Anubis sets down the beer and shrugs you off, reaching into his pocket and placing a wrapped chunk of cash onto the island counter surface before making his way to the couch with Prince following close behind.
"What do you think? It was a job." He utters, throwing himself onto the couch as Prince hops onto his lap. He pulls out a lighter and flicking it on for a few moments before stuffing it back in and petting Prince. Jean watched Anubis closely, taking the cash and shoved it into his pocket absentmindedly.
"Did you find another job, though? JJ and I are getting restless."
Anubis waves a hand without turning to look at you two, nodding dismissively.
"Yeah, yeah, it's tonight, gonna be a rally in town square. You have a sniper rifle, right?"
Jean rolled his eyes and nodded, turning to you.
"How confident are you in crowds?"
I widen my eyes, looking back and forth between Jean and Anubis, who seem to know exactly what is going on. No surprise there. "Not confident at all, but I mean, what am I gonna be doing?"
Jean grabs his bottle of whatever beer and throws it away, turning back to you and leaning against the counter. He crosses his arms and looks upwards in thought.
"Derail the direction of the crowd when I take the shot. Point 'em in the opposite direction, maybe be a bullshit eyewitness, but I wouldn't risk you putting your face in the records."
His nonchalant face and un-bothered body language gave the idea that he's asked this before, or that you should have expected it to come.
I hesitate for a moment, thinking of ideas to distract the crowd. Over there! Oh my god! The killer! and then I'll point in a stupid direction. That sounds horridly fake, but whatever.
"I think I could do that. Shouldn't be too hard," I shrug, but my tone clearly showing I could not do that, but I did want to help. "What time is the rally? Wait, what time is it right now?"
"Right now it's a quarter to three." Jean utters, turning to Anubis as if he expects Anubis to answer the first question. Anubis turns his neck to look at you two before pulling out his phone to check.
"The rally's at six. Speech isn't until six thirty. Oh, and there's gonna be a lot of cyborgs there, so be careful and stuff."
There's a moment of silence as everyone silently asks what to do until then. Jean looks up at you and starts toward the living room.
"Hey, JJ, did you know we have a fire pit?"
"Yeah," I mutter immediately, which causes confusion in everyone. "Sorry, no I don't, I don't know why I said that," I laugh nervously. "Do we have marshmallows? We could totally make s'mores!" I pray my suggestion distracts them from my original comment, knowing they most definitely never mentioned a fire pit.
Jean sighs heavily.
"I do, but they're a little old. Doubt they've expired, though." He utters, making his way back to the kitchen to open a cabinet and pull out an opened bag half full of marshmallows. He turned back to you with a bit of a grin on his face, handing you the bag. He turns back to the cabinet and grabs a package of chocolate and graham crackers.
"I'll go get the gasoline and firewood."
Anubis announces, jumping to go down the hall. Jean returns to you and guides you out the back door and through the yard to the fire pit. On the way there, he grabs three metal sticks with wooden handles and sits down on a stool. After a few moments Anubis arrives with the firewood. He wasn't necessarily smiling, but he seemed excited for the fire.
I accept a metal stick and shove a marshmallow onto it as Anubis sets the firewood into the pit. He drizzles the gasoline on sparingly, and pulls out his lighter. In one quick action, he lights the wood on fire and backs away to avoid being burnt, although the faded scars on his arm seem to show that he wouldn't care anyways.
We sit back and watch the wild flames partying away with the wood as a snack, whilst burning our own snack. I rotate the marshmallow, but it starts to catch flame, so I try to blow it out. I put the sticky marshmallow in between two graham crackers and a square of chocolate, pulling the metal stick out. Jean and Anubis's marshmallows begin to finish as well.
"Okay let's try them at the same time," I suggest, counting down from three. After one, I take a bite of the warm s'more which would've broken apart had I not held the s'more with both hands. I nod my head in satisfaction.
Jean and Anubis take a bite from their s'more at the same time as you, savoring the flavor and smiling gently as the fire cracks on the wood. Then they stare at the fire in silence for a bit bc they're both lost in thought bc jean's getting war flashbacks and anubis has a raging boANYWAY
b
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time skip because i'm out of ideas haha
Jean and Anubis were prepping for the job, Jean throwing on his jacket and a pair of gloves, Anubis doing the same with gloves and checking a few things on his computer. Jean had pulled out his bag of guns and he was checking that they were all loaded before stuffing a few in various places on his person. Lastly, he checked up on his sniper rifle, which sat on the island counter, pointed to the inside of the kitchen.
I watch the two prepare their stuff, every movement they made was smooth and with precision, showing off how long they've been doing this. Anubis hands Jean and I little earpieces. "This is for timing. And if something is off, let me know," he commands. I nod my head as I put in the earpiece and proceed to cover it with my hair.
As they finish arranging their supplies, we head to the car.
"You sure you can get him in one shot, GG?" Anubis inquires as they approach the car. Jean scoffs at Anubis and hops into the driver's seat before starting the car.
"Fuck off, I'm fine." He utters, driving down the road. The car ride was silent, but it was a solemn silence. Anubis was tapping away at his computer, focused on whatever he was doing. Jean focused on the road, but seemed lost in thought. Luckily enough, the car ride was smooth, indicating that Jean really was sober enough for driving. Jean pulls into a parking spot a few blocks away from the town square, considering it was already packed. As he steps out, he looks up at the large building next to him, overlooking the area where the speaker would be standing.
"Not a fan of public executions, but…" Jean utters, trailing off as Anubis steps out and stretches.
We all split off in different directions, with Jean towards the building, and Anubis god knows where. I step towards the crowd and attempt to get closer to the speaker. According to the signs on the stage, it seems like a senator is making a speech. I look around, squinting. How will I distract this many people?
