License To Kill
Knock, knock. Fox went to the door and waited. The man inside looked at him with annoyed eyes before changing them to surprise. Fox waited a few more seconds before the man hung the call and walked fast towards him to open the glass door. The man was somewhat of a regular height, brown, with extra honeyed, dark chestnut short hair, well combed with ‘thick waves’, and dark black eyes.
“Welcome!” The man greeted, rather enthusiastically. Fox nodded before getting in. The man was startled but still let him inside, closing the door after checking the elevator was closed and already running up or down, he couldn’t see the panel with this angle.
“Expecting someone else?” Fox said, putting his goddamn jacket off and throwing it on a chair’s seat. The man looked at it, wondering why Fox treated such expensive clothing without politeness before replying. “Oh, no no! It’s not that. Well, I think.”
“So, ehm, do you… uh…” The man went close to Fox and asked, lowering his head, as it seemed complicated for him to ask in the first place. Fox frowned a bit, still relaxed. He placed his case down, letting it bang the floor somewhat at the end, sounding a notorious ‘pank’.
“I know my task’s requirements. Any doubt to my capabilities won’t serve us good.” Fox spoke first. “Call me Fox, I will be here to help you. Who are you?”
Nudging his chin upwards, Fox extended his hand. While he took his expensive jacket off, he wore gloves that obstructed the sensation and the direct contact of skin. Otherwise, this task might all have been a bit more stressful for him.
“Ah, my manners!” The man exclaimed, stepping forth to shake Fox’s hand for a few moments. Once procedures were done, he walked to his lavish, wide, tall desktop and took a couple of bottles before excitedly saying, “I am Armando Peña. Nice meeting you, Fox.”
“…” Fox looked at Armando without words, whose eyes were on his face, trying to see his reaction. Helpless, Armand articulated with both bottles still in his hands, “Never heard of me?”
“Mister Armando, would you mind telling me what am I to do for you? Specific, if you can…” Fox put his hands in his pockets as he spoke. Armando nodded, walking to a standing table, grabbing some glasses, pouring them, and went back to Fox, this time more mentally stable.
“For now, I guess we can spend some time here until night falls. I… I’m afraid things have gone to terrible angles for me.” Armando said, drank a bit, and prepared to speak again, but he drank once more and went, “I have been working for PJPH’s firm for a couple of decades now, since I was a young man.”
“Ah, that’s the name of this building,” Fox thought for a moment, with his eyes gone upturned, and smacked his lips open before saying out loud. Armando blinked. Was this really the heaven-awful man that took down so many people like they were nothing?
Regardless, Armando nodded before sipping his glass again. Then, he spoke, “Indeed, I have been fearful since a few months ago. I suspect there are some ‘bosses’ who have sent their goons after me. They want information the government of my country should have instead.”
‘Ah, a Judgement key leaner turning Heart or Humane?’ Fox looked at Armando without much emotion. Armando continued, “You see, it’s one thing to ‘talk’ with ‘certain people’ and get something out of it, but now, I think I’ve pissed off something even worse.”
“Worse than organized crime? Like… what? Foreigners?” Fox thought, upturning his eyes to the upper corners of his sockets before asking. Armando frowned, blinked, and threw his neck back once. “Another country? No. The Supreme Court, I meant.”
‘Wow. I really need to get deeper into Lýmoca’s affairs.’ Fox thought before nodding. He gave his glass a look before searching for a seat. He gestured to Armando before walking to his desktop. Then, Fox sat before it as Armando took his seat at his desk. Armando politely nodded at Fox with a thin smile, which Fox slightly nodded to and played with his glass.
***
Proteros, upper chamber; senate chamber.
A white woman with chestnut bright hair down to her ribs and eyes stood behind the speaking podium, to the side from the senate president. She lowered her upper back a bit, talking to the microphones near her face, “It won’t be long before the country seethes in fire and is consumed by the greediness of its presumptuous, tyrannic, imperial leader, and his lackeys.”
“There won’t be a place for any of you to be by then. For now, you can eat and sleep from the success they have amassed, but soon, you’ll only watch as that tyrant does as he pleases, all on his own! Ignore these words, and it might be the last time Lýmoca ever remained a sovereign entity with honor and love for its people! Es cuanto, your presidency. Loma Jenta from NSH.”
“Thank you, miss Jenta. Now,” sitting behind in a higher, wider stand along a few others, the senate’s president nodded at the woman before looking elsewhere. He is brown, tall, and bald.
