MiB - TLC

by lovelunarchron

This fic will be divided into shorter stories within the larger one, which each one focused on one of the agents. We'll start with Kai.

Men In Black belongs to Sony Pictures and The Lunar Chronicles belongs to Marissa Meyer.

Cover image by tumblr user mf-islands.

Agent K

Kai scrambled back up as fast as he could without losing his balance. He surveyed the distance from this rooftop to the next, ignoring the way the ground swayed beneath his feet from this high up. He brushed the sweaty black bangs out of his face and calculated. After gauging how long of a stride he'd need, he doubled back quickly to push his feet as hard as he could into the concrete.

Kai barreled towards the ledge and used the momentum to push his body into the air, taking the imminent plunge down one story. The force of of the wind against his lungs threatened to overpower him but he held his breath, falling several feet until he landed with a loud thud.

Kai checked himself over for ten seconds: no broken body parts, only a dull throbbing in his right knee. Nothing some ice wouldn't take care of.

His target had turned around when she'd heard him land. She looked surprised when she realized he was still chasing her, but just as quickly, her surprised look turned into irritation. Kai wanted to close the distance between them so he could really trap her, but he knew any move on his part would cause her to run again.

He'd need her to come to him.

"There's no use in running anymore," he called out. "We've been at this game for almost twenty minutes, and now I've got you surrounded."

Her expression became amused. Kai knew he wasn't a good liar. She would probably call his bluff.

"Let's test that theory, shall we?"

He heard a familiar beep, followed by writing that scrolled across his vision on the inner lens of his specialty-made sunglasses:

BIOELECTRICAL MANIPULATION DETECTED. INITIALIZING RESISTANCE.

She was definitely calling his bluff. The wattage reading he was getting on his Glamour Meter showed that she was, in fact, very powerful. One Glamour Blocker probably wouldn't be enough to stop her. He cursed himself for not having an extra one on hand. Maybe he could at least slow her down momentarily until the others guys got there. He'd need back-up for sure.

Another beep. BIOELECTRICITY MANIPULATION BLOCKED.

Kai grinned as the girl looked at him expectantly before her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Then she pressed her lips in concentration. She had likely assumed that he was just chasing her for being a common criminal. Little did she know just how much his agency tracked them.

"Your powers won't work on me, Lunar. This is what I do. I catch glamour-happy Lunars like you who break the law."

Realization dawned on her face and she let out a high-pitched laugh. "Oh really?" she sneered. "You think some Earthen is going to get in my way? Be able to stop me?"

She came closer now, and Kai knew that it would only take a few more meters before she'd be close enough for a hit. His Glamour Meter was in the red zone, though.

Dangerously high.

"Thought you were just a Shell," she said. "But this makes it even easier. I won't even have to hurt my own kind." She stopped a few feet short of where he needed her to be, so he took a step towards her. She took a step back immediately. Then she lifted her hand and pointed a finger at him—a metal finger that protruded out of her glove. How had he not noticed that before?

"You pointing at me?" he joked, still trying to distract her.

But the joke was short-lived. A projectile shot out of her fingertip before Kai could react. It glanced off his shoulder just enough to cut through his shirt and a piece of skin. He grunted from the impact, though quickly recovered, and went to raise his own weapon, but the girl was already jumping to the next rooftop. He began his fourth pursuit—his fourth rooftop—in just a matter of minutes. When he landed on this one, though, the pain in his shoulder was almost too much to bear. His adrenaline was likely wearing off.

He tried to run after her but she had too much of an advantage by now. He watched helplessly as she pulled out a rope and looped it skillfully around the chimney of a much higher building. The girl hoisted herself up and soon was far beyond his reach. When she made it to the chimney, he knew he'd lost her.

"You're not terribly ugly for an Earthen, you know," she called over her shoulder with a laugh before she disappeared out of his sight.

Kai hunched over his knees to catch his breath before he decided to check his wound. It wasn't deep at all, but it still had some blood. After he wiped it away, it looked like she might have hit him with a rusty nail or something similar. Good thing he was up to date on his tetanus shot.

He heard huffing behind him as Jacin finally caught up. "Kai! You alright?"

"She headed that way." Kai pointed where the girl had disappeared. "I lost her behind the chimney."

"Don't worry, Wolf's tracking her too," said Jacin. "Hopefully he'll catch her on the ground when she finally gets off these blasted roofs. She seems to be a good runner."

"Tell me about it."

"I think you need a break," he said. "Thorne's got the hover. We'll wait for Wolf there."

"What'd I miss?" asked Thorne lazily when they both got in the back of his hover.

Kai scowled at him. "I could have used your help out there, you know."

Thorne shrugged. "She was your target. Figured you could handle it."

"This was different. The wattage reading on that one was off the charts. Her glamour was incredible."

"I know," Thorne replied. "I was tracking the wattage grids in the area while you were up there. Powerful stuff."

"She must have really been trying to manipulate you," said Jacin.

"She was. My Glamour Blocker kicked in, but I didn't know if it'd be able to resist much longer."

Thorne and Jacin exchanged a look.

"Is your GB on the fritz?" asked Jacin.

"I don't think so. But the wattage on that girl was just…too high for it, I think. Red zone."

"Red zone?" said Thorne in awe. "I didn't see that from down here."

Kai stared at him for a moment. "Look at the charts again. Maybe you were too busy checking yourself out in the mirror the first time to watch the grids carefully enough."

Thorne made a face at him, but pulled out his portscreen to double-check. A knock on the door startled them.

Wolf.

He took shotgun next to Thorne and cracked his knuckles. "She got away," he growled. "I couldn't get an ID, either."

"Me neither," Kai and Jacin said in unison, then stared at each other. The three of them turned to Thorne, who busied himself with his port. "Uh, me neither," he said sheepishly.

"Thorne!" Wolf sounded exasperated. "If you're the one on surveillance, you gotta watch for these things."

"No need to panic," said Thorne after a few minutes, pulling up a page for them to see. "The reason we're not finding anything is because there was no ID number."

"So she's unregistered? An illegal?"

"Probably," he said.

"You'd think with readings like that we would have noticed her before. Seen inconsistencies among the Lunar database," Kai pointed out.

"Maybe she's just arrived. Snuck in somehow."

Jacin frowned. "Wouldn't be the first time."

Kai shook his head. "She didn't seem like she was new. That girl knew her way around."

"Well, no sense in sitting here all night discussing it," Thorne said. "Let's get back to base. See if any Lunar ID chips have been disactivated recently just in case."

The hover roared to life and Thorne drove them quickly through the dimly-lit city streets. Kai stayed silent, watching the rooftops around him for a sign of anything. He couldn't believe he'd let her get away. This should have been an easy arrest. He'd underestimated her ability to escape, and definitely underestimated her glamour. Kai knew he'd need a stronger Glamour Blocker if they were ever going to catch her. That is, if she ever showed her face in New Beijing again. He shook his head. It wasn't likely.

The image of the girl shooting him with her metal finger returned to his mind when he felt a brief ache in his shoulder. A Lunar cyborg. Now there was a first. And maybe, just maybe, a clue to her identity.