Chapter 1
His head was heavy, he couldn't move and everything was dark. Graves growled like an injured lion, refusing to submit being weaker to the pain. Slowly, he opened his eyes and returned to reality, only to see everything in a blurry smudge. He shook his head a few times to counter it, forcing the brain to adjust. Not long, he saw everything as clear before. Though the celebration did not last long, he realized that both of his hands and legs were tied to a chair that he was sitting.
He looked at his surrounding, a small room that a light bulb on top of his head. There were no windows and there was just only a door that was in front of him. Graves tried moving his legs and arms but the binds were so tight, that he couldn't even move even at the slightest. Then the door in front of him opened and someone entered. Graves looked at the person with the intent to kill but it seemed she was not affected.
The woman closed the door while holding a chair with her right hand. She placed in front of Graves and sat down. Graves observed. She was shorter than him, shoulder height or more, but not more than his neck. She wore a hood and a mask that covered her mouth, making the only thing that Graves could see was her eyes. Those eyes, it was icy blue, fit for her name. Frostbite's eyes met with Graves, and not one of them was intimidated.
"So you're Frostbite?" Graves asked. "Sorry for killing your gang."
"They're not my gang, there just some random thugs that have no place to sleep in." She spoke. "By the way, thanks for not killing me back then."
"Not killing you?" Graves wondered. Then he remembered about the woman that he'd encountered before he went inside the abandon building. "So you were the servant?"
"Well at least I didn't lie about me serving myself. You know who J.J. Walker is?"
"Yeah I know him, he's just a guy that wants you dead."
"Just like any other employer that you and I get." Snow said. "I want you to be specific."
"And what makes you think that I will tell you about Walker?"
"Maybe, if you give some intel, I might let you walk out like nothing happened. Is your Bilgewater brain really that dense?"
"Wait." Graves paused for a moment. "How do you know I was from-"
"Malcolm 'The Outlaw' Graves." She interrupted. " A guy that came out of nowhere from Bilgewater suddenly came to the black market currently to get some extra money. Yes, I know who you are. I know you're connection with Twisted Fate, I know the heist that you made with him and I know that you're top of the line strategist. I don't want to get in the personal stuff so do me a favour Outlaw, who is J. J. Walker?"
"Who are you?" Graves inquired seriously with a low tone voice.
"Someone that you don't want to mess with." She said seriously.
Suddenly she stood up, Graves slightly surprised with the sudden movement. She moved closer to Graves and searched his body. First, she searched his body, from shoulder to his stomach, front and back. Then, when she proceeded to the parts lower than his waist, Graves moved his body and growled. But Frostbite didn't bother to care, she proceeded without any hesitation whatsoever.
Graves moved his body furiously, attempting to move the woman away and exit himself from the bindings. She finished at the front pockets and went to the back pockets. He could feel her hands entering his pockets, taking a few things here and there. During that, Graves could felt that she squeezed his butt once. She finally finished with a few things at her hands and sat down at the chair opposite to Graves.
"Cigars?" She looked at Graves with brows raised. "What type of young man smoke cigars?"
"Me. I'm that type of man." Graves continued to glare at her, he really wanted to kill her right now.
"Really, don't think you're special cowboy." She opened the letter and held the bag of diamonds that he had kept. "I'm gonna ask you one more time, who is J. J. Walker?"
"Never met him, never seen him." Graves spoke. "I got the things by a messenger and the guy didn't even said hello. Satisfied?"
"And there's nothing else that you could say to me?" Frostbite read the letter and looked at the diamonds.
As she was reading the letter, Graves searched for his shotgun and it was at the corner of the room. Frostbite looked at Graves at a moment but he managed to stare her like previously, she then go back to the letter. It seemed that she was still focusing on the letter, giving him more precious time.
The bindings, they were tight and beyond robust for him to break free with brute force. But the chair, it was another subject entirely. Just a slight movement and the chair started shook weakly, like it was going to break at any giving moment. With enough strength, the rope may not break but the armrest will.
