2012 — an undisclosed location, Norway
On a solitary cliff overlooking one of Norway's many fjords stood a large, Victorian style mansion.
Very few people knew this mansion existed, it had long been declared unsafe for the public. A lie only reinforced by the fact that anyone curious enough to explore the area disappeared without a trace.
The truth, however, was far more interesting. This mansion was occupied by one of the most elusive, wanted couples in the world, Rurik and Luna Wolden.
These two literal partners in crime headed a powerful, worldwide criminal organization as husband and wife.
But everything has an end.
After years of proving themselves the best of the best through sheer ruthlessness, intelligence and some peculiar abilities that no one understood and most believed didn't exist, they were now both in their sixties… and that part of their life was over.
They'd retired to this remote residence, and transferred control of their organizations to their most trusted subordinates. They never had any interest in children, so they had no descendants to leave their enterprise to.
But they didn't care.
They'd lived a good life. All they wanted now to enjoy their twilight years in peace.
Well, peace and vice…
Rurik and Luna were both dominant-leaning, lustful people. They planned to spent their last years on Earth enjoying the fruits of their labour, by tormenting a group of fifty young, willing maids who filled their mansion of debauchery from top to bottom.
Yet, it was only Rurik having sex with those maids. Luna mainly enjoyed exerting her control over them, and watching Rurik ravage them, knowing his heart belonged only to her.
Unfortunately, after five years of enjoying their well-deserved retirement, it was all about to come to an end…
* * *
This night should have been a night like all the others, if a bit stormy. However, the normally harmonious, yet perverted mansion was currently in a tense situation.
In one of the mansions many playrooms, six intruders pointed assault rifles at Rurik and his wife. The couple was standing shoulder to shoulder, their faces twisted in fury.
Rurik was currently half-naked. His chest, uncovered, clearly showed his well-defined muscles and broad chest, belying his advanced age. He was a large human specimen, standing at a whopping 2.05 meters (6'7), his lower body, covered by no more than a pair of harem pants.
Combined with his broad build, he truly looked like a tank in human form. Short, unkempt, salt-and-pepper hair was complimented by a short, well-maintained beard. Piercing blue eyes shone under a heavy brow, set in a slightly square face. You wouldn't consider him the personification of a male model, but he was certainly handsome enough.
Meanwhile, Luna wore a leather dominatrix outfit. She was a relatively tall woman in her own right, standing at 1.9 meters (5'9), with long, straight blond hair, an oval face, and almond eyes, sporting purple-coloured irises. Her body, despite her advancing age, was still thick, slender, and perky in all the right places.
In her youth, Luna had been considered one of the most beautiful women on Earth, at least to those who had ever seen her face. That being said, everyone who knew her would never underestimate her because of that beauty; she was also one of Earth's most ruthless and intelligent people.
Just before they were so rudely interrupted, she and Rurik were about to engage in some play with a few of their maids, who were now cowering in the corner—none of them had been in combat before.
The husband and wife stood shoulder to shoulder as they regarded their enemies with cold eyes. Unfortunately, Rurik's ability was no use in a situation like this, while Luna needed touch for hers to work… which was equally useless at the moment.
"What are you doing here, Mark...?" growled Rurik at the enemy's leader. He remained surprisingly calm, despite the six barrels pointing at him and his beloved.
"Isn't that obvious?" the man grinned viciously. "We've come to kill you."
Rurik snorted derisively, "Don't beat around the bush, coward! Just answer my question!"
"Y— You don't give the orders anymore!" one of the other men said hesitantly, yet with as much courage as he could muster under the harsh gazes of two absolute legends in their field.
"Now, now, that's enough," Mark grinned, while waving his hand. "I'll answer his question, it's the least he deserves… The answer is simple, 'Boss'. You two may have handed the keys of your empire over to me, but we all know it will never truly be mine."
He cocked his gun to underscore his next point as his grin widened, "At least... not until you two kick the bucket."
Luna wrinkled her nose, angling her chin to look down on Mark, despite their situation. "And you think they will respect a traitor?" she snorted with intense disdain.
"Respect will come," Mark shrugged dismissively, before continuing to grin. "But I'm fine starting with fear."
"What about Lisa?" Rurik asked with narrowed eyes. "I've always known you were ambitious, but she should have reigned in your worst impulses…"
As a form of tradition, Rurik and Luna had left their empire to their two most trusted subordinates, who also just so happened to be husband and wife. Unfortunately, they'd clearly overestimated Mark's loyalty… or did they?
