ORIGINAL: The Act of Revenge ~ R-ish

[batsutousai]

Title: The Act of Revenge
Author: batsutousai
Warnings: Murder/Assassination, mention of rape
Summary: Doctor by day, assassin-for-hire by night, Brand Flynn takes it one day at a time.

A/N: I have vague thoughts of making this a much longer story, once, but I only ever wrote this much to it. Not sure I'd bother with more, either; working in the technicalities is too much work. ^.^"


The Act of Revenge

"What did that fucker do to you?!"

"Nothing! I swear!"

"He got you fucking pregnant! That's not 'nothing', Bethany!"

"It's none of your concern!"

"It's entirely my concern! I'll see him fucking dead if it's the last thing I do!"

"Ambra!"

Something started beeping loudly.

A man with dyed brown hair and eyes like burnt amber sat up in bed, grasping at his pounding heart and breathing hard. It took him a moment before he heard the beeping and recognized it as his alarm clock. He reached over and flipped it off and then picked up the picture frame that sat next to it. A boy and girl, both with fire-red hair and burnt amber eyes, smiled brightly back at him.

With a sad sigh, the man sat the picture down and got out of bed to start his day, pretending that he didn't feel the world on his shoulders.

***

"You look a little ill today, Brand. Have you been getting enough sleep?" Maria Enoch asked her co-worker and superior, Doctor Brand Flynn.

Brand glanced over at Maria from where he was going through his mail and offered a smile. "Not really. Why, do you have something you could prescribe?" he inquired teasingly.

Maria laughed gaily. "I thought that was your job, doctor."

Brand's lips twitched. "Suppose I'll have to diagnose myself, then." He winked. "I'll let you know."

Maria's laughter followed Brand down the hall to his office. He closed the door and set his mail on his desk before settling in his chair tiredly and running a hand through his dyed brown hair. He needed a vacation, he knew, but he didn't really have time. He had patients to take care of; patients who looked up to him and trusted him.

"Fools."

The intercom on his desk buzzed, making him jump. "Dr Flynn?"

Brand rubbed at his face, then hit the button to respond. "I'm here."

"Ms Allen is here for you."

Brand glanced at the clock on the wall and frowned. "Already?"

"She says–"

"I'm sorry, Doctor, I really am, but I had to come early because I accidentally promised one of my friends that we'd go shopping today at nine and I couldn't call it off because she'd be so heart-broken!!" Ms Allen cried through the intercom.

Brand sighed and stood. "I'll be right out," he said through the intercom, then left his office. It was going to be a busy day.

***

"You look tired."

Brand scowled at the shadowy figure waiting next to his car. A sprinkling of glass around her feet told him that she'd shot out yet another light, just so she could seem spooky. "I'm not doing anything for you today, you little bitch."

"Ouch. Is that any way to speak to your little sister?" The young woman flicked on her lighter to light a cigarette that she'd been holding. Her too-red hair flashed in the sudden light, making it seem as if it were her hair on fire, rather than the gas of the lighter.

Brand grabbed the cigarette out of her hand, not even caring as he burned himself, and dropped it to the ground. As he stepped on it, he gave his sister a cold look. "If you insist on endangering your health, do it when you're not around me."

"You're mighty cranky today, Ambra. What's with you?" the young woman asked, using Brand's middle name without thought.

Brand gritted his teeth, then grabbed her shoulder angrily and shoved his face in hers. "Do. Not. Use. That. Name," he spat, eyes filled with both fury and panic.

His sister nodded fearfully. "Sorry."

Brand stepped back and ran a tired hand down his face, feeling old. "Get in the damn car, Beth," he ordered before turning and walking around to the driver's side of his car. He got in and started up the car, pulling out of his spot only after he was sure his sister was buckled in.

The two Flynns were silent until Brand's car hit the highway, then he spoke in a steady voice. "Now, what do you want?"

"You've got a job. One Miss Anita Browne wants you to kill her boss. Says he's been stealing her money, but she doesn't have enough evidence to take it to the cops," Beth reported smoothly. "She's offering three hundred. I know it's not up to your usual standards..."

