No Happy Ending
Sep. 9th, 2009 09:48 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; Jin/OC
Prompt: 084: Destroy (from the 100 Prompts Challenge)
Word Count:
Summary: Ladon is dead. Hei takes it out on the Syndicate.
Author’s Notes/Warnings: Angst. Explosions. Lots and lots of violence. Blood and drugs. This sort of became much more plot-significant than I originally intended halfway through. Also injecting Hei with drugs seems to be becoming a theme. Also it’s really...kind of choppy but oh well. I APOLOGIZE FOR THIS CRAP.
A stranger with orange hair had shown up at the door to room 201 carrying Ladon, who by then had been dead for about an hour. The stranger had been shaking and crying.
“I’m sorry. I was too late. I’m so sorry. I tried—I tried to get there in time, but I—I’m sorry.”
Gunshot wounds. Ladon’s chest was a ruin of flesh and dried blood and bone. Hei couldn’t see his face. Someone—the stranger, maybe—had wrapped it in a scarf, but from the amount of blood there it was obvious enough what had happened.
Hei’s first thought was that this was terrible timing.
His second thought was the hope that the wound to the head had come first. That Ladon had died quickly.
His third thought—and at this point he was pretty sure his mind was shutting down, for all the inanity of it—was that Ladon would have hated to have been found like this, with wings and a tail. Hei could practically hear him yelling about it.
Hei must have not said anything then, because the stranger kept babbling.
“It was Zuni. I don’t know if you know him. There was a chip. The chip made him crazy, maybe. I tried—I was—I didn’t know. I dealt with him. But I didn’t know. I didn’t know.” The stranger had hiccupped and looked ready to vomit before he visibly forced himself under control. “I can’t…I can’t bring him back to his world. I know you were…you were the only one I could think of. He should be in his world, but I can’t bring him there. I can’t. His key, I don’t know where it is. I’m sorry. I just thought…I thought you’d want to…”
The stranger didn’t finish. It didn’t matter. By then, Hei was barely listening.
Hei reached out and the stranger deposited Ladon’s body gently into Hei’s arms. Ladon weighed almost nothing.
Bastard didn’t eat enough.
“I’m sorry,” the stranger had been saying again. “If I had gotten there in time—”
“Thank you.” Hei’s voice sounded foreign to his own ears. “For bringing him to me.”
The stranger must have left after that. Hei wasn’t sure. He had stood there, holding Ladon for awhile—minutes, hours?—before walking down to the parking lot. Hotwiring one of the cars had been simple enough, and then Hei had driven out past the highway into the desert. It took him the rest of the day to dig into the hard desert earth and bury Ladon’s body.
It was the second time he had had to bury someone in the desert of Cicero. The first time, Ladon had helped him. The irony wasn’t lost on him.
Hei had sat out there for awhile, letting the light fade, watching the lights come on down in Cicero.
Had he loved Ladon? He wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter. It had been close. It had been enough.
He thought. He thought about Ladon. He thought about Zuni. He thought about the stranger, whose name he hadn’t bothered to learn. He thought about home, where the Syndicate was on their doorstep, where his team members were packing what they could. The war had started, and the core members of the Constellation were running, fleeing for Shanghai under the EPR’s protection.
Such terrible timing.
No. Hei had dug his nails into the dirt. He wouldn’t survive this if he just ran. He would snap. Break like a lightning-struck tree, and he would take his team with him. That was not going to happen.
Someone needed to die.
Hei got to his feet, dusted his hands off and returned to the Zanzibar.
-------
That had been four hours ago. Four hours and twenty-three minutes.
Ladon’s pocket watch kept remarkably accurate time.
It had taken that long to move the last of their things to Shanghai, via Hong, as well as for Hei to explain the plan to the others and convince them to go along with it. They had argued and refined the plan, and then they had needed time to secure the proper materials and clear Hei’s apartment building of all civilians. Hei was not going to allow any innocents to die tonight.
The others had wanted to stay with him for the whole duration. Any other time, Hei would have let them; they had as much of a need to avenge themselves against the Syndicate as Hei did. But was about much more than just the Syndicate. Hei needed to do this alone. And it was selfish, perhaps, but he wanted the rest of them to be safe. He didn’t think he could handle it if he lost anyone else.
It was cold in Sapporo, and raining again. Fall came to this part of the archipelago much sooner than it did the rest of the country. The winter would be cold; Hei could tell already. The winters here were one thing he knew he was not going to miss about Hokkaido. He and the others were already drenched as they waited on the roof across from Hei’s apartment building. Hong, TN-145 and Bindy had gone ahead to the boat; they had already done their parts.
Azure checked her watch. “Two hours until the boat leaves. You sure they’re coming?”
“I remember how they operate. I’m sure you do, too.”
“Course I do. But we’re short on time.”
“I still don’t like these odds,” Verde whispered from nearby. “Five of us against fifteen of them, and that’s only that we know of.”
Fox was smiling. Ironically enough, the grumpy Irishman was the only one here who was in a good mood. This sort of plan was his specialty.
“Be a good deal fewer once they walk into that death trap.” His voice was vicious. Hei found himself wondering, not for the first time, just what the Syndicate had done to him. Fox had never told them.
Hei kept his eyes fixed on the window of his old apartment. It was the only one in the building with the lights on. The curtains were drawn, but shapes were moving around within, casting vague silhouettes. It looked for all the world like someone was inside, wandering about the apartment. There was something else there as well—a faint, bluish glow cast against the window.
“There. Specter.” He nodded at his window and Azure turned slightly, peering through the scope of her sniper rifle.
“You were right,” she said as the glow faded. “They have a Doll with them.”
“Ah…” Verde went rigid. “I feel them. Here they come. Dios te salve, Maria, llena eres de gracia…”
They came from all sides, men and women, adults and teenagers, all making their careful way toward the apartment building. At least three of them clearly had guns; the others were either concealing their weapons or didn’t need them.
Verde was muttering something in Spanish. “Thirteen…sixteen of them. There’s another…five, no, six hanging back. Two roofs to the left. Another three down below, about fifty yards back, along the street. The Doll is with that group. And one more over—” Verde cut herself off abruptly with a shaky sigh. “That’s it. I’m sorry; my power faded.”
