Hit One

Laid out on the ground and hidden by the shadows of the manmade colossus around her. Light brown eyes fixed upon the stage, the woman held it in her sights from behind her rifle’s scope. She wore a full black special operations suit, one she had designed herself for comfort, durability and mobility. This had been a stakeout for one of the Jade Hand’s first mission together, Kassandra, the woman who led the group personally took part in this. Her partner in this endeavor was once her enemy, now the two watched over a stage where later today a politician would make his speech. This man was their target, and his death would be shown on national television and to this crowd of people. Many had gathered to witness this event, but none knew what was coming next.

“Looks like this thing’s happening soon.” Kassandra stated without looking away, but wasn’t given a swift response. “Hey idiot, you hear me?” She said a little louder, turning her head to see what Reaper was doing.

Mister Reaper stood towards the back of the small room the two of the assassins were using to stake out the platform where they would take out their target. Kassandra was being the good little mercenary and taking the whole thing seriously but Mister Reaper had already gotten bored with the room they were in and wanted to go out and get some exercise. Doing a handstand in his little spot in the room he listened to what Kass said to him but did not answer back right away but when she pressured him to he did, although he did so in a condescending tone, “Yeah, I heard you. I’m bored. Let’s go do something.”

“You know what would be really awesome? Killing this guy with our bare hands, it would send a really clear message,” Mister Reaper was getting more and more excited with every word he said, obviously liking the simplicity of his own plan. “That’s all the employer really wants us to do, right? Send a message,” Mister Reaper obviously saw no flaw in his idea. “What’s a clearer message than brute force?”

“Wow…” A sigh escaped her, slowly shaking her head in disbelief as she turned away from him. Her eyes fell upon the stage once more, calculating just how they would go about this. Reaper was right, nothing else would send a clearer message, but she wouldn’t be the one getting her hands that dirty. Kassandra couldn’t believe this idiot had a better idea than her; it actually pissed her off a little. Brilliant, but she needed him to stay focused otherwise it’ll end up a violent chaotic mess.

“You know, you’re a lot brighter than you let on. I hate that, stop playing dumb Reaper.” The bold woman scolded as she rose from her prone position. Kassandra stood as tall as her body would allow, her vicious light brown eyes staring down the larger man before her. Almost as if she were trying to intimidate him, she refused to seem weaker for even a second. In her mind, she was the strongest, and she sought to prove it.

Without a word of warning, Kassandra’s left hand gripped the zipper on her jacket, unzipping from her collarbone to the middle of her chest. Briefly, she exposed a little cleavage. The same hand then proceeded to reach in and fish out a scrunched pack of cigarettes. With one hand she flipped the pack open; the other withdrew two cigarettes and a black BIC lighter. Kassandra flicked one at Reaper, and then placed the other in between her lips. After lighting her cigarette and enjoying the first sweet drag, she rudely tossed him the lighter.

“If we’re going to be working together, I need you to stay at least somewhat focused. Smoke, relax, think, and stop staring at my chest." Kassandra then returned the pack of cigarettes and zipped her jacket back up. She was trying to be a little less harsh than usual, they were partners after all. The bold woman stood with her arms crossed, her weight shifted onto her left leg. Her right hand gripped the cigarette, inhaling another drag before temporarily removing it from her lips to flick the ashes to the ground. “Kassandra, that’s my name. Don’t ever call me by it when we’re on a mission.” As she spoke, tendrils of smoke escaped her lips, her cold expression unchanging despite the ‘kinder’ approach. “Now I’m probably going to regret this, but let’s hear it. Got anymore bright ideas wise guy?” Though her tone was sarcastic and rude, she meant what she said; Kassandra wanted to hear him out. While she awaited his response, another cloud of smoke was inhaled. It was a habit she had no intention of breaking.

Mister Reaper listened to the sound of the woman’s reaction and he could tell that it was one that meant she was surprised at what he had said. “She’s disappointed in you. She knows how stupid you are. She’ll hate you just as much as everyone does,” Edgar yelled at him from his perch in the corner of the room. Mister Reaper knew that no one else in the world could see or hear Edgar so he quickly learned not to respond to him in any way while people were around. All the same though, Edgar’s words were true, this woman would hate him just as much as the rest of the world did. “She only brought you here to use you as a weapon,” the crow finished as he corrected his tiny fez.

