by Lucy Smoke
Impossibly large hands grab my waist and yank me away from the elevator. "Fuck!" I scream as those hands squeeze around me, surely leaving bruises. I pull and shove against the chest I'm pressed against. "Let go!"
"Cassandra! What's going on?!" Noaz yells in my ear.
I elbow the giant holding me in the face, but he doesn't even flinch as my joint makes contact with his cheek. His grip grows impossibly tighter and I gasp for air. My hands drop to the gargantuan paws around my waist and I try to pry them away to no avail.
Haze coughs nearby as the two Tanks haul him up and punch him in the face. It looks like he's already taken too many punches in that area, his entire left cheek bruised and his eye nearly swollen shut. I squirm and struggle against the hands pinning me.
One of the Tanks holding Haze releases him to his comrade before reaching into his pocket and retrieving a communicator. My eyes widen as he presses a button and holds the device to his ear, waiting for someone to answer.
"Two trespassers on level five," he says into the communicator, dusty, gray eyes sliding over me lasciviously before moving to Haze as he delivers another kick straight to Haze's gut.
"Cassandra?" Noaz says in my ear. "Can you hit the switch? I can't get in unless someone turns the system back on."
The man with the communicator to his ear pulls it away and looks at the mess of wires before looking at me. He puts the device back against his ear. "Take the stairs, the girl took out the elevators." He smiles wide. "Yeah, don't you worry. I'll treat her real nice, boss."
I take a breath, mind racing. I need to hit the switch without them realizing what I'm trying to do. Glancing at the wall, I debate the success rate of what I'm considering. If I attempt it and get away with it, it'll hurt. If I attempt it and don't get away with it, Noaz will be left on the outs and I'll still get hurt.
Haze looks at me and nods to the elevator. I notice that his comm unit didn't fall out in the fight. He, too, heard Noaz's plea. Sucking in a breath, I close my eyes and start crying. Big, fat tears roll down my cheeks and the Tank on the communicator mutters in disgust. The one behind me turns me around. I don't expect the hard slap to the face.
"Stop it, bitch. I haven't even begun to hurt you yet," he snarls.
Finally, I can see what this man looks like and it's not a pretty sight. A sharp scar runs across the left side of his face, over and through his eye which is now obviously blinded. I stare at his murky iris while the other one watches me with lust and hatred. I shudder in revulsion.
"What?" he asks. "Don't like the way I look?" He shoves me backwards into the wall and presses his face close to mine. I turn my cheek and try not to breathe in his foul-smelling breath.
"No," I say.
"I like it when they say 'no’," he chuckles to his buddies. He slams his lips down on my neck, his flat tongue running along my skin.
I'm going to peel my skin off and bathe in acid for weeks after this, I think.
Haze growls something on the other side of the man's shoulders. Whatever he says earns him another hard kick.
Fuck, what am I gonna do? Breathing hard, I push my hands back, struggling against the man. He grips me tightly—so tight that I know I'll have bruises after all of this is over.
Static. "Cassandra." Fuck. Noaz. He's relying on me. Haze is relying on me. Kida is relying on me. They are all relying on me. I need to do this.
I close my eyes and suck back a breath. Pulling my knees up I press my feet back, directly on the Tank's thighs and push off, startling him so much that he lets go. My hands slap into the wall as I crash. It blocks my face plant rather spectacularly, but I don't have time to stop and appreciate the lack of added bruising.
Scrambling for the hole in the wall next to the elevator, I shove my arm inside, barely concerning myself with the thought that a loose wire could electrocute me at any moment. I find the switch with my fingers as soon as the Tank yanks me up again. Pressing the pad of my middle finger against it, when he yanks me back the elevator system flickers to life.
"The hell you think you're doing?!" the Tank holding me exclaims shaking me like a little kid holding a rattle toy.
Haze doesn't say anything and neither do I, but we both hear Noaz's relieved breath through our comm units. That is, until the Tank holding me sees the dark circle in my ear. One flat hand slaps my temple to hold my head to the side, while the other hand's fingers dig the device from my ear. Scar-face growls loudly.
