Flying Solo

[Ayden]

Ayden watched things play out. The man seemed unconcerned about the gun he knew was there. He looked at her and Ayden frowned, he had looked at her the moment she grabbed the power. It had to be coincidence.

They spoke in whispers, Ayden could barely heard what they said, but she could hear it. Ayden nodded to Greta that they'd be moving. Ayden took their things and sat down across from them. But Ayden just watched what was happening. She really wasn't sure what was running through Connor's mind.

He was offering to help them, which made Ayden even more suspicious of him. Why would he do that? Why help them? He was Atharim, he was the bad guy.

But this was Connor's show, she'd protect him with her life if she could, and this boy, he wasn't very old very early twenties. Probably barely old enough to drink that beer he had in front of him. This boy would crumple under her weaves if necessary.

[Connor Kent]

At least the damn smirk disappeared. The man leaned into his gun and Connor knew he could feel it pressing painfully against his ribs. His whispered words seemed to throw water on him, dousing the inferno.

He felt like he was falling into a black hole, memories swirling around his mind like fog around his legs, voices drifting up from the depths. He seemed to slam into the ground. It was soft. A couch.

And he was standing up, furious. "What gives you the right!?!?!"
he shouted.

She looked at him defensively with those deep green eyes- eyes that had been filled, that very last time he'd seen them, with cruel hunger- and spit out the words, the same thoughts. ""We do not have the right!...We protect the innocent."
The memory of the Ijaq vivid in his mind, in the alley. In the tunnel. Risking her life to stop it.

Aria, who'd given him the gift of peace, of forgiveness. That night had been precious to him. All the more so for what she had tried to do later. She herself had been corrupted by the Atharim.

Connor pulled the gun back a bit but did not take his hands off the trigger. He looked at the kid. He really was a kid. Younger than Aria had been. And they had taken her compassion from her. How long would he last?

Ayden joined them and he knew that she had his back. His voice was calmer but still firm. "Power corrupts kid. The Atharim corrupt. I knew a girl....like you. An Atharim. She was kind. She was about protecting innocents. Killing real evil, not sick kids in their beds. But it didn't take her long to change. Soon, she was just as cruel as the rest of your people. Willing to dole out pain and suffering and death at a whim."
He laughed disgustedly and smiled maliciously. "In fact, she's as much of a monster as those you hunt. She made me feel pain just because she wanted to. The worst pain of my life, the guilt, feeding off it. And she's one of you!"


But at the kid's offer, he stopped and looked at the wallet, then at Ayden. Still, maybe taking advantage of the kid while they could was good. Find out what they knew. "But if you really mean that, go ahead,"
he said nodding. He pressed the gun into the kid's ribs again. "Just know that if you try something, you'll regret it."
He was bluffing now. Mostly. With Ayden there, he remembered what he had to lose. But the kid didn't know.

He really was at the end.


Edited by Connor Kent, Feb 5 2015, 09:48 AM.

[Nox]

Nox laughed. He really laughed. The gun made little effect on his reaction. "Fucking small world."
Nox grinned, and turned to him. "So you're the friend, that she fucked with."


The smile faded and Nox was no longer looking like a maniac. He remembered what it had done to Lucas. And this guy had a gun to him, he probably shouldn't have laughed. "Aria was in a bad place then. She is kind, and caring, and one hell of a hunter. But she doesn't want to the person you saw that day. One day she'd like to apologize provided she lives that long."


Nox took another spoonful of his soup and relaxed only slightly until he pressed the gun into his side again with a threat. "You can drop the act now. I'm sure your fiance has me all sorts of wired for burning or something."


Nox tapped a few screens into his wallet and started a search, he ran a generic search, on the godlings most recently reported. "Your name?"


The woman looked at him quizically? "He didn't have my name."


Nox sighed. "Fine. We'll do it the hard way."
Nox flipped through screens of godlings as he sipped at his soup. A picture not a good one came up, it can only be her, fiery red hair stood out like an beacon. Nox smiled. "One Ayden Hayes, waitress."
He looked up at her with a grin. "Here actually. How ironic. Engaged, Connor Kent. Your address is here, the fact that you dropped out of school. And a note that says 'More Research Required'".
Nox looked back up at her. "Seems you didn't exist before a few months ago. Your field hunter has failed to check in. I assume that means he's dead if you are not."
Nox flipped to another screen and typed in his name. "Now you have a hunter."
He closed the app on his wallet and looked over at Connor. "No one will hunt you as long as I still live."



Edited by Nox, Feb 4 2015, 01:39 PM.

[Ayden]

Ayden was taken aback but his abrupt laughter. His words were almost as foreign as the sound of his voice. She knew about the girl that had tortured Connor through a kiss. This guy knew the girl? He acted like he did, like he knew her well. Was the Atharim that small of an organization. He dismissed the concerns Connor had. Ayden wanted to make him afraid, but he seemed very unconcerned that Connor had a gun pointed at him.

