(Nippur) Cleaning up the streets [Great]

[Yu Kanda]

Everything went according to plan, well almost everything went to plan. Not once was the low blow against the crown jewels discussed. Kanda was displeased with the turn of events the lord’s plan took. He just hoped that all this trouble was worth it, being able to feel a pulse within his precious stones was unnatural and clearly unhealthy. When this was all over he and Victor would have a “talk” about all of this. The commotion in the square was exactly what they were going for, guards attempting to get a grip on the situation. Seeing a lord fall from grace in public was truly a rare sight to behold, many of the gathered people were left with questions. Questions which the guards themselves didn’t have answers for. Was it Victor all along who planned the assassination on the king? What else did he do? Will he be hunted? No one really knew what was going on. The lack of public knowledge was clearly displeasing for these poor folks, so many things happened in Nippur recently, they had to know it was safe.

Kanda motioned for one of the guards to come closer, in his current state he was not able to speak up properly. With a lower, clearly struggling voice he instructed the soldier, “Spread the word, once Lord Victor is in custody everything will be revealed, trust the guards and the protectors of the dunes that even a crisis as this will be dealt with.” The guard gave a firm nod, acknowledging the order before returning to his tasks. It wasn’t long until the words started to spread. It pleased Kanda to see his men work as efficient as they did. The crowds started to disperse, less and less men were needed to keep nosey bystanders at bay. Sitting down, leaning against the wall of a nearby building the exorcist was still catching his breath. Not even demons fought this dirty. An elderly lady stopped by the Captain, in her hand she was holding a clay cup which was emitting steam. Her long gray hair were pinned up in a bun on top of her head. The wrinkles on her forehead were like canyons of wisdom that weighed heavy on her eyelids, forcing them downwards, leaving little room for her actual eyes to open. Wearing a brown apron with sandals on her feet she made a very casual appearance. The symbol on her apron was the same as that on the sign above him, it seemed he was resting against the local tea house.

Her soft and heartwarming smile made the nut hurt exorcist forget about his current position. “I saw the whole thing, you need some herbal tea to get your strength back. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us.” The old lady extended the cup towards Kanda, combined with a traditional bow. He simply couldn’t refuse without it being bad manners. Gracefully he accepted the kind offer, it was a clear signal that the new guards were being accepted into the heart of the good people of Nippur, well, almost all. The beverage’s aroma was strong enough to clear his airways, blowing several times before taking a sip Kanda noticed the woman not taking her eyes off of him, it was almost uncomfortable. Not only that, a silence followed which didn’t help. “Thank you ma’am for this act of kindness.” Hoping the lady would take her leave. Unfortunately she didn’t, it even seemed the granny was waiting for the captain to finish his tea. Trying not to be rude Kanda started taking bigger gulps of the still very hot tea. With every sip his new admirer simply smiled and nodded, as if she was approving of what he was doing. It was at this time the swordsman wished to go back to getting kicked in the balls again.

*Bzz Bzz Bzz*

The vibration within his jacket broke the silence, ‘Excuse me, i need to check this.’ Once again he got nothing more then a nod and the exact same smile as a confirmation. Eyes moved left to right as the exorcist was reading a message he received. For anyone paying attention it was obvious there was an internal struggle. Kanda was pleased that Victor actually proved himself useful, he wasn’t too happy with everything else he read in the message.  The message was clear though, time for action. Looking for anything to hold on to he found some stone sticking out from the wall, grabbing it firmly in order to get himself off from the ground. The still sensitive “war-wound” already started to recover. At Least now he was able to stand. Two of his men came to his side offering a helping hand, a gesture dismissed due to the man’s pride. A simple dismissal handwave kept both guards at bay. “ One of you contact Barry, tell him to meet me at the guardpost as soon as possible. Once the crowd here is dispersed and order is restored tell the others to resume their duty as per order 6.”

“Yes Sir.” the combined voice of the two responded and did as they were told, they returned to their tasks. “Oh my, such a commotion. Is everything alright mister guard sir?” The kind old lady inquired with her crackled voice. “Yes ma’am everything is quite alright. I do however have...urgent business to deal with.” He slightly hinted at his male pride with a subtle shift of his eyes before returning the half filled cup. “Ooh hoho.” The hospitable lady responded “I understand mister guard. You are a busy man, don’t let an old tea crazed woman like myself keep you from your duties.” The chuckle in her voice was heard, she took the beverage out of the captain's hand and started walking back to her store. It was a nice sight to see an actual act of kindness in this place.

