Locked Gates: Chapter 01

Part One: A Homemade Killer

Chapter One: Basking Moonlight

How cool was Senshi Himura?

Well, thought Senshi Himura, as he looked at his reflection, Let’s see… Stylish hair? Check. Good fashion sense? Check. Good figure? Check. Nice trainers? Check. Good aim with gun? Check. Clean killer? Check. Yeah, I’m pretty much all set. He cocked his pistol, before spinning it on his finger and dropping it into its holster.

Running footsteps approached the door to his single dormitory. Heh, more like a mansion’s bedroom than a recruit’s dorm, Senshi thought as he turned from the giant window that over looked the dark sky. A soft carpet coating the floor and a giant four-poster bed lay opposite a desk that was covered in sheets of paper. Senshi’s own personal cupboard of weapons, ranging from guns, to swords, to even those weird little Japanese star thingies that had been imported only last week.
The echoing footsteps stopped right outside the door, and Senshi’s eyes flew in their direction. A few seconds pause later, the door flew open and a man entered the room. Young and skinny, Senshi could tell he was one of those computer geeks from up high.

“Yariman says you can go see him,” The man said, pushing his glasses back up his nose, “We found the whereabouts of the girl.” He said, his wide eyes looking in envious amazement at the gorgeous comfort of Senshi’s room. Smiling to himself, Senshi remembered that most of the professor-people slept in dorms with very little space to themselves.

“And where is she?” he asked, leaning against one of the bedposts, looking at the intruding man with a look of pure superiority. The man ruffled slightly at the arrogance of the teenager, pushing his glasses back up onto his nose, the man sniffed.

“We’re in a bit of a hurry,” He said, looking down at the clipboard in his hands, “Yariman is growing impatient, I would prefer it if I could explain the details to you on the way…”

“I’m sure the old tosser can afford to wait a few more minutes,” Senshi said, yawning and stretching his arms, “I’d much prefer to get all the fun details in my own room than in one of those cold corridors.” The man’s mouth dropped open at the sound of Senshi’s tone. No one had ever insulted Yariman. No one who wanted to live that is.

“It was an order from Yariman,” The man said, puffing out his chest impressively, trying to make himself just that one inch taller, “to bring you to him instantly and explain the details to you on the way. Time really is of the essence.”

“Ooh,” Senshi opened his eyes, “Now that sounds a bit more interesting, if not a bit clichéd.” He slumped himself away from the bed post and began to walk towards the man. “Come on, Dexter, explain the details to me then.”

The corridors were long and cold, and Senshi’s interest was waning to the extreme of wanting to turn right around and go back to his room.

“So… that’s it.” He asked when the man had finished explaining the details to him, “All I do is go and collect the girl. No action? Can’t I kill even one person?” The man gave a small shudder and his eyes flew momentarily to the gun that was inches from Senshi’s hand. “You said time is of the essence… But all I am doing is a delivery service, with no thirty-minute promise!” Senshi sighed and ran a hand through his spiked up brown hair, “What makes his mission any different from any other. Why would he call for his assassin to do it?” The man gave a small sigh and looked up at Senshi who, though twenty years younger, was over a head taller.
“The White Skulls…” The man said quietly. Senshi stopped, causing the man to walk ten paces ahead before looking back. A smile spread across the boy’s face, and his fingers twitched, inching their way toward his weapon…

“Well, that changes everything.” Senshi smiled.

“How… how do you mean?” The man asked inquiringly, leaning slightly to get a better look at Senshi as he ran another hand through his spiked up hair.
“All I’ve been doing recently have been pointless little missions,” Senshi said, reaching for his gun, “Take out this man, he might be a threat. Murder this family, they could get in the way, but now…” Senshi raised his gun and aimed it at the man, “Well, now… I’m going to really have some fun…”

He fired.

