"Shit, Joe. Do you ever stop bitching?" Came Mikkish' voice from behind Joe. He looked over at the regular zombies getting slaughtered by the 8 foot crazy looking fuckers. Mikkish figured there was another necromancer at work. "So, big bad detective, wanna go inside the bank and try to figure out who did this?"
"I told you, I'm not a detective." I snapped. "Furthermore, it's not our job to be going after every killer, psychopath, and criminal in the city in the city, why do you want to? For the glory? For the fun of it? Maybe so then you can get a reward? Maybe skim off the top of what they've already taken?" I got right up into Mikkish's face, my gaze cold. "Look around you, people are dead Mikkish." I swept my arm around, gesturing toward the dead bodies, both human and zombie. "If you don't care about them, or the people that might get hurt because of these people, you have no right to even think that we should get involved. I do care about these people, and I do want to get them off of the streets. But, we're more likely to get in the way than to actually help, we're not strong Mikkish, we're not superheroes, we're just a bunch of students stumbling around blindly hoping to god that whatever overpowered monstrosity that comes after us next won't kill us. These people aren't coming after us personally, let's not change that. If we happen to come across them, we're going to report them to the proper authorities and allow them to deal with them. We're not going to listen to any more of your crazy and insane ideas that will only continue to harm others and nearly get ourselves killed."
"Pfft." Mikkish chuckled, looking around at the dead cops "I think we did a little better than the cops did in handling the zombies. Tell me, was it the proper authorities who got rid of the Templar? We did way better against him than these cops did here." Mikkish was saying this in a very nonchalant tone of voice. He was truly unfazed by how many had died here. "To be honest, though, maybe in your case you should just go run and tell the cops. All you do is cry and bitch, even if we do win."
It took every ounce of self restraint not to slap him. "Mikkish, we didn't win that one, Junior ate the Templar, and then, he proceeded to beat all of us into a bloody pulp, and then Ace saved us, no one won in that situation. The Templar died before we could get any real information out of him, and Junior's still out there looking to eat us and he still has that accursed book of yours!" I wanted to slap him for his arrogance, for not thinking that this loss of life mattered... how could he be so cruel?! I took a deep breath and crossed my arms. "Furthermore, zombies aren't exactly naturally occurring, meaning that a necromancer summoned them, a powerful one from the amount of them, and it's clear that the bank was the target, meaning that there were likely more than one, each one having to be specialized in some form of fighting or magic. Finally, these guys were likely only patrol cops from the numbers, they probably only have enough magic power to keep the peace against every day offenders that aren't specialized in any particular art of offensive magic. This means that the robbery must've taken place within the matter of minutes, or at least they were good enough to make sure that no one was alerted until they were finished and before officers with stronger magic could arrive and defuse the situation before something like... like... this happened!"
Tom fingered his deck of cards as he observed the situation. He saw zombies walking around and being hacked and burned and punched by Mikkish and the guy who had the demonic sword. It looked easier than anything he had tried before. Perfect decoys for him to try out his new moves. During Tom's exhaustive failure to pursue the demon, apparently called Junior, Tom had practiced his skills with fire. He had learned how to control his special Ace. The green flames which had sprouted from the card, were in fact his own magic being channeled through an object. He had learned how to produce that special kind of flame through the Ace, although what was so special about it remained a mystery to him. The green flames had the same burning effect as the regular ones; they could be extinguished just as any fire; they spread around like any fire would; what was it that made them different? He had burnt away more than half of his deck of cards trying to find out. Although the cards which were sacrificed, taught him a new skill. It worked. But would it work with zombies? Tom exposed himself, by walking towards the direction of the sunlight. Some of the zombies, who were still standing, immediately noticed his presence and wobbled in his direction. He could not approach them too closely. They looked vicious, and blood-thirsty, although Tom's Ace did not identify any sign of magic coming from their resurrected bodies. Tom picked a random card from his deck; a nine of diamonds. "Well, I hope it kills at least nine of those zombies." He said to himself. He threw the card and it suddenly became enveloped by a shiny light, which burst like a firecracker. The zombies looked momentarily stunned. Two or three of the zombies caught fire, "not nine" thought Tom with a sigh. He wanted to try another one, but he thought better and spared his deck. He then saw Mikkish discussing something with Joe. He walked over to them and said: "Hey guys! Good day for killing zombies! Does anybody have an extra deck of cards? I'm in the mood for some poker!"
