Lost And Found

(Continued from another site)


Cadmus didn't know anyone was trailing him, at first anyway. Mainly because of the crowd but it didn't mean he wasn't on the lookout for anything unusual. He decided just to be safe he'd take something of a detour before going back to his 'home'. That way he could play things safe if there still some hunters spoiling for a fight.

He got half way to the apartment, then took a slight detour away from it. What he wasn't expecting was to run into Tica again, though she was dressed in normal clothes, jeans and a t-shirt this time but her black angel wings were still visible. Anyone looking at her would mistake her for an Angel, when in reality she was a 'former' angel, having been changed into a Heartless. Unlike himself who was created.

"Tica..?" He asked, raising a brow. "I didn't expect to see you again this soon."

She shrugged. "We'll, I was just in the neighborhood and wanted to visit. How have you been?"

"Not that bad, actually met some people who needed my help and decided to lend them a hand. It's a bit of a long story."

The man maintained his distance from Cadmus as they traversed the streets. He took note of his surroundings often, but subtly. Upon the girl's arrival, the man continued his walk amongst the crowd in the street. As Cadmus began his conversation with the girl, the man stopped and got in line at a hotdog stand. He reached into his coat with his left hand and retrieved a small golden pocket watch. Flipping it open, he examined it. He closed the watch and waited.

* *

Cadmus still didn't notice anything off and Tica, while usually very intelligent and observant had completely failed to pick up something was off. The reason was simple. The man trailing behind didn't act suspicious at all. They didn't linger too long, nor did they stay too close. Adding to that fact they seemed just another person making their way through; another fact that made it harder to notice something was wrong.

Regardless of the newest development, their conversation continued. "So, a girlfriend then?" She teased a bit.

Cadmus rolled his eyes, shoving his hands into his pockets. "No. A friend."

Tica put a hand on her hip. "That so? We'll, if you're protecting her and her little brother then I want to meet them myself."

"Why?"

"Curiosity. And we are friends, right?"

Cadmus paused. Him and Tica were allies, that much he was certain of, but friends? He thought back during the past months; the times she had given him surprisingly good advice. The other times she had knocked his head straight. In her own way, she had been looking after him.

So she was more then an ally, but a friend. The declaration seemed odd in his head, but he shrugged it aside.

"If you want to come, I won't stop you. I just got through dropping the kid off. Probably be pretty boring at home but who knows?" He said going off back to Latiria's apartment. This meeting was going to be interesting for sure. He was pretty sure she was home, unless she was at work..

Then it occured to him. What did she do to keep a roof over her and her brothers head?

The man in the coat purchased a hotdog and continued his movements after Cadmus. He wasn't particularly interested in their conversation. However, he was concerned with the addition that just transpired. He intended for a quick completion of his objective, but this was proving to be a fleeting possibility. The man cursed under his breath as he chewed.

***

Latria had just finished her morning cleaning routine and gotten dressed for work. She wore a simple nurse uniform; light blue scrubs. She busied herself gathering and double checking the records she had taken home.

At one point in her circumnavigation of the house, she passed the bathroom and noticed a scratch on her elbow. "Ah; missed a spot." She muttered to herself. She began to walk off, but remembered she was home alone. She took a quick look down the hallway to reassure this fact before ducking back into the bathroom. She held her hand over her left arm and concentrated. A light glow emitted from her palm as the scratch mended and healed over.

When she was finished, it was as if the scratch never existed. She smiled and continued her preparations to leave.

Once both Heartless finally got to the door, Cadmus knocked on it and waited. Tica was looking around for something but didn't see anything out of the ordinary so far. She didn't know what she was looking for to be honest; she just almost felt as if they were being followed. But she didn't see anybody so either she was losing her edge or she was just being overly paranoid.

"Coming!" Latria called as she rounded the corner. She stepped to the door and opened it. "Hi Cadmus. Back already?" She saw the girl standing next to him. "And a visitor! Hi, I'm Latria. I'll be leaving soon, but please! Come in!" Latria stood to the side to allow them in.

