04-04-2019, 09:35 PM
Hood Wrote:The world was a strange place. People made strange decisions. You could stand a man before two paths; one clear and safe and secure, the other dark and twisted and rough. And as soon as a wolf was thrown at the man's back, it was a fair gamble which path he'd choose. It wasn't a conscious thought; just an overwhelming urge to flee, to escape. And often, that first step was without thought.
People panicked. They ran. They made poor choices.
Hood paused with one foot on the concrete path, the other resting toes down on the last step from the porch. Pistol was still trained on the burned-faced fuck-knuckle that had set the damn house on fire. But, for a moment, he glanced down the street at the crashed car and the corpse in the grass under the light pole hardly half a block down the street.
The cop went screaming past a few moments later, running down the street to the dead old man. And Hood took a step clear of the porch towards the emo walking grenade. The revolver was holstered, a fresh magazine was drawn and driven into the pistol. The action was released, the slide rocked forward, a fresh round chambered. But the gun wasn't aimed just yet.
A few more steps towards the man, before stopping. Maybe ten yards apart, and he half turned towards the distant cop and dead old man. "That wasn't you?" A vague gesture at the crashed car, then he nodded slightly. "Good. I wasn't getting paid either way." He'd taken the favour for the chance of a good fight, and the emo Channeler wasn't putting up one. Too busy running, too busy reacting.
"Well. Your people better keep this whole shit-show quiet. Write it off to a psychotic episode. Drugs. Just an old man going senile in his last days. Nice and clean." Shadow wars were exactly that; meant to be kept in the shadows. No one wanted to know that there were highly paid mercenaries and assassins and hitmen running around their cities. That their own government would order the death of its own citizens. So it behooved both sides involved to keep things quiet. Revenge was messy. Bringing the cops into things rarely went well.
It was all very business like. Hood eyed the man one last time, then holstered his pistol as well, and brushed some suit and charred fabric clear of his jacket and shemagh. Unconcerned about being ID'd at the scene, he then turned and started walking away down the street. "And give the cop some credit in the official story would ya? He was in way over his head. Tell your people to tell his people to get their heads out of their ass and not send rookies alone into this sort of shit."