"Dawg, I'm just sayin' they do crazy shit with those filters these days."

Two men wore black beanies and black surgical masks that left only their eyes showing. They stood laughing and joking on the steps of city hall on that brisk morning, fidgeting about with their hands jammed in their pockets as they continued shooting the shit, not bothering anybody.

"What they do?"

"Bitch had a big ass goiter on the other side of her neck, I'm almost fell out the car when she walked up."

"How do you miss that 'cause of a filter?"

"It's not just the filter, it's— it's like the angles 'n shit, or like, like, some people are like. What do they call it? Like magicians, but like— oh! Masters of Redirection. She was on some 'I'm over here, look, now I'm over here' type shit."

His companion stared at him blankly with his shoulders slouched and his head tilted like he didn't believe a word he said.

"Bro, look."

He pulled out his phone and opened Instagram. "See? I told you."

"Nah, I see it."

"Stop lyin'."

"It's right there." He pointed at her neck. "I know what you was lookin' at, though."

"What?"

"Dat booty," he answered with a grin.

The young man laughed. "You know what, dawg? You right."

"Good morning, gentleman," greeted Andre with a superficial warmth atop his imposingly broad, uniformed frame. "What y'all got up for today?" He asked it in a tone of voice that showed that he didn't actually care, only he wanted him to know that they couldn't loiter.

"Oh, perfect. Yo yo yo, help me out with this real quick," said the first man, in such a jovial attitude that Andre felt himself compelled to oblige him. He leaned over his shoulder and looked at the man's phone. Behind him, at the corner of the street, there was a dark van that pulled beside a fire hydrant— definitely a violation that Andre would've called out if he wasn't so occupied with the woman's Instagram feed.

"Okay okay, so tell me this."

"Do you see a—"

"Nah, shut up! Whatchu think? She straight, right? Do you notice anything..."

"Yeah, she got a big ass goiter."

The man threw his hands in the air as his companion hunched over his knees cackling.

"I told this man! You're just stupid!"

Even Andre joined in on the laughing. Once he regained his composure, he asked, "shit, I needed a good laugh this morning. Fellas, do you have any business at city hall today?"

"Yeah." His short reply was punctuated by a thunderous burst and the sky went red, then completely black.

The bloodspray from his face splattered across the man's surgical mask and dotted the bridge of his nose.

"Nothing personal, big dawg. You was just doin' ya job." The two men hustled up the steps to join the others, who were already rushing out.

"Mayor's dead," one of them said with a devilish gleam of amusement in his eyes narrowed his already thin face. His cheekbones were lifted taut and nearly bulging from beneath his surgical mask. "Let's go."

The several masked men in black rushed swiftly down the stairs and into the dark van and sped off, leaving the lifeless security guard alone there, bleeding out from his head on the steps.