Radioactive: Chapter Fifteen

Radioactive

Chapter Fifteen

~Be Careful what you Wish for~

A tattered woman walked through the labs underground. She wore old torn clothing and was overall a dirty mess. People stepped out of her way to avoid getting any filth on them. Others covered their noses because of her stench as she walked by. She walked into a room and spotted the doctor, black goggles and all. The woman walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

The doctor turned around startled, “Oh, what a hideous creature—I mean, hello lovely lady have you come to—”

“Doctor, it’s me! Jumper!” the woman pointed to herself.

“Oh, it’s you,” the doctor relaxed, “You couldn’t have taken a much cleanlier form?”

“I didn’t have time,” Jumper said, “I have to talk to you.”

“If you must,” the doctor muttered as he walked around the room.

“I think we may have a problem,” Jumper followed him around.

“How so?” the doctor started to look interested.

“I saw these people yesterday, well actually it was a boy and a dog, but I still didn’t get a good feeling out of them,” Jumper started seeing the holes in his own theory.

“So boys walking their dogs scare you, now,” the doctor looked at him, “That is a good thing to know.”

Jumper sighed, “No, you weren’t there, there was something weird about the two!”

“Jumper, you’re just being paranoid again,” the doctor said, “Remember the mailman incident? It’s a mailman’s job to deliver the mail. They aren’t spying on you. We don’t want a repeat.”

Jumper crossed his arms, “Okay, can I borrow one of the mutants.”

“Absolutely not,” the doctor said, “My beautiful creatures will not leave the premises.”

“How about the ones that escaped?” Jumper asked.

The doctor looked saddened, “That was an accident. Unfortunately, the security precautions failed and they managed to escape. It wasn’t on purpose however.”

“Fine,” Jumper muttered.

“Now go get out of that filthy skin. You are stinking up the whole place,” the doctor shooed him away.

Jumper left the room and walked to his own room. He jumped into his own skin. Jumper was still unconvinced that who he met that day was more than just a boy walking his dog. Frankly, he didn’t like the way the dog was sniffing at him. He needed to convince the doctor that these new comers were something to worry about and not just some people passing through. The choice was obvious; he needed to take things into his own hands.

He walked barefoot through the hallways of the facility. No one questioned where he was headed. He was the doctor’s favorite and they weren’t going to get in his way for fear that they might anger the doctor. Jumper stood in front of an elevator and typed in a code for the keypad. He used a code that one of the maintenance workers used. Sure that worker would be in a heap of trouble but what did he care.

The door opened and he walked in. The elevator took him down to the cooler lower levels. He got off and walked down a long hallway. On either side were bulletproof windows. On the other side of the windows, were separate cells. In the cells were several creatures. Some of them rammed up against the widow growling and snarling at Jumper. Each creature was assigned a number and that number was placed on a plaque at the base of the widow.

Jumper walked to one of the windows and stopped a moment. A female mutant sat cross-legged in the center of the cell. She had blue skin and black hair; a tail snaked its way around her in a neat circle as she sat. Jumper vanished and appeared inside the cell. The girl’s black eyes opened. She screeched quietly at him, bearing sharp teeth but other than that, she didn’t move.

“Hello, Samantha,” Jumper smiled, “You remember me don’t you?”

She growled. Jumper sat down across from her.

“I mean, sure, this isn’t the form we met in but I’m sure that little detail doesn’t matter anymore with your mutations now,” Jumper talked to her. He smiled at her, “How are your new powers doing?”

The creature glared at Jumper. She bared her teeth in a brief grow.

Jumper reached out and clasped her hand, “Come on, don’t be like that. I got you what you wanted, right? In fact, you should be technically thanking me. But I won’t have you go that far. Instead, I need you to do a little favor for me.”

In a flash, both he and the creature disappeared.

~§~

“That sounds interesting,” Kaiba said as he typed at the computer, “Does that description sound familiar to you, Kiri?”

