None So Blind

It was evening at Poveglia, a small island in the Venetian lagoon, situated between Venice and Lido. Clouds filled the sky, allowing only a few rays of sunlight to peek through. Suddenly, a small temporary building had been set up for a meeting. The structure was meticulously constructed, featuring intricate details. Inside, a lush green carpet covered the floor, surrounded by colorful wall paintings. In the center of the room was a long mahogany table adorned with beautiful flower vases. At each end of the table were two plates filled with biscuits and chips. Guards stood watch at all four corners, each holding a Glock 17 pistol. At one end of the table sat Mr. Raymond Lau Sinister, one of the world's richest men. At the opposite end sat Raven's most trusted agents, Ethan Walker and Lia Bloodrosé.

"When will I be able to come here again to receive my order?" Raymond asked. He had a large stomach, messy gray hair, and was continuously scratching his beard.

"Your order will be ready by May 4th. You can collect it then, but first, I believe there is something we need to collect from you, Mr. Lau," Ethan replied.

Ethan had a charming face, a bold voice, and a strong Australian accent. He prioritized his job above all else.

"You mean the money?" Lau laughed. "Come on, Master... um..."

"Ethan. Ethan Walker," Ethan interjected.

"Yes, yes. Ethan Walker. I have no problem when it comes to dollar bills. How much do you need?" Lau asked. His voice sounded weak today, as he had consumed two ice cream cones before the meeting, which had irritated his throat.

"$ 252,000, sir," Ethan stated.

"It's been 3 weeks since you asked for the organs, yet you are aware of the price just now?" Lia asked, very calm. She immediately realised something was wrong.

Lau was sweating profusely.

"It's nothing. I usually don't worry about money. So I don't keep track of it."

His hair was already drenched. One of Lau's servants approached with a mini fan and handed it to him.

Lau whispered something into the servant's ear, after which the servant quickly ran out of the building. There was utter silence in the room for 5 minutes, after which the servant returned with a black Louis Vuitton suitcase. No wonder Lau was rich.

The servant placed the suitcase on the table, next to Ethan and Lia, and opened it for them. Ethan took a single dollar bill and gave it to Lia, who held it up to the light to see whether the dollar was real. After some time, Ethan whispered something in Lia's ear, and she listened with patience. She snapped her fingers twice.

One of Raven's servants walked in instantly with 3 glasses of tea. He placed one in front of Lau and placed the rest in front of his senior agents.

" Thank you. Gosh, I was starving." Lau spoke.

" So,"

He sipped his hot tea.

" Everything is fine, right? May I leave? Well, before I leave, a small reminder: I need both kidneys by the 4th of May, as you promised me."

" As you say, sir," Ethan said.

There was silence in the room for 2 minutes, but after that, Ethan began smiling.

" What happened? Any surprise ?"

Lau began exactly when his nose started to bleed. He felt the warm liquid coming out of his nose. Lau was losing control of his body.

" Argh. What's happening? What are you doing ?"

He yelled very badly.

" Guards! GUARDS!"

"Shut up. You rascal. Just because we're young, you tried to cheat us? Ethan yelled back.

"Your guards are dead, Mr. Lau, and so are you," Lia replied so calmly it felt almost dangerous.

Lau felt his body suddenly become very heavy. He leaned on the mahogany table, weeping and begging for his life.

Although they were young, Ethan and Lia were merciless.

They, along with the other Ravens' guards, quickly climbed the speedboat, which was waiting for them outside the island. The speedboat roared swiftly, far away from Lau and his dead servants. After a few kilometers, the speedboat was made to stop. The island looked like a miniature biome from such a distance.

" Perfect!" Ethan spoke.

Lia was handed a tiny remote that had 3 buttons.

One said DISARM, the other said DEACTIVATE, but Lia's eyes were fixed on the last button, DETONATE. She took a final glance at the island.

" Goodbye, Lau ", she spoke.

Her voice was too admiring, just like her face. She had beautiful Hazel eyes and blonde hair that fell to her shoulders, but they were not real. Every agent on a mission is asked to wear a different colored contact lens and a different wig to hide their identity. Lia and Ethan were loved by almost everyone at Raven. After all, they were the youngest.

Without much hesitation, she pressed the button.

"Detonating in 5,4..." the machine whined, after which a deafening sound was heard.

Everybody ducked down. But Ethan and Lia stood. Watching the island blast.

The bomb did have a great impact. The agents and the guards recovered quickly, after which Lia threw the remote into the Venetian lagoon, which floated like an abandoned plastic bottle in the sea.

Ethan placed his hand on Lia's shoulders.

" Sir Johnny wants to speak with us, it seems. It's better if we leave now. It is getting late."

