Humans are creatures mostly built on their minds, for every individual entity that identifies as the mammal species 'human' has a different viewpoint on an identical topic. For instance, the evolution of mankind by way of the scenario foretold by the Founder of the Evolution Frontier, Callum Rivers. As you may know by now, his reasoning is far from rational and close to a personal relation to this topic, as he was a victim of the abuse of those sworn to protect the people. In an attempt to horde the masses and ensure no more rebellions occurred ever again, the Government blamed the attack on Texas on a third party. Most of the people believed this to be a lie, but no one would dare question it publicly, as doing so would lead to a widespread rumor that challenging this statement would lead to execution. After all, if the Government was capable of wiping out a whole state to preserve their power, they wouldn't mind heeding out their horde to breed their sheep to be more obedient.
Rizia, being a secret assassin for the Government, was prone to this decision, as they witnessed it before their eyes on that day, considering they were right behind that screen which held an HD view of the diaster before their very eyes. Out of the hundreds of thousands of people, they'd meet, there were only two people that objected to the Elite's manipulation. One, being her Founder, Callum, of course, and the other being none other than a private eye working for the people to solve personal cases, and he went by the pseudonym 'The Crow.'
With that being said, a knock was heard on a wooden door in Paris, of all the places in the world. Blue eyes looking into a mirror as a shaver slid across his chin, miniature strands of beard hair floated elegantly into the sink below. Interrupted by that knocking sound, a simple switch to the 'off' part had deactivated the razor, a towel washing over the shaving cream, a knob turned to the side, there his face was. Popping out the door to see a person with a feminine body shape, yet, if covered up properly, could easily pass for a male. He never thought he'd see the day, so, without a sparkle in either of their eyes, the door slammed in their face and Rizia's strands blew back,
"He really hasn't changed, huh? Welp, didn't wanna have to do this but... who am I kidding, this'll be fun!" Declared Harbinger as a simple kick sent the door blowing inward to aim right at his back.
Ascending the tiny stairway so they could stand in the doorframe bordering the interior of the apartment and the bustling streets of France's capital, Rizia's hands were hidden in her leather jacket's pockets. Popping out the bathroom with a silenced barrel pointed to their chest, the black-haired Detective apathetically gazed at their height; their familiar features, ones he'd wished to never lay his pupils upon again,
"I don't ever remember giving you my address, whore. Be like a good little dumb bitch and flee from my sight before I mutilate your body..." Azazel hatefully growled at them, still without sight of hate in his blue-colored eyes,
"I'd like to see you try, Azzy~" Rizia teased with a little bit of their tongue poking out their lips.
And just like that, a bullet fired outward from the barrel to fly toward their heart, just by the squeeze of a trigger. Easily dodged by a simple duck, bowing their head, Rizia let a tiny dagger slid down their sleeve and into their palm's grip. Unleashing it outward to aim at the pistol, gloved fingers wrapped around the handle amid its soaring in mid-air, Azazel destined to throw it right back at them. However, just as they'd caught it, and their obscured vision had returned to normal, his nose was met with a crack as a boot connected to his face. Blood emerging out his nostrils, without any pained reaction visible over his eyes or mouth, he immediately grabbed her surprised face and smashed the back of her head against the wooden floorboards.
One. Two. Three. Fractures across the skull spread outward from the rear to the summit and after that, even then, he wasn't gone. Throwing them behind him so their back could crash against the wall, Rizia immediately came to and caught their stolen dagger before it could pierce between their eyes. Running ahead with two arms dragging behind, Azazel went for a punch straight for the sprinting assassin's face, but as their knuckles sunk to a floorboard now broken, a slash from the blade's sharpened end connected to his ankle. Blood decorating the floor, Karlo slowly turned around... and smirked.
Trickling down their forehead and nostrils, a gash over their forehead, not to mention a cut slash over their lips, Harbinger still stood on two feet as proud as ever with a weapon branded. Bearing their fangs at the strongest around, in this state, even with the damage they'd taken to their body; one thing was certain. They wouldn't back down, and that made them dangerous, especially to this degree, so, Azazel slid his legs out. Forming a new stance, the next thing he knew, they were speeding right at him, but he didn't fall for the same trick twice. That was when Rizia's feet propelled themselves up, two limbs shielding his face, two kicks landed on his arms.
