Chapter 2
Cassandra groaned as she woke up to her phone's beeping, signaling that it's time to wake up. She rolled over in her bed and turned it off with a sigh. "Thank god this is the last day I'm driving her to school." She muttered to herself as she got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to do her morning rituals. She was mostly exaggerating, just so she could complain about something, she was used, even before Lisa's car broke down, to waking up early. Military life can do that to you.
After brushing her teeth, washing her face, she didn't have the time for a shower, and getting dressed she went downstairs to see Lisa sleeping on the sofa with a TV turned on. She shook her head while going toward kitchen to make some sandwiches for breakfast. Lisa is usually the cook in the house, Cassandra can't cook to save her life. Actually, if she starts cooking, someone is certain to die.
After making the sandwiches, Cassandra went back to the living room to wake Lisa up. She shook her gently and spoke gently. "Hey, Lis, wake up." When Lisa just rolled in the sofa to face away from Cassandra, Cassandra sighed. "Come on, Lis, you're gonna be late." When Lisa just murmured something in her sleep, Cassandra's eyes narrowed. "So, that's how you want to play, huh?" She nodded slightly. "Alright." She picked up the remote and changed to the channel playing hard rock music and tuned it all the way up.
That made Lisa wake up with and jump out of sofa. "Wha…" She murmured sleepily from her place on the floor. She rubbed her eyes and looked around the room. When she saw what woke her up, she narrowed her eyes at her annoying older sister. "What was that for!?" She had to yell to be heard over that awful noise, she also yelled because she felt like it.
Cassandra tuned down the TV and shrugged. "You wouldn't wake up." She muttered.
Lisa groaned. "So you decided to scare the shit out of me to wake me up?" She complained. When Cassandra only shrugged, Lisa rolled her eyes. "Whatever. What time is it?" She looked up at the clock above the TV to see she had fifteen minutes before they had to leave. "I'm gonna go and take a quick shower." She muttered as she raised her hand as a sign for Cassandra to help her up.
Cassandra took her hand and helped her stand up. "Alright, hurry up, I made us breakfast." She rolled her eyes when Lisa widened hers. "Sandwiches." She elaborated. Lisa let out a sigh of relief and nodded before heading towards the stairs. Cassandra moved to the kitchen while shaking her head. "I make sure she wakes up on time and make her a breakfast and what does she do to show me how thankful she is? Insult my cooking. I know it's bad but she doesn't have to rub it in my face." She muttered to herself.
Fifteen minutes later, Cassandra was sitting on the driver's seat of her Dodge, waiting for Lisa so they can head out to school. When Lisa finally walked out of the car and walked towards the house she had a giant smile on her face. Cassandra narrowed her eyes, she knew that smile. It's the same smile she had when she was about to see her first crush, Ms. Robinson, her math teacher.
Lisa got into the passenger seat and buckled her belt, smile never leaving her face. When about twenty seconds passed by and the car didn't move she turned her head to look at Cassandra, who was studying her carefully. She looked down at what she was wearing, thinking that her outfit was a reason for Cassandra's studying gaze, but she remembered that Cassandra doesn't really care what clothes she wore, as long as it was covering what it was supposed to cover. She turned from her clothes to look at her sister questionably. "What is it? Do I have something on my face?" She asked as she self-consciously wiped around her mouth.
Cassandra shook her head and turned her eyes on the road in front of her. "No, it's nothing." She spoke as she turned the key in ignition. She wasn't about to ask if Lisa had a boyfriend, because there was no way she would be told the truth. No, she will investigate and find the little fucker herself. Then she will tell him all about her military training and all those weapons just lying around her room, waiting for some idiotic fucker to try and get it on with her little sister. Those overprotective fathers have nothing on Cassandra.