A man steps up to the stage, his strong presence immediately silencing the crowd. He begins to talk. I inhale, my eyes flickering to the building. I wait for Anubis's voice.
"GG, you ready?" You hear in the earpiece. Jean sighs heavily, his exasperation obvious in his breath.
"No need to rush me, he's gonna be speaking for like half an hour."
"Jenny, I've got eyes on you, I'll move the cameras away from you when it happens so there's no proof of who distracted the crowd. When that happens, you'll get a chance to return to the vehicle. Get in there and wait for us. Got it?"
He utters, his voice quiet and whispery as you examine people in the crowd, noticing a few guards at the front. They all stood with complete stiffness, eyes focused straight ahead, with large guns in their hands. They looked almost robotic, like they were built, but they looked just enough human to pass.
My heart rate is steadily increasing the more the senator talks, and the more I looked at the guards. They must be the cyborgs Jean and Anubis were talking about. They have to be.
Time passes slowly, and I shift my weight on the opposite foot. How much longer? I think. But, as if on cue, Anubis starts to count down. "Alright, GG, aim. Ready?"
"Ready."
"Three. Two. One."
"I'm turning off my earpiece so you guys don't hear it. You still know what to do, right?" Jean utters.
"Right." You respond under your breath.
"Alright, GG, aim. Ready?" Anubis begins.
"Ready." Jean says, indicating that was the last you're going to hear from him.
"Three, two, one."
You still hear the shot, which is distant, but almost immediately, the man speaking reacts, falling to the ground. Everyone starts yelling, but you take this opportunity to point behind you to your right.
"I think I heard it from that direction!" You yell, causing the crowd to run in all directions as the security starts running to where you pointed. You immediately know where to return; the car. You start running, trying to look as panicked as everyone else, but you were panicking for a different reason.
You run straight into someone, but this wasn't a regular human. You stop and look up to see him towering over you. His face was slightly human, but half of it seemed like the skin was ripped off to reveal a robotic layer. His human eye was green, but his robot eye was glowing red. His hair was orange and his skin dark.
"Excuse me, could you stay for a bit of eyewitness questioning?" He responds with nearly no emotion behind his voice or eyes.
Literally this is the worst possible outcome that could ever fucking happen.
I can't tell if Anubis can see me or if he lost track, because he isn't saying anything. I blink at the cyborg, wishing I hadn't lost my memory. What is he capable of? I should comply, right? Or do I make an excuse and run away? No, he must have seen me. Or, it must have seen me. I don't know.
In a panic, I respond, "Now? With a shooter on the loose?" My hands are shaking, and my heart has officially stopped. People are rushing by us. Why did I agree to this? I'd never help murder anybody! What the hell is wrong with me?
"It is ill-advised to waste time recounting an important event. Would you please come with me?" Though he stated his question as a question, his demeanor implied otherwise. He even had his brow furrowed in frustration, as if he knew. Did he know? Or did he always look like he was disapproving of everything?
I swallow, looking at the ground. Stop thinking, you will be fine. Just go. Say it was an accident. You saw wrong. Didn't seem like there is a choice here anyways. I look back up at him, wow he's tall, with a stressed expression.
"Okay, sir."
He guides you through the street and into a black car, closing it and taking off. Ironically enough, the car passes by the street that contained Jean's car. You wanted to look to see if they were in there, but you didn't want to be suspicious. Suddenly a voice rings in your ears. It was Anubis.
"Jenny! Where the fuck are you?"
I widen my eyes, flinching from Anubis's voice. I pray that the cyborg didn't see me, but I realize he must have already detected my earpiece. Cyborgs can do that, right? Just assume the worst, Jenny.
I avoid the urge to habitually move my hair behind my ear. I gaze at half and half boy, who's eyes are fixated on the road. "How long will this whole eyewitness thing take?" I question, putting a slight emphasis on 'eyewitness.'
He didn't look away from the road as he responds. As you study his attire, you notice the bands on his jacket. His jacket is a brownish-gray color, and the bands are a harder gray, with a number on it. This one said 0002. Unfortunately, he didn't have a name tag.
"No longer than an hour, if you cooperate."
You can still hear Anubis's voice through your earpiece.
"Are you with someone? Are you able to talk? Wait, you can't answer that if you can't talk. Okay, cough if you can't talk."
I mentally roll my eyes at Anubis. Obviously I can't fucking talk.
I fake cough, which isn't entire fake because I had been breathing too hard before and my throat started getting irritated. Turning my attention back to the officer, I say, "Are we almost there?"
"Patience." He utters, eyes transfixed for a few moments, as if he confused himself.
As you cough, Anubis sighs heavily.
"Okay. Okay, okay, okay, that's fine. I can work with that. You had one fucking job, but it's fine. Eyewitness thing, that's great. All you have to do is bullshit your way through the questions, and we're good. Don't even give them your real name."
You could hear a muffled voice as Anubis quietly responds to Jean.
"She got caught, she's being taken in for questioning. She's only a witness right now, though."
You heard less muffled cursing from Jean.
I shake my head. "Oh, no I'm patient. I'm merely wondering how far away the station is, that's all. I had other plans, you see," I explain, ignoring Anubis's irritation. If my job was so easy, why didn't you do it yourself, punk?
I hope the cyborg gets the hint, to drive faster or question me faster or something. Should I be preparing for questions? No, it's better if it seems natural. Right? Or will he see through that too?
He remains stoic, barely reacting as he pulls into a building. It wasn't exactly a police station, but it could pass as one.
"Right this way." He utters as he guides you through the building and into a smaller room. He sits you down at the table and takes a seat on the opposite end, his face still unreadable and empty.
"My name is Roger, what is your name?" He begins.
