Street Sweeping

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 13, Post Number 318

-Hargeon Town, early evening-

Clad in the guild armor appropriate to her station and carrying the special disguise ring in her pocket, Stiletto sneaked into Hargeon Town to take care of business for her guild. She had accepted a job that entailed disposing of a street gang that had broken into the home of a client and assaulted him and his family, which included young children and grandparents. The children had been hospitalized with multiple bruises from being punched and the grandparents had been hospitalized with broken legs and numerous bruises caused by blows from metal baseball bats. The client had tried to take their case to the authorities, but the Hargeon police were too busy policing the red light district as part of a "restore morality" campaign to actually fight crime. The client wanted justice for his family and he was willing to pay whatever it took to get it.

The assignment appealed to Stiletto's sense of justice and she owed the guild some work, so when the job was posted she pounced on it. There were some things that were best done in the dark and wiping out the street gang was one of them. However, this assignment would not be a simple matter of busting in somewhere and shooting anything that moved.

Stiletto's targets were holed up in the Harbor District, which was also a focus of the mayor's moral crusade against what he perceived as "immorality" in the form of alcohol, gambling, and underground fights with a dash of prostitution thrown in. Since the mayor of Hargeon Town had declared a "crusade against immorality" just a month ago, the district was teeming with police officers on patrol. That meant that the mage would have to be careful as she went about her shadowy work. Another problem was that she did not know exactly where her targets were and had no way of getting that information aside from eavesdropping or having the sheer dumb luck to find a member of the gang and following them home. Stiletto's work was cut out for her, but no one ever said that living life in the shadows was easy.

Ahead of her loomed the harbor's market district, which hosted numerous wooden stalls for vendors who sold seafood caught fresh from the sea to customers who did not care for buying prepackaged frozen seafood. The area was set up as a fish market and smelled like one, but it was a quicker and safer way to get to the Harbor District than going through the lower docks. The lower docks were a haven for criminals and a common target of police scrutiny, so they were certain to be packed with more officers than the Harbor District itself.

Stiletto spotted a pair of middle-aged police officers walking towards her, so she hid behind a stall that sold fish. She could hear their conversation as they walked by on patrol. What they said was of considerable interest to the contract killer.

[Post Word Count: 504]
[Total Word Count: 504/1,500]

"I don't get it, Jerry. Remind me why we're out here again." An officer implored his partner. The other man cleared his throat and began to recite an explanation that sounded carefully rehearsed and approved by a focus group. Stiletto listened with interest.

"We're out here to clean out the criminal element to make Hargeon Town safer for the common citizen. We're doing the right thing, Carl. We're sending a message that we won't tolerate crime anywhere in the city." The officer named Jerry answered. Stiletto could hear Carl fumble for a response to the platitude that he had just been given.

"If we're so concerned about cleaning out the criminal element, why aren't we going after that gang who broke in a house and beat up those kids and elderly people? Why are we out in the Harbor District?" Jerry asked Carl. At that point Carl injected his own opinion into the mix.

"Hell if I know, Jerry. I heard that the gang's holed up in the lower docks, but we're not allowed to go after them. The mayor said that we're supposed to keep their heads down. You know, put on a show until after the election's over." Carl replied. Jerry's disappointment at being held back from actually doing his job was so strong that Stiletto could practically feel it.

"I don't know why we're wasting time policing the red light district. The mayor's on some kind of morality kick just to look good to voters and we've been reduced to blue uniform-wearing props. It's not like the so-called upper crust doesn't hop down here for a little action on the side, if you get what I mean." Jerry hinted to his colleague that the campaign against the red light district was just a sham. Carl laughed knowingly.

"Yeah. I heard the mayor himself likes to go to The Wildcat for a break from the missus. But you didn't hear that from me." Carl let slip a bit of information that Stiletto found to be as interesting as the other chatter in the conversation.

"No, not at all." Jerry said half-seriously. The two officers then walked past the stall while shifting the conversation to sports, namely boxing and how the match between Slugger Stinson and Bruiser Defoe went. Stiletto waited until the sound of their conversation faded into the distance before daring to breathe. Somehow she had learned the location of the gang but was confronted with a new problem that needed solving.

Stiletto had to go down to the lower docks after all. She would have to somehow get past police patrols without harming a single one of them, not even to move them out of the way. However, there might be gaps left by bored and inattentive officers tired of being used as props in a publicity stunt that she could exploit to slip past unnoticed. The trick was getting to the lower docks to start with... Jerry and Carl had just went the way Stiletto had used to get here, so retracing her steps was not an option. Perhaps it would be a good idea to go through the Harbor District, then work her way down to the docks.