“It’s enough. Charge one and two, Fox.”
Fox was sitting with the detonator in his lap. He flipped one switch and then another, then settled his fingers over the triggers.
“Ready, Hei.”
“I really hope this works, fearless leader,” Azure muttered, watching as the Syndicate operatives began to enter the apartment building. Several went in through the front door; the rest went around to the sides and back to get in through the basement and windows.
“Yin, tell us when.”
Yin was sitting next to Hei, and when he spoke she simply nodded and reached out to take Hei’s hand. Her other hand was dipped in a puddle of water.
“Four of them are inside now,” she said after a moment. “I can hear them. Here come the others.”
They went in slow waves, ever careful not to attract attention. Once all sixteen were inside, however, they moved quickly and silently toward Hei’s apartment.
Twenty-six Syndicate agents; most of them Contractors, no doubt. The Syndicate had sent nothing short of an army after them.
On any other day, Hei might have been a little flattered.
“They’re about to enter the apartment,” Yin said, and she squeezed Hei’s hand. “Now.”
“Pull out, Yin.” There was a shout from the direction of the apartment building. “Charge three, Fox. Trigger number one in three, two, one.”
Fox hit the trigger. There was a popping sound and glass shattered as Hei’s apartment window blew out. Immediately the air filled with pigeons, an entire flock of them, all swooping out through the open window. Someone inside the apartment started shooting, and there was more shouting now. The familiar blue light filled the apartment as the electric lights flickered and died.
“Number two…now.”
The apartment exploded, sending fire and shrapnel leaping out through the window and then the walls. Someone’s scream was abruptly cut off. The building groaned as most of the fourth floor buckled and collapsed.
“Number three, now.”
Fox hit the button. The explosion tore upward through the building from the basement, where TN-145 had already dissolved through three of the main support beams. The building rocked and all of the windows shattered with the shockwave or as the entire eastern side of the building sagged and buckled. There was a groan and a shriek of metal as the building collapsed in on itself, crumbling downward as if built from sand.
Hei felt something hot in his belly and a smirk tugged at his lips. Sixteen of them, dead.
“Like being back in Belfast,” Fox growled, watching the flames.
“Azure, time to go up and over,” Hei said as the other agents began spilling out from their hiding places toward what was left of the apartment building.
“Got it,” she said, climbing to her feet and already starting to glow blue. She took hold of Fox and Verde’s wrists, pulling them up as she stepped upward into the air.
Yin didn’t move.
“Yin, come on. We’re going.”
She shook her head. “I’m staying.”
Hei looked over at her. “Yin, go with them.”
She shook her head again. “I’m staying.”
“Fine then. Take care of our idiot fearless leader, alright?”
“Azure, wait—” But she was already gone, running with Fox and Verde across the air. Hei turned toward Yin, eyes narrowed.
“You should have gone with them.”
“No.”
“Go down the fire escape and head to the docks on foot.”
“No.”
“Yin—”
She reached up suddenly and pressed a finger to Hei’s lips, silencing him.
“Hei,” she said, meeting his eyes with her unseeing ones. “I’m with you.”
He stared at her, feeling something fragile break inside him. He sighed and took hold of her hand, dropping his gaze.
“Alright,” he said, his voice soft. “Thank you, Yin.”
It was hard to see in the dim light and rain, but he thought he saw her smile.
-------
Seven of them had come out to investigate the explosion; two had remained back down the street with the Doll, and the last one was still nowhere to be found. The unknown tenth was worrying, but Hei shoved it into the back of his mind, focusing on the nine.
It didn’t matter. They were going to die. They were all going to die.
The first two didn’t even know what hit them. Hei landed behind them, grabbed one man’s head and pumped electricity straight into his brain, in the same instant that he drove his knife through the back of the other man’s neck. The second died instantly. The first had time enough to scream, and then heads were whipping around, agents were shouting. Hei pulled his knife back out and ran, grabbing Yin’s wrist and pulling her along as he went by.
He was wearing his old mask. He wanted them to remember.
The rain seemed to pause suddenly in front of him, and then water cascaded upward from the gutters and drains, striking at them in whips and spikes. Hei pushed Yin out of the way and dodged, the animate water trying to twine around his ankles. He could see the Contractor through the wall of water; a girl about Yin’s age, her eyes glowing red.
Hei moved and let the water knock him to the ground, then wrap itself around his legs, pinning them together. There was the opening. He threw a wire and the girl didn’t have time to dodge as the wire encircled her throat. Hei’s outline flared and the girl screamed as lightning coursed through her.
The water went limp and splashed to the ground. The girl crumpled. Hei retracted his wire, took hold of Yin and kept moving.
Most of them were following them now, which was what he wanted. Others were moving through alleys and sidestreets to try and cut them off. The glow of the fire had already faded into the darkness, and Hei could hear sirens approaching.
Gunfire. Hei threw himself and Yin under a storefront awning as bullets sprayed across the street and took out the windows of parked cars. He maneuvered away into an alley, where Yin immediately pressed her back to a wall and stepped into a puddle.
“Two behind us, two coming from the side to head us off. One is remaining with the Doll—thirty yards ahead, in the park.”
“The tenth?”
She shook her head. Hei heard booted feet approaching and then the agent appeared swinging around into the alley and raising the machine gun.
Hei took hold of the barrel, forcing it upward, his outline glowing blue in the same instant that the Contractor’s eyes sparked. There was a hum and the metal of the gun suddenly glowed hot, hot enough that Hei was forced to release it. The gun twisted and thrashed like some kind of metal snake, and then reshaped itself into a spiked club.
Shit—
The Contractor swung the club downward and Hei dodged to the side, one of the spikes tear through his shoulder. He dropped low and kicked out at the man’s ankles, but the Contractor was already swinging the club again. Hei ducked and the club took out a chunk of bricks.
There was no room to move in the alley. Hei threw himself forward, shoving the agent back out into the street. The man stumbled and Hei seized his forehead just as he began to reshape the metal once more. Hei felt something sharp dig into his side, but then the agent screamed and convulsed before he simply crumpled.
