City of Contractors ; Tokyo

Takumi Yusato

Takumi stood on top of a building, looking down on the passing cars. It was around 4:30 in the morning, still being dark, yet there were a lot of people walking around the dangerous city. Half of them didn't know so much about the Gates appearing in Japan a few years ago, and the new vicious races like him that also appeared. Frankly, he didn't care if people didn't know as he didn't really like to socialize with them as he created many accidents with humans throughout the year.

Though there was one person he was looking for out of all the crowds crossing the streets during the very early morning. He didn't know her name obviously, but he grabbed her and took her out of the building he burnt down a while ago when he was supposed to kill everyone. It'd only be expected if someone was after that green haired girl after her surviving such an incident.

'This is all your fault...' He sighed to himself, 'And you know it.' Takumi leaned his head back, his glowing blue eyes watching the night sky that would soon fade once the sun would rise. He killed more innocent lives than guilty, and as a contractor who shouldn't feel anything, he felt culpable, or even someone who should be punished.

"Idiot." Takumi said silently, "Don't skip to assuming something like that. Besides... us Contractors already are punished just by being alive..." Which was true in his eyes, having to kill, having abnormal abilities and then having to pay a certain price. His just happened to be one that caused him pain, "Out of all that I could have gotten... It had to be self-inflicted pain..."

Yes, he hated it all, Contractors, Dolls, Humans, he just hated the fact that he was portrayed as the bag guy, even though it did make sense in some way, "You illogical Contractor." He called himself with a slight disgusted expression on his face as he said so.

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Maya Feir Rizzo

"Slow down you moron!" Maya growled while chasing her new target down an alley. This one was a regular being, as she wasn't the type of person capable for killing Contractors, that's for sure. It was a drug dealer, and one who also killed a lot of people, but then again, she killed a lot of people and was also put under the title of a terrorist.

When she finally caught up to a man, she easily grabbed his arm, and pinned it tightly to the wall while she flipped her pocket knife in her hand, "Neh, neh, old man, mind telling me where you hid the rest of those illegal drugs you're selling?"

The man didn't say anything, which got her slightly frustrated, but its not as if she needed to know or anything, "My job was just to finish you off anyways." Without hesitation, she stabbed him right in the stomach. Usually, she'd use her rifle, but that was too flashy, or maybe a pistol, but that'd be too loud. The last weapon she could resort to was a simple knife, "I'm already too used to these kinds of things by now."

A moment later, Maya took out her knife, wiping the blood onto his shirt before putting it back into her pocket again. She knelt down near his dying body and searched his pockets before finding a pack of smokes and smirking, "Ah, this wouldn't be that bad to keep actually, thanks old man."

But right after she put it into her pocket, she heard sirens going off from afar before cursing underneath her breath, "The police caught on that fast... what a pain..." She said before casually leaving the dead man on the far and heading in the opposite direction of the blinking lights.

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Noise

Noise didn't sleep that night, a reason why she was awake so early. Yet most Dolls didn't sleep, so she was quite normal to most people who appeared the same time the Gates did. She sat on a chair in the house that she apparently shared with a few other people, some human and some not, with a fan in front of her face.

Her medium was moving air after all, and she tended to stay in moving air as well since she felt slightly more comfortable. Regular humans found her strange, not only her personality or habits, but also her appearance, but it's not as if she would care, or understand. She was a Doll after all.

She heard noises from outside. They were loud, and probably obnoxious to most normal people, though Noise knew that she'd have to find out what made the commotion. It was slightly windy outside, so her specter's were very weak and wavering a bit, only allowing her to see the sight of police cars before the wind faded, and before she wasn't able to see anything outside of her own view anymore.

"Police cars..." She said quietly to herself, "What are... police cars..." Noise had seen the colors flash outside, but never really knew their job, what they did, what they were for, or anything of that sort. Even if someone explained, she knew she'd probably still not understand.

Mika walked with a fast pace on the streets of Tokyo. It was only 4:45 and the air was a bitter cold. She had no destination, but she needed to get away from her home. She got out of bed and left home in a hurry after there was a loud knock on the door. She looked through the door hole and saw an angry sketchy man. Mika decided to escape through the bathroom window and just walked. She wanted to make sure she had lost the mysterious man before she stopped.

She passed a tall building and felt a shiver down her spine. Ever since the fire she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. She wanted to thank the boy that saved her, but she still couldn't trust him. She felt like he was suspicious or something along those lines. She stopped and looked around for someone who was maybe looking at her, but she couldn't see anyone. Then as she continued she heard a familiar meow behind her. She turned around to find her cat Koko following behind her. It hadn't crossed her mind that she left him at home. She smiled and swooped him up in her arms, "Oh Koko, I'm so sorry I forgot you! How long have you been following me?" Some people walking by gave her a weird look, but she shrugged it off.

