The city was bustling as usual. The constant flow of people seemed virtually uninteresting and uninterrupted. This wasn't entirely true. There were many interesting things in the crowd below. There was a street performer juggling billiard balls for spare change, an old woman singing an old lullaby to her distraught grandchild, and a small girl picking a business man's pocket with a disturbing amount of skill. While these were interesting things, they were nothing compared to what was going on in front of the tea shop. A tall man dressed in a sleek black suit, and a white fedora was holding a conversation with a small round man in a tweed jacket. To most people, the only interesting things about these men were what they were wearing. After all, who wore a tweed jacket anymore? The person, who found them interesting, was the very person they were discussing.
"Were you followed?" The tall man hissed, his eyes darting around behind his dark sunglasses.
"No, I lost her down at the pier," The small man insisted proudly, sticking his thin pointed nose into the air.
The taller of the two looked skeptical, but decided not to question it. Glancing over his shoulder silently, he shook his head.
"As it turns out the good Doctor left behind a lot more than he thought."
"Is that so? Did they happen to find the Key to that old grandfather clock you found?"
"Yup. It's somewhere in Okinawa."
"Okinawa huh? That's a long way to go for a key, is it that valuable?"
"Of course it's that valuable you idiot!" The taller man roared smacking his portly counterpart across the top of his head.
"Ouch! Alright, I'm sorry. I forgot how much this clock means to you."
"You are such an idiot."
"So where in Okinawa is it?"
"Aguni, in the Shimanjiri District."
"I see. When do we leave?"
"As soon as possible. We can't risk a Dealer getting there first and buying it for the Collectors."
This was a strange conversation to anyone listening, but it was worth hearing if you understood the code. These two men were known as Sai and Rei. These were not their real names, but names they were given to protect their families. They were members of an organization known as The Foundation. It was a group made up of former Syndicate members who wanted to wipe humans off the face of the Earth. To do this, they required the strongest contractor who ever lived; The Black Reaper. This was the Key. He had disappeared thirty years ago and the Foundation had been trying to locate him ever since. They had lost plenty of members in the search. Some done in by the Reaper himself and other's by an unknown organization. They were the Collectors. Their operatives were known as Antique Dealers or Dealers for short. Ever since the Foundation had gotten its hands on Izanami, the aforementioned Grandfather Clock, the Collectors had been trying desperately to find The Black Reaper. After years of searching and aggravation this news was a relief to hear. There had been no word on the Reaper since the capture of Izanami, so the prospect of finding him in Okinawa was too good to pass up.
Rei froze suddenly, his unseen eyes falling on a teenage boy. He had been standing on the curb since the two had arrived. He hadn't really thought anything of the boy, assuming her was just some brat who'd run away from home, but something about the boy was definitely off. He was tall and lean with deep red hair that gave off flashes of orange whenever the lights from the traffic hit it. He had on a pair of tight black pants and black and red high top sneakers. He wore a short sleeved red plaid shirt open over a black shirt despite the autumn chill in the air. His long fingers reached out of black fingerless gloves with red wristbands over then, and the tips rested lightly on the newspaper box in front of him.
Turning quickly Rei looked up at the building above him. There was something up there, and next to it sat a familiar blue and white blob. He rushed at the boy grabbing him by the collar.
"What are you doing!?" Sai yelped in shock.
Rei stared into the boys emotionless gray eyes in horror. The boy's hand rose slowly to his face. He placed one finger on his bottom eye lid and pulled it down in a motion he had seen his Contractor do hundreds of times, and stuck his tongue out at the man.
"Got cha," he said blankly.
"He's a doll!" Rei roared tossing the boy to the pavement.
The crowd parted in shock as the teen landed on his back without a sound. Before they could register what the man had said, he and his counterpart were rushing down the sidewalk as fast as they could.
A scream erupted soon after as a woman pointed up at the building. A girl was plummeting toward the Earth, and had apparently jumped from the top of the tea shop. The scream was more of shock then horror, seeing as the building was only two floors and a small attic. The girl landed easily and bolted down the sidewalk after the men.
"BONES!" She screamed over her shoulder.
The Doll, who was known as Bones, rolled back onto his shoulders and rocked forward quickly propelling himself onto his feet. He raced after the girl dutifully, his long stride allowing him to catch up relatively short time.
