Dark Shapes

((Aaaand, post is up. This week is a little more laid back, so I'm gonna try really hard to get ahead and have a post ready for Wednesday. If not, Sunday definitely, but I'm going to try hard for it!

Enjoy and let me know what you think!))

Elora smirked as she sat in front of the flames, watching things burn. So Null had walked into her game, a few hours ago, and snapped everyone out of it. That was alright, really. After all, it had only been a test run. And such a successful test run, too!

When the time came, she was going to have an absolutely delicious meal.

Konki caught the look on her face, and smiled a little. “Hungry? Don’t worry- stew’s almost done.”

“You could say that,” Tori said awkwardly, stirring the mix in the pot with a small flush. “It’ll be edible, anyways.”

“It smells good to me!” Konki replied. “I mean, I wasn’t looking forward to the canned stuff. But add in that deer and those herbs you gathered, and this is really starting to look good!”

“It’s nothing,” Tori laughed. “Just simple stuff. I’m really no good at cooking- I can make something small that tastes good, but that’s about it!”

“I think we have different definitions of small,” Shan said, coming up to the fire and taking a seat. “All I can handle is microwaveable stuff. By comparison, this seems hardcore.”

“Don’t worry, Tori!” Elora said brightly. “Anything you make is going to taste delicious. I’m sure of it!” Oh, was she sure of it. Such a delicious flavor, the martial artist was giving off. No matter what she was doing, everything tinged with that deep undercurrent of feeling that never went away, as surely as the black rim around her irises…

Akaru crinkled up his rabbit nose, turning away. “I’m sure it will…ugh… Just… give me a minute to turn into something carnivorous, will you? The smell of that deer is making my head hurt…”

They continued on, laughing and talking around the fire with the smells of hot, cooking food drifting out, the stars watching peacefully from overhead. Everything was relaxed and comfortable, in a way it hadn’t been for a while. There was no sign of anyone hunting them, all of their friends were safe (that they knew about), there was good food going to be served soon, and for some reason, they all shared the same, easy buzz of contentment, without really knowing why.

Until Null ruined it all by storming up towards them with a look of fury on her face. “Just what do you think you’re all doing?”

They paused in mid-laughter to some off-handed comment Shan had made, turning to look at her. “Talking?” Aden asked sheepishly, his voice small.

“No, I’m talking about that!” Null yelled, pointing at the fire, burning on freshly-gathered wood, cooking hunted and gathered food items. “Did I not make it completely clear that you weren’t to touch anything in the forest? Stupid!”

“Hey,” Tori said defensively, putting a hand on Aden protectively, even though the remarks were directed at all of them. “It’s just some food, okay? I’m not an idiot- I can tell poisonous plants from the good ones. It’s really not a big deal!”

“Not a big deal? If you can’t even follow a simple order like that, there’s no way any of you are going to survive where we’re going!”

“And who said we needed to obey orders?” Akaru’s serpentine voice was low, a slight tinge of resentment entering it. “Last I checked, this was a democratic group. I don’t recall electing you queen.”

“Null, it’s fine,” Shan said. “It’s just food. What’s the worst that could hap-“

Tkk!

He paused, frowning, as something ricocheted off of his neck, falling into the dirt. Curious, he reached down, feeling for the object, until his fingers locked around something small, cold and narrow. He held it up, trying to see in the flickering light. What-

A startled gasp came from Aden as a second dart suddenly hit him. He slumped, Tori half-rising to catch him. “Aden!”

Akaru whipped around, narrowly missing the dart that had flown for him. “Attack!” he hissed, spitting venom instinctively.

“Great!” Null replied with a hiss of her own, knocking over the pail of water onto the flames, instantly ending the fire- and their dinner- in a cloud of steam. “Shan, take the rear! Tori, pick up Aden and run, and I’ll- hey!”

Konki gritted her teeth as she deflected the darts that had suddenly soared for Null, deflecting more with her second sword. “No time for orders. Everyone run for it!”

~~~

Kate knelt in the ground, staring at footprints with a frown. The tire tracks had vanished not far away. While Leon no doubt still had his car, he was hiding it somewhere, somewhere they hadn’t been able to find. His footprints, however…

“I always told you,” she said with a sigh, under her breath. “You don’t do a very good job of covering your tracks.”

Which kind of made it puzzling, actually. She knew how easy it was to follow him- they should have found him within the first couple of hours, really, distracted or not. Just his watch alone gave off a signal that was easy to follow, and incredibly difficult to turn off. Unless he had found someone skilled to do it for him, there was no explanation for why they weren’t getting a trace on him. But who…

She sighed, straightening, conscious of the three squads of lower-rank Agents watching her back from behind. There was… still no sign of Dextera, the former Captain’s constant companion. But she had left her with Leon. For some stupid, idiotic reason, she had taken a vulnerable, helpless little girl and left her with Leon…

…Maybe it would have been okay, back when Leon was an Agent, bound by all the laws and restrictions she was. But he had gone rogue, and he hated Gifteds more than anyone she had ever met. If there was no sign of Dextera now, when she had last been spotted with him right before the betrayal… She could guess what might have happened. The poor girl.

Leon was a monster. She didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it before. But now, that she saw him for what he really was…

“Alfa. Bravo. Charlie.” She turned back to the agents assigned to her, divided neatly into their three squadrons. “Those are your names, for the duration of this mission, and those are the designations you will use when in all contact through radio or in person. Tell me your mission!”

“Kill the traitor, ma’am!”

Fifteen voices, loud, precise, obedient. And they would carry out their orders without hesitation, she knew. They didn’t know Leon, didn’t care about him. All he was to them was another task to finish, another paycheck to earn.

It was better that way. Surrounded by them, she could pretend that this didn’t feel wrong to her either, didn’t trouble her for some deep reason she couldn’t explain.

“Alright, then!” she yelled, every inch the cool, commanding authority figure. “Bravo, you continue along this track, following the footprints! Charlie, you cover them from the rooftops, guns at the ready. Alfa, you’re with me! Let’s go!”

They jogged out in three separate directions, silent and fatal and disappearing into their surroundings immediately. Leon’s stolen car was somewhere in this city. If they found it, they would most likely find his store of supplies, and whatever accomplice he had in this working the technical angle for him. At the very least, it would be another clue, another large, glaring arrow sign, pointing them towards their target.

“Leon,” Kate hissed under her breath as she ran. “I will find you. And when I do-“

A small knife was gripped at her side, metal glinting in the moonlight for a brief moment before she slid it back into its sheath.

