Stretching his arms high above his head and yawning loudly, Leon watched the space pirate curiously as she stared out the window with a look of amazement in her yellow eyes. "You really aren't from around here, are you?" he flicked his wavy black away from his face.
Ryoko momentarily glanced away from the window to glare at the AX member and then went back to studying the Byzantium capital city below them. She silently held her breath as their airship passed through the city's UV filter particle field.
This strange new world was troubling her more and more; but she blamed the majority of her nerves on the trigger-finger hungry Gunslinger that always kept one eye on her. Father Tres sat next to Abel with one hand over his favorite weapon, waiting for a reason to shoot the space pirate.
"We will be entering the heart of the capital shortly," muttered the long, blonde-haired priest that was sitting next to Leon. Father Hugue de Watteau, but she had heard others call him "Sword Dancer", slid his hand down on his staff as he leaned forward to give Abel a stern look. "Best to let her know what the plan is," he was talking about Ryoko of course.
Abel nodded and glanced over his shoulder to Ryoko; she pretended like she had not heard Hugue's cold words of advice to the clumsy priest. "We are meeting with an old friend of mine," he moved from his seat over to the window she was staring out of. "She and her men will help us find your Tenchi," Abel gave her a weak smile hoping that it would reassure her troubled mind.
"Then why are there two more long-haired prissy boys tagging along with us this time?" Ryoko hissed loudly enough for Leon and Hugue to hear her. "If the people ruling this city are your allies...why are we treating this like a top secret mission?"
Sensing that she already knew the answer to her question, Abel let a small sigh out as he turned to look out at the breath-taking view. "Because there is a chance someone may have already found your friend..."
"Someone?" Ryoko narrowed her yellow eyes at the silver-haired priest.
"He's talking about a Methuselah terrorist organization known as the Rosenkreuz Orden-" Hugue began.
"But we haven't had any movement from them in years now! After that war we waged with them...we must have killed them all," Leon shook the memories of the bloody battle out of his mind.
"It would just be wise to play it safe like the Rosenkreuz are still active Leon." It was obvious that Hugue held a huge disdain for the vampire race.
Abel leaned close to the space pirate while Leon and Hugue argued back and forth about the Orden and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry we will find your friend in one piece."
The palace that Abel's "friend" lived in made the thief in Ryoko want to smuggle all of the gold, jewels, and ancient artifacts back onto the airship. She eyed each priceless piece as they walked through several hallways with her hands behind her back to help prevent her from stealing.
Leon caught her eyeing a small golden statue of a tiger, "Pretty nice stuff huh?" he sneered so only she could hear him. "Don't give Father Hugue a reason to kill you," the ex-prisoner advised in a serious tone.
Inside the golden statue's mouth was a small crystal capsule that contained a dark green gas that slowly swirled around. She could sense tremendous energy being emitted from the tiny capsule. Ryoko remembered that she and Washu had stolen something very similar to that a long time ago. It was unstable though and extremely dangerous. Not really thinking all the way through, Ryoko swiped the green energy capsule from the tiger's mouth without anyone noticing. Pocketing it, the space pirate planned on using that in only a dire situation.
The Methuselah servant led the AX members and Ryoko to an elaborate solid gold door and told them to wait here for the Viscountess of Odessa and Duchess of Kiev.
What a mouthful that is, Ryoko hoped she wouldn't have to call this vampire by that title. For a second Ryoko thought about Ayeka and the others back home. Though she hated to admit it, she missed them all...especially arguing with the stuck-up princess. Staring down at the floor, the space pirate wondered what they were doing – if they were trying to find a way to get her and Tenchi back.
Abel watched Ryoko with a concerned look in his blue eyes but tore his eyes away from her when the golden door suddenly opened. Bowing to the royal Methuselah, he introduced his fellow AX members and Ryoko to the young female vampire. "This is Astharoshe Asran, Viscountess of Odessa-"
"Oh, Abel...you all can call me Asthe," she smiled at her old friend. "Come on in, I was just having some tea with my guest," she gestured for the Vatican group to follow her inside. Ryoko stopped at the edge of the doorway when she spotted a giant tiger lounging on several plush pillows in the center of the room. "Oh don't worry, he is perfectly friendly," she gave the cyan-haired space pirate a reassuring grin.
