This is it! This is the chapter where it all starts to come together!

Year Seventeen

Rule #16: Do not look yourself in the eye

When Stormkrigeren was four years old, Herr Luthor had sat her down and carefully explained to her that everyone had a purpose in life. He said that most people never found out what it was, so they never lived their lives to the fullest or contributed their due to the smooth running of the universe. Luckily, Herr Luthor had figured out what her purpose was very early on in Stormkrigeren's short life and did everything he could to prepare her to fulfill it.

She was to be a protector. She was to be sent out into the world to protect whatever and whoever needed her guard and her watch. She was to do everything in her power to protect anything under her care - even if it meant killing the threat.

Stormkrigeren asked how she would know what she was supposed to be protecting. Herr Luthor told her not to mind about that because he would be sure to let her know when the time came.

Every protector needed certain skills in order to fulfill their purpose as best as they could. That's what the training was for. That was why Dr. Schreyer and all the other caretakers had been hired to teach her, and that was why she had been taught so much at such a young age. That was why they were preparing her as early as they could. That was why the Rooms had been constructed so that she could have a safe environment to learn in - that was why there were mirrors on the wall.

"Do not forget, Stormkrigeren," Herr Luthor said in a low voice, pointing to the eastern wall of her Room, "that the mirrors on that wall are a reminder, a temptation you must resist so that you can grow stronger. They will never reflect what you are inside, but they can help you see what you are now. You must never look at them - you must never get close enough so that you can look yourself in the eye."

"Why not?" Stormkrigeren asked curiously, secretly hoping he would not hit her for speaking without permission. Herr Luthor only shook his head and glared at the mirrors as if they were living, malevolent creatures and not reflective panes of glass.

"Because," he answered, "You might not like what you see."

V*V*V*V*V*V*V

Mister Wilson had arrived two weeks later, and Stormkrigeren was introduced to the man who would later be recognized as one of the deadliest assassins alive - and as her teacher. A contract was written up and an agreement signed, promising Mister Wilson a solid chunk of cash each month, and Herr Luthor a Project trained in the art of warfare.

Her Teacher often insisted that he did not teach - he developed her, rather. His 'lessons' were designed to turn a small, untrained girl into something that could fully fulfill her purpose, and somehow that involved an awful lot of fighting.

They started off with simple things: punching, kicking, biting, stabbing - anything to defend herself and give her a very basic understanding of combat and its purpose. Fighting had to become natural to her if the little girl was to survive more than a year under his tuition, so her Teacher began teaching her how to do so from the start. It took some time, but once he had drilled at least a decent amount of self-defense and preservation into Stormkrigeren's little head, Mister Wilson moved on to more refined methods of study that did not include using one's fists.

Survival required much more than being able to throw a decent punch - one also needed to be precise and attentive and good with their hands. These things could be taught through a variety of simple tasks, such as rock-climbing, writing, cooking, metalworking, and many more small, useful skills and trades. Stormkrigeren studied whatever her Teacher deemed necessary, and she did it all with a will to learn and improve.

As time went on and her capacity improved, more difficult tasks and lessons added to her experience. Mister Wilson taught her more dangerous skills, such as marksmanship and bladesmithing. Specialized lessons simply known as 'hunts' eerie organized to help improve Stormkrigeren's tracking and evasion abilities. There was even a period of time where Teacher and student focused entirely on building up an immunity to a variety of poisons. Through all of this, Stormkrigeren knew that she was being slowly built up to the most important lesson of all - how to fight, and how to survive.

And when the day finally came to begin, she was more than ready to try.

