Disclaimer, I do not own any characters of placed spoken of in this story except for the original ones, this story is written for fun and may contain spoilers.
Chapter 6
The Angel Assassination
The group found themselves on the cold metal floor, this was the roughest they had travelled for a while now and as they picked themselves up off the floor they looked out of the window. They were in space, yet again they had landed on a space ship but this one was different to the one they were on last. Soon they were surrounded by soldiers again with buns pointed at them, they out their hands up as a man came forth from the pack of soldiers to address them.
"You are all under arrest" said the man.
"For what, we only just got here" said Lucas.
"You are here to assassinate the Angel Troupe" said the man.
"Who...I have no idea what you are talking about" said Etna.
"I'm not falling for it" said the man.
"Listen, my name is Lucas Murphy and I don't have any idea what you are on about, we came here looking for someone" said Lucas.
"That is why were locking you up, take them away" said the man.
"Wait a moment" said a voice.
A man with black hair dressed in military uniform then appeared next to the man.
"Takuto, your meant to be looking out for any ships" said the man.
"We're in the middle of space, no one it going to find us, anyway I wanted to look at these assassins" said the man.
The man glanced at them and smiled before turning to the other man.
"Lester, do they look like assassins to you, they're only kids" said the man who appeared to be named Takuto.
"You can't be too careful besides assassins are supposed to not look like killers" said the man called Lester.
"You've got us all wrong, we could easily take you all out in a second yet we have wilfully surrendered" said Etna.
"You're not helping" said Mir.
"Why does this always happen to us" said Syaoran.
"Seems we have some serious bad luck" said Lyner.
"Let them go" said the man called Takuto.
"What!" shouted the group, the man and all of the soldiers.
"I am sure they can be trusted plus the ladies are cute" said Takuto.
"You have a fiancé you know" said the man called Lester.
The soldiers lowered their weapons and left as the man known as Lester faced the man known as Takuto with what seemed to be a face full of stress.
"You are too trusting" said the man known as Lester.
"Maybe but maybe we should introduce ourselves" said the man known as Takuto.
"My name is Lucas Murphy and these are my friends" he said.
"Snow Villers" said Snow.
"Amu Hinamori" said Amu.
"Maria Crescent" said Maria.
"Train Heartnet" said Train.
"Mir" said Mir.
"Greetings, my name is Aigis" she said.
"Syaoran Li" he said.
"Sakura Kinomoto" she said.
"My name is Lyner, Lyner Barsett" said Lyner
"Pan and Joy" said Pan and Joy together.
"I'm Etna who the hell are you" said Etna rudely.
"I am Commander Takuto Meyers, commander of the ship Elle Ciel" he said.
"Lester Cooldaras, I am first officer on board this ship" said the man who had accused them.
Alright, now what is this about an assassination?" asked Snow.
Takuto and Lester then began talking and decided to lead them to somewhere more private, the two of them lead them to Takuto's room and they all sat down as they began to talk.
"You see we got word just yesterday, an assassin or two was on his way to kill the Angel Troupe, it was a tip that someone left for us, he didn't leave his name but someone had defiantly put a bounty on all their heads" said Takuto.
We have had to up security and move out here to the middle of space to hide until this blows over said Lester.
"Have you told this Angel Troupe?" asked Mir.
"No, I suggested it was best to not worry them with this" said Lester.
"There is an assassin out to kill them and you don't think it is a good idea to tell them" said Train.
"Alright, we'll help in any way we can" said Lucas.
"It does kind of smell, why would anyone want to kill them?" asked Amu.
"No idea but the order came from someone called Michel Paradox, we've looked but we can't find anyone called that" said Takuto.
The group looked at each other in shock and then turned to look at Takuto and Lester, Lester looked like he was expecting them to say something.
"You know him?" asked Lester.
"Kind of, he is the man we are trying to defeat" said Amu.
"But why would he bother going after this Angel Troupe unless..." began Maria.
"Unless one of these Angle Troupe members are the owners of one of the gauntlets" said Pan.
"Which would make sense, Michel wouldn't want us to get more powerful" said Joy.
" If so then we need to meet this Angel Troupe, how many members are there?" asked Lyner.
"There are six members of the Angel Troupe" said Takuto.
"We need to meet them, all of them, it may be the only way to make this assassination thing go away" said Mir.
"However if all of you met them all at the same time then they would get suspicious, I suggest that you divide yourselves and met each of them separately" said Lester.
"Good idea, we can then cover more ground and it will only take one of us to realise who it is they are really after" said Maria.
