Hiding - A short story.
I figured that the OOC comm was the best place to put this, it's a piece of Davan's past, written back in 2007 and just recently found. It would take place about 7 years before game time.
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Davan has done a lot of hiding in his time, after all, there’s not much else one can do when one cannot die.
The guys always looked down one him, laughing when he entered the room, talking behind his back, thinking he didn’t know, but, he did…but he didn’t care, the opinion he cared about was His, because that opinion could affect his life. For, even though Davan couldn’t die, he sure could suffer.
“Hey kid!” Davan looked up as his ‘name’ was called (since they never used his real name) Squinting against the sudden light, apparently they had found the light switch, finally, took them long enough. “Catch!” Something heavy landed in his hands as they instinctively reached out to catch said object. It was a simple handgun, he knew he needed it.
“I still don’t know why he wants you to do this, have a deathwish or sumthing?” his companion asked, a sleazy guy who called himself Tommy (named after the gun, he liked to tell people)
“Shadow has his reason” Davan answered calmly, stashing the gun and starting upstairs, the desired place was on top of the building so he quickly made his way up there without sparing a word for Tommy, who’s job was to stand watch. When Davan was a fair distance away he checked his communicator “Tommy, you there?” he whispered into the tiny headset, a slight wait, then a crackle “yes, Kid, get on with the job, it’s freezing out here!” Davan could breathe a little easier when he heard Tommy’s voice. He continued upwards.
They had taken the time to disable most of the security cameras and sensors but he still had to be careful, but he had been doing this a lot lately and, surprisingly enough, the remaining security measures weren’t very complicated, it was rather strange, considering who it was who lived there.
It didn’t take long until Davan had arrived at the top floor, he got the door open with practiced ease, nobody would be able to see that it had been broken up, and moved inside. The apartment was dark and richly furnished nothing but priceless paintings and designer furniture, no question that the man was rich, and wanted to show it. But that was not what he was here for. He moved silently through the apartment, nimble as a cat, his gloved hands knocking occasionally on a wall until he the sound was a little different, he moved a painting and found a safe “How typical” he whispered to himself, and then set out to crack the code.
With every passing minute his heart hammered louder in his chest, especially when cracking the code didn’t go as well as he had hoped. Then as he felt it was almost done his headset cracked and Tommy’s voice sounded into his ear
“kid!” he sounded distressed, that only made Davan’s stress worse, something had happened, he just knew it
“Tommy, what is it!?” he whispered back, praying that it was a false alarm. “Kid, abort, something happened…-“ Tommy’s voice was cut off suddenly and Davan had to use all his self control not to panic. Tommy had told him to abort the mission…but he was too close, he almost had it in his grasp, he couldn’t stop now, a few more moments…
And true enough, in a few more moments he had the safe open and was greeted by a sight that made his panic fade for a moment.
A Diamond, the size of his fist, clear but as the faint light hit it’s surface the colors seemed to dance around it. “Bingo” he reached up, took it and stashed it into a bag tied around his waist. Then he closed the safe and shut the painting, it was only then he heard a voice that made his whole body grow cold as ice.
“Well, well, well, what is this? A little burglar” The voice was taunting and condescending, Davan hated it, he turned around and was greeted with a sight he had hoped never to see.
Richard Drake, one of the most powerful men in the city underground, pointing a gun at Davan’s face.
Oh fuck.
“Now, should I just shoot you now, or maybe have some fun” Drake continued, Davan gulped, petrified, but mind racing.
“The only fun you’re going to be having is watching me take of with your little gem” Davan managed to get out, and with hardly any shake in his voice, he was rather proud of that. He reached into his bag and pulled out the diamond, waving it in Drake’s face for a moment, before stashing it and bolting, heading for the window since it was closer than the door. A bang and a sharp pain in his back stopped him, he crumpled to the ground, unable to breath, feeling nothing but blinding pain.
“oh no, little boy, we’ll have none of that” Drake said calmly, dropping the gun and moving towards Davan, slowly, one step at a time. But in that time, Davan had regained his breath, already feeling his body push the bullet out, he managed to pull himself to his feet “aw, I seem to have stained your priced carpet” Davan managed out in a pained voice.
“well, darn, my aim seems to have faltered, you’re not dead” Drake cocked his head to the side “well, we’ll have that fixed in a minute” Davan felt a strong grip on his hair, and before he knew it he couldn’t breathe again, but this time the pain was in his throat and Drake was holding a bloody knife, Davan met the floor again, staying still for a moment, looking dead, but only just waiting for his skin to heal so he could breathe again. He used the opportunity to get his gun out of it’s holster, Drake too busy gloating to notice the fact that Davan still lived.
“Still not dead” Davan croaked and pointed his gun at the offending person, he pulled the trigger. A thump and the floor had gained another body, this time dead for real, a stunned expression frozen on its face which was now sporting a new hole.
Davan drew a deep breath, frowning at his bloodied state and running a hand over his throat to make sure the slash was fully closed, then he stood up and looked around. He didn’t dare take the door out again, since Drake was sure to have called for backup or the dead body downstairs (Davan now knew why Tommy had been cut off so suddenly) must have attracted some attention.
Davan spared a glance at, the now dead, Richard Drake. He just hoped Shadow wouldn’t be too pissed at not getting to do the killing himself, he seemed to have some kind of personal vendetta against the guy, Davan didn’t know why, but at least he had gotten what he had come for.
He turned to the window, opened it carefully, and jumped out.
Davan had done a whole lot of hiding in his time, but he never claimed to be very good at it.