The door burst open, throwing me back into the snow. Letting out a panicked, “Whaa!” I looked up at the silhouetted figure then let out a breath. Jade Hornet. “Oh, it’s just you.” I got up and dusted wet snow off my hands and butt, which was gonna be wet for a while now, so that was exciting. “Sorry I got here a little late,” I began, taking a few steps towards the open doorway. “I was working on my thesis and lost track of time. Good thing I’d already memorized where I was going, otherwise I would’ve been really late, which would’ve caused even more problems. Not for you, mostly just for me.”

Jade Hornet stood there holding the door open. Then her shadowy shape shifted into an annoyed stance. “Come inside. There’s someone you need to meet.”

I stepped through the door, feelings of fear drifting over me. I tried to keep my tone upbeat. “Oh cool. New people. I love meeting new people.” I took off my hat and gloves and fixed my hair a bit, not like it mattered much anyway, its natural mess of a state was inevitable. “Is this person a friend of yours? ‘Cause ya know a friend of a friend is a friend and all that.” I let out a breathy laugh.

She strode down the carpeted hallway, ignoring my comment as I trailed behind. “How about you just keep quiet and let the rest of us do the talking. We weren’t expecting a visitor tonight so don’t go running your mouth off, got it?”

“Yes, ma’am. You’ll have one silent canary over here. Not a peep will come out of my mouth.”

“Better not.” She scowled, and I scowled back at her but only in my head.

She opened the door to a dimly lit room with a single, elegant table gracing the center. None of the other places we’d met seemed as well kept. But the dull red lighting emanating from the baseboards created a strange, unwholesome atmosphere. It hit me that it reminded me of hell. At least from all the movie versions. Was this hell? I sure hope not.

Jade Hornet sat at the table without looking at me. No chair was available for me, so I stood quietly in the background.

Pointed Storm, Rusted Venom, and, flanked by two bodyguards in suits, the third person, our unexpected guest I presumed, didn’t stop talking when we walked in. In fact, they didn’t even give us a side glance. Kinda rude if you asked me.

I set my backpack against the wall then leaned against the bricks myself. There was a soft rumble of, maybe music, pulsing through the wall.

What kind of restaurant is this? Not Italian.

I needed something to keep my mind moving, so I decided to study the stranger in his dark clothes. It looked like he was wearing some kind of fancy suit and tie getup, but it was hard to make out the details in the almost non-existent light. His clothes looked expensive though, like you-couldn’t-even-buy-‘em-in-any-store-in-town expensive. He had Asian features and a fancy slicked-back hair style, too, with a clean-shaven face. Basically, he looked like a rich Korean city slicker mob boss who had used his dastardly good looks time and again to get what he wanted with little push back. Ya know, like one of those love interests on Sarah’s K-dramas. My ultimate deduction? He was an a-hole. But an a-hole you’d never want to mess with or you might end up in a place you’d rather not be. Like dead.

The conversation was stretching into the ten-minute range, and I was losing my focus. I started shifting back and forth, wiggling my fingers. A few more minutes passed and still nothing at the table had changed. I bounced slightly from one foot to the other and messed with the hem of my jacket. I didn’t know how much longer I could handle the monotony. If they would just talk a bit louder so I could hear them, maybe that’d help, but they were talking in such muffled tones that I couldn’t make out a word. And what was so important that I wasn’t allowed to sit in and listen?

I started sidling in closer, taking ever so slight baby steps towards the table. None of them had even looked at me this whole time so I didn’t have to worry about any rogue glances.

I had just reached the point where I could start making out individual words when the stranger’s voice rose up louder than before, “You can stop now.”

I froze and slowly raised my head. His half-shadowed face was looking directly at me. Dang it. I’d been caught. And I’d been so close too.

“Relax, Crimson Bullet.” He said easily.

Crimson Bullet? Did he mean me? I looked around. Maybe there was someone here that I’d missed? Nope, he definitely meant me. There was no one else here. I wasn’t so sure on this new name for myself. I would’ve like to give my input on the matter.

“Curiosity is no crime. Please, come closer.” He flashed a smile and gestured to the table with a gloved hand.

I didn’t like that smile. It looked dangerous, but I stepped up to the table anyway. Twining my fingers behind my back, I gave a smile of my own but kept my teeth to myself. “Thank you, sir. Since you know my name, what should I call you?” I said in my politest voice, adding a drop of honey on top to sweeten the deal.

“Hah. Curious and to the point. Very nice. I’d say she makes a nice addition, despite your complaints.” His voice was low and twisty, like a snake in the mist. I didn’t like it. The whole time his eyes never wavered from mine. “You can call me The Shadow and that’s all you need to ever know.” I gave him a slight nod because I was afraid of what might come out if I spoke. He gave me a nod in return. “With that, my friends, I think I will say adieu. Good luck on the tasks we discussed. I’ll be in touch.” He rose from the table, straightened his gloves, and slipped on a mask of his own that had been resting on the table.

