Washington DC, Nox's First Awakening
"So, what's your name?" Lloyd inquired.
"Angel," Nox lied.
Lloyd chuckled. "Nice try, Nox." He held up the contract again, showing Nox's signature at the bottom.
Nox's face flushed, and she snatched the paper out of his hands. "Stop rooting through my things."
Lloyd halted before the edge of the building, his eyes scanning the next building before them. He unhooked his grappling gun once more, aiming, and pulling the trigger. The hook lodged itself into the opposite building. Taking a breath, Lloyd swung himself onto the opposite building. His feet scraped softly against the building's exterior framework. He pulled himself up to the roof.
Nox still remained on the other building.
Lloyd chuckled, then searched for a large plank for Nox to walk across. A shadow swooped over him.
Nox landed deftly on her feet, power coursing through her. She turned around and eyed Lloyd with a smirk.
Lloyd grimaced, trying to hide his true feelings. Then his grimace transformed into a husky smile. "You look good leaping across buildings." He closed the distance between them. "How did you get your powers, anyway?"
Nox laughed, rolling her eyes. "We've been together for ten minutes, made a deal to use my powers in assassination, and now you're interesting in knowing where they came from?"
Lloyd chuckled, bringing a hand to her face. Nox flinched, flashes of memories running across her vision. The lab. Being beaten down, abused and tested on. Treated like she was a dead roach lying in the dirt. Slapped whenever she opened her mouth or refused.
In a heartbeat, the visions ended. Lloyd stood before her, his fingers softly dragging down her cheekbone. Concern and sympathy stirred in Lloyd's eyes. "Hey, what's the matter?"
Nox inhaled sharply, blinking back the burning tears that began to rise to her eyes. "Nothing," She breathed, and after seeing the unconvinced look on Lloyd's face, she added. "Everything's fine. I'm just…"
Lloyd quickly retracted his hand. "… Did I… do something wrong?"
"No! It's not you. It's me. I mean—" She sighed. "Look, where I came from, there's no such thing as compassion. Because when you're a lab rat, you have to let go of any hope that you'll escape."
Lloyd blinked, in shock, but in the least, understanding. "You're… an escaped experiment. A fugitive."
Nox folded her arms together, shivering, but only from remembering the nightmare. "Yeah. I escaped only a few months earlier. Wouldn't surprise me if that same man started hunting me down."
"What man?"
"I never caught his name. He looked like he belonged in the military, though. He wore a beret."
Lloyd's brows creased together. "I've never seen him before."
Nox's eyes were glued to the floor. Lloyd cupped her chin in his hands, tilting her head up so her eyes met his. "Hey. Whoever that man is, I won't let him get to you. I can see through you in a way he probably can't, and I know you deserve so much better."
Nox shut her eyes. "You don't even know me."
Lloyd's forehead touched hers, and he dipped his head down, so his lips were barely brushing against hers. "Of course I do." Nox could feel him smile against her lips.
Nox shut her eyes, trying to ignore what she was feeling but there was no denying it. Her heart throbbed and hammered against her chest, begging for more of him. Her lips burned with desire.
"What about you?" Nox murmured, glancing up at him. "Anything I should know?"
Lloyd scoffed. "Believe me, my past is boring and clichéd. You wouldn't be interested in my past."
"Didn't you have any goals, or dreams?"
"Dreams?" Lloyd chuckled softly. "Why, Nox, I'm holding my dream right now. I just wish I never have to wake up."
It took Nox a moment to realize what he had said. But before she could react, Lloyd broke away, the distance between them ever increasing.
"Come on," Lloyd beckoned to another building. "We should get going."
"Damnit," Lloyd slammed his fist into the building's edge, his eyes filled with rage. Nox took in the barricaded streets below, where military personal hid behind stones and fallen rubble, advanced weapons in their grip. Nox recognized a few of them, but many of the weapons were foreign to her.
Tear gas rolled through the streets.
"We're too late," Lloyd grimaced and stood upright from his crouched position, glaring at the sight down below. "The entire southern city is going on Lockdown for the night."
"What does that mean?" Nox inquired.
Lloyd seemed a bit confused about this question, but then he remembered that she'd been isolated from humanity in a lab… But for how long, she never said.
"It means there's a certain time when curfew hits for the entire southern half of the city. And I'm not talking about some dating prom curfew. This is get inside, or be shot down. The police can't afford to have anyone in the streets after seven."
"Shit."
"Yeah…" Lloyd's eyes scanned the dark skies. "I just wonder why there aren't any—"
A vibrant light swept over the two of them, momentarily sending Nox into tunnel vision. The sound of rapidly spinning rotors sliced through the air, sweeping their hair back.
