Cipher

"Seeing someone as young as you drink thoughtlessly really makes me worried."

"I kill people for a living, and you think I am too young for a drink?" Bruce glanced at the woman who was walking towards him with a smile,

"What are you thinking about?" She asked sitting beside him,

"I have been wondering about my future recently, most people my age go to college or fall in love, you know something stupid like that and here I am stuck in this debacle."

"Love isn't something we can afford," The woman said with her hands on his cheeks, "But mindless sex, is one cheap thing that'll keep you going."

"I am thankful for the offer, Ms. Perkins," Bruce said grabbing her hand away from his face and putting it down, "But last time was in the heat of the moment, and I am not in the habit of sleeping with women who would likely slit my throat in the middle of the night."

"I remember that it was truly in the heat of the moment, just pure carnal pleasure," Perkins said with a sultry smile, "Are you wondering about the whole Viggo Tarasov situation?"

"You know about it?" Bruce frowned a little, but the casual look in his eyes still remained.

"This is what I like about you, Bruce." Perkins chuckled grabbing the drink from his hand, "Always bored and calm about any situation, but I know for a fact that your head is running all wild."

"Everyone knows, Bruce." Perkins continued, "In fact, there are 20 different organizations gunning for you, chose one and the rest come after you. Chose non and then all 20 comes for your head."

"That is annoying." Bruce sighed,

"It is, you've finally proven yourself Bruce but you haven't shown them enough for them to respect you and leave you alone."

"So who are you working for among those 20 organizations?"

"None of them, I am working for a newcomer in town." Perkins said as she drank his whiskey, "Lucky for the both of us, it seems I won't have to kill you. And it seems this client can give you what you want."

"I am listening," Bruce said turning towards her not mentioning the part where she looked quite delighted when talking about killing him,

Perkins walked in closer wrapping her arms around his neck as she whispered in his ears,

"It's an organization called Cipher and they assure you that they can take care of the operators and let you keep your freedom."

"In exchange for?" Bruce asked knowing things wouldn't be this simple and as for the whole Cipher organization thing, he had never heard of them before. But he did know of a certain person named Cipher.

"A job, obviously." Perkins said handing him a card, "Go to this address before midnight."

Taking the card from her hand, Bruce nodded, "I guess, I'll hear what they have to say. But can I trust them?"

"You can't trust anyone in this line of job, Bruce." Perkins said as she kissed him on his cheek, "I'll see you around then."

Watching her walk towards Charon, Bruce shook his head as he got up to leave for the address but not before picking up some new 'equipment' that he had been wanting to buy.

He got into his car and fired up his engine, it hadn't even been a couple of minutes since he started driving but just then the screen on his car panel began glitching and all of a sudden a pleasant voice greeted him,

"Hello, Bruce Walker,"

"Cipher, I am presuming." Bruce said nonchalantly with his lips twitching, "You know hacking an assassin's car, isn't the best choice in the world."

"I wonder about that." The voice which definitely belonged to a woman said with a sarcastic chuckle, "Believe me, I wanted to meet you in person but it seems you've got some bad company following you around."

Bruce looked behind through his rearview mirror, watching one of Viggo's men following him around. "Viggo,"

"Great! this helps prove my point then," The woman said, "First let me introduce myself, I am Cipher."

"So you're just a person?" Bruce said as he began speeding through the city,

"What I am should not matter much, you should rather focus on what I can do for you." Cipher said, "I am sure Perkins has already told you, but that's just a favor from my part, you'll get paid separately for the job."

"A favor?" Bruce couldn't help but chuckle, "Let's say you can get these operators off my back, but in the end, if I am going to be still tied to you then I'd rather join one of them."

"Bruce Walker, you've been with the continental for nearly six months now and a lot of people are interested in your skillset. You are young but ruthless and much more than some normal assassins. But you refuse to join under any banner."

"We might have never met, but I can deduct your personality well enough," Cipher continued, "I will not be tying you down, but I'll need you to repay my favor after a while, which will be a bit of an important and dangerous mission."

"So you're trying to secure me on your team early on," Bruce deducted what Cipher wanted from him, as he began driving through alleyways to lose the car behind him.

He wasn't that much of a driver, after all, he only had an intermediary skill in driving but getting away from some goons wasn't that difficult.

"But why me? There are far better assassins with longer experiences than me, and even those mutants with superpowers and so on, so any job would be definitely easier with a mutant with a good skill set."

"There are better assassins but every one of them is associated with one operator or another and the High Table. They would sell me out for convenience in an instant, after all, I am quite new. But you're an exception Bruce, good talent, and no affiliation," Cipher replied,

"And I have the offer that you can't reject, after all, things are likely to be complicated for you if you want to continue as a freelancer."

"As for mutants they are powerful but they aren't disciplined enough, and ones who are, have eyes on them. Hiring mutants will likely result in some interference with other freaks like them."

"You're talking about the X-men," Bruce nodded, "So I can guess this favor mission of yours is definitely super illegal. I can see why you would choose me, no offense but I can tell that you're the sly and manipulating type and you think of me as a young and impressionable fool."

Bruce looked back from his rear-view mirror finally losing sight of the car that had been chasing him as with a bitter smile he continued, "But I don't have a lot of options here and your offer seems to align with my interest too, so I'll take on with your job and your favor. Do remember though, the favor is a one-time deal only."

Bruce didn't mind getting a bit of help right now, it was just for the moment anyway. Once he grows stronger with his system, there wasn't a way anyone could force him to do anything he didn't want to do.

"That's what I like to hear," Cipher said with a slight delight, "But before we begin talking about favors, I need to make sure you can do the job I assign you."