Who is Magpie?

She passed them. She passed them everyday on her walk home but never spoke to them. Never went inside. Every night she walked home there they stood, outside the restaurant they pretended to work at. Usually at least one of them had a cigarette in their hand, the two of them all but blocking the door to get in.

If they were going for subtle they had definitely missed the mark, but I think they were beyond that statement now. She was sure that everyone knew who they really were, because if as sheltered as she had been she knew, well, everyone else must.

Maybe it was because this was the last night she would return to her family home that she paid extra attention to the men. It had been two months since her parents had been killed. All she had seen was a blurry masked brigade in a dark SUV run their car off the road. The car had been pilfered of all valuables and the OnStar system, that could have had rescue crews arrive in time. Her pregnant mother and dad were dead on impact, and she woke up hanging upside down from her seatbelt.

It didn’t take much to realize her house wasn’t right when she finally stood outside, and a shadow in an upper window had her running back the way she came.

An upper window shattered followed by a whistle that flew beside her, only increasing her footfalls. Two more followed it, and one seemed to physically push her forward but the adrenaline was already pumping and she would pin that concern for later. She ran silently down the street, eyes red with the possibility of crying and feet much quicker than she thought they could carry, but no sounds escaped her lips. She knew no one would come out to help her.

Everyone on this side of the bridge had been paid off by the rogues, except the owners of the restaurant she had passed, and they saw her running towards them. Saw her frantic strides, her wipe out into a roll and continued running. Her pant leg and elbow were torn open, nose dewy with the sting of cold air, eyes still holding there resolve to not cry. As she approached the two men their hands slid deep into bottomless pockets and their conversation halted.

"Please." She begged. "They killed my family, they're after me- please help." Her panting persisted as she looked behind herself repeatedly, swearing she heard their car tires screech or footsteps clamper.

She had taken a short cut through a few of the neighbours backyards. Their fences were low enough for her to climb over, and some of them had gated leading into the thin plot of forested area between the blocks, but she was sure they hadn't seen it. They would have had to take the long way around by foot or car, but she wasn't naive enough to think they weren’t still coming.

"We have no use for aiding a stranger, solely because they are wanted by our enemy." One man said.

Someone leaving the restaurant pointed out her arm, and she realized she had been shot. She couldn’t feel the pain yet, adrenaline too high, but she didn’t think they were cruel enough to leave her outside unconscious. She pretend to faint towards one of the large men, only grateful that he actually caught her.

She heard the light tap of a cane, out of sync with the footsteps of the user. A light considering hum came from the individual before a dry, raspy smoker’s voice muttered. “Bring the girl inside”.

Pretending to have fainted, she allowed herself to be picked up, keeping her face relaxed and plain, with her limbs falling to the will of gravity. As one took over carrying her she allowed her neck to sag uncomfortably as her head flopped into his cologne soaked chest. He groped her ass in his hand, chuckling under his breath as he did, but she refused to react.

He laid her on an uncomfortable, stiff silk chez, littered with rough stitched embroidered images that scratched the side of her cheek. A bitter smelling herb made her choke and she sat up to a light fog drifting through her head. As she did she winced and grabbed her arm painfully.

Some women approached her with a first aid kit and she assisted them in removing her coat, noticing how much blood had soaked into the arm. Now that she was sitting and her breathing had calmed down she could feel the pain in her arm. The bullet she thought had wizzed by her had apparently passed through the edge of her arm. A gel was applied over the wound and it almost instantly felt better.

"You do not appear to be so afraid of blood now." He chuckled again, observing her behaviour.

"I am not afraid of blood." Her voice came out completely steady and sure; something she didn’t even think she was capable at the moment.

He thought he had her caught, but since she decided to fake a faint she knew the likely path she would have to take for survival. She did not delude herself into believing that she could lie her way in and out of the restaurant. She had heard stories of the man who runs their organization; intuitive, greedy,,… rumour had it that he was sympathetic to those who intrigued him. She could make a barter.

She shook her head in defeat. “I just need a place to hide until those men stop looking for me.”

He grinned and brought his pipe to his whiskered lips, and laughed again. "Yes, you are a magpie, sneaky, crafty." Another long drag and a laugh that coughed forth a cloud of smoke. "What are your goals Magpie?"

She ignored the fact that she had been called a bird. "I want to finish school, get a job, help people...“

"How? How will you help people?" He demanded and she barely held back the desired flinch to his harsh tone.

"I'm a medical student, I'm going to be a doctor for the system." She blurted out, feeling unfortunately too honest and remember the strange herb.

He made a short approving humming sound. "The system? Not the city."

"Only a fool would think the law is still run by the government here," she laughed, knowing she had to be confident to impress him.

"True, true," he admitted. "But still you want to work for it."

She shrugged. "Regardless who runs the city, it is clear that people need help. I'm only one person, but I know there is a lack of qualified physicians, and I’m good at it. It’s one of the few things I have a knack for."

"Do you think you will be successful?" He asked, nearly mocking her resolve with his disbelief, or speaking to the fact that people wanted her dead.

A cold "no" tumbled from her lips. "In any other town with my grades I would be coveted and respected for my position, but here I will fight for an office space and argue with insurance companies to cover the costs of treatment they don't think people need, if I live long enough to graduate.”

He looked curiously at her. "So why would you stay here?"

Her face was firm now. “My mom loved this city, and they killed her for it. They left me nothing with nothing. All I have left is this wretched city, and they won't make me leave without a fight." He grinned and laughed. "What is funny with that?"

"That is why I stay here!" He answered, releasing another baritone laugh. "We have much more in common than you think."

“How do you figure?” She asked, tone thick with disbelief.

“I have been waiting for something to stir the balance around here, and I think you may be just enough to tip it in my favour.” He smiled, tapping his thumb rhythmically.

“Me?”

"We both have a grudge against the wolven, and they have taken something precious from us." He reminded her like she could have forgotten.

She laughed, "I can't even throw a punch. I would be absolutely useless in a turf war."

"We can train you. I see the fire in your eyes. They will not stop if they are not stopped. The city will not stand against the tides they bend to. It is time this town returned to its roots." He flicked the ash on the floor and exhaled a cloud.

"What does that say for you? If you eliminate them you are the next most powerful, and someone will come along to eliminate you." She pointed out.

"I don't go after power, I'm not looking to rule. We make a wonderful living providing people with what they want. What we keep off the books would go by unnoticed in this city if it was run by anyone else, but what they keep off the books and out of he media would surprise you.” His voice sounded sincere, but she didn’t know that that meant it wasn’t also a lie. “We care about this town, more, I think, then the current law enforcement." He shook his head sadly.

She nodded, agreeing at least with that much. "I agree, but look at me, I'm nothing. I couldn't possibly go against them and live."

"You can be trained." He said again.

"I just got a new job and an apartment. I'm on a lease." She blurted out, deciding that if this was to be.a conversation it might as well tick all the boxes.

He chuckled. "You think we have lost so much that we can't get out of a simple lease. We can take care of your apartment and 'employ' you here. Everything you need will be taken care of."

"You make it sound so simple." Trying to buy herself time to think of more excuses, distracting herself by inspecting her bandages. "I don't have the spirit to fight."

"Everyone has the spirit to fight if they have the spirit to live. You have that." He looked seriously now, eyes wider than they had been, hidden behind large over hanging eyelids. "Your family was taken from you, and as we speak they separate other families by the vale of death. They will continue to rip families and people apart until they are stopped."

She heaved a heavy breath and then set her jaw in place, dropping both hands to sit still in her lap. "I'll do it."