#ICA Training Facility

[nahimjustfeelingit-writes]

Neighbors 🩵 Lovers

Part Four

Shutting his door, he placed his sturdy back against it. His head collided gently with the surface and he shut his eyes tightly. An even breath escaped his nose and his built chest rose up and down. Diesel’s barking brought his attention down to his pit bull. Erik slid down his door until his bottom touched the floor. Diesel relaxed next to him and Erik rubbed his back. His obsidian eyes stared off into space, but his mind replayed scenes from the night’s festivities over and over.

He dragged his other hand down his face.

Faedra McAdams almost made him say those three words.

Erik brought his left knee up and rested his elbow there while stroking his bottom lip with his thumb. He couldn’t believe it. From the outside looking in, you’d think he’d only known her for several weeks. Truth is, he’d known her for months. Five long months. From a distance. Through his telephoto lens while parked in a car or on a rooftop at night through a 10-power scope.

To understand why, it’s best to know what Erik does for a living more extensively. He is a Mercenary nicknamed Killmonger turned professional Hitman and a top agent for the International Contract Agency. Both Killmonger and his partner, Diana, work together during missions and she controls what jobs he’s hired to take on.

Before the ICA discovered Erik, he was a JSOC Special Ops who was kidnapped and became the product of a HYDRA experiment. The Winter Soldiers were HYDRA's elite group of assassins that were administered with Howard Stark's version of the Super Soldier Serum. Due to the mental side effects caused by Stark's serum, the Winter Soldiers were all kept in cryostasis at the HYDRA Siberian Facility, during which they were killed by Helmut Zemo. All except for Killmonger who escaped.

His genetically-engineered and enhanced body and mind (combined with his extensive knowledge and training) made him become the world's deadliest and most efficient assassin. Killmonger was a relatively emotionless assassin until Fae came into the picture. He couldn’t understand how this woman altered his controlled lifestyle so much. For once, Erik was able to relax and be himself. He was able to have real emotions.

The Ghost Fugitive was his current elusive mission he’d been hired to do months ago but Erik stalled because of Fae. He decided to move into an apartment here to keep an eye on his target. He was told to eliminate everyone involved or suspected to be involved. Instead of getting the job done, he purposefully dragged himself. He knew soon enough, Diana would come along asking questions. And that’s why he’s currently stressing. How was he going to explain this to Diana?

Erik’s phone buzzed and he turned his hip to retrieve it from his back pocket. Looking down at his phone, he paused when he’d seen her name. He hated the way he left her. She’s probably in her apartment right now questioning his change of plans. She’s probably blaming herself. Erik picked himself up from the floor and took off his shoes. He placed his jacket on the couch and took a seat.

Erik’s leg bounced as he tried to figure out what to say. She’s probably overthinking.

It wasn’t okay. He fell for her. He wasn’t supposed to fall for her.

She did have a point. He was supposed to be snugged behind her in her bed—well, that bitch nigga slept there too. He’d much rather she be in his bed right now. Cuddling with Fae beneath his sheets sounded so much better.

Erik stood up from his couch and strolled over to his door. He could see Fae leaving her apartment with Deuce in her pajamas. She knocked on his door and Erik opened it quickly. Fae slipped inside with Deuce in her arms and he shut the door. Fae’s big brown eyes looked up at him and Erik looked down at her beautiful face. Fae had her braids up in a messy bun and the cutest nightgown on. One of those nightgowns you get from Target.

“Hi.” She greeted him with a soft-spoken voice.

“Hi.” Erik replied.

“You wanted to talk?” Fae questioned.

Her eyes followed Diesel as he walked up to her. He sniffed her feet in a pair of Ugg Tasman slippers. She placed Deuce down on the floor and both dogs scurried off.

“Yeah,” Erik reached out for her hand, “Let’s go to my room.”

Fae took his hand and they walked to his room. Once inside, Erik cracked his door. Fae climbed onto his bed and kicked off her slippers. Erik took off his cargo pants and settled next to Fae. She was resting on her side while her head is propped up in her hand.

“…I’m sorry that I stormed off. I just…I was worried about Cordell popping up unexpectedly. I was thinkin’ about how he comes home every night after doing whatever the fuck it is that he’s doing and just…laying next to you after all that like shit is cool is fucked up to me. It’s manipulative. I don’t like it.”

Fae listened intently. Her eyes blinked slowly at Erik.

“…you’re too sweet, too beautiful, too much of a good woman to endure that. I love that you’re cheating back, I love that you let me do you in your apartment. I love it, I just don’t like that he’s still there…with access to you…and for that I’m sorry. It’s not my place to feel that way. You don’t owe me an explanation, ma.”

Erik turned away and stared down at his hands. Fae sat up on her knees and grabbed Erik’s shoulder. He looked up at her through his curled lashes. Fae’s eyes scanned his handsome face before she scooted closer, pressing her soft lips against his. Erik’s brows furrowed and he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in closer. Fae swung a leg over him and plopped down in his lap. They kissed for a while, Erik’s fingertips rubbing up and down the dip in her spine, Fae’s hands tugging on his locs.

Erik broke their kiss and he stared into Fae’s eyes before his gaze dropped down. He couldn’t look at her without those three words echoing in his conscious. Fae kisses along his neck, causing Erik to grunt.

“Faedra,” Erik said with a hushed tone.

“Hm?”

Fae’s face was so close to his that their noses touched.

“You’re asking for it, girl…”

Fae giggled softly, “What if I am?”

Erik’s low eyes stared her down. Fae bites her lip and Erik licked his own. Fae leaned back and grabbed the bottom of her nightgown, lifting it up and over her head in one motion. Erik’s eyes fell to her breasts with stiff, brown nipples. His hands came up to palm them and Fae grabbed his face, pulling him in for another kiss. Erik’s hands roamed all over her body. He couldn’t get over how soft her skin felt.

“Don’t think, just fuck me,” Fae shoved Erik and he fell back against the bed, “Let me ride it.”

She didn’t give Erik any time to pull his briefs down. Fae’s dainty hands tugged with force and his dick bobbed out and stood tall, pointed towards her mouth. Fae slid down his body in a rush and wrapped her plump lips around his tip.

“Fuck, girl,” Erik hissed, “Damn…”

Fae swallowed him and she gagged a little. Erik’s hand curled around the base of her head and he forced his dick deeper. So deep that his balls were almost touching her chin.

Fae drew back and started sucking his length down her throat. Erik’s toes dragged across the carpet of his bedroom floor and his thigh muscles flexed. This is probably the best head he’d had in a long time. She had him shaking.

“Dayum,” Erik formed a crease in his brow and pouted his lip, “You’re such a nasty girl….ughhhhh—”

His orgasm caught him off guard. He fell back against the bed completely and dragged both of his hands down his face in disbelief. Fae’s lips popped off his thick pipe and she licked her lips before climbing up and straddling him. She squatted over him and Erik held her up with his hands beneath her ass.

Fae aimed his fat tip at her wet hole and she circled her hips over his sensitive head before slowly lowering her hips. They both sigh in unison. She placed her hands on his chest, arched her back, folded her feet beneath his strapping thighs, and bounced. Erik’s hands fell to his sides and he stared up at her with his eyes ablaze.

“Uhuh, Uhuh, Uhuh, Uhuh,” Fae moaned.

“You love this fuckin’ dick…look how you’re taking it,” Erik bites his lip, “Don’t stop.”

Fae forced her eyes shut and focused her attention on giving Erik the best ride he’s ever had. The sound of her wet pussy and skin slapping against his thighs filled the room. Fae’s braids fell from her bun and crowded her face. One of her hands came up to grip Erik by the jaw and her eyes crossed.

“You cumming? That pussy cumming?” Erik questioned with a soft voice.

Fae could only nod her head.

“You’re so fucking sexy—”

“Oh!”

Fae fell and she was pressed against Erik. Erik wrapped his arms around her and rolled over so that she was on her back again. He dragged her towards the edge of the bed and spread her thighs. With her ankles in his hands, Erik stood up and started fucking her. Fae clung to the sheets for dear life. Erik watched the way his fat dick split her pussy open wide. That clit was poking out at him, her labia was spread open and wrapped around his dick like a pair of lips, his dick was glossy from her arousal. It was beautiful.

“Erik!” Fae shouted.

He hunched over her and wrapped his hands around her neck. She looked up at him with surprise and her mouth agape.

“Oh! Uh! Yes! Daddy!”

Her body seized up and her eyes almost rolled to the back of her head.

“I love making you cum, baby…”

He slipped out and Fae gasped. Erik picked her up and placed her on her stomach with her head on a pillow. Fae’s hand slipped beneath his pillow and she could feel weighted steel. She withdrew her hand quickly and Erik noticed. Fae looked back at him over her shoulder and Erik's eyes were steady on hers while his hand slipped beneath the pillow to grip the handle.

“Why do you keep it under your pillow?” Fae asked.

Erik revealed his GLOCK G20 and sat it down carefully on his bedside table with the barrel pointed in the opposite direction.

“Just a habit.” Erik said.

He spread her thighs a little so he could find her entrance. Fae’s eyes shut when his dick pushed inside deep. He propped himself up on his fists behind her and he fucked her in flat doggy-style.

Fae smashed her left cheek against the pillow and both of her hands fisted the sheets. The constant clapping and bouncing of the mattress was enough to prove how deep Erik was dickin’ Fae down.

“You’re mine..your ass is mine,” Erik said with a shaky voice from the way Fae’s pussy clenched around him.

“Yes! Yes!” Fae shouted.

Erik dropped to his knees and grabbed Fae by her braids. One hand came down on her ass with a wide open palm.

“Bring that ass up,” Erik watched with hard eyes as Fae arched her back, “Good girl…”

He went in like he never stopped. Erik used Fae’s hair to turn her head so she could look back at him. Hot tears stained her cheeks. Tears of ecstasy. Erik released her hair and placed one hand around the front of her neck. His hot tongue slipped into her drooling mouth and he licked and sucked all over her lips.

“Mhm…mmmmm,” Fae could only moan.

“You wanna cum, don’t you?” Erik spoke against her lips with a smirk.

“Please?!” Fae begged with a whiny voice.

“Ask me better than that, Fae.”

Erik released her and Fae dropped forward, hiding her face when Erik started going faster. In and out his thick pipe thrusted.

“Ask me…,” Erik whacked her across the ass again, “Open your mouth and ask me, Fae.”

“Daddy–Daddy please?—can I cum?” She spoke with a hushed tone.

“You wanna bust on this dick you better fix your arch!!!”

Fae whimpered as she pushed herself up and arched her back. Erik hummed in approval and it sent a shiver up her spine so intense her shoulders buckled. Even the kiss he placed in the center of her spine made her gasp as if she’d been doused in cold water.

“Better?” Fae replied with a trembling voice.

“Good girl, that’s my good girl!!!”

Fae couldn’t believe how fucking wet she was. That dick was sliding in and out her pussy with ease. She felt a heat in the pit of her belly and it caused tears to stream down her cheeks. She almost saw heaven. It was that intense. An out of body experience. Like her soul left its vessel for a brief intermission. She didn’t even have to announce her release, Erik felt it.

“Oh, yeah? Oh fuck yeah,” Erik grunted, “FUCK.”

He slipped out and his hot cum painted her backside. Fae dropped down on the bed like she’d been knocked out. Erik sat back on his haunches and tried to catch his breath. He was sweating so much that it dripped from his nose.

“Fae?” Erik called out to her, “You okay?”

“…mhm.”

Erik’s chest was burning from trying to catch his breath. He carefully climbed off of the bed and walked up to Fae. He smoothed her braids from her face and wasn’t surprised to find her sleeping. He palmed her booty and gave it a light slap. She squirmed and scrunched her face in such a cute way.

“I love you.” Erik said.

“Mhm.” Fae responded.

Erik knew she didn’t really hear him. But damn, he wanted her to. So bad. He grew to love her from a distance before they officially met. It was hard to explain. It hit him so fast. What was supposed to be a mission turned out to be a pleasant distraction. Erik honestly didn’t know if they would ever be together. That stung worse than the blade once wedged in his side.

Erik brought the sheets over Fae’s body and she snuggled against one of his pillows. Erik went to take a piss and when he returned he could hear his work phone vibrating. His chest grew tight with anticipation as he retrieved the phone from his side table drawer. Bringing the screen to his gaze, he shut his eyes briefly.

Diana.

Erik walked out of his room, cracking the door behind him before walking into his office. He cracked the door and answered the call.

“Meet me at Liberty State Park.”

She didn’t even wait for a response from Erik before ending the call abruptly. Erik slowly moved the phone away from his ear. He knew exactly what this was about.

Twinkling night sky, glassy ink-black water, and the reflection of the New York skyline ablaze with many lights was the view that greeted Erik’s eyes. Hands in his all black hoodie pockets, he spotted the statuesque figure of Diana with her back turned towards him. She glanced over her shoulder and her golden eyes met his briefly before she tore them away.

Erik took his place beside her silently, eyes scanning the lively city. His black Doc Martens tapped the concrete impatiently. The forty-five minute drive over felt like a waste. Whatever she has to say she could have said over the phone.

“Killmonger.” Diana greeted him.

“Diana.”

Erik looked at her with a tight jaw.

“The Ghost Fugitive.”

Erik exhaled.

“I’m handling it—”

“Faedra McAdams has been a distraction, Killmonger. Since when do you get distracted?”

Erik remained silent. He had no reason to argue Diana’s point. He had been distracted and thrown off his game.

“Do you know how long it took? Do you understand that if you don’t end this now, it would have been for nothing?” Diana said.

“Listen—”

“I know you don’t care about politics, Killmonger, but we decided to do this together because of the ICA. We can’t allow ourselves to be manipulated. You know all about manipulation, don’t you?”

Diana fully turned to stare at Erik. Her wind blown shoulder-length hair fell into her eyes and she combed her hair away. The chilly air caused her to slightly shiver.

“They’re asking questions. Do you want them to step in?”

“No.” Erik replied begrudgingly.

“Let me give you a brief reminder of how the ICA system works, Killmonger. You get three penalties. Three,” Diana emphasized the number three with her fingers, “which is generous compared to other agencies like HYDRA, but after those three strikes are up, they send a top agent such as yourself, to eliminate the Assassin. You should know about that, you do it all the time.”

Erik closed his eyes and released an even breath.

“I’m aware of the logistics, I know what the fuck I’m up against—”

“Then get it done. You have until the start of the Bankok job. If you have to burn it to dispose of your little distraction, do it. Otherwise…”

Diana retrieved an all black pistol from the back of her tight black pants and Erik’s eyes didn’t leave hers. He knew that Diana would kill Faedra. Without hesitation. In that case, he’d have to kill her. No one was going to lay a finger on Fae.

“…I’ll do it for you.”

Silence stretched on for another five seconds until Erik’s sinister chuckle caused Diana to narrow her eyes.

“…Let me make myself clear, Diana,” Erik rolled his shoulders in a threatening manner and his voice took on a deeper more menacing tone, “I’ll kill you.”

Erik’s face was centimeters away from Diana’s. His eyes didn’t blink and they looked cold and dark.

“…You don’t touch her. You don’t speak to her. You don’t even breathe around her.”

Diana’s eyes narrowed at Erik and that pistol was still in her grasp.

“Partner or not, I’ll put a bullet between your eyes, Diana,” Erik looked her up and down, “Do we have an understanding?”

“How dare you—”

“I SAID…do we have an understanding—”

“How long have you known about her? Five months?! What will she think when she finds out who you really are? Then what? You think she’ll love you, Erik? You’re incapable of love. Maybe I should remind you about what you did all those years ago to your ex. You almost killed that woman. If Fae was in her right mind, she would run so far away from you—”

Erik snatched up Diana’s gun and pointed it at her forehead. Diana stared at him wide-eyed and he could see the fear beyond her gaze. He took the safety off of the pistol and Diana stared into the barrel.

“You don’t talk about my past, Diana. You don’t get to stand there and fucking judge me. You don’t know what the fuck I’ve been through!”

Diana stared at Erik with a stony expression.

“Get that gun out my face, Erik.” Diana commands with a low, threatening tone.

Erik didn’t do it right away. After another minute he slowly lowered the gun and placed it behind him in the waistband of his pants. Dianna scuffed and shook her head before creating space between them.

“Doesn’t matter. If I don’t kill her, they will.” Diana said matter-of-factually.

“I’ll get it done. Get off my ass about it.” Erik replied.

Diana looked at Erik with disappointment. He could feel her judgment through her hard gaze.

“Have you been training for the Bangkok job?”

Club 27 is Killmonger’s current high-profile mission. He’s tasked to kill Jordan Cross and Ken Morgan. One year ago, promising young actress, Hannah Highmoore, fell to her death from Cross' penthouse loft in Dumbo, New York. According to the police, Ms. Highmoore's death was a tragic accident but her parents remain unconvinced. They firmly believe that Cross murdered Hannah and only escaped justice due to the power and influence of his father: billionaire media mogul Thomas Cross.

A secondary target, Ken Morgan, corporate fixer and attorney to the Cross family, is also staying at the hotel. Cunning and unscrupulous, Morgan was a key agent in the cover-up of Hannah Highmoore's murder and Jordan Cross' subsequent acquittal. The Highmoores understandably want retribution. And while the system may be powerless, Killmonger is anything but.

“There’s a room waiting for me at the Himmapan Hotel as we speak.” Erik replied with a dry tone.

“In that case, we’re done talking.”

Diana turned to leave and Erik caught her by the arm. She didn’t look back at him.

“…I’m really sorry about putting that gun in your face. I don’t take threats lightly.”

“What a way to apologize,” Diana chuckled, “it’s just a phase, right? You fuck her?”

Erik released Diana’s arm and she finally faced him with a sly smirk.

“You did. Oh, Killmonger…”

Erik looked at her with unblinking eyes. Diana held her hand out for her gun and Erik lifted the back of his hoodie up, retrieving the pistol. He placed it in Diana’s hand and she accepted it.

“Expect a debrief in two weeks…”

Diana walked away, leaving Erik alone to his thoughts.

Fae tried to calm him down. Her tears flooded her vision. Cordell stood there with his hands up and a frightened look in his eyes. Erik was in full rage mode. It was understandable, Cordell was really asking for it.

“I’ll kill you for what you did to her!” Erik barked out.

They were standing on the rooftop of the apartment building.

“Erik, listen to me, put the gun down.”

Fae placed one hand on his arm tenderly. Her eyes were pleading with him to put the gun down. He took one look at Fae and then his eyes were back on Cordell molten hot. He lowers his P365 slowly, eyes unblinking.

Thump!

Fae watched with wide eyes and her mouth dropped open in shock.

Erik kicked Cordell off of the rooftop. Erik watched with sinister eyes as his body dropped to his death.

Erik!

He looked back at her with a villainous smile.

Fae opened her eyes and her heartbeat settled to a lower rhythm. Sleeping on Erik’s bed felt like sleeping on a cloud. Fae yawned and her sleepy eyes looked down at Erik’s side of the bed. She had a nightmare about Erik and Cordell fighting over her. It ended with Cordell falling to his demise. Fae sat up fully and climbed out of bed to use the bathroom.

When she returned after freshening up, she stared down at his Glock on the bedside table. Fae reached out and picked up the heavy gun. She turned it every which way, wondering to herself if it was a habit of his because he was a Bodyguard for important people. That would explain why he was always on high alert.

Speaking of Erik, he disappeared again. She went on a search for her phone and found it on his dresser. Fae called Erik and each time she did, it continued to ring and ring. She started to grow worried. It was so early in the morning, why would he leave so suddenly?

She opened his closet and grabbed a random hoodie from a hanger, pulling it over her head. She left his room and walked down the length of the hallway, her eyes searching from room to room. Fae sat on the sofa while Diesel and Deuce were stretched out on the floor. All of them were waiting for Erik’s return.

She reached for his remote and powered on the TV. As she flipped through random channels, an episode of House Hunters caught her attention. Time stretched on until It was six o’clock in the morning. Fae had tried his phone multiple times again and that’s when she started thinking the worst. She figured she could feed the boys so she gave them both a quick meal. She knew that they needed to go for a walk and relieve themselves.

After another hour, the door knob jiggled and Fae shot up from the couch, almost hitting her knee against the coffee table. Both Diesel and Deuce were on their feet, tails wagging expectantly. Fae watched as Erik opened the door and he looked at her then down at the dogs. He secured the door and pushed his hood off before approaching Fae.

“Erik? I tried calling you.”

He stared at her for a second and then his eyes scanned the room. What she didn’t know, was that he’d left last night in such a hurry, he forgot his personal cell phone.

“I had to step out to prepare for that job. I’ve been caught up lately and I needed some time to get it done. I gotta leave in a matter of days…I’m sorry I didn’t let you know.”

Fae’s expression softened and she tried to hide her annoyance with a smirk and a dry chuckle.

“I was—I was just worried—how did training go?”

“Good. I feel better about the job now.” Erik replied.

“Great,” Fae rocked back and forth on her heels, “I was thinking we could walk the boys? I know they need to go to the bathroom…”

“Yeah…yeah. Go throw on a pair of my sweats and meet me out here.”

Fae disappeared down the hall and Erik exhaled. She took two minutes and she was back out and ready to go.

“Ready, pretty girl?”

“Yep.” Fae replied with a blush.

They left the apartment together and Fae walked ahead of Erik to catch the elevator. Erik caught up with her and grabbed her hand. Fae looked from their intertwined fingers and up to his face. Erik smirked at her and she returned the smile.

“I had an idea. I don’t know if you’d be down for it or not…”

The elevator doors opened and they walked inside.

“What’s that?” Fae responded with curiosity.

She leaned against the wall of the elevator and stared up at Erik with attentive eyes.

“Since this is going to be my last few days with you before I leave for Bangkok, I was wondering if you’d be okay if I took you to work in the mornings? I could even pick you up…”

Fae’s brown eyes widened and Erik chuckled.

“Uhm…yeah, I would like that. Cordell usually works late and he doesn’t come home until an hour or so after me. You can’t get enough of me, can you?”

Fae wagged her arched brows playfully.

“Nahhhh,” Erik smiled, “You got me in a trance.”

Fae giggles. The elevator doors opened and Erik gave her two quick pecks to her soft lips. They quickly left the elevator and strolled out of the apartment building and onto the busy sidewalk. They made their way to the dog park hand-in-hand.

“We could have a quickie before you clock in. A quickie before I drop you off…”

Fae nibbled on her bottom lip. Erik’s eyes scanned her body. Deuce and Diesel both sped up at the same time, pulling Fae and Erik along.

“Looks like we’re moving too slow for them!”

“Guess so—AYE!”

Erik almost stumbled over the pavement from Diesel taking off running when the dog park came into view. Fae laughed boisterously at Erik trying to gain control of the leash.

“You should have seen your face! Priceless,” Fae was bent over laughing, “Looked like your life flashed before your eyes!”

Erik shook his head before crouching down to let Diesel free, “Aight, Fae, wasn’t that funny.”

“If it was me, you would be laughing, shut up!” Fae teased.

“You shut up, midget,” Erik fired back.

Fae shoves Erik and he fell back on his hands. He looked up at her with a glare and he shot up to his feet, wrapping his arms around her trim waist and lifting her from the ground. Fae writhed in his grasp and Deuce circled Erik’s body, barking at him.

“Momma’s good, Deuce!” Erik shouted.

“Put me down, Erik!” Fae yelled.

They were causing a scene. Others that occupied the dog park were looking their way.

“Manners.” Erik said.

“Please?!”

Erik placed Fae onto her feet and she gave him a death glare.

“Aww, you’re so adorable,” Erik teased before reaching out to pinch her cheek.

“You better had let me down or Deuce was gonna bite that ass!” Fae argues.

“Deuce is my friend,” Erik placed a hand against his chest, “He wouldn’t hurt me.”

After Diesel and Duece went to the bathroom, Fae and Erik let them both run around for a bit. Fae sat on Erik’s lap and they both watched their dogs sprint around. Fae looked down at Erik and she reached up to play in his hair.

“Hmm,” Erik gave her a tired look, “That feels good.”

“You haven’t slept. You know that?” Fae said.

“I know, mamas. I’m gonna take a long nap when we get back.” Erik reassured her.

“I don’t wanna go back to my place…”

Erik’s exhausted gaze stared up at Fae.

“Then don’t. Stay with me.”

“…you know I can’t.” Fae replied.

A silence filled the space between them. Erik scratched the side of his nose and looked down at his feet.

“Why can’t you?” He questioned.

Fae sat quietly for a few seconds. Erik knew she was trying to figure out what to say. But what was there to say? He cheated on her multiple times. He’s no good for her.

“Fae?” Erik called out to her.

“Huh?” She replied with a small voice.

“What’s up?” Erik peeked up at her.

“Nothing…I don’t know why…”

Erik felt his chest tighten with anxiousness.

“Hm, okay.”

Fae was struggling to look at him. She turned her head towards the front. Erik exhales.

“Fae…what’s it gonna take for you to leave this nigga?”

“I am gonna leave him—”

“When?” Erik cut her off.

“Soon—”

“Soon as in when that nigga get home or…?”

“Erik…”

Fae climbed down from his lap.

“I just don’t understand what the hold up is.”

Fae rolled her eyes.

“You still love him?”

She looked at Erik and opened her mouth to speak but Erik could tell.

“You do, don’t you?”

“That’s hard to just say—to stop—I don’t want to—he’s been there for me through a lot—I’m gonna leave him it’s just hard. I’m gonna be on my own. The apartment is expensive—”

“You don’t need him. Trust me, you don’t.”

Fae’s sad eyes made Erik feel guilty.

“Listen, I’m sorry. I keep overstepping. I just…I don’t understand why you just don’t leave.”

“…You’re right.”

Fae exhaled a shaky breath.

“You know, I’ve always been so dependent on a man. Even now with everything, I feel like I’m lost, you know? And it sucks. It hurts.”

Erik’s eyes softened as he stared at her.

“You don’t need to feel that way. Fae…listen, look at me, you’re such an amazing woman. You deserve so much better. I don’t want you to feel like you have to settle. So what if he lives there? The more you allow him to stick around, the more in control he is. He’s been in control long enough.”

Erik’s jaw clenched and his eyes were ablaze. Fae’s big brown eyes became watery and a single tear rolled down her cheek. Erik thumbed her tear away and Fae released an uneven sigh.

“I’m gonna leave him today.”

Erik nodded his head and he couldn’t hold back his smile.

“This is gonna be tough…”

“I’ll be right there if you need me, Fae.” Erik said.

Crazy enough, two days had gone by with no trace of Cordell. No text, no call, nothing. Fae was more than prepared to confront him about his cheating and end things for good. She contacted his mother and even she hadn’t heard from him. She was very very worried. It wasn’t like Cordell to disappear without letting her know. Even if it was a lie, he wouldn’t have gone this long without checking in. Fae couldn’t sleep, work, or think without wondering where he was.

She checked the news and even a murder page on Instagram for any updates but wouldn’t his family know? Wouldn’t the police have shown up to her door by now? Erik had been busy himself. He would call Fae whenever he had time to check in to see how she was doing and if there were any updates, but it was getting closer and closer for his departure. She had to reschedule brunch with her friends because she was distracted mentally. Plus, she knew they would start asking questions and Fae wasn’t prepared to tell them.

Fae got herself dressed for work on a chilly Wednesday morning and Erik knocked on her door. Fae grabbed her work bag and made sure everything was good before leaving. She opened the door and Erik greeted her dressed in lounge wear like he just rolled out of bed. His head was covered in a black beanie. Fae accepted a kiss from him but she wasn’t really in the mood to kiss. Cordell was missing and she didn’t have any answers. Erik however didn’t seem fazed at all. Not that she was expecting him to.

