The Names

They sat on a bench with two objects in their pockets. One of them was a gun. This person was unremarkable, nothing unique about them. Just how they liked to be. They were calm, not even nervous, however, this did not stop their leg from bouncing as they waited. They had a phone in hand, looking at it as if they were another normal person on the street just trying to avoid eye contact with the people around them. A set of earbuds were in their ears, waiting for the signal for go time.

After sitting there for multiple minutes the phone rang. They did not answer but rather stood up and started walking down the street weaving between strangers going to the set destination. Three blocks later they were at a back entrance of a high-end hotel and reaching into a trashcan to fish out a black garbage bag that contained a change of clothes. These clothes were also nothing remarkable, just something a server would wear. After stepping inside and switching clothing, making sure the two objects were secured correctly and hidden well.

They walked through the building with enough confidence so no one would question who they were, no one ever did. They spotted a few other servers and followed them into the kitchen, none of them questioning the stranger’s sudden appearance. The servers were all given a simple rundown of tonight's events and then released to go out to the ballroom floor. People were already gathering into the room finding their seats, the night was just beginning.

2 hours after they arrived, the room was completely full of people wearing expensive clothing and jewelry. They all came to support a corporate fundraiser for a company the stranger couldn't even remember the name of. It didn't matter.

A speaker went up on stage and spewed off about their cause and how they were going to help the poor by the donations of the people in the room that was there today. The Stranger didn't catch much other information before the first gunshots rang through the room.

Everyone ducked down either by the edge of the tables or all the way to the floor, screams echoed across the room, and platters clattered to the floor. Even the Stranger went for the ground, however, they weren’t surprised by the noise. Three men stood, each with a gun in hand. They were dressed nicely just like the rest of the guests, however, masks covered their faces.

They told people not to move and to hand over everything they had. Help was not coming, all the cameras were down, the doors were locked and all the security guards had already been taken care of. They had thought of all the scenarios for this little heist to go smoothly. They didn't care who got in their way. A man tried to run. He didn't make it very far. More screams rang out across the ballroom, some men crying, some women who sat there silently shaking, and vice versa.

They told them that anyone who tries to stand and either run or be a hero will be shot. The audience trusted the threat as they saw the man bleed out on the floor.

The Stranger watched quietly from the ground as the events of the night started to unfold. The red masked bandit did not waver when he stuck his gun in a woman's face, telling her to empty out her purse and any other valuables she had on her so she could stick it in his backpack. The other two men did the same to the other attendees of the fundraiser working at a faster pace than the red masked man. He seemed to be enjoying terrorizing the people too much to be able to take much off of them. In the end, though it didn't matter, he was destined to die.

Another server about ten feet away from the Stranger made his way towards them crawling slowly so the gunmen wouldn't notice. The Stranger tried shooing the person away, but it didn't seem to work.

"Do you have any idea why they are here?"

The Stranger just stared at the other server as if chatting it up in the middle of a gun heist was one of the stupidest ideas they could think of, right behind standing up and daring the gunmen to shoot at them.

"I can only guess," the Stranger says dryly.

"But I mean they won't go after us right, we are only the servers?"

The Stranger sighed, they honestly didn't understand how they attracted idiots like this. Brixton alone was one idiot too much, but that didn’t stop others from trying to converge around them.

"If you really want to take that chance go ahead, hope it turns about well for you."

The server just stares at the Stranger as if they couldn't decide if they were being serious or not. Finally deciding to ignore the Stranger’s comment they continued on spewing out nonsense. "What about security, they should be here now. What do you think they are planning to get us out of here?"

"Well right now I'm betting that no help is coming, so the plan is to sit here and shut up and not get shot." They whispered sharply to the server.

The server looked offended that the stranger looked annoyed at their questions, however, they finally seemed to take a hint and shut their mouth.

They finally turned their attention back to the three gunmen who were still terrorizing the men and women of the hotel ballroom. The Stranger found that their index finger was tapping the ground in anticipation. They closed their hand in a tight fist to stop the movement and slowly moved their other one to the small of their back, to where their gun sat snugly against their waistline.

