Lady Eternity started the morning right. After enjoying a fine meal of chicken sandwich, caviar, and glass of wine, she prepared for her luxurious one-hour bath. She enjoyed baths. The calmness of the water soothes her skin and takes her worries away. In most days, she prefers to enjoy simple lukewarm water, but this is a special day. So, she added honey and milk to her bath. It was instant bliss, a touch of Nirvana unbound. After her bath, she donned her favorite fur coat and mentally calculated all of her pending tasks. 

The city is waiting.

Appearing calm and collected as ever, Lady Eternity (or Miss E) visited a local salami shop operated by Fat Giancarlo. Miss E entered the shop like a jolly customer and a long-awaited friend. Giancarlo, on the other hand, eyed her warily. 

"Good morning, Eternity." Giancarlo spoke. "We have new cuts ready for you, missus!"

"Splendid." Eternity said, eyeing the salami cuts on the counter. Aside from salami and bologna, there were also some weird-colored sausages. Lady Eternity was fascinated with all the choice cuts she's seeing. But she's here for business. This is not a pleasure trip, after all.

"I'm sure you know why I'm here, Carlo." Eternity spoke, never losing her smile. 

"Look, daisy," Giancarlo leaned forward, his oily face shining. "I ain't paying you and your twats. I'm connected. You're not. Maybe you turned few heads here and there, but otherwise, nothing. Poof. Be good and return to your hometown."

"Now, now...please don't be mean. You owe my friends more than ten grand." Eternity said like a kindergarten teacher. "I value my friends, dear sir. You call them twats. That's not nice. I'll make it good for you, though. Pay up five grand today, then another five next week. Shouldn't be too hard, right?"

Giancarlo felt the bitter-tasting rage boiling in his throat. Who the hell is this woman slinging justice in random bursts? Giancarlo groped his sawn-off just beneath the counter. It was cold. It hasn't been used for two years now. I will blast this beautiful angel to smithereens, Giancarlo thought. Quickly, Giancarlo pulled the sawn-off and pointed towards the lady.

"Is that how you treat a lady?" Eternity aimed a small revolver at Giancarlo's sweating forehead.

"Leave. Or we both die, right here." 

"We are all fragments of eternity, Carlo. In that sense, we can never really die. But we will feel pain. I'm ready to embrace the pain connected with death. Are you ready? Your kids...are they ready as well?"

Giancarlo remembered his kids. Damn! His heart raced, thinking about the welfare of his family. Maybe, just maybe, Eternity had them all cornered. But everything is obscure. Giancarlo yearned to be free. He's been paying many people too much. Mobsters. City slickers. Cops. He won't pay for debts at all. Not anymore. The gun will do the speaking for him.

An easy squeeze. The trigger will be the judge -

A loud bang and a crash followed. The shop's glass frame splintered as a rifle bullet traveled, worming its way through time, and hitting its mark. Giancarlos' temple exploded in squishy mess; brain matter splattered at the same time his body slumped down. Meanwhile, Lady Eternity simply crouched to avoid flying debris. She saw a woman outside, an ally, bearing a Garand. Lady Eternity stood up and checked Giancarlo's corpse. Bleed away, she thought. The woman from outside entered the shop.

"That guy could've killed you." The woman said to Eternity. She slung the Garand comfortably in her shoulders. "What if I turned up late?"

"You wouldn't." Eternity smiled and patted the woman's shoulder. "Get all of these cuts. We can sell them at a markup."

"Giancarlo is always a scumbag and he owes me money. But does he deserve this?" The woman said.

Eternity looked at her. "I don't deserve anything as well. But here I am. Standing. And Giancarlo...already a corpse. Tell me, Lilith, what do we deserve? In this hustling world of ours, what do we truly deserve? Cash? Power? Bullets?"

"We deserve redemption, I guess."

"That's a good answer. Now, let's leave. We can find more meanings along the way. As long as the coppers don't find us first."

The woman named Lilith nodded. In moments, both ladies were gone. They are ready to explore the best things that the world has to offer. Sometimes, though, the best things must be plucked even before they are ripe.

**

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