Shackles of the Past

[lawna]

Roman opened the door that served as the Safe House Office, worn out. He delivered eight different messages tonight, and some even had time limits on them, so he had been sprinting all over the city. Plus, something had caused some guards to go off their usual schedule, so if that fire escape hadn't been there, he would have got stopped for breaking curfew, and all hell would have broken loose.

He kicked his shoes off and fell onto the couch, resting for a moment, before snatching the papers off of Charlie's desk to reading them.

Roman, who was too smart for his own good, had broken the code the Underground uses without being taught, at the age of twelve. After that, he felt that he was some kind of prodigy.

He laid back down on the couch and commenced to skim over the documents, sorting them out as he went. The interesting ones went to the back of the pile, and the uninteresting ones went into a separate one on his stomach. That's what he was doing when Charlie came bustling in, probably done with his business for the night, and checking into his office one last time before bed.

"Dammit Roman, you know you're not supposed to be reading those. You could be shot for sneaking around."

"Know that I'm taking that warning with the utmost seriousness." Roman replied, voice monotone with tiredness and the fact he was actually reading the message before him. "You know anything else about this?" Roman said, holding up the piece of paper.

"Not any more than you do," Charlie spit, snatching it out of Roman's hand. He skimmed it over and said, "Not really. This specific Krimzon Guard is pretty classified, everything about him wrapped up tight. No one can even get his name, nothing. That must have perked the interest of someone higher up. This girl, Monica, his daughter everyone is guessing, could reveal some information. They want an Agent to get close to her, and if she is his daughter, we could have access to where he lives even. I think a girl in Oliver's house was taking it. A Holly somebody?"

"Holly?" Roman asked in disbelief, sitting up. "Holly's been a messenger for a couple of months. I could totally do this job."

"A young girl was picked so this Monica chick could be friends with her. They have to use Monica to get to Daddy Dearest."

"And you don't think that could be achieved with a guy? It says she's about eighteen, if she doesn't have a boyfriend already, she's going to want one."

"This is a mission, not Love Connection Roman! God," Charlie said, snatching all the rest of the papers off the couch and out of Roman's hands.

Roman stood up, agitated that Charlie wasn't getting what he was saying. "Chuck," he began, knowing Charlie hated the nickname. "I can do this, better than that Holly bimbo. She'll start feeling the pressure, crack, and ruin everything. I've wanted something more than running those damn things all over Hell." Roman said, pointing to the stack of messges. "I can do this."

Charlie went behind his desk, sat down and sighed. "This isn't a game-"

"I know it isn't!" Roman exclaimed in earnest and frustration. "I can do this. Say you have an Agent that can do it, and let me go get briefed."

"You. Are not. An Agent."

Frustrated and letting his anger take over, Roman sent a Yellow eco fireball into the concrete floor. "DO IT!" Roman yelled. He then took a couple of breaths and said. "Please Charlie. You won't be sorry."

Charlie looked stone faced, and Roman thought he would refuse again, but he just took out a clean piece of paper and started scribbling on it. "No, I am going to be sorry. Because you're either going to do terrible and mope around, or you're going to do great and you're head isn't going to fit through the door. But you are," Charlie said, folding the paper in half and sealing it. "Going to run this, if you are one hundred percent serious about this."

"Thank you Charlie." Roman said, taking the paper and sliding his shoes back on. "See you later." He said as he slid out of the door.

Monica stepped out of the shower and dried off, excited for the plans she had today. She was going shopping, and that always put her in a good mood.

Oh, that reminded her, she would have to ask for a few more bucks before she left. She hoped Zrion wouldn't mind giving her maybe... She'd ask for forty first, and then maybe she could bat her eyelashes to fifty.

She wrapped herself up in her towel and grabbed another one for her hair. She had been growing her hair out since the last of her hair dye had grown out of it, and it was pretty far down her back by now, she could just reach behind her and grab it.

She came out of the bathroom, a curtain of steam following her. She made a bee line to her room, wondering how much more time she had before her friends got there.

She put on the jean shorts and purple tank top she had set out a head of time, and gave her hair another rub with her towel in an attempt to get it dry. She brushed it out, glad the curls and snarls she used to get had gone away as she grew. Now it hung in a tidy sheet down her back.

