Hey, it's a new story! Charlie's perspective of Put on the Red Ligt.
Un-beta'ed, so quibble away.
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Put Away Your Makeup
Danny does-anything.
That's what they call her baby brother. Danny does-anything. Three years ago, Charlie wouldn't have dreamed of eavesdropping on anyone. But that was before the Militia abducted her baby brother, three years before she joined the Rebel cause. She'd joined them because they could help her get Danny back—Nora, Uncle Miles, and Aaron agreed.
That was two-and-a-half years ago. Aaron is a prisoner of the Monroe Republic now, and Miles has been semi-replaced by Nora and Captain Neville. Charlie's the leader of the Rebels now, and she can eavesdrop on anyone she wants. Prisoners are prisoners, and captive Militia soldiers have no rights. She regrets eavesdropping on them.
They plan to capture her, or Miles, or one of the four pendants she has in her possession (or as many of the combinations as they can) and take their bounty back to Monroe. Their leader, Sergeant Richards, crows loudly about how he'll spend his share of the profit from this expedition. He's going to fuck Danny "does-anything" Matheson until the bitch bleeds and begs for relief…or death.
(Charlie doesn't let the guilt get to her when she gives Nora the money needed to pay for her baby brother's services. The rebel woman takes the hint and conceals a pistol in her shirt. Charlie is relieved when she hears that Danny received the pistol and said nothing about it.)
Danny does-anything.
Her blood boils, and the obscene nickname rings in her ears. Captain Neville, a defector she never would have suspected, only sighs and confirms the rumors in his quiet, sad voice when she asks. Charlie breaks a lot of furniture and screams and hurls things at him, although none of them come close to striking the former Militia officer. He lets her scream until she collapses, sobbing in grief and rage and pain, onto the ground before pulling her into a surprisingly gentle hug. Charlie never admits it, but she'll never be able to repay the man for every bit of comfort he's given her. (He's been forgiven for abducting her brother. He watched his son hang for attempting to assassinate General Monroe. His wife is missing because she aided the kidnapping attempt that brought Neville to Charlie's camp. If Charlie has to be honest, he's lost as much as she has now. His son is dead, and his wife probably is too.)
Charlie remember sitting up nights when she and Danny still lived in Sylvania Estates, praying that her baby brother wouldn't die in the night. She knows that all the gifts Danny tried to give her—gifts that she screamed at him for, that she smacked out of his hands and made him sob over—were his way of making up the sleepless nights to her. She wishes she'd accepted them, instead of mistaking them for insults or his stupid attempts to make her feel better about the fact that she couldn't be a child because someone had to look after Danny. Charlie promises to herself that she'll make up every one of those presents to Danny if (not if, when) she gets her brother back. She will grovel if she has too, because she's learned, as a leader of the Rebels, that she is not too proud to do anything. If it brings down the Monroe Republic, she will do it.
Danny does-anything.
Charlie is not so strong that she doesn't sob at the thought of what her brother must be going through. She remembers her first experience with the darker side of the barter system three years ago. Nora needed medicine. Charlie, even though she was sold for the night, would have gone willingly because Nora was the one who needed to be saved. But she can't imagine how much pain her brother must be in, having to spread his legs for anyone who asks, simply because he doesn't have a choice.
The leader of the Rebellion promises, every night before she sleeps, that she will execute every officer and foot soldier who has ever laid a finger on her baby brother. She will give their heads to Danny, and she'll dance on their graves, howling her bloody victory to the sky.
Her sleep isn't easy after Sergeant Richards and his small patrol somehow escape, taking two of the pendants with them. That she can sleep at all is because she knows her brother can protect himself—violently, bloodily and messily if he has to—from Richards. He can, she realizes with a sinking heart, take his only available route out of his life and shoot himself. Charlie's heard enough stories from Miles about his former comrades from his time in the Marine Corps who blew their brains out with their pistols, simply because they'd run out of hope. (Charlie prays that the gun Nora smuggled to Danny will give her brother hope that he'll be freed. She hopes, with all her heart that he never sees it as his way out.)
Charlie knows that Danny thinks she's dead. She wishes she could get Nora to smuggle a picture to Danny, but daguerreotypes are too hard to conceal. A gun—a tiny revolver that Nora, with a smile, called a Saturday Night Special—is easy. A photograph is not. Her only consolation, after Nora makes one of her irregular visits to Danny, is that Charlie knows his breathing is stable. His apartment is good, for all the fact that it's still a prison. It's so clean that he won't have to worry about an asthma attack.