XXXXXX
When Cassandra entered the Viper, a bar that hosts another bar in the basement, a mercenary bar, she saw it was almost empty. Cassandra rarely frequents this place anymore, since she already made a name for herself. When she was just getting into the business she had to come to this bar to find work, but now, work always finds her. The only reason she came today was because Donny, the owner of the bar, called her and told her there was some woman looking for an experienced female mercenary and she said that she was paying well, Cassandra was the first person Donny thought of.
Cassandra smiled at Charlotte, Donny's daughter, when she saw her manning the main bar and continued towards the basement door. As soon as she entered the mercenary bar, which is manned by Donny himself, Cassandra was meet by the smell of cigar smoke and cheap liquor. There wasn't a lot of people there during the daytime, most business is conducted by night, but that only goes to show what miserable drunks most of the mercenaries are.
Cassandra nodded her greetings to Donny as he pointed her to the foppish looking, middle-aged, white woman sitting in the corner and holding a handkerchief to her nose. Cassandra rolled her eyes at the woman, she's at the mercenary bar, what was she expecting it to smell like? Lilacs and roses?
Cassandra went towards the woman and sat at the chair on the opposite side of the table from the woman. The woman looked surprised and startled when she saw Cassandra taking a seat without saying a word, but Cassandra didn't really pay attention to it. Instead, she studied the woman carefully, she looked foppish, but her standing was not one someone rich would have, she also looked nervous to be here, which was easy to see by how her eyes were darting around, as if expecting someone here would attack her with no reason. Cassandra found the idea laughable, mercenaries might attack each other with no reason, but they don't attack potential employers.
"Um, can I help you?" The woman asked after the silence stretched for a little too long. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm waiting for someone." The woman said before nervously looking around again.
"Donny" Cassandra nodded at the bartender. "told me you were looking for an experienced female mercenary." She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. "So, here I am."
The woman widened her eyes, clearly surprised. "You are the woman Donny told me about?" She asked in a disbelieving tone. "But, you are…" She waved her hand in Cassandra's direction. Cassandra raised a questioning eyebrow, even though she probably guessed the reason for the woman's surprise. Most, if not all, first time employers come here expecting to see nothing but giant, hairy, tattooed dudes, and the women that are the same way. They are surprised when they see an attractive female mercenary, not so surprised when they see attractive male ones. Cassandra blames the movies. "You know, let's just get to business." She finally spoke after clearing her throat, she probably thought it prudent not to finish her previous sentence.
Cassandra nodded. "Yes, lets. I'm going to need the information on what kind of job I'm doing, whether it's legal or not, how much time I have and we need to discuss how much you are paying me, of course." She spoke as she counted every information she would to need with her fingers. When the woman opened her mouth to respond, but before she could Cassandra raised her hand to stop her. "Oh, one more thing, I don't have a problem with doing illegal jobs, hell, most of my jobs are illegal, but I do have rules that are based on my moral standards." She started counting her fingers for every rule she has. "I don't kill kids, or any innocent people for that matter, I don't go after cops, unless they are the crooked ones, I'm not kidnaping any kids or, again, any innocent innocent people and I don't have sex for the job."
The woman nodded. "Then you won't have a problem with the job I'm about to give you." She opened the purse she was clutching to herself and took out a white envelope, which she handed to Cassandra. Cassandra opened the envelope to see a couple of pictures of a girl with a medium-length, light brown hair, with a couple of streaks of blue, about Lisa's age. She checked when the pictures were taken and saw that the latest was taken about two months ago. So, this was either a rescue mission or the woman didn't hear half of her rules. She nodded for the woman to begin explanation, which, she thankfully did. "That girl is my daughter. About a month and a half ago, we found out she is a mutant. Her power is very… tempting for a lot of people. A little less than a week ago, she was kidnapped, by people who want to use her for her powers, no doubt. I…"
"What's her power?" Cassandra interrupted her without looking up from the pictures. When she didn't get an answer she raised her head to look at the woman and raised an eyebrow. "I asked, what's her power?" She repeated, slower this time.
