Youji lowers his binoculars and tries not to laugh. He can't lip-read English as well as his own native language, but he doesn't need to. Omi's face conveys 'trouble' adequately.
The scenario sat right with approximately none of them. Enough time spent in cloak-and-dagger nonsense gave one a feel for it, and Kritiker was losing its touch. That they found out about Bruce Wayne visiting the trailer wasn't surprising.
That they targeted him so shortly after was.
It didn't give Youji much confidence in the organization, that this kind of slipshod bureaucratic incompetence was so transparent even to the kids. Omi ran straight for the target. When the true believer begins to doubt, there isn't much hope left for anyone. He hoped he was the only who noticed, that Aya and Ken were more concerned with Omi's reaction than with the cause, because Manx had been priming him for one of those sweet little missions with sweet little misses who'd missed their calling and ended up killing people indiscriminately instead, and he'd expected to start gathering intel before another full-on mission briefing.
Now here he was, watching two teenagers fumble over a language barrier taller than either of them.
Well, he'd let them get as far as they could on their own. Whatever scheme they were going with, Omi and the Boy Wonder would put on the best show unadulterated by an adult.
Omi can't help noticing the body language, especially that sigh. Is he doing something that's grating Robin? He certainly seems frustrated at something... not the greatest start. Was this a mistake? This was probably a mistake.
But it's too late now. They're both here. It would doubtless be even worse to tell Robin, after he'd gone to the trouble of coming down, to never mind.
He unzips the front pocket of his backpack and pulls out a newspaper folded in half and a map. He's going to have to think about how to communicate everything he needs to, considering neither of them is fluent enough in the other's language for a complex recounting. He might need to make a few creative word substitutions.
He also thinks, this time, he wants to try continuing to speak in English as much as he can. Efforts to bridge the language gap ought to be a two-way street. It isn't very fair to put the full brunt of the translation burden on Robin.
He turns the newspaper to the lower half of the front page and offers it to Robin, then taps the article of relevance.
"...Gas poison causes quick death. Many people are dying. Who does the fault the police do not know."
Omi then places his finger on a location on the map he holds.
"This is what I know. The poison is a weapon. The weapon is for shadow buy. The produce is here." Produce was used as a noun, too, right? "But, there is a mystery: the weapon is a copy. A different company owns the design. This company also owned the building of produce until last year. It is a strange... pair of truths. It may be more, or it may be nothing. As a result, who does the fault... it does not seem sure. What if the knowledge is undercomplete? I—"
He stops. They have reached a point where any misstep in his words could be catastrophic. He can't risk bungling this in English, and reverts to Japanese.
"If I do nothing, someone without sin might die. I can't allow that... I have two days to find the truth."
Parsing that, Robin is grateful he's trying English. He can still understand Omi's English better than he can Japanese.
The other thing he latches on to is the 2-day time limit. That's a problem.
He looks up at the building, towards the high rise floor where Bruce is still working.
In Japanese, he tries, "WayneTech... is the... owner?"
It's the only reason to come to him. And it makes him angry, although he tries not to show it, because it's someone or something misusing Bruce Wayne's resources. Bruce isn't the easiest person to deal with, but if nothing else, he tries.
Here's the proof. Here's Omi Tsukiyono come to solve a mystery.
It makes him a little uneasy, because his gut feeling is that Omi is trying to identify a target, but if it's just an identification, that they can work together on. Bruce seems to have called this one correctly, so maybe... maybe they can stop at identifying who it is.
That's the only conclusion Omi can draw from the way Robin looks up the building, at the temporary home he's sharing with Bruce Wayne up there. He's got to be very careful with his words, indeed. One wrong phrase could be the difference between an alliance they both need and everything falling apart. On the other hand, it could also spell a disaster with his own true loyalties. Now that he can see it in hindsight, the fact Birman was aware he'd been in communication with Bruce Wayne is as alarming as it is unsurprising. They're monitoring him.
Whatever he says, there are two parties listening with opposite goals and both have to be satisfied.
"Saa..." Omi says in response, again having to trust that Robin understands implicit communication well enough: that wasn't a denial. He can't afford to be more direct than that.
