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You heard the glass door creak as Sylus crept back into your home.
You never heard him walk in when you first met him but Sylus had since dropped his guard around you. Something about a “little kitten” not being a threat. You showed him just how much of a threat you could be later that night.
You lifted your head from where it was buried in your book, not taking your eyes off it.
“Got a moment kitten?” His deep voice called out to you.
“Mhm, lemme finish this chapter,” You said, still deeply engrossed in your book.
Sylus chuckled. “You’re not going to step away till you finish the whole book, right sweetie?” There was something held back in his voice, but you didn’t think too much of it.
He came over to where you were curled up on the couch, standing behind the backrest to kiss you on the cheek.
You turned your head, catching his lips. “Welcome home.”
You both separated after a long moment when you caught him holding his side. You quickly got up and went around to him, scanning for any other injuries.
“What happened? Why didn’t you say anything??” You gingerly touched the hand over the wound, he winced and you quickly pulled your hand away, keeping it hovering nearby.
“I’m alright, kitten. It’s just a scratch.” Sylus tried to console you.
You clicked your tongue, worry evident on your face. “You’d say that even if you were bleeding out.”
He cupped your cheek with his free hand, forcing you to look into his eyes. He smiled softly, his crimson eyes holding your gaze, silently comforting you.
That didn’t ease your worry as you gripped his arm, getting ready to guide him toward the bathroom with your first aid supplies. You took a breath. Panic would not help anyone right now.
Sylus stood firm, preventing you from taking him anywhere. “I’m serious, kitten. I’ll be alright.”
“Not if I don’t take a look. Now come with me or sit down.”
Sylus chuckled, then winced. “You’re the boss.”
Your hand slid from his forearm to his free hand, gently guiding him to the cabinet with the first aid kit.
You made him sit on top of the counter, keeping his injury in front of you, feeling his eyes on you as you pulled out the supplies.
You didn’t meet his gaze as you started working. “Now, are you gonna tell me what happened or do I need to coax it out of one of your associates.”
“No need to murder on my behalf, sweetie. It was just an incident with a Praedator, nothing too bad.”
“But no Praedator has been strong enough to hurt you before. Are they getting stronger or are you losing your touch, honey?” You attempted to lighten the mood with your teasing but Sylus seemed pensive because of your words.
“You’re aware of Praedator testing with frenzy enhancers, right?”
Your brow furrowed. “Where are you going with this?”
“You know I have enemies kitten, some of them have it out for me more than others. One of them happens to be in possession of black market frenzy enhancers.”
“So the Praedator was sent to hunt you. And found you.”
“They obviously didn’t succeed but they’re still a threat. I want you to keep a weapon on you at all times. Preferably one that I constructed myself with…special anti-Praedator features.”
“You mean a gun with a taser and Praedator suppressant laced bullets-”
“-And a second gun with normal bullets. You know me so well my dear. They’re in the top drawer of my nightstand along with my glasses, the hot ones- you know which ones.”
You finished up the final bandages and went to put the supplies away when Sylus stopped you. “Aren’t you forgetting something sweetie?”
“I…don’t think so?”
He pointed to his lips. “A get-well kiss. Won’t that speed up the healing process.”
You huffed out a laugh. “Oh my sweet, needy man.”
You reached up to cup his face, one hand on his cheek and the other wrapped around his neck. Your lips slotted against each other perfectly, like they were made to match. His arm wound around your waist, finding its home in the small of your back.
You kissed him passionately, savouring the moment. And already thinking of you next move.
- - -
You had given Sylus a sleeping pill. A mild one to give you about 3 hours to track down the Praedator and the bastard that dared to target Sylus.
You snuck over to his phone where he received all his missions and entered the password (“LitTlefeAtHer78%67><) to look up the details of his last job.
Location: Southern District; near the Old Museum.
Target: B-Class Praedator
The difficulty had obviously been fabricated. You’d fought B-Rank Praedators yourself and none of them were near Sylus’ skill level.
The Museum was near where you and Sylus met as you saw him fight for the first time. He was injured then too but those were only a few scratches. Not a planned attack.
You then scanned the page for any hint as to who might have sent the job. And there it was at the top: Ever. An odd codename but still a lead regardless.
You looked over to see him sleeping peacefully in your bed. You never thought of yourself as vengeful but Sylus had changed you in many ways since you met him.
You crept over to the bed and opened the nightstand drawer to pull out the guns he wanted you to have. It was fitting that you were using them on your first “official” job for him.
The weight was unfamiliar yet balanced in your hands and you quickly tucked them into your holsters, eager to use them.
You crept out of the room and through the same back door Sylus snuck in through just an hour ago.
“I’ll be back baby,” you whispered as you looked back one last time before you left.
Sneaking out with Sylus’ keen senses would have been the hard part of your journey if not for the sleeping pill. Now the obstacle was the time crutch and actually tracking your target from the Museum.
If you assumed that Sylus had eliminated the treat before leaving the area, that would reduce the chances of you tracking your prey easily. You didn’t want to think that injury made Sylus sloppy but at the moment that was your best bet.
You entered the museum on high alert, tensing as you hear a noise. A series of thumps followed.
Slowly, you inched toward the sound, guns in hand, ready to strike at anything there. You hid behind a corner, peeking out to gauge what was there.
A Praedator was chained to the wall, clearly a weaker type with how it struggled in short bursts, then gave up.
So the B-Rank Praedator did exist, you realised. But another one was sent too.
You stepped out from behind the corner, pistols aimed at the Praedator. It snarled back.
“What happened here? Who sent you?”
“I don’t work for anyone,” it hissed. “Some weird shirtless man chained me up here after killing another .”
“And what was the other Praedator like?”
“Stronger than the man, almost got a bite on him. Wearing a collar like a little pet too.”
