3 V. I Chapter 3: Phantomsight

Ciel had already gone over the plan when they'd suited up, so as soon as they reached their starting spot, they broke.

Ciel ran off in the direction he knew Denis was going to send people to get him. Denis preferred taking the best out first, so he'd probably go after Jerry, sending half of his forces to Enda's and Ciel's areas. He jumped into a tree, running along the close branches, finding the newbies jogging through the forest, the noise almost grating in Ciel's trained ear.

"Do you think we stand against of the Great Four?" one asked.

"Of course! There are five of us, and only one of him!"

"But there's a reason they're known as the 'Great Four,' Dylan."

Ciel took aim in the trees, silent as a cat's soft feet on carpet. He pulled back the slide, locking it into place as he set his sights on the lead's chest. A silent shot, and the student went flying. Another four shots, and the group was hit. He sat on the bough, waving his gun to gain their attention. "Always be silent. You're less likely to be located, for one, but you'll also hear others approaching. The correct phrase for getting hit is 'I'm hit.' Then you get the hell off the field before you get shot again."

"That's not fair! Not all of us are as stealthy as you!" one of them shouted.

"How about this then," Ciel offered, jumping down. "Showdown. One shot each. Whoever wins will get off the field."

"Fine. I'm not going to lose against some cowardly shrimp like you."

They stood back to back before walking slowly. They would turn at the student's call, to give him an advantage.

But as they were stepping away from each other, Ciel's lips pulled into a wide, cruel smile.

.

Enda danced through the forest, dodging Denis' team's bullets. He giggled as he fired back, but then his foot caught on a tree root, and she fell.

"O-oh! Are you okay?" one of the nicer ones asked, leaving the cover of the trees to run and help him up.

"I-I'm fine... but you're hit!" Enda tittered as she shot the boy, twisting away from the bullets that came from the rest.

"I'm hit," he sighed.

"No zombie-ing~~~" Enda called.

He gave her a small smile. "I don't want to get hit again, so I'll just go. See you around, hopefully, Great Four Enda."

Enda shot the rest of the students after her before perching in a tree, sighing. "Everyone is so weak," he whined, kicking his legs back and forth. Then he leapt up. "I'll go look for Ciel! I'm coming, my Prince Charming!"

Enda was the trickiest of the four, slipping trackers on each of their gear, so it was no problem for him to make it in time to see Ciel and one of the students walking paces. "Ooh, a showdown! This is going to be fun!"

Enda watched them both, but something was bugging her. And as he saw Ciel's insane smile as he turned, he realized what was wrong.

"Ciel! No!" he cried, jumping down as they both fired.

Ciel looked up as he heard Enda's voice, already spinning, looking as if he'd just done the spin, but actually bypassing the bullet entirely. His eyes lost the insane quality about them, and that smile fell from his face, turning into a frown of concern. "What happened? Did someone actually get hurt?" he asked, not even acknowledging the student that slammed into the tree with the force of the pellet.

"Hey! He's knocked out! You have to pay for this!"

"Yeah! This is unacceptable!"

"You cheated somehow!"

Ciel's eye ticked as he sent a dangerous glare at the students, sneering, "You had better say 'I'm hit' and get your asses off the field before I tear you all new ones. Understood?" His grey eyes turned black in the dim lighting, and his glare sent shivers of true fear through them.

"He may be the weakest one, but he's the scariest!" they cried, running away, the unconscious one being carried like a sack of potatoes between three of them.

Ciel turned back to Enda. "What happened?" Then he realized his position. "What are you doing here?! Do you want me to shoot you?"

"I was worried. Plus I can't let my dear husband-to-be get shot, now can I?" Enda asked, quickly covering his lapse.

Ciel rolled his eyes. "Flirting in a death match. So like you. I'll give you ten seconds. If you're not gone by then, I'll shoot you."

"Oh, Ciel, darling! You're so kind!" Enda pressed a kiss to his cheek before running into the woods.

Ciel wiped it off before turning in the other direction. He jumped into the trees again, moving like a shadow through the woods, taking out any stray students he came across. He nodded in approval as the sniper took one out from their starting spot.

Ciel heard shouts and quickly changed course toward the noise. He was quiet, staying quite high in the tree, as he watched Jerry and Denis playing a game of hide-and-seek. He repressed a laugh as Jerry stuck his tongue out at Denis, only to have the branch next to his face shatter from the bullet Denis fired.

Ciel heard distant calls of 'I'm hit!', and he knew Enda was rounding the rest of the students up, sending them out to watch the grand finale. That guy... was a pain to handle.

Ciel watched the two weave in and out of the trees, firing bullets that could take one of their eyes out.

