The Black Hood

Chapter 7: A New Beginning

I'm running on top of a rooftop feeling the wind in my face, but it's pretty hard to enjoy it when you're chasing after a speeding car and the police sirens blaring behind you. The men I'm chasing after just robbed a bank and as always the cops are way behind, but not me I'm running along side a building ahead of the getaway car. I jump down and land on top of the car as I hear the voices inside, "What the hell was that?!" I hear them yell out as I chuckle and smash the windshield grabbing the man that was in the passenger's seat and pull him out he screams as I punch him repeatedly in the face and throw him on a pile of garbage on the sidewalk for the police to get him. The man in the backseat starts shooting at the roof as the car tries to shake me off I begin to loose my balance, I slide down to the back of the car and break the back windshield as the man turns back and shoots at me I quickly dodge the bullets and break his arm grabbing the gun and shooting his own leg as he screams and I push him out of the car. The driver turns around and sees me and tries shooting me with his handgun, but before he can even pull the trigger I take out one of my arrows and stab it into his arm as I disarm him and start punching him in the face repeatedly. I look out the windshield and see a man with some blueprints on the floor trying hard to pick them up as they blow around because of the wind as the car speeds towards him about to hit him, I quickly kick the driver in the stomach as I grab the steering wheel and turn it fast and kick the drivers leg out of the way to slam on the brakes causing the car to flip over. The man was still kneeling down trying to get his blueprints until he saw the car flip over, at the height that he was at the car would surely hit him so I dove out the window and tackled the man down on the ground as the car flipped over us crashing and sliding towards the side of a building. I pick up the man from his collar, "Get up" I say as I set him down on his feet and quickly pick up his blueprints and give them to him he just stands there staring at me speechless, I can hear the police sirens get closer and that's my cue to get going. "Next time check your surroundings" I say as I turn and head to an alley, but I hear footsteps chasing after me I turn around and see the man that I saved chasing after me, "Wait!" He yells out trying hard to catch up to me as I take out an arrow from my quiver and draw it back from my bow and point at him, "Who are you and why are you following me?!" I say not willing to hesitate shooting an arrow straight into his forehead. "M-My name is Nigel Stewart I work at Key Industries" he says nervously looking at the arrow I have pointed at his head as he has his arms raised. "Why are you following me?!" I ask taking a step forward to him, "I-I want to help you, t-these blueprints are for you, I-I have some ideas for gadgets you could use" he says taking a step back still nervous. I put my bow down, "I work alone, now get your ass out of here before I put in an arrow in it" I say as I turn and start walking away, "You wouldn't waste an arrow on me, I know you're running low on equipment" he says walking towards me. "And how could you know that?" I ask walking towards him, "If you weren't running low on arrows or ammo you would've taken out that car from a range and not jump down and waste time" he says a little shaken up but firm "I've been watching all of the news reports on you and I've been seeing that every time you come out your quiver has less arrows and you use your guns very little" he says getting closer to me "I can provide you with the equipment you need plus upgrades." I grab him by his shirt collar and lift him off his feet, "And what makes you think I'll trust you just like that?" I say sternly shaking him a little. "I don't, you don't have to trust me but I just want to help make a difference here in this city, so please just give me a chance" he says pleadingly. I throw him back down on the ground, "You have one day to bring me one of your inventions and then I'll see what you're made of, meet me at this location" I say as I throw a piece of paper at the ground next to him as he stumbles to pick it up and looks at the address. "Don't worry, I'll be there" he says as he looks up, but I'm already gone.

The next day rolls up pretty quickly I'm sitting on top of my warehouse looking at the stars just thinking until I hear trashcans fall over, I quickly stand up and grab an arrow from my almost empty quiver as I pull back on it and point in the direction the sound came from. "Don't shoot! It's just me!" Nigel says as he walks out raising his arms up. I put my bow down and put it back on my back as I jump down and land in front of him. "Were you followed?" I ask looking at him still holding my arrow, "I don't think so" he says looking back over his shoulder, "I swear to god if I find a wire on you this arrow goes straight into your throat" I say as I press it against his throat, "Whoa! I'm not wearing a wire, I'm not working with the cops I seriously want to help you" he says nervously staring at the arrow. I put the arrow back into my quiver, "Show me what you got" I say as he opens up a big bag he brought with him, "Well I started with something that looks like you really need" he says as he takes out something that looks like some sort of big cuff, "What is it?" I ask as I grab it and start eyeing it, "Try it" he says looking excited "Aim it at the side of the warehouse" he says as I strap it on and point at the side of the building with an open hand, "It's not doing any thing" I say a little confused, "Oh right, I forgot you have to make a fist" he says still looking excited. I make a fist and two very thick wires shoot out and attach to the side of the warehouse as they pull me up with it, "Holy shit" I say as I land on the roof of the warehouse "Very nice grappling hook." "Oh and that's not all" he says as he goes through his bag and takes out some arrows "I made some of the basics also for you, these look like normal arrows but try shooting one at that garbage can over there" he says as I jump down and take it from him. I draw my bow back and aim it at the garbage can as I let go and it hits the garbage can directly and it causes a little explosion, "That's good, but I could use something bigger" I say a little disappointed on how small the explosion was, "On the top of the arrow there's a dial, it goes from fireworks to small nuclear explosion" he says even more excited than before "I also brought some more ammo for your MAC10's, these are extended clips so you won't run out of ammo so fast" he says as I take them and load them in. "Is that it?" I ask him as he looks nervously at me "W-well for the mean time, I mean I still have a lot of other inventions I'm working on i-if you don't like those" he says still nervous. I turn and start walking towards my warehouse, "Don't worry about it, just come back with your stuff and set it up here" I say as I open the door to my warehouse. "W-What?!" he says surprised "What do you mean?!". "I mean that you got the job, but just know that if you tell anyone I won't hesitate to kill you" I say unsheathing my katana and walking in. "It's not much, but I think I can upgrade this place" he says looking around, "Well we'll see what you're made of soon"