IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: I changed Kyle's name to Oliver.

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02.10.2017

I was in the third week of field training camp when I met him. Your father. A few of us were handpicked to maintain the Alliance, and we had to undergo special training because our lives had just become more valuable. And endangered.

He was a trainer, and I felt electrified every time I was with him. He was my everything until we had you. I realized that the humanity I tried so desperately to hold on to came in the form of a child. So I had to protect you from the same monster who helped create you.

And I'm proud of the person you are. You're better than your father, better than me. Once you find thing or person that reminds you of your humanity, don't let go. It's rare, and for people like us, it's a blessing.

Now, you have the box that I left Jeremiah with. There's so much more I wish I could say, but we don't have time. Harris will be looking for you, as well as his men and those who decided to stay with him.

You'll find documents about the Alliance. What we stood for. And what we protected. Inside the wooden box are the two things most valuable to him and the leaders of Vector. I swore to protect it, but even I'm not certain what's inside. Only you have the key to open it. So protect it and yourself at all costs.

You may think that you need to reach out to agents of Luna, but do not trust everyone. There are good people left, but the bad are far more in population.

Take what I gave to you and look for people who can help. You are strong, but you cannot do this alone.

At this point, I had read the entire journal in one sitting. My mother told me everything she could, but still there was not enough information to figure out what exactly G.O.L.D. was planning. In the rest of her entries, she left suggestions as to what we should do, but I was still lost. The matter at hand was so much more urgent than we had thought it to be.

"So we go check the headquarters in D.C., then meet you and Silas in Rome?" Maya's voice was clear through the phone as she repeated our plans back to me. I'd shared my new findings with Maya; everything but the information about my father.

"Yes. We need to see if we can find any agents who might know how to get to Harris. Or find Harris himself. Mother left me some information about headquarters that we didn't know existed. So we start there. One is here in Rome."

My voice was so sure--so certain, and I began to sound like the confident Zara that I'd missed. It dawned on me just how much responsibility I had, and I was more motivated than ever.

Maya sighed on the other end, shuffling a little before responding.

"Okay. Just be careful, yeah?"

I smiled at her words.

"You too. Say hi to Oliver from me."

Before Maya could reply, Silas chirped up from next to me. "Tell Oliver hi from me, too," he said, before going back to typing away on his laptop.

I narrowed my eyes. I wasn't sure what to do about Silas; now, he knew information that he shouldn't, putting him in even more danger. To leave him alone would be cruel, but to take him with me would be just as terrible. And for some reason, I'd been growing more annoyed with him after our meeting with Jeremiah.

The hotel room that Leo had booked for us was small. Small, but very nice. It smelled of flowers and coffee when we stepped in. The two full-sized beds were separated by a window overlooking the magnificent city and its wonders. We did not have time to waste, otherwise I would have loved to spend a day just exploring the city I hadn't visited in years. I sighed; maybe that day would come soon.

But not today.

I'd flipped through each page of the Alliance documentation, scrutinizing each word of the treaty for hours until I had almost committed it to memory.

On the first page was a mission statement:

On this day, March 5th, 1951, we, LUNA, G.O.L.D., and Vector, declare to abstain from intentionally harming the lives of the innocent, granted that matters are under our control. We must renounce the principles of previous organizations and swear to abide by the stipulations of this agreement.

Following the mission statements were guidelines stating districts of power and responsibilities laid out for each of the agencies.

Mist.

I racked my mind again and again for the name, but drew a blank. The Alliance was created as a result of Mist's doings, so we had to learn more about the organization.

"What's it say?" Silas asked from across the room without looking away from the screen of the laptop, his fingers typing away at the keyboard. His mouth was stuffed with bread as he remained consumed in whatever he was doing. I wasn't sure what exactly that was, but also didn't care enough to ask.

The only thing on my mind was finding the G.O.L.D. headquarters that were in Rome. The city was full of ruins and monuments, and finding a hidden building in a foreign city was going to be more than difficult. And getting any information about Mist that we could along the way.

