The Daily Business

As the clothes poured out onto the table, a deep flush spread up Alyss's cheeks. This was too much now, he had seen too much. The bloodstained clothes, her dirty fingernails and now.....
Her eyes widened as her badge fell, open to view, onto the table in front of Mike.

No no no!

She was a professional, a member of the government - life was finally good for her. To be found out by members of the Underworld, especially a common criminal such as Stokes, would be hazardous to her mission of revenge on the scum of Steel City. The girl readied herself, prepared to lunge forwards to grab her badge, on hand immediately reaching to the inside of her pocket to draw her handgun.

"Stop it. Move and I swear, I will shoot you," she said, offering one last window, before priming her gun.

This was enough for the girl, who by now had her feeling of insecurity overcome her. A quick burst of speed and she was pummelling into Mike's torso, knocking him to the floor. She pressed her gun to his throat, sitting astride his toned ribcage, grappling her other hand to find her bag.

"Listen, mate. As you can tell, I'm not one for playing nice. But I can see I'm outnumbered by you and the alien freak over there and to be frank, I've killed enough men like you today. Fear's thirst has been satiated, I'm only working to get rid of the scum. If that means taking out idiots such as you then I will. I'm a lot more powerful than just a gun, Mr Stokes," she hissed, lowering her head next to her gun, inches above his face.

God, she wanted to shoot the smirk right off his face. Why wasn't she? The thought made her blood run cold, to be honest. Fear had retreated, tired from her earlier excursions and pushed back by Alyss for terror of causing even more havoc, leaving her sister alone on the battlefield. She was still powerful, could still wield her powers well, but - she was here to kill criminals simply and quickly. After so much hunting already this evening - fuelled by Fear - she didn't want to kill another just for getting in her way. He was a common criminal, nothing would come from his death. He wasn't the high-flying target she wanted. He wasn't Warren Powers.

But he had seen too much, knew too much about her now to remain alive. The choice was made.

Dar had no idea what they were talking about. Faces? Guns? People like who? Still, this was interesting to watch. It seemed like soon one of them was going to kill the other. He hoped the girl won, because he still had plans for her.

All the fancy powers she had would not save her. Dar smiled.

As she was sent flying to the floor, her wits began to snap. Come on Fear, come on.

I'm tired. You usually send me away, so deal with this yourself. Alyss began to force her sister to the forefront of her mind, until a crashing caused her to stop and look up from her position on the ground. Three other men appeared behind the fleeing Stokes, weapons ablaze. The girl flitted into her militant mind-frame, removing her own gun from her pocket and beginning to fire towards the men. One let out a scream, clutching his right pectoral before groaning and sliding to the floor. Another flash.

A scream began to form in her throat as the bullet hit her arm, slicing into her shoulder, within an inch of nicking on of her arteries. Alyss refused to let it leave her mouth - something she had always performed as a form of control - only releasing a hiss through her teeth.
It was fine, she could manage. But she had to get home: now.

With fine precision, she fired her clip into the two men, piercing the head and neck, watching them drop like flies. As the smoke settled, she pressed a hand to her wound activating her shadows in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Because of the angle, the bullet had not left her body but instead had burrowed into her skin, stopping shortly before a rib. As she removed her hand from the wound, a shadowy imprint of her fingers laced over the wounds, stemming the bleeding and reaching into the depths of her skin to cauterise the wound. Though a groan left her lips in the process, she stumbled to her feet and began to run after the bastard criminal that had brought her to this place.

"Come on now! Play fair, jackass," she shouted, reloading her handgun.

Dar was suprised when he got hit in the back by bullets. Fortunately, the bullets bounced off his skin, leaving only small bruises. He turned around to deal with the attackers, but the little girl shot them first.

Dar could see that the girl had been hurt. She was getting weaker.

As the girl tried to run after the thief, Dar decided it was time to make his move. Running after the girl, Dar reached his hands out to grab her. "You can't get away from me," the ailen said, grinning. He was faster than her, and would catch her soon.

She was barely armed, wounded and being chased down by two separate enemies - just perfect for a Saturday night. And with Fear basically non-existent, just a giggle in the back of her mind, Alyss was pretty much at a loss.

"Uh, this is so unfair," she groaned as she felt a hand grasp her shoulder and pull her backwards. She felt her back press against the wall of the shop, facing the alien she had identified as Dar with a harsh glare. Though she was a powerful being, she was still a young woman- not as physically strong as the extraterrestrial holding her or the criminal pursuing her.

Her arms were pinioned by her sides, forcing her to relinquish the hold she had kept so firmly on her Glock. A gasp left her lips as the opposition shoved her backwards again, cracking her head against the wall. As blood began to drip slowly from her lips, she laughed quietly, feeling Fear beginning to take over her body.
"Why are you so far from home? Can't go back? An exile," she chuckled, the crimson liquid bubbling around her mouth as she laughed. "You are nothing but a disgusting outcast."