As she returned to walking with her cat in her arms she heard police sirens and several police cars pass by. There was an ally surrounded by cop cars and she made sure to avoid them. She swore she saw blood on the wall of one of the buildings creating the alley. She cringed at the thought of more death. Even though death was the last thing to make her think about food, her tummy growled. She hadn't eaten since last night and Koko seemed thirsty. She decided she had a little more time before she returned home and stopped by an early opening cafe.

She sat down with a coffee and a little cup of water for Koko. Since it was so early, the cafe allowed Mika's kitten to come in. A waitress brought Mika some pancakes and she enjoyed the safety of the cafe.

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Kitty slept safe and soundly in her cozy apartment. She had been fighting the urge to sleep for three days and just couldn't resist anymore. She broke her rule about sleeping, but it didn't matter anymore since she was finally alone in her own home.

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Snap!Flash! the tip of his finger flared in a red blur as smoke was pulled into the flame building atop his digit, lighting the end of the cigarette waiting just across from his bare skin. Aaron breathed in deeply as the poisonous fumes entered his lungs. He loved it, despite himself, knowing full well how many health risks he was taking, but he rolled his own so there weren’t as many poisons in his smokes, and it was more recreational smoking than habitual. Now the obsessive cleaning of the silver hand gun before him… that was habitual. He slid the metal spring back into place and brought the slide down onto the rail, pressing it back and holding it steady as he inserted the pin into place at pivot joint. At last he inserted the magazine into the handle, pulled back the action, and heard the tell-tale click as the weapon slid into condition one.

With that he kicked back and slid the four legs of the chair he was sitting backwards in sliding across the floor with a hellacious noise before it stuck a few feet from the table he had been sitting at and was more in the centre of the room. He stood and pun the chair on one leg pinning the opposite peak on the ball of his hand as he looked behind him to the two bound and gagged figures beside him before the chair had spun a full 990 degrees to be facing toward the two figures before he sat in it again, crossing his legs and taking out his cigarette to tap off the ash that had accumulated onto the floor of the battered old building. They were nearer to the gate than he’d have liked but this was the only part of the city one could find throw away buildings like this one anymore, hat with the population being forced out of 15% of the city by the damned wall and That Thing behind it. “So!... shall we continue?” he asked to the male of the tow figures.

“Go…to hell… Contr-contractor.” He stammered breathing heavily still as blood dripped fomr his mouth. The other figure, a woman, was still not only firmly gaged but her ears were wrapped and her eyes were covered, she wouldn’t be able to hear anything spoken hell wouldn’t hear anything short of a gunshot, and couldn’t see the room or the people in it. Her husband, on the other hand, was still just bound and the gage hung loosely around his neck, Phat! “You and your kind… and that doll there! You’re all monsters!” he managed after he spat out a wad of blood.

Aaron just nodded his head with an agreeable look as he mentioned that contractors were scum, “Can’t argue there mate… but Dolls?” he turned to look back at the table he had been cleaning his gun at, where a young girl in a red and white dress sat, her hand on the wooden table and her blank eyes staring out the window, “-I think he means you’re a monster too Abigail.-” he returned his gaze to the man and shrugged, “Dolls are sweet, or sour depending on how you look at it, they’re like puppies with simple and pure intentions that will always be loyal. See, mate, we just met on the wrong foot.”

“Heh, is that so?”

“It is.” Aaron stood and walked over to the man standing before him, the guy was barely waist height to Aaron while kneeling, and as the bound man strained his neck to look Aaron in the face he was struck, Smack! Aaron’s palm came across the man’s face, spraying blood from the man’s already wounded nose and mouth across the decrepit walls, a moan escaped the woman followed by a whimper as Aaron’s back leg brushed her foot. She recoiled in fear as all her senses were blinded but her husband’s were fine and he was cursing up a storm. “But you… look at me!” Smack! “You lot are the real monsters. Completely human, emotional and irrational humans, which makes you way worse…”

Dood doo, duh duh, doot doo. Aaron put up his finger to pause the conversation as he took out his phone and moved toward the window, “-Hello… Ah yes, took you long enough.-” he began to pace across the window, speaking to an unheard mumble on the other end, although it was a conversation in English so the man wasn’t getting much although the girl seemed perfectly at home with it, or something like that as a Doll is very hard to read. “-I’m still not satisfied with the orders you gave to Blue Flame…-”

“…”

“-No, no, you’re right there, he shouldn’t have done as he did, but-”

“…”

“-You don’t get it, if you’re going to risk members of this team on stupid- no, ignorant missions then-!”

