NEW FLESH

CHAPTER ELEVEN: ELIMINATION, ROUND ONE

AS soon as Margo reached the top of the stairs she waited a few moments hoping that Mitch would come out of the room before she went in, when he didn't she let out a sigh and ventured into the room anyways. He was changing into a pair of clean jeans his head slightly turning to see who had entered, she instantly turned away giving him a look of distaste he seemed all too familiar with.

"You couldn't have changed in the bathroom?" he furrowed his brows the question having seemed entirely ignorant to him, "nobody else was in here, why would I go in the bathroom?" she rolled her eyes making her way across the room to her own bed, reaching beneath the frame she pulled her boots out from the darkness plopping down onto the floor beside them.

She caught his gaze as she adjusted her socks pulling her first boot on, "you didn't have to try and bribe me with coffee, I wasn't going to tell anyone." he shook his head buttoning the top of his jeans, "I brought you coffee to bring you coffee, no type of bribe." he pulled his fresh shirt from the edge of his bed shrugging it on before he ran a hand through his hair.

She finished tying her last boot as Mitch began to slip on his own shoes the girl standing to grab her bag off her bed, she looked through it pulling a brush from the mix, Mitch glanced over his shoulder as he tied his shoe catching sight of her quickly running the device through her short hair, he returned his attention to his shoes as he laced the first one up.

Margo ran the brush through her hair a final time before slipping it back into her bag, she zipped the flaps closed and made way for the door stepping out into the hall, casting a quick glance to the door of the room that Josh and Josi had shared the night prior she grimaced the memory replaying in her head despite her disgust for it.

She descended the stairs watching as Josi popped her head around the corner down below, she smiled at the sight of her friend the smile quickly turning into a smirk as she neared. "Where's Josh?" she questioned, she gestured upstairs- where she'd been moments ago- "he's getting dressed." Margo raised her eyebrows as if she was suggesting something, "I wonder how long that'll take him." she mumbled.

Josi softly smacked her shoulder, "hey! Stop it, I don't need Hurley on my ass like he is on yours." Margo frowned glancing upstairs once again, "oh yeah, I heard all of that." she grinned crossing her arms over her chest, "despite what you think, whatever it is that you think, we did not hook up." she rolled her eyes letting her arms drop to her sides, "why not? I can tell just by looking at him that he'd be amazing in bed." Margo glanced off to the side remembering the few things she'd seen.

"What? What is it?" she shook her head, "nothing important." her brunette friend frowned having been eager to hear the bit of information, "please." she whined, aware that Josi would figure out a way to get it out of her sooner or later she let out a sigh, "I saw a few, things, he came out of the bathroom in sweats..." she trailed off, Josi's lips parted into a smile, "you're kidding right?" she shook her head.

"So he had a boner then?" she shrugged her shoulders, "I guess so, I pointed it out and he was in the bathroom for like fifteen minutes." her friend stifled a laugh at the statement before stilling into a semi-neutral expression, "I mean.. I could've sworn I heard a few yells in the middle of the night, and some thumping." she let her mouth fall open just enough to show she was surprised, "when-" she trailed off, Josi smiled looking off to the side as she thought, "I think it was a little bit past midnight, I was laying around with Josh when I heard it. I listened for a few seconds before it hit me that you guys were probably, you know." she raised her eyebrows twice smiling as she did so.

Her eyes widened slightly and she looked off to the side to scratch her head, glancing behind her on the last stair, stood Mitch, he gave Josi a questioning look, "what are you talking about?" Margo did her best to avoid his gaze as she spoke, "Josi was telling me how she heard us last night, more specifically the thumping and the few yells that came from our room." she was praying to the heavens and back that Mitch would just fess up about what had happened and not throw her under the bus like she thought he would.

"So what? Josi and Josh did the same thing."

She mentally face palmed herself wanting nothing more than to smack him in the face, "we did not hook up." she restated, her friend gave her a doubtful look watching as Mitch slid past the two of them making his way to the dining room, "don't worry, I won't tell Hurley." she giggled already taking off after Mitch for the dining room, "we didn't do anything." she sighed following behind her friend.

In the dining room, everyone but Josh was huddled around the table Stan waiting for them all so he could begin talking, a loud series of thumps came from behind causing everyone to look towards the staircase, stumbling as he attempted to tie his shoe, Josh came around the corner stopping when he realized he was the center of attention, "don't let me keep you waiting." Stan rolled his eyes returning his focus to where it belonged.

