Big in Japan

The kid had a name. It was Nori, and Nori could not help but feel smug at that moment. Fortune was in his favor as his victory was clearly imminent. He would simply step through the hole he created in the wall and finish what he started. He placed his hands on his hips and through his head back in an exaggerated laugh. Nori always had a flare for the dramatic. “All right, American. Just try not to take too long dying here, huh? After a blast that awesome, someone is sure to show up, and that would be pretty inconvienient.” The bizarre purple electricity crackled around his arms as he took steps toward the hole in the wall. There was noise coming from behind him. He turned around to face the commotion only to be met with frozen death beams. He was able to react just quickly enough to raise a field of electricity to repel the ice away. The source of the assault was a woman he had never seen in his entire life. The sudden attack came as a complete surprise to the cocky youth. Before he could question the girl or launch any attack of his own, she was already on her way out of the building. He turned to leap after her and found himself stuck with his shoes frozen to the ground. It seemed that fortune was not in his favor afterall. Frustration boiled up in the boy. It just was not fair. “Hey! No kill stealing! I had him! I HAD HIM!” Nori shouted after Bliss with the tone of an aggravated child. “This is bullshit.” He pouted.


Clayton coughed again. He was almost certain he coughed up smoke like some kind of slapstick cartoon character with that one. He felt almost completely disoriented from the combination of the shock and the fall. If the kid was going to kill him, he certainly had his chance. The air was suddenly colder than before, if only slightly. Clayton stayed on his back, but lifted himself up on his elbows to face his assassin. The assassin he faced was not the gay vampire he was expecting. She was slightly more feminine than the other, and much better looking. Somehow he always knew it would be a woman that put him down for good. At least it was a pretty one. What was she doing with her hands? His waist felt like it was covered in ice cubes and he felt himself being raised into the air. The woman was speaking to him, but he could not entirely make out what was being said over the ringing in his ears. He could tell she spoke English atleast. “Answers? Yeah, look, if you guys want me dead so bad, could you at least do me the favor of telling me exactly what it is I’m being killed over?” With only his waist in suspension, Clayton felt that if he could get her talking, it might give him a chance to reach for the pistol he kept in a shoulder holster under his jacket.

Out of nowhere, came Sachin. Clayton did not like the idea of someone he did not know being put in harm’s way over his problems. The distraction the awkward artist could provide was more than welcome, though. “God damn it, what does it look like, kid?”

"Shut up already. You're not important enough for people to want dead." Bliss waited for the assailant behind the wall to make his way through the thick sheet of ice, with any hope he would lunge head first thinking he could break it. "That stuff is pretty thick; I doubt he'll get through." Without fail the conversation turned from her to a new English speaking interloper. "Who are you, and who is he? Why would I seal off the wall for him to get to you if I wanted you dead; wouldn't I just...oh forget it." Bliss pushed a loose strand out of her face and turned to the kid. Nothing special. "Do you want help, or do you want me to leave you with this guy?" She gestured over to whatever back up he planned on bringing with him.

Bliss began to move the ice around Clayton's waist that would carry him up the wall to the roof. Spinning off of the large ice quantity of the wall came a spiral staircase. Fearing the lack of friction but knowing her power, Bliss took her shoes off. Bliss began to work her way up of the staircase with fluid motion as her feet conformed to the ice. She felt that this adventure would give her more than a few times to try her hand at her newly acquired ice powers. "Come on kid; that fucksucker in there won't be happy when he comes out and sees some Indian kid standing where this honky should be."

Sachin looked at the ice staircase formed by the woman, and he just sighed. "That...will be a massive bitch." he said simply, but he obeyed. Sachin was a naturally cowardly person, and plus this girl seemed like she would not take no for an answer. Plus, she was making sense right now. Though he would probably heal from anything that happened to him, Sachin did not want to be hurt by whoever had beaten up the American man.

So he started walking on the ice staircase...and slipped. He then started to just climb slowly up the staircase. "This sucks like the aforementioned massive bitch." he complained. Only Sachin would use 'aforementioned' in regular conversation. Somewhere, someone was disappoint. It was probably Clayton.

