Chapter Fifty-Three
A Dangerous Mission
Back in Chicago the Knights were once again on their mission to observe the Foot, Boss Kodama and the 95th Street Gang.
Jack led the way to the abandoned school with the other Knights following him, Sephie was also amongst them, meanwhile Tyroth situated himself at a high point nearby so he could swoop in and help if needed.
Given his size and how he stood out, he knew he would be an easy target and he didn't want the Foot knowing he was there, but he said to the Knights that he would be there if it got too serious for them to handle.
Jake and Devina were once again dressed in their street gear to sneak into the school and the other knights had a couple of tablets to look at.
Devina was dressed in black cargo pants and a hoodie with red detail on it and a beanie hat, whilst Jake wore beige cargo pants and a green hoodie with yellow detail as well as a baseball cap.
They also had their weapons hidden within their clothes, and Jake had made sure his gun was loaded.
As they approached the School, Jack held up his paw signalling for them to stop and he turned to everyone.
"Okay, like before we merely observe from afar with our iPads." Jack said then turned to Devina and Jake.
"You too ready to do this?" he asked looking at them both "It's a huge risk! Especially you Jake! You do not have super healing nor speed nor strength."
"I know!" Jake said in a serious voice "But I am willing to do this, since the day my brother betrayed us, I have vowed to make sure no-one becomes aware of Mutopia nor should anyone else suffer!"
"You're really brave man!" Jack said patting Jake's shoulder and the other Knights agreed and Amber looked especially proud.
"Don't worry Sarge." Devina said narrowing her red eyes, "I will look after Jake, should he be wounded, I can help him."
"Thanks Dev!" Jake smiled at the Vampiress.
Devina winked at Jake.
"I promised your sister I'd look after you!"
"We all did!" Amber chimed in and the other Knights joined in unison nodding.
"Alright people!" Jack clapped his hands "Attention guys."
At the sound of his sharp voice everyone looked at him.
"Right! Listen carefully, Devina and Jake will enter the school and dispatch the gadgets around the place!" he turned to the Vampiress and Human man "Make sure you don't draw attention to yourselves! You have your Shell cells to alert us for trouble, yes?"
"Yes sir!" Jake and Devina said together holding up their cell phones.
"Great!" Jack said with a smile then turned to the others.
"Okay, we'll gather up there and watch the footage, then…" he paused "We'll go on from there!"
"I don't like this!" Kate confessed "Just observing when these fuckers are planning evil doings!"
"Us neither Kate." Sephie said "But we have to keep at a distance just until we get a better clue what's going on!"
"True." Sarah agreed "Although…." She paused for a moment.
"What?" Percy and Heather asked in unison and the others turned to the Cheetah.
"What's on your mind Spots?" Sephie asked.
"What Tyroth spoke about when Hugh was here, the gunman, the man hit by the car, and most recently those would-be rapists."
"You mean that vigilante?" Kate asked.
Sarah nodded.
"She seemed to want to get the job done." Sarah said, "And quicker than us."
As she said that, the Knights looked at each other and started to murmur.
"True that." Sharky said.
"That she did!" Percy agreed.
But Jack just frowned and clapped his hands.
"Wait! Wait! Time out!" he said placing his fingers against his palm forming the letter T.
At once everyone looked at him.
"Whatever this vigilante did, they might have taken some dangerous people off the streets, but we have to do things as the boss says, and not what some reckless person does! If we go in there, guns blazing, without knowing what's really going on or why the Foot are there, then we'll be putting ourselves at risk".
"Not that we don't do that already!" Sharky shrugged.
"Tyroth also said we must keep our eyes open should that vigilante make an appearance!" Sephie chimed in "So all be on your guard tonight!" she said.
"Got it!" everyone said.
"Right!" Devina said turning to Jake "You ready kid?"
"As ready as I'll ever be!" Jake said nodding.
"Okay then, let's go!" Devina said then took Jake's hand leading him towards the school.
The others watched and all waved and wished them good luck.
