Mission The Second Part Three (See Who I Am)

Is it true what they say?
Are we too blind to find a way?

Saturday.  27 July, 2013. Roughly 10PM, EST.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I yelled as Adrian dragged me out of my tent, one of my own pistols pressed to my head. He held me in front of him, gripping my wrists tightly behind my back. My shout woke up everyone else and alerted James, who was on guard duty. They all came rushing over, but stopped when they saw that he had a gun to my head.

Fear of the unknown
Clouds our hearts today.

"I'm gonna make this simple guys. I'm a proxy and I've been picking you guys off one by one since I joined up. Crazy right?" he laughed and pulled me closer to him, pressing the gun firmly against my temple. I let out a whimper of fear - a fake one of course.

"Please stop," I begged him, trying to squirm out of his grasp. "Let me go."

Come into my world,
See through my eyes.

"Now, now little miss, why would I want to do that?" I could hear the smirk in his voice. He loosened his grip on my wrists though, thankfully. We had agreed that this had to look convincing, but neither of us wanted the other to get hurt.

"What do you want?" Luke spat, glaring daggers at Adrian.

"Easy," he shrugged, "convert or die."

Try to understand,
Don't want to lose what we have.

"Like you won't kill us after we say that we'll become proxies?" Luke growled.

"We don't kill our own, we're like a family." Adrian smiled at them as he lightly tapped the trigger.

I was looking at all of them fearfully as tears started to well up in my eyes. "W-what about me?"

We've been dreaming
But who can deny?

Adrian let out a short chuckle. "Oh, I think you can imagine my plans for you, converted or not." He let go of my wrists and pulled his arm around me, holding me in a vice-like grip against his body. It was quite obvious what his intentions were.

"You're fucking sick!" I spat, "I'm not even legal!" This wasn't part of the plan, I had established that there would be nothing like... this happening unless he wanted to pay the consequences. Evidently he did.

It's the best way of living
Between the truth and the lies.

"It's not like anyone can stop me, you're all below me." I shuddered in revulsion as he started stroking my hip.

I snapped.

See who I am,
Break through the surface.

If he wasn't going to follow the plan than I wasn't either. I jabbed him in the kidney and neatly took my gun back, aiming it as his neck. "Okay you creep, I'm tired of you. So just sit down, shut up, and don't touch me again."

I smiled and turned back to the other four. "Sorry about that, seems like someone isn't good at following directions," I laughed. "Anyway, my name is Tori and it will be my pleasure to kill you all tonight if you refuse to convert."

Reach for my hand,
Let's show them that we can

The stared at me in shocked silence.

"Yes, I'm a proxy as well. You guys are so naive. I mean really now? Will you let any pretty face you meet in a dark alley join your group? Careless..."

"What the hell?! We trusted you - both of you!" Lucas roared.

"Trust is for fools who don't know how the universe works," I scoffed.

Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands,

Just then, James rushed at me, knife in hand. I blocked his strike with my gun before disarming him. I went back to pointing the gun and Adrian and pointed James' knife back at him. "Such a childish attempt," I rolled my eyes.

Without warning, I brought the gun to point at James and fired off a shot, not flinching at the loud sound when everyone else - including Adrian - did. "Next time you won't get so lucky."

I had fired over his head.

This is not the end.

"Now, you have two choices here. You can either live and work for my Father alongside myself and this sniveling idiot or I can kill you, as is my job."

"None of us are converting, that's final." Lucas spoke with an authority that seemed to reassure the rest of the runners.

Fear is withering the soul
At the point of no return.

"Then all of you are dying, that's final." The corners of my mouth lifted up in a feral smirk. "So, which one of you is first? You all seem so eager to die after all."

Silence. The runners looked at each other, the fact that I was going to kill them finally sinking in. Through some unspoken agreement, Lucas and James rushed me, thinking that brute strength would subdue me.

We must be the change we wish to see.
 

"Easy."

I fired off three shots and blood arced onto the ground. I hit James twice in both of his legs and Lucas once, through his shoulder.

They fell to the ground, moaning in pain.

I'll come into your world,
See through your eyes.

