Chapter 2: Hard

Liam's Pov:

I was having a good time. Champagne was flowing, my rich comrades were talking and the women had an eye out for me. Raymond was a show off. He liked to show off his richness and his extravagance. This party was important. Whenever Raymond was in town it was a good time and I intended to keep up that image. However there is still work to be done. So sadly my fun as Raymond was going to be more strategic than I had hoped.

Tonight had a purpose. Recently one of my men was taken out and me as a boss feels threatened by this unpredictable force. Who was the face behind all of the recent deaths? Who was the man I needed to kill off?

I watched from my perch for a bit as everyone had a good time and seeing nothing out of the ordinary I decided to leave my post and go back to the party but as I walked down the stairs a woman in a tight purple dress brushed past me. She didn't acknowledge my presence and usually I was acknowledged so this intrigued me.

"You okay Ray?" I turned to face one of my best friends, Ned. He's one of the only people besides my family who really knows my identity.

"Yeah." I said, looking at the curvy woman walking up the stairs.

"Who's that?" I asked him.

"Beats me but I will say she's been catching everyone's eye tonight."

"Do you know if she has a plus one?"

"Not sure. It's possible however. Why do you ask?"

"Let's just say. I'm going to work some magic." This made him laugh hard.

"What?"

"Good luck with that man."

"What do you mean?"

"She hasn't been giving anyone the time of day from what I've seen. Even me and that hasn't happened to me ever. It's clear she hasn't given the time of day to you either."

"She will though." I saw a waiter about to pass me. I picked up two glasses of wine.

"Think about it man. This isn't the time anyway. Didn't you throw this party to find that assassin?"

"So far I haven't seen anyone that looks harmful."

"Just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there."

"I trust you will notify me if something is up."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure Ned. Just chill."

"Fine. I guess." I walked up the steps and followed the trajectory she walked in. I walked down my hall and rounded the corner and I spotted her on the balcony on her phone.

"Lyle I'm tired of this shit show." Her voice was smooth and low, a bit raspy. She cleared her throat.

"I've done my part Lyle." She walked to the other side of the balcony and I moved to the side she was just on wanting to get more of a glimpse.

"Alright. See you in five?"

"Okay. Bye." I heard the tone of her phone going off and I used that as my cue to entertain her. I can get her number in five minutes at least.

"Hello." I said as I slipped through the door. She completely ignored me.

"Hey. Hello?" I waved my hand in front of her face. She rolled her eyes and looked at me.

"Hi." She turned her phone off and gave me a blank face.

"Have you seen a girl about your height with black hair? Wearing a purple dress? Brown skin, hazel eyes?"

"Oscar...Raymond...Henry… Frank...." She trailed. She took my wallet out from behind her back and I placed the drinks down.

"How did you?"

"Are you that stupid?" She insulted. I didn't answer that question.

"Who are you?" I asked her. She circled me and picked up her glass of wine. She downed the whole entire thing. Then she leaned in.

"A dream or your nightmare." She smirked. She threw the other glass of wine at my face and in the midst of me trying to see she ducked out of my sight and with my wallet.

"Hey!" I heard Ned yell. Once I was able to see I saw how quick she dodged him and she ran down the stairs and into the wild party below. I signaled my men. So she's the guy I've been looking for? I pointed her out and they were on it as quickly as she came. I watched from above as she looked around her. She sent me a challenging smirk and I couldn't help but to be slightly aroused by her cool confidence. She took something out of her clutch and showed it to me before she put it on the ground. Then she made the nearest exit out of the room right as they were closing in on her.

"Who would've thought?" Ned put a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah. Who would've?" Now that was exciting.

"Get started on looking her up just in case she gets away." I ordered.

"On it and…" Ned put a hand to his ear piece. But he didn't have to tell me. We all heard the screeching tires out front. I ran out just in time to see a black vehicle speed off and just like that this woman was out of my world the minute she made it spin.

"Boss she just-" One of my men huffed.

"We'll get her. Don't worry. Go and enjoy the party."

