A/N) This is set as if Pietor hadn't trained Raven and they had never met before. Nero and Anastasia have ordered them both to assassinate the other. This isn't great, but let's see how it goes...
Based on the prompt: 'Imagine your OTP as assassins trained to kill each other, so Person A is targeting Person B and vice versa. During their various tense confrontations they begin to flirt back and forth between attacks. Can they actually find it in themselves to actually kill the other when they get the chance?
The first time they faced off against each other was in the capital city of Russia: Moscow, their shared home city. Not that they knew that yet.
They had both done their research well.
"Huh," was the first thing Pietor Furan said to her.
Raven narrowed her eyes slightly at him, taking in the man's appearance in one glance. He was doing the same to her, as seasoned assassins did. It was never good to underestimate your opponent.
"I figured you'd be smaller," Pietor said absent-mindedly. His accent was Russian, slightly stronger than Raven's own, though he spoke in English.
At her slightly bemused look he continued, sounding slightly apologetic. "Your file said you were about 5' 8, 5' 9 maybe. Probably."
"5' 11, easily," Raven retorted, sounding slightly affronted.
"I'll add that to your file. When you're dead," Pietor said matter-of-factly.
"I haven't got many files, and those I do have are generally wrong," Raven said calmly.
Pietor met her icy blue eyes with confidence. "I'll bear that in mind."
With that, he struck his first blow, using one steel-hilted katana to aim for Raven's torso. It would have been a killing shot if Raven wasn't - well, Raven - but she deflected it swiftly then forced him backwards with another jab, this time at his knees. The whole first encounter had taken no more than about three seconds.
The two assassins stood, facing each other from about six metres away, both breathing heavily and warily assessing each other's strength in silence.
Pietor wore a clouded frown. "Interesting," was all he said, before he launched a powerful kick at Raven's head, aiming for her chin. Raven spun to avoid it and launched a kick of her own, which he caught and threw back lightly. She landed on her feet, brandishing both katanas in front of her body. Pietor threw a well aimed punch, which just clipped her chin, and Raven followed it up with a punch to his stomach that would have winded any other man. The forty-something year old man merely straightened up with a calm expression, before using one katana to launch a withering assault on the female assassin.
Raven matched his shots evenly, and forced him away after only around half a minute of sparring. It was just like the sparring practise Raven did every morning, except that any shot could kill her. Pietor was a powerful and vicious opponent, even though his comments unnerved her a little. Maybe that was their purpose.
This time it was Raven that breached the hostile gap between them as they stood warily viewing each other from a safe distance apart. "I'm fairly sure your - chatty approach isn't in the manual for first assassination attempts."
"There's a manual? Maybe I need a copy," Pietor mused.
"Maybe you do," Raven replied, unsure why she was returning his comments. Don't get attached, Raven. Don't make this encounter any longer than it needs to be.
"Are you following the textbook version?" Pietor inquired.
Raven wanted to tell him to shut up, to just be formal and professional like he should be in this situation, but he was strangely charismatic. Of course, many psychopaths were.
"I burnt my copy of the manual as soon as I got it," Raven replied casually.
Pietor looked interested. "Why so?"
"I have no respect for authority or people telling me what to do," Raven explained pleasantly, before launching yet another attack out of the blue. Somehow, he seemed to be anticipating it, and he was able to block it easily.
This fight might go on for a while.
The second time they met was in a small Russian village, just on the outskirts of Volgograd.
This time Pietor had a gun.
Not that made much difference to the eventual outcome of their fight. Neither of them were amateurs by any stretch of the imagination, and they were both too good to be killed by a simple bullet.
But it was an interesting encounter nonetheless.
The third time was a little different.
This time they knew each other's weaknesses. They had both been on stake out for over two months, researching each other, and both were tired of this one mission.
This time they were shooting to kill.
Or so they thought.
"I've deduced from my months of studying you that I can't kill you in a straight fight," Pietor called pleasantly over to Raven, from about fifty metres away. They were on a flat roof, fifteen storeys up. She had known he'd be here.
He had known she'd be here too.
