Chapter Text
Thorn Princess rolled out of the car at the designated spot. She had been briefed in the car.
She did not think about what happened at the bus stop. It wasn't that it was a distraction, it was that...she didn't know what to think about it.
She had one target tonight, though he was meeting a second individual that she was not to kill under any circumstance. She could wound him but even that was discouraged.
Most peculiarly, she was to wait to assassinate the target until they unearthed some files and they were passed off to the other party. After eliminating the target, efficiently to prevent conflict with the other party, he was to be warned about cleaning the files. It was a key requirement that he be allowed to leave, even protected while doing so, with the files.
Considering that she was supposed to be benched, she had a terrible feeling about the whole situation. Shopkeeper danced around that subject, emphasizing that he trusted her, and this mission (which was an odd word choice, though she supposed suitable since she wasn’t supposed to kill everyone there) needed her skills. He had considered McMahon, but the director was easing into retirement and had preferred to only work certain days of the week.
It was a forested area so she took to the trees to find the coordinates she had been given. She saw a figure in the distance, lean, glasses, slicked back hair. Likely the target, matching his description, though it was required that she observe to be sure who is leading the expeditio n.
She silently leapt through the trees in the opposite direction, though she hadn’t gotten far when she spotted the other party. He also wore glasses but shaggy dark hair threaded with grey hung about his head and he’d never be described as lean.
She followed them at a safe distance. The other party was a professional, and seemed to know he was being followed but couldn’t confirm it. He would look around and scan the trees, even, but in the dark, at the distance she kept and with her skill, he didn’t have a chance at spotting her.
She did struggle to find the right balance on distance; just outside of his ability to sense her was nearly outside her ability to hear them whispering. If the wind carried it the wrong way or a word was mumbled, she missed it. She erred on the side of not getting too close though. She didn’t need to know what was said, only to see them and then be faster.
She followed them to a square of dirt with the remains of some plants, some burned, some making a recovery. She couldn’t hear well, and she risked exposing her cover if she moved closer from her current vantage point. She looked for a better vantage point, while still being able to hear. There wasn’t a lot of cover.
She accepted that the target would likely be distracting the other party enough for him to really be that concerned, and planned more to hide from the other party though needing a clear sight angle on the target.
The target spoke, he almost seemed to be teasing the other party and she suspected he planned on killing him as soon as they retrieved whatever they dug for. A reference to experiments set her on edge. A scientist, she had already known. Unethical and a traitor, she had been told. But… what he said transcended unethical and just being a traitor. He mentioned experimenting on dogs. He started talking about other experiments, but she was missing too much of the big picture to follow his main one. Artificial things? Humans? It couldn’t be. She misunderstood, she was sure of that.
But the target also kept talking about experiments and sources and… a failed experiment that had to do with…aging? Thorn Princess couldn’t track it. He was dancing around something. The other party figured it out, but she missed it. The wind caught it, and carried it away, and then the clang of metal made the subject shift.
Of course, she didn’t miss when the target pulled out the gun and she didn’t hesitate. Her dagger flew through the air cleanly, through his eye and into his brain. He was down and she wondered if it was faster and more painless than he deserved. She moved before the other party could spin in the direction the dagger came from, though it blocked her clearest angle of the doorway.
He drew his weapon and dodged for cover. It was his best option but she had a clear view of him from her new position. She moved and further threw her voice, before she answered to prevent spooking him further.
She warned him about the dirty files as required. She tried make him think she left but he was too good. He moved towards the dagger, and she used that as her excuse to race for the ladder. It was the only exit.
She followed him, and once again, he seemed fully aware of it, searching for her and even following her path, with his eyes, but just not quite as good at it as she was at moving and hiding. Even that unsettled her. He was very good. He had to be because she was the best and he was so, so close to catching her.
He spoke to her and she knew it was a distraction. It wasn’t working but perhaps, added onto her existing possible distractions, that she had shoved to the side, the one in front of her was a bit more frustrating than she would have liked.
He was oddly polite in his questioning. That put the hair on the back of her neck upright. His manner had changed, drastically, from when he was talking to the scientist.
But also. Confident she hadn’t saved him when there was no real way to know and it was certain that she had killed the target before he had the opportunity to kill the other party. A bit smug? And the mention of experiments. And the fact that she was even here.
