Chapter 8 - Dancing in The Dark
Submitted November 5, 2007 Updated May 24, 2011 Status Complete | Dolosus, a skilled assassin, has already failed once in the murder of a particularly annoying enemy. When given another chance, its clear that another failure wont be tolerated. Are bloodlust and determination enough to succeed?
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Comics » - Original Comics |
Chapter 8 - Dancing in The Dark
Chapter 8 - Dancing in The Dark
Author's Notes:
- This one of three chapters written by Brian that I'll be posting. The next one was originally a part of this chapter, but we decided that since the word count was well over 11000 (thus, over 9000!!!), a division was in order.
- I wrote what we have entitled "the awkward moment," and Brian edited. Just so we're clear :)
- Ikonu is freakin' hardcore. As is Nabin. There's some awesome characters in these next couple chapters :)
- Enjoy!!
Maion looked out over the sea of people who had come to her party.
A masquerade. Could there be anything more fun? Well, maybe if I had a drink. Where the heck is Mohajon?
“Excuse me? May I have this dance?”
Maion turned to face the man who had asked her. He was wearing a mask, but that did not conceal him from being a greasy, fake, rich snob like so many other guests.
“No thank you,” she said in a polite manor.
“Aw, please? I’ve already been turned down once tonight. Don’t let it happen again. I must insist.”
“And I must insist that you leave me now,” Maion answered, now starting to lose her temper.
“Is there a problem, Maion?” Mohajon asked as he approached them.
“No, this man was just leaving,” she replied. “This is my boyfriend, fyi,” she whispered to the man. He gave a look of irritation and walked away.
“Damn, why does everyone have a boyfriend already?” he complained as he merged back into the crowd.
“Thank you for the rescue,” Maion said to Mohajon as he handed her a drink. She had to lift her mask to take a sip. She had decided to be different from all the other ladies at the masquerade and wear one that covered her full face. It was plain white, with the exception of ruby red lips and sapphire blue eye shadow. It was more creepy than beautiful. If it wasn’t for her hair and dress, one would have a hard time guessing she was a woman. Her dress was a lovely deep shade of purple, with peacock feathers adorning very smart places. The best word to describe it was “chic.”
Mohajon’s outfit was a direct counterpart to Maion’s. First of all, his mohawk had red stripes this evening. His mask was the same deep purple as her dress, only his didn’t cover his entire face. Like Maion, he wanted to be different from the others. So instead of wearing a mask that covered his eyes and left his mouth open, he wore one that covered his mouth and left his eyes open. Like her dress, the mask also had some peacock feather trimmings. His suit was also a plain white, with the exception of a ruby red tie and a sapphire blue pocket square.
“Would you like to dance?” he asked.
“I would love to,” she answered, placing her hand in his. They went out onto the dance floor and, like a true couple, took up the rhythm immediately. They waltzed wonderfully and gracefully together, each never taking their eyes off of their partner. They never had to look down at their feet. They never ran into other couples. They moved as one.
Eventually, the song ended and they joined the rest of the crowd in applauding the band. Then, there was a gasp from the crowd. The dancers parted to reveal a tall slender man holding a woman who had fainted. The woman had long, pink hair.
Her corset was probably too tight.
Maion had to be thankful that she was so thin. She never had to wear a corset.
“Should we do something?” Mohajon asked.
“What? There is nothing we can do,” Maion answered. Then she lifted her mask again and downed the rest of her drink. “Actually, there is something you can do. You can get me another drink.”
Mohajon took the glass and went back to the bar. Maion watched him go. She then put her mask back on and left the dance floor. She walked around the side of the great hall until she reached an entrance to a hallway that led to other parts of the mansion. Although the path looked clear, she had hired various forms or security to bar anyone from accessing her home. She stopped just beyond the hallway entrance and looked out the window. The elephants were all asleep except for Deedee. She was walking around, excited by the large amount of people that had come to the mansion. Maion’s view became obscured by the reflection of a woman in the glass.
“I was wondering when we would talk,” she said as she turned around. She faced a woman dressed in a dark green gown with black lace and long black gloves. “Demonic.”
“Maion, nice to see you, too,” Demonic replied.
“I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up at all, but then I saw the woman with pink hair. Seriously, Demonic, if you are going to infiltrate someone’s home you should have at the very least insisted Kat dye her hair.”
“I gave her the choice of wearing a wig, but she wasn’t happy about that idea. And I would never miss a party thrown by you. If I remember correctly you always had the best gatherings. Staying up until four in the morning, trespassing on private property, setting off fireworks…would you like to stroll down memory lane with me?”
“I would rather not. Look if you’re going to try and break into my mansion let me save you the trouble by telling you it’s impossible. I have countless guards patrolling every corridor, every entrance, and every room. No one you send could make it in alive.”
“That was always you problem Maion. You focus so much on security that you forget your foe just may specialize in infiltration and spying. I have many people under me that can easily gain access anywhere.”
“Oh yeah? Ha! I’ve got even more working for me!”
“I can assure you that you don’t.”
“Oh, I do! My assassins could easily beat yours!”
“Your assassins couldn’t beat their way out of a paper bag.”
Maion seemed to take incredible offense to this.
“I will bury you!” she yelled. A couple passing by stopped to stare at them. “What are you looking at?!” They quickly walked away. “When I have that file in my possession, I will destroy you.”
“When you have the file?”
“That’s right.”
There was a pause. Demonic stared intently into Maion’s eyes. Then she hitched up her dress and turned to leave. As she went, she called over her shoulder, “Before this is over, I will kill you.”
That’s what you think, Maion thought. She turned back to the window, only this time she didn’t watch Deedee. Instead she looked up at the stars. Her mind drifted back a couple of months. It was a few days after the Guatemala fiasco. Kitty and Cinta had come back to confess that they had failed in not only capturing Altojo, but Kat as well. They did, however, manage to bring back a remarkable gift: the scythe of Demonic’s top assassin. According to Cinta and Kitty, both of whom had fought the man before, the scythe had the ability to cut holes in the very fabric of space, allowing one to teleport virtually anywhere.
