Mark Kotz

“The target is on the roof! I repeat, the target is on the roof! Have all units converge.” - Swat Commander

“Acknowledged, air support inbound. Over.” - Pilot

“This is ground team 1; Our eta is still five minutes away. Over.”

“This is ground team 2; Condition is the same. Over.”

“Ground team 3 reporting in; Our way has been blocked off, turning around to double back behind team 2. Over.”

“What the hell is taking so long! Move quickly before the target gets away!” - Swat Commander

“Really is that anyway to talk to your men? I mean climbing fifty seven flights of stairs isn’t a simple task to do, let alone in full fighting fighting gear. Have a little patience for Petes sake.” - Mark

“Wait who is this? Who’s on our channel?!” - Swat Commander

“This would be the target waiting patiently on the roof. Under….Crap! I mean, over.” - Mark

“Shit! He’s tapped our communication frequency. Change to backup communications and proceed forward and hurry! Over!” - Commander

“Don’t worry. Take your time I’m not going anywhere. O and P.S. I also hacked your backup line. Over and under.” - Mark

“We have a visual of the building will hold until reinforcements arrive. Over” - Pilot

‘DrdrdrdrdrdrdrdrdDRDRDRDRDDRDRDRDRDRDRDRDRDRDRDRDRD!’

I sat smack dab in the middle of the roof just waiting and watching the chaos around me.  Off in the distance I could see their helicopter fast approaching. I really do hate helicopters. Not that they don’t have their uses, it’s just they lack…….Finesse? No. Stealth, maybe? Close enough. Regardless though, I hate how loud they are especially when there circling no more that a few dozen metres above you. Flood lights blinding me don’t help either. I almost feel the need to yell at them to keep it down and turn off those damn lights. They might actually do it if I told them in the proper tone. Nah this is my last mission may as well stick to the plan.

Down below there was an amazing number of people watching the action. The entire building had been cordoned off on all sides with heavily armored carriers all equipped with enough firepower to take a small country. Their numbers from those in crowd control, logistics, and tactical numbered roughly 2500 strong. Their helicopter was state of the art, under the new name Dragon Slayer. Why such a name is beyond me but it does look cool and sleek. From the sensors I placed on the different floors there are 60 special forces coming up to the roof. With two stairways on both corners there aim will be to surround me. There’s also an emergency ladder escape that has been filled with coagulant foam….my sympathies team 3. More importantly though was the dozen guys fastening their rappels to the helicopter. I couldn’t help grin as my great finale was about to begin.

‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’

Like clockwork both teams came bursting out of the stairwells along with the dozen troops rappelling down from the helicopter. One remained on the minigun holstered to the side while another kept a sniper trained on me. Though this is quite a large roof using such weapons in such an enclosed space would be dangerous. This building is also quite taller than the surrounding ones so their are no vantage points for any other sniping teams.

“HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACK! HEAD ON THE GROUND, NOW!” - multiple Swat guys

What is this? Their first day? So now there were roughly seventy guys trained with assault rifles on me, many of whom were yelling the same variation of the same surrender position crap. It was beginning to give me a headache. I just stood in the middle of their staggered circle just twiddling my thumbs. Soon their yelling stopped and one of them removed their helmet.

“I finally caught you Needle!” - Cullen

O this is just grand! Cullen McCulloughy, the great bungler himself. This job may be easier than I thought it be.

“Cullen my lad! How have you been? Haven’t seen you since...Panama?” - Mark

“Venezuela you bastard! Took my whole team down but now I will get justice for them and their families!” - Cullen

The others around Cullen looked at him with a little concern, however since he was probably team leader then they won’t interfere until it’s too late, even if that. Especially since Cullen looked ready to cross over the line.

“First let me say that their deaths were purely by accident and were not directly my fault. I had no idea those heavily armed drug dealers were in that warehouse when I fled into it.” - Mark

“That’s bullshit! You had everything planned out! Besides it isn’t just my team. You have killed enough law enforcement officers over the past two decades to fill a bloody grave yard. Tonight, one way or another this all ends! Whether we take you down now or rot away in a cell is up to you!” - Cullen

“Again with these accidents. Are you sure you're not just steamed I cut all the elevators cords and made you run up all those stairs? I could understand if it was that.” - Mark

“If you do not put your bloody hands behind your back and your head against the fuckin’ ground in the next ten seconds we will fuckin’ shoot you! Men on my mark! 1, 2, 3!” - Cullen

Man a whole ten seconds that’s quite generous for Cullen. He’s taken a few shots at me without warning before. I guess he just wants an excuse to show I resisted arrest. I will give him credit for keeping his men out of my close range. Sure my pistols could be useful but they do not fit in with my plan. Cullen also knows full well I would beat the lot of them if they were to all rush me so it leaves him with this. However there are twelve that need to be taken down after the next step.

