The Making of a Shark

[josephharper]

Joseph took his first steps onto Time Square, raised his arms and looked at the sky. He couldn’t help but admire the city, bright lights, fast cars and even faster women, New York City truly was the city that never sleeps and he was right in the middle of it. Still holding his two bags he headed to a local restaurant on West 46th street and sat down, as he drank his morning coffee he pulled out his Blackberry and began another succession of emails, he needed to let his contacts know he had arrived.
Arrived 2hrs ago, grabbing a coffee on W. 46th 30 seconds later a reply came in, Upper East Side Cnr E. 72nd & 1st 2hrs. Castle shall be ready.
Joseph smiled to himself he always wanted to live near the Hudson River. He finished his coffee quickly and grabbed the next taxi, shoving a $100 bill in the drivers face to ignore everyone until they arrived at his stop; he wasn’t a man who liked to wait in any situation. The driver tried to make conversation for the hour trip but eventually Joseph’s anger got the better of him.
“Shut the hell up if you want to live you stupid bastard”
“What are you on about I was just making conversation”

Joseph began to raise his hand but stopped himself half way through. No he thought, not here and not yet, the guy was a fool but not worth the time. The Taxi pulled up and Joseph quickly got out not bothering to thank the guy for getting him there on time. He immediately walked into the building in front of him and as he did another message arrived on his Blackberry, Room 212. Joseph found the door to room 212 already open; inside he found a fairly lavish apartment, everything you would expect for a place located in one of the wealthier suburbs of New York. He put his stuff down and walked to the table 3 piles of documents greeted him, each one a different subject. The first were documents to set up his accountancy firm, the second, prospective employees who could take the fall should anything go wrong and finally a single folder with his fake green card, social security number and passport and 2 pieces of paper with the details of his first marks. The Shark had arrived and had hit the ground running.

He quickly changed into one of the spare set of clothes he had brought and waited until nightfall before heading out into the night. He examined the paper again, his first mark was a candidate for a local election that was coming up, he didn’t care he just needed the money for a fix; he had been running low for a week now. The candidate lived in the Meatpacking district just off West Village easy as pie Joseph thought he would be home before sun up. Joseph arrived at the man’s apartment and slipped in through the back window, far too easy even for this city he thought. He found the man in a very compromising position, the family man he had read about was in bed with a prostitute a male prostitute. This pissed Joseph off if there was one thing he hated most it was people who committed adultery, it was the reason he never liked marriage, too many rules to follow. But those he found breaking those rules deserved to be punished.

He was furious and he let the anger take hold, it was the fuel to drive him, flashing a look sideways he spotted the bathroom that adjoined the bedroom. But in this case he thought he was be more vicious. The 2 men looked up from their bed too afraid to move but the man tried to talk to Joseph hoping to reason with him, big mistake. Joseph raised his left hand slowly and watched as the man’s paid lover began to choke; a confused expression came over his face. “What...What are you doing?”
Joseph smiled there was nothing he loved more than confusion and fear all at once. “Did you know that the human body contains over 60% water? And that the brain has over 75%? It’s funny us Humans are walking talking water tanks.”
The man didn’t understand, clearly even more confused with Josephs words. “And what does that have to do with us?” Joseph walked closer to the bed so the man could see the look in his eyes, Joseph wanted blood. “You’re about to have the pleasure of watching your lover drown in bed, but don’t worry you shall join him soon enough”.

As the clock struck 3am all that could be heard was the blood curdling scream of a man about to die.

[josephharper]

Joseph slowly walked back to his apartment; he wanted to take it easy because the sight of his first New York City sunrise was something he wanted to enjoy. He had been in the city only 36hrs and already he had made an impact, something that pleased him greatly. By the time he got home the morning news had already broken the story about his kills last night, media coverage was certainly fast here he thought. But what pleased him more was the briefcase sitting on his desk; clearly his silent associate had paid him a visit. He opened the case and the site before him made him smile greater than he had since he arrived $350,000 for the successful mark plus a $200,000 bonus for the lover and instant coverage, someone really was impressed.

Underneath the money was a folder with a list of selected marks that he was to take out within the week. Joseph wasn’t bothered by this because a small post it note stuck to the folder told him to take today off allowing him to indulge in a few pleasures with his added wealth. On the other side of the 59th street Bridge Joseph headed across to Long Island, this was not a part of the city which was known for the darker pleasures but Joseph was a man who knew where to ask and the best places to look, it wasn’t long before he found the club he was searching for. Down a back alleyway just off 42nd Road Joseph found the Gold Sun lounge a club with plenty of Girls and the highest quality cannabis he had seen in months. The next few hours were just a blurry haze as the girls he had paid danced and gave him the pleasure he so desired. After handing the woman behind the bar even more money they let him upstairs where he spent the next 2 days.
How he got back to his apartment Joseph was unsure about but what he was sure about was the 5 missed calls and the 2 emails that had been left on his Blackberry. Seems he was a little behind on his work, something that had to be fixed quickly.

