Russian Flower [1] EDITING

5 - Missions

I gritted my teeth as Bryce lugged me into our hotel for the night. We were currently in Italy, some mob boss needed to be discarded. I was there with Bryce as my backup. My job was simple, appeal to the man's sexual desires and then slit his throat. What the Red Room had not accounted for was for him to use my own weapon against me and bury it into my side. He had started to drag me off to probably torture me when Bryce shot him from the rooftop across the street. I had gotten out of there, but the knife was still in my side.

I cursed under my breath as Bryce laid me back on the hotel bed. Groans escaped my lips as I felt blood drip down my side.

"Arina, I'm going to have to take it out."

I nodded as Bryce wrapped his hands around the knife and began to slowly pull it out. I cried out until he held the knife up to show me it was out. I moved quickly as I placed my hand over the wound, and it began to emit a golden glow. I let out a sigh of relief as the pain subsided and I took my hand away from the wound.

Bryce inspected the skin to find fresh, new skin in place of the once mangled flesh.

"All healed," he muttered as he pressed a light finger to it.

We had figured out we were not only the Red Room's prized assassins, but also their 'chosen ones'. They had deemed us the prime candidates for experimentation, because how to better utilize your assassins then when they could use their own body as a weapon? No fear for what might become of the mission in the event we were disarmed.

We had quickly figured out of new capabilities when Bryce nearly burnt down a hotel with us in it when he had a panic attack, but they did not need to know that. As far as they knew, Bryce brought a witness to the hotel and used his powers to make it seem like the guy burnt up in the hotel.

Technically that wasn't a complete lie, we had caught a witness and brought him to the hotel. We planned to just keep him for the Red Room's disposal, but Bryce started freaking out when the guy almost escaped. He was worried of what failure would mean, had a panic attack, and burnt down the room. Luckily, we escaped in time.

We had also found I had the ability to heal and control sound waves. That was discovered when I accidentally made Bryce go deaf after a mission. It was only temporary, but still. As far as me manipulating sound waves, we were still trying to figure out the extent to which it went. I did not have much control over it; hell, I did not know how it worked in the first place. I just knew that I could do it. However, the healing aspect I had worked hard on mastering it. It became very useful after missions whenever either one of us needed first aid.

"You good?" Bryce asked as I sat up.

"Yeah I'm good," I nodded.

"Really?" he checked again.

"Yes," I reassured him. "All good." I traced my hand over the newly healed skin, not even a scar left over.

"Good," he smiled for a second before it fell. "How could you be so careless?! It's the fucking Italian mafia and you expected pulling out a knife of all things is the best idea?! You could have made the guys head explode if you really wanted to."

"I don't make the plan, Bryce. I just follow it," I rolled my eyes. "Besides, I don't know how to control that anyway. That's also a messy crime scene."

A small pet peeve of mine was whenever the kill made a big mess. I preferred the more discreet, less mess kills.

"Yeah? And the Red Room could care less if we lived or died. If the plan is stupid, change it."

"Couldn't care less if I lived or died," I muttered.

"Yeah? Well I do," Bryce challenged.

I pursed my lips, "Dying is the only way out."

That was true. The Red Room was going to work us and use us until we were dead.

"Unlike you I know my family is still out there. I want to see them one day."

"The Red Room could have killed them and you know it."

"Yes, I do. But I'd like to have a little hope that maybe one day we could get out. I'd be happy to take you with me."

I stared back at him not knowing what to say.

"That's unrealistic. You and I both know it. If we got out, they'd track us down," I laid down and turned away from him. "Get some sleep."

I heard him sigh in frustration. He wanted out, and I got that, but we both knew that was only something we could dream for.

———————

"You're next target is going to be a little trickier," I was informed.

It was just me. A solo mission. They wanted Bryce to be sent to assassinate someone else, while I would go and tie up another loose end for the Red Room.

"They escaped from us many years back. We don't want you to bring them back. We want you to kill her. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Your target," she reached for a tablet as she walked over to me. She turned it towards me to reveal a woman with fiery red hair. "Natalia Romanova."