((thanks to those who reviewed, i appreciate it! i own none of this, again. except olive and liam, them i own, but other than that, nothing :c anyway. here goes chapter two!))
Three years had passed since she left Nick. Olive sat in the apartment, glaring at a chessboard in front of her. The person opposite her did the same. The tension was thick in the air. Nothing but the City's street sounds crawling in from the open window could be heard. After what seemed like forever, Olive raised her hand and Moved one white pawn forward two spaces.
"Why did that take you a year?" asked the male, a light Irish accent dancing on each of his words. "It's the first move of the game, it really shouldn't take long."
"Chess is a game of strategy. Waiting a few minutes to make the first move is a mind trick," she said, smirking to his somewhat dumbfounded face. She watched him move a pawn manually. Olive stayed true and took an agonizingly long time before she moved her bishop out a few spaces.
Liam Smith, with his leg bouncing, moved his hand forward to make another move immediately. Olive moved her queen out gently, Liam made another useless move, and Olive check mated him immediately after that.
"That…that is wrong," Liam said flatly, and he looked up to her. "You just beat me in four moves. That's unfair, is what it is," he said, but he smirked all the while.
Liam was older than Olive by about three years, and taller than her by about seven inches. He'd met her years ago when Nick and Hook got together. She was much younger, as was he, but they hit it off soon after. It wasn't unusual for them to spend days together, despite the warnings of danger when multiple psychics stay together for a long time.
Liam took a bite of his Reuben sandwich. "I mean, how did you do that?" he continued, and smirked, looking wildly at the board. It was so quick, and he barely saw it coming.
"The good thing about that trick is that once you see it, you'll never miss it again," she said, and she picked a potato chip up from his plate, Moving it teasingly into her hand. She snapped into it and smirked. "A winner's potato chip."
"Yeah, well…I've got a loser sandwich. Better than your tiny little crisp any day."
Olive smirked and put the pieces back quickly, before she heard a knock on her door. She frowned a little to herself and she got up, peeping through the little hole and she tensed. She'd recognize Division scum anywhere, but was admittedly stunned to see them at her door. Olive backed up and looked over to Liam, her skin going pale and she raised her hand, bringing the handgun in from her bedroom area and tucking it gently into her jeans.
Liam tensed and watched. "Come on, we know you're here," called the Sniffs, standing outside with a bored looking expression.
Olive cracked her door, the chain still locking the door. "To what do I owe this…this?" she asked, looking disgusted.
"New protocol. We're to have a file with DNA information, fingerprints, and any other piece of useful information they've thought of from every psychic," one of them said, and he looked down at her. "We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. It's your choice," he said, and he adjusted his sunglasses.
She wet her lips and frowned. "Well I'm sorry General McArthur, but your search won't be necessary in here. I still live in America, I still have my rights, I have committed no crimes…so why don't you just turn around?"
"I see you'd like to visit Daddy," said the other, and he narrowed his eyes. "Open the door or we come back with more unpleasant characters, please," he said, and he looked very seriously at Olive.
She closed the door and opened the window with a careful flick of his hand. Liam frowned. "I don't know what sort of friend you think I am, but I'm not going anywhere," he maintained, and he stood his ground.
"Your bravery will get you nowhere anymore," she hissed to him, and unlocked the door.
Without any notice the two burst in, their fingers touching every surface as if to see if anything unusual had been happening. "Ooh, wow. A twofer," he said, spotting Liam, and he pulled his latex glove on. They began to set up a kit in the living room.
The first sat Liam down, and they took his fingerprints, not bothering to be gentle. "If you ask me, I think this is a good move. Hopefully soon we'll be developing trackers…So be on the lookout for that one, won't you two?" he asked, and he watched as his partner sat Olive down, taking her arm.
"Perhaps telling people that isn't the wisest idea, Vince."
"I hate needles," she said gently, staring at the needle. She seemed to go pale and then a bit green.
"Well that's just too bad, now isn't it?" he asked, and he wiped her arm with an alcohol wipe. The Sniff took the syringe and found the correct vein. As he went to stick her, the needle bent against the barrier she'd put up out of instinct. Olive smirked as he stared at the bent needle.
