The Liberal Assassin

"Oh Pyros… is it really you? Am I really seeing the Night Walker in person?"

The childish excitement on Rush's face took me by surprise. Honestly, he was as bad as Ignacio when it came to things they adored. For some reason, those violet eyes sparkled unnaturally with a goofy grin on his much-chiselled jaws. It was ludicrous!

"No, this is the Day Crawler. Of course, it's the Night Walker! Put some snow down your shirt and chill. I'm as normal as you are."

"No way, you're cooler than the stories! I've heard about your magnificent battles with Spencer and your unbeatable record for breaking into super high-security areas as if they were your house. Above all that, you're the personification of justice that everybody in the Slums admires! Of course, we admire Titus Crowley the founder of Luna Services too but you're number one!"

If I didn't know how big an idol the Night Walker was to the underworld, I now knew. The smiles reserved for my alter ego's name in the Slums was one thing. The admiration and respect from the underground's top dog was another.

"Although most of these stories were exaggerated, I'm still flattered. Sadly, I'm not as cool as the creator of that famed speed beast."

Rush's eyes seemed to widen at the mention of his prized creation, something I could only describe as the Sable Fever Eyes Syndrome. Sable Fever Eyes Syndrome had been an incurable illness striking many males of all ages whenever Sable, the ridiculously adorable and famous pop idol, is involved.

Only now, it was the Night Walker Fever Eyes Syndrome.

"You really do know everything… if it's alright with you, we could ride to Area Forty-One?"

The memory of hanging on to dear life had me declining immediately. "Thanks for the offer, I really appreciate it. However, it will have to do another day." Tossing the Red Rumble leader a charged orb, I took out mine.

"What is this?"

"It's a charged orb. It would teleport us there instantly. The coordinates had been set so you should arrive there immediately."

The gang leader frowned in confusion. "I've never quite seen this model. How do I use this?"

C.h.e.s.t puffing up, I felt a little part in me swell with pride. "I made it. Usually, those charged orbs are traceable by the Inner City and emit light upon arrival. I altered them to improve stealth for my nightly operations. All you have to do is press that red button on the top."

If this was a game, I could imagine all the admiration points I'm amassing just by being with Rush. He was listening and clinging to my every word like it was something to be worshipped. Half of me was afraid of taking him along but the other half won't stop cackling with a sense of superiority. It wasn't frequent that I had people appreciate me so the attention wasn't an unwanted one, only slightly worrying.

Feeling a tingling sensation to my right, I turned to see Rush trying to burn a hole through my skull with his stare. His fingers twitched at the anticipation of pressing that button and I sighed. Maybe, just maybe, I could go first and bring the leader of Red Rumble for negotiations later? With such a look of expectation on his face, I gave up.

"I'll follow after you," I told the eager maroon head. No sooner had the words left my mouth, the overly excited man smooshed the button and vanished. Oh well, that wasn't too bad. I pressed the button on my charged orb and met up with the twenty-eight-year-old leader who was bouncing on the balls of his feet.

The ridiculously high threat level security system glared at me as if trying to deter me from my mission. Oh no, not today. After cracking the hardest system in the Inner City, this would be child's play for me.

"Kevin, extract the security system files for me."

"On it, sir."

While waiting for Kevin and Cain to work on it, I noticed how Rush seemed to bite his tongue as if trying to hold back a burning question.

"That's my assistant. I had to tweak him a little."

Another respect point for the Night Walker and none for Titus Crowley. The world was a very fair place even if Titus Crowley helped 'introduce' the Night Walker. I'm hoping that Rush would still remember his promise to Titus when this is done and over.

"That's so cool! Do you have any other sidekicks?"

"I work alone."

"Can I be your sidekick then?"

I paused. Do I want a sidekick? Another person knowing my identity meant higher risk.

"Let's see how you perform tonight," was all I said and the man rose to the challenge.

"I'll make the negotiation a success."

You better. After all the effort this takes, if you fail at such a simple level, I will not forgive you.

Instead of offering a response, I turned my back to the gang leader. The code was pulled out in no time and I smirked a little. There wasn't even a need to analyse the code from hell. The man who programmed this was the same sadist who wrote the Inner City's mainframe system. It's a good thing I worked that out already.

"Run this through the decryptor for the mainframe program," I instructed Kevin.

Kevin returned with the results a few minutes later and I cracked my knuckles. This is now a job for the Night Walker. They say that you can tell exactly what kind of person the progammer was by studying his code. After working on the mainframe's code, I knew that this programmer liked having total control. The man would have made a back entrance for himself somewhere embedded in the code away from prying eyes.

It took slightly longer than expected but I found it eventually. The changes were drastic the moment I entered the system. Laser lights stopped shining, the security system deactivated and the house blacked out. With a smirk, I beaconed for Rush to follow.

I had to stop the fool from waltzing to the front door the moment the defence system was disabled and sighed. How did he become the leader of the most feared gang? The floor was obviously rigged with more primitive measures even if the traps were disabled. It only made sense to take the scenic route because those were impossible to tamper with. The gang leader had some difficulty scaling up the wall and honestly, I don't blame him. He didn't have gravity manipulation at his disposal after all.

