•Section 13•
"Sorry i'm late, Captain Black." Alex said as he entered into a large gymnasium like room, equipment having apparently been put away, so the room was bare enough that no one could or would get hurt.
A large wrestling mat had been placed on the floor, that covered most of the center of the room as well.
"It is alright, i'd rather have you here late than not at all." The man said.
Alex set his bag down off to the side, which contained a change of clothes, as well as a large water bottle, which was clipped onto the bag itself.
Speaking of clothing, Alex had on a simple black tank top and gym shorts, with a pair of tennis shoes to match, perfect for what they had met to do.
"Ready to practice?" Captain black asked, a small smirk decorating his face.
"Hmph. Do you really need to ask, captain?" Alex answered, both standing still, their eyes not moving from the other for a few moments before Captain Black rushed him suddenly.
The man sidestepped his rush, managing to block a sudden kick, though the impact still knocked him away but he managed to stay on his feet as Alex both blocked and threw punches and kicks to match Captain black's own.
Captain black had suggested this training when Alex had first been brought to Section 13, of course under threat of being charged with treason if he ever told anyone about it, but he was surprised at how much the younger man already knew after their first training session.
"How are you feeling?" The older man asked.
"Pretty good, given what happened and all." The younger man answered, stretching his arms and legs.
"Your back isn't hurting too bad, is it?" He asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"It feels fine, for the most part, I took my pain medicine just in case a flare up happens." Alex answered.
Black nodded. "You'll tell me otherwise, yes?" He asked.
"Of course, now, show me what you've got." The younger man answered as they both rushed towards the center of the mat.
"I must say, i'm impressed." Captain black said as he helped the younger man up off the matted floor.
"I..get that alot" Alex said as he, shakily at first, stood on his two feet, though the man was sure he would sore not long after this.
"Where did you learn how to fight?" Captain Black asked.
"My dad taught me, actually, he taught my older sister and brother too." The younger man answered, a smile forming on his face.
"Where did your father learn?" He asked.
"He was in the army during Vietnam, my mom was at home taking care of my older siblings." Alex answered.
"That explains why I recognized the form you were using. Textbook." Black said, as the two men stepped off the mat.
Even despite Alex managing to block the strikes, Captain Black still got a few good hits in, which immediately began to turn a very light purple under his shirt and shorts, but thankfully weren't painful, yet anyway.
That isn't to say the younger man didn't get a few good hits in himself, though neither of them could continue given they were pretty out of breath and sweat was dripping off them, so they decided to take a break.
"Captain Black sir!" A voice said, followed by one of Black's agents running into the room.
"Simmons, what's wrong?" He asked, wrapping a towel around his neck.
"We have confirmation that the Dark Hand is flying towards India, no clue as to why, however." Simmons answered.
"That must be where the next talisman is..i'll call Jackie and let him know." Alex said, running over to his bag.
"I'll get you guys a flight ready in the meantime, Alex, we'll pick this back up when you get back." Captain Black said, exiting the room.
The younger man dug his phone out of his bag, as well as the change of clothes and a fluffy light green towel, before heading to the showers nearby, which thankfully were empty.
He sat his clothes on the long wooden bench, unlocking his phone and dialing Jackie's number, setting it to his ear.
"Come on..pick up..-" the man said, but after it rang a few times, the automated message of 'leave a message after the beep', played.
"..Jackie, The Dark Hand are on their way to India as we speak, meet me at the airport once you get this message, ok?" Alex said, afterwards pressing the end call button before removing his gym clothes and getting in one of the nearby shower stalls, turning it on and shutting the door.
His eyes glanced downward, catching sight of a shade of light pink on his chest, which seemed to curve gracefully across both sides, joining in the center of his chest like two hands with their fingers intertwined.
The man shakily raised a hand up to his chest, his fingers gently touching the center on his chest where the scars met, and moved his fingers along one of them, before going back and along the other.
