The body was getting stiff. Perhaps from rigour mortis, or maybe just from the blistering cold wind racing across the rooftops. It was wedged around a chimney, and the exposed skin was so white that it looked blue in the pale light filtering through the clouds.Two large punctures were visible on the neck. The head was twisted sideways in an awkward angle, and there was no movement except the rustling of the uniform in the wind, and the quiet approach of a few large blackbirds. They had been circling for a while.The sky grew darker, as the clouds gathered for a winter storm.[Upgrade to Level 8?].....[Upgrade to Level 8?].....[Assassin is unresponsive. Initiating Upgrade via executive authority.]Nothing happened to the cold dead body. The clouds gathered more, until the area was nearly as dark as night.Then the body twitched.The birds squawked and flew away, frightened by the sudden movement, but the corpse went still once again. … though the puncture marks at the
The weight on his back wasn't heavy, but it hit hard. Shinra was flattened to the alley floor before he knew what happened.'What? I thought we killed all the assassins.' He didn't know who attacked, but it was an entire guild of assassins, maybe they already found out about the massacre. Shinra wasn't at his best right now, it had been a long day of fighting and he was spent. He didn't think about that though.He pulled his knee up under his chest, then explosively tried to stand. It turned into more of a roll, as the attacker held onto his shoulders, so he twisted his torso and launched a spinning elbow strike as he fell over onto his side.Shinra wasn't an expert at fighting mages yet, but this was the first one he'd hit that felt like a brick wall… 'Shit, did I break my elbow?' he thought as he continued the roll. He doubted how effective the attack was, but the hit and the roll were enough to dislodge the person from his back,
"Dammit!" Selena said. She held the limp body of the Zombie in her arms. "Wake up Zombie! You were supposed to turn, not die!" She hit his chest gently, but there was no heartbeat. Vampires were very attuned to the sound of a beating heart. "I really messed up. What will Cardual say when he realises I killed one of our benefactors?" The zombie wasn't a bad looking guy, and he had some spunk and defiance in him, she liked that. A lot. Also, those tricks he did, they were interesting. Not powerful, but he used them so well that it made her wonder how powerful he'd be with some actual strength. "Not that I really planned to turn you, not yet. I just wanted a taste…" She was more impetuous than her companions, but trying to turn someone without permission was too much, even for her. However, an unauthorised vampire would be easier to explain than a dead diplomatic escort.
Shinra's body continued to flop around in the snow... but his mind travelled far and deep... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was something beautiful about the slab of falling marble, the light of the afternoon caught on its polished surface, as it rushed towards Ethan from the sky. Perfectly aimed, it should crush Ethan in the square root of 2 times the remaining distance of 3 meters over g. Or .78246 seconds. Almost enough time to... The bullet touched the skin of his temple, traveling at 498.63 metres per second, significantly ahead of the gun's blast. It will travel 0.5m (or 1.64 feet) in the next millisecond. If this all wasn't going on, Ethan might have just felt the pressure of a blast wave from the car bomb detonating behind him. --- The human brain is amazing. In 5 milliseconds it can clench your body in preparation for action, 100 times faster than conscious thought. You
5500kg of luxury SUV crashed towards them. Ethan wasn't thinking, there wasn't time, but his mind showed him the terminal math. Math ending in both of them dead. His mind toyed with him, in this adrenaline fueled hyper awareness he could envision what would have happened if he hadn't asked Dan to get boba tea with him... A fuzzy, staticky, blue alternate version of the present seemed to overlay the reality he was seeing. Dan was both right beside him, and also, a blurry apparition across the road watching this impending accident. Ethan could feel Dan's shoulder under his hand... a microsecond later he was touching nothing as the chrome grille approached. The darkness claimed him almost faster than the pain of the crushing impact to his chest, head, arms... -------- The universe, this one at least, started with a big bang. For nearly 14 billion years it has expanded and evolved, but one of the most amazing things to happen since, was heralded by a system alert. "What the fuck,"
The axe head missed Ethan's shoulder by a centimetre, so close it almost caught on the cotton of his shirt as it swung down. Time seemed to stop when Ethan leaned back from the blow, almost like during his karate tournament days. Unlike back then, he was certain of the assailants' follow up move... so certain he felt like he was watching a ghostly 'fore-image' of the beastly man follow up with a spin that would end in a vicious horizontal swing at neck level.Ethan was already moving, spinning into and below the strike, rising behind him and delivering a surgical kick to the back of its knee. He must have been 7 feet tall, but, on his knee, Ethan easily grabbed his hair with one hand and pressed the edge of a wicked looking blade to his neck. Ethan had pulled the blade from its sheath so fast, he thought his hand might have blurred a little. He smiled in spite of himself."Enough!", Miri shouted. Though her voice sounded harsh, those blue eyes sparkled with pleasure. "I swear you
The Director felt the change in his surroundings immediately. He was alone in his office, and then, suddenly, he wasn't. He couldn't see anyone, but he had trained to react from even subconscious information.Almost casually, he ducked his head down and then dove across his desk. He hit the ground on a shoulder, twisted, and drew his gun so he landed facing his assailant."What the hell?" he said out loud, seeing no one in the room. 'Am I just being paranoid after the Quantum readings these past weeks?' He stood up and holstered his gun, glad that none of his subordinates had seen his anxious display.The blade hit his forearm, his instinctive move stopping the sword from slicing through his neck. He was already spinning along the outside of the sword arc, towards the attacker, his blocking arm now up and leading the rotation. Taking full advantage of his momentum, he delivered a spinning elbow strike to their temple.The crunch was audible as the elbow connected with the snarling,
"Can you believe my parents want me to focus on exams right now?" Lily said, glancing up at Dan. Since Ethan's death, Dan had become even more dependable, hardly leaving her side. He'd changed in more ways than that though. She often caught him with a far off look, as if he was seeing something different than her. "Earth to Dan, are you in there?" she said with a little laugh."Sorry," Dan said, shaking his head a little. He turned towards Lily, Ethan's sister. She had always hung around them while they were growing up, and now, as a teenager, he was noticing how beautiful she is. 'Not the right time Dan,' he thought."I did hear you. I know it seems crazy, but I think they are trying to help you. You know, focus on some normal things. Besides, you're smart, but with everything that has happened, even you must be behind in your studies," Dan said, a sad smile lifting his lips. "Ethan wouldn't want you to put your li