The hot water hit her back as she stretched her aching neck muscles. Getting old sucks, she thought. She had been working at the same for more than fifteen years. She had begun her journey when law enforcement couldn't find the person that killed her best friend. She had trained herself to be a killer. A vigilante if you will.
She took down the worst criminals that slipped through the cracks of the law. Murders, pedophiles, and sex traffickers. She tried to make the world a better place one kill at a time. She knew the irony of what she did but didn't want to stop. No one knew her real identity. She had faked her death to save her family. A few years into her 'job' she was approached by people that wanted her help.
She was skeptical when they told her that they were time-traveling assassins. Then they took her back in time and showed her what they did. They traveled back a few hundred years and killed Eric Klipping the king of Denmark in 1286. They made a few more stops each kill was different and had to be done in a way that was appropriate for the time. It didn't take long for her to accept the offer.
Every few weeks, sometimes months, she would get an assignment on her travel watch. They would send her the date and coordinates of the next hit. She would have a few days to get the proper clothing and equipment that would get the job done. Once she traveled to the right period she would be given a name and the exact location of the target.
Most targets got it easy. She would go in to kill the target and leave. Sometimes she would stick around in the time period and explore, maybe gather things she could use on other targets. Sometimes it was a quick in and out.
She was well sought after in the field and had an impressive list of hits. Such as Hitler, JFK, Kim Jong-Un to name a few. Most of her hits were of high profile names in history or potentially dangerous people. It took her a while to realize that some things couldn't be changed completely.
As she stepped out of her first hot shower in weeks, she heard the time watch go off. As she dryer off she made her way to the sink to pick up the watch. Normally she wouldn't take the watch off but she was in her own time staying at the base of operations and felt safe.
Her heart stopped. She looked at the time code and coordinates and recognized them immediately. Her home town on May 7th, 2017. The night of her senior prom. The night her best friend had been killed. Was this it? Was this the moment she would get revenge?
She didn't need long to gather her equipment ready. She had hoped they would send her to this time to satisfy the one thing she had craved for years. The one driving force for nearly two-thirds of her life.
She adjusted her wig and glasses trying not to dislodge the prostatic nose from her face. She looked too much like her mother to go unnoticed. She stopped by spots she knew she could see her family. It had been years since she had heard anything about them. It was her own doing but it was too hard to hear of them when she couldn't hug them.
She made it to the spot she was assigned. The ping of her incoming assignment sounded from her backpack. She pulled out the tablet and opened the file. For the second time in as many days, her heart stopped.
On the screen in front of her was her best friend's face. Underneath listed all the horrific crimes she would commit in the near future and a few that had already transpired. She couldn't align the memories she had of this girl with the monster listed in front of her.
"It has to be you." said a family voice. She looked up to see her partner.
"I just don't understand. I knew her since she was adopted at the age of ten. Her adopted parents were the best people I knew."
"They are but her birth parents were just as bad. I took them out before we became partners and hoped it would stop her atrocities but it was too late. Her mind was poisoned beyond repair. If We kill her tonight then we will save the lives of thousands of children."
"This night is what made me into who I am today. I always thought that maybe if I could stop this from happening I could have a normal life."
"We don't usually talk about alt realities that no longer exist because we don't want anyone to change things back but I see that it might help you here. If you don't go through with it and someone else completes the task you single-handedly take down the company. Leaving only a handful of agents out in time. This would incite some horrific unchangeable events. If no one completes the task you will be one of her victims and so will your soon-to-be nephew. You killing her is the best-case scenario."
Her partner left her sitting there as she evaluated the information. As the sun went down she picked up her bag walked over the two blocks to the hotel where the prom was being held. She waited for the moment her friend stepped outside the building. From the shadows, she pulled out her gun and shot her in the forehead. She placed the gun back in her bag. Pressed a few buttons on her time watch and disappeared just as she heard herself scream from the parking lot.