Anyway, please vote, CnC fairly, not mercilessly, and enjoy!
Mine:
Spoiler (Click to Show)
But… Only time he didn’t was when he was at the Merc’s house; Where he sat in his room eating potato chips, doing work outs, or keeping his throwing skills up, didn’t wanna lose the power in his throw, did he?
Either that or sit out in the living room and watch TV with Kiro and Catena. He didn’t mind the two of them, in fact, he rather liked them. He’d come to appreciate their presence in the house more than ever, as he’d lost his family a long time before he came to the past.
He liked other people, and having seen the devastation caused by the Precursors, it only spurred his love of those around him…
But he digressed, his meta-mission weren’t his plans at the moment. He had others, one of them went by the name of Riley.
Levi liked Riley, what a shocker right? He couldn’t help but like the people he met and didn’t have to kill! He usually did.
Being a Bounty Hunter/Assassin meant having barely any people close to you, hard for a guy like Levi, who loved social interaction.
He’d headed out of the Merc’s house at around nine, wearing his leather jacket, a blue t-shirt depicting a lady-bug cat, and some worn jeans with small holes here and there, along with his favorite sneakers. His kunai were strapped to his belt loop, as usual, he never left without them...
Summer was quickly turning into Fall, but the weather still remained quite warm most of the time. This day was brisk, if not a bit cold, so the leather jacket kept Levi warm.
It was one of those days, y’know? Where the sun shone brightly but the air remained crisp? Yeah, one of those.
Where was he headed at that moment? A café downtown, where he planned to meet his buddy Riley, a CIA operative, and continue his story to him. He’d finished the third part when they had finished their lunch, so his friend had proposed meeting for some coffee and Levi could continue.
As he approached his destination, Levi looked at the address his acquaintance had given him, as well as what time to be there, then up at the one occupied table.
He was not expecting a wannabe monk looking kid to be sitting in Riley’s spot.
At first Levi looked around, searching for his friend, but finding no signs of him, the Merc sighed and sat across from the kid. A cup of coffee sat in front of him while the Riley replacement sipped his.
He was about as tall as Levi since his growth spurt, maybe six one? And his body was pretty lithe, unlike Levi, who was more lanky than he was muscular. His getup was pretty simple, a black long sleeve t-shirt underneath a white hoodie and grey jeans. Sneakers adorned his feet and leather fighting gloves covered his hands.
Levi instinctively put a hand on his kunai. Who wore fighting gloves around like they were a part of their getup? The Merc didn’t like it…
The kid’s hair was long, and Levi meant it. Even his own hair, which nearly reached his chin, didn’t compare to this guy’s. It was white, which kind of threw Levi for a loop, as white hair and a kid don’t go together, and reached to his waist. Yeah, no kidding. It was also braided, with a red ribbon tied into the mass of white.
Levi pushed up his glasses and put his left elbow on the table, resting his chin in his hand.
“Sooooo… May I ask who you are?” He questioned, a small amount of curiosity leaking through his voice.
The kid looked up, opening his eyes as he did, seemingly looking Levi over as well. His eyes being an azure like blue.
He spoke slowly, quietly even, like he had to keep the conversation secret. His voice seemed more stuttery than unconfident.
“Oh, sorry Mr. Strider, your friend isn’t coming.”
“Let me guess, you killed him?” Levi replied, raising an eyebrow.
His “guest” looked offended, “No, no! I simply asked if I could take his spot in this meeting! He said he’d had something come up the previous night, so he pointed me in the direction of the café, and here I am.” The monk gestured around him to the empty tables.
“I think Riley would know better than to leave me alone with a kid who looks to be in his mid-sixties…”
The guest looked across at him, a tad annoyed, “It’s the hair isn’t it? First off, the name’s Zander, and second off, your friend, Riley, must know you can handle yourself if he left me to meeting you.”
“What’d he tell you about me?” Levi asked, lifting his hand off the knives and onto the table.
“Nothing actually, just that you were very skilled in your work.” Zander replied.
“Which is?” He questioned, his brow furrowing.
“Bounty Hunting. But other than that, nothing else.” The kid replied, putting his lips to the coffee cup and taking a sip.
Levi sighed again, picking up his own coffee and drinking it. But finding it lukewarm, he leaned back in his chair and tossed it into the nearest garbage.
“So what do you want Zander?” Levi asked, having not questioned the monk’s being there.
“What do you mean?”
“Why would you go out of your way to find an insignificant speck like me in this giant city? What’s the catch? I doubt you just wanted to have a friendly chat.”
Zander nodded, clearly content with the question, “I’m here to test you Levi.”
