The driver took the truck to the coordinates indicated by Alicia. It was a location very off the road, near the border; he had never been there before, he would’ve never thought about going there in the first place, but now he didn’t really have a choice.

Alicia wasn’t feeling too confident either, she kept looking forward, wondering what kind of surprises awaited her, she hadn’t heard from Kirsten in a long time, and even if she didn’t want to admit it, she was starting to get worried.

In a matter of minutes her trust on the MTW disappeared. She couldn’t confirm that those men in tactical gear belonged worked for them, but if any of the people they were supposed to meet in that location tried anything funny, she wouldn’t doubt to pull the trigger.

They got to the location after half an hour of driving, and both of them were very surprised at seeing a heavy load helicopter standing there waiting for their arrival. It was also surrounded by a number of armed guards who were protecting a group of medics waiting inside a tent.

“They are your people?” -Asked the driver as they approached and everyone around the landing zone prepared themselves to receive them.

“Yeah, I guess…” -She said. – “I wasn’t expecting them to take this matter so seriously.”

They parked the truck in front of the landing zone and the troop of medics carrying a handful of stretchers.

Alicia jumped out of the vehicle to meet them.

“You arrive just in time!” -Said the leader of the medics. – “They are back there?”

“Yes, some of them are too weakened to walk, it’s good that you brought stretchers.”

“Alright, let’s go people!”

The driver opened the container. The children inside were briefly blinded by the sunlight, but when their eyes got used to it, they met the group of medics that came to help and stabilize them.

The kids wouldn’t have let them lay a hand on them at all if Alicia wasn’t there to reassure them that they were good people, unlike Schmidt’s men.

They treated the kids with kindness, especially those that were on the edge of death, carrying them as carefully as possible. Alicia felt proud for them for being able to endure and linger on until she arrived and took them all there.

One of the soldiers approached Alicia to give her a report: “We’ll take the children to a medical facility. Isaac wants you to return to the base as soon as possible. There’ll be a plane waiting for you tomorrow, Isaac will send you the coordinates.” -He said just as her phone vibrated, surely that was what he meant about coordinates. Afterwards, he turned to glare at the driver who was standing near the truck, trying to stay as idle as possible so no one would take him into account. – “What do we do with him, ma’am?”

Her instincts argued. A part of her said that he was a good man, he was innocent, so there was no need to hurt him and just let him go. Another part of her wanted to dispose of him right away, make him pay for playing a role in the suffering of so many children, even if it was a small, unwilling role.

Both voices within her entered conflict, a heated debate. She could feel her hands twitching, demanding action, but her heart beat loudly, demanding compassion.

If they had a mind of their own like Ten did, she would have liked to tell them to shut up and let her brain do the deliberations, but that was not the case.

“(…What do you say, Ten?)”

“I think…well, what if we make a compromise; find a middle ground, so to speak.”

“(A middle ground…)” – Alicia bit her thumbs nail, fixating her vision on that trucker. The soldier next to her was getting concerned. – “(…I’ve got an idea.)” -She turned towards the soldier. – “Let me take care of him. Pretend he doesn’t exist.”

“Understood.” -With that, the soldier walked away. Alicia took a deep breath and walked up to the trucker.

“I-I-I-I did everything you told me to do!” -Said the trucker showing her his palms, trying to put an imaginary wall between them. – “We are…good, right? We are good!? I-I won’t tell anyone about-”

Alicia showed him her hand, the tacit sign of letting someone have a word. The trucker stopped talking.

“I know…you did as I asked you to.” -She said. – “You defended those children; you might have saved them from certain death. By bringing them here, you saved them.”

“Then I-”

“But you also played a part in many more kids getting killed…” -Alicia took a step forward, being a mere inch away from him. – “…those men were both selling them and harvesting their organs and other stuff, you know?”

“I…” -The trucker felt sick, he would’ve preferred to not be cursed by this knowledge, but that was what she wanted.

“If you had stopped, who knows…? Maybe they would still live…” -Alicia pulled out her knife.

“No! Please!” -The trucker begged for his life, he was about to kneel, but he wouldn’t get the chance for his kneecaps to feel the warmth of the dirt beneath them.

In a swift, almost imperceptible move, Alicia swung her knife twice, slicing his face. However, there was no killing intent behind that attack, they were superficial, non-lethal, enough to not kill, but to work as a brand instead.

