Creation of Francesca.
Part 10: Frankenstein's Monster
Other than training and exercise, between missions, Francesca has tutored lessons, and supervised field outings. She would be taken to museums, parks, fancy restaurants, and assorted theater shows which included movies. Shopping was also an event for a supervised field outing. She would be allowed to select the things she needs, as well as the brands thereof. There was no buying cheap for her, as the staff treated her like the little princess that she was.
A new set of hirees were inducted. These new staff members were set up to be the Logistics and Field Support arm of Section Two. Leading it would be Ferro Milani. Priscilla Meleori was placed as Field Mission Supervisor and Intelligence Acquisition. With others like Olga, Giorgio, Amadeo, Nihad and Alfonso, Section II was getting more complete. As such, they are sent to the field in unmarked vehicles to commence on field surveillance and intell gathering. Much of these missions were menial in that no true targets were intended, and were basically used to hone the team's skills and cooperation into a scalpel's cutting edge. Further interaction included surveillance and logistical support of the Felix/Francesca fratello team.
All seemed to be running well, as the staff gelled itself into a close knit team. Some, like Priscilla and Ferro, kept close tabs on Francesca, sometimes replacing Felix as her outing supervisor. Francesca would feel uneasy going out with the older women, but Felix explained that she will have to learn how to work with the other staff members, and it would be best that she did with members of her own sex first. Priscilla often took her shopping, showing her the sites of the city and places to go. Ferro try to instill her tastes on Francesca, practically doing the same but at different places.
They seemed shock to see that Francesca was already interested and understood about sex at her age. In conferring with Felix first, they try to explain to Francesca the difference between Sex and Love, and of the bodily functions that Francesca was already aware of. They also tried to instill on her where woman stood in society as individuals and as themselves as a group, mostly falling into overdrawn girl talk at cafes and restaurants. But when asked about Francesca's mental and sexual mind set, they were told to leave it alone because it was part of her conditioning to be loyal to her handler, and they accepted it as fact.
One conversation that raised the ladies' eyebrows was...
"Felix is quite a handsome guy.", Priscilla stated.
"He is single. So you better catch him before somebody else does," Ferro said.
"No!" Francesca almost yelled, slamming her tiny cup of espresso onto the table.
"Huh?" Priscilla and Ferro turn to face her.
"NO! FELIX IS MINE!" Francesca stated very loudly.
"Wait a minute, girl. You can't own him..." Ferro started to say.
"HE IS MINE!" Francesca yells.
Priscilla turns to Ferro, "Alright, he's yours... We won't... uhm... say anything more of it."
"Uhm... yeah. Just calm down," Ferro said.
"I'll Kill You If You Even Try To Take Him Away!" Francesca stated loudly.
"We are not taking him anywhere, Fran, We..." Ferro started to say.
"MY NAME IS NOT FRAN! I DON'T LIKE FRAN! IT'S FRANCESCA! DON'T EVER CALL ME FRAN AGAIN!!!" Francesca yells.
"Francesca, calm down..." Priscilla started to say.
"I WANT FELIX! I WANT FELIX NOW!" Francesca exclaimed.
"OK... I'll take you home to Felix, just calm down..." Priscilla tries to calm Francesca down.
Ferro only glances at Priscilla and gives her a nod. She knows that she owes her one. Francesca tries not to cry but can only hold back but so much, thus Priscilla acts as immediately as possible.
"Let's go home to see Felix, Francesca... Ferro can stay here by herself.", Priscilla gets up and reaches for Francesca's hand. They take a step away from the table when Priscilla turns her head to Ferro and acknowledges her nod. Priscilla then flags down a taxi in front of the restaurant and gives it directions to the SWA Main gate. Ferro pulls out her Nokia cellphone and makes a call to Felix, explaining what had happened.
Felix waits for them at the front gate of the SWA Headquarters. The taxi arrives in a couple of minutes from the restaurant, he leans into the front window and gives a more than adequate amount for taking the girls 'home' as they step out of the vehicle. Francesca grabs hold onto Felix as he steps away from the vehicle, holding him tightly like a just found lost teddy bear. Both Felix and Priscilla look at each other as Francesca holds on, Pricilla shaking her head at the scene. Felix takes Francesca's hand and start walking her towards the parking lot entrance of the complex. They stop at the gate to show their agency ID.
"We'll talk later," Felix stated to Priscilla. "Francesca- go change your clothes and meet me at my room when you are done. I have to finish some work I have to get done."
"I will wait for you, Felix..." Francesca stated to him.
He gives her a small kiss on the top of her head then a slight push, and she runs off to the agency dorm building. Felix and Priscilla stand there looking at her as she runs.
"That girl has an unhealthy crush on you," Priscilla stated.
