❊ Moving throughout the dark alleyways of large cities was something the master of the lacrimanet found herself doing more and more these days- it was her solace, her white socks becoming wet and stained by dirt as they would splash through the puddles of the rain above. It was around three in the morning when Vesta found herself on a late-night stroll- she was out to get cigarettes from a shady guy across the town that she was staying in for the night, why wouldn't she be? Within her hand would reside a pulsating black and red cube of ultraviolet lights. Her redcube, an extremely advanced form of technology she made in collaboration with a tech-wizard in Talonia's black markets; it was something she could not be separated from, as doing so would sever her connection from the network. Being skilled in the arts of cryptocurrency, stocks, and hacking secure networks to get what she wanted, being money, disconnecting from her source of this revenue would be terrible in every way. It was what she had to do to provide for those she cared about the most. Her nine younger siblings, who all were currently under her care- the thoughts of if they were all safely tucked in bed back home at the mansion gently floated into her mind as she would run through the darkness toward her destination, but would suddenly be halted by coming in contact with a large man in a suit. His shadow cast a veil over his existence as he would look at the teenager that had just run into him, smiling within the depths as he sighted the design that resided upon her oversized sweater.
"Well, look who it is," the girl would look up at the man and sigh as he would offer a hand to help her up from the ground, "that's you, isn't it, Phantasma? It's been quite a while since we've last done business,"
"What's it been, like, five.. six years?", she would softly speak as she would stand tall in front of the man- she was under the impression his name was Coin, the man that's generosity pulled her and the rest of her family out of poverty. His kindness and assistance in that regard always came with a price, however. A man that sparked the interest of dabbling in Fioran cryptocurrency back when it was just starting out, he was definitely someone that could only be trusted when what one was doing was of his benefit. The two had met in the black markets all of those years ago, just as they bumped into each other on this dark night. "I've seen on the global rankings that you've been doing well unless you've happened to come across a deal of that one account- locksafe, was it?"
"Can't believe you've already surpassed me- I knew I shouldn't have given you those stocks in the Aphelion Mining Industries, I was being much too generous there," he would laugh as he would spark up a cigarette, lowering it to her grasp after he would hit his fair share, "But- it's quite the coincidence that we are meeting this way again, as I'm looking for someone to help me with.. a little favor. One that could net you some more crypto, of course."
"I'm not a kid anymore, I can convert jewels into crypto as I see fit, but thank you," she would grip the geometric box of tech in her hands as she would look behind her, seeing the turn she should have made prior to bumping into the shady man. As she would attempt to leave his presence to pick up what she was truly after in the earliest of the morning, he would call out to her for her to wait- the girl would turn around and look at him from a distance, her eyes pulsating a deep red within the darkness. Coin was fully aware of the potential of the girl fluent in the network's folds; he was only aware of one of the three accounts of hers that were in the top six on the list, but of course, he still knew. Back then when she had taken out a legion of those that had owed him money with just a small dagger at the age of eleven, she proved just what she could do on her own.
"I'll give you 100,000," he would call out to her as she would look up from her gaze that was set upon the puddles that lay within the shadows of the alleyway, splashing with each step she would near closer to him in considerance.
"100,000 each," the brunette would say softly as he would smile, knowing that his dirty work would somehow be accomplished within the depths of this night- he believed that the blood on his hands would not leave a stain if he would hire other people to kill his enemies for him, which just so happened to all be sleeping in one of the buildings connected to the passageways.
Reaching out his hand to meet his with the little girl's, they would shake on it- the task had been exchanged from one another by a simple handshake, just as it was five years ago. "There's seven of them in there, all men that should be sleeping in their beds- they are office workers for a man who's owed me money for quite some time now, and I know you may think that spending money on killing people lower on his food chain is dumb, but.. I've got to teach him a lesson on what happens when you wrong those with more power than you,"
"They are all sleeping, you're saying? I don't see why you can't do this on your own, scared of getting a little blood on your hands?" she would throw the redcube up in the air and then catch it precisely, "I'm predicting that my success here will equate to 95%, regardless of whether or not I am sneaky or obviously doing those things."
"You know my thoughts on killing others with my own hands, I explained this to you last time we worked together," the man would lean on the side of the wall as he would speak, taking the cigarette that was within his fingers and putting it in-between his lips, "and there may be cameras on the inside- one of my little gadgets should have disabled them all, but I don't like taking chances myself. But you keep your identity concealed. Anyways, there should be an open entrance on the roof, from what research some of my assistances have done on their practices. One of them likes to leave it open when going in and out for a smoke,"
"I'm really different than how I was way back then, man. I don't believe I'll need that rooftop entrance, fortunately. I'll be back," Vesta would softly speak as she would press one of the buttons upon her redcube, causing a flash of red ultraviolets to creep up her arm. She would walk towards the wall and sink into it- only a small pixelated line of red would appear briefly before traveling through the wall completely, now showing on the other side. Having passed through into one of the target's rooms, where they were sleeping in their bed, she would slyly manifest out from the wall to the side of his bed. Pressing another button on her redcube gently with her thumb, out from one of its sides would produce a transparent blade of ultraviolet red light, pulsating with silent electricity. She would sink it into his neck as he would slowly suffocate in his own blood, unable to make even a remotely loud sound due to the cataclysm that formed in his neck.
And the girl within the oversized pink sweater would do this to the rest of the six targets just as she did the first- sinking back into the walls and traveling through the shadows of their dark corridors, she would pop out by each of their beds as they were sleeping, sinking her electric blade of dark tech magic into each of their necks. It was a bit depressing to watch them all struggle to breathe and make a sound, bleeding out-but the earnings she would get from this exchange would be tremendous. All of the new video games and food that she would be able to play with her little siblings back home, all of the new clothes and accessories she would be able to bring back home.. it is what made doing things like this worth it and her time. "I'm sorry, you guys," Vesta would softly speak as she would near the wall that she arrived from, passing through as if it was a pocket of solidified air- all of her targets were killed in the span of ten minutes, and though the job was complete, the ramifications would not be. A small camera would have captured her slipping back out of the office building.. luckily it would not pick up her face or defining characteristics, but it would pick up her braids and pink sweater. Though nothing would happen now, it wouldn't be long before the camera footage would be recovered. Was this all a part of Coin's plan?
When the girl emerged from the other side of the wall, her eyes would widen as the man would not appear to be anywhere within the alley- he had vanished extremely quickly into the night without a trace. A small ding would manifest in her earpiece connected to her tech- a digital payment of 700,000 jewels would transfer to her "phantasma" account on the blockchain investor leaderboards.
"Well, that wasn't the hardest thing I've ever done," she would close out of the notifications tab of her redcube and pick up her pace back to the other side of the town, the small roly-poly hexbug companion that secretively accompanied her on this night-stroll (and recorded the entire conversation she had with the shady man) crawling out of her sweater pocket to sit upon her shoulder, "now let's go get those ciggies, bugby."
❊ wc: 1,698
❊ freeform i: 500/500
❊ freeform ii: 500/500
❊ freeform iii: 698/500
❊ job info: d rank freeform x3
