Bloody History(Azazel)

A series of repetitious thuds echoed throughout the long and lightly decorated hallways of the Sinclair manor. Winston, the family butler, was in the kitchen preparing lunch for everyone. Clover’s grandfather sat in the garden with Lorelei in the garden as he told her stories about the family. Meanwhile Clover was deep in the heart of the mansion in a specialized room she had put together in order to help her train. The room was lined with several weight machines, and racks of dumbbells and barbells of varying weight. Hanging from a hook in the center of the room was a large punching bag. This is where the thunderous thuds had been coming from, as Clover landed punch after punch, kick after kick on the stationary target.

Clover unloaded a fierce barrage on the punching bag to round off her training. She retrieved a small towel off a nearby rack of weights and dried herself off, before grabbing her peanut butter and chocolate flavored protein shake of the ground near the door. Clover made sure everything was put back in its place nice and neat before exiting the room and locking it behind her. The raven haired girl eventually made her way to the kitchen where Winston was still in the middle of getting lunch together. Clover plucked an apple up out of a bowl that sat on the dining room table and then leapt up onto the counter next to Winston. “I heard the door bell ring earlier. Was it the mail?” she asked before taking a bite of the apple.

Winston turned to face the young girl, immediately shooing her off of the counter before turning back around where he continued to slice up several tomatoes. “No Miss Sinclair, I have not checked the door yet. I will tend to it in a moment. Now please go wash up, lunch will be ready soon.”

Clover let out a sigh as she spun around on her heal and left the kitchen. Instead of heading upstairs to her room to take a shower, she went to check the mail. As she attempted to step out the front door, her foot collided with a small package that was addressed to her grandfather. *Hmm That’s curious. Grandad hasn’t received a package in ages.* she thought to herself as she picked the small parcel up off the ground. Now determined to find out what was in the package, Clover moved it to the top of her priority list and made her way back to the kitchen and out the back door into the garden.

A small brick path lined with rose bushes led Clover to the garden when she immediately spotted her grandfather and Lorelei, the young Atlantean girl that Clover had adopted into the family. A small smile crept on her face as she looked on at the sight of the two sharing stories with one another, and the fascination they both shared was quite cute. Clover almost felt bad for intruding, but her curiosity had been peaked and now she had to know what was in the box. “Grandfather. A package came in the mail for you.” she said as she approached the bench that her grandfather and Lorelei occupied.

“Ah Clover my dear. What exquisite timing you have. Come have a seat.” Her grandfather scooted over so that there was enough room for the three of them to sit on the bench and patted the spot next to him. “Come. Lets have a look at this package you’ve brought me.” He said as he took the package from his granddaughter as she took up a seat beside him. Gabriel, Clover’s grandfather skimmed over the shipping label that had been placed on the parcel. It had been sent from the Atlean Islands, a small cluster of islands located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. “By god. They…They actually found something.” he said as he began to undo the wrapping around the package.

“What is it? What did who find Grandfather?” Clover asked, even more curious now to find out what the contents of the package were. “Yeah, Yeah, what is it?” Lorelei shouted, now as equally curious as Clover was.

Gabriel eventually pried the package up to reveal its hidden treasure. Inside the bow was an extremely ornate and ancient looking golden necklace. The necklace was unlike anything Clover or Lorelei had seen before. “Girls, you’re looking at a very old piece of Sinclair family history. I’ve seen this necklace several times as a drawing in a few books in the family library.” Gabriel held the necklace up to the sky as it let of a beautiful glint as it caught the suns light. “This necklace most definitely belongs to one of our ancestors. It’s perfect.” he said with a smile turning to Clover.

“Where did this come from? How did something so valuable to the Sinclair family end up in someone else’s possession?” she questioned as she looked over the dazzling piece of history. Gabriel let out a small chuckle before going into an explanation of where the necklace came from. He explained to both girls that long ago the Atlean Islands were home to ancient tribes of metahumans, some of the first to be exact, and that the Sinclair’s ancestors were one of these tribes. Gabriel then explained that he had caught wind of a new museum exhibition opening up that was meant to showcase metahuman history so he contracted some archeologists to go check out the ancient islands for any artifacts they could find. “I just hope their able to uncover more.” he concluded before explaining that he had arranged for Clover to be present at the museum and to present them with the necklace.

Clover initially declined to hand over such a valuable artifact but after a long conversation with her grandfather and some words of encouragement from Lorelei, Clover reluctantly agreed to attend the unveiling. Before rushing upstairs to shower and get all dressed up for the event, Clover thought this would be a good opportunity for her to get to know her new business partner a little better. She made her way over to the telephone and retrieved a plain looking white business card with a phone number laid out beautifully in black ink. She dialed the number and once Mr. Atterrius answered the phone she gave him a rundown of the event and asked if he’d be willing to accept an invite to attend the unveiling with her. Though everything was happening on such short notice, Clover had the utmost confidence that they would make it just in time.

