Watch Their World Burn Down

*Vic's POV*

I stood in front of our small bathroom mirror, fixing my hair. I was glad there were no dark circles under my eyes or any other evidence for the fact that I had barely shut one eye until the early hours of the morning.
I had been too exited for tonight. There was something about the feeling of having a purpose, even if that purpose was basically to ruin other ones' lives. I had somewhere to go, something to do and I felt the odd, yet intense need of looking presentable and respectable.

Was this how people with a job felt? Heck, I didn't even know if students felt this way, although I had been one not that long ago.
Actually, it was work that I had to do. Not officially, like it would be a weird job description, life-ruiner, but nonetheless it was some twisted kind of community service.

It tickled in my fingertips, just thinking about what I would do, and what I was capable of doing. Strange, but I was used to this sensation.
The forbidden, the dangerous; it filled me with this particular kind of anticipation.
Even if it was just a simple shoplifting, there was always the chance of getting caught. And that's what made being a criminal so appealing to me. Living on the edge with no rules, having nothing to worry about, because there's nothing to lose.

This night though, this night was different. It was personal and I had put all my time, sweat and blood into the plan.
You had to be passionate about something like this, otherwise it would fail.
After one and a half year the day of payback had finally occurred. It felt surreal, knowing that this would change everything.
The people on our list were responsible for innocent deaths, responsible for our misery, and they had done so for the worst of reasons.

They might had tricked the court with their money and their power, but my brother and I weren't corruptible or impressed by that either. They were humans like everyone else and they had to be punished for their actions.
I had given up on my once so precious, and now incredibly pathetic life to show these snobby greedy pricks what a bitch Karma could be, and how it spat you in the face sometimes.
And I knew for sure, that I wouldn't rest until that was done.

As I was pleased with my hair, I started with the tie. The part of dressing up I feared the most, because I had always hated these things.
The knot was too complicated yet so simple, that I got easily frustrated after a few minutes.
"Fuck this shit." I groaned, throwing it into the dirty green sink.

A giggle came from the left, and I spotted the tall, slender figure of my brother leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest.
And yes, our sad excuse for a bathroom was even too fucking small to keep only two persons, unless one of them decided to stand in the shower, for whatever reason there was.
"What do you want?", I asked, my voice dripping with venom.

"Why hello there, Mr emotionally unstable. Calm down and watch your language. Won't want someone to find out you're one of those spoiled street kids." He said in an overly sophisticated tone and smirked at me.

What an idiot. His words never failed on making me smile. Even right now, as I was tensed up and all nervous, a little grin tugged on the corners of my mouth.

Chuckling, I shook my head and picked up the tie again. "What's up?", I asked, now a lot calmer than before.

Mike shifted a little bit, making himself more comfortable on the hardwood. He looked at me through the mirror, a hint of worry on his face.
"I'm checking up on you." He said. Aww, little Mikey, always concerned about his big bad bro.

Frowning, I fiddled on with my tie. "Doing just fine." I assured him, but he didn't seem convinced by that.

"Yeah, I see." He spoke sarcastically, referring to my shaking hands. "Keep your shit together, dude. It'll work."

"Hope so." I said and gave up on the tie, leaving it hanging loosely around my collar, while I fumbled with the buttons of my shirt.

"The limo will pick you up in half an hour. Is everything set and done?" My brother lit a cigarette and soon the nasty stink of burning tobacco crept into my radius and I scrunched my nose as it did so. "Except for that tie of course." He noted after taking another drag.

I gave him an annoyed look and replied "Yep", flipping the P. "Would you please stop blowing all the fucking smoke in my direction?"

He nodded and made sure to exhale into the hallway, not that it made the air smell any better.
"What about the anesthetic?", Mike asked after he had finished.

I gestured towards the small brown glass bottle on the ledge. After I had closed the buttons on my wrists, I took it and shoved it in my back pocket. "Got it."

"Remember: two drops. No more, no less." He reminded me. "Oh, and before I forget."
My brother pulled out a tiny phial with a blue cap, filled with a clear substance. It looked like water, but the liquid was a lot thicker.

He handed it to me, and I took it after short hesitation.
"Is this what I think it is?" I asked, eyeing the fragile glass object suspiciously.

"Probably so." Mike confirmed. "A deadly dose of laced strychnine, just like you wanted it. Bitter tasting and it goes perfectly with vodka tonic. The-"

"Favorite drink of target one," I sighed, rudely interrupting him. "I know. That's why I ordered it."

Carefully, I moved it around in my hand, examining it. I was fascinated that something so pure looking could cause so much pain, yet there was so much fun you could have with. "How did you get it?"

