Nancy rode out of the china sector in the back seat of Talky’s car, a brand new black sedan. The girl had been doing well for herself it seemed. The vehicle’s body had a shell integrated with solar paneling, known as “solar skin,” not cheap. Everything, in fact, about the car shouted expensive and upper class. Talky must have chosen every luxury option on the buyer’s list. Even the air vents had been upgraded, and were installed with a synthetic-leather covering. Nancy would have to remind herself someday, and soon, to have another talk with Talky about spending money again, that’s for sure. The china girl needed to be reminded what her limits were in the game she played with Nancy. Talky’s flaunting would not look good on the social agent.
Little Tila drove, illegally, but Nancy held her tongue for now. Other pressing issues were more important, and besides, the little girl was doing a fine job, surprisingly. She must have been practicing for some time now with Talky.
In the back seat beside Nancy, Talky sat with her pale legs crossed, and with a compact mirror propped up in her hand. The china girl checked her makeup over. “Keep the car steady, little T,” directed Talky. “We’re going to see Baby, and I want to look good.”
“Yes, Talky,” said the little girl, dutifully.
Baby, or Baby Junkie, as the girl had been nicknamed, was the only dealer with a direct connection to Miss Moneybags, who allegedly bankrolled the whole drug trade in the city. Baby was actually Page Tulip, a twenty-year-old girl, who was once just a regular user. When the girl found out she could have all she wanted without spending a cent of her own, she started dealing herself. Now, the girl was known as the top dealer in the city.
Miss Tulip had a reputation of enjoying as much of the drugs as she sold. The lower-class girls saw Baby as some sort of happy-go-lucky drug dealer, and, as Nancy had been told, Miss Tulip could be very friendly with her clients. But there was another side, or so Talky had told Nancy, if a girl caught Baby sober, and not in a happy mood, the girl could be quite a different person. Talky had admitted her suspicions to Nancy before, that Baby might have been involved in the assassination of Madam Greenthumb, the former top dealer of the city, but Talky had no real proof. Old Greenthumb had taken Talky off the streets of the china sector, many years ago, when Talky was as young as little Tila was now. Talky liked to talk about the old girl, like she had been a mother figure of some kind, and more than a mentor for a criminal career.
Three years ago in the china sector, an armed killer sneaked into the greenhouse atop Greenthumb’s penthouse, while the old girl was attending to her flowers. The killer put a single bullet into the back of Greenthumb’s head, ending the old madam’s reign. The old girl was found face down in a freshly made flower bed, its dirt turned a deep red from blood. Shortly after the old girl’s death, Page Tulip took her place as the number one dealer in the entire city. Talky had been forced not only to accept that new arrangement, but to show the girl total respect too, and she hated it.
Talky was taking Nancy to Page Tulip’s apartment in the circle sector, where Nancy would be able to hide for a while, or so Talky had told Nancy. The china girl made a point to say that she had everything planned out, everything, and, that Nancy shouldn’t worry about anything at all. That made Nancy worry. But Nancy wanted to go anyway, because Talky had revealed that it was Page Tulip, herself, that was the source for Talky’s tip for the blood party. Nancy’s intentions were to get as much information from the dealer girl as possible while in disguise. But if Nancy needed to, she could also arrest the girl with Social Agent Dandelion’s help and give the girl a proper interview.
As the car took the highway, Nancy pulled out Alex’s old phone from her purse, and slipped in the battery. She pressed down on the zero key, holding it for a second, and then waited with the phone to her ear.
Talky snapped shut her compact, and turned towards Nancy. “Oh,” said the china girl, her eyes glimmering with mischief, “I see. You’re gonna call him.” Nancy kept facing forward, ignoring Talky. “How cute,” continued Talky, “my safety maid is in love. I know, sure I do.”
Tila giggled from the driver’s seat. “Uh oh, safety maid Nancy has a boyfriend.”
“Shhhh,” said Talky. “No problem, we won’t tell no one.”
“Operator,” a distorted voice came from the phone, “how may I help you--”
Nancy immediately clicked the phone off, and tossed it back into the purse with the battery still inside. “No answer,” Nancy said out loud.
Tila laughed and said, “Your boyfriend doesn’t want to talk to you, safety maid.”
Talky, smiling playfully, teased as well, “He’s probably with another girl, one with a nice sexy nose.”
“Yeah,” said Tila, unsure of herself, “Maybe, but who wouldn’t want a tough girl. Safety maid, that’s worth a lot. He’s dumb.”
“Yeah, sure,” Nancy answered back. “But he’s not my boyfriend. He’s…” I don’t know what he is. “…he’s my assignment.”
“Oh, okay,” said Talky, before turning away to the window. “You want to be boring, no prob.” The china girl sighed as she fidgeted around in her seat, before getting herself comfortable and speaking again. “Nancy, when you are at Baby’s, take my word, have fun there. Every girl has fun there. You might like it, sure you might.” Talky then pulled a handgun out from her own, more lavishly decorated purse. “Here,” said the china girl, dangling the weapon from her purple-tipped fingers. “A gift from me to you. It was our tall friend’s. You should keep it. I don’t like guns anyway.”
Nancy instantly sneered and snapped the gun out of the girl’s hand.
Talky responded, “You don’t have to thank me, Nancy. We’re good friends.”
“I don’t have to arrest you, you mean.” Damn it, I forgot to ask about the soldier’s weapon before. Nancy took on a much more serious tone, and asked the china girl, eye to eye, “Do you know anything else, I should know about?” Nancy was always very strict about illegal weapons.
“No,” said Talky, pouting a little. “I promise, Nancy.”
Nancy checked the gun’s magazine; it was fully loaded.
