"WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME."
Staying as quiet as I possibly could, I leant against the wall and watched Inga tap her long nails against the desk, focused entirely on her conversation. She had been talking for several minutes, hushed whispers to an unknown caller concerning the mission - my mission. She didn't notice me watching, and I doubted she would - her concentration was solely on her update to a mysterious someone. Although it was difficult to make out specific conversation points, it was easy enough to try.
"...it's not exactly easy," she continued in Russian, harsh voice filled with irritation, "she's taking her time on this. This is why we should have chosen another, not her."
It wasn't hard to assume the 'her' she was referring to was me. I tightened my fists, broken nails digging into my palms and held back any rebuttal, trying to hear what the unknown on the other end had to say. It was practically impossible, however, and I was left to wait until she spoke again.
Inga sighed, running a hand through barely-existant hair, and I could tell she was growing frustrated with whatever he or she was saying. "I can't make her improve, she's an idiot; she doesn't listen to anyone. You just have to wait until you have what you want!"
Another long pause, and then her turn again. "I understand that time is running out, but you told us we had until the end of summer to get what you wanted. We still had weeks, months until our deadline runs out, so don't change the deal now."
Get what you wanted. My blood ran cold at her words, and my mind jumped to the worst places - considering everything I had been told, their mission must be related to the boy too. However, I wasn't sure what they could possibly desire from him; the Academy was full of able-bodied, strong, well-trained soldiers who could easily wipe out thousands in a blink of an eye. He was weak, and annoying, and insisted on sharing every thought while he fought - that wasn't desirable for anyone, was it?
"I can only do so much. I'm making her do as much as I can, but there are things you do not understand of this. Tell them all they have to wait, and realise that we are working with a child - an imbecile child who is taking her time getting what you want. You will have your prize at the beginning of summer, and that should and will be good enough for you."
A single bead of blood dripping from my lip, bitten clean through from my bad habit of gnawing on it, but I ignored the sudden pain and hung onto her words, trying to think through any solution that could add up - ultimately failing. Nothing she was saying made sense, and none of it seemed to correlate with what I had been told. Someone was begging her to get them a prize, which assumably, was the Parker boy, but I had been told my job would be to protect and watch him and make sure he stayed on the right path.
Whatever that path was, I didn't trust a single thing about Inga and her mysterious caller - not that I ever did. Peter was undoubtedly much more than just a boy in a ridiculous suit to them.
"I will get what you want. That is all I can promise." She paused for a moment, then continued, "nothing more."
I hurriedly turned away and headed back to my 'room', pretending to be looking for the copious amounts of research provided by Inga herself for me - however, my mind was on everything but that. There would be no way of me to learn what she was talking about - asking would only give me away - but I needed to find some way of learning my mission - whatever the hell the true mission, that is.
The Parker boy was special, that was undeniable, but he seemed to be much more of a target than I had thought before. Despite myself, I was worried; whatever the Academy wanted, they got, and the mysterious caller didn't seem too eager on waiting.
"кто-нибудь Помогите мне."
...
The wind whipped around me, hair flying into my face and making it almost impossible to see, but that was alright - I didn't need to see to know where I was going, as the path had been walked too many times to count.
Thoughts of earlier's news still plagued my mind, but I tried to push it away; it wasn't my business, and it wasn't my job to have emotions and screw things up for anyone. My job was to do whatever Inga told me to do, so if I had to watch the two nerds, I would.
Peter was at home, like usual - the boy really needed to find a better activity than fiddle with miscellaneous technology and mope - but this time, his friend was there, and they were doing whatever the hell two boring nerds did on a Saturday. My best guess was doing homework of some sort and discussing the shape of women's bodies, as that seemed to be a theme of many conversations from the boys I - unfortunately - went to school with.
It was funny, I mused, gritting my teeth as I hauled my weight up the fire escape, where this was oh-so-conveniently placed. If there were many windows nearby, I would have been seen for sure, yet it was placed perfectly enough that I could slide up and down and no one would see. I guessed fate wanted to help me sometimes.