“How are you?” Erik finally questioned when they were both in his car.

Fae adjusted her black spectacles and exhaled, “I’m worried. I don’t know where he could be or what he’s doing.”

Erik pulled out of the garage. He one-hand whipped his car.

“Do you think he might be with that woman?”

Fae shut her eyes and shook her head.

“I don’t even want to think about that. I’d probably kill him when I see him.” She said.

Erik glanced over at her.

“I’ve been keeping tabs on the news myself. Nothing out of the ordinary. Unless…he was abducted—”

“Who would want to kidnap Cordell?” Fae laughed, “He’s just a teacher from NY who can’t keep his dick to himself.”

Erik bit his tongue. He had a lot to say but he remained silent. It was best for him to remain silent.

“I don’t know. I’m just worried. I have this nervous feeling in my gut. I just…I don’t understand why he hasn’t reached out. I know he isn’t shit, but this isn’t like him at all.”

Fae rubbed her temples. Erik caressed her thigh.

“Relax, Fae. I know it’s easier said than done, but you can’t keep stressing out over it. You’ve been in contact with his family. I’m sure they’re looking into it.”

“I hope so,” Fae sighs, “I even tried his job and they acted like I was crazy.”

Erik formed a crease in his brow, “Whatchu mean?”

Fae exhaled, “Apparently they don’t know a Cordell. Which makes absolutely no sense. He’s a teacher there and a coach. How the fuck wouldn’t you know?”

Erik cocked his head to the side.

“Maybe you spoke to someone who’s a new hire?”

“Maybe. I need to speak to Miss whatever her name is. The girl he’s been sleeping with.”

After another twenty minutes, Erik pulled up at Fae’s job and he reached behind him to the back seat. He got out of the car and jogged around to open her door. Fae slipped out and Erik handed over her work bag. He kissed her cheek and rubbed her arms.

“Have a good day at work. Call me when you get a break. I’ll see you at five.”

“Thanks, E.” Fae gave him a small smile.

“No problem.”

He got back in the car and watched Fae enter the MET. When the coast was clear, Erik drove off.

Fae greeted her coworkers as she made her way to her desk. After taking her seat, she checked her work phone voice messages and none were from Cordell. She booted her laptop and tried his phone again. A hand to her shoulder startled her and Fae jumped.

“Faedra! So sorry.”

It was her supervisor, Linda. Linda was a tall, lanky Caucasian woman with salt and pepper hair that she wore in a neat bun. Her oblong face with alabaster skin came into view. Fae stared into her concrete gray eyes with a startled look.

“I came to say goodmorning and to remind you about the field trip this morning? From the middle school? Manhattan Middle?”

Fae completely forgot about that.

“Oh! Yes, yes I remember. When will they be here?”

“In about twenty minutes or so. The teachers name is Miss. Rio.”

Fae couldn’t believe her ears. She didn’t know if this was the universe giving her a sign, but Miss. Rio being here at her job had to mean something. She was with Cordell this past weekend. He could be at her home right now. Fae was going to ask questions.”

“Great. I’ll go greet them.”

“Excellent,” Linda smiled before sauntering away.

After twenty minutes, a small history class of students in a single-filed line with their name badges and wandering eyes headed towards her. Fae could make out Miss. Rio and it took a lot of strength to be professional and smile. Miss. Rio looked at her and for a second, Fae knew that she’d recognized her.

“Hello! My name is Fae! Welcome Manhattan Middle! I’m so excited to be your tour guide for the day. We have a lot of ground to cover. Please, stay together and pay attention. We’re going to start in the African Origin of Civilization exhibition first.”

Miss. Rio was dressed in a dark purple, form-fitting pencil skirt with a black blouse and black flats. She walked to the front of the line while a substitute teacher remained in the back as an extra eye on the children. Miss. Rio gave Fae a nervous smile and Fae returned the smile.

They started making their way into the exhibit and while Fae did her thing, she couldn’t keep her eyes off of Miss. Rio.

“Scholars today recognize Africa as the source of our common ancestry. But in 1974, Senegalese scholar and humanist Cheikh Anta Diop shocked and challenged historians by asserting the influence of ancient African civilizations in his groundbreaking book The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality…”

Fae continued, “This exhibition pays homage to Diop by presenting masterpieces from the Museum’s collections from west and central Africa alongside art from ancient Egypt for the first time in The Met’s history.”

Fae spent time on each exhibit and answered any questions the students had before they went to the next exhibition. Three exhibits in, the children took a lunch break before finishing up. Miss. Rio excused herself to the restroom and Fae took that opportunity to corner her. The substitute teacher had an eye on the children. Fae stepped to the side to allow a mother and her two daughters to walk out before she entered. Ironically, Miss. Rio was the only one remaining in the bathroom.

Fae only waited two minutes and the bathroom stall door opened. Miss. Rio walked out and her eyes landed on Fae’s. She shut the door behind her and walks over towards the sink. Fae locked eyes with her through the mirror and after Miss. Rio dried her hands off, she turned around to face Fae.

“What do you want to know?” She said.

Fae chuckled. Miss. Rio crossed her arms and shifted her weight on one hip.

“That’s what you have to say? After sleeping with my man? Coming to my apartment and fucking him in my bed? Are you serious?” Fae fired back.

“I didn’t know he was with anyone at first—”

“So, you just went to my apartment and not once noticed anything that made you think, oh! He’s in a relationship?!” Fae whisper-yelled.

“Listen, what do you want me to say?! An apology wouldn’t be enough, right?” Miss. Rio fired back.

“Wow…You’re a joke. Anyway, that’s not why I’m confronting you, you can have him. My beef is with him. I just want to know was he with you this weekend and is he still there? He hasn’t been home in two days.”

Miss. Rio hesitated.

“Well?” Fae pressed impatiently.

“Yes. Yes he was there this weekend. He left this morning.”

Fae turned away from Miss. Rio and shut her eyes. This motherfucker has been staying with that hoe for two days and didn’t even bother to say anything.

“I have to get back to my class.”

Fae didn’t have anything further to say. She didn’t like the woman, but what good will it do to whip her ass? She’d lose her job. Miss. Rio left Fae standing in that public bathroom with tears in her eyes. She felt like a fucking bozo. Fae grabbed a few tissues and blotched her cheeks before exiting the bathroom. The students, Miss. Rio, and the substitute waited for her.

“Okay! Who wants to see the European Paintings?”

Erik was seated in Grand Central Station. He could make out an old friend of his that worked with the ICA. His name is Ethan and he’s Asian. Ethan sat behind Erik, dressed in business attire to not draw attention. Erik turned his head slightly to his right to speak.

“Sean Thomas is missing. Anything you can tell me that I need to know?” Erik spoke with a hushed voice.

Ethan took out his phone and slipped it behind him so Erik could grab a hold of it through the opening in the bench. He retrieved the phone and his eyes dropped down to look at the screen. What he could make out was that the ICA attempted to exterminate him two days ago and Sean got away. This was bad news for Erik. He’s most likely lying low until things died down. A hoard of people made their way towards them. Ethan started speaking in mandarin.

“Tòuguò zhècì xíngdòng, tāmen zhèngzài shīqù duì nǐ de xìnrèn, kè'ěr máng gē.”

Erik nodded his head and cocked it to the side. Losing their trust in him meant penalty number one.

“Wǒ gāi xiāngxìn dài ānnà ma? Wǒ gǎnjué tā duì ICA gànrǎo wǒ de rènwù fù yǒu zérèn…”

Ethan pondered before he spoke, “Dài ānnà zhàozhāng bànshì. Guòqù yīgè yuè tā yīzhí zài niǔyuē. Wǒ bù huì xiāngxìn tā.”

So, Erik shouldn’t trust Diana. His guess was correct. She’s discussing things with the ICA behind Erik’s back. He needed to call her after this and schedule another meet up. He was going to cut ties with Diana and work alone. A lot of Hitmen work alone. It’s just a heavier workload and room for more mistakes.

They waited until the coast was clear. When the last person walked past, Erik cleared his throat.

“Have they been keeping an eye on her?” Erik asked.

“They plan to do whatever it takes to find him, Killmonger. If that means taking the girl, they’ll do it.” Ethan whispered.

“How long before they strike again?”

“Twenty-four hours.” Ethan said.

Silence stretched on. The background chatter and rushed footsteps of people surrounded them. Ethan stood up and adjusted his suit jacket before retrieving his work satchel and the phone from Erik’s hand between the seat.

“Rúguǒ nín xūyào wǒ de bāngzhù, nín zhīdào rúhé liánxì wǒ.”

Ethan pat Erik on the shoulder before walking away. Erik leans forward and props his elbows up on his thighs. This was his fault. If he didn’t get caught up with Fae and tapped into his cold, blood thirsty nature, Sean Thomas would already be dead.

He had to remain ahead of the ICA.

On his way out of Grand Central Station, Erik walked up to his car and hopped in. He dialed Diana’s number and after four rings, it went to voicemail. Erik checked the time and Fae would be off within the next hour. He made his way to her job to wait for her since he was on the other side of town. He knew that he had to be honest with Fae now. It wasn’t fair for him to keep his life a secret knowing that she had a target on her back. Even if the truth would push her away, protecting her was his number one priority.

Sean Thomas is a murderer, and a Con Artist. He’s good at stealing identities and disappearing under a new alias. He’s responsible for murdering four women across the U.S from Detroit, to Chicago, to Georgia, and now New York. He got landed in prison for a robbery charge that led him to a man named Cordell. Cordell has a history of drug-related crimes and he’s from New York. While locked up with Cordell for three years, he learned everything about his cell mate.

His family, his dream job, where he grew up. Sean planned on stealing his identity and creating a new life for himself. He got out of prison and hooked up with an old partner of his to help him with his new life. He settled in N.Y.C and reunited with his “family” who hadn’t seen him in years since he was adopted at the age of three. They welcomed him in like he never left.

What he didn’t know was that he’d been tracked down by Erik. Erik was hired to find out everything he needed to know about Sean and kill him. He’d burned too many bridges and stole from too many people. While Erik finally secured his target, he was also informed to kill anyone else who may get in the way, and that included a significant other.

Fae.

Erik had to keep an eye on Fae as well and the more he watched her, the more he fell for her. He did the one thing he normally wouldn’t do: get close. Now, he’s sleeping with his targets girl friend.

Erik’s car came to a slow stop outside of Fae’s job and he called her to see if she was finished for the day. Her phone rang and went to voicemail. Panic crept up Erik’s spine the more she wouldn’t answer. He opened his car door with force and stepped out onto the busy street. His eyes searched for anything that would give away someone watching her. From what he could tell, there was no sign of danger below.

His obsidian eyes looked towards the tops of the skyscrapers and buildings. His eyes double-backed to a short building with an open window across from the MET and three spots over. Erik knew that the window hadn’t been opened before. He had a snipers eye as well, so his gut instinct told him that a sniper was camped out in that building, waiting for Fae to arrive.

The best way for Erik to know for sure was to enter that building himself. It was broad daylight and rush hour in one of the busiest cities in the U.S. Erik rushed across the street as fast as he could and took long strides towards the building. He noted an alley and a back entrance to the building. Erik dipped down the alley and ran towards the end until he came across a lengthy fire escape. From what he remembers, the open window was on the top floor.

Erik climbed the fire escape two steps at a time. It took him five minutes to make it to the top since the building was only eight stories tall. Once there. Erik retrieved his gun and stood stealthily to the side of the cracked, dingy window. He risked a peep inside and all he could make out was a bunch of plastic sheeting since the building was still under construction.

Erik crouched down and with his back pressed firmly against the brick wall, he used his right hand to open the window carefully. Once fully opened, Erik ducked inside swiftly, his foot crunching down on broken cement and dust. His Maxim 9 pistol with a silencer integrated into the gun aimed in front of him, Erik moved haltingly with his eyes scanning the abandoned floor like a hawk. He made it into a room almost the size of a box and there, propped up in the window was a Mk 13 Mod 0/5/7 sniper rifle.

Erik surveyed the area to make sure the coast was clear. Whoever had been occupying this spot must have been here for less than eight hours. Erik got down on his knee and peeked through the sniper scope. It was aimed for the MET. He knew that Fae hadn’t been killed, but the sniper would have taken a shot if Erik hadn’t shown up. Just then, Erik’s phone vibrated deep in his back pocket. He quickly stood up and when he grabbed his phone, it was Fae calling him.

“Fae?” Erik answered.

“I’m sorry. I had to leave work earlier today. I took an Uber.”

Erik paced back and forth.

“Why didn’t you call me? I could have picked you up.”

“I didn’t want to bother you. I know you’ve been busy lately. I’m at the apartment now. Just got here.”

“Any luck with Cordell?” Erik questioned.

“No. Still nothing.”

“I’m on my way, Fae. Just—”

A garrote wire wrapped around Erik’s throat from behind, cutting off his airway. His phone dropped from his grasp and fell to the hard floor, the screen cracking and blacking out. Erik’s fingers gripped the edge of the wire and he could feel it cutting into his fingers and drawing blood. He planted his feet firmly against the floor and with brunt force, Erik shoved the person trying to choke him back, their body hitting the wall with a loud thud.

The wire slipped from Erik’s neck, leaving behind an indentation and slight blood. Erik didn’t have time to properly catch his breath. He turned and came face to face with a masked man dressed in dark camouflage and boots. The man charged Erik and Erik’s closed fist planted between the bridge of their nose and forehead. It was a sharp punch with a lot of recoil. There was no coming back from that. Erik put them to sleep.

Their body went limp and they were splayed out on the dusty floor like a starfish. Erik took that time to rub his neck and catch his breath. Suddenly, the man clipped Erik and he fell backwards on his hands to catch himself. The masked man did a kick up and was on his feet within seconds. Erik did the same move and they both broke out in combat with hard punching, dodging, kicks, and grunts.

Erik caught both of his arms and head-butted the man before body slamming him so hard his back bowed. While he squirmed, Erik’s fingers fisted the front of his camouflage jacket and he dragged him over to the wall where he tossed him against it like a rag doll. Erik put his foot in that man’s stomach before using his bloody fist to take off the mask. A Caucasian male with a rough face covered in blood and bruises met his ferocious gaze.

“The ICA sent you?” Erik questioned with a hoarse voice, “ANSWER ME!”

Erik pressed the barrel of his pistol into the man’s chin. He was probably seeing double with how hard Erik thumped him.

“Y-You’re supposed to-suppose to be one–one of us.”

As he attempted to talk, blood sprayed from between his lips.

“So that’s a yes,” Erik chuckled darkly.

He pistol-whipped the sniper with the handle of his gun, knocking him out for good. Erik emptied his pockets and found a phone, wallet, keys, and a few knives. Erik combed through his wallet before pocketing it. The phone was locked, so he wouldn’t be able to figure out how to hack it until he got back to his apartment.

He needed to get back to his apartment.

Fae was alone and an easy target without him there. Erik rushed to grab a dust barrier, snatching it from the wall and he shielded himself from the blood splatter that would come from killing the sniper. Silencer aimed at his head a safe distance away, Erik fired his pistol and the bullet hit his target in the temple. Erik cleaned up any other traces of him being there and wrapped up the dust barrier, tucking it beneath his arm before making his escape.

“Erik? Hello? Erik?”

Fae stood outside of her apartment with her phone to her ear. The call dropped suddenly between her and Erik. She pulled the phone away from her left ear and gave the device a puzzled look. Dialing him again, Erik didn’t answer.

“What the fuck?” Fae mouthed.

Confused, Fae fumbled with her keys while trying to enter her apartment. The door opened and she pushed her way inside, exhausted mentally from the amount of stress she’d been experiencing because of Cordell. Fae sat her work bag on the hardwood floor beside the door and removed her shoes. After tossing her keys on a small table next to the door, Fae proceeded to walk further into her apartment. Just then, rustling could be heard coming from her room. Fae paused, her ears perked to catch the noise again. She knew that Deuce was there, but he wouldn’t be in her things like that.

Fae walked towards the back of her apartment, her eyes staring straight ahead cautiously at her cracked bedroom door. A hard thump followed by soft cursing had Fae paralyzed with fear. One hand pressed to her chest, body frozen in that hallway, Fae’s eyes fell on her guest bedroom door and noticed it had been shut. She didn’t close it before she left that morning. Deuce was most likely in there so he wouldn’t get in the way. Deuce would be barking right now if it were a stranger. So it had to be someone he was familiar with rummaging around in Fae’s room.

Fae rushed towards her bedroom door with a fresh wave of courage, pushing the door open with force and coming face-to-face with the cheating man himself.

“Cordell?!”

The room looked as if a stampede passed through. It was filthy. Papers everywhere, clothes littering the entire room, dresser drawers out turned and hanging from the hinges, closet ransacked, mattress hanging from the box spring. Fae’s wide, shocked eyes looked back at Cordell with her mouth parted.

“WHAT THE FUCK?” She shouted.

Cordell simply looked at her with distant eyes before focusing back on finding whatever the FUCK it was he was looking for. Fae was livid.

“HELLO?! I’m talking to you!!”

Fae stomped over to Cordell, almost slipping on the papers scattered across the carpet. She caught herself by falling backwards onto the bed.

“Hey, HEY!” Fae gripped Cordell by his shoulder and forced him to turn back, “ANSWER ME ASSHOLE!”

“Get off of me, Fae.” Cordell finally spoke with a cold tone.

“Get off of you? Why don’t you explain to me why you’re vandalizing my fucking room, dick head?!!”

“WHERE DID YOU PUT IT?”

Cordell stood at his full height, towering over Fae. His voice seemed to change. It was deeper. Unfriendly. Unfamiliar. Cold. Fae cocked her head back and created space between them.

“Put what, Cordell?”

Cordell blinked at her and then he dropped his eyes down to the floor, “Doesn’t matter. It isn’t here.”

He was on his knees now, spreading the papers out, important papers that belonged to Fae. What is his deal?

“Where have you been, Cordell? I’ve been calling your phone and texting you for two days now!”

He ignored her again. Fae was shaking with rage.

“You know what! I’m sick of this shit. I’m so fucking sick and tired of your no good, CHEATING ASS!”

Cordell halted in his pursuit to find whatever it was he was looking for. His eyes slowly ascended to meet Fae’s. His face was void of expression.

“Yeah, I’ve known for days now that you’ve been cheating on me. Not one, but two women! One of which had a field trip at my job today. Miss. Rio?! She tells me you’ve been shacking it up with her all this time!”

Cordell bowed his head and exhaled.

Fae had a finger pointed at him aggressively and her voice was so loud it bounced off of the walls, “How could you disrespect me and bring these nasty women to MY APARTMENT WHERE I SLEEP?! How could you do this to me?! After everything I opened up to you about?! How I’ve been cheated on and mistreated in the past?!”

Fae’s vision blurred as tears flowed from her eyes. Cry-face and all, she was on a rampage. Cordell finally stood up and he just looked at her with no ounce of remorse. No sorries, no care as to how she felt. Nothing. Just a piece of shit man.

“YOU NEVER LOVED ME, HUH?!!! I loved you! I would have done anything for you!!!! How could you—just–how could you just stand there and say nothing?!!”

Fae threw her hands up and stared at Cordell with sadness. She was broken. He broke her. She tried to stop herself from crying, but the more she stood there, waiting for him to speak, the clearer it was to her that he didn’t care. He didn’t love her.

“ANSWER ME, CORDELL!!!!”

Cordell slowly blinked at her and then he started smirking. SMIRKING?! Fae was taken aback. She didn’t even know how to react to that. What kind of sick individual do you have to be to stand there and find this situation amusing?

“…what is wrong with you?” Fae questioned with a tremble in her voice.

Cordell turned his gaze towards the ceiling and released a slow, even breath. Fae waited, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach.

“You wanna know why I was so drawn to you, Fae?”

Fae squinted her eyes at Cordell with confusion.

“…it’s because I could see that you were broken. I could see the pain. I could see that you craved love and affection. No matter how many times your heart had been broken, you still loved hard. An easy girl. Easy to manipulate. To control. To trick. That’s what I craved. And guess what? That’s exactly what I needed to secure what I really wanted from you…”

A hand covered Fae’s mouth and she scanned Cordell’s face, in full disbelief of what he was saying to her right now. It was so disheartening and cruel. She was stunned to silence even though she wanted to break down and cry.

“You see, I’d just gotten out of prison before I met you. I had no place to go…to start fresh…to make a new living for myself. Just like the other bitches before you, I played my part and used my skills to weasel my way in. As soon as I found out about all that money you were sittin’ on…fuck…I knew I hit the jackpot.”

Fae couldn’t believe her ears. She lowered her gaze and scanned the floor. She’d recently moved her paperwork that had all of her information regarding the money she’d gotten from her mother’s death. It was a lot of money. Fae hadn’t thought about it much lately because she planned to use that money to purchase a home soon. A beautiful home in upstate New York. Now, she wondered if Cordell had been planning to steal from her all this time.

“And now, I need that back, Faedra.”

Cordell stared at her expectantly, waiting for her to reveal where she’d put them.

“…Do you even work as a teacher?”

Cordell narrowed his eyes at her.

“No.” Cordell replied nonchalantly.

“So, what was all that shit about seeing Miss. Rio at school?!”

Cordell shook his head and chuckled with annoyance.

“I go to the school during her lunch break and fuck her, Fae.”

Fae was numb to it all now.

“Wow…wow…”

She placed her hands on her hips and tried to fathom why she ended up in this situation.

“I know it’s a lot to take in right now….but I need that bank information.”

“Or what? You’ll kill me for it?” Fae mocked.

Cordell tilted his head and stared at her unblinking. Fae stared at him with a mixture of shock and fear.

“Believe it or not, Miss. Rio is in on it. The other chick? She had bank too until I cleaned her out. Miss. Rio and I have an understanding where no matter how pissed off we are with each other, we’ll always get back together. It’s been that way for years. Anyway, I played my part to get what I wanted.”

“Wow…Congratulations, Cordell. You really fooled me. Too bad I fooled you too.”

Cordell gave Fae a confused look.

“You wanna know what I’ve been up to these past few days? Closer than you think. Right next door actually.”

Cordell’s entire demeanor switched to anger.

“That’s right, I’ve been fucking the neighbor.”

Cordell balled his fists up and his nostrils flared. He was becoming even more aggressive. Fae folded her arms and smirked at him.

“It was good too. The first time. So good I ain’t never have dick like that before in my life. He’s big, he’s attentive, he knows how to work my body, he spoils me, he adores me, Deuce loves him. He fucked me so good in our bed when you were gone this past weekend…mmm…all over the bed. In the shower…on the sink…”

Cordell’s eye twitched. He was ready to snap. Fae knew she was pushing her luck, but one thing about Cordell, he hated Erik. He knew deep down that Erik is more of man than he ever was. He was afraid of Erik. Afraid of what he was capable of. Not only did Fae feel his big dick energy the moment she laid eyes on him, Cordell did too. Erik stole the one thing Cordell thought he could control forever. That struck a nerve.

“I can still feel him inside of me right now…raw…thick…long…”

Cordell took a step towards Fae.

“Doesn’t feel good, does it? Knowing that another man makes me cum with his mouth and his dick? Treats me with respect? A man I barely knew? Stings, doesn’t it? I hope it does. Because that’s how I felt. You’re right, I do love hard. I did allow myself to be mistreated more than once. Guess what? I took back my power! And it felt soooo good.”

Fae’s tears rolled down her cheeks. She shook with rage. She felt empowered.

“Damn,” Cordell shook his head with disgust, “Just desperate, huh? You think that’s a flex? You offered up the pussy to a random nigga you barely know just to get your lick back? That’s some wild shit…”

Cordell broke out into a fit of laughter. He doubled over and laughed. Fae simply stared at him. She knew he would deflect and turn it against her. Didn’t matter, she still won. She could see past it all. His ego was bruised.

“Now, since you got that off your chest, back to the main issue,” Cordell started walking towards Fae, “Where…is…the…bank information, Faedra?”

Fae backed away and almost tripped over a dresser drawer. She caught herself against the wall and eased towards the bedroom door.

“Don’t act scared now, Fae. You were so bold not too long ago.”

“I’m not giving you the information, Cordell.” Fae said.

“Hm, you will. Even if I have to choke it out of you.”

Fae took off running and Cordell was right on her heels. He pushed her and she fell to the floor in the hallway. Deuce started clawing at the door and aggressively barking. Fae lifted herself by her arms and looked up at Cordell. He grabbed her by her hair and forced her to look at him. Fae gasped, trying to unravel Cordell’s hand from her braids.

“It’s okay. You must want me to take it by force, huh? I got just the trick…”

Reaching behind him, Cordell revealed a Glock 17. He aimed it at Fae’s sternum and pressed the barrel firmly into her chest. Fae squeezed her eyes shut and her tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Now, I’m not gonna kill you here. I’m taking you with me. On your feet, NOW.”

He yanked her by the hair to control her movements and it felt as if he ripped her hair from her scalp. Fae whimpered in pain and looked up at Cordell with a petrified gaze. He trailed the barrel of the Glock 17 up the side of her neck and then stuck it deep into the flesh of her cheek.

“Get your shit, we’re going for a ride, baby girl.”

With one forceful shove, Fae stumbled further down the hallway, afraid to look back at the gun aimed at her head, ready to fire.

Ding

The elevator doors separated and Erik didn’t wait for them to fully open before he rushed out and into the hallway of the thirteenth floor. He jogged up to Fae’s apartment door and banged.

“Fae?!”

He couldn’t use his cell phone because it had blacked out. His other phone is in his apartment, but all he cared about at the moment was whether or not she was safe.

Erik tried the door knob and was shocked to find it opened. Shocked and anxious. He pushed the door open and stepped inside, looking from left to right.

“FAEDRA!!!”

Erik shut the apartment door and sprinted towards her bedroom. Deuce’s barking stilled his footsteps and he opened the door for him to come out of the guest bedroom. Deuce leaped up at him, continuously barking as if he had something important to communicate to Erik.

Erik’s heart practically rattled within his rib cage when he followed Deuce in the direction of Fae’s room. Erik’s thick fingers pushed the door back and as it creaked open, his eyes grew wide and his lips parted. It was a disaster.

Sean had been here. He was looking for something and Fae showed up at the wrong time. He’d taken her. Erik combed through the room to find anything that stood out at him. Most of the papers chaotically covering the floor were important documents like bills and work information. Erik made his way back out towards the living room, scooping up Deuce and leaving the apartment.

Out in the hall, Erik quickly opened his door and rushed inside, placing Deuce on the floor and locking his door. He knew no one had been to his apartment because he would have seen them coming and going. He couldn’t check the surveillance on his broken phone so he entered his room and retrieved his work phone.

Erik had placed a tracker on Fae’s phone the night she’d discovered Sean AKA Cordell had been cheating on her. It was the best way to keep tabs on her while he was away. Using his private tracking app, Erik was able to see where she was. Sean was on his way to the Bronx. Erik was never able to track Sean’s phone. The man may be a coward, but he was a great criminal. He was good at what he did. Swindle, rob, and murder.

Erik made his way towards the foot of his bed and after placing his cell phone within his back pocket, he used both of his hands to lift his mattress. Underneath was a gun safe filled with all types of weapons. Erik tucked a few hand guns in his waistband, two blades in his socks, extended clips, and a few silencer attachments

Lastly, he retrieved a full face, tactical mask in all black. Diesel tried to gain his attention, and Erik didn’t want to leave Deuce and him alone, but he had to save Fae or Sean was going to kill her. Rushing into his office, he opened his closet door and grabbed a vest and a pair of biker gloves. Before Erik left the apartment, he made sure there was enough food for the boys and then he was out the door.

