Can't Escape Your Nature

"You... How long have you had those for?"

"14 years, would you believe." Kage swayed sideways on his feet, then steadied himself.

Dante turned slowly and faced Kage, his hands up. "You'll do the job." Kage said, angrily waving the two guns he now pointed.

"Kage. Calm down. You're drunk, you don't need to do this...."

Bang.

An ornate vase at Dante's side shattered, sending white and green porcelain flying an all directions.

Dante flinched sideways and closed his eyes. "I liked that vase..."

"You will do the job."

"What is it?"

"Kill the Godkind of Memeleth. Five million emthels."

"That's mental. I can't."

Bang.

A bullet whizzed past Dante's head, close enough to disturb his black hair. Everything went silent, and then Dante's hand went to his ear. Came back bloody. The top of his left ear had a great bloodied notch in the top. Dante groaned.

"You. Will. Do. It."

"Yes, sir. Whatever you say, sir." Dante said, dropping eye contact and sweeping into a perfect court bow, blood from his ear staining the cream rug he stood on.

"Good. Let's go, Stark." And they left.

"Fuck!" Lord Hei cursed angrily, taking a rag and cleaning his ear until it stopped bleeding and then smearing a paste on his branded shoulder.

"Who are you...?" Luther asked in timid wonderment.

"Ah dammit. I'm Lord Hei!"

"I've heard Lord Hei is the best assassin in Tymeria. Not a man who'll let himself get shot up or branded by anyone who walks into his room, or lives in a brothel." Lord Hei froze from fondling a glittering black stud in his left earlobe.

Luther cried out as a black leaf knife buried itself in the table between his fingers.

"Shut the fuck up, you little shite. That wasn't just anyone, so don't bother telling me who can and can't beat me."

"I never said he beat you." Luther said, narrowing his eyes.

"I... I mean shoot at me!" He spat and began re-arming himself from the weapons on the wall. "What's your name, kid?"

"It's Luther."

"Well, Luther. Go home, and don't come back."

Luther knew he should be grateful this mysterious man was letting him go, but he wanted to know more after all he had seen. "I want to stay." He said stubbornly.

"No. Leave, I have a job to do in Tymeria, so you might want to stay out of my way."

"I want to stay," he repeated stubbornly.

Lord Hei turned on Luther with a foot-long knife in his hand, but all Luther found himself able to do was focus on the lattice of scars that criss-crossed Hei's chest.

"Get out of my room." Hei said, a dead look in his eyes.

"No," Luther said, feeling his courage failing.

Lord Hei took a step back and lifted his foot for a deadly kick to the head, bringing his knee to his chest in a smooth fluid motion. Luther gasped in fear, knowing he was going to die for his nosiness. Lord Hei was a man with no conscience- barely a man at all. He kicked out, but then suddenly threw himself sideways and stopped, staring into the abyss looking mortified.

The girl stumbles forwards, her white dress no longer white. The blood of fifty helpless men, women and children taint it a bright, fresh crimson. She keens for her mother, shuffling forwards in the disorientated gait of a young child. She doesn't realise that he is her parent's murderer. Dante stands, his back to the girl. His heart rate is soaring at the exhilaration of killing again and bathing in his victim's blood. Oh God. He thinks, knowing that it's too late to stop himself as he turns in a 180 degree kick directly into the girl's face. She crunches under the impact in mid cry, and falls back against her mother and father and brothers and sisters, dead.

Dante stopped and looked at the boy. He was terrified. Why wouldn't he be? Dante was the best assassin in Tymeria and here he was killing children, taking drugs and fucking whores. Who was he? He was becoming like Kage, and the worst thing was, he couldn't stop being like this.

Dante fell pitifully to his knees, clutching his head and groaning as if he could rid himself of the images of dying children branded into his mind. 14 years without shedding a tear for the innocents he'd killed and slaughtered were suddenly all flooding back. 14 years of perfect discipline and sterile heartlessness. "I'm so sorry." Dante gasped. It was the alcohol, he knew, but that didn't change anything. "Please, I'm begging you, just leave, Luther." He lifted his hands, and threw the knife away as if it scalded him, "These hands have killed too many. Too many. But I cannot stop, do you understand me? My master commands me by law. The laws of this world and many others. If he told me to kill you, I have to. If he told me to beat you, I have to. Please. Run."