The trucker fell backwards, screaming. He felt the side of his face with his fingers and recoiled as he saw his own blood tainting his fingertips.

Alicia had branded him, making an X-shaped cut over his left check, just like the one she wore on her own face, just thinner and less deep.

She ran her fingers across her scar. – “I just did this to you.” – She said as she sheathed the knife once again. – “Let it be a reminder of what happened today. Let it remind you that you came so close to die with the men that exploited you and the children you brought to them. Look at it to motivate yourself to take your life through a different course, away from all of this. If you have the guts for it, try and rectify your mistakes…but what matters the most is that, one day I’ll return, maybe for similar matters, and you better hope I don’t catch you doing this same shit again…”

“…I swear…I swear…” -He said. – “I won’t…I’m done with this…I’m free…”

“Good…now get the fuck out of here!”

The trucker crawled back into his truck, turned the keys and drove away as fast as his truck allowed him to while covering his facial wound with a towel.

Alicia stepped away from the cloud of dirt, clutching at her frown feeling a migraine coming up.

“Calm down, calm down. There, there…I know it took some restraint, but it was the right thing to do.”

“(…I know…either way, it was still hard.)”

The helicopter departed as well, everyone else was packing up and would leave soon enough. Just then, Alicia noticed someone else walking towards her, a young woman with brown short hair and blue eyes carrying a red suitcase. Alicia noticed that she had a very methodic way of walking, as if she thought of every step she took and where to place it.

“You don’t seem to be doing so well…” -She said. – “I can help you; I was told to give you medical assistance if you required it.”

“…You are not like the other medics here.” -Replied Alicia, staring at her from head to toe. There was just something off about this individual. She then noticed that this person had a particular smell, a very unique one.

That girl smelled like medicine, the kind of medicine that soothes you until you fall asleep.

“That’s right, I’m not exactly one of them.” -She confessed. – “But I was hired to treat you exclusively, as far as I know, all assassins are assigned a personal physician that treats their wounds after every job.”

“Kirsten never told me about any of this.” -Alicia’s nerves tensed up, she realized that she had lowered her guard for a moment, something she would scold herself for later. Knowing this, she decided to prepare herself. – “He would’ve mentioned it otherwise…”

“Well, he may have neglected mentioning that detail, but that’s the fact.” -She said, trying to cut off any suspicions. – “So, what can I do for you?”

The soldiers boarded up their vehicles and drove away, now Alicia and this mysterious woman were alone in the landing zone.

Alicia sat under the only tree standing around there to get a little bit of its shadow.

“It was a long day, wasn’t it?” -Asked the medic.

“Been through longer ones.”

While sitting there, she looked through her holsters and inside her bag to determine how much ammo she still had left. Not much for the pistols and two spare mags for the rifle.

Knowing what to expect, Alicia took the rifle and reloaded it, then put the half empty mag inside the bag alongside the other one. She held it close to her chest and waited, she didn’t know what she was waiting for, but she knew letting it catch her by surprise would be a grave mistake.

The medic looked at her with some curiosity, it was the first time she had problems approaching someone. From what she could see, Alicia had several bullet wounds around her body, but there was no bleeding to be seen. – “Did you patch yourself up at some point?” -She asked.

“Found a medkit.”

“Oh, so you know your way with medicine too?”

“Only the essential.”

“Right. Either way, it’s obvious you’ll need some energy to make it to the extraction point, so I’ll give you something for the pain and something that’ll give you the impulse to move forward. - The girl placed her bag next to her. -By the way, my name is Dana, Dana Frazer, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Sure…” – Alicia decided to trust her gut feeling and not take her eyes off Dana.

“I hope you aren’t afraid of syringes, because most drugs that have a kick need to be applied intravenously.”

“Whatever you say.” -Alicia folded her jacket’s sleeve so Dana could inject the drug with no issues.

“Oh, look at you. You are actually facing your fear.”

“(Give me a break Ten, please.)”

“Ok, ok. Sorry, I just wanted to tease you a bit.”

“(I’m not in the mood for that anymore.)” -Alicia noticed something inside Dana’s bag, it was a syringe containing a transparent liquid that acquired multiple colors reflecting the sunlight. Alicia knew a little bit about medicines, and she knew for a fact that was no medicine. –“(And I’m not in the mood for this bullshit either.)”