Amber bit her lip and Kate looked over at her.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Huh?" Amber asked shaking her head "Oh yeah, I'm fine, I just worry for Jake, very much like I do for all of you."
"We know." Sephie said, yet she smirked within, seeing how much Amber cared for Jake, she could tell there was a fondness the Iguana had for the human man, yet Amber would never admit it.
"There's something there!" she thought gazing at her sister-in-law "I can tell, I felt the same with Tyroth, and Mona with Raph, and Kate with Mike."
She pushed those thoughts aside and looked at Jack who nodded.
"Alright guys, and girls." He said, "Let's take our positions!"
Inside the school in the gym area, with no idea the Knights were outside or that Jake and Devina were sneaking in, Hanako, Boss Kodama, along with the leaders of the 95th Street gang were conversing whilst the other thugs and the ninja were gathered and exchanging cash and drugs.
Kodama looked around and smirked.
"Looks like some good deals went down in the recent days." He said, "This pleases me."
Hanako smirked as she watched.
"And the ninja have been keeping watch on everything." She said, "Making sure there are no interruptions nor mistakes."
"That does please me greatly." Kodama said with a satisfied smile "I am feeling rather assured that my partnership with you has worked to it's advantage."
"My Lord Arashi will be delight." Hanako said "I will inform him later when we return to your tower."
"Yes." Kodama agreed then he looked around and crossed his arms.
"And I have been told whilst these dealings have been happening, that those strange vigilantes have not been showing themselves recently."
"Really?" Hanako asked eyeing Kodama.
"Apparently they've been quiet." The Yakuza Boss said, "Which makes me rather suspicious."
As he spoke, Kodama had no idea that Devina and Jake had managed to get inside the school along with the gadgets and began to plant them around the Gym.
Jake discreetly dropped a spider bot on the bleachers and Devina let a fly bot buzz into the air.
"Stay close Jake." Devina said, "If anything goes wrong, I'll look after you."
"Thanks!" Jake hissed and looked around "So far, so good."
"Let's keep it that way." Devina said then looked at the ninja walking around as the thugs were exchanging cash.
"The ninja might be occupied, but from what I know, they're quick to spot anything out the ordinary."
Jake nodded.
"I'm also worried they might taste us." He said, "I can't tell from here whether they're human or mutated ninja."
"I might." Devina said narrowing her eyes, "But I don't want to draw attention, might as well play it cool."
"Very wise!" Jake agreed.
"WHAT!?" a shout was soon heard from the crowd making both the Vampiress and human jump, and Hanako and Kodama looked over in the direction of the shout.
"What in blazes?" Kodama asked, then he saw Kamaru and Valentina looking furious as a couple of Ninja were standing before them and talking to them.
"All three dead? And the police have possession of their phones?" Valentina yelled to which the ninja nodded.
"Roy, Cliff and Keith!" Kamaru mused "Damn!"
Hanako glared and walked over.
"What is the meaning of this?" she asked.
Kamaru looked over to Hanako.
"Your boys here said three of our boys were killed earlier in the evening by some weird looking creature."
The word creature sent alarm bells ringing in Hanako's head and she looked at the ninja.
"What happened?" she asked.
Flashback
Some hours ago, sunset
Two male ninjas hopped over the buildings scouting the city in their chosen area, they had been sent by Hanako to keep an eye on goings on in the city as well as search for the Vigilantes Kodama had spoken of.
So far, the past few nights had been uneventful, but they weren't taking any chances.
After a few minutes, they had wondered whether to turn back until their acute hearing picked up some sounds and they stopped to listen.
"Hear that?" the first one said.
The second ninja frowned behind his mask and listened hard.
"I know that sound!" he said "Fighting!"
The first ninja gestured with his head and took off towards the sound until they came to where the noise was.
They soon arrived and they were shocked to see what appeared to be a woman crouched over two men laying on the ground.
It was dark and they couldn't see very clearly, but they could tell it was a female with long dark hair and dressed in brown and tan coloured clothes and it had a tail!
"What's that?" the first ninja asked.