“4, 5, 6, 7!” - Cullen

I was so excited about what was going to happen next but also a little sad as well. This whole mission wasn’t anything too important and I really could have sent one of my officers if I wanted to. However nostalgia filled me because this was one of my first types of jobs I took when I began my life of High Crime so it was fitting this be my last as well. Collecting documents on enemies isn’t the most action packed job but when it’s the interpol headquarters building and you walk in the front door as an infamous Needle, wearing iconic mask and all, it gets the blood going. I couldn’t help tear up a little because of this sad fact. Luckily my tears couldn’t be seen because of my Mask.

“Looks like this is it.” - Mark

“8, 9, 10! Open fir----” - Cullen

‘BOOOOOOOOM!’

With a click of my the trigger in my boot heels the bombs I had placed on both stairwells went off shaking the entire building. There was shouting and screaming down below but I knew there was no harm done to anyone because they had done what they were supposed. Everyone on the roof besides myself fell over because of the shock. During this quick commotion I ran towards the dozen troops who repelled down from the copter. They were now trying to regain their bearings however that gave me more than enough time to pull my stun baton on most of them. Three of them were stupid enough to drop their assault rifles and charge me head on. Though they were approaching from different sides, one spin kick was all it took to send them sprawling to the ground. I was content to see that the rest of my plan succeeded as well. I walked over to Cullen who like the rest of them realized that they were now stuck to the ground.

“What the fuck did you do!” - Cullen

Likewise the others were also cursing and yelling about their predicament. I shrugged my shoulders in a innocent way as the answer was kind of obvious. Cullen trying to pull his gun that had also stuck to the ground as he reeved in anger. I sighed heavily as I hated explaining the scheme but knew it was only fair. I crouched low right beside him, giving a kick to the guy next to him in the jaw as he tried grabbing me with the one hand he still hand free.

“Alright listen closely because I only have three minutes until stage three. First I didn’t cut the elevators because I wanted you guys to get an endurance workout. Though from the looks of you lot you may have needed it. The true purpose was to get as much exposure as possible inside the building. You all cut power for communications, lights, security, etc. so that I wouldn’t use them to my advantage. However I had backup power run through the building to keep the ventilation running. Second, I used a special adhesive that works on just about everything that it comes into contact with. This adhesive is formed from two key compounds. The first one was vented into the entire building as a colour and odorless gas after I made it to the roof. By the way emergency ladder-well gets little ventilation so I blocked that off. Anyway, as you guys climbed the building unknowingly getting the first component on you, I sprayed the second all over the roof here. The heels of your boots would get less contact than the rest of your body so I placed enough explosives underneath the stairwell leading to the roof so that it would force anyone above to lose their balance. For the troops that repelled down in the Copter I simply used the shock to my advantage as you just saw.” - Mark

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“URAAAGH!” - Cullen

With his free hand he pulled a knife from his boot in hopes he could at least wound me. It was such a simple attack that I grabbed his wrist and merely redirected it to the ground. Now all four of his limbs were stuck.

“Now where was I? O yes. The third part of the plan also has a few steps. First as you have noticed I not only crouched near you to kindly explain my plan but also as a means of deterring your gunners in that overcompensating flying tank you people are using as a helicopter.” - Mark

I gave the helicopter a small friendly wave. I think one of them flipped the bird at me in response.

“Come on Cullen, wave with me.” - Mark

“....................................!” - Cullen

“....................................................O thats right. My bad. Somehow forgot you were stuck to the ground. I apologize for my inconsideration.” - Mark

I was about to check the time to see where my schedule was at but with a small beep from my transmitter the smoke grenades I placed around the edges of the roof went off and in seconds the top of the building was covered in smoke. With this I moved fast over the pinned Swat members and quickly grabbed onto one of the rappel cords and began to climb up just as the helicopter began to fly away from the rising smoke. It’s too risky for the helicopter to lose visibility especially at night so this was the obvious response.

“We have lost visual contact with the target! All advance tactical troops are out of play! Need assista-AHHH!” - Gunner

We were fifty meters above the roof so I thought it was still reasonably safe to sneak up and toss both the sniper and the Gunner from the Copter. It was a bit of a gamble as to whether or not they would land on one of their teammates. Regardless there were going to be some injuries.

The Helicopter was quite roomy with lots of extra gear and munitions fastened to the interior. However this held no interest to me. Their was a door that separated the cockpit to the hull. Through the small glass I could see two pilots. Right now we were now several hundred meters away from the building limiting my- their options.

