I stood in the arena. Sweat dripped down my face, stinging my left eye and causing me to blink furiously. The left part of my vision was wavy. The outlines around things softened. My eyesight wasn't a complete and utter blur anymore, but not twenty-twenty for sure.
The surgery did what it was supposed to do, no more, no less. That was fine. I hadn't expected much in the first place. I had been fine with losing my eye. Having less vision instead of no vision is, in the words of a giant tiger that liked frosted flakes, great.
I turned to my left, my teeth clenched in effort. Leorio was sweating bullets as his aura poured out of him like a fire hydrant, his entire concentration on maintaining Ren for as long as possible. The Twins walked around us, keeping a close eye on so we didn't slack off. It was fucking exhausting. This felt like a filler episode of Dragon Ball Z.
We'd pass out, be force-fed, then do it again, and again, and again...
It had been more than a week since Gon, Killua, and Kurapika left. Other than my eye surgery, nothing but training. And it's been rough. Training with Mayer wasn't any less different or easier now that he was injured. He was a slavemaster, no matter what. All we've been working on was Ten and Ren, training to strengthen our Aura and our Aura reserve - which were the absolute basics of Nen.
Eventually, we'd be able to use Ren until we could hold it for three fucking hours. Right now, I couldn't even hold it for ten minutes. I couldn't imagine three hours. But if Mayer said it was possible, then it was possible.
It was simultaneously the most tedious and excruciating thing in the world. So fucking tough. If it weren't for Briannaisa's pool and Claudette's food, we'd have died from exhaustion.
"This... this is the warm-up?... geez... is he... trying to kill us..." Leorio said as he sucked air greedily, both hands on his knees. I mimicked him completely.
"You see... why I... fuck it I'm too tired... to complain..." I said, abandoning my wit and sitting back on my ass.
Kalvin laughed as he saw us exhausted. He always enjoyed the next exercise as I stared up at the large digital clock on the equally enormous screen in the distance. It was seven in the morning. Five more hours until we're done...
Mayer tossed us Nen infused bread-like dogs. I was so tired I had no pride left so complain, so I took it with gusto. My body no longer had to be reforged from skinny and sucky to yoked and ripped, so less pampering from Maids. The food Claudette made was only to fuel us now, and Briannaisa's pool every few ays. I took a bite of the bread like the peasant I was, gobbling it greedily as energy-infused my body. Even the crumbs that fell to the ground did not escape my ravenous, exhaustion amplified, Nen compelled hunger.
The twins clapped their hands to grab our attention. Mayer walked off to the corner of the arena, turned around, and observed the four of us get into position. I hated this drill...
The twins spoke in unison, knowing it bugged us, "Ok! Transition into Ten! You know what to do!"
We did as they said. Juggling balls materialized in the hands of the twins, the two of them juggling them with mastery. Fuck-
A ball hit me in the face with the force of a baseball pitcher's fastball. It bounced off my head, snapping my head back, and sailed into the sky before dematerializing.
That's when the onslaught began.
They threw their Nen balls at us like pitching machines, assaulting us as hard and fast as they could without trying to send us to the hospital. All while laughing. Fuck you, schadenfreude.
This lasted for thirty minutes before we were allowed to move and dodge the balls for another thirty minutes. It wasn't any easier or gentle with the ability to dodge. I ran past Leorio who ran in the opposite direction, frantically getting used to our Nen improved physical abilities the only way Mayer knew how: trial by fire.
By the end of the hour, my body hurt. But, these days, it always hurt. The Hunter Exam was a vacation compared to this bullshit...
Mayer appeared from outside my exhausted perception like a ghost, Knuckles, and Shoot standing next to him. Please, not this...
More fucking bread landed in front of us, then Mayer spoke,
"We shall spar for the next two hours, then train to transition from between Ten and Ren for an hour, then Ren to Ten for an hour..."
Shoot stood there, impassive as always. Knuckles smirked at me. How bad was babysitting a Prince?
I took the bread without emotion and took a bite, allowing Claudette's Nen ability to take over.
Knuckles cracked his, well...
Leorio screamed into the sky in exhaustion.
My keys scrapped against the metal keyhole as my hands shook from exhaustion. After a moment of mustering enough concentration to use my fine motor skills, the door opened with a creak. We walked into our new second-floor apartment at exactly one in the afternoon. We shuffled in like zombies looking for brains, or in our case, food and rest.
