Semper Nudi

I've just been so damn tired. And the fact that my keyboard from my notebook is still broken is a demotivator.

"I DONT WANT TO PUT SOME FUCKIN CLOTHES BOSS!!!"

"The only thing I'm taking is my foot up your ass for doing this!"

Satsuki heaved a sigh. Perhaps she’d want to talk, if it had just been heard. She looked back at her son who seemed to be eyeing the man suspiciously. But, she could tell, fear was written all over his face. The same fear that was present on his face when he had woken up from his surgery two years ago. 

‘Don’t let her hurt me again, Mother…’

That she wouldn’t… 

“No. I’m not giving up a colony that is doing nothing but serving as a need for MY research. Mine and Shirou’s. Nothing more and nothing else. Perhaps I’d be more willing to listen to you but you see….”

She glanced at Satoshi again before looking at Tsumugu. 

“You have decided to involve my son in your little scheme. An innocent bystander. He’s now caught in your crossfire. And that is something I cannot easily forgive, Kinagase. Me? Fine. But now Satoshi is caught your in damned need to destroy…”

“And that is something that I CANNOT forgive. I am one thing but my child? Absolutely not. And if you think of attempting to hurt him, then it will not be me who will make your life a living hell. It will be my husband. His father.”

She moved in front of Satoshi, squaring her shoulders. 

Moving closer to his Mother, Satoshi hunched his shoulders. 

“I think what Mother is trying to say…. Fuck off.”

Tsumugu sighed as he gave a last glance at the boy next to her. He had his aunt's temperament, a fine lad, too bad he had to be involved in this.

"Very well... you leave me no choice!" Tsumugu firmly grasp his needle gun as he slowly walk around the woman, his eyes fixated on her. "If we're going to fight, let's do this the right way."

“…….”

Where was her husband when she needed him? She sighed, shaking her head. Satoshi…She needed to get Satoshi. She needed to get her son. Turning away, she rushed through the house to find her son. Where would he be? ….Most likely his father’s office. Spotting Pess and Pumpkin, she quickly scooped them up before moving into her husband’s office. 

….To find her son trying to get into the liquor cabinet. 

“Satoshi, you can drink later. Right now, I need you to leave.”

“!!!!”

Putting down the vodka, Satoshi stared at his mother as she dumped Pess into his arms. Uh? 

“Mother…?”

“I-”

Both jumping when they heard the footsteps come from a few rooms over, Satsuki quietly groaned. 

“When I tell you to run, you run, got that? Because here he comes…”

“…Yeah.”

Tsumugu quietly walked through the Kiryuin mansion, making sure he weren't seen by the staff or guards in that establishment, he needs to get his hands on the colony, and if they wouldn't listen, then he'd take it regardless, that's how it's always been in his life as a mercenary, Tsumugu wanted to do good even if it by questionable means, what's the point of measuring your actions when the ends were so justified? At least that's what he thought... he had to be right? Life Fibers were the blight of the world and he had to extinguish.

It took him a couple of minutes but he finally finds her... the renown Kiryuin, accompanied by a young man. Presumably her son she speaks of. Tsumugu silently ordered the soldier with him to stay hidden somewhere Tsumugu didnt wish to scare them, he wanted to talk first... The man didn't want to use violence on one of the saviors of the world unless necessary.

Thankful for the mask amongst all this smoke, he was able to utter two words without hindrance: 

“Roll initiative!”

[ Voice recognition, success. Phrase, success. Commencing ILD procedure. ]

With that phrase, a loud metal THUMP sounded near his workstation, closing and sealing it off. Red flashing lights crept from the walls in hidden slots, dramatically changing the pale blue of the environment to a lockdown-red. The computerized voice said no more.