”Really? That’s pretty awesome!” michael said with an amount of enthusiasm not normally present within his voice. He looked into a steam coated mirror, a single spot within wiped out in it so he could see his own reflection. Shael continued to chatter on the other end about some thing they were doing with their small ring of friends, one that had grown smaller by a single number due to the selfishness of one annoying human. Not that he would let him ruin his mood when everything was slowly moving into place, he just needed to keep a positive mindset, as difficult as that was. Keeping the phone pressed against his head with one hand , mike would proceed to brush his teeth with a toothbrush that seemingly was produced from nowhere.

As much fun as it was to use someone elses , well he wasn’t as gross as to do something like that. Shael would continue to adorably talk about some new hat he bought and how Fera was a terrible cook, which was an unfortunate fact. ”yeah, I can make it Friday. I have everything cleared out, so it’s just you and me.” This seemed to bring some joy to them as they hung up, and left him to finish his normal morning routine. He had already gone through with the shower portion of things, the morning/afternoon call with his son and now he needed to finish the whole hygeine thing, which consisted of  teeth brushing, deodorant and vaguely styling his hair up. Dressing to impress was always his unsaid motto, unless he of course did not care to impress and just went with it.

Slowly the steam saturating the air would begin to fade, leaving a thin film of moisture on the walls, though it would fade soon. ”Aaaaand now breakfast. Because that’s apparently important for something I guess.” Honestly, he just enjoyed eating, so he would  just enjoy the act of consuming delicious tasting food. Leaving the bathroom dressed only in a pair of plaid boxers, he wandered into the kitchen and dug into the fridge, picking out what looked to be eggs, some bacon and pancake mix if he was right. That was when he took note of movement not too far from him, Michael slowly turning to see someone else in there. A male with dirty blonde hair, standing only a few inches taller than him and in what looked to be pajama bottoms. It only took him a few seconds to remember that he was not at his own home, but decided to make use of someone else for their extravagant penthouse. There was some other reason for using them beyond the whole penthouse thing, but then again that was neither here nor there.

As terrible as he was, Mike had to grasp for a name for a moment before saying anything. ”Finally awake? You sleep like a log ya know?” He said with a small amount of playful charm, letting the bacon sizzle audibly on the pan. The smell of pig fat and cooking grease permeated the room,almost creating a sensation of hunger within him as he continued to multi task the breakfast cooking. Well, the breakfast for lunch/brunch anyway.

”Really? Never thought I did.” He seemed to consider the statement, sipping on what looked to be a cup of coffee. Probably from one of those brewers that were timed or something along those lines.

”Well I did try poking you for a solid three minutes, but you just laid there. I thought you died there for a second.” Michael made small talk, continuing along with the brunch as everything appeared mostly done.

”So is this the part where you run off to do more of your mysterious things?”

”I thought my mysterious charm was what made me so appealing.” Mike said coyly, walking over to the mostly empty bar settled in the center of the kitchen and settling one plate on one side as his phone would begin to vibrate rather violently on the counter. ”huh, wonder who that is.” Answering he would find his answer in the very person that he had a meeting with not so long ago, though something told him that they would have something for him to do finally. Maybe there was someone that needed to be dealt with, and yet all they did was invite him to some kind of museum unveiling, though there was an undertone of danger within it. Perhaps someone would try to steal the exhibit, which meant he could show of his competence or something else, though all he did was say yes when needed to.

”Sure, I can be there.” With that he hung up, sighing softly as he was really looking forward to just enjoying a breakfast for once. ”Alright, mysterious things call suddenly and without any warning. So I actually do have to go, but we should do this again sometime.”

”Oh well, I was sorta expecting that anyway. Maybe you can...make it up to me by going to that lame business conference thing with me next month?” That was when he actually had to think about what he was getting into.

”Alright, I think I can do that.” He said, and then from there was actually getting dressed. This didn’t required any real formal clothing, so he went with a pair of khaki slacks and a pastel pink polo, dressing in what he called semi-casual. ”Eh, this looks good enough.” He said and like that he would make his leave, though an arm hooked around him to prevent said leave and that was followed by a kiss.

”Wow and a kiss goodbye.” Mike chuckled.

”Oh shut up. You totally owe me one now.”

”Yeah yeah, i’ll probably end up seeing you….Saturday or whatever.” With that he was out, taking the elevator since stairs just felt too tedious and within seconds he was out of the massive building. ”I hope this museum isn’t as boring as they normally are.” Michael muttered to himself, stepping into the car that he totally did not acquire through less than legal means. Not that he’d have to worry about anyone trying to arrest him for it.

It only took around a few minutes for him to actually find the museum, stepping out and yawning. He took the approach of waiting until Clover was there to approach her and greet the female with his usual graces.

”Here I am.” He said, running a few fingers through his hair as if to straighten it. ”And right on time too.”

After Clover had gotten off the phone with Michael she headed up stairs to clean up as she had still yet to do so after spending several hours training rigorously earlier in the day. Winston had finished preparing lunch for the whole family and called Lorelei and Gabriel in from the garden, the only person absent from the table was Clover. With a reluctant sigh, Winston grabbed the plate he had put together for Clover and headed up to her room with it, know that if he did not do so, Clover would have just elected to not eat.

