The three sisters run along the empty road taken by two dark sedans, using their normal human shapes. They were too exhausted to fly in their swarm forms now.
Bela's stump of an index finger throbbed painfully, begging to be reunited with its missing tip. Yet thanks to that little trick, she knew exactly where their prey was now. Even that they have stopped. The blonde was afraid that by the time they would cross the vast distance between them and their prey on foot, the humans would already leave their little pit-stop, though. And she didn't think her solitary fly could survive much longer, the prolonged separation from the swarm would prove too much for it soon, she could feel it.
As if God had heard her miserable thoughts, a car suddenly popped up on the horizon, moving in their direction quickly. The blonde stopped, her sisters following the motion along.
Bela looked at the youngest and asked: "So… Daniela. You were boasting about you learning how to drive a car for a while now. Care to give it a try?"
The redhead laughed awkwardly, before saying, in a meek voice: "Suuure."
She then proceeded to wipe some spots of blood from her mouth with a wet cloth, Cassandra following the motion along.
Cassandra grinned evilly as she eyed the approaching deep blue 1950s Mercedes-Benz Ponton.
"A snack and a vehicle, all in one package, how fortunate we are, sisters."
Bela frowned at that, before responding in her authoritative voice: "We are not killing this human, sister. You'll have your snack and more once we get to our prey."
"Where's the fun in that?" Brunette mumbled, disappointingly.
Bela nodded at Daniela, who took to the middle of the road and waved at the approaching car, motioning it to stop. The redhead was an enchanting sight nowadays. She was dressed in her black sneakers and colourful summer dress that went to her knees. With healthy-looking skin and a wide smile that showed her pearly-white teeth; her beautiful and youthful face that had just enough darker make-up to give her the contrast she liked, few would be able to resist her charms. Her long, auburn hair with a small shaved spot on the left as well as a flower tattoo on the forehead gave Daniela a rebellious and playful look.
The car stopped, and out of the window popped the head of the driver, a middle-aged tanned man in a simple straw hat. He was likely a worker in the rice fields nearby. His hungry eyes roamed the redhead's curvy body as he asked: "You girls heading my way?"
As the man stared at Daniela, he missed Cassandra approaching him. The brunette muttered: "No, you're heading our way." before opening the door and dragging the man out forcefully, before savagely slamming his head against the door of his own car multiple times, until he stopped struggling. Unceremoniously tossing the unconscious body into a ditch nearby, she looked back at Bela, who observed the work her sisters did. The middle sister asked, in a frustrated tone: "Happy?"
The blonde winced at the violent sight, but nodded, before answering: "Well done, sisters! Let's hurry up now!"
Daniela took her seat at the wheel, hands grasping the object unsteadily, while Bela moved her way to the front passenger seat. Cassandra took to the back, lying on the both free seats, instead of sitting on one.
Giving the redhead thumbs up, Bela made sure to put a seatbelt on.
Every motion Daniela made next was slow and deliberate. Moving the car forward slightly, she rotated the vehicle around steadily. Her hands were bone-white from gripping the wheel so tightly and sweat was beading on her forehead. She was deathly quiet and her yellow eyes were wide open as her foot put just a tiny bit of pressure on the gas and the car moved in the direction they needed to go, albeit very slowly.
"Step on it, grandma, we don't have all day!" Came out an annoyed yell from the backseat.
At that, the redhead suddenly lets out a piercing shriek, before stomping on the gas with all her might, the car lurching forward violently.
"Finally she starts to speak my language! I won't beat around the bush then." Sebastian yelled out and smirked, as his green eyes shamelessly took in all the shorter woman's body.
"The board wants to restart production of E-001. Our most valuable client in particular is dying to get their hands on it. Yet we found ourselves all the way back to square one with it. After your failure to contain the subject in Dulvey, by the time any of our teams could get there, Blue Umbrella had wiped the area clean. Our mutual acquaintance - Miranda - would not even entertain any offers I made for additional samples from her. How well that worked out for her. Again, by the time we got there ourselves, every viable sample was ash and only the useless crystallized husks were left lying around."
Mia listened carefully, curious, despite herself. As the man paused, she voiced her concerns: "So? Professor Schmidt surely kept some samples in our lab? He was always meticulous and prudent."
An annoyance flashed in the man's eyes at the name: "Ah, but now we arrive at the root of the issue. The good Herr Doktor unexpectedly decided to grow a conscience after hearing about what happened in Louisiana. What happened to you, his beloved protégé. The old fool burned down the lab, with all the notes and samples, and that was the last we ever saw of him."
