When the Specialists arrived at their desired destination, they had told the escort to pick them up at 10:05. They started their walk in the busy roads of Los Angeles talking amongst themselves and looking at the restaurants around. Battery, however, had a restaurant in mind since she has an old family friend running the place. So after a bit of arguing, they decided to go to the place she suggested.
"I remember a girl named Frida as a kid. When I was in middle school, she was being bullied a lot. Luckily, I was her savior whenever in need. Though, before when I had to leave to transfer because of my military status, Frida told me that one day she'll open up a restaurant because of her passion for cooking. Look at her now, she's famous as a culinary chef around the world!" she explained to Katsumi. The others were already aware of this since she had told them before.
"Ah, I remember trying to cook. Didn't do so well after that..." Katsumi stated, receiving chuckles from the others.
"Don't worry, I can't really cook too," Nomad responded. After they arrived to the restaurant, a short woman came out from the back, who noticed Battery quickly.
"ERIN~" she yelled excitedly which received weird looks from a few customers. The young woman ran up and hugged the War Machine-wielding Specialist.
"Oh man, hey Frida. You seem to be doing well," Battery chuckled. The two best friends released from the hug, "I haven't seen you for, what, two years!"
"Hehe, yeah...Oh, a famous chef came to the restaurant last week and said that she liked the food! I was so nervous when she was here but she reassured my thoughts about what I cooked here along with the other chefs...," Frida trailed off when she saw the rest of them, "Oh! I didn't see you guys there."
Firebreak blushed at the smaller girl's timidness and blabbering when she realized that they arrived to eat there. "I-It's fine."
Ruin took notice of the Czech, smirked a bit, and teased. "You look like you're starting to like her~"
"Oh shut up!"
"Well, let's get you guys to your table. Since you guys are special guests, I'm going to give you guys one of the rooms people would usually reserve," she stated, leading them to an elevator that would take them upstairs. They followed her talking amongst themselves. When they got to their room, they settled into the comfortable seats and ordered their drinks. The chef went and came back with their respected drinks. Frida then asked them what they wanted to eat. Some of them ordered food according to their ethnic background. For example, Katsumi ordered motsunabe and Outrider getting feijoada.
"Okay, I'll be right back with your food," Frida grinned and left the room to get the orders in. About 15 minutes later, their food arrived. Frida walked in with four of their meals on both of her arms and left They talked to each other about upcoming missions and introductions to their work force. Several minutes later, the rest of their food arrived. The Specialists started to eat, enjoying their food.
While they were eating, Katsumi stopped because of a headache that surged through her head. These headaches were sometimes caused by memory flashes of dying family members or her depression from high school which is 94.5% healed from. She looked in her bag for the pills to suppress that but forgot they were back in her dorm.
"Hey, are you okay?" Firebreak asked her worriedly. Katsumi looked up from him and smiled assuringly.
"I'm fine. It went away."
"Are you sure? I can ask Prophet when we get back if you'd like..."
"Hejek, I said I was alright. Don't worry, I'm a big girl. I can handle it."
He looked at her then sighed. It was quiet among themselves before Seraph spoke up.
"Alright. Say, are you going to eat all of that?"
"What do you mean, my motsunabe? Yeah, it's not like I ate that before. Besides, I ate things like this before when I was still living in Japan." They all overheard her and almost gawked at her response. She looked back.
Nomad then spoke up almost in a whisper. "But...but that's big..."
"What? Just because I look like this doesn't mean I don't eat a lot. I haven't ate motsunabe in a long time. Jesus, you guys are so judgmental."
"Oh," they all said. They then laughed it off, except for Seraph, and went back to eating their food and talking about stuff for the past 2 hours there. After they were done, Battery paid and tipped for the restaurant-as well as Frida-for the excellent service. As they were walking out, Frida ran after them with a paper in her hand.
"Thank you for coming, Erin and the rest of you. I hope you stay safe," Frida said. She walked up to Firebreak.
"Oh, and here's my number, Krystof," she muttered to him under tomato-red face. He blushed wildly as he put the little piece of paper in his pocketwhile Katsumi and Ruin laughed amongst themselves.
"HA! I called it, you owe me $5 now," Ruin exclaimed. The soon-to-be katana-wielding girl rolled her eyes, giving him the five dollars they had betted on earlier. The others chuckled at the three, even Seraph made a slight snicker. They all waved goodbye to Frida and went to go find their escort at the place they were to meet up.
As they walked to their escort, Katsumi saw a crying child sitting alone with a blanket and backpack on her. She stopped in her tracks and saw the crying figure. The others walked ahead, not noticing she stopped.
"Hey, are you okay?" she asked. The teenaged girl with the same amber eyes Katsumi had in high school looked up at her then to her left and got up quickly, running quickly away. Katsumi looked at the direction the girl looked and saw a group of bad-looking people coming her way. She then started running off quickly to the girl.
