1 Those Bastards

"It's Done" said the voice over the intercom

"Good job DB" came the reply.

CIA Agent Thomas Gates, better known in the field as Death Blade (DB for short), was a weapon himself: A black belt in Mixed Martial Arts, an ace shooter, and the Weaponry Expert for The Agency. This wasn't a surprise, being the only agent that could handle any of the guns with both hands.

His mission - to eliminate a possible threat to national security. And that threat was caused by none other than the Russian Mafia.

A short while later he reached his native state of New Jersey.

"How was the mission DB?" asked the chief assistant.

"Wasn't too difficult, you know how these things go..."

"Well, good job either way."

"Right. Tell the Chief I'm heading home for the night."

One boring car drive later, Gates comes home.

As usual his wife was sitting on the living room couch, listening to the radio and watching television with the sound muted, she would do this when there was nothing interesting on.

As he walked into their bedroom to get changed, he saw her guitar, sitting there in the corner, he didn't know nor care for the brand or model but listening to her play it was one of the few things he enjoyed, which if you were to ask him directly about, he'd say is weird as he was "never a fan of any genre of music" and that to him it "was mostly noise".

There were some songs that he liked here and there but outside of those few, everything else was merely background noise for that hour long drive to and from work.

He went to the living room, its entrance was on the left side, about 2 meters off the corner wall leaving plenty of room for both it and the connected kitchen, but that meant only the kitchen was visible from the hallway.

As he turned right towards the living room part, he saw her, Julia Day Gates - former US Marshall and the wife of Thomas.

She was one of the strongest Marshalls of the country, known for her perceptiveness and keenness to learn, she is quiet and cunning but also loud and fierce, whenever she had something on her mind she would say it, but she also knew when to bite her own tongue.

As beautiful as the day they'd met is what he thought, but even he could tell she was zoned out, which for her wasn't normal and rarely happened, It was during times like that when she wouldn't tell anyone what was on her mind, anyone except-

"What's wrong ?"

"It's nothing..."

"Julia, I know you well enough to know, when you're staring blankly at the TV that something is up"

"I was thinking, why don't we try to have a child."

"Is that all there was ?" He says, with a slight chuckle at the notion that she was anxious over that thought.

"No, I was also thinking about our past and present..."

"With you working at The Agency, I don't feel safe and I'd feel even less safe for our child"

"Well, if you want to try for a kid, then I'm all for it."

"And if my job makes you feel unsafe, I'll quit as soon as we know you're pregnant, how about that ?"

She didn't need to answer, because he could already see her expression change when he said that.

"Now, how about I go grab your guitar and you play for me while I cook dinner ?"

"I thought you didn't like music ?" - She exclaimed.

"I don't, but I like it when you play."

That was 1 year ago.

Gates was at The Agency.

"Today was a slow day..."

He headed straight to the chief's office, he needed to speak to him.

"Hey, chief, any news on the guys from my last case ? It's been 5 months."

"Nothing, after you came back they've been laying low, they must be planning something but what exactly...."

"Well, whatever it is can hopefully wait, I'm here to ask you for a sabbatical."

"That's rare, coming from you."

"What's the occasion ?"

"It's almost our 4 year anniversary and I wanted to take Julia somewhere nice, it's been a while since we've had a vacation."

"Alright, I guess you deserve a break, mind telling me how long you plan on being gone ?"

"I'd say a month is good. I want to take her somewhere nice, but I for one, also want to relax."

"I'll talk to the board and let you know tomorrow but I'm fairly sure they'll say yes."

"Alright, well if I'm not needed here anymore, I'm gonna head home. Later chief."

"See you tomorrow."

(Thomas was jubilant when he came to know that he finally got a vacation for his anniversary and when he told this happy news to Julia she was also glad, jumping in his arms in the process and was looking forward to it.)

Soon after Thomas and Julia Gates were halfway across the world enjoying their vacation. They went to all sorts of locations and even took a cruise ship. On the cruise ship, one night when they were having dinner a nice fellow appeared out of nowhere.

"Excuse me,I am Jason do you mind if I sit here for a moment ?"

"Uhm, of course ?" - both Julia and Thomas were surprised at the request but thought they could at least see where this was going

"I'm sorry, I won't bother you long. It's just that you two seem to get along so well and... well."

"You see, I'm planning to propose to my girlfriend, but I wanted to ask some married couples a few things about marriage."

