Good day! I'm happy to give you another chapter.
Sara paced back and forth with her eyes trained on four large computer monitors mounted on the wall. Two of the screens captured two different angles inside an office, while the other two cycled through several images of cameras in other places throughout a building. She shoved the Bluetooth ear bud further into her ear as if it would amplify the sound picked up by the bug in her target's office. Yet another call about this Trixie girl. Apparently, a busty brunette escort was becoming quite a headache for her boss. Skimming money wasn't sitting well with him. Sara chuckled at his misery. Soon, a single prostitute holding back a bit of his profits would be the least of his worries. In fact, it wouldn't be a worry at all. Dead men have no worries.
Nyssa had selected the perfect target to reel her back into the League. She found it hard to pity an abusive white collar pimp. Turning down the chance to rid society of another disgusting criminal sex trafficker proved to be impossible. Also, Felicity caged below deck further fueled her boiling anticipation to carry out the kill. Momentarily distracted from her surveillance, she cursed under her breath and swatted an empty plate and cup off a nearby table. Why wouldn't Nyssa let her go? Sara already renewed her vow and had gone a week with little sleep as she meticulously mapped out her strategy. It was done. She was back.
The moment she discovered Felicity's apartment in shambles, she knew that she had lost her. Whoever snatched her from her bed didn't even try to mask her disappearance as a simple runaway. Although the condition of the bed itself showed no signs of a struggle, Felicity's newly renovated office had been turned upside down and the damage to her living room resembled the aftermath of an earthquake. The absence of a struggle pointed directly to an "incapacitate and snatch". Sara had executed at least a dozen with precision, although she never touched a thing in the house. She was like a ghost.
Something wasn't adding up. She yanked the headset from her ear and tossed it next to a keyboard. As she stormed out of her quarters, she prepared herself for another confrontation with Nyssa. Their last conversation had been anything but amiable, which was out of the ordinary. Typically, their differences of opinion remained civil but threatening Felicity awakened an animalistic protectiveness. When Sara tipped over the edge into a pit of rage, Nyssa responded the way any archer would to a full frontal attack: pelt the enemy with arrows.
Armored for another verbal and hopefully not physical conflict, Sara swung open the door to the assassin's room. Before she could speak, the other woman spun around and smiled. "Sara," Nyssa greeted the blonde warmly. Sara momentarily cringed at the familiarity of the sound of the woman's voice. However, when the raven haired assassin smiled, she couldn't help but feel slightly at ease. Nyssa's body language and voice reminded her of home or what was her home for years. For a moment, she imagined the twin bed in the corner was instead a king size platform bed with deep purple silk sheets.
"Nyssa, why is Felicity still here?" Sara shook off the nostalgia and asked in a serious tone.
Ignoring the question, Nyssa slinked toward the blonde and posed a question of her own, "Are you prepared to sever the bonds of two hundred women to this monster?"
With a sigh, the other woman dropped her head and grumbled inwardly. It was typical for Nyssa to mask their missions of murder with grand claims of granting freedom. In this case, Sara's orders to kill one man would spark a chain of events that would bring a private escort organization to its knees. It was estimated that at least two hundred women had been kidnapped and forced into glamorously disguised sex slavery. Sara's ex-girlfriend lured her into joining the League with a positive spin on murder and a heightened need to prove her worth to the League.
Instead of arguing, the blonde answered steadily, "I've gathered enough information to slip in and out of his office without being detected. If you'd like, I can also steal a usb drive that I believe contains information on known associates, a client list and possibly the names of the women he abducted. He keeps it with him at all times."
"Please do retrieve the drive. My father believes this man is also linked to an enemy of the League."
"Could you possibly be more vague?" Sara queried.
"Until your loyalty has been cemented, it would be unwise for me to share—"
"Excuse me," the blonde interrupted, "Don't you trust me? I'm not going to betray the League. I made a mistake running away and I put people at risk. I don't make the same mistake twice."
"I have found that to be true." Nyssa softly trailed her fingers up Sara's arms to her shoulders and whispered gently, "Do not make the mistake of leaving me again."
Careful not to brush the woman off abruptly, Sara gently nudged Nyssa's hands off of her shoulders. With an understanding look, she replied, "I should be clear. I didn't come back for you. I can't be with you when I care for someone else."
"You cannot ever be with her," the taller assassin backed away retraining her disappointment.
Nodding sadly, the blonde acknowledged, "I know. I've accepted that. You need to let her go. Please."
"No."
"But why?" Sara's voice cracked with concern and confusion.
"If we release her, we are worried that you might attempt to escape and return to her and your family."
