oo1: By Chance
SerendipitousThe man has been following her for the past five minutes, and it’s diverting Hei’s attention from the person she’s supposed to be following.
She’s caught glimpses of him in her peripheral. His hair is styled in the latest fashion, his clothing is surprisingly colorful, and she has to admit that he’s very handsome. But all of that doesn’t matter because he’s distracting her from her mission.
Hei veers down a smaller street, her eyes trained on the young boy weaving through the crowd. Sources have pointed to him being connected to the thief, and it was the best lead she’d gotten in days, one she definitely wasn’t about to let go.
Amidst the crowd, Hei sees the door of a building open. A small shape slips inside.
There.
Another look behind her, and the man is gone. Hei knows not to try her luck and hope that he’s truly lost her, so for extra measure, she casts out a brief time-stop—enough for her to duck through the door, then inside. Her powers shutters out the moment she makes it inside the dim building, and she scans for signs of the boy.
It’s empty at first glance; Hei grips the handles of her blade as she scans the room, eyes struggling to adjust to the dark.
“He’s not here, you know,” someone says. “And even if he were, he’s not the person you’re looking for.”
Hei whirls around, drawing her blade and bracing it in front of herself. A sharp, certain footstep cuts through the silent, and a man steps out of the shadows.
She recognizes him immediately. “You,” Hei snaps. “What the hell do you want?”
The only source of light comes from a broken board in the wall. A narrow sliver of sunlight beams into the room, barely enough to illuminate her surroundings. It does, however, catch the faint grin hanging on his lips. “I want the same thing as you,” he drawls. “I thought I’d give you pointers because you were doing it all wrong. Newbie mistake, though. I understand.”
His hands are tucked in his pockets and his walk is lazy—deliberately so. She tenses. “Stay where you are.”
“Or what?”
His arms shift. Then, blindingly fast, he flicks his wrist towards her.
All her training sharpens into the one moment. Hei manages to throw one of the blades tucked underneath her wrist towards him, but it misses him and instead cuts through his sleeve, bare centimeters away. Something hard and cold slams into her wrist with enough strength that it forces her into the wall, and then her other wrist is trapped by the same, cold substance. Hei looks up to see ice hardening around her wrist to her hands, effectively cutting her off from any summoning. Her sword is knocked right out of her grasp.
The man takes a couple of steps closer. Hei gives her hand a tug, but the ice restrains them surprisingly well.
“What do you want?” she manages through gritted teeth.
He folds his arms. “Just to talk,” he replies.
“You don’t talk like this!”
“Calm down. You threw a knife at me.” He produces said knife with two fingers, spinning it idly. “I just did all of that for self defence.”
Hei gives one of her arms another tug, but it’s fruitless. “Which family are you from?”
“Not the Song family, that’s for sure.” He tilts his head at her, leaning in. “Which you’re from, right? The last girl I met from the Song family definitely wasn’t as pretty as you are.”
Hei contemplates kicking him, but decides against it. She’s not sure her legs would reach where he’s standing. “What. Family.”
His smirk only widens. “Guess, sweetheart.”
“You’re interfering with a mission,” she snaps. “So it doesn’t matter which family you’re from, because if I report this to superiors, you’ll—”
“Get in trouble? Sorry to burst your bubble, but that boy was a wrong lead. Did you check your sources properly? Did you follow up that man you interrogated to make sure he wasn’t providing you false information? That child’s just a common thief who’s working for a gang he barely knows about. He won’t help you.”
The ice remains firm around her hands, and Hei takes a deep breath to calm herself. “Let’s say you’re right,” she replies slowly, schooling all of her self-control into her voice. “What does that have to do with you?”
He lets out a slight laugh. “Your family’s resources sure are limited, Song Hei,” he says. “Before I left, my
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