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Close to Home

By: Miss Special

PG for language and violence

When Evil woke up, she was staring at the ceiling. She slowly switched her focus to her hand, to the tattoo. It was still there. Of course it was still there. It had been there for nearly ten years; it wouldn't just magically change overnight.

She scratched at it a little, hoping it would come off that way. It didn't. Just like it didn't yesterday, or the day before. No one could figure out how to get the small hourglass tattoo removed. They had tried everything short of cutting their hand off, and it wouldn't leave.

Back when they were in the program, they dreamt of escaping, getting the tattoo removed, and rejoining society. Evil now knew this was absurd. Even if she got the tattoo removed, she was too… It wouldn't work out. She didn't even like interacting with people. She was essentially a hermit.

She thought of Pell. He was sound asleep- the sun wouldn't have come up for hours, if they were on a planet instead of a space station. Why did he put up with her? She made no effort to be nice to him, she was rude, vulgar, and overall unpleasant to be around. But he was still here. Why? And why was he so nice?

Leaving the unanswerable questions unanswered, she rolled out of bed. She had a job to do, and she needed to get dressed. Eyes don't go out in their pajamas.

Evil was just taking her sniper rifle down from its rack when she heard the computer beeping. Rifle in hand, she quickly made her way to the cockpit and pushed a button.

A screen containing the face of a haggard, tired, and worried-looking woman came up.

"…Are you Evil?" The woman hesitated, no doubt intimidated by the person on the other side of the screen. Evil wasn't wearing her usual outfit. She was dressed entirely in black, her hair tied back tighter than usual. She'd found a high-paying mission that required precision accuracy. She was supposed to snipe someone, but she was getting paid to miss. All she had to do was scare some big Corporate War figure.

"Yes," Evil answered, sounding cold. She had better things to do- if she waited around too long, she'd miss her shot.

"Please help me. I hear you're one of the best out there for this kind of-"

"Get to the point."

"My daughter's been kidnapped. She's just a baby- they say she's a genius or something, and they want to keep her. Please, I'll pay you anything."

"Where is she? Do you know who has her?"

"It's the Garber Company. That's all I know. Please, anything you want, I'll give it to you."

"What's her name, and where are you?"

"I'm on Clovet City, on Mars. Her name's Rene Lodgers. Will you help me?"

Pell was wandering around a green field full of daisies and butterflies. There was a beautiful girl standing there, wearing a long, flowing dress. She was turning to look at him.

As she turned, she became a dark demon with eyes that burned like cold green fire.

"Pell," the demon said. "Wake up! We have work to do."

Pell's eyes snapped open, then back shut as the light from the hall temporarily blinded him. When he opened them again, he saw Evil standing in the doorway, dressed all in black. She was holding a rifle.

"What's going on? What time is it?"

"It's three am. We just got a new job, and it can't wait."

"What about that sniping thing you were doing?" He was thinking more clearly now. He remembered she was getting paid a lot of money for sniping.

"This is more important. Get up."

"Yeah, hold on. I'll meet you in the cockpit."

Evil left the doorway, and more light flooded in. He had to remind himself why he was still working for Evil. He usually remembered, but it was three in the morning, and he had a legitimate excuse.

Evil stopped halfway between Pell's room and the cockpit, wondering why she still had her rifle with her. She looked it over, noting how comfortable and right it felt in her hands. She saw the spot where she went over the hourglass with black paint, so no one would see it. She thought about how she was more comfortable around guns than people.

She took a moment to put her rifle down on her bed (making sure it was unloaded), and nearly ran into Pell in the hall.

He looked like a zombie. He was dressed, true, but his hair was still messed up, and he had bags under his eyes. Evil made note to not wake him up in the middle of the night unless it was absolutely necessary.

Pell noted dimly Evil was wearing her Project Hourglass uniform, a tight-fitting, black, turtle necked jumpsuit. The hourglass patches had been taken off. Evil looked kind of good in black. Or something. Why was he awake? Or was this a dream?

