Mustang: The Road to Redemption

Chapter 24: Chased

[The Next Day]

The morning would soon come as the sun rose above the horizon however despite a night's sleep, Alex had a tough time getting a peaceful sleep.

He just couldn't easily shake off the encounter he had last night.

It wasn't the whole being taken hostage that bothered but rather what happened afterwards with the assassin cutting the man's hand off and him immediately dying in just a matter of seconds.

That and what she had told him also just didn't sit right with Alex either.

After debating it internally for a bit he got off his bed and walked into the living room which was empty aside from Akari already working in the kitchen.

"Ah your up. Good morning." She said.

"Good.........morning." Alex slowly replied back, yawning in the middle of his sentence and rubbing his eyes as he sat on the couch.

"Something wrong? Had a tough time sleeping?" She asked.

"Yeah. Just one of those nights." He said as Akari nodded and went back to preparing breakfast.

Time then passed uneventfully for the next few minutes as Alex just watched television while Akari continued to cook breakfast as slowly but surely every other resident in his apartment room began to wake up and at the right time as well as breakfast had been completed.

The table was immediately set as everyone began to eat together and chat amongst one another except Alex who just remained quiet and eating.

Granted he never was all that talkative to begin with so this was just the norm but with what he had just dealt with, it made his silence feel even more deafening.

'Just what were those black marks on his body? What did they even mean when they said they were from the dark?' He thought to himself as he stopped eating for a bit.

Akari would notice her son's silenece and immediately tried to engage in a conversation with him but unfortunately she was a little too late as Alex's phone suddenly went off as he immediately went outdoors and down the steps to the ground level and looked to see it was his Uncle Roy calling him.

"Hello?"

"Hey kid. How're you holding up?"

"I'm fine more or less."

"I'm fairly certain you got to work last night correct?"

"Yeah."

"How'd it go then?"

"For the most part, it was interesting to say the least. I was able to learn that they're an assassin."

"Assassin huh? Well on the bright side at least they aren't just killing just because they want to. That just clear their motive out of the way since they're just doing their job. All that's left is to find out their identity."

"Yeah. I'll work on figuring that out somehow."

"Good luck. Stay safe."

Roy would then hang up as Alex placed his phone away, having a sigh to himself.

'This part's gonna suck isn't it?'

[TimeSkip: Midnight]

After intentionally sleeping early, sneaking out, and driving away, here he was once again at the park as he walked down the trail again, wondering how long it'd take for the assassin to show herself this time.

Thankfully it wouldn't take as long as while Alex was walking through a section of the forest, he heard a pair of footsteps nearby.

On instinct, Alex raised a hand and grabbed the handle of his sword as he cautiously looked and walked around.

As he did so, he would suddenly hear a voice behind him.

"You're...........back?"

"AAH!"

Alex would immediately jump away being extremely startled as he turned around to see non other than the cloaked assassin standing there.

"O-Oh it's just you." He said as he sighed. "Don't startle me like that."

"Why're you back?"

"Hm? I have a job. That's to uncover your identity. You've been labeled as a murderer however now that I know you're an assassin, you've been misinterpreted. I'm hoping I can clear the misconception about you." Said Alex.

The assassin would keep quiet for a while before they answered.

"..........no thank you."

"H-Huh?"

"I don't care about any of that. Regardless of whether or not I kill for the heck of it or if it's my job. I'm still a murderer. All I care about is tracking down my target, killing them, and then heading back."

"Yeah. Kinda got that from last time. By the way, how exactly do you kill on just one slash?"

"That I cannot say."

"Worth a shot I guess."

"Listen. You should leave. I don't want anything about me revealed. I don't wanna be understand. Most importantly, you're interfering with my work. Should you continue to do so, I'll have no choice but to cut you down."

"Huh? Look lady I ain't gonna leave just cause you told me t-!?"

In an instant Alex would stop talking as the assassin would raise their sword and point it directly at him.

"I won't repeat myself. Leave. I refuse to hurt anyone that isn't my target and you're making it very hard to stick to that." They said as Alex began to think over the situation at hand.

'As figured, just talking got me no where in terms of her identity. Gonna need to take it by force. If I can get on good strike on her cloak, I can get part of her face to show itself.' He thought, ready to put his plan into action.

"Alright fine. I'll go."

"Good. Don't come back."

As the assassin turned around to leave, Alex would slowly withdraw his sword and stay close enough behind the assassin.

Once he was ready Alex went for the slash as he aimed for their hood.

The assassin would notice just in the nick of time as they turned around and quickly managed to block some of it however Alex's attack was able to cut through the cloak's right sleeve as a decent cut was left on their arm as it drew blood.

Despite not getting the hood as intended, Alex looked at the tip of his sword and noticed he had drawn enough blood to take a DNA test which would definitely reveal their identity.

The assassin backed away, holding their arm in pain as they groaned.

"Y-You damn jackass!"

Alex quickly knew now was the time to run as he quickly took off.

"Oh now you wanna run huh!? I don't think so!" Shouted the assassin as they chased after him.

After only a few minutes it became very apparent that the assassin was way faster and more agile as they were able to flawlessly weave in between the trees as they continued to close in ground on Alex.

Soon Alex would see his bike in the distance as he was close to escaping however when he looked behind, there was the assassin right on his tail.

At the current rate, he was gonna get caught so Alex looked at the ground and grabbed a stick that happened to be there.

He would look back and quickly throw said stick as the object would luckily hit the assassin, causing them to stumble a bit as Alex gained just enough ground as he'd quickly get onto his bike and turning it on as he drove away from the park in a hurry.

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Chapter 24: Complete