The Night had been long,

But it was now time for the closing act,

For the purge of any wrong,

And the twisting of any attack and fact.

Their respective jobs started at eleven pm, and now rung three am.

Everyone had regrouped.

Upon discovery, Ishmael Cohen was transported to the nearest hospital where he survived.

Upon arriving, Ingrid and Oscar were reprimanded for their messes.

Benjamin was not surprised by their attitude, however. In fact, he had been expecting it. He knew Oscar’s good nature would have caused him to despise the client that put a hit on that youngster. Ishmael was only twenty years old after all. He just never expected him and Ingrid to make such a mess.

Whatever. What was done was done.

“I’m sorry.”

That man’s honesty would probably lead him astray, or put him in mortal peril eventually. Losing such a precious tool would hurt, probably more than financially, but he had to anticipate any kind of loss on his side. To be honest though, Benjamin was used to killing people. It would only be fair that the universe makes him go through the same trials as his clients and the closed ones of his victims. 

Even so, he wasn’t sure what it would feel like to lose people he was so attached to. His parents were very old but still present, his love was by his side, and despite his dangerous line of work, his apprentices were alive and well.

Well, there was that man… No. That love had died a long time ago. That wouldn’t count.

“H-hey, don’t come closer!”

Yes, he wondered.

“Let me go! Let me-”

As he effortlessly crushed the skull of his former client, he wondered how her family would feel about this. Losing a family member was one thing, but a twenty-two year old bright-eyed lady? That must hurt even more, supposedly. Although he wondered what kind of family led her to develop such intensive jealousy and bitterness. He had not delved into this case more than necessary, but the brief time she spent with her was not pleasant.

She lacked any kind of value. The pain should probably be duller in that case?

Maybe Bonnie could have answered that question for him?

Looking at her lifeless corpse, he felt nothing once again. Before removing his gloves, he collected the money she owed his agency for the work accomplished, as well as the plastic envelope used to store the fingers, and placed the 9mm he requested in her hands.

He then fired a few shots in his previous directions or directly against his own hands to injure them, by having ‘her’ pull the trigger. He let his blood hit the floor in spots where it would have been present, before his natural immune system stopped the bleeding on its own. He then put his gloves back on.

Seemed credible enough.

The gun might be traced back to Dallas and Reggie’s gang but it was only fair to use him in turn. After all, he had probably used them to sort the new recruits, or whatever case is going on inside their gang, so it was their turn to ask him for a favor. Not that he really cared about him beyond being a good business partner.

After that set-up, he moved back into his car and checked his phone: “Breaking News: Rising star Ishmael Cohen has been found on the verge of death in his own apartment.” Perfect. News outlets were the greatest invention known to man.

Looking at the hour, it was half-past three. The search would have a bit of a delay, hence why he prepared a set-up. Driving to a warehouse he was renting all year under the pretense of stocking equipment and materials for a weapon shop, Benjamin took the bag of money and stored around 75% of the loot here. 

Afterward, he drove to an alleyway known by the underworld as well as the Council due to its lack of cameras. He stored the car here with the rest of the money “disappearing” due to a few loose hands and mouths sewn shut. In truth, the car was a stolen vehicle a colleague asked him to get rid of. Since he had changed the paint and its license plate, the car was unrecognizable and perfect for this bait.

Nothing like a bit of solidarity in a neighborhood.

Exiting the alleyway through a hidden exit found inside a shared basement, Benjamin resurfaced close to an empty and calm area. Now, he simply had to resume his walk to the hospital Ishmael was in. Although the location was kept private, he simply triangulated the position of the hospital by looking for the closest one to his apartment with the least amount of possible roadblocks or traffic.

When he arrived, the sun was starting to rise and a plethora of journalists amassed themselves against the building. Seeing so many people making noise and trying to violate the intimacy of a trauma patient was giving Benjamin a headache. 

Although, in all honesty, it was comforting to know he wasn’t the only one smart enough to figure out the right hospital before the information was made publicly available. Not all of humanity was utterly moronic and this gave him an alibi.

If only they could keep their meaningless remarks to themselves though:

“Excuse me. I need to go.”

“Mister Hosmer, care to answer a few questions?”

“Mister Hosmer. What is the reason for your presence here?”

“Mister Hosmer! What is going with Ishmael?”

Mister Hosmer! Mister Hosmer! Mister Hosmer!

His legacy was preceding him, and he could not deny the fact he did enjoy the attention. Nonetheless, getting praised by meaningless people was not the reason for his presence here, so he wanted to march on.

However, he did take the time to look directly at the cameras, eyes watered by tears he knew how to control so well: “What happened to this young man is unacceptable.”

Pushing forward his crutch and slightly exaggerating his breathing difficulties for the media, he claimed: “I know what it is like to be crippled after a bad encounter. Therefore, I wish to be present at his side for a few moments. That is all.”

When the staff of the hospital opened the doors to let him enter, the journalists were still screaming his name in awe. This was good publicity, he smiled, pleased with himself, which allowed the hospital staff to think he was just being grateful towards them.