"Not sure!" the second one answered Can't tell from here, but it looks like one of those strange vigilantes as it doesn't look human."
"Haven't seen one like that." The first one said, "Looks like some kind of humanoid leopard or some big cat."
"Doesn't look like a leopard." The second one said, "No spots, it looks more like a tribeswoman."
"A tribeswoman with a tail!" the first one agreed.
They quickly drew back as the figure stood up and threw down their hand splattering blood on the brick walls of the alleyway.
Then as it ran off, the ninjas looked over the wall and saw the two men laying there with their throats slashed as well as some other wounds on them.
"Shit!" the first one said, "This one's dangerous!"
They both jumped down and looked at the bodies then the first one took out a camera and took some pictures.
"Yeesh!" the second one said, "It's like they were hunted down, from what I can see here, they were chased then pounced on." He looked down the alleyway.
"Poor buggers." The first one said, "Their leaders aren't going to like this."
"Neither will Hanako-Chan and Boss Kodama." The second one agreed "But they'll need to be informed."
End Flashback
Hanako glared and licked her lips.
"I see, and you didn't try and catch her?"
The ninja shook their heads.
"No m'am." The first one said, "By the time we jumped down to look at the bodies she had taken off, and we heard police sirens just as we found the third body so we had to take off before they arrived."
Hanako nodded understanding yet she still looked furious.
"Did you recognise her as one of those humanoid animals Kodama speaks of?" she questioned.
The second ninja shrugged.
"Not one we've seen before." He reported "But we could tell she wasn't human; she might be a new one."
"I see." Hanako said "Then we best be careful."
She nodded at the ninja dismissing them and turned to Kamaru and Valentina, at the same time, Boss Kodama walked over.
"I heard the whole thing my Dear." He said frowning.
Kamaru and Valentina looked furious.
"When I get my hands on that creature!" he said clawing his hands, "She'll rue the day she messed with my gang!"
"Say it like it is love." Valentina snarled "I'd like to give her my own treatment too!" she produced a flick knife.
"You'll get your chance soon enough." Hanako said taking out her grey fan and used it to lower the flick knife making Valentina frown.
"But we will need to approach this carefully, and my ninja are good at taking down the strongest of enemies!" she looked around at the ninja in the room "Some more than others." She added with a smirk.
"You saying we can't handle ourselves lady?" Kamaru hissed dangerously narrowing his eyes.
"On the contrary boy." Kodama stepped in to defend Hanako "My business partner just knows how dangerous your enemies can be, as do I, and she only wishes to offer you extra help and even protection."
Kamaru still looked angry, but he nodded and agreed.
"Very well." He said.
At the same time, Devina and Jake had been listening in, and the spybots had also picked up the conversation along with everything else that was going on.
"Shit." Jake said, "Now the gangs and the Foot know about this vigilante."
Devina nodded.
"And it won't be long before she might strike again." She said, "And if she does, and the Foot are in the mix, it could mean trouble."
"So, what do we do?" Jake asked in a worried voice.
"Don't know." Devina replied, "Right now we just stick to our mission and report in to Jack and the others when we're done here."
"Right!" Jake agreed.
"Excuse me?"
Jake and Devina froze, and they turned to see a ninja walking over to them.
"Uh oh." Jake thought and Devina turned to him prompting him to be quiet.
The Ninja frowned behind his mask as he looked at the Vampiress and human man.
"Play it cool." Devina thought yet she licked her fangs and a niggling feeling of worry came to her as she analysed the ninja and she could tell that he could sense something off about her and Jake…..
So The Knights have gone on another scouting mission with Loki's Spybots and gadgets, whilst Tyroth waits from afar and the Knights remain nearby, Devina and Jake have gone right in the middle of enemy territory.
Meanwhile the 95th Street Gang leaders, Hanako and Kodama have been made aware of Pandora's latest hunt! Uh oh!
But that's not the only problem! Looks like trouble might be in store for Devina and Jake! How will that go? Well you'll have to wait to find out!