Test Subject Number Zero's Story

Forth

The dark, how comforting it was to be home. His morning was just like any other. The cool, black floor was ever so reminiscent of his days of youth. As his fingers brushed across the floor he laid upon he could still see the stone of the caverns.

He pushed himself up, rising from his rest. The world above awaited him. He rubbed the tiredness from his eyes before yawning. He looked to the watch on his wrist. It read eight thirty. Looking up from his watch he could see the walls the morning sun's light touched. The daytime always made it harder for him to get around. If the sun never rose he'd hardly need to come out. Still, he left his old home to live as the humans live so putting up with traffic both on the streets and the sidewalks was a grievance he'd just have to endure.


The doors of the closet creaked as he opened them, stepping out from within into the room at the hotel he was staying in. He had paid in advance for his temporary stay at this city. He was assigned to this local after there were reports from their intel department that a notable vampiric figure was acting in this region. Just recently a young man had disappeared. The details of the investigation by local police yielded all the hallmarks of a standard vampire attack.

He didn't bother turning the lights on nor did he draw the curtains he had down to keep the room dark. His eyes were rather sensitive to the light so this was preferable for him. He just sat down in the arm chair next to the table. Resting on top of the table was a plain touch screen phone. He closed his eyes and rested his head back, letting his thoughts swim about in the perfect blackness behind his eyelids. His hand drifted over, taking the phone off the table and putting it into his pocket. Chances were high that one of the mages was going to try and call him. A lot of the lesser ranked mages lacked initiative.


After some time he stood and walked to the door, suitcase in hand. In one smooth motion he opened the door and left the room, shutting and locking it behind him. This gesture was more one of good will towards the establishment as opposed to an actual concern for security. He didn't keep anything in his room he'd mind losing.

---

Later, as night descended.

---

He sat in the library, a stack of books to his side. While a large amount of information had been made available through the internet the finer details were still left in books that had yet to be scanned. A number of historical books laid stacked on the table right in front of him, forming a small mountain which partially obscured him from view. The cover wasn't an intentional set, he had little care for concealing himself then.

By the books sat his phone. A trap had been set down near the location they believed their target lurked. Numerous mages were dispatched from their local holdings to oversee the trap's success. They did not succeed, Forth's prolonged stay here was proof of that. If they killed their target he would be on his next assignment as soon as they reported back. As it was his focus was currently set on their main quarry, hence the books.


To Forth it would of just been a waste of both his time and the other magi's if they continued on. He could already tell they had been well under-prepared for the encounter. After reporting back most of them couldn't accurately recall the vampire's appearance but a couple, namely the support magi, were far enough to avoid the stress of being attacked and were able to recount some interesting details. It was clear it wasn't just any vampire they fought, it just had to be the one that he and the King had been sent to investigate.

As king came to mind Forth noted that he hadn't seen the child all day. He was neither concerned nor bothered by that. Whether Agent King was there or not mattered little to him personally. It mattered strongly to the council however so there was that for him to consider. Working with King had it's pluses and minuses but the kid was quite useful when it came to missions oriented towards violence. Right now he wasn't needed but eventually they would need to confront the vampire in the flesh and that was a job far better suited towards the King's talents.

And so he read some more as he liked to do.

---

---

It was a clear day as Zero stood on the edge of a roof of a building that looked down on the area of where the plan had been executed and sadly to say, it failed. He took a deep breath before releasing a loud sigh. 10 days ago a bunch of mage’s got hurt and two died that night, all cause Zero couldn’t make in time. He felt as if he made it in time he could of killed the vampire or at least prevent any deaths that night. But one thing was sure, he saw the vampire and knew what she looked like, but he hoped he was wrong. If she is the vampire they were looking for, Zero knew this was going to be a long mission to either capture the vampire or kill her. Zero closes his eyes as the images of that night play in his mind.

10 days ago

Zero was up a little early walking around the city. This was his first time being in a big city like this and Zero made up his mind to explore the city. But the main thing he was looking for was places that sell food that he could try. About three hours have past and Zero tried at least 20 different places. Before he decided to head for the meeting place for the plan to carrier out, but there was one small problem. Zero was so busy with looking for places to eat at that he wasn’t watching were he was and now he was lost. He looked in every direction for something familiar, but sadly he couldn’t find anything. Zero gave a huff before he pulls out his cell phone and debates if he should call queen for help. He thinks for about five minutes before he pockets his phone again and throws it back in his pocket.

Later that night the clear sky became dark and cloudy, as rain started to poor down. Zero who was running really late was now running and jumping from roof top to roof top. He was hoping he was going in the right direction, until he heard explosion going off and that when he saw the smoke coming in front of him he knew he was on the right track. When he stopped on the roof top looking down at the area, he barely got a glimpse of the vampire girl they where looking for. But when her face registered in Zero mind he froze in place and he couldn’t move. His blood felt hot like it was boiling and Zero knew why. The face he saw is that same exact face he saw when he was little. She was the vampire that turned Zero into the monster he was. Instead of turning him into a full vampire she turned him into a half vampire that way he was able to keep his human magic. Zero stood where he was at without moving.


End

As zero opens his eyes he lets go of his breath he didn’t know he was holding. Zero then turns and jumps off the roof to the ground. He then starts heading down the street toward the library where he knew Queen was at. Zero hadn’t revealed to queen or the conceal that he saw the vampire or that he somewhat knew her. He was questioning himself if he should at least tell Queen or not. Zero was not sure what to do that by the time he was leaning to just keep quite he was standing in front of the doors to the library. Zero then pushes open the doors and enters the library.

"What do you mean I can't hunt yet?", Serah had said with a sullen look. There was nothing to be said about Serah's memory lapse. She still had that insatiable hunger within her. She sat down on the futon again promptly, and took a deep sigh.


"The hunters are after you. I've heard that even the most annoying of nuisances have come to hunt you down."

Rina sighed in unison with her mother as she throws a couple of dossier files.

"This was not easy to come by. Take a look. I need to go to my job as well as my own "house" I will be back to check on you Mother."


