AN: Welcome back readers. I hope you all are continuing to stay healthy during this troubled time in the world and I hope everyone continues to stay safe for the coming weeks/months, however long it takes before we return to somewhat normality.
Unfortunately for me, I am one of those 'lucky' individuals who was working during the lockdown period but I suppose I am grateful that I have that kind of job security unlike what has happened to hundred of thousands of people across the globe as the financial and economical effects from the virus start to take effect.
Here is another side chapter. The previous chapter was all fighting and now we start moving away from the starting expositions into what will be the main area of this story.
As noted in all chapters I write, I do not any of the H.O.T.D characters. Only the OC's, they are mine.
Kage and Saeko found themselves sitting in their living room opposite one James Carter and his apparent father who not ten minutes ago, was fighting with his son and the two of them. The fact that their visitor's demeanor had changed from one of hostility to one of calmness threw them off balance. As the housemaid, who had hidden herself earlier from the fighting delivered them all tea, the elder Busujima signaled for her to place the tea on the table and then dismissed her. Once the maid left the room, the patriarch of the Carter family broke the silence amongst the group.
"First off, I wish to apologise over my actions earlier. I hope that you both are unharmed." Chris bowed slightly in respect.
"You think? You come into my home, attack me and my daughter and you think sorry would cut it." Kage spoke, anger growing increasingly in his voice.
The elder Busujima then faced the young Carter with a disappointing look.
"And you? Whilst I am grateful you jumped in, you have clearly been not only hiding from us but lying about your inherent talents." he continued.
James was about to speak but his father raised his hand and the young man stopped himself knowing that his father will do the talking.
"I understand your anger but please hear me out on this." Chris reasoned.
The elder sat there before nodding.
"You may explain yourself. However, if I don't like your response, the both of you will leave." Kage grumbled
"Understandable, I will talk until you have either had enough or are satisfied." Chris agreed as he made a signal sending a message asking if he could have some of the tea that was sitting on the table. The elder made a gesture to show that the Carter patriarch could help himself and so he took a cup and sipped his contents.
"First off, I'll introduce myself. I am Christopher Carter. I am the current head of the Carter family. My son next to me is the current heir to our family." Chris introduced himself.
"Our family is what you would call special. We run an organisation which specialises on world affairs and make sure that the world doesn't fall into chaos." Chris went on.
"So you're special agents?" Kage bluntly interrupted.
"Nothing that cliche. We're known only by the highest authorities in the world and a select few which we have built relationships with in the past. I would delve further into our family's history and dealing but that is on a need to know basis." Chris explained.
"My son was brought here to investigate current medical trials being posed by a research company with bases all round the world. However, Japan was the only country that they operated in which would take my son in. Had to call in a favour to bring James in." Chris went on.
"Who allowed him in?" Kage asked with interest.
Chris smiled at him before responding.
"You know him of course. The Emperor of Japan gave the order to your country's immigration service and they let him slip through without a fuss." Chris answered, drawing a slight gasp from the elder.
"Father?" Saeko asked.
"So when the Emperor asked me to oversee a foreign exchange student?" Kage rhetorically asked, knowing what was going to be the answer.
"That was James' cover of course. To pose as an exchange student, gain a tour to one of the medical research labs, steal some of the research, test it for abnormalities and report back to us then after his tenure expires, he'd leave as if his studies were completed." Chris summarized James' mission.
"So what happened with it, I assume it has been done?" Kage questioned further.
James looked at his father knowing what was the outcome of the decision the family made. However, the young man did not know the complete story himself as it was both his parent's decision to move in early and their task of the clean up from the fallout.
"If you really want to know then none of what I am about to say leaves this room." Chris' voice turned serious.
Chris rose to his feet and approached the TV. He flipped the switch turning the appliance on and the first channel it showed was the news channel that was still covering the disease that the family were watching earlier that day. The Carter patriarch muted the volume and resumed his seat.
"I assume you were watching the news this morning?" Chris asked.
Both Busujima looked at the TV and then back at the man before realising what James had told them earlier.
