Sunderance: Chapter 14 - Kitsunetsuki (Complete)

    The display was nothing if not theatrical. He had to admit, the sense of danger - of lethality - in air tainted by the coppery stink of fresh blood was somewhat enhanced when twin embers appeared from the shadows. There was something tangible to the shadows, however. Something real watching him as impassive green eyes returned the gaze curiously. While he expected the image and the bodies would have caused most others to panic, the tingle that ran down his spine as he stood his ground was one of disquiet and tension. Preparation. Fear was a survival instinct, after all. He could already sense the way the world around him sharpened and focused as adrenaline surged through his blood.

    His nostrils flared and his nose gave a few curious twitches as he took a few slow steps away from the door leading back into the DMV. Even if this new arrival entered the building, he had no doubt that Flash had not been exaggerating about the difficulties anyone wishing to enter his domain would face. Still, he didn’t move towards the eyes. Just… walked along the wall to see if they would follow him. Were they dead? Lifeless? No. They tracked him even as he stopped. The glow. A trick of the light? In the dim light, he had no doubt that his own eyes were luminous, so that was not out of the question. Though the steady glow of the ghostly red didn’t remind him of any mammal he knew, though it also explained a few things.

    “In the very few stories about you,” he said, shattering a silence left by three dead predators as he came to a stop and tapped his baton against his thigh in an almost idle motion, “I find it funny that they never mention the eyes.”

    He didn’t even have time to think about how fast the motion was before the shadow itself moved like a living thing and swooped in on him. Reflex, years of intense training, and a touch of luck raised his paw in a snap to deflect something. Something solid to the touch, and moving with enough force to cause the bone in his forearm to ache even with what could have been called a perfect deflection. When he lashed out with a quick swipe of the baton, the shadow did not jump back or dodge. It simply seemed to shrink by a few inches, allowing the blow to harmless pass through the inky dark without finding solid purchase.

    He smelled scent mask.

    One.

    Instantly on full guard, he brought his elbow back after missing with the baton, his eyes followed the shadow as what was clearly an arm blocked the blow. He instantly dropped the elbow, drawing his opponent towards him as he shoved forward with his upper body until they made chest-to-chest contact.

    He heard an almost imperceptible grunt.

    Two.

    Another blow came from his right in a blur of black, blocked by a rise of his shoulder as he pressed forward to unbalance his opponent. The shuffle of two pairs of feet on the asphalt was halted when one raised, giving him half a second of forward momentum before the shadow attempted to sweep his leg.

    He felt a whisper of breath ruffle his cheek fur.

    Three.

    He planted his feet, absorbing the blow only to find that the swift shadow had not been following his forward motion. Seeing his mistake too late, a sharp yank on his tie had him stumbling forward and into a quick, sharp pain sliced through his cheek.

    He saw a shimmer of light reflect from off a blade from within the shadow.

    Snapping away and taking a few steps back when the shadow didn’t follow, he rolled his neck slowly as he watched the dark thing in front of him. Fast. Incredibly fast. There was no need for him to raise his paw to his cheek as the scent of his own warm blood reached his nose even over the stink of dead wolf. It had been as close to a perfect strike as he could imagine and he doubted very much he would be breathing if whoever this was had intended to kill him. A lucky break for him, and a lesson in not underestimating the unknown again.

    “I don’t believe in ghosts, you know,” he said, green eyes sharpening as he ran the very short confrontation through his mind again. Reaching behind his back with his baton, he noticed a subtle shift in the shadow. A little… Tension forming for a fraction of a second before allowing his now empty paw to drop to his side again. A scent, breath, reaction to physical contact, and now tension in the face of a perceived threat. “I also expected you to be taller.”

    This time he moved first, closing the short distance between them as he dropped to all fours and pivoted quickly to lash out with his tail and his leg at the same moment. Both were easily avoided but the shadow was forced to drop back in a quick jump to do so.

    One.

    This allowed him to carry the momentum of his spin around as he came up on the pads of his feet, his now free paw emerging from his jacket with this handgun swinging around with the motion. It was a terribly sloppy move, the sort one only saw in action films where the star power drove home half-ass fighting skills. The sort of thing that looked amazing visually, but was so blindly obvious that any fool could see it coming. The shadow was no fool and did exactly what Nick might have done in the same situation. Rather than dodge again, it moved into and past the barrel of the gun for what he had no doubt would be a far more vicious blow than the last little scratch on the cheek.

