I walked down the hall of another abandoned apartment over Park Place, on the outskirts of the city. The place was no better than the last place, nor was it any worse. It was on the endangered list and a definite candidate for destruction. I would have had to come and retrieve my stuff anyways. I walked over to the door and noticed that it was locked with a pad-lock. I withdrew my last bola and sliced at the lock until it was weak enough and kicked the door open. In all this time, I hadn’t looked at or talked to David. I couldn’t believe all this was happening. How many people had to die before this was over? How many of my…friends had to die? I walked into the room and headed to the bathroom, moving the defunct toilet and pulling my weapons and suit out of a hole. As quickly as I could, I slipped off my clothes and slipped on my leather costume with matching leather combat boots. I stood in the mirror and slid the mask over my face, my goggles giving me a closer view of my surroundings. I looked to the mirror and began using the eyeliner to shade around my eyes. I stopped when I saw a figure standing behind me.
“I’m sorry about Harrison.” David said quickly. My eyes left him to apply more eyeliner, “And Vaughn. I never meant for you to be hurt like this. If I had known…”
“You were right.” I said coldly.
“What?” He asked, shocked at my use of actual words.
“Vaughn. You were right; he wasn’t there out of the pureness of his heart.” I frowned.
“I don’t know about that.” David said, causing me to pause, “He warned you. He saved you.”
I chuckled angrily, “I’m so lucky. Didn’t die in burning rubble with the rest of the tower.” I turned to him, “We need to get out of here now. They’ll come for us here.”
“Then what? Run forever?” David asked. He frowned and looked at me, “We need a plan, a good one.”
I knew what he was suggesting immediately and frowned at the thought.
He produced a coin-sized tracker and waved it in front of me, “I’ll know where you are. I regroup the team and you’ll lead us right to him.” He said quickly.
“I’m bait now?” I asked.
He scoffed, “Never. He wouldn’t hurt you and I have faith in you.” He said with an unforgettable certainty.
I frowned and let him stick the tracker on the inside part of my leather suit. I felt intensely hot and suspiciously familiar. David’s eyes found mine and I noticed that he was staring at me. Somehow, I didn’t want to take a step back or shy away from the moment. I think it was the first time I actually initiated a kiss between us. I leaned in, pressing my face into his. His surprise was obvious but he ran with it, took it over. In the heat of passion, I pushed him against the wall as our lips twisted around the other, fighting for control. I stopped at a creaking sound. I wasn’t the only one who heard it because his head turned to the sound.
“Stay out of sight.” I said quietly.
He nodded, grabbing my head and kissing me again, “Be careful.” He whispered.
I looked at him one more time and turned, walking into the hallway to see Cypress standing down in the living room. I swallowed a lump and scoffed at his appearance. I wasn’t expecting Steven to send him after me.
“Did you honestly think you could run? You’re not the kind of guy that gets out of this situation, even if you are a burglar.” Cypress smiled. His smile was disconcerting, especially with his new appearance, “I have to thank you. I could never have become this if not for you.”
“Not shocking they’d send you. Send the hounds, right?” I asked. His smile didn’t move, “Okay, now that’s really creepy.”
I watched as three men entered the room behind Cypress. The men were super-soldiers. I’d seen his plans for them before, but it wasn’t until now that I actually took note of how looming they were. I didn’t have nearly anything big enough to take them out, not on my own. I eyed Cypress, who seemed almost giddy. He’d had some major bank-rolling…Steven, I guessed. I slowly pulled out my eskrima sticks and twirled them, leaning my head to the side. I had to initiate this because we were wasting time and the longer we were in here, the more chance that David would do something evil.
“Nice new face. I thought the old one was a little…bloody.” I smiled.
The smile left his eyes, but not his lips. He stared at me with that twisted smile and slowly and gently twitched his arm, “Get him.” He said in a low, tempered voice.
I inhaled as I slid under the first guard’s right fist and began attacking him with the Eskrima sticks, but he barely flinched. I stared at him, shocked at his tolerance of pain. With one elbow strike, I was sent flying to the floor. I groaned in agony before picking myself up. And ducking two more amazingly fast attacks. I neglected the others and one hit me from behind, causing me to pause. I felt both my feet leave the ground when I was fully upside down in the air, I felt myself slam into the ground! I felt a stick in my neck before trying, in vain, to open my eyes.
“We’ve secured him. We will be back sooner than anticipated.” Cypress’ voice said. I could feel him smiling, “Take him to the craft before the rest of his team can get here.”
It was last thing that I heard, besides grunts and groans, before going totally black.