Ai no Kage

by VampDash


Scroll 1: Love Has Odd Beginnings

Osakolt, Neighpan. 11:38 P.M.

“Ma’am I can assure you the deal is going to be fine.” A man spoke into a cellphone, walking as he did so through a vast building that belonged to two of the most influential and dangerous business men and women in all on Neighpan, one Filthy Rich and his wife Spoiled Rich. He soon found an elevator and pressed the first floor button. “Mrs. Rich, I know what I’m doing. My whole team does! Again I will ASSURE you that-”

“Oh you can ‘assure’ me all you want Flim. But the fact remains that F/F have been a significant thorn in our side and I would like for them to stop being so.”

“Yes I understand that the competition with F/F is a longstanding problem with our company but AppleTech will agree to our terms and we’ll finally have a leg up.” He spoke, passing a few guards that patrolled the halls with a fervor not unlike machines. “And if nothing else we still have those files to ensure full cooperation.” Flim said with a sadistic smirk just as he reached the exit.

“And you left them in a safe space at the office, correct?” Spoiled asked with a concerned tone.

“I promise that the Flash Drive is in the safest spot I could find. What could go wrong?”

“Good. Then you shall expect a VERY good pay raise… and perhaps a promotion over your brother in the future… assistant manager Flim.” Spoiled said with a dangerous tone in her voice. With that she hung up on Flim who couldn’t help but smile.

“Assistant manager Flim… oooh Flam’s going FLIP when he hears it!” Flim giggled to himself. However as he exited the building, up on the rooftop of a nearby building he was being watched… a set of binoculars making sure he wasn’t going to return as their owner chuckled before putting them away.

“And like that… the game begins.” The strange figure whispered. Moving fast they grabbed a nearby bag and unzipped it before revealing an unassembled rifle of sorts. Assembling the pieces together carefully the gun was soon revealed to be less a traditional scoped rifle and more like that of a rather large grappling gun. They soon slid a pointed spear tip into the muzzle with a rope attached to it and aimed… however their sights were set at a window just above the floor they needed to be in. They carefully lined up the shot before with a squeeze of the trigger a loud BANG echoed as the hook flew across the street before hitting its target.

The gun was soon adjusted once more and was attached to the rooftop itself like a make-shift zipline holster. The figure soon huffed and stood up and mentally prepared themselves as they looked across the rope. Leaning across they slowly began placing one hand across the rope after another, following suit while their legs carefully wrapped around it followed soon after by swinging themselves upside down to help gain a bit of speed. Thanking the ancestors that the night was not that windy the intruder eventually got to the entry point and soon pulled out a glass cutting tool and placed it gingerly on the window, the suction pads making an audible pop to signal themselves properly attached. The main dial on it slowly turned to cut a fine hole just big enough for a hand to slip in and unlock it, quietly slipping in through the opening allowing them to stand up to adjust themselves after hanging upside down and the blood briefly rushing to their head.

Their figure was a rather feminine one. They had a curvy shape, slightly tempered by their flat chest. They were around five feet and seven inches tall, dressed in a padded dark purple vest of sorts. It had two pouches on the chest area, over a dark colored shirt that tightly hugged their skin.

They had their forearms covered with a set of Kevlar arm guards, along a pair of fingerless black padded gloves with blunt knuckle studs that elegantly adorned their hands. On her back, they carried a black sheath with a hiltless sword inside it. A pair of dark colored and baggy long pants covered their lower half, ending in their feet concealed by thermal socks along with split toe tabi sneakers. From their left leg hung a short knife sheath.

Finally, their head was concealed under a black wool balaclava. A long ponytail of straightened out purple hair came out of a hole out the back. While on the front, their face was covered by a porcelain fox mask, painted exotically with gentle lines that drew a coy smile.

Behind the mask, their eyes were an icy blue color. As their mask suggested, they hid a hint of mischief behind them. After adjusting themselves the intruder got to work quickly and quietly moving through the rather impressively sized building. ‘They could’ve afforded a interior designer to give this place a better face lift though, honestly.’ They mentally gripped as they realized the location they needed to be at was on the other end of the hallway… of which was on the other side of the whole damn building.

Luckily, however, they came prepared for something like this. Pulling out a smaller version of the grappling hook they crawled across the figure looked over the railing… and gave a good running start before leaping silently across the giant chasm of a middle section before firing the grappling gun.

