Lady Dangerous and the Child Assasin - 1x1 RP between Tashina and Ignota

Name: Aithusa Odavin

Age: 26

Height: 5' 6''

Hair color: White

Eye color: Jade

Role: Handler

Weapon of choice: Sub-Compact Beretta PX4 Storm

Bio: In the beginning......
Originally Aithusa worked with the FBI and was one of their top agents, but after awhile she grew bored with the whole, "working one's way up the latter" approach because, hey, everyone knew that it was Bull. So using what connections she managed to gather over the years by the hands of God, she was able to pull some strings and get transferred into this new sector down in Florida. Aithusa had heard rumors about it, that it was a cover for something bigger and super top secret, and that was exactly what she was looking for. But... She wasn't expecting what it really was. Her new duty was to work with cyborg child saved from a tragic life to do investigations and field operations. It was weird at first, but the job grew on her, her cyborg grew on her, that is, until politics came into play. As they always ended up doing. Not having any time for all that ridiculousness she applied to be transferred with her cyborg to sector two in Italy. It was approved by the beings above luckily and off into the grand beyond they went.

Read one more she said, It couldn't wait until tomorrow after work she said... granted it was quite a few really really good chapters she was readying, Aithusa was regretting her decision to stay up until three in the morning reading one of the many new books she purchased the other day. And she had to be up at 6:30...greatest life choice ever. And now here she was at work, dressed in her favorite black pant suit with a fancy pair of high heels, walking through corridor after corridor, trying to find the nearest coffee pot to help her make it through this dreadful meeting she had to attend. Her time so far in Italy has been great but also odd at times. Don't get her wrong she loved Torino, but her coworkers are what have her puzzled at times. She has never seen such a diverse set of people in her life, and to make it worse? They were all men. All that testosterone was just too much when they all in the same room. Most of them treated her well, but there was one who was an asshole, an attractive asshole, but none the less... an asshole. But that's not important. What was though, was the fact that there was no coffee in the coffee pot by the time she got to the lounge. Her jade eyes had cast down to look at the watch on her wrist. 7:45... great. Groaning to herself, she turned right back out of the room and headed deeper into the building.

Reaching her destination, she opened the door to the meeting room, to find the other six men already there. Not even bothering to acknowledge them, Aithusa dropped her bag in her seat and headed straight to the back. There had to be coffee right? Nope, those hooligans drank it all. Cursing under her breath she grabbed two cups, poured some hot water and a tea bag in both. She prayed that this meeting wasn't gonna take long. The day hadn't even started yet and she was in dire need of a nap. At eight on the dot, the commander came in and started the meeting. Unfortunately for her it was the same old  same old, future mission assignments, updates on terrorist movements, all the good stuff. "...and to finish off the meeting, there is going to be a surprise inspection of your cyborgs today at noon. You are all dismissed" Okay... that. She was not expecting. But it shouldn't be to bad. As she lifted her wrist to look at the clock, she immediately regretted that thought. It was 11 and Seraphina was definitely still asleep, and her room was on the other side of where she was... oh what a lovely day she was having.

Quickly gathering her belongings, Aithusa power walked through the building and once she got outside broke into a run, heading towards Seraphina's room. Maybe after today, she'd give up wearing heels to work. Probably not. Stopping in front of her door slightly winded, Aithusa knocked on her door in various beats, until she opened the door. "Heyyy, so don't shoot the messenger...but you and the others apparently have a surprise inspection in less than a hour. So rapido, rapido!" she said as she shoved her way inside her room.

It had already been a couple months since she was brought into the social welfare agency and been given the chance to be reborn into a new life. Here she was, with no scratches or anything. No holes or injuries nor vivid memories of what had happened way back when. Every once in a while, she would wake up randomly just to look at her hand or feel her face, being thankful that she had a whole body and not one that resembled swiss cheese. She was in a safe place, had a nice room that she could decorate her own, a comfy bed, and even a roommate – who was probably out somewhere. It was comfortable living, she really couldn't complain. Well, she could….she’d complain about the person she was stuck with. Not another child, but an adult…her handler.

As she slept in her room, wrapped up in her blanket, she admired the sweet peace and quiet that her room contained. While all around the building people were either working, arguing, training, or honing their skills as a person of the agency. This was her chance to dream and imagine anything she could before her day started. Little did she know or want to believe, it already started. Hearing annoying beats knocking on her door, she knew who that was. It could only be one person….Aithusa, her handler…the person ‘somewhat’ in charge of her. “…Oh god damnit….” Opening one eye, she curled up even more in her blanket and turned over. “Shoot the messenger? Surprise inspection…?” she said, only half listening. She honestly didn’t want to get up and deal with anything, but being a cyborg has no end or no breaks unless given to by the handler.

Sera sighed and laid on her stomach in bed. “Please tell meh that it doesn't include me…. ‘cause I’m not gettin’ up. And don’t use that - ‘you’ll miss breakfast or lunch’- thing you always do. ‘Cause I already got up early to eat.” She twirled her hair in her finger, already feeling Aithusa getting irritated. This was an everyday thing. Even when they had missions, Sera would lay in bed for the longest of times and wouldn't get up until the last minute.

She knew this would be bad for Aithusa if she was late, but she was too unmotivated or lazy to even care at the moment. She spent all of last night fixing her 1961 Manurhin vintage scooter that she had gotten as a present in Berlin for doing a good job in a mission. But after the mission from last week, she had to fix it back up, add a couple of mirrors since it “wasn't up to code” for her poor handler’s taste. It also needed a paint job, the poor thing was all beat up and scratched from jumping off it to get onto a train that their mark was on. Aithusa wanted to get rid of the so-called ‘death trap’ and buy her a safer one…..Sera shut that idea down real quick.

The girl finally turned over and gave her handler the challenge stare that said “Your move.”

