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Chapter Two:
~*~*~*~*~*~
Holy Order's building, Ky's office. The Swat Team members, Sol, Axl and Ky were gathered up, discussing the situation…
"Sh**! I can't believe were lost them!" Ace kicked the well fashioned wall; dark soot from his shoe remained on the wallpaper, "Oops!"
Ky comically gained a sweat drop, "Er- I was going to change the wallpaper anyway." He waved a hand, "Anyway, for all we know, Lady Baiken had been kidnapped by the Assassins, the question is, why?"
"I doubt it's for ransom, sir." The redhead from earlier spoke, "Why would they kidnap her Ladyship if it's just for ransom, I mean there are many others that are more valuable than her when it comes to money, right?"
Ace shot the redhead a hatred glare, "What's that supposed to mean, Cobra?"
"I mean that she's not just some girl that can be grabbed and demand a ransom for her return, they probably want something from her!" the redhead, known as Cobra, replied angrily, looking at the shorter brown-headed youth, "and stop barking at me, Ace."
"I'm not barking!" Ace shot back.
"Hell you are." Sol chuckled, whipped the smile off his face then turned to Kiske, "By the way, French Fry, you said this shrimp is special?" he pocked a thumb at Ace.
"That's ACE!" the youth shouted, eyes wide and pupils into cat-slit, "Ace Damon, damnit!"
The Swat Team scattered, fright washed over their faces.
"N-Now Ace! Calm down!" Cobra chuckled fearfully, stuttering an apology.
"Ace, please?" Sophie pleaded cutely, "Relax, okay?"
Sol gained a sweat drop, strange powerful aura was surrounding the young brown-headed boy, "Freaky…" he said bluntly.
Ace shot Sol a glare, "What did you say?" he hissed.
"I said you look freaky!" Sol growled, "Wanna make something of it?" he put up a fist.
Ace's hair began to ruffle on its own; it slowly got the color of red, then morphed into orange, then yellow and then turned silver white, forming a flame-like hair style, his brown eyes turned into hued grey, a dark color of blue colored his ears, they morphed into a triangular shape, almost like a cat ear, and his fingers outstretched, his nails turned into long clawed talons, an angry snarl echoed through his chest.
"Uh- Oh~!" Sophie whimpered, "Chase is at it again!"
"But Lady Baiken isn't here!" Cobra stuttered, "What are we gonna do?"
"Uh… beg for mercy?" Sophie suggested.
Ace, now who is a demon known as Chase, howled so loud, all of Ky's glass ornaments shattered.
Sol gained a bigger sweat drop, "Damn, now that's what I call really freaky…"
"Sol!" Axl yelled, "Stop making things worse!"
"So much for mister Demon blood!" the earlier blond from before muttered.
"Shut up, Cervantes! It's not like you've done anything to help!" Sophie growled.
"Gees! Sorry!"
Chase howled loud and then rammed running out of the door on his four feet…
"Aw Man! Not again!" Ky sighed, slapping his forehead.
"What's gotten into him?" Sol growled, confused.
"That was Ace's special ability." Sophie told, "He's originally Japanese with pure-demon blood."
"He possesses special psychic powers and he turns crazy when his demon side takes over." Cobra continued.
"And Lady Baiken is the only one who can cool him down." Cervantes shrugged.
"There goes our reputation…" Cobra muttered.
"Don't say that!" the girl slapped his shoulder.
Axl stared, "Hey you guys, don't you think we should go after him?"
"Heh… if you're that eager to commit suicide, go ahead!" Cobra chuckled, arms crossed.
"I don't know about you sissies, but I'm going." Sol hissed, "Who knows, he might be looking for your missing redhead."
"That is quite possible." Sophie pressed a finger to her chin, "Alright then, I'll go with you!" she smiled.
Sol muttered something to himself and walked ahead, so Sophie shrugged and followed.
Axl looked at Ky, and the young Knight sighed and followed them as well.
The Swat Team stood there for a while…
"Sh**… guess we have no other way, huh?" Cobra and Cervantes cursed in unity before staring at each other.
"What good is borrowing the tank if Lady Baiken isn't around?" the redhead muttered.
