William leaned back from the edge. He thought, tried to find the man's face in his memory, but it was still too clouded. He shook his head to try to clear it, but was left with the fog that surrounded him and the fuzziness he had felt for the last two years. He knew the drugs they had been giving him couldn't be completely out of his system yet.
The Hunter tensed by him and growled near his ear. Now. Go.
He tried again to look down at the apartment across the street, at the curtained windows, but the fog thickened as the first street lights popped to life below and obscured all the details of the building.
The Advisor pointed away from Jess' apartment again and The Caretaker leaned a hand into William's chest. She needs your help, she said.
"Jess needs my help, my protection," William said.
Go. Now, The Hunter said.
The Advisor pointed away from Jess' building again. She will lead him to you. It was another typical answer from them. They always seemed to withhold something, didn't care that William didn't understand. He sighed, hoped that at the very least, they wouldn't make him dumpster dive this time.
He turned and the voices led him to the fire escape. He put a hand onto the eave and dropped down onto the metal platform as the sun went down behind the buildings.
After hurrying down the steps and a final jump to the street, William sped up from a jog to a run, The Hunter only steps ahead of him. Horns blared at William as he followed the voices through a miniscule break in traffic on a busy street, then down a side street. As dusk dimmed to full night, a dozen blocks slid by in the fog, and while it numbed him from the pain of tired muscles, his breathing began to grow more ragged.
Finally, The Hunter stopped, rose and pointed to a tight street ahead. All of the streetlights above were cracked, useless and dark. In the darkest recess of the street there was a brief shadow of movement.
Now, The Hunter said.
Before it is too late, The Advisor said, next to him.
*
William walked forward, his breath suddenly even, steady and quiet. The fog around him intensified the outlines of the boarded up tenements that crowded against the sidewalks, painted everything in greater contrast for him to better see in the faint light.
Ahead, two men leaned into the shadows, obscuring a third, smaller figure. The bigger of the two men was older, with a shaved head that did nothing to disguise his heavily receding hairline. The younger man walked with a distinct limp. In the fog a faded red glow throbbed out from his left hip.
Baldy moved aside and the fog swirled, highlighted a woman, her features Asian, in a black skirt and button down top. Underneath the numbness of the fog, William recognized it as some sort of waitress' uniform. She backed away from the men and looked more desperate as she noticed William.
The smaller man saw her reaction, turned.
William stopped in the middle of the street, not ten feet away from Baldy, Limp and the woman. He stared as the fog churned around the three.
Limp swung out a hand, slapped Baldy on the back. "Hey, check this out. A retard."
"Get rid of him." Baldy barely turned from the woman, but she took the opening to try to dash away. William watched the fog swirl with angry red as Baldy grabbed her and shoved her back into the shadows.
Limp made his way up to within inches of William, puffed up his nonexistent chest. "Get lost."
William watched.
The fog swirled around Limp as The Hunter circled around the little man. Red clouds began to form around Limp's hands. "Beat it, retard!"
The Hunter stepped to the side as the red fog surged up, a detached outline of arms and open palms, to shoot toward William's chest.
Move. Turn, The Hunter said.
Limp jerked his palms up and shoved out hard, his arms following the path of the red fog. But William pivoted on a heel, and the shove met only open air. The little man stumbled at the lack of impact, wobbled on his bad hip and tumbled down to the dirty pavement.
William watched Limp struggle up and away. The man snuck a look over at Baldy and cautiously advanced on William again, his fists darkening in the fog.
As the fog coalesced around the intended punch, The Hunter crouched, turned, bobbed underneath. Like that.
William copied the movement as the physical punch followed the fog shadow. Limp stumbled, but kept his feet under him this time.
"I said get rid of him." Baldy held the woman by the collar as he growled at Limp.
Another flurry of punches in fog...followed by Limp's physical movements. William slipped, ducked and sidestepped them all. The man panted before him.
Strike back, The Hunter said.
When the fog showed another punch coming from Limp, The Hunter circled outside the strike and reached out a hand, swiped a red patch, a target, onto Limp's face.
The punch came, William circled, but didn't attack the target on Limp's unprotected jaw.
Hit him back, The Hunter said.
The Advisor formed in William's view. You have to fight. It is all he knows. All he understands.
Another wild combination of hits lashed out from Limp in the fog. The Hunter moved through them and William followed. First, a giant haymaker that he easily ducked under and then a heavy cross. The Hunter swiped again, at the wrist and then the elbow of a fog-filled arm. The physical punch followed after the red trail of fog and William leaned to the outside, reached a hand out, latched onto the wrist and kept Limp's arm straight.
With a fast turn, William drove his ribs against the back of Limp's straightened elbow. All of the weight of his upper body dropped onto the isolated joint.
The sound cracked out into the street, echoed along the buildings as the elbow fractured. One, two seconds of silence and then Limp's voice leaked out, turned from a whimper into a wail that surrounded everyone there.
William let go. Limp dropped to the pavement, his arm bent back, ugly as it faced the wrong direction. His screams were broken only by fast, ragged breaths.
Baldy turned from the woman. "What now?" He saw Limp curled on the ground, writhing in tiny movements. He looked up at William. "All right." He shoved the woman hard against the building and she crumpled to the ground. He closed the distance to William and started to circle.
The Hunter stood by William as The Advisor kept pace with Baldy. He reached a hand into the fog around the man's head, into the outlined skull. For a moment, the fog around the connection twisted sharply, leaked half formed, violent images.
The Advisor stepped away, turned to William. He enjoys it. He will never stop.
You stop him, The Hunter said.
The fog leapt up from Baldy's hands, a grab and a huge hook. William batted the grabbing hand away as The Hunter swiped a target onto Baldy's throat.
William faded away from the hook and hammered a fist straight into the man's neck. Baldy stumbled, hands clutching uselessly at the pain and crumpled down to his elbows and knees.
The Hunter stepped over, one hand up under Baldy's face, and snaked his other arm around the man's neck.
William took The Hunter's place, grabbed the man's chin with his left hand and leaned down to wrap his right arm around the exposed neck, above the clutching hands. As he followed The Hunter's instructions and grabbed his left biceps with his right hand, Baldy bucked beneath him and William toppled forward, arm still tight around the man's neck. His right elbow cracked sharply onto the street, but the fog dulled the pain before it could settle in.
Baldy rolled to the side, William still behind him. William clamped his legs tight inside Baldy's thighs and at The Hunter's urging, rowed his shoulder blades together to tighten the choke.
Colors exploded from Baldy's outline in panic as his hands tore at William's jacket and arm. William dully realized the man was running out of air, out of blood to his brain. He realized what this meant, what he was doing and began to relax his grip.
Tighter, The Hunter said.
William arched his back again, and the panicked clouds spewed out from Baldy once more, each one replaced by smaller and fewer bursts. In only a minute, the colors were gone and the body was an empty outline in the fog.
The Hunter and Advisor stepped away. William let go and stood, looked down at the dead body. They had never made him do this before. They had never asked him to kill.
By the building, The Caretaker knelt in the shadows near the woman. The Advisor joined her. William's gaze followed them and he saw the woman watching him.
She whimpered.
She needs to see her son, The Advisor said.
The Caretaker waved him forward. Come.
The Advisor slid a hand into the woman's outline and William closed in.
*
(Author's note: Whoa. Who thinks William should get a thumbs up for that? And guess what...TONS more action to come. TONS! Read on...and thanks for the votes and comments.)