"Nothing you need to know," I mumbled subconsciously, a pen in my mouth as I stared at the papers in front of me.

My gaze flitted towards the box my mother had left me. Its wooden surface taunted me, daring me to open it. Only I had the key to open what was inside, she had said, but I wasn't sure what that key was. I ran my fingers over its surface repeatedly, wondering what could possibly be inside the box that was so important to G.O.L.D.

My thoughts were interrupted when Silas jumped up in excitement. His chair fell back onto the wooden floor, resulting in a loud crash. He didn't care.

"Found it!" He yelled, fist pumping in the air.

I raised my eyebrows in suspicion and walked to where he was jumping. "Found what?"

He looked down at me through narrowed eyes, his lips gracing a smug smile. An unusual look for him. He was proud of whatever it was that he'd found.

"Your headquarters," he stated complacently. Hesitantly, I turned his laptop so that I could see the screen. Several tabs were open, including map archives of the city. Classified files. Articles about an abandoned warehouse that appeared on the maps in 1998, but was no longer visible on the maps starting 1999 were staring back at me.

It was very probable that this was the headquarters, and Silas knew that.

"It's gotta be this building. Why would it just disappear off the map for no reason? And I couldn't find any documents about demolition," he rambled.

I looked at him incredulously. "How did you get into this system?"

He shrugged, his expression nonchalant. His arms were crossed over his chest, and I couldn't help but think that he was standing a bit straighter. Adjusting the glasses on his nose, he swept his hair to the side.

"A bit of hacking. It was actually pretty easy once I got past the firewall and into the mainframe--"

"You know how to hack? How come you never told me?" I placed my hands on my hips, glaring at the curly-headed boy. At this point, I wasn't even angry that he had done something incredibly illegal in a very foreign country.

My hacking skills were limited, as James was most skilled with computers in our sector. I was annoyed that he'd never mentioned it.His smile fell and he averted his gaze from mine. "You never really gave me a chance."

There was hurt etched across his deep eyes, his jaw clenched in what seemed to be frustration.

I sighed and grabbed my jacket off of the table. I threw the journal, documents, and box into my backpack and slung it around my shoulder. Taking out the gun from where it was well-concealed in my belt, I made sure it was loaded. My hand fell to the switchblade next to it, subconsciously making sure that it was in its place.

"Where are you going?" Silas asked, stepping towards me, eyes wide.

I gave him a knowing look. "I'm going to go check the place out. Stay here, lock the doors. Don't open them for anyone."

Silas groaned in exasperation and reached for his own jacket. He threw his laptop into his backpack and started walking towards me.

"No way!" he exclaimed, his voice a pitch higher than usual. "I'm coming with you."

Before I could argue, I heard the sound of the floor creaking just outside the door of the apartment. My body froze, and I put my hands up in front of Silas to motion for him to be quiet.

"I didn't hear anything," he whispered, looking around frantically. I closed my eyes, listening intently for something. Anything.

Another noise. A faint thump. This time, closer to the door. I instinctively took Silas's hand and motioned for him to follow me. My other hand pulled the switchblade from my belt. He hurriedly grabbed his backpack and the piece of bread he'd been eating. I didn't have time to scold him for that.

In Academy, I was trained to analyze any room I entered so that I was aware of possible escape routes in the instance that I was going to be attacked. Already, I'd inspected the balcony. We were on the third floor. The fall would be just enough to hurt someone if they jumped, but the building had ledges that could be used for support to decrease our distance from the ground and jump when possible.

My head snapped towards the balcony doors and I tugged a worried Silas with me, pushing him in front outside the sliding doors so he stumbled outside. I stepped out behind him, leaning against the wall so that we were out of sight.

Just in time. The front door flew off its hinges, hitting the wall with a loud crash. I heard feet shuffling and men speaking in hushed whispers, growing closer and closer to the balcony.

