Wake Up! Its Time to Start Your New Work!

I woke up the next morning with a splitting headache and a dull ache in my back.

Last night was… rough, to say the least.

I looked around my cluttered and messy room before getting up and going to the bathroom, turning on the shower to hot to wash the dirt from yesterday off my skin.

I felt the water pour onto my bare back as last night's events replayed in my head.

The pizza delivery.

The meeting

The gun shot

The agreement that came after..

I quickly shook my head and washed up before rinsing and turning the shower off. As I began to get ready for school, I tried not to let whatever the heck happened yesterday affect me too much.. it was still bonechilling however, seeing that guy just laying face down on the ground.. lifeless..

I shook my head again and took a deep breath.

"No.. its okay.. You're alive, it's going to be okay" I said out loud as I finished getting ready for the day. I grabbed my bag, took another deep breath, and walked out to head to college.

~~

After college courses ended, I quickly rushed back to my apartment and flopped on the couch in the living room. Right now I wanted nothing more than to just watch TV and zone out mindlessly, so I did just that.

I flicked the TV on and picked a specific show that I had been watching for a while and got comfortable on the couch.

I didn't realize how long I had been sitting there for until I heard a loud thump coming from in my room. I looked over at my closed bedroom door and tilted my head a bit.

…What on earth was that sound?

I slowly got up and went to the kitchen, pulling out my biggest kitchen knife before walking slowly over to my room. I suddenly flung the door open and looked around, not expecting to see someone entering through my bedroom window.

"What the-" I didn't even have a chance to finish before the person fell to the floor and got up quickly again with a smile

"Well well, delivery boy. We meet again!"

It was the same pink haired girl from yesterday! This time, she had on a pink frilly dress with a black belt on her waist. She had a cat printed on her chest and white leg warmers on her legs as she smiled at me with a big grin.

"Oh, hello again.. Vixxy, was it?" I said in a nervous tone as I stared at her. She nodded and walked over to my bed, sitting down as she looked up at me.

"Yup! So you have great memory I see," She winked as she washed her finger at me. "You'll need that for more important missions."

I felt a dread come over me as she said that. I had almost completely that we made that deal. Which means this was really happening.. I was going to become an assassin.. that's when something else hit me however,

"Hey.. how the hell did you know where I live!?"

She smiled and walked out of my room, motioning for me to follow her. I just shook my head and began doing what she instructed.

"Oh I have my sources, don't you worry your pretty little head." She said as we walked to my living room, she suddenly stopped and looked at me. "We need to leave, I have some things to discuss with you. And my boss is expecting us"

"I- Wait, hold on a second! I didn't agree to this! I barely even know you!" I argued, crossing my arms.

She just kept smiling. "You already agreed yesterday so you don't have a choice. Plus, I can see it in your eyes. You're dying for more information, and I have it. So follow me."

She motioned with her hand and started walking to the front door. I stopped for a second to think but then realized, what choice do I have? I'll be in big trouble if I don't go..

"Do you have a car?" She stopped herself before chuckling and rolling her eyes as she began walking to the front door again. "Well, obviously you do. Otherwise how would you have gotten home yesterday?"

I let out a huff as I went to the front door with her,

"Yeah I have a car but-"

"Great, I'll drive then! You don't know where the location is so it's best if I drive.." She opened my apartment door and stepped outside, still smiling at me.

"No! I'm driving" I said stubbornly as I walked out the front door, walking past her and going down the stairs. She already broke into my house and forced me to go along with her somewhere, there's no way I'm letting her drive my precious car.

I suddenly felt a tap on my back before turning around to see Vixxy holding my car keys in her hands. My jaw dropped in shock as she twirled them around her fingers.

"How on earth did you-" I said in surprise as my mouth still hung open a bit. I had the keys sitting in my pocket, how the hell did she manage to steal them without me knowing?!

She just laughed tauntingly at me and unlocked my car, "Listen Delivery Boy, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. And I really don't want to have to do this the hard way so how about you just shut up and let me drive?"

