Kirito held the madman’s gaze, left hand barely twitching. “Why did you join the Knights? A criminal guild would have suited you better.”
“Kuradeel can’t see that hand,” Jack muttered. “Kid’s going to try something.”
“Kirito’s fighting the dose,” Janet observed with clinical calm, white-knuckled hand scratching out a few notes. “Maybe he got less. Or he’s more resistant. Godfree couldn’t fight it off. Kirito’s trying.”
“Keh; why ask something so obvious?” Kuradeel licked his lips, slow and deliberate. “It’s because of that girl.”
“Asuna?” Kirito’s face flushed red. “You damn bastard-!”
“Heh, why glare like that? It’s just a game, isn’t it? Don’t worry. I’ll look after your precious Vice-Commander. After all, I have so many useful items.” He picked up the water bottle, shaking it as if the slosh was sweet as silver bells. “A criminal guild would suit me more? You’re sharper than I thought.” A touch made his left gauntlet vanish; another rolled up his sleeve, baring his forearm to view.
An ink-black tattoo sprawled across skin; a coffin, with eyes and the same mad grin, a white skeletal arm reaching out like death itself.
Kirito’s breath hissed. “Laughing Coffin!”
“Um-hmm.” Kuradeel smiled, nodding.
“A survivor.” Kirito’s voice cracked. “So it’s revenge?”
Say what? Jack thought, incredulous.
“Why would I do something that stupid?” Kuradeel spat. “Though they did teach me this paralysis technique. Among others….” He stood, and lifted his sword, steel catching a glint of sun. “I should finish this now, before the poison wears off. I’ve been dreaming of this, ever since that duel-”
Kirito’s left hand moved.
“Note to self,” Jack muttered, as Kuradeel swore and shook a small throwing spike from his arm. “Kirigaya is ambidextrous.”
And he doesn’t give up. Paralyzed, alone with a crazy psycho bastard – he does not give up. No wonder the Marines adopted him. Devil Puppy, right there.
Crossover Queen's Creative Chaos 
>And he doesn’t give up.>
That’s probably the general mentality of every good Clearer.
>Say what? Jack thought, incredulous.>
Yeah I can see Jack picking that up. Because what were the circumstances that made Kirito think that a bunch of outlaws/criminals/murders want revenge on him?
I suspect the assault on the Laughing Coffin would make him draw some similarities to his Black-Op days.
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Ooo yes. Scary thought, that.
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More to the point, they haven’t unlocked that Laughing Coffin takedown file from Kayaba’s treasure chest yet. Which IIRC turned into a major Charlie Foxtrot because of a spy in the good guy ranks sent word they were coming.
And less Spec Ops, and more Peacekeeping gone wrong, say like Battle of Mogadishu. The Clearers went in to arrest LC, and it turned into a full on battle with a hefty body count, comparatively speaking.
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*Sheepish* I ended up writing most of the scene before we knew the canon version of those events. So… it’s a bit different? At least in where it was set.
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. . . Here’s some food for plot: in canon, did the Clearers ever find out who the soy was?
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Ugh. *Shakes fist at autocorrect*
‘Spy’.
I meant ‘spy’, not ‘soy’.
(…And I was so proud of my ‘food for thought/plot’ pun too.)
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*Snrk* And no, I don’t know if we ever knew who the spy was.
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You know, as soon as Kirito goes in for the kill, O’Neill is going to be kicking himself for not being able to see it sooner. Since the little home video Kayaba sent the SGC didn’t show the start of Kayaba and Kirito’s fight . . . he didn’t see how Kirito tries to kill Kayaba without. Any. Hesitation. Whatsoever. Even in canon, Kirito is wrong when he racks up his kill count. Just because he maybe didn’t die, doesn’t mean Kirito didn’t kill him.
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…Interesting observation. 🙂
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Janet is using Kirito. Jack is using Kirigaya (although he’s also using Kuradeel, but he may not know his real name).
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*Nod*
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