“How about I do the talking part? You pitching the League when you haven’t even really picked us might not be the most sound defense,” he reasoned to which Cassidy sighed and nodded her head.
The couple walked through the halls, Cassidy making up some lie about being the newly triggered woman’s sister in an effort to get them up to her room.
“Don’t even need to be a Chi to get us in,” she said teasingly, glancing over her shoulder at him when he grabbed her and pulled her against the hall before she rounded the corner. Her heart filled up her throat, biting down hard on her bottom lip to prevent her from squeaking out in surprise.
“The Exodus is already here,” Sebastian said, glancing to Cassidy and then back towards the newly triggered woman’s room and then back to Cassidy, narrowing his own eyes at her.
“You let them know, didn’t you?” he threatened, still hiding behind the corner but standing up taller. “The Exodus Chis have always done a poor job on locating newbies, it was the one thing we always managed to do better than they ever could.” Sebastian knew why they were so damn good at it but it was still something that was rather unknown to most. Sebastian sacrificed his own sanity toward the efforts of helping the League win in the war that was started between the two factions. He channeled in his magic to help 24/7 in searching for someone out there that was triggered. No one in the Exodus was willing to give up that amount of energy on a daily basis but Sebastian knew both the risks and the rewards of doing what he was doing. He knew how much of a help his sacrifice was.
“What?!” Cassidy said quickly, glancing over Sebastian’s shoulder to see who was visiting the woman already. “I didn’t—I’ve been with you the whole time! I literally haven’t left your sight!” she pleaded and Sebastian pressed her up against the wall, forearm underneath her chin as he watched her intently, trying to get a read off of her.
“That doesn’t mean you didn’t tell Chase. You are continuously attached to him at all times. It’d be easy to send something over to him,” he said and Cassidy narrowed her eyes, shoving him off of her. Her heart was pounding but only because he was threatening her, not that she was lying. Sebastian watched her, letting out a sigh as he glanced back towards the woman who was no longer laying in bed.
“Come on,” he grumbled, grabbing her hand and Cassidy ripped it away, following after him to try and catch whoever came to greet her. Cassidy was surprised that he dismissed his accusation so quickly but she wasn’t in a place to disagree with him at the moment.
Several steps down the hallway, walking at a brisk pace, Cassidy could hear his voice, knowing it better than anyone else’s. Chase’s. Her hand came up to Sebastian’s arm and she squeezed it, getting him to look back at her.
“Don’t hurt him,” she asked softly, continuing after him before reaching the couple outside. Chase and the woman’s backs were to them, Chase’s hand at the small of her back and the red magic pulsing into her skin. Cassidy felt the wave of jealousy instantly rip through her and she thought it was strange to see the red pulsing from his hand but she was so overcome with anger at his hand placement that she couldn’t see much else.
“Brother, we’ve gotta stop meeting like this,” Sebastian said, ensuring his closeness to Cassidy not only as a precaution to getting them both out of there but also to piss Chase off. Chase turned, the two facing Cassidy and Sebastian and the recently triggered woman looked both terrified and was partially hiding behind Chase’s shoulder for protection.
“We’re not here to hurt you,” Cassidy said softly, taking a few steps forward to the girl and Chase laughed.
“Cass, she chose her side. You might not have had such a decisive thought on the matter but she’s ours. It’d be safe for you two just to leave and let us be. For everyone,” he said, straightening up in front of them and Cassidy had to swallow back her dislike at his behavior. She knew how this game needed to be played. She knew that she needed to keep a section of her off on the sidelines, taking what Chase was saying with a grain of salt. He was playing a game that she just simply needed to play better.
Sebastian watched Cassidy and Chase as closely as he could, taking in their demeanor towards one another, watching Cassidy who was far more telling than she let on. It appeared that each comment Chase had for her honestly affected her.