Rina stands up promptly, wiping off the residue of dust on her pants from the old futon. It's not like they had owned the house. They had just simply made a "vacancy" within it. The cold shrieks of pain and imminent defeat of the couple residing here before were still soaked within the walls of the confined house. Rina had nor the prowess of her mother nor the strength of the best hand-to-hand fighter. Her forte was intelligence. And it was simply just that, that she was going to utilize. After standing up and stretching her upper torso, Rina grabbed a coat off of the ornate wooden rack, putting it on before opening the door, an entrance to a raining, damp yet desolate place. She stepped out, letting out a breath of cold air, as she brushed off some of the water droplets from her shoulder.

"She always makes such a big fuss...over a meal. I keep telling her to stop playing with her food out of all things."

Serah quickly gets off of the floor and dressed as well. She puts on a pair of rain boots and steps outside briskly. There was one thing or another that she wasn't going to stand, and that was not going to be not satisfying her hunger. She boarded the train heading towards a town on the opposite side of the country.

There was a slight series of crackles as the droplets of rain hit against the cobblestoned road. She saw and heard someone approach her.

Thunk, thunk. thunk, the footsteps told her in unison. A scruffy man in seemingly his early twenties had stepped onto the road. Another unfortunate victim for the femme fatale.

"Excuse me..." she shivered as she waited for him to get past her a bit and tugged on the sleeve of his coat.

"What is it?", the man politely asked with a nonchanging expression. His black umbrella slightly shading his face as the droplets protested in unison with their own unique "thunk". It began to rain harder.

"Perhaps could I take shelter under your umbrella? I forgot mine..."

She quivered to reassure her newfound prey of her feminine charm and unanimous grace even in the worst of conditions. Her shoulders showed a slim slender physique that trailed down to her legs. She received positive affirmation on this as the man proceeded to examine her from head to toe.

"Sure, anything for a woman in distress."

"Oh my, what a gentleman."

Such frivolities and short exchanges continued for about a mile until the man finally asked:

"Where are we heading? I am not too far from here, my house is yonder." he pointed to a chain of smoke coming from a chimney on top of a hill to their left.

A moment of silence passed as they approached the crossroad.

"Nowhere near here."

She leaned against him. Could this be his lucky day the man probably wondered as she opened her gaping mouth and let it sink onto his ripe shoulder. To his astonishment he could no longer feel and quietly passed away less than 30 kilometers away from his dwelling. No one could explain why there was no trace of him aside from his bones.

Forth

He watched King approach the front of the library. The painted eye on the wall followed him, looking on as he stood at the entrance. Forth always blinked rather slowly as every time he did he could see from the eyes he set. At this time he had an eye on the front of the library, watching those who come in, and one out by the backdoor to watch for possible attackers. So far the only thing to have gone through the back alley was a rat which promptly scurried past on it's way to somewhere else.

As for the front entrance eye it could see King clearly. It was evident that King was quite pensive, seemingly reluctant to enter the library if only but a moment. Forth's face was obscured by the book he was holding, an old history book titled 'The Zhou Dynasty'. Opening his left eye which he had on King he lowered his book and looked over to his comrade. Seems I don't need to wonder where he is any more.


He rose from the table, putting a bookmark in the pages and placing the book in his suitcase. With a soft click his suitcase was shut and he lifted it off the table, taking it with him as he went to greet him.

"Good to see you've come." His tone was neutral, his expression like stone as always. "You seem to have a lot on your mind."

He looked around. The library wasn't packed but it wasn't necessarily empty. Speaking about their work around all these people seemed like a poor idea, the kind of idea that draws attention. He much preferred to be the one observing rather than be observed himself. Anything they needed to say to each other could be better said with less ears around to hear them.

"I'm done here for now. Care to talk while I head back to the HQ? I have some business there." With the offer provided he began on his way out of the library to head on down to the Magician Alliance's outpost in this corner of the world.

---

---

Zero was caught of guard a little when he saw forth. Zero knew Forth was very cations person and would knew when he was close to the library. That’s not what caught him of guard. "You seem to have a lot on your mind,” was Forth words to zero as Forth got up from his seat and started to walk over to him. Zero looked toward Forth as he saw Forth looking around the room. Zero then did the same, scanning the enter place he could see. He did notice a couple of people, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. Well at least what Zero think could be ordinary in a library.

As soon Zero was done scanning he heard Forth walk to the side of him about to head for the door before he told zero, "I'm done here for now. Care to talk while I head back to the HQ? I have some business there." Zero then looked up to forth sighing a little. He nods as he watched Forth walk out the library. Zero turns back to the library looking around, but he turn and runs off to catch up to Forth. He didn’t take long as it seems Forth was already sitting in the back of a car waiting on Zero, he had guessed. Zero rushed over and entered the back of the car as he looked to the driver. Zero liked this driver since the guy was their personal driver that when Forth or Zero had businesses some where he would drive them. But the main reason liked the guy was, as soon as Zero was seated next to Forth the driver then handed a bag of chips to Zero. Zero smiled devilishly as he too the chips and started to open them. “Thank you Lee-chan. Your always prepared aren’t you.” Zero thanks Lee for the food as Lee started to drive back to HQ.


Zero the turned to Forth as he was about to grab another chip from the bag. “And speaking of prepared Forth. Your still cations as every.” Zero then turns his head out to look out the window. He watched as stores passed by as a shock expression came over his face. “Crap! I forgot to get a gift for Rina-chan! She was suppose to be my knew body guard after my last one Quit, well that’s what the conceal said at least. How long do you think she will last Queen?” Zero then pouted a little as he thought about the female body guard. When king and Queen are together there is no need for body guards, but when they are left alone a ‘body guard’ must accompany them. In this case, Rina was Zero new body guard. She is actually the fifth body guard he had. The first two body guards where male and they felt weird body guarding a ‘child’ so they quit the job. The third was a female and something bad happened and she ended up dead. Now rumors are spreading around HQ that Zero killed the girl cause she called Zero by his name and know one calls him by that expert a small amount of people. So the Forth body guard got scared by the rumors and oddly enough Zero hasn’t seen the guy at HQ at all. But now Zero was suppose to meet his new body guard today and he wanted to get her a girt after his mission.