She sat down at her vanity and mirror and hefted her hair over one shoulder, taking a few minutes to fishtail it before she turned to her make up. She remembered the first time she had revealed her 'new look' to the 'men in her life', or the first time she had worn make up in front of her father, Zrion and Zephan.

Her dad and Zrion had turned a shade of red and then paled, and Zephan asked what that 'Crap on her face' was. Since then, Monica grew a thicker layer of skin, and ignored Zephan entirely when it came to how she looked.

She put her sandals on to show off her blue toe nail polish and grabbed one of her bags with the longer straps, so it went over her shoulder and across her chest. Feeling put together, she headed out into the house to find Zrion, when Ace came up and bumped into her legs.

"Hey Acey baby," Monica cooed, stopping to scratch the dog's side before continuing on. Since they had brought Ace home, years ago, she had become one of Monica's best friends. Sometimes her devoted silence was better than any spoken words.

She found Zrion in the living room, cleaning one of his hand guns. He hadn't used it for a few weeks, but he was paranoid about his weapons and armor. She didn't blame him though, the maintenance of those could be the difference between life and death.

"Hey, how do I look?" Monica asked, giving a twirl. "A couple of my friends and I are going shopping. Do you think I could borrow some money?'

[Darkjak87]

Zrion couldn't resist rolling his eyes. "'Borrow' she says," he muttered under his breath. While he loved Monica like a daughter, she definitely wasn't the sweet, naive little girl she had been. If anything, she was developing a little too quickly for Zrion's liking.

Marcus had taken it the same way, although in better humor than Zrion. Although they both tried to be supportive, they both shared a fair amount of unease at Monica's new habits. Zephan on the other hand was simply taking callous amusement from the entire ordeal.

Ace trotted up and climbed up onto the couch next to him, panting happily when Zrion reached over and began rubbing behind her ears. The black Labrador had become as much a part of the family as Zephan or Monica. She was great company, fiercely protective, and very brave. She'd also proven herself to be surprisingly useful in the field. He would sometimes tuck messages into her collar and have her run them back to base when he was under radio silence, not to mention her talent for sniffing out danger. Once while on a mission, Zrion had been sleeping when a Metal Head had tried sneaking up on him. He had awoken to the sound of Ace tearing out it's throat less than ten feet away. After that he'd made it a point to bring her with him on solo missions.

He put down the barrel of the disassembled pistol and turned to face Monica. How she looks, he mused. Well, she isn't naked. That's something. He wanted to object at first, and tell her to at least wear something with sleeves, but he decided to just let her have her fun. You were only young once, and he'd have plenty of ammunition to tease her with once she was old enough to regret her current behavior. Everyone did sooner or later.

"Yeah, I guess you look fine," Zrion said reluctantly. "Where were you going again?" Monica tended to spend a lot of time away from home these days, but he could hardly blame her since there wasn't much to do besides that and reading. Even her eco training with Zephan had slowed down, since Monica had mostly gotten it down to the 'just practice and improve' stage. She'd also gotten a lot less squeamish around injuries over the years, often playing a part in patching Zrion up when necessary. Zephan wasn't ready to just turn her loose, but even the ottsel had to admit she was talented (if not while she was in earshot).

[lawna]

Monica rolled her eyes. Zrion 'guessed she looked fine.' Maybe that's why he didn't have a girlfriend, he couldn't give a proper compliment.

"Just to the Bazaar," Monica relayed, hoping this wouldn't turn into the third degree like it could sometimes. "A couple of friends and I are going to go look around, but I'll be back by dinner. Forty dollars should be... alright. But if I remember what stall I saw those shoes at, I will definitely need fifty."

Monica saw that look in Zrion's face, the one that said she was barking up the wrong tree. "Come on Zrion, think of the boost the economy is getting with such a savvy consumer reinvesting into it."

There was a knock on the door, which made Ace huff an informative bark before being hushed, and Monica looked at Zrion pointedly. "Those are my friends."

Zrion sighed, handed over the requested funds, and Monica kissed him on the forehead with a hurried 'bye' before she left the house.

Roman was getting bored. He was hidden in a fire escape on one of the apartment buildings not far from the Bazaar entrance, as it would have looked weird for him to pace the aisles of the market, waiting for this Monica girl. His feet hung off the side where he sat, and he sighed again. All he could do was freaking people watch.

