~ 6 : Assassin ~
Lara woke with a start. The sun was just about to rise, she judged from the light streaming in through the slit in the curtains. She didn't sleep well the night before; she tossed and turned from nightmares and her subconscious constantly reminding her there was a stranger in bed next to her. She wasn't used to sleeping next to someone and it bothered her. Mostly it bothered her because it was him. Lara had a case of morning-after regret; she wished she hadn't revealed so many private details to him when she got so little in return. The fact that he was still an enigma to her, that she couldn't tell what he was thinking, bugged her. She wished she had shoved him off her when he pinned her to the bed, and for the life of her she didn't know why she hadn't. She tried to banish the angry thoughts as soon as they came, but they were enough to distract her from proper rest.
While not wanting to entertain the idea, she couldn't help but wonder if she was present in Kurtis' thoughts as well. Despite what his language implied, she was almost certain he did not find her all that distracting; she was convinced the sexual innuendos and jokes were just that: jokes. After his ill-mannered behavior the previous night, she resolved not to let him confuse her any longer. And she didn't want to waste any more time dwelling on something so pointless, so she got out of bed and went into the bathroom, leaving the door slightly ajar. Fishing through her backpack, she pulled out her favorite lipstick and coated her lips, then pulled her hair back into a ponytail and began braiding it.
Kurtis entered the cramped bathroom just as she was tying the end of her hair. He was shirtless and Lara stopped and stared at him in the mirror. In the bright fluorescent lights she could clearly see all the details she missed yesterday while he was tending his wound. Between his pectoral muscles was a downy patch of dark chest hair, and another thinner, wispy trail went from his belly button and disappeared underneath his shorts. On his upper right shoulder was a small tattoo of a symbol she'd seen before: a stylized downward arrow with small horizontal lines along the shaft. She recognized it as the Lux Veritatis symbol. On his left forearm was a tattoo of the Eye of Providence. And on his upper left arm was the bandage covering the bullet wound.
He cleared his throat, drawing her eyes away from his body and back to his face. He'd caught her staring, and it was obvious from the loaded look he gave her.
"You done in here?" he said quietly, his voice gravelly from sleep.
"Make sure you change that bandage out," Lara replied briskly and left the bathroom, closing the door behind her a little harder than she intended. She felt a fool, but decided the best course of action would be to ignore it. If Kurtis wasn't going to acknowledge her blatant ogling, she wouldn't either.
As Lara finished dressing and packing up what few belongings she had, Kurtis went to the front desk to check them out of the room. While she was loading the last pistol magazine she heard a commotion coming from the front of the inn – the sound of glass shattering, wood splintering, and a scream. Grabbing a pistol and sliding the magazine home, she bolted towards the noise and stopped at the mouth of the hallway, concealing herself behind the wall. Peering out from the edge, she took in the scene.
A young woman with a small boyish build was attacking Kurtis with her bare hands. She was on his back, legs wrapped around his torso and her elbow locked around his neck, choking him. Kurtis slammed himself back into the wall once, then twice, but she didn't let go. She only gripped him harder, her boot heels digging into his stomach like the claws of a feral cat. Face turning red and pulling at her arm in vain. He extended his hand toward a coffee pot that sat on a nearby breakfast table, and with a focused look it flew and crashed into the side of the woman's head, cutting her face and knocking her off him. She fell to the floor with blood and hot coffee drenching her face.
Lara ran out from her hiding spot then and aimed her gun preparing to shoot. Somewhere to her right she heard the hostess scream and the hasty clicking of her heels as she fled the area. Before Lara could act though, the girl rolled to her feet with remarkable speed and dove at her, spearing her in the gut with her head and throwing her to the ground. Breathless, Lara found herself under a crazed beast: Eyes bloodshot, clothes rumpled, a deranged look warping her visage. A syringe was in her hand and she dove it towards Lara's neck when she was suddenly stopped by an invisible force. She stared at her hand, confused, and gritted her teeth in effort. It seemed as though she struggled against someone who wasn't there, and the wrathful woman glanced behind her at Kurtis, who with his outstretched hand was straining and sweating. As soon as the girl looked back down, the heel of Lara's palm thrust up and met the assassin's nose in a sickening crunch.
