J A K E

Everything was black.

Then, the scene opened up before me. A dark, cold room. A place like the many others I'd been in for gang business.

As soon as I was there, I knew what had happened. And I smiled, for the first time in a long time.

Hundsen's rotting, dead body was on the ground near me.

I took a few steps closer, wanting to engrain this in my mind forever. The air was filled with the smell of decay, of death. His rotting face was horribly twisted, as if he'd spent his last few moments screaming in agony. My gaze traveled down lower to his neck. Red with the signs of strangulation. But that hadn't killed him.

The melting icicle in his chest had.

I'd finally gotten my revenge. Hundsen was dead. I could lay my ghosts to rest.

But I felt strange. This felt...incomplete. What was after?

It was then that I heard approaching footsteps. I turned, expecting to see one of the Club members. Another challenge.

But it was not a gang member. Though it was a challenge, perhaps the biggest challenge I had.

It was her. Delphinium. Delphinium.

She simply stood there, cerulean eyes locked into mine, mouth firmly set. The light caught her shining hair and gave her skin an ethereal glow. She looked as if she wasn't meant to be a part of this earth. As I stared at her, I felt as if all the air had been sucked from my lungs. She seemed normal, the same as ever, and still...

She took a few steps closer to me. Her footsteps were the only sound in the dark room.

I couldn't move.

I wasn't sure whether I wanted to get closer or back away, but I wasn't given a choice. Why couldn't I move?

Swallowing once, I had to force myself to be completely still. She was close to me now, so near that I had to stare down at her. The assassin stayed silent as she looked up at me in the way she always did.

I felt the urge to look away, to step back, anything to not let myself give in. Again.

I didn't move a muscle as she reached up and put a warm hand to the side of my face. What was this? I needed to move, needed to step away. I hated this, hated how her touch made me feel. But I also didn't want her to go. And I hated myself for it.

For a moment, she stood before me, the warmth of her skin seeping into my eternal cold. It was then that I finally found it within myself to step away. I hated myself for that too.

A tear traced its way down her face. Then another. Why was she crying? Had I-

Faster than anything I'd ever seen, she rammed her dagger into my heart. I flinched back, feeling the cold blade being pushed farther into my chest, against my bones. She'd...killed me.

But...oddly enough, it didn't hurt. No blood seeped through the fatal wound she'd dealt me. "What..."

Then I glanced all the way down at myself for the first time. My skin was mottled several shades of green and gray. Rotting like Hundsen's.

"See?" Her face was wet with tears. "It doesn't matter. You're already dead."

I said nothing, simply staring down at myself. Though I'd been in battle many, many times, I never actually imagined being killed like this. Though I had expected my revenge might have something to do with it...

"Why did you do this to me?" she asked in a voice that was both hard as steel and so broken at the same time. "If you were truly in love with me, you would have chosen me over your revenge."

Delphinium's words still echoed through my mind as my eyes snapped open. My heart hammered in my chest.

In front of me was my desk, covered in paperwork I'd been working through before apparently falling asleep. Having always had issues with insomnia, sleep wasn't something I easily found. And when I did find it, I often wished I hadn't.

Like right now.

For a moment, for a split second after I awoke, I had forgotten. I'd forgotten that night. I'd forgotten she had left.

But now that I was fully awake, I knew that no amount of alcohol or denial could ever make me forget what she said to me that night. I'd already tried the latter and it hadn't worked. I wouldn't bother with the former, knowing it would only make things worse. Every second of that night was burned into my mind forever. And I hated it.

And what her dream-self had said to me...it wasn't true. None of it was true. I didn't...

I shook my head, as if that would clear it of these dangerous thoughts. Why was I thinking of her? Why was I still thinking about that wretched night? I should let it go. I shouldn't care at all. As soon as I'd had the thought, I reminded myself that that was ridiculous and that I didn't.

But deep down, I knew what I should have done most. I should have killed her. The gun had been level with her chest. She'd been begging through tears for it. I could have easily done what she'd asked, ended her as I'd ended so many other lives. Why was she different? Why hadn't I been able to pull the trigger?

Because Delphinium had never intended to go with Benny. She'd promised him she would, thinking that I'd put her out of her misery before they could drag her back there and create her into what she feared most.

Despite my best efforts to push them away, her words from my dream came back to me. Perhaps I had done this to her. If I hadn't let this...whatever it was...this distraction get in the way, I would have done what she asked. I would have killed her.

But I knew, deep down, I couldn't stand to see the light disappear in her eyes and know I'd caused it. I couldn't see her broken, dead body at my feet and let her enslavers know they'd won.

