Theft of a Life

Ch6

Things are proceeding as planned for once! Mia is dead, Jacob is on assignments, I've got two teams on missions, and James' face is almost healed. Oh, and Ray is a wreck. I guess that's reasonable, given that her girlfriend just turned up dead. If she figures out who it was- which I doubt, given she hasn't left her room in nearly thirteen hours- Jacob is also dead. That would be entertaining, if inconvenient. I would hope she did it publicly.

However, I have other things to deal with first. I managed to get my hands on Mia's things, and New S.H.I.E.L.D. is embarrassingly lax on security. Thanks to some skills I've picked up- or tortured tutorials out of people on- I made quick work of getting my hands on her data.

The boss I killed wasn't her handler. According to this, she was reporting to the boss of their anti-Hydra division directly. Many feelings boil up in me at this, at the attention to detail, at the desperation that their messages reek of. One such feeling being pride. I'm becoming a problem. I'm causing enough problems that they're scrambling to get to me.

The second being concern. They know exactly where I'm operating. I don't think they'd move in yet- they have no reason to believe anything happened to Mia. By the looks of things, she'd check in every two days. Based on what I know of New S.H.I.E.L.D., they'll give her two days before assuming she's MIA. Because she reported yesterday, I have three days before I have to move our operations. It's doable. It's not fun, but it's doable. I'll start by contacting all my team leads, telling them not to come back. They know where we'll rendezvous.

Next- Ray isn't mentioned in any of the reports. Even though Mia sent reports of all powered individuals. Which is also a problem. I have many of them now. However, Ray isn't mentioned. Anywhere, from what I can see. That means that Ray wasn't involved. Jane was- They thought I'd kick her out, not kill her. A bit stupid of them. I'm glad I killed her.

I need as much support as I can get now. I have to move our operations, which so many of us call home, and that's not going to go well. I need help.

I close the laptop, tucking it in the false back in one of my desk drawers. Force of habit- I always have somewhere to hide things. Teleporting back through the main room, I walk down the hall that leads to Ray's room. A series of storage closets, curtains, and improvised walls. There'll be no doubt that we were here. I intend to keep it that way. Rub it in her face that she was too late, once again.

Ray has a real door. Perks of her and Mia sharing a room. This means that her crying is muffled. Only slightly. I knock on it gently, and hear her pause, taking a breath. And then she swears at me in Russian. I half-smirk.

"It's Rosan. I need to speak with you," I return in clumsy Russian. "About Mia," I add after a moment of silence.

Several seconds later, Ray opens the door. Her eyes are puffy, her cheeks streaked with tears, but she holds a murderous gaze that rivals my own.

"What?" She snaps, switching back to Romanian. Most of the victims I've found came from a Romanian base, so we speak it most often here.

"Can I come in?" I furrow my brows, making myself look concerned. She looks at me skeptically, and for a moment I wonder if she's considering crushing me like an empty bottle of water and going on with her day. If I wasn't paying attention, she could. Even without the superstrength, she's several inches taller than me and quite...buff. Thankfully, she nods towards her room, and opens the door the rest of the way.

"What's wrong?" She asks as she closes the door.

"There's something I need to tell you. About Mia," I say the words quietly, anxiously. This will crush her. She'll either leave entirely, feeling alone and betrayed, or she'll run off anger and join me. Either way, I win.