Chapter Text
It is a brilliant morning in a small, midwest town in the middle of nowhere. The early summer heat has aleviated much of the usual chill present throuout the year, yet a jacket can still be worn comfortably
The town begins to wake up as the first bus of the day arrives in the dercepit bus station. Busted windows, peeling paint, mold creeping up the walls. Only a small part is still usable by the staff. The bus, possibly older than the station, judging by the rust covering about a third of its body, screeches into a halt in front of the only functioning part of the building. The doors swing open with an audible crack
The only person to disembarck is a woman in her early fourties. Her slightly tanned skin is full of blemishes and old bruises, which, along with her rough hewn look, tall and angular figure and thousand yard stare, signifying a physical career. She has split her straight, brown, medium length hair above her left eye, telling each part flow down the sides. She is wearing a brown shirt, black bell jeans a size too big for her and a pair of cracked aviators. She is holding a red duffel bag in her right hand, while her left hand is tied up in bandages
She sighs. “Finally home” she mumbles to herself. As the bus starts up again and leaves her back in her hometown, she checks her pockets and grabs her keys. After finally finding them, she begins walking into the town
Ignoring the few people passing by her, she reaches an old, one-story house near the outskirts of the town. The beige outer walls have faded into a hue of sickly yellow, the windows are covered with newspapers and other scraps of paper and parchment. Even the door, which used to be a dark oakish brown has faded, with white streaks visible all over it. The lawn is in an equal, if not more extreme, state of abandonment; weeds have grown up to her chest, with the actual grass having completely dried up
The woman slides the key in the keyhole of the front door. The key jams, but after a bit of applied force, it goes in fully and turns with a squeak. The door flies agar, its hinges barely held on to the termite infested frame. The woman scoffs, walks inside and throws the duffel bag on the wood, which causes a small cloud of dust to arise, quickly dissapating into the still air
The woman lays down on the floor, speading her arms open. She removes her aviators, revealing a pair of dull brown eyes. Their red edges and dark circles signify a severe lack of sleep combatted by energy drinks, coffee and pills. She slowly drifts off to sleep, staring into the faded green roof and walls
Hours later, in the middle of the afternoon, she hears a knock on the door. She gets up, straightens herself and opens the door. The sunlight blinds her for a second, but she quickly adjusts to it
In front of her stands a woman in her late thirties, with long, blonde hair, green eyes, freckles on her pale skin and a rounded, soft face. She is wearing a black pencil skirt, blue shirt and black nylon stockings
“Oh my gosh, it IS you” she says as she smiles, but the woman can tell her smile is full of fear
The woman stares daggers at her. “What do you want Shannon?” she growls
Shannon is visibly taken aback “Uh… You see… You return has been the talk of the town! No one has seen you in a decade. Some people even thought you died”
“Bullshit. You lot don’t even remember who I am”
“Everyone knows you Laureen. Who can forget the girl who shaked the governor’s hand at 26?”
“Anything aside from that?”
Shannon stumbles on her words “Uh… No, not really… Look, I just wanted to invite you out for some coffee tomorrow”
Laureen looks down and rubs her eyes “I’ll… I’ll think about it”
“Oh that’s amazing!” Shannon exclaims “See you tomorrow at 11 in front of the mayor’s office”
Laureen doesn’t respond. Instead, she closes the door and leans on it, with a tired expression. She bangs her right fist on the door, leaving a small dent and drawing blood from her knuckles
“Great, now I have two bum arms” she scoffs as she walks to the bathroom. She opens the light, which trembles and flickers a bit before actually lighting the room up. The baby blue tiles on the floor are cracked, and the upper corners of the room are filled with cobwebs. As she cleans her fist with some water, she looks at herself in the mirror, but quickly turns her gaze away
“This place needs some cleaning up” she thinks, as she grabs an old broom and starts cleaning the floors of her old house. Small piles of dust start collecting around the house as Laureen continues to clean around the house, although in here tiredness, she is unable to differentiate between the rooms
That is, until she arrives at a locked bedroom. The key is in the keyhole, yet Laureen hesitates to turn it. She swallows, then turns it and walks in
Unlike most rooms, this one is neat. Just a single bed with a red duvet, an old metal nightstand and an empty oak wardrobe. On the nightstand, there is a single picture frame. Laureen approaches it to look at it closer
The picture is one of a younger Laureen, with a bright smile, flawless skin and brighter clothing, with an older man next to her. He looks around his late fifties and wears a red shirt, a fishing hat and the aviators Laureen now holds as her own. Laureen slams the photo down, cracking the frame’s glass in the process
Seeing that it is getting dark outside, Laureen resigns herself to sleeping on the ready made bed.. She lays on it sideways and, as she begins drifting to sleep, she weeps
