The Boy With The Walking Stick

Byrne had never seen such a grown up child.

The boy sitting across from him was barely fourteen, but the CIA man had glimpsed his dark eyes and knew this was a kid who had seen too much.

The boy was dressed completely in black. His hair was black, his face was pale, and his eyes seemed to look into your very soul. He had a silver ring on his finger with a skull engraved on it, and what Byrne thought was a night-black waking stick hanging from a pouch on the child's waist. The boy radiated cold and death and such raw power for a second, the CIA agent had been paralysed. Then he'd welcomed the uneasy child.

"Hello, son," he greeted, and the boy looked up. His face flickered with something, but then it was blank again.

"Good morning, Mr Byrne," he replied, and his voice sent shivers down the older man's spine as he took a seat behind his desk.

"Who told you my name?" Byrne asked. The boy shrugged.

"I know and hear many things people think I shouldn't be able to," he replied coolly. The CIA head shuffled in his chair.

"Well, I assume you know why you're hear, Mr…"

He trailed off, hoping the young male would supply his name.

"Di Angelo," the boy said. "Nico di Angelo. And I certainly am sure of why I'm here."

Byrne nodded and sorted some papers. He looked up at Nico, then settled for staring at the youth's pale cheek. His eyes were too unnerving.

"Well, the fact is Nico, I'm not sure we can give you what you want."

Nico raised an eyebrow and the CIA agent wasn't sure it was his imagination that the temperature in the room dropped several degrees.

"Why is that?" Nico asked, his voice soft but cutting. Byrne squirmed.

"You're a minor, son," he said. "And not to mention that you shouldn't even know about that man, much less want to get him out of custody so you can, as you said, 'give him his justice accordingly.'"

Nico didn't move. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the nervous man in front of him.

"Believe me, sir. He is no man. I'm afraid he had wounded my – along with my family's – pride, and my father has demanded that he be returned from whence he came." Nico grinned, and Byrne felt himself freeze. "Which would be my place."

"Where would your place be," the man whispered. Nico shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh, everyone ends up there eventually. But not many come back out. And it is always my duty to bring back any, shall we say, lost souls."

Byrne felt he was missing something. What Nico said was simple enough, but he put emphasis on the lost souls part, and Byrne knew there was a double meaning there that he would never understand. He stared at the boy.

"Who do you work for?"

Nico looked up, surprise flashing in his face.

"Excuse me?"

Byrne looked directly into the boy's eyes and forced himself not to flinch. He might be dealing with a spy from another government agency, attempting to release the arrested man their conversation was about.

"Who hired you to come here and get this criminal out, Nico? What agency sent you, and where is your house?"

Nico was quiet.

Byrne's mind raced. The di Angelo's must be training criminals, then sending them out to make trouble. But, Nico had said not many come back out...

People must die in there.

Reaching this conclusion, Byrne stood up abruptly. Nico tensed and the CIA man pressed a button underneath his desk. Four armed guards poured through the doorway.

"Nico, I am sorry, but until you answer our questions and we've tracked down your family, you will have to stay here. Take him."

The guards reached for Nico's upper arms and one produced a set of cuffs, but before anyone could move, the black walking stick was out and pointed at Byrne's throat. Everyone froze, because it wasn't a walking stick anymore.

A pitch black, glistening blade was less than an inch from the head of the CIA's jugular vein.

"I didn't want to," Nico said slowly. "But you played my hand. That man you arrested – Opir Gellner – isn't a man. I told you this before, Mr Byrne. He has escaped from my father's place and no one but the most dangerous and powerful has done that. He is not a man. Now, you must hand him over, so he can return to the area where he belongs. Do not worry, we will pass judgement on him, and it will be far more successful than yours, I can tell you."

The guards were all frozen with an almost physical fear that seemed to be weighing them down. Nico stood with the blade still pointed at Byrne's neck.

"Would you tell me where you put him?"

No one moved. They were all stunned. Here was a fourteen year old boy in the heart of the CIA and demanding information. Not to mention the long, black sword that had appeared out of nowhere and the darkness that was suddenly creeping over the office. Nico frowned slightly.

"You'll be meeting my father sooner than you'd like if you don't tell me where Gellner is."

"W-We'll tell you, Nico!" Byrne said, stuttering to unlock his jaw from its clamped position. He'd been grinding his teeth as long-buried fears started swimming to the top. Nico lowered his sword. The sudden darkness vanished as soon as it had come. He stepped away and everyone's shoulders drooped as if an actual weight had been lifted off them.

"We'll tell you," Byrne said again. "If you do something for us."

Nico frowned again. He'd spared their lives, what more did they want? But they were already too suspicious, so he had to play along.

"What kind of something?" He asked. Byrne nodded and the guards fanned out around the door. The man sat back down at his desk and tried to act normal as he pulled out a file.

"This man here, Nico." Nico went closer to see a picture of a small, plain-looking man with black-stained teeth, a crooked tie, a tweed suit and curly silver hair. He wasn't looking at the camera, but Nico could see a greedy glint in the way his face was positioned. He was holding a briefcase.

"What about him?"

Byrne handed the file over.

"He's a known drug smuggler to American teens. There have been over four deaths related to the elicit substances found in their systems. We know he is responsible, but we can't pin him down. He won't sell to adults and he somehow always knows when any of my agents go near."

"And you want me to bring him in," Nico finished. He sighed. What a waste of his time.

"Well, I wouldn't ask normally because you're a child, not to mention this was the first time I've been in face-to-face contact with you, but the last time we used a teenager in a mission it was a success."

Byrne left out the fact two of his agents had died during that same mission. Nico nodded slowly.

"I suppose I could. It shouldn't take long, either." He looked at Byrne and slid the file back over, the picture committed to memory. "I'll be back by midnight with this man, and you will give me Gellner. Deal?"

He held out his hand. Byrne had a look of complete confusion on his face.

"Midnight? Tonight?"

Nico nodded impatiently.

"You can't possibly have caught him by then!" Byrne said, shock evident in his voice. Nico rolled his eyes and smiled, making him look like a vampire who had found its next meal.

"I can and I will, Mr Byrne. Trust me, I'll be back in here by midnight tonight with your target. But you had better keep up your end of the deal."

Nico turned and walked towards the door. The guards let him through and as soon as the hinges creaked shut, Byrne let his head fall onto the desk.

Who was this boy?

One of the guards stepped forward, his face uneasy.

"Sir," he said. "Why?"

Byrne looked up.

"You saw him, McGaggon. A child doesn't just walk into the CIA with a sword, of all things, and isn't seen. A child doesn't demand he be given a criminal to deal with. What I am seeing, men, is another Agent Rider. But his search will give us time to determine whether he can be trusted.

"Now, find out what you can about the di Angelo's," he ordered one of the men. "We need to know whether Nico's family is involved in criminal training."

The man asked left the room, leaving the other three to stand guard. Byrne looked at them.

"You three go and guard Mr Gellner. It is possible that, if di Angelo is working for an opposing company, he might try and break him out. Don't let anyone in."

They nodded as well and left. Byrne sighed and slid the file closer to him. He looked over the contents and wondered exactly how Nico would manage to get the slippery man to the CIA agent's office by midnight.

I KNOW I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON! Starting this new story was so bad of me but this idea was bugging me and I haven't seen any others like this around, and I thought why the Hades not? So here it is. Hope you like it and please review.