Author's Note: Alright! We're back online! Sorry for the long wait so as a special gift I'll upload two chapters. And I also managed to save all of my things so nothing was lost and I won't have to start from scratch again, thank God. Once again thanks for all the follow's and favorites.

Chapter 32: A Wild Night Out

October 4th 2010 1100 Hours

The Pentagon, Washington DC

Marcus Andrushko was now beginning to spend more time at work than was necessary. As far as regular military operations were progressing, they were in normal swing with the relative quietness of the last few weeks. Within the shadows of black ops and intelligence, they were a raging storm. Something crazy was happening in Europe. Not more than a few weeks prior was a shootout and a high speed chase in France involving a highly wanted French hitman. And just last week a whole SAD team ends up dead in Hungary after starting a massive fire fight in the capital. Someone was causing US special operations a major headache in Europe and the CIA was stonewalling on what was really happening. Naturally the concept of "need to know" was something that was argued about for years between the intelligence community and regular military but General Andrushko was now a part of both sides of the spectrum. He along with the rest of SOCOM had an obligation to bring the damage either under control or limited. Admiral Olson was fuming that he didn't find out about the SAD operation till the other day, several days after it had happened. It was an unauthorized move to target a specific individual that the CIA would not name who it was because they were a crucial part of another operation. Andrushko knew right off the bat that whoever this person was, was not on the side of what you would call moral.

Then again the black ops world had always acted within the gray area, Andrushko knew this all too well even from his times when he was still out in the field. You primarily had to get your information on the bad guys from people who were just as bad. The end game for it was only if it benefited you winning. But Marcus remembered an old saying from a senator during the cold war, the ball keeps on bouncing.

"Somebody is seriously going to fuck up the end game, I'm sure of it." He said running his hands across his head while leaning back in his chair.

"Are you referring to the CIA or whoever has been causing theses flare ups sir?"

Colonel Raiser was fairing no better with the amount of work that had been tasked down to him and the rest of Andrushko's subordinates. While the alphabet agencies had more freedom of movement to exercise their activities they didn't necessarily have to follow all the rules that regular army forces did. It was the envious view of a lot of military types, they would get away with practically anything. It had also grown within the last few years since the war began on 9/11, making a very familiar resemblance to Vietnam. The US military knew what they had to do to take down the enemy but the politics of Washington kept them on a leash and allowed humiliations to occur, morale to drop, money be wasted, and casualties climb. It was the feeling that a lot of soldiers both enlisted and officers shared, they just couldn't say it cause it would lead to something worse.

"I'm willing to bet both Aaron."

"Well whoever it is obviously isn't too keen on making things subtle. Christ, half a platoon size force of Special Activities Division agents sent to take out two people who were alone? I can't really wrap my head around that."

The General then went through the windows on his computer going over the unofficial reports that were passed along to him from one of his more trusted contacts in the CIA. He kept one window open though, a long forgotten face of a trainee and a program he saw potential in breaking the norms of military life but was cast aside. He wasn't however surprised that she ended up the way she did, or who she picked up to be a part of her team. Cutthroat seemed to be appropriate as most of these guys were booted out for wrongful deaths, torture, extorting civilians, even stealing cash from insurgent raids. Then again Andrushko was shocked to find the backgrounds and skill sets of each of them, she had picked the best but also the worst.

"That's not even the scary part, they all ended up getting killed and their targets got away clean. Even if it was an act by a rouge agent, who the hell was the CIA tracking?"

"It's not like the Middle East is the source for all terrorists sir. It's someone we've never encountered before, only problem though is that we don't know who they're affiliated with."

A knock then came on the General's door. His Air Force liaison, Captain Calvin Shumaker, was standing there with coffee in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.

"Yes what is it?"

"This came to you from General Casey sir. Says it's urgent." He said handing him both the coffee and form.

"Usually is." He said knowing it wasn't.

"Actually sir this is kind of a big deal. I was talking to some of my friends in AFSCN and they gave me some specific details. Some type of revolutionary logistics program that, if I'm interpreting this correctly, will put them all out of a job. Make everything be under civilian control and we're gonna have to go along with it."

Andrushko then looked at him skeptically. "I doubt it would be that easy. When's this program supposed to start?"

"Next year. The company that's in charge of construction and management of the project is HCLI."

Raiser then looked towards Shumaker with interest. He knew of the company's reputation and it was a radical step in a different direction. But this company based its business in war so naturally they would branch out to other things besides weapons.

"The shipping company that also deals in weapons? This could be interesting."