"Beats me, I guess we have to get her if we really want it to happen." The blond shrugged.
The team agreed and followed.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Ah!" pushed into a cellar, Baiken balanced herself, trying her best not to fall face first, she slid on the dirty floor with a nasty clunk, luckily the armor she was wearing protected her from any injures, she sat up and then glared back at the closing door, catching almost nothing but the faint glimpse of Venom's silver hair as he walked away.
"Cough! Uhh… glad you could make it…" a man spoke, soon followed but the sound of something dripping on the floor with a disgusting 'Splut!'
Recognizing the familiar, moaning voice, she turning her head around, the redheaded woman covered her mouth, suppressing a gasp, "Oh… Anji!" she stood and walked to his side, "Are you alive?" she asked, looking down at the weathered looking man.
The weary man shed a tiny smile despite his beaten condition.
Anji Mito, a well known fugitive that's on the run, as much as he is supposedly a mature, well, full-grown man, he is more likely a spoiled little boy, always running off into danger and never listening to those in control, he just liked living his life on the edge, well… at lease that's what Baiken thought of him, but seeing him now as nothing but an almost dead man in the middle of a damp, dirty old cellar only made her feel like yelling at him.
"I don't know if I should hit you or try to heal you." She sighed, her gloved hand caressing his injured face lovingly, "When I heard they had you, I was worried."
"Worried that I'd get hurt?" he smiled, eager to know.
"No~" she began, smirking, "I was worried you'd annoy them so much they'd have to go to the last resort they have and actually and shoot you." She taunted, "You baka, what were you thinking running off like that? That's why Japanese like us are highly protected!" she told.
"You're wrong." Anji began, "Cough!" blood gushed out of his mouth and a little droplet of goop crawled on his lips all the way down his chin like a little ugly red slug, "Uh… its people like me that are always locked up," He lightly frowned, "as for you, you already have your rights in freedom."
Highly disgusted from the offending blood, also insulted from his last comment, Baiken drew back her hand and gave a face, "Anji, how hard have they beaten you?"
"A hell lot, why?" he forced a grin.
"Baka!" Baiken glared, "How can you smile in a time like this? Do you even know what those people are going to do to us?"
"I won't –Cough!- let them touch you." Anji glared; a serious face that freaked her.
"I can fend for myself you moron, it's you that you should worry about!" she told.
"I'm fine!" the man pushed himself, sitting up, but then he coughed a few.
"Anji?" worried, the woman sat besides him, "You should stay still, we don't know how bad your injuries are." She soothed.
Looking at her with teary eyes, the Asian dancer nodded with a comforting smile, "I'm fine, really." He told, "I just got dust in my throat, that's all!"
The woman stared, sighed and then sat with her back to the wall, arms crossed.
Anji sighed as well and leaned his back to the wall, staring blankly at the ceiling.
It took a moment…
"What do you think they're going to do to us?" Anji asked quietly, turning his head a bit to look at her.
The woman shrugged, "I doubt they want ransom." She began, "Their leader, Venom, said something about asking me to do something for him." She told, "I just don't know what's going to happen if I said no, they're probably going to use you to put pressure on me." She looked at the dancer.
"Well, you know them better than I do, so maybe that's exactly what they'll do." The dancer looked at the ceiling.
"That's pretty much it." She shook her head, reached a hand back and pulled her hair, toying with the end of her crimson bangs, "Damn! Split ends!" she muttered.
Anji looked down at her and smiled, "Forgot to fix it today?"
"Ha ha, not funny." She muttered, "Shut up before I hurt you." She glared.
"Er- sure! Right! I know better than to insult a woman's crown!" he eyed away, "But I do like your hair, though." He dropped his gaze to his feet, faintly blushing.
The woman pouted, "You always say that…" she began curling her hair into a bun and then fixed it so it won't go loose.
"Well, it's not as shiny as always, are you feeling well?" he asked, "I read once that the glitterier it is the more it shows a woman's true health condition."
The redhead twitched, lightly blushing, "I'm fine…" she growled and then crossed her arms, looking away.
