Angela Ortiz walked, extremely annoyed, out of the District Attorney's office
Angela Ortiz walked out of the District Attorney's office, extremely annoyed at the man she had just left. She walked out of the building into the almost blinding sun. A light breeze blew her blue hair in front of her eyes. She raised a hand to move the strands away revealing a small white ring on her right middle finger.
An elderly doorman held the door open for her, "How did the meeting go, Ms. Ortiz?"
"It went well, Cliff." She replied.
Cliff closed the door behind her and walked her to her Dodge Avenger. "That is good to hear. From what I hear Mr. Acres has been a little on edge lately."
"A little? That is an understatement. Someone like him shouldn't be so frightened at a few disappearances."
Cliff opened the door to her car and Angela quickly made herself comfortable on the front leather seat. "With all due respect, Ms. Ortiz, but any man in his right mind would be smart to be frightened. These disappearances have the entire city far too scared to even go out at night."
"I know that, Cliff," She shut the door to her car. "But why? It is not like these kinds of things have never happened before, especially in this city. The D.A. should know better then to let a few simple criminals scare him so much."
"Normally you know I would agree with you, but do you really believe that the police are dealing with 'a few simple criminals'? After such brutal attacks and the disappearances, I believe everyone should be afraid."
"Be that as it may, Cliff, he is a man of power," He is nothing more than a sniveling pig in a suit, She thought. "He should know that the police will handle the matter with the utmost of ease, and there is no proof to connect the two incidents."
"If you say so Ms. Ortiz, have a safe trip home." Cliff waved goodbye as Angela turned on her car and set off for her suburban home.
At the first red light Angela turned on the radio and began to flip through the stations trying to find something interesting.
After a few seconds she heard a name she knew well being said over the speakers
Earlier today police chief, Jonathan Sykes, released a statement concerning the disappearances of two men, who are presumed dead, and the classified information that was leaked to the press earlier today.
"Currently, we do have some leads as to who committed these crimes. The perpetrators of the crimes shall be brought to justice and punished to the full extent of the law.
Though many of us hope otherwise, I am obligated to say that the men are presumed to be dead. We have informed the family of the missing of our decision. With the new information we have gathered we hope the investigation will go much more smoothly.
As for the man who has been leaking classified information to the press, internal investigations have identified who the man is and actions have already been taken to prevent such things from occurring again. Though I shall not reveal his name at this time, he had been relieved of his duties and is no longer with the precinct"
Despite the Chief's optimistic attitude, neighbors of the missing men have less than hopeful views as to whether the culprits will be found.
The voice of an elderly woman came through the speakers.
"I doubt the police will actually do anything. They may say they are, but if they think the men are dead then there isn't any point for them to look.
And even if they do find their bodies, it won't make any difference. There isn't anyone here that will miss them. The police claim these guys have family but for almost ten years I haven't seen hide nor hair of anything that might be considered 'family'.
And I know that no one here is going to miss them. They would always stay inside their homes and never…
Angela turned off the radio and focused on the road again, a small smile on her lips.
About twenty minutes later she left the noisy city and entered the peaceful suburbs. She drove in silence for another ten minutes before she pulled into her garage.
Her home wasn't a great gigantic house like some of the others, but she didn't mind. She enjoyed the house's simplicity. A plain story two-story house meant for a family, though she lived alone. She turned off her car and stepped out into the dark garage.
As she was about to open the door that led into her kitchen, a strange sensation entered the air—someone was inside her home. Her face hardened as she realized she knew who the particular feeling belonged to. What the hell is he doing here?
She opened the door and entered.
"How is the District Attorney handling the disappearances?" Asked a calm voice as soon as she entered the room.
She turned to see a handsome Japanese man wearing a black suit. He wore his long brown hair in a pony tail revealing his pale skin. His cold black eyes stared at her behind red sunglasses. He laid his chin on his right palm, revealing a small red ring on his ring finger. Andrew Blackburn just sat there staring up at her with his emotionless face.
"Not well, he seems to think that the people responsible will be coming after him." She replied.
"Then he is a bigger fool than we originally thought."
"Why are you here Itachi? If you are here than Kisame must be nearby, and I cannot have someone like him walking around. Even these brainless fools will begin to question, and that is something I do not wish to deal with at the moment."
