~ Enfold ~

verb

{surround; envelop.}

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Clip, empty.

Reload.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Clip, empty.

Relo-

Wait.

No more extra clips.

Damn it.

Bella stopped in her tracks. Should she keep on going? This was fun, releasing steam through 'practising' her aim, even while the people at headquarters disapproved, seeing as how she wasn't supposed to be good at self-defense.

She looked down on the gun, a Springfield, marvelling the simplicity of its design.

The shooting area was, as always, empty, so early in the day, before the sun had even rose. But maybe now it had rose, and Bella couldn't see it because she was cooped up in the training facility.

Whatever.

Her phone, stashed on the pocket of her jeans, buzzed.

As much as Bella wanted to ignore it, she couldn't, especially with the possibility that it might be important.

She pulled off the training goggles or the safety visors or whatever, shrugged off the vest, and put them all away 'safely', with the rest of the gears.

Her eye twitched, irritated at having her fun disrupted by Betty the old bitch, of all people.

Oh, wow, and she was asking Bella if she knew where Roxanne was, because Claire had came back to the orphanage, and she wasn't 'doing too well'.

Poor little Roxanne. Poor little Claire.

Yes, let's all pity the idiots who ruined everything.

She supposed she could just tell Garcia where Roxanne was... but she wanted to make the old bitch worry, wanted to see her beg and get on her knees because, fuck, Bella wanted her to suffer.

"You know you shouldn't be down here."

A voice. Raspy, low. A voice that used to soothe her.

A voice that now she loathed, reminding her of her inferiority, her lack of experience, her being trapped in this shithole.

A voice that could be devoid of any emotions, sickeningly-sweet like honey drips and sugary treats, and full of vile and menace like a poison that would kill the largest of beasts and send them cowering like small annoying pups.

A trained voice.

Bella closed her phone, debating whether or she should ignore this bitch of a woman and go back to shooting, or ignore this bitch of a woman and leave this place.

Both options sounded pleasing to the ear, only because it involved having to ignore this bitch of a woman.

But of course, all thoughts about abandoning this bitch of a woman stopped when she said, "You have something to do with this."

The smell of gunpowder was now faint. Her ears still rung from the explosive shootings. Looking down at them, Bella realized that not only were her hands trembling, but red, courtesy from holding and using a powerful tool continuously for a long period of time with no break in-between.

What do you know, Bonnie didn't look as pissed as she was last time.

The first thing Bella noticed was that she was still wearing her cover's clothes; a green unzipped bland jacket, black leggings, and black sneakers, meaning the woman had come down here as soon as she was back from the extermination or clean-up or whatever.

Not that the info mattered much.

The next, less surprising thing was that Bonnie was holding a flask in one hand, cap already opened, meaning that she had no job to do anymore.

Bella's eye twitched again. She shouldn't drink much. She was an old hag. Her liver could implode with how often she drank.

Not that she cared, or something.

"I have the right to be here. I'm part of the team, part of this..." Bella gestured to the stack of guns, to Bonnie, to everything. "Whatever the fuck this is." She gave Bonnie a well-deserved accusing glare. "I have been for a long time."

Bonnie lowered the flask, looking at her with an emotion Bella didn't bother trying to decipher; she wasn't at work, there was no need.

"I know."

Her voice carried a tone Bella ignored. "I know I'm not meant to do the dirty work, but that doesn't mean anyone should keep me from learning how to defend myself!"

Her voice echoed in the room. Bella looked up, wondering if the people in the surface would be able to hear her shouts. Even if they did, would it matter?

"I know."

Clink, clink, clink, said Bonnie's footsteps as they made their way to the weaponry.

"Kid," Bonnie started, her tone cautious. From that alone, Bella was able to deduct what she was going to say. "You know I had no choice, right? You know I love-"

"Shut up."

And Bonnie did shut up, because she had no right to do otherwise. And that was that.

Bella looked down to find the woman tracing her sharp fingernails against a blue vest, the contact causing a trembling sound to be heard.

"If someone were to ask you where you were the night our weapon disobeyed orders," Bonnie said, her voice strained from any emotions, her eyes flicking to Bella as she continued, "What would you say?"

Bonnie knew.

Of course she knew.

Bella kept her face calm, feigning ignorance and truth, just like training, just like Bonnie's training. "I was scouting the parameters, the night it happened. I last saw the-" freak "-weapon in her apartment, as reported, before I returned to the orphanage."

Bella didn't miss the way her eye twitched, even if she'd softened the freak's nickname to weapon. It angered Bella, but to be fair, lots of things angered her, even if she hid her anger well.

An exhale of relief. It sounded genuine, much to Bella's surprise. "Good. I've trained you well."

Bella gritted her teeth, but was too drained to throw in another emotional outburst. Instead she watched as Bonnie trailed her fingers from the vest, to the unloaded guns, loading them, then aiming them at the targets.

It was hard for Bella not to twitch and find cover with each destructive 'BANG!', especially those notions had been drilled to her since long ago.

"Tsk. These guns are pathetic," Bonnie said, throwing the gun recklessly to the counter. The safety was on, but still... "Don't ever use them. Always carry the one I gave you. It's deadlier, despite the small size."

