She spotted a civilian dart past her and Wake and throw himself beh the bleachers and snorted before spotting Marta charging towards them. She saw Shark, or rather, Kingshark, Kingshark, really? Of course you would. I guess I ’t really bme you. She mentally shook her head and made eye tact with Marta, she looked desperate, terrified, Marvelous performance, Sonya thought and closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath as the smoky cloud enveloped her and Wake.
The hing she knew she was outside the building where the fighting was still going on. Somewhere inside she heard a bang, people began p out of the doors. The smoke ed around her again and she was on top of a building. She took a moment to curiously he trail of smoke that followed where the teleportation took them. Is that why he calls himself Wake? It’s just inexperience, I’m sure the trail will go away with training. She thought distractedly befng at the gaunt young man again.
“Yoing to have to move a bit faster than this,” She said now that they were out of earshot of anyone who mattered.
He gnced her way, heaving hard, “Shit, you scared me.”
She narrowed her eyes, “You’re carrying me, how did you fet I was here?”
He paled a little, “U-uh, s-sorry, ma’am.”
She rolled her eyes, “Just hurry up a me to the rendezvous point,” She anded and he gnced over his shoulder, frowning a little.
“What’s the rush? It’ll be a bit before the boss es out.”
The doors smmed open to the old high school and Marta came barreling out, her head whipping around in the distance. She spotted the smoke trail and followed it, looking directly at them. Sonya chuckled, “Because she might catch up, and if she does, she’ll make my rescue look very ving,” She warned as Marta began to run, leaving cracks in the ground behind her. Her footsteps sounded like thunder even at this distance.
Wake swallowed, “U-uh, right!” He stammered and pulled the smoke around them again.
They jumped from point to point, rag across the city with leaps and bounds. Occasionally he had to stop and catch his breath, sweat beading on his face. She pat his back a few times during a particurly rough coughing fit, “You’re doing good, keep it up,” She said, “Just think of this as enduraraining for your ability.”
“Training?” He asked, ing the smoke around himself again with a heave of effort.
“Yes, training,” She said as they reappeared, “Your powers are like a muscle, dear, they have to be strengthened before they reach their peak. Haven’t you seen er… Kingshark w hard on his own abilities?” She asked him as they disappeared and reappeared on top of a small office building. She could hear sirens in the distand felt a message e through mentally.
Kingshark:
Good boy.
“Well yeah, I just thought he was learning how to use it properly, there’s a lot of features to his power, right?” Wake mumbled, gng around for his jump spot. She closed her eyes and checked her location and ted the number of jumps they’d made. At this rate they’d be at their destination in about ten more. She hoped he could hold out, she’d have to talk to Shark about making sure his men were actually ready to take on a task before they did it.
“That’s part of it, mastering the nuance is important, but you also have to build up stamina,” She expined, Big talk ing from me, she thought a bit gruffly, I’ve been so busy building up my arsenal and orchestrating all this I haven’t had a moment to even see what my current limits are. Could I even reasonably beat Kingshark in a fight right now? Probably not. She thought and her expression soured even more. She sighed when she g him again. “Why couldn’t you be prettier?”
He blinked and looked at her, “I’m sorry?”
She groaned and shook her head, “Nevermind.”
The couple of jumps took lohan the first, but that didn’t really matter sihey were well outside the eyes of anyone immediately looking for her. Marta knew where to go, of course, and was likely running in the dire of the destination. More important was what came . Her eyes narrowed and she trated on sending a message to Amos.
“Thank you Mistress, thank you for allowio be in tact with yrace,” He said humbly, pressing his forehead to the ground.
She smiled at him, “Lead me to the meeting room, dear.”
He looked up into her smiling fad hopped to his feet, “Y-yes!”
–
Beyol darted dowreet, moving as fast as he could, his eyes fixed on the figure barreling dowh ahead of him. Occasionally she would abruptly ge dire, her route seemingly nonsensical to anyone who didn’t uand the situation. He’d seen the smoke too and k well. The bastard from the rooftop, the teleporter, the trail of smoke that slowly disappeared was the only trace left behind by the man who had kidnapped his target. The maid was qui the uptake, but she wasn’t as fast as he was.
This was his ce, Sonya ovna was separated from her brutal bodyguard. He just had to make sure that he got to her first. It required making a few predis and w off the information he had pulled out of his interrogation subject the other day, but it was more than enough data to work with. They were heading for the warehouses in the port district. He didn’t know which warehouse specifically but he’d mao learn that area was where the big boss maintained a headquarters.
Ballsy to make such a se just to kidnap a CEO. He’ll have the entire world crawling up his ass in no time, He thought dismissively, leaping over a fend cutting through oreet after another as he worked through his mental map of the route. He turned sharply, speeding across the ground as the blood in his veins pumped harder and harder. He darted across a street just a few seds after the maid crossed his path, taking the long way through.
Just following the smoke, it’s obviously a misleading trail, idiot.
It took him over a half hour to make his way from where he’d started to where the trail ended. He didn’t have much time. He he faint smoke trail still leading towards one of the warehouses from atop a nearby building overlooking the port and smiled, There you are. He growled inwardly, ame is just about up, he thought and cut his arms, silver blood p out and taking the shape of knives. He twirled them between his fingers, stalking towards the door. He pushed it open slowly.
