A/N ~ Hi, just a quick warning, I switch, not quite POVs, but who I'm writing about multiple times in this chapter. It kind of goes between Echo, Aniesha/Keri and Frank (possibly Dan too?) Anyway that's all,
ILYSM - Chase
Echo walked into her first period class with her friends and sat down ready for another boring day. She had come from Frank's house with him and Keri, who was staying there too.
(Flashback)
Echo was sat in the living room, doing her homework, while her adoptive parents shared their fourth bottle of alcohol that night. Their twin children, Daphne and Caleb were at a school camp out and Keri was upstairs, on the phone with Trina. She sighed, this was really more difficult than it should have been. She heard her dad stand up and thought nothing of it from her position on the floor, until the glass that was just in his hand smashed against the wall beside her and shards of glass flew past her, cutting her face and uncovered arms,
"That's it!" The man screamed, "I'm done with you and your shitty spoilt behavior you green armed freak! I don't know where you came from but I am sick of you and how you were raised has made you a burden on me and my family. Why couldn't you be like Daphne or Caleb? Even Keri is more bearable than you! I want you out!"
The man was breathing heavily while his wife stared at Echo contemptuously, "I want you gone. I don't know why we ever took you and your bitch of a sister in at all! You're not worth the air you breathe. At least Keri hides that freakish thing on her arm and acts like a normal kid!"
Echo stood up and shouted right back at him, "Keri doesn't know how to deal with the trauma we share so she rejects it! That's why she's 'normal'. This," She shoved her bleeding and glowing arm in his face, "Is something I hate more than you! But it's also the reason I am here, if I could do anything to make yours and mine and Keri's lives easier, then I would!"
"Then leave!" Her adoptive mother shrieked, "Leave and never bother us again. You're no longer welcome in our family you spawn of the devil!"
Echo ran out of the room and straight into Keri, who was wide eyed and looked traumatized at what she'd just heard, "Keri. . ." Echo tried to speak but was pulled by her arm up to their shared bedroom. When they walked in Keri grabbed 2 sports bags and 2 backpacks.
"Start packing and call Frank. We won't be staying where they could hurt you again." They were up and gone in 15 minutes and an hour after that, Frank was their legal gaurdian and their "Parents" were in holding cells for child abuse. Keri cried for hours and Echo simply sat and hugged her, staring at her brand as if expressing as much hatred as she could to her link to her creator would force his mind to explode.
Mrs King looked at her students and did a double take at Echo's cuts on her face, she went to ask what was wrong but was prevented from doing so by the panicked but assuring look on the, once again, injured girl's face. She made a note to ask later and got on with her class,
"I have an announcement to make. All normal lessons are suspended for today." Multiple students got up to leave and Roly actually went and hugged Mrs King, "No-one's going home, Felicity" she said to the back of the most vocal celebrator who was trying to leave.
"Let go now Roland." She made him sit down before continuing, "I have enrolled us on a new scheme called, 'Centralized Revision for Academy and Class Education' or, CRAC-ED for short."
For once, Mr Flatley protested one of Mrs King's decisions. She released a breath and began to play the video.
"The wet-backed Possum spends its days doing nothing. . . nothing at all." Everyone groaned, this was going to take a while, "Not even moving."
Echo noticed hers and Keri's communicators blinking and checked with Aniesha that no one else's was. She grabbed her sister's attention and made their way out the door, the droning voiceover following them out, "If you've ever heard the phrase 'Playing possum', it means playing dead."
They made their way downstairs to Frank, the two of them greeted him and Keri asked, "What's up?"
He looked grim, "I didn't call you." he gestured over to Stella, who they had not noticed until then,
"Girls. Have a seat," They sat next to each other and Stella took a chair opposite them. She went to start talking but noticed the cuts on Echo's cheekbones, arms and around her eyes, "What on earth happened Echo?"
"My parents got drunk, dad chucked a glass at me, it missed, I got kicked out and Keri came with. I live with Frank now." She shrugged, not particularly bothered with the situation. Stella decided to dismiss it,
"Okay, if there's no issue. . ." she paused and Keri asked if they were in trouble,
"I've been monitoring your development and I'm worried." The girls started at the woman's words,
"I saved the day though the other week at the embassy," Keri argued weakly,
"And I know that I have corrected more mistakes or prevented possible ones than I have made, most of which are injuries caused by my anger." Echo objected,
Stella nodded to Echo and turned directly to Keri, "From what I hear, your success at the embassy was a rare one. A few days before, you were late for the factory mission, because, and I quote, 'you got chatting'."
"I did say sorry." The irresponsible girl pointed out. Stella remained impassive,
"While stalking a rogue nuclear scientist, your phone began buzzing, catching the man's attention and jeopardizing the whole operation,"
"That wasn't my fault. Trina knows she's meant to text first and at least it wasn't outright ringing."
"Aniesha was temporarily held hostage as a result and you're lucky she wasn't hurt. I have 16 serious incidences, including 5 of missed training."
Echo stared at her sister, "When did this happen?"