With the old lady taken care off Kanda took off, at first he had a very slight limp. He made sure people saw him in this state. After a few corners and the Captain knew for sure he wasn’t followed he started walking more upright and stepping up the pace. Not knowing who might have been watching he had to uphold the charade long enough to be convincing. It wasn’t long before he reached the guardhouse. Once again he needed to get back into character. With a slight limp he walked through the door of the Guardhouse, both Dave and his female co-worker got up from behind their desk, “Captain, are you alright?!” She asked.
“Just sit down, i’m fine. Has Barry arrived yet?” The female guard nodded, “Yes sir he and some of the men are waiting for you in your office, what’s this all about?” Again, Kanda was unsure how deep the infiltration network was, for now, he decided to keep running with it. “Lord Wolfe has betrayed the crown, this is an emergency meeting to hunt him down and bring him to justice. Not even a Lord is above the law in Nippur.” Strong words for an even stronger purpose. Dave did not say a word, he probably knew something was up after Victor exposed him in the bathroom, a scene he would have much rather forget. With the captain making his way to his office both the guard as the ‘volunteer’ took their seats and returned to their tasks.

Once inside his office he saw Barry with a handful of former Black Order members, all wearing the Babylon Lion crest on their uniform. These men have been with the order for as long as Kanda could remember, this were men he could trust. Seeing as most of them haven’t been in Nippur for very long, there was no way they were already working for some shadow organisation they never heard of. Loyalty was one of the strongest features within exorcists, it was their faith that kept them bonded together. Barry was the first to speak up, “So what’s going on Captain? What’s with all the secrecy?” Before answering the question Kanda made sure every door and window was sealed shut. “We got ourselves a situation gentlemen.”

“Yes we know, you and that Lord Wolfe guy have been going at it. It’s always the suits that are corrupted aren’t they.” Barry interrupted slightly annoyed. “Lord Wolfe is innocent, at least for the crime he was accused of, the whole thing was a setup that we came up with.” Barry’s face turned,”He what now? Captain, care to explain?”

“The attempt on the kings life was a plan brought forth by a shadow organisation within Nippur. They have been pulling the strings here for a while and are not happy with the changes this place is going through. Their first logical step was to take down the king. In order to do so they kidnapped private Dave’s daughter and started torturing her. In order to keep her save the idiot did as he was told and went for the kill. He confessed to both Lord Wolfe and myself. Neither of us doubted the man’s story and we were right. Moments ago i received a message from Lord Wolfe, confirming our instincts were right. He was approached by one of the members of the organisation and is currently at their hideout. A hideout we are going to hit within minutes once a plan has been formed.”

It was a lot of information to process for the men in the room. Even Barry seemed flabbergasted by the entire twist of it all. “Are you serious? Why didn’t you tell use before?”
“Because it was an undercover operation, the lesser people that know of it the higher chance of succeeding, and knowing you, Barry, whole of nippur would’ve known by now.” The cold response from the captain made a few of the men chuckle, the reputation of the man proceeded him. “Now. let's form our plan of attack.” The swordsman placed a device in the middle of the room, pressed one of the buttons and a 3D layout of the building was emitted in the air in front of him. This is the place we are going to raid, these schematics aren’t complete but we will have to make due”

“Wait, isn’t that the bakery?” One of the men noticed. “Yes it is.” confirmed their boss. “So, the Baker is an evil mastermind?” Barry snickered. “It is too early to assume anything, now focus, we don’t have much time. And stop with the jokes.” The smiles quickly disappeared as they all knew what happened when Kanda lost his patience, and it didn’t take much for him to do so. Getting back to business Yu started to lay out his plan, “Every exit needs to be covered, once myself and two others go in i want every inch of this place surrounded, no one gets out, we keep radio contact at all times. Remember Lord Wolfe is undercover and his position is not to be compromised. Our mission is to arrest them, not to kill them. I will attempt to apprehend Lord Wolfe and the mystery man myself, if for some reason they slip away i am expecting you guys to capture them as soon as they step outside.” After his little speech Kanda started to point out positions for Barry and the outside team, making sure they covered every exit of the bakery. “Speak of this to no-one, once we leave this building we immediately head for our target.” After this Barry carefully raised his hand. “Isn’t it suspicious as we walk out the front door with this kind of group?” Kanda grinned, that's why we take the Backdoor.“ He placed his hand against the wall and started molding the Omnilium inside the stone wall, creating a new door within a mere minute. “Now let's go, stay in the shadows, move quiet and fast.” With those words the group of guards snuck out of their own command centre and headed for the bakery.

