I: Flask

"Lilith, are you ready?" The deep-voiced man asked over the radio.

"No." Lilith simply answered.

The man made a questioning look at the woman's response and before he could respond to ask her what she meant by her answer, there was a static sound from the radio cutting him off. "Not after a drink was what she meant Trav." A relaxed voice of another woman responded instead. The man behind the computer nodded, understanding what Nathalie meant.

Of course, the red assassin needs her numbing potion for another dangerous mission. ThThey'deen working together for years now, so he already acquired that habit of the woman.

"I'm ready. Focus on Nathalie, please. The camera is set up so I'm turning off my microphone now." Lilith finally responded. And once again, before the man could respond, louder static was heard from his earpiece, making both him and Nathalie cringe from the sound.

"Ah shit. She threw her microphone again." Travis cussed, unconsciously licking his lower lip and biting it afterward. This a habit he would usually do if he feels frustrated or if he is deep in thought.

"Chill, lover boy. Just follow what she says. After seeing her jump, just start focusing on me." Nathalie responded this time, giggling after saying the final phrase. Travis embodied a quick smile because what the woman wasn't aware of, was that he had always been focusing on her for years now.

Travis heaved a sigh. "Okay. Remember that it's safe on the twenty-third floor. Only two men are guarding his office. Mr. Song wouldn't hear the gunshots because his room has soundproof walls installed. And he's going to be quite busy for.." The man stopped for a moment, thinking of the right words to use. "Um.." He hummed. "I think for a couple of minutes since he's doing the... dirty." He reminded me, too shy of how he had decided to put his statements into words.

Nathalie laughed at the man's choice of words to describe the sexual activity that the old man was doing. "At least he did something good before his final breath." She answered with amusement.

Travis took seconds before he got what she meant. He smiled once again, but disregarded her joke anyway and just continued to focus on the next step of the mission. "Okay, I'll start counting."

"1.."

"2.."

"3.."

He was expecting that Lilith had already jumped from the building after the third count but he can only see an empty rooftop on the screen, which shows what the camera that was attached to Lilith's chocker can detect.

"Hello, Trav?" Nathalie asked over the radio, still anticipating his signal.

"Wait, she's not jumping." Travis let the woman know before looking out of the SUV's opened sunroof. He was parked across the street from the Underwood Hotel Casino, where the two assassins will be doing their mission for tonight. He fixed his eyeglasses over his nose before eyeing Lilith who was facing the interiors of the rooftop. She was just standing there, not moving, and it looked like she was talking to someone because she was looking down.

It took him a good minute of waiting and observing before she could finally see her fall back from the rooftop. "Nathalie, she already jumped. Go!" He quickly signaled the awaiting woman on the other side of the radio.

"Got you, lover boy." She sweetly responded, causing the man to smile again with the cute pet name.

"And please, take care." He added, but this time without pushing the push-to-talk button on his radio for Nathalie not to hear.

Nathalie started removing the metal cover of the air-vent passageway of the ceiling where she was hiding, waiting for her signal. She smoothly got down on her two feet as she eyed the dark empty hallway she landed in. She quietly leaned her back from the left wing wall as she strode towards the main hallway leading to the main office where two big-built men were standing, just as Travis described. The bigger guy was bald and the other one looks like he was almost getting bald. She quietly peeked to double-check the guards again before hiding back in the shadows. She unbuckled the 9mm pistol from her right gun holder leg belt. "We're on, baby." She gave her Glock 19 gun a small kiss before placing both of her hands behind her and started to slowly walk towards the guards.

"Annyeong!" She cheerfully greeted, making the two men look at her in surprise.

An-nyeong?

Travis was slightly amused as he watches and listens to her every move on the screen.

The two men looked at Nathalie weirdly. "What? I've been practicing my Korean. Is it that bad?" She asked, looking at them back and forth.

The two men looked at each other confused because they couldn't understand any words coming from her mouth since she was speaking in English. "Oh, don't worry I'll practice more." She pretended to assure them. "Too bad you wouldn't be here to listen to my sweet voice ever again." She told them before smirking and shooting the bald guy on his forehead. Before the other man could take ahold of his gun, Nathalie shot his forehead too. The man fell to his side, his head bumping into the glass door of the main office.

"Always hitting the bull's eye." Travis gave a boxy smile to no one in particular as he compliments Natalie's skills because he did not think of pushing the push-to-talk button of his walkie-talkie once again. He would always do this, but he would always not let the woman hear.