It felt almost nostalgic, in a way.
He let a soft smile decorate his face, removing his hand and turning off the shower, grabbing the towel hanging outside the door, and drying himself off, before wrapping it around his waist and exiting the shower.
The man walked over to the bench, grabbing the clean set of clothes and slipping it all on.
He tossed the dirty clothes and towel into the bag, zipping and picking it up, as he headed back to the shop to drop it off and then got a ride to the airport with captain black.
•In the Airport•
"Thanks for the lift, Captain." Alex said as he stepped out of the car, Black handing him two plane tickets, one for him and the other for Jackie, who arrived in a taxi not a moment later and went over to them.
"Alex, i got your message." Jackie said as he gave him his ticket.
"Come on, we don't have a second to lose!"
Jackie said as he and the younger man ran into the airport and caught a flight to India,
hoping that they could get to the talisman before they did.
Unfortunately, the dark hand were ahead by a good few hours, not to mention the thirteen hour time zone difference between San Francisco and India, so they didn't have much in terms of time, still, they hoped that maybe they would find it first and figure out what magic it possessed.
•Somewhere in India•
A commuter motorcycle could be seem driving down the road, gracefully maneuvering between any other cars that were with them, attached to the side of it was a sidecar, in which sat Alex, who had zipped up his jacket as the wind whipping past them was rather cold, though it did little to keep the man from shivering.
Especially since he was holding the talisman tracker and the man didn't want to drop it and possibly lose or break it.
"Did you really have to take this motorcycle from that g-guy, j-jackie?" Alex asked.
"I did say I would bring it back, besides, walking would take too long." Jackie answered.
"And what if that guy called the cops on us?" Alex said, as they took a left off the asphalt road, moving from asphalt to dirt and into the jungle, after a while they went past what looked like a massive field of tea leaves, some workers carrying large baskets filled to the brim with them on their backs.
In the distance were a few buildings, the lights being on in one of them, likely where they processed the leaves, being followed by a larger building, it's lights turned off, but Alex had to assume it was a storage warehouse for the processed leaves,
'Maybe i can get gramps some tea leave-'
The man felt himself stop mid-thought as it felt as though there were a metaphorical frog in his throat.
'D-did i just call Uncle..?' He felt his face heat up, which helped with the cold, but before he could process this thought any further, they came to a stop, kicking up some dust in the process.
Upon the dust settling, in front of the duo stood a massive temple, the architecture worn and roughened with age and vines and other plant life having taken over all of it.
Upon the top of the temple was placed a large dome, just as worn as the rest of the temple beneath it, but had a large crack in it that went from the bottom and curved, ending at the top.
Unfortunately a familiar vehicle was parked near the entrance of the temple, both of them recognizing it as the same one the dark hand used back in Australia.
"Oh man they beat us here!" Alex said.
"They may have beaten us here, but they may not have found the talisman yet, which means we can still get it before they do, come on!" Jackie said as he grabbed the younger mans arm and they both headed into the temple.
•Inside the Temple•
Alex and Jackie entered what seemed to be in the main area of the temple, but immediately hid behind some stone pillars, the older man giving the younger one the 'shh' finger as he pointed to the three stooges, as Alex liked to call them, who seemed to be arguing.
"It has to be here somewhere!" Finn said.
"We've searched everywhere! Under every statue and inside every jar!" Chow said, kicking a nearby small jar, which shattered into pieces.
"And where the hell did Yuzuki go off to anyway?!" Chow continued, breaking another vase.
"..I'll go after Yuzuki, can you handle those three?" Alex asked quietly, as to not attract attention.
Jackie gave a thumbs up, before he stepped out.
"Are you guys looking for something? Perhaps i can help." He said, which caused the three of them to turn around.
"Chan!" The three of them said as they rushed him, managing to dodge Ratso's kick and Chow's punch in the process, allowing the younger man to sneak away and deeper into the temple.
