Reminder that underlined speech is spoken in English.

Another fight scene :)

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Chapter Twenty-Two – The Affray

"How is it?"

"No use. She hasn't left her side still," Yin replied.

Hei sighed out of frustration. He never imagined that April would turn into a watchdog for Misaki, but she did. Whatever the reasoning was, it seemed to take priority over all else in her mind. As a result, Misaki was never alone and Hei had no means of contacting her. At the CIA headquarters, she was either with Ryan or April and in the hotel, she was with April and July. July even slept with her at night because April was concerned that they might snatch her again.

He hadn't been able to figure out a way to connect with Misaki without the others knowing. She was already in grave danger and the people around her weren't enough to protect her. They were running out of time. They already knew that the Syndicate had sent more dogs after their trail and Hei knew, that this time, she wasn't going to be so easily saved if they captured her.

"Yin, find the others," Hei instructed.

"What about Misaki?"

"Don't worry. If I can't get to her, I can always bring her to me."

***

"How many?"

"Three. Be careful."

"I know."

Squatting on the roof of a corner store, Hei watched as the car rounded the corner and screeched to a halt. It looked like they were upgrading every time as they were equipped to find him. Of course, he had helped with a pulse of activity to lure them in. Without waiting, Hei jumped down and sent a shock of electricity through the car as he landed on the roof of the vehicle. As he jumped away, he saw two of the Contractors exit the car.

"Yin, where's the third one?"

"I don't see him anywhere."

He didn't have time for questions as the car exploded while the other two dashed in to attack him. It was all part of the plan; to kill two birds with one stone – he could attack before he was attacked and lure Misaki in close enough to snatch her. He had been trying to be patient, but now the dangers to her safety far outweighed the need for her to be willing.

Swinging himself up using a streetlight, Hei crashed in through a second floor window and waited. So far, they weren't using their powers, but he had to draw them out. Three against one was the most they had sent so far. It was difficult to kill someone he couldn't find. While waiting in the dark, he heard the sprinklers go off on the floor beneath him; a fire user. The door to the room he was in was sent flying into the room and the frame outlined two blue shadows.

A fireball was thrown at him and when he dodged, a chair was sent flying in his direction of retreat – telekinetic user. Dropping to roll away, he threw his blade, but it was blocked by another fireball and he was forced to pull it back. Growling out of frustration as projectiles were aimed at him from all four corners, Hei finally dashed towards them, throwing his wire to catch one of them. His blast of electricity dispersed the fire.

"Don't even think about it, Black Reaper," one of them said. "We're going to be the ones to kill you."

Hei spun around as the voice came from behind, but he didn't see anyone. Even so, he dodged and rolled to the corner. An explosion went up and he was forced to retreat again, the impact of the hit cracking his mask. The entire building was going to be on fire in minutes and he wasn't getting anywhere with this. He needed help from Yin and none of this was helping. He charged at the two Contractors blocking his exit.

Despite their attacks, they didn't hurt him as an electric field visible to their eyes surrounded his body. He needed to wait for Misaki's arrival, but he was tired of their games. He could kill them all and still wait for her to appear. As he was about to reach them, the two Contractors stepped aside to avoid the electric field they could still see. But they followed immediately after as he ran into another room in the building. Spinning around and throwing his blade, he still only saw two of them. He had an inkling of what the third's power was, but it wouldn't make things any easier.

They were at a standstill as his electricity destroyed whatever projectile they decided to throw his way. He couldn't get close enough to zap either as they blocked his blade whenever he threw it at them. Hei had the clear disadvantage with three enemies, but only two visible. He still hadn't figured out how to eliminate that one, but even taking out one of the other two would be beneficial.

Finally, he moved suddenly, dashing towards them again, throwing his blade. The blade reflected off the surface of the metal chair, but he was expecting that. The blade had only been a diversion as he dispelled the fireball. In one swift movement, as he had thrown the blade, he shifted the grip of the wire from the end to the middle. As they focused on the incoming blade, he tossed out the end of the wire, which snaked around the ankle of the telekinetic user.

"Argh!" he cried out in pain as Hei had sent out a surge of electricity along with the wire.

He wasn't even watching as his first victim of the night crumbled to the floor. His focus had already shifted to the second target. As Hei headed towards him, he threw up a wall of fire before he dashed off. Ignoring the flames, Hei coiled in the wire and jumped through the fire, shielding his face. He had to wonder if they even knew where their partner was as rationality kicked in after the first one was down.

"I thought you were going to kill me," Hei taunted as he wandered through the building.

Glancing around, he turned left. So now they were both playing hide and seek with him. As the so called "it", he was going to find them – wherever they were, invisible or otherwise. He still wasn't sure to what extent those powers worked. If he could conceal anything he was touching directly, it wasn't hard to imagine that he would be carrying a deadly weapon of some sort.

"We are!"

Swirling around at the voice, Hei dodged despite not seeing anything. If he had been any slower, the twin blades would have severed off his arm. Instead, they cut him cleanly across the upper arm. A fireball went flying towards his back and he jumped to the side to avoid it. He was going to have to take out the fire user first. He was destroying the building and it was going to be gone before Misaki arrived.