The teenage girl ran past the Specialists, soon seeing Katsumi run past them. They then saw the bad-looking group run after the two. The Specialists saw them, running after them as well. The girl was running into an intersection of the bad part of the city, not noticing the incoming car that was associated with the groupa coming near. Katsumi stopped to look for the girl and then found her standing on the crosswalk, frozen. The new Specialist saw her and ran. The incoming car was nearing the teenager as she was readying herself to embrace death.
"HEY KID, WATCH OUT!" Katsumi yelled, getting in front of her. She put her hands out as her eyes flashed crimson red. The car got immediately stopped at the grasp of the Japanese-Canadian woman, who was holding it with her bare hands. She then pushed it back with a slightly gentle push. The Specialists, who were looking afar where they weren't seen, awed at the inhuman grasp.
"What the fuck you bitch?!" the driver yelled, seeing his comrades running towards them. The mysterious group of attackers surrounded the car and the two females.
"Whatever you want with this child, it must be for sick purposes. Leave," Katsumi ordered looking around. "Who are you guys anyways?" A figure approached from the shadows, sultry eyes looking her down. Katsumi recognized those eyes and scowled angrily, the child behind her cowering behind her legs.
"That girl there," the figure said with a Cinder Fall-sounding voice, "is our test subject. To test out technologies far beyond your reach, Katsu-bitch."
"Hey, at least I didn't sleep with 10 guys in high school, you whore. Good thing Damien broke up with you after he found out. It was only two days!" Katsumi barked at the woman in the red- dress, "I don't have time for your mind games, Lilith." She heard the Specialists and the child ooh'ed at her statement.
"Lilith...I knew this girl from middle school...Never liked her though," Ruin whispered to Battery. She looked at him and back at the upcoming fight. Katsumi pulled out a combat knife from under her sneakers. Lilith laughed at it as she took out a MR6 and pointed it at the latter.
"Give us the girl now," Lilith ordered. Katsumi shook her head. She saw the other Specialists.
"Go over to them," Katsumi gently told the teenager who ran into Firebreak's arms and cried. She looked at them, signaling them to contact police or even the FBI. Since they did have contact with them, Battery called them immediately. They heard police sirens ringing though they were far. Lilith circled Katsumi, inspecting her. She stopped and shot the MR6 which Katsumi immediately dodged. Katsumi flipped backwards and killed one of the thugs with a neck twist, taking his gun. She shot it three times before Lilith ran towards her and almost kicked her in the head.
Katsumi blocked the kick with her right arm, shooting the gun. As it ran out of ammo, Katsumi yelled, "Gun!" Seraph, who brought a pistol with her, threw it from the distance the Specialists stood at.
"Here!" Seraph yelled. Katsumi saw it in the air as well as Lilith, who was determined to get it out of her enemy's hand. Katsumi knew what Lilith was going to do and kicked her in the gut. She caught the gun inspecting it.
"Marshal 16? Nice," Katsumi mutters to herself. "Thank you Seraph!" The Annihilator-wielding Specialist put a slight thumbs-up. Ruin and Battery jumped into the fight and beat down most of the thugs to support the new Specialist. Katsumi let out a barrage of kicks and punches which Lilith could barely dodge. She then turned around to get her knife out to slash her throat but was punched by a metallic hand. Luckily, she blocked the attack, barely. Katsumi sat up as she saw H.I.V.E. pods surrounding Lilith, seeing her enemy control them with her hands.
"How?" Katsumi whispered. Lilith smirked and threw an H.I.V.E. attack at her. She got up and ran from it, putting on a H.I.V.E. protection bracelet she was given by her uncle's gay best friend, Mercury, who was a scientist for Black Ops. She blocked the next three waves of attacks from Lilith before going all tank and tackling the H.I.V.E.-wielding woman, taking off the metallic gauntlets. Lilith pried Katsumi off of her and bitch-slapped her. Hard. Katsumi, who was on the ground, tried to get up but she couldn't because of the shock of the slap which almost knocked her out. Lilith took this to her advantage. She took Katsumi's knife, readied it against her heart, and held her throat Katsumi looked at Lilith with angry amber-eyes while struggling to breathe. She only got an evil smirk. Lilith raised the knife. The Specialist closed her eyes to embrace pain; even death.
Swoosh. Stab.
Katsumi opened her eyes to see Lilith impaled in the throat then to her heart with twin blades. The grip of her throat was gone as she gasped for air. The now-dead mistress fell to the ground, showing no signs of life or struggle. Her vision recovered from the blur to see Spectre standing there, blood trickling down his Ripper.
"Spectre...?" Great, my Knight-in-Shining-Armor has to be that stealthy-ass dude. What is my life. What is it?
"Get up," he muttered to her, hesitantly holding out his hand to pick her up from the ground. She took it, standing up herself.
"Thank you," she thanked him awkwardly, chuckling slightly as she rubbed the back of her neck.
