Eye of the Tiger

“Ugh, what a waste. After everything I’ve done to keep her on track,” the attacker said then paused for a moment. “I guess it can’t be helped, I’ll just make another one like her – less the emotions of course,” Olivia’s vision is blurry with blood and she’s losing consciousness, but she knows that voice too damn well.

=18 hours earlier=

It’s 5 o’clock in the morning, and the sun is about to rise. It’s been twelve hours since Olivia started watching her target. This time, it was an old woman in her mid-50s. Olivia found it odd at first, but she learned to never question the missions given to her. She wanted it to finish quickly, because as much as possible, she doesn’t want her targets to even feel the pain. Apart from this, she’s really looking forward to get home as soon as possible. It’s their 1st anniversary after all.

“It’s done. Get the clean-up squad here, Connor,” she told the man on the phone.

“Well, that was rather quick. You are our best asset indeed, Tora,” the man replied evidently proud.

In less than three minutes, the entire house is engulfed in fire. Firetrucks swarmed the area and no casualties were declared after the fire was put out.

Before finally going home, Olivia had to drop by Connor’s office to submit the report on her last mission. “Hey Connor, you know I always trust the missions you give me, but why the old lady? She didn’t seem…harmful.” Olivia just had to ask. “Well, that’s exactly it. She may seem harmless, but she was a government assassin like you, but then she went MIA 30 years ago. We found out she’s been selling some government’s secrets.”

“Ooh, that’s why,” Olivia was satisfied with this answer. “Anyway, please don’t give me any missions until Sunday, please please please,” Olivia pleaded while flashing a smile to Connor. Her superior gave her a thumbs up, and did not resist anymore. They’ve been working together for 17 years after all. Olivia was an orphan who lived on the streets of Washington. Connor took her under his care when she was just 6 years old. She trusts her with all her life.

On her way to the apartment, Olivia thought of what Ken would probably like as an anniversary gift. Then, she remembered he really liked to play basketball before they started dating. Having made up her mind, she went straight to the outlets to look for the best basketball shoes there is. Of course, she doesn’t really know a lot about basketball shoes. She tried, though.

(Flashback)

Olivia is reading a book at her favorite spot in the park when someone approached her. When she looked up, she saw a sweaty guy in his mid-20s wearing a soaked basketball jersey smiling at her. She usually has her guard up, but this time, she felt at ease.

“What?” Olivia said trying to sound annoyed.

“Hello, I’m Ken. Ken Taylor. I always see you here at this spot whenever we play basketball,” the guy said holding out his hand. Olivia just looked at it so Ken pulled it away. “Anyway, I got curious about the books you were reading because you would always smile or laugh softly from time to time, so I decided to read some of them, and I think I get why you enjoy them so much.”

Olivia smiled. This is the first time a guy dared to approach her. “My name’s Olivia. Olivia Sato. Why don’t you sit with me and let’s talk about books?”

It was already 6 o’clock in the evening when Olivia arrived at their apartment’s front door. She heard Ken’s favorite show was on, so she didn’t want to bother him. She opened the door with her keys instead.

“Hey honey!” she shouted while trying to hide the paper bag but got no response. Maybe he’s asleep, she thought. She slowly approached the couch to surprise him, but he wasn’t there. She checked the bathroom, but it was also empty. Her gaze shifted to the kitchen, then to the kitchen floor. She saw blood. Her heart started pounding. Instinctively, she reached for her gun and pointed to the kitchen. Slowly approaching the kitchen, tears started running down her face, yet she cannot close her eyes. She mustn’t. When she was sure there’s no threat, she holstered her gun. Behind the counter is Ken’s body with multiple stab wounds, laying on the floor in a pool of blood. Her heart just sank. She fell on the floor sobbing, then she saw Ken’s hand move a bit. “He’s still alive!” she thought. She scrambled to his chest to hear his heartbeat. She called 911 and paramedics arrived at the scene. An ambulance took them to the nearest hospital. Olivia called Connor to tell him what happened. She asked him if he could look after Ken. A few minutes later, he arrived at the hospital.

After coming out of Ken’s room, the doctor approached Olivia and Connor to tell them that the patient is under a coma due to blunt force trauma. Hearing this, Olivia was set to find who did this to Ken. She left things at the hospital to Connor, and went back to the apartment. The door was taped with a “POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS” sign, but this is not enough to stop Olivia. She entered the apartment, then she noticed something she hasn’t before – Ken’s tablet on the floor near the couch. She picked up the tablet while wearing gloves, then browsed through it and found something in the tablet’s gallery. Ken’s last photo was of himself, but there’s more to it. Behind him in the photo is their full-body mirror, and in it was a reflection of a man holding a knife. She needs to know more about it, and an old friend immediately came to mind.

Desperately, she dialed a number she didn’t have in her contacts but had been etched to her memory. On the other line, a guy probably in his early 20s answered.

“Hey Tora, it’s been a while! I’ve missed you! What’s up?” said the guy excitedly.

“Hebi, pipe down. I need your help. Someone attacked Ken. He’s at the hospital right now, in a coma.”

The guy didn’t hesitate to get the details from Olivia. The photo was sent to him, and in just thirty seconds, Hebi spoke, “Tora? You still there?” “Yes, can you tell me who did this?” “Well, he’s definitely one of Oliver’s henchmen, but you know he’s really dangerous right?” “Thanks,” “You’re welcome, but please don’t go by yours---" Olivia hung up.

With a bag of guns, ammunition, and knives, she went straight to the devil’s lair. Oliver had over a hundred guards positioned around his mansion but Olivia had no problems dealing with them. She did this very quietly, nobody suspected there is an intruder. All she has to do now is find Oliver. With a house this big, he could be anywhere. She finally found him in his office alone with a naked woman. Olivia swung the door open and immediately fired shots. The woman screamed and ran to leave the scene even without her clothes on.

Pointing guns at Oliver, Olivia yelled, “Why?! What did I ever do to you?!”

“Hey, calm down. There’s no need to shout, this is a small room you see. You’re asking why I did it? Hmm…it’s not really for revenge or anything like that. I was just returning a favor,” Oliver said grinning, not a trace of fear in his face. This made Olivia snap, and when she was about to pull the trigger, she suddenly felt a striking pain in her back. She tried to turn around but she was pinned to the floor. Oliver is just happily watching everything. The stabbing was not random, the attacker skillfully hit vital areas. Olivia struggled to fight back, but she already lost too much blood.

When she’s no longer moving, the attacker stopped. Olivia tried to move her eyes to see who it was, but she cannot see with the blood covering her eyes.

Thinking Olivia’s already dead, Oliver asked the attacker, “hey Dad, are you done here?” The attacker spoke, but not to answer Oliver’s question, “Ugh, what a waste. After everything I’ve done to keep her on track,” the attacker said then paused for a moment. “Well I guess it can’t be helped, I’ll just make another one like her – less the emotions of course,” Olivia’s vision is blurry with blood and she’s losing consciousness, but she knows that voice too damn well. “I will remember this,” she thought, then, everything went black.