Finally, after a couple of false alarms, Roman thought he finally spotted her. Pretty tall, or at least taller than the other three girls that surrounded her. Dark brunette hair that was braided or something over her shoulder. Plum tank top that looked good against her tanned and freckled skin, short denim shorts that showed A LOT of leg...

'Alright, yeah, she's cute, lucky you.' Roman chided himself. 'Time to start your secret Underground mission.' He slithered down the fire escape ladder and blended into the rest of the crowd that was entering and exiting the market.

It was easy enough to follow Monica and her group of friends, they stopped at almost every booth to look at something. He almost wished they would keep moving so he could stay fluid with the crowd. Roman had thought hard about how he would actually make contact with her, and keep her interest enough to keep her coming back to him, so he could gather information. He had finally decided that mystery would be his friend, and hoped that Monica could be into that kind of thing.

Roman followed the crowd like a fish in a school, until he finally caught up to the booth the group of girls was standing at. Luckily, Monica was on the end, or else this wouldn't have worked.

He shoulder checked her, tripped himself up a little, and upon standing back up, stated the most sincere, "Oh, I'm so sorry," he could muster.

When Monica regained herself, she wasn't pleased at all, as she didn't appreciate being knocked around like a rag doll, but when she saw the person responsible, the retort on her tongue softened and disappeared. "Oh, that's alright. It's busy here today."

"Yeah," Roman replied, glad she was willing to make conversation, even if it was that little bit. The next step in his plan was to just keep her talking, wiggle his way in. He screwed up his face, hoping it looked like he was trying to remember something. "Have I met you before?"

Monica looked him over. Blonde, kind of messy hair, brown eyes, tolerably pale skin... No, she didn't think she had met this guy before. She thought she would have remembered if she had. "No, I don't think I've met you before."

"Monica, who's this?" One of her friends were brave enough to ask. They had all formed together, probably daring each other to be the one to ask.

"Your name's Monica?" Roman replied. "Then no, I don't think we've met, but my name's Roman." He said, announcing it to all of them. Maybe her friends could be an unknowing help.

"What a gorgeous name," one of the other girls chimed in. Monica had to relax her face to keep from glaring at her. She had been the one he had bumped into for crying out loud.

"Well Roman, we were just about to leave." The same girl said. "We were thinking about going to get some ice cream, if you wanted to come with us."

They had indeed not been about to leave, in fact they had just got there, but Monica couldn't open her mouth to object. Maybe she could catch Roman's attention if he agreed to go on their made up ice cream run.

"Yeah, ice cream sounds great. Your coming too, right Monica?" Roman congratulated himself when Monica's face lit up in a smile. This could be easier than he thought.

Once they got out of the market, Roman didn't pay much attention to any of Monica's friends, just her. In fact Roman was a bit of a chatter box, but Monica didn't mind, because she was too. However, the difference was when Monica spoke, Roman quit speaking immediately to hear what she had, while Monica hadn't mastered the adolescent skill of not interrupting people while they were speaking. While they were walking, Monica also tried to be involved in her friends' conversation, but that was exhausting after awhile, and Roman was more entertaining anyway. She hadn't noticed that the group seemed to have spliced into two.

They made it to the ice cream stand, and when everyone got their orders, they didn't kid themselves any more. Monica and Roman sat at a bench by themselves and Monica's friends sat at another. They ate their ice cream quickly, as it was melting in the summer heat. Monica turned crimson when Roman laughed at the ice cream she had all over her mouth, but made up for it when he went to get her napkins.

'This is going decent,' Roman thought to himself. It seemed like Monica might say 'yes' to another 'date' with him.

Her friends were done before they were, and rolled their eyes at how long they were taking. Eventually, they decided to give up on them, saying that they would call Monica later. What good friends they were.

Roman didn't mind talking to Monica as much as he thought he would. She was pretty, but she liked to talk too, and not about anything completely idiotic. She could keep up. When her friends decided to bail on her, he decided it might be a good time to take his leave too. Even though he had a pretty good leash on what he did on this mission, he still had to check in and report his activity. Now, to see if all his hard work had paid off.

"I actually have to be headed home too, unfortunately." Roman said after a little bit more conversation. "But I would love to hang out with you again. Are you doing anything Friday night?"