“Now, I concede word to the Senator, Sebastián Lara, independent Senator, you may begin.” The senate president, Omar Preon, indicated to Senator Sebastián.
Sebastián Lara, one of the neutral members of the congress, was a white, middle-aged man. He had natural gray hair, was unusually tall, and even his eyes were naturally gray, as well. Needless to say, he was handsome.
When he passed by Loma, she looked up and down at him with an indifferent expression, nodding a bit before both walked past each other. But when she walked near the open booth seats of the DOH political party, she came close to a woman and made a face for a second.
Afterwards, Loma walked to her side with a light grin on her lips. Unlike the DOH’s seats, her NSH party’s side was the largest in the congress, both in the senate and chamber of deputies. Seconded only by the LV party.
As the most important but smallest of the 3 political parties in the country’s limelight, DOH looked deplorable, and their congress group would always remain quiet and polite. It wasn’t any better that the other parties besides these and the neutral congress members were half the rest of the congress, making the NSH, LV, and DOH all reliant upon them.
While Sebastián was of a neutral ‘side’, not all neutral congress members took action, and those who did only do so when it was deemed absolutely necessary. In this case, since Sebastián had something to say, and he was quite known even outside the congress, all eyes were on him.
“Sebastián Lara; thank you, your presidency.” Sebastián looked at Omar Preon before beginning. “Today, after numerous debates and several words and insults exchanged between these 3 parties. I’d like to talk to everyone.”
“We’ve all studied the president’s reform for a while now. It has been what… a year and 7 months since the proposed reform was taken up as an initiative? It’s been a never-ending coming and going of this. It’s not as if it should be stopped, but continuing any further is idiotic, and too low for our honorable assembly.”
“I know none of us here believe these reforms to be something of utmost change in our country, and it has been a most anticipated approval from the citizens.” Sebastián spoke up to here, causing the allied NSH and LV to grow a little restless on their side.
After looking at them for a few moments, Sebastián continued, “They are necessary and what our people want, what everyone is looking for the most, especially after the events almost a year ago. For the sake of our country, and the lucidity of our upper chamber, I hereby announce I’m positive this reform will only bring our nation deserving benefits, now more than ever.”
Sebastián Lara lifted his right hand and declared. The neutrals chatted to each other, not expecting to see this happening, although they felt glad this absurd, elongated debate might come to a close at last. However, the allied parties didn’t think the same.
Loma Jenta, the senate woman who just had her turn end, stood up and shouted amidst her comrades shouting to Sebastián, marking him for betrayal of not only the country, but their political parties’ righteousness. No, instead, and more furtively so, he was ‘denounced’ as a traitor whose treason won’t be forgotten.
“Not fair, Sebas! Have you forgotten what the president has been fault to? Who he murdered just to save his skin?! You’ll be just as guilty as he is! How dare you?!”
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“Es cuanto, your presidency,” Sebastián looked at Omar Preon before walking away. The senate president nodded before announcing with his louder, rumbling microphone, echoing his voice everywhere.
“That has been everything for this round. As we’ve come to the last round as it has been in every other debate like this, I will proceed to ask you to vote if this is enough debating to proceed with the voting of the reform’s overall approval.” Omar Preon said before a wide, long screen on the wall behind the senate presidency seats, facing everyone else.
The 100 senators’ names appeared even before Sebastián rejoined his neutral seat. He was greeted by some others before sitting down. He lifted his head to the screen, seeing only DOH, LV, and NSH already into it, having voted in favor or against it.
After a single look, he lowered his head and pressed buttons for a command on his open booth seat’s terminal. The screen showed his name with a green circle behind it right after. There was a small commotion inside before it quickly calmed down. Not before, and neither this time, the presidency had to speak up to calm them down. Only the NSH and LV were loud, too.
The chamber slowly came to a conclusion. Even after the time set to vote was reached, some senators made their choice afterwards, when most had already done so. At last, the senate president called for attention and announced, “The votes are 31 against, 69 in favor. We will now vote for the reform‘s overall approval.”
***
Proteros center. Blackflower Boutique, soon-to-be evening.
“Aaaaahh~,” Fabiola stretched with all the calmness and satisfaction in the world. She had left the academy earlier on, as it was exam times for some of the teaching instructor, and only a few belonged to her subject. Now that she could relax, she came to the boutique.