"Oh yes?" Raven called back. Since their last couple of encounters she had oddly got to know the aloof assassin, and she was able to throw banter back at him with practised ease. "So what is your desired method of trying to kill me this time, if not with bullets, swords or hand-to-hand combat? Since you've apparently tried all those."
"I can't beat you when you're awake and fighting," Pietor called in answer. Raven wasn't entirely sure what he meant - until he raised his tranquilizer dart gun. "So I'll have to kill you when you're unconsious instead."
Raven feigned a disparaging look, though inside her mind was racing. If she was knocked unconscious by one of those, she secretly knew she had very little chance of waking up again. "How honourable of you."
Pietor shrugged, a cold look coming into his eyes. "I don't believe in honour."
Raven ducked down behind a ventilation shaft, unsheathing both of her katanas as darts began to fly overhead. He had the advantage; she could only get him from a short distance while his darts could easily travel the fifty metres between them.
Still, she was going to go out fighting.
And if her theory was right, hopefully she wasn't going to go out at all.
Pietor fired a flurry of darts as soon as Raven broke cover, and she had no chance of dodging more than the three or so that she managed, before one hit her in the upper arm. She felt the tranquilizing effects immediately; it was strong. Swiftly she pulled it out, but the dart's contents were already half emptied, the unfamiliar substance trickling into her bloodstream.
She collapsed to her knees.
This approach would only work if Pietor did what she had predicted he would.
Which he did.
Naturally.
"You know, you're kind of cute when you're fighting to stay awake," Pietor commented, stepping slowly closer.
Raven flashed him a dark look, making a conscious effort to get up before slumping down again helplessly. Come closer. C'mon.
"Fighting to stay alive," Pietor continued, his voice amused as he watched Raven's useless efforts to get up to face him.
Raven forced the words out of her mouth, making them sound weak and pleading. "You'll - never - kill - me."
"But I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you now," Pietor said wistfully, ignoring her comment and quickly closing the remaining thirty metres between them so he was standing over Raven's body. "No hard feelings. My sister's orders, you see."
Raven reached up and laid one slender hand on the man's arm: as if making a desperate plea for help.
The sedative patch concealed in her palm did its work swiftly, attaching itself limpet-like to Pietor's arm. He cursed in Russian, realising what she had done, and scrabbled at his arm, trying to tear the patch off before he succumbed to its effects.
"Your dart hasn't worked on me," Raven said casually, getting to her feet as if it was easy. He couldn't see that her fists were clenched and her teeth were gritted inside her tensed jaw.. "But I'm afraid my sedative patch has."
This time Pietor was the one to collapse to the floor, right next to where Raven had been just previously. His eyes shot her an unforgiving look, and he cursed one last time in Russian before his eyes fell shut and his tensed body grew limp. He would have no chance of even trying to fight the sedative, it was about twice as strong as the dart he had used on her. She didn't underestimate any of her opponents. Ever.
Though, of course, she had been lying about the dart's effects. It had been strong enough for only half of the contents to work effectively on her, and it was only her iron will that had kept her awake this long.
Raven collapsed once more, right next to Pietor, and this time she didn't get up.
Raven woke first, as she had known she would.
"You're dead."
Pietor wished he could move even a hand to try and deflect the killing blow that he was sure was about to come, but every part of his body felt so heavy still.
To his surprise, Raven sheathed both katanas and took a step back from him. She repeated the statement with a little more emphasis this time, throwing him a meaningful look as she spoke. "You're dead."
"I'm - dead?" Pietor asked hesitantly, an uncharacteristic emotion for him.
"Yes," Raven said matter-of-factly. "And so am I."
It took another moment for Pietor to comprehend what she was actually saying to him. "I'm dead. And you're dead."
Raven nodded. "Yes," she said simply. Her bright blue eyes bored into his, as if daring him to argue.
Pietor allowed his heavy eyelids to fall back closed, and when he next managed to open them Raven was nowhere to be seen.
It took a few minutes for the feeling to return to Pietor's body after that, and by then there was no trace of Raven's presence ever having been there. Why she hadn't killed him when she had the chance, he didn't know.
He wasn't sure whether he would have been able to kill her, either.
They would have made powerful allies if they were ever on the same side.
A/N) This was oddly fun to write! Hope you liked it, and please comment if you did (or didn't)