"When I was seven years old, I took my first life."
"No."
"Yes. When I was six, I was diagnosed with a genetic disorder call Omnimortiscience. One half allows me to quickly absorb knowledge and form conclusions with observations. I taught myself calculus in preschool. My parents thought I was just a genius."
"You said one half. What was the other?"
"The second half...generated a hormone that causes an insatiable bloodlust. We tried to suppress it. Took every drug out there to calm me down. But it couldn't be stopped. I killed my Chemistry teacher when she accused me of cheating on a test. The test was supposed to be impossible to complete, but I answered every question right. My mind kept telling me they think i'm nothing but a stupid child. An untalented, pompous little kid. I got off scot free because I was a 'mistaught child.' They said I needed to be reeducated. They instead pressed charges on my parents and had my father sentenced to death and my mother to life in prison.
"Eventually, I was adopted by a nice family that respected and cared for me."
"Did the hormones kick in again?"
"No. This time, it was the Infinite Consortium."
"You knew these guys?"
"Not these agents in particular, but I know of their methods. They found out about my condition and tried to steal me away from my new family. They ruthlessly tortured and killed each of them. Even an infant. When they asked why, they were told of my curse. For their next few minutes of life, they only regarded me as a monster. So, in the midst of all the confusion, I ran. But there was no way a child could've escaped trained professionals. So instead, I made sure their souls went straight to hell." Jace's eyes looked empty. There was endless suffering behind his stoic expression.
"What happened after that?" Liliana's voice was soft now. Soothing and kind.
"I spent the rest of my childhood training myself. Teaching myself to hold off the Infinite Consortium. A fourteen year old was capable of taking down an entire gang. During my years in puberty, the hormone was in mass production and I didn't hold back. Had I not stayed in one placed, I could've halved the population of the city by the time I was sixteen. When I turned twenty-one, I was confronted by the Execution Corps. They offered me a job and I've been working there ever since."
"That's rough." Liliana said, groaning as Jace withdrew the tweezers with the last bullet, "How you stay with that straight face, I have no idea."
"Years and years of grief. Sociopathy is a given side effect."
"Well you aren't completely sociopathic. I know you still feel. Somewhere in there." Liliana's fingertips brushed against Jace's cheek. His face turned red just slightly. She let out a painful chuckle, "You're blushing."
"Shut up. Our chopper's here."
"So you're telling me you failed to kill your target yourself again?" Ugin heaved an exasperated sigh, "What did I say before this mission, Beleren?"
"Forty-eight hours or it's my ass?"
Ugin was about to respond, but hesitated, raising an eyebrow, "Did I say that?"
"Yeah."
"Hm. Anyways, why did you fail again?"
"We were intercepted. Three individuals claiming to be agents for the Infinite Consortium killed the target and attacked us."
Ugin's eyes widened, "The Infinite Consortium?"
"You know of them?"
"You've no idea." Ugin picked up the phone on his desk, "Narset, send this message out to every branch of the Execution Corps out there: Warning. Please raise your precinct security to a code gold. I repeat, code gold. We are on high alert for the Infinite Consortium. Prevent yourselves from hiring any new recruits and our travel ways are on lockdown. Do not answer anyone who tries to get in contact with you and have your agents stay inside the precinct."
"What's happening?"
"The Infinite Consortium is a top threat to the Execution Corps. I'll need all agents to stay inside. We'll provide for you guys the best we can. You're dismissed."
Jace blinked, "A-alright. I guess I'll be going then."
He exited Ugin's office and collapsed in his chair.
"So what did the director say?" Liliana asked.
"All Execution Corps. precincts are on complete lockdown. I didn't know they were this dangerous."
"Yeah. Who knew?"
"Ugin apparently."
"Yo, Jace. Lili." Josu popped his head into their cubicle, "Jura, Rhoka and I were about to head down to the cafeteria. You wanna come with?"
Jace shrugged, "Sure, why not. Lili?" he stood from his chair.
"Doesn't seem entirely repulsive, dear brother." she said, "Hey, beefslab!"
No one answered.
"I'm talking to you, Jura."
"Huh?"
"What's on the menu?"
"Oh, I don't know. We typically just see what's available when we get there."
