Into the Fire
Nov. 13th, 2008 03:09 am![[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: 24. event horizon
Word Count: 3,441
Summary: Hei has been “caught” by the Syndicate and now has to fight his way out in order to save Yin.
Author Notes/Warnings: Blood, death, happy Contractory violence. AGAIN.
He was in a locked room with bare walls and very little furniture. There were no windows. There was no metal or conductive material of any kind—they had made sure of that. The building itself didn’t have power; it sat in one of the districts closer to the Gate that had largely been abandoned after its appearance. The whole area had been without power for maybe five years now. Hei’s weapons and his coat had been confiscated.
Unfortunately for them, the Syndicate didn’t know about the Astral Plane.
Hei arrived back in his chair in the middle of the room. The zip ties were cut and some of the people on the Plane had given him wire. He had knives in every available pocket, stolen from the Astral Kitchen. Yin was located one floor beneath him, and the agents were spread out throughout the building. At least one Contractor was guarding Yin. Another Contractor was posted outside Hei’s door—a huge, quiet man with the ability to dissolve whatever he touched.
Hei settled into the chair and glared at the door. He would have to take the Contractor out as quickly and as quietly as possible. Everything now depended on speed and silence.
First things first. Hei couldn’t open the door from the inside. It would need to be opened from the outside. The question was how to get the Contractor outside to open the door and come in without alerting his comrades. For all Hei knew the Contractor had orders not to open the door under any circumstances.
He folded his hands in his lap and considered the door.
Then he stood up very carefully and made his way slowly across to the wall next to the door, testing the floor for loose floorboards before he took a step. Once his back was to the wall he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
It wasn’t like electricity. This was subtler and a lot more difficult to keep under control. Hei wasn’t even sure he would be able to do it without the help of the Meteor Fragment. But sinking into that power, giving himself over to it was much the same. His mind seemed to spread out until he could feel all of the pathways from molecule to molecule, from himself to the wall, from the wood to the air, from the air to the old and dead electrical system that ran through the building like veins. That would be useless for his purposes now, so he shifted his awareness away from it. Only this room. Only this room and its door.
It started slowly, a tiny hum like a strong current in overhead telephone wires. He could feel, actually feel the molecules in the room shifting.
Not too much. Just enough. Just barely enough.
The room started to glow blue, faintly at first but then as brightly as a small sun. The light filtered through the cracks in the door and out into the hallway beyond. The room started to shake. Hei gritted his teeth. This was a lot harder than it had been in the Gate, a lot harder than he had expected. He felt the molecules of the Contractor outside move.
That’s right. Come on. You can’t ignore the glowing room. Come and see.
The room was shaking harder now, the glow intensifying even further. Hei heard a key in a lock and then the door was opening. As soon as the door opened enough for the man to step through, Hei’s eyes snapped open and he pulled himself back out of the power. The sensation of awareness disappeared. The blue glow vanished as if a switch had been flicked.
The Contractor stood in the doorway, hand still on the door, staring at the center of the room and the empty chair where Hei had been sitting. He was an enormous European, a foot or so taller than Hei. He looked Nordic, with dark hair and a thick beard. He was wearing thick rubber gloves; all of the others that Hei had seen were wearing them as well. Hei stayed pressed against the wall, not daring to move or even breathe.
The Contractor took two more steps into the room. Hei moved behind him, as silent as a ghost, and thrust his hand upward toward the man’s head.
The man dodged with speed that belied his bulk and before Hei had time to be surprised the man’s hand was wrapping around Hei’s wrist. He yanked and Hei stumbled forward. It was as though his arm was in a vice.
The Contractor stared down at him through cold brown eyes and Hei glared right back, trying not to look as scared as he felt. The acid lady from weeks ago had been one thing, but this Contractor could dissolve Hei’s entire arm if he wanted to.
But then the Contractor shoved him away, just hard enough to make Hei stumble.
“You won’t save her with tactics like those, BK-201,” he said with a dry, thick accent.
Hei stared at him, his eyes widening slightly. He didn’t move. The man grunted.
