♦ based off kai's teaser for comeback 

They come for him first.

It's not safe, the message says, the words written in a language that still feels odd, foreign to him no matter how many years he's lived here. He reads it again, committing the characters to memory, seeing what cannot be written - and thumbs a button on the screen, deleting the message.

It's no longer safe, he hears, and reaches for his coat.

*
He weaves through the crowd, side-stepping a group of gawking tourists attempting to take pictures along Coventry Street. On any other day he would take his time, smiling at the lady selling sweets to children and tourists alike, nodding easily at the old man who sits by the side of the street, attempting to paint another customer. Today, however, there's urgency in his steps, and he can't help but feel the growing sense of someone watching him. Watching, and tracking his every move - yet when he glances behind him, there's no one paying attention to him.

The feeling doesn't leave him, not even as the familiar statue of Eros appears within his sight, while the bustling sounds of Piccadily Circus surround him.

His phone buzzes in his pocket.

I.

The message gets deleted, but he knows where to go now.

*

Up here, the winter wind stings at his face, but he loves it. Loves the cold, the way it sinks its teeth into his skin, making him shiver in memory of home - or what had been left of it, before the-- 

No! he shakes his head, forcing the memories out from his head. There's no time for remembering, no time to mourn those who had been lost, or left behind.

In the distance, the Eye spins slowly, watching as it would over London. He feels a tinge of regret that he's never ridden in it - but there is no time for regrets now. Regretting was for those who failed, and failure was not, and had never been, in his books.

A message comes in just before dusk, as the sun begins to make its descent in the horizon.

Too late, Kai.

The soft clink of metal - so soft that anyone could have missed it, except for someone who was not human - alerts him that he is not alone.

So that's how we'll play this game, he thinks, and lets a small smirk play on his lips - 

- and vanishes.

#
Incoming message:

Target spotted.

Location: La Sagrada Família, Barcelona.

Request permission to deploy Seeker.

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Incoming reply:

Permission granted.