Garden 03: Enhance the Killer
Part A: Blanked into Obscurity

       The silver Porsche roared down the empty highway, its sole inhabitant glaring forward with a steady plum gaze. Ran was gone, lost amid an endless stream of thoughts and emotions that struck the young man over and over again. Stuck in his place was the cold, calculating mind of Sense, the assassin, the killer who used every possible advantage and took in all the feelings and thoughts his powers harvested for him.
       Persia had phoned him and instructed him to be at a Kritiker base a few miles outside of town at 10am. It was 9:30 now. The red head jabbed a small black button on his door, causing the window to roll down. He put more weight on his foot, pushing the vehicle up to 90, wishing he had a convertible.
       The complex came into view as he rolled over a hill. It was two stories high, flat topped, with a large iron gate surrounding it. Armed guards stood in the shadows of the roof while two were stationed at the gates. He pulled up and leaned lightly towards the guard outside his door.

�Name.� The man�s voice was flat.

�Ran Fujimiya.�

�Code name.�

�Sense.�

A smirk curled the red head�s lips as the man recoiled in shock. He was more of an urban legend than an agent to most lower level Kritiker members. He was the top ranking murderer in a line of killers. The young man scrambled threw his clipboard before finding what he was looking for.

�Open the gates!� He hissed. The guard stationed inside, looking out with surprise telling on his face, jammed a button and the gates pulled away. Sense slowly seeped out of the car�s driver as Ran entered the arena, filling every crack of his body with himself, slowly waking to find himself human again.
       He lulled the car into a parking space and killed the engine, sitting silently for a few moments. This base was, to his knowledge, one of Kritiker�s Weapons Research and Development Buildings. He got out, pulled his dark navy pea coat off the passenger�s side and shut the door. He slipped into the coat as he neared the doors, shoving his keys into his pockets.
       He pressed his palm to the small white panel, looking faintly bored. He didn�t flinch away or blink as the red light of the scanner shone into his left eye. The doors slid open and he strode forward with a solid manner. Not determined or self-absorbed or even confidant. Just full and powerful. The red head spotted Persia walking down the hall and slid his power threw the older man�s mind. Persia looked up from the file he was reading with disdain written on his features. He shook the folder in a scolding manner at Ran, which the assassin simply glared down.
       Ran walked briskly down the hall, catching Persia�s pace and matching his own with it.

�We have a new weapons system that might just rid you of your problem.� The man began. �Its called E.A.R.S.� Persia skimmed the paper in the folder quickly. �Enhanced Active Response System.�

�What exactly does it do?� Ran folded his arms across his chest. He didn�t know it, but he looked like the very personification of stubbornness.

�Don�t be stubborn.� Persia murmured lightly. �It will enhance your senses and response time. You might even be able to attack an enemy before he�s even drawn a weapon.� Persia slanted his eyes. �An enemy positioned 35 meters away.�

�How?�

�We insert a small chip into your brain and then you wear a small device that circles your ear. The two then erase your known limits for as long as the device is on. The machine on your ear also releases a chemical into your blood. This pumps up your body, like a hyped up adrenaline.� He closed the folder. �The chemical gets rid of your limits while the device tells your body their gone. If you were to get into a fight with only one of them, you�d lose.�

Ran lulled this information about in his mind, filing it for safekeeping. �Has it been tested?�

�Yes, of course.� Persia stopped. �I have already given the okay for the operation that will enable you to use this program. But I�m not going to force you into something you don�t want to do.� He leveled him with a steady gaze. �While yes it has been tested, if you are not strong enough to handle the program, if your body has the slightest weakness that you are not aware of, if you were to suddenly lose or gain weight, then this could be deadly.�
       Ran pulled back out of reality, weighing the pros and cons of the entire thing. To be enhanced would lower the risk of injury and possibly get rid of the Hallucinpath following him. If his body couldn�t take it, the strain could kill him.
Persia handed him the folder.

