Shanghi, China
1440 Hours
A Taxi stopped in front of a four-star restaurant and out stepped Mina, Marcie and Jack. Mina paid the driver the fare and thanked him, and she heard the driver muttered something in some dialect of Chinese as he drove off. Mina spoke the language but wasn't familiar with the dialect; if she did she would know that the driver had said, "Damn pale cheap-tipping foreigners."
"So, what makes our Oriental friend 'Extraordinary'?" asked Jack.
"He's a hit man." replied Mina.
"That's it? There are more hit men in the world than there are not. What makes this one special enough so that we have to travel all this distance to reach?"
"Well he single handedly wiped out one of Los Angeles's top crime organizations a few years back."
"Ah, that's good."
The three then walked into the restaurant, which was rather ample and quite stylish. There was not much of a crowd yet there were some customers of various nationalities.
"See him anywhere?" asked Marcie, who wore a brown duster and gloves in addition to her standard facial wear, which was her red wig and sunglasses.
"There he is," said Mina, as she walked to an Asian man sitting at a table by the window.
"Say, that fellow looks familiar!" exclaimed Jack as he and Marcie followed.
"I hope you didn't attempt to rob him," stated Marcie, sardonically.
"God! That would be awkward."
The three were at the table when Mina talked.
"Mr. John Lee1?" she asked.
The man nodded. He was in his early- to mid-forties, and had a fairly muscular build. He wore grey trousers and a jacket over a white sweater.
"I'm Mina Murray. We spoke on the phone earlier."
"It's my pleasure," said John in an accented yet proper English. "Sit down," he continued.
The three members of the League sat down to the table as Mina continued with the introductions.
"These are my associates; Mr. Jack Skinner—" "Hello," interrupted Jack dryly.
"And Agent Marcie Ross," continued Mina.
"Hi," said Marcie.
"Agent of what?" asked John curiously.
"The FBI," answered Marcie carefully.
John seemed uncomfortable with that fact, so Mina hastily commented, "But that has little to do with the purpose of our meeting."
"We are members of an elite task force that is assigned to investigate matters of global interest, consisting mostly of civilians who have rare talents or uncanny natures."
"I don't follow. What do you mean by uncanny natures?" asked John.
"Well for one thing, I'm invisible." said Marcie. Mina gave her an annoyed look as she didn't want to blatantly state their conditions; Jack, on the other, hand looked amused.
"Come again?" asked John, who was caught off guard by the answer.
Thinking that seeing is believing, Marcie removed her glove, and raised her hand to eye level so that John could see the seemingly hollow sleeve. John's eyes widened and he grabbed her arm to inspect if it was truly an invisible arm or, somehow, a cloth covered wire frame.
John's jaw dropped as he discovered that it was the first. And to further his amazement Mina slashed the back of her hand with the table knife, creating a nasty wound which healed itself in a second.
"And I am a vampire." she said as she wiped the blood of the knife with a napkin.
"And you, what are you?" asked John addressing Jack.
"Well, I'm a former student of psychology and a fairly good guitar player. And I don't like to boost but there is the fact that over 15 years I have robed Banks, Jewelry, Art, Cars... etc, as well as occasional Con-Job's." answered the thief.
"That's where I remember you from. You planned a robbery for Terence Wei in LA Seven years back." "Oh, so that's where I remember you from, you were his trigger man. I heard you killed the bastard!"
"I did." answered Joh who seemed to have gotten out of his initial shock.
"That's nice." Marcie said as she put her glove back on.
"So you see, Mr. Lee, we do not exaggerate when we say 'rare' and 'unique'. What we have came for is to ask your help on a mission to save the world from a very probable death," said Mina.
"What do you mean?" asked John.
"There was an Englishman infected with some sort of new disease a few weeks ago, which scientist can't begin to clarify. Turns out that it's not the hand of nature; someone is behind it, and is holding the world hostage. He wants a price for not releasing this illness on humanity," explained Mina. "We need your help as an assassin to aid us in our investigation. Will you help us?"
After a short pause John spoke, and said, "I can't see how I can't. I'm in."
"Great." said Marcie with a sight of relief.
"Just one left to go." stated Mina, "To the Sleepless City it is."
Meanwhile......
Atlanta, Georgia
0040 Hours
The Center for disease Control (CDC)
The young Dr. Smith looked through the six inch thick sheet of glass at twenty patients, all infected by a something that the crème-de-la-crème of the world's scientists were yet to discover.
