IRIS/PHANTOM POV
"Welcome Vans," I started as I type in the code for this certain room. "to your first training session with us," The metal doors swung open and the people I expected to see were there. "the Night Reaperz."
Jennifer, Takahiro, Lorraine, Sarah and Terry looked up as we entered. "Well most of us, the other two are still hospitalised and those 3 are temporary." I point at the family. "You already know me, 2bullet and Double-O-Nine. They don't have code names but they work at the British branch. So, same work." I shrug.
''I'm gonna divide you guys so that you can train with your new weapons properly," I stress out the last word. "Jack is with Double-O-Nine and 2bullet. They'll teach you how to handle your guns and O-Nine is a double gun user as well so that benefits you." I point Jack the direction he needed to go which was towards them.
"Jacob goes with the father and daughter of that family, they know how to target." I jerk my thumb towards their direction and Jacob heads over. James is already scowling, knowing what's coming. "I'm stuck with you?" He groans. "No one else here uses blades." I argue back and he shuts up, knowing there's no denying that fact. "Besides, you haven't picked one out yet." I walk out of the room and he follows, "So you're stuck with me in the meantime."
He turns his head so fast he could've gotten whiplash. "What?!" I turn to him, "What do you mean what? This arrangement is final." He clicks his tongue in annoyance and I raise my brow, "Nothing." He answers. "Anyway, you can trust me when I say I don't like the tedious work." I walk down the hall, going back to the office room that we used to use before we got our own built at home. Ed left it the way it is, nothing was touched or moved. "That I can agree on." He replies to my comment.
"But I did wanted to clear up some things today while your brothers trained." I type in the code and scanned my handprint for the door to open. "You just said you didn't like tedious work, should I stop trying to trust you now?" James enquires. "Nice to see you finally try and put some trust in me but sometimes even when you don't like it, you have to do it. It's called responsibility, something you and your brothers understand very well. Just not in the same terms as us, similar, not same." I walk over and sat down in my old office chair.
"You'll die." I say as James almost takes a seat on Jennifer's chair. "She doesn't like to share her belongings casually." I stare at the old computer as James walks around to my table and leans himself on the edge. "What am I going to do for a blade?" He breaks the silence. "For now, I'll have you use one of mine. Break it and I break you." No reply, he's obviously bothered but by what? Oh yes, me. "Don't want it?" I tease, kicking my legs up on the table. I take out a tablet from the drawer and looked through the weaponry. Yes, I have a tablet just for keeping weapon records, sue me.
"I just want my own, like my brothers." He mumbled the other half but I definitely heard it. "Everybody starts somewhere," I put my legs down and against the table, giving myself a push towards the doorway, "your brothers happened to start with Geremy," the chair swerves to a wall and I jump off seconds before it collided. "you happen to start with me." Colourful vocabulary escapes his mouth which I couldn't help but smirk at. "C'mon, I have places to be."
JENNIFER/OO9 POV
"...and this is your barrel." I look at Jack and he nods his head. We were sitting on the floor as it was easier to lay the gun parts out due to the large space. I rest my elbow on my lap and place my chin in my hand, I observed his features. He had bright green eyes and straight black hair that parts at a side. His fringe was long enough to cover his eyes, I have noticed how he constantly flips it to the side. He noticed me staring and immediately looked away when we made eye contact. He's a shy one, I couldn't help but feel amused.
"Let's test your aiming." I heaved myself up and made my way towards the control panel. I pushed a button and paper targets shot out of the wall across from us. "Let's begin lesson 2." I pull on my gloves and tightened my belts. Twirling Kuro and Shiro by their triggers I stood in front of Jack. "I'll give you 3 minutes, show me what you can do."
IRIS/PHANTOM POV
I watch as James grumbles under his breath, I had left him with the counter girl in the lobby. I even instructed her not to let him in. He huffs as he continues watching patients move in and out of the medical care floor. I turn my back to him and made my way to the room. When I entered I saw the doctor on the computer and the nurses were changing their bandages.
