The Watcher: Adaptability Of A Bounty Hunter

Chapter 2) The Client

It was noon, the streets of Tafabid were a buzz with people going on about their lives. Tafabid was one of seven mega-cities in Ifrailia, these cities boasted large population numbers and great local economies. Even now there were people trying to make some cash, selling food and beverages to those unfortunate souls stuck in the usual traffic jam at the main intersection right in the center of the city. Amid the crowded sidewalk was The Watcher, he had removed most of his armor. Leaving on only his gauntlets which had a few defenses built into them. A precaution taken should anything happen upon while out and about. In place of his usual dark cloak, he wore a bright white hoodie. To top off his lack of equipment he wore a black face mask, the mask server two purposes, not only to hide his identity but to mask his voice as well. Since a tiny voice synthesizer was sown into the inside of the mask. It was a crude method but it got the job done, deepening the tone of his natural speaking voice.

The assassin was heading out to meet his client, to provide proof that the job had been completed. Normally his clients would request to meet with him in some dark, dreary corner of Tafabid, out of the view of the A.P.D. But this one, this one wanted to meet him inside of a coffee shop of all places. Not just any coffee shop, but the most popular one in the mega-city. “Tafabid brews” was the name of the place, The Watcher couldn’t mistake this shop for any other thanks to the giant sign on top of the building. 

He approached, waving away a beggar who sat right next to the entrance of the store. The twin doors automatically slid open, and he walked into the shop. It was a medium sized establishment, directly in front of the door was the main counter, where a line of about eleven people waited eagerly to place their orders. But the Watcher wasn’t interested in coffee as he scanned the room, trying to find out where his client was waiting. 

“Over here!” A woman’s voice called out, The Watcher turned to his left, noticing his client sitting in a booth in front of a window.

The client was a woman named Lilian Spade, she was 5’7 in height and relatively fit. She was wearing a light yellow tank top, jean shorts, and a pair of Sunglasses. If she was trying to seem inconspicuous, she was doing a poor job of it. The Watcher hesitantly approached the booth, taking a seat in front of her. He carefully observed each and every action she made. Of course he didn’t have his helmet so he couldn’t be as thorough as he would like. She could tell The Watcher was being overly cautious, which caused her to roll her eyes and take a sip of her coffee.

“So, how’s your day been?” She made eye contact with the Watcher, greeting him with a friendly smile to break the ice. The Watcher reached into his pocket and pulled out a holo-pic. He slid it across the table to Lillian. With her left hand she stopped the circular device from gliding across the table, and falling into her lap. She pressed a smaller button on the side of the device that which made the Holo-pic glow a gentle blue. A small L.E.D light then popped up on the side of Lillian’s glasses in response. Images of Katie’s lifeless body suddenly filled the insides of her lenses. She nodded to herself, then tapped the rim of her glasses, severing the connection between them and the Holo-pic. 

“Hm, guess you took out the trash huh?” Lillian said as she pulled four golden colored credit chips out of her pocket, handing them to The Watcher. 

He stored them away and looked at Lillian. “Funny description, considering how close you two were"  

The Watcher was staring directly into Lillian’s eyes. She tilted her head, trying to rationalize  Watcher’s actions inside her head. She bounced her leg nervously underneath the table. He had just received payment, so why is he still here? The Watcher rested both of his arms atop the table. Eye’s still locked onto Lillian, she sighed and took the glasses off her face, folding them up and setting them on the smooth, caramel colored surface of the table. His eyes were locked onto hers, refusing to look away. The tension that surrounded them was so thick, she felt as if she was suffocating.

“You know my eyes look better with the glasses off.” Lillian spoke in an inconsistent tone of voice. Her attempt to feign confidence had failed spectacularly, The Watcher continued to gaze into Lillian’s eyes, she felt as if he was looking into her very soul. 

“You had your wife taken out.” The Watcher stated, it was a fact so Lillian couldn’t deny it. The young woman looked around frantically, hoping to god that no one had heard. Luckily, the shop’s patrons were too enamored their own conversations. Not paying any mind to the incriminating words leaking out of the Watcher’s mouth. Lillian let out a relieved sigh and stood up, grabbed the Watcher’s hand, and dragged him past the shop's main counter.

