“Would you please back up, Autumn? You’re crowding me.”

Marie turned her attention away from the door, the bottom of her lip pursed as she was interrupted mid-hum. With arms crossed and hip leaning against the wall, she sluggishly turned her head towards the voice, her back arching as she watched Autumn quickly step away from a frustrated blond.

“You should’ve given Autumn a job to do.” Marie whispered across the room, her fingers lightly dusting away the bangs from her eyes. She glanced back out the rectangular pane of glass built into the large, maple door to her right, her head moving as she continued her hum of Tchaikovshy’s Nocturne.

“You’re both’re supposed to be watching out for guards.” Rhiannon voiced gallingly. She sat hunched over a gray laptop, her leg bouncing uneasily as her fingers paused over the keys. “They have a ‘No Questions Asked’ procedure here. The guards’ll shoot us without forewarning if we’re caught.”

Autumn tilted her head to the side, her hand slowly massaging the back of her neck as she mumbled an agreement. With her free arm swinging freely beside her, she strolled over to Marie, her sneakers tapping lightly against the polished floor.

The office they stood in appeared relatively modest. Two boxy desks stood opposite one another, their tops littered with papers and the occasional picture frame. A row of black filing cabinets with huge, gold locks lined the far wall, neatly topped with a line of binders and a single television. The walls were empty save a huge poster depicting the Shibuya-Ka district of Japan, and an old, slightly worn photograph portraying a younger Estelle seated beside two other woman.

“Anything out there?” Autumn asked as she leaned up against the wall next to Marie. She poked the brunette in the back, sighing when her hand was pushed away.

“The guards come by once every fifteen minutes.” Marie explained, her silver eyes shining as she turned away from the glass. She was looking up, searching aimlessly as she thought. “Two walked by about a minute ago, so now it’s safe to make a little noise.”

“Oh.” Autumn exhaled a deep breath, her head tilting to the side as she peered out onto the empty hallway that sat beyond the door. With pressed lips, she nodded. “So, we just wait?”

“Yup, the guards make too much noise anyway.” Marie bent her knees and softly fell into a seated position on the floor. “All I really have to do is listen for them. I’m just looking out there because it’s more exciting than watching Rhia surf the web.”

“I’m not surfing the web!”

“You and Rhia were trained for this sorta stuff.” Autumn started as she joined the brunette on the floor. Her shoe nudging the side of Marie’s thigh as she straightened her legs. “Hackin’ into computers and keeping watch ain’t my piece o’ cake.”

“Rhia’ll be done soon.” Marie glanced across the office at the blond seated behind the computer desk. “She’s taking a long time because she has to make sure nothing can be traced back to us. She’s coverin’ up her footsteps, so to speak.”

“I believe you said that ten minutes ago.” Autumn nodded sarcastically as she stretched her arms overtop her head. With a sigh, she coiled one leg to her chest, her chin resting against her bare knee. The three sat in silence for a few seconds more, the only noise being their breath and the sporadic, sharp pecking of computer keys.

“We should go out to eat after this.”

Marie nodded at the suggestion.

“Soba?”

“You have money?” Marie cocked her head to the side and peered at Autumn over her shoulder. “’Cause I have nothing.”

“Did you two know that Persia has an entire list of every single assassin group that’s worked under Kritiker since the 1960s?” Rhiannon’s opulently accented voice asked as she interrupted their tedious conversation. She leaned back into the chair, her arms reaching out over her head in a stretch. “They’re listed in order of completed missions and the level of skill each member holds.”

“A ranking system?” Marie asked as she stood and dusted herself off. She reached out a hand to Autumn and, after taking one last cautious look out the door, walked up behind Rhia. “Where’s Tödliche Künste?”

“We’re fifth.” The blond said with a slight frown, she scrolled through the file as the two woman leaned over her shoulder. “That isn’t too bad considering we have about twenty other groups to compete with.”

“Top ten isn’t too bad.” Autumn rested her hand on the desk, her other gripping the back of Rhia’s chair. She peered into the monitor, her emerald green eyes scanning the list. “Who’s number one?”

“Well, there was a group back in 1981 composed of three members,” Rhia touched her finger to the illuminated screen, her eyes squinting as she tried to decipher the words. “Wow, they completed about seventy target missions before being disbanded in 1998, and their count for surveillance tasks is placed in the hundreds.”