Time has passed when the car started to pull in the grounds of HQ. When the huge build that was know as HQ came into view, Zero felt him self getting hungry. But the hungry he felt was something else and not food. Zero expression changed from his happy childish no care to his series, about to assassinate someone face. Zero looks at Forth from the reflection of the window as he tries to speak in a low tone, he knew only Forth would hear. “Hey Queen, when was the last time I ate my specialty dish?” Zero then closed his eyes trying to control the hungry. Zero felt the car come to a stop and without waiting he jumped out the car and dashed for the building, Trying to hurry for his room. But as soon and zero entered the room his body stopped as Zero looked around the huge entrance room of the building. Zero hungrier spiked so fast that Zero was finding it hard to keep in check. That when Zero eye sight came upon a girl, she appeared to be 14.

Something felt off and Zero couldn’t tell why. But Zero hungrier made it harder to control his action. In a blink of a eye Zero was now behind her and he head his yo-yo out with his metal strings wrapped around her neck. “W-who are you! What's a child like you doing here!” Zero managers to say trying his best not to bite the girl. He knew she wasn’t normal if her appearance some how effect him. And Zero was going to get answers one way or the other

Serah sat down again in the familiar futon, standing up again in boredom. This cycle repeated for the next half hour until she finally scaled the stairs to the bed room. She plopped onto the bed with a huge thunk, not caring about the frame, creaking in resonance.

"When is she going to get back? She always does the most interesting things without me..."

She tossed and turned, ruffling sheets everywhere until she sat up from her relaxed position. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, her arm resting against her forehead to block her eyes from the sun's rays.



"I'm not a kid." she said without raising her voice or fluctuating it from her regular monotone voice.

She held out her palm as if it was spellbound and a blue flame appeared, flashing its light in Zero's face and soon Forth's face as he also caught up with Zero.

"Wait a second." she stared blankly at the duo as she turned her head to the side slightly and rested her chin on her hand.

"I take that back. Hello Zero, Forth." she motioned a curtsy against her jeans after dispelling her flames.


"I am special Investigator Rina from the Tokyo branch. I'm assigned to be under you two for this joint investigation of the vampire."

Forth

As he left the library he noted that the company car was out in front, waiting for them. He speculated that King must of alerted them as to where he was going as Forth had no hand in calling the vehicle. He never liked calling upon the Magician's Alliance for non-specialty materials or resources. He much preferred using taxi's when he needed to be driven and just walking when driving wasn't strictly necessary. He was all for subtlety and having an expensive car with his own driver out in a low-key neighborhood such as this was far from anything he'd call subtle. He's been considering getting himself a motorcycle for a while now for the terrain accessibility and smaller profile.

After their driver started on the way to the HQ King spoke of his new security guard. "I cannot say. Not everyone has the willpower for field work." He was of course talking of King's previous guard who had quit out of fear for his life. It was quite sad really, a magus who applies for a position which inherently guarantees the possibility of danger and yet lets the stress of working in a dangerous situation drive him off. It was people like these that reaffirmed why he was where he was to the order. It was not raw strength, power or technique which separated true talent from the chaff. It was willpower.


Soon they approached the HQ. King noted his concerns regarding his special needs. Forth hadn't forgotten about that. As a matter of fact he had been keeping track of the time that passed since King's last meal. He had planned to get King back and refreshed however he couldn't accurately predict exactly how late King was going to be. As it was by the time he had joined him at the library the spare time he had set in case of delays was completely depleted. There was little to be concerned for however. "About six days and twenty three hours. With the drive to the HQ factored in everything should be fine just so long as there are no -"

As he was about to finish his sentence the car rolled up in front of the HQ. Inside he could see a young girl through the glass double doors, a civilian from most appearances standing right in the middle of the League of Mage's base of operations.
"- Interruptions." He finished, his last note was less of a tone of reassurance and more a tone of annoyance. This was exactly the kind of interruption King didn't need.


In but a moment King had wires fixed around the girl's throat. He was about to try and talk him down from killing the girl, more for his sake than the girls. He didn't think King would be comfortable with himself should he kill a supposedly innocent bystander in his hysteria. Before he could speak however the girl flared fire from her palm. It was evident this girl was not merely a civilian. He did not recognize her from any of the staff he had seen from here and his memory was near perfect.

"I take that back. Hello Zero, Forth."

No, this girl was no mere civilian. This girl was exactly the person he was looking for. It was almost anomalous the disparity between how resourceful she must of been to retrieve such sensitive information and yet how clumsy she was in coming right up to them and addressing them by the names they are least frequently addressed by. This was quite unexpected, so unexpected in fact that Forth's ordinarily cold unchanging expression showed a slight element of surprise.


"I am special Investigator Rina from the Tokyo branch. I'm assigned to be under you two for this joint investigation of the vampire."

Forth looked at her hard. Every detail down to even the most minute features, he'd commit it all to memory.
"Special Investigator Rina, Hm?" He remarked, an emphasis on the preceding title in her name. Again there was a display of remarkable aptitude for infiltration yet there was still that element of foolishness. Either that or an element of arrogance.
Who would appear directly before the leading magi in an investigation against her after gathering this much information and purposefully show her hand though? There are only a handful of explanations...

Admittedly King did mention he was to be assigned a new body guard by the same name however they were not addressed as special investigators, they were identified as personnel security. It would of made sense if she referred to herself as a body guard as it is commonly called but to call herself a special investigator was strange. King might think him overcautious and others might even of called him paranoid if they knew of what he suspected but he hadn't come this far by being wrong. Evidence for her working against them was not tangible in the slightest but one thing was certain: She didn't belong.


Not that he minded of course. This was exactly what he wanted. He thought he'd of had to do a lot more work to uncover the vitiation within the Alliance's own security. It was exactly why he operated largely independent from the HQ, rarely calling upon their support and generally keeping the knowledge of where he was and what he was doing to himself. This wasn't something that had changed much as he had always made subtle inroads towards subverting his superior's direct command over him. He was no stranger to trying to work around the present command structure whilst maintaining appearances of normalcy. In this case it just happened to fit a hunch of his.

