Masters X Students [09]

-- (Specialist) --

It was a hot day, surprisingly hot for the latitudes where they were, Monique had to make an effort not to let beads of sweat fall from her forehead as she kept her balance crouched down with one knee resting on the ground, leaning against a wall while she peered over the edge at a pair of scaffolding hanging from the abandoned construction site where she was. It wasn't the first time she'd spied someone's movements, yet she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling.

"Where are you...?"

Monique was reluctant to show her presence so she hid her nen using [Zetsu] relying simply on her senses to find her opponent and take him down before he took her down. Then a curtain of sand and cement rose up beyond where she stood.

"A trap...?"

The woman leaned on her hand on the ground and focused her gaze on the dust curtain, taking a running start position in case she needed to take quick action. Within seconds, the dissipating curtain of dust stirred once more... And was joined by a new curtain of dust rising from another corner of the room.

"Damn... This is bad."

Piles of sand and powdered cement rose from every corner of the hold as Monique frantically moved her eyes searching for the enemy among the curtains of dust.

"It's moving fast. No. He must be in an elevated position to be stirring up the various piles of dust."

Monique retreated to behind her quickly but quietly as she took cover with the wall from where she kept watch, always keeping an eye on the hanging scaffolding and metal mesh walkways that lined the construction zone. She was close to taking cover in a small interior cabin of the warehouse when she stopped dead in her tracks, a countless number of circular blasts of nen little bigger than a ping pong ball rained down on her from the upper floor like machine gun bullets. Monique activated her nen and quickly jumped back, she had been spotted so stealth was no longer an option.

The gunfire continued, Monique took off running towards the source of the shots, they were coming from one of the metal floors above her, the attacker had been hiding behind a metal beam as a precaution, but now she could see him clearly. The flow of gunfire increased as the slayer closed the distance, running in a zigzag pattern and dodging nen's continuous shots.

One of them almost hit a knee but Monique anticipated the trajectory and in one fluid movement placed all her weight on the other leg and propelled herself forward giving a twist in the air forward that left her upside down for a moment, the enemy took advantage of the situation to direct his shots towards the woman's back. Monique tensed her arms to the left quite distant from each other and with the palm of her hand fired two strong charges of nen that propelled her body to the right, she spun on herself and landed to then keep running, dodging the shots coming towards her once again. Her enemy grimaced in surprise.

- Not bad, Moni. - Daven said behind the metal pillar - Let's see if you can dodge this.

Monique kept running in zigzag until the shooting stopped for a few seconds, the surprise stopped her for an instant until she pulled herself together and advanced at the speed she was going. Daven, her master fired again like a machine gun, however, the shots were no longer aimed at her, not even at Monique's next steps, rather they went straight into the sand filled ground a few meters ahead of her. 

"Damn, this is bad, another smoke screen, he will change his location."

Monique took cover on a half built wall and concentrated her nen on her eyes to amplify her senses, once she checked that the shots to the ground had created a deep trench in it, she activated her [En] amplifying her aura about 50 meters or so like a dome.

"That way I'll be sure to follow you wherever you go, Daven."

The gunfire ceased while the dust curtain was still active. The woman waited a few seconds checking the silence and then ran to where the emitter had relocated.

"I feel you load nen, you're setting up your [Point & Shoot], the question is... How many fingers are you using?"

Monique launched a powerful shot of nen through her palm and dispelled a good portion of the dust the hunter had created, when she lifted her head in her flight, she saw him. Smiling as if he had already won the victory, Daven held 3 fingers of his left hand taut in her direction.

- Boom. - Daven said and then fired.

The shot going towards Monique was unlike any other he had seen in that fight. It was a powerful bullet, oval in shape, but with piercing spikes, almost as if it were a diamond, but the truly frightening thing was its size. The shot was several times bigger than a ping pong ball, even bigger than a human head or a basketball, and it was heading towards her at high speed.