Just then he noticed something about his guest’s voice he hadn’t before. It seemed like two voices layered over one another. The one under Zander’s was clear, but very subtle.
Ignoring it for now, Levi lowered his voice. “Oh yeah? Why do you wanna do that?”
Zander nodded once again, “I have what you say, odd abilities. I can sense another’s strength through their spirit. I call it Gage, and I search for these people in hope of finding strong opponents.”
“Sounds like a friend of mine.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Nothing, just a thought I had. Anyway, how’d you find me, specifically?” Levi asked.
“Your aura seems to have been flaring in the past few weeks. Something we notice.”
“We?” The Merc responded, raising an eyebrow
“You’ll see soon enough. In fact, I feel we should get started…”
“Fair enough.”
With this said, Zander gulped down the last bit of his coffee, then threw the cup at Levi, who ducked his head to the left, the container soaring behind him. It shattered on the concrete with a small crash, and the Monk thrust his fist out, striking at Levi’s face.
The Merc batted his hand away, dissipating in his seat and appearing a few feet into the street.
Zander stood from his seat, eyes wide as he looked at his opponent. “Now I’ve seen everything.”
“What? Never seen a metahuman? Seems odd considering you’re one too.”
Zander closed his eyes, shook his head, then looked back up at Levi, smiling. “This oughta be fun then…”
Just like that, the features on the Monk’s face seemed to peel away like a mask. His left eye disappeared, leaving an ugly sunken hole, and his right became a violent shade of red.
Burns enveloped the left side of his face, but left his eye socket, ear, and neck untouched. Small red, freckle like things were dotted across the bridge of his nose.
With a sudden twitch, Zander rushed forward to meet Levi, ducking under his first punch and delivering a swift uppercut to his jaw.
Levi staggered backwards, the swiftness of the blow having thrown him off balance. Seeing his opponent rushing him again, he let his instincts take over as Zander advanced with a kick, countering with his own, deflecting the attack off his chin.
The opponent’s leg dropped to the ground, and continued with his fists, Levi countering every strike with only an inch of breathing room.
Zander didn’t let up, that was for sure.
Eventually the Monk threw a bit too much force into a punch, and as Levi deflected it of his forearm, Zander staggered forward.
Taking the opportunity, Levi leapt towards him, his knee outstretched. Landing the blow, Zander spat up flem as he hit, and the Merc grabbed the back of his sweatshirt with both hands and threw him back towards the coffee shop.
Zander skidded along the ground, crashing under a few tables until he slid to a stop a few feet from the door. Getting up unsteadily, the store owner rushed outside, yelling at Zander in what sounded like French.
The Monk seemed to growl, and struck the man in the face, sending him flying down the sidewalk. Even Levi didn’t expect that, and he widened his eyes as Zander turned to face him again.
The Bounty Hunter raised an eyebrow as Zander’s eyes had seemingly turned to silver, and a soft rattling sound could be heard.
He spoke, his voice now gruff, more rough around the edges. Levi narrowed his eyes at the reptilian-like pair staring back at him.
“You just made a huge mistake kid… You’re messing with Zephyr now…”
Levi unhooked his two kunai, and his opponent, Zephyr now, pulled two small blades from behind his back, seemingly from under his sweatshirt. They were about as long as Levi’s own blades, but with a flick, they extended into five more blades, revealing them as steel fans…
This time, Levi rushed forward, throwing his left knife at Zephyr, who deflected it off his fans, the steel turning black for a second before returning to normal.
Looking out from under his fans, Levi greeted him with a slash to the cheek. Extending his hand, his other kunai, having been knocked away, flew back to his hand.
Zephyr roared in fury, blood trickling down his cheek, the wound already seeming to heal.
The Monk rushed forward, much faster than before.
Levi, sensing that Zephyr was a lot than faster he was, initiated Brain Storm and immediately felt a type of power surge through his body.
The Demon (Levi guessed) advanced with lightning speed, slashing up with his blades. Levi fell backwards, the fan catching his forehead. Blood spurted from the wound as the Merc went into a windmill, spinning rapidly as he kicked his legs out to trip up Zephyr.
His opponent leapt over his kicks, bringing his fan down to stab the Levi.
To dodge it, he put his hands to the ground, using the momentum from his spin to put himself up into a sort of spinning handstand. The fan missed by a hair, stabbing the concrete where Levi’s head had been a half-second before, and Levi stuck his feet out as Zephyr stood, kicking him multiple times over in the chest and face.
After a few blows, the Demon growled and caught Levi’s left foot and hurled him through the air into the side of the shop. The brick wall fell apart around him, and Levi ripped his arms free of the material, growling himself.