And then he said he knew she had him surrounded by weaves. It took her a while to recover. Barely registering that he'd asked her name. She wasn't about to give him her name. When he let it drop she didn't expect him to turn up anything. But he did. He turned up everything about her. Everything that was Ayden Hayes. The legit version of her, not the fact identities, or the past life, but he knew everything that she'd created. Just by looking it up in the confounded piece of technology.

He causally told them that he knew that they'd killed the man who'd been after them, like he didn't care. He didn't care one of his own was dead. Everything this boy said made Ayden hate the Atharim even more. And then he added a name to her file. "Nox Durante." He was to hunt her down and kill her. He was going to hunt her.

But his words came out even more confusing. Ayden spoke without thinking. "Why would you do that? You said you wouldn't hurt an innocent?"
As long as I live no one will hunt you. Was he putting in a blockade, keeping someone from finding her? "Why?"

[Connor Kent]

Connor was lost now. It was as if he had tumbled down that black hole and somehow ended up inside some sort of tornado. Every word of this strange kid seemed to shove him one way and then the other.

He knew Aria, knew what she had done and laughed? Fucked with? Was that what they called what she had put him through? Rage threatened to boil over.

She was caring? Didn't want to be that person? Wanted to apologize? Rage doused with confusion. The memory of the gift.

Ayden's identity looked up with a few casual taps. A database- the like one he'd gotten from the girl's computer- but now with her information in it. It was one thing to to know- to know that she was a target. It was another to see her name in their system. A hunter assigned. All as if it were no big deal. Life, death. It didn't matter all that much. Never mind the ocean of tears and anger, of shattered lives and destroyed dreams and hopes.

The kid putting his name down, promising she'd not be hunted as long as he was around. Protecting her as Aria seemed to with Jensen and Giovanni.

It was all too much. Without thinking, he pulled his hands out and rubbed the sides his head. Ayden was watching him and would stop him if he tried something. He was lost. Confused.

Tired.

He looked at the kid. "You know how fucked up you people are? Seriously."

[Nox]

Nox would give everything at that moment to know what these people were feeling. It was like he had come to rely on Aria's intuition, her knowledge of the lies people kept. He hated the not knowing. His life hung in the balance by a man whom Aria had hurt. She knew it. Nox knew it. He knew exactly what the man felt, the pull of your own emotions used against you. He willingly submitted himself to such torture, he was getting better at resisting Aria, but this man, he'd done it without thinking, without knowing. He was far stronger than he gave himself credit for. Everyone looked so confused.

Nox chose to acknowledge Connor's comment first since it was the one he'd thought moments before. He'd been thinking it for days now. "You have no fucking idea how messed up they are."
He looked at Connor, "We are."
He was one of them, he would acknowledge that. He was Atharim. He was born Atharim, he would die Atharim. Granted he would likely now die at the hands of the Atharim, and not the way he was intended to go out - hunting monsters. But he was Atharim.

Nox finished his soup before answering why. Mostly because he didn't have a good answer for her. He looked up as he put the spoon in the now empty bowl. "I do this because this is what Aria would do to save me. She would hunt me down, she would find me and she would keep me safe. I follow Aria, not because she's a good leader, but because she's a good person."
He turned to Connor. "I know she hurt you. She knows what she did was wrong. She doesn't want her dead, your fiance has done nothing wrong. Aria doesn't want any of the innocent people to die because they born one way or another - or because they are the sires of abomination. Sentient, wolfkin, godlings. If there were a cure for being a rougarou, I guarantee you Aria would fight for them too, and any other monster that was formerly human."


Nox looked past them and to the door as a couple walked in hand in hand. "You think we are bad, we hunt without cause. We are misguided, but we put humanity back on top. They have the truth of it. They know. WE know. But our knowledge makes us blind. We can learn from our past if we let ourselves. Instead the past is buried. Instead we hunt gods because we are afraid. Afraid of it happening again."


He looked at Ayden. "Don't tell me that the power you hold right now isn't singing beautiful seductive songs in your ear. Don't tell me that we don't have a right to be concerned. You have this gift, you have this power, and instead of fucking using it to make a better place, you are threatening me with it."
He leaned in and whispered. "I at least have the fucking courage to do something with my gift."
As Nox spoke the last sentence he wove two small tendrils of air, he used one to brush the side of the red head's cheek, removing the slip of hair that had fallen forward. He sent the other at the gun and pushed the safety on. He wasn't going to get shot for this.

[Ayden]

Who the hell is this Aria? That was really all she could think about. Connor had met her, she helped him. She used him later, but for that Ayden was glad, it had brought Connor back. Ayden hated the feeling that she might be grateful to this girl who was a seemingly horrible person to Connor, and yet this boy idolized her. Why?

He rambled on about things. About the Atharim knowing things, hiding them. Hunting gods because they were afraid of something happening from the past. Ayden only understood half of what he said.

