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Post by valekin on Jul 12, 2007 16:40:37 GMT -8
2:00 AM, Thrusday Morning
Long Beach California
Valekin dialed the number to Chihiro Amuri's cell phone. He'd leave a message on the voicemail if she didn't pick up. Then dispose of the... disposable cell phone. As in, setting it on fire and completely destroying the hardware. He had the best signal in the world, he was on the roof of some building.
Brrrrr
Brrrrr
Brrrrr
He waited patiently. He had to give her the instructions to pick up and drop off the results of the Brimstone Delta. The sample was destroyed right after it was analyzed. It was proven to be an enhancement drug, but it would cause some serious psychological, and physical effects. A harmful physical and mental addiction. The slow in brain activity after the speedy points.
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Post by chihiro on Jul 12, 2007 17:03:58 GMT -8
Brrrrrr.....Brrrrrrr......Brrrrrrr......
"Huuu-wha...?" Chi mumbled, tossing over in her bed. Her cell phone was on vibrate, but it was sitting on her bedside table so instead of hearing a soft jingle to the Plain White T's 'Hey There Delilah,' it sounded like someone was drumming on the inside of her skull.
"Hai?!" Chi was awake now, one hand rubbing at her temple as the other reaches blindly for the cellphone, a square of light among the dark. She glanced at the time on the front display, and then the number (not one she recognized)...She would have ignored it, but she was already awake, and not very happy. She flipped it open. "何がほしいと思うか!?!?" What do you want?!?!
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Post by valekin on Jul 12, 2007 17:19:27 GMT -8
The voice would be familiar. And straight to the point. It was the monster's voice himself. Immediately he hushed her. The importance of all this could not be stressed more than it had been in the letter. Now she was ear to ear to with the monster.
"Do not say a word. The pick up will be in the park, tomorrow. You will know the place when you see it. You'll have to dig, bring a trowel or something you can dig with other than your hands."
Click.
That was all that needed to be said. He closed the phone, and shoved it into a basket ball filled with match heads. Then topped it off until it was full to bursting point. And dropped the ball off the building. A small explosion tore apart a trashcan, and left heavy scoring on the concrete and building. That was at 2:02 AM. It took almost a full forty five seconds for the ball to hit the ground.
Valekin did not stick around.
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Post by chihiro on Jul 15, 2007 17:07:34 GMT -8
Chi fell silent at his command, plus she was concentrating on what he was saying in her half-conscious state as he gave her instructions. Tomorrow, it was 2am now, so Chi guessed tha the meant Friday...and dig? Her mother was into gardening, so it wouldn't be too hard to get a hold of a trowel. Chi went to reply with an 'okay' but the line fell dead. Ohhhkay...She flipped her phone closed and reached for the pen and paper she always left on her bedside table for mid-sleep inspiration purposes and wrote "Friday - park - dig" in an untidy, tired scrawl before places her phone and pencil back on the table and curling back up within her cocoon of covers.
---Friday---
The sun shone in through the sheer curtained windows of Chihiro's room, hitting the sleeping girl where she lay in her large canopy bed. She grumbled, rolling out of bed in a tumble of covers. It was a school day, being Friday, and since the park was on the way to the school if she took the longer route, she should be able to complete his task and not be late. Chi got dressed in a worn pair of jeans with a hole in the knees (one of her favorites), and a cute olive green tank. She threw a second pair of jeans and a shirt into her backpack in case she were to get dirty or something. She ran a brush through her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail, though a low one to still hide the mark on the back of her neck, before slipping on a pair of flip flops and heading down the stairs and out the door.
Chi had nicked her mother's trowel from the garden shed late Thursday, stowing it in her backpack in a small plastic bag for safe keeping. Once she was done digging she would put the trowel into the plastic bag in her bag, she didn't want to get dirt all over her books. Flip flopped feet stepped into the park, Dark eyes glanced aroud. He said it would be easy to find, wherever it was she was supposed to dig. A thought of the age old 'X marks the spot' crossed her mind, but she pushed it away.
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Post by valekin on Jul 15, 2007 17:19:46 GMT -8
By easy, he meant his level of easy to find. That meant it was subtle after the first loud and screaming hint. On the path to the park, from her house to the school, in particular the long way. A pair of masks were placed on the trunks of a pair of trees. These two masks were pinned to the trees with knives right in the middle of their pseudo-faces. A bit of blood ran out from under them down the trunk.