He tries again with English. "Both of us do not want good people to die. This means we share a goal. Will you help?"
Omi has to believe, if nothing else, that Robin won't want to turn away the chance for this kind of inside access and intel. There'll be nothing stopping him and Batman from swooping in and taking out the real criminal their way first if they get to the bottom of this together. He's already been gifted the timeline. Isn't Robin interested in what else he can learn?
Robin grins. He tries out the Japanese as best he can.
"I'm in."
It's personal, after all. While it hasn't occurred to him that Bruce is Kritiker's target, the thought that he might see the sterling reputation of the Wayne family patrimony tarnished is enough to convince Robin that the little white lie was the correct move this round. When it's over, and the threat ended, they can have a laugh over it.
Robin... does not want to see Batman react to this in real time.
"You came to the right guy, anyway," he mutters, slipping back into English unintentionally as he thinks. A few quick keystrokes on his hologram interface and he's got WayneTech's local real estate records. Go back a year, and-- yes, this is the one Omi indicated.
"Bruce is..." Completely divested of it, he wants to say, and finally calls up an English-Japanese dictionary.
Accent still rough, he tries: "Severed, stripped, relieved..."
It's a phrase Omi has both heard and uttered dozens of times over the past two years, down in the basement of a quaint flower shop before a sharp-dressed redhead with a manila folder and a videotape. How strange to see the guy who was so sanctimonious about non-lethal crimefighting grin and unwittingly echo that affirmation each of Weiss gave at the close of a mission briefing.
Strange, maybe even eerie, but not unwelcome. It's a relief to have his support, and Omi relaxes a little to have secured it. He looks at the holographic display Robin's summoned, marveling at the technology and instantly envious of it.
"That's amazing..." he says to himself, unconsciously reverting to Japanese. How handy would it be to have all of the information and tools of his laptop without any of its weight or the security risk of carrying it around?
That aside, Robin's access to this kind of technology lends credence to the suspicion Omi'd had that he'd need the boy's help to get through any security barriers at WayneTech. Wayne Technology was quite simply too far ahead of anything he'd dealt with himself. He'd never make it without the aid of someone familiar with it.
Of course, he can't do much more than admire the technology, as he can only pick out strings of text from the reading itself. This makes Robin's efforts to talk about Bruce being severed, stripped and relieved rather confusing and just a little disturbing.
"...I am sorry. I do not understand," he says in English.
The Super Seven hums its way over while the caped crusader flips holographic pages. Youji can admit he might have liked such a thing at such a point in his life-- but Asuka would have liked it more, and he doesn't follow that thought any further.
The honk of the car horn makes Omi look over at him in surprise, and Youji actually had him in the headlights for a moment. He kills the lights only because he didn't bring a camera with him.
In Japanese, he says, "How soon before you progress the charades?"
Then he smiles and Omi, and repeats the question in English.
At first, all he can discern is a honk and the blare of headlights. For all he knows this could be Birman. Even if it's not her, there is no situation where coming under clear revelation that your concerns about being watched were 100% true is a good thing. Setting even that aside, this was supposed to be a covert meeting and now it's literally under a spotlight-- at least until the driver kills the headlights and makes his identity known.
Is it better than sneaking up on them? Probably, but Omi still thinks there must be a better approach than this, something that isn't quite so... broadcasting.
"What are you doing here?" Omi says, horror and exasperation shattering his cool professionalism like a wrecking ball on glass.
The answer, neatly packaged in that line of snark, sails right past him.
"My name is Bennett, I'm not in it," Robin muttered, and between the colloquialism and the weakness of the rhyme, Youji didn't quite get it, but also didn't care. He needed to hear Omi's rationale, and he needed it quickly.
"Excuse us," he said to Robin. "No offense, but I can't talk to you both at the same time."
"Keep your hands to yourself, and it's okay," Robin answered, and Youji made a face at that -- he sure as hell wasn't into high school boys -- but after the kidnapping, he also had approximately no room to maneuver around that one. That one he had to take on the chin and move on from.
