Note: Wow, I just realized that there were a lot of spelling errors in the
last chapter, so sorry about that. Italics equal dreams. Thank you so, so
much for the reviews. They're probably the only things that keep me
writing. I've got some more good news to, my final exams are finally over,
which means school is out, which means that I'll have more time to write.
Disclaimer: Yes, I know I don't own them, d'ya have to rub it in. Ooh, ooh, I do own the Kaze though, so yea for me.
Dinah's statement brought them all back to the reality of the situation, an international terrorist group was currently residing in Gothem doing who knows what; this also jogged Helena's memory, "Hey Barbara, there was some guy shooting at us earlier to, can we figure anything out on that."
"It was definitely a lackey sent by Saio. He already knows that I'm here, and now I've put both of you in danger just by being seen with you." Admonished Dinah.
"Look, you said you needed help Dinah, and we're not about to back out on you, but a little back ground information on your time taking down the Kaze would be nice." Barbara subtly suggested.
"Right I suppose I could do that. Oh, damn. I forgot all about Tek, he's going to be so mad." Dinah winced, as she turned on her com. Helena looked on in empathy, she knew how Barbara could get when she turned off her COM, and suffice to say, it wasn't pretty.
"Where have you been!? You just decide to go off COM with a warning of, and I quote 'Goin off now.' You are in so much trouble when you put the Kaze away!" Tek was yelling so loud, that not only did Dinah jump, but Helena and Barbara could hear a mass of incoherent shouting.
"At least I gave a warning this time. Right?" Dinah feebly defended herself.
"That doesn't excuse it! If you had been hurt I wouldn't have known. I want you to leave your COM on for as long as you are Canary in Gothem. Do you understand?" Tek ordered, clearly still angry.
"Well I'll have you know that Huntress was there and she would've helped me if I was in trouble. And since I'm not Canary right now, I guess I'll talk to you later." Dinah smirked, and shut off her COM, effectively ending any protests Tek may have had, to Barbara and Helena she said, "Don't you just love loop holes?"
"Nice." Helena laughed, quickly shutting up as Barbara sent her a small glare.
"Why don't you tell us about your first experience with the Kaze, and then we'll work from there." Barbara suggested.
"Do you think that we can get some sleep first? It's pretty late, and I've got a headache that needs to be taken care of." Dinah pleaded, moving back over to the sitting area.
"I suppose that would be best. Are you staying tonight Helena?"
"There's no way in hell, that I would stay anywhere else tonight." Affirmed Helena, "We never got rid of your room you know. Everything's still where it was, except that we put in a few pictures."
"Thanks, Is everything else still in the same place?"
"Yeah, you probably want something for your head. Get ready for bed and I'll bring it to you." Barbara offered only to be stopped by Dinah shaking her head.
"I can't stay tonight, I'll have to check out of my hotel, and all of my stuff is still there." She made her way towards the elevator, and was perfectly aware of Barbara and Helena's stares. "Don't worry, I'll be back at about eight with all of my stuff; that is, if you'll have me. You know it has been five years and all, and I don't expect you to just welcome me with open arms, but I would really like to stay, and at the same time I don't want to intrude, so if you could just cut me off any time now before I make an even bigger ass out of myself." Dinah babbled, desperately wanting to be able to stay. "Please let them say that I can." She thought to herself.
Both Helena and Barbara didn't even bother to conceal their smiles; Dinah did want to stay, which meant that the whole hotel thing wasn't just an excuse to stay away from them. "Eight it is." Barbara agreed, her heart lifting as she saw a grin on Dinah's face, and the sparkle in her eyes that she had missed so much. Finally Dinah left, both parties definitely feeling different then they did yesterday morning, but it was about three a.m, which meant that it was time for some rest.
Something just didn't feel right, nothing specific, but just a certain tingling in the back of her head, that was slowly growing towards a headache. Now Dinah knew that something wasn't right, she was standing right outside of her hotel room, the card ready to slid into the electric lock, but the feeling just struck her. She turned on her COM backing a small distance away from the door, "Tek, you there?'
"Back again are we? Or are you just going to cut me off again?"
"Not right now Tek, I think something's wrong with my room." Dinah informed, keeping one, wary eye on the door.
"I'll do a check from here." A few minutes later he spoke again, "Someone's been in there Canary. You're on the ground floor so my suggestion is to break in through the window."
"Right. Do you know if they did anything, or if they left?"
"I know that they got in there, and that an hour later they left. Security tapes from the hotel show two men, on with a silver briefcase. There's probably a bomb inside knowing their style." Tek warned.
