indentThe seven year old stared at the bottles on the floor. Tilting his head at the liquid that sloshed around in some of them. The room smelt like something roasty mixed with sweat, and he had to stop himself from gagging. His eyes found his father on the couch. His eyes shut and mouth open revealing yellowing teeth and stinking breath. Matthias bit his lip, looking to the ground as tears welled in his eyes. He clenched his fist, took a deep breath, and then carefully stepped over the bottles. Making sure that he didn’t accidentally tip any over on the wooden table or on the carpeted floor. He cringed as his bare foot stepped in something wet, but he continued on until he was face to face with his father.
indentApparently, his father had once been a handsome man. Dark hair and dark eyes. Sculpted jawline and toned body. According to the man himself at least. Now he was skinny and pale, patches of gray hair streaking across his head. His face adorned with a five o’clock shadow, acne, and dark circles under his eyes. The seven year old more than often viewed him as a sharp toothed monster. Ugly and horrid. But he never said that outloud. Taking a deep breath, he put one hand on the man's shoulder and began to gently shake him.
indent“Papa? Papa, wake up.”
indent---
indentMatthias jerked away from where he sat on the chair. Immediately stifling a groan as his body ached from the awkward position he had fallen asleep in. He cracked his back bones, letting out the breath in his lungs as he did so. He had taken to waiting for his partner when he didn’t show up after a couple of hours. But that ended up taking more than he expected and his boredom turned quickly into exhaustion. Matthias stretched out his long legs with a huff, crossing his arms across his chest as he blew a piece of curly brown hair out of his eyes. He had pretty much memorized what the door looked like by now. Even the little crack on the bottom and the hinge that didn’t seem to be on properly.
indentHe quickly drew attention as the door handle twisted and the door opened. Revealing Oberon, his messy black and white hair, and his wrinkled clothing hastily put on his body. His partner quickly raised up both his hands once he saw the glare on his face. He was caught and he knew it. Matthias raised an eyebrow and clenched his jaw as his partner started to try and explain himself.
indent"Really? So you're not just coming back? You told me you'd be in two hours and that was ten hours ago. Didn't you get my messages? I thought you had been compromised. I had to wait up for you like a puppy dog waiting for it's master just for you to come back looking like you'd been a bit busy with the first target.” Matthias scoffed as his partner explained himself, not even moving to look excited when he saw that his partner had gotten the invitation to the party. Sneering as a hand was placed on his shoulder. "Your pretty face can rot in hell if you mess up this mission. I don't need another scolding from Zeus and a week of isolation because we screwed this up."
indentHours passed by quickly, and before he knew it the party was almost here and it was time to get ready. Matthias quickly got ready in an all black suit. Bringing out his dark hair and dark eyes. Before then styling his hair and putting on cologne. He was all ready, but his partner was unfortunately not. Matthias grumbled to himself. He felt like this happened almost every time. Oberon always took his sweet time. Banging on the door for the fifteenth time, he finally got a snarky answer back from his partner. He scowled for what felt like the millionth time in his life at the answer, and quickly shot back with his own singsong voice at the end. "Don’t get smart with me. Maybe I wouldn't have to chill the hell out if you didn't, I don't know, get ready faster? I was done in twenty minutes, Oberon, it's not that hard."
indentWhen Oberon finally made his way out the door, Matthias found it hard not to squirm at least a little when he felt warm all over as he took in Oberon’s outfit. He quickly mentally slapped himself and stuffed his hands in his dress pants pockets. Fiddling with the knives tucked away inside the new larger pockets he had requested. Not that men’s pants pockets weren’t already big enough as it is. Matthias turned back to Oberon as he spoke, staring at the center of his forehead instead of his eyes, afraid that if he did he’d do something impulsive. "I'll be patient when we're not on a time crunch, Oberon. The party’s already started."
indentThey made it to the party without any issue, Matthias entering ten minutes after Oberon had to make it seem like they didn’t know one another. Matthias looked around, spotting Oberon in the crowd as he did. He met his eyes briefly, but quickly looked away. He needed to look like he didn’t know anyone at all. Oberon found the target first, and Matthias was quick to try and secure the phone on his person. While Oberon fitted with the man, Matthias quickly went over and pretended to bump into Mr. Tanaka. Maybe it was a little harder than necessary, but his jaw had clenched when the man had put his hands on Oberon and honestly he needed to get some anger out.
indentThe target stumbled and Matthias quickly looked in the man's pockets, pretending to be steadying the man, before doing just that. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there,” he said in Japanese, bowing low. The target quickly brushed him off, much too happy to get back to flirting with his partner. Matthias made his way back to the opposite side of the room, cringing in the back of his mind. “Damn,” he said before pressing the earpiece in his ear. "Hyacinthus, change of plans. The item isn't in any of his pockets. I do have the keycard to his hotel room though. Going there now. Distract or come with. It's your choice. The suit is at the Ritz Carlton, room number 702."
indentMatthias quickly made his way to the hotel, sneaking past any employees or anyone he saw in the hallways. He found the room number on the keycard, then quickly scanned the card. Watching as the door unlocked with a simple beep. Matthias took a deep breath before, opening the door. "Alright, Idiot. Let's not mess this up,” he said to himself as he took in the room. It was large and grand, which was expected. The room was decorated with a canopy bed, a large tv, multiple couches and chairs to sit on, a private bathroom, glass vases, red roses and more. It was almost something out of a movie.
indentMatthias quickly got to work trying to find the phone anywhere in the hotel room. He looked in all the drawers, in the bathroom, even under the bed and he still couldn’t find it. "Where the hell is it?" he mumbled to himself, growing more and more irritated as time went on. Finally he looked under the covers, and found it tucked under a pillow of all places. He quickly grabbed it and turned it on, grinning as he took in all the information. He stuffed it in a pocket free of anything before pressing his earcom one again, "Found it. Rendezvou at the place of origin."
indentAnd then he heard the door open.
indentHe froze in his tracks as six men entered the room, holding guns of all things. Matthias swore under his breath as they locked eyes. He had to leave his gun back at the hotel room, as that would surely be something someone would notice at a high security party. Luckily his knives were more well hidden, but he was left without fire power for a situation exactly like this. Every gun was pointed at him in an instant, and he let out a sigh as he raised his hands. "Well..this sucks."
indentMatthias quickly ducked under the gun in his face, grabbed the glass vase sitting on one of the dressers, and then smashed it against the man’s head, sending him sprawling to the floor and clutching his face with a cry. Guns immediately started going off and he dashed to get cover, hiding behind a pillar as bullets raised past him. He grabbed one of his knives and threw it out, hitting a man in the throat with pinpoint accuracy before ducking once again as a bullet grazed his shoulder. He hissed in pain, quickly pressing his earpiece as the men got closer. “Hyacinthus, a little help here! I’ve been compromised!”