To the heart

Chapter 1: Silence in the bullet

It was a dark stormy night as Lily walked up the rain-soaked steps of her home and unlocked the door. As she walked in, she took off her gloves and threw her large suitcase containing her sniper rifle on the couch. Afterward, she walked over to a keypad and armed her home's perimeter security system and headed into the kitchen. Being a hired assassin was well paying but it was a life of loneliness, paranoia and despite being practically rich, Lily lived in a dreary home on the dangerous side of town where the police dared not go. The house looked like a run down home on the outside but inside it was well kept and looked typical with nothing to insist that Lily was anything but a normal working-class woman.

After eating, she headed to the bathroom to get cleaned up but she paused in front of the mirror in the bathroom. She stared at her golden locks of blonde hair, and her curves that her outfit advertised. She stared at her reddish white hands as they trembled...it was a rough job and she felt so dirty. Without thinking, she raised her hand into a fist and punched the mirror, cracking it and cutting her knuckles. She stood there in a daze as she watched the blood trickle into the sink and smiled because she could actually feel the pain and anger. In fact this is the first bit of emotion she's felt in a while.

Lily had been killing for 5 years now and with each bullet fired, a piece of her went with it but it was all she knew. Her father had founded the family business after the death of lily's mother at the hands of Government bureaucracy. When she turned 16 he began teaching her the methods of killing. When she finally turned 18 he supervised her on jobs in the field. She forever remembers how it felt to watch that CEO tumble to the ground and die and the satisfaction she felt, knowing that millions wouldn't die from his greed. He was a vice president of a pharmaceutical company who wished to double the cost of insulin for diabetics which for many would mean they could no longer afford it and would subsequently die.

However, following his execution, the vice president didn't raise the price and withdrew the previous Statement which relieved millions. Lily saw herself as a vigilante which is why she only went after rich greedy assholes and low-level politicians, she saw it as doing whatever she could to help the little guys while earning money for it. She was shocked out of her daze by the phone ringing, and she knew it could only mean one thing; another job.

When she answered her phone a guy in a voice filter said "wonderful job on taking down that police officer, but I've got something a bit more civil for you". Lily said "what is it?" and the guy said "Mr. Jones of NorthStar construction, located here in town". The guy continued and said, "he's conspiring with the mayor to take the city's budget and demolish the east end of the city to make room for a golf course and expensive apartments...it'll displace millions who already struggle with high rent and force them into homeless camps".

He continued and said, "the fool has convinced top officials that's it's necessary and plans to meet with the mayor first thing on Monday". Lily smiled and said "I got it, but I'll need a few hours and the voice said "very well...payment has been wired to your bank account" before she hung up and smashed the phone. After taking a shower, she headed up to her room and dried off before walking down into her basement. She Walked over to a wall and stuck one of her long bobby pins into a thin hole until she heard a click. Afterward, she pushed the large brick and steel door open, revealing a spiral stairwell going down a few stories.

When she reached the base of the staircase and entered the door at the bottom, she stood in a room lined with monitors on one wall, crates on the other, and a desk in the middle of the room. She walked over to the 4th wall which was empty and stuck another bobby pin in a random hole. The hidden door clicked and she pushed it open, revealing a hallway of rooms. She walked to the end of the hall and opened the door labeled "IT", walked in, and put on some gloves before sitting through the boxes of drugs and deciding which poison concoction to use. After fiddling around in her underground center, she came back upstairs and went to bed, ready for the next job. Unbeknownst to Lily, this next job would set a sequence of unlikely events that would change her life.