She is a powerful, dangerous terrorist. A genius that has battled the best of N-Tek. There is no reason for her to be afraid and if there was a reason then she would use her intelligence to neutralize the threat. She scoffed in her own head, right, if she hadn't managed the 'neutralization' for the last 20 years, she doubted she could accomplish it now.
"Deck the halls with boughs of holly FA LALA!" She cringes like a bothered lion before it is ready to pounce and tear out its victims head, and she is considering such a drastic measure. The sour and high grating words overwhelm the cramped atmosphere fuelling the crabbiness of the passengers. If someone did not speak up, there was going to be trouble, feeling it as good as the bitter chill outside seeping into the back seat. He reaches a particularly hoarse note, his mouth opening wide to force the words out through a badly contracting throat, according to a tune he had yet to master. She couldn't purse her lips tightly anymore. "Woody, Will you shut up?" Snapping, making sure to telegraph her annoyance as clear as crystal; hard, shards of crystal. "I was just tying to get you all in the Christmas spirit!" He shrinks into his corner, hurt but she is too far into her anger to care. "It is in the middle of October!" Caroline rolls her eyes. "Never too early to celebrate Christmas!" Gushing enthusiastically having regained his jovial spirits, rubbing his hands together for warmth. "We are going to spend Christmas at Mommy's house right!" Giving her a wide-eyed puppy look, a rabid puppy if anyone was likely to meet one. "Yes!" Enforcing it as a sigh rather than a heavy huff, mentally somehow she always failed to prepare herself for days with her mother. Snow begins to fall, as if they are escaping heaven for a better place. The scientist in her knew it was not true. The churlish earth below her could hardly be qualified as a peaceful resting place. 'No two snowflakes are alike but I wonder if they all get along!' She breathed out dolefully, "It is going to be a harsh month!"
Woody is restless, tapping his foot, squirming in his seat and the plane had not even landed yet. Annabelle cast a disapproving look in his direction. She could throw him all the glares in the world but that wouldn't change the fact that internally, she wanted to share in his enthusiasm. "Woody sit still!" she snapped, turning away to glare out at the landing, noting the figures in the distance. "I cannot wait to meet her!" Shouting with a glee that sends tremors down Annabelle's back followed by hot annoyance. She rolls her eyes heavenward, wishing for strength. "Mommy is going to be so happy to see us!" In his exuberance, he failed to note the pinched look on her face.
"Mommy!" Woody practically high-jumped to the woman while Annabelle dragged her feet on the concrete, later she would explain it away as meaningless but it was a small revolt against her mother's whims. The woman who mothered them enveloped the man into her arms and showered affection on him. Annabelle felt like she was watching from the side-lines.
Nina Barkowski wasn't conventionally pretty, maybe the people who praised man-eating wolves would concede to her silent beauty. She had the sharp features bestowed on Annabelle and Woody but the nose is crooked, the eyes slanted and forever watchful. Lips too thin to crack a smile and when they did, it always appeared as an exaggerated effort.
However, the emotion expressed at her son's return was not false or obligatory. It was too genuine, making it almost painful for the young girl who was denied for some obscure, unfathomable reason. Something twitched inside her chest but Annabelle would rather sew her own lips shut before she would ever willingly identify it. Patiently, she awaited her turn. After the fawning was over, Nina turned her attention to her young daughter. "Annabelle!" The pronouncement of her name, cool with a hint of warmth is a jarring moment that caused Annabelle's her stomach to turn uncomfortably and bought forth rancor, carefully understated under a show of self-confidence. Annabelle kept her true feelings buried under a layer of love and politeness especially with electricity rippling below the surface of her fingertips, nearly within breaking point. "Mom, it is really great to see you!" Pleased with the indisputable ring of truth in her words. "Life looks to be treating you well!"
"So far it has!" Nina cocked a brow, eyes examining Annabelle, "You appear healthy-for someone with no love in her life. Honestly, I considered my example a lesson that the life of a spinster is not rewarding."
Annabelle bit the inside of her cheek to restrain the groan, "You were married for a wonderful five years mother!" It is one of the things Nina constantly seemed to need reminding of, even if Annabelle herself would rather forget.
For a whole second mother and daughter hold each other's gaze, and from the slight bend of her lips, Annabelle was visited with the sombre, sinking feeling that she had already pissed off her mother barely two minutes on arrival. Fleetingly, she wondered where it would rate on her present track record.