The man gave a yelp of fear, and grabbed his head, even though only a second before he had felt the bullet whiz past him. Turning his head slowly round, the man looked behind him. At the end of the corridor was a small painting, a woman standing holding a jar, pouring water, and in the centre of her forehead, the bullet lay buried in the canvas.

“Why - why do I have to come with you?” The man’s voice was shivering with fear as he followed Senshi down the stairs. They had only just exited Yariman’s office, in which Senshi had received only two orders; bring her back. Kill everyone else.
“Because I like you.” Senshi said, looking slyly at the man, “You’re fun to scare, and anyway, you know a lot about the girl and her whereabouts, and also, you seem to know a lot about The White Skulls as well.”

“Excuse me.” The man said indignantly, forgetting himself for a second, “I am not that easy to scare.”

“Uhuh,” Senshi said, grabbing the man by the scruff of the neck, hoisting him off his feet and dangling him over the banister.”

“Ok! Ok!” The man squealed, his legs dangling below him, “Ok! Please! Sir, I- Ok, I am… I am easy to scare, just please… please!” Senshi smiled, and turned away to yawn, choosing that moment to let go.

The man gave a scream as he began to fall, but then Senshi’s second hand grabbed him by the front of his shirt. Sweat pouring down his face, the man looked through his uneven glasses at the sixteen year old. He sputtered; feeling suddenly both stupid and very scared. Senshi winked, before lifting the man over the banister and dropping him on the stairs.

“Sorry about that.” Senshi said yawning, “Missions get me excited.” He stretched his arms again, before continuing his way down the stairs. The man gave a few seconds to recover, straightened his glasses, and then; scared of something else happening, followed Senshi down the stairwell, his sweaty face gleaming in the light.
The outside air was cool against Senshi’s face, and a refreshing breeze blew across the grass. Senshi tingled with excitement; he was also exceptionally glad to be out that bloody building. He hated it in there, stuck inside day in, day out. Since he was fourteen he had spent the first two years of his life doing nothing but training, and it was only when his sixteenth birthday came was he assigned by his father to work for Yariman.

The man came hurrying through the doors, gasping in the refreshing winter air. The sudden change of temperature was shocking, but definitely welcome, it seemed that inside The Building, it was important to keep temperatures at near unbearable heights.

“How does it feel,” Senshi asked from ten feet away, “to be outside finally?”

“Is… Is that why you told me to come along?” The man asked, peering at Senshi’s back, “You think I need to get out more?” Senshi chuckled, raising his head to the sky.

“Interestingly put,” he said, amused, “And yeah, all you computer geeks ever do is spend all your time doing those tests, receiving and making new data, or whatever crazy shit you people do.”

“Do you not even know what The Organisation is for?” The man asked, a smirk rising across his face.

“Like I care.” Senshi said, “So long as I get the money I need, and a roof over my head.” He turned to look at the man, who seemed suddenly even smaller now he was out in the open, “So go on, tell me; what is this crackpot Yariman doing?” Senshi began making his along the path, signalling for the man to follow him.
“Well, do you know about his plans for the Government?”

“Oh bloody hell.” Senshi burst out, “Is this another one?”

“Another… what?” The man asked, he was looking at Senshi with an inquiring glare, wondering what on earth the young teenager meant by his outburst.

“Another one of those bloody organisations set up to overthrow our terrible government?” Senshi clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes. “The government might be shit, and our democracy crumbling, but do we really need to have everyone and their dog a member of some secret organisation that wants to overthrow them. Like they could do a better job.”

The man gulped.

“Err… yes, I suppose so, but this time Yariman has a good plan for everyone in the country.”

“And what, no good plans for himself?” Senshi interrupted, “Tell me, does this good plan of Yariman’s not have him at the top? In his master plan, is he not the man who commands it all, the man who’s above everyone else, the man in charge?”
There came no reply.

“Figures.” Senshi sighed, before turning away and continuing to walk away from the man, “So tell me, what is your name? If I’m going to have you following me for the next few hours, I might as well have something to call you with.”

