(Set in 2016)

How does an assassin guarantee the execution of their target? You leave them no other alternative but death.

Shade had been scheming for months in order to develop an effective plan against one of his mostly deadly targets: that Adapted, Lenna. He had spent months tracking her steps, learning every detail about her life: her habits, her contacts, who she cared about, who Shade could use against her. It was a slow and tedious process, especially because Shade had to be extra careful to avoid her nullifying mutation field. He had been caught once in it, powerless and defenseless. He never wanted to be in that situation again. He would never be in that situation again. Soon.

It didn't help that Shade was significantly handicapped in his assassination abilities. He had to deal with a target that removed his mutant abilities used to eliminate his targets and escape unharmed. In addition, he had to deal with the chains wrapped around his wrist, his promises. Among them, Shade was not allowed to attack someone, and it was hard to kill someone if you weren't allowed to attack them. Instead, Shade had to think outside the box and implore strategies that were not his usually style and expertise.

It was nearly time to strike. The most important information that Shade had discovered was Lenna's uncanny devotion to raised Lori's adopted daughter, Kaitlyn. It was admirable, if Shade had a heart to cared but it was an easily exploitable weakness of hers. It was obvious that Lenna cared for the girl, even if she tried not to show it to others. The other weakness was a little harder to track down. It took a chance meeting for Shade to catch them together. Lenna had a man, or at least someone she was romantically involved with. Shade didn't know the details (and honestly didn't want to), but it was another tool that he could use against her, extra leverage to apply more pressure on her.

Isolating Kaitlyn from Lenna was easy enough. Shade had to simply wait until Kaitlyn was inside the walls of the mansion. Lenna would be unable to contact the little Orderling without the risk of exposing her little spy to the other mansion residents. Keeping her away from her lover required a little more finesse. However, a missing cellphone and an emergency at work could go a long way. It would be too late for Lenna by the time he knew. Shade also made sure that she could not call on any Order members (if any were ever around). He would spring the trap while she was away. And no one, except maybe Shade, would be able to reach her in time. The only thing missing now was the target.

Shade, perched atop an abandoned warehouse, pulled the burner phone from his pocket and dialed the only number listed. He waited until the other person picked up.
“Hello, Miss Lenna.” Shade breathed into the phone. “We would like to talk to you about a Mr. Hunter. We have him here with us. Please come join us. And Miss Lenna, don’t try anything funny. We have Kaitlyn here as well.”

Shade hung up and dropped a pin to Lenna’s phone, showing her the location. Now all he had to do was wait.

The suggestion? Preposterous. The idea that someone could have gotten the better of Michael was inane. Still, a foolish part of her had hesitated in hanging up on the caller. Just in case the threat was true. The risk to Michaels life... to Kaitlyns life... was too great.

She had opened her mouth to ask who the caller was, to get further details, and— the bastard had hung up. Fiery orange rage ate up her vision for a moment, and Lenna closed her eyes and took a step back. Rested her hand on the desk top. Then, she focused her mind.

The person had sent an address. That meant Lenna had options. The first thing she did was text the person back, asking for proof. When that got dead silence, Lenna began making calls.

It was good for the kidnapper that Kaitlyn had misplaced her phone through entirely natural means. Either she had forgotten it in some place, or else it had fallen out of her pocket. The idea Lenna would give one single damn about exposing the young girl as a spy when her life was potentially on the line was laughable.

After she could not call the girl’s cell, she tried the mansion itself. Of course, the person who answered had not been able to give her any details as to Kaitlyn’s location. They had been wholly unhelpful. Maybe she was out playing, maybe she was in class. And maybe she had been kidnapped.

Lenna took the moment to calm herself, and try Michael next. If Kaitlyn were busy, she could try again later. But if Michael were missing... of course, his absent cellphone only combined with the missing cellphone from before to add believability to the caller’s tale. Michael had not answered.

Perhaps making all the calls counted as something funny? Perhaps not. But most certainly, calling Michael’s associates to check on him would have been strange. And she could not go to the police to investigate things. Tracing the call would have taken time, and she really did not have a great deal of time remaining. Tick tick tick. What was she going to do?

With a sigh, Lenna drew her black overcoat on over her dark orange turtleneck and dark slacks. Added her concealed weapons. Left for the scene.

She arrived a short time later, and parked. Lenna had not brought any reinforcements. Which was too bad. If she’d thought of someone who could have helped her sort this out with keen tactical abilities, her mind might have gone to Shade. Although did he still work for her? She had not heard from him in a while. Admittedly, she needed to make a better effort to keep track of the hired help. Especially when said help didn’t really like you. But oh well. She wanted to sort this out herself, solo. Never give anyone anything they can use against you.

Tick, tock. tick, tock. Shade was getting impatient. He paced across the rooftop edge, waiting for his prey. His invisible cloak billowed in the wind at this height. It was nervous racking. Maybe he had overlooked something in this plan. His plan had an obvious flaw, of course. He was not allowed to murder anyone. Maybe that had caused him to not see another crucial detail. As the minutes dragged on, Shade began to worry. There was nothing connecting him. He had been sure to cover his tracks. Lenna would never know it was him, even if she didn't show. At least, he hoped. He double checked it, triple checked it, recapping the events that led up to this climax. Yes, he was sure that he was safe...

Headlights pulled into the alley below him. Shade's prey had arrived. It was time for the show.

Shade jumped down two floors and flipped the breaker for the building. Below, the lights snapped on, illuminating a path for Shade's prey to follow. It also started the timer on Shade's little surprise. He felt the stab of a dagger in his heart.

I'm not killing anyone. Shade thought. I'm just removing an old building. If Lenna happened to be inside the building at the time of the explosion, it wasn't Shade's fault. At least, Shade hoped his new found conscience would accept that. With his trap set, Shade jumped to hidden shadow he had purposely concealed to order to watch his prey's activities.

Below, Lenna would witness a path of lights illuminate before her, guiding her to the third floor where she would find two individuals tied to chairs, hoods over their heads.

Inside the building, there was a path. There was a damned path.

Freaking psychopath. Leading her astray. Down alighted path to her doom. She knew. Deep down, she had to know. What was going on here, how it would end. How could she not?

She followed the path. Followed the trap. Anger filled her, dulled her wits. Up to a higher floor, to a pair of chairs with two people tied up, hoods over their heads.

It really doesn’t take much to figure out what happened from there. Who the two in chairs were didn’t matter in the long run. At the end of the day, she had still walked into a trap. And paid the price.

The last thought she had before everything went mushroom-shaped was this: “It’s not them. Thank God. It’s not. Them.”

The End