Tila took the car off the highway, taking the exit into the circle sector. Talky lowered her window and gazed outward. “We don’t get to come here too often, do we Tila? Neither does Nancy. Not many girls do. It’s for the rich girls only.”
The circle sector was the nicest and cleanest smelling part of the city, and it also was the most expensive part to live. Nancy had heard that Director Lilac owned a place here somewhere, but the old girl had never invited Nancy, or any other social agent, to visit. She supposed that Lilac just liked to keep her private life separate from her work life. Nancy felt the same way too.
The orange sun hovered over the horizon of twinkling solar-paneled roofs and satellite dishes. The afternoon air rushed in through Talky’s window and brought a slight chill with it. Nancy assumed the night would be cold again. Lovely. She was barely covered in that thin satin dress.
Tila took the car down into a tunnel lined with tiny white lights that went the whole way down. Under the circle sector, there was a giant parking lot for the circle residents and only for the residents of the sector. It was heavily guarded all the time in order to keep out the other girls. Talky had a security pass to get in. Normally, a social agent like Nancy would have access to the parking lot and anywhere in the city, really, that they needed to go. But without Nancy’s badge, and out of uniform, no one was going to believe Nancy was a real social agent, not the way she looked now. Tonight, in that flowery dress, low-cut heels, and a sleek dark wig, Nancy was a different girl… she was Talky’s ragdoll.
Tila parked slowly, and very carefully, making sure the car stayed evenly between the lines in a parking spot. The little girl had a social agent watching, after all. Nancy commented to Tila, “well done.”
Black security trucks came by every few minutes in the underground parking lot. The security girls in their black outfits just nodded their heads robotically when they rode by. Nancy had never seen their company before, which was understandable since she had never parked here before. Nancy had always parked above ground, like the rest of the regular girls, when she had to come to the circle sector for work. She also never suspected how truly huge the parking lot really was. It took Talky, Tila, and herself, close to five minutes before they were able to find the elevator they were looking for. The entire underground complex must’ve taken years with massive funding from the city in order to construct it. And with all that money spent here, a thought came to Nancy, the condemned sector was still in ruins. The city has its priorities, that’s for sure, figured the social agent.
Once above ground, the three girls moved faster on the streets. Page Tulip’s apartment building was named the Villa de Oro. It was an older building, built before the Great Calamity, and went up to six and a half floors. The structure seemed well maintained for such an old thing. From the bottom to the top, its outside walls were coated over with a golden paint that made the building gleam sharply in sunlight. Finely trimmed trees and manicured bushes fenced around the parameter, blocking the view in from the outside streets. The trees looked so perfectly groomed to Nancy, as she, Talky and Tila approached, that for a brief moment, she actually thought they might be fake. As she walked past them, she ran her hand through the leaves to make sure the trees were real. Yup, thought Nancy, they’re real. In her own home sector, most of the real trees had been removed long ago and had been replaced with plastic ones.
On the eastern side of the apartment building, vines had covered the outside wall heavily. Talky moved aside some foliage to reveal a tele-com panel that had been placed next to a discreet door. The china girl pressed down on a button, and then released it. After waiting a short minute, a mumbled voice came through the speaker, “What’d you need?”
Talky answered the voice, “It’s Talky, Baby. I’ve got your present.” Talky winked towards Nancy after saying that. Nancy frowned.
“For real? Alright. C’mon up with my present.” The voice then started to chuckle right before the com shut off with a loud click.
Nancy glared at Talky. “Present?”
“I had to tell her something. She likes presents, so that’s what I told her. It puts her in a good mood.”
Page Tulip had the penthouse, and the entire top floor, of the Villa de Oro to herself. Miss Tulip’s life of crime, a short one so far, had given the young girl a life of easy money, more money than most girls could earn in a lifetime. Nancy would have to fix that injustice eventually, thought the social agent, just as she would need to knock Talky down a few pegs too.
In the elevator, as they went up, Talky had a sly expression on her face, at least, more sly than normal. “Let me do all the talking,” said the china girl, peering at Nancy with her cat-like eyes. “Trust me. I know what to say to her.” Tila nodded along with Talky’s words. “Remember, you’re my ragdoll. You don’t talk very much, and you don‘t know very much.”
Nancy scratched her nose and sniffed. “Yup, I got it.” The gold building had a strong scent of mildew and decay coming from it.
With a ding, the elevator doors slid open and the girls marched out. “Oh,” added Talky, as they made their way down a gold trimmed hallway with velvet carpet, “Don’t call her Baby Junkie either, it’s just Baby.”
Tila spoke up too, “Baby likes being called Baby Diamond.”
“No,” corrected Talky, “That’s wrong too. That name feeds her ego. And that’s so very bad to do. I know, sure I do. Just Baby only, please.”
Talky stopped at an un-numbered door at the end of the hallway. The hallway door looked plain and unremarkable, except for an old worn floor mat lying in front of it. The china girl rapped her knuckles on the door lightly three times in a row. Then hurriedly, Talky checked herself over one last time, fixing her hair and adjusting her outfit. When the sound of locks switching and turning came from behind the door, Talky looked to Tila quickly and asked, “How do I look, little T?”
“Gorgeous,” answered the little girl, “like a sweet flower.”
“Ah, but what am I really?”
“A fierce dragon. No girl messes with you, Talky.”
Nancy rolled her eyes as Talky smiled at the little girl before the china girl turned away and straightened her posture perfectly.
The door swung wide open, and in the doorway stood a baby-faced girl, less than five feet tall, in jeans and a plain t-shirt, with a boyish haircut of brown locks muddled on top of her head. Baby Junkie, guessed Nancy. The short girl looked so young she could have passed for a twelve-year-old, even though Nancy knew Baby was actually twenty.
“Hey, Talky,” greeted the petite girl, scratching her head. “Hey there, Tila.”
