Chapter 2

One of the larger halls in the abandoned building served as a common room for the assassins, where they could hang out in their free time, engage in activities like sparring or practice throwing knives, relax or socialize. Even professional killers had friends, although usually only within their own circle. There was still some of the old furniture from when humans used the place; now it was used by the assassin appliances. Here, Jessamine met with two of her best friends, Poinsettia and Caleb.

Caleb was a Bissell carpet cleaner and looked pretty much like a vacuum. Oddly enough, Jessamine had nothing against him, was even good friends with him. In her book, a carpet cleaner was completely different from a vacuum, though the only real difference was their method at cleaning floors. A carpet cleaner puts water out on dirty carpets before sucking it all up. Caleb's strength matched that of a vacuum, so he relied more on it than the lamps did.

Poinsettia and Caleb were a couple, but Jessamine had never felt the desire to find a partner. The kind of life she lived had no room for tender feelings. She was a hunter. She was independent and strong. She didn't need anyone. She was able to take down opponents far bigger and stronger than herself, and she was proud of it. So why would she need anyone by her side?

Of course, the topic of their conversation was the new assignment.

"Is it another vacuum?" Poinsettia wanted to know.

"You bet it is," Jessamine replied with a pleased expression, playfully throwing her knife into the air and catching it with her plug. "And a quite juicy one, too. It's a Kirby Tradition. I had one of these before."

"Ah. Like the one who gave you the scars?" Poinsettia pointed out with a quick glance to the two parallel scratches in the Rainbow's ceramic surface.

"Yes, just like him," Jessamine replied and involuntarily touched the grooves that disturbed her otherwise smooth surface. "So, as you know, I have experience with this model. No big deal."

"So it's just a routine assignment," Poinsettia stated.

"Basically, yes. Another vacuum motor for my collection. My favorite kind of trophy…" A malicious smile crept over her face.

Caleb, who had been listening to their conversation in silence so far, slowly blinked with his one cyclopic eye. He wasn't bothered or uncomfortable by their talk, despite being so similar to a vacuum cleaner in construction. Business was business. The target's type didn't matter. For most, that is.

"Congratulations on getting the job," the carpet cleaner said with his deep, raspy voice. "I can see why Lord Thanatos chose you to do it."

"When will you set out?" Poinsettia asked.

"Tonight," Jessamine replied while she fiddled with her knife that she took with her almost everywhere, even to the common rooms at the assassin headquarters, so she could practise on target discs anytime. "Got some observing to do."

"Good luck for your assignment."

"Thank you." But she knew that she wouldn't need luck. She would succeed. "Well, the day is young. Time to go out and break some necks."

The following days, Jessamine spent a lot of time hiding around the target's home and observing it, waiting for him to come outside. Jessamine knew that she had to wait until the humans were asleep or out of the house, since that was when the appliances could move around freely. Finally, at night, she saw a vacuum leave the house. Through her observations, she knew that there were two Kirby vacuums in this house (the female one with the orange-red bag had something oddly familiar about her). But this one's bag shone up blue in the light of the street lamps. It was the target. The familiar excitement of stalking the prey before the kill arose in Jessamine, and with a satisfied grin and careful stealth, she followed him.

Jessamine followed the vacuum with practiced stealth, always hidden, never seen. It wasn't long until the target met up with another appliance. Well, time to observe some more and wait for him to be alone again for an opportunity to strike.

The other one was a small digital alarm clock. This seemed like a familiar scenario to Jessamine; her yellow eyes widened as she watched from her hiding place behind a trash can. If she had a heart, it would beat faster. She fully expected the vacuum to bully the small appliance.

"Good evening, Osmond," she heard the alarm clock say. "It's so good to see you. I was afraid…"

"Don't worry, I'm here now," the vacuum reassured the smaller appliance. "I'll keep you safe, and when they show up, I'll talk to them."

Jessamine thought she didn't hear right. Keep them safe? This vacuum wanted to protect the alarm clock instead of bully them? She kept listening intently, overhearing their conversation.

The alarm clock explained their predicament. "So, my Master works for a tech company that makes their own unique screws and tools for their devices, to prevent owners from repairing them on their own so they have to use the company's repair service. The mafia wants me to bring them some of these special tools. But I don't want to steal from my Master, and I… I think they want to use them for shady business."

"Don't worry, I'll talk a few words with them," Osmond reassured the smaller appliance.

"Do you really think that will deter them? They are dangerous…"

"I've done stuff like this before," the vacuum replied reassuringly. "When they're about to show up, I'll hide behind this corner" – he pointed with his plug – "and will interfere before the situation gets out of hand."

Osmond and the alarm clock waited for a while, and so did Jessamine. It wasn't long until they heard someone coming – other appliances.

"Oh no, here they come!" the alarm clock whispered, fear in his voice and eyes.

Osmond nodded. "Remember, I'm right here." Then, he hid behind a nearby corner.

Two more appliances entered the scene. One of them, the assassin recognized as her client, the can opener. The other one was a large box fan. They surrounded the little alarm clock menacingly, the can opener in front of them and the box fan behind.

"Did you think about our suggestion?" the can opener asked. "Don't forget that it's in your own best interest to hand over the 2/5 inch wrench and the other tools."

The alarm clock shook in fear, but bravely replied: "I… I won't do it! I can't steal from my Master!"

"Well, that's too bad," the can opener replied flatly. "I had hoped you'd be more reasonable than that. Well, the boss won't like this…"

"P-please," the alarm clock begged and shivered while the box fan behind him shuffled one step closer with a menacing grin.

"Alright, that's enough!"

