Hello mon amis! The Dragon is le back! I am SOOOOO sorry for my long delay with this chapter. I got two main excusses: 1. I just started university, and 2. I have officially started a new story (albeit, a weird and potentially explosive story) called 'Gorillaz Of The Hidden Village' and, believe it or not, it's the first crossover between the World of Gorillaz and the world of Naruto!

LE GASP! Insanity you say? Well you know what? I agree. I think I may be totally insane for trying to make this story, but whatever. If any of you is a Naruto or Gorillaz fan and is even mildly intrigued by this idea, pleas check it out, (I suggest finding it under my username).

2. I have started university and I got midterms coming up soon.
One last note! If you have some time on your hands, go read the stories of Gwen-Fox, she has some serious righting skills, and her stories are refreshingly different from the usual stories.

NOW! Enough of this rant that sounds dangerously like advertisement. Let the story commence!

Chapter 11: Reason in Madness.

2D looked at his newly un-bandaged arms, slowly flexing his fingers and turning his arms around, relishing the feeling of the air on his skin. It had been already ten days since the shooting incident that had left the two pale scars on his arms, and during those ten days a number things had occurred. First off, due to his injured arms, he had been unable to handle excessive movement of his arms and a as a result he had had more than enough time to put the finishing touches on his iPad songs, which he was planning to put into Album that he now had decided to call "The Fall". For some reason the name sounded fitting for such album.

Secondly, he had noticed a weird sort of tension between Noodle and Cyborg. He really couldn't place his finger on it, but it was as if… as if they were competing at something. They didn't do it with hate in their hearts as far as he could tell, but there was a definite feeling in to the air that felt like competition with an underlining feeling of weariness and respect. He didn't mind it though; as long as they weren't trying to kill each other like last time he supposed it was fine. After all, he couldn't expect them to suddenly get along since, in a way, he supposed they viewed each other as a sort of threat due to the fact that, technically, there was the danger of each of being replaced by the other. Which was also, he supposed, the reason for the competing aura that they both exhibited every time he was near both of them at the same time.

Thirdly, Russel had shrunk to his original size… well, nearly. Apparently whatever Murdoc had done to Russel to shrink him back to his original size had not worked as well as they had expected. Instead of shrinking down to his original size in less than day, the shrinking process had slowed down a lot after Russel hit the four and a half meter (around 15 feet) mark. Since then, Russel had been shrinking about half a foot a day, give or take a couple of inches. Currently he measured around nine feet in height, which although a dramatic improvement from his former 230 feet in height, it was still a rather inconvenient height since he faced difficulty going through most doors. Still, Murdoc had reassured him that he would be back to normal in less than a week, so Russel wasn't to annoyed by it. He was just happy to be able to fit in the kitchen again and be able to make his own food, rather than eating the raw stuff he had had to eat while at sea. Russel was particularly pleased with being able to cook his own bacon again.

Also, Noodle had made it a habit to sit with either 2D or Russel and listen to 'their' latest album, occasionally asking a question about the lyrics or their thoughts on the music's rhythm or beat. As for why she did this, 2D was completely at a loss, indeed he had no clue as to why she would try to dissect the songs so much. In the end he came to the conclusion that she was trying to understand the meaning behind the meaning of the lyrics, but to what end, he could not tell.

And lastly, Noodle and Murdoc still didn't seem to be able to meet eye to eye. Not that 2D could blame her he supposed, after all that had happened between them it was a wonder that Noodle hadn't decided she should go and 'off with his head'. Still, that didn't mean that everything was fine, every time they happened to be in the same room they were abnormally quiet, and they rarely exchanged more than a couple of words. If he hadn't known better he could have sworn that Murdoc was even somewhat hesitant about talking to her. But that couldn't be… It was Murdoc for Christ's sake. When was he EVER hesitant?

"So, how does it feel 2D?" Noodle's voice asked, snapping 2D back from his musings.

"It feels great!" 2D said cheerfully.

"There is no stiffness or soreness anywhere?" Cyborg Noodle asked, drawing 2D's attention towards her.

