Rule number six; Fuck what they think

The door opposite the team opens, and I lift my head, eyes narrowing on the woman who exits.

Her dark daring eyes settle on me and I let my lips lift at the corners before dipping my chin at her, watching as she turns her back on us and walks the other way, flicking a stiletto blade between her fingers.

The door shuts with a deafening click behind her.

"I thought you took all her weapons?" Cleo questions, her gaze pinned on the woman.

"So did I." I shake my head, still watching the woman stalk the other way, the sway of her hips grabbing my attention before I force them to the door, the having off the wall and walking towards Directors office, entering with my team behind me.

He sits behind his desk, arms folded as he waits for us to get situated. Like always, Liam and Cleo take the seats and Clay and I stand.

"Thank you for retrieving her." He states, looking each of us in the eyes.

He uses the pen in his hand to point at a file on the desk, silently telling me to grab it.

I do, flipping it open and scanning the information.

"Our next mission?"

"Yes." Director mutters, "Five of our Agents have gone missing in the past two months. The last just two nights ago, and he's one of my best. I need him found, alive."

I scan the names of the Agents, cataloguing their information to memory.

Rachel McCall.

Lilly Hackett.

Jamie Killorn

I look to the most recent name on the list.

Sebastian Smith.

I flip the file closed and hand it off to Clay to look through.

"That is not all."

"What else?"

"I'm assigning Agent Eleven to your team. I want to keep her close. She's a flight risk and-" He cuts himself off, clearing his throat, "It works out."

A scoff leaves my lips. "That is why you had us retrieve her." I say, staring him down.

He lets the silence linger, "That's not the only reason." This time he looks to Clay, "You're the only team I can trust right now, Agents are going missing. Some have been found." He says lowly as he takes a seat once more, hands resting on the desk. "And I need you to keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't run again."

Clay nods once; but remains silent, not answering his father's unspoken demand.

Director looks away from Clay, hesitating before he says what's on his mind, "And your fifth position needs to be filled, with Scarlett-"

"Of course." I cut him off, refraining from looking at my teammates.

"I let it go for a while but with the way Agents are going missing, I can't let a team be unfilled." He continues, before looking back to Clay and then the rest of us. "And you can keep an eye on her for me."

"You don't trust her." Liam murmurs.

"With good reason." Director says but doesn't elaborate.

I narrow my eyes but remain silent.

"Agent Eleven has already been made aware of the situation. She will be moved in to your spare bedroom this afternoon."

"You're fucking kidding me." I hiss.

"My thoughts exactly."

I snap my head toward the newcomer. Her voice is sharp. As is her dagger as she twists the gleaming blade expertly between her knuckles. The cold hilt kissing at her skin as it weaves between her fingers.

She tilts her head to the side, the feline sharpness in her gaze focused solely on me, before moving to my team, stopping on each of us as if analysing us.

I don't like it. There's something about her that doesn't sit right with me.

Her uninterested eyes settle back on mine. A looseness to her that contrasts to the weapons dancing between her fingertips.

She smiles sweetly, "Looks like you aren't getting rid of me that easily."

I lift a taunting brow, unable to help myself. "Let's see if you can keep up."

Her eyes travel down my body leisurely. "The question is can you keep it up."

I only grin in response, letting my eyes slip down her figure.

"God damnit, I love you."

I turn, looking towards where Liam straddles the chair, his arms hugging the back as he faces Agent Eleven.

Director clears his throat uncomfortably, "Put the weapon away Agent Eleven," he says tiredly. His body tensing slightly in his seat. Almost unnoticeably.

She purses her lips, throwing the blade up once more before curling it into her fists. Her head tilts to the side, a flash in her eyes before the weapon goes flying.

"Agent!"

"What? It slipped." She purrs, her eyes settling on me. "See you at home, Agent Twenty-Six." She drawls, her eyes on mine before she spins on her heel and stalks out.

"It's true love." Liam sighs but I can't take my eyes off the door as it slips shut.

"Liam, not the time." Cleo admonishes.

"It's always the time."

I ignore the banter going on between my two teammates and turn to Clay, pulling my gaze from the door.

He nods backs at me, his eyes going to the closed door, and I turn back to Director.

"Fine, but if she fucks up-."

"It wasn't a choice but I'm glad we are in agreement. All the information you need to know are in those files, Agent Eleven will be given a copy."

He reaches for the lone pen on his desk and uncaps it. Starting to write in the notebook in front of him once more.