"How are they?" I approach the doctor and she looks up. She quickly flips through the clipboard that was sitting beside her keyboard. "Both aren't in danger, in fact, no vital organs are hurt." She adjusts her glasses, "Tricia woke up about two hours ago and if nothing else she can actually be discharged tonight. Her injuries aren't severe besides the fact she'll get some faint scars from the knife slashes. Her other injury sported from hitting her head too hard when she landed on the floor. No bump, headache or brain concussion." That caught my attention, "Landed on the floor...or was forced onto the floor?" I mumble.
"Katherine is slowly healing from the bullet wound. We managed to remove it in surgery and we've put her in a medically induced coma for now to reduce her pain. She should wake up in about 3 days. I'll give you her prescribed medicine so you make sure she takes it when y'all are at home okay?." I nod my head and she continues her work. I make my way towards Tricia's bed and sat down on the edge. "How are you feeling?" She props herself into a sitting position.
"Like shit and I'm extremely bored. Though I do feel well-rested thanks to the sle-" All of a sudden she leans towards me. "What?" She gives me a look, "Did you get any sleep? After the mission?" I open my mouth to answer but she doesn't let me. "You didn't. Why do you always do this to yourself?"
I look down at my hands, looking at the scars. "I'm used to it." My voice coming out softer than I anticipated. Before she can say anything else I quickly change the subject, "The doctor says you can be discharged tonight if you look well." She fakes a look of hurt, "But I am well! What is this accusation?" I chuckle, glad to have her back.
JAMES POV
I unconsciously sit up straighter as I see her exit the room. "You're getting another teacher." Was the first thing she said. "What?" Confusion spreads itself onto my face. "I'm going to be away for a while." She takes the seat beside me, crossing her legs and showing her usual commanding demeanour.
"While I'm gone, Trixie will teach you the basics on how to use swords. I'll be back in time to teach you how to throw and slash." She turns to meet my eyes, I stare back, not heeling. But now that I was up close to her, I could see her eyes weren't shining like how a normal person would've.
"Come back here by yourself at 8 pm, I've already made necessary preparations. This is my card." She hands me a plastic white card with her codename calligraphed on it. "Use it when you know you need it." I felt my will wavering, I wanted-no, needed to know where she was going to. "Where are you going?" I ask, hesitance clear in my voice. Her expression doesn't change and what she says makes my heart sink for a reason unknown to me. "You don't need to know."
---
I lie on the bed, staring at the sword she left me with. It had a black case with gold swirl patterns all over it. The sword itself was gleaming no matter the direction I turned it in, its handle black with a gold ribbon tied at the end. It had a good weight to it too, at the very base of the sword was a black engraving and it popped from the rest of the metal. 'Puissance'
I heard the door open and I immediately sat up, sword on my lap. Jacob and Jack walks in, looking exhausted. "How was training?" I ask, feeling almost jealous, almost. "It was tough, I think my fingers are cramping. My right shoulder, elbow and wrist are sore." Jacob groans as he falls onto the bed, sighing contentedly at the comfort. I look at Jack, "How bout you?" Anyone could tell that the expression on his face was sore, his whole body aura was. He sits beside me and rests his head in his hands. "Bad huh?" I rub circles on his back.
He then glances at the sword in my lap and makes eye contact with me. "Oh, this? I'm going out soon, to train." Jacob sits up, "That explains why you weren't at practice with us. You were off with their leader doing...doing what?" He cocks his head at me. "I...have no idea actually. But she said she was going to be away for a while. She left me with the other sword user, Trixie. But here's the thing," The two lean in as if I was sharing a big secret. "She told me to go to the medical care floor by myself at 8 pm. And," I pull out the card from my pocket for them to see. "she left me with her card. I'll know when to use it she said."
Jacob and Jack shared a look, a look I don't understand which is abnormal since we're triplets. "What?" They look back at me, "Weren't you listening at the beginning?" I raise my brow. "Her other two members were hospitalised, you're training with the one that's being released today." I blink twice, realisation hitting me. "WHAT?!"
