Night Ninety Nine
Age 1991
The Hotel...
"It's almost time..."
William jumped letting out a loud yelp at the sudden voice that echoed down the halls. He turned and let out a sigh of relief when he saw the girl covered in bandages. The Jester. Standing behind her the figure in the white robes, and wooden mask stood.
"Careful..." William muttered as he rubbed his chest. "Nearly gave me a heart attack. How the hell did you two even get in here?"
"A Hole in the wall..." The Jester shrugged.
"...Yeah that makes sense... So why the hell are you both here?" William asked raising an eyebrow as he stared back at both of the figures.
"I merely wanted to tell you that our mission is nearly done. We will begin testing shortly and then leave."
"But what about the assassin who is after me?" William asked with wide eyes.
"Worry not." The Jester held her hand up calming the man as a strange aura seemed to seep out of her for a moment. "Reaper will no longer come after you. I found some use for him so he will be working for us until then... I wanted to also thank you for allowing One here a chance at harming that Vice Captain. Your acting was able to fool them all. It would seem our arrangement will be coming to an end shortly though. Once we begin the testing we will leave."
William let out a small hum as he folded his arms for a moment. "I see... In that case I need to get back to my Manner."
"One will take you then." The Jester nodded as the white robed figure bowed. "It's almost time... The Dawn of a new era will shortly begin..."
"I look forward to seeing what this world will become under your efforts..." William let out a small laugh as he turned to look out one of the many windows. "A new game will begin shortly... And I want to be key player."
***
Meanwhile...
"I'm kind of worried about Hero," Ken said letting out a tiny sigh. Next to her Sera, Light, and Nick all stood. They were under a small rooftop that blocked the snow as they looked around. They had gone across most of the city so far and still no sign of Hero, Sif, Kitsune, or Lucy...
"Relax. I'm sure he'll be fine." Nick said causally as they stepped under a sunroof, finally managing to get from out under the snow. "He's an adult... Actually, he's a sixteen-year-old child... But he's smart... Actually, he's kind of average intelligence... But he's strong... Actually, I'm pretty sure anything that is an actual threat could take him, since he's not only inexperienced, he also doesn't know any kind of strategy or fighting style, and half his moves take up to much of his stamina and he strains his body to much changing his arm into those new forms of his... But uh... Huh... Yeah, I see why you're worried now that I think about it."
"What about Kitsune?" Light asked.
"What about Kitsune..." Ken said flatly. "Hero is gonna get himself killed if he's by himself..." Ken muttered as she let out a heavy sigh shaking her head. "Why does he get so stupid after every loss. How was I ever in love with that idiot!"
"You were in love with him???" Nick asked.
"Not the point!" She shouted.
"Oh right sorry..." Nick said sheepishly.
"Still..." Sera frowned as she looked around for a moment. "This snow storm does not seem like it might be letting up yet... Who knows how long this will take."
"Well we can't just go running around." Nick said shaking his head. "We can't see anything past a few feet. We're basically blind. No offense Light."
"None taken."
"I'm waiting five minutes..." Ken said going into a serious tone. "I'm gonna give that idiot five minutes to show up and then I'm going after him."
"Me to." Light nodded. "I'll find big brother!"
"I don't think that is a good idea..."
"I don't think your opinion is a good idea." Ken hissed.
"...That was just rude..."
"Don't care..."
"Devil girl..."
"Dumb metal man."
"I hate you..."
Sera sighed shaking her head for a moment. "Commoners... Must you always fight each other-"
"Shut up Sera!" The three yelled.
***
Meanwhile...
"How are you feeling?"
Irene's eyes slowly opened as she stared up at the roof of the hospital. "W... What?" She slowly set up looking up and finding Dawson, and Serenity were next to her. "W... Where am I?" She groaned.
"Hospital." Dawson grunted. "You've been out for three weeks-"
"Three weeks!" Irene yelled with wide eyes as she set up.
"Easy!" Serenity said pushing the buff girl back down onto the bed. "Your body is still under a lot of pressure Irene. A lot happened."
"Oh..." Irene's eyes slowly looked down at her right hand. Her middle finger was still gone just a small nub. "That's right."
"We tried to regrow it." Dawson said letting out a small huff. "Life can regrow minor limbs but every time we manage to regrow the finger it simply freezes off once again shattering. We even tried to make a robotic finger but it also froze and shattered. It seems that whatever you did is stopping that."
"That's okay..." Irene sighed as she laid her head back. "I knew something like this could happen-"
"Then why the hell did you do it!" Dawson yelled making both girls jump. His head was bowed as he gritted his teeth. "Why on Earth would you ever do something like this! You hurt yourself, and knocked yourself out... You worried us all..."
Irene was silent for a moment as she bowed her head and looked down. "I'm sorry... Is Hero okay-"
"Worry about yourself!" Dawson yelled hitting her over the head.
"Ow..."
Dawson let out a small sigh as he folded his arms. "Get your things ready Irene. We need to go."
"Already?" Serenity asked raising an eyebrow.
***
A Few Minuets Later...
"Come on," Dawson said marching out of the building.
"Where are we going?" Irene asked curiously as her and Serenity followed the Red demon out.
"Back to the hotel. We should tell the others. Plus I bet Sif will be heading back there at this time. I'd like to tell her, and Nick what we learned, and I'm still worried about that damn skeleton. I still don't know how his abilities work."
