Fated Assassins

The rain poured down in the dark alley as they cornered the person they were looking for. After this kill, they would be rewarded greatly and manage to push their reputations further higher.

"Who are you people? What do you want?" the man asked afraid, cowering near the wall. He had one hand on his right arm where Cole Winters had slashed with his long knife. Blood dripped down to his fingers.

"Was that honestly necessary?" his partner, Aiden Clarke asked, sighing. "That's going to leave a bloody mess."

"He was pointing a gun at us, Aiden," Cole said, pointedly. "You expect me to just sit idly and let him shoot us? What's the Head going to think?"

"If you're worried that our reputations are going to be tainted because we manage to get shot, I don't really care," Aiden said, casually. "We're not immortal, you know."

"Yeah, but the way the rest of them treat us is really - ," Cole was interrupted by a gunshot. It skimmed past near his head and hit the wall behind him.

"Cole!" Aiden exclaimed, as Cole ducked. It wouldn't have hit him anyway, the man's right hand was shaking due to the long cut Cole made on his arm. "Let's just get this over with," Cole said and threw a dagger towards the man. It landed right on his chest and the man slumped to the wet gravel.

~

Cole was seven years old when his father was arrested for selling drugs. Cole's mother passed away when he was five years old and his father's company went bankrupt within a few months after. After that, his father had a difficult time so he turned to alcohol and gambling. However, it wasn't like he won every night and slowly the money too disappeared. Cole was getting bullied in school because he lived in the poorest part of town. And what with his father neglecting him, he decided to run away from home. But he couldn't go very far so he returned after two days, only to find his father being escorted inside the police car. That was the last time he saw his father.

He found a local newspaper to see a small article about his father, who was selling drugs to gain money. But one of their own people (which was unknown) betrayed the group and his father was one of the people who was arrested. Cole kept wandering around town, stealing food and sleeping in parks, when one day, he met the Head.

Cole was stealing food from him and one of his men caught him, bringing him in front of the man in a dark long coat and dark glasses. "Let go! Let go!" Cole shouted to the person holding him who was wearing black jeans and a leather jacket. When he saw the Head, he shouted, "Let me GO!"

"You hungry, kid?" the Head asked instead.

"If I weren't I wouldn't have taken your food then, would I?" Cole replied, sounding braver then he felt. The Head chuckled and said, "Fair point." Gesturing to his sidekick, he said, "Let the kid go." The person holding him followed suit. Cole adjusted his old t-shirt and the Head looked at him carefully.

"Go ahead, eat the sandwich," the Head said, gesturing to the plastic bag Cole was holding. Cole looked at the plastic bag and then at the Head as he looked questioningly. "Don't worry, it's not poisoned, eat up, kid," the Head said, smiling. Cole hesitated for a while before taking the two sandwiches out and eating it hurriedly.

"How would you like to come with me?" the Head had asked. "There are children about your age where I come from, you would make great friends."

"Do you own an orphanage or something?" Cole asked, between mouthfuls.

"Something even better," the Head replied, smirking.

"And if I don't like it?" Cole asked.

"Then you may leave," the Head said, standing up. He towered over Cole and he internally felt intimidated. "I'm not going to force you to stay, however, make your decision wisely."

Cole was taken to an apartment building in the outskirts of town. It wasn't luxurious, however it was comfortable and well-maintained. "What is this place?" Cole asked, looking around.

"My home," the Head said as the three of them (Cole, the Head and the other guy with the leather jacket) went inside the elevator and he pressed the button with the arrow facing down. The elevator glided down and when it opened, Cole saw a most strange sight. There were children to teenagers, all with weapons. They were shooting with guns at their target boards, punching and kicking dummies and some slashing knives and long sharp objects at a wooden board.

Cole was afraid and he took a step back. "Why does everyone have weapons?" he asked. "Is this like...military training?"

"Close enough," the Head said. "We all just eliminate those who do bad, unfair things. It's a public service, we work under the government, after all."

"Bad, unfair...things?" Cole asked, slowly.

"Corrupting, abusing their powers, conducting illegal business," the Head said. "We take care of them."

"Eliminating as in...you don't mean killing people?" Cole asked, shocked.

"There are people who do bad things, Cole," the Head said, stooping down. "You don't want a murderer roaming around the place now, do you? Or those who blackmail others just because they have the power to do so? Or kidnappers and thieves?"

