She lifted a radio from her belt, surprising me as they were all supposed to be cut off. I stopped dead as a voice I thought I'd never hear again floated over.
"Rosier, report observations."
Everything seemed frozen. All I could see was my sister, and that radio. The voice coming from it was so deadly familiar. It was the same one that encouraged me to destroy a critical shipment of Antizin. The GRE. Valerija pressed the button on the side of the radio.
"Nothing major. Kadir is hiding somewhere in the city, I've lost track of him. My sister doesn't suspect me, she's too torn up about losing Rahim to care about much else."
"Good, we can't have her finding out about you." Val sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"I still don't see why I can't just tell her. She could help!"
"No, she's too unstable. It would be a liability to have her know about your mission. You haven't forgotten, have you Rosier?"
"Get the file, fake your death, get out." She sighed again, and I shifted closer, sticking behind any cover I could find. "Do I really have to fake my death? Ari wouldn't want to keep on living if she thought I was dead."
"It's critical to the mission that no one in the quarantine knows you're alive, it would be too much of a risk. Too many variables. Its better that way. Continue your mission. We'll call again soon."
"Yeah yeah, Rosier out." She hooked the radio back on her belt, and turned to walk past where I was hiding. I readied myself and jumped, tackling her to the ground. I held her arms down beside her, I didn't want her to stab me.
She shook her head, flicking the hair out of her face. When she saw it was me, her eyes widened in shock.
"Ari? What are you doing? I thought you were still at the Tower?" I laughed coldly.
"It would have been so much better had I stayed there, right? Wouldn't want me getting in the way of your plans? Tell me Val, how were you gonna do it?" I tightened my hold on her wrists.
"Do what? Ari come on, you're hurting me."
"Fake your death of course." I spat, my anger boiling over. Her look of shock brought a smile to my face. I knew she was my sister, but right now I just couldn't care.
"I wasn't... you wouldn't understand. It has to be done."
"What does Val? What has to be done? You faking your death? Or your observations, Rosier?" I snarled our last name, I'd never felt more ashamed to be part of her family. Her face fell, she instantly looked years older.
"So you heard that did you? I should have guessed. But it's not what you think, they just want to help. To make sure everyone can survive." I laughed coldly.
"You really have no idea do you?" She looked at me oddly, and tried to free her hands. I tightened my grip more. "They're lying to you Val. They don't want to help us, why do you think the airdrops stopped? Months ago, they told me to destroy a shipment of Antizin when we needed it. They're using you Val, why can't you see that? They aren't fighting for the people in the Tower, they're fighting for them." This time it was Val who laughed, it sounded colder than mine.
"You think they aren't fighting for the Tower? We've been working with Brecken for months! He was the one who suggested destroying the shipments so Jade would get desperate enough to deal with Rais. All those missions you got sent out on? That was us, getting you out of the Tower before you could know I was still here. You didn't think it was an accident that you found me in the market?" She shifted under me, but I held her down. "And the airdrops stopping? That was all me. All this cause we needed to get someone to meet with Rais, to see if he was the guy." Her face twisted into one of annoyance. "But you had to fuck the whole thing up. If you hadn't shot him in that stupid fucking arena, I would have had him and been gone. It would have been better that way, no more time to get attached to anyone else. But now he's here, in the city, and I don't have the slightest fucking clue where he is!" My mind skipped back to what she said about Brecken. Something in me snapped, maybe it was the fact that she had been in the city for months before I found her, or the fact that Brecken had agreed to destroy a shipment when we needed it. I pressed my hand down on her shoulder, and she let out a scream of pain. I pulled the collar of her shirt down to reveal a bite wound, black and infected. I chuckled lowly.
"You know, for everything you've done, lying to me for months on end, this is the least of what you deserve." I pushed myself off the ground, and turned to leave. "You can fucking rot, for all I care." And I walked out of her life for the last time.
3 Months Later
I threw the package to the guard on the door, he'd know how to deal with it. As I entered into the apartment complex, the acrid smell of smoke filled my senses. Tahir was leaned against the wall just inside, a cigarette hanging from his mouth. We'd put our differences aside from the damage we did to each other. An eye for an arm, were his words. He grunted a greeting to me as I walked past, and flicked a hand to the room opposite.
I knocked on the door lightly, and it swung open instantly. I caught the glint of a blade sailing towards me and ducked on instinct, pulling my own blade from my belt with ease. With a solid thwack, a dagger buried itself to the handle into the door frame, and I raised my own arm to throw. The sound of clapping stopped me at the last second, and I let my arm drop to my side. Rais was stood in the middle of the room, a cane balanced against the table to his left.
In the months since Valerijas true colours had been revealed, I'd found purpose in the form of working with Rais. He had forgiven me for shooting him, saying that we do what we must to survive. The wound had never fully healed though, leaving him with a constant limp. After I'd found out that Brecken had been working with the GRE, the tower had stopped feeling like home.
"Welcome back my friend. It is good to see you have not lost your flair. I trust it went off without a hitch?"
"For the most part, they paid in full." He nodded his head in acceptance.
"Good, good. I think it's time I stepped up your, how should I put this... position, in my little group. There's just one small task you have to do first." I crossed my arms and gave him a look. He chuckled softly and grabbed the cane, before limping over and slinging his arm around my shoulders. "Don't worry, it's nothing you cannot handle. If you do this right, you will be second only to Tahir." I sighed heavily.
"Fine, what do I need to do?"
"It's simple." He limped away from me, grabbed a folder on the table, and handed it to me. I flipped it open, and saw a picture of Jade. "Kill the Scorpion."