To my dismay, however, the boys were on their way to head out, sliding on jackets and discussing plans that I had obviously missed while they did so. Ned, who was speaking as I fixed the tiny earpiece and leant against the thin wall, seemed excited, at least. "...you know?"
"You're ridiculous, Ned, no! That's never going to happen."
"I don't know, Liz just broke up with that guy, right?"
Liz. Liz, as in Liz Toomes, as in the girl who told Sally to stand down, the one with a pretty smile that seemed to be attached to her face permanently, the one that Peter assumptively wanted to pursue. He wouldn't, of course, as he was a shy and awkward idiot compared to her cool and collected self - not to mention she was a senior - but he had an interest in her.
The boy sighed at his friend's words - no, groaned - and a door slammed, making his voice fainter. "This isn't happening."
"Fine, what about...that new foreign girl? Emily?"
"W-what about her?"
"You two are close, that's all. Maybe you're over Liz and -"
"-what? No, I-" another slam echoed, and I was left not knowing the end of that sentence. However, I didn't need it; I had heard enough.
The foreign girl, Emily. That's all I was to them, the weird transfer girl. I spat in disgust; Ned was an irritating, idiotic child that deserved to feel my wrath - or at least be served a baker's dozen of my muffins. Why would I be at the same level as the Liz girl? I wasn't even close to her level; she was simple-minded and from what I had seen, not much more than a pretty face, something that all boys craved but lost interest in quickly.
The nerve.
There was no point in following them, for it would be extremely hard to do so without being spotted. Instead, I swung down from the escape and turned in the opposite direction, not eager in running into them. The last thing I needed was an awkward interaction, especially after what Ned had said.
I tightened my black hoodie around my head and kept my head down, scuffing my toe against the ground, kicking a rock aimlessly. I hadn't caught the last part of Peter's mumble, but it wasn't hard to know what he would have said next; I had researched him enough to know his thought process and the words he would jumble out next. He would deny every single word that Ned said, and he'd try to change the subject something dull like molecular formulas, and that would be that.
However, he'd be thinking something totally different; he'd contemplate the boy's words over and think of the million and one ways he could figure it out or deny it, save the topic came up again. He'd grow quiet and debate the possibilities, the way he always did, but he couldn't deny his feelings - whatever way they lied.
People here were strange. They obsessed over the little things like if they would pass a test or the person they had feelings for would 'like them back' - as if the world around them didn't exist, and that school 'drama' and problems were the biggest things. They did stupid things and yet, in the end, it didn't matter, because it would all be forgotten in a few days. Teachers laughed and respected their students, and in turn, students wore smiles and danced in hallways and yelled stupid things that in my circumstance, would get them killed.
I stopped walking and leaned against the brick wall of the building nearest me, embracing the cool brick on my heated skin. I closed my eyes and did nothing but stand there, leaning against the wall and smiling slightly at the idea of a world where people could live freely and every move wasn't possibly their last. A world of trivial issues and laughter, dumb mistakes and silly crushes that would be forgotten years later. The world I could never belong to.
"Put your damn hands up or I'll shoot."
The moment was lost, and in a single instant, fear and anger washed over my body, dissolving the thoughts previously running through my head. I opened my eyes to stare into the barrel of a gun, held by a man all in black staring right at me. "What?"
He straightened up and drew closer, the snarl growing on his ugly maw. "I said, put your damn hands up. It's not that hard to understand, is it?"
I pulled my hands out of my pocket slowly but didn't lose eye contact with the man, whose hands were beginning to shake against the barrel. Fear had retreated, leaving me with anger and curiosity, for the way he stood and spoke, he didn't have the courage to shoot me - he wouldn't if he had to. Many could hold a gun and speak in a low voice, but very few would actually let a bullet fly.
"You're not going to shoot me," I growled, stepping back and planting my feet into the ground. "I know you don't have to strength to do so. You've never actually shot anyone, and you're not about to do it now."
