I'm BACK :D
Did you all miss me? Here's a long chapter as reward for your patience :)
I hope my rustiness hasn't affected my writing too badly. Reviews are welcome as always.
In which the real work begins
It had been another week and a half of training before Evangeline was even given the idea that she would have to start taking on targets. During that time, she had been forced to go train running with Fox, had her hand bitten by a rather vicious machine in the pursuit of a shuttle, and given a few more rounds with both the Repairman and the Gunsmith. As it turns out, the Fraternity wasn't very creative with nicknames, so Angie would have to do for now.
As Evangeline, newly christened Angie, sparred with Cross as the Butcher looked on; Sloane and Mr. X stood observing on the grated catwalk above. Mr. X leaned against the wrought iron railing facing away from the action scene below with his arms crossed while Sloane stood in his habitual position, both hands clasped on the bar, leaning slightly forward. Sloane spoke first, "She's doing well."
"Was that supposed to be a question, or are you just stating a fact?" The sentence was an anomalous outpouring for the usually taciturn man. Sloane simply chuckled in response.
"I think she's ready." He received a noncommittal grunt in return.
"Whatever you say, boss. Just telling you, I don't think she's going to take it well."
"It is a test of loyalty, Mr. X. I need to know that she is and will be wholly committed to this organization. Our girl is a valuable asset, as are the rest of you, and just like you all, she must prove her allegiance. Granted this may be a bit more extreme than what some of you had to do, but I need absolute certainty, and Evangeline is… different from the rest of you. Softer, pristine…undamaged." Mr. X visibly flinched at the word "undamaged." He had to admit the validity of Sloane's statement. They were all broken people, already hardened against the world and the evils they knew it produced when Sloane found them. Evangeline was… untouched. The worst she had experienced was peripherally finding out about her father's counterfeit operation, and she hadn't even touched on the more grisly details of Mr. Chang's "business dealings."
A victorious shout from Evangeline down on the floor redirected the attention of the men standing guard. Sloane's lips curved into a smirk as the young girl below gave the Butcher a high five before taking a few victory laps around her hapless victim on the ground.
"Sloane! Did you see that?!" The leader of the Fraternity gave a small wave. He had to admit, the newest recruit to the team brought a new dynamic to the group: a more bubbly and playful environment that was a welcome change from the usual sarcasm and "bad-assery" (a term supplied by Evangeline) that defined the atmosphere previous to her arrival. "Boo ya, Cross!"
Cross pulled himself from the ground and coiled his arm around Evangeline's neck. "Comon kid, that last one was a cheap shot and penalties for cheap shots are knuckle sandwiches."
"That's bullshit, man! Geroooph!" she grumbled as the man proceeded to muffle her face in his chest.
"Watch your mouth, kid!"
"You are DIGGING your primate knuckles into my CRANIUM, you old man!"
Mr. X turned to face Sloane. "She's just a kid. No matter how bad he was, she shouldn't have to do this."
Sloane turned to face his companion just as the Butcher stepped forward to release the helpless Evangeline from the grips of Cross. "Children, Mr. X, must grow up. Especially if you are a child of the Fraternity." And with that, he turned and walked away, leaving an ever-glacial Mr. X to stand and contemplate the strings of Fate that pulled them all to this point.
Before he could follow their fearless leader off the gangplank, Cross mounted the stairs and took his place where Sloane had stood just seconds before. Ruffling his hair with a towel slung around his neck, he took his place beside Mr. X. "What was that all about?" he asked motioning with a short jut of the chin in Sloane's direction.
"He said our girl's ready." Even Mr. X had taken on the affectionate habit of referring to Evangeline as "our girl."
"He still pushing the original plan?"
"Well the Loom listed him almost a month ago. He's still in limbo."
"I don't like it. She won't get through it. All it's going to do is break her." Cross's knuckles turned white as his grip tightened around the white terrycloth. Below a flurry of knives flew between Evangeline and the Butcher.
"We'll see how the research goes. See how far that'll push her." Cross turns sharply to Mr. X.
"Since when did you become a Sloane sound box?"
"Listen, you know I hate this as much as you do, but who are we to argue with Sloane. That man has a reason for everything."
"Yea.." Cross trailed off wistfully, his eyes softening as they traced Angie's movements. "Yea. I hope so."
The next morning, Fox went to wake the young protégé, per usual. The young Evangeline could never be counted on to wake up on her own despite the seven or eight different alarms she managed to set the night before. Fox knocked on the door. "Kid, come on, you got a full day of hitting the books. Let's go." After waiting a moment, it was clear that the girl inside was still somewhere in dream land. With a roll of her eyes, Fox pushed her way through the door, grimacing as her foot fell into contact with the sea of decay that Evangeline never got around to cleaning. "Seriously? I thought you cleaned three days ago."
