Secret of the Ageless (closed for amon_darknight)

It was for the best, he knew he should not be doing things like this. She was far too good to be with him anyways. She was not just another lay, she was something far better than that.

"Ami... I am sorry..."

The sound of the door slamming echoed through him, he walked up to the door.

"I am sorry Ami... I know I went to far... forgive me"

He shook his head as he walked down the hallway to his room and he shut the door, sliding down to his ass as he put his head in his hands.

"What have I done..."

He felt pain again, pain rang through his heart and his soul.

"I am sorry..."

He sat in the darkness, darkness was his friend, misery was his company, loneliness was his ally.
 
She could hear his voice through the door. He sounded pained, torn apart. She hadn't intended that, and it hurt her to hear that she'd cause him such torment.

When she opened the door a moment later, she was dressed in pajamas - an old tank-top and a pair of short cotton shorts. She looked down the hall to Ben's room and padding quietly over to his door. She knocked quietly, but didn't open the door. Instead, she simply spoke through it, hoping he'd be listening.

"You don't have to apologize. I over-reacted, and it was my fault to begin with. I should have known better than to start dancing with you like that. I'm sorry. You did nothing wrong."
 
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He heard her sweet voice, it took the pain away. He looked up from his hands and he stood up and opened the door.

"No, you have nothing to be sorry for, I should have stopped things, I did... but I should have not come back to you."

He felt his heart racing, his every fiber told him to kiss her, told him to take her into his arms and hold her, he knew she needed it, but he had to stop it.

"Please, don't blame yourself, I am to blame for this, I knew you were teasing and playing, it has been a long time for me... I let my emotions cloud my judgment, I will... it will not happen again."

He shook his head and she could see his guns all over the room, weapons, the Katana on the stand stood out from them all, a single candle and incense burned next to it.

"Get some rest Amilee, we both are going to need it."

He smiled lightly at her.
 
It has been a long time for me...

Amilee felt her heart sink into the pit of her stomach. Of course. He wasn't into her so much as he was just a hot-blooded man who would react to a woman coming on to him the way she did. Still, given how strongly she was feeling about him, the realization that he didn't feel the same stung a little. Or a lot.

"I... I see." She took a step back, trying to pretend she was fine, and failing miserably. "Yeah. We should get some rest. I'll see you in the morning." And she withdrew to her room, trying to pretend that she was okay.

Amilee didn't wake the next day until around noon. When she did, the pain of last night had dulled from a string to an ache and she wandered out into the kitchen, sleepy and only half-dressed, having forgotten that she was no longer living alone.
 
Ben did not even sleep, the look of sorrow was too burned in his mind, was she really thinking he was going to take her, after that... wait... was that all just a game? He shook his head and realized what time it was.

"Shit...?"

He stood and had his shirt off and only wore his boxers, he went into the kitchen to find Amilee there, she saw him with no shirt and his boxers on, she saw his whole body, he had many tattoos. He saw her in a similar state.

"Ami... sorry."

He turned around to not be rude.

"Want me to brew some coffee?"

He thought about last night.

"Are you doing okay? I am sorry again for the way I was... my god you are beautiful..."

He saw how the sun hit her body and lit up her beautiful features, she looked like an angel.
 
"Shit!" She turned around, cursing under her breath, when Ben walked into the room. "Shit, sorry. I'm not used to having to dress in my own home." She scampered back into her room, only just catching his breathless comment about her being beautiful, and she felt her heart flipping over in her chest.

She came out a moment later wearing an oversized t-shirt that hung down just low enough to hide her panties. She offered him a small smile, trying to figure out how to repair their good relationship. "It's alright. Listen, we shouldn't let what happened last night impact us. Let's just forget it ever happened."

Her gaze lifted to him, to his nearly-naked body, and she took a long, deep breath, trying to suppress her body's reaction to the sight of him. His body - the muscles, the scars, and the tattoos - took her breath away. Despite what she'd just said, and despite knowing that asking him to stay so unclothed was going to discourage forgetting just how he made her feel, she smiled and took a seat on the couch while he made coffee. "So, you promised me you'd explain your tattoos. Now's as good a time as any, don't you think?"
 
He grinned.

"I don't mind, you have a gorgeous body Ami."

He wanted to be playful again. It was fun and healthy to smile and feel good.

"I agree, lets just pit it behind and be ourselves. What do you say?"