Monique had stopped her running completely, she was petrified, she felt a shiver run from the back of her neck to her lower back and then back again, her legs didn't respond until a small object hit a step away from where she was standing and kicked up a small amount of dirt, the noise brought her back from the state of shock she was in. Monique couldn't see Daven's face but he sure was somewhere between enraged and disappointed by it. She deactivated her [En] for more concentration and then brought all her nen to the soles of her feet, with that reinforcement, she charged towards the huge projectile coming towards her, there she could see a hint of a smile on her master's face for a moment. She positioned herself in front of the projectile in less than a second, and with the momentum she had she slid across the sand-covered floor barely managing to evade the projectile. 

Once again, she reinforced the soles of her feet with nen, but this time, she leapt towards the metal floor above her, where she did not find Daven. Confused, Monique activated her tracking [En], made sure to look to all corners of the floor and brought her fists to her chin taking a defensive stance.

"Where are you?"

- Are you afraid, Daven? - You know you can't beat me in hand-to-hand combat. - Monique said to the air waiting for the emitter to give in to the provocations.

- And that's why I beat you. - Daven replied immediately.

Monique brought her gaze to the source of the voice beneath her. A bunch of shots like tennis balls pierced the slayer's surroundings, completely isolating her from the rest of the falling apart floor.

"The only option I have left is..."

The specialist took use [Ko] on her feet reinforcing them with nen and took a brief run to jump to safety where she couldn't be hit by gunfire.

- I wouldn't jump if I were you. - Daven said with a laugh.

Monique jumped and a shot more powerful than the previous ones but less powerful than the giant shot she saw earlier ripped into her arm, leaving a wound in her tricep. The woman on the other hand managed to land on a pile of sand safely, she turned and with the [Ko] she had activated she was immediately in front of Daven in a single run, taking advantage of the acceleration to add speed to the kick she was about to give him.

- 'I thought this was training, not combat.' - Daven said.

Monique slowed the kick just short of her master's face.

- 114 to 16 - said Monique as she lowered her attacking leg and deactivated her nen. - You still have a long way to go to catch up with me.

Daven looked at her with a cheerful smile.

- Moni... remember that I have won the last 12, don't you think that means something? - she said subtly.

- It's only because you are an emitter, if your fighting style was melee, you would never have defeated me. - Monique replied annoyed.

- I must remind you that it was me who suggested you not to look for a skill like [Doctor Time] but rather something more useful in combat. If you get to face emitters like me or a conjurer whose combat style is also based on creating distances, it won't do any good if you're the best at melee.

"Unfortunately, you're right."

- You also said it had to be a skill that combined with me, right? - Monique replied, shaking the sand out of her pants. - [Doctor Time] is everything I am and everything I wanted to be.

- A cat?

Monique rolled her eyes.

- But not your cat, honey. [Doctor Time] Help me with this, please. - Monique pointed to the open wound on her tricep and scanned it. - Daven cast his [Point & Shoot] skill at a 105° angle lacerating my skin and creating a wound on my tricep 1 cm deep and 4 cm long.

"AB-" Monique took some of the blood emanating from the wound and applied it on herself, a faint flash of white, pure and undisturbed nen gushed from her body and then [Doctor Time] appeared, the cat was wrapped in navy blue fabrics that closed on her back simulating a surgical suit and wore over her ears a small surgical cap that matched her clothes.

-How cute you are, baby! - Monique said in a tender voice as she picked up the cat.

The cat in a surgeon's suit let out a few high-pitched meows as he slowly shuddered in the woman's hands. Then he rested his little head on Monique's chest and Monique lowered it and then gave him a kiss on the back of his head. [Doctor Time] received it happily with eyes closed and expectant, Daven on the other hand stood watching the scene with the usual confusion whenever he saw Monique's ritual.

- At this point, I would think you would be used to it by now. - Monique said with a chuckle as she crouched down.