"Useless. No matter, though. Let's just 'see what's available when we get there.'" Liliana stood up and followed her brother and Jace.
"Hey, Kallhist. Heard you got your ass whooped by a kid during your last mission." Gideon said as they sat down around one of the many cafeteria tables.
"Who told you that?"
"Revane did."
"That bitch! She's always trying to make us lower rank agents seem incompetent." Kallhist slammed his fist on the table.
"Who's Revane?" Liliana whispered to Jace.
"Nissa Revane is one of Ugin's higher ranked agents. Meaning more pay, more power and more resources."
"But we're better than her, right?"
"Oh, certainly. The reason she's as renowned as she is is due to her partner, Chandra Nalaar. She's crazy good at killing, but always leaves a mess in her wake."
"Sounds troublesome."
"You have no idea." Jace chuckled.
SLAM!
The table fell silent as two women sat down. One, a redhead in a jacket with the collar popped and fingerless gloves. The second, a brunette with green attire and a sheath with a knife on her shoulder.
No one spoke. Until the brunette looked over at Liliana and raised her voice, "You must be the new transfer we've heard so much about. Nissa Revane." she stuck her hand out. Liliana shook it.
"Liliana Vess. Pleasure."
"Too bad, really. Getting paired with Beleren? That's tough."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Liliana asked.
"Well I mean, look at him. You could easily get someone much hotter. And much happier. He's so depressing."
Liliana began to stand up, but Jace grabbed her wrist under the table and hissed, "Lili, don't. Control yourself."
She sat back down.
"Oh, feisty. I hope that was the attitude you used during your first mission. It would make the failure look better."
"We were intercepted."
"Yeah, by this 'Infinite Consortium.' Chandra and I could probably take them down on our own."
"You'll get yourselves killed." Jace said under his breath.
"Speaking up, are we Beleren?"
"You two don't have to do this. She's only just arrived here."
"I admire you, Beleren, but this Snail-snapper needs to learn her place."
"I hate to say this, but I was expecting more from an individual of your stature," Liliana smirked, "You're just a carbon copy of every high school's basic chienne."
"What? Chandra, what does that mean?"
"Means 'bitch' in French." Chandra, ultimately looked bored.
"Que se passe-t-il si je viens de parler en français pour le reste de la journée de sorte que votre moi morin ne peut pas comprendre un mot damn que je dis." Liliana said while chuckling.
Chandra translated, "She said she'll talk in French for the rest of the night to confuse you. SHe also called you a moron."
"Liliana, what are you doing?" Jace asked, worried.
"Oh relax. I'm just making fun."
"You have no idea what I'm capable of, Vess. I can end you." Nissa's voice deepened and darkened.
"Then why don't you show me. There's no way a new recruit could beat a veteran like you in a fight, Chatte."
Chandra opened her mouth, but Nissa stopped her, "I don't even want to know. Fine. How about we go two on two-"
Jace stood up from his seat, "How about we don't fight at all. Nissa, now's not the time to be bullying people and Lili, this isn't the time to be picking fights. We are in the middle of a crisis that could threaten not only our jobs, but our lives as well. Petty skirmishes like this are just weakening us for when the Consortium comes back."
"How do you know they'll come back?" Nissa asked.
"I know because I've dealt with them before. They're all sick bastards. They'll do anything to gain the recognition of their master."
Nissa began to speak, but Jace cut her off.
"Don't ask anymore questions. Let's just...forget about it."
Nissa sat down and crossed her arms.
"Listen. We are the only line of defense between the Consortium and the ability for them to do anything they want. Fighting amongst each other is just going to bring us down. Right now, the Consortium is our only enemy. Forget about Jobs. Forget about organized crime. Forget about rivalries. Our fight is with them."
"Jace is right," Liliana said, "Sorry I called you a cunt."
The rest of the table gasped.
"What? She was making fun of my partner."
Nissa sighed, "I suppose for now we can set aside our differences."
Jace sat down and returned to his meal.
Liliana whispered to him, "You make a good arbiter."
"Thanks."
"So old man Ugin is afraid?"
"Yes, master. The entire Execution Corps. have gone into lockdown."
"This is wonderful. Proceed to stage 2 of the plan."
"As you wish, Master."
"Don't fail me, Vess. If you do, You're sister's as good as dead."