Kid

 

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Chapter 1

         

Where are you?

Where did you go?

Why did you leave me…?

Did I do something wrong?

Will I see you again?

...

I’ll find you myself…

Because I don’t think you’ll come back on your own.

*

She remained kneeling down before the woman, her arms chained and her feet following suit. The woman was softly chuckling, she was standing before the little girl, knowing she had so much power over her.

Madame Riley was bigger than the girl she was upon, by a long shot.

The girl seemed to be close to eleven or even ten.

The thief, who remained perched in the air ducts above, took a small glance into the room and saw the commotion the two seemed to be in. It appeared to be some sort of bedroom, with a large Queen bed with golden wooden posts and red silk sheets, there were matching wooden dressers and features within the room. But the two resided in a corner of the room, the little girl chained to the wall to keep her from running away and the woman standing before her in an intimidating standoff.

Eventually the woman kneeled down to the girl and ran her fingertips down the little girl’s nose.

The girl remained mildly confused but expressionless as she remained where she was. She was trying to be as small as possible, hugging her knees and kneeling as close to the ground as she could. Mainly out of intimidation. The woman brought herself closer, and no matter how much the little girl tried to back away Madame Riley would come much closer.

Madame Riley laced her fingers through the little girl’s white locks, “You have such lovely hair sweetie,” she compliment. The girl didn’t respond, “Well you seem extra quiet,” she said. Her ruby lips glossy. The little girl remained silent. She attempted to look around the room, anywhere but where Madame Riley was.

Madame Riley had very fluttery fingers as she put her hands under Kid’s chin and lifted it up. The girl could feel something tingling like she was meant to be tickled by this, but she didn’t react with anything more than a twitchy eyelid.

The boy above shuddered as he rubbed his own neck, how could she put up with that?

He certainly couldn’t.

He was tempted to continue through the air ducts to somewhere else, but within the room he could see some promising things he could heist.

The little girl remained squatting there quietly before the woman. Madame Riley was making Kid look at her. The little girl’s sight somewhat overwhelmed by the woman’s bright red hair and almost flawless, but certainly over dramatic, beauty.

The way she was sitting was causing the skirt the girl was wearing to be pushed up.

“I don’t really see it, I must admit,” the woman said as she push the little girl’s face back. The girl winced from that movement, her chin copping most of the pain as she rubbed in an attempt to numb the pain. “My Master is hardly ever wrong though. So there must be something about you that he fancies.” She brought herself closer and forced the girl to stand up, in reply the girl stomped down on the woman’s foot.

For a little girl, she had a strong foot stamp and Madame Riley was forced back slightly. Jumping up and down on her foot due to the soreness. The girl started laughing and clapping her hands at Madame Riley like it was some sort of show.

Even the thief above tried his best to suppress a grin.

The woman growled. “I could’ve let the cannibals have you, you ungrateful little-” she gripped the girl’s dress collar and lifted her from the ground, her legs hardly hanging beneath her. But the movement made a small necklace escape from the girl’s dress; a sun that was framed by a half moon. The necklace made Madame Riley’s eyes grow wide.

She grunted slightly as she dropped the girl back down to the ground. Her feet giving out on her and she simply clattered to the ground. “Who do you work for?” Madame Riley growled. The girl ignored her, losing interest in whatever this woman had to offer her, but instead paid attention to the breathing she could hear of the boy in the vent above them.

The ceiling suddenly shuddered on its own, making the woman look up to the duct as a piece of TNT fell from it, as if the vents had burped. It clattered on the ground meters from the bed and exploded.

It was a small explosion, but it was enough for the room to be filled with smoke, a lingering noise and to be almost blinding.

Madame Riley cursed as she backed away from the little girl.

“They’re certainly quick to come save their little rabbit, aren’t they?” the woman snarled as she grabbed at the little girl again. The girl replied with a swift attack by using the chains of her chained self to whack Madam Riley.

Thinking more people would be coming into the room after this little girl, Madame Riley quickly exited the room. The little girl watched her go and looked to the source of the smoke.

While unclear, there was a figure standing in the smoke. They were tall, and the girl’s interest spiked as she started fiddling with the linked chain loops, a couple of them were poorly maintained.

Through the goggles the boy wore, he watched the smoke begin to clear from the room. The scene that was unfolding was beginning to both bore and annoy him.

A fully grown woman interrogating or potentially kidnapping a little girl…

And if that wasn’t a kidnapping that was quite the twisted role-play.

