Death City was quiet at night. There was but one person wandering the streets at this hour, a woman with a battered suitcase in one hand and a crumpled map of the city in the other. Her brown hair hung loose about her shoulders. Sneakered feet made hollow echoes in the dim, empty street.
The streetlight above her flickered and a vicious winter wind tore through the city. She drew into her coat, green eyes darting fearfully from side to side.
A bodiless shadow breezed across the side of a building.
"Reaper Avenue… Reaper Avenue…," she muttered musingly with a finger tracing the map.
Something's coming.
She looked upward at the street sign. "I should turn left…. But that's an alleyway."
Her shoulders fell. She wanted to cry. Her journey to Death City had been a six hour trek. She had made the trip without rest. Wandering lost in Death City made that seven hours. She was cold, tired, and hungry. There were blisters on her feet, and she was coated from head to toe in a fine layer of dust from the sandstorm she had fought against as she struggled across the desert.
"Left it is, then."
Another minute of walking brought her to a dead end.
The same shadow flitted across the wall. She couldn't ignore it anymore. Something had been hunting her the moment she stepped foot into Death City.
It's getting closer.
"N-No…," she whimpered when she felt an ominous aura grip her. She turned around slowly to see a figure at the entrance of the alleyway.
The moon cast a sharp backlight so all she could see was the silhouette of the thing standing before her. It had unproportionally long, lanky arms that hung to the ground. Its back was hunched, its spine protruding like ridges down its back.
"Stay away." She held her suitcase to chest level. "I'm warning you."
A terrible grin split its featureless face. Two rows of sharp, bleach-white teeth stretched from end to end, wide and long enough to swallow a watermelon slice whole. When it moved, it was in erratic jerks. Its limbs swung about in unnatural angles and trajectories like a puppet under the control of an amateur puppeteer as it lurched forward, mouth widening to swallow her head.
The thing had come close enough for her to see strands of drool stretching from its mouth. She stumbled over her own feet and then threw her arms over her head, choking on the scream that came too fast into her throat.
But instead of feeling its hot, putrid breath over her, she heard an oomph! and then the fleshy sound of a body thrown against the brick wall.
Slowly, she lowered her arms. The thing lay crumpled on the floor, looking like every bone in its body had been broken.
It had been defeated with one blow by another thing that stood in its place.
This one had two huge eyes that glowed white hot. There was an odd antenna sticking out the sides of its head.
It came closer, looming over her, reaching out a hand….
A wild, ragged scream belying her petite frame tore through her lungs in an undignified "UWAAAAAAHHHHH!"
She sprung to her feet and charged past it, whacking it upside the head with her suitcase. "M-Monster!" she screeched, arms flailing as she ran off into the distance.
"Monsterrr!" she continued to wail. "Monster with a glowing toothpick!"
She was half a mile away from the scene before the thing she had hit could react. She stumbled, caught herself, and continued to run. Her feet slapped the pavement in rhythmic bursts and she made random, frantic turns at unknown intersections.
When a painful stitch began developing in her side, she chanced a look over her shoulder and found the street empty behind her.
She slowed to a jog and then stopped, leaning over with her hands on her knees to catch her breath. When she looked up again, she saw a crooked sign before her that read: DWMA THIS WAY. Under the black lettering was a stout arrow that pointed left.
She was greeted with shocked eyes when she arrived. It was probably her frazzled hair and the tears in her clothing. The dust on her skin had mingled with her sweat, leaving dirty streaks down her face. She looked like a hobo.
"Dr. Dearborn, we were worried you wouldn't be coming. You… uh, look like you've—"
"Please, just call me Lea. I'm so sorry I'm late." She held up the map in her hand and with a sheepish smile, said, "I used this to navigate Death City, but the layout of the city just doesn't seem to be the same anymore."
"Well, a lot has changed after the Asura incident…." Ollie, a fellow researcher, took the map from her and examined it. "This is a fifty year old map, no wonder you got lost. Nothing on here is right. I'm sorry you had to travel all this way to Death City. I understand you're from California."
"Yes, the train derailed halfway through the trip, and I had to walk the rest of the way."
Ollie was speechlessly agape. "Derailed? Are you alright?"
