Assassination

A silent slice with the katana blade, and the last of the guards slipped silent into the dirt, his trachea exposed to the chill, crisp winter air. I looked around, and finally realised that my nemisis was now defenceless. Behind me, a trail of carcases littered the carpark of Caerleon School.

She was alone now, with no one to help her. Inside, in her office, she would now be sat, cowering in fear. A simple kill would be easy, but this was different. This was personal. I wanted this to be beautiful in its complexity, and sickening in its violence.

I crouched low, and stealthily made my way to the main entrance of the 6th form block. A removed a handful of caltrops from my backpack, and scattered them silently across the threshhold. Any escape would now be punctuated by the shards of iron that were sure to lacerate her feet.

I smiled as I produced my grappling hook, which I fired high, hitting my mark of the first floor classroom, directly above her office. Then, I was airbourne, sailing up and up, till I had tightly clasped the the window sill, and hauled my way up into the empty classroom.

School had finished over an hour ago and her entorage of henchmen disposed of in a delightful display of graceful carnage, I knew that she was the only one left in school. The scene was set, everything was going perfectly, but then, a voive from the next classroom.

It was shrill, nasal in its tone, akin to scraping ones fingers down the blackboard. I knew the speakers identity. "Dre..." I uttered. "What about Dre?" I silently crept out of the classroom and hugging the wall, peered into the adjoining room. Inside was indeed Dre. My mission however was to kill another far more deadly adversary, but I'd never really liked Dre anyway.

I fished into the inside of my trenchcoat and withdrew a smokebomb. I rolled it along the floor into the classroom, where it stopped; resting against her desk. A hiss, a small explosion of smoke followed, and Dre stumbled out of the door, hands protecting her eyes. Then, the grim spectre of death was upon her, as my nodachi skewered her pathetic form from behind, pinning her face first to the wall. She tried to scream but blood was filling her one unpunctured lung.

With her face already pressed agianst the stone cold wall, I launched a textbook roundhouse kick, perfectly executed, which slammed into the back of her head, smashing her face into the brickwork. Her nose broken, her cheekbones crushed and her eye sockets fractured, Dre slumped forward agianst the wall. She was dead. I pulled the six foot long Nodachi, out of her clotting flesh, and wiped the blade clean with her own hair. I concealed it once again within my coat.

Then, a noise from downstairs. She must of heard the commotion, the smokebomb, the muffled scream, maybe even the sound of flesh being slowly kebabbed on the six foot long Nodachi blade. It didn't matter though, but now Handley had been alerted to my presense. I heard footsteps, acsending the stairs. I looked down from the landing and saw the witch coming.

I took of perfectly, timing my corkscrew sommersult, landing deftly behind her on both feet, then in the blink of an eye, vaulting sideways over the banister, concealing myself beneath the stairs. She'd heard nothing more than a soft, padded, muffled landing, but it was enough. She turned round in an instant. "Who's there?!" she demanded... there was no answer forthcoming. "Hmmm?..." she muttered, then walked back down the staris, through the doors and again into her office. I heard the door shut.

The time was now. I slipped silently out of my hiding place, and looked through the main entrance at the dozens of caltrops i'd liberally scattered just moments earlier. "No escape" I thought, I turned and pulled the fire alarm to my left. Loud,shrill ringing, filled the air as the bell rang. I performed a quick backwards handspring, and was once agin concealed beneath the stairs.

I heard the office opening, then Handley appeared from within the coomon room running madly for the exit. She crossed the threshhold, and let out a scream, falling in agonising pain as the thick shards of metal dug deep into the soft flesh of her feet. Then "AAARGH!" another scream signalled the high speed impact of a Ninja Star, which embedded itself in her shoulder. She staggered backwards, as I made myself visible from the shadows. I had another star clasped in my hand.

"Mr Pratchett..." she spluttred, "Long trenchcoats are NOT permitted on school property...". I looked at her pitifully, and launched the second projectile, which struck her low, digging deep into her kneecap, she fell to her one knee, with stabbing pain coursing through her body.

The sublime doom I was inflicting on her made me smile. I was finally content. But she was still alive, and this was a situation that simply couldn't continue. I unsheathed the massive broadsword from across my back, and reared back for a mighty swing. "Nooo-" was all she could say, as my mighty blade cleaved her head from her shoulders. The severed cranium rolled to my feet, staring blankly. I smiled and waked away.