i saw god cry in the reflections of my enemies

Lucy Walter. Exterminator Symphony for Better Living Industries.

[hazeyxpasey]

[fierytheangelsfell]

the monsters underneath your bed

[fierytheangelsfell]

Hazel smiled softy. Maybe even sympathy. After what he had been through in the last 24 hours, from rock bottom to rebirth, that was a question he had the answer for.

"Dear heart, I did not fail.” The implications of the words were clear. No, he wasn’t the failure here.

"They tortured me. Cut my brain apart. They took everything from me. But, little bird, not my life. They never got that." He shook his head in a swaying motion.

"But they got yours."

He went to his mental Central Station, and stepped onto her train.

Did he see the auras? Or was it his psychosis miming hers? His eyes swam across the air around her.

“‘For now we see through a mirror, darkly.’” He quoted tranquilly, his voice had taken on that soft, ethereal tone, which should have been soothing, but from him it turned unnerving.

[sawgodcry]

Lucy stared at him, distress starting to become clear on her face as the things she did not understand were becoming more and more apparent. She hated not understanding things... And here she was, faced with someone who was her equal for the first time, saying that he'd been tortured by the very same people that, presumably, gave both of them their powers. Something was not fitting together at all, but she couldn't seem to figure out which piece of information was wrong. 

"Nobody took my life," she said, the usual evenness of her voice replaced by something verging on hysteria. "I'm... I'm in control here, they never took anything from me, they... I took from them. I became more than they know how to handle, they just don't understand me--" 

She shook her head violently, bringing both hands up to the side of her face as she took in several deep breaths, attempting to regain control of herself instead of spewing the same phrases she told herself over and over whenever she had doubts. Slowly, she brought her hands back down from her face, placing them side-by-side, palms up, in the space between her and Hazel. Even in the flashing red warning lights, her stars still appeared, a little group of constellations in the palms of her hands. It was like she was giving Haz an offering.

The stars calmed her, like they always did, and after a few moments she looked up at him expectantly, her eyes wide. "Aren't they beautiful?" She hadn't even considered that he couldn't see the same things as her.

[fierytheangelsfell]

the monsters underneath your bed

[fierytheangelsfell]

Hazel watched her like a spider ready to jerk its self into the kill. But he knew what she was doing. Part of him wanted to do it himself.

What had they done. Had they reopened the Project? No, he decided, a quick glance of her revealed a lack of matching scars from the surgeries. But that one said it all. The matching dot, barley visible, they he shared with River.

All at once he knew. They tried to use the research to perfect a new method. This was the next generation.

But it hadn’t turned out quite perfect, had it? She wasn’t looking at his scar, instead she was looking all around him. She saw something that wasn’t there.

He tensed more when she was close enough to touch him, and he watched for any sign of muscle contraction, signaling sudden attack. He was caught between two worlds. A version of him that worked for the City couldn’t be left alive. But how could he kill one of his own? How could he not help?

"They made me before you." He said quietly, carefully.

"I am your prototype."

[sawgodcry]

Lucy nodded in understanding, pulling away a little and letting her hand drop back to her side. The aura was finally fading, and she could see Hazel's face again. She could see now that he was not her mirror image, despite the fact that their energy was the same. The packaging was different. Finally, she noticed the little scar on his forehead, and subconsciously reached up to touch the one on her own face with a little frown. She couldn't remember what had caused the scar on herself, but she'd always known it was there. Maybe Hazel knew. How did he know more than she did? Why was she in the dark here? She'd never been told of a prototype. She was the only success.

"What made you fail?" She asked suddenly. Something must have been wrong with Hazel, or he wouldn't be here now. He would still be working for the Company, like he was made to. What was it that was different about him that made him leave?

[fierytheangelsfell]

the monsters underneath your bed

[fierytheangelsfell]

As his gun fell, his moment of shock was cut dead, and his other hand had already pulled his second gun, swinging it up to —to what, shoot her?— he wanted to know more, but he understood in that second this was himself, but perfected for City use. This was the most dangerous weapon in the city.

