For the next week and a half Alice worked closely with Emil, they had been focusing their attacks all over the place, Pirate outposts, Rakyat Villages. Alice had even told Emil all about how the Pirates worked. Since she had nothing left to lose believing she had already lost Vaas, Alice was filled with rage. She was going to kill everyone and once she finally kills Citra it would just be Alice against Emil. Only probably would be his Privateers, they were loyal like a bunch of blood thirsty mutts.
Alice had been given her own room, it was adjacent from Shelly's, or Amanda as Alice had to call her in public. The room she was in had a nice pastel yellow, there was a white crib set up in the corner of the room and a small double bed and a large wooden inbuilt wardrobe which housed the various gifts Emil gave her, one of which she happened to wear today was a summer dress that finished around near her knees. It really did feel like a hotel as Alice sat at her desk where a pile of notes and various paper works lay sprawled about. Alice had been drawing, mapping out Rook, pinpointing where the Pirates and Rakyat might be while also mapping out the Southern Island and taking notes to the various equipment the Privateers had.
It was all she really could do with her broken leg, at least she could hobble around from time to time, the Doc would often check up on her and the baby too, he always made sure Alice hadn't gotten any infection in her broken leg while Shelly seemed to just attend to Alice's feminine health and hygiene. Today had started off with a monsoon followed by a bad thunderstorm. So not many privateers where wondering around as Alice sat in her little cozzie room, she could hear Andres make a faint little giggle sound as Alice stood up and walked over to her baby. He was getting fatter, he would have a similar build to Vaas as Alice looked over the little one recognizing he was hungry as she lifted him up and closed the door before propping him up while she sat on the edge of her bed to feed him.
If this was the life she was going to have to live for the next 6 months then so be it, just as long as Alice could indeed keep finding ways to appease Emil, she feared the moment she lacked the information he needed he'd gun her down in a heartbeat. Looking down at the calm baby in her hands as he nursed, she knew that he was perhaps the last of the family line. Who knows of Citra, whether she was going to have that child, but Alice would see to it that everything Citra holds is destroyed. If it wasn't for Citra then Vaas would have still been here. Alice felt her heart rate begin to quicken as she closed her eyes tightly trying to force the thought of Citra out of her mind.
After a brief few minutes Alice could hear the giddy laughter of Andres as she stood up and adjusted herself before burping the little one. He was always so cheerful, so innocent and so unaware of the chaos going around him. Alice was determined to find a way to survive in this hell hole, it's the only place she can call a home. If she tried to go back to Australia then she would probably be locked up and away after all she was associated with people like Hoyt and Vaas whom ran the slave trading ring and drug trades, not to mention the blood on her own hands. Outsiders just wouldn't be able to understand this sort of a lifestyle. Sure there are no real laws but there are rules that must be obeyed.
Soon Andres began to close his eyes, he was trying to fight going to sleep as Alice cooed his name and rocked him back and forth on the spot until the little one could barely even keep his head up as Alice calmly approached the cradle and placed him down neatly into the soft bedding as she tucked him in and kissed him on the forehead. Perhaps she did indeed have the Motherly instinct that people claim all women have. It's true she was maternal but to love and care for a child like the way she did for Andres was something she thought she wasn't capable of doing. She'd always been hesitant about having a child in the first place with Vaas, she knew he always killed the ones born from slaves or prostitutes that the Pirates knocked up and Alice didn't want to go through all of that.
Nearby Alice heard the creaking of her door being opened as she turned her head to see Shelly poking her face through. Here Shelly had become quiet the useful one, she was always running around doing her job like as if she was actually working in a medical hospital, just like the Doc, Emil had Shelly attending to his wounded or to prisoners that he needed alive. Yet Shelly was also somewhat like a guardian or protector over Alice in this disarray. She took care of her and Andres, making sure Alice was healthy and strong, checking her broken leg every single day or every moment she got the chance. They were never allowed outside of the compound either, maybe because they were women or maybe because Emil was cautious of the two but either way they made for a great working team.
"Emil asked me to get you." Shelly softly said before waiting for Alice to exit.
This had become a daily thing as Alice hobbled grabbing a hold of her crutches and making her way out of the room, she gave a look to Shelly as she smiled and nodded towards Andres. Alice wasn't game enough to leave her sleeping child alone in this place, sure it only housed the top of the top in Emil's faction as well as girlfriends, but Alice wasn't going to lose her child again, he was the last piece of Vaas and in thinking that Alice had become even more protective over her own child. Shelly slipped inside and of course watched over the sleeping child as Alice made her way up the set of stairs and into the Office.
