Chapter 19
Oge muttered "This is extraordinary. Look at the temporal lobe. It's just wow. Her cerebral cortex, responsible for learning, is completely larger in size than the others. I never imagined your exception to be this outstanding. I need to do more tests on her as frequently as possible."
Levi asked. "So what does it mean?"
"It means that you're right. Her brain did this. It's a lot more complicated to explain, but it just sums up the fact that it'll be like instinct to her."
I growled. "Can I go now?" Levi sent me a confused look, but I really wasn't in the mood to talk right now.
Oge nodded. "Yes. You can. I'm particularly busy today and so far, what I see is absolutely fascinating. I'll fix a schedule you would have to meet tomorrow and we'd commence from there."
An excited voice had me whirling around in shock. "Finally. My leg hurts and I had to wait for her to finish up, before I can go in for my session." It was Taye speaking. She was sitting on a chair waiting for us to finish.
A smile fell on my face. I had met her here already and it seemed like she was supposed to go in before me. Since my situation was critical, Oge and her team let me in first. "Sorry about that. You broke your leg?"
Taye nodded. "It's hardly anything. Kenny just loves overreacting about the little things."
"It's because she cares."
Taye replied. "I know.", then she turned her head to Mubarak, one of Oge's assistants. "I need help standing. I can't carry myself all the way there. Can I?"
Mubarak smirked. "That's why I'm here. To help."
Levi stated. "I should get going, now that everything's settled."
I couldn't help the irritation in my voice. "You should."
His eyebrows crinkled. "Tamar, Are—"
"I have to meet up with Kóre for work stuff. Thanks, Oge for making time for me."
Oge smiled, "Always a pleasure.". I nodded and stepped out of the room as swiftly as I could.
.....
Kóre gaped. " They thought you were a traitor? That's messed up."
"I'm not blaming them for that. It must have been surprising for them to hear that I shot a man perfectly, without any proper training."
Kóre inquired. He suddenly looked curious. "How is it like? To shoot someone."
"I don't know what pushed me to it, but at that moment, it felt liberating. Afterwards, I felt disgusted with myself and had a panic attack."
"Damn. That must have been hard."
"It was, but now I realize that it needed to be done. And I'd do it again, if I had the chance."
"Just prepare to do a lot of that, when you become a fighter."
"I'm ready for it."
Kóre mused. "I can't believe you learnt all that, by reading a book. I ought to give you more books so you'd be the number one shooter on the whole squad. Aliyah would be pissed and I already love the idea."
I folded my arms. "What's the deal with Aliyah? She's been on my case and takes any chance she has to put me down whenever she can."
Kóre shrugged. "It's not you she's after. It's Levi. You're his trainee so that makes you an easy target."
"Okay, why is she after Levi? She's the assistant head. The Vice. She should be loyal to him."
"She should. But not with their history. I haven't been here for long, so I don't know all the details. I'm almost a newbie in this place, and gossip floats around here, but what I do know is that, there used to be a former head of the Strikers. He left in an unusual manner, Aliyah was his vice and should naturally be the head after the former leader left. Vikram Caden then appointed his son out of nowhere to be the leader. Aliyah's been antagonistic towards Levi since then."
Now I understood a little why she did the things she did. She was just a vengeful woman. "That's quite a story."
"I once heard a rumor that Aliyah and Levi used to be a thing. Even before he became the leader. Things turned rocky between them when he became the leader and they broke up. I don't know how true it is. Might as well be a baseless rumor. But you know what they say, Even love has the strongest chance to become hate."
I pondered for a while. Levi and Aliyah? They never acted like they used to date. Things must have gone really bad for them. Feeling uncomfortable talking about this, I decided to change the subject. "So she's also Dame Josie's daughter?"
Kóre corrected "One of her daughters. Dame Josie has 37 foster daughters from all around the world. They were raised in some posh mansion in England for a while. I hardly know anything about them, but I do know that Dame Josie cared for each one of them."
"37? That's a lot."
"Not for Dame Josie. She says that it's her greatest accomplishment on earth. I, on the other hand think it's weird and cult-like. She raises her girls to be prim and proper. She also never lets them call her "mom". They had to call her " Dame or Dame Josie" and she spent time to train them collectively. That's why Laurena and Aliyah are good fighters."
"That's really kind of Dame Josie to raise them all."
Kóre only nodded distractedly and turned his gaze to the weapons lying in front of us. "We've got to get to work. God knows we have a lot to deal with."
I checked the wall clock. "Oh shit, it's past eight. I've got to get dinner. Kel's also waiting for me and I'd hate to keep her waiting."
"Who's Kel?"
"The new girl."
"Cool. Just bring my lunch for me when you're done eating. You know the usuals, right?"
I gave him a thumbs up. "Definitely. Later, bud."