Tonight 2 marks, Harlem. Make it look good.

There were only 2 on his list for Harlem; both were security guards who were delivering some priceless artworks to the New York Art Museum. But as a double bonus one of the drivers happened to be the son of one of the biggest crime families in the city. By taking him out it would cause huge headaches for the organisation and make Joseph incredibly wealthy. Taking them out would be straight forward enough he just had to find a place where there would be no-one around. And then the idea hit him, take them out when they hit the highway along the river, wash the truck into the river grab the art and make sure that both men stay under, simple. That night Joseph sat, he watched and waited until just after 4am when the white van went passed. Joseph closed his fist quickly and the van stopped dead, after all water was a huge portion of what petrol was made out of.
He jumped down off his platform and headed over to the van, but to his surprised both men got out almost instantly. Thinking on his feet Joseph stopped; rapidly closed his fists and both men began to choke. He rendered both men unconscious before using the rising tide to send them into the Hudson. Joseph smiled, he roughly worked out it would be at least 3 days before both men were found. As he was about to leave to head back to his apartment, Joseph was surprised to feel his Blackberry in his pocket vibrate. What he found was one text message.

Impressive Work, I shall let the others know about you. Well Done.

Mission accomplished. Joseph had been noticed.

[winterlights]

It was the time for the hunt. The silver moon hung high in the clear skies as Jenna slid on black, cloth, eye-mask inspired by Zorro. Uncreative, but its usefulness was all that matters. Steel-toed stilettos may not be a vigilante's best choice of foot wear, but the hardness of its front and its narrow heel proved to be useful in fights. She pulled herself up to the a roof top and sat, watching. A little bird had told her about the increase in unexplained, accidental-like deaths around. Jenna can look pass one or two such cases, but it has been one too many for her comfort. This is her turf, she needs to satisfy the hunger for blood, to feel the life slipping away under her hands, to feel the beating heart slow to nothing. There's no room for sharing, and besides, if this.....other person have been taking innocent lives, it would be the perfect reason to end his. Or hers.

A roar that rung through her ears caught her attention. She groaned, sticking a finger in her right ear and shook it as though to empty the echoes. Her senses seemed to have gotten a lot better since the day she could see aura-like energies floating around. She turned, spotting the sound and kinetic waves radiating out through the night. Jenna jumped to her feet and headed into the direction--it wasn't too far. Staying well above grounds, she closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. One heart beat, then, vibration.

She opened them just in time to see the end of the crime and the man that walked casually out of it. Gotcha, she thought. She flipped from her position, and sliced through the air sharply to land directly on top of Joseph. Energy--the light from his cell and the residue from the previous kinetic energy called out to her. Jenna pushed them to form a ring around the man's neck and translated them into heat energy.

"Cute," she observed out loud, still straddling the man to hold him down as she work on heating the life out of him. "Pity we won't get to know each other."

[josephharper]

Joseph had been on his way to a diner after taking care of the security men, he always seemed to get hungry after finishing a mark. Pancakes were always his food of choice even if it was the middle of the night, there was always something homely about pancakes. He had been trailed in his thoughts when a sudden attack from a woman took him off guard.
“What on earth?’ he yelled just as the woman crashed on top of him, straddling him between her thighs. It didn’t take him long to realise though this was no ordinary woman, the pulsating energy that was now being forced through his system was proof of that.
Joseph was pissed; this shark did not like being forced into a corner and when he was he got mad. His arms may not have been free but that didn’t mean Joseph didn’t have options after all the brain was the source of the power and he needed to channel it through his mind.
Looking up Joseph stared directly into the woman’s eyes, although she was partially covered it didn’t matter, the saying was true, your eyes are the window to your soul. Using all the energy he could he targeted her brain and the water molecules in it, he wasn’t in the mood to kill her all he wanted to do was get her off him. He concentrated as hard as he could, it only took a few seconds until he heard the screaming of pain and her grip loosened.
Quickly getting up, Joseph kicked the woman in the side of her back, making sure he had the upper hand in this confrontation. With one arm slowly raising the Hudson River behind him a furious Joseph demanded answers. It really had been a long time since anyone had got the jump on him.
“Who the hell are you? And what the fuck do you think you’re playing at? Oh and don’t try anything funny or you will have half the Hudson River on your ass.”
Joseph stood there annoyed and angry; the last thing his clients needed was for some psycho bitch bothering him while he worked.

[winterlights]

This man, he was no ordinary man. Unfortunately, Jenna had learned that the hard way. When he looked into her eyes, she stared back, but the sudden piercing pain that shot through head head broke her focus. A hand flew to her head involuntarily, hoping pressure will tame the throbbing pain. He snatched the control away from her when the opportunity presented itself--that was when Jenna felt a swift kick to her back. Taken off guard, she couldn't deflect the attack in time.