"It is really nice to meet you, Mrs Barkowski." Eleanor stepped forward. Nina shifts her attention to the newcomer and releases a delightful smile. "How nice, Friends of Woody!" Eleanor and Caroline exchange a glance, unsure if it is appropriate to divulge that her beloved son is socially inept and any friendship extended by the intelligent pair was solely to the smart one of the siblings or the least insane. Nina was oblivious to the private exchange; instead she congratulated her son for being thoughtful enough to bring guests to the party. 'Half the time Woody is so 'thoughtful' he gets us both nearly killed or maimed or shipped off to jail by N-Tek, which is the worse of the three-and the most humiliating-if it wasn't for the fact he is my brother and he is so inept. I would believe that N-tek has hired him.'
Annabelle never said anything; nothing she could say would ever diminish the shinning image their mother had of her son, sometimes she mulled if the image resembled anything of the real Woody, if even the facial features had been altered for the benefit of the delusion. 'Guess I will never know!"
'Maybe she could at least mention it was thoughtful enough for me to bring myself for the holidays and not a timebomb robot.' Annabelle groused, resentment kneading her heart to a thick heaviness in her chest . "Everyone is waiting for you-to congratulate you." Annabelle peaked up at the news. "Woody!" Her shoulders slump again, 'So much for my welcome party! Honestly, what are they going to congratulate him for-still remaining a so-called male! ' Instantly her face jerked with self-recrimination, Woody had been through a lot and he needed a support system when everyone else had given up on him. The delegation voted and she was chosen, why because they sprouted from the same womb. There was no other logical reason she would capitulate to tie herself to this sort of irritation.
Annabelle dawdled behind the chattering group, dread tickling her insides. Somehow she had the unsettling feeling that the presence of her friends was not going to lighten the load on her shoulders. "Do not loiter Annabelle. There are other people with better use for the ground. There is someone expecting you!" The knowledge did not help her feel any better.
Somewhere deep in the forest, among the daily noises of the morning as the night is creeping away to allow the light to sweep across the land, a foreign sound joined the cacophony, more pronounced and direct.
"I really hate dealing with the troublesome twosome. If I have hear one more poorly-constructed, long-winded public enemy number one speech I am going to-" "We get it Max but you have to find Berto and according to his encrypted communication he is a prisoner somewhere here." "Got it Dad! I will save him. I miss the voice in my head telling me what to do!" "Find the Bakowski and get as much information as you possibly can!"
"What makes you think the Bakowskis are the ones who kidnapped Berto! Annabelle sure but with Woody, she basically has a handicap, not to mention kidnapping Berto is a lot harder than the pet kittens he probably practiced on."
"I know Max but-"
"The guy probably cannot manage a straight line when he is sober!"
"Max, there is the chance-"
"If there was a plan for world domination from Woody and a genetically-engineered, intelligent lab mouse named Brain, I would fear the mouse!"
"Max!" Jefferson's entered his ear, saturated with quiet, dryness with an undertone of urgency. "Yes!"
"Find Annabelle! Please."
"Ok, Pops!" Max executed a perfect jump onto his motorcycle and rode onwards, creating upheaval for the critters in his wake. As he drove through the forest, his mind whirled with tactical plans and various methods by which he would force the truth from the twin nutjobs.
Annabelle winced; her eyes squeezes shut as the burning liquid burns a trail down her throat to settle like rubber in the churning vat that was her stomach. Blinking through what she hoped were misty eyes and a head swimming with alcohol, instead the room is clear and dauntingly realistic. Hated bubbled inside her, strong and flaming.
Flashback to a few seconds
"David!" "Hello Annabelle!" His manner is affable and genial; when she was sure there would be active fury and hostility. Prepared for a scene, steeled herself to shield against rebuke and disparaging insults. A tiny voice whispered that she deserved it. She had promised herself she would be aloof and disaffected, Hell she survived jail and Max Steel, Electrix could be capable against her former lover. Of course, there was the disadvantage that the scent of him is breathtaking and his eyes bear the liquid chocolate gentleness of a hundred baby lambs.
It took every ounce of self-restraint to keep herself from his arms. Every muscle of hers quakes with just the musty scent of his cologne. His gaze roams her face with a familiarity that reminded her with a searing hurt what she had missed and surrendered. The eyes that bore into hers lack the view of the scorned but somewhere she is wary of searching, there is a word of reprisal. "What are you doing here?" Smiling prettily, voice even."I thought you moved to Chicago to study law."
