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The show had ended at the local opera house, its patrons filing out of the building, their conversation abuzz with the gossip of the latest play. However, unbeknownst to these joyful attendees, someone was watching them from across the street. Watching them carefully. Watching them.... through the sights of a sniper rifle...

"C'mon, you bastard," Cypher cursed under his breath. "Where in the hell are ya'?"

He tightened his grip on the Heckler and Kotch PSG-1 before forcing it to relax. Despite his years of sniping experience, he never quite got the concept of 'patience'. Gritting his teeth, the timber wolf readjusted his sights, making sure he was dead-aimed at the opera house entrance. Looking back through the scope, Cypher steadied his nerves as he continued to look for his elusive prey.

Cypher "Lone Wolf" Blaze, ace marksman, superior espionage sniper, and one hell of a mean dog. A 'sniper for hire', Cypher often aided FBI and Military forces in domestic threats, for the right price. Though, of course, he wasn't in it for the money; He was actually in it for the challenge. Having been ranked as one of the top snipers in the entire country, Cypher wouldn't go near a mission if it didn't test his marksmanship. That's why the government often hired him for the most dangerous covert operations: They knew he was the best, and could handle even the toughest assignments they gave him. He was a one-fur sniping machine, and only when there was no other choice would they send him into battle.

This was one of those assignments. Staring through his custom Hendsoldt sniper scope, Cypher found his target: an aging lion in a black-on-black tuxedo. The lion was Henry Reighnhart, professional killer and known supporter of a deadly political faction targeting the President. Having seen battle more times than it looked like, the old lion had to have several robotic prostheses retrofitted onto his body, including a dense titanium skullcap encasing his cranium. Although not entirely all-encompassing, the metal skullcap did a good job of covering most of his brain, making a head shot close to impossible for anyone else.

Cypher, as it was well known, was not like everyone else.

Steadying his aim, he gently squeezed the trigger, smiling slightly in satisfaction at the muffled BOOM of the bullet being let loose. Watching intently at his prey, Cypher couldn't help but chuckle a little in morbid humor as he imagined the bullet shooting straight through the lion's forehead and impacting against the back of his head, splattering his brains inside his head like an egg being scrambled from the inside.

Alas, his humor was cut short, as at that very moment, another sniper in a building to Cypher's right, aiming at the same target, fired his shot, the bullets coming together in almost impossibly perfect synchronicity. Barely three inches from Mr. Reighnhart's forehead, the bullets collided in midair, sending them both careening into his right shoulder. Cypher could only watch on in disbelief as his perfect shot was deflected wildly off course, causing the lion to grab his shoulder and roar in pain. Looking up from the rifle's sights, Cypher began scanning the area frantically for whoever, or whatever, the hell deflected his shot. Suddenly, he saw a glimpse of metal from a window in the building adjacent to him. Immediately translating the gleam of metal as another sniper, and furious that the guy would have the gall to ruin his assignment, Cypher shouldered his rifle, about ready to scrub the mission.

A shout from outside broke him out of that train of thought.

"Goddammit!!!" screeched Reighnhart, still clutching his shoulder to keep the blood from pouring out of his wounds. Someone from the crowd-- one of his associates, no doubt-- came to his aid. The lion glared at the lackey and pointed to the two buildings. "There's a group of snipers here, at Nine and Twelve.... Find them and eliminate them!"

Nodding, the associate pointed to a couple more members from the crowd, motioning them to take the building to the left while he and a few others took the one in front of them. Nodding in compliance, the furs split up, both teams headed towards their intended targets.

As soon as he saw this, Cypher knew the mission had been compromised. Now his main goal was to get out of there alive. Packing up what little stuff he had with him, he stormed out of the room, rifle at the ready, and headed downstairs.

He didn't get far: As he rounded a corner near the stairwell, he caught glimpse of Reighnhart's men and immediately dodged back behind the wall. Unfortunately, they also saw him, and immediately began firing, blasting off chunks of Sheetrock from the makeshift barricade as they tried to get a bead on him. Cypher tried scanning for another way out; he found none. Cursing his luck, Cypher loaded another round into his gun, determined not to go down without a fight. He waited for an opening.... got one as the lackeys loaded another clip into their guns.... leveled his rifle at the lead fur.... got him between the eyes.... took out the second a split second later.... and the third..... and the fourth.... until, finally, all six were laying dead on the floor. It had only taken about a minute. And they never landed a shot on him.

Smiling thinly in satisfaction, Cypher headed downstairs, swerving around back once he hit the lobby. Once outside, he dove into his car, a cobalt blue '98 Mustang convertible, and radioed his superiors.

"Tango, Tango, this is Alpha Wolf, come in, over!" he half-screamed into the mic.

"Alpha Wolf, this is Tango. What's your situation, over?"

"The mission's been scrubbed. Another sniper interfered and the target is still active. My cover's been compromised and I need evac, over."

Silence. Then....

"Negative, Alpha Wolf. You are to tail the target and deactivate him ASAP, over."

Cypher growled. "Didn't you hear me, Tango?! The mission's been scrapped. An unknown variable has entered the equation and screwed this whole shit up to fuckin' hell!! I NEED EVAC, NOW!!!"

"You are to terminate the target immediately. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?!"

Cypher sighed, furiously. "Understood, Tango. Consider that fuckin' bastard of a lion dead meat. Over and out!"

