Killing Old Friends

"Alright Seraph, do you notice something odd here?"

"Lady, please don't ignore what I said. We're not going through with this. I'm not doing this", she seemed to be on the roll, ignoring me.

"Take a closer look at the cops, that's who I'm talking about. Ah, but don't take too long. We are running out of time, 'kay?"

"Lady...you aren't listening to me, are you?"

"Nope", well now she was.

I sighed, knowing it was useless. I looked at the cops, trying to find something out of the ordinary but before I could say anything, she dragged me by my arm and led me to a side.

We were now trespassing into the backyard of the adjacent building. I figured she intended to cross over to the bank. There must have been some sort of a backdoor that she intended to break down. Well, I suppose, nothing wrong with saving a couple of civilians, even if we were committing an offence right now. In any case, it was astonishing how sneaky she was. I was rather surprised that we managed to make our way to the bank without being noticed.

"Those dogs!", she silently mocked the cops, "I swear those military men think they are the smartest. It annoys me to no end. I hate their guts. Serving their country, hah! What a joke!"

At one point, I was worried she might alert someone.

"They are just...cops, aren't they? This isn't the time to-"

"Seraph", she quickly turned to me, looking straight into my eyes as if looking for something, "I told you to look. Guess you are dumber than I took you for. If you had seen their rifles, they are not the standard ammunition issued to cops in Mercae."

She paused before walking on.

"That's military out there, deceiving the poor civilians into thinking this is just a harmless bank robbery."

I was puzzled as we so easily sneaked into the bank, through a small vent in the back, which was hidden behind a generator. I wondered, how she knew of such a narrow opening.

"Those poor smalltime bastards out there are awaiting orders, see", she continued as she nonchalantly made her way to the inner sanctum of the bank.

It was dark inside, as the lights were out and the shutters were down. It was a small bank. An ordinary, not worthy of attention, moderate little bank.

"Lady?", I whispered as we hid in a hallway, observing two armed men on guard in the main hall. There was an old man lying on a table with his head open. He was the caretaker of this place. The intruders had attacked so early in the morning that the rest of the staff wasn't around.

We stayed there observing them for a while, it seemed to me that they weren't in a hurry.

"Hired thugs", Lady whispered, "They don't know what they are here for."

I suppose that meant there were more people here.

"Which one will you take?"

I never liked killing with bare hands ever since that day. I made sure to keep Ebony close, even on shopping days like this one. That was one of the very few times that I killed without a weapon. I don't like the sound it makes, I can't help it.

"The one you don't", I answered to which she smirked and within the next few seconds, two men with broken necks were lying on the ground.

Lady took the handgun of one of the guys.

"Is that where the safe is?", I asked as we stood facing the basement door.

"Let's go find out", she led the way.

We walked down the stairs towards the basement where a yellow light lit up the small single room. We didn't find a safe down there but huge wooden file cabinets, like remnants of old days.

There were some four or five men down there, searching the drawers. Three of them had their faces covered. One of them searched hastily, perhaps the only one aware of the sensitivity of time.

They didn't pay any attention to us until Lady pulled the gun on one of the guys, who was seemingly smaller than the rest of the brutes down there, nevertheless, way bigger than Lady.

I know Lady had a very calm smile on her face. The masked guys pulled out their guns and pointed at her. They were startled but didn't shoot. I was shielded behind her, though I should have picked up a gun from the guys up there too.

"You all aren't shooting? Well, I guess I'm right then. This one's your boss, isn't it?", she was talking about the one who she was pointing her gun at, who hadn't turned to look at her face yet.

"Long time no see", the man spoke, as he slowly turned, with no fear, but a determined glimmer in his eyes. He was a young, good looking, very disheveled and very thin man. He looked like he'd either been to sewers or jail, which aren't very different when you think about it.

"Too long, indeed", Lady replied. For some reason, I felt that Lady had no intension to shoot. The other guys, seeing these two knew each other, lowered their guards a little.

Lady lowered the handgun too.

"Should have known you'd try something stupid", Lady said, "Always the emotional one, aren't you?"

"You don't get to say anything, you heartless b-"

"Woah there! Is that how you meet old friends? Come now, what's the matter with you?", Lady was rather casual, though I could see the guy getting angry.

"Why are you here? Weren't you supposed to be dead?"

"I think so. Enough about me, you sure grew brainless bringing these hired hoodlums with you. You do know they are not fit for this kind of job, right?"

"I don't need them for this job. They are here to play their part by being a lookout. I can do the work myself. I just need that dossier. And everything...everything will-"

"Everything what? What are you expecting to bring back with a dossier? What's a file going to say, that you can't?"

"I wasn't there!", he burst, "And you were! But you let my brother die! And you let his death be for nothing. I am not like you. You're a liar and a traitor. I'll make things right."

"By telling the world of all the lies? Your brother won't come back, Iori."

"Then everyone will feel the same pain as he did. They'll know the suffering!", Iori spouted.

"This is not what he'd have wanted. Not for you, not for anyone. You are right, you weren't there. You didn't see. And this is not something you have to do. Apprehending all those who were responsible is bigger than causing mass killing. And all these dossiers...they're not gonna give you names."

"Then who's gonna take responsibility? If none of this matters, why is the military hiding this place, huh?"

"Don't you worry", she smiled, "I'll take care of everything."

With those words, a bullet was released from her handgun straight into Iori's forehead. I was still taking that in, like the rest of the thugs there who lifted their guns but were beaten by her speed. They all met the same fate.

Iori was still hanging against the cabinet behind him, wide eyed but gone. Before he hit the ground, Lady grabbed him.

"I tried to keep my promise", she closed his eyes with her hand, "Look out for him there too."

I was still in a daze, unable to grasp everything that had happened before we heard the door breaking down.

The two of us hurried upstairs where we were surrounded.

With half a dozen dead bodies in the building, I doubt we were getting out easy. We put our hands in the air.

"Don't worry, Seraph", Lady whispered to me, "I've got a plan."