IMPULSE: Armageddon

Chapter 1 - Night Skies

Misaka Korigami hit the pipe and tumbled, unable to stop herself, and with a panicked gasp she disappeared off the edge.

The London tower stood high and mighty, looking out over the city below. The night breeze was brisk and carried sounds of laughter coming from the streets below. It was a very long way down.

A woman in a leather coat walked up to the edge and peered over. She smirked.

"This is insulting," she said. "Don't they know how dangerous I am? I am extremely dangerous, more dangerous than your mind can comprehend. I'm a killer. I'm a trained killing machine. And still, they send you. A teenager."

Misaka felt her grip on the edge of the tower loosen. She ignored the goading of the woman standing above her, and looked around for something else to grab on to. She looked everywhere but down. Down was where the streets were, down was where the long drop and sudden stop was. She did not want to look down in the slightest. She didn't want to have anything to do with down there right now.

"What age are you?" the woman continued. "15? What kind of responsible adult would send a 15 year old teenager to stop someone like me? what on earth were they thinking?"

Misaka gently swung herself towards the tower, planting her feet against a very small buttress. The fear that dwelled inside of her started to work through her and she felt herself freeze up. She closed her eyes against the oncoming wave of paralysis.

The woman was Emily Knightwood, currently wanted in several countries for various counts of attempted murder. She kneeled down at the edge and smiled happily.

"I am turning murder into a art form. When I... When I kill, I'm actually painting a big, big picture, using blood and, and... messiness. You know??"

Below Misaka, the city glistened.

"I'm an artist," Emily continued. "Some people don't appreciate that. Some people don't recognise true talent when they see it. and that's fine. I'm not bitter. my time will come."

"Yeager tried to bring the Shadow Knights back," Misaka managed to say. Her fingers were burning and the muscles in her legs were screaming in agony at her. "We stopped him. We'll sure by hell stop you, too."

She laughed. "What, you think I want the Knights Of Darkness to be walking the earth once again? Is that it? You think Yeager was my leader? I'm not and never will be one of those disciples, all right? I'm my own woman."

Misaka had one chance, but she needed to be calm and take advantage of it. Her magic, limited though it was, was a Chaos Class - the manipulation of lightning, fire, earth and water. But at this stage of her training they didn't work when she was over panicking.

"So if you don't want the Shadow Knights to return," she said, "what do you want then? why're you doing this?"

She shook her head. "You wouldn't understand. its adult stuff. I just want a little appreciation for who I am, that's all. that's not too much to ask for, is it? But of course, you wouldn't know. you're just a teen." She shrugged. "Oh, well. Time for you to die." She reached down to shove her off the building.

"Have you killed anyone??" she asked quickly.

"What? Did you seriously just miss what I said, about turning murder into an art form?!"

"But you haven't actually killed anyone yet, have you? I read your file."

She glowered. "Technically, yeah, all right, maybe I haven't, but tonight's the night. You're going to be my first!"

She readied herself, controlled her breathing. "Find the spot where everything is connected to," she murmured.

Emily frowned. "What are you talking about now?"

Misaka kicked upwards, taking her right hand from the outcrop and feeling a tingling sensation in her palm. She grabbed at its source and harnessed the energy, like she had been taught. Lighting struck from her fingertips, and it struck Emily across the face, leaving a scorch mark, she stumbled backwards and fell over, gripping the part of her face that had been hit.

Misaka clutched at the edge of the pipe base, her legs swinging in open air. She grunted and pulled herself up, then flung her left arm across the edge and hauled herself the rest of the way up. She got to her feet, her arms and legs trembling with the strain, and moved quickly away from the edge. The wind whipped her blonde hair across her face.

Emily was slowly getting back up and Misaka saw anger in her face as she clutched her side of the face. "What have you done!?" Emily screamed at her.

Misaka held out her hand slightly and tried to concentrate the energy into a lightning bolt, she found the centre of the source and focused, trying to build it into a ball of lightning surrounding her hand, but Emily was coming at her like a freight train.

Misaka jumped and thrust out both of her feet. Her boots slammed into Emily's chest and she hit ground again and went sprawling. She turned to her just as she lashed a kick into her jaw. Her body twisted and she stumbled back, came up to her feet and then lost her balance, fell again. She spat blood and glared at Misaka.

"You little brat," She snarled. "You uppity, sneaky little brat. You don't know who you're messing with, do you? I'm going to be the greatest killer the world has ever known!" She stood up slowly, wiping her sleeve across her burst lip. "When I'm finished with you I'm going to deliver your mutilated, bloody carcass to your masters, as a warning. They sent you against me, alone. Next time they're going to have to send a battalion."

Misaka grinned, and Emily's anger flared. "What the hell is so funny, huh?"

"First of all," she said, her confidence growing. "they're not my masters. I don't have a master. Second, they don't need a battalion to take you down. And third...and this really is the most important point....whoever said I came alone?"

Emily frowned, turned and saw someone walking up behind her, a vampire in a long matte black coat, and she tried to attack, but a gloved fist hit her face, a foot hit her shin pad and a elbow slammed into her chest. She fell in a awkward heap on the cold floor.

Zekken Ghoulbane turned to Misaka. "You all right? you took quite a beating."

"I'll kill you both!!" Emily screeched.

"Hush, you," Zekken said.

Emily launched herself forward and Zekken moved into her, grabbed her outstretched arm and spun her around, then abruptly cut her off by slamming a forearm into her throat. Emily flipped in mid air, and landed painfully.

Zekken turned to Misaka again.

"I'm okay," She said. "Really, I am."

Emily had her hands to her face. "I think you broke my nose!" They ignored her.

"She talks a lot," Misaka said, "but I don't think she knows what all the words mean."

Emily leaped up. "I am the omega killer! I make murder into an art form!"

Zekken hit her again and Emily did a little twirl before falling.

"Emily Knightwood," he said, "by the power endowed onto me by the supreme council, I am placing you under arrest for the attempted murder of several people."

Emily tried one last desperate attack that Zekken cut short by punching her very hard directly on her nose. The omega killer wobbled, collapsed and started crying.