poly_chromatic | ♦ ♦ 29TH CONTRACT

Entry tags:

darker than black - hei

♦ ♦ 29TH CONTRACT - Video/Action/Text

[ 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 ;;). ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ 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.

[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.

[ 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. ]

[Flash is not the most insightful of dudes. In Central City, he never dealt with the likes of Joker or Lex Luthor - his enemies are all straight-forward, thieving types with a penchant for destruction on the side. He's creative, and certainly not dumb, but he's no detective and he's no investigative reporter. Just a guy who examines tire tread, mixes chemicals, and breaks the sound barrier on the regs. He thinks for all the world that this kid is just some mountain climber (why not?) and that they are just making small talk on an outcropping of a mountain.

Sherpa-guide or not, though, he is not about to send some kid to the top of a peak. Unlike 'Li', his first priority is protecting people, whether or not they actually need it. His examination gets pushed to the back burner.]

You're not really trying to go all the way up there, are you? Because that's dumb. The view is just fine from here.

[Stern, big brother Flash, all crossed arms and line-mouth.]

[ It'd be easy to say Hei's first priority is to himself. But it isn't. It's to his sister, Pai, who acts as his emotional center of gravity, the prism by which he defines his behavior. They're both killers. Products of an elite cadre in a global war, the best of the best, baptized by the blood of their daily kills, their childhoods shed like empty snakeskins. At the age most kids were in middle-school, they both knew entire encyclopedias of games so cutthroat that the innocent children in them forgot how to speak. But despite their ruthlessness, their fluctuating moral compass, the siblings were -- are -- incredibly devoted to each other. ]

[ It's for Pai that Hei's conducting this experiment. To understand the City, down to its deadliest components, so he can protect her better. Anything less is unacceptable. ]

[ There's a small measure of amusement when Flash assumes the Big Brother stance. If he knew who -- what -- Hei truly was, he'd change his tune fast. He may be sweet, simple-minded 'Li' here. But back home, his name holds a chilling clout. Except it's not just as a lethal weapon, but as an agent provocateur. That's what makes it so easy to let his eyes go round and shiny, his smile crumpling like a stomped paper-plane. ]

You're right. [ Glumly, ] I've just been trying so hard to make progress. I climb a little higher each week. But it gets so frustrating. No matter how much I try, it's never good enough. I can't ever reach the top.

[ Story of Li's life. ]

[So, their investigation of the barrier is motivated by the same thing - the desire to protect. Wally's been told that time inside the City moves differently than it does outside and that when/if the City deigns to let him go home, no time will have passed at all. He doesn't know that for sure. While he is perfectly confident in the League's ability to protect Central City and its citizens from harm, he knows that they will not protect people like the Trickster from his own dementia or Mrs. Hartley from falling down the stairs with her new hip. They don't know Central City like he does and more than that, they're just not fast enough to deal with the small in addition to the large.

Wally is just too good of a guy. That's why Li's little kicked puppy act works especially well on him. He sighs and uncrosses his arms.]

How much do you think you weigh with all that stuff on?

[If he's there with him, there's no way Li can come to any harm, right?]

Edited 2013-08-29 07:07 (UTC)

[ Hei knows for an irrefutable fact that time stops at home, once the City traps you. He's been sent to his homeworld once before. He'd stayed for six months, an instrumental element in the Syndicate's eventual collapse. His last few weeks were spent as a fugitive, hunted at every step by vengeful or greedy factions of his old organization. Halfway through, the City had plucked him back. Here, he'd learnt not even a weeks had passed. It was disquieting, to say the least. ]

[ When Flash relents, the grateful smile on Li's face is touching. Or would be, if it were real. (Anyone else would feel at least a small barb of guilt, for exploiting Flash's good nature. But all Hei feels is a detached curiosity. What does it feel like, to be so helpful? To see other people as individuals with consequence, instead of walking mapworks of weak-points?) ]

[ Glancing down at his heavy gear, he scrubs a gloved hand through his hair. ]

Um... It might get too much. But I could leave the backpack here. Most of the essentials [ the meteor shard; his knives; his wires; his goddamn organic granola bars ] are in my jacket.

[ You won't regret this Flash!!! (Oh. Wait. You will.) ]

[Two birds with one stone, right? Not that Flash would ever kill a bird. Not that he's ever intentionally killed anything earthly. But anyway, this is good. He intended to get to the top anyway. Maybe try his vibration again. It might help him to get a different set of eyes on it, even if the eyes are 'Li's'.]

Alright, then. I can do around 400 pounds, but it wouldn't be ideal in this thin air anyway. I'll get you down back here safely and descend at your pace.

[Or not. But he doesn't know that. Maybe that's for the best - it would've killed him to go down so slowly, anyway. He turns his back to Li and squats, patting his shoulder.]

Hop on, kid. And...uh...don't tell anyone I gave you a piggy back ride, 'kay?

[ Li mimes zipping his lips shut. ]

I promise I won't tell anyone. Even if I'm tempted with candies. Or cake.

