Chapter 2:
Coffee Shop
The coffee house lights were dimming and the tea was growing bitter as Ai Watoshi, amateur novelist, scowled at her empty notebook. She'd been there all day, staring off into the distance, ordering pastries, but not one creative thought had entered her mind.
Ai sighed and let down her long, auburn hair so it rested along her shoulders. She rested her elbows onto the wood tabletop and sternly stared at her coffee mug.
"This is hopeless..." Ai mumbled to herself.
The young woman glanced to the side and noticed that a man was watching her, a young man, tan and wearing gold bracelets. Ai took a double take and saw that he had vanished. Intrigued, Ai stood up, tipped her waiter, and left the shop.
As the ringing of the store door came to a whisper, Ai whipped around and noticed that the store had turned its lights off as soon as she was out. The girl tugged on the door as well to see that it was locked too. Ai scratched her cheek in confusion and a slight feeling of uneasiness overtook her. The woman put that uneasiness aside, reassuring herself that her discomfort was part of her anxiety, and that there was nothing to fear.
Ai glanced back in the direction of where the mysterious man had gone, and followed. The woman was determined to get her story, and if she had to stoop so low as to stalk mysterious men into the darkening street, so be it. Of course, she was no dummy; Ai was aware that some real creeps came out at night, and had heard her fair share of gruesome tales.
That's why Ai always brought along her trusty pocketknife, it helped her many a times when she was in a pinch. She had even scarred one's arm, something she wasn't so sure she was proud of. When she looks back at the scene now, she grimaces at her actions, even if she was only defending herself against the attacker.
It was a shame that the attacker covered his face; I would've liked to describe them to the police. It was the oddest thing...all that trouble over some card that was given to me...
Ai quickened her step and finally saw the man again, speaking with another man it appeared; both were speaking quickly and in a hushed tone. Ai couldn't quiet catch what the platinum headed, tan boy had said, but the other man seemed to agree with whatever he was saying. Ai scurried closer to the men and hid herself in darkness.
"Odion, I need that card!"
"Master Marik, I understand ransacking houses and shops, but a museum?"
"It is essential for the plan Odion!"
"Well, I cannot agree with you, master, it's too risky"
"Grrr, well if you won't do it, you can go ahead and leave!" Marik hissed, voice filled with malice.
"…Marik..." Odion shifted uncomfortably and sighed.
Odion put a hand on the teens shoulder. Ai couldn't quiet make out his face, but could tell he was sad; his voice was thick with deep sorrow. Marik softened and put Odion's hand aside.
"I know how important this is to you," Odion said in a hushed voice. Marik simply nodded his head, and with that, Odion left.
After Odion left, there was silence, a sickening, stiff, and suffocating silence. Ai could not move, no matter how much she wanted to, her legs did not obey. She was frozen on the spot, and that's when the voice called out.
"You can come out now,"
Ai tried to move; she tried to speak! But nothing...not a sound would utter from her lips, nor would her body move at her will. Struck with panic, Ai began to feel sick, and her body grew hot.
Suddenly, she was free to move. The eerie feeling of being trapped was withheld, for now. Ai made a start to run for it, but an overwhelming feeling in her legs abruptly made her trip and fall.
"If you were wise, you'd do as I say and come," Marik remarked nastily toward Ai, who was currently shell shocked immobile.
Ai reluctantly got up and made her way toward the boy. Marik smiled, which only made Ai want to gag a little more. Knees wobbly and stomach queasy, Ai silently made a frantic search for the knife in her pocket.
"Give me the knife,"
Marik pointed to her pocket.
Ai stiffened and looked into the eyes of the tan teenager. His eyes were a handsome shade of lilac-amethyst, but the shadows of the alleyway made them dark and dangerous.
Ai hesitantly found her pocketknife in her pocket and offered it to the teen. Knowing that this was unwise, she shut her eyes tightly as the boy swiped the knife away. When Ai realized she wasn't dead yet, she peeped one eye open to see Marik smirking at her smugly.
"Such a trivial weapon, can almost never get the job done," Marik breathed and brought out a weapon of his own.
"Now this!" Marik raised his golden rod proudly and with insolence, "This is a weapon truly worthy of applause! It can manipulate beyond anything you could imagine..."
Marik trailed off and pointed the rod straight at Ai's throat.
"Now," Marik snickered, "you have something that I need."
"M-me?" Ai's breath hitched as she tried to muster up the courage to speak.
"Mhmm," Marik smirked, "you know what I want."
"I...do?" Ai gulped.
"Heh, the memory of a goldfish...You really don't remember me? You were given something very dear to me and I'd like to have it back," Marik spoke with fake politeness and a blood-curdling grin.
"The card..." Ai mumbled aloud.
"Hmm?"
