Valerie and Oleander took a bath after one another and got dressed. Valerie was wearing a white muscle tank top, a light black jacket over it, ripped black jeans, and denim Jordans. Oleander on the other hand was wearing a black half-sleeved t-shirt, black skinny jeans with red sneakers. The sleeves of his t-shirt were long enough to cover his bandages.

As soon as Oleander was dressed he called the landlady. The landlady, Ms. Smith, was well aware of their true identities as she was a former spy and colleague of Mallory Ivanov, the director and founder of The Reaper Academy. Ms. Smith, now being aged, works solely for providing shelter and a workplace when the 'Reapers' are out on a mission.

Being a spy, your best traits should be leaving no traces of your being and hiding your identity. Which is why makeup and concealing scars were a piece of cake for her.

Ms. Smith arrived with her stuff at their place which was just a few steps away from her residence. No questions were asked. She knew what she had to do. She had to make them look naturally older and hide evident scars. Considering they were minors, no airport staff would allow them to board with weapons, even if they have their FFLs and their fake IDs.

She did her business. No words were spoken unless need be. Makeup was waterproof so there was no need for fake skin on the major part of their limbs but for the backhands, she did prefer it.

Valerie and Oleander felt like they were dying from all the heavy makeup, but didn't utter any disagreements. They knew better than that. That one hour, it was as if they were holding in their breaths. In one hour, Ms. Smith was done with both of them. Now they looked to be in their early twenties when they were sixteen years only. Their looks matched the ages printed on their fake IDs.

They bowed before Ms. Smith as she stood on the doorstep, ready to take her leave. She hummed in response and left.

As soon as Oleander closed the door they both signed heavily.

"Man, that was intense. I can finally breathe again!" Valerie said.
"No shit, Sherlock" Oleander replied.
"Imma yeet and grab some juice. You want some?" Valerie asked.
Oleander gave her a judgemental look. "No nope. Imma be real with you mah bro, slangs ain't your thing"

"Are you perhaps discriminating against me?" She rose an eyebrow at him.

"No, I am not. It's just that... You are more of the formal-informal type..? If you understand what I mean"

"I don't care. I'll do whatever I want to" She flipped her middle finger at him. Oleander sighed. Being a friend is a tough task.

He went up to the bedroom to wear his studs but decided against it. He has two piercings on each ear along with a helix piercing on his left ear. Valerie has two piercings on each ear too.

In their defense, they were influenced.

Oleander messed with his hair a little to suit his liking. He stared at his reflection and said, "You looking manly gorgeous bro", and winked at his reflection.

"Hey, Ollie!" Valerie called from downstairs.

"My name is Oleander!" He replied as he was about to climb down the stairs.

"No, don't come down. Considering how far the airport is from here, it's about time we leave so grab your stuff." Valerie said slurping mango juice as she climbed upwards.

They grabbed their suitcases and sling bags and went down.

"Did you inform you-know-who?" Oleander asked as he latched the apartment.

"Why are you making a Harry Potter reference here? Just take his fucking name. And no I didn't, you do that. I certainly do not wish to talk to him today" Valerie said as she started walking.

"When do you ever?" Oleander giggled. "But I don't blame you" he added while giving her an understanding pat on the back.

He dialed a private number on his cell and after a few rings, a hoarse and cheerful voice answered, "Hel-lo Mr. Wiley! Are you leaving already? Man, you sure did complete your mission quite fast! Who was your mission partner?" It was a male voice and he had a Russian accent.

Oleander sucked in a harsh breath. Because this guy, gets on everybody's nerves, Oleander was no exception.

"Hello to you too, Mr. Ivanov Sir. Yes, we're leaving.... today actually. And as for my mission partner, it was Valerie." Oleander replied straightly.

Valerie glanced at him at the mention of her name but returned to looking forward.

"Ah! Couldn't expect less from the Ace. So what time will you be leaving? And which airport?"

Oleander nudged Valerie asking her for the time through signs. She responded by raising two fingers, i.e., at 2:00 pm.

"At 2 o'clock and John Wayne airport, sir"
"Alright, the arrangements will be made."

As soon as Oleander was about to hang up, the voice spoke again.

"Next time I expect you to inform me at least a night before. Your mistakes and laziness won't be tolerated. And I hope you already know that?" this time, his voice was dead serious, combined with his Russian accent- quite dangerous. Oleander was taken aback for a second but some part of him actually expected that.

"Yes, Mr. Ivanov Sir." he replied before Mr. Ivanov hung up.

Keith Ivanov was a big name worldwide. The owner and head of The Ivanov Empire. Empire, because he doesn't deal with just one business. A billionaire, maybe even richer. A business prodigy. The man with no flaws. There are many more names he's called with. He has established his unachievable pillar of success in almost every field known.