‘Tap, tap, tap’

With a simple tap on the door the co-pilot got out of his seat and opened the door. I hid out of his sight until the moment he opened it. Even with this sudden shock he took initiative to slammed the door shut but I quickly rammed the sniper rifle that the guy I had just flung out used earlier. Realizing now he was out of options he tried pulling his side arm on me. Before he could even aim it I popped the clip from his gun and caught it before it hit the floor.

‘Click, click, click, click’

“O shit!” - co-pilot

I waved the the clip in his face as he didn’t realize why nothing fired from his gun. The main Pilot, who was now veering a little from this situation, set the helicopter to autopilot to keep it as steady as possible.

“That’s why you should always leave one in the chamber young man.” - Mark

“Please don’t hurt us. We will cooperate so please just…..” - Pilot

The co- Pilot now seeing the situation for what it was followed suit by raising his hands. I only had a clip in my hands so I don’t know why he did this.

“Relax I have no intention to harm the both of you. That depends on what you choose to this next question. So are you both listening?” - Mark

“Y-Yes” - Pilot and co- pilot

“Good. So the final outcome is the both of you with your feet on the ground in the next five minutes. So there is the slow and a fast way down. One involves getting their with only the aid of gravity to reach the bottom while the other allows you to use your parachutes. You have ten seconds to decide.” - Mark

Both didn't hesitate as I moved out of the way for them to enter the main hull area and begin to fasten on their parachutes. They were both shaky that I wound up helping them to ensure they were on correctly. They looked a bit perplexed by this. I shrugged.

“Safety first. Here hold still while I fastened the buckle...There we go. All set.” - Mark

They looked at one another then to me like they were unsure what to do next. I really didn’t see how this was so complicated.

“I wish to thank you both for flying Air Needle, be sure to pull the cord on your left side, and I wish you both a good night.” - Mark

“AAAAAAAARGggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” - Pilots

With a sudden push both were out and I was now on my own. I proceeded back to the cockpit taking my seat in the pilot’s chair. I must admit for a military vehicle it’s quite comfortable. Putting the Pilot’s headset on over my mask. Upon doing so I was greeted with a quite pleasant but not unexpected surprise.

“Hello Needle. I see your being as brazen as ever.” - Lee Yeng

“President Yeng! How are you?” - Mark

“I have been better. Was having a nice meal with my family before I got called into the office.” - Lee

“I’m sorry to hear that. Anyway how have you been? It’s been ages since we spoke. O ya how’s being President of Interpol? Bet it’s boring not being in charge of hunting me down.” - Mark

“First, you still talk too much at once. Second, I was fine up until just now, thankyou very much. Lastly…..I would be lying if I said it things weren’t as boring now.” - Lee

Lee Yeng has been the key liaison in charge of pursuing me and members of my organization. For the last fifteen years he has been the biggest thorn in my side even when he wasn’t directly in charge of my take down. He always kept different agencies updated with intel on me and my schemes. At one point in time I tried to bribe him but he said I would have to shoot him before he even did so much as held a door open for me. From that point on I have held a deep respect for him. Last year when he was voted president of Interpol I knew it was almost time for me to retire from this life as well.

“..............................” - Mark

“You still their Mark?” - Lee

“Ya Lee, just zoned out for a second.” - Mark

“Why the hell are you having such a casual conversation with him!” - Swat Commander

I could hear yelling in the background. Clearly these new kids don’t share the sentiment for us older guys. Regardless it’s about time for my big finale before I head home.

“Seems like you're busy so I’ll let you go now. Say hi to your wife and kids for me. I’ll send you my Christmas card like always. Not sure where I will go this year so it’s going to be a surprise. O and ask your wife to bake some of those dumplings that I love. The ones with the beef, chicken, and rice in them.” - Mark

“Sorry Mark but I won’t let you this time.” - Lee

“What? Why? It’s not like they're that expensive to make, if you want I’ll buy the groceries and your wife will make them, hell I’ll even do the dishes afterwards. We’ll make an afternoon out of it.” - Mark

“Not what I meant.” - Lee

“I know but I’m just really craving those dumplings for some reason.” - Mark

The helicopter began to move on it’s own, heading in the opposite direction of  my organization's base. The direction it was heading to towards was a military an airbase 20km out of the city. I now understood what Lee meant.

“You know this was to be my last job before retirement. This Helicopter was sort of my trophy for a successful and showy operation.” - Mark

“Ha! There’s no way I’m letting you fly off with a fifty million dollar helicopter. Besides what will you use it for if you plan to retire?” - Lee

“Nothing really. I actually don’t like helicopters, there too loud and clunky. My plan was to keep this as a lawn ornament or something along those lines.” - Mark

The comm went dead silent.

