After the Red Sunset

Chapter 1

November 11 grimaced in pain as the knife wielded by BK-201 struck his forearm, crimson blossoming on the white fabric. He could feel the disbelief on his face. BK-201's actions were...illogical. A low voice snapped him out of his momentary shock. 'Die' rasped the masked figure. November reefed his arm back as he saw the blue glow of Synchrotron radiation envelop the contractor before him. Barely registering the knife ripping from his arm, he prepared to attack. Oh no you don't, he thought, summoning his powers in anger. The whistle of a projectile sounded, fire erupted before him and he brought his arms up to shield his face. When he lowered them, the masked figure was gone.

Who are you...BK-201...

The splish splash of footsteps brought him out of his musings. He turned and met a raised blue eyebrow.

"Been a while since I saw you run into trouble," April smirked at him.

"November..."

Both November and April looked down to July. The boy's gaze was fixed to the spreading patch of red on November's sleeve. November crouched down and met July's blank eyes. "Just a flesh wound," he smiled, ruffling the boy's hair as he stood again. He looked to April, "Well, it seems capturing BK-201 will be a greater challenge than I originally expected."

******

"That was a joke..." Misaki stated flatly. She looked over November, taking in the bandaged arm. "You should get out of here, I'll be in contact if we need anything else from you." November just nodded, still slightly rattled from the information the police chief had shared with him. So Havoc hadn't regained her powers...then why was BK-201 leading her away from the Gate? Wasn't the entire point to take her there so she would regain her powers? You certainly are a mystery...BK-201, he thought.

November bid farewell to Misaki and walked over to where his red RX-8 was parked. April and July would be at their shared apartment having already taken a cab back. Stepping around to the driver's side door November stopped dead. He stared incredulous. Someone had keyed his car. He clenched his teeth, feeling the urge to slowly freeze the blood of whoever had committed the act. Ruined suit, ruined mission, and now, ruined car. Letting out a held breath, he sighed. He was tired from the evening's events. This could wait. The car came to life with a rumble and the MI6 agent departed, leaving melting ice and unanswered questions behind.

******

Hei, or rather Li Shengshun, squeezed the sponge as he lifted it from the soapy bucket. His next assignment was obtaining intel on one of the Syndicate's own investors, suspected of auctioning information off to external parties. The member was known to frequent the car detailing service he was now working for and the Black Reaper was instructed to plant a bug in the infotainment system of the member's car. He did not know why a contractor of his skill had been given such a menial task but he suspected it had something to do with his apparent failure with Havoc recently.

"Oi, you." Hei looked up from his scrubbing as a short, stout man in grease covered overalls called for his attention. "I need you to do the RX-8 when you are done with that one."

"The RX-8..." Hei queried, confused.

"The Mazda you idiot! Don't you know a thing about cars!" The man exclaimed, placing his hands on his hips.

Hei seethed internally. He figured he didn't need to know that much in order to clean them. But he pushed that aside and adopted the apologetic, naive tone of Li, the Chinese exchange student.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Of course."

He heard the man tsk at him before walking away, muttering to himself.