Ivy

Someone is screaming out in the streets. Another is getting mugged just across where I'm walking but I keep on walking. Anyone who sees me must think I'm out of my mind braving these streets at this time of night. I find a spot to huddle in front of some game shop and as I curl up by the door, I realize that I'm crying. So much for not going into shock.

When something tragic happens, its often said we lose a piece of ourselves. How far would you go to find these lost parts of yourself in order to be whole again? How do I move on from here? I have nothing. I no longer have a home. I have lost my heart, my best friend and my love. It hurts so much, maybe it would be better to just curl up and die. I hear the distant roar of a thunderstorm. As if it wasn't enough that I had nowhere to go. Maybe it will be a lot better if I just sit there and reminisce about the old days...

... Some time ago...

It's New Years Eve. I'm making my famed chicken pie. I have the chicken perfectly stewed and now I'm making the sauce after tricking him into making the pastry. Celeste walks into the kitchen with the grocery bag. I had asked her to get me a couple of things from the grocery store. She looks from me then to him and bursts out laughing.

"Wow! You turned him domestic. That's definitely worth a world record." She says with a giggle.

She turns to him with a warm smile.

"She totally has you whipped." She says to him.

"You think? I'm only here because she threatened to starve me for days if I don't start helping out." He says whilst rolling the dough.

"Don't listen to him, he's exaggerating." I say as I place the sauce into the fridge. "Baby, could you hand me the pastry."

He does as I ask and I can't help notice how his fingers softly graze mine as I take the bowl from him. Who could guess we've only been dating for two months?

"So, Ivy, are you ready for your Paris début?" Celeste asks as she takes her place in the kitchen and begins tossing together a Greek salad.

"Well, that depends." I say.

"On what?" She asks curiously.

"Don, are you coming with me to Paris?" I ask as I turn to face him.

"You ... You want me to go with you?" He asks, clearly I've caught him off guard.

"I mean, it'll be nice and all but if you don't want to..." I immediately cut.

Sure, Ivy, you just had to be a clingy kill joy.

"It's not that I don't want to go it's just... I get air sick." He says with a slightly embarrassed look.

"That is a lie and you know it!" Celeste says to him.

He gives her the slightly annoyed look I've grown so accustomed to and for the next ten seconds they have an epic stare contest. For the first time I feel like I'm intruding. Like there's some dark secret only they know and I'm not allowed to share in on it. After a while he looks away.

"He'll love to go with you. Isn't that right, Don?" She says to me before turning to him with a serious expression.

"Sure. I guess I have to brave my airsickness." He says with a smile and a defeated expression.

Odd, very odd. I won't ask him about it, not even if I'm curious. I'll be the perfect girlfriend and if there's something going on, he'll tell me about it...

Present

Of course we never made it to Paris so some good it did me being the perfect girlfriend. That was the last time I saw him, before now. I guess looking back, the signs were all there. The secrets and the lies. I wrap my shawl tightly around me. It's starting to drizzle but I have nowhere to go and I'm still pretty much a mess. I tense as a shadow looms over me. It turns out to be a drunk middle aged man but he's carrying a pocket knife.

"Give me your wallet." He says, pointing the thing at me.

Great. My best friend got killed by my boyfriend. I almost got killed by my boyfriend and I almost got killed by my ex-boyfriend. Now I'm most likely going to get robbed and stabbed at some back alley. If that's not rock bottom it most definitely is the shittiest luck a person can have.

"How about you drop the weapon or I will break your kneecaps." Someone says.

Wait, I know that voice. She comes up to stand in between me and the douche. A miracle. A glorious miracle. Someone upstairs must had heard my prayers and taken pity on me. Sure, her blond hair is all scruffy looking and her clothes torn and dirty but I could tell it was her from a mile away. The guy notices that he's now outnumbered and decides it's in his best interest to leave.

"Les." I say, my voice choking on emotion. Mostly I'm crying again. "You look like shit, and not the flattering kind. You look like shit that's been flushed through a sewer."

I'm so glad to see her. I just can't stop my tears of joy as I hug her.

"Eew, gross. Enough with the descriptions." She says, breaking free from my embracing.

Uh oh. I can tell from her eyes I'm about to be berated.

"Are you out of your mind? What the hell were you thinking? Are you deliberately trying to get yourself killed?" She yells. "Damn it Ivy, stop trying to save yourself! Marsh has been going ballistic from the moment he realized you were gone. Why would you go off on your own?"

"I thought I had lost you." I simply say, unable to hide the emotion in my eyes.

"Oh, Ivy..." She says.

"It hurt me knowing I'd never see you again and it'd be all my fault." I continue.

"That's not true. You see, Marsh and I, we made the choice to protect you. That'll never change." She says as she gives my shoulder a squeeze.

"I know you did, but it doesn't mean I'll be able to live with myself if anything happened to you." I explain. "I'm not going to run anymore, Les. I'm done being the hunted. From now on I'm the hunter and that means from now on I'm bringing the fight to them. To Al Jeera."

"Ivy..." She says with a disapproving look.

"I know what you're going to say. I'm way in over my head but I owe it to myself and to James to do this. I won't let them turn me into a victim." I say before she can disagree.

"Well that's easier said than done. For starters, what's the plan?" She says after a short silence.

"A kill switch." I say proudly. "I'll upload the data to some remote server and set it to automatically broadcast the information on all channels should I fail to log in at the designated time interval."

"And how will you ensure they can't hack the server?" She asks. "How can you be sure they can't log into the server in your place?"

"We'll set up complex firewalls. If anyone tries to forcibly break the firewall, they will simultaneously upload a Trojan into their system. We'll also use biometric and retina scans." I point out.

"Those are great ideas but then they can always cut off your fingers and carve out your eyes to bypass those." She points out. "And I'm sure someone can figure out how to bypass your firewall."

"Yikes, I hadn't thought of that." I say with a worried expression.

"It's a great idea but we need more solid a plan than simply that. We need an expert." She says. "Don't you have an ex-boyfriend or something who's into that kind of stuff?"

"About that, I may have killed him." I say, "If I hadn't he would have killed me. He was with Al Jeera."

"Is that why you're here? He lives in this part of town?" She asks me with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. I tried to get him to help me only to find out he was one of them." I explain to her.

"Crap. If that's the case, we need to get out of this place and pray they haven't figured out you were here." She says with a worried expression.

"Yeah, good idea." I say.

I know what she's thinking, Don. Speaking of Don. I suddenly have some questions for her.

"Hey, Les, how'd you get away? From him, I mean?" I ask.

I won't be mad at her if she tells me she killed him. How can I be? She would have had no choice.

"He --- hesitated." She said in a low voice. "For a moment it was like he recognized me."

I could tell it was bothering her.

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah." She says with a defeated smile. "Am I going to regret telling you that?"

"No, you won't. I'm just glad you told me." I reply and I mean it.

This is the first time since this whole thing began that I have actually felt a little bit of hope.

"Just promise me one thing." I say to her.

"What?" She asks.

She's a bit uneasy with my request but she doesn't say anything to discourage me.

"If you have to kill him, do it for him and not for me." I say.

"I don't get the difference." She says in confusion.

"Just indulge me." I say.

"Okay then." She says with a shrug. "Now come on, we need to get off the street."