Disclaimer: I own only my plots, places, items and characters (etc) that I create, nothing else.
Chapter 1; Before the Storm
Oliver was really, really tired. His recruiting mission in Hawaii looking for "The Seventh" was a disaster. Almost an entire month there and nothing showed up. Except once he swore he saw a black haired girl laughing at him. Add to that his ride had broken down and he had to walk the last few miles through another forest to headquarters. The forest was extremely dense and humid. It was a beautiful place but not fit for hiking.
When he finally arrived his muscles were burned and he was covered in a thin layer of sweat. The two large steel doors blocked the entrance to the small hidden base that lay within. The twin doors were out of place in the dense forest. They had also somehow become covered in graffiti. Oliver knocked and waited. A bird chirped happily in the distance.
"What's the password?" A feminine piped through a hidden mike.
"Let me in, Amyna, before I break the door down. And you know I'll do it." Oliver said smirking as he heard his friend's voice.
"Geez, What happened?" The voice inquired.
"A complete and utter waste of time." The doors opened to reveal a large empty room except for a girl standing with her hands crossed over her chest. Her bright purple hair was cut in a short bob that framed her face. She wore a green blouse with black jeans and tennis shoes. She was about Oliver's height but slouched slightly. Her weirdest feature however was her eyes that glowed a bright lime-green with a matching circle on the back of her left hand. "Hey, it was Hawaii. HAWAII! It had to be a little fun."
Oliver relaxed as soon as he entered HQ, home. He immediately felt refreshed and happier. "The scenery was great, the monotonous searching not so much. It's good to be back though."
"Yeah, sure. It's good to be back to our dump of a base. But I get the next recruiting mission. Hopefully somewhere that has a beach!" Amyna sighed happily while entering a code on a nearby console causing the doors to close again. "Onier is in the tower using my tech says he has something 'urgent'," she made air quotes. "He wanted to show you."
"Any idea on what it is?" Oliver asked "Or if I can go change clothes first?" He indicated to his outfit. His black shirt had long claw marks across the chest. Oliver's jeans didn't fare much better with holes in both kneecaps and other assorted tears. The trench coat style jacket was even worst. The entire bottom half was missing. One sleeve had been ripped off and the other was barely holding on. Normally a vibrant white with gold swirls decorating it, the color now was dull brown with ugly black splotches. The accumulated other rips didn't look so good either. Oliver's scar on his left cheek was covered in by mud and even his short grey and white hair was matted down and had gunk in it.
Amyna shrugged. "Most likely, he didn't say what the big deal was, probably nothing. You know Onier and his paranoia."
Oliver nodded. "Tell him I'm here though. If it can't wait, I'll be in my room.''
"Will do." Amyna jogged towards the old stairway that led to the tower. She paused at the bottom to good-naturedly add, "and take shower while you're at! You reek."
She laughed and disappeared up the steps. Oliver cracked a smile. It was good to be back. He headed towards his quarters, flipped a light switch revealing a room in as bad of shape as the rest of their base. The only furniture was a small dresser and an old bed. A silver, solid steel, with decorative gold spirals, flash drive on a string lay on the dresser. It wasn't the fanciest place ever but it was home.
He took a quick shower in the "guy's" bathroom (Amyna got the other all to herself) then got a change of clothes from the dilapidated dresser. The change of clothes was identical to what he was wearing before only not torn and beat up. This did wonders, instantly Oliver felt less fatigued and was invigorated. Feeling better, Oliver grabbed the flash drive and hung it around his neck before he headed up to the tower with a little spring in his step.
"-Told you it was urgent," That was Onier. Oliver was surprised. Onier was the calmest of the three of them but right now he sounded tense and almost angry.
"Jeez! Give the guy a break Onier! He looked like he hadn't slept in days." Amyna retorted. "Not to mention somehow his clothes looked even worse."
"I have too," Oliver said emerging from the stairwell into the tower. The tower was the command base of their little headquarters. Unlike the rest of the rundown base the tower was high tech. The three of them had stolen (they preferred to say "borrowed"), made or scavenged everything, most of it from right under Black Knight and Providence's noses. Then their tech savvy female member had thrown it together and created a small tech haven. "I slept on the plane back to the mainland."
"How'd you even get on a plane?" Amyna said, turning away from Onier who was on a terminal. "It's not like we have the money to buy a ticket. You didn't…borrow… a ticket did you?"
"No, I stowed away in the storage section of Carrier plane. It was a really fun time," Oliver said the last part sarcastically. "Anyway, what'd you need Onier?"
Onier was the tallest of their small group, barely though. His dark blue hair has a black streak in the front, nearly covering his blue eyes, and came down to his neck. Light makeshift body armor covered almost his entire outfit except for his bright blue smiling ninja t-shirt.
Onier's only visible weapon was a Bo staff strapped to his back. But Oliver new Amyna had modified it for a lot a bonus features such as pop-out spikes, an electric shock tip and it could be broken into two eskrima sticks. Onier was a proficient fighter with all of the add-ons and their forms.
"My URGENT news," Onier paused to glare at Amyn, who shrugged. "Was that we've been found."
Amyna and Oliver both stood shocked. The tech in the tower was second to only providence, thanks to Amyna. Amyna had assured them that they were effectively invisible to everyone besides themselves. Oliver recovered first, "How-When-Who?"
"One of your reports was intercepted, Oliver," Onier said. "As for the who, Providence is coming."
*Author's note: Well, there's the first chapter! Thanks for reading it. Just some quick notes. First, the reference to "The Seventh" is talking about another FanFic by Legend'sFighter (used with permission). If you haven't already ready read her stuff check it out! Second, a special thanks to Legend'sFighter. I probably would have never actually written this if not for her encouragement. She also Beta-read for me :D. Finally, thanks to my other Beta-reader who wishes to remain anonymous.