Chapter 27 - Electric
By MasterSamson
Rain fell on the city of Orly mercilessly. It poured and poured, and it seemed that it would never stop.
Streetlights lit the run-down roads with an eerie glow, while a distressed young man followed an apathetic veteran.
“It wasn’t my fault,” the older man said.
“What do you mean it wasn’t your fault? Do you think you can wash your hands of the situation? Do you really think you can run away from your crimes?!”
“What crimes… I did nothing wrong. The attack was meant to stop the Blacken Syndicate’s ‘revolution.’ Although… from looking at you I can tell you’re one of them. What they said about me wasn’t true. I was placed in ‘charge’ simply to make a hero out of a nobody, an attempt to produce someone that can rally the people onto a single path, keep them in line… become a role model.”
“What you did was kill! You killed innocent people! Destroyed property and homes! And you killed my brother in an explosion, you bastard! HE DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!”
“…It wasn’t my fault.” The man looked over his shoulder at the scarred and beaten man behind him. He had been following him for blocks, enraged at him… for false reasons.
“I don’t care whose fault it was! Someone is going to pay for my brother’s life! And it might as well be you!” The beaten man wore a simple leather jacket, and looked like any normal man you would see walking down the street – except of course for his eyes. Eyes that radiated pure anger, fear, and madness. It was obvious that he was lost; whatever semblance of a normal life he had before was crushed by the crackdown.
Major Taredan ran a hand through his wet black hair. “Leave. Now. You have nothing that you could gain from killing me. You would feel good about my death; you would enjoy it. And then you would slip deeper into your apparent madness afterwards.”
“You’re not getting off that easy, bitch… You’re going to die right here. There’s no one to save you now. Look around, your military dogs aren’t here to keep you safe now, Major.” With that the man pulled a gun out of his jacket. His intentions were clear.
The Major turned around and looked at the insane man. He was indeed telling the truth – there was no backup to be found around him. He also did indeed have the intent to kill him; the gun marked this intent. Taredan himself was unarmed. He rarely carried a gun… he didn’t need one.
“I take it you will not turn back now.” Rain streamed down Taredan’s black trenchcoat. His green uniform could be seen under it.
“You think I don’t have the guts to shoot a soldier?!” Taredan’s coolness infuriated the man. It was as if he was being treated like some sort of child.
“When I’m done with you… you won’t have much of anything.” Taredan took his hands out of his pockets and raised his right arm at the man.
“What’s that supposed to mean?! What the hell are you up to?! Going to summon some magic?! Are you going to block the bullet like Neo?!” He cackled. “It’s a shame, I thought you would at least put up a fight.” He raised the gun, ready to shoot.
Taredan said nothing. He just kept his arm raised to the man. Then his pupils glowed a bloody red.
Fear suddenly hit the insane man. “W- what the hell are you do-“
And all was engulfed in red flames.
Taredan silently walked away. The rain hissed as it hit the newly charred corpse of a man who until just a second ago was alive, a stunned expression frozen on its face. Taredan stopped, and looked back, viewing the corpse with complete indifference. “You reap what you sow, I guess…” Walking away, he placed one hand in his pocket, and brought the other one up to his face, and started slowly sucking his thumb.
And so, the rain continued…
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The next morning the rain had cleared, and the sun shone brightly above Orly.
The Cafe de l’Argeno was fully refurbished and remodeled, looking even better than it first did under its former owner Luna. The cafe itself stood not in the war-torn part of the town, but rather the more upscale part. While it still had its fair share of damage it was nowhere near as bad as the area that rested around Trunks’ Pub. Out of nearly all the places in town, the area the cafe was in was probably one of the safest.
A black motorcycle complete with sidecar slowly pulled up to the cafe and stopped.
Clarice was seated at a table in the cafe next to a window. Anne sat next to her studying a book. Samson had left earlier to go off to a store and buy some flour and sugar for the cafe. Clarice lazily looked out the window when she saw the most peculiar thing. It looked like Samson… but it couldn’t be.
The man then covered what she could see of his face with a large map, studying it intensely. Sitting in the sidecar of his motorcycle with him was a pink-haired girl who looked rather impatient, rolling her eyes. From what Clarice could see, it seemed as though the pink-haired girl was yelling at the Samson look-alike, making him very nervous.
Just then he put the map down and got off the motorcycle. He then walked up the stairs of the Cafe and came inside, seeming intent on getting some directions. The pink-haired girl followed him in and sat at a table across the room from Clarice. She propped her head up on her arm, looking tired and impatient, while her husband, or boyfriend, or whatever he was to her walked up to the main counter.
He rang the bell on the counter. “Oui? Just a moment~! I’ll be weez you right away,” a voice sang out from the kitchen.
A few seconds later the French-accented man emerged from the kitchen, wiping his hands on his apron. “Oui, what would you-“ Hikki’s eyes widened. “What are you doeeng back zo zoon? I assume you brought ze zupplies, yes?”
“What?”
“What do you mean what?! You have zem, don’t you? Don’t even tell me zat you have been gone for a half of an hour and nevair even got what you wair zent out to get een ze fairst place.”
“Excuse me?” The man looked bewilderedly at the Frenchman.
“What do you mean ‘Excuse-moi?’ Monsieur ‘I cannot do a seempole task for my best of friends’?”
“Ummm… I… I’m sorry?” The man looked around nervously, and back at the pink-haired girl, who was now trying to keep herself from laughing.
“I defeeneetely hope you’re sorry, you leetle heartbreaker you.” Hikki proceeded to gingerly touch the man’s shoulder, looking into his eyes.
The man’s eyes widened. He was definitely uncomfortable now. First he was yelled at by his girl, then by some random French guy, and now said random French guy was openly hitting on him. “What a day this is turning out to be,” he silently thought to himself.
“Oh my… pairhaps you have returned weezout goeeng to ze store because you could not stand to be away from me for anozzer zecond? Pairhaps you have finally come to your zenses? Pairhaps you have come here to at last admeet your undying amour for me?” Hikki embraced the man, holding him tight. “Don’t worry, I shall nevair let go!” The man froze. He had no idea what was going on now.
“Hikki, that’s enough! That’s not Sa-“ Clarice felt a hand grab her arm and turned around to see the pink-haired girl smiling at her.
“Its all right, he’s with me. Besides… this is kind of hawt…” the girl grinned.
“Are you sure? I mean… Hikki has like a class A clinging ability…” Clarice said, adjusting her glasses.
“Oh it’s fine, he’ll live.”
“I guess…”
They watched the scene together. It really was a sight to behold: Hikki embracing a grown and very scared and confused man, while swaying side to side. Anne was sitting in the corner of the room trying to read. “Brother, you like these people?” she thought to herself. “Hikki sure is eccentric…”
The pink-haired girl smiled at the scene before her. “I get the idea that this Hikki guy is mistaking Dominic over there for someone else…”
“That’s his name? And yes, yes he is…”
“Yeah, that’s his name. Cute, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess. What are you two doing in a city like this, anyway?”
“Well, we were going on vacation, until genius here got lost… for the fortieth time.” She sighed.
“Oh, I see… What’s your name?”
“Anemone.”
“That’s a name you don’t see a lot.”
“Nope…” she trailed off. “I’m not sure if I should think this is hilarious, or totally hot…”
“I guess it’s a little bit of both…” Clarice laughed. Even she had to admit this was a little amusing. It had to have been five minutes and Hikki still had a steel grip on poor Dominic. When…
“What in the HELL is going on in here, Hikki?!” Samson walked in with grocery bags in his arms. His eyes widened at the scene before him.
“SACRE BLEU!” Hikki yelled and pushed Dominic towards Samson. “Two Samsons?! TWO!” Hikki looked up into the heavens and seemed to be mouthing “Merci mon Dieu!”
“Wha… what the hell is going on? Seriously, I just came in for directions and I get leapt on by a Frenchman!” Dominic was practically in a panic.
Samson looked Dominic up and down, and then turned to look in a mirror on the wall next to him. “Well… I think I just figured out your problem…”
Hikki looked side to side, his wildest dreams having come true. He now had no idea what to do next. “My my, two Samsons, zees ees sairtainly a pleasant zurprise.”
“Bu… but my name is Dominic!”
“EET DOESN’T MATTAIR!”
Dominic took a step back, eyes wide.
“Look, Hikki, you can’t go hitting on every guy that looks a little bit like me,” Samson pointed out.
Hikki looked at Samson, then back at Dominic. “A leetle…?”
“Umm, I think I’m going to take off now if you don’t mind…” Dominic started for the door, grabbing Anemone’s wrist on the way out. “Let’s leave now, please,” he said impatiently, like a kid.
“Fine fine, cya later Clarice.” Anemone winked.
“Cya…” and with that they were gone. Clarice watched as the motorcycle they were in sped off a little faster than usual.
“Well zose two wair sairtainly een a hurry,” Hikki pouted.
“Ya think?” Samson facepalmed.
“Well anyway, merci for getteeng zose zupplies.” Hikki looked through the grocery bags. “But… I sought I told you to get zome wheepped cream as well…?”
“THEY WERE ALL OUT!!!” Samson yelled, eyes wide, a freaked-out expression on his face.
Clarice sat in her chair and laughed.
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On the other, rougher side of town two figures silently walked through the destruction around them.
“It’s so hot out…” Emiri moaned.
“That’s probably because we’ve been walking for two straight hours. I say we stop to rest.” Kira stopped and looked around. He hadn’t seen a single hotel in the area that was intact.
“Kira, you do know that it probably wouldn’t be good to check into a hotel, right?” Emiri sat down on a large piece of rubble nearby. “I mean, they could find out who we are, and then report us to the cops, who will report to the Estate. And when the Estate finds out where we are… game over.”
“Yes, you’re probably right. But we need to rest…”
“I know…” Emiri wasn’t her usual self. She was depressed. But perhaps this was good. Ever since her encounter with Sadar she had been more than a little… normal. It was as if something had awakened inside of her. Something good.
Kira pointed at a burnt-out building that was still standing. “Look over there. Seems as though no one is home.”
“Yeah?”
“Perhaps that will accommodate us for the night,” he said with a hand to his chin.
“As long as I get to rest I’m fine with it.”
As the two walked toward the burnt-out building Emiri realized something. She had been here before. As she walked closer and closer to the building, memories started rushing back to her. She remembered a man, she remembered tearing him apart, ripping him to shreds, throwing his guts everywhere.
Emiri’s eyes widened.
She remembered the look on his face when she killed him, one of complete terror, yet resilience. A face of silent strength. The blood, the guts, entrails. They were all around her; in that moment she was back at that time long ago. She was surrounded by body parts, destruction.
Emiri clutched her head. These were memories that she did not want to think about right now.
As she sat there in the blood and death, a woman screamed. She was completely terrified. The shock in her eyes… the complete terror. She could never forget it.
Emiri fell to her knees clutching her head. It was as if the world around her was spinning, memories of her worst doings coming back to her in a whirlwind of pain. She started to scream but she couldn’t hear it. She couldn’t hear anything but the scream of that blonde woman who had seen her with the unfortunate man. Everything was spinning, violently spinning.
“Emiri!” Kira held her shoulders. “Get ahold of yourself, Emiri! What happened?!”
“This is the place… where I killed that man…” A single tear streamed down her face.
“Don’t worry, Emiri…” He held her in his arms, her head resting on his chest. “It’s all right now… don’t worry…”
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Larry slowly walked the streets of Orly. He had no idea where he was but he was just glad he was away from anything that could kill and/or mortally wound him. As he walked down the street he ran into someone he thought he would never see again.
“…Raef?” he said, astonished.
The boy quickly turned his head, expecting something bad coming his way, but all he saw was an unfortunate-looking scientist.
“Larry?”
“Raef… shouldn’t you be… oh I don’t know… gone? Far away? Out of the country? In space? I don’t know, but shouldn’t you be far away from here?!”
“What? Why’s that?” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“What? You seriously don’t know? They’re looking for you! You escaped, remember!”
“Oh, that. Well come on man, I’m sixteen years old, you think they’re going to go out of their way to find me?”
