Memories Change
Chapter 1
Notes
The sun shone bright amidst the open sky, unrestricted by clouds, its rays beat down on the unlucky souls forced to toil in their day to day. With the intensity of the heat reaching levels where even the birds hesitated to leave their nests, Naomi found herself unable to shake away the general feeling of discomfort..
“This is tedious,” She said through a sigh before the curved rim of the glass in her hands rested against her bottom lip. The brunette took a pause to drink the contents before she let out another sigh and placed down the glass.
Her fingers drummed against the outdoor table’s rugged surface, half of which was obstructed by shade from the umbrella perched above it. Though, the amount of cover it provided from the heat was negligible enough that it might as well not be present.
“Say’s the one chilling out on the street. You know this place is packed to the brim, at least you have space out there to breathe.” A feminine voice rambled back into her earpiece.
“Chilling? Oh please, Nat.” Despite herself, a chuckle managed to slip out before Naomi could stop it. The confidence to say such a word considering the state of things outside was amusing, to say the least. “I’m not sure that is the best word to use in this instance. And, it’s rather ironic, coming from the gal in the air-conditioned establishment.”
There was a pause on the opposing end of her earpiece; whether from hesitance in finding a reliable retort or a generally more pressing reason was irrelevant.
“Mmm...” Natalia responded with a distracting hum before adding. “I’d prefer to be in the open hell hole than a chilly cramped fest.”
“Pft,” Naomi chuckled through another sip of her glass, “That’s where we differ,”
“Stop complaining. Just undo a few buttons, sit back; it’s not like you’re doing the hard work here. The target definitely isn’t leaving; he is having the time of his life in here.”
“Undo a few buttons?” Naomi glanced down at her blouse and shook her head, “And here I thought we were supposed to avoid drawing attention to ourselves.”
“Chest out or not...” Natalia paused for a moment before responding, “..people are going to be looking at you. Sorry, it’s attractive people’s problems. Oh, the sorrow.”
Rolling her eyes, Naomi changed the focus of their conversation. Seeing that the mere discussion of her situation (specifically the heat of the matter) didn’t quite help in alleviating the source of her discomfort.
“How’s the target doing?”
On the other side of the earpiece, Natalia could be seen inside the castigated establishment, where she was stationed behind a pillar circling the collection of booths lined out in the center of the restaurant. Her attire, that of a fancy black suit jacket over a white top, left her blending in rather well with the rest of the restaurant’s staff.
“He’s...” She raised an eyebrow while looking past the pillar towards the centermost booth, “Well, he’s certainly doing... something. Enjoying himself, I’d say.”
Their particular target was surrounded by waiters and a flock of three very attractive women, two of which had their blouses undone, while the third was performing a sluggish strip dance on the table.
“Good, good,” Naomi waved down one of the waiters patrolling the outside of the restaurant. “It’s always a shame when the target’s last memories are negative and bland.... you know?” She gave the waiter a smile and motioned to the menu on her table, “The pennette al pesto looks wonderful; if I may, could it come with extra cheese? Oh, and I am not the biggest fan of garlic, I’m sure it needs some, but I’d prefer just a light sprinkle. Is that okay?”
Hearing that through her ear piece Natalia just scoffed, she blew aside an annoying strand of dark hair right before presenting a practiced smile to a well-dressed gentleman who approached her to retrieve one of the filled wine glasses from her tray.
“You really have to order that with the com on?” She muttered behind her smile as the man took his leave.
“Hm? Oh, that was on? Well,” Naomi leaned back in her chair as the waiter departed from her table. “You said it yourself. The target doesn’t look like he’ll be moving anytime soon.”
“Yeah,” Natalia admitted, glancing back towards their target.
The man in question is a rather rich-looking and overly cocky fellow. Sitting in the centermost booth, elevated above the rest, he acted as if he practically owned the place. Though granted, after presenting as much power and influence by virtue of his endless pockets and deep roots in the criminal underworld, he might as well act the part of a crime lord who owns every establishment he enters.
“I was right about that; he is having the time of his life. But I don’t think this is one of those situations where I’d feel bad for taking a target out on one of their bad days.”
“Eh,” Naomi retorted, “I say all scumbags are created equal.”
“Ha!” Was the unintentionally loud response Natalia made before she promptly lowered her pitch, “I’ll agree to disagree on this one. He’s a certified asshole, through and through. Did you check his file?”
Naomi didn’t register the question, as she was currently distracted fixing her hair through the reflection of her knife. “Sorry?” She said after a moment of silence, before the question clicked, “Oh, oh... yeah, no. C’mon Nat, you know I don’t read those. It’s not that complicated, we get assigned to kill someone, we typically wait until the contract’s expiration date; we kill them. The who, what, and why don’t really matter.
“Okay, no. Don’t rope me into this. You’re an assassin; lazy, carless, oh, the list goes on. There’s no sense of formality with you since any witness just gets added to the hitlist.” Out of the corner of her eye, Natalia noticed her target slam down his drink for the 2nd time. Licking her lips subconsciously, she slipped a hand into her breast pocket and retrieved a minuscule pod which crumbled between two white-gloved fingers that shifted against each other as she sprinkled it into the only glass on her tray holding a significantly larger amount of wine than the rest. “Bounty hunters, on the other hand, keep everything nice and simple...”
After smashing his drink on the floor and having a rather hearty laugh at the waiter who moved down to clean after his mess, Natalia began to sway her hips sensually as she approached the man who was now standing up. He noticed her rather promptly and grinned, “Eyy you!” his grin turned into that of a sneer, “Come here! What’s a cutie like you doing carrying that? I thought I told your manager to have all the sexy asses on me.” His careless attitude held a hint of a threat behind it as the manager standing off to the side noticeably gulped. He opened his mouth, but the target shoved him off and licked his lips as Natalia approached.
“What are you implying with that little jab?” Naomi said through the earpiece.
“Nothing much,” Natalia spoke nonchalantly; she ignored the man’s cocky grin and responded through a seductive smile that hid her words. “Just that, you assassinate. I, hunt the bounty.”