“Hello Baby, long time.”
Talky and Baby pecked each other on the lips before Baby waved everyone in. Talky, Tila, and then finally Nancy followed behind. Miss Tulip spoke, leading the girls into a living room, “I’ve got beer, whatever. Get what you want,” the girl sniffed, “Fuck, I’ve got better than beer. Ha. Ha…” The baby-faced girl then laughed to herself for a good second, before suddenly stopping herself. In the living room, the girl plopped herself down on a long and pillowed couch. “Say hi to Stan, Talky,” mentioned Baby, getting herself comfortable.
In the center-right of the room, an enormous glass cage went from the floor to the ceiling. Inside, a huge python coiled itself around barren branches from a broken tree trunk. The snake’s length appeared to be at least thirty feet or more. Its gold and black skin shined under overhead lamps, as the creature soaked up the heat. Its reptilian eyes were closed shut and its body remained dead still.
“Hello, Stan,” said Talky, peering through the glass. “You’re looking good. You always do.”
“Yeah, he just shed his skin,” said the baby-faced girl, “He’s shiny and new, just for you.”
“Oh,” said Talky, “a makeover.”
“Yeah, ha ha ha…” Baby laughed, and then stopped herself suddenly again, before she asked, “Why are you here again?”
“Baby, my ragdoll needs a place to stay for a while. I told you.”
“Oh, that’s right, your ragdoll. But, you’ve been bad to your ragdoll, Talky. Real bad. Look at her face.”
“Tsk, she runs her mouth sometimes. Sorry, what can I do.”
The ragdoll grumbled quietly.
“Yeah, she looks like the kind that would.”
“But you’re going to take care of her right? For me, as a favor?”
Baby gave out a little giggle, and said, “Yeah sure, Talky. Whatever.”
“Thank you so much, I’ll be in your debt forever. But right now, I have to go and fix business, so boring.” Talky kissed the air. “Love ya.”
“I love ya too.”
Talky turned to leave, but stopped herself before moving past her ragdoll. The china girl planted a soft kiss on Nancy’s cheek, and following it up, with an even softer “goodbye” in Nancy’s ear. Talky then sashayed away, in her white heels, not saying another word to Nancy. At the door, Talky called out, “C’mon little T. Let’s go.” The little girl came skipping. Tila shut the door behind them, as Talky gave a last and uneasy look back towards Nancy.
“So,” Miss Page Tulip said from the couch, looking around, half-distracted, “Are ya gonna tell me your, uh, name?”
Nancy answered, “Julie.” Tila had picked that name.
“Nice hair-cut, Julie.” Baby held back a giggle. “But I thought Talky had a thing for blondes. But blondes can get boring, right?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Yeah, I get it. A girl’s got to mix it up sometimes.” Miss Tulip laid back on the couch and whistled into the air, loud as she could. After a pause for listening, she went back to her couch pillows and adjusted them more comfortably behind her head.
What was that about? Nancy wondered. Had the girl gotten herself way too intoxicated?
Nancy decided to go through her purse and check the old phone. Inside, were various contents, including the loaded handgun from the lieutenant, and some junk of Sister Bertie’s. When she found the old phone, she noticed the meter showed the battery going dead soon. Oh, lovely. Nancy figured there weren’t more than twenty or so minutes left in the device. She had bet on Social Agent Dandelion being able to track her, but without enough time, Nancy might get stuck here with Page Tulip and her pet snake longer than she had wanted. Please, Dandelion, be watching for the signal. She closed the purse.
Miss Tulip had started staring at her own fingers and rubbing them together. The girl seemed to be trying to make sense out of them, like solving a puzzle, or maybe she had just forgotten what fingers were. Baby must be really in a stupor, or so it appeared to Nancy. Good, thought the social agent, that should make it easier to question her. Nancy strolled up beside the huge python cage. “What do you feed this big thing?” Nancy asked, tapping on the glass.
“Girls,” said Baby, “yeah, lots of girls.” The girl laughed at her own answer. “Ones that piss me off. Ones that don’t pay up. Ones that Miss Money Bags tells me to, whatever.”
Nancy glared hard at the girl.
“C’mon, just kidding, Julie, for real. That’s just what I tell all the girls. To keep them straight and honest, ya know.” Baby seemed amused admitting all that.
Nancy tapped on the glass more and a little louder. Yet, the python wouldn’t budge, not even its eyes would open for her. “Is this thing even alive?” Nancy asked.
“Yeah. But he don’t like to move much. He’s a lazy boy.”
“Talky said that you heard about a blood party.” Nancy’s voice became more serious.
“Yeah, so?”
“Aren’t those supposed to be illegal? And a big secret?”
“Yeah, girls come here all the time to catch their ride. They run their mouths sometimes. Most girls, ya know, don’t even believe in blood parties. They think it’s like alien abductions or something like that. I don’t know, but I’ve heard about ‘em, that’s for sure.”
“Who told you about the last blood party?”
“Huh? Hold on a second.” Baby sat up, and then whistled into the air again and listened. The girl came back into the conversation after she was done, and laid back down. “Ya know Julie, you’re a nosy ragdoll, for real, you are. But I guess it don’t matter. I mean, you’re Talky’s girl, right?”
Nancy’s lips curled tensely.
“The girls call her Miss Moneybags. No one else knows her real name. But I do.” The girl winked at Nancy. “I heard her talking to her maid once when I was meet’n with her. I heard the maid say it, her real name. But, I call her Lady Diamond, and she calls me Baby Diamond. She gave me those earrings.” Miss Tulip then pointed across the room at a glass case on a shelf. Inside, a pair of diamond earrings hung on a severed manikin’s head. Oh, those are spectacular, thought Nancy, as she got closer to look.
