Chapter 1
SHADOW TO GUARDIAN
"That's right lieutenant. There should be a target a few miles to the South of your local." A short man looks down at his Poketch which shows the GPS location of the target. He runs a hand through his silverish hair then shakes his head. A green dot indicates his location and a blinking red shows the local of the target. "If you hurry you should be able to catch up to the target in a few minutes." The man looks down at the blip again and starts to laugh.
"That's fine and all but you know how I operate." The earpiece goes silent for a few moments while the man awaits the reply of his dispatcher.
"Tsk...fine. The money is in transit right now. So I recommend that you get moving before the target moves again." The man switches the screen over to his bank account and awaits the transfer. After a few moments his account shows an increase of several thousands of dollars. "Now will you get moving!?"
The man can't help but chuckle to himself. When will she learn that he doesn't do anything without being paid first. It wasn't like he was going to take the money and run. Once he was sure that the money safely transferred into another account for safe keeping;(Since he had been cheated out of his money before from other clients). "Consider the target neutralized." With that the man disconnects his headpiece and turns off his Poketch. Pulling out his sniper rifle he checks the action and transfers a round into the chamber, then swings the gun around to rest against his back.
He pulls out another device that looks like a small wrist computer and attaches it to a set of glasses by a cord that runs up his arm under his camouflaged jacket. The jacket is a large one that easily flows down past his boots to scrape on the ground and has a built in hood. He attaches the computer to his right wrist and secures it with Velcro. Once he puts the glasses on the world around him turns into an green x-ray view of the area. The glasses take a moment to adjust and a circular crosshair appears in front of his left eye. He shifts his neck to either side and a popping sound can be heard. After stretching out his muscles a little more he turns back to look at the crosshair and a distance meter appears under it, saying that the target hasn't moved.
He types his local into his comp. to show where he stashed his gear and starts to run towards the target. After traveling a ways he stops to check the wind as to make sure his scent doesn't carry to the target and alert it to his presence. He does this every so often and adjusts accordingly to stay downwind. Once he is about 800 yards from the target he stops and starts to check around for the target.
The Intel that he received said that the target wasn't all that large but could be quite fierce when enraged. When didn't a target get enraged when it found something hunting it. He had been on tons of these missions and found the best way to deal with these things was to take it out with the element of surprise. He checked his glasses several times until he was sure that the target was within range and shifted the glasses feature to an imitation infrared mode. Once the change was done he started to look around again and found that the target was hiding on the top the next rise.
It also showed that the target was coming up the opposite side of the mountain to him. So checking his surroundings he eventually found a good position behind a tree that had a clear line of site to where the target was supposed to crest the rise. Taking the gun from his back he checked the action once more then took the safety off and got into the spread eagle position behind the tree, and there he waited. As he waited for the thing to crest the hill he sighted in the crest of the hill and adjusted his scope accordingly. The glasses adjusted a little more as they synced up with the scope. The hill took on a transparent look though the top of the hill was outlined by a green line, but the target stayed as a red outline. Now was the crucial moment, the time to see if the Intel was correct on the target as the comp on his arm analyzed the creature.
A small check mark appeared on the side of the glasses indicating that the target was indeed without owner and that was the final ok with the mission. On another mission the Intel had neglected that information and he had shot some-ones creature. Needless to say that was a fine mess they had put him in. Since then he had decided to add this feature to his gear as well as a few other modifications. Just then the creatures head moved above the rise and the glasses changed the creatures color from the red to normal though the rest stayed that red color.
It was some kind of fire type. Thankfully he had gone up against this kind of creature before and was thankful that it didn't have a very big brain. He chuckles as he remembers the last one he had eliminated had chased him and failed to follow him close enough and slammed head first into a tree. It's chest was now fully over the rise and he could see it's yellow fur that covered it's front and bluish black fur that from a point on it's nose ran down it's entire back. Once the thing was in full view he slowly exhaled to stop his trembling hands and squeezed the trigger.
The rifle didn't make a sound as the round was released from the gun and sped towards the creature. The round struck the thing just under the chin on it's left side and sunk deep into it's fur where it almost disappeared. He watched as the syringe portion of the round pumped the liquid into the creature and waited. The thing tried to paw away the round but he knew that it wouldn't come out until it had pumped the liquid into the thing. Finally done the round fell away, and he loaded another round into the chamber. Quickly taking aim again he fired another round, this one hitting the neck on the other side. By this time the creature had noticed him and turned to face him. It opened it's mouth as it was about to launch an attack at him but the attack never came as the darts took affect.
