Chapter 12
The next morning I woke up as I normally did. I got up early and took a good while to workout. Oddly enough, I would be receiving some unexpected, and unwanted, visitors that particular morning. After working out I was in the kitchen drinking some water when I heard my elevator coming to a stop at my floor. 'Thats strange, no one is allowed up here unless I give permission or they're fa-'. My thought was cut short when my entire mind was filled with utter and complete dread. I felt like I was back in the arena with the redneck. The doors slid open slightly and I realized that while it was bad, it was not entirely bad. Out stepped a man about 5'6 with perfectly combed long dirty blonde hair and a goatee wearing a dark blue suit and pants, a white button up shirt, and a red tie. Behind him walked a 5'2 girl with a brown braid down the back of her neck wearing a white dress with cherry blossoms on it.
"Hey, brother!" The man said enthusiastically.
"Hello," I answered, surprised, to my younger brother, Tony, and younger sister, Sarah,"why are you here? I thought you were in Japan." I said to my sister, who had been using her money to tour the world and had most recently been in Japan.
"How did you know?" She asked me. I looked at my brother.
"Did you not tell her?" I asked him even though I knew what the answer was.
"Tell me what?" She asked.
"He's been having you followed and monitored by satellite." I said as my brother was giving me the signal to stop talking. She looked at Tony, who happened to be the only one to not have taken a martial arts form, with malice and Judo flipped him onto the tile floor of my kitchen.
"If you're going to fight, please take it to the gym." I said as the anime-like scene unfolded in front of me. Backstory time! When our father died I was 7, my brother was 5, and my sister was 4. He left one of his most trusted chairmen in charge of us and the company until we were of age, at which point we were entitled to the will and we could do what we wanted with our lives. My sister and I both took Kung fu, however she also took judo and knife throwing while I took Tai chi, boxing and pistol firing. She and I grew quite close because we would often spar each other using our varied martial arts forms. My brother was a different story. We would always fight growing up and it would be up to our sister to break us apart, one way or another. Last time we talked we didn't exactly leave off on the right foot, but he was the type of person who always seemed in a cherry mood. He and my sister were quite close because they both understood business ideas and had worked together several times for the company. I was lead out of my world of nostalgia by a voice coming from behind me.
"Jack, who are these people?" I looked behind me to see Anne halfway down the stairs. To any normal person she would look tired, as if she had just gotten out of bed, which she pretty much had. To the trained eye however, she looked like she was ready to fight an army if she needed to, based on just her subtle movements. Her hand was resting on her shoulder, which would look normal, if I didn't know that was where she kept her flamethrower.
"I see you finally got yourself a girlfriend. I'm surprised you actually got one." Tony said in a joking tone having already recovered from his judo flip.
"She's not my girlfriend and you've been single all of your life, you've never even dated anyone. You're in no position to make jokes." I pointed out.
"I'm a temporary transfer from another station of work. Jack was nice enough to let me stay here without rent." Anne said.
"Anne, this is my sister, Sarah, and my brother, Tony." I told her. She shot me a questioning glare before replying with a friendly smile.
"Nice to meet you both." She said.
"Well if you'll excuse me I'm off to go shower." I said, walking past Anne up the stairs. After I showered I came downstairs to find that Tony and Sarah were on the couch discussing some business deal and Anne was nowhere to be found. After I inquired of her whereabouts I learned that she to was taking a shower. As I was about to leave for work Anne came down the stairs in a black button up shirt, her usual camo jacket, and jeans with her hair tied back in a ponytail. She had a new pair of gray Vans on.
"Let's go Jack." She said to me. I nodded in reply. As we were about to walk into the elevator I realized that I would be leaving my siblings in my house, alone.
"Don't move or break anything and don't go in the master bedroom, if you do, you're dead. Got it?"
"Whatever." Tony said. I hesitantly got in the elevator with Anne and hit the lobby button. As we walked out the building in silence I could feel the air get more tense.
"I thought you were an orphan." She said with an annoyed voice.
"I am, as are they." I told her.
"You said there was no one close to you that could be used against you."
"No, I said I was an orphan. I never said I didn't have siblings."
"They can be used to get you killed, or worse, expelled from the games."
"In what way is that worse than death?" I asked her.
"Do you not remember the part about eternal torture?" She asked.
"Yeah, I remember. They aren't going to be used against me though. I honestly wouldn't care if my brother was hurt or killed and my sister is going back to Japan soon. If it makes you feel any better, I'll follow her to the terminal. Besides, she's as good as either of us at fighting and she keeps an armed bodyguard with her at all times." I told her.
"How can you not care about what happens to your brother?!?" She asked.
"We've always hated each other, since we were kids. The only reason we get along is because of our sister." I told her.
"I can't believe you." She said.
"This coming from the girl who slowly broke every finger on a man she didn't even know."
"Shut up." She said, clearly in a bad mood. After a while of walking we were almost at my work.
"We're gonna have to cancel dinner tonight." I mumbled.
"Yeah." She said.
"Your sister said she traveled all over the world since she was eighteen. How does she still have enough money?" She asked me.
"Whenever she works with Tony's company she gets a large sum of money." I told her.
"Makes sense." We walked in silence until we got to my work.
"Since you can't stay at the house today, and you can't come into work with me why don't you do whatever you did before you stayed at my house." I said waving her off.
"Fine." She said.
"Come back at 8:30." I yelled as she disappeared into an alleyway.
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