“If you take the elevator shaft you should find an access panel into the operating room on the second floor. The door will be unlocked. The Doll is being held directly down the hall from there, six doors on the right. There is one guard. The others are scattered throughout the building. There are two others on this floor and three around your Doll. Your weapons are in a locked room next to the Doll. The bottom floor is swarming, so you’ll have to go out through a window or via the roof.”
It took Hei a moment to find something to say to that.
“Who...are you?”
“TN-145.”
“Why are you doing this?” Hei narrowed his eyes. “There’s no logical—”
“Logical reason? I beg to differ. Word has gotten around since that incident in the Gate.” There was a momentary flicker of some emotion in the Contractor’s eyes, gone almost as soon as it had appeared. “They’re saying you saved us both.”
Hei said nothing.
“Go. They’re dehydrating her.”
Hei took off, but not before muttering a thank you.
-------
Avoiding the two Contractors on the third floor wasn’t too difficult. No one was as skilled as moving through darkness as the Black Reaper. Hei was breaking into the elevator shaft before they could even notice something was wrong. TN-145 had closed the door behind him and was back at his post, looking as though nothing unusual had happened.
The shaft was pitch black without even the smallest trace of light. Hei had no choice but to rely on his powers once more. The Russell Synchrotron glow lit the area just enough that he could navigate, casting unusual shadows of the cables and pulleys against the shaft walls. Hei launched a wire upward and wrapped it around the pulley mechanism, which was infinitely more difficult without his utility belt. It took Hei three tries to get it wrapped correctly.
He swung out to the cables and climbed his way down, abandoning a whole length of wire. The metal cables bit into his palms. It had been a long time since he had tried climbing down something without support. When he was almost to the second floor his hands slipped. Hei wrapped his legs around the cables and bit his tongue to keep from screaming as the cables shredded his palms.
Hei clung there for a moment, breathing and trying to block out the burning sensation in his hands. Then he launched another wire and swung over to the access panel, kicking it off its hinges. He managed to grab the panel before it could fall to the bottom of the shaft and summon anyone with working ears in the entire building.
He crawled another few feet through the duct into the operating room and dropped down to the floor, landing in a crouch. Light was creeping around the edges of the door—the agents must have lit lamps in the hallway. Hei tried the handle; it was unlocked, as TN-145 had said. He opened it only enough that he could peek out into the hallway.
One Japanese man was standing by an apartment door, exactly six doors down. A woman who looked vaguely Hispanic was further down the hall, walking toward what looked like a set of stairs.
Hei drew two of the steak knives from his pockets and pushed the door open.
The first knife struck the man in the neck, dropping him with a thud; the second knife planted into a wall, shearing off a few of the woman’s hairs. She whirled and Hei dodged as her outline glowed blue and she made a violent upward gesture with her hand. There was a rush of upward wind where Hei had been standing.
He ran toward her, drawing a third steak knife. She snarled and made another violent gesture and suddenly Hei was lifted off the ground. He hit the ceiling and was momentarily crushed against the light fixtures before the woman dropped him to the floor.
She started walking towards him.
“You live up to your legend, BK-201. How did you manage to get this far without the alarm being raised?”
She didn’t see the wire until the last second, and only had time to raise her hand to try and block it. The wire wrapped around her wrist and then electricity was streaking down its length, only to spark and fail as it reached her rubber gloves.
“Nice try, but you’ll—”
He coiled the wire around his bloodied hand and yanked. She was pulled forward and off balance, but made a thrusting motion as she fell. Something hit Hei’s chest with the force of a punch, launching him back down the hallway. She yelped in pain as she was dragged along with him, the wire getting tangled around both of her arms.
As soon as the fog before Hei’s eyes cleared he pumped her full of electricity. Her eyes bulged and she convulsed once, then went still.
He stood up slowly, panting and swaying, dizzy. There was no time to try and get his wind back; Yin needed him. He stumbled down the hall, using the wall for support and leaving bloody handprints. Once he reached her door he gave the knob an experimental twist, but it was locked. Hei crouched down near the dead Japanese man and started rifling through his pockets. Finally he found the key.
