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Misa huh... OF COURSE HER DAMN NAME WAS MISA! Was the universe playing some trick on him? Diego just stared at her. She wasn't like the other one at all. The choker around her neck, the way she dyed her hair, and even her voice. She was an angel. That much was clear to him.
"Diego! We're leaving," King yelled at him. Diego turned back and saw them leaving the airfield, but when he looked back, Misa was gone. In that moment, Diego started questioning his own sanity.
Diego caught up to King and the others. There were dozens of planes that had just landed, and his guess was she came from one of them too. A dark van was parked at the entrance of the airfield, and Diego could tell that was their ride to wherever they were supposed to go.
"The higher-up in charge wants to brief the Hunters selected for this mission," Frost said and got into the back of the van. King and Kidai followed, but Diego sat up front. Well, Frost was part of why he didn't sit with them, but then again, he wanted to see the view of Paris.
The streets of Paris rolled by in a steady stream of pale stone buildings and wide boulevards. Iron balconies and café terraces flashed past the window. The van crossed the river, and the Eiffel Tower rose in the distance, then the broad sweep of the Champs-Élysées came into view, lined with trees and traffic. But for a place called the city of love, it was really hard to spot many couples.
The van pulled up at one of the gates of what looked like a pyramid. People were flocking in like it was some sort of national attraction. They all got out of the van and followed Frost. Personally, Diego thought Kidai would make a better leader, especially because he wasn't out to kill him.
"Where exactly are we?" Diego asked.
"Pyramide du Louvre," Kidai answered and adjusted his glasses. "It's the most popular entrance to the Louvre Museum."
"Focus on the mission," Frost interrupted harshly. He shoved right past them and headed for the entrance.
"Asshole," Kidai muttered. Frost just glared back in response but didn't say anything else.
The group got to the entrance of the pyramid and got on an escalator. Diego looked up at the glass ceiling, and the morning glared down at him. He looked back down, and that's when he saw all the people staring at them. Diego couldn't even blame them. A brooding teenager with a katana, another standing over 7 ft tall, and a third covered from head to toe in red. Yeah, they were an odd bunch, and the only one of them who looked normal was Kidai.
Diego kept looking around. He saw information desks, ticket and security areas, and Misa. WAIT, MISA?! She was arguing with one of the security guards over something. Diego hid behind King when she turned in our direction. This wasn't a drama he was ready to relive, and she wasn't a girl he was ready to see ever again.
They reached the bottom of the escalator, and a few men in black escorted us deeper into the museum. At some point, they were underground, but Diego couldn't tell how deep they had gone. They ran into other Hunter groups. Most of them were young, just like them, and they were all escorted into a large auditorium.
At some point, Diego lost Frost and the others, but he knew he'd eventually find them later. Diego took his seat at the back of the crowd and looked down. The stage was the focal point of the auditorium. Wide, elevated, and equipped with lighting, curtains, and a podium.
"You're shorter than I remember." Diego's ears perked up when he heard a familiar voice beside him. He turned and saw ROMEO?! It hadn't even been a month, but Romeo had grown taller than Diego remembered... way taller. The last time Diego saw him, Romeo was around 4'11 "ft, but now he would be well over 5'4 ft. That wasn't supposed to be possible, was it?
"What happened to you?" Diego asked.
"I turned 11," Romeo answered plainly.
"You say that like it explains everything," Diego sighed. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"I was kicked out of Helryh High for being too violent," Romeo spat out.
"Too violent?" Diego asked with piqued interest. The briefing hadn't started yet, and Hunters were still shuffling in, which meant Diego had some time to catch up with his brother.
"My principal told my Zany passing away made me... I had become too unstable." Romeo paused and looked away. "... So I froze the school."
"Sounds more like there's not a school to get kicked out of anymore," Diego joked.
"Shut up." Romeo glared, and just then, the curtains opened up.
All eyes were locked on the stage as an old man with grey hair and a stubby beard walked onto the podium. He wore a black suit, and from how silent all the other Hunters had gone, he was probably someone very important.
"Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!" the man began. "My name is Connor Daxton, and it's an honour to have you all here tonight!" That name rang a bell the moment both brothers heard it. He was the man Andrea talked about. He was a higher-up.
