As a jar is to a firefly...

[Stern]

Michael Stern's practice was paying off. His first several light jumps took him just a few miles from Qadir's place out towards the Iranian penninsula.

Qadir gave him a map for travel and one more meal before sending the young mutant on his way. For the most part, the young man followed the road, but he continued to angle himself towards Europe.

It took days and days, but he managed to jump his way into Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Greece, and then into the Alps of Italy.

He stopped in a small town in the mountains to find a public computer and some clothes for warmer weather. None of the US Embassies could help him because he had no proof of his citizenship and no money to speak of.

So that day he went looking at store for shoes. Then when he found a pair he liked, he pretended to try them on. They were athletic sneakers, perfect for running and climbing. They were light weight and hugged his feet very well. In fact, it was nearly like he wasn't wearing any shoes at all. So he made like he was jogging in the aisle. Back and forth, back and forth until he turned one last time to face the shop window and jumped out into the street and then again out of town.

On the Italian/Austrian border he found a hostel with a free computer. It was a six hour wait, but he finally got his turn. There he found a sight that was hard for him to stomach. Anita had been trying to get in touch with him all that time. It had been a week or more since he last spoke to her. She was worried and rightfully so.

"Anita, I'm coming," he whispered as he sent her an e-mail that would hopefully assuage her fears. "I won't abandon you."

He had been thinking about her a lot recently. Europe is full of history wherever you go, and being a librarian, Stern was sure she would have loved seeing some of the sights he saw.

Most of it was lost on him. He just needed to get home.

He waited in the hostel until he was sure the place was not going to fill. He found the empty rooms and light jumped into one when it got dark. He slept overnight and continued his trail up into Berlin.

Stern kept to the Eastern side. It was poorer, and he could hide better. Some of the places were run down and a lot of the apartments were empty. He was getting tired. It was close on to night and he was exhausted from all the jumps he made.

He hurried down the street, looking up at the windows and checking to see which rooms were most likely empty. He didn't want to, but he might have to steal some food for himself as well.

"Come on, come on," he muttered to the buildings and he searched their dreary concrete facades for signs of anything that wasn't human families.

[Veronica]

Berlin. Veronica had been all over Europe, but never really stopped to look at anything besides the firing angles. East Berlin was run down, but parts of it were starting to look more and more like it's western counterpart. For now, some hollow shells of monotone appartments still occupied the skylines. Broken fingers stood as reminders of a dimmer, communist era before reunification. It was nearly 20 years ago when the wall fell. Veronica might have felt something for the Communists if their buildings hadn't been so crap. This abandoned building offered a great view of the surrounding city. She closed her eyes, free of distractions, and let her real sight roam.

She inhaled. Smoke was sucked in. Tiny particles of tar clung to her lungs, and she thought of Gatwick. The English, when certain, did not beat around the bush. That was where she had picked up the smokes. "SMOKING KILLS." Eventually, it did. Veronica killed a lot faster than a pack of Marlboro Reds. She didn't smoke much, usually one a day. When she was hunting, though, she sometimes smoked more.

The lit end glowed softly. Smoke flowed in and out with her relaxed, quiet breath. Combichrist growled and pounded quietly through her headphones. In this part of town, any mansized movement went alarm bells in her head.

The intelligence from her employer had suggested strongly that the target would come through East Berlin. All she knew was a picture, and that he could do things with light. It wouldn't be her first mutant target. Saladin, if he knew, would be upset. He also knew that for now, the Brotherhood was taking a breather, and that bored Veronica was a danger to everyone. So when she asked to leave for several weeks, without pay, he simply waived her away. Veronica took the contract because it paid handsomely, and, equally important, it wasn't boring. Even now, she was not bored. It was good practice at worst.

Eyes closed, industrial music a quiet grind in her ears, and Remington 700 rifle in hand, she felt something. Someone was moving four buildings away. The rifle did not rise, not yet. Her focus narrowed. She could see him now. Stern searched for... something. He was avoiding the people. Veronica let him move building by building, as he distanced himself further from the thinning population toward her four blocks of emptiness. She lifted her rifle, and sighted Stern.

Stern felt the bullet before he heard the gun's report. The .30 caliber slug tore a hole through muscle and bone.

[Stern]

Stern's arm attacked him with pain. Something was broken, that much was certain. There was a hot feeling and tons of blood.

The young man flared, expanding his radius of light and shining a large search light with his free hand all around.

No good. He couldn't find out who shot him. There was only one thing to do.

Stern light-jumped into an alleyway and started sifting through his pockets for anything to slow the heavy flow of blood. The pain was intense and made him woozy. This would not end well.

"Just live, Stern," he told himself. "You got a promise to keep."

All he had was the clothes Quadir gave him. He kept them on him as an extra layer. During the day it was almost too hot to wear it all, but it was important. Stern pulled at the too big shirt until It was untucked from his pants. He ripped up long strips of it and tried his best to pad the wound. He needed some way to splint the arm, but there was no helping it for the moment.

Stern took cover behind a dumpster in the alley. He needed to find a place where he could close off his attacker's vantage points. If he could bottle up the person's approach, he could at least figure out where all the damage was coming from and make a small stand to fight.

