“Momma, I don't want to bring her with me!” I rolled my eyes as Chloe Dawnbreaker whined once more. She was currently clad in a long white coat that nearly touched her ankles, expensive looking boats and a black hat with matching earmuffs.
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Whitney Dawnbreaker looked at her daughter with stern eyes. “Chloe, I am not gonna tell you again why I invited our guest to come with you. So I suggest you stop complaining about it and do as I asked you. Now please go already, I am not fond of keeping her waiting.”
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I had come to the museum early that morning expecting some kind of answer to Ori’s tale, but instead I found out about some secret meeting of Whitney Dawnbreaker and one of her best smugglers. So if I was Ori, I thought maybe she would be there and talked my way into letting her take me. “Don’t worry, Chloe, I promise that I will not get in the way in any way shape or form. I am just looking to see if my target is gonna show up.”
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“The target that nearly killed you when you first fought?” She asked, giving me a sly little smirk.
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“Chloe last chance or I will send Carter in your place.” Whitney said firmly.
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“Why are you allowing children to go handle business in your stead?” I asked.
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“Why do the oren send children off on assassinion missions?” She had me there. “My children are more than capable of handling things like this, they have seen me do it before and they act very professional in my stead. Besides I have other business, a meal a need to attend this afternoon.”
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With that being said she sent us to leave her office to go to the car we were gonna taking for this trip. “Where are we going anyway?” I asked Chloe as we made our way out of the front doors to a nearby limo-like car.
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“The port of New York and New Jersey.” She said in a hushed voice. “It is located in Brooklyn, New York, so I get the horrid pleasure of going with you.”
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I climbed into the smaller limo much more plain in comparison to Whitey Dawnbreaker. Once I was settled in my seat I finally asked the question on my mind. “Why do you dislike me so much? I have barely even spoken to you beside that party.”
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Chloe glared at me, her bright orange eyes almost looking like burning suns. “Who do you think suffered most from your failure? Your loss cost my mother two days of business, she turned her attention towards a few mistakes that I have had.”
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“So you got punished because your mother finally decided to take notice of your mistakes. Maybe you shouldn’t have made those mistakes in the first place?” I said with a small smirk of my own.
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“Maybe you should have done what you were supposed to instead of getting your ass kicked to the point we assumed you were dead.” Chloe said, giving me this smug little smirk of her own. “I thought the Oren were the best of the best, but it looks like my mother was wrong. I doubt you could even last five minutes against me.”
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“What time does this meeting take place?” My eyes narrowed into a few slits. “Cause how about we just have a little friendly sparring match.”
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“An hour.” Chloe said before tapping her driver on the shoulder. “Take us to Madam Melissa’s studio please and tell her to clear the place out if anyone is there.”
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Madam’s Melissa’s studio was not what I thought it was gonna be. I was thinking it was gonna be fighting building, one of the many jepei buildings that was probably hidden in plain sight. Instead this appeared to be a dance studio of some kind. The lobby was warm from the heat, the entrance was covered with a plain blue carpet and the walls were a matching color. An older woman maybe in her fifties was waiting for us, she was very round woman and with an even rounded body. Her curly brown hair had a few flowers in and judging from the little girl waiting around one of the corners with another flower. I assumed that the children here were putting them in her hair for fun. Around her was a brief sign of teal jepei energy and resting next to her was a large bear of some kind.
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“Chloe, is there a reason why you have asked for me to clear my studio out?” She asked in what I was learning was a New York accent, much different from the southern tone that was in my hometown.
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“I need to knock someone's teeth down their throat before we finish some business for my mother.” Chloe took off her long coat and hung it up revealing a black sweater with snowflakes on the front. As well as a pair of black pants. She turned towards me before motioning towards the hallway. “Get undressed and meet me inside now.”
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“Lord almighty,” I heard the woman mumble as Chloe stomped past. Beside seemingly coming out of the smoke was an orange cat like creature with darker orange spots. “What on earth have you done to get this girl’s wrath on you so early in the morning?”
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“She is brat.” I said taking off my coat showing one of my many anime long sleeve shirts. My hero Academia. “If I wasn’t hired by her mother, I would kill her right now.” I mumbled under my breath.