Brand glanced over at Beth as she trailed off. "What made you bring it to me, then?"

"I think it goes deeper than she's letting on. I don't think fraud is all we've got here." Beth nervously tugged on a lock of her hair and glanced at him. "She sounded really scared, Ambra."

Brand twitched at the name, but let it slide. "I'll meet with her, but I'm not promising anything."

Beth sighed. "Thank you."

Brand shrugged and took his exit off the highway. "Have you set up a meeting already, or do I get to go home?"

"Uhm..."

"Tonight, then. What time?"

"Eight. I did make sure you'd have time for dinner," Beth pointed out hopefully.

Brand rolled his eyes and turned onto his street. "You're taking me out then, right? Because you know this is my shopping night." He glanced over at her with a frown.

"Uhm, sure!" Beth smiled brightly. "We're going to that Chinese place."

Brand rolled into his driveway and shut off the car with a spin of his keys before looking over at his sister again. "You need a real job," he informed her, then got out of the car and moved up the stairs to his front door.

Beth knocked her head back against the headrest of Brand's car, then stepped out and hurried after him. She knew he'd lock her out if she didn't get to the door before he closed it – he was like that.

***

Anita Browne was a petite woman with golden blonde hair and haunted blue eyes. Her whole being spoke of harassment and hidden fear. Brand almost felt bad for her as he settled on her couch next to Beth.

Anita fidgeted slightly and forced a smile. "Would you like anything to drink?" she asked in her best hostess voice.

Brand waved a gloved hand dismissively and sat back on the couch, trying to at least look relaxed.

Beth smiled reassuringly. "I think we're fine for now, but thank you."

Anita smiled unsurely. "Uhm, that's good." She fidgeted some more. "Uhm, did you have any questions, Mr Ambra?"

Brand watched the woman silently, ignoring Beth's elbow digging into his side. He didn't break the uncomfortable silence until Anita's attempt at a smile had faded and she was fidgeting violently with her skirt. "What, exactly, has this man done to you?" he finally asked in a breath of a whisper. "What makes you want him dead so badly that you would call on one such as I?"

Anita shivered and met his cold gaze fearfully. "He steals from all of us that work with him," she said shakily.

"I don't care about petty thefts, Miss Browne."

Anita's eyes filled with tears and she looked away from him. "He's the sort who deserves death," she said suddenly, eyes still turned from him. "He's the sort that should have never been born!" She looked back at him, eyes filled with passionate fury.

Brand's empty expression didn't falter. "One might say the same of many of those on the earth, Miss Browne. I have yet to learn as to why you believe this so for this one man. You say he has stolen from you and others? Yet while he steals money, I steal lives. Who is the lesser evil?"

Anita paled and she turned her eyes back to her skirt. "He steals so much more than money, though. He steals innocence and love. And he steals lives, too. One of my co-workers killed herself because she couldn't deal with what he'd done to her."

"That is not my concern."

"Ambra!" Beth cried, looking pained.

Brand scowled at his sister, then glanced back at Anita, who had glanced up again to watch them. "He is a rapist," he stated without emotion, "and a thief."

Anita nodded, silent and wide-eyed.

Beth hit him. "Bastard."

Brand stood smoothly and slipped a sheet of paper from the folder Beth had brought with them. He glanced down at the address of the man, then let the paper fall to the ground at his feet. Without speaking to either woman, he turned and walked briskly from the room. He ignored the sounds of Beth speaking quickly to Anita as she grabbed her stuff to follow him and left the house.

"Are you going?" Beth called from one of the windows, as he took a seat on his motorcycle.

"How are you planning on getting home?" he called back evenly, not looking up at her.

"I'll call Josh. Are you?" Beth returned pleadingly.

Brand started up his bike and slipped on his night glasses without a word, then turned the bike around and left her without a response. 'Of course I'm going,' he mentally informed her angrily. 'Like I'd let a rapist run around free in my city. Like I'd chance you being hurt again.' He pushed his bike harder, as if a faster speed would leave the painful memories behind him.