“W-What? What does that even mean? You’re stupid, that’s stupid.”
Continuing to ignore the voice in her ear, Natalia closed the distance between her and the target. “I see your supply is running low,” She made a show of biting her lower lip.
“Perceptive! I like that,” The man licked his own lips in anticipation.
He snapped his fingers, and one of the three women, whose blouses have been harmoniously ripped off by now, stepped forward to take the tray from her hand and place it in front of him. Naturally, he took the glass with the largest portion of wine and raised it up towards his mouth. Though, before taking a sip, he said with a point, “Why don’t you take a seat up here. I’ve met a lot of women in my work. And, when I find someone of... interest that I am unaware of, I like to, well... no one wants to be unknowledgeable, sheerly, you agree?”
Natalia’s left eye twitched. “Who am I to reject an offer from a.. powerful man such as yourself. I could spare a few drinks myself.”
Through her earpiece, Naomi continued to rattle on, clearly upset by what was said earlier. “You know. I can be clean and effective, far more than you. Assassins are literally known for being stealthy! Just because I’m more relaxed means I’m lazy? Like... shit...” her voice trailed off and the fire being built in her shifted to a more level tune when she noticed something in the reflection of her knife that she had been idly playing with.
What appeared like nothing more than a blob through the reflection triggered an instinctive reaction. In one clean motion she performed a backwards throw with her non-dominant arm, the butter knife flew backwards in a near-perfectly straight arc where it lodged itself in the barrel of a concealed gun that had just been pulled behind her.
The sudden nature of her throw prompted the unknown shooter to stagger his hand back, prompting the gun to fire directly into the air instead of the intended target.
Before the shooter could so much as gasp, he was swiftly found gurgling on something unpleasant as with a jump from her chair and a simple spin into a standing position, Naomi had thrown a fire directly into his neck.
Out of the restaurant’s front double doors, four more suit-clad men exited, all of which wearing shades to match their classy style. Though, more notably, they all were branding weapons similarly to the man who was currently a giggling mess on the floor.
“I take back what I said,” with a heave, Naomi grunted while flipping the table onto its side, where she proceeded to duck behind it as gunshots rang into the air. “Just a few more people than intended might die today...”
With it being the middle of daylight, the delusional veil of concealment was long gone. The men fired their guns without a care for silencers or being caught. Men, women, children, and their dogs were sent into a frenzy; no one knew what exactly was going on, only that they wanted to be anywhere but here.
Back inside, Natalia just rolled her eyes as the man bolted up, “What is going on out there!”
“Sir,” One of his attendants, dressed just as professionally as everyone else in this joint, promptly came up. He whispered into the man’s ear.
“Damnit.” The man cussed,
“You’re telling me,” Natalia said; she hadn’t so much as sat down at this jackasses table before the shit hit the fan. She stood up and began to remove one of her white gloves.
“We better get through this quick before one of those super-powered fuckers checks in on the ruckus,” Naomi said through the sound of gunshots while pulling out a hand’s worth of needles from her shoes.
“Agreed,” Before anyone in her immediate vicinity could so much as aim their guns in her direction, Natalia dropped her glove onto the floor.. The sound of beeping drew attention towards the fallen object. “But don’t you ever say you keep things quiet.”
The man darted his eyes towards the glove, saying, “What the fuck are—”
BAMMMMMFFFF
In an instant, nearly the entire room exploded into a hazy gas of gray smoke. Cussing and coughs could be heard through the loud hiss emanating from the glove, but before long, bodies began to collapse one by one, while those far enough to avoid the gas were unable to see through the thick cloud.. Some resorted to blindly shooting inside. But, for the ones that were caught in the midst of the smoke, their fallen bodies collapsed against the floor hard enough to make even the most rigid souls flinch.
Natalia stood unaffected by the gas as she had applied a filter to her face, though she promptly dropped to her knees as the sporadic and entirely random gunshots proved to be bothersome as any one of those random shots could theoretically land their mark. Despite none of the shooters even realizing what their “marks” even were.
Without missing a beat, she blinked three times consecutively, causing her contacts to shift into infrared vision. She then ignored the unconscious bodies of everyone save for the target and took hold of him by the shoulders to pull him down and out of the building. The few that stood between her and the rear exit were promptly dealt with by virtue of a few tranquilizing darts.
After no more than a minute, the rear door of the restaurant was kicked open, where Natalia proceeded to drag the target out into a cluttered and rather grungy alleyway.
“Alright,” She grunted and let out an annoyed exhale of breath to no one in particular. Standing up, she cracked any aches out of her back with a stretch. “God, I swear this is making me age faster. Fuck, it’s not making me younger, that’s for sure. I was like twenty-eight yesterday, I think. Shit.”
While talking to herself, she clapped her hands together and received a silenced pistol from inside her suit jacket. “Sorry, not sorry,” she said after tossing the gun into the air and flicking off the safety. “Asshole.”
I quet gunshot echoed through the alleyway. Seeing that there was already a mess too loud to sweep under the rug, she felt no reason to attempt to hide the evidence of her handiwork and simply left the gun on the target’s body.
“Well we can check that off, no one else even needed to die,” She said into her earpiece.
“Holy shit!” Naomi came jogging into the alleyway. Her casual blouse was dosed in sweat and had a few red droplets splattered about. “So many people had to die! That guy has a lot of lackeys. Sorry, I turned off my coms and..” she looked down and blinked, “Oh, you god him.”
Natalia sighed. “Yep. I killed him and only him.” her lips clapped together. “What about you?”
Naomi walked closed and placed her hands on her hips, “No, I killed like... twenty people, did you not hear what I said?”
“Mmmm...” Was all Natalia said in response, with her attention now on the tablet she had retrieved from her jacket. She tapped on the screen silently for a few moments. The general air of silence led Naomi to wander her gaze back onto the target’s collapsed figure on the damp alleyway floor.
“Nice shot. Clean through the head,” Her lips pursed together, and she found herself nodding. “I’d have gone for the neck but, meh... minimum splatter.”
After a second or two of idly tapping on the tablet’s screen, Natalia glanced up, her brow cocked. “Was that sarcasm?”