Sara scoffed, "What good would that do? I'll be followed again and someone else will get hurt."
"People have done stranger things for love."
"Not when other people's lives are on the line," Sara snapped. When Nyssa puffed out her chest, the blonde backed down not wanting to unleash the woman's aggression. "I'm not an idiot. Let her go."
Once again deflecting Sara's request, the other assassin asked, "How do you know that she is still on board? I gave explicit instructions that you are not to see her."
Sara smirked, "Do you really need an answer to that question? Have you forgotten who trained me?"
Nyssa fought back a full on grin and replied, "Of course not."
"I haven't seen her," the blonde clarified. "Cain wouldn't let me near her even if I asked politely."
Chuckling, Nyssa sank down onto the bed and commented, "He's not one to be swayed by politeness."
"Nyssa. Please let her go," she shot her ex-girlfriend a tender glance. Although she had no intention of returning to the woman, Sara wasn't opposed to offering tiny bits of encouragement. After years on the island and even more in the League, she knew the importance of manipulation and deceit. She intended to exploit Nyssa's blind spot to the fullest extent, but carefully, very carefully.
Yielding to Sara's plea and feminine wiles, Nyssa sighed and conceded, "Fine. I will release her. I believe you understand the severity of the consequences if you disappear again."
Although she successfully suppressed a squeal of delight, her voice jumped an octave as she chirped, "Thank you! I won't risk her life or the lives of my family."
Actually happy to see the bright look on Sara's face, the raven haired assassin replied, "Good. I'll arrange a pick up for her and she'll be back at home tomorrow."
"May I see her? To say goodbye? Please, Nyssa." This was a stretch, but she had to take a chance.
"Sara... I—"
"Please." Once again, she donned the wide eyes and small smile Nyssa had never successfully resisted.
"Alright."
"Thank you," the blonde leapt forward and squeezed Nyssa's hands out of gratitude.
"I'm not cruel, Sara," Nyssa quietly commented.
Sara assumed that to be true. She hoped that her ex was merely following orders and reacting to Sara's betrayal as a wounded lover. "You're hurt. I know."
"I'll come find you later and take you to her. I'd like to be left alone now."
The woman retreated slowly and said, "Thank you again, Nyssa. It means a lot."
"I don't quite understand what you see in her. She appears to be an insipid girl who blabbers on about nothing and thinks you walk on water."
"She's astoundingly intelligent." With a broad smile, Sara shook her head and concluded, "She didn't always think so highly of me."
"Why is there a picture of my face next to the word 'Interpol' on your screen?" Sara asked.
"Ah! You!" Felicity bounced in her seat in shock when Sara appeared at her side at her desk at Queen Consolidated. "I thought you were curled up in frumpy clothes eating ice cream… or something."
"Felicity…"
"I googled," The blonde replied sheepishly. She hesitantly glanced at the woman and flinched inwardly when she saw two blue eyes brimming with irritation.
"You googled?" Sara responded flatly without the smallest inkling of amusement.
Relying on her charm to deflate the situation, Felicity expounded with a forced grin, "Yup. Just typed in 'Interpol blonde assassin black leather' and up popped your picture. It's a good picture by the way."
"That's not even close to a convincing lie. Are you trying to insult me?"
"Insult? What?" Not expecting a hostile situation, the IT nerd stuttered, "I—umm—no insulting intended."
Sara planted a one hand firmly on the desk, leaned over and rammed a finger against the screen and demanded, "Why is my picture on your screen?"
"Oh no no no," Felicity yanked the woman's finger away from the screen nervously requested, "Please don't touch that."
"Picture."
"I snoop!" the accosted blonde declared with hands thrown up in defeat. "I dig; I hack; I find shit. It's what I do, Sara."
"Did Oliver ask you to do this?"
"Now I'm insulted," Felicity threw back.
"Felicity," Sara dropped a hand on the angry girl's shoulder and assured her, "that's not what I meant. You're not his property. You don't take orders from him. I know that."
A little disappointed that her only claim to fury had just been ripped away, the blonde brushed some lint off her skirt and said, "I wanted to see if you had a criminal history."
"I didn't think that I did," Sara spoke with a hint of worry.
"You don't," the other blonde explained, "I found this in a cache. It's not on any current file systems."
"What does that mean?"
Shrugging, she offered only conjecture, "Clearly, someone got you got removed from the list. This is just an old copy I managed to dig out of their not-so-deleted repository."
"You think someone doesn't know how to delete me permanently from the list?"
