Lies in Deceptive Shadows

[Amara<3]

Keera couldn't believe it. Darryl was the guy they were after? Good luck getting him, she thought. There was something wrong with this situation, though, and she needed to find and warn Darryl about it. If they found him, there was going to be a lot of problems.

"We're sure he's here in Japan?" Keera asked, looking up from her dossier. "Just because we don't want to waste our time looking for someone who might not, in fact, be here at all."


"Umm, okay," Sora whispered, humming and frowning as she looked at the bounty hunter. "Have you used a map like this before? It's so detailed with things I really don't understand."


"Chrissy?!" Lina yelled. "What the hell are you doing here? Upside down... like... what are you? What is this all about?!"


The future Keera was roaming the city trying to figure some things out that she hadn't been able to before. Why was she such an important vessel to this hell world? Why couldn't they leave Darryl alone since they had her?

[skyacezero]

"Oh, you mean this?" Chrissy said floating rightside-up and held her mask up. "I had a little makeover since your friend Dandridge wrecked my life, you like?" she said as her wings spread in full.

"Of course I can read maps like this," the bounty hunter said as she looked over it. "These days emissaries tend to stay more up-to-date...." she trailed off. "Ah, Shinjuku is right here, which puts us in the same place," she put her finger on the map and traced it over to another point on the map. "And Hiroshima is here, so you're looking at about a six hundred and six kilometer trip," she said. "That's fouty-five miles, Darryl," she quickly added.
"Are you-?!" Darryl took a look, bewildered. "How does Lucifer expect us to cover that much ground before nighfall?!" he asked out loud.

[Amara<3]

((Alright, Ace. Things are coming back to me slowly here, I may need some help in remembering some of the other stuff before page 18, haha. I do remember something going on with Kaori, and that Keera is like a double agent but not by choice. So, a little help hinting at things through the story posts is good... unless I should go back in further because you need a refresh yourself lol. First, though, I don't remember if the future Keera showed herself to everyone or is hidden still. I may just need to go back a bit more lol, because I also don't remember what I was doing with Lina. So for this post, I'm not doing too much, I guess.))

"Darryl, Keera can travel that fast, and most of our friends can, too. You as a human, Keera may need to carry you," Sora said. "Since daytime isn't so good for the other you. So we need to get Keera to find us, or we find her, very shortly." She looked at the bounty hunter. "Unless you can help without killing anyone?"

Keera walked out of the conference room, not even wondering if there was more to what the chief was saying. She'd lost focus on him and continued reading the file. Knowing these things would make deciding what to do with Darryl a lot easier on her. He was a threat to the world? She had been protecting a demon that was trying to destroy everything, while she claimed she was here to keep the planet safe. If she saved Darryl, she could be destroying the world. Then she shook her head, walking in to her office to sit down. She tuned in to the conference room and then another thought touched her - what if this was just something that someone made up to get him killed? She realized then, that she didn't the truth about any of this, and no one was going to give it to her. She needed to make a serious judgement call, before everyone died.

((Actually, new question - what is the plan with Darryl? Is he dead in the future where the future Keera came from? What is this going to look like to the future Keera, and what should she really be back for? Getting herself back to normal is a big thing, but maybe changing how things went to change the future would be a good strategy if we know what the future is like that she came from.))

[skyacezero]

((Okay, I'll PM you the details and I've been working on improving the story in your absence so there might be some changes from the original contents of the story.))

"I can help," the bounty hunter smiled. "And I can do so without killing anyone," she added and turned around. "I have a car nearby, wait here and I'll bring it around, my name is Hikari, by the way," she said as she walked away.

"Well a car would certainly be a big help," Darryl said and turned to Sora. "We need to find a way to contact everyone else, at the very least to let them know where to go,"

---

Kimura was looking over the file containing Darryl's information with a deep look on his face. "Something troubling you, sir?" Stick asked, noticing Kimura's look.

"Yeah, something just seems off about all this," Kimura said. "I mean look at this kid's offenses, there's no way a single teenager could do all that by himself, so either he's some kind of super agent, or there's something else going on that the CIA isn't telling us," Kimura said deductively.

Stick smiled and raised his brow "Your detective's intuition at work, sir?"