But the shot missed, she had knocked his hand aside. He used his gun hand to twist around her arm and push her arm to the side across her chest, but she twisted it out and made a shot that Hazel deflected with his other hand.  He felt the heat of the laser shot on his face as it whizzed by.

She was anticipating his every move, and he hers. Hands moved like lighting, deflecting shots. Hazels gun roared with every attempt, and the walls were littered with bullet holes and laser blasts.

This was a stalemate.

Hazel flipped back suddenly as her arm swung back for another shot, his legs came up like whiplash and crashed into her gun hand, hitting the bone of her wrist and dislodging the Individual from her grip.

He landed in a crouch and was up, fluid, like dancing.

But he was out of breath.

That hadn’t happened before.

Hazel holstered his gun.

[sawgodcry]

As the fight went on, Lucy became increasingly more and more confused. Usually, she could see the heat signature her opponent left, and the path they were about to take, everything highlighted with bright oranges that faded into green. But with Hazel... that gave her no advantage. He moved too quickly, and by the time she'd gone to deflect whatever he threw against her, he was already there, blocking her attack. It was like they knew each other, a sort of intimacy growing in the leftover glow of their lighting movements. A smile was just barely creeping across her face when suddenly Hazel switched the pattern, knocking her gun from her hand. She frowned.

Lucy blinked, hard, and suddenly the orange glows of movement were gone. Her vision tunneled, everything around them fading into nothingness as she focused only on her opponent. She needed to know why, why this was happening, why she couldn't defeat him. No one was as good as her. No one had her powers. And yet... 

As she stared at him, breathing heavy, he began to glow again, shining with an almost blinding brilliance. Her frown deeped. There must have been something wrong with her auras, because that was the light she saw when she looked down at herself. Nobody else, in all the opponents she'd faced, everyone she'd ever met, had shone with that same purity, that intensity that she knew she held within her. But Hazel stood before her, exactly the same, and it was suddenly like looking in a mirror. Almost in a daze, Lucy raised her hand, taking another step closer, and part of her expected Hazel to do the same, to exactly mimic her movements. But he didn't.

Face full of awe, she reached out to touch, grazing her fingertips over his shoulder. The light was starting to become too intense, and she shook her head to make it go away again, because she wanted to see him, but the aura wouldn't fade.

"Why are you like me?" she asked quietly, seeming to have forgotten that they were in the middle of a fight. "No one is like me."

[fierytheangelsfell]

the monsters underneath your bed

[fierytheangelsfell]

The last of the men in the hall had been splattered against the wall. It had been his knife that slit the mans throat while he held his hair, and spun him so the arterial spray splattered out across the white hall. He’d left a slaughter house in his wake.

His reflexes were razor sharp, and his gun was pointed dead at the new enemy before her sentence was finished.

He was lost in the bliss of the dance and the massacre. He stood with his legs apart and his shoulders slightly hunched, blood seeped off the tight black clothes he wore, and his pale face. He didn’t blink.

"Dear heart, you are already dea…" The reverie dropped from his face, replaced with horror and shock. He straightened up and stared dead at her forehead.

He knew them all. There was only one girl in the Project, and she lived with him.

"…What have they done?" He said breathlessly.

[sawgodcry]

Lucy tilted her head to the side in interest, taking a step closer with her gun still raised. There appeared to be some sort of recognition on her opponent's face, but she couldn't recall ever meeting him in her life, and she remembered everybody. Although... there was something about him that felt familiar. Something in his stance, maybe... It didn't matter. 

She took advantage of his surprise, advancing forward suddenly, moving to grab at his wrist with one hand and knock the gun out of his grip with the other.

[fierytheangelsfell]

the monsters underneath your bed

Hazel split off from Red. He was one of the few people he could trust not to die, and trust not to make him worried. He’d show up after Hazel was done, and after he’d finished god knew what he was up too. Maybe battered, maybe holding something from spilling out of his body. But he’d show up grinning all the same.