Mareck had taken to surveying the scene as Joe and Mikkish started arguing again. looking at the various corpses he noticed some seemed a bit more mutilated than what the undead tend to do "so there's a necromancer about reanimating corpses" he said "but from the looks of some of these bodies they might have some other pets, some like mine maybe" he continued indicating the two abominations as they started approaching the three of them after finishing off the last zombies in the area. when tom came up asking for a deck of card he held one of his palms out and a deck of cards began forming with individual cards materializing and falling onto the stack, when that was done he turned and held them out to the guy without a second thought "here"
"Woah! So you can produce cards out of nowhere? Where do we get the practice to this?" Tom said as he took the deck of cards from Mareck. "Well anyway, it doesn't matter. Thank you." He immediatly sat on the floor, and started fingering his new deck with dexterity. He took out a round, coffee-flavored candy from his pocket and chucked it in his mouth.
She opened her eyes and found herself surrounded in white, everything a complete white save a small attempt of the sky’s color trying to pierce through the window. She tried to move her head but once again she was reminded that she didn’t knew how to do it. The girl was confused, very confused, but each day was the same, it took a few minutes for her to remember… Right… this is the hospital… Thought after understading her situation once again. “Youngs sure are wild today…” Said a woman. The girl instinctively tried to move her head toward the voice but she didn’t knew how. Luckily for her, the woman moved in front of her and looked at her face. “The news says that there was a robbery, that and also a lot of zombies, witness claim the perpetrartors were a band of young people. Is because of things like this that necromancy shouldn’t be allowed” Claimed the woman. She had a lustrous and short black hair and a pale face, her facial expressions would had allowed anyone but the girl to gauge her age around 30 years. She wore a white scrub which pointed that she was either a doctor or a nurse, that the girl could understand at least. “Let’s see… Hikaru Kurosawa…… huh?...” mumbled the woman while reading the medical file of Hikaru, then she threw a compassionate and cynical glance at the girl’s eyes and said. “Sorry, didn’t meant to offend you with that of the necromancy…” The woman got close to the girl and did something she couldn’t see as her head didn’t allowed her too. Ocasionally she saw some tubes and syringes so she assumed she was injecting her something. After that the scenary moved… or that seemed to be for the girl as the woman was moving the wheelchair Hikaru was seat on. Hikaru stayed in a coma for four days in a bed after the incident a week ago, after that, when she woke up she was put into a wheelchair often controlled by someone else but occasionally by Hikaru’s own hand that attempted to move. The last three days she was usually woke up confused as she had to struggle to remember where she was and why, after an examination she would be carried to the exterior part of the hospital, apparently because the doctors thought she needed to breath some fresh air and take a good look at the green and the sky. But that only helped to lower her animosity, if she could properly speak she would had said that she would rather stay in the white room, after all to witness all that she couldn’t enjoy was more painful than helpful. Normally, strange people would show up to see her condition, they didn't seem to be professionals, instead just a bunch of teenagers. She had heard more than once they claiming to be her friends, but it was disgusting as she couldn't even recall their names. Hikaru sighed at this thought, and apparently that was quite the feat as the woman said excited. “Woah, that was a sight? Are you trying to communicate? I shall report this progress to Dr. Oliver… Certainly your kind heals faster than the usual rate no?” My kind?... Thought the girl, that was the part of each morning she couldn’t understand the most… What was her kind? And what was her?... The woman left, and Hikaru was forced to sit in boredom. About an hour and a half passed... "Morning, maam." Said a boney young man cheerfully, as he entered the room with a wheelchair. "We need to move you again." He weeled the chair next to Hikaru's bed "Can you sit up?" "..." "Huh. She's like a vegetable. I hope boss was right." Said the guy, lifting Hikaru off the bed and putting her into the wheelchair. Carting her off into the elevator, down to the garage basement, and into a windowless van. Hikaru was conscious of the situation all the time, after all “THEY” awoke her. Who are THEY?... What do they want?... I don’t like this?... What I used to do in moments like this?... She tried to focus but the more she did she couldn’t understand, Hikaru was sure these kind of people should represent no problem for her but she didn’t know why. Unconsciously, something emanated from her body, something very light and short, for just a span of second but something that could be felt. One of “they” ,as she defined them, felt a small static shock in his hand, very small but enough for him to quickly retire it and shake it. It didn’t happen again. "Ah" He said as he quickly moved his hand away and shook it "Bitch." He said, but realized that this girl was obviously becoming conscious, so he needed to finish up quick. He lifted Hikaru out of her chair and put her in the back, but decided to fold up her wheelchair too. He then quickly got into his car and sped away from the hospital.
