Hunters X and X Heroes

Crash X and X Burn

Wick fixed his tie nervously, his eyes flitting from one end of the room to the other. The hall was filled with guests and so far, none fit the description given to him. Well, of course they didn't. They should have taken the false information and headed for Aux Hotel. The chances of Glass appearing were very low.

In the first place, Wick was a new recruit. Glass wouldn't recognize him. The only thing that unsettled him about the whole ordeal was that Wick wouldn't recognize Glass either. The vague description he received in a rush of 'a pretty man with long, blonde hair and bright eyes' bothered him to no end. Perhaps it was unlikely that they would meet, but the pressure clawed and hung at his mind. Or was that really the cause for his unease? Was there something else that had been missing?

He peeked at the small tube containing only a few drops of the test subject's blood before sliding it back in his pocket. He didn't see the need in bringing it. But his eccentric superior had insisted in giving it to him. It would give him his few moments of happiness before death.

On the other side of the room, a pretty man with long, blonde hair and bright eyes watched Jul Sember carefully. This man had them.

This man's smile sickened him to the core. The blonde struggled to ensure that the feeling that seemed to crawl across his skin would remain only as disgust. He fought to press down the anger that came in unsteady waves. It grew stronger every time Jul Sember's teeth showed in his laugh.

He must endure.

Shichi had received a surprising amount of cooperation from the hotel. Once she showed them her license, they immediately rung up all the neighboring businesses to find anyone named Jul Sember checked into any room or listed in any meeting.

She had also received a surprising amount of luck. Her target stood in the same building she stood in. He was one of the guests in a party that would be ending soon, not a few minutes from now, if it had not already ended. Shichi could tell that much by the trickles of nicely-dressed men and women exiting the hotel to avoid the worst of Jianghai's traffic.

She was right after all. She should contact Glass, but she wanted to see the target for her own eyes. It wouldn't be surprising if he had a couple decoys about. She grit her teeth as she began to push through crowds filing out through the hallways. If he had already left she would be in huge trouble-

She jolted to a stop to regain balance as the whole building shook with a tremor accompanied with an incredibly loud sound. An earthquake?

No! She took off with a new burst of speed towards the source. That was an explosion!

-

Jul had traded the chemical for blood and death. Wick's Ten protected him from the close blast and he smoothed out his collar as he looked over the remains of the corpse and the small dancing flames that spread across the carpet. It was time for him to leave like everyone else already had. He worried about nothing.

"Is he dead?"

Wick stiffened. A sense of horror gripped his mind; he did not want to look up, yet in the same moment he had never whipped his eyes over to someone so quickly. A young man who was not there before, stood a few meters away from him. Glass?!

There was the long, blonde hair and the delicate appearance that his superior mentioned. And his eyes?

'Bright' would not be enough to touch single aspect of the burning Scarlet Eyes.

"I needed to speak with him."

Suddenly the few meter gap felt like a matter between life and death. He gripped the lighter in his hand tighter than he ever had, but it only seemed to become more oily; he was sweating. "How did you know?"