First Floor

Tension filled the air, and so did the smell of agglutinated blood, the random shooting sounds from upstairs never making it lessen or even flinch a little.

All eyes were filled with suspicion, like a grenade set in place, waiting for someone to pull the pin and let the stars fly high.

"I know you're furious!" Getrude, the one and only Mrs. Mutt, muttered negotiatively, breaking the deadly silence that stood between them.

"But Ross Mutt isn't here, in fact I don't even know his whereabouts!" she reasoned with Zabi, with a confidence that came from knowledge only she seemed to hold.

"I'm not under a rock about that, I knew the moment I fired the first time , anyone who destroyed my soldiers the way he did would have rained on us already, it's a nature-made rule, you don't dance in another man's land!"

He replied, the gun that killed Linward still sitting in his hand like some kind of trophy he had earned.

"My sources say they never saw him leave this house, it's not like a grown killer could just magically disappear, believe me I've seen a lot of magic in my days. That means he is still here somewhere, maybe in a hidden room or something a lot of you billionaires have!"

He nailed the cross on the coffin.

Nevertheless, his words destroyed the leverage Getrude thought she had. Her eyes dropping down said it all, but by a closer look at her face one would instantly acknowledge she wasn't done at all.

I would bet she was still thinking, forming another plan to rush herself out of the confusion that covered her like a cloud of smoke, because for an experienced planner like her, getting in trouble because of the sins of her son was full-blown ironic if you really thought about it.

Thud. Thud.

"Leave me alone, damn it!"

The soldiers descended the stairs into the kitchen, seven of them at least. In their grasp, their objective, crying in immeasurable pain as her holed legs bled while sliding across the floor as they progressed, painting whatever ground they covered red. Injured, but still alive, just like Zabi liked it to be.

All attention channeled to them, they had the stage now.

Getrude's eyes blinked rapidly for a second, her mouth slightly open and gone in awe. Realization struck her hard, her form changed entirely, from a lion to a cat in just a millisecond of seeing the disturbing view, all her confidence melting instantly.

And no one could blame her, her favorite child had bullet holes in her legs, the trousers she wore making sure everyone could see the amount of blood she had lost in that venture alone.

"Oh please, not my mother!"

Marie screamed in sympathy.

Phu!

They threw her in between the two who had been conversing earlier, unminding of the critical condition they had put her in.

Getrude rushed to her, kneeling to the ground and then carrying her like a little kid being breastfed by her mother.

"Mom…"

Marie muttered, her voice low and barely alive, she was going through too much just to whisper a word.

"Marie, no!"

"I will do whatever they want as long as they let you go!"

She added, her fingers shaking uncontrollably as if she was about to go unconscious.

"No, nobody is going to get killed!"

Getrude muttered, tears dropping from her eyes, as they continued to fall on Marie's face.

Clap.

Clap.

"What a nice reunion!" Zabi interrupted, hogging all the attention, even Marie's, while the gun rested back in its pouch.

"Mother and daughter, moments like this are the reasons why I want to change this world!"

"Change it by killing!"

Marie shouted, she never seemed to shut up, the pain she felt although overwhelming never made her give up, a talent she got from her days as a lawyer, I assume.

"The biggest changes come from the biggest murders, that's a fact of life."

He added, unbothered by how disgusting his words were. But it would not compare to what he would say next.

"You know, Marie, I've been acquainted with your mother before all this!"

"What's he talking about?"

"Don't listen to him!"

"I know that you know who we are. The Turtle companies, and when it was Elod Mutt's turn to see our reckoning we started to research him, find cracks in his circle, you're a lawyer, you know how it goes. We tried everything, employees, old friends, we found some, but no one close enough to him to execute our plan. Little did we know that there was someone in his inner circle who could carry out our plans… your mother!"

Marie's eyes enlarged, her heartbeat that had begun to slow down started to race wildly, emotions overriding everything. In that second, the pain she felt was the last thing on her mind. Her mother tried to distract her from bearing it, but Marie's mind absorbed every single word Zabi spat.

She didn't want to believe him, because who would believe a stranger who breaks into your home, but something in her mind clicked, like a doubt she never had suddenly found proof.

