Genevieve was sitting at her desk, inside the lonely office she has created for herself. She has taken over the task of reviewing assignments and give them to the Freedom fighters. While also training with a gun in her spare time, and running background checks of almost everyone inside the city. She has shadowed people, gone on dangerous assignments for the Freedom fighters together with Mychaell. Hoping that this pulled Justin's attention from the others on to her.
"Hey, Genevieve." Vanessa entered her office. "I have the file of my last mission, and my findings." Genevieve said nothing, she just pointed towards the 'I am done cabinet' inside her office. "Sure got it, no more small talk from you, but do you have another assignment for me?" she asked.
"Yes, I have. Here it is, I am sorry to say that is similar than the one you just finished." Genevieve said, while giving Vanessa the file. Vanessa groaned loudly.
"Another scouting mission, I have done these a lot the last couple of weeks." Vanessa replied, Genevieve nodded but still gave the file to Vanessa, who took it and left the office in a huff. Genevieve took a deep breath and lower her head. She hated this, more than she could say. She opened the drawer inside her desk, where she held Rycharde's old gun. Mychaell came in when she stood up, to practice shouting. Something he has seen her do on multiple occasions, so he didn't question that anymore. What he did know was that she never took it out during the day, unless she was upset.
"Is this really what you want?" he asked her, he has asked her this a few times before. And every time she replied with a simple nod. But this time she shock her head, because there was no point in lying. "But do you really believe that this is needed to keep them safe?" This time she nodded, she really believed that this was the only way to do this.
"Pushing them towards the point that they will talk shit behind my back in public, so that a lot of people can hear them. It is what I believe the best way to go about this, and I hate it." She said, while putting up ear protectors. He did the same thing, she aimed at the target and started to shoot. This gun was a bit on the heavier side, but she had learned how to shoot with it, pretty quickly. She emptied the barrel, and sighed. "I only need a lighter one, one that I can easily hide under my clothes. But I also need to practice with the other weapons, and simple martial arts will not hurt either." She pointed at the whiteboard that was now mounted on her wall, it had grown in the last couple of hours. "Every time I go on a mission, every time I look someone up. That cursed company pops up, and I can't take it." She turned towards him and sighed. "Are you still going out for drinks with the rest of the crew?" He nodded and she smiled softly.
"And you are going on another scouting mission of yours. Gen, please tell me, what do you hope to find?" he asked. She closed her eyes and wrapped her own arms around her.
"A sliver of hope, that I am wrong and that Justin is really dead." she whispered. "A sign to tell me that I can stop." She felt his arms wrap around hers. She leaned into him, absorbing his warmth and love. "That this all is part of my paranoia, another fever dream or episode." Mychaell turned her slowly around and then cupped her face with his hand.
"I have faith in you, to do the right thing. But please, the next time when I ask if you are alright, answer truthfully. Just like you did right now," he said. So he had noticed that she didn't do that before, which means that the knew her so well. She covered his hand with hers, and turned her head slightly and pressed her lips on the palm. She couldn't promise him that at all, but she will do her best. He was the one who has her heart, and this is how she showed him that. "I see," he sounded hurt. And she knew that this would happen.
"I am sorry," she whispered. "I want to promise you, that I would never lie to you again. I want to promise that and so much more. But I can't. All I can tell you is that I am scared out of my mind, and that you bring some calmness into my life." He smiled softly, the hurt expression was gone. He knew that she had spoken from her heart, she knew that he knew that. He placed his finger under her chin, pushed her head slightly up, and kissed her softly on the lips. She gave into the kiss, wrapped her arms around his neck. Hoping that this moment wouldn't stop or fade into oblivion. But a knock on the wooden door frame interrupted them.
"Sorry, to bother the two of you," it was Derick. "But I am here to turn in my paperwork, and I suspect that you have another easy mission in store for me." Genevieve pushed herself off Mychaell and closed her eyes. She didn't want to, but that was not important right now. "Figures, I really hope that this is all worth it in the end." He placed his file in the right cabinet, and walked over to her desk. "But let me make this loud and clear, I know that you have suffered under that monster's hands. But you are doing now the same thing to us, and I consider that as the highest betrayal." He grabbed the file with his name on it. "Again, I hope it was worth it. Mychaell, we will leave in five minutes, with or without you." Derick left the office, and once again she felt empty.
