Next chapter. Enjoy
After a week of preparation, Clara was ready to face Shaun. Across from her apartment was a car valet, who would often polish and repair her street sport motorcycle. It was usually the only vehicle that got her to places quick and she was also starting to have an interest in motorcycles. She goes to get her motorcycle and there it was waiting in the garage. The bike was jet black with a gold, soft cushioned seat.
Clara walks towards it and throws one leg over the seat. She smiles once the engine roars to life. She nods to the car valet before pressing her foot onto the pedal and riding out of the garage. Reaching the road, she takes in the summer breeze. A part of her felt free whenever her loose mohawk flew in the wind while riding her lovely motorcycle. It was like she could get away from all of the stress of the Black Dragon, the martial arts school, everything. This freedom was short lived once she got to the school.
After a few hours, class was over. While leaving, she spots Shaun outside leaning against the school wall. Again, he was wearing those damn sunglasses. He notices Clara looking at him and he turns his head to face her. He stood with his arms crossed as if he were expecting her.
"You're Shaun, right?" She asks while walking towards him.
"What's it to you?" He says with a smile on his face.
"Well as I recall, you challenged me to a fight about a week ago."
"Yeah, so you want to go again?"
He sounded eager.
"It depends on where we're facing off."
"Very well," he says as if he were mocking Kenshin, "We shall face off at the same alley as we did before."
He points towards the alley way.
"Follow me there, unless you're too scared to get your ass beat again."
He smirks at her, letting her know that it was a just a joke. She rolls her eyes at his silly remark and starts to follow him. They reach the alley and make sure no one is around before Shaun tried to punch her. Clara quickly dodges the punch and smashes her fist into his stomach. He swears at her while holding his stomach in pain. She continues to swing her fists at him until he is knocked unconscious.
Clara couldn't believe it. She won. She wanted to tell her father that his advice worked. She leaves Shaun at the alley since he left her last time and heads to the pawn shop.
Once she got there, she went inside hoping there was no 'bodyguard' behind the counter. Fortunately, there was only a man covered in dragon tattoos. He allowed her to come into the hideout and she moves the boxes aside before walking down the stairs. She doesn't see her father. She suspected that he was in his office. She reaches the door at the end of the hallway in high hopes that he would be in his office.
She taps her nails on the door and waits. A few seconds later, she hears footsteps from within the office and the door opens. Alex stood with a phone pressed against his ear.
"John, I'll have to call you back," he says and pushes the end call icon. "Clara," he manages to work up a smile, "Do you have news for me?"
She quickly nods and smiles. She felt a familiar kind of excitement as if she were a child.
"Well, what is it?" He asked eagerly.
"I took your advice and it worked!"
"You beat Shaun?"
"Yes, I did!" She says hoping that he would be proud.
"See? I told you it would work."
He was honestly happy that his daughter was even determined try it.
"Although, I think I might have broken a bone. I heard a crack," Clara says in amusement.
Her humor was quickly dismissed once she hears a voice behind her.
"That was my ribcage and it still hurts."
She turns to see Shaun holding onto his ribs.
"W-What?" Clara stutters.
"What's goin on Alexandre?" He manages to breathe out, but doesn't pronounce his name right.
"It's Alexandre," he says sternly.
"I'm just going to call you Alex."
Still confused, Clara glances back at her father.
"What's he doing here?"
"Not to worry my dear, he is one of us."
"He is?"
Shaun turns around and lifts up the back of his shirt reveal a dragon tattoo that took up nearly his entire back. He rolls his shirt back down and turns to face her.
"It was all part of a test to see what you would do in a situation like that," Alex explains. "Shaun, I need you to do me a favor.
"Sure, what is it?"
"I need you to take Clara over to John's shop. Clara, John is the friend I was telling you about. He'll show you the weapons you can use."
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go."
Shaun heads upstairs expecting Clara to follow. Before she could follow him, Alex stops her.
"Wait."
She turns and looks at him with a puzzled expression.
"What?"
"Be careful with some of the weapons there. You'll know what I mean once you get there."
Clara only nods before heading upstairs. Shaun was already in his car outside the shop waiting. She goes outside and walks to the passanger's side. Opening the door, she sits in the seat before closing the door beside her. Shaun starts driving, not saying a word to her. He was still wearing his sunglasses he always wore. Clara couldn't help but ask, "Why do you always wear those sunglasses all the time?"
"My wife gave them to me."
"You have a wife?" She asked almost bemused.
"Yeah," he shrugs, "Why do you seem so surprised?"
"Well it's just that I never thought someone like you would even have one. Poor wife has to put up with your loud mouth."
He laughs a little.
"Hey, she's used to me being that way."
"Does she know your a Black Dragon?"
"Yes," he answers casually.
Still not believing him, she looks at his fingers in search for a ring, but he didn't have one.
"If you're really married, then where is your ring?"
He glances down at his fingers and back up at the road.
"I lost it."
"How did lose it?"
He sighs hoping that his upcoming answer would get her quiet.
"It fell into a river during our anniversary. My wife doesn't seem to care though."
She looks at him quizzically eanting to know more.
"Why did you decide to join the Black Dragon?"