"We'll divide six ways then, Mir and Lyner, Snow and Aigis, Etna and Train, Sakura and Syaoran, Amu and Pan and finally Maria, Joy and myself" said Lucas.
"We'll talk with each of them and then devise which of them is the new gauntlet user, commander, we request information on the names of all the Angel Troupe members and their locations" said Aigis.
"Okay, there is Mint, Vanilla, Forte, Chitose, Ranpha and Milfeulle, at the moment I think some of them are in their rooms but Vanilla may be at the infirmary and Forte could be at the shooting range, Ranpha might also be at the gym" said Takuto.
"You would know" said Lester.
"Alright then, Sakura and Syaoran will go meet this Mint and Train and Etna will meet this Forte" said Pan.
"I'll go with Pan to meet this Chitose person" said Amu.
"Mir and I will go meet Vanilla" said Lyner.
"I'll go with Aigis to meet Ranpha so don't worry" said Snow.
"Which leaves Milfeulle to us" said Joy.
"Okay, I'll take you to see Milfeulle and Lester shall guide the rest of you around the ship" said Takuto.
"Okay, but I've got my eye on you" said Lester.
They walked out of the room and Takuto, Maria, Lucas and Joy walked the opposite way to the others as Takuto lead them to Milfeulle. Lester slowly lead the others to their intended locations, first Snow and Aigis arrived at the gym, then Train and Etna arrived at the shooting range, Sakura and Syaoran then arrived at Mint's room, Mir and Lyner then arrived at the infirmary and finally Amu and Pan arrived at Chitose's room. They each entered their designated locations as Takuto, Lucas, Maria and Joy reached Milfeulle's room. Sakura and Syaoran were surprised when they entered a clean shiny room and saw a young girl with blue hair and rabbit like ears. She was sitting at a table eating a cake that had a cherry on top of it. She had picked the cherry off of the cake and eaten it before she noticed them. She seemed suspicious at first as she looked at them, Sakura and Syaoran both wondered if this girl could possible be the one they were looking for, they even wondered if this could be the Mint that Takuto spoke of.
"Yes, I am Mint" she said calmly and politely.
Sakura and Syaoran were shocked, it was almost like she knew what they were thinking.
"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Mint Blancmanche" she said.
My name is Sakura Kinomoto and this is Syaoran Li she said.
Your boyfriend said Mint.
The two were shocked by this, they wondered how on earth she knew that, they soon began to think that Mint wasn't all she seemed to be.
"How do you know that?" asked Syaoran.
"It was just a guess" said Mint.
Mint then placed three tea cups around the table and then she picked up a kettle.
"Would you like some tea?" asked Mint.
"Yes please" said Sakura.
Syaoran and Sakura then sat down at the table, Syaoran was a little suspicious of Mint, twice she had guessed what they were thinking, it couldn't be a coincidence. Mint smiled at the two of them as she poured them all some teas in the three tea cups. Syaoran and Sakura tried not to think about their reason for being here and needed to think of something to spark a conversation.
"Are you human?" asked Syaoran rudely.
"Don't be so rude" said Sakura.
"Of course I am" said Mint politely and kindly.
"Then explain those ears" said Syaoran.
"All though I am curious you shouldn't be so rude" said Sakura.
"They're just my ears, okay" said Mint.
"There is something odd about you" said Syaoran.
"I could say the same for you, just why are you here?" asked Mint.
The two stopped and wondered what to say, they couldn't just tell her the real answer.
"We're just looking around, we're new to the ship" said Sakura.
"I don't remember ever seeing anyone like you on board before" said Mint.
"Like we said we're new" said Syaoran.
"Your not hiding anything are you?" asked Mint.
"N...no" said Sakura.
"Its just people have been acting strangely around here" said Mint.
"Who is interrogating who here" thought Syaoran.
Mint then looked at them confused as if she had heard Syaoran's thought, then a thought popped in his mind, it could in fact be possible knowing everything they had seen.
"Mint, can you read people's minds?" asked Syaoran.
Sakura looked shocked as Mint smiled at them, by now Lyner and Mir had entered the infirmary, at first it seemed as if no one was there but then a young girl with green hair appeared, she looked up at them with a slightly emotionless face and then looked at Lyner's arm. There was a cut on it which he probably received from the fight with the snake.
"….sit down" said the girl.
"Okay" said Lyner.
He then sat on the hospital bed as the girl took hold of his arm, a rabbit like creature then appeared, the creature then turned into a white light and moved with the girl's hand. She placed he left hand over Lyner's cut and a white light emerge around the wound, as she removed her hand and the rabbit creature reappeared on her shoulder Mir and Lyner were surprised to see the wound healed.
