Chapter 1 of my next work
Sparrow.
Forty-Five years old. Male. Married but has an affair. Works at a law firm in the heart of the city. Slightly overweight. Balding. Light skinned with freckles. Conscious about time. Cleft Chin. Drives a black Nissan SUV. License plate PWM432.
Those were the notes Tetra took about their latest victim.
Apparently this man's wife found out about his affair and is currently paying Tetra around ten thousand dollars to take him out. His life insurance money is also a beautifully large amount that she has been eyeing for a long time. Tetra let out a quiet tsk. Heartbroken assholes wanting them to kill their cheating ex-lovers. Power hungry, desperate, corrupt politicians with a rival that seemed just a little bit too popular. Vindictive snakes wanting them to murder an old enemy. Same old people, almost every time. They wanted a different kind of client next time. Tetra checked their watch. It was currently 2:00. They decided to set their plan into action in five minutes. They let their mind wander as they watched the cars roll down the nearby overpass from the top floor of an abandoned building. It wasn't the tallest building in the area, but it definitely provided a clear view without being too far away, around about 20 metres up. It was pretty high for an overpass, 20 meters tall, but it was near the city after all. The little deserted concrete room also provided cover, to both muffle the noise of the gunshot and to have no witnesses. From here, Where Tetra was, their eye level was slightly higher than the overpass. High enough to see the cars roll by on the skybridge, and also their target when the times comes. The wind was weak, but not non-existent. A Gentle south-eastern wind. Tetra sighed. The weather forecast said it would be North-eastern. If they didn't have a reason not to trust the news, they did now. There was a construction site behind where Tetra had set up their sniper's nest, some design company or whatever, Tetra didn't care, they just cared about the fact that there even was a construction site in the first place. Helps subvert suspicion from the gunshot. Tetra checked their watch again. 2:05. Good. Time to get started.
They asked the client a couple favours for a hundred dollars subtracted from the total - and that was if they could borrow her phone for one hour, for her to pretend to have had a panic attack earlier on when anyone came, and to break a window, which they would provide the repair costs for. She happily agreed, anything if it meant that if it could get rid of Sparrow. They took her phone out from their pocket and inserted a microphone-like voice changing device into it. After setting it to voice number 8, they dialled the contact "Cheating Asshole" on her phone. Sparrow picked up after five rings.
"Yeah Honey?" His voice was deep and raspy. Tetra found it repulsive.
'Sweetheart...?' When Tetra spoke, the voice that Sparrow would hear would be almost identical to that of his wife - the woman who paid them to kill him. They tried their best to try sound scared and out-of-breath. 'Sweetheart, please... please come home... Someone broke in...'
"What?" They heard a couple of thumps from the other end. "Did they steal anything?"
Scumbag. Didn't care about if his wife was okay - only the money.
'I... I don't know...' Tetra kept on pretending. 'I think they entered your study... Please, I just had a panic attack, please come home Darling... I need you...'
He cursed under his breath as he yelled out to his boss that he needed to go home early. 'I'll be back home in twenty minutes. Call me if you find out anything that was stolen, okay?'
"Okay..." He didn't even care that his wife just supposedly had a panic attack. Just the money. "I'll see you soon... I love you"
And he hung up without even saying a 'I love you' Back. Tetra sighed. Those kinds of heartless spouses really got on their nerves. But then again, that would make Tetra a hypocrite.
By driving around the area on their motorcycle that morning and estimating the amount of time it would take for Sparrow to get to the main overpass where they wanted him - It'll take approximately seven minutes. The large concrete construct that reached over the buildings below was wide, accompanied by several green hills in the distance. Cars rolled by one by one at 100 kilometres per hour. At this point in time, traffic wasn't too terrible, it was relatively empty, in fact. They zoned out to the sound of the construction site behind them.
Tetra licked their lips. They had some time to kill. By now, they would assume that Sparrow had left his office and to the carpark.
Bored, Tetra took out their wallet and extracted a folded up photograph, and a drawing.