Yin’s room was as dark and barren as Hei’s had been. She was similarly tied to a chair and was doubled over, her normally expressionless face twisted in pain, her silver hair in her face.
“Yin.”
She shifted. “Hei. Hei. Hei.”
He crossed the room and knelt down in front of her.
“It’s alright. I’ve got you.”
“Hei. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. None of this was your fault, understand?” There was a shout from a floor below and Hei gritted his teeth. There was no time.
He stood up and moved around behind her, cutting the zip ties binding her wrists with the butcher knife he’d taken from the kitchen. She let out a shaky sigh of relief and twined her hands in Hei’s, ignoring the blood.
“You came for me.”
“Of course I did.”
“What do we do now?”
“We escape. Then we worry about the next step. Can you walk?”
She nodded and stood, so shakily that she almost fell against him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders to support her.
“I’ve got you. Let’s go.”
-------
They were almost to the door when a gun rounded the corner, followed by a tall man with long blond hair. He grinned when he saw them and aimed for Hei’s chest; Hei moved automatically in front of Yin.
“Almost, BK-201, but not quite.”
Hei shoved Yin to the ground and ducked as the man fired. The man’s eyes sparked red at the same moment that Hei drew his final steak knife and threw it, hoping to knock the gun out of his hand.
The man moved before the knife even left Hei’s hand. He aimed and Hei dodged. The gun went off.
The bullet grazed Hei’s shoulder and he snarled like a wounded lion, dropping and rolling until he hit a wall.
“Yin, hide,” Hei said in a strangled voice as the blond Contractor walked into the room, laughing. Yin scrambled to her feet and took refuge beneath a rotting desk.
“You pride yourself on your speed, don’t you? They say you’re the fastest Contractor in existence. Lightning and all that. But I think you’ll find that I’m far faster than you.”
Hei threw a wire, but the Contractor was moving again before Hei had even gathered it into his hand. The Contractor swung the barrel of the gun at Hei’s head; Hei jerked backward, but somehow the Contractor had already moved, as if he’d anticipated Hei’s very thoughts. The gun connected with the side of Hei’s head and stars exploded before his eyes.
The next thing he knew he was being shoved against a wall and the gun was being pressed to his forehead.
“Haven’t figured it out yet, Black Reaper? You know, this ability comes with a heavy, heavy obeisance. I don’t like using it very often.”
Hei grabbed the gun and forced it upward, bringing his knee up into the Contractor’s gut at the same time. The man doubled over and the gun was knocked away. Hei reached to grab the man’s throat, but then the Contractor’s eyes sparked. One hand wrapped around Hei’s wrist, the other grabbed his upper arm and he threw Hei over his back and to the ground like an expert martial artist.
How—how the hell—?
There was no time even to complete the thought, because as soon as Hei hit the floor the man’s heel was coming down on him. Hei rolled out of the way—or thought he did—but the man just shifted position. His foot came down on the gunshot wound in Hei’s shoulder. Hei screamed.
“Still haven’t figured it out, have you?” The Contractor grinned and twisted his heel. Hei made a strangled sound. “Fine, then, I’ll tell you. My name is October. These eyes see the future, BK-201. Three seconds into the future. It’s not much, but it’s enough to see your movements before you even decide to make them. You see, Mr. Reaper? I’m faster than you.”
There were footsteps coming up the stairs now. Others were coming to see what all the noise was about. Hei couldn’t move.
“Too bad, to get all this way for nothing. But you’re in my sights now. There’s no escaping once I’ve got my eye on you. This little attempt just means the torture will be—”
The Contractor didn’t see it coming; even Hei didn’t see it coming. There was a flash of silver and purple and then the chair was connecting with the Contractor’s head. He grunted and collapsed to the side, unconscious. Yin was holding the shattered remains of the chair, and for the first time in his life Hei saw Yin looking angry.
He stared up at her a moment, dumbstruck, but then the chair fell from her hands with a clatter. Hei groaned and pulled himself to his feet. He grabbed Yin by the hand.