�Read this over and come back when you�re ready.� The older man patted his shoulder before walking off down the hallway. The red head turned and strode down the hall towards a door that led to a small lunch court. It was amusing to think people like Persia had lunch courts.
       He took a seat in the shade and began sifting threw the file. The strain on his body was enough to stick him in a hospital for months if he didn�t control it right. The strain on his mind could leave him in a mental institution for the rest of his life. If he could handle it, he wouldn�t be injured as much and he could complete his missions faster.
       The chip also enhanced the person�s senses. There wasn�t a known reason behind it. It also depended upon the person. One subject found his hearing had increased, while another reported she could read over the shoulder of a woman sitting across the street.
       He propped his chin into his palm and tried to think of how his power would react to it. They might be pumped up enough to actually read the thoughts of the Hallucinpath trailing him.

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Part B: Wake with New Eyes
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       Ran decided to have the operation. It took forty-five minutes for the two doctors to connect the small chip-like thing into the red head�s brain. And it was so close to his ear, you couldn�t even see the stitches unless you were to brush back his fire engine hair.
       When the assassin awoke, the world had changed. Everything was sharper, clearer. The colors seemed deeper; the lines on Persia�s face seemed sharp, everything seemed to move slower.

Persia leaned forward, staring at Ran. �How do you feel?� He asked solemnly.

�Different.� Ran stared at his hands, his pale skin an off white against the stark sheets. He focused his eyes and could make out lines crisscrossing the microscopic surface of his skin.

�I see your vision has increased.� Ran heard the voice clear, turning towards the door. Persia blinked.

�What?� He asked. A few moments later, a man in a white lab coat walked in.

�Along with your hearing.� A childish grin broke across his face. He was tall, with shoulder length silvery purple, his bangs cut at random lengths to frame his face in a delicate curtain of moonlight. The silver threads fell into a pair of endlessly laser blue eyes. He was of slender build, wearing a long sleeved black shirt under his coat. Along with a pair of baggy dark blue jeans. �You might want to learn how to tune things out, we�re lucky its 2 AM and nobody else is in the building.�

�This is Luna, our specialist on the EARS project.� Persia gestured lightly. �He worked with its creator, Professor Wei�.�

�Pleasure.� Luna held out his hand. Ran stared at it, his new vision helping him to see the faint veins hidden under the skin, watching as they shivered when life-giving blood was pumped threw them. A chuckle echoed into his senses, and he blinked at the clarity of it. �You�ll get used to it in a few moments.� The sound of speech was clearer than before, he could make out every change in tone and brake it into parts in a millisecond. Even his thinking was clearer.

�How long will these side effects last?� Persia raised an eyebrow as a bird on a tree near the window caught Ran�s immediate attention. The assassin watched it with childlike fascination, able to make out every one of its feathers even with little light.

�He�ll be out of his stupor in about an hour.� Luna shrugged. �He�ll be back to his cold calculating asshole self in by tomorrow if he�s what the stories make him out to be.�

�When will you be able to remove the stitches?� Ran murmured, reaching back to lightly run his fingertips over the black wire invading his skull.

�About a week and a half.� The silver haired doctor leaned against the counter. �I suggest you get him dressed, fed, then take him around so he can soak up these new abilities.�

�How will this effect his power?� Persia asked as he tossed Ran his clothes from where they were on the stand next to him. Ran patted into the bathroom and closed the door. He stared at himself in the mirror, almost wincing at his hair. It was so much brighter, deeper, redder. The light almost hurt his eyes.

�I doubt it will hurt it.� Luna�s voice was brilliantly clear, just as it was when he was in the hallway. �He might have better control over it and it might have been moved up to the telepathic level.�

�All right.� Persia responded in a mildly subdued voice. �How about coffee Ran?� He called.

