Venom followed the girls, running down the flat rooftops above the alley. He had to act now, this distraction was just what he needed. He opened his case and put his que stick together. The girl ahead of the other two ducked into a side alley, perfect. He was ready to strike and he couldn't ask for a better set up.
"Dizzy!" May said as she saw her run into a side alley, "She went to the left, hurry April!"
May ran into the side alley, she didn't see Dizzy anywhere. She continued down it until she saw another dead end, but Dizzy wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"Dizzy!" May shouted to the empty alley, "Where are you!?"
May looked around the alley again, still no sight of Dizzy. She stopped to catch her breath when she could hear someone crying, it was close. She listened closer and noticed it was coming for behind one of the dumpsters in the corner near the dead end. May walked over to it, as she drew closer she saw Dizzy's boots. She ran over and saw Dizzy with her head in her knees and her arms crossed around her legs.
"There you are Dizzy." May said as she reached to touch her.
Dizzy looked up with tears flowing from her eyes. She flinched as May was about to touch her, "Don't touch me, get away!"
May backed off a little to respect Dizzy's wishes, and also because May herself was a little afraid of Dizzy's actions. But, she wasn't going to let this stop her from trying to comfort her friend. "Dizzy, it's alright now, it's over."
Dizzy continued to crying into her legs, "I killed them! They were alive and I killed them!" She said hysterically.
May sat down in front of Dizzy, still keeping about an arm and a half lengths distance from her. "You were scared, they were going to...they..." May began to cry too, "They deserved it!" She screamed, "They were going to do terrible things to you! And possible us! If you hadn't done that we could be the ones lying dead in that alley!"
Dizzy looked up at her friend, she'd never seen May sad before. She wanted to touch her but she looked at her hand that was covered in blood. "It's true what people say...all Gears are monsters, I'm a monster."
"DON"T SAY THAT!" May shouted, "Don't you ever say that, you're not a monster Dizzy."
Dizzy continued to look at her hand, "But I..."
May got closer to Dizzy, they were almost face to face. Dizzy almost jumped at May's sudden movement. May looked into Dizzy's eyes. "You're not a monster Dizzy," May said while crying deeply, "You're my friend." She then reached out and hugged her.
Dizzy wanted to scream at first, but May's embrace suddenly clamed her down. She didn't move for a moment, but then returned the affection. "Thank you, May."
May backed up and wiped some of the tears out of her eyes, "Now, come on. We need to get back to the ship before everyone starts worrying about us." May got up and held out her hand to Dizzy. Dizzy was about to reach with her bloody hand, but retracted it and reached with her other. May lifted her off the ground.
Dizzy stood up, and also wiped the tears out of her eyes, she looked at May and then down the alleyway, "Where's April?"
May took her eyes off Dizzy and looked back the way she came, April wasn't there anymore. "She was right behind me I thought."
They ran back to where the two alleys met and looked around, there was no sign of April. "April!" May shouted, but there was no answer. She listened and couldn't hear anything, she was gone.
Janus waited at the scheduled rendezvous point that he worked out with Venom. He was sitting in a limo along with Gregory. Outside was five Robo- Kys watching over the entire area. As they waited one of the RK came running from the horizon. It approached the door side where Janus was, he lowered the window.
"SIR, A-MAN-IS-COMING-FROM-THE-EAST."
Janus looked up and saw the figure coming their way, he was caring a person with them. "That's our man, stand down."
"YES-SIR." The robot said and took off back to its sentry position.
Venom made his way towards the limo, Janus got out to greet him.
"Mission accomplished," Venom said. "With significant ease I might add."
Janus waved over one of the Robo-Kys, it ran up to him in a second, "Take the girl."
The machine nodded and Venom handed the unconscious pirate, April, over to it. It took April around the other side of the limo and placed her inside.
"Well done, well done indeed! You had no troubles did you?" Janus said.
Venom led out a small laugh, "They didn't even see me capture her, they're probably searching for her right now."
Janus laughed, "Very good! As promised, here's your reward." He handed Venom a folder and an envelope. Venom took them, he opened the envelope revealing his pay for the job and then the folder which contained the information on Millia. "Everything to your satisfaction I hope?"