You were getting closer to the answers you wanted. “Did anyone come here after that?”
“And what will helping you get me?” It sneered.
“A quick and-relatively- painless death,” you said, raising your chin. “Or I can leave you here and signal some other large, higher ranked Praedator to finish the job. Maybe get some frenzy enhancers as well to really make it interesting.”
To emphasise your point, you examined one of your guns and aimed it at its left hand, firing a warning shot but having it land in the space next to its upper arm.
“You won’t actually shoot,” It growled.
“Try me.” You aimed again, this time at its chest with the electrically charged bullets. You pulled the trigger.
The bullet didn’t pierce the skin but settled on top, making the Praedator jolt from the electrical shock.
“Ok- the Praedator was branded- there’s a research facility 3 buildings down- it came from there- that’s all I know I swear-“
The jolts began to slowly stop. You cocked your gun, aiming straight at its chest. “Thank you for your service.”
You fired.
- - -
Most buildings in the Southern District were abandoned, meaning there was minimal security in even the previously most important buildings.
There was nothing stopping you from casually strolling into the facility after shooting the security guard. But you decided to sneak in just in case there were other security measures taken.
You found an open window on the ground floor and at an easy enough height to crawl through. You landed on dirtied white floors and pulled out your pistols.
You began walking through the hallway you stumbled into when you heard voices coming from ahead.
You ducked into the nearest open room, rushing to hide from whoever was coming.
The voices came closer as you scanned the room, quickly looking for somewhere to hide if they tried to come in.
The room was compact, with a large cage in the middle. There were screens on the wall that might have been used to track the vitals of the Praedator within the cage but now it was abandoned.
The voices reached a crescendo outside the room and you held your breath, your finger hovering over the trigger in case you had to make a quick escape. Then you heard the footsteps resume and the voices faded away.
You paused for a moment, then peeked out of the room. Two men were still standing outside your room, seemingly waiting for something. One was wearing a lab coat and the other a suit. Then the man in the lab coat whispered something to the man in the suit. You could only make out a few words: lab, target and Ever.
That’s when you caught sight of the suited man’s id badge. It was pinned to his suit jacket and was spelled in small but clear letters: EVER.
You had found your target. And you would make him pay.
You had nothing against the scientist other than the fact that he might be a possible witness. You quickly looked around for a distraction. The monitors in your hiding spot were all turned off but they might be connected to another system or alarm.
You crept over to the nearest one that was hidden from the door and held down the on button. It took a moment, but slowly flickered on.
The lab must have been abandoned for quite some time because the monitors made use of old technology that primarily detected whether the cage was open or not.
It indicated that all was well because the cage lock was engaged. But with just the right aim….
You pulled out your normal gun and pointed it at the ancient lock, then fired.
The bullet struck the latch perfectly. And then the alarms went off.
The blaring noise made you flinch, then grip your guns harder as you prepared to face Ever.
The first scientist came in, the one that was just talking to Ever outside. He frantically looked around but before he could catch you, you smacked him upside the head with your pistol.
Then came the man you were truly waiting for. He ran into the room and you triggered the mechanism that would shut the door.
“Hello Ever,” You smiled, twirling one of your guns. “I’ve been looking for you.”
He was still reeling from the shock of the alarm. “Who are you? What do you want?”
“Who I am isn’t important. What matters to me is that you tried to harm Sylus, and I don’t take too kindly to that.”
“What could I possibly have to do with that criminal?”
“He’s a threat to you isn’t he? Unpredictable, cunning, skilled. If he decides that you’re his next target, there’s nothing stopping him.”
“He has no reason to target me. He was simply a bug that had to be crushed.”
A warning shot rang out.
Ever flinched.
“I know about the frenzy enhancers. I know how you faked the mission debrief to catch Sylus alone and off guard. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t target you the same way.”
Ever eyed your gun, then met your steely gaze. “My empire will come after you. They’ll never stop.”
You tilted your head, raising your gun to his chest. “But what is a body without its head.” Then you fired.
It was a shame you couldn’t draw this out longer, but alas you had a time constraint.
After making sure the bullet had done its job, you triggered the door mechanism again and went back to where you previously hid.
You watched the panicked scientists rush in and used the chaos to sneak out.
Your job was done, and it was time to head home.
- -
You broke back into your home using the back door you used to get out.
You quietly stepped into your closet, changed into comfortable clothes, and tip-toed into the bedroom to lie next to Sylus before he woke up.
Slowly, you crawled into bed and lay down facing him, cuddling close to bury your face into his chest.
“Had a nice trip kitten?” His voice came from above you.
“Shut up I’m tired,” You murmured. “When did you wake up anyway, that pill was strong.”
“You forget I’ve trained myself against poisons, a little melatonin does nothing. But I’m sure you’ll pass out pretty quick after the field trip you’ve had tonight. Hunting down one of my worst foes? You’re a feisty one aren’t you?”
“I don’t like seeing you hurt,” you mumbled into his chest. “And you kill for your job without any hesitation, why shouldn’t I do the same for you?”
“Well that’s just what I have to do to survive in this world darling,” Sylus said. “You have a choice.”
“What we have to do,” You amended. “We’re in this together, whether you like it or not.”
He chuckled. “I didn’t know you’d go to such lengths for me kitten.”
You look up and hold his gaze, unwavering. “I would do anything for you.”
Sylus wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you closer, his warm breath against your ear as he kissed your temple. “It’s both cute and incredibly hot how you fight for my honour sweetie.”
You smiled, burying your face back into his muscular pecs. “All for you darling.”
A moment of silence passed with both of you basking in each others’ presence. Then-
“And I must say kitten, this was probably one of the best Valentines Day presents you could’ve given me today.”