The thing started to sway with it's mouth open, then after a few moments the thing fell over with a small mound of leaves and dust puffing up around it. He watched for a good minute as he loaded an actual round into the chamber incase the darts weren't enough to finish it off. Finally after a good two minutes he stood up and started walking over to the beast. As he made his way over to it he kept the gun trained on the thing. When he was about 100 yards away he threw the gun over his shoulder and pulled out a hand gun and took aim.
Finally he stood over the creature and the glasses stated that the thing was indeed incapacitated. Giving the thing several good kicks into it's stomach he finally put the gun away in it's holster on his leg. 'Another successful hunt.' He thought to himself smiling. Turning on his Poketch he contacted his dispatcher for a pickup and awaited it's arrival. The evac arrived fifteen minutes later in a chopper due to the ruggedness of the area. The man watched as several agents descended ropes from the chopper. Nobody said a word as they all went to work putting the creature into restraints and lifted it up to the chopper along with them and they left.
"And good riddance to that piece of shit." He said as he flipped the thing the bird. Looking around the area he found the two darts he fired and put them into a pouch on his belt and made his way back to his horse. Once he arrived where he had tied up his horse to the tree she seemed a little tense but when he came close she seemed to calm down. After he had untied the horse he looked deep into her eyes.
He didn't hate all these things, as he rubbed the horses nose. The horse didn't move as he continued to rub its nose then behind its ears. Eventually it turned it's head away. He simply smirked as he knew that she just wanted to get out of this place. So he took the gun apart and stowed it away in it's case then attached it behind the saddle. Doing the same with the rest of his gear he made his way off the mountain.
He headed to the local town to inform them that the creature had been dealt with and wouldn't bother them anymore. The news was usually met with either great cheer or grief, this time it was cheer except by a young boy in the back of the crowd. A look of anger and tears was what he saw for a spit second before the boy blew him a raspberry then ran off. 'There's usually one in the crowd.' So after collecting some gifts from the residents of the town he climbed back into the saddle and headed home to await further orders.Chapter End Notes:Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended
"That's right lieutenant. There should be a target a few miles to the South of your local." A short man looks down at his Poketch which shows the GPS location of the target. He runs a hand through his silverish hair then shakes his head. A green dot indicates his location and a blinking red shows the local of the target. "If you hurry you should be able to catch up to the target in a few minutes." The man looks down at the blip again and starts to laugh.
"That's fine and all but you know how I operate." The earpiece goes silent for a few moments while the man awaits the reply of his dispatcher.
"Tsk...fine. The money is in transit right now. So I recommend that you get moving before the target moves again." The man switches the screen over to his bank account and awaits the transfer. After a few moments his account shows an increase of several thousands of dollars. "Now will you get moving!?"
The man can't help but chuckle to himself. When will she learn that he doesn't do anything without being paid first. It wasn't like he was going to take the money and run. Once he was sure that the money safely transferred into another account for safe keeping;(Since he had been cheated out of his money before from other clients). "Consider the target neutralized." With that the man disconnects his headpiece and turns off his Poketch. Pulling out his sniper rifle he checks the action and transfers a round into the chamber, then swings the gun around to rest against his back.
He pulls out another device that looks like a small wrist computer and attaches it to a set of glasses by a cord that runs up his arm under his camouflaged jacket. The jacket is a large one that easily flows down past his boots to scrape on the ground and has a built in hood. He attaches the computer to his right wrist and secures it with Velcro. Once he puts the glasses on the world around him turns into an green x-ray view of the area. The glasses take a moment to adjust and a circular crosshair appears in front of his left eye. He shifts his neck to either side and a popping sound can be heard. After stretching out his muscles a little more he turns back to look at the crosshair and a distance meter appears under it, saying that the target hasn't moved.
He types his local into his comp. to show where he stashed his gear and starts to run towards the target. After traveling a ways he stops to check the wind as to make sure his scent doesn't carry to the target and alert it to his presence. He does this every so often and adjusts accordingly to stay downwind. Once he is about 800 yards from the target he stops and starts to check around for the target.
