The first time I met Hera, it had rained hard for the first time in summer. Under the bus shelter which offered no warmth, I could see his piercing blue eyes even in that dimly lit street. Despite my hyperfocus and photographic nemory, the details of that day and what happened after were a mystery even to me.
But one thing was for certain. That meeting would have changed my life for good.
["Do you have a good shot of the target?"] A muffled sound came from the small bud in my ear as I positioned my scope on the sight of a man in a tailored suit walking out the back door of what is supposed to be a laundry shop.
"I see him," I scope further, "He's got two other people with him. Both carrying an identical case that he got."
["Good. Keep an eye on him."] And I did as I was told, keeping watch as the targeted man switched cases with his companion. Planning to overthrow anyone spying on them by switching the real case with a decoy. Child's play.
I watched as they all walked away in different directions. At this point it would be hard to keep track of all of them as I kept watch on the person with the real case. "E, they're all spreading out. What's our next move?" I asked into the mic attached to my jaw.
["...."]
"E?"
["Shoot him."] Bang.
"I want to go home," I slumped back into my chair. Exhaustion weighing my body and practically glueing me in place.
"Good work today," E, better yet, Elijah, gave me a satisfied smile and put down a cup filled with coffee on the long table in front of them before sitting down at the head of the table.
"It is really nice to have someone so reliable with these assassinations to do the job. Our work went smoothly," Elijah spun in circles on his chair but I frowned at his words.
"Don't call it that. I didn't kill the guy." I picked up the cup he had given me and took a sip of coffee, which in truth, was just half a cup of sugar, a splash of milk, a spoon of cocoa before topping it off with the actual coffee. That I then set aside to forget about for the entire meeting.
"Killing him, tranquilizing him. Yada yada— The important thing is we managed to successfully retrieve the Orca De'liese without a problem. Whatever happens to that guy next isn't ours to worry about." Elijah stirred his own cup before taking in huge gulps. I gagged. How does his teeth not melt away at that amount of sugar intake?
The Orca De'liese— No one quite knows yet what this blueprint is actually for, except for it's creator and the scientists who pursue it but if put in to the wrong hands, it could become a threat to humanity. Hell, neither do I know what it actually is.
"All this trouble for a piece of paper, and not one person even knows what to make use of it. How troublesome," Elijah laughed at my indifference.
"It's not what's in the content that makes people want it. It's that people made it seem valuable that makes them greed for it." He shrug, his shoulders cracking unintentionally at the tension, "Personally, I could not care more. Getting dragged into these affairs just puts more work on to my plate. I'd toss this scroll back into the lion's den if I could."
"For our leader, you really don't consider the things you say out loud..." Is it really for a leader to be admitting treason like this?
"But the boss promised to treat us to expensive meat and good beer if we succeeded so who am I to refuse free food?" Hearing this, I held myself back from pointing out the fact that he owned three cars and a pension house in another country.
The glass doors opened and people started to flood in, taking up the empty seats of the long table. Beside me, Elijah sighed before he stood up. He had his hands propping on the table as he leaned over the room, those sharp blue eyes pierced across everyone in one glance. He smiled.
"Shall we begin the meeting?"
"What's the status on Orca De'liese?" Through a clipboard, Elijah placed a hand on his hip as he read the report with half-lidded eyes.
Birina, a girl with brown curls tied in space buns, stood up from her seat. "Our research team is currently undergoing process, Sir! So far, the only thing we discovered from the blueprint are some of the materials used."
I remember her. This girl had recently joined our association not too long ago as part of the research department. From her appearance, she seems to be the youngest person in this room.
Elijah nodded his head at her in acknowledgement but that was the most attention he gave, not even sparing a glance at her. "Got it. Next time keep it short and just say you guys got nothing,"
Wow. Cold... I shivered. Birina seemed down after she was shot down and she slumped back into her seat. Like a puppy that has been kicked down.
Elijah flipped a page.
"Next, any updates of our opps?" At that question, Thatcher, a timid looking boy with silver hair, flinched at the sound of his name before he looked up. His yellow eyes scanned the room to find everyone's, except Elijah's, attention was on him.
"Haa...fuck, please kill me," He whispered under his breath. Clearing his throat, he stood up and read his report.
"W-well.... Harp's Chord has been keeping a low profile lately. And considering today's success... Davirden is probably currently investigating what happened and trying to identify the suspect...A.K.A us..." with a terrified expression, Thatcher didn't even want to look up. But he dared to. Only to find Elijah already staring at him above the clipboard.
"Probably?" Elijah asked.
"...Definitely," Thatcher replied, shaking.
"Trying?"
"I would think so...?" At this, Elijah gently put down clipboard he'd been holding.
"Are you asking me?"
Thatcher squealed in fear, "No sir! I'm sure... I'm definitely sure they are!"
Can he not intimidate the newbies like that? I could remember it like new. Elijah has always been like this. Scaring the newcomers for his own entertainment when he could care less about his work. It was the same for me when I first took in this job but he never went beyond acting like a senior intimidating freshmans.
At that time, I didn't care about anything and soon Elijah got bored from receiving no reactions from me.
"Dude, you're so boring. At least play along a little. Boo!" He had actually booed at me as he stuck out his tongue. Was this guy seriously going to be my leader from now on? He acts like a total kid!
Every single day after that, he'd come to annoy me. Whether it was to assign a bunch of work on me, or just talking my ear out in general. It became a way of torture.
I thought then that maybe this association was just a playground for him, and maybe this wasn't the overwhelming, deep and scary job I thought it would be. But I was quickly proven wrong.