"Yes, thank you." Venom said as he put them away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have unfinished business I must attend to." He began to walk off.
"Oh yes, of course. It was a pleasure doing business with you again."
Venom just waved as continued to walk off the way he came. Janus entered the limo again. Gregory was in the driver's seat and looked back at him.
"So that friend of yours is reliable, that didn't take him long to accomplish."
"Yes, he is very good at what he does."
"So do we begin Phase 2?"
"Of course."
Janus lowered his window and signaled over another RK, it was next to him in seconds. He looked up to it, "I want you to deliver a message for me."
Dizzy and May searched all over the alleyway, but there was still no sign of April. "Where could she have gone off to?"
"Did she go back to the ship?" Dizzy asked.
"Maybe, but she was right behind me, this is weird." May took one last look around the alley, "We need to get going, someone might catch us here, hopefully she's back at the ship."
Dizzy nodded, they were about to go back to the streets, "Oh wait! I need my cloak." She turned to retrieve it from the other alley but then remembered that she left it where she killed the two men and stopped.
May sensed Dizzy's distress and quickly acted, "Don't worry Dizzy, I'll get it for you." She ran back where the two men were and grabbed Dizzy's cloak that was lying on the ground. She made it back to her and handed it to Dizzy. Dizzy covered herself and the two made their way back to the ship.
As they approached the Mayship they could make out someone waiting outside. It was a girl, maybe that's April, May thought. As they got closer she was disappointed to see it was June.
"Sorry guys." June said as Dizzy and May approached her.
"What for?" May asked.
June pointed upwards towards the deck, they could make out Johnny leaning over the railing looking down at them. "May, Dizzy, get up here. We need to have a discussion."
"Uh-oh." May said, she looked towards Dizzy, "Busted."
The two entered the ship and up to the deck where Johnny was. As the two approached him, he took off his sunglasses, his eyes had a very serious look to them. He was very disappointed with them.
"May I told you specifically that Dizzy was not to leave the ship. And then you sneak her out and are gone for almost half the night. You had me worried sick! June told me that you were supposed to be back an hour ago, I was about to send a party for you."
"I'm sorry Johnny." May said sadly, the last thing she wanted to do was disappoint him.
"I'm just glad you two are safe," Johnny said, "And where's April? I know she was part of this."
"She didn't come back?" Dizzy asked.
"No..." Johnny started and then noticed Dizzy's left hand was drenched in blood. "Dizzy what's wrong with you hand, is that blood?"
Dizzy looked down and saw that her hand wasn't concealed by the cloak. She brought her hand out and looked at it, remembering how the blood got there. "This...I..." She stuttered as she tried to explain, but failed. The images of the dead men she killed started to flash in her head. Dizzy began to cry, before Johnny could say anything she ran back into the ship.
"Wait, Dizzy! What's wrong?" Johnny shouted as she ran from out of his sights. He looked back at May who also began to tear up. "What happened?"
May explained the whole situation of what happened to them, how they got lost, their attackers, Dizzy killing them, and April disappearing.
May waited in silence for Johnny's response, His expression was both of shock and frustration. He turned away from her, he was struggling with what May had told him.
"Johnny?" May asked, breaking the silence.
"May, this is serious. I know it was in self defense, but be as it may, Dizzy's a Gear. If the police find her, she might be killed for what she did."
"But that's not fair, it wasn't her fault!"
"I know May, but the problem is trying to convince other people to believe that."
"We can fly away! They won't find her if we leave!"
Johnny shook his head, "We're still missing April, we can't leave until we find her." He took a deep breath, "All we can do is wait."
"I never meant for any of this to happen." May said almost crying.
"I know you didn't," Johnny said trying to calm her. "But I'm glad that you and Dizzy are safe, as for April, we can only hope that she returns safely." He put his hand on the young pirate's shoulders, "Now, I think you need to go find Dizzy, she must be pretty upset about what happened."
"Yes, you're right Johnny." She said fighting back her tears. She made her way into the ship.
Johnny watched as he saw the orange pirate disappear into the ship and turned back around and faced the city.
"The city of love, not tonight, no, tonight you show a different face."