Teleportation! That had caught Maion’s attention. She took the scythe and grounded Kitty for allowing her sibling rivalry and past with Kat to get in the way of her mission. After a couple of days of brooding over what to do, she had finally come to a decision. There was no choice but to ask for his help. She grabbed the scythe and went out onto the balcony. She unbuttoned the top few buttons of her blouse and threw her head back. Closing her eyes in deep concentration, she could feel the power surge within her rush to her bosom. The tattoo of the bird on her chest began to writhe. The ink outline became clearer. The wings began flapping. The beak opened and a screech sounded out. Then, the creature sprang forth from her chest. She could feel the rush of euphoria as the bird pulled away from her skin. It launched into the air, circled around her as it increased in size, and then landed on the balcony right in front her. She buttoned her blouse and hopped into the saddle on its back. She pulled on the reins and soared into the air.
The bird took her higher and higher into the sky until they were above the clouds. The sky above the clouds looked quite different from the sky below the clouds. For one thing, it was much brighter since nothing was interfering with the sun’s rays. And it wasn’t blue. In fact, with the landscape of cumulus-o-nimbus, everything seemed white. That made it all the easier to find the one reddish orange producer of color in the surrounding area. It was a windmill, built upon a piece of land that floated in the sky. It was an island amongst a sea of clouds.
The bird floated down and landed upon the island. There wasn’t much to see. Grass covered the land. There were some flowers, a few trees, and…pinwheels? That was new. She’d have to ask him about that.
She dismounted the bird and walked toward the windmill. In front of the door she could see a man doing what she could only guess to be some form of karate meditation. He was tan skinned with medium length brown hair. He wore a fishnet shirt, a white karate jacket with torn sleeves, olive green pants, and black hiking boots. Around his head he wore a red bandana and around his neck hung a sparkling red pendant that seemed to catch the sun’s rays. The most obvious feature about him, however, was the weights. Around his wrists and ankles hung bland grey weights that didn’t look like much, but Maion knew from experience that they were in fact immensely heavy.
He opened his eyes and looked as Maion approached.
“You added pinwheels, Ikonu?” she asked.
“I decided to learn some origami while I’m here. It helps to pass the time,” he answered.
“So I guess that means you fixed your computer?”
He gave her a look that read “dog, please.”
“You’re right, dumb question,” she said.
He got up from his stance and faced her.
“So what do you want? Are you here for a friendly visit?”
This time it was her turn to give the look.
“Come on in,” he sighed.
They strolled toward the windmill. Ikonu opened the door and let her in. Inside, computers, wires, cooling tanks, monitors, and various other pieces of electrical equipment filled the room, wall to wall and floor to ceiling. It was truly impressive, especially since he had built all of it. She walked to the center of the room where a light shone down on a table. She took the scythe off of her back and set it upon the table, then stared at him.
“I was wondering why you were carrying that,” he smirked. “So what do you want?”
“I want you to analyze this weapon,” she answered. “Apparently, this weapon has the ability to open holes in space and allow the user to jump through them and teleport anywhere in the world. I want to know how.”
“You can’t.”
“Excuse me?”
“You can’t simply cut open holes in space. It’s impossible. If you’re talking about wormholes, there’s still no proof that they actually exist. It all goes against the laws of physics.”
“You’re talking to me about physics? Someone with your abilities?” she smiled.
He rolled his eyes. “So what is this for, anyway?”
“This scythe belonged to Demonic’s top assassin.”
“Top assassin? How’d you get it away from him?”
“Apparently he has an innate ability to lose things. Anyway, I figured with the power of teleportation at my disposal, I could easily take Demonic down by teleporting some of my own assassins into her headquarters.”
“If this thing really does teleport, chances are the user needs to know where they are teleporting to. Otherwise if you didn’t, you might end up in a wall or inside a person or an object that happens to be there. You don’t know where the organization is, so even if I was able to extract the power from this you couldn’t use it for your plan. This thing is useless to you.”
“Don’t be so quick to dismiss it, Ikonu. I may not have been inside the organization, but the scythe has. Now that has to account for something. You’re smart. You can figure this out.”
He heaved a sigh. He knew it was pointless to argue with her. He put his hand to his chin and went into deep thought. Maion remained quiet. She knew better than to disturb him while he was thinking. After a few minutes his eyes flew open.
“Footprints! I can check for footprints!”
“Footprints?”
“Yes, it’s a term they use to explain [blah blah blah, etc],” here he started talking in technical babble, saying things that Maion, nor anyone else, could ever understand.
“Ikonu!” she yelled, startling him out of his rant. “In English, please.”
“Think of it like a cell phone. Whenever you make a call from your cell phone, everything about the call gets recorded in a call log…where the call went to, what time it was made, and so on. That’s a footprint. It may be possible that whenever this scythe teleports somewhere, that teleportation also gets recorded in a log. And if it does work by creating holes, I could use that log to link up the entrances and exits of those holes and trace it back to a single starting point. Areas where the entrances and exits are in close proximity to each other probably suggest that that area is a battle field. Other areas where there are one or two exits probably would suggest that there was an assassination target in that area. However, if I could find an area using the log that shows an overwhelming number of entrances that lead to several far away destinations…then that is probably the organization’s headquarters.”
“You see? I knew you could do it.”
“Yeah right. It’s not as easy as that. It would be simple if this was a piece of electrical equipment like a phone or a computer, but we’re talking about a simple tool here: a piece of wood with a metal blade coming out of it. I wouldn’t even know where to look to find a log. And without the log, I couldn’t possibly locate the entrance and exit holes. There’s no way it can be done, Maion. This here is magic, not technology. It’s not my area of expertise. You should get someone else to help you.”
“But Ikonu, there is no one else. I don’t have as much faith in any of my other subordinates as I have in you.”
