Beginnings

by Sandra R Neeley

  Nina didn’t reply, she simply ran out of the house and charted a path for the white gravel drive that led away from the community.

  Lethal watched her go, then turned back to his team who were all watching him with a bewildered expression on their faces.

  “What’s going on?” Scorn asked.

  “She broke.”

  “Okaaay,” Steel answered.

  “You’re building her back like us,” Valor said.

  “As much as possible without the drugs, and without the actual abuse, though I’m sure some will see it as such.”

  “Cool!” Feral said. “Can I help?”

  Lethal turned on Feral, advancing on him quickly and backing him into a corner. “You fucking think of considering touching her and I’ll leave you gutted and staked in the middle of the fucking park as a warning to any others.”

  Feral threw his hands up without hesitation. “No way in hell I’d ever touch yours. Even if you’re dead. If we’re the last two on earth, she’s lonely as hell ‘til she fucking dies and beyond! I will not touch her. I just wanted to help train her!”

  Chapter 45

  Nina ran. She ran from Alliance all the way up to General Ferriday’s house and back and then she did it again, and again, and again. Halfway through the second trip she began to feel a stitch in her side at the exercise she wasn’t used to, but she didn’t let it stop her. She slapped a hand to her side and pressed her fingers into the muscles there. “Fuck you,” she mumbled. “I will not stop.” And for the rest of her run, that was her mantra. ‘I will not stop.’

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  Lethal was standing in his bedroom, his face just barely visible in the glass that graced the side of the house his window faced. It happened to also face the gravel road that led to the General’s house. He watched every trip she made. His eyes leaving her only when she ran out of view, and then he rushed into the living room to watch her run past from the windows there. When she began another trip toward General Ferriday’s house, he was again in his bedroom with his eyes glued to the gravel road until she once again ran back toward Alliance.

  The last time he turned to go back into the living room Two stood there.

  “What?” Lethal asked, trying to move past the big male he respected so much.

  “You going to let her run ‘til she drops?” Two asked.

  “You see me watching her,” Lethal snapped.

  “I see she’s run the route that takes me twenty minutes to drive in a side-by-side four times. She’s not used to this,” Two said.

  “She’s not who you knew. The pain has changed her. I’m helping her deal with it.”

  “Bullshit,” Two spat. “You’re turning her into someone that can understand you, because you think she’ll see her way to you then.”

  Lethal’s eyes narrowed. “Only reason you’re still standing is that you are my friend.”

  “Tell me I’m wrong,” Two pressed.

  “You’re wrong.”

  Two opened his mouth to object again and Lethal cut him off.

  “She’s always been mine. She knows it just like I do. She was angry at me because she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that she was mine. She was angry because I wasn’t there to protect her from what came after me. She’s angry because all the nights she prayed for me to come save her, I didn’t — I fucking couldn’t. She’s angry now because her man died. But no matter how angry she is, she’s never doubted that she’s mine,” Lethal said as he smiled sardonically.

  “I’m in a position to save her now. And I’m going to. She will not live the rest of her life wishing for it to be cut short. She will not live the rest of her life as a victim, hiding away from all who even dare to look her way. She’s going to fight. She’s going to deliver her own personal justice, and she’s going to be strong. I’m saving her this time. And if that makes me wrong, if doing what I have to do to make her who she needs to be, makes me wrong — I can live with that.”

  “She needs water, Lethal. I’m going to give her water,” Two said.

  “She won’t take it,” Lethal answered.

  “Yes, she will,” Two answered flippantly over his shoulder as he went to the kitchen and snatched a cold bottle of water from the fridge. He walked outside and into the path she’d take when she headed back down the gravel road toward the General’s house. He stood there, blocking her, insisting that she see him.

  As she approached he held out the water bottle to her, but she adjusted her path to go around him. “Nina, you need water.”

  She didn’t answer, just moved further to the right to go around Two.

  Two reached out and physically stopped her, which sent her into a fit of anger. “Will you move?!” she shouted.

  “I just don’t want you to get dehydrated!” Two insisted, holding out the bottle.

  Lethal walked out on the porch of their home and stood quietly, watching, as the door closed behind him alerting her to his presence.

  Nina didn’t look toward Lethal, but she pushed Two’s hand away from her arm and tried to run again.

  Two stopped her again, and glared at Lethal.

  “I don’t want it. Will you stop?!” she demanded of Two.

  “You can have the water,” Lethal said with no emotion at all.

  “Don’t need it,” she answered without looking his way as she pushed at Two and finally made her way around him.

  Two stood and watched her run out of sight, then he turned on Lethal. “Making her strong, teaching her skills — that’s all good. This, this is making her run until her body shuts down. I said I’d help you train her. I never said I’d help you hurt her.”

  “Learning the limits of your body is part of the training, Two. Have you forgotten already?” Lethal asked quietly.

  Two didn't answer. He simply turned his head to watch Brutal approaching with the alpha female assassin from the female squad Lethal and his team had freed.

  “Athena’s in,” Brutal called as they got closer.