She didn’t want to consider it so she didn’t. Not when he admitted to being a spy. Not even when claimed to be from Westalis. Not when he identified himself as Twilight, the best there was.
The man of a 1000 faces, which meant that this one, wasn’t likely to be his own. The way he moved…and the way he thought he could have taken a bullet… Armor? Could he weigh less, have a leaner figure?
He kept talking. She didn’t know why he was telling her these things. Surely, he shouldn’t be. It wasn’t a trap, like the target had done for him. He was trying to get information from her.
She tried to stay calm, get him to stop with her own words but that sort of communication wasn’t her forte. But his words were likely part of the plan to disarm her, by exposing himself. Or lying. He was good at it. She wasn’t sure and she hated feeling confused.
He was charming.
It wasn’t quite working on her, but neither was she completely immune.
When he told her his presence here tonight was personal, she recognized that as true and that made all the other things she was avoiding catch up to her like that time a bear chased her down, raking a claw across her back before she decided to turn and fight.
She won that time. She hadn’t expected to, which is why she tried to run. She had taken down deer and even boars, and set traps and all sorts of animals, but never a vicious one. Never one so much stronger. And it had nearly snuck up on her. She had been cleaning a deer when she heard a twig snap and saw it.
She decided to leave it the deer, but it hadn’t been enough. The bear wanted her.
She had tried firing a few shots with her handmade bow, but they went into the bear, slowing it less than setting up the shots had slowed her.
She tried everything to put distance between herself and the predator but she just simply wasn’t enough yet, and the weeks prior had been challenging. She was weaker than usual, and she hadn’t even been very strong yet.
She tried to run, but the claws raked her back. She bled, deeply. Stumbled, and as she caught herself, she grabbed her knives. Then, spun, to attack, not defend. She did her best to find any soft spots, before pulling the knives out with a twist and finding another place to put it. A ligament in the front leg that had clawed her. Using that to propel her other arm to the head. Ignore the pain her back, the moisture flowing down her legs now, An eye, then an ear, the other eye, swinging around as if she was going to ride it, to protect herself. Reaching forward. Finally, across the neck, deep, and pulled towards herself. She laid on the ground, for a minute. Then, packed moss into her wounds, ripping the bottom half of her skirt into a bandage and drawing it tight. She would drag the bear back and then go in through the window, hide her wound from Yuri until she could cover it better. It worked.
Most of the bear meat and the pelt, she sold to the butcher 3 towns away, to prevent the attention, claiming she had found it, and nodded when the butcher mentioned AWOL soldiers. This cut the amount she received, but it was still significant enough to allow her to subsidize her hunting and gathering for a few months. And what she had stashed aside and dried, she thought, would provide weeks of stew. The months prior had been tough. She was starting to get scared.
She hadn’t needed to worry though. A week later, Shopkeeper came to call.
This wasn’t a bear. This was worse, and yet, she realized a similarity in the way she had been trying to keep a step ahead of the knowledge. Until she couldn’t, until it hurt her.
Giving her an assignment when she was benched. Secret experiments. Governmental involvement. Powerful people. Experiments, maybe on humans.
And the other party? Twilight. A master of disguise, she knew that much of his reputation. So, change his face. Give him a leaner body. Make him polite and charming. Smart, so much smarter than her. He was working alone, not for his agency. And then, make it personal for him.
And, prior knowledge. Needing a babysitter, because Loid has a shift that he had forgotten to mention. He couldn’t let anyone else take it, even though it was clear he was terrified of leaving Anya with Yuri. There was no shift, well, not at the hospital. It wouldn’t have been enough for him to leave.
Kissing Yor like... he had that other night, when he needed a reason to come back, when he swore to her that he wanted to come back, more than anything. He had promised Anya that he loved her and he meant. Yor knew he meant it, even if she wasn't totally sure he knew that. He hadn't wanted to leave Anya tonight. He was scared and that was new to Yor.
Gaining more information, though, about Anya? Being able to protect her better? He would make himself come. He would face his fears.
There was only one conclusion and Yor hated it, she wanted to run from it, but that would hurt even more, be an even bigger risk. She had to acknowledge it.
Loid is Twilight. If she hadn't been here tonight, would he have come back?
And, worse, what did he actually discover here?