Aefia cut off the ropes tied to the end of those prisoner's wrists. They all got up with shaking limbs as they scammered away by the help of Cedric. Despite the last prisoner successfully being exited away, she still didn't want to leave the room saying there was one last task left to complete.
She walked over towards the table and pulled open the drawers while taking out the papers and folders. There was just one person missing, and she had to get information on that specific person too. Before long, she had noticed there were trapped civilians and had them escorted, but new pieces of information summed up the information where children were said to be hostages in the attic too, where no one went.
Aefia placed the papers back into their respective drawers and stood up while rushing over towards the top floor of the already empty mansion. Although she was completely unfamiliar with this estate, there was still a high possibility that either Cedric or Helio will come back to help.
Her heels clinged against the hard ground as she ran up the stairs with deep breath, already being isolated from the remaining of the team and immediately wanting to go back, but it was worth checking at least once about the civilians. Multiple posters were passed and finally, she slammed open the door of the attic.
The same area indeed had children trapped there, with swollen eyes and injured arms. While keeping her knife held tightened in her grasps, she rushed over and slit through the ropes without hesitation as they all cried at once. "I want mommy! I want to go back home!" A small five year old boy shouted with all of his breath.
I thought this is why I hated being around kids. Aefia smacked her palm into her forehead as she grabbed a few severely injured ones and told the others to follow her while she got back onto her feet and walked towards the wooden rusting door. Suddenly, a child held onto her wrist with teary eyes.
"Where are you taking us?" The young girl spoke with vulnerability. "Please don't beat us again! I don't want to draw anymore! I swear!" This shocked and angered Aefia to a level where she knew something was left out of notice this whole time, and she didn't even realize until now.
With a sigh, she looked down and smiled. "I will take you all to the police station where you will all be sent back to your parents or relatives." The child let go of her hand and wiped her eyes as she stared at Aefia with a dark and creepy pair of eyes, silent glow in each of them. She wanted to step back, but it could also be a test to see her trustworthiness.
Without a second glance back, she opened the door and the children ran out of there, meeting someone else who took them away and outside. Another person came to take the children Aefia was carrying on her back and around her arm. "Did you check the other rooms? You know the entire estate's information, so I won't have expected less." She spoke to Cedric while handing over the last child.
"I do know that, but just in case...what was your ranking when you had been at the Mafia previously?" He asked with a concern that didn't stay there a few moments ago. "Underboss, why is that?" Aefia replied with a confused stare as she heard creaking from the wooden platform in the attic. Without turning around to expect a reply, she fixed her eyes at the attic's entrance.
"Whatever it is, just prepare to ignite the lighters." She immediately walked away as they all left the steps in a hurry. They say the worse happens when things feel like everything has been solved. Based on how it just seemed like no other problem was about to occur...this changed the flow of the situation yet again. Cedric was most probably warming me about the 'missing' underboss in this enterprise.
With a serious expression fixed onto her face, she climbed the final steps two at a time, sometimes hopping to increase the pace. But slowing down when a feel of fear went through. The truth, she hadn't actually performed as an underboss for the Mafia, therefore she was still just an assassin grade spy. With a last shimmer of hope, she placed her step against the boundary of the attic, where the unusual sense was coming from.
Another more fainter and more violent step was heard right behind her. While spinning on her heels, the gun pointed directly at the person right in front and the finger shoke violently around the trigger. A woman, wearing a normal everyday office suit in the colour gray, holding a fancy designer bag in her left hand.
They both had their targets at each other's foreheads, making it an impossible decision whether to release or not. The awkwardness shared between them stretched for a long time and then eventually, the woman with the bag let out a loud and evil laugh. Aefia did the same, trying to match up with the situation.
"I find the fact funny," the woman spoke while dropping the expensive herkins bag on the ground. "How we decided we would take each other out by a gun shot only to realize that person shares the same genius as the one we are confronting. Let me formally introduce myself, my codename is Lady Grey and I am the underboss of this company. How about you?"
"You will be a bit shocked to know...I don't have a codename. They either called me spy, assassin or niece." Aefia spoke while lowering her gun as the woman did the same. "I too am an underboss of the Mafia organization I come from."
The woman, who Aefia hesitantly wanted to call lady grey as she had said, portraited a face mixed with expressions. A sinister smile with gentle eyes and eyebrows furrowed until they mostly hid under her bright greyish-black hair. Her face was unconsciously warm toned and her surrounding colours made it look like her only colourful world was her facial expressions.
Her eyes, a brilliant bluish green hue alongside the long lashes that were a dimmer black then her hair. With a bob haircut and long, picky nails with small charms on them. After a long while of observation, Aefia finally spoke. "What are you doing in a Mafia organization? You belong to the runway of a famous fashion industry."
"Oh yes, I could have. But what fun is walking in shiny ornated clothes going to bring me when slaughtering and seeing people you hate, suffer in your own hands is much better?" The lady spoke while crouching down to pick out something from her bag, a crumbled piece of paper. "I always keep this invitation in my bag to manage my sanity." She held it out for Aefia to see.
An acceptance letter from a prestigious modelling and acting school in Margenta. She had heard of it in multiple places during her outing at the library or at the restaurant, but she had never really seen it since coming to Nikoan, but it explained how she had come just a short while ago. After a count of ten seconds, the lady tucked it back in and held the bag on one hand.