"Father Nightroad!" an extremely young red-haired girl stood up from her seat at the small round table where she had been drinking tea. She was dressed in a long, light pink ball gown, with roses weaved into her hair and the crown on top of her head.
"Esther," Abel grinned from ear to ear and hugged her tightly. It was the first time Ryoko could see a twinkle in his blue eyes.
"What are you all doing away from the Vatican?" Esther glanced around at the three familiar AX members' faces and then stopped on Ryoko's.
Acting formal once again, Abel introduced Ryoko to Esther Blanchett, the Queen of Albion. Forcing a fake smile on her face, Ryoko bowed to the young girl. We are wasting too much time dealing with all of these stupid introductions and formalities, she hoped they would get down to business soon.
"They are here for the anomaly that happened last night over in the Empire area," Asthe plopped down on one of the pillows next to her tiger and gestured to her guests to sit.
Instead of sitting, Ryoko leaned against the wall next to the tea table with her arms folded smugly across her chest. Driven mad by the awkward silence in the room, the space pirate finally got the conversation going. "Did you find anything – or any one?" When Asthe shook her head, Ryoko pressed harder on the matter. "Do you know exactly where the anomaly landed?" The second head shake made Ryoko frustrated, How the fuck am I going to find Tenchi now? These people are absolutely useless!
"Ryoko it is alright," Abel whispered to her to keep her calm as he poured himself a cup of tea.
"NO IT'S NOT!" she snarled at the priest with her slightly sharpened canines flashing. "While we are here sipping tea talking about the fucking weather, Tenchi could be hurt or dying!"
Asthe glanced over at Abel and the AX members, "Was she the anomaly at the Vatican?"
"Alright let's try this again..." Washu removed her overly-large protective eyewear from her face. The mad scientist signaled for Mihoshi to touch one of the out-of-order experiments Washu had tossed onto a table in her messy lab.
Gingerly reaching out with one finger with her eyes tightly shut, the klutzy blond space police officer poked the next failed experiment on the table. After nothing happened, Mihoshi slowly opened one eye to see if she had been teleported somewhere. When she saw Ayeka and Washu poke their heads above the overturned table, she sighed with relief. "Guess this one doesn't work either, huh?"
"Damnit," Washu tossed her green goggles at the closest lab wall. "At this rate we won't know which of my experiments they accidentally touched for days!"
"Maybe if we have more testers?" Ayeka asked in a small voice. She had never seen Washu this frustrated before; usually the scientist was up-beat and crazy.
The crazed smile returned on Washu's lips, "Perfect! Go grab Tenchi's father and grandfather...they have a knack for making my failures suddenly work too."
"Find anything yet Father Tres?" Abel asked his partner through his communication ear piece. He sounded worried; it was nearly nightfall and his team had not found one clue leading to Tenchi's fate.
"Negative," the machine replied in an emotionless voice.
Ryoko grumbled under her breath after hearing that response as she paced back and forth in Asthe's comfortable tea room. She was still peeved that she would have to sit and wait for the others to come back from searching the anomaly site. Following Hugue's orders, Abel and Ryoko were to stay at the palace while the three AX members searched the city for any clues about Tenchi's whereabouts. It was clear that none of them trusted the space pirate or that she was telling the truth about Tenchi.
"Do those tracks look like drag marks to you?" Leon's loud voice echoed in the silent room from Abel's ear piece. The space pirate stopped pacing and moved closer to Abel to listen in on the investigation.
"Sssh!" Hugue hissed in a cold voice, "Do you hear that?" There was a long pause from the other end. "GET OUT OF THERE-" The priest's voice was drowned out by a loud explosion which cut the communication between him and Abel short.
The ground rumbled, causing the china tea cups to clatter against their matching china plates. The lights flickered on and off for a moment until they finally went out completely. "They must have blown up the main power grid," growled Asthe; she sounded more annoyed than worried.
Having no trouble seeing in the dark, Asthe lit a few candles that were on her fancy tea table. Esther began to whimper but Abel hushed her sternly. "Something's not right..." the silver-haired priest glanced over to Ryoko to warn her that danger was near.
