Chapter 7
“Done already? I thought you said interrogations took lots of time,” a surprised looking Kelly asked Alicia as she strode out of the compound bunker.
“Only if there’s something worth extracting,” Alicia explained with a smug look on her face.
“Wow! You can tell all that just from a short 10 minute session?” Kelly enthusiastically asked.
“Of course I can. I’m a people person, and I know exactly how to tell an ignorant moron from someone who’s actually useful.” Alicia marched off into a secured war chamber to attend a conference of some sort, though Kelly seemed to have no problem understanding her intent. Kelly shrugged and casually strode into the officer’s lounge, flaunting the pass Alicia gave her to gain entry. A handful of soldiers playing poker on a nearby table chatted amongst themselves somewhat angrily.
“Ugh, I’m just sick and tired of the Colonel treating us like beasts of labor. I mean at the very least she could try to understand that her daddy issues shouldn’t be our problem,” one of the soldiers groaned.
“You know I’m just sick of being pushed around by some prissy little girl like this day after day after day! I mean who the hell does she think she is? I sure as hell wouldn’t be acting so snotty and uptight if I were born with a silver spoon in my mouth and raised in billions of dollars!” a soldier ranted to his peers. Kelly nonchalantly approached the table and cleared her throat. The soldier instantly recognized her as Alicia’s confidant and immediately had a look of pure dread on his face. “Ma’am I... I’m terribly sorry. I was only...”
“It’s fine. I know exactly how you feel. Mind if I sit down?” Kelly replied.
“Of course ma’am.” Kelly found a seat and motioned for the dealer to hand her a deck of playing cards.
“I’m not trying to be overly defensive, but the truth is Alicia wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Stay with me here, but my friend’s gone through a lot more than you give her credit for...”
***
The streets surrounding the slums were coated in soot and discarded cigarettes. The apartments above were hardly any less filthy than the streets themselves. A scantily clad woman, fresh from her hussy work, slipped into the dingiest, coldest room in the brick apartment building right at the height of twilight. She let out an exasperated sigh as she slipped into her decrepit couch to unwind from her miserable work when a tiny little girl no more than six years old leaped onto her.
“Mommy! What took you so long?” she cried out.
“Sorry Alicia, mommy had to go work late tonight,” the young mother replied.
“What’s for dinner? I’m starving,” the girl asked eagerly. The woman’s face suddenly exuded distress, realizing that she had failed yet again to bring in enough money to feed her cheerfully ignorant child.
“I’m sure you can wait for tomorrow when we can get something good,” the woman wistfully whispered.
“Aw, but I want something now,” Alicia whined. Her mother gave her a somber glare that put the girl sadly back into submission.
***
“Unemployed and penniless, Alicia’s mother knew her child would most likely die of starvation or illness, whichever came first. As heartbreaking as it was, she did the only thing she possibly could have to care for her daughter,” Kelly explained. “Of course, she knew from the very start that to do so would have... dire consequences.”
***
“Mommy it’s already been three days. Why can’t we eat something not pulled out of the dumpster today?” Alicia complained.
“Listen honey. I know things are hard for us and unfortunately they may not get easier as soon as we’d like, but you have to soldier up and wait it out,” her mother consoled, only to be greeted by the child’s tearful cries. Patient as ever, she took the tiny child up into her lap and embraced her, stroking her head to calm her down. In spite of her own role as a comforter, the mother couldn’t help but shed a few tears of her own. After a few minutes of this agony, her face scrunched up into one of a resolve only a mother could possibly have.
“Pack your things, we need to leave as early as possible tomorrow,” she ordered her daughter.
“But why?...” Alicia asked.
“Just do it,” her mother demanded, to which the girl simply nodded and picked up her meager belongings: a worn out doll, an extra frayed dress, and a small hairbrush. Alicia packed all of these meager belongings into a large rag which acted as her bag. Her mother looked with a mix of despair and sympathy for her young child as she fell asleep on her meager bag, knowing full well this may very well be their last night together.
"Darling, William is back from school,” a slender, blond woman in her thirties cooed to her husband, who was busy at his office desk. A small boy wearing a schoolbag and a school uniform cheerfully skipped in.
“Good afternoon father!” he cried out cheerfully to his father.
“Oh yes, I suppose you’re here. Don’t you have homework to do?” the man responded rather apathetically.
