1 Her Mission

As the early sun broke over the horizon, spilling golden light, a tall man was seen walking casually over the corpses. Standing at 6'8", this man was built like he was made of bricks. He had messy black hair in an undercut and sharp, pale eyes that seemed silver to the naked and poetic eye.

The man stepped over the bodies of his enemies before finally stopping at the side of one that was still alive. He crouched down as the shuddering man was spitting out blood.

Casimiro cocked his head as the dying man turned his head to him.

"You… won't get… away… with this," the man coughed out.

Casimiro only looked at him before the BANG of a gun rang across the bloodied and body-strewn field. He stood up and stepped over the body.

Walking across the field, Micah was starkly reminded why he was so glad he was on his boss' good side and not one of his enemies.

Once Casimiro reached the edge of the woods, Micah handed him a black folder. Casimiro took it as he kept walking and got into the back of a small, black car called a Stinger. The windows were so dark and tinted you might mistake it for one-way mirror glass.

Casimiro sat down and took his black and white mask off, placing it on the towel on his left. The towel was black so blood stains were much, much harder to see.

Micah got into the driver's seat and quickly sped off as Casimiro opened the folder.

The latter, frowning, pulled out his phone and made a call. Once at the road, Casimiro clicked off his phone and sat back.

Micah looked at his boss through the rearview mirror. "Where to, Boss?"

Casimiro was silent for a moment before what rang out next in his deep voice startled Micah.

"Home."

•|•

In a dingy two-bedroom apartment, a woman dressed all in black, with a white mask covering half her face, jumped in through the window soundlessly.

Max was waiting for her and when she finally came in, he shook his head in disappointment.

"I told you not to take it," he said.

Nova pulled the mask off and tossed the artifact to him. "I didn't take it, remember? They STOLE it. Stardust is just returning it."

"But we have it."

"For now. I'll take it to the museum in a couple days along with the other ones," she said, shrugging. "The Dogs gotta learn to stop stealing. Didn't they learn from the last time?"

"Obviously not," Max said, rolling his eyes. He placed the artifact in a cardboard box along with a few other archeological artifacts. "Because the Cobra gang ending up in prison wasn't enough to convince them to stop."

Nova waved her hand. "It's fine, we got it."

Max grasped her shoulders, looking her dead in the face. "We are two people. Two. We cannot fight everyone. The last few times, you've barely made it out alive! Please, Nova. After six years, aren't you tired? Don't you want a life? Aren't you tired of fighting?"

Nova's face went flat. She stepped away from Max and turned around, starting to take off her gear. "No. I won't stop, Max. This is my life. I will not stop until I find them and you-" she swirled around to face him, "-YOU know that. But you're more than welcome to leave."

She walked to the front door and opened it. "I'm going out, see you tomorrow."

"Bye," Max said quietly, worried about his best friend.

Whereas, Nova understood where he was coming from, but he knew her mission. It had always been the same:

Find her parents.

And if that meant fighting crime along the way, win-win.

Her parents could be dead— a scenario she was ready and prepared to expect. But then she would avenge them.

If her parents were alive, they'd all live happily ever after.

A very long time ago, they left Nova at an orphanage in hopes to protect her from their lifestyle. They had made some big enemies and were prepared to fight them— until Diana got pregnant with Nova. Then, she and Atticus suddenly had more to live for and weren't willing to die.

But after the burning, and being on her own, Nova found little clues from her parents. They wanted her to find them.

Nova had found her mother's prized brooch on the grounds of the orphanage after that terrible night. It hadn't been among Nova's possessions. And later on, she saw someone wearing her father's watch and followed him.

Long story short, she discovered the underworld and that her parents had seemingly pissed off everyone from the little information she could gather.

But they were out there.

She believed they were.

They had to be.

They wouldn't leave her in this world all alone.

And so she made it her mission to find them. They were her parents. She loved them more than anything in this world.

She will find them.

Otherwise, she would be more than happy to watch the world burn.