The Assassin's Ghosts

Chapter 6: The Scene of the Crime

A/n: I'm gonna be so honest, every single time I look at the title of this chapter, the song "scene of the crime" from the Legally Blonde musical plays in my brain. It's just so catchy! Anyways, this will be a pretty long chapter, so settle in. Lot's of angst, here's a quick TW: Abuse, Blood, teenage runaway, mentions of suicide, alcohol. Comment if I forgot any. You get to meet Ghost! Ghost is my baby istg. Enjoy!

 Kyros walked briskly through the alleyways, his long legs making it hard for Adira to keep up. Kyros wasn't being outwardly aggressive to her, or even terribly cruel, but if he made things a little harder than was necessary for Adira, who was to say that was out of the question. He knew that she already hated him, so what harm could causing a little trouble do?

"Can you slow down?" Adira called, struggling to catch up to him.

"No," he replied flatly. "I want to be over with this as soon as possible."

"You're the one who made me come with you," Adira reminded him. Kyros stopped walking and turned to face her.

"I did this because it was the practical decision and it's what is best for this mission, my team, and –in the long run– myself. Do not think for a second that I wanted this," he seethed.

"You always do what's best for yourself. Tell me, if you're such a loner, why do you have a whole group of people working with you? Don't you hate like... everyone?"

"Well, for one, it's hard to complete world-domination all by oneself now, isn't it? And I don't hate everyone. Just people who are incompetent and useless," Kyros smirked. Then he resumed his brisk walk down the street as a fuming Adira scrambled to follow him.

The crime scene was still taped off, since the case was still open, but it was no longer swarming with police. There were only two guards at the door. Kyros walked into an alleyway that was a building away from the one they were trying to get into and pulled a rope out of the satchel that hung across his chest. He also extracted a hook. After tying the hook securely to the end of the rope, he swung it up to the top of the building beside them. It hooked on the edge of the roof, and Kyros gave it an experimental tug, then hung all of his weight on it for a few seconds, testing its strength. When he was satisfied with it, Kyros began climbing up the rope, bracing his feet against the brick wall of the building and pulling himself up. It took a few minutes for him to reach the top while Adira watched from the ground.

When Kyros was at the top, safely standing on the roof, Adira copied his actions. She walked her feet up the wall while pulling herself up, one hand over the other. When she made it to the top, Kyros' gloved hand wrapped around her forearm and he helped her up over the edge. At first, Adira thought he was helping her, but she soon realised he just wanted her to hurry up as. He yanked her up, not giving her any time to rest before he dragged to her feet. He picked up the hook, rolling up the rope and quickly jogging to the other side of the roof. Adira followed curiously.

Kyros threw the hooked end of the rope, letting it hook over the roof of the building they were trying to break into. Then, he tied the tail of the rope to a pipe on the roof they were standing on. He pulled on it roughly, nodding in satisfaction when it stayed strong.

"Woah, woah, woah. Kyros I'm no tight-rope walker, alright? I can't do that," Adira told him nervously.

"Nor can I," Kyros responded nonchalantly. He removed two leather straps from his satchel, as well as two metal pieces.

"What- what're those for?" Adira inquired, still uneasy. Kyros knelt at the edge of the building next to the rope. He held the leather strap under the rope and used the metal piece to secure the two ends of the leather together over the rope, creating a loop that was about two feet long. He handed Adira the other strap and metal. After that, he sat on the edge of the building with his legs dangling over the edge and brought the leather loop up over his legs until it rested on his thighs. Holding onto the rope tightly, Kyros lowered himself off of the building, relying completely on the strap and his own hands to keep him from plummeting to his death.