Athena
“Raven!”
Somewhere, far away, someone was calling my name.
“Raven!!!”
The room blurred into a burst of moving colors around me, a ringing in my ear as in the distance, I could only barely hear the sounds around the room, the people screaming, glasses shattering, tables and chairs toppling.
“RAVEN! GET DOWN!”
A second loud bang, hitting the table and shattering it jerked me out of my trance, sending splinters of wood flying across my face, narrowly missing it.
I threw myself to the ground immediately, taking cover and toppling the table to provide extra cover for me and Luciano.
The shooter was obviously targeting us, for some reason I was not entirely sure of, and he had shit from behind me, hitting Luciano.
I crawled over him, not caring about the broken glass tearing at my clothes or the floor, wet with wine and soggy pasta. He lay they, clutching his bleeding shoulder and grimacing.
“Luciano! Are you okay?”
He nodded, “Yeah, I am fine,” but as soon as I reached out to touch him, he flinched away from me wincing.
“You are hurt!”
He shook his head as another shoot whizzed past us, hitting the table next to the both of us, “It’s not much, it might look bad but it just hurts as hell, nothing much”
“Let me see that!”
“It’s just a scratch Raven,” he yelled frustration under the pain in his voice, “He missed me, just grazed my arm, get down okay.”
“He has to be running out of rounds now.” I said, counting the number of shots I had heard him fire, about seven of them.
“He is running out of time,” Luciano grunted, the police will be here soon.
“Raven, what the fuck are you doing?”
I snatched a napkin from the nearby table, folding it into a makeshift gauze and replacing his hand with it, “I am going to hunt down this son of a bitch.”
He looked at me, horrified, “Have you lost your mind?”
“Put your hand over the wound and press down on it.” I replied calmly.
“Raven don’t you-”
“Just shut up Luciano, please. Let me think.” I glanced at the building, counting the number of floors from which he had shot to the ground level, he would be taking the stairs, there was no way he was carrying a sniper rifle down an elevator, Fifteen floors, that would take him about five minutes. I looked at my watch, I had about three minutes until he was out at the back alley of the building he had shot from, and gone forever.
I had to act fast.
“You better not be thinking what I think you are thinking Raven, you are going to stay right here until the police come.” Luciano grimaced.
“You will do no such thing,” I ripped off my jacket, covering him with it, “Get to the car, if you can still drive, meet me around the block, we are still wanted, the making a statement with the police tonight isn’t something we want okay?”
“How the hell can I find you?”
“My phone’s GPS, it’s on.”
“Raven-”
“Keep the pressure on, I think I hear the sirens, the police will be here soon enough, go!”
Without waiting to hear his protests, I quickly rose from my position on the ground, my heart pounding in my chest as I scanned the restaurant.
A hole on the table whose angle was a nasty reminder of the bullet that had narrowly missed my head stared back at me. The rest of the restaurant was relatively untouched, except for the carnage caused by the panicking customers.
That could only mean one thing.
I was right, it wasn’t just a random attack; someone wanted me or Luciano dead.
Swearing under my breath, adrenaline pumping in my veins, I sharply turned towards the exit. Little did they know, they had just awakened the fury of Raven.
As I burst through the doors, my fight mode activated, sharpening my senses. A small crowd had already gathered outside the restaurant, their phones out, recording the mess, I ignored them, sprinting down the dimly lit alley.
He should be on the ground floor now, his time was already up, but he wasn’t.
For a single second, I got hit with panic. What if I was too slow? What if I had miscalculated and he had gotten away?
But then the door burst open and he stepped out. A small man, close to my height. He didn’t carry any rifle, must have stashed. As soon as he saw me, running toward him at full speed, he turned around and took off.
My target was agile, but I was faster. Pushing myself to the edge, I accelerated, racing against the shadow that had nearly taken my life.
Cornering at a bustling intersection, I spotted a fleeting figure darting through a crowd. My eyes fixed upon him tall, dressed in black from head to to. Without hesitation, I pursued him through narrow alleyways and winding streets, the city blurring in my peripheral vision. I called out to him, keeping my voice sharp and forceful.
