Part Four

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Sunny Wong might seem like a simple man, and it was true. All that mattered to him was the mission, the mission to get Mui back alive.

Anyone who interfered needed to die, he didn't neet to call his superiors on that one, nobody would dare tell him he was wrong either.

Even if this group were from Dokusensha they were interfering with his mission so that they could accomplish their own and that still left them the problem that they were intefering with his mission and therefore they'd forefitted their lives.

Now he wouldn't be satisfied until he killed them all.

He closed his eyes and used the power of his paper to rip the lid off of the sewer, he leapt down.

The smell didn't bother him, neither did the knowledge that he was traveling through human waste product, all that mattered was his mission. Mui.

And the death of anyone who got in his way.

He didn't know which way they'd gone at first, but then he heard the faint sound of six legs fighting their way though the muck.

He stalked off after that sound.

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Maggie stepped out of the shower, she'd gone in with her clothes on but it had only made matters worse because her cloths were now wet. She tried in vain to dry them and in the end gave up.

She abandoned her shoes, they were beyond help.

She came out to the room where the boys were and heard them having a quiet conversation.

She was not an evesdropper by nature but when she heard the word "Dokusensha" come up she listened closely.

"So a fucking library want's to rule the world?" Tokai demanded.

"It almost sounds funny when you say it like that. And no, that's not it. This "library" as you call them wants to control the world."

"What's the fucking difference?"
"Well let's say you rule the world Tokai. You do what? Force people to burn down the forests and order the most beautiful porn stars to your palace every day."
"Shit it's like you're reading my fucking mind!" Tokai groaned. "You know I like that babe from the movie with--"

"I so don't care. Keep that to yourself. Anyway let's now say that instead the world is under your influence. People want to burn down the trees, something in their head tells them its right, porn stars want to come to your palace because for some reason even the most chaste of girls can't resist, and you never have to openly say anything, the world is under your control because you can affect the way they think by controling the media, all television, all books, all games, even bilboards are under your control and nobody knows it so nobody can try to stop you. That's control. Complete and absolute."

"And Dokusensha wants control?" Tokai said. "Fine, but why does Fen want us to keep away from them?"

"Well think about it. Oyu can control water, Sora can control wind, Brock controls the earth and you can control fire, that's some pretty destructive power."

"So they fucking need us." Tokai said.

"No. I know Fenrir's been telling you all this time that you're unique, one of a kind, but you're not. You're rare and unusual, but there are other Fire Masters out there, other Water Masters, even other Beast Masters like Fenrir and other Gravity Masters like myself. Fenrir has been keeping us all safe from Dokusensha because he doesnt want Dokusensha to control the world."

"Okay . . . so then how did he even find out about Dokusensha, did you two like escape from them or something?"

"No. We're not really from Hong Kong,"

"Yeah, you're from America, you fucking told us that."

"That's not true either. Ever notice that we don't have American accents?"

"I dont know what a fucking American accent sounds like, so . . . nope." Fenrir laughed.

"We're actually from Ireland, I'm like . . . a quarter Irish. Slade is an Irish name, it means "quiet child" which is why Fenrir gave it to me."

"Gave it to you? Well shit what's your real name?"

"I dont know. Never heard it."

"So . . . what's that got to do with Dokusensha?"

"Slade is a code name, a callsign, I'm . . . kind of a secret agent for the British Library."

Tokai broke out laughing, "Shit dude, shit! A secret agent for the British Library? You're fucking kidding me! Oh my gosh! You don't have a British accent either, you don't sound anything like that "double O something" dude! Secret agent for a fucking library? Libraries dont need secret agents, you're so fucking joking!"

There was a thunk, Maggie rushed out and saw that Tokai was rolling on the ground, he pounded the floor as he laughed, "Shit! Shit! Shit son you're killing me! Fucking Double O Slade, you don't have a badge you have a library card!"

Slade sighed and watched as Tokai controlled himself and got to his feet. "Yeah . . . nice job getting that much all over their carpeting, Tokai."

Maggie felt compelled to speak up, "Y-you're a secret agent for a library?"

"Yes." Slade said with a sigh.

"So . . . they let you read all the books you want?" Maggie asked.

Slade looked up at her, "Yes. When I'm at headquarters anyway . . ."