He walked over and oit his hand out to shake.

"But I did enjoy seeing you dance though, you got real talent."

She asked about his tattoos.

"My tattoos are a story, I dont want to bore you though. I can tell you that 90 percent of my tattoos are having to do with taking the life of another."

He showed his rib cage where he had tribal designs for deaths. He had to fib about when they were from.

"When I was a merc in Afghanistan I killed a lot of people, both good and bad, these thorns are for everyone I killed along this vine, 28 to be exact. These two dragons were representation of my partner, we trained together and I killed him."

His face showed pain, his eyes welled up.

"All of these tattoos are signs that I am bad guy, one whos life is not worth anything."

He fought back the tears, the pain that came up.

"Ami... dont think badly of me... I am not that man anymore, not in a very long time..."

He turned to walk away, ashamed of what he has done and what she now knows. She saw more of the same tribal thorns with the same vines that represented death on his back, there was a cross and praying hands on his back.

He went into the kitchen and poured himself some coffee and her a cup. He brought it to her and he went to sit on the ground, staring out the window.
 
Amilee managed to stay quiet while he spoke, waiting until he was finished with his story to respond. She hated to see him in pain, but interrupting him wasn't going to help.

Instead, she stood from the couch and went to sit next to him on the floor, sipping at her coffee. She glanced at him, measuring his reaction, and then leaned a little closer, resting her head gently against his shoulder. "I don't think you're a bad person, Ben. Quite the opposite, in fact. The fact that you've given up that mercenary life is what matters. You're trying to be a good person, and you're putting yourself at risk to protect others. I can't imagine anyone more honorable or worthy than you."

She sighed, and slipped one of her hands into his, holding tightly. "Some day you'll see. I told you, I'm making it my mission to show you. I'll make you see that your life is worth so much more than you think." She smiled. "The only reason I'm letting you stick around to protect me is because it's worth it if it means I get a chance to show you how good a person you are. Just because you can't see it yourself right now doesn't mean it isn't true."
 
"That is your mission huh? You should be focusing on saving the world or coming up with a cure for something extraordinary, oh, you are an inventor, so you should be inventing..."

He looked to her hand in his and he smiled at her.

"Your hand feels so soft and warm, it is really nice."

He squeezed her hand gently as he looked deep into her eyes.

"Tell me, what are you really thinking, when you look at me? What are you feeling?"

He wanted to know, her eyes seemed to sparkle as she looked to him.

"I do not want to disappoint if you were to ever see me really work, I mean you almost saw me torture someone, and yes, it was because of you that I did not go down that road again, I don't think I ever said thank you for that."

He lifted her hand and kissed it gently.

"You just want to prove me wrong because you want to be right huh?"

He poked her side.
 
Amilee grinned, then blushed at his lips against her hand. The feeling of it sent sparks running up her arm.

"Yeah, you could say I'm stubborn," she teased in response. "Plus, I like you. I want you to be happy. And I can't imagine that it's easy to be happy when you're down on yourself like that all the time." She shook her head. "Anyway, what would you like to do today? I don't have to go into the office today, and I'm kinda used to bumming around by myself. It'll be nice to hang out with someone else for a change." A smile. "Any thoughts?"

And in that moment, the sound of shattering glass. It took a moment to recognize where it came from, but within a second, Amilee spotted the bullet hole in the window in front of them. "Fuck!" she hissed, scrambling to her feet. They could deal with the damage in a moment - for now, they needed to get out of the line of fire!

Still holding Ben's hand, she pulled him to his feet, using more of her inhuman strength that she probably should have, but protecting her secret was far less important to her in the moment than keeping him alive. She yanked him into the kitchen and then down behind the island - it would provide some cover, at least.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly once they were down there and safe - at least for the moment. Her hands ran quickly over his body, searching for injuries in practiced motions. It was clearly something she'd done before.
 
He heard the window shatter and it was not even a second before he was getting pulled to cover by her... he shook his head as he looked to her.

"Wha... what the hell..."

He could not believe what just happened. He saw the bullet hole and followed the trajectory path. Who ever took the shot just now, had skill, if he wanted to, he could have ended her, or possibly... wait a minute, nothing can kill him, but it would not be good if she found out about that, she would think he was some kind of monster. He calmed himself.