Her sister had had enough now, she occupied this body too - without it she too would be destroyed. So she needed to react and for once Alyss didn't have the strength to carry on. Fear injected a new life into their body, dilating her pupils and forcing the darkly coloured veins upwards in her arms.

"Bad, bad idea," she muttered, gripping her hands around Dar's wrists. As her fingers encircled his arms, dark shadows shot from her hands, up his shoulders and encompassed his neck. With a burst of force, Fear pulsed her power source and flung the man backwards, finally away from her.
With a moment of pause, Fear gently touched the bullet wound that was still leaking blood from her chest and sighed deeply. This is why you don't doubt me, Alyss.

Dar had finally caught her. Now he just needed to think of a proper way to torture her. Dar loved the feeling of being stronger than other people. That was what his entire ego had been built upon back on Apokalips. That was what he had been trained to do.

Suddenly, something changed in the girl. What was going on? Shadows came out of her hands and pushed Dar through a wall.

It took Dar 10 seconds to recover. After standing up in the debris of the wall, Dar walked out of the side storage room and was about to attack the girl when a barrage of bullets sprayed through the store. Dar's large frame caught many of the bullets, and they stung. "Ahh!"

The pain fueled Dar's bloodlust even more. He needed to fight now. He would catch the girl and stop her from ever throwing shadows again.

Fear heard the shots ring out from the back alley, swerving her body to move behind the cash register desk. Bullets flitted past her, one missing her ear by barely an inch, the others ricocheting around the shop, shattering everything they could reach. With a agitated grunt, the darker sister grappled to her feet, spinning around to view her current situation.

The alien was stood around five feet away from her, plucking bullets from his back. They didn't seem to wound him, just sting a little. Dammit then, no use in having a gun. She rid herself of the useless firearm, re-holstering it in her arm carry. With another groan, she hauled her aching limbs upwards, turning to run towards the back room.

She would need to rely on her shadow powers alone now and whilst they were second nature to her, it had been a while for Fear. Alyss barely ever let her out to play nowadays - but killing this man, this alien would be sweet. Catching up with Stokes would be a fairly easy task, he had left her bag behind- her details were safe and more importantly she had his licence.

For now though, she needed to power up and think of a way out. Peering around the corner, the girl saw Dar still looking around for her, the lust for blood filling his eyes.

"What's your aim here? Why do I need to be stopped exactly?" she called, straightening her jacket and dusting off the lapels.

Dar was confused by her question. He thought his intentions had been obvious. "I don't really want to stop you. I just want to hurt you. It makes me happy to hurt people." It had been his job for most of his life.

Right now, he just wanted to see fear in her eyes. "Are you scared?"

Dar dashed up to her in a second and punched at her stomach. He didn't put all of his power behind the punch, so his fist would not rip through her. Instead, it would probably only break a few bones and knock her breath out.

Sadist idiot.

This was the brief thought that crossed her mind before Dar lurched forwards and punched her hard in the abdomen. Luckily the blow was just below her ribs and missed cracking any bones, only severely winding her. She held herself up, leaning one hand against the wall for support as she glared up at Dar. Taking in a deep, painful breath, she straightened herself upright and began to charge up her powers again.

"Scared? Darling, fear is my middle name," she muttered, harshly under her breath. A quick glance at the lights above them sent sparks flickering down around them, as she covered the fluorescent tubes in shadows, sending the whole room into utter darkness.

Fear had always felt more at home in the dark, the shadows comforted her, helped her move along. But for now she couldn't fight, not with her own two fists anyway. As the shadows surrounded them both, twisting tendrils of the matter began to tear into Dar, each one stabbing and forcing their way to get a shot at him. She sent many to curl around his feet, pulling his legs out from underneath him and sending him crashing to the floor as more and more threadlike appendages of shadow thrust at Dar's skin.

The agent stumbled backwards from her attack, leaving Dar to deal with her shadow creations whilst she slipped out of the door, grabbing her bag along the way, unseen in the darkness. Clutching a hand to her wounded chest, she began to search for a way out, eventually kicking down a door that led to a back alley just off the main street. A feeling of relief spread over her as she took to her heels and began to run. Tonight was just not her night.

Dar was knocked off his feet by tendrils of darkness. They stabbed his skin, and a few of them were even making him bleed. A normal person would have lost conciousness from the constant battering, but Dar remained calm. He had suffered similar beatings as a child in "The Pit."

Still, the shadow tendrils were annoying. They would stab him one second, and would reshape when he tried to dispell them. As the girl ran further away, however, the shadows would weaken. After a few minutes, Dar managed to get into a crouching position and slowly stood up. With a strike of his powerful arms, the shadows completely dispelled.

He stood there, battered and bloody from head to foot. Tonight's hunt had not gone as planned. Seth was always telling Dar not to go on so many "adventures."

Dar made a mental note of the girl's appearance. She was strong, and the next time they met, he would be prepared.

Leaving the shop, Dar walked back to his appartment. This had been enough amusement for one day.