“No,” Naomi gave a pointed look, “It was a compliment. Learn to accept them.”
“Right,” Natalia hummed. “Well, I just claimed the hit,” She tucked the tablet back neatly into the inside of her jacket before walking over and kneeling beside the man’s body. With a flick of her right wrist, she retrieved a rod-like device that snapped open, revealing a digital scanner.
“Hold on,” Naomi’s arms crossed as she eyed Natalia scan the target’s body at a gradual rate from head to toe. “When did we agree that you’d be the one to claim the hit.”
“When you chose to raise your voice and draw in unneeded attention to what could have been a quiet bounty.” Upon reaching the man’s toes, Natalia flicked her wrist again and retracted the device back into her sleeve. “Meaning the detection fee is going to be deducted since this was assigned as a covert operation.”
Naomi was quick to snap back. “Your tone implies that it was intentional. Besides, have you cared to consider that the commotion on my back might’ve helped to keep any eyes off yours?”
“Eh,” Natalia patted down her suit and fixed her cufflinks, “Maybe. We’ll split it down the middle, but I already claimed it, so...” her words lingered as she began to depart from the scene, giving Naomi a wink on her way out.
“So,” The other woman continued the sentence while following after, “You’re buying lunch? I never did get a taste of that pesto.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever.”
A dry, muffled sucking sound continued on for far too long from the straw between Natalia’s lips. The plastic cup she was drinking from was clearly empty, though her attention was rather preoccupied with the tablet screen in front of her.
“You know, I expected something better than this,” Naomi flicked the empty plastic burger container. She watched it bounce off the side of the trash bin and drop inside it with a look of boredom. “It’s not like we were just at a five-star restaurant or anything.”
Natalia stopped sipping the air out of her drink for a moment. “It was four stars at best. Did you see that alleyway?”
“Still better than Bumble’s Burgers,”
“Hey!” Natalia promptly snapped, “Don’t sleep on Bumbles. Cheap, convenient, tasty, Bumble’s is great.” She then returned the straw to her lips to resume drinking nothing.
The sound was rather annoying enough that Naomi could only bear to hear it for a couple of seconds before her eye began to twitch. “Christ! Do you need a refill?”
A few taps later, Natalia responded, “Sure,” She held out her cup. “Want to get it for me?
“I don’t see what gives you the right to be so lazy,” Naomi leaned back in her chair with both arms crossed below her sizable chest. “Just because you scored the kill? Please. You can refill your own damn cup.”
Natalia glanced up, “I’m transferring the funds. Unless you want to sit through the decryption process for the file you didn’t even read.”
“You know,” Naomi sprang to her feet, “I don’t see an issue getting you a refill; feel free to take your time.” With a cute smile, she took the other woman’s plastic cup and swayed her hips off towards the drink fountain.
Not so much as looking up, Natalia found herself smirking by the time Naomi returned with a filled cup. Reaching her hand out, she took the cup with an added “Thank you,” then, after taking a sip, she sighed and placed the drink down to admit, “But I decrypted and transferred the funds back in the alleyway. You should see it in your account.”
It took a moment or two for Naomi to make note of the words she had just heard. Though, when they did piece together, she did appear notably disgruntled. “Are you fu—”
“Mmmm—” Natalia muffled an intrigued hum through her drink and raised an eyebrow at her tablet. “Looks like the news showed up before any supers. Awfully slow response time from them, tsk..tks...”
“Hm?” Naomi’s curiosity instantly overshadowed any annoyance she previously had as she shifted her attention to over Natalia’s shoulder. “Oh, shit. What was that? Five minutes? I could’ve gotten my meal before leaving if I knew they were going to be taking that long.”
The raven-haired bounty hunter made a sly chuckle, “Pft, maybe you could still make it back in time. You’d just have to deal with some cops; there aren’t any “heroes” there just yet.”
Naomi considered the option, “Hmm... you think?”
THUMMMP
“Oops, nevermind,”
The two women looked back to the screen, right in time to see the camera feed shake as a skinsuit-clad feminine figure dropped onto the sidewalk, where she left a noticeable crack on the poor ground.
“God damnit!” Naomi cussed and clenched the back of Natally’s chair with an intense level of force, “Fuck Goldstar, superheroine-champion-of-justice-starblood, my ass!”
“Well, shit,” Natalia chuckled, “Why do you hate her so much? Fuck the supers, sure, but I dislike them all equally.”
“Yeah, fuck them.” Noami agreed, “But double fuck Goldstar, specifically. Actually, she’s the leader, so triple fuck her!”
“Okay, now you’re not even making sense. If you hate her so much, just go back to the restaurant and assassinate her. Isn’t that what you do?” Natalia questioned with a smirk, “Ms. Assassin?”
Naomi stared back at the other woman flatly, “I can tell you’re being sarcastic, but I just might.”
“Good luck,” Was all Natalia responded with before continuing to drink from her cup. “But, I have rules on who I do and don’t kill. First, they have to have a bounty, god knows I’m not doing this for free. And they can’t be kids, or supers, or related to supers in any way. I am not about to have someone who can lift up a tank, upset because I took out their best mate.”
“Yeah?” Naomi rolled her eyes, “I have rules,” She pushed herself away from the chair and began to move back towards the opposing side of the table. “Don’t be an idiot, and... actually, just that.”
“Vague,” Natalia said absently; her eyes continued to gaze down at the muted video feed. “Does assassinating one of the most powerful and popular gifted people in the city count as being an idiot? And for what reason? Because you don’t like her?”
“I don’t know. That sounds like a good enough reason to me.” The brunette seated herself on the edge of the table.
“Sure it does,” Natalia snapped up to a standing position, though despite her words, her voice lined with a bemused level of sarcasm, “Good luck with... all that. We got the funds; I say our partnership ends here.” Her eyes flicked down to the tablet, where the heroine was still on the screen. She scowled slightly and clicked the device off. “Shit. I will admit, they are definitely annoying, but not annoying enough to fuck up my life over.”