[Total Word Count: 578]
[Total Word Count: 1,082/1,500]

-Harbor District, Fish Market-

Ignoring the strong odor of fish that permeated the atmosphere, Stiletto slowly sneaked through the Fish Market while being careful not to make noise or leave any evidence behind that could be used to trace her now or later. She had a rough idea of where her targets were, but first she had to get past the police force that stood between her and the gang she had been hired to eliminate. Judging from the chatter she had heard so far most of the officers on patrol were chafing to go into the lower docks and arrest the gang but were held back by the mayor's orders to simply keep the criminal element contained in their hideouts; they were not enthused to be reduced to simply patrolling the area as a show of force. Stiletto could use that to her advantage, but only if she did not hurt any of the officers during the infiltration of the lower docks. Hurting a single policeman would rouse them from their boredom and motivate them to spare no effort to find the perpetrator, which would make her job much harder than it had to be.

Stiletto slowly and cautiously made her way forward, using the sound of voices and the beams of flashlights to judge when to move and when to remain in place. She had reached the halfway point but was not going to hurry because there was plenty of nighttime left in which to complete the mission. Slow and steady would win the race. The operative continued to sneak her way through the stalls and evade detection while listening to police chatter about how boring the patrols were and how pointless the mayor's new obsession with cleaning out the red light district was. A younger officer sarcastically remarked that if they were going to shut down the Harbor District's questionable businesses they might as well go after the seedy places in the wealthier areas while they were at it. That idea was shot down with a deep and contemptuous laugh.

"Son, you've got a lot to learn about how this works. The mayor's on his election year campaign. This is his favorite election year topic to harp on 'cause it sells to the voters. So we come out here, swagger around with our chests sticking out and let the mayor preach about how he's gonna clean out the town. The mayor looks good and it makes the criminals hide for awhile." The older man caustically commented on how the campaign really worked. The younger officer sounded deflated but he went along with it, if only to keep his job. Stiletto chose that moment to slip by them unnoticed and keep sneaking until she was finally out of the Fish Market. She had made it through without leaving a trace... she was thankful that whoever cleaned the Fish Market each day was thorough.

-Outside the Fish Market-

Stiletto was crouching behind a low stone wall that bordered a wooden staircase that led to the lower docks. Below her she could hear the thumping of shoes on wood; that noise meant officers were on patrol. She raised up to take a peek and was rewarded when she spotted an unguarded alley down the stairs and to the right at the very end of the docks. That passage presumably led into the shadier part of town where she would find the gang she was after. Stiletto took a moment to catch her breath before proceeding any further. The docks did not have many places to hide and it was a long, straight path where she could be spotted at any time by a patrolling officer.

[Post Word Count: 626]
[Total Word Count: 1,708/1,500]

Stiletto waited three minutes to make sure the officer patrolling the lower docks was away from the staircase before sneaking down the stairs and onto the lower docks. Once she was sure that he was gone she quickly sneaked down them and veered off to the right. Her destination was not too far ahead but she would be visible the entire time she was moving towards the alley entrance. Doing a mental count to three, Stiletto then began her attempt to sneak to the alley.

-On the lower docks-

Stiletto set out at a brisk walk to avoid standing out or generating too much noise right away. She needed to take it slow at first so that when she had to run for it the officers would not be as alert as they would be if she started running right away. She was one-fourth of the way across when she paused in place and went prone, letting the shadows conceal her from view. On the road overhead and to the right an officer twirling his nightstick walked by while whistling a tune of some sort. Once he was out of view Stiletto waited for the officer on the lower docks to stop walking and listened out for him while slowly crawling forward to put distance between him and herself. He started walking away from her, giving her enough room to get up and move at a brisk walk.

Stiletto was now halfway across but needed to stay focused. She kept walking until she heard another officer pass by; she quietly lowered herself to a prone position and crawled forward. Again the officer was too preoccupied with looking busy to bother glancing over the wall and onto the docks, an oversight the operative did not complain about. She kept moving forward until she heard loud footsteps near the stairs and stopped where she was.

Stiletto listened as the officer turned around and coughed loudly before moving on. Once he had moved away she got up and kept going until she reached the three-fourths point. Stiletto decided to gamble and sprint the rest of the way using her Reaper's Sprint spell, which was a totally silent dash that she could employ for guaranteed silent progress. Stiletto crouched down and focused, then zipped forward in a burst of speed that put her within arm's reach of the alley. She quickly jogged through its mouth without leaving evidence and without alerting any of the officers on patrol.

-Inside the alleyway-

Stiletto took a moment to look at her surroundings, which were run-down and grimy to the extreme. The walls were covered in so much gang graffiti that she could barely see the bricks underneath. There were numerous side alleys that branched off into different places and she had no idea of which one to go down... until she heard loud complaining from someone a short distance away.