"Nope. See?" He wiggled his fingers at her and flapped his arms around a bit to prove his point, "They are as good as new!"

"Good." Both Noodle's said in synchronization before giving each other a weary glance. As entertaining as being able to say something in synchronization with another person could be, it was starting to annoy them. It wasn't that it happened everyday at every hour, but it happened more frequently than they cared for.

"By the way, what day is it today?" 2D asked rather suddenly, bringing back Cyborg's and Noodle's attention towards him.

"It is currently October 12, 2011," Cyborg said without missing a beat, a slightly smug expression on her face as she glanced from the corner of her eyes at Noodle, who found the look slightly irritating.

"October already?" 2D asked with surprise, "Man, I can't believe it. Time sure moves fast when it wants to."

"Hai." Noodle said sagely, "As they say, time waits for no man."

Then something clicked in 2D's mind. October. His eyes widened fractionally. -Oh shit. I gotta talk to Murdoc and Russel!-

"2D? 2D-kun?" Noodle's voice pierced his thoughts. "You okay there?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, no worries luv. I'm fine." He offered her a toothy smile to emphasize his statement. "Anyways, what do you girls think about lunch?"

-.-.-.

"BLAST!" A gruff voice cursed in the darkness of a large room, followed by the sound of a fine wineglass being smashed against a wall. "Where the hell is HE!"

"W-W-We… don't know sir, Mr. Jackal, sir." A second, deeper, but trembling voice spoke up in the darkness.

"Yeah boss," A third, more high pitched and distinctly female, voice spoke up, "It's like he went in smoke."

A low and animalistic growl could be heard from behind a wide and expensive leather chair, which was facing away from the source of the last two voices, sending shivers down the spines of the underlings of the first voice.

"Shhh-shh-shh, its okay Gigi, its okay." The of Jackal voice cooed to the source of the growl lovingly, before returning to address his underlings with an annoyed, almost poisonous tone of voice, " See what you have done fools? You didn't just failed to find him, you also annoyed Gigi!"

Taking a deep breath Jackal calmed down before his tone of voice upset Gigi. That wouldn't do. He slowly released his breath and returned his gaze towards the open window his expensive Venetian leather chair was facing. It was a good night. Not too many clouds, the breeze was gentle, if a bit hollow, and the half moon in the tropical night sky was sailing across the night like a phantom.

While Jackal studied the night sky, his underlings were struggling to keep from squirming in their spot. Their boss, as profitable as it was to work for him, was scary. No, he was beyond scary. He had his eccentricities, like having that thing as a pet for one, or his seemingly random lapses of silence, which would have been funny on any other person, but in his case, it only added to his aura of danger. He was known world-wide in the underworld and black markets as one of the best at what he did, and one of the most ruthless too. In fact, the two underlings had many times over wondered how such a dream job had turned into what was now bordering a nightmare so quickly, binding them to their boss in such a way that turning back was the equivalent of suicide.

"Stone," Mr. Jackal finally spoke, and the male underling immediately stiffened and focused on his boss, "Nami." The girl quickly and unintentionally copied her partner's actions. "I am disappointed on both of you." The underlings immediately became very tense, sweat begging to perspire from their bodies. Mr. Jackal continued his speech. "But…" At that point Mr. Jackal smiled, he could almost hear their ears perk up when he said that word. Good they still feared him. "You two have been of so much help to me, haven't you? Yes, I think you have. Even if this is the third time you fail to find him and his little crew, I still have use for you both, so here is what is going to happen."

Mr. Jackal leaned back on his chair slightly as his hand reached over the side of his chair and began to pet Gigi, feeling the short warm fur on his head, as if he had not a care in the world as he continued. "As you know, that sneaky green bastard dared to cheat me, and since I found out about this, he has been on the run from us. As it turns out, one of my best hired guns saw him on the port a few months back, opening a bottle of champagne as he boarded a small boat." There was obviously a hint of anger when Jackal described the man drinking champagne, "And since then, he has avoided us like a man running from demons. Recently, he has managed to even release an album while avoiding us. It is a lovely album, truth be told, but it doesn't change the fact that he is on my wanted list."