"Comms," he snaps to the others. "Check him!" One of the other Tanks—the one unencumbered by his communicator conversation—leans down to Haze and there's loud cursing and grunting as the man finds Haze's comm unit and rips it away while simultaneously punching Haze in the side once more.
The Tank holding me snarls and drops me so that my feet touch the floor. Before I can even take a step away, he spins me around and slams me back against the wall until the hole and the bare wires are digging into my back.
His breath smells of rank, days-old leftovers, uncomfortably warm and nasty as it drifts over my face. I stifle a grimace and cringe away when his over-pumped arms land on either side of me and he leans down. "When we're through with you, you'll wish you had never stepped foot in here," he promises.
I glare up at him as he looms intimidatingly. "You're going to wish you never saw me," I promise him in return.
With another snarl, he reels back and punches me once in the face and it's lights. Fucking. Out.
Eleven
The Return
Feeling re-infuses my limbs in slow increments as I wake on a cold floor. I've never understood why sometimes cold surfaces feel wet even when they are completely dry. The floor beneath me has that sensation. As if every possible micro molecule of heat has been sucked away and left in its place, there remains only a frozen surface. I cough, sucking in equally cold, dusty air as I turn over onto my stomach and groan. My face feels like someone clubbed me with an iron bar. I reach up feeling along my nose to see if it's broken. It's not, but there's still dried, crusted blood beneath my nose and along my upper lip.
A small, but firm hand touches my back as I slowly sit up. Gasping in surprise, I whirl around and am met with familiar golden eyes the same color a tiger's might be if they were no longer extinct. My mouth sags open and a choked pant escapes.
"Kida?"
Her lips twist, two ripe petals against a bruised and battered face. "Hey, Cassie," she grins. I nearly fall flat on my face as I fall all over myself trying to hug her. She chuckles and strokes my head as I wrap my arms around her middle and squeeze tight. "Cassie," she says with a grunt when I get a bit overzealous and squeeze a bit too hard.
Loosening my hold, I sit back. "I-you-Kida..." I don't know what to say. I knew she was here in the pod complex, somewhere. That is, if I haven't been carted somewhere else. I just didn't expect to see her so soon. I choke up once more when her hands touch my face, squeezing my cheeks together as she presses herself closer.
"I've missed you, Cassie," she says quietly. "But, damn, babe, I really wish you had thought of some other way to come see me."
"I'm here to rescue you," I tell her.
She snorts, the sound less offensive than it might have been from someone else because of the soft and understanding smile that spreads across her mouth. "So far," she chuckles. "I'm impressed by your gallantry. If you've got an escape plan, now might be the time to share it."
"I–" My response is cut off by the sound of bolts snapping back as a solid door behind me opens and something heavy is thrown into the room. Scooting closer to Kida, I turn and glance over my shoulder. The door slams closed and Haze groans as one of his hands clutches his stomach. Kida yanks me closer and slightly behind her.
"Who the hell are you?" she snaps.
"No, no!" I say quickly. "He's a friend. He's here to help!"
She looks down at him with doubt, her long, dark-caramel strands tucked behind her ears. Some of the strands of her hair have banded together, just barely starting to resembl
e dreads.
"Cass?" Haze rolls onto his side, facing us, his arm still wrapped across his stomach. When he sees Kida, he slowly moves to his feet. They watch each other, one set of eyes cautious and untrusting, the other critical and analyzing. Haze measures her like he might measure a scientific experiment. I had never heard him talk about being interested in science, but I could see him in a white lab coat with concoctions of deadly proportions bubbling on a table in front of him.
"Haze, this is Kida," I say, slowly edging my way around her. "Kida, this is Haze. He's one of Vincent's men and he's here to help."
"V's men?" she says. "You know V?" Her eyes narrow, suspicious, as he moves closer. I know she doesn't like that I'm between them. Even I feel like a moderator between two giant animals preparing to pounce.
"My name is Haze Royce, Kida, and yes, I do know your godfather." Her eyes widen as though she recognizes the name. Shoulders loosening, Kida relaxes her stance and moves so that she's no longer leaning forward towards me as though she might need to yank me out of the way for any reason.