“Oh, you have a little bit of blood in your nostril, let me help you with that.” -Dana reached her hand out to place her thumb on Alicia’s nose, but when she was within reach, Alicia grabbed her arm and forced her to the ground, making her groan with pain. – “Aaah…what!?”

“The MTW does not assign physicians to their assassins; you made that up. You must be with those soldiers that ambushed me inside Schmidt’s facility.”

“…Shit! Stop! I can explain.” -Alicia twisted her arm further. – “Aaah! Please, let me go!”

“Give me a good reason for why I shouldn’t kill you.”

“Ahhh…” -Dana tried to relax a bit. She had the feeling Alicia would be true to her word no matter what, so there was no reason to resist. – “…Alright, someone in your organization hired me to kill you. I’m a freelancer, ok? In the market people call me Painkiller.”

“Ah…So those fucking assholes really did it, huh?”

“(Kirsten, I’m going to kill him slowly…)” -She imagined the many ways she could kill him the moment they saw each other again. First, she would kill him, then she would destroy his entire organization, that was the idea, just as Kirsten feared. She centered her thoughts back on Dana. –“Do you still plan to try and kill me?”

“Look, you beat me, alright? I have no chance against you, and I’m not good enough to have some crazy ace up my sleeve I can use, even from this position. I may be a killer but not some world class professional like you or those other guys.”

“You know who I am?”

“I don’t know, they just handed me your photograph and told me to deal with you as fast as possible. I put some extract of Dendrobates azureus mixed up with a high concentration of arsenic to give you a quick and painless death…”

“…Who gave you that photograph?”

“Some old man. He was accompanied by some other people dressed in black coats. The payout was very tempting… received half of it upfront so I guess this wasn’t a complete bust.”

Alicia looked at the horizon once again, feeling the wind change its direction. Dana was being honest; she could feel it.

After a short deliberation, she released Dana, but just to make sure she wouldn’t try anything else; she confiscated her bag. – “If you try to touch me again, I will kill you.”

“…Sure, sure…I won’t try anymore.”

“Wow, first time I see a rival assassin that isn’t willing to gamble with their own life just to take us down.”

“…That’s surprising, that you don’t want to try anything else.” -Commented Alicia, to which Dana just scoffed.

“It may hurt my reputation and tarnish my record, but I’ve got a lot to lose. Or rather, there are many things that depend on me staying alive and working.”

Suddenly, Dana’s phone chirped. She stood still like a statue for a moment, debating with herself if whether answering the phone right in front of Alicia would be a good move or not.

“Go ahead. Pick up the call.” -She ordered. Dana slowly reached for her phone.

Stolen story; please report.

“Hello? …Oh! Hey mom!”

Alicia’s eyes widened. – “(Mom?)”

“This is very unusual alright.”

“Yeah, I’m just about done with the job…” -She continued speaking. – “…Well, not too well, I guess I will have to do some overtime tomorrow to compensate for what happened today…yep, wasn’t up to the task…No, no, relax mom, it’s ok…I’ll figure something out, you don’t need to worry, remember, I’m a professional. Besides, stressing is bad for you. Trust me, we’ll have the money we need to buy that new house you were keeping your eye on. Anyway, how’s everyone else?”

“(Everyone else? Like brothers and sisters?)”

“This girl has to be hella crazy to be working as a contract killer if she has so much to lose.”

“(It’s not like we can criticize her.)”

Dana looked over to the north while listening to her mother. – “Oh, he won his first football match, that’s great! Tell Ian I’m proud of him and I’ll bring something special for him back home. Tell me, did James pass that exam? An A+? I knew it, he’s the smartest boy I’ve ever met…Yeah, it’s ok mom, there’s no rush but I’ll make sure to get back home for dinner, ok? I’ll see you all around 7. Right, take care mom, I love you. Don’t forget about your medication.”

She finished the call and looked back at Alicia, suddenly a chilling fear crawled through her spine. –“umm, I…”

“Are you afraid that’ll track down your family and kill them all?”

“Please, don’t-” -Alicia raised up her hand to calm her down and stop her from talking.

“Don’t worry, I couldn’t care less. Besides, I’m not that kind of killer.”