Eric didn’t stood quiet, however unlike the young ones he wasn’t aching to show off their feats in the battle. With a very monotonous motion he checked his pockets realizing he had only 11 enchanted bullets to eradicate undead. With the same monotonous motion he produced a simple yet strong revolver from inside his jacket, yet he didn’t load it with the special bullets. Eric felt it would be a waste to use them against creatures of weak strength and that would only remain for a while in this world, hence all the regular rounds he fired were accurately pinpointed at key points of the creatures. Joints to stop their movements, head to eliminate their senses and prevent them from biting, hands to make them unable to use their hands for anything. While the teens fought vigorously against the creatures, Eric didn’t move from his chosen spot and he remained there until the conflict ended. Then the man walked to the group and after hearing Joe he said. “Necromancers are actually easy to track, is a matter of logic after all. They need a dead corpse to create an undead, do you think that besides the unlucky cops there is a big amount of corpses in the middle of the city and close to a bank?” Eric crouched and picked a remain of an undead body slowly melting into dust. Before it were to be washed away from the air, Eric produced a small plastic bag and put the dust inside of it. “It means that the necromancer brought them not from the ground but a different method, perhaps he carried pulverized bones, used teleportation magic or summoned them using special craft, regardless, all we have to do is to analyze this sample. However, unlike any of you, I have no magical talent, neither assisted a campus, this is a job for a specialist. Luckily there should be plenty in the campus. Once we analyze the sample we can use it to track the perpetrator.” “…Or at least one of them…. “ said hinting that it wasn’t a single man’s crime.
"Hey man, hold up. Didn't anyone hear me when I was talking about Heath bar? He is our personal bitch so long as we agree to fight crime, and I would assume this means a pardon from anything we do that might have the pigs after us." Mikkish said, as distant sirens came nearer and neared until the red and blue lights of several cop cars pulled up on the scene. The cops that arrived quickly eliminated any remaining undead resistance in the area, began clearing the corpses and helping the injured, and of course kicked Mikkish and his buddies, new and not so new, off away from the crime scene. Mikkish just shook his head at the officers and detectives now working where he had just been killing zombies like some mix of classic Resident Evil games and Sonic the Hedgehog. "Can you guys imagine how long they'll be at this? How many processes they will need to go through before actually finding anything? Not to mention this necromancer will just escape and pull this shit again." Mikkish ranted, but turned his attention when an officer approached their group, not him specifically, but the officer looked at each of the students. "Excuse me, you are Joe Nobunaga, Mikkish Callanhad, and Rue Daniels, right? Do any of you know a girl named Hikaru? Hikaru or Sveta Kurosawa?" The officer asked, concern showing in his face. "Hikaru? Yeah, what happened?" Mikkish asked, as it is always a shame when something happens to such a gorgeous girl, he thought. "Your friend, Hikaru, has disappeared from the hospital. None of the hospital staff know anything about where she went." "Fuck..."
