Broken Masks

Chapter 1- Machiavellian

"What the actual hell Klaus?" Toby James Brown, also known as TJ, half shouted as his roommate, Klaus Abby, staggered into the flat. Klaus was covered head to toe in mud, his duffle bag slung over his shoulder and a nervous grin plastered to his face.

"Sorry TJ, skate park brawl."

"For the love of god Klaus, why the hell did you go to the skate park? You had work didn't you!? And where did all the mud come from?" TJ asked rolling his eyes. Klaus bit his lip.

"Err, I misjudged a ramp. Landed on the grass." TJ raised an eyebrow.

"Was this before or after you were beaten up?" Klaus smiled sheepishly at the question as he walked into his room, a slight limp in his leg, and threw his duffle bag into the corner. TJ followed him.

"Klaus, where did you really go? I went past the skate park on the way to work and you weren't there." Klaus kept his back to TJ as he grabbed out a fresh t-shirt and a pair of jeans from his draws.

"I went to the bank to get money for new fabric." This wasn't strictly true, as the money Klaus had got wasn't really for fabric. TJ wiped his hand over his face and ran his fingers through the blond hair at the back of his head.

"When?" Klaus looked up at his friend. TJ had an odd look in his eye.

"2:30, why?" TJ shrugged.

"Don't worry about it. Now get cleaned up! And make sure you shower, and for god's sake, don't put your clothes in the washing machine yet, I still have my kit in there. You know what happened last time." Klaus grinned as he remembered TJ's face when he was forced to wear a pink apron for his cookery classes at his university.

Both boys attended the same university and had become roommates through that. When TJ decided to move out, Klaus requested to join him, as the two had become good friends. Now, they were in their final year, with TJ studying cookery and Klaus studying Textiles.

As best friends, most people would think they shared all their secrets and told no lies, however, both had a massive secret that they kept from everyone including each other. TJ and Klaus had super powers. Like comic book heroes, they had incredible abilities. TJ was able to fly and was immensely strong, while Klaus was incredibly fast and had amazing martial arts abilities. Neither of them knew who each other were and they intended to keep it that way.

Once TJ had returned to his own room, Klaus began unpacking his duffle bag. He pulled out a black mask and a bullet proof tuxedo with bow tie and dress shoes, along with a bag containing 2 grand in 20 quid bills. His alias was Machiavellian, hired assassin and ring fighter.

For some annoying reason, he had been hired for a getaway driver's body guard for a bank robbery, but ended up having to shoot the idiot when he tried to back out mid heist. Klaus didn't even want to be part of the heist, but he firmly believed that if the price was good, he was in. His newest assignment, a fairly complex mission, was to assassinate the ringleader of a local gang and frame it as suicide for a solid six thousand bucks.

Klaus had spent the last few nights creating his plan of action, but had taken a break earlier that day to be the getaway driver's body guard. A mediocre pay if Klaus was perfectly honest. Half of the share had originally sounded pretty decent in his book, however, the gang were newbies in the robbery business and had only grabbed 4000 quid.

He knew the gang he had worked with were only going to use the money for drugs but still, any pay larger than a grand was good enough for him. He was the best assassin in the country, so obviously, you'd have to pay a high price for high quality.

Throwing his costume back into his duffle and hiding it, along with the money, in his wardrobe under a false bottom, he limped his way into the bathroom and showered. Why he was limping was a story he partially didn't want to remember.