Exactly at 6:30 PM on Friday night, a limited-edition Rolls-Royce stopped in front of a seven-star club. Two ladies, average in height, alighted from the car. Both had exquisite makeup; one wore a red gown, and the other was clad in black.
"Arya, what about our weapons?" the lady in black asked.
"Calm down. First, we need to pass the security checkpoint, Ashley," Arya replied, her eyes scanning the environment.
The two women unhurriedly made their way to the security checkpoint a few meters away from the club entrance.
"Good day," Ashley said as she went into the full-body scanner. She stood for a few seconds before a green light shone.
"Welcome to Gold's Prime. Enjoy your stay," the security guard said with a polite smile.
Ashley smiled back, standing beside the security guard to wait for Arya.
Arya, completely uninterested in any form of formalities, walked into the machine. Within a few seconds, the green light also popped up.
"Welcome to Gold's Prime. Please enjoy your stay," the guard said, smiling politely at Arya.
"Mm," Arya said, walking toward the entrance of the club.
"There are a lot of people today," Ashley muttered, glancing around.
"Yeah, it's always like this on Friday night," Arya said, scanning her surroundings.
At exactly 6:40 PM, Arya strolled into the club, greeted by deafening music playing inside.
"Fuck," Arya said in annoyance.
"Darn, I never knew there was something this lively going on in here!" Ashley said loudly to enable Arya to hear her.
"C'mon, let's get down to business," Arya said, pushing her way through the crowd toward the bartender.
"Hey Arya, why are you in such a hurry? Let's have a little fun," Ashley said, holding onto Arya's arm.
"We came for business, and business we'll do," Arya said angrily, releasing herself from Ashley's grip, already pissed off by the loud music and almost choking crowd.
Ashley watched Arya make her way into the distance. "She always acts like everything is in her control. So damn annoying. I'll see how long you'll keep this up," Ashley said, glaring at Arya hatefully.
Arya walked up to the bartender and gave her signature three knocks on the counter.
The bartender immediately turned, pretending to be mixing a drink for Arya.
"Zero, right?" she asked, pouring the wine into a glass.
Ashley noticed Arya having a conversation with the bartender and quickly made her way to the counter.
Noticing an unfamiliar face too close, the bartender frowned. "What do you want?" the bartender asked, eyeing Ashley.
"I—"
"She's with me," Arya said, cutting in.
Ashley rolled her palm into a fist to calm her nerves. She forced a smile onto her face.
"I'm Ashley, Arya's best friend," she said to the bartender.
"Mm," the bartender replied, seeing no reason to converse with Ashley, especially as her instincts didn't seem comfortable with her. The bartender immediately turned back to Arya.
"Here's the key to the commissioner's room," the bartender said, meticulously sliding a key along with a cup of alcohol.
Arya quickly caught it, picking up the cup and gulping down the wine in one go.
"Arya, we're on a mission. You can't afford to be tipsy," Ashley said, wanting to join in their conversation.
"Tipsy? It's not easy for me to get tipsy," Arya said, smiling faintly.
Arya checked her phone. "It's almost time," she said, giving the bartender a knowing look.
"Wait for me in the locker room down this lobby," the bartender said, pointing at the lobby to her left as though she was leading Arya to the bathroom.
Just as instructed, Arya followed the lobby to a locker room where cleaning supplies were stored. The air was thick with the harsh scent of soap and bleach, making the space feel suffocating.
"Someone's coming" Arya said immediately she noticed faint foot steps coming closer.
A few minutes later, four tall security guards dressed in black tuxedos passed the door.
Ashley held her breath in as she noticed the men passing by,
"They didn't notice us," she said to Arya releasing the breath she had been holding in.
"They did. Hide," Arya said, a light smirk on her lips. Immediately, she swiftly went into one of the lockers, quietly locking herself in it. Ashley followed suit. The two of them remained calm.
A few seconds later, one of the officers walked back, looking into the room.
"I thought I saw someone in here," he said in a low tone as he scanned the room.
"How did she know?" Ashley thought, not daring to make a sound, wanting to prove she wouldn't drag Arya down on their mission.
The guard scanned the room for a few seconds before leaving, assuming he had seen wrongly.
Arya and Ashley came out of their hiding place a few seconds later.
Despite the fact that Ashley found Arya's sharp senses enviable, she didn't act like it was anything new to her.
Immediately, the bartender came into the room with a luggage bag, her eyes alert as she scanned the hallway before shutting the door behind her.
"No matter what happens, this has nothing to do with me. The commissioner's room is 208," she said, immediately handing the luggage to Ashley and heading for the exit.
"The coast is clear. Move quickly," the bartender said, shutting the door behind her and heading back to her post before her absence was noticed by the higher-ups.
…
Ashley opened the luggage bag. The faint scent of arms filled the air.
"Mm. My babies," Arya said, inhaling deeply the scent of arms.
"I'll be going with this," Ashley said, picking up a silent trigger placed at the edge of the box.
"It's cool, but I thought you wouldn't be doing anything. What do you need arms for?" Arya asked, hiding a dagger in her lap.
Ashley froze. She felt like her integrity had just been thrown into a deep ocean. "Just for safety," she said lowly.
