{M} Pawns of the Mystics (Ushima and NiaSilverfang)

[Ushima]

Rated M for possible sexual themes, alcohol/drugs, excessive violence and bad language

Thunder clashed and lightning arcs raced across the sky. "Great. It's going to rain today." Michael complained as he walked to school. He was surprised it hadn't started already, what with how intense the thunder and lightning were. Adjusting his bag he continued his way to school, putting in his ear buds and cranking the music to block out the noise. Burn It Down by Five Finger Death Punch, one of his favorite bands. He found music helps him deal with the emotional termoil being a Pawn brings.

~

Walking up the steps he entered the school. Here he was the most vulnerable, he couldn't fight in front of everybody. But it was here he also had an advantage, he new the layout and could easily set a trap. Michael did so once before, tricked his enemy into the pool then drowned him. Simple and quiet.

Moving through the halls he was bumped into by a group of freshmen. The action caused the metal of his gun to rub against his stomach. The cold metal sent a chill through his body, a chill of rememberance. He was in a fight for his life, he didn't want to be killed for some stupid game. He stowed away his depressing train of thought when he arrived at his locker. He deposited his books inside, grabbed the one he needed and went to class.

~

Biology, one of his favorites and his fifth period class. Though he had to duck out real quick to use the bathroom. "Damn monster." He cursed when he was in the hall. "Goes right through me." Inside the bathroom he did his buisness, washed his hands and started walking back, when the lights in the hall went out. "Shit." His hand went for his gun.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice cut through the darkness. Michael was thrown across the hall, his gun slid away. "Surprised you managed to kill four." Something wrapped around his neck and hoisted him up off the ground. "No matter, you're life ends here." Michael heard the unsheathing of a blade. He was proven correct when the blade pierced his chest. "I think I'll leave you here for the others students to find." The lights came back on. Michael saw a female figure in his fading vision, she had dark hair and eyes and wore expensive clothing. He saw a dark mass moving around her, it came from the ground. He glanced down, it was her shadow. He knew what was holding him up, a shadowm she could turn it into a physical object. Michael's eyes fell closed and he slumped. She snapped her fingers and he dropped to the ground. "To easy." And she walked away.

Michael's hand came up and grabbed the blade, removing it from his chest. He swallowed back pain as to not alert his enemy. He had one fall back plan. His healing factor, he was almost impossible to kill. Oh he could be killed, he was sure of that, his Mystic told him that he wasn't immortal. It was just very hard. He slowly stood up and came up behind the woman. Michael kicked the back of her knee, forcing her down and with one clean swipe slit her throat. Michael staggered back, pain finally taking hold, and hit the lockers and slid down holding his wound. He watched fire engulf her body and slowly the body was gone. She lost and the piece had to be removed from the board.

~

Michael picked up his gun and made his way to his locker and quickly changed his shirt, his old one and a knife hole in it. Once that was done and he put the knife in his bag Michael returned to class, where he was yelled at for being gone to long. He sheepily apologized and took his seat, the others snickering at him. Michael looked out the window, it had started to rain, hard. 'Great.' He thought. 'Talk about cliched timing.'

[Anonymous Hellchild]

Aiyana was sitting behind the front counter of her father’s shop, cleaning a gun. She had the music in the shop playing unusually loud. She was in a black mood. On her way to work today, she’d had to duck into a back alley and take care of another Pawn. She hated this game she was forced to play. Kill or be killed.

Tucking a strand of her dark brown hair behind her ear, she reached over and turned the music up louder. Invincible by Adelita’s Way blasted through the shop. Her father came from the back, his hands over his ears. “Someone’s in a bad mood!” he shouted, reaching for the volume knob. Ana glared at him as he turned it down. “Something wrong?”

“No,” she replied, too quickly. “I’m fine.” She went back to cleaning her gun. When she glanced up, looking out into the pouring rain, she froze. There was a young man standing in the middle of the street looking at her. He raised a hand and pointed at her. “Um, Dad? Could you go in the back and see if you can modify that silencer to shoot fifty cal bullets?”