“I don't wear them,” continued Baby, “Fuck, I never go to a place to wear them.” She pouted a little. “But, Lady Diamond loves her Baby though, for real."
“I’d like to meet Lady Diamond. Can you arrange a meeting for me?"
Miss Tulip snorted, “Nope. No one sees Lady Diamond. I don't get to see her unless she wants to. No one does.”
“What’s her real name?”
“Nuh uh, I not telling you that.” Baby giggled manically to herself. “You’re crazy.”
“I heard she’s a man-killer.”
“What? Who told you that?”
“Just a rumor going around.”
“No way. Lady Diamond doesn't kill men. Once, a real long time ago, she was in love with a boy.” Baby’s body slithered on the couch, trying to get more comfortable. “I figured Talky would have told that story to her ragdoll. The way Talky runs her mouth, ya know.”
“Why don’t you remind me?”
“Uh, Lady Diamond had a crush on a boy, a long time ago. She was totally boy-crazy over him. Both of them liked each other. It was serious. I think they were both like sixteen or seventeen; I don’t remember. But, her older sister found out about it, and the boy got dipped. That's why Lady Diamond calls her older sister the “wicked stepsister,” for real. The boy’s guts got put in an ice cooler and shown to Lady Diamond too. Her sister told her to sell the organs because it would make good money. His organs were profitable, her older sister really said that. That's messed up, ya know.”
“You believe that story?”
“Sure. Why would she say so, right?”
“Right. Who's her sister?”
“Fuck, you like asking questions.” Baby seemed bothered and sat up straight. “All I know is that she calls her the wicked stepsister. But you shouldn’t ask about her, nope, because that’s real, real bad. Girls who do, get dipped, every time.” She held back a laugh. “I'm serious.”
“Who else knows Miss Moneybags?”
“I’m the only girl that knows Miss Moneybags.”
“Right.”
“Hey Julie, you should sit here on the couch with me. I‘ve got something you’re gonna like. To help you relax while we wait.” She patted on a couch cushion. “C’mon. I don’t bite.”
“No thanks.”
“Yo, you are the weirdest ragdoll I’ve ever met.” Baby snorted out, “Ha. Ha. Right. A ragdoll.”
Miss Tulip put her head back and then whistled loudly, once again. Strange, thought Nancy, was she trying to hear an echo in the room? Hearing nothing in return, Miss Tulip went back to rolling around on the couch. The girl seemed as if she was having trouble getting comfortable in her own skin, from drugs, no doubt.
Nancy checked the purse again. The phone still had power, but there wasn’t much left. The batteries for those old devices tended to be unreliable too. If Social Agent Dandelion wasn’t watching, worried Nancy, the signal could be lost. Nancy held out hope that she and Dandelion would arrest Miss Tulip in the apartment. Seeing the reaction on Miss Tulip’s face when the girl got arrested would be worth it alone. I doubt she’ll be laughing then, figured Nancy.
“Ohhh Julie,” said Baby, raising her voice, “You know what Talky told me about you? She said you like to forget.” The girl had a smirk on her face. “I’ve got just the thing.” She motioned Nancy to come over again. Nancy sighed and closed her purse.
Miss Tulip held up a deep blue capsule. “It’s called Sleeping Beauty. You’ll fade off to a nice place and won’t remember a damn thing about your life. I sell these to lawyers and accountants a lot. Weird, right? Ha.”
“Yeah, no thanks.”
“What sorta’ ragdoll don’t like to party. C’mon.” Baby giggled under her breath. “With this, you don’t have to remember anything, for real. Not what you are. Not who you were. Not how you got that busted nose. Just a nice relaxing dream world all by yourself. Well, at least, until it wears off.” She placed the capsule on a lamp table beside the couch, right near a pile of other colored capsules and assorted pills. “But whatever. It’s right here if you want it. You don’t even need to ask.”
“Thanks. That’s so sweet.” Nancy eyed the capsules and pills on the table. She couldn’t be sure, counting across the room, but those illegal drugs, she assumed all of them were, counted up to a minimum of ten years in prison, easily. Miss Tulip would tell Nancy everything when the girl got threatened with that much time, reckoned the disguised social agent.
Bored, Baby stopped paying attention to Nancy and picked a half-drunk beer bottle off the carpet. The girl amused herself with it, as she hummed to herself, and peered through the bottle at the ceiling light. Nancy took the opportunity to casually investigate around the living room more. Over by the diamond earrings, she spotted a framed picture that had fallen on the carpet. Nancy picked it up and looked closer. The picture’s glass had been cracked through the middle, but the image inside was still visible. She recognized a much younger Page Tulip, standing with other girls the same age, in a group picture at the Magnolia Tower inside the lobby. Miss Magnolia, herself, stood to the right side of the girls, with clasped hands and a reserved and joyless face. All the young girls had tightly groomed hair-cuts and wore little matching business suits. On the left side, an older girl that Nancy couldn’t recognize stood within the frame, but she assumed the girl was probably the instructor. Nancy guessed that Page Tulip must have attended a private school for business when she was a child. Not what I expected to find, thought Nancy.
“I look like such a dork in that picture,” Baby spoke up, “I only keep it because I miss seeing my old friends sometimes, that’s all.”
Nancy hung the picture back up and stepped away. “That’s too bad.”
“What’s too bad?”
“Nothing.”
“Whatever.” Baby threw the beer bottle across the room and struck the hung picture, smashing the glass. The framed picture fell back to the floor. “Whoops.” Baby giggled.
Nancy gave the girl a look.
Miss Tulip responded, “Relax Julie. It’s mine to break.”
A moment later, Nancy felt an uneasy feeling swell in her stomach, and a cold sweat came over her body. She huffed, and bent over in pain. My advantage levels are dropping again. Her fingers and toes started to go numb as well. I’ll need another dose soon, realized Nancy, very soon. She called over to Baby on the couch, “Can I use your bathroom, please Baby.”
