The Reincarnated Hitman

"Someone put a bounty on you," Sable’s voice came from the other end of Liam’s phone.

"I didn’t think I’d become popular this fast," Liam responded with a smile as he looked out the glass. "Yay, me."

"You don’t sound worried," Sable observed.

"Not really," Liam replied with a shrug, "I think I might even know who commissioned the bounty."

"I see," Sable muttered on the other end.

It seemed he was worried for nothing, after all; he thought that the kid might be worried about the fact that a bounty was suddenly on his head.

"I’m curious though," Liam muttered as he stepped away from the glass, "how much was the bounty?"

"..." Sable was silent for a second before saying, "five million dollars."

"..."

Liam stopped in his tracks, certain that he hadn’t heard the words correctly. "Come again?"

"Five million dollars," Sable repeated, "which means you’re in a lot more d—"

"Can I cash the bounty on myself?" Liam suddenly cut the agent’s words off with a question of his own.

"Huh?" Sable asked in confusion.

"Can I give myself up for the bounty?" He repeated.

After all, five million dollars doesn’t just come around like that.

As much as he was flattered that he was so much of an annoyance to a certain group that they were willing to spend that much to get rid of him...

...five million dollars was five million dollars.

"...No," Sable finally replied, and Liam could swear that the man was currently pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Are you sure?"

"Very."

Liam frowned, "Seems like a wasted opportunity."

Sable truly couldn’t understand the kid; even veteran mercenaries would panic if they found out someone was willing to pay that much to get rid of them.

Yet the kid was only concerned about how much money he stood to make.

"I know," Liam suddenly slammed his fist into his palm, "what if there were two of me?"

"Huh?" Sable let out, confused.

"It’s nothing," Liam shook his head, "I just had an impossible idea."

The agent was certain that whatever his mercenary was planning revolved around finding a way to claim the bounty.

Letting out an exhausted sigh, Sable just said, "I just wanted to tell you to lay low for a while."

"Alright," Liam responded with a smile, but he had no intention of laying low, and even Sable knew this.

The agent ended the call, leaving Liam to his thoughts.

The hitman placed a hand on his chin as he thought. He didn’t really need the bounty, but this was a chance to get the Splinters and, in turn, Dr. Crew.

After all, he was certain that they were the ones responsible for the bounty, since they were the only ones who knew about Zero.

Well, Iris also did, but according to Riley, she had lost her memories.

Besides, if Iris still remembered Zero, then the HA would’ve already come for Liam.

So this was a chance to find out where the HA was keeping Dr. Crew and to do that, he needed to start pushing his Factor past its current limits.

But first, he needed to pick something up for Lea at the mall, since her birthday was just around the corner.

***

The drive to the mall wasn’t a long one, and fortunately, it was still a weekday morning, meaning most people were either at work or school.

Liam quickly found himself a parking space, exited the car and walked into the biggest mall in Sterling City.

The moment he walked into the mall, he looked down at the list in his hand, they contained mostly gifts that he was certain that she’d liked.

As for the cake, Lea had mentioned wanting to try strawberry shortcake a few weeks ago.

He wasn’t exactly a professional baker, but it couldn’t be that difficult.

...Probably.

His thoughts were interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.

"Move! Move!"

A young employee came rushing out of a nearby electronics store while pushing a trolley stacked with boxed televisions.

Liam stepped aside just in time to avoid being hit by the trolley.

"Sorry!" the employee called without stopping.

"No problem."

He then turned back, about to head up the escalator, when his instincts suddenly went haywire.

Time seemed to slow down as a claw was suddenly in front of his face, forcing him to immediately react.

Liam grabbed the arm of the person with claws before it could reach his face, immediately twisting it, causing the person to let out a pained grunt.

The person twisted their body as they tried wrapping themselves around Liam’s arm, forcing him to let go and step back.

"Told you he was the right one," the person who had attacked him earlier spoke up, "my nose is never wrong."

Liam finally got a good look at his attacker, noticing that he was a...tiger?

The person had a head full of orange, white and black stripes.

At the very top of his head were the ears of a tiger, twitching every few seconds.

Orange fur covered the backs of his hands, from which several razor-sharp claws extended.

Finally, behind him was a tail that was lazily swaying from side to side.

It seems his own Factor turned him into a half-tiger?

He calmly put both hands in his pockets before smiling, revealing a pair of sharp canines.

"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Zero."

Liam didn’t say anything; instead, he looked around him, noticing that the world had turned grey... literally.

The people moving around him were all in black and white, and they seemed unaware of the presence of the two.

Given the tiger person’s words earlier, it seems there were two of them.

His thoughts were soon proven correct when another voice came from behind him, "I don’t know, given his recent track record, I expected something a lot.... special."

The one who had just spoken was a man in what looked like an expensive charcoal suit.

His black hair was neatly combed back, and a pair of thin silver-rimmed glasses rested on his nose.

If one met him in a normal setting, they’d assume he was some sort of lawyer.

But from the way the world around them was, Liam guessed that this was the lawyer-like man’s Factor.

Some sort of spatial isolation.

"Either way," the man added, as he lightly adjusted his glasses, "we’re only interested in the bounty."

The tiger person crouched low with a grin on his face,

"Let’s go cash that five million."