“Um…why?” her father asked.

“Because I asked you to.” She turned to him and smiled. She was her father’s baby girl and she always got what she wanted.

“You’re the engineer,” he said, raising his hands in defense. He went to the back.

Ana put her gun back together in under thirty seconds and tucked it into the waistband of her jeans. She walked out the front door towards her opponent. When she got within twenty feet of him, she reached back and grabbed her gun. She screwed the silencer on it and aimed it at the young man. He was dressed in tattered clothes and his eyes were sunken in. She aimed right between his eyes and fired.

She was surprised when he raised a hand, slowing the bullet. She watched as the bullet was absorbed into his body. He brought his hand back to his shoulder, his palm facing her, and thrust if forward again. She felt the force before it hit her. He had absorbed the shock of the bullet and redirected it towards her. Ana slammed into the telephone pole behind her.

She gasped, trying to get her breath back. Her gun as still in her hand, but while the young man was paying attention, it was of no use to her. She was still trying to breathe and pull herself into a sitting position when the man rushed her, a blade in his hand.

Aiyana thought quickly. She picked the gun up and aimed at him. He grabbed her wrist to knock the gun away and froze. Ana’s eyes went black. She saw his fears, all of them. She searched for the deepest, darkest ones and found it. It brought tears to her eyes to have to bring the image to reality in both of their eyes. The man looked up. His jaw dropped. Behind Ana, there were two bodies, a woman and a child, curled up together beneath a layer of snow. They were frozen like that, both of them dead from the cold and hunger. “No,” the man breathed. “No, no, no…” He was backing away from Ana, his eyes still on the woman. Ana brought the gun up and fired before he could focus on her again.

She stood with a groan as his body melted into the ground. Tears were running down her face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Not only had she taken his life, but the life of his fiancé and son who would now lose their home and be forced to live on the streets during the coming winter. She wiped her face off, not that it did any good in the rain, tucked her gun away, and went back inside.

[Ushima]

The final bell for the day rang for the day. Michael let out a sigh. He was up to five, five dead Pawns under his belt. The pain in his chest had died down awhile ago and he could now walk without gasping for breath. Getting out of his seat his made his way back to his locker. He input the combination and grabbed his things, homework, bag. Michael put on his jacket and shouldered his bag and left. He passed by students, they were talking about their weekend plans. 'Must be nice.' Michael ranted to himself. 'To go out without worrying about being hunted, going on dates, being....normal.'

Leaving the school he waited til he was alone to pull out his weapons. First was the knofe, it was very unique and very cool. Another trophy to add to his collection. Putting it away he pulled out his gun. A USP .45, something was wrong, must've broken in the fall. It sounded like something came loose. And Michael was no expert on guns and had no clue as to what he was doing. Weapons were his only offensive option, primarily guns. Blades were great, silent, works the first time, but required getting close. A risk he'd rather not take.

So Michael will take it to a gunsmith who knew what the hell they were doing. He couldn't remember the name, only seeing it a few times and up until now he had no real reason to go in there. So he figured now was as good a time as any. Michael had more than enough to pay for a repair. Sometimes before the Mystics would take their piece of the game board he could loot their bodies, he was able to secure quite a few assets. A storage warehouse downtown, which he hasn't been in yet, some bank accounts, which he already transfered the money to, and the key to a safety deposit box which had a deed to some property in Italy. That last one he was really excited to see.

Finding the shop he looked up at the sign. "Nice name." He commented, finally learning it and commiting it to memory. "Hello?" He looked around. "Um, I need some help with a gun."

[Anonymous Hellchild]

Aiyana looked up at the young man who just walked through her door. “Come on in,” she said, setting her pen and pad of paper down on the counter. She cleaned the metal shavings off the Calfuray Gunsmithing sign that was set under a piece of glass on the counter. She held out a hand and took the gun from him. She examined it and finding nothing wrong with it, she began to take it apart, examining all the elements. “I found your problem,” she said, looking up. She sucked in a quick breath when she saw it.

The young man was facing away from her, examining the ammunition on the shelf. There was a barcode on the back of his neck, marking him as a Pawn. She closed her eyes for a brief second and recollected her thoughts.

“I think I might have to keep it overnight, though.” Perfect, she thought. She didn’t want to give the gun back to one of the many people who are on a mission to hunt her down and kill her. She reached under the counter and made sure that her back-up gun was pointed in his direction before she did anything else. She turned around and grabbed a pad of paper that had blanks for personal information like phone number and address on it. She pulled her hair over to one shoulder, not even thinking that she would be revealing her barcode to this stranger. “I’m going to need the permit for it as well, if you have it on you.” She turned back around. “If not, then I’ll need it when you come back tomorrow to pick it up.” And tomorrow is my day off so I won’t have to worry about potentially killing you, she thought.


(Turns out I'm having to do a lot more research for this than I thought I would, lol.)

[Ushima]

"Hm I should probably buy more ammo. I got half a clip in the gun and two spares at home." Michael mummbled to himself. He really should buy more bullets for his gun. And now that he though about it, he should buy more guns. To him there was no such things as to many guns. "If you have to keep it over night that's fine." He didn't need it right away, he wasn't expecting the next Pawn to show themselves for awhile. It was kinda weird, he noticed that after he'd defeat one the next one wouldn't show up for at least a couple days. Maybe something the Mystics 'wired' into them so they could give the Pawns a chance to recover.

"I don't have the permit on me, at the moment." Michael hoped he said that as deadpan as possible. He didn't have the permit and he didn't have the connections to get it without attracting unwanted attention from authorities. He'd have to figure something out tomorrow, or else he'd have to rely on blades. He could, it'd just be harder. Michael turned to face the girl and paused. He took her in, long hair, piercing gaze. He felt his heart flutter, the same thing happened whenever he saw a pretty girl that caused him mind to wander down the path of fantasy. He was reminded of what he was thinking earlier, about having a normal life. Maybe if he wasn't being hunted he'd have a shot at getting to know this girl. "My name is Michael King and my address is 77 Union Road. Phone number, 382-9907. I'll give you my cell to, 117-1337. You'll most likely reach me there at anytime during the day or night." Michael scratched the back of his head. "So I'll be back tomorrow with the permit. See you then Miss....I don't believe I caught your name."

[Anonymous Hellchild]

She looked at him. Her brain seemed to freeze. Tell him her real name? Don’t tell him? “Oh, sorry,” she said. “Aiyana. Aiyana Calfuray.” She filled out the information as he fed it to her. “I won’t be in tomorrow, but you can still stop in and pick up your gun.” She forced a smile at him, a million situations running through her head. As he left the shop, Ana went to the back where her father was still working. “Don’t worry about it, Dad,” she told him.

“You sure?” he asked, looking up from the gun he was working in.

“Yeah,” she replied, reaching back and feeling for her gun. “I’ll come up with a new design for it tonight and you can work on it tomorrow.” She looked at her watch. It was half past five. “I’m gonna head home for the night. Tomorrow’s Saturday, my day off, don’t forget.”

“Any plans?” her father asked.

None that I can tell you, she thought. “No. I think I’m just gonna have a lazy day tomorrow.” She told her father goodbye and grabbed her black peacoat. She buttoned it up and pulled her hood over her head. She grabbed an extra case of ammunition on her way out of the store.

Aiyana only lived three blocks from her father’s shop, but they were a dangerous three blocks when a person had to play the game she did. She thought to herself as she walked home. She knew Michael’s address. She could go to him and kill him before he even knew what hit him. Did she dare risk breaking into his home in the middle of the night with no plan? No, she decided. She was more likely to get killed that way. She would wait and see how it played out over the next couple of days.

She got to her apartment building and took the stairs up four flights. When she got to her door, she paused. She didn’t hear anyone moving around inside, but she grabbed her gun and clicked the safety off, sticking it back in her pocket. She unlocked her door and pushed it open, bringing her gun up. After clearing all the rooms, she went back and locked her door. She moved down the hall to her spare room.