"Hehe, yeah," Lea said, still with her sheepish smile as she rubbed the back of her head, abashed. "I dislocated my shoulder in the accident, but I popped it back in myself." She looked up at him and saw incredulous eyes. "It's all worth it though. Shibusen America's research facilities are world-class. It produces the best scientists and experts on soul research and technology. I'm honored to be accepted for this project."
"I hear you're hoping this project will land you a permanent spot on the Shibusen research team."
"Yes, it's my dream to be a Shibusen America researcher."
"Well, you'll have to get Stein-hakase's recommendation first."
"Who?"
"The head of the research department, Dr. Stein." Ollie scratched an itch on the back of his head. "I wonder where he is now. He was sent to go look for you. Shinigami-sama thought you'd have a hard time navigating the city's streets. Plus, with the coming of a second Kishin, it's a lot more dangerous nowadays."
"He's right about that."
"Anyway, you'll be meeting with him tomorrow after you visit your lab today. We have a house near Shibusen prepared for your stay."
Their footsteps made hollow taps as they walked down the hallway.
"Here we are. This is your personal lab. The main lab is down that way to your right." Ollie opened the door and set her suitcase by the desk at the far end. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to call me." He gave her his number. "I have something to take care of, so I'll come get you in an hour or so. Meanwhile, you can take a look around. Most of the scientists and interns have gone home, so you have the entire department to yourself," Ollie said with a wink.
Lea smiled and waved him goodbye as he left. When she was sure he was gone, her shoulders slumped and she let out an exhausted, pent-up sigh. It took all but five minutes to explore her entire lab. The room was medium sized as far as labs go, enough for a countertop, an operating table, a desk, a rather large futon, and an enormous cabinet for equipment and standard chemicals,
She stretched herself along the length of the futon, breathing another sigh as she alleviated the pressure from her feet. It felt like a new futon. The cushioning was soft and firm against her back. The computer on her table looked new too, and the medical equipment looked top of the line. Shibusen America treats their researchers well.
Lea would have never gotten accepted here if not for the advent of the second Kishin. Before that, the acceptance rate to Shibusen America's research department was a measly one percent. But as the search for a miracle drug to counterbalance the madness waves reached a fevered pitch, acceptance rate climbed to eight percent.
"It's still impressive!" her boyfriend back home insisted when Lea tried to downplay her acceptance.
But Lea remembered clamping her hands over her ears as he tried to praise her. "I don't want to listen to someone who's just been named most powerful meister in Oceania!"
Lea frowned as she stared at the ceiling. She had left home in a bad mood.
In the past two years, most of her research had been discredited. Since her doctoral thesis on soul regeneration, she hadn't accomplished much. Dash, her boyfriend, on the other hand, was the jewel of Shibusen Oceania. No matter what kind of compliment he paid her, it always sounded condescending, especially because it came from someone who's met nothing but success all his life. What made things worse was that he never criticized her. Never told her to work harder, never tried to change her into a better person. He let her throw her tantrums, said nothing about the fake smile she hides behind, and rarely called her out for being too stubborn. At one point, he encouraged her to give up being a researcher, because it was taking a toll on her health.
"If we ever get married, I earn more than enough to support the both of us."
He was old-fashioned and chauvinistic that way.
But she knew Dash meant well. Besides, he was always there when she needed him. Maybe a guy like that isn't too bad after all. Maybe she was just getting restless after eight years with the same person.
"Wow…," she whispered, her eyes still fixed on the ceiling. "Since we were fifteen. Time sure flies."
Lea drifted off.
She awoke to the smell of cigarettes and the sound of cranking gears.
Lea opened her eyes and saw the world through a smoggy haze.
"Ngh…." Lea reached up to rub the sleep from her eyes. She turned her head groggily to the left to see someone at the foot of her futon sitting backwards in a swivel chair with a thick stack of papers in his hands. He was reading the papers through a pair of wire-rimmed glasses and there was a… a screw in his head? That he was turning?
She bolted up and scrambled to other end of her futon. "Y-Y-You're—"
"'The monster?'" he finished for her. He grinned around his crooked cigarette. "That I am."