"While you were recovering. But I don't see the problem, I learn really fast." She sulked as Echo huffed.
"It makes you a lazy student regardless of whether you show up or not." Stella told her plainly, Echo got confused,
"I don't see why I'm here, I doubt it's for moral support although I will always willingly do that."
Frank came over, "Stella, we've got a situation."
"One moment, Frank." She addressed Keri again, "Lack of focus in this business can get your friends killed. I need you 100 percent here, or not at all."
Echo looked up sharply as Stella addressed her, "You have a different problem, anywhere you go, your main focus is always your friends safety and monitoring how responsible they are."
"But you just said- I don't see-" She struggled to express how hypocritical she was being,
"There is a fine line that you girls aren't seeing. You need to put your missions in priority, then your friends and social lives have to stay entirely separate from this line of work. Your anger does you no favors too, you both need to relax and refocus, or you could jeopardize something you care about."
They sat in silence, Keri half-heartedly stroking Flopsy, Echo leaning against her sister's chair, Stella working without betraying even a hint that what they had just discussed was bothering her all while Frank laid out five different masquerade masks with ribbons or headbands. There was a silver mask with glittery patterns on it attached to a headband, a Bronze mask that curved up on one side and had black detailing also on a headband, a blue mask with bronze piping on a string, a pure black mask with thin golden lines that would be tied with strings and a feminine mask which looked like black, lace like, metal accented with gems and a mireille style. Three minutes later the other three spies walked in, Frank dove into the mission, "Samantha Stiletto will secretly enter the country today to take part in the Shadow Games."
Echo and Keri did not stir, they had not known what the mission was about before hand, they were simply waiting to be shocked out of their state of numbness,
"The Spectre?" Tom asked incredulously, "But she's been in M.I.9's most wanted for years. She's deadly."
"That's why you'll be wearing masks when you arrest her." Frank indicated the masks, "If she escapes, we don't want her knowing who you are."
Aniesha walked over to her two redheaded friends. She knelt by Echo's side and placed a hand on her shoulder and Keri's knee, "Are you both okay?" they murmured an assurance that they were and Echo got up with Neesh.
"I'll send these co-ordinates," Frank put them on the board, "Of her drop point, to your spypods."
"Great." Dan said, "Let's go!" They made to leave but were interrupted,
"Wait!" Echo called, "Those co-ordinates indicate that the Spectre will be landing in farmland, right?"
Frank shrugged impatiently, "Yeah? And?"
"Sorry, Keri, you'll have to stay behind, your hay fever is worse than usual and it skyrockets we have either been crying or on the verge of tears." Echo said, looking guiltily at her sister, "I'd rather you're out of the fighting anyway, but that could be a massive danger to the mission too." Stella looked at her approvingly and she felt slightly sick, she was angry with someone who was currently proud of her.
"Echo's right, Keri, you need to stay behind, if not for you then for the mission." Frank agreed and Echo actually did throw up in her mouth a little then,
"Besides," she managed to choke out, "You almost forgot the masks, dumbasses."
Dan picked up the black and gold mask, Tom chose the blue and bronze one, Aniesha picked the bronze and black headband-mask and Echo, feigning happiness as not to bother her friends, held the gold, jeweled mask against her face before replacing it with the silver one. She mocked indecision before tying the gold one around her face. They all walked over to the elevator, smiling mutely. Something felt off to all of them, but not one could decide what was making them slightly uncomfortable.
As they walked towards the drop point, the spies saw a dot in the distance that they identified as Spectre's plane. They planned as they walked and soon, Echo suggested the plan they ended up selecting.
"Dan and I are the best fighters, if we hide together and draw her attention in a confusing way before revealing ourselves, then as she's preparing to fight, one of you can come up from behind and use a tension pinch to knock her out. If that doesn't work then we have three decent fighters along with a bunch of gadgets the Tech-boy can chuck at her." Everyone laughed a little as the plane become recognizable as a plane,
"I vote for Echo's plan." Tom said,
"Great, Dan and I will hide behind some of the hay bales towards the forest line and I'll draw her attention." Echo finalized,
"How are you planning to get her attention?" Aniesha asked her,
"By humming a particularly ominous tune." She said with a straight face. Tom cracked up and the other two stared at her,
"What?" Aniesha asked incredulously,
"I'm a loud hummer!" She argued,
"She is," Tom cackled, "I had to put up with it for three weeks."
Dan looked at her, wide eyed, "You're crazy." he decided.
She blew a whisp of hair that was in her face in an attempt to send it back over to where the rest of her hair flowed behind her but it stubbornly remained, "You love it." was all she said as they arrived at the landing point.
They got into position and waited. 5 minutes passed and they heard the plane pass overhead, they didn't dare look up in case the movement drew Spectre's attention. They waited and heard a thump, a rustling, a click and a thud. Spectre had landed.