A few men came out from the glass door and led Nathalie to a halt because she thought there were only two guards to deal with, according to the man behind the microphone. "Trav, I think there's more of them." She talked over her microphone while dodging and shooting the men coming in her direction. "Where's our Lilith?" She added, slightly feeling the pressure of dealing with more.

"There's more coming from downstairs too. They're going up that floor you're on now." He responded, checking the hotel-casino CCTV cameras, looking for a red-suited assassin on the screen simultaneously. It took him just a second to finally see the woman o the fifth camera monitor. "She's coming." He tells her.

Nathalie heard what he said but she was too busy kicking another man on his stomach to respond. A hurt man lying on the floor reached for her ankle and pulled her down which led her to stumble on the floor. The man's grip was too strong but thankfully, it was loosened once she saw a bow being darted on his left eye. She looked in the direction of where the bow came from and she finally saw her partner pulling out her combat knife to fight the other men too. "She's here." She assured Travis as she reached for her other gun that was in her left leg pocket. She stood up and pointed the two guns toward the men as she targeted their foreheads.

The two assassins didn't expect that it was going to be a long night, but the thrill of more people killing gave them the blood rush that both of them get so addicted to.

On the other side of the building, a tall man in a white suit approached another man who was busy looking down from the rooftop. "King Sven, we need to go." He reminded. "Something is happening in the building. I'm afraid your royal highness might get involved." He added.

Sven finally stopped looking down to search for the girl and nodded, a distant sound of the jet can be heard. "Did you see Jaxon?" He asked, finally facing him.

Nathan shook his head. "I think this isn't the young Prince's location. I'll send other people to look for him. For now, we need to go." He repeated, in a hurried voice.

He sighed in distress. "Okay. Let's go." He started walking towards the jet that was hidden on the far side of the rooftop.

"Nathan." He called out for the loyal right hand following behind him.

"Yes, your royal highness?" He acknowledged him.

"Will you stop calling me that? I'm getting annoyed. No one's around and we're not even home." Sven stopped walking to look back at Nathan with an annoyed face.

"I know. I just- never mind. What do you want?" He finally broke the politeness of his speech as they both started riding the jet.

"I want you to investigate someone." He said while a court lady was buckling their seat belts as they were already sitting, ready to take off.

Nathan nodded. "Okay, what's the name?"

"I don't know." He responded at the same time that the jet starts to lift.

Nathan looked at him with one brow raised. "Well, do you know anything about the person or maybe something that it owns?" He asked again.

"She. Nathan. Not it. It's she." He responded, pulling out something from his suit's inner pocket, and handing it over to Nathan.

"A flask?" He questioned, analyzing the thing in his hand.

Sven nodded. "A red metal flask, with a spider lily plant and a bull carved on it." He corrected.

Nathan observed the metal container closely. There was the said plant on one side and a bullhorn on the other side of the object. "It looks customized. And only big gangs in this city have customized things and symbols." Nathan proclaimed. "Interesting. Any other clues?" He asked, still looking at the flask's detailed design.

Sven looked outside the window. "Her face."

"Her face?" Nathan finally looked at the man beside him.

"Yes. She has short black hair that stops just below her chin. A mole below the right part of her lips, and has honey-colored eyes." He described, closing his eyes as if remembering the face he just saw fifteen minutes ago.

This time, Nathan examined Sven closely. He realized Sven must be curious about this girl. Every time he would investigate a person under his command, he would always just tell about the color of the clothes, an accessory, or maybe just the build and height. But never a detailed face.

When Sven opened his eyes, Nathan quickly pulled away and fake coughed, hiding the flask in his suit's inner pocket. "Okay, I'll try to look into it."

Sven, who was unbothered, just continued staring outside the window. "And send more people to look for Jaxon. I miss my baby brother." He added, relaxing on the chair.

"Boss, it's your turn," Travis spoke over his phone. "Lilith and Nathalie have him tied up."

The lady took one last sip of her wine before gently putting down the glass. "Make sure my girls aren't hurt. I'm going up." She responded, dropping the call afterward. She stood up and made her way out of the private casino room. Her gold high heels were the only sounds that can be heard from the room. She was walking carefully to not step on the dead bodies she had all shot not so long ago.

When she opened the door, one of her bodyguards took the phone and machine gun in her hand and handed her a berretta in exchange. She went straight to the elevator with the two bodyguards following her.