The man tossed his garbage into a nearby garbage can and continued his way down the street. He watched the two he'd been following knock on a door to a house across the street; presumably his destination. As he passed, he took note of the woman who answered the door; presumably his target. A direct approach was his usual style, but he decided to wait a little while. He'd found the target. That was good for now.

Tica looked the other woman over; she seemed fairly young and judging by what she was wearing she worked at a hospital. What she did, she wasn't sure. As far as her knowledge went, she seemed to be a bit too young to be a nurse. Unless of course she was older then what she really looked like, which was plausible since she was clearly not human.

The kid had a nice smile though.

"Hey." She greeted, casual. "My name is Tica, nice to meet you. Hope Cadmus been behaving."

Cadmus just shook his head, but didn't comment to that. "This is Tica; she's an old friend of mine I ran into while I was heading back from taking Tohr to school. Are you heading off to work?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Tica." She did a short bow and giggled. It still felt weird to do so, but it had a dignified sense to it as well. "Yes, I was just about to leave for work. I'm an occupational health nurse at the hospital nearby." She stepped to the table and picked up a notebook full of documents. "I'm also filling in for a friend in holistic, so I have a lot on my plate." After checking a few of them and adding some loose papers, she set down the book and turned to the two.

"I have a few minutes before I need to leave if you'd like to chat, though." she offered.

Tica nodded a bit to that. "Sure. I've been wanting to meet you since Cadmus mentioned you." The girl didn't seem that old from the looks of things. Seventeen or eighteen of it. She was curious of one thing since she first bumped into the girl. "If you don't mind me asking, what race are you?" She looked back at her own black wings. "Pretty obvious I'm not human myself; I'm the same race as Cadmus. Former Angel before then though."

"Ah, I don't mind. Well my mother was Oni and my father was human. I suppose that makes me half, heh." Latria felt uncomfortable and it showed. She hoped she didn't come off as strange and tried to shift the subject. "Um, I was wondering about your wings. What do you mean by former angel?" Cadmus was strong, and she was beginning to wonder if their race was common around the area.

"Oni huh? I think that's a type of demon." Then Tica shrugged. "Not that I care, I was just curious. As for what we are..we're called Heartless. Heartless are beings of darkness, dark energy basically." That was partly true, but not the whole thing. "We can turn other people to our kind, sorta like vampires can but its not a good idea usually. Me and Cadmus are the lucky ones. I got turned and Cadmus was more or less artificially created. Others don't keep their form, they basically turn to mindless monsters."

Cadmus frowned a bit about the part about him being created. That was something he didn't want revealed just yet, but he let it slide for now.

"Anyway." Tica continued. "Sorry if the question made you uncomfortable, some times my curiosity gets the best of me."

---

(OCC: Did you get my PM man? Not sure since its been acting like its been dropped from a two story balcony when was little. Also, here is the link to the new thread with Ty:

https://verseproject.forumotion.com/t189-big-things-come-in-small-packages#2212 )

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'm ok. I don't understand why I'm so uneasy about it, myself. Hah, I'm weird." She tried laughing it off.

Latria looked at the two. "That name is kind of odd; Heartless. Does that mean neither of you have a heart, or is it simply a name?"

"Heartless..its a tricky subject. But you're a big girl so you deserve to know." Tica said, Cadmus wasn't sure about it but she had a point. "Heartless are creatures born from the darkness of peoples hearts. Usually their monster shaped and come in various sizes and forms. The power of them is pretty diverse, you got some a normal person could beat, to ones that are more powerful then anybody has the right to be."

"So as you might have put together, they're usually evil. Me and Cadmus are the exceptions. Most don't keep their humanoid form, so we were lucky. We'll, I was more because Cadmus was made the way he was from scratch. So to answer your last question; we don't have physical hearts. But we still have emotions and such so its still partly true."

That was the abridged version. There was more to it but best to save it for another time.