"Ciel!" Denis shouted, surprising him so much he nearly fell out of the tree. "If you're anywhere close to here, stay out of this fight until I shoot the bastard!"

"I agree with Denis!" roared Jerry. "But he's going to be the one with the bullet through his head!"

Ciel sat on the branch. He hadn't planned on interfering, anyway. He wasn't going to pass up free entertainment.

They continued their back-and-forth through the forest, and Ciel watched, slightly impressed with the improvements they'd both made. He was debating leaving to grab popcorn they left in the far left corner and heat it up in the microwave they kept in the far right corner when he heard footsteps below. They were light, maybe Enda... but Enda knew better than to approach that loudly around Ciel, especially after that warning. And when Ciel scanned the forest, he saw a flash of a silver skirt darting around in a perimeter of fifty feet from where the two dueled.

Enda pushed his glasses further up his nose, peering down. He jumped from his branch, plummeting straight down.

Denis moved, straight in front of the approaching figure, and Jerry fired.

Ciel landed hard on the figure, forcing them both down on the ground, the bullet shifting his hair. One of Jerry's men. Ciel shot him in the breastplate and shoved him back into the woods. "That was careless, Jerry!" he shouted. "You could have hit a beginner!"

"Are you interrupting this fight?" Jerry asked in a snarl.

"Yes. You're reckless actions all for the title of strongest is unforgivable as a professional. Prepare to fail." Ciel drew his Desert Eagle and another handgun as Jerry fired at him. Jerry used guns with tighter springs, making their force stronger than a normal guns', but Ciel conquered it with superior aim and a faster draw.

Ciel fired thrice, the first bullet going past the bullet coming for his face, aiming for Jerry, the second brushing it slightly, turning its tip up for a split second as the third bullet knocked it off course.

"It's going to take a lot more than that to take me down," Ciel hissed, ducking behind the trees as Jerry fired again. Irresponsible, dragging a noob into the fight between Jerry and Denis. Neither of them cared if people were injured, not if they got to fight it out. But this got even more dangerous as Ciel joined, because now there were bullets raining everywhere.

Ciel scrambled up the tree, jumping from branch to branch as he peppered the ground below with bullets. The cartridge fell out as the ammo ran out, and Ciel reloaded quickly, dashing among the trees and firing whenever he got a clear view of the other two.

"All of the students are out!" Enda's shout echoes through the trees, though the man himself was nowhere in sight.

Ciel holstered his Desert Eagle at his thigh, drawing a sniper rifle from his back. He lay flat against a long, thick branch, taking his glasses off and sticking one of the legs into his mouth as he let the scope fall to the ground.

When Ciel had gone to doctors for the first time in his life five years go, he's also gone to the Optometrist, and discovered that he was extremely farsighted, barely able to see without his specially prescripted glasses.

He took aim and fired, missing Denis by centimeters. He was up again and moving to a different branch before firing several times, branches snapping and falling to the floor. Ciel left the gun in the tree, jumping down to the forest floor.

"Hold your fire," he said, and the two looked at him, confused, but stopped firing. He pointed to the ring of branches he'd made, a circle fifteen meters in diameter. "Enda!"

Enda dropped into the circle gracefully from above, winking. "Another duel?"

Ciel nodded. "We stand back to back, then take ten steps out. As soon as we do, we turn and fire at whoever we want. Three shots, and only one step to dodge any shots made to you. Do we have a deal? Since Enda would just wait the fight out until there's just one of us left, and I'd just get you all long range, this is the best solution to make sure this doesn't go on for centuries."

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with, you wimpy pansy," Jerry snarled.

"Count off," Ciel called, taking the first step with the others. On six, he whirled around, pointing his gun at Jerry's face, who'd aimed at Enda. "Watch it, Jerry. I may be a pansy, but I'll still shoot you if you think you get the draw on me," he warned dangerously.

Jerry snarled, but turned back around.

Ciel dropped his arm and continued to walk, placing his glasses on his face, his vision clearing."Hold your fire," he said, and the two looked at him, confused, but stopped firing. He pointed to the ring of branches he'd made, a circle fifteen meters in diameter. "Enda!"

Enda dropped into the circle gracefully from above, winking. "Another duel?"

Ciel nodded. "We stand back to back, then take ten steps out. As soon as we do, we turn and fire at whoever we want. Three shots, and only one step to dodge any shots made to you. Do we have a deal? Since Enda would just wait the fight out until there's just one of us left, and I'd just get you all long range, this is the best solution to make sure this doesn't go on for centuries."

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with, you wimpy pansy," Jerry snarled.