I shook my head in disdain as I heard his flawed logic... I didn't even want to argue. He was going to do whatever he was going to do, but I was not going to be any part of it. It was a flawed and foolish plan, he still thought that we'd be able to take on experienced mages! We nearly got killed multiple times in the last few weeks to people that were far experienced than us, and it didn't help that the school had been shut down, not allowing us to get any form of training or study time in to even begin to hope that we could try and fight against people. Though... I'm still going to turn Heathcliff in. I looked at the officer that walked up to us, I was about to open my mouth to say something about the assassin responsible for killing and injuring many students. My eyes widened when he said that Hikaru had gone missing... I had just seen her this morning... before I had left... s-she couldn't be missing... n-no... it has to be a mistake... right? "Someone took her." I said it without thinking. Hikaru couldn't even sit up, let alone escape out of the hospital herself. "W-We have to find her!" Without a second thought, I ran toward the hospital as fast as my legs could take me... they had to have security cameras around the hospital... we could review the footage and figure out who took her...!
Mikkish went immediately as Joe did. They left the cop standing in the street without answers. Mikkish, while he hadn't used it in a while, did know telepathy, and knew that Joe was going to try and wiggle his way out of the grand plan Mikkish was conjuring up in his head, though he didn't exactly need telepathy to figure that out. That problem could be taken care of later, though. Right now was the Hikaru problem. "What that cop told you was true. Your friend, Hikaru, is gone. We reviewed the cameras looks like a staff member nobody recognizes took her." A nurse told Mikkish and Joe when Mikkish asked. The news headline about the women of all ages vanishing rushed back to Mikkish' head. "Still gonna sit on your ass and wait for the cops to find her dead body, Joe?" Mikkish asked, glaring at Joe.
I glared at Mikkish. "This is something different, Mikkish, this is a friend that could be in immediate danger, it's not trying to play hero and catch a bunch of bank robbers, now stop complaining and judging me, sit down, and shut up before you cause something else horrible to happen." I snapped, I had already heard enough terrible ideas from him today, I wasn't in the mood to listen to any more of them. Going after bank robbers and teaming up with paid professional killers... I turned back to the nurse. "I need to see that footage, anything that can be shown can help, the man's face, or the car they used, maybe if there were multiple people, any small detail could help us. Please, the police are too busy dealing with that bank robbery, they may either hold off on the investigation until things calm down or only give very little manpower in this endeavor, any time they take to go through proper channels or trying to sort out who could do this, is time we could be looking for her kidnappers. Please, Hikaru is our friend, if anything happened to her... I'd never forgive myself." I clutched my locket with one hand, I could hear my heart pounding in my ears... I was shaking slightly... Hikaru could die, she could be raped, she could be experimented on, she could get sold off... I couldn't let any of those things happen to her.
"Oh, so I'm the one causing all the bad things to happen? I'm not the one who sucks at healing too much to help Hikaru so she could have protected herself?" Mikkish truly believed he could pin this partially on Joe "Or who is supposedly a "human lie detector" but won't use that to find his friend who might be getting...OH SHIT!" His game of making Joe look like one of the bad guys came to an end when he realized that Hikaru might be getting hacked into a body suit Ed Gein style, or raped. They wouldn't have just shown anyone, but because the police thought it might be helpful, anyone associated with Mikkish present in the hospital was brought to the security room, where a tape was played showing a young blonde guy, about late teens to early 20s, very skinny, couldn't even be 100 pounds, wheeling Hikaru, who was hunched over in her chair and drooling, to the elevator from her room. "That's all we have." Said a security guard "Thought she was getting transferred" Said the young security guard, probably very new to the job. It took all the will power Mikkish could muster not to punch the guard through the fuckign wall. He actually used his minuscule amount of common sense in his head and decided it wouldn't help anyone. "I don't know that guy, do you, Joe?"
I shot a cold glare at Mikkish. I hadn't told him, or anyone about Hikaru's... special circumstances, it wasn't in my place to talk about such things. My healing magic would have only made things worse, and I couldn't work with my alchemy at all, I was shut up in this hospital the whole week... I took a deep breath, calming myself. It was no time to be angry or panic. I shut my eyes and went over the faces that I'd seen since I'd come to the island. He was around our age, so surely there's the possibility that he's a student... "Hm... Unfortunately, I have not met this man... But, he could potentially be a student, he's around our age, however, a physical description is all we have right now, and it would take a while to go through each and every last file to find him. It may not even be his true appearance, he could be using magic to disguise his appearance or be using a disguise to look like someone else entirely. Though, it is worth a shot if we have no other way to identify him. If we can't find anything else, we'll go back to school once we have a look along the route he took, he may have dropped something while he was taking Hikaru." I turned to the security guard. "Surely, this hospital must have cameras outside and, if it has one, the parking garage, correct?" We may be able to get a look at the perpetrator's car... perhaps that would narrow things down further if it was his own personal vehicle. Surely, students would have to register their vehicles with the school so then they could get a pass in order to park on school grounds, if we could even get a make of the vehicle, we could narrow down our search even further.