They swung across the large swathe, with nary a guard noticing a thing, before landing on the other side with hardly a sound escaping the landing. Smirking under their mask the thief quickly lifted their right arm and pulled back on the glove a bit, revealing a high-tech watch that after a button combination revealed a map of the whole building and a highlighted area for the objective… which was just two doors over and down a long hallway to the middle section. Said hallway also had, of course, at least two guards patrolling the area. Not the most they’ve ever seen, and certainly not the strongest, but just enough to make themselves annoying in a straight fight.

‘Straight fight… listen to me. Talking as if these ruffians are someone worthy of that.’ The intruder chuckled internally before reaching into a side pouch and pulling out a couple of small dark gray orbs. They soon got close to the start of the hallway and aimed carefully before throwing the orbs towards the very obvious two guards, making small clacking sounds as they landed before rolling to a complete stop. The first guard on the right seemed to finally notice them as one orb managed to hit the side of his foot.

“What the he-?” One of the guards started before the orbs soon made noticeable POP sounds and spread out a virulent purple gas that caused them both to start coughing… before slouching over and passing out, their guns carelessly dropped to the ground. Loud snoring sounds escaped them which the intruder couldn’t help but chuckle at. The gas soon dissipated leaving the hallway perfectly clean. Moving fast the intruder reached the door to Flim’s office and couldn’t help but roll their eyes at how the man’s ego made him think THIS was the only safe spot he could’ve chosen.

“I’m half tempted to simply kick this open… but I think that simply opening it with a keycard off one of these brutes will work just as well.” They spoke to themselves quietly. Reaching down they yanked off a keycard and slipped into the office. The place was actually rather fancy looking but also strangely rather boring. Like even the man couldn’t afford to be creative for once in a place that was his own, even one of only two chairs in it looked rather boring as it didn’t even roll.

The thief quickly got to work searching around for any sign of a safe or even just for something that would tell where the flashdrive would be hidden. The place was almost perfectly clean, however, and no real sign of tampering with anything… but then they thought of something and looked at the rather dull chair across from the desk.

“.... no he wouldn’t actually… that’s so STUPID.” They whispered to themselves… but they had to check anyway. A quick search would soon reveal… yes indeed. Underneath the chair is where the flashdrive was kept, taped to the bottom of it in a way that wouldn’t crush it under a leg. “This was just embarrassing my dear.” With a quick yank they tore it free of its tape prison and looked it over. With this their employer would be very happy to know their secrets would remain buried. They soon pocketed the device and after quickly placing the chair and everything else back to how they found it, quickly made their way back out. Giggling about a job well done. Dodging a few extra guards and using a specialized foam on a few security cameras was a bit irksome but the thief had quite a bit of fun doing them as it meant proving they were as skilled as promised.

Soon they slowly began to climb back to where they started. They couldn’t believe the simplicity of such a high paying job. They eventually reached the grapple launcher and climbed onto the rooftop, pressing a button that forcibly retracted the fired line and arrow smoothly. “HA! And brother said this wouldn’t be easy!” They smirked to themselves. They then disassembled the rifle and placed it back in the bag it came from. But just before they could leave-!

THUNK!

“Hey now… that looks like a VERY nice flashdrive you got in that pouch there. Mind sharin’ with the class?” A cold and dangerous voice jokingly asked. The thief looked to their side and saw a VERY sharp arrow that narrowly missed their midsection. An arrow with a familiar insignia. Moving fast the thief quietly pressed a hidden neck piece under her mask.

“So… Iga sought this as well?” They asked in a modulated voice as she turned to face her attacker.

The figure that was slightly crouched on the rooftop just above her was rather imposing to say the least. They looked to be taller then her, topping at six feet five inches, while their muscled body was still covered rather well to hide what gender they were. Their attire consisted of a dark purple shirt underneath a zipped up and fully padded green hooded jacket with two pouches on the chest and shoulder spikes on it.

Their arms covered by a set of three spiked arm braces that curved towards them, a pair of padded leather gloves with spiked knuckle studs indicating a rather more brutal set of martial arts skills were taught to him, a belt latched around the waist with a few pouches on it, a pair of baggy cargo pants with a knife holster on the left leg, a pair of ankle high socks with split toed shoes. Their back held not just a quiver but a twin set of short curved swords as well.

And over their head was a collapsible helmet with a dragon's face painted on it, a set of sharp spikes over the top portion of it, and a black thin biker balaclava underneath it to further hide their face!

“Well when the pay’s good. You know we’re good for it… unlike your backstabbing clan. FUUMA.” The figure snarled before nocking another arrow… and firing it at her!