It was still cold out, but Dinah ignored it focusing instead on making sure she didn't die tonight, not after she had finally gotten some of the air cleared between her, and well, what she considered to be her real family. Of course the window was closed, but in this case it would be only a minor problem, from a pouch strapped to her belt she pulled out a bottle. Opening the top she shook out two blue pills, popped them in her mouth, and swallowed them. Then she held the hand out a small distance from her body, (because it was easier to use if you used your hand to guide it) and opened the window using her telekinesis. As expected the headache hit hard, blinding her for a moment, but she ignored it, the pills she just took would take care of the pain soon enough.
Hopping through the window with practiced ease, she landed gracefully, and softly upon the plush, grey carpet. Inch by inch she crept across the room, carefully scanning for anything that might've been out of place. A soft beeping noise sounded in her ear, off to the left. Connected to the door's electronic lock were several wires flowing towards a bomb, which she immediately recognized after working as a double agent for five months in the Kaze whose specialty was bombs; she shuddered as she remembered her time there, but she shoved those thoughts aside remembering that right in front of her was the possibility of getting blown to tiny bits. "I recognize the style Tek, I'm going to have to disarm it."
"Canary, I say just leave it, let the Gothem police deal with it." Tek instructed, and Dinah could almost see him waving his hand dismissively.
"Can't do that. It's hooked to the door's lock. If the card goes in, the bomb goes boom, the door goes splinter, the owner goes dead, and then I have another mur. . . death, on my conscience. It really isn't that complicated anyway, I just have to get a few things from my, well, things." Dinah explained, she had been about to say murder, but wasn't ready to deal with that other little piece of baggage. A few twists of a screwdriver, and some clipped wires later the bomb was disarmed, and no longer any harm to anyone. With all over and done with, Dinah bade Tek goodnight, and crawled gratefully into bed.
By the time Dinah had managed to walk to the hotel, Helena had made it out of the shower, by the time Dinah noticed something was wrong, Helena had pulled the soft covers up over her waist, and by the time Dinah had finally gone to sleep, Helena was still awake. "What is it about her that does this to me? How does she make me feel so much? And why do I let her? She's changed so much, and although I do like the new her, I miss the one that was almost never without a smile. I shouldn't care, I shouldn't especially with the Kaze here, something will happen, and I'll just wind up getting hurt again. That's selfish, she's hurting right now, and I should be able to help her. What if I can't?" Helena was so torn inside, she never forgot Dinah, never could. Every morning she woke up, and at least had one thought of Dinah. For a small time she had dated Reese, but it didn't work out, partially because she couldn't stop thinking about that blond goddess. "What have you done to me?" She muttered out loud, before passing out into a pleasant dream, where the team was whole, only a little different.
Meanwhile, Barbara was just thankful that Dinah was still alive, "Canary, that's what she called herself; in honor of her mother I suppose." She was proud of Dinah, no doubt there, through her sickness Dinah still managed to fight crime, and even took down the infamous Kaze, for a short time anyway. As of this moment Barbara only had three goals, enjoy the time when Dinah was here, find a cure for her, and take down the Kaze. Something about Helena and Dinah was tingling in the back of her head, something between the two of them, but since it wasn't one of her current goals she dismissed it. "Dinah I'm so glad you're home.
So close, almost touching, almost, nearly there, the smell alone was intoxicating. It was so perfectly shaped and she knew that hers would meld perfectly with it, just a little further, contact, bliss, euphoria, ecstasy, rapture, paradise, heaven.
When Dinah arrived in the clock tower it was a quarter past eight, she had a little disposal to take care of before she came; namely the Kaze's little surprise, which thankfully failed to fulfill its duties. One bag was slung across her shoulder, and she held two metallic briefcases in each hand. Dropping them to the ground, after stepping out of the elevator, she accepted the warm welcome consisting of hugs (which she had missed so much) and exchanged greetings, each one with a smile on their face. "Come on, we'll go put your stuff in your room." Said Helena, as she picked up both of Dinah's cases.
All were ready to talk now that Dinah had gotten all of her things put away. Everyone was dressed casually, and for some reason or another it comforted Dinah, maybe it was because she missed seeing this relaxed state. Each held a cup of coffee in their hand, Barbara's straight up, and Helena's, which was half sugar. "Good sleep?" Asked Barbara.
Dinah smiled, same old caring Barbara, "No, not really. I got to my room and there was a bomb hooked up to the lock."
"What? A bomb? It was the Kaze wasn't it? I'll break his neck." Helena stormed, turning into Huntress briefly before turning back.
