A man wearing a white coat was leaning against a brick wall in an alleyway in the slums of New York. He was well-aware of this being the "rough" edge of town but not caring. He actually found the pitiful squabbles of these humans amusing. But they could never reach his height. They could never understand true power. For power came at a large price, and he was more than willing to pay... when he had the time.
Ryan walked out of an alley not too far from the man's location, pressing his hand to his left ear, "Neko.. I need a place to rest." he said into his communicator. The female doll's voice soon came, "Try one of the storage facilities near the harbor. They are relatively unguarded at night." she informed him. Ryan sighed, his breath creating a mist of sorts in the cold night air, "That'll do. Meet me there. RJ-101 out." he finished as he put his cowboy hat back on and began to walk towards the harbor.
"What did you just say to me you little white-haired punk?!" Sadow smiled half cockily and half sadistically at the large man standing over him, spitting curses down at him with every word. Sadow held up his hand and wiped his face with his sleeve "Your getting slobber all over me. Please do not talk anymore." The man raised a clenched fist the size of Sadow's entire head and aimed for a punch "You little snot!" Sadow considered his surroundings. He was at a harbour, surrounded by bulky, lumbering workers who are clearly displeased with their lives; cheating wives, poor pay, dirty apartments. They decided that this well-dressed small man with white hair was a good target to relieve some stress. He thought to himself "Where is he? He should be here by now."
Ryan took his time, eventually arriving at the harbor towards midnight. He slowly descended the steps and walked right past the commotion that was taking place, passing several storage buildings until he came to the last one. Instead of going in, he immediately turned right and walked to the edge of one of the piers and took a seat, watching the moon's reflection dance on the water's surface. He tapped his communicator again, "Neko..keep your eyes on the stars as you head this way and inform me if anyone of them vibrates." he commanded. The silence on the other end of the line confirmed that she had heard him.
Before anything else occurred the enraged workers at the pier burst into flames. At first there were screams of pain and quakes formed from their writhing bodies, but all of a sudden their bodies fluttered to butterfly-like ashes, scattering across the ground in a circle around Sadow. He raises his hand and closes it toward the moon, from his vision grabbing it in his hand. He chuckles slightly "Too cool to help a young man in distress, RJ-101?"
Ryan kept his eyes fixated on the moon's reflection, "We Contractors are logical beings. We care more for ourselves than others, no matter how much I despise that fact. Your 'distress' was merely another commotion in my day in this cold city, nothing more and nothing less." he responded.
Sadow smirks at him "That doesn't apply to all Contractors. Just generally. I, for one, am an exception. I care for all of my comrades. Speaking of comrade I was really hoping I would bump into you this evening. Care to chat?"
"Sure, why not?" he said plainly, taking off his hat and setting beside him before facing the man, "Why is it that you have sought me out this night?"
Sadow takes a bow deeply "Before that, introductions. I am Contractor AK-357, better known as Sadow Yatsumaru though people lately have been tending to call me 'The Prince'."
Sadow introducing himself
"I see. As you have already confirmed, I am RJ-101, better known as the Gunman around this country." he replied.
Sadow smiles with a gleam in his eye reflecting from the moon "Excellent. Now that that is out of the way, I have sought you out this night hoping to persuade you to join BEHEMOTH, a group of 'like-minds' who wish to change the way this world revolves, so to speak."
Ryan looked down, and then back at Sadow, "I don't affiliate with groups. Less hassle, no chain of command, no power struggle. Like I said, Contractors should do the logical thing. The logical thing to do is whatever best preserves our life. As a younger Contractor, joining an organization is not safe for me, nor is it in my best interests." he replied coldly.
Sadow smirked "You didn't let me finish. Our goal is a perfectly logical reason to join while you can. We wish to make this world a better world for Contractors, through domination. We will find a cure to the disease that is Remuneration and then prove who truly rules this world. You see, my friend, we are but gods whos fate is to slaughter each other in hopes of survival. With my help, we can be Titans! No weakness, no faulty, no limits. Go with me, my friend...-" His voice trails off to an almost hiss sounding whisper "-and reality itself will bow before you."
