Project X - Agents & Assassins [COMPLETE]

Chapter 1

It wasn't exactly like a fun trip, standing between two guards in the elevator. Scarlett's head was pointing down as she looked at her cuffed hands. She felt how gravity played with her stomach as they almost reached the ground floor. The elevator doors opened, and Scarlett was pushed outside. They stepped into an almost empty hall. A distant sound of people talking was fading away as Scarlett and the guards walked into an office-like room. Inside were a few men. They were all in formal suits, except for one. Expressionless she raised up her middle finger to the men and grinned. 'My middle finger salutes you, sirs,' she said. Most of the men didn't react to her but one man set loose a little grin. 'That guy gets it.'

'Scarlett,' the man without a suit sighed. He walked up to her to embrace her, but Scarlett backed away. The man took her chin in his hand and raised it. Her faced was covered with bruises and black spots. 'Dad I-' She stiffened, terrified by the thought how she ended up here in the first place. How she ended up in prison. A man in the back stood up from his leather chair and walked towards Scarlett's father. 'Sir, the ransom?', he asked him.

The ride home wasn't as comfortable and relieving as she thought it would be. Her father was behind the wheel and didn't say a word. Sometimes he looked at Scarlett through his mirror, but it was with a furious look Scarlett had rather not seen. When they arrived home, her dad didn't open the car door for her like he'd normally do, but walked with firm steps to the house.

Before she could ask what was wrong, her father took word. 'He made another one, Scarlett,' he said with a lump in his throat. Scarlett didn't know how to respond, she didn't even know if it was so wise to respond in the first place. Her father tightened his grip on his bottle and closed his eyes. 'What do you mean with another?', Scarlett asked. He shook his head. 'Remember your creator?', he asked, 'I thought you were the only sample he was going to make.'

Scarlett didn't understand. Her dad never spoke about her creator. Whenever she asked about it, he abruptly shoved the conversation off the table. Why now? 'Did he make another?', she asked quietly. Her father nodded and took a sip from his bottle. Scarlett took a step back. A flash of what happened yesterday went by. How she cornered innocent people into a dark alley, how she had almost kicked and beaten them down and took their money, how she ran out of the alley to only find cop cars waiting for her.

'Is she, or he, just like me? Just as, extreme?', she asked while taking a step closer to her dad. 'I do not know, but I'm not even sure if there's anything I can do.'

He put down the bottle and looked dozy at Scarlett. He sighed and put his head back down. 'Is there anything I can do?', Scarlett asked after a short silence, 'anything at all?'

'No, I don't think-', he paused for a moment and silently frowned his eyebrows. He sighed, his hands were shaking and sweat was dripping down from his forehead. 'This is against my will, but-'

'I'll do it.'

Her father looked at her in dread. 'It will be dangerous. You'll have to be very careful,' her father warned her. Scarlett nodded and smiled. 'I'll do it.'