"Well we'll save this for later it's not a bleeder." Andrushko said while setting his coffee on the form. "Right now let's figure out who's been wrecking shit in Europe."

The two subordinates then smiled and went back to work after the General's colorful description of the events that occurred. He then looked back at the screen with the file of Agent Linda "Hex" Schaeffer one last time before he closed it. He encountered a lot different types of people in his life, the army tended to do that. But he never thought that one of the most disturbed ones he ever met was a rather beautiful woman. Beyond that beauty was a ruthlessness unfathomed even by the terrorists that she was hunting. While the General had an obligation with SOCOM to find out who killed one of the CIA's agents and her team, it was needless to say she got what she deserved.

In all seriousness, there is someone or a group that's incredibly dangerous out there. They've been hiding in our blind spots, but they've gotten careless. Now we know they're out there. All we need to know is who.

October 5th 2010 1300 Hours

Jakarta, Indonesia

While being charismatic was part of Kasper's persona he also liked to be punctual. The hotel where he was meeting with his client was supposed to be over an hour ago. This had been one of his many deals that he had done quite frequently in Indonesia so he figured this wouldn't have been a problem. But there was a bit of hamper on some of his deals as of recent. Turns out a certain Japanese financial firm was weaseling in on his deals and taking them from him. He had hoped to keep this quiet from his men but he was running out of excuses. If this one went under then he couldn't hide it anymore.

As he was flipping through a magazine Chiquita sat next to him finishing her tea, every now and then glancing to the three other members of her team who had taken up their over watch positons. She knew that he was hiding the low sales rates from them but they already knew about it. Kasper was terrible at hiding secrets, especially when it involved work.

"They're late." She said staring at Kasper with the lazy smile that never left her.

"Yes they are." Kasper said uninterested.

Chiquita then looked out the window, dark clouds were starting to form. Heavy rains were frequent in this part of the country so she hoped that Kasper got an answer soon. Luckily it did, as a bellhop had approached them both.

"Kasper Hekmatyar, I have a message for you."

"What is it?"

All four bodyguards then honed in on Kasper as the bellhop whispered in his ear. They could all tell by the look on his face that the deal had gone bust. As the bellhop left, he signaled to his crew and they left the hotel. The moment they stepped outside the lobby though, thunder began to rumble from the sky and it was becoming increasingly dark.

"The weather like our negotiation is a wash."

Allan then spoke up. "Eh, not too bad boss."

"You think so?" He humored him knowing Allan had bad taste in comedy.

"It was alright." Chiquita said as she was patting his shoulder. Of course she was lying through her teeth as his pun was a bit lame.

"Really? I thought that grin was for me." The rain then started to come down hard. "We'll drown before we get to the car. Let's head back inside and grab some lunch, it's on me!"

"Hell yeah!" The trio of Edger, Allan, and Poe sounded off as one.

After heading back inside they headed toward the restaurant and Kasper let his crew pick their choice of meal first and then he'd go after they got theirs. It looked like the storm was becoming worse. Thunder clashes rumbled outside and the heavy rain was patting on the windows fiercely. Chiquita, knowing Kasper's eating habits, always chose the greasiest or sweetest things on the menu. She often wondered how he stayed so trim despite eating nothing but constant junk. When the crew's dishes came out he then ordered his.

"I'll have both these burgers and the shaved ice with every flavor on it."

As the waitress then left for his order he noticed Chiquita looking at him as if he was a complete idiot.

"Your heart is going to explode one day from eating all that crap Kasper."

"As much as I appreciate the motherly advice Chiquita I can order whatever the hell I want."

As everyone else dug in to their dishes Edger said his prayers before he did. He was a practicing Catholic and took each meal seriously because he told Kasper once that due to the nature of his work, each day could be his last if he wasn't careful. This turned out to be more than true considering the news he heard from Koko last week. He just didn't tell the rest of his team yet.

"By the way, not to bring the table down but I talked to my sister last week. One of her guys, R, was killed apparently by taking on a whole group of SAD. With a little help from Koko's newest member."

As expected the mood around the table became rather humble. R had a reputation like the rest of them and it was well respected. It had climbed even higher with them knowing he died protecting their boss's younger sister. While not alcohol a toast was needed, Chiquita raised her soda up first.

"To R."

"To R!" The trio saluted as one.

As they then returned to their meals the waitress then came over with Kasper's. He said that Damien fought with him, she wanted to know.

"You said my mishka was with him, is he ok?"

"He's alright, he hates me more than anyone else I know. He won't die without wanting to sock me out again."

Poe then looked at her confused. He didn't know that was Chiquita's pet name for Damien.

"Who the hell's mishka?"

