Disclaimer: I don't own DTB.

A/N: Hello, and welcome to chapter two! I must have read over this a hundred times trying to catch any mistakes, but I'm sure I still ended up missing some. So I apologize for that. Please let me know if you spot any.

Chapter Two: Concerns, Confrontations, and Limitations

Misaki Kirihara

Journal of Observation

Four weeks and six days after the Incident

There have been odd reports from Astronimics lately. Kanami says that she suspects a moratorium.

As worrisome as this is, it isn't what's bothering me the most; we've seen moratoriums before, though they are rare. What's disturbing is what Director Horai said to me in passing: that I'd—that we'd—better catch this person first, before all of our secrets are revealed. So I have to wonder, is this person one of the ones BK-201 changed? If so, the Director is right; we'd better hurry and catch him, or else everything will be in jeopardy.

I'm only thankful that I can actually be bothered about this; that the emptiness I experienced in battle hasn't returned.

Misaki Kirihara

Journal of Observation

Five weeks after the Incident

We've had another report on BK-201, and my team is giving chase. I have little hope that we will catch him, or even see him. But... if he is Li-kun, I'd like to ask him what he thinks of us now, and if...if there was a reason why he didn't kill us instead. He could have, very easily. Instead he reduced the Saturn System to shambles, and changed us. I wish I could know what he was thinking, and if—

It's three hours later, as I continue writing this entry. We had arrived and BK-201's reported location, and I threw the journal down. That probably wasn't a very wise thing to do, actually; to just leave it out in the open. I'll be certain to be more careful with it in the future.

I saw the Black Reaper. He stood on a balcony and looked down at me, but only for a moment. Then he was gone, flinging a wire and disappearing into the shadows. I swear, someday I'll catch him. Catch him and take a look behind that mask. And he'll be powerless to stop me. Literally powerless because of the ability he gave me.

Misaki Kirihara

Journal of Observation

Five weeks and two days after the Incident

Astronomics picked up the signal early this morning; it was around two a.m. and everyone was at home, asleep. I got the call, and was the first one out the door. I had to beat the others to the location, and I had to take care of the target on my own. I hoped fiercely that my own ability would be effective against the moratorium, but I had no idea if it would work at all.

En route, I phoned the Director. I didn't want to rely on the man, and I loathe his way of thinking and lack of morals. But for the time being, I am forced to continue working with him.

Horai told me, with all of the authority of his position, to take out the target. I could do little but agree, and he assured me that if I succeeded he would send a team to clean up the mess, and that he intended to stall the coworkers who would arrive as backup. He would make sure that his underlings in the Syndicate did not ask questions, and that the man's identity was never known through any means necessary. He told me that if I failed to take care of things, then to at least make sure that our quarry got away for now.

I followed the trace to the bay area, where I was immediately confronted with bizarre devastation: cars were submerged in solid ground as if it were marsh, and a tree lay fallen beside cracked slabs of cement. As it was very early morning, there were no bystanders caught up in the mess, and for this I was thankful. I tracked the man down to one of the docks, where he stood facing the water. His eyes were clear; he was in a lucid state. He turned when as he heard my footsteps, and his eyes widened as he saw the gun.

I could have, and probably should have, shot him from a distance. It sounds terrible, but life in the police force is often harsh. We do our duties to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and I would have been eliminating a threat to our citizens. But when I got there he wasn't a monster, just a confused man watching for the sunrise.

"I know you," he said.

"Yes."

"You were there, on the day when that contractor... when the Saturn System failed."

"I was."

"But why are you here? Do you know why...why I am here? And the gun..." he trailed off as his eyes became unfocused. Damn. I hadn't, really hadn't wanted to deal with this.

Immediately, the dock shuddered beneath our feet and seemed to come to life, twisting beneath us. As the concrete construction raised the moratorium up, as if on a pedestal, I stumbled and fell to one knee.

Drawing up my gun, I shot. And the bullet ricocheted off a rising wall of cement. The ground bucked, and I ran. Cracks appeared in the pavement beneath my feet, growing into gaping fissures intent on my destruction. But it wasn't my destruction that was occurring; the whole of the vicinity was coming apart, stretching and breaking, looking like a bizarre impression of modern art: roads surged up in vertical arcs, and buildings twisted like licorice ropes.

With the creeping shadows and the gray pre-dawn light, it could have been a scene out of a nightmare.

I stopped under a light post and fired off a round. Nothing. I was going to have to try my power, and if that didn't work, and I still couldn't get close, I'd be stuck no subject for my remuneration. But I had to try.

Tucking my gun away, I triggered my power.

And it was useless.

The moratorium just kept going, apparently unaffected. Unless I managed to get in a lucky shot, there was no way I could handle this.

As if to reaffirm this thought, the lamp-post beside me bowed and contorted to wind around my arm. Twisting, tightening... The terror rushed in like a tsunami, surging up with every breath, and I jerked violently in an effort to escape.

One moment I was in a wild panic. The next, my mind was devoid of emotion, not a hint of worry clouding my thoughts. And I turned my arm just so and pulled. Just in time, before it became too tight. Then, ducking under an arching staircase, I took off toward the target in a sprint. I jumped over walls as they rose before me, and weaved around vine-like tendrils of piping and asphalt. Dodge left, left, right, duck. A manhole-cover sliced through the air over my head like a Frisbee. Leap, climb, slide. There. He was there, in a cage of rippling earth, with coiling strands of glass and pavement and ribbons of cement like reaching arms. I edged around a metal spike, drew my gun, and shot. Stepped to the left, shot. Leant forward, avoiding a projectile, shot again. It struck home. The man spun as he fell, and I lunged. Three precise blows and he had been dispatched. My remuneration was complete.

Then I turned and left the scene, striding unhurried across what remained of the ground to my car. What came next was obvious: report the success of the mission.

"Kirihara. I assume that you have good news?"

"Yes sir," I said, "I have eliminated the problem. We'll be secure once you send over your team; however, there is a bit of a mess to clean up."

"I'll send over one of my contractors to fix it. Well done. I doubted whether you could pull this off."

"Yes sir. Good bye, sir." I flipped the phone shut. Then, starting the engine, I pulled out of the parking spot and left. It was only when I was half-way to the office that I started to come back to myself.

The emotions came back in a disorienting rush, and I had to pull over to catch my breath. Fear set in, thick and strong; my emotions had vanished again.

I don't know what to think of this, and I will admit that it terrifies me. I don't want to lose myself to a dispassionate shade of what I had once been.

A/N: And...that's that! Let me know what you think, please, and, as always, let me know what you'd like to see! Certain characters? Events? Whatever it is, just let me know!

Thank you all for reading!

-Athena's phoenix