Latria's eyes lit a little bit. Their bodily structures were completely foreign to anything she had ever seen. She tried her best to contain her fascination as she switched gears. "I have almost a zillion questions for you; which you MUST answer for me later, but I have to run. I just went shopping, so if you two get hungry there is food in the kitchen. Bye!" She rang out as she rushed through the door.

Latria skipped down the steps and hurriedly walked down the block.

**********

To the side, just out of her peripheral view, the man in the dark tattered cloak leaned against a light post. He watched the woman exit. When he caught a glimpse of her face, his heart skipped a beat. His mind raced as he tried to process what was going on. The man was going to follow her, but decided on a change in plan. After a few moments of mental deliberation, he approached Latria's front door and knocked sternly.

Tica raised a brow, turning to Cadmus. "Your girlfriend changes gears pretty quick when something interest her."

"She's not my girlfriend." Cadmus was going to say something else when he heard a knock on the door. Curious more then anything but also a bit cautious, he went to go open it. Who could it be? He didn't think Latria and Tohr were the type who often got company from what he gathered.

The man stood at about 6'5". His skin was greyish but pale, and his face was rugged and worn. His eyes were a dull black and narrow; his short cut hair receded toward the top of his head and traced down his jaw to a short goatee, a dark grey complementing his other features. The man's trench coat was long and tattered with holes. A white tie under his collar disrupted the color scheme in bright contrast. His voice was deep and gruff as he spoke.

"Evenin'. Do you two live here?" The man's face was serious, though his voice leaned closer to anger.

Tica for some reason didn't like this guy right off the bat. Maybe because she just didn't like his face. Maybe it was due to the fact he was acting strangely, but she was going to say something. The reflex was almost instant and before the 'Maybe. Who the hell are you to ask that?' left her mouth, Cadmus was the one who answered.

He raised a brow at first. "For now anyway. My friend here is just visiting, you are?"

"An informant..." The man responded coldly. He reached his left hand into the inner chest of his coat. As he did, the air around him seemed to stand still. His hand reappeared with a golden pocket watch. The man flipped it open and examined it.

"Three men. Two went after your friend. Amateurs, but they're enough. You should hurry." He closed the watch and pocketed it. Before turning to leave he shortly looked Cadmus in the eye, then Tica. "Living here isn't a good idea..." The man turned from them and started down the street. He procured a lighter from within his coat and lit a cigarette as he walked. He was traveling in the opposite direction Latria had gone.

----------

Sure enough, there were a few conspicuous men scattered about the block. Their attire was casual, a normal shirt and slacks, but each of the men wore shades and had weapons in plain sight. One idly sat on a box in a nearby alley across the street, he had two holstered guns. The other two appeared to be engaged in conversation whilst sending side glances toward the house. One wore a kodachi on his back. The other had only one gun, however, he was the only one of the three to be wearing gloves. These men weren't trying to blend and didn't appear to care. They were ignored by the passerby.

Tica scowled. "Who does he think he is?"

"Don't know, but he gave up information that Latria might be in trouble, lets go." Cadmus could understand her being hostile to them. The stranger acted too oddly and was obviously hiding something and having some kind of agenda of their own. They were going to have to ask if Latria or Tohr had ever seen this man before.

In the mean time they had a half-demon to bail out.

* *

"See anything?"

"Not yet."

Cadmus and Tica had hurriedly left after the information they were getting. Cadmus was wondering what the man meant by it not being a good idea. Was his presence attracting more trouble to the two? He'd figure that out later, now wasn't really the time.

The former angel nudged him a bit, signaling she had spotted something. The were a few men that stood out worse then anything else. They weren't even Trying to be stealthy. What the hell? The police just let them? Tica thought.

"I'm going by her, you keep an eye on our 'friends' and take care of them the moment they make a move. That way its still self-defense." Tica then hurriedly made her way to Latria. "Hang, on! Hold up!"

While she caught up, Cadmus silently slinked more into the background feeling just a bit more into his old element. Back in the day, there was simply enemies to be destroyed in the quickest ways possible.