“…”

“-Me? Irrational? Ha! Don’t make me laugh, you limey git! I’m a Contractor, I don’t do irrational.-”

“…”

“-…Because, as I’ve told you before, Mate, killing her now would be too loud! Mary mother of God, are you that thick? You’re just going pull more attention to what should look like a standard fire-!”

“…”

“-Fuck off, you bloody moron, I’ll do my job…-”

“…”

“-Save the threats, Handler, if you’re wanting to try your luck you know where to find me. Good bye!-” he forcefully hit the button to hang up on the phone before putting it back in his pocket and breathing in heavily, finishing off his cigarette and tossing it away, “-Abigail…where’s Blue Flame now?-” he asked.

The table seemed to not change to the average eye but to a Contractor or Doll the wood shimmered as a bubbling blob of bluish... eh… substance… extended from the wood. That was Abigail’s Medium, wood. The billboard across form Takumi as he stood atop the building was made of wood and a similar structure arose upon it at the same moment far away from the neglected and abandoned building Aaron and Abigail currently occupied. “-He’s on top of a building to the West… I’m not sure what he’s doing… should I contact him?-”

Aaron sighed, “-No… he’s a big boy, he’ll do what he thinks is best.-” he had to take a moment for himself though, he almost slipped up, he almost said what he feels is best… huh, yeah right, feelings governing a Contractor. He brushed it off though and returned to the man.

“Did you finish your phone call?”

“Uh huh… you know, you criminal types are the ones who lead us Contractors… but we, see, we have an excuse - kind of – we’re rational and only kill when it is our benefit, but you guys? You must find some pleasure in it or else you’d pick a different line of work.” He sat down again and scooted the chair slightly closer, “Now… one last time…” he took out his pistol and aimed it at the woman, point blank so it actually touched her which made her howl through hthe gag and squirm in fear again, “Where. Are. They?” The man just shrugged at him but kept a fierce look in his eye as he tried to call the bluff, so Aaron pulled the trigger and the man almost lunged forward in sudden fear.

Click.

Aaron looked quizzically at his gun and dropped the magazine before pulling the slide a bullet flying out, which he caught, and checked it. “Oops… forgot the pin reset.” He said as h reached into the back of the chamber and pressed, “There we go.” He loaded the gun again and pointed it. He paused just long enough to see if the man would react.

“Wait…. Wait please- Please!”

Click.

“Oh for the love of… I hate burner weapons…” he commented as he checked the weapon again.

Clack, Slink, Click. the weapon was loaded a third time and this time he just aimed and began to depress the trigger.

“Okinawa!” the man roared, “They’re taking the Dolls to Okinawa! Please, that’s all I know, I swear!” Aaron raised an Eyebrow and pressed the gun closer, “Wa-wait! Please! Please don’t! There- there was a, there’s this guy! Oto –oto- Otonasi, that’s his name, Otonasi! But that’s all I know I swear, we – we just give him the Dolls and he flies them out… just, just put the gun down and- and I’ll tell you the flight number I know… ju-just please, promise not to hurt my wife.”

Aaron smiled widely and put up his hands in surrender, “Beautiful, Mate, beautiful. Love if truly amazing…” he complimented, “You have my word.” The man must have believed him as he told him to get a pen and paper, which he did and took down a flight number and the other information. After a few minutes Aaron nodded and smiled, “Thank you.” And with that he brought the gun up to the stunned man’s face.

Bang!

The woman jumped back and began weeping through the gag, terrified to a whole new level as sweat streamed down what little of her face was not covered by some form of sensory interruption. He hadn’t used a suppressor so no matter how covered her ears were she’d heard the bang and new it meant that someone was dead, being that she was alive she had no doubt guessed right. Aaron stood and stretched as he put the gun away. Abigail was already standing and had picked up the three cigarette butts he’d thrown through the interrogation. “-Thank you, Love, let’s get out of here.-” he said as he took them and moved toward the stairs.

“-What about her?-” Abigail asked looking at the bound woman. She took out a knife and knelt near her, “-Shouldn’t we kill her?-”

The woman was shaking but needlessly as Aaron shook his head, “-She didn’t see or hear anything… Police will be here soon… the less bodies the better, that’s something this Syndicate doesn’t’ get but it’s the truth, Love, now let’s go.-” He left first,and Abigail came soon after, but because he turned away he never saw one of the few things that could have affected him, the little girl in the red dress who was ready to kill a moment before had smiled at his act of mercy, a Doll had smiled. But Aaron was too busy dialling his phone and patiently praying ever so lightly, more out of habit of course, “Come on, Maya, pick up.”

