New Years Engineer

15 1 0
                                    

Squatting on the edge of the rooftop of his favorite café, he watched the first colorful fireworks crack in the sky. He had been there since the dim sunset faded into black, no stars, no fog, pure black. He looked out into the crooked landscape of London, when was it was it time? Tick...tick...tick...the clock struck 00:00. Hundreds of bright lights fired up into the sky. Drunk men cheered, laughed and snorted beer up their noses below, happy families and freshly married couples detonated self made fireworks and were extremely disappointed when it failed. 1876. A new year for new disasters. Andrew Greenwood thought about what this day would've been like 15 years ago. Carriage rides across the Thames and grossing out to the sight of your parents kissing. Andrew never got to be that joyous kid on that day, for that exact day December 31 1858 ten minutes before new years, his parents were murdered. When ten year old Andrew came home from a long day with friends, the only sign that Oscar Greenwood and Marie Clarke ever breathed the air on this planet was two blood stains on the carpet and a letter in his mother's handwriting reading:

Dear Andrew,
I'm so, so truly sorry that we must leave town on such a special day,
but me and your father have had a slight disagreement with and old friend
of ours and we'll be gone for a few days. Please remember to clean the toilet
and be nice to others! We will miss you very much my dear boy. By the way,
happy New Years!!
XOX Mommy and Daddy

Andrew remembered how much he weeped that day, while all others celebrated New Years, he weeped. Since then he was out for revenge, who ever that "old friend" was, he was going to pay for killing the most unproblematic parents in the world. Without thinking, Andrew jumped from the edge of the rooftop. Since the tragedy, he'd been learning all types of fighting techniques and parkour. He grabbed on to the balcony of the second floor of the building, flipped off of it and landed silently on the gravel beneath. He started to walk. Many people were on the street, although no one seemed to notice Andrew wearing the mask of the most wanted criminal of England. That was Andrews "thing". He killed those who deserved it, sadly too many people did. He was an assassin.

***

"What's the V for?" Shit! Someone was talking to him! He quickly ripped the mask off and tucked it in his black, shaggy cloak. He turned around to show his long and tired face. "Are you talking to me?", he said calmly with a cold shiver in his voice. "Yes, are you going to answer me? Or have you not finished your "secret mission"?", said the stranger who was plump and cheerful, though he had an accusing tone in his high voice. "The hell are you talking about!?", shouted Andrew nervously. The man stepped closer to Andrew and whispered in his ear: "Listen to me, I know who you are, I know what you do, and the only thing stopping me from giving the authorities all of your information is you answering my goddamn questions!" Andrew had no escape, the two 25 year old men proceeded to head to the strangers workshop. As soon as they arrived the interview began.
"Take a seat, the one over there is the comfiest."
The stranger pointed to a cushioned chair covered in dust, Andrew sat down trying to keep his cool
"Sorry for the rough start", said the stranger. "I'm Freddy Owens, engineer and part time spy."

"Andrew Greenwood""I know who you are

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

"Andrew Greenwood"
"I know who you are. I'm not here to threaten or hurt you in any way, I would like to make an offer. If you allow me to work with you as partners for a month at least, I will help you on any assassination!"
"No way."
"May I ask why?"
"Because I work alone! what do you think huh!? you would only slow me down", Andrew said this even though he knew someday he would need a crime partner.
"Okay..fine..now what about the V?"
"What V?"
"I've seen the bodies you've killed, they all have a V imprinted on their foreheads. What does it stand for?"
"Oh, it stands for the word "Vendetta".", said Andrew
"Mhh, interesting, nice choice of words."
Freddy Owens made Andrew some tea while they continued to ask each other questions about their "life decisions", not being aware of the person who was watching them through the window which was open a crack all the way on the right side of the small room they were standing in. Someone was spying on them.

Feedback and recommendations in the comments! :)

Vendetta: AssassinsWhere stories live. Discover now