�You don�t have to speak so loud.� Ran responded as he came out of the room in a pair of dark blue jeans and a black velvet tank top that tied up in the front, from the bottom to the top. It wasn�t tied very tightly and revealed a long line of the red head�s pale flesh. He sat down and slowly began putting on his combat boots, marveling at how his fingers moved with such liquid grace. He didn�t have to focus on it anymore; it came naturally to move with a watery agility that seemed limited to panthers or tigers.

�Hm.� Persia handed the still disoriented assassin his pea coat. �I know a coffee shop that�s open all the time, lets go. You need to get used to your abilities.�

�All right.� Ran responded, slipping into the fabric.

�Luna, you�ll come with us to help Ran if he hits any rough points.� Persia didn�t say it in a questioning tone.

�All right. I�ll meet you down in the parking lot.� The doctor turned heel and strolled out the door.

�How do you feel?� Persia asked as they walked down the hall. Ran knew he was asking him to open up and tell him. It was a daunting task, but Ran convinced himself there was no harm in it.

After a few moments of thoughtful silence, the red head replied in a mellow voice: �Everything is clearer. Sound, sight. I can make out every single fiber in this carpet right now, and I can hear the two guards down on the first floor at the reception desk. They�re talking about a baseball game. And when I heard you and Luna talking, it was clearer, louder. I could make out every change in the tones of your voices without trying, and I could analyze it faster. My thoughts have become more organized and quick, I think faster than ever before.� With that, Ran closed himself off and Persia felt the air stiffen, as if it lost something.

�What about your power?� He asked. Ran�s eyelids flickered for a second as he reached into himself and released his empathic abilities. He reached across the building towards Luna, curling his power about the silver haired man, running newly born telepathic fingers around the doctor�s psyche.

�Luna thinks I look sexy in this shirt and wonders how he�d get me in bed.� Ran snorted in light annoyance.

�He�s not the most professional of men but he knows what he�s doing and does it well.� Persia assured him. �But that�s beside the point. Are you tired? Would you rather sleep?�

�Not really.� Ran responded. He had long ago noted the dark rings under Persia�s eyes. Though he�d never admit it, Ran was grateful for having such devoted people around him. �How is Setsuna?� He asked.

�The team has been covering him 24/7 ever since you requested it. He�s a quick man, probably already knows there are people following him. He also probably knows you had something to do with it so he�s not worrying.� Persia chuckled lightly.

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Part C: Liquid Massacre
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       Ran knew somebody was following them from the moment they got into town. He reached out with his new telepathic abilities, but felt nothing. He reached into Luna�s head and started a silent conversation with him.

/We�re being followed. Do you have the other part of the program on you?/ /Of course. And a weapon./ In one smooth movement Luna tossed Ran a small silver device shaped like a crescent moon, then a semi-automatic handgun. The red head slid his finger over the small ice green tube in the machine before placing it on his ear lobe. As he spun around, he felt a sharp prick as the liquid began to be slowly shifted into his blood stream.
       Ran tore into the alley they were passing, moving so swiftly he caught up with his target in a matter of milliseconds. The man had flaming orange hair. A low snarl escaped the red head�s lips and he took aim before firing. The bullet shot forward and entered the man�s left shoulder.

�FUCK!� The screech was in English and accented with German origin. Ran sidestepped as something silver shot out of the shadows before lashing out and catching the man in the head. The man was about as tall as he was, with a wild mop of silver hair and one solitary amber eye. Scars peppered his amazingly beautiful face and standing out so brilliantly against his inhumanly pale skin was a black eyepatch. �C�mon Farf!� The German shouted. The silver haired man dove around Ran as a blur before the two disappeared completely.
       Ran stood gasping for breath for a moment in the alley, staring at the exit they had vanished into. He slid his finger along the ice green tube again and the needle left his skin.

�What the hell was that!?� Persia seemed shocked and faintly frightened.

�The effects of the EARS program.� Luna folded his arms across his slender chest. �Ran could see every aspect of the battle, while all we could see was blurs because we are not enhanced.�

�How could they keep up with me?� Ran asked in a subdued voice, lifeless in an eerily calm, mellow way. He sounded so innocent and childlike, so unlike the killer he was.