“I don’t know about you, but they’re definitely out to get me!” Larry said, pointing at his Comdot ID proudly.
“What did they do? Try to get you once?”
“Yep.”
“And I bet it’s been a while since they tried again, hasn’t it.”
“Uhh…”
“Face it, Larry, you’re just some scientist guy to them, you’re nowhere near as important to them as say, Emiri, or that Jake guy.”
“Yeah… about them…” Larry looked around himself.
“What?”
“Well they kind of… left… and never… came back…”
“… They LEFT?! Who are they out to get?!”
“I said they never came back.”
“So they quit.”
“Probably.”
“Any idea why?”
“None.”
Raef looked at Larry a little closer, and could tell that he obviously hadn’t slept in a few days. “Larry, if you want you can stay at my place.”
“What? I’m perfectly fine!” Larry yelled, brushing some dirt off his torn-up lab coat.
“Oh come on, Larry, you look like a hobo! Gah, and you smell like one too…”
“Fine! I’ll admit it! I’ve been on the streets for a week and a half now!” Larry quickly regained his composure. “Also, you have a ‘place’? You’re sixteen, my friend, what kind of place could you possibly have?”
“Oh, I get by…”
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“Oh, Chu! Where are you? Where deed you run off to Chu!” Hikki yelled in the back room of the Cafe.
Samson poked his head out from behind some boxes he was looking at. “Did you just call me Chu?”
“Yes, why?”
“And just what in the heck does ‘Chu’ mean?” Samson said, adjusting his reading glasses.
“Ohh, well I guess I was just messeeng around weez your name during lunch today.”
“Yeah… obviously… but where in the heck does Chu come from?”
“Well eef you must know, my leetle cupcake…” Samson cringed. “…I was seenkeeng about a neeckname for you today and-“
“Samson isn’t nicknamish enough for you?”
“Hey, zees ees my story!” Hikki snapped. Samson facepalmed. “Anyway~! I was tryeeng to seenk of a neeckname for you and I decided zat I would go weez Sammie-Chan. But zen I sought ‘Well Sammie-Chan ees too long.’ So I sought a leetle more about eet. And zen I decided on Sammie-Chu. But zen I feegured zat was too long as well. So I just keecked ze Sammie out completely and kept Chu~!”
“…..........”
“Well what do you seenk, Chu!?” Hikki beamed.
“… That’s… interesting…”
“That’s weird,” Clarice added from behind them. She stood in the entryway to the main part of the cafe.
“Well eet’s none of your beezness.” Hikki glared.
“It’s my business when you call him that in public.” She laughed.
“Oh, whatevair.”
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“I mean The Godfather! Can you even fathom that!? How would he like that movie?!” Trunks went off. He had been staying with Hill for an entire week now. Much to Hill’s dismay.
“Right, right. Can we talk about something else?” Hill sighed.
Just then the door to the store opened. A man walked in who stuck out quite a bit in this section of Orly. He was tall and toned, and wore a black suit complete with a stylish dark blue necktie and pressed white shirt. His shoes were polished so well that you could see your face on them. And he had the friendliest face they had ever seen. His eyes were a deep blue. He was almost… hypnotizing.
“Can I help you, sir?” Hill said looking at the sharply dressed man.
“Why yes, I think you could,” he said, running his hand through his well-groomed black hair and smiling.
“Do you want a gun or something?” Hill asked.
“Oh I’m not here for a gun. I already have one… in my pants.”
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“Taredan… good job with that Syndicate member last night,” Goda said, sitting in his chair in the command center. “I read the paper this morning and caught that the police found a charred corpse on 89th street. By the looks of the body it was definitely a piece of your work, my friend.”
“I’m not your friend.”
“Oh, you’re no fun.” Goda said, frowning.
“The only thing that got that fool killed last night was his own insanity. He had been pushed to the edge, Goda. He was dead when he started following me.”
“This is good. This was the goal.” Goda smiled evilly. “The Syndicate should be in panic and collap-“
“His brother died, Goda.” Taredan glared at him. “The only reason he was in such a state was because he lost everything he loved. And when he lost that he lost his sanity.”
“You don’t get it, do you, Major? That was the goal. If we take everything they love away from them, if we take everything they fight for… then there is no way they can win. They’ll all just give up.”
“I don’t want any part of this nonsense anymore.”
“…And just what are you saying?”
“I’m saying you can find a new poster boy for your little ‘rescue’ operation. I’m tired of being blamed for all the death in town.” And with that Taredan slowly walked out of the room.
“Where are you going?!”
“For a walk…”
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The sun began to set on the city of Orly as Emiri curled up on a sleeping bag she had brought with her.
“How are you, Emiri?” Kira asked. “Are you feeling any better?”
“A lot better, thanks. But his face is still stuck in my head. It’s haunting almost.” She got up and sat against the wall.
Emiri and Kira had decided to stay in the remains of Trunks’ Pub. It was run-down and falling apart, but hotels were too dangerous and none could be found in this part of town anyway. They thought that the old pub was uninhabited, but that would turn out to not be the case.
“Just who the hell do you think you are, lady?” Emiri looked to her side as a group of children walked through a hole in the wall.
“What do you mean who am I? Everyone should know just who the hell I am.” Emiri glared.
“Well you’re in our house, lady. So you and your friend there can just leave,” the oldest boy in the group said, pointing at the door.
“What do you mean house? This is a burnt-out building. Why don’t you just go home to your mom, kid. I don’t have time to screw around with children.”
“When I said house I meant it. This is it. Take a look around. Like it? Neither do we, but it’s all we have.”
“You don’t have a home?” Emiri was slightly shocked.
“None of us do. You remember when the military came out to crack down on the Syndicate? Well it also took out every house and family in the area. That Major Taredan promised us that he’d make the city safer for us, and now so many of us are homeless. It’s not even fair.” The boy had a strange seriousness in his eyes for his age.
“Where are your parents?” Emiri asked.
“They were killed in a riot afterwards…”
“I… I’m sorry…”
“What could you have done about it? It’s not like you did anything to us.” Emiri felt a small twinge of sadness. She was glad now that the boy didn’t know who she was… or had been.
The boy continued. “The people in charge want us to believe that it’s the Syndicate’s fault that this whole thing happened, and our fault for supporting them… but we know that Ozzal is the real cause of everything. If she hadn’t abused her power so much, the Syndicate wouldn’t even exist. They just want to stop her and make things better for everyone. And they’ll succeed… they have to.”
“You know, you’re surprisingly mature for your age.”
“Stuff happens.” The boy looked around. “I guess we have enough room for you and your friend. You can stay here, I guess.”
“Thank you.” She smiled, for the first time in a long time.
When it was dark and everyone was asleep Emiri got up and went outside. Standing on the sidewalk and looking at the stars she thought about what she had done in the past, what she was doing now, and what she wanted to do in the future.
“Are you all right?” Kira asked, walking up behind her.
“Yeah… I think so, at least.”
“You should sleep.” He said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
“I can’t…” She looked up at the stars. “You know, even though I don’t want to kill anymore, I feel like I should at least do something to help this revolution. I have to make up for all the destruction I’ve caused somehow.” She looked back at the pub. “And those kids… if this goes on, there will be even more like them, homeless kids, orphaned kids… It’s not right.”
“Whatever your decision is, I’ll follow you.”
“That’s good to know. First off though, we need to find that priest… and I think I know a good place to start.”
“And where would that be, Emiri?”
“…The church.”
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“So this is how you get by?” Larry said, looking around Raef’s hideout. The hideout wasn’t exactly fancy, but it got the job done. It had a single bed in the corner and a TV on other side of the room. It looked more like a run-down apartment than anything else.
“It’s not the best in the world, but eh, it’s good enough for me.”
“It has to be somewhat dangerous, what with the Comdot Estate being in plain sight, right?”
“Like I said, Larry, if they’re looking for me, I’m at best low priority.” Raef stood looking out the window. Comdot Estate was indeed directly across an open square from where they were. “Now that I think about it, even though you were a scientist and not much else over there, they probably will be looking for you since you worked for Dr. Matrix in all his tentacle-loving splendor.”
“Oh yeah, they’re totally out to get me. I’m wanted dead or alive.”
“You really have to stop doing that.”
“What?”
“Trying to be badass…” Raef looked at Larry, smiling. “You’re not really fooling anyone. I heard there was a scientist that was seen in Orly that sat in one spot for two days yelling something about a happy place.”
“Well, uh…” Larry straightened his collar.
“Don’t worry. I would think any normal person would be like that after being chased by Emiri of all people.
Larry looked around. “So, is this a Syndicate hideout?”
“No, it’s my own hideout.”
“Why choose a place so dangerously close to the Estate?”
“Because, well…” Raef laughed. “This will sound stupid, but… there’s this girl.”
“You’re kidding… in the Estate?!”
“Oh, yeah… in the Estate.”
“Is it the daughter of a general or an officer of some kind?!” Larry flung his arms in the air. “Do you have any idea how insane it is for a wanted man to date someone inside the actual Estate?!”
“That’s a chance I’m willing to take.” Raef looked serious. “I haven’t done a lot of dumb things in my lifetime but I’m willing to start for this person.”
Larry settled down. “So whose daughter is she?”
“…You don’t wanna know.” Raef said, trying to avoid making eye contact with Larry.
“Come on now, whose daughter is she?” Larry pushed the question harder.
“Well, what if I were to say… that possibly… just maybe… perhaps… she was… Ozzal’s daughter…” Raef nervously looked in the opposite direction of Larry.
Larry laughed. “Hah, nice try, Raef. Ozzal doesn’t have a daughter.”
“Not one that you know of…”
Larry paused. In all his time working at Comdot Estate he had never known that such a girl existed. He sure didn’t want to believe it now, because that would mean that someone actually had to be married to or dating Ozzal at one point, which raises the question of how insane a guy must be to do such a thing. She wasn’t just ugly, but to top it off she had the worst personality imaginable. Not to mention a disgusting appetite for Taquitos. Then again, Larry had spent most of his stay at Comdot as Professor Matrix’s slave in the lab after being kidnapped some time ago, so he really didn’t know much about the Head Governor’s love life.
Raef and Larry had shared a cell for a short amount of time, after Larry had been tossed in the clink for trying to take Matrix’s tentacle car out for a joyride/escape run. And since they only had each other in there, and Larry was so happy to finally be with someone normal for once, they became fast friends. Larry was astonished with Raef’s maturity and intelligence for his age, so dating a girl who could actually claim to being the daughter of Ozzal was simply insane for a young man who was known for such street smarts.
Larry sighed. “At least tell me she’s worth it.”
“Oh she is,” Raef said, smiling.
“How old is she?”
“My age.”
“So sixteen… seems kind of weird to risk it all for young love, if you ask me,” he laughed.
“Yeah, I guess it would seem that way when you’re looking at it from a different perspective. But hear me out… She’s worth it. She’s pretty, smart, intelligent, and funny. I’ve never seen anyone like her. She also has some abilities of her own, you know. Because of her the cops aren’t chasing me as much anymore.”
“But why does Ozzal hide her so well?” Larry asked, scratching his chin.
“Because she’s basically ashamed of her. She doesn’t think she has what it takes to do anything with the country, so she basically keeps her behind a closed curtain all the time.”
“Well then what’s her name?”
“Starry.”
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Samson stood in the bathroom looking at the mirror. It was eleven o’clock at night and he was ready for some sleep. His sister Anne now had a small room to herself, and Clarice had one across from her. The cafe was surprisingly big. There was one more vacant room, but because of his pact with Hikki that room wasn’t going to come in handy anytime soon.
Samson sighed. “Well, I might as well head to bed. It’s not going to do any good sitting here thinking about it.”
As he walked down the hallway he saw something truly terrifying. His worst dreams come true…
Pink… on a bathrobe.
“Why ‘allo zere, Chu~! Ready for bed, I zee.” Hikki smiled.
Samson’s eyes widened. “Ahhhh, yeah, s… sure.”
“You just go ahead and go to sleep. I’ll make sure to be quiet when I come een.”