Smith was not very fond of the British. He constantly bickered with an English professor in college, and had had a long lasting relationship with a girl from York which ended badly. He did not like them at all, but even he had to admit that that disease was a bad way to die.
All twenty patients simultaneously went through the same symptoms: fatigue and perspiration at first, then loss of consciousness, followed by a steep drop in weight, which led to the final phase, in which all of their mental capabilities had ceased, their skin had wrinkled and taken on a shade of orange, hair from all over their bodies had fallen off. This made them look like frightening mummies, rather than ill human beings.
"How are they still alive?" he muttered to himself.
Come to think about it, why was he there looking at them anyway? He might as well have himself a Coke since his shift would be over in a few minutes.
But as he headed to the staff lounge, he heard the steady beeps coming from the EKG Machines stop. They were replaced by a continuous tone.
The Doctor froze in his spot for a second before hurrying back to where the EKG Machines were set. He tried to find out which of the twenty was experiencing heart failure when he came to a sudden realization: it was from all of them.
Dr. Smith rushed to the phone and dialed the number of his superior.
"Hello?" came the voice of the other Doctor.
"They're all dead!" uttered Smith like a madman.
"What? Who is this?"
"It's Dr. Smith, sir. The patients are dead, all twenty of them."
"I'll be right there," said the Doctor, before he hung up. Smith then walked over to the window where he saw something he never could imagine.
All twenty had a strange red mist that poured out of the bodies eyes. The mist then elevated into the air and disappeared.
"Oh, God!" whispered the Doctor in shock.
All of a sudden the twenty bodies of the deceased patients, varied in gender, size and age, melted into puddles of skin, skin that was of normal complexion rather than that orangey shade.
"Oh my god!" whispered Smith as he fell to the ground in a faint.
1 John Lee was the Hitman played by Chow Yun-Fatin the 1998 Action Thriller: 'The Replacemet Killers'. In which he is a Hitman who works for an LA Drug-Lord, but when his conscience tortures him, he decides to flee, which Wei try's to prevent.
Dun-dun-dun-dun!!! What is that disease? If we could tell, the UN wouldn't have told Cate toformthe League, would they?
Tune in Next time the so far assembled League heads to New York to capture a scientest kown as 'Ock'.
1440 Hours
A Taxi stopped in front of a four-star restaurant and out stepped Mina, Marcie and Jack. Mina paid the driver the fare and thanked him, and she heard the driver muttered something in some dialect of Chinese as he drove off. Mina spoke the language but wasn't familiar with the dialect; if she did she would know that the driver had said, "Damn pale cheap-tipping foreigners."
"So, what makes our Oriental friend 'Extraordinary'?" asked Jack.
"He's a hit man." replied Mina.
"That's it? There are more hit men in the world than there are not. What makes this one special enough so that we have to travel all this distance to reach?"
"Well he single handedly wiped out one of Los Angeles's top crime organizations a few years back."
"Ah, that's good."
The three then walked into the restaurant, which was rather ample and quite stylish. There was not much of a crowd yet there were some customers of various nationalities.
"See him anywhere?" asked Marcie, who wore a brown duster and gloves in addition to her standard facial wear, which was her red wig and sunglasses.
"There he is," said Mina, as she walked to an Asian man sitting at a table by the window.
"Say, that fellow looks familiar!" exclaimed Jack as he and Marcie followed.
"I hope you didn't attempt to rob him," stated Marcie, sardonically.
"God! That would be awkward."
The three were at the table when Mina talked.
"Mr. John Lee1?" she asked.
The man nodded. He was in his early- to mid-forties, and had a fairly muscular build. He wore grey trousers and a jacket over a white sweater.
"I'm Mina Murray. We spoke on the phone earlier."
"It's my pleasure," said John in an accented yet proper English. "Sit down," he continued.
The three members of the League sat down to the table as Mina continued with the introductions.
"These are my associates; Mr. Jack Skinner—" "Hello," interrupted Jack dryly.
"And Agent Marcie Ross," continued Mina.
"Hi," said Marcie.
"Agent of what?" asked John curiously.
"The FBI," answered Marcie carefully.
John seemed uncomfortable with that fact, so Mina hastily commented, "But that has little to do with the purpose of our meeting."
"We are members of an elite task force that is assigned to investigate matters of global interest, consisting mostly of civilians who have rare talents or uncanny natures."
"I don't follow. What do you mean by uncanny natures?" asked John.