Itachi, Kisame, nothing more than names to hide behind. Names to use as shields for those who wish anonymity. Angela looked around the room, looking for Andrew's partner.
"The man we are searching is rumored to be nearby. The Leader has ordered us to use your house as a sort of a 'temporary headquarters'. As for Kisame, he knows better than to go walking around without me to put up an illusion around him."
"Very well, just be quick about it and leave as soon as possible. And where is Kisame if not with you?"
Itachi pointed to the staircase on the other side of the room, "He is resting upstairs; apparently the trip we took was a little tiring for someone like him." He answered.
Angela looked towards the staircase and shook her head. She turned and walked back into the kitchen, leaving Itachi sitting alone in the living room.
--
The District Attorney, Zack Acres, paced back and forth in his office, muttering to himself. It can't be true, can it? It has to be, how else could they have known? But it doesn't make any sense, it just can't be true.
"Sir?"
Acres jumped at the sound of his secretary's voice. He looked towards his office door to see her sticking her head in.
"Yes? What is it?" He asked her sharply.
"Police chief Sykes is here to see you, Sir."
Sykes? Acres smiled.
"Good, let him in."
The secretary moved her head back into the other room and fully opened the door.
A tall Japanese man wearing a black trench coat entered the room. His cold brown eyes hidden behind black sunglasses. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his black glove clad hands. A small bulge where he always wore a small ring in his left glove was noticeable through his left glove. His strange scarlet hair cut short, but still came down to his eyebrows. Sykes always insisted that his dark red hair was completely natural, but many people had their doubts.
Acres never did like Sykes, and often avoided working with him as often as possible.
"Chief Sykes, it is so good to have you here today." Acres said to the silent man.
"Yes, yes. Why did you call me here?" Asked Sykes.
Acres did all he could to resist scowling at the red-headed man. He forced a smile to his face, "yes…well…I think I may have some information for you about what has happened these past few weeks."
"Are you talking about the disappearances, Acres?"
"Yes, yes exactly. You see those men were acquaintances of mine. Before the night they went missing they came to me and gave me some information…"
"If you have had information on this case, then why wait until now to say anything?" Sykes asked aggressively. "I could have you arrested right here and now for withholding information."
"W-well, yes I kn-know that you would be in your right to do so, but please hear me out. That night, they strongly opposed me telling anyone about what they said. The information I am about to tell you is hard to believe, so please bare with me."
"Very well, enlighten me." Sykes' voice was heavy with sarcasm.
Acres didn't try to hide hid scowl.
"Okay, well…um…like I said the night before they went missing they came to me and told me some things. At first I believed it to be nothing more than drunken talk. Until they were gone.
That night they told me the location of a certain 'item', and told me that people were trying to get their hands on whatever it is."
"A 'certain item'?" Acres nodded, "Did they happen to tell you what that something is?"
"Well…no, they didn't."
Sykes shook his head. He reached his hand into his coat pocket and took out a small cloth. He took of his glasses and began to clean them.
"Is that all?" He asked nonchalantly.
"Well, when I asked who would be after what they were keeping hidden. They merely said 'The Dawn is coming." Answered Acres.
"The dawn is coming?" Acres nodded again.
"Yes. They also asked me to go to the location take what is there and relocate it in case the People have discovered its location. I was planning on going tonight and doing what they have asked of me. This is one of the main reasons I have asked you here today.
I fully believe that I may need a police escort to go to this location. These people might already know about me, they might try to kill me as well." Acres voice began to shake with fear, "We've all seen the pictures that were released to the public. No one really believes those men are still be alive after seeing those pictures. Can you really take the chance of some like that happening again?"
"Acres, cut the act. We both know that you don't care about what happened to those men. You only care about what happens to yourself." Sykes placed his glasses back over his cold eyes. "Next time you want to waste someone's time, I suggest that you use something less ridiculous."
Ridiculous! Acres completely forget everything about trying to be respectful to Sykes. His anger and extreme dislike of Sykes quickly got the better of him "How dare you! YOU THINK MY LIFE CAN JUST BE THROWN AWAY LIKE THAT? I AM TOO IMPORTANT A PERSON TO DIE RIGHT NOW."
