“Hands up.”

‘What a load of horseshit you’ve gotten yourself into now Ailith.’ she lectured herself.

“Hands UP.” the officer said again, a bit more irritation and demand in his voice this time.

‘What do I do? What do I do?’

The officer reached for his gun but before he was able to touch the handle she shouted. 

“Wait!”

Probably not the best idea...shouting at the authorities but strangely it worked. Even if just for a second, the officer froze mid-way. Ailith was sure she had a decent chance if she decided to make a run for it... and she would have already had it not been for that the officer and the many people that had started to notice her might remember her face. 

‘I could just kill everyone here with one of the bombs.’ But that was saved as her last resort. For now, she would try to limit the killing.

She smirked. ‘It’s funny to say that considering I’m an assassin.’

Ailith plastered on a frightened face. “I’m very sorry sir. I was just frightened for a second. I will do as you say, please don’t kill me.”

His face remained stern. He did not yet see her as a threat. Just a naive, young, poor girl.

Ailith raised her hands.

Maybe he was feeling generous or maybe he was tired of her, he took one glance at her and moved on to the next person. “Hands up.” he said to them.

Making sure her outer composure remained stable, Ailith heaved out a sigh of relief. ‘Could have been worse.’

The routine check ended as usual with the officers carrying several people with them. Some seemed to have put up a fight with several bullet wounds on their limbs while others had quietly given in to submission.  

She remained still as stone as the captain gave one final glance down the line. He turned to walk out but froze suddenly and slowly turned to face them again. Not them. Her. His eyes were locked on her. He stared straight at her...and leered. 

And my god, let me assure you, it was VERY disturbing the way he looked at her. As if he could see straight through every mask she had put up. As much as she hated to admit it, Ailith squirmed a little inside.

He stalked towards her. 

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Although the people around were trying their best to ignore them, it was evident that some of them were staring. Staring at the naive, poor, young girl trying to stand her ground against the captain of authorities. It was obvious to them who would end up winning this round.

But they too were wrong. She wasn’t just some girl. She was a gifted assassin equipped with deadly weapons.

The captain peered down at her.

She stared at the floor. 

He bent down to eye level, forcing her to look back at him. “Hello. Nice to meet you.” he said, his voice low. He waited for her reply.

When there was none, he spoke again. “Now now, why don’t you drop the mask already. I’m curious as to see who I really have the pleasure of speaking with.”

His other officers had briefly stopped, most likely waiting for instruction and were now staring at them too.

There was no point keeping her mask up. He had already seen through it. Ailith looked him dead in the eye and smirked. “No need for greetings.”

Around them, many of the passengers’ mouths dropped open and although the officers tried to hide it, she could tell they too were shocked. It was quite a normal reaction actually. No-one would dare speak to authorities that way, especially to a captain.

The captain merely shrugged, still gazing at her with ferocious intensity. “I didn’t think so.”

Ailith glared right back at him with double his intensity and if only for a second, something like fear flickered in his eyes.

Faster than Ailith could see, he whipped out his gun and aimed it at her head. “Who are you?” he asked.

So he didn’t know who she was…

Even in this tense situation, Ailith’s chest slightly loosened at that. It wouldn’t do her any good if he knew who she was considering she herself was supposed to be in her dorm right at this moment.

The safety on his gun clicked and his grip on the handle tightened as he once again asked, “Who are you?” more firmly this time. However hard he tried to maintain a neutral face, she could sense that the fear had returned to his eyes now that he had seen her true form.

Ailith almost laughed. ‘A captain of the authorities...afraid of ME.’ Of course it was understandable. Even without having the slightest idea as to whom she might be, she still gave off a very strong aura. 

A natural born killer

In cold blood, Ailith grinned at the man. The evil sorts that make even the bravest of men crumble to the ground.

And this is exactly what he did. Under her piercing stare, he fell to the ground, knees first and shivered. His men, not knowing what to do, just stood there gaping at their fallen leader. This man who had been so proud earlier on was now on his knees. 

Ailith placed her foot on him and leaned down to whisper in his ear. “I’ll be taking my leave now. Don’t send your men after me. It would be quite troublesome to have to rid of all of them.” She took another breath and continued, her voice barely a whisper now. “And I’m not part of the resistance so don’t bother.” With that, she straightened her back again and stalked towards the door.

The man held up his hand and the officers stepped aside. She knew he would come after her again but at least that was the end for today. She could deal with it then.

As Ailith exited the train, she thought to herself. ‘How easy it is to trick people these days.’ With the thought, she dropped her newly formed mask. Whatever feeling of success had risen in her before was now replaced with sheer exhaustion. ‘How much longer will I have to keep my masks up.’ Some part of her broke inside. ‘Just a little longer...just for awhile longer…’ Again, Ailith put on another mask and disappeared into the darkness of the alleyways.