A-Typical Romance

Road less Traveled

Damien walked through the steel doors of the bunker feeling the jetlag weigh his bones down.

"Hey, we picked up that package for you" Bloodbath tossed the small box at Damien who nearly dropped it in his exhausted state.

"Yeah man thanks" he raised the package as a gesture as he tossed his bag aside through his room door. That really was fast he thought as he cut open the package with the knife on his nightstand. The blade was every bit as sharp and impressive as it had been in the shop, its wavy pattern characteristic to the type of steel. 

"What's in the box?" Raven asked leaning on his doorframe.

"I got us matching knives" he pulled the match from the brown box holding the curved knives together.

"Oh you're too sweet" she laughed taking the knife from him "Wow, these must've cost a fortune" she inspected the blade thoroughly.

"Only the best for you" Damien circled Raven and held her hips bending to kiss her cheek.

"Hey" she turned around abruptly to look at him "What was that thing you wanted to talk about?".

"oh, right" he shook his head trying to get his bearings "One sec, I got something for Gearshift too". Reaching past a layer of packing peanuts Damien pulled the wrist blades from the box strapping one to his arm and placing a ring around his pinky he manipulated his arm. "Feels good" he moved the pinky around trying to trigger the blade, but it wouldn't move. Flicking the finger quickly caused the blade to spring up and lock in an extended position, flicking his finger again closed it.

"Awesome" Raven looked at the blade with an amused smile.

"Yeah right just like the game" he held up the match as he strode to Gearshifts room.

"Oh, hey Charmer" Gearshift pushed his shaggy blonde hair behind his ear nervously "Good to see you're back safe".

"I am, and I have something for you" he smiled putting a firm hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Oh really? For me?" he looked confused, but happy. Damien produced the blade and watched as he stared in confusion.

"Better watch out," Damien extended the matching blade on his arm "It bites". Gearshifts eyes lit up as he grabbed the mechanism studying it deeply. "Figured you'd like to do some reverse engineering".

"I'd love too!" the boy exclaimed launching into a hug. Placing Gearshift gently at arm's length Damien turned back to his room.

"Aww he likes you" Cobra mocked as he passed by her on the couch, Damien just rolled his eyes. Walking back to his room he looked at Raven, she sat on the bed and braced herself for the conversation.

"What did you want to talk about?" Raven looked slightly worried about what he was going to say.

"Do you ever think about" he tried to find the best words "Running away?". She looked at him as if she had just been smacked in the face.

"What do you mean?" she sounded hurt and confused, shaking her head as if to deny the prospect.

"I mean leave, start again somewhere else" he explained "With me"

"This isn't the kind of life you can just run away from Damien" she looked at him with a harsh expression of disbelief. "I mean think about the kind of place we're in we-"

"I love you, Clara" Damien cut Raven off with the words and her expression changed. "I love you and I never want to do anything, but be around you". She looked shocked, wide eyed and open mouthed.

"I-I umm" she was lost for words.

"It's okay, you don't have to say it back if you don't mean it" Damien whispered.

"I know" she said "I-I love you too, Damien. It's just it still surprises me that someone can love me, you know" she spoke almost numbly at the end.

"Well I'm as real as it gets" Damien raised his hands to present himself.

"Are we though" she turned looking him in the eyes "I mean. All of this. It's like we're not even people we're just ideas. Boogymen you scare children with"

"Then why not leave?" he reinforced his idea.

"It's all I know Damien" a tear fell down her face and she raked a hand through her multicolored hair "What would we even do?". Raven paced the room anxiously back and forth exasperated.

"I don't know we can run a little farm or something, make some money for a while and buy some land. Take only high value jobs for a while and use the money to live out our lives" Damien felt confident in his idea for the future.

"I don't know.... Maybe" Raven turned away from her boyfriend and raised a fist over her mouth in thought "I don't know".

"We'll have to buy our time for now" Damien finished just as he heard a knock on his door.

"Charmer" Oxford called from the other side of the door "May we have a discussion please?". Damien's heart skipped a beat, having the boss come and call on you after having a conversation like this made him feel as if he was being caught for something. Steeling himself, he walked out to speak with the old man.

"Yes, Oxford" he shook his hand "Good to see you sir"

"Oh, you with the manners!" Oxford laughed "You're a delight Charmer" hearing the encouragement put Damien at ease. "I just wanted to say you'll be having a very busy month"

"Why's that?" Charmer cocked his head in confusion.

"Well you've been assigned to tag along on a job from each member of our organization, excluding chef of course" Oxford explained.

"Everyone?" his jaw nearly dropped in shock.

"Yes, I know it's hard work, but you will be compensated for your efforts, they are all high vale targets after all"

"Well, in that case I'm in" Damien laughed off his nervousness.

"Ah I knew you'd rise to the occasion" Oxford put a hand on his shoulder "Cyber's job is the soonest, no killing, just a hack job. Next is Cobra, Gearshift, Joe the Savage, Bloodbath and finally Raven Okay ?"

"Alright" Damien looked back to Raven uneasily, she just shrugged apologetically. Walking down the hall Damien nearly knocked over Gearshift as he walked and tinkered with one of his new toys. Cyber was on a computer working feverishly, sweat accumulating on his brown.

"When's our job start?" Damien asked as he entered the room.

"Your part Agent Evens starts at your new job securing the server farms at the stock exchange in New York. Our guy wants us to play the system a bit, but I'm going to need you to get in and put this pineapple device in the main server for this to work and for that you're going to need clearance" he held up a clearance pass and ID marking him as Agent Daniel Evens . "Read it over, I'll see you tomorrow".

Damien walked slowly to his room studying the documents. "A little white-collar crime never hurt anyone" Raven wrapped her hand around his "You'll do great".

"Yeah, then I just have to get through everyone else's" Damien sighed.

"Babe," Raven ushered him into his room and closed the door.

"Ooo when did we start using babe?" Damien laughed.

"Shut up" she rolled her eyes sarcastically "I was thinking and, I'll go with you"

"You don't know how much it means to me to hear you say that" Damien felt relief wash over him as he put the papers down and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend.

"Thanks" she whispered into his chest.

"For what?" Damien looked into her eyes as he asked.

"For helping me believe I'm worth something. For telling me I'm-" she stuck on the word.

"Loved"