“Scanning thought Tower records,” Kiri reported, “Found a match. From the description Fang has given us the best match that I can confirm is a Body Jumper. The user sabotages another’s mind and controls their body killing the hosts mind in the proses. Each Body Jumper has an original body but must leave their body in order to control another.” Kiri looked at Fang, “This might be the cause of your observations with the boy having two scents.”

“One was the body he was controlling and the other was his own original scent,” Fang nodded.

“I will add that observation to the records,” Kiri stated.

“So why are we interested in this kid anyway,” Riu stated, “Just seems like a kid jumping bodies if you ask me.”

“He kills people when he jumps into other peoples bodies,” Duke said.

“Yeah, so,” Riu shrugged, “it’s not any out our business.”

“Still, it could explain why people have been going missing quietly,” Kaiba said, “Our Body Jumper takes a form that his next victim will feel comfortable will, maybe even taking the form of a friend or family member, then he’ll lead them to where ever the experiments happen.”

“Makes sense,” Jekyll noted, “He doesn’t seem like the kind to actually do the experiments.  He seems like the supplier, supplying enough test subjects for the doctor to do his work.”

“So our new goal is to find this jumper,” Kaiba said, “Great, let’s get to work.”

A heavy object crashed into the building. Brick and mortar caved in on all of them. They were thrown to the ground. Kaiba covered his head as debris fell. He felt the floor underneath give way and fall through. When things settled down a little Kaiba sat up. He coughed as the dust settled.

The side of the apartment had a huge hole in it. On the roof of the neighboring apartment was a mutant. It’s levitated in the air as it screamed at the team below. It raised its arms in the air, lifting two vehicles in the air and throwing them at the damaged apartment.

“Move!” Kaiba called out.

Everyone got to their feet. Kaiba ran toward the gap in the wall. He jumped down and was followed by the others just before the two cars crashed into the building. Kaiba landed on his feet. The creature screeched at the survivors.

Jekyll landed closest to him, “Finally, a little excitement happens. How are we going to deal with this one?”

Kaiba got to his feet, “She can’t attack all of us at the same. We’ll split up and surround her at all sides.”

“Roger!” Ing reached up and grabbed the apartment roof ledge.

“Where do you think you’re going!?” Kaiba yelled at the android.

“What? Sorry! I can’t hear you over my being awesomeness!” Ing pulled himself up onto the roof.

He jumped up and grabbed onto the creatures leg. The creature screamed and flew off leaving a blue light trail behind her making it easy to track her. Kaiba sighed and clenched his fists.

“Come on!” he called, “We have to take that thing down before it causes anymore damage!”

“The mutant or the kid?” Fang smiled.

“Both,” Kaiba stated. He looked at Kiri, “Come with me.”

“Right,” Kiri nodded.

“Then let’s move!” Fang turned into a wolf and ran down the alley.

He was followed by Kaiba and the others. The trail to follow the mutant was easy even as the blue light in the sky started to fade. Riu and Duke climbed onto the roof and traveled by roof top. The creature tried to kick the little android off her leg. When she saw the others coming, she screamed and lifted a rooftop water tower and threw it at Riu and Duke.

“Read it and weep, babe!” she pulled out two daggers that looked similar in make to the blades braided in her hair. She threw a dagger at the creature fused with electricity. Lightning crashed down on the creature as it screamed. Stunned the creature fell to the ground.

Ing grabbed on to the roof ledge and held on as the creature fell below. Duke grabbed onto his arm and pulled him onto the roof. The creature fell on the ground. Fang lunged at the creature but she stretched out her hand and used her powers to throw him across the street. He hit a wall and was momentarily stunned. With the creature distracted, Jekyll threw knives at the creature striking pressure points but not killing her. The creature screamed in pain. Kiri ran forward only to be picked up and pushed back. The creature reached out a hand at Kaiba and screeched. Her screech was cut short when a broadsword fell from the sky and cut her in her chest.