"Ch'yeah, go read a fucking book Slade, learn how to come up with more believable stories!" Tokai laughed.

"I'd . . . I'd like to work for them . . . if I could read all the books I wanted to." Maggie said. "I . . . love to read," she added taintively.

"Oh hell," Tokai spoke up, "I love reading, I uh . . . I read everyday."

Slade looked like he was going to say something and thought better of it. Instead he said "I know you hate water Tokai, but get your shower taken care of, okay?"

Tokai glowered at him but finally nodded and departed.

Maggie looked at Slade, "Do you think I can be a secret agent too?" She asked. Maybe then people would like her, maybe then her mother would be proud of her . . . and if she got to read all the books she wanted in the process . . .

Slade frowned at her, he said "I don't think you'll have any choice. Dokusensha wants you, you'll have to eitehr side with us or them ma'am." Slade turned away and began to pace. "I wish it didn't have to be this way, but just for now if you want to live and be free of Dokusensha you'll have to lend us your powers, just as we'll lend ours to your protection . . . I promise."

"It's okay . . . I want to join your . . . gang." Maggie said.

Slade scoffed. Maggie looked at the ground, "I . . . I wasn't always like . . . this." She whispered. "It's just recently . . . I've been having these dreams . . . I can make monsters out of paper . . . and I couldn't do it before. I've been having weird thought's lately . . . is this all for real . . . or just a dream?"

Slade turned to her, "It's real ma'am, I'm real. Dokusensha is real. If you want to join the british library I'm sure they'd welcome you with open arms . . . you wouldnt be the only paper master, the last I heard the very best paper master in the world was on our side . . . of course it's been some time since I've been in contact with HQ, ma'am."

"You don't have to call me "ma'am"," Maggie said, "We're probably the same age."

"It's just polite ma'am--uh, I mean Maggie. Sorry." Slade frowned. He looked away and said "As for your monsters . . . I'll bet you can do more. I'll bet you can do almost anything with paper. My brother and I . . . we can help you learn to use your powers . . . y'know?"

Maggie blushed, "You'd teach me? Even though I can't give you money or anything else in return?"

Slade smiled at her, "You'd be giving us your friendship I'd hope . . . we of unusual talent need to stick together, it's hard for normal people to understand us, they hate us because we're different, even if they dont know about our powers they sense something in us that isnt normal . . . so most of the time we flock together. You'll be happy with us . . . I'd . . . I'd share all my books with you." He said, looking away from her and blushing.

Maggie smiled. Did this mean she'd made friends? Friends with curses just like hers?

There was silence for a while, until Tokai came back from the shower and said "Alright pawn, get a fucking move on."

Slade was about to do so when the wall suddenly crumbled.

Maggie stared, her heart seemed to stop as the man in black from the alley stood where the door had once been.

"Holy shit . . . how'd he find us?" Tokai demanded.

Slade looked startled then groaned, "Foot prints!"

"But the elevator, how could he have known which floor we got off at?" Tokai demanded.

"Do you really think now is the time to discuss it?" Slade demanded, he punched his fist forward and the window exploded, he shoved Maggie forward.

"I-I cant!" She protested, "I don't fly!"

"You will, now get out there!" Slade commanded, he turned to Tokai, "Hold him off until she's on the ground!"

But the man in black would have none of that, newspapers, books, TV Guides, every paper article in the room suddenly came to life, creating a whirlwind of death that prepared to rain down on Tokai!

Tokai scoffed and said "Paper? How wonderfully flamable you stupid mother--" Tokai paused, then glared at Slade, "I'm too fucking wet you fucking idiot!"

"It's called a towel you imbicile!" Slade roared as he shoved Maggie out the window.

She slowly descended to the ground and heard an explosion above. Slade shouted something she couldnt hear and then both were falling out of the window as well.

Then came the man in black, he thrust his hands forward and paper flew from his sleves like a hundred knives, cutting through Slade as he descended.

He kept his eyes on Maggie and Tokai and didn't close them, Maggie felt her heart accellerating, when would she reach the ground?

The man in black used the bloodied pieces of paper he'd already shot at Slade to cut into Tokai, the foul mouthed teen screamed a few profanities and said something Maggie would never repeat about the man in black's sexual prefences.