The dancer blushed a bit, "You're not wearing your armor today, are you?"
"Hn?" looking down at her chest, the woman realized that her torso armor was missing, "Damn it! Those morons must've taken it." She crossed her arms over her chest, blushing, the redheaded woman wore nothing under the armor but a simple turtle-neck suit, it was made of leather but hardly providing any protection.
The ebony-haired man smiled and scratched his head, "Sure is taking them long…"
"Who?"
"The assassins! What do you think they're doing right now?"
"Bah… probably studying some plan of how to kill us or something." The woman pouted, her arms hugging her knees to her chest, "I miss my morning coffee."
"I have my fans, do they count?" Anji grinned, pulling his fans from under his sleeves.
The redheaded woman blinked at the fans, "You just don't know when to quit, do you?" she knotted her brows, halfheartedly smiling.
Anji grinned wider then pulled himself up, standing despite the horrible kinks in his back, "It's better than sitting on my butt doing nothing." He smiled down at her and reached down a hand.
Accepting his hand, the man pulled her up, "So what are you going to do exactly?"
"The only thing I can do," he walked towards the door, "Dragon Chariot!" he smiled.
"Do you have enough tension?" she asked, "Because I know I don't, I'm beat." She sighed.
The man knelt down and turned his hands back, "Get on."
"HUH?" blushing beat red, the woman shook her hear violently, "No- Way! What would the guys think if they saw me on your back?" she cried, "It'd be humiliating!"
Anji paused, seemingly hurt.
The woman eased her frown, stared about the room, averting his now stern gaze.
It went quiet for a while…
The woman sighed and hesitantly perched herself on his back, blushing beat red, "If you grope me I swear I'll-"
"I wouldn't go that far." The man laughed, hoisting himself up, the redhead on his back, "Ready?"
Her arms curled around his neck, blinking, "Um, are you sure you can do this?" she asked, "I mean… aren't I- even just a little bit- heavy?"
The man paused, lightly blushing, he was going to answer but smothered it with a laugh and shook his head, he sheathed his hand in his long sleeve and took out a fan, playfully hitting the head of the fan on his forehead, "Ready?"
She bit her bottom lip and nodded.
Taking a step back, the man closed his eyes and frowned, concentrating on his needed summon, the redheaded woman blinked twice when the blue power erupted from the fan and engulfed them both in a giant ball of light, it was as if they were as light as feathered, something almost inhuman picked her up as if the man had vanished and she found herself sitting on something huge, blue-white with a magnificent, earth shaking, sky shattering roar, widening her lonely eye when the light faded, the woman looked down at what she was sitting on.
The Dragon was enormous, white blue and with a silken figure, she caressed her hand on the silken beast, it was as if she was running her fingers through an extremely fluffy thing. Suppressing a smile, the woman looked around her surroundings to realize that the prison no longer bounds them; they were up high in the sky and flying! Her other hand was still linked to something fleshy, bare and warm with cuts, scars and bruises.
"Cool, eh?" Anji chuckled, cross-legged, blushing and fanning himself while the woman still perched her arm on his neck.
Baiken slowly drew her arm off him and huffed, "Heights make my edgy." She muttered, scooting a bit closer to his body, her arms making their way under his arms, her hands flat on his breasts while her head rested on his spine.
If Anji was a statue, he would have crumbled. Feeling her hand right there on his chest made his heart pound so hard it hurt, "Uh… destination?" he managed to whisper, his eyes were fixed on the woman's hands where they rested on his chest.
Baiken was going to answer, that's when she noted how red his earlobes were, she smirked, her head on his back, she was able to read his reaction and the speed of his heartbeats was amusing her, "Hnn… I don't know." She purred, nuzzling his shoulder blades, "I don't recognize anything, we're probably out of town or something."
Eyes wide, jaws seemingly dislocated, brain shrieking 'System over heat!' Anji almost disengaged his Dragon, "Ah…" he breathed, hardly with enough brain had he tried to collect himself.
The woman smiled even wider and pressed herself even more, "hnn…" she purred again.
