Making Plans Over Coffee

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 1, Post Number 20

-Inside Capital Coffee, Capital Crocus, early afternoon-

Wearing her purple long-sleeved shirt, black skirt with pockets, black thigh-high stockings, and black tennis shoes, Diana sat in Capital Coffee, the coffee shop Lorelei had told her about at Singles Night several weeks ago. Diana was not looking for a meeting with the attractive blonde. Instead she was looking for a calm place to gather her thoughts. Soft lounge music played over the speakers as she sipped from a cup of espresso while sitting in a single white "pod" seat with black cushions facing the window and watching people walk into Capital Crocus Mall, which was only about eight meters away from the entrance to Capital Coffee. Capital Coffee was a coffee shop with a sleek modern theme that attempted to appeal to the young twentysomething and thirtysomething crowd. Judging from how many young adults were in the shop, Capital Coffee was succeeding in attracting their target demographic.

Diana was here to prepare herself for what was to come. Over the months she had come to the conclusion that one day she would leave her double life behind, but before she could do that she would have to take care of all her old enemies first. The Shadow Collective, Mr. Gorman, and that "Raven Squad" would all have to be eliminated before Diana could one day leave the shadows for good.

As far as she knew The Shadow Collective was still in the employ of Mr. Gorman, who lived somewhere in Bellum. The obvious plan to get them off of her back would have been to eliminate their employer, but the huntress could not move against him because he was too well-protected, which would make any attack on his home suicidal. If Diana moved against him in Bellum, took him down, and somehow survived, the authorities would spare no effort to hunt down his killer. Mr. Gorman was also too smart to leave his home for any length of time, so she could not draw him out for an easier kill.

Diana frowned and sipped on her espresso as she listened to the soft lounge music that featured a piano tinkling in the background. She thought back to what her family friend Mr. Necargie had told her about Mr. Gorman's tendency to get angry when things did not go his way. Diana thought about that weakness for a moment and thought about how best to exploit it. Then she had an idea.

If Diana could not target Mr. Gorman directly, she could let his attitude get him into trouble with his hired helpers.

The huntress wanted to get proactive in her shadow war, but when dealing with a target that was too well-protected for a direct attack the best plan of action would be to sit back and keep thwarting his hired helpers. If Mr. Gorman got angry with them enough he would say or do something that would anger The Shadow Collective. If they terminated their contact with him one way or the other Diana would be in the clear. With The Shadow Collective no longer a threat that would leave only "Raven Squad", the mercenary group that Diana had encountered in a "job" around Silent Cemetery that was actually a setup. Out of all of her enemies Raven Squad had come the closest to putting her in the ground.

Diana had not seen or heard from any of them since the night she had met Selene. While it was natural that a group of mercenaries who dabbled in murder for hire would not stay out in the open for very long, she was concerned by the fact that she had not heard from them at all. She had expected them to make another attempt on her life once they realized that their first attempt had failed, but so far they had not tried again. Maybe they were waiting for her to be lulled into complacency before making their move.

The huntress sipped on her coffee and tried to figure out how to deal with Raven Squad. She knew very little about them other than they wore all-black outfits with gas masks and that their leader wore an all-black outfit with a gas mask boasting red lenses. They also had military training and knew how to make the most of the surprise factor from an ambush by using suppressed weapons and working in two twelve-man teams to focus a lot of fire onto one target. Those factors would make Raven Squad by far the toughest of her opponents to deal with.

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[Total Word Count: 760/1,000]

-Capital Coffee, thirty minutes later-

Diana sat in her pod chair sipping another cup of espresso while thinking of the best way to deal with "Raven Squad." She did not know whether that was their organization's name or not, but since each member went by the callsign "Raven" and three numbers, Diana had decided to call them "Raven Squad" until she either learned the group's real name or dealt with them. By "deal with them" she meant either killing them all or finding the funds to buy out their contract so that they would leave her alone.

Both approaches had their benefits and costs.

If Diana killed them all they would obviously be dead and no longer a problem for her. However, killing them would be easier said than done because there were over two dozen of them and only one of her. They also worked as a team and stuck together...  Diana had only killed one of them by the sheer luck of one of them falling behind during the squad's retreat from the Silent Cemetery area. They would have plenty of motivation to make sure that the next time they met the huntress was the last.

If Diana bought out their contract they would leave her alone without her having to fight them and run the risk of being riddled with bullets a second time. However, she would have to raise a lot of money in order to buy out their contract and that would mean taking a lot of jobs. Completing them to get the money would take a lot of time, time that she might not have. Then there was the issue of getting locked in a bidding war she could not win if their client paid to renew the contract plus offered a hefty bonus to kill the huntress after she had already bought her safety. She also did not know how willing to negotiate "Raven Squad" was after she had killed one of their members.

The more Diana thought about paying off the mercenaries the more that approach seemed like a very bad idea.

In addition to the aforementioned bidding war that she could not win, she also had to worry about whether the mercenaries would take her money and then try to kill her anyway. Diana was not sure whether a peaceful negotiation with them was even possible. In a way she had been trapped by her own decisions, but she would have to deal with the consequences if she wanted to leave her double life behind. Diana would find a way to defeat "Raven Squad" whether it was on the battlefield or at the bargaining table. She would just have to be patient and bide her time until she found a solution to that particular problem.

Having made her plans, Diana finished her espresso and calmly walked to the counter to pay for her two cups of coffee. Once that was done the huntress left Capital Coffee to return home and find some work. She had a lot of work to do before she could leave her double life behind.

[Post Word Count: 518]
[Total Word Count: 1,278/1,000]