"Nope. Looks like you've just been shoved under the rug. This file could be restored by anyone who knows of its existence." Felicity picked up a pen and unconsciously rapped it on the top of the desk.
Sara straightened up, folded her arms and asked carefully, "Why exactly were you checking up on my criminal history?" When Felicity started to answer with a defensive gleam in her eye, the assassin added, "And don't say that it's just what you do."
"Oh boy," the other woman groaned. Not thrilled about possibly upsetting a trained killer, she cleared her throat and said, "I wanted to make sure you didn't have any warrants or flags or bells going off somewhere."
"I see."
Unsure as to what those two lone words entailed, Felicity looked up at Sara who wore a look of disgust. Not sure as to how best to proceed, she simply asked, "You see what?"
"Still protecting Oliver?"
Not even the least bit apologetic, the blonde rose to her feet and replied, "Why yes. Yes I am. I'm also protecting myself and John and Laurel and your—"
"You don't trust me." Sara spat with more malice than she actually felt.
"You didn't let me finish!" Felicity snapped. When Sara froze allowing her to speak, she clarified, "Also to protect you. I thought you might like to know if someone had flagged you as an international threat, which you kinda are since you've been killing people for the last few years. Fortunately for you, the League of Crazies is good at cleaning up after itself. You're squeaky clean. You're welcome." She concluded with a huff.
With a frown, Sara stepped over and rolled the mouse pointer around the screen. She popped up three windows that had been minimized. Two of them were internet links to records of some of her past indiscretions. Another was an article about her disappearance and included interviews with some of her college friends. She drooped her head. "If you wanted to know about me, you could have just asked."
Felicity bit her bottom lip. She had nowhere left to hide. When Sara stood back up, her entire face whispered words of disappointment. Although a witty response tugged at the tip of her tongue, she didn't dare give it a voice. Instead, she said, "I know. I'm just used to figuring out things on my own."
"You don't need to figure me out, Felicity."
"Mysteries bug me."
"Well," Sara turned on her heel and strutted toward the elevator, "have a conversation with me and your problem might be solved."
"Unfortunately, I don't know you well enough to figure out if you're mad and being sarcastic or if you actually want to talk to me."
Before stepping into the elevator, the assassin replied flatly, "Google it."
"Yo, Romulus," Felicity called out to her personal jailor who had slinked into the shadows several hours ago.
The man in question appeared into the dim light and replied with a huff, "Yes, Princess?"
"Okay," the blonde hopped to her feet and moseyed toward the cell bars. "Please don't judge me for asking this question." She clapped her hands together with a bit of hesitation. When Cain didn't respond, she waved her hands in a beckoning motion and pried, "You gonna answer? That requires some kind of verbal acknowledgement."
"I'll reserve my judgment," he snipped.
"Great," she nodded her head with dismay. "That is not reassuring at all. Anyway," she bumped her glasses into a more comfortable position on her face and continued, "I have to ask about Sara. There's this weird rock in my stomach that sometimes seems to liquefy and threaten to explode out of my mouth."
"Thank you for the visualization," Cain noted.
"I already have enough to deal with, ya know, I'm locked in a cage on a ship in the middle of god knows where. She's on this ship and I have no fucking clue what she's doing or what she's feeling and it seriously sucks." Cain rolled his eyes and she continued, "I'm a fucking girl, Grumpy. Girls have feelings: ooey gooey ones that drive us insane that we have no way to control."
"Well, Princess—"
"No Princess bullshit!" Felicity snapped. "Don't I at least deserve some damn information? I mean seriously, what did I do to deserve this?"
"She's preparing," the man said simply. Despite his best efforts, he had slowly developed a little humanity when it came to Felicity.
"Preparing for what?"
"Do you truly need me to explain it to you?" Cain grumbled.
Felicity gulped, "To kill someone."
"She's an assassin, Princess."
"I do not like my new nickname," the blonde commented as she retreated to the cot.
"Stay strong."
Perking up a bit, Felicity asked, "Do I hear you caring again?"
Unable to restrain his reply, he said, "We are not all cruel monsters."
"Correct. Some of you are nice, fluffy killers."
Cain frowned and replied, "Sara isn't the only one of us to have lost something."
Felicity cocked her head to the side and asked, "What did you lose, Cain?"
"Felicity!" a voice cried out from what seemed like miles away.
Regardless of the distance, the blonde would recognize that voice anywhere, "Sara!"
Yeah. I know I shouldn't have cut it off here, but I'm still writing the next part so I thought I'd give you guys something in the meantime. Sorry for the lack of stuff "happening" in this chapter. The setup for other things had to be done sometime.