“Come on. We’re out of time.”
-------
They made it into the room next door before the others could reach the second floor. Hei’s things were piled on a rotting couch. He pulled on the coat first and grabbed up the utility belt. He never thought he would miss his weapons so badly.
This room had a window. Outside, within jumping distance, was a fire escape.
“Back up.”
Yin backed away and Hei grabbed an old metal lamp and smashed it clean through the window. Then he took Yin’s hand and led her forward. Out in the hall the agents were yelling, their footsteps getting closer.
“There’s a fire escape five feet down and two feet to the left. I can help you out onto it, but can you climb down on your own?”
“Yes.”
“Meet me at the street corner. If they come after you, run. Head for that temple I showed you—you remember? Mu is there; he’ll help you.”
“What about you?”
“I need to make sure they don’t follow. Now come on.”
A man kicked his way into the room just as Hei helped Yin up onto the windowsill.
“Jump!”
She leapt. Hei held his breath until she landed safely on the fire escape, and that was when the first bullet hit his back.
Hei had never in his life been so grateful for the bulletproof jacket.
He launched a wire, a proper wire from his utility belt and it coiled around the gunman’s neck. Ten thousand volts entered the man’s brain, killing him instantly. He had scarcely hit the floor when two men and two women shoved their way into the room. One woman stepped forward and flicked what seemed to be a wad of paper at Hei.
He knew better. He dodged and the ball of paper exploded in midair.
After that it was chaos. The room was small and Hei could barely maneuver. The other woman and both men opened fire. Hei crouched low and raised one arm to protect his head, throwing the butcher knife with the other. The knife planted into a man’s chest and then Hei was forced to roll to the side as two wads of paper exploded near his feet. The room was soon aglow with Russell Synchrotron radiation and alive with bullets. Hei had no room to move, and his coat could only do so much. The bullets that did hit struck with bruising force; one clipped his unprotected ankle and he almost collapsed.
There was nothing for it—he needed to get out of this room.
He charged forward and barreled into the nearest woman’s stomach, knocking her against the man and driving them all the way out into the hall. A paper ball came sailing at Hei and he dove forward as the explosion ripped out part of the wall and the door.
When Hei stood again he realized he was trapped between two groups of agents. TN-145 was there as well, standing farthest from Hei.
Hei looked back and forth between them as the remaining human agents leveled their guns on him. He weighed his options.
He only had one choice left.
“The Doll is gone.”
“Forget it. We have what we wanted. Give up, BK-201. There’s no escape now. Make the logical choice.”
Hei smirked. The logical choice…
He closed his eyes and sank himself as deeply into his power as he could.
The molecules, the atoms, the infinite pathways and possibilities manifested around him. He could feel the shift and flow, the reorganization of electrons. He understood only some of it, and even then only subconsciously. A push here; a pull there; that was all it took.
The blue glow started around him and spread out to encompass the floor, the walls, the ceiling, the agents, until the entire top half of he building was glowing.
“What the—”
“Don’t just stand there admiring it, shoot the bastard!”
Hei heard the gunshots as if they came from far away. He opened his eyes. The bullets turned to black dust in midair and trickled to the floor. Two of the agents had dropped to the floor and were covering their ears as if assaulted by a cacophony. A third was seizing on the floor.
Push and pull. Shift and flow.
What am I doing? How am I doing this? Is this what Bai…?
Suddenly he tasted blood and his hold on the power fractured and shattered. The strength drained out of him like water and he almost sank to his knees. He brought the back of his hand to his nose; it was bleeding profusely, and he could taste blood in the back of his throat. He swayed and braced himself against the wall.
For a moment there was silence and no one moved.
Then one of the women screamed.
“My ability! What did—how—he took my ability!”
Hei summoned the last of his strength and bolted for the open window. On the windowsill he looked back. The agents were only just starting to collect themselves. TN-145 was standing in the doorway, his expression unreadable.