Hei reached down and pulled a small knife out of his side, snarling a little in pain.
“Hei—”
“Come on.” He held out his hand, and didn’t move until he felt Yin take it.
They got another half a block before the others caught up with them, three from the front and one from behind. One of them, a middle-aged black man, had a blank-faced, red-haired boy by the hand. The Doll, no doubt.
Four of them and the Doll. The tenth was still missing.
Two of them raised guns. Hei dodged to the side and he and Yin ran into the local park just as they started shooting. Bullets thunked against the trees and the ornamental torii. A homeless man who had been sleeping under a bridge over a koi pond took off running, shouting about gangs and crazy people. Hei pushed himself and Yin into the homeless man’s abandoned hiding place and Yin thrust her hand into the pond.
“The four have entered the park,” she whispered. “The one is staying with the Doll near the entrance. The other three are fanning out.”
Hei could see two of them from their place under the bridge; the third had moved to the left, out of Hei’s peripheral. They were close enough that he could hear them talking.
“Where the hell did they—?”
“Shut up, they didn’t just disappear. Check there, by the pond.”
The woman with the gun approached, her gun moving from shadow to shadow. Hei drew one of his knives and waited, not even breathing.
She was careful, moving silently and slowly, watchful for any hint of movement. As soon as she stepped within range, Hei threw the knife. Her eyes widened at the glint of metal.
“They’re—!”
There was a thunk and the woman gurgled as the knife pierced her throat. She went down, clawing at the knife handle, and the gun went off, spraying bullets into the pond. The man nearby shouted and his outline started to glow blue as Hei rushed out from under the bridge.
Suddenly it was as if someone had dropped three tons of bricks onto Hei’s back. He cried out and collapsed forward as pressure from nowhere began crushing him downward into the grass and rainwater. The agent was glowing and had his hand outstretched toward Hei. A gravity manipulator.
“This is where the running stops, BK-201,” said the Contractor, increasing the pressure. He signaled for the other man with the gun to move in. “Nothing personal.”
Hei couldn’t answer, couldn’t even breathe as gravity slowly crushed him. The man with the gun stepped as close as he dared, keeping out of the gravitational field, and he aimed for Hei’s head.
There was a flash of blue. Out of the corner of his eye, Hei saw a human figure made of blue light step forth from out of the pond; Yin’s fully formed specter. The two agents weren’t expecting it. The gravity lightened and the agent with the gun swung around to start shooting at the ethereal figure. Hei had enough mobility to move his hand.
Electricity leaped out across the ground, sparking across puddles and blackening the rain-damp grass. The Contractor made a choking sound and collapsed; the gunman spun, protected by his rubber rain boots, but Hei was already on his feet and moving, and before the man could even find the trigger Hei’s knife was scraping between his ribs and into his heart.
The man slumped, and blood poured over Hei’s hands and down his front. He dropped the man’s body and retrieved his knife, wiping it off on his coat before sliding it back into its sheath.
One left.
Hei turned back toward the entrance of the park and frowned. The black man was gone; the Doll had been left alone.
“Yin?”
Her person-shaped specter had disappeared. Yin herself stepped out from under the bridge, her vacant stare turned toward Hei.
“I don’t know. He left. He’s somewhere I can’t track him.”
Which meant he was away from water; which meant he couldn’t be anywhere nearby, not with all this rain. But why leave the Doll alone?
Hei walked forward, trusting Yin to follow. His eyes flicked every-which-way, but the man was nowhere to be found. The Doll stood placidly and watched Hei’s approach. He was young, maybe fifteen. He looked familiar.
Hei came to a stop in front of the Doll and his insides went cold. The boy looked like Zuni. Younger, thinner, but the resemblance was uncanny all the same.
The Doll didn’t move, didn’t change his expression as Hei reached forward and laid his hand on the boy’s head.
Hei was shaking.
I should have been there.
He had promised. He had promised Zuni that he would be there to stop him, to kill him, even, if that was the only option. And yet when it had mattered most, Hei hadn’t been there. Hei had heard the gunfire and made the Contractor’s decision, to avoid it, to stay in the safety of the Zanzibar until it was over. Ladon was dead and Zuni had killed him, and Hei hadn’t been there.
Ladon was dead. Hei hadn’t let it hit him until now. His chest was hurting as he tightened his grip on the Doll’s head.
The boy’s eyes seemed to clear for a moment.
“I don’t want to die.”
Hei flinched and his eyes widened. He drew a hissing breath through his teeth.
Then, slowly, he withdrew his hand.
“I don’t know what will happen to you if you stay here,” Hei said, staring down at the boy. “But if you come with us, you’ll have a chance at a new life. It’s your choice.”
The boy stared at him unblinkingly.
“Do you want to come with us?”
For a long moment it seemed as if the Doll wouldn’t answer; that he had sunk back behind whatever wall the Gate had built into his mind. But then the boy dropped his gaze and nodded.
“Yin. Take him and go on ahead. I’ll follow in a moment.”
“Hei…”
“It’s alright. I’ll be along in a minute.”
Yin stepped forward and took the other Doll by the hand. She stood like that for a moment, staring into the boy’s eyes, and something beyond Hei’s understanding passed between them. Then they turned, and Yin led the Doll off into the rain.
As soon as they were gone, Hei removed his mask and covered his face with one hand. He was not going to cry, doubted the tears would come anyway. This had been enough. Enough. Hei pinched the bridge of his nose and took several deep breaths. Ladon was gone. He needed to focus on the people who were still here.
Resolved, Hei moved to follow Yin.
Nothing happened.
He tried to take a step but his leg didn’t respond. His body was frozen. A Contractor. Hei tried to reach for his knife, but it was as if his body had simply been switched off.
Hei heard a sound behind him, like feet on wet grass, and then a needle was sliding into his neck. He couldn’t make a sound.
“Turn,” said a voice, and an invisible force jerked at him, forcing him to turn.
Two men were standing behind him; one was the black man from before, his eyes glowing, his hand outstretched toward Hei. The other was a pale white man, a little younger than his comrade, wearing glasses and smiling at Hei pleasantly.