He heard the door close; it announced itself with an echoing thud around the room. Thinking he was alone, he turned to a small jewellery table and went through it. The wood was polished, but now covered in a thin layer of soot and, sadly, not very expensive jewellery seemed to be in the room. He glanced at the mirror to himself, his eyes covered by thick black goggles, dressed in a thick dark brown coat and messy black hair. But looking past the image of himself, he saw the little girl staring at him.

She was pretty, he would give her that, with her white hair and navy blue tunic, but really young.

He simply ignored her for a moment to look in another drawer, annoyed by this, he turned around, but jumped when he saw the little girl less than a metre from him. She was like two heads shorter than him and have the clearest red eyes he had ever seen. He rolled his eyes; How cute, an albino.

“Excuse me, kid,” he said pushing past her to get at something across the room.

It was then he noticed the chains she wore. The chain loops themselves had been snapped but they were thick pieces of metal wrapped around her wrists, so she wouldn’t be able to move her hands any more than a couple of centimetres. Her wrists were pure in colour with no scars, but the lingering chains continued to clink with her movements.

The boy smirked as he continued with what he was doing, “Looks like they caught you pretty well, kid. What did you do? Blackmail a noble?” the boy snickered.

The girl didn’t answer.

The boy didn’t interpret it as her being rude, some chick was potentially going to beat something out of her. He would probably be pretty quiet too. He kneeled down to some cabinets on the floor and looked through them, but only found some bottle of perfume.

The girl watched him search in somewhat curiosity. He looked pretty rough, like a street kid or some sort of thief. Her ears twitched as she heard the footsteps of Madame Riley in the hallway coming back. She let off a whimper.

The boy noticed this and turned to her, nothing was in the room though.

“What?” The doors opened and the same woman walked in. Some robe wrapped around her thin figure once more. The boy pressed his lips together as he rose to his feet; he pulled out his gun and aimed it at her. “You call for help and I’ll shoot you,” he threatened. He had done this before, but the women never seemed this calm or… amused.

The little girl suddenly jumped behind the boy as if hiding.

Her sudden touch made him jump and looked down at her momentarily. She didn’t look scared, but she certainly didn’t want to be there.  The woman still laughed as she pushed herself off the wall and turned her back to the pair, grabbing the handles of the doors and slowly pulling them closed. “Why would I call for help?” she asked as they clicked closed and she locked it, “I don’t want anybody to disturb us.”

The little girl took in a deep, sharp breath and her hands clenched into fists of the boy’s coat. The woman suddenly grew taller and taller, her bones cracking, her limbs extending from her torso… she looked like some form of anorexic demon. Her eyes went completely dark, as if nothing was there in the first place, and her hair and skin became brittle and thinned out. Her lips remained their glossy red, which only added to the horrific scene. “After all,” she became top heavy and fell on her front, “I’d like to have my fun here.”

The boy fired the gun, the room rang out with three shots that seemed to ratchet off her skin and bounce to the ground. “Shit…” he cursed. Madame Riley’s arms suddenly became flexible; they bent in the middle of her arms and continued to stretch like liquorish.

“Get out of the way!” the boy demanded scooping up the girl and practically throwing both of them to the ground.  The woman’s arm shot where they were standing and punched a wall. The woman let off a loud, hysterical laugh as she pulled her arm out of the wall, a small cloud of white plaster dust following.

The little girl shook her head out of dizziness, but the boy didn’t have that luxury as he got to his feet and dragged the girl with him as he ran, “come on!” he urged as they hid behind the bed, which for some reason was in the centre of the room. The little girl hid under the bed.

The young thief attempted shooting her again, but the bullets may as well have been shot into water.

The girl lifted her head from her hiding place and peered over to the woman as she shot her arm across the room, breaking everything in its path. “Hit the deck!” the thief ordered pushing the girl over as he did. The woman’s other arm slid right under the bed, lifting it up from the force and pushed both of them back until they slammed into the wall. They both yelped in sudden pain.

The woman laughed as she managed to drag herself across the room and stood before them. She looked… closer to human, but she wasn’t quite there yet. Her limbs were still extended, just not as dramatically. She still remained eyeless. She stood before the two of them, one arm per child, and her eyes were like two black, endless holes. Both the boy and the girl went red in the cheeks from the firm choke the woman had on both of them. “My Master said that he wanted you unharmed girl,” the woman informed going closer to her, “such a pity for me really.” She practically threw the little girl across the room once more.