"I know. I already had a talk to her about Love, Sex and of our relationship months ago... long before you guys came along," Felix answers.
"I was told by Dr. Bianchi that she is conditioned to be loyal to you," Priscilla complained.
"I was never told of that, and Dr. Frankenstein would be very angry is he were to find out," Felix replies.
"Angry? Why?" Priscilla asks.
"Dr. Frankenstein created her, and that other one for Chief Lorenzo. He stated to me that she was to be left as is and build on her trust towards me as he has done with her. But if Dr. Bianchi and the others are playing mind games with her, then that could answer a lot of questions," Felix explains.
"I'll talk to Dr. Frankenstein about this..." Priscilla started to say.
"No.", Felix interrupted her, "I'm Francesca's keeper; I'll talk to Dr. Frankenstein about this. If he deems that he has to talk to you about it, then he will call you, but not before he runs a set of diagnostics on her first."
"I see..." Priscilla stated.
"This is not your typical average 13 year old girl we are dealing with. She is super strong and super fast. She can kill us faster than we could react to her threat. So let her creator deal with her first. I'll do what I can from here."
"Please... it's not healthy for a girl her age to be having adult levels of lust and desires. She may act upon them and..." Priscilla stops in mid sentence when she notices the stern look on Felix's face.
"I said I will deal with it," Felix reiterated.
After a brief bit of silence, Priscilla asks a more than personal question, "Have you had sex with her?"
"If you were not a woman, I would have punched your lights out for saying that," Felix stated in a very cold and angry tone.
"Uhm... sorry for asking..." Priscilla stated.
Felix started to walk away from her, saying, "We will talk later. Right now I'm mad..."
Priscilla watches him walk away.
Later on that day, Chief Lorenzo gathers Ferro and Priscilla at his office for a private Supervisor's meeting. He sits them at the large library conference room, which he usually holds meetings with the Strategic Division and SWA Director Monica Petris and SWA Section 1 Director Chief Draghi. A young teenaged girl in a maid's uniform serves them tea and pastry.
"Ladies, please have a seat," as Chief Lorenzo sits on one of the large soft chairs that is facing the table with food on it. Ferro and Priscilla do as they are told, unsure how to take this. "It has been brought to my attention that of a situation occurred during an outing with Francesca. And that you are displeased with what is being done with her. Is this correct?"
"If you don't mind say, who told you what, exactly?" Ferro asks.
"I won't say," Chief Lorenzo states.
"I don't like what is being done with Francesca. Not at all," Priscilla says.
"What is it that you do not like?" the chief asks.
"This term I keep hearing this word, 'conditioning.' Why must she be conditioned? Is she being programmed?" Priscilla asks more out of curiosity as she holds back on her anger.
"Hmmm... understand this much. Who are we? We are the Strategic Division for the Social Work Agency and Enforcement. We are to conduct investigations on certain individuals and groups of individuals with criminal ties and associations to terrorists and illegal political factions, and act according to arrest or enforce and enact termination orders against them," Chief Lorenzo begins to explain. "Part of our work goes into building cyborgs, which will be modeled from near-dead, irrepealably damaged, or terminally ill children, mostly young teenage and pre teen girls. By turning them into cyborgs, they will become part of our termination teams. The medical research conducted upon these girls will further enhance medical knowledge and cybernetic technologies which will be brought over to serve the public."
"We understand that for the most part, but where does 'conditioning' fall in?", Ferro asks.
"I was about to get to that," Chief Lorenzo started to say. "Conditioning comes in two parts. 1- The brain and mind are melded together with the cybernetic components in order for them to function."
"Wait- these girls, they only have prosthetics..." Priscilla interrupts.
Chief Lorenzo gives her a scowl. Then he signals the girl in the maid outfit to approach the table.
"Tee, strip," he commands her. She does as she is told as he then pushes everything off the table, spilling it onto the floor. She stands there in just her white cotton bra and panty, and he commands her to take those off as well before laying on the table naked. Again, she continues to do as ordered. He pulls out a small flashlight from his pocket and tells her to open her mouth. He then signals to Ferro and Priscilla to approach the table and examine Tee. He describes each part of her in detail as he points them out to them.
