The Black Reaper's Shadow

1. Awakening

Chapter 1

      I was shivering when I woke up. A thin layer of frost covered my clothes and my face. My legs were stiff as I tried to stand, but I used the blistering cold wall for support. The metal room I had passed out in hadn't changed in the slightest, but the door was cracked open. The contractor who froze me in here had shut the door so I wouldn't thaw out. I was so cold.

      How long had I been asleep?

      I stumbled out into a dark train yard and a wave of nauseating heat smacked me in the face. The train cars all around me were rusted and eroded compared to the ones I had seen while fighting here. It was winter when I was locked in that frigid coffin and now it was around mid-summer. Well, I guess I missed my birthday. Happy eighteenth birthday, Marie.

      My eyes went routinely up to the sky to study whose stars had fallen, but I only cared about two in particular. The contractor I had lost my last fight to was still alive and wandering around, being as his star hadn't fallen yet. The Black Reaper's star was, to no surprise, shining brightly as usual. Lastly, the star that filled me with the most relief was MA-112. "I wonder how hard it will be to find him."

      I left the train yard with a light head and started looking for a newspaper box. The city was noisy as always with the rushing of cars, taxis, and subways. Everything was perfectly normal.

      People passed me by without a second glance, but I couldn't help the instinct to grip my mask which rested in my pocket. I had never strolled down a street this openly before and it left me a little uneasy. My contractor had always taken to the shadows to keep me away from the public eye, but I didn't know what to do now that he wasn't beside me. Similar thoughts played through my mind until, finally, I reached a metal newspaper box beside a convenience store entrance. I took a coin from my pocket which had been frozen along with me and pulled a folded paper out as a man came sprinting around the corner across the street. I jerked my hood up over my head a moment before three police cruisers raced after the man.

      He was obviously a contractor, since he tried to escape. I started to walk down the same street that contractor had just come from and heard a crash in the alley beside me. I dropped my hood and turned slightly to get a look at what had happened.

      A human in a dirty suit lay helpless at the base of a dumpter with several bruises, a strong looking man with dark hair staring down at him with a growl, "Leave my family alone, scum, or I'll kill you."

      I pulled my mask out and slid it into place a second before both men looked over at me. The big man paled and started backing away, "Y-You're supposed t-to be d-dead."

      A cold feeling rose in my stomach, "Get lost, contractor."

      The man sprinted out of the alley and I approached the frightened human. He tried to scoot away from me, but I knelt in front of him with a kind tone, "Are you okay?"

      He was petrified, "Who are you?"

      I smiled behind my mask, "The dolls call me "Shadow". Do you need me to help you contact anyone?"

      He shook his head, "No. I'll be fine."

      My eyes stopped on the badge that was laying beside him and my tone came out more shocked than I had intended it to, "You're a police officer?"

      The man paled and I knew that look of absolute fear. He was expecting me to lash out at him since contractors couldn't stand people like him. I swallowed the lump in my throat, "Do you have any broken bones?"

      He shook his head, "No."

      I stood and offered my hand, "Can you stand?"

      He took it and I pulled him to his feet. The officer was taller than I had expected as I stared up at him, "Would you like me to accompany you to the nearest squad, or to the station? An officer by himself is easy prey for contractors."

      The man shook his head, "I can always call one of the squad cars to pick me up."

      I hesitated, "May I ask something of you, officer?"

      He smiled with amusement, but he was still nervous while talking to me, "As long as I can ask something of you."

      I consented, "Ask away."

      "What are you? I mean I would guess you were a contractor, but I've learned to never assume things so suddenly," his tone was polite as he tried to remain calm.

      I grinned beneath my mask, "That would be classified information. Under different circumstances, I might share such details. However, I..."

      What am I doing? Nobody owns me anymore. No one controls what I do or where I go.

      "Well, I'm an abnormality in this world. I have contractor abilities, but I don't want to be a neuscence to you or innocent humans. I wish I could explain in greater detail, however, I'm trying to find someone. Have you ever come acrossed an MI6 agent called November 11, or Jack Simon?" I said evenly, trying to keep from making him feel any more uncomfortable than he already was.

      He raised an eyebrow, "November 11? He's been dead for a few years now. He was killed while on the BK-201 case. Rumour is that he dicovered something important and attacked his own head administrators."

      I was rigid as the blood fled from my face, "He's dead...years?"

      Jerking the paper out from under my arm, I stared at the date and my world froze.My heart stopped beating and everything came to a stand still.

      It was August 14th.

      Five and a half years afters I was frozen.

      I had been asleep in that arctic coffin for nearly six years.