This child was going to be the death of her. Still wrapped up in her blanket and still in bed. "Are you deaf?" glaring at the blob that was Sera, "I said that YOU and the others have surprise inspections today. In LESS than an HOUR. With. The. Commander." She really needed coffee, her with less than six hours of sleep results in her being very hostile at times and that tea did not cut it. Aithusa ran a hand through her hair, the other on her hip as she took a deep breath. Screw it. Walking over to the window, she grabbed the curtains and opened them to let the bright sun land on Sera. "Sera, you have 10 seconds to get up out of this bed before I drag you out." she told her with a firm voice. She already knew the child wasn't going to listen to her, but she was always the one to give fair warnings. "Alright," Aithusa placed her hands on both ends of the blanket before she grabbed it and pulled hard, leaving the blanket in her hands and Sera on the ground. "As usual, you fail to realize the gravity of the situation," pausing to throw the blanket back on the bed and to cross her arms over her chest as she looked down on Seraphina. "This is not a regular inspection. If we show up late, if you fail this, and I mean fail as in bullshitting and actually messing up, hell, even depending on if you even do it accidentally. The Commander won't think twice about having you reprogrammed at least. And we both know how much you'd hate to have that happen."

Aithusa really needed for Sera to be serious for this. Granted they're still working out the kinks in their cooperation and teamwork, but the Commander was not going to care about that. Even though the other handlers had been doing this job at least a year longer than she had. The Commander was known to be a strict man, and from what she had heard, he wasn't one to cross either. And knowing Sera, she could easily cross the man. "So, here's what's going to happen. You are going to get ready. Quickly. And we are going to go to this inspection. You'll pass with flying colors. We live to see another day and continue to go on missions. And you get to keep your bike that you love so much," before Sera could object, she quickly held her hand up and added, "Please don't argue with me on this. Just do it. Or else I will seriously take your scooter and I will end up keeping you on a shorter leash like the others are."

Sera just laid on the floor looking up at the lady who just so rudely dragged her out of the bed, not even giving her a minute. ‘Oh, she is going to get it today’ She thought as she sighed and crossed her arms as well. “What are you, my mother….?” She gazed at her with annoyance. She had no problem saying that since she was already brainwashed and conditioned. “Besides, you’re the only old lady in that section. I don’t think they’ll go that far and just recondition meh. They’d probably give you a slap on the wrist.” As she sat up and stretched lazily and yawned, feeling the warm sunlight on her back. “And I’ve only been at this thing for a little while, I’ll still make a couple of mistakes. Shit happens.” For a kid, she had a very foul mouth. And she knew it got on her handler’s nerves, especially in front of the others.

She finally got to her feet and looked at Aithusa, reflecting the same serious gaze that she had. “So, here’s what’s really gonna happen. I’m gonna get up, take a nice shower, and get dressed. I suspect that they’re holding the inspection out at the shooting range, so I’ll be meetin’ ya there. There are no promises that I won’t be at the least a minute or two late. I do this shaz my way, pass either way, and we don’t have any problems at the end of the day. And when I do pass, you haveta give me a reward. And you can forget about finding my scooter, ‘cause you don’t even know where it is and you can keep ya idea of a so-called ‘short leash’ in the back of your mind. You get what you want, and I’ll get what I want.” As she said that she grabbed her clothes and walked to the showers.

After she showered and gotten dressed, she looked at her watch and saw that she was almost late. She already figured that Aithusa already left to go to the meeting place, so she headed there….running. There was no way that she wouldn’t be the last one to arrive, but she didn’t want to be the only one noticed for that. Then she’d never hear the end of it … As she ran to the other side of the agency, on the west side of the main facility, there was a building that almost resembled a medium sized office building. Except it didn’t have any type of roofing and there was another building beside it that was higher than it, for observation.

She noticed that all the handlers were there – Including Aithusa. And all the cyborg companions were there…except for her. But what she didn’t see was someone that resembled the commander, so she thought she was home free. As she ran up and stood in the line of cyborgs, she could hear the other handlers talking Aithusa about her. Especially the blond one….ESPECIALLY him… She could just hear him talking about how she should amp up the level of her conditioning...even though it could kill her in the end. She groaned and sighed as some other cyborgs just wished each other luck with the inspection.

Once the Commander showed up, he gave out the instructions for this test. Sera raised her hand until the Commander acknowledged her. “So what you’re sayin’ is that first we’ll all go in there by ourselves and listen to your handlers for only the first floor of the buildin’. Then they back off and let us handle the other three floors?” Surprisingly enough, when it came to group meetings like this, she was fairly well behaved. He nodded, he look to the handler to coach them a bit. Behind them was a table of limited selection of weapons and ammo. As soon as they were allowed to get out of their line, she quickly made her way to the table and picked up the beauty that was the Steyr TMP. Sure it wasn’t like her MP7 but to her it was light, and if she wanted to she could wield two of those babies with no complications. And she decided to do just that.

Wrapping a holster around her and loading both the guns and the extra ammo cartridges, she was pumped. But she had to wait for the other to go before her, in the meantime….this was a perfect opportunity for Aithusa to give her some type of heart-to-heart or some type of pep talk like she usually did…well, attempted.

Unamused, Aithusa just looked at Sera, as she basically repeated what she had just told her, but threw in her own "twist". "Okay...sure" she scoffed as the girl left to take a shower. She thought for a minute, as she looked around the room. Sera really needed to start taking her more seriously and stop fighting her so much. With a sigh, Aithusa walked over to Sera's nightstand and opened the drawer. She shifted through it a lot, but still couldn't find what she was looking for. She check her bed, her dresser, under the table, everywhere. Where are they? Maybe she has a hidden compartment... Walking back to the nightstand, she felt around until she felt the bottom board give and a small compartment opened up. Bingo~ she grabbed the keys before putting everything back in place and heading out the door towards the shooting range. Pulling her phone out she dialed a number and placed the phone to her ear.

"Dr. Fernando Bianchi speaking"

"Hey, its Aithusa. I have a question concerning Seraphina," she said. "Sure, I'll answer as best as I can." he replied. "Lovely, so based on this new intel we got, her scooter, might have been bugged on the last mission. And she doesn't tell me where it is because I want her to get a safer one and is getting ready for this inspection at noon. And so I can just go check right quick, I need to know where it is." Old lady her ass. Of course there's going to be more pressure on her and not the opposite. There was brief silence before he spoke. "I don't know..."
"Oh, come on Bianchi, I'm not going to steal it. I know she's probably told you about our spats. But I swear, I'm not going to steal it. I really just need to see if it's been bugged. and if it had and depending on where she hid it. It could be a big deal." There was another brief silence before he agreed and told Aithusa where it was. Thanking him, she ended the call and placed another. "Hey, it's me. I need you to do me a favor and it needs to be done now...You're coming from there?... You'll see me, I'll pass you what you need" she said. There was no way she was going to be able to check on the scooter before it was time for the inspection. So she had her friend check on it for her... and kinda sorta move it and place it in her secure storage space off the premises too.

