Guiltless

Chapter 3

21 April 1999

*Simon*

“What are you sitting down for, slacker? You can’t be tired that easily. We give the normal ones more training than this and they bear it with a hunger for more. And you? Disgusting!” Mark claims as he walks around me while I try to catch my breath. I do not miss the way he emphasizes the words ‘normal’ and ‘disgusting’ nor do I miss the reason. I am not normal. I was created to be the perfect assassin. How do I know this? Because I am reminded of it every single minute of every single day by this Resistance leader couple Mark and Cathy Mildew. And I have no reason to doubt that he truly is disgusted by me.

After all, as my ‘father’ Dr. Stevens once told me, I nearly killed him while in Africa. I don’t know why he hates me for something I had no control of but I know that I disgust him on a very basic level and if I wasn’t important, I would be killed this very moment. No chances of a ‘normal’ life for me. By now, my breath has now recovered and I stare in front of me as he still rants about what a waste of time. What they don’t realize that this ‘waste of time’ has figured out that Mark Mildew, a name I have no reason to believe is original, is the true leader of the Resistance. John still doesn’t realize this. For him, it is safe to be unaware though. He would be executed like a bug if he ever finds this out. I would have told others but there is no reason for it. After all, it is an ace I hide and no doubt suspect will come use someday. For what, I have no idea but it doesn’t really matter. As Mark himself taught me, one should always have things to negotiate with. Unless the other party is a crazed madman or a mastermind, it will always save my life. And I know this for a fact: Mark may be a genius occasionally. But he is no mastermind. As he is still ranting about how ‘weak’ I am, not realizing that I have already recovered my full strength.

I see it coming as soon as he tenses his muscles. And his block to my throat is blocked just when it was about to get contact. “Alright, running lessons are over for today. It’s time for sparring ones.” he grunts out as I see him tense his muscles of his right bicep. At the same moment I see him ready his left thigh and I immediately respond, blocking both his attack from the right and the immediate helical sweep his left leg makes upward to hit me. But in doing so, he has exposed himself for a millisecond and with a sharp jab of my wrist, I hit him just on his hip hardly. Mark may be disgusted by me but he has taught me to fight well. I control my strength just enough to hurt him much but not cause any permanent mark. That would be useless and only provide more reason for him to dislike me and I already suspect his dislike might cause me trouble later.

He releases a sharp breath and is momentarily stunned. Taking advantage of the situation, I fake an attack on his left leg, which is farther from me. He lunges for my left leg, even though he hasn’t recovered yet and I know he realized his mistake when I see his forehead crease. It gives me just enough time to make my actual attack on his balancing right leg and he immediately falls.

But as he falls, he controls his expression this time and I know he has something planned already. I jump back and before he even hits the ground, his left leg, which would have fallen facing opposite from me, sweeps in a quick circle. As soon as it comes in my range, I make a grab for it. Though as soon as I do, he reveals his strategy and uncoils his leg farther, hitting me hard on the chest. I barely stumble before I am hit by another of his kicks, this time by the right leg. Gaining control of my body through the pain at the last moment, I quickly put my arms around my chest in a cross to deflect any further attacks. But in the split second I put my arms up, I realize that I made a mistake. If it were me attacking, I would have gone for the now exposed spot, the legs. This realization comes with a hurt as Mark hits me at the joint of my left foot and I almost lose balance though. But concluding that his next attack would be to pelvic region and then, if I defend it, to my neck before he considers other positions, I control my body from avoiding reacting until the right moment. Just as his right leg is about to hit me, I grab it and immediately twist.