---
Soon it was 7:45 pm, I gave byes to my brothers and left the room. I haven't seen my dad at all today, I was still having mixed feelings on how he had treated us. I waited for the lift and was about to step in when Takahiro stepped out. "Good timing, I was about to look for you." He pulls me into the lift and we took it to the medical care floor.
"These are her clothes and this is one of her weapons, she'll know where her favourite one is." He passes me a yellow bag labelled 'Biomedical Waste' and a metallic navy blue briefcase. "You hold on to the briefcase and pass the bag to the counter." We reach the floor and before I could answer, he pushed me out and I turn in time to see him waving as the doors shut close.
I click my tongue in annoyance and made my way to the counter. The counter girl looks up when I approach, "Er hi. I'm here for Trixie, Miss..?" As I put the yellow bag on the counter, I read her name tag. "Karie?" Karie smiles at me, "Please scan your card here." She places what looks like a debit card touch-and-go scanner. I take out Phantom's card and placed it on the scanner. "Please wait here." She takes the bag and disappears into the same room Phantom had gone in yesterday. She comes out later and resumes her duty. It might've been just me but I could feel an awkward tension.
"So, Karie," I started and she looks up, "How long have you been working here?" She puts on a smile, "About 5 years I guess, I was the caretaker for the Night Reaperz but now they're all grown up. They don't need me looking at them every second anymore." She laughs, "Ed doesn't seem to think so." I was about to say something else but I was interrupted by the one and only. "My ride here yet?" I turn to see a familiar face. "Mr James here will be taking you." Karie replies.
Her eyes flickered to me and she looks me up and down before sighing, "So she did take my advice then." She mumbles. I hold up the briefcase for her and she takes it, placing it on the table and turning in the key combination which she covers from me. She clicks it open and I see a G36C sitting in its hold with several different parts also in the holds. She inspects it before closing it shut. "I thought you were a sword user?" She smirks at me, "I am. I'm a versatile user like Phantom."She hauls the briefcase off the table and walks with it.
She turns back and stares at me, "What are you waiting for? An invitation?" She walks off again so I quickly greeted bye to Karie and followed Trixie into the lift.
We take the lift down to the training basements. "Show me what she gave you." She extends her hand for the sword. I undo the belt holder and passed her the whole set of items. She takes out the sword in one swing and the sound of metal echoes in the small space. "Puissance huh? This one was a gift from a French swordsman we know."
I felt my eyes getting as big as the moon, "Is it really okay for someone like me to use this?" I was alarmed and suddenly very cautious of the sword. "Don't be stupid," She sheathes the sword and the words made my heart sank a little, I expected an "Of course not." but what she really said next surprised me, "it's because it's you."
Before I could ask her what she meant and why, she walked out of the lift and that's when I realised we reached. She hands me back the set and I do the belt again. She walks to the centre of the empty metal room. There was a control panel and she pressed a few buttons. Wooden mannequins appear out of the walls and started sliding left and right.
"I may not be Phantom but I can train you the way she trained herself in the early days." She smiles and her eyes looked like they were in the far distance. She was looking back on their past. "Okay, enough chitchat. Let's work on you."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
OMG GUYS OMG!!!! When I was writing this chapter I wondered about the timeline. I reread my book and o mai freaking god its been only 4 days. Day 1 is when Vince/Flame came and many chapters later to now, ITS BEEN ONLY DAY 4. I WROTE SO MANY CHAPTERS AND ARRRGGGGHH.
I need to think about this story more thoroughly. Notes and charts and mindmaps. God, why did I not keep this story in check?
Did you enjoy this chapter? I had writers' block for super long :( which delayed it more than I would've wanted, though I always update late haha. I'm quite sure it's obvious but I'm showing more of Iris/Phantom's POV because I want the current storyline to focus on her. Like her duties and responsibilities of being the leader and the things she does for those precious to her.
P.S I will be updating this even slower unfortunately due to my exams. I will put in filler chapters if you guys want me to.
P.P.S Again I no check so thorough so hmu :P