Part 2: The Darkness Rises

"So then I said: 'No mister Bond, I expect you to die!' Of course, he did not die afterwards and thwarted my plan. I only escaped by faking my death, and now I am plotting another way to get my revenge."

"Well then, you shouldn't talk about it in public, where your plans are easily overheard. Some useful advice for next time, Goldfinger."

The three men looked up from their table and turned to the man who had spoken last. He truly seemed like James Bond, although his hair was not quite right. He walked up to their table.

"And who might you be?" one of the men asked, hoping he would go out of character and say his real name.

"Bond. James Bond." Bond responded.

He looked at the bartender and rose his hand. The bartender noticed him.

"Vodka Martini, shaken, not stirred. Do any of you want anything?"

"Give me a pure Vodka please." Goldfinger responded, while the other two remained silent.

"Bartender, please add a pure Vodka to that as well!" Bond yelled at the bartender.

The bartender nodded, and started making the mix.

"So, mister Bond, where have you been for the past years?" Goldfinger asked.

"Ah, travelling the world, seeing beautiful places and occasionally stopping a super criminal here or there. You know, the usual."

Goldfinger smiled and the bartender came to them, the two drinks on a plate. Bond took the both of them and gave the pure Vodka to Goldfinger. Nobody noticed the small gesture Bond did before truly giving the drink: he placed the tip of his finger in the Vodka for just a splitsecond.

"Thank you, mister Bond. It is good to know that, even though we are enemies, you will still be a gentleman in my proximity."

Bond smiled. "No problem. I'm the gentleman spy for a reason, after all."

"Tell that to all the women you shagged." One of the others suddenly mentioned, resulting in a large laughter emerging from the table.

"Yes, quite indeed. They might not think me a gentleman." Bond said, as he took a sip from his drink.

He immediately spat it out again. "How can the real Bond drink this?"

Again, laughter emerged from the table. Goldfinger took a sip of his drink and then patted Bond on the back.

"Just his liking. Or maybe you are not quite gentleman enough."

Bond smiled. "Yes, that first ought to be it."

"Ah, too proud to admit you may not be a gentleman after all." Goldfinger said with a wink.

"Now please excuse me, I have villains to stop and a bad taste in my mouth to wash out." Bond said. He rose his wrist to his mouth, revealing some sort of device. "You can pick me up now."

"Is that Q's newest technology, mister Bond?" Goldfinger asked.

"Oh, I wish it was real and not just a fake." Bond responded.

Bond left to the exit, but sneezed halfway. Nobody noticed, but a small device was shot from his sleeve to the security camera. The device hit the wall, right under the security camera and was stuck there. A small arm with a cable came out and plugged itself in the camera.

"God bless you." A woman said.

Bond thanked her and then walked out of the bar. A car drove up. A girl with long dark hair drove it and she looked at him with green eyes. Bond stepped in the car and they switched places. Bond drove away.

"So, how did it go, 'mister Bond'?" the girl asked.

"Oh, Ahri, I amused myself an entire evening without having to hear somebody whining about how stupid it is to dress up like your favourite Bond movie character. So please, don't ruin it for me now. And it went perfectly, miss Moneypenny."

"Morgan, I'm not miss Moneypenny. I didn't even dress up like here. So please, shut the hell up."

Morgan knew that attitude all too well and laughed. "Fine. Let's see how things are going at the bar."

Ahri tapped the dashboard and a videoscreen in the middle of the car went on, showing the view the security camera could see. They looked at it and saw that nothing had happened yet. They did notice that 'Goldfinger's' glass was half full.

"Any second now."

Goldfinger scratched his nose and then his shirt, right over his heart. Suddenly he started spasming and gurgling. He broke the glass, leaving glass splinters in his hand, which started to bleed. He fell on the ground and onlookers rushed to help him, rubbing over his heart, trying to give him mouth-to-mouth or any other manner they thought they could help. The bartender was on the phone, probably calling an ambulance.

"Mission successful, I would say. The stuff they're doing won't really work against a subtle poison, and the poison itself will dissolve after five minutes, not leaving any traces." Ahri said.

Morgan nodded. The view on the screen switched to Ez. "Mission accomplished?"

"Mission accomplished, 'Q'." Morgan said. "Thanks for the awesome wrist communicator, by the way."

"No problem, mister Bond." Ez said with a wink. "I'll hack the security system of that bar to make sure the police can't find any traces of you. And if anything does go through, Tom will take it out for us and help us keep our cover."

