"Your orders are as follows; you go to the Aksakov estate and you eliminate the patriarch first and foremost. He is your primary target. Now, to avoid future complications you are also to eliminate anyone else in the house, and don't forget to clean up your mess! In fact, to avoid alerting anyone of your presense I would prefer you go in there completely covered. Your hair, those damned hands of yours, every inch of skin except for your face. All of it, do you hear me?! I will not have a repeated instance of the Morgan house." An older man with greying hair at the sides spat the words but Toni only caught part of it, as she was caught up in her own thoughts.
"Toni?" He would intrude, "Toni, are you listening to me at all?!" His voice grew in volume, pulling her out of her head.
"Yes, sorry sir. The Aksakov estate, eliminate the patriarch, eliminate every other person in the house. I got it." She waved him off dismissively.
"What else?" She heard him say, causing her gaze to snap back to his.
"What... else?" She asked, trying to recall everything he'd just said. The man reached a point in his frustration where he'd simply stop showing emotion, and his voice grew quiet.
"You are to get in and out of there undetected, Toni. Now, get the hell out of my office before I put my cane into the side of your neck!" He relished back into yelling.
Toni left his office promptly and gripped at the wrists of her leather gloves, sighing as she looked down at them. They constricted her hands terribly but she knew she could never take them off. She was the best mercenary that this team had and yet, it was only because of her hands. Something she never thought about, even when she used them. On every job, her targets would fall at the power she held in her palms. Toni would digress as she heard someone coming down the hallway, not surprised to see that it was Sentinal.
"Hey girly!" He'd say in a cheery voice. Despite his disposition, he wasn't someone you would want to meet in a darkened alleyway. His body bulged out with muscle and height, making him tower over everyone else he'd come into contact with easily. She often looked over her counterparts, considering their achievements and skills. Sentinal was one who she often liked working with, when she had the choice, he was a bubbly man. Always liking to talk about things so warmly, despite looking like a scarred up fighting dummy. The contrast was something she liked, and she found that he made a good friend.
"Evening, Sen." She started, smiling up to him.
"I have a job at the Aksakov house tonight. Boss said I have to get in and out quickly, undetected, do it alone, and kill not only the patriarch... But the entire living household." She finished with a sigh.
Sentinal brought a heavy hand over to pat her back, "he's working you to death, girl. It worries me a little, but you're the best we have. He must see your potential just like the rest of us." His words came with a smile and they in turn left a mark on Toni.
"Yeah... I promised to do this job alone, and I will, but if you're not busy will you help me with clean up?"
"Sure thing! Don't even have to ask, I don't have any jobs lined up for awhile anyway. Apparently people don't want the large, intimidating type anymore. They all prefer stealth." He put an emphasis on the word stealth.
"I mean, no offense to you, Toni. Just offer me a cut." He smiled yet again.
"Of course." She retorted, flicking her luminescent green eyes away from the man and concentrating on the hallway in which she was coming to the end of. Sentinal, in turn, made his way down a different corridor to their mess hall. So typical of him. She thought to herself with a smirk.
Just fifteen minutes later, she found herself parked outside of a bar, reeling about the upcoming work she had to do. Toni found that she never did a job quite sober. She didn't have the stomach for it, which she thought odd of herself considering she'd killed dozens of people... It was something she thought about often. Continuing on as she walked into the bar and took down two shots of their smoothest Scotch. The amber colored drink was always her first choice with it's buttery flavor and harsh burn. Something that reminded her of her past, back when she could look forward to a normal 9-5 job. Yet now, she was this. After complications took place, she became a mercenary.
"That'll be 628 rubles, Toni." The man behind the bar said to her in his monotone voice. She found herself off in her own head again, not hearing the bartender.
"Toni? Hey! Toni!" He snapped his fingers in her face until she came to attention.
"What? Sorry, how much?" She started to dig around in her pockets.
"628 rubles. Are you alright? You don't normally act this air headed. Work stressing you?" He would ask unknowingly. Toni paused for a moment and licked over her lips, as she did when she was uncomfortable, before taking out the money and handing it to the man before her.
"Yeah, something like that." With those words, she took her shots and left, feeling the warmth spread throughout her as she made it out to her car.
Toni perched in her car for a short time while she let the alcohol settle. Her hands gripped tightly around the steering wheel before she felt good enough to start the car and leave. The Aksakov manor was a decent ways away. She had a map tucked away in her glove compartment, having had pulled it out and splayed it over her lap.