Serenity gave a small nod. "This is all so worrisome... He's a complete monster who kills for fun... And thanks to this blizzard I can barely see... And worse yet my Cursed Powers can't really do much for fighting..."
"I didn't kill him? Damn it..." Irene sighed. "I was sure I did... I feel so useless..."
"What's even worse is that he can somehow turn off sound..." Dawson frowned. "This whole thing is..." Dawson stopped suddenly as he stared ahead at something.
"What is it? What do you see?"
Dawson ignored her as he walked forward. "Lady Sif!" He called out stepping forward.
Now that they were closer Irene, and Serenity could see the outline of two small figures. Sif, and Emma?
"Dawson?" The small Captain said turning to look at the man.
"My lady?" Dawson said with a tiny bit of confusion as he turned to look at Emma who looked away from his gaze. "Why is she here?" He questioned. 'I thought we agreed to keep the recruits with the Vice Captain where it is safe?"
Sif turned to look at the girl next to her. "Oh. Emma... Apparently my Vice-Captain, really, really, sucks at babysitting, and let all the recruits out. Now they are all running around the city apparently..."
"What!" Dawson said in shock. "No! We need to find them!"
"Calm down. What's wrong?" Sif asked confused?
"Lady Sif you don't understand!" Dawson said in a panicked tone. "Nick and I have been studying that man... We just found out that the Skeleton is going to strike again! He strikes on every blizzard!"
Sif's eyes slowly began to rise as she realized the gravity of the situation. "Uh oh..."
"Oh... That's why its so snowy..." Irene sighed.
"Worse yet... He's upgrading his strategy. He's out to kill. And my guess... Is he'll be going after Hero. He seemed to be after him the other night. That boy, and anyone near him is in serious trouble." Dawson hissed out.
"This is bad..." Serenity said letting out a sigh. "How did the situation end up this bad..."
"Indeed..." Sif was silent as she tried to think of a plan. "Alright. Let's search for them. And be quick about it. Who knows how much time we might actually have." Sif said calmly.
"I'm in so much trouble..." Emma sighed. Irene reached out patting the nuns head.
***
Meanwhile...
"So is this like your house or?" Kitsune began as the girl dragged him into the building.
"There is no way this is a house..." Hero sighed shaking his head.
Lucy simply let out a small grunt as she followed them.
The building itself was a massive wooden warehouse in the middle of the docking area, of the city. It was fairly big, offered no cold resistance, and had ice everywhere on the inside of the room. Shattered glass was also present, as well as boxes of who knows what, and wooden beams were scattered around. It did not seem like a safe place...
It also didn't seem like the kind of place any girl should have been living at. Especially in tight clothing like the one escorting Hero, and friends? Kitsune was up at the front with the woman his arm linked around hers as she dragged him.
And of course because its Kitsune, the boy naturally didn't see how strange, and bizarre this situation was while Hero and Lucy were very confused and looking around.
"So this is your house?" Kitsune asked.
"Sure..." The girl said rolling her eyes. "This is my house." She stated in a very sarcastic tone that Kitsune believed no questions asked. She had very quickly learned just how easy it was to b.s the young teen. He would just take her word on whatever she told him.
"Oh. This place is kind of cold." Hero muttered shivering slightly as he glanced around the open room. "And messy. You should clean up more. Especially if you are having guests."
"Kitsune please don't tell me you..." Hero sighed shaking his head. "You know what never mind... I'm gonna just let whatever happens happen..."
Lucy nodded her head for a moment not saying anything as she also looked around the weird room.
"I'll keep that in mind..." The girl said slowly walking over to Hero.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Hero said backing away from her and holding Lucy out in front of him like a human shield. "Social distancing. Five feet back weird lady!"
Kitsune let out a small hum as he glanced around the open room. "So... Can we go now?" He asked. "This isn't as fun as I thought it would be."
Hero sighed rolling his eyes. "Not yet." His right arm glowed and morphed into his clawed arm as he pointed to the woman. Small heat and sound seemed to come off it for a moment as he frowned staring at the woman. "Alright. Be honest. This was a trap right."
Lucy nodded her head. "Quite. You are the skeleton are you not." She asked.
"What!" Kitsune asked as his eyes went wide. "No way."
"Kitsune shut up..."
The woman let out a small giggle for a moment as she leaned forward. "Not quite." The woman laughed. "I'm not the skeleton man."
"You expect us to believe that?" Hero asked.
"I would hope you would." The woman nodded. "After all he's right behind you."
Hero's eyes went wide and he managed to turn around raising up his metal arm just in the nick of time blocking a massive black blade that sent him flying across the warehouse. The front of his jacket was torn open as a loud laugh could be heard.
"Got it!" The voice of Reaper laughed. In his hands he held a small black box that he gripped down on. "You won't be using this now."
"Oh crap..." Hero hissed.
"We might be in trouble." Lucy nodded as she jumped back landing next to him.
"Damn..." Kitsune hissed as he drew his sword and his ears and fox sprouted out of his body and he raised the blade up. "Still three on one? I mean we couldn't even win with a five on one..."
"Three on one? I think you mean three on two." The woman said letting out another giggle.
Hero frowned as he stared at the woman. "Who... Who are you?"
"I have a question for you?" The woman said ignoring his question. "Do you know where my darling Ken is?"
"Oh crap..."
The woman's skin peeled off as Viper pulled her way out of the body.
"...We're so dead..."