♦ ♦ 29TH CONTRACT - Video/Action/Text

[mortemscintilla]

[ It happens as it's just getting light, at six in the morning. At the City's mountaintops, the vista is bleak, almost apocalyptic. On a flat stretch of rock, the harsh treeless beauty of the landscape opens out on both sides, making Hei feel small, less than himself, yet at the same time pleasantly calm. His form, outlined in a blue glow, is preternaturally still. His eyes are fixed on the meteor shard he holds up, between a thumb and forefinger. ]

[ It takes a moment before he channels his ability and focuses on periscoping it skywards. But when it happens, the scent of ozone floods the air like a thunderstorm. The abrupt blue light glaring off him is intense; it's hard to see anything beyond it, and when you blink, pink and orange spots blind you. ]

[ In a perfect funneling arch, the light shoots straight for the City's barrier. ]

Options For Run-Ins:

1) Mountain-top (After): [ Have you spotted the source of the disturbance? Then arrest him. We suggest wearing shockproof gear and sunglasses. Rubber boots are also a plus. ]

2) Hiking (Before): [ He's plotted out a careful route. He's marked a spot with a perfect trajectory to target the Barrier. Now all that matters is reaching there. In his thick clothes and heavy gear, he seems like an explorer. But if you see him -- and recognize 'Li' -- you might be surprised at how spry he is with a coil of rope on the towering rocks. ]
 
[ ooc: Barrier Plot post! Characters who can withstand the horribu blinding light -- and climb the mountain he's sitting on -- are free to run into Hei. Tags can be Before or After the energy-blast itself, but please title them as such! Backtag friendly as always.<3 (...c-curse my slow ;;). ]

Comments

BEFORE BLAST! ACTION!

[fastest_dude_ever]

[Most people don't know this - maybe he doesn't even know this - but Wally (The Flash) is a smart guy. Not a smart ass, not a smart mouth, but an actual, honest-to-goodness smart guy. Scientist and all. And although he may have settled into the City, he certainly hasn't been complacent. In between working, living, and socializing, he's been studying the barrier.

It's similar to Gorilla City technology, he thinks, and he has written that in his notes. All his study thus far, however, has been done from sea level. Not the best method - in order to stay on top of the water rather than in it, he has to keep moving. So, today, he's hiking up a mountain, chewing on protein bar number twenty out of thirty-five.

He's careful not to use too much superspeed on this trek - just enough to get him up the especially steep parts and such. The ground is uneven, as mountains are wont to be, and tripping down a couple stories is not his idea of a good time. Going uphill drains a lot of energy as well and the last thing he wants is to be stranded at the peak without any fuel.

The cool air hardly bothers him because...cartoons don't ever really seem to feel cold until convenient, but don't tell him that.

Oh look! There's a weird kid.]

Weird kid?

Action<3 1/2

[mortemscintilla]

[ Like Wally, Hei's first operative measure, upon arrival, was to scout the terrain. The City reminds him, in varying degrees of disquiet and irony, of the Gate in his homeworld. A strata in which the law of physics are void; where paranormal phenomenon trumps scientific truths. Except Hei doesn't believe anything is inexplicable. The answers are there. You just have to find them. By now, he's gathered enough data, old and new, about both the Barrier and Clock. Yet a majority remains theoretical. You can't tell what's in a box until you snap it open. ]

[ So, with the Meteor shard, that's what he plans to do. ]

[ Surrounded by early-morning mist, Hei walks carefully up a damp wooded slope. The saturated leaves and earth feel spongy beneath him; his breath fogs in the chilly air. This particular anime creeper disfavors the cold intensely; he's bundled up in hiking gear; boots, jeans, a heavy sweater, a jacket with several pockets. The area isn't unfamiliar to him. He's been trained never to take risks in a new place. You don't know how to slip in and out undetected, you don't know what tools you'll require to access your target, you don't know where you'll attract attention and where you'll be able to melt into the background. To compensate, he's studied the mountains from afar, then spent time in several trips here the last few weeks to grow familiar with the environment, making his move only when he's learnt as much as possible. ]

[ The meticulous tactics have kept him alive, and two steps ahead of his enemies, back home, during a decade of doing what he's always been best at. But this time the preparation is reflex, not necessity. This isn't an elaborate assassination. It's an experiment. ]

[ And like most experiments, Hei understands it'll be unpredictable. ]

Action

[mortemscintilla]

[ Case in point: Flash. ]

[ Hei doesn't stop to wonder why he's here. With the City's hermetic nature, restless explorers are everywhere. There's no such thing as perfect solitude, or perfect privacy. He considers feigning a clumsy stumble at the sound of the Weird Kid. Decides against it. No klutz can make it up so high. Best to tone down 'Li's gawkiness. Go for the neutral approach. ]

Ah! [ His eyes widen; he turns with perfect pretend-surprise. ] Mr. Flash! What're you doing here?

