Hitman

[Xel]

Waking up to the sound of an alarm ringing, Xel has begun a day pretty much like any other. However he was pleased to hear; or in fact, not to hear the sound of bombs exploding across the street or the sound of women and children crying. He sat up in his bed and stared out his window to see the city in ruins. For some time he had been wishing that all that he saw was just a dream and that he had been put into an extremely long coma by a careless driver one night. However it's been eight years since the war began and three since Shangri-La had become a battlefield. There is still hope, none the less, that the streets will be peaceful once more and he was going to be a part of that change.

Still in a partial dream-state, he stood up to stretch and carry out his morning routine. Not before long, he's sitting by the kitchen table, with a cup of coffee in one hand and the other typing away on a Macbook. Suddenly, an icon pops up in the center of his screen, marking the beginning of a month's worth of man-hunting. Clicking on the icon he is then greeted by a familiar face on the screen. Gordon Regan, the chief of the Freedom Fighter Force also known as the F3.

"Good morning, Xelenski, I hope you've enjoyed your break. It's good to have you back." said Thomas through the speaker.

"It's not like as if I wish to be back, Gordon. It's my job..." Xel replied.

"Yes - well, if we want change we gotta do it ourselves," Thomas began, "Now, I'll be sending over the profile of the next man on the list in just a moment’s time."

"Who do you want me to kill this time?" Xel said as he sipped his still warm coffee.

"Urie Ee...eely...ellyon...nix," Gordon struggled with his name, "Umm, well you'll be able to see his name on the screen." The file he sent over read the name, Urie Illonix, quite close to Gordon's pronunciation

“As you can see, he is one of the commanding officers of the ASD…” Gordon said but was quickly cut-off short by Xel’s remark.

"Hold on, you want me to kill one of your allies?"

"So glad of you to have noticed, here's the twist, our top agents over at the SIU has just discovered recently that Urie is indeed a demon in disguise."

"Alright, why can't the SIU kill him off instead?" Xel asked, trying to avoid the task. He knew well that an officer of the ASD is not a person to be reckoned with.

"Well that's classified information. But quite frankly - we don't want to get our own hands dirty..." Gordon explained.

"Ah, I see so you want me to do the dirty work for you." Xel said as he sipped the last drop of coffee.

"Yea you get the idea. After all this is the reason why The Millennium still exists today. Anyway, I've downloaded all the information about Urie into your car's navigator including locations that he had been recently seen at. It seems like he's having a holiday in Shangri-La as well." Gordon explained.

"You call this a holiday?"

"Haha, at least you're off the battlefield... anyway the first location you might want to visit is The Bare Maiden Cafe located on the 21st street he usually goes there for breakfast, good luck, Xelenski." Gordon said and the icon dissapeared from the screen.

Putting on his gloves and crystal earrings, Xel left his home in search for the next man on the hit list...

[Clive]

"198,199,200." The moment he had reached the count of two hundred, he dropped himself from the pull-up bar. Reaching for his towel which was quite a distance away, another more skinny and slender hand picked it up instead and threw it over to him.

"So this is how you keep that hot body of yours huh? 200 sets of these much workouts each. Quite amazing that you have the willpower to this really. Well hurry and dry up that sweat of yours." A lady told him.

"You can stop comming here everyday. Invading my privacy is just the tip of this iceberg that's about to break." Clive replied as he ruffled his blonde hair dry. He climbed up the wooden steps out of his training area towards his bathroom. "If you'll excuse me, I need to take a bath." Clive said as he shot her a cold look.

She followed him into the bathroom, he stepped behind the curtain and undressed. The sound of running water filled the apartment, it was silence for a few minutes before the woman broke it. "As per usual, I got two foot long subway sandwiches for you, just the way you like it. Once you're done I'll be waiting in the car alright?"

She stepped out of the bathroom and soon after Clive stopped the running water. He dressed up, fitting jeans and t-shirts was his norm. Putting on his cloak, he grabbed the bag of sandwiches with one hand and the other a very huge case. He pushed the door which was slightly ajar open and headed for the lift. He didn't need to care much about people raiding his place. Nothing valuable anyway.

