Vermillion

35

"So..." Ilaria trialed off.

"Huh?" Circe asked.

"You and Raffaele?" she said, munching on her breakfast.

Circe almost spit out her coffee.

"I uh-" she began, but Ilaria cut her off.

"You don't need to explain yourself. I don't care, I just need to know what exactly you see in him" she giggled, always seeing her older brother as an annoying burden. 

"Fuck off" Circe huffed.

"I thought you two hated each other?" she prodded, wanting to get as much information out of her as she could.

"We do" Raffaele said from behind the two girls, entering the office with Fleur and Kaia following a few short seconds later.

Raffaele sat on the chair behind his desk, Mario to the right of him, his sister and the three young assassins sitting in front of him.

"Let's get down to business shall we?" Raffaele began.

:｡･:*:･ﾟ'★,｡･:*:･ﾟ'☆

"Why am I still wearing the mask? They know what I look like now Raff" Circe whined, the same mask she wore on the last mission hugging her face and making her sweaty.

"Because I said so" he replied coldly.

She huffed at his blunt response and slumped in the car seat beside him.

They were parked outside a dock, where their next mission began.

Large cargo ships loaded high with crates were floating on the water, docked for the night, before they were set to leave again the next morning.

In the next few minutes, the security alarm would turn off for just 30 seconds, thanks to Kaia's hacking skills, and the rest of the team, along with some of Raffaele's most trusted men, would breach the large gate blocking the entrance to the dock.

"Okay, get ready" Kaia told them all.

The crew exited the van as quietly as they could, their all black gear blending them in with the darkness of the night, a blanket of stars shining overhead.

Before Fleur left the van, Kaia pulled her back.

"Be safe okay?" she asked her.

"Always, my love" she replied, kissing her softly on the lips, then her cheeks, and lastly on her forehead before leaving the van along with the others.

They waited patiently at the gate, until the vans blinkers lit up twice, and the light on the electronic gate went off.

Fleurs knowledge on chemistry came in handy, as she placed a bag with an unknown substance on the lock, lighting it on fire, watching as the seemingly impenetrable lock melted right before them.

Circe looked back at Ilaria, a puzzled look on her face.

"Thermite" Ilaria whispered and Circe nodded.

They rushed through the open gate as quick as they could, Mario placing some sort of electronic on the lock to trick the security system and make it seem like the lock was untouched.

There were at least twenty different ships lined up along the dock, but the one they were looking for was the very last one.

As they walked along the dock, they hid behind random crates of cargo, lookout shelters, prefabs and large fishing nets full of boxes.

When they reached the end of the dock, onto the wooden decking they used their years of hard training to leap forward, grab hold of the boat ledge, and hoist themselves up, immediately hiding behind crates, keeping themselves out of sight from the guards.

The dock was Russian owned, all of the "security guards" working under the Kuznetsov's, specifically, Michail.

Ilaria snuck up behind the first guard, covering his mouth with her leather glove clad hand and putting him in a headlock.

Each time he struggled, her grip got tighter and the less he could breathe. She pulled a knife out of her thigh holster, quickly puncturing each of his lungs with the blade, and gagging him so he couldn't make any noise.

As soon as he was gagged, she dragged him behind a crate, out of sight from any passerby's.

She continued this process with every guard she came across, either killing them immediately, or leaving them to painfully bleed out silently.

As she was doing this, Raffaele's men broke open crate upon crate, tossing millions worth of drugs into the salty water surrounding them, marking it valueless.

Ilaria had argued with Raffaele, thinking they could steal it as their own and make a profit, but Raffaele didn't want to be involved with their "shitty" drugs. It was low quality and would tarnish the family name.

So they continued this. Killing guards one by one, and opening crates one by one. Pouring pounds upon pounds of cocaine, meth and heroin into the sea, Russian money wasted and months worth of supplies gone.

"Why do you still wear that stupid mask? Hmm?" a thick Russian accent sounded from behind Raffaele and Circe.

Circe turned around, greeted with the viscous stare of the woman who she thought burned along with the base in Latvia.

"Katarina" Raffaele greeted menacingly, as Circe drew her Katana for the first time that night.

"Back on first name basis now are we?" She questioned teasingly, circling the pair, placing a cold hand on Raffaele's shoulder, smirking when she felt him tense up.

She still had that affect on him.

Circe noticed this, and tried not to let it get to her. She wouldn't allow it. Not during a mission. But her heart faltered a little at the sight of it.

"Still alive and breathing I see" Circe spat, annoyed at herself for not slitting her throat when she had the chance.

"Yes my dear, much to your dismay I can imagine" she grinned, knowing her survival had gotten to Circe, because nobody had made it away alive and well from her.

"You failed" she taunted.

Circe's face heated up, and for the first time that night, she was glad she had a heavy mask on her face.

Although her demeanour had not changed, Katarina could tell Circe was frustrated, she could sense it.

"I guess you could say I'm the one who got away huh?" she teased some more, making Circe's blood boil and the grip on her blade tighten.

"Are we going to stand around and chit chat all night or are you going to man up and actually fight me?" Circe asked "I'd hate to waste an opportunity to slit that pretty throat of yours"

Katarina giggled, a sadistic grin spreading across her face as the thought of a good fight made a rush of adrenaline course through her body.

Circe had left her battered wounded and bruised only a few months prior, and she had only narrowly escaped.

She wanted revenge.

And as far as she could see, she would have it.