The girl tiptoed over the rotting bodies which lay strewn on the floor around her. The gentle breeze coming in from the entrance to the underground parking lot was causing her rainbow hair to sway across her face.

She looked around her and spoke into the empty space.

“I need some Music”

She her body was bathed in a glow as man in golden attire appeared next to her holding a violin in his hands. He smiled at the girl and their steps broke the silence of the area as they walked on the concrete floor.

As the man gently stepped over the corpses he lifted the violin and began to play a song.

“I got the music but now I need a Melody”

Melody smiled at her partner but frowned as she saw that his golden jacket was buttoned up to the top. She laced her fingers around his front and undid the top buttons of the jacket.

She had insisted that they get matching costumes and she wanted every aspect of them to be the same. If she undid the buttons on her jacket then he would have to as well.

She moved back and swayed her body in time to the rhythm of the music, dancing over the corpses that littered the ground.

“What do you call this dear?”

Her partner, Music, was playing a new tune for her. He smiled at her when she asked.

“I’ve named it The Calling of the Night. It’s rather fitting isn’t it?”

She gazed playfully at him. Her albino partner had played many a tune to her during their time together and he always managed to surprise her when he made a new one.

“Indeed it is. I like it a lot.”

*Ba-thump*

Her heart was beginning to beat in time to the music.

“Put me up dear.”

Music’s face broke out in a sweat as he concentrated and changed the pace of the music he was playing. His black hair changed to gold and began to sway around him as Melody was lifted into the air.

She looked at the concrete parking lot underneath her and observed the current state of affairs. It was clear that this place had seen a terrible battle recently.

The first thing that stood out to her was a black orb filled with darkness in the middle of the room. It was a few meters wide and tall and was surrounded by the dead bodies of several heroes. She recognised quite a few of them as people she had worked with before.

“It looks like that’s our guy.”

Melody could tell that the orb itself was some sort of manifestation of their targets powers. If she had guessed correctly then their target would be located within it.

The stone pillars which were holding up second floor of the parking lot were worn from the battle between the heroes and the villain. Several of them had been cut clean in half.

It looked as though the ceiling would fall from a single push and if the pair weren’t careful the entire floor above could come crashing down on them.

“Oh dear, this is quite the wakeup call.”

Music continued to play his violin as he observed the scene gravely from the ground. They walked slowly towards the centre of the room and looked at the orb of darkness.

Their golden costumes seemed to lose their shine as they neared the blackened object.

“Put me down.”

*Ba-thump* *Ba-thump*

Melody felt her feet touch the ground and sensed her heart beating completely in sync with her partner’s rhythm. She raised her hand and grabbed her partners shoulder.

“I’m ready.”

A golden glow seeped out of Music’s hair and began to form an aura that connected the pair. It moved to encase them completely in its radiance and they walked up to the front of the orb.

“It looks like he’s in a state of recovery.”

Music frowned as he looked down at one of the corpses and when he turned it around he saw a familiar face on it. He looked at the rest of the bodies and recognised many of them as belonging to famed heroes. Several were rotting from being exposed to the elements for days.

“It wouldn’t have been an easy battle.”

Melody nodded her head in agreement with him. Music laughed at her use of gestures and she blushed. While they were synchronised he could already feel her every emotion.

“We should double check the information.”

Melody continued to look at the orb as she spoke and looked reached into her jacket. She pulled a sheet of paper out of her pocket. She skim read it and read the contents for Music’s benefit.

“The mark this time is known as Victor Wallace. He was previously known as the superhero Perfect. He was a man that won the hearts of millions with both his acts of bravery and his handsome looks. He began to remark that he felt alone even while with his teammates and was frequently found completing jobs solo. Although some found his comments strange most saw them as the way he used to dealing with the pressure he was under at the time.

At some point he was consumed by the powers of the villainess Darkness and the two merged. He soon after killed his hero team and declared war on the hero association under the new name Perfect Darkness. There was little he could do alone and he has been trapped by the association in this town.”

Music gave her a look at the last line and she rolled her eyes, “Okay, I might have been paraphrasing a tiny bit but that’s basically what the mark description says.”