"Now, this is Tee. My cyborg, the second unit built by Dr. Frankenstein and his design team. Both she and Francesca are very much alike. Carbon-fiber bones with Titanium reinforced joints from head to toe, Sorbothane shock absorbing cartilage between the joints, inner Gortex mesh to hold everything in place. Most of the muscles and a couple of the major organs have been replaced. With Tee, there is a Kevlar inner lining to give her some bullet resistant protection to her inner structures, Francesca does not have this. The future additions to the cyborg corp. will have this Kevlar inner lining. The skin is an amalgam of the host's real skin and artificial skin, a highly improved variety from the kind used on burn victims. There are certain body functions that cannot be artificially mimicked, so, these organs must remain in the body; considering that she is female, her reproductive functions are intact because they regulate other body functions through hormone interaction as well. Her kidneys, adrenal glands, uter and urinary bladder are also intact since these organs are hard to reproduce artificially and nature's design seem to work better than the lab created ones; the ovaries produce Estrogen, to counter act the Testosterone produced by the Adrenal Glands. The Adrenal Glands have been outfitted with a micro-stimulus pump, which when senses Adrenaline being produced, stimulates the gland to produce more. There is also a micro pump in the brain that produces Serotonin when it detects Adrenaline in the blood. This gives the girls more energy and counteracts much of the pain they may encounter in combat. The circulatory system is intact for major systems, but in some special cases, some cyborgs will have an artificial heart in their place. Much of the nervous system has been rerouted from the shoulders down, and is directly connected to the cybernetic parts. But neuro subsystems are still intact for the most part- this all depends on how much nerve damage the girls came in with. With Francesca- Lupus revenged much of her nervous system, and much of it has been replaced with artificial nerves created by Dr. Frankenstein. Now, for all this to work, there is a drug component- the conditioning drug which aides the girl's brains to not be overwhelmed by over stimulations from the cybernetics or to over react in minor things like lifting a pencil. This each girl must be trained and fine tuned their fine motor control of their cybernetics, and that is where the handlers come in. With each girl being different, this training can take several weeks or several months. Francesca took 3 months to learn her new body. Tee took 6 weeks. With this new body, they are given a 'Vita Nova', a new life. It is this new life that they are to work for us as we continue medical treatment, maintenance and repairs. They will work for us in the intell, logistics and termination squads. This is where the second part of the conditioning comes into play. When most civic minded people kill somebody, they have remorse for the life they had killed, some fall into a depression or other mental illness. We do not want this to happen to our termination squads members, especially to our terminators. We need them to follow their killing orders without emotion or remorse like you would kill a roach or a fly. We need them to follow orders to the letter, and furthermore we need them to protect their handlers during termination missions. In turn their handlers will give them the utmost training possible in weapons and hand to hand combat. They are educated like any other girl in Italy, but the handlers handle most of the tutoring and education of their cyborgs. They are given room, board, media access... they are given everything here but a paycheck- which you two do receive. So, if you have some aversion to the cyborgs being conditioned, remember, they are no longer living little girls anymore but rather machines made from wrecked human flesh, a destroyed human mind and what little is left of a soul. They require maintenance and repair like an automobile. They were built and programmed to follow orders like a computer. So if you have an aversion to any of this... you will be fired."
"Fired?", Priscilla asks.
"Terminated... Hunted down like a criminal and shot dead by these very girls you work with, because this is a government secret, and we cannot have such government secrets to become public knowledge.", Chief Lorenzo stated in a very cold tone.
"But..." Priscilla started to complain.
"But, what?" Chief Lorenzo states to her.
"But... Francesca..." Priscilla started to say, finding trouble to find the right words.
"Francesca wants to have sex with Felix," Ferro says for her.
Chief Lorenzo looks at the two of them for a moment.
"How do you know this?" he asks.
"She told us herself," Ferro answers.
"And it has something to do with her conditioning," Priscilla adds.
"As long as Francesca follows orders and completes her termination missions, then I hope he is doing her well.", Chief Lorenzo says.
"What?" Ferro asks, immediately followed by "THAT IS UNCALLED FOR!", by Priscilla.
"The conditioning medication works extremely well on regular humans. So unless you don't want to be targeted for termination, we can fix it so that you will follow orders regardless of what those orders are. Or, you can mind your own business and do your jobs here like proper members of a top secret law enforcement government agency. The choice is yours," Chief Lorenzo says to them.
Creation of Francesca.
Part 11: Francesca's First Kill.
In a conference room next to Chief's Lorenzo's office, Felix, Ferro, Priscilla and Jean Croche, along with other members in Logistic and Support meet with the Director of section two. Tee hands out manuals to all of them to look over as Chief Lorenzo explains.
"Now is time for use to prove ourselves. The manuals you are receiving is your intended target: Vincent "Vinnie" Coleon. As you know, Vincent is the American Gangster accidentally caught when his entourage was busted on an assault of various victims in the world heavy weight fight, and weapons and drugs were found in his car. Though many of his pals took the possession wrap of the various items, the judge on the case and Magistrate Council decided to release them to American Authorities. We are here to make sure that he never makes it to America when he is released one week from today," Chief Lorenzo explains.
"Who are these other individuals?", Felix asks.
