Camouflage (unfinished)

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This story is unfinished, and likely will never be finished. For more info, skip to the end.
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Leaves rustling in the wind. The sound of a man halting his breath. A dull "thunk". Screams in the distance.

If one were to hear these sounds in this order, they would surely think that something terrible had happened, mostly because of the screams that could be heard from the festival off some hundreds of meters in the distance. Luckily for him, no one did. Which was exactly what he planned in the first place.

Luke was still watching through his scope as he saw how a hole appeared in the middle of Enrico Salampi's head. The local lord's fat body fell backwards and slumped over, his guards were at a loss. How did their boss just die? While it was obvious that the murderer's shot came from the direction he was facing, none of them heard anything resembling a gun or something similar.

Having stopped looking at the scene that played out in the distance, Luke couldn't help but smirk. His victim may have a lot of money and influence, but even the best artifacts protecting him from spells and arrows couldn't stop his weapon, a flintlock rifle with a strange looking cylinder strapped to the end of the barrel. While most other contract killers, or assassins as they were called among the common rabble of people, that operated at ranges preferred to use bows for their stealth or sometimes crossbows for their power, he was probably the only one to employ a gun. Under normal circumstances this would have been impossible, considering the amount of noise a gun, especially a rifle, usually makes.

Had it not been for the wizard that helped him with his "tool", as he called it, he would probably still use a crossbow himself. Using magic enchantments on the end of his rifles' barrel not only caused it to lower the sound it emitted upon firing by a significant margin, but also strengthened the power of its bullets, making them much easier to aim at longer distances. Combine this with his self-made scope and you had yourself a terrifyingly efficient and stealthy killing tool for long distances. These enchantments, rare and unknown to the public as they were, therefore did cost him a lot of money, convincing and bribe, although with how much easier it made his job, it more than made up for that.

Increasing his lethal range more than tenfold compared to his old ways of completing his assassinations had its perks: He could easily stay out of the range where anyone would hear him firing his rifle which in turn made it incredibly easy to get away from the scene of crime without any suspicion. It also enabled to him to use a multitude of hiding spots to watch and in the end, kill his target from, one of which he had used now: Sitting atop an oak's wide branches, hidden by his green-brownish cloak and hood.


Stashing away his rifle in his altered scabbard that made it look like a greatsword sheathed on his back when he carried it around, he couldn't help but wonder if for once, he did a good deed. While obviously no names were exchanged in his business, the person who paid him his up-front share wasn't a rich one. Far from it, actually. The young man looked like a farmer who hastily got money from his village together to stop the tyranny of Salampi who was known far and wide as a corrupt politician, businessman and crime boss. Of course, none of these rumors were ever confirmed, as his men were not all too keen on seeing their bosses' pride stomped on. Or they were paid to do it, which was very likely the better reason.

Not that Luke cared much for the reason he did his job for, as long as he was getting paid, he wasn't complaining. And paid he was going to get, unless his client valued his life very little.

A shake in the branches behind him tore his thoughts away from his pay. Whipping around and drawing the large, curved dagger out of the sheath on his hip, he was ready to face his foe... only for there to be no foe. Confusion settled in quickly, as he wondered why the tree suddenly decided to trick his mind. The wind gently flowing over and through this forest was nowhere close to strong enough to even tickle the thick branches this tree possessed. But considering the emptiness in the space in front of him, there wasn't really anything else that could've caused the noise, as there was no one else around this area, as he just confirmed.

Swiftly climbing down the tree to have another look around, he couldn't help but feel watched. If who- or whatever caused the branches to shake was still nearby, his life could be in danger, considering how easily they managed to evade even his increased sense of perception that helped him during his contracts. Shuddering at the thought, he tucked away his dagger again and started to set out, only for him to hear a quiet "swish" behind him and a dull pain at the backside of his head.

Seeing his still cloaked form collapse into the grass, his attacker appeared out of thin air with a slight chuckle. Crouching down to check for any signs of life in his still body, a scaled hand set down on Luke's neck.

