1—Brooklyn Demons—1

I had met them in a simple way—simple enough for a shinigami, I suppose. It was a gloomy night, and my father had sent me to find partners on my own, having been discouraged after the attempts to find one for me. I had asked around and soon I was hearing a recurring rumor—one about two girls living on the streets of Brooklyn, and apparently someone had seen one of them transform into a weapon. I decided to check it out, and I left for Brooklyn immediately. The sidewalk rose up to meet Beelzebub's wheels and I touched down, retracting the skateboard into my palm. The alleys were clouded over with a thick fog—or was that cigarette smoke?—and I coughed into my handkerchief quietly. I had landed in a designated bad spot of Brooklyn, and I was determined that the rumored girls had to be in one of the many side streets. I started walking down the street slowly and cautiously, making sure to pull out my golden pocket watch—bait—once and a while, pretending to check the time. I did this every time I passed an alleyway. Just when I was about to give up and return to Death City empty-handed, I heard a hushed whisper behind me suddenly. I turned my head only slightly, stopping to stand next to a street lamp, pretending to wait for a ride.

"Oi, look at that guy… Did you see that watch he had on 'im?"

"Yeah, let's go mug 'im!"

"Shh, quiet down, he'll see us!"

I tapped my foot 'impatiently', waiting for my 'ride' still. This was it. I turned and cursed, throwing my watch to the ground, pretending to be angry. It worked, and the fish took the bait quite quickly. "Excuse me sir, you seem to have dropped this…" I looked up to meet a pair of dark blue eyes staring down onto my face. It was a girl, taller than me, with dirty blonde hair that grew down to her waist. There was a smirk plastered on her face, and a cigarette was placed between her lips. She held my watch in her hand, apparently holding it out to me—I knew she wasn't really going to hand it over again. "He's not answering. Patti, let's just get this over with." The tall girl said, without looking at the other girl. This one was shorter, but still taller than me, with bright blue eyes and blonde hair that pointed out just below her chin. She nodded and there was a pink flash of light. I strained my eyes against the brightness, and when I opened them, there was a pistol held in front of my face, the taller girl holding it in one hand—her other hand already holding my watch. So the rumors were true. This girl could transform into a weapon. "Hand over all of your money, and I won't shoot." The taller girl warned, staring at me with the smirk still on her face.

"I just have one question first, if you'll let me." I said calmly, looking the girl straight in the face.

She obviously did not like the way I acted so brave—under the pressure of the gun, especially. "Yeah, what is it?" She lowered the pistol slightly, still aiming it at my face.

"That girl transformed into a gun just now… Can you do that, also?" I asked, frowning.

She looked surprised for a moment, then pushed the gun against my chest. "Yeah, what's it to you?"

I grinned now, considering possible escape scenarios, and how I was going to get these girls to join me as meister and weapons. "Here." I reached in my coat pocket and pulled out a 100-dollar bill, handing it to the taller girl. She took it in her hand, stared at it in disbelief for a while, and then stared back at me, the look of shock still slapped on her face by the bill. "Have a nice night." I smiled, and summoned Beelzebub, riding off into the night sky towards Death City.

The next night, I returned to Brooklyn just in time to hear some sort of shooting going on in a nearby warehouse. I skated over to the entrance, taking precise care to be quiet. When I leaned over to peer into the door, an amazing sight met me. There were the two girls, facing about twenty or thirty policemen. The chief of police was shouting at them, and before they knew what was happening, the taller girl disappeared into a flash of pink light. The light landed in the shorter girl's hand, transforming into a gun immediately, which the blonde girl aimed at the officers. One by one, they were all knocked senseless by pink blasts of wavelength. I watched the spectacle in amazement, until the last policeman finally fell to his knees and dropped to the ground. There was a five foot pile of them right out in front of me. This was as good a chance as I was to get. I stepped out into the warehouse, climbing over the policemen until I stood at the top of them, looking down at the girl and her gun below me. The blonde stared up at me with wide blue eyes, surprised to see me again. I could sense the surprise in the wavelength of the gun as well. Then, holding my hand out to them in a somewhat welcoming gesture, I began,

"Hello."