~*~AK~*~
“Ally Kat. What do you think you're doing? Don't you usually work
at night? Are you a criminal by night and a superhero by day, or
something?” Blake questioned when he saw her.
“Now, now, Blake, no need to get all riled up. My explanation is
simple! If you had died, I'd never be able to play chess against you
and prove my intelligence is higher than yours. You can't die until
after I win,” Ally Kat said playfully.
“Who's this fine, young lady?” Ven asked, straightening out his
spiky hair.
“She's a criminal thief,” Blake responded.
“What's a criminal thief?” Ven continued to polish himself up.
“Someone who steals criminals,” Blake responded, folding his arms
and glowering at Ally Kat, who just smiled.
“Steals criminals?” Here, Ven finally stopped gawking at the girl
and turned to look at Blake.
“My name is Ally Kat. Pleased to meet you,” Ally Kat held out her
hand. Ven took it and gave a boyish grin.
“My name is Wienczyslaw Ahuiliztli Sacheverell the Third. But you
can just call me Ven.”
“Alright, alright, enough of this chit-chat,” Blake intervened.
“Ally Kat, you are under arrest for aiding criminals in their
escape.” Blake took out a pair of handcuff's and placed them around
Ally Kat's wrists. She looked down at them.
“Hmm... I'm not sure I like this arrangement. After all, how are
you going to get me back to the base?”
“We'll take your ship.”
“Except that you don't know how to fly it. It's a completely
different build than what you are used to.”
“I'm sure Ven here can easily figure it out, right Ven?” Blake
looked at the tall young blonde standing there staring back and forth
between the two.
“Uh-”
“See? Ven agrees.”
“It doesn't matter if he can figure it out or not. You have to have
a password to get into the computer. And as my dear friend created
the code, I highly doubt that there's anyone who can hack into it.”
“Your friend from the organization?”
“That's right.”
“So, your friend knows computers. That narrows it down. And
practically proves that Pepper isn't your friend.”
“It doesn't matter. It's all about to end soon anyway, and
everything will be revealed.”
“Everything will be revealed right now.” Blake reached out for
the mask on Ally Kat's face.
“Hold it.” Ally Kat grabbed Blake's arm. “Please, listen to me.
Don't take my mask off. At least... not until we get to your base.”
“Why?”
“Please?” Ally Kat batted her eye lashes and gave a pouty frown.
Blake just stared at her. “No.”
“Aw, come on! Fine, I guess I have no choice. And here I was,
helping you out.”
Blake pulled his gun out and pointed it at her. “Don't make a move,
Ally Kat. Ven, take her mask off.”
“You're making a mistake, Blake,” Ally Kat warned as Ven reached
out. Just before Ven could slip his fingers beneath her mask, Ally
Kat leaped up towards her airship and landed neatly on the steps
which led to the door to get inside. Blake made a shot at her, but
she moved her hands so that the bullet hit the chains around her
wrist instead and they broke loose. Blake shot at her several times,
but she dodged each attack and the last few only hit the door she
disappeared behind.
“Come on, Ven!” Blake yelled. He climbed up onto the steps of the
airship and held out his hand for Ven who was hesitating. Suddenly,
the ship began rolling and Ven had to quickly make up his mind and
start running after it. As it picked up speed, Ven ran faster,
reaching out for Blake's hand which was stretched out to him as far
as it would go. Just as Blake caught Ven's wrist, the airship lifted
up over the land and Blake pulled him up onto a more secure place on
the vehicle. They each lay as flat as they could while Ally Kat flew
them to who knew where. After a while, Ven looked around.
“Sir, I believe we're heading for the organization.”
“We are?”
“It's right ahead of us, take a look.”
Blake looked and sure enough, there was their building.
“What is Ally Kat thinking?” Blake muttered.
The
airship hovered slightly over the roof of the building, so close that
Blake could have easily hopped down. Suddenly, it began turning
upside-down and Blake and Ven found themselves being discarded onto
the roof of the building. With that, Ally Kat flew away just as
security arrived on the scene.
Back in the office, Blake told his team of his incident with the girl
they were after. When he told them about the part where he shot at
Ally Kat and she avoided his attacks, he was interrupted by the door
opening and closing and someone saying, “Sounds like your attacks
were only half-hearted.” When Blake saw who spoke, his eyes widened
and he stood so quickly, he knocked over his chair. He rested his
hand on the gun in his holster. It was the little dwarf spell-caster,
who had killed Alameda's cowboy friend, and Blake's boss behind him.
“Blake, I'd like you to meet Paul. He'll be helping you on your
mission to capture Ally Kat. He's a specialist who's dealt with these
sorts before,” his boss explained.
So many things were going on through Blake's head, he didn't know
what to say. Instead, he chose to just keep silent and keep his eye
on the staff the spell-caster held in his hand. The spell-caster
himself seemed perfectly calm, and made no actions that suggested
they had met before, except perhaps a small smile at the sight of
Blake's predicament. The boss left, and Blake and Paul just stared at
each other for several minutes without making any movements. The
others could tell there was something wrong and just watched and
waited.
Finally, Blake asked, “What is the meaning of this?”
“Apparently, you're doing a sloppy job. The head wanted me to fix
this and get the job done. I'm afraid the head thinks your being a
bit too... soft.” The dwarf gave a wretched smile.
“Then, what do you propose we do?” Blake asked, relaxing a bit
but still keeping his hand on his holster.
“Your problem is that Ally Kat never shows up, even though she
still manages to release the criminals that you need. It's simple
really. Don't catch the criminals. Kill them.”
“Kill them?” Jack exclaimed.
“Yes. It's the only way to bring her out of her hiding. I hear one
of the criminals is actually her friend. The other spell-caster. We
should use her.”
“But! But I promised-” Blake began, then caught himself as he saw
the spell-caster look back at him with a red, murderous glint in his
eye.
“You promised what?” he asked.
“Nothing.
I promised nothing,” Blake said. I can't let that
spell-caster kill that girl,” Blake
thought to himself. “I can't. Even if she is a criminal.
She hasn't done anything to deserve to die. I can't just use her as a
sacrifice to catch Ally Kat. I have to do something. But what can I
do?” Blake thought back and
remembered that Alameda had contact with her. She would be his only
hope. “So this is what that girl meant when she said the
one who attacked me was someone from the organization.”
Blake gave himself a mental note that he would have to pick his way
carefully from now on.
The
rest of that day was tedious and as soon as they were allowed to go,
Blake rushed out the door and hurried to the bar where Alameda
worked.
“What do you mean, she's not here?”
“You know that girl, she's always going off without leaving a
note.”
“Ugh, Alameda, why'd you have to pick now of all times to leave?”
Blake groaned to himself and ran out the door.
Dark clouds came rushing over the skies and piling up to create a
thunder storm. As lightening lit up the sky, Blake hurried across the
intersection to where his car was parked. The thunder sounded once
more and a flash of lightening revealed the figure of a girl. As
Blake got closer and the light shone once more, he realized that it
was the spell-caster he was looking for. Blake thought he had hit a
stroke of good luck and seized the girl's arm, dragging her to his
car.
“Please, don't be alarmed, I just need to talk to you.”
“Alameda said you might want to.” She came along willingly and
quietly. They reached his apartment and when Blake got inside, it was
to find the tiny little spell-caster, Paul.
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