Luigi Who?

"Oh god, not again!", Farabi whined. "I had gaming plans with my homies!"

Kuro gave him a weird look, "...You don't have any friends."

I held in a laugh as it's not really the best time to laugh, "He forces the guys in the intelligence squad to game with him when they're not working."

"Madame, we need to get ready and head out if we want to keep them out of Ruphia.", Damien interrupted bringing us all back to our senses. "Should I prepare the troops?"

I sit and lift my legs up on the table to relax, "Something's telling me this is just a 'scheme' of Im Mingyuk to leave our base unattended. So, I say we stand our ground here. Raise the security measures, and keep our troops on alert. For now, send a small group to check out the situation in Islydena undercover. Remember, we don't want to alert them. Just get the intel and immediately return."

"But Madame, it's Im Mingyuk! Who knows what he's plotting this time?! We should confront him!", Damien bursts out. I can see where his frustration is coming from and I honestly don't blame him. Im Mingyuk has been on our tail ever since the beginning. He took away something precious from every one of our lives. It's only natural the fear rises back every time he stands out as a threat.

"Damien.", I looked right into his eyes. "Do you trust me?"

"With my life.", he replied without any hesitation.

"Then do what I said.", I smiled and stood up from my seat, ready to leave the place. "You'll thank me later for saving your ass from death."

Damien simply nods and heads out of the room probably to get a team ready to send to Islydena. I hope I won't be hearing a call later from him asking for permission to go to Islydena with the men.

"Should I get the car out for you, Madame?", Kuro asked.

I check my reflection on the reflective window. "No, I'll be heading to my office.", with that, I head out and take the elevator to my office on the highest floor of this building, the 10th floor.

Taking a seat on my chair after pouring myself a glass of strong whiskey with some water, I let out a deep sigh and stare out of the window, eyes hovering across the star-lit night sky.

If you told my 10-year-old self I would lead the strongest crime syndicate in Miwori in the future, she would hysterically laugh at you. She would say, "Hey, I come from a family of lawyers. There's no way I break the law and become a mafia."

"Oh, life! How unexpected it is!", I chuckle and take a sip of my drink. If things didn't turn out this way, I would probably follow in my parents' footsteps into becoming a lawyer, just like they wanted, maybe a judge.

If things that night didn't turn out like that, my life wouldn't be so miserable now.

I angrily dunk the rest of the drink down my throat, groaning at the burn I felt as the liquid slid to my stomach. No matter how hard I try to forget, it's like that night always haunts me.

It's just like they say, no matter how hard you try to get rid of your past, it's still a part of you. Unknowingly, my hand rests on my stomach and a lone tear rolls down my face.

"I'm sorry."

. . .

"Madame!", Kuro knocks frantically on the office door making me break out of my sweet slumber. Ah, I must have fallen asleep while working last night. I jerk off my seat and fix my hair and wipe off the drool from the corner of my lips.

"Come in.", I calmly say and sit up straight on my seat, organizing the scattered documents across the table.

"Madame.", Kuro pants as he flings the door open. "How are you so precise with your predictions? Are you a fortune teller or something?"

I quirk an eyebrow, "What did I do this time? Take a seat and calm down.", I say and get up to make a cup of coffee for us both, more like for me because if I don't get any caffeine in me right now, I'll go ravenous any second.

Kuro plops down on one of the couches and scoffs, "There's no war. Im Mingyuk was playing with us.", he says. "But, our men called us this morning and let us know of this gang fight that's taking place tomorrow night. It's only the scrawny local gangs so no worries."

I smile and sit down on the couch opposite him, handing him his coffee cup. "A small gang fight you say. It's been so long since I've witnessed one let alone, participated in one."

Kuro took a sip of his coffee, "Well, we are not a 'small gang' anymore so it's meaningless to meddle in their dirty business."

I perk up, "I have an idea." Kuro looked at me with an unsure look. "No no no, I promise it's a good one.", I say.

"You just let Damien and Farabi know that I'll be gone for two nights. You guys take care of Ixtab. I want to go on a little 'vacation'. Don't worry, I can take care of the arrangements.", my voice vibrates with excitement. I dunk the rest of the coffee down my throat despite it being moderately hot and head over to the desk to grab my bag. "I did 2 weeks' worth of paperwork so thank me for helping you out here. I'll take my leave."

