Chapter 3: Switch
Tasha entered the room where Yuri Plisetsky laid, still bound and curled up in his side, one eye blackened under his blindfold, and a leaking wound on one cheek. The Kazakhstani skater, Otabek Altin laid next to him, also blindfolded and bound, and speaking quietly to the younger skater to calm him. Tasha sat down beside the bed, while the skaters' handler stood close by, watching.
"Yuri Plisetsky," Tasha said in a firm voice, "my name is Tasha. I am a medic. I am here to treat your wounds. I warn you that if you attempt to attack me, Sharov will have to subdue you again."
Yurio's teeth clenched and he gave no verbal answer, but he nodded stiffly to show he understood.
"He won't cause any trouble," Otabek said solemnly, "I think before, he was just still groggy from the drug we were given, and he wasn't thinking straight."
"Well, he and all of the rest of you had better think straight now. Our leader means business. She has already had to discipline Victor for being difficult."
"Big fucking surprise there," Yurio panted anxiously, "Is the stupid ass all right?"
"Unfortunately, I don't know. He was still with her when I left Yuuri Katsuki."
"Was Yuuri injured too?" Otabek asked.
"Mmhmm," Tasha answered as she slipped a cold pack underneath Yurio's blindfold, "Yuuri did not drink his drink, so one of our people had to knock him out more forcefully when he saw everyone else collapsing. He has a concussion and a sprained wrist, but he'll be all right…as long as he and Victor behave from now on. Kat, our leader, is insistent on good behavior. You need to remember that so that you will not get into any more trouble."
"You don't think they'll really hurt Victor bad, do you?" Yurio asked, quivering as the medic's gloved fingers touched the gash on his cheek, "I mean, he can be a pain in the ass, but I think he'd only ever be violent if the pork cutlet bowl was threatened."
"Hmm," Tasha mused, "It was actually that he heard you had been injured that set him off and got him disciplined."
"What?" Yurio said in a shocked voice, "Victor got into trouble because of…?"
"He heard you got hit a few times and I think he was just trying to talk to his handler about how to keep you calm, but Alek is sort of bad tempered, and he had told Victor several times to be quiet."
"Shit," Yurio sighed, deflating, "Idiot. I don't need him doing that. I can take care of myself."
"Yes, you look like it," Tasha chided him, "Word to the wise? Kat and the handlers are professionals. They have worked together for years, and they have pulled off several very lucrative abductions. They know about all of you. They know your personalities, your relationships to each other, and how to get you to obey them. You need to know, Yuri Plisetsky, you are a wild card. Kat knows that you have a temper, and she also knows how to tame it. She's willing to hurt people to make you behave, so my advice is to do what you're told. Do that, and it's just a few days and you're all home. Misbehave, and you could get someone killed. Remember that not all of the people we took are top skaters. There is at least one of you that Kat could use as a sacrifice to subdue the rest of you."
"Georgi?" Otabek asked, "Is that who you mean?"
Tasha shrugged.
"Perhaps."
"He's the only one of us you took who did not compete in the Grand Prix Finals."
"And he's been thinking about retiring," Yurio added, "Do you really think your leader would have him killed?"
"Why don't you ask Victor that, when you see him?" Tasha suggested, "I'm sure that, right now, he is very aware of the thin edge all of you are skating on. You should take a lesson from what's happening to him, and behave so that you don't need me patching you up anymore. Believe it or not, I don't enjoy seeing you get hurt."
"How did you get mixed up with these guys, anyway?" Yurio asked.
"Enough socializing," Sharov interrupted, "Tasha, if you're finished with him, I was just informed that Victor is being taken back to his room, and he needs warmed towels and for you to make sure his lungs clear up."
"His lungs?" Yurio exclaimed, "What happened to him? What did those bastards do?"
"Calm down," Otabek warned him, "They won't kill him, but remember, not everyone has that assurance."
"Listen to your friend," Sharov said in a low, aggressive voice, "or you'll end up getting dunked and half drowned like Victor. Last I heard, he wasn't even able to stand. Tasha, you should go. Alek is pissed, and he's taking care of Victor, which is probably not a good thing when he's already pissed, you know."
"Got it," Tasha said, rising, "Keep the cold pack on for ten minutes…"
"I know the drill," Sharov assured her, "Better go see to Victor. The boss is worried they went a little overboard."
"Shit…" Yurio whispered, paling, "Stupid Victor. You shouldn't be worried about me."
"Of course he worries about you," Otabek said softly, "Victor is your friend."
Yurio's throat tightened and he couldn't answer for a moment.
"Not if the fool does something idiotic and gets himself killed," he managed, shivering.
"It'll be okay," Otabek said soothingly, "You just have to stay calm. If an opportunity arises to do something, you want to be ready."
Under the blindfold, Yurio's eyes blazed.
"Oh, don't fucking worry about that. I will be."
XXXXXXXXXX
Tasha reached the door to Victor and Yuuri's room as Alek stumbled down the hallway, carrying Victor over a shoulder as the Russian skater coughed and shivered uncontrollably.
"Damn, what the hell did you do to him?" Tasha said, shaking her head, "I thought you were just giving the poor guy a warning, not killing him right now."
Alek shrugged.
"Boss said to dunk him. I dunked him."