Erik was out of that garage and onto the street. He used his all black sport bike to get their faster. The sun was setting and the longer it took to get there, it would be too late. Erik would never forgive himself. He refused to let anything happen to her. Bluetooth connection from the bike allowed him to follow their trail. Her sensor paused on Edson Avenue. Erik was fifteen minutes away.

Fae was led towards a beautifully maintained residence, a place where comfort meets convenience in the vibrant neighborhood of the Bronx. The large fenced-in private yard is adorned with men who didn’t look like the type to mess around with. One look past the weed smoke, you could sense the evil within.

She was taken around the side of the home to a set of concrete steps that led down towards a door. Cordell forced Fae to walk down the steps and she took her time so she wouldn’t fall. When they finally reached the bottom, Cordell banged twice and five seconds later, the door swung open and Fae locked eyes with Miss. Rio.

“La trajiste aquí, Sean?!” Miss. Rio argued. Rolling her eyes at Fae.

“Cálmate, I had to, Alejandra.”

She kissed her teeth and stepped to the side. Cordell entered the basement and Alejandra shut the door.

“Did you find it?” She questioned impatiently.

“No. I combed that apartment and ain’t find shit.”

“After playing house all this time you still don’t know where it is?!”

Fae cut her eyes at Alejandra and mugged her. She had a gun pointed at her back, there was no use in fighting her way out of there.

“She moved shit around, baby!” Cordell fired back.

“We had a plan! Our plan was to take that money and get out of New York! What now? No money, no leaving. I thought we were going to give Gabby a better life?”

Who’s Gabby?

“We will, we will. I promise. I’m not going anywhere, we’re back together as a family. Stop stressing.”

“estúpido,” Alejandra rolled her eyes, “you fucked her because I gave you permission!”

“Alejandra, I’m not getting into this argument with you right now. Listen, baby, while you stand there yelling at me, we’re wasting time. Get the chair and the rope for me.”

Alejandra turned on her heels, jet black hair swaying behind her as she walked away to get the chair and rope Cordell requested. Fae was beyond dumbfounded. Who the hell is Sean and who the hell is Gabby?! Alejandra appeared and with an aggravated look on her face she sat the folding chair down and presented red rope for Cordell to take.

Fae was reminded of the gun aimed at her spine when Cordell aggressively shoved her with it. She winced, walking over to the chair while Alejandra forced her to take a seat with her hands on Fae’s shoulders pushing downward. Fae took that opportunity to raise her leg and put her foot in her back so hard Alejandra fell face first on the floor of the unfinished basement.

“You BITCH!”

Fae didn’t see it coming. She wasn’t prepared for Cordell’s assault.

WHACK!

A hard, crisp, head-hurting, back-handed slap to Fae’s face caused her bottom lip to split open and bleed. Hot tears flooded her vision and she bowed her head, stunned and embarrassed.

“I FUCKING HATE YOU!” Fae shouted.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED HER FOR WHAT SHE DID!”

Alejandra wrapped her small first around Fae’s hair and yanked. Fae looked her in the eyes with a rage beyond words. Alejandra smirked with her glossy lips before spitting in Fae’s face. Fae squeezed her eyes shut to avoid it from getting in her eyes.

“perra estúpida…estás muerta perra…”

Fae wipes her face free of tears and spit and she used her tongue to lick up the blood. Cordell pressed the barrel of the gun into Fae’s temple.

“I need you to give me your information so I can get the money myself. I want you to write out a check for the full amount and take it from there. Do you understand?”

“…Yes.” Fae responded.

“That’s all you had to do, baby. I wouldn’t have put my hands on you if you weren’t being so fucking difficult.”

Cordell disappeared behind Fae and he tossed Alejandra his gun so she could keep it locked on Fae. Cordell wrapped Fae to the hard, metal chair tightly.

“We’ll keep you here for the night. First thing tomorrow morning, we’re heading to the bank.”

Fae watched as Cordell strolled over to Alejandra. He gripped her chin delicately and used his thumb to caress it. They closed the space between them and kissed passionately, like lovers would. It was just a reminder that he never loved her. It was all a game to him.

“Who’s Sean and Gabby, Cordell?” Fae questioned with a shaky voice.

Cordell slowly turned his head to look at her.

“…I guess I owe you that much. Gonna be dead within the next twenty four hours anyway…”

He leaned his back against a wall and folded his hands over his crotch.

“…My real name is Sean. Cordell is a stolen identity from a cell mate of mine some years ago. I decided to make a new life for myself since I was on the run from other shit that went down…anyway, I got in with his family. They accepted me without hesitation, because Cordell hadn’t been in their life since he was three. I knew that I needed money, so I did what I do best. I found you, did my best impression of the perfect man, and finally I get to take what I’ve worked so hard for…”

Fae listened, hanging on to every word. She was dealing with a real criminal mastermind. The worst kind of individual.

“Alejandra and I go way back,” Cordell laughed and Alejandra blushes, “She’s been my down-bitch since I could remember…yeah…I met her in ‘08 through her brother which is a partner of mine. Derrick and I used to get into some shit back in the day. We reunited when I got out of prison and we couldn’t keep our hands off of each other…she got pregnant with a beautiful baby girl, and it made me want to work harder to get us a better life. We plan to get away to Mexico hopefully.”

“Wait…you have a daughter?” Fae was stunned.

“…All those times I went to work? I was actually spending quality time with Gabriella. She’s three, almost four. Full of life, funny, smart. The best thing to ever happen to me…”

She didn’t have anything to say to that. A secret child? A life of crime? An ex-con? On the run?

What the fuck?

“Story time is over, papi. She knows too much already.” Alejandra said.

“When the lady speaks, you listen.”

Cordell wrapped his arms around Alejandra’s waist and stared longingly into her eyes. Fae wanted to vomit.

“Make sure Pedro and his guys keep an eye on her. You know what I want, right?”

Cordell smacked Alejandra on the butt through her jeans.

“Está bien, papi.”

With a bite of her lip, Alejandra peeled away and towards the basement door leading to outside. She shouted at the men standing in front of the house. Two of them descended the stairs into the basement. They stared at Fae with amusement. Sinister smirks and dark chuckles.

“You know what to do if she tries anything. Slap her around.”

Cordell and Alejandra leave Fae alone with the two Latino men.

4403 Edson Avenue.

The night sky and flickering street lights made Erik blend in. He parked his bike a few homes down and slipped on his tactical mask. Erik knew a little about the neighborhood. It was a community full of Latin Kings. One of the biggest Hispanic gangs in the U.S with a power base built on massive amounts of drug trafficking and a reputation for violence. So much power that the law couldn’t even control them.

Derrick Rio is a member of the Latin Kings and Sean’s partner in crime. Alejandra Rio is a wolf in sheep clothing. She’s a friendly teacher by day, and a drug dealer by night. Erik had known about Sean and Rio for a while now. However, he doesn’t know what their plan is with Fae. Why hold her hostage? Why not just go on the run again?

As Erik stealthily made his way towards the house, he couldn’t help but blame himself. Fae wouldn’t have been kidnapped if he killed Sean when he had the chance. He brushed this job off as a side hustle. If he’d known from the beginning that it was much bigger than he initially thought, he would have handled it before the ICA intervened. He called himself trying to be multiple steps ahead. Turns out he was wrong. He’s never wrong.

Outside of the single family home, Hispanic men littered the front yard smoking weed and goofing around. Erik assumed this house was Mis Rio’s. His assumption was correct when the lady herself appeared from the side of the house.

“Oye, ¿podéis ustedes dos vigilarla hasta que regresemos?”

She asked if two of the men could keep an eye on Fae. That meant that Erik didn’t need to go on a search for her. She was in the basement. Two men separated from three others and headed towards the side of the home. Erik crouched down and moved along the side of a black Chevrolet Tahoe. He could smell their weed and his eyes searched to see if there was a way he could get around them and do a sneak attack.

Two mean were leaning against an all black Honda Civic while the other was pacing back and forth. As far as physical appearances goes, they didn’t appear to be a threat. All three of them looked between the ages of eighteen and twenty five. Erik guessed that they didn’t have a say in whether or not they would join the Latin Kings. If your friends and family are affiliated, then it’s destined for you to be.

Erik got down on one knee and grasped the handle of his B&T SS9 pistol and plucked a silencer out of his front vest pocket to screw on. With a full magazine, Erik took a second to position his pistol and then he shot up from behind the car so fast they didn’t see it coming.

The muzzle blasted off followed by a reduced pop similar to the sound of a puff of air. The first two young men slumped backwards against the car and the last man was two seconds two late trying to grab a hold of his gun before Erik put a bullet in his head.

Erik made his way over to them to make sure he’d finished the job and after close inspection, all three of them experienced instant death. Erik moved as quickly as he could and he dragged their bodies one-by-one towards the yard of the house, stacking them next to a trash can. Now that he had that taken care of, Erik jogged over towards the stairs leading down into the basement.

There is a short, black curtain concealing the window within the door. He was able to get a tiny peek inside of the basement and he could see two men guarding and watching Fae like a hawk. Straining his neck, Erik could only see Fae’s lower half sitting in a folding chair and restrained with red rope. The best option was to draw one of them out. Erik knocked on the door with two quick rasps before speeding up the short concrete stairs and hiding.

Like clock work, a short, beefy, latino male with buzz cut hair opened the side door and stepped out. Erik tightened the grip on his pistol when he started to climb the stairs. His shadow could be seen coming closer so Erik turned fully to face him. With quick precision, Erik raised his gun, and as soon as his feet touched the top step, Erik gave him a head shot to the temple. With all his strength, he caught him before he hit the ground hard. He slowly lowered him to the steps.

Now, he descends the stairs. He didn’t even waste time. Erik appeared within the doorway and the other guy—slicked back stringy hair, tattoos all over his face and arms—did a double take and stood up. He raised up on Erik and grabbed his hand gun from the front of his jeans. Erik was faster; swifter. He snatched his gun and used his pistol with the silencer to kill him.

He hit the floor with a hard crash. Fae could be heard trying to catch her barely audible breath. Erik turned his relieved eyes onto Fae and he quickly revealed himself so she wouldn’t think he was trying to harm her. The way her face transformed in front of him almost made him emotional.

Fae looked as if she’d seen a guardian angel. Her eyes lit up like sparklers in the summer and her lips spread into a slight smile while tears streamed down her cheeks. As Erik approached her, Fae continued to cry, only this time she was breaking down. As Erik got closer, he could see a blue-black bruise on the side of her face and her lower lip was swollen and bleeding.

She looked as if she wanted to shout his name. Erik watched her writhe and cry, too anxious to wrap her arms around him. Erik worked fast and after a final knot the rope fell from her body. Speedily, Fae shot up from the fold chair and turned, embracing Erik with a hug similar to a boa constrictor. Erik rubbed her back and with one gloved hand he cupped the back of her head, leaning in to plant a few kisses to her forehead.

“Thank you…thank you…thank you…”

Fae wouldn’t let him go. She was cutting off his circulation.

“It’s okay…I’m here now…you’re safe…no one’s gonna hurt you any more…it’s okay, Fae. It’s okay…”

He pried her arms from around him and stared down at her.

“We gotta go. The longer we stick around, the more dangerous this shit becomes…”

Erik gripped Fae’s much smaller hand and they both made their way towards the stairs leading up. Erik halted his steps and turned his eyes onto Fae with intensity.

“You have to stay back at all times, do you understand? I refuse to let you die.”

“Okay,” Fae swallowed spit, “What about Sean and Alejandra?”

Erik looked at her for a second before speaking. So, he told her his real name?

“I’m going to kill them.” Erik replied.

Fae nodded her head and let out a sigh of relief.

“Listen to me, stay right here. I’ll come back for you.”

Erik kissed Fae’s forehead one more time, put his mask back on, and made his way up the steps.

“Who the fuck are you?!”

The music continued to blast and all eyes turned towards Erik materializing from the basement. In unison, they all stood to their feet, guns raised and aimed at him. Erik put both of his hands up and slowly backed away towards the door. The closer he went, his eyes scanned the room and one of the thugs closest to him had an AK47 pointed at Erik. Erik didn’t take his eyes off of him.

“NO TE MUEVES!”

Derrick Rio marched out from the kitchen. Erik locked eyes with him. He’s a pretty boi with slicked back wavy hair, earrings in his ears, and swagger. Teardrop tattoos on both sides proved that he was a killer. The scar on his right cheek let Erik know that his face had been sliced open. Nothing scary to Erik. Just a wanna be gangsta. He’d killed plenty of those types.

“Do you know who you’re fucking with?”

Erik remained silent.

Derrick squinted his eyes, “Can’t speak, brother? Hard of hearing?”

“HABLAR!!”

The AK47 almost touched Erik’s cheek. Erik finally parted his lips to speak.

“…quita esa arma de mi cara antes de que te haga.”

The man laughed in Erik’s face.

“KILL HIM, ACE—”

Erik did a move similar to Denzel in The Equalizer and now he had possession of the AK47. His finger didn’t hesitate to fire off rounds in Ace’s ugly face. Erik dropped behind a couch and it was guns blazing. Erik would appear from behind the couch and fire off rounds into anybody he had his eyes on. He didn’t miss. He was better at this. In the middle of it all, Sean and Alejandra were at the top of the steps, no intentions on going down stairs. They didn’t know what was happening or who the masked man was.

Bullets flying, holes in the walls, shattered glass, ruined furniture. Derrick was the only one left standing. He couldn’t believe one man took out a room full of Latin Kings. Erik walked from behind the couch and made his way over to him. Derrick didn’t know whether to point his gun at Erik and shoot or run for his life.

“Ima get yo’ ass either way, Derrick. Just put the gun down and put your hands behind your head.” Erik said.

Derrick hesitates, but eventually he complied. His pistol dropped to the floor and both of his hands raised and his fingers interlocked behind his head. He tilted his chin up and gave Erik a prideful look.

“I’ve waited for the moment I get the chance to kill off a Rio…”

POP! POP! POP!

Derrick’s body slowly and dramatically slid down the eggshell-white wall, a vertical trail of crimson painting the surface. Derrick’s head dangled to the side and he went limp. Erik peeled his eyes away from his lifeless body and just then, from the stairs, Sean began shooting at Erik. Erik ducked and moved out of the way just in time.

“COME OUT MOTHERFUCKER!!”

“Derrick! Oh my God! NO—”

“STAY BACK ALEJANDRA!”

“MY BROTHER! mi hermano esta muerto! ¡DERRICK!”

Erik looked at Fae from the top of the basement stairs. She was holding onto the railing with a vice grip. Erik extended a hand for her to take and Fae clung to him as Erik pulled. Fae rushed up the stairs and pressed her small frame against Erik’s back. Sean continued to fire off rounds at nothing.

“COME THE FUCK OUT! FACE ME!”

Erik dropped the AK47 to the floor and grabbed another fully loaded pistol with a silencer.

“Get down, Fae.”

Erik walked out and shot back at Sean. Fae crawled out on her hands and knees, staying back while she looked up at Erik putting in that work. If it was any other moment, Fae would have been turned on. Right now, all she wanted to do was get her hands on Alejandra. Sean didn’t stand a chance with Erik.

POW! POW! POW!

POP! POP! POP!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

“URRR! UGH!”

Erik got Sean in his shoulder. Sean quickly scurried backwards up the stairs, shoving Alejandra as he went to get her to move. She got to her feet and tried her best to move Sean.

“BITCH! GET BACK AND HIDE!” Sean shouted.

Alejandra dropped him and ran away towards the room they were having sex in. She wasn’t even fully dressed. She only had on a pair of panties.

“Shit,” Sean hyperventilates while trying to apply pressure to his wound, “Fuck—”

POP! POP!

Sean fired off his gun and Erik dodged a bullet to the face. Sean got to his feet and stumbled into a vacant room to his right. He pressed his back against the door and tried to catch his breath but each time he breathed in, his lungs were on fire.

Erik was at the bottom of the stairs and Fae came come out of hiding. She creeped over towards the side of the staircase and out of sight. One look at her beautiful face, Erik wordlessly reminded her that everything was going to be alright.

“STOP HIDING, SEAN! WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT TOUGH GUY SHIT?” Erik yelled up the stairs.

“FUCK YOU, NIGGA!” Sean replied with a shout.

“YOU PUT YOUR HANDS ON FAE! YOU COWARD ASS NIGGA! I SHOULD’VE KILLED YOU A LONG TIME AGO!!”

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TO QUESTION ME?!”

Sean peeked his head out of the room and his eyes widened and bulged. Erik had taken off his tactical mask.

“You…” Sean spoke with astonishment.

“WHAT’S UP, NEIGHBOR?!”

POP! POP!

Cordell moved out of the way and two holes formed in the door. Erik took two steps at a time and Sean jumped out at him, swinging a bat and hitting Erik in his ribs. Erik couldn’t feel the impact too much since he wore a vest. Snatching off his gloves, Erik gave Sean a mean uppercut in his stomach and then a jab to his face, clipping him in the jaw. Sean stumbled backwards, blood gushing from his mouth.

“THAT’S FOR PUTTING YOUR HANDS ON FAE!”

Fae cautiously climbed the stairs. She remained a safe distance away while Sean and Erik tussled.

“GET THE FUCK UP!” Erik barked out with a sonorous voice and spit flying, “NOW!”

Sean would try to stand on his two feet and Erik would knock him back down again with his fist colliding with his jaw. Erik released a menacing chuckle with his fists covered in blood.

Alejandra dashed out of the room and charged at Erik. She started windmilling him and Erik grabbed her frail arms and shoved her ass back. That was Fae’s moment.

“ALEJANDRA!”

Brown eyes connected and Alejandra tried to escape but Fae grabbed her by the ankle and she fell to the floor in the hallway. Fae clawed her way up towards Alejandra’s face and she wrapped her fist in her hair and yanked so hard a chunk of her hair ripped out.

“AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Alejandra screamed.

“Baby!” Sean shouted.

Erik put Sean in a head lock. Sean struggled, his left fingers grabbing a vase from a small table and smashing it over Erik’s head. Erik ate that shit like he had a skull made from steel. He picked Sean up and like Bane, he put his knee in his spine and dropped him to the floor.

“SEAN!” Alejandra cried out.

Alejandra punched Fae in the face and kicked her off before racing down the hall and back to the room. Inside, she found a gun and turned on her heels. Fae moved out of the way and Alejandra fired off the gun into the hall. Erik took this opportunity to use Sean as a shield. He picked him up by the back of his neck.

The bullets entered his torso and his body shook from side to side. Erik had Sean by the neck and he brought his lips to his ear to give him one last word before he fell into eternal slumber.

“That fake LV bag you gifted Fae? That shit was a chew toy for our boys.”

Erik let out a dark chuckle and then dropped Sean to the floor. He could see Sean crawling and Erik cocked his head back and scrunched his face up in a disgusted manner.

“Nigga, you still moving?”

POP!

Fae was paralyzed. To witness her ex being murdered in front of her felt unreal. She turned away so she wouldn’t look into his dead eyes.

“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!”

Alejandra shot at Erik and he caught a bullet in the chest. Fae gasped, ready to come to his aid, but Erik’s vest is bullet proof.

Click click click

She was out of bullets.

Fae ran so fast towards her Erik didn’t have time to do it himself. She tackled Alejandra to the floor in the room and Erik jogged over, watching them tussle. He went to grab Alejandra by her arm but Fae pushed him back.

“No! No Erik! Let me handle her!”

She drew her fist back and jabbed Alejandra in the face.

“She spit on me!”

Erik furrowed his brows and looked down at Alejandra like she was the scum of the earth.

“That’s some nasty shit.” He said with a hushed tone.

Fae climbed on top of Alejandra and wrapped her fists around her neck. She squeezed and squeezed, Alejandra turning purple in the face.

“AYE!”

Erik had his pistol in his grip fast and turned to shoot down the hallway. More thugs came to the rescue. The entire neighborhood was full of Latin Kings. A neighbor probably put word out that they were in trouble.

Alejandra used Fae’s hair for leverage and flipped them over so that Fae was on her back. She stood and dragged Fae by the hair towards the bathroom where she lifted the toilet seat with her foot, preparing to water board her. Fae saw what she was attempting to do, so she used her legs muscles to stand and she had Alejandra by the hair again, twisting her neck.

“GET OFF ME!” Alejandra screamed like a banshee.

“YOU GOT MY HAIR, BITCH!” Fae yelled.

Alejandra tugged and Fae tugged harder. They were out of breath, muscles fatigued, and hearts racing.

“LET ME GO, STUPID BITCHHHHH!!!!!!!” Alejandra screeched.

POP! POP! POP!

POW! POW!

Erik was holding it down at the top of the stairs. They just wouldn’t stop coming. At first, he was shocked that the police hadn’t shown up, but then he remembered the power that the Latin Kings had, and that most of the police were on their payroll.

Back in the bathroom, Fae was finally able to get Alejandra off of her hair. She picked up a rat tail comb with a metal tip and stabbed Alejandra in the thigh. She let her go and leaped back, pulling the comb out, blood spraying out of the small puncture. They were both pumped full of adrenaline that any pain they felt didn’t register in their minds.

B-cup titties swaying, Alejandra lunged at Fae and Fae stepped out of the way, watching her trip over the toilet. She got behind her and smushed her face along the rim of the toilet seat.

“AHHHHHHH!!!!” Alejandra shouted.

Water covered the floor and Fae slipped.

“COME HERE!”

Alejandra grabbed Fae by the ankle and Fae kicked her in the face. Fae fell back against the wall and pushed up on her feet. Before Alejandra could attack Fae again, Fae pushed her so hard, her head hit the mirror and put a crack in it. Alejandra fell to the ground and Fae could see a laceration on her scalp and blood.

“FAE!”

Erik returned to the room, face sweaty and locs wild in his face. You couldn’t tell from his dark clothing that he had blood there. Fae’s knees buckled and Erik caught her. He gripped her face and examined her.

“I gotta get you outta here,” Erik looked down at Alejandra, “I’ll finish her off.”

Erik didn’t hesitate when he aimed his gun for the back of her head and pulled the trigger. Blood pooled out of her head and onto the tile floor.

Erik grabbed Fae’s hand and they ran so fast down the hall and steps. They decided to leave through the basement. Fae collected her things and Erik made sure he didn’t leave any of his guns behind. They left the home in just enough time, taking the back way and down an alley. Just then, like a scene from a movie, the entire home exploded. Fae had never seen anything like it.

“How—”

“Let’s go, Fae.” Erik urged.

They ran two blocks until Erik could spot his sport bike. Putting his mask back on, Erik worked quickly to take off his vest. He had a hoodie on underneath that he slipped over Fae’s head.

Fae’s tired eyes scanned his body covered in a fitted black beater. Erik put the vest back on and hopped onto the bike. With his strength, he wrapped an arm around Fae’s slim waist and placed her on the bike behind him. He revved it up and Fae wrapped her arms securely around him. Hood up, Erik zoomed off down the street. When he finally made it off of the block and onto the busy rode, he could see NYPD, Paramedics, and two Fire trucks.

Even as the bike slowed down to a stop, Fae didn’t take her cheek off of Erik’s back. She opened her eyes and looked around, noticing that they weren’t back at the apartment. They were parked outside of a warehouse in Staten Island. They’d been riding for an hour and a half. Time was lost to her, all she kept thinking about was the nights events. Erik climbed off of the bike and turned towards Fae.

Fae looked up at him as he removed his mask.

The tears began to pour. She will be forever grateful that Erik rescued her. He removed his gloves and cupped her face in his hands. His thumbs smeared away her tears.

Fae parted her dry lips to speak, “He was trying to steal the money I’d gotten from my mother’s death.”

“That explains why your room looked the way it did. How much money did you get?”

“About 100k…”

Erik strokes her cheek.

“I moved the information to a safe that I have hidden in my guest bedroom. That’s where I keep all of my personal documents.”

“Smart,” Erik smirked at her, “I’m just happy to be looking at you right now. I thought I was too late…”

“How did you know where to find me?” Fae questioned with a trembling voice.

Erik hesitated speaking and Fae noticed. She searched his eyes and then Erik dropped his gaze to the dirt.

“Fae…I haven’t been honest with you.”

Fae tilted her head but remained silent. Exhaling, Erik took both of her hands in his and squeezed.

“…I’m not a bodyguard.”

Fae nodded her head slowly her eyes lowering to their hands.

“I’m a professional Hitman.”

Fae’s head lifted to look at him again.

“I’ve been assigned to a job to track down Sean and kill him. He has an extensive history of murder and scamming from all across the U.S. I’ve been assigned to the job for five months…”

Fae stared at Erik with an intense gaze.

“I have something to show you.”

Erik helped her off of the bike and they headed towards the warehouse.

“As a Hitman, we have these specific safeguards implemented in different states. In New York, there’s three. I’m stationed here until I decide to relocate.”

Fae allowed Erik to lead her towards a door on the side of the warehouse. Erik used his thumb against a fingerprint identifier and it ignited green. The door clicked open and Erik walked inside. The door shut on its own behind Fae and as if the warehouse was controlled by some artificial intelligence, everything came to life.

She didn’t know which area to take in first. On one end of the warehouse, there were parked cars and bikes. On another side there was an area for combat. In the middle there is a work station with many computers and a giant TV screen suspended from the ceiling. Fae’s eyes fell on a wall covered in weapons from guns, to knives. Finally, she spotted another wall with a spotlight. This wall was covered with a diagram of photos thumbtacked together.

Erik made his way over to that specific wall with Fae in tow. As they inched closer, Fae recognized something that caused her to pull her hand away from Erik’s. She walked around him and over towards that wall. Fae’s footsteps paused right before the giant billboard and she looked back at Erik with a mixture of confusion and frustration.

“Erik…why am I up here?”

Fae’s eyes scanned the billboard. The covert photography of her made her feel uneasy. There were photos of her leaving work, her apartment, New Jersey, walking Deuce, out with friends, on dates with Sean. Any and everything she could be doing. There were even photos of her through her apartment windows from a distance.

“Wha–wha—I–I don’t—I don’t understand. I—”

Fae wrinkled her nose and her mouth fell open. She blinked her eyes rapidly, as if trying to make sense of what she was staring at. Erik stood in front of her, a guilty expression on his face.

“Fae…I was given the job to Kill Sean—”

“You told me that already.” Fae spoke.

“…So, with that job came rules. Rules that can’t be broken. Not only was Sean a target…you were too. I had orders to assassinate you and him.”

Fae’s lower lip quivered.

“All this time? So what? You moved in next door so you could keep tabs on me? You showed up and tricked me into having sex with you—”

“NO.” Erik cut Fae off.

“So why did you get close to me?! Why did you even do that knowing the risk?!!”

Erik shrugged, unable to find the right words. He looked towards the ceiling, hands in his pockets.

“I just…Fae I fell for you.”

Fae narrowed her eyes at him and tightened her jaw.

“This may sound crazy, but all that time I spent following you, watching you, learning everything about you…I started catching feelings—”

“STOP.”

Fae put her hands up and shut her eyes.

“This is crazy,” She ran a hand over her frizzy hair, “So you fucked me and sent me back to a psycho when you could have told me the truth?! What is wrong with you???!!!!”

“I COULDN’T TELL YOU THE TRUTH!” Erik shouted.

“”WHY? WHY NOT?” Fae yelled back.

Erik put his hands together, leaning in with his face inches away.

“WHY NOT, ERIK?”

“Fae, please. I fucked up, I know that, okay? But you gotta understand me when I say this…what I do, and the people I work for…they don’t play about shit like this. They will interfere and fuck shit up. The ONLY REASON why shit hit the fan, is because of my partner. I have to update her on everything that’s going on. She put a bug in their ear, making me look bad. SHE WOULD HAVE KILLED YOU.”

