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A week passed, a full week. Thomas was completely baffled by Sin. The once great workaholic inhuman Sin went from a frenzy of job after job and improvement after improvement to moping in a corner. He hardly talked—he wouldn’t move, and there was a good chance Sin has even eaten anything in some time. Something terrible must have happened, something only Sin was aware of.
Thomas unsure of what to do for Sin, mostly because he was afraid of the reaction if something went wrong, tried his best to comfort Sin during the week. After all he didn’t want to anger the already depressed super-human—Darth as Sin called it. He did stick the occasional meal in the corner and managed to get him to say a few words. Those words being ‘She’s gone, I can’t finder her, she’s gone,” over and over. Whoever she was, she meant a lot.
Little had progressed in their hideout since Sin flipped out around a week ago. First he was calm. He paced a bit and ignored whatever was bothering him, maybe assuming whatever went wrong would solve itself in a hour or two. He continued to work but with less speaking than his normal silent self. Then around the third day he cracked, he flipped out—almost put a hole in the wall then dropped the wooden two by four in his hand and huddled in the corner. Now it was the start of the seventh day since Sin’s depressing change.
Sin stood up, something he stopped doing quite some time ago. Thomas lifted his head from the aged laptop in front of him. He didn’t speak. Sin had a smile on his face. Whatever was bothering him changed. He almost looked excited.
Thomas also got a glance at Sin’s pointer finger—that one that’s been changing day-to-day it appeared as if it had finally come to completion. The grimy previously grey triple pronged nail had now gone silver. The silver nail was shaped like a blade. The three prongs grew back into each other, each varying in size. The longest middle one was straight and pointed, it was probably very sharp as well the tip as fine as a needle tip. The left and right prongs grew back into the first one and straightened out as well, causing the very thin center prong to appear much thicker.
About an inch down the six inch blade was the first tip of the first of the two other prongs, it carved inward ever-so slightly to form its own point. An inch after that the second of the two sides curved inwards too. With all parts combined the blade was six inches long with a needle tip, it was about half an inch thick with two curved claws on the inside. The bottom end of the knife was most confusing—his flesh and finger oddly fused and intertwined into the metal-like blade like some mad-scientist experiment. The original finger was completely gone. Thomas hasn’t yet seen Sin use the fully developed blade, but he has seen it during various stages accidently slice through wood like a steak knife on butter—so it was very dangerous, he knew that much.
“I got a job!” Sin said, sounding way too cheerful what was bugging him wasn’t anymore. At that Sin vanished from Thomas’s presence. He still never understood how Sin could know of things like the missing girl or this job. But he was just glad that finger wasn’t used on him.
***
Sin recounted the directions he was given. His sudden shut down was the result of losing all contact with his Mistress for an entire week, no explanation one second she was there—the next—gone. He was glad that without warning she contacted him—he knew she was okay, he felt she was okay. He knew what she told him. He was going to Russia.
He had to find this General named Nikon. He needed to track Nikon and his friends. He needed to find and keep tabs on everyone who has the button device like Nikon. Once he confirms the number of devices he was ordered to slaughter the friends, family, soldiers, and anyone else who gets close to the people wielding the devices. He was told to never get seen by the people with the devices and to never hurt them.
If Lilly was going to break away from the chains put upon her it would be by letting the wielders release her by their own free will. If she or Sin directly targeted any of the people with devices they could break her deal. She had found a loophole in the Devils deal and was going to take full advantage of it.
All Sin had to do is ruin the lives of those holding her hostage—and maybe, just maybe they will give up their control over Lilly. He was happy to be able to finally support his Mistress in such a positive way. He was glad he could finally be useful.
***
The coat may have been a bit heavy for Washington DC during this time of year but it was the only thing she had to conceal herself. She made quite a presence in America as of like and would hate to be noticed—no one knew of her intentions except Nikon and her. Lilly decided to not jump right for the president. Instead she stopped just short and took a calm walk through the night, this world was going to change in a few minutes—it was going to break out into chaos and she was going to be the cause. Everything was weighing on her shoulders.
