Fan Fiction ❯ Cupid's Mistake ❯ Chapter One: Him. ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter One: Him

The alarm clock on his nightstand buzzed at exactly noon.

"Crap," He muttered, flipping over in bed and blindly slapping the nightstand in random places until he hit the off button on the clock. "Stupid snooze." Pushing the covers off of his face, he slowly sat up, squinting angrily at the sunlit room.

Stupid snooze, stupid sun, stupid work, stupid everything.

With a groan, he pushed himself into a standing position, stretching and yawning, muscles stretching and contracting again, giving him the appearance of a very efficient, well-oiled person. Which he was not.

His answering machine blinked with forty-yes, forty-new messages, and he gave it a look of distaste before pressing the button to play them all. They were mostly short, to the point.

"Dante? Are you coming to work today?"

"Dante. Come to work."

"Or else."

Or else what? Dante thought, smiling as he ran a hand through his dark hair.

"-You get fired."

Yeah right.

"Dante? Pick up!"

"Dante? DanteDanteDante?"

His name became a swirling vortex of unintelligible sound, and he merely deleted the rest of the messages. There might have been one odd important one in there, but if it was so important, they would find him and tell him in person, right?

Dante shrugged, pulling a clean T-Shirt over his head and making his bed neatly. Unlike most guys, he liked to come home to a neat apartment-there was no womanly touch in the place, but you could never tell. Sure, he was getting to that age where he should have been in several long term relationships by then, but surprisingly, he hadn't. In fact, his longest relationship had spanned over the period of one week, and even by the middle of it he was getting tired of being tied down to one girl. There were so many, he figured, why not try them all? Relationships, in his point of view, were a waste of time.

He dragged himself to the kitchen and stuffed a bagel into his faulty toaster, making a cup of coffee and pulling himself up onto his counter, yawning again. Reaching for the newspaper, he propped his feet up on the back of a chair and began to read, amber eyes scanning over the front page quickly. And then, finding nothing to his interest, he flopped it down on the kitchen table and finished off his coffee, grabbing his car keys and throwing on a pair of work shoes.

More messages were in the process of being left on his answering machine, and he gave it yet another displeased look, laughing as he strode out of the door.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Keep your pants on!" He called behind him at the little electronic, closing the door and locking it behind him.

^^^

The drive to work was slow, uneventful, and more than once Dante found his mind wandering, from lunch to work to some random thought about the date he had that night.

Someone honked at him from behind, and he flickered a glance up at the rearview mirror, giving the person a wry smile.

"Honk honk to you too, meh." He muttered, and pulled off the highway, following a snaking exit which spit him directly into the center of the city.

And he drove in random patterns for a minute, just enjoying the scenery, ignoring his whiny cell phone tone and smiling pleasantly at passerby. Especially the female ones.

And that's when he saw her for the first time.

"Hey-whoa." He muttered to himself, slowing down as he drove by, eyes trained on her face. She, of course, was not aware of him. She seemed very much absorbed in the water bottle she held in her long, graceful fingers, twirling it around and around between them before suddenly dropping it into a trash can. As her arms moved back to their former positions at her sides, he noticed the letters "ESR" on her sleeves in white, and cursed. ESRecon agent, was what she probably was-he could tell by the smooth way she did everything, the efficient way, the way with the least number of movements possible. And if not that, then the outfit was definitely an agent's outfit. What was it with female ESRecon agents and those short skirts and boots, anyhow?, he wondered.

"At any rate," he shrugged, picking up speed again. "you're an ESRecon chick, and I'm a Swiper. So no matter how good looking you are, I can't be tempted…pity."

Swipers and ESRecon agents. An ongoing feud. Swipers weren't necessarily bad, (Dante's boss didn't like to call what his organization did stealing-it was more like borrowing and never returning, he said.), but ESRecon was constantly having problems with them, and there was always some battle to fight somewhere.

Recently, though, the Swipers had gone underground, and this had forced ESRecon into a false sense of security. But no one was secure ever, really. The Swipers were just biding their time.

And Dante was the top-notch Swiper agent-best of the best, elite, untouchable. He was offered a high ranking agent job at ESRecon, but he refused it, taking the Swiper uniform instead. It offered a higher pay, he had contented himself with later, when he had been somewhat thinking about regretting his decision. And he needed all the cash he could get-his mother was ill, his father had left the family a long time ago, he had two little sisters to provide for. So no, he wasn't superficial. He was actually a caring sorta guy. Well, when he wasn't busy caring about himself, that was.

~*~*~

"Okay. Finally I get you in here," His boss sighed as Dante strolled amiably into the room, grinned, and flopped down in a cushy armchair.

"You know I'm hard to wake up."

"Yeah, whatever. Listen, I've got a new mission for you. I think you'll like it, it's right up your alley."

"My alley could use a fresh coat of paint and some new trash cans," Dante said, leaning back in his chair, watching the man before him attentively. "'Kay. What is it?"

"Infiltration! A while back, we had several top agents steal the Janai crystal from the Harape festival, we were commissioned to deliver it to a rival band of natives. This rival band was the enemy of the Sha'enwa tribe, which usually worshipped the crystal during the days of the year when it was not used for the festival. The rivals hoped to use it as a sort of ransom, or as a beacon to guide them into battle. However, what we did was obviously illegal, and ESRecon got wind of it. They're sending their best agent down to retrieve the crystal, and I want to send you down there too. To get the crystal hopefully before ESRecon."

"And…isn't that a bit stupid? I mean, all they have to do is plant a trap for me. They'll know I'm out there."

"Exactly-which is where the infiltration bit comes in. I've already got a man stationed inside ESRecon, and he's got a position for you as that one agent's partner."

"Who is the agent?"

"Her name is Artemis Cataline. She's the best of the best, just like you. You should get along fine. Cozy up to her a bit, pretend to be her friend, once you two get the crystal we can capture her."

"Oh gee. A chick." Snorted Dante, but he shrugged and accepted it. "What's so great about this crystal anyways?"

"Well, it was recently discovered that the bearer of the crystal receives immortality. Also, the crystal itself has amazing healing properties which can even bring the dead to life. I already have several very high-paying customers ready to bid away their entire fortunes for it."

"And what do I get out of this?"

"Half of all profi-"

"Sounds awesome. I'll go get my guns and stuff and…" Dante stood, already halfway out the door. His boss waved both hands, grinning.

"Woah there, skipper. You have to be at the main ESRecon building by three. Don't bring your guns. They'll equip you there. Play the ignorant idiot-that can't be too hard for you, can it?"

"I resent that."

"Resent away. Now get going."

Dante obliged, managing to slam the door a little as he left. Ignorant idiot, huh?…just because he runs everything, he thinks he can run everything, Dante mused, grinning at the stupid little pun which would have made no obvious sense to any of his colleagues.

He shook his head and pushed out through the heavy oak doors of the main building, pulling his coat tighter around himself and flipping the collar up to protect against the sudden, biting, cold wind.

He flopped uncertainly into the front seat of his car, fumbling about under the floor mat for the keys. Finding them, he stuck them into the ignition and closed his car door, but did not start the vehicle itself.

Wonder what this is going to lead me into…

Dante was very surprised to find himself hesitating. This had never happened before, this hesitation. It seemed to come from deep inside, warning him somehow-

No. I'm one of the best. I'll take anything that comes my way. Reassurance came cheap, and courage was bought for a penny in his line of work. He shrugged and started his Mercedes, and soon was on his way again.

To what…who knew?