"Come on man you don't remember that huge kid with the long hair that tore up a whole Burmese Army base?" Allan answered for him and Edger followed up.

"Oh yeah and you threw him into a shipping container didn't you boss?"

Chiquita then looked over to her boss with her usual smile but with an annoyed tone.

"And when you decided to show up to your sisters ship unannounced I had to pull him off of you after he punched you and split my head open."

"Did you have to bring that up Chiquita? Anyway let's talk something else, Tojo's doing ok."

She knew right off the bat that he had let it slip by mentioning one of his old employees, so she figured to slide right into it rather than let him ease it in. She liked the idea of getting paid for not working but when your boss's business is in a bit of a slump you had to take the initiative to get him back on his feet and start taking his own job seriously again.

"Speaking of that our sales are down quite a bit."

He then started to hack on his shaved ice, she caught him totally off guard.

"Jeez Chiquita blunt much?"

Knowing he couldn't hide it anymore his men wanted to know why their sales were dropping so fast.

"So does this have something to do…" Edger.

"With the last minute cancellation…" Allan.

"Involving a certain Japanese business firm?" Poe.

"And as you can plainly see. I'm not the only one thinking about this."

Kasper was then chewing on his spoon, pondering. Somebody didn't want HCLI in Indonesia or South East Asia at all. His customers were starting to dry up and Kasper needed to grab the invisible hand that was diverting his deals.

"Whoever they are they see us as a threat. They know were growing in power out here and they don't seem to like it. While they cast a shadow, we can't see them. I also contacted HQ and they weren't able to turn up anything. Specifically there's no type of Japanese firm that would exist out here in order to do that. None that exists officially though."

At once Kasper's bodyguards then began to share the same thought. Different nation, same type of soldier, a special forces type to be specific.

"So what are we gonna do?" Chiquita asked.

"I already set this in motion. I called Koko the other day and asked her to meet us in Japan. They should be arriving tomorrow, we'll meet up with them once were done out here."

October 6th 2010 0745 Hours

Flight 478 to Tokyo, First Class Cabin, 4 Hours till Landing

I woke up to several things at once this morning. The first was the smell of coffee being brewed, that meant that in flight breakfast wasn't too far off. I hoped that it would be more filling than the noodles they served for dinner last night. Japanese cooking was a great art in of itself but not hearty enough to fill my stomach. Second was the sounds of buttons being mashed. Looks like Mike was still playing his Xbox on his portable playing station all night. Lastly was the warm feeling of two soft but powerful legs I was using to rest my head on for sleeping the whole night. Nuff said for me but Lehm however started to talk shit because quite frankly he was the only one who could afford to. My eyes were still shut though, I figure I'd start waking up whenever I smelled food or deemed it appropriate.

"God he seems almost happy, what did you really do to calm him down knowing who we're meeting with?" He said in his usual bored but this time somewhat smartass self.

"I told him the truth, nothing more." Koko said sleepily, probably waking up herself.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Koko? I mean we've already had two freak outs with him. What makes you think he'll behave this time?" Sophia said concerned and fully awake.

"He will."

I then felt fingers brush a portion of my still uncut hair out of my face. Koko was sitting next to her. I had to have a calm head anyway, I said I wasn't gonna turn back into my former very violent prone self.

"He told me that he convinced himself that he wanted to see Kasper. To make sure that he held up his end of the deal they both made."

I didn't say that immediately, I had to take a few moments to collect my thoughts and it wasn't just because I hated her brothers guts. After the mess in Europe I'd figure we'd at least stay off the radar for work just a little bit longer. But if she said it was safe then who was I to argue. But the one thing I needed to find out was how all those kids were doing. I hadn't seen Maurice, Aung, and Elizabeth in months and they better be in good health.

"And if he decides to screw me over I'll just knock his teeth so far down his throat he'll have to shove toothbrush up his ass in order to brush." I said opening my eyes.

"Well good morning to you too Damien."

"Hey."

"As lazy as he acts sometimes, my brother always upholds his deals. He and I never cut corners or short change our customers. That's bad for business. But anyway in your travel's have you ever been to Japan? If not tell me what that brain of yours knows." She said poking my head.

I then breathed deep while rubbing my eyes. Asian cultures were just as ancient as Babylon, there was so much to study from it. But I'd keep it simple for now until we got there cause I was still half asleep. Feudal Japan of course was the foundation for a lot of Japanese cultural references but they didn't start truly making an influence in the world until the Perry Expedition that ended their 200 year period of isolation from the world. Most of my knowledge as far as Japan went I had to ask which one you wanted to know about. Super cool Playstation and technological comfort Japan or super uncool Pearl Harbor Japan. All too often I tended to slide into the dark parts of a lot of history. But I would be nothing but a bigoted fool if I brought up 70 year old shit and thought that that was relevant today. Granted you should always remember it, but my point still stood. Japan was awesome, to me personally because of the numerous amounts of martial arts that were studied and, putting this politely, pushing boundaries on everything.