"He is just angry about those assignments, and I have to say. You are really giving them the easy once, and you have given none to Jessica." he said, and she nodded. That was intentional, she was attacked by someone only a couple of weeks ago. And again, she hoped with all her heart that this attack was unrelated to all of this. But then again, she couldn't take that risk.
"It is fine, he already made it clear that he doesn't believe me. So I do not take his comments to heart," she said. That was a lie, and she could see from the way he looked at her that, he knew that as well. "You should go, I will be fine." She placed something in the pocket of his pants, a small recording device. What in the name of the wasteland was she thinking, spying on him and the others like that? She hated herself for doing this, and the words of Derick echoed in her mind.
"I hope it was worth it."
Mychaell left her office and she followed behind him, grabbing some clothing from the locker room. All of it was black with hidden spaces for her to place her weapons in. Hoping that she didn't need them tonight, hoping that the one that she was going to shadow today didn't notice her at all.
"Be careful out there," Mychaell said, she wanted to promise him that she would. But she knew that this might not be a promise that she was able to keep.
"I will try," she promised him instead. Which was the closest thing. He nodded and left the back of the house, through the front door. And she did the same thing, but then at the back.
*******
The streets of Maraud were well light, but gave enough room for the dark. Not like what she was used to in Benevolence, with all the neon lights that light up every corner. If you didn't count the dark alleyways, the place where she loved to roam when she wanted to be alone. The place that she was needed to hide herself for human traffickers, the place where she found a new family. Only this time she wasn't roaming the alleyways for Benevolence, this was Maraud, and she needed to be careful. Because she was not the only one who used these dark streets, she already needed to hide several times in small corners and sideways. Thanking each lucky star that the one that she was ghosting, didn't see her. The man, finally stopped at the end of the alleyway. A place that bled out into an open area, and he was not alone. There were two other man waiting for him.
"Are you sure that you haven't being followed," the man in black with a mask asked. His voice made her blood run cold, it was the same one that hunted her dreams.
"I am pretty sure of it, mister Benevolence." the scumbag, she knew as Mister Dixton, replied. The man in the mask looked over mister Dixton's shoulder and nodded.
"Good," the man in the mask said. Genevieve made herself as small as possible inside the nook that was close to the open area. It was conveniently light by a single lantern that didn't give much light at all. It was also a night with a new moon, so not much light from that thing either. Which she had used in her advantage, and this guy inside the mask did the same thing. "Report." the man's voice was cool, collected, and once again it made her blood run cold. It was so similar to Justin's voice, and how he loved to speak to someone that disappointed him. Which most of the time it was her on the receiving end. Mister Dixton didn't seem to notice, however, and started to report the latest developments. She was clever enough to have the same recording device with her, as the one she placed into Mychaell's pocket. So that she could analysis what he said later. The man in the mask only nodded from time to time, but his whole posture seemed off in Genevieve's eyes. As if, he pretended to listen, again something that Mister Dixton didn't seem to notice. She now wished that she had taken a video recording device, but that one was much bigger and easier to notice. "Well done, Mister Dixton, well done. You have been a valuable asset." the man in the mask stepped forward. Genevieve's heart started to beat faster. She was now able to see the man's eyes, who were resting on her. Cold gray, emotionless, eyes. Justin's eyes, he was alive. He was alive, inside the city, and he had seen her. Justin lay a hand on Mister Dixton's shoulder. "But you were being followed." And with one swoop, slight Mister Dixton's throat. Genevieve got up and started to run away. "Run, Genevieve, run. You know that is useless, because I have you where I wanted." She stopped the voice recorder, and tears welled up in her eyes as she ran away from the man she feared more than live. She kept on running, until she was at home inside the apartment. She closed every lock there was on the front door and let herself slip against it. Knowing full well that those locks wouldn't stop him at all. She kept the recorder close at hand, while the tears streamed freely down her cheeks.