Heavy pounding on the other side of the golden door made Esther jump out of her seat in fright but she managed to keep her mouth shut. "Viscountess?" called a servant in a worried tone, "Are you alright?"
Asthe let out a small sigh, "Yes. Everything is alright," she reached out to open the door but stopped when her pet tiger let out a long growl and barred its teeth. Pausing for a moment at the door, the Methuselah thought it be best not to open the door.
Without any warning, the solid golden door was knocked off its hinges and several dark figures rushed into the room and swarmed the doorway. With inhuman speed, two of the figures attacked Asthe, who was caught completely off-guard, and struck her hard in the head.
Leaping into action, Ryoko and the giant tiger went after the dangerous intruders. Even moving at her full speed, the space pirate was slow compared to the dark figures. She barely had enough time to block their strikes with her energy sword. They were a lot stronger than she had expected too.
"Esther get back!" Abel yelled as he pulled out both of his pistols to protect her. Death Hunters no doubt, he glanced around to room to see if there was another exit. That means that Dietrich is not far away...
Collapsing to the ground with one last mighty roar, the evil figures surrounded the tiger to deliver several killing blows. Once the tiger was dead, they moved together in unison towards Ryoko with their swords dripping the tiger's blood on the floor.
SHIT! The space pirate slowly backed away from the enemies; there was no way she could defeat them all by herself. She moved backwards in the opposite direction of Abel and Esther, hoping that either they would split up or just give the priest and queen enough time to escape. The dark figures did neither; they continued to move in unison towards Abel and Esther.
Abel glanced over his shoulder to see Esther cowering behind him with tears in her eyes, He wants you... Acting quickly he fired several bullets at the attackers, killing at least one with a clean head shot. "Get Esther out of here Ryoko! They want her!" he yelled as he charged forward to distract them long enough.
Teleporting in front of Esther, which made the redhead jump again from the shock of her abilities, Ryoko grabbed the queen's hand and teleported out of the tea room into the hallway. "Run," she hissed in Esther's ear, "I'll cover you." The space pirate looked back one last time to see Abel give her a short nod before one of the Death Hunters raked his shoulder.
Sprinting down the hallway after Esther, Ryoko's mind was running in all directions. She had no idea what was going on or what she was dealing with. Not knowing the enemy worried her, but what bothered her the most was not knowing what she was protecting. Esther's shriek up ahead made Ryoko snap out of her thoughts.
A tall, young brown-haired boy with the face of an angel tightly gripped Esther's tiny wrists with one strong hand. "Miss me Esther?" he whispered with a grin that stretched from ear to ear.
"Drop her," Ryoko growled with her yellow eyes glowing with anger.
Dietrich slowly looked Ryoko up and down with the smile still lingering on his perfect lips. The way he was looking at her made Ryoko's skin crawl; he instantly reminded her of Kagato. "Ah," he jerked Esther closer to him, "I've heard about you... You're that second anomaly."
It became clear that he was the one that had found Tenchi. "Where is he?" she could feel the back of her neck get hot as her rage continued to grow.
"Your friend is in good hands," he smirked as he looked into Ryoko's yellow eyes, "and so will she."
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Esther tried to squirm free from his grip but Dietrich used his free hand to snatch her by the throat.
"Struggling will only make it worse my dear," he said in a calm and soothing voice. "We need you in one piece...we have great plans for you Esther," Dietrich released her throat once she stood still. He turned his attention back to Ryoko, "Now for your friends...especially that meddling priest...I'd be more worried about them if I was you."
Ryoko could still hear the gunshots behind her in the empty hallway; Abel was still alive at least. "Funny..." she chuckled in a low voice, "I'd be more worried for your life if I was you." Taking a few swipes at the young boy, all of her attacks fell short when he used Esther as his personal human shield.
"Coward," Ryoko muttered. She hoped that this would strike a nerve.
"Sorry my dear Esther," Dietrich tossed Esther across the hallway and slammed her hard against the stone wall. He sighed pathetically when her body slumped to the ground. "I was going to let you live..." he unpocketed a string and began to play with it in his hands. "But now I think it would be better if I made you my puppet."