This was her X marks the spot. The direction in which to begin walking before finding the second, last, and subtle clue. If she searched hard enough, she'd notice the angry hornet's nest on the ground, that should be in a tree. Was that the spot?
Mmmm perhaps.
There were a variety of things to look under, like the little bullet lying on top of moss. The Hornet's nest, and the fallen log. But that was about it. Those were the only things that were noteworthy.
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Post by chihiro on Jul 16, 2007 8:08:09 GMT -8
Well, three bleeding masks was a pretty had thing to ignore. "Alright, you got my attention.." Chihiro muttered with an eyeroll. That was quite disgusting. She made her way down the path she assumed he indicated until she came to a clearing. The first thing she noticed was the down hornet's nest. "Holy fuck..!" She stopped with a start. She didn't like bees, and they were beginning to swarm the clearing. They were obviously pissed off. Chi made her way around the outside of the clearing, steering clear of them. He had said that the place would be clearly marked, but he wouldn't want her to die in the efforts, right? That would defeat the purpose of her retrieving the damn thing, whatever it was.
...that was when she stepped on a pad off moss.
The girl stopped again, looking down. At her feet lay a bullet, though it didn't look as though it had been shot. There were no scorch marks, nor was it deformed in any way as it would be if it had been shot from a gun and ended up here. Chi lifted her foot and set it back down again. Squish. The moss seemed to be...extra squishy? As if it hadn't anchored itself to the ground. She stepped back to where the moss began and experimentally pulled on the edge. It came up easily. The ground beneath was loose, as if it had just been placed there. "Ace." She rolled up the moss carefully, kneeling down in the dirt and removing her mother's spade fro her backpack. And began to dig as instructed. She swatted a hornet away as it drew near her. Better to work fast.
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Post by valekin on Jul 16, 2007 16:59:27 GMT -8
Eventually she'd discover a yellow enveloped, filled with about two or three pounds of comprehensive substance analysis reports. They detailed every single aspect of Brimstone Delta. Right down to it's microscopic structure. Thus leaving an opening for the drug to be taken care of. Either by a neutralizer, or by a antidote.
Along with the comprehensive reports was a note, and several pages of identified Brimstone users. It appears as though Valekin had been hard at work. The school's enforcers were among them. With the exception of one of them. The Varsity Captain was among the many, as well as several members of the S.H.C.P.. Though, only the images would be readable to her immediately. It was all coded in an intricate cypher.
Except for the Note.
Shadow Knight #18,
Now that you've completed your third assignment, you've been designated as the eighteenth Shadow Knight. You are the first Shadow Knight of your age group, congratulations. Note that this cypher is impossible to decipher without the second half of it. As you may notice, only a portion of the cypher is there. The one who taught you about Fenrir and Quetzalcoatl, will have the other half of the cypher. Bring this half, and all the data within the envelope to him. Burn this letter after reading it, and scatter the ashes.
Morning Star
Thus were her instructions. It seems she has become an official member of a secret organization. The organization obviously had morals. As they were forcing the exposure of the drugs in the school, trying to get the kids the help they need. Yet all the methods reeked of espionage and black operations.
Finally in the envelope, was a lighter. Just under the envelope in the ground, was a bottle of lighter fluid, and some string. Enough fuse for a prolonged detonation of the dig site, erasing all the evidence of her being there. But it was specific about burning the letter, and scattering the ashes.
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Post by chihiro on Jul 19, 2007 18:19:57 GMT -8
Shadow Knight #18? He might as well have given her a shiny plaque for the title he gave her...what was a shadow knight? And were there 17 others out there? Like her? With the mark on her neck? What was their purpose? Chi felt as though she was following a puzzle, one of the one's were you follow the clues that lead you to your next destination and next clue until finding your prize. A scavenger hunt, that was it. And it looked like her next clue led her straight back to Mr. King...and she had a few questions for him.
She would douse the hole, string, and letter with the lighter fluid, throwing the empty bottle into the hole before lighting the entire thing aflame from teh fuse she'd made of the string. She made care not to be too close to any trees however, as she didn't want to start a large fire, just destroy the evidence. It may have been a little amatuer, but she wasn't used to blowing things up all 007 style...She placed the rest of the papers and the spade back into her bag and headed to school...
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Post by valekin on Jul 19, 2007 19:10:31 GMT -8
"Oy. Whatcha doin there ho?"