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I took off my shoes as I entered a large dance studio. A few younger kids, maybe 4 or 5, were looking at me with their cute little eyes. All dressed in a leotard of some kind and all of them had the faint showings of jepei energy. Chloe was stretching her arms over head, she had taken off her sweetie and now was clad in a tight tank top that hugged her body. I took mine off showing a plain t-shirt. “Alright listen up ladies,” Madam Melissa's voice echoed off the wall around us. “I am giving you five to ten minutes to settle this foolishness before I get my classes started again. No weapons, and if one of you breaks one of mirrors of damages my floors I will make you both clean the place from top to bottom are we clear?”
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“Crystal.” Chloe said, settling into a very basic looking karate stance, her palms facing me and her fingers tucked in almost like those of a cat’s paws.
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“Aiko,” I said, feeling my begin to form across my shoulders like a scarf. “Watch that little cat and if she tries to jump in, feel free to make her suffer.”
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“As you wish.” Aiko said with a loud hiss only for the spotted cat to return with a loud roar.
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For a while me and Chloe simply circled each other, a dangerous dance she never once broke the stance she was in, simple padding across the floor like a cat on the hunt. I was staring her up and down like the serpent I was. Waiting for her to strike first so I could counter. I don’t know how or when but somehow our dance led us to stand only a foot apart from each other. She threw the first punch and I was quick to block it and counter with one of my own. That was how our battle began.
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She was very quick on her feet and her reflexes were truly cat-like in nature. She was way faster than I originally thought. She was able to get through my guard and catch me across the face and neck with a few quick palm strikes. Her kicks were what was worrying me the most, they held a lot more power than I originally planned for. Especially since she didn’t seem to be amplifying any of these attacks with her jepei aura. Chloe had me on the back foot but like any good serpent all I needed was one chance to turn this battle around. She swung wildly allowing a chance to duck under her attack and catch her in the neck with the tips of my fingers. As she stumbled backwards, I rushed in landing three more strikes against her chest just under her bust. I went for another punch hoping to knock some sense into her but she quickly fell backwards. In the same motion she wrapped her legs around my neck and threw me over her head. I landed with a hard thud on my back and she mounted on top of me. All I could do was cover my face as best as she could lay into me with powerful punches that sent shockwaves rushing through my body.
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I managed to curl out of the way and wrap my around her wrist and one strong twist sent her tumbling sideways allowing me to get back to my feet. I spun around and barely was able to block her next kick, through the force that sent me sliding backwards a few feet. Chloe was refusing to give me any chance to catch my breath as she ran towards me low to the ground with her arms behind her almost like she was in the Naruto anime. She slammed her hands on the ground in a flip and kicked out with both her legs like a horse. Once more her attack sent me stumbling backwards, my feet threatening to slip out from under me. My back hit the wall and she was still rushing at me. I dodged her next attack and jumped up slamming a knee into her jaw. As her head snapped up, I used the wall behind me to lift myself up and landed a hard kick to the side of her neck dropping her to one knee. I kicked out one more time but she caught my leg in her hand and using a surprising amount of strength threw me across the room. My feet skipped off the ground before I settled into my stance one more. We locked eyes for a moment, a small trail of blood escaping her tight lips.
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We began to circle each other one more time, Chloe rolling her shoulders much like a big cat would. I reached back and quickly tied my hair up in a messing bun to keep my hair out of my eyes. A felt a small smile starting to creep at the edges of my mouth and I was surprised to see she was doing the same. We rushed at each other at the same time entering a fire frenzy of punches. So fast that I was reacting strictly on instinct alone just to keep up with her, occasionally she would land a hard strike on me and I would land two more on her. Her punches had more strength but I seemed to be quicker, we were mostly even. Until she finally made the mistake I was waiting for since we started. One of her punches was two sloppy and I grabbed her exposed arm. I kicked her twice in the stomach to make her bend over, before leaping up. I wrapped myself around her arm, my legs wrapping against her neck and with one twist. I spun her down onto the ground and locked her in an armbar. Chloe let out a small groan of pain and the floor shook a bit under us as she pounded on it with her heels trying to regain some kind of footing. She somehow managed to spin us around so I was laying on my shoulders and she was now squating on the floor. She lifted me up over her head but I was quicker and transited my holding into a triangle choke. I thought I had the upper hand but she suddenly slammed me down onto my shoulders and upper back with such force I let go of the hold. All the air escaped my lungs, as a dull pain began to spread through my back.