"Come and get me. None of this sniping crap," he muttered under his breath. Until he could find the person and get close, it was going to be a matter of running away as fast as he could. Maybe he could find a safe place before he lost too much blood.

[Veronica]

The cigarette fell nearly thirty meters to the ground below. Veronica would not follow it. She had already put the rifle into a soft guitar case and started down the stairs. She knew exactly where Stern was. Blood dripped from the hole in his arm. The alley dead ended against a building. There were small windows about 3 meters up. Stern was going to make his stand there.

Veronica's feet pounded down the stairs. She jumped halfway down each flight, and used her momentum to swing herself around the corners of the landings. Normally, she carried two pistols and a good amount of ammunition. Today, she carried three. One was not an ordinary pistol. It was a modifed .45 caliber pistol with a 6 oz. CO2 tank worked into the frame. Inside was a magazine with ten rounds of traquilizer ammunition. It rested in a hip holster.

She sprinted out of the building toward Stern's alley. There wasn't too much he could do besides "jump" again. In his condition, she doubted he'd get very far. Veronica had an alternate means of transportation nearby if he did.

[Stern]

The world was already dim around the edges when Veronica's booted feet sounded her entry into the alley. He kept his back to the dead end and made a big effort not to hold his broken arm. He needed the other one free for attacking.

He wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. His Archimedes blasts had so far been a two-handed adventure. With no time to practice and no real need for them, he hadn't considered attempting one-handed beams.

Mostly he would just have to play flashbulb and try to get in close with light-jumps.

Stern curled his hand and brought his fingertips together. The beam lanced out of his hand and down the alley. He couldn't see the person terribly well yet, but he made an effort to play the light beam across anywhere that might be flammable--pants, shirt, and especially hair.

From the looks of things, it might be a woman. The hair was long. "Man, this sucks," he growled.

He stayed low and behind the dumpster, leaning out from his cover just enough to try finding a solid bead on flammables.

[Veronica]

Veronica had been at this bussiness for more than her entire adult life. She ducked to her knee and drew her modified Beretta pistol. The weapon flowed out of the shoulder holster and into firing position like an owl taking flight. The bullet left the barrel as her knee contacted pavement. It ripped through the air and missed. Stern's hand surely felt the bullet pass. His hand jerked away a fraction of a second before the follow up shot came.

Veronica pushed off with her back leg, pistol held out toward Stern's position. The gun seemed to float steadily about the ground while her body moved behind it.

[Stern]

His hand burned a little from the graze. Not fun. Stern pulled back fully behind the dumpster. He took a few slow deep breaths. If this was going to end, it had to end fast. If he tried to hole up and turtle the attacker to death, he'd bleed out and lose.

Whatever he did, it had to be decisive--and above all--fast. He didn't need to see her to know where she was. He just needed to get in range of her, blind her, and pummel her to bits.

The blood loss was putting a severe tax on his strength. He'd have to find a way around. He quickly poked his head around the corner to glance her position and light jumped to her approximate location. He needed to get behind her or something.

His hastily aimed jump placed him to her right. He kicked at her knee and wildly jumped away. He didn't need to stay in one place too long. The fight was definitely going to be uphill all the way.

[Veronica]

Veronica was knocked off balance. Stern moving like that disoriented her. She was not used to sudden shifts of an object. Her finger retreated from the trigger. Her free hand touched the ground first, and she shifted her momentum into a sloppy somersault. Veronica looked like a tossed cat: on her feet, but angry.

"Frack." She spat. He had since moved to the fire escape, just above street level. She shot twice, inches from his body to keep him pinned and drew her tranquilizer pistol.

[Stern]

Stern ducked instinctively. She was missing? He was very lucky, and that ticked him off. It meant his luck was eventually going to run out. From his top angle, he flared light to blind Veronica.

With luck she would be busy recovering, like Neutron had to. That bastard was going to pay. Stern was going to show he had learned something, and fired an Archimedes blast directly on top of Veronica's head.

[Veronica]

Veronica ducked and returned fire. Her eyes were winced closed, but she could see that much energy. The dossier had stated that, with Stern's ability to manipulate light, he would likely try to blind his opposition in combat.
The first bullet was a foot wide, but the second knicked his palm, and the beam went away. She lined up the tranquilizer pistol, but he disappeared just as the dart left the chamber.

[Stern]

Stern materialized behind Veronica, beating her across the back of her head with his elbow.

With one arm broken and bleeding and his other hand injured, Stern was running out of melee options. He could only think to stay behind her and harass her with attacks to the head or possibly knocking her down again.

She was an exceptional shot, even when blinded. It made Stern worry. He had to keep moving. For the time being he held his position behind Veronica.

[Veronica]

He swung his elbow as he appeared behind her. Veronica had no time to set herself up for the blow. Her senses swam. She stumbled. This would be so much easier if she had just been able to deliver a lukewarm body.

Stern wanted to fight hand to hand? Fine. Veronica whirled, rapid-firing the 9mm at his legs. If something landed, great. It was buying her time to holster the tranq pistol. There was more than one way to knock out someone.