Fae flinched when Erik’s tone went dark as his tone elevated. He was pissed. Locs in his face, slugs peeking through and muscles flexed.

“AND I WOULD HAVE KILLED HER!!!!…okay?” Erik lowered his voice to a soft timbre and tucked his chin, looking at fae through his lashes with a penetrating gaze and flared nostrils, “I fucked up because I caught feelings. It was deeper than a hit, baby. I fell in love with you. I couldn’t be cold-blooded Killmonger. All eyes were on me 24/7. If I would have said one thing to you, I could have found you dead in your apartment.”

His chest rose and fell with deep breaths. Fae hugged herself and her vision blurred with tears.

“I’m so sorry,” Erik shook his head, “I truly am, baby. I know I fucked up. Sean would have had the entire Latin Kings coming after you if he so much as caught a whiff of anything. Alejandra and Derrick are a part of the Latin Kings. She was in your apartment. They knew where you worked, where you lived…Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?!”

Fae nibbled on her bottom lip to try and calm her hiccuping from crying. She nodded her head rapidly in understanding.

“You have every right to hate me right now. I wish I could go back and fix this. I wish I could, baby. I wish you never met that fucking nigga…”

Erik’s hands pulled Fae into his body. She looked up at him and her hands were pressed against his chest.

“…I wish you didn’t have to go through what you went through tonight…”

Erik’s body shook with rage.

“I knew where you were tonight because I put a tracker on your cell phone that night after the bar. I’m glad I did. Because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to find you…”

Fae shifted from one foot to the other. She was nervous. Erik lifted her chin so she could look at him.

“I want to be honest with you. I want…”

Erik’s eyes went from her lips to her eyes.

“I want what you want. Even if that means you want nothing to do with me…but I’ll never stop loving you, Fae.”

Fae lowered her head and stared at her hands against his chest. She had a migraine, her face hurt, her body hurt, her hair was a mess, her ex was a murderer and used her for her money, Erik is a Hitman. It was all too much. Her head was ready to explode. And now, she’s finding out that she was supposed to be dead too? Not only did Sean want to kill her, so did the people that Erik worked for. But wait did he just say—

“Fae?”

Erik’s voice snapped her out of her daze. She slowly lifted her head to look at him.

“You love me?” Fae asked.

“…Yes.”

It all made sense to her now.

“Was that why you left my apartment that night? You were going to tell me that you loved me, weren’t you?…”

Erik smirked, “Yeah, I was.”

Fae chuckles as tears rolled down her cheeks, “You should have.”

She broke down crying and Erik wrapped his arms around her and hugged her right.

“This is a lot,” Fae said with a shaky voice.

“It is. I couldn’t wait to tell you tomorrow. You deserved to know…you been deserved to know.”

“…Wow,” Fae shakes her head, “I can’t believe this is my life…”

She pulled away from Erik so she could look at him.

“Erik, I’ve only known you for such a short while, but when I’m with you…I’m a better version of myself. You bring out this confidence and self worth in me that I never knew I had,” Fae released a shaky breath, “I’ve been so broken so many times,” Her bottom lip trembled, “And you showed me the true meaning of what it’s like to be loved.”

Erik stared at her, a soft smile on his face.

“…You didn’t have to fall for me, you could have just—just done your job and got rid of me. And as much as I don’t like that you kept this a secret, all of it just proves that you cared for me, a girl you barely even knew…you saved my life in so many ways. And I just want you to know, I love you too.”

Fae pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes to control her tears. Erik felt his own eyes sting. He blinked his eyes rapidly to stop himself from crying.

“Fae,” Erik picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, “I told you, you’re special. You’re amazing. I love you...”

She buried her face into his neck and Erik rubbed his hands up and down her spine.

Fae sniffled, “I want to go home…”

Erik couldn’t agree more.

The energy felt different.

The moment she entered his apartment, she felt like it was her home. Her apartment didn’t feel like home anymore. It was tainted with Sean. Everything he touched, his side of the bed, his clothes, his scent. She didn’t want any part of it.

Erik took her bag from her and helped her remove her boots. They silently walked together, Erik guiding her to his room. Diesel and Deuce were excited to see them. In Erik’s room, he shut the door behind him and proceeded to undress Fae. His eyes never left hers as each layer of clothing peeled away from her frame. Erik walked her to his bathroom and sat her down on the toilet while he ran her bath.

Fae watched him take off his vest, beater, boots, and socks. They were both filthy, but Erik was concerned with making sure Fae was clean and comfortable. The bath water ran and Erik poured in epsom salt. He opened his medicine cabinet and grabbed all the first aid items to tend to her injuries. When the water had finished, Erik turned off the tap and he helped Fae into the tub.

He got down on his knees and went to work cleaning her off. He gently washed her off and after each pass of the sponge, he would press his lips into her wet flesh. Fae felt an instant jolt of arousal. She couldn’t control the pleasant tingling between her legs when he washed her there with a rag. She gripped his wrist and they locked eyes. Even with a bruised face and scared lip, she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

Fae’s hand covered Erik’s and she guided his fingers lower. He got the hint and sat the rag on the edge of the tub. Two thick fingers found her entrance and pushed inside. Fae gasped, Erik muting her noises with his lips. Fae gripped the edge of the tub and fell back so that she could tilt her hips for deeper access.

Erik didn’t take his eyes off of her. Fae pressed her face into his arm and nibbled on his skin. Erik could see her juices and feel how creamy her pussy is for him. Her nipples were rock hard and making Erik’s mouth water.

“Erik…”

She squeezed her thighs together and the water sloshed as her body moved back and forth with her climax. She exhaled an airy breath and her walls convulsed around his fingers. Erik slipped his fingers out and sucked them clean. He let the water out and helped Fae to her feet. Erik grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her. Back in the room, he sat her down on his bed and proceeded to rub her body down with a soothing and calming body oil scented with a sweet aroma of vanilla combined with a surprising touch of lemon.

“Killmonger.” Fae spoke.

Erik chuckled while massaging her body with the oil, “That’s my nickname.”

“Why Killmonger? I mean, I know you’re a killer…”

“…I earned the nickname from the amount of kills I racked up. It was so impressive that they had to give me a nickname for it…”

“Okay,” Fae giggled, “I like it…it’s sexy.”

Erik’s eyebrows shot up and disappeared behind his locs.

“Hmm, really?” His dimples popped out while trying to hide his blush, “I’m glad you think so.”

Fae rolled her eyes, “I mean…it’s fitting…”

“Fitting for what else?” Erik looked down at her while massaging her feet.

“…with the way you kill this pussy—”

“Huh? What was that, Miss Fae? I couldn’t hear you.” Erik teased.

“I said, with the way you kill this pussy…”

Erik bowed his head and laughed. When he finished, He dressed Fae in an old graphic T-shirt of Jimi Hendrix and he excused himself to take a shower. Fae used that opportunity to go see Deuce. The last time she’d seen her dog was before she left for work that morning. Fae walked out barefoot with her frizzy and loose braids up in a bun. Her scalp felt so tender and sore. She found Deuce and Diesel both lying in Erik’s office. Deuce ran up to her as Fae got down on her knees. Up on his hind legs, Fae hugged him and couldn’t help but to cry.

Sean could have killed Deuce. She was so happy that he was safe. She was so happy that she didn’t die and she could come home to her boy. Diesel rubbed his head against her and Fae gave him a hug too. She smiled brightly at both of them and couldn’t help but to giggle. I guess that means Diesel was her dog now too.

Fae stood up and walked around Erik’s office. Her curious eyes moved about the room, taking it all in with a new perspective. Sure, he was in Special Ops and she understood that killing people came with the job, but it felt different knowing that he’s a Hitman. Fae skimmed her fingers over his books when Erik appeared. He was oiled down himself and wearing a pair of all black ball shorts.

“I came to see the boys and I started snooping around. I know, I’m pryjng,” Fae tucked her chin bashfully.

“It’s okay. You’re curious.” Erik said.

“It just seems so…mysterious…”

Erik walked up behind Fae and pressed his lips against her exposed neck.

“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

That made Fae feel good knowing that. She turned to him and Erik’s lips were on hers. They tongue kissed while their hands roamed all over each other’s bodies. Erik had his hands full of Fae’s ass and he backed out of his office. They walked backwards into his room and Erik slammed the door shut to keep the boys out. With only a single lamp light on, it gave off the perfect vibe.

Erik sat down on the edge of the bed with Fae between his legs. She cupped his face while they continued to kiss. Their heads moved back and forth and their tongues reached crevices that elicited sounds of pleasure. Fae needed him. She didn’t care that her body was sore, she needed him inside of her. Erik did too, his dick was brick hard and tenting the front of his shorts.

Fae broke the kiss and she lifted his T-shirt over her head, naked body the perfect shape in Erik’s eyes with the softest skin that glistened similar to honey. Fae took her place in his lap with her pussy sitting directly over his clothed erection. Erik couldn’t get over how soft and smooth her skin felt beneath his calloused hands.

His lips kissed her neck, her collarbones, and between her breasts. He tilted Fae’s body back and her breasts were pushed out towards his mouth. He sucked each dark brown nipple into his mouth and flicked them greedily with his thick tongue. Fae arched her back and gripped Erik’s shoulders tight when he started humping her from underneath.

“Unh….”

Fae’s moans sounded angelic.

Erik pressed his face between her breasts and grunted. His dick was twitching between her pussy lips.

“Fuck…I need you,” Erik whispered.

“I need you too…”

Fae dug her fingers into Erik’s shorts and they wrapped around his fat dick. She whipped it out and lifted her hips while her hand pointed his tip towards her opening. Erik exhaled a longing breath. She sat down on him fully and Erik bounced her.

“Fuck…fuck…” Erik was staring up at Fae through hooded eyes, “I missed this pussy…”

“Mm!” Fae’s mouth fell open, “Mmm!”

Her moans were driving him crazy.

“Mm! Mm! Unh! Uh! Ooo!”

“You’re a fuckin’ angel, baby,” Erik praises.

He secured one arm around her waist, sliding his hips lower so he could plant his feet on the floor, and he pumped upward while simultaneously bouncing Fae, bringing her down on his dick himself. She had a death grip on Erik’s shoulders. She was so small and limber while Erik’s much larger and more powerful body controlled her movements.

“Ahhhh, ahhhhh…” Erik couldn’t hold back from making his own noises, “That’s it baby…let me do all the work…”

“Oh gosh,” Fae moaned, “Yes!”

“I’m deep and I ain’t leaving, baby,” Erik groaned, “Mhm…too much big dick?”

“No,” Fae said with a whiny voice.

“That’s my good girl…”

She came on his dick and Erik raised his hips to the bed again. He lifted her off of his dick and got down on his knees. He started eating Fae’s pussy while she was standing up. She couldn’t believe it. He hiked her thigh up and proceeded to suck on her pussy while his other hand fisted his dick.

“Shit,” Fae wrapped her fingers around his locs, “Mmm!”

Fae’s leg shook out of control and she fell forward against the bed. Erik’s hand smacked her on the ass and she positioned herself so that she was hanging over the edge of the bed. Erik turned and started eating it from the back. Fae rocked her hips back and forth, feeding her pussy to his plump lips and thick tongue. Erik spread her cheeks as best as he could so he could get every inch of that pretty, pink puss in his mouth. He was sucking that shit off the bone and Fae was losing her sanity.

“Daddy, please don’t stop,” Fae moaned weakly.

He slurped her pussy, put his tongue in that pussy, sucked on that clit, tongued her folds. Fae was drooling into the sheets.

“OH FUCK!”

She bit down on her bottom lip, the pain from her scar mixed with the pleasure of getting her pussy devoured giving her a big orgasm. She convulsed and released into Erik’s waiting, gluttonous mouth.

He sat up and Fae turned her body. Erik was on his feet and with his lustful eyes watching her, he took off his shorts, revealing his fat dick and balls. It was so hard that the veins in his shaft popped out. His tip is covered in pre-cum and dying to be sucked on. Fae arched her back and grabbed his dick. She looked up at him and wrapped her lips around him.

She took her time putting him down her throat. It’s a big boy. Erik’s humming and grunting caused her clit to jump. It was thick enough to make her jaw muscles sore and long enough to trigger her gag reflex.

“There you go…good girl…such a good girl,” Erik tilted his head so he could watch, “Get daddy’s dick in there, baby…”

She started sucking him while tugging on his sack. Erik’s brows furrowed and he sucked his bottom lip between his teeth. His eye rolled shut and his head went back. All Fae could see was his beautifully-sculpted body and the long swath of his neck.

“Just like that…look at you…mmm, mmm, mmm…”

Erik groaned when Fae focused on slurping his wide tip between her lips. She knew that’s what he liked. He loved it when she did it nice and slow. Her spit rolled down her chin and she looked into his eyes while sucking. That’s what did it.

“Fae…”

She loved it when he said her name.

“Fae…”

Keep saying my name.

“Damn, here it comes—”

Fae swallowed him whole. She tightened her throat and milked him while the tip of her tongue wiggled in his slit. Thick, warm, nut coated her tongue. She slowly released his dick from her mouth and it popped out covered in spit. Erik stuck his tongue down her throat with his fingers around her neck to control the flow. Fae sucked on his bottom lip like a pacifier.

“I’m gon’ fuck you all over this bed,” Erik said with a husky voice barely above a whisper, “And your ass gon’ take it every single time…”

“I need it, big daddy,” Fae whispered seductively.

Erik raised a single brow at her.

“I can handle it,” Fae spoke confidently with a smirk.

Erik picked her up and put her ass on the edge of his dresser.

“You can handle it, huh? Yeah?” Erik plopped his dick down on her pussy and guided his hips so his dick could glide up and down between her fat, outer lips.

“Yes,” Fae moaned.

“Your pussy is wet and gushy, mamas…”

He hooked his arms beneath her knees and with his hips, he thrust forward and his tip slipped between her labia and popped right into that wet pussy. He pressed further inside until he was halfway in before retracting his hips slowly, only to thrust back inside again.

“Fuck,” Fae gasped when Erik twisted her hips, “Mmm!”

She gripped the edge of the dresser with one hand while the other wrapped around Erik’s neck. His crotch and lower abdomen collided with Fae’s inner thighs and it stung so good.

“Daddy, you’re fucking me so good!”

“Mhm…I know it is, look at this dick.”

Fae tried to watch but he was digging her out so good she couldn’t focus.

“Oooo…I know whatchu finna do, pretty mama…daddy making that pussy cum, I know it.”

“I can’t control it, daddy—”

Fae’s pussy pushed Erik’s dick out and she rubbed her clit back and forth, her juices like a fountain.

“So that’s what I gotta do to make that pussy squirt like that?”

Erik crouched down to lick it up. Fae couldn’t control her legs from squirming and shaking. Erik needed to make her do that again. He moved her to the bed and parted Fae’s legs with his hands on the back of her thighs. Erik got up on that bed, dug his toes into the mattress, and started grinding his hips so that his dick could hit her spot. Each time he would thrust, his hips would grind, making his fat dick hit her spot.

“Oooo!” Fae started crying, “I’m gonna squirt again!”

“That’s what I want, give me that shit,” Erik commanded.

“It’s all for you!”

That was music to Erik’s ears. Fae looked up at him and he had his bottom lip between his teeth and a smirk on his face. She was falling apart beneath him and he just fucked her like that with a dimpled smirk and a big dick. He was dangerous.

“My pussy, daddy!”

Fae’s eyes crossed and Erik was pushed out once again. It just kept going. He beat her clit with his tip and she just covered him and the sheets.

“Dayum, you’re my little waterfall for real, fuck. I love it when you make a mess on me…”

“It’s so much, I’m sorry,” Fae shielded her face with her arm to hide her blush.

“Don’t be sorry about what that pussy can do, baby…”

He had his mouth on her pussy again. Fae was growing lightheaded. Erik looked up at her through his lashes and licked his lips.

“You okay?” He questioned.

“Mhm,” Fae replied.

Erik gave her a moment to catch her breath and then he sat up in the middle of the bed. He made a come-hither motion with his fingers and a bite of his lip and Fae crawled to him. She straddled him and Erik lined his dick up with that beautiful pussy again for more. Fae sank down on him fully until her ass was sitting on his balls. Erik dropped his thighs out and leaned back on one hand. He rolled his hips up slowly and fae rolled her hips down on him. Her hands were on his shoulders and she was looking down at him from above. They were locked in a sensual gaze.

“Tell me you love me.” Erik whispered.

“I love you,” Fae whispered back.

“Say it again.”

“I love you…”

Erik hooked his arms beneath her armpits and gripped her shoulders from behind. Fae cupped his face and they kissed passionately. Erik broke the kiss and his tongue licked along Fae’s jaw. He dug his heels into the bed and surprised Fae with sharp upstrokes with his hands planted on the bed. She was squirting again.

“UNH! UNH! UNH!”

It was ball-slapping strokes. Erik lowered his hips back to the bed and his dick slipped out with ease. He shook his locs from his eyes and lifted from the bed.

“C’mere…bring that pussy here.”

Fae took one look at that dick and she whimpered.

“Don’t worry, I’ll l be back in there. Arch that back.”

She did as she was told. Erik nibbled and kissed all over her ass. He put a humb in her butt and his dick deep in her pussy from the back. Fae’s hips bounced off of him causing her cheeks to turn red.

“Go head, cry into the sheets, tell me how good it feels.”

“It feels so good!”

“You taking it, mamas. Just watching you take this dick makes me so hard.”

“Yes, daddy!” Fae moaned.

“Don’t stop taking this dick…don’t stop taking this dick…”

Fae turned her head back and forth, she fisted the sheets, she cried out. Erik would speed up, then slow down. Bring her to the peek, then edge her.

“Can I cum daddy?! Please?! Can I cum, please?!”

“Cum on this dick right fuckin’ now.”

“Unh—ahhh!”

It was creamy and slippery. Erik watched with his bottom lip pouted and gold slugs gleaming. That pussy was hot and tight.

“Daddy, I feel you throbbing inside me!”

“Yeah?” Erik growled, “SHIT—”

“YES! Right there—”

“UGH!”

Erik gripped her waist for leverage and he withdrew his hips. Fae spun around quickly and opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue. Erik held her gaze through his locs and his mouth formed an ‘O’ while he jerked himself. His cum shot out like a spider’s web. It covered Fae’s face and tongue. Erik couldn’t believe how much it was. Fae cleaned off as much as she could and then Erik left to grab a wet rag.

He returned and cleaned Fae off. They both went to the bathroom and after using the toilet, took a shower together. Fae let Erik fuck her up against the shower wall with her chest pressed against it. She reached behind her to hold onto his thigh while he took that pussy from behind. He slipped out and Fae got down on her knees again to clean him off. They were both satisfied.

When they were done, they both rubbed eachother down with the oil again and stood at his sink to tend to their scars. Fae sat on the sink and Erik took his time tending to her. She did the same for him, it was mostly his knuckles. It was so intimate.

Teeth brushed, Erik put a towel down on the bed to cover Fae’s mess and snuggled together beneath the sheets. Fae rested her head on Erik’s chest with one arm draped across his torso. Erik stared up at the ceiling while playing in her hair.

“I love you, Fae. I mean it.”

Fae sat up and looked up at Erik through her lashes.

“I know you do. I love you too.”

Erik shut his eyes and smirked. Fae caressed his thick lips with her fingertips. Erik caught them between his lips causing Fae to giggle.

@goddessofthundathighs @theegoldenchild @hearteyes-for-killmonger @imagining-greatness @chaneajoyyy @uzumaki-rebellion @theeblackmedusa @lisayourworries @bellleame @ratedbadgal @bombshellbre95 @cecereads209 @cancerianprincess @dameshaemonique @6lack-1otus @thickemadame @thickeeparker @stinkalinkkkk @ehniki @electrixit @prettyisasprettydoes1306 @bakarisprxncess @melodicheauxxlovesfood @melodichaeuxx-lacritquexx @bxolux @sweet2krazee @bluesole16 @90sisthenew80s @ispywithmylileye @geemamii @unbotheredblackchild @nubianbabee @adoreesun @blackpinup22 @nayaxwrites @dersha89 @honeytoffee @thickianaaaa @modelmemoirs @why-wait-4-eventually @angelicniah @queenfaithmarie @soulfulbeauty19 @asweet-serendipity @aijha @novaniskye @princessxotwod @callmemckenzieee @blowmymbackout @lahuttor @momobaby227 @blackerthings @kenbieee @palmstreesallday @kokokonako@coolfancyone @soulsparker @d3kstar @richgirlaesthetics @withoutmusiclifewouldbflat @beautybyfire @abluesforlyssa @xo-goldengirl @mbakuetshurisprincess @4ftwonder @raysunshine78 @sensitivelegend @sourbabynaee @gotbeefbitch-blog @cool-fancyone @efonteno @akimi-youngblood @badassdoll @shyblackgurl @childishgambinaax @teheeboo @skylahb @gigafaex @readingaddict1290 @circeaphoenix @xsweetdellzx @carewornblackgirl @queengodiva619 @certifiedlesbianbaddie @seyven89 @jamaicanqueenaa

[diana-fortyseven]

HITMAN SPRING ROADMAP 2023

Here's the full blogpost!

Details and my thoughts on them under the cut!

Elusive Targets, cool cool, happy for those who started late and still need to unlock the suits.

I'm also kinda happy to see a return of Featured Contracts, they're fun to figure out. Curated Contracts too, nice nice.

Paris and Sapienza as free locations is amazing for me, because that means I can take nice photos with NVIDIA Ansel. I don't own the game on PC. I'll definitely get a lot of use out of this!

Let's talk about MAY.

First patch for HITMAN WoA is coming in May.

Patch 3.150 will feature a bunch of fixes that has been reported by our community and we're adding a lot of QoL improvement to the whole game in general. Among all the fixes is the known issue regarding GPU memory leak (VRAM). This patch will also have many tweaks, fixes, adjustments and QoL improvements specifically for HITMAN Freelancer. Full patch notes and more information will come closer to May 11.

Can't wait for the patch notes to learn more about the QoL updates for the whole game. (But of course I'm also looking forward to a more balanced version of Freelancer)

New HITMAN Challenge: Boom Beats Blah w. unlock.

What will explode shortly after being thrown, but is also sharp enough to kill on impact? The exploding Pen, that’s what. On May 11, this very useful pen can be yours after you complete the new challenge called Boom Beats Blah where you need to Eliminate Craig Black with an explosion while he is reading. Poetic?

Yes, poetic! Thank you! I love new challenges in this game, this one sounds fun and it's something 47 would actually do, aaaand I'm happy to see a return of the original Exploding Pen! 10/10!

HITMAN Freelancer Challenge: The HITMAN w. unlock

On May 11 we also add an awesome unlock to the HITMAN Freelancer challenge “The HITMAN”. Here the task is relatively straight forward, however not easy. You need to complete a Freelancer campaign with the Hardcore Mode Enabled. When you’re successful, you’ll unlock The Black Bruiser Suit. Maybe the most appropriate suit to wear after a full hardcore campaign. If you’ve already completed "The HITMAN Challenge “in HITMAN Freelancer, you’ll automatically get the suit unlocked and added to your inventory when it becomes available.

I love this suit omg omg omg. Finally a reason to play Hardcore Mode, apart from just completing the trophy collection upstairs. This just increased my willingness to put up with Hardcore by 470%!

Contracts Mode Enabled on the ICA Training Facility.

From May 11 you can turn your favorite training yacht into your very own playground. We’re enabling Contracts mode on the ICA Training Facility. Get cracking, in this relatively safe entermeted.

Ahh that's so cool! Only the yacht though? I'm a moron, I completely forgot we already had contracts mode on the Final Test. xD

THE ROAD AHEAD

We’re just getting started, look forward to more Year 3 versions of Elusive Targets, as well as a chance to catch up on any Years 2 targets you may have missed. In addition, we will be introducing new unlocks, challenges, and a fresh escalation for you to sink your teeth into. We'll also be rolling out game patches throughout the year packed with fixes, tweaks and QoL improvements. Keep in mind that some details may change as this is a tentative production plan, but this timeline should give you a good sense of what's to come in HITMAN World of Assassination in the months ahead.

Now this is interesting!

We'll get a new challenge with unlocks every month!

November will also give us contracts mode on Holiday Hoarders and Snow Festival! That's dope!

Really looking forward to all of this!

Thank you IOI, I love you!

[myth-blossom]

I heard the song willow by Taylor Swift and it totally made me think of 47 and Diana

Well, everything does...but...y'know

Hi Issy! Thank you for the song rec! I completely agree, it very much has Diana/47 vibes. 🥰 Something from Diana’s perspective in Hitman 3 came to mind while writing this—hope you enjoy!

The fire crackled as it eagerly consumed Diana’s Providence pin. She left behind its ashes for the satellite phone on the table, approaching the device with a flutter of nerves in her belly. It was the simplest (and final) step of her plan, yet it was seemingly more intimidating than bringing the world’s most powerful organization to ruin.

Diana wasn’t certain when it was that she fell in love with 47, but she knew her heart guided her often when it came to him. She found it far too easy to betray the ICA and join 47 in destroying Providence with Grey and Olivia. It was just as simple when she hid the bribe of information from Arthur Edwards regarding 47’s mysterious past. She would risk her career and her life for her agent, and that dedication extended well beyond the basics of professional courtesy. 

Though Diana knew 47 well, she was unaware of any romantic feelings on his part for a time. She once overheard a conversation between Grey and 47 at the safehouse in Berlin, the thin walls less inclined to protect whispered accusations against her character. She recognized from 47’s steadfast defense that he held her in high regard, but she was unsure if his passion was rooted in anything beyond a great deal of trust. It wasn’t until the ICA facility in Chongqing was infiltrated and she was protected from the fallout that Diana knew 47 loved her, too.

With a calming breath, she picked up the sat phone and switched it on. 

It troubled Diana when she had to weaponize 47’s feelings for her against him, but it was the only way that guaranteed his close proximity to Edwards and a path towards her becoming the Constant. She desperately wanted to indulge in the fantasy she craved when they met at the vineyard in Mendoza. That touching his hand was a simple sign of affection and not a manipulation of introducing toxin to his system. That their dance was a sensual pleasure and not a precursor to the cruelty of betrayal.

She knew their gamble was successful when news arrived of a stranded Providence train and Edwards missing, presumed dead. Diana kept true to her word and used her new power as Constant to carefully destroy the organization, taking a long and lonely year to ruin the evil that toyed with their lives. With the final nail in Providence’s coffin put into place, she escaped to her cabin for a quiet celebration. 

Diana returned the sat phone to the table and stared out into the moonlit night. Fresh snow blanketed the scenery and covered her tracks from earlier that morning, though she needn’t have worried about any unwanted visitors. The cabin was hidden well enough that it was accessible only to those who knew exactly where to look, and she only trusted one person to find her. 

As the phone idled nearby, Diana wondered how long it would take 47 to track her location. She wasn’t sure what to expect if he showed, if his feelings for her remained or if he wanted nothing more to do with her. She hoped he would follow her directive, even if he chose to do so for the last time.

Diana did her best to occupy her curious mind as she waited for some sort of signal. She tried to read a novel, but her eyes couldn’t focus on the words. She started to knit, but she couldn’t keep the material to hold the desired pattern out of impatience. She found a decent solution in taking walks behind the cabin, letting the soft crunch of snow under her feet dull the frequency of her thoughts.

After three restless days, a security alert caught her attention. One of the motion sensors placed along the main route to the cabin was triggered. She reviewed the picture snapped by the sensor and confirmed the cause was not a passing rabbit, but a tall figure wearing dark clothing from head to toe. Diana exhaled softly and smiled.

47 found her.

