Joker, You're Next

A scream pierced the air. The fear was palpable on the assassin's face. He tried to flee over and over again, but the two did not afford him any chance. In the narrow alley, he was trapped by the pair. In the blink of an eye, Valentina severed the tendons of his other hand. One slice followed another, each carefully avoiding vital areas. She aimed to bleed him, not kill him. Her knife pierced his acupoints. The assassin struggled helplessly until he was brutally murdered by the two. Valentina squatted in front of the lifeless body, roughly prying open the assassin's mouth with her knife. Inside the bloody cavity, she discovered a tiny, black listening device the size of a fingernail. Valentina examined the listening device, her lips parting to speak to the person on the other end, "Joker." She uttered, "You're next." Valentina's words were successfully relayed by the technician at the operations panel straight into the ears of the Shadow leader - Joker. "Joker, you're next." "Joker, yo