“There’s a difference between her picking that side and you making her pick it, Chase,” Sebastian said, noting how trusting the young woman already seemed to be with his older brother. It was like he won her over in seconds. “Skipping the free will part already, are we?” The chuckle left his lips, and he glanced over to Cassidy and then back to Chase. Cassidy watched the brothers for a moment, looking from Chase to the woman and then back to Chase once again. It was clear that the accusation honestly made her angry. The possibility of everything being against their will made her stomach churn.
“Believe what you will, Bas, I’m saving her from living on the run with all of your lot. Not having a community, not having a family... who would want that? Who would want to feel so empty with what we can provide everyone? She made her choice, it’s time for us to get her there,” he said, fully standing in front of the woman, Cassidy narrowing her eyes at him as he spoke. There were times before that Chase found a way to make her upset but this was beyond all before. The fact that her own mind had been bent in ways that made all of her previous memories false already made her sick to her stomach at the possibility of taking away someone’s free will but for Chase to be so flippant about taking away the newbie’s choice made her want to vomit.
“We’re not letting you take her, Chase,” Cassidy said, taking a step forward as she stared him down. She pushed waves of her own anger out through their bond, Chase adjusting his feet when he started to feel it. It was a strange sensation for the pair but it was obvious that it fed into their abilities.
“Well, I’m not going to just let her go without at least trying so, if you two wanna go, by all means.” Chase took a step forward, rolling his shoulders and Cassidy glanced over to Sebastian, the rolls of anticipation radiating off of her skin, bond or not. It was clear that Cassidy was overwhelmed with anger and terror all in one and Sebastian reached his hand over to her, gave it a squeeze before they took a few steps towards Chase. Chase wasn’t blind to the move, hands igniting bright red and sending out a powerful red blast in Sebastian’s direction but he countered, taking his Chi abilities and teleporting to the other side of Cassidy. He would be lying if he wasn’t going to try and stay close to Cassidy if only to protect the two of them. There would be no way he would mortally injure someone he was still bound to.
Cassidy let go of the pent up waves of green, the emerald color glowing brighter and more vibrant than ever before as she faced Chase, bright streaks of lightning erupting from the sky above them and heading straight for Chase. The rather experienced man anticipated the weather attack from her, moving to avoid each strike except for the last which struck his left arm which cause a wail of pain. He swallowed through the pain, Cassidy also adversely affected by the attack before he sent a wave of red towards her chest, knocking her nearly fifty feet back. Sebastian’s head snapped up at the sound of Cassidy’s body hitting the ground away from him and the red flared up even brighter in his hands, teleporting to Chase and then men colliding against one another.
“She won’t trust you forever. You’ll lose her before you know it,” Sebastian spat at Chase, getting a few good punches to the face, one undercutting his jaw before Chase suckered back and caught a good right hook to the side of his face.
“And you think you’ll be able to have her trust? Good luck. She loves me,” he whispered, punching him once more, crumpling Sebastian to the ground as he lifted his head to find where Cassidy was. What he didn’t anticipate was her already being behind the freshly triggered woman, ready to leave with her in an instant.
“Cass, give her up,” Chase said, taking a step towards the two women when Cassidy held a knife from her boot to her stomach, r
eady to drive the metal into herself as a means to hurt Chase, if need be. It was a desperate move, it was a dangerous one but it would do a few things for her cause. It would get the League to trust her, it would harm Chase enough to get back to the League without any more incident and she would be fine once an Omicron got to her. In their lives, such an injury was a piece of cake. “Cassidy, look at yourself,” Chase said, his voice calming down as he tried to close the space. Never in a million years would he anticipate Cassidy harming herself willingly to get what she wanted. Sebastian scrambled to his feet to watch the events in front of him unfold, his eyes closely watching the knife in Cassidy’s hand. Her hand was steadily shaking, the terror of majorly causing herself harm and the hope that Sebastian would be quick enough to grab them before Chase caught up with her.
