The Ascension Of The Red Reaper (II)

"Mehak no kil-"

"He's dead!"

"Why why why?!! Do you always have to do it!" Naksh screamed in the intercom.

"He hurt me. So he couldn't be allowed to live" Mehak stated as if she did the obvious. "Anyways it's not like it's going to affect the mission. I am entering the 'Aristotle' chamber."

She hovered over the dead body of the fourth guard, her black eyes trying to find the key to the Chamber. But there wasn't.

"Hey, there's no key on any of them," Mehak complained. "How am I supposed to enter the chamber now!"

And here we go again. Her impatience has finally started to get the better of her. But it was all right for Naksh after all this what he was trained for 'to leash the ferocious Eagle'. She would definitely kill him if she ever found out about this.

"First of all calm dow-"

"I AM CALM!"

"Okay then take deep breaths. And then walk towards the metal door and see if there's any kind of console attached to it-"

He heard another round of gunshot in his comm. Again! What the hell is this girl doing?

"I broke it"

"You broke what?!"

"The console you were talking about" She replied happily. "And the door opened! I am such a genius you know!"

If there wasn't any important computer and equipment around him, Naksh would have broken everything in front of him. He wasn't angry he was furious on her. Like how..how can one do that?! Ugh!

"I am entering the chamber now! You better be ready to complete your job!" Mehak ordered.

"Yeah…"

It took him fifteen minutes to cut his way into the Odysseus Tower mainframe and connect his laptop to the circuitry inside. Hacking his way past the security system took a little longer, but at last, it was done. Naksh tapped a command into his keyboard and it was done. All the surveillance cameras, as well as the password secured doors, were now under his command.

One tap and he could overturn the entire tower, but that wasn't what he was supposed to do. He is the eyes and ears of the Ferocious Eagle, all he needs to do is keep her safe and make sure the mission is completed.

" It's done. The secured doors to the terrace are now open." He stated dissatisfied. " You can now proceed with the task on hand"

This was easy, too easy for a modern tower which ran solely on the world-renowned supercomputer 'Aristotle'. Even though Naksh wanted to say that it was because of his skills he couldn't after all when entered the commands almost all of the security systems had been already disabled, it was as if someone wanted him to successfully hack into the system.

"That was fast! Nice work Naksh… I never knew you could be this useful" she replied happily. Finally, after completing all the boring stuff she will finally get the chance to assassinate him… the person who took everything away from her.

………………………………….

The entrance to the terrace was crowded with construction tools, a packet of metal poles along with sophisticated machinery she knew absolutely nothing about were scattered all over the place.

It was cold, even though they were in the middle of the summer season the terrace of the towers was cold… It might have been because of the height of maybe the air-conditioning was so strong that it even cooled exterior of the building or maybe something else but all of these small things were unnecessary for the predator who had her mind on nothing but how she will hunt her prey.

She was heading for the crane. It was standing in the open, high priest of the construction. Mehak hadn't realised how very tall it was until she reached it. The supportive tower was bolted into a massive block of concrete. The tower was very narrow - once she squeezed through the iron she could reach out and touch all four side. A ladder ran straight up the centre. Without even a hint of fear - Mehak began to climb.

It's only a ladder, she told herself. You've climbed ladders before. And at the end of this ladder lies my ticket to paradise.

But this was a ladder with four hundred rungs. If Mehak let go or slipped, there would be nothing stopping her falling to her death. There were test platforms at intervals but Mehak didn't give a damn about to stop and catch her breath. Her mind was too busy thinking about the ways in which she will be killing her prey, she had even cut off the com just to concentrate on her target.

After three hundred and fifty rungs, the tower narrowed. Mehak could she the crane's control cabin directly above him. She looked back down everything on the terrace were suddenly very small and far away. She averted her gaze and looked around her, her dark eyes widened as she saw the beautiful skyline of Neo Bangalore, on her left the Odysseus Tower 1 obstructed her view but on the opposite side, she could see the concrete jungle spread out, the cars and pedestrian on the streets looked like miniature models and the central square was looked like a small toy town.

