As Raven had predicted, the first two extractions had been easy- well other than the fact that Sabrina had thrown a book at her before Raven had been able to hit the girl with her Sleeper gun. The Russian made sure that both children were situated for the flight and headed back up to the cockpit, where the pilot was waiting. "Say goodbye to France," she told him, "we're heading to Moscow." A small smile played across Raven's face. We're heading home, she added silently, as the Shroud took off.
The final student that they were collecting was a girl. She had attracted the attention of H.I.V.E. by trying hard not to attract any attention. She was a ghost, preforming impressive stunts, and then disappearing seemingly into thin air. She was good at it, too. The only picture the file had of her was very grainy and not very clear. All Raven could tell was that she had long dark hair and pale skin. According to the file, her name was Nadia, and there was no last name. As Raven read this, something flashed across her mind, something from her brief stint in a happy childhood, but she was unable to figure out what it was.
The Shroud touched down just outside of Moscow. "See you in a few hours?" the pilot asked as Raven headed out of the cockpit.
"I'll see you in 30 minutes," she replied quickly before turning around briskly walking off of the Shroud.
Moscow might be a big city, but it was also once my home, Raven told herself as she stepped off of the Shroud and was met by a harsh gust of wind. She paused only briefly before continuing, heading toward the part of town that she knew she would find this Nadia in. After all, it was where Raven knew she would have found herself back when she was Nadia's age.
The part of town where Raven used to live was home to all of the criminals and thieves. Old buildings stretched up towards the sky, abandoned and in great disrepair. Most of them were bolted up so the people could not get in. The only people who stood around this part of town were the ones with no place left to go. They littered the streets, some huddled up against buildings trying to keep warm, some crouched in the alleyways in groups plotting and scheming ways to get enough money so that they would be able to leave this place and go and rejoin the rest of the world, and the others stayed in the shadows, trying hard not to be seen.
This was the part of town that you would never venture into after dark, but to Raven, this was her old home. As she walked down the street her mind was trying to take her on a swim through a sea of flashbacks.
Down that alley was where I stayed the first night after I ran away from home.
Over there was where I would hide before I was sure that no one was looking for me.
In that building there are some broken boards on the windows that made it possible for me to crawl in and seek shelter from the wind until everyone else discovered it.
Memories like those drifted through her head reminding her what her life had been like before she had been captured, before the Glasshouse, before H.I.V.E. She was no longer the scared child she had been when she had lived here. Not anymore, and never again.
When Raven finally made it to the narrow where she used to live, she was mildly surprised to see that there was somebody there huddled amongst some of the rubbish.
Suddenly, the person looked up, her long dark hair falling in front of her face and covering one of her ice-blue eyes. Raven was startled for a second. Those eyes were almost exactly like hers. The only noticeable difference was that this strange girl's were less cold and suspicious- more mischievous and intrigued- but still had seen and done things most girls her age would never dream about in their worst nightmares. Just from that, Raven could tell that this girl hadn't been on the streets for long, but for longer than anybody would ever want to be. Her pale skin was nearly translucent, but it made her even more striking.
"Come back for more, Damek?" the girl called out, thinking Raven was another one of the street people. "Need more than one beating a day, now? Or did you just forget that I told you to stay away from my alley?" Raven had to admit, to a normal person, this girl could be quite intimidating, despite her young age. Raven realized that this must be Nadia, whom she had come to retrieve.
"I am not Damek," Raven called out, not wanting to scare the girl away. Nadia became slightly less tense after hearing her say that, but she was still on edge. Don't let your guard down so quickly, Raven felt like telling the girl- as though she was back at H.I.V.E. giving this girl sparring instruction like she did with one of her favorite Alphas-though she'd deny it vehemently if you suggested it- Wing. Shaking her head slightly, Raven brought herself back to the current situation. She slowly reached towards the tactical belt where her Sleeper gun was holstered. Slowly she took the gun out and aimed it at the girl.
"Sorry, I don't plan on dying today," Nadia said, seeing the gun. Then, almost as quickly as Raven could have, had she been in that position, she stood up, and scrambled up the wall behind her before Raven could pull the trigger.
Seeing that the target was no longer there, Raven started to scale the wall right behind Nadia. Jumping down on the other side, Raven saw her target rounding the corner. Instead of chasing after the girl, Raven instead climbed the side of the building that was in the direction that Nadia had run.
From the rooftops Raven followed Nadia until the younger girl turned into another alleyway, convinced she had lost the assassin. As Nadia paused to catch her breath, Raven jumped down from the rooftop. Nadia looked up, and seeing that she had not escaped, she turned to run again.
"You're not going to lose me. You know that, right?" Raven told the soon-to-be Alpha. "You can't escape me. As much as you try, you won't."
Nadia looked at her, contemplating whether or not she should believe the woman who looked so much like herself. A strange look crossed her face before she spoke "You're Natalya, aren't you? Mom and Dad, they used talk about you all the time when they thought I couldn't hear them. They always thought you were going to come back..."
Nadia slumped to the ground. Raven looked down at her hands, surprised to find her Sleeper gun in them, having just fired the shot that had knocked out Nadia.
Picking up the unconscious girl, Raven quickly headed back to the Shroud, her head a whirlwind of emotions.
So first off SORRY! Blame my beta (she gave me permission to say that) It will NOT take so long to update next time. Secondly, is secondly a word? Third THANK YOU to Shnizel and AndAPartridgeInAGrapeTree for reviewing! Fly On ~Snailz