Evil wondered why he was staring at her, but got over it. She walked into the cockpit.

"We're headed to Sydney," she said. "That's where the Garber Company's HQ is."

"Garber Company… higher ranks in the Corporate War… What's there?"

"They kidnapped a kid. I'm going to get her out."

Funny, Pell thought. Evil seemed like the type who hated kids.

"What's it paying?" he asked.

"Don't know. Not much, by the looks of it. Her mother called me up and asked me to do it. Came off as poor, but that's just an assumption."

This was definitely out of Evil's character. Earth was well out of the way, and she was dropping a high-paying easy job to go get some kid.

"If the family's poor, why was she kidnapped?"

"Apparently she's a genius. We'll be there in two hours," Evil told him.

"I'll be more awake by then."

"Good. I'm getting the specs on their building, but I won't have long to study them." Reading between the lines, Pell knew she basically said she needed him. This mission was important, but not important enough for Evil to completely swallow her pride.

Two hours later, the ship landed in Sydney, and Evil, dressed in normal garb, was en route to the Garber Company building. The sky was gray in the pre-dawn twilight, and Venus was still shining.

Evil hid the motorcycle well enough for it not to be noticed and still be easy to access.

Evil had never rescued anyone so young. This was going to be tricky.

She tapped her radio and said, "Alright, Pell, what floor is she on?"

"She's in the third sublevel. You're going to need an elevator."

Evil located a window on the first floor above ground, and looked it over. Five am wasn't a prime time for robberies, so security might be a little lax. Still, no chances should be taken, especially in a situation like this.

A glass cutter, maybe? Or should she just shoot the glass out? The latter idea wasn't a good one, but Evil liked it better. It still was a bad idea, though, and Evil ditched it as quickly as she thought it up.

She looked around cautiously- make sure no one was watching- and spotted the proverbial ray of sunshine: an open window. It was on the second floor and covered with a screen, but it was easier than dealing with glass.

Getting the screen off was as simple as shooting it off- her Greys made little noise, since they didn't use bullets or combustion, and a small grappling hook she kept in one of her pockets supplied the means to reach the window.

Wandering around the second floor was also simple, so long as she kept well out of sight of the guards. She had been trained to walk with minimal sound no matter what the footwear, so all she had to do was listen for footsteps louder than hers.

The elevator was another matter. Elevators made noise. She had to time the elevator's arrival carefully.

She called the elevator and hid. The elevator came with a "ding!" and the doors opened up. A guard heard the noise and investigated. No one was around, so he figured it to be a malfunction, or worse- ghosts.

This particular security guard was scared to death of ghosts. He decided he'd rather get fired than deal with ghosts, so he stayed away from the elevator. It was a good thing he did. The elevator mysteriously opened again- he heard the "ding!", but he didn't check it out.

"How many guards are there on sublevel three?" she whispered to Pell while waiting for the elevator to close. They both knew radio waves couldn't penetrate into the sublevels, so when she went underground, she was on her own.

"According to the data, six wandering around, and another four guarding her."

Damn. This was going to be hard.

"Which way?"

"After you get off the elevator, go to your right, then another right at the T-section. You can't miss it."

Evil pushed the sublevel three button and prepared for what was to come. She opened the roof hatch and climbed on top. It was a classic move, but one that was hard to counter, especially if you didn't expect it.

The elevator reached sublevel three, and dinged open.

The nearest guard saw a small scrap of paper on the floor in the middle of the elevator. Suspicious, he walked all the way in to get a better look. One of his buddies, also curious, followed him.

There was writing on the paper. It said, "Look up." They did.

Just in time to see the bottoms of boots come down onto their unsuspecting faces.

Evil dragged one unconscious guard out of the elevator, and then left the other one so only his feet were inside. His feet would keep the door open so she didn't have to wait on the way back.

