Old Character - Darkburst
Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2004 7:18 pmThe door swung open before him easily enough once its lock had been skillfully picked. An apartment, more spacious then the ones that he had become accustomed to living in, spread out before him. Various pieces of copied artwork were displayed on the otherwise dull walls, and several pieces of furniture adorned the floor.
They had not heard him enter. Hardly any of them ever did. Nor did they usually see him. Not until he wanted them to.
He moved down the short entry hall and took a right in the living room, his catlike and silent steps taking him to the single bedroom. The door was flung wide open, and in the otherwise quiet of the apartment he could make out sounds of a couple in the throws of passion. They had not warned him that there might be a second target, but that they hadn't did not surprise him. Nor did it deter him.
The jobs he was assigned were always completed, and they were always done with the utmost care. This was not going to be any different. His form, nearly invisible to the naked eye, stepped into the bedroom. Immediately, he moved against a wall and into some nearby shadows.
The target was there. It was hard to tell for certain, but he wasn't in any rush. He waited for almost an hour in the shadows, making out this feature and that as the couple continued in oblivious bliss.
At the end of that hour the couple seemed to finish, the male counterpart writhing in ecstasy above as the female clung to the bed in the midst of joyous spasms. The man rose, said he would be right back, and began to stride toward the bathroom. The woman barely acknowledged, waving a hand dismissively while muttering something about the joys of nanotechnology.
The figure in the dark, the ever-patient assassin, slipped out of the shadows and met his target half way to the bathroom. The man's eyes widened, as a man suddenly appeared out of thin air before him, and they widened still more as a large sub-machinegun rose from the depths of the man's trench coat. Three shots rang out in rapid secession, the muzzle of the Mausser pouring them into the target's chest.
The job was not done, though. Even as the target, now merely a corpse, fell to the ground the Mausser turned toward the woman in the bed. Her naked, quivering form was hidden beneath silk blankets, but the fear in her bright eyes was very evident. He took a step forward, moving over the dead body and closer to the bed, and as he did so the woman seemed to shrink away.
"Y-you're him...aren't you?" The woman's voice cracked through the quiet for a moment before falling silent once more.
The fact that she had an idea of who he was meant only one thing. This woman had information off the street. She was more than likely a hooker.
When he did not answer the woman gather her courage and spoke up again. "You're him, right? You're Darkburst?"
Still he did not answer.
"You're Darkburst, right?" This time when the woman opened her mouth to speak a man's voice flew from her lips.
"That's not what she said," he spoke to himself.
It was then that he realized he had been delving in the past again. He sat at a table, staring down into a hot cup of coffee, which he held between his hands. The steam from it rose up to greet him, and as it did so he inhaled deeply to wake his mind.
That man's voice broke the silence around him again. "Hey! I'm talking to you, mister."
He looked up to see that three men were standing before him. All three were burly looking solitus, and the each wore the uniform of the company. As if that wasn't enough to put him ill at ease, each of them had a gun drawn and at the ready.
Clearing his throat, he thought it would be best to answer as he usually did. "My name is Christopher. I've never called myself by Darkburst."
The guard closest, the one that had spoken before, grinned at him for a moment. Half of the man's teeth must have been missing. "Well, I say you're him. I got a friend that wants to talk to you, too."
Well, at least he knew why there were here now. "Look, you can tell Harrison to go screw himself. There's no way I'm going back to the department. I don't care how many rookies he sends my way."
"Rookies?!" Rage blew out of the guard's mouth in the form of saliva. Some of which landed in Christopher's coffee.
"Yes...rookies." Christopher replied calmly. "If you were anything more you'd have done your homework, and you would have known not to just come barreling in here. Goodbye..."
The guards could only watch as Christopher suddenly blurred out of reality. As they raised their guns to fire they realized that he was already gone. All that was left of him were several coins spinning on the tabletop. Payment for his spoiled coffee.
The Grid spread out before him. Electronic pulses, other people as well as data, sped passed him. Christopher was in his element in the blink of an eye, escaping his would be captors without even having to put up a fight. That, of course, suited him just fine.
"Omni-Tek security guards. I thought Harrison had more sense than that. Perhaps the budget cuts for the department were more than he let on."
Without another word, Christopher sped across the main floor of the Grid. He had to find some place to lay low. A place that was not as known to Harrison as it was to himself. Not to mention as easy to get into. Newland zipped passed, but he'd never known the neutrals to even look twice at an Omnn-Tek patrol in their sectors. Omni Entertainment passed by next, but considering that place would be as good as walking into Harrison's office with shackles on.
Tir presented itself lasty, and Christopher veered off to it without a second thought. Clan controlled. That meant they practically shot Omni on sight. The fact that it was their capital meant that it was even more secure.
"Are you Darkburst?"
