I looked down at the floor, making sure to keep silent. I knew I should say something, but I didn't want to interrupt. Not after... not after last time. I shuddered at the thought. I was better off just staying silent. Like usual. I finally looked up from the floor, noticing the lack of noise reaching my ears. She was staring at me, her piercing eyes ablaze. Her arms folded in front of her chest. Foot tapping impatiently on the polished stone floor I had just scrubbed that morning.
"Well?" She snapped impatiently. "Anything to add, henchman?"
Finally. A moment to speak. I opened my mouth to state my opinion, but before a word could even form within my head, she spoke again. Her voice having more of a snarky bite to it than before.
"As I thought. My plan is too good for words to describe." She sneered.
I sighed, but nodded my head in agreement. It's always better to agree with the boss than contradict her. After all, Nefarious Woe is not one to be trifled with.
"DON'T YOU EVER HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY YOU DUNCE?!?!" She yelled.
I bit down on my tongue at the sudden outburst. My teeth digging into the flesh, drawing a little trickle of tangy, metallic tasting blood. I didn't know how to respond. Of course I had stuff to say... I just never got around to it. Instead of responding, I just stood there. My big, grey eyes unblinking. Wringing my hands together behind my back.
"God. Why are henchman such idiots..." She grumbled, rolling her eyes as she headed towards the door.
I watched as she walked out. Her footsteps quick and silent. Each stride she took seemingly perfect compared to my clumsy tendencies. Within seconds. She was gone. Melted into the dark of night surrounding the base. I sighed, my shoulders slumping. My spine bending slightly as I slowly exhaled. My eyes sliding closed. Going over the main aspects of the plan within my mind. Murder. That was the one word that continued to pop out at me. Murder. Cold-blooded murder. I shook my head. Trying not to think of it as murder, but ending someone for the greater good... or greater evil, as Nefarious Woe would have put it.
"Are you coming or not, Keith? We don't have all night, you know!"
I looked up, my mind wrenched free from my slur of thoughts, to see her poking her head back through the door. I nodded, then shuffled after her quietly. Barely lifting my feet from the floor as I walked. She groaned, rolling her eyes in an exasperated manner. On that note, we both stepped out into the shadows. Nefarious Woe blended in like she was a shadow herself. I stuck out like a sore thumb. My mind continued to return back to that one word. Murder. No. Don't think of it as murder. Think of it as ending someone's life for the greater good... yeah. That's all it is. Ending someone's life for the greater good.
We arrived in the dead of night. I glanced over at Nefarious Woe as I rubbed my arms. Shivering slightly... well, quite a lot from the cold. I could barely make her out in the dark, but I could tell she wasn't cold. She was never cold. Though, she was pretty cool... I froze, bending over slightly as a wave of frigid, icy wind washed over me. Tearing at my clothes. Chilling me right down to the bone. Seeming to freeze the blood in my veins. I would have much prefered to be at home at the moment, sitting in front of a blazing fire, safe from the freezing cold of night. But... Nefarious Woe had a job to complete; and I, being her loyal henchman, had to follow. Nefarious Woe shot me a glare colder than the wind swirling around us, commanding me to pick up the pace or suffer the consequences. I did as I was told. Forcing myself to continue going. I knew the end result if I didn't would be worse than anything the wind could do to me.
Finally, we arrived at the house. The, to-be, murder site of John Hilltin. I didn't know much of the to-be murder victim, but I suspected he was one of the detectives that was on the case of the murder she had last committed. As I began to approach the house, Nefarious Woe placed her arm out in front of me. Stopping me in my tracks. I looked over at her. The look plastered across her facial features told me she was less than impressed at my 'eagerness'.
"What are you doing?!" She spat.
"I- uh... going to-"
"I brought you along to keep lookout, Keith. What did you think you were going to be doing?!"
I hung my head in shame. "N-Nothing... miss.""
I watched Nefarious Woe sneak towards the house, then slip inside as quiet as the night itself. Carefully, I made my way towards the house as well. I leaned up against the side of the wall, beside the door Nefarious Woe had entered through. From where I stood, I could hear the muffled sound of voices, telling me the television was on. I suspected it was tuned to the sports channel or something. Something you could watch while doing work and not be completely distracted. Curiously, I poked my head just slightly into the doorway. The television screen cast an eerie glow over everything, so I could only make out black shapes of things. A figure that I suspected to be John Hiltin sat on the couch, hunched over papers or something. He was completely invested into whatever covered those sheets. My eyes wandered over to another humanoid shape, Nefarious Woe, creeping towards the figure on the couch silently. Once close enough, she straightened up and pulled out something that looked like a stick of sorts. Holding it over the unsuspecting John Hiltin. Poised to strike. I cringed and pulled away as the object smashed into John Hiltin's neck. The squelching crack of breaking bone and spurting blood rang in my ears. Again and again, the sound of wood smashing against the human body met my ears. I clasped my hands over them, hoping to block the noise, but it only became more persistent. Louder. Wetter. A never ending cycle of sickening sounds.