The photograph was the person that Tetra loved. His messy, bedridden periwinkle blue hair always was a charm point for their beloved Trist, and his love for oversized sweaters just added to it. Tetra smiled as they admired the sweet, mellow, warm expression on his face. Eyes closed, lips beaming with a amiable smile that instantly provoked a protective feeling within anyone who looked at him. Too innocent. Too pure. Too motherly and kind compared to Tetra, who kills without remorse. The drawing they pulled out was a picture of them that Trist had drawn. He sells his art online, and frankly, Tetra could see why. The Tetra in the drawing was crouched, aiming a sniper rifle at a would-be victim. Trist draws - Tetra kills. One paints beautiful pictures on white canvases with red paint, the other sends bullets into brains and paints the streets with red blood. They sighed as they admired his soft, dimpled face.
The assassin simply known as "Cyan" was tiny in stature. So tiny they could buy clothes from the children section in department stores. Real name Tetragon, they always preferred Tetra, always preferred "They" over "He" or "She". In fact, it's extremely hard to tell their birth gender. Their small stature and large, square-shaped eyes gave a feminine energy, but their flat chest and subtle peach pit in their neck proved otherwise. And don't get me started on their voice. Their voice makes things so much harder. Their skin was a greyish blue, a dull contrast to the brightly coloured Cyan hair, bangs cropped just above the eyebrow, which they adopted their nickname from.
But of course, their clients don't know that. Nobody knows their true hair colour. Right now in the unpredictable autumn weather, Tetra was wearing a beanie that obscured the beautiful colour of their hair, as well as a pair of sunglasses and a smog mask commonly worn by those of Asian descent. Fitting tightly but not restrictively over their torso was a sleeveless black tank top with a dark blue trench coat over it, pockets stuffed with bullets. Even though they only needed two. A scarf with alternating shades of blue covered their neck, it was like a good luck charm, what they usually wore during missions. Given to them by a certain childhood sweetheart by the name of Trist. With it, was a pair of earmuffs to prevent hearing loss sitting idly on their neck. Although they didn't really care about the daggers that sunk themselves into their ears whenever they pull the trigger, it definitely felt nice to keep their hearing. Their thick leggings were connected to a pair of brown combat boots. Assassins don't usually engage in hand-to-hand combat, but it was good to be prepared in case someone comes in and sees them. That's why they had a belt filled with knives. They could throw one and it'll land right in the middle of someone's chest or neck without even looking behind them. And besides, there's only one person who can sneak up on Tetra without them knowing.
And the person standing in the doorway behind them definitely wasn't him.
Trying not to provoke the attention of the presence that Tetra had picked up, Tetra reached into their belt, and took out a knife in such a subtle way that the person behind them wouldn't suspect a thing. And then, with a smooth, swift turn and a flick of a wrist, a knife whizzed through the air and sunk itself into the chest of the person in the doorway.
Or so they thought.
But when Tetra went to look at the body of the person they thought they'd killed, they just saw a pair of sunset orange eyes with a smug look in them, 100% alive. No sign of a knife embedded in a throat. In fact, the blade was caught between a beautifully manicured hand, just before it made a gaping hole in his neck.
"It's you." Tetra swivelled around and placed the picture of Trist they were admiring face down onto the ground.
'It's me.' The person in the doorway giggled as he tossed the knife back at Tetra, just like if it were a can of soda or a TV remote, without any worries about impaling them. In fact, with the amount of skill and grace he exhibited, the knife almost glided into Tetra's hand like a little bird, blade up. The movements of a killer. If he could effortlessly catch a knife in mid-air just inches from impaling his throat, he could easily throw it at someone for them to catch without harming them. This person called himself "Circle". Which was a strange name, though Tetra knew it wasn't real. It was just an alias, just like "Cyan". But he definitely looked like a "Circle".