The man nodded once. Then Hei leapt out and was gone.
quirkypeanutbluCharacter/Fandom: Hei/Darker than BLACK
Prompt: 24. event horizon
Word Count: 3,441
Summary: Hei has been “caught” by the Syndicate and now has to fight his way out in order to save Yin.
Author Notes/Warnings: Blood, death, happy Contractory violence. AGAIN.
He was in a locked room with bare walls and very little furniture. There were no windows. There was no metal or conductive material of any kind—they had made sure of that. The building itself didn’t have power; it sat in one of the districts closer to the Gate that had largely been abandoned after its appearance. The whole area had been without power for maybe five years now. Hei’s weapons and his coat had been confiscated.
Unfortunately for them, the Syndicate didn’t know about the Astral Plane.
Hei arrived back in his chair in the middle of the room. The zip ties were cut and some of the people on the Plane had given him wire. He had knives in every available pocket, stolen from the Astral Kitchen. Yin was located one floor beneath him, and the agents were spread out throughout the building. At least one Contractor was guarding Yin. Another Contractor was posted outside Hei’s door—a huge, quiet man with the ability to dissolve whatever he touched.
Hei settled into the chair and glared at the door. He would have to take the Contractor out as quickly and as quietly as possible. Everything now depended on speed and silence.
First things first. Hei couldn’t open the door from the inside. It would need to be opened from the outside. The question was how to get the Contractor outside to open the door and come in without alerting his comrades. For all Hei knew the Contractor had orders not to open the door under any circumstances.
He folded his hands in his lap and considered the door.
Then he stood up very carefully and made his way slowly across to the wall next to the door, testing the floor for loose floorboards before he took a step. Once his back was to the wall he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
It wasn’t like electricity. This was subtler and a lot more difficult to keep under control. Hei wasn’t even sure he would be able to do it without the help of the Meteor Fragment. But sinking into that power, giving himself over to it was much the same. His mind seemed to spread out until he could feel all of the pathways from molecule to molecule, from himself to the wall, from the wood to the air, from the air to the old and dead electrical system that ran through the building like veins. That would be useless for his purposes now, so he shifted his awareness away from it. Only this room. Only this room and its door.
It started slowly, a tiny hum like a strong current in overhead telephone wires. He could feel, actually feel the molecules in the room shifting.
Not too much. Just enough. Just barely enough.
The room started to glow blue, faintly at first but then as brightly as a small sun. The light filtered through the cracks in the door and out into the hallway beyond. The room started to shake. Hei gritted his teeth. This was a lot harder than it had been in the Gate, a lot harder than he had expected. He felt the molecules of the Contractor outside move.
That’s right. Come on. You can’t ignore the glowing room. Come and see.
The room was shaking harder now, the glow intensifying even further. Hei heard a key in a lock and then the door was opening. As soon as the door opened enough for the man to step through, Hei’s eyes snapped open and he pulled himself back out of the power. The sensation of awareness disappeared. The blue glow vanished as if a switch had been flicked.
The Contractor stood in the doorway, hand still on the door, staring at the center of the room and the empty chair where Hei had been sitting. He was an enormous European, a foot or so taller than Hei. He looked Nordic, with dark hair and a thick beard. He was wearing thick rubber gloves; all of the others that Hei had seen were wearing them as well. Hei stayed pressed against the wall, not daring to move or even breathe.
The Contractor took two more steps into the room. Hei moved behind him, as silent as a ghost, and thrust his hand upward toward the man’s head.
The man dodged with speed that belied his bulk and before Hei had time to be surprised the man’s hand was wrapping around Hei’s wrist. He yanked and Hei stumbled forward. It was as though his arm was in a vice.
The Contractor stared down at him through cold brown eyes and Hei glared right back, trying not to look as scared as he felt. The acid lady from weeks ago had been one thing, but this Contractor could dissolve Hei’s entire arm if he wanted to.
But then the Contractor shoved him away, just hard enough to make Hei stumble.
“You won’t save her with tactics like those, BK-201,” he said with a dry, thick accent.
Hei stared at him, his eyes widening slightly. He didn’t move. The man grunted.
