just posted chapter one of The Heart of the Storm over on my Patreon for $5+ patrons. tomorrow it goes public on there, and I’ll repost it on tumblr. as a quick warning, it’s got blood, injury, violence, and suicidal ideation. also vampires.
Lucas Kim, NLE Agent Smoke, eyes the fire escape ladder above him. He shouldn't, he knows, but the fire escape ladder is awfully high above him, and the bouncer won't let him in the front door to the club, so...
...so, fuck it. Information Control can deal with it if someone sees him using his powers, that's what they're good for.
Luke throws himself at the fire escape, dissolving into smoke then reforming where he's got a good grip on the rungs. A quick look around confirms there's no one around, and he starts to climb.
He reaches the top of the metal ladder and hauls his upper body over the roof--
--only to stop when he feels the kiss of cool metal against his temple.
"You're trespassing," says the person holding the gun. A woman, by the sound of it, with a slight Chicago accent.
Luke tries moving his head to look up at her, only to feel the barrel press a little harder against his temple.
"Don't move," she says, cool and considering. "Just tell me what you're doing up here."
"I need to talk to the owner," he replies, bracing his feet on one of the ladder's rungs so he's not holding himself up on his arms. "I'm here on business."
"And you couldn't go through the front door like a normal person?" She asks, amusement creeping into her voice.
"The bouncer wouldn't let me in," Luke admits. He tries to look up again, and is once more stopped by the press of metal.
She's quiet for a few seconds. Then, "who are you?"
A beat, while he debates how to answer. The bouncer scoffed when he said he was an Agent, but it might get the gun away from his head if he uses it now. A regular guy climbing the fire escape to meet the lady owner of a nightclub is creepy. An Agent doing it means it's none of your business.
"Agent Smoke," he says after a few seconds of his own, "I can get out my shield if you'll let me."
Another few seconds, then, "sure." Her voice turns warning. "Go slow. I've got all the papers I need to have this firearm on the premises, and a weird guy making sudden moves after trying to sneak onto the roof of my boss' business is all the provocation I need to go for a disabling shot."
The bullet would never hit, but she doesn't know that, and he's not going to tell her. Luke grabs his shield with exaggerated slowness, laying it out on the pavement in front of his face. A boot moves into his field of view, dragging the shield out of sight, and he hears the slight rustle when she grabs it with her hand.
"Named Law Enforcement," she reads, voice flat. "Agent Smoke."
He starts, flexing his hands to keep himself in one place. The badge itself just says 'NLE', and since it looks like any other federal badge, people assume it's another Agency they just haven't heard of. That she knows what the NLE is... well, it's not the best thing that could have happened to him.
"Well, Agent," she purrs, low and dangerous, "why don't you tell me what an NLE Agent is doing trying to sneak into a club owned by the Hellfire Syndicate? And out of uniform? I could take a picture on my phone, and have you outed to everyone with an internet connection in about thirty seconds."
Luke goes cold. All she has to do is take that picture and tag it 'Named' and it'll have a thousand hits within a few minutes. If his quarry gets wind of him sniffing around the Hellfire Syndicate's haunts, the Agent will quickly find himself on a cold trail.
That and, well, the NLE is pretty good about keeping their members' identities concealed. They're not a secret, per se, but they're also not looking for the level of celebrity dumped on the first outed Named. Powers make Named stronger, but they also make them targets.
"I suppose you won't just let me into the club?" He tries his best 'I'm awesome' tone on her, though he knows it's not as good without the accompanying smile.
"You suppose correctly," she replies, and he can hear her tension.
"Then I'm sorry," he says, and throws himself at her in smoke form.
He expects to reform behind her and knock her out, but when he goes back to solid form, she's far to the side of where she used to be. She fires - a disabling shot to the knee, just like she said - and he dissolves that part of himself in time for the bullet to go right through.
They face off in silence for a few seconds - it can't hurt to study her a bit, since he's now lost the element of surprise - and Luke finds himself frowning. He doesn't know what he expected, but a plain mask on top of a black leather getup isn't it. He'd thought she was security for the club, not another Named. He's not entirely sure she is another Named, except that she's too fast to be nobody at all, and rogue Named tend to use the kind of expressionless black mask she's wearing.
"You shouldn't be up here," she warns, tucking his badge into the front pocket of her pants. "If you leave now, the Hellfire Syndicate won't pursue it."
"Maybe not, but they won't talk to me, either," he counters, knowing full well this has just become his only chance.
"You might be surprised--" she starts to say, but he cuts her off by lunging for her again.
It's not much of a fight. She's too fast for him to touch, and he's too good at quickly dissolving and reforming for her to actually hit with either the gun or her fists. He could completely dissolve and force smoke down her throat if he really needed into the club, but he's not trying to hospitalize her, just knock her unconscious for a bit while he talks to the owner.
They're interrupted by a blaze of light coming from the door, and a wave of heat that scorches his exposed skin. Luke whips his head to the side to see a six-foot flame in the shape of a woman. He can't make out her face as well as he could someone who isn't on fire, but she doesn't look happy.