He was chasing the fire Contractor when he spotted an emergency stairwell. Entering it, instead of going down, he went up. They were going to follow him. They had to in order to kill him. Besides, he didn't think they could handle the smoke inhalation. Even if he was a Contractor, that didn't make him invincible against the things that killed humans.

Before he reached the top, he sensed the other one coming and blocked with his blade. It connected with a loud clank against the other. To an onlooker, it would have seemed like he was fighting with himself as the only thing visible besides Hei was the sparks between the two weapons. He was starting to get the hang of it, when the rhythm was broken by the fire user.

"Damn it," he muttered.

That one was getting on his nerves. The invisible Contractor took the moment to attack vigorously, but Hei was prepared and quickly retaliated with a series of swings, mixed with kicks. A connection took place and he heard the other go flying down the hallway. Not wasting any time, he turned to chase down that other Contractor – the one destroying his meeting place with Misaki.

As he walked along the corridor, he sent out a flash of power to the lights overhead, creating an explosion that brought down the ceiling and the walls to block the path of the other Contractor – the one he could only sense. Scanning each room he entered, he tried to locate his scared target. After he had killed the telekinetic one, the fire one seemed to lose his nerves since he started to cower and attack when he was occupied by the third.

If he could just locate him, he would be easy to take out as he had hindered the last one. Unfortunately, Yin couldn't help as his target's power was contradictory to her medium. She would never see anything in a flame-engulfed building. Though his target was easier, he knew better than to let down his guard; carefully picking his way through the building.

***

"Emergency! BK-201 activity on the corner of Adelphi Road and Metzerott Road!" Ryan announced. "Activity of three other Contractors."

"Get on it! Maybe they can hold him long enough until we get there."

"Yes, maybe this is our lucky break."

April glanced at the others; she had a feeling that it was the opposite of a lucky break. She didn't know what yet, but she could sense it down to her bones that this was going to be a disaster. Even so, she had a duty, one that she couldn't abandon. Glancing at Misaki, she knew she didn't have to tell her what the flurry of activity meant. She already knew; waiting with a pale face and tightly wringing her hands together.

"Maybe you should stay here," April stated, pulling her aside momentarily. "You don't look so good."

"No, I'm fine! Let's go!"

Before April could voice anymore concerns, Misaki dashed out of the room with Ryan. There was nothing she could do to stop her. All that was left for her to do was follow along with the rest of the team.

***

"You can't keep running," Hei stated.

He had trapped the fire Contractor and now the only way out was to go through him or jump through the third floor window, hoping to survive. He could try, but he wasn't going to escape so easily, even if he wanted to. After all the Syndicate had done, he needed to make sure that he returned every single favour. No Contractor who had a mission of killing him was going to return alive.

The fire Contractor seemed to realize that he only had one option as he was dealing with the Black Reaper; the one who was terrorizing America – both humans and Contractors alike; probably more so Contractors as they were the ones being killed. He formed two small flames in his hands and ran to the side as he threw them at Hei. Knocking them away with his blade, Hei sent out his wire to dance and trap his prey.

He dodged, diving behind a desk as it snaked closer towards him. A fireball rounded the corner of the overturned desk, forcing Hei to dodge. The fight seemed like a new form of dance. Both sides were forced to use their powers, projectile fashion, as they couldn't get close enough.

When one went left, the other went right and left again to avoid direct contact. A fireball was matched with a pulsing blade and vice versa. Powers seemed to negate each other and Hei realized that he had used a lot of power trying to track down the third during the fight up the stairs. Not to mention, the power he had used to initiate the battle and to kill the first once.

It was down to now or never. He realized their purpose; even if he wasn't fighting an experienced Contractor, they still had enough power to wear him out, especially if they continued to send out more and more each time. There was no way to gauge how much closer he was. Now, he could only afford to focus on the one of ahead of him. He still had one more after this.

Initiating his power, he concentrated on building it up. The attacks by the fire user were swatted aside as if they were only ping pong balls. Finally, he charged towards the Contractor, his gaze steady on him as he released his powers. He didn't throw his blade or his wire and that seemed to confuse his enemy. Before he could retreat, Hei grabbed him with both arms, the release of his power surging through his hostage. A scream escaped his lips at the current passing through his body, until his eyes rolled to the back of his head to reveal the whites of his eyes and fell limp in Hei's arms. Releasing him, his body collapsed to the floor.

I have to get out of here, Hei told himself.

The power consumption was already higher than he was accustomed to and the smoke inhalation wasn't helping. Stopping momentarily, he tried to catch his breath before he ran towards the window, breaking through the pane. A swift flick of the wrist twisted his wire around the rails on the roof. Pulling himself back in, he positioned his body to spring board off the wall and he went up to the roof to wait; where there was actually a small bit of fresh air.

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A/N: Poor Hei... :( Always gets chased to get killed... Or at least, they try. I hope the fight scene wasn't too confusing. It was really difficult trying to think of ways for all three of them to "interact" with Hei; not to mention thinking of plausible ways for Hei to kill them...