With silent hand motions Kanda directed Nippur’s swat team to their positions. A simple nod from everyone in position was the signal for the exorcist to move in, time for a surprise attack. Making his way over the rooftops he looked down at the backdoor, no cameras no guards. It seemed like an ordinary bakery entrance. Kanda motioned for one of his men to head for the door. With a sharp eye the expert swordsman followed his man. With great care he approached the door in the alley. A few meters from the entrance a few bags of rubble started to move. What appears to be a homeless person came out from underneath the pile of filth to see what was going on. But, what reason would a hobo have to press what appeared to be a small panic button. Kanda’s sharp eye noticed a red blinking light, a silent alarm. They had to move fast. From above the captain formed the spearhead of the swat like charge, coming down covered in radiant energy, crashing into the back door, blasting it from out of its hinges. “Nobody move!” He shouted as a few of his men entered the premises. Two guards bursted through the front entrance almost at the same time as Kanda allerted the people inside with his warning. A few employees of the Bakery dropped what they were holding, the scent of freshly baked bread illuminated the scenery. One of the women screamed in fear when the place got swarmed from all sides. With great discipline the guards moved through the store, the actual bakery, their supply room and even the side room labelled ‘Boss’.

‘No sign of Victor, there must be other rooms.’  “Search the place!” Kanda commanded as he joined his men. “Sir! Over here! One of the guards shouted from the bakery. Yu rushed over. “There appears to be something behind this oven sir, look at the markings on the floor.” It was something that was easily overlooked but very recently this oven was moved, and a few tracks were walking into where the oven was standing now. A secret door, an escape hatch perhaps? “There must be some sort of handle?” The sharp guard said out loud. Perhaps a bit too loud, it alarmed one of the goons in the store, after hearing their ‘secret’ doorway was found he start resisting, attacking one of the guards standing near him.

A commotion was heard in the other room, “Go take care of it, ill go after them myself.” Yu said while drawing and activating his weapon. With a single strong strike he cut straight through the oven. The machine was still standing in his way, there was no time for this kind of bullshit. He held Mugan close to his side as he concentrated to perform the eight flower mantis move. Within the blink of an eye eight lightning fast cuts were made in the symbol of a flower. The cuts light up briefly before exploding, obliterating the oven and revealed what was a secret passageway. Not knowing what kind of headstart they had Kanda didn’t leave anything to chance, he allowed the triple illusion spell to take over, three dots appeared in his eyes. With even greater speed then before he rushed through what appeared to be a long tunnel away from the Bakery. The few traps that were set along the way were unable to keep up with the speed of the now powered up exorcist. He knew he had to hurry in order for his plan with Victor to work, he couldn’t break character. Up ahead a salvo of arrows were released, it seems he triggered yet another trap. Allowing the speed-surge to move through his body he was able to either deflect or dodge them pretty easily, it was clear these people were not used to dealing with primes. Up ahead he noticed daylight coming from the ceiling, the exit was near.

Making his way up Kanda found himself crawling out of a manhole, next to it was a sand covered lit. That’s how they managed to hide it for all this time. When he noticed the metal plate he also noticed a group of people looking at the captain not far from him. Three he did not recognise, the last one was Victor, smug looking Victor who was already giving him a certain look that rubbed Kanda the wrong way. Luckily for him, two of the goons charged him, a perfect stress release. The innocence energy crackled as it formed his second illusion sword. He felt the divine power surging through his body, started to make him excited, it had been a while since he was attacked. With a strong throw he launched the energy copy of Mugen, sending the spinning sword flying towards his assailants. One of them had enough brain capacity to duck for cover, the other not so much. Holding his axe in front of him, clearly attempting to block the incoming katana. Kanda smirked, with a simple hand movement he controlled the spinning deathwind and moved it sharply to the left. Barely able to keep up with  the wind’s movement the brute made a wide swing at it, hitting nothing but thin air. His sluggish movement was no match for the speedster, he was left wide open. Blood coloured the floor red as the sword slashed through the thug’s back. The victim fell to the ground. The deathwind blade was making its way back to Kanda who was in a vulnerable position. Coming in fast was the other dimwitted fool, attempting to avenge his fallen brother he send his knuckle brace wearing fist towards the exorcist who in turn was forced to jump backwards. During his leap he gracefully caught his sword mid-air. From behind he heard the lowest of whispers, “Sorry Candy.” Crap, Victor. Kanda glanced towards where both the Baker and the lord we're standing, the assassin however, was no longer there. Ofcourse he wasn’t he had to uphold his character as traitor. In his back he felt Victor’s boot forcing his way through, sending the captain flying towards the dumb brute, who was ready for strike two. Yu had could not completely avoid this next attack, he could however soften the blow. Using the momentum of Victor’s kick he tapped the ground once with his right food, sending his body in an awkward upwards spin. The grunt’s fist connected with Kanda’s upper leg, sending him flying even more. The agile prime managed to maneuver in the air, making a pretty decent landing. Victor was nowhere to be seen, a skilled assassin indeed. He had to make quick work of this scrub still standing in his way. A single slice through reality opened up a portal for the hellworm to pass through and headed straight for its target. The hired muscle had no idea what was happening, the undead-like flying beast was heading straight for him. Unsure how to fight it and obviously scared shitless he started to run, screaming as if the devil himself was chasing him. The screaming suddenly vanished when both the dimwit and the much faster worm went around the corner, hell just got a new soul to entertain.