It had taken Monica about three seconds of checking her calender before she answered with a no.

"Then would you mind if I picked you up at your place, and we could get something to eat and, you know, hang out after?"

'Please say yes, otherwise I'm going to start stalking you, and that won't be as fun as this.' Roman thought, standing up and putting his hands in his pockets. Rejection was something that needed to be walked off.

"I think that would be fun," Monica replied simply. She had never had a boyfriend before, as she had mercy enough on the male species to not get too involved. It would be the normal amount of embarrassment if it were just Zrion and her dad, but Zephan would have to be caged and locked in the basement. However, Roman was just too cute to reject and ignore. She gave Roman Zrion's address and the actually hugged before he left.

Now she was by herself, but she was flying as high as a cloud she was so happy. This called for some shopping.

When she came back home to the smell of dinner cooking, she had a couple of bags in her hand containing some jewelry and a new dress she thought she could wear on Friday.

"I'm home!" She called.

[Darkjak87]

While Monica was gone, Zrion continued going about his duties, cleaning all of his weapons and buffing his armor a bit too. Just because his armor would stop looking nice the second he stepped into a warzone didn't mean it couldn't look good while mounted on the wall.

Once he'd finished his task, he glanced at his watch, and frowned slightly. It was almost time for dinner, and Monica wasn't back yet. He pushed the thoughts out of his mind and made his way for the kitchen, deciding essentially at random that it was spaghetti night.

He paused before getting started, and gave Marcus a call, inviting him over for the night. He had to hand it to Marcus - he wasn't as good at sarcasm as Zrion or Zephan, but he was way better at simply making Monica squirm. He had a way of toying with her that she couldn't call him out on, something that Zrion usually couldn't manage, and Zephan didn't even bother trying. Whether Marcus got through to her or not, it was always fun to watch.

Hanging up the phone, Zrion returned to the kitchen and set about making dinner, absently tossing scraps at Ace while chopping up meat and boiling noodles. Ever since Monica had moved in, Zrion had more or less been forced to become a good cook. He had to admit that he was eating better because of it, but it still wasn't a task that he particularly enjoyed. One thing was for sure though - five years ago Zrion wouldn't have thought for a second that he'd end up being the designated chef for the household.

By the time Monica got home, Marcus had already made his way over, and Zrion had just finished making the garlic bread to go with the spaghetti. "Dinner's ready!" he called out.

Zephan presented himself, and Monica wasn't far behind. Zrion was just sitting down with his own plate when he gave her an inquisitive look. "So, how was it?" he asked, subtly checking for hickeys or any other signs of unapproved activities. Fortunately, there were none, but Zrion dreaded the day.

[lawna]

"Good, your change is in my bag," Monica said as she went to the cupboard and passed out cups to everyone. They were so fluid in their meals anymore, everyone was familiar and helped out, whether it be meal prep or clean up afterward.

They all sat down and started chatting about this that and the other thing, random stuff, like she and Roman had been able to talk about. They had been able to get to know each other. Admittedly, now that she had accepted his suggestion to go eat with him, now she was nervous. What was she supposed to do exactly?

"So, uhh," conversations that started with those words didn't go very well with these guys, but she didn't have anyone else to talk to, since her friends weren't around. "I'm going on a date Friday night." That's it, quick like a band aid

Marcus fought to not spit out his garlic bread all over the table. He chewed and swallowed carefully and took a swig of milk before continuing. "With a boy?"

"Well, yeah Dad, I'm a girl, I'm supposed to go out with boys."

"Did you happen to ask anyone if you were allowed to go on said date, with said unidentified boy?"

"Dad, every one of my friends has had at least one boyfriend already and gone on plenty of dates. The closest thing I have had to a date would probably be," She paused, thinking of a good comparison. "Lessons with Zephan in the forest, or if Zrion is feeling lazy about cooking dinner and we go out. That's it, until today, because I talked to someone, and he asked me to dinner Friday night. He will be here by six."

"Still, no permission." He really didn't care that much, at least that's what he was telling himself.

"He's really nice Dad. He'll be here, you can see him." Monica pleaded. She took special care not to mention that anyone would have the opportunity to talk to him.