Winston’s hunch was right and with a light knock on Clover’s door he opened it to find the young girl standing in her closet. Clover leapt from one side of the large walk in closet, to the other, in search of a proper outfit to wear to the exhibits opening. “Miss Sinclair, if I may. Perhaps I should put together your ensemble for tonight.” the burly butler asked as he placed the plat of food on the nearby desk.

Clover couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle as she thought about what happened the list time Winston took it upon himself to put together an outfit for her. “No offense Winston but I think I can handle it. Thank you though.” she said as she continued to peruse through her expansive wardrobe. Eventually her eyes trailed to a white and blue dress that she decided was going to be the one she wore to the museum. Clover quickly laid the dress out on her bed and headed over to the plate of food Winston had brought her. She picked up the sandwich that rested on the plate and took a large bit out of it. “You should probably go get ready to.” she said in a muffled tone as she tried to chew the bit of sandwich and speak at the same time.

Winston let out a sigh at his lady’s lack of manners, before giving her a slight bow and exiting her room to give her some privacy. He would return about an hour later to find Clover all dressed up and ready to go. The dress was a little snug, but otherwise looked very flashy. The sides were lined in a light blue fabric, and the neck area was adorned with a golden pendant with several rubies and strands of Ivory hanging from it. She had also taken it upon herself to add in a pair of all black leggings to round out the outfit, before giving her butler a pat on the back, signaling that she was ready to go.

Despite the fact that Clover was to be presenting a piece of her family’s history to the museum to add to their exhibit, only her and Winston would be attending. Gabriel voted to stay at home and watch over Lorelei. It didn’t take very long for Winston and Clover to arrive at the museum, and it certainly didn’t take Michael any time to find them and greet them. Clover gave the man a polite bow. “I’m glad you could attend on such short notice.” She said before turning her gaze to the crowd of people that had gathered for the unveiling. Many of the people attending were senior citizens who had most likely made a donation or two to the museum and were merely invited by principle. “Hopefully this affair won’t be too dull for you.  

After a few minutes of the patrons socializing amongst themselves, the event began. Everyone took their seats, with Clover, Michael, and Winston sitting in the front row. The museum’s curator stepped before the podium and began his speech about the importance of the exhibit and how important it was for mankind to better understand metahumans and their history. This eventually segued into him inviting Clover on stage to present the Sinclair necklace. Once Clover was on stage a small stand was placed next to her to display the golden necklace. She was then asked to give a small speech on the piece which was rather hard for her since she herself didn’t know much about it either. She did her best to explain it and about halfway through the explanation she reached for the glass of water that was provided for her. The birght lights shining on her, and the sudden impromptu speech had made her mouth rather dry and parched.

Several gasps filled the air as she had paused. The young girl found this rather odd, and didn’t realize what was wrong till she had pulled the glass in front of her. There refracting of the glass and the water that filled it, was a red dot. Pure instinct kicked in, and it was a good thing it did. When the sniper had seen that Clover noticed his sight refracting in the glass he quickly squeezed the trigger, hoping to not miss his opportunity to eliminate the girl and cash in on the contract. Before the bullet could get anywhere near the young girl, a bright green orb forced itself outwards from Clover’s body, successfully intercepting the bullet.

The sudden attack sent everyone into a panic. The would be assassin found himself cursing under his breath as he had missed his target. Instead of waiting around for another shot, he quickly began to pack up his rifle so he could flee the scene. Clover on the other hand, quickly rushed down the stage and over to Winston and Michael’s side. “Are you two alright?” she asked, as though she wasn’t the one who had just been shot at.

”Well, today just happened to be a free day for me.” Michael said with  a casual shrug, internally wondering if it would be as dull as expected. This was brought up by his business associate, who was either going to be bored themselves or they were aware of how boring things like this could be. ”I’m sure i’ll find a way to amuse myself.” Despite that statement, Michael was fully expecting to be bored to tears by the end of it, and considering the fact that most of the guests were old people, well that would likely not be proven wrong. If there was a choice within the matter he would have not even come, yet the key to keeping an alliance was making the other party at least have some trust within you. Without that foundation, their little team would fall apart before it even began.

It only took a few moments for the presentation to begin, preambled by a collection wrinkled men in their suits with wispy hair close to oblivion. This was a time when he kept to himself, only curtly greeting someone should they approach him. Sure, the reserved bit wasn’t something he normally did, but having to deal with types he felt uncomfortable around more than he needed to was something that was to be kept to a minimum. However soon enough things would start and this was prefaced by the museums curator speaking about the importance of the exhibit itself. Likely this did something for the institution, maybe brought in money that would keep them running or even preserved some historical thing as many would say. However, Clover would follow them and reveal the object they were supposed to be keeping in this quaint building. It looked like an expensive piece, though there was likely more historical value to it than being a shiny trinket.

As nice as golden necklaces were, not like someone would waste their time putting some necklace in a museum unless it was worn or crafted by some important figure. The explanation that Clover gave did help him understand the worth of the piece, even if his own idea of historical value was likely different than what many humans thought of it. They lived such stunted lives afterall, so they viewed time differently than those who’s years were measured longer. Granted, Michael was perhaps a patient long lived type, so he could to an extent understand such things. Still he could not help feeling impatient, tapping silently on his thigh, feeling the constant thudding pressure as the speech continued in an almost plodding nature. As the explanation went on however, he took note of something that made him worry for a brief moment.

