Marble Statuette | T. Drake

[08]

The friends had a great time at Nico's café, ending their eventful day with a refreshing dose of coffee and cupcakes. They were contemplating whether or not to go for a movie in the drive-through cinema in West End as they stood up to leave the café.

Olivia had pushed all their shopping bags on Tim who looked as if he was struggling under the weight. She knew very well that he was faking it so she paid no heed to his dramatics, turning to retrieve her bag from the table.

But her eyes got caught by a little girl standing close to their table with wide brown eyes focused on her. It seemed as if she wanted to say something but was hesitating.

"Liv, what happened?" Steph turned to ask her as she hadn't moved.

"Nothing, I am just coming. You guys wait for me outside," Olivia replied, sending a smile to the little girl who had taken a step closer.

It was as if seeing her smile had encouraged the girl to approach her. She was clutching something in her hand that she held out to Olivia as soon as she came close.

"Hi, what's your name?" Olivia asked but the girl only pushed that card toward her and soon as she took it, she stepped back. "Is this for me?"

She nodded in reply, still not saying anything verbally.

Olivia felt it was odd and looked around to see if the girl's parents were close by. But the café was full and she couldn't immediately point out who were the child's family as there was no one looking their way.

The girl thrust the card at her again so Olivia had to take it. But then she pointed to a table from where a man had just left and by the time Olivia looked back, the girl had vanished.

"Olivia," Tim's voice shook her out of her thoughts and she turned to see him, his hand gently resting on her shoulder and blue eyes taking in the fact that she looked worried. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course. I met a little girl here, she was... Sweet." Olivia decided not to tell him anything just yet and smiled, pocketing the card. She would check what it was later when they got home.

Tim didn't ask her further even if he had suspicions, instead, he simply took her out where Steph and Nico were waiting. Olivia had turned back to see if she could catch sight of that girl but couldn't.

It was almost as if the girl had disappeared just as abruptly as she had shown up at their table.

***

Tim hadn't stayed with her that night due to his patrol duties so Olivia was alone in her apartment. She had activated all the alarm systems through Vanya and was in her bedroom, examining the blank card in her fingers.

Bewilderment etched her features, for she couldn't fathom why that little girl would deliver such an inconspicuous item. Her curiosity, a trait that had often led her into unexpected territories, nagged at her. There was nothing on that card apparently but when she held it up to the light, she paused.

Black eyes squinted as she saw a minute pattern engraved on the card. Realizing that it was a digital print that she would have to scan, she got more cautious.

She had always been cautious as the need to survive and protect herself had been ingrained into her mind by her parents from a very early age. Her life had always been in jeopardy and though things had taken a turn for the better after meeting Tim, she couldn't afford to let her guard down. 

She had been alone before that, thinking about only her survival. But now there were people connected to her, people who she cared about and thought of as her family. She couldn't risk losing them and she certainly couldn't let them come to any harm.

But her curiosity about that card got the better of her and after examining it thoroughly, once she was certain that the card didn't have any tracking chip or malicious software tapped into it, she finally put it in her scanner.

The digital print led her to a confidential website, one that couldn't be accessed otherwise, and much to her surprise, she saw the Stryker Labs logo on it.

Now she was a bit concerned, considering that whoever was responsible for delivering that card to her was probably spying on her to find the right time.

Perhaps Tim's intuition was right and that whole Stryker thing was a mistake that she should avoid.

But if that man could get that card delivered so discreetly to her, then he had other tricks up his sleeve too that she had a feeling she wouldn't like to learn about.

Something was off about the entire ordeal and as she went through the site, she found out a link that shocked her.

In the founders of the Stryker Labs, the man Victor Stryker was standing with her father. There was no doubt that the other founder of the labs was Ashlar McArthur and that cleared up why Victor was so eager to see her.

He knew her father and was probably an old friend if her father had trusted him enough to start a project with him.

She read further about all that was available on the site but her questions only increased. She hadn't heard her father mention him before, but then she was quite young when her parents were imprisoned for their experiments with Cadmus. And if Ashlar was already working with Stryker Labs, why did he go to Cadmus and get involved in their research? The questions only seemed to increase the more she pondered on it.

As Olivia contemplated whether to confide in Tim, the faint echoes of his warnings reverberated in her mind. Was Victor Stryker a potential threat, or was there an untold story that might alter her perception of the man?

The gravity of the situation lay heavy on her shoulders, and her fingers drummed restlessly on the edge of the keyboard. The decision to reveal or withhold the information would shape the path ahead, influencing not only her fate but also that of the family she had come to cherish.

With a heavy sigh, Olivia leaned back in her chair, her gaze fixed on the cityscape visible through her window. He must be on patrol, she thought, and he would be tired when he came back. He had already been stressed about that Stryker situation and they had barely managed to bring him back to normal with their shopping trip.

She didn't want to worry him all over again. Plus, the date for their flight to attend the International Fair was coming near; he would be preparing for that too.

Perhaps she should wait until the fair, she thought. Now wasn't the right time to stress Tim further. But of course, she would have to be twice more cautious just in case Victor Stryker was as actively stalking her as it seemed from that unexpected encounter at the café.

***