Shaun immediately frowns.
"You know what? Why don't you stop asking me questions about my life?" He says defensively.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to get personal."
She turns away from him before asking, 'So this John person you're taking me to, what's he like?"
"Well he knows Alex pretty well, but he looks like he's gone through some shit in his time."
"What do you mean?"
"He's got this really long scar on his cheek," he points towards his own cheek to demonstrate, "And he's also got an eyepatch. I asked him to show me what was underneath..."
He shivers at the thought.
"Trust me, it looks God awful. Don't ever ask him to lift his patch."
This made Clara even more intrigued to know about this man.
"How many weapons does he have?" She asked.
"Lots. From different varieties of guns to explosives, knives, swords, anything you can think of."
Clara remembered Aiden having guns and explosives too. Even though she was the one who gave him access to hacking a guard's phone or earpiece to make an explosion. Her mind was clouded up again with memories of him and they were not good ones. She thought about how he pushed her away at the bunker regardless of all the things she did for him and the things she provided him.
Sure, she may have been involved in Lena's death, but he didn't need to be a dick about it. Her father gave her motivation through the past year as to not blame herself anymore. This was the reason why she had these thoughts about him. Her father basically got her mad at Aiden, but not to the point where she hated him.
She was so lost in thought that she didn't realize Shaun was still talking to her.
"Hey, you all right? You stopped asking questions."
She blinks a few times before turning back to him.
"I'm fine," she answers.
Shaun pulls over and puts the car in park.
"Well here we are."
It was a gun shop, though she thought it would be another pawn shop. They get out of the car and go inside the shop. It smelled like old wood and cigars. The whole place looked a bit old. On the outside, it didn't look too bad, but the inside looked different.
Clara holds in her nose to prevent the smell of cigars from coming up her nostrils. She was not a big fan of cigarettes. The walls were covered with rifles, knives, and grenades. There was only one soul in sight and that was John standing behind the counter. Shaun was right about his face. He had a long stitched scar along his cheek and a eyepatch covered his eye. His hair was dark brown and looked as if he combed it back. He looked to be in his 40s and he was wearing camo.
He was lighting up a cigar until he spots the two of them.
"Shaun, hello there mate," he sounded austrailian and his voice was raspy, "Who'd you bring with you?"
Shaun removes his sunglasses to wipe a few stains off of them.
"Her name is Clara. Alex told me to take her here to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, dear. I'm sure Alex told you about all the weapons here, did he not?"
"I thought you would explain them to me," she says.
John showed her all kinds of guns. This was something new to Clara. Sure, she knew how to use a pistol, but what he was showing her was the expensive toys. There was one gun in particular that caught her eye and it was the grapple gun.
"The grapple gun? You can use it for a quick escape, but make sure you don't have a fear for heights," John explains. "Want to learn how to use some of these?"
No doubt she would need some of these weapons to pull off a successful robbery.
"Sure," she answers.
"Alright then, let me show you."
Journal #5
I have a lot to talk about in this journal. They're about things that happened then and now. A few months ago, I beat Shaun in a fight. I never thought we would become friends after that, but we did. He went from annoying to a laid back kind of person, unless you ask him personal questions. Other than that, he is all right.
There was another person I met along the way and his name is John. I know, another guy. I wonder if there are any girls in this business, or if I'm the only one. Anyway, John owns a gun shop and he taught me how to use knives, guns, and grenades. He says that weapons are a requirement in order to make a successful robbery. I didn't want to overload myself with too many weapons, so I decided to use two daggers with dragon heads as handles, pistols, and a grapple gun. The grapple gun is a gun with a hook inside. You aim it towards something that the hook can attach to and and it pulls you up to the object. It's a pretty neat weapon and I've done some practice so I can get the hang of it.
I'm going to steal jewelry for the first time today. The first place I am stealing from is a high tech jewelry store. At least I'm calling it that because it runs on Ctos surveillance and networked locks. I can use this to my advantage since I'm able to break through most of their firewalls. I haven't lost touch of my hacking skills I got from Dedsec.
I can't help but feel a bit nervous about this. I could get caught by police and even get arrested. Shaun's supposed to be helping by talking to me through an earpiece with a hidden camera so anything I can see, he should be able to see too. That makes me feel a little calmer.
I changed my look a little too. I still have my piercings, but my tattoos were changed to dragons. I figured they were fitting since the business is called the Black Dragon and I keep seeing members with dragon tattoos. I guess I have my own attire too. I'm wearing an atomic vegan leather jacket with a strapless white shirt underneath it. I'm also wearing blue skinny jeans with low heeled leather boots. I have a red bandana wrapped around my mouth and nose. The outer edges of the mask are black and shaped like dragon teeth.
As for my mohawk, I decided to just let it loose. I removed the rubber bands and chopped off the ponytail. It'll grow back, but I put mousse in it to give it more body. I also wanted to add a little more color, so I added two more white streaks, one in the center, and the other on the right side of my mohawk.
Since I still felt anxious about this, I asked one of the jewelry makers at the pawn shop to attach my old regal coin to a chocker necklace so I can wear it around my neck. That way I can remember I am doing this for Papa.