Echo began to hum the annoying melody from that new Equestria girls movie that Daphne had been obsessed with. She stopped sharply after doing it once and waited, the versatile girl looked towards Dan and they made eye contact. CRACK! Spectre had attacked the scarecrow and broken it in two. Echo nodded and the two fighters stood up and faced her. They stepped out from behind the hay bales in fighting stances and watched Spectre stalking towards them like a lioness. They were a foot apart, Spectre was 3 meters away. She was two meters away. She was 2 feet away.
Ow! Before Echo could react, Spectre had pulled the Rio Salute out on her and she was clutching her lower ribs. It felt as though Spectre had attempted to fracture them and the only reason she hadn't was the fact that they had been broken before and grew back stronger. Dan looked between her and Spectre and angrily went to punch her only to falter as the assassin fell, unconscious into Tom's arms. They waited a few seconds for Echo to steady herself and then began to carry the Spectre away,
"You guys go on," She said to her friends, backing away, "I need a minute. I'll grab the parachute too, wouldn't want to leave evidence behind." Her friends looked they wanted to protest, but she began walking back and they needed to get the unconscious criminal to an M.I.9 holding cell.
They walked off and Echo leant against one of the hay bales, staring bitterly at the ground. Too angry? Caring too much for my friends wellbeing? She could understand the first one being a problem but being told that doing something natural was threatening her job? That made her even angrier.
"Greetings mighty Spectre," A modified voice rang out ahead of her, the brooding girl's eyes snapped up to see three Scapula agents who had snuck up to her without her taking notice, "We are so thrilled to have you here!"
She quickly used the one self preservation tactic that she could think of as she tried to analyze her options, she changed her posture to match the Spectre's as best she could from what little time she had interacted with the assassin and began to look predatory while actually working on an escape as best she could with a blank and emotion clouded mind. She was a major target for KORPS, so she could play along and potentially be unveiled but likely be hurt in the process, or she could fight now and have an even higher chance of being unveiled with unknown odds about her potential capture. She didn't have time to form a conclusion as the announcer style voice continued,
"Are you ready to play?" In her confused state she did her default, agree with everything and hope no one questions her, she internally cursed herself as soon as she realized what she had signed herself up for, "Excellent! We go live in one hour. If you'll accompany these gentlemen, we can get this show on the road."
She was taken by the arms by the two brutes who weren't holding that massive speaker and they began to guide her away. Her feet moved for her and the only thing she managed to do to help herself, was drop her spypod as she passed the parachute, one of her only pieces of equipment that would identify her as M.I.9 but would also let her friends know that something was wrong. She never lost anything, she was great at remembering important details like that.
Echo somehow found herself in an unmonitored cage before she thought about the communicator in her pocket. She pulled it out and stared at it as though it was her savior. . . until she noticed the metal casing of the rubber and the eraser itself had been forced off the pencil, likely by the actual Spectre's jab at her ribs where her oh so inconveniently placed pocket had been containing her com at the time. She did not delude herself that she would be able to fix it with a chunky hair clip and her hands so she settled for staring down the door from the far corner. The voice of the showman/announcer rang out, "Contestants, prepare for battle! The Shadow Games are about to begin!"
Dan jogged back over to where Echo had said she would be and looked around. She was no where in sight, that was odd. Even when Echo felt out of sorts she never disappeared because she knew how worried her friends could be. He began to search the bales and the tree line for her, then he walked over to the parachute where he spotted a spypod. Echo's spypod. He lifted up his communicator and tried to call her, there was no answer, her com didn't even come up as an option. He called the others,
"Echo's been taken!"
"It must be KORPS," Tom insisted, "I mean they've been looking for her for months."
"They'll be wiring her up to that mind transfer machine right now." Aniesha borderline shrieked. She was hysterical, one of her best friends was missing and presumably about to lose her body.
"They must have been there to meet the Spectre for the Shadow Games. Maybe that's where Echo was taken." Dan ground out, guilt lacing his voice. If people could see his thoughts, various versions of 'why didn't I stay with her?' and 'how could I have let this happen?'
"What are the shadow games?" Keri asked, hoping for something to help her understand and calm down,
"You know who SCAPULA are?" Stella checked, Keri nodded and Aniesha rattled off an explanation in her anxiety, "The Shadow Games are SCAPULA's way of finding a new leader. The four top assassins in the world fight it out and the winner becomes the new Shadow Master."
Dan, who resorted to anger and investigation when someone he cared about was in danger did what he felt he could. He asked questions like a black and white movie detective, "It's weird. The footprints show there were only three of them. She could easily have taken them but there weren't even scuff marks on the ground. She didn't even fight back. Why?"
"Because her life is going to shit and she spends every waking moment focused on hiding her panic." Keri said blandly while she and Frank glared at Stella.
"What do you mean? And what are those looks for?" Aniesha said in a voice full of suspicion, accusation and desperation.
Frank stared his ex-girlfriend down, "It was probably the worst time."
Stella looked up guiltily, "There's concern that Echo-"
"And me," Keri interrupted, "Make no mistake, we're both in the same boat but she's taking it worse."
"That the girls may not be agent material." Stella finished.