"Adrian, would you mind dealing with the ladies while I take care of these two?" I asked casually, flipping the knife around and catching it easily by the blade to hold the handle out to him.

"No problem," he responded. I flickered my eyes down to see that he had a feral smile on his face, one to match mine.

I'll try to understand,
Before we lose what we have.

He stood up easily and gently took the knife from me. He started walking over to the twins, who were now cowering against each other, but paused and turned around. "You wanna have coffee after this?"

"Possibly," I shrugged before kicking James in the head to keep him down.

"Now, I'm going to ask again boys," I knelt down and smirked down at the both of them. "Will you join me?"

We just can't stop believing
Because we have to try.

"Never you bitch," Lucas spat. I shot him in his hand and he screamed in pain.

"I'm giving you so many chances," I sighed, as if I was talking to a particularly rude child, "And yet you still refuse to see reason." I moved both of their heads so the could look at me.

"You twisted whore!" James growled.

We can rise above their truth and their lies.

"Ah-ah-ah," I chastised him, "no naughty words." I shot James in his hand as well. He was better at keeping in his cry of pain, but a pained sound still managed to eeke through his lips.

"I'm giving you one last-" my sentence was cut off by one of the twins screaming.

See who I am,

"Can you keep it down over there?" I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, your gun makes more noise than her screaming," Adrian shot back.

Break through the surface.

"Point. Feel free to continue," I shrugged before putting a bullet into Lucas' left shoulder.

"Last chance boys. And I promise that the gun won't take you to your maker," I smirked down at them before flipping out a switchblade I had in my pocket.

Reach for my hand,

I saw them glance at each other before looking back up at me.

"No."

"Your choice. Too bad it's the wrong one."

I started with Lucas, slashing a line from his shoulder to his hand, making sure not to nick an artery. Then I turned to James and carved an intricate, swirling pattern on his cheeks. Their screams mixed with those of the twins'.

And show them that we can

An intoxicating sound. A symphony of shrieks and yells and cries for mercy.

"I can see it, you'll be leaving this world soon. Last chance. My Father can save you," I whispered as I dragged the blade lazily across their mauled skin. 

Free our minds and find a way.

They were both too tired form blood loss to say a word, but had just enough strength to muster up glares.

The world is in our hands.

"Your loss. Say hello to my father for me, will you two pitiful humans?"

They departed just as Adrian got tired of the two girls and slit their throats. I stood up and walked over to him.

This is not the end.

"Impressive work," I smirked as we admired his handiwork. He had favored small stab wounds to my elaborate cuts.

Just then a wave of dizziness washed over me and I swayed. Adrian held me upright while the world turned black and faded back in. 

I hear their silence
Preaching my blame.

"You okay?" he asked cautiously.

"I..." I blinked and looked around the blood-soaked rooftop, down to my clothes, over to him, the rising sun, the blood, the twins, Lucas, James, the blood, my clothes, his clothes, the rooftop.

"I... I... How..." realization dawned on me and I let out an angry growl.

"You okay?" he asked again.

Will our strength remain
If their power reigns?

"No I'm-" I caught sight of my hands, the red, the blood, the smell. "I'm afraid that... I wasn't myself just then."

"Yeah well the slowly-torture-two-guys you is really hot," he smirked and ran his bloody hands on my bloody hips and up to my bloody sides.

"NO!"

See who I am,

I whirled around and slashed his arm with the knife. Nothing major. But it was enough to get him to keep is distance.

My chest heaved up and down and my eyes darted around like a trapped animal. I couldn't get that coppery smell out of my nose. I couldn't wash the red from my vision.

"S-stay away," my voice shook. But I wasn't talking to him.

Break through the surface.

"Awh, but I had so much fun. And he's hot. Why don't you dump the bookworm and fuck this one's brains out?"

"You're not allowed control! We agreed on that!"

Reach for my hand,

"Who are you talking to?" Adrian looked around.

"Leave." I stared him down. 

And show them that we can

He started to protest, but I glared at him and raised my gun. He ran.

"You shouldn't have done that! You can't-"

"Only when you really want me to. You wanted to do this, you just needed the strength and balance. You have them, but I have more. It was resourceful," she shrugged and walked around the bodies of the twins.