Lea tumbled off the futon, landing on her back. For one terrifying moment, she was trapped in that position, her arms and legs waving furiously like an overturned rollie-pollie as she tried to reorient herself. The intruder watched, amused, an arm resting across the back of the chair, the other propped up with an upturned palm upon which his chin rested.
"Oh!" she cried out softly in surprise when she saw the person under better lighting. "Oh, you're not a…."
He watched her — No, he's observing me, Lea realized — amusement still playing around his lips. His eyes never left her as she stood from the ground.
She quickly made sure her smile was in place once she was back on her feet. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize…. You really scared me back there —"
"I hate fake smiles. Makes me want to dissect you."
Her lips parted with surprise. "Huh—?"
He turned his attention back to the stack of papers in his hand. It was silent for an entire minute before Lea finally said, "I'm sorry, but who are you?" She was trying hard to keep her annoyance in check, but if his spot-on observation about her smile, which easily fools other people, and had fooled her boyfriend for three years, was any indication, it was that things like that don't work on him. She was sure he had heard every bit of that annoyance in her voice.
"You have an impressive doctoral dissertation. But all your papers and experiments after that are, well — " he smiled a little "— complete failures."
"What—?"
"Except this one." He held up a chunk of the stack.
"I'm sorry, who are you?"
He tilted his head to one side. "The savior you smacked with your suitcase."
"I said I was sorry."
"Yes, you did."
"So who are you?"
"Dr. Stein. I'm head of the research project you're working on."
"You're…" she stumbled away a little as if struck. "You're Dr. Stein?" She tried to make up for her offensive incredulity. "I'm sorry, I just expected someone… a little different."
"I did, too. I was told the researcher we were getting from Oceania was a 'total babe.' Spirit will be most disappointed."
Lea turned bright red. Her hair was matted to her head and the ends flipped out in odd directions. Dirt covered her face and hands. Her clothing was a shapeless form around her body.
Stein flipped through the stack in his hands again until he came across her personal information. "You're twenty-three? I thought you were in your teens."
"I'm sorry for my flat chest!" she snapped, unconsciously putting her arms around herself.
Stein was caught off guard for a split second. Then he laughed. "That's not what I meant." He returned his attention to her info. "Dearborn… Dearborn…," he mused. "I've heard that name from somewhere."
"My mom was also a researcher."
"Oh, that's right, Mimi Dearborn. She was quite brilliant."
Lea's phone suddenly rang.
"Ollie! Hi, I was wondering when you were coming back— Oh…. Oh, I see. Well, it's alright. I'm sure I can manage." Lea laughed. "I promise I won't follow my map. Don't worry. I'll ask the people I saw at the front office instead. I'm sure they can give me some directions. No, no need to be sorry! Yeah… I'll see you tomorrow."
"What is it?" Stein asked when she hung up.
"Ollie was supposed to show me to my home."
"I should know the way."
"You don't know my address." Hopefully, Lea added inwardly.
"But you do."
Grudgingly, Lea told him.
"That's close to Shibusen. It's a ten minute walk."
As they walked out of her lab and down the hall, Lea's confusion grew. After trashing her past research and calling her flat-chested (A/N: Uh… Lea, he never called you flat-chested XD), why was he being nice to her? Was it because he realized she was Mimi Dearborn's daughter?
She stopped just as they were about to walk out of Shibusen.
It took a couple of steps for Stein to realize she wasn't following him anymore. "Something wrong?"
"Why are you suddenly being nice to me? You were discrediting my research a minute ago."
"I never went out of my way to discredit your research. Other researchers already did a thorough job of that." Stein took a long, contemplative drag on his cigarette as he waited for her to close the distance between them. He exhaled a long, thin stream of smoke. When she didn't move, Stein said, "If you're going to take that personally, you won't want me as your project leader. You might as well go back to Shibusen Oceania. I don't waste my criticism on people without potential."
"'Without potential—'"
He smiled a little. "Your doctoral dissertation… was rather well thought out."
She stood there for a few seconds. Stein waited patiently, taking another drag. Slowly, she walked to his side and they continued their way out of Shibusen.
Lea looked up at him. "By the way, why do you have a giant screw in your head?"