Kaytlin traipsed through one of the many Red Light quarters of District 21’s Zone. The syndicate she was attached to had sent her here with a purpose, she wasn’t after the now infamous con that had everyone foaming at the mouth recently. This job was different to what she usually undertook, something about it seemed more malicious than an ordinary hit or even any of the felonies she’d commited for the syndicate. The task at hand had her shaken, her pessimistic side clawing away at her brain, dominating her thoughts about being caught for something of this level. This was sending a message.
Sticking to the shadows, Kaytlin made her way through alleys and side streets in an attempt to evade unwanted attention. Hood pulled up, her helmeted face was left mostly hidden from view also concealing the sword which was sheathed on her back. Suddenly, her attention was snatched by wolf-whistles and jeers, her eyes rolled back in her head; not one to turn down confrontation she turned on her heels. Her HUD picked up four males in her vicinity, no visible or recognizeable weapons, it was probably a stag do now so fueled up on alcohol and CHEMS they thought they’d hit the streets to look at some skirt. She smirked behind her mask, shadowed by the hood, the men continued to approach, harmless she was sure and she didn’t have time to mess around. Turning to leave a bottle flew overhead and smashed next to her, the remains of the alcohol inside weren’t enough to get on her from the distance it had landed. More jeers came her way, ‘Get em out!’, ‘Come give us a go!’, ‘We’ve got something for you right here sweetheart!’
Kaytlin turned once more, this time closing the distance between her and the group, they were laughing, “Decided to come and join us then?” one of the men asked, when within arm’s reach of the male who had just spoken and in view of the rest, she pulled back the right side of her jacket revealing the shotgun, the bag slung on her shoulder jossled, it’s contents shaking about.
“Sure.” She replied, her tone almost sweet despite the obvious venom behind it. The group were taken back and began retreating away from Kaytlin.
“Woah.” Their apparent leader voiced, “We’re just having a bit of fun, no need for that.” Kaytlin gestured with a nod in the opposite direction that they should move on back where they came from and they did, swiftly. She came to the end of the alley and found herself at a busy cross section of a high-street. Vendors were everywhere, some had stalls others just walking around, there were even more people, at least the noise and how busy this street was it would be easy to get around without attracting much attention. Kaytlin skulked through the crowd, dodging people engrossed in their phones, remembering to check for hers every now and then, she would have to make a call soon enough. Head down she bumped into someone, looking up to see an EPA officer looming over her, he must have been at least a foot taller than her. She uttered something equivalent of an apology under her breath and kept going, making it to the next closest side street.
As she turned the corner, she double backed over her shoulder, her HUD caught sight of the policeman who now had another with him and were making their way towards the alley. Kaytlin took another few calm steps before taking off into a sprint, nearly crashing into the wall at a sharp bend. She leaped at the next hanging ladder of a fire escape she came across, just latching on she pulled herself up and climbed the staircase, the two police had come into the alley and had just spotted Kaytlin, beginning to jog her way, one going down a different street probably trying to cut her off. She continued climbing the rickety metal stairwell bolted onto the corner of the building her plan to reach the roof until she came across an open window. Instinctually she leaped through, rolling along the tiled floor of a kitchen, right in the middle of a family eating their evening meal. She shared a locked eye contact with the shocked renters and took off dashing again as the ringing of babies crying came to her heightened sense of hearing. Kaytlin found the front door and left, going down the stairwell of the apartment building she had found herself in, an extension on one of the many shop fronts from the high street. She pushed open a fire exit door and left through a private back alley seemingly only meant to be accessed by residents. Just as the adrenaline levels died down and her heartrate returned to normal she felt a firm grip clamp down on her shoulder. She froze, not wanting to instigate any sudden meltdown of the situation, Kaytlin raised both her hands above her head, letting go of the strap of her bag although keeping it around her shoulder.
“Citizen.” The officer began, turning Kaytlin around to face him, “Remove your hood.” Kaytlin pulled down the hood revealing the helmet as the officer took the bag off of her and opened it, “What’s this?” He asked, looking at the grenades, ammunition and enough explosives to take out a small building. The officer looked back to see Kaytlin’s masked face, “And the helmet!” He roared, gun pointed at her about to radio in the find to nearby units. Kaytlin without hesitation leaned in as the opportunity arose, disarming the officer and using his own weapon against him.
“Don’t.” She spoke softly, almost a whisper, “Don’t radio that in.” Kaytlin gestured to the gun as she walked closer and placed it against the officers head, only protected by a visor that certainly wasn’t bulletproof, a regular joe patrol officer of the EPA. The officer was frozen, slowly raising his own hands in a state of surrender, the turn of events was ironic, “Turn around.” She hushed in the same tone, “On your knees.” The EPA officer dropped to his knees with an almost melodramatic flair, Kaytlin swallowed, she thought she’d just begun to hear him speak some last words before she pulled the trigger. The shot was nowhere near as loud as what her shotgun would have made, but had still been heard by those nearby, a momentary silence grew over the place, there were probably more EPA heading right this way as the rest of society moved on. She ran, with the gun in hand, not wanting to leave it at the scene of the crime as a crimson trickle pooled from the hole in the dead man’s helmet. At this stage, one would be inclined to abort mission however Kaytlin was now driven, it was almost as if the extra effort drove her to complete it, even if it’s morality was something she herself was unsure she could justify.