Naomi watched the other woman retrieve her garbage and toss it into the trash, “Well, you know I was joking. I’m not dumb enough to deal with Goldstar.”
“You were? Pfff, well, it wasn’t funny. But okay.”
“No,” Naomi crossed her arms, “I saw your smirk. You did find the idea amusing, at least.”
Natalia smirked, “Maybe a bit. Mostly because I’m pretty sure she’s bulletproof. Your little daggers would bounce right off. You’d literally be a bug to her. Hahaha, like, there would be no competition. If she got annoyed enough, she’d just grab you by the neck and fly straight into space. Or maybe just flick her finger in your general direction, I mean, that might do the trick. Oh, who am I kidding? Might do the trick? You would—”
“Okay, I think we hung out long enough.” Naomi stood off the table and turned to leave, only waving in a backhanded manner. “Till next time.”
“Hmm,” The raven-haired woman casually strode towards the trash bin while emptying the remaining bit of her drink. “I’m not one to share my bounties often. This was a unique case, but next time, unless it’s someone noteworthy, I think I’ll go alone.”
The two women began to head their separate ways. Their job had been completed leaving not much air for any social interactions. The partnership they held stood as more of an acquaintance level than anything else. If the bounty posed to be something that wasn’t the most doable on their own, they could agree to work with another hunter. By happenstance, that led them to cross paths more than a few times. Enough to reach the level of acquaintance that they were currently in.
Though, before they could go anywhere, the phones of both women buzzed near simultaneously. Out of pure instinct, they retrieved their respective devices, only to see a simple sentence.
“I have a job for you. 1,000. Status: Urgent.”
Now, jobs come and go at nausea. Usually, it isn’t something that can be jumped on at the moment. There is always some level of planning for the operation that must be done beforehand. Even for Naomi, an assassin who usually enjoys the thrill of winging it in the moment, must spend some time preparing for the hit. That is if the target is even in a reasonable range to accept the job in the first place.
Flying across the world to take out a random bloke who pissed off a snobby rich guy by stepping on his shoe wouldn’t be feasibly worth the investment. Unless the rich guy in that scenario was a bit richer than the average wealthy individual. In this situation, though, things were different. See, the price was relatively low. One grand was far too negligible of an amount to be worth dropping anything over. Especially considering how it was labeled as an urgent hunt.
But upon opening the text to view the extra information listed on the targets file. Both women noticed the key detail of the target’s particular location. The target was last seen in Goldcrest city, specifically in the Uptown, Eastbridge area. And, it just so happened to be the very same street both women were currently standing.
A bounty that was no more than a skip away?
Now, that just sounded like easy money.
Natalia and Naomi both glanced up from their phones in near unison. Their eyes met and displayed a bland air of silence that only lasted a second or two.
“I call dibs,” Naomi said before dashing into the nearby alleyway.
“Oh come on,” Natalia clapped her hands against her hips, “You and I both know you can’t claim a hit. Be responsible. You didn’t even read the file.”
She walked into the alleyway after the brunette only to see her scaling the walls with jumps and flips from wall to wall. The assassin stopped with a thunk of her dagger digger into the brick wall so she could peer down at Natalia, “If I didn’t read the file, how’d I know where the target is?”
“I notice you skipped mentioning the guy’s gender because you skipped right to the end where the location was listed.”
“Boy, girl, they, them. Whatever it is, it’s going to die.” Naomi winked and continued to scale the wall before leaping over the edge and out of Natalia’s line of sight.
“Whatever,” Natalia rolled her eyes while reaching into her suit jacket with one hand. She pulled out a silver and white grappling gun and aimed upwards while scanning over the target’s file.
Darren Waltz, twenty-two, moved into the state a few days ago. There was no mention as to why he had a bounty on his head. It’s a shame, too, since he appeared to have a modest life ahead of him. Pretty attractive and twenty-two was young, all things considered.
But, a bounty is a bounty. She doesn’t know him personally and has no reason to do anything more than shoot first and ask questions, never. Luckily he didn’t seem relevant in any way. There was also no mention of him being gifted with abilities that certainly made things easier. And, he was over her child age limit, meaning there was no reason to avoid this hit. It’s a shame that Naomi got a head start, but learning to catch up is all a part of the job.
Besides, Naomi only knew where he was in a vague sense. There were no specifics; it’s not like he had a tracker or anything. All they knew was that he had to be here, somewhere...
With a pull of the trigger, she shot a grapple line up towards the edge of the roof and zipped upwards. Upon reaching the top, she performed a curt roll and stood up. After spending time just peering down at the street below, she clapped her hands together and glanced around.
“Hmmmm,” Natalia bit her lower lip and sighed. It was the middle of the day so her plan to scope out the area wasn’t the most optimal, especially with how generally close to the ground this building was. She turned around and spied a water tower raised fairly high over an apartment complex.
Aiming her grapple gun again, she shot a line and pulled herself towards it. With a faint grunt, the dark-haired woman climbed up and took a kneeling position. She slid back her arm sleeve and scanned her thumb against the screen of her watch before promptly typing in her quadrants.
To bide the time, she found herself beginning to whistle while she pulled out the thin-framed glasses she kept in her breast pocket. She flicked it open and adjusted it over her eyes, tapping the side of the frame revealed a digital hud, which she then used to scan the streets below.
“Pull case ID file, 331, Darren Waltz.” There was a pause and a conformation chime, “Thank you,” Natalia said when the image of the target appeared in the corner of her vision.
The glasses began to focus a scanning reticle over the faces of each person walking below. Each time there was a brief jingle to register a false match to her. As if she couldn’t see for herself.
“No, no, no, no...” She hummed. Using the onhand face-scanning software through the use of her assistant AI was lazy. But, it was also ineffective in the form of swift searches. It had to spend a few seconds inspecting each and every face. Even if she could visually see for herself that a face clearly didn’t match. It really depended on the situation. For bounties where she had all the time in the world, she’d sit back and spend the day scanning while eating a freshly delivered box of pizza. Though, when it came time to rush, she’d fare much better going old fashioned and using her eyes.
This would be one of those situations since Naomi was also on the hunt for the same individual.