Hei’s breath caught. It was him; the man who had injected him with the toxin before.
“Hello, BK-201,” he said. His Japanese was heavily accented; French, Hei thought. “Do you remember me? Oh, sorry—I suppose you can’t answer.”
Hei’s heart was pounding. Something new was in his bloodstream now; he could almost feel it. He glared at the two men and tried to reach again for his knife, but his body wouldn’t cooperate.
“You look like you want to kill us, Hei. I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that. We’ve been watching you for a very long time, now.” The man reached out and brushed Hei’s cheek, as tenderly as a lover. “You’re an amazing specimen. An amazing test subject. Neither human nor Contractor; a hybrid, a mix; a scientist’s Holy Grail. And I am still a scientist before I am a Contractor, Hei—me and my partner here. How do you work? We want to know. We want to keep studying you. That’s why we’re not going to kill you.”
Hei tried to unleash his power while the man was still touching him, but nothing happened.
“On your knees,” said the black man, also with a French accent. Hei dropped to his knees obediently; he couldn’t even begin to resist.
“Let him speak, Snake. He must have so many questions.”
Whatever had been blocking Hei’s throat vanished.
“Who are you?” His voice came out in a guttural snarl.
“Scientists, as I said, Hei,” the man said pleasantly.
“We are with PANDORA,” said Snake. “And PANDORA is no longer aligned with the Syndicate. They want you dead; we want you alive.”
“Then enough with the small talk. You’ve caught me; take me to PANDORA.”
“Oh, no, Hei.” The other man crouched down in front of Hei, still with that little smile on his face. “You see, we all agree that you are much more fascinating to observe in your natural habitat.” He reached out and prodded the tip of Hei’s nose. Hei tried to surge forward, tried to go for the man’s throat, but Snake had him completely under his control.
“Never mind that you are the very first test subject for the completed drug VS81.”
Something was happening in his stomach, that familiar broken glass feeling. His heart was racing, and it had nothing to do with fear.
What the hell had they given him?
“If you want me alive, why did you try to—nggk—kill me before?”
“Ah, looks like it’s starting to work,” said the scientist, getting back to his feet. “And Hei, if we had wanted you dead then, you would be dead. VS81 is a two-part formula. That first was simply the first dose, readying your brain and liver for the second. You didn’t think you had purged it all, I hope. And those antidotes you have been giving to your team mates? Useless, I’m afraid. The instant the first dose enters the bloodstream, it is too late. Ah, Snake, you had best release him. It would be bad if you were holding him still when the convulsions start.”
The force binding his limbs and muscles vanished and Hei collapsed forward, unable to move all the same. His heart was racing as if he’d been shot full of adrenaline; his fingers and toes were tingling and the world was bright and flashing. He cried out and curled up as pain shot through his abdomen.
Then the convulsions began.
Pain and movement and suddenly all of his senses had magnified until everything was sharp, until raindrops sounded like gunshots and the smell of the wet grass was stifling. It felt as if someone had fastened electrodes directly to his brain, and everything was spinning, flashing, tumbling. The pain was incredible. Hei screamed until he tasted blood.
And then, just like that, it was over. The pain faded, the world stopped spinning. Hei was left curled in the grass, panting, his limbs still twitching a little as if he’d just been electrocuted.
“Fascinating,” said a voice from nearby. “You should be able to stand up now, Hei, go on. You may try to kill us now.”
Hei rolled over onto all fours, spitting out blood, then hauled himself to his feet, swaying a little as vertigo threatened to drop him again. The two scientists were standing nearby, watching him with curious looks, their hands weapon-free and limp at their sides.
Hei rushed forward and slammed a hand against the white man’s head, shoving him back against a tree. The man let out a cry of pain, but neither he nor Snake made any move to try and stop Hei.
Hei reached for his power. He was going to kill them both, kill them slowly, let them experience every second of what they had done to Hei, and no doubt countless other Contractors.
But nothing happened.
Hei tried again. There was no electricity, no glow, no surge of power. There was no sensation of that vast ocean of strength and potential and power that was that deeper power, Bai’s power.
It was gone.
“No…”
“It worked.” The scientist started laughing. “It really worked. The first working suppressant for Contractor abilities. We’ve done it, we’ve really done it.”
Hei stumbled backward, reaching again for his power, reaching into nothingness. This couldn’t be happening. He looked down at his hands. This couldn’t be real.
“What does this make you now, Hei?” Snake asked, and now he was smiling as well. “A Contractor without an ability, without a true Contractor’s rationality, without an obeisance. Without those things, you’re not even remotely a Contractor anymore.”
“And yet you’re not truly a human either, BK-201. What are you now? A Regressor? Can you be a Regressor if you were never fully a Contractor to begin with?”
“Give it back,” Hei heard himself say, his voice raw and desperate. ”GIVE IT BACK!”
He threw himself forward, drawing his knife and slashing upward, moving faster than he ever had. The man screamed as the knife slashed through his face and he fell backward, even as Snake extended his hand toward Hei again. Hei felt the power wrap around him and he simply stopped moving.
“Down, dog,” Snake growled, and he snapped Hei to the ground.
“PANDORA bastards. Give it back, give it back, n—” Snake cut him off with all the efficiency of a hand around his throat.
This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be this weak, this powerless, not again.
“Reynard?”
“I’m fine,” said the other scientist, picking himself up shakily, clutching at his eye. “Merde! I suppose our lab rat still has his teeth.”
“Shall I break him?”
“No. We want to keep watching him, don’t we?” Reynard crouched down near Hei, his face a grimace of pain and anger. “And we will be watching you, BK-201. Let’s go, Snake. We have important news to report.”
Snake kept his hand outstretched as he stepped over to Reynard. Reynard laid a hand on Snake’s shoulder, and then they both stepped backward into a shadow. Reynard’s outline flared and they vanished into the darkness.
Snake’s power released Hei and Hei curled up in the grass, clawing one hand in the damp soil. It had been so disgustingly easy. There was a wall in his mind, thick and black and impenetrable. He felt hollow. Empty. Powerless in the worst of ways.
