[Elektra]

A teenage girl stood in the middle of a running lake, immune to its cold, lashing water.  Nothing around her seemed to faze her as she stood staring.  "This was where I saw you last mom.  I hope you're doing well..." she said in a small voice, one that belonged to a young, scared child, not a staid, cold re-con agent.  It had been over six years, she was actually only twelve, about to turn thirteen.  The agency had sent her out on her first mission.  It was simple, in a spy's eyes, that is.  Retrieve the package, regardless of who gets hurt.  That bothered her at first, but now, there was something else that made the mission unforgettable.  Her mother.  Although the 'package' hadn't been all that important, the owner obviously thought it was.  They found her mother, and held her hostage.  But as the exchange was going on, someone blew the bridge up.  Her mom was half-way across, and was taken up with the bridge.  That was the last time she had seen her.  In this very spot.  One could still see the small marks of an unnatural occurrence there, but no one bothered to take time to look.  "Agent Dagger.  Agent Dagger, come in." her necklace buzzed.  But for once in her life, instead of following orders and answering it, she pressed the jewel, manually shutting it off.  Her name was Elektra, and she wasn't going to stop until she had what she so desperately wanted.  Revenge.





(Don't worry about the size, she's just got an extensive background that I wanted known.  My posts won't all be as nice and long.  xDDD)

[Hannah Kerela]

The brown-haired man trudged through the water with a single-minded determination: to get away from where he'd just been. He couldn't bear the looks on the faces of his family and friends, couldn't bear the pain. He had to get away. His steps were quick despite the fact that he was treading water, his eyes intent on only what was ahead of him. Nothing could deter him from his goal to be not there anymore.

Not after he'd seen the look on her face.

His name was Dark; that described his life well enough. Always in the darkness, always sneaking around, always unable to find the light. And now his darkness had hurt the people he loved... He couldn't be there, couldn't watch this happening. He knew that it wasn't his fault, that the demon - for what else could he call that man? - had acted of his own accord, as had that demon's pawn, but she had come to harm because he had taught her to be brave, to be a hero.

Never again.




((Haha, I get it. I'll apologize in advance; my AP Lit class is going over different author's styles, and my teacher likes showing us how to imitate syntax, so my writing style is a bit erratic. Just kick me if I annoy you. xD))

[Elektra]

Lifting her head from the water, Elektra shook the water off her ears.  She preferred being in her original form for missions, especially this one.  Something, or someone, was near though.  Her extremely sensitive ears could hear the splashing of water against the current.  "Who would be out here?" she said to no one in particular.  Scanning around, she didn't see any figures, and relaxed.  She didn't care about anything right now.  She never really did though.  Lowering herself down, she spread out on the bottom of the river, just able to keep her snout about the water.

[Hannah Kerela]

Dark stopped short when he heard Elektra's voice, his ears tuned by instinct to pick up voices near him. It was the one thing he couldn't stop himself from doing; as an ex-thief and current freelance intelligence agent, the sound of voices was crucial not only to preserving his livelihood, but his life; many people disliked thieves and spies. He dared to raise his voice,

"Who's there?"

He didn't stop, though, staying in motion, though he shifted to his "natural" form mid-stride, feeling more secure when he had claws to defend himself with, as well as the benefit of a feline's eyesight.

[Elektra]

Her head jerked up, and in a split second, she was on her paws, creeping forward.  There was definitely someone near, and in a second, they'd probably be in sight.  Using that to her advantage, she crept forward toward the call.  "If it's one of those rookies trying to track me down for extra credit, I swear I'll do more than just a broken rib this time..." she mumbled.  Apparently the staff sent newbies to track her for extra credit occasionally, but after the last one, they hadn't sent any.  

The breathing of another animal was just barely noticeable, but Elektra was trained to look for the least obvious, the least important.  Approaching, she leaped, hoping it was an enemy.  She's surely be taken off active duty if it was another agent.  Rearing up, she didn't even bother to look.  If her hits missed, her wingblades would do some damage, so she wasn't to worried.