A dark hall stretched out in front of him, lights strung along the top provided minimal illumination. That worked for him. He pulled his hood up over his cap and slipped inside, slipping his sungsses off and making his way down the hall. The pce reeked of rust and humidity, they were doing a good job making it look like it was occupied by squatters rather than anized criminals. Vilins, he corrected himself, his lip twisting a little. Gotta admire them a little, I guess. He admitted, spotting a door and leaning against it, listening quietly. Nothing. door.
He kept moving until he spotted a door that artially ajar. He pushed it open a little and spotted an illumiairwell leading dowh the warehouse. He licked his lips, Found you.
He desded quickly, practically gliding doweps until he found himself in what had to be some kind of subterranean ste area that had once been a living space for the workers of the warehouse. There were piles of materials and crates everywhere. None of them were especially big, but it was enough to show that they were preparing for something big. Bigger than attag the heroes on Hero Day? What does this Shark guy have pnned?
He stopped o one of the crates, it looked like a munitions crate, he frowned and reached towards it only to freeze when he heard a sound nearby. Movement. He whipped his head in that dire and narrowed his eyes. He crouched low and moved as quick as he dared, slipping across the room until he came upon another door, a trail of smoke leading out of it. Slowly, very slowly, he pulled down on the handle and peered ihere was a single figure sitting on a chair with a bag over their head in the ter of a rge room. He gnced around. Clear.
He slipped inside and shut the door behind him before standing up straight. They must have secured her in here and the. Too bad for them, their hostage is my mark. He thought smugly and prepared his knives, stalking towards the prisoner, ion. He narrowed his eyes, Is she evehing? He thought, They didn’t just kill her did she? Damn it. He frowned and hurried over to her side, grabbing the bag and pulling it off.
“What the fuck?” He blurted.
It looked… kind of like Sonya. It was limp and appeared to have flesh, it had a mouth and even a facsimile of her meical eyes, but they looked more like toys shoved into the head of a meat puppet rather than a real person. The hair color was right too. What is this thing? He poked it oh his knife and blood trickled out of it, A corpse? No. A chill ran up his spine and he spun on his heel, Fuck! He raced for the door just as it opened. He slid to a stop and stepped back, Fuck fuck fuck!
The maid stepped inside, her armored dress glinting a little bit iremely dim light. Her dark eyes were fixed on Beyol.
“How…?” He blurted, pointing one of his k her as he took a few steps back, setting his jaw as he looked for another escape route. The woman ignored him, instead she simply turned back to the door and crushed the doorknob with her bare hand. She turned ba and gave him a baelful look.
“Park Beyol.” A raspy voice called out above him. It was ing from speakers. He whipped his head around, there were cameras somewhere ioo, then. “Razor.”
“Who are you?” He demanded, “ovna?” He demanded and gnced back at the grotesque facsimile on the chair, “This was a trap. You set all this up just to get to me?”
“Hardly,” The woman said over the speakers. “You were a ve addition.”
He grit his teeth a his eyes on the Maid as he worked it all through, she’d been kidnapped on purpose, but why? If it wasn’t to entrap him what was the point? He allowed more blood to leak from his cuts, knives slowly f around him, levitating in the air. “So is this where you kill me? I’m not telling you who hired me,” He growled.
“I already know who hired you,” Sonya said, “Feng Hyunh.”
He felt his gut twist, How? That’s impossible. He forced himself not to react visibly, as the woman across from him watched. She hadn’t moved an inch from the spot. “What now?”
Her voice turned colder, if that was even possible, a rasp that cared the murderous i of a bloody bde across ice. He could feel her bloodlust even from wherever she was hiding. It sent a chill down his spine, “Prove you deserve to live.”
The words were like a gunshot set off to start a race. One instant the maid was standing there and the she was in his face, her fist reared back. Shit!
–
Sonya sat in a chair in front of the monitor, her legs crossed and her helmet in her p. Kingshark stood o her with his arms crossed and his eyes fixed on the s. She mentally disabled the microphone and gnced over at him, “Kingshark, huh?” She asked pyfully, her meical eyes spinning in her head. The faint tig of her lenses adjusting and readjusting echoed in the small room.
TICK TICK TICKTICKTICK TICK
He shifted unfortably at the sound and gnced her way with an uneasy smile, “Thought it sounded good.”
She snorted, “You’re n, it’s a worthy moniker for you,” She said and reached over to pat his arm gently.
He turned his attention back to the s, “Why not just kill the annoying bastard? Isn’t this too eborate?”
She huffed out a breath, “His powers may have goo his head, but at one point he was a skilled professional. He’s a member of the Night Society after all, not that I know much about them, what he needs is a wake-up call.”
Kingshark narrowed his eyes, “Night Society.”
Sonya smiled and rolled her helmet between her hands, “I want them, and if I’m going to have them, I’m going to need him.”
Kingshark gnced her way, “By beating him half to death?”
Sonya gnced up at him and smiled o time before pulling her helmet over her head. The digital s on it sprung to life and the hot-pink lihat symbolized her eyes bloomed on its surface. They burned with malice as Ishtar turned back to the monitor, “Something like that.”
TheBroker