She horned at him, beckoning him to hurry. Clive rushed, throwing his case in the back seat and following after it. He sat down and began munching on his sandwiches. "Hey, don't you know it's rue not to seat in the front with the driver?" The woman said.

"Well aren't you my driver?" Clive replied.

"Technically yes. Some respect at least."

"You don't give me some of that, why should I give you what's left of mine?"

"I don't know why I'm always paired with you, you knoe Clive? You speak very little and when you do, it's hard to understand."

"Elza, just drive."

"Well we've got some time so prepare yourself first." The woman named Elza said. Clive placed his sandwiches aside and opened up his case. In it were three different types of guns and a small metal bottle used to carry alcohol.

"I'll need this and this and I guess this." Clive said as he reached for his shotgun, pistol and bottle. "It's a confrontation right? Not a sniping job?"

"Yeah."

"Speaking of which, why are you dressed up as though you're going to a conference meeting to ry and seduce some old boss?"

"Well, what we're going to do, there's always room for negotiation first. We could just capture him instead of just bumping him off."

"Right. Step on it." Clive said. Elza stepped on her gas pedal and the car's engine began to roar. "Where's the destination again?"

"Between the 22nd and 20th lower district. It's like a backstreet. 21st street that is."

"Oh? Exactly where?" Clive asked as he stared out the window still munching on his sandwiches. Today's journey was smooth no hijacking or street fights, he could do with more car rides like this, smooth with no hiccups.

"Bare Maiden Cafe."

"Who was it?"

"Oh I dunno, I'll recieve a call when we killed the right guy so just kill the ones that seem like they are at a stinking high rank postion."

"Well I wanna eat a steak or three after I'm done. I'll be hungry."

"Whatever you say, Clive." Elza said as she sped to the Bare Maiden Cafe.

[Xel]

"Err... twenty-first street..." Xel uttered to himself as he tried looking for a street sign that had not been 'uprooted' from its foundation or been burnt to the ground by fire. The streets was a dangerous place to drive, most people would rather stay at home or take a walk. Rather than showing off that they've got a car and get killed in it. Economy's bad that's a fact and nobody likes to see a rich or important person cruising down the street. People would literally run away from a vehicle the moment they see one, because chances are, the vehicle might have a bomb at it or someone may throw a hand grenade when the driver's not looking.

"Would you like to locate your destination on your GPS, sir?" Said Xel's Car Navigator. "Yes please." He replied. Suddenly his window screen turned black for a split second and then turn transparent again, this time with an arrow above the road showing him where to go and a mini-map in the corner.

"Thanks." Xel said, feeling assured that he will get to his destination.

Within fifteen minutes he had reached the Bare Maiden Cafe. Though a back street, the cafe looked unusally exclusive. Like a place where celebrities and important people would meet up. It was an obvious choice for Urie. He parked across the street from the cafe and began clearing out all the Kunai and Shuriken from his glove compartment. Maybe I should take this slow... I could get some valuable information from him... He said as he tried to remember the tasks that the other armies had contracted him for. However, he wasn't good at remembering stuff like these, he needed Gordon. Making up his mind, he kept his weapons and stepped out of the car with just his purple and white crystals and a newly bought card.

He stepped into the cafe acting as normal as he can be. He tried scanning the room for Urie but he was greeted by a lady instead. "You must be Gareth Xelenski." She whispered in his ear as she hugged and kissed him on the cheek.

"How did you..." Xel was lost for words. Had he been found out?

"Follow me." She immediately said, "Don't look back."

Xel followed her into the back room of the cafe, thankfully no one in the cafe looked suspicious of him and the lady.

"Who are you?" Xel asked the moment they were alone.

"My name is Anita Genova, I work for the SIU I'm sure you've heard of us." Anita began explaining, "They may not look suspicious but Urie's men are watching. You've been set up by this man."

She said as she pointed to a computer screen beside her. "Gordon?" Xel was again lost for words, "But how can that be?"

"It is a collaboration attack set up by him and Urie Illonix. The Advocates want all Mellennium members captured or killed." She explained, "But in your case... you wouldn't live long as long as you are here. You have to leave immediately."