The hunters were just another enemy.

Latria had been rushing down the sidewalk when she heard Tica's voice. She stopped and turned around. "Is something the matter?" She called out. An answer rang out from behind her: "There is now."

Suddenly, Latria could barely breathe. She felt herself being lifted off the ground slightly. She dropped her books and grasped at her neck, where she could distinctly feel an arm. A light shimmered where the arm should be; behind her as well in a humanoid silhouette. A tall, muscular man wearing shades appeared where the light shone. In his left arm he held a suffocating Latria. In his right, a revolver-looking weapon was pressed against her temple. The people around the situation began to panic and scatter.

"This job was almost too easy. It boggles the mind how trash like you always manage to have friends around." With that statement, he visibly tightened his grip around Latria's throat. She tensed and fought for air in anguish. He turned his head up toward Tica. "You. I promise the girl won't die. And hey! This doesn't have to get ugly if you're a good bird. Why don'tcha just go on home and you'll see her again in a few days, huh?" His tone was cocky.

The sound of a sword unsheathing could be heard just behind Tica, but no one could be seen.

----------

Before Latria was taken hostage, two of the three men managed to catch up with Cadmus. Quickly. The man with two guns walked a short distance behind Cadmus to his left. The man with a kodachi walked at the same distance behind Cadmus to his right. Just as the muscle man took Latria, the man wearing gloves flashed in the same fashion and appeared in front of Cadmus to block his path. It would appear each of them had cloaking devices. None of them spoke, the gloved man simply stood there with his thumbs in his pockets.

Eirin Hunter hummed to herself calmly as she rather casually notched an arrow on her bow, drawing it back slightly. She glanced to her left, where he younger sister, Saika, was balancing daggers on her fingertips. "So, you know the plan, yes? When I deal with the one holding that girl, you grab her and get her to safety."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, no worries, Eirin-nee. So, Akuma and Darrien are in position?" Eirin nodded, drawing her bow back further as she took aim.

"Mhmm. They are dealing with the ones that are after the guy." Saika nodded, and waited for the que.

~~~~
(Because certain people wanted it, music to accompany the following scenes:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XstrpkqT6dw&feature=related )

It was as the man holding Latria was finishing his sentence, that the strike came. There was a sudden whistling sound, before a glowing white arrow streaked through the air at seemingly impossible speeds. The arrow came from behind and at an angle, and seemed to pass through the man's head, and then the trigger of the gun he held to Latria's, as if they were simple holograms. That is, until the trigger, and the finger resting on it, seemed to dissolve. At the same time, the man's head seemed to suddenly grow a bloody hole right through it. The arrow kept traveling, down into the ground, and seemingly tunneling itself deeper into the earth.

Latria would experience a very strange thing. As the now dead man's grip on her slackened, time seemed to freeze. At the same moment, she'd discover she was being held by a silver haired vampire that was wearing, of all things, a maid outfit. The 'maid', Saika, carried Latria across the street in this frozen world, and into a nearby building, setting her down gently, but keeping a hand on her shoulder. "Wait here, okay? We're going to deal with these guys." She grinned, then removed her hand from Latria's shoulder. Saika seemingly disappeared, and time flowed once more, only for her to see something astounding.

~~~~

After letting go of Latria, Saika walked back over to the still frozen Tica, intending to get her out of the way as well. However, she paused, her nose twitching slightly as a strange scent caught her. She investigated for a moment, then frowned. There was someone right behind the girl, cloaked... Saika grinned at that. "Guess I get a little fun after all."

~~~~

In the almost exact instant the the flow of time seemed to resume for Latria, she would see Saika reappear behind Tica, back to her, and knife in hand. Only Tica would hear the vampiress say the words "I can smell you..." before she lashed out, slitting the cloaked man's throat before he could respond. Then she grabbed Tica, and the next thing she knew, Tica and Latria were sitting side by side in the building.