The little girl coughed and breathed rather greedily, her arms wobbling under her light weight.

“But you,” she giggled looking to the thief, “I can have my way in any way I like with you.” Her grip got tighter and her nails dug deeper into his neck. He clawed for his life, attempting to peel her fingers off of him. His ears started ringing and any air was considered a blessing for him.

His eyes were forced to water and his hands and arms were soon rendered useless. All he could do was see and badly as well. Soon that became a struggle as he made a final attempt to escape like a fish.

Madame Riley smiled with evil delight as the boy was basically a lifeless puppet in her hand. Something suddenly blocked her vision, something red. It jerked her head back, and by force her hand released the boy. He collapsed to the ground; every cell in his body was dedicated to painful pins and needles. Through his blurry eyes, he watched what looked like someone riding a centipede. Its upper body was being jerked back by what looked like red reins.

The little girl pulled as hard as she could against the Saturn sheets. It was exhausting for her little arms. The boy seemed to gain some sense after he coughed for a bit and pushed himself to his feet. Madame Riley dropped to the ground and attempted to roll her off.

The little girl yelped as she leaped from her back and onto the bed. After untangling herself, the woman snarled at her, “you are not worth all this trouble!” she snapped as she launched herself at her. The little girl let off a small scream as she jumped off the bed and scrambled for the door, she tripped in her chains.

The boy managed to stand, the dizzy spells passing, his throat sore, but he managed to charge forwards, armed with a broken piece of the bed frame, and slammed it on the side of her head while she towered over the little girl. She yowled in pain as she was forced to kneel holding her head.

“Run, kid!” the boy demanded running right past the girl.

She followed quickly.

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Chapter 2

“What’s going on?”

“There’s been a Nightmare detected in the richer parts of Delco City.”

“It could be her.”

“It could be many things. What of the train?”

“It’s exactly as we suspected, sir.”

“Of course…”

“What will you have us do?”

There was a long pause before the decision was decided, “we’ll check the city first and then go to the train. By my reasoning, everything should be fine for the moment.”

The two looked out to the city, almost all lights remained on. “Do we go now, sir?”

“Indeed.” The two shadows leaped from the rooftop and free-fall down the slanted hill of houses, landing occasionally on a rooftop just to gain some height, before making the ultimate leap and zipping through the sky, as if they had wings.

*

The duo raced through the hallways. It was a surprisingly modern looking place compared to other places the thief had been to. He knew going to the palace was a bad idea, but he wanted a challenge.

Peering down the hallway of armed guards, he regretted that decision tenfold.

They were dressed in black pants, black coat over a white shirt and a belt that their weapon, which happened to be a gun, was attached to.

“Crap!” he cursed pressing himself against one of the walls, “That bitch is quick. She’s already got guards about,” he pulled out his gun again. He heard the little girl make a small gasp upon seeing it. “Oh get over it, come on,” he urged looking back, he growled as he started running down the hall. The little girl watched him for a moment before racing after him.

The little girl suddenly tripped over the chains that scraped along the floor, he turned and looked to her, “hey! Don’t go following me, you got to look out for yourself, I ain’t gonna be doing that,” he snapped as he continued walking. The little girl continued to follow him until he stopped. He groaned, “What will it take for you to leave me alone?”

The little girl took a moment to think, after a moment she lifted the chains around her wrists to gesture to see if he would unchain her. He sighed through his nose, he took a quick glance around, he could probably pick at the locks, but that would take too much time with a foreign lock… that and he wasn’t bothered. He rolled his eyes as he aimed his gun and fired it at the girl and fired them; the lock itself shattered and opened up on both her wrists and clattered to the ground in a heap.

She rubbed her wrists and gave him a small smile as thanks, “bye, kid.”

Her smile evaporated as he turned and ran down the hallways.

The boy went around the corner and continued down the hallway. Running until he got to the end of the hallway he peered around the corner and saw one man on his own, but his gun was out unlike the others. He cursed softly as he pressed his back to the wall; he had to wait it out.

He peered his head around the corner once more, without warning he was suddenly pushed forwards, he stumbled out into the open and landed flat on his face. He growled as he looked behind him and saw the little girl, she had run into him. She jumped and backed away from him and soon ran the other way complete. “That little bitch…” the boy hissed, the ground suddenly exploded near him and he jumped into action, firing his gun and managing to get to his feet and scrambling to the side. He fired once and his gun clicked out.

He cursed again as he simply ran down the hallway.

