Project Halo Chapter 7

A Story by Kristopher

THE END

CHAPTER 7

The room was cast in shadows, throwing distorted figures against the wall and floor. Dapples of pale moonlight spilled through a stained glass window and the distorted figures became birds and vines. Just in front of the stain glass window was an expensive-looking armchair and a mahogany desk.

Cameron could just make out a human-sized shadow behind the desk. He clambered to his feet unsteadily. The knockout dart had made him disoriented and he waited a while to regain his bearings.

“…Damn it, Nikos!” screamed the shadow figure in the swivel chair. The speaker’s voice was muffled. “Yes, yes, you’ll get your reward for killing Devin—hold on, our captive is awake. Be at my office within an hour.”

The figure stood and his face entered the moonlight shining through the decorated window. The man had green eyes with flecks of speckled brown and his hair was untidy and black, but bits of gray were showing through.

“You killed Bull’s-eye!” Cameron said as the green-eyed man calmly moved in front of his desk.

“His death was necessary, boy.” Cameron noted that a gray scarf covered the man’s face and jaw. “If Nikos hadn’t killed him then you wouldn’t have the pleasure of being in my office.”

“Pleasure? You drugged me!”

The man removed the scarf but turned around so he was facing the window. Now his shadow dominated the ones that the stain glass window had made.

“Why am I here?” asked Cameron.

“You’re here because seven years ago I promised your father I’d look over you, Cameron.”

Cameron halted sharply only a few paces from the desk. “Commander?”

“No longer do I command your unit, Cameron. The assassins call me Rapier, a fitting name if I do say so myself.”

In one motion Rapier pivoted and sliced downward at Cameron’s feet with a foil sword that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Cameron jumped back and Rapier grinned. He kicked something toward Cameron and he could tell that the object was a metal of some kind.

He stooped and picked the metal object up. It was a sword—a rapier actually—with a cloth-wrapped hilt and a long, thin needlelike blade. Was Rapier expecting a fight?

“Come on, Saint,” Rapier hissed.

“Why are you doing this?”

“I needed an elite team to kill my enemies.”

“That’s what happens when you kill and take men and women from their homes,” Cameron said, slashing at Rapier’s chest.

Rapier leaned back and then leaped forward, wrapping his arms around Cameron’s legs. Cameron toppled and the rapier fell from his hand. Rapier’s own blade had fallen too, sliding several paces away.

“None of my assassins were above the age of 6 when they were taken…except for you,” Rapier growled.

Cameron slammed his knee into Rapier’s gut, and then pushed off and away from him.

Father, are you watching?

Rapier climbed to his feet just as Cameron drew a gun from a holster on his belt.

Father, are you watching?

“Don’t do it Saint—”

Cameron shot and the bullet caught Rapier in the head. His old commander fell back, dead. Cameron threw the gun against the wall and walked over to Rapier on shaky legs. He knelt and placed his hands over Rapier’s eyes.

Father, are you watching?

---

Nikos paused just outside the door to Rapier’s office. He peered into the office and saw the boy kneeling over—was the body on the floor Rapier?

The boy—a simple child in Nikos’s eyes!—had overpowered the director in weapons combat. What was the boy playing at?

Nikos smirked and entered the room, allowing the boy to noticed him should he glance over his shoulder.

“Saint?” Nikos called. “I see you’ve shot our fearless leader.”

“Your ‘fearless leader’ was a fraud,” the boy said. “He was using you to eliminate his enemies—a coward hiding behind his pawns.” The boy did not look up.

Nikos closed his eyes for a brief moment and sighed. He un-holstered his gun and aimed it in Cameron’s direction. This is where you die; he thought and opened his eyes.

The boy was gone! Impossible! He had just been there, in front of him, kneeling!

Where the hell did he go?

---

Cameron had seen Marksman close his eyes and used the upper hand to grab the swivel chair and duck into one of the more vacant, darkened places in the room. Marksman was pacing around Rapier’s body, pointing his gun around the room.

Marksman was looking at him now but he was too far to be detected by him. Again Marksman whirled to a different direction, ending up at the window.

I suppose now’s as good as any, Cameron wondered and stood, hefting the swivel chair up and above his head.

“Hey, Nikos!” he shouted and flung the chair.

Marksman turned as the chair smashed into his chest. With his weight, combined with the weight of the chair, Nikos slammed through the stained glass, letting out a horrified scream. The myriad pieces of stained glass followed the assassin as he descended unceremoniously to the rocks below. Nikos did not move.

Cameron fell back against the wall, clenching and unclenching his hands, breathing heavily. He still had to bury Rapier, and then destroy the rest of the facility.

A week later, both tasks were completed.

---

3 Years Later

“Dagger?” Cameron asked, entering the darkening alley.

The man with the knives looked up from his hapless victim and his eyes widened in disbelief. “Saint, you’re doing well, I see.” He kicked his victim for effect.

Cameron shrugged, ignoring the helpless man at Dagger’s feet. “I’m surprised you’re still alive,” he said, nodding. “And don’t call me that,” he added hastily. “You had some information for me?”

“Yeah,” Dagger said slowly. “Someone from your unit has been coming to see me.”

“What for?” asked Cameron.

“Mercenary work,” Dagger spat. “I’m a vigilante, not a hired gun.”

Cameron raised an eyebrow at the word “vigilante.” “I can put you away for that.”

“I haven’t killed anyone,” said Dagger defensively.

“Obstruction of police duty,” Cameron said. “Anyway, who did my officer hire you to kill?”

Dagger let out an exasperated huff. “He wanted me to kill you,” he said. “Don’t go for your gun, I don’t want you dead, but I think someone is continuing with Rapier’s work.”

“Keep your eyes peeled,” Cameron said. “And stay out of jail for me, will you?”

“You keep your eyes peeled,” growled Dagger. “Watch your back and all that jazz.” He turned and walked down the direction he’d come from.

“Dagger!” Cameron called out and the assassin stopped. “What about him?” he asked, indicating the vigilante’s victim who was huddled against the alley wall.

“Cuff him and haul him away,” Dagger said.

“We could use someone like you on the force—you could be my second-in-command.”

Dagger turned to him and Cameron saw a look of bemusement on his face. “Second-in-command? No, I lack the patience to be part of some chain of command. You’d be dead within the hour, and I really doubt your boys could stop me.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Cameron muttered, not doubting that the vigilante would carry out his threat.

“Look after yourself,” Dagger said.

“You too.”

“I won’t need to,” he said and started away again, leaving Cameron to deal with the man still cowering against the wall. He cuffed him to the dumpster.

Cameron watched as Dagger departed, pondering what to do about the threat of his new adversary. He stared after his fellow assassin and then jogged after him.

“What the hell are you doing?” Dagger asked when Cameron had caught up.

“I’m coming with you.”

“Saint, you’re not cut out for this.”

“I’d rather risk life on the streets than be caught unawares by my own men.”

Dagger spat again. “Come on, then,” he growled. Cameron grinned and followed Dagger into the back roads of the city.

He was a saint no longer.