The Hitman and His Consort

XLIV - Bang

First Person P.O.V: VALENTIN HACKSAW

“So kill guard, stun grenade, look for Pierre, look for Arthur, no Arthur, look for Julian,” Madeline repeated, like a caveman who had just recently learned a new vocabulary.

“Exactly,” I affirmed. It sounded stupid, but he’s not wrong, that’s the exact plan.

“What about our exit? Once we finish the job there, what’s next?” Inka asked.

‘Well…’

“I don’t know, we’ll just wing it,” I replied as we get closer to the lab. Once the protruding letters of the Mariella labs’ building showed, both Inka and Madeline prepared our stuff, by stuff I mean the guns and explosives. It’s going to be a really loud afternoon.

"Again? Alright..." Inka sighed,

“Do you happen to have earplugs?” Madeline asked, and I shook my head, “s**t,” he cursed as he resumed gathering the stuff, having his gun of choice ready for a full-blown confrontation. The car will be abandoned from here on out, one of the things I didn’t put into the calculation. Maybe because carnapping wasn’t a chore for us when it comes to the fleeing part.

The moment I hit the brakes a tad bit too close to the stairway to the entrance, driving over the sidewalk and entering their property, the guard already acted quickly and grabbed his gun.

A single shot was all it took to put him down and deter him. The others are long out of the car before that guard’s body fell to the floor. They got inside the lab’s entrance faster than I did and aimed their guns at the crowd, blocking the fastest way of exit. I followed pretty brisk with a duffle bag over my left shoulder and a P-9 in my right hand; I threw the stun grenade, that I already placed in my pocket beforehand, made a loud bang followed by a ringing sound that filled the whole area.

The people inside got the idea as they started kneeling down with hands over their heads. That’s right. They’re f*cked. Some tried to stand up and run, I shot those. Making it clear that there are staying here.

“Where’s Pierre?!” I yelled for everyone to hear but they just looked at each other. I know this place is big but they got to have some sort of idea where Pierre would be, right? He’s their boss for f*ck’s sake.

I shot another one of the staff, “Where’s Pierre?!” I asked again, and this time someone answered.

“W-We don’t know!”

I shot him. F*CK THIS. WHY SPEAK IF YOU DON’T KNOW?

“Well? Who does?!” I yelled again, and this time someone raised their hand,

“H-He’s at his office—t–third floor! There’s an elevator on that side—“

“F*ck that, lead her to him,” I cut him off, gesturing to Inka. He’s not really planning to give us directions like this was a f*cking casual visit and not a damned raid and hostage situation, isn’t he? The man nodded as he manage to stand, Inka glanced at me and Madeline as she left. I already told her not to kill Pierre when we were in the car. I also have good things prepared for the blonde b***h.

“And Arthur?” I asked, and I got a wave of silence as a response. Either they don’t know or they’re not sure if they could spill the lab’s secrets now, despite the situation.

Perhaps I need to make them understand better. I knew my way around this place from the time we smuggled August out so I know the way to the transport area from inside, and as I walked a set of guards, probably informed to come over by the surveillance team, came from the other end of the hallway and I threw one of the weaker grenades to them and turned to the door towards the transport area where a conveniently parked truck was just sitting there, I grabbed one of the strong bombs and threw it under the truck, hastily walking back in so I won’t suffer from the shockwave too much.

The loud bang ripped the air and I’m pretty sure the sound of the truck being pulverized added to the volume, I’m also sure that I may have just destroyed our easiest way of escape but that ought to inform everyone in the building that something big is happening, when I got back to the entrance, that little spectacle seemed to do the trick because now they’re almost lying flat down on the ground hands over their ears, trembling from head to toe.

“Where’s Arthur, answer now or you’ll blow up next,” I announced, and the staff started panting as they looked at each other.

“If no one answers in the next three seconds it’s your funeral,” I warned, we’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time, and good times like these I prefer short. Like my patience.

“3…” I started counting as I handed Madeline the duffel bag for his usage. I’m sure I’ll find Arthur here if I actually look for her. This place is big, but it’s not endless,

“2..” I followed. Madeline nodded at me as we heard the faint sirens in the distance. “If we’re blowing this area up, you should change camps,” I noted to him and he raised a thumbs up as he looked to see if the cops were any closer. I took one of the grenades in my hand as Madeline and I started moving.

Still no reaction from them, then I guess we’ll have to change venues after all, “On—“

“No! I know where she is!” A woman’s voice called out, standing up with her hands clenched into fists at her side. I tilted my head and shifted my gaze between her and the grenade in my hands.

“I don’t think so,” I replied as my other hand moved to the pin,

“NO! I-I REALLY DO! Is-Is she Madeline’s sister? That’s what they were saying—I heard the scientists talk about her!” she argued and I clicked my tongue as I put the grenade back in my pocket.

“What took it so long? Lead me to her,” I ordered, she took a few seconds to get her legs to move, she even stumbled a little before she managed to gain her footing back and led me away, I exchanged glances with Madeline because now we, at least, know that Arthur is here.

He already knows his role in being the crowd control, he’ll also be the one to deal with the cops first, he’s looks like a frugal guy so I’m sure he’ll be able to keep the cops at bay and in on a chokehold in exchange of the hostages' well-being. He sure plays the role of an aggressive thug impressively.

