August 15th 2007
7:43 PM
TV TOKYO Building
“I need all personnel evacuated as soon as possible but tell them they can only take the elevators, not the stairwells! Get the word out, NOW!” Aya quickly yelled into her jet black walkie talkie, the footsteps of her and her partner echoed off the barren light blue halls. Miki, frantically working those long legs of hers was in the lead, being the aggressive front of the pair which left Aya more able to communicate with the others. It was weird how when in times of important situations, both Aya and Miki were almost on the ball, able to detect each others thought processes and act upon them. They both turned the corner, following the small directional signs on the wall, to find a larger empty corridor where two metallic elevators were facing each other on both sides. Miki had stopped in her tracks, frantically searching for the fire escape stairwell that was supposedly housing the threat.
“BTF this is GAM. We need back up right now, we’ve got a possible bomb threat between the second and seventeenth floor and need assistance for defusal” Aya yelled into her walkie talkie again, hoping that the police force weren’t sitting on their lazy asses and eating late night konbini food. To her, regular cops were untrustworthy. Ever since the time a few years ago when GAM and the Tokyo Police force joined forces to bring down a mass murderer holding hostages in an abandoned apartment building, Aya was disgusted at the way Japan managed their law enforcement officers. The police working with GAM at the time of the standoff were ignorant, refusing to take GAM’s suggestions even though both Aya and Miki had more training with these types of hostile situations. By the end of day, both the suspect and all the hostages were gunned down, including an innocent family of four, in the crossfire by the careless police and their bloated egos.
The Bomb Task Force had been stationed a block away from the building to prevent bystanders and employees at TV Tokyo to get nervous as they went about their daily lives. Aya on the other thought didn’t believe in their pathetic excuses, thinking all the work was left on GAM’s shoulders this time around.
Just then, the over head speakers painfully blared, “All personnel must evacuate immediately. Please allow as many people as possible to fit into the elevators before heading to the nearest exit. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT take the fire escape route staircase.”
“GAM, this is BTF. We’re sending in units a.s.a.p. ETA is 12 minutes. Where is your location?” the black walkie talkie had kicked back to life. Aya was frowning by the time the message was finished. This was most definitely not the response she was looking for. If the Bomb Task Force made it to the building in ten minutes, there would only be less than five minutes to run up the stairs and defuse the bomb. This situation was not looking good, not good at all..
“There it is!” Miki called out, breaking the silence as she ran to the fire escape door, which had been hiding behind another corner of the main corridor, and kicking at the rusty metal handle bar. The bright tacky orange door flew open and banged against the side wall as the two agents ran past and up the first flight of stairs.
“Keep your eye out for the duffel bag” Aya spoke to Miki through deep breaths, her comment as obvious as the mention of the sun in the sky being, well, the sun.
“I know I know. How hard is it to see a bag in the middle of a cement staircase.” Miki couldn’t help but to unconsciously roll her eyes as she let out a quiet grumble, What am I, a hyper ADD five year old trapped in the body of a twenty year old? Unfortunately, Miki was used to Aya’s blatant obvious comments and had learned to keep her comments to herself to avoid hostile situations.
The both of them were climbing the stairs two at a time, grasping onto the rusting right hand metal railing for leverage as they went. They were fast too. Other than using their vocal muscles and dancing to choreography from memory, running up the many staircases seemed like a typical workout for the both of them. All the practice they had gotten through dance training and concerts had paid off, their bodies were physically fit and in shape. It had been a while since Aya had heard from the police and she was beginning to wonder on their accountability, which she had already doubted since the beginning.
“GAM to BTF. We need you to hurry, possible detonation is in…” Aya looked at her watch, it was 7:47pm. She could hear the repeated muffled announcement informing the late-night employees to evacuate came through the doors inside the main halls. “…13 minutes”, she finally said. Miki looked at the nearest door of the staircase they had just climbed. She had lost count of how many staircases they had climbed so far and resorted to the numbers on the doors which indicated what level they were on.
“Level Eight!” Miki loudly informed Aya who was currently preoccupied with the walkie talkie in her hand. Aya looked up to see that they were indeed on the eighth floor.