[ (A drastic promise, this, given Li's weakness for both.) Shedding the backpack, he settles it under a jutting rock, making sure it's zipped up tight so no food-scents leak out and attract animals. Part of him is amused by the vulnerability of Flash's position. The other man doesn't realize Hei's made countless kills from this angle. A slip of a garotte around the victim's neck. An electric-surge fed by his palm against their skull. A sharp blow to damage the carotid artery and vagus nerve. If they were on the same team, Hei would be compelled to offer him defensive pointers, to circumvent potential attacks. Flash may be a superhero, but he's unsettlingly trusting. ]

[ Instead, with careful movements, 'Li' steps closer. ] All right. [ He places both hands awkwardly on Flash's shoulders. Scrabbles on like a monkey. ] This is me. Climbing on. [ A beat, before he clears his throat, ] I really do appreciate this. But [ Quieter, ] I'd, um, appreciate it more if you told no one about this, either.

[ This will be their little secret. ]

[He is a little too trusting, isn't he? And too forgiving as well, but that's him - always willing to believe in the best in people, even when faced with their worst. The one time in memory that he was seriously double-crossed by someone he really cared about, he was the first to advocate forgiveness. It's just his way. In Hei's world, he probably wouldn't last one second.]

Alley-oop!

[He stands with little difficulty. This is a little weird - somehow, carrying people bridal style is a little less awkward.

Flash stares up at the summit for a moment, considering. There's still quite a distance to go and with a dude on his back, it won't be any easier. Luckily, he's got an idea.]

Hold on tight, kiddo. Hope you don't get airsick.

[He bends over slightly, shoulders squared. His arms begin to spin, slow for half a moment before they pick up enough speed to become a blur. They begin to lift, unsteadily, but surely upward.]

[ He wouldn't. Trust and forgiveness are to his profession what wearing a red bullseye out is to target-practice. The syndicate is full of crooked-edged people, and unless you're crooked-edged yourself, they'll cut you to ribbons. In that sense, it's unnerving for Hei, to meet people who don't confirm the essential accuracy of his experiences and worldview. Flash doesn't strike him as stupid. He does, however, seem to possess a helpful streak a mile wide. In most circumstances it'd be suspicious. After all, Hei has feigned sweetness and stabbed people in the back enough times. ]

[ But here, his gut tells him Flash isn't upto anything. His mask is a token. Even if you take it off, he's essentially the same person underneath. ]

A-Airsick -- ?!

[ 'Li's eyes widen and his grip tightens reflexively as Flash begins windmilling his arms. It's like watching helicopter rotors -- attached to a human being. It's strange, but also interesting; something Hei catalogues in the analytical part of his mind. The tendons, the pressure, the high velocity speeds, questions and theories on how Flash's arms aren't being torn from their sockets. The rest of him just enjoys the odd phenomenon. Gusts of air press against his face as they ascend. A prickle of adrenaline -- like from a freefall -- spreads up his spine. ]

...Wow...

[ Pure 'Li' -- the stunned, stupid grin audible in his voice. ]

[The laws of physics and biology don't strictly apply to Wally. It's the speed force - the extradimensional source of his powers and what will one day be his Valhalla - that gives him his powers and keeps him from being charred man-meat. Convenient, eh? The side effects of moving at the speed he does are largely nullified. There is the issue of his phasing out of reality and once or twice accidentally contributing to time travel, but that's not something he would like to repeat. Not until things become desperate, that is.

The ride is anything but smooth. Doing this requires constant readjustment to remain balanced. As they climb hundreds and then thousands of feet atop the red tornado that is his arms, he remembers that he never quite learned how to stick a landing doing this. Whoops! He shouts above the wind:]

Okay, so I'm gonna lower myself and you can just go ahead and jump off.

[He hopes the kid isn't too clumsy. He had enough grace to climb a mountain, right? Once they reach a flat part at the peak, he begins lowering himself at a turbulent hover until he's roughly fifteen feet above the ground.]

[ It's fortunate that Hei's preoccupied -- at least, as preoccupied as he gets -- by the current experiment. Otherwise he'd be interested in learning more about the details of Flash's ability. (It wouldn't be pretty. Once BK201's interest is stirred in anything inexplicable, he sinks his teeth in and doesn't let go. His resolution to deconstruct the City's mysteries into basic blocks of clarity, is a perfect example of that. Monomania has its upsides and downsides.) ]

[ The higher they go, the chiller the air gets. Hei studies the mountains around him -- snowcapped peaks, connected by saddle-like ridges, spanning as far as he can see. He compares a spike-shaped point to a similar pattern he'd memorized on his map, and nods. His coordinates for the best access-point to the Barrier are there. It's a jolting ride, clothes flapping and wind roaring in his ears. But to someone who makes windsports like paragliding and gymnastics like wire acrobatics part of his professional repertoire, a fear of heights gets nixed early on. ]

[ He strains to catch what Flash is saying. ]

Oh. Oh. [ He yells to be heard against the whistling wind. ] Okay! Here goes!