Using his preferred method of teaching, Stormkrigeren studied nearly one-hundred-and-thirty forms of combat under her Teacher. Every lesson consisted of nothing more than a fight, and it was by fighting that she learned how to survive. Doing the movements over and over again, thinking on her feet and reacting to the blows as they were thrown was the most surefire way to ensure that she remembered. It was essential not to be afraid in the middle of a battle or a spar - fear, as Mister Wilson often told her, was a tiger snapping at your heels. It kept you on the run and it kept you moving, which was good, but if you ran too fast from it, you could easily trip and fall. So Stormkrigeren did not allow herself to be afraid of her Teacher's swinging blade or bloodied fist, and carried on with the fight.

It only took her a few years to realize that Mister Wilson was, if anything, both a killer and a kind man with a head full of proverbs and ethos. Which was more than a little odd for someone whose vocation was killing murderers in cold blood.

He was very different from Herr Luthor, who believed that purpose was an objective to be fulfilled no matter the cost. Mister Wilson, on the other hand, took the stance that while purpose was something to be upheld above all others, there was still a proper way to go about fulfilling it that didn't involve 'mindlessly hitting the mark' as Herr Luthor suggested. Even war had a sort of procedure, an unspoken list of rules and guidelines - it was only logical that while learning how to kill, Stormkrigeren would also learn how to follow said rules.

'Perseverance' was one of the first that she learned, not to mention the most called upon. Anything was possible if one put their head down and kept at it, as long as they did not allow themselves to even consider the possibility of failure. Stormkrigeren had been raised to thrive in adversity, and thrive she did. Mister Wilson expected perseverance from his student every step of the way because perseverance was the only path to success.

Perseverance was closely related to 'Discipline', which could simply be defined as a code of behavior designed to help one stay completely focused in every situation. Discipline was setting oneself apart, keeping their attention on both the small details and the bigger picture instead of allowing themselves to be distracted by trivial things. Discipline was the precursor to efficiency and effectiveness, and discipline was the necessary action. If the situation called for it, discipline was what allowed Stormkrigeren to execute a task with swift, violent precision - discipline was the step forward and never the step back.

'Loyalty' and 'Submission' were two rules that were closely intertwined as the obedience of one led to the carrying out of the other. Loyalty was the act of staying true to something or someone - Stormkrigeren was to be loyal not only to whoever gave the orders that she carried out, but to her duty as well, even to the point of death. If one could not trust themselves to have good loyalties to others, they could not trust themselves with much else. And from Loyalty stemmed Submission, the crucial skill of letting go of one's own preferences to let someone else take the lead. No matter how hard Stormkrigeren worked, no matter how hard she trained, there would always be someone smarter or better suited to take charge - they should be the one to give the orders, and Stormkrigeren's duty was to obey, even if she did not quite understand the reasoning behind their commands.

'Innovation' was yet another essential lesson that Mister Wilson took the time to teach. The ability to think creatively and take control of the situation could be the difference between living and dying. Innovation was the result and combination of three indispensable traits: tactical proficiency, technical skill, and finally, extreme attention to detail. Stormkrigeren strived to achieve all of these in her training, and would not allow herself to stop until she had mastered each and every one.

'Honor' was, if anything, more of a virtue than an ability. Honor was simply taking responsibility for one's actions regardless of the circumstances or punishment - Mister Wilson even defined it as 'uncompromising integrity'. To be honorable was to be trustworthy, to be upstanding, to understand the crucial difference between right and wrong, good and evil. Honor was knowing when to take a life - and when to spare one. Honor was living and fighting not only for one's own protection, but for the protection of those around you.

'Pain' and the experience of it was a lesson in itself. It hurt sometimes - fuck, how it could hurt - but it was always a comforting sort of burning hurt. It was evidence that she had succeeded at something, whether that was a hard-fought spar with Mister Wilson or even Lex's fist on her cheek teaching her to be better, the hurt always meant that she had done something right, done something well. And no matter how much it hurt, Stormkrigeren was always sure of that because if there was one thing in the world that would always be true, it was that there was no pain without any gain. So she let it hurt, and she welcomed the pain.

