WD Rule Eleven is entitled 'A lot of the time being an emissary of peace just means heightening the risk of being the first victim of war'.

Previous rule ten: Better a lifetime of emptiness or a moment of meaning?

Next rule twelve: Handle your family matters like you would your business....from a distance.

Summary page

-Short summary-

Ruka cashes in her favor to Lukas by sending him to China for 'work', but trouble follows the leader of the 'Sevens' and his team no matter where they are.

-Long summary-

Airports. In many ways they are the gatekeepers/gateways to new places –new worlds. They are the last place most see of their home, and the first indicator that they are now that guy (or gal) who’s ‘not from around here.’ If the ride in a metallic bird over oceans blue wasn’t a reality check enough, an airport is where the surrealness of flying and leaving home becomes the regular cold, hard, and emotionless real. Movies might give the oft mistaken impression that these are magical hubs of activity where people meet each other and possibly forge bonds, but the truth is most of the time though it is enough to get through the gauntlet of security and to a warm bed. 

Still…there’s nothing that can beat the warm smile of meeting the people you came to see and or stay with when they pick you up at the airport.

….Is what Lukas Diethel wants to think, but for Chrissakes is China hot.

Lukas fans himself with a pamphlet he picked up from the plane as he notices his brother looking for him and waves him over. Jia notices and weaves his way over through a crowd of people. A small grin creeps up the side of his face as he strides over and stands beside his little half-brother. Lukas gives him a tired look and asks if he’s got a fan? Or well, on the way back to his place maybe they could drown him in a river. Either way he’d like to keep from melting from the inside out.

Jia welcomes him to summers in China, and Hefei in general. He then notices his brother has packed really light, and asks if he only intends to stay a day or something? Lukas looks back at his luggage, which consists of two suitcases, and complains that he was forced to come here AND pay for overhead luggage. Though the nice thing about staying with his brother is that he shouldn’t need to pay for little things like toothpaste and towels? Jia gives him a level look and Lukas shrugs. He’s not part of the Govt anymore, and while he’s made enough peace with his father to spend his ill-gotten gains, he’d still rather be frugal than fabulous. The older of the two siblings lifts the two suitcases with relative ease and comments that he’ll try to take it that Lukas is so interested in Chinese culture that he’s roughing it without his American luxuries, and not so much that he’s too cheap to pay for extra carry on. Lukas smirks and comments that he can take it however he wants.

As the two brothers proceed towards the exit of the airport, Jia and Lukas converse on how things had been going during the three year gap between the Asahara incident and now. Lukas tactfully avoids talking too much about how Matilde had kidnapped his team and has them doing her bidding –a bidding that has a probably dubious, but mostly mysterious end. He’d rather not get his brother involved in their dealings because he doesn’t want to have more for her to hang over him. He does reassure his brother that everyone is doing fine which seems to please him well enough. Jia finally asks why Lukas was ‘forced’ to come? Although he was happy when Lukas called and said he’d be coming for a visit, and is happy to see him now….the timing and situation seem somewhat odd.

Lukas mulls over a tactical decision of keeping the reason from his brother, but considering it has more to do with another Asian woman who is making him her bitch, and while she’s remarkably dangerous in her own way is not hell bent on turning the world into a picturesque of despair and terror –that he can tell him that at least. With a sigh he reveals that Ruka had sent him here because she has some concerns about the Li se xing xuo’s Chinese activity. She’s the de facto leader of the ‘American’ branch, but she surmises some of the Chinese branch may not be happy with her ascension into the position. Moreover there are plenty of guys who don’t like Asahara or his relations. In a sense, his job in China is to spy and make sure they’re not planning her comeuppance. If they are, then he’s to see if they can be bought off, and if not let her know so she can ‘do something’ about it. Jia makes a face at the ‘do something’ comment, and Lukas shrugs a shoulder. Her words, not his. If it weren’t for the fact that his mouth wrote a check that his ass now has to cash, he would have come here as a social visit. Jia shakes his head and points out that this could very well be her way of getting revenge on his stomping all over her heart. Lukas glares at him for a second and rolls his eyes. That’s pretty obvious. Still he owes her a favor due to some information she got him and that’s that. Besides, he’s using her in his own way so at least that is mutual.

