New Team

Live, and kicking

"How do you know that's the right name?" 

I couldn't make eye contact with him, "I brought up his husband. No matter what, people won't lie when it comes to family." 

"But you can't-" 

"I can be sure!" I finally looked him in the eye, "People don't get tortured for an hour only to crack after hearing one name." 

He looked away from me nodding his head. "Did the agency really teach you all this?" 

"Yes." 

"I thought we were the good guys." He rested his head in his hands. 

"You are, the rest of the agency is. I'm not." 

He kept his head resting in his hands, but he turned it to the side so he could look at me. 

"You're the only person that was taught that?" 

I nodded my head. "There's a few others.... where's Elijah, and Sam?" 

"They both left after you went back down. She told him there was something they needed to talk about." 

A small smile crossed over my lips. 

Cody straightened up, "You know what it's about?" 

"The other thing." 

A few seconds after the words left my lips the pair came down holding hands and smiling like children. Sam mouthed 'thank you' to me, and I just smiled back at her. It only took Cody a few seconds to catch on, and he just stared at me like I was insane. We all decided to go get some lunch, because no one felt like cooking. 

"There's a really good chinese place that's like 30 minutes away.." I suggested with a shrug. 

Sam practically skipped to the car, "Sounds good!" 

I looked over to Elijah and Cody who both nodded. This time- Cody didn't fight me on driving, he just let me do it. Before we left I stayed behind for a moment to do something. Once we got there, and got our food it was kinda nice- being around people who seem to care about me. 

"So Alora.... any other family we should know about?" 

Elijah smacked the back of Cody's head, and I just smiled. 

"That's it. Two sisters, and a brother." 

Sam lost her smile for a moment, "If you don't mind me asking.... what about your mom?" 

I slurped a noddle down, "What about her?" 

"Is she uh, is she alive?" 

I nodded, "Live, and kicking." 

She wouldn't look at me, "Do you two talk?" 

I nudged her with my shoulder, "You can ask about my family." 

She nodded, and finally looked at me. "Are you guys on good terms?" 

I nodded again, "Yeah. She's the only family I have left." 

"Were you and your dad close?" 

I thought about Elijah's question for a moment. 

"I don't know." 

"How do you not know?" 

Elijah kicked Cody, and he frowned, "So you guys can ask questions, but when I do I get kicked?!" 

A laughed a little and leaned back in the booth. "I mean sure we were family, but he planned my entire life out for me. He started training me when I was 9, said it was primetime to learn. I didn't want to be an agent, I didn't want to learn how to make people tell you things, I had plans of my own but he kinda ruined them." 

"What'd you want to do?" 

Cody and I started staring at each other. We were having our own private conversation in a way. 

"I wanted to be a chef. I've always loved cooking." 

He smiled, "You're good at it." 

"Why thank you." I rolled my eyes, and sipped my water. 

"Why didn't you want to be an agent?" 

I shrugged, "It ruined my parents marriage, it made my dad someone I didn't know, and it made me not see my mom for years." 

"You're parents are divorced?" 

I nodded my head with a sigh, "Yup. They had two different opinions about the agency, and it tore them apart."  

He thought about his next question for a moment. 

"When we first met you said you had an in with the director, what is it?" 

"He was my dads best friend."

"Oh, did they go through training together?" 

I shrugged, "Something like that." 

"And you started training at 9?" 

I nodded, "We had a gym that I was never aloud in, because the walls were covered in knives and guns. When I turned 9 he brought me down there, and taught me how to use every single weapon in the room. All the different types of guns, and the ways you can use a knife or blade of any sort. When I turned 14 he brought someone in, they needed information from him and he wasn't a good person. Dad brought him into our house, and told me to get the names of his children." I broke the eye contact we were holding, "You weren't taught this, but family is the hardest thing to get out of a person. I got it. That's when my parents split." 

"14?" The words were more of a whisper. 

I closed my eyes, "I wasn't a good fighter, he found out I was good at that and ran with it." 

"But you kicked ass today." 

Sam's voice made me remember there were two other people sitting with us. They had stayed quiet the entire time Cody, and I spoke. They just watched us have a civil conversation.

I opened my eyes and smiled at her, "After one of my missions I learned, and I got much better." 

Sam took the lead on changing the conversation into something happier. Every now and again I would sneak a glance at Cody, who was staring intently at me. He seemed different tonight, he didn't make any snide remarks, and he just kept staring. 

When we got back to the house I stopped everyone before we entered.

"What're you doing?" Elijah tried to push my hand away, but I glared him down. 

I bent down, and saw the little piece of paper I had slipped between the door and frame was gone. 

"Someone's been here." 

"How do you know?" Cody squatted next to me. 

I pointed to where I was staring, "I left something there, just in case someone decided to pay us a visit." 

I pulled my pant leg up to reveal blades strapped to my ankle. 

Cody laughed as he stood up, "You take those everywhere?" 

I stood up and handed him one, "Yes."