"Well...no," Cole said, thoughtfully.

"I hope you understand my point," the Head said. "We're doing this for the better and for the fairness of everyone. We only harm those who have done bad things."

"I...see..." Cole said.

"Now, what would you like to do?" the Head asked.

"You don't harm...the good people, do you?" Cole asked, innocently.

"Like I said, we only harm those who are unfair because it is the right thing to do," the Head replied. He then gestured around the room and said, "And here, we take care of each other. So, make a wise choice, kid."

Cole looked around the place. There were boys from his age, fighting and shooting. He could have a home again, eat proper food and sleep comfortably. Also, like the Head mentioned, they only harmed those people who deserved to be harmed.

"So...is this the training room? Where I get to learn all this?" Cole asked instead. The Head chuckled and said, "Yes, this is where you learn. I believe you'll be well suited with one of the boys here. Follow me."

~

When Aiden met Cole for the first time, he didn’t exactly know what to say to the scrawny boy that the Head brought towards him. “Aiden, this is Cole,” the Head said. “Teach him about the rules and everything here, will you?”

“Sure thing, Head,” Aiden said.

“Head?” Cole asked, confused.

“Short for Head Assassin,” Aiden replied. “How old are you?”

“Eight,” Cole replied.

“Oh, I’m a year older,” Aiden replied.

“And you shoot?” Cole asked, looking at the gun in his hand.

“Yeah, it takes practice but now I’m used to it,” Aiden said. “In the future, the Head said that I would be able to use snipers so that I can shoot from a certain range.”

“Cool,” Cole answered. “Do you think you can teach me to shoot?”

“Sure thing,” Aiden replied.

~

At present, as Aiden waited outside the Head Assassin’s chamber, he thought about the first mission they were given once they turned seventeen, four years ago. It was to finish off two murderers who had managed to get out of prison due to a higher official bribing the police department. Since there was nothing the police could do, they were on a murder spree.

The Head Assassin called Aiden and Cole to his chambers and said, “Now that you both have come of age, I’m assigning you both a task. It would be to kill Paul Beck and Drew Austin, two serial killers. Their location has been found on the east side of town.” The Head told them their exact hideout which was apparently the old house where Cole had lived as a boy.

Aiden and Cole rode their bikes down the road and headed to the required place. As they parked their bikes, Cole said, taking out his helmet, “Our first assignment, finally.”

“Stay alert, Cole,” Aiden said, setting his own helmet down. “The location the Head gave us is that abandoned house over there.”

“That’s...where I used to live before,” Cole said, looking at his house carefully.

Aiden looked at Cole who seemed to be thinking about the past. “Are you...will you be okay? I mean, this was the place where..”

“..My father was arrested, yup,” Cole said, crossing his arms. “I’ll be fine, this is our first assignment after all. We can’t screw it up.”

“Good,” Aiden said, patting his shoulder. “Let’s go then.”

“Home sweet home,” Cole said, darkly as they walked towards the old house. Cole walked towards the back of the house where there was a spare window which led to the basement. He smashed the corner of the window and unlocked it. Both of them climbed inside of the square window and landed, their bodies crouching.

“This way,” Cole said and led Aiden to the stairs which they climbed up carefully. Cole opened the door which was unlocked and stepped on the landing. “No one’s here.”

“Better look in the rooms now,” Aiden responded.

With a nod, Cole and Aiden walked to the living room to find one of them looking out the window. “IMPOSTERS!” someone shouted from the top of the staircase and Aiden and Cole turned around to see one of the men aiming a gun at them. “Who are you boys? How did you get in? Paul? You didn’t see them?”

“No, they must have slipped through the back window or someplace,” Paul said, holding out his own gun now. “We better just kill them now before - ”

He was interrupted as Cole kicked at Paul’s arm causing his gun to go skidding to the side. Before he could react, Cole quickly elbowed him in his stomach and as Paul doubled over, Cole elbowed him at the back of his head. Paul fell to the floor, groaning in pain.

Simultaneously, Aiden too held Drew’s arm and turning around, elbowed him in the face. Drew dropped the gun and held his nose with both his hands as Aiden kicked at his knee which made him fall over to the floor. Aiden drew out his gun and Cole his long knife and pointed their respectable weapons at them.  

