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Disclaimer/Warning: This work is not mine. Contacting the original author is impossible, but I like to think they would be okay with my posting it here for as many people to see as possible. This work is NOT complete and it will NEVER be complete. I'm sad too.

With that said, enjoy.

- - -

The next night was moonless. I moved slowly from one waterfall of darkness to another. The Siblings kept me aware of the assholes' movements but the first pair of stops had not provided an opportunity to finish it. I walked into the alleyway behind the third bar and found a spot where the shadows completely shrouded my presence.

I woke up with sunlight illuminating the room that morning. The Siblings getting out of bed woke me earlier but they left immediately so I went back to sleep. The clock on the nightstand said one pm. I rolled out of the bed and walked into the bathroom to wash up.

I heard the Siblings enter the bedroom. I wanted to go over the equipment for the last time but could not do that without preparing myself first. The Siblings walked into the bathroom wearing robes and carrying scissors, a set of electric clippers, and a shaving kit.

Krista grabbed a towel and I knelt down in front of the sink. She wrapped the towel around my shoulders. Leeann plugged the clippers in and worked on my hair without saying a word. I closed my eyes and listened to Jason as he hummed in my head.

Jason always hummed during the final hours.

Krista stepped away from me. I stood up, shook the hair off, and stepped into the tub. I sat down on the edge. I heard the aerosol of a shaving-cream can behind me. Hands lathered my head and the back of my neck. One of the Siblings used a razor to remove what hair was left. When it was done, they washed the lather off. A pair of hands ran fingertips along my scalp. They stopped and I felt the shaving cream and razor again.

Leeann stepped into the tub and applied shaving cream to my face. Krista took her place and shaved my face. Leeann handed Krista the clippers and a small pair of scissors so she could trim my eyelashes and eyebrows. I preferred bare hands on the guns so Krista used the razor to shave them also. Leeann performed a final inspection for hair and grunted in satisfaction.

Krista removed her robe. Leeann handed her a pumice stone. Krista took it and turned the shower on. I was scraped thoroughly to remove dead skin. The water was lukewarm, but I noticed it only on the periphery of my awareness like Krista's nakedness.

Leeann showed me the jar with the gel for my eyebrows. It would retain its moisture for most of the night and catch any falling hair. The only things I planned to leave behind were gunpowder, impacted bullets, and two bodies.

If I had the time, I would have dug the bullets out.

They stood back when I stepped out of the shower. I had instructed there was to be no physical contact once I was clean. They would have an easier time explaining a stray hair but there was no need to risk it. I walked out of the bathroom, past the bedroom, and into the living room.

I took toast off the breakfast tray the Siblings ordered and sat down in one of the chairs. I could feel their eyes on me, but they held their silence. I finished eating and walked to one of my bags. I opened it on the floor, and pulled out a pair of running shorts. I put them on and picked up the second bag.

I pulled the nines out. I disassembled them and put them back together carefully as my last check. I screwed the silencers on as tightly as necessary to keep them in place without harming the threading on the extended barrels. I tested the springs in the magazines and loaded the bullets. I would have the magazines in the guns, and two extra for each. There would be plenty of weapons lying around if they caught me on the streets and I went through that much ammo.

The careful process of checking the gear worked to further relax me. Purpose had been on my shoulders for two weeks but in the last hours it was no longer a weight; it stood behind me pushing instead.

I pulled out the oak case with Jason's forty-fives. They always rested at the ready so I only gave them a cursory inspection. If they trapped me in the funeral home, Jason's gifts would force my choice of consequences on everyone involved. Considering my skill, five magazines was enough to drop the better part of an infantry company.

It was overkill but sending me after rapists was even worse.

I took the clothes out of the bag. Everything was black or gray, dark enough to camouflage but not call attention. All of it was out of the package, even the coat.

The earplug fit snugly. I looked at Leeann. She held up a small transmitter that looked like a lighter. She depressed the button and whispered into it while lighting a cigarette.