"That disease didn't spawn out of nowhere, it was a clinical trial which went terribly wrong and this was not the only place to house this outbreak. Countries around the world were trialing the same medical drug, one that was supposed to restrict and eventually eliminate common infections like influenza, instead caused an epidemic which threatened all life as we knew it." Chris explained.
"How so, I thought medicine was supposed to be used for the benefit of mankind and save lives not destroy them." Kage commented as he processed the information.
"In truth, too much medicine can kill but why don't I let my son explain that one as it's more his area of expertise anyway." Chris turned to James who after getting a nod from his father letting him know it was okay to talk about his report, he was the next to speak.
"The solution that was being injected into each patient had notable trace amounts of uranium molecules. Just enough to alter every red blood cell on a genetic level which in itself is lethal to whoever it is injected into. This could lead into several theories about if those cells became radioactive and potentially change those that were not injected with it after prolonged proximity to them." James explained to the trio.
Chris turned back to the two Busujimas and pulled out a disc from his jacket pocket.
"This was footage taken from the exclusion zone last night as Japanese special forces locked down the lab and the surrounding areas." Chris looked around and saw a slot in the TV which could play discs.
Turning back to the eldest Busujima, the patriarch made a gesture if he could play the disc he was holding. The eldest thought for a moment and gave the signal for Chris to proceed. The patriarch placed the disc inside the slot and sat back down as the TV prepared to play the footage.
"I was amongst the special forces last night and personally handled the lockdown procedures. However, what you are about to see is not for the faint of heart." Chris spoke as he unmuted the TV before the disc started to play.
(Footage playback)
The footage was clearly played from a special forces soldier's camera that was mounted on his shoulder. The soldier and his squad were walking down the lit street until they saw a woman who looked no more than thirty run towards them. It looked like she was in considerable distress as her screams would have been heard for hundreds of metres away. The squad's CO gave the signal to halt as the woman approached.
Unfortunately for the woman, her ankle gave way and she fell to the ground, her head smacking on the concrete ground. Her screams turned to panicked breaths as she struggled to rise to her feet before she fell to the ground again when she tried to put weight on the now injured ankle. The woman flipped over onto her back and started to shuffle backwards in a panicked attempt to reach the group's position. Just then a figure could be seen emerging out from the shadows. It caught up to her and fell on top of her. The woman's scream quickly became painful screams as the shadowy figure bit down on the female's neck, the teeth causing further damage as the woman struggled to break free.
The soldier that the camera was attached to decided enough was enough and drew his weapon and fired two shots.
*BANG* BANG*
Both shots landed in the top of the cranium of the figure of which its life faded and its jaw slacked, releasing the woman. The soldiers ran over to the downed civilian, and removed the figure off of it. However upon seeing the wounds the woman had sustained and the amount of blood oozing out of her neck, there was not much that could be done for the poor lady as her panicked gasps for air lessened and then eventually stopped altogether as her life came to its tragic end.
The group moved away slightly to usher the medical vehicles to make their way down the road to retrieve both corpses where they heard movement behind them. Sure enough the woman who was dead not but a moment ago had risen to a sitting position and was beginning to rise to its feet. The soldiers were frozen in place as they watched the figure slowly limp its way over to them wondering what was happening as they had watched the lady die in front of them not moments before but was now up and moving about. The figure shuffled its way to the soldier who had the camera until the lights showed the figure as it moved into the open.
The figure's skin was completely pale as if all the blood had drained away, in fact the blood itself was still flowing out of the open wounds inflicted earlier. Her eyes were rolled back and her jaw was slacked showing an open mouth with blood dripping from it. The figure was in all intents and purposes. Lifeless.
The figure was only a couple of metres away before her arms outstretched, the camera giving the best picture of the 'lifeless' individual when the recording stopped.
(Recording Paused)
"Tell me, do you watch horror movies?" Chris asked as he turned to the other three who were watching the footage with interest but all three were wearing different expressions.