Mia took the news in stride, though she was surprised. She admired the professor for his vast genius, yet she never took him as someone who cared about the consequences of his inventions. He was the perfect man for bioweapon R&D - brilliant, driven and amoral, or so she thought. Sebastian continued talking:
"Naturally, as the project overseer, a lot of the blame for these blunders fell on my shoulders. You weren't the only one who had to struggle for your life in the past five years. I had to fight tooth and nail to regain my place and reaffirm my worth to the council."
The woman just scoffed at that, before responding in a mocking tone:
"Boo hoo. You think I give a shit about your sob story? Give me a fucking break. You're the bastard who lured me into that mess in the first place! With your sweet promises of revolutionizing biomedical sciences while bypassing pharmaceutical corporations greed! I wanted to help people, and you made me make monsters instead! Kept me blind until I was too deep in to walk out!"
The man just laughed at her outburst, making Mia even angrier, her small hands clutching into fists.
"Such are the ways of humanity, dear. We all lie to get what we want. You were brilliant, yet naive back then. It would've been a crime for me not to use that charming youthful quality of yours. But, you know that better than anyone now, yes? Did you ever tell the love of your life your true title in our organization? Assistant chief scientific officer Mia Winters? Of course you didn't. You wanted to have your slice of heaven with him, and if B.S.A.A. ever caught wind of the fact that you were behind Eveline all along, they would've taken everything from you. So you lied to everybody, to keep yourself happy. Tsk tsk, how selfish."
At the accusation, Mia shrunk into her seat, the weight of his words heavy on her, for she knew them to be the truth. They all thought her to be a mere caretaker of Eveline, when she was instrumental in helping to create the bioweapon in the first place. The callous man at her side spoke once more:
"Now, you will help us restart this project. If you want your husband and child to remain safe, that is. Council doesn't know about that, but I have my suspicions that dear old Ethan is more than an average Joe himself."
"Don't you lay a finger on him! That was the deal!" Mia shrieked instantly at the voiced implication of Ethan's condition. She kept it more secret than almost anything else.
Sebastian just nodded.
"The 'deal' is a courtesy from me, to you, Mia. Out of my personal respect for what you have achieved and what you have lived through. As long as you keep your part of the bargain, I'll keep my suspicions about Ethan to myself."
Mia calmed at that and inquired: "You say you don't have any mold samples left, though? Even Professor Schmidt couldn't synthesize it. I don't think I'll fare better."
The man just chuckled at how eager the previously belligerent woman now sounded, before responding:
"Don't you worry your pretty little head over that. I have quite a sample flying right over to your new home as we speak."
As their old sedan lurched and weaved on the open road, Daniela kept screaming even as she tried to control the vehicle.
Bela tried to soothe her unbalanced younger sibling: "Just relax, Dani! Take a deep breath! Damn!" The blonde cursed as their car almost flew off the road, before righting itself. She thanked God that the road was completely deserted. A head-on collision was not how she wanted this ride to end. Finally, the redhead calmed down a little and decided to spare them from her continued auditory assault. The car started moving in a straight line, though it did not slow down.
"Well done, Dani!" The blonde muttered, even as she felt like vomiting. The rest of their ride went relatively smoothly.
As they approached the place where Bela felt her fly to be, the elder sister motioned for Daniela to stop the vehicle. Leaving the car, the daughters continued on foot once again.
Soon, they saw a tiny, run-down roadside bar close to the deserted road. Two black sedans were parked near it. Deciding to scout the place first, Bela dispersed into her swarm form, this time leaving her dress and personal items lying on the ground. As she flew closer to the motel, she dispersed the swarm members far apart from each other, making sure not to attract any undue attention as she took a closer look.
Two men out front, well-built, some kind of communication device in their ears, looks like. Possibly bodyguards? To eliminate quickly and quietly first.
Inside… Aha! Our target - the suits. And someone else is with them, though I can't tell who it is from that distance with his large hat. No matter. Also two more bodyguards. Looks easy enough. Also, two people who look like a waitress and a barkeep are inside, as well. Hmmm.
Slowly returning back to her original spot, retrieving her missing fly on the way back, Bela coalesced inside her discarded clothing, soon looking as good as new. She then calmly conveyed her scouting run.
"There are four bodyguards in total from what I can see. Two outside, two inside. We should kill them quickly, lest they call reinforcements on us. We have both of our targets inside, talking to a third person. We should try to keep these people alive, though prevent them from calling for help, obviously. Also looks like there are two bar workers also in there. We should disable them, without killing them, hopefully."
Both sisters listened attentively to their elder and nodded at the conclusion, though the brunette let out an annoyed scoff at the last part.
