Akira clicked his tongue in frustration and annoyance as he climbed into the armored vehicle Lesley had managed to procure, parked by the side of an idle road. As he settled into the passenger seat, he sighed at the tear in his coat where the detective had shot at him. The bullet didn't graze him, but he was annoyed because he had a bad feeling about the tear.
"You suck," Lesley hissed, turning the gear to drive and speeding off down the street as soon as Akira slammed the door shut.
Akira didn't respond, but his eyes were enough to portray everything he thought in that moment. It was mostly curses and swear words directed at Lesley.
"Where did you get the car?" Akira asked, deviating to another topic, wondering how Lesley managed to get his hands on an old modeled armored van with a steering wheel and gear.
"That doesn't matter right now," Lesley started, waving off the question as he drifted onto a connecting road with a slight swerve at a high speed. "Let's just focus on fixing your screw up."
Again, Akira's glare might as well have stabbed holes into Lesley's face.
"It's not my fault you can't even survey a house stealthily," Lesley added with a click of his tongue. "Do you even know how hard it was to get the floor plans of that house, let alone the information on that woman. She's like a ghost."
'That all doesn't matter if the information you got was complete garbage!' Akira said silently in his mind, not in the mood to start up a bothersome argument.
"So what now?" He sighed, leaning against the car door as he rested his elbow on the window.
"Didn't you hear me?" Lesley scoffed, shifting gear again and accelerating at a high pace. "We're going to fix your screw up."
"Hm?" Akira hummed in question, not really fond of where he thinks this conversation is going.
"Our time line just moved up a bit," Lesley said, squeezing his brows to show a serious expression. "And by a bit, I mean a whole lot."
"What do you mean?" Akira asked, turning to face him, as he reflexively buckled his seatbelt.
"Don't be an idiot," Lesley sneered, switching gears, and pulling the hand brakes to drift abruptly onto a highway from a merging road. Horns were blared as he picked up speed down the lane. "If you want me to say it plainly then fine. We're taking our target out tonight."
"Eh?"
"Like right now," Lesley added, as he turned the wheel suddenly and entered the next lane, earning him a row of honking.
With that statement, Akira finally realized that they had been traveling down an unfamiliar road that wasn't listed in part of their escape routes. His bad feeling had caught up to him as he finally understood the situation Lesley had so vaguely and haphazardly been explaining.
'You can't be serious,' Akira thought in bland exhaustion with a clear sigh.
"That's too reckless," Akira stated, sitting up to face Lesley.
"Shut up!" Lesley exclaimed, swerving between lanes at a speed that could kill a fly on impact. "Whose fault is this anyway?"
'Yours!' Akira thought as he forced himself not to slap his forehead with his palm in frustration.
"While I was tailing her at that party," Lesley started, quickly glancing down at the device placed in the empty holder by his side. A map and tracking GPS was visible on the screen. "Some guys came and whispered something in her ear, then she suddenly decided to leave. That's how I knew you had majorly screwed up."
"..."
Akira had a lot to say but didn't bother since it would only lead to more bothersome things, and just let him continue.
"Now that you went and triggered every silent alarm in the house all whilly nilly, do you think she's just going to casually go back home?" Lesley explained. "They're transporting her to a safe house, and by the looks of it, it seems to be an even stronger fortress. If we want to get her without much of a hassle, then we have to do it now."
"Tsk!" Akira hissed, holding back his complaint because he more or less understood the situation, and got the general idea of their problem. He couldn't deny that the greater part of this issue was indeed his fault. "Alright."
"There they are," Lesley said with a visible grin, as he locked onto their target. A group of four slick black bulletproof cars, circling another black car that seemed to be the one holding their target, Shoda Sophia within. "Take the wheel. I need to get into position."
"Huh?"
As he said this, Lesley had already begun standing up, leaving the car unmanned. Akira knew how to drive cars that had manual steering wheels, but wasn't used to them being on the right side, as was the case with most Japanese cars where the driver's seat was on the right as opposed to the left he was used to. Still, he slipped into the driver's seat as soon as Lesley stood to open the sunroof on top the van while slipping on a red and black mask to cover his face.
Lesley grabbed the long black bag that was resting in the back seat and climbed onto the roof of the armored van. Akira could hear the 'thump' sounds he made as he crawled into position, lying flat on the top of the roof, with his snipping gun set up in front of him.
Akira sighed heavily in exasperation before moving the van into a position directly behind the row of black cars so Lesley would have an easier shooting line. Explosions went off as Lesley shot at the the tires of the car behind, and the car at the right side of their target vehicle. The car on the right side slowed down and crashed into the car behind, then Lesley shot again after changing the magazine in his gun to explosive rounds, causing the two cars that crashed into each other to explode in flames.
"Haha!" Lesley laughed in the heat of excitement. "This is what it means to live to the max!"
'This is definitely a commotion,' Akira exhaled as he watched as cars swerved off the road, and people abandoning their cars to flee as every shot was made.
