___

After that day, Isa and I fell into a routine. She found a job at a bookstore, so after one of us made breakfast, she'd leave, and leave me to do whatever I needed to. I had gotten one other job, which I'll do tonight, and mostly I've been preparing for that.

"Bye, Isa!" I call from the kitchen when I hear the front door open.

"Bye, Tala! See you tonight!" She calls back.

I finish doing the dishes and get to work. I open up my laptop and research more about the building I have to break into. My assignment this time was to kill a woman who apparently killed my client's son and wife. An ex-lover from what I've gathered. Normally, a case like this would be handled by the police, but my client is a drug lord, so that would raise some flags.

Julia Budon lives in The Cambridge, a ritzy apartment building on 500 East 85th street. Standard security, alarms, locks, and a guard. Shouldn't be too hard to sneak in to.

Julia might be harder to kill, though. She was the lover/girlfriend of Harry Wona, infamous drug lord. She knows the dangers of being involved in New York's underground. She was dumped, and found out that he had a new girlfriend, and a two year old son now, and killed them both in a jealous rage. She knows she probably won't get away with it, but from my research, she won't go down without a fight. I plan my entrance, execution (heh), and exit.

___

It's pitch black outside my apartment. I'm sneaking out because I know Isa will probably want to come with me, and she can't, especially not on this job. I left a note, though, just in case she wakes up and I'm not there.

I walk quickly through the streets, but at 2:00 in the morning on a Tuesday in November, not many people are outside. Those who are won't say anything to me, or about me.

I make it to the building, and walk around. There's no guard outside, so I walk in. There is, however, a guard at a small desk he looks up at me, and gets up. Neither he nor the cameras will see my actual face, because I have a mask on, ironically a red one that looks a lot like a superhero's mask.

"Hey! You can't come in here!" The guard yells as he walks toward me, holding a taser. I smirk. "Can't I?"

He walks closer, and I punch him in the head, hard enough to knock him out. I continue walking, knowing that there's no other guard to watch the cameras. I find Julia's room, and pull a bobby pin out of my hair. I quickly pick the lock, and walk in. Pulling a knife out of my belt, I make my way through the house as silently as I can, to the bedroom. I open the door, and creep over to the bed. Despite my best efforts to remain quiet, somehow Julia wakes up. She's calmer than I thought.

"Hello. I assume you're here to kill me," she whispers, her voice cold and flat.

"Of course I am. You didn't really think you could kill Harry Wona's girlfriend and son and get away with it, did you?" I ask rhetorically, a deadly smirk on my face

"No, of course not, but that didn't stop me from doing it. Who are you, anyway? One of his lackeys?"

"I'm the Scarlet Wolf. Surely you've heard of me."

Her eyes widen a bit at my statement. But before I know it, she thrust her hand out, a knife in it. I jump away, before she can cut me. I have to admit, she's good. She managed to distract me enough to grab a knife, most likely from under her pillow.

She gets up and runs toward me, knife in hand. I quickly dodge and get behind her, holding her in a choke hold. I stab the bundle of nerves at the base of her neck, and watch her pass out, before she'll die. Before she does, however, she manages to stab me in the leg. Fuck! That hurt. After she's dead, I pull off my tank top, leaving me in a black sports bra, and wrap it tightly around the wound in my leg, where knife went in a good inch. Thankfully, my leggings aren't super ripped, so I won't freeze on the way back. The Cambridge is fairly close to both my apartment and Ced's place, both of which have fist aid kits and stitches.

I manage to make it back to my place, and in the living room is Isa waiting for me, looking mad.

"Why didn't you-" she starts before I fall on the ground, my leg too weak to continue. She runs towards me.

"You're hurt!" She exclaims. "Where's your first aid kit?" She asks, surprising calm.

"In the bathroom," I grunt out. She's back in a flash, and assesses my leg.

"Ok, well. The stab is deep, but not very wide. I'm going to clean it, first with water, and then antiseptics. It going to burn, but I need you to stay awake. You've lost a fair amount of blood, but you did the right thing, wrapping it. I'll stitch it up when it's clean," she says, sounding like a different person. I nod. While it fucking hurts, this isn't the worst wound I've had. Ced patches me up that time, and was way less kind about it.

Isa does what she said she would, pouring water on my leg, and then very carefully cleaning it with antiseptics. "Fuck," I mutter, before clenching my teeth at the pain. She grabs the needle and thread, and stitches me up.

"All right. You're all fixed, but I need to wrap it. For that I'll need you to.. umm..." She falters, blushing. "Take off your pants, she whispers. I nod, doing it, and wince when I brush over my injury. Isa blushes more when she sees me in my underwear. But she bandages my leg anyway. I grab the pain killers from the kit, and swallow them dry. They should help a little.

I stand up, careful to not put any weight on my left leg, and hug Isa. "Thanks for helping me. It really meant a lot."

"You're welcome," she says and I smile when I feel her snuggle into my arms.

I break the hug and start to limp to my room, before remembering something and turning around. "Where'd you learn those skills, anyway?"

Isa's smile fades a little. "At school. It was mandatory to tale a first aid class, and I really enjoyed it, so I enrolled in more classes, harder ones, after that."

I nod. "Well, thanks again. Goodnight, Isa."

"Night."

And with that, I limp off to bed.