"You are dismissed." He says without looking up.

I turn my back on the man and walk out, feeling my team follow.

• • •

Sweat beads at my neck, rolling down my spine, causing my shirt to stick to my skin. I take a sip of water, my eyes drawn to the seining punching bag, the movement a remnant of the blow I landed.

The door behind me opens, my muscles tensing in answer as the footsteps continue before stopping.

Agent Eleven walks past me, towards the punching bag beside mine, her back ramrod straight.

She keeps her back to me as I look at her, not doing anything to hide the fact that I'm watching her, analysing her every movement. The way her head shakes the slightest bit from annoyance, and my lips lifts, knowing I'm annoying her.

"Welcome to the training room." I say to her back, watching her shoulders tense before she looks over her shoulder at me, brown eyes narrowed in annoyance. I lift a brow at her silence, "The silent treatment, I didn't think we were that far into our relationship for that." I shrug but step away from my bag, closer to her.

She narrows her eyes, turning fully to face me.

"You want me to thank you for zip tying me and bringing me back to the one place I hate more than anything? To work for the one man, I hate more than anything?"

I lift a brow at her words, filing that piece of information away. "There she is." I taunt, stepping forward so we're only a foot apart. "I was afraid your fire had extinguished already." I grin down at her, watching her dark eyes blaze. I shift my gaze down her figure before finding her eyes again, lifting a brow in silent question.

"Let's hope I don't kill you." She says with a sickly sweet smile.

For an agent, she sure is easy to annoy.

I laugh, the sound holding no mirth, "I'd love to see you try."

She shifts, and opens her mouth to say something but I don't let her.

"Five AM, every morning."

Her mouth closes, "What?"

I step forward, looking down at her, finally letting her see the distrust in my gaze. "Every morning, you'll be training with me in this room."

"No." The word is short, final.

I smirk down at her, "Who's the leader here?" I say, "Not you," I remind her, "And until I know your capabilities match what I need from you, then you'll be training with me."

Her glare gets hotter but I'm not done.

"Who knows what you've slacked on while you've been out gallivanting around and the rest of us have had to pick up the slack of the rogue agent who ran away."

"You don't know anything." She spits.

I nod, conceding. "You're right, I don't." I step forward, "What I do know is that your a flight risk, and unpredictable." I look down at her, forcing her to look up at me, "And dangerous to be around."

She tilts her head, as if she's about to say something.

"Do you know how long my team and I have worked on the Sable case? We spent months working on dismantling their organisation and you came in and killed them, ruining everything we'd planned."

"Well, maybe you should've worked harder."

I narrow my eyes at her, ignoring the words, "Until I say otherwise, you'll be training with me every morning."

She opens her mouth but I don't let her say anything, "You'll have no say in the missions and you won't be given any hard jobs, you'll be the distraction but that's it. Until I'm satisfied, you'll be working hard to earn my teams trust."

She opens her mouth to say something when the door opens behind us. 

I turn, lifting a brow at Clay.

His eyes flicker between Agent Eleven and I, and she takes a step back. I lift a brow at him but he says nothing, continuing inside.

I watch him closely as he ignores Eleven, but I know he's aware of her as she looks to him but says nothing, her eyes narrowed on his face before she turns her head back to me, her eyes on the side of my face, practically scorching with her glare.

The door opens again, Liam slipping inside.

"Get on the mat." I point at the boy who looks disgusted at the idea. Eleven shifts by me, her posture stiff and practically vibrating with anger before she leaves the room, the door slamming in her wake.

I watch her leave, the silence in the room weighted.

"What happened there?" Clay asks.

"Guess the rogue agent doesn't like being told what to do."

Clay laughs, the sound short and he shakes his head, "Well maybe she shouldn't have run away. Now our team has to babysit and pick up the pieces of any mistakes she makes." His voice is rough, "she's a liability."

I rip my eyes from the door, looking to Clay. "Which is why I'm having her training with me every morning, until I know what she can do, I don't trust her out in the field with us."

"You're going to pull her from the team?" He says, brow raised.

"No." I shake my head, director wouldn't let me but I don't say the words, Clay already knows well and good how stubborn his father is. "Until I know she won't put the rest of us in harms way, she'll be doing as little as possible." My muscles tense, "If she has less responsibility, maybe she won't fuck it up."

"Don't count on it, Arch." Clay mutters, his eyes narrowed on the door, "I can already tell she's trouble." He doesn't say anything else, moving to his own mat to warm up.