"Calm down Helena, it's alright; obviously since I'm not in little pieces or burnt to a crisp. I disarmed it, no biggie." Secretly Dinah was pleased about Helena's little outburst, it made her feel wanted.
"No biggie, are you joking? It was a bomb, you could have died." Helena spoke slowly, as though she was explaining something to a small child, Dinah responded by sticking out her tongue.
Just as Helena was about to respond, Barbara stopped her, "Ladies, let's just get on with it alright?" Both knew that it wasn't actually a question.
"Right, you wanted to know about my time with the Kaze. Better sit back, it's fairly long."
Note: We are now flashing back to several months ago. Please fasten your seat belt, and keep all appendages inside your chair at all times. Thank you and I hope you have a nice trip to past Japan.
"Dinah, are you there yet?"
"Geeze keep your shorts on, I'm outside the building right now. Listen carefully and you'll here the master at work." Dinah bragged, as she walked up to a tall glass building.
"Oh really, is there somebody in the background that might be good at this." Tek teased.
"Shut up." Dinah groused quietly entering the building. There was a reception desk in the center of the marble, ground floor, Dinah walked up to the receptionist, "Hi, I have an appointment to see Saio Inyana."
"Name?" she asked, sounding bored.
"Dinah Adams."
She tapped a few keys, "fifteenth floor, he'll see you as soon as you get up."
Dinah nodded her acknowledgement, and stepped into the elevator, "The reception still good?"
"Crystal, I'll be able to hear everything going on."
The elevator finally reached the intended floor, Dinah stepped out, and at the end of the hall, and she could see a name beside a room that said, Inyana, Saio. She stepped out, walking slowly towards the door as she took in all the details of the hall, nothing seemed out of place; there were the typical pictures lining the corridor, and a tiled floor to walk on, it was nice. A voice came from behind the door beckoning her inside, as she knocked on the door. "Miss. Adams was it?" Asked Saio, he was about 5'6, with a slim yet muscular build; his dark hair was pulled back in a small ponytail.
"Yes mister Inyana. I'm here about the job opening."
"Please, call me Saio, you want to be a member of the Kaze do you?" He asked a pleasant smile graced his face as he took in her confused look, "You probably didn't expect me to say the name here did you?" Dinah shook her head in the negative; "Well the whole building is Kaze so it really doesn't matter. I've had some people look through your background, runaway, several charges of assault, one for murder, and I've heard that you're pretty good with your hands." He gave her a lecherous smile.
"Yeah well, girls gotta get her kicks somewhere right?" She grinned right back at him, "Oh this is torture." She thought to herself, out loud she said, "The Kaze specialize in bombs, and I just so happen to have a, well, almost a fetish with those."
"You're more than qualified, and the job is yours if you want it." Dinah was about to respond, but he held up a hand to silence her, "If you do say yes, it would be prudent for you to know that you will be tested. Do you still want the job?"
"It sounds like it's right up my alley."
"Excellent, I would've so hated to kill you. Come, follow me, we'll need to get you a change of clothes first; then we'll head down to the course." He led her back to the elevator, and opened a hidden panel using a key he pulled out from his suit. It contained three red buttons; he pressed the topmost one. When the doors opened it revealed what appeared to be a changing room, "Samo!" Saio called, a fairly small man came jogging, "I want you to get her a change of clothes; she may become the newest member of the Kaze."
Samo nodded at Saio, and gave Dinah an appraising stare before smirking, "follow me and we'll get you into something more suitable."
When Dinah came back, she was dressed in a black tank top, and a pair of loose jogging pants, the boots she had worn coming in still adorned her feet. "Ah, good you've changed; don't worry Samo will take good care of your things." They stepped back into the elevator, this time he pushed the middle button.
"Where are we going?"
"To the first of your tests, an obstacle course. It will test you both physically and mentally, I hope that you'll last."
Once more the doors slid open, and the first thing Dinah noticed was that the floor was sand, the next was that it was very hot. "I told you it would test your physical abilities." Saio smirked. In front of them was the obstacle course itself, a few typical things, a rope wall, monkey bars, crawl under the wire, but there were other things to such as finish the bomb, disarm the bomb, put the gun together, and dodge your way through the sensory lasers.
"This is it?" Dinah asked in a disbelieving tone, frankly she had expected something more difficult, her regular everyday training was harder than this.
Saio took her tone in a different way though, he was far too confident in himself, and he personally thought that his course was plenty hard, "Having second thoughts?'
Dinah realized the way he took it, and decided to play with that, "No of course not, I'll do it just fine, you'll see." She sauntered over to what she assumed was the beginning of the course.