Kuro is absolutely flustered at all this, "Madame Achlys! If you're thinking of going to Islydena, it's not happening! It's not safe for you!", he exclaims. "Everyone wants you fucking dead there!"

I stop at the doorframe and spin around to face him with a chuckle, "Kuro, I'm just going to have a little fun. Trust me on this."

He sighs knowing there's no way to stop my stubbornness. "You can go as long as you promise to stay out of the fight and call us if sense any kind of danger."

I waddle over to him and give him a tight hug, "I promise.", I take a step back and smile, "I'll get going now.", I say and run out of the room to the elevator.

"She'll drive me crazy one day I swear!", I hear Kuro groan out from my room and laugh. Even though I never feel like admitting it, I'd be a goner without these dickheads, and I'm honestly very grateful to have them on my side.

. . .

"WOOOOOO!"

I scream at the top of my lungs.

I felt like a swish bullet cutting through the air at great speeds. It's a feeling I'll never get tired of.

Islydena is pretty far from Ruphia. 5 hours by plane and around 8 hours by road if you drive without a break, 10 hours including all the checkposts and gas refills.

But it takes only 4 hours if you are on a nice motorbike, loaded with caffeine and not scared to go dark mode if there's the po-po nearby (ifykyk).

The hustle mafia life really took out the fun element out of my soul. I partially blame the boys for being reckless sometimes and relying on me and then again, I am to blame too because afterall I'm the leader, I'm supposed to protect my men.

Anyways, now's not the time to think about Ixtab. I'm here to have fun and enjoy a petty fight from a safe distance of course.

I slow down a bit to pull over into a gas station. My body is getting a little crampy so, walking around for a bit and maybe grabbing a snack would make me feel better.

Parking my wonderful BMW bike in front of the convenience store, I stretch my hands over my head and walk inside, the cool air from the air conditioner immediately hit my skin making goosebumps appear on my skin.

"Hello, how may I help?", the teen guy sitting behind the cash register said in a monotonous voice, not even looking up from his phone. Tsk, this generation and their phones…

"What do you suggest as a late night snack that will keep me full for the rest of my trip?", I ask and take off my helmet.

The guy finally looks up at me, his eyes going wide in shock. "H-Hey."

I chuckle, "Kid, I asked you a question." This was nothing new, just another peasant on the streets going nervous in front of me.

"Oh yeah umm…this way please.", he immediately scurried up to his feet and headed towards the back of the store where most of the reheatable meals were stocked. "My name's James by the way. Where are you headed to?"

My eyes instinctively roll, "Islydena."

He stops in his track and looks at me, "Islydena? What are you? A gangster or something?", he says and giggles. "You surely do look the part. Pretty hot actually if you don't mind. You're like totally my type."

I notice his gaze eyeing the moderately big scar on my lips. Oh, so this is how we're playing.

"Listen here, kid.", I go ahead and grab his collar. "You asked me if I needed help, I told you to get me a snack. I'll make you my food for the night if you don't do that right now."

The glint in his eyes was now replaced with fear, "I'm s-sorry", he profusely apologized and grabbed one of those microwave dinner packs, "This should do the job."

I let go of his collar, "Heat this meal and get me a tall glass of iced coffee. You have 10 minutes. Go."

"B-But it takes 15 minutes for the meal to heat-"

"You have 9 minutes and 43 seconds left, 41 seconds now."

He immediately runs to the front of the store to follow my orders. I smirk and head out of the store to sit on one of the outdoor sitting tables.

This is why men suck. They treat women like some candy to unwrap and throw away if you don't like it. You need to stand your ground and don't give them the chance to play you around like a doll. I learned it the hard way.

I don't know how and I don't wanna know how but the boy comes out of the store with my piping hot meal and places it on my table.

"H-Here's your rice bowl and iced coffee. And umm…the owner told me to give you a complimentary dessert. It's a lava cake. I-I'll take it away if you don't want it.", he said hurriedly, probably wanting to stay as far away from me as possible.

"Nah, just leave it there.", I say and hand him a 20-dollar bill. "Now get out of my face."

He nods and scurries back into the safety of the store. I get comfy in my seat and take off my jacket, placing it on the chair next to me. The soft breeze blows my hair right into my face. I click my tongue and quickly put it up in a messy updo with the hair tie I had with me. I can now finally dig in.

"Hey aren't you Luigi's chick?"

I crook my eyebrow and whip my head back, "Luigi who?"