We moved out of Evira's fortress condo because fuck her, that's why. A less emotional reason is that we didn't want to be under her thumb the entire time we lived here. We may work with her and benefiting from her, but she doesn't own or run our lives. Even if her skyscraper is the most secure place in the city.
Everyone in that place has a fucking gun on them. Even the fat, unassuming concierge named Harold was strapped with a fucking Uzi. I know, since Leorio got upset about being constantly patted down and tried to barge through without being screened. It was crazy seeing twelve people pull out guns and point 'em at you like a wild west saloon.
Leorio went left and flopped onto the couch in the living room while I shuffled to my right to make food. I was the designated cook since Leorio couldn't make food to save his life. I know since I took one look at his burnt shit and decided to make the meals from that day on.
I pulled out the pots, pans, and rice cooker to make rice and baked tilapia. I took a minute to stare at our green colored apartment before going to work.
It kinda reminded me of Seinfeld's apartment, except turned around. The kitchen was to the right of the entrance and the hallway to our rooms was on the left. We had a large living room with a small rug over wooden floors. There was a design on it of a forest filled with various animals on it. A big, comfortable green couch that turned into a bed if anyone wanted to crash for the night. A forty-inch flat screen circa nineteen ninety-nine that sat on a small wooden desk with two small drawers filled with nothing but the tv remote. A cable box underneath the TV acting as a TV stand.
Behind the couch was a round dining table with four chairs and a small glass vase filled with flowers from Claudette. Behind that was a coffee table with our landline phone on it. Right of that was a large shelf filled with Leorio and I's memorabilia. My bone knife, a piece of white fur, and both of our badges from the Hunter Exam. A picture of the five of us taken by Pairo sat on a shelf.
I smiled. It wasn't much, but it was home. My smiled disappeared enormous rumbling sounds erupted from our stomachs. We both tore our gaze from our stomachs to each other. We frowned and sighed. It had only been a week, and we were exhausted. In a perpetual state of soreness.
Leorio sighed as he grabbed the cushion behind his head and closed his eyes. His voice was tired and full of doubt.
"Maan, is this how it's going to work until September? Your hag of an aunt pulled some strings and got me into the premed course for York New Medical College, but... ahh... Night classes suck. How am I supposed to concentrate this tired?!"
I chuckled. Thank god I wasn't in college anymore. Apparently, I have a fake degree in computer science from York New University. Neat. Considering I did complete my course work but never got my degree, I'll take it.
"Well, look on the bright side. At least we're not dead..." I said as I prepared the fish. I laughed as Leorio gave me a frown. I continued,
"Fine, then look at it like this: you only have to focus on studying and Nen. Evira said you don't have to work, just focus on your schoolwork. Considering how hard it is to find a trustworthy, crooked doc, she'll keep supporting you no matter what. So relax. Trust me, after a while you'll get used to this."
"Used to? This?" Leorio said in disbelief as he pointed to the bruises on his face as his, frankly, compelling counterargument.
"Er... You'll adapt to studying and training... eventually. After that, you'll be fine. That's if you don't slack off, punk."
"Who are you calling a punk? There's no way I'll slack off either!" he said as he took off his shoes and kicked them off, halfway across the room.
I frowned, "Just warning ya'. The temptation is there, especially since you're only other burden is learning Nen. Think about it, we have a huge stipend, I have a huge salary," I've never seen more zeroes in my entire life, "a cheap apartment and no debt. And we're Hunters. What do we have to worry about?"
He frowned, "Yeah, yeah... You don't have to lecture me, I'm just venting, geez," Leorio said before a paper towel hit him in the face. He sputtered as he smacked it off his body.
I frowned, "Considering I'm cooking for you, I'm older than you, and the apartment is under my name, I'll lecture you all I want! Pick up those god damn shoes and put 'em next to the entrance or in your room, or I'm gonna' shove them up your ass!"
"Yeah, rig- ok, ok ok!" he said as he saw me walk around the bar table of the kitchen to whoop his ass. He scrambled off the couch and did as he was told. It was nice being able to do what I wished I could have done on my Earth, as opposed to being too skinny and weak. Leorio came back from his room, shoes gone from his hands and slippers on his feet.