It seemed her words were falling on deaf ears. Ikonu kept shaking his head. Finally, an idea struck her. She didn’t really want to, but she knew there was one thing that could motivate Ikonu to do anything.
“If you do this and get me that teleporting power and find the headquarters…I’ll let you go.”
Ikonu froze. His eyes darted up to meet Maion’s.
“What did you say?”
“You heard me. If you do this, I’ll grant you your freedom.”
Ikonu’s eyes glazed over, as if he was seeing something from his past. He slowly walked over to one of the monitors.
“Get out,” he said in calm, quiet voice.
She reached out to grab the scythe.
“Leave the scythe,” he said. “I’ll send you an e-mail when I find something.”
She smiled. Quietly she strolled out of the windmill. Truth be told, she really did need Ikonu. The boy was a genius. However, she had absolutely no intention of letting him go free. She would find a way to make it up to him when this was all over.
“Maion?”
She was awoken from her day dream. She was no longer on the island, but rather back at the party nearly four months later. Mohajon was holding a drink out to her.
“Thank you,” she said and took a sip from it.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m fine. Come on, let’s dance some more.”
Demonic pushed the shrimp around on her plate. To someone passing by it may have looked like she was contemplating whether or not to eat it. However, she was really lost in thought. Memories were starting to well up in her. Not her memories, of course, for she was merely a creation, but memories from her creator: the original Demonic, as she liked to think of it. She was a copy made in the imagination of another person, a person who poured her very essence into her work and thus from time to time recollections of the original Demonic’s childhood would spring to life. Demonic tried all she could to suppress these, especially now that they were starting to involve Maion.
Maion. Something she said was intriguing. What was it? Once she got the file she would take me down? That means then that she doesn’t have it. But if she doesn’t have the file, then who does?
This was making her angry. That document contained valuable information. That’s why she thought it would be safe hidden among the myriad of other documents in the archives, but apparently it wasn’t. Someone had broken in months ago and burned the archive room to the ground. Dolosus had been sent once the silent alarm went off to kill the intruders. According to him it was Kat, Altojo, and Crimson, but that was only his word. All the security cameras had either been burned to crisp, or had their tapes removed…by someone. Someone else was there and knew who the intruders were. Could it have been Maion? Or one of her agents? Possibly, but she would never know for sure. The fact that that particular document had been reported as missing scared her. The only safe thing to do was to kill Kat, Altojo, and Crimson, yet Dolosus had already showed experience that the three of them were liked to rely on others as backup. That’s why she had let Kat join the organization; she had no friends nor backup there. She kept Kat alive to convince Altojo to reveal his true location. And the crows were getting closer and closer to finding Crimson. Soon, all three of them would be dead, and she would be safe from, presumably, everyone who had come in contact with that file.
I can’t make my move, not yet. I control Kat. Maion controls Crimson. Altojo seems to be the swing vote in all of this. Whoever controls him will win. If I make the slightest attempt at either of their lives, he’ll join up with Maion.
It was a very delicate situation. Altojo already showed signs of interest in her side by coming to the organization, but that could easily change. The best thing to do would be to convince him she was the only way they could “rescue” Crimson.
“Demonic,” the boy crow whispered as he approached her a little out of breath. “We found her. We found Crimson.”
“You did?”
“Yes, it wasn’t easy though. This mansion has so much security.”
“That didn’t stop you though.”
He smiled, “No, it didn’t.”
“Where is your sister?”
“She’s with Kat. We told Dolosus as well. Man, you are never going to guess what we caught them do-”
“I really do not care. Stop blathering like an idiot and go get their weapons.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he bowed and went running off.
Demonic smiled.
All according to plan.
Somewhere high above the mansion, an island floated in the sky. On that island was a windmill. In that windmill was a boy. In that boy’s head was a bunch of facts and figures about a particular scythe.
“That’s it then,” he said to himself with a smile. “I cracked it!”
He ran to a computer and started typing madly on the keys, punching a multitude of codes and formulas. At last, a map of the world appeared on the monitor. There were numerous dots flashing on the map, half of them were green and half of them were red. Many of the dots seemed to centralize around focused areas in the United States, Guatemala, or Japan. He took a second to look over his work, pressed a key, and watched as several lines began to cross the map, as if it were a game of connect the dots. He laughed triumphantly. Smiling he turned and looked at the scythe on the table. It was hardly a scythe anymore. The blade had been removed from the pole and pieces had been cut out. The pole was cut open and dissected. Microscopes were looking at various pieces of the weapon. Wires were hanging down from ceiling connecting in several places with electrical currents passing through to the other machines. Dishes contained pieces of the weapon submerged in various liquids.
Ikonu had tested that thing in nearly every single element on the periodic table. He had used every method of spectrometry, spectroscopy, and spectrophotometry. He had even resorted to using a crude form of alchemy that combined both science and magic. It wasn’t easy, but after nearly four months of straight work he had finally cracked the code to the scythe. It was strange. The wood of the core of the pole seemed to have some kind of inky substance in it. It was the pole though that had led him to the answer. Teleportation brought on a sudden change in temperature and climate. There were parts where the wood showed the first signs of rot from rain, parts where the ink was frozen from cold weather, even pollen was found. It was all in the ink, like every time the scythe’s ability was activated, the ink would rise to the surface. While on the surface, it absorbed many things from the environment that could all be tracked.
“I got this. Alright, time to send that e-mail.”
He wrote a quick note to Maion and pressed the send button. Then he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a well deserved nap.
Dolosus, left alone to deal with the situation and all of his muddled up thoughts, took just a moment to clear his mind before following after Kat and the sister crow. He walked quickly, trying to cover distance without attracting unwanted attention from the few party goers who had decided to leave early. Finally, he found the girls standing at the edge of the half-circle driveway, where stretch limos were entering and exiting in the typically hurried fashion in which the wealthy prefer to travel.
Dolosus approached the girls and opened his mouth to speak, but Kat interrupted, looking quite distressed at his presence.
