"I know this path is wrong. But at least it is a path."

-unknown

the women sitting across from him twirled a pencil in her fingers, her eyes focused on his forehead and ears rather than his eyes. he understood, being a liaison to someone like him was probably not preferable after all. he hated the one fluorescent light hanging from the steel ceiling, felt too much like a stereotypical movie interrogation room, and he was no ordinary holly wood criminal.

well, he liked to think he wasn't

the room smelt like mothballs too, and he considered stabbing the women just for bringing him into this room. he sighed, trying to push the thoughts down by reasoning that it wasn't her fault, her superiors probably picked this room. But those types of thoughts would never go away, no matter how hard he tried. the urge to grab her skull and pop it like a balloon lingered, his hand shaking in pleasure at the thought.

but no! he would act civil, just for this short conversation.

just as the women gathered her courage and took a deep breath to ask her question, Aaron raised his hand. she stopped in her tracks, face frozen at her eyes widened. 

"before we get started i'd like to ask a question. did you pick this room for this conversation while aware it smells like mothballs?"

a exasperated, almost relived look crossed her face.

"no uh, this was just the first free room. t-they all smell like that"

he raised an eyebrow, "so, you did technically pick it?"

she looked down, "y-yeah i guess so..."

so which finger should i take off as penance?

she shifted in her seat as sweat beads formed on her head, did i say that out loud?, "i'm sorry about the smell, but this wont take long," she hands him a manilla folder, almost dropping it due to her shaky hands, "inside that folder you will find info about you target"

Aaron opened the folder and glanced at the material inside. first, a map marking a location in eastern Russia, close to the border of china. the next, a really long ass transcript that Aaron didnt feel like reading.

"my target is a whole city?" he glanced at her, eyebrow raised.

"no, it's a man in the city known as it's lord, and we don't need you to assassinate him yet, just gather info." her awkwardness from earlier was fading, her face relaxing as she explained. maybe this city was her hobby? a passion project?

"what exactly is this place?"

she sighed, maybe i should have read the transcript?, and looked him in the eyes. "when the corpse mother was slain 400 years ago, she used her last bit of strength to scatter her essence throughout the atmosphere, allowing it to be spread to nations and lands all over the planet. our organization was originally formed to find these pieces and make sure they never rejoined, although as you know we mostly just do normal police things now."

more like secret police

"however, after last years take down of the scorpion syndicate crime has declined drastically, giving us a lot of free time. using this, we went through old files to reignite our quest for the fragments."

she pointed towards the file, "and going through old records and texts we found something interesting. the corpse mother had a disciple, possibly lover, named Atum who lead a group of her followers underground after she was killed. the director had a hunch, and so we let some of the fragments we own out onto the black market."

"how many fragments do you guys have?"

she though for a moment, "about 60% of the whole. 55 after we let some go

"anyways," she said, waving her hand, "we tracked these items through the global black market, and found that it all flowed into one spot," she pointed to the dot on the map, "a previously unknown underground civilization on the russian-chinese border."

"so you want me to find out what this 'Atum' guy is doing with these shards?" Aaron was skeptical. why send him for info instead of just assassinating the bastard?

she nodded, "we're not sure if he is even alive, but being the corpse mothers disciple combined with finding fragments of her essence means it's very possible. if it turns out that he is still alive and plotting, we will mount a military force to attack and annihilate the city"

Aaron seemed concerned. "what about all the innocents living there?"

she shook her head, "we cant risk him getting away or having the chance to attack if we siege. we will strike hard and fast to annihilate him and put an end to the corpse mothers legacy once and for all" she slammed her fist on the table.

he nodded. Aaron would've done the same. this guy was probably going to kill a lot more people than the population of that city if he managed to complete what he was plotting.

"due to your..." she hesitated, "expertise, you have been considered the best candidate for infiltrating the city unnoticed"

he scoffed at her hesitation. she took notice and shrunk while avoiding his eyes.

maggot

he grinned, "and what's in it for me?"

"an absolvent of your current criminal charges," she ruffled around in her bag, pulling out a piece of paper. a contract.

"and one favor from the government for anything"

Aaron's eyes widened, "anything?"

she nodded. "yep. finding a significant other, unlimited food, dream house, death of one annoying celebrity, whatever you want we'll do our best. of course, it can't be too unethical and it has to be inside our scope of funding"

this place must be a serious threat for them to offer this to a known criminal and shitbag like him. he grinned. that also meant that this job was definitively dangerous.

he reached for the pen she offered and scribbled his name in poor handwriting, "im in"

the women put on a strained smile, another bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. he stared directly into her eyes

maybe my favor should be letting me kill this women.