Agent Manoban's POV
I motion for her to take a seat on my bed as I place my leather bracelet and wallet on the bed.
"Graves, come into my room," I say into my earpiece that I just remembered was still in my ear. Jennie tilts her head in confusion as Graves comes into my room. He was about to say something before he stares at Jennie, then my stuff on the bed, then back at me. His eyes widen as he slowly realizes what I'm going to do.
"No." He says flatly. I fold my arms across my side and stare at him. "They could have my badge, your badge, hell our entire team's badge. You're not allowed to discuss this stuff with clients."
"The others won't know, and you can easily deny any claims. If they ask me, I'll tell them you have no part in it. What are they going to do to me? Throw me in a jail cell with Barney?" I scoff. "plus, they wouldn't take my badge, half of them are scared to death of me." I add the last bit a little lower. He thinks about it, before fully stepping into the room and then closing the door.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Just tell me when to stop." He nods his head slowly as he leans on my dresser, looking at Jennie.
I take the wallet and dump out its contents. About 10 different IDs fall out, a credit card, and some cash. I turn around and grab my physical badge from one of the drawers and place it in front of her. I take the IDs and spread them out. Each one is different depending on who I need to show it to. Some classify me as a simple detective of the local precinct, others classify me as a deadly agent working on the international level.
"What do you make of all this?" She runs her hands through all the IDs, reading some of them and then throwing them back in the pile. She reads my ID for the agency.
"Special Agent Manoban. Level A clearance. I already know you're a bodyguard, though."
"What?" I turn around to see Graves' face as I laugh at his bewildered look. "How do you have Level A clearance? I only have Level C as a team leader. Level A is restricted for the Commander, Chief, and General."
I shrug giving him an innocent look, "Commander Phoenix favors me." He grumbles some things under his breath about favoritism, I just wave him off.
"I'm more than a bodyguard. Your father knows who I am, but you've only seen the surface of who I am and what I do." I can see she doesn't understand me, so I try to make it easier for her to understand the gravity of this situation.
"You were asking about my scars, yes?" I see her nod her head as she runs her fingers on my bracelet. "I'll make you a deal. I'll give you the story of any scar you want if you give me a story. Doesn't matter the story." She nods her head as I slowly turn so she can see all of my scars. The ones that I don't want her asking about are still concealed under my sports bra and pants, so I don't mind. She points to the scars on my wrist, usually covered by my bracelet and makeup.
I nod thoughtfully at her choice. There are many stories that go with those scars since I've been chained up so many times. I guess I'll give her the most recent one.
"Four months ago.."
FLASHBACK - FOUR MONTHS AGO
[Somewhere in Berlin]
I woke up to freezing cold water on my face and the rest of my body. I look up to see my captors smiling at me as I kneel on the floor. My arms are bound with spiked chains to prevent movement and to prevent me from pulling myself up. My legs are bound with shorter chains so that if I do decide to get up, well, I just wouldn't be able to.
I was undercover as one of the bodyguards for the President of Germany. Some local mercenaries were causing trouble and I was already in the area for a previous mission so I just decided to take the case. The head of the security detail for the President was fed up with the poor decisions, so he decided he would take care of him himself. I overheard the conversation, but before I could warn the agency I got knocked out and here I was.
One of them holds a knife to my side, slowly inching it closer to my skin. I struggle to contort my body away from the blade, but I had to move my hands to do so. Before he could break the skin on my side, I felt the blood from my wrists drip down my arm.
He pulled his blade away from my side before standing up and walking to the other side of the room. His colleague pulled a lever on the other side of the room and I could feel my arms being lowered. They were transporting me for interrogation. Removing the chains, they bound my hands with rope. Problem was, I knew how to escape from rope. By the time they had me sat down in their chair, I already had the end of the rope I needed to pull for the entire thing to fall apart.
I waited for the leader to put his gun down before picking up a scalpel and raising it for me to see.
"Let's make Barbie girl even prettier," he says with his thick Russian accent.
I didn't give him the satisfaction of a reaction, and when he was close enough, I grabbed his arm and stabbed his eye with the scalpel. I then turned to the other two in the room, using their dead colleague as a shield as I went to grab his gun. Instead, I grabbed two daggers and threw them in their general direction, just to distract them.
I knocked the table with the gun on it down, using the table as a shield as I fired three shots. I hit the two already in the room and the third who was coming in when he heard gunshots. Few more gunshots and I cleared the entire building.
Barbie girl with an AK.
I exited the building they were keeping me in and safely got back to protect the President.
"I remember reading that file," Graves says, keeping his eyes glued to the floor. "You took out 25 men in that abandoned warehouse and came out with just a few scratches and your bleeding wrists." I shrugged, the agency didn't seem to care, so I didn't care.
"I guess it's my time to share." Jennie starts.
