The Rose of Flames: Rising Tides

Chapter 4

August 6th, 2047

10 A.M.

Rialto, Italy

Sunlight streamed into the pale blue room, striking the desk at one end of the room and reflecting off the screen of a laptop, numerous USBs resting beside it. The wood floor gleamed and glimmered as sunlight illuminated the apartment, and quiet snores sounded within the usually-quiet walls. The snores abruptly cut off, and there was a gentle rustling as the form that was sleeping beneath the sheets woke up with a soft yawn, rubbing her bleary eyes tiredly as she sat up, face still obstructed by the hood covering it.

Looking around, the thief got up from the bed and quickly pulled the sheets back into place. She walked over to the fridge, letting herself show her strange gait and creating uneven footsteps. She popped it open and pulled out a bottle of brand coffee and some strawberry yogurt. She grabbed a plastic spoon off the top of the fridge and plopped herself at the desk, setting her breakfast down beside her laptop. Cracking open the coffee with an audible pop, she took a quick sip and set it down again before picking up one of the USBs, which she knew was the one on the supposed experiments Thorn was going to be doing.

Inserting the USB into her laptop, the thief began to tap away at her keyboard, eyes darting across files upon files of information about Thorn's experiments. Brainwashing, emotion suppression, it was terrifying to read. Once done, the thief removed the USB and repeated the process for each USB, the next one, their plans.

"Operation Wolf," she mumbled, reading a particular file that had caught her eye. As she scanned it, alarm glinted in her hidden optics. She quickly moved on to the next USB, scanning for any connection between the agents and the information she'd just discovered, gasping as she saw what she knew was confirmation that the plan, one of the experimentation files, and a specific agent were all connected.

"Agent Belgard, otherwise known as Loupe," she read aloud. "A new sniper that was added to the team after being kidnapped and brainwashed to...." the thief gulped and reread the next line numerous times, hardly able to believe what she was reading. She fell silent after that, continuing to thoroughly scan the files before finishing, packing up her stuff, and standing. She couldn't stay in Rialto any longer; she had to get to Switzerland and pray that her previous research, as well as the findings she'd found, were correct. She pulled out her phone, a nice touch screen model with a purple case and handy device that goes on the back of it, and quickly purchased a plane ticket. Picking up everything, the thief turned and pushed open her apartment's door, walking into the hallway. She silently left the building, mulling over the sniper she'd just discovered.

Loupe. French for Wolf. Her name was Célia Belgard, and... My god, it hurts to think about it, the thief grimaced while walking, quickly arriving at the airport. Everything from security and onward was a blur as she went over all the information she'd received in those little USBs. Her voice was emotionless as she spoke with some security guards, who'd asked how old she was.

"I'm 18, sir," she stated calmly, voice mostly flat along with her expression. "I can travel by myself."

The security officers sighed and waved her on. She sat at the terminal for her plane, glancing around. She needed to save money and chose to merely purchase an economy ticket. She pulled out a pair of white earbuds and plugged them into her phone. She opened up a music app and hit 'play' for her music playlist. The thief hummed quietly while listening to an uplifting song, the artist who made it having her favorite mythological animal in their name.

And I like dragons for more reasons than one may expect, she reminded herself with a grin. She continued to listen to her music until it was time to board. When her section was called, she stood up. Leading the line, she passed the agent her ticket, who looked it over quickly. The agent looked back at the thief.