“How can I be sure that you are saying the truth?”

“…you’ll have to trust me, whether you like it or not.”

Dana looked to the ground, unsure of what to do. She had the idea in the back of her head to try and poison her again, but the vision of her family having to get by without her prevented her from moving a single finger. She remained sitting in her spot, unsure of what to say, which made Alicia uncomfortable.

“Why haven’t you run away yet?” -Asked Alicia. – “Don’t you have to be at home for dinner?”

“…I wasn’t sure if I had your permission to move.”

“Well, you can leave whenever you want. I already defeated you. Though, you may want to be careful for the people that hired you to kill me. Clients really, really don’t like failure at all, so they’ll want a return of their investment.”

“I see, thanks for the advice.” -Dana had killed many kinds of people up until then in her career, but she had never tested her skills against another assassin. Even though she was aware of all the kinds of assassins that wandered around the world, Alicia appeared to be different from all the others. – “First, I’d like to ask, why do those people want you dead?” -She wouldn’t be able to sleep that night if she didn’t solve that enigma.

“Who knows? They literally hired me a few days ago, this is the first job I do for them.”

“What a bunch of assholes. They sent you here to do some wetwork and then hired someone else to dispose of you so they wouldn’t have to pay you…That must mean they would’ve disposed of me if I was successful too…Ugh, I’ll start to be more careful around my clients.”

Alicia kept her eyes focused on the south, waiting for her suspicions to be validated. – “Either way, I did as they asked…and I can’t say I’m not pleased with what I did here. Though, it does not change the fact they dared to cross me like this.”

“What are you gonna do then?”

“I’m going to get even, if they wanna play, I’ll play. My handler has a lot to answer for.”

“We are going to bring the entire rooftop on their sorry heads!”

Dana raised an eyebrow. – “Wouldn’t it be better to just lay low for a while?”

“I don’t like that idea…I’ll take them head on and kill every last one of them.”

Dana was at a loss of words for a moment. From this, she could get an idea of what kind of person, or rather, what kind of killer she was. –“…You are kind of bloodthirsty, you know?” -She commented. –“You give me a pretty big “elite soldier” vibe but, if they are such a big and influential organization, you wouldn’t stand a chance against them. And even if you did succeed and destroy them all, then what? You’d go looking for the next target to kill?

Alicia centered her sight on the south once again. – “You are not the first one to ask me that kind of things, and you’ll probably won’t be the last.” -The wind had changed directions once again, her ears caught a soundwave coming from the front, and it was fast approaching. She slowly raised up her rifle to take aim, bringing Dana more concerns. – “Why are you in this job anyway? you have a regular family, it just doesn’t add up to me.”

Dana looked down to the ground and closed her knees, feeling a bit ashamed of herself. – “…Well, it’s just mom, my seven brothers and I. Yeah, we are a big family. My dad died on duty many years ago, and she’s very sickly to do any sort of job, so we were very poor and we got rejected out of subsidies. I decided to study medicine to try and land a high paying job as a doctor, get money and make my mother happy, I was about to get into uni…then her condition got worse. I couldn’t wait any longer to get money…so, here I am.”

“…And you decided to become a killer for that?” -Alicia tilted her head. – “Honestly, you may have been crazy from the start. If it wasn’t your mother, you would’ve ended in this line of business for any other reason.”

“Hey, I’m not a psychopath, ok?” -Argued Dana. – “I weighed my options…and I realized that this was the fastest course of action to get the most amount of money to pay for her treatment… I choose my targets carefully, and those men knew it, they told me you were a bloodthirsty murderer and I said: well, why not? And it doesn’t seem like they lied.”

“…But I bet it was hard the first couple of times.” -Said Alicia.

“…Yeah…yeah it was.” -Dana looked down once again, her heart feeling heavy.

“(…I’m surprised.)” -Alicia couldn’t relate, but she had heard it was hard for almost everyone else.

Suddenly, Dana realized something she should have from the very beginning. She noticed how…youthful Alicia looked under those scars.

“How old were you again?” -She asked.

Alicia stared back at her from the sideline. – “…I’m not sure…maybe 15.”

Dana recoiled. – “…Holy fuck, they never told me you were a kid!” -She raised her palms up to her forehead. – “No…what was I about to do!?”

