“Ah, I guess that makes sense. You were always a hoarder, like with those weird old games.”
“Super Nintendo games are not-” Peter stopped himself from shouting more, instead pinching the bridge of his nose as the same headache that had been forming over the past hour came back. He hadn’t called her to start old fights after all. No, he called for answers. “Look, the important thing is that I have a pack of girls in the other room and I was told that supposedly you were the reason why, so… I guess I kind of wanted to know why.”
“You actually took them? I mean, that was what I had hoped for, but I was still worried that the assholes running the program would have scared you off. Still, I am happy to hear that you did.”
“That doesn’t answer-”
Ding dong.
Peter’s eye twitched at first at the sound, before they opened wide and he held the phone back to his ear. “Wait one second, I have to go pay for the pizza.”
“You bought pizza?”
“Well, yeah. I love pizzas and movies, and after the morning I’ve had, I need both right now.”
“What about the girls?”
“What? Are they allergic to pizza and Disney? Then again, they didn’t even know about our evil lord of monopolies and copyright, so maybe they are. Can you actually believe that? I mean, I know that whatever guys trained them were evil, but to deny kids Disney? That’s a whole new level of cruel that I must remedy!”
And with that, he heard a click on the other end. A second later, just as he got almost anytime he’d used to ask her why she was friends with him, he got a text saying, ‘If you really think about it, I think you could figure out why I trusted you with this, idiot.’ It was almost heartwarming in its nostalgia for him, at least if it wasn’t so infuriating in the fact that it meant he wasn’t going to be getting the answer he had hoped for.
Still, at least that left him open to get the pizza that was waiting for him, and he hummed to himself as he pocketed his cellphone. He could almost taste the pepperoni already and salivated at the thought of getting to munch down on it. After all, he hadn’t gotten pizza in a week, and that in and of itself was a crime! A crime he would now fix.
Peter stepped away from the dining room table and headed for the front door. That was something he had always liked about the house, even from when he was a kid. The front door was almost perfectly centered in the house, with the stairs being directly across from it, and the living room on the other side of it then the dining room. The only part of the house he couldn’t get to quickly from there was the kitchen, but as he didn’t really cook all that much, it wasn’t much of a problem. It also meant that he kept his wallet near the door usually, just for times like this.
So, with a flick of the wrist popping up his wallet, he swung the door open to show the same twenty something that had been working as his favorite place’s delivery driver for the past year. Supposedly he was in college or something, but Peter didn’t need him to have an excuse for working such a noble job. After all, without drivers like him, how would he get his pizza? Or, at least, without having to interrupt his games? “Hey John! How are you today?”
The boy on the other side grunted a little as he carefully put down the overburdened bag he was carrying, before opening the front and beginning to pull the pizzas out. “I’m fine, but I noticed you got a large order, even for you. Are you having a party or something?”
“Yes, you all have swords, now use them!”
Peter glanced over his shoulder at Wren’s harsh voice screaming at the movie and he smiled a little as he saw all four of the girls being seemingly enraptured by the movie. He had been really afraid they’d grow bored or something, but that didn’t seem to be the case. “I guess. It’s really just me and a bunch of friends watching some movies. If you weren’t working, I’d invite you to join.”
John only let out a disgruntled sigh, before gesturing to the pizzas on the ground. “Hey, think you can help me with these? Five extra larges are a bit of a pain, and that’s ignoring,” he said as he swung his other arm forward, which looked like it was likely losing circulation from the six two liters that were hanging in plastic bags from it, “these.”
“Oh, of course.” Peter bent over, humming to himself as he took in a deep whiff of the scent of cheese, marinara, and pepperoni. Not to mention the bread! “Wow, these had to just come out, didn’t they?”
“Yeah. We try to be pro-Ah!” John jumped as he straightened himself, having grabbed two pizzas out of the bag himself.
Peter’s eyes widened as he saw the two pizzas fly into the air, and he dropped his own as he stepped out of the house, holding his arms out to try to catch them. What he really succeeded in doing was crashing into John and sending them both to the ground. It was hard on both of them, but Peter only had one focus as he yelled out, “My pizza!”
And then a foot wrapped in black stepped out from the house, and two arms grabbed the boxes, which had miraculously managed to stay closed during the entire clash. The foot then turned to the two of them, but no voice came with it.
Or, at least, not from X. John on the other hand shouted, “Where the hell did she come from? And get the fuck off of me!”
Peter pushed himself off of the ground, stumbling before he fell back into the house as he was just trying to get himself free of the tangle of limbs that had become him and the delivery driver. He opened his mouth to apologize, but was beat by John who continued to shout. “God damnit! It’s only been three hours, and I’ve had to deal with an army of cats, someone stiffing me a tip, and I don’t need teleporting ghosts scaring the crap out of me!”
Peter paused for a moment as he took in the ghost remark, before looking up at the tall woman. She was indeed deathly pale, and her white hair didn’t help with it. If she just appeared, as she must have to have scared John, he could see the comparison. He however had a much better thought. “Remind me to put Snow White on sometime, alright X?”