“And what were they called?” Autumn asked, leaning back. She lazily crossed her arms in front of her chest as she continued. “Are their names listed?”

“No, just group’s name.” Rhiannon looked up at the redhead as she motioned to the screen with her hand. “The name’s in German though, just like ours. Can you read it?”

“Well, the word is pronounced Geisto in Japanese.” Autumn tucked a wisp of crimson hair behind her ears as she tilted her head. “And, Geist means ‘ghost’ in German.”

“I’ve never heard of them.” Marie said intermittently. She backed away from the computer and propped her weight against the wall, her legs crossing over one another as she rested. “Where’s Weiß?”

“As of 2004, they’re second.” Rhia responded as she brought her left knee up to her chest and whipped the sweat from her forehead. “Compared to past and present groups, they’re around fourth in sufficiency.”

“That makes sense. They’ve been working longer then we have. Two years almost.” Marie remembered. “But, as long as we get paid, I don’t care if they’re higher then us.”

“They get about ten million yen per mission.” Rhia continued to read the chart, her curiosity kindled. “Tö tung, one of the very first groups from the 1960’s, was rewarded fifty million yen a hit. Um, and a solo assassin by the name of Hochrot acquired almost twice that a few years later.”

“Oh, so the higher on the list you are, the more you’re paid?” Autumn exchanged a glance with Marie, her tone a singsong string of arrogance. “We’ll just have to try harder, I guess.”

“After our vacation is over.” Marie replied as she fanned her hand before her face. She turned towards the window to her right and pressed her fingers against the cool pane, glancing out into the bitter, rainy night. “Estelle doesn’t just give out vacations on a whim, but she’ll take it away from us if she feels we aren’t thankful. That means no inspirational burst of occupational motivation until--”

“They have the mission summaries in here as well.” Rhia broke in as she shook her head in disbelief. Her elbow was against the desk, her hand waving with each irritated word. “Can you imagine what would happen if any one of Kritiker’s rivals somehow hacked into this?”

“They would never be able to.” Autumn reassured. She had taken a seat in an adjacent sofa, her legs crossed as she fumbled with the ends of her shoelaces. “You’re one of the bests when it comes to cracking computer codes. I doubt you have a peer.”

“Oh, you flatter me.” The blond replied dully, her sepia eyes scanning the documents before her. She seemed overtly concerned, if not utterly exasperated. “I found a file that describes our last mission. It looks as though Persia and Estelle have written a few commentaries on how it went.”

“Is that what we need?” Marie asked, her brows pinched as she glanced at a small, gold watch fastened to her wrist. “Because, in about a minute, we need to duck out of view for a bit. Probably a little before that. I don’t exactly think that the guards are on a strict schedule.”

“I’ll be quick.” A few keystrokes later, Rhia nodded to herself and pointed at the monitor, her head inching closer to the screen. “Ok, tell me if this sounds familiar. ‘March 11, 2004. Targets include Aoi Chizuru, Murase Asuka, Kitaura Karen, and Hibino Nanami of the group acknowledged as Schriet formally operated by EssZet--’”

“EssZet?” Autumn immediately sucked in a breath of air through her teeth, her head shaking. “Christ, no one’s heard from them in months. Don’t tell me they’re resurfacing.”

“…‘If feasible, the annihilation of Takatori Masafumi, a suspected affiliate of the EssZet faction, is desired--’”

“A minute is up.” Marie unexpectedly whispered, the sound of her voice urgent. “Get down.”

In seconds, Rhia had silently closed the laptop and slipped out of the chair, her lithe body squeezing into the legroom space beneath the mahogany desk. A few feet away, Autumn crouched down beside the sofa, her legs curled beneath her, head lowered. She glanced slowly to her left as Marie disappeared into a crack between the row of filing cabinets and the wall, her body hidden except for the dull glow of her pale skin. Without warning, she stumbled, her arm reaching out to steady herself against the wall. Autumn hissed a warning through the darkness as the militaristic drone of footfalls were heard out in the hallway. A flashlight abruptly scanned the room; the rattle of the locked door handle sounded. Hugging her knees closer to her chest, Rhia pressed father back into the shadows as the light inched across the floor. A slight murmur was heard outside the door; a man then chuckled in response. The blond held her breath as the handle was wobbled one last time before the footsteps started up again. Autumn’s muffled laugh signaled safety, and the room fell silent.

