AGENT BLAZE | Aimed To Kill © [Blaze-Blue Duet One]

Chapter 34

Adira

???

„Ah, you're awake...", Bill states as he sees Adira groggily looking around in the limousine.

„Wh-"

„You really thought I'd let my best Agent come to waste at that... other compound?", he snorts, his voice thick with the disgust he now feels for her.

Adira swallows. Bill caught up to her – again. She knew she couldn't get away from his greedy grasp for her power.

„You're just using me.", she mumbles her realization.

Her mentor seems surprised at her sudden catch.

„Yeah, I am. And you should have had that realization way earlier in my opinion but... You're just as dumb up here-", Bill motions to his head, „-as you sometimes speak."

His words hurt. They hit a sore spot. Adira always was so sure of herself, the way she completed her missions and got recognition from her mentor for that, she was so sure she was fighting for the right thing – she did it for the sake of her parents.

And then Connor – oh, Connor – showed her what real life has to offer. Beyond fancy dresses, heavy diamond necklaces and heels, beyond casino gambles and cash, beyond the gates of her cell, chains around her ankle and guns pressed into her back.

He showed her what the right thing to fight for is.

„Justice..."

Adira isn't sure if she said that word out loud. Bill seems to have heard it, though, since he looks at her weirdly.

„This world is way too lost for Justice. Trust me. If the people that harm us get treated equal, we'd all be dead. So we take what we deserve."

Adira is shocked from her mentor's response.

„We will get to Velocity and you better follow my orders or I'll make sure your scars get renewed.", Bill spits and lights a cigar, filling the car with the stinging smell of the smoke.

Adira halfway expects it to be put out on her bare thigh again, the whole scenario of her in her expensive dress sitting in this limousine is too close to what happened at her casino mission.

It's almost like Bill wants to remind her of the exact time he'd declared her a disappointment – the exact time she had lost all respect for him, where her fear turned into anger. She was too young to yet realize how to use it.

Adira nods in defeat.

Connor probably has no idea where she is. She probably cut contact with him over her earpiece when she was abducted.

By... her doppelganger.

The reflection she saw in the mirror wasn't herself, it was Vanessa all along. Adira found out from the missing tattoo behind her ear. The mirror wasn't a mirror. It was a glass window.

And Vanessa gave everything she saw Adira do to Bill.

Connor would ... look for her, right? He'd look for Adira.

... Right?

Bill doesn't seem to threaten her so far, except with his words.

Adira looks out of the window. Headlights of the cars on the lane opposite to the limousine blind her eyes.

The street the car is driving on is now finished, the construction site is gone. The pipe leak was fixed. The asphalt is smooth and even, the limousine glides over it like it's skittering on ice.

Adira feels the deep reverberation of the engine in her stomach.

She notices her mentor shooting her a glance out of the corner of her eye.

„You know, I never thought you'd be naive enough to actually fall for that blonde-haired ice cold fu-"

Suddenly, the car jerks up. A loud blast – a noise somewhere between a nuclear bomb and thunder is heard under the seats. Almost immediately, chaos occurs.

Everything happens in slow motion.

Heat spreads in the car, the smell of burnt cables and plastic enters the backseat area.

Adira gets thrown back from the impact into her seat, the car tumbles and turns to the side, flipping many times.

The headlights from the cars on the other lanes dance through the windows like lights on a disco ball.

Adira gets thrown around, her seat belt tightens around her chest, burning into her skin, she makes impact with the door.

Somewhere over the high-pitched shrill in her ears, the noise of glass shattering is heard. Metal screeches on metal and tires skitter, cars brake on the street.

The car alarm of the limousine goes off, the tone mixing with Adira's ringing ears.

After a few seconds of pure chaos... sudden silence.

Absolute stillness.

Adira's ears ring, her chest hurts. Her breath comes out in ragged gasps.

She closes her eyes. The pain is gone for a swift second as her world shifts and turns black.

~

A deep inhale tears her out of her daze.

She looks around, immediately caught back in the situation.

No one has to remind her where she is or what happened.

The car is flipped upside down, totaled in the ditch of the street.

Adira hangs upside down in her seat, suspended by her seat belt. Her dress is torn and her ankles have scratches. The windows are shattered, the tinted window to the driver's cabin is missing.

The image of the lifeless chauffeur slumped over in his seat burns itself into her mind forever.

Adira takes her eyes off the face of the man that made impact with the windshield and dares to look at Bill.

He is bent over in an unnatural angle in the car, his back resting on the wall to the driver's cabin, his wrist twisted in a sickish way – he is unconscious, as the blood running from his nose and mouth suggests.

For the first time, Adira feels no remorse for her mentor.

The car must have hit something - or rather something hit the car, blowing it up.

From underground...

The car alarm is still going.

Adira sees the faint image of a black SUV stopping next to the totaled limousine and footsteps appear through the shattered side of her window.

In an attempt of raising her hands to defend herself, she wants to mouth the word „Don't.", but her lips feel numb.

The window along with the door gets torn from the car.

The light of a flashlight followed by the sharp angle of a gun pointing at her shines into the backseat area, blinding her eyes.

A male voice is heard speaking into a radio: „Thorndawn, we got 'em."

Then, a second pair of shoes quickly appears next to the ones already positioned here, as if the person was running.

Then...

She sighs a breath of relief, although that alone hurts her rib cage.

„Adira?! Shit, come on..."

Connor's blonde hair peaks into the car as he crouches down to extend his hand to grab her.

Adira weakly fumbles with the buckle of her seat belt to loosen it.

Strong arms wrap around her and she gets pulled out of the wreckage.

She kneels on the ground, unable to speak. But Connor already throws his arms around her.

„Jesus, I already thought something more than planned happened to you."

...than planned?