Well, here it is in all of its glory... well, just the first chapter, that is. I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter I've ever written, so I'm kind of dead right now and I don't know when the next chapter will be done. But keep checking in because I hope it won't be that long. It will just depend on how lazy I am and how preoccupied I get when Assassin's Creed Revelations comes out.

The last body slumped to the ground and the masked man glanced up from his crouching position to make sure that no one else was coming to attack him. To his relief, no one was. However, he could hear the sound of police cars making their way towards his position. He got up, jogging down the dark alleyway to get away from the area as quickly as he could. He couldn't afford to be caught. Not now and not ever.

By the time they arrived at the scene, there was only a trail of bodies and no one to blame it on. They knew the culprit, BK-201, but they had yet to actually see them or talk to them. They was a mysterious person that they knew nothing about, not even their gender or power. Misaki growled in frustration that her target had once again disappeared. She would catch BK-201 even if it was the last thing she ever did.

A knock sounded on his door and Li opened it, timidly sticking his head out. He found his landlady standing in front of his doorway and he relaxed visibly in relief.

"Hello. May I help you?" He asked, keeping the door open just enough so he could get a shoulder out.

"Yes, I need you to fix my TV again."

"I told you before, I'm not a repairman. Why don't you have an actual repairman do that job?"

"Because they're slow and cost money," she whined, squinting up at him with her hands clasped behind her back. He looked down at her before letting out a small sigh and exciting his room. She grinned in victory and followed her down to her apartment on the ground floor. Sliding the door open, she pointed at the TV, which had static running all over it. He glanced to the side at her husband, who was outside tending to his bonsai plants. He crouched down and began to smack the TV on the side.

"You're doing that again?" She ridiculed and then yelled at her husband, "You're in the way again, you old fart! Get out of the way of the good reception before I make you!" The old man awkwardly shuffled to the side a little, not sure where to go exactly.

"Um... I don't think that's the problem," Li tried to tell her, but she seemed intent on not listening to him. He went back to smacking the TV, as if it would actually do something. He knew it wouldn't but he decided to keep doing it to put up a show for the landlady, hoping she would just give up and let him leave. But it seemed like she would never let him leave. She would stare at him and yell at her husband to move out of the way every once in a while.

Finally, he sighed in defeat and placed his hand on the top of the TV and then turned to stare at her, "I don't think I'm going to get it working again like I did last time."

"Well you're no help, then. Why didn't you say so in the first place? It would have saved us a lot of time," He opened up his mouth to protest, but then thought better of it and closed it once more. Nothing he said would get through to this woman. He stood up and exited the apartment, bowing to them before he closed the door behind him.

He made his way back up the stairs to his own apartment, number 201, from which he had been hastily pulled from by his landlady as he was about to leave for the day. After slipping on his tennis shoes, he grabbed his bag from where he had stored it the night before and threw it onto his shoulder.

"Lets see..." he mumbled to no one in particular as he walked along the sidewalk, heading away from his department building, "I need to go check to see if anything new has come in and, afterwards, buy some more food from the grocery store." He wandered the streets in a seemingly crazed fashion, like a lost tourist. When, in reality, he knew exactly where he was going, but chose not to take a straight path to his destinations for reasons unknown.

He finally reached his destination, a cigarette store. He approached the window and set down some money. A slender, pale hand reached up and took it, giving him an small box in return. He took it and, without a word, left the store. The person inside the store settled back down, staring into nothing.

It was a girl with silver hair pulled back into a bushy ponytail. She wore a purple dress and her hands were tightly clasped in her lap. Her feet were bare and dipped into a metal bucket filled with water. The smooth surface would be disturbed every once in a while with a slight movement form her, sending ripples over the surface of the clear water. She sat, staring at the wall of the store, her eyes devoid of life as though she felt nothing of the world in which she resided.

Li pocketed the box he had gotten from the girl and made his way to his usual grocery store. He avoided the chatty workers and quickly gathered the food that he needed, placing it into a hand basket. He was through shopping in a matter of minutes and was out of the store in only a few more after that. He nearly breathed a sigh of relief as he made his way back to his apartment, only minutes away from locking himself back into his place, back into solitude for the next few hours.

Unfortunately for him, it was as if something in the universe wanted him to interact with others that day. As he rounded the corner to his apartment, he saw a woman standing outside of the apartment buildings, staring up at them and then back down at the phone she held in her hand. He twisted back onto the street he had just come from pressing against the concrete wall. Peeking around the corner, he saw that the woman was still there, but still distracted.

