You felt the coldness in my eyes,
It's something I'm not revealing.
Though you got used to my disguise,
You can't shake this awful feeling.
It's the me that I let you know,
Cause' I'll never show,
I have my reasons,
I hate to say that I told you so,
But I told you so.
There's blood on my hands like the blood in you.
Some things can't be treated so,
Don't make me,
Don't make me be myself around you.
"Everyone in position." A cold voice asked through the speaker, the message being relayed to the rest of their team by their ear pieces. The agents were in the field, and a good fifty miles away the small group of teenagers sat or stood in the surveillance room, watching their movements on the screen that was indicated by the red dots on the map, the surrounding screens separate cameras of each one. Namine winced at the tone, then realized this was a side of their older sister that they had never seen before.
"Yuffie ready to go!"
"Cloud, in position."
"This is Tifa, ready when you are."
"Axel, let's get this started!"
Shade was currently in a group that she would say any day were her friends. They were a wide variety of different attitudes, likes and dislikes, but they were the ones that had helped her adjust to this life each in their own different ways. Tifa had been the one that showed her how to fight in hand-to-hand combat, before Leon followed up with showing her the wide variety of weapons. Cloud was the one who taught her how to ride motorcycles, one of the tops things in her life, seeing as how she always needed a break from life the freedom that it brought helped bring that release.
Yuffie was one of those people who refused to take no for an answer, and she was the only one that got Shade doing the variety of things that weren't actually work related, claiming that if she didn't, 'the place would slowly send her soul to rot in hell.' Then of course Axel, how him and Carter always put up with her and her normally hellish behaviors. Cid, he was the one she had learned a variety of colorful words from, and also how to almost take an entire engine apart and put it back together. He was the best mechanic out there, and had passed on his skills to her, and she could almost look at him like a rough father figure. Like she said though, it was very rough, but sometimes he got the job done and made sure she didn't do anything to stupid, along with almost everyone else she knew.
"Everyone get ready, infiltration in five." Shade said. This was her life, her real life, leading missions that would no doubt endanger them all but save the lives of countless others. So for her real life, she allowed her normal attitude take over.
"Yuffie, you ready?"
"You got it Commander!" She replied, and everyone could almost hear the grin in her face. "Let's kick some bad guy butt!"
Shade smirked as she dropped down from the ledge she had been holding onto and landed quietly on the ground, the dirt remaining compact under her solid boots as she broke out a small kit and started working on the lock that held the large power box closed. In seconds it was open and she put it away, unsheathing a dagger instead and looking through the various wires, studying them. "Let's bring the hell." She muttered to herself, barely audible to the speaker as she reached up and the blade sliced cleanly through the wire, silencing the alarm system, before she took a step back, then spun around, her boot slamming into the system, sparks flying brightly.
On the surveillance cameras they watched as almost the entire building blacked out, and low chuckling could be heard on the speakers. Axel looked through the scope from a separate lone building and watched the entrance, sighting the lock through the cross hairs. "Twenty bucks I can blow the lock."
Carter smirked and hit a button in the surveillance room, "You're on."
A shot was fired and Axel chuckled as he heard cursing in the background while the door was blown inward. "Thanks Axy!" Yuffie called, using her nickname for him, and a small lithe body slipped through the doors. "Just give me a second!"
Shade walked along the side of the building towards the front, leaving behind the body of one of the guards sprawled on the ground. Cloud was at the opposite end across from her, and she nodded once before he returned it. Yells were heard before there was a bright flash of light inside, and a few scant seconds later everything was quiet. "Move." Shade whispered, and they both took to the front doors, quickly slipping in to the large lobby.
"Heya captain." Yuffie chirped, standing in a large room of coworkers, who were currently unconscious on the ground.
Shadow nodded and glanced down the hallway where at least six elevator doors lined the walls, each leading to a specific part of the building that was overflowing with information. Tifa came in behind them and jumped over the desk, taking a seat before flipping open one of the binders and scanning the contents. "Activities in Progress." She said. "Shade, looks like the third elevator on the right.
"Got it." She started walking and they knew that this building was storming with guards and workers. She had thrown the building into lock down from the power grid, and had a solid ten minutes before it was possible it could be broken through. "Cloud, with Tifa. Yuffie, you're with me." The claimed ninja quickly ran to catch up with her before the doors slid closed. "Axel, got us covered out there?"
"You know it."