We walked along the top of the walls to reach the apartment in silence and reached the door. If the creator was a genius like me, the doors were probably rigged and the house would be full of unknown traps. The best method of entrance was the window like always.

"Wait here," I told Rush who nodded and crouched on the balcony ledge.

Fishing out a small laser cutter, I made a hole in the glass big enough for my hand to pass through. The glass clattered onto the floor as I reached inside to feel for any wire traps. My suspicions were unfound and the window was trap free. It was always better safe than sorry.

Motioning for Rush to follow closely, we entered through the window. A heat scan by Kevin earlier revealed that there was one person living in this apartment complex and his room was only accessible through a secret entrance. With night vision activated, it was easy for me to move around but Rush was struggling a little in the stealth department. I should have come better prepared for two instead of one.

"We're looking for any sort of mechanical device that could lead us to a secret room. It should open up a flight of steps down half a floor."

Rush raised an eyebrow but kept the comments to himself as we began the search. As we worked, I could hear him bumping into objects every few seconds. I highly regretted not being better prepared but there was simply nothing I could do at this point. "Let's hope we don't alert our host."

"Did you say something?"

"No. If possible please try not to make too much noise. I don't want to give our advantage of surprise."

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the owner knew about our intrusion. If the security breach didn't trigger an alarm, our breaking in would have done it. Some spy-bots should be in the vicinity too even if I couldn't see them in plain view. The programmer was a sneaky and paranoid type of man and I bet he wanted to know everything that happened in Luna from this tiny apartment. The satisfaction of just knowing is something that I understood completely. It's the dream of every scholar after all.

Combing through the living room without luck I stopped to think. If I were the designer of this place, I would have hidden the device in a place that is most obvious but easily overlooked. On hindsight, why aren't there any human patrol in the area? Area Forty-One was supposed to be harder to break into than the Patrol Guards' Headquarters. What a joke! That's why rumours should never be trusted.

"We should search the next room. Look for something obvious."

Again, Rush didn't question me as he followed my lead. Unlike the previous room, this was the bedroom. There were some personal belongings indicating the owner of the apartment slept in this room. However, the air was so stale it seemed abandoned.

The Red Rumble leader was already going through the doc.u.ments on the desk while I rummaged through the closet. I highly doubted I would find the device here. In fact, going through the man's fashion choice made me question who in their right mind would wear lab coats on a daily basis. The man has a few long sleeved shirts and trousers but the majority of the closet was filled with boring white lab coats. It's a sure sign of insanity, brilliant mind or not.

"Did you find anything?"

Rush shook his head. "I don't think there's anything here. Nothing looks out of the ordinary."

"I don't think out of the ordinary is what we're looking for. This man would have hidden it in plain sight."

Rush frowned. "In plain sight huh? That requires some thinking."

As Rush leaned against the table something creaked. We froze. Silence ensued after a few moments and the creak did not occur again. With a nervous chuckle, Rush shrugged it off as the neighbours.

The creak came again and Rush jumped. He had been leaning against the table when the furniture creaked. Before the maroon head could say anything I was already there to inspect. The mechanism must be somewhere. The table hadn't moved an inch but the creak had gotten louder. "Could you do what you just did?"

Rush nodded and leaned against the table at the spot he was standing previously. The creak prolonged and I traced the source back to the kitchen. Nothing seemed out of place but I knew better than to trust what I saw. The creak came from somewhere to the left from the lower shelves.

"Come here," I whispered.

Rush strode over and eyed me expectantly. I pointed to the shelves and the man nodded. The pistol in my hand felt heavy as Rush opened the door of the shelves. It was pitch black and I scanned for any invisible traps.

"It's clear, stay close to me."

Without waiting for his affirmation I climbed down the ladder and Rush followed swiftly. The false shelf shifted back in place, narrowly missing Rush's head as we descended. As it was pitch black for Rush, he missed a rung and kicked me in the face, causing the both of us to tumble.

How the visually challenged found orientation in the dark eludes me. I couldn't make which way was up while we fell. Landing was the only way I knew where I was. It wasn't a pleasant experience and I sincerely wished no bones were broken in the process.

A low groan escaped Rush whose legs were tangled with mine. Disentangling proved difficult without a light source and I cursed my luck. Whenever I tried to pull away, it always seemed like Rush's long limbs would hinder progress by moving with me.

As much as I didn't want to compromise our stealth, this was going to get us nowhere. Reluctantly I called for Kevin to give us some light.

With the ability to actually see, Rush was able to pull away and set ourselves straight. I removed the lights to get accustomed to the darkness once more. It was weird that the man hasn't shown himself to the unwelcomed guests despite all the ruckus. He might be overly preoccupied or was simply asleep like everybody else at this hour. Either way, there was only one entrance in and only one way to find out.

With the last of my resolve, I threw the door open.