Meanwhile, Alex was following the talisman tracker, carefully scanning his surroundings should Yuzuki pop up from out of nowhere, and to try and locate the talisman before they did.
He took a turn down a hallway, entering out into what seemed like a courtyard garden, or what was left of one, as what the man supposed were statues had withered down to husks of their former selves, and plant life had seemingly fully taken over, covering most of the courtyard around him.
'The trackers pointing..into that overgrowth..?' He thought, carefully moving over it, the tracker glowing brightly as if an inferno were crackling inside of it, threatening to break free.
Using his free hand, he unhooked the machete from it's belt loop holder, thankful he had purchased it before Jackie "borrowed" that motorcycle, and begin to cut and hack at the overgrowth in front of him.
Soon, it revealed a statue, height much like the one he saw in the spirit world, though it was instead a depiction of the god Shiva, it's surface weathered and cracked, plant life covering it like everything around it, but overall it was seemingly in much better shape.
Scanning the statue, a reflection of light caught his attention, and his eyes followed it, seeing that, in its chest, was the talisman, engraved upon it was the black outline of a rat.
Using the machete as leverage, he managed to pop the talisman out, catching it in his left hand before he slipped it into his jacket pocket-
He quickly spun around, managing to block a punch, but before the man could react, he took a hard knee to his side, followed by a quick disarm that knocked the machete out of his hand and it landed on the floor with a loud clunk sound.
"Yuzuki." Alex said, eyes narrowing.
"Mister Greyson, I must say I'm almost impressed." The man said as he took his glasses off to clean them, before he put them back on.
"I know why you're here." The younger man said.
"And I know you have what i've been looking for, so why don't you just hand it over and we can call this even." Yuzuki said as he held out his hand, opening it flat with his other behind his back.
"Like hell. You'll have to take it from my cold dead hand before I would ever give it to you." Alex said.
"..i see. Well, while i don't intend to kill you..i will happily beat you into unconsciousness." He said.
•Back with Jackie•
"Haven't you three had enough yet?" Jackie asked.
Chow, Ratso and Finn were on the floor, all three of them groaning in pain and exhaustion, not that that was any real surprise.
"..What a surprise, Chan has beaten you three again." A voice said.
Turning around, Jackie saw Yuzuki walking into the room, buttoning the cuffs on his suit jacket, his face seemingly starting to bruise in places, including his left eye, and what looked like blood dripped from his nose.
However, a sick feeling rose in the man's gut, which caused him to blurt out his next sentence.
"Where's Alex!? You better not have-!" He said.
"Calm yourself, Chan, Mister Greyson is alright, though he certainly isn't unharmed." Yuzuki said as he calmly walked past him, heading for the exit before he glanced back.
"If you three are done, we must get going." They said.
Ratso, Finn and Chow messily picked themselve up and followed Yuzuki out, Jackie heading to where he came from.
•A Few Minutes Earlier•
Alex blocked a punch, gripping it with his hand and twisted it before he yanked towards him, throwing a hard elbow into Yuzuki's face, hitting him in the eye and knocking him away in the process.
However, Yuzuki gripped onto the younger man's wrist, yanking them towards him, getting a hard knee directly to his abdomen, which simultaneously knocked all the air of Alex's body, but also cause his muscles to seize up, but he managed to gain momentary control and threw a punch that hit the older man directly in the nose.
Alex stumbled back once Yuzuki released his wrist, though he didn't stay on his feet long as he crumbled onto the ground, wheezing as he attempted to regain his breath.
Yuzuki trudged over to the younger man, using one of his feet to roll him over onto his back, and bent over to pick up the talisman that had fallen out of his jacket pocket, the man making a feeble attempt to reach for it as he picked it up.
"..No.."
"Do not worry, we will put this talisman to good use." The older man said as he calmly walked away.
•In the Present•
Jackie ran through the halls, frantically searching for the younger man, calling out his name as his footsteps echoed around him.