“Sure Julie, help yourself.” Baby pointed down a hallway to a door. Nancy took the girl’s direction and hustled in her low-cut heels, holding her belly. She opened the door to a thick aroma of flowers, completely artificial, and nearly making Nancy puke. Her revulsion eased though, and she was able to step inside the bathroom.
As soon as she was in, Nancy saw her mother’s face again in the mirror over the sink. The social agent stared for a moment at her mother’s wrecked nose, and her tired eyes under the finely groomed bangs from a synthetic black wig. Well, at least, reckoned Nancy, most of the swelling and bruising was gone already. Nancy washed her face with tap water, and then stood there patiently, waiting out the aching in her stomach. Eventually, loud music started up in the living room and thundered down the hallway, shaking the hanging glass mirror.
Nancy knew that her random pains, the cold sweat, plus the numbness, were all symptoms of her advantage levels getting too low. The conditions would only get worse too unless she got a fresh dose of formula. She wanted badly to leave now, and go straight to a hospital, where she could get proper help from a sister-doctor. Nancy wasn’t too fond of Miss Tulip’s place either, with its loud music, and its creepy sleeping python in its big glass cage. The whole apartment, believed Nancy, including the entire gold painted building, had a weird smell to it also, and, she had a strange feeling about it. Old and decaying. Nancy didn’t trust the place. Yet, she wanted to give Dandelion more time. The old social agent should have noticed the phone signal by now, and, she should’ve, at least, sent somebody for Nancy, for sure. C’mon Dandelion, hoped Nancy, as she held her belly and stared at her mother’s face in the vibrating mirror.
I wanted to love… you… But now, it’s too late.
You wanted to leave… me… You made a bad mistake.
Oh Yeah… I’LL KILL YOU. KILL YOU. KILL YOU, ALL RIGHT…
Ah, of course, thought Nancy. Miss Tulip had decided to play an illegal song, and a terrible one, at that. Nine years ago, a girl had murdered her x-lover and then herself in the circle sector. The killer had made sure to deliberately leave that song on repeat for whomever to hear when the bodies were discovered. The Department of Safety promptly banned it.
Soon, the pain inside Nancy’s belly faded to a tolerable level. She breathed in more easily, hovering over the sink. What am I doing? She analyzed herself closer in the mirror, looking over the scratches, the bruises, and all the dents hidden under Sister Bertie’s make-up. She also looked over her disguise. I look ridiculous in this outfit. She wondered what her mother would have said seeing Nancy dressed up like a ragdoll in a thin satin dress, embroidered with roses, and wearing a long black slick wig. Her mother probably would have said that she understood and that she knew Nancy was undercover working as a federal agent. Nothing to be ashamed of, her mother would have said figured Nancy, nothing for sure. And yet, Nancy wasn’t really undercover right now, no, she was just hiding. The Queen of Spades wanted Nancy dead.
Oh Yeah… I’LL KILL YOU. KILL YOU. KILL YOU, ALRIGHT…
Nancy thought about the last day she saw her mother alive. It was in late spring, the morning her mother left for Florida by herself and for the last time. The old girl had put on the only dress clothes she owned that weren't issued by the military, a simple blue skirt and a plain white blouse. They had fit nicely on the old girl. Her mother’s blonde hair had been put up tightly and correctly in a regulation bun. “Nance, I’ve got to go now,” her mother had said, standing there at the front door of their home. “Be careful with the car. Make sure you’re nice to the boy’s mother, be super sweet, please. It’s always important to make a good impression. Smile too, when you’re at dinner with the boy. But, don’t be nervous, I’m sure it will be fine, just reminding you.”
“Yes, mother,” young Nancy had responded.
“When you two are together, I should be up in the stars, fingers crossed, and looking down. I’ll be thinking about you from up there, sweetie, both of you.” Her mother had opened the door next, and let the light flood in. The day had been a bright one, recalled Nancy. “Oh,” her mother said next, before leaving, “come here.” The old girl had turned and held out her arms for a hug, unexpectedly.
Nancy instantly had sprung up from the couch, where the young girl had been lounging all morning, and ran in her socks to her mother. When Nancy had embraced the old girl, she remembered now, how she nearly came up to her mother’s height already. Hugging her mother had been such a rare thing, that when it happened, Nancy remembered them all, and that one at the door was the very last one.
“I’ll see you when I get back,” her mother had said softly, holding the young girl.
“Yeah, goodbye,” Nancy had told her mother. “I won’t mess it up. I promise.” Then her mother released Nancy, patted the young girl on the back, and walked out into the sunshine, closing the door behind her. Nancy remembered how their home had already started to feel lonely after the room went dark when the door closed.
Her mother’s funeral had been a standard military one; girls had shot off canons, and a trumpet had been played as the casket got slowly lowered into the ground, though there had not been a body inside, just her mother’s dress uniform. Nancy had been the only relative at the event, but she wasn’t alone, the funeral had been filled with soldiers, civilian spectators, and, of course, reporters. Young Nancy felt like she had a thousand eyes on her when the folded flag had been presented to her. “Thank you, Miss Rose,” the sergeant-major had told Nancy, putting the flag in the young girl’s hands. “Your mother was a hero.” Nancy hadn’t cried there at the funeral. She had known better, everyone was watching. Her mother would’ve been so embarrassed if she had.
Oh Yeah… I’LL KILL YOU. KILL YOU. KILL YOU. ALL RIGHT! RIGHT! RIGHT!
The song from the living room came to a hard crashing end, followed cymbals ringing out with a grating guitar noise lingering on. The bathroom mirror stopped vibrating too. Nancy felt better now, mostly. The pain in her stomach had gone away and her fingers and toes had regained feeling back. She decided it was time to return to the living room to face Miss Tulip and her pet snake again.