Leorio flopped back on to the couch with a grumble. Quiet came over us as I continued to cook, while Leorio rested. The silence broke when tiny glasses broke posed the question, slight trepidation in his voice.
"Sooo, today is the first day you work for Mercutio..."
I sighed as the fish sizzled on the pan; I turned to Leorio and nodded.
"Yeah. I don't know what to expect, really. He and his squad enforce the 'rules' for Evira... that could mean a lot of things."
Leorio frowned and nodded back, "Yeah... if you need any backup, don't hesitate to call me. Don't let them force you to do anything against your will..."
The hidden statement was obvious: don't let them force you to kill. I nodded.
"Don't worry. I won't let things get that far. Focus on your school. Gotta become a doctor man. Doctor Leorio has a... Nah it sounds bad, but hey, you're a doctor!"
"Shut up!" he said with no heat. I laughed as I finished cooking.
I sat in the passenger seat of the car and rubbed my eyes. Electric blue hoodie black man, aka Sparrow, sat in the driver's seat. It was ten at night and we've been sitting in front of an alleyway in a shitty neighborhood for four hours. We were in an old, beat-up car that could be called a Honda Civic from the mid-nineties. Tarnished silver color and black from parts being replaced lent us a camouflage that could only be provided by the reality of being in a shitty car.
The only thing uglier looking than this dented piece of metal we were in was the neighborhood. This place looked straight up like a picture of old school New York circa crack epidemic come to life. Brick apartment buildings lining both sides of the street with a facade of pure, tired misery and graffiti. Garbage collectors either didn't exist or didn't give a fuck about this place, because there were piles of trash in and around steel, dented trash cans. Those trash cans looked like they've been mugged. So, I don't blame the city works since for not seeing this part of the city. The neighborhood had prison bars on the first and second-floor windows. That wasn't to keep people in, but out.
If I wasn't superhuman, I'd have been nervous. All things considered, I'm still slightly nervous. Old habits die hard, and in certain places, you don't go out at night in the wrong neighborhood. If we'd been in a nicer car, or I wasn't wearing a dark green hoodie over my suit... well we'd have looked like moving piggybanks at a shooting gallery.
Two more hours. I was supposed to be here until twelve. Though that depended on whether something happened, then it might be longer. We were staking out a gang that was causing trouble and had rebuffed Evira's goons. I suspect this was a test of some sort since they don't need two Nen users to take down a small-time street gang. I may play the prideful prick at times, but I took this shouldn't be too hard.
Sitting here was boring. I hate to say it; I was itching to fight to relieve some pent up stress. I also wanted to practice using my Nen during actual combat. Beating up a bunch of gangbangers like Batman was a perfect exercise.
"Soo..." said the deep, smooth voice of Sparrow, "Coyote-"
"Why do we have code names? You know my real name."
He shrugged, "Thems the rules. Normally I don't give a fuck, but sometimes having a code name helps. Especially if we're undercover."
I squinted at the hoodie I was wearing as 'cover. I got the point, though. I sighed, "Fair enough. Seems a bit obtuse, considering the Tao Long owns the city."
"You ever see what happens to a guy who wins the lottery?"
"They win money?"
The blonde afro headed man rolled his eyes and continued, "Yeah, but you ever see what happens after? People crawl out of the woodwork to get a piece of 'em. Even family and friends end up doing some ugly shit. We ain't making friends here, Coyote, and we especially ain't winning the lottery."
"Yeah. Ok, why don't you wear a mask then?"
He turned and shrugged as he continued to stare at the back alley we were staking out, "Mantis wears a mask. You can wear a mask if you want. I have my shit taken care of. I don't worry about being caught. Mercutio, Cabo, and I've been running the streets before Evira came here. We know how to cover our tracks."
"Huh," I said. To both his answer and to the bald guy in a grey suit walking into the alley we were stalking. Sparrow sat up a little. Considering how relaxed Sparrow came across, that was the same as anyone else shooting straight up. My partner nodded his head as though accepting something.
"Yup, that's him. Barto, a known associate of the Five Families. Tch, now what'cha doing here? You're not supposed to be on this side of Yorbia.."
"Five families?" I said with a tilt of my head and a squint.
