The Silver Killer

Nine: The Killing

**mentions of murder (duh)**

You and Five appeared on the roof of the 20 story apartment complex, where you staggered to the edge of the building and stood there, hands bracing yourself against the waist-high wall for a solid minute, catching your breath, your eyes closed, still reeling from the insane feeling.

At some point, you felt Five's hand on your shoulder. "Ready?"

That seemed to be becoming your word.

You nodded and straightened up, smoothing out your cloak. "Yes, ready." Then you marched toward the door that led to the stairwell.

"You do realize there will be security cameras set up all over the place in there?" Five asked, slowly sauntering after you.

You opened the door and turned back to him with a smirk. "What do you think I was doing in the coffee shop, genius?"

Leaving him with his mouth turning into a small 'o', you stepped into the stairwell.

********************

She's good.

He shook the thought away and followed you into the building, closing the door behind him and turning to face you, only to get hit in the face by a slick cloth.

"Wipe the doorknob down," you commanded. "So you don't leave your prints everywhere."

He rolled his eyes but did as you had said, wiping off the smooth metal of the inside and the outside of the doorknob before following you down the steps.

The metal clanged unnecessarily loudly under your feet as the pair of you began your descent. The air reeked of raw metal and mold, but as you descended, began to freshen a bit. If this complex had armed guards at the entrance, he imagined it was pretty pristine.

You suddenly stopped, spinning around to face him, your noses practically brushing. He was frozen at your sudden movement, but you barely seemed to notice.

"Listen," you hissed, lips centimeters from his. You'd never admit it, but there was a certain ... irregular thumping thing that your heart was doing that you didn't particularly like. It needed to go. "We don't know who could be out there in the hallway, so just follow my lead, okay? If we run into someone." You turned back to the door, then back to him after a brief hesitation, stepping on his foot. "Sorry, sorry, but just follow me lead for all of it, okay?"

He sighed, which you took as annoyance, but was actually a nervous one. Nervous at how close your nose was to his, at how easily you could've pressed your lips to his-

YOU'VE KNOWN HER FOR LIKE TWO DAYS!!! CALM DOWN!!!

But he'd never kissed anyone before ... .

And he was not about to. Not right then, anyway, for you had already headed out into the hallway, your cloak fluttering out behind you.

Your eyes darted about the hallway as you made your way to your target's door, pulling out your knife and poking it into the keyhole, expertly pricking it and twisting it this way and that until the door swung open with a creak.

Your hand flew out to stop Five before he could rush in. "Follow my lead," you repeated, eyes under the mask still locked on the darkness of the target's home as you took a slow step inside.

He watched you for a moment, your scythe extended out in front of you - he couldn't remember you pulling it from your bag - carefully setting foot after foot into the room.

"Clear?" he hissed, and you stiffened for a moment before nodding.

"Wipe the doorknob down," you whisper-called back. Then you stepped deeper into the darkness and disappeared.