Nocturne - Prologue

Nocturne
Prologue

  “Everyone in place?” Legion asked over our brain wave communications, voice as charismatic as ever.
  “Always and forever,” Broken Halo replied, loving words meant for her love.
  “Armed and dangerous,” Unyielding Jade chuckled, drawn in by the beauty of our line of work.
  “My fangs are getting impatient,” Hell’s Viper sighed, unrest ever present in her voice.
  “His Left Hand is ready,” Heaven’s Smile stated religous and bloodthirsty all at once.
  “They’re in our sights,” The twins Bittersweet Gum and Sour Lollipop said in synch, voices blending in perfection.
  “Ready to fly,” Ethereal Beauty giggled, sadistic yet sweet to the ear.
  “Time to bleed,” I, Bleeding Apple, answered, smooth, but quiet.
  Beauty and I were sitting on the Empire State Building awaiting the go signal. We were hunting a man with a briefcase. Simple as that, but there was great chance of it being much more complex. Nothing was ever made simple for us assassins, the Nocturne Runners. If it was simple, it was a set up. The helicopter in which our target was holed up in approached the building. A whistle shot through my mind and I took Beauty’s hand. We fell off the tower together headfirst at the helicopter. I grabbed onto a blade with my bare hand stopping the chopper causing it to descend abruptly. Beauty kicked the door open to find our target parachuting out of the falling vehicle. He landed safely on the ground and entered the alleyways. My partner and I dropped the chopper into the streets letting it explode. We proceeded to give the man chase deigning to not shoot him in such darkness. We couldn't risk losing our prize with a misplaced shot. The rain pounded the streets furiously and we kept in step with each raindrop. The target climbed up to the roof of a building and began leaping from roof to roof trying to escape. Joining Beauty and I were Viper and Smile running at a steady pace to get into position to pounce our target.
  The man came to a halt as the hulking figure of Unyielding Jade made a jump at him and landed before the target. He tried going right, but Broken Halo and Legion came clambering up the roof to block him off. He turned around and made a break to jump to the next roof. A sniper bullet nailed him in the thigh dropping him out of the air. He managed to save himself by holding onto a fire escape.
  “Apple, secure the package,” Legion ordered.
  I took a simple step forward moving leaving a crimson and black mist behind me as I flashed to the target. I stepped on his pinky finger.This was always my favorite part of the job. Interrogations were my specialty. I shined a light on this degenerate's face and he was whimpering for help. His eyes were watering as he tried to hold on for dear life. I pulled out my trademark knife, a tactical knife I used to carve apples, not in the traditional sense. I propped the man's head up, pressing the knife to his neck.
  “Yves, let’s make this quick,” I told him, cutting to the chase. “Hand over the briefcase. It's been a long night and I want to get home."
  He spat at me. “Fuck you!”
  I ripped his ring finger off with the knife. “Didn’t your mother teach you proper etiquette, Yves. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Once more, give us the money and we’ll let you go peacefully.”
  “You NR pricks don’t phase me  Fuck you and your whore of a mother!”
  “Shouldn’t have said that,” Legion informed Yves. “Apple, drop him.”
  I withdrew my knife opting for a more genetic weapon. Tightly did I grip the man's clenched hands. In a great flash, I discharged crimson electricity into Yves. His grip loosened up until he fell to ground. Beauty flashed down with a black and sapphire mist and retrieved the leather briefcase carried by Yves. She handed it up to Gum as she and Lolly arrived. The rest of us joined finding the man trying to crawl away. Jade stomped over to him and turned Yves onto his stomach.
  "You can't do this!" The criminal screamed. "I know people, big people! They're gods compared to you! They'll kill all of you!"
  Jade rammed his fists into Yves knees. "We're titans!"
  "Somebody help!" Yves shouted praying in a God he had no faith in. "Somebody fucking help!"
  Legion came upon him sitting on the man's chest. "Help? Who the hell in their right mind would come for you? We are the city's most wanted, do you really think anybody's coming to save you?"
  "Naiveté runs rampant amongst criminals," Halo scoffed.
  Viper tapped her fangs. "I say we display him as an example."
  "No, anything but that!" Yves pleaded in vain.
  Legion knocked him out cold. "Beauty, set the bastard up for execution."
  My partner lifted Yves up with one hand. She used her free hand to grab chains from her cloak. I helped her tie Yves to the walls of the two buildings. As far as tradition went in NR, we always executed targets we found to be expendable in creative ways. One thing stood true in each execution though, they were undeniably gruesome.