"King, you should let her go. You have more urgent business to attend to and clearly neither of us are in any immediate danger from her." He attempted to talk King down from trying to saw the girl's head off in a deprived fit. His voice was calm yet firm, a passive attempt to assert limited command so he might de-escalate the situation. "I have complete control of the situation here. Surely you mustn't want to waste another second apart from your... Business." He attempted to establish assertiveness while twisting the phrasing of his words to make it seem to King like he's going along because he wants to, not because Forth commanded him to. On top of that he spoke in largely vague terms as he did not wish to let out Zero's secret needs in front of all this people, Rina least of all. He couldn't be sure whether she knew already or not but if he had plans of keeping King's trust in him intact keeping his secrets secret, even if is just in appearance, was necessary.


"Apologies for the fuss miss Rina. Perhaps once this is resolved we might introduce ourselves more formally before we discuss the alterations we are making to this operation's methodology, reflecting heavily of course on the incident ten days ago. I am assuming you are familiar with the incident, correct?"

---

---

A lot was happening really fast and Zero was getting close to killing the girl in front of him. First thing first, Zero drive for blood was making it hard for him to think straight. The second thing was there was a girl that seemed off to him and making his blood run. Then third , there was a blue light and Zero sight went blind quick. Zero assassin instincts kicked in. He blocked out the out side world, ignoring all that as he focuses on the string around the girls neck. He tighten the metal string around the girl neck tighter were it could easily ripe her neck off. Lightning then circled around them as lighting also could be seen coming from Zero body. “Make one move and Ill kill you were you stand.” But before he had the chance to prepare for the kill, Zero was now able to see again and that’s when Zero heard a voice behind him. "King, you should let her go. You have more urgent business to attend to and clearly neither of us are in any immediate danger from her." Realizing who the voice belonged to Zero tried to gain control of his actions before Queen spoke again. “I have complete control of the situation here. Surely you mustn't want to waste another second apart from your... Business." With that the lightning circle and the lightning from Zero disappeared and the tension in the air seemed to be gone also as Zero unwind the string from the girls neck. He then spun the yoyo a couple of time before he made it disappear in thin air. He then looked toward king give a childish smile before walking away.

He heard king and the king still talking, when king was out of hear shot his kiddish smile turned to a grin look as he control his hungry to he got his room. It took Zero maybe 10 minutes to reach his room which was isolated under HQ. It appeared that Zero’s room was the only one on the floor also. When Zero entered his room, he notice everything was as he left it before he left on his some short mission. The room only contained three things. One was a king size bed that was placed in the far left corner and a in the opposite corner of the bed where what seem to be two mini fridges stacked on top of each other. The bottom mini fridge how ever looked more like a safe with a hand print handle and a voice command to open it. Zero then walked over to the mini fridge as he placed his left hand on the handle and said “open!” The fridge made a bing noise before opening, as inside the fridge contained multiple water bottles with red liquid in them. Zero took one bottle and closed the door. He quickly opened the bottle and chugged the liquid inside. After finishing Zero sat in the middle of the floor and started to some what meditate to he felt more in control of his body.

After a few minutes past a thought passed Zero mind. He quickly shot up and shouted in his room. “Ahhh I forgot to see if Rin-chan came for the body guard position.” Zero didn’t know that the girl he almost killed was her as he hurried back to find Queen. Zero was glade that when he entered the main room he found Queen in the same place with that other girl. Zero did his best as he ran up to Queen shouting at him. “Queeeeeeeen do you know if the knew body guard showed up yet!?” Zero knew Queen could or maybe not know. Zero figured Queen was really smart and do to his over caution would already know to just be prepared, so he was the best to ask first.

---

---

In a moment suspended wires had twisted and coiled serpentine like around Rina's neck. It held a rather solid grip on her neck as she sighed.

"Does it really have to end this way? I expected some more civil discussion." She looked at the office terrace from the window outside. She didn't really have anything to say as every word she uttered resonate with a tighter grip from the metallic wire. Forth looked at her with cautious eyes. She knew he was always going to be a pain to deal with according to his dossier. Staff disappearing, his unusual quirks within the shadows, his unusual travel durations that happened almost instantaneously as if he was in every part of the world that contained some type of menacing shadow. Just the thought of it made her shiver in excitement. It was disgusting, just like her heart. An uncaring man who did not think twice about his surroundings and does what he thinks is right. There was always an uncertainty in how Rina thought this would play out. She kept all the permutations of what the foreseeable future could be. Nonetheless, she could not choose nor decide on which method she would like to deal with this. She could obviously teleport and snap Zero's neck. But that wouldn't be fun. Not in the slightest.

A few more minutes of uncertainty passed as people shuffled through the building passing by the deadlock between Zero and Rina without a care, for his wires were invisible unless the light reflected with a nasty glare from the window pane or the LED lights above. There wasn't any juxtaposition to save Rina at all, in the slightest when there were two commanders of a mission staring at this unknown person. In fact, she began to feel eyes boring holes through her. She had to handle this quickly or the situation would become very difficult for her to lie out of.

She began to speak in her usual tone, not upbeat but also not depressing. "Zero...if you-" She stopped as she saw Forth stare at her with a menacing aura. His hair seemed to be sticking up from his inquisition, or perhaps it was just his eyes that were bleak. Bleak as if there was no end to their distance that seemingly locked on upon her.

"King, you should let her go. You have more urgent business to attend to and clearly neither of us are in any immediate danger from her."

Zero quickly let go of his grasp on her. He then presumed to uncoil his grip on her and looked forward towards the entrance. Then, he casually walked down the hall in some playful matter, making sure to not step on any cracks in the floor itself, holding a devilish smile.

"Apologies for the fuss miss Rina. Perhaps once this is resolved we might introduce ourselves more formally before we discuss the alterations we are making to this operation's methodology, reflecting heavily of course on the incident ten days ago. I am assuming you are familiar with the incident, correct?"

