Agent Jane Doe 1: The Catalyst

War Ready

"Who's there?" I call out into the pitch-black blanket of darkness as I exit the trailer. Suddenly, I feel someone's arms wrapped around my body, squeezing me tight.

"Jojo!" Christian's voice cries from the darkness.

"Wait, so you're not mad at me for killing Bradley?"

"Well, killing someone out of self-defense is okay in my eyes. That's what my mom taught me,"

"Well, someone is pretty pissed at me..." I say as I activate my flashlight. It shines on the top of someone's full head of honey hair. "Jolee?"

"Leave me alone, Jojo," Jolee folds her arms and turns away from me.

"Hey, Jolee---listen," I approach Jolee. "I hope you know that I had to kill Bradley out of self-defense. I didn't want to do it, but I had to. He was attacking me and Christian's mom Ariadna. He was very close to killing the both of us so I had to strike back,"

"Fie on you, Jojo!"

"Hey, hey, we didn't come here to fight and argue," a girl with cropped blonde hair steps in.

"Jojo---meet my girlfriend Nicole," Christian gestures to the girl.

"Hey, you must be Jojo," Nicole's smile beams with delight as we shake hands. "Nice to meet you,"

"Nice to meet you too, Nicole," I grin. My flashlight shines on a yellow headband across Nicole's forehead. On it is a metal scrap with an 'F' scratched on it. "Are you part of a team or something?"

"Yeah. Team Flavus,"

"Team Flavus?" I turn to Trevan, who has exited the van. "What's up with the multiple teams?"

"Team Flavus was founded around the same time as Team Ruber. They support Team Ruber in any way they can." he explains.

"Are you the leader of Team Flavus?" I turn to Nicole.

"Yeah. My dad was the original leader but he was killed by Sidney Harrison,"

"Sidney Harrison..." I mutter under my breath. He's the guy that killed Mathias that night. Seems like that guy's got a reputation for killing people left and right. What is he, really? A secret police officer? What kinda society is this, 1984?

"That man is a sicko," Raine shakes her head. "He killed my boyfriend Bentley at the transgender rights protest."

"He has a reputation for killing people left and right," Nicole confirms. So I'm right. "So why'd you guys come back? Didn't you have to leave because Jojo's got a million dollar bounty on her head?"

"Yeah. We're gonna show President Wills' true colors," Trevan answers.

"Um...that's gonna be quite hard. What do you plan to do?"

"Read these notes," Trevan hands Nicole a notebook. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jolee heading in the opposite direction with her back towards me.

"Hey, Jolee, where are you going?" I run after her.

"Leave me alone!" Jolee cries.

"Oh, dammit!" I chase Jolee into an empty road.

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Author's Note: What will happen to Jolee and Jojo's relationship?