Marik pressed the rod deeper to her throat, making actual contact. Blood slowly dropped down the girl's neck, and the woozy feeling she had before kicked in again.
"Where is it, Ai?"
Marik's eyes grew darker and he pressed the rod deeper into her skin. Ai's legs wanted to collapse but they couldn't, she was immobile yet again. Her vision grew hazy and her chest had tightened drastically. Finally Marik snapped and took the rod off of her. He glared at Ai and gruffly smacked her against the brick wall of an apartment.
"Tell me where it is or you'll be killed here on the spot!" Marik spat in rage.
Ai tried to speak, she really did, but no matter how much she tried, no sound would come out. Her head was spinning and stars were all around her, and ever if Ai could speak, she surely wouldn't be able to create legitimate words.
Marik seethed with rage and, raising his rod, plummeted it straight into
... the wall?
Ai glanced at the blonde with her foggy vision, and realized that the Marik who was talking to her was not the same as he was now. Marik was twitchy and his pupils shrank a bit. He dropped his rod and mumbled repeatedly to himself,
"O-Odion…I need Odion... Ren!"
A teen about Marik's age rose from the shadows and grabbed Ai as she collapsed into his arms.
"Take her...a-away...from me...but do not dispose of her till I take that card!"
Marik then vanished into the darkness, leaving Ai and Ren alone. Suddenly Ai felt very faint, and she left consciousness in the teen's surprisingly warm arms.
Silence. May waited in silence for her crewmember to respond, sitting in the dark museum she was sent to; she just knew that the criminal was close…May checked to she if her headset was still on and waited a few more seconds.
"Agent Richard, check in."
…Silence…
"Agent Richard, this is Raven Leader, please respond."
…Silence…
"Raven 6, respond."
When the agent failed to respond again, May tightened her gloves and spoke back into the headset,
"I'm going to look for him, maybe his communicator's down... Keep a sharp eye, I'll be back to my post in a few."
May scanned the museum for any sign of movement before effortlessly sliding down from one of the building's columns and disappearing into the shadows. With silent concentrated steps, she briskly walked to Richard's last known position- the museum's entrance. Something was wrong; May knew it. She hadn't felt such a strong way of unease in a long time. Starting to round a corner, May saw something move out of the corner of her eye and whipped around to defend herself. After freezing for a moment she almost laughed in surprise when she saw her own reflection.
May wore a black body suite with belts around her hip and thighs, holding two guns, a few knives, and an assortment of assault equipment. Her shoes were black, along with her leather gloves and cover she had to hide her face, the only color to be seen on the Raven Leader were the brightness of her blue eyes, the whiteness of the skin exposed on her face, and the green light of the watch (if she took the cover off it). Feeling a little better, May turned on her heels and continued her search for Richard. The girl finished turning around the corner and saw a body slouched against the wall.
"Richard," May gasped and ran over to him. He was barely conscious and had a swollen eye. May also noticed that he had a giant gash and a bruise on his head from what appeared to be a scepter, considering that there was an imprint of an eye on the side of his head. Richard blinked a few times before recognizing May.
"Ag... nt," He coughed, "behi... ou"
May's eyes widened with realization and turned in time to see a giant cloaked man punch her square in the face. The assaulted girl was blown back from the shock of impact. With a dizzy head, May groaned in agony and massaged the side of her jaw, which was now throbbing with pain. The cloaked man chuckled while he took another swing at May, who dodged the attack by rolling between the man's legs and kicking him in his crotch while she sprung back up on the other side of him. Angered, the man turned only to catch May's round about kick... with his face. She smiled as she watched the man grab his nose, which had stated to bleed.
"Payback hurts, doesn't it?" She stated quite cockily, before throwing a dart into the side of her attackers arm.
Seconds later, the man was heap on the museum's smooth floor. The masked ninja smugly rubbed her hands and turned to meet about a dozen more men matching the one she just took out.
"Dispose of that one at once," a shrill voice cried out from behind the wall of men.
"Oh crap," the agent muttered as all the men charged her at once.
"Code red," May called into her headset,
"We've got company at the doorstep-," she dodged a fist,
"-They've brought fruit punch-,"
A man managed to cut may with a knife and then cried with shock as she stabbed him with one of her own,
"-And knuckle sandwiches... AAAH!" May held her ear; another cloaked man tried to kick her face, but got the side of her face knocking the earpiece out.
"Ok," the girl said cracking her knuckles,
"Now things get serious..."
She unhooked a kinked piece of metal from the back of her uniform and jammed the two ends into each other forming a long metal bar. May flawlessly spun and twirled the bar in her hand, before pointing it at the man who had kicked her. He put a hand on his hip,
"Aren't you just the cutest thing in the whole wide-"
May slammed the bar into the side of the robber's face. She rolled her eyes as she watched him collapse on the ground,
"Don't patronize me."
