Kerosene

"This doesn't feel right..."

It was funny how the one with invulnerability was talking about feeling.

"It's your first time on the job, of course it doesn't."

Michael took a deep breath. They didn't call Chunhua Song the Ice Queen for nothing. Though she could get rather fiery in battle, outside his partner was composed and cool, just like the cold that she so easily manipulated.

She'd been doing this ever since she was a child. She had no problem with any of it, did she? Well, he did. His hesitance didn't go unnoticed, however.

Noticing that he was lagging behind by a few feet, Chunhua whipped around to face him. "For Charon," She then grabbed onto his wrist and dragged him along.

'For Charon…' He thought, a greasy uneasiness settling into his stomach. Right, because the new law established would protect everyone. The government was a joke. Of course, Michael was careful what he said around Chunhua, what with her brother being in the highest rungs. He did suppose he had nowhere else to go, unless you counted a cemetery.

The duo approached a house located in the middle of a cul-de-sac. The two were clothed in black; the darkness of the night concealing each of them. The neighborhood was tranquil, and Michael felt awful that he had to break the serenity. He watched with a disconnected sense of being as Chunhua froze the window with a simple touch, able to shatter it easily. She hopped through the window, beckoning him to follow.

'For Charon…' Became his mental mantra, but for some reason he could not shake the feeling that this wasn't for the good of the city, but rather for the good of the few political elites at the top. He really wished he knew more about the political system, but when your family is starving you've got better things to think about.

He took a deep breath as he jumped through the window, the broken ice shards scraping his skin. The government had done a wonderful job at refining his invulnerability; he hardly felt a thing anymore. He glanced at his hand – no blood. The home hardly looked hostile, save for the creepy taxidermy ravens they had sitting on the windowsill. This place looked a lot safer than his own home had been. He swallowed, feeling guilty for breaking that sense of security. He knew what that felt like.

The slight sound of creaking brought his attention to reality. Chunhua was gracefully ascending up the staircase. Another deep breath. The mantra ceaseless in his head, he carefully climbed up the staircase as well. His hands started to shake as Chunhua silently began checking rooms. Oh God, she was really going to do it. He was really going to do this. They were really going to do this, and no one would ever think twice about –

Shit.

There he went, tumbling down the stairs. His partner turned to glare murder at him, not bothering to help him. Of course not; it's not like he could die anyway. Getting back up with a slight groan nonetheless, a voice ripped through the broken silence.

"Who's there?!" Panicked, alert…scared. The voice made him wince.

Chunhua was going to kill him – if she ever could, anyway. Michael scrambled to the top of the staircase once more as the Chinese girl disappeared from his sight.

There was a sudden burst of cold emanating from the room down the hall, and he knew that was where she had gone to. As he approached the room, however, a sudden burst of flames streamed out from it. Right, the target's power was pyrokinesis. That had been why Chunhua, government purebred, had needed a partner. She didn't do well in heat.

"Agen - Chunhua!" He called, charging into the flames heedlessly. He twitched as he felt himself burning – though he knew it was at a much lesser extent to what Chunhua must be feeling. As the flamethrower died down, he stood in the doorway, too confused over his morals to do anything. The target – Giselle, he remembered, and Chunhua, were fighting. Judging by Giselle's expression, she hardly wanted anything to do with violence.

He noted that Chunhua was relying mostly on her karate skills; the room being too hot to generate any sort of ice. He guessed that Giselle's fear and confusion was fueling her fire manipulation. His partner closed in on the girl, wiping sweat away from her brow as she aimed a kick at the girl's neck. Giselle in response, merely blocked herself, her arms on fire. Though Chunhua's leg broke through her measly block and knocked Giselle down, the direct contact with fire made the ice princess cry out in pain. She bounced back, holding onto her leg. Despite the inflammable clothing, the proximity to heat had burned her leg anyway.

Placing her foot down, he watched Chunhua's expression contort as her weight shifted to avoid further strain. She soon became too busy to address him as Giselle created a wall of fire to separate herself from Chunhua.

"I swear I haven't done anything bad," Giselle cried, "I swear! Please leave me alone!"

Michael knew she was telling the truth. She was targeted because she was the only one who survived in a classroom fire, letting the government know she had potential. She was being targeted because her parents refused to hand her over to the government; because she refused to join their ranks after her parents mysteriously disappeared. And that made her a rebel. And that made her dangerous.

Chunhua was deaf to her begging, however. With a burst of adrenaline, Michael assumed, she covered herself with ice and ran through the wall of fire, kicking the back of Giselle's knee to make her balance teeter. As the girl fell, the karate expert grabbed onto Giselle's head and smashed it into a glass cabinet that had held all sorts of crystal figurines. Michael hoped that would knock the girl out. It didn't.

Giselle whipped around, her fist aflame as she smacked Chunhua straight in the face. "Leave me ALONE!" She screamed, a horrified expression falling over her face as the cyrokinetic dropped to the ground. No one ever got the privilege of beating Chunhua, but Giselle had an elemental advantage. Besides, people could get tough as hell when scared out of their minds.

Giselle looked at him, blood running down her forehead. Sweeping her bloodied bangs out of her eyes, she took a deep breath and poised herself as he approached. She would be easy for him to take out; her flames caused nothing but discomfort and the slightest tremor of pain to him.

"Leave." His own voice was shaky, so he took a moment to fortify himself. Then, he said in an authoritative voice, "Run away." She looked confused, so he repeated, "Leave, now!"

He kneeled down to pick up Chunhua as he watched Giselle flee, the flames dying in her wake.

"Target 9160 status: deceased."

"Excellent, Agent Lester," Tradi stated, collecting the paperwork Michael had since prepared. It took all of his willpower to stay strong in the presence of Tradi Sfiducia. He was the boss, after all, and intimidated in ways he didn't even think was possible. "You will be given your next mission shortly. Until then, you are dismissed."

Swallowing, Michael nodded and turned on his heel, walking briskly away. He made a beeline to the infirmary. Like always, Dr. Kirswell was there, hitting on his nurse. Aiyana and Blair were practically married as he saw it; he didn't know they didn't just get on with it.

Rolling his eyes, he approached the couple. "Hey, Dr. Kirswell -"

"Agent Lester!" Dr. Kirswell greeted him politely, holding out his hand. Michael shook it with slight confusion, as the doctor stated, "Heard you eliminated 9160. Nice work!"

'How the hell does he know already?' Michael wondered, but brushed it aside as the healer continued.

"Agent Song has been asking for you."

"She's awake?"

"Yes," It was Chunhua's voice. He followed her voice, "Yes, I'm awake." She rolled her eyes at him and said, "Don't give me that look. I've been through worse." She did look pretty bad – though her bandages covered most of her burnt skin. When he had first brought her to the infirmary, all of that had been exposed and looked awful.

"I hear you killed 9160."

He guessed that the targets had numbers to dehumanize them. He guessed it wouldn't be that hurt to exterminate something if you thought of it as a numbered bullseyes. "Yeah…I thought you had it under control until you got knocked out," He said quietly, sitting down beside her. Luckily, she didn't sense he was lying. He was afraid she would have; after all, they had gone through some before-mission training together.

"I can't believe you did it," She said suddenly, and Michael's heart froze mid-beat. Then, she looked to him as she smiled, "I'm proud of you. You've come a long way, Michael." He smiled back, looking down at the floor. "You did the right thing, you know. Charon is safer now."

'You're being brainwashed, Chunhua,' He thought. Yet, his response was, "Yeah, I know."

He felt nothing, and for the one with invulnerability, that was just a little bit strange.