Hei covered his face with his hands and screamed.
quirkypeanutbluCharacter/Fandom: Hei/Darker than BLACK; Jin/OC
Prompt: 084: Destroy (from the 100 Prompts Challenge)
Word Count:
Summary: Ladon is dead. Hei takes it out on the Syndicate.
Author’s Notes/Warnings: Angst. Explosions. Lots and lots of violence. Blood and drugs. This sort of became much more plot-significant than I originally intended halfway through. Also injecting Hei with drugs seems to be becoming a theme. Also it’s really...kind of choppy but oh well. I APOLOGIZE FOR THIS CRAP.
A stranger with orange hair had shown up at the door to room 201 carrying Ladon, who by then had been dead for about an hour. The stranger had been shaking and crying.
“I’m sorry. I was too late. I’m so sorry. I tried—I tried to get there in time, but I—I’m sorry.”
Gunshot wounds. Ladon’s chest was a ruin of flesh and dried blood and bone. Hei couldn’t see his face. Someone—the stranger, maybe—had wrapped it in a scarf, but from the amount of blood there it was obvious enough what had happened.
Hei’s first thought was that this was terrible timing.
His second thought was the hope that the wound to the head had come first. That Ladon had died quickly.
His third thought—and at this point he was pretty sure his mind was shutting down, for all the inanity of it—was that Ladon would have hated to have been found like this, with wings and a tail. Hei could practically hear him yelling about it.
Hei must have not said anything then, because the stranger kept babbling.
“It was Zuni. I don’t know if you know him. There was a chip. The chip made him crazy, maybe. I tried—I was—I didn’t know. I dealt with him. But I didn’t know. I didn’t know.” The stranger had hiccupped and looked ready to vomit before he visibly forced himself under control. “I can’t…I can’t bring him back to his world. I know you were…you were the only one I could think of. He should be in his world, but I can’t bring him there. I can’t. His key, I don’t know where it is. I’m sorry. I just thought…I thought you’d want to…”
The stranger didn’t finish. It didn’t matter. By then, Hei was barely listening.
Hei reached out and the stranger deposited Ladon’s body gently into Hei’s arms. Ladon weighed almost nothing.
Bastard didn’t eat enough.
“I’m sorry,” the stranger had been saying again. “If I had gotten there in time—”
“Thank you.” Hei’s voice sounded foreign to his own ears. “For bringing him to me.”
The stranger must have left after that. Hei wasn’t sure. He had stood there, holding Ladon for awhile—minutes, hours?—before walking down to the parking lot. Hotwiring one of the cars had been simple enough, and then Hei had driven out past the highway into the desert. It took him the rest of the day to dig into the hard desert earth and bury Ladon’s body.
It was the second time he had had to bury someone in the desert of Cicero. The first time, Ladon had helped him. The irony wasn’t lost on him.
Hei had sat out there for awhile, letting the light fade, watching the lights come on down in Cicero.
Had he loved Ladon? He wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter. It had been close. It had been enough.
He thought. He thought about Ladon. He thought about Zuni. He thought about the stranger, whose name he hadn’t bothered to learn. He thought about home, where the Syndicate was on their doorstep, where his team members were packing what they could. The war had started, and the core members of the Constellation were running, fleeing for Shanghai under the EPR’s protection.
Such terrible timing.
No. Hei had dug his nails into the dirt. He wouldn’t survive this if he just ran. He would snap. Break like a lightning-struck tree, and he would take his team with him. That was not going to happen.
Someone needed to die.
Hei got to his feet, dusted his hands off and returned to the Zanzibar.
-------
That had been four hours ago. Four hours and twenty-three minutes.
Ladon’s pocket watch kept remarkably accurate time.
It had taken that long to move the last of their things to Shanghai, via Hong, as well as for Hei to explain the plan to the others and convince them to go along with it. They had argued and refined the plan, and then they had needed time to secure the proper materials and clear Hei’s apartment building of all civilians. Hei was not going to allow any innocents to die tonight.
The others had wanted to stay with him for the whole duration. Any other time, Hei would have let them; they had as much of a need to avenge themselves against the Syndicate as Hei did. But was about much more than just the Syndicate. Hei needed to do this alone. And it was selfish, perhaps, but he wanted the rest of them to be safe. He didn’t think he could handle it if he lost anyone else.
It was cold in Sapporo, and raining again. Fall came to this part of the archipelago much sooner than it did the rest of the country. The winter would be cold; Hei could tell already. The winters here were one thing he knew he was not going to miss about Hokkaido. He and the others were already drenched as they waited on the roof across from Hei’s apartment building. Hong, TN-145 and Bindy had gone ahead to the boat; they had already done their parts.
Azure checked her watch. “Two hours until the boat leaves. You sure they’re coming?”
“I remember how they operate. I’m sure you do, too.”
“Course I do. But we’re short on time.”
“I still don’t like these odds,” Verde whispered from nearby. “Five of us against fifteen of them, and that’s only that we know of.”
Fox was smiling. Ironically enough, the grumpy Irishman was the only one here who was in a good mood. This sort of plan was his specialty.
“Be a good deal fewer once they walk into that death trap.” His voice was vicious. Hei found himself wondering, not for the first time, just what the Syndicate had done to him. Fox had never told them.
Hei kept his eyes fixed on the window of his old apartment. It was the only one in the building with the lights on. The curtains were drawn, but shapes were moving around within, casting vague silhouettes. It looked for all the world like someone was inside, wandering about the apartment. There was something else there as well—a faint, bluish glow cast against the window.
“There. Specter.” He nodded at his window and Azure turned slightly, peering through the scope of her sniper rifle.
“You were right,” she said as the glow faded. “They have a Doll with them.”
“Ah…” Verde went rigid. “I feel them. Here they come. Dios te salve, Maria, llena eres de gracia…”
They came from all sides, men and women, adults and teenagers, all making their careful way toward the apartment building. At least three of them clearly had guns; the others were either concealing their weapons or didn’t need them.
Verde was muttering something in Spanish. “Thirteen…sixteen of them. There’s another…five, no, six hanging back. Two roofs to the left. Another three down below, about fifty yards back, along the street. The Doll is with that group. And one more over—” Verde cut herself off abruptly with a shaky sigh. “That’s it. I’m sorry; my power faded.”