"There's not much to say. People died, became artifacts and fuel for the Order's purpose. Bleh, what blasphemy. Then again, you also think of personal gain. Eyes on the prize right, Forth? I mean even I can see that, and I'm just a high school girl. Oh right, and what you inquired about. I am the Constitutional Monarch herself, Her Highness Rina Eun Park of Japan and its Commonwealth. But then again, that's such an exhausting name, nowadays I just refer to my agency rank bestowed upon me from amnesty. Special Investigator, S Rank Assassin by the Order, Rina Eun Park. Then again whatever's on my dossier won't be helpful either its all whited out. So I suggest we get to know each other on this mission."

She casually walked down the entrance way following Zero before looking back on the doorway.

"There's always strife and political activism in the world. Yet there's nothing we can do. I can no longer tolerate mistakes. Perhaps you do not know, but just because I am subordinate to you and the chipper fellow over there does not mean I am not by my own means. As long as I get out of the way and your..." She held up her hands with air quotation marks, curling her fingers as if mocking him.

"business....and you get out of mine, we will all be alright. To be honest, it's easier this way. You seem to operate better alone." And then she was gone, without a trace, using her usual teleportation.

A few hours later, Rina appeared at the entrance beside the fridge where Zero was currently snacking and drinking his ominous elixirs.

"Queeen do you know if the bodyguard showed up yet?"

"I'm right here.", she said coolly in plain sight where both of them could see her. Then again, she thought, this was not a problem for Forth's abilities.

"Zero. There are things you needed to attend but I have filled out all the paperwork for you. We have more urgent matters to attend." She dragged Zero out the door, and soon Forth followed. She addressed both of them while the whirring of the mechanics of the sleek black sedan cut across the streets of the neighborhood.

She threw another file dossier across, this time of the victim which was a civilian who lived in the countryside.

"Antione Rosseau, famous artist. Hired to be a big member of a gallery showcase in downtown Japan. His bones were found 400 km away from his house." The car stopped abruptly as she handed another bag of chips to Zero. It was evident that something had blocked their way to fully coming to the crime scene. She opened the door precariously and hopped out throwing a ball of fire that emanated from the palm of her hand blasting the nearby hooded figure that spawned over the bones of the victim surrounded by mangled corpses of police officers and coroners that approached the scene first. She ran up to the scene, feeling the ashes that remained after her violent attack against the unknown creature between her index finger and thumb.

"Oops seems I killed our target of interrogation but he was going to kill the driver if I didn't do anything. Besides there should be more along the way." She walked hastily on the trail towards the victim's house, surrounded by a pathway of trees. Just then, A group of hooded figures jumped from above the trees, raining down like baboons assaulting men who would dare enter their territory. Their cloaks ripped in the wind, resonating with the fire dancing in Rina's palm.

"Show me what you guys can do." She dodged the first swipe of the hooded figure that targeted her, extinguishing her flame because she wished to toy with this enemy a bit more, and playfully parried each successful swing.

"It's no fun if I just obliterate them after all."

Forth

As the situation seemed at it's most tense King finally heeded his words. With a smile and a dash he had left to his room to tend to his needs. Now it was just him and Rina standing in a small circle of fellow magi that had formed when violence seemed imminent. Forth could hear the others speaking in hushed tones around him and the intruder. With a gesture he waved off the others, people returning to their business as he turned towards his.

"There's not much to say. People died, became artifacts and fuel for the Order's purpose. Bleh, what blasphemy. Then again, you also think of personal gain. Eyes on the prize right, Forth? I mean even I can see that, and I'm just a high school girl."

From how she spoke it sounded like she was speaking of his past, well, what little was known about his past anyways. It was curious given how a number of those details were very well kept secrets, held by those who would suffer were it to be publicly known. Her fingers were deep into this operation of theirs, likely the product of very probing magic.

"Oh right, and what you inquired about. I am the Constitutional Monarch herself, Her Highness Rina Eun Park of Japan and its Commonwealth. But then again, that's such an exhausting name, nowadays I just refer to my agency rank bestowed upon me from amnesty. Special Investigator, S Rank Assassin by the Order, Rina Eun Park. Then again whatever's on my dossier won't be helpful either its all whited out. So I suggest we get to know each other on this mission."

"Trust me, we shall." He was brief but clear. Despite the preceding incident with King Forth had yet to emote in even the slightest fashion since he left, regardless of what Rina was revealing.


"There's always strife and political activism in the world. Yet there's nothing we can do. I can no longer tolerate mistakes. Perhaps you do not know, but just because I am subordinate to you and the chipper fellow over there does not mean I am not by my own means. As long as I get out of the way and your... business... and you get out of mine, we will all be alright. To be honest, it's easier this way. You seem to operate better alone."

And like that she disappeared right in front of him. A teleporter. How quaint. Still, nothing I haven't dealt with before.


He turned from the hallway and went over to the stairwell. He always did prefer taking the stairs over the elevator. They were more open, threats were more visible. After some walking he eventually entered his own room, not bothering to turn on the lights inside. Now alone he could see company, make preparations for his new acquaintance.

"Ghastus, I require select ingredients for my concoction." He ordered the being that had awaited him in the dark below. Forth held out a page from his notebook which he had been idly writing in as he had ascended the stairs. Along the paper was a list of the needed ingredients. A skeletal hand as black as jet reached out, blending seamlessly with the darkness yet clear before Forth's special eyes. The smoke which continually cloaked Ghastus's hand parted as he placed the list in it's palm, the smoke closing over it until it could no longer be seen. With a low rumbling hiss his servant receded deeper into the dark, heading off to carry out Forth's command.

It was unfortunate but he knew retrieving the ingredients would take longer than he had to spare so he returned to his room and began on his way to the main entrance to meet up with King.

---

Some time later.

---

Eventually he was reunited with King and their unexpected companion Rina. King asked if he had seen his new body guard however Rina answered before he could speak a word. It seemed his words were largely unnecessary at the moment so he continued along with little else but the sound of his footsteps and the suitcase in hand.

Their drive wasn't too long. The modern cityscape melted away into a sparsely forested residential region. Their trip was stopped by a figure, hunched over with it's face obscured by a drooping hood. He would of been able to see more of it's face had it not had it's head down for the most part. Before he could get a decent look at what they were dealing with Rina incinerated the target.


