Para Bellum 4/?? (Sequel to Le Jeu Sinistre)

[grateful_days]

Disclaimer: Full Metal Panic and all related entities belong to Shouji Gatoh and GONZO, among others. This is a parody. Acorporationwhowaivestheirrighttosuesayswhat.

Chapter Four: Strangers in the Night

The oven dinged when Tessa’s cookies were done. When she bent over and pulled them out, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of warm relaxation wash over her.
After coming back to Tokyo, she had gotten in the habit of baking cookies whenever something upset her. When she got a bad test grade (which wasn’t often), when she skinned her knee in PE, when she lost her favorite pen, when the stray cat she tried to adopt ran away, etc. She’d gotten very good at it. She was also developing into a bit of a drama queen.
Now, however, Tessa had something to be legitimately upset about. Her school had been taken over by terrorists. Her homeroom teacher had suicide charged them. The thought of Mr. Fujiwara’s bloody and broken body suddenly made her want to get rid of the cookies.
After escaping from Jindai, Tessa, along with Sousuke, Kaname and the Kendo coach, one Tomaya Ragasa, got the hell out of Dodge, so to speak. They went to Kaname’s apartment to rest and decide what to do next.
Sousuke’s first idea was to go in, guns a-blazing and bring down some righteous punishment upon the terrorists. He was all ready to go, too. Just like girls will keep tampons in the medicine cabinets of their boyfriend’s apartments, Sousuke kept assault rifles in Kaname’s closet. Just in case.
However, he was persuaded not to by the rest of the group. Since Sousuke was no longer part of Mithril, he simply couldn’t burst into buildings and shoot everything that moved anymore. Even if it was an anti-terrorist operation, he would be in trouble, at the very least, for possessing military grade weaponry in a country where hunting rifles are illegal.
So, instead, he did what normal people would do and called the police. They sent a few teams of cops over to the building who were now engaged in a stand off with the former-Mithril soldiers.
But that wasn’t enough. Sousuke knew very well that a few cops could not stand up to the disciplined elite of Mithril, much less Gauron himself. So, he called the American Embassy, to demand that the local military bases send over soldiers.
“Mr. Sagara…” the tired secretary at the embassy said. “We’re very sorry but this is a domestic issue. The United States cannot interfere.”
“This is not a domestic issue,” Sousuke insisted. “It is an international one. These are international terrorists and-“
The secretary hung up. Scowling, Sousuke slammed the phone down on the receiver.
“No luck?” Tessa asked, setting the sheet of cookies down. Sousuke took one and munched on it, sighing.
“They don’t seem to grasp the severity of the situation…” he muttered.
“Well, maybe things will turn out alright,” said Kaname, sitting down on the other side of Sousuke. She sort of cuddled up to him a bit, giving Tessa a “stay away” glare. She responded by sidling up to Sousuke’s other side.
“Aren’t the cookies good?” Tessa gushed. Sousuke “hmm”-ed in response, still trying to decide what to do.
“If I could get in touch with Kurz and Melissa, perhaps… Or even Kalinin and Mardukas…”
“I put walnuts in them. You like walnuts, don’t you?”
“I have some friends at the US Military bases in Okinawa… It might be a long shot but…”
“I was thinking of using peanuts but then I thought you might be allergic to peanuts, so…”
“Perhaps if we can convince Ren’s father to act, the Yakuza families of Tokyo could mount an assault…”
“Sousuke!” Tessa finally yelled impatiently, pouting. He turned to her in frustration.
“What?”
“The cookies. Do you like them?”
“What cookies?” He looked down, realizing he had been talking through bites of walnut-chocolate chip cookies. “Oh. Yes. Very good…”
Tessa groaned and Kaname giggled triumphantly.
In the other room, Tomaya Ragasa was remaining very quiet, watching the stand off at Jindai on television. The old man was smoking and a growing cloud of smoke pooled above his head.
He was very intent on the situation and didn’t look up when Sousuke entered, having decided to get out from “between a tiger and a panther”, so to speak.
“Sensei,” Sousuke said, alerting the other man to his presence as he sat down next to him. Tomaya grunted in response, his focus on the television remaining unbroken.
The news anchors weren’t reporting anything of real importance. There was essentially a giant Mexican stand off going on: The police were too scared to storm the building and the Mithril troops seemed to feel no need to engage the forces outside.
Slowly, Sousuke realized that they had indeed caught Gauron off guard. He was obviously after Kaname and Tessa but since they were currently safe and sound, he was held in a position where he couldn’t maneuver to capture what he wanted.
“It’s strange,” Tomaya said finally. “What’s Gauron waiting for?”
“Do you know him, Sensei?” Sousuke asked uncomfortably. Tomaya shrugged.
“We met briefly. But, why doesn’t he make a move? What does he want?”
“Perhaps,” Sousuke ventured. “The thing he desires is no longer within reach and he’s planning a way to get it…”
Tomaya and the young man locked eyes.
“The girls,” the old man whispered. Sousuke nodded.
In the kitchen, Tessa and Kaname bickered gaily.

