When sisters with lethal touch are taken to Sector 45, commanders start to fall. Regions break apart. Revolution starts.
Based on Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me. Characters and plots belong to the author except for my OC's and my own plot with them.
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Apparently, my brother tried to get his guests to kill Jenkins. Honestly, I'm not surprised by that, but what I am surprised with is how lenient he's being with them. Julia—who is the older sister, almost strangled my brother hours ago, and instead of having a bullet in her brain, she's laying comfortably—alive in her room.
From experience, I know weapons are more useful alive.
If they weren't, I would already be dead.
I get up from bed and stretch out all my sore muscles. I am careful of my back as I turn on the shower and let the warm water flow over my body. I scrub, and scrub, and scrub, until last night's events are completely erased from my body. The cuts are still fresh from my father's blade, but it's nothing I haven't experienced before.
I bang on the shower door. Hard. My knuckles bleed a little as my stitches open back up. I bite back a curse, making a mental note to visit the medical room later today. My father left earlier this morning, but he'll be back tonight. And for that, I need to be wary. I already screwed up his last task. I was too sloppy. Too careful of my enemy's emotions.
I finish up my shower and slip on my suit; The one with long sleeves. I practice what to say to Kenji when he asks me why I'm wearing long sleeves in scorching summer.
I'm cold. I have iron deficiency.
I practice saying that in my vanity mirror. Over and over again, until I start to believe my own lies.
A knock on the door jolts me back to reality. I listen, waiting to see if there will be a second. I don't detect urgency, only foolishness. There are only two people with the audacity to knock on my door this early in the morning. And my brother is one of them.
"I need to start disciplining you," I say, punching Kenji in the chest.
"Whatever mom," He scoffs, sidestepping and twisting my arm.
I counterattack, kneeing him in the gut and using his millisecond pain response to hook my leg around the base of his foot and grab his other arm. He falls fast to the ground, his hand still tightly in my grip. I push it down so that it's bent awkwardly and place my boot on his neck.
Kenji gasps and taps out with his free arm. I haul him up and slap his back to get the air flowing. He grunts after a while and exits the ring. I follow him at a leisurely pace just in case any stray soldiers see me.
Kenji doesn't know that just him hanging out with me is enough to get him killed. But I'm too cowardly to tell him to stay away. He's a sarcastic little shit—but he's one of my favourite people.
"We need a name for that move," He says, grabbing a swig from his water bottle.
"Yeah?" I grin, punching both arms forward in a perfect stance. "The triple tangle?"
He glares. "Don't use my Tangled obsession against me. That movie is sacred."
I roll my eyes, but I have to admit that I've become somewhat of an addict as well. Disney really had something going on. To this day I still remember all the princesses, although the villains are still fresh in my mind.
"Rapunzel's hot. So is Flynn," I counter. "Of course I understand your obsession."
Kenji quirks an eyebrow. "Is that the only reason you watch movies? For the hot characters?"
"You don't?"
He makes a face fair enough.
As soon as the door opens, my grin falls into a scowl and I remember who I am supposed to be.
A weapon.
"Your brother wants you," Jenkins says.
I nod, wiping a bead of sweat from my brow, and chuck my water bottle at Kenji. He catches it with a surprised expression.
My brother's office is daunting. The grey walls fill me with dread each time I step foot in the room. I don't even bother to knock as I wrench open the door and walk inside.
"—my sister," Aaron finishes as I enter.
I'm immediately struck with a nervous atmosphere. Julia and Juliette are standing in a vertical line. It looks as if Julia pushed her sister behind her and faced Aaron herself. Their relationship is beginning to look like a mirror image of mine and Aaron's.
"What did you do?" I demand, looking my brother in the eye.
His jaw clenches.
This isn't going well.
"I've decided in order to gain your cooperation, you two must be separated," Aaron says as though he has already explained it to the sisters. From the looks of it, it didn't go over well. "My sister will take careful care of Juliette for the time being."
"She'll kill her!" Julia yells. She's begging now. She turns to Aaron and I wonder if he'll actually listen. "Don't do this. I'll do anything."
"That's not up to you, love."
Juliette turns to me now, but my eyes are still on Aaron.
I blink, slowly.
Do you really need me to do this?
His fist tightens.
Desperately.
Juliette stands beside me. I feel her presence creep up fast, but my gaze lingers on Aaron.
"It's fine," She tells Julia. "I trust her."
Aaron and I both whip around to face her.
"You trust someone you've just met?" I ask, completely bewildered by her choice of words. If this girl thinks I am trustworthy, maybe my father is right.
I need to work on being more authoritative.
"I trust you more than your brother."
That, Aaron and I can agree on. He's the leader. I'm the weapon.
