"Pl-Please spare me."
The putrid scent of grime and urine filled the basement of the warehouse.

Ishikawa's cool gaze shifted from the nozzle of his automatic. The man lay beneath him, his body contorted in a foetal position with hands folded beneath his chin.

"Please. I swear I don't know anything."

Ishikawa stretched his neck to a side, sighing languidly.

"Fuck. This shit is really getting on my nerves."

He spoke with an annoyed drawl.

The man trembled in fear, as he kneeled down before him.

"Do I look like I give a shit?"

The eyes that looked at him were feral. There was not an ounce of life in them. The man knew he had no hope.

He whimpered, frozen at his spot.

"No, no. Please. N-"

His voice died down the second a bullet passed through the middle of his forehead, splattering bits of his skull at the wall behind him.

Ishikawa straightened and put the pistol back in his inner coat pocket. Taking a last stock of his surroundings, he pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the blood off of his face.

He scanned the area for the last time, waiting for a twinge of remorse- anything to remind him that he was still human. But it was just as he had suspected- he felt nothing.

______________________________________________________________

"One neat."

Ishikawa rubber the back of his neck, as he took his seat at the bar.

"I suppose your meeting went well."

Carl pushed the glass in front of him.

"Hmm."

He downed the drink in one go and signalled for another. Carl obliged, but not before passing him a disapproving look.

"You really should cut yourself some slack."

"Hmm."

He shook his head as his words were ignored again.

"By the way, we got new stock. Care for a taste?"

His words forced Ishikawa to pause in the middle of his drink. He pinched the bridge of his nose, letting his annoyance show.

"So soon?"
Carl got the drink ready, pulling out an icebox from beneath the counter.

"Well, it is one to die for."

His toothy grin didn't fool Ishikawa, who knew the shrewd agent behind that jolly visage. He leaned back resignedly, and inspected the glass. Clear letters carved the surface of the ice, peeking out of the golden liquid. Another meeting. He memorised the code and sipped nonchalantly, watching as the ice melted along with the carvings.

"I bet."

___________________________________________________

"You called for me?"

Ishikawa hated to be in the HQ. From the outside, it was just another decrepit office block, housing a dying consultant firm, which was rarely visited by clients. But it offered them the perfect camouflage for the real business which happened in an inaccessible underground vault.

"Agent Ishikawa. Good job on the last hit."

He nodded disinterestedly, waiting for his superior to get to the real point.

Agent Lody opened the drawer beside him, pulling out a thin folder.

"I have a very important mission for you this time."

Ishikawa's eyed the folder.

"You could have sent me the target. Why bother calling me here?"

Lody shook his head.

"No. I needed to personally brief you on this one. You see, it is a bit different from what you usually do."

Ishikawa frowned, sensing the urgency of his tone.

"How so?"

"Well, it requires you to go undercover for a considerable amount of time."
His words didn't sit well with Ishikawa, whose frown deepened.

"Why not eliminate the target sooner? Just give me the name."
Lody pushed the folder towards him.

"This mission doesn't require you to eliminate the target. We need the target to be alive. There is some very important information we must gather."

Ishikawa clenched his jaw.

"You know I don't do that stuff. The only thing I'm good at is killing. Call me back, when you get a job good enough for me."

He turned back, taking decisive strides towards the steel door.

"Even if it concerns the Shopkeeper?"

The name caused Ishikawa to freeze in his tracks. A rush of blood sounded in his ears, and a familiar rage filled him.

Agent Lody leaned back in his chair, watching him with calculating eyes.

"The Shopkeeper?"
Ishikawa faced him again, with a barely controlled expression.

"Come here and take a seat. This conversation is going to be a long one."

__________________________________________________________

"He has a daughter?"

The disbelief was apparent in Ishikawa's tone.

Lody cracked his knuckles.

"Well, technically our sources suggest she is Maugrim's daughter. But you know we have credible intelligence to suggest that Maugrim is the Shopkeeper. Nothing is for certain. Hence, we need you. You are our best agent out in the field."

Ishikawa's head was reeling with the revelation. That bastard has a daughter?!

"I know you don't take missions like that anymore. But this will be the perfect opportunity for you to take your revenge. You wanted us to give you a chance- here it is."

Ishikawa picked up the folder, his expressions unreadable, and flipped through the pages.

"This is her?"

Lody marvelled at his ability to keep his cool, and nodded measuredly.

"Yes. You need to get close to her. Get her to trust you enough to rely on you. We are sure she will lead you to him. All her information is given there. Once you accept this mission, we will brief you. Of course, considering the personal connection you have with this case, I will not force you to agree."

Lody knew very well that Ishikawa would not let this chance slip out of his hands.

________________________________

Ozan waited for the famed agent to make his way out of the office, before rushing inside.

"Did he agree?"

Agent Lody passed him a pleased smile.

"Like he could ever refuse the offer. He has been awaiting this moment for the past three years."

"I still don't think he is the right choice. He is too volatile to control. And he hasn't been undercover for so long. Are you sure he can pull it off?"

Lody scoffed at his words.

"You seem to forget that agent Ishikawa was our best undercover agent before that incident. He may seem unpredictable now, but when it comes to his work, he is immaculate. There is a reason he only takes hit jobs these days. But his other skills are just as sharp."

Ozan sat before him.

"Still, I feel we should tell him the truth. It's better not to leave him like a loose cannon."

"And part with our most beneficial resource? No way in hell! You know full well why I chose him, when we have other agents at our disposal. It is his streak for violence and rage that differentiates him from others. His thirst for revenge fuels him. We need to cash in on his emotions. As long as we do that, this mission will never be compromised. Trust me on this, Ozan."

____________________________________________________________

Ishikawa stared at the vast expanse of the bustling cities. The night sky was devoid of any stars. A thin crescent moon peeked from behind a skyrise.

"Don't you love the city lights, Julius? They make me feel so alive..."
The soft voice rang in his ears, like a whisper. A pang of guilt and pain twisted his heart.

He had been hearing her more often since the meeting. It had brought forth the memories he had tried to suppress for the sake of his sanity.

Finally, his revenge was in sight.

He threaded his fingers through his long locks and picked up the folder that had been lying on the bed.

A small card slipped out, falling on the mattress. It was an ID card. Altair Cross- that was to be his new name. He flipped it back on the bed, and turned his focus on the contents of the folder.

He inspected the photo attached to the documents for the umpteenth time. A cheerful looking, doe-eyed girl glanced back at him. Her smile twisted his guts, filling him with disgust as he thought of her connection with the man he had vowed to crush.

As he continued looking at her photo, his resolve strengthened further. Here she was- smiling this brightly, when the woman whose smile he wanted to see the most, had been snatched from this world by her father. He wanted his enemy to feel the same excruciating pain and loss that he had felt. And this girl was going to be an important key to that.

"Nancy Fernandez..."