Project X - Agents & Assassins [COMPLETE]

Chapter 7

Weeks passed by as Kalea got more used to the terms of school. She wasn't really getting far with creating friends but she stubbornly wore her clothing style every day. Her rainbow skirt, her hippie denim jacket, her pink 50's dress and her glow-in-the-dark sneakers. Scarlett, on the other hand, started to get along again with people. People invited her to have lunch with them again and she attended every basketball match. Eliza never came back for her. She probably never had the guts to pick a fight with Scarlett. But, she never felt at home with a certain person. Sure, she was getting popular and loved again, but she was lonely and broken inside. Even though the world seemed to collapse beneath her feet, her dad was on the verge of a breakthrough. He had been researching about her creator's new agents and found out that they'd at least be around her age. He had managed to find clues and leads in the documents he hacked 16 years ago, when he'd taken Scarlett in his own custody. After school, she'd immediately turned home. She didn't stick to chat with her classmates or went to her music classes to console her feelings into her guitar, but almost ran out of class when the bell rang.

Today her training began and she'd get to hear how she would be helpful to her father. She got home and went down to the basement. There her dad was sitting in his lab, which in the past few weeks had some upgrades. The candles were gone and fancy stuff was replaced with it. No more wooden tables or broken glass on the ground, but a fine white laboratory with bright installed lamps and science tables and tools. She had no bloody idea where her dad got the money from, but she guessed he saved a lot for this upgrade. Might as well has been he'd wanted this upgrade for quite some years now. 'Ah, Scar,' her father said when he saw her walking down the metal staircase. She looked at him and smiled. He himself wasn't looking so bad anymore either. He still had his brown hair and stubble beard all over the place, but he was done drinking and it did him good. Scarlett dropped her backpack and walked towards him. 'So, today first day of training, right?', she said. He nodded and beckoned Scarlett to a room that was adjusted to the lab. He opened the metal doors and they walked through. Scarlett's jaw tended to drop as she took a clear look at the room. Its walls were covered with all kinds of weapons and tools and in the great midst of the room, there was a fighting pit. The fighting pit existed out of a pit with sand which was most certainly three meters deep. Round about the pit stood a circling, metal fence. Scarlett slowly took her steps through the room and let her hands slide past the sharp and metal weapons. Her eyes were full of wonder after she'd circled through the entire room. 'It's yours,' her father said with a permitting voice. Full of disbelief in her eyes, Scarlett looked at her dad. 'Mine?', she repeated, just to make clear that she didn't misunderstood anything. Her father nodded and grinned. 'Each and every one of these knifes will save your life someday,' he said. 'When- How?', Scarlett startled as she took another look around the room. 'I had some old friends help me clean this place up,' he said, 'and don't worry, you can trust them.'

Scarlett frowned her eyebrows. 'You have friends? Who were they?'

Her father laughed and sighed. 'Well, you know, some old college guys I used to know,' he answered. Scarlett nodded and took a deep breath. 'So, when do we start?', Scarlett asked full of enthusiasm. 'Right now,' her dad answered. Scarlett jumped and immediately took another turn towards the weapons. One last time she turned towards her dad. 'Can I?', she asked as she pointed to several walls. He nodded as she immediately grasped a heavy axe from the wall. 'Well, I wouldn't choose that if I were you. Why don't you start with a long stick?', her father gestured. Scarlett put the axe back on the wall and let her gaze wonder upon the wooden sticks in the corner of the room. 'Sticks?', she asked with awe in her eyes. Her father nodded. 'You're only a beginner, Scar, not a professional. If you want to become great, you must begin small. You'd first have to learn your movements,' he said. Scarlett sighed and shuffled towards the sticks. She picked one, about the size to her hips, and walked towards the fence. With one, high jump, she swung herself into the pit. It was indeed quite deep but she landed quite easily on the soft sand. 'So, who will I fight?', she asked.

'Me.'

A tall and firmly built man landed in the pit before her. He was at least two feet higher and had black, wild hair. Not only that, but his body was covered with a large number of scars and bruises. This didn't seem like a fight Scarlett would easily win. 'Who are you?', Scarlett asked as she had to bend her neck to look this man in the eye. 'My name is Thomas Parker, your training coach,' he said with a low tuned voice. Scarlett grinned as she looked Thomas challenging in the eye. 'Aaand, did you just wait in the shadows until I would ask who I'd fight, just so you could make an epic entrance?', she asked sarcastically. Thomas looked at Scarlett in surprise and nodded. 'Yes- Yeah that's actually- Yeah okay I did,' he answered, 'but you should know that-'

Before he could finish his sentence, Scarlett had hit him with her stick in his side and another one on his shoulder. She smiled as she looked how Thomas dropped to the ground in surprise. 'Now Thomas, let's get started.'