"Everything you'll need to either assemble or disarm is on the table, when you hear the whistle go, from then you will have eight minutes to complete your task." Instructed Saio.
The whistle sounded, and Dinah shot off. First came the wall, which she scaled easily, not even bothering to use the rope, next came disarming the bomb. As Saio had told her, all the tools she needed were set out before her, methodically she worked until it was no longer a danger, six minutes left. Monkey bars now, easy as pie, as she dropped down a barrage of bean bags was sent at her, she assumed that they were meant to be bullets, she threw herself to the ground and rolled out of the way finding the gun in front of her, and a wall blocking the bean bags, behind her. The weapon was assembled in no time flat, peering out from behind the wall she found what was sending the beanbags at her, and shot it with practiced precision, it went down, three minutes left. She wriggled her way under the wire coming to the last part of the obstacle, arming the bomb. Tick, tick, tick the clock sounded in her mind, finally the last wire was in place, and she dashed to the end with forty two seconds to spare.
Clapping came from behind her; she whirled around and came face to face with a very happy Saio Inyana. "Very good. I can't tell you how happy I am that you passed. There's one final test before you are allowed to join, so let's not delay hmm." Dinah nodded, and after he turned, beginning the walk towards the elevator, she flipped him off.
"You okay Dinah?" Tek asked.
"Just peachy, you know this guy's an ass, him and his stupid suit." Complained Dinah, Tek's response was to laugh, low and throaty. "Shut up."
The final button had now been pressed, but instead of descending like she expected, they went up. Higher and higher it climbed until it reached the top floor, "Final test time, and I have high hopes for you."
This was unexpected; the room in front of her was actually a dojo. "Your final test is to fight Masaru here. If you win, you get a membership into the Kaze." His hand rested on another man's shoulder; a very intimidating, very tall, very mean other man.
"Okay Dinah, so what if he's massive, you can handle him easy." She tried to reassure herself.
"I'm going to crush you." Dinah gulped at Masaru's words, it wouldn't surprise her if he did. Both walked to the center mat, she stretched a little, and he just flexed a lot "Are you ready?"
"Let's do this." Came the cocky response, from a Dinah who was feeling anything but.
Both moved into a fighting stance, circling each other, Dinah changed her stance to defensive as Masaru came at her, just as he had suspected he would. The first few punches were easy to either dodge or block, but one managed to slip through her defenses, catching her in the stomach. "He hits like a fucking bull. Oh, that really hurts." She silently complained. Now she decided to take the offensive, using her polished technique and managing several hits of her own, chin, chest, arm, and knee. As Masaru was falling to the ground, he propelled himself forward effectively tackling Dinah. His superior size and weight kept her legs pinned firmly to the ground, as he moved to a sitting position he proceeded to punch her mercilessly wherever his fists could reach. This had to stop, using her reserves of strength she caught both of his fists as they came hurtling at her, somehow she managed to flip their position. She let go of his fists and gave him a hard hit to the chest, knocking the wind out of him, before she got off of his stomach, then she kicked him in the side as he was getting up. He fell to the ground once more, and she wiped some of the blood from her nose and mouth.
Falling back into her stance she beckoned him with one hand, she was pissed, which meant only one thing; Masaru was going to lose. In his anger he barreled towards her, nobody kicked him while he was down, as he was about to make contact she side stepped, bringing her knee up into her stomach with all the force she could muster, plus the own force from his speed. She then jammed her elbow into the back of his neck, then brought her leg out from under him bringing it around to hit the back of his legs, sending him falling in the opposite direction that he had stared. As a finale, she delivered an open palm thrust into his chest, sending him crashing hard into the ground. The only sound was her heavy breathing, it had been harder than she expected.
Saio came up behind her and went to put his hand on her shoulder, she, of course, moved since she didn't feel like being in any more pain. In fact she was lucky that she had taken an extra dose of her medicine, otherwise this beating would've been much more painful with all the skin contact that had been going on. Right now she had a monstrous migraine, and wanted nothing more than to strangle Saio for being in such a good mood while she was in such pain. He ignored her moving, "Well miss Adams, you certainly don't disappoint. I'd like to welcome you to the Kaze."
Note: Well what'd ya think? Good, yay or nay (yay meaning yes, (nay meaning the opposite) This chapter took a completely different turn than what I first suspected, from the beginning all the way to where the group is sitting down talking, was completely unplanned. In truth, this chap was originally meant to be all about Dinah's time with the Kaze, guess it'll have to wait til next time though. Thanks so, so much for the reviews, you guys all make writing this twice as much fun, and if you want to give more reviews I will gladly accept the burden, jk they're no burden. Well, til next time.
