Ami Newstarr was idly going through her things from her old life. Not really having anything to do anymore, mostly because Panila never actually trusted her with important tasks. She soon began looking through a box of her old things, like a photo of her and her older sister, ######. She began reflecting on everything that lead up to her rise as a leader and how proud her family is of her.
But that all quickly left her mind when she found an old VHS tape from her childhood. Even though tapes were considered ancient technology, Ami's family had a rather large collection of them. She pulled out her old tape player and TV, setting them up with a giddy excitement as sat with her dog to watch a show from her childhood.
What Angel Wakes Me.
"I'm boooored." Vinea groaned as he placed himself down on a bench underneath a statue in the centre square of Desires, Rat sitting beside him. "Well hey, not much resistance getting in at least." She laughed. They had reached Desires with very little effort, as Most of the Decaynine squadrons had been moved to deal with the long clean-up process in Devouring. Avis was the only one not to sit, instead keeping a nervous eye out, hoping not to run into Ami, occasionally observing the bright and more colourful neon signs and flashy advertisements of Desires.
Senshi crawled out of Vinea's hoodie and gave her a thoughtful smile. "Avis, calm down. We are nowhere near Ami's residence. No one knows you're here." Avis sighed, leaning against the statue and checking out the plaque. "Huh... Hey, Rat. You ran Desires, right? When did it get a statue of Mollia?"
Rat didn't even notice the rather large statue of the world's hero, instead just giving it a casual wave away. "Yeah, Ami was insistent on more religious stuff being allowed in the city... I said it was stupid, we got in an argument, I called her a #### and she cried. Been sorta banned since."
Everyone looked dumbfounded by the response, after a few quiet seconds, Avis pointed one of her wings at Rat as she crossed her arms. "I just asked about the name... Not a story on making Ami cry. Geez..."
"Eh, Relax. I'm allowed to ramble. Ya know, being more famous and stuff."
"Famous?" Vinea snickered, tapping Rat's tail with one of his vines with a smug smile. "You're a has-been. You're just a sales woman now... With pretty good stuff honestly." Rat mocked offence, flicking his vine away with her tail as she stood up at the base of the statue, looking down on them with a heroic pose. "In my name, I will show you why people actually used to be intimidated by the name Rat!"
Senshi couldn't help but giggle slightly, which confused her a bit. "Why are you laughing, Senshipede?"
"Y-You weren't really feared... M-More just... A-Avoided? No one really feared you... You know, because you were heartless?"
Avis and Vinea both looked a bit dumbfounded by the revelation, they had always figured Rat had some sort of ace Heart power or something, but to now find out she was theoretically weaker then Senshi was quite funny to them. They both began laughing, making Rat turn a bit red in embarrassment. "Shut up..."
She sighed before hearing a loud explosion from a nearby bank, smirking slightly as she motioned for everyone to get moving. "It seems we're a bit late."
Avis and Vinea looked a bit panicked as they followed Rat to the source of the explosion, seeing what looked like an active warzone between 2 warring factions trying to rob the same place. "Oh yeah, did I mention that this place fell to hell after I left?" Rat laughed as she began rushing through a hail of gun fire, trying to reach a lanky man in a fox mask, who was wielding what looked like 2 fleshy blades, chopping the opposition in half.
Avis let out a squawk of fright as she began awkwardly ducking and dodging with Vinea and Senshi, trying to reach Rat as they avoided the hailstorm of gunfire, debris and occasional explosive. Rat seemed to be casually chatting with the man, who didn't make a sound as he continued on his merry murder spree. Avis, meanwhile, threw a grenade back in a random direction, accidentally blowing up a group of charging werewolves.
After about 3 minutes of dodging everything, everyone had caught up with Rat as they all hid inside the ruined bank. She gave a slight laugh as the man in the fox mask remained mute. "You guys suck under pressure. Not much for heroes, are ya?" She joked as Vinea regrew one of his half burned limbs.
"Well, no more wasting time. This is Fox." Rat said as she motioned to the Fox masked individual. He tossed his blades to the ground as they shifted into two small dogs with fleshy, teethy bodies. "And his pets. Red and Blue. Don't try and touch them. They will bite you."
Senshi looked intimidated by the dogs, but stared at Rat to keep calm as she asked faintly. "Why are we here i-in an a-active warzone?" Rat rolled her eyes and stepped into a ruined vault, kicking a few bits of rubble to reach secret control panel. She clicked a few buttons the floor opened up, revealing an ornate metal case. "We're going to need help from a he-" She cut herself off as she realised the box was empty, much to everyone's confusion.
Fox walked behind her and gave her a pat on the back, seeming to try and ask what was wrong. She nervously laughed as she began checking through a sign out sheet. "It seems Ami stole a relic of mine..." Vinea kicked a rock out of boredom as he waved at Rat. "I mean, what was it? Some fancy weapon?"
"Not just anyone's weapon... It kinda belonged to... Mollia Chordarum?" She sheepishly laughed as everyone looked dumbfounded. "You owned a weapon belonging to MOLLIA ####### CHORDARUM!?" Avis yelled in shock, before Fox put a finger on her beak to shush her.