The woman looked reluctant to answer her, but caved in under Cassandra's impatient glare. "It's… um…" She shifted uncomfortably while Cassandra impatiently drummed her fingers on the table. The woman finally cleared her throat and nodded slightly. "Her power is the Midas touch."
Both of Cassandra's eyebrows raised in surprise. That, she didn't except. She didn't let the surprise to show on her face for long, though. Instead, she stared at the woman thoughtfully for a couple of seconds before nodding slightly. "Yes, I can see how such power could be tempting for… well, everyone." She then turned her head to look at Donny. "Hey, Donny!" Donny stopped cleaning the bar so he can look at her and raised his eyebrow. "Could you bring me your laptop for a second?" Donny nodded and moved to take the laptop from its place and give it to Cassandra for use. Cassandra turned her head to look at the woman, who was staring at her questionably, and smiled slightly. "Hold on for just a minute." She told her calmly, the woman just nodded her head.
Donny arrived at the table with his laptop mere seconds later. "Thanks." Cassandra thanked him with a smile and a nod as she took the laptop from his hand. She placed it on the table and started typing fast. One of the members of her team when she was in the military was one of those nerds who were professional hackers before he joined the army and he taught Cassandra everything he knew so she is a very decent hacker. She can easily break into police files, birth records and even FBI computers. The only computer she could never get into so far was the super computer owned by S.H.I.E.L.D. Of course, she never had a real reason to try, but Cheese was always talking about how no one could break into one of those computers, so, of course, she had to try and prove him wrong. That was an interesting week. "What did you say your name was?" She asked the woman without even glancing up from what she was doing.
"Uh, I didn't." The woman shifted uncomfortably. "Is-is it necessary for you to know my name?" Cassandra looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. She could find out what her name is easily if she wanted to, but she would rather save her time. The woman caved in under her impatient glare again. "It's Rebecca. Rebecca White." She told her with a sigh.
Cassandra nodded and continued typing, after about two more minutes, she closed the laptop and turned her eyes to the woman. "I'm sorry for that. I had to check whether she was really your daughter." She spoke calmly. "It appears she is."
The woman looked insulted. "You think I would lie about something like that?" She spoke with an indignant tone. "I would never…" She shook her head.
Cassandra's expression didn't change from her usual bored one she gave to all of her clients. "We get liars, cheaters and many other types of scumbag here every day, hell, every five minutes, another scumbag walks through that door." She said as she pointed at the door leading towards the main bar. "That girl is a walking golden mine, so I wasn't about to trust you on your word only."
Rebecca didn't look any less insulted, if anything, she looked like Cassandra insulted her even more. "How dare you compare me to scum like that?" She stood up and made an indignant sound. "I don't have to sit here and listen to your insults, I am a respectable woman and there are a lot of female mercenaries in the city who will be more than happy to take my money and be respectful towards me!"
Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Donny, can you bring me a beer here?" She called out to Donny over Rebecca's shoulder. She really couldn't listen to this woman's bullshit anymore without getting some alcohol into her system. "Now, listen to me Mrs. White. Becoming rich by exploiting your daughter's power doesn't make you a 'respectable woman'." When Rebecca opened her mouth to defend herself, Cassandra raised her hand to stop her. "Don't try to lie to me. Someone who was rich for a long time has a certain… posture, yes, let's call it posture. The posture you, honestly, don't have. So, the only explanation for your sudden ability to pay for a mercenary, the most expensive mercenary in the state, mind you, is that you became rich by having your daughter turn stuff into gold and selling that gold so you could buy expensive clothes and perfume that can be smelled from mile away." She paused when she noticed Donny arriving with her beer. "Thanks Donny. Oh, here's your laptop, I don't need it anymore." She spoke as she handed him his laptop back. After he left them alone again, Cassandra sat back in her chair and took a sip of her beer. "But, I won't force you to hire me. If you think you can find a better female mercenary before those assholes do something awful to your daughter, do go ahead." She said the last part while waving her hand dismissively.