"My my..." he said at first. He stood to his feet and faced the calm waters of the harbor. "Reality itself will bow before me, you say? Foolishness." he hissed, holding out his arms and turning his palms towards the sky. In the dark sky above, a lone start twinkled, as his body became shrouded in a blue outline and his eyes shown red against the darkness of night. He reached out with his contract and seized a large area of water, mentally forcing it to rise in the form on an enormous tidal wave which he then held in it's place as if it had been suspended in time, when in actuality, he was merely controlling it with his mind. He turned to face Sadow, still glowing, and slipped his hands into his pockets, "You see. My reality already bows to my every whim." he stated, the large wave roaring behind him.
Sadow bursts out into laughter "How very clever. I had no idea your Contract extended to such great levels. However... Regardless of what your do on your own, you are still bound by the chains of Remuneration. Besides, who can be satisfied with just one power alone? I offer you the world. Take it or leave it but I will warn you now, BEHEMOTH will not see the difference between human filth and loyalist Contractors. The journey through Revolutionary Road is paved with blood, and this one is no exception."
"Perhaps you misunderstood me. I'm no 'loyalist'." he began as the water receded peacefully into the bay. "BEHEMOTH, the CIA, the Syndicate, MI-6, and even the Japanese Government have one thing in common. Contractors are viewed as revolutionaries. Where a few of the mentioned groups view us as Armageddon, others view us as weapons. And yet, others view us a divine, rulers of the world. We are none of those. We are humans that became blessed with a curse upon the appearance of Hell's Gate in Tokyo. That gate is the only reason we are able to do what we have done, and the moment it vanishes, we will all die, just as those who witnessed Heaven's Gate disappear in South America all those years ago did. I live to crush those who view Contractors as anything more than 'special humans'. I aim..to take back my humanity."
Sadow's eyes widened in almost disbelief. How could someone with such power be so selfish? He clenched his fists and teeth "You disgust me. Someone who was blessed with such power and is wanting it to go away? We are not cursed, we are blessed! I may not know what divine force summoned those gates but we should all be thankful for them and be trying to preserve them as much as we can! And yet you, who would abandon his own race. Unforgivable." At this Sadow turns his back to Ryan as if he were something repulsive "Know that we will not show any mercy. Good luck in your 'goals', human..."
Ryan's lips curled into a grin, "Who the hell told you that you had any right to leave?" he cackled, "You're gonna die right here." he snarled, pulling out his revolver from his coat pocket, aiming at Sadow, and squeezing the trigger three times, firing three rounds. He then activated his contract, guiding his bullets straight for Sadow's heart.
Sadow turned as Ryan uttered the word "die" and extended his arm, opening his hand. Fire shot forth from his palm toward the gun just as it fired it's first shot. The heat made the air dense and caused the bullets to go off track and misfire completely. One managed to graze Sadow's shoulder. He clutched it in pain while the flame continued to surge and entered the barrel of Ryan's pistol, heating it drastically to scorch his hand.
Ryan again reached out with his contract, grabbing a small dose of water from the harbor and tossing it over the flames. He clutched his burnt hand in pain and winced, "So that's your contract, eh?" At that instant, the pier erupted with water as he called on a huge mass of it below the wooden structure.
Sadow jumped high into the air and landed on a crate being carried by a crane, who's controller was killed in the earlier fray, leaving the machine lifeless and still. He took his hand off his shoulder to assess the damage and saw blood covering his palm. "Dammit, that stings..." He didn't wait for Ryan to make another move and starting throwing fireballs down at flammable gasoline drums nearby, hoping one would ignite near Ryan.
"THERE!" he roared in his mind, seeing his chance. With his contract blazing, he seized the barrels and hurled them at the fireballs, the connected with the flames and flew to Sadow's location, where they erupted, creating a sizable explosion.
Thankfully Sadow had used his coat as cover and dove into the water in time to avoid the explosion. Upon surfacing he took both a breath of relief and a deep shiver from the cold waters. He then looked up sadly as the rose petals in his coat descended slowly, most were lit on fire and dissolving instantaneously into ash. He wiped away a tear "Poor artistic slaughter..." he muttered.
Ryan took that moment to escape, fleeing deep into the dark allies of the Big Apple. After a few miles of running, he beelined for an abandoned warehouse. There he found Neko, staring blankly at the wall. "It's about to hit..." she said. "I know." he responded, and then he grunted loudly in pain as a fierce headache hit him. His fight was over..
Sadow climbed out of the water and waved his wet hair to the side "No, my foolish young friend... The fight has only just begun..."