With twenty minutes left to spare she approached the other handlers, "Hey guys" she said with a wave. The others returned the greeting, but of course Jean had to be all rude and dominant male-y and once again talk down on the others and her own cyborgs, but mainly about Seraphina and herself. "Jean, I'm guessing from all the whining and complaining you've been doing lately, is that you haven't been laid, not surprisingly, in lord knows how long," The air filled with the muffled snickers of the others, "So I'd suggest you work on that. I mean, before it starts affecting your performance at work and you go senile." Aithusa finished. Jean was about to retort when she noticed Sera arriving, but he opted once more for his usual lecture.

The instructions were simple and straight forward. It was time for a pep-talk and she was not the greatest at those. She never had them when she was younger and managed just fine. Sera wasn't her though, not for a long shot, and she had to keep reminding herself of that a lot; not to treat others as if they can handle everything like she herself could handle them. Aithusa waited for Sera to finish grabbing her weapons before sliding over. "Alright so, despite our mini battle royale earlier. You got this. I got your back. And yea, you gotta go in last and bring up the rear, but hey, least you'll be saved a few heart attacks" Aithusa told her, keeping her eyes averted as she did.

After a few more minutes of making sure the headsets and gear were good to go, the handlers left to go into the control center, leaving the cyborgs to get ready for their task. The mission? To rescue a hostage and keep the hostiles from detonating a bomb. Aithusa and the others looked at the floor plan given to them. Only downside was that's all they had, that and the number of dummy enemies that were going to be present. "Alright Sera, we gotta take this room by room, follow the others lead, and the goal is to save the hostage and make sure they don't ignite the bomb. There's 15 targets total."

She looked over, watching a very nervous but happy Angelica, holding her gun and looking determined as ever. It wasn’t long ago that she met this girl. She was one of the first girls she actually talked to. When Sera had gotten severe damage to her body from a mission one day, she stayed in the hospital for days. Once they had finally put her in a recovery room with a roommate, that’s when she found out not all the girls are strange. Even back then, Angelica was determined to get back to training and fighting. “Oh, well it looks like it’s my turn. This time I’ll impress Marco! Wish me luck.~” She said, pulling her microphone piece down and running inside the building.

‘Now it’s time to play the waiting game…or for more of Aithusa’s half assed pep talk….’ She thought as she watched the windows of the building for Angelica’s head and distinctive ribbon, to track where she was going. Until she heard multiple irregular gunshots go off inside the building – RATA TAAT TAAT TAAT – She quickly changed her headset over to the channel that Marco and Angelica uses. “Angelica?? What happened? You aren’t hurt, right? Remember we have to treat this like it’s the real deal. Do you read me?” She said in a serious but concerned tone.

In a shifty, staticy voice she finally replied. “Sorry Marco, sorry Sera…I fell….I’m fine but….I can’t get up..it hurts a….a little.”

Grabbing one gun from her holster and taking it off safety, she looked up at the control tower where all the handlers and kept speaking on the Angelica/Marco channel. “Marco, I’m goin’ in to get her. Please don’t stop the test….I’ll be in and out, supa fast. Can ya relay that to the others…?” She said, getting into her serious mode. As she ran, she switched over to the channel that her and her handler shared. “Okay, so I know that it’s not my turn butttttt you wanted meh to be serious. And if this was a serious mission, I would be savin’ whoever got hurt. So, don’t start chewin’ meh out. You wanted serious, you’ll get serious. I gotta go get her. Besides, maybe you'll get noticed by that blond or Mr. wavy haired guy.” She said, panting and flawlessly shooting every dummy in sight.

‘Steppin’ on spent shell casings could make me fall….better watch my footin’

She continued her way through the test, ‘wounding’, ‘killing’, and slight mutilation of the dummies as if they were enemies. “Oi, Angel…What floor are ya on? The third? Okay, just wait there. I’m about to be on the second floor.” She ran up the stairs and started on the second floor. Loving the sweet sound of her guns, she didn’t hesitate to reload without missing a beat. “Hey lady, how am I doin’ so far?” Running, ducking, sliding, and of course releasing her warrior cry when mercilessly unloading bullets into those poor dummies.

Sera was sure she was at the halfway mark with these dummies. Moving her mic away from her mouth, she looked around corners to find Angelica. “Angel! Where are you?” as soon as she had said that, she heard gunshots that weren’t her own. “That’s a Steyr AUG…She’s…not far.” Running towards the sound of her gun, she finally got to her. Angelica was still on the floor, sitting on her side, still shooting the dummy that was in front of her…still trying to get more points on her inspection card. “Alright, imma put you on my back and we’ll finish this thing together. Use my shoulder to steady your gun, kay?” Angelica nodded as Sera started putting Angelica on her back and finishing the floor.

After a few minutes, Sera endured the pain of her scrapes and the burn from Angelica’s gun on her shoulder as they finally finished the fourth floor, but she looked around for an exit but only saw the way they came. “We have to scale down the side of the building, Sera. I can try and do it on my own.” Sera just shook her head and walked over to the window. She looked up at the control building, being closer than before and getting a glance at what was going on in there…..And that was a whole bunch of nothing.

“I’ll do this with you on my back. Don’t worry, I won’t drop us…..I hope.” With that, she stood on the window, thinking that Aithusa would be screaming at her right now but she forgot that in the mist of concentrating, she turned her headset off. She grabbed the rope that was already hanging there and quickly but steadily made her way down without any mistakes. As soon as she made it down, she was greeted by Priscilla and Olga who took both her and Angelica to the infirmary. Oh, she wonders what Aithusa will say about all this.

