Mon was suddenly startled by a persistent knock at her bedroom door. She looked at the ornate clock sitting to the one side of her desk where she had been seated for a while. It was already past 10 pm. Her thoughts had been lost in a maelstrom after her last interaction with Freen and she had honestly been wondering whether she should just pack her bags and leave. But where would she go? She knew she wasn't safe outside the walls of the compound... Unless she went to Sam.
Another knock sounded through the room, more urgent this time and it made Mon's heart speed up. She assumed it was Freen, coming to try and speak to her. She really wasn't in the mood to have a repeat of earlier, her emotions still swirling around her stomach and making her feel sick.
Another knock came and it was as loud as it could get. Mon knew the person would not go away until she opened the door. She pulled her hoody over her head to ward off the cool air outside as she stood, making her way to the door finally. Before another knock could echo through her room, she slowly pulled the door open to find Sam standing on the other side, a wild look in her eyes. "Again, how many times must I tell you not to just open your door?"
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"Freen!" Kirk ran after his boss as she made her way across the courtyard the next morning, determined to sort things out with Mon before it was too late. She knew she had a lot of explaining to do, but there were certain things she couldn't even share with her officers, never mind Mon herself.
"What is it? I'm kind of busy." She said lowly as she turned to face Kirk, casting her eyes over his shoulder to see Nop and Tee trailing after him. She paused then, knowing instinctively that something was wrong when her three top men were running after her. "We've got some bad news. I think you'd better come to the control room."
After entering the room with her men, she was met with white faces by some of her other officers sitting around their stations of computers and radio controls, marked maps and documents. Kirk lead her over to the large meeting table in the adjoining room as she swallowed down a sick feeling in her throat. "Speak." She almost barked as she leaned onto the desk with both hands, staring at her top officers as they followed her.
"The Tigereyes." Nop interjected, wiping the sweat from his worried brow, allowing Tee to step forward with a harsh tone to her voice. "During the night they made a strong move in on the girls' establishments." She looked at Kirk to provide further information, he himself looking at Freen with a weary expression. "All the clubs on the outer perimeters of our territory have been captured. We also suffered quite a lot of casualties. Our sickbay is packed to its maximum capacity with injured soldiers."
Freen's knuckles turned white as she dug her fingers into the table top, her head hanging low as she grit her teeth. This was bad news, really bad, and what was worse was the fact that she was unable to follow through with the promise she had made to the girls of keeping their properties safe. In fact, she had failed miserably at all of it, including promising that Mon would remain safe under her care. "Get as much intel as you can. I want to know how and how many. We are better equipped and better trained. This should not have happened!" She lifted her head to stare hard at her officers, her eyes dark and flitting from one face to the other. "Now!" She barked angrily.
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"How, Freen?" Jim asked, audibly and visually upset by the night's occurrences. She was seated at the large table along with Freen's top officers, as well as Yuki and Kade. All of them looked as if though death had struck one of them. "I don't understand. You promised us! You put us at ease! And now we're only left with the three clubs closest to your base. Do you have any idea what this will cost us?"
Yuki put a hand on Jim's shoulder to try and calm her, but none of them seemed able to find any solace, no matter how they tried. "I know, Jim. I'm very well aware of what last night cost you, as well as me." Kade shook her head as she peered at Kirk who sat opposite her. "It seems you severely underestimated their power." Her eyes shifted to Freen then, seemingly harsh. "They might even have exceeded you guys now."
Freen shook her head harshly as she formed a tight fist with one hand. "Charlotte is smart, but I'm not about to be outsmarted." Her gaze shifted to her officers. "Report. What could you find out?" Nop shifted his eyes from Freen to Jim and back to his boss again. "They struck with full force and hit all the establishments at the same time. That way none of the other clubs could send help or reinforcements. Everyone was too busy fighting back to send help or call for help."
"Besides that, they were packing upgraded weapons. It seems like Charlotte saved no expense in gearing up her gang." Kirk added, his fingers drumming against the table's surface as he steeled his expression. "They were flinging firepower to match ours, Freen. I'm not sure how we can take them on along with all the losses we suffered."
"So what you're saying is that we're all at risk now?" Jim's voice raised an octave. "Where's your best asset? At least we know she's worth as many as ten officers." All of them looked questioningly at Freen. "You mean Sam? I thought she followed Mon over to you guys." The girls paused abruptly, eyes wide as they looked among themselves. "Freen, Mon was not with us..." Yuki said softly and swallowed hard.
Nop shot up and ran from the office through the control room, crossing the courtyard as fast as he could to race up the stairs to Mon's room. He hammered at the door as he shouted her name repeatedly, praying to God his closest friend would answer the door. The rest were coming up behind him with fear etched on their faces as he continued banging the wood and rattling at the doorknob but finding it locked. Freen pushed him out of the way and tried herself to call to Mon, but when the silence remained she indicated to Kirk, waving him to the door. It took him two tries before her managed to break the door open with his shoulder.
Rushing inside, the gathering stopped dead in their tracks to find the room empty and the large windows open,the wind sweeping through the curtains.
"Boss..." Tee swallowed hard from where she stood at Mon's desk, picking up a piece of paper. Freen grabbed the note and her face went white.
"Don't bother." Is all it said.
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"Sam! Where the fu..." Kirk's voice was harsh as he climbed through the window of the vigilante's apartment. Shortly after finding Mon missing with no trace besides the ominous note, the group quickly realised that she too was missing from the compound. Her best friend had immediately rushed over to try and find her, but the flat was empty. He quickly climbed up to the roof, but there was still no sign of her.
"Damnit Sam..."
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Author's Note:
Hey guys, just to let you know, the chapters will become markedly shorter due to the action speeding up and the end approaching. It will also allow me to update more regularly. But don't worry, there's still quite a bit of story to be told before I'm done!
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Hunter-Hunted
Fanfiction> This is some AU for Sam and Mon and the whole gang. More details inside.
