"And the Yasuhides received their shipment in time?" Hanzo asked, gazing over the top of his glasses at the rest of the men sitting around the table.

"Yes Master Shimada, we tracked the container all the way to Sapporo," one of the elders replied, rising.

Genji laid his head back against the chair, staring at the ceiling in exhaustion. This meeting had been going on for how many hours now? The entire time, they'd been discussing the same old business. Why do I even have to be here? he thought, resisting the urge to drag a hand down his tired face.

Hanzo had told him his presence was required at today's meeting; both he and the clan elders were getting tired of the fact that Genji skipped on the last two. "If you want to keep your status in the clan," Hanzo had threatened, "You'll need to make the clan your priority, not your frivolous lifestyle."

"The clan is my priority," Genji had argued. "While you're keeping the background in check, I'm busy dealing with the foreground."

"You need to be involved in both."

"Isn't that your job to handle both fronts?"

"You're my brother and a Shimada, Genji, you need to be able to handle everything in the event that I am unable. How will you handle the background business if you know nothing about it?!"

The younger Shimada sighed, remembering that conversation they'd had on the way up to the conference room. He didn't look up when a servant came in through the door behind him and handed a note to Hanzo. The elder that was rambling on about their trade with the Yasuhides continued without pause. Genji peaked at Hanzo lazily from the corner of his eye, but became slightly more interested when he saw his brother's sly smile. That can't be good…

Hanzo rose to his feet, immediately silencing the elder. "Wilhelm has agreed to pay the ransom!" he announced.

Everyone around the table rejoiced at this news, clapping their hands and stating their pleasure to those around them—everyone except Genji. The younger Shimada brother froze in his seat. I didn't even know we posted the ransom…

"We are to meet at the Notori warehouse next Thursday at midnight to complete the trade. Wilhelm will be there to receive the hostage."

Reinhardt is coming himself? That's… Genji mused, rubbing his chin, rather suspicious, actually…

"Yakoto!"

A servant at the edge of the room stepped forward and bowed at the waist. "Yes Master?"

"Make sure she is at full health. I don't want a single thing wrong with her, or we risk inciting Wilhelm's rage."

'Full health'? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Is Angela alright? Genji had found her new location the morning after the incident, but he'd been forced to only slip a note beneath the door telling her he'd found her but didn't want to arouse suspicion by visiting her. It might force Hanzo to move her again. She better be alright. I hope they're feeding her enough…

"Will we be conducting the trade honorably, Master?" an elder asked.

Another elder chimed in. "We should plan an ambush for them," he said, furious. "Wilhelm's agents have soiled our plans on a number of occasions."

"Not to mention the foul trade that he conducted on the exchange that got us into this whole hostage mess!" a third elder said.

"I like the idea of an ambush," Hanzo said, stroking his beard in thought.

Genji dared to speak up. "Wilhelm himself is coming; you think they won't come prepared? I'd think his safety is going to be their main concern for the night."

Hanzo waved him off nonchalantly. "We'll have to be even more prepared."

He wants me here, but doesn't want me here, Genji thought, glaring. Why can't he make up his mind?

"I offer to you my ten finest students, Master Shimada," Elder Mabuchi said. He had trained both Shimada brothers in their martial arts from the moment they were old enough to walk. Genji and Hanzo had been his best students; nothing less than absolute mastery was required of them, and they had both delivered as expected.

"Excellent." Hanzo motioned to the attendant sitting at the table's control panel. The attendant wordlessly tapped a few keys; a holographic map of the warehouse in question came up. "We will set up a perimeter to monitor the grounds of the warehouse immediately, to make sure they do not try to sneak in before the appointed date." He motioned to several different areas on the mountains that the warehouse was nestled between. "Master Mabuchi, your students will be positioned in these locations…"

Planning an ambush for Angela's grandfather eh? Genji mused. I can guarantee she's not going to like that…

As the elders and Hanzo discussed their strategy, Genji thought about a way to fix this. He spoke up, not caring about who he was interrupting, "If we kill Reinhardt on the night of the exchange, what will we do with the hostage?"

