The dangerous fortune of Pawns and Kings

In a city close to the shore, as the sky was coated in the dark blues of night. The city remained as bright as ever while covering the stars that once shined as bright as diamonds. Skyscrapers dominated the landscape, soaring high in the sky and looking down upon the sleepless pedestrians below. As the people below were walking about, listening to their walkman cassette players either while walking or driving in their cars, others stopped at diners or pay phone booths that were all around the city, the more fortunate and wealthy laid at the tops of their iron towers, looking down upon the landscape after a stressful day of managing their growing enterprises. One of them was Theodor Heckins: a man in his 50s, bald with a red bathrobe on as he sat in a luxurious red lazy boy recliner, a glass of wine held not-so-elegantly in his hands as he just took deep breaths.

While the night was reaching its midpoint, a small figure, dressed in what some would call a ninja attire but colored more teal or aqua green, was leaping from one tall structure to the next. The color of its gear and the combination of the night sky and the light below the figure helped make the person hard to spot as it moved about. A rope was held on the left side of it’s hip, but looked too thin for scaling or climbing, a backpack full of gear jostling about was strapped securely to the back, looking as if even when dangling upside down it wouldn’t easily slip off or drop the vital tools. The figure soon stopped on a large apartment rooftop to look at the giant that was the skyscraper Heckins was resting in, the lights from the individual rooms making it almost seem like it was glowing all the way to the heavens. The figure looked around to see what it could use to find a way to get a little higher up without entering the structure before making the next move. Starting from the bottom, there were two guards yawning from working the night shift outside of the warm building, as it’s eyes scaled up, lights of some of the rooms were turning off, as the residents were going to bed after such a late hour, it then noticed a path it could take, cloaked within the night even when scaling up. With this revelation, the figure smiled under it’s mask, a plan was in motion in its mind, the plan laid out, the operation was commencing shortly.

A skip, leap, and dash across several blocks of nicely painted apartments and businesses later, the figure arrived at the best area to make the great leap. As  it’s gloved hands dived into the bag, rustling through the metal objects and the papers of the floor plans and files of the target, it pulled out what looked like suction cups before putting the bag back on. Before it made it’s running start, a light from the skyscraper facing it turned on, a room filled with a tired man shined upon this ninja like a spotlight. It dashed to find some cover, as the man caught but a glimpse of the figure, the body being more close to that of a woman's physique. The ninja seemed to panic a little from the sudden light shining down upon it, as it breathed in and out at a rapid pace. With it getting so hot from the stress building up, it took off it’s mask for a little while. Long crimson red hair descended from the top of the head, her yellow eyes looking up in relief at the night sky that rarely showed stars, as she rubbed her lips with her teeth as a way to try to let her mind focus on anything but the fear of getting spotted before reaching the top. Yes, this ninja is a woman, coming in at about 4 feet and 5 inches and weighing 100 pounds, but she looked as old as a young adult.

Time passed, the man soon went to sleep once more as the light turned off, making the path to travel upwards much easier. Seeing this opportunity, the woman dashed towards the edge of the roof of the closest apartment and made a grand leap as she felt close to running out of ground to travel on. As she soared through the sky, she tried to keep her movement still, her palms of the plungers facing the glass walls, as she stuck upon the thin surface while only skidding down inches before stopping. Now began the long trip to the roof, as a direct approach seemed too difficult and more at risk of failing.

As time moved forward, Theodor relaxed more and more in his recliner, eventually dozing off as his wine glass was angled, dripping the wine within it onto the floor slowly. The small woman soon made it to the roof, but the night was growing shorter by the minute, and time was the most important thing to keep track off right now. She hurried over to the ventilation shaft, taking out a small dagger and prying it open, laying the piece of metal gently next to the entrance. Her small size made her very useful for something like this, as she slid down and began crawling forward. Her eyes scanning the dark, narrow ways, as if looking at the blueprints itself to figure out where to go and where to exit. Soon, the sound of snoring was coming from where her destination lied, she picked up the pace only to see Theodor asleep in the recliner, as the dark blue sky began to get slowly brighter as time goes on. 

