As Harbinger crashed out the ceiling to flail around their arms in the air, under their mask, they gritted their teeth. Pieces of debris hovering beside their ambiguous figure, from the center of their right palm, they formed a lance from the tech embedded into the suit, using it as an aid, utilizing the end so they could land onto the Smithsonian's rooftop.
Skidding backward with the sharpness of the spear implanting into the roof, Harbinger stood themself upright, looking up and spotting him. Fist burning ablaze with that fiery energy, she rolled right out of the way as his knuckles slammed into the platform she was formerly standing on, standing back as he turned around now. Lengthening the lance so her range could increase, the Judge watched as they spun it around, going for quick and easy slashes. One right across the head, he ducked right under, just as he was about to speed right ahead to go for their ankles while crouched, they'd leaped to the air.
A smug grin forming over his lips; the end of the lance had hovered against the Unlimited barrier invisibly formed around his soul. Gasping in shock, he yanked them close with a pulling motion and kicked them right in the chest so they could go falling across the rooftop. Sliding on their side to reach the edge itself, remnants of debris lodged in their suit, Harbinger rubbed their head, as if having been disoriented from the blow.
The only reason they were still standing now was likely because of their adrenaline pumping through their veins because if not for that, their broken ribs would immediately render them unconscious. Harbinger parted their lips beneath their helmet, feeling it peel back to reveal some blackened hair, black lipstick, needless to say, despite having a wife, and the opponent being androgynous, Alex couldn't help but smile,
"And here I thought the fabled Harbinger would look like an ugly piece of shit. Needless to say... I was right," u
"How rude. An Incarnated Requiem Artifact, after all the things I've heard about you, I thought you'd be such a gentleman," Retorted Harbinger sarcastically at their opponent.
The lance kneeing the middle so the parts could split right in the center, they grabbed at the handles and formed them into daggers, blades lengthening, Harbinger aimed it right ahead. The tip pointed at his chest, the Judge scoffed, taking out the tie in his hair so it could all fall into his palm, he slicked it all back with a dramatic sigh,
"This should be easy. All I have to do is rip that suit off of you... shouldn't be too hard-" Widening his eyes, smirking widening over his pink-tinted lips, there was a literal nanosecond between her previous position at the roof's edge to kneeling in front of him.
Slashing upright at his neck, he weaved right to the left, blade tilting the opposite direction, Harbinger went right for the duel combos with the two short swords. Walking as she slashed, going for the head, raising an arm to block the attack, they touched against the Unlimited barrier as they trusted both swords forward to his chest. Releasing kinetic energy so they could fall back, wrists loosening their grip on the weapons, the shockwave sent Harbinger right off their feet. Reeling back a leg so they could try and aim for another chest kick, Harbinger once again brought down their swords, arms turning to a blur, hair moving with the wind, the Judge went on the offensive. White lightning encircling his knuckles, the air to the front of them both was engulfed by sword slashes followed by black blurs behind them and punches to collide against the slanted nature of the swords.
However, her speed could never match up to his own, as it was not just his swiftness she was inferior to, but every single aspect of his body. The strength behind the blows sent her entire body shivering, not to mention her already broken six ribs; the oddest thing about it was that - his figure wasn't that toned. He didn't have extreme bulging muscles popping out the sleeves of his grey-armored hoodie, they were regular, skinny, like that of a twenty-odd-year-old. So, Harbinger couldn't help but wonder to themself, arms still moving, relying on their instinct to continuously slash everywhere,
~What the hell IS an Incarnated Requiem Artifact..?~
He was just as agile as she was; he simply had more muscle mass than her, how come he can move like this,
~It doesn't make any sense... What could give someone such great physical capabilities...Is he just crazy or something...?~
Harbinger was outmatched. They had tried everything she could to beat him, with the Unlimited barrier withholding their ability to fully incapacitate or even just land a basic hit on him, it was almost like battling a God. But even that description was too humanoid, the best thing they could think of to describe Alexander Amara, the Requiem Judge was... a monster!
Even the way he moved was just so inhuman, not to mention the fact that he was able to possess this kind of speed and agility, it would take him mere seconds to put them to sleep.
Enough time passed, and their arms grew limp, even their armor couldn't sustain them anymore, despite their quick movements, the adrenaline was wearing off. Collapsing to their knees to his crotch, the Judge watched over them, and knelt on a singular knee, staring into their darkened pupils,
"Goodbye-" Just as he was about to bid them farewell from the land of the living, a hand extended out from their chest and grabbed onto his wrist. Struggling to tear it off, the shape of this arm was artificial in design, all black, lean, skinny, yet it didn't glow, though it was cybernetic, considering it just grew out from their armor's center, nothing he tried seemed to work.
Utilizing his free hand to try and tear it off from the wrist, he winced at the pain, a sharpness entering his bloodstream, eyes widening, he watched as the arm retracted into Harbinger's armor. Just like that, reaching but one hand out, a portal engulfed them, and Harbinger had vanished before his very eyes, for even with his inhuman speed, he just wasn't fast enough to stop their retreat.