- Initially I thought it was part of your ability and thought you were crazy for creating something that requires so many steps... Then I realized you just like cats and you're crazy. - Daven scoffed

Monique burst out laughing, the cat next to her was giving her small gentle bites on her tricep, more specifically around the wound area, pretending to be stitching the wound. The patient raised her head and saw Daven blushing.

- Aha! So you admit he is cute? - said Monique jumping up and down, which alerted [Doctor Time].

- That cat and I are enemies, he seems to want to cure everyone but me, he even treated the boy well that time - Daven said looking away.

- Of course he didn't! Of course he does love you, doesn't he? - Monique gave the cat a look.

The cat let out a meow.

- See? I told you so. - Monique said victoriously.

Daven stared at [Doctor Time] who kept his gaze on him as well.

- Meow! - Daven meowed

- Meow, meow! - said the cat.

- Meow, meow, meow - Daven changed his tone.

- Meow! - quickly meowed the [Doctor Time].

Monique couldn't hide the confusion on her face.

- And you say I'm the crazy one? - Monique asked sarcastically.

Daven looked at her for a few seconds without making a gesture, then turned his gaze once again to the cat.

- Meowwwwwwww - Daven changed his tone to a higher pitched one.

- Meooooowwwww - answered the [Doctor Time] turning his head towards Monique.

Daven burst out laughing. 

"Yeah, he's definitely gone nuts already."

- Are they supposed to be talking about me or something? - Monique asked uneasily.

Daven lifted his shoulders to which Monique rolled her eyes. Eventually Daven stopped his conversation with the cat and they were able to head on their way to the hotel where Monique was staying.

The room was striking, however, to the eyes of Monique and Daven, who had traveled halfway around the world as hunter and hunteress, as teacher and student, it was already drab. The one decoration that did vary from this room to the others they had seen before was the array of books, certificates and maps arranged on the huge desk and low wooden table. Monique had gained the trust of researcher Xandria Miro and that had gained her access to a couple of documents that should not leave the premises of the National Institute of Ancient History.

Daven glanced at the desk.

- How come you don't get lost in this sea of documents? - Daven asked, trying not to clutter the desk.

Monique secured the door behind them and walked over to the desk.

- On the left is all the information regarding Azian aboriginal tribes, dress, cuisine, religion, society, economic system and language. In the center is the information related to the Kingdom of Tanbóh. On the left... -Monique lifted a heavy but easily manipulated book, it had a soft and malleable cover -This is my creation, a compendium of maps and borders of Azian.

Daven raised an eyebrow, opened his mouth to say something and then refrained from doing so.

- I thought you might want to see this for yourself so I brought all this information for you, it's still safer to share it in person and save the files than to write it to you over the internet, the Deep web can be dangerous even for hunters.

Daven nodded as he listened to Monique open the pages of that book.

- Many of the maps here, or rather, almost all of the maps here are not my own, I just copied them and made some modifications or just copied them and that's it. Others are all mine. - Monique looked up happily. - The ones with this red frame are all mine, I built them based on the writings of the sections on the left and in the center of the desk...

- Moni. - Daven interrupted. - And what's that on the table?

Monique gave a big smile.

- That, my dear impulsive teacher, was for later. Thank you for ruining my schedule. On the table is information related to the Kakin Empire.

Daven paled slightly and darted over to the table to look at the various documents there.

- How did you get so much information about such a secretive country, Moni? Hardly any information is known about the royal family of Kakin and you... Years and years and centuries and centuries and centuries of history. - Daven said in amazement.

"I don't know how Xandria had access to something like this either."

- This is going to get us killed in the end. Daven said. - This... This is going to get us killed.

Monique watched as a smirk of satisfaction and curiosity crept across Daven's face which made her proud.

- If we have such "confidential" information then we are probably on the right track.

- Yes, we are. Because what we are looking for is surely directly related to the history of Kakin. - Monique opened the map book from the beginning - Since records have been kept it was all about tribes constantly fighting on the continent, some being wiped out by others, a shame, all until we came to....