"They are his entourage," Chief Lorenzo answers. "Vincent is the main target, because he has had meetings with various mafia members during his stay here, even while being incarcerated. Deals were made, and apparently getting him released for home was one of them. The American Law Enforcement will never get him because he will elude them at the airport, and become a bigger problem in the future. With money and weapons coming in illegally from America, Italy will be in dire straits. We are to make sure the information inside his head, and the deals that were made never make back to America, so upon his release, in front of hundreds of witness and the news media, he will be terminated."
"How?" Felix asks.
"That is Francesca's job," Chief Lorenzo answers.
"Again, how?" Felix asks.
"That is on you. A sniper shot would be difficult to do and easy to spot due to how the buildings are situated around the court building. Police will be everywhere, but most have been ordered to look the other way when the event happens. A drive-by will also be difficult, so, Francesca will have to make her way through the crowd and get close to Vincent, assassinate him and then fight her way out to the getaway vehicle blocks away," Chief Lorenzo explains. "Support and Logistics are to help Francesca in her escape by being part of the media entourage, and crowd up her escape route. Felix, you will drive Francesca back to the agency. Jean, you have the nest up above and observe what happens. Any and all of Vincent's friends are open to termination if they put up a fight. Now Felix, is Francesca up to this task?"
"She has been trained to the best of my ability," Felix answers.
"This Is No Camera Shoot Mission. She will have to be able to fight off anyone, including police who may try to capture her during her escape," Chief Lorenzo explains.
"Her red hair will make her easy to spot," Priscilla explains.
Felix sighs and shakes his head.
"Then deal with it," Chief Lorenzo answers.
"How?" Priscilla asks.
"Dye it black," Chief Lorenzo states in a very cold tone.
"But..." Priscilla starts to say.
"It will be done, chief..." Ferro interrupts Priscilla.
"Make sure it's a perfect job," Chief Lorenzo says. "You all have your mission briefs. Study them. Then fulfill the mission."
Chief Lorenzo folds up his brief case and leaves the room.
"I will go get some temporary hair dye for Francesca," Ferro says as she closes her briefing manual before getting up and walks towards the door.
"I'll go with you..." Priscilla says going right after her.
As the two women leave, the rest of the room of men turn to face Felix.
"Hope your cyborg is up to the task," Jean states to him.
"She has not failed me yet," Felix tells him.
"First time for everything," Jean adds, "This is not some camera picture taking date."
Jean slowly gets up and leaves the room.
"Has she killed before?" the one named Alfonso asks.
"No," Felix stated.
"Can she?" Alfonso asks.
"She trained to take a life if ordered too. I taught her in hand to hand, firearms and knife fighting skills. She can defend herself when needed," Felix explains.
"Then let's put it to a test," Alfonso says.
"A test? What kind of test?" Felix asks.
"A walk in the park," Alfonso answers.
For the next several minutes, the men talk about how to stress test Francesca, coming up with the idea of having her walk through the park late at night on the rough side of town. The plan was simple- a simple nightly walk, and kill anyone who would attack her. This would determine her fighting and killing ability, as well as an aftermath psychology stress test. Position of support and logistics were discussed and at what point would Francesca require back up. The meeting ends when details were hammered out. Her test debuts tonight.
Felix arrives in Francesca's room, as she tends to her chores of keeping it neat. He takes her by the hand and walks her over to her bed and sits on it, signaling her to sit next to him.
"Francesca. We need to have one of those talks," Felix says to her.
"What kind of talk?" Francesca asks.
"The agency decided to put you through a termination mission," Felix started to explain.
"I have to kill somebody?" Francesca asks, interrupting him.
"Yes," as Felix bows his head.
"Show me who he is and I will kill them for you," Francesca says with no sign of fear or remorse in her voice. In fact it sounded too eager for anyone to be comfortable with.
"OK," as Felix turns to face her, He then hands her the mission briefing manual, explaining to her what she has to do as she goes through the pages, "The mission is in 1 week from today. You will have to go up to that person and shoot him in front of a large crowd and his body guards. You can kill the body guards if they get in the way of you killing your target or if they try to restrain you. Everyone else are innocents, and are to be left unhurt. Furthermore, there will be members of the agency hiding in the crowd to help you run away to the escape car 2 blocks away where I will drive us home. Is all that clear to you?"
"Yes. I'll do it. I'll do anything for you, Felix," Francesca answers.
"You have any issues about killing somebody in cold blood?" Felix asks.
"You taught me that those we are going to face have killed many innocents and deserve to die for their crimes. I have no problems in killing them," Francesca states to him.
"OK, there are 2 more things I have to tell you then," Felix adds.
"Anything, what?" Francesca asks.
"For that mission, all your hair will be dyed black," Felix answers.
"All my hair?" Francesca asks.
"You being a red-head; makes you stick out and be easy to spot and identify to be captured. It's going to be dyed black, but with a temporary dye so it can wash off after the mission and you have lovely red hair again," Felix explains.
"But all of it?" Francesca asks again.
