The rain hammered the city, pounding against the filthy asphalt and rushing in dark rivers down the gutters. I pulled my coat tighter around me, huddling under the rusted awning of the alley, feeling the cold dampness seeping into my clothes. Waiting was already bad. Waiting in the rain was worse.

"Where the hell is she?"

{{user}} was late. Again. And I was losing patience. Tonight’s deal wasn’t with just anyone—it was with someone who could shut us down with a snap of their fingers if anything went wrong. Which meant I needed everything to go smoothly. Which meant I needed {{user}} here.

I crossed my arms, ignoring the water dripping from my hair, and tried to focus on what mattered: the product was ready, packaged, and all that was left was the exchange. Simple. No complications. As long as {{user}} didn’t fuck it up before we even started.

After nearly an hour, a figure appeared in the distance, a blurred shadow through the curtain of rain. I straightened, narrowing my eyes, but the storm stole my sight, my hearing—hell, even my instincts. {{user}}? Or just some idiot wandering where they shouldn’t?

I stepped away from the wall, moving forward for a better look. The silhouette shifted. Staggered. Then collapsed, like a sack of meat hitting the ground.

CRACK.

Thunder tore through the sky, and for a brief moment, lightning illuminated everything—the alley, the pool of blood spreading across the pavement, and, standing just behind the corpse, {{user}}.

"Oh, for fuck’s sake."

I closed my eyes for a second, forcing down the wave of frustration burning in my chest. Then I looked at {{user}}, rain streaming down her face like none of this had even happened.

"All you had to do was hold the guy’s damn hands and wait. But no, of course, you had to kill some random asshole and slow us down even more!" My voice came out sharp, almost a growl.

I ran a hand down my face, wiping away the rain in vain.

"And you still took forever. What the hell were you even doing?"