Well, I'M BACK! And guess what…I'M A HIGH SCHOOLER NOW! I am a ninth grader! WHOOHOO! I'm happy!
But that also means a bunch more homework…(I'm in all advanced classes) and I really need to finish this story and one of the other ones I'm working on…the other one is one shots, not so important to update…so the updates will hopefully be more frequent! From there I'll need to get used to High School before I start anymore stories…which is really sad! I LOVE fanfiction!
Anyways, thanks to my 67 readers and my reviewers:
LivieLi: Thanks SOOO much for the support, you are such a sweetie!
ReillyScarecrowRocks: Never thought I'd say this, but thanks for the spit!
untitledwings11: Glad you liked my chapter! I like you!
Alexis Taylor: I think annoying 'friends' are part of growing up, sorry to hear you have to deal with them too! And you'll see about Natalya! * Cue Evil Laughter *
Alex's POV:
It took a lot of self control not to ask if Blender had ever flown a plane like this before. But from the way he acted he had flown some sort of plane before, although that really isn't much of a comfort.
The wind was roaring into the little building and as he started the engine the whole building seemed to shake around us, "Ready?" Blender called out as we began to taxi down the ice. I looked out my window just in time to see Yann struggling against the wind.
I could feel the sheer power of the plane as it started to life up at an amazing speed. As it evened out high in the air and we sped off into the unknown, I couldn't help but feel almost excited for whatever was going to happen next…and muttered under my breath, "Ready."
"We will be landing in exactly 2 minutes," Natalya announced only about an hour and 15 minutes later, "Alexi and Dmitri will stay with the plane, the rest will come with me."
"What?" I asked, "Is Harbin quite a distance from Chita?"
She laughed, "Silly boy, this little plane has a cursing speed of 604 miles per hour. We are in Harbin." She was smirking at me and I felt rather stupid.
"You should wake your little friend," she hissed at me, "we wouldn't want to leave her behind, now would we?"
I glanced at Cammie. She was pressed against the window, asleep, while one of the twins sat next to her, a dirty look on his face. The way he was watching her made my skin crawl. Zach was across the aisle from her next to the other twin and he looked like he was about ready to kill everyone on the plane if that twin got any closer to Cammie.
I glanced between Cammie's sleeping face and Natalya's leering one, "Hey Cam, wake up, we're here."
She jerked up, hitting her head on the window, much to the amusement of Evil Inc. She glared at them but said with that lovely attitude, "So what are we going to be doing Harbin?"
"We have a hit to complete for a friend of mine in the Triad. Do you know what the Triad is, little girl?" Natalya replied.
Cammie gave her an innocent looking face, "Oh I know what the Triad is, I'm just surprised that you have any friends."
Ooh, take that Natalya.
I have to admit; she took it pretty well, just smiled that creepy smile of hers and returned to the front of the plane and helped Blender get ready for the landing.
The airport where we landed, if you can even call it that, was basically a mile long strip of ice with a car port for the plane. Not that we spent much time there or anything.
"Out, out, let's go. We are still a good hour walk from the city," Natalya announced at Blender, Zach, Cammie, and I followed her out into the cold.
"Walk?" Cammie asked, voicing everyone's concern for their warmth, because hey, our clothes were still wet from our last hike.
"Do you see a car to get us to the city?" Natalya shouted over her shoulder as she set off at a brisk pace toward the thin black line that I assumed was a road.
Nobody answered.
"I-can't-feel-an-y-thing," Cammie stuttered when we finally arrived at the back of some sort of industrial building in the heart of the busy city.
"I'm-pre-tty-sure-it's-un-an-i-mous," I stuttered right back.
"We-are here," Natalya announced. Turning to Blender she commanded, "Take them to Woo's and get them ready for the party. I will take her upstairs to get ready; we will meet at the party."
"No," Zach said, moving closer to Cammie, "We all stay together."
Natalya looked down her nose at us and without another word grabbed a very pissed-off looking Cammie and pulled her toward the back door, "If you want to be together ever again, go with Blender and don't cause any problems."
She yanked back the door and shoved Cam inside, telling her something along the lines of 'That applies to you to.'
Zach and I exchanged glances, saying that there was nothing we could really do that wouldn't get someone at least hurt…and these people showed no connection to the mysterious Circle so we might as well try and stay alive…right?
~GG~AR~GG~AR~GG~AR~GG~AR~GG~AR~GG~AR~
"Come on, up here," Blender directed us up a set of rickety stairs at the back of what slightly resembled an apartment building…after it had been hit by a bomb.
The building was in terrible shape, hunks of brick just missing and bits of it falling into the tiny alley below. The area was densely populated and there were so many buildings the alleys and streets were both about six feet wide. I was first in line and when I reached the top of the staircase, Blender commanded, "Knock."
I did and almost immediately the door swung back and a short Chinese man yanked me into the room. Thankfully, Blender and Zach weren't far behind.
The little man looked at the three of us, muttered something in Chinese, then in broken English said to Blender, "You say two man. I see three boy," he made an annoyed sound, looked up and down, then said, "Wait here."
I glanced at Zach who just shrugged…gee; for once the 'super-spy' didn't know what was going to happened next.
About 30 seconds after he had disappeared, the little man returned pulling a clothing rack lined with black tuxes.