“NO! I mean… that’s fine… I’ll wait for you to go to sleep first… I’ll be in the living room… watching TV… or something…”
“Suit yourself, Chu.”
As Hikki walked into the bathroom, Samson went on into the bedroom. He went to his nightstand and pulled out the small glass cross and the piece of paper that went with it. “What does this mean…?”
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Major Taredan stood over another burnt corpse, of yet another foolish man who had no idea what he was dealing with. Ever since he was announced as the leader of the crackdown, random idiots seemed to come out of the woodwork to test their pathetic skills against his.
The stars shone brightly in the sky as he turned a corner, silently walking with his thumb in his mouth, sucking on it. All was silent around him as he walked, until…
“So that’s your remuneration, huh? Must be embarrassing,” a voice said behind him.
The Major swiftly turned to see who had spoken, but there was no one there.
“You’re going to have to be faster than that,” the voice said mockingly behind him.
The Major turned again to see a man in a long black leather coat. All he wore was black up to his neck. And covering his face was a white mask with a blue scar over the right eye. His short black hair draped over the top of the mask.
Taredan looked at him in shock. “BK201?!”
The man said nothing in return.
Taredan laughed. “I see, you’re a contractor too. The Black Reaper no less.”
“I go by a lot of names… Regardless, this is where your walk ends. There are a lot of people in this city who want you dead. And I’m going to oblige them.”
“You idiot, you don’t understand! I wasn’t placed in charge of anything, they just wanted someone normal to be a-“ He couldn’t finish. The Reaper was upon him in an instant. He had just the right amount of time to dodge the knife that he swung at him with full force that nearly cut his throat. He could see the electricity on it as it passed. “Well, that was a close one,” Taredan said, smiling.
“You’re pretty quick for someone who only walks,” the Reaper said mockingly.
“Well you’re not quick enough to dodge anything I can dish out.” With that Taredan raised his right arm and his eyes glowed a bloody red. Flames appeared out of nowhere and instantly went toward the Reaper. He was faster than he had expected, though, as he dodged out of the way quickly and countered by throwing a knife directly at his chest. Taredan instantly stepped to the side and watched as the knife, crackling with electricity, flew past him.
The Reaper stopped in the middle of the street and stood. “You military officers make me sick, killing people with no consequence to yourself.”
Taredan laughed. “You show a little too much emotion for your own good. That will get you killed.” He looked down at his feet and suddenly realized that he may be the one getting killed, as he was standing in a puddle of water leading all the way towards the Reaper. His eyes widened. He then looked back up at the Reaper just as he began to glow a dark blue. Sparks started to fall from his body as he sent electricity flying through the water towards him. Taredan quickly jumped, and his coat was singed by the massive amount of electricity jumping toward him.
Taredan quickly ran toward the Reaper, ready to deliver a blow, but one of the Reaper’s knives flew past him and swung around his neck. The wire that connected the knife with its user wrapped around Taredan’s neck, strangling him. As the Reaper slowly walked toward him he began to glow blue again, ready to finish him off with a large blast of electricity.
Taredan laughed at his situation and said while gasping for air, “So, you’re the contractor that can bend electricity to his will, eh? They say you’re quite the dangerous one. And I see those claims were correct.” He raised his right arm and shot a blast of fire at him. The Reaper quickly retracted his knife and fired it at a nearby building, swinging out of the way.
The Reaper and Taredan stood on opposite sides of the street, silently staring each other down. “You do realize that none of this is my fault, right?” Taredan laughed. “Your Syndicate should get its sources in order when they call you out…” He was suddenly serious. “You want Goda. He’s the brains behind this operation. If you take out Goda then Ozzal will have nothing to fight with. She’ll literally lose the brains of her entire operation. As for me, do what you will. We can do this all night for all I care, and in the end one of us will be dead. Seems like a waste, doesn’t it?”
“It surprises me that a contractor would be allowed to make it so high in the ranks,” the Reaper replied. A single truck drove down the street just then, and for a single second it obstructed Taredan’s view of his adversary. And when it had finally passed the Reaper was gone, nowhere to be found.
And so, the dance ended.
_________________________________________________________________
_______
“I got to admit, Goose. You are one awesome guy!” Hill laughed.
“Well you guys are great as well.”
Trunks nodded. “You know what other movie was great? Perfect Sunshine! I mean that movie was amazing.”
“Oh I saw that one, it was amazing. I couldn’t believe it was pulled off so well.”
Hill drank what remained of his beer. “So Goose Maverick? That’s a name you don’t see very often.”
Goose stretched in his chair. “My father was a man with very strange tastes. Oh, I’m sorry, where’s your bathroom?”
“Through that door there.” Hill pointed.
“Ok, excuse me for a moment.”
As the door closed Hill and Trunks continued their conversation. “Boy that Goose guy is awesome. I’ve never seen anyone so like-“ Before Hill could continue sounds came from the bathroom that could only be described as the sound of a pit crew changing a tire in a race.
Trunks raised an eyebrow. “A… are you ok in there, Goose?”
“Oh I’m fine, don’t worry about me!” came from the other side of the door.
“You know, as great as he is, he is a little strange sometimes…” Hill said, opening another drink.
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_______
The next day it was raining once again, hard as ever. Clarice rolled over and groaned in her bed. Even if it wasn’t sunny that annoying light was still coming through her window. After a few moments she gave up and decided that she should just go and get some breakfast. Hikki was no doubt starting up the business at this hour. She got up and started for her door to go and take a shower when she tripped over something just after getting out of bed.
“What the hell…?!” she yelled.
“Wha…? Five minutes…” Samson yawned.
“Samson, what the hell are you doing sleeping in here again?!”
Samson got up off the floor. “Oh well… there’s a perfectly reasonable answer to this… Let me go find it,” he said as he started for the door.
She grabbed his collar. “Oh no, I want an answer now.”
“Crap… Come on, Clarice! He was wearing a pink bathrobe!”
“So?”
Samson flailed his arms in the air. “PINK!”
“Gah, whatever. But next time no sleeping in my walkway. You could have killed me!”
A moment later they were all downstairs eating around a table.
“Okay.” Samson said. “We have business today. First there’s the question of Sadar and his little band of merry men. And then there’s this Yupat character that Sadar’s guys informed us of. And finally, last but surely not least, there is the matter of the death of one of our lower members.”
“Dess?” Hikki looked shocked. “Who zees time?!”
“No one we really know personally. Just a guy that helps out once in a while. He lost his brother recently in the riots and then he was never seen afterwards.”
Clarice raised an eyebrow. “So how do we know he’s dead?”
“Because his burnt-up remains were apparently found by the police two days back and his immediate family was only informed this morning.”
“Burnt?” Hikki asked, eyes wide.
“Yes, burnt. And the scary thing is another burnt body was found this morning. Burnt the same way. Totally evenly. It’s as if the entire body was lit at the same time, apparently.”
“So who’s been doing this?” Clarice asked.
“Well, I received a report from Landon before I fell asleep around 3 in the morning.” Samson yawned. “Apparently he sent one of his men out to figure out who was doing this. After some tracking he found the guy. Major Thomas Taredan.”
“Wait… that’s the same guy who’s been given the task of ousting us. So it makes sense. It’s him,” Clarice said.
“That’s what we originally thought because of the news. But apparently Taredan says he has absolutely nothing to do with anything against us. In fact he actually gave us the name of who is.”
“And who ees zees?” Hikki asked.
“A guy named Goda…”
Clarice adjusted her glasses. “And why haven’t I ever heard of this guy?”
“I’m not certain who he is either. No one really is. Landon says he might know but it’s going to take him some time. He apparently needs to talk to someone special… what we do know is that he’s apparently pretty high up. He obviously talks to Ozzal regularly and he most likely is the guy who set up the whole speech with Dewey and Taredan.”
Hikki sat up in his chair. “So basically, he’s one of our numbair one enemies yes?”
“Most definitely.”
Clarice sighed. “So what about the other things?”
“Oh, well… Sadar’s band of merry, elusive, mysterious, cross-wearing men…”
Hikki took a drink of milk. “I really sought he was on our side.”
“Well, after that whole riot nearly the entire population of the Gunsmoke Inc. bar vanished. Some were killed, while others completely disappeared without a trace. Some of the more key members include Sadar himself and Kirara. Sadar is apparently alive and still giving orders somewhere and Kirara is nowhere to be found. So I can only assume Kirara’s with him.”
Clarice took a bite of some toast. “Which means he most likely had some sort of game he was playing with us from the very start of this whole thing.”
Hikki added, “Ze question ees why would he do such a seeng to people he protected weez heez very life? I mean… he apparently zupports us now, but vaneesheeng weezout a trace while we wair most een need seems slightly traitorous to me.”
“Likewise, Hikki.” Samson adjusted his glasses. “For some reason it’s not very high in Landon’s list of things to do, but I really think we should learn more about this little group. Especially after I was apparently offered admission…” Samson pulled out a green glass cross.
“This is definitely what that woman and the hawt blond guy with her were wearing when they came to give Hikki that note,” Clarice said, crossing her arms.
“…First off…” Samson adjusted his glasses again. “…he wasn’t that hot, I could totally make my hair like that if I wanted to. Second off yes, this is the same cross that they were wearing.”
“Wait… you got an eenvite?” Hikki asked.
“Yes, Sadar gave it to me the last time he appeared, a week and a half ago. He also gave me a small piece of paper with it.” Samson took the paper out of his pocket.
Hikki pushed a hand through his blond hair. “Read eet, Samson.”
“11:00 PM. The Docks. Warehouse 13. Mondays and Tuesdays.”
Clarice nodded. “That’s telling you when you can join.”
Samson put the paper on the table. “Yes, and I have no intention of going. Who knows what kind of people are in this society. Sadar may look nice in his little disguise, but he could be some sort of madman when he’s not in our eyes or the public’s eyes. This could be a freedom fighting force, or it could be some cult that wants Ozzal taken out so they can snatch power when they get it. The point I’m trying to make is we can’t be sure at all.”
“We should have someone infiltrate the organization. That person then can tell us what they’re all about,” Clarice suggested.
Hikki nodded. “You are right, Clarice. I want to find out why Sadar left us hangeeng out to dry like zat dureeng ze crackdown.”
Both he and Clarice looked at Samson.
“Whoa, now… don’t get any ideas here.” Samson straightened his shirt. “I may have an invitation but I’m not cut out for the spy game. I would break too many hearts.” He winked at Clarice, to which she facepalmed. “We should send someone who would be able to defend themselves better…”
Just then a voice came from the kitchen. “You got a cross too…?”
Hikki looked to the kitchen door. “Jake? You got a cross?”
“Yeah…” Jake walked into the back room. “When I was knocked out Sadar apparently gave it to me at the chapel.”
Clarice looked into his eyes. “What are you saying, Jake?”
Jake stood up straight. “What I’m saying is… If you need someone to infiltrate their organization and figure out what they’re all about… I’ll totally do it for you.”
Hikki laughed. “Well, Jake, zat sairtainly ees quite ze propozeesion.”
“I’m sure I can defend myself if I’m attacked there,” Jake added.
Samson looked worried. “Are you sure about this, Jake?”
“I’m totally sure. After all I’ve done to you guys I feel like I should make it up to you all somehow.”
“If it’s all right with Jake, it’s all right with me,” Clarice said.
“Well all right then…” Samson looked at Hikki. “What’s the plan then?”
“Well for heem to join, obviously. If he goes zere dureeng ze time and day zey geeve, zen he should get right eento ze organization. Zey shouldn’t question heem much zeence Sadar deed geeve heem ze cross heemzelf. Jake, you should just remembair to always be careful. We have no idea what kind of udoku we are dealeeng weez. All we know ees zat zey are quite serious about what zey do.”
Jake smiled. “Right… I’ll try my best.”
Samson propped his head on his hand. “But first I think we should call April over here and have whatever gender it is give Jake some lessons on espionage.” April had scouted out an abandoned warehouse as a new meeting place and safehouse for the Syndicate, and he and Cowboy had taken the still-unconscious Spice there to get her away from the cafe.
Clarice looked worried. “Well, Jake isn’t exactly going to have to sabotage anything.”