I looked up from where I had buried my head into my knees. Lifting my hands from my ears. It had only been a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity of pained, bloody noises roaring in my ears. My heart pounded as I got to my feet slowly. My breaths short and shallow. What had I just witnessed? In my moment of trying to reclaim my thoughts, I heard the sound of breaking glass. Curiously, but cautiously, I crept towards the origins of the sound. My eyes fell upon a broken window. Shards of broken glass in all shapes and sizes littering the grass and floor of the house, below the window. As I walked up closer to get a better look, a black shape lept out of the window, pushing me to the ground in the process, and darted away into the night. I got to my feet and looked in the direction it had fled just as I heard my name being called.
"KEITH! HURRY UP, IDIOT! WE'RE LEAVING!"
I turned around and ran after Nefarious Woe, who was already slipping out of sight. Heading back to base. This whole ordeal was beginning to become way too complicated for my liking.
"What was that?! Did John Hiltin get awa-"
"Silence! Do you want to get caught! If so, be my guest. It would be easier for me in the long run if you were gone."
I fell silent. I was sure she'd explain once we got back to base. She was just a little sour over the fact that her plan didn't go exactly as she wanted. That was all. She'd tell me what happened once we got back... I hoped.
"Now, this girl saw me." Nefarious Woe explained, pointing at the portrait she had drawn of the figure I had seen crashing out of the broken window. "So, we need to hunt her down. And kill her. Get it?"
I nodded, then turned back to the glowing screen of the computer. Despite being the clumsy, timid person I was, computer smarts seemed to come naturally to me. I was a little anxious about searching for this person, though. Google's facial recognition software worked better with actual pictures, rather than sketches; and not to be mean or anything, but the sketch Nefarious Woe had done was slightly bordering the territory of... well, a scribble. I didn't say anything about it, though. I was just glad we had gotten back before I had become a Keith-sicle out in that cold. Quietly, I asked her for the picture. She rolled her eyes, then handed it to me like I was some maggot she needed to feed for an experiment. Carefully, I scanned the drawing. Immediately afterwards, close to a thousand 'matches' popped up onto the screen. I exhaled slowly, beginning to scroll down the page. My eyes looking over photo after photo after photo. This was going to be a long, LONG night.
My eyes opened with a start as I snapped my head up off of the keyboard. It had been five hours since I had started the search; and over thirteen pages of pictures later, there was still no positive match. No one matched her description. I glanced over at the sketch Nefarious Woe had drawn, then over my shoulder at her. She was picking at her shoe like it was more interesting than the task at hand. I bet it was. I may have been good with technology, but even this was taking way longer than either of us had anticipated. I bit my lip slightly as I turned back to the screen. Continuing to flip through picture after picture of random person after random person. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I could feel my eyelids growing increasingly heavy with every passing second, but the florescent light of the computer screen hitting my pupils kept them from sliding shut. I didn't care that finding out who in the world this person was would evidently lead to the end of their waking life anymore. I just wanted to be done with this entire thing. I just wanted to get a good night's sleep, wake up in the morning, then be back to my regular routine of serving Nefarious Woe.
The light of early morning was seeping through the window when a match was realized. My eyes lit up, a smile spreading across my face, as I read over the news article. I did it twice, just to make sure, and with the second reading I couldn't contain my excitement any longer. I had found a match. It was her, I was sure of it.
"Look!" I shouted, leaping from my seat. "A news story about the case! And it says the suspect is someone that looks a lot like your sketch!"
I jumped up and down in delight. Grinning from ear to ear. Before I could stop myself, I ran forward, wrapped my arms around her, and pulled Nefarious Woe into a hug. I didn't have a clue why I did it, it just felt like the right time to do at the moment.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" She screamed.
Before I could pull away and apologize, she pushed me away and and slapped me right across the face. I fell to the ground, holding the side of my face where her hand had come in contact with my, now stinging, flesh. I looked up at her as she towered over me, tears beginning to well up in the corners of my eyes. She smiled cruelly down at me, hands on her hips.
"Good job." She sneered. "Now, since you did such an amazing job, find a way to get rid of her, that involves me not being near you for a while. Sound good? Good."
I watched from my spot on the floor as she turned on her heels and strowed away. Once she was gone, I got to my feet, still holding the throbbing side of my face. Blinking the tears from my eyes. I glanced over at the computer. She wanted me to find a way to get rid of the figure? Fine. I would. I would prove to her I could do it. I smiled, sitting back down in my seat and beginning to type something into the Google search engine. My smile faltered slightly as my finger hovered over the enter key, though. Did I really want to do this? Another killing? Was this really right? I glanced back at the doorway, then took a deep breath and clicked enter. No turning back now...
