Electromagnetism
May. 14th, 2008 02:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
contract_starAuthor: ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
quirkypeanutblu
Character/Fandom: Hei/Darker than BLACK
Prompt: 15. close combat
Word Count: 1,790
Summary: A handful of Moratoria are running loose in Tokyo, and one of them seems to have a special interest in Hei.
Author Notes/Warnings: Blood, death, and happy Contractory violence XD
Mao didn’t believe it at first.
“You can’t be serious,” he said, raising his head to look at Huang. “Moratoria are rare enough; for there to be five in the city, and all at the same time—”
“The information is solid,” Huang said, cutting him off. He gritted his teeth and lit a cigarette. Hei had gotten good at being able to tell when Huang was irritated, and when he was just acting normal. It was hard to differentiate with Huang. This, however, was the former.
“Syndicate doesn’t know why, and they’re having a hard time tracking them. They’re only loosely acting together, and they don’t seem to have any ties. Just mindless, murdering zombies running around the city.”
Hei said nothing, which of course wasn’t unusual. He sat on the playground bench, still and silent, absorbing the conversation. This incident could be perfectly harmless; an effect of the sunspots, perhaps. Some idiotic yakuza’s mistake. Or it could be the Twins again, in which case it was Hei’s business and no one else’s.
Mao’s hackles had risen. “Moratoria…this could get messy. And the police will likely be all over it. Is it possible that they’re connected with Amber?”
Hei flinched at that, his nails digging into the wooden bench. Amber, it always came back to Amber…
But Huang was shaking his head. “Syndicate doesn’t think so. The MO doesn’t fit. They’re running wild, off the leash. Six dead already, two of them Contractors.” He gave the others a sharp look. “We have orders to find them and take them out before they send the whole damn city into chaos. Only thing is, we’re not gonna be able to track ‘em. One of the Moratoria has the ability to attack Dolls through their specters. Replacing Yin would be too much a hassle, so she’s out.”
Hei heard the guarded concern under Huang’s words; Huang had acted differently with Yin since the time she ran away. Hei looked at her now, but Yin’s face was as expressionless as ever.
“How are we to find them, then?” Mao asked.
Huang smirked. “We follow the trail of bodies.”
-------
The explosion tore raindrops apart. Glass blew out of the front window of a convenience store, followed by a counter and several shelves; bags of potato chips and instant ramen made it out to the sidewalk across the street. The alarm was going off. Three minutes until the cops showed up.
A boy, fifteen maybe, stumbled out of the wreckage, coughing. He stepped onto clear pavement and looked out at the street, but saw nothing. The lights for the entire block were out, casting the area in pitch darkness.
Movement. The boy turned.
Hei materialized out of the darkness, white mask almost seeming to glow. He was close enough to see the boy’s eyes. Dead, soulless, lost. The eyes of a Moratorium were the worst, somewhere between Contractor and Doll, somewhere between sheer destruction and emptiness.
The Moratorium reacted immediately. There was no Russell Synchrotron glow, no flash of red eyes as warning; just a slight shifting of posture, and then the Moratorium let out a whistle. One long, low trill.
Hei had already moved.
The shockwave caused by the whistle tore chunks out of the pavement and shattered every window within a twenty-yard radius. Streetlights and parking meters were blown against walls with enough force to pierce concrete.
Silence again, and the boy waited, listening, watching. Hei was behind him before the boy could even react.
The boy jerked as electricity coursed into his brain and down through his heart. He screamed only once and then collapsed. Then it was just the rain.
There was the jingle of a small bell and Mao padded forward out of the night, fur soaked. He shook himself off and inspected the boy’s body.
“Two down,” he said. “You were slower this time. Feeling tired?”
Mao didn’t expect an answer, so Hei didn’t give one, but the cat was right. Three days of tracking the damn Moratoria, following a path of destruction like that of a typhoon. Not to mention the Astral Plane, which was something Hei couldn’t explain to Mao anyway. The thought of what Kirihara had told him was keeping Hei up nights. And the nightmares didn’t exactly help.
Mao shook off again. “I tracked the third one to their safehouse; the other two have fled.” He tilted his head at the sound of approaching sirens. “Let’s go.”
They went. Hei wasn’t in the mood for more cops.
He was distracted, which was why he didn’t notice the girl.
-------
Two days later and only one Moratorium remained. Yin at least would be able to help this time; Hei had taken out the woman who could attack Dolls through their specters only the night before.
It had been a rough night, mostly because of things well beyond Tokyo and Moratoria.