((Yes, Darryl is dead in the future that Future Keera came from. She was the one who killed him, though she didn't do it casually as she did start to have feelings for him. As a result of Darryl's death, Abaddon (Necrolon) died as well. Without Darryl and Abaddon to thwart him, Chernobog used Kaori to successfully coerce Keera into opening the Gates of Oblivion where his physical body was stored, and proceeded to overrun the Earth and began attacking the Heavens as well. As powerful as Future Keera is shown to be, she wasn't powerful enough to stop Chernobog. If you need more, you may want to read page 17 if you want more of a refresher in context.))

[Amara<3]

((Right, I figured if I went back at least one more page I'd get a better hold on what exactly was going on, I'll do that in a bit. I figured if Future Keera was here, something bad happened that she needed to change. In the books I'm writing, Keera becomes like a God in the end, but is released by the one who made her into a god to battle a great demon, except in my version she wins, and takes all the demons left on Earth to her father's home dimension and never looks back on Earth again, as it's caused so much pain for her and the rest of the demons. Which leads to Earth now as we know it, no demons in the way we play them here.))

Sora nodded to Hikari's back. "Nice to meet you, Hikari." She looked at Darryl and contemplated for a moment. "Can you go with her? I can round up everyone else and make it there around the same time as you, if not sooner. You know, it's too bad we are all girls, that word he used made it sound like a bad thing. Maybe I'll get a hair cut and wear men's clothes," she laughed and looked around for this car that Hikari was supposed to drive Darryl in. "Do you trust her?"

---------------------------------------------------------

Keera stood mid-growled, slammed her fists on her desk and knew this was it. She couldn't keep this facade up of being a police officer and fighting this great threat. She didn't have the time to slit between the two. She'd already wasted too much in this building. She walked up to the chief and handed back the dossier. "I need to take some personal time, Chief. I'm sorry to do it at this crucial moment, Sir, but I've been under a lot of outside pressures lately and have been having a hard time focusing on keeping my mind on the job. I'll need a week or two to get things together." She hated doing it this way, making herself look mentally incapable of doing things, but without her sister, knowing that her sister only came here to find her and is now gone as a bargaining chip... she was going to destroy herself getting her sister back.

((Is there a possible way to have Future Keera change this all by not letting now-Keera kill Darryl? Even if it means not bringing Kaori back home, and maybe entering the Gates of Oblivion to make sure she can keep it shut and spend forever fighting everyone in there. Lol.))

[skyacezero]

"Yeah, I can go with her while you get everyone together," Darryl nodded. His brow furrowed at Sora's question of trusting Hikari. "Considering she was trying to kill me not too long ago, not really," he said as a car pulled up with the window down. "On the other hand, I don't really have a choice at the moment given the circumstances," he said as he walked to the door. He was about to open the door when he noticed Hikari was occupying the seat. "How are driving from the pasenger's..." he started but realized the driver's side was on the right of the car instead of the left.

Hikari raised a brow at Darryl. "Oh, a different vehicle design is the strangest thing you've seen all day?" she said with mild amusement.

"No it's just...nevermind," Darryl said and slid across the hood to the passenger side, earning an annoyed moan from Hikari. "What?" he asked as he buckled his seatbelt.

"Walk around next time," Hikari said as she put the car in drive.

"Oh and Sora! All of you being girls isn't a bad thing!" Darryl said as the car pulled away.

"Nice one, Casanova," Hikari scoffed humorously. "Real foot-in-mouth,".

---

"Oh, yes, if you have too many personal problems at the moment, best you take some time to collect yourself," Chief Nasaki said. "In a situation like this, we'll need everyone at a hundred percent," he finished. "Though I have to ask for bureaucracy reasons, under what will you be filing your personal time as, health, family, or....ahem...maternity?" he asked, hesitating at the last reason.

((Actually, Future Keera gives Present Keera the idea to go back to Hell and check the dungeon, something Future Keera didn't do and will ultimately answer Keera's internal question of whether or not Keera can trust Darryl.))

[Amara<3]

Sora just watched the car sped away, smiling and rolling her eyes at Darryl, and having heard Hikari she laughed. He was right, of course, but she wasn't going to settle down with someone from this era. She had full plans of going back home, and finding someone she formerly loved as a child. Darryl was cute, but not enough to keep from her home in hopes that he might actually love her. He helped her because he cared, the same way the rest of the girls helped him, although Keera seemed to work pretty well with him...