He only grunted and aimed closer to the centre of my forehead, sweat building on his forehead. "Shut up and give me everything you have, ai'te? I don't have time for this shit; get this going."
I stuck my hand in my pocket, but instead of pulling out the phone and tracker and anything else, I spun and kicked him down, causing him to drop the gun with a cry of pain. In an instant I was pushing him down, knocking him to the dirty ground and forcing his hands down, straddling his squirming body with my hands on his throat.
"What...are you...gonna do," he gasped out, legs swinging but never leaving a mark. "Gonna...kill me, kid?"
Her eyes watched like a hawk, staring me down - I didn't need to look up from my position to know that. She stood several feet away, watching the tussle go down in the courtyard, a smile breaking the red stained lips apart. Beneath me, the girl wheezed, fighting my unbreakable grip with no avail, groaning out words that were intelligible in her state. The circle had silenced, just like it always did when things grew serious, and every set of eyes were on me, like small spotlights, illuminating my soon-to-be crime.
I bit my lip, ignoring the pain when a tooth hit a previous wound, and held on tight, crushing his hand under my leg. I didn't look at his eyes - it always made things worse - and tightened my grip, praying that somehow this was all a perverse dream. Like, any second from now, I'd wake up with my hands tied to the bed, surrounded by the girls again, steely grey everywhere I looked.
My eyes met hers, and it was as if I stopped moving; she had that power, in a sense, commanding any attention when she wanted it. Cold blue met deep brown, amusement met fear and her cool confidence overpowered my anguish, leaving me alone with a single task. She had mastered the art of speaking without words, and I knew exactly what she wanted me to do.
He snarled at my fear, lunging without avail, trying to get away. "Don't...talk about...fear..when you're a...wimp...yourself, idiot."
She nodded.
I clenched harder, squeezing his throat tighter and tighter by the second.
Her lips parted to speak.
My mind was going crazy, thousands and thousands of thoughts overwhelming me and making it impossible to concentrate on the task at hand.
She spoke.
He tried to breathe, lips turning paler and paler until they had a tinge of blue, gasping and gasping for air that just wouldn't come.
"Finish."
My eyes filled, the man in front of me going blurry, a haze covering him.
I nodded.
One tug.
I snapped.
The man fell to the ground, eyes staring at nothing and everything, now limp in my arms. My hands immediately went to check his pulse, but there was no point; he was already dead.
No one had seen; it was an empty alleyway, with no chatter coming from any direction. No one had seen me kill him, and no one would; I immediately climbed off the body and tucked my hair back into my hood, shuddering at my own cool touch. They'd try and check for fingerprints, but that would be difficult when there was none to be found. There was nothing that would link me to him, or at least, not Emily.
The man would be found one day - probably in a few days to a week, an unsuspecting man or woman would wander down and stumble on the already-decomposing corpse, or maybe the rats would find him first - New York was gross that way. It wasn't my problem, anyway, or at least, not Emily Newman's.
I shoved my hands in my pocket and left the opposite way I came in, now filled with weary guilt than curiosity and irritation. It was silly, as when I came in, I dreamt of the world where I could be normal. However, that was impossible, and it was ridiculous of me to think so. Red Room girls were not humans, they were machines without morals, simply doing what they needed to keep themselves alive and to receive the information they wanted. While they dreamt of kissing cute boys and passing tests, I, along with hundreds of others, dreamt of wiping the blood that permanently stained our hands away.
It would never change.
h wow, here I am updating after I said I wouldn't? Tbh I'm at a point where I just want to update more and more, so, here's a new chapter!
I know people will prolly be annoyed at how she acted in this chapter, how dumb she was for just standing there and letting the guy appear, but take it how you will; honestly, this is how I thought of her, with a naive anger, if that makes sense? She doesn't understand the idea of people or I guess criminals here in NYC, because she's come from such a cold and heartless world and this is supposed to be this amazing world - not something she's expected, if that makes sense? I dunno, this isn't my favourite chapter but it happened - it's a mess but it happened.
Thank you for reading!