TICK-TOCK

Riveting, captivating, and enchanting. The noises that streamed from Marie-Laura's violin sounded like a ballad performed by the gods themselves, sending chills down the spines of anyone who listened. But for Robin, it was a regular occurrence that he was used to hearing. It brought him a sense of peace, which comes in short supply nowadays. He sat on the couch as cigarette smoke filled the room, his mind racing as he stared down at his phone. There was a text on screen, a bounty out for John Wick and Mandy Rose.

At the crack of distant thunder, Robin lifted his head and glanced out the window, seeing the outside world hazed with cold rain.

He got up from his seat and closed the curtains, hearing his wife suddenly speak up from behind him.

"It is an omen, my dear," she said, slowly streaming her violin to a melancholy end.

Robin cocked a brow and looked back at her. "You think everything is an omen." He pointed out, walking back over to the couch. He rubbed his cigarette in the ashtray and sat back down.

"That's only because bad omens are happening a lot these days. John and Mandy's return…the death of Santino…It seems to never end." She hummed to herself.

Robin leaned back, glancing back towards the window as the rain fell heavily. His attention was soon drawn to the watch on his hand, staring down at it as time moved on aggressively.

"By the way, I got a call a little while ago," Marie-Laura spoke up, setting her bow and violin down.

Robin cocked a brow when his wife walked over, sitting beside him. His arm immediately found its way around her shoulder. "Was it a good thing or a bad thing?" he asked.

"You tell me. I didn't answer it because I wasn't in the mood to be yelled at." She grabbed her phone off the coffee table and turned it on. She went to her call history and held it up for Robin to see.

Robin's eyes darkened a little when he saw the most recent name. "Dahlia Romanov. Oh, shit…" He tore his eyes away from the screen and looked back outside, watching the rain wash up against the window.

He felt like his wife had a point regarding bad omens. Because right now, it felt like a dark cloud was overhead, and it wasn't just the rain that was pressing down on them.

The city glowed with neon lights as heavy rain flooded the streets. Water splashed onto their legs as John and Mandy ran through the concrete jungle, pushing past the crowds of people that congested the sidewalk. The rainwater stung John's face as he followed close behind Mandy, keeping a focused eye on her back as she navigated the both of them through the chaos.

They took a sharp turn down a dimly lit alleyway and finally took a moment to catch their breath. John braced himself against a wall and checked the time on his watch while Many went down to her knees and opened her arm. The Pitbull that was following them immediately went into her embrace and wagged its tail happily.

"Mandy," John called out.

Mandy nodded her head, already knowing what John wanted. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a single gold coin. It was the currency of their world, and it was all they had left.

The two of them then suddenly stiffened when glass clinked against the ground. John and Mandy looked ahead and saw a homeless man sitting under a makeshift tarp. He was insanely mumbling to himself, but when he made eye contact with John and Mandy, he straightened up and smiled at them.

He pulled up his sleeve and tapped the watch on his wrist. "Tick-tock, you two. Tick-tock. No time to dilly-dally!"

His words continued to echo through their heads as John and Mandy turned, rushing out of the alleyway back into the suffocating streets of New York.

John gripped Mandy's hand tightly as he hailed a taxi. The yellow car pulled up beside them, and the two jumped into the back, following closely behind by the Pitbull.

"The New York Public Library," John said to the driver.

"You got it," the driver said, turning into the road.

The warm car made Mandy breathe a sigh of relief, but it didn't stop her anxious heart. She gripped John's hand and turned her head around, watching the heavy flow of traffic that didn't look like it was moving at all.

John Held Mandy's hand tightly and looked down at his watch, watching the precious seconds tick by. Seconds that they couldn't waste.

Thinking quickly on his feet, he reached into Mandy's pocket and pulled out the last gold coin they had.

"Change of plan," he said, leaning close to the taxi driver. The driver looked back at the coin and took it. "The Continental. Can you see that he's received by the concierge?" he gestured to the Pitbull that laid its head lazily on Mandy's leg.

The driver nodded. "Yes, sir, Mr. Wick."

John leaned back in his seat and took a breath. He leaned close to the dog and petted its head. "Good dog...good dog."

A moment later, John and Mandy jumped out of the taxi and looked down the road, rain still stinging their eyes. They took off between the lanes of traffic towards the direction of the library.

The library had an eerie calm silence when they went inside. Not a sound was heard aside from their labored breathing, the subtle sounds of turning pages, and muffled mouse clicks.

They went up to the front desk, where an older woman sat.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked as John and Mandy went up to the desk.

"Russian Folktale. Alexander Afanasyev. 1864," John said and waited as the woman looked it up. He glanced at Mandy while she looked around, watching everyone in the room. "Dante Alighieri. Inferno. 1314."

The woman nodded her head. She wrote the two locations down on a sheet of paper and handed it to John. "Level two."

The two dove deeper into the library until nothing but silence and their own breathing remained. John rushed down an aisle of books, following the guide on the paper until he found the book about Russian Folktale.

Mandy stood beside him as he pulled the book out and opened it up to a picture. He grabbed the edge and peeled it back, revealing a hidden compartment underneath. Inside were many things—a neckless with a cross on it, A marker, and two pictures. One was a picture of him and Helen, appearing happy and in love—a beautiful moment frozen in a single frame.

The other one was just a single picture of Mandy, captured in a way that looked like she was unaware. She looked to be sitting at a desk, feet propped up, with a pistol in her hand like she was taking it apart to clean.

"Oh, God…I looked so young." Mandy commented on the picture of her. "This must've been very early into our partnership. Why did you take a picture?"

John studied the picture for a moment like he was trying to unlock the old memories of that time. He recalled it with ease. It was shortly after a mission; Mandy had just taken a shower and was relaxing inside the Continental, taking apart a pistol to clean it.

Taking that picture of her was a spur-of-the-moment action, but looking back on it now, he remembered the reason.

"It's because you looked peaceful, and I thought…" John sighed deeply and stared down at the picture. "I just thought you looked beautiful in that moment."

Mandy's expression subtly changed. Her eyes softened, and a weak but genuine smile crept to her lips. She ran her hand up and down his back, leaning her head on his shoulder.

John kissed her on the temple before taking both pictures and putting them back in the hidden compartment. He closed the book and put it away.

Next, a familiar voice flooded the aisle, making John and Mandy stiffen. They looked down the end and saw a tall-framed man walk in, a book open in front of him.

"'In weeping and in grieving, accursed spirit, may you long remain.'" He quoted, holding up the book for both of them to see. "Dante. Knowing Mandy, I had a feeling you would've left something hidden on a chapter about the fifth circle of Hell. Wrath." He then opened the palm of his hand, which had a small handful of gold coins. "It was a good place to hide them, I will admit that."

Mandy's face turned into a sneer as she watched him put the coins in his pocket. "Ernest. We still have time, you know. Unless you have suddenly forgotten how to read a clock."

"It's almost up. Who's gonna know the difference?" Ernest threatened.

"You sure this is what you wanna do?" John asked, pulling Mandy behind him. At the corner of his eyes, he saw Mandy grabbing two books from off the shelf, slipping one into his hand.

Ernest shrugged. "Twenty-four million. It's a lot of money."

"Not if you can't spend it." John quickly ducked down just as Mandy hurled a book at Ernest, nailing him right in the eye with the book's sharp corner.