"So that's him," Romeo muttered and leaned into his seat. "I expected more."
"Every one of you here has been selected for a very important reason, but first, let me introduce you all to the incredible person who made this all possible." Connor stepped back and motioned his hand towards the curtains.
Out stepped a slender boy with soft, delicate features and pale skin. His straight black hair fell to his shoulders, cut with heavy, blunt bangs that completely covered his eyes in a wavy, curtain-like fringe. The tips of his hair were dyed a cool light blue.
He wore a fitted black sleeveless turtleneck mini-dress that hugged his slim frame, with bold white horizontal stripes running down one side. Long black-and-white striped arm warmers stretched from his wrists up past his elbows, and matching thigh-high stockings with the same striped pattern covered his legs. His overall look was soft, pretty, and slightly doll-like. The boy shuffled towards Connor and waved timidly to the crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the person that stands before you is the brains behind the future of AXE and humanity as a whole. Kelly Starr." Connor brought Kelly up on the stage, and the crowd of Hunters clapped in respect.
"What's with that guy?" Diego asked with genuine confusion. "He looks like a girl."
Romeo didn't answer at once. His eyes roamed the stage until they landed on a girl with golden hair with dyed tips at the edge of the stage where Kelly just came from. She seemed like she was with Kelly, but her eyes were fixed on one person, Diego.
"Do you know that person?" Romeo asked and pointed at the girl. Diego's gaze followed his brother's finger until he suddenly locked eyes with the girl from across the auditorium. It was Misa again!
"Shit..." Diego cursed and sunk deep into his chair so she couldn't see him anymore. "Is she still looking at me?" Diego whispered anxiously as Connor kept speaking. Diego leaned even deeper when a shadow fell over his face.
"I already saw you, dumbass," Misa said from behind him and poked the back of his head. She leaned down a little, arms resting on the back of his chair. This was the closest he had been to her, and he noticed the faint smell of smoke from her. "So, are you going to keep playing dead, or are you going to look at me?" Diego groaned in frustration but reluctantly sat up and shifted until he was facing her.
"I'm looking at you," Diego grumbled. "What do you want?" Romeo looked away the moment Misa popped up. For him, getting tangled in his older brother's drama seemed like an unreasonable chore. Misa noticed and smirked before shifting her attention back to Diego.
"What do I want?" she repeated, like the question itself was funny. "I want to get the hell out of this boring-ass auditorium." She tilted her head, eyes half-lidded, still watching him. "Come on. Let's ditch this place and go do something actually fun." A small, crooked grin pulled at her mouth. "Unless you'd rather keep hiding in your chair like a lost puppy."
That caught Diego off guard. "We can't just leave," Diego whisper-yelled. "This seems important, and besides, where would we even go?"
"We can't just leave," Misa mocked and leaned back with an even wider smirk. "Watch us." Without giving Diego any time to react, she grabbed Diego by his arm and dragged him off his seat and out of the auditorium. Once they were out, Misa took the lead, and at this point, the only thing he could do was follow her.
After walking for a while, they reached the main museum again. The first thing Diego noticed was the way the security guards and staff glared at Misa.
"What did you do to make them so angry?" Diego asked. Misa scoffed in response and glared back at them.
"They took my cigarettes," she said plainly.
"Cigarettes?" Diego blinked.
"Yeah." Misa still had her eyes locked on the French guard, jaw tight. "Confiscated them like I was some kind of criminal. All I did was light one outside." She finally looked back at Diego, a sharp little smirk tugging at her mouth. "I want revenge."
Diego blinked. "Revenge? Like... getting your cigarettes back?" Misa let out a short, quiet laugh, like he'd said the most ridiculous thing.
"Please. That's weak." She stepped closer, lowering her voice so only he could hear. "I'm thinking bigger. Much bigger." She glanced toward the museum entrance, then back at him, eyes gleaming with pure mischief.
"They want to take my shit? Fine. I'll take the most famous painting in the entire fucking building." Her finger pointed at a crowd surrounding a painting a small distance away, and when Diego saw what she was pointing at, his face paled slightly in shock.
"... Let's steal the Mona Lisa..."
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END OF CHAPTER 25