Behind the Lies

[Nine] Slight Hesitation

"What are you?" The hacker asked with an attempt at a strong voice. I gave him credit, though he failed with the waiver at the end and the higher pitch than I remembered earlier. I walked over to his chair and turned him to face me.

Being tied down was this man's darkest fear. One that worked to my advantage more than any I've seen before. I believed it to be more in his mind rather than actual restraints being the cause of his anguish. He had a strange mind, this one. It was wild and untamed. I tilted my head to the side and observed him.

There was something different about him. It was stranger than the creature behind me with the glowing light. He was a puzzle I would like to solve, but there wasn't time.

"A better question would be-- Who am I? Don't you think?" I pulled the chair from the other computer station and rolled it to sit at his level. I grabbed one of my blades from the holster on my thigh.

I flipped the knife, and before he could even widen his eyes in shock, I shoved the blade deep into his thigh. A pained cry ripped from his throat.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" I left my blade in his leg when I started my questioning. "Why are you hacking into the secure databases at this location? And why did your people kill the men stationed here?" I raised my brows and tapped the hilt of the blade.

The man had the nerve to spit at me. My fist came up and slammed into the side of his head. He slumped forward and fell from the chair. His bonds slipped away as he went unconscious. The ropes blinked and became fuzzy as I couldn't quite grasp the illusion any longer. The illusion was all tied to the mind which was no longer fully engaged. I growled in frustration. This was getting me nowhere.

Dammit, Veronica. Way to go. Neither of these two will give you the answers you need now.

A sharp stabbing pain shot through my right arm. I glanced at the protruding arrow.

Oh, son of a bitch.

I flipped to the side and moved to gain cover. Gideon never loosed another arrow. I slumped down against the back of the computers. The large stations offered something between me and Gideon's arrows.

Snapping the end of the arrow off I left the rest embedded in my arm. I winced a little at the pain it caused. I could handle it. Questions flew through my mind as I tried to catch my bearings.

Why didn't he kill me? He had the death shot, and what I knew from Gideon thus far, he didn't miss.

I heard him jump from the upper level and drop down to his friends. "Release them." His command was hard, and a chill ran down my spine in response. I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to calm myself, but his demand shot a fear through me. Something I'd never felt before.

I kept my right hand closed tight and tried to draw up a distraction. It was the most difficult illusion I'd ever created. I swept out with my senses until I could grasp onto Gideon's fear. I heard a little girl's voice break past. I finally snagged it.

"Gideon." She whispered. Her voice had a melodic sound passing through the air on the gentlest breezes.

It was all I needed.

I slid my left hand along my other thigh and pulled my dagger. I stood and tossed the blade. It flipped through the air and lodged in Gideon's shoulder. He shouted out and pulled the knife from his shoulder. I stood shocked for a moment at the anger and surprise that played across his face.

I took cover again as the dagger soared through the air and bounced off the wall behind me. Had I not been as quick, that dagger would have landed in my chest. The fall pressed hard on the broken piece of the arrow lodged my arm, and I had to struggle to keep the tears in check.

It fucking hurt.

I held onto my bleeding arm and waited.

"You won't save us all." The little girl whispered. I worried my bottom lip as I focused so hard my head pounded with a headache. I couldn't let her slip from my grasps. I needed her to keep Gideon occupied.

"What is this?" I heard Gideon's footsteps as he retreated back.

"You will fail like you did with me."

A tear slipped free. It was from the pain that arrow caused me. I was fooling myself if I thought it wasn't from the torment I was causing him.

"You'll never find them all. They will die because you won't save them." She would break Gideon, I knew it because she was breaking me.

I gasped and took in a ragged breath. With my fist as tight as possible I rose from my hiding spot and watched the scene unfold before me. Gideon had fallen to his knees before the little girl.

With silent steps I edged my way from behind the computers, I walked along the outer wall of the command center. My eyes wouldn't leave Gideon and the sad scene that lay before me.

His sorrow and pain weighted heavy in the air and jumped to me along the currents. He had fallen to his knees before this girl, and he never looked away. "I did everything I could, Sophia."

Sophia, whoever she was, haunted his dreams. Her spoken words were what kept him up at night. He failed her, and it was his undoing.

I stepped closer to Gideon's back and watched the girl. He didn't even hear me approaching.

They never did.

Sophia raised her hand and placed it on Gideon's cheek. Her blue eyes, a perfect match to Gideon's, blinked and the next words that slipped past her lips broke me.

"And it wasn't enough."

I stepped closer to Gideon with the blade I drew from the holster on my thigh.

Death was on his shoulder. He had given up and allowed his shadows to claim him. The darkness unfurled around the room.

With silent steps, I walked forward to deal his punishment.

I am a soldier to which I am bound by duty to serve the Covenant. His punishment was death, and I was his executioner.

I brought my blade forward for the final swipe that would take Gideon's life. A slight hesitation stopped the blade from slicing his throat.

That hesitation would cost me my life.