Facing Away (Broken Streetfighter)

Chapter Forty Two

External Narrator

Riley feels the news slowly wash over her and her grip on Steven fully relaxes. The young man doesn’t move and instead turns towards his sister, an eyebrow raised, waiting for her command. 

Helen continues to glare at Riley. She’s not quite ready to make an escape; the spy got her answers, Helen wants some as well. 

“Who do you work for?”

The question breaks Riley from her train of thoughts. “I’m no one. I’m only the girl who serves without question, and completes without inconveniences along the way.”

The siblings both stare at her, Steven craning his neck to get a better view of the woman holding her hostage. “My mission is to convince Amy to stay, and to hopefully bring down some of the illegal activities happening around here. I work for a legally maintained group and Amy is someone who’s ignorant to who we’ve suspected she is - and is now confirmed she is - and my mission was to convince her to stay and to help us turn in everyone and everything that threatens the safety of civilians.”

Steven raises another eyebrow towards Helen, but Helen doesn’t need to see it in order to know that there’s a problem. “I believe we can’t work together,” Helen continues her steady stare at Riley. “Our objectives for being here clash against the other. We want her to leave and take up her birthright while you want her to turn against her very people and betray us all.”

Riley sucks in a breath while choosing her next sentence carefully. “I think that in the end it’s Amy’s decision on whether she leaves or stays. The point is, since our missions clash, we won’t get anywhere taking her on one on one. We need to strategize and get Amy informed on who she is and what kind of power she holds. It’ll be her decision of whether she chooses the right side or not.”

“There is no right side. It doesn’t matter if we choose to follow the rules, if we play fair. In the end, the only way you can get something out of this world is if you want it more than the person next to you.” Steven watches his sister carefully as she talks. If he hadn’t, he never would have seen the slight nod she gave him by her last words. 

He throws his head back, striking Riley square on the nose. She hisses, stumbling back a few steps before toppling over in the snow. 

She doesn’t need to get up to know the siblings have made their escape, their panting can be heard throughout the trees and the crunch of snow underneath their rushing feet makes Riley question whether she walked straight into a trap. 

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The siblings’ footsteps are still clearly viewed when Riley gets back up again. The wind won’t let them be visible for much longer, but Riley doesn’t care. She knows that following them would only lead her into a trap - no one is stupid enough to make an escape towards somewhere important when their trail can easily be followed. 

She crouches down and picks up a ball of snow. Her nose is hot against the bite of the wind. Glancing down at the snow, she sees small drops of blood. She kicks the snow and covers her nose before walking away. A quick glance back to the tree and the path tells her that Amy and her siblings are long gone. 

Snow and wind continue to bite at her as she walks back to where she’s hidden her car. Once inside, she pulls out the first aid kit she keeps in there and throws out the snow. A glance in the mirror tells her it isn’t broken, but the swelling will stay and sting for a while longer. 

After taking careful care of her nose, Riley leans back and stares at the ceiling of her car. There’s still an unnamed player in this story.