"You! Why did you follow me? I told you I had to-"
"Kat, listen to me," he placed his hands on her shoulders, "There's been some sort of... misunderstanding."
"What are you talking about?"
Dolosus opened his mouth, closed it, glanced around nervously and sighed. They had to work together on this mission. He'd have to let her know it was him. Slowly, he raised a trembling hand to his mask and pulled it away from his face. Kat's eyes widened, and color drained from her face.
"Holy shoot..." she whispered, placing a hand over her rapidly beating heart. She swayed as if about to faint again. Dolosus held her shoulders once more to steady her.
"I-I kissed...My God..." she trailed off and took a moment to clear her mind and regain her wits. She was steady on her feet now, but Dolosus still held her. She took a deep breath, then, blushing heavily, said,
"I'm so sorry, I didn't realize..."
“I’m back!”
The male crow came back with the weapons. He handed the scythe to Dolosus (using gloved hands so as not to go mad) and the leaf to Kat.
“Hey, you two, listen up,” the female crow said. “Now it wasn’t easy finding her. This mansion was constructed in such a weird way it’s very easy to get lost.”
“I think it’s magic” her brother said.
“It’s not magic you idiot.”
“Then how do you explain that we wound up on the roof top when we went down a flight of stairs?”
“Just pay attention to where you are going,” she continued, ignoring her brother’s question. “We got a guide for you. He’ll be able to take you there.”
She nodded her head over to a statue near the staircase leading into the mansion of a tiger bearing a crossbow on its back. From behind the statue out stepped a boy around Kat’s age. He had long, white hair pulled back in a pony tail. He wore blue jeans, a white t-shirt with the logo TP on it, and a backpack. He was certainly not dressed for the masquerade. As he approached, Dolosus noticed a shadow pass both of the crows’ faces. He was intrigued by this reaction, but thought better to question it later and get business done now.
“This,” the female crow introduced, “is Nabin.”
Nabin didn’t say anything. Instead he just bowed his head, which Dolosus and Kat returned.
“Nabin has certain skills that will allow you guys to maneuver through the mansion uninterrupted,” the male crow explained. “Nabin?”
“One of them just relieved someone of their post,” Nabin said, without any emotion. “The path from the garden entrance is clear now.”
“Alright then, get going,” the crows said at the same time and then ran off to meet Demonic at the limo. Kat extended a hand toward Nabin and smiled.
“Hi, I’m Kat. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Nabin stared blankly at her.
“We don’t have time for formalities. Come on,” he turned on the spot and headed into the garden.
Dolosus and Kat followed. The three of them crouched behind bushes and darted through the shadows of the trees. Several times they froze for minutes in the flora because a light would suddenly fly on in one of the mansion’s windows and a face would appear to look out into the garden. When the coast was clear they continued on until they reached a giant glass door in the side of the building. There was a man dressed in black standing outside the door.
“Guards,” Kat whispered.
“That’s fine. I can easily kill them,” Dolosus whispered back.
“Stay here,” Nabin commanded. Dolosus froze in his spot. No one had ever given him a command before, except of course for Demonic. Just who the hell was this Nabin guy anyway?
Nabin calmly walked across the lawn. He approached the guard. Dolosus put his hand on his scythe, ready to come to the boy’s rescue. But amazingly, the guard just stood there. Nabin actually tapped him on the shoulder and the guard opened the glass door for him. He waved the others over.
“That was amazing!” Kat explained. “How did you do that?”
“Yes, just what is this special ability of yours?” Dolosus asked.
Rather than answer them straight on, Nabin stood on his toes, reached up, and grabbed the face right off of the guard. Underneath was a face made of some kind of wood with rolling eyes and two lines drawn down from the mouth to the chin.
“A puppet?” Dolosus wondered.
“That’s right. I have infiltrated this mansion with several puppets disguised as guards. The crows can’t lead you to Crimson, but my puppets can.”
He replaced the face mask of the puppet and entered the building. The puppet guard led them down several hallways and across a couple of large halls. Dolosus could understand how the crows could get lost. The mansion was like a maze. There were staircases popping in and out of walls, balconies from floors above, pillars that seemed to serve no purpose at all. The whole place was decorated with paintings and busts that seemed to centralize around a strange wonderland theme. The floors were black and white checkerboard. There were pictures of card suites and improper fractions, and a clock that had no face. The entire place looked like it sprang from the mind of a disturbed child.
A few times they had to duck in the shadows while the puppet guard went to “relieve” some other guards of their duty. It was nice because no matter how hard they hit him, he never went down. At long last, he took them to a shelf and pulled on one of the books. The shelf swung open to reveal a long, narrow passage way. At the end of the passage lay a deep, dark pit, and at the bottom of the pit was…
“Crimson!” Kat yelled.
“Quiet!” Dolosus hushed. “Do you want us to get captured?”
He was being logical, there could easily have been secret security anywhere. However, he felt a strange sensation appear in his stomach at the sight of Crimson. Her hair was still blonde, her clothes hadn’t changed much, and she still wore that necklace with the red C. The only thing different was that she much dirtier and unconscious.
This is the woman Demonic wanted me to kill. Now she wants me to rescue her. Demonic, what are you planning? Dolosus wondered.
“Don’t just stand there,” Kat said to him. “Go get her!”
Dolosus swung his scythe in the air while keeping the pit floor in sight, yet nothing happened. No hole appeared. No one teleported. His powers weren’t working.
“What’s wrong?” Kat asked.
“I don’t know,” Dolosus answered. “Usually something happens when I swing my scythe.”
“Your teleportation powers won’t work in this mansion. There is more than meets the eye in this building. The crows don’t lose their way easily. It’s some form of dimension shifting about the whole building,” Nabin explained.
“And with the dimensions already warped…” Dolosus began.
“Your powers won’t work,” Kat finished. “Alright, lower me down,” she ordered as she approached the edge of the pit.
Dolosus grabbed her around the ankles and lowered her into the pit. She grabbed onto Crimson and nodded them to pull her up. Nabin gripped Dolosus and together they pulled Kat and Crimson out of the pit. Kat cradled Crimson in her arms and began to tear up.