Like Tetra, Circle joined them in the LGBTQA+ Spectrum. While Tetra's gender neutral, Circle was gender fluid, meaning that depending on the day, She would turn up and introduce herself as a she, or he can turn up and introduce himself as a he. And similarly to Tetra, it's really hard to tell his birth gender, but that's about where the similarities ended. Tetra looked like a preteen despite being in their early-mid twenties, Circle looked like a proper adult. His face was round, and so were his eyes, although they weren't exactly "big", and below them he had a pair of plump lips that many women would kill for. He had sunset orange hair which he had up in a bun, tied back and professional as it sat like a hat upon his light brown face. That's the only way he could let anyone around him know what he was feeling like. Bun for a He, Ponytail for a She. Whenever someone referred to him incorrectly, his eyes would darken and they would find a knife at their throat along with a friendly reminder and warning that was unnaturally sweet considering the bladed weapon in his hand. His body was plump and seemed extremely squishy, and a black suit with a blue tie hugged close at his form.
'So-'
"Before you ask - No." Tetra turned around, rolling their eyes and looked out the window, scanning the cars for their victim. Just three more minutes.
'Really?' Circle laughed. His voice was warm, and could pass for either male or female. He pointed at the piece of paper being squished by Tetra's hand against the floor with a long orange nail. 'I was about to ask if the person in that photo was your Boyfriend.'
Tetra shot him a dirty look as they folded the photograph and drawing back up, stuffing it back in their wallet and into their pocket.
'Not anymore.'
"Aw, why? Did he dump you?"
'I dumped him.'
"Then why were you admiring that picture of him?"
'Stick that nose of yours in my business and I'll cut it right off.'
Circle whistled as he put both hands up. "Okay, okay."
'And could you leave me alone? I have a person to kill-' Tetra's sentence was cut short when they saw a black car that matched the description for Sparrow's SUV roll down the highway. Just a couple more seconds until it reaches the perfect position. They whipped out a pair of binoculars, and could see the driver. No doubt that it's Sparrow. They immediately got into a crouching position and got to their rifle, which was positioned on the window. 'Hold on.'
They dialled the contact "Cheating Asshole" again, and saw the driver move. They wrapped the cord around their neck so that they would be talking right into the voice changer hands free as they pressed their eye against the scope, and both hands went to their designated places. One on the trigger, the other stabilising the Sniper rifle. It was a 100 metre distance between Tetra's snipers nest and their target. Perfect.
Breathe.
The gun followed the moving target that was the Black SUV, and finally, Sparrow picked up.
"Darling?" Tetra took their mask off, careful not to let Circle see, and spoke through the voice changer. "Darling, I just found out that they stole two thousand dollars in cash"
'WHAT?' Tetra could see Sparrow in the drivers seat flip out and scream at the receiver. 'WHAT ELSE? WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP THEM?'
Tetra didn't respond. Instead, they just took a deep breath as they got into the final phases of the assassination. They liked to think of it as a step-by-step process. Wait. Aim. Mentally prepare themselves. Breathe. Fire. Profit. They stopped paying attention to what he was saying and put their earmuffs on.
'HELLO? ANSWER ME WOMAN!'
When Tetra pulled the trigger, the first thought Circle thought was "Wow. This guy kills people like it's poetry." Because the naturalness that Tetra exhibited, it was like that they had learned how to kill a person when they were still in the womb. They didn't even flinch at the sound, but the recoil from the gun almost blew their hat off as the gun felt like someone had tackled them. You do get used to it after a while. Still, it didn't stop their entire torso rocking backwards as the powerful rifle shot a bullet through the air. They were small, but they were sturdy enough to withstand the punch to the shoulder that the recoil bought. Like an oak sapling.
Tetra wasn't aiming at Sparrow's head. Rather, they were aiming at one of his wheels. And it was a successful hit, because suddenly one of his wheels practically vaporised and Tetra could hear him screaming from the other end of the phone as his car slid down the road like an out-of-control amateur skier. In that amount of time, Tetra had reloaded, aimed and shot another bullet into another one of his wheels. Losing control of the vehicle, Tetra listened to Sparrow's petrified screaming through the phone as the car crashed through the safety bars on the sides of the overpass and down a 20 metre drop to his death. Immediately, all noise from the other end of the phone cut off as Tetra looked down, and saw the car bursting into flame. A beautiful sunset flower had blossomed out from the wreckage, as cars screeched to a halt and people screamed. Tetra just took their earmuffs off and packed their rifle up. All done. Time to return the phone and to get their payment.
