They Called Her the Devil

Chapter 39, Izzie

Lia would forgive me.

She had to.

Maybe she wouldn't even find out.

Of course, she'd find out. I was sending a message to Xander. I didn't care what Kate had said, she was going to betray Xander and I couldn't let that happen.

I was in the computer room. I'd hacked the system enough to make my actions untraceable. If I were lucky they'd never even find out.

I didn't particularly want to escape anymore. That would mean leaving Lia. I couldn't be on a different side as her, and she'd never join the Order.

I started to type the message.

Xander,

The Devil is going to betray you. She gave a speech to the Ghosts about how she's using you to get our spies and then she's going to find the base and bomb it. Please be careful.

-Izzie

Ps. If I don't make it out I really do forgive you, I've moved on and you should too.

"You've moved on? Please tell me that has something to do with me?"

I spun around nearly snapping my neck.

Lia had snuck up behind me. She was dressed in sweatpants and a tank top. The top revealed two full sleeves of tattoos. Her hair had turned bright pink and it was an absolute mess. She looked beautiful.

"Lia. I'm sorry I just have to warn them."

"I know. I'm not stopping you. Do you need help escaping after or do you already have a plan?"

"You'd let me go?"

Doesn't she want me to stay?

"Izzie you already know you aren't a prisoner here. If you want to leave I won't stop you. For the record though I hope you stay."

"I'm not going to escape. I just wanted to warn them, I have friends and family in the Order and I can't let them die."

"Then you have nothing to worry about. Kate isn't going to bomb their base."

"She said she would in her speech."

"Kate will say anything to get people to follow her. She doesn't actually want to betray the Silver Order."

"What are you talking about?"

"Kate is cold, evil, and otherwise terrifying. But she's easy to read if she lets you get to know her. And she clearly cares about Xander Silver."

Does she care about him? I thought it was just one kiss.

"How do you know?"

"She calls him Xander. Before it was always 'Silver', or 'Goody Two Shoes'. And if she wanted him dead it wouldn't have been hard for her to kidnap him at the meetup."

"What about Death? Won't he want to bomb the Order?"

"Death has less power here than you'd think. The ceasefire is Kate's job."

"You're telling me the most powerful man in the world lets his seventeen-year-old daughter run his most important operation."

"You've met Kate right? She's more than capable."

"I guess, want to go talk in my room?"

"What about your important message?"

"Apparently it's not so important anymore."

I deleted the message and we walked, hand in hand, out of the computer lab and towards the dorm. Unlike the Silver Order where I shared a tent with Xander, I had my own room here.

Though I wouldn't mind sharing it with Lia.

We got to my room and sat on the king-sized bed in the center. I'd been giving everything I'd ever wanted and more.

I just wasn't sure it was worth it.

"Why do you stay? You don't seem evil, but you've been part of the Legion for so long. Why?"

I let the question hang in the air. Then I saw Lia's face and I started to take it back. Then she spoke.

"My real name isn't Lia. It's short for Amalia. As in Amalia Garcia."

The name sounded familiar. Then I recognized it. Except Amalia Garcia was supposed to be dead.

"You drugged and murdered five people when you were fifteen. But didn't they gave you the death penalty?"

"They did. But I escaped; I was only free for three days before they found me. But Kate was impressed, she got me out and gave me a place here."

"Did you actually kill them? Because I thought the witness was lying when he testified."

"Oh, he definitely wasn't lying. I had a great lawyer though."

"So you killed them."

"I did. But I had a reason. Remember how I told you my dad kicked me out of the house when I came out?"

"Yeah, I do. If he weren't already dead I'd beat him to death with a brick."

"Trust me, I would too. So after he kicked me out I was on the streets. I slept in a back alley and got by on food from the nearby shelter. I didn't sleep there though since the guys could get pretty rough.

"One night some drunk idiots surprised me when I was sleeping."

I saw a tear roll down Lia's cheek and I immediately wrapped my arms around her. She leaned into me and continued.

"The leader smelled like booze, actually they all did. And he kept calling me beautiful and saying he loved me. And I had a knife. And then he grabbed my wrist. And I was surrounded."

"Oh, Lia."

She buried her face in my chest and I held her. Amalia Garcia had been accused of leading the men down the Alley. Nobody had wondered why a fifteen-year-old would willingly take on five grown men.

"I claimed they'd attacked me but nobody listened. I'd been the state MMA champion for the past five years but nobody thought I could take on that many guys unless I'd drugged them.

"And then I got out. But one hidden security camera got a picture of me. And the cops found me. And then Kate saved me. And she made it so that will never happen again."

"Kate did all of that when she was fourteen?"

"Yeah, she's pretty extraordinary. About half of us are alive because of her."

"So she saves you, then holds it against you so you stay?"

"Izzie we aren't prisoners. I can leave whenever I want, I just don't see why I would. Do you want to see something?"

"Sure."

She pulled down one of the straps of her tank top to reveal a tattoo of a hunting knife with a bright red flower on top of the blade.

"It's the knife that I killed them with. The flower shows that I moved forwards and made something out of myself. It's the only tattoo I've kept the whole time I've been here."

"It's beautiful. Wait, what do you mean kept?"

"My tattoos are changers. I had nano-bots injected into my skin and I can control how they look using my x-com."

Lia took her x-com out of her pocket and types a few commands. Under her shoulder, a tattoo of a bird appeared. Then it disappeared.

"Cool."

"Want to design one?"

"I'd love too."

***

Hello people! Where do Izzie's loyalties lie? Will Kate actually betray the Silver Order? What do you think of the continuing romance between Izzie and Lia? Please vote and comment, I want to know what you think!

-Jade