The alarms sounded like the throng of the web to tell the spider dinner was waiting. It brought all the little bugs right to his poison fangs.

The first shots bang ripped through the hallways. Clean lasers made such boring little sounds. His guns noise matched its devastation. The strength of the shot pounded up his arm. You could feel the power of it.

Lasers burnt little neat holes. Hollow point bullets collected the air at super speeds, the bullet mushroomed on impact. Splattered a person across the walls. And Hazel never missed a head shot.

The forgotten sound and effects caused their own shock and awe factor. It threw the ones with sad little lasers off for just a moment. And a moment was more than he needed.

His chaos spread out like a ballet, one he had seen before and knew every step.

And he began the dance.

Allegros and Revoltade’s that broke jaws. Chaînés with knives and Tours en l’airs that sprayed bullets.

All to the sweet tempo of gunfire and screams.

[sawgodcry]

Exterminator Symphony paused for a moment to take in the building before her--she saw the sky behind it glowing orange, remnants of the fires from the hospital smearing across the horizon like some sort of doomsday scene. Screams could be heard from within, almost drowned out by the alarms sounding over and over with a rhythm that she found almost melodic. She was absolutely prepared to take this on.

She said nothing as she pushed through the ranks of dracs and C/R/O/W/S assembling just outside the doors, as if they could stop the terrorists once they'd already gotten out. It was absolutely ridiculous. She'd stop them before they even left the building. 

Flashing alarms bathed everything in red, coating Lucy's vision like a film. She blinked it back as she strode through the hallways until it was nothing but a tint of color, one that she quickly forgot about as her eyes went into hyperfocus. She could see everything, every little detail, life sharpened into something almost unreal. Something kept clanging, something other than the alarm, and after a moment she recognized he sound as gunshots. From old guns. She squinted as she drew her own weapon, slightly intrigued by the choice in firearm. Something to make a statement, she supposed.

She followed the noise until it lead her to her target: Hazel. He was around this next corner, she knew. Blood sprayed from where she couldnt see and onto the wall, quickly followed by the thud of a white-clad body, but she could barely see it. The red faded into the color of everything else, insignificant at the moment. She primed the Individual, raised it, and stepped around the corner.

"Put down your weapon."

[prettyfuckinglow]

//Bert was starting to wish Lucy would stop staring at him. Usually, he didn’t mind the attention. Usually he would’ve loved it. But he has long since decided that Lucy was not only creepy, but someone he now needed to avoid altogether because there was something about her that he disliked, and not being able to place it disturbs him all the more. Even after he’s looked away, he can feel her eyes on him, and it feels invasive, like she’s staring right through him.//

//He’s doing his best to look away from her and ignore her gaze but when she finally speaks again, his eyes snap back to meet hers before he looks away again.// … Y’know, I could say something like, I dunno, ‘I like to eat ass’ or something, but I feel like if I make another joke you’ll try and pull my pants down again.

[sawgodcry]

//Lucy tilts her head to the side, brows furrowing ever so slightly in a mix of confusion and distress.// You were joking? I was asking you a legitimate question... I don't know why you'd joke about something like that. //She looks away from him, still frowning, feeling something tugging at her stomach. Bert doesn't seem as enthusiastic about their new friendship as she does... She vaguely remembers something about various forms of abuse being wiped from his mind in his file. The way he'd reacted to her pulling his pants down seems to be the thing that's caused him to act guarded, and that's not what she wants.//

Did it upset you that I undressed you? I was just trying to see what you meant... It wasn't supposed to mean anything. //She starts to fidget again, tracing her fingers in patterns across the table and watching the trails of golden warmth they leave behind.// I'm sorry if you didn't like it. I don't understand what other people want sometimes.