The Intel that he received said that the target wasn't all that large but could be quite fierce when enraged. When didn't a target get enraged when it found something hunting it. He had been on tons of these missions and found the best way to deal with these things was to take it out with the element of surprise. He checked his glasses several times until he was sure that the target was within range and shifted the glasses feature to an imitation infrared mode. Once the change was done he started to look around again and found that the target was hiding on the top the next rise.
It also showed that the target was coming up the opposite side of the mountain to him. So checking his surroundings he eventually found a good position behind a tree that had a clear line of site to where the target was supposed to crest the rise. Taking the gun from his back he checked the action once more then took the safety off and got into the spread eagle position behind the tree, and there he waited. As he waited for the thing to crest the hill he sighted in the crest of the hill and adjusted his scope accordingly. The glasses adjusted a little more as they synced up with the scope. The hill took on a transparent look though the top of the hill was outlined by a green line, but the target stayed as a red outline. Now was the crucial moment, the time to see if the Intel was correct on the target as the comp on his arm analyzed the creature.
A small check mark appeared on the side of the glasses indicating that the target was indeed without owner and that was the final ok with the mission. On another mission the Intel had neglected that information and he had shot some-ones creature. Needless to say that was a fine mess they had put him in. Since then he had decided to add this feature to his gear as well as a few other modifications. Just then the creatures head moved above the rise and the glasses changed the creatures color from the red to normal though the rest stayed that red color.
It was some kind of fire type. Thankfully he had gone up against this kind of creature before and was thankful that it didn't have a very big brain. He chuckles as he remembers the last one he had eliminated had chased him and failed to follow him close enough and slammed head first into a tree. It's chest was now fully over the rise and he could see it's yellow fur that covered it's front and bluish black fur that from a point on it's nose ran down it's entire back. Once the thing was in full view he slowly exhaled to stop his trembling hands and squeezed the trigger.
The rifle didn't make a sound as the round was released from the gun and sped towards the creature. The round struck the thing just under the chin on it's left side and sunk deep into it's fur where it almost disappeared. He watched as the syringe portion of the round pumped the liquid into the creature and waited. The thing tried to paw away the round but he knew that it wouldn't come out until it had pumped the liquid into the thing. Finally done the round fell away, and he loaded another round into the chamber. Quickly taking aim again he fired another round, this one hitting the neck on the other side. By this time the creature had noticed him and turned to face him. It opened it's mouth as it was about to launch an attack at him but the attack never came as the darts took affect.
The thing started to sway with it's mouth open, then after a few moments the thing fell over with a small mound of leaves and dust puffing up around it. He watched for a good minute as he loaded an actual round into the chamber incase the darts weren't enough to finish it off. Finally after a good two minutes he stood up and started walking over to the beast. As he made his way over to it he kept the gun trained on the thing. When he was about 100 yards away he threw the gun over his shoulder and pulled out a hand gun and took aim.
Finally he stood over the creature and the glasses stated that the thing was indeed incapacitated. Giving the thing several good kicks into it's stomach he finally put the gun away in it's holster on his leg. 'Another successful hunt.' He thought to himself smiling. Turning on his Poketch he contacted his dispatcher for a pickup and awaited it's arrival. The evac arrived fifteen minutes later in a chopper due to the ruggedness of the area. The man watched as several agents descended ropes from the chopper. Nobody said a word as they all went to work putting the creature into restraints and lifted it up to the chopper along with them and they left.
"And good riddance to that piece of shit." He said as he flipped the thing the bird. Looking around the area he found the two darts he fired and put them into a pouch on his belt and made his way back to his horse. Once he arrived where he had tied up his horse to the tree she seemed a little tense but when he came close she seemed to calm down. After he had untied the horse he looked deep into her eyes.
He didn't hate all these things, as he rubbed the horses nose. The horse didn't move as he continued to rub its nose then behind its ears. Eventually it turned it's head away. He simply smirked as he knew that she just wanted to get out of this place. So he took the gun apart and stowed it away in it's case then attached it behind the saddle. Doing the same with the rest of his gear he made his way off the mountain.
He headed to the local town to inform them that the creature had been dealt with and wouldn't bother them anymore. The news was usually met with either great cheer or grief, this time it was cheer except by a young boy in the back of the crowd. A look of anger and tears was what he saw for a spit second before the boy blew him a raspberry then ran off. 'There's usually one in the crowd.' So after collecting some gifts from the residents of the town he climbed back into the saddle and headed home to await further orders.Chapter End Notes:Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended