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Chapter 1: The New Job
The tunnel was
nearly empty, a couple people walking toward him, and one slumped on the ground
nearby, snoring. A tall man in a dark brown coat that nearly covered his dark
leather boots leaned against the wall, his long blonde hair tied back into a
ponytail. He was Calmar Orna, but he went under the alias Leon Shrike, he was a
freelance hunter that had taken a job for someone called Clint Miron, this
tunnel is where he was supposed to meet someone that would take him to his new
boss, but there was a problem, Calmar had waited more than an hour past the
scheduled time and nobody had shown up. Sighing, he began walking down the
tunnel, attempting to think of another way to make some quick cash, when someone
dashing down the narrow tunnel ran into him, knocking them both to the ground.
"Ohh... hey! Watch where you're going idiot!" The
person shouted, Calmar looked up, a girl with long brown hair, and a matching
pink shirt, shorts and shoes sat before him, how he missed her running at him
he'll never know. "Don't just sit there looking stupid! Aren't you going to
at least say you're sorry?!" she shouted at him.
Calmar stood up, his icy blue eyes giving her an even colder
look. "Me? You were the one that was running down the tunnel like a maniac,
watch where you're going next time!" he yelled.
"Why you- Ah! I don't have time for this!" she
panicked, looking at her watch. "I'm late for a meeting, Clint will kill me
if I don't get this guy!" she got to her feet and started to go past
Calmar, but he grabbed her by the shoulder. "What?! Let go you jerk!"
"You said Clint, did you mean Clint Miron? If that's who
you work for I'm the guy you're looking for." he asked, hoping to finally
get a job, even if only for a while.
"You? Prove it, what's the password?" she asked
He thought for a moment, "Password? I was never informed
of any password. All he told me to give you was my name, Leon Shrike."
"Hmph... fine, lets go." she said, turning around
and walking back the way she came "I'm Amy Leanna, I would say it's nice to
meet you but I'd be lying."
"I could say the same about you. Are all of Mr. Miron's
employees this polite?" Calmar inquired
"Not at all, one of them is down right rude."
The rest of the way they hardly spoke, Amy wondered why Clint
hired a jerk like this guy, and Calmar couldn't help wondering what kind of man
Clint was if he hired hunters like Amy. They arrived at a small building, if it
wasn't for the light in the window, Calmar would've thought it was abandoned.
"Mind your manners." Amy said coldly as she opened
the door and led him inside.
The interior of the building still looked run down, but it was
clearly not left to rot. A woman with short, bright red hair sat at a desk
across the room, going through some papers "Yes? How can we help you?"
she asked, not bothering to look up.
"It's me Maria." Amy said.
"Oh! Welcome back Amy." she said, finally looking up
at them "That means you're... Mr. Shrike?"
"Yeah." Calmar replied
"Good, Clint said to send you straight in when you
arrived. It's just over there." she gestured to a dusty wooden door to her
left. It opened just as she did, a man with long white hair and silver framed
glasses stepped through, his black suit made him look like a high class
businessman, not someone that worked in a decrepit old building, giving missions
to hunters.
Clint smiled, "Well, I thought I heard you Amy. Thank you
from bringing him, I hope she treated you well Mr. Shrike. Come in, I want to
talk to you about joining our humble guild."
As Calmar entered Clint's office, he heard Amy and Maria
whispering behind him, "Woo, what a hottie. How much muscle do you think is
under that coat Amy?" "Who cares? He may look nice but when he opens
his mouth he turns into a complete..." The door closed, leaving Calmar and
Clint in silence for a few moments.
"So." Clint began "You're the one? I expected
somebody taller. Oh well, it's quite an honor to meet you Calmar."
"Thank y-" Calmar froze, how did Clint know his real
name? He had gone by the alias Leon Shrike for over 7 years, was this man one of
THUG's agents?
"Ah... Don't look so worried. I'm not after you, I want
to hire you." Clint chuckled "It'll be our little secret, and I'll
call you Leon in front of the others, all right?"
Calmar didn't like this, but he wasn't given much of a choice.
"As long as the pay is decent, I'll work here." he said, glaring at
Clint.
"Pays as well as any other guild. I know you're worth
every credit, after reading about that little incident I can only hope the same
thing doesn't happen again."
"Nothing to worry about." Calmar said, reaching into
his coat and removing a katana "I've made sure it won't."
"I'll have to hope you're good with that blade as well
then." Clint laughed, tossing Calmar a large orange envelope. "That's
everything you need, welcome to my guild, Miron's Mercenaries. There's a meeting
in an hour, feel free to have a look around. I'm sure Maria or Amy will answer
any questions you might have. I have a few things to take care of, so see you in
a bit."
Calmar left the office, Maria was still sitting at the desk,
sorting through papers and Amy was nowhere in sight. "Excuse me." he
said, walking up to Maria, who jumped at his voice.
"Oh man, don't scare me like that!" she exclaimed
"Sorry, I was just wondering if you could show me
around."
"Oh, you got the job? That's great, we could use more
help around here! I'd love to show you the place but..." she glanced at the
pile of paper on the desk and sighed "I'm a bit overloaded at the moment.
Amy might show you around, but she didn't seem to like you very much. Go through
there," Maria gestured to the hallway on her right "Amy should be in
the training room, third door on your left, or is it right? I'm no good with
directions... there are only seven doors and they're all marked so you shouldn't
have any problems."
"Thanks miss...?"
"Oh!" Maria quickly stood, knocking a few papers to
the ground. "I'm sorry, I'm not used to introducing myself, my name is
Maria Zane."
"I'm Leon Shrike, nice to meet you."
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