But, in a few moments, she’d be able to get some extra fire power...
THUMP
“There we go,” With a smile, Natalia glanced to her left where a large metallic pod crashed into the water tower directly beside her. The tower itself dented a bit, but a little duck tape would fix it right up. Besides, she also didn’t care. Instead, she was much more focused on the pod in question. After tapping the side, a digital scanning pad pivoted outwards, and she placed her hand on it. A beam of light slid across the screen, and a second later, there was a mechanical hiss of air that was followed by the mechanical pod opening up to reveal some extra firepower. “Yeah,” She licked her lips, “This’ll help.”
She soon found herself laying on her stomach with a rifle scope, connected to the same AI as her glasses, pressed to her eye. Because the AI scanned too sluggishly for her tastes, she flicked it off and decided to eyeball it herself; something that proved effective in cutting time as she was able to shift through the crowd much more efficiently.
“Where are you, Darren...” She whispered to herself. The scope lingered dangerously over the heads of the unsuspecting people living their lives down below. What she found mildly interesting was that the guy in the question seemed vaguely familiar. However, it wasn’t the face. Perhaps it was the name that triggered some sense of familiarity. But, in her line of work, she has met and ended plenty of people. Eventually, the specifics of faces and names blend together. “Darren, Darren, Darren, Darren, Darr...” In an instant she leaned back from the scope and blinked, “Oh shit.” She moved back in and smirked. “Gatcha...”
Right near the street corner, leaning against the edge of a liquor store leading into an alleyway, stood a young man who matched the reference image to a T. It was a shame to see him in person as he did look reasonably young. Hell, young enough to be her little brother.
Alas. He wasn’t related to her, so there’s no reason not to take him out. “This... isn’t personal...” Natalia said breathily as her finger began to pull on the trigger.
But, before anything could happen, a miniature silver pellet landed directly into the chamber of her rifle.
“Sh—” Was all she managed to get out before the pellet exploded into a huge cloud of smoke. “Ahhckkk~ Sss....son of aassshhhitt!” Through the cloud of smoke and the coughing fit she was forced into, she ran towards the edge and jumped off the tower. Though before leaping off, she swiped four disk-like pads from the supply drop. While in a state of free fall, she attached two of the disks to the souls of each of her shoes. Then, after flicking her feet, the disks activated mini thruster thrusters to slow her descent.
“Alright, Naomi, that was dirty,” She tapped her earpiece and said with a huff as she floated downwards. But there was no response, assumedly because the other woman had deactivated hers.
Natalia’s hands rested on her hips, and she landed back onto the building she had grappled to initially. She had to hand it to the assassin; why go through the effort of finding a needle in a haystack when one could let someone else do the work before swooping in to take the credit.
One grand wasn’t worth fighting a bounty over in the middle of a city with superheroes in the day. Naomi could have this one.
But no one could say she had no sense of curiosity. She walked over to a position that looked straight on into the alleyway in question and raised her scope.
And what she saw surprised her, to say the least.
And what she saw surprised her, to say the least. So much so, that Natalia had to do a double-take and look back into the scope. “What the hell?”
The target had been moved farther into the alleyway, presumably by Naomi, as to have a more discreet place to take him out. That was par for the course, but that’s where the air of normalcy had ended. Because now Natalia saw Naomi on her knees, wearing an undersized one-piece corset with bunny ears and fishnet leggings, sucking off the guy who she had just intended to kill.
Yes, that was something to rub one’s eyes over just to make sure it was really happening.
“Okay, fuck this.” She shook her head and adjusted the scope over the target’s face. Her motions stayed gentle as the red reticle lined up with his head and...
Her cheek dropped against the ground, the sound of clapping echoed as if it were bouncing between two closed-in walls. Almost instantly, her eyes widened as the titillation, and sudden force of penetration was felt with each clap; it didn’t take any more time for her to realize what was happening. “What th—” She began to say, but the next second, her mouth was stuffed with something damp and musky. “Mmhmmhghhhgggg~”
Any attempt she made to stand, kick, or struggle in any meaningful manner was left pointless as her hands and knees were seemingly bound like an unruly animal. She managed to spit out the fabric that had been stuffed up her mouth, only to recognize the look of her black pantie, “Wh-mmMMMmnn!” Just after she managed to spit it out, it seemed to teleport back into her mouth, though this time, a gag strapped around her face kept it in.
The sounds of clapping and thrusting of her ass from behind grew to an increased level when a hand began to literally abuse her backside. Just then, the weight holding her head down lifted and shifted down to her lower back. She managed to turn her face to the side, just enough to sneak a glimpse of what the hell was going on.
Noami stood in what could feasibly be described as straight dominatrix fetish gear; fishnet lined any of her mostly exposed skin that wasn’t covered with latex, and she held a long thin crop stick which soon came down in full swing onto her ass. Despite herself and everything going on, the force prompted an entirely unintended moan to slip out into the muffle stuffed into her mouth, and-
“Ahhhmmm...oh,” Natalia was sent into a fit of blinking. Her eyes flicked around her and she shook her head. “Sorry,” She glanced back to her son, “I’m not sure where that came from.”
“I-It’s alright,” Her son responded with a half choke; he appeared somewhat nervous. Though, for what, she couldn’t place her finger on.
“What’s with the look?” She smirked and took hold of the knife she had been using to cut vegetables. Without needing to look at the kitchen utensil, she flipped it up into the air, prompting it to spin, and then caught the handle and slammed it down onto the cutting board. “You think I’m going to bite or something?” With a wink, she went back to cutting. But the weight of his gaze on her back came off as unsettling. Like he was nervous around her or something along those lines. “Hey honey, are you alright?” Turning her head around, she noticed his eyes promptly switch from her back down to the ring on his finger. Now that was interesting; he didn’t have that before. The top held a distinctly reflective green charm. “What is th—”
Natalia yawned after sliding her feet off the broken spring bed. Tired thoughts swam through her mind, all of which told her to turn around and drop right back into bed. Late nights and early mornings would do that to someone.. But, she wasn’t left with much choice seeing that rent was due any day now, and those bounties won’t hunt themselves. Maybe one of these days she’ll claim a major hit and score it big enough to get out of this joint. Or, perhaps, the stingy apartment life will become her bread and butter. Whatever that means. Damnit, she’s just hungry.