"Send her back to Germany," Hanzo shrugged. "She is of no use to us."

"She's the bait, then?"

"Precisely."

"You don't think she'll want revenge?"

"What could she do about it?"

Genji shrugged, straightening in his chair. "She's his family, no? You don't think she'll go back to his organization and lead them in some sort of retaliation?"

"We could kill her too," an elder chimed in.

"Eliminate all chance of her causing problems in the future," Hanzo added, pointing his finger at the elder that had spoken.

Oh shit, Genji paled. What did I just do?

Angela had no idea where they'd relocated her after the ramen shop incident. The two guards had stuffed a sack over her head the second they got into the castle grounds and carried her all the way to wherever she was now. From what she could tell, Hanzo just her her moved to a different cell, similar to the one she had before, but a slightly different arrangement. The lack of any sort of visible door was rather unnerving, but she suspected the entrance to the room was right by where the note from Genji had been lying.

New clothes were given to her again. Food was administered regularly. The lights were different though—instead of fluorescents, there were three yellow lamps hanging from the ceiling, running the length of the room. They made everything outside of their reach darker, but at least they warmed her skin if she stood beneath them.

At the moment she sat with her back against the wall, rereading Genji's note for the thousandth time. She'd never seen him write anything so it was difficult to tell if this was really his handwriting, but who else would leave her a note like this? It was possible that Hanzo would have a note like this crafted to mess with her, but she found it unlikely.

Hanzo was never good at hiding things, the note read. I'd always find the things he tried to keep from me when we were boys. Looks like some traits carried over into adulthood for both of us.

Angela found the messy handwriting… somewhat endearing. She had found the note the morning after she'd be relocated, and she'd almost laughed when she read it. If she ever saw him again, she'd be sure to praise him for his hunting abilities.

'When', Angela stubbornly corrected herself, screwing her eyes shut. "When I see him again," she whispered, laying her head back on the wall. "Not if; don't think like that, Angela! When, when, whe—aah!"

She fell flat on her back, staring up into the face of someone very familiar. "Genji!" she gasped.

He smiled. "Took me a while to get here. They hid you pretty deep underground."

Angela rolled onto her stomach and took a look around. Apparently she'd been leaning against the door to her room; the hallway was just as blank as the hallway to her first room. She grabbed his offered arms, rising but falling into him in the process. He hugged her back tightly, smirking. "Miss me that much, tenshi?"

She smiled. "Not that much," Angela said, getting back on her feet.

Genji chuckled. He reached down, picked up a bag off the top of a small duffel bag by his feet, and thrusted it into her arms. "Get changed. We're in a bit of a rush."

"Where are we going?" Angela asked, opening the bag to examine the clothes.

"We're going out again, but a bit farther this time," he whispered, turning to peek around the corner of the hall.

"Is that really such a good idea—"

"It's the best idea I've had all week. Get changed, hurry!"

"Genji, what's going on?" Angela asked, hurriedly exchanging her t-shirt for the soft, black, long sleeved shirt she'd taken out of the bag.

"I told you, we're leaving," he hissed, trying to keep his voice low. She noticed the tenseness in his shoulders.

Angela traded her shorts for the jeans (it did not escape her notice that they were Ganji jeans; she sighed internally. Would he ever change?). "But where are we going?"

"Germany."

It wasn't until Angela was pulling on the boots he'd gotten her that she was able to process what he'd just told her. "You're taking me home?"

"You're a bit slow today, tenshi, maybe we should get you some food to raise your blood sugar." He was teasing, of course, but when her stomach growled, Genji turned, one of his eyebrows cocked. "I was joking but ok."

"Genji, as much as I like the idea of getting home—" Angela shrugged on the blue suede jacket. "—maybe we should just wait for—"

"No Angela, we're not waiting. Hanzo's planning something—"

His frustrated tone also did not escape her notice; was that also nervousness she sensed? "Genji, are you sure—"

"Keep your voice down!" he said, his temper rising. "Are you done? We're wasting time arguing like this."

