#hitman3spoilers

[myth-blossom]

Ooo, that's a cool idea about the song-inspired fic! Can I request Black by Sarah McLachlan?

Thank you for the song suggestion! Hauntingly beautiful. I’ll post the fic below and also on AO3.

Content warning: major character death (and quite the whump of a drabble)

There was always a plan. 

If that’s your winning face, I’d hate to see you lose.

There was always an exit strategy. 

Diana can’t help you now.

They never failed.

I wish there’d been more time.

So how could it have gone so wrong?

47 felt as if he was sinking inside himself, further and deeper into a pool of despair that he couldn’t fight no matter how hard he tried. Eyes open or closed, he felt as if he were drowning in the pit of his very soul. 

“Grey is gone,” he managed to tell Olivia. “Go to Berlin and stay out of sight. We’re all that’s left now.”

Maybe he wanted to stay under the surface….maybe in the sunken depths of his grief, he could drown out this pain. Maybe then he could muffle the agonizing words of his brother that played repeatedly in his head?

The CICADA team left not long after the echo of the final gunshot ran through the trees. 47 felt like his skin was burning being in the clothes of the team that cornered Grey, and he quickly yanked off the tactical wear for his previous outfit. He returned to the spot where Grey had fallen, with each step feeling like he was walking through a muted world of shadows and silence.

47 couldn’t afford to waste time, but he also couldn’t just leave his brother there without offering some sort of reflection. He knelt by Grey’s body and stayed very still. Grey had been a ghost, just like he had been. His past was never his to own and his future bitterly earned but never given. It wasn’t fair, but it was the hand they were dealt. 47 was grateful they were able to know each other again, if only briefly.

47 would honor his brother and fulfill the pact they made all those years ago. He would finish what they started. And he decided he wanted something of Grey’s to carry with him. 47 carefully shrugged off Grey’s coat, grateful that it had miraculously kept fairly clean in his final fight. He pulled on Grey’s coat and flipped up the collar. His brother would always have his back, just as he did when he was alive. 

Is this really what it felt like? To feel this much pain? To lose so much and know that there was nothing you could have done to stop it? 

He hoped Olivia was safe. Grey would want her to be safe.

He hoped to see Diana again. To ask her what happened. But he would settle for knowing she was alive. 

She had to be alive.

Despite the darkness overwhelming his soul, 47 was able to make it into the train station as it was the fastest path he could take back to Berlin. He didn’t know how he managed to accomplish it without staying frozen in place on the platform—he supposed it was the cold proficiency befitting a man with nothing to lose and a schedule to keep. 

No, he still had something to lose.

“Keep your head down,” he told Olivia. 

47 was a man with a score to settle. A man with a point to make.

“I’ll take care of this.”

He was the apex predator.

And he would fight the world to finish what they started. 

[lone-pylon]

Mendoza doodles~

All Diana all the time

[dianaburnwood]

“He had the awkward tenderness of someone who has never been loved and is forced to improvise.”

— Isabel Allende, The House of The Spirits

[glass-of-malbec]

Screenshots of the conversation in Mendoza, Hitman 3.

[lucas-grey]

I made this quick painting of Agent 47 and Diana. It was very hard to paint, I had some issues with the paper and it’s way too much black and it was difficult for me to add shadows. But anyway, I wanted to show it to you and I hope you still like it!

(I’m not good at drawing free hands, so I used a screenshot by @dianaburnwood as a template. I hope that’s okay)

[some-strawberry-jam]

The Heart of Hitman 3: A Summary and Analysis

(SPOILERS AHEAD! You have been warned.)

Or rather, the heart of this trilogy itself. 

Diana and 47. 

Yes, that’s incredibly obvious and doesn’t have to be said! However, I was on the Hitman subreddit earlier, and this quote by u/Mr_smith1466 describes it perfectly: 

“47 cared because of Diana. She was his link. She was the one he cared about and everything else flowed from her. That's why they start the series with Diana and 47 becoming friends. Because that was the heart of the trilogy. That's also why The Constant was so into Diana, because he was a weak guy who took power and sold his soul. He thought he saw a kindred spirit in Diana, but Diana never would because she had 47.”

From personal preference, I always enjoy seeing stories revolve around a relationship. A tight group of friends who enjoy each others company, or a pair of enemies-turned friends-turned lovers. In this case, the relationship is a bit complicated. 

An emotionally detached man who has been hurt, abused, and made to be a killer with his handler, a posh, intelligent woman who “also knows what it’s like to have everything taken away from her.” Who would’ve thought they would have such a bond? Well, after over twenty years, of course it would develop. There’s a deep sense of trust and understanding that has bloomed throughout the games, not just this trilogy. 

~~~

In Blood Money, we have a taste of betrayal and confusion (which was quickly overtaken by Diana’s true motives), a poison, and a kiss, to save the ICA. A good move, mostly. 

In Absolution, we have another taste of betrayal and confusion, an exposure of the ICA, and the attempt on her life by 47 (which ended up being non-fatal on purpose), and a promise between them (about Victoria) kept. 