" Get going then; what are you waiting for ?" Lia spoke. She was completely calm and composed. She did not feel even a tiny bit of guilt.

The speedboat roared as it left the Venetian lagoon.

The main headquarters of Raven was in West Papua, Indonesia. It was built underground with very high-security systems. The technology there was very advanced. They required it cause Raven isn't a joke. It's a carefully built system with no escapes.

It was indeed a long journey from Venice to West Papua.

As they reached the shore of Venice, the team split up into pairs, entering the Venice Marco Polo Airport. Flight tickets were already booked by the travel department of Raven. All they had to do was find the right flight and get on it. Things were just perfectly planned. Lia and Ethan were playing the kids' hunch while one male guard and one female guard pretended to be their parents. As they got into the flight, Lia sat at the window seat. Ethan was busy reading a novel while Lia was reading the reports of her recent mission.

A few minutes of silence after the plane soared into the air, Lia sighed heavily and looked at Ethan. "Something is definitely wrong, Walker."

Ethan looked at Lia with amusement as he stopped leaning and jumped up from his seat.

" Did we blow up the wrong person?"

She gave a serious look. Ethan looked at her as he saw the files in her hand.

"What's the matter?"

Back at Raven, Lia and Ethan were given a whole day to rest. But Lia couldn't. She felt something was off. Something didn't make sense. But she looked completely calm. The next day, both the agents were summoned to Johnny's room. This was something rare. Was it something special?

The sun was shining brightly the next day. Of course, it was artificial sunlight, as the organization was underground.

Johnny was sitting at a tepoy table with a glass of tea in his hand. He was sipping and watching the TV, which was playing a news channel. All the news channels were talking about Poveglia and the incident that happened there. The Raven agents had perfectly done their job and made it look like a suicide.

Lia and Ethan slowly pushed open the door and entered the room. The room had a 5-inch LED TV with a built-in theatre. There were 3 air conditioners and 7 guards, too.

" Ah, my darlings. You're finally here. Have a seat." Johnny spoke.

Johnny was a middle-aged man. He had dark black hair and a big, big mustache.

As they walked in, Ethan and Lia sat on the finest chairs ever.

Johnny was happy to see them. He quickly sipped his very hot tea and began the conversation with his not-very-pleasant voice.

"I was so worried about you, but anyway, I know you would come in one piece to meet me. Well, what the hell happened there? New customers are always suspicious. What went wrong?"

There was a 2-minute silence, and finally, it was Ethan who broke it.

" Well, sir, we don't think it was Mr. Lau. We think he might be some sort of spy."

"Oh, is it? Well, how did you confirm that he was a spy?"

Johnny questioned.

Lia and Ethan gulped 2 times in a row. One mistake, and they were going to die in the worst way ever. This time, Lia answered.

" Mr. Lau was said to have been abducted the day before yesterday at 8 p.m., on a hunch to secretly come and collect the organs. For whom? We have no idea. Even if that was a lie, then he should have been at the Venetian Lagoon this morning, as it takes approximately 1 day to reach. But he was present yesterday. That's impossible. Also, the money he gave was fake. Lau is very rich, so why does he need to give out fake dollars ?"

"Hmmm, I see. He was a very easy target. He should have known whom he was messing with, after all. Well, honestly, I should appreciate the way you used his fingerprints on the detonator and made it look like he committed suicide, and yep, you are right. He is not the real Lau. Mind seeing the News ?" Johnny spoke.

"Irfan Khadim, a middle-class bank worker, was said to be stuck in a cycle of loans, and when he understood that he wouldn't be able to repay them, he bribed the respective people and committed suicide on Poveglia Island. The postmortem report clearly stated that he was poisoned by naproxen. Poveglia is said to be a cursed island, and the idea of committing suicide there was completely ridiculous. The bomb planted there had wiped out half the Island, but the type of the bomb is still not clear," the news blared out.

"Well, the bribing part was real. But the suicide part is not. Congrats, agents." Johnny spoke.

Ethan felt a sigh of relief, but Lia did not. The whole thing felt illogical. If Lau was fake, how did he manage to even contact Raven? Why was the bomb made to destroy almost half of the island? Lia knew Johnny was up to something.

" As I always say, my most loyal agents, I'm very proud of you. On the other hand, you know the problem we just faced. Eugene Evergreen, the head of our box jellyfish branch, just reached the brink of exposing us when agents protected our organization with lots and lots of sacrifice.

I had to kill him with my hand. Yes. So now there is a vacancy there, and you know, it's located in Japan. It is our deadliest branch, so I need the most loyal and faithful agents to take the lead there. That's why I need you to lead that branch. Lia, I appoint you as the head of that branch, and Ethan will be your assistant.