“Nope! We just had a test. I got nine out of ten!” the boy replied cheerfully. The man just sighed and looked up for a split second.
“I suppose that will do, go along and play then now,” the man muttered as he waved the boy away. The boy, slightly down trodden, walked out of the room to play, most likely alone in his room.
“Must you always be so negligent of your own son like that?” the man’s wife chided him.
“Margaret, can’t you see I’m very busy at the moment? I need some personal space,” the man irritably responded.
“Oh for goodness sake if you won’t be bothered to care for your own children like that then what good is all this?” Margaret responded while gesturing to the gold, silk, and satin laden furnishings all around them.
“This isn’t about money Margaret, this is about something far more important...” the man went on, only half paying attention to his wife. Margaret angrily stormed out of the office, clearly disgruntled with her husband’s apparent apathy for his own child.
It was a rather wretched sight, a haphazardly dressed woman in absolutely ragged shape with an equally filthy yet physically
pristine young child flanking her. The child, in spite of her physical health, acted as sickly as a skeleton and walked slowly and somberly in her horribly anemic mother’s shadow. After a short yet grueling walk through the vast expanses of the suburbs, the weary mother and child finally reached their destination, a pair of extravagant golden gates barring the entrance to the biggest, most ludicrously decorated mansion in the entire neighborhood.
“Mommy? Why are we here? I thought you said we’d be visiting a relative,” the girl asked, completely perplexed.
“This is where your father lives Alicia,” her mother explained.
“Huh? I thought you said that we didn’t have...”
“I’ll explain everything later, just follow me right now.” The woman knocked on the gates and demanded to see the owner of the estate. Unsurprisingly, the only people she met was security, who tried to scuttle the two away from the grounds. Alicia screamed at the top of her lungs in response. The security guards were practically blown back by the blood curdling banshee howl. They attempted to resume their duty only to be interrupted by a lower yet equally intimidating voice.
“What is the meaning of this?!” the voice demanded.
“Uh sir, these two hoodlums here...” the guards fumbled to explain, “were trying to barge into the estate grounds, we were just trying to...”
“What hoodlums? All I see is a helpless young woman in rags with her child. I’m not going to be known as the sour rich man that sends armed guards to harass civilians!”
“Pardon our mistake...” the guards muttered in unison. A tall, muscular man in a tuxedo came out the gates to examine the spectacle.
“Alicia, this is your father. You will be staying with him for a little while,” the woman explained to Alicia. The man in front of them gave them a slightly surprised look, to which the woman reacted by whispering something inaudible to his ear. His expression changed from surprise to one of reluctant obedience, as he nodded and commanded one of his guards to escort the girl into the estate.
“Mommy? What’s going on? Where are they taking me?” Alicia hollered out in despair.
“It’s alright dear, they’re not going to hurt you. Just follow them into the house and they’ll treat you very nice,” her mother reassured her.
“Well? Aren’t you coming in? I’m not going to be seen in the middle of the street talking to a vagabond, we’ll finish this conversation inside,” the man ordered, motioning Alicia’s mother to follow.
***
“Okay, wait a second. Just how do you expect us to believe this outlandish story? I don’t even remember you being in any of these scenes so how do I know you’re not just leading us on a string?” one of the soldiers interjected.
“Of course I was there! Just wait and let me finish, geez,” Kelly retorted, taking a gulp of the beer on the table.
***
The guards escorted the confused and frightened Alicia through the vast corridors of the mansion until they came upon a hallway of bedrooms, where another small girl in a maid’s outfit emerged.
“You there. Show our new guest to her living quarters, and don’t forget the floors of the kitchen are still in need of cleaning!” one of the guards boomed as he shoved Alicia towards the woefully underage maid. With their burdens lifted, the two guards departed without another word, leaving the two anxious girls alone.
“Hi, what’s your name?” Alicia muttered nervously as she attempted a salutation.
“Oh... I’m not supposed to answer that,” the maid replied.
“Huh? Why not?” Alicia wondered in surprise.
“Because Mistress said so...”
“Why?”
“I shouldn’t be talking to you like this, I’ll show you to your room,” the girl hurriedly answered, grabbing Alicia’s hand to move her quickly. Alicia felt the hand shiver and tremble violently.
“Now tell me, just on what nerve do you think you can just barge into my home without appointment or even proper clothing?” the master of the house demanded of Alicia’s mother.