It was a strange red dot refracted within the glass she held, something that normally didn’t really appear on water glasses. His mind needed but a second to register what was happening, however that was too slow to stop the bullet from whizzing through the air. Luckily the female was able to save herself through the use of an unknown green energy, Michael realizing that he had already stood to his feet as if to move to intercept something. talk about good luck. He thought to himself with slight relief, suddenly realizing that he himself was slightly worried. Having his ally offed by some flimsy rifle would have made things all the more annoying, especially considering he had things she would be useful for.

Despite nearly being killed, she would worry more about him and that old english butler of hers. Michael couldn’t help laughing at the irony, either at her being so kind or just his own cynicism at the fact. ”Might want to worry more about yourself Sinclair, you were the one getting shot at afterall.” Mike said with a smirk,  looking to Winston to gauge their reaction to this quickly before looking back to Clover with a single raised brow. ”Seems like someone wanted you gone, and I have half a mind to make them tell me who.” Cracking his knuckles, Michael looked to the small podium she had spoke from and measured up where one would need to make up a shot. Likely they would follow the sniping convention of where they would have to hide, likely some high up place and far away enough that they could run away without being caught. Michael sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose as the woman’s worried question reminded him of one person more than anything else.

Why am I reminded of Silus now of all times? Grinding his teeth angrily, he looked around with a mind that was rushing rapidly. ”You stay here, I have an assassin I need to hunt down.” Turning on his heels, Michael would push through a few of the more elderly people and head in the direction of where he saw the bullet flew off, aiming to pick up speed once he was out of the small, panicked crowd.

Michael had given no time to protest his decision, quickly bolting off in pursuit of the would be assassin. Winston would try to take a hold of Clover to lead her out of the museum, but the young girl was far too quick for the old butler and easily slithered out of grasp as she made her way back to the podium. The guests were still in a mass hysteria as each scrambled for the nearest exit, moving sporadically in case the shooter was still aiming down his sights. With no one looking Clover ran over to the stand that held her ancestor’s necklace and took it.

She then made her way back over to Winston who had a look of disapproval on his face. “If your grandfather were to find out about this he’d surely be upset with you.” he said referencing Clover’s act of theft. The raven haired girl gave Winston a shrug as if she didn’t know what he was talking about. The two made their way out of the side exits and into an alley where Winston had parked the car. He rushed over to the driver seat and motioned for Clover to get in. The stubborn girl however did not get in the vehicle, instead she stood their frozen in the alley way, looking down the street in the direction Michael had rushed off to. Winston could see the look of concern on Clover’s face and chose to be the voice of reason in this instant. “I’m sure Mr. Atterrius is more than capable of taking care of himself. Besides the shooter was after you, not him.”

Clover remained unmoved by Winston’s plea. Her hand clinched hard around the necklace of her ancestor. She began to think of a series of possible scenarios that could occur if she didn’t go to aid her new business partner, none of which were good. Though the outcomes were more a product of her fears more than anything, she couldn’t just leave him alone. This feeling wasn’t so much concern as it was doubt. The two still handt fully gotten each other’s trust, and Clover had to be sure that he wasn’t behind this in some way, even though his attitude earlier proved he wasn’t. “Someone tried to kill me Winston. I deserve to know why.”

“Yes I’m sure you do, but why not leave that to Mr. Atterrius?” he pleaded once more. Clover’s gaze shifted to her butler. “I’m sorry Winston, but I have to do this.” She reached into her pocket and tossed a small black object to Winston before rushing off. Hopefully she could catch up to Michael before he got to the assassin, that is to say if he could catch the assassin.

---Meanwhile---
The assassin had finished breaking down their rifle and stashing its parts into several utility pouches that were attached to their belt. As they stood to leave, they noticed a young man rush out of the museum, headed straight for their location. *This should prove interesting.* thought the assassin, as they hopped down from their perch and began running down an adjacent alleyway. The sound of their pursuers footsteps continued to grow louder and louder. It wasn’t because they were faster than the assassin, but more like the assassin wanted to find out just what kind of man would blindly chase after a hired killer so willingly. It was for this reason that the assassin had yet to try to escape fully. After making a quick turn around a corner, the assassin leapt onto the nearby fire escape, before turning around and firing off a round at their hunters feet. “That’s far enough! Would'nt want to go and die for nothing now would you?” they taunted as they ascended the fire escape, looking to lure Michael up to the rooftops. Their voice was completely masked by some sort of voice changer, making their voice have a metallic or robotic sound to it.

This assassin made themselves far easier to follow than Michael was used to when it came to contract killers. Normally those professional types would have scuttled away once they saw that they had failed in their mark, likely to try again when the time was ripe. However this was one letting him follow, only a few steps behind them as if they had an ulterior motive in mind. A part of him was morbidly curious as to the reason why, and another just wanted to break whomever was underestimating him like this.