"Kida Washington," she says, holding out a hand. Haze switches so that his left hand is clutching his stomach and offers her his right hand to shake. I breathe a sigh of relief until Kida continues. "What took you so fucking long?"
With a groan, I bury my face in my hands and wonder why in the world I ever chose Kida. Haze chuckles and releases her hand, taking a step back, though keeping his eyes trained on the two of us.
"Seriously?" I lift my face to glare at her. When she shrugs, I notice that she only shrugs one shoulder. Even though I know she can lift both arms, she's holding her left arm closer to her side.
I was so overjoyed at seeing her again after so long, I didn't realize how much she's changed. Her hair is only a small part. There are long, shadowed, half-moons under her eyes made even darker by the pale gauntness of her cheeks. She looks like she hasn't eaten right in weeks and she's hurt, the way she holds herself isn't the only clue.
"We have a team, along with Vincent, on the outside of this pod complex," Haze says to Kida.
Kida responds by asking questions, wanting to know which sides they've surrounded, what they know. I'm glad they're talking and that I can't really answer anything more than Haze can, because it gives me an opportunity to analyze her and categorize her injuries and differences.
She's wearing familiar clothes. Pants that, before, would have been loose enough for her to move freely now sag on her frame, and a long-sleeved shirt that does the same. Her lips are dry and cracked. Cheeks hollow. The normal rich, golden hue of her skin tone is gone, sallow and sickly. My nostrils flare as I turn away, looking at the room. It's the size of a pod bedroom, without windows though. Perhaps a basement room? The floor is a plain slab of metal, the whole room a perfect little box. Like an elevator...
I inhale sharply, glancing at the door. Anxiety begins to unfurl in my stomach as I slowly stride towards it. My hands shake as I grasp the handle and pull, but, of course, it's locked. Why would I think otherwise? I try again anyway. I can't be locked in a windowless room. I don't know for sure that it's in the basement of the pod complex. It could be at the very top, just waiting to plummet down in a hail of screeching metal and bolts.
"Cass?" Haze's voice sounds somewhere behind me.
I yank on the handle again, cursing before I let go and give the door a violent kick. "Cass, we have to wait. They aren't going to come for us just yet." He shifts as he ambles towards me, moving slower than he usually would.
"Cassie." Kida moves towards me, ducking around Haze as I press my face to the cool metal of the door. My throat closes and panic settles under my skin, a vibrating anger and shock that ricochets through me. "Cassie, just breathe. It's not an elevator. It's just a room."
Is it moving? Did I just feel it move? I can't breathe!
"Cassie." Kida's fingers grip my chin and turn my face to hers. Golden eyes flicker with strength, staring at me. "You are fine. Do you understand? You are just fine. Take a breath. Open your mouth and breathe. It's okay. You can do it. I believe in you." I do what she says, opening my mouth as wide as I can. "That's my girl. You're okay, aren't you? Why don't we sit down?"
With my whole body trembling, Kida leads me to a corner of the room and sits next to me. She pats my hair as I hold onto her, clutching her good arm and trying to breathe through whatever pathetic fear-monster has me held captive.
"It will go away," Kida is saying. She's not talking to me. She's talking to Haze as he moves across from us and sits down with his back against a wall. "It always does. It just needs to work through her system."
"Do you know why she has such a strong fear of elevators?" I hear him ask. "She's so wild and reckless, the first time it happened, my team and I were shocked."
"Reckless?" Kida frowns and looks down at me, her hands freezing on my hair. I grimace, wishing Haze would just fall into a deep, dark hole somewhere—or stop talking. Really either option would work at this point. But as my luck has it, no hole willingly opens up to swallow him and he doesn't stop talking.
"The first time we met her, she was going under an alias—your name. We thought she was you and we were under strict orders to find you and bring you in. Vincent wanted to talk to you and didn't understand if you were free somewhere in the city, why you weren't answering his comm calls or visiting. We caught her the first time and she got away, ran through Steamer Town and then led my team members on a merry chase. She jumped off a building."
"What?!" Kida swings her gaze down to me. "You did what?"