I stood up and walked out to the balcony. I looked at the city. I ran through different scenarios; studying them and accepting every ending that might come about, the good ones and the regrettable ones. I knew the most likely possibility. They liked to bar hop through the same places every weekend. There were a couple of spots that I could catch them alone. I needed two seconds; with five, it would take a dozen miracles for either of them to survive. They liked backdoors for some reason. There was an alleyway that ran for several blocks in the area. Two of their favorite bars had backdoors that led to alley. If they kept to their normal behavior, I would not need luck. I would take them and use the alley to meet Krista and Leeann at the car. The Siblings understood if the two assholes walked out a backdoor, they were to impede anyone else from exiting that way. If they got me five seconds, they were to head to the car.

The most dangerous scenarios were those where the Siblings had to be bait. They were willing but involving them would leave people that remembered the two victims had left with women.

I did not notice the passage of time as I ran through as many possibilities as I could think of. I heard the Siblings step out on the balcony.

"Brother, we ordered food."

I nodded and turned around. They stepped out of my way as I walked to the food cart. I did not eat anything that would weigh me down. I finished and dressed in the clothes that I had laid out. It was still a couple of hours from when we would have to go, but I wanted to be ready early. I left the coat on the table. Leeann took the bags and walked outside with them. Krista sat down across from me.

We waited.

Leeann returned with a suitcase. She walked into the bedroom; Krista got up to follow her. It took them a lot longer than I did to get ready. I closed my eyes and listened to Jason whispering Stephanie's words. An hour and half later, Krista came out of the bedroom carrying the suitcase. She was dressed for a casual Saturday night. She would catch the eye but only as the consolation prize of the one that got away.

Leeann came out behind her, and brought light into the room. She wore a short, tight cocktail dress. It was meant for a woman with less of a figure and looked devastating on Leeann. I wondered if she would have problems going from bar to bar without gathering an attentive male following. She knew to play it close in that case, picking one man to play seduction with until the targets moved. She would have to lose the guy paying attention to her or maybe keep the same guy from bar to bar. The easiest way out for her would be to take her fortunate suitor up on his offers; Krista could always make it a threesome if I got trapped before I made it to the car.

Leeann posed for me. I gave her a nod of approval. She looked at her watch. She raised an eyebrow to signal it was time to go. I stood up and followed the Siblings out the door. No one noticed me with Leeann's body insisting on their attention. Outside the hotel, I turned left and faded into the night.

"Now," Krista whispered into my ear.

They must have switched who would give the signal.

My hands went up to the holsters. I gripped the nines and tugged them free. I straightened and walked slowly forward. If they were headed towards the next bar, they would turn towards me. It would not make a difference except in identifying them. I held each piece in a relaxed grip against my thighs. The door opened and my thumbs released the safeties. They stepped out laughing; I cocked the hammers.

My breathing slowed to the shooting rhythm. I might have to shoot in the middle or up on the breath so it needed to be controlled. They turned towards me and the light from the open door was enough for me to recognize them. There was no thought of confrontation; it was not a necessary part of the purpose at hand.

My right hand went up, followed by my left. Each tracked individually. The door slammed shut and a second after my right hand coughed. Unlike the movies, a silencer only turns the sound so the mind will associate it with something else: a loud cough, or a slamming door.

The bullet went through his left eye socket. Its job done for now, my right hand covered the door. Only a Sibling could have walked out and lived in those seconds. The other turned towards the cough before his mind registered his falling partner in crime. My left hand introduced his right eye to a bullet.

I walked up to them moving my left hand to cover the door. My right hand dropped. I put a bullet into the heart of the first asshole. I hesitated to let the silencer clear the gases and put another bullet an inch to the right. I covered the door with the right, and my left hand flashed down.

cough

Pause.

cough

I walked past them still pointing to the door with my right hand.

"My world, gentlemen," I whispered. "My rule."

There are thousands of laws that tell people how to behave: what they should and should not do; I only need one.

Piss in my sandbox, and I will kill you.

I admit to its childishness but I was nine when I learned monsters did not respect legalese.

There are six billion people for someone to break all those laws on and only twenty thousand opportunities for mine to apply. It would take a corrupt choice and very bad luck to be in a position where it did. Someone making that choice would never know it was the end of his or her life.

Then again what stops a brother when he is face to face with his sister's rapist; a mother in the same room as her daughter's killer; or a father when he hears 'Not Guilty' in the trial of his son's molester?

A law.

Socialized cowardice.

Innate morality.

Risk vs. Reward.

Nothing.