Perfect Dark and the Thousand Year Door.
By HARTride 2012
Disclaimer: This fictional story is a crossover between Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and the Perfect Dark series. I have no affiliation whatsoever with either series and any characters from either series that are mentioned, I do not own. Any references to any real-life events, past, present, and future are completely coincidental, and asterisked characters in the character list are copyrighted and cannot be used for any reason in any other story.
Chapter 2 – The mysterious "visitors"
About two months after Cassandra's encounter with the mysterious man at the town square, things began to get a bit odd for her and Vanessa. Every time Vanessa looked at the map, strange things began to glow on it. "What do you think these symbols mean Miss DeVries?" she asked the tall blonde. "For the fifteenth time this month Vanessa, I don't really care. Now please, can I have my tea time? ALONE?" replied Cassandra, not having a single interest in what "powers" the map might have. "As you wish madam" said Vanessa as she stepped out of Cassandra's office. Cassandra sat back into her seat and reflected on her life. As she sipped her cup of hot tea, she realized how much of a failure her tenure as CEO of dataDyne was. She had worked so hard to reach the top of the hierarchy, only for her greed and anguish to overpower her consciousness and generosity. Her decisions later on in her career cost not only the collapse of her beloved company, but also a near-death experience for herself. Cassie still remembered the night that she had to flee the Lucerne Tower in order to escape an angry Mr. Blonde, the disguised Skedar who had knowingly fooled her into signing onto their deal in the first place. She created a clone of herself beforehand and left it in the tower. To her expectations, the clone was captured. But her dear friend, Anita Velez, was killed in the process. Cassie had told Anita to escape with her, but she refused, thinking that she could hold off the Skedar.
As Cassandra sipped the rest of her tea, she hear a loud explosion out in the courtyard. "What the?" she shouted, running to the window. Several bodyguards rushed in to check on their boss. "Are you okay Mrs. DeVries?" asked one of the ladies. "I'm fine" replied Cassandra, "but something just crashed out there." Without any further hesitation, Cassie followed her guards to the basement, where they would be safe. Meanwhile, Vanessa ran out to the courtyard to see what the commotion was. Most of the bodyguards were mobilized throughout the property, waiting for anyone or anything that might come at them. "Mrs. Vanessa!" one of the guards shouted, "get the hell inside!" Another guard rushed at Vanessa, trying to get her inside the villa. As the woman tackled down the secretary, the dust and flames had died down just a few feet away…
The ladies could now see a spaceship clearly in their view; they all backed away in response. "What could it be?" asked Vanessa to one of the bodyguards. "I don't wanna know" the guard replied, "Hurry Charise, get Mrs. Vanessa inside!" "Right" said the tall brunette, rushing towards Vanessa. She pulled the secretary up from the ground and led her inside. At that same moment, the ship's doors flew open….the ladies looked toward the craft. "Draw your weapons!" said the captain, pointing her shotgun towards the ship. As everyone prepared to fire, several mysterious creatures exited the ship. All of them had a rather short and stocky stature, the last creature being the taller of the bunch. The group marched onto the courtyard in military form, the taller figure stood out front, raising his hand. The ladies looked at the creatures, preparing to fire. Then the taller figure called out, "Where is the map?" The guards looked in disbelief, not knowing what the creature was talking about. When no one answered, the creatures stepped forward. The captain shouted in warning, "step any closer and you will be shot!" The creatures simply ignored the warning, one pulling out an N-bomb. The leader of the pack motioned his soldier to toss the bomb towards Cassie's guards, causing all hell to break loose.
"RUN!" shouted one of the guards to Vanessa as they scurried towards the basement. The impact of the N-bomb had caused the villa's windows to shatter and doors to be knocked off their hinges. Suddenly, the pack of aliens showed up behind them, "FASTER!" said the guards, firing their guns at the unknowns. The creatures quickly fought back, firing their handguns at the guards. As the ladies made it around the corner of the corridor, they quickly realized that their efforts had been unsuccessful. The number of bodyguards was rapidly decreasing, leading Vanessa to conclude that the effects of the N-bomb were greater than she ever thought. The three remaining guards peered to the other side of the corridor; the group of unknowns were marching toward them. Vanessa knew she had to get to the basement fast, she knew Cassandra was waiting for her there. Then, the secretary realized that she still held the map in her blouse pocket. "Maybe that's why they're invading" she muttered to herself. "Hush" said the guard, covering the secretary's mouth. The leader of the pack spoke again, "I will not harm anyone else if you tell me who has the map." Clearly the guards were in confusion, as they knew nothing about the map. The secret had been kept between Cassie and Vanessa all this time. But why did these creatures want the map in the first place? What was their motive for its use? Could it be the things that were glowing?
All these questions prompted Vanessa to take drastic measures. She realized that she couldn't let these creatures have the map. "But how to get it into safe hands?" her mind raced. As the creatures marched closer, the guard motioned the secretary to take cover. Slowly, but quietly, Vanessa made her way to the closest thing possible, the laundry chute. She knew that the laundry chute went straight to the basement, where Cassandra would be able to obtain it, and make her escape…..if she hadn't escaped already. The secretary pulled the map from her blouse, and dropped it into the chute. Breathing a sigh of relief, she heard gunfire nearby, breaking the silence. Immediately, Vanessa ran as fast as she could, heading for the exit. But before she could get there, something hit her….."Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" she screamed as she hit the ground. The scream could be heard well from the basement, "That's got to be Vanessa" said Cassandra in fear. "It's time to leave" said the lieutenant, motioning everyone in the room towards the secret tunnel, where a vehicle was waiting for them. "I've got this paper, I don't know what it is" said one of the guards. "Hand it to me" said Cassie, taking the paper from her and placing it in her pocket. As the group rushed silently out of the villa complex, the creatures had taken Vanessa with them, as well as one of the guards who were still alive. Cassandra had hoped that Vanessa was still alive, but knew that her own life was in danger. Escaping the villa was now their only hope of survival.