He threw the mic down and gunned the engine, speeding out of the building's parking lot like a bat out of hell. Once out on the street, he immediately saw Reighnhart's limo speed away, obviously trying to make a break for it before the lion could have any more close calls. Fuming, Cypher gave chase, noting periodically the presence of a black Harley Davidson street racer following him. His trained eye caught glimpse of something slung over the driver's back: a sniper rifle. Cypher spat out a disgusted "Shit!" as he recognized the motorcycle driver as the unknown sniper. Engraged, he again gunned the engine, speeding up and away from the motorcycle, wondering who the hell that kid was and what he was doing there.

After a good ten minutes of driving, the limo came upon an expressway headed downtown. It turned onto the on-ramp and sped up, hoping to lose its pursuers in the fast-moving throng of vehicles. Cypher wasn't fooled: he kept right on its tail, matching its speed once on the expressway.

At least he had lost that damn mystery sniper. For some reason, the black motorcycle disappeared right before he got to the expressway. 'Probably figured his rig wasn't made for high-speed follow-the-leader games,' Cypher mused. Wouldn't be the first time someone overestimated the performance of their vehicle. Hell, he made the same mistake a couple of times in his youth. Now he used that same short-sightedness of his prey to his advantage.

He chased the limo for what seemed like hours on the expressway, with no sign from the long, black car that it was going to tire out anytime soon. It almost seemed like a hopeless cause, when, suddenly, another vehicle came up onto the expressway through the exit ramp. It was the mystery sniper; he had slipped around and cut the limo off at the pass.

And, he had his sniper rifle at the ready.

Cypher couldn't believe this: 'What in the hell is that kid thinking?!' he thought as the mystery sniper leveled his gun at the limo. Cypher knew the kid was a good shot; Hell, he had to be in order to shoot his bullet out of midair. But even he couldn't drive and shoot at the same time; It was virtually impossible.

The kid proved him wrong. Taking dead aim at the driver, the mystery sniper let loose a shot, which found its mark right between the poor guy's eyes. Now driverless, the limo veered off into the central guardwall, skidding to a stop in a shower of sparks. Both Cypher and the mystery sniper slammed on their breaks, pinning the limo between them.

Cypher grabbed his rifle as he got out, still shocked at the kid's impressive display of sharpshooting. He readied the gun against the roof of the car, keeping the vehicle between him and both the limo and the mystery sniper as a means of protection. The kid, meanwhile, just aimed his rifle at the limo, not even bothering to dismount from his bike. They waited for what seemed like hours, neither one of them able to get a bead on Reighnhart through the thick, tinted glass of the limo.

Suddenly, the lion burst out from the car, wielding a sub-machine gun in each paw, pointing both at the snipers.

"Put your guns down!!" he yelled, frantic. "Put them down, and let me walk away, and I guarantee neither of you will be hurt!" He glanced back and forth between the two snipers, pure panic etched in his face. "Put them down NOW!!!"

Neither one of them complied, knowing they'd be killed if they did, despite the scumbag's promise. Instead, they both aimed right for the lion's head, waiting for the right moment...

This was the last straw for the already panic-stricken Reighnhart. "I SAID PUT THEM DOWN!!!!"

*BANG!!!*

Both Cypher and the mystery sniper pulled the trigger; both shots connected, each bullet hitting Reighnhart in his temple before colliding with each other dead center in his brain. The impact not only fused the bullets together, but also succeeded in turning the lion's brain into soup.

Reighnhart seemed to hover there soundlessly for a moment after being hit. Then, almost in slow motion, he collapsed onto the street, blood and brain goo spilling out of his temples.

Instantly, the two snipers turned their rifles toward each other. Neither moved; neither breathed. This standstill gave Cypher a chance to take a good look at his mystery sniper: He was a cougar, rather young, with a lean build and boyish complection. Smallish, around 5' 4", wearing a black leather trenchcoat, charcoal black dress shirt, and black slacks. Not at all like your typical sniper. He was also right-pawed, which partly explained his uncanny nack at shooting down his bullets dead-on, as Cypher himself was left-pawed.

However, they never got a chance to finish their staredown, for, right at that moment, a troop of police came barreling down the expressway, their red-and-blue lights flashing angrily in the pitch blackness. Smirking in disgusted humor, the cougar shouldered his rifle, gunned the motorcycle's engine, and sped away down the expressway. Cypher watched him go for a few seconds, then threw his own piece into his car and got in, picking up the mic as he started it up.

"Tango, Tango, this is Alpha Wolf. Mission complete. Target has been neutralized. Request evac, over."

"Alpha Wolf, this is Tango. We have go for evac. Meet us at the rendevous point in ten minutes. Good work, Alpha Wolf. Time to come home."

'Yeah, come home after a screwed-up mission,' thought Cypher, bitterly. He still had no idea who that sniper was or why he was there. For all he knew, the cougar could have been hired by the Militia Regime to ensure Reighnhart's safety from a sniper hit. But if that was the case, then why did he gun down both the driver and Reighnhart? And why did Reighnhart seem so scared of the kid? Why didn't he take him out when he had the chance? Cypher shook his head in disgust as he peeled out. Too many questions, not enough answers. His best bet was to head back to headquarters and report the incident to his superiors. Hopefully, they'd know something about this wild card.

Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was going to see a lot more of the cougar in the future....