April 12, 2050 - 20:10
Hue, Vietnam - Unknown location
The room was quiet, cold, and almost entirely dark, save for the few streaks of light from the outside street peeking through the window blinds.
Those few streaks of light were enough to illuminate the swirling smoke coming from the only person currently in the room.
Despite being in a dark room with almost no light, the man was still wearing a hoodie over his head and a pair of shaded aviators on his face.
He took the waning cigarette out of his scarred lips, blew a puff of smoke, and watched the smoke drift in the dim light streaks. When the smoke was no longer visible, he extinguished the empty cigarette on the nearby ashtray and took another one out of a pack, lit it up, and placed it in his mouth before taking another puff.
If someone took a look at the state of the room, they would find the room to be in a truly horrendous state, with empty cigarette packs littered everywhere, and the room entirely smelled like a cigarette hotbox.
Once the man had another cigarette in his mouth, he picked up a switchblade that he had stabbed into the table earlier, and proceeded to juggle it without a care if he would harm himself. After all, why would the Mad Dog of Shenyang be scared of getting a little scar here and there?
He juggled the switchblade a few times before catching it on the blade side, then violently threw the blade at the nearby wall.
The blade cut through the air at incredible speed before embedding deeply into the poster on the wall, right on the head of his target.
"Ten out of ten." He whispered to himself as he stared at the wall.
The wall was filled with posters of the ten targets that he was supposed to kill. A bunch of nobodies that a hack from Da Nang paid him to do.
The Mad Dog preferred to have higher-profile targets, one that would offer him an enjoyable fight or last long in his "play" room, not these rabble of newbie mercenaries. He only took the job because the pay was relatively high for these low-effort kills.
He took another puff of the cigarette.
*Knock knock*
He glared at the only door into his room.
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Finally, something to fill in my boredom. Hopefully they'll be enjoyable to kill. He thought to himself while licking his lips perversely.
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He stood up and walked over to the wall filled with knives and blades and stared at his targets one last time.
All the posters were pictures of the Heaven's Hounds squad members, with My in the middle and filled with knives.
April 12, 2050 - 20:30
Hue, Vietnam - Nguyễn Đình Chiểu walking street
Pvt. My Phan
My had never been to Hue before, neither by herself nor along with Harrison or one of the former Archangel's wrath member. All she knew about Hue was from tales and stories told to her by the others.
Some of the members did a good job painting a good picture for My, and some others, not so much.
When it came to the story she had heard about the walking street, My had expected a certain view. Bright lights, colorful, lively, filled with people.
Upon seeing the sight of the street in person, My's expectation was broken, completely, in a good way, though.
Neon lights illuminated the streets on both sides of Sông Hương (Perfume River), coupled with the rainbow-lit bridges, both the Truong Tien Bridge and Phu Xuan Bridge.
The street was packed with people coming from all places and origins, and myriad stores and stalls offering their local goods to the tourists.
If My was pleasantly enjoying the view of places she had heard about, Chisato was in awe of the view, obviously. Long, however, was only mildly impressed by the view. In his reasoning, Long said that he'd seen similar views before.
My took a couple of minutes to take in the sight before grabbing both Chisato and Long's hands and leading them toward the bustling street.
Making their way through the endless crowd of people, they finally reached the "market" part of the street. Stalls upon stalls offered their goods: souvenirs, trinkets, handmade goods, clothes, toys, food; you name it, there was a stall selling it.
They briefly checked each stall, then moved on to the next one once they knew what the stall was offering. Occasionally, My and Chisato would stop by a stall selling trinkets and jewelry to try on some stuff, and Long would have to endure the crashing current of people walking to and fro. Long would have been a lot more annoyed by this situation, but being in the presence of two pretty girls and helping them get some jewelry was more than enough to satiate whatever his grievances were.
Once the girls were satisfied with a purchase, the trio moved on to the next stall.
It took the trio a good hour to check through only a portion of the stall before My decided that there was more to do and see than just spending their money nilly willy.
"How about going through the bridge and taking a couple of pictures for souvenirs?" Long suggested.
Both My and Chisato agreed, and the trio headed toward one of the bridges, the Truong Tien Bridge.
Truong Tien Bridge was lit like a kaleidoscope of colors. Unlike other bridges, its width was extended with spacious pedestrian roads on both sides, on top of the normal road for vehicles.
The trio got to the middle of the street before Chisato spotted an empty spot by the railing and came up with an idea.
"My, empty spot, go!" Chisato ordered.
"Wow, I'm not a dog." My teased.
"I feel like you'd happily be her dog if she wanted." Long jested.
He received an elbow to his side while My cackled like an idiot.
They got to the empty spot just before someone else could take the spot. Chisato then gave Long her phone and hugged My from behind while My spread her arms.
"Titanic pose huh? That is so last century." Long teased again while preparing to take a picture.
"Just take the picture. You'd wish to be in one of our positions." My quipped back.
"Was it that obvious?"
"Yes, now take the damm picture."
In the end, Long took a couple of pictures of the girls, then asked a random person to take pictures of all three of them. They went through no less than ten poses and greatly inconvenienced those around them.
It was worth it to the trio, though; nothing could beat a good memory.
April 12, 2050 - 21:22
Mad Dog followed behind his targets.
Seeing the couple of oblivious idiots laughing and enjoying themselves really irked him.
He couldn't wait until he got his hands on them and tried out some new torture techniques.
He wasn't operating alone either. There were at least another 10 of his underlings in the surrounding area, either trailing along or standing on the side. He'd taught his underlings well not to rouse suspicions from either their targets or the ignorant bystanders.
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His eyes still stayed on the three targets. Once they were off the bridge and on the other side, there were going to be a lot of opportunity for him and his boys to at least grab one of the targets.
He observed the trio and analyzed them.
The guy, average height, average build, nothing too special. Martial arts? Could be, they're a big company's mercs after all. Definitely will resist. Not a good target to 'nap.
He then looked over to the tall girl.
Holy shit, the fuck did they feed that bitch? Freakishly tall… also no, can't 'nap her without struggle or someone noticing.
He looked at the shorter girl last.
Average size, at least smaller than the freak. Good target; small means the drug kicks in faster and lasts longer. Alright then, that one first, then the rest will follow.
Mad Dog decided.
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Mad Dog smirked from ear to ear. He was going to enjoy tonight, a lot.