"Japan has taught me two very important things. One, they've made the greatest sword in the history of warfare and two, they're weird as fuck. Don't believe me look at Tojo, ain't that right Aki baby!?"

"Huh? What?" He was sounding groggy. I must have woken him up.

"Just say yes." Set the trap.

"Uhh yeah?" Caught the rabbit.

The girls and anyone else that was awake began snickering. That was my easiest one yet. But now I wanted to know about Kasper.

"So when will we talk to your brother?"

"It won't be immediately. We've got a decent amount of free time before we meet up with him so were gonna have some fun."

That was something I was glad to hear. With no more Hex hounding us and the CIA figuring to ease up on us a bit I could have a day or two to relax and take in the sights without having to worry about blowing shit up or shooting people.

"Sounds good to me, and you know what, let's not do the tourist thing the moment we land. Let's see what the nightlife scene is like, I'm itching to dance and I haven't done it in forever."

"YOU go clubbing?" Sophia said probably thinking I was always the stoic serious type.

"Just because I graduated earlier than everybody else at West Point didn't mean I followed all the rules and adhered to all the standards."

You can only be young once so you had to live it. Even though I was seen as a bit of an outcast from my fellow cadets for being so far ahead of them in grades, that didn't mean I was a shut in. One would assume I was a brooding, violent, antisocial, hard ass but I liked to be a mischievous party boy when I could.

During some of my spring and summer breaks in high school I had actually made friends with a few guys that went to Berkeley and Long Island University, which weren't terribly far from West Point. I came up with a bit of a simple plan, every now and then on the weekends or specific holidays I would sneak out of the dorms and my friends would be waiting to pick me up at a specific time and location via email. I'd change clothes in the car, we'd drive to New York City, and party our asses off at one of the clubs. Some of what is said about West Point about its strict discipline, training, academics, and even making sure the students don't really have a choice in leaving whenever they want was true. But there's a difference between what is shown and what really is, there were always gaps in the armor, I just exploited them a little better than most. That didn't mean that there weren't some close calls when sometimes we got back almost a little too late, was still slightly inebriated and sometimes I had the smell of a girls perfume on me.

But they were the only times I ever truly had fun there. As much as some of the faculty praised me, I just took the classes and answered the questions right. I didn't really care what my grades were and I hated that I was constantly barraged with being told that I had to join some type of extracurricular club. Sometimes I got scolded for acting a little too superior to others and of course my very dark humor came in when it wasn't appropriate but I made up for it with my knowledge and sometimes presence. It was during that time that some recruiters for Special Forces came to the school and approached me. They told me I was wasting my time here and they could get me out of there and on to active duty quicker. I accepted, and the rest is history.

But nostalgia was a wonderful thing sometimes and I think it would be awesome to see the looks on everyone's faces when I now finally had the chance to truly cut loose and party again.

"I think that's a wonderful idea! Let's hit up a karaoke bar first before we all head out to dance!" Koko said jumping on board eagerly.

"Then it's a plan." I said as I rearranged myself to be more comfortable.

But then I felt a heavy tug on my hair as I shut my eyes.

"Since you're awake you can get off of me now. My legs are totally asleep."

I then stared blankly at, well, most of her face from where I was at.

"Yeah that's one thing I can do."

She then formed what I could make out was a scowl and then grabbed my hair lifting my head up so she could stand up.

"You are such an ass."

"You know you love it."

As she darted off I heard some type of soft mumble. I didn't decide to ask what she said cause I think I could have made it out. I then sat up but I felt a portion of my hair catch on the seat belt, it was starting to get a little too long.

Yeah I better shorten this thing a bit, it's getting too long.

2000 Hours

Jakarta, Indonesia

Another storm front had come in later in the afternoon and the rain hadn't let up. Kasper figured that this would be the best way to shake things up with the ghosts that were muscling in on his territory and deals. And if would be the perfect opportunity to get back at one of his former customers for screwing him over. He never showed it but behind that charisma and charm was a ruthlessness that made people think twice about double crossing him or backing out of deals after money has been exchanged. It was the punishment his bodyguards would give Colonel Nualkhair's own son. By doing this he would hopefully flush out the ghosts and his sister Koko would get them in their sights and exorcise them.

