The Hitman and His Consort

V - Schemes

Third-person P.O.V: VALENTIN HACKSAW

The siblings voted to see what kind of 'problem' their mother was talking about after a good 8-hour sleep. Diana, however, overslept.

"These are ... addicts?" Valentin asked, bewildered wasn't the word but his tone is laced with disbelief after watching what Vanessa labeled as a problem when in fact, it was a crime. He couldn't acknowledge that a bundle of five, baby-footed degenerates who probably haven't grown pubes yet dare to trash HIS warehouse.

Well, THEIR warehouse, technically, but this particular one was where he stacks his plants.

and guns,

and explosives...

and other stuff—However, that aside, these prepubescent boys will regret the day they decided to harm an innocent, inanimate, lifeless building.

Denis stepped in and raised his hands in defense, "With all due respect, these are children" he argued, also left in disbelief,

Vanessa hummed, placing a thumb on her chin, it left her to wonder if her children forgot that she's also watching the same footage and she can tell herself that these are young men, indeed.

"Well, be that as it may, these bastards did enter the warehouse," she said as a matter-of-factly their age, marital status, and hell, even their horoscope has nothing to do with it, if they chose to mess with her family's property then it's their funeral.

Valentin knew he'd waste his time beating these 'children' in the next few hours, however, he simply cannot let this go. Not for the life of him. He squared his shoulders and took a deep breath, " I'll be back," he bid as he marched out of the door.

Bearing only his firm hands filled with unbridled rage.

-and a Smith&Wesson 500 magnum.

He had the footage downloaded on his phone, of course, he's meticulous like that.

"And where are you going?" Diana asked as she placed a hand on her hip, frowning. It seems she's freshened up enough to serve him her daily amount of sass.

"Hunting," he replied with a shrug.

Diana glanced at her watch and pulled out her phone which is identical to Valentin's since they got it to match when they bought it on her birthday.

"Let me come with," she ordere—requested.

"Why?" Valentin spat back, not looking at her as he continued walking.

"So we can have some bonding time~ ya know, hanging out with your li'l sis and all that stuff,"

"Frankly, no thanks,"

"Shut up and let me come with, I'm bored,"

"Fine," he replied to end the discussion. The two of them strode out of the mansion and to one of their 'incognito' cars. Once again, disposable ones.

"What are we hunting?" Diana asked as she clicked her seatbelt, instead of a reply Valentin showed her the footage from the warehouse.

"We're hunting... babies?" she asked, Confusedness isn't enough to describe her expression. In addition, Valentin's agreement didn't clear up her head in any way. With a shrug, she simply leaned back on the seat, crossing her arms. "Well, whatever... not like I have anything better to do anyway," she muttered.

Valentin, not able to care any less, revved the engine and headed to the warehouse. Further investigation needs to be done. He only hoped—no, expected that he'll find extra clues if he went there.

"Did you know that Dee's transferring jobs?" Diana mumbled.

'Ah.. so it begins,'

Valentin has always been Diana's ventilation. So he knew why Diana was so persistent with coming along. She needed to vent out. One minor inconvenience to her would be ranted to him. More often than not, it was about her boyfriend who coincidentally had the same nickname as her. 'Dee', acceptable for a 22-year-old, ridiculous for a man twice her age.

He's used to it, he wouldn't relate to the yearning for the people who removed the 'Apricot' shade of matte nail polish from their usual shelf to be burned in hell, but he gets the gist of it, he would also be very pissed if they suddenly unshelved his favorite fruit, everyone has their ticks.

One thing he is sick of hearing, however, is the disdain in her romantic life, one that involves one of Denis' best friends and Valentin's therapist. Dr. Rodrigo Adante, a 41-year-old man who looks like he's 34.

He inhaled before answering, "it's within the state".

Diana wasn't pleased to hear this, of course, her visible frown gave it away.

"He could have at least told me," she argued.

"He knew you'd be upset, it's literally two hours away,"

"TWO HOURS? Could he handle that? Every day?"

"It's not permanent, he's just filling in for someone,"

"Hmph." she huffed, finally gathering her composure. Valentin smiled, lightly flicking her ears. A thing he does, as a way of endearment. (Or something along those lines) Once they arrived at the warehouse, gates automatically opened for them and they were greeted by a few employees.

Parking in the empty spaces of the compound, they headed straight to the warehouse office and called the guards on duty that night.

"Do we have any other footage of what happened that night?" Valentin asked as he sat on the edge of the table, the technical team composed of two personnel immediately pulled up three other more angles on the scene.

