Power Moves 2: The Genesis

Chapter 12: Consent

The Widow watched KO with their new visitor. It was as though he was a completely different person, or maybe she just didn't know him well enough yet, but she was generally a good judge of character.

The mean edge to him around her seemed to disappear, it wasn't as though he was all of a sudden a better person, but he was definitely more tolerable.

Life for the widow under her new boss was surprisingly more likeable. For one she didn't have to worry about food. Food security was one of her motives she kept going back to the streets. The Widow didn't have anything else to offer, she didn't complete school making it next to impossible to find a job, but she was always street smart.

The challenge with her previous lifestyle was that it lacked stability, she would always have to chase the next job and the next and the next thereafter just to keep the income rolling in. Although still young, the widow had long since grown weary of the instability, and with new kids on the block she had outlived her welcome in those same streets.

"Where did you learn to do first aid ?" Zach asked her, staring at her curiously, as she had taken out the first aid box and was dressing one of the wounds sustained during their training session.

The Widow smiled "... the streets teach you a lot of things"

"Have you always been in the streets?" Zach asked with mild curiosity

"Yes" she answered

"Like always always?" Zach asked puzzled

"What do you mean by your question..?" The widow frowned trying to pay attention to her wound dressing

"I mean ..what about your family...where are they?" Zach asked

"I don't have any" The widow retorted rapidly

"What do you mean? Are you an orphan?" Zach asked puzzled

"It's complicated" she said

Zach chuckled "Trust me...it always is"

"What about you..?" The widow asked

"What about me ?" Zach asked chuckling

"Where is your family?"

"It's right here with me" Zach said, the Widow stopped cleaning his cut, and stared at him

"What do you mean?" The widow said slowly

"I mean everyone whose my family is right here with me....even you" he said getting up from the table, and putting on his shirt

The widow didn't move, as he got dressed. She stood still as a statue watching him getting dressed.

Zach puzzled, turned to look at her "What's wrong?"

"No-nothing" The Widow said, putting the bottle of disinfectant back into the first aid box

"I've just never been called anyone's family before.." she said, feeling a strange emotion coming over her

But Zach didn't hear her, he was already making his way back into the elevator

*********

Leila stared around nervously, she was at the basement with KO, there were lights blazing in her face from each corner. She looked up nervously at him, without a shirt on his muscular body gleaming in the light, the one half of his chest covered in tattoos. It pondered on Leila that she would have to ask him why only one half of his chest was tattooed and not the entire chest?

KO caught her looking at him, his face broke into a boyish grin and he winked at her.

Leila didn't smile back, she turned to see the men dressed in crisp black uniforms were setting up their monitors, and the one she was introduced to as Sergeant Domingo kept staring at her. Sergeant Domingo was incredibly young, he couldn't be much older then Cut Throat and KO, jeez C40 sure liked them young Leila thought to herself.