“Benny, I’m borrowing your back room for a second!” Lillian shot a smile  towards the man behind the counter, who was busy pouring a customer their coffee. She opened the back door and shoved The Watcher into the storage room. 

Benny peered over his shoulder, “Fine, but if you are gonna ruin my reputation with an article. I’d rather have you tell me it to my face!” 

Lillian peeked her head out the door, she had an annoyed expression on her face. “Yeah yeah, whatever!” Then she slammed the door creating a crashing sound that boomed throughout the café.

“Are you trying to get us caught?” Lillian grabbed the Watcher's hoodie, pulling him down to her height. An attempt to even the height difference between the two of them. The Watcher didn’t waver, still firmly locked onto Lillian’s face. She couldn’t fathom what this man was after. Who the hell states, out loud, in public, that they had just performed an assassination of someone. The Watcher pushed her back. “I just wanted to let it set in.” The Watcher turned away from Lillian and walked towards a rack in the back of the room. He took note of the way each of the jars had a label slapped onto them, they were also organized alphabetically. The Watcher thought while Lillian stood there, dumbfounded and somewhat annoyed by the Watcher’s actions. She tried to keep calm, hold back the urge to deck this guy right in his mouth. Lillian took a step closer to the hooded man, glaring at him.

“What set in? The fact I ordered a hit on someone?” Lillian placed her hands on her waist. 

 The Watcher turned around. “No, the fact you ordered one on your wife” 

He spoke, funny, Lillian could have sworn that if he didn’t have that voice filter, he would’ve sounded almost sad. Now that they were behind somewhat thick walls, Lillian felt comfortable discussing her feelings on the matter.  

“What of it? Why do you care anyway! Aren’t you supposed to take your money and go no questions asked?” She raised her voice slightly, not quite a scream but most definitely a shout. 

“I don’t care, but I know you do” The Watcher’s words were straight to the point, calculated, as if he had prepared his sentences beforehand. Paranoia set in, she didn’t care that Katie’s blood was on her hands, right? She tried her best to combat these thoughts by questioning the Watcher’s choice of words.

“I care? Pfft, you couldn’t be farther from the truth!”

“Not true, you loved that woman more than yourself.” Lillian gasped and found herself subconsciously taking a step back. But the Watcher pressed on, moving closer to her. “After all, she's the entire reason why you became a freelance journalist.” 

How did he know that? Lillian tried to push back her worries by reassuring herself that he was bluffing. But his ‘bluff’ was far too accurate to be a mere guess. But then her questions were answered, the Watcher dropped the holo-pic from before onto the undusted floor of the storage room. The device came to life, projecting two images before their eyes. 

“After all you’ve made that quite clear in these articles in particular.” The Watcher pointed towards the image to the top right. It was an article dated 4/29/191, titled The person who keeps me going! Then he uses his finger to guide Lillian’s eyes towards the picture towards the top left, then once more to the article in the center of the projection. This one was of great importance to Lillian, this article was titled,  The best day of my life. Lillian nudged the holo-pic with her foot kicking it into the dusty corner. With the hologram out of her view, she gave the Watcher another hate filled glare. 

“Yeah? Well that was until I found out she was having an affair!” Lillian barked at The Watcher, getting in the man’s face. “After everything we’ve been through!   She cheated on me!” 

Lillian balled up her fist, it took every fiber of her being to hold back the growing urge to punch the man in front of her. But, ultimately she was able to suppress her anger. she had been researching the Watcher for months, she knew just how deadly this man was. She was fully aware that if she pushed her luck, he could put a swift end to her existence. The Watcher always had an intimidating nature about him, Lillian used to theorize that it was the presence of the abomination he claimed was body armor, but now she knew what caused these feelings to swell up inside people. 

It was his absence of action, a continuity of every one of the Watcher’s victims was the way he carried out his assassination. Cold, calculated, and unfeeling, this was the way the Watcher portrayed himself, as a monster, unable to sympathize with the pain of those unfortunate souls that crossed his path. As a freelance journalist Lillian was no stranger to stressful situations, but this… this was another breed entirely. Maybe it was because she was the one who ordered the hit, maybe it was a fear that the Watcher could turn her into the A.P.D. Or maybe it was that she was alone with a man who has well over a dozen kills under his belt. A bead of sweat dribbled down her cheek, the Watcher broke the silence.

