The talking between Joe and Ethan stretched on for quite so ti as the hitman gave details on what he could rember. Nas, families for those who had, and a few of their secret hideouts scattered across the city.
When he ca to speak on their strengths and weaknesses, it wasn’t as comprehensive. He confird that a good number of the elite mbers were at the peak of S-tier, but also admitted he’d never seen so of them in actual battle to truly be able to speak on their capabilities.
Then he added this: "Lucien may be the leader, but the true person to be wary of is Casper."
"Hm," Ethan muttered. "What makes him different from the rest?"
"On the outside, he might seem a bit crazy or childish," Joe said, "but his strength compares to Lucien’s. I paired with him a few tis, and even against the worst odds, he’s never lost a battle."
"I see." Ethan stared at him thoughtfully.
He turned his head upward as he inhaled deeply, brought it down with an exhale, then turned toward his butler. "Eduardo, call Roland up again. We’ll be needing Joe’s weapon. After that, we can begin."
Eduardo nodded. "I’ll get to it, Master Ethan."
Percival spoke up then. "But he just gave out lots of details on them. Why not inform Isabella to bring it up with the Imperial Guard?"
"It’s not that simple, man," Ethan began. "First, that would require her to do a lot of explaining on how she found out about it all. Secondly, we’re not dealing with common thugs here. This League is already on alert, and involving the Imperial Guard will just be a crowd they’ll see coming from a mile away."
He turned toward Joe then and said, "Am I right, Joe?"
Joe nodded. "The League has a very broad study on the Imperial Guard, along with a few families and groups that could be a threat. The Imperial Guard will never be able to catch them."
Ethan turned back to Percival and gestured toward Joe. "See?"
Percival nodded slowly, though concern was still on his face. "But you heard him. Most of them are at the peak of S-tier. How do we manage against people that powerful?"
"Because we have two things, Percival." Ethan raised two fingers one by one. "Information... and the elent of surprise."
——
Ethan had just returned into his room from the basent and instantly sensed Hayley’s presence on his balcony.
She ha both hands rested on the rail and watched the courtyard below in silence.
Ethan walked to her side and stared out as well without saying anything at first.
It was quiet for a mont before she said, "Rember when we played Find the Thief a lot? And the basent was always your hiding spot."
Ethan scoffed lightly, a little smile forming on his face.
Hayley glanced at him for just a second and smiled too before adding, "Then you fell on the stairs one ti, and I was pretty sure Eduardo would kill that day."
She laughed at the mory.
Ethan laughed lightly as well. "You were chasing with your claws out."
Hayley shrugged innocently. "I was playing the monster role, you know."
"And Percival was such a shit enforcer," Ethan recalled the thought with amusent. Percival’s role had been to protect the civilian against the monster, which was Hayley.
Hayley laughed a bit more at that before heaving a breath. There was another pause before she said, "I know we’re all adults now... but it stung a bit, you know."
Ethan smiled. "Forgive Eduardo."
Hayley sighed and looked away from him. "It wasn’t him, dumbass." She nudged him lightly with her elbow. "It was you."
Ethan gained an oblivious surprised look as he stared at her. "?"
"Mhm-hm," Hayley muttered, then smiled. "I guess what it really felt like was... maybe I wasn’t that important to you any longer."
Then she exhaled.
Ethan glanced at her for a second, then stared back out into the compound. He sighed and spoke, "It is true... we’re adults now... and a few things will not be as they used to be."
Then he exhaled again before adding: "But that doesn’t an you aren’t important, Hayley. You and Percival too... I guess." He smiled just a bit at that last part.
"You were both the reason I didn’t feel much of the absence from being an orphaned kid."
Hayley turned toward him.
"Growing up around you two," Ethan continued, "the mories, the experiences... I’d never trade them for anything."
Hayley smiled at that, then turned back toward the courtyard.
"Speaking of experiences," she said with a grin creeping onto her face again, "it still feels nice knowing I’ll always hold the title of being Ethan’s first kiss."
Ethan chuckled and shook his head as he said simply, "Sa basent."
"Yeah," Hayley agreed with a light laugh. "Sa basent."
They joked about a few more random things after that, childhood mories that made them both laugh for several minutes.
At so point during their conversation, Ethan motioned his head toward the exit and said, "Do you want to go down? Francesca made sothing new today."
Hayley stood upright from leaning on the rail and said imdiately: "Correction... Francesca and I made sothing new."
Ethan looked at her almost surprisingly.
"Mhm-hm," she muttered proudly. "When you guys left earlier, I gave her the recipe myself."
At this point they had both started walking away from the balcony together.
"Hm..." Ethan gave an approving nod.
When they reached the starting point of the staircase leading down, Hayley said in that sa teasing tone, "Are you going to let fall, pretty boy?"
Ethan smiled and extended his left arm toward her. She took hold of it gently as they both began walking down together side by side.
"By the way," Hayley asked curiously as they descended, "what was it that was so important Eduardo had to stop ?"
"For starters..." Ethan said with amusent in his voice, "we kinda need to fuck up a band of assassins."
"Ah," Hayley replied casually. "Sounds interesting."
And like that, they both reached the bottom of the stairs and joined the others in the living room.
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