[prettyfuckinglow]

//Unnerved, Bert looks away from her, first aimlessly around the cafeteria as if he were seeking out someone to help him, then at his watch, just to see if it was time to get back to work yet. Unfortunately, it wasn’t, and he sighs.// Guess not, //he mumbles in defeat, watching her toy with the wrapper in her hands and fighting the urge to do the same. It makes sense to him why he does it… // I just—…

//That’s when he pauses, mouth still ajar and eyebrows furrowing slightly as the words he was sure he was about to say leave him before he even has the chance to voice them. It was like suddenly losing a train of thought, except there was this absence surrounding it, like the thought had never existed in the first place. What was he even going to say? He closes his mouth again after a long, staggered moment, and shrugs his shoulders.//

I dunno. I just do it… geez. There’s no deep philosophical reason for every motherfuckin’ thing someone does, y’know. 

[sawgodcry]

//Lucy watches his reaction carefully, the absent smile on her lips twitching up into one that's more intentional as Bert seems to lose his train of thought. It's fascinating, seeing the emotions playing across his face so openly, even though they don't answer her question. She does remember from reading his file that he's been reeducated multiple times...this must be one of the effects. Whatever event or decision that made him start hoarding food like some sort of rodent has been locked away by the Company, it seems. Because she doesn't believe that there's no reason for the action. He just doesn't remember why, and yet he continues to do it.//

... //It's all very interesting, what the Company can do to people. And there's something inside of Lucy that almost sympathizes with Bert, although she doesn't remember why, either. Like him, she doesn't even realize what's been done to her. Her delusions hide the fact that the Company destroyed her sanity when she became a test subject. Whatever rational part is left twists her perceptions of what was done to her as a safety mechanism; if she really knew how dysfunctional she was because of their drugs, she might lash out. And that can only end in her getting hurt.//

//But still, she feels drawn to Bert. Out of all the files she'd been reading for fun yesterday, his was the one that stood out to her. He's the one she wants to understand. And she hadn't questioned her own desires.// ... //Finally, she realizes that she hasn't responded to him yet, the cogs of her own brain catching on loops of self-examining thoughts she doesn't allow herself to have. She's been staring at Bert the whole time, seeing through his forehead to watch the patterns of neurons firing in his skull. Little orange flashes of light decorate his brain, constantly moving from one place to the next... It's very beautiful.//

Whatever you say, //she mutters dreamily, stopping her fidgeting to rest her chin on the palm of her hand. There's no point in discussing the matter further with him, if he doesn't remember.// ...What's your favorite food?

[prettyfuckinglow]

… Wh-… Hey— //It happens too fast for him to even catch sight of what’s happening, which is usually how things goes. This isn’t the first time one of his jokes was taken the wrong way, but usually it was a slap across the face or a blow to the stomach or even some written penalty he received from the other… not the very public humiliation of being exposed for all the world to see. Bert’s face blanches the second he feels her fingers grip his pants and tug, and he’s too overcome with shock to even move through it, making the smallest strangled sound in response.//

//It’s not until she’s maneuvering his body around to get a better look that he finally snaps out of it, shoving himself away from her and nearly stumbling over in his rush to cover himself and pull his pants back up at the same time.// Christ, what is wrong with you?! //he snaps in a shrill voice, furiously struggling to fasten his belt even tighter around his thin hips than before just in case she tried again.// It’s called pockets, you dumb bitch. You keep shit in them. Here- //he shoves a hand into his pockets again, tossing a few candies at her// Here- //this time, he flicks a few wrappers at her before nearly chucking half a wrapped sandwich he’d kept in his inner jacket.//

//Aggravated but calming down, he sits at the table again, legs crossed and arms folded in front of him as he scowls at her. He doesn’t even know why he’s upset, especially since, given a couple of seconds, he would’ve pulled his own pants down and flashed the entire cafeteria too.// Geez…. //He runs a hand through his long mane of hair, sighing out in frustration.// I get fuckin’ hungry sometimes, so I keep shit with me in case I need it. That answer your question?