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I crawled up to a kneeling position and saw that Chloe was doing the same. She was taking large deep breaths to refill her lungs but before I had a chance to attack her again. I heard a loud voice call out. “That is enough!” We both turned to see that Madam Melissa was starting to walk towards us. “As much as me and my students would enjoy watching the rest of this. I believe we can call and end to this little sermish.”
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“I suppose we can.” I said walking over to Chloe, trying to hide the slight pain filling my body. I offered her my hand. “You're pretty good.”
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Chloe looked at my hand for a moment before taking it in her own. “I suppose I can see why my mother would like you I guess.” I helped her stand once more and her left hand went to rub at her arm. “Shall we get going already, I can’t be late for this meeting.”
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“By all means, lead the way.”
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“You have gotta be kidding me.” I said through clattering teeth as the cold winds slammed into my chest. I had stupidly forgetting my gloves in Mr. Benny’s car and without them my finger felt like they were being cut with knifes. “Where is this stupid ship?!” I snapped attempting to blow on my hands with whatever hot air I could muster and even that only provided a small bit of relief.
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My new fifteen year old friend looked over her shoulder at me. She slipped her gloves off before offering them to me with a long roll of her eyes. “I told you, you could wait in the limo, but you decided to wait here with me.”
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I quickly slipped on her gloves that were a bit too big for me., they provided the warmth I needed right now. “I told you, if she shows up I wanna be ready.”
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Chloe looked out across the water and then she stood up to her feet. “She is finally here so you can warm your hands in her ship if you so choose too.” I looked out across the water as a large black and blue ship began to creep towards us. It was one of the biggest ships I have ever seen, at least over two hundred feet, and more normal people couldn’t see this. Riding alongside jumping out of the water was a large killer whale, only instead of black and white, this one was red. Chloe pushed me back a few feet and I was grateful for why. As the ship came to a stop, a large wave hit the place where I had been standing. A moment later two large birds, one an eagle and the other a vulture came flying down towards us. “Come on quickly, we don’t want the normal workings seeing us like this.”
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I followed her lead and a moment later we took flight, I let out a startled gasp at first as we flew around the ship and were carefully set down on the large deck of the ship. While most cargo ships were filled with hundreds of containers, this one only had about 10 on board. The workers on board all had traces of jepei energy. I suddenly recognized the deck of thi ship as the one Ori had had her picture taken from. Two of the storage containers were in the exact same place as each other. We walked down the ship deck through a doorway, and as soon as we stepped inside my entire body was thankful for the heat that now flowed through it.
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We walked up a nearby flight of steps before stepping out into the control panel of the ship. Waiting for us was a tall woman with light brown skin, she was wearing black pants and a blank tank top underneath her large black coat that she was wearing like a cap. Her arms were filled with the white lines of healed scars and her brown hair spilled over her shoulders and framed her square face like a picture frame. “Little Chloe Dawnbreaker, welcome aboard my ship. Pardon me for the late entry, entrance to the port was a bit more messy than usual.” From the way she spoke, English didn’t seem to be her native tongue, she sounded spanish. “Though I am disappointed that your mother couldn’t take a chance out of her busy schedule to come and see me today.”
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“Where is Captain Raphael? Elena. We were expecting him with the shipment my mother has been waiting for?” Chloe questioned suddenly, seeming so much more grown up now.
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“My brother sent me with half of what your dear mother required. What her people near the waters of Nigeria took us much longer to get on board and ready for travel. If she wants more details then I will be sure to leave her an email.” She explained with a large smile.
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“I will need to call my mother about this. If you do not have everything that you said you would be bringing than perhaps we need to deal our business with someone more reliable.” Chloe crossed her arms over her chest and began to tap her foot on the hard walk way.
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“Now now, don’t get your panties in a bunch my dear. Your dear mother will understand that these things sometimes happen, we are more than happy to wait to receive this payment once my brother reaches port in a few days.” This woman walked closer to us and she smelled of some kind of sweet perfume. “Now I see no reason why I cannot just get started on unloading the first loads and bring you the second set once it arrives.”
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“Because that is not how we do things with pirates.” Chloe said firmly.
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“Now you know we don’t like the words pirates. It makes us so unrefined.” Elena held her hand out, “how about we just call your mother before this get out of hand. I am a very busy woman, with a very tired crew that wants to go to a bar.”
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Chloe rudely slapped the woman’s hand away. “I will call my mother and you better hope she is in a good mood today.” Chloe stormed towards one of the doorways and slammed it shut behind her.
