"How many did you say there were?" I say into the comms.
"15-wait, no," replies Melinda, "I'm getting a 16th heat signature."
"That's gotta be him, the big boss himself, Kingpin."
I park my car close to the abandoned warehouse where the sale is supposed to take place.
"Command: Active Camo."
Instantly, the car shimmers and becomes nearly invisible to the human eye. I activate my own camo and sneak past two of the guards and into the building. That's two, I say to myself.
"How many guards?" I ask Melinda as I make my way to the upper levels of the warehouse by carefully scaling the walls.
"Hmm, you're looking at 9, no, 10, including the two you passed," she replies, "Then you've got 2 more inside, one with each buyer, and there's 3 buyers, which totals 16."
"Is there anyone by themselves?"
"Yeah, he's standing right in center of the building, next to a ton of - Holy shit, they've got nukes!"
I turn my gaze to the site of the sale and see the arsenal that Kingpin is selling. I see hundreds of military-grade weapons including RPGs, assault rifles, the whole package. There are several locked cases, which I assume contain the nukes.
"This is bad," I say to Melinda, "They can take out a whole country - no, continent with this kind of firepower."
Melinda replies, "Kingpin's right there, in your line of sight. You could take him out right now."
I contemplate this suggestion. Killing Kingpin would be the most logical solution. One shot from my wristgun and he's done. But the logical solution won't give me revenge.
I reply, "No, not yet. We need more info."
"Ez, you have to think logically. I know Maia's death hurt you-"
"It didn't just hurt me, it shattered me. The only way I can be put back together is by avenging her death and killing the man who murdered her."
"We don't know that he killed her, Ez."
"He was there, Lin. All the evidence points to him. Whatever, we can talk about this later."
I turn my gaze to the sale again, this time focusing on the people. I count the people again. 13, 14, 15. Where's the 16th?
"Hey, Lin."
"What is it?"
"Didn't you say there was 16?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Then where-"
My voice is cut short by the sharp, cold steel of a knife pressed against my throat.
"I presume you're the vigilante that's been busting the biggest crime bosses in the city. What do they call you? Nighthawk, yeah," a voice says behind me. Shit. I shouldn't have let my guard down.
"Get up. Slowly," the voice commands. It's a woman.
I raise my hands above my head and rise to my feet.
"Good. Now - oof," she grunts in pain, the wind knocked out of her. I had spun into a reverse sidekick, hitting her squarely in the stomach. I follow up with swift elbow to the bridge of her nose, but she ducks under it, throwing a punch straight to my chest. I grunt in pain and dodge her hook kick, following up with a sweep, knocking her off her feet. She lands on her back, and I shoot a stun-round at her. She dodges the spike, and leaps to her feet, assuming a defensive stance.
"Stop it, you idiot," she grunts, "They're gonna hear us."
"What?" I reply, utterly confused at what just happened.
"I'm not your enemy. But I'm not your friend either."
"Ookay, so what does that me-"
I am thrown back by the force of a well-aimed kick to my back. The woman's suit shimmers, rendering her invisible.
"Go," I here from behind me, "Find the girl, Nighthawk is mine."
The voice from behind lifts me from my feet and pins me against the wall. How ironic. It's Kingpin.
"I was hoping you'd show up," he sneers into my face, "Let me show you to your seat."
With that, he grabs my face in his hand and slams my head against the wall, knocking my out.
//get it? bc Kingpin pinned me against the wall ahurrrrr//
//also lol sorry for taking so long I had finals and shit//