She shook her head. She needed to find the girls, and she needed to find them now. She knew where Keera would be, and maybe if she knew that, the others would, too. She decided to head there, because even if the others weren't there, Keera would be a second person to help round them up or at least get them headed in the right direction.

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Keera nearly choked at the last reason to be taking off from the department. Surely he only had to ask out of politeness, but she said only a couple weeks. Maternity would mean over a year off the force. She hoped to return much before then. Though she did need to decide what exactly she would put in her paperwork. She could put either health or family and it would actually work, but for health she would need to see doctors or have seen some already. She couldn't do that. "It's a little of both health and family, sir. A few family members I haven't seen in a very long time have come back into my life, and I've come to find my sister has gone missing in another state of Japan out of this jurisdiction and I need to go help find her. Aside from that, I haven't been physically feeling one hundred percent and I intend to seek professional help while I'm away to find out of it is mental or physical, though I am sure it is not a maternal matter, Chief."

Sora stopped outside Keera's police station building and wondered if she should go in, or just wait to see if Keera would come out... or if any of the other girls thought of doing the same thing.

[skyacezero]

Darryl was looking out the window watching the city move by. The silence between him and Hikari began to get awkward, so he decided to break it. "So after the hearing thing, does this mean you're not going to kill me anymore?" he asked.

"The Gods made it clear that you're allowed to exist, so, no I won't try to kill you," Hikari said, not taking her eyes off the road.

"So, if I'm in the clear, how come you're still showing up?" Darryl asked.

Hikari though for a second. "Well....think of me as a kind of...." she racked her brain for a proper analogy. "A kind of....divine supervisor," she said.

Supervisor... Darryl thought with a hint of amusement. If she was keeping an eye on him, that sent him the message that the Gods still didn't fully trust him. Of course, they did say they didn't trust humans, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise that they would need someone keeping an eye on him. "I just hope we gt there soon, I can't let Marci down, too," Darryl said, earning a slight look of sympathy from Hikari, though he didn't notice.

---

"I apologize, I just had to hear it directly from you," the Chief said as he filled out a form in front of him and turned it right-side up to Keera. "Sign here and I'll see that it gets processed," he finished.

[Amara<3]

Keera nodded, signing her name on the bottom of the page. She smiled softly at her chief and stood back up. "I'll let you know when I plan on coming back, but it shouldn't be more than a couple weeks, Chief. I don't like being away from work."

On her way out, she saw Sora from the corner of her eye. She'd been with Darryl when they were separated, something must have happened.

"Keera!" Sora nearly yelled once she laid eyes on the officer version of Keera. "We have to get the others and go right now! We have to-"

"Sora, stop," Keera said quietly. "Where do we have to go, first?"

"Oh, Hiroshima Peace Park... or something like that. We have to go now! We only have until night fall!" Sora stared at Keera expectantly. "Darryl is already headed there, with that angel... girl... her name is Hikari."

"Good to know," Keera nodded. "Okay, Hiroshima is in that direction. I'll tell the others and we'll head there now." Shadows seemed to move inside the shadows of the buildings and several dark spots moved away from them. As they got far enough away from Keera, they morphed into her to tell the others where to go and what to do. "Get in the car," Keera nodded toward a black undercover police car. "It's mine until the end of the day, anyway."

[skyacezero]

Night started to fall as Darryl and Hikari's car had finally arrived at their destination. They both got out and shut the doors. "So, I guess now we wait for everyone else," Darryl thought out loud. Darryl took in the surroundings, until he noticed a shadowy figure in the distance rapidly retreat as soon as Darryl looked at it. "Head's up, they know we're here," Darryl said to Hikari.

"Good," Hikari said and promptly assumed her Angel Form. "Which Demon Lord is here, the one who has your friend?" she asked.

"It's Lucifer," Darryl said, earning and intriuged hum from Hikari. "You know this isn't your fight, you don't have to stay," he said.

"Actually, it sort of is," Hikari said with a slight determination. "Lucifer was once one of us, and as a member of the Fourth Order, it's part of my duty to combat demons and other malicious supernatural entities," she explained. "Oh, present company excluded, of course," she quickly added.

---

Chrissy landed in front of Lucifer and took a bowing knee. "Lord Lucifer, Dandridge just showed up," she informed him.

"Ah, and not a moment too soon..." Lucifer said, looking at the small, orange horizon.