"Alright. Let's be on our way," Arya said, unaware of Ashley's changed countenance.
"I think I'd rather watch from a distance," Ashley said.
"You sure? Don't wanna come in?" Arya asked, turning to look at Ashley.
"Yeah. Besides, I'm not doing anything," Ashley replied, smiling at Arya.
"Alright. Your choice," Arya said, putting a gun under her dress.
Soon, they got to room 208. Arya gave a light knock on the door.
"Who's there? Come in," a hoarse voice resounded from the room.
"Here we go," Arya said to Ashley before immediately pushing the door open. She entered the room, big enough to be someone's apartment, with a bed large enough for six people. A man in his early fifties lay naked, his cock standing tall and proud.
"Good evening, Commissioner," Arya said in a sultry tone.
"A pretty one," the commissioner said lustfully, gesturing for Arya to come closer.
Arya made her way closer; every step she took seemed to have an effect on the commissioner. She stretched out her hands, revealing her long slender arms, as she poured the alcohol placed on the bedside table into a cup.
"Yes, good girl," the commissioner muttered as he watched every action Arya carried out.
"May I?" Arya asked softly with the cup of wine in her hand.
"Yes, please," the commissioner said with a smile, opening his mouth to drink the wine.
Arya proceeded to feed the commissioner the drink, meticulously watching every gulp he took. The moment she noticed she could easily access his neck, in a swift motion, she brought the dagger she had hidden under her gown, aiming for the commissioner's exposed neck.
The commissioner, who had been studying Arya's every move, grew suspicious when he noticed Arya's hands going under her dress. "Just as expected. I just can't have my alone time," he said, pushing Arya from the bed and rolling to the other side, with the bed as their demarcation.
"Mm, I never knew this commissioner could defend himself without his security," Arya said, her tone carrying hints of mockery.
"Hehe. This commissioner learned karate for a few years as a teenager," the commissioner said, swiftly reaching for the gun he had placed under his bed.
"Now freeze!" he said, pointing the gun at Arya's head.
"Calm down. I didn't expect you to be this prepared," Arya said, feigning fear with her hands above her head.
"All these useless bodyguards—I paid them to protect me, what…?" the commissioner continued, expressing his disappointment in his security team. Unknowingly, his guard was dropping.
Arya noticed the distracted commissioner. Slowly and steadily, she reached for a short knife meticulously hidden at her back. When it was in her grip, she watched the commissioner, who had started talking about his life story.
"So noisy," she muttered, immediately aiming for the hand holding the gun.
"Ah!" the commissioner shouted as the gun he was holding fell to the ground with a 'Thud'. Before he could reach it—
"Bam!"
Arya delivered a clean headshot.
"In your next life, focus more on the issue at hand," she said under her breath, looking at the commissioner's corpse.
Suddenly, a syringe was pierced into Arya's body, instantly paralyzing her.
"What's going on? Who's there?" Arya asked, her heart pounding heavily as her limbs went numb.
Arya noticed she was being dragged backward toward the wall. She landed with a loud "thud".
"Who are you? And what do you want?" she asked, trying to calm herself despite the uncertainty gnawing at her.
There was still no reply. Soon, the person stood before Arya with a mocking smirk on her face.
"Isn't this Arya, the top assassin in California? How come you let your guard down so easily?"
"Ashley? What's the meaning of all this? If this is one of your jokes, please, I'm not interested," Arya said as casually as she could but didn't ignore the deadly aura emanating from Ashley.
"One of my jokes? Yes, to you, everything I do is a joke. I joined the organization first, but you went ahead of me. I had no problem with you being ahead of me, but how dare you look down on me?" Ashley said angrily, staring directly into Arya's eyes.
Arya was taken aback by the sharpness in Ashley's voice. "Look down on you? I've never done that before. You seem to forget—you're my best friend, Ashley," she said.
"Oh, please spare me that crap. We've never been best friends. You've always seen me as your lackey," Ashley spat, her eyes blazing with rage.
"Calm down, Ashley. We can talk things out. You don't have to be so unreasonable. I know you're angry, but don't forget we're on a mission. We need to leave quickly. We'll deal with this when we get back to the base," Arya said as softly as she could, her heart pounding like it could burst from her chest.
"Talk things out? I'm sorry, but you won't have that luxury. Once I'm done with you, I'll take the top spot. Let's see who dares look down on me," Ashely spat angrily.
Flashes of the time Arya had spent with Ashely played before her like she was in a cinema a dry laugh escaped her lips
"Who would have known the one I considered my friend actually hates me" She said, resigning herself to her fate because she always knew she'd die someday but never thought her supposed best friend would be her killer.
Ashely rolled her eyes at Arya's words, she remembered how Arya and she once went on a mission she brought the idea Arya executed, when they got back to the base Arya took all the praises without mentioning her name, her eyes turned immediately cold.
"Good night, the legendary Zero." Ashely said the gun let out a sharp 'clack' as Ashley cocked it. Time seemed to slow as Arya locked eyes with her—one last silent plea.
Then, the deafening crack of the gunshot echoed in the room
"Bam!"