She opened the door and took off her coat. She hung it up on the back of her chair at her desk to dry. There was a map on the wall to the right of her desk. She grabbed a green pin and stuck it in the wall right where Micheal lived. The red pins were Pawns she’d killed. The green ones were ones she knew existed. There weren’t very many green pins left, but red ones dotted the board all over her city.

She placed another one at her father’s shop, where she’d killed the young man with the knife. She sighed, rubbing her face with her hands and thinking back to the site she’d seen when she brought his fears to life. She moved down the hall and took a hot shower, washing the day off her. Sleep was going to be inevitable for her tonight, but she laid in bed, staring at the ceiling anyway, thinking of Michael King and wondering who was going to kill who this time.

[Ushima]

Michael left the shop, glad his weapon would get taken care of by a expert. He knew if he tried it he'd probably end up shooting himself on accident. Not that it would kill him, but the gunshot would cause a great deal of noise, someone could hear it the there'd be questions. And not to mention that if it passed through him or missed it'd hit something. No, it'd be best to avoid that headache. Reaching into his bag Michael gripped the dagger "At least I'm not totally unarmed."

He walked the rest of the way back home and entered his house. "Hello dear." Michael smiled at the voice of his mother. Cynthia King, cliched long haired blonde and blue eyed woman. "Anything exciting happen at school?"

'I got attacked by a crazy bitch who could control shadows and she stabbed me and as she walked away I knocked her down and slit her throat.' "Nope. Same old same old." Michael answered. "What's for dinner?"

"Pizza." Cythnia gave her son a hug and kissed her cheek. "You're father and I have to go to a banquet tonight."

"What kind of pizza?" He asked the all important question.

"Your choice, you're eating it." Cynthia chuckled. "Now go do your homework."

"Yes mother." Michael went upstairs and to his room. He quickly changed into a pair of jeans and t-shirt. He let out a sigh of relief, glad to be out of his uniform. Michael sat at his computer, turned it on and started his homework. It wasn't much, just problems in Algebra, a few questions in Chemistry, a Biology worksheet and some reading for History. When he was done with all that he opened up a program on his computer. It was what he used to keep track of Pawns. Any bit of information he got he entered in here. "So today makes my fifth kill. As far as I know there's nintey four others out there still. I need more weapons to but that'll bee taken care of soon." Michael glanced at his nightstand, a set of keys were sitting there. "I should also look into that storage facility soon. See what's there."

"Michael." This time it was a male voice that called him. Michael shut down the program and went downstairs. "Hello son."

"Hey dad." He gave his father a hug. "You and mom have fun tonight."

"Thanks." Nicholas King was a tall man with short dark red hair and dark red eyes, obviously it's where Michael gets his looks. He made his living as a lawyer, not just any lawyer though, he was the D.A. "Money for pizza is on the counter."

"We'll be back around one." Cynthia appeared from down the hall wearing a stunning purple dress. "How do I look?"

"Amazing." Michael answered.

"Aw you're so sweet." She gave him a kiss. "It's surprising why you don't have a girlfriend yet."

'It's cause people are trying to kill me.' "It's just not the right time." Michael shrugged. "Bye." He waved goodbye as his parents got in the limo that pulled up infront of the house. Michael picked up the phone and ordered the pizza, chicken finger, his favorite and a order of BBQ wings. While he waited he switched on the CD player in the living room and listened to music, Escape The Fate's Goregeous Nightmare. A song he could easily play on his guitar.

~

*ding dong*

"About damn time." Michael opened the front door. "Hey how's it going?"

"Good." The delivery man handed over the pizza and wings. "That's $30.34."

"Right, hang on." Michael set the boxes down. He reached behind him and pulled out the dagger. "Keep the change." He plungged the dagger into the man's stomach then pulled it up. "You forgot to cover your mark. Your's is on your wrist." The man collapsed to the floor, obviouslly dead. Michael crouched down and searched him. The only thing he got that was worth anything was a bank card. Soon the fire engulfed the body and he was no more. "I kinda wanted to know what his power was. Oh well." Michael closed the door. "Thanks for the pizza."