He nodded, "The original organization that ran all of Yorbia and the United States of Sarherta's underground activities. They controlled different parts of the continent until they joined forces to make even more dough. The current boss of bosses of Five Families is Carlo Galante. Ever since your boy Mayer wiped out his family on Valentine's day, well, he's got a hard-on for revenge. Pain in the ass..."
I turned to him in confusion, "Wait, what? How did Myer-"
The asshole smiled, "Now ain't the time, Coyote... what I want you to do is go in there and grab the guy. Simple, quick, easy."
I glared at him. He smiled and pointed to the alleyway like a dog owner pointing at a ball. I grumbled and got out of the car, took off my hoodie, and threw it at Sparrow. He didn't even move as it hit him in the face and plopped down on the gear stick. I reached around to the back seat and pulled out Stick. As I did, Sparrow reached over and unlocked his glove compartment box and pulled out a pistol.
He pulled out the magazine, checked the pistol, put the magazine back in, and then held it out to me. It was a black, metal thing with brown pistol grips on either side. An old school military pistol that the Saherta government used to issue. Kinda looked like an old school colt pistol...
"Seven shots," he said as casually as could be. I stared at it, the handle faced toward me. Asking to be grabbed.
"I'm good with Stick," I said as I raised my wooden sword. He frowned.
"Look, we may be able to woop normal a lot of person-ass, but at your ability... you ain't taking a whole lot of bullets. Maybe a pistol round or two... but a shotgun will blow your face off. Better to be safe than sorry."
"I'll be safe, so sorry," I said before I closed the door and walked to the alleyway half a block down.
It was a cool, windy night. The air cut the tip of my nose without remorse as I walked down the street. I continued forward as I shrugged my shoulders to keep myself a little warmer. I held tightly stick to the left side of my waist, as though I was going to quick draw it at any moment. My eyes scanned the entire street, back and forth, like a metronome keeping a beat.
I no longer stayed in Zetsu all the time, but now Ten, as Mayer explained I should be. No point in hiding when Nen users were so rare. Better to be protected at all times than not. Especially against gunmen…
I turned the corner into the alley. A dark and damp corridor with a chain-link fence blocked off the end of the alley. A large green dumpster against was up against the fence. A flicker bulb high on the same side was on its last legs. To the left of the dumpster was a metal door. It was old and worn, but more than enough to stop a normal human or at least slow them down. It took me all of two seconds to think of what to do. A pull open door, huh?
Aura erupted around me as I transitioned to Ren and did a spinning back kick to the space next to the doorknob. The high shrill of metal twisting and cracking of brick shattering echoed through the alley. The locking mechanism of the door ceased to exist.
The door crumpled in at the site of impact, a small indent with a doorknob now pointing to the left. The door slowly swung open as I heard something in the back of my head tell me to take cover.
I ducked to my right and pushed myself against the brick wall. The moment I did, bullets greeted the space I had stood in. The booming sound of shotguns, the snapping sound of pistols, and the rat-a-tat-tat of submachine guns drowned out my kick's pitiful echo. I strengthened my Ten and held up Stick against my left side to block against any ricochets that might hit me.
Some did hit me, feeling like painful rocks smacking against my body and forearms. Luckily, none of them hit my head. One of the stray bullets hit the light bulb, putting the dying thing out of its misery and drenching me in darkness. It felt like an hour, a thunder of lead and sound that disappeared as abruptly as it started. The delightful music of shotguns pumps shells being slid in and the sliding steel of pistols magazines was like the sweet sound of a racing pistol.
I ducked into the building and sped in like I was mimicking one of their bullets. The room was dark, their bad aim causing stray bullets to take out the fluorescent bulbs on the ceiling. Seven dark shapes that slowly grew sharper as my vision adjusted. They furiously scrambled to reload their weapons. The closest one had a pistol and was bumbling with the slide. Too bad.
Stick lashed out to my right, cracking the man on the forearm bone with a light tap, like swatting a fly. His wrist did not function anymore or point in the right direction as a scream and a gun flew through the air, his right wrist hanging limply. He didn't have long to think about it before I placed Stick flat against his chest. In one quick movement, I picked up the man with my weapon and sent him flying towards two gunmen to my right. Their howls of surprise mixing with the man's screams of pain.