“Oh, I missed you so much,” she whispered.
And a voice said from behind them.
“Aw, I missed you too, sister.”
Owari
- This one of three chapters written by Brian that I'll be posting. The next one was originally a part of this chapter, but we decided that since the word count was well over 11000 (thus, over 9000!!!), a division was in order.
- I wrote what we have entitled "the awkward moment," and Brian edited. Just so we're clear :)
- Ikonu is freakin' hardcore. As is Nabin. There's some awesome characters in these next couple chapters :)
- Enjoy!!
Maion looked out over the sea of people who had come to her party.
A masquerade. Could there be anything more fun? Well, maybe if I had a drink. Where the heck is Mohajon?
“Excuse me? May I have this dance?”
Maion turned to face the man who had asked her. He was wearing a mask, but that did not conceal him from being a greasy, fake, rich snob like so many other guests.
“No thank you,” she said in a polite manor.
“Aw, please? I’ve already been turned down once tonight. Don’t let it happen again. I must insist.”
“And I must insist that you leave me now,” Maion answered, now starting to lose her temper.
“Is there a problem, Maion?” Mohajon asked as he approached them.
“No, this man was just leaving,” she replied. “This is my boyfriend, fyi,” she whispered to the man. He gave a look of irritation and walked away.
“Damn, why does everyone have a boyfriend already?” he complained as he merged back into the crowd.
“Thank you for the rescue,” Maion said to Mohajon as he handed her a drink. She had to lift her mask to take a sip. She had decided to be different from all the other ladies at the masquerade and wear one that covered her full face. It was plain white, with the exception of ruby red lips and sapphire blue eye shadow. It was more creepy than beautiful. If it wasn’t for her hair and dress, one would have a hard time guessing she was a woman. Her dress was a lovely deep shade of purple, with peacock feathers adorning very smart places. The best word to describe it was “chic.”
Mohajon’s outfit was a direct counterpart to Maion’s. First of all, his mohawk had red stripes this evening. His mask was the same deep purple as her dress, only his didn’t cover his entire face. Like Maion, he wanted to be different from the others. So instead of wearing a mask that covered his eyes and left his mouth open, he wore one that covered his mouth and left his eyes open. Like her dress, the mask also had some peacock feather trimmings. His suit was also a plain white, with the exception of a ruby red tie and a sapphire blue pocket square.
“Would you like to dance?” he asked.
“I would love to,” she answered, placing her hand in his. They went out onto the dance floor and, like a true couple, took up the rhythm immediately. They waltzed wonderfully and gracefully together, each never taking their eyes off of their partner. They never had to look down at their feet. They never ran into other couples. They moved as one.
Eventually, the song ended and they joined the rest of the crowd in applauding the band. Then, there was a gasp from the crowd. The dancers parted to reveal a tall slender man holding a woman who had fainted. The woman had long, pink hair.
Her corset was probably too tight.
Maion had to be thankful that she was so thin. She never had to wear a corset.
“Should we do something?” Mohajon asked.
“What? There is nothing we can do,” Maion answered. Then she lifted her mask again and downed the rest of her drink. “Actually, there is something you can do. You can get me another drink.”
Mohajon took the glass and went back to the bar. Maion watched him go. She then put her mask back on and left the dance floor. She walked around the side of the great hall until she reached an entrance to a hallway that led to other parts of the mansion. Although the path looked clear, she had hired various forms or security to bar anyone from accessing her home. She stopped just beyond the hallway entrance and looked out the window. The elephants were all asleep except for Deedee. She was walking around, excited by the large amount of people that had come to the mansion. Maion’s view became obscured by the reflection of a woman in the glass.
“I was wondering when we would talk,” she said as she turned around. She faced a woman dressed in a dark green gown with black lace and long black gloves. “Demonic.”
“Maion, nice to see you, too,” Demonic replied.
“I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up at all, but then I saw the woman with pink hair. Seriously, Demonic, if you are going to infiltrate someone’s home you should have at the very least insisted Kat dye her hair.”
“I gave her the choice of wearing a wig, but she wasn’t happy about that idea. And I would never miss a party thrown by you. If I remember correctly you always had the best gatherings. Staying up until four in the morning, trespassing on private property, setting off fireworks…would you like to stroll down memory lane with me?”
“I would rather not. Look if you’re going to try and break into my mansion let me save you the trouble by telling you it’s impossible. I have countless guards patrolling every corridor, every entrance, and every room. No one you send could make it in alive.”
“That was always you problem Maion. You focus so much on security that you forget your foe just may specialize in infiltration and spying. I have many people under me that can easily gain access anywhere.”
“Oh yeah? Ha! I’ve got even more working for me!”
“I can assure you that you don’t.”
“Oh, I do! My assassins could easily beat yours!”
“Your assassins couldn’t beat their way out of a paper bag.”
Maion seemed to take incredible offense to this.
“I will bury you!” she yelled. A couple passing by stopped to stare at them. “What are you looking at?!” They quickly walked away. “When I have that file in my possession, I will destroy you.”
“When you have the file?”
“That’s right.”
There was a pause. Demonic stared intently into Maion’s eyes. Then she hitched up her dress and turned to leave. As she went, she called over her shoulder, “Before this is over, I will kill you.”
That’s what you think, Maion thought. She turned back to the window, only this time she didn’t watch Deedee. Instead she looked up at the stars. Her mind drifted back a couple of months. It was a few days after the Guatemala fiasco. Kitty and Cinta had come back to confess that they had failed in not only capturing Altojo, but Kat as well. They did, however, manage to bring back a remarkable gift: the scythe of Demonic’s top assassin. According to Cinta and Kitty, both of whom had fought the man before, the scythe had the ability to cut holes in the very fabric of space, allowing one to teleport virtually anywhere.