She then climbed the last stretch of the ladder. There was a trap door above her head, leading into the cabin. But the trap door was locked.

Fortunately, Mehak was ready for this. When she killed the security guard on the fiftieth floor, she had made sure to salvage the small handgun he was carrying around with him. Even though it wasn't going to be any use to her but she loved collecting spoil of wars. She had it in her pocket right now. Holding onto the ladder with one hand, she took the gun out with the other. There was only a single bullet left but Mehak knew one single bullet was all she would need. She aimed the nuzzle of the gun at lock and shot.

There was screeching sound and the lock sprang open. Mehak pushed through the trapdoor and climbed the last few rungs and she was in.

She had to close the trapdoor again to create enough floor space for her to stand on. She found herself in a square metal box, about the same size as a sit-in arcade game. There was a pilot seat with two joystick - on each arm - and instead of a screen, a floor-to-ceiling window with a spectacular view of the Odysseus Tower, the rooftop banquet and the whole of North Bangalore. A small computer had been built into one corner and over her head was another trapdoor that can be used to access the bridge.

She raised her fingers and pressed the small red button in her earpiece switching it on once again, there was static before it was connected with the mission control.

"I am here Naksh." She replied calmly. " Send in the toys"

"They are on their way Mehak"

She hummed softly and nodded, her dark eyes totally focused on the job. She stepped on the pilot's seat and used her arms to push open the trapdoor, grabbed onto the cold metal surface and pushed herself up to the unprotected and slippery surface of the cabin. One wrong step and she would have fallen to her death. But today she was hyper-aware of her surroundings, her body was moving solely on instinct taking her to the most suitable position for sniping out her prey.

The direction of the wind is favourable, not to fast and not to slow perfect for hunting. She looked up, her dark eyes staring at the blue sky intensely as if she were waiting for someone or something to just fall from above.

A low humming sound reached her ears and her eyes widened as she saw the beautiful golden-black swallow majestically soaring downwards towards her. The Swallow, it was the new generation drone which was created by Great Britain to spy on the enemy nation, it's a stealthy system made it impossible for the radar to pick it up and it's bird-like features made it look more like a big bird rather than an enemy drone trying to perform reconnaissance mission.

However, after the fall of Great Britain, these drones disappeared. It couldn't be helped after all these were never mass-produced and the cost of creating one drone was enough to feed a population of thousand for a month. Only thirty entered into service and just five survived this was one of the last five-piece left. And today it was carrying an important payload, it's black metallic claws held an average-sized sports bag which looked ordinary from outside but only when you open the bag and looked at its contents you will be shocked.

Mehak smiled at the drone as it soared in circles before finally dropping the payload directly to her outstretched arms. She quickly opened the chain and looked at the disassembled piece of her lovely sniper rifle.

"My toys are here. Commencing operation in five minutes"

"Make it quick the ceremony has already begun" Naksh replied cautiously.

"Don't worry… I will make sure he dies today" she said her voice filled with malice as she smiled sadistically on the assembled gun she was holding, the self-loading rugger .22 model K10/22-T. It was a low-velocity weapon, less deadly than some she might have chosen but the gun had two huge advantage. It was light and very compact. By removing just two screws she had been able to separate the barrel and trigger mechanism from the stock. The stock itself folded in two. The Drone was able to carry it all the way from the outer zone up until the Northern zone of Neo Bangalore without getting spotted even once.

She placed the rifle at the metallic roof and squared her eyes against the Leupold 14×50 mm Side focus scope, adjusting the crosshairs against the windowpane where her prey was supposedly going to stand and give his last speech. She loved the feel of her rifle in her hands, the snug fit, the perfect balance. All of it made her feel relaxed, the smell of the bullets, the way it laid in her hand as if it was just an extension of her.