I sit up and scoot away slightly. "I... uh... well, I was keeping my promise not to look for you and well...I didn't know who they were or why they..."
"You leapt off a building?!"
"According to two of my teammates, she climbed down the outside of a Hollow Pointe building cage without a harness or safety net," Haze offers helpfully.
My eyes find his and I narrow my gaze, putting all of my irritation into my glare, hoping he feels the burning rays of my anger. He flicks me an amused smile that makes it clear he's not phased one bit. I give up and shift my gaze back to Kida who has turned a flushed pink. Her mouth hangs open at this new information.
"You what?!"
"Thanks a lot, Haze," I mutter.
"My pleasure," he answers pleasantly.
"Do you know how dangerous that is?!" Kida snaps. "You could have died! Christ, Cassie!"
"I know," I reply. "But I didn't."
"Is this what you've been doing while I've been locked up here? Climbing buildings and jumping off them?"
I roll my eyes and cross my arms. "It's not like that, I've been looking for you."
"You found me," she says icily. "Happy with where you are now? Recklessness is not a good quality to have."
"Well, it's served me well so far. I'm still alive, aren't I?" I snap back.
"How long do you think you can live on luck?"
"Hey," Haze intervenes. "Cass has been really worried about you. She's done really good with our team and yes, while I did say she was reckless, she's been a strong asset. She's quite intelligent and focused when she wants to be."
Kida looks away from me. "I didn't say she was stupid," Kida growls. "But she knows better than to put herself in explicit danger."
Haze seems surprised by Kida's outrage. I'm not. I knew she would be like this. I had hoped to tell her everything after we were out of the Tanks’ pod complex and hopefully back home in our pod. I sigh and reach up to wipe away the dried blood still on my face.
"I'm sorry," I mutter sulkily.
Gold eyes glare at me for a moment and I keep my gaze downcast. She sighs as well. "I just don't like hearing about you doing dangerous shit like that, Cassie," she says, "when I'm not around to help you."
"I didn't know what else to do without you around," I admit.
Kida reaches over and touches my cheek, turning so that I look at her. She leans forward, her long slender fingers dragging down my face until t
hey drop to claim one of my hands. Her fingers intertwine with my own. God, I have missed this girl so much.
Kida's lips touch mine, soft and hard in the same breath. I savor her skin against me, tears burning at the back of my eyes. I turn my head, tilting until her tongue slides inside and her other hand reaches up, despite her injuries, to cup my cheek. The kiss feels like safety, like coming home after a long time away and I fall into it as easily as I always have.
When I pull away, there's blood on my mouth. I can see from Haze's face that we've shocked him, that he didn't expect... well, that. When I look his way, I refuse to be ashamed. Kida is my best friend and she's my other half. I love her. Haze doesn't say anything. He even manages to close the surprised gape of his mouth. In his eyes, I can still see that questions remain unanswered, bubbling down under, waiting to rise to the surface and pop free.
"Why didn't you try to get away?" I ask, focusing back on Kida, and on a question that's been burning in my mind since I woke up and found her here. "I mean, of course, you tried. It's not like you wouldn't try." I realize I'm babbling as I brush her dark hair away from her sorely bruised face. "Tanks aren't really known for being kings of rocket science," I say. "So, why haven't you gotten away before now? You've been here for weeks."
Kida's hand remains on my cheek, pulling me closer until our foreheads are touching. The tears from before come rushing back to the surface at her next words. "There are more important things than freedom, Cassie."
"Like what?" I choke, the tears spilling over onto my cheeks, run over her fingers. She brushes them away. So much fear, I honestly wondered a time or two if she was even still alive.
God, I'm such a mess, I think.
"Like you, Cassie." Her lips track my tears and chase them away for the split second it takes me to pull away in confusion. Both of her hands pull away, falling into her lap.
"What?"
Kida smiles without humor. "They knew I was living with you. They knew I cared about you. I did try to get away. Several times in fact." She looks pointedly down at the blood staining her clothes and the bruises along her arms. I suspect beneath her clothes the wounds are even worse. "They threatened to kill you and even promised to keep me alive if I helped them."