(Musical Recommendation- Queen-Another one bite the dust)
I sink my blade into the neck of another goon coming at me and then duck and use the momentum of yanking my knife out of one goons neck to elbow the other one running up behind me in the nose. While he's clutching his face I turn to kick him Kansetsu Geri style on the side of his knee making him drop. I slice his throat and move on sticking my fun little explosives as I go, whistling as I work.
"Are you humming Queen?" Cass's voice comes through loud and clear with my micro head com inserted in my ear.
"You know it." I say and suddenly it's playing low in my com.
I chuckle as I move through another room scanning and noticing a scared head pop up behind a table. I duck down and can see it's just two feet from whats open right above the floor. Looks like a white lab coat. I stroll on over and sure enough some balding guy in a lab coat holds his hands up.
"Please don't kill me." He cries, "I only did what I was told to do."
*Bang*
"Guilty then." I say walking away from the corpse.
I go to check the other door out of the room and it's a hallway. I see the Exit sign up. Good that means I can make my way out of here. I start to head that way when I hear some noise.
A door opens and some more of Graves thugs try to come at me.
"Hey Boys."
I just toss a grenade down the hall and wave bye bye as I jump behind the corner. The explosion sends them, glass and concrete flying. I walk out through the hole the grenade just made and start tossing more grenades around like I was playing baseball.
I hear some yelling and three guards are coming at me ready to shoot. I jump and roll behind a large wooden crate getting grazed on the arm by a bullet. I do a quick check grab a flash bang and toss it.
Stunned and blind they're not far from where they just were.
I fire two at the one closest to my rights chest and then the guy in the middle directly one head shot is all that was required. The third guy still trying to see whats going on, and can't hear yet is scrambling to stand up.
He realizes he's fucked when he can see again.
It's my pretty face he sees smiling before I shove the blade up through the bottom of his jaw through his mouth and out the back of his neck as his head flies back to look at he sky.
I make my way over to the helicopter point my gun at the pilot and tell him,
"Let's go."
Once in the air just out of fenced area around the complex, I press my little button and send the whole building up in a cloud of fire, smoke and debris.
The shock wave hits us and sends us forward but the pilot is able to keep her from losing control.
Once we're far enough away I ask the pilot how long has he been working for Graves. "16 years."
"Get out." I say cool and calm with my gun still on him.
"But what about this?" He holds his arm up where I attached an IED to his arm.
"I said out." Holding my finger over the button.
"What?! I'll die if I land in this type of terrain. I flew you here just like you wanted and waited. That was the deal that you'd remove it." He cries out looking at all the trees and large rocky mountains we're flying over.
I take the IED off by just yanking it out.
He screams, "DAMN IT."
"Now fuck off." I say aiming my gun.
"But that's a 30 ft drop!" He cries.
"Sucks to be you. You want to take your chances with the trees or me? The trees will be nicer then me." I say.
He unstraps and stands up. He hesitates so I just sigh and kick him out headfirst and take over piloting. I watch as he hits a tree bounces and lands on a boulder.
"Ouch that's gonna be a hell of a headache tomorrow." I laugh flying away in the helicopter.
Making my way to the coast line from here I can see the smoke from Graves little investments throughout the years in so many pharmaceuticals that's turning to ash.
I put the bird high enough up in the air and lock the stick in place. Quickly I drop my inflatable boat down in the water watching it pop open. I push the stick slightly to the side unlocking it and quickly jump out feet first into the icy water below.
Damn that's cold. My whole body contracts but I kick up to the surface as hard as I can.
I surface my breathing tight from the shock of the cold water and take the few strokes to climb on to the boat.
The helicopter hits the water far enough away from me, so I stick my safety rod into my boats little engine and start her up.
Soon I'm just freezing but buzzing farther out to sea to rendezvous with the ship waiting on me.
....
I make it to my final destination after a few days of different disguises and means of transportation and laying a few false trails for my dear 'fans and stalkers' to keep them busy.
For the past year since Graves made his move against me, Cass has gotten better at tech and covering our tracks, while I have become stronger, deadlier, and more agile. After we took care of Moll and Marks bodies we both trained 8 hour days getting stronger and learning more adept martial arts and survival techniques.
