Not Quite a Kishin
But a Demon None The Less.
"Shinigami-sama, you called?" Maka politely asked. Another mission already? There was allot more going on lately, and Shinigami-sama was taking no chances. The Technician Academy Shibusen was just as it sounded. It was a school for gifted children, and by gifted that meant powers. Usually those who displayed traits to become beings known as Weapons and their partners Technicians where trained to fight, all for the protection and prevention of the rise of another Kishin, a Demon God. Having narrowly brought down one not too long ago, anything that sounded suspicious was checked out immediately. It always used to be, but now, less than three months after the incident, they responded far more quickly.
So now Traditional Scythe Master Maka Albarn and her partner Soul Evans stood in front of the large mirror that held the image of the 'headmaster' of Shibusen. He was exactly what he looked like, a long black robe, skull mask, a Grim Reaper. Although he was not the grim kind.
"Yes yes. It seems there has been some pretty suspicious activity in this particular town." he lent forward and whispered the word suspicious, as if he was gossiping among friends.
"So we just need to check it out, sounds cool enough." Soul grinned. An easy sounding mission.
"Not quite, I'm afraid." His humorously nasal voice made it hard to take Shinigami-sama seriously . "The informer has made it clear this is of a higher priority, so you are going to meet him there, and form a three man team, until a solution can be found."
"Six people?" three Technicians and three Weapons, sounded like a little overkill for 'suspicious'.
"No no, Maka – Ch~~an, three people, you two, and Kylar Otori. ~Nayan" he wobbled for a bit.
"This Kylar is the informant? Doesn't sound cool, people from the intelligence department and scouts are not good for fighting." Soul shoved his hands in his pockets.
"I think you will be surprised, try not to annoy him, he can have scary temper." Shinigami-sama said cryptically before sending them off without a word, but a few of his more noisy mannerisms.
"There's no hope for you if it took that long for you to get here." Kylar slipped off the wall, after watching and assessing the two, like he had needed to watch them all the way from the station, but if things got out of hand. He never bothered to finish the thought. The girl was sharp, and dependable, according to Shinigami-sama, and the two worked well together. His baggy black trousers clinked slightly with all the trinkets and buckles swinging around on them, but that was to hide the gun holster on his right thigh. Practiced at landing lightly even in his huge boots, Kylar tugged his shirt, also black, straight and straightened himself. With the messy dark hair and the colour scheme, no one even noticed the small bandage around his right wrist.
Soul eyed Kylar, his clothes might have been cool, but the outfit didn't fit his posture. He stood calmly and looked bored, Maka could tell he was confident.
"Kylar Oto..." Kylar cut him off.
"Kylar's fine. Soul and Maka." It wasn't a question.
"What's the problem around here then?" Maka ignored the forwardness, it was only for a short while. What had Shinigami-sama said about a temper? He looked fairly relaxed now.
"The usual signs, people acting up, unwarranted and sudden paranoia. Disturbing rumours, that kind of thing."
"So why two groups?" Maka tried to ask nicely.
"I said I could handle it, but Shinigami-sama wanted some support, just in case things got explosive. Truthfully, this is on a scale similar to those appearing before the first, last time." He corrected himself.
"You're a tech'? Or a weapon? So why don't you have a partner?" Soul had no sense of tact sometimes, but Kylar just replied over his shoulder as they walked.
"I would be a tech, but I work alone, like it that way."
"You can fight then?" Soul was warming up to Kylar, he sounded cool.
"Yeh, suppose. Try not to though." Soul made an inquiring grunt. "Things usually get, messy." Kylar shrugged. The scouting out went both ways, they had to find about each other as much as the situation.
Kylar brought them up to speed. The town was small, all the locals knew each other, but with enough traffic from outside that it was impossible to pin a handful of characters. Luckily that also meant that the three of them looked like a group of outside students.
"There was a hospital, or medical institution, it was for the, mental," Kylar paused over the word. "That was decommissioned when the larger complex was built over in the city over." He jerked his head. "But the people where happy to get rid of it." Soul sat back, but listened. "There was some paperwork mix up, purely accidental or on porpoise I don't know, but it caused enough confusion for most people to vote to bury the hatchet and leave the place alone. That was four years ago. Recently though, there has be some renewed interest, by some official no one much likes around here, BuisenessManType, he wants the space, materials, the details are all speculation, the big shots won't talk about it and no one else knows the real ones. But it dredged up all the old stories, shook loose a few fears. The problem though, is some of them aren't all lies. That's all I could scrape up in a day."