“I seenk Samson ees just suggesteeng zat he get to know ze terreetory. He eesn’t goeeng to be hurting anyone, but he should have some lessons on not steeckeeng out and just blendeeng een,” Hikki reassured her.
“Right, we also need to think of a way for him to contact us once he’s in… but all in due time I guess.” Samson looked at the report he had been given. “Oh, I almost forgot. There is also the question of this Yupat character.”
“Yupat?” Hikki asked.
“Yeah, he’s some journalist that apparently likes to keep an eye on us.” Samson smiled. “He also apparently keeps an eye on the government pretty well too. He’s one of those rarities, he tells the truth.”
“Eendeed rare zese days, een zees country,” Hikki added.
Samson continued. “But apparently he only tells the truthy-truth, I mean the real big stuff, to a certain detective. Who was apparently beaten up by two of Sadar’s guys. This detective… I don’t know about him really. His name is Keith and I really have nothing else. Landon wants someone to keep an eye on him, though. He wants tails on both him and Yupat. But Landon also wants no damage to be done. Which means no one is to get hurt on this assignment. He’s already apparently sent one of his agents here for briefing on what he should do. The same one that had the confrontation with Taredan last night.”
“What’s his name?” Clarice asked.
“Hei. That’s all I know,” Samson added.
Hikki looked at his plate. “He sounds mean.”
Samson was serious. “He’s apparently quite indifferent to most things. He’s also very brutal. He’s a ‘contractor,’ which means he has some weirdo power. I’m told it’s electricity. But he can only put it through conductive material, which means he can’t exactly launch it through the air. Oh, another thing… he apparently confirmed that Taredan is a contractor as well, only he has flame abilities which he can launch whenever.”
Hikki sighed. “Zat’s enough briefeeng for today. We all have bettair seengs to do.”
Clarice got up. “Yeah, I need to give Anne her assignments for today.”
“And I need to get zees cafe started up.” Hikki added.
Jake looked around. “What should I do?”
“You should get your lazy butt back to work is what you should do!” Hikki glared.
“Yes sir!” Jake yelled.
_________________________________________________________________
_______
Chief Q of the 2nd district of Orly looked down at her newspaper. “What, another body?! What do I pay these idiots for?! Laying around?!”
“I’m surprised they’re paid at all,” was heard from behind her door.
“Who is it?! I don’t have time to deal with this nonsense!” She yelled back.
“Oh, it’s just me,” Lunge revealed himself. “The man who’s investigating your department right now.”
“Oh, it’s you… what are you doing here?”
“I’m asking the same question as you, ‘Who’s killing all these people?’ Although it’s really none of my concern.”
“You’re darn right it isn’t.”
“I understand that Keith Douglas was recently mugged. Do you have any idea why?”
Q scratched her chin. “He wouldn’t say.”
Lunge looked at her with his piercing eyes. “That’s not surprising. A criminal often runs from telling the truth. Soon enough, though, he’ll give up and come clean with his conspiracy.”
_________________________________________________________________
_______
Hikki, Samson, and Angel stood in the middle of the park at lunch.
“What?! Why do I get the loser reporter?!” Angel screamed.
“Because you’re a woman who can get close to him,” Samson answered.
“Why would I want to get to know this guy?!”
Hikki sighed. “Because we need to know what hees eententions are.”
“As long as I get to act hawt…”
Samson laughed. “That would probably help your endeavor with him if you ask me. He is a guy, after all.”
“Good. That guy won’t even be able to resist me.” Angel laughed.
Hikki nodded. “You’re deesmeessed zen, Angel. Just keep an eye on heem and feegure out what hees eententions are. Now remembair, don’t hurt heem.”
“I’ll try, but I’ll probably end up breaking his heart.” She laughed and left the park.
Just then Samson’s cell phone started to ring. “Yes, hello? What now? Come on, we’re all the way at the park… Geez really? All right, all right… we’ll be there soon.”
Hikki looked at Samson. “What’s wrong?”
Samson looked grave. “Lunch rush. Clarice is pretty pissed we’re not back yet.”
Hikki laughed. “Why do you look so deestressed zen, Chu?”
Samson laughed. “I don’t like it when Clarice is mad at me… she can really lay into a guy…”
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_______
An hour later the rush had been vanquished until one man walked in.
“Ramen, please.”
Hikki looked insulted. “Ramen?! What do you seenk zees place ees, a fast-food restaurant?!”
“Look, I just want some Ramen. I’ll pay well-“
“Nevair!” Hikki glared. “I weell not lowair my culinary magic to such a lowly level!”
“I could make you some. My brother eats that all the time.” All eyes fixed on Anne.
Hikki was astonished. “You make your brozzer Ramen? How could you make heem eat zomsing like zat?” He couldn’t believe that his poor Samson would be forced into eating something so horrible.
“I always cook for him. He’d be totally lost and starving without me,” she stated.
“But for a leetle girl to do such a seeng…” Hikki said.
Anne laughed. “Have you ever seen him cook? He nearly burned our last house down when he tried.”
“It was only a tiny little fire!” was heard from the back room.
“We had to call the fire department,” Anne whispered towards Hikki, winking.
Moments later Anne was finished making her seventh bowl of Ramen.
Samson looked at the black-haired man across the room. “Man, he sure can put that stuff away, can’t he?”
Clarice sighed. “He may be hawt now, but when he reaches thirty he’ll explode like a blimp. Super wide.”
The man finished and got up and walked toward the back room of the cafe.
“Wait, where are you going?!” Hikki asked, confused.
“To await briefing,” he answered. “I’m Hei.”
_________________________________________________________________
_______
“So you undairstand your meession zen? Keep an eye on zat detecteeve Keith. Feegure out all you can about heem. But don’t by any means keell heem,” Hikki finished.
“Right, you don’t have to worry, this will be done,” Hei answered.
“So you’re the Black Reaper?” Samson asked.
“Yes.”
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_______
“So, you do realize that your mother is dead, right?” Larry asked, sitting at a secluded cafe with Raef. “It was in all the papers.”
“The newspapers lie.”
“Do they now? You should come to terms with it. They found the body, after all.”
“They’re lying,” Raef insisted.
“They aren’t-“
“She’s alive, I saw her with my own eyes,” Raef interrupted.
“You saw her?! When?!” Larry asked, astonished.
“It’s pretty hard to not notice a huge explosion when one happens. And it happened. This guy blew a huge hole in the side of the estate and took Cille out with him.”
“I can’t believe it…” Larry sipped some of his coffee. “So where is she now?”
“I’m not sure… I would go search for her, but I want to keep an eye on Starry.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine… you should seriously try to find your mother.”
“Well she’s not really my mom either. I mean she adopted me, after all,” Raef stated.
“So?”
“I know, I know… but I can only imagine how she got into that kind of trouble. And I think I know the guy who rescued her – he’s someone capable who can be trusted.”
“So with Ozzal’s daughter… how exactly do you meet up with her?” Larry mused.
“She comes over to the hideout every Saturday.”
“You do realize that the information she gives you could be used against her mother, right?”
“Yes, I know. But I’ve distanced myself from the Syndicate since I met Starry. I don’t want to risk losing her if I get caught up in all of that again. But if you really want to help the Syndicate, and you can find them, you’re welcome to give it to them yourself.”
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_______
Cille Compton stood at the edge of a cliff not far from the cabin where she had been staying since her rescue from Comdot Estate. She could just barely see the lights of Orly off in the distance. The rain poured on her, soaking her.
“You really should get inside. You could catch a cold,” Cougar said behind her.
“They all think I’m dead…” She gazed out toward the lights. She had finally seen the news reports of her death, and realized that nobody outside Comdot would know the truth.
“They won’t forever. But we have to lay low for now. There’s no telling who might be out to get you.”
“You’re right, I guess…” Cille said, looking down toward the ground.
Cougar put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Now let’s go inside. Scheris and Elian should have dinner all ready.”
Cille smiled. “Sure…”
They started back, Cille still lost in thought. “I wonder if Raef is all right. I haven’t seen him in so long…”
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_______
Emiri and Kira stood at the bottom of the steps of a great cathedral.
Emiri sighed. “This is it. This is where it all went down… all the way down… downtown… yo…”
Kira looked at the huge doors. “So, do we just enter?”
“I think so, although I’m a little scared to go in there. I mean, the last time I went in I got pretty much owned. Some sort of spell was cast over the place. I have no idea what kind.”
“Well, let us go in. We can’t stand outside in this rain forever.”
As they walked in Emiri walked over the familiar sign that Sadar had created. She had no idea what it was supposed to do. As they walked down the center aisle the priestess came into view, praying at the altar at the end of the church.
“Hey priest lady! We need some information!” Emiri yelled from the middle of the church.
Nafah looked back in shock as she saw Emiri standing over the sign that Sadar had created to keep her out. “What are you doing here?! You can’t be here! That sign is supposed to keep you out, you little demon!”
Emiri was suddenly serious. “What do you mean?”
“That sign is supposed to keep all those without a pure heart out of this church. It was meant so that you wouldn’t be able to enter and terrorize me again!” the priestess yelled back.
Emiri laughed. “Well I guess I have changed then. Don’t worry though, I’m not going to terrorize you. You’re barely even worth it.” She walked up to Nafah and put her face close to hers. “Where’s the priest, Sadar?”
“Like I would tell you if I knew,” Nafah spat.
“Don’t think you’re going to fight me. I’m on your side now. But if you don’t know where the priest is, who might?”
Nafah sighed. Emiri had passed over the sign, so she must be telling the truth; she must be pure of heart now. Perhaps she wasn’t totally pure – this much was obvious by Emiri’s sarcastic temperament – but she certainly wasn’t out to kill the father. But still Nafah had to know.
“Why? Why do you want to find him?” she asked.
“I don’t know, really. I guess he might know how I can redeem myself.”
Nafah laughed. “You do not need others to tell you how you can do that, child. You can decide that yourself.”
Emiri looked down at the ground. “Well, I want to fight. I want to get back at Ozzal for what she’s done to me. For all the pain she’s caused. And I want to help save these kids around here. I met some recently… so many are homeless without parents. They’re just like me… I can’t allow it. I can’t let that happen anymore.”
Nafah smiled. “Then the Syndicate could help you I think. They could show you the way to fight Ozzal and redeem yourself. But I assure you, just by declaring yourself against Ozzal to save the lives and futures of children you already have redeemed yourself.”
Emiri looked up at Nafah and into her eyes. “Then I’ll go to the Syndicate.”
Recurring characters
Major Tom Taredan – Metatronda
Clarice Rowe – QueenoftheDorks
Anne Monroe as herself
Samson Monroe – MasterSamson
Hikki Follet – Kohikki
Emiri - _Boxers_
Heero Yuy – HeeroYuy135
Larry – LAZY17
Raef Compton – Maenos
Trunks – Trunks378
Hill – fool_on_the_hill
Goose Maverick – Top_Gun
Professor M. Matrix – matrixman124
Head Governor Michelle Ozzal – Mike Lazzo
Father Sadar – FurionTassadar
Yupat – yupat
Kirara Amour – kiraralove
Landon Blaken – Blah_canbespanish
Roxie nee Godderson – anime_goddess05
Jake Thompson – SportsMaster
Keith Douglas – k_dawg_3484
Chief Q – Q_chan
Angel – mgangel1124
Cille Compton – Cille
Priestess Leah Nafah – inuyashafan213
Izuru Kira (Bleach)
Riza “Hawkeye” Yuy (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Goda (Ghost in the Shell: 2nd Gig)
Solomon (Blood+)
Lunge (Monster)
Straight Cougar (s-CRY-ed)
Scheris Adjani (s-CRY-ed)
Elian (s-CRY-ed)
New Characters
Starry – starryjelly
some random red shirted syndicate member who gets fried.
Dominic (Eureka udok)
Anemone (Eureka udok)
a bunch of random kids
some other dude who gets crispy-fried
Hei/Black Reaper (Darker than BLACK)
Rain fell on the city of Orly mercilessly. It poured and poured, and it seemed that it would never stop.
Streetlights lit the run-down roads with an eerie glow, while a distressed young man followed an apathetic veteran.