Diana slipped the monitoring device in her pocket and began her trek back to the cabin. The fluttering in her stomach was gone and each footfall felt lighter than before. By her estimation, he wouldn’t have to wait long. She would return just after his arrival.

47 called the sat phone and connected to another line through her earpiece. Like many of their talks in the past, he remained silent so she would speak first. She chose to take a hidden path through the trees so she could walk towards the front of the building, wanting to approach 47 out in the open.

“It’s been a long time, Agent 47.”

“That’s not who I am anymore. The pact is done. The past…dead.”

“And yet…here you are.”

Diana paused when she noticed him at the cabin’s entrance, waiting—nervous, perhaps—before he gently pushed open the door. Noting the cabin was empty, he quietly walked inside. She heard the soft click of his line ending as he located her sat phone.

“I choose this path because I can.”

She walked to the middle of the clearing, her footprints mingling with his in the snow.

“There will always be people like them, so there will always be people like us.”

47 appeared in the doorway and paused at her presence. Diana offered a playful smirk as she walked closer. 

“No one is untouchable.”

47 smiled.

“It’s good to be back.”

They started a fire before shedding their coats and defenses, finding excuses to close the distance between each other as they talked for hours. They shared where they had been the past year and where they desired to go, what they wanted and what they needed. Daylight faded with their words as they finally fell into each other, kissing lips and scars with equal desperation well into the night, holding so tightly that they refused to let go.

[ica-contractconcepts]

Contract Type: Elusive Target

Target Type: Elusive Target Concept

Location: The Final Test (Greenland)

Diana's Briefing: "47, this is urgent. ICA has been compromised. A private investigator working for the shadow client's private militia has breached one of our facilities. Our training grounds, specifically the recreation of the Jasper Knight operation, have been infiltrated by the PI. His name is Valentyn Yuko, an Eastern European master of his craft.

He is wanted in Belarus and Russia for attempting to leak state secrets, having spent his early adulthood in the military. He has jumped from nation to nation, working for less than scrupulous clients wanting even less scrupulous information.

Jason Portman, Kronstadt, Ether, and even Erich Soders have all requested his services. Now, his most recent client is the militia, who plan to reveal the ICA's existence to the world.

The ICA has sanctioned this contract. The guards are still using live rounds and another potential operative's training is underway. Valentyn will be in disguise, so keep an eye out for anyone acting unusually as we have no physical descriptions or available information other than the fact that he entered from the hangar. Perhaps that point of entry could help you track him.

Nobody can know we've been compromised, least of all the militia. A select few people know of the breach, so guards will shoot if they believe you do not belong. Be careful 47, this is a delicate operation. I'll leave you to prepare..."

Target Intel: Despite not knowing what he looks like, Mr Yuko has left quite the digital footprint. Born in Belarus some time in the 80's, he joined the military relatively early in his life. On a joint-training operation between Belarus and Russia, he attempted to steal the Russian state and military secrets in the office of the general watching over the operation. It is believed he was aiming to sell them to the late Sergei Zavorotko, whom I'm sure you know well. Sergei's crimes were only uncovered upon his death, though Valentyn's were discovered immediately. He was arrested but escaped custody and became wanted across several nations over the years. He has worked for countless clients and backstabbed half of them, freely switching sides to whoever pays him more (Though, the ICA would rather not take their chances with that). He almost never takes a small job, presumably because of his pride as it has been noted that he has refused jobs from high-profile clients simply because they were "too small". He has made stops in Turkey, Poland, Kazakhstan, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, though his last stop will be Greenland, where the footprints end and ours never appear.

Target routes and behaviors: Valentyn Yuko is initially disguised as an airplane technician and inspects the whole room, ending with Valentyn snapping a photo of the jet. He finds a guard disguise and patrols the rest of the compound, frequently looking over his shoulder. If the player gets too close behind him when he looks over his shoulder, he'll take the most efficient route to the nearest disguise. If the player keeps following him, he becomes an enforcer for the player's current disguise. He'll photograph Jasper Knight, the KGB officer, the vodka, the model escape car, and force himself into what were originally mission story conversations.

If the alarms are sounded, or the target is alerted, he'll attempt to flee the map. If he escapes, the mission will fail.

If the player photographs him taking pictures, then talks to the KGB officer, the officer will interrogate Valentyn in the isolated radio room, allowing for an easy elimination if the player can slip in during the brief window of opportunity while the KGB steps out of the room. If not, the KGB officer lets Valentyn go.

If the player finds the agent-in-training, he can watch him set his mission details down and forget them. This is Agent Davenport pre-Berlin. You can swap out his papers and make him believe Valentyn is his target when Davenport returns. He will find a drink and put emetic poison in it and Valentyn will get sick when he drinks it. Davenport will lose track of Valentyn, meaning it's up to the player to find and eliminate him while he's still sick.

[hikvision121]

The Significance of Abu Dhabi Typing Centers for Foreign Nationals Seeking Emirates ID

The Emirates ID is one of the maximum vital documents for any resident of the UAE. Regardless of nationality, every citizen living inside the United States of America is required to possess this ID. To foreigners living overseas, in particular individuals who are new to the UAE, getting an Emirates ID should look like a frightening challenge. This is in which typing facilities in Abu Dhabi come into the image.

In this text, we will look at the importance of typing facilities for foreigners acquiring an Emirates ID in Abu Dhabi in addition to how they make the method easier for individuals who are strange with it.

Why is it critical and what does the Emirates ID imply?

The United Arab Emirates' Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) is accountable for supplying Emirates IDs, additionally called non-public identity gambling cards. It is needed through regulation for all residents to carry this card always. The card contains vital information which include your complete name, nationality, date of birth, and a completely unique identity variety.

For expatriates, the Emirates ID isn't just a form of identity however is likewise important for plenty factors of daily lifestyles inside the UAE. It is used to open financial institution debts, signal condo agreements, get right of entry to authorities offerings, and at the same time as evidence of identity at hospitals. Without it, existence inside the UAE may be pretty hard, which makes obtaining this ID a concern for all expatriates.

The Role of Typing Centers inside the Application Process

When expatriates follow for an Emirates ID, one of the first steps is to post an software to the ICA. This application can be perplexing, mainly for those unusual with the criminal and bureaucratic methods within the UAE. While some expatriates might also try to navigate the method on their very own, it often ends in mistakes, delays, or even rejections.

Typing centers in Abu Dhabi are crucial in helping expatriates keep away from those issues. They act as intermediaries between candidates and the ICA, making sure that all paperwork are filled out efficaciously and that the necessary documents are submitted. In essence, they simplify the whole method, making it a good deal smoother for expatriates.

Expertise in the Process

One of the main motives typing facilities are so critical for expatriates applying for Emirates ID in Abu Dhabi is their expertise inside the technique. The group of workers at these facilities are trained and experienced in managing diverse styles of applications, such as Emirates ID, visa renewals, and more. They recognize the specific requirements for each type of utility, ensuring that no errors are made whilst submitting the paperwork.

For expatriates who may not be fluent in Arabic or fully privy to the prison requirements, this understanding is priceless. The staff at typing facilities know exactly what files are wanted, how the bureaucracy must be completed, and what steps must be followed. This removes the want for expatriates to wager their way thru the process, decreasing the threat of errors that could delay their application.

Time-Saving Convenience

Another large gain of the usage of typing centers in Abu Dhabi for Emirates ID packages is the time-saving convenience they provide. Instead of suffering to apprehend the utility technique or filling out paperwork to your own, expatriates can simply go to a typing middle and allow the experts take care of it.

Typing facilities are well-versed in dealing with all components of the software procedure, from coming into your facts into the ICA system to filing your documents electronically. This saves you from having to head backward and forward between one of a kind offices or waiting in long queues at authorities organizations. For busy expatriates juggling paintings and settling into a new lifestyles in Abu Dhabi, this convenience can make a international of distinction.

Avoiding Common Mistakes

When making use of for an Emirates ID, even small mistakes can lead to delays or rejections. Whether it’s missing facts, incorrect file submission, or errors in translating your details into Arabic, those issues can complicate the application method.

Typing facilities help expatriates keep away from those common mistakes. They know the ins and outs of the software process and might spot errors before the paperwork are submitted. This ensures that your utility is correct the primary time, saving you the problem of getting to reapply or provide extra documents later.

Multilingual Support

Expatriates in Abu Dhabi come from everywhere in the world, and now not everybody speaks Arabic or English fluently. This could make the utility manner even more challenging. However, many typing centers in Abu Dhabi offer multilingual guide, presenting services in diverse languages to deal with expatriates from distinctive backgrounds.

The group of workers at typing facilities are frequently fluent in a couple of languages, letting them speak with candidates in their local tongue. This makes it easier for expatriates to apprehend the requirements and complete their packages with confidence. The ability to explain complex legal tactics in a language you understand may be a huge comfort, especially whilst managing critical responsibilities like obtaining an Emirates ID.

Affordable Services

The fee of the use of a typing center in Abu Dhabi for Emirates ID typing services is typically quite low-priced, making it handy to all expatriates. For a small charge, expatriates can make certain that their programs are completed as it should be and correctly, saving both time and strain.

When compared to the potential prices of making mistakes to your utility or going through delays in receiving your Emirates ID, the expenses charged by using typing centers are properly really worth it. They offer a finances-pleasant way to streamline the application system, ensuring that the entirety is done correctly without breaking the financial institution.

Conclusion

In conclusion, typing centers in Abu Dhabi play a critical role in assisting expatriates follow for their Emirates ID. They provide knowledge, convenience, and multilingual guide that make the procedure a good deal simpler, mainly for those unexpected with the UAE’s legal system. By the use of a typing middle, expatriates can avoid commonplace mistakes, save time, and ensure that their utility is finished successfully the primary time.

For any expatriate making use of for an Emirates ID typing carrier in Abu Dhabi, travelling a dependable typing center is one of the nice steps they could take to make certain a smooth, trouble-free revel in.

[smca21]

Unveiling Mumbai's Premier Chess Academies: Fostering Grandmasters of Tomorrow

 

Mumbai, India's bustling metropolis and financial hub, is not just a city of dreams but also home to several prestigious chess academies that have been instrumental in shaping the chess landscape in the country. Let's explore some of the top chess academies in Mumbai that are renowned for their excellence in nurturing young talents and honing the skills of aspiring grandmasters.

1.South Mumbai Chess Academy (SMCA)

Located in the heart of Mumbai, SMCA stands out for its commitment to providing high-quality chess training in a structured and supportive environment. Founded by experienced coaches and chess enthusiasts, SMCA offers a range of programs catering to players of all ages and skill levels. The academy's curriculum covers comprehensive training in chess tactics, strategies, and endgame techniques, supplemented by regular practice sessions and tournaments. SMCA's emphasis on individualized coaching and mentorship has produced several talented players who have excelled in both national and international competitions.

2.Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Chess Academy

Situated in Dahisar, the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Chess Academy is renowned for its state-of-the-art facilities and top-notch coaching staff. The academy operates under the aegis of the Maharashtra Chess Association and offers a structured training program that includes theoretical lessons, practical exercises, and competitive play. With a focus on holistic development, the academy aims to instill not only technical skills but also sportsmanship and mental resilience among its students. Many of its alumni have gone on to achieve notable successes in various chess tournaments across the country.

3.Lalchand Chess Academy

Named after the legendary Indian chess player and coach, Lalchand Rajput, this academy in Mumbai is synonymous with excellence in chess education. Located in Andheri, Lalchand Chess Academy provides a nurturing environment for young chess enthusiasts to develop their skills under the guidance of experienced coaches. The academy's curriculum emphasizes a deep understanding of chess fundamentals, strategic thinking, and psychological preparation for competitive play. Lalchand Chess Academy has produced several promising players who continue to make their mark in the Indian chess scene.

4.ICA Chess Academy

Founded by International Master Balaji Guttula, ICA Chess Academy has branches in multiple locations across Mumbai, making it accessible to aspiring players from different parts of the city. The academy offers a comprehensive training program that includes group classes, personalized coaching, and interactive workshops. ICA's coaching staff comprises accomplished players and coaches who impart their knowledge and expertise to students aspiring to reach the pinnacle of chess excellence. The academy's structured approach and focus on individual development have helped many of its students achieve significant milestones in their chess careers.

5.Jain Chess Academy

Based in Ghatkopar, Jain Chess Academy is known for its dedication to promoting chess among youngsters through structured training programs and regular tournaments. Founded by passionate chess enthusiasts, the academy provides a supportive learning environment where students can improve their skills and participate in competitive events. Jain Chess Academy's curriculum covers all aspects of the game, from opening theory to endgame strategies, ensuring a well-rounded development of its students' chess abilities.

The Impact and Future

These academies represent Mumbai's vibrant chess culture and their significant contribution to the growth of chess in India cannot be overstated. With their rigorous training programs, experienced coaches, and state-of-the-art facilities, these academies continue to produce talented players who compete at national and international levels. As Mumbai's chess academies evolve and expand, they not only nurture future grandmasters but also foster a deeper appreciation for chess as a sport and intellectual pursuit.

Whether you're a young chess enthusiast looking to improve your game or a parent seeking the best training for your child, Mumbai's top chess academies provide an ideal platform to hone skills, foster talent, and embark on a journey towards chess excellence. With their unwavering commitment to quality education and development, these academies ensure that Mumbai remains at the forefront of India's chess renaissance.

[kenresearchreport]

Top 3 players in US Automotive Paints & Coatings market

Sherwin Williams: committed to satisfying customer needs through quality products, and excellent service. Offering products in three categories: Sherwin Vehicle Refinishes, Equipment, and Associated products.

PPG Industries: protecting and beatifying our customer's assets by offering products in 7 broad categories: Pretreatment, Electro-coat, Primer Surfacer, Basecoats, Clear-coat, Compact Paint Systems, Adhesives and Sealants.

Axalta Coating Systems: innovating to help protect, improve, and advance everything we see and touch. Offering products in two categories: Liquid Coatings and Powder Coatings.

According to Ken Research, the US Automotive Paints and Coatings market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of ~5% and become an ~USD 3.3 Bn. industry by 2028.

The US Automotive Paints and Coatings Market is rapidly growing and is predicted to witness a significant growth in the upcoming years.

There are various reasons for the growth of US Automotive Paints and Coatings market. Some of the major reasons responsible for the growth of US Automotive Paints and Coatings market include rapid automotive sales, increase in accidents and collisions, technological advancements and pollution caused by automotive paints and coatings.

Various companies and players are contributing to their best efforts in the growth of the US Automotive Paints and Coatings market.

This article aims to put light on the contributions done by the major players towards the growth of the US Automotive Paints and Coatings market.

1. Sherwin Williams

Download a Sample Report of US Automotive Paints and Coatings market

Headquartered in Ohio, United States, this paint company is the leading contributor of US Automotive Paints and Coatings market. With presence in over 120 countries and more than 60,000 employees, this company earned a revenue of USD 22 Bn. in 2022.

This company make paint and coatings and related products in three categories which primarily are Sherwin Vehicle Refinishes, Equipment, and Associated products.

Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes boasts an extensive product portfolio, catering to a wide spectrum of automotive coating needs. Whether it's primers, basecoats, clearcoats, or specialty coatings, the company provides a one-stop solution for manufacturers seeking a range of finishes for their vehicles. This comprehensive offering simplifies the procurement process for manufacturers and allows them to find tailored solutions that align with their brand image and performance requirements.

Technical Expertise and Training

What sets Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes apart is its commitment to not only providing coatings but also supporting its customers' success. The company offers technical training and support to body shops, repair facilities, and manufacturers, ensuring that the coatings are applied correctly and yield the desired results. This dedication to education fosters a strong relationship between the company and its clients, positioning Sherwin-Williams as a reliable partner in the automotive coatings journey.This paint company has made almost 11 acquisitions in the past. Some of their latest acquisitions include Oskar Nolte, Klumpp Coatings and ICA group.

By producing not only paints and coatings but also equipment and associated products, this player contributes majorly to the US Automotive Paints and Coatings market.

2. PPG Industries

Headquartered in Pennsylvania, United States; this paint and coatings company is not just only famous in the US but in the whole world. With presence in over 70 countries and over 50,000 employees; this company earned about USD 17 Bn. revenue in 2022.

This company make products in 7 broad categories which are as follows: Pretreatment, Electro-coat, Primer Surfacer, Basecoats, Clear-coat, Compact Paint Systems, Adhesives and Sealants.

The products under the category of Pretreatment include ZICROBOND which is a thin film pretreatment, CHEMFOS which is a tri-cation zinc phosphate, and VERSABOND which is a fast kinetic efficient zinc phosphate.

The products under the category of Primer Surfacer include POWDER PRIMERS, SOLVENT BORNE PRIMERS, and OPTIPRIME WATERBORNE PRIMER.

The products under the category of Compact Paint systems include B1:B2 WATERBORNE/SOLVENTBORNE and 3C1B WATERBORNE/SOLVENTBORNE.

The products under the category of Adhesives and Sealants include CORABOND, REVOFORM, AUDIOGUARD, AUDIOSHIELD, CORASHIELD, and DURABED.

PPG Industries places a strong emphasis on understanding customer needs and tailoring their solutions accordingly.

This customer-centric approach has enabled the company to establish long-term partnerships with leading automobile manufacturers, providing them with coatings that not only enhance the visual appeal of vehicles but also offer protection against harsh environmental conditions.

PPG's commitment to quality has resulted in a reputation for producing coatings that withstand the test of time, contributing to the longevity of vehicles and customer satisfaction.

This company has made almost 20 acquisitions in the past. Some of their latest acquisitions include Worwag, Cristacol, and Cetelon. Some of their major acquisitions include Tikkurila, SigmaKalon, and Sigma.

3. Axalta Coating Systems

Headquartered in Pennsylvania, United States; this American paint and coatings company is yet another major contributor of US Automotive Paints and Coatings market. With over 13,000 employees, presence in over 140 countries, this company earned a revenue of ~USD 5 Bn. in last year.

This company make coatings in primarily two categories which include Liquid Coatings and Powder Coatings.

In recent years, sustainability has become a driving force in the automotive industry, and Axalta has embraced this trend wholeheartedly. The company has made substantial efforts to reduce its environmental footprint by incorporating sustainable practices into its operations and product development. Axalta's commitment to waterborne coatings, low volatile organic compound (VOC) formulations, and eco-friendly processes aligns with the industry's shift toward greener solutions.

By providing various lines of automotive paints and coatings products, this American company holds a dominant position in the US Automotive Paints and Coatings market.

[parksautospa]

Hand car wash near me

When it comes to keeping your beloved car in top-notch condition, regular maintenance is crucial. One of the most effective ways to maintain your car's appearance is through a professional hand car wash. But with so many options available, how do you find the best hand car wash near me? Look no further, as we, the experts in car care, have compiled the ultimate guide to help you discover the perfect hand car wash that meets all your needs.

Understanding the Importance of a Hand Car Wash

Before diving into how to find the best hand car wash near you, let's understand why opting for a hand car wash is essential. Unlike automatic car washes that use harsh brushes and chemicals, a hand car wash is a gentle, meticulous, and personalized cleaning process. Here are some key advantages:

1. Exceptional Care for Your Vehicle

A hand car wash provides the highest level of care and attention to detail. The trained professionals use their expertise to ensure every inch of your car is spotless, without causing any damage.

2. Protecting Your Car's Finish

Hand washing eliminates the risk of scratches and swirl marks that automatic car washes can leave on your vehicle. This helps maintain your car's finish and resale value.

3. Eco-Friendly Option

Many hand car wash services use environmentally friendly cleaning products, making them a greener choice compared to automatic car washes that often waste excessive amounts of water and use harsh chemicals.

Now that you understand the benefits, let's explore how to find the best hand car wash near you.

1. Start with a Local Search

Begin your quest for the ideal hand car wash by conducting a local search on search engines like Google. Simply type in "hand car wash near me" to get a list of options in your vicinity.

2. Read Online Reviews

Online reviews are a treasure trove of information. Look for hand car washes with high ratings and positive feedback from customers. Pay attention to reviews that mention excellent customer service, attention to detail, and overall satisfaction.

3. Ask for Recommendations

Word of mouth is a powerful tool. Reach out to friends, family, and colleagues who are car enthusiasts and ask for their recommendations. They might have firsthand experience with a great hand car wash in your area.

4. Visit Websites and Social Media

Once you've gathered a list of potential hand car wash options, visit their websites and social media profiles. Look for information on services offered, pricing, and any special promotions they might have.

5. Inquire About Services

Contact the hand car washes on your list to inquire about their services. Ask about the cleaning products they use, the process they follow, and any additional services they offer, such as interior cleaning or waxing.

6. Check for Certifications

A reputable hand car wash should have certifications that demonstrate their commitment to quality and safety. Look for certifications from organizations like the International Carwash Association (ICA) or local industry associations.

7. Visit the Facility

If possible, take a trip to the hand car wash facility before making your decision. This will give you a chance to assess the cleanliness of the premises, the professionalism of the staff, and the overall atmosphere.

8. Compare Prices

While price should not be the sole determining factor, it's essential to compare the pricing of different hand car wash services. Be cautious of overly cheap options, as they might compromise on quality.

9. Book Your Appointment

Once you've done your research and found the perfect hand car wash near you, go ahead and book your appointment. Be sure to ask about availability and any specific instructions they may have for you.

In conclusion, finding the best hand car wash near you is all about research, recommendations, and thorough evaluation. By following these steps, you can ensure that your vehicle receives the top-notch care it deserves.

[rieper-for-hire]

"Listen, not everything has to lead back to Hitman."

Yes. Yes it can, hush.

Let me talk to you all about a song. Cause I can't get over this connection.

I was listening to my instrumental playlist last night, specifically Eros by Ludovico Enaudi (links to YouTube and Spotify, slight flash warning for YT). And of course, I connected it back to our boy 47.

Now (being the music buff that I am) I'm gonna deep dive into it, so feel free to scroll to the end if you'd like. (Tldr at the end under the line break.)

~~~

Right off the bat, it starts with an elegant piano. A simple four note melody that's repeated a bit. Some cello is added as a bass at this point. I see this part is the beginning of 47's career, specifically the interview/training at the ICA facility. We get a taste of who 47 is and how he works. The same can go for the song itself.

Slowly, the piano melody starts to change, being more connected than the previous snippet. We get other level of strings adding to the piano/cello duo (if it's the cello itself or a lighter string instrument, I'm still not exactly sure). It is here that I see this being as he starts working with Diana and the ICA. He's feeling a sense of purpose and is collecting himself now that Diana's his handler.

That section repeats for a good length of time, which I see as him going through the motions. Completing contracts one by one as time continues.

But over that time, you notice the song starts to pick up speed. The tempo increases as time goes on, and so does the intensity of the song and its volume. It becomes more of an in-your-face type of thing. There's even more levels of strings too. This is where the darker sides of his career start to appear. As more threads get woven around him, he faces more challenges (whether that be ICA, the Franchise, or Providence).

Eventually, that section reaches its peak for a good amount of time. 47 is pulled left and right to face the challenges head on.

And then, finally once every level of the song has reached its peak, it ends abruptly on a final note. And all of that's left is the fading of the cello. Almost as if that was the last trace of a silent assassin before disappearing to the next job. A perfect execution.

~~~

Tldr, Agent 47 fits the song Eros by Ludovico Enaudi. Such a beautifully composed, yet edgy-sounding type of song is worthy of representing him as he builds his career and grows as he works with Diana and the ICA, despite the abrupt end we see with the agency in WoA.

[dianaburnwood]

Since work culture was brought up, what do you think the power level between higher ups and lower downs were like at the ICA? Did the leaders ever fear that anyone could expose them to the world, or more like the regulars feared that by the time they even thought about exposing them (hello Royce's algorithms) they'd be long gone. I'm sure it payed like crazy even for janitors, so they might have no reason to even turn teams? Not gonna ask about stuff like healthcare & benefits but anything else you'd like to explore I'm always happy to read!

Awww thank you so much!

Chongqing was such a fantasy for me because I've thought about the ICA a lot, and actually getting to go there proved some of my headcanons as real canon so.... that was a TREAT

Gonna put this under the cut because obviously I wrote a long answer

Ok so,

Locations, Operations

Something that did surprise me about WoA was learning that the ICA does not have many physical locations. I'd assumed they had quite a few scattered across the world. Places that are easily wiped down without a trace (like Chongqing) but somewhere for their numerous paper files to live (we see the ICA use paper files in Contracts, Blood Money, and Absolution), and offices for support staff. Not handlers and agents, but people like the many ICA heavies we see Travis command in Absolution.

However, WoA's ICA is much more modern and sleek. Everything is digital, encrypted, untraceable. They are supreme analysts, able to find a super hacker like Olivia with great ease - twice. They don't have many physical locations, everything is done online. I think it's very unlikely handlers and agents are ever seen in any of the offices unless for a specific purpose. The few physical locations the ICA does use are for data storage and R&D, like Chongqing, training facilities like the Arctic Circle (I am guessing Greenland or Svalbard), and I'd like to think they have at least one physical location in each continent, for analysts and support staff.

Power structures

The board of directors is presumably decentralised, except when it comes to big decisions e.g. promotions, new members, threats. I assume new board members are voted in by the existing board. We know that management is largely hands-off (e.g. not even knowing that Travis was diverting large funds to his own projects, particularly in creating Victoria) but when they do find out someone is screwing around, they bring the hammer down hard.

Diana stole agency assets? Kill her. 47 stole agency assets? Kill him. Oh it's Travis fucking about? Kill him. Shadow Client is playing with us? Kill him. Soders is two-timing us with Providence? Kill him.

They probably got pretty liberal with the kill button ever since The Franchise almost obliterated them. I imagine the board and some secret assets largely survived, seeing as the ICA was able to re-establish themselves again at the end of Blood Money. Even though Diana says she's the only one left, I always assumed she meant "of that branch", or the ICA used to be a LOT smaller (which could also be true).

Although they may kill everyone they don't like, the ICA is not petty. They're all about maintaining the status quo, and making the best decisions to keep themselves at the top. They stay impartial, and follow the money. Despite happily ordering a hit on Diana and 47, they welcome them back to the ICA once they find out Travis was the real problem. Despite killing Soders for being a Providence mole, they had no problem accepting Providence's fat cheques to hunt down Grey, and later, the ICA went ahead and merged with Providence because they thought it was the best power play, even if that meant, once again, putting out a hit on their best agent (you'd think they'd learn).

The board probably makes a point of getting to know their handlers (or at least, their top handlers) as the novel Enemy Within made a point of saying that the ICA chairman had a soft spot for Diana. While the novel is just tie-in material and not related to game canon, I assume the writer was briefed somewhat on the structure of the ICA.

As for fearing exposure, yes and no. Diana exposed them and she still managed to keep her job (though she had a good reason). But in a lot of ways, the ICA doesn't need to fear exposure, because they are an open secret. In canon, they have ties to every major government - which is why they maintain political neutrality. They have worked with Interpol and the CIA in canon to bring down terrorists. Lawmakers know about the ICA, but they look the other way because they need an organisation that can get its hands dirty without any political ties. They are the International Contract Agency.

It's for this reason that I think the ICA managed to bounce back after Blood Money, and again after Diana exposed them in Absolution. I also think they'll bounce back after 47's exposure in WoA. Sure, they have to wipe the slate clean and wait for the public outcry to focus on something else, but then they'll be back to work.

However, where exposure does the most damage is to the ICA's reputation. People pay the ICA for their discretion. A contract agency is no good if everyone finds out you paid to have someone killed. And with their client reputations ruined, and handlers/agents exposed, it will take some time to rebuild.