Morgan nodded. "And how did the search of mister Goldfinger's room go?"

"Will reported that they did find an invitation of the AUW there. He did not yet destroy it, as it was an invitation for a meeting this evening. The specifics would be sent to him if he accepted the offer, but he declined. After all, he was at the party. You did a good job of tracking him, Morgan." Ez reported.

"I hoped he would meet up with some of those people at this party, however. I listened in on all his conversations, before murdering him, of course, but he did not give any useful information." Morgan said.

"Well, at least we have confirmation that he was indeed affiliated with the AUW in some way. I'll see you when you come back here." Ez said, before the video chat was disabled.

Ahri tapped the dashboard again and the video screen retreated back into the dashboard.

"Well, it seems we didn't really get much information out of this." Ahri said.

"Well, then that's the way it is. But it all went pretty well, and I got to do something fun." Morgan responded.

Ahri looked at him. "That's true."

They drove in silence for a while. The houses passed by, the people walking down the bustling streets of the city did too. Morgan noticed that Ahri had fallen a little deeper in her seat, so as to hide her from sight as much as possible, so she would not be recognized.

"Ahri, with what you're doing, you're only making yourself stand out more. Act natural, do as if we're just casually chatting." Morgan said.

Ahri looked at him and stubbornly kept still. "I've been hiding from people for almost my entire life, so don't start telling me now how to hide my presence from people, thank you."

Morgan shook his head and sighed. "Why must you be so stubborn? Can't you just listen to my advice for once?"

"I could do that, but after careful consideration for about a millisecond I thought your idea to be stupid, so I'll keep doing what I think is best." Ahri responded.

Morgan rolled his eyes and sighed. "Whatever."

'Why must you be so stubborn and unwilling to listen at times? And an even better question: why am I attracted to that behaviour?' Morgan thought to himself.

…

"Gentlemen," the blackened figure on the television said, "I am glad you all could make it."

There were six people sitting around a round table, with the television in plain view.

"Just hurry up already and tell us what the deal is. If my colleagues find out I'm here, it'll cost me." The man on the far right said.

"Patience, White. Before coming down to business, you should introduce yourself. At least, the first time you meet. Then you start talking business, which I already could be doing, had you not so blatantly interrupted me."

"My name isn't even..."

"Shut up, White. Don't you think we should use other names than our real names? Or do you wish to be easily caught? I don't think so, since 'being found out will cost you. So shut up and listen. I am the leader of the AUW, the Association for Underground Warfare. You may call me Elise. No, that is not my real name either, just to be clear, White."

White grumbled, knowing he was now going to forever be seen as the idiot of the group.

"We have a small number of groups under us that try to thwart the government wherever they can. However, this is a fake. A distraction. If I wanted, I could do something about the government right now. There is, although, a more elusive force at work. One which has to be eliminated. I think you all know of whom I talk."

"That nine-tails fox girl, I presume." White said, trying to change his image.

"Very good, White. This girl holds an immense power, known as the Nine-tails Fox. At least, so the story goes. We must not allow this girl and her power, if it exists, to fall in the hands of the government. Therefore, we will either catch her, expel her from this town, or kill her. And anybody who tries to defend her or help her will go too." Elise said.

"That may be your intentions, but you have no way of getting to her. She's very elusive, she hasn't been really spotted for a good five months, only some minor appearances here or there. The only times she lets her presence be known is when she steals some food or something when she needs it." A woman in the middle said.

"A good observation, Black. There is, however, a way to work around this. We get her to appear." Elise responded.

"A trap!" White proclaimed.

"Well, aren't you bright?" Elise mockingly said, causing White to get an angry face. "Yes, a trap indeed. And that's where you come in. You lay a trail for her, one that she can track and follow if we keep her interested enough. And then we can catch her."

"An ambitious plan." Black responded. "First, you talk about 'the immense power she might have' and then you're casually saying you will catch her. What makes you so sure you can catch her."

"I have my ways. Do you not think I already know where she is and that I have not met preparations for them? And since you all seem so surprised, I'll say it again. Yes, I know where she is. Also, I never lose." Elise responded.

"Still, knowing where she is and manipulating her into following a trail left behind by us is something completely different." Black said. "I think you're overestimating your abilities and our capabilities. Speaking of which, you want us to be your bait, but you have not yet told us what you want us to do. First say that, then we'll see further."

"My my, aren't you an intriguing one? I'm sorry, but I can't tell you what I have in store for you. I don't want to ruin all the fun already." Elise said.