"Okay, the shooter has real skill, we need to get out of here, better cover, if he takes another shot, the bullet might go through things, and I do not want to take a chance on you getting hit. I do not have any weapons on me..."

He than took her hand and he pulled her fast with him, he put himself between the glass and her, so if the sniper took a shot, he could block it with his body, he quickly ran to the hallway with the bedrooms.

"Who's room is safer, mine our yours?"

He than took her into his room and he grabbed a bag of gear and he than ran her into her room and closed the door and locked it.

"If I was the sniper, I would be calling in for a breech. Here take this, do you know how to use it?"

A fucking breech in the day, crazy, he could be wrong though, he crossed his fingers that he was wrong. It would be a bold move to storm a building like this in the day. He handed her a black SIG Sauer P938

"It has 7 shots, here take two of these."

He handed her two magazines.

"Press here to eject the clip, slam the mag in and rack it, than you are ready to kill, please don't shoot yourself and don't shoot me..."

He than loaded his shotgun. He looked so calm.

"Please do not worry, this is what I do, and I am good at what I do."

He smiled at her.
 
Amilee was in shock, letting Ben pull her around after him while he got his gear and hid them in the safety of her room.

It wasn't until he pressed the gun into her hands and began to explain to her how it worked that she snapped to attention. She offered him a feral, ferocious smile, and cocked the weapon as if it was something she'd done a million times before. "Come on, you're talking to a girl who hides blades in her shoes. I know how to use a gun.

She closed her eyes, listening for any suspicious sound. She heard it, a moment later - a dull thud from above and then the sound of shattering glass in the living room. "They're coming in from on the roof." She looked around, frowning. "We have no cover in here. We should open the door and use the hallway as a funnel to deal with them one or two at a time." As she was speaking, she reached out to unlock the door, but she paused, looking to Ben for confirmation. This wasn't her first time in a situation like this, but Ben was in charge. She'd look to him for her orders for the time being.
 
He grinned at her as he watched her rack the gun, what was there she could not do? And she looked so sexy doing it... wow...

"Amazing... simply amazing."

He saw the look in her eyes and than he too heard the thud, six or seven sets of boots. Strange though, he did not hear a chopper or anything, than he heard the shattering glass and the door being broken down.

"Damn it..."

He heard her suggestion and just kept smiling at her.

"Good suggestion, but I only have so much ammo in this bag, I am sure there is only six to seven of them, but they too can use the cover of the entrance of the hallway, I am sure they are going to use Gas...


He than heard the ping of a canister hitting the tile, that he knew too be a grenade of some sort, he knew the sound all to well from his many years of being a warrior. He did not have anytime, he looked to her and said "Cover your ears!" he than popped two shots off as her large window shattered, he than heard the grenade blow and saw the gas start to come through the slit under the door, he quickly took the rope out from the bag and slung the bag over his shoulder as he tied the rope off to her bed frame.

"I hope you are not afraid of heights."

He tied the rope around his waist as he than saw the door blow from its hinges, he ran fast with her. "HOLD ON!"

He jumped as he told her to fire at them. As they were falling he shifted his momentum and had his back to the building as he slammed against the glass, spidering it. He looked up as he knew the suppresive fire would not hold them off for long, he shot the glass and pulled them into, he must be five floors down, the rope was not long enough to get all the way down. He now heard the chopper and he looked to her as they were in the bedroom of whoever lived here.

"Are you okay? Whoever this guy is, he has hired mercs to get you... from what I saw, they are geared... we need to get out of here... maybe I need to buy you some time so you can go... shit..."

He was torn between staying and killing them, well most of them, he needed to get intell. He was not wearing his glasses, but his watched would do.

"Jillian, get me intell on that chopper and see if you can ID any of those mercs, get me something on them, Ami has cameras in her place, access them. Hurry, link them to the desert safe house, that is where I will be."

He quickly took some clothes out from the closet and put a shirt on and jeans, he looked to Ami and threw her a shirt and some shorts.

"Nothing sexy, but something at least..."

He than heard the door give to the place and he ran to the hallway and fired a round off from his shotgun, the man hit groaned as he hit the ground.

"Body armor... if you going to shoot, head shots babe."

He took the mans rifle and gas mask, a few of his grenades and his handgun. He took his earpiece and looked out to the hallway.

"Clear... take that guys body armor."

He put the earpiece in his other ear and heard the chatter, telling them what floor they were on. He took the last thing from the merc, his knife and he looked to Ami.