Kasper followed his team but parked a few streets away and waited for their call. The van his bodyguards/attack squad pulled up a safe distance from the Colonel's summer villa. The team then began donning their all black BDU's and loaded up their carrying vests, finishing off by putting suppressors on their Sig Sauer's. Chiquita then showed a picture of his son, Korwit, to the rest of the team and began the brief.

"This is the Nualkair's son Korwit, we'll use the cover of the storm to move in quickly and cut the power to the house. Simple objective, execute on sight."

As a last minute psychological shock factor, the team put on balaclava's that had the lower half a skull with fangs. The team then headed out into the storm.

After hopping over the villa wall Allan was the first to see the rather brightly lit living room where two men were drinking and smoking like nobody's business. Using hand signals he motioned to the rest of the crew that the targets were in sight. Chiquita then got their attention and pointed to her watch, two minutes. That was the time they all needed to get into position in order to breach. Edgar and Allan boosted Chiquita up to the patio roof and she made for one of the windows on the second floor. The others would take the first and Poe was the one who had the cutters and made for electricity meter to give the signal to go. Checking his watch he counted down.

Four, three, two, one. Here we go.

Chiquita saw the lights go out and made quick work of prying the window open with her knife. She made her way to one of the bedrooms that she heard a shower running from it. Knowing to catch them by surprise so that they couldn't fight back she opened the door instead of kicking it in. Her first victim was a naked woman in the bed, probably a hooker that Korwit had bought for his men. Knowing they couldn't have witnesses, she dispatched her first before she could even scream. Then using the sound of the shower as cover, she then eliminated the man in the shower. But upon closer inspection it wasn't Korwit, he had to be downstairs. As she then silently made her way to the first floor she heard drunk shouting in Indonesian, probably trying to figure out why the lights were out. She then heard two suppressed shots, one of the team got another. But then she heard another voice, questioning the status of his dead friend. She then heard footsteps and silently stood in the stairway, the target walked passed her.

"The guest of honor I assume?"

He turned around shocked but wasn't able to process what the hell had happened in time as the skull faced figure in the dark fired a single round into his head. She then signaled for her team.

"Clear!"

"Clear!" Allan shouted.

Edgar then made for the door leading outside. "We're clear man get in here and dry off."

"Shit! Took you long enough!" He said wringing out his drenched shirt.

"Alright, enough messing around lets finish up."

Edgar then took out a sizable amount of Euros and placed it next to Korwit's corpse and the rest then began to slightly vandalize the house. The local police would see this as a burglary gone bad but Kasper wanted to let the ghosts know that this was a declaration of war. Chiquita then got on her phone to Kasper.

"Hey boss it's done."

"Good. I'll make a call to her and we'll get this underway."

2215 Hours

Tokyo, Japan, Lovenet Karaoke Bar

This had to be one of the most surreal and frankly awesome bar's I'd ever been to in my life. The nightclubs around New York were of their own charm but sometimes they got a little repetitive. We weren't really sparing any expense when we got this one lounge rented out for us with bright aqua blue lighted walls and white leather furniture that matched the floor. But after a little bit of a closer inspection on the walls, we were actually surrounded by a huge aquarium with dozens of different saltwater types of fish. After a few taps on the glass I noticed that it was pretty thick, probably meant to not freak the fish out from the constant loud music being played all the time.

It was of the slightly younger and immature crowd that was out tonight. Lehm, Wiley, Mao, and Tojo decided to opt out and go do the boring local stuff by getting some local grub and bounce around the watering holes. The rest of us were here sampling almost every different sake on the menu having a blast. While doing our best to make sure Koko didn't drink too much or we'd suffer from her drunken lunacy. We most assuredly gave off the vibe to the bar owners that we were tourists but at least we took the time to dress in the appropriate style that we had for a night on the town. Lutz put some extra gel in his hair to keep his spikes sharp and was in a tight dark grey open two piece with a bright purple shirt. While nice, he really came off as shady, almost as if he was gonna sell coke. Ugo had gotten a rather ornately designed green, white, and silver t-shirt that wrapped around his huge form that kinda made me feel inadequate. He was also the most decked out of all of us with a big gold chain, watch and pinky ring. I kept it classy and wore my favorite black silk shirt and khaki Armani's, properly sized so that I wouldn't tear the seams. The girls however wore something that seemed a bit too plain, buttoned up collared shirts and jeans. Only difference, except for the one where one was more endowed than the other, was that Koko wore white short sleeves and Sophia wore black long sleeve. Both of them were enjoying the sight of me, Mike, and Karl making somewhat asses of ourselves with our amateur singing skills. Karl's rather bad solo of the Beatles was finishing up.