I stood there stunned for a minute at her sudden demaning tone before grumbling and getting into the passengers seat.

Once we were both seated and buckled in, Vixxy turned my car on and put it into drive, leaving my apartment complex as she began speeding like a maniac out of the parking lot. I just sat there and looked at the road ahead, not wanting to say anything. It was quiet for a while until Vixxy started speaking again,

"So, Deilvery Boy.. I suppose you remember what we discussed yesterday?"

I nodded and swallowed a bit before looking at her, "Y-yeah, I remember. But, yknow you can just call me Asther..right?"

She laughed, a bubbly sounding one before smirking, "I know I can.. Hey, how do you spell Asther anyway? A. S. T. E. R?"

"Uh no, actually. It's spelled, A. S. T. H. E. R. But pronounced like Aster"

She glanced at me with a weird look before looking back at the road, swerving a bit as she kept switching lanes, "Why is it spelled like that? Were your parents rich or something? I mean, who the heck spells their kids name like that? Only kids who have rich parents would have a stupid name like Asther"

I felt my cheeks get warm in embarrassment as I shot back in a snippy tone, "Well, who the hell names there child Vixxy? That sounds pretty stupid as well…"

She frowned and stopped at a stoplight with a sudden jolt, turning to look at me as I noticed a small smirk on her face, "That's my nickname, silly! My boss picked it out for me. I don't even know my real name.."

"Why didn't you get to choose your name then?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion. She let out a small giggle as the light turned green, signaling we could drive again, "Because my boss basically took me in when I was just a wee pup. It's the only name I've ever really known so I just stuck to it.."

This made me intrigued as I looked at her again, "So, you're an orphan?"

"Basically. I guess you could say that. Never knew my real parents.." She hummed as she made a sharp turn at a corner.

Before I could even respond again, she made another sharp turn and began speeding up. Which caused me to almost slide all the way into my passenger side door.

I felt myself panic as my eyes widened,

"O-Oh god, Vixxy what are you-" I stopped when I heard a chuckle. She glanced over at me and grinned, "You're acting like you've never been in a car before, Delivery Boy.."

I stared at her in horror as she continued to drive recklessly on the road, causing the car to weave through traffic.

"I- I've been in a car before! I just haven't been in the car with a complete maniac behind the wheel" I argued back.

She just let out another giggle before putting her hand on my knee, making my face grow hot as I stared at her in disbelief.

"Why are you touching my knee? You're driving! Focus on the road for pete's sake" I practically screeched, causing her to smile wider at me. "Nah, it's much more fun to see you get upset!"

After a while more of swerving, jerking, jolting, and overall reckless driving, Vixxy let put a shout of happiness.

"Look! There it is!"

I looked in front of me again and saw an old, abandoned looking building. It had a large garage door in the front and what looked like windows and a door in the side. She parked and looked at me with a smile.

"See? That wasn't so bad, was it Delivery Boy?"

I had been clutching onto my seat belt In pure fear as my hair was messy and out of place, shaking furiously as I slowly turned to her.

"Im.. never.. letting you drive.. my car.. again" I said in a quiet yet angered tone as I tried hard to to cry in relief that the reckless driving was over.

She smiled sheepishly as she reached over to wipe my hair out of my face, "Here let me get that off-"

I swatted her hand and glared at her, although she probably couldn't tell because I usually always have my eyes covered with my hair. "No, don't touch my hair. It's fine."

"Alright, alright, jeez. Calm down" she said as she got out of the car. I just sighed in defeat and got out, walking behind her to the building.

"So, do all bad guys just have the abandoned buildings as there hideouts?"

She laughed and opened the door, motioning for me to come in, "One, I'm not a bad guy. I'm an assassin who kills the bad guys, like mafia gangs and what not. And two, abandoned buildings are great hideouts.."

She winked and lead me inside the house, which smelt damp and like mildew as I looked around. The house looked run down and old as it looked like it could collapse at any second. I grimaced and looked back at her.

"So where's your boss?" I asked as she walked ahead, not responding until we came to a stop in front of what looked like a bathroom door.