She bathed her hands in the golden glow and placed her palms against the surface of the orb. The darkness shifted around them as though it were trying to consume the golden aura.

Music noted how the striking gold of her costume clashed with the opaqueness of the darkness.

“It’s hard to believe he’s even human anymore.” Melody commented as she continued probing the orb.

After running her hands over the darkness she lifted her arm and gathered more golden energy into her fist. She swung her fist behind her and brought it around to punch the orb. Upon contact the orb shook and the entire floor started trembling.

The pair jumped backwards as the orb swirled and lifted from the ground.

“Correction, it’s definitely not human anymore.”

The pair observed as the darkness sunk into the top and bottom of the orb, making its walls transparent and revealing a humanoid figure which had been contained within. Its skin was composed of a metallic grey coating and it shimmered with specks of light. It was as though flames were underneath the darkness, fighting it.

The flames underneath its skin were a sign of Perfect’s previous power to control fire but the darkness itself had consumed the man once known as a superhero and now encompassed him in a full body shield.

The darkness spread across the humanoid and began to sway and jump along the surface of his body. The darkness was quickly absorbed completely and the being opened its eyes to view the pair.

“I know you.” The black flames surrounding it flickered as it talked.

It touched the edges of the golden aura surrounding the pair.

“You are the assassins, Music and Melody.”

The pair looked at each other and the being could see the displeasure in their eyes.

“Strictly speaking we’re just musicians.”

Music looked at the being in front of them.

“You’re Perfect Darkness, correct?”

As they spoke the being looked down from the air nodding and it waved its hand at them in annoyance.

“I have little time for pleasantries. Will you join me in my quest to bring down the association? I can pay you handsomely.”

Music glanced at his partner who shook her head.

“We’re already here on a job, nothing more and nothing less.”

The humanoid growled and began to grow darker. Its metallic skin turned pitch black and the darkness surrounding its body shot out in every direction and the pair moved to dodge the incoming attacks.

The pair glided over the corpses to avoid the tendrils of darkness but quickly spotted that the darkness was heading in a different direction.

The pair gazed as the tendrils hit the bodies of the fallen heroes.

The corpses slowly disappeared as the darkness absorbed them. The being gasped in pleasure and the dark aura around him began to grow and thicken with each body absorbed.

Melody took advantage of the distraction and jumped up to punch it in the torso. A pillar of darkness rose from the things body and violently pushed her back, smashing her face and sending her flying towards the ground. She flew towards the ground but the golden aura surrounding her prevented her from crashing into it.

She jumped back up and sent a flurry of punches towards the being but was simply flicked back to the floor.

Music rushed over and checked to see if his partner was alright as Perfect Darkness let out a laugh.

“Look around you and see the corpses of those that have tried to fight me before you. Now that their powers add to my own I am UNSTOPPABLE!”

At his shout the cracking pillars finally broke under the strain and the second floor of the parking lot began collapsing onto the trio.

“Dear-”

“I know darling.”

Music began to play a new tune on his violin and the pair’s golden glow grew brighter. The moment the ceiling collapsed on them they became intangible and rose above the dust and falling debris.

They looked down at the ground and saw that the broken pieces of debris from the second floor covered the entire area. The weight of the broken pieces of parking lot had crushed the remaining bodies and blood was leaking across the floor and growing darker as it merged with the dust flying in the air.

They looked at each other and Melody laughed.

“Surely he wasn’t wiped out by something as small as that.”

Darkness began to seep through the debris and the pair closed in on it.

“Can he get out?”

As soon as the words escaped Melody’s mouth the debris exploded outwards and the humanoid glared at them. The stones and rocks passed harmlessly through the pair and Melody began to glow brighter.

“You know he makes me want to shout.”

Music smiled as she began to speak.

“C’mon now, I know you will either way.”

Melody gave flashed him a quick smile and turned to face the humanoid before her.

As though it could sense that something was about to happen it sent more tendrils of darkness from its body to attack the pair.

The darkness passed harmlessly through the intangible pair and Melody began to sing.

“Say that you love me.”