She should dispatch the wandering guards before going after the ones around the kid.

She went the opposite way Pell said to, spotting a guard with her back turned. The guard may have been female, but that didn't affect what Evil was going to do.

She tossed her little wad of paper, and it hit the guard on her left shoulder. Naturally, the guard looked to the left to see what happened. Evil sneaked up on the right and pistol-whipped the guard into oblivion.

Three mobile guards left.

"Hey! You there!" Ah. Evil had been caught, but the guard was stupid. He should've radioed his buddies before engaging the enemy.

"Freeze!" He pointed his firearm at her. Evil dropped her guns and put her hands.

She fainted. It seemed like the right thing to do.

Confused, the guard knelt over her, lowering his gun. An uppercut to the jaw made him do a very good imitation of Evil, except he wasn't faking unconsciousness.

Two to go.

She headed back towards the elevator, where the last two guards had just stumbled upon the limp bodies of their friends. As they wondered who could've done this, Evil knocked their heads together, finishing off the last two wandering guards.

There were still the other four, of course. And Evil didn't have long to figure out how to take them all on simultaneously. At least, not without getting shot.

Why didn't she bring a stun grenade? Hindsight really is 20-20.

Then, she got an idea. A crazy idea. She went to the female guard and checked her nameplate. It said, "Cheryl." She took Cheryl's radio and went back to the elevator.

"Guys," she said into the radio, "We've got company. Someone's taken out everyone but me. I need backup."

"Everyone? Even Steve?" Which one was Steve?

"Especially Steve."

"I'm sending Jimmy and Trish. Where are you?"

"By the elevator."

"They're on their way." Evil would've laughed- if she weren't Evil. Instead, she hid and waited for Jimmy and Trish to arrive.

Jimmy and Trish neared the elevator cautiously. They were definitely smarter than their unconscious friends, but not smart enough. Evil eliminated them from behind, in almost the same way she got rid of the last two guards she'd taken care of.

Now, how to get past the last two? She probably wouldn't be able to get them to leave their post.

Maybe if she just walked right up to them? Got in a fire fight? They couldn't radio out, so she didn't have to worry about being covert anymore.

She walked until the last guards were just around the corner. Rounding the bend, she shot one guard in the knee, distracting him. The other guard was drawing his weapon, but Evil had the element of surprise, and shot the gun out of his hand. The wounded guard also drew his gun, so she did the same to him.

Since both guards were unarmed, they were now at the mercy of Evil. Holding both at gunpoint, the made the uninjured guard open the door behind him-the door to the room where the girl was kept. While his back was turned, she knocked him out. The other one was in a great deal of pain from his knee, and it didn't take much to make him black out.

Now that all the guards were out of the picture, she was free to rescue the girl.

She took a few tentative steps into the room, seeing a small table, and a bed. The girl- Rene- was facing the wall, curled up in a fetal position.

"Rene," Evil said softly. At hearing a new voice, Rene turned around. Her eyes were red from crying.

"Who're you?"

"My name's Evil. I'm getting you out of here."

"Are you taking me to my mommy?"

"Yes. Come with me. We have to go."

The girl solemnly nodded and followed. Not needing them for a few moments, Evil holstered her pistols. She led Rene to the elevator and told her, "When the elevator gets up, you have to absolutely silent. Got it?" Rene nodded. Evil pushed the button for the first floor. The instant she got in radio contact with Pell, she said, "I've got her. We're coming out."

"Okay."

Evil picked the girl up, and sneaked to the nearest window she could find. Shielding the girl, she opened the window, shot out the screen, and got both of them out with barely a sound.

The only thing the guards heard was the sound of a motorcycle driving off in the dawn.

Hours later, Evil, Pell, and Rene were on their way to Mars. Rene had brightened up after she arrived at the ship. Evil watched her like a hawk to make sure she didn't break anything, and Rene bombarded her with questions.