“I think we both know the answer to that. A mother will do anything to keep her child alive, even if it means crawling to the gates of hell itself,” the woman snarled back. The man looked unmoved and simply pressed her harder.
“Do you not realize the danger you have put both of us in now
that you’ve flat out admitted our... past? I’m not saying this just to be selfish, I’m doing it to protect you too”
“Enough pious nonsense Ian, I...”
“Silence! You know as the heir apparent I am no longer permitted
to hold a name.”
“And you also know you don’t have to be the obedient puppet that your father decided you would be. I didn’t fall in love with that man.”
“I get the point. I’ll keep your child, our child, safe and cared for. Now leave, get out of here before something happens to you and the girl.”
“Can I... see her? Just one last time?” the woman desperately pleaded as she stood up to leave. After some deliberation and a look at his watch, the man gave a halfhearted nod and ordered one of his bodyguards to guide the woman to her daughter.
Alicia remained motionless as she stared at the dreadfully bland white ceiling above her bed, clinging tightly to her last vestige of home. The door suddenly opened and, much to Alicia’s shock and delight, it was her mother, who burst in and embraced her tightly.
“Remember dear, everything I’ve ever done I did because I loved you very much. No matter what happens, I’ll always be with you, in one way or another...” she whispered as she clutched her child, a small stream of tears flowing down her cheeks.
“Mommy, what’s wrong? You sound like something bad happened. Where are you going?” Alicia demanded.
“I’m not going anywhere...” her mother replied, wiping the tears away only to be inundated in more. “I’m going to be gone for a little while. For work, like I do every day.” As the two slowly
removed themselves from their embrace, the mother handed something to her daughter, a small velvet pouch filled with a heavy object. “Here, this was something my mother gave me when we first came to America. If you ever feel like you are alone, just know I’ll always be there for you,” she said as she pointed to the pouch, which Alicia clutched diligently.
“Oh mommy!” she cried as she burst into tears. Her mother only had time to hug her for a brief interlude before standing abruptly to leave. In spite of Alicia’s protests, her mother took a piece of fabric from her clothes and made it a makeshift hood and vanished out the hall out of sight, forever. Almost immediately taking her mother’s advice, Alicia took the velvet pouch and opened it to reveal a 6 inch solid gold hairpin carved into the shape of a dragon with a ruby and pearl encrusted in the end. At that moment, the maid-girl who had guided her earlier emerged into the room timidly.
“Is everything alright Miss? I heard you crying and was wondering if I could help...” the girl intoned timidly.
“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just that I’ve never felt so alone
and empty in my whole life and...” Alicia sighed. “I just wish I had a friend to talk to...” The other girl went up and sat right next to her with a small grin on her face.
“Well, I’m here. You can talk to me.”
“Oh... thanks. I know you said you couldn’t, but could you please tell me what your name is?”
“Well... actually it’s not so much that I’m not allowed as I simply cannot. I don’t have a name, my parents surrendered that to The Party when they donated me to serve the royal family,” the girl muttered shyly.
“Oh... I’m sorry,” Alicia replied bashfully.
“It’s alright. Being this close to the Chairman elect’s family is an honor few could ever know. If it means giving up minor luxuries such as names, so be it.”
“But then what will I call you?”
“Whatever you feel like. The mistress sometimes calls me ‘slave’, ‘girlie’, ‘bitch’, or something else.”
“Oh no! I wouldn’t call you all that! Hey, what if I gave you a name? Something that just I could call you,” Alicia rebounded in astonishment.
“Yes miss, call me whatever you please.”
“Hmm, I think I’ll call you... Kelly, that’s a cute name. What do you think?” Alicia said gleefully.
“Yes miss, I will go by whatever you call me,” Kelly replied obediently.
“Aw, come on! Aren’t you going to say anything other then ‘yes miss’?” Alicia teased as she hugged her new friend.
***
“Of course, that happy moment lasted all but 2 minutes. For the next 15 years of her life, Alicia’s father frequently failed to love her the way her mother had and her stepmother spared no energy in beating and belittling the poor child year after year day and night without rest, it was only after Alicia finished her combat training and began to grow older did she finally find an escape,” Kelly concluded.
“I always thought she kept that over the top hairpin on her head to show off her wealth, but it was just all that she had of a normal life... That’s why she’s always so cruel and imposing, her stepmother was the real bitch,” the soldier muttered out in astonishment.