"Yes, dear- all of it," Felix tells her.
"Including..." Francesca started to say as she lift up her skirt and points to her groin.
Felix takes Francesca's hand and slowly makes her lower her skirt, leans over to give her a kiss on the forehead, "No, just the hair on your head."
"Oh..." Francesca says, almost innocently.
"Ferro and Priscilla will take care of making you up for that mission. So don't worry about a thing," he tells her.
"I don't like those two," Francesca complains.
"But why? They're our friends and co-workers," Felix asks then says.
"I just don't," Francesca says. "You said that there were two things... what's the other?"
"Oh... How can I say this?" Felix started. "You are going to go through a mission test tonight to see how you can handle killing somebody. Though this is a test, you are going to have to actually kill someone in order to pass it."
"OK, I can do that. Who is he?" Francesca says and then asks.
"We don't know who. You are going to walk through the park and meet me on the other side. Along the way, somebody, we don't know who, will attack you. You are to kill that person or persons in self defense. You will continue to do this as you walk through the park until you meet me. Support will be hiding nearby in case you need help. Alright?" Felix explains.
"I can do that," Francesca says.
"Understand that if you can't handle a couple of street punks, then you won't be able to handle the mission," Felix says.
"I'll do it. I'll do anything for you... And I'll pass... you'll see..." Francesca says.
"Just remember your training and everything I taught you and you won't go wrong," Felix tells her.
"I won't forget!" Francesca says.
"Good... now dress up nice so we can go out for a bit before the mission," Felix tells her.
"Going out?" Francesca asks.
"Yeah, a movie perhaps? Or a museum trip. Then something to eat, then we see something else or go shopping if you like, then dinner and then the park mission," Felix answers.
She leans against his arm, "If you don't mind, I would prefer if we just stayed here..."
"Alright then. But only for a couple of hours. Then we go out and do those things and get you ready for tonight's test mission," Felix answers.
Francesca puts her arm around him and holds him closers as she continues to lean against him, "Thanks..."
Francesca wanted more but she took what was given to her, alone time with her handler. He treated her like a sister, daughter, even at times as a friend, but she wanted him as a lover. She was confused as to what love was, and between her hormones, the conditioning drugs and assorted reading material somebody kept leaving behind for her to read in her room, things were very confusing for her. But she believed that whatever she did for her handler, that he would give her that much more of himself to her. After the first hour had past, she was on the verge of tears. He noticed.
"Something wrong?" Felix asked.
"I just don't know," Francesca answered.
"Scared, maybe?" Felix asked.
"Of what?" she asks.
"Then... can you figure out what is bothering you?" Felix asks.
"I don't want you mad at me," Francesca says.
"I would never get mad at you," Felix responds.
"I want you," Francesca says without hesitation.
"Me?" Felix asks. "I mean, how, why?"
"I don't know how to say it, but I can never be a normal girl again. My mom and dad are gone, 1/2 of me is not even me anymore though Dr. Frankenstein says those replacement parts are better than what I had, I'm 1/2 a machine, but the other 1/2 of me that is still a girl wants something that only a guy can give me," Francesca explains.
"We talked about sex and love, right?" Felix asks.
Francesca nods.
"Then you know the differences, the expectations and the consequences of taking on such actions," Felix says.
"I do," Francesca answers. "But Felix, what if I fail?"
"You won't fail," Felix tries to reassure her.
"But..." Francesca interjects, "If I fail, even in the slightest, and get hurt, I do not want more parts to replace what's left of me. Furthermore, if I get raped, I would want to have you be the first one before anyone else could take away that part from me..."
"Uhm..." Felix tries to find an answer.
"Just, please... say yes. Be my boyfriend, be my lover, be my everything just this one time and I will never ask you again," Francesca almost asks.
"You're asking for a lot. Maybe too much," Felix says.
"I'm here all alone. I don't have a natural life anymore. I have no friends my age here. Not even a boyfriend. I want you to be that boyfriend for me because I care for you so much, I love you so much... so please... give me a normal life, give me love, and kisses and make me your girlfriend and I will do everything right by you...", Francesca pleads.
Felix sighs. Then hugs Francesca and gives her a kiss on the forehead.
"Look, Francesca. If I were to love you in that such of a way, it would be wrong," Felix begins to explain.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" Francesca asks.
"No, not since leaving Spain," he answers.
"Do you want a girlfriend?" she continues to ask.
"Yes, but..." Felix started to answer.
"But what?" Francesca interrupts.
"Now is not the time to be having girlfriends," Felix answers.
"Why not?" Francesca asks.
"This is training. Whether in the military or the police or even in sports, you must work hard to be the best. You can not be the best when you're having sex," Felix explains.
Francesca continues to stare at Felix, biting on her lower lip as a tear starts to roll down her cheek. Felix takes her by the shoulders and holds her at arm's length from him.