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*NOTE: “- … -“ indicates a statement made in English.

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The sun was beautiful this afternoon, wasn't it? Such a lovely, invigorating light that beamed down on everything. It's warmth still vying against the natural coolness of the day for dominance against the surfaces of the city. Shimmering off the metal sidings of the small town homes, the glimmering glass windows of the skyscrapers off in the distance, and off the metal surface of a certain mask. That mask, which hid no one. No One, who reclined across the roof of a rather nice estate house. No One, whose blood still ever so slightly trickled down his fingers, staining the roof with little red droplets. No One, whose lips curled into a spry smile as they heard the murmuring of those inhabitants of this home, who were busy mourning their loss. Katsuo Nagamatsu. Or is that Nagamatsu Katsuo? I can never remember which comes first. The father and husband, of whom so many tears were being shed for. The Detective, whom was stalked by No One. The man who was killed this morning by his #1 fan, after such a heinous disappointment.

He held so much. A comfortable deal of wealth, a lovely home, a job to be proud of, a beautiful wife, two darling daughters, a surprisingly fit physique for someone in his forties, and even that sort of rugged allure that some may take fancy to. Indeed, he held so much, so why would he want more? His life was so interesting, and no one knew this like No One. He'd been enthralled by this man of valor, this man who held a virtue he'd thought lost to the world. DN-119, the Contractor who had no face or name, had been watching this detective for weeks. Each day was simply fascinating to him, and he could scarcely wait to see what the next episode would bring, until this day. This was a sudden upset, a plot twist most unwelcomed. A sudden blemish on Katsuo-san's shining integrity. A sudden vice which sprang to existence against his virtue. The offer of a warm bed with a warm body, which tempted him away from his pursuit of justice.

This sudden flare of lust over duty.... This was not expected. This would not do. DN-119 held so much faith that his favorite character would choose as he'd always. The path of justice. The nerve. Katsuo-san had let down his audience and failed to meet the expectations wished of him. Worst of all, none would know of it, save No One. Nobody would see what was truly inside this imposter of a hero. That simply would not do. No One would show this to everyone, what was within the Detectives heart. Slipping into the room with scarcely the presence of even a ghost, he watched the two as they slept..... and then split open Katsuo's ribcage so all could see what was really within him. Outside the window, just out of view, DN-119 waited for a sound he'd grown fond of. The sound of someone else seeing his work. The scream of the now-awake prostitute, having seen the mess which lay beside her, was all he needed.

So now here he was, still relaxing slothfully on the roof of his ex-favorite hero, listening to the weeping and whimpering of those within. Oh please. Why must you cry so much? What about me? I was his number one fan, and he became such a let-down! He's not worth the tears. ......Oh, well. Bored now. Flexing his toes at unnatural angles, hearing the joints and digits pop in and out of socket, he thumbed through his pockets for the last traces of currency he held. His sense of touch negated the need to see the money, his skin picking up on the different textures of the ink. Without so much as a glance, he could count out just under ¥1500. Huh. Bored and broke, apparently. Hmmm. I wonder..... is she still in town? It's been ages since I've seen her. ......I think I'll pop in for a visit.

Course in mind, DN-119 rolled over onto his stomach. With a eerie amount of swiftness and fluidity, his feet curled and stretched up his own back until they stood on each side of his head while his body was perfectly arched in a circle. His upper torso snapped into position before he could even take a single step, walking with a calmness that seemed so unnatural. Right up until he walked right off the edge of the three story building. Landing ungracefully with a sickening snap of multiple bones, his body began to emit a faint blue aura of Synchotron radiation. His arms began flexing back into place, and yet not. His right elbow arced over his own head, while his left foot was planted on the ground beside his right hip. With several gut-wrenching pops, he twisted and contorted his bones into place and stood fully bipedal. Leaving behind tiny footprints in blood, he strode forward with a determined yet fluid motion, zipping up his hoodie along the way.

The first order of business was simple, find where "she" was. It'd been such a long time, 2 years in fact, since last time they met. Before the bomb. A part of DN-119 didn't want to go back, he enjoyed the little freedom he had in the past three months. It was like a vacation, but now it was time to get back to doing what Contractors did. Killing. At least it was a job he truly enjoyed, right? The quiet, repetitive thuds of his bare feet against the sidewalk became quite rhythmic, drowning out most of the chatter around him. Such a wonderful city, where someone can stroll around dressed as he was and ne'er raise an eyebrow. His ears trained in to what he sought, a young man, likely talking to his wife, on his very nice smartphone. DN-119 could sense his lack of awareness, as he simply stepped up behind him. The man's ignorance of his surroundings was almost alarming, as he didn't even raise a suspicion until a single fingertip was placed on his forehead.