Jia begins to ask what he means when Lukas’s cell phone rings. He picks it up and makes a face when he sees who it is. Jia accurately deduces that it’s Meifa, since his expression whenever she calls is always the same one ---like a puppy that’s about to be kicked by someone. Lukas flips his brother off, and answers the phone. Meifa asks her ‘boss’ if he’s having a great time in China? Lukas reminds her that he has to be here, and this isn’t a social visit. Meifa reminds him that she really doesn’t care, and wants to know why his ‘not-a-social-visit’ couldn’t have invited her. She wants to see Jia again. He’s the only hope his family has of not being ugly as fuck after all.

Lukas thanks her for the concern and asks how ‘that person’ is doing. Meifa’s eyebrow goes up and she lowers her voice to a whisper. He’s not telling Jia about their situation? Lukas glances back at his brother who is eyeing  a pair of Chinese women chatting with one another. He explains that he doesn’t want to get him involved if he can avoid it. Meifa is silent for a moment and mumbles her agreement. He can die of course, but a man of Jia’s looks should stay as far away from their business.

Back in DC, Meifa glances over at Matilde who’s looking right back at her. When the two women’s eyes meet she smiles cheerily and Meifa growls. She then says that the ‘evil bitch’ is around, and keeping eyes on them in her own special and creepy way. Everyone but Mo is here, but that is really not surprising. She sorta comes in when she wants and leaves when she wants too. Lukas nods and thanks her for the update. He’ll try to finish this up and come back as soon as possible. He doesn’t like the idea of Matilde having free reign to do what she wants without him around…he gets the idea that she views them all ---as in everyone but him as disposable. Meifa tells him to get off his shitty high horse and that they’re able to watch over her without his help. She steps away from Matilde and stands in a corner away from the window. Matilde continues to look out the window with a faraway expression.  She feels content in not doing anything right now as Lukas is out of town (something she approved of to keep her visage as an accommodating dictator), and Wargle is watching the other ‘Sevens’ with Mizuki. There’s a certain something she’s waiting for, and until the time comes she can’t do anything anyway so she entertains herself by creeping out Meifa which is pretty easy despite her tough exterior.

Lukas reminds Meifa that this isn’t a contest to see who can do what better, it’s a group effort to stop a madwoman. She reminds him that he just said he’d do things on his own, and there’s no ‘L’ in team either. ‘L’ being ‘Lone wolf asshole’.  Lukas is about to retort to this when he gets another phone call. He puts Meifa on hold (without telling her out of spite), and answers the second phone call. The voice on the other line is familiar with him and to him all at the same time as a young man asks if he may help solve a ‘Terrorist’ problem he seems to be having?

Lukas’s eyes narrow and he murmurs ‘Salvo?’

He can hear the grin in Salvo’s voice when he affirms his identity. Lukas is not quite as amused as much as he is confused. However, he can hear that three years was enough for the boy to change into a professional sounding young man. His voice now a lower register, and his professional car sales representative level courtesy now at a power level over nine thousand. The guy isn’t even selling anything and he still feels comfortable making a deal with him. Of course, Salvo is a sniper for hire, and he ‘deals’ in death, so he treads lightly. After all, he is no longer a Govt spy, and it’s never good when a sniper has your phone number. He asks carefully what Salvo meant by solving his problem? How does he know he even has a problem to be solved?

