VII

"If you could maneuver outside of airport security and customs so easily, why were you going to have us go through it in the first place?"

Sauda turns, resting her chin on the shoulder of her seat. Malik sits in the middle row across from her. Beside him, Ashleigh sits staring out the window. Adorna drives with the seat as high as it will go. She looks at him.

"Just because you can dunk, doesn't mean you do it every time, right? Besides, I wasn't expecting us to get into any trouble with this assignment. We would do things semi-legal... Demi-legal. But hiding American bodies in foreign soil throws all of that out of the window."

"And what do we tell the families of those pilots?" Malik asks.

"Welcome to assassin-hood Watson," Adorna says, looking at him in the rear-view mirror. She shakes her head, "We tell our bosses we killed people, and they throw money at the next of kin."

Sauda turns to look out of the side-view mirror. Her military training teaches her how to spot a tail, her Demon blood lets her see further and deeper. She can see far enough back to see if they were trying not to be spotted, and into the car to see their faces, just in case they tried to switch cars. Her two sides worked well together on missions. Her demon blood made her a killer, her military training made her an assassin.

"No one is following, Cap," Adorna says, changing lanes and blending into Yemen traffic.

They sit quietly in their stolen vehicle, driving down the Aden-Taiz road, the best one in the South of Yemen. The others had to take a less paved way into Taiz in another stolen car. But they needed to take more precautions than just watching for anyone following them and drivers who still drove on the left side of the road. Yemen was in a civil war, and the Taiz Campaign was smack in the middle. But if they needed to use their guns, the middle of a war would be the safest place to do so.

"Hopefully, the boys are having an easier time," Ashleigh says, looking out the window. Her face is blank, her eyes wider than normal. Sauda knew she was trying to fight back tears, though staring at the disheveled streets of Yemen wouldn't help that.

"Why are we in minivans, anyway?" Malik asks, "Adorna looks like a soccer mom driving this."

A growl rips through Adorna's throat and Sauda laughs at the thought of the little demon lugging around kids to a soccer game. Adorna usually dresses in the least amount of clothes as possible. The Succubus didn't like to feel restricted, so khakis and a sweater tied around her shoulders would never happen.

"Look around, Watson. Buses and minivans rule the streets of Yemen, and after this morning, we don't want to stand out. Should I be questioning the level of your training, soldier?" Adorna gruffs.

Sauda waves her words away, trying to lessen Adorna's anger. "We may be a team straight out of a fantasy-action movie, but it's not all make-believe. We follow the same training that you would. This is just a surveillance mission."

Malik continues to look out of his window, lips tightening. He licks his top lip and his body tenses. Ashleigh looks even closer to tears.

"Who are all these people? Homeless?" Malik asks.

Sauda looks out her window, already knowing. People line the streets; some working, some relaxing and even some children playing. Their skin was deep mahogany and rich, covered in dirt. They were skinny, and every face etched with exhaustion.

"Untouchables."

Malik looks over to Ashleigh as tears break free.

"Untouchables?"

"The Muhamasheen," Ashleigh answers, "the forgotten."

Sauda turns to look at Malik with her body tense and eyes narrow. "Yemen has a caste system where they severely mistreat and discriminate against the Muhamasheen. They're refused schooling, given minimal jobs, and this war is killing them. Most Yemeni who are born higher up, ignore them like they're invisible to them."

"I am them," Ashleigh says, "I was them."

Adorna twists, avoiding a driver as she was trying to make a turn towards the rendezvous.

"Can I ask about it?"

"No," Adorna spits. She pulls into a clay building with wooden lintels showing halfway up. She parks and spins around to stare death at him.

"I used to live here—"

"Don't Ash," the Succubus growls, staring down Malik.

"Adorna..." Ashleigh turns to Malik to show him the sorrow on her face, "I used to live here when I was five at the beginning of the war. My grandparents, my mother, and I. I am the Muhamasheen, living in a house made of sheets of metal and blankets. I remember little. My father—adoptive father doesn't like to talk about it much, but I know that my mother was a servant in his home, paid more than typical for the forgotten. He was a progressive thinker. S—" Ashleigh's voice breaks and she clears it loudly, turning away from everyone. "Someone raped her, and she gave birth to me. When the war started, and my father was leaving for the U.S. so she begged him to take me with him. He won't say much, but I know she is dead. He took me and the rest of his family away from all of this."