Switching back to Japanese, he tried to filter out the exasperation he felt and was left with an abundance of sarcasm.
"Aya's going to be pissed if you take this job solo," Youji told him. "I know his sister's not running up the medical debt anymore, but that doesn't mean you should be icing him out of a payday."
That is the best that Omi can answer with. He's every bit as exasperated as Youji but lacking the sarcasm to hide behind. And he knows that Youji didn't follow him out here out of concern for Aya's feelings.
"I wouldn't be here asking if I had any idea," Youji said. He was using a few tricks to muddle Robin's ability to translate-- primarily speaking quickly, but also attempting to construct roundabout sentences.
"Mission impediments from you of all people would surprise any of us, but you're right on the brink of what Kritiker will tolerate right now. I should actually say, what they'll tolerate from you. If I did what you're doing-- actually, scratch that. I'm surprised Manx hasn't shot me already. Just being here talking to you makes me look like I'm in on it, and I don't even know what it is."
The idea that he would impede a mission is ludicrous, even now. The pressure of the stakes coupled with the immediate situation - Robin, standing there watching them and witness to as much of the conversation as he can pick up on when they ought to be on their way to the factory because it was a tight timeline already - fuel the anger Omi needs to pivot from baffled questions to defensive anger.
"How can you say it's barely what they'll tolerate when you don't even know what it is? What are you even doing here asking? If you think that puts you at risk then go home! I didn't ask you to come along." Because it does, in fact, put him at risk.
"Well, I'd rather not see what'll happen to you if Kritiker thinks you're impeding a mission," Youji said bluntly. "I can say it's barely what they'll tolerate because what they'll tolerate is narrow to begin with."
He shot a glance at the kid in the cape. They've got to hurry this up.
"Here's how it plays outside of your own head. In case you weren't sure. You asked for time and you used that time to come here. Either you're trying to do this alone or you're trying to make sure it doesn't get done."
Did he avoid the key words that Robin might pick up on?
"While I commend you for making new friends, this isn't really the time."
The truth of course is that neither of those two things is true. Omi spares a moment to glare at Youji in quiet annoyance as a stall while he debates what he's going to say-- and not say-- in return.
"I'm not impeding anything. I just need to check a few things. That's fair, isn't it? They let Ken-kun do that for that friend he had. And because we have so little time to, I really need to get started. Excuse me."
Omi crosses the three steps to his bike, pulls off one of the helmets dangling from its handlebars, and tosses it in Robin's direction. "We go now," he says in English.
"Is Ken's friend really the allusion you want to make here?"
Seeing as how Ken's investigation turned up exactly how wrong he was.
Youji shoved his hands into his pockets, and because that showed a little more frustration than he was willing to admit to, he immediately took them back out again.
"You might get better information if you could actually talk to each other," he said, after a pause to consider and then discard every possible wrong way this could go.
At the end of the day, he didn't want Omi to get hurt. With Ken or Aya, it was the same, but the difference was, he didn't mind hurting them a little himself to prevent something worse from coming up later. With Omi, that almost wasn't fair. Chalk it up to him being a true believer, but Youji doubted that his resilience could really handle the kind of paradigm shifts Aya and Ken could.
Aya's and Ken's minds hadn't resorted to amnesia, after all, and if that was the best coping mechanism at his disposal, well.
"Having someone who can run interference for you with Birman also can't hurt, but I'd have to know what I'm interfering with."
Omi takes that point, and it's a sharp one. He does remember how that mission turned out: Kritiker was vindicated. Surely this time will prove different, though? And even if it doesn't... If Bruce Wayne really is behind all of this, wouldn't it be better to be absolutely sure first, considering? It's strange, because he's never felt a need to independently verify Kritiker's intel before. On the other hand, when was the last time they were tasked with taking down someone who brought so much good to the world?
Anyway, it's not that he doubts Kritiker's intel, says the subconscious part of his mind that depends on blind faith to them. He just needs to corroborate it this time. Just this once.
The language barrier does make him pause. Youji isn't wrong, it is an obstacle, but he's not sure what there is to be done about it-- or what exactly Youji is proposing-- until he follows up with a second suggestion.
