Fan Fiction ❯ Red Scarlet ❯ Roses ( Chapter 1 )

Red Scarlet

Episode 1- Roses

Seen: A dark smoke filled room. A bud of a dieing cigarette is smoldering in the ashtray on a cluttered office desk. A stream of smoke came from behind the leather chair turned away from the door. The fading letters of "In_est_gat__e Re__ter" on the glass of the door was written over with smeared red paint "Mercenary for Hire".

Enter a shadowy woman figure though the door.

Woman: "Are you the one we have been looking for?"

Her voice was soft and alluring. Or could that just be the effect of the dream?

Real Seen: The sub-way brakes screech in the background. The crowd on board kept to themselves. The newspaper dates say it is October 1, 2012.

A new woman raised her eyes and looked through the crowd. Her hair was jet black, as was her clothing. She was pail, but her red lips contrasted with her attire, as did her eyes. They were yellow, bright and showed of the horrors they seen.

Four men in black suits entered through the far door of the cart.

The woman's yellow eyes darted quickly in their direction.

The two men that entered first removed .45's from their coat and started shooting.

The crowd screamed, some shot: wounded or dead, the others tried to push through the far door into the next cart.

With blinding speed the woman un-sheathed a katana from under her cloak and reflected some of the bullets aside. She pulled the brake cord, sending the sub to a halt. She jumped out of the broken window and ran down the tunnel.

The men forced one of the doors open and started to pursue her.

From one of the carts she darted out at them and slashed one of the men in two. With the momentum she built up she sliced another's head off his shoulders.

Another started shooting; the last one removed his gun from his coat and joined in.

Once more she reflected the bullets. Gaining ground on one of them she sliced the gun then his throat.

The last one ran, escaping as quickly as he could, but was rewarded with a sword through his chest.

Man (dieing): "Sca-Scarlet."

She re-sheathed her sword and vanished in the shadows of the tunnels.

October 1, 2012

*

Seen: A crowded nightclub in the slums of Neo City. Scarlet was sitting at a table by herself, slowly drawing on a cigarette and nursing a Bud.

A young looking man, covered with body piercing and tattoos, sits at the empty chair across from her. His hair was died green, but the dark-roots of his original hair color showed. He dressed in black; much in the same fashion Scarlet wore. He gave her a smile, flashing his sharp teeth.

Man (sarcastically): "So Scarlet, what brings you here?"

Scarlet: "Cut the short talk, Clayton."

Clayton raised his hands in the air in surrender.

Clayton: "Fine by me, then."

Scarlet: "What do you have for me?"

Clayton (lowering his voice): "You better appreciate the hell I had to go through to get this, man."

Scarlet (flatly): "Spill it."

Clayton: "It's in the back. I had to get it off the old fucker the hard way. He wouldn't give it up. Killed five of my best guys to do it too."

Scarlet: "Bring it here."

Clayton: "I can't. Not here."

Scarlet (snapped): "Why not?"

Clayton: "His forces are trying to get it back, Scarlet. Too dangerous for even you to get the sword."

Scarlet: "Take me to it then."

Clayton: "I wish I could, buddy, but I can't do that either."

Scarlet (snapped): "You liar!"

Scarlet reached over the table, grabbing the collar of his shirt, and pulled him over the table.

Scarlet: "You bring me that sword and I will go easy on you."

Clayton: "Alright! Alright!"

Scarlet let him go.

Clayton straitened up and nodded towards the back exit across the room. Once there he pulled the curtain aside.

Clayton: "Ladies first."

Scarlet (narrowing her eyes): "Then enter, Pansy."

Clayton sighed and went in.

Scarlet soon followed.

Seen: The room was black lighted. Many glow-in-the-dark stars hung on the walls and neon posters on the slanted roof. A few people were having an orgy on the large pillow mat on the floor. Some others were sitting around a bong slowly getting high.

Scarlet put her cigarette out on the closest wall and followed Clayton to another curtain next to the mat.

Seen: This room was a storage room. Crates were stacked onto each other and there were several rows of them. The room was about the size of the average school gym. The roof was pain glass that was painted over with black. Florescent lights hung from the upper tear, where marijuana plants grew.

Clayton moved aside to one of the rows of crates. The one he stopped by, the lid was ajar. He pushed it over, showing that there was something hidden between that crate and the one next to it. He reached in and pulled out a box.

The box was about five-feet long, by six-inches width, by four-inches height. It was a hinged box.

He unfastened the sides and opened it.

Inside was the sword. The blade wrapped in a red silk scarf, the handle was about a foot of its length. The handle was weaved with gold and silver, the hilt looked like a silver dragon that spit out the blade.

Clayton (closing the box): "How much are you willing to pay for it?"

Scarlet: "Nothing."

Clayton: "Yah right, this isn't coming cheap missy."

Scarlet: "This isn't the real one, you fool!"

Clayton: "A fake? You got to be joking. This is the real one!"

