Chaos

It was a bright sunny day in Brixton, England. The sun shone its splendour without holding back. Its light reflected off cars, windows and the sweat on the bodies of the city's inhabitants. It also reflected off the display windows of a certain store at a street corner, obstructing a view to its interior. The brick stones the store was made of were hazy with heat. A signboard in beautiful cursive sat above the store's entrance, reading "Orin Classics".

A silver Bentley Mulsanne pulled up to the curb in front of the store, its bonnet headpiece stopping at exactly two sidewalk blocks away from a parking meter that was on the sidewalk in front of the shop. The engine purred for a while and turned off. The driver side window rolled down and a bearded man stuck his head out slightly, peering to the left and right.

As Alpha followed the preordained instructions transmitted to him for confirmation, his senses switched full-on: he had just detected bloodlust. In a city as large as Brixton, coming across bloodlust wasn't an uncommon thing; crimes were committed all over the world. And more than once had he been targeted by muggers who overestimated themselves. But the killing intent he felt today was different: it was targeted, cold and sharp - the kind one would only feel coming from trained killers. He had felt it more than once during his missions. But he knew these were amateurs: real killers sheathed their intent till the very moment before their killing strike fell.

He didn't stop, however, with his actions. His training allowed his thoughts to not affect his actions. As he continued with the instructions, he paid attention to the killing intent directed at him and their origins. He didn't act rashly; there was a chance that the target wasn't him. He continued searching through his car in search of a lighter he had kept in the passenger's safe.

As he opened it, however, he felt the killing intent intensify and then... multiply. 'How curious', he thought and concentrated on their direction of transmission. 'A sniper directly across the street, on top of the two-storey building. Another around the corner. Last one is that hobo in front of the store beside the music shop. Sunlight's coming in at roughly 70 degrees to the wall surface. Parking meter, three steps away.'

A lifetime's worth of training had increased his sensitivity to such an extent that he had theoretically developed a genuine sixth sense. It wasn't an uncommon thing to happen. Soldiers on the battlefield actively cultivated such and it kept them alive. It was in some cases, premonition to danger, other times awareness of present danger.

He turned his head towards the door, his plan of action already formulated. Opening the first button on the suit jacket he wore, he stepped out of his car, intentionally swinging his suit to the open door as he closed as it. The door caught on his jacket and pulled the already walking away Alpha backwards. He 'stumbled' as the 'unexpected' force pulled him off balance.

In his attempt to stabilize himself, he tripped on his feet and fell towards the car's side-view mirror. A shocked and scared expression came on his face and he quickly covered it with his arms. The entire mirror fell off as he crashed into it. He lay on the ground for a while before picking himself up and dusting off, facing the car. Bending down, he slowly reached with his right hand to pick up the mirror...

Once it was in his hand, he quickly took a small step back, falling in line with the parking meter and the assailant around the corner. Reaching into his right suit jacket, he aligned the gun in the holster towards the hobo sitting on the sidewalk and angled the mirror in his hand towards the sniper across the street. He calmly fired a silenced shot through the temple of the hobo then withdrew the gun from its holster, bending slightly.

He then stepped out from the cover of the parking meter and fired a shot through the head of the second assailant after hearing the failed shot hit the parking meter. Without pausing in his motion, he swung his second leg around the meter and bent slightly once more. Using the mirror in his hand, he then whipped his pistol around the meter and fired two shots to the sniper, felling him as well. All of this was done fluidly and without pause, as if once practised.

He sensed his ordeal was far from over though; one could call it a feeling. He kept his pistol in his left hand, slid it back into its holster and proceeded to the shop. He had trained himself to be ambidextrous, so it didn't matter which hand he used. It served as an advantage too as could be seen from his just-concluded battle: his opponents had assumed him to be right-handed as he had performed all actions prior with his right. Their attention being focused on that allowed him to take the hobo out (who had his weapon trained on him) and temporarily blind the sniper.

He gently pushed open the door and proceeded inwards. Gentle music played in the background but one could feel silence descend suddenly. Four men were within the store, browsing the collection. Alpha ascertained their positions. 'Number one 10 'o'clock, first row. Number two and three, 11 'o'clock, third and fourth row. Number four, 12 'o'clock, moving to 11, possibly 10 'o'clock. Last row.' The attendant on the shift was assisting the third man.

The attendant raised her head on hearing the door chimes and signalled that she'd be with him soon. He nodded his head and walked toward the first shelf, ignoring the strange look she gave him. Anyone would wonder why a man entered their store holding a side-view mirror and having a hand in their suit jacket.

As he approached the first shelf, he observed the man standing there from the corner of his eyes. He tilted his head in greeting and began to browse the shelves, seemingly lost in thought. Truth be told, he actually was thinking of something. 'Being attacked is one thing, but by such amateurs? What's going on? Is there some underlying meaning behind this?'.

He kept his vigilance high as he continued browsing. The man beside him visibly lowered his shoulders; he had been tense. Those in the shop were oblivious of what happened outside as it occurred too fast and the bodies weren't near the shop.

