Intercepting

As Adrian left the scene, a grey figure quietly looked down from the roof of the short building the alley was connected to. The person was wearing a scary looking mask, one typical of those used by Japanese clan warriors in the traditional era and a grey colored tight fitting outfit to match the look. After noticing no further activity, the masked person disappeared from the scene.

Adrian walked towards the training center, his face filled with doubts and anxiety. Jimmy Orville, the trainer stopped the dazed Adrian with his powerful hand.

"What is wrong lad? You look pale." He asked.

Adrian returned to his senses from his thoughts. "Jimmy, can we begin my self defense regimen?" He asked in a worried tone.

"What kind of pickle did you end up in?" Jimmy asked with a raised eyebrow.

Adrian shook his head. "My gut tells me that danger is constricting around me like a miasma. I want to learn the skills to protect myself before I lose the opportunity."

Jimmy patted Adrian's shoulders. "Very well. You've worked hard in the past few weeks. From today, you can begin training how to fight and begin practicing in sparring matches."

---

Gray Ninja jumped from rooftop to rooftop, following a peculiar shadow that seemed to be rushing towards the center of the city.

"This woman is a very suspicious character." Gray Ninja thought to himself as he found the shadow turn into another dark alley. Cautiously, he jumped atop a rooftop and looked down to observe the alley filled with darkness.

The shadow that Gray Ninja had been following gently morphed into the figure of a woman dressed like she was about to head to a party.

Moments later, a voice that sounded between a groan and a whimper echoed out of the pitch darkness of the alley. When Gray Ninja heard the voice, he felt chills down his back.

"Have you obtained any samples?" The eerie voice asked with pregnant emotions of expectation.

"I have obtained four samples, master." The woman knelt on one knee respectfully and handed out for test tubes made of glass.

"Good. The one you handed me the last time around was quite a good specimen. Good strengthening talent, it helped my progress quite a bit. Continue working hard." The eerie voice replied from within the darkness.

"I will do as the Lord orders." The woman replied respectfully.

"Good. Next time you fix your deals, however, make sure you aren't being spied on." The eerie voice suddenly turned extremely serious.

Gray Ninja who was observing the dialogue from above, got a fright, but had no time to react, as a powerful beam of energy pinched through his chest like paper. Immediately causing him to collapse onto the rooftop. Gray Ninja struggled to twist his head and saw that a sniper was targetting him from the roof of a building three turns away from where he was.

Without any hesitation, Gray Ninja activated his ability and drastically boosted his speed, turning like a top. A second beam of energy pierced through his body, but luckily only targetting his arm this time, thanks to the quick reaction.

Biting his teeth to stop himself from losing consciousness, Gray Ninja decided to escape as quickly as possible. As he jumped over rooftops before rushing into the street and disappearing into crowds, two other shots pierced his body.

"That should be the masked flea who goes by the name of Gray Ninja. He's been hovering over our operations since a few weeks." The lady who brought the test tubes humbly explained to the eerie voice.

"A speedy brat. Get rid of him." The voice announced with the air of an emperor.

---

Adrian's body was filled with purplish blue marks. He had taken a good beating today at the hands of other trainees. After it was clear that he couldn't take any more tactical punches and was getting frustrated that he couldn't dodge quickly enough, Jimmy stopped the sparring and rushed Adrian home.

As he entered his apartment, he had the feeling that something was very wrong. 'An intruder!' Was Adrian's immediate guess. Rejecting his senses warning him not to enter, Adrian opened his door as quietly as possible, to find a grey cloaked figure with a familiar mask sprawled on the floor, blood spreading out like spilled milk from the sprawled body.

Adrian stood at the entrance to his apartment, paralyzed by the scene before him. "A dead body? Isn't this the vigilante Gray Ninja whose been popping in the news? What the heck is he doing in my apartment?" Thoughts flew by his mind before he could even begin to articulate them.

At that very moment, however, the sprawled body jerked and twitched, as if in an epileptic fit.

"Shit, this guy is alive!" Adrian screamed within his heart as he quickly entered his apartment and shut the door. He dragged the dying person to the bathroom and began applying first aid.

Adrian noticed five bullet holes in the body of Gray Ninja. All the holes were clearly penetrated, which meant the bullets had all penetrated and exited Grey Ninja's body like paper.

"Who ever did this is extremely powerful." Adrian thought as a coldness seeped into his heart. After making amateur stitches to stop the bleeding and taping the guy's wounds, Adrian realized that this person was quite young. He didn't dare to take off the vigilante's mask, lest that guy would kill Adrian for knowing his identity.

The Gray Ninja's pulse was extremely weak, and Adrian realized that he needed a strong healing potion, one he didn't have. However, he did have a few bottles of Nucleus Potions which could wastefully be used as an alternative to the healing potion, still left.

Gritting his teeth, Adrian lifted only part of the mask and began feeding Nuclear Potion to the vigilante. One bottle, followed by another, eventually Adrian fed the guy his final bottle of Nuclear Potion when the guy's pulse finally stabilized.

Tired, Adrian left the Gray Ninja asleep in the bathtub and fell asleep on his own bed.