With quick movements, he turned the corner and dashed down the sidewalk, turning into the alleyway that ran along the side of the apartments. The women glanced up, sensing the movement and adjusted her glasses to stare down the sidewalk, but saw nothing. She shrugged it off and finally walked into the apartment's land, towards the landlady's building.

Li knew that if he went quickly, he might be able to slip past her and get up to his apartment in time. However, he also knew he couldn't take that risk. He recognized that woman and she wasn't really someone he wanted to talk to at the moment. He glanced up at the side of the apartment building, singling out the window that belonged to his.

He shoved his plastic bag of groceries into his shoulder bag and quickly began to climb his way to his apartment, jumping from metal railing to another, making his way to the second floor. He reached his window and swung his leg over the metal railing before pushing the window open. It slid open soundlessly, thanks to the many times he had oiled it just for a purpose like this.

He slipped in and closed it quietly behind him. He placed the bag of food in the fridge and then sat down in a corner where they couldn't see him from the door. He heard the woman and the landlady making their way slowly from door to door, knocking on it and asking questions to the residents within when the answered her call.

Finally, they reached his door. She knocked on it, but Li made to no move to answer it. Instead, he repositioned himself into a more comfortable position, his eyes never leaving the door. On the other side of it was that woman, his enemy. He had already talked to her a few times and had managed to act like a normal person but his smiling mask couldn't last forever. Eventually it would shatter like an eggshell.

He heard his landlady finally mutter something about how she thought she had seen him leave earlier that day and the woman's shadow finally stopped darkening his doorway. He got up from his sitting place and peeked out of the window to make sure she was actually leaving.

Eventually he saw her blue car drive away and he settled back down and started his preparation for an early dinner. He cut all the ingredients first and then cooked it into a massive bowl of fried rice. After he was done, he glanced at it, hoping it was enough for his enormous appetite.

He placed it on his table and retrieved the box he got from the girl at the cigarette store earlier that day. Sitting down, he opened it and let a slip of paper slide out of it, landing on the table, glancing quickly at the writing scribbled onto the parchment. He would be busy tonight so now was the time to eat. He dug in, shoveling the rice into his food with his plastic chopsticks.0

BK-201 slinked through the back alleyways, shrouded by darkness and stealing from shadow to shadow. He was on high alert that night, turning towards every sound and movement, weapons at the ready to slash at any attacker's throats if he was ever ambushed by a fellow contractor or a member of Division Four of Foreign Affairs, the group that specialized in following and capturing his kind.

Until now, he had never been seen by them, he had made sure of that. They were still clueless as to who he was and what he could do. He ran past another alleyway that led out onto a lighted, busy street and he could hear the laughter of people as he rushed past the pathway towards life. However, he left it far behind, replacing life with death.

Overhead the faux stars shined softly down on him and the giant manmade wall built around the city seemed to loom over the buildings, like a foreboding essence looking down upon them. At last, he reached his destination, an abandoned warehouse. Or not so abandoned, according to the note he had gotten that afternoon.

Apparently a particularly strong Contractor was holed up inside of the building, slightly injured from a previous battle, but still dangerous to face. He needed to strike from the darkness while he least expected it, to end his life from the shadows. It was what he did best, after all, as The Black Reaper.

A sound of a small bell sounded from his right and he glanced over in that direction, looking at the cat that was the source of the sound. It wore a red collar with a bell on it and its eyes were a starling purple. He peered back at the warehouse and reached up with his right hand, making sure that his mask was firmly in place before he made his move, slipping into the shadows of the building to bring about its inhabitant's fall.

Like a shadow himself, he slipped through an open window at the top of the building, traveling through the rafters of the warehouse, keeping an eye out for his opponent. Finally he saw him lying behind a wooden crate, treating his wound tenderly. Strips of his shirt were wrapped around his arm as a makeshift bandage, but the blood was soaking through them. BK-201 deduced that he would die either of blood loss or of an infection soon. But not soon enough for him.

Since his target's attention was focused elsewhere he decided that now was the time to attack and he had to do it quickly before the man noticed his presence. He pulled out one of his customary blades, a pronged knife, and sent it flying towards the man. Either he sensed it coming or something gave BK-201 away because the man dived to the side and the blade clattered uselessly to the ground.

