The Pledge

It wasn't a dusty street.
It wasn't high noon.
It was on top of a catwalk, overlooking the school's parade square.
It was early morning, the Sun had not risen, they both could feel the cool morning breeze brushing against their faces, tugging at their hair.
She an assassin, he, an agent.
Once friends, now sworn adversaries.
Neither spoke, they just stared at each other, motionless, like two timeless statues, waiting for eternity.
Words now had no meaning anyway.
It was too late for that.
They had come too far to turn back.
To their right, the final strains of the national anthem were heard.
The parade commander for the day called the school to attention.
He raised his right hand to his chest.
That’s when they both made their move.

“We the citizens of Singapore…”
The assassin lashed out, aiming for the agent’s shoulder, which he blocked by grabbing her clenched fist. Twisting her hand, the assassin howled in pain and brought her other hand up and struck the agent in the chin, causing him to let go of her in pain. She took the opportunity to perform a sweep kick, knocking his legs off the ground and causing him to collapse to the floor in a heap.
“…pledge ourselves as one united people…”
Gritting his teeth, the agent stood up again, breathing deeply. He focused on the assassin, who went into an attack stance and beckoned him to try and hit her. Enraged, but he didn’t try anything rash, or left his anger blind him. He took one step forward, before leaping to the air for a flying kick. She saw the move coming, and rolled to one side to avoid it. He hit the ground safely and recovered quickly to aim a punch at her solar plexus. She parried the attack, and the next as he rained down on her a flurry of punches. Tired of being on the defensive, she hit away his hands and performed a flip kick, striking the agent on his chin again. However, this blow merely winded him, and the very second she landed on the ground he delivered a roundhouse kick at her face, then he sent sprawling back with a haymaker.
“Regardless of race, language or religion…”
Groaning, she spat the blood in her mouth out. This time she will not go easy on him. Dashing forward, she ducked under his punch and hit out under his arm, invoking a cry of pain from him. Grabbing his limp arm, he flipped him over her shoulder, then leapt into the air to try and stomp on him. The agent, sensing the danger, rolled away quickly, and lashed forward with his right leg. She was ready for him though, and clutched his leg and threw it upwards, the movement causing him to flip backwards uncontrollably. As he was suspended helplessly in mid-air, she stuck his body heavily with a mighty kick, sending him tumbling along the concrete floor.
“…to build a democratic society…”
It’s time to end this, he thought. Breaking into a run, he strained all his muscles as he lunged forward, throwing himself into a drop kick which hit her squarely in the abdomen, causing her to give an anguished yell. Both of them hit the ground hard, but he recovered faster, jabbing her in the stomach, before sending the assassin crashing to the ground again with an uppercut. He stood still for a while, tensing and getting ready lest she got up again. This time, she did not get up.
“…based on justice and equality...”
Or so he thought. She sprung up again faster than a cheetah, surging forward, reckless fury in her eyes. This time, however, she held a gleaming pistol in her left hand. Shocked, the agent stumbled backwards and she fired once. In her rage, she missed, but the bullet grazed his right arm. Strangely, the sudden searing pain snapped him out of his confused state. He grabbed her gun hand as the two fell to the floor, wrestling desperately for the gun.
“…so as to achieve happiness…”
The end came very suddenly.
The gun twisted out of her hand and fell to the ground.
The agent lashed out and jumped for the gun. His fingers closed around it, and he twisted himself to face the assassin just as she brought her fist centimetres away from his face.
“…prosperity…”
Breathing labouriously, he stared into her eyes.
The eyes of a childhood friend.
Her eyes were not longer murderous or cold.
It was the same pair of warm and friendly eyes he saw years ago.
Yet, he knew his duty.
They had come too far to turn back.
“…and progress...”
He mouthed the final words.
“… for our nation”
A single gunshot.
Silence.
Then the screaming began.

Yet another crazy story by me...