James was watching with a serious look on his face, taking mental notes of the recording and the situation that was going on. Saeko was watching with wide eyes, trying to believe if it was real or not. Kage on the other hand kept a blank expression but the Carter patriarch noticed a drop of sweat slowly making his way down his forehead giving the signal that he was keeping a poker face but he clearly didn't like what he saw.
"Well that was the real thing. Reports came in from containment teams across the globe that it reminded them of Zombies or undead like creatures designed for one thing. Hunt the living. So we had little choice." Chris went on.
James took his moment to speak up.
"Scorched earth?" the young man asked.
"Scorched earth." was all the patriarch confirmed.
"How many lives were lost?" James queried.
"Numbers are still coming in as a couple of the zones in places like China and India are proving more tricky due to population density and the Chinese government's initial refusal caused a delay in setting up the zone which meant that some escaped to other areas which could mean another zone being placed. Last time we checked, between one and two million so far but that could only go up at this rate. Its likely to go on for several weeks with a likelihood of martial law having to be implemented in places that were last to lockdown in case any patients traveled outside of the exclusion zone." Chris explained as recalled from memory.
"Think of it this way, a couple of million lives lost is better than doing nothing and it being an extinction level event. Is it too much death? Of course it is but think of the alternative." Chris carried on.
"And how are the world governments taking it?" James queried.
Chris sighed in response before commenting.
"The western governments who didn't need the zones were quick to back us, the UK, US, most European nations took our side quite quickly and is providing support that they can spare. Some governments however, needed more convincing." Chris responded
"What about the Japanese government?" Kage spoke up causing the two Carter family members to turn towards them.
"That's the main reason why I'm here, I hold a fair amount of political sway here but I still had to call in all of my favors to not only have the PM's backing but to also have the military go along with the operation especially when its against civilians. It'll be awhile before I can operate here like I could previously. Which brings me to my second reason." Chris answered and as he finished, he placed his hand into his trench coat pocket.
The patriarch pulled out what looked like a folder containing papers and placed it in front of his son. The file itself had a paperclip of which had the name 'FAO James Carter' and the file was titled.
'Operation - Pruning Rose'
"Another task for me?" James looked up at his father.
Chris looked at his son and smiled.
"Of course, but first we need to deal with a problem…" Chris nodded.
The patriarch turned to the Busujima family, his eyes were piercing into their souls as the Father and daughter wondered what would happen next. Chris pulled out two sets of multiple pieces of paper with what looked like a large amount of writing along with a pen. He placed both in front of the Busujima duo who had leant forward to get a better look.
"What is this?" Kage asked with an eyebrow raised.
"We revealed ourselves to you both for a reason in the hope that you both may work with us." Chris replied before placing a hand on the paper stack on his left.
"These are two legally binding contracts which we offer everyone who we include in our family affairs. This one in particular is in case you don't want any part of us. If both of you sign this, your roles in the story ends. We both leave and you both can continue living your lives as if everything you experienced today was just a dream." Chris explained.
The patriarch moved his hand to the other stack of paper.
"This one on the other hand, gives you association status to our family, giving you access to our influence and our protections as stated in the contract. In return we ask for assistance when we deem it necessary for it." Chris went on as he retracted his hand.
Kage leant back to his natural position.
"And if we don't sign either one?" Kage asked, although deep down he had a feeling of the response.
The patriarch reached into his trench coat once more and pulled out a Beretta M9 handgun and placed it on the table which made both Busujima's eyes wide at the sight of the weapon being drawn out so suddenly. Chris also pulled out what looked like a small black metal tube. They quickly realised that it was a silencer attachment for the handgun when the patriarch was fixing it in place into the M9 and reset its position on the table.
"Trust me, you wouldn't want to know." Chris bluntly stated.
Both Busujima family members shuddered at the thoughts going through their heads about what could be done to them.
"I think we get the picture." Kage composed himself.
Both family members moved forward again to read both sets of contracts whilst Chris and James watched them in silence. Saeko then noticed something in one of the contracts and raised her head.
"It says here about being trained. What does that entail?" Saeko queried.
Both Carter family members looked at each other for a split moment before the patriarch turned back to her to respond.