He is also the younger brother of Mallory Ivanov.

He called the airport services to inform them regarding Valerie and Oleander's arrival.

"Hello, this is John Wayne airport services. How may I help you?"

"Hello, I'm Keith Ivanov of The Ivanov Empire and I wish to inform you that two of my trainee bodyguards will be boarding a flight at your airport at 2 pm. They will have weapons with them, they will also have their FFLs. I hope there won't be any problems with that?"

"Please wait while we verify you, sir"

"Yeah, sure"

He waited for a couple of minutes while they verified him. "Sir, we've verified you. Could you send us their photographs and names on a number we're sending you so we know who they are?"

"Yeah, sure. Thank you"

"You're welcome sir" The airport services guy hung up. "For a billionaire he sure is respectful. No wonder he's the most eligible bachelor." He said to himself.

Keith sent a picture of Valerie and Oleander's fake IDs to the number he received from the service.

"Sir, your meeting is about to start in about 4 minutes." Keith's assistant informed him.
"Alright, I'll be there" he replied with a smile.

"Sooooo what do you wanna eat?" Oleander asked.

"Not right now. After we get back to New York."

"Oh okay."

"But right now we're gonna go over there! I want new studs and rings!" Valerie was pointing at a shop with excitement. Oleander followed her finger and his face lit up. "Dude you don't say!" he joined her in the excitement.

They went inside and they were gawking at every item they had like little kids. They tried on a bunch and purchased some as well and got out.

"Val, why did you get a helix earring? You don't even have a piercing for that."

"I'm thinking of getting one soon~"

"About time bruh"

Just then, she noticed a thief running away with a lady's purse. Two policemen were following him but they were a little slow. As soon as he came close to running past Valerie, she put her foot in the way like the most casual thing in the world and the thief fell facefirst on the ground harshly. The police caught up and cuffed him while he glared at her. Valerie returned his glare with a smug face and a middle finger. Oleander, who witnessed all of this said nothing. He was rather proud- as he should be.

They entered the airport and stood in the queue for checking in. The lady at the counter saw Valerie's ID and passport and did the needed.

"I'll head to the security and luggage check area." She told Oleander to which he nodded.

The girl at the counter looked at both of them. "Oooh are you two a thing? You look good together!" She remarked. Valerie stopped in her tracks and both she and Oleander gave the lady the most iconic 'bitch what' faces. They looked at each other, "Gross" they said at the same time.
"The feelings mutual bro" they fist bumped. Now this is what you call mutual understanding.

"Seriously, I swear, this world is getting shittier by the second" Valerie muttered as she shook her head and left.

Oleander gave the counter lady his ID and passport and did the necessary.

Although, before he left, he put on his best attractive face and said to her in the calmest voice he could muster, "You know, you should pay more attention to your assigned work rather than making false assumptions about people. Maybe then, you could get a raise in your pay, yeah?" He flashed her a starry smile and left. The lady was embarrassed.

At the luggage and security check section, they were stopped. The security members were on guard and they were made to stand back from their belongings. They were asked if they had their licenses which they showed. "You two together?"

"Yes sir"

"Your reason for carrying arms?"

"We are bodyguards in training for The Ivanov Empire. You might have received a call from Mr. Keith Ivanov regarding us." Oleander did the necessary talking.

"Wait here while we confirm that"

"Sure thing"

After a while, the security in-charge came back and handed them their IDs and passports back. They thanked him, retrieved their luggage and proceeded to the waiting area.

They waited until boarding time which wasn't a long wait. They found their seats and sat down. As soon as they sat down Valerie put on her sleep mask. She wasn't going to waste a single second of her sleep.

"We are about to take off. Please make sure all little objects are secured" the air hostess said.

"Val, you feel safe buddy?" Oleander asked with a smirk.

"I will obliterate your fucking existence, you giraffe" she threatened.

He laughed "Yeah sure."

"And don't you think you should worry about your microscopic dick for that matter?"

Oleander's laughing ceased. "That's really offensive to a part of society and I don't have a microscopic dick!" He whisper shouted.

"You seem to have quite a knowledge about how big part of society has a small dick."

"That was just an assumption! And j-just shut up! You unholy being!"

This time, it was Valerie's turn to laugh.

To be continued-
A/n -: I don't know how things work in an airport cause I've never boarded a flight. And definitely not with arms. So don't come at me if I wrote something wrong. I tried doing it right. I don't know how correct it is. And yeah, as per the long wait, I had fucking exams bro!

Oleander Wiley
(with makeup)

                                                                      Blood On My Sword
                                                                        'Assassin Angel'

Date published- 15th October 2020
Number of words- 1941
Image source- Pinterest
Image credit- respective artist