Disclaimer: Yes, I know I don't own them, d'ya have to rub it in. Ooh, ooh, I do own the Kaze though, so yea for me.
Dinah's statement brought them all back to the reality of the situation, an international terrorist group was currently residing in Gothem doing who knows what; this also jogged Helena's memory, "Hey Barbara, there was some guy shooting at us earlier to, can we figure anything out on that."
"It was definitely a lackey sent by Saio. He already knows that I'm here, and now I've put both of you in danger just by being seen with you." Admonished Dinah.
"Look, you said you needed help Dinah, and we're not about to back out on you, but a little back ground information on your time taking down the Kaze would be nice." Barbara subtly suggested.
"Right I suppose I could do that. Oh, damn. I forgot all about Tek, he's going to be so mad." Dinah winced, as she turned on her com. Helena looked on in empathy, she knew how Barbara could get when she turned off her COM, and suffice to say, it wasn't pretty.
"Where have you been!? You just decide to go off COM with a warning of, and I quote 'Goin off now.' You are in so much trouble when you put the Kaze away!" Tek was yelling so loud, that not only did Dinah jump, but Helena and Barbara could hear a mass of incoherent shouting.
"At least I gave a warning this time. Right?" Dinah feebly defended herself.
"That doesn't excuse it! If you had been hurt I wouldn't have known. I want you to leave your COM on for as long as you are Canary in Gothem. Do you understand?" Tek ordered, clearly still angry.
"Well I'll have you know that Huntress was there and she would've helped me if I was in trouble. And since I'm not Canary right now, I guess I'll talk to you later." Dinah smirked, and shut off her COM, effectively ending any protests Tek may have had, to Barbara and Helena she said, "Don't you just love loop holes?"
"Nice." Helena laughed, quickly shutting up as Barbara sent her a small glare.
"Why don't you tell us about your first experience with the Kaze, and then we'll work from there." Barbara suggested.
"Do you think that we can get some sleep first? It's pretty late, and I've got a headache that needs to be taken care of." Dinah pleaded, moving back over to the sitting area.
"I suppose that would be best. Are you staying tonight Helena?"
"There's no way in hell, that I would stay anywhere else tonight." Affirmed Helena, "We never got rid of your room you know. Everything's still where it was, except that we put in a few pictures."
"Thanks, Is everything else still in the same place?"
"Yeah, you probably want something for your head. Get ready for bed and I'll bring it to you." Barbara offered only to be stopped by Dinah shaking her head.
"I can't stay tonight, I'll have to check out of my hotel, and all of my stuff is still there." She made her way towards the elevator, and was perfectly aware of Barbara and Helena's stares. "Don't worry, I'll be back at about eight with all of my stuff; that is, if you'll have me. You know it has been five years and all, and I don't expect you to just welcome me with open arms, but I would really like to stay, and at the same time I don't want to intrude, so if you could just cut me off any time now before I make an even bigger ass out of myself." Dinah babbled, desperately wanting to be able to stay. "Please let them say that I can." She thought to herself.
Both Helena and Barbara didn't even bother to conceal their smiles; Dinah did want to stay, which meant that the whole hotel thing wasn't just an excuse to stay away from them. "Eight it is." Barbara agreed, her heart lifting as she saw a grin on Dinah's face, and the sparkle in her eyes that she had missed so much. Finally Dinah left, both parties definitely feeling different then they did yesterday morning, but it was about three a.m, which meant that it was time for some rest.
Something just didn't feel right, nothing specific, but just a certain tingling in the back of her head, that was slowly growing towards a headache. Now Dinah knew that something wasn't right, she was standing right outside of her hotel room, the card ready to slid into the electric lock, but the feeling just struck her. She turned on her COM backing a small distance away from the door, "Tek, you there?'
"Back again are we? Or are you just going to cut me off again?"
"Not right now Tek, I think something's wrong with my room." Dinah informed, keeping one, wary eye on the door.
"I'll do a check from here." A few minutes later he spoke again, "Someone's been in there Canary. You're on the ground floor so my suggestion is to break in through the window."
"Right. Do you know if they did anything, or if they left?"
"I know that they got in there, and that an hour later they left. Security tapes from the hotel show two men, on with a silver briefcase. There's probably a bomb inside knowing their style." Tek warned.
