[FIC] A New Beginning Part 3 Noir/Full Metal Panic Crossover

[HELLFIRE]

The walk along the Seine was both scenic and awkward, mostly for Sousuke. His mind kept
telling him he must be doing something, anything. He was being paid to be a marksman, yet
here he was neglecting his work like, like…

Yet Kirika had insisted that he accompany her for this walk. Mirelle had made a half-teasing
remark of "Enjoy yourselves," as they had left the apartment. His mind rebelled at the thought
that he should for once let his guard down and enjoy something as simple as a walk, yet he had
to admit it was rather therapeutic, and the scenery was very lovely. He idly wondered if he
would have time to try his hand at fishing in Paris while he stayed with Mirelle and Kirika; he
was looking forward to a challenge.

Compounding the awkwardness he felt was the fact that Kirika had fallen completely silent. It
wasn’t that she was ignoring him, yet somehow…

There was another factor as well. Why did she seem so familiar to him? It was one of the many
other unknowns that had been bothering him about the entire arrangement. Sousuke preferred to
hold himself apart from his missions, at a distance from his teammates. Emotions were not needed;
getting the job done was what mattered. As for trust? He couldn’t say whether he trusted either
Mirelle or Kirika as much as his former teammates on the Uruz team, but he hoped he would find
out soon enough whether they could at least maintain a workable professional relationship.

“Miss Yuumura…”

“Kirika…”

“Pardon me?”

“Kirika… that’s my name… or, what I prefer to go by.”

“Uhh… Very well, Kirika then…”

There was a hint of her smile when she heard that.

Sousuke fell silent again. Somehow, he couldn't find the words he was looking for to continue.
It almost felt like he was talking with... No, that part of my life is buried and behind me.
I cannot let myself think of... her again.

"Sousuke, why are you so quiet? Is it because of me? Am I a bother to you?"

"No, I..."

"Sousuke..."

"I, uh..." The next thing he knew Kirika was on top of him as a spray of bullets splattered about.
His combat instincts immediately cut in.

"Sousuke, stay down..."

"Kirika, are you all right?" Her response was to slap her hand over his mouth and roll them both
away before more bullets puncuated the space they had just vacated.

"Sousuke, do you have your gun here?"

"In my..." She immediately reached into his pants, pulled out his Glock 26 and chambered a
round in a single fluid motion. "Get to cover, I'll cover your escape." Sousuke knew it'd be
pointless to debate any further with her. Her eyes had said as much when she had asked him
if he had his gun here. Around them, the scene was one of panic. Bystanders screamed and
ducked for whatever cover they could find. Couples huddled in the percieved safety of each
others arms, waiting for the inevitable. One person foolishly jumped over the railing into the
Seine river, a fight-or-flight reaction to the sounds of combat.

Sousuke felt completely in his environment. Scanning around, he noted a black sedan fishtailed
off to the side of the road, two men in dark suits and sunglasses armed with Uzis were firing on
Kirika, who had taken shelter behind a stone barrier. The two men seemed more interested in
keeping Kirika pinned and unable to return fire than actually shoot her, Sousuke noted.

Which makes things easy for me he thought. Now...

But something bothered him. It didn't seem right. If they had wanted to kill them both, there
were easier ways of doing it, and certainly more efficient. It would have been just as easy to
pull a drive-by shooting and be done with it. No, Sousuke thought to himself, there is something
else going on here... and found what he was looking for.

In the opposite direction of the sedan, Sousuke saw a large black van accelerating in their
direction, obviously carrying reinforcements intent on pinning Kirika in a crossfire. A simple, but
effective trick, he mused... but useless against someone who knew every trick in the book.
Concealing himself from view behind the fountain, he worked his way around to the back end
of the van, and as the doors burst open to spring the trap, Sousuke was ready with his own…

Till he heard the sound of a Walther P99 firing, and the Les Soldats foot soldiers fell like flies
before they knew what hit them. “Amateurs…” he muttered to himself, and turned to face his
unknown savior.

“We’ve really got to stop meeting like this, don’t you think?”

“Indeed. Now that I know it was you, could you please put your gun down?”

“Give me one good reason why I should do that, Mister Sagara.” Her voice was hard.

“Because Kirika is in danger. We need to help her.”

“I know, she just called me…”

“Then you know…”

“Right now I don’t know what to think, Mister Sagara! I don’t even know who to trust!”
Sousuke stood there shocked as his employer focused her gun onto him, all pretense of good
humor gone. “I let you take her out… I let you… I let you get close to us… to me…! She
called me and said…”

“Miss Bouquet…”

“Don’t… move…!”