He roller coaster

He got early warning

He got muddy water

He one mojo filter

He say one and one and one is three

Got to be good looking cause he's so hard to see

Come together!

Right now!

Over me

The song finished and the computer was tallying up his score, it was based on getting the words and rhythm of notes right. But I wish it would have given him negatives for his awful stage hogging performance. But the computer did what I wanted it to do by giving him a bad score of 67.

"What the hell!? This things fixed!" He complained.

"You're supposed to match the song, not do your own version. I'm still in the lead! No one tops the Chairman of the Board!"

Ugo had gone first by doing Frank Sinatra's classic of "New York, New York" and was in the lead. I was gonna go next after browsing through some of the newer stuff, they were a bit more of a challenge and I didn't want to listen to the classics all night. We needed to get the blood flowing so way before we went out tonight I looked up some different rock bands and I found on that, surprisingly, came from Finland. I briefed Sophia about it and she actually liked the beat they had. We then both memorized a few songs before we came here. I found one of them on the list, but before I could click anything Koko's phone rang.

"Hold up Damien, I have to take this. Hello?"

"Hey Koko it's Kasper! I wanted to let you know that the operation is underway."

I was sitting next to her and the moment I heard his voice it really killed my mood.

"How's Japan so far? It's raining cats and dogs down here."

"Were actually in the middle of karaoke right now, let's just say if Lutz ever makes it into the music business he won't get very far." She said busting his chops.

"Ha! Ha! Well if you guys are having fun I won't interrupt. I'll see you in a few days."

"Caio." She hung up and then looked to me. "Ok Damien, your turn. What'll it be?"

I leaned forward to catch Sophia's attention, and handed her a microphone.

"Duet. You ready?"

"Oh yeah." She knew it was time.

I'm a huge fan of metal but I never really rock out in front of anyone unless I had something to keep me occupied at the same time. But I had a little bit more alcohol in my system so I was a little more enthusiastic than usual, so when we got up I immediately undid my ponytail. My now somewhat trimmed long hair free to head bang properly.

"Click on number 36 Koko."

The screen then put on a countdown, the song was going to play almost instantly. Two singers made up this song, so Sophia had to go first. She went whenever the violins began with a single drum beat in the mix, with a rather operatic like vocal.

I wish I had an angel

For one moment of love

I wish I had your angel tonight!

The guitar's then kicked in and so did the inner metal head my mother had conditioned me to. Slight bend at the knees, your fists curled up next to them, bow ever so slightly and whiplash the head as hard as you could. My hair whipping about like a wild animal. The lights pulsating around the room matching the beat of the song.

Deep into a dying day

I took a step outside an innocent heart

Prepare to hate me fall when I may

This night will hurt you like never before

Old loves they die hard

Old lies they die harder

My turn. My deep voice managed to copy the tone of the original singer but it contained my own youthfulness that made it come out smoother.

I wish I had an angel

For one moment of love

I wish I had your angel

Your Virgin Mary undone

I'm in love with my lust

Burning angel wings to dust

I wish I had your angel tonight!

All the while I was looking at Sophia, she was grinning ear to ear with how silly I was acting. Karl and Mike were actually cheering us on, their heads and even Koko's were bopping to the tune. Next came where we kinda unintentionally unleashed our war faces. I could only assume Sophia was doing the same thing as I was tightening the muscles in my neck and arms.

Greatest thrill!

Not to kill!

But to have the prize of the night!

Hypocrite!

Wannabe friend!

Thirteenth disciple!

Who betrayed me for nothing!/Last dance, first kiss

Your touch my bliss

Beauty always comes with dark thoughts

As she was singing that and moving our bodies to the music I caught a brief glimpse of Koko, that look of envy was coming back again. She still wanted to be more than friends with me. It was kind of a heat of the moment but I couldn't think of anything else for her to listen to me when we were caught in that shootout. I'd tell Sophia later and accept my punishment as a man but for right now I needed her, and she was kinda like what I was singing. But I didn't need her to climb that high in order to be perfect.

I wish I had an angel

I wish I had an angel!

I WISH I HAD AN ANGEL!

I WISH I HAD AN ANGEEEEEEL!

After the slight applause from our tiny audience we both turned around to the score that was being tallied by the computer. With the amount of alcohol I still had in my system I got a little too excited when Sophia and I got a total of 97.

"HA! Hell fuckin yeah!" I said lifting her up in a bear hug.