Free our minds and find a way.

"No. It was all you! I didn't do anything!"

"You planned, you plotted, now you're running from the glory."

"N-"

"Victoria Lee Francis you are a bloodthristy killer and nothing will change that."

The world is in our hands.

"No! I'm not... I didn't"

But I did. And I am.

And I'm still not okay with that.

This is not the end.

Mission The Second Part Two (Volatile Times)

Look at me

Days passed and the small group seemed to become rather attached to Violet. Many of them would come to me for advice not just about Slendy and running, but life in general. Everyone except Adrian of course. Everyone else thought that we had something going on between us and, in a way, they were right. But it wasn't romantic - we were just planning on killing them.

One night, three days after I got there, we were sitting inside his tent while everyone else was asleep and Luke was on watch duty.

What have I become?

"You know I still don't believe that you're a proxy, you could just be some crazy-ass runner. Or a fed. Show me where you're marked."

"I'd rather not..." I muttered, looking away from him.

"You got to see mine."

"Yours is on your arm."

Adrian did very little to hide his mark, and he just played it off as a scar he got from fighting a proxy when he started out.  Which was probably true, but it seems like those who are marked early on usually end up becoming Proxies - at least it seems that way to me.

I am lost I was once...

Suddenly he was hovering over where I had been laying on my back, nearly pinning me. "I'm not above finding out for myself," he smirked.

"And I'm not above kicking you in the balls," I smirked back. We both laughed softly at this. "Besides, I'm not marked on the front part of my person."

Adrian cocked an eyebrow before grabbing me and rolling me over. I let him. I felt him sit down on my back. I turned my head in an attempt to see what he was doing. When I finally twisted my head around in a way that I could see him, I could see him smirking. I raised my eyebrows, silently telling him that he would regret trying to take my clothes off. He rolled his eyes and got off of me.

"Fine, I'll show you..." I sighed and sat up, facing my back towards him. "Oh and by the way, I have about a million scars pretty much all over my body."

A "gentleman"

"So that's why you're wearing jeans and long sleeves in - holy shit V!"

"Hey, I wasn't kidding," I smirked. I had my shirt lifted mid-way up my back. I flinched when I felt his finger brush lightly against my back.

"How the hell...?"

"Back when I was still running, I thought I could take on a proxy that was pretty to close to being a Revenant as you can get. I was wrong. Got myself carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey as well as both of my legs and a few fingers broken. Internal bleeding. Fractured ribs. And I just about went crazy from being in a wheel chair for a long time," I shrugged. "Anyway my mark? Think tramp stamp."

"What do you...?" He trailed off before I felt him poke the top half of the operator symbol. "Oh."

"Yeah. You believe me now?"

"Yeah, I do," he muttered as he traced over some of my other scars, causing me to shiver. Eventually he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me back to lean on him. He continued tracing the scars on my stomach. "You know, these are too sexy to cover up," he whispered in my ear.

"Hmmm, that seems to be the popular opinion," I chuckled. "So what're you doing with this group?"

But I will remember the ups and the down

"Easiest way to snag runners. I just kill them off one by one every few weeks. But I always make sure to leave a few that will find me new ones." He moved his hands up slightly so he was tracing the scars at the bottom of my ribs. "What about you?"

"Orders from Father. I kill runners without blogs. I used to be a medic, but apparently he wants all hands on deck or something." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh so you run a blog? You sound like the writer type," he chuckled.

"Yeah well I'm not that great of a writer. Honestly it's just a way to talk to people that know about this kind of stuff, you know?" I moved so I was facing him, but still close. His hands were on my sides, still tracing over my scars.

"You live alone then I'm guessing?" The question was innocent but suddenly I felt like I needed to get out of there, and I needed him to stop touching me like this. It felt wrong when just moments ago... Well I'm sure you can guess.

"Sorry to cut this short, but I should get back to my tent before Luke calls you to take over his watch." I backed up but he grabbed my sides and started to lean over me.

"We have about an hour," he smirked.

