Moonlight and Masks

Chapter 24

The headquarters were nothing like they expected.

It wasn't a sky scraper like The Heroes'. It wasn't a mysterious castle on top of a hill. It wasn't an eerie mansion.

It was a cottage.

On the outskirts of a forest that was frequently visited by families on Sunday walks or couples who wanted a romantic stroll.

White walls and a picket fence. Moss reached up the walls and wrapped around it like a blanket. Smoke blew gently from the chimney and drifted off towards the forest behind them in perfect clouds. Flowers grew in little pots outside the red door in an array of colours and heights. It looked like they had fallen into a fairy tale book. Brooklyn couldn't shake the story of Little Red Riding Hood from her mind, they didn't find granny in the cottage, they found a wolf in disguise. Charlie: a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"Are you sure this is it?" Dae asked Axel for the seventeenth time.

For the seventeenth time Axel replied, "yes."

Kyle pulled his mask over his face and silently opened the car door. Brooklyn dragged her eyes away from the cottage and followed him.

"Is your ear piece working?" Axel checked with Kyle who nodded, "okay."

"Remember, we'll be in contact with you the whole time so if something goes wrong we are right out here, okay?" Dae assured them, her hands gripping the sides of her seat so tightly that her knuckles were white.

"Okay." Brooklyn confirmed as she shut the door.

Brooklyn tentatively touched Agent's arm, "this is going to work."

"I hope you're right."

He lifted her up bridal style and Brooklyn let her body go limp, one hand dropped to her side and the other across her torso. She dropped her head back and tried to steady her breathing.

Agent took slow steps up the path until he reached the red door. The colour of blood. His mouth was dry as he waited for someone to answer.

Within a few seconds a head poked out, an older woman with long grey hair that reached down to her waist, she wore a floral dress and slippers. She was exactly the opposite of what you would imagine an assassin to look like and suddenly Agent panicked that they had got the wrong house and he presented a bloody corpse to someone's grandmother and they would have to drive her to hospital after they gave her a heart attack.

The woman's eyes were dark and empty as she spoke, "password," she said without as much as a glance at Brooklyn.

Agent swallowed, "password?"

"Correct." The woman stepped back from the door to allow them in.

"Their password is password?" Agent heard Axel's horrified voice through his ear piece.

The heat from the roaring fire in the corner nearly knocked Agent off his feet. She had led him into a room that must have been the dining room as there was nothing in here but a small wooden table right in the middle of the stoned floor. Papers and pictures were covering every inch of the table, some pages had fallen to the floor too. There were photographs on the wall, including one of Brooklyn. But that isn't what scared him.

What scared him was who was sitting at the table.

"Hello, Kyle," Charlie smirked.

Agent almost dropped Brooklyn but composed himself just in time. "Hello, Charlie."

A string of curse words came through his earpiece. Followed by Axel telling Dae to shut up so they could hear.

Charlie pushed his chair back and stood up. He too was dressed head to toe in spandex. Only his was real. The real deal. The realiio dealio. No joke. The genuine article. The - you get the picture.

His eyes travelled from Agent's face to the motionless Brooklyn in his arms, "I see you have done my job for me. That was so kind of you. Honestly, you shouldn't have done this!" He touched his hand to his chest and pretended to wipe a tear away.

Both Agent and Brooklyn remained silent.

"Truly, I'm touched," he walked towards them and leaned right in front of Brooklyn's face, "come on babe, wake up."

Charlie didn't see her clench her fist as she swung it to meet his face. He stumbled back as Brooklyn leapt out of Agent's arms and kicked Charlie's shins.

"Feisty," he mused as he shook himself off, "if that's how you want to play it, that's how we'll play it." Charlie raised his arm and threw a punch that Brooklyn effectively dodged.

Agent stepped forward and swung his fist at Charlie who caught it and thrust his hand down. Brooklyn looked around desperately for a way to help Agent. Panting, she ran towards Charlie and jumped onto his back. He stumbled. She pulled his mask off and tossed it to the ground so she could pull his hair back. When one of her hands was occupied with removing the mask Charlie shook her off. She fell to the floor with a thud. Agent aimed a kick. Charlie grabbed his leg. Agent fell to the ground too.

"What made you think that you could beat me?" Charlie cackled as he kicked Agent who was crumpled on the floor.

"You haven't lost yet," Agent spluttered.

Charlie laughed again, "oh, but you have."

As Brooklyn tried to pull herself from the ground she heard the undeniable click of a gun.

Brooklyn didn't remember screaming but she must have because her throat burned. It was hard to see past the tears that were threatening to spill over but she managed to find the blur that was Charlie and using a trick she learnt from her mother, disarmed him. The gun fell to her feet.

She didn't remember bending down. She didn't remember picking it up. She didn't remember aiming it at his head. But she did remember Charlie's eyes fill with fear.

She didn't try to brush the tears away, she let them fall as her surprisingly steady hands held the gun to Charlie's head.

Agent had picked himself off the floor and held Charlie's hands behind his back, "Brooklyn," Agent said calmly, "put the gun down."

Charlie seemed to be frozen with fear as Brooklyn stepped forward and pushed the gun to his exposed forehead.

"Brooklyn," Agent repeated, firmer this time.

The fire crackled as Charlie held his breath. He couldn't move, she would shoot him if he did so he stood there, Agent's grip tightened on his arms.

"Brooklyn!" Agent yelled.

She couldn't hear him.

"If you shoot him you're just as bad as him! Put the gun down!"

Her breathing was ragged as another tear fell from her eye.

"Brooklyn!"

Brooklyn's finger tightened around the trigger.

"You can't kill him! Axel's already called the police! Brooklyn!"

As she looked straight into Charlie's eyes she didn't see the boy who bought her flowers and took her to the cinema to see scary movies just so she would hold on to him. She didn't see the boy who held her hand at her mother's funeral. She didn't see the boy who made her cry when she laughed and who made her laugh when she cried. She saw a monster.

"Brooklyn!"

Dae and Axel burst through the door and the noise of them coming in broke Brooklyn from her trance and gasping she dropped the gun.

A/N

Should Brooklyn have killed Charlie?

-A <3