‘Only Victor left,where is the little prick hiding. The captain’s eyes shifted from the Baker who was still standing there with his a satisfied grin on his face, he obviously knew something Kanda didn’t. To be on the safe side he took a defensive stance, waiting for a sign from his ally. He kept both sword horizontally, one in front of him and one at the back. Starting to store the innocence energy Kanda was ready for the surprise attack he knew was coming from the shadow warrior. Silence struck, every gust of wind was heard, every grain of sand moving across the wasteland. A sensation bolted through Kanda’s body, his eyes shot open and he noticed from behind him a heavy sigh was let out. A rapid high speed spin released the stored energy, sending Victor flying against the walls behind him. The captain turned to his attacker who was holding his favorite weapons, dual dagger. “You move quite well for an amputee.” Victor mocked as he relived what seemed a pleasant moment. ‘Well, he clearly and specifically asked for it.’ Kanda charged at high speed towards the assassin, closing the gap between them fast. The Lord did a lousy attempt at running for cover, hopefully the baker did not notice it, when the dagger wielding warrior noticed he was being driven into a corner he moved both daggers forward, once again a half-assed attack, at least that’s what it looked like to Kanda, he had heard the stories of Victor, this wasn’t him trying at-all. But, what kind of loyal subject would Yu be without listening to a Lord’s command every now and then. With a swift movement the expert swordsman relieved the fallen Lord of his daggers by guiding the ever sharp energy coated katana’s through the wrists of his foe. Both hands and daggers fell to the ground as Victor dramatically fell to the ground on his knees, “NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo.” He shouted while raising two stumps to the air, crying out in agony. This triggered the crime boss known as the baker who started to run. But it was too late, Kanda’s chains of justice were summoned and chased after their target, grabbing both ankles, forcing him to the ground and restraining him. And just like that, Barry showed up with backup. “Captain! You alright Captain?”

“Took you long enough, Barry. Nice timing as always, after everything has been dealt with.” Kanda grunted, “Take him into custody.” motioning towards the Baker who was still faced down in the dirt. “I will take Lord bullshit in myself.” The guards did as they were instructed and lifted the baker up from the sand and put him in chains. Kanda did the same, the cuffs however, were a bit useless at this point. Victor was laying on the ground, lifeless, eyes open staring into nowhere as blood was spreading. The captain grabbed one of his men, “Go to the hospital, get one of the ER doctors to get their asses to the guardpost. I will make sure this criminal does not escape his faith this easily.” He pressed the energy coated swords against the wounds, cauterizing it. The smell of burned flesh in combination with Victor’s painful moans were very satisfying to each and every one of Kanda’s senses. Even though this was what the Lord wanted and ordered him to do he still enjoyed every minute of it. Then again, what if this was one of Victors sick and twisted little games. That final thought made Kanda pull back his weapon, he didn’t want anything to do with this man’s sick fantasies. Grabbing Victor by his neck the somewhat less honorable warrior now got his prisoner onto his feet. “Move.” The finally silent assassin obayed and started walking to where he was guided, everything went according to plan. Even though it was Victor’s plan, it was still working. With the Baker being escorted a few meters in front of Kanda and his partner in crime it was the perfect moment to place the key where Victor requested it. Yu was no thief or skilled with sleight of hand, so when he saw his chance and nobody was watching he placed the requested key deep inside Victor’s pocket. Something he regretted a mere second later, “Easy there Candy, you should at least buy me dinner first before you go there.” whispered the clown. Even with his hands cut clean off he was still making jokes. At least Kanda hoped they were jokes.

During their escort many eyes were following the group of swat guards, word travelled fast. At the guard post several people gathered to see the disgraced lord and for some reason the town’s baker. With a straight face Kanda led the group inside, it was a strong message that he send throughout Nippur. Hopefully with this Victor will be able to get all the information he needed and they could end this whole shadow organisation nonsense and a normal regime could be formed. The single cell of the compound was opened and both the Baker as the lord were pushed in. A few other lowlifes were still in the cell but didn’t make much noise, by now they knew better. “You, watch these two with your life. They don’t blink without me knowing it. The doctor is on his way, don’t allow him to examine his lordship over there without my presence. We don’t want them escaping their faiths.” The captain said to the guard who was now stationed in front of the jail cell. “I finally got you bastard. Tomorrow we will let the king decide your faiths.”

“I would clap and congratulate you on your great achievement captain but, i seem to be short on hands….get it? Short on hands!” Victor shouted as Kanda was taking his leave who in turn ignored the wise ass comment. “Well done Barry, mission accomplished.”