“Did you fall before, Marie?” Autumn asked as she appeared behind the couch. “Can you not even fuckin’ hide without messing something up?”

“I tripped over this stupid cable.” Marie huffed. She emerged holding the end of an orange extension cord in her hand, the side of her arms smeared with dust. “Why didn’t those guys come in?”

“I once overhead Persia tell Estelle that only one guard is allowed to have a set of keys at any one time. Something about security regulations.” Autumn responded as she turned towards Rhiannon, a crooked smile on her face. “Guess they weren’t the ones, eh?”

“Makes sense…” The blond answered as she unfolded her legs and reached for the edge of the table to pull herself out. “I’ll hurry up and finish so we won’t have to hide again.”

“Sounds good to me.” Autumn walked over to the computer desk and reached out a hand to the blond. “All you have to do is read through the mission statement, right?”

“That and I have to take a look at Persia’s notes to see if he purposefully mentions Sofia’s name in any negative way.” Rhia straightened her shorts and flipped the laptop open again, her fingers over the keys even before she even sat down. “If Persia doesn’t have any suspicions, then we shouldn’t have anything to worry about.”

“How would he know?” Marie’s voice asked from the other side of the room. She had receded back between the filing cabinets a second time to plug the cord back into the wall, and now stood, arm extended, before the television. “He doesn’t snoop around that much, does he?”

“Trust me. If there is anything out there to be suspicious about, Persia will find it.” Rhia answered. She motioned Autumn towards the door. “Keep watch. I’ll be done in a second.”

“And if he just didn’t write his suspicions down?” Marie switched the television on, cranking down the volume as quickly as she could. She turned back, squinting her eyes in elation when she realized Rhia hadn’t heard the static.

“He’s way too methodical not to.” Rhiannon smiled as she read over the comments. “I don’t see anything about Sof. Although, they noted that we did a satisfactory job with the mission. Other than that, they have no suspicions or evidence to support our fears that Sofia is in any way planning against Kritiker. They have suspects about who killed Masafumi, but I don’t recognize any nam--”

“I fuckin’ told you so!”

“Keep it down, Autumn.” Rhia hissed, cowering back. Her fingers rose to her temple as she looked towards the redhead. “Hold your conceited excitement until we get outside.”

“We should collect our own evidence,” Marie interrupted. “Instead of just listening to--”

“This is just as effective, if not more.” Rhiannon closed out of the file and rubbed her hands within each other “Estelle and Persia are always three steps ahead of us. Ideas that we think up are old news to them.”

“Did they list our next mission?” Marie started flipping through the channels, her neck arched up towards the silent screen. “We’ll only be two steps behind if we know that.”

“Um.” The blond paused, her back towards the brunette. After a few clicks of the mouse she continued. “We don’t have anything planned for the next few weeks…”

“It’s called vacation.” Autumn snapped rudely from the other side of the room. She turned her attention away from the door, her lips curving in a grin as she spotted Marie. “We already knew this.”

“Anything for Weiß?” Marie, interest still on the TV, absently waved an arm towards Autumn to silence her. “Our missions usually coordinate with theirs.”

“They don’t have anything listed either, but their last mission was to collect information on Hirofumi Takatori,” She stood up, leaning forward on one leg. “He’s apparently a biochemical auctioneer.”

“He’s probably going to be our next target.” Autumn shook her head, her free arm pressed against the wall. “Poor Sofia, she has such a horrible family. We’re going to fuckin’ kill ‘em all off before she’s even twenty-one.”

“Persia has two other officers by the names of Manx and Berman going to conduct a deeper investigation on Hirofumi in a day or so.” Rhia kept reading, ignoring the bleak, though possibly true, statement that Autumn had just expressed. “He wants them to find out what chemicals he’s selling and who’s interested in buying.”

“Seems like pretty standard work.” Autumn voiced, her eyes jumping from television screen to hallway every few seconds. “I’m happy we didn’t get it.”

“So, it’s like Weiß and Tödliche Künste are both on vacation?” Marie said excitedly, her hands clapping in front of her chest. “Maybe we’ll be able to meet--”

Her voice trailed off.