Mr. Jackal paused for a moment to let his words sink in before continuing. " We have narrowed down the options to his next possible location to three countries. The United States of America, Japan, and England. It is not much information, but we suspect that he will likely stick to the areas near the seas, in case he has need for a quick escape by water like he did before. I want you two to find him."

"But boss-!" Nami tried to speak up when a beefy fist slammed its self on the large wooden desk that was beside the expensive Venetian chair.

"Am I clear?" Jackal hissed out dangerously.

"Ye-yes boss" Nami stuttered.

"Yes Mr. Jackal, s-sir." Stone said with a tad more conviction than Nami.

"Good. Oh, one more thing…." Jackal said with a slightly dismissive tone, "Take Gwen with you. She usually does solo jobs, but in this case, tell her that I said she will have to make an exception and work with you guys."

"Yes sir, Mr. Jackal." Stone said.

"Good. Now get out of here you two. I trust that you two know your way out." Jackal said, a dismissive hand shooing them away from behind his massive chair.

-.-.-.-.

Stone and Nami walked in silence down the dark halls of their boss's mansion, each submerged in their own thoughts as they made their way to their black vehicle. They had their orders. They would have to go get Gwen and find that green imp that had cheated their boss. It was a near impossible mission, even with Gwen, even with their boss's massive underground information network. Their targets were the Gorillaz. That in its self would have been a hard task to accomplish when they were in KONG studios, but ever since they had moved to that damned Plastic Beach, the task bordered-lined with what could be defined as impossible.

Gorillaz.

The word bounced inside the skull of the underlings. This word, this one word, conjured a myriad of other thoughts, words, and images.

Gorillaz.

2D, the vocalist, keyboard player, composer of music. Noodle, the guitarist, the fighter, composer of music. Russel, the drummer, the refined one, composer. Murdoc, the bassist, the leader, composer. Black eyes, green eyes, white eyes, mismatched eyes. Zombies, demons, ghosts, gargoyles, ghouls, phantoms, werewolves, vampires, skeletons, Heaven, Purgatory, Hell. Music.

Gorillaz.

They are the only known band to have lived and survived for years in a place like KONG. That in its self was an outstanding feat. They went further. They opposed and defeated many of the creatures of KONG. Murdoc had even dwelled in the underworld and black market long enough to create quite a reputation for himself. They all knew how to use scythes efficiently, if the photos that the boss had acquired from Phase One were anything to go by. 2D and Murdoc together had such a massive following of women that, if either of them was injured or worse, killed (especially 2D), and it was made publicly known who had been the one to carry out such act, blood would surely stain the streets. Even some of the most ruthless drug lords of the underworld shuddered at the thought of Millions of Gorillaz fans rising up against them.

…And they were being charged with capturing them.

-God…This is madness.- Nami groaned as she held her head with her hands and closed her blue eyes for a minute as she continued to walk. Apparently, Stone was of the same opinion because it was only a second after her groan that she heard him whispering to himself "We are so fucked." Nami couldn't agree more.

And the worst of it was that they had no choice. They had already three strikes against the boss in a row. Nami highly doubted that he would stand another. Their necks were on the line.

Taking her hands off her face, Nami took a deep breath and straightened out her back before exhaling slowly. This could turn out badly in so many different levels that it was scary.

"Hey, carrot-top." Stone called out to Nami,

"What?" Nami asked with a bit of a snap, "And stop calling me carrot-top, baldy. Just because I have short orange hair and like to spike it up a bit it doesn't mean that I look like a carrot."

"Whatever carrot-top." Stone merely said dismissively, "Anyways, where are we going to find the witch?"

"You better hope that she doesn't hear you Stone. You know that Gwen doesn't like that nickname much."

"Pft. Like I care. That's a name she has earned, and her victims can attest to that…well, the ones that are left anyways."

