13 Chapter 13: Rogue Assassin

"Captain Lucas Briggs stood for truth and justice. He had dedicated himself to provide the city with the highest quality law enforcement service and protection, to ensure the safety of its citizens and visitors alike. The entire city mourns with his family this day as we say our final goodbyes to an extraordinary man who lived an extraordinary life. As the District Attorney, I vow to bring his killer to justice so that there can be closure once and for all. Captain Briggs deserved better," Olivia said in closing as she addressed a large gathering of mourners at his funeral.

She shortly after made her way off the altar and walked by a beautiful portrait of him in his navy blue police uniform and hat. Standing on both sides of the portrait were two lovely bouquets of fresh white roses. He lied permanently asleep in his shiny black coffin that was behind the portrait and roses. His grieving family members sat on the front bench to the left side of the room and behind them sat Victor, who was rolling his eyes to the heavens when he saw that they were bawling sincerely. Unlike them, he knew the real Captain Briggs; the Captain Briggs that would skip, jump, bark and bend the law for his own monetary gain. Victor then ignoring them, watched closely at Olivia as she took her seat at the front bench on the other side of the Church.

Some minutes later and the funeral service was over. The body had been carried away in a hearse and the crowd began to dwindle out of the Church. The rain started to fall heavily. Luckily for Victor, Merci was waiting at the doorway with an umbrella. She selflessly sheltered him from the rain as she escorted him to his gold limousine that was parked on the side of the road. By the time they got into the car, she was soaking wet. The car subsequently drove off after they were settled in.

"What happened to your face?" Victor asked, noticing a slight bruise on the side of her face.

"It's nothing of importance, sir. I had a little incident in a training exercise. That's all," Merci lied.

"I see. What of Otis?"

"He's at the bottom of the harbour as we speak," Merci answered confidently.

"Excellent," Victor thereafter looked around when he felt that something was achingly different about their set up. "Your sister, where is she?"

"I...I don't know, sir," she stuttered.

"What do you mean you don't know? She's your sister?"

"The last time I saw her, she said she had a lead on the Detective. My guess is that she has gone to pursue that lead on her own."

"Did she? Merci, I'm not concerned about the Detective anymore. As it turns out I've been made aware by my associates that the thumb drive is heavily encrypted. It's unbreakable. We were fired up from the start for no reason. In any case, what I'm more concerned about right now is your sister's manners. Why didn't she run this by me before she decided to take matters into her own hands? What if something was supposed to happen now and my life is in danger? What then? I would be one hand short. One hand cannot clap by itself, Merci. Both of your services are needed right round the clock. You two should be inseparable. One must know where the other is or will be. That is how it ought to be," Victor argued.

"Yes, sir," Merci replied, holding down her head. The car then stopped. Merci looked outside and realized where they were. "Why are we stopping at City Hall?"

"I have a quick visit to make first." The driver shortly opened the door. "I would have invited you in, but you look like a wet dog. Clean yourself up."

He eventually made his way into the building and knocked on the District Attorney's office door when he arrived at it.

"It's open," Olivia answered.

"I see you are a busy woman," Victor greeted, catching her going through a bunch of files that were stacked on her desk. "I promise not to take up too much of your time."

"Mr Gable, the richest man on earth. What do I owe you for this visit?"

"I was at the Captain's funeral today. It was a lovely funeral...one of the best I've been at in a while. Still, it's tragic about what happened to him. He was a great man."

"Yes, he was," she replied in a low voice, still waiting for him to answer her question.

"Quite a big vow you'd made there; bringing the Captain's killer to justice."

"Sometimes even the smallest of us have to be a little ambitious, Mr Gable."

"True, but don't you think it's better someone else led this ambitious campaign, seeing that you're directly linked to the main suspect at hand, Mrs Essen?"

"Wow, so that's why you're here," Olivia blinked in astonishment. "First off, Mr Gable, it's Miss Steele now and my former involvement with my ex-husband won't impede my ability to deliver fair and honest justice. Secondly, I'm yet to see substantial evidence proving that he's responsible for Captain Briggs' death."

"I stand corrected," Victor held his head high. "You're still smitten by the Detective. You're defending him and you don't even notice it"

"Okay let's stop right there. I feel there is some miscommunication going on here."

"Is there?"

"Yes. Mr Gable, you're a businessman and I'm a lawyer. Both of us are good at what we do. I suggest we stick to what we know. "

"Antonio Versalez was my dear friend. He was brutally killed by your ex-husband; who is a murderous psychopath. That much we know. We have tons of evidence proving that one. So it's not a total stretch assuming that Mr Essen killed the Captain too. After all, they worked closely together. Strife is not hard to imagine in that type of relationship..."

"That's enough---"

"Before he became a detective, I heard that he served in the Fight for Aleppo. That was in 2020. Clearly, the war had twisted his mind in such a way that it has led him on his current murderous path---"

"Mr Gable, I'm warning you---"

"The death of his daughter didn't help either, something you still hold against him or else you two would still be married," Victor continued, intentionally digging up some very old wounds.

"So help me god I will charge you with obstruction of justice if you don't leave my office right this instance. You dirty, old, unpleasant man," Olivia said, pushing her chair back and standing up over her desk with her face hardened.