“If you take the elevator shaft you should find an access panel into the operating room on the second floor. The door will be unlocked. The Doll is being held directly down the hall from there, six doors on the right. There is one guard. The others are scattered throughout the building. There are two others on this floor and three around your Doll. Your weapons are in a locked room next to the Doll. The bottom floor is swarming, so you’ll have to go out through a window or via the roof.”
It took Hei a moment to find something to say to that.
“Who...are you?”
“TN-145.”
“Why are you doing this?” Hei narrowed his eyes. “There’s no logical—”
“Logical reason? I beg to differ. Word has gotten around since that incident in the Gate.” There was a momentary flicker of some emotion in the Contractor’s eyes, gone almost as soon as it had appeared. “They’re saying you saved us both.”
Hei said nothing.
“Go. They’re dehydrating her.”
Hei took off, but not before muttering a thank you.
-------
Avoiding the two Contractors on the third floor wasn’t too difficult. No one was as skilled as moving through darkness as the Black Reaper. Hei was breaking into the elevator shaft before they could even notice something was wrong. TN-145 had closed the door behind him and was back at his post, looking as though nothing unusual had happened.
The shaft was pitch black without even the smallest trace of light. Hei had no choice but to rely on his powers once more. The Russell Synchrotron glow lit the area just enough that he could navigate, casting unusual shadows of the cables and pulleys against the shaft walls. Hei launched a wire upward and wrapped it around the pulley mechanism, which was infinitely more difficult without his utility belt. It took Hei three tries to get it wrapped correctly.
He swung out to the cables and climbed his way down, abandoning a whole length of wire. The metal cables bit into his palms. It had been a long time since he had tried climbing down something without support. When he was almost to the second floor his hands slipped. Hei wrapped his legs around the cables and bit his tongue to keep from screaming as the cables shredded his palms.
Hei clung there for a moment, breathing and trying to block out the burning sensation in his hands. Then he launched another wire and swung over to the access panel, kicking it off its hinges. He managed to grab the panel before it could fall to the bottom of the shaft and summon anyone with working ears in the entire building.
He crawled another few feet through the duct into the operating room and dropped down to the floor, landing in a crouch. Light was creeping around the edges of the door—the agents must have lit lamps in the hallway. Hei tried the handle; it was unlocked, as TN-145 had said. He opened it only enough that he could peek out into the hallway.
One Japanese man was standing by an apartment door, exactly six doors down. A woman who looked vaguely Hispanic was further down the hall, walking toward what looked like a set of stairs.
Hei drew two of the steak knives from his pockets and pushed the door open.
The first knife struck the man in the neck, dropping him with a thud; the second knife planted into a wall, shearing off a few of the woman’s hairs. She whirled and Hei dodged as her outline glowed blue and she made a violent upward gesture with her hand. There was a rush of upward wind where Hei had been standing.
He ran toward her, drawing a third steak knife. She snarled and made another violent gesture and suddenly Hei was lifted off the ground. He hit the ceiling and was momentarily crushed against the light fixtures before the woman dropped him to the floor.
She started walking towards him.
“You live up to your legend, BK-201. How did you manage to get this far without the alarm being raised?”
She didn’t see the wire until the last second, and only had time to raise her hand to try and block it. The wire wrapped around her wrist and then electricity was streaking down its length, only to spark and fail as it reached her rubber gloves.
“Nice try, but you’ll—”
He coiled the wire around his bloodied hand and yanked. She was pulled forward and off balance, but made a thrusting motion as she fell. Something hit Hei’s chest with the force of a punch, launching him back down the hallway. She yelped in pain as she was dragged along with him, the wire getting tangled around both of her arms.
As soon as the fog before Hei’s eyes cleared he pumped her full of electricity. Her eyes bulged and she convulsed once, then went still.
He stood up slowly, panting and swaying, dizzy. There was no time to try and get his wind back; Yin needed him. He stumbled down the hall, using the wall for support and leaving bloody handprints. Once he reached her door he gave the knob an experimental twist, but it was locked. Hei crouched down near the dead Japanese man and started rifling through his pockets. Finally he found the key.
