Kill Or Be Killed

Part 1: You Can Fight, You Can Kill

~Alyssa~

Alyssa Adler stood above the sewer hole looking down into the murky darkness. A cool breeze soothed her face and whipped back her hair. The parking lot around her was desolate, save for the van parked behind her. No cameras were in sight and all of the windows of neighboring shops were shut tightly. It was the perfect spot to do illegal or secretive activities.

The intricately woven clouds above turned the heavens a gloomy, grey. Alyssa thought it was fitting. After all, one of their favorite angels was about to die.

Supposedly.

"Are they here yet?" Maya Mendoza called from inside the van. Alyssa could see her light blonde-brown hair peaking out the window from the corner of her eye.

"No," Alyssa replied back, staring down beneath her.

Maya sighed. "If someone told me faking a person's death was going to be this boring, I never would've come."

"We were going to send you with your brother," Ashton, the new red-haired boy, said. "You refused to go. That's your fault."

"Well, I'm sorry if lugging a 200-pound heater carrying a dead body around in the sewers is not my ideal definition of what I want to do on a Thursday night."

"Then don't complain."

"But why are we even here? It makes no sense. Lyle? I understand. But you and I don't need to sit in a weird black van in the middle of a parking lot that could probably give me hepatitis."

"We're here as backup."

"Backup?!" Maya seemed incredulous.

"Yeah. The person that stays behind in case something goes wrong and they are needed to-"

"I know what backup is, asshole."

"Then why..."

"I can't believe that I'm the backup."

"Did you not pay attention when he told you that?"

Maya ignored him, rambling on. "Why the hell would he put me as backup?"

"You did refuse to go with Michael..."

"I have many other attributes that I could've used than arm strength."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Like my impeccable sense of fashion. And I can fight-"

"So can Lasiya."

"-and improvise on the spot."

"So can Lasiya. And Michael. And Jason. Pretty much everyone..."

"My point is," Maya cut him off, "that I'm very valuable and I shouldn't be placed as backup. Even Jason's spot as the fake dead person is better than ours."

"He didn't give it to you because it wouldn't work for you."

"Why not?" she argued. "We are practically the same person. Both of our parents have very high standings when it comes to power and their place in the social ladder. They have many of the same connections and exhibit the same outreach. And Jason and I have the same fan-base and following size. There's nothing else that matters."

"The fan-base following didn't matter either."

"I could've taken over his spot. At least it would've been exciting."

"Well, I mean, unless you got a secret dead twin named Justin lying around somewhere..."

"I do have a twin. His name's Michael," Maya argued. "And he could be made dead. I doubt anyone would notice. Or care."