Is he actually offering to help on this?
Omi spends three seconds debating with himself whether to oblige-- his instincts favor caginess-- before pulling the other helmet he brought along over his head and looking again at Robin, speaking in the best English he can.
"He wants to help. Is this ok?"
Instincts aside, with only two days to get to the bottom of this, they really can't afford to say no.
Robin fixes a steely look on this associate of Omi's who oh-so-recently added kidnapping to his rap sheet. But judging by his smug comment earlier, Robin can guess which aspect of the plan he's most probably going to help with, and wants to test it.
"If I say 'that's perfect,' then--" he began in English, before Youji cut him off.
"Then I'll know you're being sarcastic, and so therefore you'll know my English is at least that conversant."
"Perfect," said Robin, and he gave Omi the universal thumbs-up. A translator was absolutely paramount, and this person, well, Omi trusts him. As far as this mission goes, Robin's only recourse is trusting Omi, and that's going to mean trusting the people Omi trusts as well.
It is not ideal, but if he flips his perspective and considers that Youji was willing to fight the Justice League over Omi, that's got to count for something.
Omi isn't sure what Youji said to Robin, but it seems to have satisfied him well enough. He nods to the thumbs up and looks to Youji, reverting to his far more comfortable Japanese as he climbs onto his bike.
"Meet us at the sold factory. We're going to investigate-- I want to exhaust all possible alibis that would exonerate him. Proving innocence is likely beyond our capacity, but if we can confirm the chain of command..." He pauses, because he does have at least enough self-awareness to know that this has to be so odd to Youji. Why is this time different for taking Kritiker at their word?
It's just so strange. The more the mission details sit with him, the more questions he has. Why aren't they taking out the current owner of the factory, too? He was the one physically producing this weapon. Wasn't he just as culpable and dangerous? How did killing Bruce Wayne put an end to a project that was already so close to completion and under more direct management from someone else? Kritiker must have their reasons, but Omi cannot for the life of him...
Youji deliberately does not react to the oddness. Omi has enough to deal with on his own here.
He does light a cigarette to stave off a headache. He does hope Omi doesn't get caught.
And what's the endgame here? If Omi proves that Bruce Wayne isn't worth targeting, will Kritiker accept that? If Omi can poke a hole in Kritiker's reporting in 48 hours with nothing but blind optimism and an even younger teenage sidekick, that really doesn't say much for the organization's operating procedures. If they were targeting personal enemies, not threats to society as a whole...
What am I thinking? Kritiker was always targeting personal enemies... it was just lucky that Reiji Takatori was also a threat to society.
He didn't get paid to think, that was the problem. When it was him and Asuka, he had to do all the thinking, because she was a hothead, and Persia's greatest selling point was the promise of no longer dealing with that. Trust in Persia, Persia is right, Persia's morality is the only thing standing between you and them.
And the Persia who said all of that was dead.
I don't get paid enough for this, he thought. I get paid for the exact opposite of this.
It wouldn't hurt to follow Omi in place of Persia. Well, it might hurt Omi, but having an adult there to mitigate the fallout -- to even expect fallout -- might be the best he could do.
In the end, he didn't want innocent people to die, either. Wasn't that the whole point of this operation?
The signals are simple enough, and while sneaking past maintains the possibility that they'll never know they were infiltrated, this approach leaves no risk of being taken by surprise later. It's the safer choice between the two.
Omi nods silently and starts to sneak off, then hesitates and looks back at Robin. Close combat is a competency but not a forte, and a word now will save misunderstanding later. He opens the flap of his jacket to show the darts he's packed, pointing to them.
"Does not kill," he explains. That wasn't always true, but trading out the lethal poison for a fast-acting sedative was among his preparations just before biking over to invite Robin along. Even without the understood need to honor Robin's moral code tonight, this was a reconnaissance mission only.
"Thanks," is the most positive, least sarcastic, and easiest-to-understand thing he can say to that, so he does, and in Omi's language.
When Omi goes one way, Robin goes the other. He steps from shadow to shadow silently, the way he was trained, and when he has the right angle, he lets fly his own knockout gas projectile.