Rebecca glared at her, but when she got a bored glare back, her eyes widened and she sat back in her chair. "I'm sorry. I'm just really worried about my daughter." She spoke softly. "And you're right, I did exploit my daughter's power. But I couldn't help myself, it was there and I…" She sobbed slightly, but Cassandra could easily see it was all fake. This woman doesn't care about her daughter. She just wants her little moneymaker back. She kind of reminds her of her own mother, she didn't care much about Cassandra after she found out she was gay, and she only had Lisa in a desperate attempt to keep her dearest husband from leaving her, and her father wasn't much better. Thankfully, neither of her parents found out about her and Lisa being mutants, she could only imagine what would happen if they did.
Cassandra cleared her throat after the woman's cryfest lasted for a little too long. "Anyway, let's talk about price." She spoke with no emotion in her voice, the only person she feels sorry for is the poor girl, Beatrice, if she remembers correctly. She will either end up with a mother who doesn't care about her, only about money she can make her or with some kidnapers who treat her god knows how badly. At least her mother would treat her decently, at least she hopes so.
Rebecca nodded and used her handkerchief to wipe her eyes. "Alright." She sniffed. "Would two hundred thousand be enough?" Cassandra's eyebrows rose at the number she just heard. If she didn't know that this woman was a first-timer before, she would know now. No one offers that much money for a single mercenary unless the job was too dangerous or too underhanded. And even then, it was rare, rare like needing two more stickers to have an entire collection and actually finding them rare.
Still, Cassandra wouldn't lose any sleep cheating this woman for that much money. She smirked slightly and nodded. "Yeah, that would be enough." She took another sip of her beer. "Do you have any idea who might have kidnaped her?" She usually gets a straight-up mission with all the information she needs to complete it, but there were more than a couple of jobs in which she had to play detective as well as a killer. That's why she was so popular despite her rules and high price. Well, that and the fact that she was the best mercenary in Miami, maybe even an entire Florida.
Rebecca nodded slightly. "Yes, I was there when they took her away, they tied me up to the chair." Cassandra leaned forward a little, maybe this job will be a quick one. "I didn't see their faces but I do know there were three of them, two men and a woman." Cassandra slumped back in her chair. Of course it won't be a quick job.
Cassandra closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "Can you think of anything else?" She's a pretty good detective but even she can't find them with no leads. When the woman shook her head Cassandra sighed. "Think carefully. Are you sure you can't think of anything else?" Okay, now she feels like one of those cops from those TV shows Lisa likes to watch.
The woman appeared to be thinking it over for a couple of seconds, but she just shook her head in the end. "No, I can't… Wait, there is something I remember." Cassandra leaned forward a little again. "One of the men, he was really muscular and tall, and he had a dragon tattoo covering his entire left arm."
Cassandra nodded slightly. "Alright, that's a start." She paused to take another sip of her beer. "Now, can you remember whether the tattoo had color or was it black?" She would prefer if it had color, black dragon is not an unusual tattoo. Sure, it lessened the number of people she needed to look for greatly, but she saw at least ten tall and muscular guys with a black dragon tattoo on their arms, this week.
The woman appeared to be thinking it over before responding. "I'm fairly certain it was black." Somehow, Cassandra wasn't entirely convinced in her certainty. But she might as well start with those guys.
Cassandra sighed and nodded. "Very well." She then took another sip of her beer. "How much time do I have?" She would need at least three days, if not a week. She was much quicker at tracking criminals than cops because she has many contacts throughout the underworld, and it is possible that these guys, if they don't want to take all the risks that come with keeping the girl for themselves, would sell the girl to the highest bidder. And Cassandra knows some people who know where biddings like this take place.
The woman shrugged. "As soon as you are able." Cassandra didn't even blink at the lack of concern this woman showed towards her own daughter. She had her all figured out as soon as the woman started talking about her daughter. "Would that be all?" She laughed a little nervously. "I'm not exactly sure how this is supposed to go."