After all, it was her partner for life. She had customized it according to her taste. The stock was laminated with red carbon coating with water-resistant adhesive making it stronger and less likely to warp. The barrel had a vinyl decal sticker which was a red scythe. The trigger mechanism had been taken apart and polished for a smoother release. The rifle could reload itself as fast as she could fire it - but she would only need a single shot.

One-shot would be enough for sending her prey to the depths of hell.

She could feel it already; the moment when she will fire, for the blink of an eye as the bullet will begin its journey down the barrel, travelling at three hundred and thirty-one metres per second, at that instance she and the rifle would be one. Nothing would matter anymore, not the mission, neither the continuous chatter of Naksh. Even her own existence would become irrelevant.

Because for her the act of killing would be enough in itself. Because she knows it's better than even the sweetest pleasure in the world. Because at the moment she will pull the trigger everything would become meaningless as she will be the Goddess of Death.

She was silently observing the various unfamiliar faces present in the rooftop, trying to find her prey as quickly as possible. He wasn't there yet was what Naksh had informed her. But she couldn't stay still, her fingers were itching to pull the trigger but she couldn't until he arrives.

Also, there was another thing that had been bothering Mehak for a while, all the guest present in the ceremony were either citizen of Colony 25 or honorary citizen of Avalon. There wasn't a single Avalon native present there and the ceremony was supposed to be a super-secret from the public… then why wasn't there any other official except the few bodyguards and the Guest of Honour as well as her prey the Governor of Colony 25, Crowley Vespeque.

"Target just boarded the elevator to the rooftop hall," Naksh informed. Giving her all the details after all this was the most critical phase of the operation, one wrong step and their months of preparation will lead to nothing. " He's wearing the Avalon Royal robes, the usual White Uniform with a red overcoat draped over their bodies with the symbol of Golden eagle emblazoned in the White Uniform."

"Got it. Anything else"

"He looks ugly like always"

She giggled for the first time in their exchange, a simple innocent giggle with no ulterior motive hidden behind. Naksh was overjoyed when she heard her carefree giggling, he was scared that in this cruel world she had lost her smile but luckily that wasn't the case. At least not yet.

She waited. She was lying on the stomach of the metallic roof of the cabin, her eyes plastered on the scope waiting for elevator doors to slide open and present her prey. And finally, the doors slide opened and her prey appeared.

"He's here"

Naksh simply hummed in agreement. His job was done, he had safely escorted the Red Reaper to the best position from where she can easily take down her prey. All his research, creating fake ID's and learning the layout of the building had finally led her to this euphoric moment. The moment when she will change everything.

Mehak closed her eyes and took a deep breath. In her mind she repeated everything she did since breakfast, I had a toast and coffee in the morning and then I was in that itchy uniform, sneaked them past the pathetic security of the Odysseus Tower, killed the security guard which I wasn't supposed to but that was his mistake…he hurt me and now finally I am here. In three minutes he will head towards the mic and die. She smiled and started humming softly, a warm melancholic tone escaped her closed lips… it was a lullaby her mother used to sing for her and Isha… her sister.

The humming picked up the tempo as she remembered the time when everyone in her family was killed, the fear that had conquered her that night, the hatred that had filled her heart, the vigorous training that had led her here today. All of it played inside her. She then slowly opened her eyes and counted till three.

That was the time left for her prey to reach the designated area of killing.

1

' I have done this so many time and yet I don't know why today I feel so excited'

2

Her heart was beating faster than ever before. Her eyes focused on the spot.

3

Her prey walked over the mic and picked it up. He was going to begin his speech… last speech. If she had wanted she could have seen an ugly fifty-year-old man with grey hairs. Wearing the Avalon Royal robes that she hated with a passion and how he lifted the mic using his left hand.

"You and I are one."

And she pulled the trigger.

Just a second after the bullet escaped the barrel, a small info came back to her. The detail was so minute that anyone could have forgotten it and yet she remembered but at the worst time.

Her prey was right-handed.