The Brightest Flame Casts The Darkest Shadow
It is about noon on Saturday (still the day of the mafia meeting) and we see Noir and Ori walk down some stairs into what looks like a basement entrance.
“What are we doing here?” Ori questions with her hands behind her head.
“The boss wanted to see you.” Noir responds.
He taps on the door, but it sounds like the tapping is actually morse code.
Soon afterwards they hear a latch unlock as a metal panel opens up in front of them. A pair of eyes can be seen behind a metal grate.
“Oi! What’s the password?” The person behind the door questions.
“The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow.” Noir responds.
“Alright.” The girl behind the door says before opening it. “Welcome back Wanker. ‘Ello new girl.”
She had her pink hair styled into a mohawk of thin spikes with a small ponytail, face tattoos, a crop top of the flag of England, red and black plaid pants, and way too many belts.
“...Joan Grace…” Noir responds with his arms crossed.
“...Noir…” She responds.
“Aight!” Joan says while putting her hands into her pockets. “New girl, what are you called?”
“Ori.” She says while looking around the place. They were currently still walking down the entrance staircase which was very, very long.
“Cool. I’m “Stone” Joan Grace, but you can call me Punk Rock if you prefer.”
“Oh! We still do cool names here? Well then, I already came up with one of those!” Ori says with an excited look in her eyes.
“Well, let’s hear it!” Joan responds.
“Call me Oni-Chan!” Ori says while pointing to herself.
“...That…unique…”
“Get it…It’s a pun…because I can turn into an Oni.”
“Sure kid. As long as that’s what you wanna be called it aight with me.”
They finally get to the bottom of the stairs and enter the main area of the hideout.
“Take a gander.” Joan says while gesturing around her. “Like what ya see.”
“This is…badass!” Ori exclaims.
The room they have entered is actually a catacomb, but with some more modern day furnishings in it to make it look more liveable.
“Welcome to the Shadow Union.” Joan says while turning back towards Ori. “Make yourself at home.”
“Awesome!” Ori says while sitting down on a leather couch. “This is a lot better than my old place.”
“It’s great, innit?” Joan responds.
“Hell yeah!” Ori says as she jumps up from the couch to look around more. “What else you guys got here. There’s gotta be more cool rooms than just this one…ya know…because of how big this place is.”
“Sure. I’ll give you a tour.”
“...Joan…stop wasting time…” Noir says while pinching the bridge of his nose. “She’s gotta meet the boss.”
“Sure. Whatever you say mate.” She says with a shrug. “We’ll do the tour later. Let’s go introduce you to the others.”
They walk deeper into the hideout until they eventually reach another door which Joan kicks open with her knee high, leather, steel-toed boots.
“Sup blokes!” She announces. “We got some fresh meat!”
“Joan!” Another girl yells as she runs towards the door.
She was an anthropomorphic possum with a leather jacket with the sleeves cut off and jeans. She also had a bunch of goth makeup on.
As soon as she reaches Joan they immediately kiss each other.
“Good to see you too, babe.” Joan says after they break the kiss. She then turns around to Ori “This is my girlfriend Piper O’ Possum.”
Piper gives Ori a peace sign.
“Behave yourselves you plebeians. I am trying to focus on writing my next concerto.” Says a man with a thick French accent sitting at a piano.
“...Shut the fuck up Pierre!” Joan grumpily responds. She turns around and slides her hand down her face. “...This old codger’s Pierre Papyrus. Yes, he’s French. Yes, he’s also annoying.”
He had white face paint, a powdered wig, a black suit jacket with a white undershirt, a white frilly collar, and white baggy pants and thin black boots that curled upwards at the ends.
Pierre gets up from his piano and walks towards the others. “Bonjour. As this neanderthal just stated I am…how you say…Pierre Papyrus. Better known as Fortissimo, the great composer!”
He picks up a violin.
“Want to hear a song?”
Joan punches Pierre in the face.
“Not my beautiful face!”
“Never play your bloody music in here again!” Joan says as she walks further into the room. “...moving right along…”
As they walk they encounter a man who was sharpening a giant pair of scissors on a spinning wheel. He had long orange hair covering both of his eyes, a green flat cap, a beige collared shirt, and green overalls.