Yin’s room was as dark and barren as Hei’s had been. She was similarly tied to a chair and was doubled over, her normally expressionless face twisted in pain, her silver hair in her face.
“Yin.”
She shifted. “Hei. Hei. Hei.”
He crossed the room and knelt down in front of her.
“It’s alright. I’ve got you.”
“Hei. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. None of this was your fault, understand?” There was a shout from a floor below and Hei gritted his teeth. There was no time.
He stood up and moved around behind her, cutting the zip ties binding her wrists with the butcher knife he’d taken from the kitchen. She let out a shaky sigh of relief and twined her hands in Hei’s, ignoring the blood.
“You came for me.”
“Of course I did.”
“What do we do now?”
“We escape. Then we worry about the next step. Can you walk?”
She nodded and stood, so shakily that she almost fell against him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders to support her.
“I’ve got you. Let’s go.”
-------
They were almost to the door when a gun rounded the corner, followed by a tall man with long blond hair. He grinned when he saw them and aimed for Hei’s chest; Hei moved automatically in front of Yin.
“Almost, BK-201, but not quite.”
Hei shoved Yin to the ground and ducked as the man fired. The man’s eyes sparked red at the same moment that Hei drew his final steak knife and threw it, hoping to knock the gun out of his hand.
The man moved before the knife even left Hei’s hand. He aimed and Hei dodged. The gun went off.
The bullet grazed Hei’s shoulder and he snarled like a wounded lion, dropping and rolling until he hit a wall.
“Yin, hide,” Hei said in a strangled voice as the blond Contractor walked into the room, laughing. Yin scrambled to her feet and took refuge beneath a rotting desk.
“You pride yourself on your speed, don’t you? They say you’re the fastest Contractor in existence. Lightning and all that. But I think you’ll find that I’m far faster than you.”
Hei threw a wire, but the Contractor was moving again before Hei had even gathered it into his hand. The Contractor swung the barrel of the gun at Hei’s head; Hei jerked backward, but somehow the Contractor had already moved, as if he’d anticipated Hei’s very thoughts. The gun connected with the side of Hei’s head and stars exploded before his eyes.
The next thing he knew he was being shoved against a wall and the gun was being pressed to his forehead.
“Haven’t figured it out yet, Black Reaper? You know, this ability comes with a heavy, heavy obeisance. I don’t like using it very often.”
Hei grabbed the gun and forced it upward, bringing his knee up into the Contractor’s gut at the same time. The man doubled over and the gun was knocked away. Hei reached to grab the man’s throat, but then the Contractor’s eyes sparked. One hand wrapped around Hei’s wrist, the other grabbed his upper arm and he threw Hei over his back and to the ground like an expert martial artist.
How—how the hell—?
There was no time even to complete the thought, because as soon as Hei hit the floor the man’s heel was coming down on him. Hei rolled out of the way—or thought he did—but the man just shifted position. His foot came down on the gunshot wound in Hei’s shoulder. Hei screamed.
“Still haven’t figured it out, have you?” The Contractor grinned and twisted his heel. Hei made a strangled sound. “Fine, then, I’ll tell you. My name is October. These eyes see the future, BK-201. Three seconds into the future. It’s not much, but it’s enough to see your movements before you even decide to make them. You see, Mr. Reaper? I’m faster than you.”
There were footsteps coming up the stairs now. Others were coming to see what all the noise was about. Hei couldn’t move.
“Too bad, to get all this way for nothing. But you’re in my sights now. There’s no escaping once I’ve got my eye on you. This little attempt just means the torture will be—”
The Contractor didn’t see it coming; even Hei didn’t see it coming. There was a flash of silver and purple and then the chair was connecting with the Contractor’s head. He grunted and collapsed to the side, unconscious. Yin was holding the shattered remains of the chair, and for the first time in his life Hei saw Yin looking angry.
He stared up at her a moment, dumbstruck, but then the chair fell from her hands with a clatter. Hei groaned and pulled himself to his feet. He grabbed Yin by the hand.