"No-no, wait I haven't had my breakfast." Xel said, "And besides why should I believe you?"

"You're an idiot, don't you know your life is at stake?" She tried to plead with him as he exited the back room to order his food.

"Look, I'm not some newbie... I know what I'm doing. I've been ordered to take out Urie Illonix and I will, even if it's a trap or not." Xel explained his point of view he then carried on to order his food.

"Oh you think you're so big huh? You think you can take out a Wrathlord all by yourself? Fine, I'll just be wasting my time helping you anyway." She said and stormed off out of sight. What? Did I say something wrong? He wondered.

[Clive]

The car screeched as it swerved into the street, neatly aligning itself between two cars. The doors automatically opened and two people stepped out. One looked rugged and the other looked like an important rich woman.

Clive turned to look at his surroundings, there were quite a few posh cars. Nearly every one of them had to or more guards guarding it. Ranging from demons to angels, and all of them were dressed smartly, with a suit and a tie. Elza walked towards him and stood in front of him.

"Let me brief you. This is the Bare Maiden Cafe, all the rich and influential people gather aound here. Fights do break out, but usually among the bodyguards of these higher classed people."

"Yeah, so basically, you would act as the boss and I the bodyguard..." Clive said with a rather reluctant tone.

"Yeah, that's it. So I've to count on you for protection alright?"

"Whatever. They have steaks right? After all this is some high class cafe." Clive asked as he adjusted his hood.

"Yeah. All you can eat." Elza said as she strutted towards the door. Clive stepped forward and opened the door, everything was going smoothly so far. A ridiculously sized waiter showed them towards a vacant table and they sat down.

"What would be your order mam?" The waiter asked in a gruff tone. "Oh me? I'm not gonna eat. I have to keep this figure of mine you know? Ask him, he needs his breakfast for work later." Elza said as she pulled out a box of cigarettes and lighted one.

The gruff waiter turned to Clive, waiting for his order. "Uhh I'll take five of this burger over here." He said as he pointed to an item on the menu. "...And this sherbet lemon drink. I want it big. So maybe two?" As he said that, he noticed a woman talking to an older man. Apparently the man had angered the woman and she stormed towards the door.

Clive dropped the menu he was holding onto the table and stood in front of the door. The woman stopped in front of him and stared at him. "Get out of the way." Clive shook his head as he held her shoulder. Elza stood up as she walked towards the two.

"I saw that guy say 'take-out' someone." Clive asked.

"Saw? Are you kidding me?" The woman scoffed.

"He can lip read, not that bad but quite alright." Elza added.

"Excuse me, but your order sir! Are you done!?" The waiter asked angrily. It happened really quickly, Clive reached into his cloak for his pistol and pulled it out and at the same time he shot the waiter. The woman turned and hurried back to the man. Everyone was silent, looking at Clive's direction. Only the sound of bullets loading into guns could be heard.

"Clive, you really shouldn't have done that." Elza whipsered. Clive took no notice and knelt by the waiter's side.

"I still want my order thank you." Clive said as he smirked. But that smirk was not there for long. The insanely huge waiter got to his feet and swung his arm at Clive and roared. He dropped to the floor and fired two shots at the waiter's eyes. The waiter roared in pain and held his face. Horns could be seen emerging from his head.

"A demon. Elza. Get rid of him." Clive said as he got up. Elza turned and kicked the waiter between the legs. He staggered towards the glass window as Clive kicked him through. Glass shards fell all over the floor.

Clive kept his pistol and pulled out his shotgun and fired. Apparently he only shot at the tables of those who were likely to be his target. In total, five tables were destroyed. A woman and four men were the suspected ones. Clive walked over to the woman seated down still calmly drinking her tea. "You can't be the one, cause my target's a guy. So it should be one of you!" Clive shouted as he dodged to the side. The bodyguards of a man where shooting at him, aiming to kill.

"Clive...You are so stupid." Elza muttered as she pushed the door opened retreating.