“Just because you’re not, it doesn’t mean I’m not.” Clayton was already annoyed by the ice princess. “I thought you might have been taking out the competition because I have a… you know what? You’re right. Let’s just forget it.” He did not want to give her any ideas. “I’m just an American in trouble, and this is my sidekick.” Clatyton motioned to Sachin. “I don’t really care what his name is.” He shrugged. “I would like to know yours, though.”

Clayton slouched as the ice harness around his waist steadily carried him up the building towards the roof. It was like taking an elevator, only cold and somehow slightly embarrassing. He wondered why they were going to the roof instead of just making a break for it. The girl seemed to know what she was doing, and he was sure that he could handle the visual kei killer now that he knew what to expect from him. At least hoped he could; being killed by that guy would just be embarrassing.


Nori managed to free his legs from frozen bondage with relative ease. The thick layer of ice on the wall proved to be a more difficult task. It seemed his electric blasts were mostly ineffective against it. It was not worth the time or energy required to chip away at it when there were clearly faster ways to exit the building. Nori felt the familiar charge course through his body as he made the jump into the buildings electrical system. His first stop would be the roof. He would be able to see exactly where his prey ran off to from up there. His bosses promised freedom from his debt to them if he could kill this one American. They also promised him there would be competition. Bliss must have been what they meant. He would just have to kill her too. She deserved it.

"Um..." Bliss cocked her head looking at Clayton. She blocked out most of what he said when she realized a minor flaw in her powers. "Oh, it's Bliss." She fidgeted with her skirt trying to figure something out. "Don't get mad, that's important, but I keep forgetting that I'm new to this ice thing. So..." She dragged out that word. "I can only create the ice; not get rid of it." Sun reflected off of the spiraling staircase behind them. With the sun shining down it would only take a few hours for this stuff to melt, but that may not work for this situation. "Fuck." She muttered. "Okay new plan. I'm going to move you somewhere safe, and then me and Slumdog can take on Jolteon down there."

Ice grew bigger to encase Clayton in a house like structure. Summoning the architectural prowess of student who died in a house collapse, Bliss roughly etched out a safe room around Clayton. The ceiling stretched seven feet up and the perimeter stayed at six feet on all four sides. Frozen particles etched along the ground and began to seep into the concrete of the roof. Hair line fractures spiderwebbed through the roof and cracked the ceilings upper layer. Bliss made a door.

And then the roof collapsed. Not completely, but enough to send the house she made plummeting through the roof safely into an unused storage closet. Bliss cringed as she witnessed the square block drop. She underestimated the total weight that the massive ice block placed on the ceiling. "Sorry. I said I was new to this ice thing right?"

Sachin's face was first uncomprehending when Bliss said 'her and Slumdog' then disgusted she was comparing him to that horrible movie, then horrified when the message sunk in. "Me?" he asked, terror evident in his voice. "I can't fight! I write books and bad fanfiction with fight scenes, but I can't fight!" he said, shaking his head rapidly. "No, no, Miss Bliss, that just isn't happening!" He said. He was going to keep protesting, but the roof had collapsed and he just stared. "Oh joy, I'm so confident in all our abilities." he said. "We're all fucked, aren't we?" he said, looking quite depressed right now.

He sighed. "I bet I don't really have any choice in this. That happens to me every time, like a bad story like the ones I write. I happen to be in the area, then supernatural shit happens around me, then I end up getting involved in it, then I end up in an even more shitty state than I was before. Besides, I don't have any offensive powers, I can only heal stuff." he protested again, but half-heartedly. He was already resigned to his fate.

“Wait, you can’t get rid of this? But that means…” Clayton struggled against the ice around his waist. “God damn it! Really?!” Clayton nearly burst with frustration at the situation. “There isn’t any place safe around here. Not for me. I assure you.” It really did not matter what he had to say, as Bliss went ahead with her new plan.

She made a house. Not only was he trapped by his waist, but now Clayton was trapped in a literal ice box, and he would be there until it melted. Clayton crossed his arms like a defiant child. Then he heard the cracking beneath him. It was most definitely not a good sound. Immediately, he knew the roof was giving out beneath him. “Fuck.” The roof gave with a crash, and Clayton found himself trapped in a storage closet. He would have rather been anywhere but there at that point in time. Good looks, nice outfit, terrible plans. He and Bliss were more alike than he was willing to admit.