I look back to Liam, who was silent through out whole exchange and flick my chin to the mat, "Now."

"I did not sign up for this."

"Yes, you did."

"Past me didn't know what they were doing, I'm much more wise now."

I catch Clays eyes as we both look at Liam in disbelief.

Liam looks between us both, "You guys are rude."

"Get into position," I demand, "We need to keep training you on your fighting techniques. You're slacking off."

He spins to me, face incredulous.

"It's never stopped me from killing before."

"You need to know more than how to kill someone, you need to know how to immobilise, strike-"

"-unconscious and always know how to fight when a weapon isn't readily available, I know you say it every time."

"At least I know you listen." I gesture to the spot across from me, silently asking him to move into position.

"It started to ingrain in my mind after the first seventy times." He quips, wrapping his hands with a smirk.

"You need to learn self-control; we can't have you killing everyone that pisses you off Liam." I scold.

"It was one time."

I chuckle, shaking my head.

"Fine. Three, but they started it," He pouts, "And I ended it." He mumbles under his breath, but I still catch it.

"By breaking their necks?"

"Well, they weren't using their heads anyway!" He whines.

"Liam!"

"It was years ago; I haven't done it since."

"One year." I correct but shake my head, knowing what he says is partly true. He has been surprisingly good about controlling his tendencies.

"Get into position." I say instead.

Liam smirks before pulling his shirt over his head and throwing it at me.

I duck, avoiding the shirt and jam my elbow into his abdomen.

He staggers back, arms flailing. "No fair! I wasn't ready."

I kick the discarded shirt away from the practice mats, watching it fall delicately on the corner.

A fist flies for my face and I duck, twisting out of the way.

I lift a taunting brow at Liam and get back into position.

He grins maniacally before slamming his foot into my side.

I stabilise my position, so I don't stumble and take the hit to my stomach, muscles tensing.

"Is that all you've got? C'mon Liam, I've trained you better than this." I taunt, chuckling at his reddening face.

The boys finally drops the act, taking the session seriously as he gets into the proper position and I follow, feeling my muscles coil tightly in preparation.

• • •

I move around the mat, narrowing my eyes at the man across from me.

Liam had disappeared minutes ago, and Clay had taken his place.

He brushes his light ash blonde hair from his forehead, flicking his chin at me.

"Come on, Old man." He hisses.

"Twenty-eight isn't old and I'm nine months older than you." I give him my driest look, shoving my knee into his abdomen.

He protects it, slamming my knee back down and twists, throwing an elbow towards my face.

I duck.

He dances back, smirking at me before looking over my shoulder, his face softening.

I see the opening instantly, and move for his exposed side, throwing a punch there before following it with a kick.

Clay stumbles back, a grunt leaving him before he turns to face me with a glare.

I shrug, "Don't blame me for your distraction." I smirk, already knowing which one of our teammates just walked into the room.

"Fuck off." He hisses and I laugh, standing up straight.

He shakes off my hit, stepping closer to me.

"You know, I saw how you were looking at her when I came in." His voice is steely, eyes hard.

I turn my head to face him the slightest bit, "And how was that?"

"You think she's hot." He doesn't mince his words. "You want to fuck her."

I don't deny it, lifting a brow, "I'm not letting our reputation get ruined just to wet my dick."

Clay shakes his head, a harsh laugh exiting his mouth, "Or maybe you should just fuck her and get her out of your system."

I raise a brow, "Why are you so concerned anyway?"

"We've dealt with enough shit lately, we don't need a woman like her coming in and thinking she can do what she wants."

"That's why we'll be watching her, and if she steps out of line, she'll be dealt with."

Clay sighs, nodding his head. "Okay, just don't let her cloud your judgement. A woman like her knows how to work the system."

"I'm not." I mutter, "She hasn't got one loyal bone in her body, I don't trust her and until I do, I'm not letting her out of my sight."

Clay nods, "We start recon tonight, have you told her?"

"And when was I meant to do that? Between the moment she held a weapon at my dick last night or when she threatened to kill me an hour ago?"

"You had time." He mutters.

I grin, the smile taunting, knowing I did. "No I didn't tell her, let's see how she works with no notice."

Clay looks to me, his eyes on my face, searching. "You're playing with fire."

I shrug, "If Director wants her on this team, she'll be working for it."

• Question Of The Chapter •

What about yourself do you love? (No hate allowed. Only something you love. Can be personality wise or physical)