"Yes?" He asked emotionlessly, seemingly unaffected by the physical exertion.
"Get a hold of the Commander, I'll handle these two!" She ordered.
The Doll nodded shortly before stopping cold, to the amazement of the old woman he had been about to mow down. After a brief pause, he remembered an order he had previously been given and bowed quickly.
"I'm sorry ma'am. If you'll excuse me," he said before stepping around her and walking toward a convenience store.
The girl made her way through the crowd quickly, until she was blocked by a crowd waiting for the crosswalk.
"Story of my LIFE!" she screamed angrily struggling through the crowd.
She rolled into the street as she broke through. A car honked loudly as it bore down on her. She tucked into a ball in the center of the street and gritted her teeth as the car passed over her. She got up quickly and rushed across the road. She didn't have time for this. If those two got away the entire Foundation would know about this. She couldn't be sure they already didn't, but there was still a chance. She rounded a corner into an alley and lurched to a stop. Her feet wouldn't move. Looking down she swore under her breath. Her boots were locked in the concrete beneath her.
"Well, that went well," Sai grinned happily.
"Shut up you idiot," Rei growled punching the wall of the alley repeatedly.
"Humph, how rude," Said grumbled walking up to the girl.
He looked her over silently. Her black hair was held in two pony tails at the nape of her neck and the bottom edges of the ponytails as well as her bangs were dyed blood red. She wore a red long-sleeved red turtleneck that ended above her navel, and a pair of tight black jeans. She kept her nails long and painted black with red glitter and wore black fingerless gloves.
"Aren't you a little young to be wearing this?" He sighed shaking his head.
He fell back as she punched him in the throat.
"I'm eighteen you jerk!" She roared, leaning forward as far as she could while trying to punch him.
Rei laughed as he finished paying his price. His hands bled as he attempted to brush fragments of the wall out of them.
"So who do we have here? A dealer?"
"No! Why would you think that!? CLEARLY I'm a travelling saleswoman. Would you like to buy a subscription to 'No Duh Weakly'?" She asked narrowing her gray eyes at him.
"Wow really? I'd never heard of that magazine," Sai marveled.
The two Contractors looked at him in a mixture of annoyance and disbelief.
"Please tell me he's a human," the girl sighed.
"Nope. I'm starting to think his real price is being an idiot."
"Hey!" Sai cried furrowing his brow, "That was uncalled for!"
The two jumped as a black fog rolled into the alley.
"What the-?" Rei began looking to the girl.
Her eyes had the trademark blue ring around them as her pupils flashed red. Before they could react the fog enveloped them. They screamed in terror as the girl's power enveloped them. She sighed as she worked her foot out of her boots.
"You two really are idiots. You can't just capture someone's feet. They can still escape and attack you. It also irritated people when they have to walk around in their socks," she spat stepping into the fog.
She smiled down at the now silent men.
"You like my ability? We call it a Terror Fog. It's a really interesting thing to watch, since I literally scare you to death. Amazing right? Hm? What's that? Oh, you're already dead. What a waste of an explanation," she huffed turning to look at the trash can next to her as the fog receded.
The observation specter watched her silently. She wrinkled her nose at him. She hated Bones, or rather all Dolls in general. She found them creepy and annoying.
"See about getting me some new boots or something," she snapped angrily.
The specter disappeared silently and she shuddered. She then reached for her bag, only to find she had dropped it somewhere during the chase. She rummaged around in the garbage before settling on an old rope. She swung it a few times, before beginning to skip rope.
"Two little Dickie birds sitting on the wall. One named Peter, one named Paul. Fly away Peter. Fly away Paul. Don't come back till your birthday's called. January. February. March, April, May. June, July and August, September's in the way. October. November. December hears the call. Now fly away, fly away, fly away all."
"She wants new boots," Bones said taking his hands off the spoon.
The Commander smiled warmly at the Doll.
"We'll see what we can do about that, Marshall," She said softly.
As usual, the boy didn't stir at the mention of his name. He had long forgotten his days of being human, and nothing his mother did was going to bring it back. She sighed and stirred her coffee.
"So, the Red Terror against the Black Reaper… The damage is going to be immense. Let us hope our little Mamiya can handle it," she smirked.