Stephan followed the boy god through town. He took the train into the red light district and Stephan followed at a good distance. He seemed to know his way around without looking at his wallet, while Stephan had checked his constantly. He had to keep his bearings and watch the boy god.
This was unlike any surveillance he'd ever done. Stephan wore a pair of land warriors to help keep track of his position and his vitals in the van Henrik monitored. He was also recording everything in case he missed something.
Durante walked into a run down building and Stephan didn't want to follow. Instead he set a disposable camera to watch the door he'd gone in while he walked the perimeter of the building to make sure there was no other exits. But there had been and he'd set cameras to watch all of them, feeding to the van Henrik was sitting in probably doing nothing but scheming how he wished he could have come. To take on a god alone. Stephan wasn't as stupid.
Stephan hadn't made the full circuit when the god came out of the building with a girl kicking over his shoulder. The building was a mass of orange flames that seemed to follow and flicker as the boy passed. On the other side of the road, Stephan watched as he set the girl down. She yanked her body from his grasp and his out stretched hand tried to grab her but he didn't chase. He looked conflicted but he stayed and turned his attention back to the building which roared into a hot blazing inferno in a moment.
The flames licked the sky and Stephan felt the heat and ran to a safer distance. How had a fire gotten so hot so fast? How...
The boy.
Stephan watched from his camera vantage point as he stood there staring at the building. He didn't look like he was doing anything, but when Stephan looked at the blazing building it should have spread beyond the building to the next by now, it was hot and flames licked in every direction. It burnt - whatever was inside would be nothing but ash. What was he covering up? Who was that girl?
Nox pulled out his wallet and sent Dorian a text.
- Aria was safe on the lam now. Dealing with bodies.
And then he looked at the latest Atharim news. A filter Sage had set up to flag any information he might need to know. There was a registration or you become a terrorist. Fuck!
Without thinking Nox wove a block of air and sat down on it. And read the press release over and over again. What the fuck. Channeling registration now Atharim. Nox flipped over to the site and added his name. Fuck if he wasn't screwed - might as well put jail back on the plate.
The fire was hot and Nox wove a third weave around him to cool the air. That second weave had been harder than the fire one he was holding, but adding the third only made things more difficult. It was like working out. The strain made his brow sweat despite the colder air around him.
It was difficult but he sat and waited. He pulled his legs up under him and wondered how many people were looking, he was grateful for the area and if the sirens ever sounded near by he'd hear them long before they got close and he could let it all go. Put the fire out and then disappear.
Stephan radio'd back. "Durante is just sitting here tending to a fire." He sent back video with the boy and the fire and his apparent floating in mid air. The day was growing dark and the fire burned hot, Stephan could feel it from his hiding place in a warehouse across the street. Perfect view of the boy and his powers. "He's not like anyone I've every hunted." There was awe mixed and fear in Stephan's voice. He knew this was not like the kids he and Henrik had taken out. Or the children before them. No this was different. The fire alone was proof of that.
The fire flickered until there was nothing left to burn but more ash. Time had escaped Nox. He didn't know how much time had lapsed as he held the three weaves. He let the cool air go and then the fire and slipped off the block of air and let it go.
The air was colder now between the dead fire and the night air. No trucks had ever come to put out the fire. Nox shook his head and wondered how much time had actually passed.
But now Aria was in the wind. He could search for her, but she was long gone now. Home and sleep was his best option. He had others to worry about now.
There was a station near by but Nox wanted to walk he knew the streets thanks to Aria so now he started the long trek back to Dorian's estate - his new home - at least for now. He was sure it wasn't going to last long.
Jacinda and Yoshi arrived. The video Stephan had made made Jacinda smile. Hehehe....this was a real god. Volodin had been dangerous but young. Untrained, it seemed, from the footage she'd seen.
Nox though....she wore a wicked smile. He was trained. But he was also just a kid. Just like Volodin. It was dark. And she could work up disguise. He wouldn't recognize his aunt Jacinda. She turned to Yoshi.
"This may not be your thing. So can you watch over everything from here? Get the weapons ready? I can get those two morons to do the heavy lifting."
There'd be a lot of shadows in the alley. Those two morons would probably love the idea of staging this. Hopefully Nox would be too busy playing the hero to notice what Yoshi was bringing to the table. The surprised look would be priceless.
Edited by
Jacinda, Dec 31 2017, 06:53 PM.
Ichiro took little pleasure in killing anyone. It was his duty and he would do it. Jacinda though, seemed to be enthralled by the hunt. The bigger the challenge, the bigger her grin seemed to get. Durante knew what he was doing and that was more than they could say for many others that they had faced.
Jacinda's assessment was correct. Covert operations and getting into disguise wasn't his thing, but he would do what was needed without complaint. "Understood - I'll prepare and do what I need to do. Be careful."
