章 2: A rooftop face off

Part 02|

Why was it like that? Why did I have to be the one to comprise a meaningless sense of duty? Couldn't it be anyone else? This wasn't the reason I came here; actually I was on my way to get some Ibuprofen and probably a burger too, in the morning. These were the kinds of things going inside my mind as I went after my target.

He was fast, really fast. But as the options around him were getting severely compact, I was finally starting to gain an upper hand over this long tiring pursuit. The door to the roof was partly opened...

-This must be pretty isolated(sound of glass cracking)...too quick! DAMN IT!,- I kicked the door just as I turned off the safety of my gun. The timing was too little; another door was there which led to open. It was partly made out of glass. He kicked through the glass to make it out. It was obvious for a common thief to try and escape in any circumstances but as I mentioned earlier the police here wouldn't seem to care about stuffs like these. "Why is he so desperate?"

There was a bit of blood on the glass shards. A little inspection gave me the idea that my agile yet frightened friend was going to have a very pitiable case of leg amputation; or something poorer. Sandals were thrown away to probably ease the pain he was having. With the debris in one of his legs there won't be any of those glossy parkour moves anymore from his side. At least that's what I thought...

-...,- And I went easy on my grip over the gun; It was just a few moments of me and my own consciousness before stepping out on the actual roof. I already made myself as noisy as possible when I kicked the door just to realise that my target was not running anywhere soon. But as true as my little assumption was about his disadvantage at that time, within those few seconds he made himself ready with an approach.

-Ughh! What the?,- A quick grab over the barrel of the gun all of a sudden and then another elbow towards my chin. By the next moment I was on the ground with a sharp pain. And a tall yet slender figure with my gun was in front me, barely holding himself together.

-Well Ms. Officer? Looks like you've got me finally...(Panting). I've got to give it to that bastard, he was right. You ARE pretty stubborn after all,- Now that I could have a closer look at him, it became clear that he was indeed an Asian guy. That kinda explained his earlier feats. I assumed his age to be in early twenties like 23 or closer.

-Hmph! You know kid; I didn't expect to be famous here in this side of town also.

After all the stuffs happened around me in last couple of weeks the only thing which could surprise me was the forgiveness of that little girl; something I probably didn't deserve. It felt like a futile excuse, me being there fallen in front of someone I tried to capture while putting enough trouble for people of this town. An excuse to hide from her. With every passing moments of my existence, with every damn trials of my attempts to run away, I realized that my eyes were getting clouded. But somewhere inside me there were still some fragments of 'have to' and 'should' assisting me to keep my so called 'humanity' in check. A promise I couldn't forget. These stuffs kept questioning me in every step I took until I finally confronted the dispute. It was a 23 years old guy with a soon to be dismembered leg for that instant.

-(Panting)...you have to look more into the mirror Ms. Celina Johnson. Or stop looking down over yourself I guess; although right now I would say otherwise.

-I've stopped looking into the mirror, quite long ago,- He was an amateur. My sentence bought me the advantage I needed. The pain didn't help him in anyway on how to control the situation he had created. Thinking ahead was most likely the last possible act in his surprise assault there. That gun of mine was barely hanging from his left hand. My legs were perfectly placed to initiate my own surprise assault.

-Whaa...(scream),- First I guarded his left toe with my left leg swiftly. Then a kick with my right leg in the lower abdomen; enough to make him push backwards. With the right leg practically useless he was only relying on his left. I took this opportunity and pulled the toe towards me and then that slender figure of him went down involuntarily. By the time he fell, I prepared myself for the next move and quickly grabbed the gun of his hand while keeping pressure over his arm. Three or more shots were fired, but his grip over the stock was too tight. So I ejected the magazine as quickly as possible in next second and landed a strike. With that the struggle was over. I got up and looked at his unconscious figure...