"Look, Francesca. I love you. Really I do. And if you were older or I was younger, then maybe yes, we could be boyfriend and girlfriend. But right now as things are, it can't be. I do promise you that we can have some time alone together, like this. We can talk, and hold, and do things that only close friends would do. Maybe as boyfriend and girlfriend may do in our private moments together, but there will be certain lines that we will not cross. Understand me?" Felix explains.
Francesca nods and answers, "Yes Felix..."
Felix leans over to her and gives her another kiss on the forehead. Then he whispers in her ear, "Look, if in a couple of years, when you become 16, and I'm not seeing anyone seriously, then we can be boyfriend and girlfriend. OK?"
Francesca smiles through her tears and holds him tightly. After a several long seconds, he signals her to let him go.
"OK, girl. Inspection time. I need you to start getting ready for tonight's mission. Let's see what you got..." Felix tells her.
"What you want me to wear on this mission?" she asks.
"It might be a chilly spring night, but if you can put up wearing a short skirt, that would be fine..." Felix answers.
Francesca takes off her outer layers of clothes and runs around her room in just her underwear, throwing things on the bed to see if it passes Felix's approval. Slowly they gathered enough stuff to look like a lost Catholic School Girl in semi school uniform attire, with white tights and black Mary Jane shoes. A small purse will conceal a gun and a knife for her.
Once she is dressed and ready to go, Felix takes her by the arm and sits her n his lap. He looks into her eyes, giving her goose bumps and shivers, with runaway thought of 'will he take me? Here and now? Please let it be!' running through her head. He leans over to kiss her on the forehead, but she tilts her head back a bit, making him land on her lips instead. The kiss lasted longer than it should have, with a sudden break from Felix.
At first he was mad about it, but realizes that it was his mistake in doing so, dissipating his anger as quickly as possible. He then takes her purse and looks through it, finding the gun and knife neatly tucked away where it could not be seen. He then looks her over from head to toe and back to head again.
"Perfect," he says to her.
"You really think so?" Francesca asks.
"Yes, I do", Felix replies.
Francesca smiles. Felix pushes her off his lap, taking her by the waist as she stood and positions her in front of him.
"Now Francesca... We need to go over how you will respond to being attacked," he tells her.
For the next 45 minutes, Felix goes through the various scenario possibilities of Francesca could be approached and attacked: from the front, the rear, the side, with a weapon, a purse snatching, attempted robbery, attempted rape; and the final solution for all is to eliminate the threat, first by hand, get some space and then by gun or knife. They practiced until he was sure that Francesca was more than capable in a fight, despite the martial arts training he had given her.
Once satisfied with her abilities, Felix makes her go through a cool down and wash up before dressing up and going out. He does the same as she goes through her routine. Their meeting place is by his car, a 1996 Red Alfa Romeo Spyder.
For the afternoon, Francesca and Felix take to some coffee and pastry, a movie, and then dinner. During dinner, he excuses himself to go to the bathroom where he makes a call to Ferro and the Logistical and Support Teams. Things were ready to go for Francesca's solo test run in the park. All he needed to do was spend another two hours with her before letting her go on her own.
He drives her about the perimeter of the park, showing her where she is going to enter, where she should come out of, and where he is going to be parked waiting for her. In this, she has to cross double set row of trees that line the perimeter of the park, several paths, and large grassy areas that are lined with bushes and benches at the paths that encircle them. In total, 400 meters, a considerable distance to walk, especially in the dark when it is hard to tell which direction one is going and can easily get off at the wrong exit. Thus the street signs are studied and memorized just in case she gets out the wrong way, she should be able to figure her way back to Felix and the Red Alpha Romeo Spyder.
At a quarter to ten, 15 minutes ahead of schedule, a pizza van parks by the park's entrance, behind Felix's Spyder. A couple of people in suits come out of it on the sidewalk side and approach the Alpha Romeo, as a couple of others step into the park. Felix already has them in view on his review mirrors. The woman in the business suit approaches Felix on the driver's side, bending down to speak to him while the male stands a few feet away from the passenger side.
A woman in business suit leans over to the driver window, "You're here early, Felix."
"So are you too, Ferro. Want to do this right away or wait?" Felix replies and asks.
Ferro looks out into the park for a moment.
"Let's go do this now," Ferro says.
Felix nods his head. He then turns to Francesca.
"You ready?" Felix asks Francesca.
"For you I am..." Francesca answers.
"Good. I'll drive to the other side while you walk through the park. Ferro and the Support team will be close by in case you need help," Felix explains as he turns on the car's ignition.
Francesca nods. Felix leans towards her and gives her a kiss on the forehead.
"Good luck, and go..." Felix tells her.