I saw a blur to my left and reacted on instinct. I became a blur myself as I dashed to my left, the closest gunmen firing his machine-gun at where I was and trying to follow me with it. A trail of wood chips, dust, and splinters chased after me as I continued towards my left and used the wall as another surface to move on. Two steps and I lept off it, grabbed the man behind the desk by his jaw, and sent him towards another goon with a push of my left arm. They collided with a crack, falling onto a table full of something that made a puffing sound. Their groans of pain told me they weren't getting up.
A shotgun blast ripped a hole right next to my head and through the wooden desk behind me. My right arm struck out on its own and threw my sword right out of my fingers, flying at the shooter's head... as if against my will. Stick smashed into the man's chin, bounced off him, ricocheted against the floor, and finally landed right next to me. I stared dumbfounded at the fluke reaction. For all of a second. Then movement to my right snapped me out of it. I grabbed Stick and hopped over the desk and skittered low to the floor as I could.
I heard cursing and the movement of two people trying to find me in the dark. My flying human projectile did not work the first time, so I'd have to try something else.
In the pitch black dark, I could see they were right behind an arcade cabinet, of all things. As I allowed my night vision to adapt, the layout of the disarrayed room slowly made sense. I was behind a pillar in the center of the room, the desk to my left, and a shit ton of drugs all the way towards the back left. In the darkness, I could see two arcade cabinets of all things on the right side of the room. They were using it as cover, up in the room's corner like the cornered animals they were. The only thing between me and the arcade cabinets was a chair.
I moved silently, picked up the chair with my left hand, and tossed it against the left side wall of the room. It shattered on impact and bullets went hurtling towards the empty darkness. A quick, Ren-fueled skipping push kick sent the arcade cabinet smashing into the second arcade cabinet, and right against the pair of gunmen. The machine crumpled underneath the force of my kick, shattering the glass and lifting it the air before hitting the other cabinet. They both smashed into the pair of goons with a crash. They hit the wall with a shriek of pain. It pinned them against the wall with definitely broken bones and a whole lot of injuries.
My eyes scanned the room to find everyone was incapacitated. Or better put: fucked up beyond belief. They were alive, though. That's all that mattered. I wasn't gonna' kill, but hospital visits... eh.
I investigated the area to see if anyone was the mafia guy. None of the groaning bodies was the target. I frowned and continued past into the back.
As I walked through, it reminded me of a salon or something, retrofitted to be a shitty hideout.
I walked down the tiny hallway. It held two doors on both sides and an office door in the back. I moved past the bathroom and utility closet, my gut telling me he wouldn't hide in either. I edged closer to the back room. A wooden door with a crooked manager sign greeted me at the end of the hallway.
My right hand tightened around Stick as I slowly opened the door with my left, staying tight to the left wall…
The door creaked open to see a small, garish office with a crappy brown carpet, old vanilla stick-on wallpaper with brown stripes running down it. A small desk with three knocked over chairs and a giant vault open and a good portion of it taken out in a rush. I cursed when I saw on the right a small window into another alleyway; the blinds fluttering in the night breeze.
I leaped through the window and pursued into the night.
It didn't take long to find his trail. Literally: a money trail of Jenny made it stupidly easy to find the man. Less than a block down another street and I saw the man. He breathed hard as he tried his best to run as fast as humans could go, only to see me jog faster than he could ever manage to run. He gave up his sprint, hid behind a parked car, and open fire on me with his chrome-covered pistol. I got low to the ground and moved in a zig-zag, all while using the parked cars as cover to break his line of sight.
He only got two panicked shots off before I covered the distance between us.
Like a great white shark, I erupted from behind his cover and knocked the gun out of his hand (more like destroyed) with a quick cut from Stick. My left hand picked him up, turned him in the air, and slammed him down on the car hood behind him. That knocked the air and all the fight out of him.
"Alright, well. That was exciting and all, but time to take you back to-"
Something nicked my left ear. A sharp sting shot through my head as whatever it was hit the man straight in the forehead.
Immediately I dropped the man and moved as fast as I could. Ren turning me into a speeding missile as I sprinted, cut to my left, and took cover behind a car. I looked in the direction where the projectile was thrown and saw a shadow moving on the apartment buildings.
Four floors up, the shape raised a hand as if to throw something again, before it paused, and turned its head down the opposite direction. It shook its head, walked backwards and then disappeared.