Gwen had to admit that Stone had a point. Gwen had earned herself a name in the underworld, Stone, and herself, however, unlike herself and Stone, who prided themselves as being great trackers, Gwen specialized in infiltration and information gathering.

However, the reason why she was called the witch was due to her methods of infiltration and information gathering. A good chunk of the reason for her nickname was due to the fact that she rarely was detected, a feat in its self when some of her targets had rather sophisticated alarm and warning systems, but the bulk of the reason lay with her method of acquisition of information. When the targets refused to cooperate and pushed her buttons… Well, she tended to get rather ruthless. As in, 'I'll-torture-you-slowly-to-death-(literally)-until-you-tell-me-what-I-want-to-know', ruthless.

"Ah, here we are." Stone spoke up when they reached a wide pair of black doors. Pushing the doors open with his wide and tanned hands, the bald man stepped through the doors and into a wide roofed parking lot, followed by Nami.

Stone picked up his pace slightly, as he walked down the parking lot, looking for his black truck. Finally spotting it near between two fancy Mercedes (undoubtedly property of their overly rich boss), Stone jogged towards it and gave it a big hug.

"Oh, my baby!" Stone said as he hugged tightly the Cadillac, "I missed you, yes I did!"

"Oh, grow up Stone." Nami said as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. It was always like this, hugging and kissing the damn new car. "Its just a car."

"JUST a car?" Stone asked with a disbelieving voice as whirled around to face her, one hand still stroking the black paint of his truck, "Listen here carrot-top, this isn't JUST a car! This is a Cadillac Escalade 2011, customized with bulletproof windows and walls and anti-mine covering for its underneath by the prestigious Texas Armory Corporation, painted with anti-flame paint, and equipped with extra traction tiers, the biggest and meanest engine that could possibly fit without ruining it while also having the finest fuel efficiency out there, AND upgraded with a Nitro accelerator for emergencies by yours truly. Its NOT just a car. It's a work of art, its living poetry, that's what it is!" Stone finished solemnly while still stroking the side of his truck.

Nami just rolled her eyes again, and was about to say something that was less than pleasant to Stone, when a all the sudden a shadow behind Stone blurred for a second into view, causing Nami to straightened out to her full height of five foot eight and by reflex reach for her gun. Noticing her reaction, Stone whirled around to face where Nami was facing, his own two handguns already pointed and ready to be fired.

"Hmmm, not bad." A female voice said as a shadow leapt onto the roof of Stone's truck and apparently sat down, "An FN Herstal FNP-9 handgun for the lady and a Smith & Wesson .500 S&W Magnum revolver and a Glock-17 for the big bald guy. Good choice of weapons on both accounts. Though I prefer my Beretta 92."

Nami and Stone were already aiming their guns at the source of the voice as soon as the first word came out of her mouth, however they refrained from shooting once they saw the owner of the voice. Shoulder length cherry red hair, green eyes, smooth white skin, about five foot seven in height with a hourglass figure, wearing a tight black biker jacket, her classic skinny black jeans and black runners. It was Gwen. No doubt about it.

Stone and Nami sighed as they put away their guns. She really needed to fix that habit of sneaking up on people when she was not on missions. It could get her killed by accident in this line of work.

"What are you doing here Gwen?" Nami asked as she scratched her head, "We were supposed to go get you."

"Yeah, well I didn't have much else to do, so I figured that I might as well meet up with you guys." The red head said as she leaned back slightly.

"Nothing to do?" Stone spoke up rather surprised, "You were supposed to gather information on that guy that is always competing with boss weren't you? I highly doubt that Garganta is an easy target to gather information about."

"I got lucky," Gwen answered simply, before jumping lightly leaping off the roof of the car and facing Stone and name with a toothy grin, "I caught this new guy that ha just gotten promoted. Didn't even last twenty minutes before he broke."

Nami and Stone felt a slight chill go down their spines, knowing more than well enough what Gwen meant when she said that he had 'Broke'. She meant that the guy hadn't lasted through the torture very long, and that, therefore, he was probably a blubbering wreck, and would continue to be for at least a couple of weeks… If he lived that long that is. Garganta didn't take well to people that spilled his secrets.

