You Should Learn to be a Little More Trusting

A series of bizarre occurrences lined up just perfectly. One of the largest Japanese pop events shared a singular tunnel linking the VIP section to the corporate headquarters for the appearance that Clement Corporations cared about cultural events such as these. A couple of greased palms and bought off officials and Clement would make their way into the Japanese market to try and excavate information about genetic alterations and super enhancement. Clement taking part in anything could get Bliss involved, and the invasion on her once home soil made for a quick decision on taking action.

A quick walk through a highly guarded series of checkpoints and then Bliss would get to the hard part. Of course first she would don a flashy pink and blue j-pop inspired skirt, roll up some blue socks, and pull down some black fish net stockings over her arms to fit in a little better with blue and pink streaks going down the middle of her pony tail. Flashing a forged VIP badge got her back into the staging area of the event that sprawled over countless blocks and invaded the skyline of one of the most populous cities on Earth. Every so often she needed to elbow her way through a sea of fangirls waiting to try and catch a glimpse of the brightly painted, barely masculine boy bands roaming the dressing rooms.

After a few close mouth smiles and a her best advances to stay out of the suspecting eyes Bliss came to the terminal she scoped out. The path of least resistance would do Bliss well seeing as after she left the concert area her outfit would definitely cause her to stick out. A central air shaft ran along the prefab terminal keeping the security cool in the summer heat. Bliss couldn't fit through the tiny chamber, but she could use it spread her influence. Her fingers caressed the vent as tiny drops of ice began to drip down. Slowly they picked up power and with time the cooling system turned frigid.

One by one the security team made their way out of the terminal. Still focusing on their jobs they made sure to keep a sentry position on the doors, while the excess members began to sweep the crowd. Fitting in by wearing standout clothing, Bliss simply faded from the ever watching eyes of the security team. The ice would not simply serve as a means for clearing out the terminal, but also as a way of opening up an entrance for Bliss to make her way into the headquarters. Ice began to drill through the concrete under Bliss's command. A few months ago she could barely control the substance, but now she could almost perform a surgery with her precision and that precision gave her all she needed. The ice delivered a fine hair line crack in the foundation for a later use.

Right now she focused on using the ice as a way of carrying her from the VIP section down the terminal and into the complex unseen. Ice continued a slowly build up as the repair crew made their way over from the large prefab dressing areas adjourning the stage. Once the door opened Bliss pulled out the last two things she needed to get through. First she moved her ice into the cracks of the door to keep it opened on the opposite side of her ice build up, and second she acted on the hairline crack to edge out a small crevice in the undersiding of the terminal structure. The hole this created would barely fit a person through it, but that was good enough for Bliss.

The problem for her now laid in getting through the hole with no one seeing. While the ice created the hairline fracture to dig out the crevice it also made its way towards the power transformer to glitch the power supply for a few seconds. The cracked supply would cause the transformer to give out in power for only a couple of seconds at a time, but it would give Bliss the time she needed to get into the ice and down the terminal. With the small size of the ice crawlspace Bliss could not bring her arms up to help her crawl through her frigid pathway. She slid herself in the dark of the small corridor on the lower side of the door while the security team focused on keeping the door illuminated with flashlights.

Ice pushed her down the corridor as it closed up the way she came. Every minute the lights would seep out, giving Bliss three seconds to get out of the corridor and away from the security team guarding the door on the complex side of the terminal. As the annoyance made itself present in the disgruntled sighs of the security, Bliss moved quickly from the small path she edged out. Bliss barely made her way around the corner when the lights flashed back on, but she stood with her back against the wall, hidden from the security.

Rubber soled shoes with a synthetic fiber kept her foot steps hidden from the careful ears of anyone in the vicinity. Patience kept her moving with caution until she rounded the corner into a central control room. Rows of databanks lined the far side of the wall with a few computer stations lining them. Bliss thought back to the information she scouted out before hand. The computer terminals sat at both sides of the banks, but only one drew a direct connection to the databanks; the other held a wireless connection serving as a liaison between the direct banks and the rest of the complex. Bliss pulled out a small pulse generator she created for the purpose of wiping the data banks.

