Chapter 4: The Empress and The Gunman Part I

-Hong Kong Airport

November 2th, 20XX

8:00 PM

"There we go! Now, it should take a while before your ability activates." Joseph said to Nemu as he removed the syringe from his wrist. Rin was watching the two talk to each other, then took a look at his hands, wondering why his ability hadn't presented itself during their fight with the man in the gas mask.

"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with you." Rin looked up to see Judgement standing above him, fiddling with a cigarette between his fingers. "It will be a while before your power shows itself. It usually happens when you've become pessimistic in your goals." Rin stared at his companion as he pointed to Magician over by the baggage claim. "It took Magician 6 month to activate his ability."

Rin didn't know how to respond. It did feel relaxing to know that other Tarot members have had trouble with unlocking their abilities. Just then a limo pulled up to the airport and the driver then walked inside and held up a sign that says 'Oswell'

"Ah! There it is. Hey! Over here!" Joseph called out to the limo driver and shook his hand. "Good to see you!" The limo driver then presented them with our transportation and they got in.

During the drive to our hotel, Rin's mind kept wandering to the other members of Tarot, who were they. And who hasn't gotten their powers yet? He decided to bring it up with Joseph.

"Hey boss, just exactly who are the other members of Tarot? I kind of want to know who I can trust and such." Rin asked Joseph.

In response, Joseph reached into his bag and pulled out a binder.

"This binder contains all the information regarding members of Tarot. Take a look through it." Rin began to flip through the pages studying each one carefully. Well, carefully as he could.

Each file had a picture as well as a name and description with it. It also lists their powers. Rin continued to flip through the files. 'Emperor', 'Temperance', 'The Star', all of the tarot cards were in here. Except 'The Lovers' card for some reason.

"Hey boss, aside from Moon and I, the only one that is missing is the The Lovers. Is that the one that the Illuminati took?" Joseph nodded in response to Rin's question. He then looked back at the files and thought to himself 'I wonder if Izumo was given that serum.' It was possible, if she wasn't compatible with it, she would've died.

The limo then pulled up to a quite fancy hotel, and the group entered inside of it. Joseph then ordered each person a room with a single bed. He then handed the man behind the counter a large amount of money. Rin was shocked to say the least. Joseph then returned to the group holding their room keys, Rin got room 302 and they headed upstairs to take a breather.

10:00 PM

Rin was brushing his teeth in front of his bathroom mirror as his phone began to ring on the counter next to him, it said private number on it for some reason. He then picked up the phone and tried to answer it as best as he could. "Rin Okumura speaking. I'm currently brushing my teeth, so I'll try to talk the best I can."

"Hey there Rin." when Rin heard the person on the other end of the line his eyes went wide and he almost choked on his toothbrush in shock. He was quick to recover and got back to the phone.

"Shura! Um… h-hey! How's it going? I'm just doing some late night studying. I promised Yukio before he left that I'd ca-" Before Rin could finish his lie about where he was, Shura interrupted him.

"I know the situation Rin; You ran off to try and find Izumo right?" Rin gave a sigh of defeat. He'd been found out. Now the Order will try and take him back to Ture Cross Academy and he'd never get the chance to save Izumo. Then he decided that he'd put his foot down. He wasn't going back to True Cross until he rescued Izumo and brought Shima back.

"I'm not going back Shura. I don't care if you cut off my legs and drag me back to True Cross Academy, I won't stop trying to look for Izumo and Shima." Rin said confidently into the phone. "This might be my only shot at the Illuminati. I can't waste it. So send 10 exorcists, 50, or even 100! I will never stop. Tell that to the Vatican why don't ya!?"

Rin felt like he made an impact on Shura, probably even made her feel scared slightly. "Okay…" She simply said. Rin made a noise that defined his confusion as he almost dropped the phone in shock. "I don't know the reason why, but the Vatican just decided to put you under the care of that guy." Rin sat on his bed in his pajamas as Shura continued. "You know, that Joshen guy."

"Do you mean Joseph?" Rin corrected her.

"Him too." Rin internally face palmed and just assumed that Shura was slightly drunk when she said that. "Anyways, the Vatican are going to keep tabs on you. Just incase you guys go and try to take down the Vatican. They're still a bit wary about your employer."

Rin then asked Shura a question. "Wait, what about him are they suspicious about?"

