RIP Story: June 26th, 2024

Maria knew her target was in the area. Her source from the night before confirmed the rumored sightings. The target was unaware she was on their tail. Time was on her side, but the local guilds were not. Her organization completed a contract on one of the merchant guild bosses a year ago, and in the eyes of the merchants, the business of this assassination had not been completed.

Maria set up in one of the tourist bars and set her people to work. A combination of local hires and assassin guild informants formed a regular feed of information into the bar and orders coming out of the bar. A live band played smooth afternoon jazz when an informant came in and said, “The merchants know you’re here. Here in this bar.”

“Good,” Maria answered.

“What are your orders?” the informant asked.

Maria said nothing and waved a dismissive hand. She stood from her table to remove her tan robes. She walked over to the closet at the back of the bar and pulled out peacock robes with gold detailing. The eyes of the informant grew big only to grow bigger when she gathered her things and moved her station to a table and chair outside of the bar.

The informant started to follow her, “What are you doing?” they asked in earnest.

“Making myself visible,” Maria said. “Look, if it makes you feel better set yourself up at the park over there. Take a drink and a plate of food with you. No one will approach, but they will see me. You have nothing to worry about,” she concluded. The tone was clear that she was done talking.

No one other than runners came to the new spot over the next two days, but two nights later, everything she had waited for started to happen. Maria took the long way to her temporary home. She knew the section of the city they would try to stop her. They didn’t even get a chance to speak.

“Gentlemen, do yourselves a favor. Go back to your bosses and tell them to let me do what I can here to do. If you do, well, that means you will get to talk to your bosses again.”

Maria couldn’t see them all, but she knew there were four of them. The first came from a doorway, quite far away. This was a distraction, no one would be dumb enough to surprise her from her field of vision. She wasn’t sure what direction it would come from but her squatted toe spinning swing with her blade and the subsequent thud of a man in pain told her the man came from her left rear arc. She pointed her blade toward the man still running from the doorway, but her eyes were looking in the direction her first victim came from.

Her second victim pulled the trigger the same moment the bullet from Maria’s gun struck him in the shoulder. Maria dropped her pistol when she heard the man from the doorway start his scream to strike. He was big, an easy target to hit. Her gun hit the ground as her second blade was drawn. She didn’t need to see him, he was big and loud, and the tips of her blades found their mark with ease. He didn’t get the benefit of the previous two victims; he was dead before the blades were pulled from his body.

The fourth victim revealed himself with a missed shot. The bullet hit the ground beside Maria’s foot. She looked up, ID’d her destination then ran toward the building. The shooter, having seen the show so far bolted toward the door the opened to the roof. He was mad at himself for missing the shot, but he was ready in case he had. A stone table was on the roof. he situated himself behind the table where he could see the door. He would open up with his dual pistols as soon as the door was open.

The first blade cut across his back. Deep enough to shock him, but not be terminal. The second blade sliced the inside of his left bicep. He fell to the ground and the assassin’s foot held down the uncut arm. She stood over him, two points resting on his chest. “Where is your boss? I have real work to do,” the assassin said.

The pain grew, the discomfort unbearable, he could not hold back, “Kitower Village”

“Good, thank you for confirming,” the assassin said. She then leaned over to make deep eye contact. “Always check the walls for roof access. It cost you your life.” Maria put her weight on the two points. Seconds later, another soul had been released. Next was clean up of this side adventure. Deal with their boss then get on to the real reason she was here.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow.

EPILOGUE: An abrupt end I know but I’ve had this on my screen for three days at this point. I just need to get it done. I kind of like it. There is a lot of story here. Assassins are interesting because they dance a line, in the movie at least, of what I call Superman Syndrome. When to assassins lose? What is the danger to highly trained, deadly individuals? Something to explore in other stories. For now, I wanted to write up a fight scene just to get a feel for how it works in my mind. I hope you enjoyed!