[Anonymous Hellchild]

I must have fallen asleep sometime in the night, because the loud beeping of my alarm clock woke me up at seven the next morning. I groaned, angry at myself for not turning it off. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to fall back to sleep. I threw my legs over the side of the bed. Pulling my robe on, I headed for the bathroom.

After brushing my teeth and putting my hair into some kind of order, I shuffled out to the living room and put a pot of water on to boil for tea. I went to my spare room and once again stared at the board on the wall, wondering who I was going to hit today. I had two other Pawns within a fifty mile radius. One of them was Michael.

I thought and thought about how much of a threat he could be. I shook my head. As long as he didn’t know I was one of them, I was pretty sure I was okay. “Alrighty then,” I said pouring myself a cup of tea. “Sorry Louis, looks like today’s your day.” Louis was the other pawn. I sighed, hanging my head in my hands. How much longer did this killing have to go on?

I let myself be emotional for half a second. Then I pulled myself together. It was either hunt or be hunted now. I wasn’t going to sit by and wait for my death. I went to my room and dressed in my usual attire of holey jeans and a t-shirt. I grabbed my long jacket and laid it out on the dining room table, opened up. Inside were two shoulder holsters where I placed my two-toned Beretta 92FSs. There were sheathes for two knives inside the sleeves. I placed a cruciform dagger in each one.

I shrugged into my jacket and buttoned it up. I pulled on my boots and grabbed my keys. My car was parked in the spot that coordinated with my apartment. It was a four door beater Mercury Cougar. I was beginning to think that I needed to get myself a new car.

I didn’t have to think about it for long. I got in, and put the key in the ignition. I turned it, but it didn’t turn over. “Fuck!” I shouted as I jumped out of the car. I sprinted around the corner of the building just in time to avoid the blast as it blew up. Pieces of my car flew past the corner. I sighed, hanging my head. “Fucking PAWNS!” I shouted. I hurled my keys into the trees behind my apartment complex.

That’s when I saw her. She was small, only sixteen years old or so. “Please for the love of God no,” I begged. She pushed her way out of the bushes. I was going to have to kill her. I looked to the sky. “You bastards,” I whispered. I turned around and screwed the silencer onto my Berretta. “Let this be quick,” I prayed. I turned around, my gun ready to fire.

But she was gone.

“What the hell?” I questioned, looking around. Then I was knocked on my ass by someone’s fist. I looked around, but there was no one there. I heard her laugh. Invisivility, I thought, shaking my head. I stopped and closed my eyes, listening carefully. I could hear her light footsteps slightly to my left. I lashed out with a roundhouse kick. I made contact with something. Her invisibility flickered for a moment, but held. Then I saw her shoes appear. “Smart girl,” I whispered. I could no longer hear her moving.

I just had to stay out of her reach for a moment. I moved in a jagged pattern around the parking lot. To anyone who happened to look out their window, I would look like I was doing a demented jig. I was really breaking open several of my bullets with my knife and pouring the gunpowder into my hand. I froze, not moving, hardly breathing. I heard her behind me.

I whipped around and blew the gunpowder in her direction. It settled on her and I could see the outline of her shoulders and head. I raised my gun and aimed for her head. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. She turned to run, but I fired. She dropped, visible once again. She was dead, I knew. I never missed. I walked over and covered her face with a handkerchief I had in my pocket. I saw something in her hand. I pried her fingers open to find a set of keys. I hit the panic button and looked around for the car making the noise. It was a brand new, black, two-door Chevy Cobalt.

“Thanks,” I said looking back at her as her body burst into flames and disappeared. I headed for the car.

[Ushima]

Michael woke up at six. His music was still playing as he laid out on the couch. Groaning he rolled over and got up off the couch. Standing he got his bearings, he saw his dagger stuck in the coffee table. Reaching over he pulled it out. A flashing red light caught his attention, it was the answering machine. Michael pressed the button and listened to the message.

"Hey sport. Your mom and I won'nt be coming home." In the background he heard his mother giggle. "See you tomorrow night."

