Zero.

Chapter Twenty-Four

AGENT ONE

ONE WEEK. It had taken one whole, unnecessarily long week for me to finally track down Zee. I’d assumed that she would be smart enough not to stay in Chicago, but I was wrong.
Dead wrong.
 Imagine my surprise and immense irritation when, after I spent days combing through security cameras with my facial recognition software, using every trick I knew to search within a 500 mile radius of Chicago from north, south, east to west, just to find her in the absolute most obvious place.
Her apartment.
Or more accurately, Sarah McKinley’s apartment. She hadn’t even bothered to change the name on the lease, which pissed me off more than the wild goose chase she had sent me on.
So here I was, a week after Chief finally agreed to let me go on this mission perched on the same roof watching her through the same window I had spied on her from only a month prior.
The irony of this situation would have made me smile, if not for how messed up everything actually was.
I still found it hard to believe that it had already been a month since what happened at Pembroke’s Vault. I couldn’t deny the part of me that wished that day never happened and that things were different. If all had went as planned, we would have been plugged into the Machines by now and on our way to peaceful dream land. Or at least I would. I remember looking at Zee’s brain activity while she Slept. There was nothing peaceful about her Dreams.
With a sigh, I dropped my binoculars and rubbed my temples, felling the beginnings of a headache coming on.

Although there was a part of me that wanted things to go back to normal, I couldn’t shake the truth that things would never be the way they were. Not until this was behind us and I knew who Cynthia Jones was. Whoever that women had been, there was no files on her besides what I found in Headquarters and on Chief’s computer. I had even tried doing a basic search on the name but there were no photos attached to that name and it didn’t help that the name Cynthia Jones was so painfully common. With another frustrated sigh, I  readjusted the binoculars to my face. I changed the settings to read the heat temperatures of the small apartment.

There was no use in pondering what was happening, when in a few short moments, I would be face to face with the one person who seemed to have all the answers.

From what I could see, Zero was alone, but very fidgety. I’d been watching her every move for the last few hours and all I’ve seen her do so far is open a laptop, stare intently at the screen, and pace.
 It was strange.
For a supposed traitor of Headquarters, I would have expected her to be in cahoots with terrorists, ninjas or at the very least the mafia. But she didn’t seem like she was making any moves. Unless she was working alone. I watched her stand up from the laptop screen and walk hastily around her small living room, before sitting down on the couch.

From the way she kept glancing at her watch, I decided that she wasn’t anxious like I had originally thought…she was waiting for someone. I debated the idea of barging in now or waiting another hour or so for whoever she was expecting to show up. My internal debate was cut short with the realization that I had been sitting and watching her for five hours now and my butt was starting to numb.
That decided it for me.
Tossing my gear into a backpack, I made sure my weapons were secure before scaling the ledge and walking calmly to her apartment.
I was positioned far enough where I could see her, but she wouldn’t be able to even glimpse me. The dramatic part of my personality wanted to walk up to her door and ring the bell just to see the shock on her face, but the more tactful part knew that I had no idea what Zero was capable of now.
So, I opted for her bathroom window right above the tub.
It was small, but big enough to wedge open and slide through. Her windows were uncovered which made scoping the area out very easy. When my feet landed in thr bathtub with a muffled thump, I got the feeling again that this was too easy. Her hiding out in her apartment could have been genius, because this was the last place anyone would think to look, or it could have been purposely because she wanted to be found.
Whatever the case was, I was prepared. Pulling out my gun, I quietly wedged the door open and made my way to where she still sat on the living room. Her head was down, and her hands were knotting themselves into her hair. Any other agent would have taken the shot, but I came here for more than justice. I needed a few questions of my own and she had to be conscious to answer them. From the way her shoulders were hunched over, she looked more vulnerable than I could ever remember seeing her, but I should have known better.
As soon as I was in arms reach, she twisted from her position and grabbed my arm, flipping me over the couch and body slamming me into her coffee table.
It shattered under me, sending wood splinters flying.
“I missed you too.” I grunted.
Her eyes widened in surprise, but before she could say anything, I grabbed the leg of the table that was digging into my spine and slapped her with it.
“Did you just slap me?” she gasped, once the wood made contact.
I smirked and kicked her legs out from under her. She landed on the couch, which wasn’t my intention, but served as a good enough distraction to get back on my feet.
I glanced over at the wooden leg in my hand with a smile. It wasn’t my preferred weapon, but I was growing fond of it nonetheless.
“You gave me a splinter on my lip." she growled.
“And I have one in my butt. We’re even” I smiled back.
She rushed off the couch at the same moment I swung the wooden leg at her face again. This time she dodged it and bear hugged me straight into her television set. I dropped my weapon but used my legs to wrap around her middle. We both fell to the ground. When she tried to grab my ankle, I kicked her in the face, scrambling for something I could weaponize. Just as my had wrapped around a shard of glass, I felt a stab of pain shoot up my body. Yelling I turned to see a sharp jagged piece of wood sticking precariously out of my leg and pinning me to the ground.
Blowing her hair from her face, she grinned smugly at me, walking over to where I was so that she hovered over me.
“I win." she gloated, bending down so we were eye level.
Think again.
I jammed the piece of glass in my hand though her thigh.
Yanking the wood from my leg, I regained my stance and kicked her in the gut. She doubled over but remained standing.
The look on her face would have scared the living daylights out of any other agent, but I welcomed the challenge.
“I’m sorry, what was that about winning?” I asked innocently.
Spitting out blood, she stood up straighter.
“I’ve always wanted to fight you. Seriously, with no rules.”
“Now’s your chance. I’m not holding back” I promised.
“Didn’t expect anything less.” She grinned and
I barely had time to dodge her punch.
Time to see who would really win.