"And you told her. Didn't you?" The redheads' best friend demanded,
"Yep. She told us," Keri laughed bitterly, "Right after she got kicked out of the house. I went with her and the only thing holding her together is you guys. And now she is terrified that she might lose that. We might be different but we are near identical when it comes to family. She'll have gone into default mode and tried to disguise herself as Stiletto."
Her friends looked surprised and honored that they were considered family but Tom refocused on work the quickest. He mercifully broke the silence before their guilt could consume them,
"I found something." He pushed a link onto the main screen and they began to watch.
"It's the greatest show on earth! Let's get ready for the Shadow Games!"
"They televise it?" Aniesha asked, with an incredulity she could not quite describe.
"Only on a secure channel. It's almost impossible to hack." Tom said, sounding like he regretted doing so.
"First up, the Melbourne Monster. Careful, or he'll take you down under! Ha-ha-hm. He's got quite the temper you know."
"Is this a joke?" Aniesha shrieked.
"It is said that he can walk through solid walls and grind bones to dust."
"Funny," Tom said, sarcasm bordering on Echo's standards dripping off his tongue as he said, "He's got such a kind face."
"Next, Mrs Deadman, the slayer who will really stitch you up. With these needles, she'll knit you a nightmare. She may look friendly, but no, no. Look out, mister, she's" Mrs Deadman threw the saucer of her tea cup like a shuriken, It lodged itself in his eyes, "Oh-oh-oh! Bye-Bye!"
"Who actually watches this stuff," Aniesha asked, sure whoever did would be clinically insane.
"Top KORPS officers and members of gives them a chance to see who they might be working with." Frank answered her,
"So psychopaths and bloodthirsty brutes." The worried girl summed up.
"Are you listening? I said 'Are you listening?!' We are in the presence of greatness. The voice of destruction himself, Thalamus!"
"~You~will~lose~"
The man's voice washed over them, even through the screen, they felt as though they had fought a war and were the only member of their army to survive. For a man who resembled a middle aged dad obsessed with Mexican culture, the spies could see just how deadly and powerful he could be.
"~My~voice~will~be~the~last~thing~that~you~will~ever~hear~"
"Like Neesh said. It's just a reality show for megalomaniacs and assassins." Dan sniped.
"And, finally, the lighting slayer, the Spectre, Samantha Stiletto!"
Everyone's eyes widened, "That's Echo." Dan growled menacingly,
"What's she doing there?"
"Oh she is one of my favorites."
As Echo stalked around the cage, evading the guards trying to get her out of there, she could easily have passed for a darker but no less vibrant haired Spectre. Only her friends recognized the disguised tension in her posture, the cuts on her cheeks and the fear in her eyes.
"Like I said. She will have been misidentified and in her distracted state she played along before she could think of an escape plan." Keri said, staring pitifully at her sister's cleverly disguised, but nonetheless terrified form.
"We definitely got lucky. They truly believe she is the Spectre." Stella tried to find a positive.
''Lucky?!" Aniesha got angrier than she had ever been at Stella, "How is she going to fight the best assassins in the world when you've told her she isn't fit to fight them?"
"Four assassins. Only one will become. . . The Shadow Master!"
"Where is this place?" Dan demanded, feeling very short at the moment due to the danger this amazing girl that he cared about so, so much, was in.
"They keep the location a secret." Frank grunted.
"Only one will survive."
Stella typed some the computer, "There's nothing on the M.I.9 database."
"It could be the best Shadow Games since Alexis Von Hades destroyed all three of his opponents, during the warm up!"
''We have to stop this." Dan tried to stop himself from shaking. "There must be someone who knows where this place is."
Aniesha turned around and spoke to Dan directly at first to try to placate him, "They just said Von Hades won the Shadow Games. We could ask him"
Keri looked up in shock at the suggestion while Tom agreed, " Yeah, Maybe he'll feel he owes us."
"No one's seen or heard of the ex-Shadow Master since you broke him out of prison last year." Frank shot down the idea,
"Wait, you broke someone out of prison? Hold up, Von Hades was sent to prison?" Keri stared at her friends in newly regained curiosity and hope, "He used to train Lib, Ec and I sometimes. We were told he died."
Everyone looked surprised at that revelation. Stella said something that made everyone a little more angry with her, "What Frank said's not strictly true anyway."
All eyes snapped towards her.
"Hey?!"
"It's classified." She said in a weak attempt to rebuke the man who was acting like a very protective father. It didn't work,
"Oh- Stella, come on!"
She had a minute internal battle, "I'll send the address to your spypods." Keri jumped up with renewed hope.
"I'll come too," Tom said, this truly highlighted just how important Echo was to the team and how serious the mission was, "If he's not there I'll hack into his computer, find out where he's gone."
''Spies," Stella called, "Bring her back. Please."
The doors shut and the spies ascended.
Echo was straining on the weird clamp device her hand was stuck in. Not only did it give her bad memories, she needed to run. One look at the monster told her that she could not beat him with brute force. She needed to evade him, surprise him and beat him with his own flaws.
