An Assassin's Guide to Family

Chapter 10: Present

---------------Percy's POV: ---------------

I ended up not eating the whole cake. Obviously, I shouldn't, I knew that, so instead I walked back, put my uniform back on before entering back into the bunker, and entered as quietly as possible.

I found Talia sitting with Damien, both placed in front of the computer we used to keep track of missions and such. While Talia looked me in the eyes as I entered, Damien averted his gaze, looking off to the side. I bit my tongue and walked over to Talia, handing her the cup of black coffee.

She sipped it gracefully, her eyes shutting momentarily before she let out a sigh, her lips curving upwards into an unreadable smile. "Thank you Orca, I appreciate it." She took one more sip before setting it down on the table, the warm steam rolling out the small holes in the lid.

I stood still waiting for her to do something. She'd wanted me up early, and now that it was finally time to be up it seemed almost too free in here.

"What's with the bag?" She asked, eyeing the paper bag in my hands. I turned to look at it, spotting the rest of the cake which sat in a shiny container. I'd realized I shouldn't leave it in my bag so I'd brought it with me. I mean, we did have a fridge here and while it was cold outside I didn't trust it to keep the cake fresh.

"Just something I picked up on my way back," I said, clutching the bag firmer in my grip. The bag rustled with the addition of the force, swinging back and forth slightly.

Talia nodded, obviously wanting to know more but choosing to keep it to herself. "Are you ready to begin for today?" She asked, not looking at me as she once again sipped at the steaming beverage.

"Yeah, I just need to put this in the fridge. After that, I can meet you all back in the training room." I said, turning away and beginning to walk towards the fridge in the corner. Usually, it was filled with poisons and various important liquids that required refrigeration in order to stay mixed but occasionally I'd spot Death stroke pulling a lunch bag out of there and while he tried to be sneaky about it I knew that not everything in there truly was poison.

I opened the smooth and cool metal doors, and a slew of cold wind released from the container and blowing into my face sending a tingle down my spine and causing me to shiver slightly. I pushed past the various yellow and blue liquids, spotting Death stroke's secure bottle of lemonade he'd stashed in a poison bottle. I pushed back my short smile and placed the bag inside after folding the top half down to let it fit inside.

"Actually Orca, today's training's a little different." I paused, my hand barely having left the bag, and still plunged into the icy insides of the fridge. I quickly retracted it, closing the doors and looking back to Talia who now stared at me from the corner of her eye. Damien also looked to her with a hint of confusion, his eyes dark in the minimal lighting. So I wasn't the only one surprised by this. "Today, you and Damien will be going on a mission together." I was suddenly glad I'd put the cake away, otherwise, I'm sure I would've dropped it or crushed it. Damien stood up, his chair flying out from beneath him.

"No! I don't want to work with her! She's a liability!" Talia shot him a death glare, and while I could see him physically back up he didn't lose his angry stare.

I stepped closer to them, putting my hand out. "As much as I hate to admit it I'm afraid I can't trust him. If we were to go out into the field I couldn't be sure to count on him." I replied, throwing my hand to the side before it settled back into its resting spot. "I refuse to do this with someone who tried to demask me while I was asleep," I said, my voice stern.

Talia let out a huff, placing her coffee down carefully before turning to me. "Unfortunately, you have no say in this, I've already agreed to the client's conditions and while I understand that you don't trust Damien this will be a way to gain each other's trust. I believe together you two could make a strong pair, and with people going down in this group every day I'd rather you two be paired together than alone. You're both young anyways, and I don't trust either of you, no matter how strong, to take care of a whole team of heroes."