It was all Iori could do before being pinned, and drawing in a hiss as he felt a sharp pain in his wrists–then not much else, other than an unpleasant, numb-like tingle. He certainly couldn’t move his fingers. But to counter all of this, he had…

…Nothing. The only parts of the laboratory Tsumugu (or anyone else, for that matter) blocked off were Iori’s own; his office, his bedroom, and the door to the Life Fiber Chamber were all hydraulically locked with complicated systems only Iori (or perhaps Inumuta) could solve. At Tsumugu’s voice, the program would let up any other doors. This was due to the fact that Iori hadn’t anticipated such an outcome.

He trusted Tsumugu, after all. There wasn’t a need to take countermeasures against him–arguably, Iori felt safer with the man being there with nothing else but his presence.

…Well. Used to feel safer. That opinion changed as he was being pressed onto the floor.

“All of this is completely unnecessary. I can’t take you in a fight–you know that.”

Especially as the other was a comically huge disadvantage. … …No other response came. He had nothing to say.

Tsumugu raised an eyebrow at the kid's inaction, he was expecting some sort of resistance or at least a fight coming from the blond... and yet, he had none of that. All that he had was a mere lockdown sequence that Tsumugu had the credentials to... why?

The Male stood up, lifting the boy as he held the other's arm as the vent of that place sucked the smoke coming from the grenade. "Yes you can..."

You just chose not to. The Male completed the sentence in his mind. Regardless the man still had a job to do, as a Nudist, he would need to make sure he succeeds.

"Open gates!" Tsumugu ordered as they slowly opened, Tsumugu falling silent.

Satsuki stood there, the color draining from her face. It was one thing to threaten her. She didn’t care about that. She never cared about that herself. But her son was home. Her son was here. Who was still healing two years almost after a debilitating injury. And this…Bastard had the audacity to attack her manor?

Not just her manor. 

But her husband’s manor. 

“I HAVE A FAMILY YOU FOOL!” She called, banging her fist on the banister. “I have a son and a husband! And you have the audacity to….”

She ran a hand down her face, tears stinging at her eyes. She would not cry now. She would not cry here. She would break later… 

“You do this, you will regret it Kinagase. Mark my words.”

She needed to get Satoshi out of here…

Tsumugu could hear the hint of distraught in her voice, it was subtle, but the unwavering conviction she had wasn’t as much as it used to be anymore. The years have mellowed her out. ...Just like it did with him. Were this the older times, Tsumugu would have no doubts in his mind, he would see things clearer, and arrive at his goal regardless, but... now... he just doubted everything he’s doing... it made him less efficient... but he wouldn’t allow the doubts to cloud his mind, not now, not when it’s important. 

The man stepped himself in shadow, walking around the mansion, looking for a quiet way in, it’s only when one of the soldiers point to a small window one floor higher with no clear guards or traps around it. 

“Arrogance?” she murmured. 

She narrowed her eyes at Tsumugu, sighing. Arrogant? Maybe. She knew that she was arrogant but for keeping a life fiber colony about? One that she did her own research with? Not to mention Shirou’s own. They kept it for research. Nothing more and nothing less. 

…That and maybe the off chance her son wanted to fix his injury with one. But that was neither here nor there. 

“Do you realize the scene that you’re causing?!” She called. “My husband, I have one of those by the way, is speeding down the road right now to get home. Because you are causing a scene! I have to hide my son, again I have one of those, from what YOU’RE doing. In YOUR ARROGANCE, you have put my family in danger.”

She clenched her fists together, shaking. 

“I know what I am doing with that life fiber colony. Both Shirou and I know what we are doing. If we EVER thought we were in danger, we’d have destroyed them ourselves! Now, I will ask you once and only once…Get. Off. Of. My. PROPERTY.”

The man took a long inhale by his nostrils and let it all out from his mouth, standing silent for a couple of seconds, but never looking away from the piercing gaze of his adversary, he has bore witness of that look before, the look of complete scorn and hatred. The same eyes that kept the Nudist Beach from actually taking some sort of action against Revocs... against Ragyo. But not now... not anymore.

“...Spread out, look for any traps or guards nearby. We’re raiding the mansion before sunrise.”