"Anyways," Gwen continued, "What are you and baldy here waiting for? Lets get going. You can fill me in on the details on the road."

And without further ado, the threesome got in tone's shinny black truck, and set off on their road.

.=.=.=.=.=.=

WOOOOAH! Finally done this chapter! WOOHOO! By the way, I borrowed the appearance of the OC known as Gwen from Gwen-Fox, Who has some AWESOME Stories you guys should read (I am baffled by the fact that she hasn't uploaded more of her stories. They are totally awesome!) , Though I did modify her personality to suit the purposes of my story.

Anyways, sorry for the uneventful chapter, but I think it is indispensable for the next chapters too come. Anyways, Here is a little description of the Stone, Nami, and Gwen, just so you guys can get a better idea about what they look like.

-.=.-.=

Gwen Fox (Alias: Cat-step Witch)

Height: 5 feet and 7 inches

Eye color: Green

Blood type: AB +

Hair: Cherry red, shoulder length, slightly spiky in the front.

Handgun of Choice: Beretta 92

Age: 27

Gwen-Fox is a pretty girl with lovely porcelain skin nd a few freckles on her face here and there (and due to her charms, she has had in the past a couple of offers for modeling), however she is one of the stealthiest persons on Earth when she wants to be. Born in the USA but raised in a former war-zone, Gwen is more than used to death and torture, however she has managed to remain outstandingly pure through out the years, despite to her exposure to the darker side of the world. She is an effective interrogator, adept at torture we needed, and a good marksman. It should be noted that she is very flexible, as expected from her chosen career, and that she loves bears. Especially big brown teddy bears, as for why that is, the reason is unknown, but likely dates back to her old teddy bear which was given to her by her dad before he was killed in the war-zone.

Stone Smith (Alias: the Bloodhound Stone)

Height: 6 feet and 1 inch

Eye color: Brown

Blood type: O –

Hair: No hair. He is as bald as a billiard ball

Handguns of Choice: a Smith & Wesson .500 S&W Magnum revolver and a Glock-17

Age: 45

Stone is a big burly fellow with tanned skined, the type that you would expect to see guarding an important person as a bodyguard, that loves his car almost as much as if it were his own son or daughter. Stone is a single father, with a 23 year old daughter and a 25 year old son, who are his pride and joy. However, don't let his age deceive you, he is still as strong and quick on his feet as he was when he was 35 years old. He got into the servitude of Jackal purely by accident, when the man once hired him for his body-guarding services, and, unfortunately for Stone, Jackal saw his talent at tracking and took a liking to him. After being offered triple his original pay by Jackal, he became his unwilling underling. It should be noted that Stone is proficient with dual weapons and an excellent car mechanic.

Nami Orange (Alias: the Orange Hound)

Height: 5 feet 8 inches

Eye color: Blue

Blood type: A +

Hair color: Orange

Handgun of Choice: FN Herstal FNP-9

Age: 36

Nami is a mature when she wants to be, but she has learned that a way to remain uninteresting to people who might seek knowledge from her that would land her in trouble if she were to give it out, its not a bad idea to act like she is somewhat childish, which would then make it easier to lie or divert the attention of any one who might want something from her. Nami herself is not a bad looking woman, if anything, she would be considered pretty, with a somewhat slimmer body than Gwen that accentuates her slightly more angular features when compared to the Gwen's slightly more cherubic face. She also manages to carry herself with an air of relaxed confidence that is attractive to many men, however it should be noted that she is not interested in any men that don't have a more interesting or even darker side to them. She is great marksman, cook, and fluent in French, German, and Spanish besides English.

-.-.-

Well! I hope you guys like their little intro there, and that it helped you understand this three characters a bit more. Now I am going to go to bed. I just spent four hours finishing up this chapter and its pretty late here. Chao.

Oh, and before I forget, Happy Early Halloween!