And finally, one of the most important lessons that Mister Wilson taught her was the one of 'Failure Never Being An Option'. Even the slightest possibility of failure was completely unacceptable in any way, shape, or form - but that was not to say that it was never considered. Failure was to be measured, accounted, and adjusted for in order that the task would proceed as planned. Even in battle, failure to not only get back up but retaliate to the felling blow was seen as worse than death itself. Stormkrigeren was never out of the fight - and when she fought, she fought to win.

The rules were made to prepare her, to shape and mold her like clay so that she could become a cog in the machine of the world. The rules would form Stormkrigeren into the protector she was meant to be - someone who could mitigate risks against both known threats and threats that were still unknown, someone who could bring swift and complete justice on anything or anyone that made themselves an enemy of the world.

Justice, as Mister Wilson told her, was a force of nature. Oddly enough, so was she.

"The only justice in this world," he explained, "is that which we make for ourselves - and even then, it rarely goes to those who deserve it."

"How will I know who is deserving?" she asked, and Mister Wilson sighed in his tired, angry way.

"You won't, Stormkrigeren, and I doubt you ever will. It's best to let someone of authority decide for you, then at least the blood is on their head and not just your hands."

V*V*V*V*V*V*V

"Do you know what today is?"

Of course, she knew - it was written on the calendar in her kitchen and also on the corner of her laptop screen where she could see it every morning when she began her studies. "It's June twenty-second, two-thousand-eleven."

Lex nodded, adjusting his blazer as he sat down on the floor a few feet away.

He had come to her Rooms for another one of his 'visits', which were quickly becoming more regular, though Stormkrigeren still maintained a healthy wariness of him. But she knew better than to try to move away whenever he moved closer, so she sat very still and obedient and answered all of his questions quickly and precisely from her spot on the smooth concrete, waiting for him to continue. Lex happily complied.

"Seventeen years ago today, Pop was doing a routine visit to one of his oil drills up in the Kjølen Mountains. Do you know where that is?"

"Norway."

"That's right," he smiled, pressing his fingertips together as he continued, "It was on his way back to town that he found you. Half-dead, barely breathing, and not expected to live very long, but he took you in any way and nursed you back to health. Poured hundreds of manhours and millions of dollars into making sure you survived, and that's all you've ever been - a survivor and an investment.

"That's how Pop saw you - an investment. He'd put funding towards you in hopes that someday you'd help him rake in the big bucks. You were never more than a means to an end, and that end was profiting from a war where you were in the line of fire.

"To me, you've always been something more than an investment, Darcie. And deep down, you know it too. You are something better - something more than humanity could ever hope to be. You are, as Pop so eloquently put it, the ultimate protector. Do you know what that means?"

The question caught her off guard. Stormkrigeren had never really thought about what it meant to be a protector beyond that it meant she had to follow orders, but she got the sense that that was not the answer Lex wanted. She fidgeted nervously, thinking hard to come up with a satisfactory answer.

"It means..," she began slowly, "It means that my priority is never myself, but… but the person in front of me. It means that I must put the survival of all else above my own."

He laughed.

He actually laughed at that - at her.

Lex shook his head pityingly, chuckling to himself. "Oh, Dee-Dee, you're so simple-minded sometimes - you've got to think bigger, or you're never going to get anywhere. What does it really mean?"

What did it really mean? It must have something to do with the years of training she had gone through, preparing her for the role that she would someday undertake. She was trained to analyze and to hunt down and to follow and to incapacitate, and in some small way she didn't fully understand yet, Stormkrigeren was trained to remove any and all threats from existence. Simply put, she was trained to hunt down and kill the moment the order was given.

"Every action I take," Stormkrigeren answered, straightening up to meet Lex's gaze, "no matter how… how violent or cruel it may seem, I do it for the greater good of my people. I do it to fulfill my purpose."

"And who might your people be?" Lex asked with a sly smile, absently twirling a finger in the air.

"Whoever gives the orders."

That's what Mister Wilson would have said, but Lex was looking for a different answer.