She tied the last lace on her boot and stood, defiant. "How are we going to make it all the way to Germany? Do you know how to fly a plane? Do you have a teleporter?"

"I'm a ninja, Angela, okay? I've got my ways."

She stopped, staring in disbelief. "A ninja?" she said, cocking her hip.

Genji straightened defensively. "Look, I know ninja's have become very cliche in the past few decades but I swear we're still around. The art is still being taught; I began training at three and became a master at fifteen—"

"Genji this isn't time for fun and games," she cut him off, propping her fists on her hips and frowning. "This is serious—"

"What makes you think I'm not serious?"

"I just—a ninja?!"

"Ok let's say for one second that we don't leave now," he said, peeking around the corner again to make sure no one had noticed them yet, "do you really want to risk you and your grandfather getting ambushed and killed instead of returning home safely?"

Angela froze. "Hanzo… wants us killed?"

Genji nodded, grabbing her hand. He didn't dare mention that planting the idea in Hanzo's head had been entirely his fault. Should've just kept my mouth shut. She doesn't need to know. "C'mon, our ride's in the garage. We've gotta get out of Hanamura before the guards in the control room wake up."

The garage was filled with vehicles of all sorts. All gleamed brightly, reflecting Angela's and Genji's images perfectly as they ran by. Genji brought her to the end of the room where a brilliant, black hovercycle sat.

He opened a compartment in the side and carefully squeezed his duffel bag into it. "What do you have in that thing?" she whispered.

He gave her a look over his shoulder. "My ninja stuff."

Angela rolled her eyes playfully. She examined the bike. "Don't these things make a lot of noise?"

"This one's new," he whispered back, handing her a helmet off a counter behind the bike. "Silent as they come."

"Did you buy it with this in mind?"

He shook his head. "I usually like louder ones, but this one had all the features I like plus a little extra so I gave it a pass on the silence. Didn't think it'd come in handy for a thing like this." Genji slipped the helmet on and mounted the hovercycle. Angela took a breath to steady herself before placing the helmet on her head and settling in behind him.

Genji flicked a switch and the hovercycle hummed softly to life, it's hovering bells calibrating the weight of the passengers. "Don't let me fall off," Angela said as she picked up her feet and hugged him tightly from behind.

His laugh sounded in the receiver in the helmet. "I've got you, tenshi. I won't let you fall again."

"Again?"

"You fell from heaven the first time, didn't you?"

She unraveled an arm to slap him on the shoulder. "Just get going."

Genji chuckled again as he revved the engine and blasted out of the garage, silent as a shadow.

The drive out of Hanamura was nerve-wracking. Genji stuck mostly to dark side streets and alleys, but sometimes they were forced to pass through crowded intersections. He swore no one would recognize them, but Angela always felt like there were eyes boring into her back. She clutched at his black leather jacket whenever they had to stop beneath a light.

Gradually, the city began to thin out and before Angela knew it they were on an open road through the mountainous countryside. She was forced to bend over Genji's back as he pressed his torso into the gas tank in order to make their whole shape more streamlined. Don't want to go flying off the bike, now do we Angela? she thought sarcastically, trying to provide as least wind resistance as possible.

Everything was passing them so fast, Angela was forced to gaze up at the sky to ground herself. The stars shone above, but the moon was just a sliver of a smile in the night sky. I'm free, she realized, her eyes shining. Well, almost. Now we just have to get to Germany… She looked at the back of Genji's helmet, smiling softly. I think we can make it.

Genji's voice was buzzing through the receiver in her helmet. She snapped back to attention. "It's going to take us about four and a half hours to get to the Nagasaki safehouse," he was saying. "We can stop in a small town on the way to stretch our legs, eat something, but we need to get to the house as soon as possible."

"What'll we do once we're there?"

"Catch a boat to Shanghai."

Angela peeked over his shoulder at the speedometer. 251 km/hr, she read; she blinked several times, thinking she couldn't possibly be reading that right. "Are we really going that fast?!"

"What's the matter, tenshi, you afraid of a little speed?"