~~~

Coming back to the WOA, as stated by u/Mr_smith1466, the story starts with the two of them, and I find it fitting that it ends with them. 

She chose him. Finding possibilities where others saw limitation. She fought for him.

Here, we have new bonds made with Olivia, The Constant (>:| kinda), and most importantly, Lucas Grey. A link to 47′s past and a link to the eventual destruction of Providence that Diana encourages they pursue. It’s these types of stakes in the story that couldn’t be written a decade ago: it takes time, it takes mistakes, it takes development. She is doing what she feels is best for him. 

And then...

By the end of Hitman 2, we find out (from the Constant, might I add) that 47 killed Diana’s parents with a car bomb. Now what? 

~~~

The “destruction” of the heart. 

The Chongqing mission involves exposing the ICA himself. While deleting the files, Olivia states how the two of them go waaay back. She understands why he wants to protect Diana. 

Grey doesn’t really trust Diana, and she ends up partnering with the Constant again, this time, to add a new taste of betrayal and confusion to 47′s palate. In a scene reminiscent of Blood Money, he is betrayed, poisoned, but set free. She is completely aware of what he did, but knows that he didn’t have a choice. “People aren’t meant to be controlled. This...is a kindness.” 

“Goodbye, agent.”

~~~

He’s lost Grey. Olivia is back in hiding. 

47 has doubts. 47 is afraid. 

He’s afraid about how Diana has chosen power over everything else, that she was just like them. He’s afraid that the path he’s taking had no purpose, it was attempting to give him one. It takes the culmination of Grey, of someone who didn’t completely trust her, to convince him his fears aren’t true. She hasn’t. She’s cunning, and smart enough to tear Providence down from the inside. All he needs to do is embrace the past, his mistakes. 

The Constant is eliminated. Where does that leave 47? 

Back to her. 

A year after the events, Providence had been dismantled. 47 has been free, embracing what terror has happened to him, and is truly free to make his own decisions on his own terms, in a grander sense. He chooses the ICA willingly, as it’s his life, the life they’ve had for so long. 

He chose her.

~~~

I find that this relationship is genuine and full of love. Not necessarily romantically (though we’ve gotten a kiss, THE FLIPPIN TANGO, and essentially the Hitman fanfic of my dreams in Mendoza, that’s another post), but the bond that they share goes far past that. 

Their lives have been intertwined, and it’s been proven over and over again, that they care about each other. I suppose it’s like the found family trope, as 47 never really had one, and Diana lost hers. It’s something that I’m failing to put into words (as I am sure I’ll be editing this again later). They have chemistry, they banter, they love each other.

We could argue for some ulterior motives, but in the end: She is his handler, his “guardian angel,” his friend. She is his only weakness. 

He is her agent, her “partner,” her friend, perhaps more.

They are family. They have each other.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

[krazyyy]

Hiiiiii omg ik no one cares but I just finished hitman 3 and I love it so so much omg. I need ppl to talk to omg I need to draw themmmmmm.

[kaoribriefs]

👀👀👀 So hyped

[walkyriekane]

I am pretty sure that Corvo Black in the Mendoza mission is a Dishonored reference

I mean, it's not a very common name, and when I heard it I immediately thought of Dishonored

[lone-pylon]

Playing Hitman 3 again and I completely forgot how much of a rock drops in my stomach when Diana’s call cuts out and the mission exit music doesn’t play at the end of Death in the Family :(

[dianaburnwood]

Where’s our moment in the sun? 

[lucas-grey]

So after typing my rage about the story of Hitman 3 right out of my heart, I want to point out some of the beautiful moments in the game. Starting with this one:

47 is blending in and he has a totally random conversation with the woman besides him. She talks about her friend who she wants to meet and asks him, if he saw her.

It’s such a sweet little moment because it is one of the moments where 47 shows his gained back humanity. It’s like he doesn’t care about chatting with other people, he’s like “why not?”. And this is the development I love about him. He became more human. He’s still a killer, but he has feelings and thoughts.

The woman says, that she has a bad conscience because she forced her friend to come out and 47 calms her and says something like she must be a real friend when she comes out in the middle of the night in the rain. He finally understands friendship! He understands human behaviours and feelings, but not in an analytical way but on an emotional level.

[dianaburnwood]

this tumblr post has me in a vice grip

[krazyyy]

OMG what was your favorite mission for hitman..

Not very surprising lol, but mendoza most definitely. It was just so fun and of course I was so happy to see 47 and Diana together.

[dianaburnwood]

new mission idea 😏😏🤭