They Called Her the Devil

Chapter 24, Izzie

That morning I'd been pulled out of my cell, put on a plane for six hours, then all three of us had been shoved into another dreary cell.

We sat in a half-circle handcuffed to uncomfortable metal chairs. I almost felt bad for handcuffing the Devil earlier. Almost.

I glanced over at Xander; none of us had said a word since we'd been pulled in a few minutes ago. I still couldn't believe he'd cheated on me, we'd been together for three years and he'd never even looked at another girl.

I was better off without him anyway. I'd never really gotten to be single and I was looking forward to trying it as soon as we escaped. We would escape. Even if I had to kill my way out.

Then the door opened. A young woman walked in. She had an aura of friendliness about her. Something made me want to trust her. Of course, my wanting to trust her made me trust her even less. It had to be a trap.

The woman walked over to the back of the room and pulled out a syringe and a bottle of black liquid. I definitely didn't trust her. Then she turned to me and smiled.

"Here's how this is going to work, I have a vial of theitreodyn. You know, the deadly poison. Now if you tell me where your base is then I won't inject it into this one's neck, thus killing her within minutes."

She was pointing at me. Shit.

Everything was surreal. I was going to die here. Leo wouldn't tell her anything, he was too smart. Xander would try to stop her but fail, he'd almost definitely not tell her.

Last words time.

"Guys don't tell her anything. Leo, you've been like a brother to me, take care of Xander for me. And Xander, I forgive you. None of this is your fault. I love you guys."

Surprisingly I didn't cry I just gripped the handles of the chair and waited for my friends to refuse and the woman to kill me.

Theitreodyn was quick. Right?

Leo shook his head. I saw tears streaming down his face as we made eye contact one last time. He'd be sad for a while but would move on in the end.

Then Xander opened his mouth and my heart dropped.

"The main base is in an abandoned mall in Richmond Virginia, we also have a smaller one in California in an old mine shaft in what used to be Joshua Tree National Park. We have safe houses across the country but I don't know the exact addresses for most of them," he told her.

My shoulders sagged in relief. He'd lied. The actual bases were in New Jersey and Gilroy California. He'd bought us time to escape.

Then my heart dropped again. The woman was smiling, but not a happy-to-know-where-the-base-is kind of smile but an I-just caught-you-breaking-the-rules-and-now-I-get-revenge kind of smirk.

She drove the tip of the needle into my neck but didn't inject the poison. I held as still as a statue.

"You're a terrible liar," she said, her tone was almost lazy, "I'm going to have some fun with you two."

She plunged the poison into my veins. The last thing I saw before I passed out was Xander lunging towards me screaming.

Please let them be ok.

Then I was coming to in a comfortable bed in a well-furnished room. The room had a cozy vibe that couldn't have been more welcoming.

Was this heaven?

But that made no sense; I'd killed way too many people to go to heaven. Had I developed a strange immunity to theitreodyn without noticing?

Then the woman from before walked through the door and I frantically searched for something to use as a weapon. She could have come back to kill me again.

I found nothing to use as a weapon. Hand to hand would have to do. I could at least try to take her down with me. I shakily tried to stand but my leg buckled out from under me.

"Careful honey," she chided, "the sedative is still wearing off."

Nothing about her demeanor seemed threatening but that had to be a trap. She walked over and tried to help me to my feet but I pushed her away. Shakily I stood on my own and raised my fists. She laughed.

"Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you," she said.

"What do you want from me?"

"Why don't we go meet the others and I'll explain on the way."

She started walking out the door and motioned for me to follow her. Against my better judgment, I did.

"I'm Dawn by the way," she introduced herself.

"Izzie."

"I know."

"You never answered my question. Why am I still alive? What do you want from me?"

"You hacked into Death's personal x-com. Our best programmers had encrypted it and you got in like it was child's play. Only an idiot would kill someone with that much potential."

"I won't betray the Silver Order."

"We'll see."

We'd arrived at a set of double doors and Dawn walked through leaving me in shock behind her. Did she actually believe I would join the Legion? She had to be delusional.

I walked through the doors and was greeted with an incredible sight. I'd entered a huge training facility complete with combat areas, the most complicated obstacle course I'd ever seen, and best of all a computer area with the nicest equipment I'd ever seen.

I instantly knew where I was. The headquarters of the Ghosts, the most elite, all-female, group of assassins, hackers, and spies. No one else would have equipment this nice.

No. The dark side was wrong.

Dawn beckoned me to follow and I let her lead me into a small lounge area. Inside was a huge diverse group of women ranging from a girl of about ten to a woman who looked at least eighty.

Then the most beautiful human being I'd ever seen stood up and walked towards me. She was Latina but had one blue eye and one green eye. She had a spiky dark blue pixie cut and tattoos up and down her arms. Before I'd seen her I didn't think a person of her slim stature could carry that many knives.

"Hi I'm Lia, I'm going to be mentoring you for the first few weeks," she introduced herself.

How did words work again? Wasn't I supposed to be straight?

***

Hey guys! How do you think Xander and Leo will react to Izzie's "death"? Will Izzie ever join the Legion? How much do you ship Izzie and Lia (not that I'm promising anything ;-))? Please vote and comment, I want to know what you think!

-Jade

Ps. Happy Bisexual Visibility Day! (Sept 23)