"The Cherry parlour?" Rain X questioned. He looked at Jesselyn who was standing by his side then at the building again.
"It was your favorite place to be, remember?" She stated.
The dark-haired man smiled as he stared at the building. Unlike other buildings in the place that looked like they'd been renovated since the last time he saw them, the Cherry parlour still retained its features: white and pink paint with a picture of three grown-up men and a female taking a bite from an ice cream cone along with smaller kids. "It still is."
The duo stepped into the building, their smile became even wider as they got hit by the warm atmosphere and the smell of different flavors. As usual, there were only a few people; seven, including the two Rain agents. "It's just the way I remember it," Jesselyn stated.
"Yeah. I'm surprised this place is still open, there's not many people that come."
"Maybe because of the cold, so people will want to put something hot in their stomach, you know."
"Well, here's a fun fact about Ice cream; you actually get warm from taking it."
"Oh. Really?"
"Let's get some," Rain X stated.
They both take a cone and walked over to the batch freezer. "Mmmm, my mouth is already watering just from looking at it," Jesselyn exclaimed as she poured a mint chocolate chip onto her cone. She took a fine bite of it and turned to see Rain X pouring all the flavors together.
"What are you doing?" She said with a smile on her lips. He finished pouring and took a huge bite. His eyes widened as all the flavors hit him at once.
Jesselyn laughed as she watched him swallow it down. She then attempted to take a bite from his ice cream but Rain X pulled it away from her. "Come on, just a bite," she pouts.
"What's wrong with your mint chocolate chip?"
Jesselyn puts on her pity face and licked her ice cream. Rain X sighed and extended his hand with the ice cream towards her to take from it. "Oh my, I see why you always get this, it's really good." Though she spoke the words, her face betrayed her as she had a disgusted look on.
"Your face says otherwise."
"I'm so sorry but it's really awful. How do you manage to take that?" She questioned.
Rain X chuckled and took another bite. "Honestly, it's really hard deciding which flavor to take so I just mix them all."
"Should have gotten vanilla then."
Rain X raised his head to look at Jesselyn. "Vanilla?"
"Sorry. It was supposed to be a joke."
He shook his head and turned back to his ice cream. Jesselyn slipped her hand into her pocket and take out a card as small as an ID card. "Here," she said, handing it to her fellow rain agent.
"What's this?"
"A birthday present. It's a ticket for a three days vacation at the Medi forest. Happy birthday, Rohan."
Rain X stared at the card as a cold chill went up his spine. He felt as if her words were breathed into his ears and it was calming.
"Come on." Jesselyn grabbed his hand, pulling him along as she strode into the arcade.
They stepped into the dim arcade. Though it had a few bulbs around, the room was still dim. There wasn't a single window in the room and that added to the darkness. The entire Cherry Parlour looked like it was on the wrong planet as the infrastructure doesn't match up to that of a regular Winter Weir building.
Rain X felt his breath hooked in his neck as he looked around the room. The only thing that went through his head as he stood in the middle of the room was the memory of the first time he was in there; blurry, confusing, and strange. He still hasn't fully comprehended everything that happened that day. The dots were starting to connect, but a lot more only appears. He tries to suppress the thoughts whenever it starts and just live in the moment as a Department H agent, but it seemed impossible, especially after the things he heard from his friend, Jesselyn. He felt overwhelmed by it all, and he knows he'll have to one day face it head-on.
"Why are you standing still? Let's play." Jesselyn dipped her hand into a basket that was filled with coins. She took a handful of it and stuff it into her pocket. "What do you wanna start with?"
"Jesselyn I…" his words trailed off and he inhaled sharply.
Jesselyn veered around to face the dark-haired man. "What's wrong?"
"I feel weird." There were strangely a lot of people in the room, ten in all, all invested in the games around. Rain X fell to his knees as flashes of light appeared in front of him. He caught a quick glimpse of a younger him cuffed onto a chair in what looked like a lab. His vision became clear once more.
Jesselyn rushed to the dark-haired man's side. "Hey, are you okay? We can leave if you are not up to it."
The dark-haired man immediately grabbed onto Jesselyn's collar just in time to pull her away from an attack one of the men in the room had lunged. The men in the arcade all turn to face the duo, each wearing the cold hand glove in their right hand.