Benefits, Work-life

I don't think it's worth it for anyone working for the ICA to turn on them. Soders only did it because he was dying, and Providence could save his life (though honestly, the ICA probably could have as well). For anyone working with sensitive material in real life, you need to sign an NDA. It's probably the same for the ICA. And while an NDA may not be legally enforceable when the job itself is illegal, we've already established that the ICA has plenty of lawmakers in their pocket. They could ruin you, and that's if they decided not to kill you instead.

Aside from that, I am sure everyone is paid out the ass. They get to work around the world with the best tech, they have power, protection, privilege, they are all set. You mentioned janitors, but I'm sure they are paid better than janitors anywhere else, and they wouldn't have access to sensitive information so anything they did talk about would be hearsay at best (if they were to risk it).

We know that handlers undergo extensive background checks and psychological examination before being hired. and I'm willing to bet the ICA does at least a background check for everyone they hire. So even if you're cleaning up some day and overhear something... weird... you're more likely to go home and count your money when the organisation in question knows your address and the names of your pets.

However, what about changing jobs, or retirement? Both are entirely reasonable, I'm sure. And just like with sensitive information in real life, if anyone blabbed company secrets to their new job or retired friends, they'd likely face the same consequences they would have for breaking NDA during employment.

I imagine the healthcare and benefits rival any big private company, and are probably very similar, as the ICA can easily disguise themselves as something legit on the books. So, great private insurance, likely their own medical facilities (and medical teams should something go wrong in the field), bonuses, flexible hours, plentiful vacation time, solid pensions, etc.

This was a lot of fun to answer. Let me know if I left anything out!

[maydaymemer]

Ranking Hitman - The World of Assassination Trilogy

Consider this a refresh of my old Hitman reviews, with brand new reviews of Hitman 3’s levels and a new rating system. I've started a "fresh file" on another account on my PS4 and started ran thru the whole trilogy again to create these reviews. Playing it as intended for the first time in a while it's great to experience it all again and it sometimes changes your opinion on levels you’re so used to playing in a more niche way. It kind of frustrates me that we can't have like extra files on the same account, but that’s neither here nor there. My specially-made rating system ranks a Hitman map on three separate quadrants: stealth (how fun is enforcer placement, intended paths and suit only?), replayability (how fun is completing the challenges, exploring the levels and messing with the AI?) and the vision (how good is the atmosphere, the setting, the characters and the enviromental storytelling?). There is some bleed over with each category, this is me debuting it, but I feel this system can accurately convey how I feel about any Hitman level and that’s why I do it this way. First I will review each map and then end with a rank of the trilogy, due to the length

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"Freeform Training" ICA Facility:

Stealth - 3/5

Replayability - 2/5

Vision - 4/5

Total - 9/15

Freeform Training is okay but suffers from essentially having two main ways to beat the mission and that's it. You can either get Kalvin Ritter when he's with his wife, or get him when he's with Norfolk. There are other ways, of course, but in terms of completing challenges I can do half of them with the former and half with the latter. There's actually a really neat suit only route that the game doesn't reward or tell you about that I will praise for being a very entertaining way to play the level, but overall it's a weaker tutorial than Paris, Hawke's Bay and Dubai

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"The Final Test" ICA Facility:

Stealth - 2/5

Replayability - 4/5

Vision - 3/5

Total - 9/15

I'd say this is the weakest tutorial of the trilogy because it doesn't have particularly strong or memorable level design when it comes to getting in and out suit only and its theming is very dull. I think a big reason is it doesn't introduce and teach concepts to the player better than any other tutorial. So it comes across more pointless than its contemporaries. Arrival + Freeform introduce camera and movement controls, crowds, instinct, enforcers and challenges. Paris introduces a large amount of verticality, using climbing or items to bypass frisk points and is the first map to have multiple, in-depth targets. Final Test introduces foliage and mission stories. However, better tutorials like Hawke's Bay and Dubai exist for teaching you that and what you're left with is a two floor box where nothing really happens. The catwalk area is really pointless and all the mission stories involve walking the target somewhere to kill him and they lack multiple ways to do them. Which is strange because even Freeform Training had more options from suit only to poison to falling object accident to do the one or two stories it had. Compared to the suit only route for Freeform Training, the suit only route for this map is really dull and easy to execute. The one thing it does have is a lot more mission stories than Freeform, even if the execution isn't as fun. You can poison the target, shoot a lamp, electrocute him, isolate him with the radio story, kill him with a plane ejector seat. It's a decent amount of kills which keeps it from being totally overshadowed by the more atmospheric Yacht level

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“The Showstopper” Paris:

Stealth - 4/5

Replayability - 4/5

Vision - 5/5

Total - 13/15

This is a level you really gain an appreciation for again when you go thru the mastery track. Paris really shines in how varied routes are for doing challenges and picking what you want to do in each level. The map enviroment is incredibly tight and quick to get around with little downtime. The only points I can knock it for is some mission stories that betray that pacing and have a bit of waiting to do. It also feels like the targets go around in public spaces so much it's not all that easy to isolate them for doing the muck around thing. But doing all the challenges to get to 20 was super fun and well paced

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“World of Tomorrow” Sapienza:

Stealth - 5/5

Replayability - 5/5

Vision - 5/5

Totall - 15/15

Sapienza is one of the perfect Hitman levels in how well its scripting and challenges are done. The level has so many little details you can take advantage of when ticking off challenges, and this also means you can use the scripting to mess with target's AI too to get unscripted kills done. For example I made the therapist sick and that makes him meet with Silvio early, which causes Silvio to meet Francesca which can mean you can get a double kill while in the suit and knock off a whole bunch of challenges. I think I still have about 20 to 30 challenges left to do which goes to show how many routes the devs made for this map and how well considered they made them. It's a level that pleases everyone

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“A Gilded Cage” Marrakesh:

Stealth - 3/5

Replayability - 4/5

Vision - 4/5

Total - 11/15

Marrakesh is one of my favorites to muck around in but going back to do challenges highlights a problem it has that I have been able to ignore as a less casual player, the experience of getting to level 20 is a slog. It requires a ton of running around and repetition and waiting which is a shame because I feel it's underrated if you're just trying to find ways to kill the targets when people aren't looking. The map could've used more routes to get into the fortresses as well as more interesting gameplay between those fortresses, which Mumbai fixed. Marrakesh also has a problem where you run out of challenges for one character quicker than the other which means you now feel like your time spent with the other target is redundant unless you do some save scumming to double up on challenges for the other guy

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“Club 27” Bangkok:

Stealth - 2/5

Replayability - 2/5

Vision - 3/5

Total - 7/15

The level design for Bangkok is IOI's worst of the trilogy, the options you have are really poor for getting to Jordan. Suit only lacks routes and the cameras are a bitch. Enforcer placement is decent but Ken is such a boring target. Jordan can be fun to mess around with both casually and just brainstorming creative ways to isolate or kills him, there's even hidden scripted moments like sabotaging his mix to get him to drink a beer, but when you try to complete challenges Ken runs out of them before Jordan does. It's a decent enough realization of the hotel concept but it's not great. Half the hotel isn't inhabited with potentially interesting NPCs as hotel guests but instead exterminators, people cleaning out unoccupied rooms or members of the Class crew crashing there. There are interesting hotel-y things that happen like the guest who flirts with 47 and gives you a keycard at the bar, but this level could be set anywhere and it wouldn't change much. It could be set in an actual recording studio and it wouldn't change much because only one mission story takes advantage of the fact it's a hotel and that's the Ken Morgan suite one. I think I might dislike it more than Colorado, because it's the dullest experience I've had completing the challenges to 20

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“Freedom Fighters” Colorado:

Stealth - 2/5

Replayability - 3/5

Vision - 2/5

Total - 7/15

Colorado isn't a complete dud like people say but it's not good still. Half the targets lack long or interesting routes and there's a lot of flat spaces to this map so when you have a good disguise all you're doing is walking from target to target rather than doing any social stealth. There's also a clear best disguise that's super easy to get to that trivializes the traditional stealth approach a bit. However, the map is still frustrating and that's for all the wrong reasons. Like if you slightly panic any target alarms immediately go off. An entirely hostile map means saving and running are less viable options, not bad when you're doing pure stealth but when you play it as more of a sandbox - for example where you are mastering these maps to level 20 - it requires being able to save and survive bad decisions in order to be fun. Not that it isn't fun, I'd actually put it above Bangkok slightly because since it's a four target map you level up for the first half to three quarters really quickly and can chain kills together in different ways which is fun. However you start running out of challenges for Penellope, Maya and Ezra quick which leaves a ton of challenges left for Rose. So you have an ultimatum of doing the level multiple times doing safe kills for the three you've done and then just doing mission stories for Rose, or you start doing random challenges which Colorado has a lot of. I picked the latter, which wasn't bad but some of Colorado's challenges are a bit obtuse and pointless. Still, I think I've put replayability as an overall positive experience even marginally, compared to Bangkok which was overall negative if also marginal. Bangkok, however, is less boring to be in. Colorado is up there with the Japan levels of Silent Assassin for being boring

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“Situs Inversus” Hokkaido:

Stealth - 5/5

Replayability - 4/5

Vision - 5/5

Total - 14/15

Hokkaido's got a big flaw in that loadouts are locked behind max mastery level. This is bad for casual play because the one thing that would make this level super fun to route and burn thru 20 in is the thing you would be routing and completing challenges to do. In this replay of the trilogy as soon as I hit the cap I move on, so I'm not going back and experiencing the level in this new light when doing challenges which kneecaps it. This is the only major flaw and it is major, but not major enough to kill what is a very tightly designed and fun level. They make good use of a small space and cram a lot to do and a lot of variations to do it. It's just, like I said, locking loadouts creates a lot of redundancy and if you move on after 20 you dont get to experience the fun of finally being free of restricitons. Getting around is always a treat. IOI's level design is at its most genius here, where a level full of locked doors feels like it has so many routes rather than feeling restrictive. It's a shame they've never lowered the bar for loadouts, making mastery feel the grindiest out of the big three of the first game (Paris, Sapienza and this). Soders is more of an objective than a target but he’s one of the best realizations of an objective in the trilogy, and Yuki covers the whole area she’s in quite well with neat mission stories for both and kills that can be worked into challenge runs like Suit Only, Ninja Only, etc. well

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"Nightcall" Hawke's Bay:

Stealth - 3/5

Replayability - 3/5

Vision - 4/5

Total - 10/15

Nightcall is a really atmospheric and cool mission, it's a good interlude point for the story and there's a good amount to do which I feel ICA training lacked. I'd probably rate it higher, because there's so many kills that can be done with Alma, if there was a second exit. This kills the replayability, despite there being a good amount of challenges for such a small map to the point where you will reach the max before you do a good chunk of them because you are funneled towards the boat the end of each playthrough is very repetitive. This might be more forgivable if the act of sneaking back was fun in itself but it's really unengaging because there's no challenging paths or enemy placement in suit only and there's a lot of room to stay away from enforcers if you pick up the one disguise in the map. So you're just walking

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"The Finish Line" Miami:

Stealth - 4/5

Replayability - 4/5

Vision - 5/5

Total - 13/15

Miami is probably one of the all time iconic Hitman maps, and for good reason because it's not only a unique idea but it's perfectly realized. There's also a lot of things to do in Miami and it feels like it lives beyond its mission like a lot of the great Hitman levels. Playing this mission back in 2018 is when I started to get what makes a Hitman target and a Hitman mission really good, and I feel it's when both targets feel equally important both to the narrative of the mission and when it comes to the amount of kills you have for a target. Robert and Sierra are both two of the best targets in a Hitman game and they're in the same mission, they both have tons of ways to kill them, varied and public routes, as well as interesting personalities and a relationship which feeds into gameplay with multiple ways to take them both out. The race is so brilliant because it's not only got a lot of ways to stop the race/kill the target while she's driving, but it also gives you the option of making Miami a one target map if you want to. It's got the quick pace and accessibility of Dubai with the depth and size of Sapienza. The one blemish Miami has is mastering to level 20 in such a big map got pretty annoying by the end because there's so much walking. A problem you don't realize as much when you aren't going for challenges. The design of the two halves of the map is excellent individually, but the problem is that due to the nature of it being a race track your two areas feel that they're only connected by those specific paths and walkways rather than something like Sapienza where everything no matter how dispirate feels locked in. Still a top tier level but if they found a way to fuse those two areas together it would've gotten a perfect score, but that's a big enough problem to knock it down on both stealth and replayability

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"Three-Headed Serpent" Santa Fortuna:

Stealth - 3/5

Replayability - 2/5

Vision - 5/5

Total - 10/15

This map is too big for a mission that only really uses less than half of its size for the targets. Three-Headed Serpent when you're trying to master it can get really tedious because it's a lot of walking across very blank areas that aren't all that challenging to get thru in order to get disguises and items to set up other things across the map to tick off a couple of challenges for targets that are otherwise very boring. The shaman, drug smuggling and circuit board mission stories are emblematic of this flaw. It's a shame too because there are opportunities for challenges that could have been very fun to do and would've improved the mastery experience. For example, Jorge and Andrea got to areas they can be electrocuted naturally in their pathing, but there's no challenge for electrocuting either or all of them like there is in, for example, the next two levels. The map geography isn't bad, even target routes aren't bad, but this is a map almost killed by bad scripting and progression design. Mission stories rarely have multiple ways to do them, there are opportunities to reward the player for thinking up assassinations with challenges that instead are giving to fetch quests and Jorge himself has a ‘fun’ gimmick where his routine is semi-randomized. That being said, it's not bad. It's just almost bad. Suit only can be pretty fun, it's well designed and straight forward with a lot of blind spots. Another thing to praise about SF is it's a masterpiece of atmosphere. Great music, for one, great visual design for the mansion and I love how the sun goes in and out with the clouds moving. And all three are great characters with weird quirks. Rico reminds me a lot of Lalo from BCS, he's a jovial killer and his genuine love for his pet hippo and his wife is a fun, humanizing trait to ironically take advantage of and kill him with. Andrea differntiates herself from most stern boss types in this trilogy by wanting a sense of normalacy despite being part of a cartel, the romance letter is a fun little quest with a great payoff in the form of a casually brutal kill. Jorge is interesting because his abrasive personality and third person style of speaking are geniune mental illness, which his VA is great at portraying. Only problem with the atmosphere is Hitman 3 has more visual glitches with the lighting I feel than Hitman 2's version. Other than that it's still got what it always had, a great atmosphere, decent stealth, shit replayability

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"Chasing a Ghost" Mumbai:

Stealth - 5/5

Replayability - 4/5

Vision - 5/5

Total - 14/15

Mumbai is the best level in Hitman 2. I always loved it but I had fallen out of love a little and didn't really touch the level lately. It's got some of the best scripting and best level 20 progression experiences in the trilogy. This map is big but unlike Santa Fortuna it only felt like a slog I think for a minute or two near the end. For the most part the level is so well designed, there's so many shortcuts and enough heavily guarded areas that you feel engaged all the time in most playthroughs. I think it's because the map is great for dealing with in segments. You can go to Rangan tower first, then that makes it really quick to jump to the Maelstrom section and then Vanya's section of the map. There's scripted opportunities like the smoke and the phone calls which place two targets in one place essentially turning this three target mission into two. The experience of completing this level is excellent because there's so many ways both in and out of mission stories to kill a target and get a challenge for it. The electrocution challenges come to mind. Not to mention this level has some of the most fun suit only routes because there's a suit only route for almost every mission story. You can suit only the Kashmirian, you can suit only the train kill, you can suit only the smoke, you can suit only the flag, you can set off the foreman then use a puddle Vanya goes thru to get the laundry to kill her suit only AND electrocute her for the Mumbai Electric/Blackout challenge. One I found out recently is Dawood drinks from a glass of champagne if you paint his portrait or help the painter without helping the Kashmirian. A good way to take care of tasteless, traceless as well as possible suit only. An excellent level, great atmosphere too tho I know it's a marmite level and I think it's because it's set in an unambigious shithole. Berlin is a shithole too but it's a cool shithole. I still think the contrast between rich and poor is excellent and all the characters are weird, unique and interesting. Dawood Rangan is a funny Indian Harvey Weinstein, The Maelstrom is a weird visionary villain who feels shackled by his own reputation and even Vanya is interesting because of how she's deluded into thinking she's royalty. There's also a theory I read that maybe Rima Shah was the real Vanya and the Vanya we kill is just a mentally ill woman she groomed to be a double. There's also the aspect people dislike of the Maelstrom being hidden. I think it's great because he is just a regular target with an incognito appearance, you can actually manipulate his route by using starting locations. For example the food stand start lets you poison him almost immediately. Another thing people dislike is the crowdedness and mazelike slums. I can understand disliking it but I feel once you learn it you will see just how well done this setting was atmosphere wise while still being well designed. There's also the aspect of there's so many ways to kill the Maelstrom in mission stories and by meeting other targets you could maybe make it to level 20 without touching the slums much. I still have the barber shop story left over after mastery, for example. I'd recommend anyone who dislikes Mumbai to give it another chance, it's one of the greats

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"Another Life" Whittleton Creek:

Stealth - 4/5

Replayability - 4/5

Vision - 4/5

Total - 12/15

Another Life is a mission I often play because its atmosphere and design is so comfortable. I used to think of it as a bigger and better A New Life, but now I'm not sure. The map is pretty good but its held back not just by the obvious clue objective but it's just very small. The smallness can lead to a lot of repitition. You end up reusing routes that worked before since your targets are always going to be in the same place that requires the same tools. It's done really well, the enforcer and enemy placement in Janus' house specifically is excellent and is shown off in that cool nurse mission story. However, in a Mumbai if you want to electrocute Rangan and you know a water cooler is on the top floor your route is now inherently different now from if you just wanted to go to the floor with the fan. In Whittleton if you want to kill Janus with his smokes or with a muffin you just use the same route that always works. In my case either go through the basement or thru the bathroom window. Adding doing that, then going up the stairs isn't a big difficult task that changes the level like having to climb up an elevator shaft past guards and get a new disguise since the top floor has new permissions. I'm either using the window/basement for Janus and why would I use anything else but the open garage door for Nolan? That being said, there's a lot of challenges to do, a lot of interesting ways to do them and the atmosphere as well as just the designs of the houses themselves is great. Each house has some kind of purpose even beyond a single mission story. Helen's house has a clue but it also has poison in the basement and two disguises. The house for sale is used for a mission story but you can also find a wrench there, a treehouse for sniping and a paddle for the secret exit. The clues aspect is still a major flaw for replayability even tho it did attempt to have more variety than other objectives, I wish a patch would make it optional. Targets have detailed routes and are interesting characters, Nolan's just an asshole they save a bit with some funny dialogue and Janus is too but Janus is an interesting asshole. The only problem is that small space does give the mission a lack of variety. Maybe a bigger map with more houses, more opportunities or even different target routes would end up as a better mission without that repitition

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"The Ark Society" Isle of Sgail:

Stealth - 2/5

Replayability - 3/5

Vision - 4/5

Total - 9/15

Ark Society has a cool aesthetic and I love the writing of this level. It's very unsubtle but it's very much a takedown of the smug rich american elites. Taking aim at right wing coal barons and the like but also with swipes at smug limosuine liberals that could only ever come from european writers. A memorable instance is an ark member's only problem with the moonbase/artic bunker being she'd have to spend her time with a bunch of MRA's, Jebediah Block having a panic attack when The Constant points out if all the rich survive and the poor die and they'd have to rebuild society it'd be inherently communist since everyone has equal wealth, or one of the warehouse workers saying that believing Ken Morgan was assassinated is "an alt right conspiracy". The level takes swipes at rich wing politics, the Washingtons are black Republicans, while not being like overly reddity by still making you weirdly root for the coal baron to win purely to spite the twins. There's some geniunely funny, macabre and at times clever writing. I was always fascinated with Hitman 2's fascination with the afterlife, for example. There’s a project being worked on to create a digital afterlife using cloning and conscious transferring. Mark Faba in the Undying ET brings up this theme again, pointing out the fear of death is what gives humans their unpredictability. As well as the humanization of the Constant while also foreshadowing his stint as the main villain of the third game, with 47 pointing out that he's clearly not all that humble as he claims if he wants to wield power while not having the responsibility of unanonimity. Problem is the actual level is boring and sucks. The Washington twins are boring targets with bad routes, suit only is a chore and the level doesn't feel like it was built right for what the mission actually entails. There's so much climbing that can be done but it's never used much for suit only or even for anything as the targets are placed mostly indoors and in places which you can get to just fine with not that much climbing. Such a strange level, and there's not all that much that you can do challenge wise beyond the mission stories. There's two fun challenges I remember, one for killing Zoe with the aztek necklace (her sister is the one you're actually supposed to kill with) and evacuating the constant and then killing them. I like those because they require some creativity. I wish there were more of that and less fetch quests as challenges like Magpie

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"Golden Handshake" New York:

Stealth - 5/5

Replayability - 4/5

Vision - 4/5

Total - 13/15

New York is excellent, despite the target not having much to her route challenge wise I mastered this level so quick because the design of the map is so fun to get around and it was so fun to route stuff together. I actuallly didn't even complete all her challenges which is funny. The map for something so small is so smooth to climb around and avoid sightlines with every eye being well placed. You can get around most of them but it's still a challenge. There's also novelty challenges that are still fun to do, knocking out Frank is unneccesary but it's still something that is fun to figure out how to do it effectively, usually with a wet floor. The objective is also reasonably fun with a lot of ways to do it, I feel that Athena having the data disk can limit you to the vault if you want to kill her from a distance but there's so many ways that are neat to get these objectives done. One flaw I can say other than not many challenges for Athena - she does have some depth to her, despite what you may think, so I choose to point not many challenges out specifically for a reason - is that starting with the third game this and Whittleton have 20 mastery instead of fifteen like in Hitman 2. Not a big problem with either but more noticable with New York because usually with a Hitman level you do maybe half to two thirds of the challenges in order to mastery it. With this you practically do everything IO wanted you to do in the level to get mastery which is weird to me. Every second level up in the last few levels of mastery are blank just to facilitate this. I think upping the XP of some challenges would've been better for pacing

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"The Last Resort" Haven Island:

Stealth - 3/5

Replayability - 5/5

Vision - 4/5

Total - 12/15

I think Haven is a great map but it's got a lot of problems. The biggest is the viewcones. They were bad in Hitman 2, still, but now they're bugged out the ass because now NPCs can see thru walls. A shame because I had some of the best fun in the second game going thru all the challenges. They were well considered and there was a lot of them without being repititive. Great atmosphere too. I love the music in the Villa and how it mixes serene and dangerous together. This map is the comfiest place to hang around in. It's just that the level’s problems it already has, a badly designed villa with not enough routes in it, long stretches of beach with no one guarding it with grass in there to give the illusion of stealth and Tyson himself having a merely okay route, are made unforgivable when your level's good points are weighed not against its flaws but instead against the game being broken as shit. I stand by this score being high, but keep in mind I'm scoring it based on not only my enjoyment but what score I would give to a fixed version of this level. I'd even go higher if they outright just made the viewcones normal sized like in every other level and just added more guards to the blank spots if they wanted it to be challenging

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"On Top of the World" Dubai:

Stealth - 4/5

Replayability - 4/5

Vision - 2/5

Total - 10/15

Hitman 3 was the game in the trilogy I have struggled with for a while. Dubai is the epitome of this. I've pinballed from thinking of it as a fun level to replay thanks to its tight design to thinking it's a shallow and lifeless opener that feels like an unneccesary tutorial. Playing thru the mastery again I now know what this game does well and what it does poorly. Dubai is really fun to complete. It has very good challenge design, I hit 20 and was dissapointed because I found some good routes I wanted to use to do the four assassination challenges I hadn't done yet. It has very good map design that is quick to get around but also is fairly large for the amount you can do. Compared to Hitman 2's DLC, Dubai maintains about as many mission stories as those had: three main stories and a couple more shallow ones. However it pads the size of the level out a bit, this can be good because a larger level can be more fun to mess around in since it’s a sandbox but I feel that it can lead to some areas being underutilized. New York is a small map but you're always using the full buffalo. Dubai has areas that are only ocassionally relevent, like the kitchen and in fact most of the lower areas. The proximity of the targets to one another can make for fun, fast routing for challenges but if you're not actively trying new things with these challenges that's where Hitman 3's challenge design can be weaker. There's a lot more generic challenges. However I really like that because you can be creative with it. Fibre wire Marcus and throw him down an elavator shaft, take out two challenges at once. Or do Meet the Styuvesants and pair that up with the whisky challenge, for an example I just came up with. So the level is pretty fun to max out, but there's one problem that puts it from a really good level into the okay tier of a 10/15: this is one of the least atmospheric Hitman levels ever. I feel like this level is fun mechanically and has some good design but I actively dislike the mood it has. Now the music is pretty good but I dislike the shittiness of the backstage areas for example. I get what they're going for with the contrast of rich and poor, but I don't click with how this part of the level is designed and think it's dull. If the whole place was oppulant or they just expanded the areas that are oppulant and not have a backstage at all I'd be fine with that. The maitenance areas can be in the floors we don't go to. That does lead to another problem, however, which is part of my argument that this tower lacks atmosphere. With every other Hitman level it feels like a believable place. I can believe a real village could look like Santa Fortuna, a real town like Sapienza or a real vineyard like Mendoza. They have purpose as a location. What was the Burj Al-Ghazali built for? This may be the point, it was built for opulance first and practicality second. But beyond an art exhibit and two bedrooms what is this tower used for? Is there offices below? More art? Museums? Shops? Is it a hotel below? Because of that I don't really believe in it as a location and that does kill enjoyment where levels that are weaker designed win me over with better atmosphere

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"Death in the Family" Dartmoor:

Stealth - 4/5

Replayability - 3/5

Vision - 3/5

Total - 10/15

Dartmoor I really like to play occasionally because I admire its design. I like the use of verticality, like Paris. I like the fact its the first real map it feels to have just one target, and Alexa is one of the best written characters in terms of complexity. She's also got great scripting, where she switches between roaming and dwelling rather than following a single archetype. She has a route and a half, almost. Very good target, I really enjoy the SASO routes you can do. For example CJ has a video of him climbing up into the top of the mansion and getting into her panic room to fibre wire her. I myself enjoy starting in the garden, getting a sniper and from the ground floor sniping the moose she stands under and killing her right at the start. However, when you level up Dartmoor I note three main flaws I have with it: repetition, challenge design and, a more subjective one, great expectations not being met.

The repetition thing is with the side objective. On one hand it improves on New York's great objective design by having the choice of either knocking out NPCs to get items or going to a specific area to get a bigger item. The improvements come from not needing to have to pick the corpse of the target like with Athena's data disk and from placing the bigger item on the same floor Alexa starts in - behind a coded safe, a good way of showing how replayable the game is when you will go from trying to figure out what the code is to just punching it in instinctively. However, New York is still better because the NPCs you had to knock out had longer, in-depth routes and the bigger item you had to get not only had multiple ways to get it but also had an interesting puzzle of it being an illegal item. Briefcases are nearby sure but to you go to a briefcase and then head to an exit or do you get the key so you dont need to go get a briefcase. Both are detours but which is quicker or more preferable at that point? I feel like the case file doesn't have that same flexibility, and it didn't need to if they instead had a third way of getting the case file. I think a good, third option would be a second safe somewhere in the grounds that could be dug up with a shovel. More ways to complete an objective is always good but that'd fix the repitition that this objective feels like.