I know you are just 15 years old; there is no one else I can trust that much."

Ethan's face grew brighter, just like Lia's face. Is this for real? This was the best news ever. But a few of them were not happy hearing this.

One of the guards who was hearing this could not digest seeing Lia and Ethan in such a high position. To be frank, he was jealous. As time passed, he became angrier and finally started yelling.

" Sir, I understand the things we have gone through, but I don't like the idea of putting these two into such a proud branch like that. Just because they solved more than 70 missions together, it doesn't mean that they will do the job properly."

He did not complete his sentence. Before that, bullets were fired into his skull. The guard just fell backward with 3 bullets lodged in him.

Johnny had fired the bullets without even looking at the guard, and all the bullets went into the guard's skull.

However, Lia and Ethan sat relaxed, as such things are very normal here.

"Sorry, don't mind him. He's useless. So," he sipped his tea. "Are you ok with it? Johnny spoke. He sipped his tea again.

"Yes, sir, we are completely fine with it. Well, thank you for promoting us this high. It's like, wow, I can't explain it."

Ethan began daydreaming already. He was too overwhelmed.

But Lia was the exact opposite of Ethan. Calm, quiet, and a keen observer. She was not like this in her childhood. A tragedy in her life made her turn like this.

"The carnation ceremony will be held 3 days later. The reuniting party is also arranged this weekend. Why don't we conduct it together?"

He sipped his tea again. "Well, I must warn you, Hakakurage; the Box jellyfish branch is not very easy to handle. It is very hard to keep it hidden as it is in Japan. Although Japan might seem small, the cops over there are very sharp. It's very easy to get caught. That's why I've asked Jimmy Roscoe to join you. He has been working in that branch since its birth. He was there when the organization was on the brink of getting exposed and played a vital role in getting things back to normal. He has decent experience, and I'm sure he will guide you." Johnny was finally done with his speech, and as he completed it, the door was pushed open by someone.

" Sir, I heard that you called me ." Jimmy opened the door and spoke.

" Jimmy! I was just speaking about you; have a seat.

Jimmy took a seat. But he was not very happy seeing Ethan.

" As I said , Jimmy will be assisting you . Right, Jimmy ?"

" Sir, you want me to assist them? I understand that we need trustworthy agents in that branch, but you think these kids will do it ?" Jimmy asked frustratingly. These words forced Ethan to lose his temper.

"Shut up, Jimmy. One more time you call me us kids and see what happens," Ethan yelled.

" Kid."

Ethan got hold of Jimmy's collar and pushed him down the tepoy table. Jimmy quickly started punching Ethan, but Ethan did not lose his grip.

Lia got up from her chair. This was up to no good. She looked into Johnny's eyes and knew what was going to happen next.

Johnny took out his Desert Eagle and fired it at the ceiling. 'Bang,' the bullet hit the ceiling. That was when Ethan and Jimmy came into consciousness. They quickly stood up and adjusted their suits.

Johnny slowly got up from his super comfy Leather chair.

" Raven agents are meant to kill their enemies. Not their partners."

He spoke. His voice was cold.

" I never said I'm their partner," Jimmy began.

" You are their partner, Jimmy. This is final," Johnny cut in. " You are flying to Japan by today, 8 pm. Flight tickets are already booked. You are flying with them, Jimmy, and THAT'S THAT.

" Sir, they are like 34 years younger than me. I can't work under them. I JUST CAN'T"

Johnny pointed the Desert Eagle at Jimmy's head now.

"You're 50 years old, Jimmy. Never know when you'll die. Just listen to my words, or I'm going to insert 6 bullets into your head RIGHT NOW !"

Jimmy couldn't do anything now. He sighed. " Yes, sir," he spoke with a low and heavy voice. He was completely heartbroken and left the room slowly in pain.

" What did you just do,Ethan ?" Johnny was boiling now.

"He is your senior agent. You just can't hit him. You're 17, just so you know. Act accordingly," he said. His voice was bold and furious.

Ethan couldn't think of anything for a moment. He sighed and nodded.

" Good. Well now, get going, guys. From tomorrow, Box Jellyfish is yours. Take care, be careful. And.... GOOD LUCK"

Lia and Ethan walked out of the room. Even though things did not go well today, tomorrow is their day. Ethan walked out almost as if he hit a jackpot. A promotion meant they were one step closer to becoming VORTEX agents. Lia walked out happy but still couldn't shake off the feeling that Poveglia was a normal mission.

The deal was done. Hakakurage would be owned by Lia and Ethan soon after the Carnation. Everything's going to work out perfectly. Every mission would be a piece of cake.

But... who knows? Fate had other arrangements for them.