Of course, he was! They saved him from a painful migraine.

He just loved himself more. That is all.

“Mr.Hosmer, know that some member of the Council might be inside that Cohen boy’s room to see if he remembers anything. Please wait in the corridor if that’s the case.”

“Of course. Thank you for informing me.” and if you dare to give me another order without my personal input, I might have to kill another person today.

Further into the hospital, he saw three figures standing next to the room he was supposed to go into next. He clicked his tongue. Three S-ranks for this kid is disproportionate. Sure, they were probably doing something useful, like collecting his testimony but still. Adding onto his frustration was the fact two of them already stood by his bedside when he found himself in the same position as Ishmael.

The S-rank Gunslinger, Austin Sawyer. He had come a long way from their first meeting when he hadn’t even awakened and was barely six. Nowadays, he was the pride of his state as the cowboy aficionado.

“Oh! Pops Hosmer? Mighty pleasure to see you there!”

This kind of loudness Benjamin could tolerate. As much as it was a low point in his life to be pitied by his child, he turned out to be quite useful and pleasant.

Therefore he accepted the warm embrace of his colleague who yearned to catch up the month they spent away from each other. Woe is the young kid who can’t spend time with their parental figure due to extensive work.

“Good to see you too. Have you grown even more since we last saw each other?”

“Nah dummy! I mean, I was knee-high to a grasshopper until recently. Thank god I’ve gotten bigger but you can’t expect more than a few centimeters from me now!” 

“You’re still not that tall, boy.”

“Ya, but nothing ever goes as planned so I don’t mind!”

The reunion was cut short by a message Benjamin received on his personal phone. He answered it but he did not have the occasion to resume his reunion with Austin.

His positive attitude was counterbalanced by the one person Benjamin always dreaded to meet, no matter the circumstance. “Hosmer. How pleasant to see you.”

Calvin D. Bishop, the closest their world had to a real-life Superman and a prick. Hard to believe him and Benjamin were the same age, he would have guessed him to be twenty-year younger if not for the gray in his beard and his wrinkles.  

“Likewise, Bishop.”

“Austin, go ahead with Musa,” gestured Calvin while pointing to the third figure in the corridor who Benjamin did not recognize immediately, “Our work is done here.”

“Oh. Okay,” obeyed Austin but not before hugging Benjamin one last time, “Wait! What about-?”

“Who gives a shit! Bring your ass over there!”

“Charming,” sighed Benjamin, “I assume that’s one of the Robinson siblings?”

“You assume correctly,” nodded Calvin before he put an unwanted hand on Benjamin’s shoulder, “It is good to see you here. You might be the only one capable of comforting that poor kid.”

“Austin couldn’t?” They were friends, weren’t they?

“Uh… Austin is… you know...”

Calvin’s embarrassed reaction and the implication were enough to make Benjamin chuckle. It was rare nowadays for him to have an earnest laugh so he savored it.

“I’ll see what I can do. I came as soon as I heard in the news.”

“That’s really nice of you.”

If Benjamin had to cite a flaw of Calvin, it is his unwavering trust in others. This might sound cynical, but Benjamin knew this man better than anyone else. The reason he was so trusting was because he could afford it. He was far from his prime, yet he still had no insecurity regarding his place in society or his decreasing power. When someone that powerful trusts you, it is not that they actually like you, it is simply that you are not a threat to them.

“Thank you.”

All in all, despite their life-long partnership, Calvin never took time off his day to visit Benjamin after the initial day where he lost the only thing that gave his life purpose. 

Still, before he could enter the room, Calvin stopped him one last time: “By the way, do you have any useful information regarding this case?” Or in other words, if you came here this quickly, given how far you live from here, this means you must have been somewhere tonight. Calvin was trusting, not stupid.

Obviously, Benjamin knew that and prepared a defense. “Yes, I was doing my bimonthly patrol of the town. Your boss should have gotten the notification. Tonight, I heard a building collapsing, which I reported to the emergency services. I tried to go in its general direction, but instead I came across a shady blue car, a Ford I believe, driving away from a warehouse. I wanted to give chase but it was impossible in my condition, so I went inside the building and got shot at. I had to defend myself. Sadly…” He trailed off, making his voice sound like it was full of regret.

There were no details amiss since Benjamin made sure to direct the location of Bonnie’s fight, the false location he gave to the emergencies, and the meeting with Ishmael’s client to happen in nearby areas to corroborate his story. This was one of the perks of operating in a town you knew like the back of your hand. The self-inflicted gunshot wounds helped his case too. Really, Calvin only had one question: “Do you know what was going on, there?”

“No. Nevertheless, given the time and place of this deal, at around half past three, when I thought about going back home, it could very well be linked to Ishmael’s case.” The good thing about his plans, is that they always allowed him to say the truth while simply omitting the inconvenient details.

The tension was so thick between them that a knife could have barely put a dent into it. However, Calvin gave up his prying. He was nice and competent…

…but so easy to trick.