Monique paused on a page where the fruits of Kakin's expansionist policy were clearly visible.

- A nation more developed than the rest of their tribal peers was obviously going to wipe them out, and so they did, one, after another, after another, after another, after another. Until they stopped.

Monique began to turn the pages more slowly, Daven watched in intrigue.

- The political map of the continent shifted south of Kakin, but far south. - Daven pointed out,

Monique nodded.

- Well, that's not odd, the current kingdom of Tanbóh probably formed alliances with Kakin while battling in the wars on the other front. - Daven replied,

- There is no record of diplomacy between two nations. - Monique said.

- Just because there are no records of alliance doesn't mean it couldn't have happened. 

- No, no, let me make it clear, Daven. No diplomatic interaction, no alliances, no trade, no peace treaties, no royal weddings, no attempts to absorb the other, nothing until recent history.

That got Daven Nightshot's attention.

- Are you telling me that they never negotiated non-aggression pacts, but they never attacked each other even so?

Monique nodded at the question.

Daven thought for a moment before speaking again.

- Do you have any theories?

- Plenty.

- Enlighten me, cat lover.

Monique grumbled.

- This is a current political map, on it you can see how the borders between the two kingdoms are continuous, there is no disputed territory, not occupied or occupied by another nation. - Monique turned over several pages of her compendium of maps - This construction that she created based on historical records shows another reality. The jungle area shared by both countries is the same, the southern part is Tanbóh's, the northern part is Kakin's, the territory east of the jungle is what is interesting. In the reconstructions as well as in diverse maps it appears as no man's land, however, in the current maps that zone is part of Tanbóh, and it is just the zone to the south of Kakin, where they stopped expanding.

- It may simply be a colonization process that was not recorded in time. - Daven answered as devil's advocate.

- It may be... Still it is strange that this land has not been subject to dispute....

- Known dispute. - Daven emphasized - But it continues.

Monique nodded.

- The point here is... Kakin did not continue its expansion beyond its current southern borders, there was a territory that was no man's land and magically appears in the records as property of another country, there have never been disputes over that territory despite being a territory with resource exploitation potential and most importantly, there are no human settlements on that site. 

- Known. - Daven whispered - There are no known human settlements... I see where this is going, Moni.

- What if the reason Kakin hadn't expanded further south is related to that...? - Monique was interrupted by the steady vibration of her cell phone.

The hunter stopped her hypothesis and pulled her cell phone out of her pants to find a familiar number on the caller ID.

"Tak? Now this is a surprise." 

Monique took the call while Daven sat at the low table and skimmed through the information on Kakin that the specialist found, she subtly made her way to the balcony of the room always looking over Daven.

- Is something wrong, sweetie? - Monique asked on the spot.

- Monique, I... I went back to the casino. - Tak answered on the other end of the phone.

Monique tried to hide her disapproving face, she could tell that even though Daven was reading, his attention was divided towards her conversation.

- I met Annie and helped her infiltrate the VIP area - continued Tak nervously - but I was very exhausted, I could barely find out what she did in there thanks to my ants. She met Carlo Dimecci and....

- Wow, wait a minute! - Monique interrupted - Did you see Carlo Dimecci?

- Yes, but that's not the important thing, the important thing is that he tried to abuse Annie, she killed several of my ants and I fell unconscious from the pain, when I recovered, I couldn't establish a connection with any of my ants and Annie was no longer in the room. - Tak sounded agitated and distressed - I haven't heard from her since, you must help her!

Tak briefly recounted the situation to Monique highlighting the key points of their initial plan, as they had agreed that Tak would be the guide and Annie would be the execution.

- Let's see, Tak - Monique put her fingers between her eyebrows - Why did you go back to the casino if you know it was dangerous for you?

- I... I didn't want to leave people behind. - Tak replied gloomily.