(You don't have to fight, or you can, it doesn't matter to me.  ^^)

[Hannah Kerela]

Dark wasn't expecting an attack, and only dodged at the last second, giving him a nice hit from her wingblades. The blow knocked him off-balance, and he tumbled backward a bit, rather ungracefully. He pulled his head up out of the water, shaking his head to dislodge the moisture that clung to his fur, and looked at her. "Who's there?" he demanded angrily. "And why on earth did you attack me?"

Truth be told, he wasn't really as put-out as he acted; he needed an outlet for his pent-up frustration, and if this stranger was willing to volunteer...

No, Dark. You're not that person, anymore. You don't beat up on innocents. He sighed. This whole "listening to his conscience" thing was incredibly annoying, sometimes.

((Eh. Dark's a big boy, he can take getting hit a little bit. ^^))

[Elektra]

"I'm-" she broke off.  The first rule she learned, never give your real name, and try to avoid giving out your code even.  Well, she was breaking a lot of rules already, why not break some more?  "I'm Elektra, or Agent Dagger for the Evelon Black-Ops.  So please, for Zu'Hai's friggin sake, don't try anything stupid, since I'm capable of killing you with a bit of muddy water and some grass if need be.  And you are?"  Sure, it wasn't the best way to start off a conversation, but she wasn't really the type for conversations.  She was the type that would slit your throat if need be, and then run off.  But the way this guy reacted.  It was only by mere luck that he avoided her, but it didn't seem that her sharpened blades had effected him at the least, regardless of the show he was putting on for her.  "Oh quit that will you.  No body with a brain would be fulled by such a pathetic act." she said coldly.

[Hannah Kerela]

What a pushy female... Dark shook his head. "My name's Dark. What are you playing at? he demanded, regaining his equilibrium and looking at her. "Wait... 'Agent' Dagger? For the Evelon Black-Ops?" He paused, looking her over. "Who do you think I am?"

Despite himself, Dark was intrigued - she seemed... capable. Dangerous, in a way that he'd never experienced before. Sure, his friends and family all had their ways to threaten people, but this danger was different. It was the danger that he'd lived for, before he'd changed. In spite of the danger, he found himself grinning from the familiar, long-missed adrenaline rush that he got in this sort of situation.

[Elektra]

"I play at nothing, and I have no idea who you are.  I attacked you because the agency thinks it's funny to send newbies to see if they can track their best agent, which is extremely annoying.  I thought you were one of those wannabe's, that's all.  Once again, I apologize for such an attack, but coming out of no where can really startle some people."  

Looking around, Elektra saw that he was bleeding out of a few deep cuts.  Of course, if he wasn't, she would be scared, since her wingblades were enhanced, strong enough to cut through almost anything.  Luckily he moved in time.  Looking back, she had no idea what had possessed her to use such a dangerous attack method on what might have been a lowly creature.  Shaking it off, she caught Dark staring at her with an odd look.  "What do I look like, some toy?  You're staring at me like, well, I don't really know how to put such a look into words."  Chuckling, she plucked some think palms off a nearby tree.  Dipping them in the murky water, she squeezed some sap onto each blade.  "Just don't move," she said, sticking a blade on each cut, "or you'll be sticky for a while.  This should stop the bleeding, and any infection, since there's a lot of crud around here that could get into those."

Backing up, she took a closer look at him.  He was bigger than an average kuhna, and something else about him was different.  Not in species characteristics, but emotionally.  All she saw was despair, malice, and emptiness.  Deciding not to inquire until another time, she waited for him to do something.


(I have no idea where this monster post came from.  Wish I could do this more often... xDDD)

[Hannah Kerela]

"Eh, no major harm done, really," Dark assured her, smirking. He could deal with cuts, though he did hold still for her - she was right, there was plenty to give him infections around here. And he had no real wish to end up in bed with Cecilia hovering over him. He waited until she finished, then looked at her face, considering the question she'd asked him.