"Here," he pointed at me, "You wear this." He hurled a tux in my direction. He threw one at Zach and Blender as well.
He looked at us all standing there, tuxes in hand with disgust, "Well? What you wait for? Put on!"
Blender started to change without a second thought. Zach and I exchanged a look but that read 'Could this get any stranger?' But hey, you've got to do what you've got to do.
~GG~AR~GG~AR~GG~AR~GG~AR~GG~AR~GG~AR~
"Straight back," Our friendly tailor commanded, whacking me in the back.
He strutted around some more, looking at our tuxes from every possible angle, and I am seriously not kidding. We had gotten there at four forty-five in the afternoon and now it was five thirty. The little man walked around one final time, "Done. That is five hundred American dollars."
He held out his hand and Blender dropped a wad (again, I'm not kidding) of cash and without another word motioned us out the door.
We trotted down the stairs, I figured that the faster I went, the less likely it was for the whole structure was to topple over. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, Blender directed up to take a left, we walked for a few minutes and suddenly we were at one of the busiest streets I have ever seen.
There were cars and bikes and trucks and people wall to wall. There was shouting and honking, people shoving, bright lights flickering in the setting sun. And the smog! To tell the truth, I always thought that London was a little dirty and a little smoggy but Harbin takes the cake. I smothered a cough as Blender bravely (give that dude a prize) stepped into the traffic and grabbed the door of an ugly green taxi, "In," he commanded.
Zach went first, then Blender, and finally me. Blender said something to the driver in rapid Chinese then handed him another wad of cash. Blender sat back between us and pulled out his gun and laid it across his lap, "Do not even think about trying to escape because I will not hesitate to kill you."
And I had absolutely no doubt that he would.
Who ever had given our driver his license should be put in prison for a very long time. I was pretty sure that we weren't going to have to worry about the gun in Blender's hand. We were crossing this horrendously long bridge (it had HOTELS on it) and our driver was screaming in Chinese (probably cursing), swerving in and out of traffic when another taxi screeched past us. The other car was so close that when the two passed, sparks flew. It then became our driver's personal mission to kill that other driver and otherwise make his life miserable.
"I'm pretty sure that we're going to die," I stated in a flat tone toward Zach.
"If he keeps up this driving, we probably will," Zach replied in the same tone of voice I had used.
"So, have any last wises?"
"I wish I was anywhere but here; you?"
"Same."
"Shut up," Blender commanded.
It took us an hour to get to the center of the city. The street was packed in both directions and our driver worked his way into one of the lines closest to the buildings on the left side of the street pulled into this long line of cars, everything from limos to taxis to those bike-taxi things that people ride around on. When our taxi finally pulled up to the building, I was amazed.
We were at some HUGE hotel. Craning my neck back I couldn't even see the top most level for all the smog and clouds. I felt a hand shove me forward and I turned my attention back to the building. It seemed like it was some sort of super hotel and Blender certainly knew his way around.
"This way," He said, leading us around the crowds and through the lobby through the men's bathroom and out a door to the very dingy hallway, "Quickly," he shoved us forward at a jog as the sound of people followed us down the hall, "in here," Blender motioned to a rickety service elevator.
Once we were all inside, Blender hit a button and we slowly began our ascent. Zach had been quiet for some time and I glanced over at him, really looking at him, who he was, not what he was.
We were about the same height but I was a little slimmer than he…but considering what he does, that's probably all muscle. Plus Jack always tells me I'm a bean pole…whatever that is. His dark hair was longer than mine and his eyes were bright green. There was something odd about his eyes…it was like he never really let any feelings through. They were kind of flat…almost dead. Those eyes changed when he looked at Cammie though…it was like another person took over. It's odd to think that a guy noticed this I suppose…but I think that everyone tends to see things about people they spend a lot of time with…even if you might not like them.
I was snapped out of my reverie by the 'ding' of the elevator, showing that we had arrived at our destination. The doors slid open to reveal a dark hallway, a few lights dotting the black expanse.
"Blender?" A voice called out.
"We are here," Blender called out in reply.
The shadows to our right shifted and Natalya and Cammie stepped forward. I think everyone's eyes (even Blender's) widened in surprise. Both girls were dressed up in traditional Chinese clothes and were made up with pale white skin, brown eyes, and black wigs. Their outfits were matching as well. Both were clad in a long white Hanfu robes with forest green accents. The robe covered a floor length dress with a high-cinched belt, also white and green.
"Very ingenious," Blender said with admiration, "You will fit in perfectly."
"I know," Natalya replied. She turned to us, looking us up and down, "Woo did very well," she nodded to herself as she walked around us, "Now this is how we will execute my plan…"
CLIFFY! MUHAHAHAHA!
I know it was rather choppy, but I didn't want to have to describe every little move that they made. I know it's really long and bad but hopefully by the next chapter they'll be in the USA…you have no idea how happy that makes me.
I have a rant today, so listen up: you know what I really, really hate, when people ask me why I buy so many books or where do I get the money. My class mates do this all the time…and I hate it! SO what if I like to buy books, it's my money (and yes I work for it, my parents are slave drivers, and yeah, they buy me books and stuff as well). And duh, I love to read, so I buy books. And I do use libries, I usually go in and then come out with like 14 books. So there…I'm done ranting now.
Review me and send some me some love and I'll send you some!
~Striker