"I should've known you'd be here sometime." A hard heel echoed on the linoleum floors bringing in the harsh sharp face of Julia. Her glasses cut her gaze like a whet stone hardening her against Bliss. "Need help with anything?"

"I think I'm doing just fine, thank you." Bliss placed her hand against the power frequency of the computer while keeping her body facing Julia. The last time they met, Bliss learned the hard way she gained some high powered abilities. What information Julia held on Bliss and her new abilities stayed hidden as Clement held any information on Bliss very tight and in paper form only to keep the cyber thief from getting them. "But your terminals could use a little something."

"Well..." Julia said as she looked in a provocative manner at Bliss. "Don't keep us waiting."

Leveraging the information the databanks held did not give Bliss the response she wanted. Destroying it would still give her a victory, but her escape would be impeded.

"Which one is it?" Julia questioned Bliss as her hand rested upon the device in her hand. It would only take a jolt to overload the systems and wipe all the information, but she needed to know which one. "I think you should try the other one."

Bliss kept her hand on the device and looked back to the reworked pulse generator. She let the pulse shoot through, but only saw the lights on the computer fade.

"Oops." Julia spoke condescendingly. "I guess you should learn to be more trusting."

It was crowded. People bumped into Archer left and right. The place was absolutely packed with Asian girls looking to get as much as a glance of their favorite boy band. The immortal did not have a clue how this was supposed to be peaceful. The company that Archer worked for had finally begun to pick up on a few of the more obvious signs of depression that he had been sending off and had wanted to do something nice for him. Apparently having a couple city blocks worth of girls screaming in your ears was relaxing to some people. Another girl almost pushed Archer to the ground as she tried to get around him to get a slightly better look, “I guess I was in your way.” His sarcastic words fell on un-listening ears as she had already pushed her way farther into the swarm.

Getting up off the concrete, Archer took a few pictures of the bands that passed. He did not talk to any of them since that was not what the paper wanted. They just wanted pictures and what they would write was a mystery to the man. Looking around at the people that surrounded him, one face stood out against all the others. Someone he had met on another adventure in another country, Bliss. He had not seen her in quite some time nor had he spoken to her in what felt a longer time still. Pushing his way through the crowd, though he was slowed by the idea that he did not like pushing girls too hard, he lost sight of her.

All he found was a wall and some security guards. They did not seem to be with the security for the event since they wore a uniform not comprised of a shirt that said ‘Security’ on it. He could not help but wonder where she had gotten off to but it was no use. Trying to rationalize losing the only person in Japan that knew him, he decided that he had only seen another Asian girl that looked a little like Bliss but with some blue streaks in her hair.

“We have him in our sights,” One security guard said into a microphone hidden on the sleeve of his coat. “Should we move in?”

“Yes,” said the silky voice of a woman, “And don’t make a scene but use lethal force. After all, he can take it.” Her voice was firm but at the same time the man knew that he could not mess anything up or he would be in a world of trouble. “Now if you will excuse me, I have somewhere I need to be,” Her words were cryptic but he did not ask any questions.

Archer had turned his back on the wall as he again took more photos of the event, almost completely ignoring everything around him from the monotony of it all. The security guard walked up behind the photographer, with a purpose but not too fast, and took his gun from his holster. Slamming the end of the his gun into the back of the other man’s head, with enough force to give a regular man a concussion if it did not simply kill him, and held him up. The security guard signaled and two other guards approached, helping carry the man into the building.

Coming too, Archer could tell that he was in a dark room. “I can’t believe I got kidnapped again,” This scenario was becoming all too popular with whoever it was that called the shots in his life. “Now I kind of hope that wasn’t Bliss I saw because I don’t think she’d ever let me live this down,” He spoke to himself to see how much of an echo the room gave off. Anything he could use to escape would be used.

“It’s not healthy to talk to yourself,” A man said from the shadows. “I’d say I was sorry I hit you so hard but it doesn’t look like there’s anything to apologize for.”