"That's amazing" said Lyner.
"I could have easily done that" said Mir.
"My name is Lyner Barsett and this is Mir, what is your name?" asked Lyner.
"…...Vanilla H" she said.
The two of them where shocked and wondered if this was the supposed Vanilla, if so they wondered how anyone could justify hurting a child like her.
"It's nice to meet you" said Lyner.
"So Vanilla, how exactly did you heal Lyner?" asked Mir.
"…..Nano machines" replied Vanilla.
"She is kinda like a zombie" whispered Mir in Lyner's ear.
"So nano machines, is that what your pet is?" asked Lyner.
"…..yes" said Vanilla.
"I was just wondering Vanilla, you haven't heard anything weird lately?" asked Lyner.
"….weird?" questioned Vanilla.
"Like a bell or something?" asked Mir.
"No" said Vanilla.
"It could be her, we all heard a bell but the contract changed so we don't know what we are supposed to be asking" whispered Mir.
"That's just great" whispered Lyner.
As Mir and Lyner continued to talk to Vanilla, Train and Etna entered the shooting range as they heard gun shots. They entered the room to see a elderly woman with a revolver shooting the target that hand from the ceiling. She shot the target several times as her points went up then she turned and pointed her gun at them. Train in response pulled out his gun and pointed it at her, she smiled at him before lowing her gun, Train did the same but remained suspicious.
"No need to be so on edge kid" said the woman.
"Nice gun you have got there, quite powerful in the right hands" said Train.
"Yours is also a nice gun, never seen one like that before" said the woman.
"Custom made, it was specially made for me, it's name is Hades" said Train.
"Just what I need, two gun lovers, sorry to brake this whole thing up but we're looking for a hag named Forte" said Etna.
"Well that would be me, Forte Stollen, the hag your looking for" she said as she shot the ground at Etna's feet.
"Right" said Etna.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, my name is Train Heartnet and this rude girl is Etna" he said.
"I have told you I am a demon" said Etna.
"What exactly does that mean?" asked Forte.
"Don't ask" said Train.
Forte then returned to shooting at the targets, Train then stood in the row next to her and as a target appeared he swiftly and skilfully shot it down.
"Not bad" said Forte.
"Care for some fun?" asked Train.
"What did you have in mind?" asked Forte.
"I bet you I can get a higher score then you can" said Train.
"I'll take that bet" said Forte.
"This is going to take a while so I am just going to sit down" said Etna.
Etna slowly sat down as the two began shooting, during this time Snow and Aigis were astounded to see a young woman with golden blonde hair fiercely beating up a punch bag. She seemed quite powerful and kicked and punched the punch bag several times before noticing them.
"Huh, who are you?" asked the woman.
"We're just looking for someone" said Snow.
"We are looking for a person named Ranpha, we were told she would be at this location" said Aigis.
"That is me, Ranpha Franboise" she said.
"Okay, looks like we found you" said Snow.
"So what do you want, I'm very busy" said Ranpha.
"That is and interesting fighting style you have there, how about sparing with me" said Snow.
"I don't think you will be able to keep up" said Ranpha.
"Are you kidding, I'm a hero and a hero never loses, I can keep up with anyone" said Snow.
"Very well then hero" said Ranpha.
The two of them then started a friendly fight as Aigis sat down and watched thinking on how Snow had made them drift from their intended purpose. Lester was with Amu and Pan and was about to enter Chitose's room when they saw a young black haired girl walking up to them.
"Hello Lester, what are you doing here?" asked the girl.
"Chitose, I was looking for you" said Lester.
"You were, why?" asked the girl.
"These two would like to talk to you, Amu and Pan, this is Chitose" said Lester.
"Karasuma Chitose" she said.
"Its nice to meet you, I am Hinamori Amu" said Amu.
"You can call me Pan, I'm a Demi" said Pan.
"Okay and what is that?" asked Chitose.
"Don't ask" said Amu.
"So what do you want to talk about?" asked Chitose.
"Well has anything odd been happening around you lately?" asked Amu.
"Odd, like what?" asked Chitose.
"Like seeing anything odd or hearing anything, say a bell?" asked Amu.
"No not really" said Chitose.
"Well the obvious option is out, we need to think about this more carefully said Pan.
"Is something wrong, Lester what is happening around this ship, who are these two and why is everyone acting odd?" asked Chitose.
"I...I don't know what you mean" said Lester.