Following them was something that he had no difficulty with, regardless of the acrobatic feat required to actually do so. This cat and mouse would continue until he caught sight of them ascending a fire escape, letting off a round from their weapon at his feet as if warning him. Arrogant bastard. Michael thought to himself, lips curling into a half frown as his eyes snapped up to the source of the shot. Either they were just a terrible shot, or they were testing him to some capacity.

”That’s funny, I mean really funny. You should really try stand up comedy.” Likely not even paying any heed to his threat they would continue to run, with Michael in pursuit. Well there was another, and much faster way to scale this little obstacle. Letting the ethereal energy pool around his back, it would rapidly form outwards in a conflagration and shape into large feathery silver wings. With a great flap they propelled him upwards, easily scaling the height of the fire escape and letting him settle at the very apex of it. A split second motion that made this whole chase sequence likely much harder than this assassin anticipated.

”Ready or not, I really don’t give a shit.” Producing a cigarette, he brought it to his lips, lighting the end with a pale silver flam dancing along his index finger. The massive feathery wings folded along his back as he stepped out onto the roof, partially looking forward to whatever fight would await him.

Sounds like this might actually be a little fun. Came the alien, yet ever so familiar thought.

The assassin had impressively scaled the fire escape with extreme ease and freakish speed, making up to the roof just as Michael had touched down. A small chuckle echoed through the assassin’s white helmet. It was up here where the roof was better lit than the dark alleyways that Michael could get a better look at the would be killer. They were in a form fitting metallic suit that had a grey and black color scheme, and the white helmet ad several markings on it, making have the makeshift appearance of a skull. “Ever the valiant hero aren’t we?” They questioned. The assassin didn’t move from their spot, instead they stood their sizing up their opponent. “You could have walked away you know?”

While the two were on the roof, Clover continued her search for Michael and the assassin. She had wasted to much debating whether or not to follow them, and now she was at a loss for where they could have ran off to. Clover continued to scan the nearby alleyways for the two men, with no clues or indicators of where they had rushed off to. Eventually as the Assassin and Michael were in the middle of their standoff, rushed footsteps began to echo of the surrounding buildings. The assassin began to take a few steps back, before partially leaning over the edge to see his target had wandered aimlessly into the alleyway just below.

The white skull-like mask spun back towards Michael’s position. “Brave girl. Most people tend to run away from their killers, not after them. Do you think she knows about the bombs I placed down there?” Whether this was a bluff or not, the ominous tone the assassin spoke with, showed they were perhaps aware that their first attempt on the girls life would fail, and that this might have been his true goal all along.

“Michael! Michael, where are you!” Clover shouted, her tone sounding more and more concerned with each word. She genuinely didn’t panic, and she was beginning to think that this was a bad idea after all. “I should have listened to Winston.” she mumbled to herself as she continued to look around the alleyway. Her gaze continued to scan her surroundings for anything that might help her. Clover’s eyes eventually locked with the fire escape that the assassin had used to scale the building. The ladder hand been kicked down. It wasn’t much to go on but she had to investigate any little clue she was given.

“Well hero, heres your chance, she gets any closer and this place goes up in flames. What’s it gonna be? Sit here and annoy me with your brooding. Or save your little business partner down there? Tick-tock, tick-tock.”

”And you shouldn’t have made shots at my business partner, but everyone seems to be making stupid mistakes today.” Michael said, letting the cigarette hover over to the corner of his mouth as he focused on the assassin that didn’t appear to be running away. He had to give them credit for having a pretty intimidating looking get up, though Michael just wasn’t the type to be intimidated by the whole skull look. Clover’s voice could be heard nearby calling out his name, looking for him as if expecting that he would have some problem with a simple assassin. Of all the idiotic things she could do right now, this has to be one of them. The mention of bombs had only made everything so much more annoying than they needed to be, but perhaps that was what this guy was planning all along.

Me and her are going to have to have a long talk about running after people trying to kill her. He rolled his eyes as the assassin said something along the lines of brooding or trying to save his whatever from being blown to smithereens. Part of him wondered how she would go about ruling and changing the world when she couldn’t even listen to basic orders. Was it some kind of misguided Messianic complex, or was she just too good for her own good? ”You know what, I think i’ll do a bit of both.” Michael said with smirk,  letting energy rapidly pool into the fingertips of his left hand, while mentally taking stock of where he had last heard Clover scream for him. Within seconds gray lightning would arc from his fingers towards the assassin, all in different directions as if hoping to catch them off guard in some way.

Within that moment he whipped around, moving blindingly fast as he peered over the edge of the building behind him to actually see Clover at the foot of the fire escape, likely trying to scale it. His concern was more about trying to get said Clover out of here before something blows up and she was reduced to a smoldering piles of giblets.  With an unfurl of the wings, he descended downwards, and landed near Clover with a sigh. ”Here I am, now we have to do a bit of running before we get blown up.” He said as quickly as possible to save both of them some time. The next part was trying to grab ahold of Clover and making a timely escape before any explosions went off, even if one did not actually go off.

While Clover continued to try and scale the fire escape, the assassin and Michael continued to have a standoff. Every passing second, the young girl climbed closer and closer to danger without even knowing it. The assassin even took note of how Michael had peered over the ledge to see where the girl was, only to confirm the assassin’s suspicions that the angelic protector would attempt to save his business partner from certain death. After just taking a quick glance over the side of the building they were on top of, Michael let loose a storm of silver lighting.