Luther looked down at Lord Hei, looked down at his scarred and broken body, and then looked through his scarred body and into his scarred mind. The pain there was immense- not only physically, but mentally. Images suddenly flashed inside Luther's head as they had many times before, but never had they been this terrible. 'Get up, Dante Hatake.' A man says to Lord Hei, not any younger looking than he is now, but his naked chest doesn't bear the hundreds of scars that it does now, except one. Hei's face is younger too, somehow. The lines of thousands of deaths do not etch his face. Only the lines of pain and fear that are still there now are present as he is savagely kicked by a man. Lord Kage. Suddenly the images flit to a new time and place. Lord Hei is running frantically down a strange street. The buildings are so high, glinting transparently in the afternoon sun. Machines like that Luther has never seen before rattle by noisily and frighteningly quickly on a black and perfectly flat road, letting out a great screech sound as Hei runs out into the middle of the road, his black coat flapping behind him to reveal quick glimpses of his small arsenal of knives he carries. The machines come to a standstill in the road and Lord Hei freezes, looking around madly for somebody. Hundreds of people are staring at him from the sides of the great road, and they all wear unusual clothing in a style Luther has never seen too. Most wear black, and Dante is afraid, his eyes flitting nervously to every tiny movement.

Suddenly a knife is at his throat and his face is slammed into the front of one of the strange vehicles. Dante's vision blurs as a shower of sparks is thrown across it. His arms are twisted painfully behind his back and Lord Kage leans against him and whispers into Dante's ear, 'You're going to regret that. You never run from me. Ever.' A huge black machine pulls up nearby, screeching as it comes to a stop after going at such a speed. Kage pulls Dante up and pushes him roughly into the vehicle. Lord Hei is sobbing with terror.

Again a new time, a sunny market unfolds in Luther's mind as Lord Hei had seen it that day. Lord Hei's eyes are hard and detached like stone as he threads his way through the streets of Luther's world and time. A knife is held concealed against his forearm as he makes his way through the Trade Market and towards his first official target. Inside, Dante is sick. He hasn't taken the serum because he doesn't want to inject that foul liquid into his body, and his hands are trembling with fear and the after-effects of his last dose forced on him by Master Kage. Somewhere in this crowd, his master is watching him. His target is a lord who has been conspiring to turn against the Syndicate-controlled royal family, his doublet a deep sea green of House Anedisa. The old lord had really done nothing wrong. It was the foreign government that had taken over the city of Tymeria many years ago that was corrupt. But now, his doublet is turning a deep brown at the throat, the lord's jaw working as he tries to understand what is happening, and what he has or hasn't done doesn't matter anymore. Dante continues walking as if nothing has happened and he listens to the shrieks of the lord's loving wife as he collapses to the floor, gasping and frothing at the mouth. Dante makes a round sweep of the court to look for spies or suspicious spectators, and then slips into the Four Maidens. He staggers through the busy common room full of lords and whores, ignoring the golden haired woman who tries to seduce him. Inside the safety of his room, he throws up again and again, trembling. He reaches shakily for the serum injection and a bottle of whiskey.

Luther came back to reality with a gasp, just as Dante did. Dante was shaking and smothering his face with his hands at the old memories forced upon him. "You... You're a repeater," he gasped. Luther could see where Lord Hei's nose had been broken from being slammed into the vehicle. It was crooked and had never been re-set.

Luther had acquired a sense of calm now that Lord Hei was subdued and he understood his deepest thoughts, although he didn't know how he had managed to repeat so much and unintentionally. "Who are you? You are not a lord." Luther asked.

Lord Hei stood and made his way to his cabinet, taking out a full bottle of brandy and downing a quarter of it, grimacing. "No, I'm not." He said, sitting in his chair by the dead fire. "My name is Dante Hatake, and I am a slave to Master Kage Sector 2 leader and Lord of Atrocities. I work in a multitude of worlds to assassinate the best, and worst of men, women and children in hopes that my master will release me. So no, I am not a lord. Is that sufficient?"

"I... Yes." Luther said weakly.

"And who are you? You are not a street boy, are you?"

"No. I'm a lord's heir, but I... ran away. I don't want to have control over men."

"Then leave. I cannot bear to deal with those who no doubt look down upon me. Get. Out."