The man seemed to follow him, his gun firing. The young thief was hardly able to load his gun, every time he tried he’d feel a bullet fly past him.

The boy managed to hide around a corner, but he knew he was screwed when he watched a bullet shatter a window on the wall before him. The boy managed to load his gun and fired once more, but he went wide eyed as he saw the man lying on the ground unconscious. The little girl was sitting on his back like she had crash tackled him. The boy revealed himself and smirked, “well then,” he said.

The girl went wide eyed as she pulled out the gun and aimed it at him. The thief went wide eyed and ducked in time for the gun to shoot; the girl was practically shot back as the gun hit a guard behind the thief. It didn’t hit the guard, but the thief guessed someone was behind him as he rolled over and fired. The guard fell backwards clutching his shoulder. The thief got to his feet and ran on, “come on, kid.”

He dragged her momentarily before she got to her feet and continued running.

*

The thief growled at his own stupidity as he shot at the guard that had cornered the two in a storage room. The little girl was whimpering next to him covering her ears every time he shot at the doorway. “Crap, I’m running outta bullets again,” the boy cursed, he looked around the space, it was only lit by a small light bulb hanging from the ceiling in the centre of the room.

He looked around for something that could get him out of there.

“Hey, can you get to the door?” he asked the girl.

She looked at him for a moment, she looked close to tears. He grunted, “I’ll take that as a no,” he grunted as he shot another bullet.

The guard smiled at his fortune. He heard someone walking and looked down the hallway and saw Madame Riley walking down the hallway. “Madame!” the man exclaimed, “I’ve managed to corner the two intruders, Madame.” He managed to look at his employer, but she looked… weird.

She was relying much on the walls to keep herself standing. Her eyes were still dark, and her limbs stringy and extended. “Miss?” the guard said, he was freaked out seeing her like this, limping slowly towards him made him uneasy; especially when she gave him a smile.

The thief looked to fire at the guard again, but his attention wasn’t on them anymore, it was on something down the hallway. He watched as the guard’s face got twisted into a look of fear. Without warning, arms shot forwards and both wrapped and impaled the man before dragging him forwards. His blood curdling scream made the girl crawl away momentarily to throw up.

The thief took this moment to come out, he stood up, his hand went into the bag he carried with him. The screams continued for a moment, the thief was slowly and cautiously walking towards the doorway, but froze midway when she walked before the door. She remained in her deformed form, in her hands was a motionless man, his blood staining on the clothes he wore and dripping to the ground he was forced to hang above in the woman’s arms.

The boy was losing his breath for what he was seeing, the little girl whimpered behind him, looking over the top of a crate she was hiding behind. The young thief slowly backed away as the woman threw the man down the hallway and wiped her mouth. She seemed very amused with herself. “I love a good chase,” she said walking through the doorway.

The boy backed away slowly, “weird… so do I,” he replied.

“Ah, cocky preys,” she laughed as she gave him her smile, “most are too horrified to even try.”

She shot out her hands, the thief dodged one by got hit by another, sending him slamming painfully into a wooden box. It shattered beneath him. The little girl went wide eyed as she ran over to him. “I’m fine, kid,” he grunted, “Get ready to run though,” he hissed under his breath.

The boy pushed himself to his feet and watched as the woman pulled her arm from the box, shattering and crushing many others like they were made of cardboard. Their contents spilled out onto the floor, some in forms of gun powder, explosives and wood. “Don’t tell me the pair of you gave up already?” Madame Riley laughed, “Here I thought you were stronger than that, child.”

The little girl whimpered as she held onto the boys coat in small tight fists.

The boy smirked, “you don’t need strength,” he replied sitting up, “just brains.”

He revealed what was in his bag, single silver lighter. He set it alight and stood up, “everything in this room is flammable and will most likely explode. Do you value your own life enough to let some kids go?” he asked, “because either we all get out of this alive, or we all completely and utterly die in an explosion based entirely on the stupidity of someone’s bright idea to leave all the artillery storages in one freaking room.”

The woman gave him a growl, but managed another smile as she tapped her seemingly hollowed eye balls. “Counter proposal for you, you give me the girl, I let you go,” she offered smiling.

The boy thief raised an eye brow, “why do you want this girl so badly?” he asked.

She chuckled, “sadly, not allowed to say. A little too complex for the mind of such a human, and a young one at that,” she teased.

The boy found something to smirk at as he looked at the little girl who remain behind him, somewhat hiding. What could such a young girl possibly be of need to some weird monster?

