Skipper&Runny

Thwak

I made a promise.

Thwak

I need to keep it.

Thwak

But can I?

The door opened. It was Skippers brother, Runny.

"Skip" Skipper put his training sword back on the rack, as Runny entered the garage and sat on the freezer. "You've been training all day. I know you've been doing it since you were 10, but I thought after you got your new…. "Job" you stopped."

"I never stopped training." Skipper was confused. Runny should know this.

"That's not what I meant, stupid." Runny rolled his eyes. "For the past year you've only been training for a couple hours a day. Today, though, you started training at 6 AM. It's now 5 PM."

"IT IS?" Skipper looked at his watch. "WHAT?"

"You haven't looked at your watch? Oh, well, you didn't have anything to do today, did you?"

"A hit. 3 PM would've been the perfect time."

"Oh, great, you screwed another one up. Dumbo, why have a watch if you don't use it? "

"No need to act like I'm an idiot, I can still manage. I'll head out now."

"You ARE an idiot. Do you know where the target is, at least?"

"Should still be at their home."

"Alright. Before you go, at least try to be sneaky this time."

"Why? If my target is dead, they can't say anything to anyone."

"Yeah, but last time, someone walked in the room after you killed your target. Now, you have a 30 bean bounty on your head."

"Ah, there are barely any bounty hunters on earth, they've all moved to space. And 30 beans isn't even enough to buy a decent video game, no one's hunting me down."

"That's not my point, if you ever want to go to space and kill him, having a bounty on your head will be a problem. Maybe not with how big it is now, but if you keep getting caught…"

"Don't worry, even if I do get caught this time, I don't plan to do many more hits. I'll be leaving earth soon enough. Once I have enough money to leave here, for you."

"Alright. I'm gonna go start dinner. Try to be home before 7 PM, Skip."

1 hour later

There it is. The house. Should've only taken half an hour, but that wrong turn really screwed me up…

I need to figure out how many people are in the house, where they are, and then get inside.

Skipper grabbed his sound locator, and placed it on the wall beside the door. He hooked it up to the digital blueprints, and turned the filter on to "only breathing". Immediately, five dots appeared across the map. One in the bedroom on the right of the top floor, one in the kitchen, one just outside the kitchen, next to the front door, two in the garage across from the kitchen, and one on the couch, in the living room near the back door.

It was possible not all of these were human. The person who ordered the hit said the target had two dogs, for dogfighting. Skipper figured those were the two in the garage, since dog fighters usually needed to hide the dogs from any guests, and likely didn't care about their pets well -being. The person who ordered the hit had also said 4 dog fighters, making a total of 5, would be arriving at the house at 6 PM to have a meet. Skipper checked his watch. 6:15, which meant two of the dog fighters were late. 

"Hey buddy." Two guys had pulled up in a truck behind him. Probably the two missing dog fighters. "We're late to a meeting with our friends. You better get outta here 'fore you get your butt beat."

  ***

There was a knock on Jeff's door. Thank god they'd remembered to muzzle the dogs, or their entire operation could've been ruined.

"Elon, Bill, that should be our other two guests. We can start the meeting soon." Jeff checked the keyhole. It was Bernard and Larry. Perfect. Jeff opened the door.

Bernard and Larry fell through the doorway, dead.

Jeff stumbled back. Elon and Bill jumped up.

"What the hell happened, Jeff?" 

"I don't know, Elon! Someone else must be here…" Jeff was yelling in fear.

"The cops?" Elon could feel his palms turning into ponds

"Probably! Where the hell is bill?"

"He disappeared!"

"Crap! The entire reason he's here is to protec-" A sword erupted from Jeffs chest, and he fell, dead, to the floor.

The man behind him sheathed his sword.

Elon tripped backwards over the couch. "W- What do you want?"

"Got any cheese strings?"

"I- In the fridge?"

The man walked into the kitchen. Cheese strings? Elon was safe. He didn't need bill to beat this guy. 

Elon walked into the kitchen, and grabbed the crowbar that was leaning against the garage door. He approached the distracted swordsman from behind, and slammed the crowbar down toward the swordsman's head.

The crowbar flew out of Elons hand, as his opponent spun around, stood up, and parried the attack within a second. 

Elon fell back, slammed his head on the counter, and slipped into unconsciousness.

Skipper was pretty happy. He got some cheese strings, and had pretty much succeeded in his assassination. His only target was the guy who'd answered the door, so he figured he'd let the guy who knocked himself out live, so the police could interrogate him and end this stupid dog fighting ring. 

Skipper sheathed his sword, and walked over to the garage to open it. He had just begun unlocking it, when he had to jump back, as a fist flew towards him, just barely missing.

Damn. Skipper gripped his sword, ready to use it. Guess I forgot about this guy.

"Heh." The guy who tried to hit skipper turned towards him "Nice dodge. I'm bill. Not really part of this dog fighting shit, I'm just employed here to protect these guys. As long as Elon is alive, I'm sure I'll get a big raise if I beat your butt. I'm the best martial artist in North America, there's no way you can-" Bills gut erupted in pain and blood, as a sword cut his stomach at the speed of light.

Skipper sheathed his sword, unlocked the garage, and let the dogs out. He heard the animal control truck he'd called earlier pull up. Perfect timing.

Skipper opened the back door, ran around to the front when the animal control guys went inside, hopped in his car, and drove back home.

  ***

'"Hey, Runny! Dinner ready yet?" Skipper paused for a second. The kitchen light was off, and the smell of dinner was missing. 

"Hey….. Skip…." It was Runny. He was sitting on the couch… staring at Skippers bounty tablet.

Skipper walked over and peaked at what Runny was looking at.

"Runny… I can't."

"You have to, Skip."

"I can't leave you."

"Skip-"

"No, Runny! I won't leave here until I've left enough money to last you till you die of old age! I refuse-"

"WHY?" Skipper stepped back. Runny had never yelled before. "Because one of my legs doesn't work? Because I need this stupid cane to go even one step? Because I was suicidal for a year after he took away our parents?"

"Runny… I know you think two years is long enough for those thoughts to be gone for good, but what if they come back while I'm gone? What if you make another attempt?"

"Skip, I'll be fine. I won't die. You can't make enough money for me to not have to work for the rest of my life, I'll find a job, I promise. You need to focus on your promise that you made to dad. This could be your only chance. You need to take it. Our parents can't die in vain."

"Runny… You're right. "

"Here." Runny handed him the tablet, and Skipper read over the hit one more time.

Test rocket launch at 10 PM tonight. Kill everyone in the building, let the rocket launch.

This was it. This was Skippers chance to avenge his parents death, and kill The King Of The Universe.