But he knew better. They always caught up with him eventually.

***

The man's security was a joke. All Brand had to do was snap the line that powered the house and the alarm went with it. It was almost as if the simplicity were insulting him. Then again, Brand was used to crime bosses and people who spent their lives looking over their shoulders, watching for the one who would bring them down. The boss of a small office who raped the weak-willed women who worked for him didn't have any fear of someone coming to kill him off.

Brand smiled grimly as he picked the lock on the back door and slipped in. Fool.

"Dammit. Fucking power. Just when I was about to climax, too. God damned, fucking– Mmph!"

Brand placed his gun at the man's temples and whispered, "Are you Nicholas Roberts?"

Roberts nodded, eyes wide in the darkness.

"Smashing," Brand whispered, pleased. "A young woman sent me here to see you off, you see, and I wouldn't want to see off the wrong person, now would I?"

'You're enjoying this far too much,' a part of Brand's mind informed him.

Roberts struggled in Brand's arms, trying to scream through the gloved hand over his mouth.

Brand clicked the safety warningly and Roberts froze. "Do send Satan my regards when you see him," Brand suggested dryly, then twitched his finger over the trigger.

The gun made an almost silent 'bang' and Nicholas fell limp. Brand let him fall to the ground with a dry 'thump'.

"Master Roberts?" a scared, female voice called out. "Master Roberts, have you found out what's wrong with the power?"

Brand slipped back out the door and stole quietly across the yard. As he jumped the fence, he heard a scream of terror and knew that Roberts' bed mate had found him. He snorted and dashed into the woods that stood behind his victim's house. That had probably been the easiest job of his life. Now, if only he could have a check-up go that smoothly, he'd die a happy man.

***

"Dr Flynn?"

Brand glanced tiredly at the intercom and considered pretending he hadn't heard. He didn't have any patients for another two hours and he planned on enjoying those two hours, dammit. With a helpless sigh, he hit the button on his side and inquired, "Yes?"

"Your sister is here to see you."

"Tell her to go home and pester me some other time," Brand growled with a touch of annoyance, then hit the reply button and said into it, "Send her back."

"Right away."

Brand clasped his hands in front of him, elbows on his desk, and rested his chin against his hands, eyes on the door to his office. When it opened, Beth bounced in, looking ecstatic. "You did it!" she said as the door fell shut behind her.

Brand just sighed and motioned her to the chair on the other side of his desk. "I had nothing better to do."

Beth's smile turned gentle. "Thank you."

Brand shrugged. "You got home fine, I see."

Beth shrugged, still smiling. "Josh came to get me. Like I said he would."

Brand nodded. "Good." He glanced away from her. "He's good for you."

"Took you long enough," Beth replied with a smirk.

"I still don't like him, you know."

"I know." Beth stood and, leaning forward, pressed her lips to Brand's forehead. "Go home and get some sleep tonight. You look dead."

"It's because someone dragged me out last night," Brand snapped back at her, scowling.

"I'm grateful. Truly." Beth smiled at him. "Have a good day."

Brand waved her out, then turned to smile at the picture of the two of them on his desk. "Brat," he told his sister's picture-self fondly, then pulled over a piece of his mail and started in on the paperwork it contained. 'Perhaps, today won't be as tiring as yesterday,' he decided.

.

Comments

[farawisa.livejournal.com]

i like this a lot. i think it's a pity that you don't plan on going on with this! this could be really good!

[batsutousai]

I do like the story line, I'm just not sure where else I could go with it. Give Ambra an arch-enemy, I suppose. (And I so don't trust myself to be anywhere near true to the medicine involved in his job... ^.^")

[farawisa.livejournal.com]

yeah, i know where you're coming from! i mean i have one original story that mutated away from me in the seven years since i started writing on it off and on and now my main character has an arch-enemy that has been after her in all her re-incarnations for the last 2500 years.

also that there are parts of the story where you say that you just don't have the actual knowledge and not the time to accquire it.