"You're… wrong!"

She screamed.

"You're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong!!!"

She continued, her voice louder with every repetition.

"I will not force you to believe me, but I couldn't stand a soul going to hell because she kept her sins hidden!"

Zabi added calmly.

**** In Marie's life as a lawyer she had gained a skill, a technique she used to decide if someone was lying to her or not. ****

His voice.

The way he talked.

His posture.

The signs all pointed to one direction — he wasn't lying.

" I'm dreaming, right? I must be. I slept when I was reading the diary in my room. Yeah, I must have, that's the only explanation. Wake up, damn it. Wake up!"

She talked to herself, breaking down into pieces.

But when she looked into her mother's eyes while she lay on her legs, she saw a different picture of silence.

Her mother was no longer defending herself, just broken into tears.

"And that's not the worst part!"

Zabi added, as if there was a way he could make things even more catastrophic than they already were.

"She was the person who caught up and wanted to work with us. She was studying us, every time we approached one of her people. I was pretty impressed, not many have accomplished that.We gave her a drug to administer in your father's food, water, and she did it impressively for five months straight, even though the man was stubborn, he refused to die until recently!"

He added bluntly, as the other soldiers smiled devilishly.

Breaking the mirror to the real reality.

Marie crossed her eyes, tears pulling off from them.

Swiftly, even though she was in pain, she gathered her strength, pressed her hands to the floor, pulling herself from the comforting stance she held with her mother. Her mother's sympathetic eyes escorted her the entire way, she tried to hold her down but knew it was futile, Zabi had turned the tables, and in that second her mother had become the real enemy.

Tears dropped from her, and from her mother.

"Is he saying the truth?"

She asked, her voice calm but sharp like an arrow.

Getrude didn't reply, she just sat quietly, only sobs escaping her.

"Mom, tell me… is what he's saying the truth?"

Marie continued to press like a detective, her eyes locked onto her mother.

But no matter her efforts, she couldn't get even a scream from her.

The simplest way to say yes without speaking.

"Mom… why?"

Marie sobbed, every word filled with emotions a person who had lost that much blood shouldn't be able to feel.

"It's… it's your father, he was going to lose all the money we worked for, all in the name of helping the poo…"

Click.

Pew!!!

The conversation was cut by a bullet fired by Zabi.

It flew with speed directly into Getrude's head.

Phwah.

It slammed into the side of her skull, drilling into fresh flesh, cracking bone, stabbing the brain in the process.

Phwha.

It exited the other side, blood following after it.

Marie's eyes enlarged. Her heart stopped.

Everything slowed.

Not naturally.

But as they say, there is always room for exceptions.

Phwah.

She fell to the side, brain fluid mixed with blood leaking from her head like an open tap, pouring endlessly.

"Wait… he shot her!"

Marie fell into a trance of fear, a realm full of doubt and poisoned emotions.

"Why did he shoot her instead of me? Wait… why am I feeling sorry for her? She killed Dad. She is my mother so I have to feel sad about her. Mom don't go, I will be an orphan if you do!"

Her thoughts spiraled as her blurry eyes froze on her dead mother, fingers twitching slowly, life draining into the same grave as the man she had destroyed.

"Mom… Mom… Mom…"

Something moved in her pockets — the metal syringes she had used to kill four soldiers.

A weapon her emotions screamed to use.

Swiftly.

Swing!

She threw the syringe at the clueless Zabi, aimed directly at the neck that wasn't covered like the others.

Slash.

It stabbed him.

"Yes!"

She cheered.

The man who came to kill her was the one facing demise.

Zabi's face froze instantly, eyes enlarged, mouth open.

The face of a dying man.

Then…

"Nice try."

He muttered calmly.

"Ha?"

She blinked.

The blink cleared her eyes, proving something she had never seen before.

She had been hallucinating.

The syringe never stabbed him.

It was stopped midair.

Held by some invisible power.

And by the smirk on his face, Zabi was the owner of that power.

He extended his finger, touching the syringe.

Suddenly,

It began to melt, turning into molten lava, dripping onto the floor, corroding it, eating through it, forming a hole.

"Are you seeing this, Roy? This… is my punch."

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