"Beautiful." Circle smiled as he approached the window, looking down at the wreckage below with a glimmer in his eyes. Like a child admiring a butterfly whose wings they had torn off. They could hear sirens in the distance. "Absolutely beautiful. You see, this is precisely why we want you on our side, Cyan."
Tetra groaned. Not this again.
"You orchestrated it in such a way that it looked like just another simple case of death by calling someone while driving! You borrowed a phone and used a voice changer for this. You even picked the location wisely, gives you a clear view, close to the highway, and the construction site behind us makes the gunshot sound like it came from there! The police will never suspect this to be an assassination! Wonderful, Bravo, Cyan, Bravo!" Circle clapped his hands as he smiled down at them. Tetra's face was still obscured by a mask, beanie and a pair of sunglasses, but he could tell the expression on their face must be annoyance, similar to that of a teenager to their nagging mum.
'Please, for the last time, Circle.' Tetra sounded almost tired. 'I don't want in on any of that Mafia crap.'
Circle was a high-ranking captain in the Bianca family, a mafia group that occupied a large portion of Paradise. People say its name in hushed whispers with jittery eyes and alert movements. The mafia does not screw around. They are less ruthless when compared to their rival, the Putrefazione family, but everyone still thinks twice about saying bad things about the Biancas. For the last few months, the Bianca and Putrefazione Mafia families have been fighting for Tetra to join their side. The tiny assassin was a killing machine. They can kill three men in the amount of time it takes someone to rip open a candy bar and take the first bite, and four more before they even realise what had hit them. Bianca and Putrefazione were fighting over them like they were a prized diamond. Circle had visited them whenever they went out for a job, trying to persuade them into joining. Every time, without fail, Tetra said no. Barracuda, a higher-up in the Putrefazione family, did the same, although the two seemed like they desperately wanted to avoid each other. Best they do. Money. Drugs. Anything and everything in-between. Anything Tetra wanted, they will provide, but the answer has always been the same - No. To both of them. Thankfully, neither of them knew their face, their name, or where they lived. If they did, they would be much more... "persuasive"... They had actively avoided contract killing requests from members in either family as well.
"Don't be silly Cyan, you have no idea how much we'll pay you!" Circle laughed.
'Not interested.'
"We'll pay you more than Putrefazione, at the very least." He stressed the word Putrefazione, putting a tension on the word like it repulsed him to even say it.
'Still not interested. Seriously, Circle, just fuck off and let me live my life.'
Circle's sunset eyes narrowed as he scanned Tetra's face. Like he was trying to figure out what they really looked like under that mask. But still, he just smiled, and handed Tetra a business card. On it, was a dark background with colourful strobe lights illuminating a simple address, and the word "Circle" alongside a phone number. 'But, if you ever do end up being interested in my offer, just go to this address. I'll be waiting.' Circle chuckled as he walked out the room. "And ask for 'Circle' Specifically. Some of those people down there know me by a different name, though, so don't get discouraged when they don't know what you're talking about." He smiled one last time before his tanned face disappeared behind the wall, and Tetra could hear the clacking of boots down the stairs. They just rolled their eyes and packed everything up. They decided to keep their disguise on until they find an alleyway or public bathroom where they could change. After waiting a few minutes for Circle to get out of range, Tetra climbed down the dusty, neglected concrete stairs down the building. They seemed to stretch on for almost miles, until Tetra finally came to the bottom floor. Once they did, they took out a phone, this time their own one, and texted their client - her second phone - to meet them in there at 6 PM later that night.
"Nice shot."
Those words seemed to flip an unwanted switch within Tetra as their eyes widened and immediately dropped the case carrying their rifle, panically threw open their trench coat, took one of the knives out and shot it behind them, barely catching a glimpse at who they were aiming at. All within a single second.
But when they recognised the hair colour, recognised the sweater, it was already too late. The knife was just about to take off from their hand and into Trist's throat. Instead, Tetra subverted the trajectory of the knife ever so slightly, the most they were able to do to change the course of the flying knife from killing their Loved one.
There's only one person who can sneak upon Tetra without them knowing.