The man's head swung upwards, searching for his attacker before finally spotting him, crouched in the rafters, his hand searching underneath his trench coat, his fingers curling around the hilt of another blade. The man picked up the discarded blade and, using his good arm, sent it flying towards BK-201.

He sent out a wire, wrapping it around a nearby rafter and jumped off, swinging away from the attack. He let go of the wire dropping down behind some other wooden crates, rolling to minimize the impact. He heightened all his senses, waiting for his opponent to pull forward his next attack. It happened sooner than he expected and he could feel the man activate his Contractor abilities. BK-201 stiffened and quickly ran from his hiding place, keeping his head low.

The crate he had been hiding in moments before was ripped off the floor as if it weighed nothing and flew into a massive void forming in the air. It reminded BK-201 of a black hole, something that sucking in everything in its path. Not even light could escape its greedy hands. However, nothing else was sucked into the vortex, meaning the man had complete control over what was targeted.

BK-201, flipped over the crates, turning in the air and throwing another knife before he landed. He immediately kept moving he couldn't afford to keep still against this Contractor or he might meet the same fate as the earlier crate, whatever that fate was.

Already he could hear sirens in the distance heading towards them. Division Four was on the move, having seen that the other Contractor's star was active. He cursed silently under his breath. He didn't have time to dodge both the Contractors and the police. He had to take out this man and he had to do it now.

Unfortunately, the Contractor's powers made it hard for BK-201 to come close to the man to use his own powers on him. It felt like a game of cat and mouse. Everything was being sucked into the vortex and soon there would be nothing left in the warehouse besides them and their soon-to-be uninvited visitors. He twisted and turned, advancing inch-by-inch, painfully coming closer to his goal, but never quite reaching it.

He even tried a jump attack a few times, however, upon feeling the pull of the Contractors power on him, would twist and jump away, maintaining his distance once more. It felt like a dance, one in which death snickered at the end of it, waiting for whichever prey would fall into its grasp first. Death wasn't meticulous; it took whatever it could.

The sirens were outside the warehouse now and BK-201 was about ready to leave this place and leave the man to deal with the police on his own. However, BK-201 wasn't like that. He wasn't like other Contractors, ruthless, mean, only looking out for himself. He may not have liked the police, but they were just doing their job, just like him and he didn't want any of them dying for something he could have put a stop to.

The man took BK-201's minor of confusion to his advantage, focusing his powers on the masked figure. He feet slid out from under him as he found himself being swept up, into the sweeping winds. Luckily, his reflexes took over for him and he flung another wire out, attaching it to a metal pole near the entrance. He turned on the motor on his belt and it greedily began sucking in the wire, causing him to fly away from the vortex and back to safety. That had been close, perhaps a little too close for comfort.

He jumped back up into the rafters and dove shoulder first through the window, breaking the glass and showering the startled police outside with shards. He landed next to them, rolling onto his knees and immediately getting up, turning to stare at the warehouse. The metal creaked as it began to lean inwards. The man was using his abilities on the entire warehouse now, sucking it into the dark depths of his power.

The police, however, remained ignorant to this fact and pointed all of their firearms at the mysterious masked man that had just appeared in front of them. To Misaki it was as if she had found a chest full of gold when this man landed in front of her, like a wrapped present including a bow. She took a step towards him, her Smith & Wesson 908S aimed at his chest. It wouldn't do anything to him, of course, if she ever decided to pull the trigger. His bulletproof coat would make sure of that. Therefore, instead, he kept his focus on the leaning warehouse.

He put his hands up, palms facing forwards towards the police and they took it as a sign of surrender. Misaki took another step towards him, thinking he wouldn't make a move. Suddenly he curled his hands into the shape of guns, keeping his thumb, index finger, and middle finger straight. He twisted his hand down, still keeping them above his head, and pointed them at the building. She turned slightly to look at the warehouse and finally noted that it was leaning it. Her focus was not caught between the man she had wanted to catch for years and the building that was currently falling into itself.

Finally the metal wrenched free and a horrible noise groaned out over them. The metal crunched, collapsing in on itself, becoming smaller and smaller, crumpling as if it was just paper, in order to fit through the vortex floating over them man. As if a soundless order had been given out the police began to open fire on the man, but to no avail. All of their bullets just warped harmlessly into the vortex to where ever the other side lay.