[sawgodcry]

//Lucy's eyes widen in surprise when Bert raises his voice. For a moment, she doesn't realize that he's upset, and tries to reach after him, frowning because he interrupted her research... She blinks and stops abruptly at the words 'dumb bitch', squinting past him as if she's trying to remember something old and distant.// ... //The way he's acting is making her uncomfortable, so she tunes him out, turning her head to stare in another direction. Despite the fact that she looks as if she might have just stopped thinking at all, her hands still shoot up to catch the things he throws at her without even looking. She doesn't take the time to inspect them like she had before, though. Something else in her mind has distracted her, and now Bert is boring by comparison.//

Hm, //she says finally, waiting until after he's done with his little fit before standing smoothly and settling back into her seat across from him. It's like nothing ever happened, except now she has food in her hands. She smiles vaguely, amused by something running through her head that has nothing to do with Bert. She doesn't even look at him.//

No, it doesn't. //She shakes her head, mouth twisting strangely as she suppresses a distracted, inexplicable giggle.// Everyone gets hungry and you don't see them hoarding food in their pockets, do you? //Slowly, she lifts her head to look him in the eye, tilting hers to the side a little as she smiles at him. Her fingers start to absently pick at the wrappers of the candies he threw as she zones out, her stare almost expectant even as her eyes and mind lose focus.// 

[prettyfuckinglow]

… Uh huh.

//Bert blinks and, before he knows it, Lucy has her hands on him before he even gets the chance to come up with a snappy comeback. He blinks a couple more times, confused as he looks down and watches her grope at his chest before he lifts his head, glancing around for cameras. Someone is obviously pulling a prank on him. Someone is yukking it up in one of the surveillance rooms as he’s publicly felt up by some strange woman in the middle of the base cafeteria. … Vico was obviously going way out of his way to fuck with him by paying some hooker to hook up with him or something. … Or he was getting arrested, that was also very probable…//

Is this a strip search? //he finally asks, continuing to watch her curiously without making a move to stop her. It’s not like he minds…// … Y’know, you’re supposed to read me my rights or something, right?

//He pauses, then reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a stick of cheese.// I get hungry. //He smiles and offers it to her.// Do you want me to take my pants off so you can see where I put this?

[sawgodcry]

//Lucy frowns as Bert continues cracking jokes, obviously unaware of how serious this all is to her. She doesn't even acknowledge him until he brandishes yet another piece of food, and her eyes widen before she finally pulls away again.// Hm... //She takes the cheese from him carefully, inspecting it like it's evidence to some sort of crime and she barely wants to touch it.//

Yes, //she says after a moment, placing the food back on the table, away from his reach. There's something about this habit she disapproves of... Even if only because it's strange and she can't make sense of it. She looks back up him expectantly.// I want to see. Where do you put it? How can your pockets be big enough...?

//Impatiently, she waits until he's standing before she moves around the edge of the table, and then quickly pulls his pants down as she lowers herself into a neat squat, her knees pressed tightly together. There's nothing sexual at all about the action. In fact, she doesn't seem to realize that there's anything invasive about it at all. She's far too bent on her mission... She makes a little frustrated noise and turns him around.// Show me... It doesn't make any sense...

[prettyfuckinglow]

//Bert stares blankly at her, his chewing slowing to a stop.// … Bert, //he replies after swallowing, then grabs at a carton of milk someone had left on the table and fumbles with the straw a moment before slurping down whatever dregs he found.//

… Hey. //He pulls out another small milk carton from his pocket and slaps it down onto the table.// Did you know- //He gets to work opening it, exaggerated concentration on his face as he carefully tugs at the creases.// -that there’s an ancient American saying that’s been passed down for years, generation to generation, and- //He pauses as he finally gets the milk open and pops the straw he found inside, grinning wide once he did and lifting his head to smile at her.// -and, it goes a little like this. //He makes a grand gesture in front of him.// …’Take a picture… it’ll last longer.’