When Nancy came back to living room, the baby-faced girl was still laying on her big sofa. As soon as the girl noticed Nancy, the girl peeked down at her wristwatch. “Woah,” said Miss Tulip, and then the girl stood up on the couch. “Time really does fly when you’re having fun.” The girl whistled again into the air, like she had before, and as loud as she had before. After a second of waiting, another whistle, more muted than Baby’s, returned from behind the walls of the living room.
“Uh oh,” said the petite girl, as she beamed a bratty look at Nancy, “times up, safety maid.” The girl then pressed down on a small remote that hung from a keychain off her wrist. A soft pop rang through the room. Then all at once, through a concealed side door, a gang of girls, all armed with handguns, rushed in. The first one in had the coiled black snake tattooed on her arm. They’re goddamn Sicarii, realized Nancy. The social agent ripped out the loaded gun from her purse.
Nancy fired once upward, blasting the hanging light on the ceiling. Immediately, the living room went dark, except where the lamps in the snake’s glass case shined. Multiple flashes of gunfire soon exploded throughout the room. Girls’ screams filled the air. Nancy instantly ducked down close to the carpet, cradling her handgun. Keeping her head down, the social agent scrambled, until she came up behind a Sicarii girl, who had walked within the cage’s lamplight. Nancy snatched the hair of the girl’s head and with a sharp thrust, smashed the girl’s face into the cage, fracturing the glass where the face hit. The Sicarii girl moaned briefly, letting her gun slip from her grip, before the girl’s body sank to the floor. A streak of blood was left on the glass where the girl’s face had slid down.
All the gunfire then turned towards the glass case. Nancy dove away in time, dodging the bullets, and tumbled across the carpet. Behind her, the glass case broke apart and shattered into multitudes of shards all over the carpet. Miss Tulip’s face could be seen manically laughing in the gun flashes, “WHOA, HA HA HA HA…” The baby-faced girl could barely constrain herself. The short girl soon yelled out, cupping her small hands over her mouth, “WATCH OUT STAN!”
Nancy returned fire as best she could back at the Sicarii, as she scooted across the carpet. The Sicarii’s bullets whizzed past Nancy and struck into the walls and floor all around her. They aren’t good shots, thought Nancy, thankfully. The social agent stopped firing when she found a dark corner. The Sicarii stopped firing as well.
Nancy believed she had only a few seconds before they found her. She heard the Sicarii girls whispering and moving about in the living room. There were five of them, Nancy thought she had counted. But, she couldn’t be sure, she hadn’t had much time to count perfectly, she knew. She checked her gun’s magazine, her only one, and saw it was less than half full. From now on, she told herself, she’d need to shoot more sparingly and more precisely. Those bullets left in that magazine were all she had left. She slid the magazine back in quietly and waited.
“You see her?” A nervous voice asked.
“Nope,” said another one.
“Fucking find her.”
“I think we got her.”
“Shut up, you don’t know that.”
Nancy sat patiently in the shadows watching for a clear shot at one of them. But before she could line up a shot, she sensed movement coming up behind her. Turning to see, Nancy was seized by a girl with a bloodied face. The girl quickly wrapped the social agent in her arms and squeezed tightly on Nancy’s neck. “Fucking, stupid, safety whore,” mumbled the girl into Nancy’s ear. Nancy struggled to lose the girl, as the girl bit down hard on Nancy’s hand, drawing blood. Another Sicarii girl’s voice in the living room called out, “I SEE HER! Over there.”
The bloodied girl stopped biting and shouted, “HERE. I GOT HER. I GOT HER.”
Nancy hammered the girl in the stomach with an elbow. The biter fell back and released Nancy before the girl collapsed. With a clenched fist, Nancy pounded the girl on the head with maximum force. The bloodied girl blurted out a final curse word, faintly, before her eyes closed and her body fell to the carpet. Nancy immediately shifted about and moved away from the girl’s unconscious body.
A Sicarii girl, with short dark hair and a silver nose ring came in close and started wildly firing, taking out bits of wall everywhere, all around Nancy, and even hitting the other unconscious girl. Nancy aimed at the barrel flashes, and returned fire. A couple of solid shots hit the shooter in the chest twice. The girl slumped over, up against a wall. Blood dribbled out of her mouth and the girl went motionless.
Next, Nancy jumped up and ran, going for a half-wall in the living room. The other armed Sicarii swiftly reacted by riddling the structure with gunfire. Bullet after bullet tore through the half-wall as Nancy crouched down behind it for cover. Nancy got struck in her right thigh, forcing her to grunt loudly. The Sicarii slowly wound down firing. “Um,” said a girl’s voice, unsure, “I think we got her this time.”
Blood began draining out of Nancy’s leg. She held the wound down with her free hand, trying to stop the bleeding. Overwhelmed, the social agent felt herself getting slower, and less sharp as her body became tired, and more normal. Her advantage levels were dropping fast; she could feel that, and they were getting so dangerously low that now her sense of smell was leaving. Whenever user of advantage levels approached the zero point, she would begin to smell an ozone-like odor. Nancy was getting the first hints of that now. And worse, her fingers and toes were going numb again, and that pain in her stomach was returning too. Nancy’s body was getting heavier with each breath. She was losing her strength.
Miss Tulip sang out, her voice cracking on the high parts, “I wanted to love… you… But now, it’s too late. You wanted to leave… me...”
“Oh shut up, you cranked out fool,” snapped another girl’s voice.
“She’s dead already.”
“Oh yeah? I bet she’s still fucking alive. Safety maids are tougher than you think, idiot.”