“Oi! Billy! Meet the newbie!”
Billy just briefly turns, nods his head, and gets back to sharpening his scissors.
“That’s Billy Gardener, or Shears. He doesn’t care either way.” Joan says while pointing at him.
He just nods while he continues to work.
“...He doesn't say much…” Joan says while beginning to walk again. “...Now, let’s meet the big boss and his number 2…”
The next room they walk towards has two giant black doors that had to be at least twenty feet tall.
“Alright…Noir, help with the doors…” Joan states.
“...Fine…” Noir says as he begrudgingly assists her.
It takes a bit of effort, but they eventually get the doors open.
They then walk into what appears to be a church hall.
At the end of the room there was a man sitting on a throne and another man standing next to him.
“Hey bossman! The new girl is here to meet ya!” Joan says while gesturing to Ori.
The man in the throne nods his head and gets up to approach them. He is followed by what appears to be his bodyguard.
Who Ori assumes is the leader was a thin and pale man with long, wavy silver hair, a cross tattoo over his eye that wasn’t covered by his hair, a puffy white shirt with medium length baggy sleeves, a black coat that looks like what a priest would wear just with the buttons undone, black pants with a cloth white belt, and a cross necklace. He appeared to be holding a bible in his left hand.
The man who was with him was much taller, about eight feet tall at least, He had blue skin, horns, a long black spiky mohawk that reached the bottom of his back, had a black gi with a white fur trim, black spandex shorts, and a necklace with the yin symbol.
“Thank you for escorting her to me, Joan. Hello my child. Welcome to the Shadow Union.” He says while doing prayer hands. “I am known by many names, but you can call me Grimm King, or Father Nightingale if you prefer.”
“...Are…are you God?” Ori says with a bewildered expression on her face.
He thinks for a moment.
“...Close, but not quite.”
“...Okay…” Ori responds while nodding slowly before looking towards the blue guy. “Who’s him?”
“That would be my assistant and bodyguard Mezu Kanabo, but he also goes by Oni-San.”
“Hell yeah!” Ori raises her hand to give him a high five. “We’re monster buddies!”
Mezu just glares at her and growls with his fangs bared.
“...Um…maybe…later then…” Ori says as she awkwardly puts her hand down.
“Noir, Joan, may you please get the others in here as well. I have an announcement to make.”
“Sure thing boss.” Joan says as she jogs out of the room. Noir follows after he rolls his eyes.
“Right.” Grimm says while at a podium in front of his throne and a hand on his bible. “Now that you are all here I might as well get started.”
The rest of them were sitting amongst themselves in the first several rows of pews.
“I’ll get right to it then. I have accepted another…job for us to do!” He says while doing jazz hands.
He pauses for a reaction…which doesn’t come.
“...Okay…” He says as he puts his hands together. “It is a security job. We are being hired to make sure the meeting between Maximillian Midas and his associates goes as smoothly as possible.”
Ori suddenly raises her hand.
“Yes Ori.” Grimm says while gesturing towards her.
“...Well…isn’t that…you know…kinda dangerous…” Ori says with a shrug. “...I mean…don’t get me wrong…I love danger and fighting and all that…but that sounds…you know…like a death sentence…”
“I am glad you brought that up Ori.” Grimm responds. “You and I will not be attending this meeting. The rest of you will be going though.”
“...Oh…thanks…Father King…” Ori says while bowing her head.
“Think nothing of it my child. I wouldn’t want you to get killed on your first day.”
“...Wait a moment…the job, it’s today?” Pierre interrupts.
“...Yes…sorry for the short notice, but Midas only asked for the extra security last night so I didn’t have a lot of…time to tell you all before.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “More precisely it is tonight. I’ll be giving you all the exact location after our meeting concludes…which would actually be right now…because that is just about all I had to say…”
He looks at all of his team members expectantly.
Ori was paying close attention, but wasn’t saying anything.
Noir was just sitting back in his chair bored out of his mind.
Joan and Piper were making out again.
Pierre was tuning his violin.
Billy was spinning one of his scissor blades at the end of his right pointer finger.
Mezu was fast asleep.
“Okay. Meeting adjourned. Just take the papers by the door on your way out. It has all the information you need for the mission on it.”