Cassandra nodded. "Yes, that would be all." The woman nodded and stood up. It was at that moment Cassandra remembered the question that has been nagging at her mind. "Just a second." She raised her hand just as the woman was about to turn around and leave. "You told Donny that you needed a female mercenary. Why? The way I see it, the mercenary of every gender could do this job."
Cassandra watched as the woman looked around nervously, and she didn't miss the way she shifted her feet and began to sweat slightly. "Well, um, you see…" She stuttered, making Cassandra raise her eyebrows. This woman was hiding something. "You see, about six months ago, Beatrice was raped." Cassandra's eyes widened slightly, now it makes sense. At least this woman appears to care enough to choose a woman for this job. "And, she was frightened to even approach a man ever since." The woman just confirmed what Cassandra already knew. Cassandra saw the victims of rape before, both in her time in the military and as a mercenary. Most of them were scared of men, or any sexual relation for that matter, for years to come. And the worst part is that they think that it was somehow their fault and nothing could make them believe otherwise but themselves.
Cassandra nodded slightly, without looking up at the woman. "Understandable." There were still some things that didn't add up, like why was this woman so nervous to admit her daughter was raped. Not only was she nervous, she was downright frightened. Doesn't matter for now, she will know the entire story eventually, but this woman won't get her daughter back until she does. Depending on what she finds out, maybe she won't get her back at all. She glanced up to see the woman still standing there. "That would be all, I have everything I need. And I also got your number from the files I read." The woman seemed reluctant, but she nodded and left.
Cassandra sat back in her chair and sipped her beer while thinking about this new job. Two hundred grand is a lot of money, but it's not like she was hurting for money. The money she gets from her work keeps both her and her sister well feed and then some. And, even if that fails, she has a giant bank account she filled over these last six years she was a mercenary. She made that bank account to be given to Lisa if she somehow met an ultimately end, for which there is a big possibility, her job being what it is.
But there was no way she would lose her money. No, money wasn't what worried her, no what worried her was the possibility that she would find the girl, bring her back to her mother and she ends up being as bad as those kidnapers. But that won't happen, she decided. Before she hands the girl to her mother she is going to have all the facts.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice Donny coming over or taking a seat that was occupied by the woman that just left. "You need anything else, kiddo?" Cassandra looked up from staring at her beer bottle to look at Donny questionably. "I asked whether you needed anything else. In what world were you just now?" He smirked at her.
Cassandra shook her head with a slight smile on her face. "Sorry, got lost in my thoughts." Donny nodded his understanding and looked at her expectantly. "Could you check with your contacts to find whether there are any biddings for teenage mutant girls?" He gave her a slight nod and waited for her to continue. "And could you check for any tall muscular guys with dragon's tattoo on their left arm with criminal records? I would do it myself but…"
"But you don't have the time, I get it." He told her with a smirk. Cassandra sighed and smiled at him gratefully. "Anything else?" He asked her.
Cassandra shook her head. "No, I'm gonna go and ask Michelle if she knows anyone with that tattoo and which tattoo parlor specializes in making them." Cassandra rolled her eyes once she saw Donny's smirk. Cassandra and Michelle were on and off girlfriends for four years now, they broke up again three months ago and Donny might think she doesn't know about the pool he made for how long it will take them to get back together this time, but she knows all about it.
Donny nodded, smirk never leaving his face. "Alright, have fun." He made a guess that it would take them three months this time. He's so winning this.
AN/ Alright, that's chapter two. I still haven't decide which one I will continue but I thought it would be fair to at least make three chapters of this one before I decide. Anyway, sorry if this chapter was boring, what with it being only two scenes and everything. But I would rather have a thorough scene that will be the length of the entire chapter than to have some half-assed scene where I give you the basics of what's going on but leave out the details. Oh, one more thing, you should know that femslash will come a little later, since I write fiction about OC's my fictions will usually be more of their story, what they do, what are they like and everything else. Don't worry though, femslash will be a BIG part of the story, if I continue with this fiction. Which I believe I will.
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