New York
January 17, 02:34 EST

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Red Revenge balanced carefully on the beam. Any movement অথবা noise would reveal his location and ruin what he was working on.

"Positions?" he asked quietly.

"Emerald, here."

"Nightress, here."

"Ready."

The Black Hero continued to পার্চ as the drug lords filed in from below him. Then in came the assassin. Red Revenge couldn't see his face অথবা any feature of him.

The assassin was dressed in sandy robes and a turban. Medical bandages covered his face leaving a slit for his eyes. Two scythes were on the man's back and Revenge noted several other weapons under his billowing cloak.

The assassin walked to the center of the room and leaned against a support pillar while the drug lords discussed something. At last, they turned to the man and reached an agreement. The assassin stayed silent the entire time.

"Does this guy ever slip?" চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ whispered.

"That's why we followed him here." Revenge replied. "Quiet."

The assassin was handed a ব্রিফকেস which he picked up. In return, he handed a piece of paper to one of the drug lords. He looked at it, waited about five seconds, and looked straight up at Revenge.

"Deploy!"

The Black Hero dropped down on the drug lord, flattening him to the ground and grinning at the reassuring crunch of bones. Glass shattered as Nightress jumped through the window using a double handstand kick to knock out two goons. পান্না was last in the room throwing explosives and gas. In no time, the drug lords were down, but the assassin had disappeared.

"Another dead end." পান্না said, kicking a gun away from a body.

"But we got a visual." Nightress shrugged. "That's better than nothing."

"Agreed." Revenge said, looking at the Latina for a millisecond too long before picking up a drug-lord and slamming him into the wall.

"Who was that and where is he going?"

"Like I'm gonna--agh! What're you--?!"

"How long can আপনি hold your breath?" Revenge asked, shoving the man's face near a rain-water bucket.

"But--but that's frozen!"

"Exactly." Revenge said, slamming the man's head into the ice. The Black Hero repeated this process silently as the ice slowly turned red and gave way to the force of the man's head. The water turned a misty pink.

"Now," Revenge ব্যক্ত again, slamming the guy into the wall. "Who was that and where is he going?"

"He's an assassin, he's going to kill someone, and I got rights."

"Do I look like a cop to you?" Revenge demanded.

"No."

Revenge held the man's head underwater and stood on his hand. The man made the mistake of yelling underwater. Revenge slammed him into the দেওয়াল again.

"No...?"

"No, sir." the man ব্যক্ত before passing out. Revenge felt his pulse.

"Dead."

"Did you--?" চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ startedm unfolding her arms and taking half a step forward.

Revenge felt all of the corpses' pulses. All dead.

"They drank the Kool-Aid. Literally." he said.

চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ sighed and grappled onto the roof where the jet was waiting.

"Thanks again for the help." Sam said, placing his hand on Nightress's shoulder.

"We agreed to this a long time ago." the girl responded.

"Just a friendly gesture." Sam replied, removing his hand.

Nightress smiled and disappeared.

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Two Hours Later...


চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ stood on the cold roof of the penthouse. She was freezing, hugging herself through her thick জ্যাকেট and looking into the face of the তিক্ত wind responsible for blowing her hair behind her.

She heard Sam's feet cracking on the ice.

"Are আপনি okay?" Sam asked, placing a strong arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah," চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ said, looking down. "Normally all my cares are blown behind me when I come up here. The wind just woodshes them away."

"And what cares are আপনি "whooshing" away tonight?" Sam asked.

চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ broke free of his grasp and walked to the ফ্রোজেন railing. "Nightress." she ব্যক্ত bitterly.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Oh come on, the way আপনি two looked at each other? It's clear আপনি had a thing for each other at some time." চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ said, rounding on her boyfriend. She noticed he was wearing sweats and a tight white under-shirt. He must have been freezing.

"We agreed a long time পূর্বে we would be acquaintances." Sam said, taking two steps forward.

"You agreed." চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ ব্যক্ত as আরো of a প্রশ্ন than a statement.

"We weren't meant for each other." Sam said, looking at Holly. She received the other half of his sentence: but we were.

"Close your eyes." Sam said. "I got আপনি something."

চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ sighed and closed her eyes. She felt Sam's surprisingly warm hands place something around her neck. She opened her eyes and looked down.

It was a beautiful পান্না necklace. The gemstone was perfectly cut and seemed to be on fire. A long silver chain kept it around her neck. Two intricate silver latches attached to the gem.

"Precious metals," Sam sad, wrapping his arms around চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ loosely. "For my precious girl."

চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ looked up and smiled at him, melting in his arms despite the freezing weather. She kissed him lightly, gently, lovingly on the lips. They kissed for a few সেকেন্ড before breaking apart.

"You are my girl." Sam said. "You always will be."

চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ smiled and lay her head on his shoulder as they returned to the warm বিছানা inside.









The necklace:
link