Lily listened to Maya and nodded. "Just as I thought." she said, turning to face Takeda again "From what your little friend is saying about a ball, I'd wager you're a kitsune, or some obscure derivative that I'm unaware of, but I'd assume works by the same rules." she said, gesticulating with her hands vaguely, subtly positioning herself in a more approachable posture. "And if you're a kitsune, you're bound to hold that promise on pain of death, so it's nothing personal, but..." she waved a hand and brought Takeda to his knees, pinning his hands to the ground with invisible bands. "Believe me, I hate to do this, but I need to be safe while I try to figure this out. Now tell me exactly what she said to you from the moment she held the ball."
Takeda yelped and pulled against the invisible binds as he was drawn to the ground. He didn't know how it was happening, but one of the women had him in a very vulnerable position.
"Uh . . . y-yes, I'm a kitsune." he said meekly. He wracked his memory for all the things Rin had said to him. "She said that she knew what I was and that I had to keep any promise I made in return for the ball. She told me about you two, that you were demons that would lead to her death soon. She said that she had forseen that there was no way I could fail, and then made me promise to try and kill you."
Rezetta made her way to the wall by the warehouse's door, lowering herself carefully to the floor. "I wonder if this whole thing with Rin and her followers has anything to do with the explosion and fires we witnessed earlier," she remarked. She dug into her pocket to get her contact lenses again, tilting her head back in order to put them in. As she was doing so, she listened closely to what Takeda was saying and couldn't help but chuckle. "Rin really isn't as clever as she made herself out to be," she said with a smile. Two demons, huh? I guess we won't have to watch our backs for a murderous little fox boy after all. She rested her head back against the wall, keeping an eye on the others and deciding to let Lily break the news to Takeda.
Maya blinked with surprise as Lily used her power to bring Takeda to his knees. While she wasn't sure whether the two women or the newly arrived man as well, were really demons, this confirmed they must have magic like her. As the boy spoke she realised that he was being held against his will, she gasped with indignation and scampered up to the kitsune to put her arm around him and give the offending adult what she hoped was a mean look.
"Hey! Leave him alone, I said he's nice! Its not Takeda who wants to kill you, that's Rin!"
Trembling slightly, she scraped the sword she held her other hand along the ground in front of her defensively, giving out a few more bright sparks. The tall woman scared her but she stood her ground, quietly hoping that Takeda would forget her earlier cowardice and not decide that she was a baby not worth being friends with.
As they continued speeding down the road, Blackrose dialed the number that Alec had told her to. As she reached the restaurant, she shouted out in a panic.
"Wait, what street are we on? I can't read Chinese!"
"Here, just give me the phone." Alec said, grabbing the phone from Blackrose.
"What's special about the restaurant we're going to? And why were the cops going after that company?" Blackrose asked, not caring if Alec was talking to someone important or not.
"And, young lady, I hate to do this" Lily said, delegating to solve the more immediately dangerous problem first. "But Rin is working through him, against his will. Now, Takeda. Did she tell you our names specifically?" She asked. Getting no answer, she assumed that was a negative. "And is it also safe to assume, that she was unaware of the fact, that Rezetta and myself, are not a pair of demons?" Takeda looked visibly surprised by the revelation. "Rezetta is only a half demon, I myself, have no demonic blood in my veins, and our new friend here has..." Lily said, pausing to contemplate the best term for describing the feeling different specials gave "The chemical tang to his scent" She decided upon "Of a magical conduit, not the fiery, spicy one of a demon, and I can hardly tell you what the scent of someone like myself or your friend, who just happen to have good breeding. Probably lettuce or damp cats." She said.
"But I'm, getting off track. None of use here make up two demons, but what Rin tricked you into doing... Into trying to murder two innocents she kidnapped. That is truly demonic behaviour, and her dearly beloved warlock, I don't believe has survived as long as he has through natural means, and they are the ones deserving to be executed by Rin's hand." Lily summarised. "And so, fair spirit. I have presented my case, and release you from my bindings. Do what you wish, that you may hold to your promise" she said, stepping back as she let the force dissipate, holding her arms out wide and looking into Takeda's eyes, open and unjudging of whatever he chose to do next.
Alec took the phone back and put the card back into his pocket.
"Mr. Kimura, the cops are chasing Blackrose and me, I hijacked a car in your parking lot [small][small]sorry[/small][/small] and one of the officers shot her! The bullet is in her shoulder but I'm a little concerned if the wound will get infected. I'm on the way to the east outskirts of Jinan to find Rin by the way. Can you give me directions on how to get there?"