Mark's eyes showed a hint of insanity, yet his voice didn't waver, "Lisa couldn't see what I saw… She was going to warn you of my plans, so I had to stop her! Hehehe, it's fine, though. Soon, I'll have rows of women lining up to be mine!"
This time, Rurik and Luna were truly shocked. Regardless of anything else, they were absolutely sure that Mark and Lisa loved each other like few others did.
They couldn't even find the words to say.
They'd known their successors for most of their lives. To them, Mark killing Lisa was akin to Rurik killing Luna, which was such an absurd thought that they were forced to wonder if the sun had suddenly stopped shining.
"You—"
But that was as far as Luna got, before Mark gave the order. "Enough! Fire!"
Instantly, all hell broke loose.
The six men and women tensed their trigger fingers. Rurik roared defiantly. In a split second, he turned his body and shoved Luna aside. Surprisingly, Luna was doing the exact same thing, yet Rurik had the advantage of physical prowess.
Thus, before the rifles unleashed their hail of death, Luna fell to the side, just outside of their range. She was forced to watch and listen, as gunfire filled the room and her beloved's body was pierced over a dozen times.
"NOOOOOOOO!" she screeched into the uncaring void, her hand outstretched, her eyes filled with tears. Surprisingly, one of the maids broke out of her fear to loosen a scream of despair that was no less piercing than Luna's.
Of course, they'd always known that dying in a hail of bullets was a likely outcome for their line of work, but that barely reduced the shock of actually witnessing it.
Rurik felt pain like never before, but only up till a point. Eventually, his body numbed. Soon, he felt nothing anymore. He continued to shake from the impacts, but he was already sinking to his knees, his eyes unflinchingly trained on his wife. A sad smile on his lips.
Luna unleashed another banshee-like scream, but then her eyes swerved to the people responsible, insanity and hatred flaring. Before Rurik even hit the ground, she'd already jumped for the nearest intruder, arms outstretched.
Mark's eyes widened. "Kill the bitch!" he screamed maniacally, knowing about her ability.
Another hail of bullets was launched in her direction… but it was already too late.
Luna's body shook from several impacts, but it didn't stop her from grabbing her targets ankles. Blood was already spilling out, but she curled up her lips into a crazy, bloody grin. "Got you…" she wheezed from pain.
Mark quickly changed targets, "Kill him, now!" he cried out in a panic… but his accomplices hesitated. That was their friend!
But that hesitation turned out to be their doom. Unlike them, the man Luna grabbed did not hesitate at all. With a glassy look, he turned his gun on the other five.
Mark was the only one who was about to loosen a salvo on their former comrade, but he was stopped at the last moment… when the same maid who just screamed when Rurik was shot, jumped on his back, screeching, "YOU KILLED HIM! YOU—"
But she didn't get any further. Another salvo of bullets was unleashed as the guard Luna was holding pulled the trigger. Within moments, five intruders including Mark fell to the ground with empty eyes. Their bulletproof vests offering no protection against the point-blank shots that buried themselves in their brains.
Unfortunately, the maid who stopped Mark was not spared either. She fell next to Mark with glassy eyes, still dripping with her final tears of despair. Finally, the sixth intruder turned the gun on himself, before one last shot ran out.
From one moment to the other, in stark contrast to the chaos from before, silence descended on the room.
Then, movement.
Slowly, a bleeding female form dragged itself over to her husband. Unlike Rurik, who was perhaps more lead than man at this point, Luna had only caught a handful of them. Yet, it was still more than enough to cut her life short.
When she reached him, she noticed he was still holding on to the last threads of life.
Rurik had lost the ability to talk, only able to draw in an occasional, haggard breath. Yet, instead of despairing at the situation, he was desperately holding on to the last pieces of his consciousness as he looked at the love of his life.
She looked back at him with similar feelings, and they started smiling. Many words were going unsaid in that moment, yet, neither of them felt discontent about the life they led.
Slowly, the seconds ticked by until, eventually, they breathed their last.
Or did they…?
Suddenly, time stopped. The blood stopped flowing, raindrops kept hanging in mid-air, the fleeing maids halted in their tracks.
A soft light started glowing above the corpses of husband and wife, followed by an ethereal sigh. "What happened here? And where even am I?"