It had been three years since Christopher had come to Tir. He had claimed himself to be neutral when he entered the city, taking up residence in the shadier part of town. He'd done everything to create a new life for himself, and he had even joined the Clans a year ago. Whenever someone came around with that name, though, it put him on edge.
Christopher's face lifted from the cup of steaming coffee below him, mirrored shades glinting in the low light of the small bar, as he looked up to the strange that stood before him. On Old Earth they'd have called the solitus an Asian. His eyes were slightly slanted, the color of his skin was slightly yellowish, and he even wore a topknot like some said they did on Old Earth.
He was by no means intimidating. Not that it mattered. There wasn't much that intimidated Christopher these days. Not after the line of work Harrison had trained him for.
"What'd you say?" he finally replied.
The stranger cleared his throat, thinking he might not have been clear enough. "I asked if you were Darkburst. My name is..."
"I don't give a damn who you are." Christopher interrupted the stranger, letting his anger edge his words in a threatening manner. "If you call me by that name again I'll put a bullet in your head."
The stranger suddenly laughed. "Well, what else am I supposed to call you?"
Christopher didn't respond, and when the stranger noticed his confusion he smiled and offered a hand. "My name is Kizaki. We have a meeting?"
The grey skin of Christopher's opifex face softened at the introduction. "You're Kizaki. I suppose I should apologize..."
He didn't apologize, though. Not verbally. Instead, he kicked a chair out with his foot and offered it to the other man with a nod. Nodding himself, Kizaki sat down in the seat.
The two men stared at each other for a few moments, each seeming to gauge the other. It was almost a contest of wills, each trying to find a weakness in the other. Finally, though, the grey-skinned one broke the silence.
"Christopher. You can call me Christopher."
Curious, Kizaki asked the question that so many before him had. "Why do you prefer Christopher as opposed to your street name?"
Christopher answered with a shrug to start, leting Kizaki wonder for a moment as he lifted his cup of coffee for a sip. "Darkburst is something I was called by a department of Omni-Tek I once worked for. The things I did for them are not things I am proud of, and that name symbolizes those things."
Kizaki only nodded in response. Most other people were too curious for their own good. Most wanted to know why that street name. Most wanted to know what things. In that moment, Kizaki's silence gained more respect from Christopher than he'd ever know.
"So..." Kizaki broke the silence "...you want to be a Dragon. Mind telling me why?"
The guild leader leaned forward for his answer, and for the next two hours he discussed the Dragon Coalition with Christopher. He told the young man what they were all about, what their goals were. He explained what was expected of a Dragon member. Most importantly, in those two hours, Kizaki gained insight to who this potential member might be inside.
They had not heard him enter. Hardly any of them ever did. Nor did they usually see him. Not until he wanted them to.
He moved down the short entry hall and took a right in the living room, his catlike and silent steps taking him to the single bedroom. The door was flung wide open, and in the otherwise quiet of the apartment he could make out sounds of a couple in the throws of passion. They had not warned him that there might be a second target, but that they hadn't did not surprise him. Nor did it deter him.
The jobs he was assigned were always completed, and they were always done with the utmost care. This was not going to be any different. His form, nearly invisible to the naked eye, stepped into the bedroom. Immediately, he moved against a wall and into some nearby shadows.
The target was there. It was hard to tell for certain, but he wasn't in any rush. He waited for almost an hour in the shadows, making out this feature and that as the couple continued in oblivious bliss.
At the end of that hour the couple seemed to finish, the male counterpart writhing in ecstasy above as the female clung to the bed in the midst of joyous spasms. The man rose, said he would be right back, and began to stride toward the bathroom. The woman barely acknowledged, waving a hand dismissively while muttering something about the joys of nanotechnology.
The figure in the dark, the ever-patient assassin, slipped out of the shadows and met his target half way to the bathroom. The man's eyes widened, as a man suddenly appeared out of thin air before him, and they widened still more as a large sub-machinegun rose from the depths of the man's trench coat. Three shots rang out in rapid secession, the muzzle of the Mausser pouring them into the target's chest.
The job was not done, though. Even as the target, now merely a corpse, fell to the ground the Mausser turned toward the woman in the bed. Her naked, quivering form was hidden beneath silk blankets, but the fear in her bright eyes was very evident. He took a step forward, moving over the dead body and closer to the bed, and as he did so the woman seemed to shrink away.
"Y-you're him...aren't you?" The woman's voice cracked through the quiet for a moment before falling silent once more.
The fact that she had an idea of who he was meant only one thing. This woman had information off the street. She was more than likely a hooker.
When he did not answer the woman gather her courage and spoke up again. "You're him, right? You're Darkburst?"
Still he did not answer.
"You're Darkburst, right?" This time when the woman opened her mouth to speak a man's voice flew from her lips.
"That's not what she said," he spoke to himself.
