Of Assassination and Murder - Part IV (closed)

[Aria]

Lunch had been interesting. Her mark had showed up and left and Aria had stayed to be polite. She shouldn't have, but the man was easy enough to follow after the fact.

The streets of Beijing were crowded and Aria was thankful that they were just as wary of her as she was of them. They rarely jostled her shoulder or arm as they walked past. It was refreshing. But she still stood out in the crowd.

She wasn't going to do anything today but she intended to follow her mark to where ever he was going. Aria had been surprised to find him in the rough neighborhood she'd found to stay, but it didn't surprise her when he walked into building with women hanging out of the windows beckoning men inside. A brothel was one way to kill the man, but she wouldn't today. And not here.

Aria had a plan, but this was not the locale to execute the plan. Aria took up post across the street on a door step with a newspaper in her hand as if she were reading the want ads.

[Aria]

Aria stopped standing in the doorway about thirty minutes in and opted to walk around the area. Once she'd targeted her mark it was easy enough to keep up with his emotions. Never walking out of range yet still staying as far away from the man's emotional heft so it didn't eat at her already tired psyche.

The whole thing drew upon the darkness. She missed Lucas. It ate at her. Her father would pay for his transgressions.

After an hour of walking the man finally felt like he was leaving. Aria made her way back to the brothel to follow him beyond his extra curricular activities hopefully to someplace she could do her job.

(apologizing for the shortness and poor quality - just want to wrap this line up so I can move on to other things)

[Aria]

Aria followed Lei Hou through the streets again at a distance. He greeted folks in the shops and soon he was out in the bustling business sector of Beijing.

The attired had changed drastically but Aria's long coat still hid most of what she wore. It was a cold winter day so she fit right in with every other soul who was freezing today.

It was as good of a place as any to do this - a public execution. Hide in plain sight.

Aria took out her wallet and started a recording app. It had to at least look authentic. She pulled her hair back into a professional type bun and pulled on a pair of glasses frames to complete the reporter look. She headed up towards Mr. Hou.

It was easy to pretend to be winded from chasing him around. Aria put her hand on the man's arm. "Mr. Lei Hou, I'm so glad I caught you."
Aria started embracing the world around her and showing her gift to the man the Ascendancy wanted dead.

He took a deep breath and tried to shake Aria off as he would any other reporter. Aria continued to ramble on. "Mr. Hou, can you tell me what is you have against the Ascendancy's policy?"


The man stopped and looked at Aria, she gave him a sweet innocent smile as she fed him more of the world around him. Aria watched as his expression started to show signs of pain. "Do you really think you can stop Ascendancy from moving forward?"


His pride was insulted and he took Aria's other arm and Aria felt the rush of her power move towards him. The world around him made him gasp. He clenched his hands to his chest and Aria wrapped her arms around him guiding him to sit down on the near by steps. "Here sit down Mr. Hou."


Aria cradled the man as he started to spasm in pain. Her gift stressing his heart as he felt every emotion around him. Aria looked frantic. She looked around and spoke in horrible Chinese trying to say. "Someone, get a doctor."
But it came out as gibberish. Inside she beamed with pride at her butchering of the language she'd worked so hard to learn so many years ago.

Aria continued to try to get someone's attention as Lei Hou quickly and quietly died in her arms. By the time someone arrived on the scene with a medical pack to care for the man he was gone. Aria let the medics take him and she looked sad and stayed to answer questions which she pretended barely to understand until an English speaking detective finally found his way to her.

A simple matter - a public death - obviously the man was having a heart attack. It was over and done with in an hour. And Aria found herself heading home on a bus. Not to Moscow - but to Italy. There she would find her father and make him pay for what he did.

She'd text her contact the job was done, but it would be pretty visibly on the news. Ascendancy better be happy.