"I'm sorry," Malik says, leaning across the seat as Ashleigh turns straight forward. He leans his head on her arm and grabs her hand. Adorna growls softly, but he ignores her. Sauda doesn't say much, but she's surprised at how intimate he is being so quickly, but Ashleigh tends to make people want to take care of her without even trying.

"My mother died too," Malik whispers. "Not everyone where I come from is okay with mixed-raced relationships. Apparently enough to kill someone." Ashleigh squeezes his hand and leans her head against his.

Adorna slams open her door, jumps out, and swings open Watson's door, almost ripping it off its track.

"Get out. Unload."

Malik jumps out, trying to avoid Adorna's glare as she jumps into his vacated spot. "One day, someone will say my true name. Someone who wants to use me to create chaos and when I get my full power, I will rain down on this unholy city, end the war, bring honor to the Muhamasheen, and bring your mother back."

Ashleigh smiles, eyes still shining silver and whispers, "promises, promises."

Sauda nods at Adorna and looks at Ashleigh. "I have control over this little Demon, anyway. Just say the word and I'll say her name myself."

Adorna sneers at her captain.

Ashleigh looks at both of them, smiles, and shakes her head. "I want the killing to stop—the injustice to stop. Not for you to kill everyone. But thank you, that's the nicest threat anyone has ever given me."

The trunk of the van opens as Ashleigh opens her door.

"All I can give you is threats because you won't let me buy you expensive things... or have sex with me," Adorna grumbles.

Adorna's love for material things knew no bounds. Especially her hoard of expensive jewelry. She hoarded her gold, silver, and gems like a Dragon. It helps that she also has horns, wings, and claws when she shifts. Money was one of the few ways Adorna knew to show her love and appreciation. The other way, being sex. She was a Succubus, after all.

"You have sex with anyone you can, that's not that special," Sauda says, getting out and walking to the trunk.

"Sex with me is special... and you weren't complaining last time," Adorna says, turning to watch them through the open trunk.

Sauda smiles, "Undercover sex doesn't count." She looks through the trunk to Ashleigh still sitting in the car with Adorna. "Fingers, we will not kill everyone." She reaches for a bag and zips it open to reveal the guns she brought on the trip and then looks up, "just enough."

"I definitely have some people you can kill," Malik says, grabbing a rucksack. He looks down and shakes his head, "They'd never admit to what they did, even at gunpoint. But I think a demon could get them to squeal. Then I'd put 'em six-foot deep... "

Sauda pauses and looks toward the brooding male, who stares at the felt interior of the van. Silence fills the air as they wait for Malik to come back to them.

"Damn Watson!" Adorna burst out, "That's fucking dark! I like it! You're not too bad."

Sauda nudges him with her shoulder, but he doesn't sway. "It's a bit of a gray area. We work for the government and sometimes they hire us to kill terrible men and sometimes that stops further destruction. Sometimes they hire us to kill wicked men and it only benefits them and the power they want to maintain." She turns all the way towards him and she can feel her eyes shift. Not the silver of Demon eyes that she easily slips into, but the red that she has to drag to the surface. "I was born half Ethiopian and half Demon. Though I wouldn't change who I am, I had no choice. The demon in me... it demands blood. And if I didn't work as a secret assassin used by the Army, getting to kill whoever they tell me to, I would kill any and everyone."

"It's like the checks and balance thing," Adorna smiles, "We will kill anyway, why not use it to kill horrible people."

Ashleigh shakes her head at them both. "Speak for yourselves."

"You kill whoever they tell you to? How do you know that they're not just telling you that the target is a bad guy?" Malik asks.

"We have veto rights. We take assignments we want after we look into the targets. If it's purely political, then we turn it down unless the men are doing something horrid. Sometimes the definition of 'bad' depends on our mood, honestly. We're... antiheroes. Welcome to the Justice League of Villains."

Malik still stares at them all, and Sauda nods.

"Right now is not the time to have a crisis of self. We're on a mission. But afterward, when I get you home safely, we'll talk about it," She says.

Sauda turns away to check every gun and wonders if she should strap up, giving Malik the chance to recover without them staring at him. Letting him have a moment, but just a moment.