Francesca reaches over to the grab the door handle, opens the car door and starts to head into the park. Felix reaches into the glove box and pulls out an ear set to his two-way radio. The radio is turned on as Felix puts the car in gear and slowly pulls away. He gets to his destination on the other side of the park in a couple of minutes; Francesca is still passing by the first row of trees. She remains unmolested as she crosses paths and the fenced and bench lined grass areas. More than a third of her trip done and nothing, with another third being open space in front of her being devoid of anyone within sight of view. She walk as slowly as she could, trying to make herself as an easy target as possible. With each step she finds it frustrating that nothing is happening. She takes a seat at the second set of benches she comes across at the 2/3rd mark of her mission. Radio chatter fills the ears as observing SWA Support agents discuss her actions. Felix responds to them, "Leave her be but don't take her out of your sight..."
On the other side where Felix was parked at, a group of four drunken and high teenaged skin-head punks enter the park. They turn over garbage cans and breaking car windows along their walk before entering the park. How they managed to skip Felix's car was just luck. "Heads up everyone... a group might bite the hook Francesca had casted..." Felix says into the radio.
"Who are they?" Ferro asks from the pizza truck, signaling to Amedeo to drive to where Felix was at.
"Skin Head Punks.", Felix replies.
"Damn- they're going to massacre her..." an unknown male voice says in the radio.
"You assholes better cover for her if she gets into any trouble!" Felix yells back at them.
"I got her," says another young voice into the radio causing Felix to look at it curiously.
"Maybe we should call it off?" Ferro asks.
"No way to contact her..." Felix replies.
"They are making contact with her..." Nihal started to say as he interrupted Felix. "OH SHIT!!!"
"WHAT!!!" Felix yells into the radio.
He then tries to get out of the car, almost having Amedeo crash into his opening door as he angle parks the pizza truck onto the sidewalk by the park's entrance in front of the Spyder. He and Ferro run out of the pizza van and into the park, with Felix after them. In the distance gun fire can be heard going off in rapid succession. This made them run faster to the scene.
It was a grizzly scene that they had arrived too. Felix calls out Francesca's name, but she does not answer as she stands by one of the bodies she had pumped 6 rounds into. The other bodies laid dead, one had his abdomen ripped open from top to bottom, the knife still lodged inside. Another had his windpipe crushed from a blow to it, and had drowned in his own blood. A third had a broken arm and a bullet manually inserted into the side of his head. The last laid several yards away tried to run from the scene, had 6 rounds put in through his back, hitting every major organ. All the others could do was take note of the carnage, only the recorded video tape of the fight would reveal what really happened in those few short seconds.
Felix walks up to Francesca, calling out her name, "Francesca!..." She does not answer. She does not move. She just stands there looking down at the body. Her panting and heavy breathing had slowed down considerably. Felix slowly reaches out and touches her shoulder, calling for her. She spins around faster than anyone would have expected, knocking Felix's arm down, and putting the gun to his face. She pulls back on the hammer to release a quick shot to the head before she realizes it was her handler, and love of her life- Felix. She drops the gun and pounces on him for a tight hug.
"Felix! I'm Sorry! I'm So Sorry! Please Forgive me!", Francesca begins to beg.
"Alright! Alright, Just Let me Go! Will Ya?!!" Felix complained as she had pinned his arms to his side and had him held tighter than a Boa Constrictor would its lunch.
Eventually Francesca slowly lets him go. The blood that was splattered on Francesca's clothing was now on Felix's shirt. They both look at the stain as the others gathered about them.
"You two can't go back alone in your car, Felix," Ferro started to say. "You would have a lot of explaining to do if you get pulled over by the police."
Felix just nods. Ferro continues.
"Give me your car keys and I'll bring your Alpha home for you. Get into the pizza van so no one can see you," Ferro explains.
"Alright," Felix gives in as he hands over his car keys to Ferro.
Ferro calls Priscilla on the radio to get the rest of Logistics and Support to clean up the scene as orders Amadeo to takes Felix and Francesca back to the compound while she takes Felix's car to the compound as well. The trip home takes a longer than expected amount of time when one is a passenger in the back of a dark van, but it only took 20 minutes. Once back to the safety of the compound, Felix orders Francesca to wash up and go to bed. He then slowly walks to the dormitory where he currently lives.
Ferro trots up behind him, calling for him. Felix stops and turns around.
"Yes, Ferro?" Felix asks.
Ferro reaches out to him, handing back his car keys. She then stands there with her hands folded in front of her. "Thanks", Felix was all was he could say at the moment.
He slowly turns around to continue walking back to the dorms. "Wait!" Ferro says as they step into the archway between the parking lot and the building complex. Felix turns around to face her.
"Yes, Ferro?" Felix asks again.
She walks up to him, and stands in front of him, taking his hands. She lets out a sigh.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" he asks.