“Well, you know me. I’m just the spitting image of mental health,” Archer said into the darkness. He could not tell who the person was or what they looked like but he could tell they did not sound American. Possibly Russian. The echo of the room was enough to be possibly concrete with a lot of solid behind it and that with the steady drip of a water meant there were most likely pipes of some kind around him. Most likely a basement of some design.

“I like you,” The Russian said. “You are funny, man. It pains me that I must do this,” The last of his words were covered by the all too familiar sound of a knife being unsheathed. Archer gulped. This trip was getting less and less peaceful by the second.

It had been a while since he had been on vacation, and after getting shot and falling off of a skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois? He was well entitled to a long vacation. Or a short one. Something fun, and full of possibilities. So, he picked Tokyo, Japan. Why? Well. He hadn't been there in a couple decades. Literally. His age was, of course, the reason it was decades and not just years, or even months.

He had his phone, simple and slim, held to his ear right outside of the terminal he was going to board on before flying out to Tokyo. He was at an in-between airport in California. A cigarette, his guiltiest of all pleasures, was dangling from his lips, the cherry about to fall and ruin his new Prada shoes. He got the answering machine. Really? "Hello, Nathaniel. This is GHOST; Miss Jones is not in right now, so would you like to leave a message for her?" The oddly smooth, British accent that GHOST had made Nathaniel a bit curious. He chuckled, though, and replied to the machine. "Yes, of course. ... Andree, hello my darling. Checking in from California now. About to be on the longest part of my flight. I hope you're doing something productive. I promised to check in so here I am.. checking in.. and talking to GHOST of all people; not even Gracie or Sachin.." He had cleared his through and waited patiently. Once he was finished, he hung up and then snapped a photo of himself giving one of his more sultry stares. A chuckle passed his lips as he hit send and then stubbed his treat.

The flight was a lot shorter than he had imagined; sleep being the main reason for the quick flight. Time passes when your passed out. Straightening his tie and sliding his hands into his pockets to smooth the creases out of his pants, he stepped off of the plane and was ready to explore Tokyo. He hadn't been to any live shows in a long time, and what luck was it that there was a large concert going on this very night? It was nearing that time as he took a cab to a hotel and dressed himself for the occasion.

Nathaniel had cut his hair off, but it was growing back in quite nicely. The once shaggy black locks were now just slightly messy strands of ebony that kissed his brow and covered the edges of his ears. He looked like he belonged in one of the bands that was playing tonight. His black slacks with red pin striping, matching blazer, red button up that replaced his old one that was ruined on his reunion night with Andree, and those lovely Prada shoes; black. He was fixing his tie while walking toward the door. His cigarette case and zippo in his pocket, along with his phone. He had sent a picture to Andree, yet again, directly after his shower before he went to this concert. We won't talk about that, though.

Loud. Loud. Almost too loud. He was being screamed after by fan girls in 'kawaii' attire. He had to duck and dodge and dive away from a few of them. Maybe this outfit was NOT a good idea. He looked like a vampire, after all. Heh. Funny that should be mentioned. He glanced about and was silent while he moved through the crowd. He overheard another man, though, his accent not blending with the high pitched screams and squeals of the crowd. Nathaniel moved forward and was about to offer a silent hand to help the man up, but instead watched him help himself. Nathaniel rose a brow, it hiding beneath his hair while cerulean irises followed the oddly looking business man. He looked to miserable in this place; so why come?

Nathaniel made it a game to just follow this business man around, keeping his distance. Hell, he could have picked anyone to follow and observe in this crowd. He was, afterall, just listening to the faint muffle of music while he fell in step with this fellow, five to six feet behind of him. Nate, however, was careful, and never looked directly toward the man's face. Not when he was looking toward Nathaniel's direction, anywho. And then, it happened. The man was handled by a couple security guards and was knocked unconscious. With wide eyes, Nathaniel moved with haste and attempted to follow after the guards and the unconscious fellow. He, however, was almost caught on their heels and hid behind of a corner and used his cigarette case to peak around of the corner.