“Miss Bouquet, I do not know what I did to make you distrust me, much less what Kirika said
to you, however you have two choices here. One, you kill me and be done with it. Two, you
let me do my job that you hired me for so we can live long enough to argue about this later.”
Her gun was steady as was Sousuke's breathing as she weighed her options. For the moment,
it seemed they were the only two people that mattered in the world.

“You were on the clock the moment you stepped off the plane, Mister Sagara. If you would
like to start earning your paycheck, I suggest you do something to get us out of here.”

"Affirmative." He now had a mission to execute, and his life and the lives of his comrades were
on the line... and his mind was absolutely calm and focused. First things first... what do I have
to even the odds? Searching the bodies of the Les Soldats foot soldiers, he found they were
armed with Uzis and pistols as expected, but underneath their clothing was Kevlar body armor
along with a cache of M67 hand grenades. "Well armed to merely kill two people." He looked
over at Mirelle. "Is there something I should know here?"

"I know as much as you do, Mister Sagara."

He knew she was lying... or at least hiding something with that statement. He'd have to find out
exactly what later. "Put on a vest and get in the van. Do you know how to handle an Uzi,
Miss Bouquet?"

"I'm partial to pistols, Mister Sagara. I find automatic weapons rather inelegant."

"That kind of attitude on the battlefield will get you and your comrades killed, Miss Bouquet."
He cocked and handed her an Uzi.

"No, you take it. It seems to suit you better. I'll handle driving the van. And don't argue with
me about that! Come on!"

Seating themselves into the van, Mirelle floored the vehicle and drove towards where Sousuke
said he'd last seen Kirika. Sousuke, outfitting himself with a veritable arsenal of weapons,
readied himself for...

Kirika...

"Don't worry, Mister Sagara. She'll be fine..."

"I do not... I mean... I was not..."

Despite herself, Mirelle could not help herself from giggling. "Easy Mister Sagara, you can't go
into situations like this without a sense of humor, now can you?"

"I never joke about anything, Miss Bouquet."

"Hmm, we'll have to work on that. Look, there she is! Kirika, are you all right?"

"Mirelle... they... they..."

"They?"

"They broke my cellphone..." She held up the remains of a cellphone broken in half. Mirelle
recognized it as one she had bought for Kirika on a shopping trip shortly after the Le Grand
Retour. "Oh Kirika..." Mirelle reached out to give her partner a big hug. "Are you all right?"
But Mirelle knew the answer to that question, taking a look at the carnage and bodies lying
around them, quite dead. "Your usual inelegant, vulgar handiwork I see."

"But you must admit, quite efficient and effective, Miss Bouquet." Mirelle shot Sousuke a look
that could melt steel. Kirika brightened immeasurably. Sousuke found himself rather
uncomfortable under both women's stares. "Umm... That is my professional assessment, of
course. However we have matters more important right now. Our actions have already drawn
a considerable amount of attention and we should be making arrangements for an immediate
depature of the area. And I am very sure whoever expended this much effort to kill us will
have more reinforcements. No doubt they have already mapped all possible egress points
beforehand and have them under surveillance. We need another means of egress."

Looking around on the road, he found their means of escape. Perfect, that should do the job.
"I hope neither of you mind getting dirtier than you already have so far," as he pulled out the
grenades he had salvaged from the bodies of the Les Soldats foot soldiers. "We will take the
sewers to evade any surveillance they may have in place. I need three minutes to prepare.
Watch my back."

"I have your back, Sousuke..." Kirika said.

"We have your back," rejoined Mirelle. "Mister Sagara, you're as incorrigible as Kirika here...
but I think we'll work well together from here on out."

Sousuke suppressed a smile at Mirelle's comment as he finished his work. "I think so as well.
The timer is set for thirty seconds. Find cover."

The explosives did their job on the manhole cover, and the three comrades-in-arms descended
into the darkness of the Parisian sewers.

* * *

He was at his desk when the call came in. What was disconcerting was the fact the call had
come in at all. There was no reason for them to contact him this way unless there was
something very wrong.

The tone of the voice at the other end of the line immediately told him there was.

"Mister Remy Brefford?"

* * *

[Noir]

verry good

[HELLFIRE]

Sousuke wasn't as destructive as I would've liked this chapter... ahh, well,
I'll see if I can't do something about that the next one.




Regards

[Taurec]

Suddenly I have the urge to watch Noir again.

[HELLFIRE]

Then what's stopping you Tau?

I have to get some time to watch some more Noir myself. I think I have
a pretty good feel for Mirelle and Kirika's overall characters, but not
the nuances of their individual characterization. Hope I'm not spoiling
too many expectations.



Regards