Blood spurted out her nostrils and she reeled back from the impact. Lara pressed the gun to her chest then, firing twice, and the assassin gasped and crumpled over. Kurtis came over, panting, nudged the body off and helped Lara stand. He prodded the girl with the toe of his boot, turning her so they could see. She appeared very young, at least a decade younger than Kurtis. A thin, straight scar trailed from the top of her right cheek to just above her jaw. She had a hooked nose and tangled, wavy brown hair that fell to her shoulders in a bushy mess. Lara saw Kurtis' jaw tighten and he cursed under his breath.
He looked at Lara and handed her the keys to his motorbike. "Get the bike ready. I'll clean this up."
"Do you know her?" she asked.
"Annessa Chimoya. Or rather, Morgau Vasiley."
Her eyes widened momentarily, recalling the file they read on her, but then she felt relief. "Well, she's dead now."
She backtracked to the room and retrieved their bag of possessions, slung it over her shoulder and walked through the lobby again. Kurtis was laying down a rather large stack of Euros on the counter, presumably an amount enough to cover the cost of the room plus the repairs they'd have to do courtesy of their late acquaintance. As she stepped over the body to leave, a hand grabbed her by the boot.
She wasn't dead.
With a jerk of her arm that visibly seemed far less forceful than it actually was, the girl pulled Lara onto the floor and started to climb on her. Reacting instantly, Lara kicked her in the face and blood erupted from her broken nose once more, gushing down the front of her shirt; but before her very eyes the female assassin's blood clotted and stopped bleeding. Likewise, her eyes trailed to the two bullet holes in her chest and saw they weren't there; there was two small holes in the clothing and matching bloodstains, but behind the fabric was smooth, unmarred skin.
The girl's hands went to Lara's throat, but a vibration in the air drawing near made her roll over and flattened herself to the ground, narrowly evading being decapitated by Kurtis' Chirugai, which then curved in the air and returned to its owner's outstretched hand. With the girl momentarily occupied, Lara hopped to her feet and started to run out the door, glancing back to see Kurtis and the woman throwing punches at each other. What concerned Lara was, however, how difficult she seemed to defeat. The bullets should have killed her, and the nose broken twice should have perhaps slowed her down, but there she was ducking blows and swinging her feet at Kurtis, a man a head taller and far heavier.
Without further thought Lara ran to the bike and climbed on, starting the engine. She stowed the dufflebag in the trunk attached to the back and waited, wondering if Kurtis needed her assistance. Though he didn't have his gun, he had his Chirugai, and that thing was deadly enough. Morgau didn't want to kill them – or at least not her – as evident by the fact she seemed to be unarmed and had tried injecting her with something. Most likely a sedative...but whether Kurtis was safe...
Leaving the keys in the bike, she hurried back inside. The girl and Kurtis were still battling it out, the both of them a little bloodier than before, and Kurtis with scratch marks down his face. He was currently restraining her in a choke hold from behind. The girl's eyes locked with Lara's, her face turning purple, but her eyes were not panicked. She braced her left hand against Kurtis' elbow and started to bring the other one down between his legs. When Lara realized what she was about to do, she sprinted forward and front kicked her in the face just as the girl's hand reached his crotch. The girl's eyes rolled back and her head slumped forward, unconscious.
Kurtis dropped her to the floor carelessly and the two sprinted back outside where his motorcycle waited. They hopped on with Lara in the driver's seat and she started to back up when Kurtis placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Wait a sec." he said. Stretching his hand out to the only other two cars in the parking lot – a sedan and a jeep – he projected his psychic power and the rear tires on both cars popped in turn. "Ok, you can go now."
Lara began to drive away, and the assassin Morgau came bolting out of the front door a moment later, making a beeline for the jeep. She glanced behind her and saw the small woman in the distance, banging her fists on the hood and flinging her head back in a voiceless scream.
A/N: So this is Morgau Vasiley. She's a creation of Murti Schofield and was supposed to be a major player in the AoD sequels. Most of my interpretation of her is taken from his notes on her, but there's a little of my own interpretation of her in there as well. It would be hard to say how exactly she would have been in the game though since she was never properly brought to life, and I hope I do her justice.
And in case there's doubt, Morgau was intending to cause some serious damage to poor Kurtis' testicles. Luckily Lara came back for him, right?
For music, I listened to "Battle Theme 01" by Kevin Manthei from the Jagged Alliance 2 soundtrack to gain inspiration for the fight scene. I sort of also see it as Morgau's theme in general.
Thank you for reading and reviewing :)
~ Clairesail