“Anything yet?” Aya worriedly asked, the sweat on her palms starting to wipe off onto the walkie talkie she held in her hand. With no immediate answer from the task force, she placed the walkie talkie on her loosely hung utility belt so that she could concentrate on catching up with Miki. Up ahead, Miki was already almost a staircase in front of Aya, running at a pace that left Aya having troubles to keep up with.
Miki rolled her eyes, “I would tell you if there was” she replied with sarcastic ring to her tone. Even though Miki was used to it, Aya’s obnoxious questions were becoming more and more frustrating to handle. Instead, she concentrated on her running and ignored the angry burning sensation looming within her chest.
She was after all, Aya’s partner in crime and had been for the past couple of years. As much as she enjoyed Aya’s company, if she couldn’t deal with Aya’s personality by now, there was no way in hell she’d be able to stand her in the future.
…This, of course, wasn’t entirely true.
On one such memorable occasion, a few years ago, Miki had gone undercover to examine the connections of some Avex executives with one of the leading Yakuza clans. Aya was monitoring Miki in an unmarked van parked outside one of the executive’s houses when Miki accidentally triggered the security system lock mechanism thanks to dropping one of her mini laptops over a sensor bar that was in plain sight. A reluctant Aya, who had made sure to take her sweet sweet time, had to enter the house herself and save Miki’s sorry ass from being trapped in the executive’s house until the cops would come in the morning. Miki had groggily walked into practice the next morning only to see her fellow members staring at her with gaping mouths as though she wasn’t wearing pants. Ai was the first to shuffle over to Miki who had noticed the strange stares going her direction.
“Miki, is it true?!” Ai had run over to Miki as soon as Miki had walked in, late as usual. Miki’s eyebrow just raised, she had no idea what was going on and frankly was too tired to care. Yossie, who stealthily came up from behind Miki, placed her arm gently around Miki’s shoulder, as though to subdue her.
“Miki you sly dog. Since when did you sleep with the enemy? Especially Avex Executive Aihara?!” Yossie’s eyes were piercing, her tone of voice more cold than her usual cheery leader-like self. The question was more interrogative and demanding than casual and provocative. Miki was honestly clueless, but for some unknown reason she had the faintest idea that Aya was the stem of the controversy and Yossie’s particularly deadly glare.
“Aihara….. wait.. what?!” Miki was asking the same question to herself in a bout of confusion as though uncertain herself what she had done the night before. She was at Aihara’s house yesterday, but on a mission, not actually with him. The only one else who knew that information …was her partner in crime. She inhaled a sharp breath and narrowed her eyes, the stares from around her were oblivious to the clutter of emotion bubbling within her.
“Aya that b-….”
“Hey, Yossie wanted to know where you were last night. I couldn’t lie.”
That was all Miki could remember clearly was when she had confronted Aya about the nasty rumor.
Okay, so Miki was somewhat lying to herself. She really had ignored causing commotions between the both of them because she was convinced that Aya had to have the last say (or laugh) when ever there was a problem between them.
Both Miki’s and Aya’s breathes became faster and shorter as the strain of more than 10 floors of double staircases were starting to take a toll on the both of them. But they didn’t have time to waste. They were going out all out at this point, they had to. One trip, fall or even a break to catch their breath would cost them precious seconds they couldn’t afford to lose. The almost mechanized sounding crackling voice broke the odd (but not uncommon) silence between them.
“BTF to GAM. We’re on the move. ETA now is 5 minutes for Team A with minimal defusal supplies. ETA for Team B is 8 minutes and counting. Where is the location of the bomb? Where is your location?”
Aya reached out for her walkie talkie and was about to voice a reply when Miki instantly stopped. She stood still for a split second before pulling out the Beretta PX4 from her holster and pointing it upwards into the distance Aya couldn’t clearly see.
“STOP OR I’LL SHOOT!” Miki shouted, her eyes narrowing on the blurry black and white target who was up ahead only a few flights of stairs. On cue, Aya shuffled beside Miki against the wall and pulled out her own Beretta with her free hand, the walkie talkie being held in the other, and pointed it at the same target Miki had her gun drawn to. The blurry target looked as though it was doing something with its arms. Miki and Aya both cautiously inched up the cement stairs, careful for any attacks to come their way, and narrowed in slowly on the person above them. As they turned the stairwell and began to climb the next one, they noticed that the target was wearing black pants, a white shirt and a tie.