Looking at the woman, there were no weapons in sight. She was said to be a sniper, yet her sniper rifle was nowhere to be seen. If Graves would confront her barehanded, it would take time to kill her. And that time could mean death for Graves if she had a secondary weapon somewhere in her attire. At the very least, she should have a knife at her disposal and fist could only do so much damage.
No, he decided to hit her once and straight to his shotgun. The amount of time that she would recover from the attack would be suffice for Graves to hold the shotgun and pull the trigger. It was decided and Graves waited for the perfect opportunity.
"Things got way too complicated right now." She breathed, folding the letter at her hand.
"Is there a problem Frosty? I would've helped if ya didn't tie me to this chair." He started to stretch his muscles.
"Haha, you wish." Frostbite stood up and moved closer to him. "Let me tell you something that you won't believe."
"I'm all ears lady." Graves shrugged. Come a bit closer woman, just a little more.
"First thing first, the diamonds in the bag," Frostbite held the small bag with her left hand. "It's a fugazy." She threw the bag of diamonds at the floor, letting it scatter like it was worthless.
Graves could not believe but he was still patient, waiting for the perfect moment to attack. "You're really walking in thin ice woman." Graves warned.
"Try to sell them at the local jewellery shop, they won't even consider buying them." Frostbite stood in front of her, nearing her face with his. "You want to know the second thing that is really fucked up, I got the same letter and diamonds just like you. The letter is exactly the same, every word, every meaning and even the guy that sign the letter. Same fucking guy, J.J. Walker. The only difference? My name changed to yours. "
"You think I care?" Graves made his move.
Graves head-butts Frostbite, stunning her for a moment and made her moved a few step away. Seeing the window of opportunity, Graves used all his energy to pull his hands, the ropes were still at his wrist but the armrests were disconnected from the chair. Frostbite recovered moments later and attacked him, but Graves barely evaded and gave an uppercut to her chin. She trembled to the ground and tried her best to recover herself.
Graves quickly untie his legs and arms then rolled his body towards the shotgun. He reached it and held it with his two hands. He checked the gun and it was still loaded, then he turned his body to aim at Frostbite but she was not there. His eyes widen and some of his heart panicked, he left her just for a moment. Where could she be?
"Hell no!" Graves heard the voice.
Malcolm turned to the right and saw Frostbite approached with her fist leading, he ducked and waited for her fist to pass. Apparently she was bluffing as Graves received a knee to the nose. He trembled to the ground yet the shotgun was still in his grasp. The woman haste towards Graves and stepped on his face, Graves deflected the foot with his shotgun. Using one hand, Graves pushed himself to stand up and pushed Frostbite away with his shoulder.
Frostbite side stepped, letting Graves followed his shoulder. But at the exact moment, she held his shotgun with one hand and pulled it away from him. Unarmed, Graves countered by punching her face but she dodged it before the attack connected. Frostbite used the shotgun and hit Graves with the stock of the gun.
She hit Graves at the nose, pushing him back a few steps. She hit him again, concentrating at the same area but with more force. But during the third attempt, Graves ducked and tackled her abdomen. First, he hugged her stomach and squeezed so strong, until she let go of the shotgun. Once it was not held, Graves lifted her light body and slammed her spine to the ground.
She shouted in pain, the sheer force was so much that her mask and hood was no longer on. Revealing her face fully, a beautiful brown skinned woman with short white hair. But Graves did not have the time to care, he moved away and repositioned himself on top of her. He readied his fist for the punishing that she deserved.
Graves gave both of his fist to her face, with each fist manage to connect two strikes. But like Graves, she learned fast and acted faster. On the fifth attempt, she shielded her face with her two hands, letting her mid arm received the hits. Graves continued punching; wanting to break the defence and see how much can the woman receive. But the seventh attempt, she parried Graves' left hand punch and pushed him away from her. Making the man laid on his back beside her.
