Li Xinjie and Li Chen were enjoying their dinner with their family when the door to the restaurant was suddenly pushed open again, but this time with a lot of force. Li Xinjie and Li Chen immediately exchanged wary glances, instantly on guard.

Through the doorway strode a man and woman, both looking impeccable in their stylish evening wear. But Li Xinjie recognized them immediately - Agent 12 and Agent 14, one of the deadliest married assassin couples from their former organization.

Agent 14 scanned the room and said, "We do this here or take it outside?"

Li Xinjie replied, "Lets take it outside"

Sun Lixia opened and closed her mouth to say something, worried about her sons, but Li Yanyan grabbed her arm gently, giving her a reassuring look. They both knew that Li Chen and Li Xinjie were capable of taking on two of these agents.

They walked out the restaurant and the rest got in their cars to leave. Zhang Mei looked at Li Chen, worry evident in her eyes, though she didn’t understand what was happening, she knew it wasn’t good.

Li Xinjie watched as their family and friends left the restaurant, leaving just him and Li Chen facing off against the two assassins from their former organization.

"17, we meet again," Agent 12 said with a mocking grin. "I see you have a perfect little family now."

Li Xinjie grimaced at the use of his old code name. "That life is behind me. My name is Li Xinjie now."

"Obviously not, if you’re still breathing," Agent 12 countered, shrugging off his suit jacket. "You know the rules - there’s no leaving the organization. Not alive, at least."

Li Chen moved to stand back-to-back with his brother. "You’re welcome to try and change that."

Agent 14, the woman, chuckled as she whipped out a slender stiletto blade. "Don’t worry, we will. The two of you against me and my husband, just like old times."

"Don’t call me that!" Li Xinjie snarled. "My name is Li Xinjie."

"We all know the legend of the assassin who found his family and decided to go straight," Agent 12 said derisively. "Pity you didn’t just let sleeping wolves lie."

Li Chen dropped into a fighting crouch. "Enough talk. If you have a problem with my brother, you’ve got one with me too."

Agent 14 launched herself at Li Chen, blade slashing in a deadly arc. "Have it your way, boy!"

The intense fight began. Agent 14 pressed a furious attack on Li Chen with her blade as he parried and dodged. Meanwhile, Li Xinjie traded blows with Agent 12, the two former colleagues feeling out each other’s defenses.

"You’ve gone soft!" Agent 12 taunted as they exchanged ferocious combinations.

Roaring, Li Xinjie redoubled his assault, trying to batter through Agent 12’s guard. He could sense it starting to crumble under his relentless onslaught.

Across the way, Li Chen was struggling against Agent 14’s endless stamina and dizzying bladework. When she landed a snap-kick to his ribs, doubling him over, she moved in for the kill. Gasping for air, Li Chen desperately scooped up shards of broken glass and other debris, flinging it into Agent 14’s face to buy himself a vital opening.

Like a viper, he pressed his attack, hammering Agent 14 about the head and body as he tried to wrestle her blade away. The two lethal assassins grappled and slashed in a fight to the death.

Li Xinjie and Agent 12 were going all-out as well, abandoning technique for sheer brutal force. Agent 12’s boxing combinations battered at Li Xinjie as the former assassin gave as good as he got.

"They should have killed you!" Agent 12 bellowed. Using the torn remnants of his ruined shirt as a knuckleduster, Li Xinjie smashed Agent 12’s mouth in a spray of broken teeth and blood. Enraged, Agent 12 seized the scrap of cloth and twisted it into a savage garrote around Li Xinjie’s throat, squeezing mercilessly.

As Li Xinjie choked and blacked out, his fingertips brushed against the butt of Agent 12’s pistol. Acting on pure instinct, he ripped the gun free and put a bullet through Agent 12’s head at point-blank range. The assassin’s corpse crumpled to the filthy alley ground in a gruesome heap.

Across the way, Agent 14 saw her husband’s demise and flew into a murderous rage, battling Li Chen with wild abandon. Capitalizing on her lapse, Li Chen snatched her stiletto and stabbed her brutally, before slitting her throat in a gushing arc of arterial spray.

After the intense and bloody battle in the alley, Li Xinjie stood there, his chest heaving, staring coldly at the mutilated corpses of Agent 12 and Agent 14. His clothes were torn and spattered with gore, but his eyes were hollow, the eyes of a man who had revisited his darkest past.

He turned to look at his twin brother Li Chen. "Thank you," he said hoarsely. "For having my back in there."

Li Chen nodded, wiping blood from a gash over his eye. "Don’t mention it. That’s what family is for."

Pulling out his phone with hands that barely trembled, Li Xinjie tapped a number into the encrypted app. It was answered after the first ring.

"Xu Zhonhao. We need a clean-up crew at my location, top priority," Li Xinjie said flatly. "Make sure to send the bodies back to the organization leadership when you’re done."

"Understood," came the crisp reply over the phone. "Cleaners are en route."

Li Chen clapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. "Let’s get out of here. Zhang Mei is probably worried sick about me."

Li Xinjie nodded numbly, dusting off his hands as if trying to physically rid himself of the violence he’d just engaged in. Only the faint scars on his face and the deadness in his eyes hinted at the life-or-death fight he’d just survived.

The two brothers exited the alley, leaving the mangled remains behind to be disposed of. They walked the several blocks back to the restaurant where they had left a car. They drove all the way to Pinnacle Estate where their family was waiting with obvious worry in their eyes.

Sun Lixia rushed over with tears in her eyes as soon as she saw Li Xinjie and Li Chen emerge, looking him over frantically for injuries. Zhang Mei was half a step behind her, sobbing with relief as Li Chen took her into his arms.

By morning, any evidence would be disposed of. The bodies would be returned in piecemeal fashion to their former organization as a blunt message. And on the manicured lawns of Pinnacle Estate, it would seem like just another peaceful day in the neighborhood, with no outward sign of the battle that had been waged to keep it that way.

Li Xinjie would see to it, whatever the personal cost. For as long as his family was threatened by the shadows of his former life, he would continue to meet that threat without hesitation or remorse.