Action

[fastest_dude_ever]

[Li's - Hei's - whatever - his surprise may be feigned, but Wally's is real. It's short-lived, though. The kid may be weird, but he doesn't know anything about him or the life he previously had. Maybe he was a sherpa guide or something, or a star athlete.

He hopes so, for this kid's sake.]

I could ask you the same thing! I'm just enjoying the view, myself.

[He gestures to the sky, rather than the City and its environs laid out beneath them.]

Action

[mortemscintilla]

[ Let's go with sherpa-guide. He has the right look for it, doesn't he? ]

[ 'Li' follows Flash's gesture to the sky. It's almost dawn, but the stars still twinkle wanly. For a moment a smile twitches on his lips. It isn't completely fake. (He has nothing against the stars. There are no real ones in his homeworld. But that's a long story involving crashing meteors, superpowered sociopaths, child soldiers and bottomless angst. We'll spare you the details.) ]

[ Glancing back at Flash, he agrees, ] It is a good place for a view. That's why I decided to hike here.

[ In his mind, the gears are whirring. Part of him calculates how best to get rid of Flash. He doesn't need an audience when he conducts his experiment. But the other part -- the cold-blooded opportunist --says: Don't be so hasty. It's a long climb to the top. With his superspeed, Flash could be useful. More than that, if the experiment goes pear-shaped, an 'accomplice' isn't objectionable. It'll deflect the blame -- or at least diffuse it. More to the point, it'll warn Anonymous that it isn't just one psychotic killer who's distrustful of them. ]

[ 'Li's expression is boyishly curious as he asks, ] Have you been to the top of the mountain? I don't know anyone who has.

Action

[fastest_dude_ever]

[He half-grins. It's not the stars he's looking to get a view of. Does he share that information with Li? As far as he knows, there are no rules against just looking at the barrier, but he has a feeling that experimentation and curiosity in regards to getting out might be frowned upon. This isn't his first rodeo in a strange world with an autocratic government.]

I haven't yet. I'm trying to right now. Figure it'll take me about an hour or so at this rate.

Action

[mortemscintilla]

[ No, there are no rules against looking. But the ambitious don't stop there. ]

[ Li likes to play a clueless twit, but he has an insight that can cut like a scalpel. Flash isn't here for simple sightseeing. It's more than likely he plans to observe the Barrier, too. Anyone else would view this as an impediment to their experiment. But Hei has spent his childhood in a warzone. Volatile elements are nothing new. Amber had taught him that there was one secret to navigating smoothly past unexpected currents. The secret to a lot of things, now that he thought about it. Go with the flow. But don't stop moving. ]

[ He dilates his eyes in pretend-shock and says, ] An hour? That's incredible. I mean -- [ with a sheepy gesture to himself, his heavy gear, the nylon sling on his shoulder. ] I'd be lucky if I could reach, even after a week.

[ Timid and humble, as if he'd need all the help he can get. ]

video; filtered

[sleepingstar]

[Pai feels the electricity in the air, recognizes the shockwave. Hei.

She grabs her device to send him a message. She doesn't pray that it's not him -- that would be pointless -- but she wants to verify before she seeks him out.]

Brother, where are you?

video; filtered

[mortemscintilla]

[ It's a long moment before Hei answers. His face, onscreen, seems apparently unsurprised at her suddenly contacting him on his solitary hike on the frozen mountain. There's a bit of a moon, but also a band of sunshine in the horizon. In the sky above, strange northen lights shimmer, illuminating the uneven terrain with a psychedelic romance. In the light his expression is as uncommunicative as his gaze. There were several reasons he hadn't wanted to share his experiment with Pai. Endangering her safety was first among them. ]

[ Exhaling, he dials the impassivity back a notch. He knows she'll be angry. ]

I'm at the mountain range. [ ... ] You should head to my safehouse Underground for a while.

video; filtered

[sleepingstar]

What did you do?

[She's not going anywhere until she gets an answer.]

video; filtered

[mortemscintilla]

[ He knows it's a waste of time to play word-games, or clash wills with her. Pai's as stubborn as he is -- if not more. Best to keep it honest. ]

I conducted an experiment. [ One that was too risky to involve her. Here, more than ever, he'd prefer to keep her away from dubious barriers and meteor shards. ] The results were ... unpredictable.

[ But his tone makes it clear he's not altogether disappointed. ]

video; filtered

[sleepingstar]

[She nods.] Meet me at the safehouse. [He can tell her all about it there.]

video; filtered 1/2

[mortemscintilla]

All right.