  Lethal returned Two’s glare until he walked away shaking his head, then he finally gave Brutal and Athena his attention. He watched Athena walking beside Brutal. She was tall, clearly strong — her muscles would put an average man to shame. She wore her hair in a longer version of a flat top with the sides and back shaved, and had piercing gray eyes. She was wearing a sports bra and a skin tight pair of training shorts.

  “Heard you want to teach a female to be an assassin,” Athena said.

  “This female needs training. She’s shutdown emotionally. The only thing that made her get out of the bed beside her dead man was my promise to make her like me,” Lethal said.

  “You can’t truly make her like us. Unless you plan to inject her with the same drugs they used. You happen to know that chemical mixture? I’d like a boost now and then,” Athena said coldly.

  “Let me be clear!” Lethal said, his voice carrying as he threw some of his authority behind it. “She is not to be injured. She is never to be drugged. She is to be pushed beyond the point she thinks is her limit. She is to be trained, relentlessly, but she is never, ever to be abused. You abuse her, you will not live to see another day,” Lethal said.

  Athena shook her head slowly with a smile on her face. “Didn’t say I’d abuse her. But I can’t make her stronger than she thinks she is if I can’t hurt her feelings. She’s got to get mad. She’s got to learn to use that anger to push herself to the next level.”

  Lethal grinned at Athena. “Glad you see things my way. That’s exactly what my focus is. Take the pain, take the hurt, and use it to drive you.”

  “Where is she? Want me to start now?” Athena asked, glancing at the house behind Lethal.

  Lethal shook his head. “She’s running. Today is run out all your frustration day. We’ll start tomorrow. I want her trained in martial arts. Want her trained in weaponry. I want her trained in hand-to-hand combat. I want her trained in tracking and camouflage. I even want her trained in technology and hacking. I’m
going to have Valor give her courses in that too. I want her trained in every single thing we’ve all been trained in. When she’s done, if nothing else, she’ll be equipped with the skills to serve those on her radar with every revenge she feels is justified. If after that she walks away from what I do, from what we all do, that’s fine. She’ll have made her peace with the world by serving up her own version of justice.”

  “You and your males make up a schedule of what you plan to teach her. My females and I will teach her things you most likely wouldn’t even consider, as well as enforce whatever combat skills you train her in,” Athena said.

  “What would I not consider?” Lethal asked.

  “Seduction. I’m sure you have no idea how to use your body and your mind to seduce the fuckers trying to hunt you. It’s not that big a deal to allow them to think you’ll give them what they want, while you’re taking their lives from them,” Athena answered. “So many ways to kill a man while he’s fucking.”

  Lethal’s face went white. “She will not be fucking anyone,” he growled.

  Athena raised an eyebrow. “Oh, it’s like that is it? So the little female is your female,” Athena said. “I thought she belonged to Acker.”

  “She has never belonged to anyone but me,” Lethal snapped.

  “So it would seem,” Athena said, grinning at Lethal.

  “Just teach her the deadliest skills you know when she comes to you for training,” Lethal snapped.

  Athena continued to grin at Lethal. “Sure thing. Why wait for tomorrow? How long is she going to run?”

  “This is her last trip around,” Lethal said.

  “Send her to me when she’s done. Let’s see how well she can swim,” Athena said, turning and walking away from Brutal and Lethal.

  “This is her first day. She may not last long,” Lethal said.

  “Even better. Gives me a starting point of what to expect once she hits exhaustion,” Athena retorted.

  “Let me know when you want my help,” Brutal said, taking a step toward Athena’s retreating back, but pausing to speak with Lethal.

  “I’m not sure how much help you’ll be, but I’ll let you know,” Lethal answered.

  “What do you mean by that?” Brutal asked. “I can match you blow for blow. And you know it,” Brutal growled defensively.

  “She’s your friend. You care about her. You’re not going to push her like I can,” Lethal answered.

  “I could still teach her things,” Brutal said, irritated that Lethal was right.

  “Just keep an eye on her when she’s with Athena and her girls.”

  “I can do that,” Brutal said. “Let me go find out exactly what Athena has in mind.”

  “Stay out of that one’s bed. She may take your dick as a souvenir,” Lethal said, watching Brutal hurry to catch up with Athena.

  Lethal turned his gaze to the gravel road that would eventually bring Nina back into sight again.

  With his elevated hearing, he couldn’t help but listen to Brutal and Athena speaking as Brutal caught up with her. “My girls will be glad to know they’ve not lost their touch. They were a bit concerned when he didn’t respond to any of their obvious invitations. I told them he was likely gay. Now we know he has a female,” Athena said on a chuckle.

  Lethal whipped his head in their direction, a scowl firmly in place, but neither turned around to face him as they continued on their way sharing a laugh.

  Reluctantly, Lethal decided to allow the irritating female that had agreed to help him train Nina to walk away without further comment from him. Most likely she was responding to his claim that she may take Brutal’s dick for a souvenir. Besides, they already knew what he wanted them to know — he didn’t want any fucking one of them. None of them could hold a candle to Nina, and he wanted to shout that at her too — loudly. But he decided waiting for Nina to return was preferable to a confrontation at the moment.

