Domgre

4

"So Inaki." She was sat at the head of the table, Hobbs to her right, strangers filling the rest of the seats. She looked down the line of men. She wondered if it really was her age that caused her so much difficulty. She remembered male guards. Male doctors. Male generals. The pattern was clear. She'd ask Bee later. For now, she stood above a piece of paper.

She explained Inaki to the men. How he looked, an older gentleman with a scar on his chin, his dark hair turning grey, his height, his muscles. She moved on to sketching the compound. "See? They let me go where I liked here." the comment was directed at Hobbs who merely scoffed, "And a lot of good that did them, you're exposing their floor plan to us." She shrugged, "Fair enough."

She mapped out the floors, the rooms, the medical floor, the training floor, the cafeteria floor, and every other one the base contained, all surrounding Inaki. Or at least, the Inaki his people knew. It was like the throne rooms she had read about, before speaking of monarchy was banned as Inaki held himself higher than a king. She showed them the tunnel that lead to the underground training compound where she spent most of her days when she was away from Inaki or her handler. It where most of the recruits ate, slept, and trained.

"So there are kids down there?"
"Well yeah,"
"And this is many floors deep?"
"Uh huh."
"And these kids can't even go outside?"
"Well no, it's not safe."
"Why?"

She looked at the table. She remembered training in the woods above the compound. She'd been practicing shooting moving targets with her handler, animals. Some others had been out with them collecting the carcasses. They had been gunned down before Evie even had time to reload. Her hands went still. Her body seized. Her handler wrestled the gun from her and took them out with ease. Inaki tore into her, verbally tearing her to pieces. Her handler handled the physical part, cutting her up as she went over her mistakes over and over and over. She'd been seven at the time. She'd never seen someone die before. She'd been young and stupid.

"Because your troops will gun them down without a second thought." The table was quiet. Evie continued to explain the schematics. "I slept here, my handler in the room next door, and Inaki on the other side of her." One of the men leaned forward, looking at the poor drawing of the hallway she had walked down so many times. He scanned over the rooms, looking up at her, "A line of defense." She looked down at it, remembering the false rooms with the mannequins. She drew them in nearby. Inaki wasn't exactly loved by all. Assassinations attempts happened often enough, though only two had ever gotten close enough to touch him. "Yes."

She explained how this hallway could be access several places throughout the base, though only one place from the outside. That way they could access any part of the compound they wanted but didn't have many unguarded exits. The main entrance was found beneath his desk, in his office, above the room that was the center of the compound. It was on the bottom floor, a simple unsuspecting thing. A panel that slid out to reveal stairs.

"And he always sleeps down there?" She looked at the man, if he slept anywhere else, she would've let them know. Still, she answered his rather obvious question. "Every day of my life he has. Though he has about a hundred rooms with mannequins in them. If a false door is opened, his is alerted and his room is locked down." Hobbs looked at the drawing thoughtfully, "So we have one chance to get it right." He pulled the drawing from her and rolled it up, putting it in a cabinet. He looked at the room and with a wave of his hand, the men filtered out and they were left alone.

"I'll send someone to properly sketch out the compound with you tomorrow. For now, thank you. We've gathered more information today than we've been able to in years." She nodded and didn't give him any more of her time. She had more important things to do.

Food. She got lunch, tucking an extra knife beneath her plate. She didn't bother going to her own room, instead, knocking on Bee's door. She answered quickly and Evie took a seat on her couch as she ate. The food here had much more taste than anything in Domgre, save the food at Inaki's fancy dinners.

"How was your day?" She shrugged, it hadn't been much of a day yet. She was used to working from the time she woke to the time she slept. The lack of things to do made her uneasy, feeling like she was neglecting her duties. "I was the youngest person in here, and the only woman." She looked to Bee who was looking rather uncomfortable now. This seemed like a topic that was not to be addressed, but accepted without question. "Yes, you will have to get used to that." She pressed on. Bee could dance around an answer all she wanted. "Which one?" She was quiet, Evie knew the answer she just wanted to hear it. Bee refused to, Evie decided she'd bring it up at the next meeting.

For now, she found herself in the gym. It was odd training alone. No handler. No recruits. The gym was relatively empty. She ran laps and stretched before she moved to the punching bag and then weights. By the time she was done it was well past dinner. She went to sleep without it, exhausted.

Sleep offered her little comfort. She knelt before Inaki, head lowered, her handler on one knee beside her. "I hear you've done well today." She nodded, looking up to speak to him as she was being addressed, "Yes, sir." He nodded thoughtfully and looked to her handler, then to her.

She knew what came next.

"Again." She and Inaki circled each other, he lunged and she dodged, bringing her elbow down hard on his back as she moved around him. He was already facing her, punching her in the stomach and catching her by the throat. It was his favorite thing to do. A hand on the throat left your opponent vulnerable, they were too busy panicking to really gain any ground. She dug her nails into his arms as he squeezed. She tightened her grip as well, jumping to kick him in the stomach. His feet came out from under him and, without his hands to catch him, landed flat on his chest. Evie shared a similar fate, landing on her back. Both of them had gotten the wind knocked out of them.

Evie was overjoyed. She'd never won to Inaki before. But she hadn't won yet, he only grew angry. He got to his feet, taking a careful step forward as she tried to get to her feet. He stomped on one of her feet and pushed her back down over and over until he managed to get a foot on her throat. She reached to push it off but he pushed harder, only then did panic set in.

"Sir." The foot lifted and her handler waited until he'd walked away to help her up as she struggled to catch her breath. "Next time you will win. War is not a game for you to win, Evie. Your opponents will not let you go. They will kill you."

She woke up, gripping the knife beneath her pillow. She had been scared of Inaki, sure, but that was the first time she really thought him capable of killing her. She knew better now. Now he would put a bullet in her skull if it meant saving himself. A few years ago, she might have done it herself. Now she was tired of servitude.

She put the knife aside, then picked it up again. She tucked it in her waist band as she went back down the hall, on her way to the gym. Her keycard declined at the door. They didn't want her out at night. It only aggravated her more. If she couldn't use the gym, she would use the hall. She jogged up and down the hall until she was exhausted again and only then did she allow herself to lie down again with one thought on her mind.

Next time she and Inaki went toe to toe, he would die.