“It wasn’t my fault,” the older man said.
“What do you mean it wasn’t your fault? Do you think you can wash your hands of the situation? Do you really think you can run away from your crimes?!”
“What crimes… I did nothing wrong. The attack was meant to stop the Blacken Syndicate’s ‘revolution.’ Although… from looking at you I can tell you’re one of them. What they said about me wasn’t true. I was placed in ‘charge’ simply to make a hero out of a nobody, an attempt to produce someone that can rally the people onto a single path, keep them in line… become a role model.”
“What you did was kill! You killed innocent people! Destroyed property and homes! And you killed my brother in an explosion, you bastard! HE DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!”
“…It wasn’t my fault.” The man looked over his shoulder at the scarred and beaten man behind him. He had been following him for blocks, enraged at him… for false reasons.
“I don’t care whose fault it was! Someone is going to pay for my brother’s life! And it might as well be you!” The beaten man wore a simple leather jacket, and looked like any normal man you would see walking down the street – except of course for his eyes. Eyes that radiated pure anger, fear, and madness. It was obvious that he was lost; whatever semblance of a normal life he had before was crushed by the crackdown.
Major Taredan ran a hand through his wet black hair. “Leave. Now. You have nothing that you could gain from killing me. You would feel good about my death; you would enjoy it. And then you would slip deeper into your apparent madness afterwards.”
“You’re not getting off that easy, bitch… You’re going to die right here. There’s no one to save you now. Look around, your military dogs aren’t here to keep you safe now, Major.” With that the man pulled a gun out of his jacket. His intentions were clear.
The Major turned around and looked at the insane man. He was indeed telling the truth – there was no backup to be found around him. He also did indeed have the intent to kill him; the gun marked this intent. Taredan himself was unarmed. He rarely carried a gun… he didn’t need one.
“I take it you will not turn back now.” Rain streamed down Taredan’s black trenchcoat. His green uniform could be seen under it.
“You think I don’t have the guts to shoot a soldier?!” Taredan’s coolness infuriated the man. It was as if he was being treated like some sort of child.
“When I’m done with you… you won’t have much of anything.” Taredan took his hands out of his pockets and raised his right arm at the man.
“What’s that supposed to mean?! What the hell are you up to?! Going to summon some magic?! Are you going to block the bullet like Neo?!” He cackled. “It’s a shame, I thought you would at least put up a fight.” He raised the gun, ready to shoot.
Taredan said nothing. He just kept his arm raised to the man. Then his pupils glowed a bloody red.
Fear suddenly hit the insane man. “W- what the hell are you do-“
And all was engulfed in red flames.
Taredan silently walked away. The rain hissed as it hit the newly charred corpse of a man who until just a second ago was alive, a stunned expression frozen on its face. Taredan stopped, and looked back, viewing the corpse with complete indifference. “You reap what you sow, I guess…” Walking away, he placed one hand in his pocket, and brought the other one up to his face, and started slowly sucking his thumb.
And so, the rain continued…
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The next morning the rain had cleared, and the sun shone brightly above Orly.
The Cafe de l’Argeno was fully refurbished and remodeled, looking even better than it first did under its former owner Luna. The cafe itself stood not in the war-torn part of the town, but rather the more upscale part. While it still had its fair share of damage it was nowhere near as bad as the area that rested around Trunks’ Pub. Out of nearly all the places in town, the area the cafe was in was probably one of the safest.
A black motorcycle complete with sidecar slowly pulled up to the cafe and stopped.
Clarice was seated at a table in the cafe next to a window. Anne sat next to her studying a book. Samson had left earlier to go off to a store and buy some flour and sugar for the cafe. Clarice lazily looked out the window when she saw the most peculiar thing. It looked like Samson… but it couldn’t be.
The man then covered what she could see of his face with a large map, studying it intensely. Sitting in the sidecar of his motorcycle with him was a pink-haired girl who looked rather impatient, rolling her eyes. From what Clarice could see, it seemed as though the pink-haired girl was yelling at the Samson look-alike, making him very nervous.
Just then he put the map down and got off the motorcycle. He then walked up the stairs of the Cafe and came inside, seeming intent on getting some directions. The pink-haired girl followed him in and sat at a table across the room from Clarice. She propped her head up on her arm, looking tired and impatient, while her husband, or boyfriend, or whatever he was to her walked up to the main counter.
He rang the bell on the counter. “Oui? Just a moment~! I’ll be weez you right away,” a voice sang out from the kitchen.
A few seconds later the French-accented man emerged from the kitchen, wiping his hands on his apron. “Oui, what would you-“ Hikki’s eyes widened. “What are you doeeng back zo zoon? I assume you brought ze zupplies, yes?”
“What?”
“What do you mean what?! You have zem, don’t you? Don’t even tell me zat you have been gone for a half of an hour and nevair even got what you wair zent out to get een ze fairst place.”
“Excuse me?” The man looked bewilderedly at the Frenchman.
“What do you mean ‘Excuse-moi?’ Monsieur ‘I cannot do a seempole task for my best of friends’?”
“Ummm… I… I’m sorry?” The man looked around nervously, and back at the pink-haired girl, who was now trying to keep herself from laughing.
“I defeeneetely hope you’re sorry, you leetle heartbreaker you.” Hikki proceeded to gingerly touch the man’s shoulder, looking into his eyes.
The man’s eyes widened. He was definitely uncomfortable now. First he was yelled at by his girl, then by some random French guy, and now said random French guy was openly hitting on him. “What a day this is turning out to be,” he silently thought to himself.
“Oh my… pairhaps you have returned weezout goeeng to ze store because you could not stand to be away from me for anozzer zecond? Pairhaps you have finally come to your zenses? Pairhaps you have come here to at last admeet your undying amour for me?” Hikki embraced the man, holding him tight. “Don’t worry, I shall nevair let go!” The man froze. He had no idea what was going on now.
“Hikki, that’s enough! That’s not Sa-“ Clarice felt a hand grab her arm and turned around to see the pink-haired girl smiling at her.
“Its all right, he’s with me. Besides… this is kind of hawt…” the girl grinned.
“Are you sure? I mean… Hikki has like a class A clinging ability…” Clarice said, adjusting her glasses.
“Oh it’s fine, he’ll live.”
“I guess…”
They watched the scene together. It really was a sight to behold: Hikki embracing a grown and very scared and confused man, while swaying side to side. Anne was sitting in the corner of the room trying to read. “Brother, you like these people?” she thought to herself. “Hikki sure is eccentric…”
The pink-haired girl smiled at the scene before her. “I get the idea that this Hikki guy is mistaking Dominic over there for someone else…”
“That’s his name? And yes, yes he is…”
“Yeah, that’s his name. Cute, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess. What are you two doing in a city like this, anyway?”
“Well, we were going on vacation, until genius here got lost… for the fortieth time.” She sighed.
“Oh, I see… What’s your name?”
“Anemone.”
“That’s a name you don’t see a lot.”
“Nope…” she trailed off. “I’m not sure if I should think this is hilarious, or totally hot…”
“I guess it’s a little bit of both…” Clarice laughed. Even she had to admit this was a little amusing. It had to have been five minutes and Hikki still had a steel grip on poor Dominic. When…
“What in the HELL is going on in here, Hikki?!” Samson walked in with grocery bags in his arms. His eyes widened at the scene before him.
“SACRE BLEU!” Hikki yelled and pushed Dominic towards Samson. “Two Samsons?! TWO!” Hikki looked up into the heavens and seemed to be mouthing “Merci mon Dieu!”
“Wha… what the hell is going on? Seriously, I just came in for directions and I get leapt on by a Frenchman!” Dominic was practically in a panic.
Samson looked Dominic up and down, and then turned to look in a mirror on the wall next to him. “Well… I think I just figured out your problem…”
Hikki looked side to side, his wildest dreams having come true. He now had no idea what to do next. “My my, two Samsons, zees ees sairtainly a pleasant zurprise.”
“Bu… but my name is Dominic!”
“EET DOESN’T MATTAIR!”
Dominic took a step back, eyes wide.
“Look, Hikki, you can’t go hitting on every guy that looks a little bit like me,” Samson pointed out.
Hikki looked at Samson, then back at Dominic. “A leetle…?”
“Umm, I think I’m going to take off now if you don’t mind…” Dominic started for the door, grabbing Anemone’s wrist on the way out. “Let’s leave now, please,” he said impatiently, like a kid.
“Fine fine, cya later Clarice.” Anemone winked.
“Cya…” and with that they were gone. Clarice watched as the motorcycle they were in sped off a little faster than usual.
“Well zose two wair sairtainly een a hurry,” Hikki pouted.
“Ya think?” Samson facepalmed.
“Well anyway, merci for getteeng zose zupplies.” Hikki looked through the grocery bags. “But… I sought I told you to get zome wheepped cream as well…?”
“THEY WERE ALL OUT!!!” Samson yelled, eyes wide, a freaked-out expression on his face.
Clarice sat in her chair and laughed.
_________________________________________________________________
__
On the other, rougher side of town two figures silently walked through the destruction around them.
“It’s so hot out…” Emiri moaned.
“That’s probably because we’ve been walking for two straight hours. I say we stop to rest.” Kira stopped and looked around. He hadn’t seen a single hotel in the area that was intact.
“Kira, you do know that it probably wouldn’t be good to check into a hotel, right?” Emiri sat down on a large piece of rubble nearby. “I mean, they could find out who we are, and then report us to the cops, who will report to the Estate. And when the Estate finds out where we are… game over.”
“Yes, you’re probably right. But we need to rest…”
“I know…” Emiri wasn’t her usual self. She was depressed. But perhaps this was good. Ever since her encounter with Sadar she had been more than a little… normal. It was as if something had awakened inside of her. Something good.
Kira pointed at a burnt-out building that was still standing. “Look over there. Seems as though no one is home.”
“Yeah?”
“Perhaps that will accommodate us for the night,” he said with a hand to his chin.
“As long as I get to rest I’m fine with it.”
As the two walked toward the burnt-out building Emiri realized something. She had been here before. As she walked closer and closer to the building, memories started rushing back to her. She remembered a man, she remembered tearing him apart, ripping him to shreds, throwing his guts everywhere.
Emiri’s eyes widened.
She remembered the look on his face when she killed him, one of complete terror, yet resilience. A face of silent strength. The blood, the guts, entrails. They were all around her; in that moment she was back at that time long ago. She was surrounded by body parts, destruction.
Emiri clutched her head. These were memories that she did not want to think about right now.
As she sat there in the blood and death, a woman screamed. She was completely terrified. The shock in her eyes… the complete terror. She could never forget it.
Emiri fell to her knees clutching her head. It was as if the world around her was spinning, memories of her worst doings coming back to her in a whirlwind of pain. She started to scream but she couldn’t hear it. She couldn’t hear anything but the scream of that blonde woman who had seen her with the unfortunate man. Everything was spinning, violently spinning.
“Emiri!” Kira held her shoulders. “Get ahold of yourself, Emiri! What happened?!”
“This is the place… where I killed that man…” A single tear streamed down her face.
“Don’t worry, Emiri…” He held her in his arms, her head resting on his chest. “It’s all right now… don’t worry…”
_________________________________________________________________
_______
Larry slowly walked the streets of Orly. He had no idea where he was but he was just glad he was away from anything that could kill and/or mortally wound him. As he walked down the street he ran into someone he thought he would never see again.
“…Raef?” he said, astonished.
The boy quickly turned his head, expecting something bad coming his way, but all he saw was an unfortunate-looking scientist.
“Larry?”
“Raef… shouldn’t you be… oh I don’t know… gone? Far away? Out of the country? In space? I don’t know, but shouldn’t you be far away from here?!”
“What? Why’s that?” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“What? You seriously don’t know? They’re looking for you! You escaped, remember!”
“Oh, that. Well come on man, I’m sixteen years old, you think they’re going to go out of their way to find me?”
“I don’t know about you, but they’re definitely out to get me!” Larry said, pointing at his Comdot ID proudly.
“What did they do? Try to get you once?”
“Yep.”