  Still scowling, he walked over to his front door and opened it. “Hey! Somebody run over and get something for Nina to eat.”

  Steel got up off the sofa, tossing his game controller to Feral. “I’ll go. What you want me to get her?”

  “Healthy. Nothing heavy,” Lethal said.

  “I’ll be back,” Steel answered and set out at a jog for the building almost directly across the park from their house.

  A few minutes later, Steel emerged from the admin building with two Styrofoam containers in hand, jogging back toward him. “Got her a chef salad, and an extra chicken breast. Got her a few kinds of dressing packets, didn’t know what she’d like.”

  “Perfect. Thanks,” Lethal said. “Next time she passes I’m calling her in. Going to let her rest for a bit, eat, then send her to Athena.”

  “I’ll put it in the fridge,” Steel said.

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  Nina had run past the pain in her side — it had finally stopped and she’d miraculously found her second wind. A corner of her mouth turned up when she thought about all the exercising she’d done in the cell block waiting for One to return from his missions. Maybe it had been worth her while after all, she thought, as she approached the community she now called home. As she moved past the helipads, she allowed her gaze to travel over in the direction of the house One — Lethal — and his team now shared, with her no less. Only he wasn’t standing on the front porch waiting to watch her run past. He was standing in the middle of the road she jogged on. Immediately she picked up the pace, planning to run past him.

  She detected a slight shake of his head as he watched her approaching him.

  “See you figured out to pace yourself. Good. You can’t run all out the entire time, you’ll fade fast. Run fast when necessary, otherwise, if traveling, pace yourself.”

  Nina gave a sharp nod and angled herself to run past him.

  “Come inside. You need to eat, rest, then I’ll escort you to your instructor,” Lethal said.

  Nina stuttered to a stop, her eyes going to the park she’d planned to run through.

  “Don’t worry, you are by no means done for the day.”

  Nina met his gaze and nodded, dropping her arms to her sides and following him toward the house.

  “Walk around a bit, cool down, then come inside to eat,” Lethal said.

  “Okay,” she answered.

  Lethal turned and looked at her with his eyebrow raised.

  “Yes, sir,” she amended.

  A few minutes later when she entered the house, Feral pretended she didn't. Scorn looked at her and winked. Valor offered her a kind smile. Steel watched her closely as though he was gauging her condition.

  “Your food is on the table,” Lethal said from his place on the sofa.

  “Thank you,” she answered, taking her seat and reaching for one of the two bottles of water he’d placed beside her meal.

  “Don’t guzzle it. You’ll get sick if you do. Small sips,” Lethal instructed.

  Nina immediately stopped chugging the water and breathed for a moment before taking another sip and sitting it beside her food. She had a chef salad in the large plate, and a grilled chicken breast in the other smaller plate, with about a dozen packages of dressing.

  “Didn’t know what kind of dressing you liked, so I got you a couple of all of them,” Steel said.

  “Thank you, Four,” she answered.

  “You’re welcome,” Steel answered, not correcting her.

  Nina realized what she’d said. “I’m sorry. Old habit. I know your name is Steel. It’s a good name. I won’t forget again.”

  “It’s not a problem, Nina,” Steel said patiently.

  “What do you think of my name?” Scorn asked.

  “It fits you,” Nina said, taking a bite of her salad.

  “Why does everyone keep saying that? It’s like ya’ll think I’m sarcastic or some shit. I’m not sarcastic!”

  “No, not at all,” Feral remarked.

  “She’s supposed to be eating and resting before she goes to the next lesson. She’
s here to learn to be one of us. She’s not a fucking house guest. Stop fucking distracting her,” Lethal snapped.

  Chapter 46

  Nina surfaced and looked up at Athena who kept pace with her every inch of the way from one end of the pool to the other.

  “Excellent,” Athena said, looking down at her. “Got to tell you, little one. I never thought you’d last more than a lap or two. I’m very impressed. You may just become what Lethal thinks you can be.”

  Nina didn’t answer, she just kept treading water.

  “Another lap, female. Under water until you can’t hold your breath any longer, then on top of the water. For each time you come up for breath, before you reach the end of the pool, you add another lap,” Athena said.

  Nina slipped beneath the surface and began her underwater lap.

  “Athena, this is her first day,” Brutal said.

  “I know that. I want to see how long she can possibly stay underwater before she allows herself to surface,” Athena answered.

  “You and Lethal are going to make her collapse,” Brutal grumbled.

  “He said to push her limits. If you think you’re going to get another lap added, are you going to come up at your leisure, or are you going to stay down as long as possible?”

  Brutal shook his head and walked along the opposite side of the pool as Nina swam it.

  Nina made it all but ten feet of the distance to the end, before she surfaced. “One extra lap,” she said, before dropping below the surface again. She reached the end and turned under water, kicking off the side and swimming past the halfway point of the pool before surfacing again. “Two laps,” she said, before submerging herself again. When she got to the end, a splashing in the water got her attention and she surfaced to find Athena splashing the surface with a net used for cleaning the pool.

  “Okay. Now I know what your lung capacity is. Swim your extra two laps on top and then we’re done for the day,” Athena said.