The laughter made her open her eyes. The overwriting of the black construct had triggered the Alleyway, and hence he was there too.
"So, the little rose has come out to play. Where's your hero Anna, waiting until you need him to make a heroic rescue?" He was mocking her, her eyes found his, her body still at ninety degrees to his.
"I don't need help to get rid of you Alex." He laughed again.
"But you do. I'm not a pushover like Jason was. You'd think he'd get sick of you after a while. I mean, it's not like you put out for him." Her teeth clenched.
"He stayed with me because he cared Alex. Something you can't do."
"Oh, I care. I care enough to give you a choice. You can let me have what I want, or, I can beat the living shit out of you." He smiled.
"Hmm, though choice," she replied sarcastically. "I choice option c. I beat the shit out of you." He laughed, running forward and throwing a punch at her face. She leaned back, turning a round off into a move that knocked him into the nearest wall.
"You bitch!" He screamed, putting a hand to his lips, taking it away to reveal blood. He spat. "You're going to pay for that!"
"On the contrary, I'm paying you back for all the times you tried to beat up," She almost said his true name, the pause only noticeable to Link. "Jason, all the times you made me cry and all the threats you made. This is paying off your debt Alex. I owe you nothing."
"You do actually, it's because of me that he stuck around for as long as he did." The boy was advancing threateningly, readying himself for his usual attacks. She waited with a smile.
"Yeah, and you're only an asshole because you have nothing better to do."
"Pretty much." He threw a feint at her head, kicking to knock her knees out from under her. Harregale leaned her upper-body back as she lifted off the ground, aiming a two-legged kick at the boy's chest. He failed to block it, landing in a rubbish bin as she used a one-handed cartwheel to stay on her feet.
"You know, I think you've forgotten who I am." She tilted her head to one side as she spoke. "I mean, you try the same old moves on me and expect to land a blow, puh-lease." The boy ran at her with an animalistic cry, throwing whatever he could at her, no skill. She blocked effortlessly, landing quite a few blows to his chest, sides and legs.
"Fuck, what the hell happened to you?" He demanded, gasping for breath as she looked as calm as a still lake.
"I learnt martial arts and gymnastics. Very useful. Now, I'm afraid, I'm going to have to kill you."
"I think not. I learnt some pretty neat tricks of my own." He stood up straighter. "See when you left we got a asked a bunch of questions," his voice was changing, the words and patterns becoming those of someone else, "that were meant to lead to the discovery of what happened. But then, it was already known what happened. We wanted to know why."
"We?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "You were answering the questions, not asking them."
"That's where you're wrong, Miss Grey. You see this boy was very helpful…"
"You're talking in the third person Alex, stop being a moron."
"But I'm not Mr. Patterson." Suddenly there was a contorting of features, muscle spasms and green lines that ran over the boy. She took a step back as the morphing was complete. "I'm your worst nightmare."
"Who the hell are you?" She asked the man standing before her in a suit, immaculate, not a hair out of place.
"I thought you would have recognised me, Miss Grey. You are known for your ability to remember details others forget."
"You." She hissed, fingers curling into claws. "You killed him. Or you tired to." She paused.
"Correct Miss Grey, I killed Mr. Banks." She shook her head.
"No, you tried to, but you were too late, he was already gone when you arrived. You shot him, the coroner was right."
"You seem so sure, Miss Grey, that the boy is alive. I assure you, he is not." She laughed,
"He is." The man let a twisted smile touch his lips.
"That is of no importance now. You see, even if he is alive, you won't be. There will be no happy reunion, and your body will end up rotting somewhere. Just like his."
"You think you know everything. You don't. Tell me my name, then I might believe you."
"Miss Anna Delta Grey. You lived in the apartment over there." He pointed. "You went to school, you did well in most classes and your only friend was Mr. Jason Walter Banks. Both of you will be dead by the end of this. After all, one already is."
"You know, for someone who looks like an Agent, you are really stupid. I asked for my name, not that crap that was fed to me."
"Your name is Miss Anna Delta Grey."
"And yours is Mr. Richard Head." She smiled, eyes not leaving his. "You don't scare me."
"Then you are stupider than I thought." He attacked, she blocked, forced to move backwards in an effort to keep from being hit by the suddenly skilled fighter. Her back touched the cold bricks.
"What, no askance for mercy, no request to spare your pitiful life?" He was holding her slightly off the ground by her throat, face inches from hers.
"No, I wouldn't ask, I'll just take it for granted." Swiftly she pulled the gun from her side, firing into the man's forehead, he was so close he had no time to move. The body fell to the ground with a thud, shimmering back to the image of the boy from before. Leaning her head against the support, she pulled out her phone and waited for an answer.
"Operator."
"It's done, Link. It's done." She crumpled, dropping the phone, the gun, landing close the dead boy's feet. At the entrance of the alley, the code was falling away, line by line, into the white construct. The girl didn't see it, her breathing all the man at the other end of the communication could hear.