"We need to move..."
 
Amilee barely had time to react before Ben grabbed her and jumped. She clung to him, trying to ignore how good his body felt against hers, even in this extreme situation. Her attention was grabbed, however, by the feeling of his body slamming into the window below. "Fuck!" She looked worriedly at him. "Are you okay?!" There was no way he could have done that without sustaining at least a few broken ribs.

But, it seemed, he was at least well enough to move, because soon they were in the bedroom of another apartment, stealing clothes out of the closet. She had to chuckle at his comment about the clothes not being very sexy. "If it's that much of a worry, we can pick up new clothing once we're out of here." Everyone else in the world were just getting used to the new tap credit cards - Amilee had one of the tap-chips implanted in her wrist for just such emergencies, leading to an untraceable account. They had access to money, and whoever was after them wouldn't be able to track them and their purchases with a chip that wasn't connected back to Amilee in any meaningful way.

She tossed the clothes on quickly, and then followed Ben out into the hall. On the way out, she pressed the emergency button near the apartment door - there was one in every single apartment, with a direct closed-circuit connection to the security desk. "It's Amilee! There are men with guns in my apartment! Please, evacuate the building!"

A moment later, the fire alarms went off, along with a PA announcement that this was not a drill, all residents need to clear the building immediately. It would give them some cover - the ability to blend in with the rest of the crowd - and this way, Ami hoped it would be less likely that the mercs would hurt someone in their attempt to get to her.
 
When she pressed the panic button he heard the chatter on the coms.

"Good idea babe, they are bugging out. Lets get out of here, help me with this guy, he is still alive."

He zip tied the mercs hands together and he smiled at Ami. He picked him up under his arms and he dragged him.

"Lets go back to your place, we need to gather supplies and figure out if we are too stay here or not."

He dragged the man to the elevator and looked to her.

"What you thinking Ami?"
 
Amilee followed Ben back up to her apartment, where the shattered glass was scattered all over her living room, and the open windows were sending a stiff breeze through the entire apartment. At least the gas had been blown away. Small benefit.

"What am I thinking?" she repeated softly, hugging herself. "I'm thinking we should get out of here. Take cover in some kind of safe house." Let him think she was afraid for her life. It didn't matter that it was him she was actually afraid for - the result would be mostly the same.

She turned to the man Ben was carrying and frowned. "What're we going to do with him?" He was still out cold. Might be a while before he came-to.

Shaking her head, she started towards her room. "I'm going to go pack up some stuff so we can get out of here, sooner rather than later. I'll need to stay out of the apartment for a while anyway while they fix this mess. Might as well be somewhere safe and hidden, right?"
 
"I am so sorry for this, I did not think after that driver he hired, that this man would go the lengths to hire a squad of mercs. Damn, that is just crazy. These guys came in here to kill."

He looked over the hardware.

"The usual gear, nothing special that I can tell."

He walked up to her and hugged her, he held her close.

"Yes, we can go back to the safe house we were at yesterday, go and pack some sexy clothes... I mean..."

He blushed.

"I mean go and pack, I will get some things together as well."

He let her go and looked into her eyes.

"Everything is going to be fine, don't worry. You see, not a scratch on me."

He had his hands on her sides. He raised a hand to brush some hair out of her eyes.

"How are you doing, do you need me to get you a drink or make something to eat, I know this is a rough circumstance, just hang in there. You have me protecting you, remember that."

He smiled as he still stared into her eyes.
 
Was that a Freudian slip or what? Amilee giggled at his comment about sexy clothes and disappeared into her room to get ready.

When she came out a few minutes later, she was wearing a t-shirt and shorts so short they barely covered any of her thighs. She was wearing a light hooded cardigan overtop, with the hood up - she wasn't going to be able to hide particularly effectively with bright purple hair, after all. And she bore a small bag with all her necessities - a few changes of clothes, her toiletries, and her laptop. Plus a few concealed weapons, just in case.

"Ready to go?"
 
He came out of the bedroom in a blue suit this time, he had two bags and his sunglasses on.

"Well look at you, are you even wearing shorts?"

He loved the way she looked, he held something for her as he walked up to her, it was a small ear piece.

"So we can always be in touch. You can access Jillian with this as well."

He smiled as he walked up to take her bags.

"Let me get that."

He took her bag and than looked back to the man they captured.