I let go of Silas's sweating hand and stood in front of him protectively as the voices got closer.

"Step onto that ledge. Use the window sills and climb down to the second floor," I whispered to him, trying to be as quiet as possible. He stared back at me with wide eyes, his body frozen with shock.

I suppressed a groan and brought my hand up, slapping him across his face, which was pale with fear. He stumbled backwards, shaking his head as his hand flew to his cheek.

"You can do this. I know you can," I spoke softly, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.

He looked behind himself at the ledge and nodded, clumsily stepping over the edge of the balcony and onto the ledge, holding on to the window sill above his body for support. I watched him scale down the building and jump onto the ground, making my mind flood with relief.

The voices of the men grew louder, as did the footsteps. I faced the sliding doors, knowing someone would walk through at any moment.

My body pulsed with adrenaline. As sick as it seemed, this was a feeling I'd missed. Excitement coursed through my veins, flooding my senses as my body prepared itself for attack. Not for defense.

As soon as a man stepped out onto the balcony, a gun by his side and a scarf concealing the lower half of his face, I waited until he was out of sight of the clear doors to lunge myself at him.

My legs wrapped around his waist from the back as I tugged on his scarf from behind his neck so that it muffled his shouts. I kicked the gun from his hand and it fell off the balcony and onto the ground below us.

He reached into his pocket for a knife and sliced it across my arm in one swift movement. I jumped off of his back and stumbled back into the wall, biting my bottom lip to keep from hissing in pain as a crimson red line appeared on my arm.

The man turned to face me, now with two switchblades, one in each hand. His dark eyes were narrow, bushy eyebrows meeting in fury. He took a step closer, but I placed one hand on the brick wall behind me to launch my body in the air with force, kicking the man's chest so that he stumbled backwards, his back hitting the railing of the balcony.

I kicked his legs so that he buckled, dropping one of his knives, and kicked the other knife out of his hand. He struggled to sit up, his nose bleeding as his head swayed from side to side.

I crouched down to his height and entangled my hand in his dark, greasy hair, lifting his head up so he could see the venomous anger swirling like a storm in my eyes.

Inspecting the tattoo on his neck, just below his ear, I shook my head. A lion. G.O.L.D.'s first string attack group.

A sinister smile conquered my lips as I leaned close to the man, close enough that our noses were almost touching. Blood streamed down his face as he scowled at me.

"Tell Harris I'm coming for him."

Drawing out my words, I hit his head with my elbow, effectively knocking him out. I heard the shuffling of feet as men got closer to the balcony, and secured the switchblades on the ground before jumping onto the ledge and scaling my way down the building. I jumped when I reached the second floor, landing on my feet, with one hand on the ground.

My eyes searched frantically for Silas, and I sighed in relief when I saw him at the end of the alley, on a moped that he got from who knows where.

He was proving to not be as useless as I thought him to be.

I looked behind me to see men scaling down the balcony the same way I had, and my feet carried me with unspeakable speed towards Silas. He smiled when he saw me, the worried expression on his face dissipating. He offered me a helmet once I swung my legs behind him onto the seat.

My arms snaked around his waist and I knocked the helmet out of his hands.

"I don't need it, Silas! Drive!"

I tightened one arm around his waist and twisted my body so that I was facing the three men that were chasing after us, guns pointed in our direction. I pulled my own gun from my belt and shot one of them in the leg as Silas drove at full speed. We were only a few yard from a busy street ahead.

Pursing my lips, I narrowed my eyes and aimed at the other two men following us, but something shifted. Instead of chasing us or shooting, the men retreated. They ran back towards where the injured man lay, and became nothing but small dots as we sped away from them.

We came to a stop at the street full of people, food carts, and shops, and Silas turned right, speeding down the street, efficiently maneuvering through cars and other scooters.

I hid my gun in my jacket and steadied my breathing, loosening my arms around his waist. Music echoed in the streets around us as people conversed in Italian and made their way down the street. To them, this was just a normal day.