"Man, this sucks! I can't believe that we've gotta stay down in this dump all night! I wanted to go out and beat someone up!" A male voice said.

"Yeah, well, blame Mayor Page. It's election season and you know what that means. The police are everywhere and they're gonna be out there until the election's over. We're just gonna have to lay low until then." A raspy voice replied to the first. The voices were coming from a side alley just to the left. She was not sure if they belonged to the gang she was after, so she stayed quiet and listened.

"Do you think that guy we beat up is gonna get the police after us? It is election time and busting us would be a big win for Page's fight against crime..." The first man asked the second. A resounding laugh rang out.

"Nah, man. The police won't do squat without Page's OK. They're just puttin' on a show!" The raspy man confidently answered.

"...Well, if the police ain't gonna do anything, do you think he hired someone to come after us, like one a' them Wizard Saints?" The first person asked again. Another scornful laugh rang out.

"Nah, them Wizard Saints can't be bothered with hoodlums like us. They're out there killin' dragons and genies and all that stuff. We're small fry compared to what they face! The second man assured him that no Wizard Saints were after them. Stiletto gave a small smile beneath her mask as she equipped her Suppressed Handgun. He was right... a Wizard Saint was not after them. A huntress was.

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[Total Word Count: 2,500/1,500]

Stiletto waited until they were finished talking before edging closer to the mouth of the side alley that their voices had come from. Once she was in position she mentally counted to three and readied her weapon. Things were about to get messy.

One.

Two.

Three.

Stiletto stepped out from the mouth of the alley and aimed for the head of the first man, then fired off three shots that hit him in the forehead and sent him crumpling against the left alley wall. She quickly adjusted her aim onto the second man's head and fired three shots, taking him down as well. They had went down without making a single noise, which was good because the other gang members would not hear her coming. Stiletto advanced into the alley and carefully stepped over their bodies to reach an open doorway where loud music was blaring out of a room in a neglected one-story apartment. Stiletto dispelled the handgun and brought out her Suppressed Submachine Gun for the close-quarters fighting that was sure to take place.

Stiletto extended the stock and entered the run-down one-story apartment.

-Inside the apartment-

Stiletto quietly stalked down the hallway spraypainted with blood-red graffiti marking this as "Hargeon Batboys" turf and up to a wooden door that had a light on and activity sounding from behind it. She quietly placed a hand on the door and eased it open to find a shirtless, bearded man in torn-up blue jeans with numerous tattoos on his arms shaving his face while looking in a mirror. He closed his eyes and Stiletto quickly aimed for him and fired a Three-Round Burst to the back of his head that silenced him permanently. She then shut the door back and sneaked down the hallway to the next room.

Stiletto quietly put a hand on the doorknob and opened the door to find a shirtless man wearing torn-up blue jeans and brown work boots standing on the opposite side of a dirty mattress with what looked like blood and vomit stains on it. He gasped and Stiletto put him down with a Three-Round Burst to the head before he could sound the alarm. She shut the door and continued down the hallway until she reached a grimy living room area with three people sprawled out on couches and recliners who were "listening" to a metal album at ear-splitting volume and had at least five empty bottles of hard liquor lying beside their chairs. They were so drunk that they had passed out.

Stiletto did not like the idea of killing helpless people, but then she saw that at their sides lay metal baseball bats and snubnose revolvers. She then remembered the fact that they had beaten up defenseless children and elderly people because they thought it was fun. Her reluctance to kill the inebriated gang members instantly evaporated.

The huntress would kill them all before they knew what hit them. Stiletto aimed at the head of a man sprawled on a stained tan cloth couch and fired a Three-Round Burst that killed him. She shifted aim to a man passed out in a brown recliner that was about to fall apart and killed him too. The last man mumbled something and fumbled for a half-empty vodka bottle standing on the floor before Stiletto killed him as well.

Stiletto quietly strode through the living room and made sure that everyone was dead, then quickly left the apartment without leaving a scrap of evidence to trace her. There would be no footprints, no fingerprints, no shell casings, only bodies to mark her passing through. Stiletto dispelled her weapon in the alleyway and retraced her steps to the lower docks, where she sneaked past the officers without much trouble because the officer who had been patrolling earlier had fallen asleep while standing up against the wall.

-In Hargeon Town-

Once she was off the lower docks sneaking to the town's border without being seen was a breeze. She retraced her steps through the Fish Market and wound her way past inattentive patrols until she reached the town outskirts. After more sneaking out of town while using the shadows of buildings for cover she was home free. She had left no evidence to trace her at any point during the mission, so now all she had to do was get home.

Vengeance had been delivered and the streets of Hargeon made a little safer. Now it was time to go home and collect her pay after chalking up another successful mission.

[Post Word Count: 776]
[Total Word Count: 3,276/1,500]