“My name is Robert.” The man said, looking up at Senshi with amusement.
“Ah, so not one of those ones with code names.” Senshi mused, looking back at Robert, “Or did they just run out of Japanese words to call people now?”

“What do you mean?” Robert asked, hurrying behind Senshi.

“Bit stupid though…” Senshi said, as though he hadn’t heard Robert, “It’s not even like we have actual Japanese names, I haven’t met any Akira’s, or Tetsuo’s. How are we meant to be a Japanese training school if no one there has even a slightly Japanese name?”

“Uhm…”

“I suppose it’s just because of how narrow minded then English are maybe?” Senshi asked to no one, “That so long as it sounded Japanese, no one would mind? But I mean come on! Who would name their child dirty pervert? That’s what Yariman’s name means. Did you know that?” Senshi laughed, “Well at least mine’s cool; Senshi… It means some variation of warrior… I think. It’s also cool because shi means blood.”

“That’s… nice…”

“So, Robert,” Senshi said as they turned a corner in the path, and came facing a giant iron garage door. “Tell me more about this plan, what’s the point of this girl?”
“Well,” Robert said, swelling slightly; thankful that he finally had something interesting to say, “As you know, Yariman plans for drastic action,” he took a dramatic breath, “He wants to not only have the politicians over thrown, but to have them wiped from the face of the earth.”

“Hence me coming into the story.” Senshi said. Robert nodded.

“Yes, you’re perfect, and also, as you know, you’re being trained for combat in case this underground war escalates. Other than you, there are no other assassins available, or at least, none that we can trust. So we’ve decided to…”

“To have your own generation of killers?” Senshi asked, “You’re going to raise this girl to be an assassin for The Organisation?” They were nearing the garage, “That’s sick… but cool.”

“I suppose,” Robert said, his rhythm broken, “Anyway, we sign deals with families from all over the world, to give away their first born children, these are families who have already been seriously affected by the war, and thus know the seriousness of our situation.

“When their first born child is around the age of three, they are taken from their parents and trained here. We already have four, but Yariman seems to have special interest in this one girl.”

“Uhuh… What country is she from?” Senshi asked.

“Japan.”

“Figures.”

“But the thing is, her parents didn’t want to give her away, there was some special feud with the mother, I think something happened between her and Yariman, but I’m not sure. Anyway, she refused to give away her child, so it was decided to give her a few months more- Yariman was specifically adamant not to upset the mother, but then we found out two things…

“One was that the family’s second child had been born. Now this is very bad news, because Yariman wanted to make sure that only one child was born of that family.”
“Why?” Senshi asked, punching a code into the keypad beside the garage door.
“I – I don’t know…” Robert said, ducking below the grinding door as it rose upwards, “But however, we also found out that the White Skulls have gotten wind of the girl and are after her too. They kidnapped the family and brought them to England, saying that the girl could still live with her family, so long as she also worked for them.”

“Bastards.” Senshi grinned, pressing his remote key. A hundred yards away, an orange light flashed along side a series of bleeps.

“Yariman says that as this girl is the most important member to The Organisation, it is vital that we get her back.” Robert hurried around a people carrier, trying to keep up with Senshi’s strides.

“What’s wrong with the other three?” Senshi asked, making his way through the assortment of parked vehicles.

“Well, the first one, Susan, who’s the same age as this girl, Hanaka, is actually being brought up at home still. Yariman believes it might be good for a psychological test to see who performs better; those who get to grow up in a well rounded society, or those taught to kill from the start.”

“Bloody hell, have you been listening to that freak, Freud?” Senshi asked, lifting a bike helmet from a cupboard and throwing it at Robert, “You know his parents made him wear dresses until he was ten, don’t you?” Catching the helmet, Robert looked up at Yariman with a dazed expression, but didn’t answer. “What about the other three?”

“Well, Jonathon and Ben are living at The Building at this very moment in the nursery section.”

“And the other one?” Senshi asked, walking towards a motorbike that stood poised like a panther in waiting.