“Why do you care so much about what Weiß does, M?” Rhia asked, her eyes glued to the laptop even when her question was met with silence. “Marie?”

Rhia rose her head in confusion, the first vision she saw was the look of devastation and shock on Autumn’s paling face. Slowly, the blonde’s mouth dropped open, her eyes widening as a strange, static-filled voice filled the room. With a sharp intake of breath, Rhia spun towards the back of the room. Before her, propped up against a row of filing cabinets, flickering slightly, was a live video feed depicting an image of Takatori Incorporated burning to the ground.

Rhia’s fingers fell away from the laptop, slipping limply to her sides.

A photograph flashed at the left hand corner of the screen. The three girls watched as a gray-haired Reiji smiled down at them, his coat pulled up around his face, hat placed low on his head.

The faintest echo of footsteps started down the hallway as Marie stepped back from the screen in alarm.

The candid photograph of a silver Bently Continental materialized on screen.

Autumn turned towards the door, her mind clouded over with blinding uncertainty.

Marie’s hands shot up towards her mouth, a shivering gasp escaping her lips.

“Time to go!” Autumn suddenly shouted as a light rapidly swept the room. She immediately ducked back, her fingers grabbing for the metal door handle. Marie screamed as the window above the door violently shattered, the fresh echo of gunshots reverberating throughout the room. She dodged sideways, her arms extending out to catch Rhia as shards of glass rained down over their heads. They hit the adjacent wall, pressing themselves against the cool surface as another gunshot rang out. With a pained grunt, Autumn promptly rammed her back into the door, her eyes immediately ordering Marie and Rhia to follow her. The two raced forward as the wooden edge caught the first guard square in the face, his body shoved backwards into the hallway. Autumn pushed past him, her fist knocking the second patrolman away as she cuffed him in the jaw. With her free hand, she reached into the room and took hold of Marie’s arm, yanking her free of the office. Rhia followed suite and, together, the three tore down the hallway, their footsteps mixing with the blaring alarm that erupted overhead.

“Take the next left!” Rhia screamed as they neared the end of the corridor. “It’ll take us out to the parking lot.”

“That’s not where my car is though.” Autumn shouted back. She took the turn nonetheless, and mentally rejoiced when she saw the stairwell ahead. They reached the first railing and, while evading another storm of bullets, scaled down the steps two at a time.

“We can run around back to get to the car.” Rhia responded as they rounded the first bend. “We have a better chance of escaping in the dark.”

The alarm became louder, the faint illumination from the constant, disorienting blink of the emergency system was their only light as they ran. The three rushed through the doorway, tearing away from the exit as their heels touched the asphalt driveway. Marie suddenly slid to a halt, a cry escaping her throat as a bullet grazed the side of her shirt. She caught a last glimpse into the hallway, her eyes enlarging as she witnessed a mass of guards rushing down the stairs towards her. Her hand grabbed for her pocket just as she threw her weight into the door, slamming it shut with as much force as she could muster. With her foot propped against the bottom edge, she quickly bent down, extracting her hand from her jeans. As she listened to the guards approach, she inserted a small pick tool into the lock with her right hand, her left wiggling a metal pin against the deadbolt. She heard a click and, circling the tools in the lock, smiled to herself as the door fastened shut. A mere second later, she heard the first guard collide with the metal door, the brutal impact knocking her back towards the ground.

“That was fuckin’ risky.” Autumn said as she suddenly emerged, catching Marie in her arms.

“Yeah, well…” Marie couldn’t help but hold back a smirk while another thud echoed throughout the parking lot. She was drawn into the shadows as they started running. “Weren’t you the one who told me that only one guard has a key?”

“ Fuck…” Autumn laughed as the two heard a car rev in the distance. “You just had a smart moment, didn’t you?”

“I just figured that out of all the guards running after us,” Marie covered her eyes as a set of familiar headlights approached them. “The one in the lead couldn’t possibly be the one with the only set of keys.”

Autumn amusingly shook her head as they halted before the Bently.

”Get in.” Rhiannon ordered both of them, her tone overly anxious. “Before they wise up and find the keys.”

Suddenly, as the night fell silent around the three girls, a shrill noise echoes to their ears. It grew louder, stronger, closer within seconds. Marie slowly sucked in a deep breath and turned her head towards Autumn.

“Is that…”