  To start this execution, Beauty made her mark on him. She lifted her leg up ramming her right heel into Yves' forehead. She pulled it back bloody covered with bits of brain. Smile went next brandishing his machete. He slashed the bastard in the neck. Yves' head hung slightly off his neck now. Viper went next sinking her razor sharp teeth into his heart. She injected a poison that instantly causing lacerations all across his torso. Halo went next carving the Sigil of Lucifer into Yves' drooping head. That was our calling card of sorts. Legion grabbed onto the long dead man's legs and ripped them off with relative ease. He beat his head with them until it fell onto the wet pavement. I pulled my knife out and carved an apple into the center of the torso amidst the lacerations. As usual, Jade finished the job epically. He dug his entire hands into Yves' body and pulled it apart in half. Still, he wasn't done yet. As an added bonus, he took the man's heart out and crushed it in his bare hands.
  "Tastefully done," Legion complimented.
  Smile turned to the street. "I hear police sirens. We should make it back home."
  "Sure. Debriefing in an hour."
  We flashed back home, a compound situated in Manhattan. It consisted of a fourteen story building where we slept, an armory for our weapons and uniforms, and a garden out front for meetings. This whole operation was funded by one of Manhattan's most eligible bachelors and a well-known philanthropist, Robert L. Lincoln. He adopted nine kids into his home and he bred them to be assassins, the infamous Nocturne Runner. I felt to distinguished to be one of those nine, a hero to the innocence, a threat to the enlightened, and competition to the protectors.
  When I came up to my room, I threw my cloak off and removed my clothing. Even if I was super human, I wasn't immune to ailments. Joining me, wishing she were elsewhere was my roommate, Marisol Diaz (Ethereal Beauty). She absolutely despised the rain with a passion while I was in love with having come from London.
  "Tell me again why we work rain or shine?" She inquired as she disrobed.
  I smiled. "The rain's refreshing."
  She shook water off her hair in my face. "There you go. If you like it so much, I might as well share with you."
  "Lighten up. We had a good night, didn't we?"
  "That jackass ruined my shoe."
  "But you did stick it in his head."
  "I haven't the time for your logic. I'm soaking wet and my hair is ruined."
  Deciding it was best, I left Mari alone leaving to get a towel for myself in the bathroom. Unlike her, I wasn't as superficial having no problem with my hair. It wasn't anything to fuss about because it was easy to fix. I dried myself and fixed myself up for the debriefing. While doing so, I vomited blood and other things into the sink. I wiped my mouth wearily in lament of my illness. When I was four, I was diagnosed with a terminal illness, it's name unknown to me. It caused vomiting and the occasional near failure of vital organs. It was the price I paid to generate electricity.
  "Again?" Mari asked examining my disgusted face.
  I nodded clutching my churning stomach. "Feels like a blender tearing up my insides."
  "Do you think you can last the meeting or do you need to see Lacus before?"
  "I can stand a meeting. Let's get upstairs."
  She put her arms around me warping us outside to the garden. The garden was a monument to our innocence just as the armory was a testament to our killer instinct. It was maintained by our blonde-haired vixen/medic/surrogate mother, Violet Lovegood (Broken Halo). She was tending to the orchids when we entered, but she was being distracted by my brother and our leader, Griffin Rizzeti (Legion). They looked so cute together. They had the same look in their eyes they had the day they met. It wasn't hard to believe those two would marry in a couple of weeks.
  "Evening, lovers," Mari greeted the two.
  Griff pulled away from Lac. "Hey, there, you guys. Good mission, huh?"
  "You sound disappointed to see us. Is there a reason for that?"
  Lac kept Griff from speaking. "No need to say anything. So, what's wrong with Baby Apple?"
  I sat down at the fountain as the garden started spinning. "Is it biologically correct to have one-thousand mice scurrying around my digestive system?"
  "Not if you're that guy from last night's new story," Griff joked.
  Lacus slugged him in the shoulder. "Shut up. You should be supportive of your baby sister. She's gonna be leading this team after we tie the knot."
  "Leading?" I said in disbelief.
  See, our team only had on shift in leadership over the five years we were together. Our first leader was a French girl, Fiona Ames. No one spoke much of her because she was the best leader we had. We lost her to something no one feels comfortable remembering since it fractured NR for a time. Still, before she went, Fi named Griffin her successor. Since then, he's been a fine leader, but he was to be married soon. He and Hayley would be doing other missions since they were probably gonna start a family. Children got in the way of our progress a lot. Didn't matter if they were related to us or someone else, they were liabilities. So, I really had no preference for their marriage believing it to be a liability. Nothing in me liked change. Things were fine how they were and I liked that.
  "I don't want to be leader," I whined as Griff went on about it.
  Luckily, the twins came upstairs arguing. "That shot was complete bull!"
  "If I hear one more word from you, Nagisa, I will rip your head off!"
  Griff brandished his leader voice. "Whoa, what's with the hostility. We had a good mission, what happened?"
