Eve and the Artemis (UNEDITED)

01

    That evening, the cafe was bustling with a lot of people as usual. Mini chatters can be heard here and there. The sound of metal cups clunking from the kitchen appeared from time to time, accompanied with a soft, mellow jazz. It being the only cafe located in a pretty rundown neighbourhood area sure attracted a lot of youngsters who want to have a taste of an urban lifestyle.

    Sitting at one of the corners was a woman dressed in black, deeply invested in her laptop's screen. At a glance, one can tell she is not someone you want to mess with. Not like she has a body-builder physique or anything like that. Neither because of the numerous metals piercing her skin. It's just that she was holding a literal brass knuckles on her left hand. The baristas in the cafe did take turns to guess why would she bring that weapon to a cafe.

    "Dia ingat cincin lah tu. Perempuan kan, mana tau sangat."

    "Tak tak aku rasa tu barang pengeras. You know? Macam susuk."

    "Kepala otak kau susuk dekat jari. Orang tanam susuk dalam muka."

    "Lah yeke."

    The baristas kept on going around with their harmless theories about the fine lady while making the customers' orders. At the end, they ended up agreeing that she probably got constantly harassed by the neighbourhood thugs, considering her stunning appearance. Long black hair, bright red lips, light tanned skin, and a perfect hourglass body. The textbook definition of a pretty woman. Maybe that was the reason she chose to sit at the most secluded space in the cafe, far away from any human interaction.

    "Lambat gila. Jatuh longkang ke?" The woman sarcastically greeted someone who approached her.

    "Aku rasa ada orang ikut aku,"

    "Huh?"

    "Aku rasa ada orang ikut aku."

    "I heard you loud and clear. I'm just waiting for you to apologise." The lady gripped her brass knuckles hard. Who would have figured that the tool's real well-being is to intimidate this certain someone.

    "Oh tolonglah Orked. I was just a few minutes late." The person held their hand up in defense.     "Tu pun sebab aku ambik jalan lain bila perasan ada orang ikut aku."

    "Huh?" Orked repeated.

    He heaved an annoyed sigh. "I apologise for being late, I am deeply sorry about it, and please pardon my horrendous behaviour , Cik Orked."

    "See? Bukan susah pun." Orked smiled in satisfaction. "You may continue your whining now."

    "Lupakan. I don't really have time. Let's get into business."

    "Woah gelabah gila. So who is it this time?" Orked corrected her posture.

     The man slid a black pen drive across the table. "Tak ingat. Yang penting memang patut pergi."

    Orked took the small device and plugged it into her laptop. She smirked. "I love how you decide who may live and die, macam Tuhan."

    The man snickered. "Ah... not a God. Lebih kepada polis maybe? The uncorrupted version. Aku nampak salah," He made a gun gesture. "Aku tembak."

    "Pfft proved my point dude."

    "Focus Orked." He tapped the back of her laptop. Orked rolled her eyes in annoyance.

    Orked started typing. Clicking. Typing. Typing and more typing. In each two minutes interval, she would sip her pink iced drink.

    "Azizan Ismail." Said Orked. She finally stopped typing after 15 minutes had passed. "58 tahun, pengarah Hikmah Centre. Is this the one?"

    "Yeah. His schedule?"

    "Jap. Jap. Ain't this the popular Facebook Ustaz? Hikmah Centre.. Pusat Kebajikan yang selalu tolong orang tu kan? Bukan dia dalam penjara ke lepas kantoi guna duit derma untuk bukak klinik haram?"

    "Yeap klinik haram. The one that extracted homeless people's organs." The man nodded with a blank face.

    "Wild. The fact that he chose homeless people for his human trafficking. He knows nobody cares about them so a police report on missing homeless people is impossible. But again, bukan dia dalam penjara ke? Berapa client kali ni bayar sampai kau setuju nak pecah masuk penjara."

    "RM60k."

    "Enam puluh ribu je? Bro I'd say this work is worth 150k."

    He laughed hearing what Orked said. "Orked I'm not stupid. Penjara? That's what the media told you. Being such an influential human trafficking mastermind, he has enough to bribe the whole media and the police instituition."

    "Kau nak kata dia sebenarnya bukan dalam penjaralah ni?"

    "Orked come on? Kau buat apa menaip lama lama tadi? Tolong bagitau aku kau sekurang-kurangnya tau nombor kad bank dia??"

    Orked snorted with her annoyed face. "First of all, kau upah aku sebagai identity thief, bukannya national hacker. Second, I know. I know his bank account." She detached her laptop screen off, making it look like a tablet. She handed the device to the man in front of her.

    "Abhiraja?"

    "Yeah. Nombor telefon, bank dia, semua bawah nama Abhiraja Chandra sekarang."

    "Peh sial betul. He's Indian now? Schedule? Ada?"

    "Can't find any associated organisation. But good news, dia baru buat Abhiraja Chandra personal Facebook account guna nombor baru dia dua minggu lepas."

    "A whole Facebook account?" The man questioned before bursting into laughter. Some people in the cafe started giving him looks for disturbing their evening.

    "Bodoh punya orang tua." He continued. "Kecik kecik tak nak mati. Dah tua bangka buat Facebook pulak. Amatuer mistake. An app that could access microphone and camera? Funny."

    The male stood up with a sinister smile plastered on his face. Pulling up a black mask to cover half of his face, he started to walk away.

    "Can't wait to see the colour of your blood." He whispered to himself.

    "Woi M! I'll email you the data later!" Shouted Orked. M just waved his hand without looking back as a sign of acknowledgement.

    He, whom Orked called M, is a 28 year old male full of enigma. Nobody knows his real name, nobody knows his origin. Even Orked, the person closest to him only knows that he wanted to be called as M. Although, as an identity thief, it is important to not let those who can't be trusted know your identity.

    But honestly, she didn't mind when it came to M. Not because she harboured any romantic feelings towards the man who is a year younger than her. It's just that she found the man to be such an interesting individual.

    Seriously though. Which sane person doesn't want to see up-close the life of the infamous assassin who has always succeeded in both blowing a target head up in one shot and evading the police pursuit every time?

    The infamous assassin, Artemis. That's what the public decided to call him. It all started when a fanatic referred to him as a Greek god. Artemis, goddess of the huntress. She kills and she protects, just like M who never failed to hunt down every corrupted soul.