The second is challenge design. There's a lot of times that I felt like my playthru was robbed of a more interesting kill. For example, there is fireplaces that Alexa goes near that you can throw propane tanks into from the above shaft and kill her. Did you know that? Probably not because it isn't a challenge. You can also kill Alexa with a pot when she goes into her brother's room. You probably didn't know that because the only challenge related to it is taking a photo of her visiting him. I instead took that photo and then did the lawyer kill. This adds to the criticism that Hitman 3's maps feel like they don't have as much to do, I feel that Dartmoor could have more assassination challenges and they could be fun and add different ways to play but instead most of Dartmoors challenge err on novelty or on the different ways you can do the famous murder mystery. I'm not gonna shit on the murder mystery, it's different and makes for a cool mission story that appeals to people who normally wouldn't like video games. My gran was invested in the murder mystery when she saw it, when you can get old people not to think video games are shit that's the sign of a successful experiment. However, a flaw of it is that it's not particularly different each time you play it. You can just get all the clues, then save and load for each outcome. There's no assassination challenges tied to it, which is good because that'd be redundant, but that does add to the idea that just getting the suicide kill is enough since that's the coolest one or just using it to get the versatile challenges.

Another criticism I have with it is something I need verified. I was spoiled on the reveal, but isn't it obvious that Emma is the killer? Did anyone who played this the first time think it'd be anyone else other than the Butler, but even the Butler is because it's a supposed cliche that the Butler is the killer in murder mysteries. I feel there should've been a second red herring. Aside from my final point, another niggle I have is the second route that Alexa adopts after the family meeting is a cool idea but needed fleshing out with a route-exclusive mission story or just something else. It's cool to have a second route but Alexa moving around from top to bottom all the time is more interesting to deal with as a player. The last thing that bothers me about Dartmoor is that the map set itself up against Beldingford Manor, and unless you're Whittleton Creek or Mendoza trying to usurp a classic level is a losing battle but especially Beldingford Manor was a bad idea. Beldingford is on the same level as a modern Hitman level. The level design has a lot of depth, secret passageways and spaces that are there to add atmosphere. Beldingford's hedge maze with a hatch that takes you to a basement is more interesting than Thornbridge Manor's secrets that are mostly just on the second floor. Beldingford's rainy, hostile atmosphere is more interesting than Dartmoor's typical British sky. Beldingford's towering structure is more interesting than the Carlisle mansion's more symmetrical design. Not that Dartmoor's secrets and atmosphere is bad, I have praised the verticality and character writing, but it should've tried harder because this is not on the same level as Beldingford. Beldingford actually had a basement and an attic. Dartmoor is overall fine but I'd put it a little below Dubai and have it as the weakest of Hitman 3's proper levels

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"Apex Predator" Berlin:

Stealth - 5/5

Replayability - 5/5

Vision - 5/5

Total - 15/15

Going to get all my biases out of the way and say this level would get this score no matter what. Any criticism of Berlin I thought of was refuted by memories of other playthrus I could cite in my head, because I am very familar with this map. I just recently went back to the map after doing this whole review replay to do a featured contract and it wasn't even the contract I rememeber I just can remember simply enjoying the level design and fact I was here in this map I love. Berlin is a masterpiece, very replayable and fun to route map with great theming, music and kill methods that unintentionally innovates past a lot of the trilogy's conventions. The fact your targets have more of a dynamic AI system is great because when shit happens you don't know what they could do next because they're programmed to hunt like guards rather than go to pre-programmed spots in the map when alarmed. I feel like there could've been more challenges, for example a Berlin Electric and Berlin Blackout challenge would be fun to route but the mission is very fun to level up because you can do it in a different way every time. You could even try getting from level one to level 20 in one playthru SASO without reloading or doing anything overly grindy and I bet you could come up with a good route for it. It's one of those levels where every once in a while you'll find something that changes your perception of the map, from new kills to AI exploits. However I wouldn't recommend doing that. Just play the level casually or try doing contracts because the level design is no slouch. Lots of verticality, shortcuts and there's a lot of little ways the areas connect to eachother. Love for example you could go from the projection bar, use that vent to crawl down to the DJ area and then jump down into the owner's office and then shimmy up a pipe into the biker hideout. I also love having both a contracts-inspired biker den and a nightclub in close proximity to one another. Adds variety especially with how you could either play this like a club level and only take out the targets near there or only take out the biker targets since it's a five target level that has ten/eleven targets. I also love how Jiao and the soundtrack progresses to show off how cool you are. When I reviewed almost every Hitman level before what constituted a perfect level for me is if the only changes I could suggest was wishing there was more of it, I remember I decided to give Miami a perfect because of that. The only solid things I can suggest for Berlin unless I thought really hard about structural changes would be give me more. A great level

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"End of an Era" Chongqing:

Stealth - 5/5

Replayability - 2/5

Vision - 4/5

Total - 11/15

This used to be one of my least favorite areas of the trilogy. After replaying it and just tackling challenges I'm surprised how it's jumped up to being my third favorite of the third game. My criticisms of Chongqing were that the blocks feel cramped, the ICA base is too symmetrical, target routes are too short and with a lack of kills, the camera gimmick is awkwardly done and it feels like it was a more ambitious level with everything except the essentials cut for lack of budget or dev time. However, when you engage with what you're told to play with it's very fun. The routes to get from one area to another are really well designed, for such a big area it's well paced despite being the level I take the longest with even at my fastest, it's pretty of course and the challenge design is actually really good. A good mixture of generic and specific challenges and I didn't run out of them before I stopped having fun like Bangkok, any ones I wouldn't have found fun like that disapointing mind control mission story I got to max level before I got around to then and thus skipped. I think this is a very fun SASO map. It's got an easy sniper route but I also really like for example using the tunnel to get down to the facility vents, where you can make your way into Royce's office for a fun fibre wire iso, or using the roof to slide down into the front door with a handy crowbar. I also think shortcuts, which are a feature I enjoy but haven't talked about yet, are well placed here. One of them kind sucks but the other add useful ways to get in. I really enjoyed pairing for example the fibre wire with the homeless assassination challenge, or to use an example from a recent speedrun rather than the level ups I liked getting Imogen to lock down by killing Hush with poison during the phone call then running down into the facility and poisoning her when she gets locked near the entrance. It seems like with Dubai it's a fun level to route within to get the challenges down, I bet I could pair electrocuting Royce and poisoning Hush with his therapy chair while doing it SASO and getting all the shortucts. I also like the way the screwdriver can be used in this level. That saves the awkward camera gimmick for me - for the most part. However I can't give it too many marks because even tho this is my previous bias against the level I still don't feel it has longevity as a level. It had potential, it could realize that potential if IO revisited it for a bonus mission, but for now it's a decent mission and a decent map that's fun to play but could've had more kills, more buildings, more rooms, more NPCs, it feels like the one level that would've been better if bigger. Not in a give me more sense like with Berlin, but in a realize your potential sense. I feel like the marketing for Hitman 3 got in the way of this level's quality for me. I expected Mumbai in China. I got a way better Isle of Sgail instead

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"The Farewell" Mendoza:

Stealth - 4/5

Replayability - 5/5

Vision - 5/5

Total - 14/15

Farewell is a really good level. Tho another level difficult to talk about as I can overwrite It's fun to route becaue it's got a ton of challenges you can combine, it's got a ton more kills beyond that to the point I think it could've done with more. Again, a propane fireplace kill shows up that you're shown but never rewarded for. In fact I feel like even tho propane kills on their own shouldn't get challenges because they're generic I feel like throwing propane tanks where targets smoke should've been a challenge. Tamara and Ingram in Dubai both have sort of hidden propane kills if you throw a flask down the part of their routine they light up at. Anyway, shortcut design is great and opens up way easier, new ways to infiltrate the villa. There's a great atmosphere, tons of disguises and shit to mess around with. I've got two criticisms, one is I feel there's not enough routes connecting the villa and the party area. Second is I feel there's a bit too many challenges based around the main event which is the combination of the tour guide story and the secret meeting story. However, unlike Dartmoor there's a lot more meat beyond that cool story-driven moment. Tamara and Don are not only great, fun targets to observe but they also have a lot to do kill wise. Don has starts with a short but sweet route but you barely notice it because there's so many other ways to kill him you don't interact with it all that much. Tamara's got a great route with a good amount of challenges/stories and you can set stuff up passively to deal with Don or other challenges too. I really liked doing sniper assassin here in this level because of the attic sniper. I also liked SASO where I believe I might've paired up either poisoining Tamara's asado with drowning Don by poisoning his wine after his speech, or maybe I electrocuted him with his mic while electrocuting Tamara with the water cooler. I don't know it was a long time ago. There's a lot of electrocuting in this level. Did you know you can electrocute both targets after the wine tour by using fire sprinklers? Cool details. It's a great level but I don't know what to tell you really, it's a hard one to talk about because it feels like it does everything well that previous levels did well. It's got big map design like Sapienza, a good small route a good big route for each respective target like Paris, good mission stories like Mumbai, good ways of using scripted kills for SASO routes like Miami. It's a very generically good level, just way better in practice than the word generic would imply

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"Untouchable" Carpathian Mountains:

Stealth - 4/5

Replayability - 1/5

Vision - 3/5

Total - 8/15

Undoubtably a bad Hitman level. There are two ways to play Romanian train level, as a shooter or as a SASO stealth level. Anything inbetween is way too similar to count as an entirely new playstyle. Those two ways to play are fun it's just that only having two is a bad idea and a waste of a good level concept. I feel even a linear train level could be more interesting. For example having carriages with two floors, or in a more high concept idea having each carriage steal some sort of iconography from a previous level. The hallucinations should've been more interactive, I think if all your targets tried swarming you and you had to kill them all to wake up that'd be a great narrative moment. I also feel like I do enjoy especially the idea of ghosting this level, near the end they start having kinda shit NPC placement that requires panicking people to do suit only. Never got that. It's not like you'll need to do it SASO as a kill all playthru will get way more challenges done and it only takes on playthru to max everything out. I think there's only about eleven challenges you need to do to get to level five, so I didn't even play it again in order to review it unlike everything else as there's no other way to play it and my opinion won't change and I wouldn't have any challenges to complete to judge this level off of because I already did my max run on my fresh file first try. This level isn't the worst of the trilogy when Bangkok and Colorado exist but it is a joke and IO was playing silly bastards calling this a full map. Bring on Ambrose Island, make up for this map's mediocrity

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Final Ranking:

22.Club 27 (Bangkok)

It has to be right? This is without a doubt IO’s worst designed level

21.Freedom Fighters (Colorado)

The unfavorite of the trilogy narrowly misses the bottom spot

20.Untouchable (Carpathian Mountains)

Good concept, decent execution and sightline stealth pathways but zero replayability puts this in the bottom three

19.The Final Test (ICA Facility - Cuba)

An unnecessary tutorial that does have a decent amount of replayability to it

18.Freeform Training (ICA Facility - Yacht)

This and Final Test could’ve gone either way but Freeform ekes it out because suit only is more fun to do

17.The Ark Society (Isle of Sgail)

Cool writing cant save a lack of replayability and a map that feels awkward to suit only in

16.Three-Headed Serpent (Santa Fortuna)

Great atmosphere but unfortunately due to a lack of fun challenges and disparate feeling targets this can be a chore to play

15.Death in the Family (Dartmoor)

With good verticality and a good target routine already, this could’ve birthed a fantastic map if it realized its Beldingford-level potential and didnt have a mediocre secondary objective and spent more time fleshing out the manor’s layout rather to be on the same level as its story

14.On Top of the World (Dubai)

A really fun level to complete that doesn’t have much charm to it that most of its contemporaries nailed

13.Nightcall (Hawke’s Bay)

Fantastic atmosphere, great idea, good target …but no second exit

12.End of an Era (Chongqing)

The interconnectedness of this map is well done but it lacks longevity

11.A Gilded Cage (Marrakesh)

The sandbox of this level is great but unlike Chongqing it does connecting its two targets together really poorly

10.The Last Resort (Haven Island)

Fantastic level plagued with bugs in its current incarnation

9.Another Life (Whittleton Creek)

Really great targets and mood but a bit too small leading to repetition in routes

8.Golden Handshake (New York)

Uses its small space super effectively and is fun to level up despite being padded to 20

7.The Finish Line (Miami)

Fantastic concept executed to perfection but a little too big

6.The Showstopper (Paris)

This and Paris was the toughest decision of the list but had to give it to Paris for being the perfect porridge of decently large size but still concise compared to Miami, and it’s an excellent introduction to the modern Hitman formula and still super fun to complete

5.The Farewell (Mendoza)

Really good realization of a concept with a lot of cool scripting and is still fun to complete if you just go for non-story kills, unlike Dartmoor which relies on a single cool story beat too much

4.Situs Inversus (Hokkaido)

Ingenious gimmick that doesnt make the level unfun to play and great level design that makes challenges fun to route

3.Chasing a Ghost (Mumbai)

Excellent level design and targets with lots of ways to move around and kill anywhere

2.Apex Predator (Berlin)

Excellent gimmicks topped on top of other excellent gimmicks mean getting to level 20 is guaranteed to be a totally different experience each time

1.World of Tomorrow (Sapienza)

Still the best six years later, unlikely to beat it but here’s hoping Ambrose can stand toe to toe!

Bottom five includes:

-Four Hitman 2016 levels

-Zero H2 levels

-One H3 level

-One set in USA

-The final level

-Two tutorial levels

Top ten includes:

-Two perfect-scoring levels (Sapienza and Berlin)

-Three Hitman 2016 levels

-Five H2 levels

-Two H3 levels

-Three set in USA

-Three set in Europe

-Three set in Asia

-Only one set at night

-Three that reference older Hitman levels heavily (Another Life/A New Life, World of Tomorrow/Anathema, The Farewell/A Vintage Year)

-Three “last” levels (Hokkaido, Haven Island, Mendoza)

-Two “first” levels (Paris, Miami)

[hitmanfanfics]

Chapter Update!

Diana47 posted a new chapter of 47 Shades of Burnwood (24722 words):

Chapter 37: Majestic, Isn't It? (1031 words) by Diana47

Chapter Summary:

47 accompanies Diana when she has to spend a few weeks in the ICA Training Facility to guide aspiring handlers and their initiate agents.

Chapters: 37/47 Fandom: Hitman (Video Games) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Agent 47/Diana Burnwood Characters: Agent 47 (Hitman), Diana Burnwood Additional Tags: Smut, Shameless Smut, Fluff and Smut, Filthy Friday Kink Prompts, Kink Fic, Kinktober, Porn With Plot, Explicit Sexual Content, Implied Sexual Content, Established Relationship, Fun Times in the ICA Safehouse, Spanking, Sex Toys, Remote Controlled Sex Toys, Sex Toys Under Clothing, Vibrators, Massage, Sex on the Beach (NOT the Cocktail), The Inflatable Crocodile, Teasing, Public Sex, Semi-Public Sex, Vaginal Sex, Voice Kink, Praise Kink, Masturbation, Mutual Masturbation, Accidental Stimulation, Semi-public arousal, Temperature Play, Ice Cube, Fingerfucking, Roleplay, Yoga, Mirror Sex, Anal, Anal Plugs, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Flirting, Anonymity, Sexual Roleplay, Size Kink, big dick 47, Double Penetration, Shower Sex, Oral Sex, Face-Fucking, Bathtub Sex, Edging, Rough Sex, Porn Watching, Exhibitionism, Voyeurism, delayed gratification, Cock Warming, Femdom, Obedience, this fic is like a box of porn chocolates Series: Part 7 of Smut Bunnies

Summary:

Their relationship is new and exciting, but that that doesn't stop Agent 47 and Diana Burnwood from making it even more exciting... And so they enjoy each other in forty-seven hot and kinky situations. The Filthy Friday Kink Prompt Collection

[diana-fortyseven]

HITMAN - May Patch Preview

Known internally as Patch 3.1.5.0, this update will bring more than 80 bug fixes, tweaks and improvements – with a focus on addressing many points of fan frustration for our new rogue-like mode Freelancer. We’ve also implemented a new location for Contracts Mode, with the ICA Facility’s Freeform Training mission now supported for the first time, giving players more options to be creative. Before we release the full patch notes next week, we want to give you a look ahead at what’s coming up, including a new Prestige feature for Freelancer. Let’s start with that.

Link to the full blog post here, but let's have a closer look at it and discuss everything after the cut! 😀

FREELANCER PRESTIGE

We’re adding a new ‘Prestige’ feature to Freelancer that will give you more reasons to play and earn elusive Safehouse trophies for your collection. The ‘Prestige Laptop’ will be added to the Safehouse and will allow you to increase through five Prestige Levels. You can advance your Prestige Level after you’ve collected all the weapons that can be stored in the Safehouse. At that point, three things will happen:

The base Merces payout and XP gain for completing missions will increase

Adds a Prestige trophy to your Safehouse for each Prestige Level (5 in total)

All items in your inventory, all Freelancer gear, all weapons on the weapon walls and all Merces will be reset to 0, as if you were starting fresh. Your safehouse customisations will not be affected.

Prestige in Freelancer is all about risk/reward. Once you’ve unlocked everything, you can start fresh with a higher base payout and XP bonus, earn the trophies for your Safehouse and show off your Prestige Level.

Okay, this sounds great! It'll be a bit painful to lose all weapons at once, but the XP bonus is very much needed once you reach 90.

And Prestige trophies? What a cute idea. Now I imagine Diana giving them to 47 when she's exceptionally proud of him.

ICA FACILITY CONTRACTS MODE

On May 11th, we’re expanding Contracts Mode to now include the ICA Facility location. More specifically it’s the Freeform Training mission that takes place on the yacht. Many of you will have spent hours and hours here in the HITMAN 1 beta back in 2016 and we’re excited to see what contracts you create here. Look out for some of them in the Featured Contracts section soon!

Still kinda happy about it. It's a fun training mission, and it always felt weird to have Contracts Mode for the final test, but not for the yacht!

I'm not too much into Contracts Mode in general though, so not sure how much I personally get out of it (apart from playing the featured contracts that will come).

NEW UNLOCKS

The Black Bruiser Suit The "HITMAN" Challenge tasks you with completing any Freelancer campaign on Hardcore Mode. We think you’ll agree it’ll be worth it. Plus, if you’ve already managed to do that, the suit will be yours instantly when you launch the game after the patch. Get started now and claim it on May 11.

Finally a reason to play Hardcore Mode.

Exploding Pen As the old phrase goes: ‘explosions speak louder than words’. That’s never been more true with the Exploding Pen you can unlock by heading back into the Patient Zero campaign and eliminating Craig Black under some specific and fitting circumstances. This item was previously an Elusive Target exclusive unlock in HITMAN 2, but we’re making it available to all World of Assassination players through this new challenge.

Still super excited about this! I love not only that they're making the original exploding pen available for everyone, but also even more the challenge they picked for unlocking it!

(Also, can Patient Zero please get more love?)

PATCH NOTE HIGHLIGHTS

At the time of writing, there are 87 individual fixes, tweaks and improvements ready to roll out in this patch. A lot of focus has been on player frustration around the Freelancer mode since launch, but there are also some more general fixes for the game in general that will keep things tight, but also have an impact on Freelancer indirectly.

Oh boy oh boy, let's hope the things that annoy me will get patched!

Only sharing the ones I care about here, read the full list of highlights on IOI's blog!

Spycam Toggle (Freelancer) We’ve added an option to “Hide UI” when using the Spycam. This was in response to player feedback that the UI elements can make it difficult to identify the finer details of a character with the elements permanently visible. For example, seeing whether a suspect was wearing earrings.

YES! That's great, not only because the UI made it impossible to see details at times, but also because it made taking nice photos in Showdowns impossible.

Perfect Shooter Tweak (Freelancer) We’ve made a change to the ‘Perfect Shooter’ objective (Do not miss a shot, you will fail if any shot misses a person), that will make an exception for security cameras or recorders. The objective text has also been updated. In short, you can now shoot security cameras and recorders and still earn the Perfect Shooter objective.

Really? I wouldn't have expected them to listen to those who complained. Not mad about it, because I like to shoot cameras, but how can you think it's unfair that shooting a camera fails an objective that tells you you'll fail it when you fire a shot that misses a person?

SA Recorder (Freelancer) We’ve updated the Prestige Objective description for SA/NF and SA/SO to mention “Destroy Surveillance Recorder” if the player gets recorded. Previously, this wasn’t mentioned and the objectives would be failed on mission completion if the player was recorded but didn’t destroy the recorder.

Happy about it. I usually don't forget, because I always erase the footage before I leave a mission, but so many people failed Hardcore because they didn't know it wouldn't tell them.

SA Reward (Freelancer) We’ve adjusted the Payout objectives and Prestige objectives to make Silent Assassin / SA Suit Only (SASO) and Silent Assasin / No Firearms (SANF) objectives more rewarding.

Fair. I usually pick Silent Assassin objectives, so I'm pleased.

Patient Fox We’ve also removed the forced disguise restriction on the Club Entrance Starting location in Berlin for the main campaign. Same goes for the default starting location of the Patient Zero mission in Hokkaido.

Oh! Oh that's nice! Really happy about it!

Looking forward to May 11th! 😀

[cryochronism]

HEADCANON: N7 TRAINING.

Recruitment.

The Systems Alliance casts a wide net on eligible candidates, choosing not to restrict eligibility based on which branch they serve. Provided they are able to meet the physical, mental, and emotional requirements, hold a service history that sets them apart from most rank and file, and are recommended by notable superiors or commanding officers, they are invited to the Villa in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to take part in initial training.

N7 is a form of special forces training, and requires a minimum of 4-7 tours of duty in order to participate. Segments 1-7 are each devoted to specific training, and usually act as stepping stones to prepare each candidate for the next (and more difficult) task.

N7 training is roughly a 48-49 week course, with each segment broken up to about 7 weeks each. Some candidates (depending on their prior experience, scores and performance) may complete certain segments (such as N2-N4) early. Wanting to be fully prepared and ready, Shepard chose not to skip ahead and remained to do full completion of each segment.

Location.

N1 training and certain portions of N2-N7 training are held at the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, colloquially referred to as the Villa. The Villa acts as a neutral, grounded environment that can serve as a baseline to maximize retention and training, whereas other locations are chosen to maximize efficiency and adaptability in their training. The Villa is a high security facility and all off-site Interplanetary Combatives Training (ICT) facilities are strictly confidential.

Initially, candidates train for more than 20 hours per day, leading small combat teams through hostile terrain with little sleep or food. Trainees who do well are awarded an initial designation of N1 and are invited to return. Subsequent courses--N2 through N6--are often held off-planet and include instruction in zero-G combat, military free-fall (parachuting), jetpack flight, combat diving, combat instruction, linguistics, and frontline trauma care for human and alien biology.

N1.

Initial Training. Where most soldiers might refer to this form of training as Hell Week, the ICA refers to it simply as N1 training. N1 is a 6 week course. Candidates are separated out into small combat squads, no more than 5 to a squad. From there, candidates operate and train for over 20 hours a day as their instructors slowly wean them onto smaller food and sleep intakes. This is done in order to train the body to subsist on little while also teaching them to maximize their energy. Special exceptions are given to biotics, who require a higher caloric intake to function and utilize their abilities.

Due to Shepard’s more hidden background on her biotics (reference), she was kept on the basic diet available for all non-biotic candidates.

The first 3 weeks are devoted to training and building team efficacy. Weeks 4-5 is devoted towards leading combat operations through hostile terrain (stun rounds only), and teaching candidates how to live off the grid in unpopulated or wild regions. At week 6, all candidates are taken unannounced in the middle of the night to an undisclosed location, somewhere at Parque Estadual dos Três Picos with the stated goal for the full squad to make it to the lakeside of Juturnaíba by a specific time. They are also required to avoid detection and hide their tracks, as instructors act as hunters in this scenario with the intent to capture and subdue the squad. Candidates are forced to rely on their squad and ensure that they all make it to the landing zone for pickup in order to be invited back to the Villa for N2 training.

N2.

Combat Instruction & Linguistics. This is more academic and is held at a facility in Arcturus. It covers linguistics for both human and non-human languages, primarily teaching the candidates basic body language between each species, instructions on translator maintenance and repairs in the event of tech failure, and preliminary courses on anatomical differences, functions, strengths & weak-points between species. Given humanity’s relatively short history with aliens thus far, at the time of Shepard’s N2 training this only extended to Asari and Salarian physiology, and basic information on Turian physiology. The latter’s lack of resources was a result on the precarious relationship between Humans and Turians following the Relay 314 Incident.

When not in class, all candidates are focused on basic strength training and take on a regiment of intense close quarters combat (CQC) and hand-to-hand sparring. Any candidates that fall below a 75% score both academically and in CQC are placed on probation. Candidates may only continue to N3 training if they score a minimum of 85% for each division. Shepard scored a 93% in CQC, and a respective 98% in linguistics; largely stemming from her background growing up in a city that saw high language and cultural diversity.

N3.

Trauma Care for Humans and Aliens. N3 candidates are invited to a Systems Alliance facility within the Citadel. This is important as alien biology and training is core to this segment, and the Citadel is one of the few galactic locations available to the Alliance that would have instructors for those specialities. Candidates will receive medic and first aid training for both human and non-Human species during the first 5 weeks aboard the Citadel, and will later be assigned to shadow an Alliance medic vessel for 2 weeks on its live tour.

During the initial 5 weeks of this segment, N3 candidates will undergo extensive combat training with different non-human instructors assigned. Depending on availability, their instructors for these courses could range anywhere from Asari, Turian, and Salarian, to even non-council races such as Krogan.

Shepard received training under Turian, Batarian, and Salarian instructors, crediting the ruthless efficiency of her Batarian instructor to her strong work ethic. It could be suspected that she gained a significant amount of insight on the Batarian race following N3 training, given her brutal success on Torfan in 2178.

N4.

High Altitude Training. N4 training is the stepping stone to acclimating their candidates towards space travel and is a 7 week course. This combines exposure therapy to allow candidates to become more adjusted to heights, free fall, and oxygen deprivation/suspension. There is also a focus on kinetics training and operations; teaching the body, essentially how to move and respond when in free fall.

This training is performed off-site on an undisclosed planet notorious for oxygen levels much lower than what Humans are typically accustomed to.

Candidates begin parachute training and transition over to jetpack flight training with the goals to capture items, rescue individuals, and perform covert landings within a specific location range. This segment also teaches candidates the effective operations and handling of live fire weapons when in freefall.

The final test for this segment requires candidates to perform a solo covert drop, stow their parachute and gear somewhere secret to avoid detection, and infiltrate an undisclosed location. The candidate must incapacitate all guards on site, capture a designated item, then return to their stow location to retrieve their jetpack and make their escape.

The guards and interlopers assigned on this mission are all instructors, tasked with interfering and preventing the candidate from succeeding. This will be done either by stopping the candidate directly, finding and destroying their stowed gear to prevent escape, or destroying the item the candidate must retrieve before they escape. All weapons used are stunner rounds only.

N5.

Combat Diving. Another stepping stone segment, but certainly important; it builds on N4 training by focusing on combat diving. This is important training not just because it teaches their candidates how to operate in marine environments, but more importantly builds their lung strength by teaching candidates to operate longer with as minimal breathing required.

N5 is a seven week course, and is held back at the Villa. It begins with what is called “Zero Week.” Zero Week is held in a controlled environment where initial training is done in a contained, indoor pool. Training during Zero Week requires candidates to be able to swim underwater for 46 meters on a single breath, without breaking the surface or touching the bottom of the pool. The chemical makeup of the pool alters throughout the week to become more buoyant, and more difficult for candidates to avoid breaking surface.

Candidates are then trained on dive training, teaching their bodies to acclimate to pressure changes as well as ensuring that they monitor their vitals and nitrogen levels to avoid complications such as decompression sickness. Breath training is encouraged further, as this helps minimize buoyancy issues when deep diving. Because of the dangers and risks involved in diving training, Instructor to candidate ratios are kept tight, and all candidates are assigned one partner to work alongside throughout the entire segment. If one partner fails the end-segment assignment, the other partner fails as well and must repeat the entire course.

