Ashley Chambers always wanted to help people. She desired nothing else but the smile that someone gave when she helped them. Once she practiced in the field of medicine, the smiles flowed like rushing water. It was a dream come true. For a time. When she went to school to become a surgeon she saw how expensive it was. Classes always were. The reality of the doctors being too poor to learn how to save lives set in as she realized the deadline was coming and she wasn't even close to making the money. In a desperate move, she made a deal with the devil.
That was a year ago, and they kept changing the due dates to sooner in the week than planned, making her miss the deadline on purpose to keep racking up the debt. Rossi and his gang want their money. By any means. October wasn't fun for her. All month she got calls, visits, and more ways to harass her. One day, at her limit, they come to her with an offer. They'd clear the debt for a favor. An offer she couldn't refuse. She took the odd job.
The room was a small, cramped dirty office in the middle of nowhere, outside of New York. The walls rotted, chairs cracked and disgusting, and a small rusty table sat in the center next to "clean" medical equipment. A man sat at the center, knocked out. The job was simple. Surgically insert drugs into the mule's body, and she could continue her semester like nothing happened. Already in the room, she started, with gloves that were thankfully new. She cut into his side, finding a spot to shove the block in. The incision worked, until he woke up.
Whoever was her assistant clearly didn't go to school, because they didn't apply enough anesthesia to keep him down. Ashley could remember the screaming. The begging. He grabbed her arms, digging into them as he pleaded for her to stop the pain. Stop it please. The guards in the room pinned him down and forced more anesthesia on him, calming the mule down. Ashley had to finish. And so she did. The screams had her once steady arms shaking harshly. The concentration was broken.
Back to the present, she clearly resented Rossi because of that. That's why she's so sure of Jackie's recovery. Two days later, he actually woke up, and started walking. Jackie hugged Ashley tightly, thanking her for the work to keep him alive. They smoked together that morning, at their usual spot as it wasn't as cold as it usually was. The winter that October and November promised arrived. Jackie and Ashley's cheeks and noses were a shade of pink as they smoked. Ashley looked up at the blue morning sky. "Do you deserve happiness, Jackie?"
Jackie paused for a moment. "I… I don't know."
"I think you do," Ashley said. "I think everyone does."
"Even Rossi?"
"Everyone, Jack. Happiness is as blind as justice. I can't tell anyone that they don't deserve that. It's human nature to want that."
Jackie nodded in agreement. "We live in a sick world. I wonder all the time did we do something to deserve this. Why even go on?"
Ashley placed a hand on her friend's knee. "We keep going. This world is so cruel and vile. It makes us sick, physically and mentally. It can drive us insane. Make us hurt ourselves, other people. In big and small ways." She lifted her cigarette as proof. "But… We keep going. The sun has to rise sooner or later."
"Huh. The sun has to rise sooner or later…"
Ashley nodded. "Remember that too."
"Yeah, I'll put that on a coffee mug," Jackie joked.
The two laughed as the morning moved on.
The afternoon was still. Not a cloud in sight, not too many cars driving by, it was oddly quiet. Jackie went out to grab a drink. A cola, as always. She was at her apartment. It was as sterile as a medical room. She kept things tidy. It was easy because she was rarely at her house as much anyways. She would glue the vigilante back together and watch him break apart again. She was reading for her final exams until she heard a knock on the door. She didn't think it was Jackie, it was too soon. She peeked through the eye hole.
It was Lars Rossi.
Her stomach sank like a rock. She had no time to warn Jackie. No time to think of a plan. The door knocked again. She opened the door slowly, revealing herself. "Yes?"
"Miss Chambers?" Rossi said. Two thugs stood at his side.
"Call me Ashley," She replied. "What brings you to the poor side of town?"
"I never move without purpose. Please, can I come in? Just me. These two can wait outside."
Ashley had no choice. She opened the door, letting the boss inside.
Rossi found a chair and sat, with Ashley not too far. The air grew thick. Silence spoke more than those two. Finally, Rossi broke the silence. "I have eyes everywhere, Ashley. More than what you could ever imagine." He stopped to look at the woman for a moment. "Tell me, why did one of my contacts see you help Ultraviolence back on Thanksgiving?"
Ashley remained quiet, her jaw clenched.
"Nothing to say? I must say you are one lucky woman. I heard about this information far too late for my liking. I know you took him home. Now I want to know where he's at now."
Ashley looked away for a moment. He didn't know that he was so close to discovering who UV was. She had to throw him off the scent. "I don't know, Rossi," She finally said. "I know as much as you."
Rossi let out some air, laughing to himself. "You're probably thinking that I'm gonna kidnap you. Maybe use you as bait, torture you until I get the information. I don't hurt women, Ashley." He pulled a picture from his coat pocket and tossed it on the table. It was a picture of Ashley and Jackie smoking and talking. Her eyes widened in fear. "But him, I'll make sure he doesn't walk again. In front of you. Is that what you want?"
With little time, she spun another lie. "I… He comes in and asks for help, that's it."
"That's it?"
"I swear. I've seen his face, sure. But he's some white guy. I don't know his name. He says he hides in some shack under a bridge. He never specified."
Rossi took a moment to think. "Ashley. I love this city. I moved here when I was just a kid, and it welcomed me with open arms. I thought that once everyone fell in line, I could mold it into a safe place. I thought that I was doing something righteous." He leaned forward. "People would understand later. Like giving your cat a bath. Or giving your kid vegetables. They don't understand now, but they will. But so many people support that little masked freak." He laughed to himself, his voice raising. "They want me in prison, they want to reward him. So you know what, fuck this down, and fuck Ultraviolence. I will rip his fucking head open on live TV! For ME!" Rossi stood up, Ashley on guard for anything. "And you helped him. He could've died that night and you helped him. Remember what I said about me not hurting women? I lied."
He lunged forward and grabbed Ashley by the hair. Bashing her head against the table. With a loud bang, Ashley's nose burst open, broken. Blood trickled down her mouth, covering it. With her life over, she had one more thing to say. "If you think I'm gonna beg for my life…" She mumbled, shaking from the pain of a broken nose. "You can go FUCK YOURSELF!" She spat blood in Rossi's face.
In anger, he continued to drive her head onto the table, each crack and thud getting squishier thanks to the blood pooling on the table. He didn't stop until her face was unrecognizable, the table properly broken through. Bits of wood remained logged in what remained of her face. He let her corpse drop with one more impact, and walked off, using his coat one of the guards held to cover the blood on his coat. Walking downstairs, he bumped into a man holding a soda can. It was Jackie. "Sorry, excuse me," Rossi politely said as they walked off.
Jackie looked back in shock. Rossi was here. But why? Rose was at Dante and Roy's house. So that left…
Ashley.