Annoyed that they had vanished from his sight behind of a closed door, he moved around the corner and glanced around the doors. One was labeled 'basement' in Japanese, the other 'Maintenance.' Either would suffice for a nice place to kidnap someone. Nathaniel opened the Maintenance room's door and slid inside. It took him to another door in which he followed to a secured room with a thin window of glass he could see through. He moved his hand to the doorknob and stopped with his eyes widening a bit more. A woman stood, talking to another girl in very J-pop clad attire. Both were decently attractive, but the one in the cuter clothes looked to be on a Black Ops intel mission of some sorts. Nathaniel stood by, waiting for a queue. He had made a gesture through the thin glass window toward the girl; he hoped she understood he was friendly, and not an enemy. He held up a peace sign.

"You should put some ice on that." Jules paced in a semi circle in front of the downed Bliss. Ice lined the wall behind Jules from the ensuing dispute. "Water can be solid..." A low pitch rang from the sole of her shoe tapping against the smooth texture of the linoleum floor. "It can be liquid..." Finally she rested in front of a melting piece Bliss fired against one of the computer terminals. "But, it can't be plasma." Eerie red glowed from her hand as Jules began to make a threatening gesture towards Bliss. "And it can't keep it out."

Before Jules could fire off her blast towards the crouching Bliss the door swung open, and in it's frame stood a well dressed man who looked perfectly suited for the pop-scene. Both parties looked surprised by his gesture of a peace sign given the violent nature of the scene, but Jules beat Bliss to the first word. "Friend of yours?"

"Of course." Bliss decided to try and bluff her way out of this situation. "You told me I should be more trusting."

As Jules pulled her arm back to throw the blast at Nate, Bliss fired a bolt of ice to knock out her legs from under her. Jules fell back and landed against the ground, but she also had friends. "Guards!"

Plasma energy flew from her hands as the flurry of footsteps made their way through the doors in front and behind them. Bliss shot up and moved towards the newcomer she recruited and made guilty by association. A wall of ice separated them from Jules and the incoming guards, while Bliss shot towards the two men behind Nate. "Move!" She ordered as ice covered her fist. Force accumulated as she spun in a circle to intensify the impact as her fist caught the first guard squarely in the chin. Her free leg caught up to kick the gun out of the second guard's hand during her spinning punch, and as she turned to face him she delivered a headbutt with a forehead protected by ice. "We gotta go."

The sound of sharp metal digging into flesh over and over echoed off the walls of the room, mixing with the dripping water to create a symphony of pain and destruction. Blood and bile escaped from Archer’s stomach and splashed on the floor and his pants. It was getting harder and harder to stay conscious. Some people might not see the point in staying awake when you have no longer have to worry about death but there were any number of things that could happen when a man, even an immortal man, was passed out. They could take him to another room to keep him disoriented, do any number of surgeries, or something even worse. Fighting off the sleep that threatened to take over him, Archer spoke, “Hey buddy, you gonna start torturing me or what?” He was trying in vain to buy himself some more time so he could get some kind of plan in place, “Right now, this barely even compares to how your mom treated me last night.”

A fist came across Archer’s face with enough force to break his jaw but the attention to his face gave his stomach the much needed time to pull itself back together. “Do you like telling jokes, little man? Why don’t you tell me another one,” The Russian said with a twisted smile. He was enjoying putting the photographer through all this pain, a sign or two of a sociopath.

Archer looked up and glared into the man’s eyes, jaw mending enough for him to say a short phrase, “What I said about your mother? What I meant to say is that she is a tender lover. You should be prou–“ Another fist found its way to his jaw again, cutting his insult short and breaking his jaw even worse than before. The Russian did not say anything else but just continued to beat Archer with his hands and feet as much and as savagely as he could, just as Archer had hoped he would. Every punch combined with Archer’s already existing weight was putting too much strain on the chair and after several punches and a couple kicks to the ribs something finally gave.