Yin was having trouble with this one. The Moratorium was evasive, clever in ways Moratoria weren’t supposed to be. Hei was beginning to wonder if this one was like Tahara’s daughter—a Moratorium slowly transforming into a Contractor, though it was a one in a million chance. Either way, it didn’t matter. Yin couldn’t find the target, even after a whole night of exhaustive searching. The team dispersed a few hours before dawn.
It was four AM, and Hei was tired and very hungry. He had been to the Plane, but—sorrow of sorrows—no free meals this time. Best to just stumble back to the apartment, try to sleep a few hours before another day of hunting.
She was waiting for him a block before his apartment, at the corner. A girl in her twenties, a Westerner with red hair. Hei was reminded, briefly, of Havoc. He knew what she was as soon as her eyes met his.
“I waited.”
“Why?”
“Attraction. We’re intertwined.” She considered him for a moment. “I need to kill you.”
He drew his knife and she pressed two fingers to her lips, her eyes sliding out of focus.
The knife wrenched itself in her direction of its own accord. Hei gritted his teeth, trying to keep hold of it. The coils of wire in his belt, the grappling hooks, even the eyeholes in his boots all seemed to want to drag him toward the red-haired Moratorium.
Magnetism, he thought, and then he understood her words. His powers were useless; electricity would mean nothing to her.
He released the knife and it flew in her direction, soared around her like a trained falcon and shot back toward Hei. He was already running. The knife came at him and he dropped and rolled, back on his feet in an instant as the knife planted itself into the side of a building.
“Kill you, kill you…” she chanted, voice hollow. She was chasing him. Perfect.
He needed open ground, some place with less metal; she had the advantage for now, but he could win it back. He couldn’t use his powers or his weapons—but he hadn’t gotten a reputation as the Black Reaper on those alone. You used what you had; everything you had.
There was a whistling sound behind him. He dodged right and a trashcan lid sailed by, straight through a window. A chain-link fence ripped itself free from the ground with a shriek of metal against concrete and flew at him like some kind of deranged bird. Dodge left, hop a fence, cut through an alley. It had been awhile since someone had had him on the run like this.
“Kill you, kill you…”
He’d been wrong; she wasn’t clever or evasive; she was just insane. A Moratorium could never fully control its abilities—their minds just weren’t built for it. Her powers had driven her mad.
Something slashed past his arm, but he ignored the pain and the sudden sticky warmth. No time to think, only time to react.
There.
A playground, plastic and wood and concrete, open areas, places to hide. He melted away into the shadows and waited, controlling his breathing.
She stepped into the park, dead eyes casting about for him, lidding slightly when she couldn’t find him. Her gaze dropped to her feet and she stumbled briefly, bringing a hand up to cover her face. Her abilities were catching up with her.
“Please come out,” she called softly. “Please come out.”
He needed a weapon. An opening. An opportunity.
Two fingers to her lips; a metal bench groaned as it was uprooted like a daisy, a streetlight crumpled like an accordion and crashed to earth. Bolts and nuts and nails tore free of the playset under which Hei was hiding, and he leapt free as the whole thing blew itself apart. Shrapnel fell to earth around him, but he was already moving again, grabbing a piece of split wood off the ground.
She was turning toward him now, and she pressed her fingers to her lips again. The metal supports from the playset jumped free of the wreckage and shot toward him from all sides. He rolled, dodging the poles, one of which pierced a tree. Back on his feet a moment later and—
Another pole, coming out of nowhere. No time to dodge.
It slashed past his side and he dropped, letting out a bark of pain. No ignoring it this time. The gash was deep, and blood was spreading fast, too fast. He pitched forward and went still.
The Moratorium stared at him for a moment, eyes giving away nothing. Her hand covered her face again. She started to walk forward, slowly, her legs shaking from the overuse of her power. He wasn’t moving.
“Are you dead?”
It happened in an instant. Suddenly he was on his feet, rushing forward, and the piece of wood in his hand, which she hadn’t seen until then, was burying itself just under her breastbone, at an upward angle to pierce her heart.
Her blood spilled out over his hands and she collapsed against him, coughing blood onto his shoulder.
“Intertwined,” she muttered. And then she sighed as the life left her body.
Hei lowered her slowly to the ground and stood there for awhile, holding his side and staring down at the dead Moratorium. The park was a mess. The Syndicate would be pissed at him; Huang would be pissed at him. Hei didn’t care.
He looked up in time to see her star fall.
The gash in his side decided to remind him of its presence and he hissed through his teeth. He stumbled backward until his back hit a wall and he slid to the ground. Sirens were howling already; no time to recover and escape.