//He smiles again, then ducks down to blow hard into his straw and make milk bubbles suddenly gush from the carton to spill everywhere.//

[sawgodcry]

//Lucy tilts her head as she watches him carefully open the carton of milk he'd produced out of nowhere, vaguely wondering if he always keeps milk on him, or if this is just an exception. It seems like a strange habit. She doesn't understand the purpose of his words...//

//As soon as she sees the milk suddenly explode from the carton, she sweeps a hand up from her lap and to just under her chin. It leaves behind a light blue smear in the air, a forcefield to protect her from getting dirty. The rest of her doesn't move at all. She simply waits for him to be done, then lowers her hand in the same arc she'd raised it in, watching the field disappear.// I have a photographic memory, //she states simply.// I'm always taking pictures. 

//She stands up out of her seat without stepping away from it, ignoring the mess Bert has created on the table and leaning across it. She vaguely grabs at his collar, patting down his chest and torso as if searching for something hidden.// Do you always carry food on you? Why? Where do you keep it?

[prettyfuckinglow]

//Bert, on the other hand, has an empty tray of food in front of him and golden crumbs all over his face as he leisurely chews what he’s got shoved into his mouth. Taking another bite of his muffin, he glances around the cafeteria, looking for something to do as he stalls for time. His lunch break was going to be over soon, and then he’d have to get back to the desk work he was doing…//

…? //His eyes catch on a woman who was staring in his direction, and after raising an eyebrow, he turns around and looks behind him. There isn’t anything there… Blinking in confusion, he looks back at the woman and points to himself in questioning, before he stands up and experimentally moves to the table beside him, just to see if she was really looking at him.//

[sawgodcry]

//Lucy doesn't make any motion back to Bert. She only continues to watch him, a vacant smile spreading across her face at the fact that he's doing something other than sitting. There seems to be something so...simple about his existence. It's almost... quaint. And she knows this isn't what she's supposed to be doing with her time. Her superiors will be disappointed, and that only makes it all the better. Observing Bert is far more interesting, and therefore important, than what they've assigned her to...//

//After a few more moments, she pushes herself off the wall, folding her hands in front of her as she crosses the crowded cafeteria to where he's sitting. She wants to be closer, now... She smooths down her skirt before sitting daintily in the seat across from him, still smiling faintly.// I'm Lucy, //she says simply, offering no other explanation as to why she's been watching him. Her expression changes into one of interest, head tilting to the side as she examines him from up close. The crumbs on his face, his messy hair...she takes in every detail.//

[sawgodcry]

//Lucy's boredom is reaching out-of-control levels. Lately, she's taken to hacking into the Company records and browsing the files of employees, memorizing details to go with faces just for the fun of it. Just to have something to do with herself that's challenging, and that she cares about, not some dumb mission assigned to her by distant officials.//

//Last night, she read Robert McCracken's file, and was intrigued by the reports. Could reeducation really fail like that, and then be reset, without any damage to the subject? Maybe he's like her, improved but left with something missing. Either way, she has nothing better to than find him. SHe tracked him down earlier in the day, and now observes from the edge of the cafeteria, standing against the wall with her hands pressed behind her back. There's a look of vacant interest on her face as she watches him carefully, mentally taking note of anything and everything he does.//

[artificialdesires]

Your level of ability? Dear, you must be mistaken. You must be doing something wrong; that assignment was specifically chosen for you with your skill set in mind. No, you’re obviously just not applying yourself fully to your mission.

… Is it too difficult for you…?

[sawgodcry]

...What? No, of course not. It's too simple. You don't know my skill level, since you never allow me to show what I'm capable of.

[artificialdesires]

You’re being difficult…

//sighs again// Fine. What is it?

[sawgodcry]

You aren't listening to me. I want a new assignment. This one is a waste of my time, and I do not appreciate being forced to do something below my level of ability. 

[artificialdesires]

I’m terribly… terribly busy. I’m sure this could wait until a later date, no?

[sawgodcry]

No. 

If you're too busy now, I think five minutes would be enough time for you to wrap up your important matters. That's when I'll be at your office.

[artificialdesires]

//sighs and picks up the phone, holding it a careful inch away from her ear//

I’m busy.

[sawgodcry]

Yes, and I'm not. You're wasting my potential. Find me another job.