    Two.

    Only, before that blow came, the shadow slammed full force into the baton that he had dropped from the sleeve of his jacket during the sweep. There was a brutal thump and crack as he drove the tip into the baton center mass into the shadow, followed by a satisfyingly loud whoosh as the air was driven out of very solid lungs.

    Three.

    A blinding pain and light dazed him for a second when a foot connected with the underside of his muzzle, snapping it to the side and forcing him to roll away. Satisfaction was still his, however, watching the shadow stumble back a few steps unsteadily, clutching at the spot he had struck. Then the flickering began. Sort of like watching a television screen short out. The shadow cracked as various lines of static formed across the surface, flickered for a moment before wavering as if trying to decide what to do next.

    Then the figure within the shadows, who was almost visible now, reached up and slapped at the chest of his suit. Then she shadows flickered off for good, leaving the fox facing what might have been the very last thing he had expected.

    “I’ll be honest,” he said as he drew himself to his feet, sliding the gun back into its shoulder holster while watching the figure with cautious and curious eyes, “I did not expect Yurei to be a bunny.”

    The bunny - because that was clearly what stood in front of him now - was taller than any bunny he could remember seeing in his limited experience. Rather than the round, fluffy build of your average bunny, this one was lean. His body seemed to be made of edges rather than curves, but that was in part an illusion made real by the angular design of the fur tight suit he wore. Exceptionally long ears for a bunny, which made him wonder if this rabbit was from The Common Wealth at all, gave him an unusual and dangerous feel. That and the long blade he held in one paw, which Nick could easily connect to the mild sting that lingered on one cheek.

    “She calls me Jack.”

    Soft spoken, not entirely because the voice came from behind the deep purple scarf that he wore wrapped around his and over his muzzle. Nick said nothing in reply as the rabbit reached up to pull the scarf away from his muzzle, though he knew exactly what 'she' he was referring to. Cold blue met calm green in silence, considering each other for a long moment before he moved the baton behind his back, this time sliding it into its sheath as he started to wander the lot. His eyes never left the bunny.

    “So, what do you want here, Jack?” he said at length, taking the time to smooth and adjust the lines of his suit with a few quick tugs.

    “How did you know about the hologram?” came the reply, the voice delivering it as pointed as the blade in his paw.

    “You mean, why didn’t I think you were some ghost or demon?” He gave a short shrug in reply as he stopped next to one of the dead wolves and the SMG that was still strapped to the wolf’s shoulder. “I don’t believe in them. I smelled scent mask when you first came close, felt you breathing. You were solid enough.”

    “I wasn’t talking about that. It’s not meant to make me seem like a ghost,” was the reply, one that Nick noted came a with an undertone of impatience under the overwhelming calm. “I meant: how did you know where to hit me to damage it?”

    “Oh, I didn’t,” he admitted, his tail flicking behind him lightly as he studied the prey in front of him with rapt curiosity. He couldn’t see any damage to the suit itself, which meant there was likely some sort of underlying technology in the fabric itself. He could only assume that he must have hit something vital. “Blind luck? I didn’t even know personal holograms existed to that extent, though it explains how you are in Zootopia.”

    “They don’t,” was the only reply, one that was followed by a few beats of silence before Nick decided it was his turn to speak again.

    “Why did Neveen send you?”

    Even saying the name caused a little clench in his chest, though it was nothing unfamiliar to him. He had not spoken the name aloud in years now, even if it ran through his mind every day, as did the face of the vixen attached to it. The play of a frown over Jack’s muzzle was not a surprise to him. While he hadn’t spoken to her, he knew very well that she had gone to great length to bury that name.

    “It would be in everyone’s best interest if you referred to her as The Administrator,” he said, his long ears twitching and radaring for a moment towards a distant sound. “Or Kyubi, if you’re feeling bold.”

    “Oh, right,” Nick said with no attempt at all to hide the sarcasm in his voice, placing one paw over his chest as a look of snarky irritation crossed his muzzle. “I would never endanger her pretend identity. So, why did Neveen send you?”