[ Hei isn't clumsy in the least. But 'Li' is. Even so, the terrain is too risky to feign stumbling, just to maintain his cover. He'll end up spraining his ankle. As Flash descends over a landing-patch, Hei makes his move. He leaps past the whirring red arms, twisting, freefalling. A dodgeroll is a primary lesson taught in any extreme sport. Swooping through the air, he watches the ground enlarge abruptly, With a jolt, he hits feet-first, the impact shuddering through him, bending his knees to roll sideways, absorbing the shock along his side and shoulder. When he surges to his feet, his posture is instinctively poised as if he's just completed a grand jete, not jumped off the airborne Flash. ]

[ If it makes him suspicious -- oh well. He'll learn in a minute there's more to 'Li' than meets the eye. ]

[He blinks a couple times in...well, mild surprise. That was a pretty deft maneuver - one he would expect from Batman, Black Canary, Ollie, or maybe even himself. He's seen and fought alongside combatants enough times to see the mark of experience in leaping from above average heights.

Wally, for his part, doesn't land in a graceful Superman way. He more just stops moving his arms and flops to the ground on his stomach with an "oof" as air collapses out of his lungs. Thankfully, the snow makes the ground soft enough to where regaining his bearings isn't too tough. He stands up, rubbing his chest.]

You got some training, pal? Parkour? Martial arts?

Both.

[ His reply is, like everything else about him, hedged and oblique. Hei's been educated in all spheres -- acrobatics, Chinese martial arts, Brazilian jiu jitsu, Krav Maga and lowdown dirty street fighting. All facets are variegated and precise, but they aren't 'formal training' as such. His instructor, Reynard Maxley, didn't believe in soft soaping his recruits. There were no stages, no easing into combat on the frontline. In a global war, they couldn't afford the luxury. Instead Hei was offered a rudimentary framework of each self-defense technique, then tossed into the battlefield. It was no different from evolution. Those who weren't fit to live were quickly slaughtered. And those who were ruthless enough to survive ... ]

[ Well. That psychological damage would come later -- the isolation, the amorality, the cost of it. Back then Hei had only the foggiest idea what was being mortgaged, what he'd have to offer later as collateral. ]

[ He watches Flash land in the powdery snow with a thump. But he eschews Li's exaggerated mannerisms. No fussiness; no helping him up. A hand cupped above his eyes, he examines the skyline instead. Calculates the right spot for targeting the Barrier, then nods. This will do. He glances back at Flash, and the flatness of his gaze is eerie. His voice is different -- deeper and colder in pitch than 'Li' can afford. ]

[ This isn't the same person Flash carried up the mountaintop. ]

You've been useful. But I'd recommend stepping back now.

[ Exploiting Flash's good nature is one thing. But if the experiment goes haywire, Hei would prefer the other man not be harmed unnecessarily. ]

[The abrupt change in demeanor is enough to make Flash step back. It would take a man far denser than he not to see the difference. A chill runs through him that has nothing to do with the cold. Someone without Flash's impulse and courage (which borders on idiocy) would probably leave completely. Bad vibes here.]

What are you going to do?

[His voice is even. He's not going to question the change in 'Li', but nor will he leave without an answer. He knows, immediately and unequivocally that he's been had. The least Li - Hei - can give him is a reason why. Wally has faced down certain apocalypse (and been to Apokolips) dozens of times and it will take more than an about face fr a kid he thought he sort-of knew to make him stand down.]

Edited 2013-09-03 07:29 (UTC)

[ Five years ago, the monster forged in the frontlines of Heaven's War -- the Black Reaper -- would have no patience for questions. One touch of his palm to Flash's shoulder, and the City would be one corpse richer. But since escaping from the Syndicate, since fighting alongside a reliable team, Hei has learnt something unique. Temperance. Perhaps that quality was always latent in his nature. He just never had the freedom to exercise it. He still functions on the basis of Want Take Have, still sees everyone as a framework of skin and bones to slit and dismantle, but he's never been given a choice to view the world differently before. ]

[ Here, he does. Freed from orders, mindgames and assassinations, it's astonishing what he's learning about himself. ]

Conduct an experiment. [ Terse and matter-of-fact, his expression revealing no emotion one way or the other. A beat, before he adds, ] No one should die from it. Provided it's done right. [ Collateral damage doesn't bother him if it's for a purpose. But he also won't be responsible for harming innocents. ] I'm interested in examining the Barrier. Seeing how it interacts with the City. What lies beyond it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

♦ ♦ 29TH CONTRACT - Video/Action/Text

Action

Action

Action

Action

Action

Action

Action

Lol watching Young Justice while they're in the mtns. All hoochie in the cold, don't even care.

Hnnngh HOW DO THEY DO THAT?! Dx

CARTOON MAGIC. I should add "impervious to weather" to his abilities.

Ffffft. Considering how often they get thrown around, impervious to pain also fits in xD

Right?! Bones of fucking steel, these people. And they don't bleed either.

Or if they do bleed, it's always that artful line of blood at the mouth xD 1/2

no subject

Oh, yeah, so they are gonna be roomies for a week 8D

sporfle that can only end in lulz xDD

It'll be like the Real World!

With a dash of Big Brother xD