To prove that point, her stomach suddenly growled. “Yeah yeah, I know,” She said with a pat on her stomach. Oddly enough, for some reason a part of her felt like she had just been preparing food. Hence her apparent hunger. Whatever. To iron out those annoying morning cramps, she dropped to the floor and began to run through her morning stretches.
“Ohhkay,” Natalia let out a sigh and sprang to her feet. She cracked her neck to the left and right while walking the two to three steps from the living room into her kitchen. Yes, it wasn’t the biggest living space around. In her way of saying “fuck you” to that good ol’ morning breath, she retrieved her toothbrush and toothpaste and squeezed out more than enough over the tip. As wordlessly as one typically is when doing this, scrubbed at her teeth and then-
Her cheeks suddenly filled with a gross flavor, and she had the gut reaction to lean forward and spit into the sink. What came out was a miniature waterfall of spit and white sticky liquid spilled out and splattered into the sink, on the counter, and trickled down her chin and onto her bra-clad breasts.
“W-What the fuck!” She staggered back and glared around, “That’s not-not what I think it is...” her breasts heaved and fell at an intense rate. An accidental gulp caused her to swallow down some of the lingering seed, and she promptly gaged. Her hand reached out towards a toilet paper roll to get something to wipe herself down, but the next second, the paper was gone; she brought her hand back to see it drenched in the same sticky substance as before. “Holy shit, holy shit, holy—”
“—shit, h..” The next thing she knew, she just appeared out in the middle of the street, without so much as even blinking. She didn’t need to look down at herself to realize she was as the day she was born. The hot sun drilled down onto her exposed skin without restraint, all she could do was scream the moment heads turned in her direction and-
Natalia kneeled atop of the building while looking down at the bunny-suit clad Naomi shamelessly sucking off the person she had just sought out to kill. “Okay, fuck this.” She shook her head and adjusted the scope over the target’s face. Her motions stayed gentle as the red reticle lined up with his head and... wait, how did she get here?
Blinking, Natalia lowered the scope and frowned.
Hadn’t she just been out on the street? Or in the bathroom of her tiny apartment. Or... in a much bigger house making dinner for her son? That’s when something clicked. “I don’t have a son,”
“You sure?” A voice said behind her.
Instantly Natalia spun around and pulled out her pistol. Well, she attempted to, but her hands were suddenly fastened behind her back. “What the..ffffffff..I’m losing my fucking mind!” She shouted far too loud for anyone who wanted to be discreet.
After her straighten-fueled shout, she managed to calm herself with a few blinks and take notice of the young man she had been set on killing. “No one’s going to hear you,” He said with a smirk and leaned against the wall. “I mean, they literally can’t. Show her, tits.”
Natalia heard the sound of Naomi’s voice pipe up, “Sure thing, babe,” There was a soft, nearly undetectable sound behind her as Naomi dropped from above.
“Naomi! What the hell is going on, and why are you dressed like that?!”
“Shut it, skank,” Was all Naomi said in response as she began to forcefully lead Natalia out to the street.
“Skank!? Have you seen yourself? You’re an assassin, not a cosplaying bunny slut...oh my god,” Her attention instantly trailed off when she was greeted with the entire street seemingly frozen in time. Birds were stopped mid flight, cars were stuck in place, and everyone was locked in the midst of their actions like statutes.
“Yeah, so we can come out here if you want,” The guy said as he walked out behind them. “The names Darren, by the way. But since you were happy to kill me, I think you already knew that.”
“Okay,” Any urge she had to struggle out of Naomi’s fastened hold on her died out the moment she saw the entire world frozen in place. “So you’re gifted, you got what? Time manipulation... uh...” She looked back at Noami, specifically her two sizes too small corset that dug into her skin, prompting her sizable breasts to squeeze out over the V-shaped cups holding them in place. Some of her thighs even struggled to poke through the holes of her fishnet leggings with how undersized it was. “...reality control abilities? Because she’d rather kill herself and everyone alive before dressing up like this.”
“Who are you to tell me what I’d wear?” Naomi snapped back. “Skank?”
“Why do you like that word so much? I’m pretty sure that’s the first...second time you’ve ever used it.” She rolled her eyes before turning back to the arrogant asshole who was now sitting on the back of a car. “But this doesn’t make sense, your file said you weren’t gifted,”
“I mean, I wasn’t gifted in the “powers” sense,” He admitted, before raising his hand into the frozen air, “But I was gifted in the... getting a literal gift sense.”
Natalia noticed the ring on his hand; her eyes narrowed. “T-That ring...”
“Looks familiar, right?” He smirked, “You saw it back when you were making me breakfast two four years ago. Good memory,”
“What- I never...” Her voice trailed off as the entire memory came back to her, “Shit... oh my god, how did you—”
“You were right about time manipulation. This thing is fucking dope! I got it from a guy in a van. You know parents usually tell their kids to avoid people like that, but this one worked out for me.” Before Natalia could say anything, his face darkened, “But hey. Maybe if I actually had parents, they would have told me that, and this never would’ve happened. Who knows.”
Noticing his gaze, Natalia sighed. “Fuck... did I kill your parents? Is that why you’re targeting me?” She looked back and added, “Targeting us?”
“Yeah, basically.” Darren shrugged, “What is it you say? It’s nothing personal. But, you killed my father, and then months later, that slut fuck did the same to my mother. That’s just adding salt to the wound, right?”
“Look. Kid. I—”
“I’m twenty-fucking two! I’m not a kid anymore! My childhood was ruined the moment you bitches took everything from me!”
“Okay, your anger is valid,” Natalia treaded the metaphorical ice gradually, “But if it’s any consolation, I did recognize you... at least a bit.”
“How is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“I don’t know, I... I mean, I could have killed you, when I killed your father, but I didn’t, so...”
“Ahh!” Darren nodded, “So I could live to resent you; well, congratulations! It fucking worked!”
