They were a member of Pax Humanis, but was so elderly their days hunting down the truly evil of the universe was over. These days, they trained new assassins how to find the ones who truly deserved to be eliminated, and how to eliminate them in a way that scared the crap out of other evil people who were on that same path. -- Anon Guest
[AN: Yes I know it should be story 4004 because Scheherazade told a thousand and one tales, but thousands are a nice round number and I like them more. Also Pax Humanis aren't assassins, they're serial killers and technically mercenaries]
The old killer walked with a cane. He had very few scars, and that should have told his class everything they needed to know about his wisdom. Some were chuckling about his senility and fragility.
"I don't need to teach any of you how to kill," said the old man, hobbling between the students. "You already know how to do that. You have your own methods. I need not interfere with many of those. What you need to learn... is subtlety. How to get in and get out without noticing."
"Like you can teach us anything," scoffed one of the recent recruits. "We only got caught because of dumb luck."
"So you know which member of this classroom is the one who I've poisoned," cooed the old man. "I did it just now. Did you see it?"
Suddenly, the jocular atmosphere and the hearts of the students turned cold. There was an exchange of worried glances towards each other, and then to their immediate surroundings. Desperately trying to remember if things as they were had always been like that.
"Subterfuge, distraction, hiding in plain sight. Even remaining under the radar. How to get in. How to get out. How to do all of that and still do what you do best. And also how to fulfill your assignments right under your targets noses."
One of the students raised a hand. "Which one of us did you poison?"
"Lesson one," said the old killer. "Situational awareness and deductive reasoning..."
[Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash]
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