It wasn't because I needed her. I did not need Delphinium Tesla. I would force myself to not think of her in that way, wouldn't miss her presence, wouldn't find reminders of her old self wherever I went. Especially not when I was faced with that thing they'd turned her into again.

Still, I had done this to her and I needed to make things right. It was what she deserved.

Then I remembered what she'd said back at the bunker about how she'd been snapped out of this brainwashed state once before. If it had been done once, it could be done again.

I had done the impossible before. I would do everything I could to snap her out of it this time. No matter what it took, I'd bring her back. I owed her that much.

And maybe it would finally give me some goddamn peace of mind.

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂

I could already tell how bad things were going to be as we were escorted again into the ONNT building. My suspicions were proven correct as soon as we went inside Krasowski's office and she began berating us.

She was also not happy with us for causing such destruction of the city street. Of course, we were only defending the building. But she didn't see it like that. She was taking advantage of the fact that we were criminals and condemning us alongside Benny and Delphinium.

When her tirade seemed to be over, Jaxon told her in a very flat voice, "They are two of Imperium's best assassins. Your own men haven't been able to find them, much less deal them injury. What would you have us do?"

"I think..." The director trailed off, deep in thought. "I think you're letting your previous connection to those two get in the way of your jobs. You don't want to see them dead, not really. It's becoming an issue."

That wasn't entirely true. I certainly did want Benny dead for what he did.

But she continued. "We have little-to-no leads on Imperium. We don't know what they're planning next or what kind of numbers they really have. They're becoming a larger threat every single day. If we destroy their best two assassins, we will chip away at their power."

"You know what those two alone can do," Riley said, looking as if she was trying very hard to not hit the director across the face. "They're not going to go down easily."

"If they even can be defeated," Kane added under his breath.

Krasowski was quiet for a moment as she stared out the window at the city below. Then she said suddenly, "I've come to a realization: we need her alive."

"What?" Finn and Riley spoke simultaneously, for it had been what we were arguing for during our last meeting. She didn't want to give value to our opinion until she knew it was necessary.

"Delphinium Tesla. We need her alive. You're correct in saying she won't go down easily. She might even be impossible to kill."

"What will you do with her if we bring her to you?" Jaxon's question was heavy: we all knew what they'd do to her for being one of the most notorious terrorists on the planet.

"Torture her," Arlo answered him, not sounding as if he was joking.

Giving Arlo a firm look, Krasowski answered, "The same thing that happened with Benton Shires. I was going through the papers from when he was interviewed and he wouldn't talk." That explained her sudden change of mind. "Delphinium has valuable information on them. If we can somehow extract it from her, get her to tell us what they're planning, we'll finally have the intelligence Imperium doesn't want us to have."

"It's funny you should mention Benton Shires," Riley said, examining her nails. "We brought him in, only for him to escape and wreak havoc on our operation."

"Shit hit the fan," Arlo explained matter-of-factly.

"We didn't get a single word of intel from him." At that, I nearly rolled my eyes at how polite Finn still was to this horrible woman. "I would strongly advise against capturing Delphinium only to deal with her as we did Benny."

"We have no other options. She's one of the most wanted people in the nation. We must have her. And soon."

"She could be even more catastrophic than Benny was. We need to learn from our mistakes and deal with her in a different-"

The director cut Finn off. "I am your boss. I will decide how to approach this issue. You will take care of it as I deem fit."

"What about the council?" Jaxon raised an eyebrow.

She waved a dismissive hand. "Yes, yes. The council will decide as well."

When everyone realized arguing with her wouldn't get anywhere and held their tongues, she clasped her hands together. "If that is all, I will dismiss you back to the compound. Once we have better information as to where Delphinium Tesla will be, you six will be sent out to capture her."

The soldiers in the back of the room came forward to escort us out. But I held my ground. "What have you found out from the computer chip I stole?"

"Oh, was that you?" My eyes narrowed at her subtle jab. "My men are working on it."

"So you have gotten information off of it."

"Whether we have or haven't is no concern to you, Evans. You did good work by bringing it to us. That was your job. Now let me do mine. We will release select information to you if we see fit."

I stepped closer to the desk. She watched my every movement as if waiting for me to attack her. "Hunt and I didn't always get along. But I let him be because he didn't interfere with our involvement in this job. You, on the other hand, do. And that's going to be an issue." I stressed the last sentence, knowing very well she knew about my reputation.

She stared at me for another moment. And then she gestured to the soldiers behind me to come forward. "You're dismissed, Evans. I suggest you tread very carefully from now on."