It doesn't leave you

She sensed them too late. 

Focused on Sumner, she missed the telltale whisper of clothes when their hidden attackers struck. No footsteps, so no shoes. Smart. That was the last thought that went through her head before her world faded away. 

Her mouth tasted like cotton. Like waking up on a summer morning when the AC leeched all moisture from the air of her bedroom. But this wasn’t her bedroom. This wasn’t any part of her suite back home and she knew that without even opening her eyes. She didn’t need to see where she was to know: they were Outside.

He felt a bit like he was stuck in something viscous. Every limb felt as if it were weighted down. It wasn’t a feeling he could ever say he was a fan of. After tamping down the panic that tried to rise, Sumner simply stayed prone to listen. Bird songs, wind, and a the sound of drizzling rain. But no cars, lorries, or any sort of human presence. 

A soldier-in-training from the time she could walk, it was all too easy for Kazara to switch modes. She was not afraid. In fact, excitement and anticipation flooded her veins and she slipped into the darkness alongside Sumner. She brushed his arm with her fingertips. I’m here. As far as she was concerned he had no reason to be nervous. Whatever was ahead of them was meant to make them stronger as individuals and as a team.

Besides, she knew her father wasn’t done with them yet. How bad could it be?

Sumner relaxed infinitesimally when he felt the light touch to his arm from Kazara. She was still the only person he could bear to be touched by. Willing his eyes to adjust to the darkness quicker, he looked around for anything to give them a hint of their lesson.

He was still set on finding something when a gloved hand covered his mouth and the bite of a needle pinched his neck.

“Like I said. Weirdo.” 

Kazara slowed to stop when they reached the specified training room. Noting there was no light on inside, she was immediately on guard. Her father was never late, especially not for her training, and he wasn’t the type to wait around in the dark to catch them off guard. Juvenile scare tactics were far beneath the tactical genius of Nikolai Fews. Peering in the window, Kaz was suddenly grateful she’d opted to wear shoes rather than her standard socks. Who knew what was ahead of them today. 

Dropping down from tip-toes, she exchanged a look with Sumner, all traces of amusement gone. 

“Ready?”

He didn’t bother to make any sort of follow up comment to Kazara, falling silent instead. His thoughts were a bit of a storm as he did his best to try and anticipate what it was they’d be doing today. 

When they got to the training room they’d been ordered to and there was no-one there Sumner felt himself start to get nervous. He stood a bit taller, automatically shifting into the soldier they were trying so hard to mould.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Kazara wrinkled her nose at the phrase civilian integration lesson. Out of all their training programs and lessons, those were her least favourite. Unlike Sumner, she grew up in the compound and while the world above intrigued her she was almost always caught off guard by how bright, colourful, and busy it was. She always came back with a headache after being surrounded by so many people. At least it was getting better for her. The more often they went out the less terrible it was. 

But she still crossed her fingers that today would be a tactical exercise. 

“Weirdo. I doubt it though. I guess we’ll see once we get to Dr Fews,” she said, stifling a chuckle. 

“I’m not a weirdo. I just like it.” 

In the three years since she met Sumner, the two of them became thick as thieves. What was a fragile, budding partnership grew into a strange friendship. A bond that surpassed even thirteen year old Kazara’s hopes. Now, at 16 and 21 respectively, Kaz and Sumner were entering into their last stage of training before becoming full fledged agents for Faceless Corp. Normally a student Sumner’s age would’ve graduated to agent already, but considering his late entry into the program and his subsequent pairing with Kazara, they would both graduate upon Kazara’s eighteenth birthday. 

As it was, the time had come to embark on their next step. While they wound through the labyrinthine halls of the underground compound on their way to today’s training exercise, they shed their professional masks and fell into their role as friends. “What do you think they’ve got planned for us today, Cade?” She grinned up at her friend, wicked mischief flashing in cool blue eyes.

Sumner glanced down at Kazara, his steps completely in time with hers as they walled through the halls of the compound. His expression turned thoughtful at her question.

“I thought it might make you feel better if I was annoying,” she said, shrugging without physically shrugging. It helped that it was very easy to annoy Sumner. She had years of practise under her belt, after all. In fact, annoying him was something she used to have a lot of fun with. That was one thing she wouldn’t mind getting back into. “Besides, you make it so easy for me.”

Like usual, she wouldn’t let anyone know that bothered her. Not even Sumner.

Not that he would ever dare admit so. He knew better than that.

Kazara held open the door to their new home, eagle eyes on the Agents acting as movers. Nothing in the boxes they carried mattered very much to her but she had a character to play, and Katerina Marshall was not the type of woman to let people manhandle her property. In the brief lull of time where all of the ‘movers’ were inside the house to drop off their boxes Kazara’s gaze was drawn to her partner, whose hands were full with a small box as he approached the house. It didn’t look like much, but she knew that that box was the most important of them. It held their lifelines.