She glared at the back of his head, knowing that he was grinning like an idiot. "That's awfully fast, Genji. What happens if we crash?"

"We won't."

Angela bit her tongue, annoyed. She almost snapped at him to stop being so cocky, but decided to hold her complaints for later. Genji needed to focus on not crashing, and if Angela needed to shut up for that to happen she would gladly zip her lips shut.

After nearly two hours, Genji slowed down considerably and pulled into a small gas station on the side of the road to refuel. Angela ran in to use the bathroom. When she returned, Genji handed her a wad of bills and told her to go buy herself a snack that could hold her for another few hours. "We've got food in the safehouse you can spend time eating, but right now our priority is getting there," he told her quietly. "Every minute we spend out in the open here means we're closer to being caught. Be sure to act like a tourist," he added before she could walk away. "Casual."

"Gotcha."

She returned only a few minutes later as he was screwing the gas cap back onto the bike, a half-eaten box of crackers in her hands. Genji was surprised at the rate at which she polished off the rest of the box. "Did they feed you while you were in that room?" he asked as she threw the box in the trashcan.

"Not enough. Let's get going. The sooner we're safe, the better I'll feel."

They donned their helmets, mounted the bike, resumed their streamlined positions, and took off down the road. After another couple hours, they arrived in Nagasaki. Genji's watch told Angela it was around 3am.

The city itself was practically barren. They couldn't go zooming around at two-hundred-plus speeds down city streets, but the general lack of people and lights made Angela feel more at ease. Genji steered them up a dirt road on one of the mountains right on the oceanside. "Now let's see if I remember where that rock is…" she heard him mumble. They drove farther along the road, passing a collection of several boulders of varying sizes that all sat at the base of a short cliff.

A thought suddenly occurred to Angela. "Won't Hanzo know we're here? Wouldn't the house have sensors that go off if someone's inside?"

Pulling the bike to a stop, Genji dismounted and took off his helmet, shaking his head back and forth to put his hair back into place. "Our safehouses were designed to be completely undetectable, unless contact is initiated from within the house. Unless we send a signal to Hanzo telling him we're here, he won't have any idea."

He walked up to the boulders, staring at the collection of smaller rocks at his feet. With the toe of his shoe, he turned one over and exclaimed when it flipped open to reveal a keypad. "Ha!" Genji knelt, tapped a combination of numbers, then hurriedly got back on the bike.

A boulder towards the front of the hovercycle rolled away and a "door" in the cliff face opened up, revealing a passage. Genji hurriedly pulled the hovercycle into the passage; Angela looked behind her just in time to see the door close, completely enveloping the pair in the darkness of the tunnel.

Genji parked the hovercycle and dismounted again, taking Angela's hand in his own and giving it a little tug to signal it was time to get off. Lights came on above their heads, revealing a small, concrete garage. She pried the helmet off her head and let Genji lead her through the door in the corner into the actual house. "Bathroom is that way," he pointed with a finger off to his right, flicking on a bunch of light switches. "Go get yourself cleaned up. I'll see about some food, but as soon as you're done we're going to take the food and get out."

"You had me at 'bathroom'," she sighed gratefully, running off through the pristine hall in search of the shower.

Angela stood there in disbelief. "When you said boat, I didn't think you meant… a submarine."

"Your dinner and our freedom awaits, Your Highness," Genji purred, bowing grandly to the open hatch of the sub. The metallic blue submarine sat in an enclosed "bay" in the basement of the safehouse.

"First you tell me you're a ninja, then you say we can escape in your own private submarine—what's next, we got through a teleporter and end up on the other side of the world?"

"It was Grandfather's idea to get a sub," the ninja explained. "He always wanted to make sure we'd be able to get away in the event that something happened." Genji chuckled and looked down, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't think he planned on a Shimada running from his own family…"

Angela stopped, curious. "You don't plan on going back?" she asked quietly.

Genji looked away, shrugging. "I can't imagine they'd take me back after this."