The chair broke. Freeing Archer from his bindings as he fell back and hit the ground hard. The chair splintered and pieces slid in a plethora of directions. Crawling, the photographer tried to get away. The Russian simply walked towards him and laughed the whole way, nothing too maniacal but still rather intimidating. “You have a lot of moxie for someone so small,” He said as he pulled his gun from his coat, “but it looks like I’ll need to kill you for a while to make sure I can tie you up again.”

“I’m not so sure you’ll need to do that,” Archer called out over his shoulder as he continued to crawl and grasp.

“Why is that? Are you finally giving up?” He said. His smile tinged his words with the unmistakable sound of a man that enjoyed killing a little too much, another sign or two.

“I guess you could say that,” Archer said as he rolled around, half sitting up and using one arm behind him as a prop. He clenched his fist around the object he had been searching for and with more speed than the man over him had anticipated launched himself. Archer stabbed the Russian with the splintered leg of the chair he had been bound to only moments before.

Staggering back a step or two, The Russian looked at his wound with a twisted sort of fascination before letting out a groan that rolled out from the back of his throat before screaming so loud it would make a regular man’s blood would run cold. Archer however had become used to hear more than a few screams like that, many of them belonging to himself, and he ran for what he assumed to be the direction of the exit. Slamming the door closed behind him, he could hear the ring of bullets hitting the heavy metal door behind him.

Looking down, Archer poked a finger through the series of holes that now lined his t-shirt in the lower are of his shirt. “Damn, I really like this shirt,” He mumbled to himself as he began to sneak down the corridors, looking for another exit or possibly even a friend of some sort.

The air felt nice with the chill of the ice breaking against the warm night air ablaze with the horrible sound of Japanese pop music. "I think I know the guy you're talking about." Bliss brushed a build up of dirt from the pleats in her skirt, no reason to look dirty when getting dirty. The silence between the two given the situation sounded odd, but when Bliss looked up he greeted her with an odd response. "If so, I guess we can take our sweet time." Not understanding the man's power, she looked at him crossly while looking around to try and see what he saw. His words told her he located Archer, and leading with the senses she led with started looking to see which opening Archer escaped through.

No one appeared to her, but Nate broke her concentration by informing her of the impending rush of guards. "Maybe we don't have as much time." While guards started to come from the side door openings, Bliss decided to make her own route to the building. "Going up." Ice began to spiral up towards the upper windows. With more time she would try and burrow down into the depths of the building, but in this case up offered less limitations. As is the case with most things she puts into action, the staircase came with a failsafe of physical limitations. After she made her way up the stairs they would become fragile from the stress and anyone attempting to use them in large numbers would shatter the support and crumble to the ground along with them.

Before she could make her way through the window she needed to keep herself safe from the dual threat of guards. Her stairs granted her enough protection from the left side, but she found herself pinned down from the right. Bullets riddled her stairs with impact, and the heat of the projectiles caused a constant melting to take place within the structure. Before the stairs collapsed upon themselves, Bliss made her way to the three guards to her right using the quickly dissipating protection of her ice shield.

Once in range she let her shield break as she rolled under the gap between the shield and the ground coming up with her hands implanted into the chests of the two flanking guards. Ice threw them both back while Bliss flailed back and threw her legs into the middle guards chest. Unbeknown to her a fourth guard used the frame of the door as a cover point and as he took aim at Bliss, his gun failed to fire. Ice filled the chamber of his gun, locking the firing mechanism in place. Quickly, she delivered a kick to his legs to knock him off of his feet while freezing the guards guns to their bodies.

Bringing herself back to her feet with her hand firmly placed on the ground to allow her to dart into whichever direction she needed, Bliss surveyed the damage she inflicted and made sure the looming danger passed her over.

Archer came around a corner and almost ran into a man, whom greeted him casually almost as though he had expected to run into him at any moment. Once the man’s comment about the other guy registered Archer proceed with a hasty explanation, “I stabbed the other guy with a chair in a room back that way.” He then gestured over his shoulder as if to say that that direction was a no go and that they would need an alternate route of escape. It was at that point that he finally managed to see the all too familiar face of someone that had rescued him in the past, “I thought I saw you Bliss. I’ll have you know that this time I didn’t need you saving me. Got out pretty well on my own this time,” He said with a haphazard smile.

