Renegade

Chapter 14: "Out of the Stocks and into the Guillotine"

A lone warrior stood upon a hillside overlooking an old Japanese castle. He was a young man, definitely not even out of his teens. He had short black hair that seemed to flow through the wind. His eyes were a cold, sharp, blue depicting a man who was serious about who he was and what he had done. He was dress in a black suit covering his whole body; it was the traditional garb of a ninja. Around his back hung a katana nestled safely within its sheath. Placed upon his hip was a to-to, the eastern equivalent of the western dagger. Around his waist sat a belt containing several throwing stars, each one sharp enough to cut through man. The young man stared into forbidding figure of the ancient fortress and recollected his sacred mission. This was his honor; this was his duty.

He was nothing but a rumor to the majority of his people, a faceless vigilante sentenced to his exile by night, a shadowy ghost whose name was feared in villainous circles, loved in civilian ones. He was the bedtime story parents told their children to quell their fears. His name… was Bushido.

Whispers of a heinous crime were heard by many a man, whispers that Bushido decided to investigate. After tireless work and many fruitless leads he finally found someone who would give him information. The person was remarkably co-operative and shared many of the dark secrets that he had known. (After he had a knife placed to his neck of course) He confirmed many of Bushido's suspicions. The verified rumors stated that a green skinned man was taken to Chuni Inc.'s newest location, a refurbished imperial palace; they brought this palace into the modern age, giving it electricity, plumbing, and a state of the art security system. The latter of the improvements was the one that concerned Bushido the most.

Our young hero sat upon that lonely hillside overlooking his prey; it was time to go to work. He slowly crept down to the forest's edge and crouched down to where he was nearly on his belly. The full moon shined brightly upon his veiled face as he sat there waiting, waiting for something he knew he would see. A guard walked around the corner toward the north entrance, where Bushido rested. The sentry made his way to the front doors, stopped, and then took a casual look around to find anything out of the ordinary. After his search ended devoid of fruitaition he picked up what looked like a radio, no doubt he was about to make his report. Bushido could make out what the guard was saying but not the reply.

"Jason here…Yeah all seems pretty quiet on this end…Why are we even on this high an alert? ...Yeah I guess your right, whatever guest we have here must be pretty important…Do you have any idea who this guy is? ... I know I shouldn't ask it's just if this guy is making me pull fifteen hours of work I'd like to know who he is…I know, I know. I'm not trying to question orders…Yeah if Vincent is here you know it's important…I'm beginning to wonder if all this security is just a bunch of paranoia. I mean, I doubt anyone is ever going to come…Well just in case somebody comes next time; I'm taking my vacation time then…Right, right, Back to work. Got it."

The guard put down his radio and turned the other corner giving Bushido just the chance he needed. He rushed down to the door to try to make a quick infiltration. He grabbed for a doorknob but none was present; in its place was a retinal scanner, one that the guard surely had access to.

Bushido's keen ears picked up the faint sound of feet tapping upon the wet mud. How could he have finished his rounds so soon? Whatever the case the sound of footsteps began to get clearer and louder so he had to act fast, he couldn't retreat to woods before that idiotic patrol guard caught him, and he could run around the corner because that would only delay the guard finding him. Bushido began a desperate search to find a hiding place. His search led him to examine the ceiling where he found a large pipeline. It must have been from where the added the plumbing or maybe it contained electric wires. Whatever the case he didn't have time to unravel the pipeline mystery, he grappled onto the pipe with his arms and whipped his legs up to it and hugged the pipe like it was his best friend.

Just then, the sound of footsteps reach an all time high as the guard walked around to the north entrance. He once again walked over to the door, stopped, and then casually looked around for anything out of the ordinary. Bushido prayed he wouldn't look up; whatever he did he could not look up. It wasn't fair. Here one of the greatest ninjas was right below a simple guardsmen and he could do nothing but sit and pray he wasn't found out. The guard looked straight into the lights that were precisely hung to give the right amount of light; then, he looked up. Bushido could see him squinting straight at him. His eyes squinted further to try to make sense of this strange image that appeared before his eyes. The guard could barely see into the shadows of the pipeline after just looking into the lights, but he could see enough to tell that there was absolutely no one holding on to the pipes.

"Whatever." The guard sighed and continued on his way. Bushido got lucky. He could have easily been killed right then and there. After the sound of footsteps faded from his ears, Bushido gracefully jumped down. Bushido sighed a sigh of relief. He pressed his back against the walk and slowly made his way to the edge the tower's north side. He turned his head around to look at the east side. Similar architecture, door in a similar spot, not to mention the similar retinal scanner, but one thing was different; on the ceiling one of the lights were missing. This gave a 6x6 meter around of unadulterated pitch black darkness. Bushido would use this to his advantage. He ran over to the dark spot, pressed his back against the wall, and waited for that pathetic guard to walk around.

After about five minuets he came back around. Great, now he takes his time. He strode in his tired, casual walk to the door and repeated the process of looking around that Bushido had seen him do on the north side, and almost mechanically, he walked under light after light until he got to that one dark spot, then stopped.

Come on. Come on. Just take five more steppes.

For some reason he was afraid of this spot since the light went out about four hours ago. Every time he went under it, it seemed like someone was going to jump out and grab him. He took a step. It was of course just childish fear he reminded himself, nothing could really be there. He took a step. What could be lurking there? A ninja? He laughed at the idea. He took a step. "A ninja. Ha!" Bushido could hear him give a fake laugh to comfort himself. He took a step.

Just one more, just take one more step.

He took a step.

Bingo!

He grabbed for his to-to and whipped his body around the guard's; he put his knife to the guard's throat and used the other hand to put him into a hold. Before the poor guy knew it, he was helpless.

"What the-"The guard muttered

"Quiet." Bushido replied to the guard's exclamation.

"Who are you?"

"Santa Claus."

"No you're not. You're- ugh!" Bushido tightened the grip on his hostage.

"Yes I am and you're my little helper. Now I need you to walk over to that retinal scanner so I can give your friends a few presents."

"Only if you let me go first."

"You're not in a bargaining position, now are you?"

"Ughh!"

"Over there. Now."

"Yes Santa."

Santa led his little elf over to the retinal scanner, and the elf complied like he said. The door was now unlocked. Bushido gave his friend a good swift hit in the back of the head to knock him out. No need killing him, not after he was so compliant. Bushido hid the body in the ominous dark spot and walked quietly toward the now open door. Bushido smirked; getting in was a serious pain for him.

Now let's see how bad these boys have been. I'm going to need a lot of coal.