~~~

An attack? What was an attack doing here? Null had said the clearing was safe!

Konki gritted her teeth as she ran through the woods, angry. Of course, leave it to Null, this is what happens. The Agent woman, thinking she could come in and order them around, twist them to her own ends. Nullifying powers? Hah, she was trying to nullify all of them as a threat!

Even as she thought it, she knew there was no stable reason to believe that. But she was angry, and she didn’t want to bother with rationality when she was angry. Just stay angry, get angrier, and you’ll run faster! Faster than-

“Angh!”

The anguished cry came from Akaru, who suddenly stumbled and fell off of Shan’s shoulder. Shan turned, confused, to look back for a moment, and tripped over a root, knocking Konki over as well.

Akaru stumbled up, then gasped with pain and sank back down, the large metal shaft in his arm gleaming in the moonlight, dark red pooling on the gray monkey fur. “Wha…”

“Stay still,” Konki whispered, crawling over to him. Darts had hit Aden and Elora, and Null was a little wobbly from the one that had hit her for a few seconds before Shan had plucked it out. Shan’s clothes were littered with the darts that had tried to pierce his skin and failed. But this… This wasn’t a tranquilizer of any kind. This was just a sharp, metal rod, like an advanced arrow, meant to maim, to hurt-

Akaru let out a shriek of simian pain as the clear cord attached to the shaft suddenly yanked backwards, dragging him along with it.

“Akaru!” Tori yelled, dropping Elora and Aden to the ground and turning to dart after him.

Null staggered up from leaning on Tori’s staff for support, face twisting. “Tori, don’t-“

It all happened quickly. Tori reached forward, grabbing the cord, planting her feet in the ground with a mixed look of determination and concern for Akaru. Her hands came up to snap the cord in half, forgetting that she had left her power-enhancing staff with Null. She pulled, her guard down for only a few seconds, the closest thing separating Akaru and the rest of the group from the hunters hidden within the trees-

And another long, thick, headless arrow zipped through the air, piercing straight through her chest.

Time slowed down. Akaru reached forward, face twisted with pain, and began frantically biting at the cord attached to his arm. Shan started forward, a look of vague concern on his face, moving to catch Tori if she fell. Aden moved blearily, fighting the drugs, staring at the scene in noncomprehension. Konki jumped to her feet, swords unsheathing in a flash of bright metal, as she moved forward and cleanly severed the cord attached to Tori’s rod, then defiantly moved to face the trees, preparing to unleash fire the moment one of their hunters dared to show their faces.

Tori felt Shan coming closer, and knew that she could fall. It would be okay- he would catch her. But she didn’t fall. She stood, wavering on her feet, staring down at the long, dark object in her chest, unable to process thought. Wha…wh…

It hurt. It really did. And on top of that, her friends were in danger. Putting themselves in more danger, because now instead of running, they had stopped to help her. So unfair… She turned to look up into the darkness of the trees, at the dark shapes moving among the trunks, trying to figure out how she felt. Felt… about what? These people? The ones that were hunting her and hurting her friends, and making this hurt…!

A dark feeling coursed through her veins as she recognized the feeling, fists clenching with the measure of her anger. The moment she realized it, acknowledged it, it immediately began to grow, swirling up into a mass of rage that fed on itself. Her fists tightened in shaking fury, the black manacle around her left wrist glinting in the pale light, then beginning to flutter, responding to her, elongating and beginning to separate from her wrist.

Shan frowned, watching her shake, starting to crouch. “Tori? Are you okay?” When she didn’t turn, he reached forward, putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be alright. We’ll get you out of here, and-“

Tori jerked back suddenly, slashing at him with the black knife that had formed in her hand. “Rragh!” He stepped back, uncertain, and caught a glimpse of black eyes, all trace of green lost, shrouded in fury. She slashed at him again, then stopped when a second rod hit her shoulder, not going in all the way, but bringing a shriek of pain from her lips.

She snapped murderously in the direction of the trees and the people throwing the weapons, running forward with superhuman speed, screaming with rage as she hurled herself up into the trees.

“Tori!”