XXXXXX
Axel looked through his scope and could see Cloud and Tifa, the latter working behind the desk as she quickly gathered information on their current settings. He glanced at his watch and saw that seven minutes had elapsed. "We've got company." Tifa said, and he heard over her speaker the shouts that were coming from near their position.
Cloud came around and brought his large Buster Sword up in front of him. "Tifa, keeping working. See if you can map us a route to the roof." The raven haired girl nodded and quickly went back to work. "Axel, got me covered?" His quiet voice said, seeming to study the situation.
"You know it man." He replied.
Cloud had three of them rush him at one time. He sidestepped the first one and brought the sword around, having it slam into the last two before he turned around, his now red weapon blocking the bullets that suddenly flew towards him before he used his leg and slammed it into the guards chest, the force of the attack sending him back twenty feet before creating a large hole in the wall.
"Fire!" Just as the leader of the squad spoke the glass from the front of the building spider webbed, small bullet holes appearing as the targets dropped quickly, mostly with head shots. Cloud and Axel continued their fighting while Tifa was quietly talking to herself, verbally planning their escape route. Why were they taking the roof? Simple, because the entire building was quickly being surrounded by not law enforcement, but instead the rest of the mush larger and deadlier gang that had started the war in the first place.
Yuffie's voice came over their earpieces. "Guys! You wouldn't believe what we found!" Gunshots were heard in the background and their leader's clear cursing could be heard in the background. "Yuffie, move it!" She barked, shoving the girl towards the door. "Tifa, got the way mapped?"
"Meet up with us on the fifteenth floor in the stairwell." She said quickly, pushing herself up from behind the desk and joining up with Cloud before they ran to the stairs. They slammed the door open and found themselves glancing up to see the at least mile and a half stretch above them. The blond glanced over and saw Tifa smile. "Shall we?" He just nodded and the both of them dropped down, before the powerful force of their legs kicked up and they flew up past the first fifteen turns in the stairwell.
Shade meanwhile was running down the hallway quickly. Yuffie was a few feet in front of her and running quickly as the team leader turned around and covered their backs from the leagues of guards that were charging after them, quickly dropping bodies to the floor. "Found it!" Yuffie cheered, opening up the door. She turned around to call to Shade but her eyes widened when she was shoved in, the girl's body quickly following before it slammed shut. "Move." She said, voice ice cold. The ninja nodded, the tone not surprising her, not after what they had just learned.
Suddenly Cloud and Tifa were there on the same level at them. They took one look at Shade and knew this wasn't going to last long for their enemies if they stuck around, no doubt she was seriously considering the one of the largest massacres ever. "Let's keep moving." He said, looking at her, his voice quiet but serious.
She nodded and shoved another clip into one of her guns. "Go."
It wasn't until just under two minutes later that they emerged from the large door that led them to the large and clear rooftop. "Get us out of here Josh." Shade said into the small mouthpiece. The sounds of the beating blades of a helicopter soon reached their ears. She turned when she heard the door getting pounded on, and the shouts resounding from the other side. Shade glanced over at Tifa and smirked, the girl grinning as they walked over to the position. Cloud decided to let the two have their fun while Yuffie laughed, knowing the opposing team was in for a world of hurt.
The metal finally gave in and the door crashed open, immediately streaming in their new opponents. Shadow unsheathed two long daggers and Tifa slid on her leather gloves. "Which side would you like Shade?" She offered.
"I'll go right you go left."
"Sounds good." The helicopter started lowering down, Cloud and Yuffie the closest, and they watched as the two girls fought side by side. Tifa was using her strong legs and firm arms mostly to cause the damage that mostly left her targets unconscious, while Shadow had a more bloodier path as her daggers moved swiftly and with ease, normally coming across or going through the throat where the armor failed to protect.
Yuffie turned around and took the offered hand of Axel while Cloud simply jumped in, turning around and putting two fingers to his mouth to let out a loud and clear whistle. Both girls disengaged from the attack and turned to start running for the helicopter. Things got more challenging as bullets flew over their heads and towards their transportation, causing it to have to pick up off the ground and start heading for the edge of the building. "Go!" Shade yelled, and Tifa launched herself, her foot catching the support bar as she kicked off it to get in.