With the help of Lar and Temple I've made new friends all across the world with the Fae, who will always help me out if I need them. I have helped the majority of them as well cause we who have the blood take care of our own.
I thank Grier, the Brownie who helped me snap to the house me and Cass use. I thanked her and handed her a blue bottle of blood, she thanked me and told me to call her anytime before snapping herself away.
I go and wash up and head to Cass's room. Knocking I open it and he's there standing at his desk busy working on something of his.
"Hey Sin, I got those lock breakers fixed, they won't take as long to get the code in. Top wait time for me on 12 digit string has been 8 seconds. They're downstairs next to the ammo in the room."
He finishes what ever he's doing or gets to a spot he can stop before turning to look at me.
"Saw what you did to the facility manufacturing the pharmaceuticals that were laced with drugs pulled across the border. Very nice." He smiled pushing his tinted glasses up his nose that help with staring at computer screens for so long.
"Yeah those new little packs of c-4 and dynamite that you made me are perfect. Those grenades are awesome too, perfect on the timing mechanisms too. Those smoke bombs though I thought I had a dud cause it hit the ground and it took a good 5 seconds before it started smoking.
"You're right too by the way, the blinking light IED's worked like a charm getting that pilot to take me to the facility and wait. He even got the guys there to go and check on the " package" he was supposed to go back with. How did you fake those documents so well?" The kid continues to amaze me still to this day at what he's able to do and how quickly he can make everything look absolutely legitimate.
He came and gave me hug, this full grown man before me who had become so handsome and a good man that he could make anyone proud to call him a friend, still hugged me like the little kid I saved 20 years ago. I hugged him and told him lets go eat, I'm famished.
We left the house and went to one of our favorite little places here in town and were served by redcaps and elves at an eatery called "The Fae Fare" and it was delicious! It also didn't hurt that we were some of the only humans other than one or two others that would eat here.
Humans still shunned the Fae most of the time not realizing that they were missing out.
"Sir Caspian et Madame Sin, bonjour voulez-vous votre habitué pour le petit déjeuner? (Sir Caspian and madam Sin, hello would you like your regular for breakfast?)" The little host Elf named Dutan welcomed us and sat us down.
"Oui, s'il vous plaît Dutan. Café aussi. (Yes, please Dutan. Coffee too.)" Cass replied as we sat.
"Your french has improved quite a bit, I'm glad you have been catching on better than I thought you originally would." I beamed proudly at him. I'm not Moll, but I try to remind him that he is still something to be proud of. I still can't believe that they are gone.
After breakfast we take the car to the city and go and visit Lar and Belle and their little bundle of joy, Luna. She's a hybrid, a shape-shifter like Belle, but she looks like a white haired redcap with out fangs. We find out from Lar that more Cartel are having problems because of operations being interrupted or destroyed, some of which are my doing but they don't know that. I don't leave survivors anymore. Victims wouldn't tell them anything if they were ever caught again either.
We leave after a short visit and head to Natalia's to get my new outfit her and Cass designed together. It's like a body suit but has flat thin pouches and holders for all the gadgets and gizmos a plenty I tend to have on me. Blades, guns, grenades ammo, drones. They've worked it out and even added bullet proof material and Neosupreme for further protection from anything thrown my way.
"You're a super hero!" Cass exclaims excitedly as I come out after trying it on.
"Yeah, I do don't I?" I laugh doing a little twirl in the mirror. She made one a romper style so it can be worn with shorts if need be and another she made that is merely straps for around the stomach and legs like a garter belt for even more options.
"I love it! Thank you Natalia, these will be much more proficient." I let her know.
"Good now go try it on." She gives me an impatient look and I look guilty as I walk to change into my bridesmaid dress.
I show her it fits just fine and she releases me saying I better make it to rehearsal next week. Cass and I captain salute her on our way out which she returns with laser eyes. Laughing we take off with bags and go back to our car to stop by Temples.
Cass has been teasing me about the bridesmaid dress because it's pink and light and airy, you know, everything I am not. We're getting out of the car and I turn to him still walking, "You know I think you're just jealous cause you can't wear the dress..." I'm laughing at him as I turn and run right into someone.