As he looked at the city he noticed a figure walking towards the ship. Johnny made his way off the deck and outside, he could make out the figure, it wasn't April, it looked like a blonde haired man in a Holy Knight's uniform. Johnny recognized who that was, it was Ky Kiske, was he here for him, or Dizzy?
As he drew closer he noticed there was something wrong with the way he walked, it was like he was dragging himself across the ground. His head was also sagging and he couldn't see his face. Johnny could also hear a strange buzzing sound coming of him.
"Hey, you alright?" Johnny asked him.
The figure looked up and revealed its metallic face and yellow glowing square eyes. Johnny jumped back a little, realizing it wasn't who he thought, although the resemblance was very similar.
The thing spoke with a cracked and murmured voice, "ARE-YOU-JOHNNY-OF-THE-JELLYFISH-PIRATES?"
"Who wants to know?" He asked the machine.
"THE-CAPTORS-OF-THE-PIRATE-CALLED-APRIL."
"What?!" Johnny said. He grabbed the thing by its collar, "Where is she?"
The robot slapped Johnny's hands away from him, "IF-YOU-WISH-FOR-THE-GIRL'S-SAFETY-THEN-LISTEN."
"Ow." Johnny rubbed his hands, the robot had some spunk and it was strong. "Ok, I'm listening."
"WE-PROPOSE-AN-EXCHANGE-FOR-THE-GIRL."
"What do you want?"
"THE-GEAR."
"Dizzy?" Johnny asked, "What do you want with her?"
"THAT-DOESN'T-MATTER. IF-YOU-WANT-TO-SEE-YOUR-CREWMATE-AGAIN-THEN-MEET-US-TOMORROW-NIGHT-AT-MIDNIGHT-AT-THE-ABANDONED-FAIRGROUNDS. THE-EXCHANGE-WILL-TAKE-PLACE-THERE."
The robot began to walk away, as it did it said, "FAILURE-TO-COMPLY-OR-INVOLVING-OUTSIDE-INTERFERENCE-WILL-MEAN-FORFEITING-THE-GIRL'S-LIFE."
Before Johnny could say anything the robot took off with great speed, it was out of his vision within seconds.
"Great, from the frying pan into the fire, what do I do now?"
May made it to Dizzy's room, she knocked on the door. "Dizzy, it's me May. Can I come in?"
There was no answer, she tried again but it was to no prevail. She opened the door and looked inside, she could hear someone in the bathroom. She walked in and looked inside, she could see Dizzy over the sink washing her hands, she was trying to get the blood off her hand. She was crying as she scrubbed her hands.
"Dizzy?" May said.
Dizzy looked up at her friend, she didn't hear her come in. Her face was just like it was back in the alley, "May...I-I can't get the blood off." She said tearfully.
May looked at her hand, the blood was mostly off, her hand was a colored a little redish from it. Dizzy continued to wash her hands, "Dizzy, please stop, the blood's all gone."
Dizzy stopped and fell to her knees, "But I can smell it! I smell the blood!" She cried looking down at her hand, "I can't get the blood off."
May started to walk over to her, "Please...please leave me alone May." Dizzy said.
"Dizzy let me help you."
She didn't look up, "I...I need to be alone right now...please understand May."
Dizzy still didn't move from her position on the floor, May waited for a second. "If that's what you want, then I understand."
She stepped back out of the bathroom and out of Dizzy's room, she closed the door behind her. May stood by the door for a minute, she heard Dizzy crying inside. She wanted to comfort her friend, but she respected that Dizzy wanted to be alone. With nothing May could do she sat down in next to Dizzy's door and began to cry.
"May, is she alright?"
May looked up to see Johnny standing above her, she wiped the tears out of her eyes, "I think so, she asked to be alone."
Johnny looked at the door, he could hear Dizzy inside, crying. "I see. Well it will have wait till morning."
"What will?" May asked curiously.
Johnny looked back a May, his eyes were very tense, something was wrong. "Like I said, it will have to wait, get some sleep May, you've had a rough night." He said as he walked past her down the corridor.
It was a bright an sunny day in Paris the next day. But it could have been raining for all the Ky cared. Ky Kiske sat at his desk, staring at the paper work before him. "For the sake of justice I sit here and fill out papers all day."