"Well for one thing, I'm invisible." said Marcie. Mina gave her an annoyed look as she didn't want to blatantly state their conditions; Jack, on the other, hand looked amused.
"Come again?" asked John, who was caught off guard by the answer.
Thinking that seeing is believing, Marcie removed her glove, and raised her hand to eye level so that John could see the seemingly hollow sleeve. John's eyes widened and he grabbed her arm to inspect if it was truly an invisible arm or, somehow, a cloth covered wire frame.
John's jaw dropped as he discovered that it was the first. And to further his amazement Mina slashed the back of her hand with the table knife, creating a nasty wound which healed itself in a second.
"And I am a vampire." she said as she wiped the blood of the knife with a napkin.
"And you, what are you?" asked John addressing Jack.
"Well, I'm a former student of psychology and a fairly good guitar player. And I don't like to boost but there is the fact that over 15 years I have robed Banks, Jewelry, Art, Cars... etc, as well as occasional Con-Job's." answered the thief.
"That's where I remember you from. You planned a robbery for Terence Wei in LA Seven years back." "Oh, so that's where I remember you from, you were his trigger man. I heard you killed the bastard!"
"I did." answered Joh who seemed to have gotten out of his initial shock.
"That's nice." Marcie said as she put her glove back on.
"So you see, Mr. Lee, we do not exaggerate when we say 'rare' and 'unique'. What we have came for is to ask your help on a mission to save the world from a very probable death," said Mina.
"What do you mean?" asked John.
"There was an Englishman infected with some sort of new disease a few weeks ago, which scientist can't begin to clarify. Turns out that it's not the hand of nature; someone is behind it, and is holding the world hostage. He wants a price for not releasing this illness on humanity," explained Mina. "We need your help as an assassin to aid us in our investigation. Will you help us?"
After a short pause John spoke, and said, "I can't see how I can't. I'm in."
"Great." said Marcie with a sight of relief.
"Just one left to go." stated Mina, "To the Sleepless City it is."
Meanwhile......
Atlanta, Georgia
0040 Hours
The Center for disease Control (CDC)
The young Dr. Smith looked through the six inch thick sheet of glass at twenty patients, all infected by a something that the crème-de-la-crème of the world's scientists were yet to discover.
Smith was not very fond of the British. He constantly bickered with an English professor in college, and had had a long lasting relationship with a girl from York which ended badly. He did not like them at all, but even he had to admit that that disease was a bad way to die.
All twenty patients simultaneously went through the same symptoms: fatigue and perspiration at first, then loss of consciousness, followed by a steep drop in weight, which led to the final phase, in which all of their mental capabilities had ceased, their skin had wrinkled and taken on a shade of orange, hair from all over their bodies had fallen off. This made them look like frightening mummies, rather than ill human beings.
"How are they still alive?" he muttered to himself.
Come to think about it, why was he there looking at them anyway? He might as well have himself a Coke since his shift would be over in a few minutes.
But as he headed to the staff lounge, he heard the steady beeps coming from the EKG Machines stop. They were replaced by a continuous tone.
The Doctor froze in his spot for a second before hurrying back to where the EKG Machines were set. He tried to find out which of the twenty was experiencing heart failure when he came to a sudden realization: it was from all of them.
Dr. Smith rushed to the phone and dialed the number of his superior.
"Hello?" came the voice of the other Doctor.
"They're all dead!" uttered Smith like a madman.
"What? Who is this?"
"It's Dr. Smith, sir. The patients are dead, all twenty of them."
"I'll be right there," said the Doctor, before he hung up. Smith then walked over to the window where he saw something he never could imagine.
All twenty had a strange red mist that poured out of the bodies eyes. The mist then elevated into the air and disappeared.
"Oh, God!" whispered the Doctor in shock.
All of a sudden the twenty bodies of the deceased patients, varied in gender, size and age, melted into puddles of skin, skin that was of normal complexion rather than that orangey shade.
"Oh my god!" whispered Smith as he fell to the ground in a faint.
1 John Lee was the Hitman played by Chow Yun-Fatin the 1998 Action Thriller: 'The Replacemet Killers'. In which he is a Hitman who works for an LA Drug-Lord, but when his conscience tortures him, he decides to flee, which Wei try's to prevent.
Dun-dun-dun-dun!!! What is that disease? If we could tell, the UN wouldn't have told Cate toformthe League, would they?
Tune in Next time the so far assembled League heads to New York to capture a scientest kown as 'Ock'.