The helicopter was now no longer over the building instead a few feet away from the edge. Shade felt a bullet fly over her shoulder, just barely skimming the material of her shirt before she pushed herself the final few feet. Her foot landed on the edge of the building before she bent slightly and shoved off with all her strength, and everyone watched with shock as she reached out towards the retreating helicopter and caught the bar with her hands, now hanging only by sheer force of strength and will as it quickly started flying away. She swung her leg up, hair flying in front of her face, and climbed up, getting her feet underneath her before grabbing another bar vertical to the opened doors so she could pull herself up and stand just outside the door, looking back at the building they had left in chaos. "This is Commander Shade to base, mission accomplished, we're heading back."
XXXXXX
Shade was dressed in pitch black cargo pants and a form fitting black tank top with her solid army boots. Her dog tags stayed in place as she walked and her hair was pulled into a high ponytail to keep out of her face. She looked more like a soldier than anything at the moment, and she felt like it to, or at least felt like anyone else who killed on a daily basis. Was she disturbed about what she just did? Not even close, it was actually nice, and she knew that the blood lust for her enemies were going to be helping keep her going, and she knew it would never die down as well, at least not until their leader was dead or she knew for sure he was out of the picture.
One of the agents walked up to her after coming through one of the many doors that lined the hallway. "Miss Shade." He greeted. "There's a visitor here to see you."
She slowly raised an eyebrow at this. "Really?"
"It's a young woman. She said her name is Christy Lethan and that she knows you." Shade nodded to confirm this. "Anyone else?"
"There is a small girl with her as well." He confirmed. She nodded and dismissed him, leaving the man to continue on with his work as she started heading to the main and first hallway in the large building. After rescuing Samantha a few months back she had surprisingly kept in touch with the small family, one thing that she had never done before, and only at the request of the daughter who had asked if she would visit often. It may not have been like she went over there every other day, but every three weeks or so she would drop buy and buy the kid some ice cream or take her to the park for an hour or so, and the parents were completely fine with this as well as thankful that she had been keeping her word to their daughter.
Shade opened up the door and was greeted with the sight of the two girls. The mother was a few years older than her, maybe four or five, and the daughter was still four, but if Shadow remembered correctly she would be having her birthday soon. "Hi Shade!" The small girl yelled, letting go of her mothers hand to go and give her a tight hug. She smiled and bent down, picking the child up and bringing her in a tight embrace. "Hey there kiddo, how's it going?"
"Good." She chirped. "Guess what!"
"What's up?" She asked, smiling a greeting at her mother, who was smiling kindly at her.
"My birthday is next week!" She giggled. Her mother laughed quietly and continued on for her. "We are having a party for her and she insisted that you come. It will mostly just be family but we would be honored if you came."
"When is it?"
"Next Saturday at noon. It will be just a large picnic. Would you like to come?" Samantha was looking at Shade with large eyes that practically begged her to go. Mentally sighing, she nodded her head. "I would be honored." She said, then glanced at Samantha. "So what do you want for your birthday kiddo?"
"A new bike!" She yelled, and Shadow chuckled.
"Alright, well I have to get back to work but I'll make sure to drop by Saturday." The mother nodded, knowing Shade's field of work the parents understood that her time was restricted, something their daughter still didn't understand.
Shadow put the girl down and let her go back to her mom. "Be careful you two, and I'll talk to you later." Samantha waved happily as her friend smiled back before disappearing back behind a door after running her ID card over the scanner.
"Thank you mom!" She said with a smile, and the woman smiled at her daughter as well. "Do you think she'll be able to stay this time?"
"Maybe not sweety, but I know she'll try." It wasn't an absolute yes, but this seemed to satisfy the child as they turned to leave the building.
XXXXXX
"Please tell me you aren't going to say what I think you're going to say." Axel groaned, walking next to Larxene as they made their way to the training grounds for some of the newer agents. The blond was wearing a pair of black jeans and a tight strapless white shirt that was bejeweled along the edges. Tattoos covered her arms and slightly trailed up her neck, marking her position as their professional ink artist that gave everyone their marks. She grinned wickedly and shook her head.
"Carter said she had two beers last night. And everyone knows she doesn't get drunk, but she does get easily pissed. So, turns out that she chose to check up on the substitute teacher."
They were now standing in front of the door to the room that was normally Shadow's training center. Carter was standing there and his brother Jason was with him, along with the five teenagers who were looking at them curiously. "So what are we waiting for?" Riku asked, arms crossed over his chest as he glanced around in the large hallway.
"So who did the distraction?" Carter asked, ignoring him.