The agent was abruptly grabbed from behind and was about to be strangled, when suddenly; the murderer fell to his knees. May whipped behind her to see who caused this and saw Agent Alex pulling one of his ninja stars out of the strangler's neck.
"Way to aim Raven 2," she breathed.
"Anything for my fearless leader," Alex bowed mockingly before calling out,
"Back to back!"
In an instant, the two agents were back to back taking on the on coming men, may with her metal bar and Alex switching between his stars and gun.
In the back of the room, a tanned boy smirked behind his purple cloak,
"These fools think they have the upper hand... Well let's turn the tides shall we."
He held up a golden rod and continued to watch the fight scene play out.
"So," May called out, "Where are the others?"
Alex took a quick breath in before replying, "Agent Matthew and Carter are fighting over by the card...and Agent Jason's helping Agent Richard."
May nodded and slapped another man away with her bar. "How much more are there," May thought before she noticed that something was wrong with Alex.
Alex grabbed his head and started moaning. May glanced over at her fellow agent.
"Alex are you-" May started, but was interrupted by a slap from Alex.
Shocked, may held the side of her face and started bewildered into Alex's eyes that were now...purple? Almost in a possessed manner, Alex lunged at May. Not knowing what else to do, May grabbed Alex by his leading arm and threw him over herself. She probably knocked the wind out of him judging by the way he landed on the floor, and then guided his arm back and continued until it dislocated. Out of breath, May threw a dart into Alex's stomach and prepared to keep fighting.
Three men were up against May, which wouldn't be so bad in her opinion, except they were all twice her size. With determination in her eyes, she wiped some blood off her forehead and charged at the three men. She kinked her bar and grabbed two knives from the belts around her thighs. Then, to the men's surprise, she slid across the floor and slashed their ankles; she hook slid and then threw the two daggers at them.
Another man came up beside the agent and kicked her hard in the stomach while his accomplice held may up. She fought against her captor and managed to get free, but not before spraining a wrist and receiving a few sucker punches. May held her side and tried to take a mini breather.
The tanned boy continued to watch the scene.
"Little does that one know that she's all that's left," the teen snickered to himself and called out to her, "Why don't you just give up?"
"Why don't you just give up?" May heard the voice from earlier call out to her.
"When these guys are finished I'm coming for you next," she called out to the shadows.
"Why not just end this now..." The voice replied has it stepped out into the moon lit entrance.
May watched as the mystery boy removed his purple cloak from his face. He was a handsome-looking, tanned Egyptian with purple eyes- the same shade as the possessed Alex. May ran up at the Egyptian boy and was about to drop kick him when she froze.
"Tsk, tsk," the purple-eyed boy teased, holding up a glowing item,
"You're in such a rush... Nooow," he said looking at May's belt,
"I don't think you'll be needing this," he removed and threw May's gun,
"Or this, or this, or this, or this, or this," as he continued to disarm her,
"Or theeeese," he said as he unclipped all of the agents darts.
May could hear the remaining men laughing and was positive that her blood was now boiling with anger. The man, who May now assumed was the leader of the cloaked men, tried to take off May's watch but found that the device was basically welded onto her wrist. He did, however, notice the inscription on the side of the watch "Raven Leader." The boy practically smirked through his purple eyes and pushed may a few feet backwards. The boy had May up against the wall, rod in one hand and the agent's shoulder in the other.
"So," he said loud enough for all to hear,
"You're the ring leader of this little ninja pack..."
He could tell from her bright eyes that she was sneering at him. The tanned boy laughed a bit,
"Such pretty eyes," he continued,
"I wonder what the rest of your face looks like."
He added as his hand left May's shoulder and reached out to the fabric covering her nose and mouth. Despite the power of the object keeping her glued to the wall, May managed to grab his hand in mid-reach and stop him from getting any closer to her face. The boy blinked back in surprise.
"So, you're strong enough to resist my millennium rod?" He said, almost screaming,
"Let's see how strong!"
The leader of the cloaked men brought up the rod and prepared to strike may with it, when she dropped to the ground and kicked the Egyptian's legs out from under him. Outraged, the boy grabbed the millennium rod and caused it to glow. May grabbed her head, which now was screaming with a mind splitting headache. The pain was so bad that it made the ninja kneel to the floor and place her head on the ground in agony.
The boy picked himself up and walked next to May,
"Not that strong I guess," he sighed as he pet her back.
"Take the card and the girl we're leaving."
May's world was fading fast, and the headache wasn't making it any better.
"Master Marik," one man called.
"W… s... Odion?"
"What...we do with the... other... men"
Marik looked at may and smiled in a sadistic way.
"Marik… Don't do it," she wearily called out,
"Don't kill my men..."