Ten of the soldiers promptly saluted him and spread around the establishment, however, one kept himself in place, clearly apprehensive. “Sir... she mentioned a kid!”

“We’re not going to hurt him, I’ll make sure of it.” Tsumugu bluntly replied, tinkering with his needle gun.

‘B-But sir, Kiryuin have been an integral part in defeating Ragyo! To disrupt her life like tha-’

A sigh escaped the tailor, and he almost seemed to be steeling himself for something. Any familiarity left in his posture, his face, his body–all seemed to vanish entirely. As he sat now, an observer wouldn’t be able to tell these two were friends by looking at him.

If anything, Iori seemed uncomfortably neutral, giving next to nothing away in his features. This ‘wall’ was something of his own form of security, and once it activated, it was hard to break into… or out of, for that matter.

“Don’t speak to me like a child. I’m perfectly aware that countdown is so you have a chance not to go through with whatever you plan on doing. So if you lack the conviction, do yourself a favor and leave before you waste any more of my time. And if you choose to go through with it, then get on with it.”

…Nothing. That voice was sturdy, and nothing else.

“Two...” Tsumugu ignored the other’s words as he slowly reaches for his harness, he knows Iori well enough to know that he’s smart, smarter than the rest of them. He knows that he wouldn’t be there without some precaution, he had to stay alert, make sure he would get the boy by surprise. 

He had a plan in mind, it was reckless and prone to failure, but it was the only one he could come up in such a short time. First: Throw a smoke bomb, in this small space  the smoke would spread like wildfire, Tsumugu is used to these things, the kid isn’t. Second: During the surprise, grab him by the wrists and pin him down, use the needle from his gun to paralyze his hands. Third: Get him out of there and away from any advantage he might have in this environment and force him to talk.

It was a risky plan, but it was the only one he had, Tsumugu were always good at improvising, but would this work on someone as competent as the kid? ...He had to try. 

“I have no qualms with you Kiryuin, but with that parasite you insist on keeping alive!” Tsumugu yelled as he kept his gaze fixed on the girl at the balcony, he didn’t want this to end in a fight, but he will make it so if it comes to that. “You think you got it under control! But it is that arrogance that caused the disaster years ago! And I’m not going to sit idle waiting for these things to take shape!”

“Satsuki Kiryuin and Shiro Iori, both of our former comrades, have in their hands a highly adaptative colony of Life Fibers. I’ll admit I have handed a couple of them in order to find out if they were dangerous... and they did find out. However... despite knowing the dangers of it, they refuse to destroy ‘em.” The man takes a long drag out of his cigarette and blow the smoke up. “They have their hands into one of the most powerful thing on the planet, and yet they still claim they need to do further ‘research’. I guess some of ya know what ‘ Life Fiber research’ has done to this fuckin’ country!”

“They’re committin’ the same mistake Matoi did a decade ago! And they expect us to stand down and watch it happen!” The male intensifies his brown, narrowing his eyes. “Are we going to lie down while they could create another Ragyo?! Another Revocs disaster?!”

A loud NO could be heard from the soldiers below Tsumugu.

“ARE WE GOING TO LET THESE MONSTERS CONSUME US QUIETLY AS THEY SUCK OUT THE LIFE OFF THE PLANET?!”

Another loud NO!

“NO WE WON’T!!!! WE ARE SOLDIERS DEVOTED TO EXTINQUISH THIS DISGUSTING PARASITE SO THAT WE CAN LIVE ANOTHER DAY!!!! WE ARE THE NUDIST BEACH!!!”

A thunderous ‘yeah’ came from the small group of soldiers, clearly riled up by the man’s 

“MAY CLOTH BURN-”

‘So skin can survive!!!’ The group finish it the motto, they were ready... and so were Tsumugu. He will destroy this thing!

“We’ll go to Kiryuin’s mansion! If she refuses to cooperate, we’ll raid the place!!! May cloth burn so skin can survive!”