The electricity swarmed the assassin, first blinding them briefly and then a rogue bolt struck the assassin in the shoulder, sending an electrical surge through their entire body. The assassin let out a loud metallic groan, as they collapsed to one knee and tried to regain their composure.

Clover had reached the third story of the fire escape when she suddenly heard Michaels voice right beside her. His sudden appearance was enough to give her a small fright, signified but a small hop and “eep” let out by the young girl. There really was no time for Clover to protest as Michael wrapped his arm around her waist and whisked her off the fire escape. “Well look at that. You really are a guardian angel.” she said with a slight smile on her face. Despite the current predicament, Clover was feeling much more calm and more like her usual self now that she had found Michael.

The assassin, still reeling from being hit by Michael’s lightning, glanced over the edge just in time to see Michael reach Clover’s side. With a reluctant groan, the assassin pointed their left arm at the building to their side. A small but powerful grappling hook launched from the assassin’s gauntlet and pulled them off the roof of the building rigged to blow. As soon as the assassin was in the air over the alleyway, the assassin reached down to their belt and retrieved a small detonator and quickly pressed the button. A large blast would erupt from the fifth floor of the building, two floors up from where Clover and Michael had been.

Though Michael and Clover were off of the fire escape and away from the explosives, there was still a chance that the initial blast would have enough force to ground the would be angel and the assassin’s prey. Banking on that fact, the moment the assassin reached the adjacent roof top, he quickly retrieved a pair of silver pistols, that began to transform in their palms before combining into a sniper rifle. Once the unique rifle was formed the assassin immediately tracked down their targets and took aim. Whether they were on the ground or still air born, the assassin would immediately begin to open fire on the two. His aim would be slightly off after taking that earlier bolt to the shoulder, but that wouldn’t deter them nor plague them as they were skilled enough to keep the gun relatively stead as they tried to gun down Michael and Clover.

Clover had been understandably surprised by him landing closer to her, releasing a small yelp upon his appearance, The sound itself was enough to draw a small chuckle from him as he wrapped ana rm around her waist and moved to get them away from the immediate area, trying to move as quickly as he could by powerfully flapping his wings. That however did not work as he intended as te explosion would resound, a shock wave ripping through the air along with the heat kissing as the framework coated by the glowing silver feathers along his wings. This sudden surge of force was enough to disorient him, his wings tangling upon himself as he was forced to make a sudden drop towards the ground. Talk about another fucking complication. This next part was falling with an amount of grace, making sure that Clover did not suffer any damage upon impact with the concrete.

All of this took place within a second, him correcting his falling trajectory as he landed on the ground with his legs first while keeping the female from making contact with it. However his wings being less than responsive now were less important than the fact that this assassin would likely still not lose interest within their target, A professional after all would not give up until their mark was dead and gone, something that this one seemed to be.

This was proven true by a few gunshot coming at them, Michael managing to barely block them with a few thick barriers of glowing gray energy, cracks spreading outwards from each point of contact. ”Alright, we’re getting out of here before you’re filled with a few bloody holes.” With that he had mostly focused on keeping her out of the sight of bullet being shot in their direction with a frightening quickness, most of them managing to ping of his defenses, though a few punching through barriers to hit him. These proved to be the annoying anti meta types, as they punched through his skin far easier than bullets should be able to. The damage was not deep, but they were enough to draw blood, as well as just stick in.

Come on, you know what you need to do. The voice in his head mentioned, or maybe it was just him speaking to himself.

A few more shots, managing to shoot through one of his wings, making flight even more annoying. His eyes darted around as he looked for some manner of place to put Clover into while he deal with this annoying assassin. Slowly he could feel the bullets being pushed out as muscles knit themselves back together, his body rapidly recuperating. If Clover argued with him, well Michael would just have to argue right back with her. He didn’t need his business partner getting themselves killed like some big damn hero.

Ignoring the slight pain within his back from the bullets, Michael whipped around, producing the same blade from earlier and slashing a few of the bullets out of the air. Vaguely hoping that Clover would listen to him for once, he let his wings fold against his back, and darted forward in a burst of speed.. Following the trajectory of the bullets themselves was not too difficult, despite how painful the process was. Following that, he leapt towards the building, slamming into the side as his fingers sunk into the brick itself, keeping himself suspended there for a few seconds before rapidly pulling himself up with a sudden pull that propelled him to a windowsill only a few feet above him. This was followed by another move that allowed him to the rooftop, standing on the edge with weapon still in hand and prepped to strike this assassin down.

Once they were in his sights, he would make the move to strike at their mid section.

The abrupt explosion was enough to make Clover cling tightly on to Michael as the shockwave from the blast sent them downward. Michael did his best to land gracefully as to not allow any harm to come to Clover. This wasn’t the end of it however, as he quickly began to run with her down the alleyway as they did their best to avoid the falling debris from the now burning building. As if falling bricks and shards of glass weren’t enough, the assassin had now opened fire on the duo. “This guy just doesn’t let up! Then again I suppose he wouldn’t.” she somewhat murmured to herself.