"Oh!" Hitting each other hard we are both knocked off balance and fall to the ground. I quickly get up and start apologizing, "Mi scusi! Mi dispiace tanto, non stavo guardando il mio cammino."(Excuse me! I'm so sorry, I was not watching my path.)
I offer my hand for the man to take it to get up. Electricity runs through me as he stands up. I nearly let go of his hand in fright.
My heart felt like it stopped beating.
It was John.
Our eyes met and swear I knew the soul inside those eyes, but they didn't recognize me. There's a sparkle a flash of light in them and it's almost reminds me of something stirring like a shadow behind a curtain.
"Non parli italiano, inglese?" (Don't speak Italian, English?) He asks look at me with a slight smile on his face which makes my heart start thumping again like crazy.
I'm stunned standing in silence when Cass comes up and says quickly, "No inglese."
John just gives an awkward smile and motions that he's o.k. and walks away.
"Cass, let's walk to the book shop right there, I don't want to put Temple in danger." I whisper.
We go in and have a look around and Cass scans the area with his little device discreetly.
"Areas clean." He says handing me a cook book that we purchase. We walk out and leave, giving Temple a call to let him know what happened outside his door. He says he'll get us the Elixir we need that it'll be on the table when we get home.
Cass gives Lar a call and asks if Belle saw anything about what happened today. She tells him no she didn't but she can try.
She was going to have to use her divination tools to see, turns out Luna took a lot of her vision power with her birth.
We head to the parking garage by the shopping area and go to the elevator. Lar snaps us to the house before we reach the next level down.
We all are concerned over this unexpected run in with 'John'. Belle can't tell me anything either other than, it's not the John I knew.
"Well if he is John magically brought back to life he wouldn't be the one I knew. I thought it would be through reincarnation!" Belle looks at me at a loss because she doesn't know what to tell me.
"Sin if I could tell you anything I would, if I could see like I used to I might be able to give you more information but our little Luna is not old enough to talk to help."
.........
*Across town at a little tourist shop*
This place sure is beautiful. I don't know why Italy has been calling to me lately.
Did I come here before? Live here maybe?
Do I know someone here?
That beautiful woman who bumped into me earlier... It seemed like she knew me the way she stared. Looking into her eyes for that second .... it felt like a shock went through me.
Such amazing green eyes and those freckles ... I wanted to talk to her but her boyfriend just swooped in and just said, 'No English' like I had the plague. Even her face was a look of total shock.
I wonder what her name was....
"Mary."
I snap out of thoughts by the little shop lady. "Mary, in Inglese, Vergine Maria Italiana."
"I'm sorry?"
"You aska tha name?" She points down.
I look down and in my hand is a little statue of the virgin Mary. ....
"Oh yeah sorry, I was thinking out loud. I know who Mary is." I say embarrassed not realizing I had said that out loud.
"I'll take it though, I've been collecting these." I smile and she starts to ring me up.
"Devout Catholic?" She smiles at me.
"No actually,..... well yeah I guess I am." I change my sentence when a look starts to cross her face but it quickly changes back to normal and I go ahead and leave the shop.
'Mary' Why do I feel that name stir something in me like I should know that name?
..................
"Belle when you had your vision before is there anything more you could possibly say about it? You said I'd meet him again but he wouldn't be the same one I know. Did he look exactly the same or different then the picture I've shown you?"
I'm starting to shake as she thinks back.
"Yes, same look, but it may just be the way to identify the soul for the vision. It's known to happen."
I sit there and Cass puts an arm around me, "Hey Sin, come on don't let this shake you up, we've come a long way now. We can't get side tracked and forget what we're really after. People don't come back from the dead."
"Actually Cass, there is a rumor of it but only the Erlking and our Queen would be capable of doing such a thing. The Queen hasn't been seen or heard of since Sin's run in with her, and the King would not do it unless he felt it was worth something to him. He wouldn't do it out of the kindness of his heart." Lar informs him. "But it is still just a rumor."
"Look, it doesn't matter right now, right now we just need everyone to be careful and if you feel something is not right... don't second guess your self just leave and don't hang out any where. We can contact each other through our friends and go from there. Agreed?" I look at them worried.
"I do not want to lose any more of my family than I already have."
.........