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Virginia Lucas took a deep, steadying breath before looking through the scope attachment of her crossbow. She knew that the higher-ups at MI6 never approved of her particular choice in weaponry. But, then again, she never much cared for their opinion.She immediately spotted her target, some Italian mobster who somehow threatened the British government. Or something along those lines.After four years of working as a wet asset, Virgina learned to never read too much into an assignment.She was just about to pull the trigger, when she felt a warning tingle run down her spine."And what do you think you are doing, mio caro?” a deep, heavily accented voice asked.She heard the familiar click of a SIG-Sauer P220. Without a second thought, she instantly turned around and aimed her arrow on the shadowed figure before her. The SIG was focused on her, from what she could see with the light of the full moon.They remained at a stand-still for a long time, neither one willing to lower their weapon or look away from each other.Virginia, not exactly keen on being the rabbit cornered by the fox, decided to end it all by asking, “What the hell do you want?”The figure chuckled and took a few steps closer to her, revealing a man with dark hair, a short beard and strangely kind brown eyes."I just asked you the same thing, though not as — how you say — eloquently,” he replied. “So let’s, ah, make a deal: you tell me why you are here, and I will return the favor,”She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Do we have to put down our weapons?” she wondered.The man laughed again. “Of course not!”She gave him wry smile, and readjusted her hold on the crossbow. She locked eyes with him as she spoke."I was sent to kill Lorenzo Bartolini on behalf of MI6," Virginia finally said."That’s rather…funny," the man commented, before he began to chuckle darkly."How so?" she asked once he finished laughing."Because I, too, was sent to kill the cazzo. Not by MI6, mind you, but by another party,” he answered.She waited a beat for him to further elaborate."I’ve told you who I work for," she reminded him. Rather stupidly. she thought."You may as well tell me," she continued.The man smiled.Against her better judgement, Virginia thought he had a very handsome smile."You have heard of the Pinocchio family, sì?”He started to circle around her, forcing Virginia to follow him with her arrow. She nodded in answer to his question."I happen to work for them, And they happen to also want Bartolini dead," The man stopped circling, suddenly closer to Virginia then she would have liked."It seems we’re in a bit of a…" she said as the man moved until the tip of her arrow met his chest. "…predicament."“In realtà." They fell silent again. The air felt stifling and Virginia suddenly found it hard to breathe."Perhaps we should temporarily team up, signorina…?”"Lucas. Virgina Lucas,"The man reached for hand, removing it from the trigger and pressed his lips against the back of it."My name is Marco Geppetto."
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Quickly reapplying her lipstick — red, of course — Mallory Carabosse closed her compact and subtly searched the crowded ballroom for her target: a door off to the side that led to an office, which housed some very important (and apparently damning) documents, and some idiotic billionaire criminal who the British government wanted an end to. So, of course, they send her in.She silently cursed her short stature (both physically and in the MI6 rankings) and uncomfortable, completely useless high heels, but it mattered little. She needed to get through the throng of people unnoticed anyway.Well, relatively unnoticed. Her long, form-fitting strapless black dress with a long slit along her left leg made her rather difficult to miss. Which was probably what those perverts at the agency were hoping for.Mallory moved through the throng of people, smiling venomously as they stepped aside just before she passed each person.When she reached the other end of the ballroom, she pulled back a red velvet curtain and slipped in behind it.Turning around, she saw that she was standing in the middle of the office. Mallory couldn't help but roll her eyes at the sight.This idiot is the absolute antonym of "subtle". she thought to herself.With a shake of her head and slipping off her too-tall shoes, Mallory went straight to work finding the documents.She searched through the filing cabinets lined up against the back wall, quickly skimming through the files."Is this what you're looking for?"Mallory jumped at the sound of the deep, accented voice behind her, immediately dropping her shoes, pulling her gun out from it's very well hidden holster and pointed it in the direction of the office chair. She saw the back of a dark haired head and a manila envelope that she knew held those documents."I think I'll be taking those, thank you," she said as she slowly walked forward.The chair turned to reveal a smirking face that she had seen only in surveillance photos.Shit. Mallory knew she was in absolute trouble.Elias Hades was an Greek expatriate who was currently working for Russian intelligence as its number one assassin. MI6 had never gotten close