He would have to make time.
quirkypeanutbluCharacter/Fandom: Hei/Darker than BLACK
Prompt: 15. close combat
Word Count: 1,790
Summary: A handful of Moratoria are running loose in Tokyo, and one of them seems to have a special interest in Hei.
Author Notes/Warnings: Blood, death, and happy Contractory violence XD
Mao didn’t believe it at first.
“You can’t be serious,” he said, raising his head to look at Huang. “Moratoria are rare enough; for there to be five in the city, and all at the same time—”
“The information is solid,” Huang said, cutting him off. He gritted his teeth and lit a cigarette. Hei had gotten good at being able to tell when Huang was irritated, and when he was just acting normal. It was hard to differentiate with Huang. This, however, was the former.
“Syndicate doesn’t know why, and they’re having a hard time tracking them. They’re only loosely acting together, and they don’t seem to have any ties. Just mindless, murdering zombies running around the city.”
Hei said nothing, which of course wasn’t unusual. He sat on the playground bench, still and silent, absorbing the conversation. This incident could be perfectly harmless; an effect of the sunspots, perhaps. Some idiotic yakuza’s mistake. Or it could be the Twins again, in which case it was Hei’s business and no one else’s.
Mao’s hackles had risen. “Moratoria…this could get messy. And the police will likely be all over it. Is it possible that they’re connected with Amber?”
Hei flinched at that, his nails digging into the wooden bench. Amber, it always came back to Amber…
But Huang was shaking his head. “Syndicate doesn’t think so. The MO doesn’t fit. They’re running wild, off the leash. Six dead already, two of them Contractors.” He gave the others a sharp look. “We have orders to find them and take them out before they send the whole damn city into chaos. Only thing is, we’re not gonna be able to track ‘em. One of the Moratoria has the ability to attack Dolls through their specters. Replacing Yin would be too much a hassle, so she’s out.”
Hei heard the guarded concern under Huang’s words; Huang had acted differently with Yin since the time she ran away. Hei looked at her now, but Yin’s face was as expressionless as ever.
“How are we to find them, then?” Mao asked.
Huang smirked. “We follow the trail of bodies.”
-------
The explosion tore raindrops apart. Glass blew out of the front window of a convenience store, followed by a counter and several shelves; bags of potato chips and instant ramen made it out to the sidewalk across the street. The alarm was going off. Three minutes until the cops showed up.
A boy, fifteen maybe, stumbled out of the wreckage, coughing. He stepped onto clear pavement and looked out at the street, but saw nothing. The lights for the entire block were out, casting the area in pitch darkness.
Movement. The boy turned.
Hei materialized out of the darkness, white mask almost seeming to glow. He was close enough to see the boy’s eyes. Dead, soulless, lost. The eyes of a Moratorium were the worst, somewhere between Contractor and Doll, somewhere between sheer destruction and emptiness.
The Moratorium reacted immediately. There was no Russell Synchrotron glow, no flash of red eyes as warning; just a slight shifting of posture, and then the Moratorium let out a whistle. One long, low trill.
Hei had already moved.
The shockwave caused by the whistle tore chunks out of the pavement and shattered every window within a twenty-yard radius. Streetlights and parking meters were blown against walls with enough force to pierce concrete.
Silence again, and the boy waited, listening, watching. Hei was behind him before the boy could even react.
The boy jerked as electricity coursed into his brain and down through his heart. He screamed only once and then collapsed. Then it was just the rain.
There was the jingle of a small bell and Mao padded forward out of the night, fur soaked. He shook himself off and inspected the boy’s body.
“Two down,” he said. “You were slower this time. Feeling tired?”
Mao didn’t expect an answer, so Hei didn’t give one, but the cat was right. Three days of tracking the damn Moratoria, following a path of destruction like that of a typhoon. Not to mention the Astral Plane, which was something Hei couldn’t explain to Mao anyway. The thought of what Kirihara had told him was keeping Hei up nights. And the nightmares didn’t exactly help.
Mao shook off again. “I tracked the third one to their safehouse; the other two have fled.” He tilted his head at the sound of approaching sirens. “Let’s go.”
They went. Hei wasn’t in the mood for more cops.
He was distracted, which was why he didn’t notice the girl.
-------
Two days later and only one Moratorium remained. Yin at least would be able to help this time; Hei had taken out the woman who could attack Dolls through their specters only the night before.
It had been a rough night, mostly because of things well beyond Tokyo and Moratoria.