In response, he turned turned around and fired widely at me, laughing out loud.
Small arm, probably a Glock, the bullet missed by a mile, but I had stopped to duck, and that slowed me down.
I grimaced, the arrogance in his tone fueling my determination. My agile limbs propelled me forward, maneuvering effortlessly through the urban maze. With each step, I closed the distance, my goal relentlessly in sight.
He turned again, firing another wild shot. I didn’t even have to attempt to duck at this one, it was wild off.
This idiot was horribly shit at his job.
“Give it up, pal! You can’t keep running forever!” I shouted, my breath ragged.
“Fuck you!” He yelled back, but I could hear the exhaustion in his voice, he was panting even more than me. He was out of shape.
And yet he somehow kept ahead of me, barely escaping every corner, but I could sense his exhaustion.
He turned again to fire another shot and the sound of the empty chamber clicked. For a moment, a flash of light from the nearby street light illuminated his face.
“Gotcha.” I muttered.
He threw the gun away in disgust, the fear in his eyes betrayed him. I smirked, knowing I had him rattled. As I cornered him in a narrow alley. He turned at me, staring as though daring me to make the first move.
With a quick flick of my wrist, my concealed blades sprung to life, glinting ominously in the moonlight. His eyes widened, realizing his last-ditch effort had ended in failure. He reached for a concealed weapon, probably a dagger.
I didn’t give him the chance, I lunged slashing at his arms, “Too slow.”
He jumped away, letting out a yell and dropping the knife, his weapon clattering to the ground.
“Now, buddy, it’s time for you to tell me who sent you,” I hissed, my voice a menacing whisper.
He smirked, his eyes flashing with defiance. “Fuck this, Imma just have to beat the shit out of you, you little bitch.”
“Oh he still has something in him?” I crouched into a defensive stance, holding up my hands and inviting him in, my lips curled into a wicked smile. “Try me.”
Without warning, he lunged at me, his fists whirling through the air. I blocked and countering his strike easily. The next one came almost immediately, still swinging wildly.
With one final, explosive motion, I flung him over my shoulder, judo style, rendering him weak and defenseless. Swinging my legs and wrapping them across his neck, I squeezed hard, feeling him wince as the blood supply to his brain was shut off.
He tried to get away, reaching for my face and desperately trying to scratch at my legs until he finally stopped, passing out right there.
When I made sure he was out, I flipped out my phone to text Luciano my position, but saw him pull up to me almost immediately. He jumped out of the car, an furious look on his face, “Are you out of your mind?”
I ignored him, “Just let me pack up this man okay? We will talk as soon as we get back home.”
For once he didn’t argue, just opened the trunk and dragged the man into the trunk. Before we shut the trunk, I saw something flicker in his eyes, a look of recognition.
He knew this man.
* * *
We stood dimly lit basement of the building. We were back in the headquarters, the only place safe enough to drive to with an unconscious man in the car trunk. He stood with a bandage over his shoulder, hastily applied by one of the servants who was so scared he had dropped the bandages, to Luciano’s fury, multiple times while trying to tie it up. We had wrapped some chains around the man, tying to the chair.
As soon as the servant had left the room, Luciano turned to face me, his face contorted in fury, “Raven, what were you thinking?”
I shrugged nonchalantly, “I was thinking of saving your ass Luciano, you are welcome.”
“You could have been killed out there chasing after him like that!”
“All in a days job.”
He ran his hand over his hair, shutting his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, “Raven, I have you time and time again to stay out of these affairs, to leave the dangerous work to me.”
Raven: (Defiantly) I can take care of myself, Luciano! I don’t need you to protect me like some fragile damsel in distress. I’m not weak, and I refuse to stand idly by while you face danger alone.
“I am not saying you are.” He said, angrily, walking towards me, “But that could have been…”
“Who is he?”
He paused, looking at me, “What?”
“This man, you know him. I saw you recognize him when we were dumping his body, who does he work for?”
He looked like he was about to deny it but then stopped, letting out a deep breath. “I have seen him before, many times, he is one of Luka’s men.”