"Calm Down, Delivery Boy. She's here. Just gotta go in here and you'll see her." I walked into the bathroom and looked around in disgust. Nothing was in there besides a practically destroyed toilet and a broken down sink and tub. I scrunched my nose up in disgust as I looked at her

"Is this some kind of sick joke?! This is just a dirty old bathroom!"

She looked at me as if I were stupid. She just chuckled and shook her head before walking over to the sink and turned both of the faucets on. As if on cue, the wall where the bathroom sink was opened up like a door

"What the-" I didn't have time to respond as the door fully opened up to a secret staircase, leading down to a hidden underground hideout.

"Told you." She smirked before walking down, not even waiting for me.

I walked down the staircase and was led to another room that was pretty big and spacious. There was a table in the middle of the room and one wall was covered with computers and electronic things that even I couldn't identify. In a chair right by the computers was a girl with ivory skin and big hazel eyes. Her red curly hair was up in a long ponytail as she wore a lab coat over a black t-shirt and jeans. She smiled wide and went over to Vixxy and I,

"Well look what the fox dragged in!" The girl said, doing a wolf whistle as she looked me up and down.

"Hi, Mio" Vixxy said as she stuck her tongue out playfully at her.

"Hollis is waiting for you in her office, she's really pissed on how you just left like that.."

Mio glanced at me before looking at vixxy with a smirk, "This the cute pizza delivery boy you've been telling me about?"

Vixxy nodded before swatting Mio playfully. I stood there awkwardly as they talked, not sure what to do. Mio then walked up to me and held out her hand,

"Hi, I'm Mio. I'm the person who will be making sure your training will run smoothly for your first mission.."

I shook her hand and nodded, "Asther.."

She giggled and smiled at me, "Well Asther, welcome to the Underworld Assassin's Den!"

I sighed and was about to respond when I heard a door slam open from my left, causing me to jump a bit as an angry voice echoed,

"Vixxy! My office. NOW!" A woman with a long sleeve button up shirt rolled up at the sleeves and black pants stood in the left doorway glaring as Mio and Vixxy both flinched. Vixxy looked at me before grabbing my hand and quickly leading the both of us into the office. The woman slammed the door behind us and walked behind a desk in the back of the room.

I watched as she sat down before stopping and looking me up and down, her face twisted into an angry scowl. She had olive skin and brown hair cut in a pixie cut as her big round glasses fell off the bridge of her nose a little. She had one eye that was fully red while the iris was a deeper color of red. Her other iris seemed to be an amber color. She had a big jagged scar on her left cheek and two long earrings dangling from her ears.

"Hollis" Vixxy started but was quickly silenced by a sharp glare as the woman behind the desk continued to stare.

"Vixxy, what the hell were you thinking?! First you just leave without telling me where you're going! And what, now you're taking this guy with you? What were you thinking?! He doesn't know anything about our line of work and you just brought him here with you?!" The woman who seemed to be named Hollis spoke in a gruff tone as she continued glaring at the both of us.

Vixxy sighed before smiling a bit, "Hollis, I'm fine! See? Alive. As for the delivery boy.. well, he ran into the Blue Bloods. I couldn't just leave him to get slaughtered by them. You know how bad the mafia gets.."

Hollis sighed heavily and took her glasses of, pinching the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes, "When I sent you on that mission yesterday you had one job, kill the gang and that's it. You weren't supposed to be picking up a kid and expecting me to help him become an assasin!"

I could see Vixxy flinch a bit from her tone before she quickly went to her defense, "Hey, I didn't expect to see him! It just kind of happened! Besides, he can help us!"

Hollis scoffed and looked at Vixxy, "Really? And just how can he do that? I doubt the kid has killing in his genes..Is he even looking at us? I mean, the kids got his eyes covered.."

I felt my face get hot in embarrassment again as I cleared my throat. People always seem to say that about me. I have my hair cover my eyes for reasons I won't share, it drives people crazy sometimes because they can't gouge out whether I could be sleeping, staring at them, etc.