"Mr. Song!" She shouted, her voice echoing, as soon as they arrived on the twenty-third floor. She quickly strides towards the main office and acted surprised when she saw a middle-aged man tied to the headboard of a bed. "Oh, there you are Mr. Song! How have you been?" She sat on the chair that her bodyguards provided for her, which was situated in front of the foot of the bed.

Nathalie, who was standing beside the bed, laughed at the little extra arrival of their boss.

"Nath. Would you like some?" Lilith, on the other hand, was behind the little island bar of the man's room, mixing herself some gin and juice.

The alcoholic girl looked at her, waiting for a response. "No thank you, Lili. I'm okay." She responded giving her a quick smile. Lilith bobbed her shoulder once which signals, 'okay then', before continuing what she was doing.

"Carina, please! I promise to pay for it, just give me a month. Please. I- I can run this casino for 24 hours just to pay you back. My wife needs me." The man pleaded after the cloth that was gagging his mouth was removed by one of Carina's guards.

Carina started laughing. "That's not going to happen because I killed every staff in this building so no one's going to work for you anymore." She stated. She pointed her gun at the bloody woman lying down on the floor. "Isn't that your wife? Ooh- she's dead too." She teased the shaking man, who gave her an uneasy look at the mention of his wife. Carina tilted her head to the side in amusement, understanding the expression he was giving her. "Oh, she isn't your wife." She teased once more. "Isn't Mrs. Song known as the best weapon importer of Coterie City? Didn't I tell you that if you have found good people for me to hire, you have to bring them to me immediately? I thought we were good business partners." She added, leaning back on her chair.

"Wow. Your wife is a badass. On the contrary, your wife won't need you. You need her." Nathalie corrected, hearing the identity of his wife.

Mr. Song ignored the assassin's comment, as his nervousness was eating up his guts to retort back. "Ca-carina. I tried to convince her before to look for you, so she could land a job under the Montana Cartel Gang, but she told me she was already working for Kenji." The trembling man explained.

The smile on Carina's face suddenly vanished with the mention of her business rival.

Lilith suddenly stopped rambling through the alcoholic beverages on the island bar, upon hearing it too.

Nathalie looked at the both of them, knowing. "Oh- oh." She singsong.

Carina held her forehead in dismay. "Was that the reason why he was extra cocky towards me lately?" She whispered to herself. Her blood suddenly started to boil, so without any further ado, she shot the scared man in the forehead thrice.

"Carina. Would you like a drink?" Lilith's voice can suddenly be heard, after the awkward silence the room had after the third sound of the gun that their boss. It's also the only time that Carina noticed that Lilith was already beside her, holding a wine glass, offering it to her.

She took the glass off her hand and looked at Lilith's eyes with anger. She finished the drink in one gulp. "Did I tell you before that I hate your brother so much?" She spat, afterward giving back the now empty glass on her assassin's hand. Lilith maintained a blank expression, nodding at her boss' statement and agreement. She moved closer to her and gave her a small hug without saying anything. Nathalie did not waste time and also went closer to hug both of them. Carina started to calm down. They stayed that way for quite some time until the sky outside started to brighten.

"Boss, the sun is about to come up. We need to go." One guard reminded her.

Carina shot him a glare. "I know, stupid face! Prepare the car." She spat and rolled an eye at him. The guard just gave her a bow before going out of the room.

"Anyone up for breakfast?" She went back to her usual calm voice as she asked the two women beside her.

"I'm in!" Nathalie exclaimed, giving little claps of excitement. Carina stood up and they all started walking towards the exit.

"Can I have an Irish coffee?" Lilith casually asked as they walk.

"No. It's early in the morning Lili, have mercy on your liver." Carina exclaimed. Lilith just heaved a small sigh in response.

"Oh! I think we forgot someone." Nathalie suddenly remembered as they board the elevator. She fixed her mouth near the mic. "Trav? Are you there? The mission is finished. We're about to have breakfast, you should come." She tells the man.

With that, she heard a static after a few seconds. "Uhm- no." Was the man's simple answer.

Nathalie rolled her eyes.

What a cold-hearted man...

She thought, not responding anymore.

Travis on the other hand brushed his face with both hands in frustration. "Ah! Where will I get the courage to eat with you, Nathalie?" He whispered, on the set of monitors in front of him. "It's not even a joke. I just want to take you on a proper date.." He added, burying his face in both of his hands.