Yuna's Office, Present

  Ryuga enters to find Yuna reviewing footage on multiple screens. She doesn't look up immediately.

  "Your accuracy rate dropped by two percent last mission,” she tells him.

  "The target moved unexpectedly,” Ryuga said, remembering Roy and the rebels.

  "Mm. Still. I expect perfection from my... investments. Come here."

  Ryuga walks over to her, sitting down on the chair next to her.

  “District 7 needs attention. Shifter gang, standard corruption spread." Her voice stays formal but she's sitting close enough that he can smell her perfume. "Previous teams failed to maintain suppression."

  "Elimination protocol?" Ryuga asks.

  "Unlike last time, elimination is advised. That's why I need you specifically." She reaches past him to pull up a screen in front of him, her arm grazing his. "You have a more... permanent touch than the others."

  Ryuga reads the maps and files. Gang territories and casualty reports are marked, but the leader's information is vague.

  "The leader?" Ryuga asks.

  "Unknown." She moves back to her desk. "But there are patterns in the chaos. You'll find them."

  "Any leads?"

  "Just observe the district. People under pressure reveal themselves eventually. Marcus here will be your backup." She hands Ryuga a folder with barely a glance. "Try to keep this one alive past day three. Training replacements is so tedious. You know how that goes.” She looks at him. “Anyways, you’ll be working with a group. They’re supposed to already be at District 7, but I don’t trust those incompetent fools. That’s why I’m assigning to this. I hope you won’t let me down.”

  "Understood,” Ryuga says, standing up and making his way to the door.

  "Ryuga," Yuna calls slightly desperately.

  He stops at the door. She's not looking at him, but her voice softens slightly. "Be careful with this one. Something feels different about this gang."

  "Different how?" he asks.

  "Just... intuition." Back to cold professionalism. "Report in forty-eight hours."

  As he’s leaving Yuna’s room, he thinks,

  He makes his way back to his room, pocketing his essentials. As soon as he walks out of the doors of Yuna’s compound, a girl practically materializes beside him, too close, breathing heavy.

  “You’re perfect.” Her eyes are dilated, scanning him like she wants to memorize every detail. “That embroidered pattern on your chest…can I touch it?”

  “No,” Ryuga replies flatly, continuing his walk out of Yuna’s estate.

  “You’re going on a mission, right? I can tell. The way you walk…it’s like you’re about to kill someone.” She giggles, high-pitched and unstable. “It’s so hot.”

  She circles him, her fingers twitching like she’s fighting not to grab him.

  “I’m Yuko, by the way. From the .” She says this last part with emphasis while staring at his neck, watching his pulse. “We’re supposed to be colleagues.”

  “Back up,” Ryuga says, his irritation growing.

  “Why? Am I making you nervous?” Another giggle. “I bet you could break me in half. Would you? If I asked nicely?”

  “You’re not on the court. And you’re not my ally; Yuna didn’t tell me anything about you.”

  “What?” Her manic energy falters for a second.

  “Court members have marks. Symbols. You don’t have one.”

  “How would you—”

  “My father had one. That filthy symbol burned into his skin. But you’re clean.” He looks at her finally, studying her body. “And you’re not Yuko either. The real Yuko wouldn’t act like this. I have some faint memories of her…and she wouldn’t act like some desperate, touch-starved stalker.”

  He shoves her away with his shoulder and continues walking. Her expression shifts, the mask cracking slightly. But she maintains the giggle.

  “Maybe I just think you’re worth being desperate for,” She leans in to grab him, but she jerks back in surprise. “What the hell is that awful sound?” she wails, covering her ears.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Ryuga ignores her, walking away.

  District 7, Night, Present

  Ryuga meets up with the assigned team. He sees them from a distance, standing around in the dark, clearly with no plan. Ryuga walks over to the group, introducing himself. When the see him, they snub him as if he’s not stronger than the rest of the group combined. Noticing this remark, Ryuga gives them the benefit of the doubt and introduces himself, not letting his ego get in the way of the mission. “Hey, guys. My name is Ryuga. I’ll be -”

  “Hold it right there, newbie,” one group member interrupts. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

  Ryuga thinks.

  “Alright, I got it. You’re the big man on these streets,” Ryuga says with not an ounce of respect in his voice. “Now that here, we must start looking for this gang immediately.” Ryuga opens the file Yuna gave him for the first time, identifying these group members with their names and also spotting his partner Marcus among the crowd.

  “Who’s ‘we’?” The leader, who Ryuga identified as Garrett, spits on the ground. “I told you the leader in this group, and it’s too late for us to continue the search. We’ve been busy all day, so we’ll start tomorrow.”

  Ryuga thinks.

  “Alright, whatever,” Ryuga says to the leader.

  “That’s what I thought,” the leader sneers. “Now, follow me to the hotel, group.”

  The team walks through dark streets. Marcus falls in step beside Ryuga.

  "So, you're the one Yuna sent, right?" Marcus asks.