"I did! Now I am back and am planning on getting married next week-to Sasha!" And with those words the love child of Hades and Morgana materialized beside him. Annabelle remembered her, she observed with an acrid distaste in her mouth that Sasha Harrington had refused to change with time. Eyes still retained their youthful sparkle and lips curved in a sweet, benevolent arc. There was a fluid movement to her walk and a positive quality to her attitude. Hate and distrust reared inside Annabelle, spasms of electricity danced in her clenched fist, away from view.
The two of them made an attractive pair, straight from a catalog. "Nice to see you again, Annabelle!"She said breezily. "Likewise!" Annabelle replied, a beat then, "So you two are getting married-are you pregnant or was it just emotional blackmail that convinced him of your wife material?"
Present Time
Annabelle cast furtive glances around, hiding as far away from the crowd as she possibly can. She couldn't endure more of those curious glances or those skittish looks or the tight smiles that appeared to be the latest thing everyone was sporting. 'So the last thing I did was leave a note saying that I was running off with my brother-there is no need to treat me like a patient 0' She takes a sip from her coke and lets her gaze wander around the room. Most of the neighborhood was present for the party, cloistered in their little groups. Every once in a while they would throw a sideways, curious glance at her and in retaliation she would force a plastered smile onto her face. Last thing she wanted is for her mother to think she is being inhospitable least she be subjected to more rants on courtesy and how to get a husband. Somehow her mother weaved 'How to get a husband' into all their conversations.
Eleanor sauntered to sit beside her, a dangerous impish twist to her lips, eyes bright and inquisitive. Annabelle can mouth off the question poised on her friend's lips. "So who is David?" Annabelle rolled her eyes while swallowing the tight ball in her throat as discreetly as possible. "He is nobody!" Said with disarming candor, shrugging nonchalantly, "He is just some boy I knew long time ago!" In her head, she is screaming at them not to ask anything further. Sadly, her brother failed to pick up on the signals, blurting out with his typical crude insolence, "No, Annabelle. He was the guy you almost married!" Stupefied, Eleanor and Caroline stare in open-mouthed shock mingled with disbelief.
She could imagine why, they thought she wasn't interested in the boyfriend aspect of youth. On another note, their explanation was the freaky accident that made her a mutant also robbed her of her emotional receptors.
The best response was from the man secretly tucked amongst the trees behind the group and was privy to the entire conversation. "Dad, what is the most laughable thing next to Woody, the wannabe super villain- Annabelle, the wannabe wife! Seriously, I think she was planning to go the Ma baker route before she went Bonnie and Clyde with her own brother." Max snickered in amusement, eyes on the young women. Ironically, without the callous, sunken look of an evil villain or the viciousness she wore like a second skin, the girl almost looked the sort of women who would make a good wife. At least until the medication wore off.
The questions refused to cease, they attacked her from all angles, trying to construct the circumstances from their limited knowledge of childish romance novels, tragic plays and pathetic, sappy movies. As if they knew what compelled her to plot the direction of her life, decided with a unrelenting firmness as the bell tolled for the matrimonial ceremony, to follow her brother into the realm of fulfilling his dreams. It had made sense to her then.
Feet rapidly move across the floor, the chattering of the guests clamored around her, threatening to drown her with unwanted memories. Their voices had the familiar ruthless disciplinary tone that pierced the very core of her, their eyes locked onto her form with a disappointment she had grown accustomed to and worse when she had fled the room, her failure as a daughter would continue to dominate the conversation and the remnants would haunt her.
The fresh air is like water in her dry lungs, the scent of nature softer and gentle on her after the synthetic, acrid smell of technology and jail. She cannot remember the last time she felt lighter and sort of placated from the energy that pulls the cells of her muscles taut. Finding the shape of a tree trunk to be acceptable for resting, she adjusted her body against it, throwing herself into reminiscing of free childhood moments on the outside. And as she researched, it came to her realization that she had very few moments when she was truly happy under the sun with the fresh breeze stroking her cheeks. Why did she even bother returning, it was not like there was anything for her or anyone. David moved away after the failed wedding and hadn't entered her mind since. 'There were lies and then there were lullabies. This was one that helped me sleep at night. Of course, I thought about him. In prison when you're lonely, you cannot help but wonder if things would have been better or worse if you had married your high childhood sweetheart"
She is shocked herself that the sight of him could stir such emotions that had been buried, forced into dormancy. The lake is peaceful, calm and clear, lulling her into a sense of tranquility. Whatever she was feeling, unable to comprehend the turbid of emotions but she would eventually.