The three of them then tried to avoid suspicion for Chitose as we return to Lucas and the others. The four of them walked through a door to see a pink haired girl with what appeared to be a freshly baked cake sitting on a table. She seemed surprised to see them but when she saw Takuto she smiled.
"Hello Takuto" said the girl.
"Hello Milfeulle" said Takuto.
"Would you like some cake?" asked the girl.
"Sorry but we're on a tight schedule" said Lucas.
"Cake" said Joy.
"I'd love some" said Maria.
The two of them then sat down at a table as the girl cut two slices and handed them to Joy and Maria on a plate, Takuto then sat down and decided to have a piece of cake as well. Lucas just looked at them a bit dumbstruck and angry , he then sat down at the table.
"Didn't you listen to anything I said" he said angrily.
"But it's cake" said Joy.
"Ahhhh, whatever, miss we are looking for someone named Milfeulle, now am I correct in saying that is you" said Lucas.
"Yep, my name is Milfeulle Sakuraba, it is nice to meet you" said the girl.
"My name is Lucas Murphy and these are my friends that I just might beat to a pulp" said Lucas.
Joy was at this point rudely pigging out on the cake while Maria slowly and carefully eat hers with great care, they were both ignoring Lucas which made him very angry.
"The pig that is attacking her cake is Joy and the posh cake lover is Maria Crescent" said Lucas.
"It is a pleasure to meet you" said Milfeulle.
"I would like to get down to business, me and my friends are investigating something of great importance and we would like your help in the matter" said Lucas.
"I'm not sure what I can do to help but okay" said Milfeulle.
"I was wondering if you have had any strange experiences lately?" asked Lucas.
"Um...no, not that I can think of" said Milfeulle.
"Joy, quite pigging out and help, is it her?" asked Lucas.
"Possibly, these knew users are not from the original calling and so it will be hard to recognise them, it might also be good to point out that these users may be weak at first but they could become more powerful then you" said Joy.
"So who ever it is is like me, someone who joined half way and was not part of the originally intended users" said Maria.
"Um...I'm not sure what you saying but I hope I helped" said Milfeulle.
"Hold on, this question is directed at both you and Takuto, have you seen a girl around here lately, she answers to the name of H or Project H" said Lucas.
"No can't say we have, however some genius did draw an odd pentagram with the words Project H next to is" said Takuto.
Maria and Joy stopped eating and looked at Lucas, they knew that this was a sign that Project H and been here.
"That is very helpful information, did you find out who drew it?" asked Lucas.
"No, it seems like no one on this ship drew it" said Takuto.
"So she has been here and left but why did she leave a clue to tell us that she was here?" wondered Lucas.
Then the alarms went off through out the whole ship alerting everyone, all of the group stopped what they were doing and so did the Angel Troupe.
"Alert, Commander Takuto come to the bridge quickly" said a voice on the loud speaker.
"Let's go" said Lucas.
"But I haven't finished my cake" said Joy.
"Now" said Lucas.
They got up and all of the rushed to the ship's bridge, they arrived there quickly and Takuto took his seat as the commander and looked out at space.
"What is wrong?" asked Takuto.
"A large number of ships, all of them are from an unknown origin, they seem to have disabled all flight and weaponry controls" said one of the pilots.
"What, well who is it?" asked Takuto.
"Unknown, we have no way of knowing but they seem to be trying to get into the ship, several airlocks have already been opened" said a second pilot.
The rest of the group, Lester and the rest of the Angel Troupe then reached the bridge and joined them.
"What's happening?" asked Sakura.
"Someone is trying to get into the ship" said Lucas.
He then noticed the other Angel Troupe members to which he didn't know and didn't know him.
"Oh, some of us haven't met, I'm..." began Maria.
"Maria Crescent" said Mint.
"That...is correct" said Maria confused.
"You are Lucas Murphy, Amu Hinamori, Snow Villers, Train Heartnet, Mir, Lyner Barsett, Etna, Pan and Aigis" said Mint.
Lucas looked at Syaoran and Sakura as if expecting something from them.
"Don't ask" said Syaoran.
"I'm Sakura Kinomoto and this is Syaoran Li" said Sakura.
"My name is Mint Blancmanche" said Mint.
"Ranpha Franboise" said Ranpha.
"...Vanilla H" said Vanilla.
"Forte Stollen" said Forte.
"Karasuma Chitose" said Chitose.
"Milfeulle Sakuraba" said Milfeulle.
"Great now that we all know who we are I think we should prepare as this entire ship has been compromised" said Lucas.
Lucas then got everyone behind cover as the group drew their weapons, down the hall thousands of bounty hunters and assassins came marching up to get the Angel Troupe and clam the reward.