Up In Arms

Chapter 6

I highly suspect that I'm bait. No, wait. Scratch that. I know I'm bait.

Since the moment I was accepted as their arms dealer I knew that she would find another way to use me, and that the use would most likely be taking advantage of my aspect. She could have just waited for her target – the same ammunitions supplier that ordered the hit on Kodak – to walk by any of the open windows or into an alley or something and take him out there, but instead she had me set up a meeting with the man and lure him out to where she's all set up.

The moment she offered me a chance at revenge a week ago I should have declined and scouted out ammo for Tenpin's crossbow – surprisingly difficult to find a dealer for those bolts – but her smirk was just so damn sexy.

I was leaning up against a support beam in the abandoned construction site – the location suspiciously convenient – in what I internally dubbed my 'Thanatos' gear. Dark color scheme, black-brown hair and eyes. Basically, the same outfit I was wearing earlier, but with twin pistols tucked in by my lower back. At my feet sat a black duffel with pieces of ripped and damaged clothing concealing a few of the weapons this specific dealer sold to Kodak.

They approached from the eastward entrance. I kept my cool as they saw me and came closer, continuing the aesthetic of someone relaxed when in dangerous situations and unwilling to give an inch without a good reason. My left foot was flat against the I-beam behind me, my right leg holding most of my weight as I leant against the beam with arms crossed, eyes closed.

When they were close enough for me to hear the fat dealer's labored breathing, I cracked a single eye open to regard them through my loose bangs. He brought three goons with him, one of whom was holding his weapon out in the open and I suspected the other two were also packing heat. The silence stretched on, and the man's goons slowly grew more agitated as we sized each other up. One of them was most likely to speak up, I sure as hell wasn't going to be the first to talk.

"So, you are the one going by Thanatos." The ammunitions dealer broke the silence before his men could break protocol or whatever respect system Kodak fucked up.

I didn't answer, waiting to see where he was going with this opening line.

He smiled coldly, no humor, all business. "Not much of a talker, eh?"

"Don't have a lot to say yet." I reply, straightening and sending the bag sliding across the dirty concrete.

With a calculating gaze the dealer pulled the bag closer and crouched down to open it and find its contents. He would recognize the weapons, he could always remember what guns he sold to who and when.

"Where did you get this?" He growled lowly.

I didn't even blink at his sudden hostility. "Out of the bed of a truck belonging to a man shot in the back by an assassin. Know anything about his death?"

"I sold these to a kid named Kodak. Young arms dealer, didn't know when to keep out of someone else's shit." He straightened, leaving the bag on the ground.

"Shit like how you sold to both sides and actually encouraged the turf war in the western downtown area?"

Based on the information Silvershot had, the gangs he had been selling to figured out his little profiteering scheme and put aside their petty differences before ordering the hit. When I was Kodak, I had eavesdropped on him talking on the phone with one of his gang member clients before we exchanged our usual deal, and by the look on his face before I walked away, he knew that I had overheard.

When the man reached for his weapon I had full confirmation, and I raised my hand coolly in a placating gesture. "I deal in death." I gave him a cold smile of my own. "Knowing why people deserve to be assassinated is almost as important as knowing the assassins themselves."

The sniper bullet blasted through my right shoulder and sent the unbalanced man back a step before he fell to the ground.

Ow ow ow. Heal, dammit.

Temporarily ignoring the pain from my now-limp right arm, I pulled my handgun and pointed it at the three goons, who drew their own guns and aimed them at me. I caught a faint glimpse of steam over my right shoulder and twisted to hide it from the view of the men.

"Now, I know it's never a good idea to threaten a group of arms dealers with a bad arm and a pistol." I said, a small self-assured smile still on my lips. "But I'm not in that situation."

Pulling my second pistol, I could swear one of the dudes crapped himself.

"I've got two good arms, two pistols, and a sniper."

Silvershot remotely triggered the smoke bomb in the black duffel and I rolled behind a concrete barrier I had set up earlier in case this happened.

I saw movement to my right and shot the retreating figure in the back a few times before peeking out the side of the barrier to identify where the second goon was hiding. He ran from his hiding spot behind a vertical beam, heading for a pile of them abandoned on the floor, and I shot him in the head and chest.

I lost the third goon and scanned the area before spinning to poke out the other side of the barrier, stopping when I watched him vault over without realizing that I was here. His eyes widened before his head exploded, and I shielded my face from the spray of blood and gore.

"Aw, gross!" I whined. I knew I sounded like a kid, but they were all dead, so I didn't care.

"Stop being a baby." Silvershot sauntered towards me, a flat look on her face as she rolled her eyes.

She shouldered her rifle and picked up the bag of weapons as I stood and holstered my pistols, trying to wipe the blood off of my clothes and hands and failing miserably. If this is going to be a thing, I'm going to need a lot more hair dye. And black leather jackets. And just clothes in general.

Watching my soulmate walk back towards where we hid my car, I smiled to myself.

Worth it.

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