So far so good. The inspections were going well. Small chat was good. She finally got some coffee in her life so that was amazing. Her weak pep talk was one of her worst attempts but she could only go up from there. It was Angelica's turn, and the last one before Sera's. She wasn't too worried about Sera, that is, as long as she treated this as the real deal and didn't do anything too rash or too crazy. Yet, she just had to go and jinx herself.

"Uh, Aithusa... Sera jumped the gun and now wants to rescue Angelica..." Marco told her. Aithusa was not pleased. Granted Sera was right that Angelica was 'injured' she needed to consider the what ifs, and give Angelica time to improvise, use her surroundings. But, no. Aithusa was now being told that she was going in and screwing the inspection in a way regardless. As valid of a point Sera may had been proving - that side comment excluded- she moved too soon. Aithusa was really tempted to cuss in every possible language and go back in time for a redo, but no, she couldn't and instead she kept her poker face. Only the visible narrowing of her jade eyes showed any indication to her emotions. She was more disappointed than angry with Sera at this point.

The commander was giving her a wary eye, one she felt burning through her head. Lord, why today of all days did something like this have to happen. Lady luck wasn't having it today. So, she decided to just observe what Sera was doing and she'd just have to critique her on that... and her brashness of course.  Her and the other handlers watched as the two scaled down the building before the commander made a 'gracious' clearing of his throat and spoke his words of wisdom and criticism to each handler before dismissing them. And of course she was last, and was preparing for the worst. "Well, Ms. Odavin, you still got some work to do with your cyborg, that's a given. But she shows great promise, as brash as she is. Though if that doesn't reign itself in after awhile, you may have to condition it out. It's not a good trait to have out in the field."

"Yes, you're right, thank you sir." Aithusa replied with a small salute before walking around him and heading out the door. And now it was time for the part she was dreading, a conversation with Sera about her performance today. Sera was partially right about the commander not being super stern, but his commentary didn't come without a warning thrown in there, as subtle as it was. Well, the day was almost over, and she managed to get some type of coffee into her soul, she could handle this. Walking in to the infirmary, she quickly found Sera still with Angelica and approached the two. "Hey, how are you feeling Angelica?" she asked before directing her attention to Sera "You too, how ya feeling? Did you wanna talk about the inspection now or later?"

Priscilla brushed Angelica’s hair as Olga came back into their recovery room with a couple trays of food for them. She set the trays on the table next to their beds and starts chuckling at the way Sera is looking at the food. “There you are, malen'kiye. We’ve got to build up your strength, so you won’t have be tired after assignments and such.” Her thick Russian accent cooed in admiration for the girls. She always liked looking after them when she could. If it was her choice, she’d make them all ballerinas. Sera’s eyes widened as she looked at her tray full of warm food. “Oh my god….!” As she stuffed her face, noisily and messily, she looked up at Olga and smiled through her fat cheeks. “Ms. Olga, You’re so freakin’ amazing!” she said, trying to show gratitude but getting sidetracked with eating.

All three of them laughed. She always had some type of respect for Olga. She wouldn't dare curse when she'd talk to her or Priscilla for that fact. “Seraphina, you remind me of little bear in winter. Always eating until they sleep all through winter.” Olga ruffled the girl’s hair as she sat down in the chair by the wall. Priscilla finished up with Angelica’s hair by tying her ribbon on top. “There.~ All better. Angelica, how did you get hurt anyways?”

“Well…I was doing the test as planned, but I missed a target and I twisted the wrong way. If that was real, that would’ve been bad. Luckily, Sera was going last.~” She said softly with a smile, not even thinking of how this would reflect on her fratello team. Sera nodded but kept eating until she heard the door open. Suddenly, she lost her appetite. With a big gulp, she swallowed the mass of food that she was eating.

She watched Aithusa walk over to them and ask how Angelica was doing. Then when she turned to her, Sera slowly put the food down and sat up in her bed. “Well, I would show you some battle wounds in there but all I got was some bad scrapes and a burn from the heat of Angel’s gun bein’ on my shoulder. Besides, I wouldn’t wanna gross you out.” She said, jokingly. Then her handler mentioned something about the results of her test. Why did she suddenly feel tense now? But with a cool face, she gave a laugh. “Lay it on meh, lady. How many points did I get? What did that commander say about meh? I bet he was impressed that I was pretty gutsy, goin’ in there for Angel like I did, huh? And shootin’ all them targets square in the head and heart, that had to have gotten the hearts up there racin’, right?” She knew she did pretty awesome, if not almost perfect. But let this turn into some type of lecture….today wasn’t the day for that.

Aithusa couldn't help but let a scoff out at Sera's bad attempt of joking. Her? Digusted by some scrapes and burns? Psshhh, she'd been through a lot worse before she become apart of the sectors. But she gave Sera an E for effort at least. Deciding to make herself comfortable, Aithusa grabbed a chair that was near by, turned it so that the back was at the front, and sat down with her arms crossed on top. Listening to Sera's bravado, her believing that she did such a good job... could she not see the bigger picture yet? The faults in her performance? As decent as it was all knew it wasn't perfect, it never is. Aithusa was not sure how Sera was going to handle what she was about to tell her. Maybe if they were on better terms it wouldn't be so difficult? They really needed to work on that and today was as good a day as any to start in the right direction.

With a heavy sigh She opened her mouth to speak, choosing her words wisely as she went, "Actually... it didn't really go over that well with the Commander... Both of yall got some credit; Angelica for what she did up until the point she got injured, and you for your team skills mostly. However, because you did interrupt Angelica's inspection... both of yalls scores were voided and didn't count. He's not going to make yall redo it, but at the next one, both of yalls inspections will just be longer than the others. On the other hand Sera, he did say that you had great potential and just needed to work on a few things." Finishing what she had to say Aithusa sat there gauging her to see if Sera would give any reaction whatsoever and waited for the inevitable backlash of some sort.

“That’s…unbelievable….seriously, that’s some bullshit!” She whispered furiously. For a moment, she sat there in complete silence – which wasn’t at all like her. The others sat there, watching her stare at the floor as if it had done something wrong to her. Sera looked up at Aithusa and then looked at the tray of food and just flipped the table over. Thanks to her new cybernetic limbs, she can take her anger out on things without effort.