“It’s enough. Charge one and two, Fox.”
Fox was sitting with the detonator in his lap. He flipped one switch and then another, then settled his fingers over the triggers.
“Ready, Hei.”
“I really hope this works, fearless leader,” Azure muttered, watching as the Syndicate operatives began to enter the apartment building. Several went in through the front door; the rest went around to the sides and back to get in through the basement and windows.
“Yin, tell us when.”
Yin was sitting next to Hei, and when he spoke she simply nodded and reached out to take Hei’s hand. Her other hand was dipped in a puddle of water.
“Four of them are inside now,” she said after a moment. “I can hear them. Here come the others.”
They went in slow waves, ever careful not to attract attention. Once all sixteen were inside, however, they moved quickly and silently toward Hei’s apartment.
Twenty-six Syndicate agents; most of them Contractors, no doubt. The Syndicate had sent nothing short of an army after them.
On any other day, Hei might have been a little flattered.
“They’re about to enter the apartment,” Yin said, and she squeezed Hei’s hand. “Now.”
“Pull out, Yin.” There was a shout from the direction of the apartment building. “Charge three, Fox. Trigger number one in three, two, one.”
Fox hit the trigger. There was a popping sound and glass shattered as Hei’s apartment window blew out. Immediately the air filled with pigeons, an entire flock of them, all swooping out through the open window. Someone inside the apartment started shooting, and there was more shouting now. The familiar blue light filled the apartment as the electric lights flickered and died.
“Number two…now.”
The apartment exploded, sending fire and shrapnel leaping out through the window and then the walls. Someone’s scream was abruptly cut off. The building groaned as most of the fourth floor buckled and collapsed.
“Number three, now.”
Fox hit the button. The explosion tore upward through the building from the basement, where TN-145 had already dissolved through three of the main support beams. The building rocked and all of the windows shattered with the shockwave or as the entire eastern side of the building sagged and buckled. There was a groan and a shriek of metal as the building collapsed in on itself, crumbling downward as if built from sand.
Hei felt something hot in his belly and a smirk tugged at his lips. Sixteen of them, dead.
“Like being back in Belfast,” Fox growled, watching the flames.
“Azure, time to go up and over,” Hei said as the other agents began spilling out from their hiding places toward what was left of the apartment building.
“Got it,” she said, climbing to her feet and already starting to glow blue. She took hold of Fox and Verde’s wrists, pulling them up as she stepped upward into the air.
Yin didn’t move.
“Yin, come on. We’re going.”
She shook her head. “I’m staying.”
Hei looked over at her. “Yin, go with them.”
She shook her head again. “I’m staying.”
“Fine then. Take care of our idiot fearless leader, alright?”
“Azure, wait—” But she was already gone, running with Fox and Verde across the air. Hei turned toward Yin, eyes narrowed.
“You should have gone with them.”
“No.”
“Go down the fire escape and head to the docks on foot.”
“No.”
“Yin—”
She reached up suddenly and pressed a finger to Hei’s lips, silencing him.
“Hei,” she said, meeting his eyes with her unseeing ones. “I’m with you.”
He stared at her, feeling something fragile break inside him. He sighed and took hold of her hand, dropping his gaze.
“Alright,” he said, his voice soft. “Thank you, Yin.”
It was hard to see in the dim light and rain, but he thought he saw her smile.
-------
Seven of them had come out to investigate the explosion; two had remained back down the street with the Doll, and the last one was still nowhere to be found. The unknown tenth was worrying, but Hei shoved it into the back of his mind, focusing on the nine.
It didn’t matter. They were going to die. They were all going to die.
The first two didn’t even know what hit them. Hei landed behind them, grabbed one man’s head and pumped electricity straight into his brain, in the same instant that he drove his knife through the back of the other man’s neck. The second died instantly. The first had time enough to scream, and then heads were whipping around, agents were shouting. Hei pulled his knife back out and ran, grabbing Yin’s wrist and pulling her along as he went by.
He was wearing his old mask. He wanted them to remember.
The rain seemed to pause suddenly in front of him, and then water cascaded upward from the gutters and drains, striking at them in whips and spikes. Hei pushed Yin out of the way and dodged, the animate water trying to twine around his ankles. He could see the Contractor through the wall of water; a girl about Yin’s age, her eyes glowing red.
Hei moved and let the water knock him to the ground, then wrap itself around his legs, pinning them together. There was the opening. He threw a wire and the girl didn’t have time to dodge as the wire encircled her throat. Hei’s outline flared and the girl screamed as lightning coursed through her.
The water went limp and splashed to the ground. The girl crumpled. Hei retracted his wire, took hold of Yin and kept moving.
Most of them were following them now, which was what he wanted. Others were moving through alleys and sidestreets to try and cut them off. The glow of the fire had already faded into the darkness, and Hei could hear sirens approaching.
Gunfire. Hei threw himself and Yin under a storefront awning as bullets sprayed across the street and took out the windows of parked cars. He maneuvered away into an alley, where Yin immediately pressed her back to a wall and stepped into a puddle.
“Two behind us, two coming from the side to head us off. One is remaining with the Doll—thirty yards ahead, in the park.”
“The tenth?”
She shook her head. Hei heard booted feet approaching and then the agent appeared swinging around into the alley and raising the machine gun.
Hei took hold of the barrel, forcing it upward, his outline glowing blue in the same instant that the Contractor’s eyes sparked. There was a hum and the metal of the gun suddenly glowed hot, hot enough that Hei was forced to release it. The gun twisted and thrashed like some kind of metal snake, and then reshaped itself into a spiked club.
Shit—
The Contractor swung the club downward and Hei dodged to the side, one of the spikes tear through his shoulder. He dropped low and kicked out at the man’s ankles, but the Contractor was already swinging the club again. Hei ducked and the club took out a chunk of bricks.
There was no room to move in the alley. Hei threw himself forward, shoving the agent back out into the street. The man stumbled and Hei seized his forehead just as he began to reshape the metal once more. Hei felt something sharp dig into his side, but then the agent screamed and convulsed before he simply crumpled.