Specter looked at her through his helmet. "Lilith Oliver was one of my contractor's targets after all. Illegal projects against people. Technology. The possible use of the Deep Web to do these things. You can name it." He looked down as he put two fingers near his ear.
Static. "...I have liquidated the target...Don't worry, the Specialist under the callsign 'Vixen' is here, safe...Yes sir, thank you."
"Who was that?" she asked, looking back at the faces of the Specialists and the small child there. They held a look of the slightest fright, worry, anger, or neutralness.
"That was your new boss." He held up a small holographic tablet, doing something on there. Katsumi stood there in silence as she heard FBI and police officers arriving. She looked in the direction of the noise, but when she turned back to find Spectre, he was gone. Outrider walked up to her as the new Specialist collapsed in her arms. A group of military officials arrived as well.
"Katsumi! Arianna!" a familiar voice called out to her and to, possibly, the teenager. She looked up to see her uncle get hugged by the child she saved.
"Arianna?" she asked him. The child ran to Katsumi quickly and hugged her tightly. She was confused on why the child she saved earlier was hugging her. She looked at Uncle Thomas who was smiling at the duo.
"Arianna there is your little sister, Katsumi. Don't you remember her?"
"I don't remember having a sibling named-" Katsumi stopped. She then a flash of a memory of her in the hospital with her mother's last child. Most of her family members crowded in the room, spilling into the hallway.
"Kat-Kat, you're going to be a good big sister to another sibling, right?"
"I promise, mommy. She's pretty."
A eight-year old Katsumi peered at the new sibling that laid sleeping in her mother's arms. The three other siblings looked happy and curious of the new child.
The family laughed in joy. Her father looked at his wife. "Let's name this new one Arianna. The holy girl."
Katsumi teared up and hugged the 15-year old tightly. "I can't believe it; I have a lost sibling."
"H-Hi Onee-chan!" Arianna said. Katsumi chuckled as she wiped tears from her face.
"Thank god. I-I thought I lost you," the woman whispered into her sister's hair. After the confrontation with officials, catching up after so many years lost, and taking the H.I.V.E. controlling gauntlets with her, the Specialists soon returned to their Living Quarters, tired. Katsumi staggered behind, rubbing her bandaged arm. She said goodbye to the rest of the Specialists who went to their respective rooms, sitting down in the lobby's chair. The dimmed lights and piano music playing softly in the background made it comforting for her. Her figure sunk into a chair with a pillow, eyes closing. She dropped the gauntlets.
So...sleepy...
"Hey," Spectre called out. She gasped loudly and opened her eyes to see the hooded figure with his arms crossed. Katsumi stood up from her seat looking with an questioned expression.
"What...what do you want with me?" she asked not knowing that she was backing up into a wall. He walked over to her and put an arm on the wall onto her right. She saw the same smirk he had given her earlier before she left for the restaurant.
"Nothing. Just seeing if you're...hmm...compatible as a partner. I don't know why Command told me that you would be, so I'm checking," he murmured to her. He was close enough to the point where he smelled of the metallic scent of blood and...lavender? Katsumi whimpered as discreetly as she could. He looked at her for a few more seconds before pushing off of her, leaving her a scared, blushing mess. Although she couldn't see most of his face except for his mouth, she could tell he winked. Seemed out of place of an assassin, though, she started thinking it was a way to scare someone.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Welcome to the team, rookie," he sneered in her direction before walking away. As he walked away to his dorm, Katsumi teared up the slightest and slid down the wall.
"Why," She muttered quietly in the empty halls of the dorms the ten Specialists resided. "Why does this happen to me now?"
Katsumi got up from her spot after a few minutes of crying to herself. As she entered her room, she glanced at Spectre's dorm door next to hers. She furrowed her eyebrows at it and entered her room to brush her teeth and sleep. She turned off the light of her room and pulled the soft blanket over her. The woman tried to get comfortable sleeping but couldn't after her eerie encounter with Spectre the previous night. For hours she was stirring and moving around uneasily in her sleep.
Katsumi woke up slowly, and tiredly, and glanced at the clock.
5:57 A.M.
She turned to greet the sunlight coming up, sitting straight in her bed. "Great, I'm going to have nightmares because of Spectre," she sighed sarcastically to herself. Katsumi then got out of bed to go to her bathroom. After she showered and got ready with her uniform on, she looked at the faded scars from cutting herself. Yes, she did cut herself before but that was in the past. Katsumi looked at the combat knife that laid on her desk. She turned to grab it though she pulled back. Before she left to go down and get breakfast with the others, she looked at the scars again and at the clock, reading 6:57. The blade-wielder sighed and looked up.
"What wil I do?"
Goddammit I feel like I'm making Spectre OOC. Anyways, next chapter will be coming from Katsumi's and Spectre's POVs.
By the way, I'll start using Vixen and Katsumi at the same time but not always.