Kaiba looked up and saw Duke on the roof. Riu waved hello as she stood over his shoulder. Ing called down to the others, making a lot of noise. Kaiba sighed and rolled his eyes.

Jekyll sighed, “Why can you keep these creatures alive long enough for me to examine them?”

Iridescent: Chapter Fifteen

Iridescent

Chapter Fifteen

~Every Day’s a Saturday~

After the Fall

When Deontay led Zara and Miwa to the village where he was staying they received a huge welcome. The children of the village ran out to meet with the friendly visitor. Deontay, being a friendly fellow, ran up to them and picked them up. One of the children gave him two vials that they had found a few miles from the village. He thanked them with the little of their language that he knew and rubbed the child playfully on the head.

He led his friends into the village. Deontay led them to a makeshift home that looked to have been built in the last few days. He let them in and made sure that they were comfortable.

“Well, welcome to my humble abode!” Deontay spread his arms out, “It isn’t much but I like it. Keeps things simple and your priorities straight, you know?”

Miwa found a corner that he seemed to like and dropped down, “I like it!”

“You’ve been living here a while?” Zara asked.

“Yeah,” Deontay nodded, “I didn’t see any reason to leave and the kids kind of grow on ya. They are a bunch of great kids. Don’t know what they’re saying most of the time though… Anyway, make yourself at home.”

“It will be nice to sleep under a roof for a change,” Zara looked around.

“Yeah,” Deontay nodded, “Sleeping in the plains isn’t exactly the most comfortable.”

Zara smiled, “Yeah, you can say that again.”

“I’m sure I have some canned food somewhere,” Deontay looked through a bag of his, “What is your position on canned peaches?”

“Haven’t had any in months,” Zara sighed, “I’d love some.”

“Good,” Deontay laughed, “The kids in the village love the stuff.”

Miwa looked over, “Where do you get your supply of food?”

Deontay pointed around in a vague circle, “Around. You’d actually be amazed how many people drop everything when they see a sawed off shot gun.”

“You robbed people?” Miwa asked.

Deontay looked appalled, “No! I tried to give their things back but they just kept running!” He looked at Zara, “I didn’t realize I was that scary of a guy.”

Zara shrugged, “I guess when you’re carrying a sawed off shot gun it’s understandable.”

“Hmm,” Deontay nodded thoughtfully, “Well, we should get to bed. We have a long day tomorrow.”

“You can say that again,” Zara sighed.

The next day Deontay said goodbye to the village children. They were sad to see him go and so were the rest of the villagers. He left each family a can of fruit. Deontay promised that he would visit when things died down on the Island. Zara was unsure if they understood all of what he said but they seemed to get the just of it. The younger children cried at Deontay’s departure. After saying his last farewells, Deontay led Zara and Miwa out of the village.

“So what is our travel plan?” Deontay asked when they were some ways away from the village.

“We head through the desert to where we can get off the Island!” Miwa answered.

“Yeah,” Deontay said, “I got that but how are we going to travel through the desert? I mean you weren’t thinking of walking were you? That’s suicide. You know that, right Zara?”

“We have water,” Zara said.

“Yeah, but not travel-all-the-way-through-the-desert-on-foot kind of water! We’ll be dried prunes before the week is out!” Deontay thought a moment, “Wait, what day is it? I’ve lost track.”

Zara shrugged, “Feels like a Saturday.”

“Actually it’s—” Miwa tried to answer.

“No one asked you,” Zara glared at him.

Deontay nodded, “I’ve always liked Saturdays. Let’s say it’s Saturday.”

Miwa looked up at his two travelers, “But it’s—”

“In that case, we’ll be dried prunes before the end of next week! Do you want to be a dried prune? I don’t!” Deontay exclaimed.

“We’ll make it,” Zara smiled at her team mate, “Besides, I can’t die now. I’ve got someone’s butt to kick when I get the chance.”

Deontay nodded, “I mean that’s pretty good motivation.”