Dante spent the rest of that day and evening in bed with a whore, drunk, and trying to forget his troubles. When they were done, they lay together in the tangled sheets. The girl was young, perhaps 16, but she was experienced. She was still breathing heavily when Dante sighed and said, "Are you afraid of me?" The girl stroked his scarred and knotted chest wistfully.

She crawled over Dante and straddled him, her naked femininity grinding gently against Dante's erect masculinity. He moaned softly and put himself inside her, pulling her down onto the bed again and going for another round.

Dante lay on top of the girl now, keeping himself inside her as he panted into her soft neck and convulsed with the aftershocks. He looked into her blue eyes and saw the uncertainty there as he sat up and took yet another great swig of the whiskey he'd brought with him, and then rocked himself back and forth on her, gently grunting. "My lord," She said very timidly, obviously having dealt with drunks before, "My lord, please, it grows painful."

"Does it, now?" Dante said like a snake, forgetting any modesty he once may have had. The memories that Luther had forced him to repeat had made him want to shut his feelings away, which is exactly what he did. "Does this hurt? Oh dear." Lord Hei moved faster, and the girl tried to squirm away from under his weight. Suddenly Dante stopped and held down the girl's hands. He repeated, "Are you afraid of me, sweetheart?" She squealed, but Hei clamped a hand over her pretty little mouth and forced himself deeper inside her. The girl panicked but couldn't stop Dante from doing what he did for the next five minutes. Eventually she even stopped screaming and moving. When he stopped, the bedsheets and her legs were sticky with blood. He climbed off her and washed himself off with the pitcher and dried himself on the sheets. Then, he came right up to her face with a knife, "I think you should get rid of all this evidence, and not say a word about what just happened, do you see what I mean??"

She nodded fearfully. Lord Hei smiled, and went back to his room drunkardly, leaving his shirt undone at the front to show the entire thriving brothel his scars. The rest of his night he spent with a headache as he sobered up. He took herbs to stop most of the pain, but still wished he could use paracetamol like he could have done back on Earth. By one, he was completely sober. The serum injection he had taken meant that he could remember everything that had happened whilst he was drunk, and he felt more hollow than he had before he had raped that girl. He had hurt her, like so many before her, and he knew he'd probably hurt her again. He had enjoyed sharing a bed with her young warmth. He'd almost felt safe. He sighed sadly and poked his fire back to a blaze and relit some candles around his oversized room.

When he became sick of listening to his own deathly thoughts in his head whirring round and round, Dante finally got up from his chair, put on his floor-length black hooded cloak, and ventured into the common room of the brothel. He needed the fresh air to run its fingers through his hair. It was dark in the common room. A few late-night clients were still sat lounging on the sofas with whores in the warm candlelit glow, and Dante's old favourite whore- Ilyanna- was sat tiredly at the main desk. When Dante came through she sat up expectantly, but looked away again when she saw his disinterest. He made his way to the front door out into the street and took a step outside into the cool air, savouring it.

"Hatake." A familiar voice said. Only one man would use his name so in this world.

"What do you want, master?" Dante said, turning to face the dark figure seated in the corner with two girls.

"Why aren't you in Memeleth?"

"I have been busy."

"Oh have you indeed? Doing what, exactly?"

"Private things." Dante said sharply.

"Which are...?"

"I do not have an obligation to tell you about my private life. Sir."

Kage stood abruptly, scattering the two whores, and pointed at the nearest door. "Get through there, right now, and I'll show you how obliged you are to obey me."

"No. No, I can't," Dante said, backing out of the brothel door.

Master Kage was trembling with barely subdued rage. "By declaration of the standard worldwide law of Earth, Rievendal, Ymmria, Bweer, Thyio, Jaeger, Eer..."

"Ok! Okay. I'm going." Dante said, defeated. He couldn't stand against the laws of 16 different worlds that all bound him to Kage. He just couldn't. Dante closed the front door of the brothel, reopened it, and stepped into the familiar corridors of the Sector 2 Syndicate complex, or more like was shoved into the corridors of the Sector 2 Syndicate complex. Kage slammed the door behind them, and turned on Dante.

"I'm surprised that after 15 years of working for me, you still don't understand the fact that you have to do what I say." Kage hissed, squaring up to Dante until his back was against the wall behind him.

"You gave me the contract last night! You expect me to be in Memeleth already?!"

"Think about it, you stupid mindless slave, he's got a five million bounty on his head! There'll be competition."

