Hei swayed on his feet, struggling to keep his balance as the ground shook beneath him. The whole building was trembling: steel girders groaned and shrieked while dust and debris began to fall from the ceiling. Misaki was on the floor. Quickly sheathing his knife so that he could have both hands free, he surged forward towards her only to be flung back again when a slab of concrete buckled under his foot.
But Misaki was already rising, a scowl on her face. She jerked a fallen Hui to his feet. "We have to get out of here!" she shouted over the din.
Before Hei could answer, a heavy shower of broken wooden support beams crashed to the floor in between them, forcing Hei back towards where Saitou was picking himself up off the floor. More rubble was raining down; he couldn't see her, couldn't see if she'd been hit.
"Misaki!" Hei shouted, coughing in the cloud of dust.
To his vast relief, she answered. "I'm here; we're fine." Her voice was hoarse but she sounded unhurt.
The contractor who was causing this mini earthquake was most likely outside; if they fled they'd be running right into him. But the only alternative was to stay and be buried alive.
"Get to the rendezvous!" he called out as yet another huge chunk of ceiling crashed down. He dodged backwards out of the way.
"Right!"
Splitting up was the very last thing that Hei wanted to do. But Misaki was alright, and she was more than capable of extricating herself. Right now he needed her more than she needed him. Emotions are unnecessary distractions, he reminded himself.
Drawing upon the techniques that he had learned long ago to harness his adrenaline, Hei forced down the panic that was threatening to rise and took in the situation. The warehouse seemed to be imploding from the center out; the middle of the floor was rapidly filling with debris but the walls were still standing. What light that wasn't blocked by the dust clogging the air was flickering madly as the fixtures swayed and snapped free.
"Side door?" Saitou asked. The detective's face was pale but determined.
Too much floor space and debris between them and the front office. The stairs to the catwalk were right behind him, but the roof as an exit was out. The side door was close enough.
"Go."
Without waiting to make sure that Saitou was following, Hei dashed around the staircase into the shadowy walkway beneath the catwalk. The metal overhead protected them from the heavier bits of rubble that were falling, but the floor continued to pitch and buckle as if it were choppy water in the bay rather than solid concrete; the darkness made it nearly impossible for him to pick out a clear path.
Showers of dust filtered through the mesh of the catwalk, threatening to choke; he was just about to reach into his coat for his mask when a sudden, massive tremor pitched him to the ground. A loud metallic shriek ripped through the air, and the catwalk five feet ahead of him buckled, crashing to the floor and bringing with it the upper story of the building.
~~~~o~~~~
Misaki pushed the cuffed contractor through the warehouse's office entrance, staggering out right after him as the glass windows burst into jagged shards behind them. They dashed across the street and halted next to an empty store front. She leaned against the brick wall, breathing heavily; it felt like she'd inhaled a sandstorm.
"Can you take these off now?" Hui pleaded.
Misaki shook her head, eyes on the warehouse door. "Not until we've finished our conversation." Where were Saitou and Hei? She'd thought that they'd been right behind her…
The building groaned and shuddered, but aside from the broken glass that was the only sign that anything unusual was happening. Not a single tremor was to be felt where they stood just twenty feet away.
Hui made an exasperated sound that turned into a coughing fit, but Misaki ignored him and shifted her gaze to the narrow alleyway on the side of the warehouse. If the other two hadn't be able to make it to the office, they'd try the side door. Maybe she should run that way and see if there was any way she could help. Hei had told her to go to the rendezvous, but she couldn't just leave him and Saitou behind.
But before she make up her mind to move, a tremor so large that she was nearly thrown from her feet again shook the warehouse. The walls of the second floor folded inward with a cascading crash that seemed to last for an hour. Hei and Saitou hadn't emerged.
"No!" Misaki darted forward into the street, desperate to get to them. Hands caught her upper arm; she turned to face Hui, about to punch him in the nose - but his grim, urgent expression stopped her. He was staring past her at the roof of the building next door to the collapsing warehouse. Misaki followed his gaze: a man, limned in pale blue light, was crouched there.
No sooner had she spotted the contractor than he turned towards them and the ground beneath their feet erupted in an explosion of asphalt. Hui's grip on her arm slipped as they stumbled back, but Misaki caught him and pulled him back to the sidewalk. It was Hui that the new contractor was after; if they fled the scene, he would follow. The others would have a chance to get out - as long as they were unhurt. Which they were. They had to be.