"Why's your name Evil?"

"Because."

"That's a funny name." Rene wandered into Evil's room and sat on the bed, looking at the walls.

"What're those?"

"They're guns."

"Why do you have guns on your wall?"

"Because."

"Do you use them to shoot at people?"

"Sometimes."

"Why?"

"Because they shoot at me."

Rene sobered up. "I miss my mommy."

Evil didn't say anything.

"Do you have a mommy, Evil?"

Yes, she did. She'd checked.

"Everyone has a mother," Evil answered flatly.

"Do you miss your mommy?"

Evil stared at Rene. Did she miss her mother? How was she supposed to know? She hadn't seen her mother for so long-

Yes.

Memories of when she was little- younger than Rene- flooded back: wondering if she'd see her family again, clinging to hope they'd come for her, crying herself to sleep when they didn't, and- when the tears had stopped for good- wondering what became of them.

Pell, who had been watching quietly from the doorway, noticed the stunned look on Evil's face.

"Evil," Pell said cheerfully. "If you want me to watch Rene for awhile, I can. I'm not doing anything."

Evil slowly looked at Pell, not really seeing him at first, but then coming back to the present. She nodded and walked out.

"She's weird," Rene commented. "Do you miss your mommy?"

Pell smiled. "Yep. I haven't seen her for a while."

"Pell's a funny name."

Pell laughed. "It is."

"Evil's not very nice."

"That's just her way. She's actually not so bad. Say, have you ever played Hide-and-Seek in a cargo hold?"

"No. Can we?"

"Sure! Let's go!" Pell led Rene out of Evil's room. He noticed Evil in the cockpit, sitting in the pilot's chair, staring up at the stars.

"You go on ahead and hide," he said to Rene. "I'll be down in a minute."

"'Kay!" Rene bounded down the stairs.

Evil didn't seem to notice when Pell walked up behind her.

"Evil?"

No answer.

"Hey, Evil!"

She looked at him.

"Are you okay?"

She blinked. "I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Hey, you know if you ever need to talk, I'm here."

She looked at the stars again. "I know."

Pell joined Rene in the cargo hold.

Rene was never going to find him here. Pell congratulated himself for hiding so well. It had been nearly twenty minutes, and she still hadn't found him.

Twenty minutes? No kid could keep looking for one person for that long.

"Rene?"

Silence.

Pell crawled out of his hiding spot.

"Hello?"

Rene was nowhere to be found. He looked all over the cargo hold. Nothing. She must've gone upstairs.

A small voice disturbed Evil's thoughts: "What're you looking at?"

"The stars."

"Why? What's so special about stars?"

Pell got upstairs just in time to catch onto the conversation.

"On Venus, you can't see the stars," Evil said.

"Do you live on Venus?"

"I used to."

"Did you like it on Venus?"

"No."

"Oh. Hey, guess what."

"What?" Pell asked, figuring Evil didn’t want to play guessing games.

"I'm gonna be five in eight weeks!"

"Wow, five? That's almost as old as I am!"

"How old are you?"

"I'm nineteen."

"That's old! How old are you Evil?"

"Huh?" She thought for a long moment. "Seventeen, I think."

"You don't know?"

"They don't celebrate birthdays on Venus."

"I'm never going to Venus, then. Where are we going?"

"Mars. Where you live."

"Oh, yeah! I forgot. Are we there yet?"

After a day and a half of periodical "Are we there yet?"s, the ship landed in the Clovet City spaceport.

Evil checked her holsters to make sure her guns wouldn't fall out. Today would be tough. The company that kidnapped Rene probably knew where Evil was taking her, and they'd try to stop her. Evil had to get Rene to the safe house, where Mrs. Lodgers was waiting, safely.

"Are you all ready to go, Rene?" Pell made sure Rene's elbow and kneepads were on securely. Evil's plan to get Rene safe was a tad on the crazy side.

"All ready!" Rene chirped happily.