Thatcher looked like he was on the brink of crying as he sat back down. Behind his clipboard, I could actually see Elijah hide a smile. This jerk actually had the guts to laugh!
What a bully.
"Now, what about..." Elijah hummed as he stared at the last report. At the end of the table from the left, Haneul, a man with dark bubblegum pink hair with equally striking dark prink eyes, was visibly shaking on his seat. "Haneul," He practically jumped at his name, "What's the update on the guy that was shot?"
Shooting up like a bamboo tree, Haneul gave his report, "After he was tranquilized, we tied him up at an abandoned building nearby the area, sir! We stripped him of anything that could be useful but we found none, sir! After successfully retreiving the Orca De'liese, we made sure to rid any of our traces, sir!"
Elijah placed a gloved hand over Haneul's shoulders, sending chills down the poor man's spine. The look of horror on Haneul's face only entertained this angel faced devil of a leader even more.
"Are you sure of that, sergeant?" He asked in a low voice.
"Sir, yes sir!" Please someone shoot this demon beside me! Was a prayer that practically wrote itself on Haneul's face at the moment.
But before his soul could find peace in heaven and leave his body, Elijah threw his hands up in the air. And that was when I felt my own soul leave my body.
Oh no.
I knew all too well what would soon follow after that gesture. I've been a victim of it ever since I first started here, and I've dreaded it everyday.
"To celebrate our success, let's have a work dinner!"
Ahh. Work dinners...my very enemy. I groaned. I just want to go home... Hera's waiting for me.
I need to get out of here. If you guys want to go out then go have fun without me but I've been held back by work for the past few days. I just want to go home to Hera!
I slowly snuck out the door while Elijah was busy headlocking both Haneul and Thatcher under his arms as they all cheered.
A heavy tire— No. A heavy hand suddenly clasped my shoulder, and my heart sank to the pits of my ass as I was held in place by the hand of anguish and despair.
"You know what happens to people who skip out on work dinners, do you?" Elijah's cold voice washed over me like a bucket of cold water and ice. I gulped. Fuck.
And that was how I ended up sitting Infront of the electric grill with a glass of beer in hand as everyone shoved grilled meat into their mouths.
I anxiously glanced at my watch to check the time. Then picked up my phone to see if any new messages popped up, only to find none.
"Stop being so anxious, if you're such in a hurry to go home, just call your lover over and let him drink with us!" Elijah said from across the table as he ordered, grilled and ate more meat.
I huffed. "Yeah right," As if I could do that!
The thing is, Hera has no idea about my work as an assassin. Nor does he have any idea I even work at an association like this.
I'd rather die first before letting him know.
And even so, letting him know about this will only drag him into danger, and I would also rather die first than have that.
At best, Hera thinks I'm just an office worker throughout the entire time we've been dating. And I'd rather keep it that way.
Birina looked up from her straw, "Mr. Fletcher, you have a lover?" Her dark eyes sparkled like stars. "I expected none of that!"
Elijah snickered, "Behind that nonchalant facade he puts up, is a person that likes to be baby'ed by his husband."
"I do not put up a facade," I drank my beer.
Haneul, mid-slurp of noodles stuffed in his mouth right beside me, looked at me weirdly. "Really? That's the part you're focused on?"
"Shut up and swallow before you talk."
Birina clasped her hands together, "Wow, I never expected you to have a lover, Mr. Fletcher. What's he like?" Her voice laced with expectation as she asked.
I couldn't easily decide on the words that immediately popped in my mind.
Hera? He is the light of my life. He's vibrant, smart, funny, charismatic, good with kids, righteous, strong, always puts me first, he saved me, he's an angel, he's family orientated. One day we'll make a family together. We'll adopt two kids. Or if he doesn't want kids, I'm fine with it being just the two of us. Maybe we will have fur babies instead. He's so good with plants. He has a green thumb. Our little house will have a huge garden. He also likes seafood—
"I don't know what's going on in your mind right now but I'm gonna stop you right there before you start," Elijah, now face masked with barbecue sauce, pointed his lettuce wrap at me. "Basically, he worships the ground his lover walks on."
He's not wrong.
"If you knew then you should've let me go home."
"And let the world have another happy couple? Nuh-uh." I threw a lettuce wrap at his face. But to my defeat, Elijah merely put meat on the wrap stuck to his face before his mouth vacuumed it off.
Hell has gained a new demon.
In the dim lit room within the abandoned building, a man bounded to a chair quietly whimpered in the dark. Suddenly, light washed his face as the door creaked open and in comes a group of men, which was led by a mysterious person who walked in front of them.
For a moment, the man smiled, happy to finally be pulled out of this dark place. "Boss! I'm so glad you're here, it was those stinkin Whale Fish or something organization. They took the case! Once I get out of here, well I oughta' teach em a lesson!" The man continued to ramble on and on, as this boss grew closer and closer.
Once close enough, the one stray light that came from the door illuminated this dangerous face. A woman, one with skin flawless like porcelain, adorned with the most striking pair of violet eyes, and hair white as snow. She didn't look pleased with this rambling man at all but her half-lidded held no contempt nor anger. Seeing her up so close confused the man and he finally stopped talking.
"...Boss?" Smack. A blow landed directly on the bounded man's face as he fell to the ground, the chair creating a loud noise along with him. The woman had kicked his face.
"So you lost the Orca...and to the Rorquals of all people." Her voice was small, yet it weighed heavily on everyone in the room. "...Useless."
The sound that followed was a terrifying, muffled scream, and a wet sound accompanied by a bone breaking echoed in the room.