Five minutes.

Starman

Mellie held up the shirt in front of her, grimacing. It was green, the same horrible shade as Starmans suit, with a red mask in the middle and "Starman" written below it. The man had made thousands of people run around lime-green and red clothes, and he almost deserved to die just for that. But that was of course not the reason Mellie had been sent to kill him.

"I need you to listen to me very closely. "A man's voice said in Mellies's ear "The target has entered the shopping centre through a back exit, we predict that he will be on the stage in ten minutes. There are fifty guards spread out in the shopping centre, some dressed as civilians. Most of them are spread out in the crowd, but at least five of them are in a store on the third floor. Do not mess this up."

"On the stage in ten minutes, fifty guards, some dressed as civilians." Mellie put the shirt on the counter and smiled at the woman behind it. "At least five in the store on the third floor. Don't worry, I won't mess it up."

"That will be 15 dollars, cash or card." The woman behind the counter said and Mellie put her card in the card reader.

"Thank you." The woman smiled unnaturally and Mellie took her shirt. She put it on over her normal t-shirt, her nose wrinkling and walked out of the store. Her purse bounced against her hip as she walked, and she put her hand over it. There were at least three guards in the corridor and a group of civilians, too many to count. Someone walked into her and she let her hand slide into the purse, pressing her hand against the gun. In front of her stood a child, maybe five years, with a green t-shirt and a red mantle.

"Starman is here." The young child was jumping in excitement. "Starman is holding a speech."

"Yes, he is." Mellie sighted.

The child was alone, no adults, and definitely too young to be here by himself. She looked around, hoping to see someone running around screaming for their child but saw nothing.

"Do you know where your mom and dad are."

"I don't." The child shrugged. "But starman is here."

Mellie sighted and pointed at one of the guards.

"Go over there, the guard will help you find them." Mellie pushed the child towards the guard.

She leaned over the boy and her the band for her purse fell from her shoulder. It fell down on the floor in front of her and the gun slid out of it. The child's eyes widened.

"Are you a guard?" The child whispered.

"Almost." Mellie smiled. "Now go find your parents, kiddo."

The child ran in the other direction, giggling with his hand over his mouth. Mellie turned around, pushing people to the side to get past. The shopping centre was filled with people, all there to see starman. Mellie scoffed. It was pathetic, really, hundreds of people coming to watch a grown man with a lime-green suit and a red mantle talk about how great he were. 

Mellie could barely move her arms around, so much people were surrounding her. She needed a better vantage point. Needed to get somewhere where she didn't have to push through the crowd, just to get close to starman.

The shopping center had five floors, all looking out over the scene in the middle of the shopping centre, where starman would stand in five minutes. Every floor was filled with people pressing themselves against the fences, as close to the scene they could get. Most of them must have been here hours ago, just to get in the front.

She took the lift to the next floor.

"I can't find a vantage point, told you we shouldn't have waited to the last minute to get here," Weylyn mumbled.

"We didn't get the information about the planned security for the event until the last minute." The voice in Mellies's ear said.

"I know." Mellie stepped out of the lift. "He knows we want him dead."

"Get to the store on the third floor and take out the guards."

"Already on my way." Mellie stopped in front of the store.

One of the guards was leaning against the door outside of the store, dressed in the same stupid red cape as starman and with a mask covering his face. It looked ridiculous on children and even worse on grown men. Mellie walked closer to him and it was almost comical how close she could get without him noticing.

"Hey. I'm sorry, but you need to turn around. This is only for the guards; we need to keep starman safe." He puffed out his chest and stood a little taller. Mellie resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"I'm FBI." Mellie took out an FBI identity card. "We have reason to believe that there is someone here to kill starman."

"We are aware. That's why we are here, to stop that person."

"Let me assure you. I know more about stopping this person than you do." Mellie pushed him to the side and walked into the store, he followed her in, scratching his arm.

"Is this room soundproof?" Mellie pressed her fingers against the noise barriers on the walls and looked at the snipers at the side of the store. They were all staring at the scene starman would soon enter and had barely noticed her entering. She could take them all out before they had time to react, no doubt.

"Yes, it is." The man gesticulated at the walls. "You wouldn't even be able to hear an explosion from the outside. We came here yesterday to put noise barriers all over the walls."

Mellie nodded and let the door fall shut behind her. She ran one hand through her hair and took out her gun with the other, dropping the purse on the floor.

"What..." The man began. Mellie fired her gun. The first bullet hit the man's chest and he fell to the ground, four more hit the snipers in their backs. The snipers collapsed, just like the first guard. She pushed their bodies to the side and kneed in front of the fence.

Starman was standing on the scene, waiting for the applauds and screams to die down. Mellie looked down at the people on the levels below, people of all ages, screaming their lungs out. She thought that maybe she saw the little child from before, but she wasn't sure. It could be another child with black hair and a green shirt with starman on it. Still, her heart clenched and she bit her lip.

The crowd was quieting down now and starman grabbed the microphone, smiling. Mellie closed one eye and mumbled a sorry to all the children that would see starman's death. Then she pressed the trigger.

The bullet hit starman straight in his chest and his eyes rolled back. Red blood dripped down on the white floor of the scene. That wasn't going to be fun for whoever had to clean it up. She stood up, not even bothering to look for clues she might have left behind. After all, they would be first on the scene and able to fix anything she had left behind.

Mellie put the gun back in her purse and walked out of the room, pressing her finger against her ear.

"It's done." Mellie walked down a nearly empty staircase.

"Good." The voice on the other side said. "We can't have a superhero without government affiliation running around."