The announcer's voice echoed overhead, "Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Release the clamps!"
She felt the metal encasing her fist pull away and she booked it into the dust clouds as fast as she could. She could not hear a word the announcer said over the pounding of her heart and the rushing in her ears. She stayed as quick as she was fast and found herself in a hazy area where she could see nothing around her. She was crouched down and heard the pants and grunts of the monster. She squinted at nothing, trying to decipher her surroundings and noticed something. There were bars mounted on the wall; she looked up and saw a massive railing lining an unused viewing platform that stretched around three of the walls. The grunts seemed to be getting quieter but she couldn't be sure. She didn't hesitate. Echo grabbed on to the sixth rung and hoisted herself up with little to no problem. She let out a small hiss when she registered how cold the metal was and internally cursed when she realized that the monster had gone quiet trying to locate her. He began to grunt and she scuttled up the ladder and hung like a spider from the rail. She evaded him for another minute and managed to find her way behind him.
She jumped. She landed behind him with a small noise and he span around quickly, overbalancing from moving so fast. She tried to kick him in the shoulder but he grabbed her ankle and pulled. She slipped and landed, her fabric covered ankle still in his grip. She gained control over her upper body and folded herself over. She never thought she would be so thankful that her clothes were loose and flexible; she latched onto the monsters other arm with one of her , much stronger than they appear, hands and yanked on the fabric of her trouser leg cuff. The durable material lifted the monster's hand, who had been resting the aforementioned hand as heavily as he could on the leg rather than clutching it tightly. The hand lifted easily and she rolled away as quickly as she could. She wasn't quick enough.
It was like the two of them were dancing and she was his unwilling partner, he pulled her back into his grasp and lifted her up. He squeezed. She realized with jarring pain that he was using the Monster Constrictor. She had read about this move and knew just how soon she could pass out or die. She felt the pressure underneath her ribs increase and was forced to exhale. He was pushing her diaphragm up so that she couldn't replenish the oxygen in her lungs. She lifted her arms in an attempt to wriggle out from between him arms and accidentally latched her hand on his mustache. She took a chance. She yanked. The monster of a man bellowed and released her and she made a break for it, heaving and dropping the clump of hair as she went.
She took a minute to regain her breath and stalked away from the monster, who had been coming towards her. He did not notice her change in direction. Slowly she managed to get his attention under her terms and he began to stalk towards her in a way that was less intimidating than he realized, she feigned terror and found her way to a wall with a very loose support beam, she had checked earlier. He came towards her and she backed up until she was almost against the wall, he pulled back and braced himself to punch her with all his might. As he swung she ducked out, he stumbled and she did a jumping split. One foot hit his crotch and the other kicked out the support beam. As the piece of platform came crashing down she back flipped out of the way and watched as the monster was knocked unconscious under a pile of rubble.
Her sense of hearing came back just then as the announcer freaked out, "She knocks out the Melbourne Monster!" she shook slightly. She hadn't done anything that dangerous in a while, even while working as a spy, "I said all along if you remember, viewers, that she was my favourite and I knew that she would win. We did not see that coming."
"Maybe she can win this." Aniesha said with a (considerably less) tension filled shrug.
A menacing voice rang out,
"No." the friends stared about and subconsciously got into fighting stances, "She won't win, whoever she is."
"Where are you?" Aniesha demanded and the man stood up from his chair, pulling off the blanket and hood he had hidden under. Alexis Von Hades emerged and the spies relaxed ever so slightly,
"You were here the whole time?" Dan growled, they could have been at Echo's side by now but nooo!
Von Hades ignored him, "I have met the Spectre and this is not her. So who is this girl and why is she so important?" Tom went to say that they couldn't tell him when Von Hades spoke again, "Keri?"
"Lex." the tired redhead said thickly, her voice full of emotion from this trying day. She surged forward and hugged him, briefly but tightly, he hugged her back.
"If you're here then I can safely guess that that," He gestured to the screen, "Is Hope."
"She doesn't go by Hope, she-" Keri said but was disrupted by Tom,
"I'm not sure we can tell you."
"Well, I'll find out if spitfire wins." He shrugged.
"What do you mean? About finding out and the spitfire thing." Aniesha questioned,
"SCAPULA must know who leads them. The winner must show their face. She'll easily be identified as H.0.P.3 and knowing her spitfire attitude, she'll indignantly tell her captors her name."
"Right, so if she loses, she gets pummeled and if she wins. . ." Keri trailed off.
Alexis looked at her pityingly, "If she wins then KORPS will find her and that'll be worse."
"We need your help." was all Tom said,
"Do you now?" He paused, Von Hades looked contemplative and Dan thought he saw a look of guilt flash across the assassin's face momentarily before he asked, "What can I do?"