"Let's go!" Without hesitation, Misaki took off down the street. She trusted Hui to stick close by; she had the keys to the handcuffs, after all.
The tremors followed them, asphalt chunks flying and biting at their heels. Something sharp cut across her temple, but Misaki didn't slow down. Despite the awkwardness of running with his hands bound in front of him, Hui kept pace with her well. The attacks didn't stop until they turned a corner and were out of sight of the contractor; even then, Misaki kept running.
Hei's safe house, or whatever it was, was about a mile away, deeper into the seedy neighborhood that edged the warehouse district. There was more traffic on the streets here, but not a lot; and none of the people hanging about in dimly lit doorways and alley entrances paid any attention to her and Hui as they dashed past. In her own neighborhood, the sight would have generated a dozen panicked calls to the police.
Misaki didn't slow down until they were one street away from the address that Hei had given her. They circled the block once so that she could be sure that no one was following; she didn't spot anyone suspicious, but all the same she was grateful that she had her weapon. It was next to impossible to not reach up and check that it was still secure in its holster, even though she could feel it's comforting weight. She did reach up to wipe away the blood that had been steadily trickling into the corner of her mouth.
The side alley where Hei's place was tucked away was dark, but it was easy enough to find: a sturdy metal door on the ground floor of an aging tenement. The single window had been boarded over. Misaki squinted at the multiple-disc combination lock that held the door shut, wishing that she'd thought to bring a flashlight with her tonight.
Instead, she tugged Hui closer. "Hey," she said. "Can you hold your hands in front of the lock, and draw on your power just enough for a glow?"
The contractor gave her a blank look, but he did as she asked. The light from the synchrotron radiation was just enough for her to make out the numbers. Misaki quickly turned the dials on the padlock until they read: 0201. The lock clicked open. Exhaling in relief, she removed the lock and opened the door, ushering Hui inside ahead of her. She shut the door immediately, throwing the deadbolt. Then she felt around on the wall by the door for the light switch, and flipped it on.
"Is this place safe?" Hui asked, a nervous edge to his voice as he gazed about the room.
"It should be," Misaki said. "It doesn't belong to the police or the Syndicate, and there's no way that contractor could have gotten down from the roof in time to follow us."
Now that she had a moment to breathe, Misaki took in their surroundings as well. It was a single, wide room with very little depth. A grill-style kitchen took up most of the back wall, with a torn vinyl booth tucked into one corner along with a few stools, tables, and chairs. A defunct dive bar, perhaps. The kitchen showed signs of recent use: clean cookware was stacked on the counter top and the stove gleamed with fresh scrubbing. Misaki had watched Hei cooking often enough to recognize the care that he took as he worked. And if that hadn't been enough, the strip of sharpened kitchen knives hanging on the wall would have been a dead giveaway. What did he keep this place for? There was nothing here that his own room or her place didn't have.
Worry about that later, she told herself. Misaki gestured to one of the wooden chairs. "Sit. We can talk while we wait for the others to get here." They wouldn't be far behind. They'd had plenty of time when the walls collapsed to get to cover.
Hui looked askance at the ropes that were attached the sides of the chair. "Handcuffs not enough for someone as dangerous as me?" he asked as he took a seat.
She didn't miss the sarcasm, and chose to ignore it. She also chose to ignore those ropes and the million questions that sprang to mind. Hui was her subject for interrogation tonight, not the Black Reaper. Blood was still streaming down the side of her face; Misaki began hunting through the cupboards for a first aid kit. Strangely, there wasn't so much as a box of Band-Aids in the room.
"So Tsukuda is really out the game?" Hui asked hesitantly while she rummaged.
"Yes." A clean dish rag was the best option that she could find. It stung a little when she pressed it to the gash on her temple, but at least that stopped the bleeding.
"Ah."
Misaki glanced over at the contractor; he'd sounded almost…sad. "How long had he been your handler?"
"As long as I've been in Tokyo."
She moved to stand slightly to the side of his chair, forcing him to angle himself uncomfortably to keep her in sight. "Did you like working with him?"