Acres took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. "You will have men protect me, and you will stop these people before they even get close to me. I made a promise to those men that I would do what they asked and I will. All I am telling you to do is protect me along the way."
Sykes just stared as Acres, adjusting his glasses once again, "Please remind me, Acres. Since when have you had the authority to tell me what to do while in the middle of an investigation. Who are to tell me what I must do?
You think someone will come after you? Let me ask you something:" Sykes moved closer to Acres until their faces were only inches apart. "Why the hell would anyone come after someone as pathetic as you?"
Sykes turned towards the door and walked out of the room calmly, as if Acres had not lost his temper and yelled at him. Acres glared, wide-eyed, at Sykes' back.
Acres' secretary slowly walked into the room, "Sir? Are you alright? Do you need anything?" She asked.
Acres tried to calm himself down, "No, thank you, Ms. Rice, but I am fine." He lied.
The rest of Acres' day went by extremely slowly. He couldn't get the last conversation he had with the two men out of his head, it just kept playing over and over again. No matter what he tried to think of to get to out, it stayed in his head; they stayed and haunted him throughout the day.
After what seemed like a lifetime his wristwatch's alarm went off, signaling the end of his workday. He said his goodbyes to his secretary and to the elderly doorman as he went into the parking lot to start-up his car.
On the way home his mind drifted again to the night he last saw the two men.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Acres asked to the two men next to him, chugging down the drinks. "Are you guys moving or something?"
"No, damn it Zack, listen." Said Kyle Jenson, the man sitting to his right.
"Yeah yeah, whatever," Acres replied with a drunken drawl. "So what were you saying?"
"We need you to do somethin' for us."
"Why me? Don't you guys have someone else to do it for you?" he asked the two men.
The man to his left, Alex Reyes, spoke up, "Nah, we ain't got anyone with the kind of influence you got. That's why it's got to be you."
"Look, you just go to understand that pretty soon we'll be gone." Answered Kyle.
"Gone? So where are you guys going?"Acres asked.
The two men gave each other a worried look that Acres failed to notice, "Not really far, you'll see soon enough."
"What the hell does that mean? You guys are acting like you're going to die or something." Acres let out a small laugh at his small joke.
The two men gave each other a worried look again, this one Acres did notice.
"What the hell are you guys smoking? You guys actually think someone's going to come after you? Jesus Christ, you guys must be more wasted than I am."
"Damn it, Acres, just shut up and listen." Shouted Alex, luckily for them the noise around the bar drowned out his voice.
"Fine, so you guys are going bye-bye than. Can I at least ask why?" asked Acres
The two men looked around the crowed bar to make sure no one was listening to what they were saying.
When they made sure they were safe to talk, Alex leaned in and said, "The Dawn is coming."
"Dawn?" Acres took out his phone and looked at the time, 12'00 flashed at him.
"Not that dawn!" Said Kyle in an extremely annoyed tone. "Look, point is: soon we'll be gone and we need you to do something for us. Will you?"
Acres looked back and forth between the two men, "Fine, whatever. What do you want me to do?"
Alex let out a huge smile and pulled out a piece of paper from his pants pocket, "Written on this piece of paper are directions, at this location is something we've been keeping hidden for the longest time. What we need you to do is go to this location, find what has been kept hidden there, take it, and put it in a safe location before They come after It.
Try to get the police to help if you can, I'm sure once we're gone they will be willing to help all they can. That's all, just go find it, take it, and put it somewhere else."
Acres took the piece of paper from Alex's hand, opened it, and read what was written on it. "The middle of the desert? What the hell do you have there?"
"We can't tell you that, you're just going to have to find out on your own. We've already stayed longer than we should have. Don't forget your promise, Acres, goodbye." Said Kyle
The two men got up from the bar and left the bar, leaving Acres to think about what they had just told him.
Acres pulled into his driveway and killed the motor, but didn't get out. He sat there thinking about what to do next.
Should he go to the location without any type of protection? Would the two men forgive him if he just left whatever that thing was out in the desert?
He began to hit his head against the steering wheel.
He promised them that he would do what they asked of him, but was it really worth it. If he went then whoever took out the two men might come after him. He could die just by going.