"That's wonderful! So did he stop by to-"

"Shhhhh....."

With only a touch, DN-119's star flared with activity. His powers working to upset the delicate balance of serotonin in the man's brain, as well as causing several nerve endings to pulse rapidly, causing a chemical panic within. The result was the same as suddenly receiving a knockout blow from a world class heavyweight boxer. All in the span of under a second. DN-119 gracefully snatched the phone from the hands of this stranger as he collapsed to the cement. A single red fingerprint placed right on his head. Of course, the poor woman on the other end of the call was clueless, hearing only the slouching thud of dead weight.

"Haru? Honey, are you alright? Hello?"

I'm sorry, Haru's out right now. I'm sure he'll call you back.

With the tap on his thumb, the call was abruptly ended. Poor Haru here was going to have a difficult time explaining this one, but that was his problem. As nimble as a spider weaving its web, No One's fingers went to work. Searches, maps, addresses, names..... He'd found it. Carelessly discarding the phone on Haru's unconscious body, DN-119 took off down an alley. Once again, his powers came to life as adrenaline flooded his system. His heart began racing, his muscles densened, and his eyes dilated. Leaping with inhuman agility up a nearby fire escape, using only his upper body to propel his lightweight form, he reached the rooftops with a stylish frontflip. The scars on his feet has been torn open, bleeding little trails which followed behind him as he parkoured his way to his destination. Constantly he purged his body of any sort of fatigue inducing toxins exuded by his muscles and increased the flow of oxygen and blood to his heart and brain. With this, he could run till he fell over dead, never tiring even for a moment.

In the distance, a sudden noise caught his ear. Not the kind which any human could hear. This was the sort of sound which made dogs suddenly bark in the middle of the night, and cats stare off into space for no apparent reason. Not even Contractors could hear this noise, though they could certainly see it's source. Specters. Electricity specters to be specific. Likely released by the Astronomics Police to patrol for a Contractor. Maybe even No One. His eyes could spy them darting about the power lines in the distance, they were heading for his location. Though by the time they reached him, he was well hidden, curled underneath the narrow balcony of the building's side. His breath slowed down to being nearly nonexistent, his pulse dropped in an instant. He was as silent and motionless as a corpse. Finally, he could hear them give up on their quarry and move on. He wasn't very far from his goal. In fact, he was just above it.

Quietly he slinked down, onto the railing of the balcony and into the open window. He perched himself like a gargoyle on the windowsill, watching as this pink haired girl didn't even take notice of him. Emiho-chan! How are you? It's been too long! .....Wait. Somethings different. .....Did you change your hair? Still, she was oblivious to the soundless presence within her room. His hands were crossed over each other, elbows resting on his knees, as a single bead of blood began to form on the tip of his finger. The droplet departed his digit, dripping down and staining what was an otherwise spotless floor. At that faintest of possible sounds, the girl paused....

......... Uh oh.

Were Dolls supposed to sleep? She assumed not, since the few others she had known were usually up all the time. Why did she sleep then? At least she tried to, lie down on her bed for hours, eyes closed and thoughts empty. Still, no sleep. But she could sometimes fall into a dream-like state, something she had grown to enjoy very much. It made time pass quickly for her, which was much more preferred than staying up all night and doing nothing. She already did that during the day. For almost two years now she had been inactive, unsure what she was supposed to do with DN gone. It wasn't like she was useless without him, just it was strange doing a job without him by her side, challenging her every move and nearly begging her to let him kill more. The killing never made her uncomfortable, it hardly bothered her, but she still felt like it was her responsibility to keep him sane. Now he was gone and she had no responsibility, she had nothing to do. She didn't know if he was dead- which was unlikely, who could kill him? -or perhaps he had just decided he didn't need her anymore.

Recently I'd been doing a whole lot of nothing. The first few months after DN disappeared, Emi had been working with another Contractor. Whatever parts she did remember weren't very pleasant, and the only thing she ever really did was hunt for him. Again, it didn't bother her, but she didn't like the fact that he never really told her what she was doing it for. She could recall the man saying that she was special to him, because she had a special spector. Though she knew it wasn't really special, all she was able to do was track things through animals, just like other Dolls could track through water, or glass. Not long after this she left, finding his presence unbearably annoying, even more so than DN's. She moved back to her old apartment and really hadn't left it since then. A few times she had gone out to hunt or join another group to help with some job, but recently she had been doing none of that. Though she still sometimes went out looking for DN, as if she could ever find him. He was like a shadow, never really there. That was how she saw it.

