SHOOTER IN THE PARK ALL UNITS 10-32 (OPEN)

Afkhami Farook sat at the picnic table in the shade of the oak tree at the park. He gazed out over the lazy sunday scene, eyeing his family playing in the field beyond. He was enjoying this new life, the one where he did not have to worry about the tremendous pressures coming from his superiors. Sure the local newspaper didn't utilize his talent for putting a spin on things as his previous one had, but it was quiet. The towers didn't rise to the heavens in a glittering forest of gleaming glass and girders, but things were certainly safer. Here the little ones were playing, and presently the smallest grandchild ran over and gave him her ice cream gushing forth "Grandfather you look so sad just now, have my strawberry, it will cheer you up." and he accepted it with a warm smile and patted her on the head. He bent down and whispered a secret in her ear then told her to run along and play.

Had he been sad? He suppose he had been. How could he not? His family was here, alive and enjoying themselves, and yet so many families had not made it out of that glittering gem in the desert. All by his superior's design of course. He had had no other choice after all, his hand was forced. What had been done would never be unearthed, no secret could ever be uncovered from that city that was now the graveyard of the century.

A single grain of sand fell onto his ice cream, the coarseness contrasting with the creamy concoction in the cup. Funny, he thought. It was familiar somehow as if this grain had flown halfway around the world from his home to rejoin him here and now. He glanced up at the tree he was under and glimpsed the green leaves in the sunlight. Oddly, he thought he saw the shape of a man, not a familiar one, but one nonetheless. Was that a kufiya he was wearing, and what was that he was holding? What kind of grown man climbs a tree in the middle of a children's playground....

He felt the shot before he heard the sound.

The cup fell from his hand, and the stranger stepped down from the tree. The stranger took no notice of the panicking masses, simply stared his deep - set blue eyes into the lifeless ones of the old man below him. With a gesture of his hand the sands of the grandfather's were merged with his own. They would come, the sands told him, they will come to impede the will of the sands he served.

Let them try.

( Law, I want to apologize.It's not good that you were disregarded and forgotten.And though I wasn't sure which charrie to use, I should have hopped in sooner. I hope you can forgive us.)

A blur raced along the streets, eyes narrowed. This city...his city..had been through enough, without random snipers in the mix.The boy closes in on the park, and he growls at the sight of the figure."......." Electricity crackles around Toji's form and he steps forward."Surrender,"

The stranger stood feet shoulder-width apart, and he cradled his rifle in the crook of his arms. His eyes met those of the scarred boy, they flicked over his figure, sized him up. He took notice of the static charge around him, the stillness in the air around his person. That acrid smell of smoldering copper wafted from the figure. This then must be the wolf of lightning, the one the sands had warned him of.

When he spoke, it was with a dry rasp, like that of a throat that had not known water for many days.
"How now does the boy of storm and thunder come to demand my surrender? The sands will not permit me rest in my holy mission. And what is a wolf without his pack? He is simply a stray..."

The stranger slowly, with meticulousness felt his trigger hand move down the rifle, caressing it, and he gently lifted the bolt twisted it and drew it back, ejecting the casing with a puff of sand. He then slammed it home and he felt the rifle communicate it's eagerness for another target.

"I wonder" croaked the stranger "If the sands within you are not glassed by your fury? I suppose we shall find out."

Toji snorts."And what kind of holy mission is it, that people need to die?And as for packlessness...This city is my pack. Every innocent,hopeful heart...even the hearts stained by darkness. You've come and hunted in my den...." His eyes go black and gold."And I don't appreciate it!" The halfling nods as the figure cocks his weapon."...I think you'll find me much sturdier then glass, jerk." 

The stranger took a step back, and though the wolf could not see it, his jaw tensed beneath the folds of his kufiya and facemask.

"It is said, young boy, only a fool holds a spear to the heavens in a thunder storm while it rages. Fate calls me to my duty, and as the sands beckon me I must go. We will meet again young wolf, though you will not have the comfort of the knowledge of that fact."

A hush wind blew by and the stranger seemed to dissipate into it, seemingly melting into a cloud of sand that gently blew down the alleyway, and away into the night.

Toji steps toward, eyes narrowing."Buts whos the spear, and who's the storm?"He gets ready to charge him, but the man fades into sand, disappearing. The halfling growls, then sighs,waiting for the Enforcers to get there so he can give his report.



END(?)