“And I bet it’s been a while since they tried again, hasn’t it.”
“Uhh…”
“Face it, Larry, you’re just some scientist guy to them, you’re nowhere near as important to them as say, Emiri, or that Jake guy.”
“Yeah… about them…” Larry looked around himself.
“What?”
“Well they kind of… left… and never… came back…”
“… They LEFT?! Who are they out to get?!”
“I said they never came back.”
“So they quit.”
“Probably.”
“Any idea why?”
“None.”
Raef looked at Larry a little closer, and could tell that he obviously hadn’t slept in a few days. “Larry, if you want you can stay at my place.”
“What? I’m perfectly fine!” Larry yelled, brushing some dirt off his torn-up lab coat.
“Oh come on, Larry, you look like a hobo! Gah, and you smell like one too…”
“Fine! I’ll admit it! I’ve been on the streets for a week and a half now!” Larry quickly regained his composure. “Also, you have a ‘place’? You’re sixteen, my friend, what kind of place could you possibly have?”
“Oh, I get by…”
___________________________________________________________
“Oh, Chu! Where are you? Where deed you run off to Chu!” Hikki yelled in the back room of the Cafe.
Samson poked his head out from behind some boxes he was looking at. “Did you just call me Chu?”
“Yes, why?”
“And just what in the heck does ‘Chu’ mean?” Samson said, adjusting his reading glasses.
“Ohh, well I guess I was just messeeng around weez your name during lunch today.”
“Yeah… obviously… but where in the heck does Chu come from?”
“Well eef you must know, my leetle cupcake…” Samson cringed. “…I was seenkeeng about a neeckname for you today and-“
“Samson isn’t nicknamish enough for you?”
“Hey, zees ees my story!” Hikki snapped. Samson facepalmed. “Anyway~! I was tryeeng to seenk of a neeckname for you and I decided zat I would go weez Sammie-Chan. But zen I sought ‘Well Sammie-Chan ees too long.’ So I sought a leetle more about eet. And zen I decided on Sammie-Chu. But zen I feegured zat was too long as well. So I just keecked ze Sammie out completely and kept Chu~!”
“…..........”
“Well what do you seenk, Chu!?” Hikki beamed.
“… That’s… interesting…”
“That’s weird,” Clarice added from behind them. She stood in the entryway to the main part of the cafe.
“Well eet’s none of your beezness.” Hikki glared.
“It’s my business when you call him that in public.” She laughed.
“Oh, whatevair.”
_________________________________________________________
“I mean The Godfather! Can you even fathom that!? How would he like that movie?!” Trunks went off. He had been staying with Hill for an entire week now. Much to Hill’s dismay.
“Right, right. Can we talk about something else?” Hill sighed.
Just then the door to the store opened. A man walked in who stuck out quite a bit in this section of Orly. He was tall and toned, and wore a black suit complete with a stylish dark blue necktie and pressed white shirt. His shoes were polished so well that you could see your face on them. And he had the friendliest face they had ever seen. His eyes were a deep blue. He was almost… hypnotizing.
“Can I help you, sir?” Hill said looking at the sharply dressed man.
“Why yes, I think you could,” he said, running his hand through his well-groomed black hair and smiling.
“Do you want a gun or something?” Hill asked.
“Oh I’m not here for a gun. I already have one… in my pants.”
_________________________________________________________________
___
“Taredan… good job with that Syndicate member last night,” Goda said, sitting in his chair in the command center. “I read the paper this morning and caught that the police found a charred corpse on 89th street. By the looks of the body it was definitely a piece of your work, my friend.”
“I’m not your friend.”
“Oh, you’re no fun.” Goda said, frowning.
“The only thing that got that fool killed last night was his own insanity. He had been pushed to the edge, Goda. He was dead when he started following me.”
“This is good. This was the goal.” Goda smiled evilly. “The Syndicate should be in panic and collap-“
“His brother died, Goda.” Taredan glared at him. “The only reason he was in such a state was because he lost everything he loved. And when he lost that he lost his sanity.”
“You don’t get it, do you, Major? That was the goal. If we take everything they love away from them, if we take everything they fight for… then there is no way they can win. They’ll all just give up.”
“I don’t want any part of this nonsense anymore.”
“…And just what are you saying?”
“I’m saying you can find a new poster boy for your little ‘rescue’ operation. I’m tired of being blamed for all the death in town.” And with that Taredan slowly walked out of the room.
“Where are you going?!”
“For a walk…”
_________________________________________________________________
_
The sun began to set on the city of Orly as Emiri curled up on a sleeping bag she had brought with her.
“How are you, Emiri?” Kira asked. “Are you feeling any better?”
“A lot better, thanks. But his face is still stuck in my head. It’s haunting almost.” She got up and sat against the wall.
Emiri and Kira had decided to stay in the remains of Trunks’ Pub. It was run-down and falling apart, but hotels were too dangerous and none could be found in this part of town anyway. They thought that the old pub was uninhabited, but that would turn out to not be the case.
“Just who the hell do you think you are, lady?” Emiri looked to her side as a group of children walked through a hole in the wall.
“What do you mean who am I? Everyone should know just who the hell I am.” Emiri glared.
“Well you’re in our house, lady. So you and your friend there can just leave,” the oldest boy in the group said, pointing at the door.
“What do you mean house? This is a burnt-out building. Why don’t you just go home to your mom, kid. I don’t have time to screw around with children.”
“When I said house I meant it. This is it. Take a look around. Like it? Neither do we, but it’s all we have.”
“You don’t have a home?” Emiri was slightly shocked.
“None of us do. You remember when the military came out to crack down on the Syndicate? Well it also took out every house and family in the area. That Major Taredan promised us that he’d make the city safer for us, and now so many of us are homeless. It’s not even fair.” The boy had a strange seriousness in his eyes for his age.
“Where are your parents?” Emiri asked.
“They were killed in a riot afterwards…”
“I… I’m sorry…”
“What could you have done about it? It’s not like you did anything to us.” Emiri felt a small twinge of sadness. She was glad now that the boy didn’t know who she was… or had been.
The boy continued. “The people in charge want us to believe that it’s the Syndicate’s fault that this whole thing happened, and our fault for supporting them… but we know that Ozzal is the real cause of everything. If she hadn’t abused her power so much, the Syndicate wouldn’t even exist. They just want to stop her and make things better for everyone. And they’ll succeed… they have to.”
“You know, you’re surprisingly mature for your age.”
“Stuff happens.” The boy looked around. “I guess we have enough room for you and your friend. You can stay here, I guess.”
“Thank you.” She smiled, for the first time in a long time.
When it was dark and everyone was asleep Emiri got up and went outside. Standing on the sidewalk and looking at the stars she thought about what she had done in the past, what she was doing now, and what she wanted to do in the future.
“Are you all right?” Kira asked, walking up behind her.
“Yeah… I think so, at least.”
“You should sleep.” He said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
“I can’t…” She looked up at the stars. “You know, even though I don’t want to kill anymore, I feel like I should at least do something to help this revolution. I have to make up for all the destruction I’ve caused somehow.” She looked back at the pub. “And those kids… if this goes on, there will be even more like them, homeless kids, orphaned kids… It’s not right.”
“Whatever your decision is, I’ll follow you.”
“That’s good to know. First off though, we need to find that priest… and I think I know a good place to start.”
“And where would that be, Emiri?”
“…The church.”
_________________________________________________________________
_______
“So this is how you get by?” Larry said, looking around Raef’s hideout. The hideout wasn’t exactly fancy, but it got the job done. It had a single bed in the corner and a TV on other side of the room. It looked more like a run-down apartment than anything else.
“It’s not the best in the world, but eh, it’s good enough for me.”
“It has to be somewhat dangerous, what with the Comdot Estate being in plain sight, right?”
“Like I said, Larry, if they’re looking for me, I’m at best low priority.” Raef stood looking out the window. Comdot Estate was indeed directly across an open square from where they were. “Now that I think about it, even though you were a scientist and not much else over there, they probably will be looking for you since you worked for Dr. Matrix in all his tentacle-loving splendor.”
“Oh yeah, they’re totally out to get me. I’m wanted dead or alive.”
“You really have to stop doing that.”
“What?”
“Trying to be badass…” Raef looked at Larry, smiling. “You’re not really fooling anyone. I heard there was a scientist that was seen in Orly that sat in one spot for two days yelling something about a happy place.”
“Well, uh…” Larry straightened his collar.
“Don’t worry. I would think any normal person would be like that after being chased by Emiri of all people.
Larry looked around. “So, is this a Syndicate hideout?”
“No, it’s my own hideout.”
“Why choose a place so dangerously close to the Estate?”
“Because, well…” Raef laughed. “This will sound stupid, but… there’s this girl.”
“You’re kidding… in the Estate?!”
“Oh, yeah… in the Estate.”
“Is it the daughter of a general or an officer of some kind?!” Larry flung his arms in the air. “Do you have any idea how insane it is for a wanted man to date someone inside the actual Estate?!”
“That’s a chance I’m willing to take.” Raef looked serious. “I haven’t done a lot of dumb things in my lifetime but I’m willing to start for this person.”
Larry settled down. “So whose daughter is she?”
“…You don’t wanna know.” Raef said, trying to avoid making eye contact with Larry.
“Come on now, whose daughter is she?” Larry pushed the question harder.
“Well, what if I were to say… that possibly… just maybe… perhaps… she was… Ozzal’s daughter…” Raef nervously looked in the opposite direction of Larry.
Larry laughed. “Hah, nice try, Raef. Ozzal doesn’t have a daughter.”
“Not one that you know of…”
Larry paused. In all his time working at Comdot Estate he had never known that such a girl existed. He sure didn’t want to believe it now, because that would mean that someone actually had to be married to or dating Ozzal at one point, which raises the question of how insane a guy must be to do such a thing. She wasn’t just ugly, but to top it off she had the worst personality imaginable. Not to mention a disgusting appetite for Taquitos. Then again, Larry had spent most of his stay at Comdot as Professor Matrix’s slave in the lab after being kidnapped some time ago, so he really didn’t know much about the Head Governor’s love life.
Raef and Larry had shared a cell for a short amount of time, after Larry had been tossed in the clink for trying to take Matrix’s tentacle car out for a joyride/escape run. And since they only had each other in there, and Larry was so happy to finally be with someone normal for once, they became fast friends. Larry was astonished with Raef’s maturity and intelligence for his age, so dating a girl who could actually claim to being the daughter of Ozzal was simply insane for a young man who was known for such street smarts.
Larry sighed. “At least tell me she’s worth it.”
“Oh she is,” Raef said, smiling.
“How old is she?”
“My age.”
“So sixteen… seems kind of weird to risk it all for young love, if you ask me,” he laughed.
“Yeah, I guess it would seem that way when you’re looking at it from a different perspective. But hear me out… She’s worth it. She’s pretty, smart, intelligent, and funny. I’ve never seen anyone like her. She also has some abilities of her own, you know. Because of her the cops aren’t chasing me as much anymore.”
“But why does Ozzal hide her so well?” Larry asked, scratching his chin.
“Because she’s basically ashamed of her. She doesn’t think she has what it takes to do anything with the country, so she basically keeps her behind a closed curtain all the time.”
“Well then what’s her name?”
“Starry.”
_________________________________________________________________
Samson stood in the bathroom looking at the mirror. It was eleven o’clock at night and he was ready for some sleep. His sister Anne now had a small room to herself, and Clarice had one across from her. The cafe was surprisingly big. There was one more vacant room, but because of his pact with Hikki that room wasn’t going to come in handy anytime soon.
Samson sighed. “Well, I might as well head to bed. It’s not going to do any good sitting here thinking about it.”
As he walked down the hallway he saw something truly terrifying. His worst dreams come true…
Pink… on a bathrobe.
“Why ‘allo zere, Chu~! Ready for bed, I zee.” Hikki smiled.
Samson’s eyes widened. “Ahhhh, yeah, s… sure.”
“You just go ahead and go to sleep. I’ll make sure to be quiet when I come een.”
