𝓖𝓻𝓲𝓶 𝓒𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓻𝓼

𝟠 - 𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℙ𝕦𝕣𝕘𝕖 (𝟙)

"Look. You guys are cute and all, but there's no way you're gonna get this job." said the attendant.

"Why not?" asked Ethan. "We've killed more people than anyone on this list of candidates!"

   The man smiled. "Look kiddo. This is a huge job with tons of weapons that need to be transported. Don't get cocky just because you got in a few lucky kills. We don't hire amateurs."

   The Grim Couriers had been in the business for months now, and they were getting famous for their success rate, but they were still fairly new to the game, and people didn't trust them yet. Now they were almost broke and needed a big job.

   Ferro beamed at the man as he held back a growling Ethan. It was one of those angelic smiles that had always charmed other people back in Ignia. 

"Good sir?" he asked. "When one day we come back as the top of the game and you have a job for us, you'll hire us right?"

"Of course, little cupcakes!"

   As they walked back out of a secret warehouse in Blackwatch, Ethan sighed.

"Thanks man, I almost lost it in there... but what are we gonna do now? It's not like we can become the top delivery group overnight..." Then Ethan noticed the grin on Ferro's face.

"What crazy plan do you have now...?"

"I don't do crazy plans, Ethan. I do cool plans with high rates of success that look like idiotic plans."

"O...kay.... What "cool" plan do you have now?"

"We whet our blades."

"Wet our blades? With blood? But who's?"

"No- Like... it was a pun... whet.. wet... see...?"

   After a few seconds of awkward silence, Ethan cleared his throat.

"First, never make another pun like that again. Second, just friggin tell me the friggin plan!"

"Ok ok alright. What do you do when the competitors ranked above you are either weaker than you and held up only by reputation or stronger than you but too expensive for those guys to afford? You cull the ones weaker than you."

   After some deliberation, a grin slowly spread across Ethan's face. 

"I like this plan."

   A few hours later, they were soaring through the air, approaching the headquarters of their first target. It was a grimy building that fit right in with the rest of the landscape. At first glance, no one would have guessed a whole clan of assassins lived inside.

"Alright, so we've got a pyrokinetic, some laser... guy, and a ton of itty bitty soldiers with... oooh grenade launchers and assault rifles."

"K"

   Ethan frowned. Sometimes Ferro's carelessness was disconcerting. Crashing through the roof of the building, They wove in and out of the dumbstruck crowd of men, stabbing, slicing, and in some unfortunate cases, grinding. Bullets and grenades flew through the air, but with the two intruders safely inside the force field Ethan had drawn earlier, all that managed to achieve was large amounts of friendly fire. 

"Ahhh" Ferro sighed as he flopped down on the mountain of corpses that now filled up the room. "Where are those other two people you were talking about earlier?"

"you mean the fire guy and the laser g-? Ack!" Ethan yelled as the tip of his shoe was sliced off. An invisible blade? No. It was a laser. "Speak of the devil..." he muttered. 

   Balls of fire flew through the air, and Ethan leapt away as Ferro summoned a large metal shield to block the flames. Once the initial attack was neutralized, it was Ferro and Ethan's turn to strike. The meta-humans started to choke from what seemed to be mercury vapor, which enabled Ethan to make quick work of the men as they writhed on the ground.

"Aliens, one. Cierians, zero." Ethan muttered. 

"Who... who are you..." gasped one of the figures groaning on the ground.

"Cupcakes." Ferro told them, the angelic smile once again on his face.