A soft drizzle had just began to fall on the tarmac as Flex and Natasha stepped from the bar in the back street alley.
"How does it feel to be out?" Flex inclined his head towards her.
"Like jumping from one shit hole to another," muttered Natasha, sliding her fingers into her gloves. "This place just needs a little airing out then it'll be fine and fresh for me."
Flex nodded and looked up to the sky feeling the falling water on his face and taking a deep breath of the autumn, City air. "I fucking hate this rain."
"I can't say the same," Natasha rubbed the droplets on her fingers together "I sort of missed it."
They parted then, as Flex trundled to his flat. Natasha glanced to her left and to her right and began to think to herself about the old gang. It was October. It was devils night. They had long grown out of burning buildings to the ground. Her ears pricked up as, just ahead, she heard two men bickering in a back street just off the road directly in front of her. She recognised both voices and started a steady, slow walk to the opening.
There was a flickering lamp light just ahead of her where the two of them stood with their heads bent low over their hands. There was a subtle rustling of money in the hands of the shorter one as the taller one kept glancing over his shoulder, keeping an eye out. Her hands firmly pressed down on her sides and she felt the pistols press against her chest, she let her arms slide down and she flexed her fingers. She drew in a deep breath through her nose and let it out through her mouth and the condensation trailed into the air.
The taller and broader man looked up to see the cloud of breath reflecting in the light. "What the fuck do you want?" He squinted into the darkness. The smaller man lifted his head and quickly spun round. She began to slowly step forward and stopped just before the flickering lamp light struck her face.
"You think you're a funny guy?" The shorter man thrust the money into his back pocket and pulled a silver knife from his belt. "Let's see if I can draw a smile with this." He turned the sharp object between his fingers and smirked.
"Now now," Natasha whispered "Wouldn't want to do that."
"Hmm," grunted the taller man "A chick, we could make her smile another way."
"You tried that the first time and it didn't work," she flexed her fingers again in the darkness, resisting the urge to shoot them straight away.
"Must have, you came back, now get down on your knees." The broader man was too quick for her and grabbed her leather glad arm and dragged her into the lamplight and onto her knees. He held her firmly with her arms behind her back and grasped her, painfully, by the hair, holding her face up to the other who's hand held the silver knife firmly at her throat.
"Hello, Nicholas," Natasha smirked at his shocked face. He blinked and stepped back and she felt the grip on her hair loosen. "I'm hurt that I wasn't the only one." He remained with a look of resentment and astonishment on his face, his fingers tightening around the knife.
"What the fuck are you doing out?" The broad shouldered man bent over her and she could smell his foul, smoke ridden breath fill her nostrils.
"Making sure I am the last," she whispered with her head turned to face his. She was swift in her next move although it was disgusting. She sunk her teeth firmly into his earlobe until she could feel the blood trickling down her chin and feel the warm liquid on her chin. Her own ears were deafened by his hysterical screaming and he released her arms trying to prise her jaw open.
It was then that she reached into her left-inside pocket and pulled out her pistol and shot Nicholas squarely in the groin. She promptly released her grip on the taller mans ear as Nicholas fell to the ground.
His screaming did not modify in pitch, he took a single glance at the body of his fellow gang member while cradling his ear and his eyes widened and his screams became even more hysterical.
He stood and began to sprint up the side street to the road, wailing in horror and incredible pain. She waited until he was at the edge of the darkness between where she stood and the main road and aimed a shot at his head and fired. His body jerked and he fell to the ground and she smiled, weakly with a small amount of satisfaction.
Flex turned the corner and she took a deep breath and turned around to the crippled animal at her feet.