It was just an ordinary summer day in the Windy City, hot and... well just hot. Marta was still new to the city but didn’t much mind the heat, in fact she kind of enjoyed it. Which was why she was sitting on the outside steps of the Seraphim Empire. She had her eyes closed as she was leaning back on the stairs, her face directed towards the sun. 

The noise of the city was faint in her ears, almost as if she was able to tune it all out. She did catch herself nodding off a few times, these past couple of days were quite intense. It was a lifestyle change for sure but one she kind of liked. She wasn’t sure how long she was actually out there but her face was quite warm, a few drops of sweat dripped off her. That’s when she heard the voice, a stern older voice. 

“Marta! Hey, let’s go.”

He tapped her on her shoulder to fully get her attention. He’s the one who brought her into this family so he’s been the one basically holding her hand through the process. It was nice for her having someone that took the time to show her the ropes, someone with a ton of experience to learn from was always the best way to go about it. She did sit there for another moment until he spoke up once more.

”Marta!”

She slowly tilted her head down and squinted her eyes, trying not to get blinded by the sun. 

“Greybeard!”

The two just looked at each other for a moment until he shook his head and started to walk away from her to his car.

”We have a meeting with someone, so get your ass off those stairs and get moving.”

Marta sighed but only enough for herself to hear it, she didn’t want to hear it from him which is why she kept it low. She then pushed herself off the stairs and walked over to his car. Which he was already in and waiting, she opened the door and got in. She hadn’t even closed the door before he stepped on the gas. 

“In a rush are we?”

He glared at her then shook his head.

”Yes, yes we are. I have a meeting in 5 minutes and the meeting place is 6 minutes away. It’s your fault if we are late.” 

She wanted to say something smart ass related back to him but figured this wasn’t the time to do that. So she sat there silent until they reached their destination. 

He parked the car out front and got out of the car, Marta followed close behind. They both stood at the door, Greybeard looked back at her.

”We shouldn’t be here overly too long but make sure you behave. I don’t want you saying anything more then small talk, I will do all of the talking.”

Marta smiled with a soft nod. Greybeard then opened the door and made his way in, she followed closely behind him. The building was quiet, seemed a bit odd to her but nothing overly to worry about. She then followed him through a set of doors into an office. Seems they were visiting a local politician. Greybeard shook the mans hand and introduce him to Marta. She shook his hand as well, he then led the pair into his office. He walked around to his desk and sat in his desk. Greybeard and Marta sat in their respective seats across from him. 

They all made small talk briefly before they started talking business. It had something to do with turning an eye to some booze deals, usually something like this was quick and easy. Normally these politicians were quick to take a bribe but this one was something else. He was against it fully, Greybeard and him quickly began arguing. There were lots of threats thrown at each of them. 

Marta just sat there and kept quiet, was taking in the whole conversation or screaming match at this point. Things quickly got out of hand, how she didn’t know but before she knew it Greybeard stood up drew his gun from his side, took quick aim and fired in the direction of the politician. The sound was deafening, as the ringing in her ear started immediately. At what felt like the same time a splatter of blood shot out of him, hitting Marta directly in the face. 

With that one loud boom, everything had changed. Marta slowly slumped back into her chair and tried to wrap her head around the ramifications of this.

“Fuck me! This literally changes everything.”

Her heart was beating so fast she could hear it over the ringing in her ear.

”What do we do now?”

MartaCirillo - The Seraphim Empire

Greybeard took a quick look at Marta without answering and moved towards the other side of the office to take a look. The politician was laying dead there with a bullethole in his forehead. He turned around and walked towards Marta.

He pulled a cloth from his jacket pocket and extended it towards her " Clear up your face, girl. You have some blood there."

He took a moment thinking while Marta was removing the blood stain from her face.

"Stand up, girl. We need to get moving. Walk normally though. We don't want to draw attention" he said and walked towards the door.

They went out of the office and followed the same route they have taken in. Not long after they left the office, they heard a woman screaming and calling for help. The screams were followed by the sound of heels quickly counting distance. The woman that screamed was clearly runnning towards the exit.

Greybeard turned towards Marta "Let's go faster. SHe is coming this way"

Marta noded and the pair started walking faster through the building with the sound of the woman running, coming closer and closer. They took a turn and they saw the exit. Greybeard hoped the woman would not reach them or even if she did, she would be smart enough to stop and do nothing till they were gone. 

Sadly this was not the case as their walk got interrupted by the woman screaming at them when she saw them. Greybeard made a motion to turn around but Marta grabbed his arm in order to stop him. 

"She didn't see us. Let's just go." she said and Greybeard turned back towards the exit.

The woman behind them was not done though. She started running towards them and throw herself on Greybeard screaming and hitting him. Greybeard threw her out of his back, turned around and took out his gun as he looked at the woman laying on the floor.

"You could have just stayed there and live." He said as he was pointing the gun towards her. 

He hesitated for a second and then turned towards Marta "Take care of this, girl."

He could see it in her eyes that this was the least she expected out of today. He knew that it was not a fair way to go in the deep end of this job but he also knew that she would have to take many lifes until someone else would take hers. She would need a strong stomach in this line of work and the sooner she proved herself, the better.

Marta took out her gun, pointed it towards the woman who was laying in shock on the floor, turned her head around towards Greybeard for just a second and pulled the trigger. The woman was now dead and the pair had nothing to worry about.

"You did good Marta. It's live or die and you made your choice here." Greybeard said as he placed his hand on Marta's shoulder.

The two moved back towards the exit and right in their car. The job was not done that day but Marta proved to be a valuable asset for the family.

Greybeard - The Seraphim Empire