Royally Flushed

Perspective

~Daniel~

He still relished the feeling of Malia's hand on him, even if it had been from a slap. He hated the fact that she hated him so much, but there wasn't anything he could do about that anymore.

Once she had left the classroom with the Prince, he had taken up his natural position at the back of every class that Henry took. He was a glorified watch dog, and he hated every second of it.

He wanted to be out and in the action, but he also still had to follow the rules...their rules.

They had told him to return to England and to find a position as a guard with the royals which hadn't been too hard considering Henry had hired him right away, although he was sure it had more to do with upsetting Louis than anything.  Henry really didn't like that Prince.

Neither did he, the way he was always hanging all over Malia, like he had some stupid royal claim over her. 

Daniel knew her first, had her love first, and he intended to get that love back.  But first things first, he needed to get out of that gang to keep her safe, and his entire family. 

The only question was how, considering what they did to traitors was more gruesome than being blown up by a missile launcher like some of the other guys had been on his deployment.  He was lucky that they had recruited him, they said, although sometimes he wished he had just died for real in that damn desert.  Maybe then, things wouldn't be so complicated...

Once he reached his destination after switching shifts as Henry's guard, he issued the official knock, two raps followed by a three second pause and then another five knocks, ending finally with one resounding bang with his closed fist against the metal door. 

The steel creaked when it finally opened, the old hinges needing a thorough greasing, and then he was inside the room that he hated most, he almost referred to it as an evil lair, as that was the description most fitting for it. 

The leader of the gang spent the majority of his time here, or so he'd heard.  He'd never actually met him or seen him up close, but since the bombing, people were scattering more than usual. 

There'd been more and more people leaving the gang than ever before, and just as Daniel was about to get out for good and just run away, he'd been sent an assignment to find employment as a guard with the royals and a picture of Malia and his family all together at a barbecue back home a lifetime ago was attached to the message, although the meaning was clear. 

It was a message that said he either followed their directions or everyone he cared about would be killed.  He knew it would happen, too.  One of his buddies that he'd been recruited with tried to opt out of an assignment, an assassination of an ambassador from some small country in the middle east.  He sent them a message and said that he wouldn't do it and they killed his sister first, sent him pictures of her body bleeding out from a gunshot wound in her head in their family home. 

He went through with the assassination, although Daniel hadn't heard from him since. 

The memory made him shiver in disgust but he made sure to remove any and all emotions from his face as soon as he began to see light. 

He had to climb down the steps of the sewer into a manhole to reach his destination earlier, then followed by the steel door after he'd walked about a mile down in the underground tunnels. 

The stench was almost unbearable, but he knew the reality of what would happen if he didn't come would be ten times worse than a nasty smell. 

The halls were lit with a glow from multiple overhead LED lights and although the first time he had come he expected a dark dungeon, he was met with sterile white walls and white acrylic desk furniture and bright lights and the sweet scent of gardenias floating through the air to mask the scent of human defecation that attempted to permeate the walls.