“Yeah,” Zara nodded, “So I can’t die until I cross the desert and get to where Miwa says we’ll find a way off the Island, cross the ocean, get to the mainland and kick Scar’s butt. Then I can die happy. But I won’t.”

“You won’t die happy?” Miwa asked, “But you just said…”

“No, what I was saying is that I won’t die,” Zara smiled, “I plan to live my life as an independent woman as an Agent. Maybe I’ll get a pet along the way somewhere but that’s just about it.”

“You won’t settle down? Maybe find yourself someone you can spend the rest of your life with?” Deontay questioned.

“Nope,” Zara looked at Deontay, “There is no man in ‘independent woman’.”

“Actually…” Miwa started.

“Be careful of the next few words you say, Robo-dog,” Zara glared at Miwa, “You tread on very thin ice.”

“Never mind,” Miwa muttered.

“Right,” Deontay nodded, “Not even—nah, never mind.”

Zara looked at him, “Not even what?”

“No, it’s nothing,” Deontay shrugged it off, “Well, what if this guy really likes you and he’s just too shy to say anything.”

“Deontay,” Zara said quietly, “do you have something you would like to say?”

“Hmm?” at first Deontay didn’t understand, “Oh! No! It isn’t me! I was talking about someone else!”

“Uh huh, sure,” Zara looked unconvinced.

“No really!” Deontay stressed.

“I’m going to jog ahead,” Zara said, “Please take your time following me.”

Zara jogged off and Deontay tried to call after her but to no avail. She jogged ahead until she created quite a distance between them. Zara remained within view but didn’t turn around to make sure the others were keeping up. Miwa continued to walk alongside Deontay. There was a long silence between the two after Zara left. Deontay sighed before breaking the silence.

“I swear I was talking about someone else,” he said.

Miwa nodded, “Yeah, I believe you.”

“Do you really?” Deontay asked.

“Yeah, I do,” Miwa answered, “Now the trick is to get Zara to believe you.”

Deontay groaned, “Chaud owes me big time.”

“That he does, my friend,” Miwa sighed, “That he does.”

The Turn: Chapter Fifteen

The Turn

Chapter Fifteen

~Mission Impossible – Part One~

Two Years before the Turn

An expensive restaurant in New York City was open with all its glitz and glamor. Politicians and people with generally too much money drove up in their black limos to the current Presidents fundraising dinner. News camera’s gathered around a type of red carpet of political who’s who.

The venue was just getting started and a van pulled around into the back alley. Out walked the waiters who would be serving the politicians that evening. A girl with her hair in a ponytail walked out rubbing her eyes helplessly. Apparently her contacts weren’t exactly being friendly to her at the moment. A boy with long black hair also walked out of the back of the van with some others. His hair was also in a ponytail. He grabbed a bag from the van and followed the other waiters into the building. The girl followed slowly, rubbing her eyes.

They walked into a side entrance where they were met with on duty police officers. There were four tables with a police officer at each. An officer with African American decent motioned the boy with the bag over. He opened the bag and looked inside. The officer was noticeably young but looked like he could hold his own. When he finished looking inside, he handed the bag back. After giving the boy a quick pat down, he allowed the boy to proceed.

The boy walked into a small changing room to get into his uniform. He placed the bag into a locker and walked out into the kitchen for the ‘motivational’ instructions from the restaurant owner.

In the front, a limo drove up. Instantly the cameras were on flash. An aggressive photographer pushed her way forward. She wasn’t afraid to elbow the nearest camera man. She managed to get in front of everyone and started her camera on stream. A boy in a standard suit stepped out of the limo and helped out a woman in a beautiful black sparkling form fitting dressed. Even as no one seemed to know who they were they were very photogenic together so on the flashes went. It was assumed that they were the children of some ambassador or congressman who was invited.

When the two went into the building the aggressive photographer was pushed back as a congressman pulled up. She ended up at the back of the school of piranhas. She didn’t seem to mind though. She walked around into an alley and fiddled with her camera as if it wasn’t working properly. As if to test if it was working, she aimed the camera into the sky. Something shot out of the lens at attached itself to the wall near the flat roof.

