The night was far from young, midnight long since kissed goodbye and reputable establishments were safely tucked to sleep in their window gates and security system protected buildings, now even the bars and clubs gave little yawns and rubbed sleepy eyes. People wandered out of bars, bouncers tossed out the drunks and called cabs for those with money left in their pockets. The world, for a few hours, would be at true rest.
In the deep shadows of those drowsy neons and darkened windows slipped the careful, the predatory. A sign for a sex club flashed on and off, well-endowed women painted across the bill advertising all the wares they would offer to those who patroned such a place. The light spilled movie fake blood red across one of the beings of shadow, licked up and across his body, reflected on the metallic gleam of his mask, and blinked back into darkness.
The Pierrot slipped with great ease through the streets, as he had done several nights prior, as he had done for the past few weeks, the buildings were closed in, several stories tall and in each other's pockets, little side alleys all but nonexistent. He memorized the clockwork of each business, gears turning, mechanisms ever moving. This street has garbage pickup on Tuesday, this store had deliveries at 9am on Thursdays, this bar closes at 2 but doesn't shut everything off until 4, this restaurant is a front for a lucrative drug business, he tries not to judge, your body your choice right? He moves by them in quick, silent steps. A quaint little liquor store with ugly off pink plaster cracked and peeling away from beautiful red brick of the original building affords him the perfect handholds to quickly scale a wall, ten feet up and the bottom rung of a fire escape is just a quick hop and midair twist across the tiny alleyway.
Nothing to see here folks, just your average urban runner in a flashy costume and harlequin mask.
Up up up the skinny little structure, the owners of the antique store have a one bedroom apartment just above, so careful careful around the windows. Then from the top of the store he gets a good workout moving on to the next buildings. Most of them are side by side, great for jumping from rooftops, no alleyways, no open spaces, just a quick climb when the next building has a few extra floors to it.
Of course it would be worlds easier on him to begin with if the damn buildings surrounding his job had the alleyways, then he could have scaled the walls closer and wouldn't have to make this little early morning jog.
Ah well, no complaints. He needed the exercise. Those three weeks recovering in Maui from his last job left him just a little out of shape.
And his shoulder still ached some.
Shock absorbers in his boots took the force of his landing as he hopped a good few feet to the building directly adjacent this night's objective.
A quick cool down stretch gave him time to assess his surroundings.
Security down below was deceptively lax, such perfectly manicured lawns and landscaped gardens would never be forced to endure the strain of a set of guard dogs, and the uptight perfectionist of an inhabitant would never trust just anyone to prowl the grounds, stomping around in thick soled shoes and scratching their butts, waiting often uselessly for some kind of action. So of course the only thing left would be electronic, security of the flesh and blood variety would be confined to the general area of his quarry.
His little guard dog was strictly and indoor pooch.
Pressing a switch on the side of his mask zeroed in on the location of one of the little cameras he would receive most of the trouble on. This particular camera was a teasing little add on, tightening what would have been a lovely blind spot. Cover your bases.
Unfortunately for that charmer of a foe of his, his iron fisted control over his home would be working against him, not tonight, but soon.
"Allen, you have got to be careful tonight, we know almost nothing about this guard he's hired."
The bug in his ear was buzzing again.
"I know, Johnny, that's why we're doing a little test run. That's all."
"Allen, please tell me you are not going after the weak camera. You know how he's paying extra attention to it. He'll know as soon as it's down."
"Spoilsport."
"Allen!"
He let the visuals zoom back out. "Well, gee Johnny, I guess I'll just hop the gate and knock."
"Or you can use the cloak I made for you."
"I'm saving that. Shush. I'll use it eventually."
"And we can use the weak link eventually." His ever helpful companion informed him. "So yes, go on in and knock."
"I repeat, spoilsport."
This two story building, a law office if he remembered correctly, and sometimes he didn't he could admit that, was three meters lower than the crown of the residential he wanted to be on, but he could work with that.
"You need me to run you through the security again?"
"Johnny, how long have you been working with me?"
"Long enough to know how bad you are with directions."
He hung his head mockingly, knowing Johnny couldn't see him. "Okay, my trusted partner and dear friend, run our risks by me again. In the hope that this time I may imprint it into my poor overtaxed brain."
"Okay, on the ground are multi crossing single beam photoelectric detectors, they run at a hundred and fifty meter range and consist of multiple surface mounts in the DS415i and DS435i series, you're familiar with them."