"I don't know, I'm just the messenger." She replied while yawning. "Anyways, call me if you need help with something." Shura then said goodnight to Rin and then hung up the phone. Rin then crawled into bed and fell asleep.

~~~|X|~~~

?

Rin had begun to feel himself being strangled. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't stand as well, because he was dangling by his throat off a skyscraper. Rin began to claw at the man who was strangling him, trying to get him to put him down but to no avail. Rin then started to gasp, and his breaths became quieter. Before Rin blacked out, he tried to look at the man who was strangling him but to no avail. Then he heard the person say something to him.

"Die, Rin Okumura." The voice was calm, yet sinister. Once Rin had registered what he had said, the man released his grasp on Rin, and he fell.

As time in the air progressed, Rin began to fall faster and faster. If he'd hit the ground, he would die. Sadly, it looked like this was inevitable and he braced himself for impact but then halfway down the building, he saw a bright light up in the sky. And out of it was some one he'd never thought he'd see. It was Izumo Kamiki who was gently gliding down, like an angel to catch Rin.

"I-Izumo!? What are you doing here!?" He asked. But Izumo simply put a finger on his lips to quiet him.

"Don't worry Rin, I'm here for you." She said. Rin was looking up at the purple haired girl, and then a thought came to his mind. Probably something that he'd never would've imagined he'd think.

'She looks like a goddess.' Izumo then removed her finger from Rin's lips and replaced it with her own pair of lips. She had kissed him. And both parties felt pleasure. Rin's perpetual falling had slowed down and eventually came to a complete stop. The two were in midair with their lips interacting with each other. Rin felt that he was in heaven. He then noticed that Izumo had grabbed Rin's wrist, and had put it on her breast.

Then Rin opened his eyes.

He was staring right at Kuro, who was soundly sleeping on the chair next to him. Rin looked at the clock next to him, seeing that the time was 7:00 AM. About the time that someone should wake up. Rin then thought back to his dream, and how he saw Izumo in that dream.

"Like a goddess." he spoke aloud. Rin then knocked on his head with his knuckles. Why was he thinking like that? He had a crush on Shiemi, not Izumo. He became frustrated with his own thoughts as he slammed his back on his bed. After a few minutes Rin had gotten out of bed to take a shower and then head down to have breakfast.

~~~|X|~~~

Hotel Lobby

November 3rd 20XX

7:45 AM

Rin stepped off the elevator, still contemplating about what he was currently feeling. He then entered the lobby area where he saw Judgement holding a thick black laptop in between his arm and his side.

"Hey." He spoke to the half demon. "Listen, boss has already headed out. He's bringing The Empress here to meet you Fool." Rin nodded at his laser shooting companion. He was trying as hard as he can to not punch someone whenever they called him by his code name. Judgement continued. "I'm guessing Magician and Moon haven't woken up yet. So in the meantime, the boss wanted me to show you this." Judgement handed Rin the laptop he was carrying. "Boss just said, 'Hermit told me he wants to see The Fool' and just left."

Rin looked to his right towards a lounge area, with a few cushions surrounding a table. 'That might be a good place to use this thing.' He thought. He then took a seat and opened the laptop and started it up. Surprisingly, it turned on in only a few seconds. On the screen was an already opened program that just had the roman numeral for nine on it, with a sound wave passing through it.

"Hello, you must be Rin Okumura. a.k.a. The Fool." Rin assumed that this was The Hermit.

"Yes, I'm The Fool." Rin responded.

"I've been watching the Illuminati's actions for the past month now. And late last night, something happened that might be important information for you." Rin pondered about it. It could have something to do about Izumo's brain washing.

"What is it?" He asked.

"It's about the reason why you joined us in the first place."

'I knew it." Rin thought.