Lloyd's breath caught. "—Choppers." He seized Nox's hand, tugging her along. "Run!"
Nox's pace quickened. Through the haze of confusion and adrenaline that rushed blood through her ears, she was about to ask Lloyd what the problem was…
Until bullets pinged against the building roof around them, whizzing through the air like flies. One single thought flashed through Nox's mind. The man with the beret. He was after her.
Panic rushed through Nox. In her rush to escape, her feet entangled with one another. The floor rushed up to meet her, but Lloyd caught her before she could hit the ground.
Nox reacted too late.
Bullets rained down around them.
Unleashing a scream, Nox summoned a translucent shield to cover them.
Nox glanced up. Lloyd was leaning over her, his body acting as a shield for the inevitable. Blood splattered across his uniform, dripping down his back. Some of the bullets completely ripped through his torso. His eyes were wide, staring ahead, slightly at Nox, slightly at the floor.
Nox cursed under her breath, tears rising to her eyes. Bullets hit the impenetrable shield.
This was because of her.
Taking in a deep breath, Nox focused on her powers, keeping the shield around them.
She levitated Lloyd from the ground, watching his spine rise into the air, his limbs dangling. She brought them to a set of stairs leading further down into the building, until the gunfire slowly ceased. She noticed the trail of blood left behind from the roof down the stairs.
Lloyd groaned at the growing pain through his back and torso. Blood spilled around his form. His eyes were shut tight, lines of weary exhaustion around them.
Nox slowly set him down, using her powers to shut the iron door that led to the roof and blocking out all commotion. Her hands began to glow, and she hovered them over his wounds. "Lloyd! Can you hear me? Just hold still, Lloyd, hold still." Gold light curled around her hands, snaking to Lloyd's wounds. They filled up the bullet holes, warming his bones. Lloyd blinked languidly, his eyes blindly searching the ceiling before they stopped on Nox. After a few daunting breaths, he managed to speak. "Healing…" A cough. "Healing powers?"
"Don't talk. And yeah, that's another one of my curse."
Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the light working on his injuries. "Doesn't… Feel like… A curse…"
Nox turned away. "That's if they're used for the wrong purposes." But just as quickly as she picked up the subject, she put it back down. The bullets still wedged inside Lloyd's torso were now slipping out, and the wounds were closing.
After a few more tense heartbeats, Nox sat back, feeling her energy drained from her system, and anything remaining was relinquished into the air. She braced her hands on her knees, tilting her head back and breathing air. "Who the hell were those people?" Even though she's assumed they worked for the man in the beret, she couldn't be sure.
Lloyd slowly sat up, getting used to his regenerated limbs again. "They work for the government. They kill assassins like us, and anyone else they find suspicious. They try to make it sound like they're decreasing the chances of assassination, but really, they're just using it as an excuse to lower the population count."
"Why would they do that?"
"So we'd have enough resources for everyone."
Nox frowned. "Isn't that a good thing?"
Lloyd shut his eyes, slowly shaking his head. "No. No, it's not. You see, we assassins kill people. It's our occupation. We could care less about the laws, or the government, but we're actually doing them a favor by ridding them of the criminals. So they want to get rid of us too to take the credit for themselves."
Nox's eyes travelled to the floor, her mind cast in an endless sea of ice. She hadn't thought of it that way. Her eyes color materialized to a deep, unfathomable black.
Lloyd apparently saw this. But he said nothing and blinked it away. He sighed, then slowly stood to his feet. "Let's get going."
"Where?" Nox climbed to her feet. Where else could they go? The entire city was on lockdown, and they nearly got killed by a patrolling chopper.
"My place," Lloyd began to make his way down the remaining staircases. "It isn't far from here. We could get there through the alleyway system without being spotted. We should stay there for the night, then head out tomorrow to find this target."
Nox hesitated at the fact of going into a complete stranger's place, but what other choice did she have? Besides, she could trust Lloyd… Could she?
Why else would she save his life?
Lloyd was on his knees in the dark alleyway, his hands carefully working the door lock with a paperclip, while simultaneously watching the open streets as helicopter spotlights swept through them.
Nox frowned and spoke, barely above a whisper. "I thought you said you had a place to stay."
Lloyd tilted his head slightly focusing. In the years he's lived here, he never did find the keys to this place. "Yeah. You're looking at it."
Nox blinked. This was it? Either he had a sense of humor, or he was redefining simple living.
"I sacrificed style for safety." Lloyd added, once he noticed her staring.
Nox stared up at the towering apartment building, composed of red and orange bricks, some of them deteriorating, but otherwise, the building remained standing. "Safe? I could probably kick down the door."
Despite this, she'd gotten used to living inside structures, waiting for a bomb to be unexpectedly dropped upon the roof. It didn't frighten her anymore, but with the entire city on lockdown, and with the military following them, what refuge could this place bring them?