Hei reached down and pulled a small knife out of his side, snarling a little in pain.
“Hei—”
“Come on.” He held out his hand, and didn’t move until he felt Yin take it.
They got another half a block before the others caught up with them, three from the front and one from behind. One of them, a middle-aged black man, had a blank-faced, red-haired boy by the hand. The Doll, no doubt.
Four of them and the Doll. The tenth was still missing.
Two of them raised guns. Hei dodged to the side and he and Yin ran into the local park just as they started shooting. Bullets thunked against the trees and the ornamental torii. A homeless man who had been sleeping under a bridge over a koi pond took off running, shouting about gangs and crazy people. Hei pushed himself and Yin into the homeless man’s abandoned hiding place and Yin thrust her hand into the pond.
“The four have entered the park,” she whispered. “The one is staying with the Doll near the entrance. The other three are fanning out.”
Hei could see two of them from their place under the bridge; the third had moved to the left, out of Hei’s peripheral. They were close enough that he could hear them talking.
“Where the hell did they—?”
“Shut up, they didn’t just disappear. Check there, by the pond.”
The woman with the gun approached, her gun moving from shadow to shadow. Hei drew one of his knives and waited, not even breathing.
She was careful, moving silently and slowly, watchful for any hint of movement. As soon as she stepped within range, Hei threw the knife. Her eyes widened at the glint of metal.
“They’re—!”
There was a thunk and the woman gurgled as the knife pierced her throat. She went down, clawing at the knife handle, and the gun went off, spraying bullets into the pond. The man nearby shouted and his outline started to glow blue as Hei rushed out from under the bridge.
Suddenly it was as if someone had dropped three tons of bricks onto Hei’s back. He cried out and collapsed forward as pressure from nowhere began crushing him downward into the grass and rainwater. The agent was glowing and had his hand outstretched toward Hei. A gravity manipulator.
“This is where the running stops, BK-201,” said the Contractor, increasing the pressure. He signaled for the other man with the gun to move in. “Nothing personal.”
Hei couldn’t answer, couldn’t even breathe as gravity slowly crushed him. The man with the gun stepped as close as he dared, keeping out of the gravitational field, and he aimed for Hei’s head.
There was a flash of blue. Out of the corner of his eye, Hei saw a human figure made of blue light step forth from out of the pond; Yin’s fully formed specter. The two agents weren’t expecting it. The gravity lightened and the agent with the gun swung around to start shooting at the ethereal figure. Hei had enough mobility to move his hand.
Electricity leaped out across the ground, sparking across puddles and blackening the rain-damp grass. The Contractor made a choking sound and collapsed; the gunman spun, protected by his rubber rain boots, but Hei was already on his feet and moving, and before the man could even find the trigger Hei’s knife was scraping between his ribs and into his heart.
The man slumped, and blood poured over Hei’s hands and down his front. He dropped the man’s body and retrieved his knife, wiping it off on his coat before sliding it back into its sheath.
One left.
Hei turned back toward the entrance of the park and frowned. The black man was gone; the Doll had been left alone.
“Yin?”
Her person-shaped specter had disappeared. Yin herself stepped out from under the bridge, her vacant stare turned toward Hei.
“I don’t know. He left. He’s somewhere I can’t track him.”
Which meant he was away from water; which meant he couldn’t be anywhere nearby, not with all this rain. But why leave the Doll alone?
Hei walked forward, trusting Yin to follow. His eyes flicked every-which-way, but the man was nowhere to be found. The Doll stood placidly and watched Hei’s approach. He was young, maybe fifteen. He looked familiar.
Hei came to a stop in front of the Doll and his insides went cold. The boy looked like Zuni. Younger, thinner, but the resemblance was uncanny all the same.
The Doll didn’t move, didn’t change his expression as Hei reached forward and laid his hand on the boy’s head.
Hei was shaking.
I should have been there.
He had promised. He had promised Zuni that he would be there to stop him, to kill him, even, if that was the only option. And yet when it had mattered most, Hei hadn’t been there. Hei had heard the gunfire and made the Contractor’s decision, to avoid it, to stay in the safety of the Zanzibar until it was over. Ladon was dead and Zuni had killed him, and Hei hadn’t been there.
Ladon was dead. Hei hadn’t let it hit him until now. His chest was hurting as he tightened his grip on the Doll’s head.
The boy’s eyes seemed to clear for a moment.
“I don’t want to die.”
Hei flinched and his eyes widened. He drew a hissing breath through his teeth.
Then, slowly, he withdrew his hand.
“I don’t know what will happen to you if you stay here,” Hei said, staring down at the boy. “But if you come with us, you’ll have a chance at a new life. It’s your choice.”
The boy stared at him unblinkingly.
“Do you want to come with us?”
For a long moment it seemed as if the Doll wouldn’t answer; that he had sunk back behind whatever wall the Gate had built into his mind. But then the boy dropped his gaze and nodded.
“Yin. Take him and go on ahead. I’ll follow in a moment.”
“Hei…”
“It’s alright. I’ll be along in a minute.”
Yin stepped forward and took the other Doll by the hand. She stood like that for a moment, staring into the boy’s eyes, and something beyond Hei’s understanding passed between them. Then they turned, and Yin led the Doll off into the rain.
As soon as they were gone, Hei removed his mask and covered his face with one hand. He was not going to cry, doubted the tears would come anyway. This had been enough. Enough. Hei pinched the bridge of his nose and took several deep breaths. Ladon was gone. He needed to focus on the people who were still here.
Resolved, Hei moved to follow Yin.
Nothing happened.
He tried to take a step but his leg didn’t respond. His body was frozen. A Contractor. Hei tried to reach for his knife, but it was as if his body had simply been switched off.
Hei heard a sound behind him, like feet on wet grass, and then a needle was sliding into his neck. He couldn’t make a sound.
“Turn,” said a voice, and an invisible force jerked at him, forcing him to turn.
Two men were standing behind him; one was the black man from before, his eyes glowing, his hand outstretched toward Hei. The other was a pale white man, a little younger than his comrade, wearing glasses and smiling at Hei pleasantly.