The guard sighed "We have one outside the front door. I agree, this place lacks security." The video showed a couple cars driving past just half an hour before she was discovered to be missing. There weren't many cars on the island, so there only four cars in the video. Two had a single driver, one was a semi truck, and then there was a creepy, windowless van. "Thats it" Mikkish said, pointing to the video screen wherr the van was "Thats definitely the car that has her. Everybody knows that if someone is kidnapped, a windowless van is where you find them."
"Not necessarily, Mikkish. She could have easily have been placed in the trunk in one of the cars and the wheelchair folded up and put on the floor in the back seat. We can't eliminate the semi either, she could be stored in the back along with her wheelchair. However, a windowless van would be the best vehicle for kidnapping, since no one would be able to look into the back unless they were able to get a look and angle in the windshield or driver or passenger window." I crossed my arms and turned to the guard. "Is there any way we can get a better look at the driver's faces?" I was hoping that we could at least get a few clear frames where we could see each driver, even if it wasn't their face.
"Sorry." The guard shrugged "These cameras are pretty crap quality." The guard zoomed in on the windows of each car "The faces are all blurred. You can't really even tell what color their hair is, let alone who they might be. The management figures, with everyone having magic these kinds of problems shouldn't happen too often. Problem is, shit always happens eventually." The camera indeed zoomed in, and on the screen, the faces looked like nothing but swooshing circles with no features. "Women, young and old have been vanishing all over the city. I hope you guys can find her soon." The guard said sympathetically. Just then, a irate looking man, dressed in black, who had been standing next to the police officer the whole time, stepped forward. "That's the best you can give us?" He stepped up to the computers, forcing the security guard out of the way, and zoomed in on the truck and the and then the van. The truck had a logo, the an was completely clean. He stepped back from the security screens "We gotta move." He said, though hesitated, then looked at Joe, sensing something...unique, about him, but quickly turning back to what he was doing. He stormed out of the room. "Alright, you kids need to clear out of here. Don't leave the island though. We might need you for questioning." The police officer said, and with that, followed the other man. "We gotta follow those cars. Hikaru needs our help." Mikkish said, presenting yet another possibly reckless idea to Joe.
I walked forward. "Impossible, they're long gone by now, we don't have a license plate number or anything of the like, if we go around chasing down each and every vehicle of that make and color, we'd lose precious time that could be used saving Hikaru. The most sensible plans are to go to the school and search through student records, that boy is around our age and likely attends our school. We should also canvass the hospital and the nearby buildings for witnesses. Finally, we should follow the path which the kidnapper took Hikaru to his vehicle, it's possible he may have dropped something to identify him or give some indication of where he's going." I turned to him. "Doing the route now would be wise since we're here, but he could have taken multiple routes to the elevator, so if we have more people, searching would be faster, since we'll want to check everything with a fine tooth comb. Canvassing for witnesses would take a long time and we just don't have the manpower for it, it'd likely take us all day to talk to everyone and see if they saw everything, and if we go to the school, I'd have to go, I'm a speed reader, I could get through those files in a flash."
"Man, I'm gonna kick that guys ass so fuckin bad when we find him. That skinny little faggot is-" Mikkish' rant was cut off by the security guard. "Uh, sorry guys lost your friend, but you guys should probably leave like that cop said." The security guard looked a little nervous, but mildly annoyed at the same time. With a sigh, Mikkish left the security room "Alright man, you go to the school. I will check out the garage." Mikkish' face scrunched in realization "Wait a minute." Mikkish turned to Joe "It had to be the van. A semi-truck with a trailer that big couldn't fit in a garage like that. I can almost guarantee." They were standing in the hall now "Heathcliff, Eric, do you guys have any idea what company that van could've been for?"