She unconnected her cameras lens and attached it to her belt. She pulled on the string and rose easily up the wall. She climbed over onto the roof. There was a police officer on the far end. She got to her feet and ran behind him. She swung her leg at his feet. He fell to the ground and she hit him in the neck, knocking him out. She tied his hands behind his back and stood, detaching a pair of binoculars from her belt and using them to look around.

The couple inside stood in line as they were seated. The girl fiddled anxiously with her purse.

“Chaud,” she said, her lips not moving apart from a smile.

“What?” again, his lips didn’t move.

“Are you sure you thought of everything?”

“I told you,” he sighed, “You plan, I make things happen. I went through this whole thing backwards and forwards. We’ll be fine.”

“What are our reservation names?” Zara asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Chaud muttered.

The seating attendant looked up at them, “Next!”

The two walked forward.

“Names?” she asked.

“We’re part of the Holtinger party,” Chaud stated.

“The senator?” the girl asked.

“Of course the senator! What are you? Stupid?”

“No, sir,” she muttered, “are you Cale, sir?”

“Yes, I am,” he looked to Zara, “I mean I’ve only been in Russia for two months and they’ve already almost forgotten about me!”

Zara rolled her eyes, “Da, darling. Porheps vi should go somevere else vere vi are more appreciated,” she said in a thick Russian accent.

They turned to leave when the girl tired her best to change the situation, “Please! Pardon my rudeness! I can get you seated right away!”

Chaud shrugged, “Well I guess we can stay.”

The girl led them to their table.

“Oh, and don’t tell my father we’re here,” Chaud said as she was about to leave, “He doesn’t know I’m back stateside yet. This will be a surprise…if you can keep your mouth shut.”

“Yes, sir,” she said as she walked away.

“That was mean,” Zara muttered, dropping the accent.

Chaud shrugged, “How else do you expect spoiled little senator sons to act?”

“Mean I guess,” Zara answered.

“Hello,” a waiter walked up, “My name is Nelson and I’ll be your waiter this evening. Can I get you anything to drink?”

Chaud looked up at the waiter. The waiter’s hair was down now from the ponytail before. He held a large round tray in front of his body. Chaud looked at his Asian appearance.

“Nelson…right…we’ll just have water,” Chaud stated.

“Right,” ‘Nelson’ said as he walked back into the kitchen.

Zara looked over at Chaud, “Nelson?”

“He was the only one I could food poison in time with my limited planning time. I had two days of surveillance and one day to get everything put together. Nelson just happened to eat at a hot dog stand where may not have cooked it quite right…”

“You’re evil.”

“All in three days' work,” Chaud smiled, “besides its food poisoning, he’ll be fine!”

Nelson, otherwise known as Naru, returned with their drinks, “May I take your order?”

“What do you have?” Chaud asked, not even bothering to look at the menu.

“We have a three course meal—”

“Three courses? Didn’t realize the President was a cheapskate…” Chaud muttered.

“Da, vat a shame,” Zara stated.

“For the appetizer we have either a soup or salad—”

“That soups?” Chaud asked.

“Chicken or tomato—”

“Do you have, Olivier Salad, traditional to my homeland Russia?”

“No—”

“What is this chicken soup?” Chaud complained, “Is there someone sick here? Do we look sick to you?”

“Vat salads do you have zen?”

“I don’t really want the tomato soup, either.”

“Vi should have gone someplace else. Porheps somevere that serves Olivier Salad.”

“The President wants out money with this crappy food?”

“I—”

Naru interrupted, “I think I’ll let you look at the menu. I’ll be back.”

There was silence at the table after Naru left. Zara saw Victoria, known as Jane here, as she waited a table few tables down. The people at the table seemed to be treating her fairly nicely.

Zara leaned into Chaud and whispered, “That was kind of fun. Mean, but fun.”

“It comes kind of naturally when you're rich,” Chaud nodded.