[Xel]

Xel immediately reached into his pocket and took out an oval-shaped device the size of his hand. "Come here!" He yelled to Anita amongst all the noise. He then hugged her and activated the device. Suddenly the two of them disappeared from everyone else's view. "Let go of me!" Anita yelled as she tried to struggle away.

"Shhh...shhh, they can't see you but they can still hear you, look-" Xel whispered to Anita and then showed her the cloaking device he was using, "It only works for two or more people when I'm in close contact with them."

"What? That's some lame excuse..." Anita said with her cheek showing a hint of red, "Anyway what should we do now?"

"Get outta here of course, these two idiots will blow our cover immediately. Besides... I'm not the fighting type." Xel answered. The two of them bent down low so their feet would be quieter and slowly crept into the back room without making a sound.

The moment they were out of sight, Xel immediately switched off the device. "Anita... I turned it off already." Xel said to Anita who was still hugging him.

"Oh, sorry." She said as she pretended to clear her throat to save her embarrassment. Within minutes they were in Xel's car and speeding off from the 21st Street.

"Hmm, are you sure you’re from The Millennium? Cause you seem like you belong to The Coward.” Anita joked.

"Haha - funny..." Xel said as he checked the back mirror in case anyone was following him.

"You got scared didn't you?" Anita began to laugh, "When I said he was a Wrathlord."

"Well... a little, I'm more used to being on the field, killing off weaklings. I know I said I'm not the fighting type, but my powers do all the work, not me." Xel explained.

"I see. Your powers are... negation, am I right?" Anita said.

"How did you know?" Xel exclaimed but later answered his question, "Cause you're working in the SIU..."

"Yeah and I do know you don't like using your powers much." Anita said with a little softer voice.

'Yeah well - that isn't something we should be discussing right now. Who was that couple back at the cafe and what do they want? And how in the world did he spot a demon so easily." Xel asked.

"Clive and Elza? Guess you were being too much of a coward to hear them mention each other's name during the fight." Anita laughed, "Anyway, the guy felt suspicious after he witnessed our little squabble, apparently he could lip read and he might have been able to interpret everything we said. Next, he said that his target was a guy, so he may be looking for Urie Illonix… or you.”

"Why me? I didn't do anything!" Xel exclaimed, "Yea, I probably killed about a hundred of their people, and a handful of their top guns, but it's not like I did anything to upset that guy personally."

"Who knows? Judging from what I saw, that guy may be from The Archangels since he's able to spot a demon so easily. I'm not sure about the lady but Clive seems pretty skilled to me."

"An Archangel looking for a demon target who is a guy at the Bare Maiden Cafe. Someone from the SIU must have tipped him off too. I don't really understand all these but I've a feeling we should pay a visit to our good friend Gordon."

Suddenly the car's navigator began to speak, "Would you like to locate Mr. Gordon's home on the GPS sir?"

"Yes please."

[Clive]

"Darn." Clive muttered as he hid behind a pile of debris. It could keep him protected from a couple of shots before the pile of debris became nothing more than dust. He kept his shotgun and reloaded his pistol, as he did that he looked around the cafe. Everything was in ruin and chaos and apparently Elza had escaped.

"That woman! Always leaving me in this situations." Clive muttered to himself, simply oblivious to the fact that he had landed himself in the situation he was in. A body landed in front of him, Clive smirked and carried the corpse, using it as a shield as he proceeded to the only man left sitting at a table that he had shot. He had no bodyguards around him and apparently no one was shooting at him.

Clive pointed his pistol at his head and placed his finger at the trigger. "You must be the one. High up, high-classed, overly confident and a smug face. Can you die today?" Clive asked the man. The man took no notice of what seemed like a threat that was in front of him and continued drinking his tea.

"That is if you can kill me." The man said. Clive pointed his pistol at his hand and shot him. The man screamed and dropped onto the floor trying to crawl away. "Don't think I can't see that you are nothing more than an imposter!" Clive shouted as he shot both the man's legs.

"Your acting was obviously poor. Shaking while holding onto the tea cup. You're treating me like a fool!" Clive said angrily as he pointed his pistol at the man writhing in pain. "Please, stop!"

"Then tell me where is he." Clive knelt next to the man placing his pistol at his throat.

