Chapter 14

D and Stacy were on guard as James took a sip from his beer, finished it and tossed it to the side as it broke.

"James, it's been a while. How have you been?" Stacy asked.

"Who the hell are you?" James asked.

"It's me, Stacy. I was one of the other experiments." Said Stacy.

"Your white hair. Russo's girl, right?" James asked as his grip on the beam tightened.

"Take it easy, James. We're not here to fight." Said D.

"Who's this your bodyguard? Or maybe your boyfriend?" James asked.

"James, Mr. Welch sent me here to check on you." Said Stacy.

"As you can see, I'm fine. Not get out or I'll make you." Said James.

"Can we at least talk?" Stacy asked.

"No. I want to be alone. Now, get out!" Said James as he turned away from them.

"James, please—" Said Stacy.

But James hurled the beam at them like a spear as D pushed Stacy out of the way. D got hit as he was knocked into a pile of junk. Stacy looked at D as he had used his shadow to shroud himself in shadow armor. But he was hurt a little as James noticed his ability.

"That ability. I've seen it before." Said James.

"Don't do that again. Unless you want me to kick your ass." Said D.

"Tch, did I get you angry? Was it because I almost killed your friend?" Said James.

"Exactly." Said D as he walked over.

"D, don't fight him. He's really strong. And drunk." Said Stacy.

"James, stop!" Said a woman from above.

They all looked up as a woman floating above the three of them. She was dressed up as an aviator with a scarf, boots and goggles. She landed in between them as the wind blew, while facing D and Stacy.

"Who are you?" The woman asked as wind was whirling around her arms.

"Emilia? Is that really you?" Stacy asked as she approached her.

Emilia pulled up her goggles and saw Stacy and immediately recognized her. They both squeal and ran into each other hugging. D was confused at what was going on, while James walked up to a broken car and sat on it.

"Look you! I love your hair." Said Emilia.

"Thank you. But look at you! You can fly!" Said Stacy.

"Yeah, took me a while, but I learned to get better. And who's this tall drink of glass?" Emilia asked as she leaned to her side.

"You should know him. It's D." Said Stacy.

"D-D? I thought he was…" Said Emilia.

"He was. But not too long ago, me and some others saved him from Steiner and Russo. But he doesn't have his memories." Said Stacy.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, D. But let me introduce myself. The name's Emilia Wright. Nice meeting you again, D. Though, you don't remember me." Said Emilia as she saluted him.

"A pleasure, Emilia." Said D as he nodded and tilted his hat.

"Em, where's Mizuko? Did you leave her alone?" James asked.

"No, Jean-Pierre and Ghigau is with her. She's still mad about the argument." Said Emilia.

"Argument?" D asked.

"Yeah, believe it or not. Him and Mizuko are engaged." Said Emilia.

D and Stacy looked at James as he drinking from another bottle, until he noticed them.

"What?" James replied with attitude.

"Sorry, I just didn't expect you to be charming to any girl." Said Stacy.

"Hey, I'm charming damn it!" James replied.

"He has me convinced." D replied, sarcastically as Stacy and Emilia chuckled.

"Them's fighting wording words." Said James.

"Okay, enough. As much as I want to catch up. Can you take us to the others?" Stacy asked.

"Of course! But why?" Emilia asked.

"I plan on taking down Russo…once and for all." Said Stacy.

Meanwhile, at the Lazy Cat. Ray, the piano player of the band that plays there and Kimberly's boyfriend, was alone and saw that the place was taped and blocked off by the police.

"Officer? May I ask what happened here?" Ray asked.

"None of your business. If I were you, I'd keep moving." Said the officer.

"Tch, jerk ward." Ray murmured to himself.

"What was that?" The officer asked.

"Oh, nothing, officer." Ray replied with a nervous smile.

"It sounded like you said—" Said the officer as he approached Ray.

"Hey, serge! The guys need you." Said Carlos.

"Great, what is it?" The officer asked.

"Don't know. They didn't tell me. But they need you." Said Carlos.

"Good lord, I hate it when they do this. What the hell do you guys want?" The officer asked.

"Hey, pal, come with me. I know where they're at." Said Carlos to Ray.

It was moments later as they went around the corner and were at a sandwich shop. Carlos bought two sandwiches as Ray was sitting down on a nearby bench.

"Hungry? This place has the best sandwich in this district." Said Carlos.

"Y-Yeah. Thank you for the food. But you said you know where the gang is at? Are they okay? Do you know where they're at!?" Ray asked.

"Not too loud. Russo's men constantly have an ear out." Said Carlos as he started eating.

"Oh, sorry." Ray replied.

"Eat up. But they're here." Said Carlos as he handed him a flyer of the circus.

"Circus?" Ray asked, confused.

"Yeah, Bev gave me it and I was confused too. But you'll find them there." Said Carlos.

"Thanks, officer!" Said Ray, happily.

"No problem. You seem to care about them? Are you a part of the team?" Carlos asked.