"I love her but I don't know if I can make her happy, so I've been going around asking married couples about themselves and what they think makes for a good marriage, mainly to reaffirm myself."

"So do you mind if I ask you some questions ?"

"I hope you don't take this personally but when you came up to us asking if you could sit here I thought you were trying to start something" - Julia said whilst giggling softly

"N-no, it's alright, you have every right to, I know it's a strange request but-"

"Go ahead, we don't mind"

"Well, how did you two meet ?"

"Well, it was a couple years ago. Were on patrol when we met, I saw her from across the outpost, I was just going to do my rounds. She was standing there.... I believe she was inspecting her weapon, if my memory isn't playing tricks on me."

"No, honey I was just getting off duty and was about to go to the gun locker."

"Oh, so you're police officers ?"

"No, military. Or we were." she said with a smile.

"But that's a part of the past, as for your question-" Thomas interrupts her

"I'll be blunt, kid. There is no secret to a happy marriage, we constantly bicker and fight, but we no matter what we're always there for each other, because we love each other."

"And I get how you feel, you're scared that she might say "no" or that she might not love you in the future but all I can tell you is to take a leap of faith."

"Right, marriage isn't about spending your lives trying to make each other happy, it's about staying together and being there for them when the other person is driving you insane, because let's be honest, aside from those moments, you're always happy when they're around"

They briefly stared at each other with a loving gaze and Thomas put his hand on Julia's.

"We hope that answered your question."Jason smiled

"It did, more than you think, thank you."

"I wish you both a good evening and good night. Thank you for your time."

With a somewhat reaffirmed confidence, Jason left. They wouldn't see him, until they got of the cruise ship, holding the hand of his now fiance.

"See what you did ?" Thomas asked his wife

"What ?"

"You gave him confidence and now look at him, he looks so happy."

"We gave him confidence." Julia corrected him, going for a kiss.

"Honey, I love you and all that, but..." Thomas could not help himself but burst out in laughter...

"... that was an awful line!"

"Thomas, you dork!" she said as she slapped him gently on the shoulder, attempting to hide a small smile that washed over her face seeing the love of her life full to the brim with bright laughter.

"I love you and this might seem sudden but, I think you would be a great mother."

"Let's go."

Around 7 months later

"I wonder if I should get Julia something, maybe some flowers... Or I could take her to a restaurant, we haven't eaten out in a while." "Yeah, that would be nice."

When he unlocked the door to his apartment everything seemed normal, the radio was playing, the TV's lights were flashing in the living room.

He walked into the bedroom to get change, as he was changing Gates yelled to Julia in the living room.

"Do you want to go out to a restaurant tonight ?"

But he received no answer.

It wasn't strange, Julia was always more of a fan of direct face to face conversations, so Gates paid no mind to the silence.

When he finished getting changed he walked into the living room only to be shell shocked.

Julia's dead body, lying on the couch, beaten so badly her face wasn't even visible

The moment he saw it, a memory flashed in his mind.

He always had a soft spot for her. Even though his work required most of his time he still tried to her the time she needed from him but sometimes they would still argue.

"You said you'd leave this job behind. I don't want you doing it anymore." Julia said not quite yelling but also not quiet either.

"Why is it such a problem?"

"What if someday, someone comes for you or me?" Do you ever think about that?"

"You know, you're all I think about when I-"

"When you're not working, I know."

"We already talked about this, I told it to you then and I'll tell it to you now-"

"You know I want to be with you but I don't want to live my life in fear of what might happen. So, I'll leave you, if you need me to."

That's how Julia would always end their fights and now, she was dead.

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Due to his service, his instincts got the best of him and he started looking for clues.

After a good 2 hours of fruitless searching, he found something of use and something he wished he didn't find.

On both of Julia's knees there were marks that even Thomas had almost missed, and....

In her back pocket, Julia had put a pregnancy test, with the intent to surprise Thomas when he came home.

"A plus..." he said with tears in his eyes.

It was positive, she had been pregnant and now both she and their unborn child were dead.

The marks on her knees said it all "star on both knees"

"Мы не преклоняемся перед властью"

It symbolized "WE BOW TO NO AUTHORITY"

Gates shouted with rage with tears welling from his eyes,

His legs started shaking and collapsed on the ground crying, almost as if his knees gave out.

"I'll kill those bastards"

"Those cowards, I am gonna kill them all."

To vent his emotions he picked up his Grand Tourer and left.

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