What was that? She was lying on her back at the end of the bed, eyes closed as she tried to slip into the dream state. Then she heard the noise, the faintest little plop as something hit the floor. Her breath hitched in her throat and she paused before sitting up quickly, eyes immediately finding the man perched in her window. DN? Slowly pushing herself to her feet, she took a few steps towards the window, leaving her right in front of the blood that had stained her floor. "You've been back less than a minute and already you're making new messes for me to clean up, Carter." she said flatly, eyes flicking up to find his face- his mask. Without any hesitation, she pulled her arm back and punched him in the shoulder- knowing that punching his mask would hurt her more than him. It was useless though, since he was a freaking tank. Jumping onto him, they both fell back onto the balcony, and she made a point of pounding her fists against his chest a few more times before relenting, knowing she was doing him no harm even though her knuckles were red and bleeding. "I thought you were dead, asshole."

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Ataru work in progress.

Trains always seemed to have far too much noise, all the moving parts and the sound of metal wheels sliding along the tracks was rather bothersome to say the least, suffice to say with all this noise Sefan wasn’t exactly at ease. He stared out the window of the dining compartment as the scenery outside passed by without interruption, in only a few minutes they would be at their destination. This particular train was supposed to take people from one end of Japan to the other without issue, the train itself was raised up almost a mile from the ground at some parts of its journey, almost impossible to reach as it goes on its way. This particular train though always makes a single stop, a single stop except for the two end destination of course.
Sefan closed his eyes as he felt the train start to slow down, his scarf hung loosely around his neck and his brown hair seemed to be even more messed up than usual today. He counted slowly in his head …. 1…2….why had he agreed to this again….3…4….why was he allowing himself to be used once more...5…6…I guess it wasn’t that far out of the way, it even shaved off a bit of time for my journey….7…8…..almost time now….9….10

To anyone on the platform in Tokyo they would have seen the train screaming into station, steam pumping out and the sound of metal settling from his high speed trek. To anyone on the outside they wouldn’t notice the way Sefan stood as everyone else got jostled around. The train would be in the station for exactly 30 seconds, the amount of time it would take for a person to get from one end of the train to the other was about 2 minutes. That is of course assuming the person was normal.
Sefan looked out the window and felt the familiar pulling sensation as he called upon his contractor abilities, one second he was standing inside the train and the next he was on the platform among the crowd. He was always amazed at how he could just pop up in a crowd and the people around didn’t even notice, they just tended to assume he had just escaped their notice. Sefan didn’t stop with that though, in quick, succession he turned his attention to the last compartment and brought himself to the front of it immediately with his power. A quick step forward brought him to the couplings that hooked one compartment to the other, a simple contraption that allowed them all to be pulled together by the train. His hands set to work quickly, pulling levers and undoing bolts as easily as he could. It only took a few seconds to do it, to make sure the train would accidently leave this compartment behind when it got back underway.

Sefan stepped away and moved away from the train before anyone would notice what he had done. His understanding was that there were drugs or something in the last compartment and while some people would also be losing things such as clothes the drugs would be staying safely here in Tokyo. Sefan kept walking, his legs carrying him away as he pulled out two objects. The first was a lighter, he struck it quickly and held it up to his arm, the flame biting and burning into his flesh as it left a black mark on his skin. Pain lanced through him as he opened the small burner phone he had kept on him and punched in the only contact. Holding it up to his ear as it rang away he stowed the lighter.
As he heard the phone get answered he spoke quickly. “The compartment the goods are on will be accidently left in Tokyo, the train authorities will probably stow it away till the next train headed the same way comes through. That gives you two days to get your stuff.”

After a full twenty-four hours, Kitty awoke from her slumber. She yawned and stretched then gazed over to her cell phone which read 6:30 AM. Kitty took a double take then jumped out of bed. She had never slept so long in her whole life. She tried to recall what happened that made her so tired, but everything was a blur. All she could remember was using her powers. She thought long and hard, trying to force her brain to remember. Then it hit her. She used her strongest power and in return had to be someone's slave.

"I must have been drugged... GOD DAMMIT!" Kitty screamed as she punched her wall. She stopped herself from punching a hole through the hollow slab, but she knew it had to have woken the neighbors. Good job Kitty.. She thought to herself. She slowly walked to the bathroom and turned the shower on to her favorite temperature. She tried to push the terrifying thoughts of what could have happened to her out of her mind, but it was a difficult task. She scrubbed her body furiously, trying to wash away all the grubby fingerprints of her ex-owner.