“Y-You're joking right?” - Lee

“......................................................No.” - Mark

I heard him sigh with a twinge of a laugh mixed in. Good to see he still has his sense of humour.

“Well regardless the Helicopter has a remote control function and will be landing at the local base in less than five minutes. So you have two options; Get captured or jump out now and escape by foot. I honestly only care about retaining the helicopter.” - Lee

“Why? How is this hunk of metal worth more to you than me?”- Mark

“We can’t all be fortunate to run a multi-billion organization. Us regular folk tend to lose our jobs after losing a 50 million dollar piece of military hardware.” - Lee

“Ooooo then I have some bad news for you.” - Mark

“Don’t tell you…” - Lee

“Yup sorry. You see this Helicopter was made by Triton industries, designation X- 900 Dragon Slayer, approximate cost 52.3 Million dollars a pop plus an additional 4.6 for the upgrades that this thing has. It has a top speed of almost 400km/hour making it one of the fastest attack helicopter in the world. State of the art in both practicality and energy effectiveness for just about any mission for any location in the world. Truly a Weapon of the future.” - Mark

“You sound like a damn infomercial.” - Lee

“And sadly I'm not getting paid for it. Anyway since this model is still in production the company had an override passcode in case any situation arises.  Like an ultimate failsafe in case it gets recalled. So if you know the passcode then any Tom, Dick, and Harry can take this bad boy for a spin.” - Mark

“.........................You know I will lose my job for this.” - Lee

“Lee you gotta trust me. Just wait and see what I have planned.” - Mark

I punched in the passcode before I saw the airfield and turned it right around back towards the city.

“Where are you right now?” - Mark

“Why should I--” - Lee

“O just tell me!” - Mark

“Ahhh fine. I’m still outside the Interpol headquarters. Why.” - Lee

I was now far overhead the building in the heart of the city. It was put off a little but I couldn’t go out without something flashy. This took me quite a while to set up but it will definitely be worth it.

“Lee I’m glad it’s you who will share my last night as Needle with me. Now for my grand Finale!” - Mark

With a simple flick of a special receiver I attached to my belt the whole city began to light up with a mixture of different colours. Following this was fireworks began to fire off all at once from different areas around the city but mainly concentrated around the Interpol building. Finally the cherry on top was the best music of all time for the entire City to hear.

“This song is….” - Lee

“William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini. A classic and my all time favourite.” - Mark

‘DUN DA DA DUN DUN DUN DUN! DUN DA DA DUN DUN DUN DUN!?’

“My God! How many people did you allocate to this nonsense?” - Lee

“Just me. Wanted my last mission and everything involved in it to be all mY WORK. Just like how I started. Took me two months but would you say it was worth it.” - Mark

“For a couple of documents from my office, absolutely not.” - Lee

“Everythings relative I guess. Well this is it really. I have nothing left.” - Mark

“And what of the Helicopter?” - Lee

“O yes I’m keeping it. Lawn ornament and all that.” - Mark

“Guess I should prepare to resign then. Won’t let me keep my job after everything that’s happened today.” - Lee

“O yes my bad I totally forgot. You see I had planned to get you a gift for your promotion. Sadly I had no clue what to get you until two months ago.” - Mark

“What are you talking about?” - Lee

“Okay so I lied. I did have some help with this. I left it in front of your house--your front lawn to be more precise. Almost didn’t have enough space to put it there with all your wifes lawn statues. It cost me exactly 56.9 million dollars and from what the salesman told me it's both state of the art in both practicality and energy effectiveness.” - Mark

“You didn’t! How!?” - Lee

“As you said. We multi-billion dollar organization owners have a few perks.” - Mark

“When did--” - Lee

“Right after you left your house. Literally moments after getting the call from your office saying I had taken over the building my man began unloading it in front of your house. Again sorry you missed dinner with your family.” - Mark

“Noted, but more importantly; If you could buy your own then what is the point of taking this one from us?” - Lee

“Because I want this one. It’s not about the money it just about--” - Mark

“What it takes to earn it.” - Lee

“Exactly.” - Mark

“........................Hmmm Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” - Lee

“ Hahaaha hahahahahahahahahha!” - Lee and Mark

“Goodbye Lee….it’s been fun. I wish for a happy life for you and your family.” - Mark

“You're really serious about retiring?” - Lee

“Ya I really am. I am getting older and I wanted to retire while I still had some spring in my step.” - Mark

“I see. Then whatever happens I wish you well.” - Lee

“Same to you my friend…..over and out.”

After this I turned off all communication and GPS. With the last of the music and fireworks I flew towards the nearest airstrip I owned with an overwhelming mixture of sadness and joy.