"Hiding out in plain sight! I know of a lot of predators who would appreciate your effort."
A slow smile formed on her lips.
"I know what I am doing here but how does the beloved of the town plan on explaining his absence."
He stands beside her with an amicable and friendly persona that renders her defenses impracticable, leaving her with an odd sort of vulnerability. "It is kind of intimidating in there. They are all full of questions.."
"Yeah." She agreed, giving him a slanting glance, "They think just because they knew you when you were playing in mud puddles, they can predict how you would turn out!"
The sound of his mild laughter sent a sheet of warmth over her chasing the frost that had gathered around heart.
"Well, if it is any consolation there are a lot of people who knew you would turn out to be a success." The gentle intimacy of his look had the opposite effect than the one she wanted, heart flutters and her knees grow weak. Annabelle managed a grateful smile, at least someone had retained their faith in her. He continues to hold her gaze expectantly. Summoning every ounce of courage, Annabelle does what she hopes would put her feelings to bed once and for all. Leaning forward, lips graze his for a brief second as inconsequential as a brush from a stray leaf or from a stranger on the street. "It is nice seeing you again!" Voice subdued so he wouldn't realize just how the little kiss had effected her, the butterflies in her stomach roared to new life.
Time regressed, picture two close friends locked together in their first experience. Annabelle Barkowski averted her gaze. A furious blush tainting her cheeks, lips trembling and her fingers entwined around his so their deep connection would not be broken, not until their need for each other had been sufficiently satiated. Thumb stroked the back of her hand. "Bella !" Whispered her name with velvet softness.
It was as if they were 13 again, not years apart with a crevice of hurt, betrayal and lies between them. A myriad of emotions flash in his eyes that it suffocates any further small talk. "I have to go!" Murmured quickly, breath quickening as did his walk from her. Annabelle watched his retreating back with a heavy heart and with more feelings than she knew what to do with. "Can my life get any worse?" The groan was emitted like a cry from a wounded animal.
"Give it few minutes, you will get there!"
Squeezing her eyes shut, Annabelle was visited with the urge to throw herself into the lake. "Max Steel. What are you doing here?"
The man materialized infront of her, bearing the obnoxious smirk that drove her crazy. "Came to stop your devious plans, which looks to involve stealing the groom." Annabelle bristled, a biting comment on the precipice of her tongue.
"Great, you have now foiled my evil plans. Guess I will just have to try something else. Maybe disrupt a mass wedding. Destroy million of hopes in one go!"
"Where is Berto?" He demanded, giving her a heated glare. "What? I have no idea where your errand boy is, Steel!" She retorted darkly still peeved that the private moment was witnessed by her worst enemy. "Really, you sure because the interrogation room is free and we can totally do this the old fashion way. Or the easy way is-I ask your boyfriend for help because he seems more persuasive." Horror registered on her face, "NO!" She cried, desperation creeping unwanted into her voice. An amused look spread like butter over his face. "Yeah, Learning about your evil-villain status would not make him leave his fiance for you. Unless he is into long-distance relationships and plexi glass."
" Woody and I had nothing to do with any kidnapping plan, maybe you misplaced him." Forced through gritted teeth, eying him with extreme displeasure.
"Right like when you misplace Woody. No wait-He goes to jail." The withering look he received from that remark could have melted normal people on the spot. "The last signal was received from here and coincidentally, I find you here."
"You just answered your own question. It is a coincidence."
"Nope. Do not beleive that-for all I know you could be having a terrorist recruitment party in there!"
She heaved a sigh, glancing behind her to ensure they were alone. She imagined with ominous dread what her mother would think if Max was so blatant about the truth.
"I can help you!" She blurted out with the same careless clumsiness that Woody often displayed, much to her chagrin. "I know this area and if your friend is here then I can help you find him." Max favored her with a look of abject doubt and suspicion. Annabelle squirmed under his intense gaze, she hated the feeling of helplessness and dependency on another man's judgment. So far, at least Woody knew his place. Just when she thought he was going to arrest her, lock her away with the turmoil she was in, it was not something she was looking forward to.
"Ok" He conceded, though dubiousness weighted heavily in his words, "But I am not going to be your quirky sidekick like in the wedding planner or My best friend's wedding."
Annabelle simply stared at him, raising her brow and pinning him with a belittling look of severe reproach.
For the three wonderful people who reviewed. Thanks and I hope this pleases you!