The barn's lightless inner rooms and size which dominated high above the rest of the decrepit tents still blended in with the monotonous surroundings. Stripped of even a slightly valuable possession, the barn was clearly covered with age and thievery on the outside, worthless on the inside. However, it is what's underneath the barn which warrants protection from the biggest gang in the area.
'They shouldn't have discovered the hatch at the back yet, I need them gone before that happens. They're the type that doesn't care about them or their relatives, as long as they're the hero' Shichiro recalled the words of his boss.
"I remember putting down another person like this before, they'll put up a good fight." His eyes filled with determination but his fists trembled as they clenched.
A clinking sound repeatedly cranked on metal as a shadowy figure crouched over a rusted wheel of a doorknob lying on the floor. Shichiro crept up behind the figure, a cloth raised in the hand to his right. 'Simple movements, silent but deadly'
The cloth was soaked in some kind of chemical that Shichiro didn't understand. 'The boss said this stuff can knock a man out instantly, an 'incapacitating agent' he called it. Don't understand the details around one but the boss is a smart man, don't question him'
Shichiro raised his knife.
Being quickly alerted, the darkness leapt at Shichiro, arms raised. "Take this you scoundrel!" It yelled and took flight but the insult fell on deaf ears. In an instant, Shichiro's fight or flight response took over. He swiftly took a step under and behind the airborne specter, erasing its will to fight in another instant. The knife flew to another side of the room, invisible in the darkness.
Shichiro violently shoved the cloth down the man's throat, causing him to drop motionless on the ground. Getting up, the man choked down his saliva and spat the saliva dripping cloth out onto the floor.
"Bet you thought you had me there." The man wiped the excess saliva off his mouth. "Scoundrels like you don't deserve to live, I can't falter here."
The man spoke like a 'weird person' thought Shichiro. "Guess those incapacitating agents ain't gonna work on someone dumb like you."
"Says the one running a black market!" He lunged at Shichiro with a wide smile, teeth shining through the black background. Shichiro silently acknowledged the man's remark, "what do you expect from a place like this?!" His punch landed square on Shichiro's face, to which Shichiro followed with a right hook to the side of his stomach.
Forcing himself through the pain on his left cheek, Shichiro shoved the man backwards before charging towards him headfirst.
The man grabbed Shichiro by the head and nearly slammed Shichiro's head into his knee but Shichiro barely managed to push his knee to the side.
He twisted himself away from the man's grasp and landed a the final blow into the bridge of his nose, ending the fight, or so he thought. The man slowly got up with the support of the wall and cautiously raised his arms, clenching his fists.
Shichiro's eyes widened in shock, 'why does he have to be so tough..." The same blow from Shichiro had knocked many men out cold in the past. Charging without a care, the man bear hugged Shichiro in an instant, bending his back preparing to suplex Shichiro but a crack interrupted the tense moment.
He broke his spine. The man folded onto his back and released Shichiro, blood gushing from his right foot where he'd stepped on the knife that had dropped. "... I'm going home." Shichiro threw the body into a nearby crate and returned to the office room.
"You're back, that means you finished the job, right?" Shichiro looked tiredly at his boss, "yes."
Returning home to his daughter excited Shichiro, almost to the point where he began to skip. His daughter slept on the couch, her blanket fallen onto the floor. She clutched a book tightly in a hug, "that's-" He reached out for the book, careful not to wake the little girl.
"How did she find this?" He returned the book to where it was prior. "I have to protect what's left of her, I have to do it on my own, in my own way." He glanced at his daughter periodically before falling asleep on the floor.