By the time Keanu was force fed and locked in Hikari's room, night time had fallen. Night time was usually the time when the Night Corps went to work, and tonight was no exception.
In the cover of darkness, Hikari snuck into his room and swiped his Imperial Arms from under the bed that Keanu was sleeping in without waking him. The door creaked on the way out and Keanu stirred a little bit, but other than that he remained motionless.
Kaiyo was right though, he snored. Badly.
Hikari slung his blade over his shoulder, which rested across his back nicely, and met Kotori in the lounge room. She was dressed in her usual black jeans and a denim jacket, with her Imperial Arms gleaming on her left index finger.
"Are the others ready?" Hikari asked.
Kotori nodded. "They're waiting outside for us."
The two of them did a double check that Keanu was still asleep, then dashed out the front door without another word.
Keanu opened one eye and listened out for any more signs of movement. After confirming that no one else was in the room, he sprung out of bed and over to the door.
Get to the city. Then find a hotel or something.
He swiftly opened the door and darted down the hallway. When he reached the lounge room, he stopped dead in his tracks. A small brown cat was staring at him from on top of the kitchen bench.
It made a purring noise and Keanu inched closer to it. He wasn't sure if it was going to sound an alarm, or explode at any minute, or if it was just an ordinary cat. It jumped down from the bench and scampered to the middle of the room, blocking his way to the door.
"Going somewhere?" It said.
Keanu moved into a fighting stance. "What are you!?"
The cat smiled ominously and began producing a grey smoke. Keanu was on edge the entire time, holding his breath. The smoke faded eventually and the same suit of armour that stopped him earlier stood in its place.
"I don't believe I properly introduced myself." The armour said. "The name's Glen."
"Not to sound rude, but I really don't care." Keanu snapped. "Now get out of my way! I have more important things to do."
Glen shrugged. "Like what? Chasing down chameleon dealers?"
Keanu glared and struck out at Glen with his palm. It connected with his armoured face, but other than that nothing happened. Not even a flinch.
"Not a chance." Glen said, obviously pleased with himself. "You've got a tough hit though."
Keanu recovered from his state of initial shock. "I've been training since I was a child. If I wanted to escape, I would."
"But, you don't." Glen assumed. "Why not?"
After pausing for a second, Keanu sighed. "There's something... strange about you guys. You knew I was hunting chameleon dealers and the way you move... It's like you're not human. I guess I'm a little jealous."
"Huh." Glen nodded slowly. Then, with a little bit of white smoke, his armour faded away until it was just a chest plate. "You're more level headed than I thought. In fact, you're a lot like us."
Keanu rolled his eyes. "Cool, can I go now?"
"Nope." Glen answered without hesitation. "However, I have an idea. Do you wanna come with me on a mission?"
"A mission?" Keanu asked. "What are you, spies?"
Glen chuckled, his shaggy hair bouncing slightly. "Close. We're assassins."
His eyes lit up when those two words were said, Keanu noticed, and his facial expression gave away no hint of lying. Glen really was an assassin, which meant he wouldn't let Keanu go without a fight.
"Who are you assassinating?" He asked, trying to sound indifferent.
Glen smiled darkly. "You'll just have to wait and see."
In another puff of white smoke, Glen disappeared. Keanu scanned the room for any traces of him but then felt something land on his head.
"C'mon." Glen said. "We don't have all night."
A small black bird flew from its perch in Keanu's hair and over to the door. Keanu shook his head and followed it, doubting his chances of ditching it.
"I'm guessing your armour is an 'Imperial Arms?'" Keanu asked as the two of them darted through the trees.
Glen turned his beady black eyes on him mid-flight. "You know about those?"
Keanu nodded, trying to sway the conversation from how he knew about them back to the question. Glen shifted into a large black panther in a puff of smoke and scaled the trunk of a tree with ease.
"The armour of change, Shiffuto." Glen said. "My Imperial Arms has the ability to alter my appearance to match any living being on the planet."
Keanu nodded. "What about the others? Do they all have Imperial Arms?"
"Indeed." Glen pounced from branch to branch while Keanu dashed underneath him. "You'll get to see a few in action tonight. Stop up ahead, where the tree line stops."
Keanu did as he was told, sliding to a halt behind a tree trunk on the edge of a large property. Glen shifted back into a bird and landed on a low hanging branch next to him.
"This is the estate of a group of rich sadists, who sell women off at a young age and torture peasants." Glen squawked angrily. "Assholes. I wish I could be in there myself."
Keanu scanned the house thoroughly. It had three main entrances, two on the first floor and one on the second, over ten windows and two balconies.