With a solid click, the door unlocked and swung inward. Lloyd extended a hand inside the dark apartment, the dim light from the open door illuminated a wall of dust particles. Nox stepped inside, followed by Lloyd. He let the door shut, casting the room into darkness.
A match hissed to life, and Lloyd held it against the wick of a candle. "Welcome to my place."
Nox was impressed by what she saw.
Even the low carroty lighting of the candle illuminated the room.
Unlike the damp, decaying walls of places she usually stayed in for the night, this was the most structurally sound.
They stood at the opening of a black granite foyer that led to a vast room beyond, also carved from black granite. Silk rugs in chromatic shades of navy, gray, and black decorated the floors. The furniture was sparse, but the pieces Lloyd had selected were sleek and contemporary, with clean lines and artistic appeal.
"I don't bring many people over here." Lloyd's voice was low. "It's not something I like to share."
"How did you afford all this?" For a moment, Nox could've almost been tempted to believe her eyes were deceiving her. To see something this intricate and creative in a time like this… it was like finding a water bottle in the middle of a desert.
Lloyd shrugged nonchalantly. "A career in assassination pays well."
Under the candlelight, the granite walls and floors glittered as though flecked with diamonds.
As Nox continued her slow exploration, Lloyd walked the room, lighting candles.
"Kitchen to the left," he said. "Bedroom in the back."
She tossed a coy glance over her shoulder. "Why, Lloyd, are you flirting with me again?"
He watched her with something undecipherable in his lush brown eyes, set aflame by the candlelight.
"I feel like you're distracting me from getting the job done."
Lloyd collapsed on a black sofa, arms spread out. "I'm not the distraction in the room."
"Oh? And what might that be?"
She felt his eyes devour her as she continued exploring the room. He assessed her head to toe without blinking, and a hot ache shivered through her. A kiss would've been less intimate.
Trapped in Lloyd's gaze, Nox accepted what had been laid out so plainly. He was mortal. Nox had supernatural powers. She couldn't die. It took much of her willpower to even save him from the brink of death. And in a life of assassination, she knew that someday Lloyd wouldn't be around much longer.
Not to mention that man in the beret was still after her. If he was capable of putting her in cryo-sleep for 30 years, there's no telling what he could do to Lloyd. He'd kill him in an instant. Or worse.
A relationship could never work out.
But… the power that vibrated off him was different from what she felt around others. Stronger and sharper. Even now, the air whipped with energy. Every molecule in her body was ultrasensitive to his presence, aware of his movements.
Lloyd closed the distance between them, his hands roving up and down her arms. "I know that look. You're thinking of something."
Nox sighed, closing her eyes and bowing her head.
"You're thinking of that man, aren't you?" His thumb stroked her cheekbone. "Nox, there's nothing to worry about. He won't find you. I won't let him. I promise."
Flashes of unpleasant memories rang through her. She shut her eyes, on the verge of tears by merely remembering the hell she'd been through in that lab.
Lloyd leaned in, nuzzling her neck affectionately. Nox's pulse thrummed. She knew the sincerity of his words rang true, but there were still doubts tangled in her heart.
Lloyd held her face in his hands, his thumbs stroking her cheekbones in soft caresses, leaving behind a hot, delicious ache. "Hey," He said softly, his eyes holding hers. "I love you."
"Why?" Nox asked. "Why do you love me out of the others?"
Lloyd pressed his lips against hers, but the touch was just that. A touch. She felt him smile against her lips. "Because you're different."
Is it because of my powers? She whispered, pushing the thought gently forward. Despite the way he made her feel, she's wasn't going to be fooled into believing he loved her because of her powers.
Lloyd frowned. "Of course not." He said aloud, still not used to sending thought messages. "I love you because you're different from all the others. Even without your powers, I'll still love you more than anyone else. I saw through you. I know you deserve so much more than what you went through at that lab."
Nox drew a shaky breath. But before she could utter another word, Lloyd's mouth met hers, full of hot ache, passion and desire.
Fire lit up inside of her, filling every follow, cold part of her. No matter what happened, she didn't want to forget how she felt with Lloyd.
She wanted to imprint to memory his touch, his taste, even the scent of him so solidly that no one—no one—could take them away from her. Her legs felt wobbly and heavy.
The frightening memories that haunted her dreams receded somewhere in the back of her mind, out of reach forever.
She sank into Lloyd, and he backed them down slowly towards the wall until she came to straddle his lap.
For a fleeting heartbeat, Nox felt like she could conquer her deepest, darkest fears. She would do anything for Lloyd, and he would do anything for her. Even if it came to facing her past again, she'd do it.
She'd do it for him.