Roi's Pov:

He is stupid. One of the greatest masters of disguise and the number one man that everyone is gunning for and I managed to out smart him easily. Sure he knows my face now and I did for the sake of having some fun leave a brooch on his floor. But I'm pretty sure I'd be traceless. Matter of fact I knew I'd be traceless.

"Are you crazy?"

"I'm not human, remember?" I laughed.

"Alright sis relax." Lyle was a brother. You can say. We weren't biologically related in any way. But he was still my brother. My sister didn't know about this brother of mine and even though I'd like her to meet him some day, it would mean that everything would unravel for my father and my sister would be crushed to be honest. I'm her sister but I'm not her sister. He's not my brother but he is more of my brother than I am her sister.

"How are the kids?" I dared to ask.

"Fine. Anna's watching them as we speak." Anna was another sister of ours. We were all twins and all not biologically related but we were family in this crazy world. The only people who supposedly existed with our type of thing.

"One day we should all hang out." Lyle suggests. We erupt into laughter.

"Like we can do that!" I wheezed.

"Right!" He snorted. When the laughter died down he put a hand on my knee.

"Do you somehow wish we were like everyone else?"

"I have my moments. But we aren't normal. That's just the truth of it all."

"I'm glad I picked you up that day."

"Me too. How's your family?" I asked.

"They're fine. My brother's been dogging me lately. But I can't be mad. He did just find out."

"Are you shitting me?" I looked at Lyle. He pulled up in front of Anna's and cut the engine.

"I was getting a check up and he walked in at the wrong moment."

"Why did you pick me up when- Lyle this is serious." I pushed.

"You're the only person I know who can stop them. The most developed out of all of us."

"Lyle, I-I don't know."

"Come on, Roi. You know how they are. I don't want to die without having to live. Surely you can pull something." Lyle begged.

"Lyle this is a lot to ask me. Especially now that they know I have kids on the line."

"Roi…" He sighed. He took off his shirt and showed me the tag implanted in his chest. There was a countdown.

"What?"

"I don't have much time left. So Roi please." I was supposed to be emotionless. I wasn't supposed to feel. But lately things had changed. Things had changed between all of us. Lyle, Anna, and I. We've all been more on edge, and stressed. With all of these jobs we go on, each kill gets harder. Each normalcy we enter, we start to crave more. Lyle's veins turned blue and he coughed.

"So that's how they…" I trailed. I thought the terminations would be swift and quick. Painless. The car door opened and I saw Anna enter with my kids.

"Anna wait!" I called.

"What." She snipped.

"It's Lyle!" She's the more techy one out of all of us. But we were equally as capable. But on group assignments Anna was the tech person. She has better judgment.

"Shit!" She cursed and hopped in the back seat. I got out and Lyle moved over to the passenger seat.

"Where are we going?" Anna asked.

"We're not doing this anymore." I snapped.

"Do what?"

"This bullshit."

"Where are we going?" I sighed as I sped off.

"We are putting a stop to his suffering."

"How can we do that? We don't have that kind of equipment." Anna argued.

"Roi. I know you can hear me bitch!"

"Just don't worry." I said calmly. I took a glance at Anna's face. "Don't worry."

Lyle meant a bit more to me than my twin and the fact that now his twin knew and sent him to be terminated was like a stab to the heart. I'll be damned if my twin did that to me. I hoped she wouldn't. For as long as I knew Lyle he's never had a good relationship with Kyle who I for one thought he was an asshole and a brat the only time I met him. But I'd never think that things would run this deep. See once our twin knows our lives are in their hands. They have the power to choose whether or not to get rid of us. For what I know most of us are terminated usually because by now we go haywire. There's a study on it or from what I've seen in the news when the project started. We go rogue. We start to not follow orders we don't perform like we used to. We even attack our... Originals? I suppose we aren't really twins. More like physical carbon copies. Between Lyle, Anna and I we are the only ones that have managed to make it past that point. But I will say we are going through a period. Usually on any other given day we wouldn't care about Lyle but for me after my last assignment it all changed. My life mattered and my existence and if I have to go independent...then I will and I can. It's been done before. But that person remains a mystery to me to this day. It was all over the news about the escaped experiment. But now it's like it's existence went poof.