She already knew Fox was on a private matter, more than that, of course. She still wanted to come and maybe ask some questions. The sales were going really well, making Fabiola think maybe she should’ve gone on her own and just hired some people. But the folks Fox brought were not to be taken lightly.
“Hey, so, what do you say he’s doing right at these moments?” Fabiola held her jaw on the counter and asked the pretty young woman behind a screen, working with data. She looked at Fabiola and bluntly replied, “I dunno. I’m not an agent, you know? It’s just my ‘cuz that is. Mn, you don’t go around telling others you know someone like this, do you?”
“Eh? No, but I can’t hide the fact I’m business partners with the Fox.” Fabiola was taken aback by the response, but she smiled and went back at it, going all smiley on the young woman. The latter shrugged.
‘Hmm, I wonder if he’d be working on a mission. What could he be doing right now? I hope nothing like murdering, or kidnapping others.’ Fabiola thought, passing the pages of a magazine on the counter, preparing to order the pieces Fox recommended. He was the boss, now.
***
Back to the PJPH’s firm, in the second-highest floor in the building.
The light of the sun was leaving soon. Red and orange took place over the western clouds, spreading elsewhere as the east began obscuring. Fox played with a stress relief gadget, spreading and shrinking it out of boredom, hearing Armando’s endless writing and keyboarding.
“Sigh!” Armando wrote and keyboarded a few seconds and taps more before slamming his costly pen and tapping the desk with a drawn keyboard’s enter button. He stretched his arms and reclined back on his chair, making Fox a little jealous. But then, he felt they were unsafe.
“Oh, just give me a second. I need to breathe.” Armando stated after standing up and walking to the window, Fox darted his eyes left and right before letting it be. He knew people working for decades in the same job, paying well or not, would feel the drain of their mentality. Usually, jobs as high-end as these, especially a ‘dubious’ lawyer, would treat such inconveniences with rapt attention. At least on this side of the daily life of jobs and struggling to make money.
“Haha, come. Take a look at this,” Armando said after observing something. Fox’s eyebrows twitched as he stood up and walked to Armando. What he saw made his eyelids and brows drop, feeling silly.
There were a few people on the wide sidewalks, carrying Lýmoca’s banner and some hats of the Silverplated Eagle designs on them. It was barely audible from so high up, but to Fox, he could hear their yelling and humorous loud singing clearly.
“Steppin’ forth, cavalry goes~~! Through flying dirt, our smoking blooood~!” - “Ly! Ly! Ly!” - “Doctor, what are the orders?!” - “Drink and eat!” - “For how long?!” - “Drink and eat!” - “WOAAAAH!” - “Que chingue su madre toda la oposicióooon![Fuck the opposition’s mothers]”
“… What this?” Fox asked after hearing what he considered enough. He looked at Armando, who also lifted his chin and responded to him, “I haven’t had the chance to see someone this excited in a while. Even after the Green Transformation’s creation of Humane, few times has Lýmoca seen this type of celebrations, and just because of a small reform.”
“Mn,” Fox gave them another look before returning to his seat. Armando pressed his lips and ignored Fox’s behavior. But then, Fox stopped halfway to the seat. His polycoria eyes blinked, and after taking a look at the left, where the elevator sounded, as usual, he turned around to look at Armando, but he seemed to realize something, too.
“I just saw half the personnel from this building joining that party. The bosses don’t usually let them have this much freedom.” Although Armando spoke eloquently, he was terrified, trembling as he also looked in the elevator’s direction.
“So, can you-… can you kill?” He asked, feeling a last bit of hope he could hold onto. Fox blinked before bending over to grab his case. He opened it and released its contents on Armando’s desk. Several pieces of disassembled things littered it.
Fox picked some pieces in detail before assembling them, flashing bullets before loading them into a magazine, all under Armando’s shocked, surprised and widened eyes. Finishing assembling it, he grabbed it and showed it to Armando, “I can with this.”
“No, b- but… You can’t kill!” Armando walked to him, hurried. Fox blinked, letting the man speak out. Armando said, “It’s not that easy to just come to places like these and start using firearms! I need you to-”
Fox ignored him and began assembling a large submachine gun, leaving Armando baffled. He was fast and meticulous. Grabbing the small pistol with his left hand, and the submachine gun with his right, down and up respectively, Fox looked at Armando and bluntly laid it out.