Adieu to the fuckers that think that it's funny

"No, I should really get some sleep. Maybe some other time?" I smiled at him and brought my hands up to rest on his arms, gently pushing them away from me.

Adrian smirked and squeezed my sides lightly. "Didn't think you were such a damn tease," he growled.

"Get used to it," I smirked before crawling over to the opening of the tent.

Once I was in my own tent, I sat there, numb. Why had I reacted that way when he asked that? I shook my head and pushed it out of my mind - I had to focus on my mission not... that. Regardless, I knew that I had to study this group's dynamics before slaughtering them all.

A full week passed. In that week I learned that there was no leader of this group, but Luke was looked to as the authority figure. Apparently he had been running the longest. The twins were new to the running game and James fell between Luke and the twins. I also learned that Adrian had been running since he was eighteen and that he was actually twenty now.

The six of us were sitting around one of the camping lanterns that they had eating what little we had managed to scrounge up for dinner. I just needed to test out one more thing before I could start setting an attack plan in stone.

I just wanna turn the lights on

"What's the point of all of this though?" I asked suddenly. The other five looked at me with varying degrees of "the fuck is she talking about?" expressed on their faces, Adrian included. "Running I mean," I clarified.

"So we don't die..." James answered, sounding unsure.

"To protect our families," the twins spoke up, talking in unison. They too looked unsure.

"It's way better than being a damn proxie - a mindless servant," Luke spat.

"Instinct," Adrian piped up.

"Does running really solve that though? I mean, you can still get killed by proxies or Slendy, and your families aren't always safe. And we're the ones running mindlessly - like chickens with their heads cut off. Our instinct as humans is to survive in the best way possible, is this really the best way?"

"How the fuck can you think that Vi?!" Luke growled.

In these volatile times

"I have looked death straight in the eyes; I'm not afraid of it. My biological family is dead; I have no need to protect them. I have a mind of my own and that mind is telling me that this is going to backfire on us one way or another! So why not just give in?" I sighed and stared glumly at the camping light.

"Just because you're tired of it all doesn't mean it's not worth it you know," James said.

"What's the point in running when I haven't got anything to run for?" I stared at him.

"Hey, you've got us now right?" Natalie asked.

"We can be your family if you want," Melody smiled.

I smiled at them and murmured a thanks. We lapsed into silence for the rest of "dinner."

I just wanna turn the lights on

Later that night, Adrian ducked into my tent. I was awake still, making sure that my weapons were clean, sharp, and ready.

"Tomorrow night?" he whispered, eyeing my guns and throwing knives.

"Sounds good. I think that the twins and James are open to conversion... If the stakes are high enough."

In these volatile....

"Sounds like you already have a plan little miss," Adrian smirked as he pulled me over to him, trying to get me to lean on him.

"Don't call me that," I snapped. "But yes, I do have a plan. You up for a little acting?"

Adrian smirked at me and motioned for me to go on. I told him the idea and rough outline I had for the plan and by sunrise we had a fairly concrete plan, as well as alternatives if something happened.

"Get some sleep little miss, we have a big night tonight," Adrian winked as he exited my tent.

I fell into a fitful sleep that night, wrought with guilt and a sick feeling of elation.

Volatile Times

Mission The Second Part One (Kill The Lights)

This story's missing a wishing well....

Once again I found myself checking and rechecking my weapons in my room. Satisfied with the state of them, I shoved them into a duffel bag amid the clothes I had in there. I sighed and tugged at my worn jeans and faded long sleeved shirt and pushed my black-rimmed plastic glasses back up, I had forgotten how much they liked to slip down my nose.

This isn't exactly what I had planned to do when I had gotten the orders for this mission but it was a group of them this time, and I had to do this job the right way. And the right way meant doing this and not showing true compassion to these people.

"Are you sure about this Tori?" Skye asked. I turned to see that he was leaning on the door frame of my room, as he so often did.

"Yeah. I... I have to get used to this job, and the only way to do that is to do it this way..." I sighed.

"Well I'll make sure not to blow up the house while you're gone," he joked. 