"Friction lock optics, alarm transmission and memory, separate transmitters and receivers, and a partridge in a pear tree."
"And Inhibit wiring."
"And inhibit wiring, yes, how could I forget the inhibit wiring." He rolled his eyes. "What is inhibit wiring anyway?"
"And you call yourself a thief, moving on."
"No, Johnny I really want to know."
"The FLEXIDOME HD 1080p Day/Night IP 2 MP camera…"
"Wait, we weren't finished with the laser beams."
"If the beam is broken it signals and alarm. Classic movie. You know this. Stop joking around."
"You're the one who wanted to run through this again."
"The camera, offering such great things as excellent low light imaging and color reproduction and ultra-wide-angle lenses."
"Surounded by a stylishly tinted vandal-resistant IP 66/NEMA-4X-rated dome,
"Suitable in extreme weather conditions and temperatures. All telephoto recording is enabled with a Micro SDXC card cable of up to 2 TB of local storage, additionally Intelligent Video Analysis would flag alarm events on screen to best ensure observers never miss a single moment of action."
"I would credit good taste to our would be opponent, if the equipment hadn't won Product of the Year in several security consulting firms. Personally I prefer something a little classier."
"He uses the DS433i inside."
"And won't that be a joy. But we won't be opening any windows today, so I fail to see why I should be listening to your techno speech, not that it isn't fascinating of course."
"Of course. Allen, I honestly kind of miss when you were polite with me."
He laughed a little. "You were the one who wanted me to be more comfortable around you."
"I didn't realize you'd be a dick."
"Poor planning on your part. So, what's the plan, of fearless leader?"
"Get on the roof without tripping the alarms."
"I love it when you plan everything out. So detail oriented."
"You wouldn't follow any plan I made."
"There is that. Yes."
The best thing, in Allen's mind, about wireless transmitters is how quickly people felt more empowered by having the whole thing hooked up directly to their phone.
And for a high minded tight assed man as who they would go head to head with, the option of rigging everything up to his personal mobile, bypassing any police interference and the likelihood of strangers breaking down his door with guns because a stray cat set off a sensor, would simply be too much of a temptation.
So even though the cameras would see him make his stylish and theatrical assent to the crest of the edifice, the entire affair relied on whether or not the man had his phone on, had signal, was willing to answer it, and could sound the alarm to alert his security in time to catch him.
Seeing as how the stuffy old fool was at a fancy opera, Allen placed his bets on a decent couple minutes of snooping.
He just wanted to get a look see on who the lucky boy he would be quarreling with was. The information on him was terribly lax, all he knew was that it was some high profile, which meant expensive, mercenary of Asian descent. He liked to at least have some idea of who he was up against before he went in, though only one? Insulting.
Allen lay on his belly looking over the ledge and through the skylight with his corner cam. He admired the homey little room, rich in colors and textures. The thick rugs that cushioned beneath stepping feet, the silk papered walls, the cherrywood cabinets with their protective glass polished to near invisibility.
And there he was, the little guard dog, though little was hardly an appropriate term, all locked up indoors and pacing irritable tracks in the expensive woven rugs.
Since his scar had hit all skin and not the more precious organ underneath and thus he was not currently half blind, he admired that too.
"What's the assensment?" Johhny asked.
"Tall, leggy, with broad shoulders and miles of hair. Can I keep him?"
"I thought you were so sure he was going to be this really scarred middle aged guy with a receding hairline and more muscles than brains."
"I have since reevaluated my stereotypical assumption of mercenaries. He is hot. I bet he tries to kick my ass."
"Please don't play with him Allen, think of the target. The mission Allen, the mission."
"Oh, I know, I won't do anything rash. It just feels like such a wasted opportunity."
"Okay, the alarm is going to be sounding soon. You got a peek at him, and now you can come home and rest and we can do everything we planned next week. Okay?"
"Yes, yes Johnny. I'm heading back." Allen stood, and giving one last glance at the skylight, took his running start off the building.
He got to the ledge when a blast split his eardrums and concrete shattered at his feet.
"Move, and the next one goes in your kneecap." He stood, still as death, thinking only: 'shit.' "I'd prefer to put one in your head and be done with it, but my employer wants you alive. Typical villain tirade, I'm sure you're used to it in your line of work." Footsteps, careful, well placed. "Put your hands up slowly, and turn around. You pull anything, you'll find yourself with one less functioning lung."