Landing back on two feet, revealing their face afterward, Karlo couldn't help but widen their eyes, there was no blood over his face, not his nose or streaming down his forehead. Just then, it hit him like a semi-truck and reality had become clear. They weren't utilizing their full strength in the slightest, however, at the expense of doing so, they were moving at a top speed that seemed superhuman. Their fists and legs only blur as they swiftly darted from each point on his body, an uppercut to the chin, a barrage of punches to his chest, applied pressure to paralyzing points locked onto by fingers' tips. Neck, shoulders spread downward to their arms, all leading to a single climax. Azazel tripped off his balance with a single leg sweep, and as he was about to fall to his side, a strengthened punch cracked four of his ribs.
Flying right out the wall that Harbinger previously was thrown against, he tumbled into the back alley rear to his apartment's back door. Skidding through a puddle and hitting fences on his way out, Karlo held his incapacitated shoulder, weakly chuckling as they strolled out the hole in the wall and crouched before him. Licking at the blood over their cut lip then wiping the stream exiting their nostrils, Azazel couldn't help but smile at them,
"Looks like Kuno is doing just fine with his new lapdog... huh?" He rhetorically queried with a weakened smirk over his bloodied mouth,
"You helped to deal a blow to his reputation when you left and testified against him, right? Your dumbass should've known it never woulda worked... but the past's the past. I have a new way for you to rebel," They clarified, tapping all over his arms to deactivate the pressure points' effect over his body, to which he groaned at the feeling.
Closing then opening his fist, the numbness had been extinguished, and yet, there remained the other issue: his four cracked ribs. Then again, none of them had powers, so the moment he tried to stand himself upright, he just tumbled back and fell right onto his ass yet again,
"Good job there, you really did somethin' there," They commented.
"Shut the hell up... you've piqued my interest, though. What's this about... a new way to rebel?"
An hour or so later, a crack was heard as he felt his neck make a bend just a bit to the right, a little moan bursting out his mouth just at the sensation. Whiskey pouring into a glass, the sound of such seemed gratifying, especially after such a spat downstairs they had to spend a whole 60 minutes recovering. Now, with the door nailed shut to the frames on both ends, yet with the design flaw of the hole nailed into the broken wall; there remained two problems Azazel'd have to fix later,
"I'm surprised to see you alone. Wasn't the reason you left for some girl?" They asked worriedly, pouring her old friend a glass standing behind the counter.
Quick note, to the hole in the wall leading to the back alley of the apartment, there was a stairway leading up to the right where there was a makeshift-like bar. Tons of alcoholic drinks littered about the shelves to their head's backside, and yet the duo had mutually agreed upon whiskey,
"I'm surprised, too. Funnily enough, I had hope for this one… but it just crashed and burnt, like all things eventually do," Azazel depressingly whispered with a forced smile painted over his lips,
"What ever happened between you and her?" Asked the Harbinger taking a sip from the liquor cut they'd poured.
But after they'd asked this, a shocked expression seemed to slide over their features, stemming from just a widened look over both their eyes. Closing their lips together so they'd made a line, of course… a tear fell from his jaw to create a tiny puddle on the intact wooden floorboard below. There was a sinking feeling one could never describe after such an experience, drowning in nothing but emptiness that seemed to envelop him, not only his body but his entire being. One could never could to terms with such a thing, why else would there be so many liquor bottles decorating the shelves?
"Uh… she was pregnant, and I wanted to keep it. I mean, I had money to help take care of the kid, she didn't really have to be in the kid's life if she didn't want to. Turns out she had it aborted. I mean, that's fine, ya know, she can do whatever she wants with her body but…"
Rizia strolled from behind the counter and decided to cradle his head in their arms, so he could gently rest his forehead against their chest. Limbs snuck around their back to rest over their slim waist, and as his cries were muffled, new bursts of information stood interjected within those despairing sobs,
"I wanted to start anew… I had a chance to start something that wasn't… that wasn't me…! And I could've made them so much better than me…"
"It's okay," They cooed in response, stroking the top of his head, spiky black strands slicking back with every motherly slide.