"R-Right through here, miss." I said, leading the cloaked figure into the base.
"Please. Call me Lilith." The cloaked figure said. Her voice dripping in sweet, syrupy sugar.
Before I could respond, the figure walked briskly in. Well, glided in almost. Her movements were slick and silent, as if she was gliding instead of walking. I closed the door behind us, took a deep breath to calm myself, then looked back over at the cloaked figure. She had already made herself at home. She figure sat on the arm of the couch, the weapons that she was currently sorting strewn across the cushions. I saw throwing stars, swords and blades of all shapes and sizes, and a few things I presumed were weapons, but had no actual clue to what they were due to never seeing anything like them before in my life. Most of the weapons were shiny and clean, but a few were caked in a dried, dark crimson substance. Some of those few even had... fresh crimson liquid glistening on them. I shuddered. I had no clue how some people were so at ease around blood. It made my stomach clench up and tie itself into knots.
"S-so... Ms. L-lilith-" I began
"Just Lilith, deary." She smiled.
"Lilith," I cleared my throat. I could feel my heart pounding nervously. My breaths short and shaky. "Nefarious Woe should be down any time now..."
As if in cue, I heard footsteps heading down the stairs. Nefarious Woe stepped off of the staircase and walked up to the cloaked figure and I. Her eyes darted from me, to her, then back to me before she walked over to her chair and sat down gracefully. The cloaked figure looked up from her weapon sorting at Nefarious Woe's arrival. Nefarious Woe smiled at her. She smiled back. Everything about her seemed sweet and candy coated... aside from the assortment of torture instruments laid out in front of her.
"You must be Nefarious Woe." She smiled, "Keith here has told me so much about you." The cloaked figure motioned in my direction, not taking her gaze from Nefarious Woe.
"And I have heard much of you, Lilith." Nefarious Woe responded. Attempting to mimic the same level of sweetness in her voice. She then turned to me, and her gaze immediately turned cold and condescending. Her voice becoming hard and commanding. "Alright, Keith, we're running out of milk, go get some. Leave the adults to talk. Scamper off now."
I just stood there, letting the words sink in. I bit my lip, then turned to leave. My hands clenching into fists. Every muscle in my body tensing up. As the two went back to talking, I opened the door and slipped out into the sunlight. Slamming it shut behind me. That was it. The last straw. I had done everything I could for Nefarious Woe, and what had she repaid me with? Nothing. Well, just being in the same room as her was usually payment enough, but not now. Not today. I was done being her little guinea pig. I was done being bossed around by the likes of her. Tell me to witness a murder. Tell me to go retrieve a known mercenary. But tell me to go get groceries? Now, that was out of the question! I bit my lip, my eyes narrowing as I stomped away. I would find that thief myself. And when I did... I would teach Nefarious Woe a lesson she wouldn't soon forget. She would regret the day she sent me to go get groceries.
There she was. I poked my head out from behind the tree I was hiding behind just as I saw the cloaked figure glide silently down into the sewers. That had to be where the thief was. It just had to be. What other reason would there be for her to be slipping into the sewers? The question I had was, what was the thief doing in the sewers? I knew they were probably hiding, but why down there? There were plenty of other, much more comfortable and much less disgusting, hiding spots. I shook my head. I would ask why if I got the chance. But first, I needed to save the thief from the cloaked figure's wrath. Quickly and carefully, I ran after the cloaked figure and began making my way down the ladder. I was about to reach the bottom when I realized how stupid this was... I shouldn't be using this entrance. I should use the secret one! Using the secret tunnels would be much easier than following after the cloaked figure, constantly having to hide and fear for my life. Quickly, I scrambled out of the ladder shaft and bolted for the secret entrance.
By the sound of things, I had found the thief... and so had the cloaked figure. Great. I wasn't quick enough. Now, I needed to move even faster, or the thief would be dead meat by the time I reached them. As quick as I could, I darted to the closest secret opening into the sewers and pulled on the lever resting on the wall beside it. The lever barely budged, but I managed to force it down all the way eventually. The door slid open shakely, the noise making me cringe, but it was opened nonetheless. I looked out into the sewer and saw the thief bolting for the door, the cloaked figure on her tail. I motioned for her to hurry up frantically, my eyes wide. The thief crashed through the opening, and I pushed the lever up.
Come on, come on, come on! Close, close, close! I pleaded.
Slam! The opening slammed closed just as the cloaked figure was about to glide through. I couldn't help but laugh slightly as I gasped for breath, clutching at my chest. Adrenaline pumping through my veins. I had done it. I had saved the thief. God, that had been the most nerve-racking experience of my life... and I, for some reason, had enjoyed it. I looked over at the thief as I caught my breath. She sat on the ground, panting. Strands of her glossy, brown hair falling in front of her face. Her nose piercing glinting slightly in the low light. I could tell why Nefarious Woe had been so annoyed because of her. Without warning, she began yelling at the top of her lungs.