"Oops seems I killed our target of interrogation but he was going to kill the driver if I didn't do anything. Besides there should be more along the way."

She seemed to nonchalantly excuse her mistake, examining the ashes pointlessly before moving on. Forth was not so idle however. He scooped up the ashes and pocketed them, caring little about the stains they left on his suit. She did mention there were likely to be more so he opened up his case and reached in. He went elbow deep in the case which clearly was not large enough to warrant his arm being lodged so far inside before retrieving his weapon of choice from within. A large sleek drum fed striker shotgun.

As he didn't want to show his hand this early in this game she was playing he decided to go with his mundane ammunition instead of one of his special blends. Loaded in the barrel and drum were armor-piercing incendiary rounds, capable of going clean through a car and tipped with an incendiary compound which will explode on impact, burning at three thousand degrees. This was what he considered 'Standard'.


As they walked through the darkened woods he could see quite clearly ahead of them, his shotgun in one hand and his suit case in the other. He could see some signs of the ambush that laid ahead. He noted the positions of the cloaked figures that were visible as they approached. Before long they were in the thick of the supposed trap these things had set and sprung their trap finally was. As the enemies leapt from their positions Forth was already on the attack.

Without a single errant flinch or twitch he shot one of the enemies just a little right of the center of the mass, impacting directly where the heart laid. The burning body had yet to hit the ground before he lined up his shot at the one on the opposite side of the foe he had already dispatched. With another loud crack he put a large hole in this one as well, same part of the body too. He picked on the heart as it was noted as being one of the two parts vampires were known to be vulnerable in. Even if the heart did little for these opponents if they had spinal columns then those would be shattered into many pieces as well.


Not even bothering to look behind him as he already knew of the one coming up to try and take him by surprise he casually set his shotgun over his shoulder and fires back. Compensating for the rather animalistic nature of these enemies he has the barrel pointed a little lower than head height to compensate as he fires back. The back of the cloaked figure's head erupted, showering bits of bone, fire and face back into it's comrades.

Hefting his gun back off his shoulder he pointed it at another figure which was trying to get the jump on his companion King. With a pull of the trigger the round shattered both sides of it's rib cage as well as the arm it didn't yet have raised. Needless to say the heart in the middle of it all was pulverized then incinerated. He suspected that he would of fared just fine without the help but he wasn't here for games, he was here to attend whatever goose chase Rina was trying to set them on so he could learn more about her. The faster they dispatched these enemies the better and fast he was, killing the four cloaked assailants as was described in under three seconds. It needs to be said that Forth was the less combatant one of the duo.

He looked to King, seeing how he was holding up under this little distraction.

---

---

"I'm right here.", was the reply Zero got from the girl as Zero looks over to her. This time he looked her over remembering everything about her from her appearance. Zero was getting a strange vib from being around her, but for now he ignored that as he nodded toward the girl. “well it seems you already know me, but Queen will probably scold me if I don’t introduce myself. I don’t get that part about him being soo careful of everything. But any way Rin-chan, my name is Zero formally known as king.”

Before Zero could make any more statements he was being dragged out of HQ by Rin. She then started to state something about paper work to him. "Zero. There are things you needed to attend but I have filled out all the paperwork for you. We have more urgent matters to attend." Zero nodded as he looked at her confused. The console never made him do paper work. They either handled it for him or Queen was the room to take care of it. Zero was more the front line hands on fighter, so he was okay with not doing paper work. So Zero just nodded slowly as another feeling was feeling him up.

Soon Zero was now in a car sitting next to Queen. He watched Rin pass a folder of files, but he ignored it and let Queen handle that. Zero was getting bored as he then saw Rin pass him a bag of chip. Zero grew a smile as he then began to eat away at the chips. As Zero was eating his chips that’s when he figured out one thing that was bugging him. But before he could do anything the car came to a halt and Rin , along with Queen stepped out of the car. That when things started to pick up for Zero. He though he would get to have a little fun.

That when a bunch of hooded figures tried to ambush them. Zero kept munching away on his bag of chips as he was side stepping, jumping, ducking, and tripping every hooded figure that approached him. Zero found that this people were pretty weak and he wasn’t sure if he should kill them all fast or leave some alive so he could torture some while Queen ask the Questions and try to get the info they needed. That when one hooded figure appeared behind Zero yelling. “How can you weaklings take out a-“ But he couldn’t finish that statement the figure chest exploded just has Zero tilted his head to look past the dead body at Queen. Zero smiles letting him know he was thankful for the back up. Zero then set his eyes on Rin as if people watched Zero closely his eyes never left her view as he watched her and dodge the attacks on him. With moving his view he then started yelling to Queen. “Should I finishs this up and kill everyone around here hiding or should I get to torching these four that tried to keep attacking me?”

Zero didn’t know why but while he was watching Rin. That odd feeling he had was rising fast, but something else bothered him. Zero just drank blood that day meaning he should be fine for atleast another week. But being around Rin was making Zero want to bit her more and more and Zero was still clueless on why.

---

---

Rina felt her shoulders make a pop sound as her joints eased up with every successive dodge. Zero began to clear the remaining enemies including the one locked onto Rina as a target. There was a certain animosity around her and awareness. Zero seemed to be very suspicious of her. There was nothing she could do about that. The bodies rained down in a series of successive thumps. Rina dusted her shoulder off as she kneeled down and once again picked up some of the ripped cloth of the enemies with her index finger and thumb.

"A bounty hunter. This seems to be employed assassins from the Vampire Order Guild according to my data."

She smiled warmly as she headed up the path to the victim's house as a stumbling figure came out of the dwelling. A smirk was clearly visible from the hooded guise the person wore. His grin widened as he seemed to leap from where he was standing and thrusted his hand through Rina's abdomen twenty feet away.

"What the..." She choked a little blood as a splatter flew from her mouth, splashing on the ground. Her body went limp as her eyes gleamed as the arm inside of her spontaneously ignited. The mysterious person's hood fell off as her purple fell into place. She smiled with a mischevious grin again, licking her lips from her ignited hand as the flames dispersed.

"What a tasty aroma. Nice to meet you, I'm your worst nightmare." She laughed as she licked her hands and lips successively again.