"Alex, where are you?!" He said, worry dripping from his voice as he kept searching.
At that moment, a loud cough broke through the air, and the older man followed it, soon coming out into the courtyard, feeling relief as he saw the younger man sitting on the cobbled floor.
"..Jackie.." Alex said, a smile forming on his face as he laid his eyes on his friend.
"Alex, I thought Yuzuki.." he said, kneeling down and looking the man over.
"..I'm ok..just some scrapes and a couple of bruises.." the younger man said.
"Do you have the talisman?" Jackie asked.
The younger man looked at the ground, coughing again as a feeling of failure filled him.
"No..Yuzuki took it from me..I'm sorry jackie.." Alex answered.
Jackie wrapped an arm around them, gently lifting them onto their feet, the younger man wrapping his left arm across his shoulders, before they began to walk out.
"It's alright, they were bound to get one of the talisman's eventually..but we will get it back from them." The older man said.
Alex nodded, Jackie helping him into the sidecar of the motorcycle, as he got onto the seat and turned over the engine and drove off, heading back to the airport.
They returned the motorcycle, and got on their return flight to San Francisco, the older man immediately falling asleep as the flight took off, but the younger man couldn't, the feeling of failure mixed with guilt was eating at him, especially since he had no clue as to how Shendu would take the news.
'I just have to be truthful and honest, no if's, and's, or buts about it..'
The man let out a quiet sigh and laid back in his seat, glancing out of the window, internally counting down the seconds till they were back home, but that did nothing to drown the dread that was building inside him.
•San Francisco•
The cab soon pulled up in front of Uncle's shop, both men getting out, though while the older man headed into the shop, the younger headed for the secret entrance to Section 13, activating the elevator and heading into the actual facility.
Given it was around 6am, no one seemed to be around, but thankfully he didn't need permission for what he was going to do, as after the elevator stopped and the man got out, he headed directly to the vault, entered in the code and stepped in after the door opened.
"You took longer than i expected, and here i thought you went and did something foolish again." Shendu said, a television remote floating in mid air, being held aloft by the rooster talisman's power.
It was likely some kind of history/documentary program, as the mortal had noticed it was what the demon sorcerer had found a deep interest in.
"You know, long flights and all that jazz.." The man asked, stretching his arms out and hearing the joints pop.
"..Where is the talisman?" The demon asked, their eye's flaring for a moment.
"..i lost it..i got into a fight with the dark hand and they managed to snatch it from me." Alex answered.
The room went deathly silent after, neither of them uttering a breath, but both of them inwardly wondering who would break it.
"..You know, i was honestly terrified to tell you since i thought you'd be pissed but..it seems you're taking it pretty well." The man said.
"Um..don't worry, we'll get it ba-" Alex said, or at least tried to, before he felt his body stiffen, followed by being lifted in the air and brought closer to Shendu's face.
"YOU LOST IT?!" The demon yelled.
'Ok, yea he is pissed..' the man thought with a gulp as he winced in pain due to the loud noise, and the massive amount of static noise that filled his head didn't help either.
"I-it was an accident! I-" Alex tried to say but Shendu cut him off.
"I do not care if it was an accident, it will not be repeated! Do I make myself clear?!" The demon said, his tone dripping with what the mortal could only describe as pure anger.
"C-crystal c-clear.." the man said.
That answer seemed to satisfy him, as he released the man from his telekinetic hold, letting him fall to the floor in a heap.
Alex quickly scooted away from the demon, somehow managing to scramble up onto his feet as he got out of the vault and pressed the button to shut the door, and once it was the man started to make his way down the hallway to the elevator.
The man's body couldn't stop shaking as he walked, so he wrapped his own arms around his frame in an attempt to calm himself, but it was for naught as he fell back against the wall, slowly sliding down it until he was on the floor.
His breath was ragged as he pulled his knees up to his chest, curling himself up into a ball, and just let the tears fall from his eyes..