Echo found herself back in her god-forsaken cage and was beginning to panic. How was she supposed to escape? She had now way to tell anyone where she was even if she did know. She was probably in one of the worst possible places she could have been with the warrant that KORPS had placed over her head. And to top it all off she didn't know if she could survive another fight. She was still recovering from that constrictor move. Echo did the only thing she could. She sunk to the floor and let the tears she had been holding back fall silently down her metal covered cheeks.
"Frank, we're on our way to the Shadow Games." Keri said over the comms,
"Von Hades said he'd help us out." Aniesha said, her anxiety and apprehension building up again.
Frank and Stella stared at the mission GPS and Stella spoke as she nervously contorted her hand, "This is all my fault."
Frank looked as though he desperately wanted to agree with her for a few seconds but he swallowed his pride and parental emotions for a minute. Guilt took their place, "Don't blame yourself. I hired her, I put her in danger."
Stella looked up at him and they made eye contact. She lightly shook her head,
"We're both to blame."
Dan, Tom, Keri and Aniesha all skulked through the hallway, passing knocked out guards as they went and marveling at just how intensely Von Hades seemed to be doing his job.
"What did Von Hades do to those guards? I mean, wow." Tom said, impressed.
Dan was not letting anything go, "Is no one else worried about why he agreed to help us? I mean, you know it's not because he likes us, right?" he gestured to Tom, Aniesha and himself. A guard went flying into a wall and Von Hades signaled the all clear. Keri whispered as she walked,
"Lex always taught us that your biggest weakness is caring for someone. He was always our kindest instructor even though he wasn't kind by nature." The spies lapsed into silence apart from the communications Aniesha and Frank maintained.
"Frank, we're here." She updated the worried man,
"Be careful. There's lots of SCAPULA agents in there." He warned them.
Stella joined the conversation, "We're sending in two full M.I.9 tactical units, plus aerial assault."
"No," Aniesha disagreed, "Just us. If we start a firefight Echo could get hurt."
"Alexis has a plan and he wouldn't gamble Echo's life if he wasn't completely sure it would work. He cares about her, he just isn't very emotional when surrounded by others." Keri said.
"But it's M.I.9 protocol-"
"Let them do it Stella." Frank argued with clenched teeth, "You didn't trust me on the girls. Trust me on this." He paused once more and with ne objection from Stella, continued, "Good luck agents."
"Captains of KORPS, assassins of scapula. It is now time for the final of. . . The Shadow Games!"
Echo stood, stoically as the deranged voice of the announcer rang in her ears,
"And let me introduce you to our two finalists, the Spectre!"
A spotlight flashed in the bitter girls eyes and her pupils didn't even constrict. That wasn't a coincidence; the only times Echo didn't have control of her body's natural responses was when she was completely relaxed or in catatonic-esque shock.
"Thalamus!"
She could almost imagine the cheers from the deranged people she found herself entertaining at the risk of her life. The countdown began.
"5! 4! 3! 2! 1! Release the clamps!"
The spy's hand was freed and she stood in an offensive position, she moved only two steps forward. To the untrained eye, she was almost completely relaxed; most would believe she thought of Thalamus as no great threat. The man finally began to progress towards her and she tensed slightly as she went to meet him. Neither one gave off any indication of their plan of attack when suddenly, Thalamus burst into movement, aiming to kick her side.
Reacting quickly, Echo jumped and twisted in midair, landing just next to where she had been, poised just the same as she was before. Once again her ears tuned out the madman, commentating her gladiator match and chose to focus in on the opponent, who, this time, was directly in front of her. The man faced away from her, stumbling very slightly and she went to kick him as he did, her. Just as she made to hit his knee, he swerved out of the way and caught her leg; he pulled her forward by the extremity in his grip and she hopped to avoid overbalancing but he kicked her other knee and the teen collapsed.
She struggled up to her feet and he knocked his hand into the side of her head, sending her careening back to the floor. She caught herself on her hands and rolled a short distance away. As she came at him with shocking grace, considering her condition, a sharp pain flared in her right side, sending Echo staggering towards the wall and grabbing at the wire loops in the door.
A chilling and slimy voice bounced over the room,
"~It~is~hard~to~know~that~you~will~fail"
That small voice in the corner of her brain seemed to grow stronger as it agreed with Thalamus' words.
"~And~when~you~have~failed~"
Echo's head pounded with Stella's words as the assassin continued, "~What~is~to~stop~you~from~failing~again~
~and~AGAIN~?"
All of the assurances Frank and her friends and teachers had filled her head with, flew out of her mind as she found her attention drawn to memories of her parents belittling her, of Stella saying she was wrong to fight for what and who she loved, of KORPS stripping away all power she had to stop her sisters and her from getting hurt. It was painful. This was painful, and Echo felt like she was drowning.
"~Give~up~and~I~promise~you~a~quick~and~relatively~painless~defeat.~"
But this wasn't new to her. Echo knew pain and she knew that, while she couldn't escape from it now, it was temporary. So, as the redhead collapsed against the door, she let herself relax; and her hearing came back enough to hear:
"Echo. . . Echo, can you hear me?" It was quiet, but Keri was speaking to her from the other side of the door. Her sister was here, she woke up enough from her trance to start thinking. Hoping that the Spectre was American like her memory told her, Echo put on an accent and called out,
"Help, Please. . . help."