"Well, it will be hard to get him downstairs with out causing a commotion, shall I execute?"

He looked to the man that his eyes went wide. He shook his head.
 
Amilee turned her attention to their captured man. She looked from him to Ben and back again. "Should we question him? And there's no reason to take him downstairs. We could just tie him up here and wait for the police to come fetch him. I'm sure they'd love to hear what he has to say, after all."

She crouched down in front of the man, grinning. "See, here's the thing you didn't count on." She drew a knife - a wicked looking blade - from her bag and spun it around in her hands. "I am not a scared little bitch who will roll over at the first sign of a threat. Whatever your master wants, you've done nothing but ensure that he's even less likely to get it, now, because I'm stubborn and contrary and I don't like you."

Her smile widened. "But! If you tell me who hired you, I'll just tie you up and leave you here for the cops instead of kicking you out of the window you broke."
 
The merc saw the blade and merely grinned as she made her threats.

"Foolish girl, I am a paid killer, and I do not talk to those that I am ordered to kill, even if you have Souls on your side. Idiot..."

He spit on the floor and turned his glare to Ben. Ben shook his head.

"Who is this Souls? My name is Ben, okay, just Ben. Now if you don't talk the lady here is going to cut you."

He knew she wouldn't, she was a pure soul, it was just like when he was going to torture that driver, she didn't want him to do it, so he knew she would not do it.

"Ami, let him go. I still have that number the driver gave to us, we can get a lead that way."

He looked to her, she was so beautiful, she looked like she could be a killer, with that look in her eyes. But she was too pure, to innocent. He reached and put his hand to hers.

"He is not going to talk. He got paid already, so it matters not to him."

How did he know who Ben was, his name, he buried that a long time ago, back when he was in Korea. That was years ago though, 15 to be exact, this guy looked like he was still in his twenties.
 
Amilee straightened at Ben's assurances that the man wouldn't talk. She slipped the knife back into her bag and sighed. "Too bad." With that, she bound and gagged him, and she and Ben left the apartment.

"I assume you have a safehouse in mind, right?" she asked, heading to the elevator. The doors opened with a ping and she stepped inside, smiling. "Hey, are you alright, by the way? You slammed into that window pretty hard. You've gotta at least have some cracked ribs or something..."

She reached out for him again, her fingers tracing his ribs, looking for some sign of injury. When she found none, she found herself standing almost nose-to-nose with him, her arms all the way around his torso. She looked up at him with a smirk. "What are your bones made of, iron?" She released him, if a bit reluctantly, and the elevator reached the parking garage once again. "By the way, who is Souls?"
 
He looked to her as she was in his face, her arms around him.

"You know, is it me, or are you trying to kiss me? Naughty Ami... a lady must never give her lips to a strange man... one might make a move..."

He wanted to kiss her with all his heart, but he remembered the other night, the pain, the saddness he saw in her.

"No, I know how to take a hit is all, don't worry, I am good. Back there, you really know how to tie people up huh? That is kind of sexy..."

He heard her question and he sighed.

"Souls, sounds like someone that died a long time ago... lets leave it at that. Come on, lets get out of here."

He put his arm around her waist as they walked.

"Man, is there any part of you that is not cute."
 
"Cute? Cute?!" Amilee responded in mock outrage, barely holding back laughter. "I am not cute! You saw me threatening that guy in the apartment! I am terrifying, you hear me? Terrifying!"

She burst into laughter, then, and shook her head. "Okay, maybe terrifying isn't the right word either..." She liked the feeling of his arm around her waist. It was easy enough to pretend that the touch was friendly, and she leaned comfortably against him as they walked. "Just be careful next time you try to jump out a window, okay? I'd hate to see you getting hurt."

They reached the car and Amilee paused. "Uh. Maybe we should take yours. Mine is... not subtle." Lime green electric roadsters tended to stand out.
 
He smiled at her.

"What, if I get hurt are you going to dress in a lil nurses outfit and take care of me??"

He looked to her as they walked and he laughed.

"Yes, we can take my car. Does not matter. I have other cars, if you don't like mine, we can take yours, or you can choose one of mine, I have a garage full. Lets just say, fixing up cars was a hobby of mine..."

She did not know the half of it.

"So tell me about your love experiences, how far have you gotten? Tell me something sexy."

He grinned at her as he asked her that, wondering if she would tell, "I told you mine."
 
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