Agent Chetiri

Chapter 37

Love is a battle. Love is a war, and a growing up.

-James A. Baldwin

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The lights of the boiler room flashed dimly once before illuminating the chamber with a bright white light. Pavlenko walked in without a second glance at the equipment and barked an order at his remaining men to force them inside. Alexa hit the side of the door roughly and winced as the gun behind her jabbed itself at her ribs. They pushed Alexa and Q into the centre of the room, knocking aside any guns that they had to the wayside. Q grunted in pain as the guards behind him jabbed a gun against his back and watched as Pavlenko kicked Alexa down to fall onto her knees.

"It's been too long, Alexandra," Pavlenko smirked, pulling her chin up to look at him. Alexa struggled as the guards held her grip, and she glared at the man in front of her. Rarely did Q see such a look of intense loathing on her face, and it was a look that reminded him that this woman was a trained assassin and that she would never forget that side of her.

"And you wonder why I never chose to visit," she said sarcastically. "Not exactly a welcome, is it?"

"My dear, I'm certain you know that if there's anything I detest more in this world, it's surprises and bad behaviour," he chuckled mockingly. Without warning, his demeanour changed, and he picked her up by the collar with a cold glare. She struggled against him and received a sharp blow to the back that caused her to cry out.

"And your proxy virus, your behaviour, your killings, and your lover," he snarled. "certainly fit my pet peeves to a tee."

Pavlenko tossed her to the ground roughly, her shoulders hitting the ground as the impact caused her to crumple against the floor. A flash of anger sparked through his eyes, and he picked her up again to land two punches onto her jaw. Pavlenko shoved her to the ground again and kicked her ribs repeatedly, spouting off a slew of vulgarities towards her. He grabbed a nearby chain from the boiler room components and slashed it across her back, causing her to let out an agonizing scream. Q immediately struggled against his captors reached for Alexa, calling her name as he watched her go down. "Stop this!" Q said firmly, his hand falling onto Alexa's left shoulder.

Pavlenko's eyes narrowed as they flickered towards Q, and he folded his arms across his chest. "You must be the lover," he sneered. "Miracle that you stayed with her, really, especially after all of her sins. Do you know what's she's done?"

"I don't particularly want to," Q said, looking nonplussed.

"Oh, but you really must," Pavlenko said, sounding amused. "She's run the whole gamut—from blowing up the hospital where the sickly President of Argentina lay, blackmailing the primary candidate for Chancellor in Germany, and leaking the files for nuclear technologies to the underground parties. Hundreds of lives—men, women, children—meant nothing to her. How can you love her, after discovering her former intentions?"

Q took a moment to answer, his expression stoic and unreadable, but quickly finalized his response in his mind. He had a plan in his mind to keep Alexa alive to finish the job with him as the distraction. It was risky (and had a 75% probability of costing him his life), but it was the only chance he had at letting her finish everything.

"It was you who ordered her to be stolen away and to eliminate each target that stood in your way. I'd say that those sins and intentions were altogether yours; you just weren't strong enough to accept the gravity of your desires to do it yourself," Q said mockingly. Pavlenko's face turned crimson, and he landed a punch onto Q's jaw, causing him to flinch.