“NO! I mean… that’s fine… I’ll wait for you to go to sleep first… I’ll be in the living room… watching TV… or something…”
“Suit yourself, Chu.”
As Hikki walked into the bathroom, Samson went on into the bedroom. He went to his nightstand and pulled out the small glass cross and the piece of paper that went with it. “What does this mean…?”
_________________________________________________________________
_______
Major Taredan stood over another burnt corpse, of yet another foolish man who had no idea what he was dealing with. Ever since he was announced as the leader of the crackdown, random idiots seemed to come out of the woodwork to test their pathetic skills against his.
The stars shone brightly in the sky as he turned a corner, silently walking with his thumb in his mouth, sucking on it. All was silent around him as he walked, until…
“So that’s your remuneration, huh? Must be embarrassing,” a voice said behind him.
The Major swiftly turned to see who had spoken, but there was no one there.
“You’re going to have to be faster than that,” the voice said mockingly behind him.
The Major turned again to see a man in a long black leather coat. All he wore was black up to his neck. And covering his face was a white mask with a blue scar over the right eye. His short black hair draped over the top of the mask.
Taredan looked at him in shock. “BK201?!”
The man said nothing in return.
Taredan laughed. “I see, you’re a contractor too. The Black Reaper no less.”
“I go by a lot of names… Regardless, this is where your walk ends. There are a lot of people in this city who want you dead. And I’m going to oblige them.”
“You idiot, you don’t understand! I wasn’t placed in charge of anything, they just wanted someone normal to be a-“ He couldn’t finish. The Reaper was upon him in an instant. He had just the right amount of time to dodge the knife that he swung at him with full force that nearly cut his throat. He could see the electricity on it as it passed. “Well, that was a close one,” Taredan said, smiling.
“You’re pretty quick for someone who only walks,” the Reaper said mockingly.
“Well you’re not quick enough to dodge anything I can dish out.” With that Taredan raised his right arm and his eyes glowed a bloody red. Flames appeared out of nowhere and instantly went toward the Reaper. He was faster than he had expected, though, as he dodged out of the way quickly and countered by throwing a knife directly at his chest. Taredan instantly stepped to the side and watched as the knife, crackling with electricity, flew past him.
The Reaper stopped in the middle of the street and stood. “You military officers make me sick, killing people with no consequence to yourself.”
Taredan laughed. “You show a little too much emotion for your own good. That will get you killed.” He looked down at his feet and suddenly realized that he may be the one getting killed, as he was standing in a puddle of water leading all the way towards the Reaper. His eyes widened. He then looked back up at the Reaper just as he began to glow a dark blue. Sparks started to fall from his body as he sent electricity flying through the water towards him. Taredan quickly jumped, and his coat was singed by the massive amount of electricity jumping toward him.
Taredan quickly ran toward the Reaper, ready to deliver a blow, but one of the Reaper’s knives flew past him and swung around his neck. The wire that connected the knife with its user wrapped around Taredan’s neck, strangling him. As the Reaper slowly walked toward him he began to glow blue again, ready to finish him off with a large blast of electricity.
Taredan laughed at his situation and said while gasping for air, “So, you’re the contractor that can bend electricity to his will, eh? They say you’re quite the dangerous one. And I see those claims were correct.” He raised his right arm and shot a blast of fire at him. The Reaper quickly retracted his knife and fired it at a nearby building, swinging out of the way.
The Reaper and Taredan stood on opposite sides of the street, silently staring each other down. “You do realize that none of this is my fault, right?” Taredan laughed. “Your Syndicate should get its sources in order when they call you out…” He was suddenly serious. “You want Goda. He’s the brains behind this operation. If you take out Goda then Ozzal will have nothing to fight with. She’ll literally lose the brains of her entire operation. As for me, do what you will. We can do this all night for all I care, and in the end one of us will be dead. Seems like a waste, doesn’t it?”
“It surprises me that a contractor would be allowed to make it so high in the ranks,” the Reaper replied. A single truck drove down the street just then, and for a single second it obstructed Taredan’s view of his adversary. And when it had finally passed the Reaper was gone, nowhere to be found.
And so, the dance ended.
_________________________________________________________________
_______
“I got to admit, Goose. You are one awesome guy!” Hill laughed.
“Well you guys are great as well.”
Trunks nodded. “You know what other movie was great? Perfect Sunshine! I mean that movie was amazing.”
“Oh I saw that one, it was amazing. I couldn’t believe it was pulled off so well.”
Hill drank what remained of his beer. “So Goose Maverick? That’s a name you don’t see very often.”
Goose stretched in his chair. “My father was a man with very strange tastes. Oh, I’m sorry, where’s your bathroom?”
“Through that door there.” Hill pointed.
“Ok, excuse me for a moment.”
As the door closed Hill and Trunks continued their conversation. “Boy that Goose guy is awesome. I’ve never seen anyone so like-“ Before Hill could continue sounds came from the bathroom that could only be described as the sound of a pit crew changing a tire in a race.
Trunks raised an eyebrow. “A… are you ok in there, Goose?”
“Oh I’m fine, don’t worry about me!” came from the other side of the door.
“You know, as great as he is, he is a little strange sometimes…” Hill said, opening another drink.
_________________________________________________________________
_______
The next day it was raining once again, hard as ever. Clarice rolled over and groaned in her bed. Even if it wasn’t sunny that annoying light was still coming through her window. After a few moments she gave up and decided that she should just go and get some breakfast. Hikki was no doubt starting up the business at this hour. She got up and started for her door to go and take a shower when she tripped over something just after getting out of bed.
“What the hell…?!” she yelled.
“Wha…? Five minutes…” Samson yawned.
“Samson, what the hell are you doing sleeping in here again?!”
Samson got up off the floor. “Oh well… there’s a perfectly reasonable answer to this… Let me go find it,” he said as he started for the door.
She grabbed his collar. “Oh no, I want an answer now.”
“Crap… Come on, Clarice! He was wearing a pink bathrobe!”
“So?”
Samson flailed his arms in the air. “PINK!”
“Gah, whatever. But next time no sleeping in my walkway. You could have killed me!”
A moment later they were all downstairs eating around a table.
“Okay.” Samson said. “We have business today. First there’s the question of Sadar and his little band of merry men. And then there’s this Yupat character that Sadar’s guys informed us of. And finally, last but surely not least, there is the matter of the death of one of our lower members.”
“Dess?” Hikki looked shocked. “Who zees time?!”
“No one we really know personally. Just a guy that helps out once in a while. He lost his brother recently in the riots and then he was never seen afterwards.”
Clarice raised an eyebrow. “So how do we know he’s dead?”
“Because his burnt-up remains were apparently found by the police two days back and his immediate family was only informed this morning.”
“Burnt?” Hikki asked, eyes wide.
“Yes, burnt. And the scary thing is another burnt body was found this morning. Burnt the same way. Totally evenly. It’s as if the entire body was lit at the same time, apparently.”
“So who’s been doing this?” Clarice asked.
“Well, I received a report from Landon before I fell asleep around 3 in the morning.” Samson yawned. “Apparently he sent one of his men out to figure out who was doing this. After some tracking he found the guy. Major Thomas Taredan.”
“Wait… that’s the same guy who’s been given the task of ousting us. So it makes sense. It’s him,” Clarice said.
“That’s what we originally thought because of the news. But apparently Taredan says he has absolutely nothing to do with anything against us. In fact he actually gave us the name of who is.”
“And who ees zees?” Hikki asked.
“A guy named Goda…”
Clarice adjusted her glasses. “And why haven’t I ever heard of this guy?”
“I’m not certain who he is either. No one really is. Landon says he might know but it’s going to take him some time. He apparently needs to talk to someone special… what we do know is that he’s apparently pretty high up. He obviously talks to Ozzal regularly and he most likely is the guy who set up the whole speech with Dewey and Taredan.”
Hikki sat up in his chair. “So basically, he’s one of our numbair one enemies yes?”
“Most definitely.”
Clarice sighed. “So what about the other things?”
“Oh, well… Sadar’s band of merry, elusive, mysterious, cross-wearing men…”
Hikki took a drink of milk. “I really sought he was on our side.”
“Well, after that whole riot nearly the entire population of the Gunsmoke Inc. bar vanished. Some were killed, while others completely disappeared without a trace. Some of the more key members include Sadar himself and Kirara. Sadar is apparently alive and still giving orders somewhere and Kirara is nowhere to be found. So I can only assume Kirara’s with him.”
Clarice took a bite of some toast. “Which means he most likely had some sort of game he was playing with us from the very start of this whole thing.”
Hikki added, “Ze question ees why would he do such a seeng to people he protected weez heez very life? I mean… he apparently zupports us now, but vaneesheeng weezout a trace while we wair most een need seems slightly traitorous to me.”
“Likewise, Hikki.” Samson adjusted his glasses. “For some reason it’s not very high in Landon’s list of things to do, but I really think we should learn more about this little group. Especially after I was apparently offered admission…” Samson pulled out a green glass cross.
“This is definitely what that woman and the hawt blond guy with her were wearing when they came to give Hikki that note,” Clarice said, crossing her arms.
“…First off…” Samson adjusted his glasses again. “…he wasn’t that hot, I could totally make my hair like that if I wanted to. Second off yes, this is the same cross that they were wearing.”
“Wait… you got an eenvite?” Hikki asked.
“Yes, Sadar gave it to me the last time he appeared, a week and a half ago. He also gave me a small piece of paper with it.” Samson took the paper out of his pocket.
Hikki pushed a hand through his blond hair. “Read eet, Samson.”
“11:00 PM. The Docks. Warehouse 13. Mondays and Tuesdays.”
Clarice nodded. “That’s telling you when you can join.”
Samson put the paper on the table. “Yes, and I have no intention of going. Who knows what kind of people are in this society. Sadar may look nice in his little disguise, but he could be some sort of madman when he’s not in our eyes or the public’s eyes. This could be a freedom fighting force, or it could be some cult that wants Ozzal taken out so they can snatch power when they get it. The point I’m trying to make is we can’t be sure at all.”
“We should have someone infiltrate the organization. That person then can tell us what they’re all about,” Clarice suggested.
Hikki nodded. “You are right, Clarice. I want to find out why Sadar left us hangeeng out to dry like zat dureeng ze crackdown.”
Both he and Clarice looked at Samson.
“Whoa, now… don’t get any ideas here.” Samson straightened his shirt. “I may have an invitation but I’m not cut out for the spy game. I would break too many hearts.” He winked at Clarice, to which she facepalmed. “We should send someone who would be able to defend themselves better…”
Just then a voice came from the kitchen. “You got a cross too…?”
Hikki looked to the kitchen door. “Jake? You got a cross?”
“Yeah…” Jake walked into the back room. “When I was knocked out Sadar apparently gave it to me at the chapel.”
Clarice looked into his eyes. “What are you saying, Jake?”
Jake stood up straight. “What I’m saying is… If you need someone to infiltrate their organization and figure out what they’re all about… I’ll totally do it for you.”
Hikki laughed. “Well, Jake, zat sairtainly ees quite ze propozeesion.”
“I’m sure I can defend myself if I’m attacked there,” Jake added.
Samson looked worried. “Are you sure about this, Jake?”
“I’m totally sure. After all I’ve done to you guys I feel like I should make it up to you all somehow.”
“If it’s all right with Jake, it’s all right with me,” Clarice said.
“Well all right then…” Samson looked at Hikki. “What’s the plan then?”
“Well for heem to join, obviously. If he goes zere dureeng ze time and day zey geeve, zen he should get right eento ze organization. Zey shouldn’t question heem much zeence Sadar deed geeve heem ze cross heemzelf. Jake, you should just remembair to always be careful. We have no idea what kind of udoku we are dealeeng weez. All we know ees zat zey are quite serious about what zey do.”
Jake smiled. “Right… I’ll try my best.”
Samson propped his head on his hand. “But first I think we should call April over here and have whatever gender it is give Jake some lessons on espionage.” April had scouted out an abandoned warehouse as a new meeting place and safehouse for the Syndicate, and he and Cowboy had taken the still-unconscious Spice there to get her away from the cafe.
