Shadow Of Kingscity

The Dembala Twins

Mara sat tied to a metal chair in the dimly lit back room. The air smelled of dust and cheap cigarettes. She glared at the four men guarding her and refused to stay quiet.

“Hey, hey, jerks!” she snapped. “You guys must think you’re so tough, huh? I bet none of you have sisters. If you did, you wouldn’t treat a princess like this. Look at you fools, hiding behind guns because you can’t handle one girl running her mouth. Your mothers must be so disappointed right now. Bet they raised you better than this weak gangster circus you’re putting on.”

One of the men burst out laughing, loud and mocking. “Princess my foot! If you want to be treated like a princess, you should have stayed in your father’s house. Or maybe your boyfriend can give you that service.”

Another guard jumped in. “Nah, remove the father part. She’s an orphan. Her dad died two years ago. Sorry, not just died. He was murdered because he kept poking his nose into affairs way above his pay grade.”

Mara’s eyes burned with anger. “At least my father stood for what he believed in. He took down plenty of crooked politicians and bad men in your dirty organization. He made his money honestly. In your next life, and definitely not in this one, you won’t ever amount to anything close to my father.”

“You don’t have a father,” another guy sneered. “Not even a real man in your life.”

“Yeah, because most of you so-called men aren’t worth having,” Mara shot back. “But trust me, you will all pay dearly with your lives once my friend gets here.”

The guards laughed harder.

“Oh, that imaginary Superman friend of yours?” one mocked. “The one who supposedly wiped out a whole squad by himself?”

“404, right?” another added, nearly choking on his own laughter.

Mara kept her chin high. “Laugh all you want. You’ll be pleading for your lives soon enough.”

“You’re lucky the boss ordered us not to touch you,” one guard said, still chuckling. “That’s why her mouth keeps running like a parrot that grew up in a circus crew.”

Mara hissed at them and kept cursing under her breath. “You are all cowards, ganging up on an innocent girl like me.”

One of the men sighed and turned to his colleague. “I’m sick of babysitting this bitch. When are we disposing of her?”

“The boss said he will contact us tonight.”

Those words sent a fresh wave of fear through Mara. Her stomach tightened. She prayed silently that she would not die here. Deep down, she hoped Ethan would come for her, just like he had before.

Mara fell silent after that. The fear of being disposed of tonight weighed heavy on her, so she kept quiet and eventually drifted into an uneasy sleep.

“Guys, we have movement outside,” a voice crackled through the earpieces of all four guards. They snapped to attention at once, rifles raised and ready.

The sudden noise woke Mara. She sat up quickly as the men cocked their guns with sharp metallic clicks.

“They have wiped out our men on lookout,” the voice continued. “Cameras are down too.”

The guards inside the room exchanged nervous glances. Even with their heavy rifles, real fear crept in. If these intruders had taken out everyone outside so easily, what chance did they stand? They signaled each other silently and moved into defensive positions. The only way into the room was a single door at the end of a long corridor. They agreed to stay put and unload every bullet on anything that came through that doorway.

Then a single knock sounded on the door.

Without hesitation, they opened fire. Bullets tore through the wooden door in a deafening storm until it collapsed in splinters. A body fell forward, dead. It was one of their own scouts.

Before they could react, a smoke grenade flew into the room. It hissed loudly and exploded into thick, heavy smoke that filled the space in seconds. The guards kept shooting blindly toward the doorway, hoping to hit anyone trying to enter.

The moment their guns ran dry and they started to reload, two figures dashed in like a blur. Ethan and Celeste moved with brutal speed. Blades flashed in the smoke-filled room. The four guards barely had time to register what was happening before they were cut down.

Mara coughed hard, eyes stinging from the thick smoke. Ethan quickly slipped a spare mask over her face, the same kind he and Celeste wore. He helped her to her feet, and the three of them made their way out of the building fast.

Once they reached safety outside, Mara pulled off the mask. Tears streamed down her face as she started hitting Ethan’s chest with weak, angry fists. Her whole body shook.

“What took you so long?” she cried. “Why is everyone suddenly after me? After murdering my father, they now want to end my life too. What would have happened to me if you didn’t come tonight?”

Ethan pulled her into a tight hug and gently patted her hair. “It’s fine,” he said, his voice calm and reassuring. “I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you anymore.”

Mara wrapped her arms around him and held on tight, not wanting to let go.

Clap… clap…

A slow, mocking clap echoed behind them. Ethan turned sharply and saw two young men standing there. They were identical twins dressed in sleek motorbike gear. No guns, no knives, just black gloves and smug smiles on their faces.

“That’s so romantic,” one of them teased, mimicking Ethan’s voice in a high-pitched tone. “I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you anymore.”

Celeste’s rage boiled over the moment she saw them. Her body tensed, fists clenched tight at her sides, but she held herself back from charging recklessly.

“The Dembala twins,” she said coldly.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed. Those were the names he had read in Liam’s journal. “Who are they?” he asked Celeste.

“They are ex-Ghost agents,” she replied. “Wanted by the organization, dead or alive. They betrayed the code and went on a killing spree without any orders. They are the worst kind of abomination the Ghost Elite ever produced.”

“Uhhhh,” one twin teased, tilting his head. “Someone is having daddy issues.”

“Yes,” the other twin joined in. “Definitely daddy issues.”

“But Dav,” the first twin said to his brother, “we didn’t do anything wrong to the old man. He came after our heads.”

“Yeah, yeah,” his brother replied with a grin. “Come to think of it, we actually didn’t offend him, yet he wanted to kill us.” He pointed an accusing finger at his twin. “You’re the one who plucked out one of his eyes.”

“Yeah, but you did worse,” the other shot back. “You removed all his ugly dirty teeth. I was going to clean them and return them later.”

Celeste could not hold back her anger. She dashed forward with her daggers drawn, moving with a furious speed. The twins lazily dodged every of her strike with ease, almost dancing around her attacks. She spotted an opening and thrust her blade toward one twin’s stomach, ready to slice him open.

It was a trap.

The twin leaped backward in perfect sync. One of them snatched the dagger from her hand mid-swing and swung it toward her throat. Before the blade could connect, two gunshots rang out. Ethan had grabbed a pistol from inside the building earlier before now and fired.

One of the twin deflected both bullets with the stolen dagger and quickly jumped back to regroup.

“Yoo, that’s not fair!” one twin laughed, clearly amused. “This is supposed to be a fist fight. No guns allowed.”

Ethan dropped the pistol and cracked his knuckles loudly as he stepped forward. “No problem. It’s been a while since someone actually entertained me.”

“Don’t underestimate them,” Celeste warned, breathing hard. “They are formidable together.”

“Let’s see about that,” Ethan replied, full of confidence.

Meanwhile, Mara watched from the side. Her earlier fear slowly turned into a mix of curiosity and anxiety. She had been dying to see Ethan in action, especially after how he rescued her from the warehouse.