  "Yeah."

  "Man, you're lucky. Working directly under her." Marcus adjusts his pack. "I've been with the team for two months and she's never even looked at me."

  "That's probably a good thing."

  Marcus laughs. "Yeah, maybe. Still, must be nice having someone believe in you."

  Ryuga doesn't respond.

  "You got anyone back home?" Marcus continues. "Like, family or whatever?"

  "No."

  "Really? Nobody?" Marcus sounds surprised. "Man, I got my little sister. Sarah. She's eight. Drives me crazy but... yeah."

  "Why'd you take this job then?"

  "Money." Marcus kicks a stone. "Mom's sick. Medical bills, you know? Sarah needs someone to take care of her if..." He trails off. "Anyway, this gig pays enough for both."

  "How much longer?"

  "Three more missions. Then I'm out. Gonna open a restaurant or something normal." He grins. "Sarah wants to name it. She'll probably pick something stupid like 'Rainbow Pancake House.'"

  "Sounds terrible."

  "Right?" Marcus laughs. "But hey, if it makes her happy."

  They walk in silence for a bit.

  "What about you?" Marcus asks. "What are you gonna do after?"

  "There is no after."

  "Come on, everyone's got an 'after.' Something they're working toward."

  Ryuga looks at him. "Not everyone."

  Marcus seems to realize he hit something. "Yeah. Sorry, man."

  They reach the hotel. The team files inside.

  "Hey, Ryuga?" Marcus says before heading to his room. "Thanks for not being a complete asshole. Most of Yuna's people are."

  "Don't thank me yet."

  "Yeah, I guess.”

  Once checked into their hotel, Ryuga and Marcus go to their assigned room. The hotel’s amenities are minimal, so there is nothing to do while awake. After getting ready for bed, Ryuga lies in his bed thinking about the mission, the unknown leader, and the patterns Yuna mentioned. Marcus in the next bed won’t shut up in his sleep, mumbling about someone.

  Hotel, 7 AM, Present

  The night passed by quickly without any apparent commotion. Ryuga rolls over in his bed. There’s wetness on his hand. Blood. A massive stain spreading from the bed next to him. Human-sized.

  Marcus.

  The window of the room is shattered. On the wall, carved deep in blood are the words “STOP FOLLOWING US, OR THIS’LL BE ALL OF YOU.”

  Marcus’s throat is gone. Just gone. His eyes still open, looking confused.

  Ryuga thinks.

  Ryuga’s stumbles of the bed, sprawling out of the room to one of the other team member’s room. The team member gets the attention of Garrett, who calls the whole group into Ryuga’s room. They file in, looking at the body and the message.

  It wasn’t necessarily the mutilation of the person that freaked Ryuga out; it was how close and personal Marcus was to Ryuga that really sent a chill down Ryuga’s spine. That’s why, as the group was observing the crime scene, Ryuga was in the bathroom cleaning himself up, trying to wash away the squirts of blood that tainted his skin.

  “Hey, new guy!” the leader calls from the bedroom, his voice muffled. “Come out here! I got some questions for you.” He bangs on Ryuga’s bathroom door with his fist.

  Ryuga cleans himself up and opens the door. His face is full of tears, but when he looks around the bedroom, no one seems to share his reaction.

  “Guys, why aren’t you crying?” Ryuga asks.

  “Dude, what is there to cry about?” the leader says apathetically. “This happens every day, get over it. I knew Yuna was dumb assigning some incompetent crybaby like you to this job. You’re just keep holding us back if you act like this.”

  “You don’t want to show any respect?”

  “No dude, crying won’t help anything,” the leader replies. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”

  They rest of the team is staring at Ryuga like the corpse, not Marcus.

  Ryuga looks at them all; they’re all disgusted. Except one, who just has a stern expression. When Ryuga looks at this one man for support, the man simply raises his pointer finger in front of his mouth, as though signaling to Ryuga that it is best to keep quiet in situations like these.

  The leader laughs soon after he makes a realization. “Dude, this job is obviously too risky. We’ll go back to Yuna with the info we have and get our paycheck. This dead guy probably gets us more money, eh? He was rambling about helping his sister to us the whole way, but now he gets to help all of us!” The leader roared with laughter.

  Ryuga thinks.

  “Fuck this group; I’ll do it myself,” Ryuga says, staring straight at the leader. “Screw the paycheck, split it among yourselves. Tell Yuna I’ve decided to do this on my own.”

  “Fine then,” the leader replies, snarky. “We’ll split your life insurance as well, since you want to have it your way.”

  The gang, following the leader, leaves the hotel room. Marcus’s body still on the bed. Nobody even closed his eyes.

  Ryuga stays back, his eyes looking down, not able to meet his eyes with that of Marcus.

  When Ryuga descends and leaves the hotel – he doesn’t have to pay for the room as all accommodations were paid for by the leader using Yuna’s card – he walks into the city determined, one thing replaying in his mind: Marcus’ promises to his family.