A Shadowy Beginning

A tall angular woman looked out from around the door frame.

“Hello?” She was not answered by voice but by a hail of bullets and gel tasing fragments. She ducked back behind the door, mentally rolling her eyes.

“So much for that…” She blew a blond and blue section of hair out of her face, looking back over her shoulder. “Ethan, I would suggest you hurry along in there…” She screwed on the silencer to her Hammerli and fired ten shots out into the company’s hallway.

“Just hold them off a little longer, eh Annaeka?” Ethan growled from behind a computer screen, his hands moving far quicker than any normal human could ever fathom.

“Would you not use my real name. It is seriously disconcerting…FUCK!” Annaeka growled and slid back behind the door frame, holding her shoulder. “Look you son of a bitch if you don’t get that data I swear to all that is…”

“Done. Let’s go.”

“What?"

"You heard me."

"You had to wait until I got shot didn’t you?” She pulled out one of her many grenades and lobbed it down the hallway, “Sit tight.” She closed her eyes, put in her earphones and waited. A flash of blinding light, and piercing sound permeated the building rending any unsuspecting stunned and unconscious. Ethan smirked as the bomb went off and the pair escaped through the side doors of the building. He checked the alley and he nodded as he observed the bustling crowd just leaving the subway a block down. The two slipped into the crowd and ended up hopping two different trains on their way back to their home base. Mr. Johnson would be at the bar within the hour to complete the transaction and allow them to go on their merry ways.

“Ethan.”

“Yes Annaeke?”

“Do you ever wonder if we will die doing this?”

“No.” Annaeke would have responded but the sharpness in Ethan’s voice told her she had asked the wrong question. Around anyone else, she watched herself. Watched how she reacted, how they reacted, thought carefully about what words to choose and which ones would inflict the most torture on the individual for the fullest effect. She could mentally breakdown and then slit the offenders throat without actually showing any emotion. It was Ethan that caused her to second guess herself and made her feel normal. She cared for him like an older brother, watching anytime he brought women home to see if they were simply one times flings or if they stood a chance to last. None of them had been able to last with him more than a couple months. Not that she couldn’t relate to that. Being a runner made things difficult with relationships.

“Annaeke?”

“Hm?” Annaeke looked up to see Ethan with a lofted brow in front of her.

“Are you ok? You started mumbling in Sphereial again…” He looked concerned but it only lasted a moment before Annaeke nodded.

“I am fine. Simply lost in my own thoughts. You know… We should go out tonight. Get a drink at a less seedy bar than the one we’re going into. Have a nice glass of wine and just relax. Act like normal people for a change. Or does that not seem fun to you?” Ethan smiled and nodded. Something about his face softened for a moment before he looked up to see the entrance of the bar, blocked by a police line.

“Fuckshit.” Annaeke said it for him. The two continued walking past, while Ethan looked up the communications to see if they had set a back up location.