I had sworn to myself that I would never do it again. It wasn’t my scene anymore. It hadn’t been for a long time. I had seen enough shit over the years to keep me sated for the rest of my life; to scar me for life, if I was that way inclined. But when I saw them there, I knew I couldn’t just walk away. It wasn’t in me to abandon someone like that, someone innocent, someone at risk. No matter what I promised myself.
I had made good money doing what I did. Good enough that I was able to retire good and early, get out of the game while I was still ahead and not at risk of catching a prison sentence or worse for what I had done. I saw a lot of people playing at assassin, and it rarely ended well - almost anyone could kill a guy if they got it in their head to do so, but not many people could deal with the clean up and get away in time to keep themselves out of jail. I’d seen a lot of people fail over the years - end up in prison or killed for not covering their tracks enough. I had always sworn that would never be me. If I was going down, it was because I had encountered someone who was just better than me at all of this, not because I had fucked up in some minute way and ended up with some asshole on my tail.
But either way, that had been a long time ago. I was out of the game, no matter how cliché it sounded, and I had no intention of going back and getting myself all mixed up in that again. But what kind of man would I be if I had let some poor innocent get harassed and probably worse by a couple of assholes?
I nearly walked straight past them. It wasn’t until I heard the tinkle of keys hitting the ground that my head snapped up and around to try and catch sight of what was going on. Some habits were hard to break, and turning off my hyper-vigilant brain at this time of night was one of them. I saw it then - the two guys with her backed up against a wall. Shit. Well, I couldn’t just walk away from this.
I reached into my pocket, wondering if it would still be there. And it was. Old faithful. I pulled on the mask, letting it come down over my eyes and nose but leaving my mouth exposed. I had so many of these damn things that I often felt as if I would never get rid of them, but hey, at least my laziness at spring cleaning led to some luck down the line.
I approached slowly, and as I went, I was reminded of all the times my sisters had put up with something similar. They were all pretty girls growing up, and that often led to no shortage of men following them down the street bellowing obscenities after them. Sometimes these men needed a little seeing to, and I was all too happy to provide it. That’s what the scene reminded me of - all those times with my sisters when I’d been unable to stop myself because the thought of one of these guys laying hands on my family without their permission made me sick. I never did anything too terrible, just a little fight here and there, but it was enough to ensure that when my sisters did get attention, it was on their terms. I couldn’t abide by assholes, and these guys were not getting a pass just because it was late and all I wanted to do was get home and go to bed.
Just as they reached out to unbutton her blouse, I tapped one on the back of the shoulder.
“Hey, buddy,” I commented, feigning some cheer. Sometimes they would back off just at the sight of another person - it was worth a shot. “What’s going on here?”
“None of your fucking business, that’s what,” he shot back and turned back to the woman. She was staring blankly into space, and I wondered if she even noticed I was there.
“Come on, man, she doesn’t look very into this.” I gestured towards the woman in front of us, and the man shrugged me off once again.
“Why don’t you just fuck off?” he snapped and pulled a knife. He waved the blade at me randomly, and I could tell that he’d probably never used one before.
“Are you threatening me?” I asked, keeping my cool.
“Just fuck off!” he repeated, and I could hear the panic in his voice. He expected me to have run off by now, but I was still standing there.
“You know, I don’t think I will.” Before he had a chance to react, I grabbed his arm, twisted it around, and wrenched the knife from his fingers. I cast it aside and went to work.
It was a quick job - both of them were pathetically weak, obviously hoping that flashing a knife at me would be enough to make me flee. My old instincts kicked in, and I allowed them to take over - my body moved almost independent of my mind as I took care of them. And even though I had only intended to injure them enough to scare them away, I found that by the time I came back to consciousness, both of them were lying on the ground, barely moving. Shit.
I made my way towards the woman, but she immediately drew back, panicked. I realized what I was dealing with here - of course, she was going to be shaky. I needed to treat her a little more delicately. I held my hands up and stood at a fair distance, but she still seemed determined to force her way through the wall and away from me.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I promised, and she seemed to relax a little, allowing me closer. I approached, and did the usual check over for physical damage - she seemed okay.
And then, out of nowhere, she pressed her lips against mine. This was the last thing I had expected or wanted for my trouble. I closed my eyes, and for a fraction of a second, I kissed her back. When was the last time someone had kissed me like this? Weeks, months, maybe. But then, I pulled back. She was probably handling a lot of emotion right now, and I didn’t want to take advantage of that. I also didn’t want to be caught with my metaphorical pants down when the cops showed up. Still, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face, and she gazed back at me with her mouth slightly open as if she’d even surprised herself with her boldness.
I gave her the usual rundown of safety stuff - where she would go after this, if she wanted me to take her there, and so on - but she was determined to take care of herself, and I respected that.
“Call the cops.” I bowed my head in her direction and then darted off somewhere that I could keep an eye on her. She pulled out her phone, staring down at the two people in front of her. Well, they were more like corpses now. I knew it was wrong, but I felt a small jolt of satisfaction when I realized what I’d done. I didn’t like killing. No one did. It was inherently against what we were as human beings, but knowing the terrible things they had intended to do and had probably already done to God knows how many other victims, I was glad that they would be off the streets.
And what was I? Was I turning into some kind of caped vigilante? I hurried forward when I spotted the knife lying on the ground between them, knowing it would have my fingerprints on it. I tucked it into my pocket before retreating to the shadows again. It was an ugly blade, the kind of thing you get as a starter pack when you go out prowling the streets like they obviously did. I would dispose of it as soon as I got home - I was pretty sure they hadn’t pulled it on the woman, so it wasn’t like she would send the cops out looking for it.
I watched from a distance until I saw the police arrive. They went to comfort her before they dealt with the two assholes on the ground. Knowing that she was safe, I made my way back into the night and wondered when I would be able to definitively say that a certain kill was my last.