"Who are these people?" Jesselyn mumbled. She reached for her waist to take her gun but realises she wasn't wearing her uniform. She groaned furiously before tapping her watch to send a distress message to the Department H Headquarters.
Rain X punched the man in the face, sending him flying back into one of the games. He clenched his fist, letting the electricity form all around his body. The men made their battle stance with their undying resolve.
Jesselyn puts her hand up too, ready to fight. "Let's end this immediately," the dark-haired man stated. He already recognized the men to be part of the Meta family. They reached for their pocket and pulled out a syringe.
They all charged at the rain agents at the same time, lunging the syringe at Rain X. Rain X grabbed one of the men's hands and stabbed the syringe into his neck. He turned to another and shoot a bolt of electricity at him, sending him flying into a wall behind.
Two of the men pinned Rain X to a wall and thrust the syringe at him. He managed to use his forearm to defend the attack, stopping the syringe from plunging into his neck.
The dark-haired man released a wave of electricity from his body that sent the men flying back. His mind wasn't stable after the vision he just saw but he managed to fight through it. He released another wave, but this time stronger than the last one that caused the roof and one part of the arcade to destroy into pieces so they could now see the sky.
One of the men dragged himself up and launched at the male Rain trooper. The dark-haired man veered around just in time to see the man's hand only inches from his face. Everything around had suddenly slowed and Rain X could now see the man approaching him slowly, he could see everything as it all made tiny movements. Immediately Rain X held the man's hand, everything turned back normal and he flipped the man over his shoulder, slamming him into the ground.
After knocking the men that attacked him, Rain X turned to where Jesselyn was only to find her on the ground and covered in blood with Asuncion standing over her. "Hello, old friend."
"Asuncion," the dark-haired man mumbled. He clenched his fist by his side and groaned furiously. Asuncion wore an all-black leather jacket and trousers, with her hair tied up in a bun.
"Don't even think about it!" The pink-haired lady threatened. She waved her hand which had the glove from Q.R.C. before placing it on the unconscious Rain agent's head. "Or I'll freeze her brain."
Hearing Asuncion's voice only exasperated the dark-haired man. His jaw tightened as he watched the pink-haired lady.
"How long has it been?... Since you murdered Ramsey?"
"Let her go, she has nothing to do with this, it's me you want."
"When you put it like that." Asuncion smiled creepily and pressed her glove on Jesselyn's face. "Stop it!" Rain X yelled. He charged forward but Asuncion extended her hand with the glove and shoots ice on the ground in front of the agent, causing him to stop.
"I said to not even think about it. Do you want your friend dead?" Asuncion wasn't sane. She looked and speak like a sane person but the look in her eyes was nothing but sheer insanity.
Rain X looked down at the ice. He clenched his fist even tighter as rage enveloped his entire body.
"A little modification I did to the gloves, isn't it beautiful?" Asuncion threw her shoulders up and down as she laughed.
She then took out two wristwatches from her pocket and tossed them to Rain X's feet. "Cuff yourself," the pink-haired lady said with a more serious tone.
The dark-haired man looked at the watch and then at the unconscious Department H's Rain agent beneath Asuncion's grip.
"If I do, will you let her go?"
Asuncion raised her brows. "Haha haha hahahahaha!" She let out a mischievous laugh. She then used her free hand to shove stray hairs back. "You don't get to make demands here, now cuff yourself."
Rain X reluctantly picked up the watch and put it on. The wristwatches were magnets and it held his hands together the moment they came close enough.
Asuncion let go of Jesselyn and rose to her feet. She reached for one of the syringes on the ground and started towards the Rain agent. He tried to pull the two watches apart but it doesn't budge.
"Don't bother trying," Asuncion said, slowly approaching him. "That is the strongest magnet in Winter Weir. You won't escape now." She stabbed the syringe into his neck and the liquid in it flowed into his system, causing him to crash on the ground.
A floating car that looked like a flipped cup pulled to a stop in front of the damaged wall of the arcade. Some masked men exit the car and walked into the arcade.
Asuncion stabbed another syringe into him before moving aside for the men to drag him into the car.
…
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