  Midori (Bittersweet Gum), the older twin, replied. "Nagisa thinks my shot was bad when she was the one who calculated the target."
  "It's not my fault," Nagisa (Sour Lollipop) groaned. "Targets move and numbers change. You should have been ready to adjust."
  "Well we got him, didn't we?"
  "I'd say what we did to him was a little more than just getting him," Veronique (Hell's Viper) corrected as she and her brother, Jules (Unyielding Jade) entered the garden. "I'd say that was our best execution so far."
  "Kudos on the building push," Mari congratulated Jules.
  He plopped down near the lilies. "Merci, ma copine."
  "Kudos?" Midori scoffed. "I got liver bits in my hair from that building push."
  "Tis be the price for infamy," Griffin noted. "Is everyone here yet?"
  "Choir boy is still in the building," I said trying to stomach speaking for a bit.
  Veronique grinned from ear to ear. "Oh, it must be torture for him to be in a group filled with atheists!"
  "I swear his first word to me was heathen," Midori added.
  "It might be my last word to you, too," Drew (Heaven's Smile) chimed in completing our group. "I'm not that much of a stiff anymore, am I?"
  "Well, you didn't give Yves last rites so I guess that's an improvement," Griffin noted. "Okay, everyone, off your butts and stand at the ready for boss man."
  We rose to our feet forming a circle around the fountain at specific spots. The garden had stone tiles on the floor and nine of them had engravings corresponding to each of us. The one with the apple on it belonged to me, locust for Griff, a shattered halo for Lacus, a butterfly for Mari, a horned viper for Veronique, a green Buddha statue for Jules, a bubble for Midori, a lollipop for Nagisa, and a smiley face for Drew. We stepped on them causing a bell to chime and in seconds, Robert Lincoln graced us with his presence.
  He was something of an enigma, always wearing shades day and night. Never had I seen his eyes. Griffin said he did and in them he saw resonance, whatever that meant. The man didn't even have a regular job, but he owned most of Manhattan with ease. We knew he had powers like ours so we could only suspect he was using them to fund this group.
  "Evening, NR," He greeted, his voice like a harp. "Congratulations on a job well done." He flashed the briefcase to his hands. "Here is our payload."
  "Money?" Drew said puzzled. "Aren't we non-profit?"
  "Money's fine and dandy, but it wasn't our goal." He emptied out the briefcase and tore the bottom out revealing a hidden compartment. "Here is a disc that is important to ending our mission."
  "What's on it?" I asked.
  He handed it to Midori. "That's what Miss Amagi will figure out. It's encrypted, but it shouldn't take long to hack." He whistled for our maid, Abigail. She came handing out drinks. "I propose a toast, my friends."
  "To what exactly?" Griffin asked.
  "To a new milestone in our journey. To NR!"
  "To NR!" We repeated raising our glasses up.
  Our brief celebration was made even shorter when a sniper shot hit me in the hand. It went limp and useless bleeding profusely. I held it as more sniper shots started descending upon us. Everyone flashed into the bushes to hide from our assailants. It felt quite ironic for the assassin to become the target. I was on the ground near the roses trying to hold in my need to scream.
  Another shot was fired right in Drew's hiding spot. I could hear slight wincing from him, but he was all right. I didn't know who could've found us or been this good of snipers, but I was scared. My fear was even more exacerbated due to claustrophobia. I was confined to this little space unless I wanted to get killed and it was unbearable.
  Another shot fired nicking me in my leg. I flashed again ending up in bushes towards where the shot came from. Jules was next to me bleeding from his shoulder, a stab wound. He tried warning me, but a foot assailant came from behind stabbing me in my lower back. I killed him by getting him with my knife, but I was still wounded badly.
  "Stay down," Jules told me pulling me beside him.
  I was hyperventilating. "I can't breath, Jules... It hurts so bad...."
  "Calm down. We'll be fine. Just let them think we're dead."
  I noticed an assailant moving over to Midori's hiding spot armed with a magnum. Against Jules' pleading and my better judgement, I forced myself to get moving and charged at the man knife at the ready. He turned around too late as I plunged it in his forehead cutting him open. However, I wasn't ready for a sniper getting me in his sights.
  Griffin ran out his hiding spot. "Maggie!"
  I turned around to him as the shot fired. "Griffin!"
  Blood covered my blouse as Griffin and I held each other falling to the ground. Heavy breathing filled my ears and I didn't know if it was mine or his. More gunshots sounded in the stagnate air. They weren't sniper shots, but NR shots bearing a distinct growl to them. The snipers had been disposed of and our team was regrouping. They crowded around Griffin and me weeping. I could taste the sorrow ever present in the atmosphere.