“Jameson has decided to train the boy himself.”

Senshi stopped walking.

“What?” Turning to look at Robert, Senshi’s hands balled into fists, nearly causing him to drop his helmet.

“Jameson is the one who’s going to train the boy to become an assassin, just like how you’re going to train the girl, this Japanese one in fact, who you’re going to pick up.”

“Ah, so that’s why I’m on this mission.” Senshi growled, throwing his helmet to the ground, “You know, I think I could do with a bit more excitement.”

The engine of the Kawasaki roared to life, its golden eyes shining a path for Senshi as he wheeled it into position.

“Are you coming or not?” he asked, looking at Robert.

“I…”

“Get on for God’s sake.” Senshi shouted, revving the engine. Reaching out, Senshi grabbed hold of Robert by the front of his shirt and hauled him onto the bike. Robert’s glasses fell to the ground and shattered. The moment Robert had straightened his helmet; the bike gave a roar of power and flew through and out the garage.

The moonlight was casting eerie shadows along the floor as Senshi crouched in waiting. He could see men walking down the quiet and otherwise silent lane, at the end of which sat a perfect house. Two stories, windows on both sides of the front door which was nestled at the centre of the building’s face. A car sat parked in the front, Volvo. Not too old, not too new. The garden had flowers growing, but it wasn’t wild, nor was it clean cut. There was nothing about this building to suggest that something terrible was about to happen.

“Are those the white skulls?” Senshi asked, turning to look at Robert, who nodded. “Ah yeah… they don’t exactly hide themselves, do they?” Senshi mused, noticing that every one of the men approaching the house was wearing black jackets, the emblem of a white skull clear on each of them. There was a women with them, with a body like an angel. Her blonde hair fell down through the back of her helmet like a golden cloak.

“What do you think they’re planning to do?” Senshi whispered, Robert didn’t answer, but only crawl even closer to get a better look. The two of them were perched at the very edge of the ridge, which stopped suddenly to make way for the road ten feet below. The over grown trees and thick bushes acted as the perfect cover for the two of them as they lay concealed, watching.

“Well… They obviously don’t have the same plans for the girl as we do… so maybe…”

“What plans do we have? Other than making her an assassin?” Senshi inquired, looking at the man incredulously. He couldn’t help but feel that there was something the man wasn’t telling him. The thought made anger lick his insides.
“Oh, just that.” Robert said quietly, “Just to make her an assassin, so it is always possible that they’re only doing this to keep us from having her…”

“But why would it matter if we had her?” Senshi asked, getting slightly annoyed. “Couldn’t we just get another Japanese assassin?”

“Yes, I suppose, but…” Robert paused as a look of complete befuddlement stretched across his small little face. Senshi turned to look at where his eyes were staring.

The group were standing in a line, fifty yards from the house. Standing imperiously, the lot of them all had their hands behind their backs, legs apart, as though waiting for something. There were still a few lights on at the house, even thought it must have been gone one o’clock in the morning. The man in the centre of the line raised a hand; in it was what looked like a tiny remote control. He pressed it and the house exploded in flames.

At that moment a pair of gloved hands flew out of the bush behind them, grabbing Robert’s jaw from behind. They twisted his neck with a snap. Senshi whirled around and saw the back of a fist come flying towards his face. The first thing he noticed was agonising pain in his nose, and then that there was no ground beneath his feet.
Senshi fell the four metres to the road, his back slamming into the tarmac. He coughed and spluttered as all the air escaped his body like a deflated mattress. Looking up with blurred eyes, Senshi saw the helmet-clad man whip out a knife from a pack in his leg and leap down from the ledge, kicking aside the lifeless body of Robert.

With all the energy he had, Senshi rolled over, and he heard both the man’s boots hit the road, and the knife slice into the surface inches from his own head. A foot slammed into Senshi’s chest, causing him to be thrown a foot or so closer to the wall. He heard the song of the knife being withdrawn from the road’s surface.
The man charged but Senshi pushed himself onto his feet and leapt forward, the two of them collided. The man’s knife flew for Senshi’s stomach, but by the hand of its target, it was twisted back and shoved into its owner’s own flesh.

