Assassin

Chapter 1

A barely distinguishable man sits on a futuristic New York City rooftop. This man is metallic and silver, and moves silently and invisible. His name is Dante and he is an assassin.

"Damn rain, messing up my cloaking…" grumbles Dante, talking to himself. With each drop hitting his partially invisible body, a small wave like a pebble falling into a still puddle is produced. He is on a job for Nanotech, a medical company. He switches to night vision, causing the nearby streetlight to explode with light. He is looking for an individual named David Armorey, a computer hacker. He waits for his eyes to adjust to the brightened night. He is on the rooftop of the store that Armorey works in. He notices movement on the street below. He zooms in and sees a balding fat man calling a cab. "That must be him". He leaps from rooftop to rooftop, keeping an eye on the cab and on his back. The cab stops in front of an apartment complex. David Armorey steps out and puts his fingerprint on the cabs computer. " Ten eighty-five" the emotionless computer says. "Stupid autotaxi is overcharging me again…" Mr. Armorey grumbles. The transaction is made and Mr. Armorey steps into the building. "David Armorey" he says to the voice recognition security. "You are verified" says the computer and opens the door. He is whisked away to his room by the transportation system. Now's my chance, Dante thinks. He leaps down and lands on the street with cat-like grace. "David Armorey" he says perfectly identical, thanks to his computerized face helmet. "You are verified". He is instantly in Mr. Armorey's room.

"Who are you?" David says in fear.

Dante is instantly on his throat with a dagger. "You will help me or I will kill you." David screams for help, but before he can take a breath Dante has slashed his left thumb off. "Do it again and your head is next." David whimpers and asks Dante who he is. "I am the person that will kill you if you do not do exactly what I say. Your finger can be replaced. I need you to tell me what kind of experimentation Nanotech is doing on its patients."

"I, I don't know." "I'm just a store cashier."

Dante squeezes the bleeding hand. David twitches in convulsions of pain. "Lie again, and I will crush your spine."

"I know only that they use gene manipulation to get the things they want." David says, sagging.

"Gene manipulation?" "What kind of gene manipulation?"

"I don't know, I'm a hacker, not a scientist."

David slowly moves his free hand to behind his coat pocket.

"You know nothing else?" Dante threatens.

"Leave me alone…" David whimpers.

"Answer me!"

"No, I don't know anything, I told you!"

David quickly moves the gun from his coat to Dante's forehead.

"I'll give you three seconds before I blow you brains out."

"I'll give you two seconds to drop the gun before you are headless."

"Who's the one in power here?"

In one swift movement, Dante pulls out his sword and cuts straight through David's neck. A crimson stream sprays from the broken arteries. Dante leaps through the window and carries the still gushing head with him. "Time to collect my pay", he says, in a cold and metallic voice.