[ Nothing else to say. He terminates the connection. ]

action;

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei's safehouse sits among a row of Quonset huts in the Underground, at a concrete apron with streetlights lying sleepily alongside two rickety tracks of rail. Even at this hour, the area is dark; the lights are lit. Each pale yellow globe hosts its own ecosystem of flying insects fighting furiously around the bulb. Just watching the little bastards buzz around makes him itch. A fat gecko, silhouetted against the glass globe at the top of one of the lampposts, barks and indulges in greedy feasting. ]

[ The safehouse itself is unremarkable; virtually identical to the huts on either side. The door into the front passage faces the street, but is half-hidden inside a dark guard-box of a porch, affording shelter from the scrutiny of the neighbours. There are no lodgers upstairs, as Hei has leased both floors and decided, for discretion's sake, to leave the upper rooms empty. Slipping his keycard into the automated slot, he walks indoors. The room is crowded with old, mismatched furniture and a generator dripping black, pungent oil onto a linoleum floor. Ar flickering fluorescent tube high on the wall bathes everything a sickly green. ]

[ With a tired breath, Hei sheds his jacket on a lumpy couch. He knows the safehouse isn't empty; the security system advertises a second inhabitant. Quietly, he calls, ] Pai?

audio; after

[candothat]

[Chekov's morning run is interrupted by what is most definitely not a normal thunderstorm. Hei--he's the only person he knows who uses electricity like that (barring Thor).

The colorful waves of light ripple through the City as he heads home in a flat run. By the time he makes it to his cottage and finds his network device, the ground is trembling and the temperature outside is rising rapidly.]

Hei? Have you done something?

audio; after

[mortemscintilla]

[ It's almost like being back home. The second shit hits the fan, all eyes -- and fingers -- are aimed at him. Not that it's unjustified. The sun is already up and blazing. Shadows shrink across the mountain, at first gray, then purple and blue, then pink; the sky seems to boil at the edges as the bands of light shimmer. Hei doesn't notice. He's settled on an abutment, cross-legged, clearing his mind and preparing himself. For an attack, an arrest, something in between. He's under no illusions that Anonymous doesn't keep as careful a track of things as the Deities. Hell, the City's a prison; it doesn't matter where you run. Eluding capture is a waste of time. ]

[ It doesn't matter. Since arriving, his primary intention was to understand the nature of the Barrier. He was prepared for collateral damage along the way. Selfish and self-serving, true. But how can you jeopardize the security of an already-insecure environment? ]

[ When Pavel contacts him, his reply is delayed and terse. ] I did. [ Then, straight to business. ] I need a favor.

audio; after

[candothat]

[Chekov isn't interested in light shows. Whatever Hei did obviously didn't sit well with the City; he'd like to know what kind of damage has been caused, what will come of this. There's no use asking the culprit for more details. He doesn't sound as if he's in the mood for questions.]

What favor?

[For anyone else, the answer would have been of course. He isn't dumb enough to agree to anything Hei wants to have done without knowing what it is.]

audio; after

[mortemscintilla]

[ If Hei were anyone else, he'd smile at the What favor? ]

[ Pavel's growing up. He isn't quite so naive or eager to please. In most ways, the arrival of his crew has offered him a ready-made excuse to distance himself from Hei. In other ways, he's acclimated to the City's instability -- and, more than likely, a healthy dose of trauma back home. But right now, Hei has little interest in applauding Baby's first steps. His focus isn't on the Barrier -- but something else. ]

Pai. [ Layers of subtext in the one name. His tone is flat when he says, ] In the event that I'm taken in, I want you to keep an eye on her. [ A beat, before he clarifies, ] Don't be a watchdog. Drop by from time to time. Check in on her. Make sure she's not isolated. [ The sum of Pai's experiences may exceed those of any teenage girl. But in many ways, she's still just a child. Hei knows she'll be furious with him, but he'd prefer not to let her stew in solitude. He knows from experience how dangerous that is. ]

audio; after

[candothat]

[At least someone has noticed that Pavel's making progress (if not in the right direction). No one else seems to see it.]

I will do that. [Or try to. If Pai doesn't want him checking in on her, there's not much he'd be able to do.] Are you turning yourself in to the authorities?

audio; after

[mortemscintilla]

[ The direction is fitting, in Hei's opinion. Security has kept Pavel soft inside; a benign environment has protected them against burrowing maggots of cynicism. But innocence doesn't last forever. From a pragmatic standpoint, it shouldn't. ]

I appreciate it. [ He doesn't say it like something loaded in emotion or gratitude. He says it like a fact -- not a cold transaction but with the clarity that comes from balancing assets vs. liabilities. There's a beat to glance at the sky. The spectrum is descending into the warmer scale, more reds than greens. It looks like the sky is on fire. ]

[ Eventually, ] Running is a waste of time. [ Re: Yes, I am. More thoughtfully, he adds, ] This may give me an opportunity to see how Anonymous treats its prisoners. And handles a crisis. [ To determine if they're as heavy-handed as the Deities, or more forgiving of rash experiments. ]

BEFORE ; very late but still here if you'd like to tag <3

[olduvai]

[ he's really just passing by. it's become a habit now, walking around the city, or the edges of it, when he can't sleep - and he often can't - or when he wakes up in some godforsaken hour of the morning and needs to tire himself out before he hits the bed again for a couple of hours.

seeing someone else awake isn't new. he's had a couple of encounters already, made some acquaintances that way. in changes in the meeting itself, and how they interact during it.

this is definitely new. ]

Bit too early for a hike, isn't it?