"There's more, he was with a woman, and Angel, from the looks of it," Chrissy added.

Lucifer raised a brow. "An Angel, huh?" he said. "You know it's been awhile since I tangled with one of my former partners, what do you say we go and greet them?" he walked away while Chrissy got to her feet and approached the bubble holing Marcelina.

"Now you be good bait and wait right here, I'll be back with our old friend's head," Chrissy smiled, donning her Avatar mask and leaving with Lucifer.

[Amara<3]

Keera’s car sped into view a few minutes after Hikari and Darryl arrived. She’d been speeding, but in a police car, no one wondered anything. Not around there. Keera stopped the car in an alley, and her and Sora got out and moved quickly toward Darryl and Hikari. By now, Keera was out of uniform and in complete white and pale blue attire, her police issue gun also missing. She looked at Darryl before deciding what to say. The records said he was a threat to the entire world. She knew how they found him. Satellite cameras were all over. “You need to keep your face hidden,” she said, in an almost cold tone. “The United States managed to find you here. Don’t look up… and put a hood or something on.”

“Keera?” Sora asked, almost offended by her tone with Darryl. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” she said and shook her head. “I’m just not sure what I’m doing. What I’ve gotten my sister into. I don’t know how to fix this, or why I let it go this far to begin with.” It crossed her mind for a mere second to just kill Darryl and be done with it, but was that the right option?

“This isn’t your fault,” Sora said sternly. “And it’s not just up to you to figure this out. That’s why we’re all working on this together. Right, Darryl?”

As Sora spoke, Keera seemed to stare into space for a moment. She hadn’t ignored the things Darryl told her, but she had forgotten certain details. As she thought about the papers she read, she remembered Darryl telling her about how he got rid of the reaper before the one they dispatched together. Then it clicked. That was why he was a danger. He’d saved the world, but they weren’t looking at it that way.

She shook her head. "No, you're right. I'm being ridiculous. I just... had information that didn't make sense until I thought about it outside the office. Humans always assume the worst, even when you save them, they never look at it that way."

[skyacezero]

"Yeah, we do tend to set speed records for jumping to conclusions..." Darryl sighed, then noted her saying the United States found him and not to look up. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"She means you're wanted," Hikari said. "After almost exposing Sector Omega, they needed a scapegoat and put you on every watchlist in the western hemisphere," she explained, earning a 'my life is over' groan from Darryl. Shadows swirled Darryl momentarily and Necrolon appeared in his place.

"I'll take over from here," Necrolon said and approached Keera, Sora, and Hikari. "So how soon can we expect the others to show?" he asked.

[Amara<3]

"Well, they're all on their way here now," Keera said, watching Necrolon. "They won't be here at the same time, and they'll all be joining us at different times because they didn't leave together."

"But they knew Keera would find them," Sora smiled. Keera smiled at her.

"They did, so they didn't go too far. So hopefully," Keera said and paused for a moment. "If things heat up before they get here, we won't have the surprise element necessarily, but we won't exactly be ambushed all together. Unless Lucifer decides to wait until we're all here to begin whatever he's planning." She went silent and wondered what was up with Lamia, being silent herself for a while. She needed to remember that Lamia still had power, and she needed to figure out how to remove the insignia. That was also part of this. She hoped her sister was having a better time figuring out what to do on the other side. She hated not having communication with her.

[skyacezero]

"Unfortunately, you can never tell-" Necrolon started before he was cut off by spotlights lighting up nearby, accompanied by a rather annoying circus tune. A stage started rising out of the ground, with Lucifer on it, wearing a ringmaster's outfit. "Guess he's choosing to act now," Necrolon said.

"Come one, come all to the one-night-only event at the Hiroshima Peace Park!" Lucifer was saying into a megaphone. "Oh it seems all of our guests haven't arrived yet, so I guess they'll have it figure it out later" he continued.

Hikari had an unamused look on her face. "I'm almost glad to see he hasn't changed much," she deadpanned.

[Amara<3]

"Oh, an amusement park?" Sora asked, having seen a paper about one as she'd been walking earlier. This wasn't what she'd seen on the paper, but wodnered if that was what he was trying to imply. She remembered the ringmaster's outfit from the poster.

"A pretend one," Keera growled. "What is it you're doing now, Lucifer?"

((sorry this is short, not sure what else either of them should do at the moment.))