"In years past, the hope of a peacemaker began to form in the minds of the desperate. And we were all desperate. Yet, after one hundred thirty years of living, no such hero has risen... I daresay that the world has forgotten what it means... To be a peacemaker."
I stood on the rooftop of the skyscraper, feeling the small breeze, wishing I could escape. My cloak drifted slightly at the edges. I was dressed in all black except for the bit of red that glowed from my weapons. My tight leather shirt was just enough to keep the chill at bay. I wondered what my victim would be doing right now.
I hated my place in the world. I'd never done anything to deserve it. People didn't deserve to die, the same way I didn't deserve to have to kill people.
I looked at the street below. How easy it would be to jump and never wake up. The repercussions would be devastating, and as much as I was tempted to end my life, I knew I could never let innocent people be given over to such a fate. All I had to do was kill one person. I hated it, but it was a small price to pay in contrast to the whole population of the universe. That's what I told myself.
Focus on the task at hand. I jumped. The thrill of free falling took over, slightly faded due to the fact that I'd done this countless times. I carefully timed my shot. Once my trajectory was just right, I shot my grapple to the next building. It broke through a window and grabbed the sill. I swung toward the building, heading straight for a massive window.
At the last second I drew my handgun and blasted a full round at the window, smoothly rolling into the room as glass rained around me. I replaced the magazine in my gun and looked at the terrified people in the room. I wanted to cry. I knew what was coming.
"They all have to die." The voice came through clearly in my earpiece. I raised my gun and the screams started.
One after the other they fell. All of them. No one survived. I had one shot left in this clip and I used it to blow a hole through the doorknob. The door slowly opened with an eerie creak.
"Edward Hanigan! I'm here to kill you. I'm sorry." No response. "There's no point in hiding or trying to run. No matter what you do, you will die tonight."
I activated the heat vision option on the scope of my rifle and began searching for Edward. The room was dark, and it was huge. This floor of the building was occupied by only two rooms. The secretary desk room that I had broken into, and this office. I kicked a chair out of my way and looked under a massive desk that sat in the center of the room. Nothing.
"Careful. Security is almost onto you. And Edward has triggered an alarm for his own personal security." The voice in my earpiece was loud in my own ear, but nobody else would be able to hear it.
I spotted a fancy door to the side of the room. Probably a personal elevator. I shot open the door and peered down the cavernous expanse. He must have escaped then. He couldn't have gotten far.
I rushed back to the broken window and looked down at the street. Sure enough I saw Edward. My timing was very lucky. Unfortunately, Edward's was not.
He was running down the building's stone steps and toward a black limo. If I'd been a few more seconds, Edward may have gotten away.
I pressed a button on my rifle and the barrel changed, becoming longer. The rest of the gun transformed as well, becoming larger, pieces moving intricately to form a different weapon. In a couple seconds, I had a sniper. I was a little annoyed that I wouldn't be able to shoot him from where I was. Instead I was going to have to follow him. I took a small disk from a pouch in my pants and replaced my sniper bullet with it. I took aim quickly and shot. The disk flew soundlessly through the air and found itself on the rear of the limo.
I looked down at my wrist, the red dot appeared next to my blue one on the map layout of the city.
"Security is there." I used to flinch whenever the voice came through, but I'd grown so used to it now.
"Fine." I whispered. "But they don't need to die. I can just follow Edward and kill him wherever he ends up going. I'll probably even be able to get a shot at him while he's still in the car."
"That's all true, but you will be killing the security guards nonetheless."
I growled. Nothing angered me more than being forced to kill for no reason. Sometimes killing people during the missions was necessary, but other times, like this one, it was not. I turned as several security guards burst into the room.
"Weapons down! Hands where I can see them!" The man had an authoritative voice. Not authoritative enough.
I jumped backwards, out the window. Along the way I also tossed several explosives into the room. No way any of them will survive. I hoped that a few might.
I turned in midair and shot a grapple towards the neighboring building. I hit the side gracefully, only a few yards off the ground. I let the grapple release and dropped to the sidewalk. A glance at my wrist told me that the limo was headed deeper into the city. I sighed. More witnesses. Not that it really mattered.
I started jogging away, toward the red dot. Fortunately, city traffic was usually slow, and this city was no exception. If anything, it was an unusually slow city. In only ten minutes of jogging I had found myself able to see the limo ahead.
I decided against the sniping method for something a little more dramatic. I continued jogging after the limo, hoping they wouldn't spot me yet. There was a motorist a few cars ahead. I jogged up to him and demanded the motorcycle. The poor man was stubborn, but a handgun to the head prompted him off the vehicle. I hopped on and throttled full speed toward the limo. Apparently they suspected it was me because they also sped up, running a red light. I had no issues with doing that, being on a motorcycle made navigating traffic easy. The limo was having a harder time.
I balanced the cycle and replaced the bullets in my handgun with small explosives. Then I pulled up next to the limo, though I was a couple lanes away. My right hand raised the handgun and fired at the drivers window. There was an explosion and the car veered off the road, smashing into a small restaurant. I pulled over and inspected the limo. I wasn't expecting to find anyone alive, but I had to be sure.
Edward was in the back, he was bloodied and looked pretty roughed up, but he was breathing. I was surprised when he spoke to me. "Who... Who are you? Why am I your target? I don't... understand."
"I'm sorry Edward. You probably don't deserve to die." While he was talking I had put regular bullets back into my handgun. I aimed at Edwards head and fired. There were screams from onlookers, there was blood and there were police sirens wailing in the distance.
I pressed my earpiece. "I'm done. Mission successful."
"Well done. Extracting you now."
I waited only a few seconds before the portal appeared in front of me. There was always hesitation before entering that portal. I knew that I didn't want to go back, but it was my only option. So I stepped through and the portal disappeared behind me.
The same hard faces as always greeted me as I stepped from the platform. The room was a grayish green and looked as though it were rusting even though it wasn't. The lighting was terrible throughout the whole facility and it always smelled of rotten food, or maybe flesh. I was silently lead back to my little room. Even this room was pitiful. It had no lights and everything about it was designed to drive one mad. I hated this place. I only ever experienced pain here. Pain beyond the pain that anyone else could ever know.
It was awful, but that made sense. After all, this was CRADEX. This was a prison. Literally.