Eric pondered in silence. His business with Hikaru had already ended that day in the forest, hence he had no obligation to help in her rescue. Besides, even if he aided her it was due to the job, Eric truly believed that a "thing" like her had no place in this world. He could easily give a helping hand to the boys out of carity. But... wouldn't that expose them to unecessary risk? Something his client wouldn't be happy with. After a few seconds of silence Eric nodded. "They were from a fast food delivery company, Kountry Roasted Root." stated. After all, Hikaru had been in contact with the demon's magic.
"Yes, but it could have still been parked close outside of the parking garage, just close enough that the kidnapper could have conceivably rushed Hikaru over and loaded her within, and those other two cars could have fit as well and could have concealed Hikaru within the trunk and the wheelchair in the back on the floor." I crossed my arms and sighed, I know that he thought that the van was the best lead, but it's possible that the van was just passing by the hospital, it is a good vehicle to hide someone, but just because it is, doesn't mean that it automatically makes each van guilty for concealing bodies. I turned to Eric when he told us about the van. "Alright, that's a good place to look, someone could go there and check out the restaurant and see if he works there, he could have conceivably 'borrowed' one for a short amount of time, or took a longer route than usual to make his deliveries." I turned to everyone else. "Alright, one group check this place out, ask anyone that's willing to talk if they saw anything strange near or in the parking garage, and make sure to check every possible way to the elevator in the event that the kidnapper dropped something. The second group will go to Kountry Roasted Root and ask around and see if someone matching our kidnapper's description works there. I'll go to the school and check out the student files, I'll be able to get through them myself relatively quickly. Everyone please work quickly, every moment wasted is another that Hikaru could be getting hurt." With that, I ran out of the hospital and toward the school as fast as I could. Rushing through traffic and other pedestrians, using every alleyway and shortcut that I could to get to school as fast as I possibly could... if the gates were still shut... I'd just leap right over them...! If anyone barred my way, I'll just have to go right through them!
"Kountry Roasted Root?" Mikkish said, baffled "Is that some KFC knockoff?" A rhetorical question "Alright Joe, Heathcliff. Time to check out nearest KFC wannabe." ----------------------------- The glass door swung open of the fast food joint, and Mikkish began storming over to tbe counter, but stopped when he saw the sign for food above. Chicken. Mashed potatoes. Typical southern food. They served collared greens here too. And even deep fried shrimp. "Hey man, wassup? I will have the five buck basket." Mikkish said "For here."
after Joe, mikkish and them ran off again, this time to the hospital, Mareck didn't follow. He just sighed and wandered off. He eventually wound up on a rooftop, playing a sort of follow the leader with Kayik as he followed the cat as it explored the rooftops. he still had the sword he got from the demon as well, it swung lightly from where it hung on his belt as he walked. he wound up leaving the two creatures he created to their own devices back at the bank, whatever those might be... after a while he decided to check out this school he'd been hearing about, as he hadn't actually seen it since getting to the island. he hopped down from the roof, Kayik landing on his shoulder, and asked a passerby for directions. after receiving said directions he set out toward the school taking a few alleys and sidestreets along the way. he came up to the campus gate and was reading the sign when, Kayik meowed from his shoulder and Mareck turned to see what the cat was looking at, and saw Joe frantically running towards him and the gate "well then..." Mareck said and Kayik meowed again. "...Hey Joe"
I skidded to a halt in front of Mareck and the open school gate, panting softly as I bent over, grabbing my knees. "H-Hey Mareck, don't have a lot of time to talk, gotta get inside and get into the student records... my friend, Hikaru, she was injured and recovering inside of the hospital, and someone's kidnapped her, I think it's because of something... special about her... I... I think they're going to perform experiments on her... I don't want to drag you into this, but... I really need help, I wouldn't ask if lives were on the line. Would... would you be willing to help me?" I didn't need help reading through the files... but to have peace of mind that Mikkish's mind was staying on task would be invaluable...