"Make sure not to blow yourself up with your runes is more like it," I muttered before heaving a sigh. "And make sure to feed Alaska around five at night. And you can use the punching bag in the basement to replace sparring. And-"

Skye cut me off with a laugh. I looked over at him questioningly. "I know Tori you told me before."

"I know... I just..." I gave a defeated sigh and slumped my shoulders. "I feel like shit about this decision..."

"Well it's like you said..." he trailed off. I knew he wasn't comfortable with this either.

"I know... Just... Be safe alright?" I looked up at him. 

"I will. And I'll keep Alaska safe too," he smiled. I smiled back at him.

"Trust me, if there was any other way..." I trailed off.

"I know."

Every prince is a fantasy

We stood there awkwardly for a bit, both not knowing how to say goodbye. He opened his mouth to say something and I opted for the more direct route. I walked over and hugged him with more strength than my hugs normally had. I felt him hesitantly wrap his arms around me. "A-are you r-really gonna m-miss me that m-much?" he stuttered. 

"No I'm gonna miss your cooking," I mumbled into his chest. My glasses were pressing awkwardly into my face and probably slightly painfully into his chest, but I didn't really care. He tried and failed to start many sentences before I pulled away from him. 

I sighed once more and grabbed my bag. I looked back up at Skye to see that there was still a faint blush on his cheeks from when I hugged him. I chuckled softly before adjusting my glasses (again) and pulling on some beat-up fingerless gloves. "I'll be back in about a week hopefully..." I trailed off.

"Well I'm not going anywhere so don't worry." He smiled at me again. I smiled back before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. I opened them right before I stepped into the path to see that Skye's mouth was open, as if he wanted to say one last thing.

We kill the lights

"Well he can tell me when I get back," I mumbled to myself and set off. The black figures that I had seen at a distance last time were closer now, like they were curious about me. I shrugged it off and walked another minute or so before stepping out of the path and into an alleyway between two blocks of houses somewhere outside of Baltimore. The area I had been given wasn't very specific this time - apparently this group moved around a lot. I sighed and went to my left, figuring that I'd just walk the alleyways until I found the group, or signs of them anyway.

After about an hour of wandering I was getting frustrated. No sign, no people, only rats. I let out a growl of frustration and kicked someone's backyard fence. The chain rattled, louder than I thought it would be.

"Whose there?" a voice shouted from the end of the alleyway that I had just come from. Instinctively I gabbed my revolver out of my bag and aimed it down the alley.

"I have a gun, show yourself," I shouted back. I watched as a figure slowly made its way to me from the end of the alleyway, hands raised with a blade in one of them. When the figure was close enough, I could see that it was male, probably around nineteen with shaggy blond hair and dark eyes. "Where am I? Is this still Maryland?"

And put on a show

"We're in Dundalk," he replied, eyes narrowed.

"How the hell...?" I trailed off sighing. "I thought I was at least in PA by now... dammit..." I muttered, loud enough for him to hear but soft enough to make it sound like an accident.

"What are you running from?" he asked, smirking.

"Demons with no faces and great taste in men's finery," I muttered sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

The male bit out a chuckle. "Not exactly a demon, but you're close. Come on, you look like you've been wandering a while." He put his switchblade back in his pants pocket and held out a hand to me. I eyed it warily before I clicked the safety back on the revolver and put it back in my bag. Self-consciously I tugged my sleeves down again before lightly placing my hand in his. He gripped my hand lightly before leading me though the streets and alleys.

"It's like 85 degrees out here, what's with the jeans and long sleeves?" he asked, smirk evident in his voice.

"I got on the wrong end of a knife of one of the Tall Bastard's lackeys," I sighed.

"I'm sorry..." he trailed off and gave my hand a small squeeze.

"You couldn't have known, it's fine," I brushed it off. "So where are we going?"

"Well first, we need to cross this road that's coming up..." he murmured.

It's all a lie

"What road is - Dude this is a highway!" My voice shot up an octave and I ripped my hand from his grasp. "You're insane! We'll get hit by some jerk-off who doesn't have his headlights on or some shit like that!"

"You're running from some eldritch horror-terror and you're worried about getting hit by a car," he stated dubiously.

"Admittedly I'd rather be done in by a car than that... thing..." I trailed off.

Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and ran across the road. I was too shocked to do anything but run with him, hoping that some jackass with his lights off didn't come barreling down the road at 80 miles an hour (about 130 kilometers per hour for those who use the metric system). Luckily, we weren't turned into road pancakes.

"Come on, we're camped out on the roof of that building over there," he said as he pointed to the empty parking lot of a shopping center. I looked up to see that there were walls around the roof of the building, giving the group of runners some cover. Smart, I have to admit. However, deciding to trust some random stranger who you found walking around alleyways wasn't smart. I sighed and shook my head. Keeping up this character was starting to get to me, and it hadn't even been two hours yet.

"You alright?" he asked as we walked around to the back of the building.

"Yeah, just thinking is all," I shrugged.

But you'd never know

"Ladies first," he smirked, gesturing to the ladder that was on the side of the building.

"And let you stare at my ass while I climb up? I think not," I scoffed. "Lead the way..." I trailed off. He hadn't told me his name, nor had I told him mine.

"Lucas Greyfield," he smiled. "You can call me Luke if you want though," he shrugged.

"Alright Luke, I'm Violet Stevens," I smiled back. "And you can just call me Vi if you want, I don't really like being named after a flower."

The star will shine

Luke smirked and held up my hand before brushing his lips against the cloth that covered my knuckles, never breaking eye contact. "I think it's a beautiful name."

"HEY LUKE!" a voice yelled down from above. "STOP TRYING TO SEDUCE THE NEWBIE!"

"HEY JAMES!" Luke yelled back, "SHUT UP."

"HEY LUKE! THAT'S MEAN!"

Luke rolled his eyes and started up the ladder. I followed close after wondering in the back of my mind what he would've done if James hadn't have called down when he did. Well one thing's for sure, I thought to myself, I certainly wouldn't be here for a week if he would have tried anything.         

And then it will fall

He pulled me up when I got to the top the ladder, and I pretended not to notice how his hand trailed down my side lightly when he let go of my hand. I looked around to see that they had small tents set up that didn't rise above the wall around the roof, which was about four feet tall. There were only about five or six tents, and it looked like it was one person to a tent if the small crowd that had gathered was any evidence.

"So that's what took you so long!" one of the two girls called out.

"Figures, we send him out for food and he brings back a girl," the other girl laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Luke exclaimed. The four other people just laughed.

And you will forget it all

"Anyway, introduction time!" the guy who had yelled down called out. "I'm James. You already know this guy's Luke," he pointed at a fuming Luke. "The two girls over there are Melody and Natalie - they're twins. And that guy smoking over there is Adrian. HEY ADRIAN GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND SAY HI!"

I winced at James' sudden change in volume. The other guy, who also looked to be about 19 but could pass for 21, walked over. When we met each other's eyes the song changed. Before it was slightly approving, he knew of my plan, with violent undertones. Now it was... well as melodious as I've heard the song get. The last time I had heard the song sound like this was back at Antithesis when I lived with a bunch of proxies.

"Have we met before?" Adrian asked me, sounding as confused as I felt.

"I... I don't know you seem... familiar..." I mumbled. I just wanted to say it right out, because I knew that he was like me but I had to stay Violet and not become Tori.

"Maybe we lived in the same neighborhood or something," he shrugged, but his eyes were trying to tell me something.

And after midnight we're all the same

"Yeah, I think that we went to the same school before I started running actually. That dumb catholic school where we had to pray to Father and call everyone Brother and Sister?" I raised my eyebrows and stared hard at him, hoping he would get it.

"Saint Twiggy's, oh I mean Saint. Thomas. The. Third's," Adrian stated the name like he was a teacher drilling the name into student's heads. But what he had said first confirmed it for me.

"Ah yes, Saint Twiggy's. So many grueling assignments... We should catch up later," I smiled at him.

"It would be my pleasure," he smirked, looking me from head to two. "You've grown."

"And I see you still haven't kicked your sinful habits," I smirked back, gesturing to his cigarette, before turning to Luke. "So where am I crashing for the night?"