Hui shrugged. "A handler is a handler." He paused for a long moment, continuing to scan the room. Then he added, "As long as a handler does his job, it doesn't really matter what he's like. But out of all the humans I've worked with, Tsukuda was the only one who treated me like I was a person."
The regret in his voice sounded genuine. Maybe she could use that. "Contractors don't exactly have an easy life," she said. "Doing the dirty work for humans. You know EPR sent the government a manifesto - they want rights for contractors, the same as normal humans have."
Hui nodded, turning his head to glance at the wall behind him. "Like I said, their offer was very interesting; they just couldn't pay."
Misaki's forehead furrowed in thought. "And now that the Syndicate has burned you?"
"Now I think I'd have a better chance with EPR than on my own."
"What if," Misaki said, choosing her words carefully, "I were to offer you a deal. If you do join EPR, Section Four will pay you as a confidential informant to report on their activities."
The contractor raised an eyebrow at that. "I told you, the Syndicate owns the police."
"They don't own me." Misaki folder her arms across her chest. "You have to know something more, or you wouldn't have bothered to make a note about it in your journal. What did you mean by a steel grip?"
"It might help me remember if I could have the journal back."
Misaki hesitated. It was true that Hei had transcribed most of it, the copies of which were tucked away safely on her book case; but the original was still primary evidence…that she had obtained during an event which she'd lied about in her official report
"Your hands stay cuffed," she said at last, and pulled the notebook out of her jacket pocket. Her arm was still aching, but she didn't drop the book this time.
Hui took it eagerly, and began flipping through the pages. He paused on one of the coded sections, muttering to himself in Korean. With difficulty, Misaki resisted the urge to tap her foot impatiently.
"Hands," he said at last. "That's what I meant."
Misaki gave him a blank look. "Hands?"
Hui shrugged, his gaze flickering about the room once again. "The person you're looking for - the Syndicate's inside man in the police. One of them, anyway; I'm sure they have more. I don't remember exactly why, but there was something significant about his hands."
Hands. The beginning of a worrying thought was forming in Misaki's mind, but she didn't have time to ponder it now. "Alright. What about - what are you looking for? I told you, it's safe here!"
"That contractor," Hui said. His voice was calm, but he was gripping his notebook tightly. "He'll still be looking for me."
"We're safe," Misaki repeated. "Even if he could find us, he must have used up all of his power at the warehouse. Overpowered contractors like that usually take longer to regain their powers after making their payments; we should have plenty of time."
"Not if it's a blood price."
"Blood price?"
The look that Hui gave her made her feel like a particularly stupid schoolgirl. "A price that's tied to blood. They can't stop using their powers until blood has been paid. Most of those contractors didn't make it out of South America; too unstable. I'm sure the Syndicate still has a few left though. This guy…he felt like one them."
She pulled the towel away from the cut on her temple to reveal a dark red stain. "Well, I'm bleeding."
But Hui shook his head. "It takes a bit more than that. Try a severed femoral artery. Or a skewered liver. He won't stop - can't stop - until one of us is dead."
A memory of the forfeiter, Havoc, came to her mind. Havoc had been rumored to be heavily involved in the South American conflict, with a truly terrifying power - and an even more terrifying payment. Misaki suppressed a shudder at the idea that the contractor who was after them now was playing on that same level. And incurring a similar price.
Hei had been involved in that case; it was the first time that Section Four had knowingly crossed paths with BK-201. It was all connected: Hei, South America, the Syndicate, EPR. The puzzle pieces were all there, but she still couldn't see the big picture.
"And if he can't find us?" she demanded.
"Anyone will do." Hui blanched at her expression, then added hurriedly, "But the Syndicate sent him to kill me. He'll keep looking."
"Until the pressure to pay his price gets to be too much, and he crushes some poor civilian in their bed." Misaki tugged the journal out of Hui's hands and stuffed it back into her pocket. "You wait here."
The contractor opened his mouth - to protest, no doubt - but then his eyes fixed on a spot behind her and widened. Misaki spun, but there was nothing there; just the boarded up window. "What is it?" she demanded.
"Specter."
Her first thought was that it must be Yin, keeping an eye on her despite Hei's refusal to involve the doll. But there wasn't a drop of water in the place.
Shit. "I guess you're coming with me, then. Let's - "
The tremor that struck the safe house shook the walls to their very foundation.