"I, I really don't know." The man pleaded

"Die then."

"No wait!" Clive fired, the man amde a choking noise before dying. He stood up and cleaned his pistol. He headed out shooting more bodyguards in his way. Elza stood by the door of the car.

"Hey fool, enough with your antics?" Elza scoffed.

"No information. You?"

"You put me in danger all the time idiot. Get in the car, I'll be right back I need a change of clothes." Elza said as she brought out a case from the boot.

"Where are you going to change?" Clive asked.

"Anywhere but here." She stuck out his tongue at him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Elza swung the door close and started the engine. She was dressed in a black leather suit, weapons strapped around her waist. "Whats with this?" Clive asked.

"I'll be helping you this time out. But still protect me alright?"

"Like always."

"Since the person in there wasn't the person we were looking for, we've got to follow those two from before."

"Yeah don't worry I've got it covered, I can track them with the tracking device I had on the woman." Clive smirked.

"Lets go." Clive added. Elza stepped onto the gas pedal and they left the cafe in ruin.

[Xel]

“So what are you?” Xel asked as he drove into Gordon’s villa. “How did you get into all these?”

She was hesitant in answering at first but later cleared her throat in answered, “I’ve got a long history, not as wonderful as yours of course. I was born an Angel but I’ve worked for The Advocate as an SIU agent for most parts of my life.”

“Oh? So you must be really old huh?” Xel asked as he emptied his glove box full of shurikens and kunais. Anita in turn treated the remark as an insult and gave him an awful frown. “What?”

“Do you think this; Clive and Elza might follow us?” Xel asked.

“I’m not sure; it took about an hour just to reach here so to be safe we should leave within half an hour.” Anita answered, “Hey, you’re the master assassin, I should be the one asking these kind of questions”

“Right… right, let’s get going shall we.” Xel said as he checked all his weapons for the last time. Even so he would still rather run away from a battle if he had the slightest chance. The two walked up to the front porch of the villa where a hologram of Gordon suddenly appeared before them.

“Ah – if it isn’t Mr. Xelenski. Have you come to collect your bounty?” Gordon exclaimed cheerfully. Xel on the other hand, who kept a serious tone said, “Not quite Gordon, I’ve come to ask a few questions.”

“Oh… well, I am quite a busy man, Xelenski would you like to visit another time?”

“He doesn’t want to talk, let’s go…” Anita said however Xel stopped her, “No wait, I can get him to talk.”

“Gordon, is Clive and Elza under any of your lists?” Xel asked.

“Err, I’m not sure. I’m going to need their full name at the very least and they don’t seem to be very familiar to me.” Gordon answered. Xel sighed and said, “They’re Archangels, Gordon, Archangels. They just attacked us at the Bare Maiden Café you told me to go to.”

“Oh really now?” Gordon said with an elated voice, “You really have a way to catch the interest of an old man. Very well come this way, I will attend to you shortly.”

“No Gordon, it is because of circumstances that make it so.” Xel said as the automatic doors opened revealing the giant galleria of art work, exotic plants and gold-laced furniture that made up most of the first floor. The main room was massive oval; the roof was about three stories high. While a couple of identical wooden stairs curved along the walls up to the second floor. Plants of every size stood by the stair’s edge and beside sofas and chairs and on top of coffee tables. Xel had been to the villa about three times before, but for Anita, the villa was to her an entirely different world.

“These plants, I’ve seen them in Lemuria.” She said in awe, “How did they transport them all the way here.” She turned around and realized the entire front of the building was made of glass, except for the wooden door and the porch which stood in the center. “Amazing isn’t it?” Xel said, watching Anita admire the building made him smile.

“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.” Gordon’s voice echoed through the galleria. He stood on the second floor where the identical stairs met and where an artificial waterfall flowed from. “And who might this young lady be?”

“My name is Anita Genova; I work as an Agent for the SIU.” She answered in a serious tone; though she admired his home she still couldn’t forget the fact that Gordon had betrayed The Advocates and Xel. However, Xel didn’t seem to mind and spoke with Gordon as if he didn’t know the truth.