- And now you left Annie, your partner, behind. - Monique scolded him. - Take a cab to the central hill hotel, when you get here we'll talk about the situation, make sure you get there fast.

Tak nodded and hung up the call. Monique turned around to go back inside the room and when she turned around she found Daven using [Zetsu] leaning on the sliding door leading to the balcony, looking at her curiously.

- Are you messing around with the boy now? - Daven joked.

- Did you hear everything? - Monique asked as she entered the room, pushing Daven aside.

- Just the last part - Why did you call him in the first place? - Daven hurried to get a glass of wine from the minibar and poured some for both of them - Annie's fine, surely.

- Right... I just want to scare him a bit. 

Monique received Daven's glass and they both toasted with a mischievous smile on their faces.

- I've taught you well, you already have disciples even. - Daven took a sip from his glass. - By the way, why did he come to you and not to me?

- You shot him and kidnapped him, I cured him. - Monique sipped her wine.

Daven made a mockery with his face.

- Anything I should know? - Daven asked.

- You'll know as soon as I get there. - Monique let the glass rest and pulled out her cell phone to check for updates on her two wards.

"Tak, en route. Conrad, deployed to the VIP area of the casino."

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Tak knocked repeatedly on the door of Monique's room, to his surprise it was Daven Nightshot who welcomed him.

- Hey kiddo, did you miss me as much as I missed you? - Daven winked at him.

- You owe me 70,000 jennys for the parking fee for the bike. - Tak replied, entering the room.

Daven lifted his shoulders and secured the door once Tak entered the room. Monique peeked out from the balcony as she heard the two men talking and quickly went inside to greet Tak.

- Monique, please, you must talk to Conrad so that... - Tak was interrupted by a slap on the cheek.

- Show me your [Ren] - Monique grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

The specialist was not wearing nen and still emitted immense pressure on the exhausted Tak. The manipulator concentrated his energies as best he could, but he could barely expel energy from his body. Monique then released him as she gave him an angry look.

- How were you going to protect Annie if you didn't have enough nen for the basics? It was a miracle you could even handle the ants without falling unconscious. - Monique scolded him.

Daven took a seat in the desk chair watching intently and excitedly.

- That doesn't matter anymore! We must do something before it's too late, from what I saw they must be selling her as merchandise at some sort of auction called Sweet Bets! - Tak shouted desperately.

- And what do you plan to do, do you have a plan? If Conrad manages to find Annie he couldn't get her out alone and in case you haven't noticed, you don't have combat skills, I don't have combat skills and Daven...! - Monique shouted - Daven is the only one with offensive skills, and you don't trust him!

Monique watched out of the corner of her eye as Daven made heartbroken gestures.

- Can you be serious for once in your life?! It's always the same with you - she shouted at Daven.

Daven interrupted his movements, standing petrified with his hands on his chest.

- I'm sorry, Moni, I thought that..." - Daven paused and sighed - I'm sorry, I shouldn't have meddled or made jokes about this matter.

"Wow, what a surprise."

Monique nodded and faced Tak again.

- Moni, I don't want to leave anyone behind, much less if I'm the one responsible for it. I know I don't know Annie as well as maybe you do, but she's my partner in this mission. And believe it or not, there is honor among thieves. Even among scum like me - Tak knelt down and bowed his head - Help me to help her....

Monique gave a glance to Daven who simply nodded back. She then carried the [Doctor Time] who was stressed by the bustle with her left arm and walked over to Tak.

- I need you to tell me absolutely everything, hon.

Tak stood up and the 3 of them took a seat, Daven at the desk, Tak on the bed and Monique on the lap of the low table filled with Kakin's confidential documents.

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- Tak... everything you said is true? - Daven asked.

Tak nodded. He was probably telling the truth given how desperate he looked earlier, maybe he was leaving out some detail related to Annie or the bookmaker, but the general information was valuable.