It was then that he realized he had been delving in the past again. He sat at a table, staring down into a hot cup of coffee, which he held between his hands. The steam from it rose up to greet him, and as it did so he inhaled deeply to wake his mind.
That man's voice broke the silence around him again. "Hey! I'm talking to you, mister."
He looked up to see that three men were standing before him. All three were burly looking solitus, and the each wore the uniform of the company. As if that wasn't enough to put him ill at ease, each of them had a gun drawn and at the ready.
Clearing his throat, he thought it would be best to answer as he usually did. "My name is Christopher. I've never called myself by Darkburst."
The guard closest, the one that had spoken before, grinned at him for a moment. Half of the man's teeth must have been missing. "Well, I say you're him. I got a friend that wants to talk to you, too."
Well, at least he knew why there were here now. "Look, you can tell Harrison to go screw himself. There's no way I'm going back to the department. I don't care how many rookies he sends my way."
"Rookies?!" Rage blew out of the guard's mouth in the form of saliva. Some of which landed in Christopher's coffee.
"Yes...rookies." Christopher replied calmly. "If you were anything more you'd have done your homework, and you would have known not to just come barreling in here. Goodbye..."
The guards could only watch as Christopher suddenly blurred out of reality. As they raised their guns to fire they realized that he was already gone. All that was left of him were several coins spinning on the tabletop. Payment for his spoiled coffee.
The Grid spread out before him. Electronic pulses, other people as well as data, sped passed him. Christopher was in his element in the blink of an eye, escaping his would be captors without even having to put up a fight. That, of course, suited him just fine.
"Omni-Tek security guards. I thought Harrison had more sense than that. Perhaps the budget cuts for the department were more than he let on."
Without another word, Christopher sped across the main floor of the Grid. He had to find some place to lay low. A place that was not as known to Harrison as it was to himself. Not to mention as easy to get into. Newland zipped passed, but he'd never known the neutrals to even look twice at an Omnn-Tek patrol in their sectors. Omni Entertainment passed by next, but considering that place would be as good as walking into Harrison's office with shackles on.
Tir presented itself lasty, and Christopher veered off to it without a second thought. Clan controlled. That meant they practically shot Omni on sight. The fact that it was their capital meant that it was even more secure.
"Are you Darkburst?"
It had been three years since Christopher had come to Tir. He had claimed himself to be neutral when he entered the city, taking up residence in the shadier part of town. He'd done everything to create a new life for himself, and he had even joined the Clans a year ago. Whenever someone came around with that name, though, it put him on edge.
Christopher's face lifted from the cup of steaming coffee below him, mirrored shades glinting in the low light of the small bar, as he looked up to the strange that stood before him. On Old Earth they'd have called the solitus an Asian. His eyes were slightly slanted, the color of his skin was slightly yellowish, and he even wore a topknot like some said they did on Old Earth.
He was by no means intimidating. Not that it mattered. There wasn't much that intimidated Christopher these days. Not after the line of work Harrison had trained him for.
"What'd you say?" he finally replied.
The stranger cleared his throat, thinking he might not have been clear enough. "I asked if you were Darkburst. My name is..."
"I don't give a damn who you are." Christopher interrupted the stranger, letting his anger edge his words in a threatening manner. "If you call me by that name again I'll put a bullet in your head."
The stranger suddenly laughed. "Well, what else am I supposed to call you?"
Christopher didn't respond, and when the stranger noticed his confusion he smiled and offered a hand. "My name is Kizaki. We have a meeting?"
The grey skin of Christopher's opifex face softened at the introduction. "You're Kizaki. I suppose I should apologize..."
He didn't apologize, though. Not verbally. Instead, he kicked a chair out with his foot and offered it to the other man with a nod. Nodding himself, Kizaki sat down in the seat.
The two men stared at each other for a few moments, each seeming to gauge the other. It was almost a contest of wills, each trying to find a weakness in the other. Finally, though, the grey-skinned one broke the silence.
"Christopher. You can call me Christopher."
Curious, Kizaki asked the question that so many before him had. "Why do you prefer Christopher as opposed to your street name?"
Christopher answered with a shrug to start, leting Kizaki wonder for a moment as he lifted his cup of coffee for a sip. "Darkburst is something I was called by a department of Omni-Tek I once worked for. The things I did for them are not things I am proud of, and that name symbolizes those things."
Kizaki only nodded in response. Most other people were too curious for their own good. Most wanted to know why that street name. Most wanted to know what things. In that moment, Kizaki's silence gained more respect from Christopher than he'd ever know.
"So..." Kizaki broke the silence "...you want to be a Dragon. Mind telling me why?"
The guild leader leaned forward for his answer, and for the next two hours he discussed the Dragon Coalition with Christopher. He told the young man what they were all about, what their goals were. He explained what was expected of a Dragon member. Most importantly, in those two hours, Kizaki gained insight to who this potential member might be inside.
))