"Uhm..." she starts to say with hesitation, "Francesca did well today..."
"I don't know about that," Felix stated.
"Besides the mess... 4 grown men vs. one little girl, she did it," Ferro stated.
"I need to see the combat tape to evaluate her score," he replied.
"But... considering the odds, Felix. She did it," Ferro said holding back all excitement.
Felix sighs, then shakes his head. It takes a while for him to gather his words.
"She can't be so sloppy on a real mission," he tells her.
"We can practice for on that," Ferro answers.
"We have less than a week to practice," Felix explains.
"Not a problem," Ferro says. "We can start in the morning."
Felix just sighs. Ferro on the other hand, leans over and gives him a kiss on the cheek before stepping back and walking away from him. Felix rubs his cheek where Ferro had kissed him, wondering what had just transpired.
From within a row of trees, a young boy clicks shut the covers to the scope on his rifle.
"Not bad; rookie," Alpha says as he shoulders his rifle and jumps down from the tree. "Not bad at all."
Creation of Francesca.
Part 12: Francesca's First Mission.
Practice was held in an abandoned area of ruins north of Rome where a temple once stood. A temple with stairs similar to the courthouse. This was key, for Francesca is to run up to the staircase to her victim, fire the rounds that is to kill Vinnie, and make her escape. On two of the three runs, she had tripped on the stairs, either running up to shoot or in her escape. Felix stops the first practice session for a meal break for all involved. He orders Francesca to sit in the shade and take on some water while he looks over the scene.
The stairs are steep, and uneven, unlike the courthouse which would be much more pristine. Getting a crowbar from the car, Felix manages to straighten out a couple large stones of the stairs, though an inch at a time. Stones that have not been moved since perhaps Rome burned under Nero. He takes a few steps and lightly jumps on them to test their stability, finding them solid. He goes back to the car and puts away the crow bar. Ferro walks up to him and hands him a bottle of water.
"Nice work there. You almost could prove that Rome was built in a day doing that," Ferro stated.
"Something was not right, and I hope that fixes everything," Felix replies. He then takes a swig from the bottle of water. He puts on the cap back on the bottle, and wipes his forehead with his forearm. He notices Ferro staring at him. "Something's wrong, Ferro?" he asks.
"Are those sunglasses you're wearing, Felix?" she asks.
"No, they are transition lenses, they turn dark when outside and light when indoors," he explains.
"Oh. I thought they were sunglasses.", Ferro started to say.
"They're not," Felix says as he closes the trunk of his car. He starts to walk back to the temple ruin, yelling, "OK! BREAKS OVER, EVERYONE! PLACES! PLACES!"
With the steps repaired, Francesca did better, and manages to fulfill mission practice directives. There would be two more days of practice for Francesca, followed by scouting and intell missions for her to acquaint herself with the area.
Mission Day.
Court was adjourned at 10:30am, though a crowd of journalists and paparazzi gathered about the steps of the court house with police keeping them at bay. Vinnie Coleon and his entourage walk into the Men's Room to tidy up a bit and discuss returning to business. He shows off that he would make a grand exit for the news reporters outside, and ordered his body guards to give him some space when he walks down the stairs. Vinnie, if anything, was a showman.
10:38am, they walk down the halls of the court house as free men, heading to the exit with smiles on their faces. They reach the stairs at 10:40am. Vinnie stood at the top of the stairs as his men gathered beside him, with his arms stretched out, saying a corny line to impress the crowd, "Smell that! It's Freedom!" He then starts to walk down the stairs, as out stretched arms reach to him with cameras, microphones or mini-tape recorders in the hands. Questions are yelled out for him to answer. For a moment, he stops to answer a few questions before heading to the parked car that was waiting for him.
"Do you think you were set up?", one question echoed louder than most.
He leans over to the cluster of recording devices to make his statement. "Ladies and gentlemen. In my line of business, somebody is always trying to set me up! Sometimes it's with a dame. Other times it's with crimes against the law." He stands up straight to get another question yelled at him.
Making her way through by pushing reports away, a short girl makes it to the front row. She wore a light green shirt, blue jeans, and old sneakers which the name tags had worn off. Her raven hair was braided at the back. She bends down and manages to get past the police that was providing crowd control, drawing out a black gun. Taking the final two steps to Vinnie and his men, she aims to his chest, letting off two rounds. They impact him with a force to knock him off his feet, one of his men tried to catch him as he fell. A third shot hit Vinnie in the forehead. 4 more shots were fired, hitting two of the body guards that tried to grab her. The press and the police parted in different directions as to not get hit with the gun fire. She runs with the crowd and disappears around the corner. Vinnie was pronounced dead on arrival at Rome General Hospital. Highlights of the assassination played on the news for the rest of the day.