No Angel

Part 9

Andy and Simba had been at Phantom's cabin for barely twelve hours before the not-so-dead agent had found them, and while she swore no one else knew about the cabin's existence, her presence had made Simba nervous.

After feeling like she'd slept with one eye open the rest of the night, Simba got up just as the sun was making an appearance. Leaving a sleeping Andy, she made her way to the kitchen for some much needed coffee.

Phantom had beat her to it and was already standing over a boiling kettle. Simba looked at the couch as she walked past and realised Phantom probably had about as much sleep as she did.

"No milk, so I hope black is okay," Phantom said quietly with her back still to Simba.

The blonde scrunched her face at the thought but agreed to a cup anyway as long as it had extra sugar.

"So where have you been?" Simba asked, sitting on the island bench as Phantom handed her a mug.

Phantom took a sip of her own drink before answering casually. "Around. Trying to stay off Maurice's radar. Easy enough when you just want to hide, but doing so while trying to gain information on him was trickier. How's Taylor?"

Simba couldn't believe Phantom was asking about her sister, who wasn't even in the country anymore, at a time like this. "She's fine, I think," Simba answered. "I don't hear from her much since you . . . I haven't even seen her since before that, she couldn't make it back for the funeral."

"That's because I told her not to," Phantom said into her coffee cup as she gave the other girl a guilty look.

"She knew?" Simba was floored. All this time she'd been dealing with the loss of Phantom, but her sister had been given the privilege of knowing the truth?

"Well, I couldn't let her come back for a bogus funeral," Phantom explained. "And she's halfway across the world, so I knew she'd be safe."

Simba hadn't liked Phantom much when they first met, mainly because of the antics she was always getting Simba's sister into. But she thought they'd become closer in their years working together.

Simba and Phantom had only ever met twice before joining Mayhem—the first time hardly counting as a meeting. Phantom had showed up at her mother's doorstep with a bleeding gash on her neck caused by her reckless twin sister—Taylor. Simba had been too busy yelling and arguing with Taylor to bother introducing herself to the visitor, but her sister told her everything later on that night after they'd made up.

It seemed like Simba had spent her whole life keeping Taylor out of trouble. When Taylor had confided in her about her burglary hobby she'd taken up with Phantom, Simba had been ready to tell their mother everything just to keep her sister out of trouble, but she knew Taylor would hate her forever, so instead, she covered for her.

She was her twin's airtight alibi whenever Taylor went out with Phantom and she made sure their mother, and the police, never knew about Taylor's involvement with Phantom.

The second time Simba met Phantom they had a bit more formal introduction—at her mother's funeral. Although Simba didn't like Phantom and her criminal gang for the trouble they got her sister into, she was glad they had come for Taylor.

"So, what happens to the two of you now?" Phantom approached Simba at the wake.

Simba sighed. "I don't know," she answered honestly. "Taylor's still got school, she graduates in a few months. Where she's staying," Simba added firmly, stressing the point to Phantom, who got the picture.

"Don't you have school, too?"

She shook her head. "No, I dropped out when mum got sick."

"I'm sorry." Phantom couldn't help but put a hand on her shoulder, understanding perfectly what it was like to make the same choice to put family first.

"It's not your fault," the blonde shrugged. She didn't make eye contact with Phantom, instead watching her sister interact with guests across the room. "I just, I don't have a plan now I guess."

Phantom frowned in thought. "I might know of something for you. It's not an easy job, and maybe not entirely legal, but it's better than any dead-end job you'll probably end up in since you're not finishing school now."

Knowing what Phantom's hobbies included, Simba was nervous as to where this conversation was going. "What?"

"I recently started doing some casual work for a corporation called Mayhem, Inc." Phantom explained to her. "It's based in Sydney and I kind of get a Charlie's Angels vibe from the whole operation, but they're good people."

"Kinda like save the world type stuff?" quipped Simba with a smirk.

"Exactly like save the world type stuff," Phantom said genuinely.

Then Simba turned her head to look at Phantom, just to see if the burglar was pulling her leg, which she definitely wasn't.

Simba wasn't so sure about any of it. She barely knew Phantom at all, she certainly didn't know if she trusted Phantom. She'd always been the 'good twin' and what Phantom was offering sounded more up Taylor's alley. But then she remembered how Phantom had looked out for Taylor, how she'd taken care of Taylor and kept her out of trouble as best she could—it really wasn't Phantom's fault her sister had taken up illegal activities with her, that was completely Taylor's decision.

Simba realised she had nothing to lose, and that if she could trust Phantom with her sister's life, then she should be able to trust the brunette with her own life.

Turning to Phantom, Simba told her, "Alright, I'll do it."

Phantom was the only person Simba had ever grown to trust completely at Mayhem, Inc. The two had worked together many times and saved each other's butts on more than one occasion. But learning that Phantom hadn't trusted her with something this huge left Simba with the same feelings she'd had about her before Mayhem.

"So you were willing to put my sister—who has no idea that Mayhem even exists—in danger, by telling her the truth," Simba told the other woman. "Do you have any idea what it's been like for me? Everything was different after you . . ." Simba realised she couldn't bring herself to say it. "I thought it was my fault. Everyone thought it was my fault. Bradie won't even speak to me he's so mad that I couldn't save you."

"He's not mad," Phantom said like it was obvious. "He feels just as guilty as you do. He thinks he screwed up and if you hadn't had to save him, you could have gotten me out."

"So he doesn't know?"

"Nope," Phantom said. She took another long sip of her coffee before continuing. "I couldn't tell anyone in the company. Everything had to look completely legit. You both had to believe it so that Maurice, and whoever's helping him, would believe it."

"You think there's other agents in on this?"

Phantom nodded. Simba had definitely suspected so, which is why she'd taken Andy as far from the office as she could. She'd kind of been hoping she was wrong, though. Phantom confirming she'd made the right choice in running, didn't make her feel better.

"Who?"

With a shrug, Phantom said, "I've got my top suspects, but nothing concrete."

Simba gave a long sigh. While her main thoughts focused on how she felt violated and betrayed by the people she'd dedicated her life to, she could feel her mind was already one step ahead—making its own plans to get them inside headquarters to that board meeting so they could end all of this.

Simba was going to take Maurice down if it was the last thing she did.