“What the hell? Who...who are you two?” Paul asked, trying to stand up.

“Your worst nightmare,” Cole said.

“Melodramatic much?” Aiden asked, smirking a little.

“Just trying to diffuse the tension,” Cole said, turning his head to look at Aiden.

“Really?” Aiden asked. “I guess our first mission will end just fine.”

“Not if I can help it!” Paul exclaimed and lunged at Cole, who swiftly slashed at his neck. Paul spluttered as blood poured out his mouth and he fell backwards towards the floor, dying.

“You son of a -,” Drew said, angrily as he aimed a punch at Aiden who shot him right in the forehead. His death was instant as he fell against the stairs.

“And that’s the end of it,” Aiden said, keeping his gun in his belt.

“Boy, they really should’ve managed their anger issues,” Cole said, wiping the blood off his knife. Aiden remembered how he first began teaching Cole how to shoot, but even after two weeks of trying he could never aim straight. However, he discovered how well Cole could aim with his knives.

“They should’ve managed their ways, in my opinion,” Aiden said, sighing. He pitied all the criminals; he wondered what made them the way they are. “We wouldn’t be standing over their dead bodies otherwise.”

“That’s just the way it is,” Cole said, letting out a breath. “There are bad people out there and we’re just here to make sure the crime rate stops.”

“Let’s go back,” Aiden said, feeling sick at the sight of these two men who have killed many innocent people.

As Aiden stood against the wall, he thought about their first mission and how they received cash from the Head. The two of them were really happy and now, they were respected by all the others highly. The Head himself considered Aiden and Cole to be his favorites; after all, they manage to take out every criminal getting neither single scratch nor bullet.

~

Cole stood out the door and was looking at the rain fall and to him it felt like the sky was crying. Lately he had been wondering how his life ended up. How he managed to become an assassin instead of a doctor or businessman. He thought about his mother and knew that if she’d been alive, nothing like this would’ve happened. She would’ve been there to emotionally support his father when his company went bankrupt and he would never have gone down such a devastated road.

He once had asked Aiden about his parents, but he apparently had suffered from amnesia when he was brought here. The Head gave him the name Aiden and everyone else took him in and Aiden said he felt like he had a large family. He never recalled his past memories and he had said, “To be honest, I’m glad I didn’t. I don’t want to know what happened to my parents, how I got separated from them. I got a new beginning and that’s that. I was fated to be an assassin to help the innocent people in this town...and it’s useless questioning about the past now. It’s already gone.”

Maybe he’s right, Cole thought, crossing his arms.

“Hey, hero, what are you doing out here on your own?” Cole turned to see Janet, her dark hair in a bob cut, as she opened the door and leaned against it.

“Just finished a mission,” Cole said, turning back to look at the rainstorm. “What are you doing here? Where’s Will?”

Will was Janet’s twin brother and they were partners. They were quite good too; Janet was a sharpshooter like Aiden and Will was good at combat fighting. “Will’s on his way, we have a mission right now,” Janet said.

“I see, well good luck,” Cole replied.

“Where’s...where’s Aiden?” Janet asked him, as her cheeks turned slightly pink. It was weird that most people could see her feelings for Aiden but Aiden himself couldn't.

“He won’t go out with you, he has high standards,” Cole said, jokingly as Janet shoved his shoulders.

“I wasn’t asking that you know!” Janet exclaimed, blushing furiously as Will stepped out the door.

“Hey Cole. What’s going on, sis?” Will asked, looking at the two of them.

“Nothing, let’s just go,” Janet said, crossing her arms and walking out in the rain.

“What’s up with her?” Will asked.

“Her pent up feelings came bursting out,” Cole said.

“Her feelings for Aiden?” Will asked.

“Yup,” Cole nodded.

“Right. By the way, another successful mission?” Will asked as Cole nodded. "You guys are awesome. Anyway, see ya, we'll be heading out."

Cole watched the siblings leave and pushing a hand through his wet hair, he walked in. They had to report to the Head about their successful mission and as he walked down the lit corridor, he found Aiden leaning against the wall, waiting for him. “Where were you?” Aiden asked when he saw Cole approaching.

“Contemplating,” Cole said.

“I’m not even gonna comment on that,” Aiden said as Cole chuckled. Then both of them walked through the doors to the Head’s chamber.