Teleportation! That had caught Maion’s attention. She took the scythe and grounded Kitty for allowing her sibling rivalry and past with Kat to get in the way of her mission. After a couple of days of brooding over what to do, she had finally come to a decision. There was no choice but to ask for his help. She grabbed the scythe and went out onto the balcony. She unbuttoned the top few buttons of her blouse and threw her head back. Closing her eyes in deep concentration, she could feel the power surge within her rush to her bosom. The tattoo of the bird on her chest began to writhe. The ink outline became clearer. The wings began flapping. The beak opened and a screech sounded out. Then, the creature sprang forth from her chest. She could feel the rush of euphoria as the bird pulled away from her skin. It launched into the air, circled around her as it increased in size, and then landed on the balcony right in front her. She buttoned her blouse and hopped into the saddle on its back. She pulled on the reins and soared into the air.
The bird took her higher and higher into the sky until they were above the clouds. The sky above the clouds looked quite different from the sky below the clouds. For one thing, it was much brighter since nothing was interfering with the sun’s rays. And it wasn’t blue. In fact, with the landscape of cumulus-o-nimbus, everything seemed white. That made it all the easier to find the one reddish orange producer of color in the surrounding area. It was a windmill, built upon a piece of land that floated in the sky. It was an island amongst a sea of clouds.
The bird floated down and landed upon the island. There wasn’t much to see. Grass covered the land. There were some flowers, a few trees, and…pinwheels? That was new. She’d have to ask him about that.
She dismounted the bird and walked toward the windmill. In front of the door she could see a man doing what she could only guess to be some form of karate meditation. He was tan skinned with medium length brown hair. He wore a fishnet shirt, a white karate jacket with torn sleeves, olive green pants, and black hiking boots. Around his head he wore a red bandana and around his neck hung a sparkling red pendant that seemed to catch the sun’s rays. The most obvious feature about him, however, was the weights. Around his wrists and ankles hung bland grey weights that didn’t look like much, but Maion knew from experience that they were in fact immensely heavy.
He opened his eyes and looked as Maion approached.
“You added pinwheels, Ikonu?” she asked.
“I decided to learn some origami while I’m here. It helps to pass the time,” he answered.
“So I guess that means you fixed your computer?”
He gave her a look that read “dog, please.”
“You’re right, dumb question,” she said.
He got up from his stance and faced her.
“So what do you want? Are you here for a friendly visit?”
This time it was her turn to give the look.
“Come on in,” he sighed.
They strolled toward the windmill. Ikonu opened the door and let her in. Inside, computers, wires, cooling tanks, monitors, and various other pieces of electrical equipment filled the room, wall to wall and floor to ceiling. It was truly impressive, especially since he had built all of it. She walked to the center of the room where a light shone down on a table. She took the scythe off of her back and set it upon the table, then stared at him.
“I was wondering why you were carrying that,” he smirked. “So what do you want?”
“I want you to analyze this weapon,” she answered. “Apparently, this weapon has the ability to open holes in space and allow the user to jump through them and teleport anywhere in the world. I want to know how.”
“You can’t.”
“Excuse me?”
“You can’t simply cut open holes in space. It’s impossible. If you’re talking about wormholes, there’s still no proof that they actually exist. It all goes against the laws of physics.”
“You’re talking to me about physics? Someone with your abilities?” she smiled.
He rolled his eyes. “So what is this for, anyway?”
“This scythe belonged to Demonic’s top assassin.”
“Top assassin? How’d you get it away from him?”
“Apparently he has an innate ability to lose things. Anyway, I figured with the power of teleportation at my disposal, I could easily take Demonic down by teleporting some of my own assassins into her headquarters.”
“If this thing really does teleport, chances are the user needs to know where they are teleporting to. Otherwise if you didn’t, you might end up in a wall or inside a person or an object that happens to be there. You don’t know where the organization is, so even if I was able to extract the power from this you couldn’t use it for your plan. This thing is useless to you.”
“Don’t be so quick to dismiss it, Ikonu. I may not have been inside the organization, but the scythe has. Now that has to account for something. You’re smart. You can figure this out.”
He heaved a sigh. He knew it was pointless to argue with her. He put his hand to his chin and went into deep thought. Maion remained quiet. She knew better than to disturb him while he was thinking. After a few minutes his eyes flew open.
“Footprints! I can check for footprints!”
“Footprints?”
“Yes, it’s a term they use to explain [blah blah blah, etc],” here he started talking in technical babble, saying things that Maion, nor anyone else, could ever understand.
“Ikonu!” she yelled, startling him out of his rant. “In English, please.”
“Think of it like a cell phone. Whenever you make a call from your cell phone, everything about the call gets recorded in a call log…where the call went to, what time it was made, and so on. That’s a footprint. It may be possible that whenever this scythe teleports somewhere, that teleportation also gets recorded in a log. And if it does work by creating holes, I could use that log to link up the entrances and exits of those holes and trace it back to a single starting point. Areas where the entrances and exits are in close proximity to each other probably suggest that that area is a battle field. Other areas where there are one or two exits probably would suggest that there was an assassination target in that area. However, if I could find an area using the log that shows an overwhelming number of entrances that lead to several far away destinations…then that is probably the organization’s headquarters.”
“You see? I knew you could do it.”
“Yeah right. It’s not as easy as that. It would be simple if this was a piece of electrical equipment like a phone or a computer, but we’re talking about a simple tool here: a piece of wood with a metal blade coming out of it. I wouldn’t even know where to look to find a log. And without the log, I couldn’t possibly locate the entrance and exit holes. There’s no way it can be done, Maion. This here is magic, not technology. It’s not my area of expertise. You should get someone else to help you.”
“But Ikonu, there is no one else. I don’t have as much faith in any of my other subordinates as I have in you.”
It seemed her words were falling on deaf ears. Ikonu kept shaking his head. Finally, an idea struck her. She didn’t really want to, but she knew there was one thing that could motivate Ikonu to do anything.
“If you do this and get me that teleporting power and find the headquarters…I’ll let you go.”
Ikonu froze. His eyes darted up to meet Maion’s.