"So from here... twenty mile drive straight down the highway... Turn off on the left, five more miles... Shit, and about thirty more minutes on the road after that. So an hour's drive, ugh." Toni mumbled to herself and pushed the map over to the passenger's side of her car and continued driving. Despite harboring a slight buzz at this point, her driving was spot on. Over time, she built up quite the tolerance to the effect alcohol had on her. Especially since she used it as a boost to go through with most jobs she was assigned these days. Looking back on it, she didn't know what made her turn to this. This way of killing. Toni never had a problem with it before, in fact she used to enjoy it quite a lot. Now it seems to have lost it's luster, but she couldn't put her finger on the reasoning. Perhaps the thrill was gone and she saw it as more of hobby. Perhaps she missed having a normal life. No matter the reason, she couldn't just up and leave now, not without having people sent after her. Her boss saw her as a blessing and a liability.
Toni held an ability that was considered inhuman by all means, but he took that for granted. She could do all of his dirty work with no questions asked, she got payment, and all was done. The thought made her angry but she found that the company she kept in their tunnels was something she wasn't ready to give up. Especially her companionship with Sentinal. He was a good man, despite his line of work. He held good stories and made for a fair drinking buddy. Of course, Toni's thoughts over rode her task at hand, pulling up and parking a block away from the estate. She shut everything down and tied her thick, curly, hair back in a tight bun, as tight as she could manage through the waves. A net was then fitted over her curls so that nothing would stray or fall out. Her gloves fit snuggly over her hands as she moved towards the large building, eye catching at her watch seeing that she made it just in time. It was late, just rearing on 2:00 a.m.
"Perfect. Hopefully the unknowing family will be fast asleep."
She said quietly as she came up to the side of the three story mansion, "holy shit..." Her whisper hit the tree in front of her while her eyes scanned every window and door. She noticed that there was a cellar door at the side she was facing, thinking that was her best bet, she went forward.
"Locked..."
She got down low and scaled the side of the building, checking windows and doors of their locks to see if there was any other way to get in. Alas, the windows were all locked and getting in through there would require breaking them, so that option was no longer available. The only two doors were a set of french doors in the back and the front door, which seemed to be made of a reinforced oak. The oak door was in no way an option, the heaviness could cause alarm with how loud it could be and she wouldn't risk that. The french doors on the other hand... They were quiet to open and close, made from light materials. Glass and a cheap wood, which was an odd feature considering that this house was fit for a millionaire. Toni reached into her pocket and pulled out a lock pick she'd always kept with her, leaning forward in the dark and looking into the house through the glass of the french doors. Oddly enough, there was someone sitting in the room... They were facing the fireplace which was roaring with a lively flame. From behind it looked like a man, but she knew she wouldn't be sure until she got into the house.
In turn, she went with her first choice and reared back around to the cellar door, kneeling down on her knees and slowly and carefully probing the heavy pad lock that held it. She listened closely and felt through her workings at the positions of the tumblers in the lock, hoping she didn't screw up the easy task. A small click could be heard and she cursed herself quietly as she realized that she reset it, going back in and trying again. It would take just a short series of minutes before it would click open for her, smiling at her work. Yet, she digressed, as this was just the first step in clearing out the entire manor of it's residence. Due to it's size she knew that she'd have to be thorough. People could hide anywhere and everywhere in this place and if she missed someone the consquences could be... Dire. But she wouldn't think on it anymore, she had work to do and she wasn't going to let her internal problems get in the way of completing this before morning came.
With a strong pull, she lifted the cellar door open and propped it against the ground. As her eyes adjusted, she'd look around the opening to the basement and step down onto the first step, noticing something then. The steps were made of wood, and not any type of treated wood. They were just would planks nailed together.
"Shit..." Toni pulled out a small and dim flash light and shined it downwards, looking over each plank and judging how sturdy or creaky each would be. There were exactly six steps in total, the first one was sturdy and didn't creak, on the second she would have to step far to the left to avoid making a noise, the third looked safest at the middle of the plank, and the last three steps were broken.
"Shit." She repeated with a little more bite.
After careful calculation and planning for another series of minutes, she made it to the third step quietly and then managed to step down and over the last three broken steps. Toni furrowed her brows and considered some of the things she's seen about the house so far, first the french doors were made out of cheap wood and thin glass rather than high end designs, and now the cellar steps. In fact, upon looking around the basement, she saw that it wasn't set up at all. It had rugged stone walls and a hardened dirt floor. Perhaps this family has some money troubles... She concluded upon seeing all the small things that deflected her previous thoughts on the property. Sticking close to the right hand wall, she went along and made her way around shelves full of wines and antique collectibles. A quick look at her watch revealed that nearly thirty minutes had passed of her just fiddling with locks and trying not to tumble down the stairs. She silently scolded herself, wondering what was wrong with her lately due to how she was handling this. It was as if something in the back of her mind was trying to tell her that this job would be different. Something was different, but she didn't know what, and truthfully she was scared of what it would turn out to be. So in turn, she ignored the feeling as much as possible.