In my somewhat inebriated cry of victory I was lifting her up to where her voluptuous chest was in my face. I turned around and Ugo and Lutz's faces were burning a scowl right through my head. It wasn't my fault I managed to get and receive what they could only dream about.

"We got the better score, you lose. So that means you two gotta buy the drinks for the rest of us when we go to dance. Those are the rules."

"You just made that shit up! We never agreed to that!" Ugo protested.

"It don't matter, you're our designated driver. You can't get drunk anyway. Come on Koko I don't wanna lose the high let's go dancing now!"

She laughed hard. "Alright Damien we'll go. But you might want to put her down, or else the one thing you will lose before the night ends is consciousness."

It took a few seconds but I finally registered that her boobs were still touching the side of my face. I then looked at her and she had what you would call the "smiling murder face" and I think I could read her thoughts.

Put me down before I kick your ass.

October 7th 2010 0014 Hours

Club Eden, VIP Lounge

Bright lights, music blaring, the building shaking from the bass, endless alcohol, and the short skirts. It was as if I just traveled back in time to more pleasant memories. From our private booth I was overlooking a crowd of people packed together jumping around like crazy from the fast electronic beat. I then took a big swig of my scotch and squinted my eyes as I accidentally looked into the numerous amounts of flashing lights that illuminated the club. The Japanese to many may come off as prim and proper but I can attest that they love to drink, howl, and party like crazy.

I had just gotten off the dance floor after three songs and I was out of breath so I took a quick breather in our section. The crowd didn't seem to think in their eyes a stereotypical giant American could dance. But after modifying some of my martial arts moves in Silat and Mui Thai I took the center of the dance circle rather easily. The crowd and the staff then started to take more of a liking to us as opposed to earlier. The doorman thought Ugo and I were the body guards for Lutz and Sophia and Koko were his dates. He dressed like a movie star but his performance in swooning over some of the more flirtatious Japanese girls in the place was, and being generous, mediocre. Ugo however provided to be more lucky in that by coming off as a bit of a big shy teddy bear. He definitely couldn't dance like I could so he used his Italian pleasantries and some red wine to socialize with some of the older crowd. Normally most Japanese are not too tolerant of foreigners but if you can find a common ground and show generosity, or in this case alcohol tolerance, sky's the limit. But I also forgot someone who had kind of a low limit to alcohol and I wasn't paying too much attention to that cause all of us were having fun. She caught me by surprise causing me to spill my scotch.

"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU COULD DANCE LIKE THAT. SO MANY SECRETS ABOUT YOU DAMIEN."

Oh crap not again.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SHOW ME THOSE MOVES LAST WEEK? OR BETTER YET SOMETHING MORE INTIMATE?"

She then started to feel her hand up from my abs to my chest, looking at me a bit amorously. I should have paid more attention to her drinking but I had myself to blame for that. Hopefully I could just get her to relax in the lounge and she'd stay there, then I'd stay away from her for the rest of the night. But it better be sooner rather than late, I was losing the fight, badly.

"Look Koko I-"

"SHUT UP. I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT."

She then jumped up on me grabbing me around the neck and putting me off balance. She then started breathing heavily in my ear.

Screwed was an understatement. I couldn't let this go any further. I then started to try and pull her off of me but she was being more stubborn than usual.

"Damn it Koko I get it! But I did that cause I needed you to listen to me! I'll admit that yes I find you attractive but I already told you the reason why I can't. Plus if Sophia finds out I-"

"Finds out what Damien?"

Upon hearing a very authoritive tone even with the loud music beating I braced for the inevitable and turned in the direction of it. Sophia was standing there with her arms crossed, wanting an explanation.

Fuck.

She then closed the distance and looked at me in a form of anger I only saw when we first met and I was getting settled in with the team. I also smelled vodka on her, meaning this was gonna get nasty.

"Look Sophia I didn't do anything! I was just standing here and-"

"You just decided to take advantage of Koko while she's drunk?" She said not breaking posture, like she was disciplining a junior officer.

"Now hold on." Koko spoke up with her hand raised and not sounding intoxicated. "Who said I was drunk?"

"What!? You were just dicking with me!?" I said as she let go of me.

"I was just playing with you Damien, we're out on the town, we're supposed to be having fun." She then turned to Sophia, just as flabbergasted. "He's all yours, take a breather, I'm gonna get some champagne and all five of us will make one last toast for the night."

She then left back downstairs and left me and Sophia looking at each other awkwardly. I went first.

"Lehm did say she's special so does she do that kind of stuff out of habit or is it a gift?"

She looked away for a second to think. "I think it's depends on whichever day ends in a "Y"."