Emil had decorated the office area up to be flashier, a lot like a club pretty much. He still had the mini bar, the circular round table with the pole in the middle with a circular lounge around it, the nice oak desk and fine curtains that decorated this room, but what had changed was large paintings on the walls, they looked vintage, one of them was a portrait of Emil, others looked like people that maybe he was related too or just expensive looking pieces of work. It all had a nice touch to it as Alice took her seat opposite from Emil as he sat looking down at a piece of paper on the desk as if he was revising something.
"You called for me?" Alice softly said raising a brow as she set the crutches on the side of the chair.
"Ah yes Alice…"Emil said looking up at her with a cheerful smile. "How is your son?" Emil said in a casual tone.
It was like he treated her like a friend or even worse family as Alice shifted in her seat. Emil was growing closer and closer to her, not like he was hitting on her or anything but she felt uncomfortable with seeing him more and more like a friend. Maybe he suspected she would try to kill him, but either way Alice had to think clearly, he had indeed brought Andres back to her, he was keeping her alive this long and sure he was using her for intel about the Pirates and Rakyat but he didn't seem to show any sort of threatening intension towards her.
"He's doing a lot better now." Alice softly said.
"Aye that's good then. I can't imagine how it must be to raise a child on your own. My Mother did, she raised me all by herself and I turned out fine" Emil said with a faint chuckle.
Alice didn't know what his point was as the man stood up and walked over to the window and looked outside observing his men down below. Alice remembered the time she had sat in this very room and Hoyt had blown up a small boat to display just how serious he was. However Emil didn't exactly need to blow things up, he broke bones and left you in a life threatening situation only to save you by the second expecting you to praise him. Which of course most people did. Its true Emil did use methods of fear but it was too mafia like for Alice's liking but who was she to say, if she was in his position maybe she would do the same.
"Well then." Emil said turning around and clapping his hand as if he had just come back to reality. "I have some good news. Turns out the monkeys with their little sticks and stones are trying to put up a fight, its quiet the show trust me. They seemed to have taken up an outpost on a little island, its one of those small ones. One of my teams went over there and guess fucking what? Turns out they have these fucking underground caves or temples and they are hiding in them." Emil said as he laughed madly.
Cocking her head to the side, Alice questioned what this was all about, Emil was all over the place to be honest, and this good news of Rakyat hiding in underground temples didn't sound like good news at all. Or was it? Perhaps they were now so desperate they had to hide in caves and dwell in the night, but Alice doubted it, it felt like there was something more to it here as She leaned back in her chair and raised a brow. Emil noticed this and smiled as he took his seat again.
"Yes I know what you're thinking, how on earth does that work right? I'm not even sure; these temples look like they have been here for centuries. Anyway my point is these fuckers are spreading out further and further out. Some of them have even started coming over here on this fucking part of the Islands. They must be desperate; I mean who the heck runs into enemy territory?" Emil said softly with a smirk on his face.
"Jason Brody did and he was a part of the Rakyat for some time." Alice said sourcing for more information.
Emil nodded and leaned back into his chair smiling as he looked up at the ceiling. Alice knew she wasn't here for any sort of casual conversation, Emil always meant business, he always asked for her to give him information, mostly about the pirates rather than the Rakyat but from time to time he would ask her about the natives, how their culture worked, or about Citra.
"Indeed I went over the reports Hoyt had down of him. However I was wondering could these bastards be finding a way onto the Island somehow by underground tunnels or some shit? My Men have not seen any boats, nothing at all." Emil said as he made a fake frown.
"Perhaps but I highly doubt it…However they use the darkness to their advantage. It's possible they could be sending warriors over by swimming." Calmly Alice said as she gave a faint hum like sound.
Emil seemed pleased with this response and nodded his head thinking about it before he stood back up again and proceeded to grab himself a drink from his mini bar that he had. He didn't offer her any probably because he knew she couldn't drink, he'd figured out fast that Andres was her main priority, taking care for him was Emils biggest advantage over Alice.
"You know what I think your right I might just get my men to keep a closer eye on the water during the night." Emil said before tossing back a shot of vodka.
"Perhaps a wise idea but I doubt they could do anything to even a single Privateer." Alice made the soft remark.
Maybe Emil was doing this to keep her close, to source her out, but all Alice could think of was ways of dealing with everything. OF Course she didn't want Andres getting involved, she needed to make sure Citra was dead and gone first and then start planning on how to kill Emil. Getting past his privateers however would become the biggest problem of them all.