"Where the f**k were you?" He spat, turning to the guards, gesturing at the footage, visibly pissed.

"Uh..sir, we were actually dealing with another problem on the back, the product crates were opened and the contents thrown out, scattered, just...trashed all over the place," The head guard, Donovan explained, and his team nodded in agreement.

"all of you?"

"yes sir,"

"So you left the whole building unguarded, to ...clean up?"

"yes sir"

"f*****g HELL!" He roared, punching a small crack on the wooden wall, startling everyone in the room except Diana who only goaded the guards.

"Ohh...y'all done it now," she mocked in a hushed tone as Valentin pinched the bridge of his nose, visibly furious. He leaned on the table to watch the footage closer, trying to find anything remotely useful.

And that he did.

These are high-school boys, one of them was wearing a varsity jacket, outclassed and lame, the video is in black and white but there's no mistaking that ugly tiger print on the back.

That being said, they seem tall, perhaps members of the basketball team or whatever sport they joined that gives them enough confidence and doesn't require much moral or logical intellect.

It's not easy to investigate and find new info so he has to remind these people that they can't slip up on the job. Especially, when their job includes his property, which he will have to check later. His plants and 'stuff' should be frequently visited.

They function better when they're visited.

"If this happens again, rest assured everyone in this building will regret they ever worked the same job as you as they live the remainder of their lives unemployed to the brink of death by starvation.." It was more of a promise than a threat as he gazed at each of their faces, giving them assurance that he is indeed unhinged and that his morals are askew enough to relieve him of the burden of conscience.

A moment of silence passed and it made the employees reconsider their life decisions thus far.

"Okay, back to work everyone, have a nice day~" Diana interrupted, waving at everyone before pulling Valentin with her as they walked back to the car.

"That's a bit too much, Valya" Diana scolded, as she patted his back. Sighing, Valentin hopped in their vehicle and revved the engine,

"I'm not that mad, I'm just... annoyed," he clarified and Diana hummed with a knowing look,

"Yeah, yeah" she replied, petting her brother's head like calming down an aggressive pet as they drove to their second destination. This school is pretty well-known, they prove exceptional when it comes to sporting events and athletic meets, producing possible professional athletes in the future.

Valentin guesses that the students in this school are probably dumb. Not all of them of course, but it's more likely to be the case, then again he's cynical.

And rude.

He parked the car by the lots and went straight inside, amongst the sea of younglings, it wasn't long until they saw authorized personnel, a janitor.

"Excuse me, where is the principal's office?" he asked, the janitor eyed him from his feet to his head, even craning his poor neck to look up and meet Valentin's eyes.

"Well, you're in the right building at least, it's over there, on the left side end of the hall" The janitor replied, pointing in the direction, with a nod the siblings strutted to the said room. Diana grabbed the doorknob by instinct, blocking Valentin from barging in, and knocked thrice.

"Come in" called out a man's voice from inside the room.

With a smile, Diana gestured at her brother to go in with a head tilt, following right in his tracks. The principal was a rather well-built man with a well-trimmed beard. He wore glasses and had a whole head covered with salt & peppered hair, neatly in place much like his suit and tie.

"Can I help you?" he asked as he stood up, the siblings, on the other hand, took a seat.

"Sit down sir...Jackson," Valentin paused as he read the gold nameplate on his desk with Mr.Jackson's full name.

Mr.Jackson did as he was told, perhaps in an attempt to be civil, placing his interlocked hands on the cool hardwood of his table, leaning in.

Valentin fished out his phone and played the footage for him to see, not uttering a single word as he watched Mr.Jackson's face. He can tell that the man knew who these kids were.

With a sigh, the old man handed Valentin's phone back to him, "I don't know who they are," was his simple response.

'Obvious, testy, he thinks this is no big deal, dismissive as a way to intimidate, kind of weak: 4.3' Valentin mentally scored.

Diana yawned and leaned back on the black-leather cushioned chair, and so did Valentin as they stared at the principal. The latter looked around the room with subtle glances and saw multiple trophies and award certificates all on display, he even has a photo with different teams, this old man is a professional bandwagon rider.

Involved in every photo, holding the trophy himself.

'If you're going to make your school an athlete factory you might as well let them bathe in their glory and not take every single one of their wins as your own,' Valentin thought, pursing his lips in dismay.

One particular photo was eye-catching, with that said, Valentin already got what he came for: a photo with the basketball team, right on the shelf next to a window.

