[ Her voice pings off his senses like a coin clattering into a metal bowl. Blinking, Hei turns -- and there is Korra sailing forward, twelve feet, then ten, then five, then her mouth collides against his with a sloppy deliberation. Blinking, Hei settles his hands on her hips, his mind running through scenarios of How What Why? with a blank, white-hot alarm, muscles automatically coiled to shove her away. Then she debriefs him about the threat, her mouth tasting of alcohol and something hot, sweet. And the landscape of his psyche shifts from simple anger to a more complex alertness -- personal distance melding into operational security. ]
[ He doesn't jerk away from Korra. His hand starfishes across the small of her back, fingers against the damp cotton of her shirt. Detaching from the kiss, he stays close, his manner conciliatory, soft. Like they're a couple who've had a quietly blazing row indoors and then come back to each other, their anger burnt off and leaving them raw and tired and clinging together. ]
[ But beneath the surface, he's attuned to enemy movements. His peripheral vision tingles with hyperactive awareness: five men, converging from the shadows. Instinct tells him they're recon and action, both. No way to be sure if they're his enemies or NC-108's. No way of knowing whether they hope to follow him and introduce themselves on terrain they find more favorable -- or if the plan is for him to walk into them. ]
[ Hei doesn't care. Casually, he strolls with Korra down the marshy road, weeds sprouting high, nothing to hear but the ambient chig chig chig of insects. He knows their pursuers are close behind them, but they won't be comfortable yet -- the location isn't quite right. An ideal spot for a hit is an especially congested area, where there are so many people and so much tumult that no one will notice what's happened until several seconds after the fact. Or an especially empty area, where there will be no witnesses at all. ]
[ Hei's money is on the latter. ]
[ Drifting past an empty lot, strewn with trash and battered old cars, he murmurs, lips near Korra's ear. ]
They're going to converge here. Be ready.
[ A team of five usually means two people will tail their target, keeping it in their crosshairs. The secondary trio will be about the same distance behind the first, needing only to maintain visual contact with them. If they narrow the gap between them, it means action is at hand. Hei isn't going to give them that chance. ]
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Date: 2015-03-18 01:12 am (UTC)[ He doesn't jerk away from Korra. His hand starfishes across the small of her back, fingers against the damp cotton of her shirt. Detaching from the kiss, he stays close, his manner conciliatory, soft. Like they're a couple who've had a quietly blazing row indoors and then come back to each other, their anger burnt off and leaving them raw and tired and clinging together. ]
[ But beneath the surface, he's attuned to enemy movements. His peripheral vision tingles with hyperactive awareness: five men, converging from the shadows. Instinct tells him they're recon and action, both. No way to be sure if they're his enemies or NC-108's. No way of knowing whether they hope to follow him and introduce themselves on terrain they find more favorable -- or if the plan is for him to walk into them. ]
[ Hei doesn't care. Casually, he strolls with Korra down the marshy road, weeds sprouting high, nothing to hear but the ambient chig chig chig of insects. He knows their pursuers are close behind them, but they won't be comfortable yet -- the location isn't quite right. An ideal spot for a hit is an especially congested area, where there are so many people and so much tumult that no one will notice what's happened until several seconds after the fact. Or an especially empty area, where there will be no witnesses at all. ]
[ Hei's money is on the latter. ]
[ Drifting past an empty lot, strewn with trash and battered old cars, he murmurs, lips near Korra's ear. ]
They're going to converge here. Be ready.
[ A team of five usually means two people will tail their target, keeping it in their crosshairs. The secondary trio will be about the same distance behind the first, needing only to maintain visual contact with them. If they narrow the gap between them, it means action is at hand. Hei isn't going to give them that chance. ]