Target

One day later.

In a dark alley between two buildings that were almost close to touching each other, Al glanced at his watch whose dials were dimly illuminated by the light of the moon.

"Almost time…"

Muttering to himself, he turned around to ensure that everything was in order. There were four individuals behind him; Jordan and Jessica were busy fussing over a man dressed in a long cloak and the same mask he had worn to address the city yesterday, and behind them, a lanky woman was looking past them all using binoculars.

Raising his hand, he gestured at her to come forward. It was a tight fit, but she still managed to go flat against the wall and move past the three in front of her to reach his side.

"What is it, boss?"

"Any updates from the others?"

She shrugged. "No. But that's perfect, right?"

Al sighed. "It's either perfect, or very bad."

With a lopsided grin, she was about to say something, but at that exact moment, they heard a sound from somewhere nearby that made them all freeze and look up.

It was that of a heavy individual walking with heavy steps that echoed among the buildings that had been built so closely together that one would marvel at why they had even bothered to leave some space for people to walk between them.

The night sky was hidden by heavy, dark clouds that promised rain, but had yet to deliver in a week. In the background, the dim sounds of explosions and many people shouting was occasionally heard, giving a hint as to the state of the city it had been tossed into by the one standing unperturbed so far away from the center of action.

"Ahead of schedule. Send the signal."

As soon as she heard this, the woman nodded with the first hint of seriousness she had shown all night. Walking back to where she had been before, she took out a phone and silently tapped a message that was transmitted to those waiting a block away, ready to carry out his commands.

Turning to his assistants, Al asked, "Are you guys ready? He'll be here in a minute, tops."

One of Jessica's hands was quickly buttoning up the cloak of the third man, and Jordan was adjusting the hat on his head so that it covered the hair. When he was happy with how it looked, he bent to the man and had whispered something, and after a reply came in the form of a nod, he said, "We are in position."

He knew that he should feel glad that the man had finally warmed up to him, but right now, he was too nervous to feel happy about anything. Taking a few steps forward, he opened the door that had already been prepared so that it wasn't closed completely, and after putting it back in the exact way he had found it, he climbed the stairs within to reach the first floor of the building overlooking the main road.

It was lit by streetlights, half of which were malfunctioning. They flickered constantly, giving the road an atmosphere of one that would be perfect in a horror film. The screams and chants of those far away were slowly getting louder, thereby adding their frenzied energy to the place so that the contrast would elicit an unpleasant feeling in whoever was watching.

Al was soon behind a dusty window in the almost empty building. He had a perfect view of the road, and while he waited for the target to arrive, he reflected on what had happened so far.

The riots had kicked off successfully, empowered by a large group of people who were simply fed up with the way things were. It had been easy to follow the video with others that swayed even those who were on the fence, and soon, almost all the roads of the city had been swarmed with protesters holding up signs and placards demanding for the governor to step down.

Al had waited to see the kind of resistance they would meet with. Usually, he had heard that these kinds of odysseys had limits as to how many civilians could die, especially for the heroes who were supposed to be the 'good' guys. Of course, it was not often that such a thing would apply to villains, and sure enough, in this case, at least, there were no restrictions on them, whatsoever.

The moment he had seen that the security forces of the governor had been ordered to use only nonlethal methods to stop the people from coming close to his home, he had realized that he must have been right. Since then, he had been busy directing the riots so that they moved closer and closer to the center of government in the city, forcing those in charge of security to move further and further back until there wasn't much ground left for them to hold.

Everything was going well, as essentially, he had just taken advantage of a chance laid in plain sight by the odyssey system. Typically, in odysseys where both sides wanted to act strategically, these chances would be fought over, so it was a blessing that he had been able to snatch it up so easily.

With one objective accomplished, he had zeroed in on the other, which was to weaken the heroes that he could get to the governor. One of the first things he had done before even initiating the riots had been to double the informers keeping a close watch on the governor's residence, and right now, he was poised to use the information he had gathered in this method.

Of the three Children of the Dragon, one had the habit of going to a store nearby to buy food, alcohol, and cigarettes. Even though there was an option for them to be delivered directly into the governor's residence, he chose to go by himself, for some reason, which had made Al believe that it might be because he had a different destination in mind.

Sure enough, by tripling the informers, he had found out that the man regularly visited a hidden brothel. They were lying in wait, now, for him to walk down the road on his way back to the governor, and as a long shadow appeared on the pavement right in front of Al, he looked to the left and found the one who had almost killed them all walking closer and closer to where their trap was waiting.

As instructed, the cloaked individual was thrust into the main road where he began to walk to the other end, as if he had every right to be there. As soon as the middle-aged member of the heroes saw him, he shouted, "You there! Stop!"

His words were heavily accented, but understandable. Down the road, the masked individual began to run, causing the hero to sprint, too, and catch up in barely a couple of seconds.

With one hand raised, the large man caught the cloak of the other and made him whirl around. He froze, then, definitely shocked due to what he was seeing…but already, the damage was done.

The cloak fell away to reveal two thin teenagers, each standing on the other's shoulders. The mask had already fallen away, and now, the one on top got on the floor and both of them fell to their knees.

"No! Please don't hurt us!"

"It hurts! Please!"

Their cries weren't very convincing, but they would suffice. On both sides of the street, his waiting soldiers started to shout the phrases they had already prepared.

"Over here! Its the governor's personal guard! He's beating children!"

"It's definitely on his orders! We can't let him leave! Everyone, get him!"

"Go, go, go!"

The sounds of many people running was quickly heard. The soldiers had already been directing the people here; whipped up into a frenzy by the pictures transmitted by those Al had placed in the adjacent buildings, they surged over, and even as the hero tried to run, he found himself surrounded.

They hesitated only for a moment. When one of his soldiers who had been hidden in the crowd jumped forward, they all did…and Al watched with a grin as the man became swallowed by the people.

Dusting his hands, he was about to turn around and leave…but suddenly, a soft voice appeared from a spot right behind him.

"You really think you're so smart, don't you? Well…think again. We had to use one of our own…but we found you."

Shock raced across his features. He turned around, horrified…but a second later, a burst of laughter erupted from his lips as he couldn't hold it in any more.

The smile on the pixie-haired woman's face froze, then fell away as she watched him. Then, when the wall nearby rumbled and fell away in a flurry of dust…three rows of soldiers were revealed, all of them holding assault rifles trained right on the woman.

This time, it was Al's turn to talk, and when he did, his voice echoed in the room, and when he was done, thirty triggers were pulled, and the sound of gunfire drowned out all other noise.

"Guess who found who, my dear hero? Our main target…was you, all along! Well, no use delaying the inevitable…so, goodbye!"