“Okay fine, whatever. Just kill me! Get your revenge. That’s how this shit works.”
“Fuck, it is getting hot out here,” He snapped his fingers, and the sky blinked to the evening. “Also, when I heard an assassin and a bounty hunter killed my folks, I was ready to go for blood. And then I realized that they were two hot as fuck babes... you know, things can change.”
Natalia’s eyes wavered for a moment, “So-S-So what, you’re going to rape us?”
“It’s not rape if we want it!” Naomi giggled from behind her.
“Exactly,” Darren agreed, “Besides, I already fucked your frozen bodies more times than you can count. You know, if you can only count to seven.”
“I...don’t remember that,”
“Ya-duh! Cause you were frozen. Then I just reversed time to do it again and again, and... you get the idea.” He paused to reach into his pocket and pull out his phone. After a few seconds went by, he raised it for her to see, “Look for yourself,”
Not like she had much of choice in the matter, her gaze looked over the phone and her eyes widened. The image was unmistakable of herself, naked and covered in a slick sticky substance. It was taken from behind while her face was shoved into a toilet and her asshole leaked cum. Two arrows pointed toward her anus reading, “cum dump, insert here,”
The image alone disgusted her, but she knew better than to give them the satisfaction of appearing revolted.
“Okay,” She swallowed her disgust and licked her lips, “Good for you, fucking your parent’s murders. So, what are you going to do if I break out of this bunny slut’s hold and split your finger off?”
“You tried that three times now, and it didn’t really work out for you,” He looked back down at his phone, “I have pictures of what happened afterward. Want me to show you?”
“No, no. I’ll pass.” Natalia rolled her eyes, “Are you getting off on fucking with me?”
“Well I am getting off fucking you!” He laughed, “Actually, those bunny boobies are getting me turned on right now. Hold on a second.”
Natalia blinked, “Wai-MMmmggghggg-plahh~” She pulled her face out of Naomi’s cleavage. There was a pool of jizz held between the assassin’s tits which were now in Natalia’s face. She opened her mouth to work on instinct and gag, but instead, she spat out a large load of seed. “Ahkkkgghu~” She dropped to her hands and knees; cum spat out onto the street. “Y-Y-Yo-You...” She began to sputter, when the feeling of something hard under her hand caught her attention.
It was just a small piece of rock. But, in the right hands, anything could be a weapon. In one swift motion she threw the rock directly toward the guy’s finger. The force should be just enough to break it off, and-
Naomi extended her hand out and caught the rock mid-flight.
“Oh shit,” Darrent glanced up from his phone in genuine alarm. “Thanks, tits.”
“Of course, babe!” Naomi smiled and tossed the rock aside before turning to give Natalie a death glare.
“Yeah, glare at me,” Natalie spat out more cum and looked her up and down. “While you look like a cum-soaked idiot.”
“A cum soaked idiot was what you looked like a few minutes ago.” He said, raising his phone to show the proof. “A cum-soaked idiot T-posing in the middle of a diner, a cum-soaked idiot fucking herself on a picnic table. A...”
“I get the point,” Growling to herself, she staggered to her feet and swallowed a load stuck in the back of her mouth, “Then get on with it. Get your revenge! But if one of those supers come around because—”
“I checked them first,” He chuckled, “They’re all just as frozen as everyone else. And they got some nice asses and tits, I must say.”
“Good for you.” Natalie raised an eyebrow towards Naomi, “I’m assuming you fucked with time to make her like that,”
“After I fucked with her like I’m doing to you.” He got off the chair and walked over to slap her ass; Naomi let out a startled moan followed by a chuckle as she leaned her ass into his hand. He let his other hand slip up and easily pulled out one of her tits to grope it freely. “And then just played god with her history to bring her up as my personal bunny assassin.”
“Yuck,” Natalie couldn’t stop herself from cringing. “Well, since I remember you being a rapey little fuck, I’m assuming you haven’t touched my history.”
“Yet,” He winked and raised his hand. “But memories can change. Memories can easily change.”
“Hey babe. Babe,”
Natalie’s eyes fluttered open with a hand rubbing her shoulder. It was something she chose to ignore initially, but after a few more shakes, she had to give it attention. Leaning up, she stretched and let out a small yawn. “Hmmm?” She looked over to see her boyfriend’s beautiful face.
“My balls are full.”
Natalie sighed and looked past him to the mirror on the wall of their shared apartment. She could see the mark “Cum slut” on her forehead and with the words “Dump A.” marked below her lips.
“Alright,” She smirked, “Just for you, babe,” pointing to her mouth, she said, “Dump A? Dump B?” She pointed to her bra-clad cleavage before unclipping them free and hefting them up with an arm. An arrow pointed directly between her tits with the words labeled “Dump B.” above them. “Or do you want C and D?” She wiggled her hips below the blanket and licked her lips.
Darren was enjoying this; his interest in her was enough to make her cream in the sheets. “Maybe...” He mused, “But, I was actually thinking I’d try Dump F,”
Natalie’s smile faltered as she tilted her head, “F? I don’t—” She paused when he grabbed her by the side of the head and made her face tilt to the left.
Leaning in, he whispered into her ear. “Dump F...”
“Oh,” Natalie matched his smirked and bit her bottom lip, “You haven’t used that hole before. Maybe I’ll allo—” her voice froze as the motion time itself came to a halt. Suddenly, the next thing she knew, a warm, gooey sensation exploded out of her ear and trickled down the side of her head and neck onto the naked body. “—w it..ooohhhhhh!” She let out a startled moan and nearly fell to her side.
Her hand raised to cup her ear as cum leaked out, “How did- when-when did this.. how, babe, I—”
“Tits! Come out here and clean up this mess.” Darren ignored his girlfriend’s startled protests as the busty bunny-suited Noami came out of her closet to obey his order.
“W-Wait,” Natalie stammered and shifted into a sitting position with her legs dangling off the bed. “Babe! I- wait, Tits!”