"Count off," Ciel called, taking the first step with the others. On six, he whirled around, pointing his gun at Jerry's face, who'd aimed at Enda. "Watch it, Jerry. I may be a pansy, but I'll still shoot you if you think you get the draw on me," he warned dangerously.

Jerry snarled, but turned back around.

Ciel dropped his arm and continued to walk, placing his glasses on his face, his vision clearing. At ten, he spun around, firing two bullets at Denis and one at Enda, using his one step to flip backwards over the bullets sent his way. He landed on his feet neatly and looked at the others. No body had been hit this round. "Everyone take ten more steps back from where you are."

Three rounds later, Denis and Jerry shot each other, and Ciel sighed in relief. But then he hesitated. He'd only heard eleven shots that round.

"Rookie mistake," he muttered as he was shot in the back.

"Oh? I win! Yay me!" Enda cried, dancing in a circle, his Desert Eagle gleaming. He ran over to Ciel, helping him up. "Sorry for shooting you in the back," he whimpered, pouting.

Ciel just reached up and ruffled Enda's blonde hair. "It was my fault. It was a rookie mistake." He accepted help up from the small, but surprisingly strong transvestite. "You win. You're the strongest of the Great Four."

They walked out, and as they did, Jerry met them with serious eyes, all thoughts of their fight gone. "Special agents are coming here for some reason. I suggest you two wear these," he said, handing them two custom masks.

Enda put his on right away, the pearly silk studded with jewels stolen on some of his trips, covering his eyes and curling at his cheek.

Ciel's was pitch black with thin streaks of grey and silver, a crescent moon over his left eye, covering his right, and curling on his cheek, the fine point another hidden weapon. He pressed it to his face, securing it with the elastic band.

"You also might want your Hecate," Denis whispered from not far away, passing the custom sniper rifle Ciel used on his missions. The one that earned him the name Phantom. He and Enda were assassins, their identities kept completely secret from the public, only their code names and a rough description of their appearances known.

"Thanks," Ciel said as they passed him a long hair extension, the silver strands mixing with black ones as he clipped it under a layer of hair.

"They're here. I have to go," Jerry muttered under his breath before heading to the doors to meet them.

"Let's go to the mission board," Ciel whispered in his faint, almost fragile voice. He matched Enda's stride style. He was slender enough to pass for a woman. They could think he was a girl. That would make everything so much easier.

"And these are our two best shooters," Jerry said, laughing with the bodyguards.

"Two women?" the left one asked.

Jerry shot Ciel a look before smiling at the men. "Yes. This one is the beautiful assassin Lolita," he said, and Enda dipped into a curtsy. "She specializes in undercover missions and close-range gun combat. This one is Phantom."

The guards murmured at that. "Really? The Phantom?"

"Yes. Her silence is that of a feather, and her swiftness is like a cheetah. She specializes in silent assassination, and her--"

"Phantomsight," one of men said.

"What did you say?" Ciel asked in his faint voice.

"I-I-I said P-Phantomsight, Miss," he replied, shocked. "That's what we call your spectacular ability for long-range assassination, and those inhuman eyes that can see so far away. We had a man posted to assassinate a man, but before he could strike, he just fell, a small stream of blood pooling beneath him. When the man went to check who'd killed the target, he saw a small hole in his eye and through the back of his head. Your bullet, marked with the silver-dipped tip. He looked up, and he saw you crouched on the top of a building, your silver hair blowing around you. He blinked; you were gone."

"It looks as if our dear Miss Phantom has a new stage name," Denis said, walking up. He took down a mission, holding it in front of Ciel. "Think you can handle it, Phantomsight?"

"Date? Time limit?" he asked.

"Posted a week ago. You have a week to complete it. Half a million is the reward."

"I'll do it," he replied, striding for the doors.

"You don't want to know who it is?" called Jerry.

"Just send it to me. I'll have it done within the allotted time," he answered, pushing the doors open. He slipped the mask off as he entered his car, pulling the extensions out, setting the rifle in the back seat. He started back up the road to his house. "...Phantomsight," he muttered. A rare smile crossed his face. "Maybe..."

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Enda Fortuna Markes - M - 27 years old

Likes - painting nails, Desert Eagle guns, Ciel's cute smile, short skirts, hair ribbons, cute things, little brother.

Dislikes - rain, gloomy atmosphere, shooting inferior guns, dressing as a man, hair ties that break, Ciel's mother.

Strengths - close combat/close-range gun fighting, cooking, baking, glitterizing things, ignoring others, flirting.

Weaknesses - bigger people, being pinned, cake, loud noises, doing taxes, catching things.