Omi mimics Robin's movements from the other direction. Their projectiles fly nearly in sync with one another; by the time his guard registers the explosion of gas he has a dart in his arm. The guards collapse, one on top of the other.
Once they're unconscious, Omi drags his guard to a less conspicuous location in the shadows, just in case there are others who might notice a pair of bodies.
Well, that was efficient. Youji takes the cigarette out of his mouth so he can concentrate on the speedy incapacitation of the two employees.
"Kids today," he sighs, parking the car well away from the streetlight and making his way toward the two at the entrance.
Robin laughed. "Too bad WayneTech sold this place off, they have a pretty good insurance benefit!"
Doubting the joke would translate well, given Japan's universal health coverage, Youji did not bother, and instead got to the point.
He slid his radio headset on. "If someone comes through this front entrance, I'll let you know," he said, punctuated with a click as he lights a fresh cigarette.
"Is that line secure?" Robin asked, and not waiting for an answer, continued on in English, "Let's make sure this stays between us."
From his utility belt, he pulled a small electronic device and mounted it on the streetlight Youji was so keen to avoid.
"So he's jamming the radio signal and masking our communications from Kritiker," Youji told Omi as an aside. "He better not be outdoing you in preparations."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
2/2 surprise! happy birthday!
The scenario sat right with approximately none of them. Enough time spent in cloak-and-dagger nonsense gave one a feel for it, and Kritiker was losing its touch. That they found out about Bruce Wayne visiting the trailer wasn't surprising.
That they targeted him so shortly after was.
It didn't give Youji much confidence in the organization, that this kind of slipshod bureaucratic incompetence was so transparent even to the kids. Omi ran straight for the target. When the true believer begins to doubt, there isn't much hope left for anyone. He hoped he was the only who noticed, that Aya and Ken were more concerned with Omi's reaction than with the cause, because Manx had been priming him for one of those sweet little missions with sweet little misses who'd missed their calling and ended up killing people indiscriminately instead, and he'd expected to start gathering intel before another full-on mission briefing.
Now here he was, watching two teenagers fumble over a language barrier taller than either of them.
Well, he'd let them get as far as they could on their own. Whatever scheme they were going with, Omi and the Boy Wonder would put on the best show unadulterated by an adult.
<3!!
But it's too late now. They're both here. It would doubtless be even worse to tell Robin, after he'd gone to the trouble of coming down, to never mind.
He unzips the front pocket of his backpack and pulls out a newspaper folded in half and a map. He's going to have to think about how to communicate everything he needs to, considering neither of them is fluent enough in the other's language for a complex recounting. He might need to make a few creative word substitutions.
He also thinks, this time, he wants to try continuing to speak in English as much as he can. Efforts to bridge the language gap ought to be a two-way street. It isn't very fair to put the full brunt of the translation burden on Robin.
He turns the newspaper to the lower half of the front page and offers it to Robin, then taps the article of relevance.
"...Gas poison causes quick death. Many people are dying. Who does the fault the police do not know."
Omi then places his finger on a location on the map he holds.
"This is what I know. The poison is a weapon. The weapon is for shadow buy. The produce is here." Produce was used as a noun, too, right? "But, there is a mystery: the weapon is a copy. A different company owns the design. This company also owned the building of produce until last year. It is a strange... pair of truths. It may be more, or it may be nothing. As a result, who does the fault... it does not seem sure. What if the knowledge is undercomplete? I—"
He stops. They have reached a point where any misstep in his words could be catastrophic. He can't risk bungling this in English, and reverts to Japanese.
"If I do nothing, someone without sin might die. I can't allow that... I have two days to find the truth."
no subject
The other thing he latches on to is the 2-day time limit. That's a problem.
He looks up at the building, towards the high rise floor where Bruce is still working.
In Japanese, he tries, "WayneTech... is the... owner?"
It's the only reason to come to him. And it makes him angry, although he tries not to show it, because it's someone or something misusing Bruce Wayne's resources. Bruce isn't the easiest person to deal with, but if nothing else, he tries.