A muffled groan was emitted from under the dark coverlet on the bed. Fox, a usually graceful woman by anyone's standard, trippingly made her way across the obstacle course of Evangeline's room and abruptly yanked the covers away from the small body curled beneath. "Rise and shine, kiddo."
The scene that Sloane walked in on was almost comical. The composed femme fatale of the Fraternity yanking at a pale white ankle of a young Asian girl while she buried her head under the pillow at the head of the rickety bed and begged for another few minutes. "Fox! Comon! Two minutes!"
"No can do, kid. Two of your minutes is like two hours in real time. Up!" It was then that Sloane decided he had to intervene. Fox's patience was obviously wearing and if he didn't intervene soon, his young friend would be staring down the barrel of a revolver.
"Alright, Evangeline. Enough. You really do have a lot to accomplish today." The tugging stopped and the head full of black hair poked out from beneath the pillow, mussed and confused at the sudden appearance of a new authoritative voice. She quickly scrambled out of bed and stood in her sleep clothes next to the aggravated Fox.
"Thank you, Fox. It was a valiant effort." Sloane's plan to send the no-nonsense woman to wake the girl for a change had obviously failed. "Now Evangeline, if you would kindly extricate yourself from this….den of yours, we have a lot of ground to cover today."
Evangeline shot a nervous smile at Fox and tripped after Sloane. The woman merely raised an eyebrow in response. Neither of them regarded the fact that they were the only two females within a ten mile radius as any indication that they should immediately become the best of friends. Instead both decided that settling into a parallel existence of indifferent acquaintance would be wisest, and indeed, it worked for everyone.
"So…What is it that I have to do today?" Sloane looked back. He stopped in front of another set of doors that Evangeline had never seen before (nearly a month here and she was still uncovering new doors everywhere she went.) With a dramatic flourish, he flung the peeling, wooden doors open to reveal a room covered entirely of books. Evangeline's jaw dropped open.
"You, my dear, will be doing research today." One could practically see the neuron's in her head exploding as she took in the sheer magnitude of material that was placed for her on a table in the middle of the room. "History of the Fraternity 101, Ms. Chang."
Three hours later, any sort of studying that may or may not have been occurring in the library had degraded into a pyramid building project using the dusty tomes that had been laid out for her perusal. Evangeline let out a long breath, ruffling her bangs. Leaning back in the cushioned chair, she considered how much more useful this room would have been had Sloane installed a giant fan beneath the floor to make the library a sky diving tunnel instead. "Yea, way more badass."
Leaning back a little bit more to let her head drop back one particular volume caught her eye. In faded gold lettering, and Roman typeface, there was her last name, "Chang." She would have been stupid not to look. Evangeline rose from her chair and retrieved the heavy black book from the shelf. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw next. As she flipped to the first page she was met with a black and white photograph of the man she had come to know as Dad. As her fingers deftly turned through the pristine pages she found herself feeling like she was facing Pandora's Box itself, except looking at the text, it was highly unlikely that any sort of Hope would lie at the bottom.
In the next few hours, Evangeline devoured the entire album, dedicated entirely to documenting the atrocities of her father. Instead of feeling fear, sadness, and disgust at his misdeeds, she only noticed the
strange, unsettling clicking puzzle pieces she didn't know existed falling into place.
Before she knew it, an irresistible urge to destroy something seized her gut. It was completely irrational, but at the moment her entire world was at ruins beneath her feet, and the completely ordered nature of her surroundings screamed for deconstruction.
Outside, Cross rested against the doorframe while Sloane stood with his ear pressed to the rough grain of the door. "Ms. Chang seems to have found it. That was quick."
"Yea, well, Angie's a smart kid." A large bang against the door, most likely from a piece of thrown furniture made them both jump. Sloane smiled.
"That she is, Mr. Cross." He turned on his heel and strode away, leaving Cross to wait until the storm inside tired herself out before going to do some reconstruction.
When he finally deemed it safe enough to go in without getting his head knocked off by launched projectiles, he crept inside. The room was in ruins, and there she was, slumped against the far wall, disheveled and panting, her face stained with tears.
He silently made his way over to the epicenter of the quake and slid down beside her. A slight grunt managed to escape his lips as his back caught against an upturned book jutting from the shelves. Cross let out a deep breath.
"Why didn't anyone tell me before.." Her voice was shaky and garbled. He turned his head and watched carefully as she raised her head to lean against the wall of books, her glassy eyes catching the light.
"You weren't ready then."
Everything was silent for a moment. The only movement came from the liquid brimming over Evangeline's lower lids.
"I'm still not ready." Her arms instinctively retracted and wrapped around her slim frame. Cross reached out and enveloped her shaking body in his and pressed his lips to the top of her head.
"I know, kid. I know."
Ooooo things are starting to get dramaticcc
Disclaimers galore *sigh* I don't own Wanted.