    Rather than annoyance or anger, he noted that the eyes of the bunny went from cold to ice as his ears dropped back for a moment. He felt another little tingle down his spine, the sort of thing that warned of danger, but he expected if this ‘Jack’ had been sent to kill him, then they would not be having a conversation. The ice remained, however, when the reply came. “She wishes to extend an invitation. She wants a meeting, as she worded it, to discuss why you have returned to help the lawyer. She wants to meet at the Apex of the Tower in two days.”

    “I never went anywhere,” he muttered under his breath, reaching up to rub one paw down the length of his muzzle without taking his eyes off the rabbit. Eyes that narrowed suddenly when an idea struck that made him sick to his stomach. “Wait. She never expected anyone to help Judy, did she? So, what? She expected her to come to Zootopia to die?”

    “Of course not,” was the instant reply, one which held the first note of amusement from the male. “She had every intention of protecting Miss Hopps.”

    A little more than a tickle this time. A full shiver ran down his spine at the tone and the implication that came with it. If any individual mammal in the city would have been capable of protecting her, he had no doubt that it would have been someone with a reputation like Yurei. Having been given a small taste of those skills himself, he had no doubt that it very easily could have been done. An open display of sovereign protection wouldn’t have worked, after all. It would have to be done in secret, in silence, and with the last mammal anyone would expect. Another bunny would have been perfect. He had to fight to desire to grind his teeth as he placed his paws on his hips.

    “So, was this some sort of test, then?” he asked, finding himself wishing he had punched the baton through the annoying rabbit’s chest. “You were the one who was supposed to protect her, so you wanted to see how the competition measured up?”

    “Competition?” The tone remained amused even as the bunny drew himself up a bit and started to move for the first time since his hologram had been disabled. Nick felt that the bunny moved with the easy confidence of someone who didn’t care that he had been exposed. At the same time, the fact that he still held the knife told an entirely different story. “You think highly of yourself, given where that cut could have landed.”

    “Oh, so you do have some emotion tucked away in that suit,” Nick said, moving parallel to the bunny now as they started to circle each other. “Tell me how that sarcasm works for you while you nurse those broken ribs. And you still haven’t answered my question.”

    The amused shimmer in blue eyes dimmed a fraction, an almost petty feeling of victory allowing him to grin viciously when the rabbit reached up to rub almost unconsciously at his ribs as they circled each other.

    “Yes,” came the reply, which at this point was no surprise to him. They both came to a stop not far from each other, the fox looking down at the bunny while he tried to decide which one of them was the predator and which one was prey. “Though it would have made little difference in the long-term outcome. It is clear at this point that Miss. Hopps trusts you to protect her…”

    “Trust might be a strong word,” he muttered under his breath.

    “…and even though I am, shall we say, closer to home for her,” Jack continued as if there had been no interruption, “it is doubtful that she would appreciate an offer of a new protector since you have proven effective enough.”

    “I somehow feel like I’ve just been insulted,” Nick said, his expression shifting to a bored sort of annoyance for a moment before he shrugged slightly. “If I were to believe you, this does clear up a few questions I have had for her.”

    “If you accept the invitation, I am sure you will have all the answers you need.”

    The bunny now took a few steps away, though his eyes never left those of the fox. Finally, he turned the long knife in his paw and moved to sheathe it, allowing Nick his first real chance to have a look at it. The metal was dark gray, marked with inconsistent waves that seemed to run the length of the blade. An old metal working technique. Durable, expensive, and despite the deceptively simple hilt clearly not a simple throw-away weapon.

    “All the answers I need, but not all of the answers I want, I presume,” he replied as he committed the apparent length and craftsmanship to memory.

    “Isn’t that the way of these things?”

    “Yes, I suppose it is,” he said, resigned to the reality of it. A meeting with her was a step, to be sure. A step that he had not expected, one that he was not even sure he deserved, but it was one that he would take. If nothing else, it would allow him to spell out his intentions to protect Judy. When his eyes returned to the bunny, he watched with a slight tilt in his head as the scarf was pulled up over his muzzle again. An interesting thing, he considered, because it would do little to hide the fact that everything about the male screamed ‘bunny.’ “Did she send the tiger?”