And then he accused her of being unhelpful, of threatening him when she could be doing other things. Like what? Ayden had used her skills before, not for good, nor for bad necessarily. She was paid to kill people. She didn't really care why. But he didn't know that, he said she didn't deserve to die. How wrong could he be. Ayden had brought down a building with people inside because some one inside had been about to hurt Connor.

Ayden felt a brush against her cheek, soft and tender as it moved acrossed, moving hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. She stared at him. What the... He was like Bas? He had the power he hunted.

That moment it made sense why he would protect her. She still didn't understand why Aria, this girl from both of their lives, why she would, but Nox she understood why he would protect her.

He was right about the power calling to her. She knew what it was capable of. But she wasn't about to tell him that. Instead she just stared at him. She was without words. He was one of these so called godlings like herself, and he fought with in the Atharim. He WAS Atharim. Ayden was so lost in the world, she couldn't imagine being in his shoes.

[Connor Kent]

The kid's words were English...and yet he understood very little. He'd been through too much today, passed through too many emotional states, to many extremes.

He was numb. He just listened and remembered back in Jensen's apartment. Connected what he said now and what was said then. Human's with god-like powers. Something had happened long ago. And now...the memory was still there for these Atharim. They didn't forget. They still hunted.

He remembered the alley, thinking of them as some sort of Men in Black kind of organization. He smiled a little, suddenly thinking of his father and Hayden at the same moment.

A part of him was glad to hear his defense of Aria. What she had given him that night had saved him from death. He was drinking himself to death. She had given him back his son and his life. To know that she still struggled...he was glad.

And he noticed that the kid has lost the smirk. The mask of not caring, of pretense and indifference was gone. He challenged Ayden and her use of the power. Connor never thought of Ayden as a god from the stories. She was....Ayden. The woman he loved. She had a power. But she was still herself.

Connor looked at her, fiery red hair framing that sweet face. He smiled at her, watched the play of emotions on her face. This was a lot for her, despite what she could do.

Her face went pale and her eyes widened as suddenly a few strands of hair moved as if on their own to behind her ears. He turned to stare at the kid in shock.

It all clicked into place. He couldn't help but laugh softly. Another one. He shook his head and smiled. Poor kid. "Geez kid. Caught between a rock and a hard place. But I appreciate that. "
He needed a drink. He waved over the waitress. "Gimme a shot of rrum. Ayden? Kid?"

[Nox]

Well that turned out better than he thought it would. He rather expected the gun to come flying out again. She stared at him like he was something strange out of a horror show. He grinned at her. She thought she was special, but then again she had mentioned Bas before, so not too special. Nox shook his head, he was ignoring him, so Nox should return the favor. He pushed his friend from his thoughts. He still had an armed man who could change demeanor at any point.

Though he had asked him if he wanted a drink. Nox lifted his beer and realized it too was empty. He sighed. "Another beer."


Nox smiled at being called a kid. It had been a long time since anyone had done that. His father hadn't said it much after his mother had died. He hadn't said much after that anyway, instead decided to drink himself to death. More thoughts to push away. Distractions, useless memories now. His father was dead. His mother was brutally murdered and he could do nothing about it. It had destroyed his family. He sighed. He couldn't purge the memory.

"Nox, please, not kid. Reminds me of my father."
He didn't offer his hand, he still wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen.

Nox leaned back in his chair and turned his grin to the red head. "So you know Bas eh? Or blondie does anyway. I tell you it's a small world."
He wasn't exactly sure why he cared. But this world kept getting smaller and smaller, and he was as far away as he could be from home, and yet here, he knew more people and they all apparently knew one another. It was such a strange feeling, to have friends, even jerk wads who don't text back. He wasn't really pissed at Bas, but there was shit happening in the Atharim, Bas was a thug, he could get himself into a whole crap load of trouble if he wasn't careful. And Nox didn't think Bas knew what careful meant.

[Ayden]

Ayden was still sitting in stunned silence when Connor asked her what she wanted to drink. She quietly said "Same... No make it a double."


Everything was so confusing. An Atharim who was like her. He hunted monsters, which technically included himself. Connor seemed to take it at face value. That it was plausible. Yet she'd felt the small tendrel of air brush aside the hair that had been on her check. And he bore the tattoo. He was just a kid.

He gave them his name, she already knew it, she'd watched him type it up. But she supposed he had some reason not to be reminded of his father. She knew how that went.

He turned with a grin to her, she wanted to slap it off his face. She'd come to dislike that look on his face. He was so casually flippant it was irritating. But he asked her about Bas. She blinked at him. "Blonde, tattoos, pretty much a thug?"
Nox nodded. "Yeah I met him once. He had a run in with some old not so friendly friends. But I don't know him from a whole in the wall. He took Sasha home after coffee."
He laughed, Ayden had to smile, "I take it that doesn't surprise you at all. How do you know him? And while you are at it, who do you know this Aria?"
A bit of jealousy shown through but she wanted to know what he was to this girl who'd kissed her then ex-kinda-boyfriend.