In a shock moment of surprise, both mafia appliances turned to see Osmond coming out of hiding from behind the corner, with a warning whir and a look that meant business on his face. They were so thrown off that they both took a step back, giving him the opportunity to position himself between them and the alarm clock.

The can opener regained composure quickly. "You… again! This is none of your business, dirtbag!" he snarled at the vacuum. "I highly recommend you stop getting in our way and scram… otherwise it might end very badly for you."

"Oh, yeah? What ya gonna do? Send your mafia after me? I'm not scared of your lot."

In her hiding place, Jessamine listened and knew. Oh, it was not the mafia that Osmond should fear, that was already at his heels, coming for him. It was the assassins. It was her. She pondered if the can opener wondered why Osmond was still alive to cross his plans, where the hell the assassin was that he sent after the vacuum. Very close, actually. Soon…

However… The longer she observed this Osmond, the more he confused her. His behavior didn't match at all with the picture she had about vacuums. He didn't harass smaller appliances, he stood up for them instead. Was he an outlier?

Her thoughts and the surprise about the Kirby Tradition's actions distracted her for a few moments. When her attention focused on the scene again, she had missed the can opener's response, and the vacuum spoke again.

"You won't. They're under my protection now, so scram!"

"Oh no. You scram," the can opener replied, unmoved. "I've had it with you!" He motioned to the box fan to attack. The two larger appliances bumped into each other with metallic clanking, both revving their motors like animals roaring to intimidate their opponent. It was… much more effective from Osmond's side. Soon it showed that he wasn't only louder, but stronger as well. The box fan was pushed back and had to give way, again, and again, until he surrendered.

"Now get out and leave him alone!" the vacuum demanded.

The can opener shook with anger. "This isn't the last you've heard of us! You will pay for getting in our way!" With a last burning glare at Osmond, the can opener turned around and left, followed by the defeated box fan. Osmond huffed as he watched them retreat, before he turned to the alarm clock, his face now friendly. "There, they're gone. Are you okay?"

"Y… yes, I'm fine. Thank you so much for your help! I hope they leave me alone now…"

"They know they have to go through me if they want to come after you," Osmond replied reassuringly.

The vacuum and alarm clock parted ways and left Jessamine confused. What she had just witnessed seemed to contradict everything she was convinced of, everything experience had taught her. That vacuum, Osmond, had not bullied the smaller appliance – he had defended them from bullies. Could it really be that not all of them were that bad? And what was more, one of the bullies – the criminals – was the very appliance that had commissioned her to get rid of the vacuum, exactly because of incidents like the one she just had witnessed. All of her life, Jessamine had been convinced that the vacuums she slay were nasty and deserved it, just like the ones she had known… but in this case, wasn't her client the nasty one, and the vacuum wasn't? She shook her head, as if to clear it of the emerging doubts. It wasn't her place to ponder about that. An order was an order. Her honor – and the payment – demanded her to fulfill it. When she was able to focus again, the vacuum had already turned on his way home, so she had to be quick to catch up. Now, she finally got her opportunity: On his way back home, the target was alone. Since Jessamine knew which path he had to take, she went ahead to find a good place for an ambush. She just followed the way he came back towards his house and used a few shortcuts. Of course there was a risk that he would take a different street back, but she deemed it not very likely. At last, she found a good place to hide behind a garden wall. Then she waited.

The target came into sight. Unnoticed in her hiding place, she readied her knife. Since most of her victims were bigger and stronger than her, she had to rely on quickness and the element of surprise. In her beginning days, she had taken slight damage and even had almost been crushed several times by targets that still had the opportunities to try and defend themselves. But today, after long years of experience, that did not happen to her anymore. And now, the target came into sight. Kirby Tradition. Jessamine knew exactly where the motor was located in those, which way it faced, how big it was. From experience in this case, but she also learned that kind of information for every brand and model. It was very important for her job to know that, so she could strike with quickness and surgical precision. She already had a few of these in her trophy collection. The target was now close and still had not noticed her… now was the perfect time to strike! It would only take a few moments to overwhelm him by surprise, open him and cut out what kept him alive and was to be brought back to the guild as a sign of success.

Her knife ready to strike, she moved in on the unsuspecting vacuum from behind. And then, solely focused on her target, she tripped, stumbled, and the knife fell clattering to the ground. In a moment of shock, Jessamine stood as silent as if she was frozen. Damn it! She cursed her back luck. How could this happen to an experienced professional like her? To her, who was known to be so stealthy! It was too late to hide again. The vacuum had heard the noise. He turned around. He saw her standing there.

Now that Osmond had noticed her, her advantage of surprise was gone, and she couldn't kill him stealthily. Damn it! She would have to wait for another opportunity, another day.

He looked at the knife on the ground. He picked it up. Oh no! Then, he handed it to her, handle first.

"Excuse me, did you drop this, ma'am?" he asked politely, looking her in the eyes. She couldn't help but notice that his were yellow like her own, but several shades darker.

"I… uh, yes. Thank you," was all she managed to say before taking the knife. Damn it! Now the element of surprise was gone. But not all was lost. There was another opportunity right now. The perfect moment! The knife pointing at her target with the way it was handed to her, she'd be able to use it for a surprise attack and try to trip him. But for some reason, she didn't. For some unknown, incomprehensible reason, she hesitated. And then the moment was gone. The vacuum nodded politely and left, leaving her standing there alone and baffled.

After he left, Jessamine remained standing there for a long time, bewildered with herself. What the hell had just happened? She had been unfocused enough to trip – that was a beginner's mistake, and often the last one an inexperienced assassin made. But she wasn't a beginner. And why did she hesitate? She stood there, trembling. What the hell is wrong with me? It took her a whole while until she could finally move and return to the assassin headquarters to make new plans.