synergetic | crossed the white cross

crossed the white cross

Later, Robin would be kicking himself.

For what, exactly, wasn't clear (not even the Boy Wonder could detect enemy binoculars pointing at him) but he could. And he would.

Mostly, he wanted some air. There wasn't really far he could go without attracting attention in the cape and all, but there was a courtyard. The Japanese mostly looked the other way and tried not to draw attention to others, which wasn't always what Robin wanted, but right now, it suited him fine.

For the one on the other side of the binoculars, however, the trick was the timing.

Youji switched his headset on.

"He's daydreaming. Aya, if you want to startle him, now would be best."

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Aya and Batman seemed to have reached... some kind of understanding, though Omi didn't think either one of them was very happy. The redhead told him to hold on to him, and, once he did, Aya scaled down the window with the grappling hook line.

"You should have just killed me if the rescue was too risky!" He hissed. At least that wouldn't have gotten them into so much hot water with the Justice League.

"We're not here on a mission, Omi. We came to get you before it became one."

Well that... Omi frowned tightly, because he didn't want to show how much that meant to him in that moment.

"What was with the sword at my throat then?"

For a moment, he felt a hitch in their descent. And then, without a single word of answer, Aya simply kept gliding down the line. Omi realized he wasn't going to get an answer, and with a huffed sigh let it go.

They touched bottom. Omi let go of his hold around him, marveling for a second at the feel of the ground-- not a building floor but actual ground-- under his feet again. He was actually out. And it was so strange, because he'd been afraid to go two minutes ago, and now that he was outside the building... well. As long as his team was here anyway, whether he stayed or left with them wouldn't change whether they were tracked. And he could go back if he really did change his mind.

"The car is this way," Aya said with a tip of his head. Omi nodded, but piped up just as Aya started to run.

"Aya-kun...!" The redhead looked over his shoulder. Omi wrestled for a moment. Finally, he looked him in the eyes and smiled in appreciation.

"Thank you."

They ran together for the car.

"Dawdle a little more, why don't you," muttered the getaway driver. "Our guest keeps fidgeting like he knows how to get out of his restraints."

He concentrates, too, judging by the way his head bows, but Youji doesn't say so. He speaks more quickly than usual-- he suspects the concentration is the kid trying to decipher what they're saying, and speaking quickly will disrupt someone who isn't fluent. And he's too young to be fluent.

"We need to be gone before Wonder Woman shows up," he added. "I wouldn't mind some time with the Lasso of Truth, but the rest of you aren't me."

"You shouldn't have put him in them in the first place!" Omi shot back in response. He was still angry they'd kidnap someone for his sake. "This isn't what we do...!"

"I'm sure he does know how," said Aya, with far more levelness, and picked the caped boy up. "Be ready to floor it."

Ken, meanwhile, didn't seem to care that Omi was angry. He was just glad to have him back, and threw his arms around the blonde in a big thank-god-you're-back hug. It seemed to have a tempering effect on Omi's ire.

"Ken-kun..."

Aya hopped down to the ground with Robin and set him on the grass by the curb, leaving the restraints on. He was confident the boy indeed could get out of them quickly on his own; they'd need the head start. He jumped back into the van, closed the back door, and barked "Go."

As Ken drew back, his brows wrinkled in concern. "Oi, Omi, what happened to your neck? It's bleeding a little!"

"Huh?" Omi felt at his throat, only then noticing that yes, it stung a bit, and yes, there was just a little nick or two that had drawn a couple of drops. "That must have been when Aya-kun had his katana--"

Ken was throwing a punch at the redhead before the boy could even finish.

"Seatbelts," Youji deadpanned, heavy on the gas already. Beyond that, Ken could tear into Aya as much as he dared, and Aya could retaliate likewise; mission accomplished and Ken needed a healthy outlet for his aggression. That it be Aya was indeed best for the sake of Youji's health, at least, and as that was Youji's primary concern, the matter ended there. He was willing to believe Aya had an explanation, if not a particularly good one, but as Ken beat him to the punch, as it were, the burden of explanations fell to the former captive.

Youji felt it best to earn Omi's explanation by offering a fair exchange, and beckoned him closer toward the driver's position.

"There was no other way to get you out," he said plainly, artlessly. "I'm many things, Omi, but a match for Wonder Woman is not one of them; I wouldn't even try to win, and leave you to the mercy of Kritiker or the League, whoever gets there first. The boy is unharmed, and so are his accomplices. He'll get himself back to his friends and you're here. If it works in the end, well..."

Words failed at that point.

Omi stumbled a little from the sudden acceleration, and took that along with Youji's invitation as a good cue to take a seat. He squeezed between the two front seats and slid into the passenger side next to Youji. The seat belt clicked into place.

He wasn't sure what he could say back to Youji. Sure, from a logical point of view, it made sense if that was what you were trying to accomplish. It just still seemed wrong. Abduction bothered him on a personal level, and even more so to discover he'd been the cause of one. But he also couldn't deny that it was meaningful to him that his teammates cared enough about him to stage a rescue, especially when it would have been so much easier and more practical to secure Kritiker's information by killing him.

"I appreciate all of you coming for me..." He admitted, partly because it needed to be said either way and partly because it gave him both a stall to decide on saying more and a softener to that saying-more if he did. Ultimately, he opted against it. Youji was sharp enough to catch the unsaid 'but' without souring the expression of gratitude with an official declaration of it.

Oh, he did, and mostly did not care. Mostly. Certainly there was a level of self-loathing for acting against a child, but there was also a sort of apathy because really, the kid had asked for it. Robin was a bit old to be learning "don't get involved with assassins, because that never ends well," but the sooner, the better.

Part of him wanted to justify it, too, by saying Omi was worth more than some stupid kid who hadn't outgrown playing dress-up, but that was a slippery slope to start sliding down, especially when one was already leaning dangerously over the precipice. The whole killing-for-hire thing required him already to assign value to this life over that one, and once begun, it was hard to stop. Kids younger than Omi were a new low, to be sure, but really, what other place to go was there, except down?

"Don't mention it."

Probably everyone would be happier that way.

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crossed the white cross

no subject

lol gluhen icons... i didn't pay up my kapitel icons

you're fired

be careful, Pres. Trump is going to trademark that

he needs the royalties

MEANWHILE KEN AND AYA...

getting both Dramatic and Precious up in this guy's head