“What did you say?”
“You heard me. If you do this, I’ll grant you your freedom.”
Ikonu’s eyes glazed over, as if he was seeing something from his past. He slowly walked over to one of the monitors.
“Get out,” he said in calm, quiet voice.
She reached out to grab the scythe.
“Leave the scythe,” he said. “I’ll send you an e-mail when I find something.”
She smiled. Quietly she strolled out of the windmill. Truth be told, she really did need Ikonu. The boy was a genius. However, she had absolutely no intention of letting him go free. She would find a way to make it up to him when this was all over.
“Maion?”
She was awoken from her day dream. She was no longer on the island, but rather back at the party nearly four months later. Mohajon was holding a drink out to her.
“Thank you,” she said and took a sip from it.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m fine. Come on, let’s dance some more.”
Demonic pushed the shrimp around on her plate. To someone passing by it may have looked like she was contemplating whether or not to eat it. However, she was really lost in thought. Memories were starting to well up in her. Not her memories, of course, for she was merely a creation, but memories from her creator: the original Demonic, as she liked to think of it. She was a copy made in the imagination of another person, a person who poured her very essence into her work and thus from time to time recollections of the original Demonic’s childhood would spring to life. Demonic tried all she could to suppress these, especially now that they were starting to involve Maion.
Maion. Something she said was intriguing. What was it? Once she got the file she would take me down? That means then that she doesn’t have it. But if she doesn’t have the file, then who does?
This was making her angry. That document contained valuable information. That’s why she thought it would be safe hidden among the myriad of other documents in the archives, but apparently it wasn’t. Someone had broken in months ago and burned the archive room to the ground. Dolosus had been sent once the silent alarm went off to kill the intruders. According to him it was Kat, Altojo, and Crimson, but that was only his word. All the security cameras had either been burned to crisp, or had their tapes removed…by someone. Someone else was there and knew who the intruders were. Could it have been Maion? Or one of her agents? Possibly, but she would never know for sure. The fact that that particular document had been reported as missing scared her. The only safe thing to do was to kill Kat, Altojo, and Crimson, yet Dolosus had already showed experience that the three of them were liked to rely on others as backup. That’s why she had let Kat join the organization; she had no friends nor backup there. She kept Kat alive to convince Altojo to reveal his true location. And the crows were getting closer and closer to finding Crimson. Soon, all three of them would be dead, and she would be safe from, presumably, everyone who had come in contact with that file.
I can’t make my move, not yet. I control Kat. Maion controls Crimson. Altojo seems to be the swing vote in all of this. Whoever controls him will win. If I make the slightest attempt at either of their lives, he’ll join up with Maion.
It was a very delicate situation. Altojo already showed signs of interest in her side by coming to the organization, but that could easily change. The best thing to do would be to convince him she was the only way they could “rescue” Crimson.
“Demonic,” the boy crow whispered as he approached her a little out of breath. “We found her. We found Crimson.”
“You did?”
“Yes, it wasn’t easy though. This mansion has so much security.”
“That didn’t stop you though.”
He smiled, “No, it didn’t.”
“Where is your sister?”
“She’s with Kat. We told Dolosus as well. Man, you are never going to guess what we caught them do-”
“I really do not care. Stop blathering like an idiot and go get their weapons.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he bowed and went running off.
Demonic smiled.
All according to plan.
Somewhere high above the mansion, an island floated in the sky. On that island was a windmill. In that windmill was a boy. In that boy’s head was a bunch of facts and figures about a particular scythe.
“That’s it then,” he said to himself with a smile. “I cracked it!”
He ran to a computer and started typing madly on the keys, punching a multitude of codes and formulas. At last, a map of the world appeared on the monitor. There were numerous dots flashing on the map, half of them were green and half of them were red. Many of the dots seemed to centralize around focused areas in the United States, Guatemala, or Japan. He took a second to look over his work, pressed a key, and watched as several lines began to cross the map, as if it were a game of connect the dots. He laughed triumphantly. Smiling he turned and looked at the scythe on the table. It was hardly a scythe anymore. The blade had been removed from the pole and pieces had been cut out. The pole was cut open and dissected. Microscopes were looking at various pieces of the weapon. Wires were hanging down from ceiling connecting in several places with electrical currents passing through to the other machines. Dishes contained pieces of the weapon submerged in various liquids.
Ikonu had tested that thing in nearly every single element on the periodic table. He had used every method of spectrometry, spectroscopy, and spectrophotometry. He had even resorted to using a crude form of alchemy that combined both science and magic. It wasn’t easy, but after nearly four months of straight work he had finally cracked the code to the scythe. It was strange. The wood of the core of the pole seemed to have some kind of inky substance in it. It was the pole though that had led him to the answer. Teleportation brought on a sudden change in temperature and climate. There were parts where the wood showed the first signs of rot from rain, parts where the ink was frozen from cold weather, even pollen was found. It was all in the ink, like every time the scythe’s ability was activated, the ink would rise to the surface. While on the surface, it absorbed many things from the environment that could all be tracked.
“I got this. Alright, time to send that e-mail.”
He wrote a quick note to Maion and pressed the send button. Then he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a well deserved nap.
Dolosus, left alone to deal with the situation and all of his muddled up thoughts, took just a moment to clear his mind before following after Kat and the sister crow. He walked quickly, trying to cover distance without attracting unwanted attention from the few party goers who had decided to leave early. Finally, he found the girls standing at the edge of the half-circle driveway, where stretch limos were entering and exiting in the typically hurried fashion in which the wealthy prefer to travel.
Dolosus approached the girls and opened his mouth to speak, but Kat interrupted, looking quite distressed at his presence.
"You! Why did you follow me? I told you I had to-"
"Kat, listen to me," he placed his hands on her shoulders, "There's been some sort of... misunderstanding."
"What are you talking about?"