It was still cold out, but Dinah ignored it focusing instead on making sure she didn't die tonight, not after she had finally gotten some of the air cleared between her, and well, what she considered to be her real family. Of course the window was closed, but in this case it would be only a minor problem, from a pouch strapped to her belt she pulled out a bottle. Opening the top she shook out two blue pills, popped them in her mouth, and swallowed them. Then she held the hand out a small distance from her body, (because it was easier to use if you used your hand to guide it) and opened the window using her telekinesis. As expected the headache hit hard, blinding her for a moment, but she ignored it, the pills she just took would take care of the pain soon enough.
Hopping through the window with practiced ease, she landed gracefully, and softly upon the plush, grey carpet. Inch by inch she crept across the room, carefully scanning for anything that might've been out of place. A soft beeping noise sounded in her ear, off to the left. Connected to the door's electronic lock were several wires flowing towards a bomb, which she immediately recognized after working as a double agent for five months in the Kaze whose specialty was bombs; she shuddered as she remembered her time there, but she shoved those thoughts aside remembering that right in front of her was the possibility of getting blown to tiny bits. "I recognize the style Tek, I'm going to have to disarm it."
"Canary, I say just leave it, let the Gothem police deal with it." Tek instructed, and Dinah could almost see him waving his hand dismissively.
"Can't do that. It's hooked to the door's lock. If the card goes in, the bomb goes boom, the door goes splinter, the owner goes dead, and then I have another mur. . . death, on my conscience. It really isn't that complicated anyway, I just have to get a few things from my, well, things." Dinah explained, she had been about to say murder, but wasn't ready to deal with that other little piece of baggage. A few twists of a screwdriver, and some clipped wires later the bomb was disarmed, and no longer any harm to anyone. With all over and done with, Dinah bade Tek goodnight, and crawled gratefully into bed.
By the time Dinah had managed to walk to the hotel, Helena had made it out of the shower, by the time Dinah noticed something was wrong, Helena had pulled the soft covers up over her waist, and by the time Dinah had finally gone to sleep, Helena was still awake. "What is it about her that does this to me? How does she make me feel so much? And why do I let her? She's changed so much, and although I do like the new her, I miss the one that was almost never without a smile. I shouldn't care, I shouldn't especially with the Kaze here, something will happen, and I'll just wind up getting hurt again. That's selfish, she's hurting right now, and I should be able to help her. What if I can't?" Helena was so torn inside, she never forgot Dinah, never could. Every morning she woke up, and at least had one thought of Dinah. For a small time she had dated Reese, but it didn't work out, partially because she couldn't stop thinking about that blond goddess. "What have you done to me?" She muttered out loud, before passing out into a pleasant dream, where the team was whole, only a little different.
Meanwhile, Barbara was just thankful that Dinah was still alive, "Canary, that's what she called herself; in honor of her mother I suppose." She was proud of Dinah, no doubt there, through her sickness Dinah still managed to fight crime, and even took down the infamous Kaze, for a short time anyway. As of this moment Barbara only had three goals, enjoy the time when Dinah was here, find a cure for her, and take down the Kaze. Something about Helena and Dinah was tingling in the back of her head, something between the two of them, but since it wasn't one of her current goals she dismissed it. "Dinah I'm so glad you're home.
So close, almost touching, almost, nearly there, the smell alone was intoxicating. It was so perfectly shaped and she knew that hers would meld perfectly with it, just a little further, contact, bliss, euphoria, ecstasy, rapture, paradise, heaven.
When Dinah arrived in the clock tower it was a quarter past eight, she had a little disposal to take care of before she came; namely the Kaze's little surprise, which thankfully failed to fulfill its duties. One bag was slung across her shoulder, and she held two metallic briefcases in each hand. Dropping them to the ground, after stepping out of the elevator, she accepted the warm welcome consisting of hugs (which she had missed so much) and exchanged greetings, each one with a smile on their face. "Come on, we'll go put your stuff in your room." Said Helena, as she picked up both of Dinah's cases.
All were ready to talk now that Dinah had gotten all of her things put away. Everyone was dressed casually, and for some reason or another it comforted Dinah, maybe it was because she missed seeing this relaxed state. Each held a cup of coffee in their hand, Barbara's straight up, and Helena's, which was half sugar. "Good sleep?" Asked Barbara.
Dinah smiled, same old caring Barbara, "No, not really. I got to my room and there was a bomb hooked up to the lock."
"What? A bomb? It was the Kaze wasn't it? I'll break his neck." Helena stormed, turning into Huntress briefly before turning back.
"Calm down Helena, it's alright; obviously since I'm not in little pieces or burnt to a crisp. I disarmed it, no biggie." Secretly Dinah was pleased about Helena's little outburst, it made her feel wanted.