"Do you have your earpiece, Pell?" Evil asked, putting a light black jacket on.

"Yep, it's all ready."

"Good. Follow me, Rene."

"'Kay!"

Moments later, Rene and Evil were speeding along the highway, with Rene holding on for dear life. Evil had left the sidecar at the ship; they were both riding on the main part of the bike. Rene was having a blast.

Evil glanced behind, to make sure they weren't being followed. There was a black van a short distance behind.

"Pell."

"Yeah?"

"Do a license plate check. Numbers are 5-8-4-2-A-E. Got that?"

"Checking."

While she waited, Evil increased the throttle and went down an offramp.

"Uh-oh."

"Damn. Garber Company?"

"Yeah."

"I'm on Fourth Street. Which way?"

"Take the first left you can. Then a right, another left-"

"And then another left."

"Right." Falling into a zigzag pattern and then breaking out of it might lose the van.

It didn't.

"They're gaining," Evil said, accelerating as much as she could and still keep stable on turns.

"Pell, you'd better think of something soon."

"Are they gonna get us?" Great. Now Rene was worried.

"The hell they are," Evil grumbled. "Tell ya what, kid, I'll die before they get you."

"I don't want you to die!" Rene sounded near to tears.

"Then we'd better not lose."

"Evil!" Pell shouted, "Take a right! Before the light turns!"

Forgetting she was already speeding, Evil sped up and zoomed right. The bike wobbled. They were going to crash if they didn't slow down.

Evil let up on the throttle and slowly started braking. And hit a pothole, causing her to fully jam on the breaks, flipping the bike.

The last thing Evil could remember doing was trying to shield Rene as they hurtled through the air.

She was holding someone's hand. No, not someone. Her father's. She didn't look, but she knew it was him. They were walking down the sidewalk of her home before she was taken away.

But she hadn't been taken away. That was all a dream. A very bad dream.

She was smiling- she was happy. Content, just walking with her daddy.

The rest of her family was down the sidewalk- she could see them. They were blurry.

They weren't blurry because they were far away. They were blurry because she couldn't remember what they looked like.

She was no longer smiling. She looked to her father. He, too, was blurry. And fading. Because he was dead.

She heard voices shouting, "Evil! Evil, wake up!" But her name was Evelyn, not Evil.

No, wait. She was Evil. That bad dream was reality, and this was-

Wake up. Wake up or you're dead.

Evil's eyes shot open and she sat up. She was surrounded by people.

"Evil! Evil, wake up! Talk to me!"

"Pell, where's Rene?" Oh, that's right. Pell's on the ship.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She wasn't that badly hurt. Her jacket was ripped in several spots. Her helmet had saved her from any serious head injury, but it ached. The bandages on her hands were still in tact.

She was surrounded by people.

"Miss, you should stay still. We've called an ambulance."

Evil ripped off her helmet.

"Where's Rene?" She stood up, grabbing the nearest person by the collar. "Where is she?"

"The little girl? She's over there-" He pointed to a cluster of people.

"Rene!" She shoved people aside, making her way to the center of the cluster.

"Evil!" Rene looked at her from the ground. "I got an owie." Rene showed Evil a small scrape on her arm.

"C'mon," Evil said, picking Rene up, "we've got to get out of here. Pell, call a cab. I'll pick the bike up later."

"Don't you think you should wait for the ambulance? I've heard stories about people walking away from crashes with massive internal injuries."

"Pell, call the damn cab. There‘re too many people for the Garbers to interfere, but I'm not getting into an ambulance."

"If you say so. Mind if ask why?"

"Call the cab, dam-"

"I'm calling. Answer my question."

"Because I don't want them to see anything, if you get my drift."

"Oh!" It hadn't occurred to Pell that paramedics could find about her.

"Ma'am." Someone tapped on her shoulder. "Could I see your license?"

Evil turned around and came face to face with a police officer.