Dolosus opened his mouth, closed it, glanced around nervously and sighed. They had to work together on this mission. He'd have to let her know it was him. Slowly, he raised a trembling hand to his mask and pulled it away from his face. Kat's eyes widened, and color drained from her face.
"Holy shoot..." she whispered, placing a hand over her rapidly beating heart. She swayed as if about to faint again. Dolosus held her shoulders once more to steady her.
"I-I kissed...My God..." she trailed off and took a moment to clear her mind and regain her wits. She was steady on her feet now, but Dolosus still held her. She took a deep breath, then, blushing heavily, said,
"I'm so sorry, I didn't realize..."
“I’m back!”
The male crow came back with the weapons. He handed the scythe to Dolosus (using gloved hands so as not to go mad) and the leaf to Kat.
“Hey, you two, listen up,” the female crow said. “Now it wasn’t easy finding her. This mansion was constructed in such a weird way it’s very easy to get lost.”
“I think it’s magic” her brother said.
“It’s not magic you idiot.”
“Then how do you explain that we wound up on the roof top when we went down a flight of stairs?”
“Just pay attention to where you are going,” she continued, ignoring her brother’s question. “We got a guide for you. He’ll be able to take you there.”
She nodded her head over to a statue near the staircase leading into the mansion of a tiger bearing a crossbow on its back. From behind the statue out stepped a boy around Kat’s age. He had long, white hair pulled back in a pony tail. He wore blue jeans, a white t-shirt with the logo TP on it, and a backpack. He was certainly not dressed for the masquerade. As he approached, Dolosus noticed a shadow pass both of the crows’ faces. He was intrigued by this reaction, but thought better to question it later and get business done now.
“This,” the female crow introduced, “is Nabin.”
Nabin didn’t say anything. Instead he just bowed his head, which Dolosus and Kat returned.
“Nabin has certain skills that will allow you guys to maneuver through the mansion uninterrupted,” the male crow explained. “Nabin?”
“One of them just relieved someone of their post,” Nabin said, without any emotion. “The path from the garden entrance is clear now.”
“Alright then, get going,” the crows said at the same time and then ran off to meet Demonic at the limo. Kat extended a hand toward Nabin and smiled.
“Hi, I’m Kat. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Nabin stared blankly at her.
“We don’t have time for formalities. Come on,” he turned on the spot and headed into the garden.
Dolosus and Kat followed. The three of them crouched behind bushes and darted through the shadows of the trees. Several times they froze for minutes in the flora because a light would suddenly fly on in one of the mansion’s windows and a face would appear to look out into the garden. When the coast was clear they continued on until they reached a giant glass door in the side of the building. There was a man dressed in black standing outside the door.
“Guards,” Kat whispered.
“That’s fine. I can easily kill them,” Dolosus whispered back.
“Stay here,” Nabin commanded. Dolosus froze in his spot. No one had ever given him a command before, except of course for Demonic. Just who the hell was this Nabin guy anyway?
Nabin calmly walked across the lawn. He approached the guard. Dolosus put his hand on his scythe, ready to come to the boy’s rescue. But amazingly, the guard just stood there. Nabin actually tapped him on the shoulder and the guard opened the glass door for him. He waved the others over.
“That was amazing!” Kat explained. “How did you do that?”
“Yes, just what is this special ability of yours?” Dolosus asked.
Rather than answer them straight on, Nabin stood on his toes, reached up, and grabbed the face right off of the guard. Underneath was a face made of some kind of wood with rolling eyes and two lines drawn down from the mouth to the chin.
“A puppet?” Dolosus wondered.
“That’s right. I have infiltrated this mansion with several puppets disguised as guards. The crows can’t lead you to Crimson, but my puppets can.”
He replaced the face mask of the puppet and entered the building. The puppet guard led them down several hallways and across a couple of large halls. Dolosus could understand how the crows could get lost. The mansion was like a maze. There were staircases popping in and out of walls, balconies from floors above, pillars that seemed to serve no purpose at all. The whole place was decorated with paintings and busts that seemed to centralize around a strange wonderland theme. The floors were black and white checkerboard. There were pictures of card suites and improper fractions, and a clock that had no face. The entire place looked like it sprang from the mind of a disturbed child.
A few times they had to duck in the shadows while the puppet guard went to “relieve” some other guards of their duty. It was nice because no matter how hard they hit him, he never went down. At long last, he took them to a shelf and pulled on one of the books. The shelf swung open to reveal a long, narrow passage way. At the end of the passage lay a deep, dark pit, and at the bottom of the pit was…
“Crimson!” Kat yelled.
“Quiet!” Dolosus hushed. “Do you want us to get captured?”
He was being logical, there could easily have been secret security anywhere. However, he felt a strange sensation appear in his stomach at the sight of Crimson. Her hair was still blonde, her clothes hadn’t changed much, and she still wore that necklace with the red C. The only thing different was that she much dirtier and unconscious.
This is the woman Demonic wanted me to kill. Now she wants me to rescue her. Demonic, what are you planning? Dolosus wondered.
“Don’t just stand there,” Kat said to him. “Go get her!”
Dolosus swung his scythe in the air while keeping the pit floor in sight, yet nothing happened. No hole appeared. No one teleported. His powers weren’t working.
“What’s wrong?” Kat asked.
“I don’t know,” Dolosus answered. “Usually something happens when I swing my scythe.”
“Your teleportation powers won’t work in this mansion. There is more than meets the eye in this building. The crows don’t lose their way easily. It’s some form of dimension shifting about the whole building,” Nabin explained.
“And with the dimensions already warped…” Dolosus began.
“Your powers won’t work,” Kat finished. “Alright, lower me down,” she ordered as she approached the edge of the pit.
Dolosus grabbed her around the ankles and lowered her into the pit. She grabbed onto Crimson and nodded them to pull her up. Nabin gripped Dolosus and together they pulled Kat and Crimson out of the pit. Kat cradled Crimson in her arms and began to tear up.
“Oh, I missed you so much,” she whispered.
And a voice said from behind them.
“Aw, I missed you too, sister.”
Owari
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