Here's the proof. Here's Omi Tsukiyono come to solve a mystery.
It makes him a little uneasy, because his gut feeling is that Omi is trying to identify a target, but if it's just an identification, that they can work together on. Bruce seems to have called this one correctly, so maybe... maybe they can stop at identifying who it is.
no subject
That's the only conclusion Omi can draw from the way Robin looks up the building, at the temporary home he's sharing with Bruce Wayne up there. He's got to be very careful with his words, indeed. One wrong phrase could be the difference between an alliance they both need and everything falling apart. On the other hand, it could also spell a disaster with his own true loyalties. Now that he can see it in hindsight, the fact Birman was aware he'd been in communication with Bruce Wayne is as alarming as it is unsurprising. They're monitoring him.
Whatever he says, there are two parties listening with opposite goals and both have to be satisfied.
"Saa..." Omi says in response, again having to trust that Robin understands implicit communication well enough: that wasn't a denial. He can't afford to be more direct than that.
He tries again with English. "Both of us do not want good people to die. This means we share a goal. Will you help?"
Omi has to believe, if nothing else, that Robin won't want to turn away the chance for this kind of inside access and intel. There'll be nothing stopping him and Batman from swooping in and taking out the real criminal their way first if they get to the bottom of this together. He's already been gifted the timeline. Isn't Robin interested in what else he can learn?
no subject
"I'm in."
It's personal, after all. While it hasn't occurred to him that Bruce is Kritiker's target, the thought that he might see the sterling reputation of the Wayne family patrimony tarnished is enough to convince Robin that the little white lie was the correct move this round. When it's over, and the threat ended, they can have a laugh over it.
Robin... does not want to see Batman react to this in real time.
"You came to the right guy, anyway," he mutters, slipping back into English unintentionally as he thinks. A few quick keystrokes on his hologram interface and he's got WayneTech's local real estate records. Go back a year, and-- yes, this is the one Omi indicated.
"Bruce is..." Completely divested of it, he wants to say, and finally calls up an English-Japanese dictionary.
Accent still rough, he tries: "Severed, stripped, relieved..."
Um.
no subject
It's a phrase Omi has both heard and uttered dozens of times over the past two years, down in the basement of a quaint flower shop before a sharp-dressed redhead with a manila folder and a videotape. How strange to see the guy who was so sanctimonious about non-lethal crimefighting grin and unwittingly echo that affirmation each of Weiss gave at the close of a mission briefing.
Strange, maybe even eerie, but not unwelcome. It's a relief to have his support, and Omi relaxes a little to have secured it. He looks at the holographic display Robin's summoned, marveling at the technology and instantly envious of it.
"That's amazing..." he says to himself, unconsciously reverting to Japanese. How handy would it be to have all of the information and tools of his laptop without any of its weight or the security risk of carrying it around?
That aside, Robin's access to this kind of technology lends credence to the suspicion Omi'd had that he'd need the boy's help to get through any security barriers at WayneTech. Wayne Technology was quite simply too far ahead of anything he'd dealt with himself. He'd never make it without the aid of someone familiar with it.
Of course, he can't do much more than admire the technology, as he can only pick out strings of text from the reading itself. This makes Robin's efforts to talk about Bruce being severed, stripped and relieved rather confusing and just a little disturbing.
"...I am sorry. I do not understand," he says in English.
1/2
He skims the dictionary again and it's just. It's not helping.
"It's not his," Robin tries. "Not Bruce's. The building, or the-- the--"
How do you say 'produce' in Japanese?
no subject
The honk of the car horn makes Omi look over at him in surprise, and Youji actually had him in the headlights for a moment. He kills the lights only because he didn't bring a camera with him.
In Japanese, he says, "How soon before you progress the charades?"
Then he smiles and Omi, and repeats the question in English.
no subject
Is it better than sneaking up on them? Probably, but Omi still thinks there must be a better approach than this, something that isn't quite so... broadcasting.
"What are you doing here?" Omi says, horror and exasperation shattering his cool professionalism like a wrecking ball on glass.