"Well, then how can you be so sure we will agree with whatever you're proposing? This entire meeting has become a farce. I think everyone here will agree with me. You have only spoken out your intentions, yet you have not given details on how. You want us to listen and comply, without knowing about the plans. I think we all agree that you're talking a lot of crap. At least I know I do. I'm leaving. Don't ever contact me again, Elise." Black lashed out.

Black pushed her chair on the side and wanted to leave the room. However, when she took the door handle, she got a shock.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to leave the room now. After all, I don't think your sweet husband would survive that." Elise casually responded.

"What do you mean, my husband?" Black asked. "What did you do to him!"

The other people in the room also became restless. After all, if she had done something with a relative of one of them, maybe Elise had targeted their relatives too.

"See for yourself."

Elise rolled her chair to the side, showing six people in the room behind her. They all looked extremely beat up, and most of them were unconscious. All of them, actually, except for Black's husband, although he too, seemed to struggle to stay conscious.

"What have you done to them, you snake!" Another person yelled out.

"What does it seem like, Green? Torture? Beating them up?" Elise responded.

Elise walked up to Black's husband and took his face and forced him to look to her. "Tell me, James, do you fear death?"

"That person you have there is my daughter, you bitch!" White yelled out.

"Yes, I know. The rest of you family was here too. They did struggle a lot, however, so they've already been disposed of." Elise casually said, a small smile visible.

"You will pay for this!" Black yelled out, with the other five prepped up as well.

Elise smiled and a sound was heard, after which all six fell to the ground, grabbing their heads.

"Oh, I don't think so, Black. As I said, I never lose. In the end, I'll have everything. Yet you, you'll have nothing."

An evil laughter filled the room, mingling with the screams of the six people.

…

That evening, Ez lay on his bed, but he couldn't sleep. He got up from his bed and wandered through the building. He eventually got to the helipad and looked out over the city. The city was darker than usual, lights that were usually lit now unlit. The mountains surrounding the city with a few dark clouds surrounding them gave him a chilling feel. He looked up, where you could normally see the stars. The sky was clear, and since it was darker than usual, he should be able to see them, but none were visible. A thunder was heard in the distance.

"I have a bad feeling. Something terrible is going to happen…"

*James Bond theme: Everything or Nothing*

Yeah, yeah...

Time don't wait for no-one
So my heart and my time I refuse to waste
You thought you knew the score but
There's just so much more when you're caught in the race

What is love
Without a flame
What's a rose
Without a name
What is passion without pain
It ain't nothing more than an empty space

Give me Everything or Nothing
Give me Everything or Nothing at all
Everything or Nothing
Give me Everything or Nothing at all

(ooh)

He thought he knew who love was
'till he fell in the arms of another extreme
But who's to say things can't be changed
It's your world and tomorrow's not guaranteed

Can't drive a car without the keys
Give me the bowl cause a bite's just the tease
What good's the bottom without the top
And until I get it all, no, I'm not gonna stop, so

Give me Everything or Nothing (I want it all, I want it all!)
Give me Everything or Nothing at all
Everything or Nothing
Give me Everything or Nothing at all

Everything is all that I want
Everything is all that I want
Everything is all that I want, I take what I want
Everything is all that I want
Everything, I get what I want

Everything or Nothing (I take what I want)
Everything or Nothing (I get what I want)
Everything or Nothing (I take what I want)
Everything or Nothing (I get what I want)

What is love
Without a flame
What's a rose
Without a name
What good's the bottom without the top
And until I get it all, no, I'm not gonna stop, so

(screams)

Give me Everything or Nothing
Give me Everything or Nothing at all
Everything or Nothing
Give me Everything or Nothing at all

Give me everything...
Everything or Nothing at all
Give me everything...
Give me Everything or Nothing at all

Everything or Nothing (I take what I want)
Everything or Nothing (I get what I want)
Everything or Nothing (I take what I want)
Everything or Nothing (I get what I want)

Give me Everything or Nothing at all!

[A/N]: I hope you were not confused by the intro to this new part ^^. This is just a little teaser to the new part of the Dawn of the Nine-tails series: Darkness Rises. As you can see, Elise is plotting to capture Ahri. How will she try to accomplish this? Will she succeed? Or will Ahri and co. see through her plan and stop it dead in its tracks. And I quite agree with Black: Elise is an utter bitch. Also seems to have a huge ego too. We'll find out how they will fight this new enemy and unravel the Nine-tails past. I will see you next time! [A/N]