~Rakyat Temple~
Days after Days Vaas had spent his time with his fellow warriors. No one questioned Vaas about Kila because nobody knew about what happened to him, it was like the warrior was a ghost even amongst his own fellow brothers. Today Vaas was seated with a few of the older warriors as he ate a small piece of meat. Around his chest was Valentina, he had made a sling out of the white sash which she fitted perfectly into, of course the baby was comfortable being around Vaas, she was growing, getting fatter. Getting Citra to feed the baby was even harder than before, Vaas had to now relay upon other means, since Citra refused to breast feed Vaas had to ask one of the maidens to find him another way. In the end he was approached by one of the women of the tribe, she'd lost her newborn recently and she'd offered to feed the child whenever Vaas requested her too.
So far so good, the people of his tribe where returning to him, seeing him as a leader, a protector. He had not been outside of the temple in a while, he was doing his best to protect Valentina but he kept close to the older warriors, they leaned towards him, told him about the Privateers and their invasions. Turns out most of the pirates had been wiped out already but Vaas was concerned about what Kila had said. If it's true that Alice was alive and held prisoner by the Privateers and that they had his own Son then it was possible that Alice was indeed alive and that maybe they were trying to trade her off with Andres. Yet Vaas didn't like the fact he didn't fully know the truth of it all. For all he knew Citra could have also killed Andres too, but Vaas wasn't willing to accept that. He had to find them somehow, but his hands where becoming tide.
To his left was one of the older warriors, Larry and next to him was his Grandson, Twan. Twan was almost 12 and was starting the path of the warrior like some other boys. Larry was taking him under his wing since Twan had lost his father a few weeks ago to a raid of privateers. Larry had seemed more inclined to join Vaas over Citra; even he could see the twisted demise of Citra unlike the other younger warriors.
"Did you hear about them in the East?" Larry said softly speaking about the Privateers.
"Aye Gomez said they had taken over most of the parts over there." Vaas said in a whisper like tone as he chewed on the last of his meat.
Twan was seated sharpening a small wooden spear, Larry was going to take him out fishing soon, and it was Lunch time so the villagers would be starting to collect food for the feast for tonight. Larry had made it clear to Vaas weeks ago that he would rather guide Vaas then see the tribe fall, and so Vaas had been learning off Larry, talking with him about how they could make the tribe better. Already the tribe was looking to Vaas more than Citra, perhaps because most of his strategies against the Privateers was working, however he knew that his tribe needed more than just guns, they needed protection, they needed bullet proof vests, armour, they needed to have medics not just witch doctors. It was so very hard and irritating but Larry was always there to guide Vaas to help him win the heart of his people back.
Maybe it was because Larry feared losing his own Grandson like how so many other families had lost their sons to Citra and her cruel and twisted ways of life. It was an indication that times where changing and that Vaas may be well on his way to succeeding in defeating Citra for once and for all by taking away the one thing that gives her a reason to live. Or close to it. By his side a man came and sat down joining the group, he wasn't old and he looked to be younger then Vaas, around the age of 16-18 maybe. This was Yui, he was a young warrior, he had his tattoos all over his chest but he wore a singlet that was a white faint blue colour, he often wore daggy pants as well that barley fitted his slender lean figure. Of Course Vaas never expected the younger warriors to look to him, not like the older ones like Larry, but Yui was different.
He was young, naïve and of course full of spirit and eager to get involve in the action. Vaas had been helping him train since Kila was no longer around to do that. Yui sat crossed legged and picked at the smaller piece of a roasted boar from this morning as he nimbly ate a piece before licking his lips and grabbed a handful of meat. To be honest Vaas was surprise the others looked to him, he had killed them watched their villages burn, he took away their loved ones and yet they all decided to follow him rather than Citra.
"How was your morning work out?" Vaas asked faintly as he looked down to the sleeping baby against his chest.
"I did 30 push ups and 20 punches to the tree with my bare hands. Then I went for a jog by the small lake near Tigers den and then took a swim." Yui said like a little champ with a big smile before stuffing his face again.
Vaas only softly chuckled at the young enthusiastic boy, he reminded Vaas of his former self many years ago before that terrible fated night with Citra. That was the other reason as to why Vaas was determined to change the Rakyat for good, make them real warriors, soldiers. All they needed was the right equipment, the right training and the right spirit and in due time Vaas could easily take on these Privateers, the only problem was Citra…
A/n: Next Chapter Vaas gets a lot more attention with his new lifestyle as he takes things into his own hands, but Citra is getting in the way and their sibling rivalry has not ended and when Vaas is given the chance to take her head on, who knows what the outcome will be