They Called Her the Devil

Chapter 60, Izzie

The fact is no matter what happened or who died I was a hacker before all else. And with the keys of a z-comp computer under my nimble fingers, I finally felt alive again.

Poisoning and viruses and death I could handle but midnight hacking I could love.

So as I worked my way into the Legion's most secure server I felt like myself again. And then I got there.

File upon file of secrets. Information and blackmail on every senator, business owner, and drug lord in the nation. The way the Legion kept itself afloat.

And now it was all on my x-com at the Silver Order base. Xander and Leo would know to check it; soon we'd be able to take all of the Legions support right out from under them.

We owned the most powerful men and women in the world.

That should teach Lia to poison my best friend.

I hid every trace that I had been there then got up and turned to go to my room. I was getting tired.

Then I saw a woman in a maid's uniform giving me an accusatory look. The middle-aged woman almost seemed amused.

I pulled my gun expecting her to freak out so I could blackmail her. Instead, the woman chuckled. I noticed she didn't have any cleaning supplies with her.

"You should put the gun down, I don't want you to accidentally hurt someone." She said. "I'm Madeline Dubois in case you were wondering."

"What do you want?" I asked. She had to want something, it was the Legion.

Madeline chuckled.

"Why don't we go sit down somewhere, I have a lot to tell you and you really should be sitting."

With that, she started to walk and with no other option, I followed. She led me through the halls and into my own bedroom.

There was a cup of hot chocolate on the coffee table and a plate of my favorite snickerdoodle cookies next to it. I sat on a chair across from Madeline and took a sip of hot chocolate.

"I hope you don't mind but I checked your file for your favorite desserts. I must be freaking you out right now." Madeline said.

"Only a little bit. What do you have to tell me?" I asked.

Madeline was a strange woman in her mid-forties. She was unarmed and didn't seem physically strong in the slightest. I could afford to listen to her talk for a few minutes.

And I was pretty curious.

"First of all what did your adoptive parents tell you about your birth parents?" She asked.

Mom and dad. I missed them so much.

"Just that they existed, it was a closed adoption so they didn't know anything about them. I always assumed they were dead. Why do my birth parents matter, I've never even met them."

"Well, eighteen years ago I gave a little baby girl up for adoption. Her name was Isobel Marie after my older sisters. I gave her to a nice couple in a closed adoption. And she had sky blue eyes just like yours."

My birth mother was dead.

She'd abandoned me.

She'd given me away for my safety.

She'd sold me for drugs.

She'd loved me.

She'd regretted me.

But she'd never existed.

Not once had she existed.

"No. You can't be." I whispered.

"Isobel I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, sweetheart. I just wanted you to be safe. I was your mother."

"I had a mother, her name was Lucy Green and she raised me. I have nothing against you Madeline but you aren't my mom. I'm sorry."

A few tears ran down Madeline's cheeks and I wanted to comfort her. But I missed my real mom.

"I know. I don't want to be your mom."

Why not?

Madeline continued, "I just want you to be happy and safe. You were such a beautiful baby, I might not be your mother but I still love you as a daughter. Please let me get you out of here."

Out of here? She wanted to help me escape. But I still had missile codes to get.

"I can't I have a duty to the Silver Order, I have to help them."

"You remind me so much of your Grandmother. When the war started I was four years old, when I was fourteen my mother used all of her money to send me from France to America to be safe. Two years later they dropped the mist. I never saw her or my two sisters again.

"It's great to want to help everyone but don't be my mother. Don't give up everything you have for one person. You're so much more than that." She finished, it reminded me of my real mother's talks.

"I have to do something. The Legion is hurting people."

"I know. But we didn't have a crisis after the war. No power struggle or food shortage. I know it's hard but the Legion does some good in this world."

No, they don't. They don't. They're evil.

"If they're so good why do you want me to leave?" I asked.

"Because even if they do good Grayson Ballard is still the most ruthless man I've ever met. He'd kill you if he...well he'd kill you."

"If he what?"

"Nothing."

She was lying.

"Please tell me, I deserve to know why Death would want me dead."

Madeline seemed to consider for a moment. Then she spoke.

"Eighteen years ago I slept with the wrong guy. I got pregnant. I was young, lonely, and scared, so I kept the baby. You were 8 pounds 7 ounces and had beautiful eyes.

"But your father was not a nice man. He found out about you so I gave you to my aunt who gave you to an adoption agency. Your father killed a woman who looked like me, he thought she'd hid their baby from him.

"And if Death figures out you're his daughter then I'm terrified of what he'll do to you."

***

Hi people! What with the Silver Order do with the blackmail information? Will Izzie accept Madeline as a mother? Will Death find out about his second daughter? Please vote and comment, I want to know what you think!

-Jade