The Mark of the Talisman

Ambushed

It wasn't too long after the rain had started when trouble had started to brew. Xavier had noticed a black van had been intentionally trailing him for awhile. 'Most likely waiting for me to do something. Or maybe a cue.' Right when he formed this thought the car stopped slightly behind him, and he noticed two men dressed in suits get out, and started running as soon as he saw they were armed.

They didn't hesitate before starting to open fire at him, a bullet hitting his arm causing him to wince. He quickly turned a corner and then another, and another. The streets were so linear that he was forced to either run down an open area or be forced to turn, and because of this, the men always stayed on his trail. Xavier sighed, for he knew he wasn't in danger as much as they thought he was.

And with a few more twist and turns, Xavier lost them by going inside a hotel and walked into the elevator, ignoring the receptionist telling him to check in. Upon entering the elevator, a familiar voice spoke out to him.

"It's been quite awhile, hasn't it, Xavier? Best not to keep your friends waiting for so long." Xavier chuckled, when he heard his voice, confirming the lack of danger he was in.

"I guess you're right, Mr.Ri. I've just been too caught up to check my mail recently. But you know you're welcomed at my house anytime, so this ploy was honestly a waste of time. For everyone involved."

"Normally I would agree with you, but I was quite bored, so for me the whole scene was quite entertaining." Mr.Ri held up a small monitor, showing the front of the building he ran into, the camera rapidly approaching. Mr.Ri then pulled a small radio out his pocket with his free hand and spoke into it. "The target has been apprehended. You'll receive your pay shortly."

"So I was right. You hired killers to shoot air soft guns at me and didn't even alert them of any of this."

"Of course! They wouldn't have put nearly as much effort into chasing you down otherwise. I wanted this to be as exciting as possible. And it was quite exciting."

"You're just as crazy as last time. So anyways you've got my attention and my time. What do you need." At that moment, the tall, seemingly faceless man began to pull off his mask, revealing a face with the upmost of seriousness upon it. "I needed to tell you that the Anguis aren't who they used to be. They most likely have a new, more sinister and intelligent head of adminstation in there, and he's after something big. The hostages he has taken so far may seem random but they were all ex C.I.A and F.B.I operatives. On top of that the few robberies that were composed by them have been at museums, targeting books like spell tomes and conspiracies."

Xavier considered what Mr.Ri had told him. The case of the Anguis was recently given to Xavier, so all of this was new information to him. But assuming that all this was true, his previous encounters and knowledge of the Anguis would now be invalidated. And on top of that he's still dealing with the case of 'The Psycho,' which didn't help any. "How about we head to my place and you tell me everything you currently know about the new Anguis. Any information would be extremely useful right now. The last thing we need is a revolution by them." Mr.Ri nodded and slipped his mask back on.

"We should get on our way. And quickly, you're already soaked." Xavier looked down, just noticing the puddle on the floor he had created.

"I must be out of it to have forgotten about being wet. This whole day is just a big mess."

Mr.Ri pulled out an umbrella from within his overcoat and handed it to Xavier. "You probably need this more than I right now."

Xavier gladly took the umbrella. "Thank you."

Mr.Ri nodded and pressed the open button on the elevator and walked out. "We should hurry. The rain is only going to get worse. I'll drive to your place."

"Between getting caught in a storm and allowing you to drive me home, I have no ideal which is worse."

They both had a short laugh before proceeding out the elevator and out of the building. Xavier noticed Mr.Ri's red sports car parked away in an alley way across the street, parallel to the street he entered saw the building from. He's actually thought of everything. Sometimes I have to remind myself that he's sided with justice. Upon reaching his car, Mr.Ri took off his mask once more and tucked it away into one of his pockets and unlocked the doors. Both Xavier and Mr.Ri climbed inside and for a second both sat in silence. Mr.Ri started the car and they made their quiet trip to Xavier's house.

It wasn't until Mr.Ri had passed four traffic lights until either one of them had said anything to the other.

"It appears everything is going even more down hill than before," Mr.Ri stated, breaking the painful silence between the two.

Xavier thought about the statement before agreeing. "Agreed. You'd think the more people trying to stop and help would decrease the amount of people actually trying to do sick stuff and try to lead cults. But now it holds true that power attracts evil. I guess that just means we'll have to work harder."

Mr.Ri smirked. "I find the invitation of challenge like this exciting. It's not often doing normal work that you get to test the limits of your own intellect as we do. The cases where your head starts spinning are the runs most exciting. And when you finally get to the bottom of it and make the big arrest, it's as if all crime halts for a second, as if it's scared of your very presence, until another comes into the fray starting the cycle over again."

Xavier had never really considered his stance about how his job makes him feel, but hearing Mr.Ri tell how he feels, he realizes that it's almost the same as his feelings towards the job. "You know, for once I actually agree with you. At least almost. Apparently you aren't as much as a crazy psycho genius problem solver as I thought you were." They both once again shared a laugh together.

"Or maybe you're one too and you're just starting to realize this. Join the dark side, Xavier. We have criminal masterminds."

"That's extremely tempting, but I'll decline for now. Maybe." They both once again shared a laugh together as Mr.Ri pulled into Xavier's drive way.

"Alright, let's go in and get settled. This is going to be a very long night ahead of us." Xavier nodded and got out of the car and walked to his door, Mr.Ri in tow. He unlocked it and threw the door open, immediately followed by a white blur jumping out at Mr.Ri.

Xavier quickly realized what happened but it was too late. "No!"