She curls up and sobs, some nights, when stories leak out about Danny does-anything and how Monroe likes to beat his favorite whore. The Rebel's leader has heard too many vivid descriptions of Danny's injuries to not wake up from a nightmare where she is tied to a chair, watching Monroe beat, kick, attack… She can't wake up, no matter how hard she tries, and has to watch Monroe, a faceless monster, rape her brother while Danny sobs and tries to break free from his restraints. The worst part is when Monroe, still faceless (she's never seen what he looks like), turns to face her and informs her in a horrible, cold voice that he'd stop hurting Danny if she'd just turn herself in. That it is her fault Danny is being raped and tortured. That Danny is beaten so badly…
Charlie has learned the merits of various not-coffee brews, and knows which ones will keep her awake for days on end if she drinks enough. Charlie knows she's a coward, because she can't stand to see her little brother in her nightmares. (The worst one is where Monroe pushes her onto Danny, and orders her brother to screw her, or he'll rape Danny until he bleeds and tears, then make the boy watch while he does the same to his sister. Charlie becomes incredibly skilled with night- and blind-fighting, just so she can avoid sleeping, avoid that nightmare.)
She's pleased when news reaches her camp about how Danny killed Sergeant Richards, although she's a little surprised when she reads the article in a stolen copy of the Philadelphia Star. Danny referred to the man as Private Richards, which makes no sense—until she reads further, and learns that her baby brother rarely leaves his apartment. (She has to look "acute" and "agoraphobia" up in the dictionary.) Her heart grows cold, and a ball of ice settles in her stomach as she reads her baby brother's statement. Richards raped him, after he was kidnapped. (She does some math, and breaks down sobbing when she realizes that he turned eighteen the night Richards raped him and destroyed his innocence. Charlie promises she'll make up for that birthday too. Captain Neville, in a move that endangers everyone's safety, sneaks into Philadelphia. She kisses him when he shows her Richards' severed head, removed from the man's corpse. It doesn't matter about their safety. Charlie has the head embalmed, and uses it as a soccer ball when she needs to think.)
When Charlie learns that Uncle Miles, who vanished eight months ago, visits Danny, she promises she'll castrate Miles and remove his hands. Danny does-anything rings in her ears, and bile rises in the back of her mouth. She's learned, through interrogations and conversations with Tom—Captain Neville—that "does-anything" really does mean anything. Danny will do whatever his clients ask him to, as long as they pay for it. Charlie sobs herself to sleep, and even her not-coffee poisons (how Nora refers to the potent brews Charlie's created for herself) can't keep the nightmares away.
What horrifies her most now, though, are those nightmares. Watching Monroe rape and torture Danny would be a blessing now, Charlie realizes. She wakes up screaming after dreaming of Danny, an expression of bliss on his face (although the expression never reaches his eyes) ride Uncle Miles slowly, grasp his shoulders, moan into the older man's chest and shudder in relief or fear as Miles finishes.
Charlie feels perfectly justified when she kicks Uncle Miles between the legs and delivers a beating when he slinks back into the rebel camp after the eight-month absence. She stops after what seems like an hour, panting and out of breath and still so full of rage it feels like she'll explode.
Uncle Miles, after learning about her nightmares, takes her aside and tells her—with all honesty and openness—what he actually did when he visited Danny. Her baby brother never saw their uncle's face, because Miles paid for a blindfold. Miles gave Danny roses, told him stories about the rebels and their mysterious leader with fire in her eyes. He never touched Danny, except to kiss his nephew's forehead and hand over the roses.
Charlie's eyes fill with tears when she hears about how thin her once-healthy brother has gotten. He's still beautiful, but he looks so pale and drawn now, according to Uncle Miles. Danny was always solid, even when he was ill or being calmed down during an asthma attack in the winter because Maggie couldn't make a tincture with supplies that didn't exist. Now, to hear Uncle Miles describe him, Danny is a pale waif, hiding in an apartment that is beginning to sound more like a cage than a palace. Charlie sobs into her uncle's shirt, wishing she had been taken instead.
Her brother doesn't deserve any of what happened to him.
Charlie promises that she'll kill Monroe for what he's done to her baby brother. Danny should still be innocent, or starting a family, or the town doctor. He could have been a teacher. Her baby brother shouldn't have to spread his legs for anyone who has enough money, shouldn't have to sell his innocence to the highest bidder. He never should have been raped.
Danny should still be innocent.
And it's her fault he's not.
- o – o -
So, what did you think? Good? Bad? Has Charlie grown up some? Drop a line and let me know.