"Good morning," Kirika smiled brightly as Mireille stumbled stiffly out of her room, her hair a tangled mess and her clothes a wrinkled mess, "Did you not sleep well?" "What gives you that idea?" Mireille grumbled sarcastically, setting to the task of making coffee with the complimentary machine near the mini-bar. A knock at the door caused the pair to look up, tentatively reaching for their nearby side arms. Gun in hand Mireille walked slowly toward the door. Turning the knob she peered into the empty hallway. Looking in either direction she found the passage empty. It wasn't until Kirika came from behind her and picked the letter up from the floor that Mireille even noticed the message set outside the door. "It's addressed to Chloe," Kirika reported, reading the name etched in fine, elegant handwriting across the envelope. "Well, let's see just what kind of letters our 'friend' receives," Mireille smiled menacingly, snatching the envelope from Kirika before the girl could protest. She tore the end off of the envelope, extracting a thin piece of parchment, "Hmm, it's from Althena," Mireille reported, scanning the letter. "Mireille, I don't think you should be looking at her mail," Kirika responded idly, "I doubt you would want her looking at yours." "Come on, Kirika, this is a chance to find out what these people are up to," Mireille urged, turning back to the letter, "but I don't get it, it's like some sort of code," Mireille's brow furrowed, "All it talks about are grapes and trees and stuff. I don't get it. I'll tell you one thing, though; if Althena ever talked to me like she does to Chloe in this letter I'd be thoroughly creeped out." "Is that for me?" Chloe asked icily as she emerged from her room, her hair and clothes nearly as disheveled and unkempt as Mireille's, "I would assume so as the envelope has my name on it. Why did you open it," she snatched the letter from Mireille, skimming it quickly. She folded it and placed it in an unseen pocket of her tight black outfit she usually wore under her cloak, "It would appear that our friends last night were sent by a rather low-ranking member of the Soldats. We're to pay her a 'visit.'" "You got that out of that letter?" Mireille mused. "It was written for me, not for you. Thus, I can understand it, you can't." Mireille scowled, biting her response back, "Whatever. So, we just have to kill some guy?" Chloe seized her cloak, donning it quickly, and began arming herself with a handful of small knives, "You don't have to come if you don't want; Kirika and I can handle this ourselves." "I think I might come along anyway," Mireille glowered coldly. "That's alright, Mireille," Kirika said softly, slipping her shoes on at the door, "You should try and rest if you didn't sleep well," Not to mention I'll be able to spend some time with Chloe. I don't know how but she seems to be the key to my memories. When I went into her room there was that memory . . . I don't remember it so well anymore, but I remember feeling like I'd been there. Perhaps if I spend more time with her . . . perhaps then I'll remember. "Excellent," Chloe beamed her face child-like and glowing, "Let's go," she grabbed Kirika's wrist, half-dragging her friend out of the hotel room and down the hall, leaving a fuming Corsican behind. "I'm sorry Mireille read your letter," Kirika ventured to break the silence as she sat with Chloe in the darkness outside of a ritzy theater, awaiting their prey in the cold night air. "I expected as much from her," Chloe responded idly, "Althena has a way of writing her letters, she speaks in a way that only the person the letter was meant for might understand it," she smiled meekly, "She's very wise." "So, the man in the theater, he's a member of the Soldats?" Kirika inquired, looking toward the flashing marquee. "Yes. His family has ties deep within the Soldats. His parents were upstanding members of the Soldats, but they were killed several months ago. He has taken over for them, but it seems he's more interested in the power he gains than the responsibility he takes up." "Did you kill his parents?" "No," Chloe shook her head softly, her breath emitting a cloud of icy fog as she breathed her answer, "I did not kill them, though this boy's recent attack on us causes me to think he feels I did," Chloe's arm stirred under her cloak, as she looked at something in her hand, "The play let's out in . . . one hour." The pair had left the hotel to find their prey had already left his large mansion of a home. They had gone on to follow him throughout his daily routine of pressuring political figures, visits to upscale strip-clubs, lunching at an elegant restaurant, a couple more strip-clubs, and finally to an opening of a play at one of the more famous theaters where the two assassins now waited in the darkness of the alleyway across the street. Kirika shivered slightly against the cold night air, her skirt and jacket a horrible shelter from the Russian night. Chloe smiled to herself, Excellent, an excuse. She inched up next to the assassin, draping the heavy cloak she wore around her friend, wrapping the