.The Eraser.

quatre

                                                                            -4-     

There was smoke and debris every where. The whole scene was crazy. A bomb had just gone off an hour ago and the reporter herself looked scared.

''It is just too much. Many people inside are believed to be dead and know one is sure if the heads of state have-", the lady reorter was cut off as another bomb exploded behind her and the television screen suddenly went black. 

Atara recallled that day very clearly just two years ago,when the ZED had made their biggest move yet. They had set up bombs at a United Nations building in Geneva, Switzerland. Many heads of state were attending a meeting there and unfortunately, the ZED had proven to be smarter than anyone expected them to be. They were not your average terrorist group. 

Situations concerning the ZED were too complex for the regular Police team to figure out where they hid. Great Organisations such as the Swiss Intelligence Agency could not even get a single infromation on where the ZED had come from and where it was they had disappeared to.

They left no lead. Even the Central Intelligence Agency failed to track them down, when they had attacked a couple of US Embassies in some nations of the world. They were always one step ahead of every one else. But No one knows their motive. They strike in random places and they leave no patterns. 

"As you know Atara we have been tracking down these guys for years. They are our biggest threat so far, dating back from eleven years ago. They always seem to slip out of our fingers when we try to track them down. They are a hard target ,but we feel that we have a lead", Jean explained to Atara, while her mother kept silent. 

She was now even more curious and she wanted to know the details further. She was determined to do this mission now. The ZED had caused agreat amount of pain in the past years.

"What is the-",she began, but was cut off mid question. 

"Sorry am late." Some one said. Atara did not try to hide her grimace, as she immediately knew who the voice belonged to. 

Jean's mouth slipped into a thin line as he gave his best look of disapproval to the girl now sitting next to Atara. She smiled at him and said while shrugging ,'' I was sleeping." Like it was no big deal that she had missed the meeting and was now late for this. 

Atara rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chests, while Louisse just shook her head in slight disappointment. 

"Sometimes Copper you really make me angry."Jean said to her. 

"Atleast am here. What are we talking about?'' Copper responded casually.

That made Atara's annoyance increase. Atara and Copper never got along. They were both nineteen years of age, but they had only known each other for three years. While Atara had grown up in the Erasers's organisation, Copper had joined them when she was sixteen. And ever since she had stepped foot into the base, she acted like she owned the place. She made everything into a competition and was very conceited. She always made sure at any given moment to make Atara's life miserable and Atara found her so irritating. 

One time when it had been a month since Copper had joined the Erasers, Atara was in her judo class and Copper herself was in the same class. They were other trainees there aswell, but for some reason Copper decided to mock Atara when she was trying out the new move that the whole class had learnt that day.

Atara was finding it a little difficult, like everyone else, but to Copper she was the only one making a terrible mistake. That made Atara's self esteem decrease so much and it took a while for her to recover. Unfortunately for her, Copper kept up the mocking and ridicule about her mistake for another year.