Nori found himself on the roof in little more than an instant. There were crackles and sparks as a web of purple electricity formed around the satellite dish on the roof, and shot the kid out onto the roof. To his surprise, the competition was already there, and she brought a friend. Her friend looked like he lacked the hard edge the Japanese girl had. He looked like he bruised easily. “So there’s two of you now?" He spit on the ground. "I don’t even care if you killed that Gaijin. I’ll just take you both out and then take all the credit. Starting with the nerd.” Nori wound back and launched a ball of purple electricity at Sachin the way a pitcher threw a baseball. With any luck, it would eliminate the newcomer and allow him to take his revenge on Bliss.

Steps rose from the ground level. Skittering of steps within the alley gave Bliss a time table of when she could expect the attack. Given the super powered premise, she expected that attack right about now. The speed of the movement allowed it to drown out Sachin's incessant bickering over tiny details. "Listen, last time I messed up I knocked a hole in a building; we'll be fine." With Bliss's attention diverted over to appeasing the babbling writer she failed to notice the attack sent towards them. The lightning shot in Sachin's direction faster than she could register. "Oh fuck!" She exclaimed in response. "Hey, Hello Kitty, why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

Ice formed up around the ground and built into a replica of Nori. Bliss waited to see the creation spring to life to aid her. It did not. "I get kidnapped by an evil doctor and rescued by a moron and can't even make ice come to life. Great." Knowing that electricity would come to her next Bliss made the logical action of running away from the fight. "Sorry dude you're on your own." Bliss conjured up a slide that ran down the opening in the roof and dropped her into the room adjacent to Clayton's room.

Her feet crashed heavily on the faux granite flooring of the office. Getting in this degree of fight on the roof with a trained assassin gave Bliss time to reexamine her altruism. She did not find that, and that kid who was right; if she tried to fight that guy straight up she would be fucked. Running through a blacked out law firm instead of facing up to responsibility definitely fit within Bliss's persona.

And so a lightning bolt hit an Indian boy. It was a romantic tale involving a lightning bolt and an Indian boy. It tragically ended when the aforementioned Indian boy's arm was hit by the acknowledged lightning bolt, frying it and dropping it off.

So Sachin screamed in agony, cause no matter how you looked at it, an arm falling off was a bitch when you were a human, and especially a human unused to violence. But the arm was rapidly regrowing, and Sachin picked up his fallen arm off the ground. "You little jackass!" Sachin yelled. "You fucking kids need to show some fucking respect!" He screamed in half-assed Japanese, and did something proving his stupidity.

He charged directly at the kid with super electric powers, his arm regrowing, and using his fallen arm as a club, preparing to whack the kid in the face with it.

Nori almost forgot about the electricity he beamed at the Indian kid as he stared at the useless ice duplicate of him Bliss created. He was unsure what she intended to do with it, but it was one good looking statue. He found himself breathtaking. The statue she erected, probably in his honor as a way of saying ‘please do not kill me’ was not enough for him. She stole his kill, and in doing so, she stole his freedom. He snapped his transfixed gaze away from his image just in time to catch the new comer rushing at him, holding his own dismembered arm as a club, and shouting in what was supposed to be Japanese. Nori did not have time for him. “I don’t have time for you.” The nerd was still a challenge, and that was something he could not turn down if he wanted to prove that he was as tough as he thought he was. He allowed Sachin to get just close enough before he raised his foot up. Sachin’s own momentum was surely enough to drive his own face into Nori’s boot. Regardless of whether it put the arm flailing geek out of commission, the bloodthirsty youth made his next move: he jumped back into the buildings electrical system. Bliss was his new target. The hallway’s dead lights all briefly shone brightly until their florescent tubes burst. It left a clear path of destruction to follow.

The storage closet and walls of ice kept Clayton cold and sealed off from the commotion. He was still suspended above the ground by his waist. It was nothing if not inconvenient and uncomfortable. His cellphone began to ring and vibrate in his pocket. He was able to fish it out of his pocket with a slight shift of his weight. “Hell-oh fuck!” The shift in his weight put just enough stress on the already damaged ice suspension to where it could no longer hold him. The ice cracked, sent Clayton falling to the ground, and shattered. He found himself on the ground for the second time that day and raised the phone to his ear again. “What do you want?” There was an ache in his tone that reflected the ache in his body.

“That is no way to talk to the man writing your check, Mr. Wray. I trust you’ve accomplished the task by now?” A man’s voice came through the phone.