"I guess you're right… " She looked down, twirling a lock of her damp hair in her finger. That's rather sad, she thought. He's running away from his family as I'm running home to mine…

"You wanna blow this country or what?" he asked, finally meeting her eyes, a shy smile gracing his lips. "The coordinates are all calibrated; all we have to do is get in and go."

She looked back at him, smiled softly. "I'd love to."

Genji offered his hand gracefully. Angela took it and lowered herself into the small submarine—but not before letting out a soft "Thank you," as she landed a kiss on his tanned cheek. "Oh, what's this?" she cooed, faking surprise. "No bronzer today, Genji?"

He blushed, biting his lip to keep from letting his smile reach his ears. "Decided to go without it. I knew my natural beauty could woo you over any day," he purred, winking.

Angela snorted and lowered herself the rest of the way into the submarine. "Sure you did."

Hanzo sat at his desk, rubbing his beard and scowling at the attendants in front of him. "You're certain she's not around the grounds somewhere?"

"No Master Shimada," one of the attendants spoke, quivering where he stood. All the men that had been knocked out while on duty in the surveillance room fell to their knees, their foreheads pressed into the floor. "Please Master Shimada, have mercy on us," they chorused.

"Your time here is suspended indefinitely," Hanzo spoke after a moment of consideration. "You are to remain on the grounds until I decide your punishment. Leave me now. I have some things to consider."

"Yes Master," the men chorused, rising to their feet and hurrying out of Hanzo's office.

The Master of the Shimada clan leaned back in his chair, stroking his beard and scowling, deep in thought. Miss Zeigler is missing. There is no evidence of a struggle anywhere around her cell. She must have been let out, but by who—

He stopped, the realization dawning on him. Hanzo leaned forward, buzzing the intercom on his landline. "Yakoto, where is my brother?"

"I have not seen him since the meeting this afternoon, Master," the voice buzzed back. "I will do my best to locate him right away, sir."

"See that you do," Hanzo said, letting his finger off the button. Somehow, he knew no one would be able to find his brother.

"I cannot say I am that surprised…" he admitted softly to himself, fuming. Hanzo sat a moment more in thought, thinking of a plan of action. He picked up his landline and dialed a number on the keypad. The call connected, rang once, twice, thrice…

Just as Hanzo was thinking he'd have to call someone else, the line on the other end picked up and a voice coughed, "Hello?"

"I need you to get someone for me," Hanzo said. "We can discuss your reward later, but time is of the essence."

"Shit, Shimada, I'm on vacation—"

"I'll send a jet for you."

A whistle. "Must be important. Who'd ya loose?"

"A hostage. I have a feeling my brother is with her. I need you to bring her back before next Thursday."

"Your brother? Doesn't that make it okay or something?"

"We can't expect her people to be ok with us not presenting her on the day of the ransom exchange. Genji's travelling with her is… unauthorized."

"He went AWOL?" The man hummed. "Who would've thunk."

"Not exactly; I doubt he has any intention of coming back. I need you to do whatever it takes to bring the hostage back unharmed. Whatever happens to Genji is none of my concern."

"What in Sam Hill is that supposed to mean?"

"If he's in your way, get rid of him."

The man on the other end of the line was silent for a long while. Finally he spoke quietly, "Well, boss's orders. I'm near Melbourne. What jet should I look for?"

"I'll have someone with a sign for you."

"What's this hostage's name?"

"Angela Ziegler. There will be information files on the jet for you."

"Roger that."

Hanzo disconnected the call, but did not move away from the desk. After a moment, he picked up the phone and dialed again. One or two more guns couldn't hurt...

AN: 251 km/hr is approximately 156 mph.

I decided to call the "wheels" on the hovercyle "bells" because when examining the other hovering vehicles in-game, I thought the things in place of the wheels kind of looked like jellyfish (the waves that come out of them are the tentacles so that makes the thing that produces the waves the "bell" of the jellyfish). I didn't know what else to call these things, so I just went with "bells" :U

The fic gets so exciting from this point on guys, I'm so excited 8D

Oh boy, I wonder who this mysterious bounty hunter is~~~~

Reviews, follows, and favs are all super appreciated!