“…I take it you don’t like killing children even if they are like me.”

“Of course not, no kid deserves that!” -She shook her head multiple times. – “I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have ever taken up this contract.”

“I don’t mind. You were just doing your work, and they withheld info from you.” -She said.

“You are being weirdly comprehensive, you know?”

“(It’s not her fault…)”

“But…Jesus Christ…” – She felt a knot forming and unraveling in her throat. Then she looked back at her. – “But…how long have you been an assassin?”

“…I think 5 years? about to be 6 years.”

“And you subdued me so effortlessly.”- It didn’t add up in her brain how someone as young as Alicia could’ve done something like that, much less see through her intentions. She looked back at the scars, covered with a fresh layer of crust, the way she held that rifle up, her concentration, and her determined glare. Dana didn’t need to be a genius to know Alicia had been through a lot of stuff, and made her feel like a hypocrite for choosing this line of work in the first place. – “…I’d like to ask…how did you end up like this?”

“Hm?”

“What happened to you? How did you become an assassin?” -She asked, feeling her gut tense up with anticipation to the cruelty she could hear about after making that question.

“What put me in this path…Hm…” -Alicia looked through the scope, taking deep breaths and controlling her pulse. The drug was finally out of her system, so she could relax and regulate her heart rate.

She didn’t really know how to answer that question, at least not without being vague. Alicia promised that she would take that secret with her to the grave, no matter who asked and where.

“Are you really going to tell her? she tried to kill just a moment ago.”

“(…No, I won’t…)”. – She looked at Dana from the side of her eye. – “The details are a bit fuzzy.”

Alicia cleared her throat, Dana perked up her ears. – “…There was once a girl that was very comfortable with the world she lived in, until that world blew up in her face. After that, she saw the reality of that world, and even though many people kept telling her to learn to let go and live with it…” – Alicia placed her finger on the trigger, hearing the roaring sound getting closer. – “…She just couldn’t bring herself to accept the world for what it is.”

Suddenly, a jeep appeared from the south, advancing at high speed. Atop of it there was a man with a heavy machine gun. He opened fire the moment he spotted Alicia right under the tree.

Dana hit the ground covering her head with her arms while the bullets flew above her. A bullet hit right over Alicia’s head, piercing the tree’s bark, that hail of fire at that distance wasn’t enough to frighten her and upset her aim. In fact, she had a clear target now.

Alicia pulled the trigger and the bullet pierced right through the driver’s dome, the jeep’s horn serving as confirmation for the kill.

The driver had died with his foot placed on the accelerator, and the jeep kept on driving forward until it turned itself and flipped on the road, disabling the vehicle and sending the man handling the machine gun flying off the jeep and landing on the dirt.

Alicia got up from the ground and walked up to the wreckage while aiming the rifle. A man stumbled out of the back seat, and before he could lift up his gun Alicia landed a shot on his knee, making him scream and drop the gun, she then finished him off with a headshot. After he was out of her line of sight, she could see the soldier that was sitting next to him in the back seat, so she aimed up and shot him two times through the torso.

Afterwards she walked up to the gunner who was trying to crawl his way out of this situation. She shot him in the left leg, getting a pained scream out of him, then she landed another shot in his shoulder.

“Please! I don’t wanna di-!” -He tried to plea, but the moment he opened his mouth, Alicia inserted the rifle’s barrel into his mouth and pulled the trigger, splattering some blood on her face.

Dana looked over her shoulder after noticing that the firefight was over. The only thing she could see was Alicia standing right next to a corpse and a wrecked jeep right next to her.

Alicia looked back at her, that foreboding feeling in her chest was gone so now she could relax. Dana felt increasingly smaller in her presence.

Before doing anything else, Alicia grabbed a rag and wiped the blood off her face. Then she looked through the corpse’s equipment, and aside from a few 5,56mm rounds, and some smoke grenades and flashbangs, she found another necklace similar to the one she took from one of those agents that tried to kill her in the facility. With this she could assume there was a group that wanted her dead, and that group was no other than the MTW themselves. She convinced herself of what Dana said, they had sent her there to do their dirty work and then dispose of her to cut corners.

“They want a war, they got it.” -She said, and Ten was wholly supportive of their new objective.