    “There was no need for her to send anyone,” he replied, slim shoulder rising and falling in a simple motion of disinterest. “A bunny in Zootopia. Someone was bound to try something.”

    “At which point you would have swooped in to save the day,” Nick added, his tail twitching slightly as he glanced towards the still open door leading into the DMV. “What if she had refused to accept your help?”

    “I don’t see why it matters,” the rabbit said, his tone taking on a slight edge that amused Nick to no end. Obviously, he was not used to long conversations. “But I was to convince her by any means at my disposal.”

    “Including seduction?” he said, feeling his amusement rise further when the face of the other male darkened slightly before he gave a curt nod. The sharpness of the motion, as well as the information, had a light chuckle escaping him, a sound which had blue eyes focusing on him again.

    “That amuses you?”

    “Only slightly,” he admitted, then allowed a wide, long-toothed grin to spread over his muzzle the likes of which caused even this bunny’s eyes to dart down to the exposed canines. “I just happen to know that you’re not her type.”

________________________________________________________

    She had almost made a bumbling fool of herself by rushing into his arms when she’d seen him alive and well again. It had been his cool and on edge demeanor that had stopped her, and the fact that he seemed distant and thoughtful even as he’d taken her back to the car through the side entrance they’d originally entered from. In some ways, even now sitting in the car on their way back to the office, she felt the desire to make a bumbling fool of herself by admitting how afraid she’d been. The silence in the bunker had felt like an eternity, even as she’d filled it with everything from pleas and demands to bribes and threats in her attempt to get Flash to let her go help him. He hadn’t budged, of course. Not until the screens had suddenly cleared to show Nick standing alone with the bodies of the wolves, almost exactly how he’d been standing before picture had been lost.

    She expected to be angry later, but after he had used the panel by the door to tell Flash to send her, she had been so relieved to see him unhurt that anger simply hadn’t come. Now it was starting to slip through the cracks, however. Her fear, his silence, and the fact that three mammals had been killed by someone he hadn’t even identified…

    “It was Yurei,” he said, startling her with the sudden break in the silence that seemed to read her thoughts. “He’s a bunny. His name is Jack. He was sent by the Administrator to invite me to meet with her.”

    The sudden rush of information left her stunned to silence for a full five seconds before she found her voice. “Okay. Wait, what?” she corrected herself, turning in her seat to face him with a look that mix disbelief and simple shock. “Everything you just said is insane, Nick.”

    “The fact that he is a bunny named Jack is slightly insane,” he admitted, sparing her a sidelong glance as he took a turn.

    “And being invited to see the Administrator in person isn’t?” she questioned, finding herself not at all happy with how well he seemed to be taking all of it. Of course, she had also seen him kill an assassin, order around a crazy weasel, and walk among three dead wolves as if those things were normal so she wasn’t entirely sure why she was surprised.

    “Do you want to come?”

    “To meet the Administrator?” She was quite sure that the open-mouthed shock on her face wasn’t entirely visible. “Was I invited?”

    “I was invited,” he said easily, flashing a little grin in her direction that made her heart quicken. “I go where you go, and visa versa. So unless you want to spend a day in Flash’s bunker, you’re free to join me. If she won’t let you in, we’ll just find something else to do.”

    Long ears lifted as a smile spread quickly over her muzzle. “Yes,” she said, unable to keep the delight out of her voice as she settled back into her seat. “I would like that.”

    The now comfortable silence that stretched between them was filled with thoughts of questions, ideas, their recent encounter, and…

    “Nick,” she began, glancing over to look at the cut on the side of his face. “if he was sent to deliver a message, why are you hurt?”

    “I wouldn’t exactly call this hurt, Carrots,” he replied, his tone echoing amusement. When her expression didn’t change to match his amusement, he released a slow sigh. “We’ll call it a... Challenge. A test of skill.”

    “So Yurei is an assassin,” she muttered under her breath, frowning slightly at the idea that the Administrator employed killers for hire.

    “No, nothing so simple,” he replied, drawing her gaze as his expression hardened along with his tone. “He’s much more dangerous.”