. Once it caught on fire, she dipped the stick into her mouth and blew a stream of smoke away from her. “So boss,” she said as she tapped the cigarette butt with her thumb, “did you figure out another address? As long as it’s away from here… I’ll follow you wherever you want to go.”
Another pondering session was followed by a flurry of key strokes on the 'phone's keypad and a moment of uncertainty. Emotions were playing over a pale, serious and rather genderless face before a pair of long fingered hands were thrown up.
"This is my best guess. At this point we're sort of pissing in the dark so to speak but its better than nothing. This time they've got a chemical depot targeted. We'd better get over there and at least stop half of our staff from getting incinerated if we can't find the real detonator. I think I'd better carry you again."
Videl found herself lifted easily into the air and held in Zakki's spindly arms. It would have been an odd image for anyone to witness. This razor of a man with a woman held in his arms dashing madly down the street at an impossible gait.
Wheeling to a stop outside of the warehouse the pale agent set Videl down and threw the doors of the building open wide.
"This is Senior Agent Shihara! Everyone in this building get the fuck out now. Drop everything and leave. We're facing a bomb threat so don't waste my time!"
Storming into the room full of shelves of volatile chemicals the pale youth began wildly searching.