Her body was thrown to the ground. Squeezing her eyes close, her arms shot out to cushion the fall as the floor rushed up at her. When she flipped herself to face the man, a large wave rose from the river and stood still at his command, like an army waiting to pounce at the given word. But if Jenna squinted hard enough, she could see the energy flow in the wave from its free, molecular movement.

He must have seen the look in her eyes when he bellowed his threat. Jenna snarled, eyes darting between the wave and the man as she pushed herself off the ground. "And what phenomenal would you blame that on?" she laughed and contemplated knocking him over with the streams of energy. Watching him stumble on a wave of rainbow would probably make her day, but Jenna wasn't sure if she could hold back, or manipulate the wave he held under his command.

Plan B. An impromptu one, that is. "Australian?" She questioned, recognizing the same accent that was hinted in her sister's voice. "We're the same, it seems." She started, smoothing the ends of her ponytail. "As far as I know, this, the whole of New York, belongs to me. My turf," She emphasized by tracing a finger over an imaginary circle. "Find somewhere else to slaughter your pigs."

[josephharper]

She was an energy wielder that much was clear, a fairly powerful one at that. A match on paper would put Joseph as the underdog, water may be in every living thing but so was energy and so in some instances power would cause these two great elements to cancel each other out. The Universe can’t have one without the other, which meant that no matter how hard either of them tried eventually no-one would win.
He listened as the woman tried to small talk, It was a shame really he thought for a psycho she was a hot psycho and that was one hell of a turn off. “Yeah I’m Australian and I wouldn’t exactly call us the same.” He was right, two very different people controlling two very different elements but deep down a part of him knew they were similar. Both had similar agenda’s but whether or not they had the same reason was yet to be seen. He burst out laughing at her command his manic laughter rang through the air, “Your turf? Really? Well I have some very powerful and very wealthy clients who would disagree with you on that one. After all they wouldn’t have sent for me then would they?” Again he broke out in laughter; he was enjoying this confrontation a little too much.
Joseph lowered his hand but made sure he kept himself on guard, he wasn’t in the mood to be on the floor again anytime soon. He smiled at the woman making sure his gaze never left hers “I don’t think I shall be leaving any time soon. I am just getting to like New York, maybe you can show me around.”
Always the playboy Joseph couldn’t help but flirt with a woman who had just tried to kill him. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.

[winterlights]

she cringed at his bursting laughter. Rather good looking lad, but terrible, terrible laughter. If Jenna had it her way, he'd never laugh again. And to be honest, it annoyed her. A dramatic laughter works once, but more than that, it's just....well, terrible. She held a hand up in exasperation. "Stop, please." Seeing that Joseph was someone completely full of himself,his threat level to Jenna lowered itself. Overconfidence has always been a downfall of mankind.

"The only reason they sent you was because they've never heard of me," she huffed, acknowledging to herself that the sound of wealthy clients sparked an interest. His hand lowered, and the wave melted back into the river obediently. Her eyes sparkled, recognizing this as an opportunity to strike. But he's working for wealthy clients, it won't hurt to find out more. After all, if she had to share her turf with Aussie-boy here, it's only fair he shares his pool of clients.

She raised an eyebrow at the proposal, folding her arms in front of her and took a cautious step in his direction. "Show you around? she echoed. Only if you introduce me to your.....clients, with a fancy dinner on the side."

[josephharper]

Joseph folded his arms and raised an eyebrow; her offer was a curious one. In the 5yrs he had be given this ability he was yet to be presented with a situation where he would have to share. But what surprised Joseph most was he liked the idea, there had been many jobs in the past he had to pass up because he wasn’t capable of doing them with the efficiency he was known for but now with this woman’s help he may be able to double his income. Sharing was something he wasn’t used to doing but now considering all his options maybe he could make an exception. “Ok, I think we can come to some sort of arrangement which would be beneficial for both of us.” Joseph stopped and pulled out his Blackberry from his pocket and quickly fired off an email. It took only a few minutes for Joseph to get a reply: The Woman has potential. Be happy to meet her, 10.30pm tomorrow your place.

Joseph smiled at the site; all he could think of was the increase in his fortune with help of this woman. He looked up at her and slowly walked towards her, making sure that he was on guard in case she tried anything. He carefully revealed his Blackberry to the woman, making sure that she could see the email clearly before taking it away. “Seems one of my clients want to meet you after all.” He pulled out a piece of paper and pen from his pocket and wrote down his address on the back before handing it to her. “Be there a few hours before 10.30 and we can go for that fancy dinner you are after, oh and don’t worry I’ll pay”. He gave her a wink before slowly walking off in the other direction back towards that diner and those pancakes he badly wanted.
20mins later he arrived at the diner and sat down, ordering the biggest stack of pancakes he could manage he was surprised when his Blackberry again buzzed. Your new friend could be the solution we have been searching for; could she pass as an accountant?’
Joseph wasn’t sure, tomorrow his new accountancy firm would be operational and if this woman played along it would be much easier to plan. Joseph fired off a reply before quickly getting another, short and sweet he got where the guy was going; convince her. Joseph wasn’t sure if he would be able to but with dawn approaching he wouldn’t have long to find out.