"Very funny…" he growled. "This time, dear, I'd appreciate you being a little more adult about this," he said, and the other—apparently named Vince—watched curiously as she did it again.
Vince got up and took out his gun. "Do that one more time and we'll be using an even bigger needle."
Olive growled. She was starting to feel dizzy, and the two bent needles were doing her no good. Liam looked warily at her as she snapped and shoved the two against the wall at once. "Get behind me," she said shakily to Liam, who knew very well to follow these orders. The gunfire began immediately and she tried her best to Move each one away, and in turn aim it towards them. She got lucky, once—one bullet bounced off of her shield and into the shooter's arm. He yelled and Olive began to move fast, fending off bullets as best as she could, but some were still getting through.
One whizzed by her, and by Liam. He gulped and stole the gun from her pants, which she'd obviously forgotten about. He cocked and shot the gun quickly at the men, who had no shield like they did, but they may as well have with Liam's aim.
"Come on," she said, and she pulled the door open with a free hand, backing out of the apartment as bullets flew anywhere but them.
The Sniffs chased Liam and Olive down the steps of their apartment building, until finally enough bullets had hit the men to slow them down. The other two ran out of the building, panting, and didn't stop for about four blocks. Olive's chest burned with the reminder of how incredibly out of shape she was. Her muscles began to ache and she had to stop.
Olive leaned against the building and slid down the to the grimy ground, panting much more than Liam. "You…need to do more cardio," he said down at her, but her heaving was not just from the fact that she was physically tired. She was also panicking quite a bit.
"Don't you…don't you, know, what, happens, when people, fight, Division?" she asked, looking up to her, her legs throbbing from the sudden movement. "I'm, I'm so sorry, Liam…"
He looked grim. "I know. I understand…I mean, I doubt you could've helped it, right?" he asked, and he smiled down to her hesitantly. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "We should find a safe place. Maybe hook up with a Shadow."
"I only have about twenty-seven dollars on me."
"A…generous, Shadow," Liam said, and he pulled poor Olive up, nodding. "We'll be okay. I promise…as soon as we're Shadowed the Sniffs won't be able to find us. And it'll give us plenty of time to figure out a plan. I'm sure our friends will be more than willing to help us out."
"Ooh, right. I don't think that'll happen like that, Liam. No one wants to be involved with Division if they can help it, especially now that they're…keeping tabs on us. Did you hear what that guy said? We'll be wearing ankle bracelets soon, as if Watchers weren't enough." Olive closed her eyes, shaking her head.
Liam sighed. "I know a Shadow. We may have to give him a pretty nice IOU, and this will be gambling your twenty-seven dollars on a couple of bus tickets to uncertainty," Liam mumbled, walking at her pace down the street. "He lives in Philly."
"I'd be willing to sleep with this man if he Shadows us successfully," Olive said flatly, and Liam wrinkled his nose at that stupid comment.
----
Liam and Olive sat on the bus, staring forward. "You know what I should try when we're finally safe?" he asked Olive gently, and she looked up curiously. "I should try putting highlights in your hair."
"That's pretty fabulous of you, Liam," she teased with a small smirk.
He laughed. "Yeah, yeah, make fun of my sexual preference…" he said, and he ruffled her hair. "Keep that up and you may end up with lime green and maroon in your hair tomorrow morning."
Olive chuckled, but then looked down, chewing gently on her lip. "I can't believe I killed someone," she said, very softly, so no one would care. Most people were engrossed in their mp3 players, of course, but she just wanted to be careful. "Can you?"
"I'm…not thinking about that. They were tracking us like animals, Olly, they—"
"Don't say they deserved it. No one deserves that," she said softly.
Awkward silence covered them until Liam finally broke the tension. "We should try to catch up with a Pusher. They're rather useful." As soon as he'd said that, he knew he'd just made it more awkward.
Olive frowned. "Yes, they're…real, helpful. No." She looked very sternly up to him, before she looked back down at a book she was reading. "My dad'd know what to do."
Liam nodded. "So would my mum."
The two of them stayed silent, and Liam allowed Olive to snore and drool on him as they made their way west.