"Really Brad, it's just a few phone calls. What damage is *that* gonna do?" Schuldich's
voice quipped.

He brought the tray of food in and set it by Makoto on the bed, sitting down near her. Nagi sat
down on the floor, leaning against the bed, now facing Brad and Farfello. Makoto, for her part,
watched the pre-cog warily. She could not hear his thoughts, nor could she read his face, which
made her both nervous and annoyed. The black haired man ignored the telepath and kept his gaze
trained on the young girl, which made her want to look away, but her pride and stubbornness would
not allow for that. Something shiny however, *did* catch her attention, causing her to look at
it.
"Nani o mite?" Farfello asked briskly.

That snapped Makoto out of her staring, and drooling, at the man's knife, and caused her to look
sheepishly at him.
"Gomen ... I just ... "
"Just what?"
"I sorta ... kinda ... have an obsession with sharp, pointy objects ... " she trailed
off, looking out the window.

She kept an eye on the Irish man, however, and the very nice, sharp, pointy object he held.
Schuldich and Nagi were both surprised, she could Feel it, and she longed to disappear into a
convenient hole. To her surprise, the knife was twirled around and handed to her by the Irish
man. She took it, handling it like a religious person would the Holy Grail, and looked curiously
up at him.
"I'll show you the rest of my collection someday. For now ... take care of this one," the
man gave her a brief, not quite smile, not quite smirk, and turned to leave.

On his way out, Farfello was stopped by Brad. He nodded to the other man once.
"Any girl who can appreciate a knife like that is OK by me. She'll do fine."

It was not so much the first sentence as the second that startled Makoto. She tilted her head
quizzically and tried to Push her way into his head, but found that he had wonderful shields as
well.
//Shimatta! Why is it that I can Hear voices of people I don't *want* to hear, but can
Hear them?// she thought angrily.
//Because they are trained to keep me out.// Schuldich replied, //And to do that, they
*have* to be good.//
//Egotist.//
//And proud of it.//

Brad coughed lightly.
//If you two don't mind ... // he Thought at them, knowing they would hear him.

Makoto gasped.
"But ... you're not a voice! ... I don't understand ... "

He looked down at her coldly.
"Some ESPer you've picked up for us, Nagi. She doesn't even know her own power," he
silenced any protests with a brisk wave, "Ima, shoujo ... "

The girl stared up at him, trying to mask her fear.
"Why is it that you don't know your own power, hmmm? Are you really that ignorant of
yourself?" he paused, "Or maybe your parents thought you were mad and you just escaped from the
institution, is that it? Perhaps you think you're crazy and just want some attention."

While he was talking, Brad kept a close study of their new charge. When he mentioned her
parents, she clenched her fist and anger replaced the fear in her eyes. When he implied that she
simply wanted some attention, she looked ready to kill him.
"BAKA YAROU!!!" she screamed.

Schuldich could have sworn the whole room shook.
"I have never once been in an institution. Not. Once. Not. For. Anything," she bit out at
the black haired man, "If you *must* know, I've been a bit too busy saving the bloody world and
*dying* to even *notice* my powers."

Nagi's eyes widened and he swiveled around to stare at her.
"To take it a step further," she continued, "I'm assuming they just developed tonight,
because I'd never Heard the voices before."

Brad looked down his nose at her.
"Oh? And what about your parents hmmm?"

Now Makoto looked down at the bed and clenched her jaw, bangs hiding her eyes.
"That's really none of your business."

The pre-cog looked at Schuldich, demanding to be told without a word. The telepath shook his
head, ignoring the way the black haired man's eyes hardened.
"I'll tell you later, Bradley, there's no need to rush," the German smirked, knowing his
boss hated that nickname.

Sure enough, Brad's jaw clenched slightly, and he turned on his heel.
"I expect her to be more disciplined than you, Schuldich. Nagi, you'd better hope that
she is."

The telekinetic watched his boss as he smoothly exited the room, slack jawed. Then he turned to
Schuldich with anger in his eyes.
"He's treating her like a piece of ... of ... of meat! Where does his get this Holier
than thou bullshit from, anyway?"
"Being Estes favorite?" Schuldich shrugged, "Beats me."

The orange haired man ruffled Makoto's hair.
"Don't worry about him too much. You've got three out of four on your side, he can't do
anything."

She nodded slightly, offering him a tiny smile.
"Danke, aniki."

Schuldich grinned at the mixed sentence and stood from the bed.
"Saa ... I'm going out to eat. You should too. I'll be back later, then you can explain
this "saving the world" business."

The two teens nodded and Makoto looked down sheepishly. As he left, the telepath patted Nagi on
the head.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do, now," he said, and just barely missed the pillow aimed
at his head.

~Owari, chapter 3~