“You don’t act that way,” Zara observed.

“Because you’d hit me in the head several times a day,” he said as he grabbed the menu off the table.

“Don’t I already do that?”

“I’m trying to keep it at less than 30 times a day.”

Zara raised her eyebrow, “That’s not several?”

“I have the feeling that you’re just getting started.”

Four more people came to their table including Mr. and Mrs. Holtinger. Because they were not told who they were, Chaud and Zara became Greg and Olga Wilson. Zara kept herself from hitting Chaud for introducing her as an Olga. Apparently they were stepbrother and sister, Olga being their father’s wife’s daughter from Russia. It also seemed apparent that Chaud could spout bull crap whenever he needed to. Nelson returned and introduced himself again and asked for orders. Fortunately, the Wilson siblings got their orders straightened out.

The officer finished at his post and continued back stage to prepare the area for the President’s speech.

“Hey, Johnson, you think you’re ready for this?” another officer asked.

Johnson, AKA Deontay, smiled that good hearted smile, “I was born ready, sir!”

“We’re not expecting anything but you can’t be too careful these days,” the officer said.

“Too true,” Johnsons said in a manner that seemed to indicate the other officer was speaking a little too close to the truth.

The other officer shrugged it off, “Let’s begin the inspection.”

Hina on the roof looked down at the coming people. A limo drove up and a man with blond hair stepped out. He didn’t seem too much of a threat, other than his excessive happy-go-luckiness.

Zara was eating her Cesar Salad as she looked carefully around. She saw the man come in and was seated.

“Dragon to panther, come in panther,” Hina’s voice rang in Hina’s ear.

“Greg, vat do you call dis in America?” she pointed at one of the hard bread pieces.

“Croutons,” Chaud answered casually.

“Da, croutons,” Zara stated.

“Is that a yes, you read me?” Hina asked.

“Da, they are very good.”

“I’m gonna tell you what I noticed anyway, okay?” Hina stated, still unsure what exactly was going on, “We’ll I haven’t seen any one with guns blazing in through the front door.”

“Good, very good,” Zara answered.

“And I have seen anything out of the ordinary; they may already be on the inside.”

“But it seems the leafy greens are a little bitter.”

Hina sighed, “I’ll take that as a ‘keep looking’. Over and out.”

“It’s what you get for eating a Cesar Salad in the middle of winter in New York,” Chaud mumbled.

Zara started looking at people more closely. There was a round of applause as the President walked in. People stood to their feet as the music played. When they sat down their entrees were served and the President started his speech. Zara continued to look around. The person with the most access it seemed were the waiters who could go around as they pleased. The audience started laughing at one of the Presidents efforts at a joke. Zara laughed half-heartedly as she looked around at the waiters. While most of the waiters, including Nelson and Jane, had the fakest of smiles on their faces as they served their ‘greater than thou’ guests there were some who seemed to be concentrating on something else. One seemed to be looking at his watch frequently.

“Excuse me,” Zara said as she stood up and walked to the bathroom. When inside, she entered a stall, lowered the toilet seat cover and sat down, “Alright can everyone hear me? I think the assassins came in the same route that we did, as waiters. So that means they must have a cop in their band or they wouldn’t be able to sneak anything in. Keep an eye out.”

She heard someone coming into the bathroom. Zara stood and flushed the toilet and lifted the seat cover. She walked out and washed her hands. A woman walked in to touch up her makeup, Zara decided that wouldn’t be such a bad thing to do as well. She reached into her purse for a tube of lipstick and began applying.

Their mission, assigned by the Tower, was to prevent an assassination by making it an assassination attempt. Assassinations were generally prevented by the Tower for several common sense reasons but this one seemed more important somehow. Over the past year, Zara and her team had had several missions that seemed quite out of the blue. But there was something nagging at her that they might be connected. She assumed that the Tower was trying to connect the dots as well. That was why on this specific mission, they were to bring back one of the assassins. Zara smacked her lips together before walking out of the bathroom.