Man No. 1 approached him with a smile, waving a record in his hand. "Have you listened to this before? Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics. Not that recent, but still a good listen", he said as he offered the record good-naturedly. As he did so, he reached into his jacket and began to draw out a silenced pistol, attempting aim. Alpha quickly stabbed forward with the broken part of the mirror in his hand, stabbing the gun-drawing hand of the man before him into his stomach. The sudden pain caused the assailant to cry out and squeeze the trigger on his weapon, firing rounds of hot lead into his ribs, which raised his cry to a scream.

Blood and foam spurted out of his mouth, turning his scream to a muffled gargle. He reached towards Alpha weakly before his legs gave way and he fell with a solid thud.

The other men snapped to attention, pulled out their pistols and fired shots at the top of Alpha's head that peeked over the top of the shelf. He quickly bent his body which caused the bullets to pierce through the display window which surprisingly didn't shatter. He then slid around to the second shelf and pushed it at its centre till it slowly toppled, the records on its falling down, drawing attention. He used this opportunity to slink back to the first shelf and waited.

Man No. 2 attempted to flee the falling shelf but paused as he heard a gun cock and two soft sounds akin to baby's sneeze. Two flashes of light sped past his face and embedded themselves in the fourth shelf. He grinned at his target's 'mistake' and stuck his head and pistol around his shelf's corner while holding it up with his free hand. Another sneeze was heard and Man No. 2 felt a smack in the back of his head before his vision darkened permanently.

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK!". Man No. 3 was pissed off at his error; his natural reaction to getting fired at was to return fire. It wasn't his fault that his partner stuck his head out at that moment, causing him to mistake him for the target and kill him in his trigger-happy mood.

He looked around him angrily, trying to formulate a plan. "Is that all you can do, you pussy? Hide? Come out and face me. Show me the balls of a high-class target", he taunted. He wasn't trying to pick a fight; he wanted to ascertain his target's position. No reply came. Man No. 3 suddenly heard shuffling near him and trained his pistol there. It was the store attendant. She was trying to escape in the confusion. He grinned. He quickly approached her and lifted her by her collar, invoking a plethora of mercy pleas.

Paying no attention to her, he pointed his gun at her head and spoke again. "I've got a wonderful woman beside me who'd like to speak to you", he said, pushing his gun closer to her. "Talk to him", he urged. She opened her mouth to speak but only sobs came out. The gun then rested on her head, causing her to choke on her tears. "No one uninvolved has to suffer. Give yourself up and she lives", he said, craning his head for sounds of motion or a fucking reply. Nothing.

'Wanna play tough? Let's play'. "Move", he spoke, pushing the woman forward. He planned to use Alpha's trick against him. He would assume the woman coming toward him was an assailant and open fire. He was aware that Alpha was crouched low. His shot would hit the woman's leg. On seeing his mistake, he would move forward to grab the woman, giving Man No. 3 a clean shot. He wasn't too concerned about the woman but avoided killing innocents unless necessary

That was his idea. The situation, however, played out differently. Alpha was able to ascertain that it was the attendant approaching him from the lightness of her footsteps and her sobs. He then proceeded to shoot her thigh. As she screamed and fell, he quickly moved toward her still crouching and held in front of him as a meat shield. Man No. 3's shots went through her back and neck. Alpha used the opportunity given by his shock and fell him with a shot to the temple.

He then stood up, dropping the attendant's corpse and trained his ears to the man in the last row. A soft voice was heard spewing all the vulgarities known to man. He slowly came out of the aisle with his hands raised. "Hey man, hear me out. This is my first time doing this. I'm clean. Just let me go, yeah? I won't bothe-". He didn't finish his sentence before Alpha shot him. 'Complete amateurs. Who sent them after me? A test? Most likely. But who? The King has no reason to do so'.

He quickly walked to the wooden door in the store and sat at the desk within. Pressing his hands in sequence over its surface activated the computer within; that was his emergency access, something he had never even thought of using. The computer screen slid upwards and attempted to connect to the database of "The Organization", before displaying error messages. The emergency signal the computer transmitted was also unable to go. Closing all the messages on the screen, he discovered a video file that had been sent to him. Only one man could send anything to this computer: The King.

Alpha clicked on it. A small window came up and displayed an old man seated behind a desk. The desk, chair and man all looked ordinary but the posture and eyes of the man gave one a feeling as if they stood before a mountain: powerful and immovable. He trained his aged eyes at the camera taping him and spoke in a strong voice, delivering shocking news as if reading a normal report.

"We have been betrayed and compromised. Beta has defected from us for personal gain. Ethan Bryce of the Big Six is attempting to take over. All records both digital and physical have been destroyed. This is your final mission from me, Alpha. Eliminate Bryce, Beta and all defectors. Restore order and stability to us."

He then reached into the desk and pulled out an old-age pistol. Stroking it lovingly, he placed it against his head and cocked it. Noise in the background of the video slightly blurred his words but his strong voice rang through. Facing the camera and supposedly a door that was being breached, he grinned fiercely and said, "Let the games begin".