"I'll play you the recording containing the information now." A window popped up with a video player and Rin clicked on the play icon.

~~~|X|~~~

Fort Sumter Holding Cell #712-C

November 2nd 20XX

1:00 PM

Tamamo climbed into her "bed" which was just a pillow with a rotting blanket on the cold steel floor. But before she fell asleep, she pulled something from underneath her pillow. It was some sort of object, probably a piece of chalk. She didn't know. Tamamo pressed it against the wall next to her bed and dragged it down, creating a line of the unknown material.

She then heard the slight tapping of shoes against the metallic floor. She new that he was coming. The man who tortured her for years for his experiments, and maybe even for his own enjoyment a bit. She turned to face the glass that separated her from the hallway, and there he was.

Michael Gedouin.

"Hello there, Ms. Kamiki. How are you on this fine day?" The smile he gave was an insult to her. She crawled on her hands and knees towards the glass wall and pressed her hands against it. "Are you going to ask me to see your 'precious daughter'?" Michael was mocking her; but Tamamo couldn't help it. She made her lips quiver, stared up at the messed-up man, and gave a nod at him.

Michael put a hand to his chin then gave a large grin down at Tamamo. "You know what, I'm a nice man. I'll let you see her." He turned to his left and whistled down the hall for something. "I'm going to have to ask you to step away from the glass, if you want to enter." Tamamo did as she was told as someone entered her field of view. It was a young woman with long purple hair wearing the attire that the Kamiki family used for the Divine Summoning except there was a something very wrong about the mask. But, the person who just appeared was definitely Izumo; except that she had white fox ears and nine fox tails. Michael and Izumo stepped inside Tamamo's cell, leaving the gate open. Tamamo could have escaped, but she knew she couldn't do it. Plus, she was more focused on her daughter.

"I-Izumo?" Tamamo asked weakly. She stood up and walked over to her daughter and put her hand on her cheek. And was immediately sent flying from an attack from Izumo. Michael then began to laugh so hard people thought that his lungs were going to explode, but all Tamamo could do was just stare at her daughter.

"W-what did you do?" She then crawled over to her two visitors and shouted with as much might as she could. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BABY!" Tears flooded the former priestess' eyes.

"Do you like her?" Michael said as he placed a hand on Izumo's shoulder "After we transferred the Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit into your daughter. We found out that after all the experimenting we did to you, the demon became docile; she was useless to us." Tamamo's ears perked up. "So that's why we put this on her." Michael pointed to the mask on her face. "It's my latest invention. Even though it's a prototype, I can say that it was a success!"

"She's completely mind controlled! She does what ever I ask of her. She doesn't talk back, let alone talk at all. And if I tell her to kill someone. She does it! No matter who it is!" Michael was so giddy about Izumo's current state. "But that's not the best part." Michael then used his left hand to slap Izumo across the face something that Tamamo couldn't understand until after it happened. Tamamo's eyes went wide at the sight of her child being abused. "Look, she doesn't even flinch, or acknowledge the pain!" He then gave a hearty laugh.

"I won't be able to talk to Izumo ever again?" Tamamo said under her breath. Obviously still in pain from when she was hit by her own daughter.

"Not exactly." Tamamo got onto her knees, staring up at Michael. "The mask takes time for it to reconfigure the brain; and with the orders we have given it, she will be done at exactly 18:00 on December 24th. So think of you seeing your daughter again as a little Christmas gift." Michael gave a chuckle as he continued "And don't think you can just tear the mask off. It will only come off once the adjustments to her brain are complete. You'd need a miracle to get it off!" Tamamo just stared at the two as they left her room and closed the door.

"By the way." Michael stated as Izumo walked away. "The mask doesn't have a name. Maybe I'll name it after your pathetic little family. So that way, your existence won't be for naught." Michael began to walk away, giving out a hearty laugh. A laugh that haunted Tamamo's dreams, and Izumo's as well.

Tamamo clenched her fists and started to pound them on the steel floor as she begun to rant about Michael.

"Darn you! Darn you! Darn you! You fat monster! You've taken my eldest daughter and turned her into a walking vegetable!"

"Why? Why god why?!"

"What did I do to deserve this treatment?!"

"That f- f-f- fu- f- f- fu- fu- f-f-f-f-fucking bastard!" Michael had done it. He had pushed Tamamo to swear. She had never said a swear word her entire life, until this point. She then gave a horrifying scream, as if she was being mauled by a monster.

~~~|X|~~~

Hotel Lobby

November 3rd 20XX

7:55 AM

Rin just stared at the media player in shock and then began to take in all the information. 'The woman in the cell was Izumo's mother. That scientist was Michael Gedouin. and I have until December 24th at 6:00 PM to save Izumo.' But then Rin felt hopeless. Michael said that someone would need a miracle to get that mask off before the time limit.

'Is it hopeless?' Rin thought as he leaned back in his chair. Unaware of the surroundings of the Hotel Lobby. 'Did I come on a plane to Hong Kong just to realize my optimism was futile?' As Rin continued to contemplate the sound of a chain gun was revving. Until Judgement snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Fool! Get down now!" Judgement tackled Rin out of the chair as bullets were sprayed over them and the sounds of civilians screamed. Then a voice which Rin assumed was their attacker spoke.

"Dammit! Missed. Why can't real life have an aimbot? It would make everything so much easier." He shouted in frustration. Judgement's eyes widened.

"That voice…" He then peaked over the make shift barrier he had made when he tackled Rin to look at their attacker. Rin did the same. It was a white man with casual clothes, an unkempt beard, and he looked a bit chubby. Judgement then stood all they way up to address the attacker. "Why the hell is someone like you doing here?" The attacker looked towards their direction.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here? If it isn't Jol Min-jun. Or should I call you by your preferred name 'Teh_Trumpotar'." Judgement glared at the opposition as Rin looked between the two confused.

'The Trumpeter?'