As she stepped out of the steaming shower she heard the noise she dreaded everyday. BZZZZZZ. BZZZZZZ. BZZZZZ. She wrapped up her hair and body and snatched the phone from the nightstand.

"Who the hell is this?"

"..."

"Jesus Christ! How many god damn times do I have to tell you that I'm not gonna work for your filthy corporation."

"..."

"Yeah, Yeah, whatever. I'm gonna regret this. I've heard it a million times. Send more of your failures for me to kill."

Kitty closed the phone and threw it on the bed. "Just great, now I've got a time limit before someone destroys my house again."

She skimmed through her closet and picked out her favorite outfit. Then she grabbed her phone and dagger and left her house with the slam of her door. She enjoyed pissing off the neighbor to the right of her. The gross man would always beat his wife. One day Kitty decided she would slit his throat in his sleep.

As she continued walking with a fast pace, she stuffed her dagger carefully in her left boot. She didn't really care about being sneaky with it, she preferred making a bold move with her right arm to her left boot just to scare her prey. When she reached the alley way shortcut she liked taking, she noticed another presence. She smirked and turned around, "SO you're the scum they sent this time. You ready pal?"

The mercenary smiled as his eyes turned red. Then all of the sudden a thick blinding cloud of fog appeared. "Fog manipulation. I hope you know that's not impressive in the slightest. I will go easy on you. And don't think I didn't see your little silenced pistols there." At that second a bullet skimmed Kitty's cheek. She licked the blood and as she heard the heavy breathing of the man behind her once again, she disappeared.

The man was startled," What the..." He started to sweat as he felt little prickles climbing up his back. He began to swat at his back but he just couldn't reach the brown recluse slowly reaching the back of his neck. The spider's fangs sunk into the mans rough skin, and in an instant poison coursed through his veins. He dropped his pistols and fell to the floor paralyzed. The speedy spider crawled through the now disappearing fog and reached the end of the alleyway, only to find the mercenaries parked car. Within five seconds, Kitty transformed back into her normal self. She licked her lips as she searched for the first living thing she could find. Luckily a little old lady passed right into Kitty's field of vision. She skipped up and pulled the little old granny into a hug. Kitty had to wait a full ten seconds before her medium was finished. The senior repeatedly hit the bent down loving Kitty with her cane.

"Who are you?! Get off me young lady!" The old lady exclaimed.

After the time was up Kitty giggled and smiled sweetly, "Sorry! I thought you were my grandma. How silly of me! Kitty then walked off back to the parked car with a frown. "I hate my life." She looked in the car window to see the keys left in the ignition. She shook her head as she opened the car door. The hair on her neck stood up as she heard a click and a music box song start up. She instantly knew that a ruthless contractor wouldn't have a music box in his car for fun. Her eyes searched the back seat as she noticed a black brief case with a wire leading to somewhere.

Behind her a teen boy yelled, "Oh my god! We need to call the police! Did you do this to this man!" The boy was kneeling down listening to the paralyzed man's slowed breaths. Kitty whispered to herself, "Mother fucker..." Kitty sprinted towards the boy and tackled him to the ground with a thud. She covered his body with her own as the car a few feet behind them exploded. An immense heat burned Kitty's back, but luckily it didn't burn her clothes. Smoke and car parts fell all around them. When the last of the dangerous debris fell, Kitty stood up and darted out the alleyway.

After she was about twenty minutes away she returned to a walk. She hadn't even broken a sweat, but she knew that she had lost four hours worth of energy. I'm only gonna be able to do about three more full transformations like that before I burn out. Kitty searched for a little store that would sell energy drinks. If she was gonna stay up for three more days again, she would have to stock up.

"This city is to damned loud." said the form of a young man, staring through the cracks of the closed blinds of his hotel room. Smoke rose from the tip of his cigarette which desperately needed to be ashed. The line of light over his eyes revealed them to be distant, near dead. His eyes held little life in them, but something about his expression hinted there was more to him than meets the eye. The man stretched his arms in an arcing position, causing his loose khaki shirt's sleeves to slide down his arms. When they passed his elbows, they revealed a tattoo on his left arm. it stated "Kai Nagori, 01/06/----"The year seemed to be covered by some stray shadows.

Kai gave a large yawn, the cigarette still somehow remaining in his open mouth.The ash finally gave way, and soot and sparks flew and landed abruptly on his dark sweats. He didn't react at all to this, he simply cracked his back, looking bored.

A laptop was open on a table next to the chair he was seated in. On the screen was what looked like the profile of a female, twenty four years old. A brief description was given of her. A second window seemed to opened in the corner of the screen. It was an email addressed to Raid. It stated explicitly to erase the memory of the woman of who she saw murdered two weeks prior and put in the name of another man from the list provided the rewards would be great.

