By GunbladeMaster
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story.
AN: There is a little bit of shooting and dead bodies in this part. Special thanks to Omega Knight for actually reviewing this and don't worry about Maria... although she isn't in this part, she's be very important. Oh yeah....
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"Hello there." Started the bartender. "You're a new face. What brings you here? Would you like to buy some wine?"
"Actually, I'm here to investigate the kidnapping of Jack, the farm boy."
"Kidnapped? Who would do such a thing? I just thought he got caught up in harvesting his crops."
"I don't know, but I'll find out who and why they did."
"Well, Jack used to come here nearly everyday on his first year on the farm. He always came with gifts for everyone in the bar. Especially Karen over there. He really impressed her by drinking her under the table. In fact he beat everyone." He pointed to Karen who was talking to Cliff. "For some reason, Jack slowed down with the gifts and stopped talking to Karen. After awhile he did have a talk with Karen and now they are friends. I wonder if…" He paused a little. "…how Karen would react to his kidnapping. I don't have much else to say. Why don't you talk with the other people in the bar? Everyone here knows him. Just ask." He was a little nervous.
"Thank you for all your help." Joanna walked over to the owner of the Green Ranch and greeted him. "Hello. I'm Joanna Dark." She held out her hand getting ready to shake his.
"Hello. I'm the owner of the Green Ranch. Nice to meet you." He shook her hand. "So you're the one who's looking for Jack."
"How did you know?" asked Joanna.
"I have my sources. I suppose you want to know about Jack. Well Jack is very rich. Not much people know that but I figured it out by the amount of livestock that he bought from me. He earned enough from the livestock that I sold to him to buy a greenhouse and that's what made him rich. He's also the best horse racer and dog trainer in flower bud village. I take care of his livestock now until he comes back. I don't know about his crops and plants. You should ask Popuri's father about that. He's also the owner of the flower shop. He's over there." He pointed to the owner of the flower shop. Then Cliff left the bar.
"Thanks." Joanna walked over to the owner of the Flower Shop. "Hello. Are you the owner of the flower shop?"
"Yeah, who are you?" answered the owner who wasn't in a good mood.
"I'm here to investigate the kidnapping."
"You are?" His voice got a little bit brighter. "Well then, have you met my daughter, Popuri? She was the goddess at the Flower Festival a few days ago. She was a witness to the kidnapping. At least I think so anyways. She said that someone appeared and disappeared out of nowhere. Sounds a little farfetched to me though."
"If Popuri is right then there is more at stake than crops."
"What are you saying?" he asked wondering what more can there be.
"Only one corporation has this kind of technology. Datadyne."
"Technology? What kind of technology?"
"Cloaking Technology. You become invisible for a little while but if you fire a gun or attack someone, that disrupts the field and you… appear and disappear." Then Joanna noticed that Karen had just left.
"So you can become invisible with some kind of… cloaking device?" Then suddenly Popuri's Mother ran in the bar all wet from the thunderstorm that had already formed outside.
"POPURI'S MISSING!!!!!" She yelled out. Everyone gathered around her.
"What happened?" asked Joanna.
"Who are you?" Asked Popuri's mother.
"Not now dear. Let's hear what happened."
"I was in the shop cleaning up when I heard some noises in Popuri's room. Then they suddenly stopped except for the wind. I looked in but Popuri was gone. The window was open and the pages of her diary were still turning from the wind."
"It must be the those… Datadyne creeps!" Popuri father started with anger in his eyes. "Them and those cloaking devices. Popuri is like a flower I cared for and nurtured. She has finally bloomed but those Datadyne are the flower thieves. I swear when I get my hands on them I'll…"
"Calm down." Joanna said trying to cool down his anger. "You don't know what kind of corporation Datadyne is. They make the most powerful weaponry there is. Datadyne is not the kind of organization you want to mess around with. They always have guards armed with machine guns, shotguns and even sometimes a rocket launcher patrolling their buildings. Don't worry. I'll take care of them and bring back Popuri and Jack."
"But what can you do that I can't?" asked the father.
"I have special training." Then suddenly Cliff burst through the door all wet from the rain. He was huffing and puffing.
"There are some people with machine guns out in Jack's field." Cliff pauses to catch his breath. "Ann is hiding in Jack's house and can't get out."
"Ann?!" The ranch owner was shocked. "No! Not my daughter! Is there anything we can do to save her?"
Ann is a very outgoing girl with a braided ponytail. She is very fond of animals and falls for winning horse racers.
"Not unless someone can get past all the men with the machine guns. I'm afraid that there is nothing that we can do." Cliff said with a "she's-as-good-as-dead" voice.
"I can get past all the those men." Joanna said taking off her trench coat revealing her black spying suit. She took out Falcon 2 and put on a silencer on it.
"There's one of you and a lot of them." Cliff said in disbelief. "You have a pistol and they have machine guns. How could you get past them?"
"I have special training. I could easily get past those guards."
"Then I'm coming too." Said Cliff.
"Me too." Said the Green Ranch owner.
"No." Protested Joanna. "I have special training. You don't. You might get killed out there. I have to go alone."
"Please, bring back Ann safely." Said the Green Ranch owner. Joanna left the bar running towards the crossroads which had the pathway to Jack's farm. She was getting a little wet but she didn't care. She had to save Ann and find some clues to why would Datadyne kidnap Jack.
Joanna Dark reached the crossroads and saw two men wearing Datadyne's uniforms guarding the pathway. She hid behind a tree a peered around it. Two guards guarding a pathway, not that hard. She thought. She came out and shot both of them catching them by surprise. She took both of their machine guns and ran off to Jack's farm. Meanwhile a figure came out from behind a tree and walked up to the dead guards. She picked up a device from the guards that Joanna missed.
