The Call to Rise

Breaking the Ice Part 1: When Danger Lurks...

Location: Unknown

Fangtom was nervous, the man observed. As they should be.

"You have failed me, Fangtom," he said lowly, just barely able to keep the anger out of his voice. The frustration, however, was evident.

Fangtom shivered. "V-ve are sorry, master," the twin to his right stuttered. "But it vas not our fault!"

"Yes!" the twin on his left added, nodding his head. "It vas those pesky ninja and that Samurai--!"

"I don't care about them!" the man yelled, banging his hand against the wall and causing Fangtom to jump. "I asked for you to take control of the city. I even allowed you to wreck havoc where you wish. But despite all of my generosity....you two have failed me."

Fangtom quivered and they both bowed low. "Please forgive us, master," they pleaded.

The man glared at them, red eyes full of disgust at their groveling. "Get out of my sight," he growled, turning so that his back faced them.

The two Fangpyre leaders quickly made their exit, not wishing to anger their master any further. From the shadows surrounding the room, a tall, slender man emerged, chuckling. "Well," he exclaimed, tone almost mocking. "And here I thought those two were something special. I almost thought that they could get the job done."

"Shut up, Pythor," the man with the red eyes snapped before groaning and rubbing his head. "Those stupid ninja...they are messing up everything!"

"Yes, they are rather annoying, aren't they?" Pythor hummed, his violet eyes alight with secret pleasure at his "master's" frustration.

The red-eyed man simply glared at his subordinate. "The only reason why you should be here is if you have any information on these ninja."

Pythor sighed. "Always directly to the point. Really, you ought to lighten up a bit."

"Pythor."

"Fine, fine. If you insist."

Pulling out a remote from within his coat pockets, Pythor pressed a button. A giant screen popped up on the wall where the red-eyed man was facing. A video was being played, showing footage of the four ninja battling with the Fangpyre.

Pythor pressed another button, causing the video to pause and zoom in on the ninja wearing red. "It was rather difficult to tell," the slender man drawled. "But we were able to confirm that the red ninja is indeed the missing K-4."

The red-eyed man barely bit back a snarl as he watched other information about the red ninja fill up the screen. "That boy will regret what he's put me through," he promised, rubbing absently at his right arm, where a burn mark, pale red against stark black, was just beginning to fade.

Pythor noticed and couldn't help but smirk a little. He cleared his throat once before moving on. "The blue one and the black one were a little difficult to identify, but we have come up with some matches that fit them."

The man with the red eyes watched as the screen moved from the red ninja to the blue and black ninja. Two pictures popped up, one of a rather happy-go-lucky red-haired boy and the other of a serious black-haired teen.

"The blue one has been identified as a certain Jay Walker," Pythor explained, snorting a little at the name. "There's nothing really spectacular about him. Sixteen years old, only child, parents apparently living in a junkyard outside of the city, homeschooled. Rather boring except for one thing."

"And that would be?" the red-eyed man asked, growing impatient.

Pythor shrugged. "According to his medical records, he was admitted when he was six years old at the city hospital. He had been struck by a bolt of lightning and miraculously survived, albeit with some scars." Pythor shivered. "Ugh, ugly things, they are. I don't know how he can stand to look in the mirror at them."