He recalled his days in the Holy Order, he almost wished the Crusades were still going. During those times is when he felt alive, fighting the Gears, saving the innocent, being the knight he'd always dreamed he'd be, the trill of it all exhilarated him.
He shook his head to those thoughts, "The last thing the world needs is war."
There was a knock at his door, "Yes, come in."
An officer came into his office, "Sir, there's been a murder down town."
Ky looked at the man, "Why bring this to me? I'm sure someone else can take care of it," He said as he reached for the paper work on his desk. "I'm busy enough at the moment."
"Rumors say that a Gear was responsible."
Ky snapped his head back up to the man, "What? A Gear? In Paris?"
The officer nodded, "Yes sir."
Ky stood up from his desk and grabbed his coat from his chair. He put on his coat, "Where's the crime scene?"
Ky arrived at the crime scene and stepped out of the police car. The officers already there had tapped off the alley, a small crowd of people had shown up in front of him.
"Mr. Kiske! A word with you!" Ky looked to see a couple of journalists swarming around him, some where holding recorders up to him as they asked their questions. "Is it true that a Gear is loose in the city?"
"What is the IPF doing to investigate this?" Another one asked.
"No comment." Ky said as he made his way past the reporters and across the barrier, the reports tried to follow him but were blocked off by the barriers and policemen in front of the alley. He made his way into the alley.
There were a couple of officers inside. Some were take photos of the scene and searching for any clues that could help tell what had happened. One of the officers waved Ky over, "The bodies are over here sir."
Ky walked over and looked at the first body, his head was missing. The dead man's neck showed sign of extreme stress, the head was either pulled off or cut with something jagged very quickly. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and held it to his mouth. "Jesus, where's his head?"
The officer pointed behind him and he could see it between two sacks of trash. The facial expression of the head was horrifying, the man was in true terror when he died.
Ky walked over to the second body and saw that the man had his chest ripped open. He knelt down and studied the wound, the claw marks left in the man's chest where slightly bigger than his hand. What ever did this was humanoid. Ky had strong memories of villages that were raided by the Gears in the Crusades, the bodies matched similar wounds, but why would a Gear be in Paris? And how did it get in without anyone seeing it?
As Ky thought, he continued to look over the body. He noticed something behind the man's head. He used the handkerchief in his hand to pick it up from the ground and examine it. It was a white feather. He looked around a little and noticed a couple more, only some of them weren't just white, but green.
"White and green feathers...how come this looks familiar?" Ky tried to recall his memory, "Gears, feathers, wait..." He remembered the Gear in the forest a couple of months ago that he spared. Ky didn't kill her, he looked her in the eyes and they were filled with innocence, unlike the eyes of the other Gears he'd killed, which were filled with bitterness and hatred. She had wings with this color, but, she was on the other side of the world, why would she be here?
"Did you find something sir?" One of the officers asked.
Ky stood up, he wrapped the feathers in the handkerchief and put it his pocket. He then turned to the officer, "No," He lied, "Nothing, but I want to take over this case and handle it personally. If it is a Gear, I'm the only qualified person to handle it. I don't want see anymore innocent people get slaughtered."
"Actually these guys weren't so innocent." The officer pointed out.
"Hmm?"
"These two have been arrests several times for petty theft, mugging, and we were investigating a possible connection with an underground slave ring."
"Well, guilty or innocent, this can't go overlooked." Ky commented.
"Oh and we did find one more thing. A couple of shopping bags near the bodies, they were filled with trinkets, but nothing of real worth, what do you make of it?"
"Trinkets? Only tourists and travelers buy those, maybe it is her. Last time I remember she was with those pirates, it's possible..."
"Sir?" The officer asked as he saw Ky in thought.
"Oh, sorry. They probably mugged a tourist before all this happened. I'm sure it's nothing. Keep me updated if anything new shows up."
"Yes sir."
Ky stood in the alley for a moment, "If it is her, then those pirates must be close. That ship of theirs is pretty big, so they'd have to land near the outskirts to not be seen." Ky wanted to begin his search right away but he need to lose the reporters and finish some last minute work back at the office. "It'll have to wait till tonight."