“X? What kind of name is X?” John finally stopped his angry shouting at this point though as he better looked the girl up and down, his cheeks turning flushed with color as his eyes zoomed in on her outlined chest. “W-Wow. I can see why you’d compare her to a princess. Where’d you find a girl that’s this hot?”
For a moment, X’s eyes twitched, lowering themselves as John finished speaking, before righting themselves as Peter spoke back up. “Well, I wish I could say it had something to do with her name. After all, X does mark the spot for treasure usually, right?”
John frowned at the statement, especially as Wren screamed at the television again, before he extended the arm with the soda on it towards Peter. “Take these, and the bill. Your total is a eighty-four seventy-four.”
Peter nodded, not really caring about the tone of voice, or the fact that John and X were still staring at each other. He merely treated it as a guy needing to get along with his job, and he could get that. However, after crashing into him and scaring him, Peter made sure to leave him an extra large tip, just to make up for it. “Here you go man. I hope your day gets better.”
John took the receipt from Peter and his face lifted a little as he looked at the final total and nodded to himself. “Yeah, you too, and you,” gesturing to X, “at least say something if you’re going to appear out of nowhere, alright?”
X didn’t even move as the door closed, she merely let her breath out as a faint pop, and then an almost inaudible thud came from just beyond the door. Her eyes were the only thing that tracked what just happened, focusing on where she knew the body would have fallen. Where the thing would have died. Just as every-
“By the way, if you’re not enjoying the movie, I can show you your room.”
X turned her head back to Peter, blinking for a moment as she took in the offer. In fact, as she kept doing, she looked the man over again. He was thin, though not with muscle or anything like that. Perhaps malnutrition? She didn’t know. His messy hair and a faint scent implied bad hygiene, but she didn’t r
eally care about that.
What mattered was that goofy grin on his face.
“Oh, and don’t worry, because I gave you your own room. I can’t do that for all of you, but I don’t want you all on top of each other either. I just wish I had more time to decide where everyone should go, but today has been all about beggars and choosers I guess. Speaking of which,” Peter said as he quickly put his pizzas, and one of X’s, onto the table in the dining room, “that’s yours, entirely, whether you like it or not! Well, actually, if you don’t like it, I will gladly eat it.”
X blinked again, before looking down at the cardboard box in her hands. She hadn’t actually taken into account what this might be, but she could feel the warmth within, and from his words it was some sort of food. How long had it been since she’d had warm food? How long had it been…
Peter tilted his head as X hung her head down, and brought his own hand onto her box, drumming his fingers on the cardboard. In response, the pressure in the air suddenly got much more intense, and Peter’s body froze as every joint in his hand popped.
And then, nothing. Peter was fine as X brought her head back up, her expression as blank as it normally was while Peter held his hand in front of his face. “Huh. That actually felt kind of nice! Can you do that for my neck? It’s been stiff from way too many years of gaming, and I swear if I don’t do something about it it’ll freeze in,” Peter said before hunching over, with his neck extended forward while his face put on as pained of an expression as he could, “like this!”
X merely stared at him as nothing except Aladdin in the background filled the silence.
“Um, well,” Peter said as he stood back up and coughed, “like I said, if you want some time to yourself, I can show you your room. What do you think?”
X nodded back at him, before she stepped away from the stairs to make room for Peter to slip ahead of her. The top floor was a bit more segmented then the downstairs, with the bathroom at the top of the stairs, a door to one bedroom directly to the left, and another right next to it on the wall facing back towards the front. To the right, there were two doors on the wall, before a third one that also faced back the way they came. A simple setup, and Peter stepped towards that last door first. “This is my room. I never lock it, and if you ever need anything, you just need to come in. Got it?”
X nodded, her eyes tracking him more than her head would lead one to believe as he moved to the next one, opening it up to show a mostly bare closet. “My parents kept linens and towels, and other boring things, in here and, well, we’ll all probably use this more now so you all don’t have to keep yours in your own closets if you don’t want to. However,” he said as he opened the final door on the right side, “this is the one you really want I imagine.”
The room was nothing special. It was a small bedroom, with room for a desk right next to the door, a small closet in the right corner, and a guest bed against the back wall. The wall was a pale white, worn down by time since it last got painted, and the rug was the same odd light brown that the rest of the house was kept in. Otherwise, it was empty, used as a guest room for Peter’s friends ever since his parents left.
And it was all X’s as she sat down on the bed. Peter even emphasized it by closing the door and then pushing in the knob. “That’s how you lock it, so no one can bother you. Otherwise, it’s all yours. Hell, we’ll probably need to go to the mall sometime soon to help you all get some nice decorations for your rooms. My bedroom and my old one are really the only two with anything in them. Oh, and there’s also clothes. Fuck, how much is that gonna cost?” Peter groaned as he tilted his head to the side.
X didn’t really react to it though as she lightly bounced herself on the bed, and her eyes went to the window in the room. It overlooked the back of the house, and right now let in the late afternoon sun through it. She raised a hand towards the square that it cast in the middle of the room, her hand casting a shadow through it as her eyes kept themselves glued on the window.