The humanoid balked at her words and the darkness surrounding it stopped firing at her. The being looked up at her and Music could see in its eyes that its instincts were fighting against Melody’s influence. He had seen it happen countless times before but no matter how hard it struggled it wouldn’t be able to stop Melody from controlling it.

“Say that you need me.”

The humanoid fell to its knees and looked at itself in dismay. It was as though it had lost control of its body. ‘No-’ Music thought to himself, ‘it had lost control of its body.’

“Say that you want me.”

The darkness began to seep from the humanoid, leaving it, and began to surround Melody. Music tensed but quickly relaxed as he saw that the being had returned to its human form.

“Th-thank you for freeing me.”

The superhero known as Perfect began to talk but Music could hear Melody’s voice piercing through the darkness as she continued the last part of her song.

“That you want to please me.”

The human looked around at the fallen debris of the parking lot. His face was a mask of horror as he grabbed the nearest rock and began to pound down on his own head. His arms continued to swing down on his head until his brain was completely destroyed. He soon lay dead in a pool of his own blood.

Music couldn’t help but feel awed every time he saw Melody’s power at work. Anybody that heard her songs were forced to become fools that didn’t know anything other than what the song told them.

“I don’t really like the song but I do feel as though the effect was appropriate.”

The darkness had disappeared and Music saw that his partner had her arms crossed.

“He got what he gave in the end.”

He thought for a second, “I enjoyed the song.”

Melody blushed and laid her hand on Music’s shoulder. He began to finish his tune and the pair glided to the ground. As the glow surrounding them released and his violin disappeared he felt a slight sense of sadness. Perhaps he was getting too old for this business.

“Perhaps you are.”

The pair tensed and saw that the dead human was slung over the shoulder of a flying man. The man pushed his golden hair to the side as he looked at Music and smirked.

“Getting too old for this sort of thing, I mean, just in case I wasn’t clear.”

Music felt a flash of anger cross his face and walked towards the man.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business. Where were you? And let go of our mark.”

“Mark?” The man looked at the corpse he had flung over his shoulder.

“Oh you mean this guy? Here.”

He threw the body into Melody’s hands and she staggered backwards. Music relaxed, but only slightly, as long as the body was in their hands they would be able to hand it up for the reward placed on the mark by the hero association.

“As for where I was… I knew you two could handle things.” The man shrugged as he spoke. He clearly considered the matter to be of little importance.

“Heroes died because you weren’t here to help them fight. Aren’t you supposed to protect them?”

“They died because they charged in unprepared. It was a foolish mistake on their part. I don’t wish to associate myself with those that disguise personal greed as justice. They were after the man’s bounty just as much as you were.”

Music spat at the man and the glob of liquid whizzed under the man’s legs.

“You call yourself a hero?”

The man smiled.

“I find it ironic that an assassin is lecturing me on heroism.”

Music glowered at the man.

“Besides, you’re just angry you’ll get less money for this job and you know it.”

Music knew that the man was right, this guy was always right, but it didn’t make him feel any better about it.

The payment given to them would be a lowered significantly when the hero association finds out that the assassins hadn’t gotten there in time to save their members.

“Thank you for giving us the mark.” Melody spoke slowly to the man in front of her as though she were choosing her words wisely. The man simple nodded at her and grinned.

“It was yours from the beginning.”

The pair turned around left him where he was. They knew from experience that it was better to leave when they were given the chance.

Music balled his hands into fists as they walked off. The man behind them was someone that even they would have to be careful in handling. Music glanced back over his shoulder as they left and the superhero known as Deus Ex Machina waved at him with that smirk that seemed to be eternally stuck on his face.

Melody pushed her partner in front of her when she saw where he was looking.

“Dear-”

Music interrupted her, “I know darling. I won’t be picking any fights with him. That man is more terrifying than any other assassin or hero I’ve ever met.”

Melody placed her arm around Music’s shoulder, “Let’s go to that Japanese ramen place you like. I’ll pay.”

He gazed at his partner and grinned, “You mean the one run by those Vietnamese people? Consider it a date.”

Melody let out a laugh and the pair walked off.

At the end of the day the pair had gotten their mark and that was all that mattered to them.

Authors note: as you can tell this side chapter is basically made up of song lyrics XD but it was fun to write.