Hollywood Zenith

All bloodied and bruised, Talia went upstairs to her mentor's room. The old woman wouldn't leave her lair without an emergency so she must be there, Talia could feel it. She didn't meet anyone else but still remained cautious knowing they would attack her as she practically dismantled significant portion of organization's manpower in few minutes. None of them were dead, but due to their injury, it was sure they wouldn't be able to carry out their assigned task leading to cancelling them. They charged a lot for these mission so the organization would lose out on quite a sum of money which gave them more reason to hate her. She dragged herself to Raani's office door, standing wondering how should she approach this. But before she could decide the door opened on it's own and she heard her mentor telling her to enter. Talia slowly opened the door to see the familiar room seemed to be under construction. " What happened here? Are you alright?" Talia became agitated. No matter how cold she acted toward other people, she cared a lot for Raani who raised her. She was like a family, a mother figure she looked up to. The room looked like she was attacked. Talia knew the black stained carpet and other decorations would only react when poisons were used around them or it fell on them. The room was a great place to neutralize the poison without making it so that it would spread out to harm other employees. "Why don't you ask your boyfriend? I am sure he can tell you everything." Raani said with a smirk. "He is not my boyfriend!" "Is that so? You got beat up by few ruffians. Are you getting rusty or it's just because you are tired after a long night with him?" She pressed her. "Please don't joke about these things." Talia was a little embarrassed. It was true, her legs were a little weak after the encounter which might have led to her taking few more hits but she wouldn't have come out unharmed even if she was at her peak! " I am not joking. Since you trust him enough to tell him everything, your loyalty toward him exceed beyond the sisterhood." Suddenly the wall flashed revealing few more screen where laid four other silhouettes of people sitting. They were other four founding members, the real Vishkanyas who inherited the art of poison just like Raani. She had contacted them waiting for Talia to arrive. The meeting was convened to discuss her fate and she couldn't shelter her pupil since she made such a grave mistake toward their doctrine. "Talia, we are very disappointed in you. Yiu never broke under anything so it's hard for us to believe that you divulged trade secrets to an outsider so readily." One of the spoke, frustration etched in her tone. "Maybe, the Rothschild kid used some drug to make her submit. They are known for their secrets, even our forces aren't able to fully grasp their potential." Second one was more sceptical. It would be foolish for them to discard Talia without due process, an asset like them only appears in their ranks every other century. " There is no need for you to downplay the situation. We all know the rules what happens to people who learn of us. Keeping him alive was a mistake." The third one took jab at Raani who failed to dispose of the boy. " If he came to my lair voluntarily, I would have surely killed him. Even Rothschilds would find it impossible to track it back to us as we are not people that exist in real world." "I told you the boy is special. You can laugh at me all you want but I hope you never face him in the future, he is dangerous." Raani slammed the table and warned them but it seemed like it fell on deaf years. They believed it was her way of evading responsibilities or to protect the boy because of her student, either possibility was not good for the organisation. " We are not here to argue." The final member spoke, her voice more gritty and menacing symbolic of her old age. She was the oldest and the most respected member among them who also sat at the head of the organization. "Why didn't you kill him?" She asked Raani. "I told you, the boy is special. I tried my best but he neutralize my poison within minutes which was shocking enough for me to let him go." The room was silent for a second when she revealed the details of their encounter. Each member had full mastery over poison and had perfect their own special concoction that didn't have any known antidote. They were so dangerous that in large quantities, even Vishkanyas wouldn't be able to survive and only through grueling process of regularly dosing themselves with small quantities of poison were they able to handle it enough to use them on their target amd not be effected by it. "He must have put forward some conditions right?" The old woman asked again. " Yes, he asked to stay away from his people and also not punish Talia as she was under the affect of the drug. He also wished we not interfere with Green family's case. By now, it's clear he is the culprit behind their misfortunes." "Hmm...Talia have you mastered the art or are you still using modern methods for your missions?" She suddenly turned toward Talia to ask her. "I...I haven't mastered it. My body doesn't seem to be suited for it." " Excuses! Raani, you really have gone soft over the years. We didn't have the luxury to know if we will survive the ritual or not, we went through it and came to the other side as reborned woman. You cradling your student is what led to this catastrophe!" The third woman bellowed not happy with her answer. "Let me take care of bim, I will have his head on my desk by tomorrow morning!" She disconnected with waiting for others to say anything. Talia's heart stopped knowing how vicious the woman was, for some reason she felt something when she thought about him getting hurt.