"It's me, Darcie. Your people are whoever care about you, and I care about you very much. You will never understand how much I care about you and how much I want you to be able to fulfill the purpose you were born for, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that you become what you were always meant to be," he promised passionately, his voice lowering with each excited word until he finally asked in a hoarse whisper, "It's time to start fulfilling that purpose. Are you ready, Darcie?"

Yes.

Yes, she was ready.

It was time to take her place, to become what she was always meant to be.

She nodded.

V*V*V*V*V*V*V

Plans were drawn up and contacts were made, though Stormkrigeren was told virtually nothing of the preparations for her release. Everything she knew was learned in scraps from an unusually reticent Mister Wilson, but she did learn that she would be working for someone simply known as Mother.

Mother, Mister Wilson explained, was something of a global background force. Her children were everywhere, dispersed throughout society and government to gently influence decisions in Mother's favor, and thus improve the world. Mother's kind hand was far-reaching and involved in nearly every sort of organization worth investing in, so her wide network of influence was the perfect place for Stormkrigeren to begin fulfilling her purpose.

That made sense - what better place to start than one where the world was at your fingertips?

Mister Wilson dutifully kept her updated and explained the next step of her release whenever he came for lessons. From his gruff details, Stormkrigeren managed to gather that immediately following her twentieth birthday, Mother would send someone to fetch her. Under Mother's care, she would spend another year or two training with a man named Orphan - a fellow mercenary and rival of Mister Wilson. Stormkrigeren might have refused the prospect immediately and demand that Lex let her finish her training with Mister Wilson if not for the fact that Orphan could teach her one thing that her Teacher couldn't: how to live in the Outside.

Training with Orphan would last at least a year, and possibly longer - each day would be packed with lessons and missions and tasks all occurring Outside in the environment that would become her new Rooms. Said lessons could range anywhere from traversing rough outdoor terrain to even what was simply known as 'removing targets'. And Stormkrigeren got the sense that the phrase wasn't referring to shooting at bullet traps.

When the year or so of initial training was over and it was decided that the Project was decently acclimated to the Outside in both health and ability, the real work would begin. With Lex and Mother to guide her, Project Stormkrigeren would finally take her first step towards fulfilling her purpose. There would be no Rooms, no white walls, no black mirrors, and no doors - just her and the Outside. At least, as long as she obeyed.

That was the issue with being released from her Rooms and into the Outside: while there were so many more chances for her to be free from Lex's grasp, there were also many more chances for him to tighten it. And as Stormkrigeren was already well aware of, a hand at one's throat is a dangerous weapon if that hand becomes a fist. Her relative and restricted freedom would rest entirely on her obedience to the ones who gave the orders. But luckily she had always been pretty good at doing what she was told.

When her year of training was complete and she moved on to near autonomy in her actions, Stormkrigeren would no longer be a student but a deployable asset - something that could be informed of an issue or task that needed doing, and be sent out to take care of it to the best of her abilities, even if that involved some dangerous means. And every task or mission or deployment she completed would be another step closer to fulfilling her purpose.

Her purpose was to protect, and that would involve killing.

She was going to… she was going to kill people (bad people, dangerous people, she told herself time and time again).

Stormkrigeren might have shuddered at the thought, might have shown weakness because of it, if it hadn't been so familiar to her. Nearly her entire life she had trained to do this - she had done the work, done the training, gone through all the motions, and mastered her art nearly as well as Mister Wilson mastered his. What was taking a life but just another lesson that would help her fulfill her purpose?

Death was death, and death was normal - an essential part of life, even. All killing did was hurry it along.

And she needn't worry - Lex had promised (and even if he hurt her, at least he kept his word). It was all just a war, just a game. It was all just a game…

...and she'd be damned if she didn't win.

Sooooo... oddly enough, this was actually the last chapter I wrote before the final publication of this fic. I really don't write anything in order.