Whatever I had been expecting, it certainly wasn’t that.

As the woman explained her circumstances to me, a rather odd notion formed in my head that I couldn’t grasp. In front of me sat a self-professed assassin, arguably one of the most dangerous women in the world. Yet as she spoke of how she had forged her knowledge herself, without the help of a university, I couldn’t help but be impressed. I’d been in a similar situation, forced to study knowledge that was long lost to the tides of time. Forced on a never ending scavenger hunt across the world to explore old ruins, but I’d had help. This woman didn’t.

“That’s incredibly impressive.” I chewed my lip as I pondered what to say next. My eyes shot down to the text sitting between us. Suddenly I remembered why I was here. “But I guess back to the topic at hand. You seem adamant on the fact that the plague cannot be cured. Have you done any research directly on the actual plague itself? Or were all of your letters merely conjecture”

Bullshit didn’t seem like it was going to do anything for me here. I took a breath and tried to calm myself down. I had to stop thinking of her less as Madison Freebird, and more as my colleague.

As my peer.

The thought sent a shiver down my spine. If the surge of power when we touched was any indication, we were bound together by some cruel twist of fate. For better, or for worse, we had an invisible bond tying us together.