~~~~

As all this occured within the span of only a couple seconds, there was no real chance for the three surrounding Cadmus to brace for an attack. As such, they couldn't be blamed for not expecting what occured. "Fuuton: Daitoppa!" A burst of concentrated wind came from directly above the man that had stepped in front of Cadmus. The already powerful crushing winds of the 'Great Breakthrough', when overloaded with chakra, were lethal on all but the rarest of occasions. This man was not such an occasion, and the man resembled more of roadkill than a man afterwards. A large, ornate zanbato thudded into the ground behind Cadmus, as if acting as a shield from the remaining two men, before the originator of the wind jutsu landed on the other side of the sword, his back to it and Cadmus, a feral grin on his lips.

"Alright, mother fucker's, let's have a party, eh!?" A pause. "Darrien, get your ass down here!"

Tica hadn't known someone was behind her at first until she heard something but hadn't been able to discern exactly where it was. However, since she was more focused on Latria she would have been a bit slower to react in time since her attention was divided.

But the odd thing was the shift of view. Feeling herself there one moment and then by Latria the next. Her pride wasn't that important right now and she went to check up on her new friend. "Latria! You okay?"

* *

Cadmus acted casually as the men began to come to him. That's what he wanted. They were away from Latria and Tica and then he could deal with them. Part of him was looking forward to it. He wasn't worried about the guns, as long as they were normal ones. But who was to say?

Then something strange happened.

..The hell?

A man with a very large sword seemed to have used some kind of attack to shred one of the 'hunters' and then called out for someone.

That was when a strange man who looked more akin to someone who answered your questions at Best Buy then some type of fighter. They landed right by Akuma.

"I apologize for being late, but you seemed to be having fun." They said, glancing at the men. "I suppose we shouldn't keep them waiting. We need one of them alive for questioning, they seem to use stealth technology. That's not something common thugs can get. But in the mean time.."

From their trench coat, they pulled out what seemed to be a energy bat that hummed softly dubbed proudly as 'Little Richard' out of a baseball game he liked.

"Who are you guys suppose to be?" Cadmus asked..trying to wrap his head around the strangeness.

"Nobus." Darrien answered. "I know you can take care of yourself, but me and my partner are just doing a job."

"We'll, suit yourself." Cadmus had no problems staying back. From what he had seen, there wasn't a point in getting on their bad sides for no reason.

Latria was in a stupor. "What... just happened...?" was all she could muster toward Tica. Her voice was quiet but monotone. She stared out of the window toward the street.

----------

The two remaining men stood dumbfounded before the scene that had just unfurled. Their affiliates had just been obliterated in an instant and they didn't even see it. The man with two guns appeared to be scared shitless; he was shaking in sheer terror. The other man with the kodachi swiftly snatched the collar of his shirt and stammered "C-code zero! Ab-bort!" Simultaneously, he clicked some device in his pocket without withdrawing it. His body shimmered and faded away as he turned to run.

----------

On the receiving end of the transmission, a garbled message seeped through a broken transceiver. The pale man in the tattered, dark trench coat crushed the transceiver beneath his his boot. Two men in shades lay slumped against a nearby wall. Their faces bruised and bodies beaten to a pulp. The cops would be by shortly to pick them up.

The cloaked man took out and lit up a cigarette. He could hear the sounds of kids yelling and clamoring just beyond the building. Their recess had probably just ended. A bell rang out, signalling just that. The man walked down the street, now set upon finding a bar. It was time for a beer, and a very angry phone call...