Graves rolled to the left while Frostbite rolled to the right, distancing themselves from each other even more. Luck was at his side as the direction that he was rolling had his shotgun lying around.
Graves picked his shotgun before he stood on his two feet and when he did, he pumped his shotgun with one bullet primed in the barrel. They both stood and also stopped at the same time. He aimed at her but as expected from Frostbite, she took out her pistol and aimed back. Both mercenaries glared at each other, finger at the trigger, no fear towards death. It was a standoff; a standoff that Graves surely win yet Frostbite still stood her ground.
"You loss lady, one shot and your whole head gone." Graves grinned, his eyes looked through the sight of his shotgun and he aimed at her head. "You only have a pistol, I want you to think long and clear about your chances walking alive."
"Doesn't matter how big." She intimidated. " It'll only take one bullet. Once in the head, you're dead. That's the fact."
"And you'll think that you can outshoot me with that puny pistol?" Graves grinned.
"Try me." Frostbite narrowed her eyes and challenged Graves.
The grin on his face quickly fade and Graves firmly held his shotgun, the woman was serious business and he should not dismiss it. Slowly, Graves moved the right while Frostbite moved to the left, they circled around the room. The distance between was not closer or farther even an inch. Then Graves raised his hand, both of them stop and stood still.
"As much as I want to kill you, I want to hear you proposition." Graves said.
"I was just about to talk about it but you're the one that came up to me and hit me in the face." Frostbite argued.
"What do you expect when you were tied to a chair and the person that you were supposed to kill was right in front of you."
"Sorry but you're not an understanding person when someone is pointing a shotgun at you."
"Fine, you won. But I want to hear what you want to say before we got into this mess. Is that hard?"
"Lower your gun then we can talk."
"Oh no, I ain't lowering my gun for nobody. Don't you remember that saying, ladies first?"
"I'm sorry but I thought men like to lead in every situation."
"In bed? Anytime of the day. But there ain't no bed and I ain't planning to sleep with you."
"Then I'll count to three, both of us will put our guns down and settle this once and for all. You hear what I said?"
"And we'll count three together." Graves took a deep breath. "One."
"Two." Frostbite counted.
"Three." Both of them said it at the same time.
The two mercenaries slowly lowered their guns but their gazes never separated. They were expecting any sudden moves but after a while, they gathered enough trust towards each other that they won't kill each other. Not now, but maybe some other time. Graves turned the safety switch on, the shotgun was useless now. Snow did the same and put it on her holster. She took out two letters and showed it to Graves.
"We got the same letters and the same rewards, both of them have the same name and both of them had the job of killing a target." She gave it to Graves.
Graves hesitated on taking it but when he did, he made sure it was quick and the distance between them was considerable. He opened the letters and compared it, he realized the similarities and that she was right. He looked back at Frostbite, she spit at the floor and wore her hood.
"Are we being played by this man?" He asked.
"For now, I don't even know that the guy is really a guy. So, I'm gonna ask you again. You know J.J. Walker?"
"Just the name, not the man." He told everything that he knew, there was no use of lying.
"Well I've just wasted my time here." She sighed. "It was worth the try to say the least."
"What do you plan to do Frostbite." He asked, the situation was getting interesting for the man. "You're just going to walk away?"
"They've been rumours about open jobs by this employer named J. J. Walker in the black market. You think we're the only of getting played? Not by a long shot." Frostbite walked to the exit. "It was nice to meet you Outlaw, hopefully the next time we meet won't be this violent."
Frostbite covered her mouth with her mask and exited the room, leaving The Outlaw alone in the room. Graves moved to the scattered diamonds and kneeled down, picking each one that he could salvage. With a total of five pieces diamonds, it was less compared to a bag of diamonds. But Graves was optimistic, it was better than none.
He put the diamonds on one of his pockets and pondered on the situation. A lot of questions came up in just one night, not the worst day but it was still interesting. J.J. Walker was a mysterious enigma and Graves suddenly resent the person. As for Frostbite, Graves has a feeling that they would meet again.