Double Life: Collecting

I really liked this one

A/N: Is this moving too fast?? it feels like it but it seemed it couldn´t be any other way... 

**

“Get me out of here now”

“What? Why?” the voice said through the receiver

“Just do it, Nat… You owe me –Nic heard the woman gasp- get me out of here tonight. I want you personally to come for me… I got a few punches”

“What? Why? They were not supposed to hit you!”

“Whatever, just come and get me now… and bring me cash” she hung up on the woman

At around eleven at night, Nichole got up and grabbed her duffel bag, it hadn´t been unpacked.

“Are you escaping?” Rox whispered

“Kind of”

“The jerk´s going to kill me” she sounded scared

“He´s not and if he tries anything, let me know”

“How?”

“Give me your number, I´ll call you” the girl quietly whispered the numbers and Nic saved it on her phone “Take care, Rox”

“Thank you for standing up for me”

“Don´t worry. Later Rox” Nichole quietly walked out of the place

~~

“No driver this time?” Nichole said getting on the SUV. Natasha was driving

“I´m not supposed to take you out… and you´re not supposed to want to want to go out… why…?”

“I´m tired of jerks”

“Ok… -the woman seemed unsure- where are you going?”

“Just take me to the closest decent hotel and leave me the cash”

“You have no destination…?”

“No… but our deal was, you do what I say, no questions asked” she reminded the woman.

A few hours after midnight they arrived to an inn. Natasha registered Nic with her name for two days. Once in her room Natasha tended Nic´s cuts and bruises

“Nic, I told you to be careful”

“So, in your mind, I caused this?” the girl raised an eyebrow

“No, but I told you to run and not fight”

“I ran but if I was pulled by my hair, I had to do something” Natasha stared at the girl and after a while she sighed

“Ok, rest and don’t get me into much trouble”

“Sure, sure” the girl said lying down “Make sure to give me this night free”

“Ok… -Nat turned- next week I´m picking you up to have your day with Mii”

“Mmh” the girl said. The woman got out and locked the door

“Good night, sweetheart” she whispered

The next morning Nichole got up around eleven in the morning, feeling all sore. Her hair felt like wires after having that fight with Vincent. She took a long shower until her stomach started to growl. She asked her lunch to be brought to her room together with a large ice-tea and a bowl of fruit.

After lunch she thought in calling Rox but she was probably at training so she made a mental note to call her during dinner.

A sound woke her up, the T.V. was on and she´d fallen asleep while watching it, a movie with a lot of guns and explosions was just starting, she sat up and after a while she ventured out of her room.

She went to local stores, she bought some clothes, a small suitcase, and a few books in a small bookstore and then she visited art related stores.

During dinner, she called Rox and was pleased to find out Vincent had listened to her words. She ended the call promising Rox to call her at dinner the next day again. A couple of hours after dinner she got a call.

“What do you want?” she answered the phone

“Are you still where I left you?”

“I am not going on missions tonight” Nichole spoke firmly

“But…”

“Natasha, listen to my words, I´m not going to go on missions tonight and I am not going to go on any mission in the next seven days”

“But Nichole we have two more targets for you and… your father wants them…”

“Deal with Karl. I´m not going and you promised, no, you owe me and if you don´t keep your words this time I will disappear –she put emphasis on her words- and you can´t forget who took me out of that shitty training… I wonder what that will look like if I´m suddenly gone” Natasha could hear the smirk in Nichole´s voice.

The woman fought for something to say but she was mostly surprised of how the little scared girl was no longer following orders blindly, she had her own plans and though Karl and herself still had the upper hand, it wouldn´t last longer. She´d fear of this when Ashley´s death occurred but no, Nichole just closed up and kept doing as she was told. She had to wonder if the boy from her drawing was the one who had triggered this but she couldn´t expect it to be otherwise, however, she´d thought it´d take longer. Natasha felt an odd fascination for the girl as she´d always felt but now more than ever before. The woman also felt proud that the girl was so clever and strong and that she was no longer following blindly even if this same thing could get her in serious trouble… Natasha wondered how much longer they´d be able to control the girl.

“Nichole I can´t do this…”

“You can tell him you haven´t found them… what you have to remember is that I´m not going and that you owe me this” the girl hung up on her.

Natasha closed her eyes briefly when she opened them she saw the red dot that represented Nichole´s location in the inn where she had left her move to Burgeoys which couldn´t be because the school was at least six hours away, then the dot went to the training camp three hours away from the inn, then it moved to where Nichole had been on the woods the first time she showed how aware of her power she really was, then it went all the way to the area surrounding Crystals house, where Natasha was. The girl was making a loud statement to which Natasha gasped and stood wide-eyed watching the girl´s location change. She never knew the girl was aware of how to do that and right then, the dot faded for a second, not enough for the machines to beep in alert but enough to be proof of what the girl had said, she´d disappear if so she wished.

The red dot hadn´t moved from the inn the entire night but Natasha had to wonder if Nichole was really there, she couldn´t afford sending someone to keep an eye on her… she had taken her out of the training camp without permission but also she was fully aware of how enhanced the senses of the girl were…and after what she´d done last night she was wondering if even herself wasn´t as aware of that as she pretended, so for the time being she was going to let her be… even if it´d mean getting into some troubles.

Natasha had been watching the red dot move almost without blinking, early in the morning, the dot moved to the surrounding areas just like the day before, as she watched this her boss called, she lied through her teeth. “We´re still looking” she assured him, he´d growled and coldly demanded her to rush her investigations, no matter the cost.

“Ugh, Nichole…” Natasha massaged her temples with her thumbs as she tried to figure out what to do to give the girl seven days off