Her movement began to go much slower, trying to make as little noise as possible as the feet lightly touched the ground, her gloved palms pressing so gently against the metal ground to make sure she wouldn’t even make a sound against a pillow. Sweat formed on her brow while she carefully crawled the exit of the vent, until the sound of the phone rang immediately woke Mr. Heckins up, the glass crashing onto the ground, the last of the wine spilling out as the small ninja made herself as stiff and still as possible. “Oh bugger” was the first thing Heckin said as he woke up, seeing the broken glass upon the ground with the spilled wine. He stiffly got up and walked over to the ringing phone, his large body almost making him waddle in his stiffened state. 

Heckins picked up the phone and answered, “Who the heck may I be speaking too?” He asked in his dazed state. “I keep telling you not to have those stupid calling alarms, I was already in bed.” He paused waiting for the response on the phone. “Damn it all, I thought the deal was days later. Alright, I’ll be on my way shortly.” He slammed the phone back on the receiver, clearly unhappy about what’s happening.

As Heckins went away, the woman slowly opened and sneaked out of the vents, landing and crouching into a spot that would be hard to spot when walking back into the living room. A corner with some plants was the spot she chose, facing the kitchen, but the exiting hall would have people walk right past her. She slowly got out the thin rope from before, tying it around her hands before pulling against it to make sure it was nice and tight.

Heckins soon returned, only with some casual clothes on before applying his fancy black suit. She began slowly walking while crouching, making sure not to land a squeaky floor board. All Heckins could think about was the morning coffee before work, as he looked from cupboard to cupboard for the bag of coffee grains to brew into a nice black blend. The bag he eventually found and placed on the board sounded more like it was filled with sand rather than grains, as he began reaching for a coffee mug that was in a high shelf on the cupboard. The woman, seeing a perfect opportunity, dashed and quickly wrapped the thin rope around the man’s fat neck, it felt cold, more metallic as it was crushing the man’s neck from the tight pressure. Heckins began to cough and gasp for air, his arm still reaching upwards as if he was in too much shock to try to put it down, his brown eyes scattered across the room and tried looking behind him to find the culprit, but the pressure was getting to him as he soon fell on the ground while his hands desperately tried to grab the thin material tightening on his neck. The woman, despite her size, was resisting any of his sudden movements from making her lose her grip, even his rapid kicking to escape barely made her budge, while his feet were slamming against the wooden cupboard doors and metal stoke. He tried speaking, shouting for help, but all that came out was the sound more akin to someone getting food stuck in their throat, but he was losing oxygen fast, he was looking about for something to help him, even save him. A pair of scissors could be spotted next to the bag, Heckins saw this as a way to try to free himself as he began reaching for the pair. The woman seeing his hand reaching out of the corner of her eyes began dragging the man, tightening the rope around his neck, as he looked on in despair, before losing oxygen all together and resting on the ground, his legs and arms were soon motionless as his eyes looked blankly at the ceiling.

Letting go, the small ninja back up, panting from the amount of effort she had to do to keep him contained. But, this didn’t look like a suicide, people would suspect an assassin or something, and there was no time to waste as the sun was coming up. Searching high and low, she found a revolver in a wooden box in the man’s bedroom close to his bed, seemingly used more as a weapon for defense incase something like this happened. Cocking the revolver, she carried it in her gloved hands over to the body of Heckins. Slowly lifting him up a little so blood would not spray across the floor like a rocket’s dark impact from leaving the ground, she made sure to wrap his hands around the gun, his fingerprints staining the metal and leather handle while her’s were nice and covered by her gloves, always helped to be too cautious. Laying him up, his loose hand forced to lay against the trigger, as the barrel pressed against the side of his head, she made the body pull the trigger. A loud crackle went off as his skull was blasted open, blood gushing out on the other side as his brain was corrupted by the metal bullet crashing through his head. She slammed the corpse onto the ground after the crackle went off, her body shaking as the sound made her near deaf. Her breathing was faster and more anxious, as there was this feeling in the back of her mind after the gunfire that this was wrong, but doesn’t know why it’s wrong. 

She came back to her senses and quickly went up the vents and out to the roof, as the sun was beginning to rise. Making sure everything is secured in her bag, the woman dived off the roof and soared towards a different skyscraper, doing so while gliding on what would be a makeshift kite attached to her ninja clothing. The night was over, Heckins was dead and the scene looked more like a suicide rather than a homicide, leaving very little loose ends by the time she departed. It wouldn’t be until 11am when a housemaid would call the police to tell them that Heckins died, long past the time the woman got to her master’s home, safely out of the eyes and cameras of the public, as she rested til another mission, another murder, another time when her master needs to take out and undesired target.