Every story's a waiting game

"With me of course!" Adrian laughed and went to wrap an arm around my waist. I had him pinned with his arm held behind his back, threatening to dislocate his shoulder in five seconds flat. His cigarette was on the rooftop.

"Not funny," I growled before getting closer to his ear. "I'll find your tent sometime tomorrow night, we need to talk," I whispered in his ear. "But seriously I do not give two fucks if you're a proxy or not. I will castrate you with a rusty spoon, got it?" I hissed and gave his arm a painful jerk.

"Jesus girl your threats got scarier!" Adrian exclaimed as I let him go.

"Where can I sleep?" I asked Luke again, sounding tired.

"We have an extra tent that you can set up. I would suggest with the twins, but these tents aren't exactly big, you know?" Luke laughed. The rest of us laughed along with him.

It's all a lie

Luke lead the way while James, Melody and Natalie went back to whatever they were doing before. Adrian tagged along with us. We stopped at a dull blue tent and Luke went in and came back out with a bundle in his arms, which he promptly deposited in mine. It was a dull red colour and had some spots where it looked like it had been bleached. I didn't want to know.

With the help of the two guys, we got the tent up eventually, but we kept putting the poles in the wrong place. By now the sun was starting to light up the horizon. I groaned when I realized that I had stayed up through the night.

"Get some sleep Vi, someone will wake you up around noon - we usually have food then." Luke patted my shoulder before walking over to James.

But you'd never know

"My tent's the green one right there," Adrian pointed to the tent that wasn't even ten feet away from mine as he tried to light another cigarette. The wind kept blowing the flame on the lighter out. I rolled my eyes and grabbed it from him. He cupped his hands around the end of his cigarette and I used my hand as a shield from the wind for the flame. It lit the first time. "You smoke too?" he asked, blowing some of the smoke into my face. It was cherry-scented.

"Nah, I'm just good with lighters." I shrugged before yawning. "Sorry, I'm tired as hell. Mind if I take a rain check on the catching up?"

He looked down at me and half-smiled. "Anything you want. Just one question - you planning on killing them all at once?"

The star will shine

I started to nod, but then shrugged. "Initially yeah, but I'm not too sure now. I need to see how they work as a group first. This is probably gonna take a while longer than I guessed it would. And I would prefer to convert them if possible, you know?"

"Yeah... So how long were you planning on staying here?" he asked me, blowing the smoke away from my face.

"About a week at most..." I trailed off.

And then it will fall

"That won't cut it and you know it," Adrian smirked, green eyes dancing with amusement.

"Yeah yeah," I mumbled through another yawn.

"Go to sleep, we can talk about this some other night," he smirked before running his fingers through my hair. At this point I was so tired that I didn't care that he was touching me again.

"Alright..." I yawned again before crawling into my tent, dragging my bag with me. I stayed up for about half an hour, a sinking feeling in my gut. I figured that it was because I was planning to kill most of these people, but that wasn't all of it. Before I could identify what was eating away at me, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

And you will forget it all...

Mission The First (Survive)

Somewhere between happy and total fucking wreck

My eyes scanned my room, doing one last check to make sure that I had everything on me. 

Knives? Four hidden in my jacket in the pockets that I had sewn in earlier just for them, the other four hidden similarly in my sleeves - two per sleeve. 

Guns? Revolver on my right, 9mm on my left - thigh holsters  covered by the jacket. 

Extra ammo? Pockets, that's what they were made for. Two extra clips of ten for the 9mm even though the clip holds 15 - wearing out the spring is a bad idea - and a pocket full of 40-caliber bullets for the revolver. 

The mask hung around my neck, ready to be put on. 

Black jacket, shirt, pants, gloves. 

I had everything.

There was no way in hell I could do this. I knew that I could use the path, I had tried earlier that day when Father had given me my first order. It was unnervingly silent and dark, but easy to navigate when you trusted your instincts. I knew that I had it in me to kill, but that had only been in dire situations or when I was fuled with grief and rage. To do it as a job... 

"It's your friends or them you know, you made the right choice."

Feet sometimes on solid ground, sometimes at the edge.

I sighed and rolled my eyes at the female demon. "I know M, but you know I don't live off of violence." 