“Shit, it’s an employee” Miki stared angrily at the mere office employee who stood about ten meters away from Aya and Miki. He looked like he had crapped his pants, his face showing the same expression as a deer in headlights.
Can’t people follow instructions damnit?!, Miki almost spoke out loud, her temper flaring. With out reason, she ran forward up the stairs towards the petrified employee, taking out her trusty teaser from the side of her belt.
“Miki, what are you—“
“GET OUT OF THE STAIRWELL! NOW!” Miki angrily yelled as she rushed up the stairs towards the white-as-a-ghost looking employee. It was Miki who now looked like the crazy bomber terrorist and the employee couldn’t have been more scared for his poor life. The man in the white collar shirt only gave out a little girlish yip followed by a high pitched scream as he stood in his spot, uncertain as what to do with the lunatic (but quite attractive) woman running at him. Why was it that the sexy ones were always the craziest?
“I’LL SHOOT YOU, I SWEAR I FREAKING WILL!” Miki pointed her bulky gun-resembling teaser gun at the man in front of her. Miki held her teaser low and Aya recognized that it wasn’t aimed towards the man’s chest like they were told to aim in training; it was headed below the belt.
“GET OUT, TAKE THE ELEVATOR. HURRY BEFORE SHE KILLS YOU!” Aya screamed at the man, hoping that would be motivation enough for him to get out of Miki’s angry destructive path. It was enough that Miki had already teasered a security guard in the nuts but she didn’t need another man to loose the feeling in his groin for the next week. The man turned on his heels and ran as though someone had booted him hard in the ass. He was up and out of the stairwell faster than you could say ITAI!
Miki just clipped her teaser back onto the side of her belt as though she hadn’t just completely went berserk and threatened to damage a man’s kahonas. She looked oddly calm, hopping the steps two at a time, passing the thirteenth floor and turning to climb the next staircase. Aya caught a glimpse of Miki as she turned a corner, swearing she had seen a smirk on Miki’s face for a brief moment. Aya made a mental note to make sure JATS would never provide Miki with anymore tools, which in Miki’s eyes could be used as potential weapons, that could be used to release her nasty temper. Or, simply put, no more teasers for Miki.
“GAM, Team A is in the building. Where’s the bomb location?” The radio buzzed in Aya’s left hand. She looked at the object in her left hand; she had forgotten her walkie talkie was still there in her grip with all the commotion that had happened. Aya frantically looked at her watch. It read 7:53pm.
Seven minutes?! Seven minutes!! They have all of seven minutes to get to the bomb and some how try and defuse it without—
“Found it!!” Miki blurted out, her index finger frantically pointing at the ground in front of her.
Sure enough, the scruffy black duffle bag lay conspicuously on the ground, pressed against the corner of the two cement walls on the landing connecting the stairwells of level fourteen and fifteen.
“BTF, The bomb is in the fire escape stairwell between floor fourteen and fifteen. The elevators will be full of employees evacuating so some of you will have to climb the stairs to get here faster” Aya yelled into the walkie talkie. She then dashed towards the bag, took out her knife, and quickly tore away at the tough cloth. She was careful not to cut the contents inside of the bag as she cut a jagged hole around the top of the bag before ripping off the hand-made lid. Miki walked up and squatted beside Aya, shining her flashlight on the once dark bag.
“Beep…..Beep…..Beep…”
“Shit, it’s real. The call was real. There’s a freaking bomb in the bag” Miki blurted her thoughts, not knowing or caring that she was doing so out loud. Aya on the other hand, was speechless. She wasn’t surprised that there was a real bomb in the bag, but she was honestly hoping, praying, that there wasn’t. It wasn’t just any bomb either. By the looks of it, there was enough C4 to blow up the entire building, and then some.
“Is there anything we can use to defuse this thing?” Miki quickly asked, her voice was shaky with desperation.
“………..”
“Aya!” Miki yelled, maybe too loudly. Her nerves were starting to get to her.
“Aya?” Miki repeated. Aya’s silence was starting to scare her. Usually Aya would know what to do in any pressuring situation. The fact that Aya hadn’t spoken yet was almost like a death sentence.