BEFORE ; alwaaaays ; - ; <33

[mortemscintilla]

[ Sleep has never been much of a priority on Hei's list. Last to bed, first to rise -- it wasn't a habit, but a necessity. At least, back home. The City's environment affords a certain level of lenience. But it isn't one Hei knows what to do with. He's not built for stagnation. This place feels too much like a belljar; one in which you have to punch cracks to escape. There's a suffocation to his days here, a suffocation his intense focus on protecting Pai alleviates, but can't dispel. ]

[ In the single-digit hours when the City is at its quietest, he enjoys the sharp wind of the mountainside, face upturned to the stars. Beneath the open sky, the storm in his mind calms. Wide spaces. Rough terrain. Mountain-climbing is a task for an existentialist. No preoccupations. Only instant-by-instant choices. Nothing before and nothing after. (It's almost like conducting reconnaissance in Heaven's War.) ]

[ Not that Hei's hiking tonight for recon, or physical therapy. He's planning to conduct an experiment. The gravelly surface of the mountain alerts him to a newcomer's footsteps. He glances up from rigging an anchor against the rockside. Blinks a moment in pretend-surprise, before letting 'Li's good-natured smile slip in place. ]

I guess it is. But I like to watch the stars from up here.

[ Not quite a lie. A telescope case protrudes from his backpack. (Something to study the Barrier with.) ]

[olduvai]

[ he's never been a stargazer. he's never liked space as a whole, and all that it entails. too many memories that he doesn't want to associate himself with anymore, despite the brunt of it buried deep in his own bones, under his skin and flowing in his veins as though it always belonged there. the kind of guilt and sadness that he won't be able to shake no matter how many times he tells himself to.

although he can understand the fascination - they are beautiful to look at, he can't deny that - he can't say he'll ever join in if asked. he'd rather not. ]

At this hour?

[ six o'clock in the morning seems both a little too early and a little too late for the stars to come out. ]

Anything special to look at?

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei is no stranger to guilt or sadness. But his mind has stripped most emotions down to the barest rudiments, until he's stopped recognizing them as such. He recognizes only that he's spilled innocent blood, done gruesome things he can never take back. It's pointless to dwell on the past; pointless to physically or emotionally scourge himself over it. People like to say the West is a guilt-based culture, while that of the East is based on shame, with the chief distinction being that the former is an internalized emotion while the latter depends on the presence of a group. But as an unfortunate Tiresias of these two worlds, Hei knows that the distinction is less important than people believe. Guilt is what happens when there isn't a group to shame you. Regret, grief, self-loathing -- if the group doesn't care, human beings simply invent a God who does. ]

[ Hei has long stopped believing in the influence of groups or gods. There's one only thing he does believe in. That is balance; in finding ways to help those he can, while never forgetting the ones he couldn't. ]

[ Of course, it's not for them that he's conducting this experiment. It's for Pai -- for keeping her safe in an environment he knows frustratingly little about. The stranger's arrival is irritating. But not an impediment. Behind 'Li's easygoing masks, calculations whirr and possibilities are weighed. He could knock him out. Erase his short-term memory with a zap. Or ... ]

[ Or I could wait until he leaves. ]

[ With a cheery smile, Li points out a zigzag of constellations in the sky. Against the fading panoply of stars, they glow brightly. ]

The City doesn't have one Morning Star. It has a constellation of them. This is the perfect time to observe them. [ His gaze drops from the sky, back to the stranger. Curious, he asks, ] What about you? Are you hiking? Or looking for something special too?

[ It's a polite question. But in truth it's an interrogator's habit of reflecting back the last thing the other party has said, encouraging the speaker to share more. ]

[olduvai]

[ it wouldn't been fascinating and intriguing, if hei had decided to try and knock john down and he didn't so much as close his eyes at the strike. the pain would hurt, but his regeneration would soothe him twice as quick. one of the few things he's learned about his abilities is that he can longer be surprised by anyone, or anything.

that in itself is a blessing, though the rest of it's a curse.

always is, perhaps, when you have something in your that you never wanted in the first place, but chose to bear it anyway. ]

Hiking was the plan.

[ no, the plan was to find a way to tire himself out so he can pass out in his sleep, but that's not something you tell a stranger. john would ]

Wasn't planning on bothering you on your hobbies.