The three remaining cars had men stick their guns outside to return fire. Akira acted accordingly, swerving either left or right to avoid the gun shots, while Lesley shot at them. Akira ran over two men that Lesley had sniped as their bodies rolled onto the road and under his tires.
"I thought Japan didn't allow guns!" Lesley grinned, completely having fun with the situation. This was one thing that made Akira and Lesley polar opposites. While Lesley lived for the thrill of danger, Akira thought everything was a bother and too much of a hassle, more so fights, and dangerous situations.
After numerous shots, and counter fire, Lesley used his innate to change the trajectory of the bullets he shot, allowing every single one reach their mark. Several bodies tumbled onto the road as they bled out.
'You're littering,' Akira mused, as he avoided every body on the road.
Bang! Kaplang!
"Tch!" Lesley scoffed as his hastened bullets ricocheted off the last remaining car that held their target. "My bullets won't go through that one, and I don't have time to replace the rounds."
The guard on the passenger seat continued exchanging fire with Lesley, bullets flying off and hitting incoming cars on the opposite lane.
"Get up here and give me a hand!" Lesley exclaimed to Akira, slightly banging on the roof to get his attention.
'He can't be serious,' Akira sighed with an exasperated chuckle, as he drove speedily while avoiding cars by their side.
"What do you want me to do?" He asked, glancing around the area around the dashboard. 'Found it.'
"Check the case in the back behind your seat," Lesley responding, continuing to fire off rounds at their opponent.
Akira pulled the switch that released a screen by the radio. Most old model cars made after 2310 had an auto switch, which Akira flipped to turn on auto driving.
[Auto-driving on]
The computerized voice stated, as Akira quickly searched the space between the seats at the back. His hand landed on the silver case that was tucked behind the drivers seat. When he opened it, it revealed his precious hand gun, the silver wisp.
'Did he stop by my apartment to get this?' He pondered, realizing what Lesley wanted him to do.
With that, he stood up and climbed unto the roof of the van from the open sunroof. As soon as the top half of his body was through, he heard the blaring sirens of police cars.
'Tuntudun' He hummed a tune in his head, as his heart sank in deliriousness. 'We're dead.' At this point, even Lesley had realized that Oliver would not let them go for this. A simple stealth operation had turned into a full blown car chase slash shoot out. They were going to have the assassin's equivalent of being grounded for life.
He leapt fully unto the roof, standing in an upright position, not bothered by the gun fire directed at him.
"Stop your vehicle! I repeat stop your vehicle! If you do not comply, we will open fire!"
The horn from the Police cars rang orders at them. With a sigh, Akira ignored them and pointed his gun towards the target car. It needed to pierce the extra armor so he placed his thumb on the slight depression behind the gun's safety. It was a feature of the gun that allowed the bullets to increase acceleration with the use of his innate.
Beep!
A low sound came from the gun, alerting him that it had finished scanning his innate, and a holographic scope appeared on top the barrel. With it, he pulled the trigger. The bullet that was now accelerated with the heat of his flame innate exploded with velocity and pierced the car, breaking through half of the side, then erupted in flames. From the smoke and crash, there was survivor who pried the door open and attempted to run.
"Wow she survived that?!" Lesley laughed in amusement as he gazed at her using the scope on his sniping gun.
"Just take the shot while you can," Akira exhaled at he stared at the police cars slowly catching up to them from the distance.
"Yeah yeah," He said before pulling the trigger.
Bang!
They stood and watched as the bullet manipulated by Lesley's innate hastened and hit their target from behind, straight to the head. She slumped and fell to the floor bleeding.
'We can finally go home,' was the thought that slipped through Akira's mind.
Lesley picked up his gun and turned it to the other side, where the sounds of police sirens got louder. He steadied his aim, and placed his finger gently on the trigger. Just as he was about to fire at the first car that came into view, Akira placed his hand on the gun, stopping him from firing.
"We can't!" Akira exclaimed, gripping the gun tighter as he glared at Lesley.
"Tch!" Lesley retorted, pulling his gun free from Akira's grip roughly. "Fine! We'll escape the hard way."
Lesley slipped back into the van and pulled out another black bag that was hidden under the seat on the passenger's side.
"What's that?" Akira asked, out of concern. He had had enough of his wild ideas, and being dragged along to his pace. He thought this was precisely why teaming up with Lesley was a bad idea.
"What does it look like?" Lesley scoffed, bringing out the items within it. They were small case bombs that he stuck around the van, and some in the glove compartment.
When he was done, they moved a considerable distance from the van before Akira shot at it with his gun, causing it to explode. With the small bombs placed inside, a triple explosion reaction was caused, completely destroying the vehicle.
"Let's move," Lesley continued, before running up to a bike that had been abandoned on the road from the shoot out.
Akira was a little unsettled having to hold onto Lesley who took the driver's spot, as they would ride off, but clicked his tongue and plopped down behind him.
"Don't grip to tightly," Lesley said, before starting the bike up and riding off.
'If I ever get teamed up with you again, I'll just feed myself to a hurricane or something.'