"GET THE HELL BACK HERE!!"
A man yelled at the top of his lungs. A young man quickly ran out of the open doorway to the bar, slamming the door behind him. A shortened register, half-empty shot glass, and a furious bartender. It wasn't hard to tell what had happened here.
"JEAN, MICHEL, GET HIM NOW!"
The bartender has alerted his two employees to the recent robbery and the suspect, who fled. Two gigantic men stood up from the seats and began to race for the door. It was a well-known fact that this was not a bar to mess with. Everyone thought this as they simply sighed—that kid was a deadman.
Stomp, Stomp, Stomp. The young man wore a mellow expression on his face, which was half masked by his hood. He seemed unintimidated by the lingering footsteps of the two men. They only seemed to grow closer and closer as time passed.
"GET BACK HERE, KID!"
One of them yelled. But that didn't prompt a reaction in the slightest. Rather, it inspired the boy to become more creative in his strategies to get away.
As their chase met near its conclusion, The boy spun his direction toward an alleyway that was normally neglected by any wandering passerby. He couldn't help but smirk; there was no way that he wasn't getting away.
But his quick wit slowly came to an end as a horrifying sight was met before him. A brick wall sat at the end of the alleyway, a deadend. Now there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
"You're dead meat, kid!"
"Tch."
Through the sound of gasps caused by their poor physical conditions, one of the men yelled out at the boy. Who could only respond in annoyance? Though he neared the end of the alleyway, the boy kept up his speed, practically sprinting at the wall.
He had something up his sleeve; it would help him get out of this predicament that he had put himself in. He was as sly as a fox, after all.
After his last stride, he leaped into the air. As he propelled himself into the air, he grabbed onto the windowsill that protruded out of the wall. The jump caused his hood to slip off of his head. His surreal lavender hair blew with the wind as he looked down at the two men with a smug grin.
"Dammit. You'll be dead the next time we see you. YOU GOT THAT, YOU DAMN BRAT! You'll rue the day that he messed with the Bernard brothers."
The two declared revenge on the thief. Though they were met with the boy's ignorance as he proceeded to climb up onto the roof with the support of the roof,.
Sigh. Now he was a free man. Sure, he had to watch his back, but everything was going to be okay now that he had gotten away from them. The lavender-haired thief wandered to the rooftops, departing for his next generation.
Unbeknownst to him, he was being followed by a taxi, though its reasons were unknown.
"Hello, Le Panier."
The boy said it with an unenthusiastic tone as he watched over the district of La Corniche from the rooftops. It was the most beautiful part of Marseille. It's known for being a common place to visit if you ever find yourself in the city. Since it was a tourist attraction, it was exactly where the boy wanted to be.
"Time to find a ride."
He said it with a hint of annoyance in his voice. He had come to the very part of Marseille since it's the most likely to have a cab wandering around trying to pick up tourists for a quick buck.
His eyes locked onto a car that was slowly approaching him. Many cars had passed by him before this one came along. A jet black car with a sign reading "Taxi".
"Finally"
The boy sighed as he raised his hand in order to call over the taxi. The black car quickly pulled over to the side of the road as he simply opened the door and stepped inside. As they pulled off, he noticed something strange about the driver. But he was unable to put his finger on what it was.
"So, where will we be going, Mr. Julien?"
The driver asked a seemingly normal question, but this normal question prompted a strange reaction from the boy, Julien. His head turned with a look of confusion.
"I never told you my name."
The driver only responded with a laugh. A realization had fallen upon the mind of Julien. He was in a car with a dangerous man.
His instincts alone directed him to immediately open the door. But before he could even grasp hold of the doorknob, the lock on the door clicked. The driver simply stared into his eyes.
"I'm rather impressed that a young kid like you was able to notice that. I know some adults who wouldn't even notice. But awareness is expected from a sly thief like you."
"Just who the hell are you, old man? Are you with the feds or somethin?"
Julien said as he began to slowly grow irate. He had a calm and cool exterior, but his true personality was nothing more than an angry boy who had been betrayed by the world.
"The police? No. I'm rather saddened; you'd think I was some ordinary cop."
"Then who are you?"
"Me? I'm not important. But the people I work for are very interested in you. They find people like yourself fascinating and just the kind of person that they'd want for the job."
The driver was met with a puzzled expression from Julien. He was confused by the man's words. What type of job requires you to employ teenagers in a taxi?