Crap, task force isn’t going to make it in time. We have less than six minutes before this building goes down. We don’t have the right tools to defuse this thing. Is everyone evacuated? What about the guards on the first floor? How will Miki and I be able to make it out? Can we even make it out in time?...
“Miki” Aya spoke up, her mind looked as though it had made a difficult decision. Once again, not a good sign coming from Aya. Miki nervously looked at Aya, searching her face for any kind of hint or clue as to what to do next.
“You do know that we will most certainly not make it out, even if we do manage to find a window” Aya said without emotion or even a hint of reassurance. Miki looked at Aya who was now staring at the bomb in front of her, examining it carefully.
“I already figured that out Aya” Miki answered, her voice no different than Aya’s. Miki had realized that that Aya said was the truth, “Well, what do you say we do if we’re going to die in five minutes?”
Aya grabbed the walkie talkie from her belt, “Everyone, I repeat, everyone. Evacuate the building immediately. BTF, get out. The bomb is real and is set to detonate in five minutes. You won’t be able to make it here in time. GET OUT NOW AND STAY AT LEAST A BLOCK AWAY.”
“Beep…..Beep…..Beep”
Aya roughly threw the walkie talkie on the floor, letting it dent and chip on the hard cold ground. She took off her utility belt and emptied out its contents. Miki reached for the wire cutters from the pile of tools that were dumped on the ground while Aya worked diligently to remove the bomb’s plastic outer casing. The bomb looked professional, the digital timer looking as though it were part of the plastic casing. It was definitely not something any individual could make at home.
“Remember any of bomb defusal 101?” Aya asked sarcastically, trying unsuccessfully to ease both of their nerves.
“Nope. Remember what Yuko said” Miki recalled one of her random memories, “Leave the bombs to the professionals.”
Aya could only let out a chuckle, “As if we’re not professional enough”
The bare skeleton of the bomb looked more frightening than the commercialized plastic coating. The liquid C4 was nicely packed together and connected to the internal chipset by many wires which ran through the gaps.
“Is this a joke?” Both Aya and Miki stared at the wires in front of them. They were all fruity tropical looking colours.
“What happened to the basic red, yellow and blue? You know, ‘always cut the red and not the blue’… or was it ‘cut the yellow and not the red’?”
“They don’t make bombs like they used to Miki, that’s for sure”
“You think we should just cut a wire?”
“Do you think we should?”
“…Are you chicken?”
“…No.”
“Alright so pick a colour. We have pineapple yellow, Sayu Pinkku, seawater turquoise and coconutty brown”
“You pick”
“No, you pick”
“FINE, Sayu Pinkku”
“GAM, Are you there? We’ve evacuated everyone from the building to a safe distance. Are you on you’re way? …. I repeat, GAM, Are you on your way?”
“Ignore the walkie talkie. Just cut the pink one Miki.”
The noisy crunching of thick metal wire being broken echoed back and forth through out the deathly silent and cold staircase corridor.
“Beep…..Beep…..Beep…..”
“Shit.”
“The electricity for the timer on the casing went out but I still hear the beeping”
“Should we try another?”
“Miki…. we have less than thirty seconds. There’s no point”
Both Aya and Miki stared at each other, the sparks in their eye’s dimmed as they gazed into each others eyes. This was it. What ever happened in the past between them was instantly forgiven in a heartbeat. Miki couldn’t help but to look at Aya’s features for one last time. They were what had mysteriously intrigued her before and once again, even at her time of peril, Miki felt a sense of uncertainty in her gut, an almost happy squeamish feeling. All she knew was that out of all the people she was going to die with, she knew that it was going to be with her best friend in the whole world.
“fifteen…..fourteen…..”
“Aya” Miki spoke up. She had no idea what she was saying or where she was going with this. “Look, I just want to say…that, I’m ….uhh, really going to miss you. A lot. Well, more than anything. And well, I really enjoyed the time we spent together, even if it wasn’t all the greatest”
“… Same here Miki. I’m going to miss the times we spent together. And the beer.”
Miki let out a childish snort-like laugh, “Yes, and the beer”
“five…..four…..three…..two…..one…..”
“Beep.”
“Aya?”
“…Miki?”
Topic: Code Name: G.A.M. [Part 3] (Read 6772 times)