to the man beyond the occasional picture, so the fact that Mallory was simultaneously lucky and unlucky enough to be in the same room as him.He continued to sit and smile, slightly waving the envelope in a taunting manner."I can tell by your adorable frightened bunny expression that you know who I am," he said. "And judging by your charming accent, I know who you work for, and therefore why you are so clearly desperate for these silly pieces of paper. But the question is, lagoudáki, who are you?"Mallory narrowed her eyes and pulled back the safety on her small pistol."Just give me that envelope and I won't have to kill you. Although the higher-ups would be more than happy to give me a big bonus if I bring your dead body back," she replied.Hades laughed, standing up until he was directly in front of the barrel of her gun. Mallory's finger itched to pull the trigger and end the taunting entirely. Even if he wasn't her target, she would feel better about ending him entirely."Pó̱s tó̱ra, there's a party! We should do a little dance..." he reached for her hand and gently removed the gun. "Make a little love..." he tossed the gun aside, placed his hands on her waist. "Get down tonight." Hades pulled her close and kissed her hard on the mouth.Mallory stiffened. What was he doing? What was she doing?After the initial shock wore off, she kneed him in the groin, kicked up her shoes and, using the sharp heel, hit him sharply in the neck. He fell down with a groan."Just so you know, I look nothing like a bunny," she said. "And my name is Mallory Carabosse."Smiling, Mallory picked up her gun and the envelope, put her shoes back on and left the office.
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Why, why does it always have to be a forest? Mary Margaret Blanchard thought to herself. She readjusted the strap of her sniper before making her way through the thick foliage.She wasn't sure how she always got the worst assignments, the ones where she had to get dirty and roughed up while everyone else went to glamorous parties and assassinated people there. Maybe it was because she was a rookie. Maybe it was because her late father and mother were well-known and well-feared assassins. Either way, she had to fight tooth and nail to earn her place at MI6.Mary Margaret shook her head to clear her thoughts. She needed to focus on the task at hand.Unfortunately, she stepped on an old-fashioned netted trap that quickly collapsed on her and pulled her up into the air. As she rose up, her sniper had slipped off her shoulder and landed on the ground.Mary Margaret cursed and struggled, but the net forced her into an uncomfortably folded position."Trapped like a krolik, eh?" she heard a smug voice say below her. She turned her attention downwards and glared at the Russian who accompanied her target. "I think I'm a bit smarter than a bunny," she retorted.The man smiled. "I told you I would find you, krolik," "I will get out of here," she said, ignoring his comment.The man laughed and crossed his arms. He looked up at her and gave him a disarming and disgustingly...charming smirk."Not until you tell me who you are working for, and why you were trying to kill my employer's daughter," Mary Margaret snorted and rolled her eyes."And why would I tell you anything, Mister...?""Charmanov. David Charmanov."Her eyes widened. She recognized the name from a few reports back at the agency, but with the lack of pictures, she always thought of him as some old KGB agent with a knack for finding people. Not this young, handsome man in front of her.Did I just call him handsome?! What is wrong with me? she chided herself."I didn't peg you as a 'David'. 'Charming', maybe, but not something so common," Mary Margaret commented."Ah, so you find me charming?" he said. "I might call you the same thing if you tell me what I want to know."Against her will, she felt herself blush. But she made sure to set her face right and once again glared at him."There is no way in hell that I'm going to tell you anything!"Charmanov reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a piece of paper."Well, I already know who you are, Miss Blanchard," he said, holding up the paper that apparently came out of a file. "And who you work for. What I want to know is why the British are so determined to have Katrina Midas -- how do you say -- dead as a doorknob?"Mary Margaret felt the color drain from her face. This was bad, this was very, very bad."The sooner you tell me, the sooner I let you down," Charmanov reminded her.She sighed, quickly realizing that telling him the truth was her only way out of this mess."Honestly, I don't really know. The chaps at MI6 don't fully trust me with their deep, dark secrets yet," she finally said.Charmanov nodded sagely at her. What appeared to have been a look of understanding vanished just as quickly as it came. He walked over to a nearby tree and undid the knot. Mary Margaret fell down and grunted. He walked over to her and offered his hand. She slapped it away, stood up and tried to subtly search for her weapon."I am letting you go not because I want to, but because you're currently useless to me," he said. "But I can see that you're an adversary. So remember: I will find you. I will always find you."