Then the woman finished her sentence, expressing her amazement at his idea, and Mister Reaper tried his best to hide his shock and the feeling of accomplishment from impressing the woman. “Whoever said I was playing?” Though Mister Reaper could hide his blush he did not hide his body language quite as well, shifting from side to side and kicking at the ground a little, the tell signs of being embarrassed. He tried to look anywhere but directly at the woman, glancing at her from behind his mask occasionally. Edgar continued to fiddle with his fez while he silently fumed from being temporarily proven wrong, grumbling the whole time, but he was ignored.

Then before Mister Reaper had a chance to understand, he saw the woman before him grab her zipper and bring it down showing off more than a little of her ample breast, catching the man off guard. His eyes were suddenly glued to her chest and he barely noticed when she tossed him a single cigarette but he managed to catch it without fumbling around, too much. He then watched as she took a lighter out as well and lit her tobacco stick before she tossed that to him as well and he caught that without fumbling this time but he did not light the stick in his hands. Raising his mask to the bridge of his nose, exposing his mouth and jawline but keeping his eyes hidden behind their yellow glass covers, and brought the cigarette to his mouth and clenched the end of it in his teeth. He then threw the lighter back to her, “I don’t smoke, bad for the lungs.”

After that the woman zipped herself back up and Mister Reaper let out an audible sigh of disappointment. “You don’t have to put them away,” He said flashing another toothy grin, “Just think of how intently I’m listening to you right now.” He knew that she would not do what he was asking but he was in a better mood after his compliment, he did not receive them too often, not even as a child while being trained by his father. She then told him her name, Kassandra, it was pretty. “So your name is Kass? That’s a good name. My name is Gary Jimmy Grinnes or something like that. I can’t remember exactly,” He said as he took his still unlit cigarette in his hands and examined it.

Kass then asked him for more ideas. The man looked up and inhaled deeply, thinking about what other options they could consider. “We could try using distractions,” He offered. “We could try being in the crowd when the whole thing starts, then I start beating people up, drawing their attention to me, and you can sneak around them and take the guy out,” The plan was crude but it was the best he could offer on such short notice.

This poor sap couldn’t hide his emotions very well; a child would likely handle flattery better than him. His body language and reaction reminded her of one, playing dumb and avoiding eye contact. How does this big baby kill anyone? She couldn’t help but wonder about this man. Something about that just made her want to smile. At first she tried to repress it, but it quickly cracked onto her cold expressionless face. Soon enough she couldn’t stop herself from laughing, though it was brief, a playful chuckle escaped through her nostrils. It had been too long since she’d really laughed like that, it felt good to be able to, but she’d never admit that; not even to herself. Kassandra shook her head slowly, masking her joy with a harsh drag from her cigarette. One hand held it with eloquence, and the other crossed over her chest. While the stubborn woman tried to force eye contact, her stance shifted, her weight leaning onto her right leg instead. “Your body language says otherwise.” She said smoothly, tendrils of smoke lacing every word.

Kassandra left it at that, flicking ashes off to the ground as she glared into his eyes; well what he would allow her to see. The slightest sly smirk clung to her face, but due to her harsh attitude, that could be easily read as something devious. Good, she preferred it that way.

A curious eyebrow rose when he lifted his mask up, but he decided to play all ‘mysterious’ and ‘cool’; hiding behind that mask. Strangely it worked for her, and Reaper didn’t look bad with a cigarette. She couldn’t help but laugh again when he claimed he didn’t smoke because it was bad for the lungs; this guy was concerned about his lungs? ”Right..” Kassandra replied sarcastically, once again masking her laughter with an inhalation of the familiar smoke. The lighter was caught without effort and fluently deposited into her utility belt.

In reply to his crude comment, her light brown optics rolled, and the same slight smirk crept back onto her face. Listening? Yeah, right; got his attention though. So now they knew each other’s names, can’t say she ever saw this coming. “You’re lucky you’re funny, cause that name is terrible.” Kassandra rudely laughed at him, following up with a drag from her old habit.

Reaper’s plan of action was simple, not how she would go about it, but why the hell not? Kassandra decided to try it his way, with her guiding the mission she was confident they could handle anything that went wrong. Call her cocky, but she was one determined woman. “Normally I’d throw you out there as bait and handle things with my rifle...” Kassandra said harshly as if it were normal conversation, stretching and twisting her back out from left to right as the cold words escaped her delicate lips. “But I’m in a good mood, let’s do things your way.” With one final drag, her cigarette was flicked to the ground, and the embers immediately extinguished beneath her boot. “Lead the way, Reaper.”