The President was nearing the end of his speech. She knew that if the assassins were going to act it would be soon. It was time to get everyone in position. She sat at her table and ate some of her food. Just about then, Naru came by.

“Vaiter? Could you take zis back to your kitchen? Ze pasta isn’t, how you say, cooked very vell,” Zara raised her plate.

Naru took the plate and bowed apologetically, “I’m sorry, Ms. I’ll have the chef make you a new plate.”

“Don’t bother,” Zara waved her hand as if she was insulted, “I’ll vait for ze desert.”

Naru went back into the kitchen. He dumped the plate, food and all, into the nearest garbage can. After that, he made his way casually to his locker. He grabbed the bag and started out again. He walked casually as he kept to the back of the room. After Zara’s warning, his eyes scanned the floor for anything unusual.

“Um, waiter?” an old man asked at a table.

Naru stopped and plaster a smile in his face, “May I help you?”

“Our waiter,” the old mad stated, “He hasn’t been serving us very well tonight. We asked for refills on out water, but we haven’t got it yet. It’s been a long while, too. Would you mind getting us some?”

Naru thought a moment. The old man seemed nice enough but he had work to do, “I would but this isn’t my table. I’d get in a lot of trouble if anyone found out. I’m sure your waiter will be around shortly.”

“Hmm!” the younger woman beside the old man crossed her arms, “I doubt he’ll be down those steps anytime soon!”

“He went upstairs?” Naru asked.

The old man seemed apologetic, “Yes, he went up those stairs and hasn’t come back down.”

Naru smiled, “I’ll go see if I can find him.”

“Thank you so much, young man,” the old man nodded.

Naru continued on his way. He walked up the stairs to the first balcony. He walked past the second floor diner to more stairs that were secretly behind a red curtain. The stairs led up to a third floor used mostly for changing the lighting and such.

“I think I found one of the waiters,” Naru sighed into his ear piece.

“Make sure you keep him alive, bro, unlike the guy in Rio!” Hina shouted.

Naru rolled his eyes, “Why won’t anyone believe when I say he fell off the building. I didn’t kill him. He tripped over his feet. Honestly, the clumsiest person I’ve ever met.”

Naru made his way up the stairs. He was light in his feet, even the floor boards didn’t make much of a sound. On the third floor, he walked to a balcony. At the angle he was sanding, the stage was at a horrible angle. He looked around carefully then saw what he was looking for. There was a man with a sniper rifle propped on the railing. After setting down his back, he made his way quietly to the man.

Naru was nearly behind him when he turned around suddenly. The man tried to turn the gun on him but was unsuccessful. Naru grabbed the gun and took it away easily. He used the butt of the gun to crush the man’s left foot. The man opened his mouth to shout in pain but Naru released his grip on the weapon and placed one hand firmly on his mouth and his other arm around his neck. Naru waited as the man struggled for about five more seconds until the man was out cold. Slowly, Naru released the man’s neck as he slumped over. He stood up and picked up the riffle. He propped the weapon on the railing after detaching the scope and tossing it to the side. Naru never used a scope and his accuracy was the best in the Tower.

“I’m in position,” Naru stated casually.

The crowd clapped enthusiastically as the President neared the end of his speech.

“Good, good,” Zara said as she clapped. It was a dual meaning as she talked to Naru.

“zzz…Nathan, what are you doing?...zzz…Nathan?...zzz…”

Naru heard a short distance radio go off. He looked around the room below, unable to find the person on the other end. He thought of who would naturally have a radio.

“In conclusion,” the President began wrapping up his speech.

“It’s almost finished?” Zara leaned into Chaud as she asked. Chaud nodded in response.

“Johnson!” the officer came up behind Deontay. Deontay turned around and smiled.

“Yeah?”

“You go around the other side. I got this one,” he smiled and sent Deontay on his way.

Vicky was in the middle of serving her table.

“…zzz…move to plan B…zzz…”

“Their changing plans,” Naru reported.