She was really going to do it, bring the entire world into meltdown. There should be a moment of silence before she does this, before she carries out her orders, but there were things she needed to do. Just like she made her presence known she wanted to make sure everyone knew it was her that killed the president, there would be no more blindly pointing fingers. If someone was to take the blame it should be her, she deserves it.
The sun just finished setting and the temperatures outside were lingering around the fifties. She looked out of place with the twenty-below-zero coat but even so strolled down the just darkened streets of New York. People watched as she passed, but most just sped on by without a second glance. She laughed as unknowing people ran blindly past the game changer, President Whattson’s future assassin.
Lilly picked up the smell of fresh baked bread from one of the corners and discovered a small family-run shop still serving warm pastries. The store had a small line inside as hungry people tried to grab something good to eat before the shop closed for the night. She turned the corner and waited in line. A few minutes passed until she was first in line, a small number of people already behind her. She was surprised of the popularity of this shop and wondered how or if it would operate once the government here ceased to exist, these poor people have no idea what’s coming—she locked eyes with a cloak on the wall, now eight-thirty, she was surprised how much time she spent aimlessly walking, but there really was no rush was there—what would happen would happen.
“What would you like ma’am?” The shop assistant behind the counter beckoned for an answer. The girl had red hair and looked to be around the age of sixteen or seventeen. Poor girl—probably won’t ever know a normal peaceful life. One Lilly could have easily had if she never pulled the trigger. Working at a small pastry shop like this now seemed so trivial.
Lilly looked over the glass counter a bit as the girl behind the counter gave an impatient sigh. Lilly caught a shrugging glance to the person behind her, the signal for saying ‘I’m sorry’ for Lilly not knowing what she wanted and holding up the line. Apparently the girl never understood why people don’t choose their selection in the line before they got to the front. But like Lilly thought, trivial now. “That one,” Lilly pointed at a small chunk that looked like chocolate fudge.
“Two forty-nine,” the girl behind the counter recited the memorized price.
Lilly fumbled through the pockets of the coat to find something paper. She pulled it out, one thousand Russian Rubles. The girl behind the counter looked at the foreign money with a nod of her head and the rolling of eyes. Lilly then found a third pocket on the interior of the coat. She found a wallet. A smile broadened. Lilly pulled the wallet out and found a credit card within. Everything except the logo was Russian. She handed over the card, Nikon probably wouldn’t mind if he bought for her.
The girl placed a chunk of fudge on the counter with a small piece of wax paper and swiped the Russian card. She admired it a bit before she handed it back without issue, “Enjoy the rest of the night,” the redhead gave a falsified smile and turned her eyes to the next customer—some lady that was behind me.
Lilly took the fudge off the counter and pushed the credit card and wallet back into the hidden pocket. She shoved her hand into the pocket with the gun and pulled it out. She held her revolver close to her side and allowed the jacket sleeve to engulf the concealed gun.
A moment before she exited the shop she lifted her hand up and the sleeve dropped exposing the gun. “Now, off to kill the president.” She grinned and said just loud enough to get the attention of the people still in line. A couple backed away from the gun and Lilly disappeared into shadows a vanishing act the Americans were well familiar with. A man with aged grey hair and a worn out grey suit perked up with what she said. This man left his spot in line for pastries and also exited out into the darkness. He spotted Lilly quite some time ago wondering the streets—mass murderer ‘Mistress Damned’ who was all over the news for quite some time was hard to miss. For him it was right place right time.
***
After her nice desert Lilly jumped right for the president’s private headquarters, the one that wasn’t on any maps—the one she knew he would be at. When she appeared President Whattson was indeed there. He was at his desk with a laptop bent slightly over on one side of the desk and a large stack of folders on the other. In front of him were several papers—one he looked to be writing on while the others were full of printed text, it was probably something he was reading and taking notes on.
