Calliope Cross

She wanted us there. You know how it goes, we got a tip from a guy who bought info from a guy who might have seen something. Looking back, I think all she had to do was bribe a barkeep to plant the rumor. It's almost funny, you know? All the rest built on something so easy? And one of the top kill squads in the area never even caught a bad whiff? I found out months later that we weren't even the first team she'd done this to. Anyway, we keep an eye on her for a week and never get a clear chance. Her schedule is the same, never errs. Never gives us an opportunity. We're patient because the payday is enormous. She's up in a room above a tavern. Must be loud, but no way we could move without witnesses. Every morning she throws some trash out the window, eats downstairs, walks the main street to a bookseller and then back. We were crammed in a little room across the way and its starting to stink after a week, you know?

Then one afternoon at just about dusk, she takes the alley and we're on her immediately. I knew we should hold up and think, but that week had us ready to chew our arms off. So out we run like rookies. We have the alley scouted since we thought she'd have used it by now - wide but without exits for a pretty long stretch. Usually empty, just storage and refuse for the nearby shops. Shank is up ahead coming from the other end, damn near so big he can barely fit. Henry and Sin are flanking me as we approach from behind. No need for stealth, we want to spook her - get her running right into Shank. But she doesn't accelerate, doesn't even turn to look at us. She's got a couple blades, but we've scouted those - nothing the four of us can't handle.

Then she reaches into the garbage pile she'd emptied her stuff in that morning, pulls the flintlock out and puts a shot in Harry before anyone can move. Sin runs in like an idiot with those daggers and I'm not kidding when I say the target grabbed one. Wrapped her hand right around the blade! She yanks it away and does some kind of quick punch to Sin's throat and down she goes. I played for time, put my hands up and said there was a misunderstanding. You know how it goes, buy a minute or so. In my case, I only needed ten seconds. Shank is on her, but she's fast - turns Sin's captured dagger on the big guy for a quick jab and then drops it. He's throwing big haymakers, big kicks, trying to shoulderblock her into the wall. She's blocking, deflecting, throwing shots back at him that do no damage but piss him off. I can't get a clear shot because she keeps turning him in circles, making him work for it. She's no acrobat, she just seems to damn well know everything he's going to do. You can see her eyes flick to his shoulders and hips and feet here and there, working out poor Shank's whole gameplan before he even thinks of it. Too bad the poison on Sin's dagger was really moving by then thanks to that increased heart-rate. For a guy his size, the target had to give it time and help it spread. How she knew the poison was there, I don't know. Never got the chance to ask.

So Shank's limbs stop working right and down he goes. By the time I get my hands up and start to weave a spell to cage her, she has me. She's stronger than she looks, broke my wrist easy. I remember her hitting me in the gut with a knee that made it feel like my brain turned off for a second. Then I was down on the ground fighting for air and that's the first time she even bothered drawing one of those swords. That's when she took my hand. She told me my assessed threat level without it was negligible, and I could be left alive as a "fringe asset" if I told this story in every town I visited hence forth. Sin, Henry, and Shank? Not so lucky. Heard she took their heads. And before you ask, she never even took that gold mask off. Now I'll take that drink.