Yin was having trouble with this one. The Moratorium was evasive, clever in ways Moratoria weren’t supposed to be. Hei was beginning to wonder if this one was like Tahara’s daughter—a Moratorium slowly transforming into a Contractor, though it was a one in a million chance. Either way, it didn’t matter. Yin couldn’t find the target, even after a whole night of exhaustive searching. The team dispersed a few hours before dawn.
It was four AM, and Hei was tired and very hungry. He had been to the Plane, but—sorrow of sorrows—no free meals this time. Best to just stumble back to the apartment, try to sleep a few hours before another day of hunting.
She was waiting for him a block before his apartment, at the corner. A girl in her twenties, a Westerner with red hair. Hei was reminded, briefly, of Havoc. He knew what she was as soon as her eyes met his.
“I waited.”
“Why?”
“Attraction. We’re intertwined.” She considered him for a moment. “I need to kill you.”
He drew his knife and she pressed two fingers to her lips, her eyes sliding out of focus.
The knife wrenched itself in her direction of its own accord. Hei gritted his teeth, trying to keep hold of it. The coils of wire in his belt, the grappling hooks, even the eyeholes in his boots all seemed to want to drag him toward the red-haired Moratorium.
Magnetism, he thought, and then he understood her words. His powers were useless; electricity would mean nothing to her.
He released the knife and it flew in her direction, soared around her like a trained falcon and shot back toward Hei. He was already running. The knife came at him and he dropped and rolled, back on his feet in an instant as the knife planted itself into the side of a building.
“Kill you, kill you…” she chanted, voice hollow. She was chasing him. Perfect.
He needed open ground, some place with less metal; she had the advantage for now, but he could win it back. He couldn’t use his powers or his weapons—but he hadn’t gotten a reputation as the Black Reaper on those alone. You used what you had; everything you had.
There was a whistling sound behind him. He dodged right and a trashcan lid sailed by, straight through a window. A chain-link fence ripped itself free from the ground with a shriek of metal against concrete and flew at him like some kind of deranged bird. Dodge left, hop a fence, cut through an alley. It had been awhile since someone had had him on the run like this.
“Kill you, kill you…”
He’d been wrong; she wasn’t clever or evasive; she was just insane. A Moratorium could never fully control its abilities—their minds just weren’t built for it. Her powers had driven her mad.
Something slashed past his arm, but he ignored the pain and the sudden sticky warmth. No time to think, only time to react.
There.
A playground, plastic and wood and concrete, open areas, places to hide. He melted away into the shadows and waited, controlling his breathing.
She stepped into the park, dead eyes casting about for him, lidding slightly when she couldn’t find him. Her gaze dropped to her feet and she stumbled briefly, bringing a hand up to cover her face. Her abilities were catching up with her.
“Please come out,” she called softly. “Please come out.”
He needed a weapon. An opening. An opportunity.
Two fingers to her lips; a metal bench groaned as it was uprooted like a daisy, a streetlight crumpled like an accordion and crashed to earth. Bolts and nuts and nails tore free of the playset under which Hei was hiding, and he leapt free as the whole thing blew itself apart. Shrapnel fell to earth around him, but he was already moving again, grabbing a piece of split wood off the ground.
She was turning toward him now, and she pressed her fingers to her lips again. The metal supports from the playset jumped free of the wreckage and shot toward him from all sides. He rolled, dodging the poles, one of which pierced a tree. Back on his feet a moment later and—
Another pole, coming out of nowhere. No time to dodge.
It slashed past his side and he dropped, letting out a bark of pain. No ignoring it this time. The gash was deep, and blood was spreading fast, too fast. He pitched forward and went still.
The Moratorium stared at him for a moment, eyes giving away nothing. Her hand covered her face again. She started to walk forward, slowly, her legs shaking from the overuse of her power. He wasn’t moving.
“Are you dead?”
It happened in an instant. Suddenly he was on his feet, rushing forward, and the piece of wood in his hand, which she hadn’t seen until then, was burying itself just under her breastbone, at an upward angle to pierce her heart.
Her blood spilled out over his hands and she collapsed against him, coughing blood onto his shoulder.
“Intertwined,” she muttered. And then she sighed as the life left her body.
Hei lowered her slowly to the ground and stood there for awhile, holding his side and staring down at the dead Moratorium. The park was a mess. The Syndicate would be pissed at him; Huang would be pissed at him. Hei didn’t care.
He looked up in time to see her star fall.
The gash in his side decided to remind him of its presence and he hissed through his teeth. He stumbled backward until his back hit a wall and he slid to the ground. Sirens were howling already; no time to recover and escape.
He would have to make time.