As this woman lead me away from that scene and towards Arthur, we entered rooms and areas that are not fully aware of the situation at hand. We first entered a hallway that led to an area with the words ‘Area C Annex 2’ on the walls. After passing that we entered another brightly lit space, with separated large cubicle-like glass-walled rooms filled with people doing experiments, or that’s what it looked like.

There were machines and wooden mannequins, ‘dummies’ would be a better term, whirring around the place and it looked like any other sci-fi-themed movie I unwillingly watched with my siblings, they gazed at us as we passed by, oblivious to the commotion we caused. So I brought it upon myself to shoot a few clueless and ignorant lab-clad and surgical-gowned people alike, not all of them but some just to keep things hectic for everyone else.

“Has anyone called the cops yet?!” A smart-ass yelled as I walked by him, I shot him too.

I wasn’t going to. If he managed not to get hit while I was terrorizing them earlier, then luck was doing miracles for him, but he went ahead and f*cked himself over by being a little b***h. We passed that room, leaving it in chaos as they opted to leave the room. The woman still walked onwards though. The route ended when we entered another storage-looking room. Unlike the rest of the lab being blindingly bright, this was dark.

And empty…

I aimed the gun at the woman, “A trick?” I clarified, if this was her attempt to save her other colleagues, her effort meant nothing.

She shook her head as she clasped her hands to her mouth, it looked like she was muffling her cries, “I-It’s not, it’s right here, they always go through here,” she replied, panting. I looked around, looking for a light switch first and foremost and once I did, the room was barely lit by a bulb that was nearing the end of its life, blinking and buzzing every once in a while but it kept the room visible.

The woman didn’t look like she was lying, either. Don’t tell me there’s a hidden door around here—Found it.

There was a hatch on the floor and it seemed like they weren’t really intent on hiding this. Kind of pissed I didn’t notice it earlier. Minor issue though, it has a keyhole,

“A key?... I don’t know which of them has a key—" the woman said, but I cut her off as I shot the keyhole with my gun and lifted the hatch up. A steel ladder led the way down and I turned to her.

“You don’t need to follow,” I instructed, and she nodded as I climbed down, the echoes of my own footsteps growing louder the deeper I descended, here the dark ambiance remained with only a faint light coming out of the door gaps a few feet away from the ladder.

'How f*cking sinister of them to have a place like this?'

I leaned close to the cold metal door, my skin pricked when it made contact, but I couldn’t hear any sound from the inside. I gripped my gun tighter and added light pressure against the door just to see if it would budge open. It f*cking did.

Taking a deep breath, I kicked the door open and aimed the gut at—Arthur… who was rubbing her wrists while five people were lying unconscious on the cold floor.

“Valya!” she cheered as she ran to me, engulfing me in a tackle-no, a hug.

My heart felt like it skipped a beat and for I moment I forgot how to breathe, I couldn’t even move my legs, let alone reciprocate her hug.

“WHAT THE F*CK? What happened here?!” I yelled as I grabbed her by the shoulders. Her eyes looked swollen and there was almost color in her lips and red marks are all over her body, particularly those that were probably made by a tightly wrapped rope.

She smiled as she shook her head, “man… ah, I wish I could tell, you, how did you get here? W-Where are the others?” she asked. She’s a f*cking mess. I checked her pulse, and it’s slower than normal, damn it.

“Get on my back,” I told her, but she just waved me off,

“No, let’s just go, I can still move, Valya. Please, give me this win.” She said with a bitter smile, dragging her hand over her face, “I f*cked myself over for hours on end...” her voice broke on that last few words, but I let her be and nodded as I led her out of the room and back up on the ladder. Raising the latch back open and climbing out.

As soon as we both stood up a loud explosion erupted again and this one was loud enough to shake the ground. Arthur gave me a panicked look.

“What was that?” she asked,

“That’s a bomb, your brother must’ve started his fun,” I replied, she looked confused, concerned, and afraid at the same time but I just jogged ahead, grabbing the radio Inka distributed among us earlier from my coat pocket,

“Arthur’s with me,” I relayed over,

A short static ran through until I heard Madeline’s cheerful tone, “F*ck yes! Also, I just threw a grenade at the cops, you didn’t tell me thing was THAT strong!” he replied and I smiled to myself. The grenades were a lot more destructive than I thought. Excellent.

“What grenade?” Arthur asked from beside me,

I pulled out the one I put in my pocket and her eyes widened, “Sh*t, where’d you get that?” she exclaimed, but before I could answer her another run of static sounded from the radio,

“That’s great! I also got Pierre, we need to think of an escape plan Valya!” it was Inka. She’s also finished her part of the mission, not to say that she’s got the easy part, but she’s after Pierre. What could Pierre do, flip his hair at her? Instantly hire someone else to fight for him?

“Yeah, Madeline, how many bombs do you still have there?” I asked through the radio,

Another explosion erupted and this one sounded louder. The ground shook again before Madeline replied, “Plenty,”

I hummed as I looked around the place, formulating another impromptu scheme to get us out of here next. I really hate these parts of the plan, which is why I usually leave them to someone else or just wing it.

“Alright… I got an idea,” I began speaking through the radio.