�Let�s discuss that in privacy shall we?� Luna motioned towards the coffee shop, which was down the block and totally empty save the spunky looking young woman seated behind the counter.
       Ran nodded distantly, still out of it. The rush of power, the tsunami of sheer clarity and brilliance had overwhelmed him. Even his trained mind and cold shell couldn�t protect him from the onslaught of emotions and his mind had been stunned by the liquid grace and speed with which his body moved. It seemed surreal to him.
       He handed the Crescent back to Luna, who shoved it back at him.

�Keep it.� He shrugged. �I mean, your going to use it when you go on your next mission." Ran nodded vaguely as the three men entered the small caf�. Persia led his dazed officer to a medium sized table in the back before sitting him down in a booth.
       Ran seemed to wake from his stupor, shaking his head lightly as if to clear it before the sharp, frosty look materialized in his plum irises again.

�What do you want?� Persia rumbled.

�Nothing.� The red head responded.

The older man raised an eyebrow at him, �You sure?�

�It�s not very surprising.� Luna said as he yawned, covering it up with a pale slender hand. �He was just pumped full of Penlazin, it hasn�t had a chance to get out of his system yet.� At a questioning look, the doctor added, �Penlazin being the green chemical in the Crescent.�

�How long do these effects last?� Ran mumbled as he leaned back into the booth.

�Not too long.� Luna waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. �You�ll see the effects for about three hours, but it won�t leave your system for about twelve.�

�What do you mean see the effects?� The read headed assassin asked after Persia had left.

�Your stamina may be higher, able to run marathons then cure cancer before parkin� a whole whore house.� Luna chuckled lightly under his breath and Ran inwardly rolled his eyes in annoyance. �After about three hours, the Ice Princess will be gone.�

�Ice Princess?� Ran�s question hung in the air.

�Ah, just a nick name for it. You�ll also notice you may be a bit cold for the next few hours. That�s because the liquid can�t heat up past 50 degrees farenighheight and may cool your blood a bit. Nothing to worry about though.�

Ran tucked a lock of fire engine hair behind his ear. �Why can�t it be warmed?�

�We don�t know. It just can�t. We�ve tried every scientific reason behind it and just can�t come up with solid evidence to prove or disprove any of our theories. It could be none of them, or all of them. Chances are, we�ll never know.�

�What happens if the body were too take in too much of the drug?�

�Your Crescent doesn�t have enough Penlazin to cool your blood to the point of danger. It�s only got about � of a cup. But if you were to consume say, a cup and half, you could develop a nasty case of frostbite on a hot summer day at the beach.�

�What exactly are the long term effects of this program?�

�Well, we�ve only had about five years to test it. But what we do know is that four out of the five test subjects are still kicking.�

�What happened to the one?�

�His wife divorced him and he committed suicide.� Luna shrugged it off nonchalantly. �The EARS may have had something to do with it, but your emotionally balanced from what I can see. And you�re not married. If you would like to do research on the program, I�ll give you clearance into the file room. But not tonight, or rather, today. Come to the base around noon.�

�All right.� Ran responded as Persia sat down with two cups of black coffee in his hand.

�What took you so long?� The doctor asked in a miffish voice.

�The machine broke, again.� The older man responded. �Catherine asked me to take a look at it.�

�Going for the coffee shop chick eh? Here I always thought you were asexual.� Luna grinned into his coffee and winked at Ran.

�Better than thinking of ways to get your patient in bed.� Persia mumbled back, surprising a smirk.

�Which patient?�

�All of them.�

Luna flipped the older man the bird as Ran stood in a swift motion.

�I�m heading back to my hotel, then going home.� He raised a fire engine eyebrow at Persia.

�The team swept threw your house and there�s nothing harmful planted. The roses and coffin are both gone.� The assassin nodded silently and headed back towards his car, which was parked next to Persia�s black PT Cruiser.

~End of Garden 03~