Nancy pulled her magazine again. There weren’t many bullets left. She knew that to make it out alive, she’d need to take them all out somehow or, at least, stall them until Dandelion got there. She dug around in the purse for the old phone but couldn’t feel it. What? She panicked and continued sifting through the purse. Oh no. It must’ve fallen out. Nancy peeked carefully around the wall’s edge and spotted the device lying on the carpet in the center of the living room. Its screen blinked, showing the power meter was empty. The phone had seconds left. Oh that’s lovely, thought Nancy, so much for that. She recoiled back behind the wall and hugged her weapon to her chest.
The distance to the front door from Nancy’s position was only about twelve yards, but the door itself was closed shut, so if she ran for it, she would be out in the open while opening the door. And, the Sicarii would chew her up with gunfire, for sure. But I can’t stay here, thought Nancy. The Sicarii would start shooting again any second. She could hear the Sicarii slowly creeping up towards the half-wall. And besides that, she was getting too tired and weak. Nancy would have to make a move and soon.
“Oh Julie, heh heh, I mean, safety maid Nancy,” Baby was speaking again, “You still alive back there? Just wondering. Let us know, okay?”
Nancy answered by poking her gun around the half-wall’s edge and firing a couple of shots. The Sicarii girls screamed, cursed, and fumbled about. Baby simply exclaimed, “WHOA!” in response. Nancy took that opportunity, and jumped up and sprinted, her head down, right towards the door. The heel on her left foot came off while running.
Unfortunately, before Nancy even touched the door, the Sicarii retaliated with more gunfire. One bullet hit Nancy’s upper back, near her right shoulder, and another hit in her upper left arm. She tripped forward, reeling from the shots, landing on her knees. She tucked her head down and went into a ball. The Sicarii girls kept firing, blasting holes into the door. When another bullet struck Nancy in the lower back, she rotated around on her butt, and started shooting back, and kept on shooting until the trigger clicked empty. That’s it. She felt a dark feeling come over her as she breathed in. The ozone smell grew stronger. The bullet wounds burned in her body. Nancy felt heavy, very heavy, and she wanted to lie down.
The Sicarii stopped firing again too. Nancy, knowing this was her last chance, flung off her wig, and said, “I order you to stop.” Her voice sounded weak. “Throw down your weapons, now. That’s an order.” Her gun dropped from her hand.
“She’s out,” said a Sicarii girl, switching on a table lamp.
The armed girls began approaching cautiously, with their barrels still smoking and their trigger fingers teetering, making sure to keep aim on Nancy. “I’m a Social Agent,” said Nancy, breathing harder, “Put down your damn guns. You are all under arrest.” She spoke with the strongest voice she could muster, but her lungs were hurting.
“Boom. Boom. Safety maid,” taunted Baby Junkie, as the girl stood on her couch, and with her hands up, formed like a gun. “Boom. Boom. Boom. Heh heh.”
“I repeat,” said Nancy, her voice even more strained. “You’re all under arrest.”
“Are you fucking for real, safety maid?” Miss Tulip chewed on her own lip. “You’re so dumb, like for real. It’s over.”
“Shut up, Baby,” said an armed girl, pony-tailed, with diamond-like sprinkles in her eyebrows, and wearing a pair of worn slip-on shoes. “She wasn’t supposed to have a gun. You fucked up.”
“Sorry,” said Baby, “That’s not my fault.”
Nancy picked up her hand, covered in red, and then looked over herself and the flowery dress that she wore, and saw that same red, everywhere. That’s my blood. There’s so much. She then eased her head down and rested it on the carpet.
The girl with the ponytail shook her head at Miss Tulip. “You’re so fucking lucky, you know that.” Miss Tulip gave the girl a bratty look back.
Another Sicarii spoke, “Somebody better check the safety maid.”
“I’ll do it.” The girl with slip-on shoes started walking towards Nancy, holding her handgun up and ready.
“Shoot her in the head. They don’t die easy. So make sure.”
Nancy noticed the old phone on the carpet again, as slip-on shoes stepped past it. The phone’s screen had gone black. Dandelion didn’t come, thought Nancy, no one did.
“Yup, she’s done, but still breathing.” The pony-tailed girl stood over Nancy. The girl then kicked the empty handgun away and pointed down with her own gun. “Dip her now?” The girl called back to the others. “Or bring her alive, like we were supposed to do?”
“The queen said it didn’t matter much,” said a girl.
“Poor ol’ safety maid,” said Baby, “Would’a been easier if you’d just taken a nap with sleeping beauty.”
“Yeah,” said the pony-tailed girl, thinking it over for a second, “It doesn’t look like she’d make it anyway.”
Nancy wanted to scream out, “STOP, YOU’RE UNDER ARREST,” but she was too weak and she knew it wouldn’t matter. Now, all she really cared about was her cap badge. She hoped that it would be found by the other social agents and placed it in Athena’s fountain, so she could rest with her sisters, turning green, then to black. Not that Nancy could count on Director Foxglove wanting to search for it. No, figured Nancy, lying on the floor in her own blood, I’m going to be lost too, just like Social Agent Jasmine. But maybe Lily will look for me, Nancy told herself, she’s so nice. She’s always nice.
“Goodnight, safety maid,” said the pony-tailed girl with the diamond sprinkles in her eyebrows.
“Bye-bye, Julie,” yelled Miss Tulip from the couch.
Nancy let her eyes close.
Suddenly, there was a bang, and Nancy opened her eyes again. The front door of the apartment had been forced open clear and wide, with its hinges nearly torn from the wooden framework. The light from hallway instantly flooded in, stunning the Sicarii girls. In the doorway, a figure in a social agent uniform stood, posed with a nine-point-nine in hand, and a shining cap badge on her cap. Without a single word, the girl in uniform opened fire. Again, the apartment echoed with gunfire and screams. The armed Sicarii began falling rapidly.