Joanna finally reached the farm and saw that it was crawling with Datadyne's thugs. Ann is hiding in Jack's house. I hope they didn't find her yet. Jack's house was close to the entrance of the farm so Joanna went up to the side of the house opposite of the guards in the field. She looked around the corner but then someone tried to shoot her from behind. The bullet missed her and she whipped around to see a Datadyne thug that was vanishing. "Oh no you don't!" She shot him before he could fully fade away or get another shot. He fell to the ground, dead. She picked up his machine gun and took the ammo clips from him. Then she used his cloaking device on the dead body making it disappear. Then Joanna looked through a window of the house and saw Ann inside with some more Datadyne thugs. There were two of them. Shit! They already found her. Ann was being cornered by the two. She was shaking with fear.
"Okay little girl," Started one of the thugs. "Tell us where you put the diary and you won't get hurt."
"I…I… don't know." Ann said very nervously. She hadn't been more sacred in her life. No, I don't want to die. Someone please, help me! I can't tell them. They would just kill me anyways. I can't beat people with machine guns. I have so much to do in my life! It can't end now. I have so much left to do. Get married… have kids…
"Now little girl, you have till the count of 5 to tell us before I fire this little machine gun straight at your pretty little head." He raised up his machine gun and put the barrel on her forehead. "1…2…" Joanna acted fast. She quietly walked around to the door when the other guards weren't looking. She held her Falcon 2 in one hand and the doorknob in the other.
"3…" Ann started to cry. No, please! I don't want to die.
"5!" Joanna yelled as she opened the door and got two head shots of the thugs. Joanna walked over to Ann.
"You are you?" asked Ann.
"I'm Joanna Dark. I'm here to save you and find Jack. Why are you here anyways?"
"I came to look for Jack's diary. I wanted to know who he liked."
"Jack's diary? So that's what they're looking for. Where is it?"
"Behind the tv." Ann pointed to the diary. Then there was a guard that found the dead body.
"Hey!" The guard shouted out to the others. "Someone is here and he took out one of us!"
"Uh oh!" Started Joanna. "The cloaking device wore off. Here, take this." She handed Ann a shield generator.
"What's this?"
"It's a shield generator. This should protect you from a few bullets but if you get hit too much, the shield would break." Ann took it and switched it on.
"Thank you…for saving my life."
"Well we're not in the clear yet." Joanna took both of her machine guns in her hands and looked outside. "All of Datadyne's creeps are coming our way." Ann wondered who the Datadyne were but didn't ask because it might distract Joanna. "Okay, on the count of three, run as fast you can to the bar in the village. I'll distract the guards. I need to take them all out too." Ann nodded. Joanna took the diary and put it where she would normally put her ammo clips. "1…2…3!" Joanna burst out the door. Ann ran toward the bar in the village.
"There she is! Get her!" Yelled out a guard who soon got shot by Joanna. The all the guards began to fire at Joanna. A few stray bullets hit Ann but she was shielded. So the bullets just bounced off her. There were sounds of machine guns all over the place. Joanna began to unload her clip as she ran toward the doghouse. Joanna saw that Ann made it out of the farm and was heading towards the town. Joanna hid behind the doghouse crouching. Good, Ann made it, unlike those Datadyne thugs. Joanna took out a grenade and set for proximity pinball and threw it towards the guards. It kept on bouncing until it got near most of the unlucky guards. BOOM!!! It killed most of the guards except for one. Joanna looked around and almost got shot. She quickly ducked behind the doghouse. Okay, one more sniper on the rooftop of the barn. He's not that far away. She set her CMP150 to its secondary fire mode, follow lock-on. She pointed the CMP150 toward the sniper without popping out of her hiding place with one arm. It locked on and she fired. Then she released the trigger. She saw the smoke come out of her machine gun as rain still came down on her wet face. She looked to see if she shot the sniper and heard a faint sound of someone falling off the roof.
Later, after Joanna checked for more Datadyne thugs she went back to the bar. Ann was already telling the story to everyone there.
"I was cornered by two Datadyne creeps and they threatened to shoot me if I didn't tell them where to find what they wanted." Ann said a little faster than she would normally. "Then Joanna saved me and gave me this… shield generator." She showed everyone the device. "She said that it would protect me from a few bullets and it did. I was so scared, really thought that I was going to die." She ran up to her dad and hugged him. "Oh dad, I was so scared." She had tears in her eyes.
"Don't worry Ann. You're safe now." The ranch owner comforted his daughter. Then he looked toward Joanna. "Thank you so much. How could we ever repay you?"
"Well could you tell me why would a big corporation like Datadyne kidnap Jack?" Joanna asked. Then her communicator went on.
"Joanna," said a voice. "There has been some delevlopments during your investigation. Go to the beach and the dropship will pick you up. You can tell me of your findings there."
"I be right there." Joanna turned off her communitcator. "I have to go now but don't worry about Popuri. I'll save her." Joanna left for the beach as the CI dropship landed there. The large doors opened up and Joanna got in. She heard extra footsteps as she enter but shrugged it off. The dropship lifted off and Joanna was checking her equipment. Then suddenly Karen appeared inside the dropship.
"Uh oh! I'm busted!" Karen was holding a cloaking device that just ran out of power.
To be continued...
A few secnes from the next part... (they may change a little when I actually do write the next part)
Carrington: Joanna, I would like you to meet, Kevin Sliverblade, your partner for the mission.
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Deep in the Datadyne building... a girl cries for someone she cares for... She is unable to do anything about it.
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Joanna: Are you sure you want to do this, Karen?
AN: Well I hoped you like the big trail of clues I left behind and actually figured a little bit of what's going to happen next.