Fire and Air
Nicky's heavy steps bore down hard on the old wood floor. He hurried past empty rooms to one at the end of the hall. He stopped in the doorway and took a quick glance around the room. A single broken window let in little light from the night sky. A chair with a missing leg was overturned in a corner but nothing else broke the bare boards that made up the floor. It would do. He took three long strides to the opposite wall and eased his companion off his shoulders and propped him up under the windowsill. The man's head hung limp and his arms draped lifeless at his sides but he remained upright. Nicky stood and stretched his back, adjusting his belt that held his two swords. He looked out the window of the short two story building. Overgrown bushes at the base quickly led into the forest that sprouted up everywhere in this area. He knocked the rest of the glass out of the window with his elbow. The clinking sound was muffled by the unnatural silence of the night. He turned back to the door and considered how much time he had. If they were on his trail, it wouldn't be much.
He closed the door and calmed his breathing, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, the world was tainted in a red gloss and more than starlight illuminated the room. Taking his forefinger he traced an outline on the frame of the door, leaving behind a trail of burned wood. Tiny sparks of red faded in and out of the charred wood like the last moments of a dying fire. He pulled his finger in front of him, making a straight line on the door and then started again from the top, creating a cross of the burned wood. Reaching the bottom, he kept going, dragging his finger against the rough grain of the floor as he backed up to the opposite wall. He slumped down, withdrawing his finger. His sight returned to normal. In the dark light and empty room, the embers promised a blazing, if short new life.
Now to hope. And wait.
A sound snatched at Nicky's attention. It would be hard to avoid making noise in such an old building but it could have been anything. He placed his hand on the end of the still glowing trail. Another creak came closer and Nicky shifted to one knee, ready to move. In the dim light let off by his tracing, he could see the doorknob start to slowly turn. He glanced at the still slumped body at his left; he couldn't risk fighting in here. He replaced his hand with his right foot and quickly pulled the heavy weight across his shoulders. He looked back at the door just as the knob clicked. Whoever was behind it abandoned their attempt at stealth and threw the door open. Without even looking, Nicky released the power inside him, he could see the same glow that came from his body emanating from the doorway but he was a step ahead. The trail of embers burst into flame. The cross he set on the door shot outward, engulfing the body in hissing tongues of fire. The fire swallowed the whole doorway as Nicky leapt out the window landing roughly in the bushes. He winced and pulled a shard of glass out from the back of his thigh. He threw it to the ground and hurried into the cover of the trees.
He stopped when he ran out of breath. It wasn't easy carrying such a dead weight. He leaned against a tree as best he could. All he knew was he was heading north. Hopefully that would be enough.
A sharp whistling echoed through the dense trees and thunked into the tree he was leaning against. He dropped down and clutched at the man draped across his back and jumped off to the right. The tree exploded, sending thick splinters flying in all directions. Reverberations thundered through the ground as the rest of the tree came crashing down. One of the splinters made its way through the thick cloth and pierced his back but he couldn't let that little pain get to him now. He kept running with what strength he had left. Trees exploded two steps behind as he dodged left and right, trying to put whole trees in between himself and his pursuer. A last giant fell to the ground and the night quieted but he kept running, he risked a glance back but he couldn't make anything out in the near pitch blackness. He caught his breath when he turned around; synchrotron radiation silhouetted a clump of trees ahead. He skidded to a halt through the litter of leaves and slid the body off his shoulders, laying him flat on the ground. He couldn't dodge them all. He would have to be quick. His right hand naturally found the right hilt and he silently pulled the thin rapier from its sheath. Slowing his breathing, he crouched and moved to meet his prey.
The contractor still glowed but Nicky couldn't see any result. His best bet was to kill the target before he got a chance to react. He waited as the glow came closer. Nicky stayed in the shadow of the tree as the contractor walked seemingly aimlessly around the forest. Something wasn't right. He listened for the careless steps as he came around the tree Nicky was behind. The footsteps stopped, the contractor had spotted the limp body at the base of a tree a few yards away. This was Nicky's chance. He dropped down low and spun to his left bringing up the point of his rapier to pierce up through the man's stomach into his heart. Nicky felt the slight resistance of the man's skin as his blade slid into his flesh. Nicky smirked at the look of surprise etched on his face. Nicky let off his own light as fire raced up the blade and sliced into the man's body. Nicky yanked his sword out and stood up, his blade still ablaze, watching as the flames seemed to grow out of the hole in the man's stomach.
The same thought of something amiss struck Nicky again. He had watched many people die by his flames. But with this man no shrieks escaped his mouth, no smell filled Nicky's nose. As the body fell to the ground, it disintegrated but not from his flames. It was a decoy, a double. That's why there was the radiation without any other effect. Nicky extinguished the smoldering remains and his blade with a quick thought as the feeling of exposure set in. He tried to blend back into the shadows but he felt the back of his right hand heat. Now was not the time. He struggled to control it but a small flame sprung up on the back of his right hand. Now the smell of burning reached his nostrils. This was his contract; he had to give his own body over to the hungry flame if it was going to let him control it. He clenched his teeth against the pain and forgot about making a quiet escape. He rushed back to the exposed body, sheathing the rapier. He heard the whistle and the thunk but he didn't have time to dodge. The blast threw him to the side, knocking him into another tree. Breath was torn from his lungs and he gasped to fill the space left behind but the air was thick with dirt and debris. He coughed and pushed himself up as best he could. The contractor was racing toward him. No time to recover, he jumped to close the short distance and picked up the body. He sprinted ahead just as the tree behind exploded.
"How long are you going to fucking take?" Nicky asked the silent lump. The small flame had spread across the whole back of his hand and it was all he could do to restrain it from spreading any more but he knew he would have to push it even farther if he was going to get out of this alive. With the range this other contractor had, he wouldn't be able to get close so he had to think of something else. It would have to be some sort of trap. With each step he set his footprint on fire. Each small indent quickly spread the fire and burned intensely, leaping to nearby trees. Nicky could feel the flame start to spread up his arm; there was little he could do about that. The explosion of trees briefly stopped before the night howled as the air was torn with a high pitched scream. The collection of whistles thunked into dozens of trees all around. Nicky stumbled forward as the pressure of one knocked him forward. Driven by instinct he threw the body off his shoulders and dove for cover. The thunder of explosions deafened his ears as splinters embedded themselves into his body. He felt a splatter of something wet across his back. He gently got to his hands and knees as the sound of the now blazing fire and crashing trees seeped through the buzzing in his ears. His left arm caved as he put pressure on it, a large splinter was buried near his elbow. He reached over with his still blazing hand and gently pulled it out but he couldn't help the cry that was also pulled from his gut. He looked at the splinter in his hand. It wasn't wood. He threw the bone to the ground. He still needed to get away. A filter of red slid over his eyes as he slapped the ground with his right hand, letting out yet another cry. The next second he was on his feet, doing his best to limp away. Thirty seconds later, his countdown reached zero.
She ran through the patches of fire to the center of the explosion, taking in everything as she went. Remains of a body were scattered across the forest floor but it wasn't enough to make up the two targets. She had to guess it was the one already incapacitated that she had gotten. She stopped only briefly before continuing ahead. She had just enough time to see a glowing handprint beneath her before the entire area erupted in an explosion of flame.
Nicky slowed to a stop when he heard a woman's death screams. He leaned against a tree and yanked another splinter from the back of his leg and pulled a small transmitter from his belt. He clicked the button and hesitated only a second. "This is Nicky, MP-255 has been taken care of but the mission failed. Mao is dead."