Shards

Chapter 9 - Plans

The next night, Ghost climbed onto the roof tops. He preferred to be up high where the view was unobstructed. The wide open space gave him a sense of freedom and peace.

The cool night wind blew around him, whipping his long ponytail and messy bangs from his face which he had not bothered to cover. His clothes flapped wildly about him. Automatically, he changed his stance to steady his footing and balance.

The Shard made his way to his favorite spot. This house had an extra floor which allowed him an awesome view of the city. He needed to clear his head and think. The coming mission at House Zhai was a challenging one. One main mission with three side jobs. Of course, they would get their cut for those too. The problem was in the smooth executions of each.

First of all, he was trained to kill not to protect. He sniffed shaking his head, how does that work? Crow said it was the opposite of killing. Just keep her alive and safe for three months? Safe meant from physical harm in all situations, including those brought on by strangers, people around her, family or even herself. After thinking about it for a while, he managed to wrap his mind around it and thought of some adjustments to be done for the job. The Target, Shuang was to be preserved not terminated.

Next was Key's side mission. He grinned when he remembered how offended Key was when Night implied stealing the seals might be too difficult for him. The Three had to prove his outstanding thievery skills again, something he hadn't had to do for a long time.

Well, he would leave that up to Key. He was sure the master thief would come up with a plan. He would be on standby to help if needed to. After all, he was the ranking Shard on the mission and would have to shoulder the overall responsibility of its success.

Ghost sighed. His own mission, killing Lord Wen should be no problem except that he didn't know much about the Target. He needed information on Lord Wen, the people around him and his habits. Customizing a suitable death and making it look natural in a highly secured environment would take extensive preparation. He had some homework to do. He would do that before Lord Zhai accepted the deal. A couple of days lurking in the Wen household should provide him some useful information.

And Ice, Ghost shook his head at the mess. Ice and Key were seeing each other. He didn't know how serious it was until Key's strong reaction to the news of her captivity. Key had tried to keep calm during the mission briefing, but once they were alone, Key had exploded.

Somehow, the master thief had managed to make Ghost swear to get Ice out, whatever it took. After all, wasn't he a Five now? Ghost was a really, really, real-ly awesome Shard, right? That's why he admired him so much and he would have no problem getting Ice out even if they were not properly trained for extrication (A Six's job). Weren't they good friends? He promised to help in all Ghost's future theft missions so that the Five could relax but receive the commission. He couldn't live without Ice!

Ghost sighed recalling the mission outline in the second scroll. Ice, a new level Three had taken on more than she could chew. After acing her level Two test, she had been promoted to a Three and commenced basic level three training into advanced thievery. However only after a month, she had gone rogue.

Not full on rogue but still sort of rogue.

Ice had broken into House Zhai's high security grounds to 'practice'. Since Key had told her so much about Ghost, she had wanted to impress him by following in Ghost's legendary footsteps. She wanted to prove that she was just as good as Ghost if not better when he was a Three. Ice was going to show him that she was not just a pretty face but also had outstanding skills. She wanted him to like and admire her more than Ghost.

However when she got caught, Old Wolf had suggested they let her try to escape herself. An impromptu trial to test her mettle. Other Threes would be challenged somewhat and while some may escape, Ghost definitely could.