“Chase, I promise you, I’ll do it. Take a step back, now, and let us go,” she said, dragging the woman with her free arm as she took steps backwards away from him, the metal pressed against the fabric of her shirt. Chase’s hands seemed to start growing red and Cassidy’s heart rate accelerated. “If you even dare to go into my head, I swear to God, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life,” she said, trying to cover the pain in her voice. Regardless of what he needed to do to help prove her cover, there was a part of her that was starting to believe that Chase would do whatever it took to do right by the Exodus. Chase looked up at her and shook his head, the red growing stronger.
“You won’t remember it,” he said softly before the red grew around him. Cassidy shoved the knife cleanly into her left side, swallowing back a groan and the adrenaline was pumping through her veins enough so that the pain didn’t hit her instantly but it did Chase. And that was what she was counting on. The red that had surrounded him dimmed for a moment as he gripped his stomach, feeling the metal slip through Cassidy’s flesh and the pain was almost unbearable. He wasn’t hurt himself and he wasn’t bleeding but the pain was agonizing enough to make him buckle giving Sebastian long enough to teleport to the two women and before Chase was ready to look back up, the three were long gone.
“Damnit!” Chase groaned, the red teleporting him back to the Exodus empty handed.
Sebastian arrived with Cassidy and the woman, passing off the newbie to one of the front centuries that was patrolling the outside grounds. It was rare that the building had anyone on the outside since the inside was difficult to get into but with them out and knowing that they’d come up against the Exodus sooner or later, they implemented a wider perimeter.
“You’re insane, you know,” Sebastian muttered to her as he leaned her against the table, Cassidy pulling the knife out of her stomach and letting it clatter to the ground as Sebastian arranged the candles in the origins in the right pattern to move into the next layer of the League. She groaned when she glanced down at her hand, the blood soaking not only her shirt but her hand rather quickly, dripping down her pants and to her boots rather quickly. “You pulled it out? I thought you’re not supposed to do that!” Sebastian said exasperatedly, picking Cassidy up in his arms and walking the few feet with her to the room where he could hear all the voices coming from.
“Some help here!” he called out, Caleb and Joseph clearing off the table that was in front of them as Sebastian hoisted her body up on the tabletop. Sebastian’s shirt now had Cassidy’s blood all over it, it was smeared on his hands as he put pressure on the wound, awaiting the response of one of the Omicrons within the League. It wasn’t common that many came back with mortal wounds when up against the Exodus. Many were mental afflictions, ones that were impossible to cure or even help. And, many, didn’t come back at all.
Flora stormed down the hallway, her jet black hair pulled up into a high ponytail making her cheek bones even more prominent. Cassidy remembered the woman vaguely from her very first trip into the League, when she was kidnapped. The two hadn’t spoke since she came back to the League but now was as good a time as ever.
“What the hell happened?” Flora asked, pushing the sleeves of her black t-shirt up to her elbows as the bright blue magic pulsed over her hands, the color intensifying her own blue eyes. Her hands quickly moved over Cassidy’s wound, trying desperately to heal her.
“The Exodus managed to get there before we did. Chase was there. And Cassidy had the brilliant idea to stop Chase from getting the drop on the both of us by stabbing herself and using their bond as a means of distraction.” Sebastian sighed, watching Flora work on Cassidy, taking a step back and starting to pace. “It worked, at least,” he mumbled with a quiet laugh, staring at the blood on his hands. It was odd to see his hands so red and it not be magic induced.
“Well, that’s a way to get shit done, why hadn’t we thought of it earlier?” Geneva laughed, watching as Cassidy came to on the table, the blood having soaked through her shirt and on to the table top. “Too bad she was probably the reason why the Exodus knew beforehand,” she said, staring down the woman which got a rise out of Sebastian.
“She just saved the person we were after and injured herself in the process, give her some damn credit! Besides, I had the same concern. She had no idea, I know, I checked. She wasn’t lying,” Sebastian said as Cassidy took in a deep breath, rising quickly on the table and Flora put a soothing hand on her shoulder, quietly edging her to lay back down.