Salvo boredly says that anyone with slightly decent security encryption prowess can hack into a phone without the target knowing, and listen into their phone calls. Lukas grits his teeth and asks if Salvo is confessing to what he thinks he’s confessing to? The sniper comments that he really should learn to be more careful. Just because he’s not working in Sector Seven anymore doesn’t mean people aren’t quite interested in him. Not to mention he is very aware of the deal Matilde made with him since she also made it with them. So it was quite easy to get his phone and put a bug in it slightly before she contacted him. Lukas has to exhale slowly to keep his temper in check. So basically he knows that Matilde has them at her beck and call and has done nothing about it? Hell, he could have shot her dead when she took that fucking embarrassing picture of him tied up. He would have paid Salvo and his guys top dollar for that alone! Though wait so he means he too had been protecting the group for the last three years? Gotta give him props on that, cause Lukas hadn’t even realized it at all the whole time.

….Maybe he really does need to be more careful.

So the question is, why is he contacting him now? Salvo chuckles and reminds him about the ‘deal’ they had. He acts as his gun in the shadows, and he gets him ‘immunity’. That way when he and his siblings take jobs they don’t have to worry about the long arm of them giving them a hug that has a maximum lifetime sentence. Lukas reminds him that he is not a member of the Govt anymore and therefore doesn’t have that sway, but Salvo asks him if he’s okay with that? If there were a way to get himself back in that situation would he take it? Lukas’s eye brow unconsciously rises and he asks what he means? He knows a way to get him back in? It’d have to be something pretty big since he was formally drummed out.

Salvo is perched on a building in DC adjacent to the one where Matilde is and has her head in his cross hairs. His expression has as much light as midnight in December despite his courteous attitude and smile, and he replies that ‘Killing a wanted terrorist is pretty big isn’t it?’

In China Lukas puts two and two together and snarls at him to stop. If she dies his team is dead in the water too! This is enough to get Jia to stop his flirting and look over at his brother. He then notices a girl standing nearby…she had been quiet and nondescript the whole time so he hadn’t bothered to really give her a second thought but suddenly he feels like her presence here is ‘off’ somehow.

In DC, Matilde is still looking out the window as Meifa curses Lukas for hanging up on her without saying anything, when she notices a quick glint. Her body acting quicker than her brain, she dives and knocks Matilde out of the chair as a bullet shatters the glass and shoots through the floor right where the terrorist was. Meifa glances back at the window and Salvo curses himself….he had her in his sights but Meifa reappearing was outside of his calculations.

Lukas hears this over the phone and sighs in relief. He then commands Salvo to back off. He doesn’t need his help to take care of Matilde, and he’s in fact only making things worse. Salvo’s eyebrow rises and he asks if he understands the situation? He’s not in a position to order anything especially when he is so far away and under surveillance. Lukas demands he listen and back off at once or he’ll call in his team to ensure that Salvo can’t get anywhere near Matilde. Salvo tsk’s Lukas and asks him where the spy who hired snipers to assist him went? Now he’s no more than a mewling child who makes threats he knows he can’t carry out. Lukas reminds him that all he has to do is make a phone call and then he’ll be knee deep in shit with the Sevens, which Salvo simply laughs at. He won’t make that phone call because right now he’s got problems of his own.

Jia approaches his brother to ask what’s going on, when a quiet ‘poomph’ sound stops him in his tracks. His leg buckles and he suddenly falls to one knee. Lukas glances over and balks when he sees the situation taking place on his end.

The girl Jia had suddenly ‘seen’ puts a pistol with a silencer back in a bag beside her. She does it fast enough to keep anyone from seeing, and slowly enough that Lukas does see and understands his situation. She is wearing a skirt and long striped leggings with black combat boots. On her head is an aviator cap and goggles that red hair that reaches her shoulders spills out from. Despite the heat she wears an army fatigue jacket with buttons to animal mascots on the right sleeve and a patch of a unfamiliar army signia on her left sleeve and breast pocket. She doesn’t look to be any older than 15 or 16, but her gait shows she is familiar and maybe more friendly with weapons than people. Her blue  eyes glance up at Lukas once her gun is away an obvious ‘this is what’ll happen to you if you don’t obey’ expression in them despite her otherwise muted face.

