Chapter 132: You have a few more tries
“I have already killed the target and I just came here to see the assassin they hired to take care of me.”
John was stunned for a second as he heard what Fade said. It hadn’t even been half an hour, and Fade had already killed the target with John trying to track him. This was the greatest embarrassment in his entire career as an assassin. He had planned for days now and had set up numerous traps, yet none of those helped. Fade easily dealt with everything he could throw at him.
Not only was Fade the better marksman it was obvious that Fade was better than him in almost all aspects. John gritted his teeth as he continued to point his beloved Scorpion at Fade who was also calmly pointing his own rifle at John.
“I won this round, Elegant Scorpion.”
“Hmph, how can you be so sure? Though I hate to admit it, the truth is you are the better marksman, but at this distance, it doesn’t really matter who the better marksman is. At this distance, the one who has the better gun will win, and I can tell you now your gun is no match for my Scorpion. You might have finished your mission, but you got too arrogant. If you just left after killing your target without coming here you might’ve truly won, but now you’ll never get the chance to leave.”
“It seems like you misunderstood something here. Didn’t you hear what I just said?... If you didn’t, then allow me to repeat it, I already won.”
Fade lowered his weapon and started disassembling his rifle right in front of John who was still pointing his own rifle at Fade. Seeing what Fade was doing, John was at first confused, then after a few seconds he got embarrassed, then he got angry.
.....
“Are you mocking me?!”
John got nearer to Fade his eyes bloodshot and the muzzle of his rifle was practically touching Fade’s mask. Even then Fade wasn’t even a bit perturbed as he glanced at John for a brief moment, he then continued to pack away his rifle as he spoke without looking at John.
“I heard that you were some kind of gentleman killer, that no matter the situation you remain calm, cool, and collected. There was also a rumor that even in the face of death you would still act like a gentleman, but seeing you now this was quite the letdown. Still, you have a few more chances to prove that you’re better than this. I already know that Catherine Walker isn’t your only client, and you have quite a few more. If you continue to work under those guys, we will surely meet again. So by then, I hope to meet the real Elegant Scorpion who is supposed to be some sort of gentleman.”
“You really think there will be a next time? If I pull the trigger now your head will blow up. You should be happy that even after your death, your identity, your legend will never fade.”
Fade stood up as he was finished putting his rifle into a backpack. He then turned his back on John who grew even more infuriated.
“Why don’t you try and shoot to see what happens.”
“Do you truly understand what’s going to happen to you? You are about to die, you’re about to get your head blown into bits and you still continue to act like it’s nothing.”
“I act like it’s nothing, cause it is nothing. The threat of your gun in my head is nothing, so shut up and just pull the f*ckning trigger already.”
As Fade said those words John felt a sense of dread. It has been a long time since he felt something like this. John tightened his grip on his beloved rifle, as he unconsciously gulped and stepped back a bit.
“Even when my back is already facing you, and I’m not even armed you still don’t have the guts to shoot. You know I was a little bit excited to meet an assassin from this so called Dark Rankings, and at the beginning, you really were a bit of a challenge, but now you’re nothing but a disappointment. If someone like you can be in the middle of the Dark Rankings, then this so called ranking of the greatest assassins in the world is nothing special. So are you going to pull the trigger or not?”
Fade simply stood there waiting for John to shoot, but nothing happened. Fade then sighed as he shrugged his shoulders. When Fade was about to leave, John finally tried to pull the trigger, yet something had stopped his finger from doing so. The wires that were too hard to see were stopping him. John then saw Fade still casually walking away as if he wasn’t a threat at all, making him feel even more rage. This was the first time that an opponent had treated him with such disregard. Usually, he was the one who acted this way with his targets.
John used his rage as fuel to strengthen himself as he forcefully pulled the trigger with wires and all. John’s index finger started bleeding as the wires dug into his skin, he was feeling the pain but the adrenaline pushed that aside as he pulled the trigger with all his might. The sound of gunfire echoed through the rooftop.
He had finally pulled the trigger, yet the scene he was expecting to see didn’t happen. Fade’s head was undamaged and instead, the Scorpion’s barrel was damaged as it was twisted to the side. The bullet did come out, but it flew nowhere near the target. John was still in a state of shock when he heard Fade’s voice in his ear.
“You weren’t as disappointing as I thought, maybe you’ll be a better challenge next time. You do have a few more tries.”
John looked ahead to where the voice was coming from but Fade was no longer there, not even his shadow could be spotted.