"I mean, yeah? I own countless artifacts, I just figured no one knew about this one. Figures... She probably just saw I had a weapon in storage and decided to take it." She groaned, beginning to go through her snowglobe, before pulling out her signature Rat-stick.
"Welp. Fox, I wanna go see my little protégé. Where's she stayin'?" Rat said with a laugh, getting over her stolen weapon rather fast. Fox motioned a sigh, grabbing Red and Blue as they shifted into silenced pistols. He motioned for them to follow as Avis began nervously checking her phone, seeing if Ami was anywhere near them on social media.
They soon reached what looked like an extravagant mansion with two golden Jackal statues looming over the gates, almost like guards. Two gruff looking people were chatting outside, both leaning against motorcycles. Rat casually threw a rock at one of them, a man with scruffy dark green and purple hair wearing a biker jacket and a black blindfold over his eyes. He shot around before laughing, speaking in a rough western voice: "Well, well, well. Looks like the little rat has come back. Check it out, Les."
His partner, a woman with long white and red hair and a pair of demonic looking wings, rolled her eyes, shoving her partner with her wings. "Shut it, Wreck." She growled, turning to Rat before turning to Fox. "Biz wants to know why you're late."
Fox sighed and put Blue to his mask, using the mimic to speak. "I shall let her know you held me up." He almost seemed to smirk as Wreck let out a laugh. "Yeah, Lapdog. You tell her."
"Shut it." Lez replied, punching him in the stomach. The two began to get into a full blown fight as everyone awkwardly walked past, Avis turning back to see Wreck pull off his covering and turning Les to stone with a piercing gaze before putting on his covering again. Fox motioned another sigh as Rat gave him a smug grin. "Gorgons and Furies. Great combo honestly."
As everyone entered into the mansion, they saw thousands of different art pieces, from old historical pieces to rather bizarre and abstract artwork. Senshi crawled over to Rat's ear and whispered: "Y-You said this girl was your protégé, yet she s-seems to have more money then y-you could dream of."
Rat casually laughed as she grabbed a vase, examine it. "Biz may be rich, but she ain't smarterer then me."
"That's... Not a word." She replied as Rat threw the vase away, letting it smash as they reached a gigantic room resembling a throne room of an Egyptian pharaoh. "I told you, the weapons aren't for that! Albulha'! Tell Jackie she's dead if I find her." A tall, aged, jackal headed woman complained down the phone before hanging up, turning to stare at the group as she walked to a throne made of golden guns. She adjusted her suit before crossing her robotic limbs. "Ah, Fox..." Her smile fading into a cold glare.
"Why is this Rat here?" She growled, causing Avis to let out a nervous chirp and spoke with a timid tone. "Uhm... Rat said you could uh... Help?" The jackal headed woman laughed, ripping a revolver off her throne and placing one bullet in the chamber. "Did she tell you that she is barred from ever entering MY Domain?"
Vinea nodded, stepping forward. "Yeah. She said something like that." Biz let out a more growl like laugh before pointing the revolver at Rat. "Well, the rat is more of a deceiver then you realise. Now. Give me a good reason why I shouldn't have you executed."
Rat looked around before bursting into a fit of laughter, walking up to Biz and hugging her tightly. "That's a rude way to talk to mummy!" Avis, Senshi and Vinea all stared at each other, confused. Avis spoke up first. ""Mummy"? What the...?"
Fox motioned yet another sigh and put Red to his mask and said: "The Rat is Biz's adopted mother." Senshi looked between the two, as everyone looked more baffled. "B-But Rat is s-so young? And Biz is-"
"Old as hell?" Rat yelled, standing next to Biz with a smirk. "Yeah, I'm not as young as ya think. Hell, I don't even know how old I am." She snickered. Biz pulled Rat's tail with a hard grip, speaking in an angered tone. "Just because you are my mother, doesn't mean I have to care for you. Now, what do you desire, Rat." Biz said flatly, now holding the Revolver to Rat's head.
"Simple really. Ya remember that old sword I own?"
"Indeed... I lost to much over it. What of it?"
"Weeeell. I think Ami went and took it."
"YOU LOST IT?" Biz yelled, crushing the grip of her gun, accidentally firing it into Rat's hair. "Ow. And hey, I don't think she's aware of what it is. I mean, if she did, you and your little organisation would be loooong dead." She snickered, though Biz looked pissed, quickly ordering Fox to gather all of her top associates.
Fox left quickly, motioning for Rat to follow as Biz glared at Avis, Senshi and Vinea. "You three, since you have helped bring something important to my attention... What is it you want from me?"
Avis sighed and stepped forward, scratching her beak nervously. "Well, Miss Biz... We need to break into Detainment. Can you help?"
"That is a very large ask. Very well. I'll prepare an extraction team If you help me deal with Ami. Deal?"
Biz had a grin on her muzzle as Avis grabbed her hand, feeling the cold, crushing grip of Biz's hand.
"Deal."