~

Back at Jindai, Wolfram Lischen and Gauron were having disputes over their next course of action.
“I need one of those girls, damn it!” Wolfram yelled, waving his arms wildly and generally having a hissy fit. Gauron was sitting back in his chair, grinning.
“And you shall have them.”
“But we can’t get them while we’re here. Why don’t we leave, god damn it?! Blow the school up if we have to. This is what I hired you for.”
“There is an old Japanese story,” Gauron said, still smiling. He raised a single finger as he spoke. “Three war lords were sitting in a garden one evening and they saw a nightingale. They began to discuss how they would get it to sing. The first said that it was simple: If it did not sing, he would kill it. The second shook his head and said that, no, they must force it into a position where it must sing. And the third only smiled and said, ‘Wait. Wait and it shall sing.’”
Wolfram stared at Gauron.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Ah, what doesn’t it mean?”
“It doesn’t help us with our problem, that’s for sure.”
Gauron shook his head, chuckling.
“How does a mouse trap work?” he asked. Wolfram shrugged.
“A mouse takes the piece of cheese and it’s decapitated. What does that have to do with anything?”
“When the prey comes into reach, the trap springs. So must we.”
Slumping his shoulders and sighing, Wolfram collapsed into a chair.

~

The lights of Tokyo glittered below Kalinin as he looked out over the city. Tokyo Tower had always been one of his favorite place to visit whenever he had the chance. Being so high up gave the old soldier the feeling of being “above” the world, like a spirit, not trapped by the confines of the flesh. Being so high up and looking down on the citizens of the city as they go about their nightly business made him feel, almost, in a way, like he was next to his wife. She had been dead 15 years that night.
Instead of a beautiful young concert violinist, however, an old British submarine captain stood next to him. Ah well, Kalinin thought sadly, remembering a Rolling Stones song from his youth: “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
“It’s frightening to think that this all could be gone in a few days,” Mardukas murmured. He took a cigarette from his pocket, lit it and offered one to Kalinin. He declined.
“True,” Kalinin murmured back. He reached a hand into his pocket, feeling the cold steel of his Sig P226. He could very well be using it in a few hours.
“Well, gentlemen,” said an unfamiliar voice. A third man joined the two. Much younger than Mardukas and Kalinin, he was perhaps thirty, Asian, with his hair slicked back with more grease than is found in most McDonalds deep fryers. “Are we ready?”
Kalinin flicked the safety on his pistol off. “Quite.”

~

And so, night fell at Kaname’s apartment. Tessa was assigned to the bed and Tomaya took a futon. There were two others laid out for Kaname and Sousuke but neither was filled.
As Tessa and Tomaya both slept, Souuke and Kaname sat up together. She had made tea for them and they sipped it in silence, sitting next to one another on the couch.
This was something they did often. Kaname cuddled herself up to Sousuke, resting her head on his neck and nuzzling him. She sighed softly. He had always thought it strange that, in public, Kaname was so tough and careful not to reveal too many of her emotions. In private, however, she was very affectionate, almost like a puppy.
Sousuke, on the other hand, was almost as aloof behind closed doors as he was outside. He resigned himself to stroking Kaname’s hair.
“Hey, Sousuke…” the girl said softly, glancing up at him.
“Hm?”
“Everyone at school will be alright… right?”
Without thinking, Sousuke nodded. “Of course.
Kaname smiled and closed her eyes. Before she fell asleep, she whispered something that Sousuke strained his ears to hear. He never got it.

End of Chapter Four

Author’s Notes:
Ach, it’s been awhile since I updated. And now, this is a short chapter. I’m sorry. >.<

Yeah, I’ve been busy. Sorry if there was anyone who’s been waiting on the edge of their seats for this or anything.

[HELLFIRE]

Tessa gone from super-captain to domestic(ated) female of Jindai
Why's every fic writer I run into HAVE to bash Tessa like that?

Well, it's an inbetweener, but I hope you're setting yourself up for
something here grateful! And it seems Mardukas & Kalinin survived
from your last fic -- the impression I got was after Tessa escaped from
the Danann, they just... disappeared.








Regards

[Teletha Testarosa]

Tessa gone from super-captain to domestic(ated) female of Jindai
Why's every fic writer I run into HAVE to bash Tessa like that?

Well, it's an inbetweener, but I hope you're setting yourself up for
something here grateful! And it seems Mardukas & Kalinin survived
from your last fic -- the impression I got was after Tessa escaped from
the Danann, they just... disappeared.








Regards

Yes, must Tessa be Bashed? sigh...