A high-speed camera was set up on a tripod pointing through the blinds Kai was seated in front of. It seemed to be aimed at a small but well furnished apartment building several blocks away. Through one of the windows, a woman who was identical to the woman on the laptop danced around what looked like a kitchen dressed in black skinny jeans with a white tank top and a yellow half jacket with light grey heeled boots.

That was Nikorei. She enjoyed lightly toasted bagels with cream cheese and adored western culture, especially if it was from the United States. She enjoys watching American TV shows and cooking for her boyfriend Hioki, who, by the way, was cheating on her with her sister Haruka.

Kai activated the camera and numerous sounds erupted from the device, taking several frame by frame shots of the scene in the kitchen. He had been watching her for the past 4 days. She was a strong and fiercely independent woman, so it would be harder for him to due such an intricate Raid on her without knowing more of who she was and what her life entailed.

Well......maybe not. Kai often questions his own motives during surveillance. Did he really have to watch them for so long? Or, did he, in a way, find happiness through watching people live normal lives. Now, it wasn't just the not living every day with your life on the line that made Nikorei's life appealing to Kai. It was the little things. The worry she felt when she was late for her job at the coffee store she ran. The excitement at receiving news from her brother in America. The comfort of falling asleep to her favorite TV show. You know.......life.

It often made him question himself if this was what he wanted anymore. Now, this question was based purely on emotion, which was not correct for a Contractor to do.....which only made him question more.

*BEEP**BEEP*

An alarm on his phone going off shook him out of his train of thought. It was the alarm he set for when it would be the perfect time for him to strike. He sighed heavily and got dressed in his featureless mask.

Soon enough, Raid was ready to go.

He ran there across the tightly packed rooftops of suburban Tokyo. He moved swiftly and silently as his trade demanded. He was soon upon the apartment. He had absolutely no weapons on him, he didn't need them.

He made his way to the open window in her bedroom, she always left it open on hot nights like this. The bedroom door was not fully shut so he opened it without a sound. Raid slowly made his way down the narrow hallway to her living room. As expected, she was watching "Supernatural", an American television show she was rather obsessed with. She had even gotten a tattoo just like the tattoo the two main characters had gotten. He would never understand a devotion like that.....unfortunately.

He quickly smacked his head, Focus, you have a job to do.

Raid quietly made his way up behind her couch. He then quickly slipped his hands over it and latched onto her temples. His eyes glowed from the synchotronic radiation and the connection was set. He quickly scanned through her memories and found the one of the murder. He quickly erased the image of the man and his name. He replaced them with a slightly older man with a very different name. This man was a pedophile that had earned parole from good behavior. He saw it no problem for this man t go back to jail.

Before he pulled out.......he had a thought. A quick impulse that he could not ignore. He quickly rifled through her brain and gave her a very quick memory of his own fabrication.......a hint of her boyfriends unfaithfulness and her sisters involvement. Nikorei was good person......a very good person. She deserved to be with someone who loved her, not used her. Why he helped her, he wasn't sure, but it made him feel....good.

The glow faded and Nikorei lost consciousness as her mind had to process all the new information. The second he lost connectivity to her........he completely forgot what hotel and room number he hadbeen staying at for the past 4 days. He cursed under his breath. He had already wiped the minds of the people who saw him check in and erased the video footage of him. He had even marked the room as under construction so no one would take it.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a detonator. He opened the flap and pressed the switch. Somewhere in the distance, an explosion was heard. He had rigged the room with explosives just in case this happened. He would have to get a new lap top and clothes.

Before he left, Raid eyed the fridge just as his stomach growled. He opened it up and found several pudding packages. He lifted his mask and downed two of them in a single gulp each. He decided to take the rest of them for Noise....she would probably like them. He bagged them and left the way he came, with no trace.

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Constantly hearing sirens on the way back to his place, he had decided to ditch the tactical vest and mask in the sewer and continue the rest of the way in nothing but his tactical pants and boots......which looked more like a common fashion statement of kids around his age.

He eventually made it back to his house. It was abasic boarding building with the rooms for rent were just that, rooms. He opened his door with his spare key because his other one had been destroyed by the explosion in the hotel. He found the room with most of the lights off with Noise just as he had left her, sitting in front of a fan.

"I'm back. he said simply

He placed the bag of puddings on their table and took off his boots.

"Sorry I was gone for so long. I brought pudding, I thought you might like it." He stated in a rather emotionless voice.

He didn't expect Noise to answer him, she was a doll after all.

He went to his bed and sat on it in nothing but black pants.

He looked over to Noise. "Anything to report?"