Misaki reloaded and glanced back at BK-201, who, to her surprise, had made no move to get away. Instead, he was standing there, motionless. However, she could tell that his mind was whirling, trying to think of a solution. A solution, she realized, involved only one fatality: the man standing in front of them.

Suddenly there seemed to be a change in the wind. They all felt it. The vortex was switching, pushing outwards rather than pulling in. Like a shockwave, it flooded the area, pushing them flying backwards. BK-201 dug his toes into the pavement, leaning forward so his fingertips brushed against the ground a few feet, not being knocked over like the others.

Misaki flew towards him and he outstretched his arms, catching her with his chest. She smacked into him and the air whooshed out of his lungs with the impact. He leaned over her as she lay against his chest, his arm wrapped almost protectively around her shoulders. For a second their eyes met but then he returned his gaze back to the enemy in front of him.

"Nice catch," he grunted, the first thing he had said the whole fight. BK-201 gave him no reply, living up to his quiet nature. He set Misaki down and stood in front of her, retrieving another blade from his belt. This was his last one and he had to use it wisely, he had to think of some kind of plan in order to get close enough to the man to kill him and... he had nothing. He would just have to wing it and hope it turned out all right.

Without a second thought, he raced forward, blade at the ready. The man sent out a few more shock waves of air and The Black Reaper jumped and twisted out of the way, coming closer and closer to him, closer than he had ever gotten before. He swung the blade but the man stepped out of the way, but he left his bad arm wide open in the process.

BK-201 turned the knife in his hand so the hilt was pointed downward and brought it down, smashing it into the would that was already there. The man let out a cry of pain and stumbled backwards from the blow. Twisting the blade again, he cut through the man's arm, then swung it, slicing though his chest again and again as they were caught once more in a kind of dance, but this time BK-201 seemed to be the one with the upper hand.

He continued to hack away at the man's chest until the white of bone began to peek through. He twisted the blade once more, aiming towards the heart. The man suddenly got a crazed look to his eye and let out a mangled scream. A quick blast of air sent the masked man tumbling backwards, the blade flying out of his hand and off into the darkness.

The Black Reaper leapt to his feet, but not in time. The winds shifted once more and he felt his feet fly out from under him. He had nothing to wrap a wire around this time. He was just floating in the air. Reaching out, he tried to scrap his hands along the cement below him, trying to get ahold of a lip in the ground, but it was beyond him. He rose higher up and was sent hurtling towards the giant void.

Someone yelled his name, his real one, and he twisted in the air to see who had uttered it. He saw the speaker running towards them. It was the cat from early, the one with the violet eyes. Mao. He was running as fast as he could, trying to get closer, but what could he do when he was just in the body of a harmless looking cat? Nothing.

"Get back, Mao!" BK-201 shouted, but he kept coming, eventually being swept off his paws himself. He was sent hurtling towards the masked man at high speeds due to his lightweight and he grabbed Mao, pulling him towards his chest and holding him there securely. He finally understood why he had kept coming even after he told him to leave. If he was going somewhere, then he wanted to come as well. It was almost childish, really.

Misaki raced forward, firing off her gun rapidly at the Contractor, but never managing to hit her mark. Enraged, the man swept her off her feet as well. One of the police officers let out a cry of shock and raced forward to grab onto her, but she was already swept away. The last thing BK-201 saw was the policeman crying out, reaching towards his captain and Misaki reaching out, hoping for his hand would reach hers, but it never did.

They were like mice caught in a trap, not knowing what to do or where to go, they could only go with the had going for them. He lunged forward, resisting the pull of the void for a split second and grabbed Misaki's other outstretched hand for some pseudo comfort just before they were swept into the abyss. Whether the fake reassurance was for him or her, he could not tell. Blackness engulfed him and every sound stopped. He found himself floating in complete darkness and eventually that overcame him, too, and he slipped into unconsciousness.

Misaki remain conscious for a few more seconds than he did, but she couldn't see anything. They only thing she could feel in this emptiness was his hand around hers. She squeezed his hand in fear, feeling bad as she did so. She had been chasing this man for ages, the man she swore she would find due to her suspicions about him. But now he was her only source of support. Finally, she felt the claws of sleep pull her under as well and she had no choice but to bow down to its whims.

Thank you for reading this, guys! I hope you enjoyed it. :D