M laughed and I shot a glare at the blonde bombshell who guys would swarm around if they could see her. Her emerald eyes glared back at me jokingly. "It's now or never. And you know it wouldn't have killed you to dress sexier..." She rolled her eyes.

I ignored her jab and took a few deep breaths. I patted myself down again to make sure that I had everything and scanned my room once more. I wasn't ready, but I had to be. I closed my eyes, took a step forward and everything became silent. I opened my eyes to see that I was on the Path. I shuddered initially, hating the silence that seemed to press upon me from all sides but as I walked onward the silence became almost comforting. It was dark, and everything was almost grey-scale. I could see some vague shapes in the distance moving, but I didn't care to find out if they were proxies or something else.

I stepped out into an alleyway in Baltimore, somewhere far away from where tourists feel safe. It had signs of being inhabited by someone - there was a pile of sheets near a dumpster and some food wrappers lying around. I sighed and pulled on my mask. I felt bad for this kid, but I had to shut my emotions off for this.

Life for you has been less than kind.

The runner was walking cautiously through the alleyway and I could see the moonlight reflect off of the small knife that he was carrying. When he spotted me, he froze, holding the knife out in front of him like it would save him. I cocked my head to the right, just to see what he would do. 

The runner had guts, and he slowly started advancing towards me. As he got closer I could see that his grip on the knife was wrong and weak, he was shaking, and he wasn't standing in a way that would give him any sort of balance. I allowed him to come within five feet of me before I held up a hand, signaling him to stop.

So take a number, stand in line.

"I come to you with a choice, runner," I stated, breaking the tense silence. The runner stopped dead in his tracks, but at my hand or my words I don't know.

"W-what do you mean? You work for that... that thing right? Why aren't you rushing me like the rest?" The runner's voice shook with fear. The knife wavered in his unskilled hands and his large, terrified eyes tried to find mine under my mask.

"Join me as a Brother, under our Father and live - or die here." My voice was so dead I hardly recognized it as mine. I blocked out M's snarky comment about me sounding like an over-zealous Christian.

"No way! I'm not going to join that thing in a business suit! You're crazy!"

"I'm crazy for giving you a choice sure, but you're the one who wishes death upon himself. And so death shall swiftly come to those who beg it to."

"You're nuts!" the runner screamed as he rushed at me. I blocked his knife with one of my throwing knives. He starred at it, wondering where it had come from.

"I'm sorry," I sighed as stripped the knife from his grip and pointed it at him. I was now holding a knife in each hand. His hand was bleeding from where my knife nicked him while stripping him of his weapon.

We've all been sorry, we've all been hurt.

The runner starred at me, shocked. 

"To live or to die is your choice. I can not tell you which is ideal. But allow me to advise you to chose some more eloquent last words if you insist upon calling upon death."

The runner said nothing, instead choosing to run at me again, weaponless. I kicked him away, into the alleyway wall. I head his breath rush out of him as he slid down. I stood over him, both knives at his throat.

But how we survive...

"N-no please!" He begged.

"The choice is yours runner." I dropped the knives and instead leveled my revolver at his head. 

Suddenly he leapt up, grabbed his knife, and tried to pin me down. He was weak. I threw him off of me and pinned him to the dirty ground. 

"Last chance."

He squirmed, trying to throw me off. But, he was unskilled and untrained, he couldn't have thrown me off of him if I was sitting casually on him. He brought his knife up and slashed by arm. I didn't feel it. 

I picked his head up off of the ground and slammed it down, knocking him out. I stood up off of him and shot him twice, once in the heart and once in the head. 

Is what makes us who we are.

I sighed, looking down at the kid before picking up my throwing knife and holstering the revolver. I kicked his knife over near his body and drew an operator symbol in his blood on the wall. I had faith that the corrupt government with its secrets would cover it up as gang violence or a mugging gone wrong. 

I stepped back on the Path and went home. After a quick shower I stuffed the bloody clothes in a plastic bag (The coat was hydrophobic so it didn't have any blood on it. It took a while to find on the internet.) to be burned later. 

I stumbled into bed around 3am and fell into a dreamless sleep.

That's what makes us who we are