Beyond The Gate
Chapter 1 – The Masked Man
Blaring sirens, echoing and screaming in the night – banshees screaming in the dark night.
The cops had to be at least within a couple of blocks. Damn those stars. The authorities always showed up while I was doing something important, there were time limits on every action I could make. Or at least the ones that I found were important and not mundane, which was just about all of them with this job. I had a few close calls at the start, and soon had to learn to plan escape routes, otherwise the cops would have me. If that happened, I'd be dead, or worse… I could be sent back into that damned gate, for whatever purposes those moron scientists thought was useful.
I ran for the building's edge, jumping onto the neighboring rooftop, rolling when I landed to ease the force of the jump - my orange hair whipping around. It was sad that I was skilled enough in this method of escape, or that I should ever need to use it. My job was meant to stay counties away from the attention of any government connected agency, though quite obviously that was not working. If things had stayed the way they were before, none of this would be necessary – there would be no cops following my every move in real time. I ran for the next rooftop - my runners squeaking a few times against the concrete - the door to the stairwell was always open over there; it would be a simple matter to get to the bottom and blend back into the thin crowds still around at this time of night.
Near the edge of the building, something snagged my jacket sleeve, upsetting my balance. I turned to detach my arm, and pulled backwards – fast.
"What are you doing here?" I hissed at the dark figure that had snagged my arm. He stepped forward, the light from the streets below barely showing the white mask over his face. I stepped back and placed a hand on the sharp dagger at my waist. There was nothing good about meeting a strange man and even less so when meeting him on a rooftop.
"Just hand over the information." His voice was icy cold, contractor cold. Contractors are heartless killing machines with human faces and powers beyond anything the rest of humanity could measure against. This strange meeting was bound to get worse.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied sharply, copying his tone. "Maybe you should keep your dirty contractor nose out of other people's business."
A small silver blade flashed into his hand as he stepped towards me. Automatically I stepped backwards, keeping a tight grip on my dagger. A single dagger wasn't going to do me much good in a fight against a contractor, but it was better than going in unarmed, or surrendering.
"Hand over the information. You know you can't win this fight." Stupid contractor logic, he wasn't going to get me with that one.
"Over my dead body!" I shouted at him and took off in a run towards the neighboring rooftop. Let him get caught by the cops instead, serves him right for wasting my time. Pushing as hard as I could against the edge of the building, I jumped, rolling onto the rooftop just in time to see the small blade slice through the air above me.
Without thinking I made a grab for it, catching sight of the thin wire attached to the handle as I gripped it loosely. Glancing back over at the other rooftop, the man started to glow as he activated his contract. Sensing the danger I flung the blade back at him, only just fast enough to avoid the full power of his attack. My hand stung, but it was a good pain, it told me who the man was.
Suddenly he was hurdling towards me; I moved back taking a defensive stance, ready to pull the dagger from my belt when a black cat appeared in front of the man. I was not having a good night, how could two individuals appear without my notice within ten minutes of each other so easily? The masked man stopped and looked down at the cat for a moment, before looking over his shoulder and leaving. Seconds later cops spilled onto the roof, weapons ready.
Cursing, I ducked as bullets whizzed past, darting for cover behind the stairwell. Pausing to judge my timing to dart out again, I was just about to move when something started to buzz in my pocket. Another curse on the tip of my tongue, I answered the cell phone, the annoyance in my tone making the answer sharp.
"Dan. The cops are on your tail," The voice said monotone in a way only a doll could pull off. Dolls, of course, were different from contractors – they had no free will of their own, just to get them to look after themselves you had to program it in. And they weren't killers, more like observers, or 'mediums' as those government types liked to call them – dolls can send out surveillance but only through materials.
"I know that, Cai! They are shooting at me!" I shouted back into the phone as more bullets whizzed past.
"They think you are BK-201. They plan on capturing you and returning the information that was stolen."
"Will you tell me something useful?" There was a fumbling sound over the phone and another voice spoke, detailing all the doll could relay about the cops position. Once they finished I hung up and pocketed the phone; I had one more chance to get out of here before I was cornered and arrested. Hesitating for a moment, I darted out, using whatever cover I could as I made my way to the stair well.
Inside the stairwell, I ran down three or four stairs at a time, desperate to beat the cops out onto the street where I could get away easier. Of course, if the cops were already down there, I'd have a harder time getting away than I'd had on the roof – on foot I wasn't anywhere near fast enough to out run a car. Flying out of the door at the ground floor, I made for the street, stopping in the middle to get my bearings.
A screech of tires sounded down the street, and I spun around only just managing to jump out of the way as a dark coloured sports car pulled up. Recognizing the driver, I got into the car and it took off as fast as it had appeared leaving the cops far behind.
