Favian Brodley was greeted with people going silent and standing stiffly as he walked towards his office. The atmosphere of the confluence had become one of anxiousness. He had showed up bright and early today and felt the urge to stretch his stiff old limbs. He looked around at the young people near him, smiling, some looked back nervously while some avoided looking at him completely. He heard the buzzing of killers muttering as soon he closed his office door. Favian never understood why people feared him, they were all trained killers and he merely handled clients and assigned missions. There were a few papers laid out on his desk, with a sigh he sat down on his worn out chair. As he read through all the clients death demands, one in particular stressed him a quite a lot.
All of Favians killers were young and he cared greatly about all of them. He knew all of his killers were itching for tough jobs, wanting some fun while murdering. The client demanded deaths in Malten, the big city, where communication, living and finding targets would be very hard. The client asked for one of his most skilled exterminator for this job. One eerie thing he had mentioned was none of the people he had hired for executing the 'testers' were found alive. The client had offered a hefty amount of cash, offering twice more than what they made in five months. He rubbed his eyes wearily, he felt particularly old today, he took great pride in his killers skills but knowing they were offering 200,000 Onia made certain the mission had massive risks. He frustratedly pinched his forehead having an inner conflict with himself, if they accepted the demand and succeeded in, Killers Operation wouldn't have to worry about expenses for a long time and on the other hand not succeeding meant losing one of his bests and not getting the cash as well. He raised his head, running a hand through his trimmed beard, his greed had won.
Favian stood up pushing his chair away, holding the papers he exited his office to find his exterminators with a steely face. He pushed past killers who cowered away upon seeing him. He found the lunatic Barcode first who was sharpening his knives near the toilets. He put his hand on Barcodes shoulder to get his attention and instantly there was a knife on his throat, Favian pushed the knife away annoyedly and Barcode realising who touched him, cackled at him creepily.
"Bossss" he dragged out.
"What'd yaaa remember me for? Did yaa missss me?" He grinned freakily at Favian who in turn looked at him irritatedly.
"Barcode I have a very big death demand at my hands that I think you'd be interested in" Favian told him in a hushed tone. That made Barcode perk up almost instantly. The lunatic looked like he had just been offered his favorite candy.
"Woohoo! Now I can killll" Barcode exclaimed and started doing a freakish dance, cackling in pleasure and suddenly stopped and itched his jaw with his knife. Favian stared at the lunatic, fighting the urge to throw up at the sight of him.
"I said I have very big death demand in my hands not that I'm giving it to you, we'll decide who gets it after I find the Freak" he said indifferently.
"What but whyyyy, chose mee" Barcode whined and shook Favians hand like a child. Favian completely ignored him and went to search for The Freak with Barcode trailing behind him whining miserably. They walked around for a while looking for The Freak casually pretending to ignore the hushed gossiping around them. Favian knew the other killers would get envious when they would find out about the death demand, it was in their nature, they were thirsting to kill. Favian saw The Freak sitting on the grass, her odd purple eyes staring at nothing, she was sitting mad still. Favian and Barcode both quietly made their way out, walking as slowly as possible. As the both of them got near her, she suddenly lifted her head an inch.
"Favian, Barcode" she acknowledged them but otherwise made no efforts to get up.
"Get up freak, we have a death demand and I'm picking you as a killer for the job" Favian informed her getting straight to the point, who in return remained as if she heard nothing and blatantly ignored him. Favian growing impatient and angry and made the mistake of trying to kick her in the back. The Freak scoffed as she caught his foot midway and pushed it away, squeezing it painfully. Favian flinched in pain as he got his foot out of her grip.
"If its another heartbroken fool demanding death for his lover, I'm not doing it" she tonelessly told him, standing up. Suddenly Barcode getting excited at seeing her face, threw his arms around The Freak who simply shoved him away in reply.
"Its not , ts a very big death demand and I would very much appreciate it if we discussed this in my office" Favian gritted out trying not lash out at the witch. The Freak's existence alone made Favian livid but unfortunately for him she was one of the best killers. The Freak nodded her face forward as if ordering him to walk and proceeded to walk in front of him. Favian clenched his jaw and bit his tongue fighting his anger.
Freak's lack of emotions pissed him off to no extent. She didn't care about love, children, older people, people of high authority. She treated everyone as if they were an annoying bug in her life. Hell she would even spit at a king if he'd annoy her! But what made him most furious was her lack respect for Favian himself. He had given her a Job, a place to live and food, yet she treats him like the dirt of shoe. She simply disgusted him. Eventually they made it to his office where the three of them took a seat. Favian sat on his usual worn out chair, Barcode took a seat opposite to him and threw his legs on the desk grinning and The Freak sat in the corner, staring at Favian, her eyes dead not even showing emotions. Favian caught Freak's stare and looked away swallowing down a shiver of fear. He looked at the paper and cleared his throat.
"Mr. Joe Tartal is our client from Malten" he started and Barcodes eyes widened slightly. "Yes the big city" he confirmed. "There is a group of testers, who experiment on creatures and make ghastly living beasts and Mr. Tartal fears that if they continue to make their creations they'll become a threat, he requested them to stop their inventions but they kept ignoring him and continued making the creatures and as per their refusal he sent a bunch of killers after them," he informed them and cleared his throat again "None of them succeeded and never came back after their hunt." He looked at both of them and saw Barcodes eyes widening slightly and Freak's remained passive as ever.
"So which one of you would like to become the exterminator for this death demand" he asked eyeing them suddenly the conflict in Barcodes eyes and decided.
"Nevermind actually, Freak will go on this mission."
"What— but I wanna go tooo" Barcode whined to Favian. Favian threw the file on his desk and looked at The Freak expectingly. She stood up and made her way towards him with a predatory gaze which made Favians inside churn with nervousness. She then simply picked up the file and put her hand on Barcodes boney shoulder and squeezed. Barcode stopped whining and started silently pouting. Barcode eventually stood up and followed The Freak as she walked out, without sparing so much as a glance and Favian.
Favian grumpily stared at their walking figures till they got of sight and then stood up, his old limbs cracking and walked up to close his office door.