"Apparently Yuffie, and you know how Shade can tell she's stalling. So she should be here in-"
"Yuffie, knock it off." Shadow's voice was slightly more annoyed than what she had been earlier, and noticed the group that had gathered in front of the room. "What the hell is going on?"
"Nothing." The adults said in union, and the visitors looked at them curiously. Shadow shrugged it off and opened up the large metal door before stepping inside, letting it close shut behind her. Roxas was next to speak. "You guys are making it sound like something expected is going to happen."
"Because it is." Axel replied, running a hand through his hair. "Just watch, who wants to do the countdown?"
"Oh, I call dibs." Larxene said with another nymph grin. "Let's see, we should be getting a show in five- four- three- two-"
The door crashed open and Shade was there, a scowl on her face as she walked out dragging someone behind her, literally. A man who was probably in his late twenties found himself gagged and hands tied over his head as she held the rope with a firm grip, his body scraping against the ground. He was trying to talk behind the gag and thrashing as well, but his attempts were useless.
Carter snickered as Shadow started to take him away from the training ground, not bothering to say anything to them. "Apparently her class missed her."
Kairi and Namine looked after them, their eyes wide. "Why was she-"
"Don't ask." Axel said, smirking. "Come on, we'll show you around one of the places Shadow practically owns." They followed the redhead inside and were led into a huge room, about half the size of the football sized gym room their sister and friends fought in. It was mostly a large empty space with a large 20x20 corner dedicated to different weapons and tools that they trained with. Large windows were lined against the ceiling and there were probably about fifteen or so guys with another four girls in the room, talking amongst themselves.
"Hello rookies." Larxene said. Everyone turned their attention to the tattooist and it was evident that she was well known. "Obviously your substitute's services are no longer required." This earned her a couple laughs. "So I'm guessing you have three and a half minutes before she gets back. Be forewarned, these two are her sisters," She motioned to the twins. "And their friends, so watch what you say, and don't go around stating that we didn't warn you." She smirked. "Oh yeah, throw in a couple beers and a late night working." Curses and groans were followed by this statement.
"So, what happens when she has some alcohol and no sleep?" Namine asked innocently. "She doesn't look like she's to affected by it."
"She's not." Carter agreed. "However, her tolerance is a lot thinner than normal."
"Alright, everybody line up." Shade's firm voice came in from behind them and immediately the group watched as they took on a more serious mood. "I want to make sure the idiot didn't waste any of your brain capacity on useless things. Who's new?" One of the girls and two of the guys raised their hands, and she nodded. "Alright, you three over against that wall." She vaguely motioned to the one behind her. "Rest of you know the drill."
"But Commander." One said, "Isn't this drill getting old?" Axel noted that it was one of her students she had had for a while now. He winced when Shade paused for a minute and turned to him. "How so?"
"Well, if the newbies are staying out of it, we've basically mastered this dodging practice, why not something tougher, more challenging.
A grin came across her face, small, but malicious as well. "Sounds good."
XXXXXX
"Ready." The weapons were brought up. "Aim." The targets were staring wide-eyed at the shooters, suddenly cursing their teammate's suggestion of a harder warm up. At first it sounded appealing, but now, well, the brightly colored bruises were already getting darker.
"Fire." Screams were heard as they scattered like deer around the obstacle course, the goal to get from one side of the room to the other while paint balls were raining down upon them as four of Shade's friends stood on the platform built into the wall, metal steps leading up to it. "Come on guys, suck it up and use your freakin' heads!" Shadow said, watching the progress of the three that were currently working to get to the other side safely. "Alright, stop." The runners immediately froze, as did the paint balls.
She walked up to Kathryn, one of the senior trainees, and paused. "Kathryn, I already got you a recommendation for a team leader apprentice once you finish here, and this is making me start to give it second thoughts." The blond winced at this but nodded, breathing slightly harder as she caught her breath from the run. "That's one of the things you have to learn, remember, sometimes defense get's you there faster than offense. This is still something I gotta see you work on, alright?"
"Yes Commander Shade." She said with a firm nod, a new look of determination in her eyes.
"Reset." Shade called, walking back up the metal steps as the three targets walked back to the beginning through the large and solid obstacles that were placed around the room. Shade took the paintball gun from Jason and held it loosely at ready in her arms. "Defense people! Kathryn, give it another shot." She brought the gun up to her shoulder and sighted one of the three people. "Ready. Go!"
As the training practice went on Sora and Riku were watching it from the corner of the balcony. "She seems pretty harsh." The brunette commented, tilting his head slightly as he looked at the scene before him.