I turned in the direction of where the attacker looked. In came Sparrow walking down the street as casually as he could be. Like a cowboy walking into town. He stared up at the building where the attack was made. My partner made a disappointed, bored face and shook his head. He walked over to the Mafioso's body and tsked.
Paranoid I was, it took me a moment to stand up from cover. I felt blood trickle down my ear as I reached up to touch it. I hissed the moment I did, biting pain rippling through. It must've cut pretty deep for an ear wound.
Sparrow waved a hand for me to come over, "Well, he's dead. Good work, rook."
"Yeah, yeah- oh my god."
I stared in horror at the man's head. It was as if a bullet tore through his head. I grimaced at the result, memories of Kenmi hit me hard. I turned away as Sparrow reached his fingers into the wound without fuss and pulled out a scissor. What the fuck...
"Hmph, guess they're really scrounging the bottom of the barrel, huh..."
I stared at him, disturbed. Sparrow looked back at me. As nonchalant as you could get. He shrugged.
"It ain't no issue, really," he said as he waved his hand of blood, "ya' see a lot in this line of work. The guy up there is named Binolt. He's a serial killer that prefers scissors as a weapon. He sometimes takes jobs for criminal groups. Ain't no issue, small-fry at most, but best to tell Koala."
That was Mercutio's codename, which fit his lackadaisical and indifferent attitude. Sparrow checked the man's pants and then whistled. He pulled out a wallet, opened it and frowned, "This guy's using a fake idea. It's gonna' be a real pain to figure out who forged and issued it, but we'll find something."
He flipped it back closed and put it in his pocket. He bent down and picked up the book bag full of money. With a tilt of his head, he motioned me to follow. I did. He spoke.
"Not bad, if your Ten was any worse you'd have lost the bottom of your ear instead of just a nick. Guess ya' talent ain't just all talk."
"Yeah... that thing was powerful enough to hit put a hole in his face."
"Yeah, well, he was using Shu. It'd have killed anyone without Nen and probably those with weak Nen."
"Shoe? What's Shoe?"
He shrugged as we walked the block back to the car. Sparrow continued.
"Guess you're still learning the basics. Shu is when ya' cover or coat something in Aura. It's an advanced form of Ten and can make something an extension of ya' aura."
Huh. We entered his car as I tried desperately to stop the bleeding with a wad of napkins. I stared at the dashboard clock and sighed. Only an hour passed. It had felt like forever…
We arrived at a bar called The Red Room. It was right next to a catholic looking church and had, no surprise, a dark red door with a small neon sign above with its name on it.
Sparrow led the way as his blue hoodie turned black under the red light that light up the entire place. A long, wavy bar table was to our left with a row of bar seats lined against it. Three bartenders sat behind it, one of whom was the old man from when I got pistol whipped. The grandpa looked like what a Yorkshire terrier would look like as a human.
The other two were younger. One a woman in her mid-twenties and the other a man in his early thirties. Both brunettes, I think. It was hard to tell in this light. They both looked like average people, unaware of who we were.
It was loud… Jazz played through the bar as a band playing hard and fast on a small stage in the back. It was packed tonight. Strange for a bar that barely had a presence on the street. Across from the stage and across from the bar was this part lounge, part table area. Countless people drinking and having a good time. The older patrons were at the bar, while the people near age sat at the tables and the lounge.
I couldn't hear shit as Sparrow leaned over the counter and yelled a whisper at the old man. He screamed something back. Something that no one other than Sparrow three inches in front of him could hear. He pointed to the left of the bar, to a door that said 'employees'. Sparrow turned to me, gestured me to come close with his index finger, and yelled so loud it only sounded like a whisper.
"York told me that Mercutio and the rest are in the back. Its time to initiate you into Red Squad."
I pulled back, gave him a face that translated to, 'What, aren't I already initiated?' He must have facially telepathic since he shook his head 'no' and led me to the door.
I sat stood there, nervous. I was walking into the belly of the beast.
I took a breath. He gestured me to open the door.
And so I did.
Hello dear readers!
Hope you are all doing well and continue to do well!
James is starting to get accustomed to York New city. But now his first challenge of York New City seems to be on the horizon! Hehehe.
Stay safe, happy, and healthy everyone!
Rondo out!