“Yes, though it may seem rather sick and wrong, showing cruelty and intimidating others is Alicia’s way of coping with the pain, of confronting her past. It gives her hope that she won’t just be a beaten, helpless woman like her mother was.” The mood in the lounge grew quiet before an eruption of gunfire outside prompted everyone inside to reach for their weapons.
“What was that?!” the soldier exclaimed. A battered soldier covered in dust and cuts barged into the lounge, coughing a concoction of blood and soot and rasping to speak.
“Prison... break,” he managed to lisp before collapsing. Kelly
caught the man and laid him down on the lounge sofa, beckoning a medic, who happened to be one of the lounge’s occupants, to attend to him.
“Get this man whatever care you can, I’m going out there to see what’s going on!” she ordered.
“Ma’am, I strongly advise you to stay here. It’s very dangerous and it’s our duty to protect women and...” the soldier began.
“Step aside, I don’t need any protection,” Kelly interjected, peaking outside before charging out.
“Bumbling morons... Get out of the way!” Alicia yelled as she burst out of the war chamber, guns in hand. All that could be seen was a small stampede of badly injured soldiers scurrying out of the lower chambers, one of which Alicia grabbed and held by his neck. “What the hell is going on you miserable twit?!”
“I... the prison cell guards, one minute they were just standing there normally, next minute they all simultaneously open fire on us as we were doing our patrols. It’s all pandemonium ma’am, I highly advise against...” the soldier blubbered on.
“Save it for The Chairman gutless dolt, I’m fixing your screw up,” she seethed as she carelessly tossed the soldier aside. She leaped down the stairs to scan the scene, using the building support columns as cover and alternating between them in a zigzag. After rounding the corner, she emerged just in time for a rogue soldier leap out at her with a pistol, whom she easily subdued and disarmed. a second and third soldier leaped to their ally’s aid only to be blasted by Alicia’s signature green explosive rounds, sending their pulverized innards flying back out of their bodies. Automatic gunfire quickly forced her to roll back behind the wall as a ten man squad emerged to make their escape. Alicia, as patient as she was cunning, waited for the soldiers to come near her before lunging and using them as a network of meat shields, leaving nothing but a gelatinous mess of mutilated bodies from her explosive shot. A soldier suddenly leaped at her with a knife before having his eyes replaced by two of them, collapsing to the ground.
“You didn’t think I’d let you have all the fun did you?” Kelly exclaimed as she let loose a second volley of javelins, sending an entire squad of soldiers falling limply to the ground. She had barely spoken when a loud creaking noise came from the corridor below and the ground they stood on shook violently, nearly knocking the two girls off their feet.
“It’s no use, whoever the insider’s were trying to break out are long gone and they’ve blown up several vital supports in the structure.,” Alicia uttered as she pointed to a set of blown out columns in the hall descending below them. Realizing their immediate danger, the two girls ran back up to the main floor of the base, which was pure pandemonium. They barely made it when the floor suddenly shook violently and the whole platform tilted over, opening up to the large drop to the bedrock below.
“Aaaahh! Help!” cried out the soldier from the lounge, holding onto the platform’s railing with a rapidly slipping grip. Kelly, who had managed to gain steady footing on the stairway above, leaped out to grab him as his final fingers slipped. The man let out a reverberating scream as he fell away, only to be stopped cold by a saving hand, Alicia’s. He looked in shock as she tightly clasped his wrists with her left hand while clinging for her own life with her right. She let out a labored groan as she flexed her two arms together, flinging both herself and the soldier onto the railings, where the both managed to climb the stairways and clamber out the door, which had been blown open in the commotion.
“I... I’m sorry ma’am. I know, I know. If I had just been more dutiful and not been an incompetent dunce I would have...” the soldier tremored in shame.
“Save it,” Alicia interjected. “It wasn’t your fault, no one could have seen it coming. Go home and rest, your family’s probably worried sick about you.”
“I... I,” he stuttered back.
“Well don’t stand there like a dolt, get moving!” Alicia returned with her normal cold voice. The soldier proudly saluted her and dismissed himself.
“Wow Allie, I didn’t know you could be sympathetic to people. Was it because he was cute or something?” Kelly teased over Alicia’s shoulder.
“Look, this is a catastrophe as is and yelling at people is not going to solve anything... AND WILL YOU QUIT IT WITH THE BOY TALK?!!” she replied back.
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