"Victor, Lee, you're lead, Ogden, Rapp, back up." he glanced to Josi and Josh, "you two can be survey." Josh smiled at the fact that he was being included for once finishing up with his shoe before he approached the table, he held out a gun to both Victor and Margo waiting for them to conceal it before handing them each a sharpened blade, "tuck yours up your sleeve, Lee, put yours behind your belt." they did as told adjusting them accordingly so they were unable to be seen by passerby.

"You two." he pointed a finger between Mitch and Annika, "you're a couple out there." he shifted his gaze to Margo, "you and Victor are strangers, you don't know him and he doesn't know you, understood?"

"Yes, sir." Stan clasped his hands together letting out a sigh, "let's go, remember, we're in and out, no mess, no footprint." murmurs of "yes sirs" could be heard throughout the group as they split up into their small groups and left the house- some of them leaving through the front door while others left through the back.

Victor left first leaving Margo with the others for a few minutes before she followed out behind him taking a different route to the location to draw less attention to the two of them, she wondered how long this would take. A few minutes? Half an hour? Longer?

She just wanted to finish the mission and go home, it was always nice on the way back, calm, quiet, everyone was usually relaxed and hardly anyone argued due to the plain and obvious fact that nobody wanted to waste their energy on it when they'd just used it all to accomplish the task they'd been given.

She could smell the scent of beer on the wind along with cooking meat, she enjoyed the smell relishing in it as if she was about to have it as a meal, she gave a small smile at the scents wishing they would never end, but, they always did.

Approaching the restaurant they'd been instructed to arrive at, she carefully glanced around attempting to locate Victor, when she saw him in his odd little blazer, it seemed nowhere casual in comparison to what others were wearing, so much that it made him fit in, he looked more like a tourist than anyone, but he also had that look upon his face that said he knew what he was doing, that he wasn't there for travel.

She worried that it would be a problem.

A few meters back she glanced over her shoulder catching a glimpse of Annika and Mitch as they sat down at a table a small bottle placed in front of them with two small shot glasses, she took a small breath and entered the bar trying her best to keep away from Victor, if he went down she planned to not go down with him, it was every man- and woman- for themselves, he knew that.

Carefully picking out an empty table in the bar she plopped down in the seat leaning her head into her hand as if she was bored when really she was trying to pick out where their receiver could be, a few minutes passed of her sitting at the table when a voice came in over her earpiece, "Lead, your friend's arriving now."

"Copy." it was Victor answering, he was lingering just outside the bar watching for their person, "I'll take care of the MPs." Stan's voice disappeared from her earpiece just as quickly as it had arrived making it evident he was already on his way to handle it, a few minutes passed before Stan spoke again, "lead, you're a go, survey two, get into place."

She sat at her table preparing to go after the man they were looking for, Mitch slid into the seat beside her almost causing her to jump in her seat, she hadn't expected him to get so close.

The two of them watched Victor as he slowly approached the arms dealer and who they suspected to be their receiver, the man- the receiver- glanced behind him as if he had suddenly been made aware of something that seemed life-threatening, Margo stiffened in her seat glancing away from Victor to hopefully help not draw too much attention to him.

The man they'd set their eyes on left the bar counter roughly brushing against Victor, the two of them abruptly stood up unsure if something was wrong or not, then they saw Victor's hands as he pulled them away from his side, blood was pooling out onto them the sticky substance getting caught between his fingers.

Reaching beside him he tried to catch his balance using the table but ended up bringing it to the hardwood floor with him, screams sounded throughout the room sending everyone into a panic, catching sight of the gun in the man's hand Margo whipped hers out covering Mitch as he made his way to Victor using the tables as cover when the man did fire in his direction.

Margo ducked beneath the table closest to her firing back at the man as he rushed to escape, taking a quick exhale of air she fired again only slightly satisfied when it got caught in his leg, he let out a noise between a groan and a yell trying his best to exit the bar and get to where he needed to be before he got caught.

He fled through a small doorway near the back- beads hanging from the top of said doorway- she listened as Mitch's voice came in over their earpieces, "targets gone. Targets gone." he repeated glancing out through the destroyed window as their arms dealer escaped with his bodyguard protecting him along the way.

"Lead?" Margo crawled out from where she'd dodged the man moments before rushing to check on Mitch and Victor, "Dead." he spoke, Stan let out a sigh over the device, "mission terminated. Exfil to secure location. Confirm."

She watched as the boy looked out through the broken shards of glass, he watched as the arms dealer climbed into his car about to take off, Survey two, you better let me hear you fucking confirm." he didn't respond instead taking off like a bolt of lightning, Margo tore after him remembering that Stan had specifically assigned her with the task of handling him in the case he flew off the handle like he currently was.

"Goddamn it, this is a fucking mess. We're out of here."

NEW FLESH

CHAPTER ELEVEN: ELIMINATION, ROUND ONE