Alicia walked back to Dana’s side to pick up her bag and store the rifle inside. –“…That girl couldn’t just accept the things everyone else saw as normal.” -Alicia continued her tale. – “So, I decided to make her sincere wish a reality.”

“…Wait, so you weren’t that girl?” -Asked Dana, trying to make sense of Alicia’s story. –“Who was that girl then?”

“It doesn’t matter, she is not with us anymore.” -She said. – “And it’s for the best. She couldn’t have been capable of getting along with the world as it is now.”

“I-I see…”

Alicia returned her bag. – “Here, these are your tools of the trade, I wouldn’t know what to do with them. Have a good day and goodbye.” -She stored her rifle inside the bag and walked towards the south, intending to go find a spot in the wilderness to take a break in before heading to tie that last loose end.

“Wait!” -Dana caught up to her and gave her a flask of pills. – “Analgesics, it may not be much, but they may help you keep on going until you are done.”

“I see, thanks.”

“Alright. Goodbye then, don’t let yourself get killed!”

“Same as you.”

Alicia and Dana parted ways, one heading north and the other heading south. None of them were sure that their paths would ever cross again. Dana for one, hoped that if they were to meet again, it would be in more amicable terms.

Alicia lost her balance for a moment and almost tripped to the ground, she leaned on a lamppost until she got herself together and recovered her equilibrium.

“Ali, are you ok?”

“(Lost too much blood…I need to rest.)”

“Yeah, let’s find a spot, shall we? Preferably a place with a roof of sorts, there you can rest, eat an MRE, and don’t you dare sit up and polish those guns.”

“(Alright, alright…I’ll take a break this time around.)”

Alicia looked up to the sky, wondering why there wasn’t a single cloud up there. The country was surrounded by kilometers of desert, yet it somehow felt hotter than the bigger desertic countries she once wandered in.

“This can’t be good for my health.”

“There’s gotta be a spot somewhere.”

She walked for a while, she thought she was going to succumb to the heat when she finally spotted a place to settle in: a small shack located next to a small plateau. The roof seemed solid enough, and it was better than nothing.

Once inside, Alicia placed her bag on a corner and looked around. It seemed like someone had settled in that location a long time ago and simply departed one day. No bones, no clothes, no cutlery.

Finally in the middle, there was a small circle of stones full of ashes, the owner most likely used it to lit up fires during the night to have some light and warmth that far away in the desert.

“Quite cozy…”

“(It feels awfully familiar.)”

Someone living like that is considered a hermit under modern standards, but Alicia had seen more than a handful of people who lived like this back in the warzone.

Without further ado, Alicia took off her gear and lied on the ground, feeling the soreness taking over her muscles.

“(Long day…)”

“We at least got to fight some real assholes today.”

“(….Their essence was weaker than I expected though.)”

Alicia looked up to the roof, going over it all once again. She knew that every kill had a weight that was not for her to carry alone. - “(They must be panicked trying to sort it all out.)” -she thought, a proud and smug smile creeping on her face unconsciously, and then, just as it appeared, it disappeared, leaving only her usually serious expression – “(Still, even if there were some that came close to him, none of them were evil enough.)”

“I wonder how many levels we must crawl up on their hegemony to find the ones that are the real deal. How perverted can they be?”

“(If they aren’t just as evil as him then they are all a footnote for me.)” -Alicia crossed her arms and closed her eyes, trying to give them a short but deserved break.

“Don’t be like that, they offered an interesting fight, we seldom come so close to dying.”

“(You are the only one that judges the targets and their henchmen for how good of a challenge they provide for you.)”

“Sure, it’s better than just discarding them so coldly.” -She sighed. – “If only you’d let me out completely more often, it’s been so long since I’ve gotten any chance to stretch my legs you know, and moving your wielding arm is getting rather stale.”

“(If you didn’t go out of your way to do things more difficult for yourself, I would let you take over more often.)”

“Come on, there’s nothing wrong with the way I do stuff. That I have a little more fun that you on the edge is just a small detail. I’ll always come out victorious in the end, no matter what!”

“(I don’t understand how you can treat fighting as if you were in a…how do you call them?)”

“Videogames, Ali.”

“(Videogames…)”

“Regardless of that, you’ll have to let me out to play some time, you don’t want me to get bored and start annoying you from a place you can’t reach!”