Clarice looked worried. “Well, Jake isn’t exactly going to have to sabotage anything.”
“I seenk Samson ees just suggesteeng zat he get to know ze terreetory. He eesn’t goeeng to be hurting anyone, but he should have some lessons on not steeckeeng out and just blendeeng een,” Hikki reassured her.
“Right, we also need to think of a way for him to contact us once he’s in… but all in due time I guess.” Samson looked at the report he had been given. “Oh, I almost forgot. There is also the question of this Yupat character.”
“Yupat?” Hikki asked.
“Yeah, he’s some journalist that apparently likes to keep an eye on us.” Samson smiled. “He also apparently keeps an eye on the government pretty well too. He’s one of those rarities, he tells the truth.”
“Eendeed rare zese days, een zees country,” Hikki added.
Samson continued. “But apparently he only tells the truthy-truth, I mean the real big stuff, to a certain detective. Who was apparently beaten up by two of Sadar’s guys. This detective… I don’t know about him really. His name is Keith and I really have nothing else. Landon wants someone to keep an eye on him, though. He wants tails on both him and Yupat. But Landon also wants no damage to be done. Which means no one is to get hurt on this assignment. He’s already apparently sent one of his agents here for briefing on what he should do. The same one that had the confrontation with Taredan last night.”
“What’s his name?” Clarice asked.
“Hei. That’s all I know,” Samson added.
Hikki looked at his plate. “He sounds mean.”
Samson was serious. “He’s apparently quite indifferent to most things. He’s also very brutal. He’s a ‘contractor,’ which means he has some weirdo power. I’m told it’s electricity. But he can only put it through conductive material, which means he can’t exactly launch it through the air. Oh, another thing… he apparently confirmed that Taredan is a contractor as well, only he has flame abilities which he can launch whenever.”
Hikki sighed. “Zat’s enough briefeeng for today. We all have bettair seengs to do.”
Clarice got up. “Yeah, I need to give Anne her assignments for today.”
“And I need to get zees cafe started up.” Hikki added.
Jake looked around. “What should I do?”
“You should get your lazy butt back to work is what you should do!” Hikki glared.
“Yes sir!” Jake yelled.
_________________________________________________________________
_______
Chief Q of the 2nd district of Orly looked down at her newspaper. “What, another body?! What do I pay these idiots for?! Laying around?!”
“I’m surprised they’re paid at all,” was heard from behind her door.
“Who is it?! I don’t have time to deal with this nonsense!” She yelled back.
“Oh, it’s just me,” Lunge revealed himself. “The man who’s investigating your department right now.”
“Oh, it’s you… what are you doing here?”
“I’m asking the same question as you, ‘Who’s killing all these people?’ Although it’s really none of my concern.”
“You’re darn right it isn’t.”
“I understand that Keith Douglas was recently mugged. Do you have any idea why?”
Q scratched her chin. “He wouldn’t say.”
Lunge looked at her with his piercing eyes. “That’s not surprising. A criminal often runs from telling the truth. Soon enough, though, he’ll give up and come clean with his conspiracy.”
_________________________________________________________________
_______
Hikki, Samson, and Angel stood in the middle of the park at lunch.
“What?! Why do I get the loser reporter?!” Angel screamed.
“Because you’re a woman who can get close to him,” Samson answered.
“Why would I want to get to know this guy?!”
Hikki sighed. “Because we need to know what hees eententions are.”
“As long as I get to act hawt…”
Samson laughed. “That would probably help your endeavor with him if you ask me. He is a guy, after all.”
“Good. That guy won’t even be able to resist me.” Angel laughed.
Hikki nodded. “You’re deesmeessed zen, Angel. Just keep an eye on heem and feegure out what hees eententions are. Now remembair, don’t hurt heem.”
“I’ll try, but I’ll probably end up breaking his heart.” She laughed and left the park.
Just then Samson’s cell phone started to ring. “Yes, hello? What now? Come on, we’re all the way at the park… Geez really? All right, all right… we’ll be there soon.”
Hikki looked at Samson. “What’s wrong?”
Samson looked grave. “Lunch rush. Clarice is pretty pissed we’re not back yet.”
Hikki laughed. “Why do you look so deestressed zen, Chu?”
Samson laughed. “I don’t like it when Clarice is mad at me… she can really lay into a guy…”
_________________________________________________________________
_______
An hour later the rush had been vanquished until one man walked in.
“Ramen, please.”
Hikki looked insulted. “Ramen?! What do you seenk zees place ees, a fast-food restaurant?!”
“Look, I just want some Ramen. I’ll pay well-“
“Nevair!” Hikki glared. “I weell not lowair my culinary magic to such a lowly level!”
“I could make you some. My brother eats that all the time.” All eyes fixed on Anne.
Hikki was astonished. “You make your brozzer Ramen? How could you make heem eat zomsing like zat?” He couldn’t believe that his poor Samson would be forced into eating something so horrible.
“I always cook for him. He’d be totally lost and starving without me,” she stated.
“But for a leetle girl to do such a seeng…” Hikki said.
Anne laughed. “Have you ever seen him cook? He nearly burned our last house down when he tried.”
“It was only a tiny little fire!” was heard from the back room.
“We had to call the fire department,” Anne whispered towards Hikki, winking.
Moments later Anne was finished making her seventh bowl of Ramen.
Samson looked at the black-haired man across the room. “Man, he sure can put that stuff away, can’t he?”
Clarice sighed. “He may be hawt now, but when he reaches thirty he’ll explode like a blimp. Super wide.”
The man finished and got up and walked toward the back room of the cafe.
“Wait, where are you going?!” Hikki asked, confused.
“To await briefing,” he answered. “I’m Hei.”
_________________________________________________________________
_______
“So you undairstand your meession zen? Keep an eye on zat detecteeve Keith. Feegure out all you can about heem. But don’t by any means keell heem,” Hikki finished.
“Right, you don’t have to worry, this will be done,” Hei answered.
“So you’re the Black Reaper?” Samson asked.
“Yes.”
_________________________________________________________________
_______
“So, you do realize that your mother is dead, right?” Larry asked, sitting at a secluded cafe with Raef. “It was in all the papers.”
“The newspapers lie.”
“Do they now? You should come to terms with it. They found the body, after all.”
“They’re lying,” Raef insisted.
“They aren’t-“
“She’s alive, I saw her with my own eyes,” Raef interrupted.
“You saw her?! When?!” Larry asked, astonished.
“It’s pretty hard to not notice a huge explosion when one happens. And it happened. This guy blew a huge hole in the side of the estate and took Cille out with him.”
“I can’t believe it…” Larry sipped some of his coffee. “So where is she now?”
“I’m not sure… I would go search for her, but I want to keep an eye on Starry.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine… you should seriously try to find your mother.”
“Well she’s not really my mom either. I mean she adopted me, after all,” Raef stated.
“So?”
“I know, I know… but I can only imagine how she got into that kind of trouble. And I think I know the guy who rescued her – he’s someone capable who can be trusted.”
“So with Ozzal’s daughter… how exactly do you meet up with her?” Larry mused.
“She comes over to the hideout every Saturday.”
“You do realize that the information she gives you could be used against her mother, right?”
“Yes, I know. But I’ve distanced myself from the Syndicate since I met Starry. I don’t want to risk losing her if I get caught up in all of that again. But if you really want to help the Syndicate, and you can find them, you’re welcome to give it to them yourself.”
_________________________________________________________________
_______
Cille Compton stood at the edge of a cliff not far from the cabin where she had been staying since her rescue from Comdot Estate. She could just barely see the lights of Orly off in the distance. The rain poured on her, soaking her.
“You really should get inside. You could catch a cold,” Cougar said behind her.
“They all think I’m dead…” She gazed out toward the lights. She had finally seen the news reports of her death, and realized that nobody outside Comdot would know the truth.
“They won’t forever. But we have to lay low for now. There’s no telling who might be out to get you.”
“You’re right, I guess…” Cille said, looking down toward the ground.
Cougar put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Now let’s go inside. Scheris and Elian should have dinner all ready.”
Cille smiled. “Sure…”
They started back, Cille still lost in thought. “I wonder if Raef is all right. I haven’t seen him in so long…”
_________________________________________________________________
_______
Emiri and Kira stood at the bottom of the steps of a great cathedral.
Emiri sighed. “This is it. This is where it all went down… all the way down… downtown… yo…”
Kira looked at the huge doors. “So, do we just enter?”
“I think so, although I’m a little scared to go in there. I mean, the last time I went in I got pretty much owned. Some sort of spell was cast over the place. I have no idea what kind.”
“Well, let us go in. We can’t stand outside in this rain forever.”
As they walked in Emiri walked over the familiar sign that Sadar had created. She had no idea what it was supposed to do. As they walked down the center aisle the priestess came into view, praying at the altar at the end of the church.
“Hey priest lady! We need some information!” Emiri yelled from the middle of the church.
Nafah looked back in shock as she saw Emiri standing over the sign that Sadar had created to keep her out. “What are you doing here?! You can’t be here! That sign is supposed to keep you out, you little demon!”
Emiri was suddenly serious. “What do you mean?”
“That sign is supposed to keep all those without a pure heart out of this church. It was meant so that you wouldn’t be able to enter and terrorize me again!” the priestess yelled back.
Emiri laughed. “Well I guess I have changed then. Don’t worry though, I’m not going to terrorize you. You’re barely even worth it.” She walked up to Nafah and put her face close to hers. “Where’s the priest, Sadar?”
“Like I would tell you if I knew,” Nafah spat.
“Don’t think you’re going to fight me. I’m on your side now. But if you don’t know where the priest is, who might?”
Nafah sighed. Emiri had passed over the sign, so she must be telling the truth; she must be pure of heart now. Perhaps she wasn’t totally pure – this much was obvious by Emiri’s sarcastic temperament – but she certainly wasn’t out to kill the father. But still Nafah had to know.
“Why? Why do you want to find him?” she asked.
“I don’t know, really. I guess he might know how I can redeem myself.”
Nafah laughed. “You do not need others to tell you how you can do that, child. You can decide that yourself.”
Emiri looked down at the ground. “Well, I want to fight. I want to get back at Ozzal for what she’s done to me. For all the pain she’s caused. And I want to help save these kids around here. I met some recently… so many are homeless without parents. They’re just like me… I can’t allow it. I can’t let that happen anymore.”
Nafah smiled. “Then the Syndicate could help you I think. They could show you the way to fight Ozzal and redeem yourself. But I assure you, just by declaring yourself against Ozzal to save the lives and futures of children you already have redeemed yourself.”
Emiri looked up at Nafah and into her eyes. “Then I’ll go to the Syndicate.”
Recurring characters
Major Tom Taredan – Metatronda
Clarice Rowe – QueenoftheDorks
Anne Monroe as herself
Samson Monroe – MasterSamson
Hikki Follet – Kohikki
Emiri - _Boxers_
Heero Yuy – HeeroYuy135
Larry – LAZY17
Raef Compton – Maenos
Trunks – Trunks378
Hill – fool_on_the_hill
Goose Maverick – Top_Gun
Professor M. Matrix – matrixman124
Head Governor Michelle Ozzal – Mike Lazzo
Father Sadar – FurionTassadar
Yupat – yupat
Kirara Amour – kiraralove
Landon Blaken – Blah_canbespanish
Roxie nee Godderson – anime_goddess05
Jake Thompson – SportsMaster
Keith Douglas – k_dawg_3484
Chief Q – Q_chan
Angel – mgangel1124
Cille Compton – Cille
Priestess Leah Nafah – inuyashafan213
Izuru Kira (Bleach)
Riza “Hawkeye” Yuy (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Goda (Ghost in the Shell: 2nd Gig)
Solomon (Blood+)
Lunge (Monster)
Straight Cougar (s-CRY-ed)
Scheris Adjani (s-CRY-ed)
Elian (s-CRY-ed)
New Characters
Starry – starryjelly
some random red shirted syndicate member who gets fried.
Dominic (Eureka udok)
Anemone (Eureka udok)
a bunch of random kids
some other dude who gets crispy-fried
Hei/Black Reaper (Darker than BLACK)