Ichiro was sure she didn't need to be told that, but her recklessness made him say it nonetheless. Ichiro quietly began to work, not worrying about if the others helped with the heavy lifting or not. They were a team and despite the fact that he outranked them, he didn't mind the work.
Stephan kept a distant tail on their reborn god. Durante didn't look like he thought anything was amiss. Did he know he was hunted? Surely he would think of such things with the elaborate walls he'd erected around the estate. Old satellite footage showed no such structures. He'd been a busy little bee.
Henrik was eager to rough up Jacinda. Since the samurai was all honor bound and such. It wasn't hard to want the woman but she was cold and hard and not exactly his type but anything to catch this god he thought.
They choose a point in the direct path of Durante's walk home. If he took the nearest subway he'd have to cross their path, if he kept walking to the estate he'd have to cross this path. If he took a detour then they'd need to reroute, but for now he looked to be on a straight path back to the Vega Estate at a leisurely pace.
Stephan followed while Henrik and Jacinda set up shop in an alleyway of their choosing. Yoshi and Annemarie and another forgotten named tech were stationed in various locations with either sonic or microwave weapons that were provided by the remains of the Archangel stores. A great deal was lost in the fire, but some were still on the van used by Martin and the others back when they were chasing the Volodin kid. And in comparison from the reports Stephan thought this was not even in comparison. Volodin could use his power, but they'd not used any weapons. A stabbing then bombs to cover it up. This ... this was different.
Jacinda readied herself. Stephan and the others positioned themselves. The night was cool and quiet. She knew when the screams started, some people might come to their window. But the bystander effect would take over tonight. Surely, with sooo many people watching, someone will call the police. I don't have to do it. Someone will.
And no one would. Nox would notice, though. His dad Bryan would have, she remembered that. Guy had a heart on him. Was why he gave up after his wife died. She imagined Nox was the same.
She looked at Henrik. "Ready?"
His leer was gross. She would do what she had to. And then she might just take care of him. No might about it, now that she had the idea. Power gave people ideas. Made them feel entitled. Bout time he learned. Well, it'd be a quick lesson- or at least not one he could take far.
Later, though. Her hits in self defense would be realistic, though not too hard. It had to look good.
And as expected, he was in character. Or he had just let the beast out of the cage. Her neck stung from where her shirt was yanked tight. Her elbow and back burned from scuff marks as she tried to get away. She let fly with screams- some blood curling, some whimpering- to get people's attention.
She hoped this didn't go on for too long. It was hard to not fight back more than the cursory attempts any woman would make. He seemed way more handsy than necessary. She doubted Nox would be able to see if he actually groped her or more.
Oh yeah, this prick was gonna die tonight.
The night air kept a chill to the air, but Nox didn't feel it with a warm bubble of air around him. His leather jacket was warm but this made it better. The power enhanced the smell of the Red Light District which in any city was a down side, but the enhanced sight made things seem brighter and the darkness not quite so lonely.
Aria was gone. Angry, hurt and probably going to go over the deep end. He would have to kill her. He wasn't sure he could. He couldn't do it for Deigo when he'd hurt his sister, but that was different he hadn't promised. But that was his sister's killer. He was a failure in that. But he hadn't stopped Aria. He'd proded her along her dark path too, using it as necessary and now he was going to have to kill her - he knew it in his heart of hearts.
A blood curdling scream ahead of him brought Nox out of his depressing thoughts. The power brought forth the sounds of a scuffle, whimpering and more screaming. The mouth of the alley approached and Nox would have heard the man sneer, "Shut up bitch. Hold still."
Around the corner in the shadows Nox saw a man, he wasn't very big, and he didn't look like much of anything at all was pinning a woman against the wall. The shadows hid more than he saw but the shapes were shapes and in the darkness his power enhanced sight saw things a little better than normal.
It wasn't hard to weave a net of air and drag the man away from the woman. But Nox approached with a smirk on his face. "Hey buddy! I'm pretty sure no means no."
The power was tight around him, it called for action and that made Nox's smirk grow wider.
The man turned to see him and the look on his face was pure hatred. But Nox was almost certain it wasn't aimed at the woman. It was like a switch flicked. The reaction was soon interrupted by a swift knee to the groin. While he bent over in excruciating pain the woman ran down the alleyway. Nox laughed. "I told you she meant no."
The boy god called out in an annoyingly chipper way. Henrik was almost more pissed about that than him being a god. This woman was getting raped and he was joking around. But he had heard him and turned to see him. It wasn't long before Cross kneed him and was running away from him. It looked good Henrik thought as he was doubled over in pain. The boy wouldn't suspect a thing.
But he had to make another stupid chipper comment. Henrik wanted to wipe that smirk from his face. Maybe it was the adrenaline from the fight with Cross or the situation at hand, but Henrik let all rational thought go as he charged forward towards the would be god.
He wasn't thinking. He knew Stephan would get on to him later but right now this boy needed a lesson in being a man.