It was different from what the Red Pathways wore. Theirs was utilitarian and meant for combat. The red goggles protected the eyes and the fabric mask would cover the lower half of their face with max breathability. The Shadow’s mask covered the whole of his face. Black and smooth like obsidian, the emotionless mask followed the sharp contours of his face. The material seemed rigid and thin, but I had a feeling it was far more than just for show.

I wanted to tell him he didn’t need a mask since it was dark out already, and nobody but a few squirrels were at that back door to see him, but I figured he probably already knew that, so I let him go in peace. Well, not really in peace, this guy didn’t really have a peaceful vibe-i-ness about him, more of a I-will-run-you-over-in-my-rolls-royce-without-hesitation-and-not-even-get-a-scratch-on-the-car-I’m-that-amazing type aura.

And with that, he left the room, and I said, “Well, that was fun.”

“Just sit down, Crimson Bullet,” said Rusted Venom.

“Mmmm. In his chair? I’d rather not. I’d prefer to let it sit there till he gets back, I’ll just sit on the floor, or on some card board boxes, or even just on the table. Yeah, that’d work too.” I climbed onto the table and sat pretzel style, facing my three compatriots head on.

Rusted Venom’s eyes widened in disbelief, then he looked to Pointed Storm, protest clear on his face.

“She is fine,” Pointed Storm finally said. Her accent added more sharpness to her words. “Just leave her there, and we will get on with our original meeting.”

Rusted Venom started talking about his progress on different poisons and other weird things he’d been working on. I just zoned it all out, none of the stuff he talked about ever made sense to me anyway. So I was bored once more. Combining the mighty powers of his non-stop drabble and the dim lighting, I soon dozed off.

It wasn’t long before a wham on the table slammed me back into consciousness.

“You need to learn to pay attention, Crimson Bullet. I know you have a tendency to fall asleep in class as well, but we will not stand for similar misconduct here.” Jade Hornet looked truly angry this time, her dark, furious eyes locking with mine as if saying, ‘I won’t look away until you understand this’.

I immediately nodded, my new name still catching me off guard. “Yup! We good.” And then a yawn betrayed me. I let out a nervous laugh. “Sorry.” 

“Anyway,” Rusted Venom continued with his annoying voice, “as I was saying… ”

And he went right back to science jargon that I can’t understand. Sorry science peeps. I respect you to the max core. It’s just that my puny brain was not given the capacity for such high-level comprehension. Throw a historical tome on turnips at my face with a broken piece of pottery, and maybe we’ll get somewhere.

He finally finished up, allowing Jade Hornet to give her more concise update on some side missions and reconnaissance she’d been doing per some complaint they’d received. Some person they’d deemed a threat to their operations. Sorta like Nightmist. She’d tracked down their target and said they should be ready to initiate by tomorrow night. Somethin’ about how blackmailin’ rich folks was too easy these days, not like in the old days. I didn’t care enough to keep paying attention.

While she got to talking, I got to thinking. Why am I even here? They don’t need me for any of this stuff, and it’s not like I’m going to keep being involved with these people once I graduate. There was no way I’d let that happen. This was only the second official meeting I’d attended, and it sorta seemed pointless to keep coming to them. They could just let me come to these meetings later or have me do my reporting first so then I could leave. But no, they chose the more difficult path. The worst part was that it was such a waste of my time. There were a lot better things I could be doing, like sleeping, or working on homework, or sleeping.

“Are you listening?” Rusted Venom asked me. He’s always so pushy. 

“Huh?” I said because I really hadn’t been listening.

“I said are you listening?” His voice was more sharp this time. 

“No, not really.” I waved his question off. “None of this stuff really matters to me anyway.”

And he just gave me this look. “Well, it should, since you may need some of this information in order to see your own mission to completion. This is all relevant to your training so you will be better prepared later on.”

“Uh, okay,” I said in return. Highly unlikely but sure.

“You think I am incorrect in my conjecture?”

Jeez, now he really was gonna bust a blood vessel.

“No,” I said, trying to keep the annoyance out of my tone. “I just think we aren’t on the same wavelength, and I’m too exhausted to explain it to you. So if we could just get to the part where I tell you your precious info about my housemate, I can go home. If we could just do that, that’d be great.” I crossed my arms, still sitting cross-legged on the table.

None of them looked too pleased about my defense, but it was the truth, and I was seriously too tired to care.

Rusted Venom pursed his lips. “Well, Jade Hornet was done anyway.”

I resisted the urge to throw up my hands, but gave a tight-lipped smile instead. “Great. So he hasn’t been doing a whole lot lately. I think he’s focusing on schoolwork, but I did notice he left the apartment around 2 am on Tuesday and Wednesday, if that’s helpful?”

Pointed Storm folded her dark hands in front of her. “Thank you. That will be all for tonight. You have our permission to leave.”

“Awesome!” I exclaimed, hopping off the table. “Later Path-er-roos.” I gave them a mock salute and walked out, swinging my backpack on as I left. As I turned the corner into the hallway and out of sight tension slowly released in my shoulders, leaving a dull ache behind.

Jeez, I thought to myself as I made my way outside. They could do with a little more consideration. I do have a life outside of all this. A lot of life, actually. ‘Course, they really don’t care about that.