Confined

-Chapter One-

I couldn't believe what was happening.

"Malory listen! I know you think you can do thi-"

"I don't think I can do this, I know I can," I bite back. Kova and I are friends, maybe not in the usual sense, but that doesn't matter because it's the closest either of us can get to friendship in our field of work.

I met Kova at a bar downtown called Nightcrawl - very original, I know - and she tried to drug me. Now you may be thinking "Malory how in the fuck did that make you friends?" well lets just say when I caught her she piqued my interest.

"I'd be careful if I were you," I stir my wine glass lightly with my pinky.

"Whatever about?" The red head in front of me raises her brow, the picture of innocence.

"Well . . . I don't know about you, but most people tend to take badly to people who try to . . . " I suck lightly on my pinky, "Drug them."

Her face quickly drops it's lightness and she quickly and stealthily pulls a knife to my throat, "I don't know what you're talking about," her words voice innocence but the light in her eyes shows her temper at getting caught.

"You know if you wanted my necklace so badly all you had to do was ask," I make a show of inspecting my nails. But the nonchalance that I felt was not at all an act.

Her jaw grinds heavily in anger as she takes a quick glance at her right hand where I know she's holding my Tiffany necklace in a tight fist. "I won't hesitate."

"Oh, but you will. You see i've had many encounters with your type, the ones with tragic childhoods, the ones without a home, the ones desperate enough to do anything and with nothing to lose they don't bother with the consequences." Her face seems to blanche at my analysis, "Now, Kova, put down the knife before someone gets hurt."

"Who are you?" Kova's voice hardens as I feel pressure from the knife at my throat.

"Ah ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you," I sing-song.

"Well it's a good thing i'm not you then," I see the syringe a second before she injects it, "nighty-night."

I slouch in her grip as she holds up my body and my eyes flutter shut.

Damn I really should consider acting.

I sit up to my full height as I inspect the syringe, "Well that wasn't very nice, although i'll give you props, I did not expect that." She looks at me with her jaw hanging as I yank out the syringe. "Fentanyl." I look up to match her gaze, "Really?"

"W-what? How did you?"

"Listen sweetheart, when you work in the field that I do, you learn to adapt. Fentanyl is a mere glass of vodka for me, sure it packs a little punch, but after that you can take a couple more before you're out." I dump the last of the liquid from the syringe onto the ground slowly, watching the substance as it creates a small puddle on the floor.

"Who are you?"

"Malory Slivers, nice to meet you. Neat trick you got there, where did you get that from?" I tuck the now empty syringe into my trench coat.

"Slight of hand, grew up in a circus. Let's just say I learnt a lot of useful things, like that 'trick'. I mean seriously, the amount of people that fall for it," Kova rolls her eyes, "You think they would still pay attention to their surroundings with a knife held at their throat."

I let out a deep laugh and she looks at me quizzically with a hint of shock, "Close your damn mouth, you're going to attract flies." She abruptly shuts her mouth. "Now Kova, would those 'tricks' have any use for me?"

"Depends on the pay." I smirk along with her. I had a feeling I was going to like this one.

"Mal," she sighs. "This is worth one million, we can't fuck it up." I shrug.

"Which is exactly why we can't risk using others. I'm perfectly capable of taking out a target by myself, I have been for seven years." She knew I had her there, I had been fifteen when I started training with the AAR - assassins, agents and rogues - a group funded by the government, although most are unaware of that part. I was sent to find other recruits when I met Kova, of course I knew she was going to be there. I also knew she was going huntnig for targets, which is exactly why I had worn my most expensive outfit, paired with full Tiffany.

Kova was 17 at the time, I was 19. She had been left in a caravan park at twelve years old and had been robbing for cash since . . . only, she must have been taking up with new tactics when we meet. There were no previous records about her using drugs to knockout her victims. I assume she was planning to take me out into the alley and take my clothes, leaving me by myself. Although judging by the old stained dress hanging out of her bag, she wasn't evil enough to leave me there naked. Not that that would help if I were to be attacked by a man looking for an easy fuck. She's apologised for that, "I'll admit I hadn't fully thought it out. It was a new idea." was her excuse.

"Listen . . . you may have the skills, but you need more hands, eyes, distractions. Who's going to place the bombs while you kill the target? Who'll scout from the roof to make sure everyone's out before the bombs are set off? Who will help me take out the security guards and the cameras? I'll admit that you and I could finish off the guards, but not before the ones in higher rooms spot us on the cameras and we can't take out the cameras while we are fighting them, there will be too many." Kova explains exasperated. I take a second to think over her reasoning, while I may be very talented, I have come to find that sometimes she surpasses my knowledge. I guess her experience with robbery helped a bit in that area.

"I can't believe i'm even considering this. What did Lyric say?" I sit forward on my chair and bring my elbows to my knees, rubbing my temples with my forefingers.

"They were the one who pitched me the idea. Told me if I didn't convince you I was on training duty," Kova groans in annoyance. Lyric was one of our heads at AAR, no, men do not run it - and before you ask, yes all agents, assassins and rogues are female or non-binary people. Lyric themself is non-binary. What can I say, science has proven that women think more creatively and strategically. We are also genetically smarter on average than a man, the power of a vagina I tell ya! Although, some of our agents don't have one as we also accept trans women, it's one of the things I love the most about our group, being a pansexual women myself.

I raise my eyebrow at Kova, "So what i'm hearing is that you didn't think this would help, you're just doing this so you don't get training duty?" I deadpan.

Kova grins broadly and throws an arm around me to pull herself against me, "You know me so well."

I groan as she swings us back and forth, "Ugh . . . fine. Who are the others?"

"Well my dear Malory, that is for you and I to figure out."

"Yay."

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