As Thalamus continued to taunt her with his hypnotic drawl, assuming that she was speaking to him as he could see no one else. Aniesha spoke next, pulling her further back into her own mind,
"Echo, we have a plan - but for it to work, you'll have to lose"
The teenager shook and shrank in on herself, keeping her guise as a cowering mess, "You're going to kill me." The assassin in front of her agreed, and mockingly offered her a choice.
"Not if you submit-" Aniesha insisted, growing louder.
"Be quiet," Echo begged, "Please, just be quiet." Thalamus did not listen but Aniesha did and the man's taunts faded into background noise as her female companions continued to explain to her; cautious of her warning.
Keri was whispering, "Not if you submit Ec, the second your match is over le-someone will challenge Thalamus." The redhead heard Dan's stressed cynicism and broke free of the charmspeaker's spell, "We'll get you out while their fighting."
Echo gave no indication that she had heard them but made to stand up when Aniesha said just the wrong thing.
"You got no choice, you can't beat him. You're not up to it."
Anger, pure undiluted hatred surged through her. Not at her friends, not even at her opponent; but at the words. Can't. No choice. Not up to it. Her frame still shook as the spy, the fighter, the killer, stood up; but she was not shaking with pain. The girl was so irate and tormented that she could not still her body,
"~Face~it~Spectre~" Thalamus taunted, "You~are~just~not~up~to- Agh!" The boastful man found his punch caught, completely, in the young girls left hand, his other hand wrenched forward in her right; and himself thrown over her head and sprawled on the floor, on his back.
The tortured soul let him stand up and with a choked laugh began to speak, "The amount of times I've been told I'm not up to it is laughable. You're the third today" She kicked off of his chest and twisted, fluidly back upright.
"I think that I've finally had enough."
He stalked, clumsily up to her and began to speak roughly; attempting and failing to use the voice, "You- you~have no skills to-" He was cut off once more by a move that had been used on Echo only hours before. Thalamus found his ribs fractured by a fucking Rio Salute. As he tried to turn and run, the spy launched herself onto his shoulders and he found himself being suffocated by the as-seen-on-screen thigh grips of death by Black Widow. As his movements began to lull she kicked off of him and swept his feet out from underneath him. The other spies and viewers heard a sickening crunch while Echo heard nothing. The blood in her head rushing to fast for anything but her own internal monologue to penetrate her ears.
He lunged wildly and missed Echo entirely as she swept around and clasped her arms around his ribcage tightly. She squeezed and felt the bones splinter under her grip as she showed someone else how it felt to experience the monster constrictor. Thalamus collapsed on the floor, coughing up blood, his hands barely supporting his weight.
"~How~does~it~feel?~" She spat in his face, her own grief lining the hypnotic tone, "~To~be~powerless?~"
His only response was to cough more blood onto the floor as he stared, wide eyed up at her.
"~There's~no~pretty~voice~to~hide~behind~now!~"
He groaned and tried to move.
"~Submit!~"
Thalamus screamed and pulled his head towards his hands. She punched him square in the face and he fell to the ground as blood seeped from his nose and the back of his head.
Her hearing came flooding back once more as the announcer almost literally lost his shit.
"THALAMUS IS DOWN! I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT I AM SEEING! THE GREATEST FIGHT OF ALL TIME! SPECTRE WINS! SPECTRE WINS! ONE OF OUR MOST BRUTAL CONTESTANTS OF OUR HISTORY! HER OPPONENTS LEFT FOR DEAD! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THE BRUTAL- THE SAVAGE. . . SPECTRE!"
Lights were blaring and suddenly the door opened and two KORPS thugs walked in. Tom's horrified voice whispered to her, "You were supposed to lose. You're in danger now. We all are." He and who you assumed was Dan picked up the groaning and whimpering body in front of her took him outside before returning to 'clean up' the blood. Other agents began to walk in and attempt to remove her mask when suddenly-
"Wait!"
Alexis Von Hades jumped into the room and walked up to the camera, "I claim the right of an ex-shadow master to fight for my own title."
Two of the agents in the room made to stop Von Hades from advancing on her but he incapacitated them immediately. Echo took note; Tom and Dan were down, Keri couldn't come out of hiding and Aniesha had to hold her back. Well, if Alexis actually started fighting her then she was fucked.
"Rules?" He asked in response to something one of the boys had said, "This is SCAPULA. Rules are made by the victor."
He and Echo began circling each other, both boasting bravado.
"This really is the best Shadow Games ever. I will allow the challenge! I WILL ALLOW THE CHALLENGE!"
Echo said little, to scared for what may come out of her mouth. Of what did come out of her mouth only boasted of the inevitability if her victory, saying that every second she fought him was a second closer to understanding how to beat him. He gave her a pitying laugh as her attacks came to no fruition. She made for a cheap shot - a kick in the private area; but he only sidestepped, grabbed on of her clenched fists and indicated she should act like he flipped her on her back. She rolled of the way of a very fake punch as he began to speak.