In the middle of the night, a loud crash wakes her up. Without hesitation, Laureen gets up and investigates. Reaching the front door, she finds it busted open, with one teenager closing it behind him and another one checking out the place. Both are wearing black hoodies and jeans
“I told you, no one is here” the one checking around says
“I heard otherwise at the laundromat. Shannon even said she looked way too tired to even stand up. She should be fast asleep” the one closing the door responds
“Still, I don’t think it’s worth it Mike. They say she is crazy and flat broke”
Mike snickers “She came back from Afganistan, George. Who knows, maybe she found something valuable there. She did seem awfully reclusive”
Both of them fail to notice Laureen, who at this point has creeped up behind Mike. Laureen grabs Mike into a triangular chokehold, who starts gasping for air. George turns around, only to see Laureen chocking his friend while staring daggers at him
“Wha… what…” George stumbles and falls down
Laureen doesn’t speak. Instead, she intensifies, lifting Mike from the ground while keeping the choke hold, causing him to rapidly lose oxygen
“Please… stop” Mike pleads, as George takes the opportunity to run out, passing next to Laureen. As soon as he exits, Laureen turns around and throws Mike on him, causing both of them to fall down. After getting up, they both look back at Laureen, who simply stares at them from the door. Frightened, both of the boys make a run for it
Laureen shuts the door behind her and slumps down, her face revealing her panic. She goes on all fours to her duffel bag and opens it, retrieving an H&K USP. After touching it, she seems to calm down a bit. She sits back on the door and drifts again into a deep sleep with no dreams
Laureen wakes up in the late morning, still holding onto her pistol. She gets up, dusts herself off and hides her pistol in the back of her jeans. She goes to open the front door to go and meet Shannon, but she hesitates. Then, she strides back and exits through the back, following a path into the wilderness out back
After some trekking, Laureen reaches a river bank. Near the slow and clear waters of the river lays a tombstone. The simple engraving upon it reads “Christopher Townley, Father, Brother in Arms, 1951 – 2010”
“Hey dad” Laureen begins to monologue. She sits down next to the tombstone and looks down the river
“I thought things would have changed a bit for the better since last time I saw you, but to no avail. Everything is shit. This town is shit. I, too, am shit”
Laureen rubs her left hand “I did what you taught me to for twenty years and all I got was a busted hand, a worthless medal and enough money to get tickets to this shithole. Although, you did warn me anout the risks”
Laureen smiles a bit, before frowning again “But I am your daughter, and we both knew I am such a hardhead I wouldn’t accept no for an answer. At least back then”
Laureen lays down on the grass “I’m at a dead end. Best I can do right now is get some part time job, maybe make enough money to fix the place and live it out until we see each other again”
Laureen closes her eyes “I hate how it has to be like this, but I’m all out of fight”
“I wouldn’t say that”
The faintly familiar voice startles Laureen, who jumps up and reaches for her pistol
“Relax, girl, it’s your old pal”
In front of her stand an asian woman shorter than her, with short, jet black hair and a frail build. Her blue eyes are highlighted by her simple reading glasses, which also compliment her yellow T-shirt and black leather tight leggings. She is holding two beers by the neck in her right hand, letting them dangle and clank around
“Hyejin?”
“Don’t act so surprised. I told you I would visit one day”
Laureen looks at her with suspicion
“I’ve known you for half my life, I can tell when you have an angle”
“Alright, you caught me. I do have something to tell you. But first”
Hyejin passes a beer to Laureen. Laureen looks at it for a bit, then uses a nearby tree to pop the cap off. Hyejin moves to the other side of the tombstone and starts drinking
“I’m surprised to find you in such a state”
“Are you? You know too well how this shit broke me down, head to toe”
“I don’t mean physically. That much I am aware of. I mean in your mind”
“...My point still stands” Laureen downs half the bottle in one gulp
“So, now what?”
“Find any job that will accept someone with no college degree or work experience and subsist off of that”
“You really did mean it when you said that?”
“Was I ever the type to joke?”
“Fair enough. Still, it will make my request a bit harder to swallow”
“Oh boy”
“I am planning something big, but unlike what we have done before”
“Just spit it out, or I’ll throw this bottle on your forehead”
“Fine, fine. I need to make sure you’re up for it. Here’s the deal: Some old pals are holding a small shipment of weapons and armor at an abandoned storage unit near the interstate. I want you to go in and get it for me, preferably making sure no one is left to say anything”
Laureen drinks the rest of the beer “I should’ve fucking known you wouldn’t have respected my wishes”
“Your wish to what? Stay here and wallow in your misery until your time comes?”
“Yes” Laureen throws the bottle into the river “You don’t get it”
Hyejin sighs “I’ve worked with quite a few people over my career, and I can only think of a few with your level of skill, even less with your skillset, and only you are left standing”
“You ever questioned why that is the case?”