Oh great. A Blood. The gangbanger apparently liked to stalk the parks, trying to catch little girls and things off guard, to get his dues for the gang. That's not cool. These kids didn't really have any real family, so that's why they joined a gang, to have some sort of structure for themselves.
He had grills. He had baggy clothes, gang colors. He looked remarkably like a member of the Black hand. But the black hand made a point out of using actual weapons. Rather than a baseball bat.
"Fork it all over baby. Yeah."
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Post by chihiro on Jul 19, 2007 19:57:27 GMT -8
"Oy. Whatcha doin there ho?" Ho?! Oh, he better not be talking to me..Chi thought as she glanced to the side to find a grinning wanna-be with a baseball bat. This early in the morning? She shook her head inwardly. And fork what over? Her lunch money? Yeah, okay...not. His speached was slurred by the shiny thing in his mouth known as a grill...they were so disgusting, and aided in tooth decay, Chi didn't understand why they liked them so much. Resting a hand on the strap of her backpack , the strap crossing over the front of her torso, Chi rolled her eyes...and kept walking. She was only about 20 feet from the clearing of the park to the street anyhow.
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Post by valekin on Jul 20, 2007 7:00:43 GMT -8
"'Ey, donchu walk way from me bitch! I'll crack your skull!"
The thug came after her, swinging the bat at her legs. God knows where he learned to fight, and it wasn't formally, that was for sure. It would have been easy to just dispose of the gang banger. He had a bajillion openings, and a big fat grilly mouth. He probably needed to learn to keep it shut. How about shoving those grills down his throat?
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Post by chihiro on Jul 21, 2007 15:13:29 GMT -8
She heard his big clomping footsteps quicken, and a slight 'whoosh' as he swung the bat backwards...but Chi was faster than this gorilla wanna-be. Quickening her pace for a step or two to gain momentum, Chi launched her left leg up and back, her right leaping from the ground to throw a flying round house kick directly into his fastly approaching face.
As gravity aided her return to the ground, she widened her stance automatically in case the asshole tried to attack again. "Don't mess with me, you won't like the outcome." Her eyes were blazing and her hand that had been holding on to her back pack strap strayed to the thiner strap and pulled, tightening it to her body so it wouldn't fall off should she find herself engaged in an actual fight. She couldn't lose those papers, even if it was supposedly impossible to decifer them..
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Post by valekin on Jul 21, 2007 17:10:48 GMT -8
The gang banger got Chuck Norris'd and started to crawl away, and then started running. Taking a good look at her. He'd probably be back at this park, with more people. That was how gangs worked. If you beat one, you'd have to fight them all. That's how it goes.
"I'll get you for this bitch!"
He kept running. Taking out his mobile phone and started the speed dial for his buddies. Probably to see who was in the vicinity. It would probably have been prudent if she beat him unconscious, maybe to the point where he couldn't remember what she looked like. A nice touch would be to use his own baseball bat against him. But then, he took it with him.
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Post by chihiro on Jul 22, 2007 7:17:15 GMT -8
"Shit." Before she could finish him off, the bastard took off running and flipped open his cell phone. "Shit shit shit." In a flash, Chi took off in the opposite direction, toward school. Her backpack didn't weigh her down much, or bounce against her back as it was already tight to her body. She turned down a sidestreet and out of sight. If he, and whoever he was calling, couldn't find her, then they couldn't do anything about it right?
Leaping a fence that bordered a playground, she shot through that as well. She was only about four blocks from the school...and the more obstacles she placed between herself and the thug, the better. The playground was now behind her, next was a parking lot, and she weaved between the stationary cars, keeping her head low. Out of the parking lot and past an intersection...three blocks to go.
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Post by valekin on Jul 23, 2007 14:41:32 GMT -8
Nothing, no pursuit, no gang bangers trailing hot on her tail. Looks like MC hammer was a bit too slow to get his buddies together and get to Chi before she could bolt out of there. Nothing between her and Mr. King now but her fellow students, and your regular civilians. Wait..
Regular civilians.
That could mean anyone was between her and the school. Cops, Feds, gangsters, criminals, psychopaths. Anyone. What was a girl to do all alone in a city like this in a place like that three blocks away from relative safety? Where people could be killed right on their own front door, and the killer not be found for weeks on end. That knowledge wouldn't give Chi much comfort. But... was she the sort that would know, and expect that?
Was she paranoid?
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