“Should infidelity be punishable by death?”

“If you are trying to make me see the error of my ways, it’s not gonna happen. She betrayed my trust and broke my heart, so until you get cheated on I don’t want to hear your opinion on the matter,” Lillian said.  The Watcher strode past her, pushing the heavy duty door open. Lillian covered her eyes to protect them from the sunlight piercing in from the shop’s windows. The Watcher took a step forward, leaving Lillian with one final statement, one that she could feel deep inside of her heart, even if she didn’t know it yet.

 “You were hurt and now, you’ve made a choice you’ll forever regret.”  

The Watcher spoke in such a way that even with the filter that distorted his speech, she could feel the patronizing tone in his voice. And with that, he made his way out of the establishment. Lillian scoffed, cursing the man under her breath once she was certain he was far enough away.

Benny was leaning up against the counter using his elbow to support himself. A long, drawn out whistle from the middle aged man drew Lilian’s attention to him.

“Done something you’ll forever regret?” His face morphed into a cheeky grin as he put meticulous effort into squirting whipped cream into a customer’s cup.

“Why Lillian Spade, you didn’t just have an affair in my back room did you?” Benny collected the credit chips from the customer and slid the woman her drink before shooting a inquisitive look Lillian's way. Lillian’s eyes rolled so far back into her head she was afraid they’d never come back out. She hopped up onto the counter and spoke, “Oh god no, he wishes he could get someone like me” She leaned her head up against the wall, taking in a deep breath.

“Mhm, so what was his name?’

“Your guess is as good as mine…”

“Lillian!” Benny shouted, startling both Lillian and a few patrons who were sitting in the tables close to the counter. 

“W-What,” Lillian said, Benny just stared at her, his face a combination of disgust, intrigue, and general astonishment. Lillian looked around the room, making eye contact with strangers who’d just shrug in response. Benny bumped his shoulder against her, now more conscious about his volume level, he whispered.

“Did you seriously f**k a random in my store?” Lillian choked on her own spit and shoved Benny back whilst glaring at him, her eyes burned with the intensity of hellfire. He just simply chuckled and placed a large iced coffee next to Lillian, she tilted her head in confusion letting her built up rage exit her body.

“You tell Katie I said hi,” Benny chuckled and moved to the opposite side of the counter, writing down more orders from the customers. Lillian looked down, observing the ice as it bobbed up and down in the caffeine ridden liquid, becoming lost in thought. 

“Y-Yeah,” She stuttered, “I will…” she finished, her voice trailing off into silence. 

A small female voice shrieked, “Gah, what the hell is wrong with you.” All of the people in the shop turned their attention away from their drinks and looked towards the front of the store. There was a shorter girl, around 5 feet tall and in front of her was a man much taller than her, approximately 6 foot tall. The girl scrunched up her face in anger, squinting her eyes before letting her mouth run wild.

“You bastard,” She screamed, the man apologized while holding a medium sized coffee cup in his hand. The girl’s white colored blouse was drenched in what Lillian assumed was coffee. The male dipped his head, pleading with the temperamental woman he bumped into.

“P-Please.” The man began, “T-There’s no need to make this into a scene-"

The woman growled and stood firm, blocking out any attempts to defuse the situation. 

“Oh I will make this a scene,” She raised her voice, stomping her foot, “Do you have any idea how much this cost?” The other patrons at the shop didn’t intervene, afraid of confrontation with such an aggressive soul. Lillian could hear Benny sigh, he’s been in business long enough to know where this was heading.

“I bet you did this to see through my shirt,” she grabbed the man’s shirt, yanking him down to her level. The man’s eyes darted all around the store, a clear indication that he was in over his head. Before Lillian could speak up, Benny whistled, getting the woman’s attention. Composed, he placed a large coffee onto the counter and looked in the girls direction. 

“How about we forget this happened”

The woman let go of the man and strolled over to the counter, the man scampered out as fast as his legs would carry him.  The woman smiled and took hold of the cup, and made her way out of the store. Outside, a scruffy looking man leaned up against the wall. 

“Was that necessary?”

“I wanted a drink and I don’t have credits on me,”  She said, taking a sip.

“Whatever, so was he there?” The scruffy looking man said. 

The short woman smirked and tilted her head up. “Yup that was definitely him, the Watcher.”