"Save your idle threats, young lady. No lawsuit against me will ever stand in the courtroom. I have friends in places you couldn't even start to imagine. Say for instance, if I wanted a new D.A., all I have to do is to make a call to my friends up in D.C. Please don't let me have to make that call. I happen to like your consistent track record. Furthermore, I know how hard you've worked to reach where you are now. The sacrifices you'd made. The struggles you'd endured. Grieving the loss of your only child and holding onto a failing marriage while going through law school. It was just too much for one to handle. Still, you persevered. It would be a shame if all those sacrifices were in vain. How disappointing that would be," Victor dared, but Olivia said nothing in response despite she wanted to. She wanted to answer him so badly that pressing her lips shut was the only way she could avoid putting herself out of a job; that is taking into consideration that what Victor was saying about his connections in Washington DC were true. Either way, she was smart enough not to take the risk. Victor then observing the submission in her silence, continued: "Good then. Now, as it relates to your ex-husband, he killed Captain Briggs. There is absolutely no way to go around that fact. He's a cold-blooded murderer that deserves the death penalty. I'm expecting you to charge him as such when he's apprehended. Enjoy the rest of your day, Miss Steele. Our little chat was invigorating. We should do this another time," Victor said, walking out of her office. He didn't even close the office door behind him. Olivia was left furiously discombobulated.

On his way down the Greco-Roman influenced hallway he suddenly felt a disturbance in his soul; an overwhelming guilt. What did I just do, he wondered to himself. He then hurried to the men's room where he held onto the rim of the sink and looked downward in shame because he had just threatened an innocent woman who had not done anything to deserve it. Even using the death of her daughter against her was abominable. How does Carlos do this on a daily basis to people, myself included and sleep at nights, he thought. Suddenly Deimos appeared in the mirror just when he decided to look up at himself, scaring the bejesus out of him.

"What are you doing?" Deimos quickly questioned under suspicion.

"Nothing," Victor then quickly reassured, finding back his stern composure. "I've done as you've requested of me. I've spoken to the girl. She's now under my thumb."

"Well done, Victor. I'm most pleased."

"If you don't mind me asking. Why her? I could have easily handpicked a new D.A.?"

"She's special. There is an anger burning deep inside her soul and anger can be weaponized."

"But she's not one of us," Victor firmly protested, not knowing he was currently having a nosebleed; something he hasn't had since Deimos supposed healing.

"Oh my, it would seem my incantation is wearing off," Deimos concluded, getting Victor to look closely in the mirror at the blood running down from his nose.

Victor after realizing it quickly reached for some paper towels to wipe it away. "We both knew that this would happen at some point. Can't you just give me another dose of your magic smoke?"

"It won't work. Your only hope is to hasten the completion of the device at CERN. Get it done, Victor. Remember, only then will your sufferings truly end," the demon said with a deceiving grin, later disappearing from the mirror, almost at the same time as someone was about to walk in on them.

After a bit, he made his way onto the street and back into his limousine. While he was unbuttoning his shirt's top button, in hopes of kicking back, he realized that Merci was unusually staring at him. "What is it now?" He asked, already anticipating that something was wrong.

"It's Gable Tower, sir. It's on red alert."

Victor tired expression quickly turned serious when he heard this.

Some fifteen minutes later, they arrived on the scene to see that the building was already evacuated. All his staffs were outside looking up at the building. The police, fire department and news agencies were already on location.

Victor and Merci then made it to the top floor where the unknown incident had occurred. They were greeted with paramedics pushing conscious and unconscious victims on stretchers. There were countless spent shells, broken glass and pieces of concrete scattered all over the floor. Victor's office doors were bashed in off their hinges. Merci went ahead of him to find out what had exactly happened from a bunch of lingering security members while Victor wandered into his office. Merci later caught up with him inside his office, being careful not to step on any glass as she walked in. She was carrying a tablet in her hand.

"What happened here, Merci!?" Victor demanded with his patience running thin.

Merci exhaling deeply, then showed him on the tablet surveillance footage of Jade in her yellow assassin costume stealthily jumping down from the roof of the hallway and non-lethally taking out five security guards. She then came under fire from three unidentified persons, but she quickly took them out with her ninja stars. After this, she kicked one of them, who had not stayed down, into Victor's office double doors, bashing them in. The video subsequently ended when she walked into Victor's office.

"I'm so confused, Merci. Why would Jade of all persons do something like this? Haven't I've been good to you both?" Victor asked, trying to come to terms of what Jade's motivation was.

"Yes. You have been more than good to us. What she did was ungrateful."

"No. You lied to me, Merci. Jade was never going after the Detective, was she? Was she?!"

"No," Merci finally admitted.

"So you did lie to me. What else did you lie about?"

"I...I didn't kill Otis. Jade, she helped him escape. She then ran away right after knocking me out."

"That would explain your bruise..."

"Mr Gable, you must understand that I lied only because I believed she would have come to her senses...realizing her error and turn away from it. I never expected her to do something like this. That is why I hereby take full responsibility for what she has done and I'm ready to accept my punishment."

"I'm extremely disappointed in you, Merci and to thought, I crowned you as my favourite. Nevertheless, it's your sister I'm more interested in. She was obviously after something in my office, but what?" His eyes immediately landed on his shelf where his most prized relic was kept. "No. No. No. No. No!"

"What is it, sir?"

"The sword; she took the sword," he answered in total disbelief, looking frustratingly at the empty spot on the shelf where the sword once occupied.

"I don't understand. Why would she come back just to steal a sword?"

"That's because it's not just a sword! Merci, I don't care what you do or how you do it. Straighten up this meshiver! Find your sister and at whatever cost, get back my sword!" He demanded, looking furiously into her face.

Merci looking down at the floor, sadly knew what he wanted. For her sister's crimes against him, he wanted her dead. Though being her sister, Merci should have at least objected to this insertion, even quietly in her head. But she didn't. Instead, she came to a new understanding.

She then looked back up and answered, "I won't disappoint you this time," with a convincing surety on her face, pleasing Victor's eyes and ears.