Another day, another chapter without Knives.
*******************************************************************************
They went back to Anne's office so she could grab her coat and badge before going home to change her shirt. Anne was walking slightly behind Mark, using him to shield the bloodstains on her side from general view. Effie didn't see her as they walked into the office, and it was almost comical to watch her do a double take as she realized who was walking in behind her friend. When she first saw Mark, triumph spread over her features, only to be replaced with shock when she saw Anne.
Leaving the conversation she was in, she quickly paced over to the two as they entered Anne's office. She closed the door behind them all, then hissed to Mark, "Why isn't she dead?" Her ignoring of Anne was a purposeful slight.
Anne flushed, only the tips of her ears betraying her. Bad enough to know that your erstwhile friends now hate you. Worse to hear the words drip from their lips, the vile hatred filling the small room until she almost felt like she was suffocating. Nothing like being an empath to make a small room seem smaller. She concentrated on shoring up her defenses as Mark responded to Effie's question.
"Because Mr. Herman thinks she might be of better use alive," he replied, his disfavor twisting the words, filling them with irony.
"Her? What use is she, other than a pollutant?"
"He wants to know more about her healing."
Effie shuddered, her flesh cringing away as Anne's elbow came a bit too close as she shrugged on her jacket. "So why not just put her back in a cell?"
"Because we can't keep her. Look at her; she took out all the guards on the boss before one could do any more than wing her."
"Who managed?"
"Jack did, before she knocked him out."
"Too bad his aim couldn't have been better."
Anne felt obliged to point out that she was still in the room at the moment. "Can we be just a little less hateful in front of the object of scorn, please?" she asked.
"Shut up, freak," shot back Effie with a withering scowl before she turned her attention back to Mark.
"And what were you doing when she was taking everyone out? Napping?"
"No," he replied with a similar scowl. "I just wasn't prepared for how fast she can move. No one was."
Effie rasped out a sigh. "You're worthless."
"You." She turned and wagged a finger in front of Anne's face. "I hate you."
Anne looked at the finger, then into Effie's eyes for a second. "No shit," she said quietly. "And here I thought you wanted me dead because you were my friend."
"Your kind doesn't have friends. You have tools, toys. You don't understand the concept of friendship."
"I'm not a kind, Effie. And I don't have friends because both of them decided to hate me, not the other way around."
"You lied to us!" she hissed. It was obvious that she wanted to scream, that the only thing keeping her from a fit was her desire to not cause a scene.
Anne's eyes narrowed. "And what the hell was I supposed to do? Walk in here, demand a job, and then make sure that everyone knew I was a plant? That wasn't one of the check boxes on my application form, that I had to be the right sort of human for the job."
"You aren't human at all."
Anne talked over the outburst. "And then what was I supposed to say? I mean, within the first month and a half of knowing you guys at all, you were trying to recruit me to your little crusade. I had the choice of keeping my mouth shut and doing some good around here, or saying something and losing my friends, my freedom, and possibly my life. What would you have done, ok?" she asked, brushing Effie's finger out of her face. She closed her eyes and sighed again, and wished that she could find the right words to make everything better, but knew that they didn't exist.
"I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier. I know you aren't a fan of plants, and I can't say I blame you. Either of you. But what was I supposed to do? When was I supposed to turn to you and say, 'Oh, hey guys, while you grow old and die, I'll get to keep living. Isn't that grand?'
"When was I supposed to tell you? When I was introduced to you? Hi, I'm Anne, I'm a plant, hate me please? Tell me how I could have done better. Tell me who I should have been to make everything good for you. It's not like I can help what I am, and it's not even that I would want to." She opened her eyes and locked gazes with first Effie, and then Mark.
"You want to be prejudiced? Fine. Of everyone here, I might have thought that you two would understand what it's like to be outcast for nothing you could help. Mark, how many dates have you been on since you became a cripple? Six? Seven? Gotten laid on any of them, or could no one look past the scars on your leg? Effie, how many people won't even talk to you because they're afraid that being gay might be catching?
"You guys know what it's like to be hated for being different. Excuse me for feeling like you might understand me."
She shouldered past a stunned Effie and reached for the door handle. Two small fists pummeled her back in quick percussion. "You are nothing like us. Nothing!" she hissed.
Anne looked over her shoulder at the smaller woman. "Whatever you say." Her mouth twisted into what was almost a wry smile as she opened the door and left the room.