“Yeah. Minor setback there, but I’ve gotta ask, why hire me for something you could pay a Highschool kid to do?”

“Ah. So you’ve met Nori.”

There was a pause in conversation as Clayton came to realize what was happening. “What is this? Did you send the girl too?”

“This is a test, Clayton. Your father has a lot of faith in you. You have three days. Try not to die.” The stranger hung up.

Clayton got answers that were more confusing than his questions. If his father was involved, he was sure the next three days would be some of the worst of his life, if he lived through them.

After the near escape for what could have left her with lasting friendships and new experiences about herself, Bliss clearly made the right decision in running away to leave the others to the fate that awaited them. Then the lights started to go on and off. Flickering on and then shattering felt odd and looked far worse. Bliss kept moving down the hall.

Knowing that the exploding lights would not grant her any good omens from the crazed killer who assaulted the American, Bliss made a decision to freeze the lights above her. Ice covered the ceiling for ten feet, granting her an umbrella from the raining electricity. Seeing the continuing pattern gave Bliss the insight to move towards the light fixtures that no longer existed in complete pieces. Her boots stomped over shards of broken glass.

As Bliss continued to make her escape through the maze a larger shard shot up through her boot and grazed the bottom of her sock. While not inflicting and grievous wounds or piercing too far reaching into her foot, it still caused her a reprieve in her fleeting escape. Pulling the shard from her boot came as priority number one to prevent her from stepping on it to send it farther into her foot. She wiggled the piece of glass out of her boot. A small dollop of blood rested on the end, but she placed her foot back to the ground and saw she still retained her composure and stature when moving. Unfortunately, she no longer retained her head start on whatever was coming for her.

Traveling through electrical systems was an incomparable experience. It sent chills into Nori’s spine every time he made the jump. The world around him became black while objects and people became violet outlines of themselves. His vision became fixed and focused from whatever angle he was at like a camera, and movement was comparable to being a train on tracks. In moments he spied the vilet outline of Bliss hurrying down the hallway. There would be no escape for her. He could see his superiors finally recognizing him for the talent he is and finally offering him freedom. He was beginning to enjoy this though, and thoughts began to wander about possible future employment in the same line, possibly even with the same people. He sped ahead of the kill stealing ice queen, allowing shards of shattered glass and florescent tubing to rain down from above and ahead of her. Bliss got smart and sealed off his means of exit further down the hall way while protecting herself from the rain of glass. It was only a minor setback. He continued all the way down the hall and took a sharp left and immediately threw himself out of a light socket. The world became itself again the second Nori landed on the ground. Violet electricity jolted up and down from the palms of his hands to his biceps as he turned the corner to destroy Bliss.

It seemed Bliss’s ice melted rather quickly. It began to pop and crack. The ceiling, walls, and even the floor were all dripping. The water was already nearly to Clayton’s ankles. It was not drowning that worried him, though. It was that if he did not leave soon, the house was likely to collapse in on itself and onto him. He threw his shoulder into the door of the ice house. It was directly against the door of the closet, and it opened outward. It refused to budge. Clayton was trapped.

Lightning crashed around the hallway. The darkness around her illuminated with the violence of the charge and shot out towards her. Bliss threw a barrier of ice to hold off the onslaught of electricity. Her flawed defense cost her the time she needed to make her correct attack. Grimacing in pain over the powerful electricity Bliss struggled to maintain her composure on the ground.

All actions looked they pointed to Nori's victory over Bliss. The powerful stature, the elemental dominance over her ice, and his competence he held within his hands all looked intimidating standing over Bliss. An opening revealed itself in his form. Bliss fired off everything she could to freeze the hands of Nori. If she could freeze his hands she could rid him of the means he sought to destroy her.

Nori had Bliss in is sights. There was no way he could miss. He never missed. He pulled back both hands to gather the charge he needed and fired.

The bitch blocked his shot.

