Beyond The Gate
Chapter 3 – Confrontation
Keeping my head down, I took some of the more notably busy streets as I made my way back to my apartment. It was easier this way for me to blend into the crowds and lose any potential followers, hostile or not, and once I had spent enough time in the crowd I would leave for the solitude of my apartment. Hmph, I guess I'm using the term 'apartment' in some serious vagueness here; the place was little more than a room with an adjacent bathroom. Turning a corner to an empty street, I bumped into a stranger, the force of it allowing me to make a convincing fall onto my ass rather than my reflex action, which would have be to slam my palm up into their jaw, successfully smacking them upside the head.
"Oh my, I am so sorry," came the soft voice of the stranger, and looking up I saw a young man with black hair and a green jacket. He extended his hand to me, a bashful expression twisting his features, "Here let me help you up."
"No it was my fault," I replied in a small voice, taking his hand and pulling myself to my feet. "I wasn't watching where I was going." We stood together awkwardly for a moment before saying goodbye and heading off in our separate directions.
A few blocks later, I was standing outside my apartment building, the beautiful facade of the building in complete contrast to the inside. There was that strange feeling of eyes on my back as I walked towards the door, but as I glanced around I saw nobody around. I couldn't shrug off the feeling though, even as I entered the building and took a flight of stairs to the second floor. Coming to the door of my apartment, I noticed a leak in the roof by the door, and followed the water down the wall with my eyes. Water pooled on the hard floor against the wall, I gave it a disgusted look before turning back to open my apartment, but only half turned the key when something caught my eye.
Something had appeared in the puddle, and it went to disappear again as I turned to it, but it was already too late I'd seen what the thing was. It was a glowing blue transparent Spectre, from a doll, but whose doll? My heart racing, I hurried into the apartment, throwing closed the door behind me, and grabbing a knife from the counter. There had been someone following me, someone who knew that I would come back here, and that someone knew of the dolls powers. Bad luck seems to follow me everywhere these days. Slowing I stepped backwards towards the wall opposite the door, keeping the window there in the corner of my eye, and close enough to escape through. There was a terrible crunching sound as the door flew open again, slamming into the wall; I cringed, the land-lord was sure to lecture me about the damage.
The figure that entered through the doorway had my blood shimmer that bit closer to boiling; he had black hair and was dressed in a long jacket with a white mask to match.
"BK-201, The Black Reaper," I hissed, changing my grip on the knife so it would be easier to cause fatal injuries.
"Eraser, where is the information?" He questioned through the mask, using the nickname I had been unable to shake off sense long before I became a Contractor, it seemed something's would always stay the same.
"Seriously, you're still after that?" I laughed, flashing a tight smile, sure that he was scowling at me from under the mask. "Okay, I'll tell you... over my dead body!" Lunging forward, I aimed the knife for his gut, but he was fast dodging the attack and countering with one fluid movement. Pulling up quickly and swinging away, I managed to only let that blade of his nick my arm. Shit, he is fast, I thought watching for his next move as I circled him, trying to position myself nearer to some of the other dangerous items I had stuffed in the apartment. I wasn't ready for his next move though, and he caught me completely off guard as he threw the blade in his hand, causing the thin wire attached to the handle to tangle around my throat.
Panicking slightly, I gasped for air as the blade dropped pulling the wire tighter. There was no way I could get away like this, my fingers unable to break the wire's hold on my throat, and the wire too strong for the knife still in my hand. Desperate, I threw the knife at him, but this simply caused him to move sideways, adding more tension to the wire, forcing my feet to shift forward.
"Where is it?" echoed the contractor's voice. Inside my head, contractor logic buzzed at me, stating that continuation was more important than the cause. True to colours, I ignored it and made my own choice.
"Somewhere you'll... never find it..." I spat, struggling to breathe more as I pulled tighter on the wire. If I could pull hard enough, suddenly, I'd be able to falter his grip – dropping back suddenly should be able to give me that kind of effect. Before I could make my move, BK-201 started to glow that contractor blue, the only warning to activation of his contract. Things played before me in slow motion, the blue glow increased around the man, and I felt something dangerous charging towards me. Reaching my hands up, I clawed at my throat, fingernails trying to pull the wire from my flesh but it was too late, and I cried out as I played the final card dealt to me.