Akuma groaned in irritation at the cowardly actions of the two men. "Boring... Darrien, you get the guy who's pissing himself." He then wrenched his sword out of the ground, reared back, and threw it. The massive blade spun through the air like a frisbee, a lethal one at that, but did not go at the fleeing man. Instead, it arched up and over the man's head, thudding into the ground in front of him. THat was when things got strange. Dark blue chakra, a malevolent taint to it, poured from the blade, forming the head of an enormous wolf sporting an evil grin. Chakra claws shot out of the blade as well, going to grip the man.

~~~~

While Akuma was having fun, Saika slipped back into the normal flow of time, seeming a bit tired as she did, and sat down across from Tica and Latria, sighing. "Gah, I was already tired to begin with, doing the for an extended period was hard..."

"You did splendidly though, Saika." Eirin walked into the building, a currently abandoned cafe' thanks to the commotion, and sat next to Saika, beaming at her. Saika seemed pleased with the praise.

"Thanks, Eirin-nee. You were great with that arrow too."

"Hardly, I was trying to disable the gun and leave him alive."

"...You were aiming for the gun? I thought that was a fluke, how could you see it through his head at that distance?"

"I couldn't."

"...Then how the hell could you have-OW!" Saika flinched as Eirin swatted her on the back of the head, still smiling brightly.

"Language, Saika." Eirin then turned to Tica and Latria, smile becoming warmer. "Hello, you two. My name is Eirin Hunter, and this is my younger sister, Saika. We were hired to deal with the rogue hunters causing problems, and that's how we ended up here, before you ask. I'm glad we caught up when we did, so we could help..."

Tica wasn't sure what to make of what was going on. The two of them, Eirin and Saika, their names seemed familiar and then it clicked a bit of who they were. The Hunter sisters were hardly little known names and before being turned into what she was now, she hadn't been living under a rock. A lot of the things back at home were still the same here.

I'll ask later

"My name is Tica and this is Latria." She said to the two young vampires. "Do you guys know anything more about these thugs? And who do you guys work for exactly?"

* *

Darrien sighed a bit. Troublesome. I was hoping they would stand and fight like men. Still, I just need to knock them out. The good thing about his weapon choice was that it could simply disable instead of kill if need be.

So the man who Hadn't cloaked, he simply rushed over with inhuman speed, vanishing from normal human eyesight and then bringing his 'bat' to knock the man out. Not enough force to kill him, no they needed him alive. Not to mention Nobus first point of operations was to Avoid killing. Naturally this wasn't always realistic when dealing with super-powered crimminals but they tried.

In this case it was almost patherically easy.

Cadmus just wondered who the hell these guys were. He'd have some questions answered soon.

Latria was still at a loss. She felt like she should know these people, but at the same time thought them bizarre. The people she'd met in the past few days were incredibly strong and invariably strange.

She chimed in after Tica's introduction. "Um, I have been accosted before by hunters, but never this many. It has actually been happening often recently." She let her hands fumble with the hem of her scrub. The recent accumulating attacks worried her, but she was also nervous be be in the presence of her saviors. The two of them put on a friendly, and humorous, display. She was able to relax a little.

----------

The cloaked man stumbled back when the sword crashed in front of him. He caught his balance and brought his hand up to his shades. A tiny whirring sound could be heard from them. The man leaped back, suddenly faster than before but in no way was his speed "blinding". He attempted to serpentine beyond the Chakra, out toward the street. All the while he watched the cloud intently.

The man paralyzed in fear didn't stand a chance. Before he could even think, his vision was fading as the ground drew closer. He toppled to the pavement unconscious.

Akuma smirked as the man tried to dodge, before the sword, and Akuma himself, disappeared in a cloud of smoke. His hands suddenly erupted from the ground right as the fleeing man's foot came down. THe hands gripped the man's ankles, and yanked him down into the ground until he was buried up to his neck, Akuma popping out of the ground nearby, smirking. "Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu, the Headhunter Technique. Picked that up from the Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake. You like?"

~~~~

Eirin frowned slightly at Latria's words, mulling them over. "Hmm... that certainly is strange that so many would be after you... this require's looking into... and, Tica was it? Well these 'thugs' are freelance hunters, but we prefer to call them 'rogue' hunters, as they have strayed from the proper path, which is to protect the innocent. Instead, they go after people for purely stupid reasons, or just out of greed. THey are more like mercenaries or crusaders at this point. Then, there are hunters like myself and my sisters... and yes, I'm aware it's funny that the Hunter sisters are hunters. Anyway, we work closely with Nobus, who those two men outside work for."