The answer, neatly packaged in that line of snark, sails right past him.
no subject
"Excuse us," he said to Robin. "No offense, but I can't talk to you both at the same time."
"Keep your hands to yourself, and it's okay," Robin answered, and Youji made a face at that -- he sure as hell wasn't into high school boys -- but after the kidnapping, he also had approximately no room to maneuver around that one. That one he had to take on the chin and move on from.
Switching back to Japanese, he tried to filter out the exasperation he felt and was left with an abundance of sarcasm.
"Aya's going to be pissed if you take this job solo," Youji told him. "I know his sister's not running up the medical debt anymore, but that doesn't mean you should be icing him out of a payday."
no subject
That is the best that Omi can answer with. He's every bit as exasperated as Youji but lacking the sarcasm to hide behind. And he knows that Youji didn't follow him out here out of concern for Aya's feelings.
no subject
"Mission impediments from you of all people would surprise any of us, but you're right on the brink of what Kritiker will tolerate right now. I should actually say, what they'll tolerate from you. If I did what you're doing-- actually, scratch that. I'm surprised Manx hasn't shot me already. Just being here talking to you makes me look like I'm in on it, and I don't even know what it is."
no subject
"How can you say it's barely what they'll tolerate when you don't even know what it is? What are you even doing here asking? If you think that puts you at risk then go home! I didn't ask you to come along." Because it does, in fact, put him at risk.
no subject
He shot a glance at the kid in the cape. They've got to hurry this up.
"Here's how it plays outside of your own head. In case you weren't sure. You asked for time and you used that time to come here. Either you're trying to do this alone or you're trying to make sure it doesn't get done."
Did he avoid the key words that Robin might pick up on?
"While I commend you for making new friends, this isn't really the time."
no subject
"I'm not impeding anything. I just need to check a few things. That's fair, isn't it? They let Ken-kun do that for that friend he had. And because we have so little time to, I really need to get started. Excuse me."
Omi crosses the three steps to his bike, pulls off one of the helmets dangling from its handlebars, and tosses it in Robin's direction. "We go now," he says in English.
no subject
Seeing as how Ken's investigation turned up exactly how wrong he was.
Youji shoved his hands into his pockets, and because that showed a little more frustration than he was willing to admit to, he immediately took them back out again.
"You might get better information if you could actually talk to each other," he said, after a pause to consider and then discard every possible wrong way this could go.
At the end of the day, he didn't want Omi to get hurt. With Ken or Aya, it was the same, but the difference was, he didn't mind hurting them a little himself to prevent something worse from coming up later. With Omi, that almost wasn't fair. Chalk it up to him being a true believer, but Youji doubted that his resilience could really handle the kind of paradigm shifts Aya and Ken could.
Aya's and Ken's minds hadn't resorted to amnesia, after all, and if that was the best coping mechanism at his disposal, well.
"Having someone who can run interference for you with Birman also can't hurt, but I'd have to know what I'm interfering with."
no subject
Anyway, it's not that he doubts Kritiker's intel, says the subconscious part of his mind that depends on blind faith to them. He just needs to corroborate it this time. Just this once.
The language barrier does make him pause. Youji isn't wrong, it is an obstacle, but he's not sure what there is to be done about it-- or what exactly Youji is proposing-- until he follows up with a second suggestion.
Is he actually offering to help on this?
Omi spends three seconds debating with himself whether to oblige-- his instincts favor caginess-- before pulling the other helmet he brought along over his head and looking again at Robin, speaking in the best English he can.
"He wants to help. Is this ok?"
Instincts aside, with only two days to get to the bottom of this, they really can't afford to say no.
no subject
Robin fixes a steely look on this associate of Omi's who oh-so-recently added kidnapping to his rap sheet. But judging by his smug comment earlier, Robin can guess which aspect of the plan he's most probably going to help with, and wants to test it.
"If I say 'that's perfect,' then--" he began in English, before Youji cut him off.
"Then I'll know you're being sarcastic, and so therefore you'll know my English is at least that conversant."
