Octagon Project 1: Melody Halloway

~-11-~

The boys were celebrating Nina, the new recruit with drinks and laughter. Zack joined in on occasion but otherwise, just sat on the couch out of sheer boredom. Roy sat in the kitchen smiling at the immaturity of the three until he would remember Mel. The empty look in her eyes as she closed that door behind her. Something had come over her. Something he had never seen before in anyone. Not even in Steele, the man that kidnapped and tortured him so many years ago. A shiver went down his spine as his mind reenacted the scene that happened a couple hours ago. Whatever she was doing, she's probably having a hard time with it. A half hour later, the crew turned in except for Roy and Zack who lay around on the couches, waiting for morning to come. Or Mel. Whichever was first.

"You worried?" Zack asked. Roy shook his head indifferently.

"I don't know." He admitted.

"Me too." Zack answered. Roy was about to say something when movement caught his eye and he sat up, thinking it might be Nina. Wrong.

Mel walked into the living room numbly. Strands of hair stuck up from her ponytail in random areas, the crescent moons under her eyes seemed darker than ever. She didn't have her jacket on so they could see the blood that was splattered, coated, and smeared across her face, chest, arms, and hands. Her black shirt and pants even seemed stained. Roy slowly stood up and Zack sat straighter. Mel put the large, stained knife she was holding onto the counter with what appeared like all the effort she had left.

"Mel?" Roy asked cautiously when there was a knock on the door. Zack quietly peered through the blinds and opened the door. Two men stepped in with McHall and walked off to the training room. McHall looked over at Mel and glanced her state up and down.

"Anything?" He asked her. She handed him a little flash drive and he looked at it in his hand skeptically.

"I already decrypted everything." She croaked. Her voice quiet and foreign. She had enough rage to do what she did to that man, but now, she felt empty, dead, and monstrous. She probably looked horrible too.

"Good work." He said, putting the hard drive in his coat pocket. Zack came out of his bewilderment and walked over to McHall, furious.

"You had her do this?" He asked. McHall looked at him as if asking if there was a problem with that.

"Zack." Mel said quietly.

"How sick are you?! You have employees to do that kind of work!"

"Zack." Mel said more forcefully.

"What are you trying to do to the agents of this organization?"

"Zack!" Mel shouted.

"What?!" He shouted back, turning to look at her. She looked so broken it pained him. 

"Drop it." She told him. He looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. What is going on with her? Dean came out of his room, rubbing his eyes.

"What's going on?" He asked, then stopped and looked Mel up and down. "What happened to you?" He asked as Nina came out of her room too. Bad timing. The two men came in, carrying the unrecognizable body of the man Mel had spent two and a half hours torturing on a white and red splattered sheet. Nina gasped loudly and covered her mouth with her hands.

"I think the better question is, what happened to him?" Roy said, cocking his head in the direction of the cut-up, burned, dead man. It looked so bad, it was honestly impossible to tell what Mel did to him. Dean looked over at the knife next to Mel on the counter and looked about ready to pass out as he gagged and ran for the bathroom. McHall got off his phone and looked around at each of the teens.

"Clean up crew is on their way." He informed them. "I'll let you guys recover for a day, but Melody, Zack, I'd like to see you two in my office tomorrow morning." With that, he left after the two men and closed the door. It was silent for a couple of minutes before Zack looked over at Mel who stared blankly at the floor.