Well he knew what that meant, his parents had decided to get a hotel room for the night. Michael sighed as he entered the kitchen and the message cut out. Popping some pizza in the microwave he grabbed a can of monster and started drinking. "Let's see, what do I got to do today?" Michael ran through his to-do for the day. "Ok first, pick up gun, somehow." He still didn't know how he was gonna get it without a permit. "Access that Pawn's bank account and see if it's worth anything. Then I need to head to that warehouse."

He finished his pizza and washed the dishes real quick. Going upstairs he took off his clothes and got into the shower. Finishing that he stepped out and dried off before putting on a pair of grey boxers. Michael quickly shaved and burshed his teeth before going to his room. He put on a pair of black socks, faded blue jeans, a purple t-shirt and to complete it a UNSC hoodie. "Alright then I'm set." He didn't know why he was talking to himself.

Grabbing the key off his nightstand Michael slipped on his sneakers and left his house. He started walking to the bank. "Man I need a car." He had been thinking about buying one but always procrastinated. Michael pushed those thoughts out of his head as he entered the bank, he glances at the clock on the wall, seven thirty.

"Can I help you sir?" A teller asked.

"I need to speak with Mysty." The teller directed him to the person her was seeking.

"Oh Michael nice to see you again." The two shook hands. "So what have you got for me this time?"

Mysty was an agent of the Mystics, it was no coincidence the names sounded alike. She was tasked to help out Pawns, though there was limits as to what she could do. She couldn't give a Pawn another Pawn's information, that'd be cheating. "Took this off a Pawn." Michael placed a card on the table. "Does it have anything good on it?"

"Hm Alexander River. Seems to be pretty wealthy." Mysty typed on her computer. "I assume you'd like his assets transfered to your account?" Michael nodded. "It's not much, considering the family he comes from. Must not be able to access all of it and gets a monthly spending allowance deposited into his account."

"How much is there?" Michael asked, his eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Three thousand. But compared to the other account info you brought me this is nothing." Mysty finished the transaction. "All set."

"Thanks." Michael stood from the table. "See you around."

"Good luck." Mysty waved at him.

~

Michael exited the bank. "Now to get my gun back."

[Anonymous Hellchild]

Aiyana decied that one Pawn today was enough. Louis would have to wait. Ana went back into her house and put her guns away. She hung her coat up and went to her office. She placed another red pin by her apartment complex. She looked at the map again. More and more red pins were appearing. She hated this.

After trying to keep herself occupied for some time, she decided that she was going to go into the shop. She kept her knives in her sleeves as she walked to work. Upon walking through the door, she saw her father sitting at the front counter, scratching his head over her gun logs. She laughed. The logs were done only by her. “What’s up, Dad?” she asked.

“Ana,” he sighed in relief, looking up at her. “I don’t know how the hell you keep these logs.” He moved from the stool behind the counter and pushed the books towards her. “I don’t know whose gun is whose.”

She laughed, pulling her hair back in a ponytail. She hung her coat up in the office and went back to the stool. Her father went into the back. “Dad?” she called after a few minutes of looking at the books. “Did Michael King come in to get his gun yet?”

“Who?” came the call from the back. There was a clang and her father swore. He came out rubbing his head. “Sonofabitch,” he muttered. “Did who come in?”

“King?” she asked. “Michael King?”

“Uh, no,” he said thinking. “I don’t believe so.”

“Well, after I clean the guns, I’m going to take it to him.” Her father looked at her, an eyebrow cocked. “Just to be nice.”

“Alright,” he said shaking his head. “Be my guest. Just make sure you get the money for the new firing pin.”

“Will do.” She set to work quickly and efficiently cleaning the guns that had been left on her table in the back. When Ana finished, she unlocked the locker that had Michael King’s pistol in it and tucked it into its case. She pulled her jacket on and walked out the door, almost running right into King as he was walking in. “Oh! Sorry,” she said, stumbling a little bit. “I was actually on my way to bring you your gun.” And check out the layout of your house, she thought to herself. “Why don’t you come in and we’ll get your gun back to you?”