Veronica rushed at him.

[Stern]

Stern's calf took a bullet. The sting forced him to light jump out of reflex. He reappeared a foot off the ground.

Suddenly he flew back and hit the ground hard as Veronica tackled him. His back, his broken arm, his injured leg, and his head were all fighting for attention in his head.

The wind rushed out of his lungs forcing him to choke and cough while he fought to expand his chest and take a deep breath.

[Veronica]

Veronica planted Stern into the concrete. She heard his head thump as they rebounded. She untangled herself from his good arm, and sat on his stomach. What little breath he had gathered was forced back out. Veronica drew her left arm back, and swung.

[Stern]

Her fist connected with his face. He coughed again and drew a wheezing breath. He could taste blood. He really hated this woman.

He blasted her in face with another blinding shot and focused the beam down into a fine point on her throat. His broken arm was nearly useless and his injured hand burned as he forced it to focus the light beam.

Pain blinded him. He could hardly see. It was now or never, and Stern wanted to avoid 'never' at all costs.

[Veronica]

Veronica couldn't see anything anyway. She was surprised at how quickly he'd put a hand around her throat. Her throat began to burn. In the end, he was just another mutant who seemed to forget that guns worked. It wasn't the first time someone had put a hand around her throat. Despite the pain, Veronica pulled out the twin to the empty 9mm pistol, and put a bullet into Stern's forearm.

[Stern]

Both arms were now disabled and bleeding. He one that had been around Veronica's throat fell limply to the side.

His body howled in pain and his mind brought forth the last time he was injured so severely. There was Neutron, front and center in his mind's eye, laughing at him as he pressed the detonation switch. Back at Cullen's there was Anita, crying and hurt by abandonment.

Stern set his jaw. The spirit was willing, but his flesh was more than weak. His whole body flared up with bright light--his last burst of energy before the light flickered and Stern fell unconscious from pain and blood loss.

Anita...

And then he was lost to darkness.

[Veronica]

Veronica screamed and leapt away. She beat down her hair, which had caugh fire. Her flesh was delivered an instant sunburn, and her eyebrows had singed away. It was lucky that her eyes had been closed. It hurt, but most of the energy was dissapated through her body fluids.

"You stupid son of a bitch!" She yelled, and kicked Stern's limp body in the ribs. Her eyebrows would go back, but what a pain in the butt.

Well, her client would get their quarry and she'd need to buy some moisturizer or something. She sighed, and opened the guitar case. Inside, aside from the rifle and accessories, was a medical kit. She wouldn't get any money if Stern bled out, and Veronica was nearly as good at applying bandages as she was at making wounds. Her body was criss-crossed with scars. There used to be more, but time had faded some of them completely.

She pulled out the provided phone, a Nokia N95, and sent the prepared text message indicating that she was in control of Stern. The only two options were "completion" and failure. The contents of the message were garbled code.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

At the Jericho Center in Warsaw, Klaus Heidegger's phone rang. The doctor left his laboratory. He shucked off his gloves. He lifted the protective goggles from his face. He picked the cell phone out of his pocket and gave it a cursory glance. The mercenary he hired to catch the light mutant, Michael Stern was reporting in. Fantastic.

Klaus smirked. He loved having reliable people on his payroll. He opened the phone to see her confirmation that she had acquired the target and was en route. Once she met the helicopter he had waiting for her, his medics would stabilize Stern's condition depending on how badly he was injured and the two of them would be sent back to the Center, where the woman would receive the rest of her payment in addition to the advance he gave her.

Ever since his visit to America and he had read about the mutant bombing in the Empire Stat University commencement ceremony, he had taken a great deal of interest in Michael Stern. That interest was nearly crushed early when he discovered that the mutant in question was likely to be dead and buried under the debris of the stadium.

But when his agents in Iraq reported to him about a mutant with strange goggles and bright white-blonde hair trying to beg passage into his own country, his curiosity piqued.

He laughed and laughed at the surprise on his team leaders' faces when he told them to be on watch for a glowing mutant within a 10,000 mile radius of the US Embassy in Iraq.

Stern appeared a minute later in Turkey, and then five minutes later was spotted on the coast of Crete. The radius shifted with the mutant's sudden movements through Greece, Italy, and then suddenly north into Germany.

The mutant's overnight stay in the Alps didn't give the scientist much time to predict Stern's next appearance, but judging from what his agents were feeding him, the mutant had no money and would be looking for poor places where he could rest or steal without little repercussion.

East Berlin was a natural choice. Every American had heard of Berlin. Given that no American was ever generally familiar with the Scandinavian wilderness, Klaus guessed rightly that Stern would follow a pattern much like a tourist: big cities that were well known.

It was good to know his gamble paid off.

He sent word to his helicopter pilot to land as close to Veronica's position as possible and returned a message to his hired gun to be on the lookout for the flying machine to land somewhere near her.

"Yes, this is good. Soon we will see what we can do with a mutant like that."

Klaus pocketed the phone, lowered the goggles back onto his face and donned his gloves once again. Then he turned back to his lab to prepare for his newest arrival.