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This woman's friendly demeanor changed as soon Chloe disappeared. “Such a little brat.” She turned her attention onto me and she gave me an odd look. “You, child might I ask you a question?”
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“If you are more respectful with me than you are with her.” This woman bent down and stared at me for a few moments. “What are you doing?”
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“Do you know Zinnie Oren by any chance?” I felt my face light up in surprise as I nodded my head. “A cousin? No I know you know, you're her little sister. Irena, Isa?”
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“Ivy,” I helped. “How do you know my sister?”
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“I met her in Madrid four years ago.” This woman began. “She had gotten into some trouble with her mother or something and couldn’t go home or be with her sister some little argument they had. So she offered to work on my boat for two years until she could go home again. She was like a daughter to me during those years, a skilled fighter and hard worker.”
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“Wait, you are Captain Salvador?” I said as one of the first stories Zinnie told me when she came back suddenly blasted me in the face like cold air.
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“That I am, and you are the little sister that she kept a picture of in her room for those two years.” I felt a small blush start to spread across my face at that news. “How is Zinnie doing? I have been meaning to call her in the last few years but alas my phone was lost during a storm and memorizing numbers isn’t my speciality.”
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“She is doing okay, Miss. She has probably gotten bigger since the last time you have seen her.” I explained flipping through my phone to pull up a picture we had taken together on my birthday.
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She looked at the image and let out a low whistle. “I see what you mean, your sister was a beautiful girl but now she has grown absolutely gorgeous.” She praised. “Now please tell me, what are you doing in New York and why are you with Chloe Dawnbreaker?”
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“I am here on Oren business and maybe you can help me.” I reached into my backpack where I kept her file. I lifted the picture up and presented it to her. “Is this your boat in this picture, I am looking for this girl?”
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Elena snatched the picture from me with two fingers. “Yes, the little japanese girl. She has quite the bounty on her head made by my crew. They want revenge after that niñita embarrassed them.”
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“Niñita?” I asked.
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“Little girl,” she explained. “I haven’t seen her since we left a month ago, though I have added extra security to make sure she doesn’t pull another stunt like last time. I see they have gotten so desperate they have hired an assassin from the Oren to kill her.”
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“Do you have any idea what she could possibly want?” I asked, hoping to gain a second thought of what Ori could be after.
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“No I don’t, I am only hired to sneak these relics to Whitney Dawnbreaker. I do not care for their value or purpose. Though like I told that little brat!” She yelled towards the door earning a loud thud on the metal wall presumably from Chloe. “This one was harder so we had to split it into two ships to avoid detection.” 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWsXgbe0GA
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“Detection from what?”
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“Much like how you Oren do not spill your clients secrets, I am afraid I cannot spill mine.” This woman zipped her lips and than threw away the key. She reached out and patted me on the shoulders a few times and leaned her head in. “Words of advice do not believe everything this woman tells you, half of it are lies and the other half twisted truths.” She whispered.
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“Why are you telling me this?”
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“Because you remind me of a cute little girl that used to run around the deck of this and many others.” She gave me a maternal smile as the doorway to the side screeched across the floor indicating that it was opening. She suddenly planted two quick kisses, one to each cheek of my cheeks. “Your little friend here is a very good conversationalist.”
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I turned around and my face flushed a bit, as Chloe was standing in the doorway. “We aren’t friends,” Chloe corrected as she walked over. “My mother is making an exception for you, only because your work for us has been good. However, she wants to know if this is the item she has wanted for a while?”
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“That is the one that we had to take a longer time sneaking out with the proper permit.” Chloe texted something onto her phone, there was a short pause before her phone vibrated and she looked up.
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“Our trucks are already waiting, we can begin unloading those items but inform us when your brother arrives.” Chloe said, turning towards the door and disappearing behind a corner.
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As I went to follow her out, I felt a hand placed on my shoulder and Elena spun me around. “One more thing if you ever need someplace to go in case things don’t go as you think they will.”
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She opened my right hand and slipped a piece of paper inside. “Just call me and I will come back or send you my location so you can come and find me.”
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I took my phone out and added it to my small list of personal contacts as well as gave her Zinnie’s number in case she wanted to catch up. “Thank you for your offer, but I will be perfectly fine, I have everything planned out perfectly.”
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“I suppose you don’t know this phrase since your people despise God.” She gave me a sad looking smile at that before finishing. “However, if you wanna make God laugh, then keep making plans.”
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