My senses remained alert, my eyes glancing in all directions to make sure we weren't being followed.

Once I was sure, I leaned away from Silas and spoke.

"This is good, stop here."

We were in the middle of a plaza crowded with mostly tourists. The air was buzzing with elated voices and music, people going from stand to stand at the bazaar.

We hopped off of the scooter and I led Silas and myself to a less crowded area, a bench just by the riverside.

Before I could sit down, Silas unexpectedly wrapped his arms around me, his taller frame emanating warmth that defeated the chilly air. My body stiffened and I kept my arms by my side. But he didn't care that I didn't reciprocate his embrace. Instead, he pulled back, his eyes wide with concern.

"Are you okay?" He asked, placing his hands on my shoulders. I nodded slowly, my eyes still searching our surroundings, whether it was too ensure that we were safe or to escape his bright eyes, I wasn't sure.

He dropped his hands and jumped back, running them through his hair. A grin spread across his lips as he shook his head in awe.

"That was amazing! You were so badass, Zara! Holy shit wow..."

He trailed off in animation, but his voice died down when he saw my arm. I followed his gaze to see the blood that was seeping through the fabric of my shirt from when the agent had cut me. It didn't hurt, mostly because I'd forgotten about it.

Silas was by my side in an instant, holding my arm up, grimacing when he saw rolled my sleeve up and saw the blood. 

"Zara, you're hurt..." his quiet voice trailed off, eyes full of pain as if he was the one who had been injured. 

I shook my head, mostly in amusement.

"This is nothing. It's like a paper cut compared to what I've had."

He wasn't satisfied, his expression still concerned. He told me to wait as he ran into the bazaar we'd just passed. I watched him wait until a lady at a clothing stand was turned around.
Once she wasn't paying attention, he swiped a scarf from the stand.

He then went to a table where vendors had laid out samples of complimentary wine and took one of the glasses before running back to my side, satisfied.

I smiled. Genuinely smiled. "You're turning into a real criminal."

Silas chuckled, but still his eyes were solemn. And if I wasn't mistaken, darker with what seemed to be anger.

"It'll hurt," he warned as he crouched down and held the alcohol above my arm.

I opened my mouth to speak, but he beat me to it.

Rolling his eyes, he mumbled, "I know, I know. You've had worse."

He poured the drink over my arm slowly. I grimaced as I watched it mix with the blood that had dried on skin, but didn't flinch. He seemed to be deep in concentration as he took the colorful scarf and wrapped it carefully around my arm.

I watched him in curiosity, the curls on his head framed by the sunlight behind us. It brought out light brown highlights I hadn't noticed before.

He backed away from my arm, tilting his head to the side as he studied my expression. I hadn't noticed I had been smiling until I stopped.

"Who were those people?" he asked, taking a seat beside me. I studied the family that was just across from us. Two children were running around the bazaar, chasing each other as the mother ran after them in frustration.

I sighed. "Harris's men. They found us, but I'm not surprised. They're good, really good."

Silas shifted next to me, his shoulder brushing against mine. "But you're better."

I glanced at him to see he was smiling and stood up almost abruptly, ignoring the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Let's go. We have to find those headquarters."

My voice fell serious once again as I blocked any ounce of emotion from surfacing. Silas seemed like he wanted to say something, but complied.

I waited by the moped for him to catch up. His eyes widened when he saw that I was waiting for him to get on first.

"You're gonna let me drive?" He asked in shock.

I nodded. "You're not as bad as I thought you'd be."

And I couldn't help but wonder if my words had more meaning than just one.  

(A/N)

So sorry for the long wait! It took me a while to write this chapter because I didn't know which direction to take the story in, so I wanted to breathe for a bit and figure it out.

Also, I'm planning on revealing what the journal says throughout the next chapters! Although Zara already knows, I'll leave little excerpts here and there. 

Now that I have, next chapter is coming soon! Please VOTE if you enjoyed and thank you for reading! :)