Newly recruited Agent Scarlett Pierce was a determined woman - just waiting for the chance to take on her first true mission. She had worked alongside sexist men for almost a year now, wanting only to be considered an equal.
And as America turns up...
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LUCIEN SAT AT THE HEAD of the table, overlooking his fellow companions. The meeting he had scheduled for today was mandatory, requiring every member in the building to attend. The room was rather crowded, some of them standing up against the wall or sharing seats with others.
He often made decisions on his own, as did everybody else. But for things such as hacking into governments or exposing celebrities, meetings were needed to discuss their game plan.
The topic of this meeting was drastically different than before. What were they going to do with an Agent in the building? More specifically, what were they going to do if her kidnapping made it to the news?
"Ayana," the man said to the woman sitting next to him, capturing her immediate attention. She looked over at him, her curly hair bouncing on her shoulders. He kept his voice to a whisper. "I need you to escort the Agent to my room."
"I'm on it," Ayana assured him. "But where will you be sleeping if she takes your room?"
"I'll figure it out."
Lucien hadn't thought about it thoroughly. He was fully willing to give up his room for Scarlett. Unlike the law enforcement at the border lines — he believed it was inhumane to keep humans in dark consolidated rooms without a bed, food or access to a shower. His room also had plenty of books stacked up upon his shelves, a small kitchen with fully stocked cabinets and a bathroom with plenty of extra supplies.
He didn't trust her to be anywhere else, anyway.
Scarlett was one hell of a smart woman. She could easily talk herself out of any situation unharmed. Who knew what else she was capable of?
The man decided right there and then that he would simply just ask another person if they would be willing to share a room with him for a little bit. Invading Scarlett's personal privacy wasn't something he would enjoy.
The curly haired woman nodded curtly, exiting her seat and leaving the room.
"Attention, please!" Lucien called out, effectively quieting everyone in the room. "We need to talk. I expect all of you to be aware that we have successfully... captured... a federal agent that was on our trail. She is now awaiting more questioning, but in the meantime we all need to discuss our plan with what to do with her. Any suggestions?"
The rest of the meeting went by smoothly, and Lucien wrote down the best suggestions on a small notepad that he had stored in his pant pocket.
Killing Scarlett was a popular opinion amongst them.
Lucien understood their view on the matter completely, but disagreed with it at the same time. Keeping her here was dangerous to their entire organization. If they drew in attention from the public, all sorts of people -- especially those from federal agencies -- would focus their time on finding Scarlett. And they would become the villian.
In the eyes of the American government, Anonymous was a threat. Their government officials had been trying for years to successfully take them all down, and scrounge up any kind of evidence that they could find that supported their view of them being bad.
In truth, the American government system was the only threat that the citizens of America had to worry about. It was a corrupt system that was full of racism, sexism and homophobia that had continued on since the day it was originated.
Anonymous was started to stop these injustices in the world and bring peace to the people. But a lot of people didn't think of them that way. Somehow they had been turned into the villains of this story.
If the government found out about them taking Scarlett as their "hostage", everything would be over. Killing her and deposing of any evidence that she had even been alive was the easier way to go on with this.
And Lucien would have went with that plan. If he hadn't cared about her.
He truly wished he didn't, but it almost seemed impossible.
The woman was determined, strong minded, loyal, thick skinned and undeniably smart with a considerable amount of potential. Lucien couldn't deny that his mind had once brushed over the possibility of her joining Anonymous. The Agent would prove to be a strong addition. But, the loyalty he silently praised her for came at a cost. Scarlett would always stay loyal to her government, not join the opposing side when her life was put at risk.
Scarlett Pierce would die before she would join them.
Forming trust or attachments to those who were not in support of Anonymous had been banned from their organization a long, long time ago. Lucien years ago had sworn on his own life, that no matter what, he would not break the rules.
A question remained in his head: Had he broken them just yet?
His heart didn't beat faster when he saw her. His thoughts weren't always focused on her. It wasn't trust, or feelings, or love. Yet the admiration he held for her was there. It was there and Lucien knew it.
Lucien hadn't broken the rules, but he was riding on thin ice.
•••
WHEN LUCIEN WALKED INTO HIS room later that night to check on the Agent, she was curled up on the cold floor. He chuckled at that. It was a straight refusal from her to sleep in his bed. Defiance. The pillow he had given her earlier was tucked under her head, a blanket covering her body.
The man walked over, crouching on the ground and picking the woman up as carefully as he could, leaving her pillow on the floor. He carried her bridal style over to his bed, and laid her down on top of the covers.
Her body jerked, which startled him.
He hurriedly grabbed another blanket that laid on the edge of his bed, flowing it out and laying it over her. That was good enough to keep her sleeping, right? He hoped so.
"Goodnight, Scarlett."
Lucien left the room, now walking down the hallway and shaking his head.
Thin ice, he reminded himself. Thin fucking ice.
NOTE
Thank you for 2000 reads, everyone!
I asked in my Conversations board for some of you to drop your names in the comments so I could add you into the story as a member of Anonymous since I didn't want to log onto any baby name websites, but no body really did that. (Thank you Ayana, by the way.) So just drop your names here :)