And that man was none other than their (ex) Boyfriend Trist himself.
Trist didn't even flinch as the knife struck the wall behind him, scratching the concrete before it fell down to the ground with a clatter. The knife barely grazed his neck, which was hidden away by a pale blue sweater. The only damage Tetra inflicted on him was probably cutting a few strands of his hair, but he wasn't hurt. They stopped themself just in time. There was a bag casually slung over his shoulder as he just stood there indifferently. Trist smiled sweetly, despite the murder attempt that just happened. Circle's smile was wide and like a bright, shining orange sun, Trist was mellow, kind and calm, like an ocean nymph. Tetra just sighed and let all tension in their body relax. He was unharmed. Good.
"Trist..." Tetra muttered. "What're you doing here?"
'Saw you kill that guy in the black car.' Trist's voice was like honey. 'Wanted to congratulate you on it'
"Trist, just get out... I almost killed you..."
'But you didn't.'
"But what if I did?"
'You missed on purpose, I had faith in you. I knew you wouldn't kill me.' Trist smiled. However, the expression hidden underneath all those layers on Tetra's face was the complete opposite, as they pursed their lips. What he said was true - they did miss on purpose.
"We've been over this, Trist..." Tetra turned around. "We're over. We're done. Just... Just get out..."
'Aw...' Trist pouted as he reached into his bag on his back. The height difference between the two of them was almost comical. Tetra, barely scraping five foot three, was up to the six-foot-two Trist's shoulders. 'But I wanted to give you something'
Trist pulled out a small bouquet of velvet roses from his bag, which was wrapped in a plastic with flower designs on the outside. Underneath their mask, Tetra's eyes widened as a blush went to their cheeks. But their cold assassin's heart soon froze up all the warm fluffy feelings in their heart. "Thanks, but no."
'Why?'
"Just no. I told you, we're not dating anymore. Just let it go, Trist."
'I know you still love me'
Tetra didn't say anything because what he said was true. But Tetra's self control was the single thread of rope preventing them from falling off the edge of a cliff and into the dark abyss down below that was breaking down in front of him crying and apologising. Nobody, not even Trist has ever seen them try. And they'd like to keep it that way. "Just get out..."
Trist, defeated, just sagged his shoulders. He placed the bouquet of beautiful red roses down on the ground. Tetra felt guilty, seeing Trist so miserable, but a little bit of sadness is better than the wrath of anyone looking for revenge because of someone that Tetra had killed. They kill people. Trist draws pictures. Trist's too pure. Trist can not be hurt, under any circumstances. Tetra didn't break up with him because they didn't love him anymore, no, they still did, Tetra broke up with him to protect him. But they were never good at expressing their feelings, so they just avoided eye contact as their beloved ex-boyfriend miserably shuffled out the door, leaving Tetra alone in the abandoned building. He looked like he was on the verge of tears and guilt welled up in their stomach. They took the bouquet in their hands and held it close once he finally left. Trying to distract themselves from the conflicting emotions in their heart, they continued texting their client, until they noticed a notification.
You have 1 new Contract request.
I want you to kill a guy for $32,000
Tetra's eyes widened as they almost dropped their phone in disbelief. $32,000 to kill someone? That's almost three times the amount of money someone usually pays them. Tetra didn't even know what to do, they just stared at the phone with an incredulousness in their movements. Thirty-two grand. They could finally buy that new sniper rifle they were eyeing for months with that money! Add in the money they got from taking out Sparrow and they'll end up with Forty-two grand. Oh what a beautiful number! They smiled widely as they finished their text with their previous client, and immediately got to work messaging the new one.
Cyan: You've got my attention. Who is it?
Client: Well
Client: That's the problem
Cyan: What's the matter
The client sent through a picture of a well dressed, broad-shouldered bald man with one single pink eye. The other was was hidden away by an eyepatch.
Cyan: Who is this
Client: His name is Blixer but everyone calls him Fresh
Tetra squinted closer at the picture, until they realised just why exactly the client was nervous. He was wearing a pink tie. The only people who wore black suits and pink ties were...
Client: I want you to take out the Underboss of the Putrefazione family