"No biggie, are you joking? It was a bomb, you could have died." Helena spoke slowly, as though she was explaining something to a small child, Dinah responded by sticking out her tongue.
Just as Helena was about to respond, Barbara stopped her, "Ladies, let's just get on with it alright?" Both knew that it wasn't actually a question.
"Right, you wanted to know about my time with the Kaze. Better sit back, it's fairly long."
Note: We are now flashing back to several months ago. Please fasten your seat belt, and keep all appendages inside your chair at all times. Thank you and I hope you have a nice trip to past Japan.
"Dinah, are you there yet?"
"Geeze keep your shorts on, I'm outside the building right now. Listen carefully and you'll here the master at work." Dinah bragged, as she walked up to a tall glass building.
"Oh really, is there somebody in the background that might be good at this." Tek teased.
"Shut up." Dinah groused quietly entering the building. There was a reception desk in the center of the marble, ground floor, Dinah walked up to the receptionist, "Hi, I have an appointment to see Saio Inyana."
"Name?" she asked, sounding bored.
"Dinah Adams."
She tapped a few keys, "fifteenth floor, he'll see you as soon as you get up."
Dinah nodded her acknowledgement, and stepped into the elevator, "The reception still good?"
"Crystal, I'll be able to hear everything going on."
The elevator finally reached the intended floor, Dinah stepped out, and at the end of the hall, and she could see a name beside a room that said, Inyana, Saio. She stepped out, walking slowly towards the door as she took in all the details of the hall, nothing seemed out of place; there were the typical pictures lining the corridor, and a tiled floor to walk on, it was nice. A voice came from behind the door beckoning her inside, as she knocked on the door. "Miss. Adams was it?" Asked Saio, he was about 5'6, with a slim yet muscular build; his dark hair was pulled back in a small ponytail.
"Yes mister Inyana. I'm here about the job opening."
"Please, call me Saio, you want to be a member of the Kaze do you?" He asked a pleasant smile graced his face as he took in her confused look, "You probably didn't expect me to say the name here did you?" Dinah shook her head in the negative; "Well the whole building is Kaze so it really doesn't matter. I've had some people look through your background, runaway, several charges of assault, one for murder, and I've heard that you're pretty good with your hands." He gave her a lecherous smile.
"Yeah well, girls gotta get her kicks somewhere right?" She grinned right back at him, "Oh this is torture." She thought to herself, out loud she said, "The Kaze specialize in bombs, and I just so happen to have a, well, almost a fetish with those."
"You're more than qualified, and the job is yours if you want it." Dinah was about to respond, but he held up a hand to silence her, "If you do say yes, it would be prudent for you to know that you will be tested. Do you still want the job?"
"It sounds like it's right up my alley."
"Excellent, I would've so hated to kill you. Come, follow me, we'll need to get you a change of clothes first; then we'll head down to the course." He led her back to the elevator, and opened a hidden panel using a key he pulled out from his suit. It contained three red buttons; he pressed the topmost one. When the doors opened it revealed what appeared to be a changing room, "Samo!" Saio called, a fairly small man came jogging, "I want you to get her a change of clothes; she may become the newest member of the Kaze."
Samo nodded at Saio, and gave Dinah an appraising stare before smirking, "follow me and we'll get you into something more suitable."
When Dinah came back, she was dressed in a black tank top, and a pair of loose jogging pants, the boots she had worn coming in still adorned her feet. "Ah, good you've changed; don't worry Samo will take good care of your things." They stepped back into the elevator, this time he pushed the middle button.
"Where are we going?"
"To the first of your tests, an obstacle course. It will test you both physically and mentally, I hope that you'll last."
Once more the doors slid open, and the first thing Dinah noticed was that the floor was sand, the next was that it was very hot. "I told you it would test your physical abilities." Saio smirked. In front of them was the obstacle course itself, a few typical things, a rope wall, monkey bars, crawl under the wire, but there were other things to such as finish the bomb, disarm the bomb, put the gun together, and dodge your way through the sensory lasers.
"This is it?" Dinah asked in a disbelieving tone, frankly she had expected something more difficult, her regular everyday training was harder than this.
Saio took her tone in a different way though, he was far too confident in himself, and he personally thought that his course was plenty hard, "Having second thoughts?'
Dinah realized the way he took it, and decided to play with that, "No of course not, I'll do it just fine, you'll see." She sauntered over to what she assumed was the beginning of the course.
"Everything you'll need to either assemble or disarm is on the table, when you hear the whistle go, from then you will have eight minutes to complete your task." Instructed Saio.