"It means what it means, depending on the path you wish to take in life, we can have it so you can be placed on a favorable path towards the best tutors in the field you wish to go into both academically or physically. Although, that still is dependent on how much effort and growth is made as being there is not a privilege or a right, you'll still have to earn it." Chris explained.
"What if I wanted to be tutored by you personally?" Saeko asked again, causing her father to look at his daughter with interest.
Saeko had lent forward at this point with her hand on top of the contract which contained the association status contract.
"What on specifically?" Chris asked, using a serious tone to his voice as he eyed the young girl.
"I want to learn how to fight as the two of you do. Also I wish to learn more about the world from those who have experienced more than your average person." Saeko admitted as she lowered her head.
Her father on the other hand…
"Daughter, I must object to this…" Kage spoke out but the young girl looked back at him with a glare.
"Father, please. I know my role in life is to eventually surpass you and inherit your positions as protector of the throne but before I lift that burden from your shoulders, I wish to become someone worthy to take that mantle from you. I cannot do this without making my own decisions and experiencing the world as it is." Saeko pleaded with her father as he sat there listening to her every word.
There was a short amount of time where everyone sat in complete silence. To Saeko, it felt like an eternity before her father formulated a response.
"Is this what you truly want?" Kage asked, keeping his composure.
Saeko turned to face her father and placed lent forwards to place her forehead on the floor in a formal motion.
"I have felt this way for a while now. I wish to test myself more than what I have experienced to this point. I know you have felt the same way about me for a while too. After today's events, it has only proven that I am incapable of truly becoming your successor, I wish to earn that title." Saeko softly spoke.
"As touching as it is, may I interject?" came the voice of the Carter patriarch.
Both father and daughter realising that the two Carters have remained silent this whole time and as such they turned to face them once more.
"Knowledge tutoring we can give. However physical tutelage comes with a few conditions. We can train your mind and body so you can become a better fighter. However, we cannot teach you our family's fighting style. That right is reserved for special cases." Chris pointed out.
"What kind of special cases?" Saeko quickly responded, lifting her head in hope.
"It falls under two categories. Whether the person in question has the potential of learning our and providing a reasonable favour to us to earn a higher status than our associate. Or…" Chris started but he stopped as he was reaching the second reason.
He then put his arm around James.
"Saeko-chan becomes James-chan's lover!" Chris exclaimed.
*WHACK*
Suddenly, a fist found itself planted in Chris' jaw as James reacted almost as if he knew what his father was going to say. Needless to say, the patriarch found himself lying down on the floor.
"I know you let me hit you but can you at least remain somewhat professional here and not like some anime matchmaker Dad." James facepalmed.
The youngest Carter turned to the Busujima family and took the lead in the conversation whilst his father was rubbing his face. Saeko who had developed a blush with her mouth open at the exchange whilst her father next to her kept a stone cold expression on his face.
"What my father is trying to say is that being taught our styles requires a 'closer' relationship than just an associate but those are only reserved for those that get into high positions of power that are under our protection along with having significant potential to actually utilise the styles we use effectively." James explained.
Chris at this stage had recovered from the earlier blow and had resumed his position.
"Not a bad shot. Anyway, whilst my son is correct. I'm afraid I cannot take any students at this time." Chris spoke much to the girl in front of him's disappointment.
"Why not, Carter-sama?" Saeko asked.
The patriarch eyed her. After a few seconds ticked by, he sighed before giving his response.
"A couple of reasons. One. With all that is going on right now, I cannot stay in Japan for much longer as I need to organise the other areas that were affected around the world. Second. You are still under your father's tutelage, removing you from him would bring dishonor to him which I am unwilling to do. Third. Even if you started training, I would not be the best teacher for you." Chris sounded off his reasons.
Saeko took in his words but the last point sparked a question in her mind. Unfortunately for her, James beat her to it.
"Surely, you don't mean..." was all the young man got out before his father held up his hand to silence him.