A shadow falls over Soul, he looks up into a face that wasn't set quite right, either an unlucky child, or the result of too many hits to the face.
"That's some detailed stuff you gots there." He sneered, the usual posse of lackeys snickered behind him. Kylar just shrugged. Unlucky grabbed the front of his shirt before Kylar could turn away. Kylar blinked at the slab of a fist under his chin. "Where you brats from anyways? What you doin' here?"
"Researching."
"Yah bein' smar'?" Hat stepped forward, he had a worse accent and Kylar almost made a show of translating before he replied.
"Can't help it, sorry." He, smiled at them, then staggered sideways as Unlucky's fist landed square on his jaw. Kylar's smile changed. He smirked, and looked at the group.
"Not too bad, I guess." Unlucky yelled and ran forwards. Maka jumped up, but was too late to intervene, not that she need have bothered anyway. Kylar neatly sidestepped bringing his fist up sharply and Unlucky pitched forwards. So his face was definitely his own fault then. Soul called out.
"Are you alright out there?" he was talking to Kylar. Kylar didn't, or rather couldn't reply. The rest of the gang jumped him, where he had been. Even on a bright day and wearing black and buckles, Kylar slid around the group, taking one out after another, still smirking. Soul and Maka watched, within moments, Kylar was the only one left standing. He rubbed his hand over his hair and sighed, as if he had been for a light jog.
There was a small crowd, as always happens, even the nicest of people will pause to watch someone else's misfortune. White flowed down Kylar's leg, the end of the bandage fluttering gently in the wind. Maka stepped over, ignoring the unconscious bodies around them, and lifted Kylar's wrist. He tensed at first, but relaxed when he recognised who it was. The last end of the bandage slipped off, and piled itself neatly on the chest of Hat. Maka blinked in confusion at the tattoo. A sun like circle of thorny vines stood out on the pale skin of the inside of his wrist, Kylar immediately held his other hand over it twisting it out of sight, but fevered whispers had already started running through the crowd. Kylar pulled his wrist back, expression unreadable.
Maka stared around as the people returned the stares, not at her, but at Kylar. The tension grew, partly fearful, undertones of disbelief, confusion and rage. Was this about the gang, they had started it, maybe Kylar did go a little overboard but none of them had died.
Without speaking, still expressionless, Kylar walked away, the crowd parted easily. Out of nowhere someone threw an empty can, Kylar easily deflected it, but the shouts where harder to block. Maka drew up beside him.
"What the..." Kylar cut her off, stony faced.
"Leave it Maka." She searched his face, for a response, anything. This had to mean something. Soul followed glaring at the rest of the crowd.
"But." She stammered.
"Happens sometimes, can't be helped." Kylar gave her a weak, nervous smile trying to reassure her, it didn't.
"Kylar." Maka sounded apologetic, probably in place of the townsfolk.
"I'm hardly popular in some places, not entirely un deserved."
"Look," Soul took his attention away from the crowd, but Kylar kept on walking.
"Just leave it ok? People can't just forget that easily." Something flickered across his pale features, regret, pain? What was this all about? Kylar sighed. Suddenly he tensed, and Maka also whipped her head around. She sensed an evil soul, the wavelengths chaotic and violent, but with so many people she couldn't pinpoint it. Soul was still oblivious, at least until a throwing knife buried itself in his back, Kylar had already picked one out of the air. Soul yelled more in surprise than pain, Maka grabbed his arm, Soul got the hint and transformed.
Kylar monitored the souls of the townsfolk, analyzing, and managed to match the signature wavelength residue on the throwing knife to a single soul at the back of the crowd, moving away.
His mind snapped back to visual as the souls reacted, he lost the signal. The agitation swelled after Soul had transformed into his weapon form. The resulting emotional chaos blocked the specific wavelength he was searching for, but the distinct pattern soon showed through and it didn't take Kylar long to locate the person responsible.
Maka was calling out to try to calm everyone down. "Don't panic, we are students of Shibusen." Like they were going to listen, all they saw was a small girl with a big scythe. First they caused the distraction, then they let loose with the information, and allow him to escape. It couldn't have gone worse if they planned it. It wasn't their fault, they hadn't spent time trying not to be noticed. Kylar pushed through the mass of humanity toward the spot where he had last seen the assailant. This time the crowd, now quite large, wouldn't move aside. Kylar at last broke free, and spotted the assailant retreating into an ally.