Bela continued: "There is no way to approach these guards in front without drawing their attention. Dani, can you distract them, while me and Cass try to sneak on them? We need to take them down quietly, above all."
The redhead nodded her head vigorously, happy to do anything that would get them closer to mother. Being earnest by nature, she didn't like the deceptions, yet she was quite aware of the charm she had on the opposite gender.
Bela rummaged in her backpack, finding her old ornate dagger. She hadn't used it in quite a while. But her hand still remembered its weight well. All the lives it took. Suddenly, Cassandra's own gloved hand gripped her wrist.
"Wait. Remember what I taught you before? If you want them to suffer, cut shallowly. If you want them to stay silent, cut deeply, making sure to sever the vocal cords."
Bela nodded, before replying, her lips in a thin line.
"I remember it very well, sister."
Giving each other a glance and a nod, the girls proceeded with their plan, with Daniela approaching the bodyguards directly, while Bela and Cassandra lurked to the sides, out of sight.
The bodyguards saw the lone figure of a beautiful young woman approaching them slowly, yet clearly they had no idea of who she really was. Not identifying her as a threat, they traded glances and stared at her, without radioing in or getting their firearms out.
Daniela gave them a stunning smile and a playful wave with one hand, before addressing them, making sure to pull her colorful summer dress down with her delicate hand, showing just a bit of cleavage.
"Hello, boys! It's so hot today! Aren't you burning up in your dark suits under the sun right now?"
The left one just stared, his eyes following Daniela's dainty hand, while the right one actually answered, in a gruff voice:
"For this kind of pay, a little bit of discomfort is no biggie. Where are you coming from? Did you come all the way on foot?"
Daniela just beamed on him and answered: "Nah, my car broke down some way back there! Can you believe that? Such misfortune!"
The left one became animated at that and spoke in a chipper voice: "Oh, maybe I can go help the lady? I am pretty good with cars, what's the model?"
The right one just hit him on the shoulder and muttered darkly: "Idiot, we are on the job, go chase the skirts on your days off."
Before the conversation could continue, Bela and Cassandra were in positions to carry out their silent executions. With practiced synchronicity, both women slashed the throats of their respective targets, their blades biting deep. Both men, clutching on their cut throats tried to say something, yet the only sound they could make was deep gurgling.
Cassandra held her victim in her strong arms easily and started drinking greedily from the gushing wound she just inflicted. Bela cleared her throat and pointed one finger towards the shoddy bar. Cassandra sighed, but nodded and released the man, who dropped like a sack of rocks on the ground. After dragging the bodies behind a sedan to obstruct them from sight from the road, the girls went inside.
Done with stealth, the moment the daughters entered the motel, Cassandra lunged at the bodyguards, who were playing cards at a small table. Her sickle found the first of them within seconds, the man not even reacting as his brain was pierced by a wickedly sharp weapon from behind. The second man, despite his shock, kicked the table towards Cassandra, hoping to get some space between himself and the vicious woman who had just killed his partner in cold blood. Instead, the brunette merely jumped over it, landing next to the shocked bodyguard, who was now gripping his sidearm, trying to aim at the middle child.
Her sickle still embedded in the skull of the now lying corpse, Cassandra opted to simply put her gloved hands on the still sitting man's throat, suffocating him. The last bodyguard fired his sidearm at her twice then, but beyond giving her hunting outfit two new holes, it did little to stop her. Her vicious amber orbs were locked onto his own dark grey eyes, as she choked the life out of him. An expression of savage glee was etched into her face as the man's despair at his predicament became clear.
As something in him finally gave way to her brutish strength with a loud 'snap', Cassandra slammed her full black lips into his own, giving the soon to be dead man a long, brutal kiss, stealing his last breath ever.
Meanwhile, Daniela went after the waitress and the barkeep with her Desert Eagle drawn up. As she pointed the gun at them, she yelled hysterically, motioning with her free hand wildly: "Get on the ground and don't move, or I'm gonna fill you with lead!" The bar workers obeyed instantly, like it was not their first rodeo. Daniela remained standing over their prone bodies.
While Cassandra dealt with the guards and Daniela intimidated the help, Bela went straight for the trio of VIPs. Not giving them an introduction, she viciously kicked their table, making the glasses and papers fly in every direction. Letting out a curse, the male official swung his fist at her. Flowing away from the clumsy attack, the blonde backhanded him savagely, making him stumble back before impacting the bar counter. The female official screamed and begged for mercy, while the third man finally turned his face up and towards her. Bela's dark blood boiled in her mimicry of veins upon seeing him here.
"Hello...Darius."