“Come on. We’re out of time.”
-------
They made it into the room next door before the others could reach the second floor. Hei’s things were piled on a rotting couch. He pulled on the coat first and grabbed up the utility belt. He never thought he would miss his weapons so badly.
This room had a window. Outside, within jumping distance, was a fire escape.
“Back up.”
Yin backed away and Hei grabbed an old metal lamp and smashed it clean through the window. Then he took Yin’s hand and led her forward. Out in the hall the agents were yelling, their footsteps getting closer.
“There’s a fire escape five feet down and two feet to the left. I can help you out onto it, but can you climb down on your own?”
“Yes.”
“Meet me at the street corner. If they come after you, run. Head for that temple I showed you—you remember? Mu is there; he’ll help you.”
“What about you?”
“I need to make sure they don’t follow. Now come on.”
A man kicked his way into the room just as Hei helped Yin up onto the windowsill.
“Jump!”
She leapt. Hei held his breath until she landed safely on the fire escape, and that was when the first bullet hit his back.
Hei had never in his life been so grateful for the bulletproof jacket.
He launched a wire, a proper wire from his utility belt and it coiled around the gunman’s neck. Ten thousand volts entered the man’s brain, killing him instantly. He had scarcely hit the floor when two men and two women shoved their way into the room. One woman stepped forward and flicked what seemed to be a wad of paper at Hei.
He knew better. He dodged and the ball of paper exploded in midair.
After that it was chaos. The room was small and Hei could barely maneuver. The other woman and both men opened fire. Hei crouched low and raised one arm to protect his head, throwing the butcher knife with the other. The knife planted into a man’s chest and then Hei was forced to roll to the side as two wads of paper exploded near his feet. The room was soon aglow with Russell Synchrotron radiation and alive with bullets. Hei had no room to move, and his coat could only do so much. The bullets that did hit struck with bruising force; one clipped his unprotected ankle and he almost collapsed.
There was nothing for it—he needed to get out of this room.
He charged forward and barreled into the nearest woman’s stomach, knocking her against the man and driving them all the way out into the hall. A paper ball came sailing at Hei and he dove forward as the explosion ripped out part of the wall and the door.
When Hei stood again he realized he was trapped between two groups of agents. TN-145 was there as well, standing farthest from Hei.
Hei looked back and forth between them as the remaining human agents leveled their guns on him. He weighed his options.
He only had one choice left.
“The Doll is gone.”
“Forget it. We have what we wanted. Give up, BK-201. There’s no escape now. Make the logical choice.”
Hei smirked. The logical choice…
He closed his eyes and sank himself as deeply into his power as he could.
The molecules, the atoms, the infinite pathways and possibilities manifested around him. He could feel the shift and flow, the reorganization of electrons. He understood only some of it, and even then only subconsciously. A push here; a pull there; that was all it took.
The blue glow started around him and spread out to encompass the floor, the walls, the ceiling, the agents, until the entire top half of he building was glowing.
“What the—”
“Don’t just stand there admiring it, shoot the bastard!”
Hei heard the gunshots as if they came from far away. He opened his eyes. The bullets turned to black dust in midair and trickled to the floor. Two of the agents had dropped to the floor and were covering their ears as if assaulted by a cacophony. A third was seizing on the floor.
Push and pull. Shift and flow.
What am I doing? How am I doing this? Is this what Bai…?
Suddenly he tasted blood and his hold on the power fractured and shattered. The strength drained out of him like water and he almost sank to his knees. He brought the back of his hand to his nose; it was bleeding profusely, and he could taste blood in the back of his throat. He swayed and braced himself against the wall.
For a moment there was silence and no one moved.
Then one of the women screamed.
“My ability! What did—how—he took my ability!”
Hei summoned the last of his strength and bolted for the open window. On the windowsill he looked back. The agents were only just starting to collect themselves. TN-145 was standing in the doorway, his expression unreadable.
The man nodded once. Then Hei leapt out and was gone.