The new guy said something about more guards coming and Archer could not help but smile a little at the thought of another fight coming on. This was what he had needed. All Archer had done in the past few months was let pain and anguish build up and this was the perfect opportunity feel something that was not either of those two. Aggression was never a bad thing from time to time and if it alleviated him of his hidden pain for a while then so be it. Without saying a word Bliss began to build a staircase out of ice rising to the ceiling. “That’s a new one,” He said to himself in slight awe of Bliss.

It only took a moment for Bliss to be attacked by armed men from either side, though her ice staircase seemed to protect her from the fellows on the right, and she quickly moved on to dispatching the men on the left. They fell one of the other like so many men and women before. “I guess I’ll be taking the suits on the right,” Archer said to no one in particular.

Moving forward as fast as he could, Archer took the first armed guard by surprise; since his attention was focused on the super powered girl it was not that hard. Grabbing the arm that held a gun firmly in place, Archer struck the man in the stomach before placing his back against the man’s side, with his armed arm over his shoulder, and pulled it down with enough force to break it backwards. Effectively disarming the man in question and relinquishing the weapon to the new attacker. Shooting at some of the other men and drawing their fire, giving Bliss a little more cover, the trained fighter that happened to also be a photographer said, “You might want to put that on ice once all of this is said and done.”

A bullet scrapped Archer’s shoulder and he let out a strained gasp as if to acknowledge the pain that let him know that he was not dead and that the wound was not that bad. Grabbing the man that had been first disarmed by the scruff of his suit coat and pulled him up, using him as a shield. “You don’t think these guys will shoot one of their own do you," Archer asked his hostage. As he managed to hit one of the new assailants in the knee with a well-placed shot another bullet tore through his hostage and managed to get Archer in the gut. The new wound was shallow so it would not take him down right away but it had managed to kill the man Archer was holding.

“Everyone get them,” A Russian voice yelled from somewhere behind Archer. Everything just had to get worse for them.

“If anyone is free they may want to take care of our new friends behind us,” Archer yelled as he held the dead man close to him and continued to give Bliss some cover fire. He had not been keeping up with what the new guy was doing but Archer figured he could probably handle himself if Bliss was hanging out with him.

Looked like a good time for an assembly of young heroes, as good as Bliss could remember seeing for sometime. While she made a quick movement to dispatch the immediate danger to her, she noticed the man she planned on saving showed up. He made subtle chat with her while taking a guard as a shield to thwart incoming fire, while Bliss caught up on her awareness of the situation. "Looks like I won't be needing to break your arm this time." Before she could see his response a voice sounded from behind them in a thick Russian accent. "Looks like this place has a dash of every flavor."

While bullets made their way through the alley Bliss dove into the atrium of the hallway to get out of the heavy bullet fire. Flying ice shot across the alley to give Archer some reprieve from the bullet storm. Opportunity approached Bliss as the other two fought in the alley behind the corporate building. If they could continue to hold out against the phalanx, Bliss could move through the complex and get the data she came for.

Shouting out a message would work against her stealth entry, so instead she focused enough of her powers to inscribe a message into the ice wall. "Make it fun for them. BBL." The message stayed in cursive with bullets beginning to chip away at the writing, but granting enough cover to let him catch his breathe and get ready for the next round.

With her message sent, Bliss made her way into the building with her ice freezing the base of doors to keep anyone from meeting up with her in the hall.

Bullets continued their barrage on Archer, the man in Archer’s arms, and everything around him, keeping him from doing much of anything. Luckily the new guy was doing a pretty good job holding off the other thugs that showed up. To top it all off it seemed that Bliss had other things in mind instead of fighting bad guys in expensive suits. She left him a message the ice staircase which was quickly destroyed by yet more bullets. “Really? You’re going to use text speak? That’s so beneath you,” Archer yelled to his compatriot as he fired off his last bullet at the men he was attempting to draw fire from. It was becoming more and more obvious that he would need to step up his game if he was going to get out of there without dying more than needed.