“Seraphina?” Olga looked at her with a stern face but this time, it didn’t faze her. “This is bullshit! What the hell? Mr. high and mighty Commander said that we had to do this like it was the real thing. That’s what I did! When someone gets hurt durin’ an assignment, you immediately help them. You don’t leave them there! Look at her, sweet Angel. She’s that delicate little princess! We can’t have her runnin’ around hurtin’ herself.” She started yelling as she hopped out of her assigned bed and started pacing around the room.

Anyone could tell by the way she was acting, she was clearly upset….fuming even. “And how could they not mark me for those flawless murder shots. If they were real, the only person that would’ve been alive would be meh and her! Those shots were PERFECT! P-E-R-F-E-C-T! But apparently, Mr. old guy can’t seem to see perfect even if it bit him right in the ass! And if this wasn’t just great, someone stole my scooter! The one thing I pride myself in! Like what the hell, why would someone steal my baby! I was just fixing him up with a new everything! Make’em run like I just bought him new. How am I goin’ to keep my mechanic skills sharp or keep myself from goin’ on a murderous rampage!?”

It was obvious that her feelings were staring to take control and that the stress of learning how to be a weapon of the Agency was stressing her out. Most of the girls there were conditioned to the point that they had a grip on their emotions but once in a while, they would snap. As she kept pacing, it looked like she could burn a hole in the floor. Priscilla guided her to the bed to sit as she tried to calm down. “Hey, Aithusa….Maybe you should send her to Dr. Bianchi soon.” She suggested, knowing that the mindset of a cyborg is important for them to do well in their missions. And that their not just weapons, but they’re also young girls.

And there it was, the outburst she was waiting for. Aithusa wasn't sure what else she could do at this point with Sera. She didn't listen to her most of the time, didn't really respect her at all if any either. And look at were its gotten them; a mentally exhausted handler and a stressed cyborg who listens to everyone but her handler. Aithusa was always more of a observant type of person, looking at things through all sides before coming to a conclusion and giving her opinion, when it came to serious things of course. But today, she couldn't just sit back, observe, and do what needed to be done. She had to act in the moment, like taking Sera's scooter, and deal with the results as it happened. She was out of her comfort zone, not used to handling situations like this at all, she knew nothing would really calm her down. And what she was able to tell her was just going to add fuel to the fire. But, Aithusa was tired of how their relationship was going and it needed to change.

"I took your scooter." Aithusa said to Sera, looking directly at her, after Priscilla led her back to her bed. She could feel the air become more tense than it already was, but she was so tired of how things have been, "and no, you're not getting it back. Not until I think you deserve to have it back. And the reason you didn't get a perfect score? You're to focused on the whole aspect of being a weapon! Like I've told you many times before. Yea sure, its amazing that you're hitting your targets perfectly, congratulations. But that means nothing if your going to jump the gun at an inspection at that, at every irregular gunshot you hear. What if that's just how someone shoots, and you just charge in thinking someone's in danger? You just jeopardized the whole mission and your teammates. You didn't even give Angelica a chance to really prove herself, she could have recovered. You have to start thinking about these things in broader terms. You're not going to always be able to save everyone."

With a heavy sigh, Aithusa nodded her head in agreement with Priscilla's suggestion as she pulled her phone out of her pocket to call Bianchi and have him come to the infirmary. She had a feeling Sera was not going to go anywhere, especially after with she just said. "I asked Bianchi to come here, so ya'll should probably leave when he arrives..." she said.

She couldn’t believe her ears. As she watched her handler call for Dr. Bianchi, she blinked in disbelief. Did she just hear that her handler took her scooter? Her eyes widened as her gaze went from the floor to Aithusa. While she heard everything she was saying, for some reason it sounded so far away. Her hands grasped at the sheets, so tightly that she was starting to rip them. “You…..took…..my scooter…?” She looked like she was about to jump out at Aithusa and attack her. But she didn’t. Priscilla wrapped her arm around Sera, looking casual as ever but only for the possibility that something could happen. “Who do you think you are…?” she said softly, but still staring at her handler with an intense and almost dangerous gaze.


“You know nothin’ about this life I’m livin’…that these girls are livin’. While you’re off readin’ your books and dealin’ with co-workers, we learn how to be a weapon. Why? Cause we are one. That’s our only purpose! We eliminate our targets and marks with stealth, quickness, and precision. You don’t see that you don’t do the same learnin’ and trainin’ that the rest of the girls do. Yeah, you may have trained me a bit. But our lectures and practices….it’s either perfect or nothin’. You don’t hear what I hear. You think all gunshots are the same. No, they don’t. They sound off in a specific pattern. Every. Single. Time. If somethin’ goes wrong, or the shooter isn’t holdin’ it leveled, or just not holdin’ it correctly, or somethin’….I can tell….you can’t. You don’t hear what my ears hear.” Her voice sounded calm but it was laced with anger and a little hate. For the first time ever, she didn’t curse


Why couldn’t they see eye to eye? She doesn’t know. Their personalities just clashed every time. Aithusa thought that she just knew everything about anything, about how things work, and especially about Sera but she didn’t. “And Angel can handle herself. But when she’s hurt….she needs help. I don’t know about you but I’m sure you wouldn’t just leave someone in there to fend for themselves like that. Besides, if you paid attention to the amount of time it took me to get to point A to point D, she had just enough time to attempt to get up numerous times. So don’t even say that. You need to start facing the fact that you don’t know everythin’. You don’t know how to handle things. And maybe that you should stop acting like you’re my mother and more like a partner in this fratello….”

The tension in the room was so thick, that you could almost see it. After a couple minute of silence, Dr. Bianchi knocked on the door and came in the room. “Good afternoon everyone. Seraphina, would you like to talk here or in my office?” he smiled gently, seeing things weren’t going well between the two. Sera looked down at the ground as she stood up, letting go of the sheets that now had holes. “Your office…please…” she said quietly as she left to wait for him in the hallway. “Just give us a minute before coming to my office. Then you can watch in on the appointment. ” he knew she knew what that meant. As he left, Priscilla and Olga said that they were curious to what would happen with Sera and wanted to join Aithusa in watching her behind the one way mirror….