Scarlet: "The handle is poorly crafted! That's steel, not gold. There is no magic in that sword!"

Clayton: "You Bitch! Are you fucking stupid?"

Scarlet struck Clayton in the chest, fast and hard.

Clayton grabbed at his chest, dropping the box on the floor.

The box busted open and the sword rolled out onto the ground.

With lighting moves Scarlet snatched the sword up and in a single leap jumped up onto the upper tear, knocking over a patch of weed. With a second jump, she crashed through the glass and slid down the roof. She vanished into the night.

September 27, 2012

*

Seen: A run-down building. Everything was burnt. The remains of an old desk and a few chairs remained. The door was chard, the glass was smashed out and scattered on the floor, each piece black and brittle.

Scarlet walked among the ruins. Her hair was cut short, and she only dressed in a white button down shirt, and a pair of loafers that are too big for her small feet.

She emptied out the contents of the front pocket of the shirt onto the burnt desk. All that was in there was a pack of cigarettes, a pocketknife, keys, and an old business card. She turned the card over. There was a phone number. It wasn't the number of the guy whose name was on the card though.

She turned the card back over and read: "Layton, William J. 1-(345)-***-3246. Neo City. Private Investigator."

She returned the contents back into the pockets and started to pry open a drawer of the incinerated desk. She took the knife back out and slid it into the crack by the lock and pushed it back. With a snap it let loose, the door opened but the broken bit of the knife slashed the palm of her hand.

Ignoring the pain she sifted through the remains: melted answering machine tapes, broken mini-disks, burnt papers, melted pins, paper clips, and an old wrecked tape recorder.

She kicked the door back shut and screamed. She bent over the desk and cried.

December 14, 2008

*

Seen: A different office. A fireplace was to the far right. There were several bodyguards in the room. A heavy man filled up the expensive leather chair behind the even more expensive slate desk. The man wore a black pin striped suit, with a dark blue tie. His hair was slicked back and a cigar hung from his mouth. His fat fingers were covered in many gold rings. Before him on the table was a file, and a gun.

Scarlet stood before the desk, her black cape covering most of her body. Her yellow eyes stayed fixed on the large man behind the desk.

Fat man: "You have done us well, Scarlet."

Scarlet: "It is what you have paid me for."

Fat man: "Very well. As we speak, the sum of 7.5 million credits is being transferred into your account for your job well done. You have brought us the true Shallyn Sword and the traitor Gunter Clayton has been exposed of."

Scarlet (bowing): "It was only doing my job."

Fat man: "As to these hooligans that tried to take it from you earlier, I promise you that I have my best sources look into it as soon as possible."

Scarlet: "I would appreciate that very much, Cashus."

Cashus (fat man): "Think nothing of it. Consider it a reimbursement from when I couldn't pay you the full sum a while back."

Scarlet: "As you wish."

She turned and exited the room.

October 4, 2012

*

Seen: The balcony window was open, the cold, fall city-winds blew into the 20th floor apartment. The sound of the cars below echoed into the room. Scarlet laid in the dark on the white-sheeted bed, staring at the slowly turning fan on the ceiling. The clock on the bed-stand ticked away. It was 1:03 AM. On the stand next to the clock, a picture: it was of a guy and a woman, which was not her, kissing. The picture showed it was taken in the spring, under a tree.

Scarlet stood, picking up the picture and looking at it, her eyes sadly looking over the people in it. She returned the picture to the stand face down. She closed the window, locking it and removed her black clothing as she headed across the room into the master bath.

A Raspy Voice: "Scarlet."

Scarlet: "Hum?"

Voice: "Red Scarlet."

Scarlet (unenthusiastically): "Why do you persist in tormenting me, Wraith?"

A black, shadowy, completely robed figure appeared in the bathroom, standing on the ceiling above the bath. The robes shifted to look down/up at the woman.

Wraith: "Oh, is that how you are going to treat me?"

Scarlet: "Be gone!"

Wraith: "You don't even want me to tell you what I know?"

Scarlet gave the Wraith a cross look.

Scarlet: "Will you leave then?"

The robes nodded.

Wraith: "Of course."

Scarlet (sighed): "Go ahead then."

Wraith: "Apparently those people you wished for a back ground on came up negative. Even through the underground sources. It is as if they never existed. Those men that attacked you last week were actually constructs."

Scarlet sat up in the tub.

Scarlet: "Constructs?"

Wraith: "Not real, or created from other then natural sources."

Scarlet: "Just perfect. Any idea on who created them?"

Wraith: "Some. Does the name `General Technology Industries' ring a bell?"

Scarlet: "Genitech! Who hasn't? Those bastards."

Wraith: "It is only rumored, but it isn't widely accepted among those of the underground."

Scarlet: "Any other `rumors' running around the `ground?"

Wraith: "Would you believe `Witches'?"

Scarlet: "No."

Wraith: "Then no."

Wraith exists up through the ceiling. Scarlet sinks back down in to her bath.

October 6, 2012.