The sounds of the outside world were drowned out by his desperate sobs, the hope for a new life was gone; and he was stuck with the same old thing he was born with. Himself. The chance had perished before his eyes and he was powerless to stop it, with all his abilities in his arsenal, here, in this moment… there was nothing he could do that could rival the cruelty of humanity.
As the sun set on Paris, a drink of water washed down the alcohol burning his throat as it slid down his throat. Head rested against the wooden counter across the bar, a lighter lit aflame the butt of a blunt so they could inhale the smoke and push it outward with a single puff. Coughs in the background soon followed with the gulping of water, Azazel let two fingers walk on the bar's separator as if they were two legs,
"I don't really get why she did it, ya know. All I wanted was a fucking kid and she just took that away from me… women suck sometimes, man," Karlo admitted unleashing a childish whoosh sound effect as his fingers glided over the glass cup,
"Tell me 'bout it. My mother fucking, uh, shit… what was it..? Oh, yeah, I think she like- did something to me. I can't remember. Want some?" They held out the weed stick to him leaning against the counter,
"Nah, I'm an alcoholic.. uh, fuck it," He said and took it by the end so he could lodge it between his lips and sigh, all while inhaling the smoke.
Azazel and Rizia spent the entire duration of the sunset period getting high together in the comfort of his own home, so much so that, whi eating brownies together, they decided to star gaze through the dark-blue night sky while laying flat on the apartment's roof. The clouds weren't as widespread as expected. To the contrary, actually. For such a sprawling metropolis like this one, there was expected to be such an unprecedented volume of light pollution infecting the skies.
And yet, for some odd reason, on this very night, an unimportant one in the grand scheme of the continuously spiraling cogs that built upon this world, the stars reflected in their eyes. Azazel's dark blue, Rizia's black-shaded, at this moment; the best way to describe the sight carved out into the night sky before their eyes was unrealistic.
You'd see something like this in a movie, maybe some cliche as the characters look up to the sky searching for some ethereal answer to their dilemma. Something from beyond those twinkling stars, that which was indescribable yet guided them to the truth, but there was nothing of that sort. There was only this infinite darkness, a void before them, one that enveloped not only the entire world they knew but existence, as they knew it. Of course, locked onto this planet, how could they ever realize that, truly? How could everything higher than this ever exist..?
A sigh slid out from the Detective's lips, Kosuke watching as he sat upright, he took a final snack right out the box between them both. Throwing the brownie within his mouth, teeth all crunching around at the chocolate taste, a single sip of water had drowned it all out to follow the sugary taste…
"Were those edibles?" He asked, still staring ahead at the sparkling city lights shining against his pale face,
"Yes… nothing be feelin' real…" Rizia replied dramatically with their arms spread outward and eyes wide, not to mention the overly wide smirk.
But, oddly enough, he stood this way, his eyes still swollen, and yet, he sheepishly chuckled. A new way to rebel. Would that bring them back? Wherever that kid was now, would they be content with the path he was choosing to go down? Then again, the future was unknown to everyone; no one could truly ever know the truth, no matter what they were told. An unexpected thought that seemed to be ironic considering who was the leader of this 'new way', even then, he accepted the fact that he was himself. Nothing could change that, no matter how much he wallowed around in self pity, hating and despising himself for not being intelligent enough to point it out- nothing could change the past.
In the end, 'right' and 'wrong' were indistinguishable forces unknown to anyone, for each and every individual entity has their own interpretations of those moralities. Fighting for the sake of either would be selfish, and so, at the bottom of his heart, the choice was made,
"A new way to rebel… whatever it is, as long as it ensures those above pay for what they've done, I'll do it," Azazel declared, blinking momentarily, a finger's knuckle wiping his eyes' verges now standing tall in the night's darkness, bathing himself in the moon's sole illumination,
"In that case-!" Rizia jumped right up from laying flat on their back, and stuck out their hand to their former partner… a smile carved over their pink lips, short hair moving with the wind, they welcomed with a warm focalization in their vocals,
"Welcome… to Mankind's Evolution Frontier."
To Be Continued!