All social agents were required to take advantage formula, even the paper pushers, even the nice ones like redheaded Caroline Lily. Watching the takedown was lovely thought Nancy. Every last Sicarii got dropped to the floor before any of them were able to take another shot. Nancy had never seen Lily in action before. For all the years after the girl’s graduation, Director Lilac had stationed the redhead at headquarters, doing office work, and making bad coffee. But Lilac had been wrong as Nancy had just seen, Caroline Lily was good for more than just making coffee. The apartment went quiet after every Sicarii was down. The redhead stepped in with her white synthetic-leather boots.
“Nancy, Nancy.” Lily shook Nancy’s shoulder. “I found you. I tracked the phone.” Lily peered downward at Nancy with the girl’s sweet green eyes.
“I can see that,” Nancy told the girl, as Nancy pushed herself up from the carpet with Lily’s help. Thank God and Holy Mary that you did.
“Sorry, I know you said not to do that but--”
“It’s okay, Lily. Did you nail them all?”
“Three of ‘em. There’s a shorty on the couch still. She wasn’t armed so--”
“Good. Go grab her.”
Lily was dressed in her own uniform, ironed, clean, and in perfect condition since the girl never got to wear it. Both her gloves and boots were a spotless white. On her coat lapels, she wore a silver pin on each, both shaped like an angel with wings formed like a heart. The pins weren’t regulation, for sure, but they were small enough not to really matter.
Miss Tulip’s pet python had finally opened its eyes. Slithering out of its shattered cage, it slowly moved over the carpet, inching towards a girl’s dead body in the center of the living room. “Eek!” Lily said as she stepped wide of the huge reptilian creature.
Page Tulip cowered in a corner of her couch. The girl wasn’t laughing, or singing, or taunting anymore now. Nancy really wanted to enjoy the moment more; she had intended to be the one that grabbed the girl and put the wrist ties on her during the arrest. But she was too weak and bleeding still. I don’t have much time. Lily snatched the hair on baby-faced girl’s head and yanked the girl off the couch. “C’mon. Let’s go, kid.”
Nancy took a quick peek at the pony-tailed girl’s body. The dead girl had a bullet wound straight through her nose. Under the Sicarii’s shirt, Nancy found a tattoo of a diamond. These Sicarii must have belonged to the Queen of Diamonds supposed Nancy.
With no time to investigate further, Nancy stumbled out the broken front door. Looking down at the old sister’s satin rose dress, she saw it was covered with streaks and splatters of her blood, and for sure, the outfit had been ruined for good. Nancy took off the other heel, dumped it in a trash bin near the elevator, and went bare-footed and much more comfortably. Lily followed behind, pulling the petite girl, whose face had become shell-shocked and starkly silent.
At the elevator, Lily mentioned to Nancy, “You need a sister-doctor.”
“I’m fine for right now.” Nancy breathed hard.
“Oh okay, I guess Nancy, if you’re sure. But you look terrible.”
“Just get me to your car.”
They took the elevator down, and Nancy leaned against the side wall. “Do you know where Social Agent Dandelion is?”
“I’m not sure,” answered Lily. “She came in this morning with Social Agent Rue, and then she got in an argument with Foxglove. She left in a storm. I didn’t see her again.”
“Did she say anything about me?”
“No, Nancy. I didn’t talk to her. She didn’t even say hi to me. And she’s usually really nice when she comes to headquarters. But, I did hear Clover ask Foxglove, ‘Do you think Dandelion knows?’ or something like that. So, I asked them, ‘What are you talking about?’ Foxglove told me to ‘shut up,’ and then told me to ‘mind my own business.’ Clover yelled at me, ‘go make some coffee.’ But I said, ‘No, I’m going to find Nancy.’ Well, I didn’t actually say that out loud. I just thought that. So I left, and put on my cap and uniform, and made a phone search, hoping to see you.”
“Did you tell Foxglove or Clover about the phone search?”
“Nope. I didn’t tell them anything. They were freaking rude to me.”
“Do you know where Dandelion might have gone?”
“No, she just left with Rue. But I did see Clover leave, a little later, and none of ‘em came back to the Social Agent Building, as far as I saw. Ever since Lilac’s been gone, every girl has been acting weird.”
“Don’t kill me, safety maid, please.” Miss Tulip managed to find something to say, finally, as her eyes teared up. The girl looked like she was about to lose her marbles. “Yo, it wasn’t my idea. It was Talky’s, for real. She set you up.”
“Shush, kid.” Lily pushed the girl’s face against the elevator wall, and began binding her wrists with ties as the girl sobbed. Nancy knew Page Tulip might be telling the truth, partially at least. The whole thing was Talky's idea for Nancy to come to the circle sector and to stay at Page Tulip’s apartment. And for sure, it wouldn't be the first time Talky had told a lie to Nancy. A safe place, the china girl had told Nancy. Have fun there. My ass. Nancy had a feeling something was off before though, which was why she had decided to activate the phone in the car. But then, why had Talky given Nancy the soldier's handgun? Did she want Nancy to escape? Or was it to end up shooting Miss Tulip, that was more likely. Then, Talky would be the top dealer in the city. And if Nancy had died, well, the china girl wouldn’t have a social agent to worry about. Still, that wasn't important right now. Nancy would get the china girl to talk later when Nancy arrested Talky, once again.
Miss Tulip sniveled as Lily forced the girl down on her butt, “Please… Please, don't kill me.”
“I said shush, kid.” Lily gave the short girl a quick pat on her head with a white-gloved hand.
Nancy looked straight at Baby Junkie. “I’m not going to kill you. Social agents aren’t murderers.” Not all of us anyway. “But you do have to tell us everything, especially what you know about Lady Diamond.”