"Alec... I thought I might hear from you again soon... "
The voice on the other end was weak and groggy. After a pause it continued.
"Wait.. who is Blackrose? Isn't Dr. Strauss still with you?"
Alec racked his brains for a while trying to figure out where Dr. Strauss was.
"I have no idea where Dr. Strauss is, and don't you know who Blackrose is? She's one of your patients!"
When Alec said the name "Dr. Strauss", a large amount of static was heard from Mr. Kimura's end of the phone.
"I'm afraid I can't help you with Dr. Strauss, and as for this so called "Blackrose"... I don't know every individual processed by my company, after all I no longer experiment directly myself, not after the fiasco last time we used the sword..."
Mr. Kimura coughed for a few moments, then spoke again.
"To get to the restaurant go to the centre of the city, find the TV station and turn right at the nearest crossroads. It should have a red and gold painted sign out front. I'm a little disturbed by apparent trouble with the law enforcement Tao Zheng is having, but frankly it isn't the first time thats happened and my associates knew who to... eh... send a bit of money to make the problem go away, if you know what I mean. Any more questions?"
Alec looked at the cop still following him, and saw a bullet wound appear on his head. The car crashed into another one and soon the road behind Alec was completely blocked. The police officers stopped tailing Alec, and decided to have another go the next day. He looked up above the fiery pile of crashed cars, and saw a small black helicopter.
"Oh, I see. Now all I need to know is how to take care of Blackrose's wound."
"Take her to a doctor after you've found out where Rin lives, don't risk trying to treat it yourself. It shouldn't take more than an hour to remove if it isn't serious. Anyhow, thank you again for saving my life yesterday, I hope you like the charm I gave you, the creature inscribed upon it is a kitsune, a mythical Japanese spirit. Funny story how I got it actually, when I..."
Suddenly, Mr. Kimura's voice tailed off. Alec heard the sound of a door opening then silence before the man made one last remark in a trembling voice.
"Oh my... it's... it's you."
"OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! DUCK, HIDE, PRAY! DO something...too late."
Alec prayed, and prayed for Mr. Kim's survival, and then made a turn to the center of Jinan. It was an hour and five minute drive to the restaurant.
Alec turned to Blackrose:
"I am supposed to retrieve a sword for the Tao Zheng Bio-logical research company. I have found out that a woman named Rin is in possession of it. This restaurant is where she was last seen."
Takeda picked himself up off the ground as he felt the force released from him. What she had said all made sense, and he was willing to believe it after all that Rin had said was a lie.
He looked between all the faces in the room nervously before meeting Lily's gaze. "You're not demons," he said softly, "The deal wasn't to kill you. So we can get along, I'm sorry for what I tried to do."
The young boy smiled optimistically, putting his arm around Maya's shoulders. "Thanks," he said to her, glad to see that she had tried to stand up for him.
"That's OK" Maya replied, smiling happily at her friend's compliment. Finding that the sword was feeling increasingly heavy for her short arms, she carefully placed it on the ground in front of the adults. She was relieved to find out that the two women weren't demons after-all, and now wondered to herself what they really were, as well as the strange man who was hanging around nearby. She supposed he might be a friend of the women.
"I'm Maya and you're lucky that Takeda doesn't want to kill you, because yesterday he beat over a hundred bad guys!" the small girl said crossing her arms and taking on a serious expression. "I helped get a few too, but one of their dogs bit me." she added modestly, holding up her bandaged right arm.
"After that we went on TV and were famous but then I got sick and Rin found us and took us to her home and gave me medicine, and then she brought us here to fight you. And that's how we got here!"
As they sped along the road, Blackrose waited for Alec to hang up his phone. Before he did, she heard a loud scream, and once he hung up, he turned to Blackrose, and talked about a woman named Rin.
"Alright, I really hate to be asking all the questions, but what's so special about that sword? And what was up with that scream? How long till we get to the restaurant?" Blackrose asked Alec, wondering who was on the phone. "Oh, and what does that company do that made those cops show up?"
"I was just speaking on the phone with Mr.Kimura. He USED to work at Tao Zheng. I do not know if he is okay. Dr.Yang might have killed him or something. I cannot explain too much while I'm driving, please let me park fir-!"
CRASH!
Alec had crashed the car into a trash can that broke the windshield, and was spilling trash onto the man's face.
"Ew! Please remind me to avoid driving in the future."
Alec carefully "re-parked" the car into a safe location.
"Come on, we're here. The restaurant seems open, lets go check inside."