Japanese girl up next to her in a warm embrace, "You look cold," she smiled, whispering into Kirika's ear as it was now merely inches from her lips as she held her friend close to her. "What's wrong?" Kirika asked plainly as she hugged her cloak tighter to her body. Switzerland was not exactly warm in mid-February. "I'm c-cold," Chloe shivered, dressed only in the thin outfit she wore when training with Kirika at the manor. She was covered with blood, as she usually was when they had completed their missions. Now as the pair stood in an empty lot on the outskirts of this town, waiting for the car to come pick them up, she shuddered through the cold. "We should just walk back to Bern; the Soldats have a safe house there. It will only take us a couple of hours," Kirika explained logically, "But for some reason you'd prefer to wait in this godforsaken field when it's below freezing. "C-cars," Chloe smiled, quaking madly from the chilly air, "Ah-althena is letting us ride in a c-car." Kirika smiled, knowing that, though about thirteen, Chloe was still like a child when it came to car rides. Being raised in the manor had shorted them many experiences others might take for granted. Chloe hadn't ridden in an automobile more than 5 times in her lifetime and she seemed quite amazed each time she did. Kirika grabbed the younger girl by the wrist, pulling her closer and wrapping her in the long green cloak, "Here, stupid girl. You need to dress warmer," she scolded kindly. "S-some of us don't have c-cloaks," Chloe smiled back, burying her head into the other girl's shoulder. "You can have this one," Kirika volunteered, smirking. "Really?" "No," Kirika laughed menacingly, and then poked the girl in the side, smiling, "You're not good enough, yet. When you're a real assassin you can have it." "Never mind all the people I killed tonight?" Chloe laughed a bit, finally warming up. "Those don't count," Kirika smiled, "I helped. When you can do that without my help, then you can have it." "Really?" In response the older girl merely kissed the top of the red-haired girl's head, holding her tighter against the cold night air as they waited for their ride. "What?" Kirika asked the other girl quietly, bringing Chloe back to the here and now. "Huh?" "You said ‘It looks like the shoe's on the other foot,''" Kirika clarified, "What were you talking about?" "Oh, nothing," Chloe chuckled a bit, shaking her head. Glancing across the street she saw people beginning to emerge from the theater, "Looks like it's time to get moving." They stood in silence, their weapons at the ready as they waited. Their prey emerged from the theater, laughing loudly at some joke or other, toting a rather annoyed-looking call-girl on his arm as he made his way to the curb and into his waiting car. As the sleek black vehicle pulled slowly away from the curb the pair of assassins stepped from their dark alley, making their way quickly down the dark street in pursuit. Luckily the traffic was heavy and keeping pace with the car was simple, though they were on foot. Stealthily they followed the vehicle through the city until they arrived at the man's home once again. Quickly they slipped in the gates behind the car undetected and waited at the perimeter of the estate as the man extracted himself from the vehicle and led his escort into the house. As soon as the driver had driven around the house to the garages the deadly pair of assassins moved toward the house, careful to elude the watchmen. Around the back they found a desolate-looking service entrance. Finding it unlocked they silently moved in, through the house towards the foyer. The man seemed to live alone as they didn't have any opposition moving up the grand staircase and into the living areas. Rays of light framed the closed double doors at the end of a grand hallway and they could hear the soft giggle of the prostitute from behind it. Chloe looked to Kirika. They nodded in sync and Chloe pushed down the door handle, barging in on the man's festivities with his hired girl. Moving quickly Chloe sent a fast blow to the courtesan's midriff, the girl immediately falling to the floor unconscious. The man was rifling frantically in his bureau for his handgun as Kirika slowly raised her pistol, not sure if Chloe needed to speak with him before she shot. As the girl didn't move to help or hinder, merely stared, as if hoping to witness the deed intimately, Kirika squeezed her trigger sending a bullet through the side of the man's skull. "Chloe, we should leave," Kirika urged several moments later as the sound of the perimeter guards reaching the front door reached her ears. Chloe merely continued to stare at the scene in wonder, "Chloe, what's wrong?" The girl shook her head, dismissing her thoughts with the action, and they moved quickly through the hall. From the top of the stairs Kirika made easy work of the guards that squeezed through the front doors and the pair exited the manor quickly, leaving behind them a slew of dead men and a prostitute sure to be quite confused when she woke up.
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