Off With Their Heads | FOUR | 6 Underground

CHAPTER 18: Naming faces

The ghosts watched the girl's retreating back, entering the unfinished building, pausing for a few seconds to check which floor she had to go. Once she was completely out of sight they walked towards the corpse. He was sprawled, his skin slightly muddled from the fall. Most of them, not really shocked at the perfect shot, Seven, on another note was extremely impressed as he turned to One.

" I thought you guys needed a sniper? Why have me, when ya'll already got one?"

~~~

Zero ran up the stairs, just wanting to see Four. Halfway to her journey, her knees wanted to give out, the adrenaline coursing through her veins didn't allow her to collapse, but the sight of his bloody face almost did. She ran faster, her arms looping around him, tears in her eyes freely flowing onto her cheeks. Four, ignored the pain on his ribs as he returned the embrace. She pulled away to look at him, she examined his face that had blood from the assault he endured. Her forehead pressed against his, their breath mixing in between. No words were spoken, and that felt perfect,  it was just them, coming to terms that they were both there and alive.

~~~

Four sat inside the truck, Five hovering over him with antiseptics and bandages. Three, Two and Seven looked on and watched the blonde man winced once in a while. "Aren't you supposed to be with Zero." Four froze slightly from what Two ha said. "What's that supposed to mean." "Shut up Four, we're not blind. You ogle her all the time and now you play dumb." The French woman rolled her green eyes playfully at the man. "By the way, thanks Seven. Your shot saved my life." Four was confused as his gratitude was met with a laugh and a shake of the head from the soldier. "Nah, man. I only cocked the gun at Three fast enough to beat One. He would have left you. But I didn't shoot that clean shot. Although, I wish I had." Seven paused for a moment, reminiscing Zero's perfect shot, shaking his head once again a ghost of a smile gracing his lips. Four looked around between the ghosts, looking very lost. "You owe Zero your life man. Might want to give her a big 'ol kiss for it." 

~~~

The small restaurant was teeming with ghost. Each with their own posts, checking the perimeter once in a while, as they staged Murat's move. A few signals were signed and Four came out with Murat, who they covered up in a disguise. One by one they left to get to the truck. Zero was the last one to get there, only to find One pressed against the inside of the truck by non other than Seven. "This shit doesn't sit right with me man. You made me a promise. You said you'd always let me pull the trigger." 

"Yeah, I did say that."

"Yeah? Do you remember that?" 

" You know why I don't use names? You wanna know. No offense, Four, I'm glad that you're alive but, you left us on the street out there, exposed. If I was the one up there, I would have expected you to leave me and not turn back. The mission is more important than the man."

"Nah, Fuck that. Fuck the mission man. You never leave a soldier behind."

"I got news, for you Seven, You're not a soldier anymore." One looked up pointing to each one of the ghosts, "She's not Spy." Two, "She's not a doctor" Five, "He's not a hit man." Three, "She's not an heiress, about to be married off." Zero "And I'm not a CEO-" "A rich asshole?"

"Oh, I am still a rich asshole. I just don't have a name." 

"You are, what's your name man?" The soldier faced Four who now stood beside Zero, from behind Seven, One shook his head, disapproval evident as the blonde's green eyes darted between them. "Don't tell him."

"I'm Blaine. I may not have been the one to pull the trigger, but I gave Zero the opportunity to even pull out her gun. What's your name man?" 

The blonde man had hesitation clear on his handsome face as One sternly looked at him. Before he could utter his name. His real name Zero beat him to it. "It's Billy." Everyone looked to the the small girl, her frame easily covered by the men. Four looked back at her, widening his eyes. "Lilah..." He whined quietly just enough for all of them to hear. This made all of them smile, the largest being that of the soldier who just got his way.

"You look like a Billy-" "You look like a Four." One cut him off bitterly. The three ghosts then went on to say their names. "Javier." "Camille." "Amelia." Prompting One to sulk even more, his sarcastic comments now buried in his throat. Him being the only one not to say his name. 

~~~

One, Five, Seven and Murat sat inside the car in Turgistan, sweating their asses off as the other ghosts went on to their own missions. The dictator's brother was frantic as sweat dribbled on his chest, his eyes wild scared of the consequences of what had transpired in Hong Kong. "Hey Bodyguard! What's your number? One? Two? Three? Whatever it is. My number is zero. I'm doing jack ass here" He said to the billionaire harshly. "Actually, you got the biggest job here buddy. None of this matters if you don't step up." The soldier tried to console him

"They will catch all of us."

"Can I ask you something? If you had one shot, One opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted, would you capture it or let it slip?"

"Was that Eminem?" Asked Seven from beside the leader. Murat on the other hand who was moved by his statement glared at One. "You gave me goosebumps." 

~~~

At the center of the city, Two and Three were preparing their end of the mission. Adorning the normal clothes of the natives, they walked towards the statues. Giant, obnoxious reminders of who the enemy was. The hitman, begrudgingly knelt down, to pay 'respect' to the people they represented. "I wonder how many people you have to kill to get one of these." They placed the bombs Zero had disguised designed as an offering, to lay there until one of them triggers them. Down with these motherfuckers indeed.

~~~

Back in the car, Murat had finally agreed to listening to One's plan. His monologue intertwined with the intel his ghosts on the field were currently giving him. "Three little words, had helped dictators rule. State. Run. Television. We are gonna be the new heads of programming, thanks to Four and Zero who graciously went ahead to place the inverter. You my friend are gonna be our spokesperson."

"After his national address. He'll have a big party on his yacht" 

"If we're gonna flush Rovach to his yacht, Zero needs to disable security of his palace, which means she says, and I quote "A crippling amount of energy which means an unannounced visit to a state-run power generator" This one is highly defended. no back door, so we walk to the front,  Never underestimate the power of a good suit."