Zephyr sheathed his fans, cracked his neck, and leapt from the ground up at him. Levi jumped as well, throwing both weapons at the opponent. Zephyr dodged to the left, avoiding the right kunai, but in turn allowing the other to embed itself in his shoulder. He cried out in pain and hesitated in air, letting Levi muster a smokey right and left arm.
Lifting all four of his arms, smoke and real, Levi clasped one in the other and slammed them into Zephyr’s skull, sending him flying into the concrete below. A giant cloud of debris and dust shooting up from the ground.
The Mercenary landed softly on the ground, the Brain Storm starting to wear off.
Levi shook his head, a migraine seeming to creep into his brain.
Extending his hand, a kunai flew to his hand, but Levi looked at it in shock. He had called for the other one too, where was it?
He looked towards the hole first, and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground, Zephyr savagely stabbing him with his own knife.
The pain didn’t register for a few seconds, but once it did, Levi noticed how much blood there was.
It was in a pool around them. Actually, if the Demon really wanted to, he could abandon the knife and drown him in it. It was that high.
The pain was unlike anything he’d ever felt before. His chest and entire neck felt like they were on fire, but were doused in sticky sewage water at the same time, that was probably his blood.
Zephyr’s eyes were practically glowing, and Levi would die if he didn’t do something quick.
Activating Brain Storm again, the headache instantly subsided and strength surged back through his veins. The pain faded a little, but the searing sensation didn’t.
The Demon raised the knife again, but Levi reached up and stopped the blade mid-thrust. Making Zephyr blanch in shock. “WHAT!?!”
“That Knife is MINE!!!”
The Hunter reached his other hand up and gripped Zephyr’s face, pushing with all his might.
The force, driven by Levi’s adrenaline, rage, and Brain Storm, sent the Demon flying up into the air. Leaving the Kunai buried in the Mercenary’s sternum.
Ripping the blade out, along with another spurt of blood, Levi struggled to stand as he looked down at his chest. What was once his t-shirt was now a gaping hole of blood and skin. Zephyr hadn’t ripped his chest open, mind you, but the damage was widespread and pretty bad.
Roaring in pain, he looked up to see the Demon hit the ground hard… Again…
Producing an almost screech from deep within his screech, something clicked in Levi’s brain as Zephyr got up from the ground, his eyes retaining their glow.
They stood silently, Zephyr covered in debris and dust, and Levi drenched in blood and his chest torn to shreds, the wounds just starting to heal. Smoke was beginning to pour off his body, and Levi got the feeling he hadn’t even intended to have that happen.
With a primal scream, the Mercenary dissipated into smoke, reappearing behind the Demon and striking his spine with a swift chop.
Zephyr retaliated, spinning in a small circle, swinging an arm behind him, but Levi dissipated once again, reappearing in front of him and connecting his elbow to Zephyr’s jaw.
Levi dissipated, then reformed faster than anyone could have tracked, throwing blows that would shatter rocks if he pleased as he initiated his newest technique, Shadow Rush…
Zephyr tried to counter each attack, but every blow seemed to cripple him even more, and he slowly began to slouch to the ground, eventually resting his knees on the concrete. Levi took the opportunity and leaped into the air, bringing clenched fists crashing onto the back of his head.
The Demon was smashed into the ground, and he didn’t move again.
At first, Levi felt good about it, but he instantly calmed and bent down to check, he hoped, Zander’s pulse.
Finding a faint, but acknowledgable heartbeat, Levi stood and panted heavily, his adrenaline and Brain Storm fading, letting them be rapidly replaced by pain and fatigue…
*****
Lugging himself up to the door, Levi knocked slow and loud.
Catena’s voice called from behind the door, “Who is it?”
“It’s me Catena! Levi!” He called back, leaning against the door post.
The door opened rather slowly, but once Catena saw the condition he was in, she swung the door open blisteringly fast and caught him as he fell forward. “Whoa, kid! What’d you do to yourself?! Kiro! I need some help!”
The leader of the Mercs came rushing from his room, wearing his headphones around his neck along with some jeans and a t-shirt. “Oh God, that’s a lot of blood.” He said, his voice distant, almost echoing in Levi’s ears.
“I… Got in a fi… A fight… I won…” Levi replied, allowing them to take him to his bed.
They set him down gently, which he appreciated, as well as stripped his jacket from his frame.
Catena wrestled his shirt off and checked his wounds, but she simply whistled, “Dang kid, I underestimated your healing factor. That amount of blood would have called for your chest being ripped open, but it’s already scarring over.”
Kiro sighed, “I’m just glad he’s okay. You give ‘em what for Levi?”
The Merc turned on his side, his scar covered back to his teammates. “Mmhmm…” He replied, drifting to sleep...
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