"You are ready for this. You surpassed your brother some time ago and are well on your way as heir to my position, this is the next step. Besides, remember what I said about making friends. I've spent all my chips with this crisis and likely will not have the same standing again for years to come. Time for you to build your own whilst getting your own experience in the field, all of this is mentioned in there. Besides, isn't Saeko-chan's position and yours similar in many ways?" Chris explained, pointing to the file under James' right arm.
James took his father's words in as Chris turned back to the Busujimas.
"I'm a little pressed for time, as I am due to report in to the Japanese government soon for an update on the situation. Your decisions please?" Chris checked his watch.
The Busujima's looked at each other, both of them holding the contracts in their hands.
"Daughter, if this is what you want. If it is, I won't stop you." Kage sighed as he agreed.
Saeko looked at her father and then back to the contract she was still clutching in her hands. Her mind was already made up, she just wanted her father to give his blessing. She reached for the pen and placed the contract onto the table in front of her so she could use it to sign on the line provided. As she was doing this, the Carter patriarch smiled at the action.
"We'll make sure that your daughter becomes someone you're proud of." Chris stated directly to the Busujima patriarch who only nodded in response.
"Just to be clear, I'm only signing this because of my daughter. I will offer James-chan the walls of my property so he can do what he needs to do. After that, my obligation will only to be to my Saeko-chan's wellbeing." Kage admitted as he too reached for a pen.
"That will be fine, we only call those who we consider needed for our tasks. If we don't call, we don't need you but you'll still be under our protection under the contract anyway." Chris responded to the elder.
The three watched as the Busujima Patriarch also signed his version of the contract and pushed it along to the Carter Patriarch who in turn handed it over to his son behind.
"It's your operation, so you can process these and any further personnel you need to complete the task. Remember though, the more people you include, the harder it will be to protect them." Chris reminded the younger Carter as James looked at the contracts slightly before placing them with the Operation file.
"It will be done Father." James replied.
The Carter patriarch then rose to his feet, causing the rest of them to watch his movement.
"There is one last thing before I go. Care to join me outside?" Chris turned and started to walk out of the room in the direction of the front door leading towards the front gate.
James rose to his feet a second later which he also beckoned for both of the Busujimas to follow him which after they looked at each other in a short spell of confusion, they too rose to their feet to follow both Carters towards the front gate.
Outside the front gate to the Busujima Compound
The group noticed that a medium sized van was parked outside the front gate of the Busujima compound. Chris directed the driver to reverse into the grounds so that the van was completely hidden from view before turning to his son.
"You'll find that the equipment I moved from the shed in the school grounds is in that Van. We did this last night to avoid being spotted. I've also included something else I imported into the country on my way over here to make your life a little easier." Chris explained.
James moved forwards towards the van and its tailgate from where the van was parked the rear shutter was out of sight of his father and the Busujima's. He worked the controls to lower the gate so that he could get at the rear shutter. He lifted the shutter to reveal the van's contents, sure enough he spotted his gear in two duffel bags and one military style backpack. It was then he noticed a large tarp covering something that came up to half his height and extended for about one and a half metres backwards, give or take.
Before doing anything he grabbed the bags and took them outside of the van and placed them next to his father who was watching him with a look in his eye which meant a surprise was coming.
"Did you get everything?" Chris asked.
James looked up at his father and replied.
"Just one thing left."
With that the younger Carter turned around and walked back to the van. He climbed into the storage area and approached the tarp and undid the clips holding it in place. Once that was done, he lifted and pulled the tarp away to reveal what lay underneath.
A smile appeared on the young man's face.
"You shouldn't have…"
Meanwhile
Saeko and Kage both eyed the three bags James brought out wondering just what was inside them. They also wondered what else the young man went back for. Judging from the look that his father had, it had to have been something interesting. They both were snapped out of their thoughts by the Carter patriarch in front of them giving a hand signal in front of them counting down from five. As soon as the hand counted zero…
*VROOM*
Their eyes and ears instantly snapped to the van and the object that flew out of it…
AN: Chapter complete. Bit of a cliffhanger but I needed somewhat of a nice place to stop before I start going into the plans I have for the next chapter.
Next chapter that I will be working on will be the main story chapter. As usual, follow, rate and review.
Until next time. Signing out.