Naomi pressed herself against the dark-haired woman’s side and began to rub the cum that was leaking onto Natalie’s arm in a soothingly steady motion. The repeated sway coaxed the sticky coating on the woman’s arm to be wiped into her cleavage. All while using her tongue to lick at the other woman’s ear and slurp up the unprompted mess.
“Tiiiiiitss~” Natalie moaned when Naomi pressed a kiss against her ear and sucked. But through it all, she managed to give her boyfriend a pointed look. She opened her mouth to say something, but he raised his hand and-
“Alright,” Natalie smirked, “Just for you, babe,” pointing to her mouth, she said, “Dump A? Dump B?” She pointed to her bra-clad cleavage before unclipping them free and hefting them up with an arm. “Or do you want C an—”
“Fuck it. Let me try another timeline,” He said to himself.
That took Natalie by surprise, but right as she opened her mouth to say something she-
“Dinner is ready, honey,” Natalie walked over with a plate and placed it right in front of her son. “Sorry if I took too long,” she gave him a warm kiss on the cheek and rubbed his shoulder with a smile. “N! The food’s ready! Let’s eat together!”
“What!? Really?” Naomi popped her head into the frame of the kitchen doorway, showing two bunny ears that bobbed in place. She walked in just enough to stop at the entrance, showing that she was wearing a small corset one-piece with a deep V-neck to barely hold her cleavage in place. “That’s bad timing. I just accepted a hit. It’s down town, but the payout is tremendous.”
Natalie looked at her son, then glanced back to her wife and sighed. “I was hoping we could eat together. It’s been a while.”
“Look,” Naomi reached into her cleavage and pulled out a dagger to toss it in the air. “When I claim this hit, we can go to the fanciest restaurant imaginable. Just name the place.”
There was a moment of pause where Natalie thought her wife’s words over. But Darren spoke up, “You two can go. I don’t mind.”
“What? No, no, I’ll at least stay here,”
“You know how crazy Tit-Mom can be,” He seemed to choke on his food for a moment. “You should make sure she makes it back alive.”
“Oh, please,” Naomi rolled her eyes, “Who do you think I am?”
Natalie blinked, “Maybe I should go with you.” She then turned to ruffle her son’s hair, “Okay, we love you! And when we come back, we can do whatever. We should have an excess of money, right?” Looking back at Naomi, the other woman jumped, prompting her breasts to nearly jiggle out of her top.
“Yep! I swear it’s worth it! This isn’t baby’s first bounty.”
“Pfff,” Natalie rolled her eyes and gave him a kiss. “Well, be back.”
“Have fun,” Darren called out, and the two women made their exit towards the front door of the large home.
“So, where is it?”
“We’ll just take the subway to downtow—”
Time came to a halt, and Darren casually strode up to the two women. Naomi was stopped mid-speech while reaching for the door. With the relative ease that comes with messing around in a frozen world, he pushed both of them down onto their knees and outstretched their arms. After having them face each other, he pushed them both together into a hugging position and brought them close enough so that their breasts mashed together.
“C’mon, kiss.” He said and shifted their faces to pucker up before pushing their lips together. “There.. actually,” He parted their lips so that they just brushed against each other and then took hold of each woman’s shoulder and dropped his clothes to slide his cock between their two mouths. Using their lips as a sleeve, he pumped between them, then fucked in and out of their respective mouths, all the while using their bodies as his anchor points to steady his thrusting.
But, they weren’t quite aware of any of that, instead from their perspectives it all happened in less than the blink of an eye.
“—n southMMMmmggghh~” Naomi didn’t manage to grab the door, and instead dropped to her knees, gaging out a huge load of cum onto her tits.
Natalie managed to stagger herself against the wall, but she too had her cheeks filled with enough chode that upon opening her mouth to form a simple question, it all began to flow out.
From back inside the kitchen, Darren was enjoying their sounds of understandable surprise, distress, and disgust. Yet they were both entirely unaware of what or how it happened. Hell, they were unaware that their entire reality was just shaped to this situation by virtue of his muse.
“Oh my god.. WHAT the FUCK!” Naomi managed to speak after wiping her the cum off her tongue onto the back of her fake bunny ears.
Natalie also managed to clear out her mouth, after swallowing a distasteful amount of the spunk, “I—” was all she managed to get out before reality warped in the blink of an eye, yet again.
“No,” Naomi crossed her arms, “I saw your smirk. You did find the idea amusing, at least.”
Natalia smirked, “Maybe a bit. Mostly because I’m pretty sure she’s bulletproof. Your little daggers would bounce right off. You’d literally be a bug to her. Hahaha, like, there would be no competition. If she got annoyed enough, she’d just grab you by the neck and fly straight into space. Or maybe just flick her finger in your general direction, I mean, that might do the trick. Oh, who am I kidding? Might do the trick? You would—”
“Okay,” Naomi snapped, “I heard enough, I—”
“Uh, excuse me,” A random guy approached their table, causing both women to give him a pointed look.
“Yes?” Natalia raised an eyebrow at him. “Can we help you?”
“I... just want to say I’m a big fan.” He gulped,
Naomi narrowed her eyes and reached for something in her pocket, “Fan of...what?”
“I know you guys are assassins, and...”
“DON’T!” Natalia bolted up when she spotted Naomi’s arms twitch to reveal the hind of a blade she was about to draw out.
“What!?” Naomi huffed, “Also, you tell me not to cause a scene... This guy clearly knows too much.”
“Alright, but he didn’t do anything.” Natalia rolled her eyes and turned to face the stranger. Though, after giving him a second look, something twitched in the back of her mind. “You... look familiar. Are you sure we’ve never met?”
“Well...” He shrugged, “You killed my parents, so I made you guys my parents, you screwed with my life, so I did the same with yours...” His words would’ve been pretty deadly in front of two people that could kill him faster than he could react. But, neither of them responded to him or even blinked or breathed. With a chuckle and a hand wave in their faces, he simply unfroze time and continued from the last thing they remembered hearing. “I don’t think we have, but memories can change.”
“Pffft,” Naomi raised her hand. “What does that even mean? Can I kill him?” She asked Natalia.
But, before the woman could so much as respond, he raised his hand, and...