chaotic good

you know shit about me

/based on an idea of an impending total regime control where the characters are assassins but had a change of heart/

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Scarlett heard another knock on her door for the second time that night. She knew who it was, she had heard those footsteps so many times that they rang in her head like a reminder.

'What do you want?'

Brandon opens the door and coughs awkwardly before straightening his tie.

'Hello to you too. May I sit?'

He gestured to the chair, tucked neatly under a desk. She hums in response before turning her attention back to her novel. Brandon strides in and gracefully sweeps the chair from the the desk. He plops himself down and looks at the girl before him. Her eyebrows were furrowed together as she concentrated on reading the book in her lap. He craned his neck a little in an attempt to read the title. Anna Karenina. He scoffs a little to himself as he recognises a line from the book

'Tolstoy. "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" Ironic, isn't it?'

'Now that you point it out, I guess it is.'

Scarlett shut the book and looked up at the boy.

'Why are you here?'

Brandon stares at her, contemplating his next words. He knew that if he said the wrong things, she would use his own words to destroy him.

'I wanted to apologise.'

'Bullshit'

'Look, I knew how shitty what I did was and I regret it. I had no right to leave you and I am sincerely sorry for the things that they did to you. I know you probably won't forgive me but right now, we need to work together if we want to succeed. You're a good person, Scarlett, that's why you came back here.'

She laughs bitterly.

'Oh Brandon, you don't know shit about me.'

'That might be true but I know you're good enough to come here to help. You're not an agent, that I know.'

Her face was grim.

'How do you know? They might have broken me and turned me into the perfect assassin.'

'Well, I know that no force they exerted on you could break you.'

There was a long pause.

'Don't be so sure about that'

Brandon stares at her with shock.

'Did they? Break you, I mean?

'I don't want to talk about it.'

The boy couldn't believe it. Even though he had only known for a day, he felt protective of her. Like she was someone of importance to him. His hands clenched into a fist.

'But did they? Scarlett, I'm on your side, I need you to tell me what they did.'

'I don't need your help. And that crap about being sorry for leaving me? Fucking lies. You would have made that decision over and over again if you had the choice.'

Brandon could feel anger bubbling up from the pit of his stomach. That wasn't fair and she knew it. He was just trying to protect her.

'You know what, you're right, I'm not sorry for leaving you. And yes, I would make that decision over and over again. But I did it so I could come back and help. I learnt a long time ago that one life isn't worth the lives of 7 billion people.'

Her face softens as he said that. When she spoke, it came as barely a whisper.

'That was all I wanted to hear. The truth.'

She cleared her throat and said in a louder voice

'I know you're not sorry but I forgive you anyways. I know you made the best decision that you could and I appreciate that you care about your family.'

Brandon looked down at the floor, both too ashamed and embarrassed to meet her eye. She would read his emotions and he couldn't bear to feel vulnerable now.

'Thanks.'

She stood up.

'Okay now that we got all those sentimental leakage out of the way, we can now focus on restoring the society that is currently shitting itself. Do you know who and when?'

Brandon got up as well.

'I know when, I don't know who. The total takeover happens in 5 days'

She contemplated this, calculating how much needed to be done to prevent the earth shattering event.

'Perfect. We'll almost certainly die but thats a good start.'

'Wait, I just thought of something. I'll be right back'

He disappears behind the door and came back a few seconds later. In his hand, a familiar black briefcase.

'I want you to take it. You'll never know when you'll need it and if we're to save the world, we're gonna have to fuck time up'

She glared at the briefcase as if it were poison but she reluctantly accepted. As she grabbed the suitcase, their hands touched for a second. She drew her hand back as if stung. They looked up at each other but neither of them said anything. He cleared his throat awkwardly. She sniffed and looked down at the black case, now in her hands.

'We should get going, no?'

'Sure, partner'

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photo credits : KAESPO Media from Pinterest