Eventually the shock and fear began to overtake her once more as several of the assassin’s bullets found their mark. With each grunt of pain that Michael let out as he got hit, the more and more Clover felt guilty and outright ashamed of herself. The assassin had unloaded a full clip into the alleyway and was now reloading which gave the two a chance to catch their breath. This is when Michael felt most comfortable with putting Clover down. This was her chance to slip out of the assassin’s sight, but she wasn’t about to leave Michael without any sort of backup, so rather than immediately running off to hide, Clover pulled her arm back, forming a bright green orb in her palm. With an angry grunt, Clover threw her arm forward with vicious intent.

Just as the assassin had finished reloading and went to reassume his shooting position, he caught a glimpse of the green orb of death hurdling his way. The orb rocketed past Michael and slammed into the top of the building, causing a large explosion. Though the assassin and seen the orb headed their way, and though they tried to get out of its way, the resulting explosion was enough to send them flying a few feet across the roof top, knocking the rifle from their possession in the process. Clover satisfied with her work, quickly began to devise a way to give Michael continued support while also staying out of the assassin’s line of sight.

The assassin landed with a hard thud on the roof top, more specifically they landed on the shoulder they had been hit in earlier. This shock from hitting the roof top was enough to get a metallic gasp out of the assassin as they rolled over on to their back and began massaging their shoulder through the silver and black suit they wore for protection. The assassin’s gaze turned skyward as now the ever so angelic protector came descending upon them like an angel of death. Thinking quickly, the assassin lifted their whole body up and back rolled away from Michaels initial attack. Now on their feet, the assassin was able to once again evade Michaels abdomen swing by jumping backwards. “Your pretty resilient for a guy who pretty much got turn to swiff cheese a moment ago. I see you’re not a fan of guns.” they said referencing the silver blade in Michaels hand.

The skull faced assassin eyed the sniper rifle laying off to the side. They could definatley do some serious damage to this man if they could get to it, but for now, the idea of combat with blades played on the assassin’s competitive nature. “Well if bullets won’t kill you, let’s see how cutting you to pieces will do!” They shouted as they reached to the back of their belt. A moment later the assassin produced a sinister looking knife that had a blade that extended up to a foot and a half. With their other hand, The assassin quickly grabbed a hold of a smoke grenade and in one fluid motion, depinned it an tossed it at Michael before rushing right behind it and taking a few surprise swings at the would be saviors chest.

His wounds had become nothing more than a faint itching sensation in points on his back, pieces of metal forced from flesh and clattering to the ground with vague sounds. Seconds passed as he could feel the sensation rapidly fade, showing that his body had finished it’s own regeneration. Clover had caused some damage to the building with a single attack, perhaps showing that she had a bit more power than she was willing to let on. Still, this did not feel like something that she should have been throwing herself into so haphazardly. This almost feels out of character for me. Michael thought to himself as the skull masked one would quickly recover from them being dazed and avoided the swift strike that would have bisected him cleanly.

”You thought those things could turn me to swiss cheese? You’re gonna need more than your peashooter amigo.” Michael responded with usual cocksure attitude, not letting anything beyond that show. Now he had to see how skilled this person was, and how quickly he could take them down. If they were stupid enough to mess with him, then likely they needed a little lesson on what happened then. That was when they produced an odd looking blade, likely something they were confident it would help against him. ”Let’s see you try.” He said with a smirk, internally looking forward to the clash that would come, though the thing that caught his interest was the thing flying towards him.

It looked like some manner of grenade, either a flash bang or even something else entirely. The prior would have made things even more difficult than it needed to be, but regardless he did not want to mess around with. Not even wasting a second he darted forward,  using the flat side of his blade to slap the grenade over the side of the building where it released the smokey payload likely where they did not want it. As the smoke rose along the side of the building, he managed to parry the strikes at his chest with a few flicks of the wrist that turned into parries. ”You’re going to regret getting so close to me.” He said with a wry smirk, taking advantage of this and unleashing a flurry of viscous swipes at the assassin with the intent mostly to strike at their limbs.

The assassin’s blade was skillfully parried by Michael, but just from that small interaction the assassin had managed to gauge that their opponent had enhanced strength, whether it was super or just above average had yet to truly be seen, but it was still all the assassin needed to defend themselves. As soon as the skull masked assassin was done with his torrent of swings, Michael changed the course of action and went on the offensive. Using the small hint they had gotten earlier, the assassin in turn skillfully parried the angelic protectors swings. Using Michael’s own strength against him, the assassin would slowly back step with each deflection of the silver energy blade, using Michaels own thrust and power to guide the strikes away from the assassin’s body.

The very last parry the assassin would deliver, would guide Michael to his right. The assassin would then use their own momentum and positioning to do a quick roll away from the man, all while leaving behind another grenade as they rolled away. This grenade was much different than the last, this one, when it went off would flash freeze a small three-foot radius and then chill the surrounding air. Whether Michael was caught in the blast or not, didn’t matter to the assassin. They had merely used this grenade as another distraction to give them enough time to get to their rifle.