'Compose yourself, Damn it!' the dancer cried to himself, 'I have to land this thing, Now!' he looked around and found an empty street in an old dark alleyway, so he soared right down, "Hold on!" he managed to tell her.
The woman hugged him tight, readying for the seemingly rough landing.
About five feet about grown, the Dragon exploded into white smoke, sending the two rolling on the concrete street. Rolling and rolling, Anji grabbed the woman and tried to ease the fall, thankfully the impact wasn't all bad; they crashed into a bunch of empty cardboard boxes. Dust and smoke went up, but nether one of them moved for a minute…
~*~*~*~*~
Back at the Assassins:
"I see…" Venom said; a remote in hand, he clicked a button and the screen on the TV showed Anji, with Baiken on his back, summoning his Dragon in slow motion, from the minute the dancer placed the fan on his head till the point where the giant beast crashed through the door and blasted most of the walls. The leader was watching the summoning frame by frame, "Raphael, can you utilize the tape? I'd like to see just how he did that."
"Yes sir, I'll do my best to give you all the results." The blond, blue eyed youth nodded.
The man with the eye patch took the tape from the VCR and gave it to the youth, "Make a copy while you're at it."
The young nodded, "As you wish." He took it and left the room.
"Well he looks trustworthy to me," the one who drove the truck told, "don't you think, boss?"
"Shut up! If the boss has an opinion, he'll give it to you." The one with the eye patch snarled.
"Meh…" the other man frowned, angry.
"Enough…" Venom ordered quietly, he raised a hand, placing the remote down, "That boy had just begun, he did not see anything so we still cannot say if he is trust worthy or not." Their leader crossed his fingers, cross legged, sitting on a leather chair in front of a huge screen. "He resembles her in so many ways, it worries me."
"Should we finish him off, sir?" the one with the eye patch asked.
"No…let him live…" the silver-headed man told, uncrossed his fingers and forked back his silver hair, revealing his face, his brilliant blue eyes looked out at the two men, "Listen, I want you two to go to the investigating team, find out what they got so far on project Z.O.E."
"Yes sir." Both men nodded and quickly left.
Venom released his hair and leaned back on his chair, eyes closed, remembering…
'You're good! You shouldn't let that go to waste, you know.' A man named Zato told him, a clear Mexican accent clear in his words, 'Now, how about you come with me? I'm sure we can work something out for you.' He smiled, a blond, blind man, wearing a strange black suit reached down, wanting to help him. A little, cold featured, blond girl with strange long blond hair looked at him with an expressionless face.
'That day, you saved me from death even thought you didn't even know me…' brilliant blue eyes flashed from between drape of silver hair. 'You died, before I got the chance to thank you…' pushing himself off the chair, the leader of the assassins crossed his hands behind his back, looking outside through a black, shaded window at the far side of the room, 'I will find you, Zato-One, Eddie, whoever you are, be sure that I will find you… even at the cost of my life.'
~*~*~*~*~
Tired eyes scanned the area, the uniform of the Holy Orders fluttered lightly when the sound of an impact caught his ears. Ace, now calm again in his human state, blinked beyond a building where smoke went up as if something crashed, with a frown; he hurried towards it, worried and curious.
In front of a huge, dark old building, probably some company that's closing, there were many scattered cardboard boxes all around, looks like a car rammed them and ran or something… that was until the young man noted that a box began to move, roll over and land near him, a figure rose slowly with dust hovering around.
"Cough! Cough!" ebony-black hair ruffled up, tired chocolate brown eyes hazily scanned around, "Huh…?"
"Damn it…" a woman voice cursed, "Do you have authorization to drive that thing?" she growled, pushing a box from atop of her, sitting up with her hair over her face, looking annoyed.
"No, not really." The man laughed.
"Lady Baiken!" a youthful man cried, sound of hard shoes clunk on concrete was getting stronger the more he got closer.
"Ace?" the redheaded woman blinked, "How- What are you doing here?" she asked, pulling herself up and dusting her clothes.
Anji looked at the youth while he helped the woman, and himself, climb down from the rubble of boxes, "You know him?"
"Uh, Yeah." She nodded, "Anji, this is Ace, he's one of my men." She explained.