Shrugging, Mike took my prepped jacket and opened a secret pocket, hidden on the inside of the sleeve, opposite side of the cufflinks. I placed the poison in there and closed the small zipper, so I could use it without anyone noticing.
"You know AC I used to work with?", he finally answered.

I frowned and thought about the guys Mike had been involved with. Most of them were poor young people, just like ourselves.
One gang stood out in particular though. They pretty much ruled this area, and my brother and I were lucky that we never got on the bad side of them, since they could get incredibly brutal and mean.
I guessed their leader had to be this AC person.
"Tall, tattooed, nice hair, stoned 24/7? The one banging that hot ginger princess?"

Mike laughed. "Yeah that one. Well,y'know. He told me about this guy who deals with that kinda stuff..." He trailed off, suddenly looking like he remembered something he probably shouldn't talk about.

"See who's making business connections." I joked and nudged him. He handed me the jacket, so I could put it on and even out the expensive dark fabric.

He grinned. "Classy. Haven't seen you in a suit in years."

Returning the smile, I shook my head. "It's not me wearing this. It's part of the act." I explained for what seemed like the millionth time.

He rolled his eyes. "Of course. It's your dumb Hector character, isn't it? Well, that doesn't change the fact that it kinda feels like you're getting ready for prom though." I chuckled at the remark.

"C'mon. Let me help you." Mike turned me to him and started fixing my tie.

He had always been more into this formal stuff. Still I was the one to play the active part in our sneaky little plan.
I was better at acting, lying and manipulating. He was to good and friendly. Also, there was no way I would let my little brother get into killing people.
Bad enough that my own mind was messed up because of it, I wouldn't let that happen to him too.

Mike was my backup in case something incredibly stupid would happen, which wasn't really likely, since every little detail was planned.
It was practically impossible that the plan would fail.

"Got the information about the kid?", Mike yanked me back into reality, and I noticed that he was already done with my tie.

"Everything saved up here", I said, tapping my temple. The two of us stepped out of the hallway and into the tiniest definition of a living room slash kitchen.

I picked up my gun, that had lain casually on the coffee table, just in case. Storing it inside another hidden pocket of my jacket, I was eventually ready for tonight.
"You got the plan straight?", Mike asked, as we both fell down on the old couch, that complained with a loud squeak.

I took a sip of water out of a plastic bottle. "I've worked on this for over a year. How could I not have it straight?," I huffed. "First one's Olivia Dunham."

Mike clenched his jaw at the memory. He mumbled a quiet "Bitch." and nodded at me to continue.

"I'll go to this charity thing and everyone will believe I'm 'Hector Fernandez'. I'll talk to Olivia and spike her drink in the process. Within the next few hours, she'll die. As long as the attention is drawn to the dead body I'll have time to drug the kid and take him outside. And then..."

"Then you'll have the hostage," My brother ended the sentence.

"Then I'll have my hostage."

Mike grinned at me."You're an evil genius, you know that?"

Shrugging, I flashed him a cocky smirk. "You learn to deal with it."
We both had a good laugh, but only moments later Mike took a look at the clock on the plain white wall.

His happy expression turned into a blank one. "I guess it's time", he said and I couldn't get over the hint of fear and worry in his voice. "Your driver's probably waiting."

We stood up and I pulled him into a brotherly hug. "Everything's gonna be okay, Mikey", I tried to calm him. "You'll be fine."

"I know," he said, trying to prevent himself from sobbing. "But what about you?"

"I'll cope," was all I said, although I wasn't quite sure if it was the truth. Patting his shoulder, I moved to the door.

"Text me when you're done tonight, so I can pick you up!" My brother demanded. I nodded and waved a last time, before rushing down the filthy stairwell and out of the building.

Waiting outside was already the black limo I had ordered last week. The driver was leaning against it, looking a bit anxious. He stood up straight as he saw me.

"Good evening." I greeted the middle aged man and held out a hand so he could shake it.

"Mr Fernandez, I assume." He said.

"Please, call me Hector." I asked him, almost giggling about how ridiculous that sounded. The driver didn't seem to notice though. He opened the door and I thanked him as I slipped into the backseat.
A few moments later he asked me for the address and I answered him by using the intercom.

We sped off into the rich parts of the city. I watched the houses fly by through the tinted windows, until we finally reached an area I never thought I'd see again.
My heart pounded quickly inside of my chest and the familiar tickling on my fingertips recurred.

I pushed the door open and made my way towards my destination; the Bostwick mansion.
A wicked smile formed on my face.

This was definitely going to be a good night.