Second Chances: Red Arrow

Chapter 4

Kazumi Adachi was currently in the middle of her morning sparring session against some of the deadliest warriors she had in her employ in the Ninth Circle. And she easily wiped the floor with all of them, even though her thoughts were clearly elsewhere, on the thought of her wayward daughter Emiko. For a few glorious years, Kazumi had what she wanted. Her daughter, back in her hands while that bastard Robert Queen had finally paid for betraying her and taking her daughter away.

And then Emiko had proven to be just like her father betrayed her. A thought that made Kazumi so angry that she accidentally snapped the neck of the person she was fighting.

"Enough. Go heal. You've suffered enough for now." Kazumi said, since her remaining opponents were all nursing broken bones of some kind right now and they nodded at her gratefully before leaving the room as Dante entered it.

"Rough morning?" Dante asked.

"Don't start with me. What do you want?" Kazumi asked.

"It appears that Emiko has finally slipped up. She's accessed the Queen family funds again and she's back in the public eye. It sounds like she's going to be setting down some roots in Hub City." Dante said with a grin, which Kazumi shared.

"I see that she's rusty and has forgotten what I taught her. Unless of course, she's doing it deliberately to draw us out, not that we have much choice, since she knows too much about our operations. Things have already gotten harder with Lyla Michaels and the DIA already working on routing out our moles in Argus and other government agencies." Kazumi said, still trying to figure out how they'd learned about the Ninth Circle in the first place.

"We'll recover, we always do. This circle has remained intact for centuries and it will continue to do so even after we're gone." Dante said, since he and Kazumi were partners, co-leaders of the Ninth Circle.

"I should've killed Emiko the moment she betrayed me, but my love for her made me soft. I will not make that mistake twice. Send agents to Hub City to begin establishing our presence there and gathering intelligence on Emiko's movements. I want to make sure that we are prepared for anything she might have in store for us." Kazumi said.

"Virgil and Beatrice have already been dispatched. When Emiko strikes, we will be ready." Dante said.

"I assume that Beatrice requested to be in charge of that operation until I arrive?" Kazumi asked.

"The only person who feels as burned by Emiko as you is her." Dante said.

"Then her request is granted. And also, I think we need to send another message to Emiko." Kazumi said.

"What kind of message?" Dante asked, wondering how personal Kazumi was letting this get and growing concerned.

"Relax, I'm not losing focus, but I want to send a message that she should've stayed hidden and also cross something off my personal to-do list." Kazumi said.

"Moira Queen." Dante said.

"If Emiko thinks she can replace me with that woman who made Robert abandon me for her, she's mistaken. And she'll pay." Kazumi said angrily.

"I'm assuming we will not be using one of our agents for that." Dante said.

"No. Reach out to the underworld, see who's available in the local Star City criminal underground, I want to make them think that it's just a random killing, not a professional hit." Kazumi said.

"I'll start making inquiries." Dante said, relieved to see that Kazumi's rage wasn't completely blinding her to everything.

"Never mistake my anger for recklessness. I will not jeopardize everything the Ninth Circle has accomplished just for my own revenge. But, perhaps the time is coming for us to consider coming out of the shadows, since it appears that the world knows we exist anyways." Kazumi said.

"I've had similar thoughts, but we'd need the council's approval to make a move like that." Dante said.

"Well, it's a good thing they wouldn't dare refuse us." Kazumi said with a smile, right before she walked up and kissed Dante, who returned it eagerly.