Alicia sighed. –“(Fine…next time it’ll be your turn.)”

“Hooray!”

“(Don’t get us both killed.)”

Alicia’s wounds itched. She still had a few bullets lodged around her body, and it was in her best interest to take them out before a lot of time passed.

“I assume Ms. Salvador will be eager to see me again…even if the rest of the entire organization doesn’t.”

“She’s such a lovable person, makes going back there all the more worth it.”

“(I assume no one else there might share the sentiment.)”

“Who cares what they think? They’ve been giving us death stares from the moment we got there…” -Ten gasped. –“Maybe that’s it! they betrayed us because they don’t like us.”

“(…That’s petty. Very petty.)” -However, in Alicia’s mind, it made all the sense in the world. – “(…But that’s what they are. So, it makes sense.)”

Alicia scratched the scar on her right cheek, feeling a little burn under them. –“We’ll give them a reason to not be petty anymore.”

It didn’t take long for Alicia to fall asleep. Way before she started to work for the Men of the World, she’d have a number of recurrent nightmares that would take her back to the battlefields she once fought in, to fight the same enemies and shoot the same faces. Sometimes she’d face people she never met, products of her imagination, or at least that’s what she thought, and there was also a handful of people that she could swear she never met, but their faces were kind of familiar to her.

A woman with short black hair and a white dress, with her hands clasped together, asking for forgiveness and a man with a blue dirty shirt, accusing her with his big and robust index finger.

Those dreams were an absolute hell for her; fighting during the day only to keep on fighting in her slumber, but despite everything, those nightmares were a hell that she was very accustomed to, so she would heed them no mind, even after waking up; what was important to her is that she managed to rest.

However, after escaping from the Crimson Rangers, after escaping from the commander, those dreams seemed to have faded into the corners of her mind, unable to disturb her anymore, and they were replaced by the comforting nothingness that many people experienced during their sleep, something they were all accustomed to, but for her it was a welcomed experience, and that time wouldn’t be an exception.

Alicia woke up to a starry night. It was already too late to think about wandering through the desert at that time.

She took an MRE she had packed up in her bag and lit up a fire. She felt right at home, in the wasteland, where everything that dared live died. Everything, except her.

The following day, MTW agents created a perimeter around the extraction point in order to secure the area and make sure no nasty surprises would present themselves while they waited for Butcher’s arrival. A plane with a capacity of 50 people landed in the zone shortly after.

Lionel had told Kirsten there would be 12, but one of his sympathizers was not confident with that number; he felt exposed, so he decided to bring in some extra assets outside of the MTW using some contacts. Bolstering up their numbers put his mind at ease.

Half of the agents waiting on the ground boarded the plane and prepared themselves to set up their surprise for Butcher. Every squad had received her dossier which contained information on her skills and feats, compensating for her lack of background. This information served them to prepare an attack they were sure she wouldn’t be able to escape from alive.

“She sustained heavy injuries during her mission. Robert’s men worked her up good.” -Said the leader of the alpha squad. – “She will be too tired to respond on time, and in such a reduced space her options are limited. She’s severely outgunned, it’s impossible for her to survive what’s in store for her. But do not do anything until she’s inside the plane.”

Everyone agreed through the intercom and kept waiting for her arrival. It went without saying but, no matter what it took, and no matter what happened, they had to make sure Alicia didn’t return to the base alive.

“Alpha team, Bravo 2 here.” -it was one of the guards from around the perimeter. –“Please respond.”

“What is it, Bravo 2?”

“Uh, I have a question. Butcher should have facial scars, right?”

“What do you mean, Bravo 2? Of course she has scars on her face, don’t you have her picture?”

“Yes, of course, but eh…we have a situation here.”

“Come on, guys…I recently got some skincare treatment, that’s all. It was way more effective than I expected. All things considered, it’s like I was born again.”

Bravo 2 and his partner looked at the picture, then at the person that was standing right in front of them. They shared an uncanny resemblance, and her clothes matched with the description, they had bullet holes in them as well, she was also carrying the bag full of weapons the target was supposedly carrying.

“The coordinates told me to come here, so here I am! Can you people…extract me already?” -She said, showing the mercenaries a big, childlike smile.

No matter what she said, they knew deep inside. Whoever she was, she was not Alicia the Butcher.