He wasn’t gonna lie, he was tempted to do so, to throw the girl under the bus since she would probably be dead weight. But, sadly, common sense and having a heart prevented him from doing so.

And plus…

“Fine then,” he grabbed the little girl around the neck and held her close to him as he aimed the gun at her head, “but I hope you don’t mind if I don’t do that.”

Despite this sudden gesture, the little girl didn’t even flinch under his grip, but she did grab his arm to keep him from completely choking her. The creature smirked as she twiddled her fingers and smirked, “go ahead, she doesn’t mean that much to me,” she informed.

The young thief rolled his eyes, “In that case,” he allowed the girl to fall out of his reach, “have you noticed we’ve managed to shuffle across the room to the door?” the boy asked.

The woman looked at him oddly, and saw the door behind her, she was blocking it from them. What was he talking about?

She was about to counter, but when she turned back to him; the two of them were running straight towards her. They dodged her attempted snatching and ran through the door. The boy lit his lighter and threw it inside before closing the door and running for dear life. The door was no trouble to escape through, but the lighter quickly caught fire to the gun powder. It exploded like mini fireworks and forced many other things to catch alight. She cursed as she attempted leaving, but the door provided a form of obstacle, delaying herself too much as the whole room exploded.

*

Well… putting a house on a hill certainly wasn’t a good idea… The young thief thought.

The whole west wing of the giant house had exploded; as a result it compromised the rest of the house’s structure. But building it on a hill caused it to collapse on a downwards angle, dragging some of the other walls on the building with it to the ground below. To people of the lower city, the whole house itself had exploded with a mass of giant sparks, the explosion itself sent out an almost never ending bellow of ear-popping noise.

The two new-found criminals remained on a corner of a floor that hadn’t been dragged down. The clearing smoke and dust gave off an odd illusion with the stars and the moon that surrounded the area.

“Well, its official,” the boy said resting his hands on the back of his head, “I’m screwed.”

He turned to the little girl, she remained sitting on the ground, her arms firmly wrapped around her knees with her whole body in a frenzy of even trembles. Her locks of hair draped over her knees as her eyes stared unblinkingly at the ground. She looked like a frightened white mouse.

The young thief smirked at her weakness and turned away from her, “see you around, kid,” he said, putting on his goggles before putting his hands tucked into his pockets as he went to leave, “looks like we’re parting here.”

Her head shot up, her eyes wide and glassy as she stared at the thief. In her eyes he saw a newfound fear, that he was gonna leave her, for her to be on her own, she seemed absolutely terrified of the implications or the idea of being by herself.

It was a sudden terror that the young boy recognised, having felt it himself he couldn’t bear to look the girl in the eyes when she stared at him like that, like he could actually do something to help her. He hardly knew her! What did she expect him to do?

He mustered up the courage to glance at her again, her eyes remained staring ready to cry.

His involuntary memory of his own terror came to mind… the rain… the mud… the hand that helped him up…

Nobody deserves to be left behind…

He pressed his lips together and sighed, “I’m gonna regret this…” he mumbled pushing his goggles back on top of his head, “come on,” he held out a hand to her, “we’d better get going.”

The little girl stared at him with the most overwhelming look of happiness, and the smile perched on her face mirrored it as she took his outstretched hand and he pulled her to her feet. “What can I call ya?” he asked. She just stared at him with a blank expression. “Do you have a name?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Alright, you at least understand me…” he mumbled, “what, can’t you talk?”

The girl gave off a small, yet ashamed, smile as she looked to the ground.

The thief rolled his eyes, “I don’t care if you don’t have a name. But if you’re not gonna tell me what it is, I hope you don’t mind me just calling you Kid,” he informed. It would be easy for him; it’s what he’s been calling her since he met her.

She nodded, happy with the name.

He held out his hand to shake, “In that case, Kid. They call me Neon, Neon Justly.”

The girl didn’t shake his hand; rather, she pushed past it and gave him a tight hug. He jumped, “hey, Kid. Come on, get off of me!” he exclaimed trying to shake her off or free his arm she had trapped, but she had a firm grip around him and merely laughed when he attempted pushing her off. “Come on, Kid!” He complained as he managed to push her off him, “boundaries, don’t hug me,” he informed crossing her out with his fingers, “you got that?”

She shook her head with cheeky rebelliousness.

He groaned as he hung his head, “then don’t expect me to hug ya back. Now come on,” he said, “we got to blow this Popsicle stand.”

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