This infuriated Nori for what was likely the millionth time that day. “Oh come on!” The spoiled brat’s muscles tensed, “Not cool! Not fucking cool!” If life were a cartoon, Nori’s face would have been read and steam would have shot out of his ears. He spoke to Bliss in Japanese. “*I wasn’t going to fry you completely, because I wanted to know where you stashed the American’s body, but now...*” His lips formed a snarl “*...I’m just going to beat it out of you before I kill you.*” Purple electricity surged through his arms again. This time he was really going to make it hurt. Before he could open his palms to release the pent up energy he felt a sudden chill. Ice formed around his fists which forced them closed. Try as he might, Nori could not release the electricity. The muscles in his arms involuntarily relaxed for a moment to allow the electric energy to return into the rest of his body. “What did you do?!” He screamed as he flailed his arms against the nearest wall in an attempt to break the ice. This was not supposed to happen. He strived to be the toughest. He had to be. There was no way he could allow himself to be defeated, especially by a girl. It was insulting despite the fact that he made a daily effort to practically pass for one. Violence was for men.

Clayton made another effort to break the ice door. His last attempt made a crack in the ice, and possibly one in his shoulder. He needed to smash the door. The water was now further up his ankles and parts of the structure were falling off and shattering on the ground around him. It was only a matter of time before the entire thing caved in.

"Oh shut up already." Instead of trying to pummel Bliss with his new ice block hands, Nori took the more expected approach and tried bashing them against the wall. "You're going to break your hand doing that." Bliss polished off the Japanese she stopped using around ten years ago. Taking advantage of the flailing imbecile Bliss conjured enough ice to freeze his feet to the ground; more ice poured from the ice to freeze Nori into a frozen fixture against the wall. "I'm sure you're the life of the party at, oh god..." Adrenaline kept Bliss at edge. "I'm trying to think of the high school from Sailor Moon. What was it's name..." Nothing came to her but the situation at hand. "Okay, I'm insulting you for looking like the guy from that show about cards. Shit, what was the name of that..." Did gaining ice powers stop her from being able to fluently insult people. "I'm not all that great at anime references, fine, you got me. I'm not the Diablo Cody of superheroes. Anyways..." Stopping to remember this guy only moments ago tried to kill her Bliss made the situation more her style by adding more ice to keep Nori under control. "Try and do your electricity thing and you'll just kill yourself; got it? I'm going to go get that faggot; shut up for a minute." Bliss took her scarf off and forced it into Nori's mouth and then sealed it in place with a strip of ice. "YuGiOh, it was YuGiOh." Bliss pivoted on her heel to yell back to Nori before turning the corner to get back to Clayton.

Running from the roof left her forgetful as to where Clayton currently resided. Calling out his name would not work for many reasons. Alas. "White guy!" Bliss screamed out down the hall. "White guy!" A sound like that of running water came from a janitorial closet. A locked door broke under the cold that shattered the locking mechanism. New trick, old results. "Okay, not that you would know this, but do you think I should freeze the house, or try to knock out a wall?" A hairline fracture broke along the side of the ice door. The thud that came along with it gave Bliss her answer. "Oh, idea." Bliss conjured up a handle that rose from the door. She leveraged her weight against the handle to direct her force so that Clayton's next shot would open the door.

Nori stood in silent fury as Bliss scrambled for an insult. He no longer cared about Clayton; she was his new enemy, and he would kill her someday no matter the cost if his masters did not kill him for his failure. The humiliation of the scarf on his tongue made the taste of his defeat twice as bitter. With his limbs frozen, he could do nothing but stand there and watch while Bliss walked away.

Clayton could faintly hear yelling coming from outside his tomb of ice. He could not entirely make out what was being shouted and assumed it was just a scared office worker. There was nothing they could to do help him. He remained silent and continued at the door. Clayton was sure he might break his shoulder he kept it up. Then something happened; the person that was yelling found their way into the room. From the colors and outline that shone through the walls, he could tell it was the woman responsible for placing show She was talking to him, that much he could tell. The ice walls made it difficult to decipher exactly what she was saying. It was all mumbled sound to him. He shouted for her to get back, but she probably could not here him. It looked as if the prison was ready to collapse. If this attempt did not break the door down, it would be enough to topple the whole thing over on him. That was a risk he would have to take. He made a rush at the wall one more time. This one sent him crashing through and onto the ground again with water rushing out and ice crashing behind him. He looked up to Bliss from his position on the ground. He should have exploded at her for ruining his day. One million insults rushed through his brain at one million miles per hour; far too fast for any of them to connect with his mouth. Clayton opened his mouth, “Um, hi.” was all he managed.