"Oh, no. I'm actually Kim's boyfriend." Ray answered as he blushed, bashfully.

"Really!? You got yourself a cutie. How did that happen?" Carlos asked.

"Well, she's really pretty. She's very kind and considerate. Though, she's not the best at everything, she does her best to give it her all." Said Ray with loving smile.

"Yeah, that's Kim." Said Carlos.

"And we both have a lot in common. Both of our parents died not too long ago and we're both enhance. She too was kidnapped, experimented on and escaped. But what brought us both closer was our love for music. I play the piano. But she has the voice of a songbird. I could just listen to her for days. And I love it whenever she sits close to me and sings as I play." Said Ray.

"That's very sweet and cute." Said Carlos.

"Oh, sorry. I must have rambled your ear off." Said Ray.

"No, it's okay. I'm glad to hear Kim has good boyfriend. You better look after her. Or I'll have to find you and arrest you." Said Carlos.

"Uh…" Ray responded nervously.

"I'm kidding. I didn't mean it." Carlos replied with panic.

"Oh, phew! Okay. But again, thanks for the sandwich, um…I didn't get your name." Said Ray.

"Carlos." Said Carlos.

"Ray. And as in Carlos Gutierrez?" Ray asked.

"Yeah, why?" Carlos asked.

"Oh, nothing. Bev sometimes talks about you. I can see why. You're a good guy. See ya, officer!" Said Ray as he left.

"Huh, she talks about…" Said Carlos as he smile.

Meanwhile, we see Beverly walking back to the circus, until there were a couple of Russo's men were eyeing her. She quickly noticed as she took a turn in alleyway to get away. But she saw across the alley way and saw more men blocking her way. Beverly drew her gun out, but suddenly, her gun was magnetically pulled away from her. It flew over to a woman who had her hand out as she flipped the gun and grabbed it. She pointed Beverly's gun at her as Beverly got a good look at the woman as she recognized her from the notes she got of the files.

"Valentina Bianco…Steel Fist." Said Beverly.

Valentina approached Beverly and knocked her out in on hit as Beverly fell to the ground.

"Grab her and take her with us." Said Valentina as she walked passed her men and towards car.

"Yes, ma'am." Said one of the men.

They did as she said as they took Beverly into the same car and drove off. Stacy, D, Emilia and James arrive at an apartment complex. Stacy and D walked towards the entrance, but Emilia and James stopped them.

"Hey, guys. We live on the roof. So we take the side stairs." Said Emilia.

They went up the side stairs as there was a small shed like home. Emilia entered first as they saw a Japanese girl watching TV and hugging a cat. She had straight black hair, blue eyes and earrings that in the shape of water droplets. She looked sad as she had tea in front, while there was a young man cooking food as he looked shy and timid. He had black hair, brown eyes, wearing a beret, white shirt with gray pants and pants suspenders.

"Hey, where's Jean-Pierre and Ghigau?" Emilia asked.

"They went out to get some food." Said Mizuko.

James walked in as Mizuko noticed him, but she humphed and looked away with a pouty look.

"(Sighs) I'll be outside if you need me." Said James.

"Yeah, you be a good boy. Stacy, D. Come on in." Said Emilia.

"What…?" Mizuko responded.

"Hey, Mizuko." Said Stacy.

She saw Stacy and D as Mizuko immediately had a smile on her face. She got up and ran to them as she threw herself at them and hugged Stacy and D.

"I am so happy to see you!" Said Mizuko, tearing up.

"I'm happy to see you too!" Said Stacy.

"D, I thought we would never see you again." Said Mizuko.

"It's been a long time, my friend." Said the young man to D.

"I hate to ruin this moment for you guys. But D lost his memory." Said Emilia.

"R-Really?" Mizuko asked.

"How did that happen?" The young man asked.

"Let's sit down and talk. We have a lot to talk about." Said Stacy.

Meanwhile, we see Stacy tied up in a chair in a room that had a ceiling lamp hanging above her. The room was dark for her as she looked around and saw it was an empty room, until the door opened and in came Valentina Bianco.

"You were careless today. Usually, you guys are good at walking within the crowd. But one of our police informants wasn't at a meet up. I sent some of my men and they found him knocked out in a records room. We asked around and found out that you walked out of the station with another officer. A Carlos Gutierrez, an officer that graduated the same year as you did. Hmm, funny that I get to see him again." Said Valentina.

"Again?" Beverly thought to herself.

"But enough of that. Tell us where your friends are hiding." Said Valentina.

"I'm not speaking." Said Beverly as Valentina let out a chuckle.

She walked over to a table and placed her coat down on it. She then started to roll up her sleeves as she popped her knuckles. Beverly was readying herself, until Valentina pulled out a phone from her shirt pocket.

"I know what you want. You want revenge for what Russo did to your dad, right? Well, what if I told that your father wasn't the paragon you thought he was." Said Valentine, holding the picture between her fingers.