“We can either run or not. Regardless, even if you want to try immortality like many others do, I won’t. And I can’t let you die, you’re my money. So,” Fox tilted his head and expressed. Armando felt helpless. He shook his head, almost in a seizure, before acquiescing. “Alright, alright. You’re right, I get it. But if people are indeed armed and are coming for me, we should go check on my wife as well. Then… return here and pick my things. I must leave this place, this position!”
“And is your home, something every boss people in this building knows, as safe as this?” Fox asked with little care. Armando weighed pros and cons before gesturing with both hands, “At least I could work from home. And yes! I could be safe in my house. I’ll request guards from your secret organization. I have a hundred million credits saved, after all.”
“That is corrupt. Well, listen to everything I say, okay?” Fox blinked, somewhat exaggeratedly, and said with his guns ready to be used. Armando was confused still, sweating and wanting to hide somewhere. He nodded, not knowing what to expert next.
Just as he waited to hear Fox’s instructors, he saw Fox pull ribbons from underneath his suit. Then, tying them to the firearms and hanging them over his shoulders, Fox grabbed his left shoe and threw it out the window. Alarms went off from the building. On the sidewalk all the way down. A red alarm spread after the system detected where the glass and shoe would fall. The people moved away with a scare, with the vehicles in the surrounding 80 meters stopping.
Even the lights and digital signs changed, making everyone and everything stop until the glass and shoe fell down. Crarrrarraarrraasshhh! Thud.
“…!” Armando was shocked. That… that was armored glass! Yet, Fox wasn’t perturbed as he did the same with his other shoe. This time towards a closer window to his right, also closer to the entrance. Like before, Fox grabbed his shoe with his left hand and threw it, using a little less force as he didn’t want to send the shoe to the other side of the street after calculating.
Armando jumped, sending his forearms into the air, lifting his right knee, feeling quite upset and fearful. Fox ignored it, and as he grabbed a bion from his lower right back, stuck to his uniform under his suit, he walked to grab Armando.
“Ah? What?!” Armando didn’t know what was going on until Fox was already jumping out the first broken window, to the left. Armando barely felt his balance lighting up like a feather before fresh air breathed on his skin and luscious, well-combed hair.
“Shut up, hold onto me… grapple me!” Fox viciously whispered as they began falling. Armando felt compelled to obey everything he was told, at least coming from Fox’s lips, and wrapped his arms and legs from Fox’s back.
Fox’s right hand held a white, transparent cone aiming upwards from between his thumb and lower section of his index finger. The bion trembled before firing upwards as they fell a dozen apartment floors, barely a few from the firm’s building.
The transparent white cone struck its tip against the building just below the broken window. Immediately, it spread outwards and glued to the wall with its topside. Fox felt a rash tug as he began planning his balancing movements.
“Get in!” - “Shhh! Let’s see who else is here…” Meanwhile, in Armando’s single office, a dozen suited people hurried out of the elevator and walked to the door. One of them had keys out, arriving at the door first. But he noticed the lack of anyone being inside, and the broken windows.
“Shit! There’s a situation! Target has seemingly jumped off the building!” - “Dammit! Quickly get in! Check the computers and everything! Just take it, don’t waste time!” - “You! Come check the windows. Be careful, that little Fox might be hiding traps or something.”
One of them and another 2 checked the window closest to them; to the right, peeking over to see if there was anything. One of them even held another’s collar from behind, but nothing. Neither up nor down had anything, just people looking up from the sidewalks, with the sky already black. Only the streetlights allowed them to see those people, but they couldn’t see them.
“Nothing here! Check the other, goddammit!” The person cursed and directed his people to the other window while the rest made a mess out of everything.
“!” Meanwhile, balancing around the corner of the building, Fox’s face scrunched up, gritting his teeth like crazier than crazy. His right arm held himself and Armando in this free fall, forcing their bodies into the necessary angle.
Armando barely heard the voices from above with the right wind, feeling too afraid to say a thing. Fox’s right arm trembled. He knew his strength was never good. Not doubting for another moment, he opted for risk.
As Armando slid down his body again, nearly taking his pants off, Fox let him slid down, not helping him up this time. Armando opened his eyes, shocked and fearful to death. As it happened, Fox turned towards the left, making a full 360 before grabbing Armando under his armpits with his right arm. They fell a dozen apartment floors while Fox raised his left arm, as if hoping to grab the bion’s rope he easily let go of.
…
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Let It Rain's note: 'Es cuanto' is basically finishing their speech, turn, and so on. At least orally.