Something about it was odd, though, that didn't look like it originated from them, it seemed like that was a true fight, right to the death, in all intents and purposes, that's what they seemed to believe as well. From the way they so nervously sweat when they were clashing, they seemed worried, like, even though they and their employer, likely Callum Rivers, had been everything, they didn't know what they were getting into in the slightest. Once again, Alex was clueless, all he could do was stare at the hole in his sleeve; blood extracted, the wound already regenerated, Amara sat right on the rooftop.
Tiredly sighing, digging into his pocket so he could find his hair tie, he bunched up all his locks and set his strands back into the man bun style, all while asking himself,
"What are you planning... Callum Rivers?"
Meanwhile, in the basement of the Smithsonian, the quartet of Agents searched through the boxes. June crazily throwing whatever she deemed useless behind her, Kima pushing around objects in the box, Katie taking out and examining each object she found, and finally, Ace had just used his eyes to scan,
"Nothing in- uh… what are you guys doin'?" Asked the Ginger of his female cohorts, leading them all to stand up from their positions and look to Ace,
"Uh, we're looking in the boxes, why? What're YOU doing?" Kima insinuated pointing her finger at Ace, Katie chuckling as she covered her lips,
"I'm saying that you and Kate don't have to do any work, June and I have better vision and we can look for shit faster, so we should do all the searching," Ace volunteered him and his younger sister, one arm in his pocket while the other was just gesturing away,
"Why me?! You know my eyes get tired quicker than yours! I don't have those cool sunglasses like you, y'know?" June made circular shapes with her fingers over her eyes, as if signaling glasses, staring at her brother while Katie chuckled in the background yet again,
"Yeah, yeah, 'your eyes get tired quicker than mine', what sorta bullshit is that? My eyes are more powerful than yours!" He claimed loudly,
"No, they aren't! Just because their eye is rougher doesn't mean they're cooler or more powerful or whatever you just said! After all, my eyes are more soothing to look at, not to mention my powers are fancier~" She sweetly answered.
As the two siblings bickered continuously in the background, Katie couldn't help but laugh at their banter, Kima facepalming, she whispered to herself as she shook her head side to side disapprovingly,
"Why am I dating that idiot..?"
But as the purple-eyed girl turned her head, what she saw was the wholesome smile of Katie, laughing as she watched her cousins 'fight' with one another. That look on her face, she remembered just a day ago before they went to the bathhouse when she was upset and threw up on their welcome mat. She couldn't help but wonder what happened, what Ace told her that made her feel so better, but at this point, all she did but was smile... she did seem purely happy, at this point,
"Alright, Ace, if you insist, Katey and I will just relax here while you two do all the work!" Proclaimed Kima raising her arms with a content smile,
"That's all I do anyway..." Whispered Ace as he dragged June along so they could search through the remaining boxes, and just as he'd said, the sibling duo went to do so.
If an estimation could be given about the number of boxes that held the remnants from the past regarding Riverton City's construction, it would be around 20 containers, with about all of them holding invaluable information, just around the 10-minute mark; they'd finished with everything. Ace and June falling onto their faces, though they hadn't even done anything, Kima and Katie had their stomachs grumble... had it only been 20 minutes since they entered? How much time had truly passed, and the better question to ask is - why did it feel like no time had passed in the slightest? As Ace raised his head from the ground, he scratched at the side of his head. They'd found practically nothing leading to the employee list of this landmark's construction, and yet, that wasn't even the concern,
"This feels... stagnate," Katie observed audibly, standing upright from her seated posture beside Kima, she tapped against Ace's head,
"Check the boxes Kima and I first went through," She instructed of her older cousin,
"You do it... lazy goth," Jokingly retorted Ace at her, leading her to grumble as she crossed her arms over her chest, stepping across the ground, her fingers leading her- attempting to remember where she stood at the beginning of the search.
Just as she was about to wander further down the row, there was something that caught her attention from the corner of her eye, a mere glimpse activating a spark in the air connecting her to a lost soul from the Old World. There it stood, a simple clipboard riddled with the rest of the pile, littered with random names she didn't recognize, her fingers grabbing it,
~Random. Whatever. Don't know you. Useless- wait... is this?~ As she flipped through the pages over and over, she reached the final one... this wasn't the construction staff for the creation of the Riverton Smithsonian, no.
This was the employee list for every single Island-wide member of city organizations scattered across the City. Hospitals, scientists, business owners, business workers, police officers, government officials, and this back page belonged specifically to those who'd been blacklisted; excommunicated from the list, likely fired, or let go due to unknown circumstances. At the top, there his name was, written in all bold letters, assumed to be working for the Riverton Police Force as a Detective investigating deviant crimes committed by societal rejects... the Fool Prince and Crow of Justice from the Old World,
Azazel Karlo.
"D... Dad?"
This is a story of acceptance.
To Be Continued.