A/N: Here is another excerpt from the story that I have finished.
Sorry for the late update, I've been trying to fix the other areas of the story and I was also out of the country for a month on vacation.
"What's that supposed to mean?" the former specialist asked, his voice unsure.
"Exactly what I said," Musa shrugged and soon disappeared, there one second and gone the next.
Riven sighed, questioning his motives for getting involved in the first play and not quite finding them in his overloaded brain. He shrugged the thoughts from his mind and grabbed the door handle and swung open the door.
"Is that him?" Riven heard before he could even step inside the building.
"He used the front door, obviously it's him," a female's voice snapped.
"I'm just surprised that Musa decided to team up with him of all people," a girl with blonde hair hissed. Riven began to make out the group of girls that was in front of him as he stepped inside the building.
"Hmmm, he's cuter than I thought he'd be," he heard from his right.
"You've seen him before," the blonde rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, but only through camera," a girl with pink hair replied.
"I can hear you, you know," Riven growled, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Yeah, we know," a girl with dark brown hair narrowed her eyes at him.
"So what am I supposed to do now?" Riven ignored the sarcastic comment.
"Wait there for Musa. Until she gets back, you don't have any clearance to enter the building," the blonde shrugged and turned around to walk away.
The other girls followed her suit and turned to walk away as well. Riven wondered what his chances were if he did indeed move, but noticed a camera focused on him and a box mounted to the wall a few feet away from him. He guessed that if he did indeed move then the sensor in the box would alert someone somewhere.
He sighed and leaned against the wall that held the box and looked around. There wasn't much in the lobby of Hood, if you could even call it a lobby. It looked like a plain and simple gray room with dark tinted glass windows and an open hallway. There were a lot of people running around with various papers, a few agents that held various weapons in their hands and others on their phones. Hood seems to be pretty busy, Riven mused to himself. He wondered what all of the bustle was about.
Musa looked down at the address on the torn up piece of paper that was held limply in her hand. She heaved a sigh before shaking her head in confusion and disappointment. She brought her hands up to her face and dragged them down, ignoring the grime she felt collect on her fingers.
"Arghh!" Musa screamed out in frustration and pain, salty tears dotting her eyes.
She looked down at the shredded piece of paper, it's faded letters and lies seemingly laughing in her face.
Her head turned towards the door of the apartment that she stood in front of to make sure of herself before she left. The large red block letters stared back at her "EVICTED", she read over and over, her brain having trouble comprehending the troublesome words.
She had been traveling the whole night and soon the sun would be rising to spread its warmth and light across the land, though to Musa it felt like the daybreak would only cast a shadow over her for without her love she felt empty, much like she did the day her mother died.
Her head spun with revenge plans. She would be patient to get her revenge much like she was when she was first captured by the Specialists. She would fester in her pain and her hatred and build up those emotions until the perfect moment for her to strike out against the very people that took away everything.
They took away her mother, she reminded herself, her fists balling up and her nails sinking ever so deeper into her skin until she felt a viscous liquid being released, they took away Cal and laughed, Musa's skin burned with rage and crackled with the power she felt coursing through her veins that lay beneath her outer shell, they attacked her country, they're trying to take over, Musa's blood reached a scathing temperature as the thoughts kept building up in her mind. If she had no control her feet would have led her straight to Red Fountain, but she took a deep breathe, her chest rising and falling slowly before turning towards Hood. She would have her revenge, she would make sure that would be so and she would die trying.
Riven's eyes opened quickly and with a startled groan the gears in his mind began to once again turn. He took in the sunlight that was seeping through the tinted windows.
"So you're finally up?" a steely voice made him swing his head to the right causing a little bit of whiplash in the process.
"Where have you been?" he asked the female standing in front of him. She still looked a mess, her shirt and pants were ripped up and dirt caked her shoes and fingers. He could still see the remnants of blood on her hands and her face. Her shoulders were pulled back and her eyes looked like bullet proof shields. He hand never seen her like this, but could tell from the tension in her face and the razor sharp energy she was giving off that this was not the time to be messing with her.
"Out. I had to take care of a few things," she growled.
Riven nodded and mentally zippered his lips together, feeling the menacing threat of the girl standing in front of him.
He diverted his eyes from her to look around the building. He could see a lot of people with determination on their faces delivering packages or speed walking through the halls to get their jobs done. He had never seen as much hustle and bustle as this, even when he was at Red Fountain.
"Everyone seems like they're really concentrated on their jobs around here. Is that why Hood was always one step ahead of us?" he cheekily asked only to be silenced by a pointed glare that sprang off of Musa's face.
"They all want a promotion. They want my job now that Cal's gone. I was second in command so the normal progression is that I become the head of Hood, which Cal was grooming me for anyways. They're working hard because they want my old job," Musa sighed, tension being released from her body as she stretched her arms up over her head. She had to calm down. She could feel the anger bubbling just beneath the surface and quietly reminded herself that she would get her revenge, but she had to wait patiently and build up a plan first. Her anger attempted to rear its head, but her logical mind put it down quickly and she switched gears since she was the new leader of Hood and had to make sure the agency continued to function.
"So am I allowed to go in now?" he couldn't help but ask. His question threw Musa out of her thoughts. She had almost forgotten that he had had to stay in the lobby of the building and hadn't been allowed to pass by the invisible barrier without her consent.
"Hmm? Oh, right. Yeah, come with me, I'll show you around," he could hear the change in Musa's voice. She moved her hand up to the box that was on the wall and punched in a few numbers before motioning him to follow her. It was odd to see that she had completely flipped the switch from being cold and threatening to sounding like a real leader. He couldn't help but wonder what had changed her inside, at least for the moment.