Marcus looked at his daughter for a few seconds. She had grown up in the couple of years he had been reunited with her, and he and Zrion worked well together as a team to ensure Monica grew up in the right way. Now, it felt like those morals had the chance to be compromised. If this boy was anything like Marcus was, he would have to watch him very VERY carefully.

"What do you think about this Zrion?" Marcus and Zrion had made up a silent truce, tease Monica senseless for their entertainment, and then let the actual parenting happen.

[Darkjak87]

"Oh, yes, I approve completely," Zrion said with a straight face. "He seems like a nice guy. What did you say his name was?"

He subtly leaned over to speak into Marcus' ear. "Here's what we're going to do. We're going to invite him in, shake hands, and introduce ourselves. Then, you'll distract Monica while I shoot him in the face and plant a gun on him. I'll call it in and say he was a rebel assassin. There won't even be a trial. Sound good?"

[lawna]

"His name is Roman, and NO, you may not shoot him, or show him any of your guns." Monica answered before her dad could even snicker at the joke. "He'll either stick around in plain fear or dump me, then I'm going to have to live here with you forever and be an old maid."

'Like Zephan,' she felt like adding, but that wasn't fair at all. Zephan hadn't even commented on anything yet.

"What if we caught a vital body part on fire?" Marcus mock whispered, still in conspiracy with Zrion, ignoring Monica.

"You are not taking this seriously, either of you." Monica accused.

[Darkjak87]

Zrion raised an eyebrow. "Who said we were joking?" Shooting someone trying to take advantage of Monica would hardly be the worst thing he'd ever done.

Zephan rolled his eyes. "If he turns out to be bad, you can always shoot him later. And be slightly more justified in doing so."

Marcus raised an eyebrow at that. Since when did Zephan take sides at all, let alone Monica's? Zrion meanwhile was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Just saying, at least this way you know that she's dating someone..." Zephan drawled. While he wasn't physically smirking, you could certainly hear it in his tone. Zephan didn't take sides - he just stoked the fire.

Zrion nearly spat out his drink, shooting a glare at the ottsel. As if he hadn't been paranoid enough without worrying about Monica going behind his back. Marcus seemed to be having a similar crisis.

[lawna]

'Why would you put the idea into her head.' Marcus thought, spirit sinking. She was speaking of her intentions at the moment, secrecy not being a major point of Monica's life. They were lucky it hadn't cropped up yet.

Meanwhile, Monica's face was on fire. This wasn't supposed to happen, it was just supposed to be an informative statement, and now everyone had an opinion. She was stabbing one of her meatballs when she decided she wasn't going to take this any more. She was almost all grown up and she could do as she pleased.

That didn't stop her from violently scrapping her chair against the kitchen linoleum, ignoring her father as he tried to calm her, and walking to her room. Ace followed her, and Monica let her in before she shut her door in an unnecessary, loud way.

Marcus sighed. He and Zrion had there fun, and Zephan got his comment in, when perhaps they should have taken it a little more seriously, for Monica's sake at least.

He took another sip out of his cup, noticing Monica hadn't ate much dinner.

"Alright," he declared, hopefully rallying his only trusted ally, Zrion. "Maybe we should be a bit more serious this time, see if we can get her back out here to eat?"

[Darkjak87]

Reluctantly, Zrion agreed, and set down his own fork and followed after Marcus, making sure to glare at a snickering Ottsel as he went. There will be a reckoning for this, he vowed.

He did feel bad for embarrassing Monica, but he did worry about her. There were the usual concerns of someone taking advantage of her, or Monica doing something she'd regret later. There was just so much that could go wrong, and few possibilities that would be particularly good.

That wasn't even counting the fact that there were a lot of people that would love to bump him off, most of whom wouldn't be above using his family to get to him. If it wasn't for for his anonymity, people would be lining up outside his house for a shot at him. While Zrion himself was certainly no slouch, Monica was a lot more vulnerable than he was. If there was even the slightest chance, any at all, that someone used her to get to him, he didn't know how he would live with himself.

The two paused outside of Monica's door, neither one really wanting to be the one to knock. Zrion wondered briefly if they should let her simmer down first, but decided it'd be better to just get it out of the way.

"Alright," he said to Marcus. "I guess we're just going to have to live with it. Like Zephan said, either she can date someone and we know about it, or she might date someone that we don't know about. I think we should let her give it a chance, but only if she introduces him to us. Does that sound alright?"