Meanwhile, while the two brawled on the roof top, a more prominent issue arose. The building the assassin had rigged to blow was inhabited by several tenants. The cries and pleas for help from the inhabitants of the building were just barely audible over the sound of the roaring flames. It was rather obvious that the explosion had caught pretty much everyone’s attention, which in turn would have most likely meant that the fire department had already been contacted. Clover stood at the base of the burning building knowing that it would be too late for the people in the building if she just waited around for the response from the fire department. The brave or otherwise hardheaded girl decided not to wait around and rushed into the burning building to rescue the people trapped inside.

Back on the roof the assassin had successfully retrieved their rifle and swapped out their current clip with a set of ammo that would hopefully slow down their pursuer. “I don’t get it. Why waste your time and talent protecting someone. It just doesn’t make any sense.” They barked amidst reloading their rifle.

Despite the obvious difference in strength, the assassin had managed to parry away most of his blown and keep from being injured. The increasing frustration that resulted from this meant Michael would continue to swing, increasing the tempo of his attacks in an attempt to overwhelm them with speed as well as strength. Before he could make another strike though, the assassin had rolled to the side as his blade sunk downwards into the building beneath them. This is dragging on a little too long. He thought to himself ruefully, frustration beginning to grow. It started off a feeling, growing into a fire that burned within his gut almost painfully.

Without even realizing it, this fire had grown into something that was no longer being held back. He had no reason to hold back anymore or so the power within reasoned. A grenade was thrown his way, time feeling like it were slowing down as the wave of frost rushed form it at high speeds. He had little time to avoid as the frost coated his left leg, managing to go down almost to the bone. He had managed to avoid the brunt of the damage but not all of it. Mike let out a small curse, frostbite and the pain associated with it coursing through the limb. Pressure put on it by standing managed to only exaggerate the pain.

”You son of a bitch.” He growled, not even aware now of the strange marks spreading outwards along the scant amount of skin shown from his sleeves. ”Of course you won’t get it, I don’t expect dead men to understand anyway.” His energy rapidly took shape, becoming like dark purple flames that rose and roared around him darkly as if consuming the very light around it. It formed up in the shape of a dragon and charged at the assassin with the intent of consuming them whole.

With one final click the assassin had finished swapping out the ammo on their rifle. From their crouched position, White Skull took aim, lining Michael up perfectly in the crosshairs. The frost grenade had done its job in locking down the foolish hero and now all that was left was for the assassin to put a few easy shots into the man’s chest. The skull faced assassin had spent far too much time reveling in their minor success that by the time they were ready to pull the trigger, Michael had begun to flare up.

A very odd looking energy took shape around the man, seemingly snuffing out the light around him. For someone that was so good at their job, it took the assassin a few seconds to realize that their window of opportunity was rapidly shrinking. It was too late for White Skull as they squeezed off three rounds from their rifle. The energy had taken on the shape of a dragon, and with all its mythical counterparts ferocity, descended on the would-be assassin. The bullets were the first thing engulfed by the energy, and seconds later it would collide with the metal shell of a suit. While the suit itself was resistant to energy, it wasn’t resistant to the amount of force that was behind the raging dragon shaped energy.

White Skull was ejected off the roof. To the assassin things seemed to go in slow motion while they weighed the various different options they had in order to recover from this situation. While tumbling through the air, the shiny metal thug reached for their belt and grabbed a hold of a grappling gun. With a quick squeeze of the trigger a hook rocket out of the grapple guns barrel and embedded itself deep into the side of the building. The wire pulled taut as the assassin’s momentum came to an abrupt halt. With a loud thud the assassin crashed into the side of the building, causing a human sized crater in wall from the impact. “I’m gonna kill him….I’m going to fucking kill him” White Skull mumbled, the frustration clearly audible in their voice as they began to scale the rope back up to the roof. The impact had caused the left eye lens of the skull esque helmet to short, leaving the assassin with only one eye to see with.


While the small skirmish raged on across the way, Clover was ushering out the last few tenants from the burning building. As she walked out the front door a loud noise caught hers and everyone else’s attention. A dragon made of a purple energy shot across the sky. The small silhouette of a person could be seen tumbling through the air before coming to a stop midair. Clover immediately recognized who the being was and rushed over to the side of the building that White Skull had crashed into.

Seeing the assassin hanging by a thread was more than enough to invite Clover to take a few revenge shots at the metal thug as payback for nearly killing her twice. The raven haired girl fired off a small volley of three energy blasts, the first two narrowly missing the skullfaced assassin and blowing chunks of the building’s wall off. The last blast landed on the mark but merely glanced off the armor, leaving the assassin even more disgruntled and completely unscathed.

White Skull stopped partially through their ascent to the roof to address the girl that thought it wise to pester her would-be killer. “Wait your damn turn. I’ve got to kill your friend first, then we can talk.”
White Skull then noticed the group of people Clover had rescued and saw an opportunity to get Clover of their back. Using the wall to their advantage, White skull used their body to pin their rifle to the wall, before reaching down to their belt to retrieve another grenade. The small sphere of death was lobbed through the air with near perfect accuracy. If Clover didn’t act the group of people would be painting the sidewalk red very soon.

Satisfied with the distraction the skullfaced hired gun made their way back to the roof.