He noticed how Mr.Jackson waited for them to say anything, the man was trying to discern who they were and why they're looking for his athletes. The closest thing Mr.Jackson can incorporate them though, are either private investigators or cops.

However, no cop would dress like how Diana dresses, even if they tried.

"Can I see your badges?" Mr.Jackson asked.

"We're not the police, Mr.Jackson" Diana clarified.

Smirking, Mr.Jackson shook his head, "Then I'm afraid I need to ask you to leave, you barge in here looking for students, I can't just disclose that kind of information to outsiders, let alone strangers," he explained. Diana's lips turned into a thin line as she nodded, exchanging glances with Valentin who only smiled. Both siblings share a knowing look.

They stood up, giving Mr.Jackson a tight smile before heading towards the door, and just as Valentin was about to leave, he left his last foreboding words to the old man,

"Good luck on the next game, Mr.Jackson,"

Their next course was to the basketball court, throwing out a limb that the targets are basketball players, and it must be game season because they were not disappointed to see an entire team running laps.

They also saw a man with a clipboard, the coach, maybe. Diana tugged at Valentin's coat and gestured for him to beckon closer.

"These are young, hopeful prodigies that think they have what it takes to make a living out of this, we can't just take them away from training now and then," she whispered.

With a smirk, he replied, "I know," before approaching the coach, a black man of tall stature. He pulled out a small I.D that has his photo and fake info, and an I.D that has 'National Associations Committee SPORTS REPRESENTATIVE' written in proud, bold letters. As stated before, his experience in this kind of career taught him a thing or two.

"oh my...where did you even get that?" Diana asked, fighting the urge to laugh.

"I'm a con-man, Dee, I have ways," was Valentin's hushed reply before approaching the man, "Excuse me, sir, can I have a moment of your time," Valentin asked, the man turned to meet him and raised a brow,

"Sure, and you are?" he asked.

Smiling, Valentin offered his hand, "Geoffrey Lemming, I'm a representative of the National Associations committee and we heard you have some promising talents here," he introduced with a bright smiling face. It only took the coach a few seconds to know what was going on and he reached out for a handshake, a proud smile on his face.

"You heard right, I'm the coach Maxwell David, let me line them up," he replied and with a blow of his whistle the team lined up right in front of them to see.

Diana is impressed at how it unfolded, used to it, but still impressed.

"Boys, this is Mr.Geoffrey Lemming, from the National Association committee..." coach Maxwell trailed off, inciting excited murmurs and giddy squeaks from their sporty shoes. Valentin gave the group a small smile as he stared at their faces.

Looking at exactly what he came for.

'Finally, some familiar faces, but there are five culprits. There's only four here,' he thought, turning to Maxwell,

"Mr.David is this all of them?" he asked to which the man shook his head,

"We have one absent," he confirmed.

Valentin's smile grew wider along with Diana's as she stepped in, "Well, I'm sure we'll reach him somehow, but this is indeed promising sir Maxwell," she played along. Her visually appealing aesthetic and figure made the smiles on these boys grow an inch bigger as she praised them.

Flipping through his clipboard Maxwell turned to Diana, "I can give you their contact and address list," he offered,

"Oh that would be splendid," Valentin replied and soon enough he has, on his hands, a piece of paper with all their contact info. He walked closer to the lineup, approaching his targets,

"What's your name, young man?" Valentin asked as he approached one, the redhead,

"Harry Jones, sir"

"You?" he asked the other,

"Miles Goldman, sir"

"You, the one at the end?" he said as he pointed at another one,

"Tyrone Smith, sir"

"And the blonde, tall one next to you?" he asked gesturing to the last of his prey,

"Maverick," the boy replied, slightly defiant.

"Maverick what?" Valentin asked again, matching the boy's tone, menacing but masked under a bright smile.

"Maverick Anderson...sir," the kid answered making Valentin nod with a smile,

"And what's the name of the absentee, Mr.David?" he asked.

"Marcello de Jesus,"

"Alright," Valentin hummed as he pulled out a pen and took note of those names, looking back on the lineup he chuckled, they seemed nervous and upset their names weren't called, "don't worry all of you have equal opportunities, and I will be contacting you again shortly," he assured making the teens exchange excited glances.

"It's a pleasure working with you, sir Maxwell," Diana greeted as the siblings left with a nod, their kind and easy-going facades melting as soon as they exited the court, leaving coach Maxwell who couldn't be more proud of his team.

Not knowing that it's about to lose some players