"What makes you suddenly so interested in money?"

"This isn't about money. I've been offered a promotion to Sector 1. No more being put down by that bastard Heinako. If you kill the Godkind, we rank up."

"Well if it's so important to you, why don't you do it." Dante said dismissively, pushing Kage away and making for his room further down the corridor.

Kage watched Dante stride down the corridor and into his room, forcing himself not to just shoot the bastard. He's getting far too confident. He thought, I'm going to have to bring him down a bit. He turned to the communications pad on the wall and keyed in to the security room. "Sergeant Deliann, I want two armed officers sent to retrieve high battle-slave Dante Hatake from his quarters and taken to the holding room immediately. ...Actually. No. Make it two cyborged battle-slaves. I want good strong battle-slaves sent for him."

"Acknowledged."

"I authorise the immediate use of extreme force."

"Acknowledged." The mechanical cyborg voice of the sergeant repeated monotonously.

I don't have time for this. Kage thought grumpily, and headed off for his meeting with the Sectarians.

Safe inside his room, Dante sat in his old chair to get friendly with a bottle of scotch and sighed discontentedly. A feeling of inevitability was gnawing at his stomach- that feeling you get when you wake up from a dream where you're running, but no matter how fast you try to run, you don't go anywhere. Dante had the feeling that, no matter what he did to please his master, he would never be released from him by the Syndicate. He would be stuck here forever. Dante downed a quarter of the bottle in three seconds. What made it worse, was that in the corridor, Kage had given up so easily. Too easily. Normally, right now Dante would be laid on the floor with a kick to the guts, or clutching at a knife-gash in his side and staggering to his room, bloodying the white walls. Kage was up to something.

Almost in answer the door shattered inwards, and two cyborg battle-slave secmen ran in, in perfect unison. Dante didn't react violently, for fear he may end up with a rubber-based bullet or twenty in his back from their assault rifles. It had happened before. But these cyborgs weren't being peaceful. One jumped in the air, it's black-tinted plastic face shield reflecting the light from the remaining candles, and kicked Dante- chair and all- over backwards and onto the floor. The second straddled Dante's chest before he could defend himself and shot him, twice, in the collarbone with his gun. Just to show who's boss. Dante balked under the cyborg in pain and shock, and then cried, "You're not allowed in here!" As if that would stop them.

Two guns at his head made him fall still, his collarbone throbbing and a pain-sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. The secman on top of him levered himself up, and Dante grunted. "You will come with us." They said, again, in perfect unison, their voices indistinguishable.

"Yes, yes. I would have come fucking quietly anyway." He said angrily.

That earned him five shots in the stomach. He fell back from getting up and rolled onto his side in a fetal position, retching drily.

"Get up." They said.

"Yes." Dante replied distractedly, and then allowed them to bind his hands securely behind his back.

He stumbled, hunched, down the corridor between the two secmen. They led him into the holding cell, where he'd first been kept all those years ago. It hadn't changed. They left him there in silence, to await his fate.

By Dante's estimation, Master Kage took six hours to finally come to see him. Dante's eyes had long-since adjusted to the dark, and despite long ago being unable to see in such darkness, a combination of experience, rigorous training, and potent drugs meant he could vaguely see his Master silently gliding towards him in an attempt to take him by surprise. Dante didn't move from where he sat, facing Kage. "I can see you," he said, looking at the floor between his knees. Kage didn't falter as he continued to stride forwards soundlessly. There was something odd about him that Dante couldn't place, a strange vagueness in his gaze and a perfect balance to his walk that Kage didn't usually have as a result of his constant swagger. Surely even Kage should be making some sound on the floor that would echo around the huge cavern? Then Dante realised, just a second too late, as the figure flitted out of focus and then back into sight. A puppet. These are magically-controlled replicas of the magae's body, that, with a large enough amount of control, can be made to confuse or attract the attention of a target and mimic perfectly an individual. Kage had been practising for a while perfecting such a technique, and it seemed that he was still having problems. He couldn't maintain the illusion, nor could he get it to have the same facial expressions or movements. Still, it took Dante too long to realise, and so when he flung himself forward, aware of Kage's presence inside the cell with him, he flew straight into Kage's oncoming fist, which took him in the stomach. Kage dropped his invisibility charm and stood looking down on Dante who was now curled on the floor, coughing.