Rina collapsed from where she stood, as their surroundings began to quake and seemingly warp, seeming 100 yards away, 1000, and then....lightyears away.



"Wow what a tasty meal, a woman, a man, and a little boy. A three course meal." She laughed maniacally as her voice resonated with the tiled hallway and floor ahead.

Forth

“Should I finish this up and kill everyone around here hiding or should I get to torching these four that tried to keep attacking me?”

"I'll worry about the bodies." He answered Zero's query. It didn't take very long for the remaining dredges of resistance to fall. As they neared the house however a new foe stepped forward to oppose them. Forth was almost worried that this next attacker would be just as boring when it suddenly lunged forward, taking out this questionable bodyguard of theirs with it's ripping, slender fingers.

"Well, looks like she didn't see that coming." He remarked, the sudden death of the girl not phasing him in the slightest. Had he known what Rina could do that remark would of been far meaner, not that he'd care. The only thing he really felt from her untimely departure was a slight sense of disappointment. He'd hoped he would of got to learn her secrets before she shed her mortal coil.


Noticing the environment's sudden change he kept his eye on their new acquaintance, making sure to watch exactly what she was doing. Being translocated was no excuse for losing track of an enemy. That was not to say he wasn't also keeping an eye on their surroundings. More technically he had subtly dipped his finger in his arcane paint and was tracing an eye on the palm of his hand so he could look behind him while also looking ahead. It was handy since the motion was so subtle it would be very difficult to know he did it and almost impossible for those who aren't familiar with this spell of his to deduce the purpose of the action.

"What a tasty aroma. Nice to meet you, I'm your worst nightmare."

He looked right through her as she spoke. He was not daunted by her threat, just the same as any other threat. He understood she was likely going to try and back it up before too long. His mind raced to try and think of the right words. He wanted this conversation to last just a bit longer just to get her talking more about herself. If they fought now even if they won he'd still know just as much about her as he did now. The possibility was disappointing.


"Wow what a tasty meal, a woman, a man, and a little boy. A three course meal."

She laughed loudly at her own comment. Taking the time she had spent talking he was using the eye on his hand to scan for exits. He didn't like being in traps of another's design. He much preferred for others to be walking carelessly into his traps instead.

He looked over to Zero, gauging his reaction. He seemed concerned but before he could talk Forth spoke first.
"I'd assume your subjects do not formally refer to you as such."


He was running off the assumption that she was a high up noble if not the queen herself given the manner she carried herself. Given the time he had spent studying vampires he's picked up quite a great deal of insight regarding their behavior amongst other things. For a bit he had almost suspected Rina of being the vampire target trying to get the upper hand on them but her rather sudden death swayed him to his current suspicion. After all, he fully expected a target as important as this to put up at least a half decent fight before dying like the rest have. If they were even going to fight that is. He hoped he could sway the direction of this encounter towards a more peaceful solution this time. He couldn't be sure Zero wouldn't blow it though.

"Since you've graced us with a personal meeting I would hope you wouldn't be opposed to sparing a moment from killing us to perhaps converse some. We are the two highest ranking agents currently operating in the field after all. You must be at least a little curious about us. Sparing what must be a very brief period of time to talk is far easier than trying to pull the thoughts from the blood directly."

[font=avenir light]

---

---

Zero eyes widen slightly as he saw Rin fall to the ground. His eyes then narrowed as he glaced towards the attacker. Zero blood started to boil and run fast as the image of the female transferred through his mind. This was not good at all and Zero knew he need to act quick before she attack. But before he could make a move, Forth made his. "Since you've graced us with a personal meeting I would hope you wouldn't be opposed to sparing a moment from killing us to perhaps converse some. We are the two highest ranking agents currently operating in the field after all. You must be at least a little curious about us. Sparing what must be a very brief period of time to talk is far easier than trying to pull the thoughts from the blood directly." Zero sighed as he then looked toward the sky. “Better safe then sorry, right?” He mumbles to him self.

As he spoke those words, the sky started to get dark as black clouds rolled in from no were. Thunder could be heard when a lightning bold shot down at the place Zero was at. As the flash of light was gone, so was Zero. He was now standing in front of Queen in his calm fighting pose. He held the middle ring of his yo-yo around his right arm as he held the yo-yo In his right. With lightning coming off of Zero body Zero lets out a soft sigh once more before facing the female. “Kanmuru!” A lighting circle then moves around Zero and Queen. Anything that enters the circle Zero will be able to reacted fast to defend and/or attack.

“Queen? I don’t think she is the talking type. She is are main target!" Zero then glaces to Queen to as Zero knew that this wasn’t going to be easy. He then glaces back at the female, now awaiting her response. Let it be to talk or to fight. Zero was ready!

"Talk? I don't play with my food. It's bad manners." She tilted her face with an exasperated expression. The atmosphere was silent for a second as her lower torso started to bulge with multiple contours and colors, slowly becoming protruding tentacles that were red: the length of a long arm pole and about half a human wide each.

Her tentacles extended as she tried to attack the Queen mercilessly, slamming her tentacle on his puny stature. Suddenly, a burst of light from a circle around them electrocuted one of her tentacles until it became limp. That didn't stop Serah though: she seemed to have no mentality or thought process to her attack. Her kagune simply regenerated, breaking through the seal after 7 of her tentacles became fried and regenerated immediately after.

Not to her surprise he easily dodged her combos, unscathed. She leapt once more this time aiming at Zero again with a giant leap forward, hoping to pierce him directly with her delicate hands. The ground around her turned wispy with smoke and was scorched in reaction to her reflexes. Her tentacles began to move a different direction and attempted to pierce Forth in half. She back-flipped as she caught herself with her left palm from the fall backwards. From a snarky yoyo hit from Zero, she seemed to regain her judgment and senses itself. She retracted herself from the seemingly overwhelming odds retrieving Rina's limp corpse from the ground beside the skirmish and began to execute the actual parts of her scheme.