Hei’s breath caught. It was him; the man who had injected him with the toxin before.
“Hello, BK-201,” he said. His Japanese was heavily accented; French, Hei thought. “Do you remember me? Oh, sorry—I suppose you can’t answer.”
Hei’s heart was pounding. Something new was in his bloodstream now; he could almost feel it. He glared at the two men and tried to reach again for his knife, but his body wouldn’t cooperate.
“You look like you want to kill us, Hei. I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that. We’ve been watching you for a very long time, now.” The man reached out and brushed Hei’s cheek, as tenderly as a lover. “You’re an amazing specimen. An amazing test subject. Neither human nor Contractor; a hybrid, a mix; a scientist’s Holy Grail. And I am still a scientist before I am a Contractor, Hei—me and my partner here. How do you work? We want to know. We want to keep studying you. That’s why we’re not going to kill you.”
Hei tried to unleash his power while the man was still touching him, but nothing happened.
“On your knees,” said the black man, also with a French accent. Hei dropped to his knees obediently; he couldn’t even begin to resist.
“Let him speak, Snake. He must have so many questions.”
Whatever had been blocking Hei’s throat vanished.
“Who are you?” His voice came out in a guttural snarl.
“Scientists, as I said, Hei,” the man said pleasantly.
“We are with PANDORA,” said Snake. “And PANDORA is no longer aligned with the Syndicate. They want you dead; we want you alive.”
“Then enough with the small talk. You’ve caught me; take me to PANDORA.”
“Oh, no, Hei.” The other man crouched down in front of Hei, still with that little smile on his face. “You see, we all agree that you are much more fascinating to observe in your natural habitat.” He reached out and prodded the tip of Hei’s nose. Hei tried to surge forward, tried to go for the man’s throat, but Snake had him completely under his control.
“Never mind that you are the very first test subject for the completed drug VS81.”
Something was happening in his stomach, that familiar broken glass feeling. His heart was racing, and it had nothing to do with fear.
What the hell had they given him?
“If you want me alive, why did you try to—nggk—kill me before?”
“Ah, looks like it’s starting to work,” said the scientist, getting back to his feet. “And Hei, if we had wanted you dead then, you would be dead. VS81 is a two-part formula. That first was simply the first dose, readying your brain and liver for the second. You didn’t think you had purged it all, I hope. And those antidotes you have been giving to your team mates? Useless, I’m afraid. The instant the first dose enters the bloodstream, it is too late. Ah, Snake, you had best release him. It would be bad if you were holding him still when the convulsions start.”
The force binding his limbs and muscles vanished and Hei collapsed forward, unable to move all the same. His heart was racing as if he’d been shot full of adrenaline; his fingers and toes were tingling and the world was bright and flashing. He cried out and curled up as pain shot through his abdomen.
Then the convulsions began.
Pain and movement and suddenly all of his senses had magnified until everything was sharp, until raindrops sounded like gunshots and the smell of the wet grass was stifling. It felt as if someone had fastened electrodes directly to his brain, and everything was spinning, flashing, tumbling. The pain was incredible. Hei screamed until he tasted blood.
And then, just like that, it was over. The pain faded, the world stopped spinning. Hei was left curled in the grass, panting, his limbs still twitching a little as if he’d just been electrocuted.
“Fascinating,” said a voice from nearby. “You should be able to stand up now, Hei, go on. You may try to kill us now.”
Hei rolled over onto all fours, spitting out blood, then hauled himself to his feet, swaying a little as vertigo threatened to drop him again. The two scientists were standing nearby, watching him with curious looks, their hands weapon-free and limp at their sides.
Hei rushed forward and slammed a hand against the white man’s head, shoving him back against a tree. The man let out a cry of pain, but neither he nor Snake made any move to try and stop Hei.
Hei reached for his power. He was going to kill them both, kill them slowly, let them experience every second of what they had done to Hei, and no doubt countless other Contractors.
But nothing happened.
Hei tried again. There was no electricity, no glow, no surge of power. There was no sensation of that vast ocean of strength and potential and power that was that deeper power, Bai’s power.
It was gone.
“No…”
“It worked.” The scientist started laughing. “It really worked. The first working suppressant for Contractor abilities. We’ve done it, we’ve really done it.”
Hei stumbled backward, reaching again for his power, reaching into nothingness. This couldn’t be happening. He looked down at his hands. This couldn’t be real.
“What does this make you now, Hei?” Snake asked, and now he was smiling as well. “A Contractor without an ability, without a true Contractor’s rationality, without an obeisance. Without those things, you’re not even remotely a Contractor anymore.”
“And yet you’re not truly a human either, BK-201. What are you now? A Regressor? Can you be a Regressor if you were never fully a Contractor to begin with?”
“Give it back,” Hei heard himself say, his voice raw and desperate. ”GIVE IT BACK!”
He threw himself forward, drawing his knife and slashing upward, moving faster than he ever had. The man screamed as the knife slashed through his face and he fell backward, even as Snake extended his hand toward Hei again. Hei felt the power wrap around him and he simply stopped moving.
“Down, dog,” Snake growled, and he snapped Hei to the ground.
“PANDORA bastards. Give it back, give it back, n—” Snake cut him off with all the efficiency of a hand around his throat.
This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be this weak, this powerless, not again.
“Reynard?”
“I’m fine,” said the other scientist, picking himself up shakily, clutching at his eye. “Merde! I suppose our lab rat still has his teeth.”
“Shall I break him?”
“No. We want to keep watching him, don’t we?” Reynard crouched down near Hei, his face a grimace of pain and anger. “And we will be watching you, BK-201. Let’s go, Snake. We have important news to report.”
Snake kept his hand outstretched as he stepped over to Reynard. Reynard laid a hand on Snake’s shoulder, and then they both stepped backward into a shadow. Reynard’s outline flared and they vanished into the darkness.
Snake’s power released Hei and Hei curled up in the grass, clawing one hand in the damp soil. It had been so disgustingly easy. There was a wall in his mind, thick and black and impenetrable. He felt hollow. Empty. Powerless in the worst of ways.
Hei covered his face with his hands and screamed.