"Perfect," said Robin, and he gave Omi the universal thumbs-up. A translator was absolutely paramount, and this person, well, Omi trusts him. As far as this mission goes, Robin's only recourse is trusting Omi, and that's going to mean trusting the people Omi trusts as well.
It is not ideal, but if he flips his perspective and considers that Youji was willing to fight the Justice League over Omi, that's got to count for something.
no subject
"Meet us at the sold factory. We're going to investigate-- I want to exhaust all possible alibis that would exonerate him. Proving innocence is likely beyond our capacity, but if we can confirm the chain of command..." He pauses, because he does have at least enough self-awareness to know that this has to be so odd to Youji. Why is this time different for taking Kritiker at their word?
It's just so strange. The more the mission details sit with him, the more questions he has. Why aren't they taking out the current owner of the factory, too? He was the one physically producing this weapon. Wasn't he just as culpable and dangerous? How did killing Bruce Wayne put an end to a project that was already so close to completion and under more direct management from someone else? Kritiker must have their reasons, but Omi cannot for the life of him...
"I have to know the truth about this."
1/2
He does light a cigarette to stave off a headache. He does hope Omi doesn't get caught.
And what's the endgame here? If Omi proves that Bruce Wayne isn't worth targeting, will Kritiker accept that? If Omi can poke a hole in Kritiker's reporting in 48 hours with nothing but blind optimism and an even younger teenage sidekick, that really doesn't say much for the organization's operating procedures. If they were targeting personal enemies, not threats to society as a whole...
What am I thinking? Kritiker was always targeting personal enemies... it was just lucky that Reiji Takatori was also a threat to society.
He didn't get paid to think, that was the problem. When it was him and Asuka, he had to do all the thinking, because she was a hothead, and Persia's greatest selling point was the promise of no longer dealing with that. Trust in Persia, Persia is right, Persia's morality is the only thing standing between you and them.
And the Persia who said all of that was dead.
I don't get paid enough for this, he thought. I get paid for the exact opposite of this.
It wouldn't hurt to follow Omi in place of Persia. Well, it might hurt Omi, but having an adult there to mitigate the fallout -- to even expect fallout -- might be the best he could do.
In the end, he didn't want innocent people to die, either. Wasn't that the whole point of this operation?
2/2
The factory's security might still be using a WayneTech base and if that was true, Robin could probably work his way around it.
...or, it could just be... guarded.
He tapped Omi on the shoulder, and indicated the two standing rather conspicuously out front. Then he pointed to himself, and the one on the left.
To Omi, and the one on the right.
"One each?"
Re: 2/2
Omi nods silently and starts to sneak off, then hesitates and looks back at Robin. Close combat is a competency but not a forte, and a word now will save misunderstanding later. He opens the flap of his jacket to show the darts he's packed, pointing to them.
"Does not kill," he explains. That wasn't always true, but trading out the lethal poison for a fast-acting sedative was among his preparations just before biking over to invite Robin along. Even without the understood need to honor Robin's moral code tonight, this was a reconnaissance mission only.
no subject
When Omi goes one way, Robin goes the other. He steps from shadow to shadow silently, the way he was trained, and when he has the right angle, he lets fly his own knockout gas projectile.
no subject
Once they're unconscious, Omi drags his guard to a less conspicuous location in the shadows, just in case there are others who might notice a pair of bodies.
Now where was Youji?
no subject
"Kids today," he sighs, parking the car well away from the streetlight and making his way toward the two at the entrance.
Robin laughed. "Too bad WayneTech sold this place off, they have a pretty good insurance benefit!"
Doubting the joke would translate well, given Japan's universal health coverage, Youji did not bother, and instead got to the point.
He slid his radio headset on. "If someone comes through this front entrance, I'll let you know," he said, punctuated with a click as he lights a fresh cigarette.
"Is that line secure?" Robin asked, and not waiting for an answer, continued on in English, "Let's make sure this stays between us."
From his utility belt, he pulled a small electronic device and mounted it on the streetlight Youji was so keen to avoid.
"So he's jamming the radio signal and masking our communications from Kritiker," Youji told Omi as an aside. "He better not be outdoing you in preparations."
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)