"Oh, sh-"

"You license, please?"

"Could we talk somewhere not so crowded, sir?" Evil asked sweetly.

They went behind the patrol car.

"Now, may I see your license?"

"I'm an Eye. I've been hired by Waterford Enterprises to escort this girl somewhere. I don't want any trouble, so if you'll just let us on our way, Mr. Waterford won't have you demoted to pencil pushing. Got it?" Evil's eyes seemed to stare right into his soul. He took a step backwards.

"Y-yes, ma'am. Of course. Wouldn't want to get in trouble with Waterford Enterprises."

"No. Of course not."

The cab pulled up.

"Thank you very much, Officer…?" Evil put Rene in the cab.

"Officer Rick Silofsky, ma'am."

"I'll be sure to put in the good word with Mr. Waterford." She climbed in, closed the door, and told the cabbie where to go.

"What was that all about?" Pell asked.

"Oh, is this thing still on?"

"You said you were working for Waterford Enterprises."

"Most feared name in all the planets. They've also got the Mars Police Force bought."

"Why'd you tell him that?"

"I don't have a license. If you're under eighteen, you need to have your parents help you get a license."

"Oh."

The dream flashed back to Evil's memory- she couldn't remember what her family looked like.

Rene looked at her scrape and whimpered.

"It hurts," she complained.

"Don't think about it. Then it'll stop hurting."

"Is that what you're doing?"

"Huh?"

"You've got lotsa scrapes."

"Yeah, that's what I'm doing."

"Evil?"

"What."

"I can't stop thinking about it."

"Think about something else. Think about your mom."

"Okay."

Everyone was silent until the cab came to its destination. Evil led Rene into the safe house.

"Mommy!!!" Rene let go of Evil's hand and ran to her mother.

"Rene!" Mrs. Lodgers bent down to embrace her daughter. "Rene, I was so scared-" She looked up at Evil. "Miss Evil, name anything you want. Anything. Thank you for bringing my daughter back."

"Hey," Pell said, "you never did figure out what you're getting paid for this."

"I don't want anything. It's free."

"COOKIES!" Pell shouted. "Ask for cookies!"

"Pell wants cookies, but I doubt you carry cookies around in your purse."

"Don't you want cookies, too, Evil?" Rene asked.

Evil shook her head. "Like I said, I'm not putting any price on this."

"Well," Mrs. Lodgers fished around in her purse. "I have some animal crackers. Would that work?"

"I really don't want anything-"

"Take the cookies, dammit!" Rene exclaimed.

"RENE! Where did you learn that kind of language?!"

"The cab's waiting. I'm going." Evil got out of the building as fast as she could.

"I knew you shouldn’t curse around kids!" Pell said as Evil got back into the cab.

"I've got some choice words for you, Pell, but I'll keep them to myself."

The bike wasn't badly damaged. It needed a new paint job, and a few parts were dented, but it still worked. The bystanders had deserted the area, and it was dark. Evil got the motorcycle back up on its wheels.

"Where's the kid?" a menacing voice asked from the shadows.

"Where you can't get her. I suppose you're going to try to take it out on me."

A gun clicked. Evil ducked, just in time, drew a Grey, and shot. He didn't shoot back. Evil started the motorcycle up and shone the headlight into the shadows. The gunman had been shot in the stomach, and he was still alive.

"Pell, call an ambulance. This guy's gonna need help."

She climbed onto the bike and rode off.

"Aren't you going to wait for the ambulance?"

"No. See you later." Evil tapped her communicator off.

"Evil, wait! Evil!" Pell sat back in his chair, thinking it'd be impossible to ever understand that girl. She had just finished risking her life for a little girl- and she got nothing out of it, too- but she wouldn't stay behind to make sure an ambulance came for a badly wounded man.

He looked up, out of the cockpit, at the stars, just like Evil did, hoping it'd bring him just a little bit closer to figuring the mysterious Evil out.