I motioned to her and we both then sat in the lounge. It was one of several on the second floor that overlooked the club. With the slightly illuminated green walls I then remembered of a club in the Bronx that was similar to this one except freedom of movement around the place wasn't as strict. The downside though was that more often than not most of the alcohol was the same. Unlike here they had a very diverse amount and that's when I found a familiar name of brandy that I wanted to try. I wanted to have that bottle last but I couldn't wait anymore. I poured us both glass, toasted and took a sip.

"Hmm. Not bad, what's this one?"

"Branca, it was his favorite brandy." I said holding the glass up and swirling it around.

She knew who I meant as she looked at the clear amber colored liquid.

"I'm gonna miss him."

"Me too." I then leaned back on the sofa. "Hey, question, if it's not too much trouble, why did you punch him out that day on the beach in Italy?"

She then let out a slight laugh. But then she had that vicious look in her eye. "He tried to feel me up."

I paused while taking another sip of brandy, no doubt a very bold move, totally opposite of what I thought he did. Knowing now he kinda deserved it. But I had to give him props for having the balls to do what he did and escape with both of them attached.

"Well I'll say this, brave son of a bitch. Plus he was first to know before me that they were fake for sure."

Suddenly she spat out the brandy and dropped the glass, then looked at me as if she didn't believe what I just said.

I then realized that I had had a lot so far tonight, once again I decided to speak before I thought. At least this time I could blame it on the booze.

"Excuse me? What the hell makes you think I have implants!?"

Ok. Just take it easy. Explain it to her in a way that will come off as letting her know she's perfect the way she is.

"Calm down you don't need to be ashamed about it. So you got some surgery, big deal. I don't care about that. And I'm stating the obvious they're very noticeable. And you can't really deny the fact that more often than not you've gotten more that your fair share of glances from men, probably women too."

"For arguments sake, yes you're right. But you still didn't answer my question, what makes you think they're fake?"

"I just said it's obvious, you should know that when you build muscle you lose fat. What do women's breasts contain? And the most obvious fact since you're being so demanding, they tend to defy gravity!"

She continued to look at me like I offended her in the worst possible way, but I had played my hand with fact and truth. All that mattered now was how she played hers. And if worst comes to worst, I'd run my ass off.

She then stood up, walked in front of me, continuing to look at me with a predatory intent. But then she unbuttoned the first button on her shirt, showing a little bit of cleavage. She then straddled me on the couch, leaning forward putting both hands on the wall behind me, all the while not losing the predator look. I think this was the time I pushed it a little too far, so I didn't know what to expect.

"Do you really think that?" She asked kinda sadly.

"Uhh…" Brain stopped again.

"You think I want that kind of attention? God men are all the same. You don't know what it's like to develop much earlier than other girls nor grow to the size you didn't expect. Not to mention back problems, finding clothes that fit, or the awkward stares from prepubescent boys."

This kinda came out of left field. But she was saying that as if it were matter of fact.

"Hold up are you saying…"

"Kylla sina idiootit he ovat todellisa!" She shouted at me in vodka scented Finnish and very frustrated.

"Translation?"

She grunted.

"Yes you idiot they're real!"

As she shouted that in my face the stench of vodka on her breath kinda took me out of place for the moment with both realizing a rather insane fact and I was looking down her shirt at the same time. But then I looked back up to her, the predator look was gone, replaced with lust. Her hands wrapped around my head and I placed mine on her waist.

"Well are you going to say anything?" She asked.

Before I could answer though I heard the sound of a lot of glass breaking. It came from outside our booth, amazed that we both hear it from over the music we both heard shouting from outside. One was in Japanese, but the other was Koko's. We both got off of each other and went to investigate the noise. I saw her with a spilled bottle of champagne on the floor with several broken glasses, and some flamboyantly dressed Japanese pretty boy with a bunch of girls at his back, probably a bunch of paid escorts or floozies. I could make out from his very basic concept of English that he didn't like the fact that Koko had shot him down. I didn't need the booze in my system to be furious or recognize an absolute douchebag when I see one.

As I was about to step forward and get him to back off I noticed Koko's posture, it was defensive. I didn't think she would have wanted to try those moves out so soon, but it looked like this scrawny, goofy haired, dip shit was about to bite off more than he could chew.

"What are you standing there for!? Lets get him!" Sophia barked at me.

"Hold up, lets see how Koko handles this." I said smiling and holding my hand up not to get in the way.

"Are you fucking stupid!?"

"No. Just confident in her. We were doing a little something special on the side for the last week or so since Budapest."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just wait and see. She's about to wipe the floor with this guy."