The man fell with a grown to the floor, clutching at his dying stomach. Senshi coughed, gasping for air. The man’s blood began running down hill in thin streams of black. Looking up, Senshi saw the five men turn, the roaring flames behind them still clutching at the air above it.

They shouted, withdrawing guns from their backs. But Senshi had already begun to move. And when Senshi moves. No one can live. Pulling the knife from the dying man’s belly with a sickening squelch, Senshi began to charge.

The men opened fire, but their bullets just seemed to miss. Dodging to the right, Senshi ran along side the high concrete wall, bullets shattering against its hard surface. With his concealed hand, Senshi withdrew his semi-automatic and ran with it pressed beside his leg. A bullet charred his shoulder, and Senshi threw the knife.

It cut air, skin, skull and brain.

The men paid no attention to their fallen comrade; only one was distracted as the man’s body collapsed sideways, causing him to stagger into the other man. He gave a scream of surprise, causing the other man to turn and look. And it was then that Senshi took his turn to fire.

Leaping over the bodies of the men, Senshi was running up the hard path towards the burning house, from which came the horrified screams of the trapped people inside, when something heavy smashed into him. He hit the ground hard, his head slamming into the pavement. The weight on top of him had arms and legs.

“Get off of me!” Senshi roared, trying to push the man away, but a cold and heavy hand grabbed him by the jaw and held him down.

“Shut up.” Hissed a voice in his ear. It was at that moment that Senshi realised this was none other than Jameson.

“You.” Senshi growled, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“To make sure that you didn’t screw up, boy.”

“We have to get the girl!” Senshi shouted, as the roar of flames grew ever louder. He could hear running footsteps, were they foe or ally?

“Of course we do.” Jameson hissed, “Yariman will pay very high regards to the one who returns the girl to him.” Senshi now realised the game that he was in. He struggled to his feet, throwing Jameson from him with every ounce of detest he had.

“Why… Why the hell did they do that?!” Senshi shouted, waving an arm at the house. At that moment the upper roof collapsed, a series of screams exploded out from inside.

“They didn’t want the girl. They knew what we knew, and they threatened to sabotage everything if we didn’t co-operate.”

“Co-operate? How the hell were we supposed to co-operate?”

“Well, for one, not send any of our men to stop them from taking the girl, but you royally messed that up. They must have seen you, so they blew up the house.”
“Shit.” Senshi spat at the ground, “Right, will I really don’t have time for this.” He began to walk towards the burning house, feeling as alight as the building before him, “I have a package to deliver!” Jameson ran forward to stop him but Senshi had already vaulted the door shelter.

Slamming his elbow into the window, Senshi watched the glass shatter before swinging himself in. Fire hadn’t attacked this room yet, but the smoke that coated the walls was enough to choke even the strongest of men. Pressing his forearm to his mouth, Senshi ran towards the door but a hand grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back.

Jameson leapt towards the door, greed shining in his eyes, reflecting the burning flames. His hand grabbed the handle, but Senshi slammed his shoulder against the wood of the door.

“No!” He shouted, “What about a back draft!”

“Don’t be so foolish!” Jameson swung his arm, the back of which slammed Senshi’s jaw, knocking him back.

Steadying himself, Senshi ran forward, but stopped when he heard the cries coming from the other side. A woman’s voice, not ten feet away, crying over the flames;
“Run! Hanaka! Run now!” She was crying, but it was then silenced under a heavy roar of gunfire. Jameson whirled around and ran to the window, Senshi charged too. Leaning out the window, Senshi saw two groups of people shooting each other, one of which embellishing the white skull.