"Sorry, m..maybe I should go.." I said sheepishly as I felt a sudden awkwardness come over me. I began to get up before I heard a quick "Sit." from Hollis. I sat right back down and fiddled with my fingers, looking down on the ground. Right now, I wanted nothing more than to smoke a cigarette and calm my nerves.

Hollis raised an eyebrow before she sighed, "I don't know Vixxy. What if the kid gets hurt while in action? Or worse. Lot of good you'll be doing him if he's already destined to die.."

Vixxy was about to say something back before I interrupted them, "If you guys are worried about me getting hurt, I'll be fine.. I promise."

Both Hollis and Vixxy looked at me with wide eyes before Hollis got up and walked around her desk to stand in front of me. She smirked, clearly not a happy one as she looked me up and down with a scoff, "Well well, someone sounds ballsy… tell me, do you think you have what it takes to kill someone in cold blood? Do you have what it takes to snap a neck?"

I grew quiet as I lowered my head, I was slowly beginning to feel a bit conscious and now I wanted nothing more then just the ground to swallow me up. "I..I don't know.."

Hollis scoffed again and sneered, "You aren't ready for this, kid. It's a dog eat dog world.. Maybe it's better if you just accept your fate and hope the Blue Bloods spare mercy on you.."

"I won't let him die!" Vixxy suddenly shot back as I could see her eyes get a bit more fierce. She looked down and was silent for a moment before she looked up again,

"He won't die. I'll be right by his side.. I promise I won't let anything happen to him on my watch."

"How do you expect to protect him if he can't protect himself?" Hollis said as she crossed her arms.

"That's why we'll train him! He won't have to worry about dying if he knows how to protect himself in the best way possible!" Vixxy suddenly clasped her hands together in a pleading motion as she looked at Hollis with puppy eyes, "Please.. he really needs this.. we made an agreement to each other that I will protect him if he agrees to become an assasin. You know how I feel when I make agreements."

Hollis sighed as she closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose again. After a moment, she looked at me and scoffed. "So, you'll be doing this for free, hm?"

I nodded and felt myself relax a bit, knowing that I wasn't going to be rejected.

Hollis sighed and shook her head, muttering to herself before looking at the both of us. "Maybe I'm crazy.. but, I'll give him a shot. But you better not let him out of your sight, got it?"

Vixxy nodded quickly before squealing and hugging Hollis, "Oh, thank you thank you thank you! I promise we won't let you down"

Hollis rolled her eyes and gave Vixxy a half hug before prying her off of herself and sitting back down in her chair behind the desk. She took out a folder, placing it on top as she looked at us, "I suppose you both can take this as a gift. The two of you are being assigned to a mafia case. There's a bunch of murders happening downtown and I want you two to get it handled before it gets any worse. Got that?"

"O..oh.. right now?" I say in surprise, I didn't expect to be going headfirst into all of this without at least knowing the basics. It was almost as if Vixxy read my mind because she piped up again,

"Hollis? Could you give us at least a day to train before we get on the case?"

Hollis looked at her for a moment before chuckling and shaking her head, "Sure, I'll give you 24 hours to train, than get on the case."

Vixxy nodded and grabbed my hand, leading me to the office door as she opened it, "Mhm! Gotcha! 24 hours! He'll be ready, don't worry!"

Vixxy lead me outside the door and closed it behind her with a sigh, she closed her eyes for a bit before looking at me with a smile.

"You're in! We'll start training today with Mio. Let's go, we haven't a moment to lose!"

I nodded slowly before twiddling my fingers again and shifting my weight onto one foot, "Hey, before we start.. can I please go get my pack of cigarettes from the car?"

Vixxy looked at me with a look of shock mixed in with disbelief as she scoffed just like Hollis did. "A cigarette? Really? We're about to start training to save your freaking life and you want a cigarette?

"It…it just calms my nerves.. rotten habit I know.."

Vixxy continues staring before waving her hand dismissively, "Sure, whatever. But don't blame me if you have lung cancer by the age of 35.."

I stood there for a minute as she walked away before walking up the stairs back to my car to retrieve my pack.