The Scarman Enigma

[|Scarecrow|]

Starwood Hotel, Rooftop Maintenance Area.

The final five stories of the Starwood Hotel were a myriad of steeply angled glass panes that tapered up to a point. Narrow platforms of reinforced steel supported the structure where the windowpanes levelled off, and tiered maintenance access walkways aligned with every even-numbered level. The outer shell of the building could be described as a glass ‘bubble’, albeit one made up of thousands of small vertical, horizontal, and diagonal panels of different shapes and sizes. High-capacity solar panels were scattered across the windowpanes that, when looked down upon, formed and impression of opening petals. The thin outer layer protected the balconies and frontages of the penthouse village from the strong winds, creating a calm environment within, through which the tenants and guests could enjoy an unrivalled view of the city. The bubble began where the vertical sides of the building ended, and sprouted up and over the penthouse village until it reached the point of the base of the lightning spire.

The Freedom Fighters had rushed their landing, as they had been under heavy fire from the pirates holding position in the topmost levels. The tier they had landed on offered only one entrance into the building: a maintenance access for window cleaning and panel repair, and the entrance was being blocked by a trio of Black Flag pirates. Using speed and momentum, Robert Merlow sprinted lightly along a line of tilted glass panels. To his right, a wide-open expanse sprawled out toward the opposite skyscrapers, and down toward the street far below. He quickly covered the ground between the position of his comrades and that of the enemy, leaping high above them on arrival. None of them saw him coming.

Merlow scythed down on them like a hot knife cutting through butter. He practically landed on top of the first, the keen blade of his katana sinking into the man’s collar. The cut was clean, swift, and deep, the blade coming to rest around the lower end of his ribcage. The expression on the pirate’s face was one of complete surprise and disbelief. With little fuss, Merlow neatly withdrew the blade. The man had passed before his body hit the floor. His two comrades barely had time to rally as Merlow set upon them. What followed was almost unfair. Neither of the pirates were able to bring their weapons to bear as Merlow neatly carved a path amongst them. Merlow took down the first with a horizontal strike at neck height. The second he knocked backwards with a blow from the weapon’s hilt, before running his blade through the man’s stomach. By the end, delicate arcs of blood lined the nearby glass panes and the interior walls of the maintenance corridor. Merlow came to a standstill and drew a handkerchief from somewhere on his belt. He wiped his blade clean and returned it to his scabbard. He then drew one of his rail pistols and looked back toward where Scarecrow and the others were still taking cover.
“The route is clear my friends,” He called, “Come, quickly!”

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| S C A R E C R O W |

"See you space cowboy..."