“I know the answer already, and you do too. And I know that a part of you still wants in to whatever I have planned”
Hyejin gets up “Here’s your choice, stay here and fade away… or follow me and write the best chapter of your life”
Laureen stares blankly at her father’s grave. She runs her hand on it, feeling the cold stone. Then, she gets up and looks at Hyejin
“Alright, fine, whatever. You win. I’ll join you, even if it’s just to see how tall of a tale you spin”
Hyejin clasps her hands together and smiles “See? That wasn’t so-”
“Don’t make me regret this” Laureen stares at Hyejin
Hyejin goes silent, then pouts “You know… You’re really scary when you look like this”
Laureen simply walks past her and starts trekking up. After reaching the outskirts of the town, Hyejin points no a black muscle car
“That’s your ride? How much did it cost?” Laureen, surprised, asks
“Ehhh… I’d rather not think about it” Hyejin rubs the back of her head in a defeated expression
Laureen gets in the passenger seat as Hyejin goes around, gets inside and starts the car
The drive is silent, with Hyejin focused on the road and Laureen leaning her head on the window. After about half an hour of driving, they finally reach their destination. An abandoned lot of storage units nestled below a small hill. Hyejin parks the car just outside the fence and gets out, taking a laprtop from the back seat with her. She sits on the front of the car and opens the laptop, as Laureen exits the car and checks her pistol
“I did some scouting ahead, and even managed to tap into their old CCTV cameras. God knows how they still work, but it helps us, so might as well use them”
Hyejin points to the footage of one of the cameras “There it is, unit 34. Looks like theres 3 guys outside, possibly more inside. Looks like they’re sorting through a new shipment”
Hyejun reaches in her pocket and gets two earpieces. She gives one to Laureen and wears the other one on her right ear
Laureen puts hers on “Let’s get this over with”
Laureen walks into the lot and passes the first 4 rows, stopping just before the fifth. She peeks the corner and spots the three men, chatting next to a plastic table. Without saying anything, Laureen swings the corner with her pistol on the ready and takes fire. She manages to hit two of them in the head, before the third one ducks below and grabs a sawn off shotgun
A man and a woman rush out of the open storage unit, brandishing Mac-10s. Laureen sprints forward and slides, as bullets fly above her. In her slide, she shoots the woman three times. The man with the shotgun gets up and fires at her, but Laureen barells out of the way just in time and retaliates, shooting him twice in the head. The last member fires wildly as he retreats, with Laureen giving chase. Laureen trains her pistol on him as she runs, and fires twice, with one for the bullets hitting him on the right leg
As the man writhes, trying to crawl away. Laureen shoots him one more time, finishing him off. She taps her earpiece “It’s done, bring the car inside”
“On it” says Hyejin through a bit of static. Laureen goes to inspect the storage unit
Inside the damp, cold and dirty unit are a few crates of ammunition, mostly 9mm, .45 and 5.56, as well as a couple bags of weapon parts. Hyejin parks the car outside and comes to check
“That’s a bust. I expected more stuff here. Well, load it up” she says, as she grabs one of the bags
After loading everything up, the duo leave the scene and start driving back. Halfway through the drive, Hyejin stops at a gas station to refuell
“Can you also get a gallon of gas” Laureen requests
“What for?”
“You will see”
The duo finally leave, returning to Laureen’s house
Hyejin speaks up “You know, I’ve been thinking what I should call you”
“Laureen”
“I mean on the field. I’m going for something better than your old callsign”
“Understandable, Romeo-11 sucks”
“Hmmm… what about Emerald?”
“No”
“Diamond?”
“Stripper’s name”
“Fair”
The car finally stops outside Laureen’s house. Without a word, Laureen takes the gallon of gas and goes inside. She opens the busted door and heads straight to the bedroom. There, she takes the picture from the photo frame and folds it up neatly, putting it in her pocket. Then, she douses the room in gasoline. She continues dousing the entire house in gasoline, grabbing her duffel bag in the process. Having doused the entire house in gasoline and having ended up outside, Laureen throws the container inside and reaches into her duffel bag
After fiddling around for a bit, she finds a cheap lighter. She ignites it and, without saying anything, tosses it into the gasoline. The gasoline catches on fire instantly, spreading the flame through the entire house. Laureen turns around and, with a somber yet serious expression, walks back to the car and enters the passenger seat
Hyejin immediatelly speeds away and, although she doesn’t say anything, her smile shows her admiration for what Laureen did
“I think I found a name that suits you” Hyejin chimes
“Hm?” Laureen looks at her
“Peridot”
“Hmmm… Sounds good. Anyway, I wanted to ask you something. Where are we going next?”
“We will go meet an old friend of mine, up in the city of Toronto”
“Canada? Never been there”
“Oh, trust me” Hyejin chuckles “You will love it there”