He laid his head against the steering wheel, his forehead red and sore from where he had been hitting it.
God damn it! He finally made up his mind.
He took a deep breath and turned his car on once again. He didn't why he was going, he didn't even know why he had even agreed in the first place, but he did and he needed to keep his promise to the dead men.
He reached into his pocket and took out the piece of paper they had given him; looking at the direction for the first time since that night.
He followed the directions out of the city and onto a busy highway. After about a half hour he turned off onto an old dirt road.
He no longer saw the headlights of any other cars or any signs of life whatsoever. What the hell could those guys have put out in the middle of the desert? He thought.
He drove for a few hours before seeing what the note had specified: An old unused billboard with graffiti. He slowed his car to a stop and took another look at the directions. He let out a large sigh as he read: once you have reached the billboard take a sharp left.
He stepped on the gas and turned out into the desert. Acres tried his best not to get distracted by the various wild animals. On his right was a small red fox trying it's best to keep up with the car. On his left was a large owl apparently trying to catch its dinner. Cacti strewn throughout the desert stood tall as if guarding the path Acres drove through.
Acres looked down at the directions again and read: Continue driving until you hit 'IT' you will know when you see 'IT' once you arrive do what we have asked you. Once again we give you are thanks, all three of us.
Three? Who the hell is the third? Acres looked up to see if he could find 'IT', whatever 'IT' was.
As it turns out 'IT' wasn't all too hard to find. He continued to drive for only a few more minutes before coming to a large well-kept shack. In the small window of the shack he saw a lit candle flickering while someone or something moved around it. He slowed his car to a stop and sat in his seat staring at the shack.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped out of his car and slowly approached the shack. The thing inside wasn't making any move that indicated that it knew Acres was just outside.
Acres took another deep breath and knocked on the wooden door. "Hello, is anyone there?"
A loud crash came from inside, whoever was inside let out a small yell of pain before blowing out the candle by the window.
Acres knocked again and called out, "Look, whoever you are, I know you're there so you might as well open up. I was sent by Alex Reyes and Kyle Jenson to help with something."
He heard the person moving around inside, slowing moving towards the door. Acres stepped back a little bit as the door opened a fraction of a bit.
"Are you really here to help?" Asked a small voice.
Acres looked at the petite face of the young girl that looked out from inside the shack. What the hell is a young girl doing out in the middle of a desert?
"Yes, Kyle and Alex asked me to come here and help."
"If that's true then where are they?"
Acres was speechless for a second, did this girl really not know what happened to the two men?
"They're gone." He said simply.
"Gone? You mean dead." It wasn't a question. Acres was a little put off by how emotionless she said it.
"Yes."
"How do I know you weren't the one who did it?" she asked.
"Well...I…uh…" Acres racked his brain trying to find a reasonable answer to the girl's question, but couldn't found one. "Well, I-I guess you don't."
The girl looked at him for a second before closing the door, "Wait one second."
Acres heard the girl moving stuff around inside the shack for a few minutes before opening the door again.
"Please, come in."
Acres just stared at the girl in surprise. "Are you serious? You're gonna let me in even I just said I might have been the one to kill Alex and Kyle?"
The girl nodded, "If you were the one who did them in then you would have lied outright."
"How do you know that I wasn't acting or something?"
"Just trust me when I say I know. Now, please, come in from the cold night."
The girl opened the door farther so Acres could walk passed her and into the shack.
The inside of the shack didn't have much room to move, just a small pathway within the clutter that leads from her bed to the door. Every other inch of the small room was covered in dressers, garbage, and what looked like scrolls.
"So, what did those two ask you to do exactly?"
"Well, they told me to come here, pick something up, and move it to a secure location so that whoever was after it couldn't find it." He said looking around the room trying to see if there was anything that be deemed important.
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, so what was it they wanted me to take?"
"Are you really that dense" She replied with a hint a disbelief in her voice.
"What?"
"Wow, you really are aren't you? They asked you to find something here, right?" Acres nodded. "Well, what here do you see that someone might want?"
She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, maybe it was but Acres didn't understand. And his face must have shown it.
"God, you really are dense. It's me, you moron."