"Then learn this: Learn when to speak, and when to fight." He gave her a theatrical shove into the door and she stumbled. She went for a series of kicks and punches he deflected easily and they bounced off of one another,
"Your learning is of no use here," he continued in a tone she had to fight not to mock like she had so many times before, "In 25 years, I've never used the same move twice."
He threw her across the room and she landed in a strong fighting stance, "Each attack is an invention. Each battle is a new martial art."
They readied in front if each other and Echo took her mentors words to heart.
"You have learned much today. Now learn this. Learn. . ." he gave he a slight but significant look and nod, "When to die."
She launched to jump into a kick behind him but he grabbed her, threw her to the ground; and as she stood up, she felt a pressure knock her down again.
Echo did not rise.
Dan stirred at the sound of a door slamming open and almost instantly his memories came flooding in. Echo. The fight. Von Hades continuing the plan. Dan sprang up as Keri and Aniesha ran into the room and collapsed next to Echo's body. "Echo!" The girl's sister clutched at the fallen girls body.
"We couldn't save her." Dan stated, shocked and horrified at the outcome of the days events.
"Why would he do this? WHY WOULD HE DO THIS! I thought he cared about us- about her?" Keri sobbed
"You were right not to trust Von Hades, Dan." Aniesha said, her voice thick with emotion, "I'm so sorry."
"I think you'll find," Echo said with a small smile, "Dan wasn't right to distrust him." The girl twisted and pushed herself up to rest on her forearms, only to fall as her sister tackled her in a hug.
"ECHO! You, bitch, why wouldn't you tell us sooner?" She cried into the responsible sister's arms.
"I wanted to see if you'd cry for me," she muttered coyly, but at Tom's unimpressed look she continued, "Not really, I couldn't be sure there were no KORPS agents hanging around until you guys came out of hiding."
"How?"
Echo smiled, giddy at her success, "He could always say so much with the slightest change in expression. Besides; that monologue was so ridiculous and over the top. He was clearly trying to give me another 'lesson'. He said to play dead." she shrugged.
Dan stared at her in awe, "Where did you learn to play dead like that?"
"Play dead? Please," She flipped her ponytail over her shoulder, "I play possum." everyone grinned at her joke and she let out one last quip, "Now has anyone got any eye drops? I haven't blinked in a fucking hour."
Echo pulled out of Frank's tight embrace and gave a little skip as she joined her sister's side.
"Team," He addressed them, "You did a good job."
Aniesha, humble as ever, shifted some of the congratulations elsewhere, "It was mostly Echo; besides, we couldn't have done it without the Shadow Master."
"Although, him becoming the new boss of Scapula wasn't part of the plan." Dan pointed out.
"Not our plan," Tom disagreed, "I traced the tip-off that led us to the Spectre. It came from Von Hades."
Keri looked slightly uncomfortable, "You don't think he planned all this to get his old job back?"
"My getting captured probably wasn't a part of his plan." Echo said, "He probably waited to see if Spectre turned up to the Shadow Games and modified his plan accordingly. His moral compass isn't completely off, even if he still works for an evil terror group."
Frank looked conflicted, "We've not heard the last of the Shadow Master."
"I still think he likes us," Aniesha indicated the redheads, "Or at least you two."
Stella shook her heard and laughed lightly, "Well done team" She made to leave but Echo intercepted her.
"Stella, what you said really influenced my actions today, and I'll admit I doubted myself" She laughed internally at the understatement of the century, "But today I took on and defeated two of the worlds greatest assassins to the point where I'm pretty sure they're out of the business and helped incapacitate another, before faking my own death on live TV. Not only am I still standing," she pulled Keri in for a side-hug, "But I have a new understanding of my priorities and this one managed to not compromise a mission despite watching her sister die. So we're going to stay, and you are going to let us.
~You~know~that~M.I.9~will~be~better~with~us~fighting~for~them~
Okay?"
"Okay." Stella went to walk off but paused just outside the elevator, "Did you, just use the voice on me?"
But the girls were already walking over to their friends, hand in hand and giggling; and as she passed Frank, she accepted a massive high five.
The four spies walked through the surprisingly empty school corridors but were too tired to question it. That was, until:
"Captains of Saint Hearts. Welcome to the Saint Hearts Games. Introducing the first round match - the King against the Flatenator!"
The deputy and head of the school jumped out of nowhere looking like absolutely ridiculous, play gladiators.
"Ugh! I can't look."
"Okay," Tom groaned, "I think I know what might've happened."
Mrs- The King charged with a small shriek and Mr Flatley had no hesitation in fleeing from the halls of the battleground. The spies took great joy in reaping the rare benefits of one of their mistakes.
Hi, sorry this took so damn long. At least the Chapter is like three times as long for compensation. I hope I will continue writing for now but honestly I am so damn inconsistent that you may not get anything for a year. Oh well
xoxo- GossipGirl