"I DON'T WANNA DIE I'LL DO ANYTHING DON'T KILL ME I NEVER EVEN GOT TO PLEAD MY CASE I NEVER DID ANYTHING I SWEAR IT WASN'T ME I-"
"SHUT UP!" I cried. Cutting her off. What did she think I was, a cop?
I cleared my throat, then out of habit apologized for my slight outburst. The thief looked up at me from where she was sitting on the ground. After a few seconds of staring at me, I saw her eyes light up. She got to her feet and opened her mouth to speak.
"Oh, cool, you aren't trying to kill me or put me in jail. I think that at the moment you are literally my favourite person ever, average guy!" She squealed
"My name isn't Average guy, it's Keith." I explained
"I don't care." She deadpanned. Her eyes losing some of their sparkle as she half started, half glared at me.
"Oh." I muttered.
Silence filled the room as we both stood there. Staring at each other. Well, she stared. My eyes darted nervously around, trying to find anything other than her to focus on.
"Soooo....... Out of curiousity do you have any clue what's going on? BECAUSE I'm extremely confused." She asked, shattering the silence.
"Well, funny thing about what's going on..." I said sheepishly, loosening the collar if my shirt.
"Not funny random guy. I am having a really bad day, and I bet that I could take you in a fight so start talking." She muttered.
"I want you to help me take down the person who is responsible for you nearly getting arrested and killed. I mean those separately because the cops wouldn't have killed you it would've been the mercenary that killed you and..."
She shot me an unimpressed look. I gulped nervously, then cleared my throat. Trying to regain what little confidence I could muster at the moment.
"Anyway, I want you to help me take down Nefarious Woe." I explained, cutting to the chace.
"Why? Shouldn't we be taking down the person responsible? Also, who in the WORLD is Nefarious Woe? Sounds like a stupid name." She blurted out.
"Nefarious woe is the one responsible! And, she's only THE biggest evil genius! EVER! And her name isn't stupid, it's intimidating!!!" I shouted back.
I could feel my face turning about twelve shades past beet red. I knew I shouldn't be speaking highly of her anymore, but I couldn't help myself. Despite being cruel, snarky and sending me to get groceries, she was actually really awesome. I shook myself out of my thoughts as I noticed the look the thief was giving me. What the heck was that for? Was she constipated or something? I raised an eyebrow in return to the look. Skepticism was skeptic. Eventually, she sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly.
"Okay, I'm down."
"Really?" I asked, my voice betraying me and showing how happy I was at this.
"Yeah, I'm always down for some good old fashioned revenge. Also, she ruined my heist. If that doesn't deserve revenge then what does?"
"Wow. I honestly kind of expected you to be a LOT more resistant. But you're just trusting me like that?"
"To be fair, I have about two options: run like a pansy or help you, average guy. I'm getting sick of running."
"Man, that was really cool sounding. Like something out of an action movie!"
"Oh, it came across like that? No I meant I was sick of running cause I'm getting tired. Not exactly a role model of fitness or however you want to say it. No, I'm perfectly fine with continuing to be a coward. I just want to do it in the way that requires the least effort. A way that requires less effort and gets me revenge? It's practically an early birthday present!!"
I sighed, my gaze falling. Disappointment settling into place within my mind.
"You just can't stand to make my big moment a bit more exciting, can you?" I sighed.
"If you wanted it to be like a movie, then you should have given me a script. And since you didn't, I can hardly be blamed."
"This is SO much less epic than I wanted it to be..."
"Only yourself to blame, Average Guy."
"I immediately regret my decision."
"I don't blame you."
"GOD!!!!! STOP TALKING!
"No."
"UUUUUGH!"
A couple of hours later, we emerged from the sewers. The thief, who had told me her name was Amanda, was decked out, head to toe, in old bits and pieces of ideas Nefarious Woe had come up with for her outfits before settling on the simple, plain black cape, gloves, boots and body suit. Though, of course, everything Amanda wore now was black too. I was still dressed the same as before, but with a small pistol in hand. Loaded and ready to fire if need be. I squinted as I gazed around the area we had emerged into, the sunlight stinging my eyes. Causing multicolored spots to dance in front of my vision. Once I had blinked them clear, I glanced over at Amanda. She had a sword strapped across her back, two knives hanging from her belt on either side and two handguns clenched tightly within her gloved fingers. I could tell from the ecstatic look on her face she was ready and itching for some action. I took a deep breath, scanning my surroundings. It was time. I took a deep breath. Oddly, I was looking forward to the battle that was to come. Little did I know, this day would turn into the worst day of my entire career working with Nefarious Woe. And that's saying something when you think about it.