"After this last mission, I will buy a house, marry a beautiful chick, and set up a good business. After a few years, I'll retire and spend all my money vacationing with my young wife," Marcus said, a middle-aged man in his early forties, his eyes gleaming with determination like he couldn't wait for that future to come.
"Pfft, that's exactly what an old man like you would say," Liam snorted. The youngest of the group, he was a handsome guy with messy black hair, skilled in lock-picking, infiltration, and hand-to-hand combat. He was a hitman too—deadly and never missing a shot despite his young age.
"Me? After this mission, I'm staying a thief. You might want to disband the crew, but I'm going to be the greatest thief that ever walked the planet after I steal the anti-matter."
Marcus shook his head, a tired smile tugging at his lips.
"Ahh, I guess there's no talking sense into you anymore. You'll be getting at least fifty million in shares if we pull this off and deliver the artifact to the Russians— that is more than enough to set you up for life. But whatever. Don't get mad when I cut off all ties with you after this mission."
Then, Marcus turned toward another figure in the room—Zen, a nerdy-looking boy hunched over a black bag, carefully arranging gadgets inside. He was the group's brain; the tech expert, a hacker so good he could break into almost anything.
"What about you, Zen?" Marcus asked.
"I think... I'll open a big café," Zen replied without looking up.
"I see… good choice," Marcus nodded, then shifted his gaze to the last person in the room—a slender, red-haired girl dressed in tight black sportswear, cleaning and packing weapons with clinical precision.
"And you, Zara?"
"I'm not sure yet, boss," Zara said without looking up, her voice cool. "But I'll figure it out after I kill someone."
Marcus chuckled lightly, strapping on his bulletproof vest and hardening his expression.
"Sounds like you really hate that person."
Then he glanced back at Zen.
"Are you done with the EMP?"
"Yes, boss," Zen confirmed.
"Good. Liam, you and Zara will go through the manhole first. Follow Zen's directions exactly. Liam, you're the one getting the item. Zara's covering you. I trust you, kid—don't fuck it up," Marcus said, tapping Liam's shoulder with a nod.
"Trust me, boss. I always deliver," Liam grinned. "Besides, we're entering from a spot they'll never expect. It'll be clean. Just tell me how long the cams will be down."
Marcus turned to Zen.
"How long does the EMP last?"
"Ten minutes, boss."
"Perfect. Zara, pack up the weapons. Let's move out."
Without wasting another second, the group walked out of the room, climbed into a black bus, and drove off into the night.
__________________________________
They arrived at the location—a landfill site overflowing with trash and reeking of a powerful, foul odor.
Inside the vehicle, the group cocked their guns and pulled on their masks.
"Remember, stick together. Eyes on the prize, boy. Don't screw this up. I've got other business to handle, I will be back before the EMP runs out of juice," Marcus said, signaling to Liam and Zara.
"Got it, boss," Liam replied, while Zara simply nodded. Marcus then gave a silent cue to Zen.
Zen pressed a button on the EMP. The device hummed, neon lights flickering along its edges before it let out a powerful pulse.
*ZRRRRRRRRRM*
The van's electrical systems shut off instantly. Zen gave a nod. Without hesitation, Liam and Zara threw the door open and stepped out, followed by Marcus. Liam glanced after his boss, curious as he wandered off in another direction, but quickly shook it off and focused on his task.
The pair made their way through a dense patch of trash, clearing debris to reveal a manhole cover. Grinning, Liam pulled out a bolt cutter, snapped the lock, and opened it swiftly.
He flicked on a small flashlight, then dropped into the hole without a word. Zara followed.
*BAM*
They landed inside a cramped toilet stall, barely large enough to hold them both. Their bodies pressed together. Liam's hand, while instinctively trying to steady Zara from falling, ended up right on her chest.
"Don't you think you're grabbing me inappropriately?"
"Sigh… you look cute when you're like this, Zara," Liam said, cupping her breast with a smirk.
"Do you think we're still a couple after what you did? You didn't even apologize. Besides, the boss is going to kill us if we don't finish before the EMP wears off," Zara replied, her face unreadable.
"Come on, it was just a fling. And you said you needed space, so I—"
He paused, hearing quick footsteps approach from outside. He immediately shut off the flashlight.
"What the hell was that loud noise when the lights cut off?" a voice asked outside.
"Probably rats again. Looks like free onaholes for us tonight, hehe," another voice chuckled.
'Fucking creeps,' Liam thought, unsheathing his long dagger. Zara did the same.
As the toilet door creaked open, Liam and Zara surged forward, their brighter torchlight momentarily blinding the two unsuspecting guards.
Before either of them could react or raise their guns, Liam and Zara slit their throats cleanly, blood spurting like a geyser from their slit throat as they fell to the ground.
"UHCK!"