Lilly clunked one of her feet on the wood floor between rugs and Whattson’s eyes darted up in shock. “Mistress! You’re back! What happened? You vanished, we thought you were dead.”
“Shhhh.” Lilly held her hand up and pulled the sleeve back just slightly with her bone fingers to expose the revolver. She took another step forward
President Whattson slammed his hands on the desk and stood up. “What is the meaning of this?”
The bracelet sparkled just slightly in the light coming from the lamps around his desk. “Quiet now. I don’t work for you anymore.” She finished walking up to the desk and kept the aim of the gun on him to make sure he didn’t do anything. Lilly pulled a cell phone out of the pocket with the bullets and held it out to the president with her bone hand. She didn’t go into a bakery to get fudge, she went to get communication. “They knew of me.” Lilly shifted her eyes into the direction of the bracelet. The president looked at it, “They knew how to stop me, how to control me. You best send a warning; luckily they sent me after you alone. But if I get orders to kill off the rest of this country’s political leaders I will. Tell them to hide where I can’t find them. Cause if I do find them they will most certainly die.”
The president took the phone out of her hand. She watched as his body jittered at the feel of the grimy skin and moist bone. He dialed a number and stuck the phone to his ear.
“You best not tell anyone what’s going on in here. If people come, you know what I can do. They don’t have to die because of this, unfortunate event, and they can’t stop me either.”
“Stop.” The president spoke into the phone. “Code expel. This is not a drill. President Whattson speaking. Key: two-two-eight-two-two-five-S-F-nineteen-eighty.” He hung up the phone and handed it back to Lilly.
Lilly flipped the gun in her hand and held it upside-down handle first facing the president. “I cannot bear to kill the leader of my country. But, you must die. As a request, I would like you to do it, so I don’t have to. For America I will try to break this bind on me and the curse I have brought upon myself.” Lilly’s tone was serious and her eyes seconds from tears. She somehow held the tears back—to make herself look strong in the wake of a terrible moment.
Whattson took the gun from her hand and asked, “You can’t just tell the Russians I’ve been executed?”
“If only it was that simple. It’s not the Russians I fear—but something out of my control.” Lilly rotated the bone hand and looked down at it, breaking contact with the president. She crunched the hand down into a tight fist and asked, “Do you believe in God?”
“Yes, I do.” Whattson held the gun in his hand.
“Tell him I’m sorry. For everything…” Lilly’s eyes locked with his for the first time since she entered his office and she gave him the subliminal hint that ‘it’s time.’
The president held the gun up to his head and without the slightest hint of hesitation pulled the trigger. The cracked echoed in the room seconds before men blew through the door. Lilly had heard them coming down the hall in the distance, she knew their conversation was over anyways. Lilly sped around the desk and preyed the gun out from his fingers. Then she pushed two fingers against his neck and watched as blood flowed across the wooden floor. He was dead.
Lilly closed his bolted open eyes and stood up. Several men in black suits were at the door, guns in hand and pointed at her. Lilly shuck her head once and mouthed ‘I’m sorry,’ she vanished before they could shoot at her. She had to stay just long enough for them to know who killed their president.
***
A woman strolled through the snow covered shrubs and trees. She had a fur coat on and thick pants. Sin watched from the trees above while making sure that the woman couldn’t see him. He had a small metal object in his hand, a tape recorder. Sin found out on his first attempt to track down Nikon’s men that he did not speak or know the slightest bit of Russian. He quickly appeared back in his Seattle hideout demanding someway to translate the language from Thomas. He was grateful Thomas’s endless list of online contacts included a professor from a nearby college, one who knows Russian well.
During his endeavor with the long trips from Russia to Seattle for translations Sin was quickly able to find the second wielder of a Red Button—Red Button being the name he gave to the devices forcing his Mistress under their command. The name of this second person was Emilia Louis. Emilia was one of the only women in Nikon’s underground operation. She was what they called the nanny. She was the one that cooked the food and made the bed, that helped keeping the place clean and kept a close eye on his Mistress.