Salvo assumes Lukas has seen the girl and introduces her as their China trip companion ---his little sister Jitka. Despite her age and preference not to speak, she is quite good at her job of dealing death. Ironically it is his sibling that she is here to deal with….how nice it is to have family no? Though in his case it’s more like a liability. If Lukas decides to call the Sevens, she will kill him. The shot to Jia’s leg is their family’s equivalent to friendly fire, and as long as he just goes about his business in China without making any stupid decisions or phone calls, they will remain friendly. Jitka will just tag along, and ensure things go smoothly. She doesn’t talk and has her own cash so he can treat her as if she’s not there. Of course she always will be so he shouldn’t get the wrong idea.

Lukas goes to his brother and asks if he’ll be okay? Jia grits his teeth and holds his leg to keep the blood from dripping out. He was a lot worse off after the Asahara incident so he’ll be fine. Though he was playing along earlier with his brother’s decision to keep things from him, now it seems he’s going to need to hear everything. Like it or not, he’s involved. Lukas pinches the bridge of his nose with his fingers and hisses to himself admitting that his brother is right. He then goes back to Salvo on the phone and asks why him? Surely there are other agents out there who can give him what he wants?

Salvo enigmatically replies that they are on the same side despite appearances. No one else knows more about the WD theorem than him after all. Lukas is silent for a moment, but before he can reply Salvo abruptly says he should go before people start looking for him. He reminds Lukas to stay off the phone and enjoy the sights in China. He’ll contact him again before long…hopefully with dead terrorist news.

Lukas demands he not hang up, but he’s gone before he can. It takes all of his mental fortitude to not break the phone by throwing it on the floor, and even then it’s a close match. He then asks Jia if he can lead them to the nearest hospital? Jia nods and Lukas supports him as they walk. He looks back and true enough silent Jitka is tagging along with them, her blue eyes actively scanning the perimeter. So much for trying to lose her. Lukas thinks about taking the tracker out of the phone, but he figures it’d do more harm than good at this point, so he decides against it. For now they’ll need to deal with Jia’s injury. After that they’ll need to think of a plan to stop Salvo from dooming his entire team.

Outside the Hefei Xinqiao International Airport, Lukas glances around and asks if they can hail a ride from here? A black Honda sedan suddenly speeds up out of nowhere and stops before them, the back door ajar and almost fully open before the car comes to a complete stop. A man stands up and pats the car roof while pointing at the trio. Lukas frowns and points at himself, and the man nods emphatically as his response. Jia asks if anything is the matter, and his brother replies that Ruka didn’t mention a ride from the airport. Considering she was too cheap to pay for him take more luggage he assumed he’d just get a ride home with his brother. Jia nods and points out that this doesn’t seem to be an offer they can refuse so they’d best take it. The trio walk toward the car and Jia explains the situation about his injury and the Caucasian girl with them the best he can without revealing too much. The driver boredly responds to him, and Jia translates that he was instructed to take Lukas and whomever is with him to HQ. Lukas makes a face but nods in comprehension and everyone piles into the car. The driver starts the engine and they’re off, as Lukas desperately tries to make sense of the series of events. He’s got to finish Ruka’s business in China, keep Jitka at bay, and head home before Salvo tries to kill Matilde again. To think the person he’s trying to bring down is now the person he’s trying to keep alive. Fate sure is fucked up. The only solace is that his plan to take down Matilde is slowly and quietly moving if the conversation he had with Ruka before leaving is any indication. He then glances over at Jitka who stares at him with a mute expression. He just hopes she makes it there in time, because as much as he hates to admit it, she might be the only savior he has.

In short the lives of his team members his brother and himself rides on a whole bunch of coincidences happening at the same time.

So…same old same old.