"I know you have a very fascinating idea inside your mind right now. Until then, you did think everything done had been navigating in the right way, am I correct?" Lady grey spoke while anticipation lightened upon her face, which sent a shiver of warning along Aefia's right and left arms. Does she know about my plans? Don't tell me...she just happened to use my method of causing trouble?
With a smile on her face, Aefia calmed down while looking into the lady's eyes. "What is the point of trying to use my own tricks against me? Afterall, we share the same level of power and we may be sharing the same level of strength too. But seeing you being slightly older then me, I believe you are the more experienced between the both of us."
"Tricksters will trick while pranksters will prank..." The lady spoke while holding out her gun like the first interaction they had. Immediately following the first sentence, Aefia continued. "Thieves while steal while mafias will do all and again." But the rhyme, won't act it's way...Her own gun was brought out to show as they pointed slightly away from their targets.
Instantly as the guns were locked into position, the triggers were pulled and both of them moved away from the bullets. Sound of a wooden door breaking and falling were heard and they both looked directly at the doors opposite. One might think they were just copying each other, but they were pulling out the trickster move of their overall duty.
As soon as they both locked eyes again, the lady was the first one to speak before Aefia could even move her eyes away. If they wanted, either one of them could start the fight, but sometimes its better to stay put in these situations. Although, one thing of uncertainty was, they both had a piece of advice for the other one too.
Soon, the smell of burning erupted among the estate. Lady grey, not confused nor shocked, stared at Aefia, expecting an explanation or a void laughter back. But the only word that escaped her mouth was, "I don't have any wish to burn you alive. Let's get moving." In return for a blank expression to add more context to her sentence.
"That is an absolutely disrespectful speech to say to a Mafia member, because who knows whether the fish is about to get caught in its own trap today while telling others to prevent it." The lady fiddled with her own gun while stepping up to Aefia and grabbing her by the collar. "Young kid..." Words started to flow through her mouth.
"Go on, I got ears and eyes." Aefia replied while keeping her gun lowered. "You need to learn how to speak properly to your grown-ups, otherwise, you won't get your only piece of advice either." Lady grey spoke while she too lowered her weapon and kept it at her side. "An awl-shaped umbrella can also pierced through fragile human organs. Thats one advice from me, what is yours?"
"My advice?" Aefia smiled as she recalled the fact about the fire and its intimidating scent covering the entire room back when she was twelve years old, it was one of the most boldest move she had pulled at that young age. "Would be to sometimes stop talking and take a look at your surroundings." And she could now achieve more moves easily with the help of her magic energy and power.
"That is one of the most amazing ones I have ever heard. But let's not delay the main confrontation as you had said before." Lady grey dropped her pistol, spread her left arm out and immediately, a bright green parasol flew into her palm. Aefia stared with shock, that was magic! But what element is that? To be able to control surrounding materials with the help of a single hand gesture, especially metals?
The parasol's metallic handle stuck against her palm as she levelled her up into the air and held her there. The woman was tall, and she was just ear height to the lady. Many thoughts entered her mind as she too dropped the gun from her hand and completely forgot everything about her surroundings.
The sharp end of the parasol unconsciously stabbed into her sternum as she immediately placed a hand on the parasol to pull it out as an instinct she had. The awl-shaped end came out bloody as she used one hand to press on it with intense pain at her abdomen.
Lady grey held her throat and walked towards the open wooden area of the attic, but it wasn't a door because it had an open sky visible from it. The woman held Aefia outside of the area with a hand keeping her from falling to her death. "You are amazingly smart and all, but I know you too know that I am the same as you. Your magic power and mine, both support us in ways where we would both be successful in our battles."
Aefia used both of her hands to grab onto lady grey's hand to keep her throat still allowing her to breathe. Despite multiple ideas coming into her mind worth giving a try, she hesitated from performing them, thinking that the wide spread fire would eventually come over and take her out. "And you know something too..." She spoke while smiling and blood fell from the edges of her mouth while rolling down to her chin.
"If we both share the same power and same strength, there are only two ways to end the battle. One way...was that the both of us died together and not being able to eliminate the other...or another way...was that one dies with victory while the other dies with defeat." Where multiple desperate were tried to make the woman retreat her grasps, but one thought kept her from fully applying her strength against her.
"You are about to die anyway, any last words for me?" Lady grey smiled a wider one then before. Aefia and her usual expression stayed, "did you take my advice...senior?" With the short pause in the sentence, a nerve was wrecked inside the woman, and she squeezed her throat stronger then ever as she sent the parasol into one of her vital organs and pulled it out.
Aefia's grasp against the lady's hand loosely fell, while collapsing back to their usual dangling position of a dead person. Her eyes widened at the last second as she stared into the sky and a little more of her blood was dropped.
Lady grey laughed as she let go of her hold on the girl and turned around towards the door, but while staring at it, Aefia's words rang inside her mind. The door was shut tight with a few brightly glowing red strings. Disregarding the fact, she still tried to tear it open with her fingers, but instead, it drew her blood and the harder she tried, the deeper the wound got.
Sound of blazing fire was heard outside as the woman stepped back and the harsh flames rushed inside, burying the lady fully in ashes. In the last second, the only open door collapsed as she stood to her own death this time.