***************************************

“How are you feeling, Seraphina?” the doctor asked as she sat down and got comfortable in the chair across from him. She stayed silent as she kicked her feet around a little. “Come on you can tell me. I’m your doctor and I have to know if you’re feeling well.”

She looked sad as she looked at the floor. “I….don’t know…”

“Well that’s a start. Are you sick, does your stomach hurt, are you happy or angry….?” He started to look at her file and check things off.

“It feels like my stomach hurts….and that I’m about to throw up….but I’m not….I got angry at Aithusa again today…like realllly angry.” She spoke quietly, letting her hair drape her face. “She took my scooter….”

“Did you do something to make her angry? Or maybe it was very old and she didn’t want you to hurt yourself.” He looked at her and just watched her face, something that the others behind the mirror couldn’t see.

“I don’t remember…I think it was somethin’ I said…she woke me up…and I was really sleepy. I haven’t been gettin’ a lot of sleep lately ‘cause I was working on my scooter…it was messed up from the last assignment…I told her that I wouldn’t be late to our inspection…I got there at the last minute, but I wasn’t late.” This was their usual back and forth Q-and-A session. As she answered, he wrote down notes.

“She practically told meh that I did horrible in the inspection…I did everything right…I even saved Angel…’casue she got hurt….I didn’t get one compliment…”

“Maybe she thought you could do better. Have you been practicing everything?”

She nodded a little. “Nobody knows how hard I try and improve myself….But I’ve only been here a couple of months…not a long as the other girls in my squad….I’m still that new girl…and apparently nothin’ I do is going to get noticed as good.”

“Now that’s not true. How do you think she treats you? Good, bad, normally…?”

“She almost treats meh like we’re related…..like she’s my mom or somethin’. But we both should know that she’s nothing but a handler. And I’m nothing but a cyborg and there's nothing normal about me.... She’s not my mother, cousin, aunt, grandma , or anything. And I’m someone that’s sole purpose is to protect her and help with assignments….that’s it. And when I die from something, they’ll just replace me like Priscilla replaces her scooter every time she lets someone borrow it.” At this point she sounded nearly monotone.. Dr. Bianchi looked over at the mirror, knowing that Aithusa was watching.

“I wish she could be like the other girls handlers….they actually want to get to know them and stuff. All I get is lectures for little mistakes…Fratello means siblings, right? Then why can’t we act like them……” She finally voiced her thoughts, knowing that maybe the doctor could help her calm down. This couldn’t be good for her health and her mind. As he checked her vitals and gave her advice of how to sleep well, he sent her off back to her dorm. Once she left, he pressed the microphone button and spoke to Aithusa. “Is that all you wanted to hear?”

"Aithusa, are you okay?" Priscella asked with a face full of concern. Olga busied herself with taking care of the sheets that Sera tore. As for herself? She was backed into the corner she never wants to be backed into. What was that exactly? Having to deal with complicated things that directly affect her and those around her. And this? Was very complicated, and she preferred to not have to deal with complicated. Her life thus far hadn't prepared her for it in the slightest bit.

"Yea, I'll be fine. Sorry you guys had to somewhat get involved in this." She responded in an exhausted tone. Another weakness of hers, was not letting people in when she should. Deep down she knew that she needed advice, needed help, because things have finally destroyed the fan and left her with no knowledge of what to do next. With a heavy sigh, Aithusa lifted herself out of the chair she was sitting in and moved it back to where she found it. "I'll see you guys tomorrow" waving her hand as she walked out the door towards the listening room next to Bianchi's office. When she reached the door, she hesitated with her hand on the handle. Everything physically and mentally was telling her to turn around and leave, making her feel nervous and scared. She didn't want to walk in there, to listen to what Sera had to say. She didn't want to have to deal with it at all but she had to. She knew she had to.

With a glance upwards in a silent prayer, Aithusa made her way into the room and sat down, carefully listening to the session. She found herself getting angry or maybe it was frustration? She wasn't sure, but she knew she at least needed to write Sera's opinion down and her own after. She reached for the pen and notepad that were on the table already there and wrote, a lot. What was she going to do... she had no idea. She was in uncharted waters and she needed to mull everything over. Growing up as an only child in a military family where one parent was always gone and the other not really doing anything hasn't had the most positive effect on her apparently. After Bianchi spoke to her over the intercom, she decided to walk over to the other room and talk to Bianchi about some of the things she had frustations and issues about.

After talking with Bianchi for well over an hour, Aithusa was exhausted and just wanted to sleep and wallow in her emotions and stuggles. I got her thinking though, that maybe a day away from each other would be good for them, and then they could hash it out the next day. With a note she wrote saying:
and an envelope in hand she walked to Sera's door and slid them underneath her door before she turned around and headed home. She only lived about a ten minute walk away from the facility, she thanked the heavens for that as she climbed the stairs up to her flat. She was quite fond of it, and for the price she was able to rent it for, it was surprisingly modern and up to date. Closing the door behind her, Aithusa tossed her keys on the coffee table along with her purse and headed straight for the shower. She was craving a bath, but it was gonna have to wait another day. She was too tired today to wait for the tub to fill. She stripped herself of her clothes and turned the shower water on to scalding hot before she stepped into it. The water was a bit hotter than what she normally used, but it was welcomed, needed to wash away the stress of today. She wasn't sure how long she ended up standing there. It must have been awhile since the water started getting lukewarm.

A towel wrapped around her head and a robe around her body, Aithusa walked to the kitchen to grab herself a bottle of red wine to pour herself her customary drink before bedtime glass. Sipping on her beverage she reflected once again on todays events and what she would need to do with her free time tomorrow. Tipping the wine glass back to finish the last sip, she set the glass in the sink and moved to her bedroom to change into her pjs and go to sleep. Almost forgetting to move the scooter back, Aithusa texted her friend to move it back for her in the morning when I could, and rolled over onto her stomach and went right to sleep.