"Yeah, but look, they've really improved this round." Riku commented, and sure enough less blows had been taken and they were already half way through the course.
"Sam, quicker dodges." Shade called.
"It looks like they do like her as a teacher." Sora complimented.
"Nice job guys." Shadow said, raising her rifle and smirking slightly as the three cheered at the finish line. "Alright, next group get ready." When no one stepped up to the entrance of the gate she looked over her shoulder. "Boys, that's you."
Riku and Sora gaped at her. "What?"
"Axel, help them out." Kairi and Namine were giggling widely as Roxas was also dragged off and down the stairs.
"Don't worry, she's at least giving you some protection, thicker clothes, knee pads, the normal." He smirked. "But that does mean she ain't going to give you guys any missed shots."
"Should we be scared?" Roxas asked, somewhat hopeful he'd give them some reassurance.
"You should be terrified." Axel thought with a grin.
XXXXXX
Shadow aimed the rifle, staring down the sight and towards the blond haired teen in the group. "Alright guys, the goal is to get to the other side of the room in fifteen minutes or less."
"This is abuse!" Sora yelled from the starting point, and the girl chuckled. "It keeps you alert. Axel, give them the signal."
"OK boys, give us a show. Three. Two. One." Shade, Larxene, and Yuffie all fired shots, immediately nailing the targets as they rushed out of the zones. The two smaller ones stumbled but Riku seemed to take the hit well, instead opting for grabbing them by the back of their shirts and throwing them behind one of the obstacles for protection. "Listen guys, you need to keep hidden behind these barriers, it's going to be the only thing helping us out."
"I vote we split, not far, but enough to where they won't be able to attack us in a group." Roxas said.
"Maybe we should go stagnant with our moves as well. "Sora suggested. "I mean, keep it sketchy."
"Sounds like a plan. Roxas, you take lead and Sora, follow four seconds after him to the left of whichever route he goes. I'll follow behind you guys because I can catch up faster." Sora put his fist in the center and his two friends followed suit. "Whoever gets out with the least amount of bruises buys the others soda." Roxas said with a grin.
"Deal."
The blond took off first, taking the path to the somewhat right and behind a low wall, moving in a crouched position. Sora counted a couple seconds before he went more left hearing as the paintball hit the spot near his foot as he jumped over a low wall and dropped down, hearing the solid thuds on the other side of his barrier. Finally Riku moved, first going left towards Sora's position before he breaked, seeing the paintball collide with his upper arm before he quickly started to basically army crawl behind the log-like obstacle, moving swiftly.
"Grats guys, you're friends aren't stupid." Shadow said to her sisters, smirking while she sighted Sora and pulled the trigger, hearing him let out a grunt of pain but kept going before taking cover behind another wall. Yuffie fired a shot and it grazed Roxas' spikey hair, painting it the color of blue before the majority of it landed somewhere next to him. "Oh Roxas." The ninja sang. "Why don't you stand up just a little bit straighter for me."
"Like hell!" He yelled back, opting for lying down on his stomach instead. He glanced up and could see the exit in front of him, one more wall that he could easily jump between them. He yelped when someone landed next to him and partly on top of him. "Freedom straight ahead." Sora said with a grin. "You ready?"
Just for fun Larxene fired a couple shots over their position and laughed when she heard cursing coming from their general direction. "Waiting on you twerps!"
Shadow was studying the scene before them, already knowing where the two friends were but wondering where the silver haired teen had gone. She paused when she noticed one of the punching bag-like walls move every so slightly and slowly raised her gun. A few seconds later she fired.
Riku dashed from behind his wall of protection and immediately dived, rolling on his shoulder to avoid the paintball that was aimed for his leg, quickly getting back on his feet and running past his two friends. "Three seconds." Was all he said as he ran past, now having paint balls raining down on him. The two immediately knew what to do, and when three seconds passed they were up and following their friend.
Riku's arm grabbed the wall and he vaulted over, cursing as pain flared up his arm as the ball hit him just a few inches above his wrist. He roughly landed and launched himself towards the finish line, immediately noticing how the ceased firing at him. Sora and Roxas stumbled in after him and they could vaguely hear the twins cheering from above the balcony, including a few of Shade's students who were over on that side of the course.
"That chick is not normal." Roxas complained quietly, earning chuckles from his two friends.
"Who's up for round two?" Larxene called, and in response she got a trio of groans.