Liam swallowed a pink tablet that Zara gave him, the kind that kicked his adrenaline into overdrive, and then he charged forward, gunning down anyone in his path. Zara followed closely, covering him as she took out confused guards and workers stumbling in the dark.
Guided by Zen's voice in his earpiece, Liam shot down a man in a lab coat and severed his right hand. He turned down an alleyway and soon arrived at a massive, reinforced metal wall—thick enough to look impenetrable.
Meanwhile, Zara was busy planting explosives throughout the facility. Blowing up the place after securing the item was all part of the plan.
At the end of the reinforced wall stood a glowing screen, one of the few things still powered despite the outage as if it had a backup power source. Liam pressed the severed hand against it. The screen flickered. Mechanical locks clanked and whirred.
"Bingo," Liam grinned, pumping his fist as the metal wall began to open.
"Three minutes till this place blows!" Zara warned.
Beyond the wall sat a black obsidian object inside a cylindrical glass case—it looked like a statue.
Liam rushed forward, carefully following the floor patterns under Zen's guidance to avoid any hidden traps. Without the EMP, getting past the laser security would've been impossible.
Smashing the glass, he grabbed the item, quickly wrapping it in a towel. Without wasting a second, he bolted for the exit with Zara right behind him.
They climbed out of the manhole in a hurry using a ladder. Just as they were about to seal the cover, the underground facility erupted with a deafening explosion. A wave of heat and force blasted out from below, hurling Liam and Zara backward through the air.
But they got up almost instantly, adrenaline overriding pain, and bolted toward the van with the item clutched tightly in Liam's grip.
However, they didn't make it far when suddenly Liam stumbled and crashed to the ground, landing hard on one knee. Gasping for breath, he struggled to push himself up. His vision blurred, eyes bloodshot. His limbs refused to respond. The drug was wearing off—and fast.
"Why… why does my body feel like this?" he panted. "The side effects aren't usually this bad…"
"Right… I was worried it wouldn't kick in earlier," Zara said coldly.
Liam froze.
She was standing behind him now, a gun pressed firmly against the back of his head.
'My pill was laced.'
He turned his head slowly—and saw her. The woman he loved. The woman he would've taken a bullet for. Now aiming one at him.
"Why?" His voice cracked. "What did I do to deserve this, Zara? Is it the boss? I knew he planned to get rid of me after I said I wouldn't quit. I even prepared for the worst. But you… you laced my pills? I loved you."
Zara's hands trembled. Her face contorted with emotion. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Bullshit!" she snapped. "You don't love me. If you did, why did you cheat on me again and again? You didn't even look at me when the boss asked about our future. You could've said you wanted to marry me. Have a life. A family. But no—you said you would keep being a thief. Like none of this meant anything!"
"But… I thought you didn't love me anymore?" Liam said, his voice tired. "I don't get women. If wanting to choose my own path makes me a piece of shit, then fine. So be it. I have no regrets."
He spoke with defiance, but inside, panic clawed at him. He was still human after all. And humans fear death.
"I love you, Liam," Zara whispered. "I just… I wish you would take it back. We could go to the boss together. Beg him. You, me, Zen—we could fix this."
"Fuck no," Liam said flatly. "I didn't join this crew to live on my knees. If I'm going to die for making my own choice, then so be it."
Zara stared at him, silent. Then she wiped her tears away, her eyes going cold. She cocked the hammer.
"If that's your choice, then I'll be the one to kill you. No one else deserves that right. We'll meet in the afterlife, Liam."
*BANG!*
The shot echoed through the landfill.
The casing spun into the air. The bullet tore through Liam's skull and burst out the back of his head. His body crumpled to the ground, lifeless eyes still locked on Zara—eyes full of hate, love, and regret.
Zara fell to her knees beside him. She dropped the gun as if it had burned her.
"W-What have I done…" she whispered, staring blankly at the blood pooling around him.
Clapping echoed in the distance.
A figure stepped into view. It was Marcus, emerging from the shadows with a smirk on his face.
"Bravo," he said. "You surpassed my expectations, Zara. Honestly, I was just about to kill both of you when you started hesitating. You really thought begging would change my mind? How naive."
He walked up and placed his boot on Liam's head, then crouched and pried the obsidian object from his arms.
"He was talented," Marcus mused. "But I can't have a liability ruin my retirement plan. If only he agreed to quit…"
He patted Zara gently on the head.
"Don't worry. You'll be fine without him."
Then, with a swift strike, he chopped her in the neck, knocking her out cold.
Marcus slung her over his shoulder, took the artifact, and walked back toward the van—leaving nothing behind but a broken corpse and a trail of betrayal.
But something strange began to happen to Liam's corpse—his body started to decay rapidly, his flesh withering and bones crumbling, until nothing was left but a cloud of dust that slowly drifted upward into the sky.