The Reincarnated Hitman

[Breaking News.]

That was what Liam woke up to the next day.

Yawn ~

He let out a yawn as he walked towards the couch and turned the volume up.

[A police convoy tasked with transporting the villains involved in yesterday’s amusement park attack was ambushed, and every officer assigned to the escort was killed by a group identified as the Splinters.]

[Investigations show that they were the very same group involved in the attack on Westfield Integrated High School in Sterling City.]

Well, he expected as much, but he was certain that the Splinters would opt for a breakout rather than such an open attack.

Except...

"Given that the entire convoy was wiped out, I’m certain he came out of his little cave," Liam muttered as he continued watching the news anchor report.

Apparently, the HA will be compensating the families of those who lost their lives, and they’ll be trying their hardest to apprehend the Splinters.

"..."

Liam had a feeling the Splinters were going to live up to their name and become a constant thorn in his side.

After all, he had interfered in their plans two times, so there was no way he hadn’t made it into their bad books.

But that was for future Liam, or rather, Zero, to deal with.

[On another note, the number one hero, Valor, has led a successful discussion for a peace treaty between Judaea and Persis; the treaty will be signed today.]

[And finally, the Beta-ranked hero, Volt, has officially signed a sponsorship deal with Red Fox as their new brand ambassador,] the anchor continued, [making him the third HA-affiliated hero to sign with an energy drink company this year alone.]

Liam just let out a sigh, stood up and walked towards the kitchen.

But just before he could reach it, his phone started ringing, and the caller ID displayed was,

Sable.

"Liam speaking," he said as he placed the phone over his ear.

[I’ve got a job for you,] the grey market agent went straight to the point.

"No, how’re you enjoying the new place?" Liam muttered with a mock hurt expression, "You hurt your favorite hitman."

[Mercenary,] Sable corrected, [and I’m certain you’re fine since you even had enough time to interfere in an attack.]

Liam awkwardly scratched the back of his head, but he wasn’t surprised at the fact that the man already knew about his actions yesterday.

After all, he was aware of his well-hidden observers; he just chose to pay them no mind, since, as much as they were spies, they were also responsible for keeping Lea and Eli safe.

So it was a win-win situation.

"Anyway," Liam changed the conversation, "what was that about a new job?"

[I’ll send you the details,] Sable said, and for some reason, he sounded a bit uncertain.

Almost as if he thought the new contract was one that the kid wouldn’t accept.

"Alright," Liam nodded, about to end the call before pausing and asking, "What about Noa?"

[She’s fine,] Sable calmly answered, [she’s currently with someone I trust.]

"Great," Liam nodded in satisfaction, "then I’ll go over the details of the contract and get back to you."

[Hmm..]

With that, the call was ended, and Liam continued towards the kitchen.

Despite his curiosity about the contract, breakfast came first. There would be plenty of time to find out who his target was afterward.

***

His siblings walked out of their rooms with sleepy expressions on their faces.

Lea, for the first time in a long while, had slept in, so she was quite surprised when she woke up to an already prepared breakfast.

She glanced at Liam, who was standing by the glass with his phone in hand.

Since there were only two plates of breakfast on the table, it seemed he had already had his.

For some reason, Lea felt that her brother had changed. Although he had always seemed dependable, he somehow felt even more so now.

And although it might be selfish of her, she felt even more useless now.

Feeling her gaze on him, Liam turned back and smiled before saying, "Good morning."

"Morning," Lea greeted, quickly preventing her thoughts from showing on her face.

"Hungry?" Liam asked, and she simply nodded, making her way towards the breakfast table. "You ordered breakfast?"

"Of course not," he said, "I made it all myself."

"I see," Lea nodded as she sat down, grabbed a fork, and hesitantly stabbed a pancake and bit into it.

"It’s good," she let out in surprise.

"Of course it is," Liam said with a grin, "I’m the one who made it."

Eli joined them a couple of minutes later, and his eyes immediately widened as he saw the breakfast, "pancakes!"

Liam just smiled at his reaction before turning back to the city outside.

He’d give everything to keep things as they currently are; unfortunately, his line of work didn’t allow that.

Liam then looked back down at his phone where the details of his target were, and he couldn’t help but smile again.

"How interesting," he muttered.

The pay was around a million dollars, which made sense, given his target was quite different from his previous ones.

The client was a woman driven by vengeance, and while Zero rarely accepted contracts rooted in petty revenge, this one had piqued his interest.

And the reason for that was his target.

A Gamma-ranked Hero.

"How very interesting," he muttered with a smile before dialing Sable again.

***

"You good, man?"

Inside a video production studio, a man in a black suit frowned as he watched his hero suddenly shiver in the middle of filming a drink commercial.

"Yeah, just felt a sudden shiver down my spine," the hero responded as he looked at his agent.

"Should we take a break?" The agent asked.

"Nah, I’m good," the hero shook his head, "let’s take it again."

After all, this would be the biggest screen he’d be put on, especially since Beta-ranked heroes like Volt had already been signed by the same company.

His popularity was guaranteed to explode after this.

"Alright then, take two and.... action!"

The hero continued the commercial unaware of his impending doom.