"Hmm... odd, his heartbeat is still this fast with him being unconscious? That can only mean-"

"You guessed right, buddy!"

The figure barely had enough time to scoot backwards before Luke's dagger sliced through the air in front of them. Faking unconsciousness and waiting patiently for his foe to get closer had paid off. Standing up again, he got his first good look at his opponent and was, at least a bit, surprised:

In front of him stood a woman. But definitely not a human one: Her arms and legs ended in dull green scales, at her lower back a long, curled tail covered in the same scales could be seen. Around where her ears would be normally, fin-like extensions poked out of her brown hair, which was pulled back in a ponytail and some bangs at the side of her face covered some more scales. Her tight clothes were likely made for agility, not for protection and therefore allowed him to easily take in her athletic form. In her right hand was a shortsword, held at the ready.

Lizardfolk. While that much was obvious, he couldn't explain the lack of claws on both her hand and feet, not that that bothered him much. Less claws on his enemy meant less danger while fighting and could only help him during a fight. Finishing his observation, a smirk appeared on his face.

"What, too afraid to attack, now that you lost your advantage? Tch, and I thought you lizards were a honorable bunch..."

"That's much, coming from an assassin like yourself. I was merely waiting for you to finish ogling my body. And as for my advantage... who said I lost it?"

"Come on now, if you didn't need to hide like you did earlier why did you do it? It plain as day that you won't stand a chance now that I know where you are."

"Maybe, but how about we even the odds a little then?"

Just after finishing the sentence, the monster girl in front of him started to be slightly see-through, only to completely disappear after just a second. Realizing how he couldn't see her earlier in the tree, he jumped forward and slashed his dagger about, only to hit air. She had already moved, and he didn't know where. Calming down he tried listening for any sounds in the grass.

Hearing a squelch in the mud behind him, he spun around and swung his dagger, only to see a stone getting stuck in said mud and to miss his swing again. A blade appeared at his throat and he could feel her holding him in a way a kidnapper would hold his hostage when the guard appeared, just that he could also feel her breasts pressing into his back which, apart from the rest of the situation he was currently in, did feel nice.

Grumbling, he dropped his dagger.

"Invisibility without any incantation... how the heck is that fair..."

"Oh, this wasn't magic."

He could practically feel her grin as she bound his hands behind his back. Only after they were securely bound, she ducked down and picked up his dagger.

"No magic? Didn't know lizardfolk could cloak naturally."

"They can't as far as I know, but I'm pretty sure last time I checked I wasn't a lizardman."

"You sure look like one..."

"Enough chit-chat, we got to go. I got a proposition for you and we're too much in the open right now to discuss it."

"Proposition? What're you talking abo- OWW!" was all he managed to get out before he realized that a calming warmth traveled through his body from a painful prick at his arm. Darkness took him as he had one last look at her smirking face.

-----

Slowing starting to wake up, he groggily raised his head only to realize his arms were still bound, this time to a chair. Looking around him with sleepy eyes, he found himself to be in a wooden cottage, probably somewhere in the woods, if he had to guess, since he saw leaves through the small window in the room. All his weapons, even the hidden daggers in his boots, seem to be gone; his captor seemed to be very thorough. Sighing to himself, he relaxed himself into the chair. After all, there was not much he could do at this point, except to wait for her to make a move.

That, she did after a little while. Walking into the room with the same leather armor she had worn earlier during the fight, only with withdrawn weapons, she looked at him and smiled.

"Oh, you're awake already. Didn't think the poison would wear off this quickly. Are you hungry?"

"..."

"What's wrong? Still annoyed to be beaten by someone else in your job category?"

"Well... yeah, that too I guess. But I'm mostly wondering why the hell you would fight, drug and kidnap me just to offer me some food. Doesn't seem to be something someone in 'my job category' would do." He made sure to stress the last bit of his sentence.

"Maybe I like a challenge? And the famous 'Sniper Assassin' seemed to be just the perfect target for that. Also, proposition. Remember what I said about that earlier?"

"You haven't answered my question. Why did you not just kill me? There is a bounty on my head after all."