The final assignment is to combat dive at night from the island of Ilha das Palmas to board a ship within Guanabara Bay, steal an assigned target item, and if confronted, subdue assigned ship guards (who are the N5 instructors that trained the candidates in question) non-lethally. The divers must not be seen or detected by civilians when on Ilha das Palmas, or seen from civilian boaters.  The divers must not kill or seriously injure their instructors, whereas their instructors will be using live fire rounds.

To make N5 training all the more challenging, this course is held during Brazil’s monsoon season as well to better train their candidates for inclement weather.

N6.

Zero-G Training and Combat. With the aid of N4 and N5 training, by now candidates have developed the lung strength and breath training required for zero-g. This is held in an off-site facility on Europa. The first three weeks are a refresher that most Alliance soldiers receive from basic training, and the facility in question has some overlap with Alliance in basic through the use of their shared zero-g chamber facilities.

This training further builds on breath training, maneuvers, and combat, as well as an overview of all past N1-5 training. Additionally, N6 training may feature veteran N7 graduates returning to instruct certain classes or training exercises.

For the final exam for N6, candidates are given basic gear, separated, and stranded on an asteroid with no nav data. Their objective is simply to survive. The test ends when the last person runs out of oxygen. The first few are out of the program. If the candidate survives this exam by properly employing the knowledge and training obtained in an effective fashion, they finally receive the coveted N7 designation.

Shepard survived for 49.75 Earth solar hours, and was the 2nd to last candidate left with an oxygen supply. She received her N7 designation at age 22 in 2176. Shortly thereafter, the Skyllian Blitz occurred, and Shepard was sent deep cover to track down the culprits responsible for the attack. This later culminated in her resurfacing to lead the attack on Torfan in 2178.

[subjectsix]

The Best Laid Plans

47 was perched on the edge of his seat in the airport, briefcase tucked between his feet. He sat perfectly straight, gently holding the Polaroid with both his hands. The photo made his head swim, but he couldn’t take his eyes off it. The photo of the boy with icy blue eyes. The photo with his own eyes. The photo of him. The photo from before he remembered.

(3,666 words. Set between Hitman (2016) and Hitman 2, cross posted from my AO3 account, KipRussel)

One month— faster than Lucas expected. One month, only because of dissension and betrayal in ICA. Soders turned to Providence and offered them everything. Another selfish heart to the ranks of the enemy, but a blessing in disguise for Lucas. It brought heat off of him and his militia, if only for some time. But it was still time. Time to move unseen, away from the ICA’s prying eyes.

Hunched over in the rain, Lucas knocked on the small Chicago apartment door. Someone knocked back, continuing the code he knew by heart. Lucas filled in the end and was answered by locks clicking open one by one. He tried to contain his impatience, bouncing his leg, clenching and unclenching his fists. Olivia cracked the safehouse door, peering out to see who on earth was out there so early, then swung it open when she caught sight of Lucas in the porch light, drenched in the downpour.

“You said we’d have to go dark—“ she questioned, stepping aside to let him in.

“It’s alright now. They’re preoccupied.” Lucas knocked the rain from his boots and shed his jacket. “Are you alright?” he turned to face Olivia. She clicked all the door locks back into place.

“I’m fine, are you—“ she stopped as Lucas pulled her into a hug, taking a shaky breath to steady himself. “...are you alright?” Olivia finished, returning the hug.

“Yeah. Yeah I’m alright,” he said, pulling away and wiping his face on his sleeve.

“Let’s go sit so you can dry off. I’m soaked now. Thank you for that,” Olivia replied with a dry smile, moving down the safehouse hall toward the sparse living room. Lucas dropped his jacket onto a bench by the door and followed after. “You said they’re preoccupied? With what?”

“A defector. Their leader sold them out to Providence.”

Olivia let out a single sarcastic “ha!”, scooping her laptop out of her chair and reclaiming her seat in the small room. Lucas fell into a seat across from her, glancing about the small apartment. It housed the odd militia member whenever needed— moving through town, on the run, staying for some time for reconnaissance. So it had what it needed, but nothing more. A kitchen with a stove and a mini fridge. And all the dirty dishes Olivia had let pile in the sink, next to discarded takeaway boxes. A flat, thin mattress with an old sleeping bag stretched out in the corner. A card table with fold out chairs for eating, and a low coffee table surrounded with their two chairs and a new couch. Well, new to Lucas, but a ratty and dirty couch. Someone must have claimed it from the curb at some point.

Olivia opened her laptop in the chair across from him, clicked through a few things, then shut it.

“How’s Colorado?” Olivia asked, pulling her laptop closer.

Lucas took a deep breath, mentally sorting through the past month. “Packed up. Some members are staying behind, but everything crucial’s been scattered and moved. The ICA didn’t interfere after 47 left. I’ve cut my ties from the base, we’re officially not there anymore.” Olivia nodded solemnly.

“I’m… I’m sorry—“

Lucas put his hand up. “It’s alright, Olivia. These things happen. We all know they do.” She didn’t respond.

“Where did you fly in from?”

Lucas pursed his lips at the subject change. “Idaho. Just verifying how safe it would be to move again. Was your bus ride alright?”

“It was fine,” she said, eyes drifting to the floor. “Just like any greyhound bus ride. Long, boring, better with headphones.” Lucas tilted his head, searching her face.

“Olivia. Are you really alright?” he asked gently.

“I’m fine, Lucas,” she snapped, looking up to meet him angrily, but turning away as her expression melted, catching the deep concern in his face. “I’m fine,” she answered softer this time. “I’ve...I've had plenty of time to think about it.” She pushed her laptop onto the coffee table, moving for the kitchen. The rain continued to downpour, hitting against the blacked-out windows. Lucas simply sat in silence, wishing he had more of a way to help Olivia, some way to take the survivor’s guilt from her. He knew it too well. He knew the time it took.

“Soooo do you want crappy bottled water, a capri sun, or whiskey?” Olivia asked, pulling some mismatched cups from a cupboard.

Lucas hummed. “Whiskey, of course. But water too, probably, for the sake of my liver.” Olivia snorted and dug around for a tumbler in the back of the cupboard. Lucas kicked his boots off by the heels, stretching out in the uncomfortable chair and trying to shake some of the rain from his hair. Olivia slid his two drinks onto the table and fell into her seat with a glass of water.

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, listening to the rainfall and early morning city sounds outside. Lucas’ mind drifted, from Olivia, to Colorado, to his escape from the Institute all those years before, to his brother, to their promise.

“The man they sent,” Olivia started, breaking Lucas out of his train of thought. “is he…?” Lucas took a deep breath.

“He’s my brother.”

“The one you’ve been searching for?” Olivia’s face twisted into concern. “The one who’s contract hits are, in your own words, ‘practically untraceable’?” Lucas nodded, eyes unfocused, resting his chin in his hand.

“He always was the best of us,” he mused.

“Why did you hesitate?” Olivia asked. She knew she might be one of the only people who could ask Lucas that. “If he’s working against us. If he’s that dangerous. I... I know he’s your brother, but…”

Lucas rubbed his face and leaned back in his seat, his drink nearly spilling. “He is my brother. And I…” Lucas shut his eyes, searching back into those years. “He’s been through more than me,” he sighed and leaned forward again, elbows digging into his knees. “He’s the reason I escaped the institute. We planned to leave together, but things went… wrong, they sent in soldiers, tried to stop our rebellion— in the chaos he made sure I got free and stayed behind to cover for me.”

“Oh,” was all Olivia could find to say.

“They couldn’t risk another rebellion. They tried to inhibit all of their emotions, stop them at the source, control them. Only 47 survived. And then Providence decided to pull the plug. They wanted a fresh start with fewer complications. So they wiped his memories. Took it all away from him and set him loose in the world and told him to be a weapon.”

“So… he doesn’t remember you? At all?”

Lucas took a drink, letting it slide down smooth. “I don’t know. No one truly ever forgets anything, you can bury and hide it and cover it just out of reach, but it’s always there. You just need the right trigger, the key to bring whatever it is back into view.” Lucas scratched the back of his neck. There was something he’d almost forgotten. Maybe… “Do you think you could help me leave breadcrumbs?”

Olivia squinted. “What?”

Lucas sounded more urgent now, a glimmer of hope springing up in his mind. “They have to be noticeable, but not to everyone. Not obvious, but not secret. Providence especially, we can’t risk them finding it.”

“You want him to find us? Lucas, he’ll kill us. He’ll kill you.”

“But if he remembers—“

“Remembers what?” Olivia rubbed the back of her neck, exasperated.

His words tumbled out as they came to mind, Lucas fixated on his new revelation. “After they captured us again, as boys, Providence wanted to see if their investment was really worth it, seeing the trouble we caused. And 47 was our best. So the Constant came to meet him.”

Olivia’s eyes widened. “You mean— he knows who he is?”

“The man came in wearing a Providence pin. I never saw his face, I was punished for my instigation, but 47, he met him, looked him in the eye—“ Lucas gestured, the half-empty glass sloshing with his movement. “I remember the man’s voice, but never saw his face.”

“And you think he’ll remember? That he’ll know enough to identify him after all these years? He’d be ancient now. Lucas, that—“ Olivia leaned back in her seat, half throwing up her hands. “it's a longshot.”

“What else do we have?”

Olivia didn’t answer.

“I can keep running from my brother, while our enemy tries to kill us, or I can meet him again, help him remember, remember our agreement, and have a shot at attacking Providence at the source, in the heart.”

“Your agreement?”

“After 47 met the Constant, we both agreed to our new goal. We were going dismantle the people that did this to us from the inside out. We were going to bring Providence down. Together.”

Olivia picked at the arm of her chair.

“So your plan is to leave a breadcrumb trail for your assassin brother who tried to kill us, hope he doesn’t kill you, hope he remembers you, and then hope he somehow remembers the face of a man he saw years ago?”

Lucas shifted in his seat, abandoning his glass to the table. “Yeah. That’s the idea. ...in less detail. We’ll have to research it, make sure all the pieces are there, but…”

Olivia rubbed her temples and scooped up her laptop again. “Okay. Walk me through this completely. Step by step.”

Agent 47 slid the cab driver more money than he owed him, stepping onto the curb outside his hotel in Sapporo. The GAMA Facility was far behind him now. The only signs he had ever been there included the now abandoned snowmobile, his room booked under his alias, and the “accidental” deaths of two patrons in the hospital. Death in hospitals was not unusual. Mistakes happen. Equipment malfunctions, infrastructure fails, people are lost. The PR team would scramble to account for the tragedies, cover their side, shift blame elsewhere. Providence, no doubt, would get suspicious. Their lawyer and most recent defector, head of the ICA, dying under mysterious circumstances? To an organization like that, nothing is coincidence. 47 wasn’t even aware Providence existed. Not until his search for the Shadow Client lead him to discover them.

Providence had always been a myth, a whispered conspiracy, a tall tale. Even to the ICA. And yet...

Something burned in the back of his mind. Something he couldn’t place or identify. A soft, faded familiarity. Had he heard of Providence before? It was possible. The contracts he took involved countless numbers of people in high ranking positions, both hiring him and the aim of his mission. He never cared for the politics.

47 checked out of his room, handing over his keycard and starting for the train station, shifting his briefcase to his other hand.

Providence. He knew that name. But like most things entangled in memory in his life, he wasn’t sure why.

The safehouse apartment was now littered with maps and papers. Lucas’ sleeves were pushed up past his elbows, and he tapped the red pen in his hands against his thigh. Olivia was walking around their map and notes, holding her laptop close, paging through her open tabs and programs. Their chairs had scooted back some feet somewhere during their planning. New dishes piled in the sink, their drinks scattered on the counter. The glimmer of hope Lucas held to grew brighter as they uncovered more— Olivia had dug deep, and traced the people that took 47’s memory away. The trail led them right to the Ether Corporation (‘of course,’ Olivia had remarked). In the settling dust of the old companies and ownerships, they received the formula for the drug, and had begun reverse engineering it to better understand the chemical makeup of it. There was only one, and it hadn’t been tested— who would it be tested on?— but it existed. And they could get it.

Then it was a matter of following the paper trail to Lucas’ home. He remembered where it was, he could never forget, but it had changed hands and companies too. It sat abandoned and rotting in Romania. It would just take the right offers and right people to purchase it. He tried to not laugh at the bitter irony of owning the home he hated so much.

They had sketched, and mapped, and pinned, and recorded, and planned and planned and planned. And now it was almost 3am.

“This… could work. It could really work,” Lucas said, drumming the pen against his side.

“It is a longshot, but I’ve seen you pull off crackpot ideas like this before. If anyone can make it work, it’s you. But,” she added, dropping her laptop onto the couch. “Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Don’t forget what he’s capable of, Lucas. I know he’s your brother and I know you miss him, but…”

Lucas nodded slowly, rubbing his nose on his sleeve, still focused on their notes and maps on the table.

“Yeah. I know,” he passed a hand through his hair. “I know. But Providence isn’t expecting us to fight like this. We play dirty. We strike hard, at the heart, at the Constant.”

“And if he doesn’t remember?”

“...we keep trying.”

“Assuming he doesn’t kill you,” Olivia deadpanned.

“He won’t.”

“You don’t know that, Lucas.”

“I trust him.”

“He doesn’t even know you!” she exclaimed, tossing her hands up. “You don’t even know him. It’s been... how many years, Lucas? He’s a contract killer, and you’re his target.” She rubbed the back of her neck and started to pace. “You told me yourself, he doesn’t make mistakes. You’ve tracked him, you know. And if I set this up, and you meet him, and he—“

Lucas softened, crossing the room to her, reaching for her arm, but she flinched away.

“We both know that’s a risk—“

“I know,” Olivia grit her teeth, her words spilling out. “But I can’t let it be my fault. You— you’re the closest thing to a parent I’ve ever had. I can’t…”

“Olivia—“

“Don’t,” she hissed, more to herself, holding back angry tears.

“Olivia,” he repeated, his voice low and gentle, putting his hands on her shoulders. Her gaze stayed glued to the floor. She balled her fists at her sides, full of anger and sadness that fueled more anger.

“They’re dead because of me, Lucas.”

“They’re not.”

“I hate this. I hate Providence. That they do any of this. It isn’t right.” She couldn’t find the right words to convey what she meant. There was nothing more infuriating than being upset and not knowing how to articulate why. She didn’t want to cry either, which made it worse. And she knew it wasn’t her fault, but it felt like her fault, it burned and haunted her like it was her fault, even if she knew it wasn’t. This was stupid. And she wanted Providence to burn. She choked back a sob.

Lucas’ chest ached. He pulled Olivia into a hug.

“You don’t have to do this. You’ve already done so much more than I’ve ever asked. You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” he said, chin resting on her shoulder.

“No,” she protested. “No, I want to. I have to be a part of this fight. Neutrality isn't an option.” She pulled out of the hug, resolved, something in her eyes burning, like it always was. “They’re going to pay for it. And I’m going to be a part of that.” She paused for a moment. “Even if that means being part of your asinine plan,” she cracked with a small smile. “Just. Do me a favor and don’t die.” Lucas shook his head with a chuckle.

Olivia glanced around the room, letting out a sigh, taking mental stock of the place, pushing her worries out of sight. It was even messier than it had been before, which was saying something. She took a deep breath, walking over and peeking out the blackout curtains. The downpour had begun to let up, the rain now falling softly, drifting down the window panes.

“Can we get out of here? Go for a walk, or something? I need to not be in here. It’d do you some good too.”

47 was perched on the edge of his seat in the airport, briefcase tucked between his feet. He sat perfectly straight, gently holding the Polaroid with both his hands. The photo made his head swim, but he couldn’t take his eyes off it. The photo of the boy with icy blue eyes. The photo with his own eyes. The photo of him. The photo from before he remembered.

Diana had passed him as he switched gates, palming the Polaroid to him as they walked by each other, just two strangers in a crowd who bumped shoulders, heading for their next flight. Diana headed deeper into Japan, himself headed further east. She had turned and watched him go, apprehension caught in her throat. He hadn’t stopped to look at the photo until he reached his next gate. Now, he felt both very alone, and very watched.

He tucked the photo into his inner suit pocket, glancing about, almost paranoid someone had seen it. Almost. It would just look like some photo of a boy to any other onlooker. But to him it felt precious. Secret. Dangerous. His head ached, trying to pull some fuzzy, non-existent memory. Looking at the photo felt both familiar and distant. Disassociative. 47 knew that was him. Diana had told him what she was offered, and who had offered it. She figured they had given her the photo as proof, extra payment, extra incentive. A down payment. They told her it was him. And he knew. There was no doubt.

And yet… it felt like looking at something unreal. Something he never knew. Distant, like a dream that slips away the more you wake up. But it stirred something in the back of his mind. Something he couldn’t quite grasp.

And then there was the fact that Providence held this information. Why did they know who he was? Why did they hold the key he had so long ago lost, what the ICA couldn’t find? Did they fabricate this photo just for their own purposes? His head swam. He felt as if the picture would burn a hole in his pocket. His scarce personal life and work were beginning to blur.

The flight attendant began to call boarding groups. 47 mentally shook himself and picked up his briefcase. He could consider it all elsewhere. He couldn’t afford distractions for now. Time would come to sort it. Diana would contact him. For now, it was status quo. For now, he did as he always did: quietly pushed everything aside to focus on work.

And yet, it sat in the back of his mind. Burning. Those blue eyes, burning.

The sun was finally peaking over the city horizon, spilling down the Chicago streets. The blackout curtains kept the safehouse comfortably dark. It kept the apartment private as well as letting any jet lagged or exhausted agent sleep whenever they wanted to. In Olivia’s case, she held a wild enough sleep schedule for the time to never really matter.

She and Lucas and walked through the city together for some time, watching as shops started to open and people started to head out for work or come back. The rain began to let up as the morning grew closer. They’d impulse bought a box of donuts and carved through half of it by the time they made it back.

Now, Olivia was curled up tightly in the sleeping bag in the corner, after insisting Lucas take the couch, claiming she preferred the sleeping bag anyway. Lucas stretched out on it, staring at the ceiling, box of donuts discarded on the table nearby, on top of their maps and marked up papers. The pipes in the apartment hissed as people in other parts of the building started their days. The city life grew louder outside.

Would this really work, Lucas wondered? He stared past the ceiling, eyes unfocused. It really was a longshot. A massive risk. Stupid, arguably.

Did 47 ever wonder? Did he ever search for his origins? He knew his brother knew somewhere, deep down. Even if 47 didn’t know, he knew . Lucas was sure it was in him. They couldn’t take that from 47, not permanently.

Lucas shifted, shifting his hands from behind his head, pulling his left palm into view, tracing the scar shaped like an X he carried with him all these years. He thought of the matching one his brother carried. Did he remember the meaning of it? Did he ever wonder where it came from? Did he want to know? Did he care?

Lucas dropped his hand down again, twisting to lay on his side with a sigh. He and 47 fought so hard to leave the Institute. They almost won. And it slipped through their fingers. And here was the idea again, of victory. He only wondered if he’d get to fight for it with his brother again. If he’d reach him in time.

Olivia shifted in her sleeping bag in the corner of the room. Lucas could hear her sleeping soundly. He’d fight for her. For a better world for her.

The hope and uncertainty and anger and ache weighed on his chest. Lucas shut his eyes and remembered.

What is our purpose?

He missed his brother.

Take the Institute down. Revenge.

He rubbed his thumb across the scar on his palm.

“Don’t follow. If I fail, don’t come back. Go live your life for both of us.”

He remembered that night. Full of fire and fear, and the last time he heard from his brother.

And they would see it all burn again. This time, they’d win.

Together. Providence would burn.

[hawks-light]

Icarus

{Read more for length}

{Based on a headcanon of mine}

{ https://archiveofourown.org/works/20876414 AO3 link }

Icarus’ wings hurt. They hurt so badly. His coach had pushed him even further today, despite knowing what he must do now. He can feel his body dropping a bit every few meters before he forces himself up again, and he has to fight to force back the tears. His comm crackles to life and he winces slightly at the sudden noise in his ear. “Ica… alm… ere?” He only hears a few bits of the question and taps on the comm to – hopefully – fix it.  

“Please repeat that.” He calmly whispers back despite the fear holding his heart hostage. His wings drop him a bit again and he quietly growls as he flies toward a roof to wait for a minute or two, to give his wings some rest. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if he suddenly dropped to the ground and couldn’t fly anymore. He flares his wings out to stretch them before he lets them relax, and he waits for an answer. 

“Icarus.” The voice is a lot louder and clearer now. “Are you almost there? You need to hurry. You know the consequences if you fail.” There’s a slight growl and Icarus winces. Yeah, he knows the consequences. He can still feel the pain from the previous time. In a way, the Commission had been his saving grace. If he had stayed with his parents, he would probably be dead now. But… they were also way worse.  

They pushed him too far and got mad if he couldn’t keep up. He was forced to run on a maximum of two hours of sleep on the nights they sent him out on patrol. They made him do underground hero work, arguably the most dangerous, purely because they didn’t want to wait before using him for their benefit. “I will arrive soon.” He doesn’t specify when soon is. He’ll be there when he’ll be there and they know it. They know he hates failing, and they know he’s willing to do nearly anything to prevent it. 

“Don’t disappoint us.” There’s a click, and he is left alone with his thoughts again. He can feel the places where his wings connect to his back, a sure sign he was pushed too far. He isn’t supposed to feel it like that. It’s supposed to be like how his fingers or arms are connected to his body. It takes a huge effort to move his wings, which it shouldn’t. He sighs and with a wince stretches his wings before taking off again. Time to get some criminals arrested. 

Once Icarus gets there, he hides up in the rafters, knowing people often forget to look up when searching for others. It also gives him a better view of the warehouse the drug deal will take place in, giving him a better chance at stopping the criminals with his feathers. And now to hope there wouldn’t be another underground hero. They always tried to stop him, see him, get to know who he is. They can’t figure out he’s just turned 12. They would try to stop him from going out again, and the Commission would ruin their career. He doesn’t want to be responsible for that... Not again. 

The plan is simple. He waits until the drug deal begins, he knocks everyone out and gets out of there while the Commission calls an actual underground hero to take care of everything. There’s not too much of a risk for him that way. He just had to hope the criminals didn’t think of searching the entire place before the deal. It’s a couple minute wait before he notices some movement near the door, and he’s immediately on high alert. A couple guys walk in like they own the place, and even from his spot far above them Icarus can smell the stench of alcohol. He closes his eyes briefly as he fights against the flood of memories it causes. 

When he opens them again, the men have moved to the middle of the warehouse. A smaller guy enters too, looking skittish. Probably the buyer. If he strains enough, he can just understand most of what they’re saying. His suspicions are soon proven, but he still can’t attack. The drugs need to be brought out first. Icarus is so focused on the people beneath him, he doesn’t notice the one behind him until it’s too late. His wings suddenly are a dead weight dragging him down as he is pulled close to a body, hand over his mouth to muffle his startled shout. 

“What’s a kid like you doing here?” Is hissed in his ear, and he tenses upon recognizing the voice. Aizawa Shota. Eraserhead. One of the best underground heroes there is. “You can’t stay here. You can’t leave either because you would get caught and ruin the mission.” He manages to turn his head a bit and flinches at the red eyes glaring at him. The hero sighs as he blinks, hair falling from its gravity-defying position and his eyes going black, and Icarus can suddenly feel and move his wings again. “What am I going to do with you?” 

Icarus doesn’t answer- not that he’d be able if he wanted to, with the hand still over his mouth. “You stay right here and don’t move, understood?” He meekly nods in response. He wasn’t planning to move anyway. His feathers would do everything for him. Eraserhead finally pulls his hand away and, with a last warning look, takes off to get to a good vantage point. When he looks down again, he sees it’s just in time. The drugs have been brought out. With a last glance at where he saw Eraserhead disappear, he sends his feathers out. They knock the dealers and buyer out within seconds before coming back to him, and he stands up from his crouched position with a grin. 

Until something wraps around his legs while his wings turn into dead weight again, that is. He tumbles backwards and off the rafters. The only thing keeping him from falling to his death is the capture weapon Eraserhead had wrapped around him before using his quirk on him. He pouts as he bungles there, slowly spinning in circles as his wings pull on his back painfully. “Well, that’s just rude.” He complains to the cold air, crossing his arms stubbornly. 

“You aren’t allowed to use your quirk.” Icarus has to admit the red eyes are rather fear-inspiring as Eraserhead stops right in front of him, glaring once again. “I mean, how old are you? 9? 10?” He has to bite his lip to keep from snapping in the man’s face, not wanting him to know his actual age. “I’m gonna take you to the police station, child. You should try to make this easier on yourself.” He scoffs as he narrows his eyes. 

“I’m sorry, Eraserhead, but I’m afraid that won’t be happening.” He bluntly replies, which apparently is enough to get the hero to blink. It’s all Icarus needs to free himself using his quirk, easily landing on his feet. “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t meddle in my business. The Commission doesn’t take too kindly to that.” He rolls his eyes at the understatement of the century. He can barely stop his wings from trembling as he spreads them, the strain slowly getting worse. “In other words: don’t look into this and don’t tell anyone about this, or the Commission will show you the consequences.” 

With a huff, he takes off through an open window and into the night sky. Fuck. That could’ve gone better. He just hopes Eraserhead actually listens to him. The career of an underground hero is fairly easily destroyed, often resulting in the dead of that particular hero. He doesn’t want that to happen to him. A lot of underground heroes are dicks, but Eraserhead... He’s something else. And Icarus doesn’t want to be responsible for his downfall. 

Landing back at the facility nearly makes him drop flat on the ground, and he gets hit for it. “That is no behaviour for a future hero!” He gets scolded as he is dragged to the training room. “You got caught by Eraserhead. If he digs into this and we have to take him down, that will be on you. You should’ve been better, faster, stronger, sneakier.” He should’ve been, indeed. But he wasn’t. So, he’ll just need to get better. And faster. Stronger. ...Sneakier, too. Anything to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Anything to make sure... that no one else will be hurt because of him. 

He raises his fists as he gets in a fighting stance, ready to spar like they want him to be. If he just makes sure he listens to them... If he makes sure they won’t have any reason to be disappointed in him or punish him, then he can be a real hero. He won’t be one as long as people get hurt because of him. A hero saves people, he doesn’t doom them. Not like Icarus does. 

-----------------------------------------

Hawks wakes up with a start, feeling sweaty, gross, and most of all, scared. He thought he had put it all behind him. Well... Apparently not. He drags himself out of bed despite it being 3 am and ditches his wings to take a shower. He leans his head against the freezing tiles as he lets the water stream over him. What had brought that memory back? Was it the news he had seen earlier, where Eraserhead told the press that the kid who had been kidnapped would never be a villain? 

Or maybe... He shakes that thought off. No way was it because he had a feeling something related to that would happen. Icarus had fallen into the ocean when Hawks had risen. The Commission had promised that. And even if they hadn’t... He is too recognisable now, as the Nr. 3 hero. He can’t be an underground hero anymore.  

He nearly slips when his phone starts ringing, and he can only be bothered to turn off the shower before walking back to his bedroom, not even wrapping a towel around himself, tracking water through his apartment. “Yeah, Hawks here.” He greets, his voice still rough. The response he gets near immediately makes him freeze. Fuck. The Commission wanting to meet him is always bad news. He confirms that he’ll be there and ends the call before they do. A small show of rebellion in the early morning. 

With a sigh he looks at the time and, upon seeing it slowly nearing 4, decides to do his morning stretches. What’s wrong with some extra time to prepare before his patrol this day?