The next morning, Sera slowly started her day by attempting to pull herself out of bed and to do whatever she needed to do so she could be let off early. Yesterday was just physically and emotionally draining  for her....and probably her handler too. She started to head for the shower like she usually did until she stopped at the door and saw a mysterious envelope at her feet.  "What the hell...?" she mumbled sleepily under her breath. Picking it up, she stared at it like it was something strange and unusual....and for her, it was. Once she opened and read it, she sighed. "This better be true....and not some joke. But hey, at least I get the day off and my scooter back." She balled up the letter and thre it somewhere in her room.

Later that day, she was on the roof of the classroom buildings. But she wasn't alone this time. As she was sitting on an old wooden crate that she found, the other cyborgs were sitting around her, either looking up at the sky or chatting and rambling on about things that happened. A tall, lean girl with blue eyes, blonde hair, and tan skin leaned over Sera's shoulder and looked closer at what she was doing. "So, why exactly aren't you going with us on an assignment today? Did you get put of Behavioral probation?" The girl said as Sera adjusted a couple things and kept reaching for tools.

"I told you, Triela....the lady gave meh the day off. And I dont think that type of thing exist anyways."

"She doesn't seem like the one to just give you a random day off."

"Well...maybe she thought I deserved it. I mean did you see me yesterday for our inspection? I was awesome." she chuckled, running her hand through her hair.

"Maybe she needed a break too. I mean, being around you can be a bit torturing sometimes. You dont listen, you tend to always get scraped up and you always end up breaking things." said Claes - the girl who was sitting on another crate, reading a book and pushing up her glasses.

"She doesn't do that all the time. If I was to do that, Jean would definetly punish me for it. Luckily, Aithusa hasn't done that to her." The small girl spoke cheerily as her blonde hair laid splayed on the concrete, with her arm in the air - admiring the body that the Agency had given her.

"I don't know what I'd do if Jose decided to have a day off like Aithusa did. Just leaving with a letter doesn't tell much." Henrietta added in.

At this point Sera stopped tinkering with her scooter and listened in on what each cyborg had to say.  "When did I get put on trial?" she finally said, throwing her wrench to the ground. This was the outburst they were waiting for. "So what if she decided to let us both have a little day off. I dont wanna go on the survellence assignments anyways. All we do is sit around and watch a screen, or dress up and walk around. It's so borin'. I rather sit here and have tea with Claes and read books."

Triela crossed her arms and smirked a little. "So this is the random anger that Angelica talked about. I heard that Aithusa even called Dr.Bianchi too." Sera blushed with embarrassment. These girls were out of her league and here way before she even got here. They knew more, they knew what to do, what not to do, and how to maintain their cool most of the time. Letting out an exhausted sigh, with her head resting in her hands. "Ya know what! Fine, Imma talk to her. You guys make it sound like its my damn fault. Besides, I cant go anywhere outside of here without her signing me out and being with me."

She rolled her scooter down the stairs and out of the building and started riding to Aithusa's place of residence. Once she was there, her feet slowly took her to the door. But she couldnt knock right away. She hesitated, before taking the plunge and knocking frantically. She propbably shouldn't have done that but, it happened and it was too late to knock normally. As she waited for her handler, she fiddled with her helmet, feeling a lot of conflicting feelings that a young girl can't really figure out right away. Regret, guilt, or just down right confusion...? she didnt know.

Aithusa was slow to wake, the sun was filtering in through her curtains, her bed felt extra comfy, and not having to join the living at an unfortunate 7 in the morning was really appreciated by her in that instant. In no rush what so ever, she rolled over to glance at the numbers on the clock. 10:45. To lay in bed or get up that was the question. She pondered her options for a brief moment before she decided to lay there for a little while longer. Soon she dragged herself reluctantly out of the warm embrace of her bed and got herself ready for the day. Aithusa threw on a pair of light washed jeans and a black t-shirt before she finally grabbed her phone to check her messages. A call or two from the boss, and a couple of texts from random people that she didn't have to worry about today. It was time for some eggs, bacon, and toast, the breakfast sent straight from the gods themselves. When she reached the kitchen she grabbed everything that she would need as she went and went to work. Minutes later, her feast was ready along with a cup of her favorite lazzova coffee and she found herself out on her balcony enjoying the energy of the city during a time of day when she rarely gets to experience. Looking out at the cityscape before her, she relaxed and simply sat there, looking at everything and nothing, just taking it all in.

The day rolled on slowly for her. She tried to tackle the list of things she wanted to talk to Sera about but she knew that that would be pointless. She did her best work, thinking, writing, anything for the most part at night. Sure she can do work during the day, but it was much faster and easier for her to do as the day leaves and night takes over. So she decided to do some reading and moved from the balcony to her big, plush, reading chair. Aithusa was in the middle of reading a good book, a really good book actually, and it had been awhile since she read one that was good like the one she was reading and she quickly refreshed her memory about where she stopped and engrossed herself in the story before her. The sun continued on its course undisturbed across the sky as she read undisturbed that is until she had to grab a snack or use the restroom.

It was near dinnertime when a resounding clap resonated throughout her apartment. What was it exactly? Aithusa happily finishing a book and closing it with finality. It was a thing that she would do and even she didn't know why. But her stomach was calling and demanding the sustinance that it desired or she would hear its roar forever more - until it was satisfied of course. Hmmm, what was she to fix for herself. She was craving some salmon....maybe some pasta or rice to go with it maybe? Decisions, decisions. What was a girl to do... With a groan, she heaved herself out of her chair and walked to her pantry to gather the various herbs and spices she needed and set them out on her counter near her pasta containers. Moving towards the sink, she reached into the cabinet underneath to grab a decent sized pot and placed it in the sink to fill with water. She was about to lift the pot out and over to the stove when frantic knocking resonated on her door, startling her and causing her to drop the pot back into the sink. Luckily the water missed her clothes and she hurried over to her door and quickly opened it only to find the last person she expected to show up at her door.

"Sera?..." Confusuion was clear in her voice as she spoke, "What...how did you...eh, I guess it doesn't matter. You hungry? Come in, just lock the door behind ya. I hope you don't mind pasta and salmon." She said as she turned and walked back towards the kitchen to put the pot on boil and grabbed two glasses and a bottle of white wine. "Sit, sit, make yourself at home." she said as she poured some wine in both of the glasses and handed one to Sera. Aithusa sat down in her reading chair and took a sip from her glass. She let a moment of silence pass between them before she spoke again, "So, what brought you over here so suddenly?"

