Disclaimer: I do not own the awesomeness that is Dark Matter. Only Ariana.
The cell door swung open and I was shoved in. I tripped from the force and fell to the floor of the room onto my hands and knees with a grunt. I quickly got to my feet and swung around ready to hurl insults at my captors, but they were already slamming the door shut. Instead I took in my surroundings and saw five other people in the room. Three men and two females. One of the men looked a little too wimpy and kind to be in here, but still ready to defend himself. He stood next to a very fierce looking woman and a young, blue-haired girl. Next to her was an intimidating looking man and lastly my eyes landed on my prize.
I felt excitement burst through my heart and veins as I ran toward the last man, my true emperor, Tetsudo Ryo. I wrapped my arms around his neck in a hug, and I could feel him tense. Probably due to the fact we were around these other people. As I pulled away to look at him and grabbed his forearms, I said to him, "Finally! I finally caught up to you, Ryo."
He looked at me very confused, like he didn't know me at all. Suddenly the blue-haired girl jumped forward a little bit, recognition written all over her face, confusing me even more. "Ari-san!"
Ryo's head whipped over to look at the younger girl and then back to me with wide eyes. "What? Ari-san… You mean.."
"The girl I told you about, Four."
"What?" Intimidation Man decided to chime in on our conversation. "What girl? Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"I'd like to know that myself," said Ryo, staring me down.
His question stung more than I was willing to admit. I didn't know how this other girl knew me or my name, but that wasn't important right now. "I came to find you. I don't know if you'd noticed, but I became wanted as a co-conspirator in your assassination of the emperor."
"But I didn't assassinate my father."
"I know that. Obviously. And obviously I'm not guilty of my crimes given that you didn't even commit yours. I was set up. You know how well-hated I am among the royal court and especially by your step-mother. I'm sure she set it up."
Ryo grunted a little in agreement. "That and much more.."
Brief confusion passed through me before the "intimidating" one started yapping again, "So who are you exactly?" I could have sworn I saw some semblance of relief flit across Ryo's face, but couldn't be sure.
"..Ryo who are these people?"
"Well we call each other by numbers. The younger girl is Five, the other woman is Two." Pointing to the smaller man, "One." Lastly he gestured to the one that kept speaking, "Three. And I'm called Four. We were all on a ship together and got captured together. They're my friends."
"Um okay.. Well Three, I'm Ariana Takeda. I used to be one of the top soldiers under Ryo's command, before this whole assassination mess we've found ourselves in. After I finally gave the authorities the slip for what I thought would be for good, I came looking for him. Before was just too dangerous." I wasn't sure how much else would be appropriate to share with these people.
One spoke up, "How'd you get caught?"
I stared at him for a minute. Everyone stared back at me, like I was an outsider, even Ryo. Feeling that look from him hurt so much. We'd been so close. "I purposely got caught." Their stares turned incredulous.
"Why would you do something so stupid?" I wasn't sure how I felt about Two's snide tone.
"Ryo, of course. Someone of his infamy gets a lot of news coverage. I saw the news about how he'd been caught and I decided to come out of hiding."
Two's tone remained snide, "And you didn't think about maybe trying to break him out instead of becoming a prisoner yourself?"
I felt my cheeks heat up a little bit. I don't know why. I had a plan damn it. "Well.. if I had, you wouldn't be becoming part of my plan to break out from the inside. And then your asses would be stranded, or worse yet my plans would be foiled and we'd all be stuck in here anyway." I could feel the smug smirk tugging at my lips.
"That works for me," said Three. He's an interesting character, I can tell. Lots of bravado, but a lot of hidden heart. He thinks that no one notices the concerned looks he kept throwing Ryo. I did, though I'm not entirely sure the reason why he was. "So what's the plan? I hope it involves kicking Six's ass. That traitor. And getting my guns."
Whoever Six was, screw him. I wanted to get out clean and not chance Ryo's or my own safety for some petty revenge. Getting distracted by such things wasn't how I was able to rise to the top of the Tetsuda's military despite not being wanted there. I opened my mouth to lay out the plan, at least in a subtle way I hoped Ryo would understand and be able to get his new friends to follow. No doubt there were cameras and microphones in here and that there were people listening on the other end for just such a moment. Before I could get any words out however, the cell door slammed open and several men flooded into the room, holding guns at Ryo and his friends while a couple more strutted in and stared me down.
A slight groan escaped my throat and I rolled my eyes. The others were herded into one of the corners by the guys with guns while I was left in the middle alone. "I don't suppose you want to shake my hand and give me a pat on the back for being a good girl and turning myself in, do you?"
They chuckled darkly, and the one that seemed to be of highest rank held his hand out to me. I stared at it for a minute with caution before putting my hand into his, already knowing what was going to happen. He snapped me forward burying his other fist into my face and I crashed to the ground, blood gushing from my nose. I could hear the gasps and protests from the group in the corner, but none of them were stupid enough to brave the guns to come to my aid. Except for the young girl, Five was it? But One and Two held her back.
The men without guns out started to circle me. "You've caused us a lot of trouble," said the leader. I got up on my hands and knees and looked up, staring down the patch on his arm that displayed the Galactic Authority logo. I hardened my expression and stood up. As soon as I reached my full height, a knee planted itself into my stomach and the air painfully rushed from my lungs. "You've killed a lot of us. And that stunt where you faked your death, we were all so sad to hear of your passing." My hair was yanked on, forcing me to look my attacker in the eye. "Every GA officer in this building wants to be in our place right now. Especially now that we know you didn't actually die. It means two of our own and some other woman burned to death instead of you, you little bitch." I spat in his face, earning me another punch that caused my mouth to start bleeding. That's when the lot of them decided to join in and beat me at the same time.
I don't know how long it went on for. Eventually they stopped, spat on me, and backed out the door, slamming it shut again. Groaning, I clawed my way over to the wall to try and find some support to stand up with. Before I reached it though Ryo and Five were helping me up. I spat some of the blood onto the floor to get rid of the excess fluid in my mouth. Ugh. It'd been a while since I'd taken a beating like that. Hiding meant avoiding foes. A chuckle bubbled up through my chest. Everyone gave me a weirded-out look until I discreetly showed them the key card I was palming.
To be continued…