The whistle sounded, and Dinah shot off. First came the wall, which she scaled easily, not even bothering to use the rope, next came disarming the bomb. As Saio had told her, all the tools she needed were set out before her, methodically she worked until it was no longer a danger, six minutes left. Monkey bars now, easy as pie, as she dropped down a barrage of bean bags was sent at her, she assumed that they were meant to be bullets, she threw herself to the ground and rolled out of the way finding the gun in front of her, and a wall blocking the bean bags, behind her. The weapon was assembled in no time flat, peering out from behind the wall she found what was sending the beanbags at her, and shot it with practiced precision, it went down, three minutes left. She wriggled her way under the wire coming to the last part of the obstacle, arming the bomb. Tick, tick, tick the clock sounded in her mind, finally the last wire was in place, and she dashed to the end with forty two seconds to spare.
Clapping came from behind her; she whirled around and came face to face with a very happy Saio Inyana. "Very good. I can't tell you how happy I am that you passed. There's one final test before you are allowed to join, so let's not delay hmm." Dinah nodded, and after he turned, beginning the walk towards the elevator, she flipped him off.
"You okay Dinah?" Tek asked.
"Just peachy, you know this guy's an ass, him and his stupid suit." Complained Dinah, Tek's response was to laugh, low and throaty. "Shut up."
The final button had now been pressed, but instead of descending like she expected, they went up. Higher and higher it climbed until it reached the top floor, "Final test time, and I have high hopes for you."
This was unexpected; the room in front of her was actually a dojo. "Your final test is to fight Masaru here. If you win, you get a membership into the Kaze." His hand rested on another man's shoulder; a very intimidating, very tall, very mean other man.
"Okay Dinah, so what if he's massive, you can handle him easy." She tried to reassure herself.
"I'm going to crush you." Dinah gulped at Masaru's words, it wouldn't surprise her if he did. Both walked to the center mat, she stretched a little, and he just flexed a lot "Are you ready?"
"Let's do this." Came the cocky response, from a Dinah who was feeling anything but.
Both moved into a fighting stance, circling each other, Dinah changed her stance to defensive as Masaru came at her, just as he had suspected he would. The first few punches were easy to either dodge or block, but one managed to slip through her defenses, catching her in the stomach. "He hits like a fucking bull. Oh, that really hurts." She silently complained. Now she decided to take the offensive, using her polished technique and managing several hits of her own, chin, chest, arm, and knee. As Masaru was falling to the ground, he propelled himself forward effectively tackling Dinah. His superior size and weight kept her legs pinned firmly to the ground, as he moved to a sitting position he proceeded to punch her mercilessly wherever his fists could reach. This had to stop, using her reserves of strength she caught both of his fists as they came hurtling at her, somehow she managed to flip their position. She let go of his fists and gave him a hard hit to the chest, knocking the wind out of him, before she got off of his stomach, then she kicked him in the side as he was getting up. He fell to the ground once more, and she wiped some of the blood from her nose and mouth.
Falling back into her stance she beckoned him with one hand, she was pissed, which meant only one thing; Masaru was going to lose. In his anger he barreled towards her, nobody kicked him while he was down, as he was about to make contact she side stepped, bringing her knee up into her stomach with all the force she could muster, plus the own force from his speed. She then jammed her elbow into the back of his neck, then brought her leg out from under him bringing it around to hit the back of his legs, sending him falling in the opposite direction that he had stared. As a finale, she delivered an open palm thrust into his chest, sending him crashing hard into the ground. The only sound was her heavy breathing, it had been harder than she expected.
Saio came up behind her and went to put his hand on her shoulder, she, of course, moved since she didn't feel like being in any more pain. In fact she was lucky that she had taken an extra dose of her medicine, otherwise this beating would've been much more painful with all the skin contact that had been going on. Right now she had a monstrous migraine, and wanted nothing more than to strangle Saio for being in such a good mood while she was in such pain. He ignored her moving, "Well miss Adams, you certainly don't disappoint. I'd like to welcome you to the Kaze."
Note: Well what'd ya think? Good, yay or nay (yay meaning yes, (nay meaning the opposite) This chapter took a completely different turn than what I first suspected, from the beginning all the way to where the group is sitting down talking, was completely unplanned. In truth, this chap was originally meant to be all about Dinah's time with the Kaze, guess it'll have to wait til next time though. Thanks so, so much for the reviews, you guys all make writing this twice as much fun, and if you want to give more reviews I will gladly accept the burden, jk they're no burden. Well, til next time.
