Tearing his gaze from Egg The Unknown, Issei scanned the room. He didn't have far to go.
Tucked away in a far corner of the room, still clutching the Rosary as though his life depended on it, slumped in a folding chair, was Operative X.
Issei recalled Hiei's description: 5' 10", 190 pounds, brown hair, blue eyes. But Hiei hadn't mentioned that the guy could have been on a magazine cover, with that thick wavy hair and those patrician features. He looked less like a particle physicist than a matinee idol.
"Listen, Yabuta-sama." Issei heard the rumble of the brown oni's voice again, but the creature was not in sight. "I done that outside job you wanted, but these guys, well, they're---"
Gray Suit---Yabuta---strode into view. Though his suit was still pressed, and his appearance still human, apart from the celery-green skin and backswept ears, he was no longer cool and controlled. Running his hands through no-longer-sleek hair, Yabuta stopped, facing Op-X. "Useless piece of human trash! If we could just get that Rosary away---"
"He's hoardin' the Holy Water an' Salt too," the oni reminded his master.
So Op-X hasn't defected? He's protecting himself any way he can! Yet clearly, their agent was still under some sort of thrall, whether from Yabuta's aura, or the Egg itself.
"Throw the switch!" yelled the minotaur. A gabble of youkai voices were raised in agreement. Only the oni was opposed. He seemed fearful of what would happen.
Issei's attention shifted to his guttering torch. A strip of cotton shirt will only burn so far, and the wood lath was dank, and smoking, and about to go out altogether. He had only moments left in which to see--and he saw one thing clearly.
He could not handle this situation by himself. There was no way he could face down all those monsters, rescue Op-X, and claim Egg the Unknown. No matter how tapped out Hiei was, Issei had to retrace his steps, reclaim his partner.
The torch died.
Now the only illumination came from fluorescent light leaking from the room below, thin, ghostly, unsettling.
Time to go back. Turning carefully in the cluttered space, Issei almost cried out in shock.
The one-man wrecking crew, the protection, had pulled himself together. For Hiei was already there, right behind Issei, a study in sheer guts. In the dim greenish light he looked pale, sick, and far too young to be anyone's 'protection.'
Hiei gave him a crooked grin. "Shaken, not stirred?"
Quickly, Issei summed up what he had learned, adding, "They must have quite a dossier on you. They knew to obtain a Rosary and swap it out for---"
"Not enough of a dossier." Hiei dragged a forearm across his brow, wiping away sweat, muttering a curse as the chains and shackle got in the way. "They thought if we got loose I wouldn't notice the difference."
"Can you hear them arguing?"
Hiei nodded. "This 'switch' they're going to throw. I don't like the sound of it. Could open up the barrier."
"Barrier?"
"Figuratively speaking, all Hell's gonna break loose."
"And not figuratively?"
"Those guys down below are just small potatoes."
"Those monsters? You're kidding." Could this be another form of Hiei's bravado? He seemed to have plenty on hand.
"Remember I told you something didn't feel right? If what I suspect is true---"
"I feel it too." Issei had no idea how he was sensing it, but the storm-thickening of the air was at its worst here, almost a taste of sulphur. A thunderstorm, no matter how destructive, is a natural event. This was profoundly un-natural.
"If that machine does what I think it was designed to do, it'll open a doorway for monsters that make those guys seem like Hello Kitty toys. Monsters even I couldn't handle."
Chapter Five will be along soon, I hope. The rest is linked in my siggy line.