"From the swat team?" the dancer blinked, looked at the woman then back at the youth, "Um, don't you think he's a little young?"
"So? Kiske became a member when he was only 16!" the woman huffed.
Ace looked at the dancer, frowned then looked at the redheaded woman "Um, are you alright milady?"
"Oh, I'm fine." She smiled, "But you don't look so good, what happened?"
Ace took a good look at himself, his sleeves were tattered and his uniform was smudged up with dirt and soot of some sort, something like chimney smock?
Anji took a deep breath, "Well, I think we should head back now, I could use a rest in a colony right about now." He forced a grin.
Baiken smiled back, "Oh you're not getting off that easy!" she crossed her arms, "You were such a bad boy, I'm sending you to the disciplinary colony."
"WHAT?" the dancer leaped ten feet back, "You wouldn't!"
"You bet your sorry ass I will!" she thundered.
"Well then, in that case I'm outta here!" he reached in to get his fans out, "Bye~!"
"…"
"HEY!" the dancer cried, "Where are my fans?" he flipped himself over, comically searching.
"Oh, you mean these?" the woman giggled, toying with the mentioned fans in her hands.
"Aw Man~!" Anji whined, defeated.
Ace stifled a laugh, "Tough luck buddy."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Later that night…
Location: Holy Order, Baiken's office.
"Oh, you sent him to that colony?" Cervantes gained a sweat drop, "Sorry bastard, I feel sorry for him."
"Me too…" Cobra nodded.
"Would you two just shut up?" Baiken growled.
Ace plopped on the couch, a deep exhausted sigh uttered.
Sol looked at the weary looking woman as she rubbed a piece of clothe over her armor, cleaning it, "So, what did those guys want with you?"
The redhead looked at the hunter, "Don't know." She shrugged.
Axl looked at Ace, turned to the woman and then at the others, "Hey, is this guy safe?"
Baiken turned to the now sleeping Ace and smiled widely, "Give a rest, Anji wore him out just by dragging him here." She told, "Besides, now that you guys told me he flipped again he must've lost half his stamina just jumping from one roof to the other when he was a demon." She concluded.
"Freaky kid." Sol smirked.
"Lady Baiken," Ky began, "if I may ask, did those people do anything?"
"No, though their leader wanted something from me," she frowned, lightly blushing, "he took my vest armor."
"What?" the young blond Knight frowned, "That vest is made of special neo-bionic elements designed for the members of the Holy Orders only." He explained, "If they can utilize it, they might become invincible."
"Yeah! They'd be as strong as us!" Cobra frowned, "But that means they'll have to do something about the bugs, right?"
"I doubt it, that anti-gravity bug was a pain in the ass anyway." Cervantes told.
"But if they can conjure, develop, or even remove the bugs, we're in trouble!" Sophie frowned, "Milady!" she called, urgently wanting an answer.
"…" Baiken rubbed her head, "I know, I know! I have to report this to Sir Kliff."
"This isn't good." Sol growled, "Those bio-genetic tissues are usually found only in Geer tissues, most Command Type Gears have that in their communicating systems and body suits."
Axl blinked, "Wow! How'd you know that?"
Ky slightly glared.
Sol comically gained a sweat drop, "Er- None of your business."
Baiken blinked, "That was- concealed information, Sol." She glared, "How did you learn of it?"
"I have my ways." The hunter said highly.
Ky shook his head, "I beg your pardon, Milady, but Sol used to be an ex-Knight so he might have a few strings here and there that we don't know of." The blond youth glared the hunter in a usual look of hare.
Sol only took that as a complement and grinned.
'A perfect spy, huh?' she thought to herself.
Sophie sighed, "It's really getting late, we all should be heading back home."
"It is my shift tonight." Cobra smiled, "You mugs go home already." He waved a hand.
"Ahem…" Baiken tapped her foot, arms crossed, frowning.
"Er~! I was talking about the other, Milady!" chuckling nervously, Cobra received a knuckle sandwich right on the noggin, "Ouchie!"
Sol only watched, and clearly enough, Axl wasn't going to send them back home to their own time any time soon.
~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Owari~! @_@