- Just to confirm - Monique spoke as she gently petted the cat in a surgeon's suit - Annie found her way up to the VIP area, met Carlo Dimécci and they went into a private room where it was just the two of them?

Tak nodded once again.

- Was there a camera? - Daven asked without taking his eyes off Tak.

- Not a visible one," Tak replied. - While the guards were tearing Annie's clothes I scanned the room and the access door, there didn't seem to be anything like that.

- Cari, I need you to think very hard, try to remember anything that you think might serve as an answer and tell me the following: Did you ever see Annie's ability in action? - Monique asked tensely.

Tak thought for a moment.

- No, I don't think I have. She was very insistent that I should deactivate my [Hive Mind] as soon as she was going to start, but she never really told me what she was going to start doing. 

- So that's why she hit your ants. Manipulators sure are scary - Daven replied - Were you spying on Annie to find out her ability, even though you knew you weren't going to be able to do anything?

Tak nodded apologetically. Monique scolded him and Daven let out a laugh.

- You're still the same as before, kid, I thought you had become different when I heard that about not leaving any partners behind. - Daven said.

Monique returned her gaze to Tak, at that moment the boy's emotions were a mess, but one thing was clear, Daven's comment had caused real upset in him.

- Did Annie's ability have anything to do with his rescue? - Tak asked.

- Everything. - Monique let out a breath and relaxed her muscles - Don't worry, she's fine.

Monique could now say that Tak's emotions were finally tangled.

- I'll put it simply for you, kid. She killed your ants not because she didn't want you to know her ability, she just didn't want you to fall prey to her ability accidentally. - Daven added. 

- Her ability [Fearing] is based on controlling people through fear, if she was alone with Carlo Dimécci naked, she probably scared him enough to fall prey to her ability. - continued Monique relaxed - Once you fear Annie, she can control you completely with something as simple as her voice, that's why she wanted you to not have your ability active, if you felt fear towards her and then heard her, you were going to be her new puppet.

- The poker table! She must have manipulated someone at the poker table to get the attention of the higher levels. - Tak replied effusively.

Daven and Monique nodded.

- No, it looks like you are a pretty slow manipulator, - Monique scoffed.

Tak finally relaxed his muscles and apologized to the hunters beside them, then collapsed onto the bed he was sitting on and fell asleep on the spot.

- He must have been under a lot of stress - Monique stood up to look at him.

"He's cute, too bad you're so young."

- Daven...why did you send the younger ones to the most dangerous areas while you are on an unknown mission? - Monique gently played with Tak's hair.

- I guess I did... But I did all this to protect you, Moni. You're pretty famous and even though you're the most competent fighter I've ever met, you have trouble dealing with various nen fighting styles. - Daven replied.

- That's not the point, where have you been all this time while these guys are exposing their lives? - Monique asked in an annoyed voice.

Daven looked at her sadly. He pulled the laptop out of his bag and beckoned her over to him.

- I got a contact who sold me a gateway to the Dimecci family communications network, I've been using it to hunt down family members, track their activities and so on, I guess it's not so useful now that we have... - Daven stopped dead in his tracks.

Monique was upset, but understood the situation once Daven showed her the information there.

- What's the matter? - Monique asked.

- Moni... I think the operation has failed. Annie might be in danger after all. - Daven said with a pale face.

Monique ran over to where he was and glued herself to the screen automatically, Daven just gestured to a couple of lines of messages from the family security chief's user.

- Read this. - Daven said as he set the laptop down on the table and paced restlessly around the room.

"No, it's not true, this is dated... 3 days ago."

- Affected in the events of the Royal Flush Casino. - Monique read aloud. - At the top of the list of those injured in the incident are....

Monique quickly scanned the information and then looked at the list of missing persons. Her blood pressure dropped as she read the first name on the list.

- Kylian Fox.

"Conrad's pseudonym!"

- Yes... Daven, I think... - Monique didn't manage to finish the sentence and fell unconscious.