She also looked like the easiest to break, she was someone powerful but thoughtful. Emilia couldn’t stand to see people suffer and was weak when it came to bloodshed. Odds are she didn’t know of the hardships put upon her when given control of Lilly. The people who gave her that power probably didn’t know the hardships either. In the end she was just the babysitter with a gun and a naughty switch.
Sin was following her through the woods right now because he suspected she was going to meet the third and final wielder of the Red Button. This third person Sin heard a lot about. He was someone powerful within the Russian government, someone close to the Russian president. This final person didn’t stay in the hideout north of Perm but rather in the capital of Russia itself, he was what you could say the outside man, in case something went terribly wrong at the hideout. He was in for a visit on the operation. This visit was to acquire his Red Button and the nanny was in charge of the delivery.
Sin thought of killing this man before the delivery could be completed but decided against it. He wasn’t sure if this was breaking the contract, and he rather not find out. Emilia stopped below. Sin pressed the record button on the metal in his hand. A deep voice spoke a small distance ahead of Emilia. She responded and walked up to the man. The man had a black trench coat that went all the way down to his feet. The coat was opened to show a white dress shirt and tie below it. Without a word Emilia handed a Red Button to the man and turned on her heels. It was a pity that their plan to have an outside man hidden wasn’t going to work out, he already knew who this outside man was.
After Emilia rounded enough trees and shrubs to leave his eyesight the man turned and walked the opposite direction. Sin knew everything about Nikon and Emilia, where they were, where they stayed, friends, even the family of Nikon. But of this third man—he didn’t even know a name. Sin was going to follow him, record any conversations he may have, and find out just who this guy was. He stopped the recording device from picking silence and followed the man from above to a nearby road where a black car with tinted windows was waiting.
***
“What are my orders?” Lilly demanded Nikon who was twirling the Red Button in his hand. Nikon was the only device wilder that would show himself to Lilly. The second—Emilia was always in the shadows, she was the person who placed food in the room while Lilly was out, warmed the bathwater while Lilly was in another room, or cleaned the plates in the kitchen Lilly had no desire to enter. Lilly never met this woman, but Sin gave her all the information she needed to know—whatever Sin knew, she knew too.
Nikon was surprised over Lilly’s excellent performance. He never expected her to actually do it, and to do it so well and quickly. With this new knowledge that she will do anything he already had a new job planned, “Your orders. Kill the next five people in line for presidential leadership of America. Once that’s completed I want you to target the leaders of all America’s allies. Yes, I’m talking England, France, Israel and any anything else I may not know about. This mean you must demand from those American’s the whereabouts of their friends, learn about their allies, and kill them. I want you to ruin the country, ruin every country they associated with so that Mother Russia can once again regain its authority as the world’s super power. These countries tried to conspire against Russia and hundreds of thousands are dead cause of their experiments. They shall pay tenfold.”
Nikon was ranting. He sat down in his chair behind the desk and hummed in a lower voice full of anger. “Do you know what they have been doing? Killing innocent people, MY people. We still can’t stop their monsters. Perm.” He let out a sigh, “Perm is no more. A week and a few days have passed and the entire city is in ruins. Somehow, somehow they got more of their monsters into Mother Russia. Four hundred thousand are dead in the last week. Four hundred!” His voice picked up. “Half the city dead in a week. The entire city has been evacuated yet their monsters still kill. Entire caravans go missing—thousands of people die. People are dying right now, cause of them. America won’t call them off so they shall suffer.” He cut his own rant off and looked at Lilly, “Be gone! Go do what your mission demands, become the wrath of Russia!” Lilly was surprised he didn’t just send her after the monsters like President Whattson did. Then and again her performance last time she tried proved even she wasn’t fast enough.
After Lilly was sure his rant had come to an end she disappeared. She noted the twelve bullets left in her pocket. She would need to conserve ammo; it seems this was going to be a long next few days for her.