“It’s okay. You’re fine but you lost a lot of blood, alright? I’m fantastic at what I do but there are some things that I can’t do instantaneously and you’re going to feel a little woozy for a bit,” she said, her voice calm enough to send waves of comfort over her, her heart rate settling just enough at her words. Cassidy blinked a few quick times, glancing from Flora to Sebastian and then to Geneva before speaking.
“I didn’t tell them anything, I promise. I was kind of interested in seeing how we were going to pitch the League to a woman who had no idea what was going on. I didn’t double cross you,” she said, swallowing hard as her hand went to the knife wound on her stomach, a gentle red scar having already formed but the space was still tender to the touch. It wasn’t perfect but it was far better than dying.
“You might not have told them that that was what you were doing but you have to believe that they simply lowjacked you. Why do you think it was Chase that they sent out? Because he’s hot and easily convincing? No, it’s because they knew you were coming, they knew that he’d be able to get to you and if he couldn’t, he’d be able to find a different way to convince you,” Geneva said, running her hand in the air to Cassidy. “And now you had to go and injure yourself when this could’ve been avoided all together if you’d just broke your bond, gave them up and sided with us.”
“You’re the one that sent me!” Cassidy yelled, sitting up with a whimper but pushing through it when others came to caution her. “You told me to go with Sebastian, you sent me to go help recruit so if you were this wise, you should’ve known better in the first place. I don’t know when I shoved such a large branch up your ass but I think you can come off it anytime now and realize I’m not the damn enemy!” Cassidy growled, thoroughly over Geneva’s shit with everything.
Geneva grabbed Cassidy’s arm, pulling her so that she came closer to the edge of the table, locking eyes with the woman. “I do not trust you. We do not trust you. You are not one of us no matter how quickly you’re willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of the others. So feel free to jump off of the ‘I’m the best ever’ train and swallow back your pride for a while, buttercup. We didn’t create this group to play. We created it to win and winning is what we do. You have to earn everything else the way the rest of us did.” She released Cassidy’s arm and looked to Sebastian. “Make sure she stays rested as she heals, we’ll talk later,” she said before leaving the room, the anger leaving with her as the rest of the group settled down, offering Cassidy their congratulations for thinking so quickly on her feet.
“How about next time we take the less radical approach?” Sebastian teased once she seemed to have settled, watching her grimace as she moved a
round a bit. Flora did a wonderful job but she had to be mindful of how much of her Origin she used all at once. Bringing someone back from a wound got harder and harder and if the Exodus decided to attack, she didn’t want to weaken herself too much.
“I guess I’m a more, go big or go home kinda gal,” she laughed, reaching out and grabbing his arm to ease herself off of the table and to the ground. Her outfit was clearly ruined, as was Sebastian’s but at the moment, she was more focused on how she felt like she’d been hit by a freight train.
“I guess I’ll be pushing for the go home sort of time,” he said, watching with a grimace as she slid off of the table. His hands were covered in her dried blood and his shirt had a nice size blood stain across the abdomen but he was just more concerned with the fact that she was alright over everything else.
“Hopefully we’ll be better next time,” she said as she moved to walk, each step a little less painful than the next but she was obviously uncomfortably sore.
“You know, we could say fuck the rules and let you go into the Epsilon room. It’ll make it feel less... shitty,” he said, nodding to the green walled room and Origin symbol down the hallway towards the rotunda. He’d probably take one heck a verbal lashing from Geneva but, in his eyes, she deserved as much help as she could get. Possible mole or not, she helped deliver a possible asset at that mattered to everyone.
“Geneva would have your head if she knew you even suggested it,” she laughed, leaning back against the table and shaking her head in denial. “I’ll be okay. It’ll just take me a while to not feel like I’ve been hit by a tank.” She said, running her own bloody hand through her hair, thankful for the moment that her hand was at least dry.
“Nope, we went your way on the whole getting the asset part of the day, the least you can do is listen to me now and make you feel marginally better,” he said, grabbing her arm to help her down the hall and she was too tired to truly argue with him. If Geneva found out, there were enough members inside the League that would argue in her favor.
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