The former geologist stumbled into a restaurant similar to the bar he slept at. There were 3 people sitting in front of a bar-tender, another 4 sit at a separate table. All 7 people look strangely the same.
As Alec and Blackrose entered the restaurant, a bulky woman approached them moodily holding a small tattered notebook. Her white apron was sparklingly clean however, as was the rest of the establishment, it was evidently a place where those had a bit of cash to throw around came. The few customers who had come to eat this early in the day were neatly dressed in business suits and quietly discussing in Chinese whilst smoking expensive cigars.
"You American? You want reservation for evening, yes?"
She stamped her foot and glared at the two westerners as if by not immediately replying they were wasting her time.
"A hundred huh?" Gabriel said, leaning against the low table. "It's a good thing we can get along then."
He pulled his legs under him and sat with crossed legs.
"I'm Gabriel, Maya. Hiya Takeda." He said, nodding to the two small people standing next to each other. His gaze dropped to the sword, and something whispered Excalibur to him. He would've started if he hadn't been accustomed to these whispers.
Zetta leaned forward with her elbows resting on her legs, twining her fingers together as she studied the two kids. "Over one hundred bad guys, huh? That's quite a lot," she said mildly. "I'm Rezetta, by the way. Just call me Zetta, though," she added, then suddenly frowned. "Wait a second, Maya. Where did Rin bring you two here from? You're... Chinese, right? Your English is very good. As for that bite of yours, is it okay now?"
Before Maya could answer her, Zetta turned to look over at Gabriel and Lily. "And by the way, what exactly are we going to do with this sword? No doubt Rin and that so-called Merlin guy will be back for it sometime in the future." She then noticed that Gabriel was in fact staring at the sword, and idly wondered what was crossing his mind at the moment.
Maya was pleased that both Gabriel and Zetta had seemed to believe her lie, and she considered telling another, but couldn't think of anything interesting enough. They asked a lot questions very fast so she looked down and fiddled with her fingers for a moment before answering.
"Rin brought us from Jinan, that where me and Takeda live. She's a lady who pretends to be nice but kills people who she says are demons! She also does magic to make you move places really quickly just by holding hands with you. Though she's a baddie she did fix my arm for me so I'm better now. Are we in America?"
Although she hadn't left the warehouse since Rin's teleportation, Maya guessed by the people she had met so far that she was probably in a country where most the people were white. She knew America wasn't the only country with such people but hoped that she was right, as her mother had always told her about how rich America was and if she worked really hard one day she might go to live there. It seemed almost too good to be to true if Rin had taken her there by pure luck.
I wonder if me and Takeda could buy a house together here? she thought Would we have enough money? Maybe they would give us one?
As they walked into the restaurant, Blackrose smelled the strong smell of cigar smoke, and looked at the patrons. They were all well dressed, but oddly looked similar. As she started to look more closely at them, a husky woman approached her and Alec.
"You American? You want reservation for evening, yes?" Almost immediately after asking, she stomped her foot down in impatience. Blackrose turned to Alec in confusion.
"What is she talking about? And if we do eat here, I don't have any money. I could probably, er, "persuade" some locals out of a few dollars, but we might have to run from the cops again." Blackrose said to Alec, moving her shoulder painfully up and down, to try and keep it movable without a large amount of pain.
Alec considered what it would be like if Blackrose started a fight in the bar, and then decided not to let that happen.
"Save your breath Rose. I'm not here for food."
Alec turned back to the woman.
"I am here to find out about the whereabouts of a woman named Rin. I have been told that this is the last place that she's been seen. Do you have any info about her?"
"Nah, we're not in America." Gabriel said, still occasionally eying the sword on the ground. "I've heard plenty people speak french here. M'guessing we're in Paris or something." He scratched his head. "I'm not entirely sure how I ended up here, but there you go."
Rezetta nodded as Gabriel spoke, confirming his guess. "It's right across the ocean from the Americas," she added, just in case Maya or Takeda weren't aware. "France isn't usually this crazy," she said with a kind of wistful sigh. Zetta couldn't help but feel that if she hadn't gone to eat where and when she did for her late breakfast--something that seemed like ages ago now--she might not have gotten tangled up in this whole mess. Then she thought more on Rin and her powers, plus everything else she'd witnessed so far; it was likely she would have ended up in this situation one way or another after all.
She then turned to face Gabriel and lifted her eyebrows questioningly. "Wait a second, what do you mean you aren't sure how you got here? You didn't somehow get transported from somewhere else, did you?"
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