"My sister died when I was 13. She was shot and no one could find out why. It was then that my dad started getting paranoid, hiring triple our normal guards and having them follow me everywhere. I didn't like it. Whenever I went to the bathroom at school, the male guards had to clear the entire bathroom first. I quickly switched to homeschooling after that. I don't like having bodyguards cause it reminds me of my sister too much." I stare at her as her eyes begin to cloud up with tears. I grabbed a tissue from my nightstand and began to wipe away the tears.
"I'm telling you this," I start, as I continue to wipe her tears, "because what you were dragged into tonight, can't be ignored. My name is Agent Manoban. I've been working for The Agency for 15 years, du-"
"You're 19, right?" I eye her suspiciously as I slowly nod my head. "You started training when you were 4?" I avoid her eyes as I slowly nod my head. She says nothing in response to my actions, so I just continue.
"I trained until I was 16 years old. I was apart of an extensive training program. It was in its test phase, and they only take 1 child every 15 years. Most other agents start their training at age 11-13. I wasn't like most agents. I went through a special training regiment. My father died when I was young and my mother gave me to the agency since she didn't have time to take care of me. Most of these scars aren't even from missions, they're from my training exercises. I-" Graves places a hand on my shoulder as I slump my sitting position. We sit in silence for a bit until my phone rings.
"Manoban. Yes, sir. Alright. No, sir. Thank you, General." I end the call as Graves raises an eyebrow in my direction. "General Aeturnum is sending some international agents to our location. They should be here by tomorrow. He gave us three teams. They'll help Bravo with scoping out the area." I move to stand up until Jennie grabs my wrist.
"How long am I staying here?"
"Until we can hide your bruising and you can walk properly. I'd say a few days. Your father thinks you're out visiting a friend. He'd most likely go for my team's badge if he found out we let you get kidnapped." She lets go of my arm and falls back into the bed. I motion for Graves to exit as I collect all my things and put them back in their respective spots. I attach my holster and keep Nyx locked into it, as well as putting my dagger in its sheath. I step out of the room, and as I close the door I let out a long sigh.
"You did the right thing," I turn to see Williams sitting on the living room couch. "You should get some sleep. It's almost 4 AM in the morning. The girls have nothing planned until the afternoon, so you can get a few hours. Stay in my room if you want." I don't deny what he said, instead I just enter his room and face plant myself onto his bed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I woke up to the smell of bacon. I looked at the clock to see it was 9 in the morning. My back was still sore from the bullets I had taken yesterday, but other than that I was fine. There were some aches and pains, but that's to be expected in my line of work. Entering the kitchen I see Jennie putting bacon on a plate and passing it to Roth and Caine.
"I didn't know you could cook," she looks at me and smiles.
"I don't, I'm just winging it." Roth stares at her and the piece of bacon that looks suspiciously burnt that's in his hand inches from his mouth. He carefully places it down and moves his plate forward. Jennie just rolls her eyes, "it's not THAT bad."
"I beg to differ," Roth says, wiping his tongue with a napkin.
"What are we doing this week?" Caine asks, taking a sip of water. I open my mouth to answer but then quickly close it. I don't know what we're going to do. Wolf said he'll give us a week. Of course, we'll still take precautions, but we can lighten up just a bit. But I don't know what to do with Jennie being 'away with a friend' for the next few days. I guess we'll take it day by day.
"I'm going shopping," I announce finally.
Roth chokes on his drink and pretends to clear his ear. "I'm sorry," he begins, "I don't think I heard you right, did you say shopping?" I nod my head. "For what? GUNS?"
I shake my head giving him a playful smile, "for clothes. I need some better clothes and most of mine are stained, dirty, ripped, or all of the above."
"I have a question," Jennie says. We all turn to her. "What am I going to be doing?" I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge while thinking about it.
"Hold that thought." I grab my phone and file the number I'm looking for. I exit the kitchen and go into the living room to
"Hey, Birdy. I came to cash in a favor."
"One, don't call me that. Two depends on what it is." Commander Phoenix's beautifully cold toned voice fills my ear.
"Taking one of the Kims out." I don't give her a location, but she probably knows already.
"No." I roll my eyes.
"You're overreacting Phoenix. We already have 4 teams on the the family excluding mine. I'll even take Bravo Team with plainclothes just in case. Just trust me on this, alright?" The line went silent for a minute before she spoke again.
"No." She says, even colder this time. I put my hand on my head before I get an idea. I put on my sappy voice.
"It's that time of the year anyway. I won't have any other time to visit him and you know that. You also know I won't miss a year. The anniversary is in a few days." I can hear her sigh in annoyance on the other end.
"Three days. I want a report on what happens. I don't even want to know why you're doing this Manoban, so don't make me regret this. This will be three favors by the way. One for letting you do this, one for getting you the hotel room, and one for letting you use that excuse. I'll do roses this time."
"Of course. Thanks, Birdy!" I hang up before she could respond. Turning around, I put on a serious face.
"Just got off the phone with Commander Phoenix." They all suck in a breath, even Jennie, who has no idea who she is. I internally roll my eyes, Commander Phoenix isn't that scary.
"Jennie, we're going to Thailand."