[winterlights]

His agreement came as a surprise, even to Jenna. It wasn't unusual that her charms would work on a normal man, but it seems it wasn't denied by even a man with unique power unknown to many others. Perhaps, like her, it was the prospect of increased wealth that led him to the nod. She smiled, this time a sweeter one as his fingers danced along the keypad of his cellphone. Energy bounced off as his flesh hits the keypad. Jenna raised an eyebrow at that--she's never noticed that before. Perhaps she could somehow, make this a method for spying. The kinetic energy radiated off the phone when it buzzed, and she leaned forward to read the screen when Joseph held it up for her.

"Seems one of your clients is smart after all," She smirked, twirling a strand of her hair subconsciously as he scribbled on a piece of paper. Jenna clipped the piece of paper between two fingers, her ring finger brushed against the man's hand purposefully. If charm works....

"Oh and don't worry, I'll pay."

"I won't have it any other way," she laughed, returning his wink with one before she did a back flip into the air and landed back on her previous hiding spot. With her back turned, Jenna removed her mask with one swift, upward tug and trotted along the high grounds until it was safe enough to return to lower ones. In a few hours, daylight will be pouring in. Jenna folded the piece of paper and tucked it safely into her bra. Sleep--then perhaps a few hours of pick-pocketing before she gets dolled up. Things should get interesting.

[josephharper]

Joseph opened the door to his apartment and threw his keys, wallet and phone into a tray near the door because taking an almost swan dive onto his leather couch. He took a look at his watch 7pm, wonderful he thought, his day had gone much longer than he had planned. He rubbed his temple again in frustration just thinking about all the idiots he had to deal with, “These Americans are dumber than Australians with their money” he said to himself. But now that his day job was over it was time to put himself into his preferred head space. Joseph got up and took a long hot shower before putting on his nicest clothes, black jeans, purple dress shirt and his leather jacket. Joseph had always prided himself on how he dressed, especially for a date.

As Joseph walked back out to the lounge from his room he saw his Blackberry buzzing, he picked it up to find two emails had been left for him both from his number one client. Just did a BG check on your new friend, certainly impressive & a handful. Joseph rolled his eyes, that wasn’t exactly what he had hoped to hear, he deleted the message and check the second. The manila folder on desk gives you some info on her, oh and have fun c u at 10.30 sharp.

Joseph had been so tired when he walked in he had failed to notice the folder sitting on his kitchen table. He walked over and took a look inside, it seemed his client had done their homework; everything from family to education was in there. It became clear to him that not only was she psycho but brilliant as well, making her all the more interesting challenge. Joseph heard his doorbell ring and he checked his watch again 8.10pm, he smiled she was exactly on time. He opened the door to find her standing there and as cavalier as ever looked her up and down twice before simply saying.

“My My don’t you look stunning. Come on in, care for a drink?”

[winterlights]

The alarm rang and Jenna reached an arm out from under the covers lazily and hit the snooze button. She cracked open an eye and stared at the neon light. She groaned, rubbed her eyes and yawned. The afternoon sun was high with merciless light piercing through the drawn curtains. She had a while before---

The folded paper on the dresser caught her attention. Right, Joseph. She rubbed her face, encounter of the night before came flooding back. This could get her a worthy acquaintanceship and possibly more money than her pick-pocketing skills had gotten her. Most importantly, this could be......fun. She left her bed lazily, treated herself to a bowl of froot loops in front of the television before getting dressed up.

------------------------------------

A red dress accompanied with black stilettos and a pair of silver diamond earrings later, Jenna stood in front of Joseph's place. The loose flare and flow of the dress from waist down allowed Jenna to travel here the same way she's used to. Checking her reflection on the mirror in her purse and slipping her heels back on, Jenna gave the doorbell a single push. It wasn't long before the door opened and she beamed.

"You don't look so bad yourself," Jenna returned the compliment with a wink and walked in. She took a quick glance around his residence and slipped out of her shoes. Even if said client was around, only a certain amount of class was needed, doing what she does. Money has became a crucial part of the cruel world--there was no shame in what she does, especially in front of people who obviously approve of and require her....skills.

She made herself at home, already wandering around, fingers brushing against the details of what looked like an expensive display before leaning against the table with a mischievous smile. "Just one drink?" she laughed.