Author's Notes: This is one of my most violent and abusive fics to date. It is graphic and extreme. You need to be fully warned before you read. The situations are adult. You have been warned. That aside, I've been working on this fic since before I posted Lux Aeterna, so I'm so excited to be posting! Enjoy!
A boatload of thanks to Dailenna and Causmicfire86 for all of their help as I've muddled through this piece. It is about three-quarters of the way complete right now. I'll post a chapter every few days or so, I think.
It had been dark for quite a while by the time he told her to get out of the office, for goodness' sake. She agreed with him, as it was 0200 hours on a Saturday morning, and as she buttoned up her coat, she made a promise to call on Sunday afternoon. Though he offered to walk her home more than once, she turned him down, explaining the impracticality of such things, as he lived in the exact opposite direction of her apartment.
And this was how the evening found her, trudging through a slight drizzle as she started fumbling through her bag for her keys nearly a block away from her apartment. She desperately wanted to get out of the rain; the chill was starting to bite at her and she was more than ready for a cup of tea, a good book and a warm change of clothes. As she considered just what book she planned on digging out of her shelf, she thought she heard someone approaching her from behind—and at nearly two-thirty in the morning, in the rain, no less, this was odd. Turning to confront them, she felt strong hands grab her, yanking her backwards. From her other side, she heard footsteps nearing, and felt her stomach tighten at the thought of two people involved in trying to attack her.
She opened her mouth to holler, and tried to wriggle her hands free of the captor's grip so she could get to her pistol, but to no avail. One hand was now squarely pressed against her mouth, and the person she had heard approaching was now patting her down, removing her pistols one-by-one as he found them.
"First Lieutenant Hawkeye," the first growled, his fingers pressed angrily into her cheek as he kept her mouth covered. "You have something we want. If you're willing to give it to us without a fight, we'll let you go."
Her heart was pounding so hard she could hear the beat of it thrumming in her ears. Her hands were trembling even as the man tightened his grip around her; and all the while she tried to imagine what it was that they could possibly want from her.
"Your father was an alchemist, Miss Hawkeye," the second man drawled, his voice laden with an accent she couldn't place. "And he left behind some research. We want it."
Her blood ran cold, and she froze, already realizing that her head was moving slightly from side to side in a rejection of their request. Before she could stop herself, she started fighting back to get away from the man who was holding her, knowing that if they managed to drag her away from the scene they would certainly get the information they wanted.
And with a hollow thunk, they brought a metal pipe down on the back of her head, and watched her fall to the ground.