"Are the others in there?" He asked.
Glen chirped. "Yep. Look up at the front balcony."
Indeed, Keanu saw the white-haired boy from earlier slowly approaching a man dressed in purple robes. He was carrying an abnormally giant pair of scissors by his side.
"There's Hikari." Glen pointed his beak. "His Imperial Arms is Extase, the cutter of creation. It can slice through anything in existence."
The nobleman suddenly whipped a sword out from within his robes and held it up defensively. However, Hikari's blade moved quicker. In a flash of silver, the man's sword was cut completely in half and a surge of blood came pouring out of his neck. He dropped below Keanu's line of sight as Hikari walked back inside, his white hair and outfit splashed with crimson.
"Ooh! Look there!" Glen flapped his wings excitedly.
Keanu followed his line of sight to one of the windows, where a security guard had been tossed through the glass and onto the vast courtyard beyond it. He rolled to stop just as Kaiyo jumped through the empty square where the glass used to be. Keanu noticed that they were wearing a pair of black fingerless gloves. "Is that Kaiyo's Imperial Arms? The gloves?"
Glen nodded his small head. "Look! Look!"
Keanu watched as the guard slowly struggled to his feet and produced a gun from within his black suit. Kaiyo continued walking towards the man without hesitation, not even stopping when he fired off a series of rounds. Instead, Kaiyo held up one of their palms and simply took the bullets in the hand. Keanu expected blood, or a look of pain at least, but the gloves simply began to glow a faint blue as a wicked smile flashed across the user's face. Then, a beam of what appeared to be blue plasma exploded from the glove and collided with the guard's body. A second later, nothing remained of where he stood except a pile of smoking ashes.
"Hansha." Glen explained before Keanu could ask. "The gloves of reflection. Able to absorb any type of projectile or beam, no matter how powerful, and send it back with twice the lethality."
Kaiyo glanced in their direction and waved in the distance. Glen squawked back and started to fly off towards the mansion.
"Hey, wait!" Keanu dashed out from his hiding place and into the estate.
The grass stretched on for at least a hundred metres, but eventually Keanu skidded to a stop beside Kaiyo and Glen, who'd shifted back to his armoured self. They now stood on one of the several courtyards surrounding the house.
"Where's Kotori?" Glen asked.
Kaiyo shrugged. "I dunno. She and Hikari went upstairs to take out the owner, but they're not back yet."
As if on cue, a loud scream pierced the night air from above them and a body came crashing down to the pavement. Keanu flinched, Glen jumped back and Kaiyo's eyes lit up.
"Cool! A body!" Kaiyo chirped.
It was a man dressed in purple robes with a gold silk lining. His face was clean shaven, but also splashed with fresh blood. That, and the fact that his eyes were open and unmoving, was evidence enough that he was dead.
Keanu was suddenly aware of a dim white glow from above, where the body had fallen from. He looked up and squinted to see an angelic figure beginning to descend from the second floor balcony. It landed beside them and the glow cut out, revealing a beautiful woman with sleek blonde hair and grey eyes. Most stunning of all were the shimmering white wings protruding from her back. Keanu almost believed that he was witnessing an angel, however the jeans and denim jacket gave away the innocent appearance.
"That's the last of the nobles." She said, in a sweet but dangerous tone. "Unfortunately, we've got a problem."
"What is it, Kotori?" Kaiyo asked, suddenly tense despite their excitement two seconds ago.
Kotori eyed Keanu curiously for a moment, making him gulp, before turning back to the shorter assassin. "Another Imperial Arms user."
Kaiyo smiled ominously. "Good. Where are they?"
Kotori pointed a ringed finger towards the other side of the courtyard, where a gateway lead to a path through the trees. "Hikari chased him that way, but be caref-"
Before she could finish, Kaiyo had sprinted at an incredible speed across the courtyard and into the darkness, Glen hot on their heels with the appearance of a dog.
Kotori sighed. "Never mind." As if remembering he was there, she turned to face Keanu and crossed her arms. "Why are you here?"
Keanu grunted. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not allowed to leave."
"Then I suggest you either return to our base or help out." And with that, she took off into the sky with a trail of white light behind her.
Keanu shook his head and glanced back towards the tree line he'd emerged from. He could always just escape while he had the opportunity, but there was still so much mystery surrounding these people. They had weapons that far surpassed human technology, and they moved like supernatural entities. Keanu had never seen such incredible people before, and he'd been fighting crime for years.
With that in mind, he sprinted after the assassins, following the trail of white light into the darkness.