She waited, and anticipated what the other two were going to do, and decided that even her the queen of vampires could not fight in such a weakened form. She broke the floor beneath her, breaking 4 layers of limestone, concrete, and even diamond, as a tomb with a secure lid decorated with a flower insignia was raised from the Earth itself. She used her kagune to pry off the lid as a staircase was revealed within the darkness. Steps could be heard from it, as if someone was ascending it as a silhouette emerged from the cloud of debris.

Forth

He sighed and frowned.

"There's so little civility to murder these days."

He stepped back and watched her try and fail to get at him. Like a wild dog she kept on him, not at all considering King was also on the attack. Forth had always thought little of him but he still had his uses. He was mechanically faster and trained for fighting simple enemies. For ten percent of the job he was superior in performance. For the rest the Magician's Alliance had put their faith in the queen. He didn't care what they wanted of him though. They thought they could control him and in some senses they were right. Their control was only good as far as their commands could foresee.

He knew she was the queen of the vampires, that much was made known. Who she was though was what he wanted to know. Corpses weren't the easiest sources of information after all. After a brief trade of attacks between the vampire queen and King the target smashed open the surprisingly expensive ground to reveal a secret tunnel. It seemed she was bringing in reinforcements to help her enforce the 'trap' part of the actual trap. What interested him however was the fact that she bothered to grab Rina's body. This action alone was more interesting than the entirety of the confrontation had been.


Forth had not been completely idle throughout the fight however. He had reached into his suitcase and retrieved three specialized grenades along with a couple regular ones just in case. The specialized grenades were designed to release a cloud of his Vampiric Retribution Powder when they exploded, covering everything in a wide radius with this dust which would burn continuously upon coming into contact with a vampire. In addition he had also loaded his shotgun with a special round, buckshot mixed with VR* Powder. When fired these rounds would do the same damage as regular buckshot with the added bonus of coating every shot with VR Powder for extra damage. If that wasn't enough the shots also put out a lot of excess VR Powder as well, covering targets in a slightly narrow cone in front of him with it.

Now it was time to put his plan into effect. He took one of the specialized grenades in his hand and pocketed the rest. Pulling the pin on the VR Powder grenade he tossed it right at the entrance of the coffin near where the vampire queen stood. Standing in position he then aimed his shotgun down the length of the staircase, timing his shot to go off with the explosion. His plan was simply enough to deny the woman a direction to dodge that wouldn't place her in direct danger.

If she stood still she'd get hit with the grenade's blast and set ablaze with a fire that would only burn hotter in proportion to the power of the vampiric essence. If she dodged into the stairway she'd take a direct blast from his shotgun which would put buckshot coated in VR Powder directly under her skin, the perfect place for an endlessly burning powder to stay in. If she dodged away from the coffin altogether then it would put her much closer to Zero, setting her up in an excellent position for a continued attack from him.


While he had no reservation towards shooting the queen of vampires dead right then, especially given her dim and especially childish behavior, the purpose of this maneuver of his was not specifically to kill her. What he was trying to do was to force her to drop Rina's body. If he could separate the body from her then his next shot was going right into Rina's head. There had to be a reason she wanted to retreat with the body in tow and he was determined to force her hand, giving him and King an advantage which he definitely wanted. After all, there was another coming up from the stairs and he was not keen on the possibility of having to reveal more of his powers than he wanted anyone to know.

Secrets were valuable after all. He wanted to find them, not reveal them to others.

(*-Vampiric Retribution Powder)

There wasn't much that would make her go through the trouble of bringing him back. Whatever the reason was, it must be something very important for the queen to summon one of her elite guard. Maybe he wasn't the only guard she summoned, he would have to wait to be sure. He walked stoically up the large set of stairs towards a small light at the top. There was a chance his queen also summoned Claire and if that was the case Sora feared for whoever the enemy was. There wasn't much that could stand against the Blue knight, Lightning fast Claire and the queen of the vampire's herself. He felt wrath at his hip, waiting to be unleashed on his queen's enemies. He spoke to his sword, attempting to calm it down a bit before it's thirst for blood was too great. He closed his eyes and focused, going into something like a trance. He threw his senses out like a web, tendrils everywhere so he could see what he would be popping up into. He could see his queen as well as her two enemies, which didn't seem like much at first glance. If she only had two enemies the she wouldn't be needing both him and Claire. That made him slightly sad that he wouldn't be able to see his old friend but he wasn't going to let that get to him. These enemies mustn't be weak if the queen needed his presence so he took another moment to assess the situation. He saw another form lying unconscious in the queen's arms. He linked a tendril to the queen's consciousness and he knew exactly what she wanted him to do. He also noticed the two enemies and where they were positioned relative to the queen. He saw that one was about to throw a grenade as well as had a gun out, attempting to force Serah either into the other enemy or into the waiting gun's range. Sora was now close to the top and he knew just what needed to be done.

As he took his last step out of the staircase, he pushed off the ground with his full strength, causing him to go spiraling forward in the blink of an eye. He grabbed the grenade mid air and threw it far into the back corner of the room. He quickly altered his fall in just the right way and drew his blade to smash away the freshly fired shell. Sora didn't bother to look back, knowing his queen would take care of the rest of the fight while he did what she called him to do in the first place. He took Rina from Sarah's arms and set her down on the floor. As he spoke a few words under his breath he could hear the queen fighting only feet beside him holding back both of her formidable foes. As he spoke his last words of condolences, he began going to work. He quickly and efficiently began removing the girls eyes, doing as his queen commands wasn't something he liked, but he knew nothing else. As the two enemies fighting Sarah tried their hardest to get past her, they could see somewhat what was happening. That only caused them to fight harder almost getting to Sora multiple times, only to be sent flying back by the queen. He wasn't sure how long Sarah could keep it up, but he was almost done and once his task was complete they would be able to escape. He had both eyes removed and He began to transfer them into his own, one at a time. It took a moment before he was able to see again and once he did all he could see was different shades of purple. It would take him years to get adjusted to how the eyes power worked, but the color would come back to normal within minutes. As the purple slowly shifted from his eyes, he could see that his queen was slightly worse for wear. He picked up Rina's body and shifted her over his shoulder, waiting for his queen's next order. He pulled up wrath in his right arm, waiting for what was to come next.