Acres looked at the girl with surprise plastered all over his face, "You?" The girl nodded, "If that's true then what reason would they have for keeping you here, what makes you so god damn special that people would want to kill over."
The girl looked at with passive eyes, as if he were talking about what he did at the office earlier that day. "I still don't know if I can trust you with that info. The other two might have trusted you with hiding me again, but I don't know a thing about you so let's just go so I can go back to my things.
So where are you gonna take me?"
Acres just stared at the strange girl in front of him. She didn't seem to care that two men had died to protect her. She was acting like it was a normal everyday thing.
"I still don't know I just came here to see what they wanted me to relocate and keep safe." Acres replied uncertainly.
"Is that so?" Acres nodded, "Well, then I think that you had better think of a place fast before someone realizes you came here."
"Who would know to follow me?"
"Did you tell anyone about coming here?"
"Well...I did tell one person," He said remembering his conversation with Sykes. "But he didn't seem to think what I was saying was important enough for him."
"Well, as long as no one knows you're here I guess you can take your time. Just be quick about it." The girl smiled and went to lie in her bed.
"Right," He whispered back. "Well, while I do that I am going to go back to my home. Maybe it would be better if you came with me instead of staying here."
The Girl scoffed, "Yeah right, you want to bring me closer to the guys after me huh? No thank you!"
Acres sighed, "Fine with me if you want to stay here a few more days."
The girl waved goodbye to him as he walked out of the small shack. Acres walked over to his car thinking over what the two men had asked him to do. What was so important about that girl that she had to be hidden away like this?
"Well well, this is indeed an interesting place to hide someone."
Acres quickly spun his head around to see two strangely dressed men standing before him. The one who spoke was a tall skinny blonde man with a slight feminine look about him; His long hair pulled back into a pony tail, except for a large bang which covered his right eye. The other was large, but his body stooped over, making it seem as if he was shorter than the blonde, the bottom half of his face covered by a black cloth, showing only his glaring eyes and his corn-rolled head. Both were wearing long black cloaks decorated with red clouds.
"Who the hell are you?" Asked Acres, his voice strained with shock and surprise.
"Us?" Said the blonde man. "We came for the girl inside."
"Deidara," Said the other man, his voice extremely rough. "We do not have time for this. Just kill him and let's go."
Acres froze at the talk of them killing him, and the men talking about it so easily.
"Of course, Sasori-Sama, I know how you hate to wait. Why don't you go on ahead and take the girl? Killing this man won't take long."
Sasori looked up at Deidara and simply nodded, before beginning to walk towards the shack.
Acres snapped out of his state of shock and ran to stop the strange man from entering the shack and taking the girl. A sharp pain hit his stomach as Acres was thrown back.
Acres groaned as he stumbled up to his feet. A cold hand gripped his throat and forced him down again. Deidara's grip on his throat seemed like cold iron. Acres felt a large scar cut across Deidara's hand open as moisture dripped down his throat.
"I can't have you messing with our business, but thanks for leading us here."
Deidara reached into his cloak and pulled out a small knife, "not a very artistic kill, but I guess it'll have to do for now."
Acres eyes widened as Deidara raised the knife above his head, his scream cut off as the hand on his throat tightened.
A high-pitched scream cut through the night air, Acres recognized the voice of the girl he had just met. "Hehe, looks like my partner found what we were looking for."
Acres looked over to the shack to see the other man carrying the girl over his shoulder like a piece of luggage. It didn't seem as if she put up much of a fight against him.
A massive pain shot through his Acres' body as cold steel slid through his throat. Blood spilled for the cut, covering Deidara's cloak in a red rain of blood. Acres' vision began to dim, his breathing nothing more than coughs forcing more blood out. His body grew cold and his consciousness began to fade.
Deidara held onto his body until it became limp then just threw it aside, Zetsu will clean up as soon as they left.
"Deidara, let's go. We have nothing more to do here."
The two men seemingly disappeared into the night air. Leaving Acres cold body lying in a growing pool of blood. No one was there to see the blood flow down a growing hole beneath Acres' body. Or the green hand reach up from the hole and drag the body down into its dark depths. No one was there to hear as the sound of crunching bones filled the night air.