"That's part of it. The reason why I did what I did is because I want to work together with you. Can't really do that with someone who's dead, can I now?"

Luke was... amused to say the least. Starting with a snicker, he soon went into a full-blown laughter. After a short while, he calmed himself enough to be able to talk again, only for her to have a slightly concerned, if not hurt look in his direction.

"Oh wait. You're serious. Let me laugh even harder." He wished he could wipe the tear out of his eye right now, with how hard he was laughing. Work together, ha. That's a good one, he had to remember that for the next time he saw another contract killer... oh. She was on the verge of tears. But unlike him, not because of joy.

"Sheesh, you're crying? How did you even manage to beat me with a flimsy personality like that?"

"I... *sniff* I've always looked up to you, e-ever since you got rid of that pesky old hag running the orphanage. She was mistreating everyone, so we got our money together and hired someone. With someone else in charge, the others were finally happy..."

"Uuuhm... Hate to break it to you lady, but I'm not some kind of hero. I just did that for the money. Where did you even get so much to pay my fees?"

"But I... I learned to do the same as you. You inspired me. You gave me confidence."

Inspired her? With a quizzical look on his face, he thought back...

-----

Staring at the lifeless body of the old woman he was hired to kill, he quietly turned around as he heard footsteps behind him. Appearing out of thin air, was the form of a teenage monster girl, with a sad smile on her face. How she just appeared was a mystery to him, but if she tried to scream for help, he'd have a knife at her throat in no time.

"You killed her. Thank you."

"Just doing my job. But say, the cloaking thing you can do. That'd be pretty useful for someone like me. Is that teachable?"

"I'm afraid not, it's an ability of my race."

"Huh, shame. You'd make a pretty good assassin then. Go knock 'em dead, y'hear?"

Big eyes stared back at him, as she frantically nodded. With a snort, he made his way out the backdoor.

-----

"Wait... you're that lizard girl from back the orphanage in Dreka?!"

The change in expression on her face almost frightened him. She went from a crying face to a full blown smile of admiration.

"You... you remember me? I thought you'd forget about me after the 5 years we didn't see each other."

"I... I guess not. If I remember correctly, you even appeared out of nowhere back then as well. What is up with that?"

"Oh! Oh! Right! Still haven't told you that."

She seemed positively ecstatic right now. As if she lifted off any moment. Just how much did this girl care for him?

"Well, as I said before, I'm not actually a lizard girl, my race is an offshoot of the gecko family. I'm a chameleon girl."

"Chameleon, huh. That'd explain the invisibility and lack of claws. Hey, do you actually grab onto anything anyone gives in your hand, like I've heard?"

"Wha-wha-whaaat? Nononono, ok yes... I don't... Why would you ask this?!" she stammered and started to blush. Crossing her arms underneath her breasts, she huffed and looked off to the side.

So far, Luke hasn't really looked at her body that much. Obviously he had watched her inhuman body parts, but the rest seemed... very inviting to say the least. How did he not notice that sooner? He found himself staring at her breasts, the tight fabric revealing something her stiff nipples underneath it. Gulping, he hoped she wouldn't see his hardening member.

"Wait, you... think I'm attractive as well?"

Getting his eyes off her breasts and looking at her face again, he blushed. Crap, she had seen him looking.

"Oooh, I see someone's honest with me at least..." she giggled as she looked at his crotch and slowly made her way towards him...



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This story is very likely not going to be finished, since I kinda lost interest in it. I wrote up to this point in one sitting and then just couldn't think of how to continue it, over several months. I will probably sort of rewrite this, with some changed story elements, like how they meet etc. The MC being a top-notch sneaky assassin using some sort of OP magic accessories seemed like a good idea at the start, but felt out of place after a bit (and it was missing backstory that I'm too uncreative to write).

That being said, I still think it's sad that I have barely seen any stories involving chameleon MGs so far (only one I can think of is AceTheWriteFags's Illusionistquest), and while they aren't an "official" MG, they have a certain charm to it that actually makes me want to use one for a story, which will likely be a remade version of this story.

Thanks for reading and (hopefully) your understanding.