However, before they could get fully into position for the next move, another idiot came out of the woodworks. The Stranger knew they would never hear the end of it from Brixon later on about their terrible luck when it comes to plans never going their way.

When the gunman in the blue mask came upon a couple telling them to give them everything they had, the women responded accordingly opening up their handbag, however, pulled out a pistol, shooting the man several times in the chest. More screams and yelps of terror came across the room, and the cursing of the gunmen trying to coerce the woman with the gun.

The Stranger took a deep breath in, making sure they didn't lose their calm and kept their eyes from wandering towards what was most important to them. Another deep breath and they pulled the gun from their waistline but still stayed flat on the ground.

The other server made a gasping sound when they saw the gun in the Stranger's hand, but no one else seemed to notice from over the commotion. The Stranger turned their head to the other server and gave a curt wink. The server almost seemed relieved that they had a gun, not even questioning why the "other server" had a gun in the first place.

Before the Stranger could stand though more shots rang out, more screams echoed as another gunman was taken to the ground bleeding out, and possibly a few bystanders too. However, the woman with the gun was out of bullets, leaving the man in the red mask with the only readily available gun, or so he thought. He started yelling at the woman pointing his gun her way ready to shoot her any moment. He wouldn't get the chance though. The Stranger stood and it only took one bullet to kill the man who was halfway across the room. The bag that he was carrying dropped to the ground, his body falling alongside it. The Stranger walked slowly towards his body and knelt alongside him as the room became silent watching their every move. The Stranger took out their phone and then took off the man's mask. They snapped a picture of his lifeless body and another of his face for good measure. They picked up the bag he was carrying, the Stranger knowing the exact worth of everything in the bag without even taking a look at the contents inside.

$20,547. That's how much his life was apparently worth, not counting the price on their head. Still, it seemed low when considering all the others. It didn't matter though, their job was done and everyone was now on their own. They didn't look at the other gunmen on the ground as they stood, the bag in hand. They tried to not worry as they calmly walked out of the room, making sure their eyes didn't wander to find what their mind was most concerned about. People moved out of their way not trying to stop them, either too scared to or too tired to try.

They made their way toward the only unlocked door in the room, behind the stage of the ballroom. They went through the door letting it slam shut after them and started sprinting down the hallway to switch clothing as fast as they could, they didn’t want to stay there longer than they needed to be.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Two days after the fundraiser, the stranger found themselves sitting in a booth of an unremarkable restaurant with unremarkable clothes. They had already sent the pictures of the target shortly after the kill once they got to a secure location. Shortly after, the transaction of $500K went to the stranger.

As they sat at the table they looked through a little black book that they kept on them at all times. The name of the man they had killed was written in the book with the number 20,547 written next to it. It had a fresh line across the name and number, right below others that had been crossed off. And right above a great many that had yet to come. Each name represents a person the Stranger had or would kill, each with a number next to them, telling how much their life would be worth when their end came.

They stared at the next name, not sure when that person's life would come to an end, but then again you wouldn't expect much more from the life of a paid killer.

They closed the little black book and waited, tapping it against the table in anticipation. At this moment they were nervous, they couldn't help it.

A familiar face made its way into view and visible relief came over the stranger. Even though it had been a couple of days since they saw Brixton, it didn't stop them from worrying. The last time they had seen each other Brixton had run across the ballroom in the hotel and had been "shot" in the back to be left to bleed out and die.

The scare tactic they planned out beforehand worked fine to keep people in check, till it didn't.

Brixton finally spotted them and smiled. He slid into the same side of the booth and didn't waste any time pulling them into a kiss. He made sure to drag it out, only saying "Hey" when they took a breath of air, their foreheads pressed together.

"Hey"

"You ok, did you get out fine?" He asked as his fingers brushed lightly against their cheek.

"Says the man who was supposed to be dead." They said with a curt scoff.

"Yeah well, I'm kinda glad I was playing dead instead of being dead." He said in an almost remorseful tone.

"Do you know what happened to the others?"

He grabbed their hand and made a small tug. "Come on let's get out of here, I'll tell you everything on the way."

"Yeah, ok." They said as they followed him without a second thought, their hands linked together.