A crash across the room would bring her back to reality, hearing someone shuffling around and rushing to clean up a bottle of wine that had slipped from their fingers. Whoever it was, was male and younger. He seemed frustrated and all around stressed, but that didn't mean the poor man could live. At first, Toni thought she'd been caught, but upon further speculation she noticed that it was his clumsiness that caused the falter in his bottle handling.
At this point she forced her mindset into that of what she had to be, a killer. Her gloves would be smoothly removed and placed in her pocket, as well as a small knife pulled from a sheath that was strapped tightly around her upper thigh. Bringing the blade up to her hand, she made a small slit between her thumb and index finger to a point where blood would be drawn, and then she'd smear it onto the blade. The lightest of sizzling noises could be heard as the blood caused a small flourish of steam to come up. Toni slid herself across the basement swiftly and drove the blade into the neck of the shocked butler, cutting off all noise by placing her hand over his mouth and staring him in the eyes with a look that told him to shut up right then and there. The contact of the blade to his flesh made his eyes shoot open wide, and more so, the sizzle that was heard on the blade was now heard as it slid into the young man, searing his flesh on the outside and inside. It ceased the bleeding that would have otherwise been caused, and even the flesh around his lips began to burn away due to the blood that transferred from her hand.
Once his breath ceased against her hand, she'd set him against the wall gently and quietly. She then moved up the stairs into the main house, peering around the quiet abode.
"No one here..." Toni's voice stayed at a whisper, as she kept her ears sharp to anything around her that could give away life. Then, she remembered the figure she'd seen sitting in what looked to be a study. From where she was currently, she judged she was close, but she had to be careful. Toni tiptoed through the house and made several left turns to find the study. Every other door was locked with some sort of reinforcement, which she found odd. Finally, she made it to the room with the fire and saw that whoever was in that chair, was still there. It was definately a man. He snored lightly from his chair, giving Toni the advantage to kill him quietly and cleanly. She stepped up quietly behind him and let her blade slowly graze over his throat with a hard pressure while he slept, making his death quick. Just as she pulled her blade away, two maids came in with trays.
"Sir, we're sorry to wake you bu-..." The one in front started but stopped and let out a shaken gasp as she saw what just happened.
Toni whipped around with wide eyes, mentally cursing herself for the sudden intrusion. She thought quickly and grabbed the blade by its tip and flung it forward at the maid who'd spoken, impaling straight into her chest. The one behind her dropped her silver tray with a loud clang, causing Toni to give chase and snag her from behind by the back of her uniform.
"Get back here!" She hissed and slammed her hand on the woman's throat, smearing the remaining blood she had on her flesh onto the woman she held. The maid writhed in Toni's hold with pained whines and gasps before falling silent and still. She was dropped there and Toni went back to get her knife from the older maid. The blade was easily plucked and then she stopped in her tracks and looked up at the ceiling, someone was up there. Someone had heard the commotion downstairs and tried to hide, but Toni could find them. She sheathed her weapon and rushed through the house, finding the stairs with ease and traversing upwards slowly. Her eyes looked back and forth, keeping her ears on point so she could listen to where any noise was coming from. At the landing, she waited. She didn't know how long she was there. Seconds, minutes, hours. Her adrenaline made time seem non existent in that moment, and then she heard it. The noise came from the left and she stepped to the side and ran down the hall and stopped before the second door on the right. Her knife would be unsheathed yet again and she'd drag the tip across the palm of her hand before shoving open the door and seeing an older woman standing against the back wall, staring at Toni in fear.
"We... We had heard you were coming for us... I thought it was a myth. That you, you were a myth." Mrs. Aksakov started in a shaky tone, "I know why they sent for you... My husband, he... He was a terrible man..." Toni could tell what she was doing, she was playing a pity party. Trying to recieve some kind of ticket for her to live, but it wouldn't work. It never did, and Toni would prove as much by stepping forward in fast steps and shoving her bleeding hand against Mrs. Aksakov's neck with a hard squeeze.
"I don't work like that, ma'am." The old woman writhed and gripped at the mercenaries wrists, trying to get her to break free, but it was to no avail. Toni's blood seeped onto Mrs. Aksakov's skin and ate through it until her breath stopped.
Toni knew why she had to eliminate the family, Mr. Aksakov had stolen money from families all over Russia, he had skimmed from people's paychecks and caused poverty in the worst of ways. Many people wanted him dead, but no one knew who ordered the hit. All the mercenaries had was that evidence.