Sera didn't say anything as she walked into her handler's apartment. She felt like if she did say something that they would just get into another arguement and what not. This wasn't the time for that. She was on a mission. A personal mission and job....to figure out what these feelings were. They were very annoying and almost made Sera want to punch herself. Her eyes looked around to almost inspect this place. She's never been inside this place. Honestly, she just assumed she lived like the rest of the handlers and stayed in their own personal dorm. Specifically right across the hall from Hilshire but beside Priscilla. Which would and could always be the reason why she woke up with the permenant straight face....

As she sat down across from her, she watched her as she brought out glasses and what looked like a bottle of Aithusa's fancy wine, she wondered why she didn't looked annoyed when she saw that it was her knocking like a mad man on her door. This lady even talked about cooking while she was here and actually feeding her. It was like Sera entered a different dimension and that nothing from yesterday ever happened. Or maybe this was a trap. Maybe she was going to be brainwashed and essentially reconditioned, and maybe she wanted to let her have one more good memory before she was turned into a man killing vegetable! Her mind went wild as she stayed quiet. But her mind soon shut up as Aithusa sat down and questioned her presence here this evening.

Sera chuckled awkwardly as she scratched her face. "Aha...Well.....I was kinda curious on why you gave meh a day off. It was kinda weird findin' that note on my floor. Next thing I was expectin' was you leaving the country 'cause you're some type of spy, or somethin' stupid like that." She sat there with her hand on her knees and her head in her hands, looking through the pale, yellow glass.  

"To be completely honest, I don't know why I came over here. But I'm here. I fixed up my scooter and was wonderin' if you could come with meh into town to buy it safety mirrors and paint. I don't wanna trip and break tha mirrors or somethin'." She took a sip from her glass and quietly died.


"This shit is....bitter?....maybe..it's....ugh....nasty!" She thought as she gulped her mouthful down and made a face. This was definetly not her glass of wine. Once she got her soul back from that poison that everyone in Italy drinks, she looked up at her and cocked her head to the side. "So what do ya say? I'll help you with dinner, even though I'm not much in tha kitchen. Then after dinner, we go out? Who knows, maybe we'll find yourself a husband while we're out." She joked as she looked at her glass that she had yet to finish. She sighed a little and held the glass up to her lips. "I better drink up. Life didn't raise me to be a little bitch...and I'm not gonna be one."

Aithusa took slow sips of her wine as she listened to Sera speak. It was odd, how life worked in its ever mysterious ways. A small smile graced her lips as Sera asked her to join her on her quest for mirrors and paint. She figured they were both trying in their own ways to make their relationship better, slowly but surely. Butttt, that wasn't going to stop Aithusa from pulling small little devious acts every now and then. Chuckling at Sera's reaction to the wine, she knew it would happen. It was after all one of the more drier white wines she had in it stash, but, in her own defense, it went really well with fish.

Rising from her seat, Aithusa grabbed the bottle of wine to take with her into to kitchen. She was a strong believer in sipping as one cooks. "Well....lets just say I'm here because of a mission. And that's all that I can tell you." Heaving the pot out of the sink and on to the stove-top to boil.  She grabbed another pan from a nearby cupboard and sat it done on another isle. "I don't see why not," she replied to Sera's offer before fully processing everything she said. But when she did, a light blush crossed her cheeks as she puffed them out, "I don't need a husband thank you very much!" With a huff she grabbed a big bertha sized fillet of salmon out the fridge. It'd be more than enough for the both of them. "After you've finished with that, you can come over and watch if ya want, I have a balcony too if ya wanna relax out there too." she said, focusing on the task at hand of preparing dinner. Soon the water was boiling and she tossed the salt and pasta in, and started to slowly cook the salmon. Minutes later, she was done and platted the pasta on a platter plate, the salmon on the another and sat them both on the dinning table before heading back for plates and silverware. "Come feast, it's ready~" she said as she sat and waited for Sera to serve herself before she made a plate for herself.

After a minute or two of eating, Aithusa figured that she should bring the elephant back into the room. It had to get out of the way sooner rather than later.
"So, have you thought about what you want to say or hash out with me?"

Sera came into the dining room as she was called. Her mouth practically watering from the scents in the air. Who knew her handler could cook so well. Especially since she's known to be the type of woman to suck down a bottle of wine while reading a set of books.

She sat at the table with the hunger a thousand men but with the mind of a very annoying but unusual child. "Finally! I'm so hungry, I think meh body is gonna battle with itself." she said energetically. As they started eating, Sera's busy mind only thought of the different kinds of things that she would get for her scooter. Until she heard the lady talk again.

She gave an uneasy laugh and shrugged it off, like she would do with anything else. "What I wanna to say? Pshh...I thought I already said what I needed to say when I was mad. No need to talk about feelin's and stuff." But even with that, she knew that talking about feelings made her feel awkward.

"Now, let's hurry up and eat. I wanna get to the shops before closin' time. " she said as she started to stuff her face with this fancy dinner that her crafty handler had made for them. Once they finished up, Sera just cleared the table of all the dishes and threw them in the sink. Thinking that Aithusa would get to them when she would return. She grabbed Aithusa's jacket and literally pushed her out the door. "Come on, come on, come onnnnnn~! Let's go already!"

After a lifetime of walking and an "almost" ride and dash in a cab, they made it to market-- Where little shops and stands were side by side and always open to the paying public. Once she saw the lights of the shops, Sera's legs couldn't help themselves but to run towards the shop of her choosing.

With the occasional bumping into strangers, she dodged other people that were out and about. Until she saw her shop. Pressing her face, hands, and even upper body against the window, she gazed in awe. This was her personal haven, her peek into heaven, a small taste of valhalla. "So beautiful....~"

But in truth, it was just an old shop with parts, paint, tools, grease, and grime. Just a regular old shop. But to Sera, she didn't care. She didn't even care that she lost Aithusa....more like she didn't even notice.

This story needs some garters! But overall I think its fun xD <3