Alex could recognize that perfect hourglass figure anywhere. Among the women he had slept with, Maris was the most desirable as a trophy wife because of her perfect assets. She also managed the farm, which fed right into Alex's childish fantasy of having a sexy secretary who would bend over his desk or "secretly" suck him off under it in the middle of work.
"Well, this is awkward," Alex said with mild surprise.
He could somewhat guess why Maris was waiting for a meeting with Marcus Halden, Head of Halden Logistics, a company that controlled city wide goods distribution. Her own company, Hawke Delivery, named after herself, was also in the delivery business. No doubt there was potential for cooperation or competition between the two.
Most likely, it was some sort of business deal either to prevent her company from sinking or to secure a partnership that would ensure its continued rise. At the very least, it was beneficial for Maris to have a relationship with him.
Alex was not blind to the fact that their meeting would probably end in intense sex, given Maris's proclivities. Whether it was to seal the deal, score some extra perks, or just have a wild night, especially since she had not been with him for two months.
Alex would admit he was the jealous and possessive type, as his past girlfriends often complained. But Maris was neither his woman nor did he have romantic feelings for her.
Still, he felt somewhat responsible for her, just like the other girls he had taken in. So he gave her a courtesy call to clarify their situation before doing anything that might negatively impact her or her company.
"Hey, Maris. It's Alex."
"Alex? I'm a bit busy. Can you call back later?"
"I'm busy too, given the situation, but I need you to answer a few questions. It's urgent."
"Just hurry up."
"What are you planning with Marcus Halden?"
"Are you stalking me? I never figured you for the type," she said, smiling lightly.
It felt good knowing Alex was the stalker type who still looked out for her. It would feel even better if he actually still wanted her. She wanted Alex too, but he was never the type to stay in one place, and she had her own needs. So she left.
"You can definitely accuse me of being the stalking type. I'm just not stalking you."
There was a long pause before it finally clicked for Maris.
"You're targeting Marcus?" she whispered into her phone.
"He's made some enemies and has ties to the Underworld, so he's fair game. I'm about to put a bullet in his head, and I'm calling as a courtesy. Did you need him for something?"
"I was about to propose a business deal to partner with his distribution network," she replied slowly while the wheels started turning in her head.
"Based on Nyx's findings, his business partners usually lose everything shortly after their partnership is established. It happens through assassinations, coercion, or planted evidence that gets them exposed. All of it without any proof, of course, so he doesn't have an outstanding bounty."
"He does have an assassination request on him, though. Most of the money on his head was placed by family members who lost their parents or partners along with their family businesses. Do you still want him? I can come back after you—"
"No, you can have him. Just wait for me to get the fuck out of this building," she quickly replied in a rage.
"Sure thing."
Maris ended the call, quickly stood up, and gave a few vague excuses to the secretary. She walked calmly to the elevator, rode it down, and exited the building without looking back. Once outside, she pulled out her phone and called Nyx to confirm Alex's story.
"Oh hey, Maris. What can I do for you?" Nyx answered cheerfully.
"Marcus Halden. What do you know about him?" Maris asked, her tone clipped.
"That name sounds familiar. Give me a second," Nyx replied, the sound of typing following shortly after. "Here he is. Owns a distribution company and—"
"I'm not asking for a summary. I want to know why Alex is targeting him. I checked. He isn't on the bounty list."
"Oh, that. Alex spent too much money on his new girl and needed to recover fast. So he started pulling jobs from the assassination board. Targets people would pay millions to see dead. Alex had me pick out names from the assassination board of people the League doesn't mind disappearing. Why? You sleeping with him? You should probably say goodbye."
"I was going to fuck him after a two-month dry spell. Now he's dead."
"Tough luck. Alex has been pounding my ass more than ever since you girls left. It's mostly just me, Kaia, and sometimes Vera now. Although, I've got a feeling the new girl's going to get in on the action soon."
"Fuck you."
"He does. Frequently."
Maris sighed, gave up, and took a moment to calm herself down. There was no beating Nyx when it came to insults. She had a barbed tongue that would make sailors question their legitimacy. Practiced from her time spent gaming.
"Fine. I'm sending over a list of companies. I need you to check their backgrounds. I don't want another Marcus incident."
"Oh... you really were about to fuck him, huh? My condolences to your dry pussy. I'll take care of that list for you—no charge. If it makes you feel any better, Alex is probably going to be busy all week with his new set of targets. I haven't been giving him enough work lately, and now he's like a recovering addict getting his fix."
"Thank you, Nyx."
"Sure thing."
Maris ended the call and sighed as she walked back to her office building that also served as her apartment.
She was lucky Alex came along and saved her from becoming Marcus's next target.
Still, there was a voice in the back of her mind that still wanted a relationship with Marcus, partly to benefit from his company and partly to end her dry spell without settling for anything less than what Alex could give her. Marcus was quite the catch, after all, and he could have filled the void Alex left in her.
'Maybe I should just join a sex club,' she thought ruefully. 'Being this horny is messing with me.'
Meanwhile, Alex tracked Maris until she was clear of the building before setting his sights back on Marcus, who was in the middle of a tantrum after his scheduled piece of ass left without a proper reason.
"Sorry to cock block and then kill you, buddy," Alex said under his breath before pulling the trigger.
Just as the bullet shot out of the barrel, Gengar jumped out of Marcus's shadow and deployed a Protect barrier. The Feint bullet penetrated the shield, phased through Gengar, and finally hit Marcus right in the head, splattering brain matter all over his office.
This sent Marcus's Pokémon into a frenzy in his office, with Gengar, Weezing, and Crobat flying after Alex. In the chaos, they destroyed all the cameras in the room, exactly as Alex had been hoping for.
"Definitely dead," Alex said before releasing Arcanine and teleporting straight to Marcus's office.
He picked up the corpse and returned the rampaging Pokémon to their Poké Balls.
Leaving swiftly and silently would have been the cool assassin thing to do, but retrieving the body and securing the Pokémon to prevent further damage was what the League wanted him to do. He wasn't about to risk his bounty hunter license just because he didn't clean up after himself.
Alex teleported out of the office after securing both the corpse and the Pokémon.
Although he retrieved the corpse, Alex also had video evidence from the camera strapped to his rifle, showing exactly how his target was killed. He quickly reviewed the footage and figured anyone who saw it would not hesitate to pay up, especially knowing they could have easily been the ones in his crosshairs.
Thinking back on the hit, Alex realized how lucky he had been. If the target had kept his other Pokémon in their Poké Balls instead of relying on just Gengar lurking in his shadow, the assassination would have failed.
His backup plan had been to wait until nightfall, then slip in using his affinity and fight it out under cover of darkness. But that route could have risked implicating Maris if he hadn't happened to spot her in the adjacent room.
Now that would have been truly awkward for the both of them.
He continued his string of assassinations that were less like true assassinations and more like search and destroy missions. He would barge in, make a mess, clean up a little, then leave. He was clearly playing at assassination when really he was breaching, destroying, then walking away.
If he had more patience, he would be quite the successful assassin. Unfortunately, his time as a bounty hunter made him more confrontational and upfront with his enemies.
Slowly, very slowly, he was starting to get the hang of analyzing for stealth rather than breaching. It was good practice for when the night finally came and he was truly in his element to begin his real assassination operation.
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