Peter followed her eyes, smiling a little as he strode across the room and tapped the curtains that kept some of the light out, leaving the room a bit dim. “If you’d like, I can open these. I normally like the dark, but from what it sounds like, you girls could use a bit more light. Or, are you,” he said as he crouched down, throwing his arm in front of him as if he had a cape, “creatures of the night?”
X shook her head, before her mouth twitched down slightly, and with her hands she gestured as if she herself was opening the curtains. Peter in response stayed hunched over, reaching up and groaning, “Yes, my mistress,” as he pulled open the curtains and let the light in. He then went towards the door and said, “Now, let me get you some soda, and then I can leave you to your peace.” and then stepped out.
And X stayed there, able to feel the pressure on herself ease for even just a moment as she sat in bed, staring at the small room that she could come and go from at any time she desired.
Evaluation
Wren stepped out of her room, her arms twitching as she came into the hallway. She got the first room on the left of the upstairs, which was almost an exact copy of the one across it, while Ovelia and Mary got the final bedroom together. Unfortunately, there had only been three beds, so Mary was sleeping on an air mattress, not that Wren cared. In fact, she’d actually had some trouble trying to get comfortable on whatever excuse for a bed she had. In fact, when she actually went to bed, she bet she’d find the floor more comfortable.
That would need to wait though. Right now it was time for a team meeting.
Wren strode in with all the confidence that her new position as team leader gave her. The fools in the government had seen it as a good idea to keep the girls in their groups as much as possible, so that would mean that they would have friends. Instead, it mostly meant that there was no need for wasted time in figuring out how they could work with one another. On the other hand, it did open up things like tonight, and the discussion they were about to have. If not for Ovelia and Mary, Wren would be act entirely autonomously right now. After all, while Quill and the scientists taught her team values, girls outside of her own would have been eliminated had they posed a problem or threat to her plans.
These were Ovelia and Mary though. Her scout and her assassin, while she was the soldier. Their support and leader was gone, dead fighting the bastards who raided their home, something that would have happened to Wren had a bitch not shocked her with a taser. She still didn’t know how to feel about that, as her training dictated it as good, but her instincts told her she could have made a difference. Could have kept her home instead of being put in this cushy hell.
She couldn’t dwell on the past though. Her teammates were waiting on her to start as they sat on their beds. Ovelia was hiding any discomfort she might have, and Mary looked possibly pleased to be able to lay back as she did. Of course she would, the undisciplined twit. With a scowl Wren lifted a foot, before a soft ringing of steel came through the air and she slammed her heel straight into the end of the air mattress.
Mary jumped back, her eyes glowing for a second before the strike came, and landed on Ovelia’s bed, despite having only the air mattress to have pushed back off of to give her the lift she needed. It wasn’t even hard though, not compared to many of their tests back in the institute. The real hard part was watching Wren lift her heel out of the gash she left in the floor, and straight through the hole she’d put in the mattress.
The red headed girl’s next words weren’t really surprising after that. “Don’t get too comfortable. We’re leaving soon.”
Ovelia raised an eyebrow at that, cupping her fingers under her chin as she leaned forward a little. “Oh? Do you think Peter is going to be that much of a problem?”
Wren smirked a little as she shook her head. “I just cracked his floor and he isn’t already in here, so no, he’s not the problem. In fact, I’m pretty sure he could kill himself almost as easily as we could finish him off.”
Mary frowned a little at
the words, before bringing her knees up to her chest and hugging them. She was technically the oldest of them, and both girls raised eyebrows at her action, forcing her to lower her legs again, just as they had only a decade ago. That didn’t stop her from talking though. “Isn’t that a strength though? He’s harmless, so we know we’re safe. That we can do what we want.”
“I would be inclined to agree with her. After all, it took the bare minimum of my affections to get him to already be trying to please me. If I had gone to his bedroom tonight, I imagine I’d already have him be nothing but putty in my hands. It would only be a detriment to all of us to have someone who’s more mentally fortified.”
Ovelia’s words were delivered with none of the warmth that had come with her introduction, which came as no surprise to either of the girls. It was simply who she actually was. They didn’t question her intent though, which only made Wren scowl more. “I do not wish to have anyone else though. It should only be the four of us.”
Mary and Ovelia glanced at each other for a moment, before Mary slowly nodded. “I slipped out of the house through a blindspot in our guard’s vision when one of them left temporarily. After a scan of their positions and patterns, I believe that there are three main watchers of the house. Two across the street, and one behind us. All equipped with Nr.6 M24s. However, with the two that appeared earlier to take care of the body X left behind, I can only assume that more can be called in at a moment’s notice.”
Wren shook her head, grinding her teeth as she did so. “I can confirm the one in the back. Saw him through my window, though it looked like he was more focused on X’s room. That doesn’t mean that we couldn’t escape though.”
Ovelia shook her head at that. “There were almost a hundred of us captured. That means that while some of us may end up grouped up close, this country is still in peace times, and that means they can muster up large forces to hunt us down. Even if we killed Peter, they would figure out we were gone within a matter of days, if not less. We would constantly be on the run and you wouldn’t be able to kill anymore than you can now. In fact, perhaps less, because a trail of bodies would only make us easier to track.”
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