The man in black however was not held up by anything, he was not being slowed by Slade . . . so he fell far faster than the rest of them. Fell past Slade, fell past Tokai . . . and came to Maggie!

His paper engulfed her, surrounding her, squeezing her but not crushing her. It was splattered with blood and she began to cringe, she closed her eyes.

She felt his strong arms around her and refused to open her eyes, felt him slam into the ground and hoped he'd been killed.

But the fact of the matter was that she hadn't felt any acceleration when he grabbed her, she'd probably slowed him down and saved his life.

The slime.

She closed her eyes and wished for something, anything to rescue her.

And the paper answered her plea, turning on its former master the bits and pieces of paper that surrounded her suddenly shot out in all directions, she opened her eyes now and tried to imagine something that could stop this man. Something big, something strong!

Litter and magazines from nearby stands came to her call, it was just like before with the Cerberous but this time she was in control.

This time she knew what she was doing, she wasnt surprised, she wasnt afraid.

Well . . . she was afraid.

A giant monster formed itself, it was like a big white knight with extremely long arms which shot forward and encircled the man in black.

He grunted but didn't scream when the beast attacked him, he was lifted into the air as the paper began to crush him.

Maggie willed her monstrosity into action, mentally pleaded with it to be strong, to kill this man.

Yes kill him. Crush him, destroy him!

. . . to elminate the enemies of Dokusensha . . .

Smash him, annihilate! Maggie grinned and felt a strange happiness overtaking her, "Die . . . die like the dog you are . . . feel the golem's crushing embrace and die!" She whispered with a voice not totally her own.

. . . we'd let you read all the books in the world . . . if you served us well enough . . .

Maggie's eyes gleamed, why did this feel so familiar? Why did it feel like she'd done this before?

Many . . . many times.

Like she'd killed a person before . . . and liked it . . .

. . . trained to be the ultimate weapon . . .

Suddenly a searing pain shot through her, she fell forward and looked at the arrow protruding from her shoulder.

"I cannot allow a fellow Dokusensha agent to be killed while partnered with me," A familiar, obnoxiously cheerful voice said, "Surrender Mui, you've proved your point, you're tough. Come quietly and I'll recomend you for a quick and painless liquidation."

Maggie looked at her shoulder in terror, she'd been shot!

The pleasures of killing had left her instead she was terrified, confused, what had just come over her? What were the voices in her head?

Her monstrosity fell appart, a crowd of spectators was watching now from what they assumed was safety.

Maggie wanted to prove them wrong . . . had an urge to scare them all away . . . yes scare them, cause panic so she could escape!

The woman behind her said "Come on Mui, you must have been a Dokusnesha agent before, right? Why else would we be taking you in alive, of course you're one of us. So come quietly. Maybe we can be friends . . . you want to be friends?"
Well yes . . . but not with someone who'd just shot her in the arm!

And where were those other friends of hers? Where were Slade and Tokai?

Had they lied? Had they not really wanted to be her friends?

Where were they?

She looked up at the sky and they weren't there . . . so . . . where were they?

"You must have been a Dokusensha agent . . . otherwise they'd have let me kill you. Not that I want to of course, Maggie dear. I like you. We can be friends. Come quietly, Dokusensha can use a good paper master like yourself, you won't be punished too severely for your insubordination."

. . . a tool for the use of Dokusnesha . . . a paper master . . .

Maggie felt something odd happening to her head, it sort of tingled and throbbed like a beating heart.

She screamed and her golem came back to life, it's arm shot out at the woman behind her, there was a startled scream and then the golem disintigrated into a pile of worthless paper.

For a split second that is. Until it came back to life as a giant whirlwind of cutting blades!

Maggie screamed and held her arm in front of her face, not that it'd matter once those blades came down on her!

But instead she heard Tokai shout "Talk about burning love, baby!"

"Who are you?" The woman demanded.

Maggie looked, the sky was full of fire, the paper was all on fire!

Tokai stood amongst the flames looking quite pleased, Slade was next to her, he held his hand in front of her chest and the arrow suddenly shot out of her, Maggie screamed and fell forward, but he caught her.

She wasn't aware of it though, she was tired . . . exhausted . . . sleep was overtaking her . . .

To Be Continued . . .