"You look... capable. Like you know what you're doing. It's just something I don't get to see often anymore." Then curiosity got the better of him. "Their best agent, huh?"

Maybe she could've actually stopped me back then... he thought. She certainly seems more competent than the officer they had at the end. But there was really no use in pondering 'what-ifs.' It wouldn't change anything.

[Elektra]

"Well, I've carried out many missions, and all...  All but one was successfully done..."  What she wouldn't have done to trade in all those successes for that one failure.  The failure that changed her life.  That was the reason why she was here.  "But enough about myself.  You still have failed to satisfy my own curiousty about you, Dark.  Is that even your name though?  Or was it not only luck, but years of training that stopped me from killing you?"  Smirking, she waited for his answer, and yet, she hoped it was the latter of the suspisions.  If he was an agent, he would be of great help to her.  


(Sorry for the short fail post...)

[Hannah Kerela]

"My name is Dark," the Kuhna confirmed. "But you're right that it's not luck. I suppose I might as well be straight with you... I was a thief, for most of my life. A master thief, rather: they knew it was me making the thefts, but... Well, I'm here, so you can probably guess that they never caught me. You don't survive years upon years of being hunted without picking up a few survival tips."

He turned to get a better look at her, watching her with a grain of suspicion, but more with curiosity and respect. "And, no, none of the arrest warrants on me are still valid," he added, slightly defensive.

[Elektra]

"I'd love to turn you in if you're the Dark I think you are, but I know what they do to prisoners like you.  And it isn't pretty."  Whipping out what seemed to be a GPA, she allowed it to scan her eye, than prick her finger.  Once the thing was satisfied that it wasn't some random person trying to hack in, it began to change.  The sides expanded, and it almost seemed to sprout legs.  Dropping it, Elektra kneeled down on the muddy forest ground, and allowed it to finish.  Once the process was complete, the machine was almost as big as a foot stool.  Tapping in some kind of code, the machine came up with a hologram of Dark, and everything there was to know about him.  Looking from Dark back to his profile, she confirmed it was definitely him.  "You're right, every warrant was annulled, but apparently my department has decided other wise.  You're number two on their list, after whoever murdered some billionaire eco-crazy man somewhere in Lamenolai.  I was actually working on that case, but I lost a partner, and was re-called.  Then I just refused to work again.  Which of course didn't work, and they threatened to kill me if I wasn't going to continue on re-con.  And now, I'm here."  She stopped herself before she poured her whole life story out to him.  Pushing a button, the device folded back up into the smaller disguise it had.  "So, how about you help me?  It's not an official mission, quite the opposite actually, I was forbidden to do such an operation, but here I am."

[Hannah Kerela]

"You'd have quite the prisoner on your hands if you tried to turn me in," Dark assured her. He wasn't really surprised to find out that he was still wanted - he'd upset some very important people in his time as a thief. And as much as he'd sworn to repent, he couldn't really be sorry for some of it. It only made sense that they still hated him.

Then she spoke again, and he couldn't stop a grin from coming to his features. "Well, if it's not what they want you to do, then it's definitely what I want to help you do," Dark replied.

Some tendencies one just never grew out of, and disliking the "justice system" - if one could call it that - was one that Dark would hold until the day he died.

[Elektra]

Smiling,  Elektra nodded to Dark, then got up.  "Well, the mission isn't exactly simple, and coming from me, that means something.  Not to mention it'll take a while to explain, so unless you want to know about it, I'd say we just get going.  I'm here to take some sample of some of the old burn marks from an explosion that happened here years ago.  I want to know what kind of bomb it was, and who makes and sells them.  If I can figure that out, I can figure out who blew it up, and then, well, then we get to have some fun."  There was a dark look in her eyes, and all of the humor and relaxation had vanished.  There wasn't really any emotions showing on her.  She was completely devoid of them it seemed.  But nonetheless, she was determined to kill that murderer, and whoever it was that did the crime, well, they were in for a very slow death.