Over the flames, Senshi heard a door outside open, followed by the roar of angry flames and the terrified screams of the woman, and what sounded like… a girl. The girl; Hanaka! She was right outside the door! Jameson didn’t know that. Senshi ran towards the door, but was cut short by Jameson’s great hand grabbing his face and wrenching it back. Senshi hit carpet.

With what looked like a Tommy-Gun in his hand, Jameson ripped the door open. There was a moment’s pause, in which Senshi had just enough time to get to his feet, before being knocked back by the sheer rage of the gunfire emanating from not five feet away. Clutching his ears, Senshi staggered back, ramming backwards into a cabinet.

A woman’s screams silenced in an instant, the mother lay dead, nothing but a tattered mess of flesh and bone and bullet. When the gunfire stopped, Senshi pushed himself up, and saw Jameson advancing on the girl; her terrified black eyes shining with fear in the light of the fire. Jameson threw out a hand, but Senshi had rammed into him.

“No you don’t!” he roared, “She’s mine!” Jameson threw his arm back, his elbow colliding with Senshi’s nose, but Senshi had thrown out his fist, and with a satisfying smash, felt it slam into Jameson’s cheekbone. Thrown aside by the force of the punch, Jameson was knocked back, only to meet Senshi’s second fist, which sent him reeling back into the wall. The ground gave way and Jameson vanished with the flames as the landing floor fell into the hallway.
Vaulting the banister, Senshi landed in the hallway, seeing two things happen at once. The first being Jameson; completely unaware of Senshi, withdrawing… a sword. A thin, almost whip-like blade that reflected the fire in his eyes. The second was a door being thrown open, and a small, black head vanishing into the torrent of smoke that issued from the doorway. Senshi took his chances.

The room was like a vacuum; Senshi was nearly collapsing under the suffocating strain of the smoke. He could hear a baby’s screams. The baby boy! The boy! Through the smoke Senshi saw a pair of small hands taking the boy from his crib. But then they vanished. Where had they gone? Under the table? Maybe.
Senshi began to move blindly forward, but then a hand grabbed him round the face and threw him back. Senshi was about to raise his fist; until he saw the white skull emblem on the man’s chest. Fear flooded his heart as fast as the smoke flooded his lungs. The man took no notice of Senshi, but instead vanished into the smoke. Senshi could hear a baby’s screams, joined by a girl’s startled yells. And then the man appeared for a second in the smoke, carrying the bundle in his arms, before vanishing into the floating blanket of grey.

Senshi was about to move when something bumped into his leg, Senshi looked down just long enough to see the girl vanish as well under the heavy smoke. He had to get her. Senshi pushed through the smoke into the hallway again, he could hear shouts coming from the room Jameson had ran into.

Centre stage stood Jameson, and another man. The dad maybe? Whoever he was, he was about to get sliced by the blade in Jameson’s cold hands, but then the man threw out a kick, slamming his foot into Jameson’s shin, causing him to collapse sideways. Senshi could only blink as the man charged forwards, and scooped up the girl who had been crouching so still Senshi hadn’t even noticed her.

The man began to run. Damn. Senshi whipped out his pistol and opened fire. He saw Jameson rush past him disappearing through the French doors after the dad, running down into the garden. More guns opened into the air as the dad ran, the grass around him jumping with the bullets’ force. Senshi stopped running and raised his gun. He fired three times, and the man convulsed once, twice, three times, before hitting the ground.

Senshi was about to run forward, before something stopped him. Above all else, he hadn’t expected what would put a stopper in his run to be that…

It was the girl. The look in her eyes, as she crouched, looking at her dying father. His shivering hand reached forward and stroked the girl, Hanaka’s cheek, before collapsing into the grass.

Senshi didn’t move. Everything around him went silent as he watched the, now orphaned, girl, try to cuddle her father back to life.

But then Jameson’s merciless hands flew forward, chloroform clasped in his grip, he shoved the cloth into the girl’s mouth, she struggled, her tiny fists beating against Jameson’s arm… Before falling by her side.

How cool was Senshi Himura? It depends on who you’re asking.