Jaune and the Real Girl.

Chapter 25

Penelope looked around at the small cramped safehouse. It had taken all night for Vasily and Bonnie to take her here. It was smaller than their previous residence being a single apartment on the outskirts of Mantle, just outside the window she could see the frozen tundra in the distance.

"You own this place?" She asked standing in the middle of the room watching as Bonnie pulled plastic off the furniture uncovering it as they helped prepare their space for comfortable habitation.

"We have been renting it out for some time," Bonnie explained as off in the kitchen Vasily made himself busy cleaning his weapons, his recent brush with the Ace Operatives having given him more trigger time in five minutes than he had in months, a satisfied smirk on his face as he pushed the bore brush through the barrel of his rifle.

"Do you have many safe houses like this?" Penelope asked her wondering just what her current purpose was with no immediate threats to dispose of or targets to terminate.

Bonnie nodded to her opening one of the duffle bags they had kept packed in the truck pulling out several laptops, numerous cables and hard drives placing them down on the spotless desk. "We have several in each kingdom," Bonnie explained to her, "we rent most of them out through shell companies or we have contacts who keep such places for people like us, they're our homes and we need many just in case we are ever found."

"So you live your lives moving between these places avoiding the authorities?" She asked her watching as Bonnie started setting up her array of laptops, a wireless router and various other electronics interconnected with one another.

"Yes," Bonnie answered her, "we go wherever we can find work that... interests Vasily," she told her.

"Do huntsmen often find your safehouses?" Penelope asked her, Bonnie was always more receptive of her questions like this.

"No," Bonnie told her softly, laying her elbows down on the desk and resting her head in her hands. "What happened last night was a first... usually we have reason to suspect that authorities are watching and simply leave, last night was the first time anyone tried attacking us directly in one of our houses."

Vasily chuckled from his table as he ran dry swabs through the barrel scraping up remaining residue. "An interesting development to say the least, those operatives were not expecting my defences so strong. Doubtlessly Ironwood and his operatives thought they could catch me off guard."

"Indeed though this apartment will not be as easily defended," Bonnie explained, "Vasily... we should leave Atlas while we have the chance, Ironwood and his forces are closing in on us, we should leave. There's work in Vacuo I am sure will interest you."

Vasily looked away from his work and narrowed his eyes at ber. Bonnie figited at his gaze and averted her eyes away from him. "Perhaps you are right," Vasily admitted, "our employer has already begun their operation and we clearly have the attention of the authorities."

Bonnie nodded in agreement, "Precisely," she agreed, "We are not being actively pursued in Vacuo and there is plenty of work, many tribal leaders and criminals would want your skills and offer handsome rewards."

"Do not get ahead of yourself Bonnie," Vasily cut in, "before we can move onto different hunting grounds I must face Arc."

Bonnie looked sullen at the name Penelope had heard so often, her hand touched her belly. "Must we?" Bonnie asked him.

"He defeated me," Vasily told her, his voice holding a dangerous edge of what Penelope was coming to know as anger ready to boil over.

"You survived," Bonnie told him carefully, "if he defeated you you'd be dead, but you're not Vasily you're alive, if anything you are even!"