"Just what type of job is this? You trying to scam me or somethin? I ain't giving you any of my money."
"No. We wish to employ you as an assassin. I work for the French Republic's Hitman Agency. We are the most elite assassins and spies in all of France. Soon you'll be one of us."
"Assassin? Yeah, okay, old man. I don't want to be an assassin. I just want to make my bread and live happily ever after, kay?"
Julien was already over this funny business. He had things to be doing right about now, and talking to some old man who was off of his medications wasn't one of them.
"Your mother left you in the care of your father. When he died, you were put into foster care. The woman who decided to adopt you and take care of you has recently become ill. If I'm correct, you need this. Stealing is only going to lead to jail time. Say yes, kid. You'll be better off in the end."
Julian's eyes widened. His past was a sore spot for him, but the man was right. They had discovered everything about his life. He was a stray dog, perfect to be groomed into a loyal lap dog. An emotionless killer with a broken home.
"W-Why me? Why the hell do I have to be forged into a killer?"
"Because you were already destined to go down that path. Now, do you accept or decline? Lavender."
"Lavender…"
"Lavender…"
"Lavender…"
"LAVENDER!"
"Huh?"
Julien had been snapped awake from a daydream. His head was fuzzy; everything was a daze as he tried to attempt to remember exactly where he was. He grasped a glass of liquor loosely in his hands.
"Kid, you need to get your shit together. This is the most important mission you'll have to deal with in your entire life. So listen up!"
The voice of Mr. Leonard was heard through an earbud that was covered by Julien's offhand. The boy, now a man, had begun to recall where he was and what he was doing.
He was on the '09 Zagreus Cruise Ship, built somewhere in Greece. It's the biggest of its kind, and conveniently, it's where his mission takes place. The details of his mission still have not been given to him, but no matter what, it'll be hard.
"You put me in quite a predicament, old man. Man, I seriously need some vacation time. Being on this shitty fucking boat is making me wheezy. Hurry up and explain why I'm here."
"Watch how you speak, Lavender. If someone sees you talking like a street thug, they'll know you're definitely not a member of high society."
A vein popped on Julien's head as Leonard spoke. How dare he call him a "street thug?" He was in for it once Julien got back to Korea.
"Your mission is to abduct Speaker of the House, Michael Rivers. He's hosted this party to broaden America's relations with high-ranking companies from around the world. I hope that they will support him in future campaigns. All of the attention will be on him. We're also expected to be here, so he'll definitely have security around him 24/7."
"You've put me in a shitty situation, old man. I'll probably be dead by the end of this week."
Julien could only sigh as he took a shot, which seemed to cool his nerves. Even before he was eighteen, he preferred liquor over water.
"What the hell? I'm a deadman."
"Listen kid. You're the best assassin in all of France. There's no way you can die. Unless…"
"Unless what?"
"One of the different assassins sent by pretty much every country somehow kills you before you can abduct the Speaker."
"WHAT?!"
Julien yelled out as he got up from his chair. He had assumed that there would be other assassins out to do the same job. But from every country?! He quickly settled himself, leaving a hundred-dollar bill to pay for his liquor, and quietly exited the bar.
"Hello? Hello? Hello?"
Julien repeated himself over and over again, but he was met by silence. It had seemed that smug bastard Leonard had hung up the phone. Removing his earbud from his ear, he shoved it in his pocket.
As he wandered the near-infinite halls of the cruise ship, his journey was cut to a brief end.
"All guests, please gather on the front deck in the next five minutes."
A voice blared from the intercom. Since he had nothing else to do, Julien decided to follow the order. Though he didn't exactly know where it was,.
After what seemed like years of wandering around the cruise ship, he stumbled into a large group of people standing before a stage set up by the speaker. Behind him on stage was a row of men wielding rifles. Though this was only met by a bleak reaction from Julien, He knew what he was up against, and so did every other assassin standing amongst the crowd. It was either life or death, and only one of them was going to make it off of this ship.
"ATTENTION! ATTENTION! EVERYONE! As you may know, my name is Michael Rivers. I am the Speaker of the House of the American Government. If I must say so myself, I am a pretty big deal. But jokes aside, I wanted to personally thank you all for coming out here tonight. That goes for all of those who wish to or do support me. And even the hitmen are here to take my life. No matter who you might be or what you might do for a living, Let the party begin."