Those Hollow Lies

Can't Fight This

6/11/09 evening, most probably.

“Roz, you’re going to kill me!” I exclaimed as I hit the mat for the fiftieth time that day.

“You need to remember your training Russell! I do not have the time to be spending hours in here with you perfecting it.”

“Well, I’m sorry I didn’t join a gym in your absence, but I hardly believed that I’d have to fight again, let alone be part of this team again!”

Two other agents in the training room froze in shock. In the last twenty four hours, I’d managed to understand that everyone was pretty much terrified of the girl I had almost fallen for a few years earlier. From what I had seen so far, she had reverted completely back into the girl who had me fearing for my life when we first met. There was hardly any time for talking with her and she spent most of the time yelling and threatening agents who were working too slowly for her liking or who weren’t doing the things she demanded from them.

I was the only one who wasn’t afraid to stand up to her. Then again, I was the one who had seen a glimpse of the girl behind the murderess and I was the one who still kept the note that she had left pinned to the car after her ‘funeral’. Her dark eyes fleetingly flicked to the other agents in the room but then she looked back at me.

“Get it together Russell. Shower, eat and then I want to see you in my room.” She grabbed her towel and moved towards the exit, leaving me breathless on the floor. I remembered a time when she would’ve helped me up.

“Hey, you, come here.” I walked over to the agents beckoning me in hushed tones and tiny gestures.

“What?” I asked, wiping the sweat from my neck with the spare black towel Roz had loaned to me. They glanced around nervously before speaking to me again.

“Do you have a death wish, man? No one speaks to Harman like that!” The taller one of the pair said.

“I’ve known her for a few years…”I began, pausing, not actually knowing where to take that sentence next.

“Are you him?” The smaller guy seemed shocked.

“That’s awfully specific.” I commented, really just wanted to head to my room and shower.

“The guy Joe has mentioned. Harman’s partner on missions. The only person on the planet that the girl could stand to be around!” They seemed rather excited all of a sudden, but the description seemed to fit so…

“Yeah. That’s me. Russell Duvall.”

“What are you doing back here? Joe told us that you left for a normal life almost three years back.”

“Joe was a great friend of mine and Roz approached me for help on this mission. I owe a lot to them both.” I said honestly. The Quarter had given me a great deal when I was here last time and now that I was back, I seemed to feel at home in the stone building, beneath layers of concrete and cement.

“How did you do it? I mean, we make a typo and we’re on the ground staring at a gun that she’s got pointed to our heads! The bitch is intense!”

Then, I snapped. “Hey, watch your tongue or I’ll break your jaw.”

He looked shocked and stepped back. “I didn’t mean anything against her, man. She knows what she’s doing but-”

“She was raised that way. The perfect agent, the perfect murderess? How about we lock you up and force you to do the stuff she does for twelve years and then compare the differences, huh? We won’t find any, other than she can probably still kick your ass.” I shook my head. “You know, back when I worked for this place, agents had a lot more respect for their boss. You should probably learn a bit of that before your lips say something that get you killed.”