"Not like I have a choice..." she muttered as Bonnie threw away her jacket to the ground, revealing her toned arms, and more of her frame, which, admittedly, was the same as Bella's, albeit taller and with a better posture.

Something nagged in the back of Bella's mind, and, try as she might, she couldn't keep her worries to herself and asked, "Bonnie?"

Bonnie looked at her, filled with attention, and not the disregard she usually showed towards other workers. Bella tried to keep her own mask of indifference, hating herself for these weird, pathetic feelings she had that beat all sense of logic. "Yeah?"

"Will... Will things settle down? And, what about that other problem? That other nosey brat?"

The other problem wasn't as serious, but it was an inconvenience to them, still.

Bonnie's gaze at her was still full of attention, yet a touch of softness appeared, removing the worry lines and the sharp edges of her face as her lips curled up. It wasn't a smile, but it reminded Bella of the days that seemed like a lifetime ago, days that may as well never happened with how things were now.

"Things have already settled down."

Cryptic as ever, huh, Bon? "What do you mean?" she pressed, congratulating herself for not sounding too desperate. She didn't want Bonnie to know about her plan of escape, and that the plan involved using the mayhem as the golden chance. "I thought that the more time passes the more people talked and theorized and believed. Surely, now everyone, if not most, is at least aware that something is hiding and being hidden from them."

Bonnie nodded slowly, at first, then the nods fastened. "I can see why you'd think that, but you are still young, still inexperienced-"

"I could be more experienced if you'd let me-"

"No." It was sharp, firm, and held no argument. Bonnie's face was the kind of face you'd hold when stating facts. "I don't ever want you to have experience. You are a messenger and a spy; that's it."

This. This was it. Another main reason why she wanted to leave. Bad enough she was forced into this shit without her consent, but she wasn't allowed to do actual good deeds, not like all the other assholes.

She was stuck on a lowly position, unable to climb up because the woman responsible for her didn't want her to.

And not just that.

The main main reason, the absolute fucking worst thing, was Bonnie's 'interest' towards that stupid fucking freak.

Oh yeah, Bonnie tried to hide it, especially from her, but Bella knew. Everyone knew. Everyone could see how much Bonnie cared for that nobody. It was disgusting.

And it sucked, more than anything.

But that was okay. Okay, yeah, it wasn't okay. But she was gonna leave this place. Soon. There was no need to show disobedience, not when it had the possibility of leading into suspicion.

Bonnie might had her back - even though she didn't need it - but she still had agendas too. Bella doubted Bonnie would help her escape, with all the shit that had went down years ago.

"Fine."

Footsteps, drawing near her. A hand touched her shoulder, and on instinct, Bella moved away, looking at Bonnie in distaste. Bonnie looked at her, expectant, but Bella didn't relent, still on edge. Bonnie didn't deserve to get all touchy-feely with her. Not now, not ever.

They looked at each other, their gazes more similar than she cared to admit, and there was a small, ludicrous part of her mind that nagged on her about the apple and the tree and the metaphor behind it. Bella not only ignored it, but mentally beat the shit out of it with a metal bat and shoved it to the deepest parts of her mind and locked it away, shut it from her.

Bonnie finally relented - good, she should - and pulled a phone out from the pocket of her shirt, turning it on, then pressing a few buttons with one sharp nail, causing an annoying tap-tap-tapping sound.

"Look," Bonnie said, standing at her side, placing the phone so both of them could see it. Bella made sure to give the woman a suspicious glance before looking at a video that was currently loading.

It was bitchingly awkward, standing in the large, empty, soundproof room with her so close, close enough that Bella could smell the cigarette and a faint booze.

The video started; the mayor, in what looked like his office, looking as serious as ever.

"Hello there, citizens of Crystal. I'm sure you're all aware of the rumours that has begun to spread about certain 'mysteries' of this city." With how intently and calmly he was looking at the camera, at her, Bella found the urge to believe him despite how wrong he was when he said, "Let me tell you right here, right now, that the rumours are, indeed, false."

"What...?"

The mayor, of course, continued on, unaware of Bella's inner struggle to comprehend what was shown to her.

"There are several proofs of the video being fake. It's designed to look real, with the low video quality and the even lower audio quality, but I can assure you that the video is, in fact, fake-"

Bonnie stopped the video, then pocketed it, looking at Bella with a small hint of amusement. Usually, Bella would try to glare the amusement away, but her shock wouldn't let her, and her mind was spiralling with a realization.

"It'll be on TV some time today." A soft shrug. "Maybe even tomorrow. We haven't worked out the details yet."

It didn't concern her, how he was spouting out every little detail that he thought meant the video was edited. A lot of people had done so, already.

What concerned her was how the mayor, of all people, was saying these things.

Maybe Bella didn't know as much as she thought. Maybe all the small questions she had about where she worked and how it was possible to move behind the shadows so well were answered, one at a time. Maybe things really would calm down, and Angel would soon be an inside joke of this city.

"He's... He's one of us?"

Maybe Bella was running out of time.

"Who do you think we work for?"