Dropping the dead guy in his hands, Archer charged forwards with his head low to decrease the surface area for his opponents to shoot at. Once he reached the first of the lot he grappled his arm and twisted it around, forcing the armed thug to turn his back on Archer, and disarmed him. In one fell motion Archer jumped up, putting his body parallel to the ground, placing both feet on the thugs back and pushing with all the force he had in his body. The motion looked much like a drop kick. Grabbing the gun off the ground, he rolled towards the others and shot one of the men in the bicep, appearing to have punctured the bone as well, and dropped him. Archer then threw his still loaded gun at the next man, striking him in the face and blinding him for a short second.

Grabbing the blinded man by the hand that held the gun, Archer forced it to arch over his shoulder and attempted to aim for the remaining three people on the other side of his new human shield. “Are you guys going to kill another one of your guys,” Archer yelled. The bullets that struck the meat shield in the back were his only answer. Archer dropped the ‘shield’ and went to take a knee so he could better steady his aim and took shot. The gun rang out three times and for a second it seemed to have no use but then the men before him dropped, dead where they now lay. Archer did not enjoy killing, in fact he replayed the last moments of every man he killed alongside those of his wife, child, and brother. He would never forgive himself for a life cut short before it’s time.

“I’m sorry,” He said to the lifeless corpses around him, including the two men that had been cut down by friendly fire, those two were his fault. Turning his body and readying his gun, Archer prepared to fire on anyone that was still standing that combated the new guy with wings. If so much as one person was still standing he would aim for their knees so he would hopefully not have to kill again.

Abrupt noises from the ensuing battle from outside continued to wreck havoc, even as Bliss made her way through the secluded halls. With ice as her companion and the harsh freezing solidity of her powers as her only trace of existence, she navigated through upper floor of the building until coming upon an elevator. Finding a way to the basement level through a stairway would come with a good deal of guards or other security protocols Bliss didn't feel like dealing with. Instead she decided to take the path of least resistance and ordered an elevator.

When the door opened Bliss peaked herself inside and pushed the circular button to send the elevator up the shaft. Stepping back into the hallway, Bliss listened as the cart moved up. Path cleared. She set her hands along the center of the closed doors and began to interject her ice into the crag between the metal doors. Ice pulled the doors apart and her gamble paid off. Right below her she could see the opening down to a lower level. But, to her surprise she peered down and noticed the shaft stretched deeper than merely one level.

Not wanting to catch the business end of an elevator on her way down, Bliss began fortifying the shaft to freeze the cart in place. She could proceed down the shaft in more relative safety, but in the waning noises of battle she began to hear a new sound. A humming reverberated from the depths below. As she descended upon a quickly forming staircase the eminent vibration of the low noise grew stronger through her head.

Cold concrete held the sound in an intensifying fashion; Bliss could feel herself getting closer to what she came for. She came up on the first of the basement levels, but could feel the signal strengthen beneath her feet. Discretion would guide her to opening the first door, allowing her to get some vision on the situation at hand.

As Archer turned around to give whatever aid he could to his new companion time seemed to slow down, crawling to a halt. He knew exactly what that meant and it was never appreciated. It always seemed like a waste of time since he would have more time to think while he was dead, though that always seemed to pass in an instant, not that he had met a lot of people he could compare notes about being dead. In his short moment of reflection he took in the scene before him and the new guy was being weird, not that Archer had any room to complain really, weird was a pretty common thing for the man.

Then almost as quickly as it had started it ended and the bullet flying for Archer accelerated and caught him in the head, just inside and below his left eye. Blood and brain raced to stain the concrete and walls behind him. It was always messy and never pretty like so many movies make it look. The world faded to black and Archer knew he would have to wait a moment to come back to life and it was in this world that he faced his demon, whether he wanted to or not. They stared at him with unblinking eyes and did not say a word. Archer was not the kind of person to believe in ghost, though he always thought this had to be a hallucination of some sort, but this sometimes made him believe for a little while.