The two entered the room, and the guard inside exited. Alek dropped the Russian skater onto a wooden chair, and Victor clung to it shakily, still coughing and shivering.
"Victor?" Yuuri called out nervously from where he laid, bound and blindfolded on the bed, "Victor, I heard you coughing. Are you okay?"
"F-fine," Victor answered, his teeth chattering, "It's j-just cold."
"I have some warmed towels," Tasha assured him, "Piss off, Alek. I think you've intimidated him almost to death. You know, if you idiots want to collect on these guys, you have to try harder not to fuck them up too much. This man was obviously held under too long and got water in his lungs. You know, that can cause secondary drowning hours after, so I'll need to watch over him for awhile to make sure he doesn't need oxygen or diuretics to clear him up. We don't have the fancy supplies to keep doing this."
"Tell it to our leader," Alek said shortly, heading back to stand by the bedroom door, "She told me to dunk him."
"I'm sure she didn't tell you to kill him," Tasha scolded the man, "We have three very expensive skaters with injuries now. Once the ransom demand is made, we'll probably have to show they're alive and well. They'll want to see one of these guys. So, at least stop messing them up so obviously."
Victor let out a dragging sigh of relief as Tasha wrapped a large, warm towel around him.
"Oh god, thank you," the skater whispered, grabbing onto the ends and holding the towel tightly, "At least one of you isn't out to be the death of me."
"Don't be so dramatic," Alek sneered, "Just shut up like I told you, behave, and you don't have to get the rough treatment."
"Better listen to him, honey," Tasha said, looking down into Victor's distressed eyes and using a second warmed towel to dry his face and hair, "He's kind of a prick."
"You know, I don't mind punching you either," Alek snapped.
"Oh, that would make Kat very happy," Tasha replied saucily, "You know what I think? I think you're already on some thin ice. After all, you were the one who gave Yuuri Katsuki that concussion. If he doesn't make a full recovery, who do you think Kat is going to blame? And now, you may have made Victor have symptoms of secondary drowning? If that happens and he's compromised, I don't think I'd want to be you."
Alek's teeth clenched and he glared at her aggressively, but he made no reply. Tasha gave Victor a little secret wink, and the Russian skater collapsed against her, resting quietly as she finished drying him off. When she was done, she started to step away, but Victor tugged gently on her sleeve, stopping her.
"Thank you for drying me off," he said in a rough voice, still affected by the coughing, "Do you have anything I can wear? I know Kat said I just had to go naked, but it's so cold in here."
"Oh, I'm sure I can find you something, sweetie," Tasha answered, petting his hair a little, "Wait here a second, okay?"
"Boss said that he has to go naked until…" Alek began.
"Well, if the boss doesn't want him to catch pneumonia in addition to him having breathing problems from nearly drowning then she'll let me give the poor guy a robe," Tasha answered pointedly, "Get out of my way!"
Alek scowled, but let the medic pass. He glared at Victor, who rested wearily against the back of the wooden chair, but said nothing. A few minutes later, Tasha returned to the room, carrying a hot pink women's robe. Victor accepted wordlessly and cooperated easily as Tasha helped him to his feet and tucked him back into the bed next to Yuuri.
"Sorry about the robe," Tasha giggled, "I think Kat wanted to tease you a little."
"I don't give a fuck what it looks like," Victor mumbled, curling around his pillow, "It's soft and warm. That's all I care about."
"Good boy," Tasha said, moving to the foot of the bed, "Now, I'm putting an ankle cuff on you, so that you can move around more comfortably while you rest. I think we can take most of Yuuri's bindings off too, as long as both of you are cooperative. Yuuri, you will need to check Victor for fever every hour or two. If he seems to get worse, then send Alek to get me. I'll be back to check on him later. How are the cold packs working?"
"Oh, my wrist feels much better," Yuuri said, managing a little smile as Tasha removed most of his bindings and cuffed his ankle to the post at the end of the bed, "My head still aches, though."
"Okay, I'll leave you another cold pack for that. Do you want a Valium or some Xanax for your anxiety? We have that to keep you comfortable, if you need it."
"Oh…no, I think it'll be okay. I just…want to see Victor. I want to be sure he's okay. Can you take off the blindfold?"
Tasha's expression darkened with instant worry.
"I took it off," she said, sitting down on the bed beside the Japanese skater as Yuuri felt with his fingers and quivered.
"B-but, I can't see anything!" Yuuri said in a shaky voice.
"What?" Victor said, sitting up beside him, "You can't see anything?"
"N-no!" Yuuri answered, shaking harder, "It's just…just grey…w-with a little light. I though the blindfold was still on."
"Damn it," Tasha swore.
"I'm…I'm blind?" Yuuri said in a shocked voice.
"No, Yuuri," Victor said reassuringly, wrapping his arms tightly around his panicking lover, "I'm sure that it's only temporary. You got a hard knock on the head and it scrambled things, but I'm sure that you'll be all right. Won't he, Tasha?"
Tasha hesitated, her lips tightening, then she forced a smile.
"I am sure that with rest and care, Yuuri's vision will return to normal. It often happens with head injuries that there are temporary disturbances of visual functions, but they are rarely permanent."
"There's still a chance that I could be blind permanently, though?" Yuuri worried aloud.
"No, solnyshko," Victor said firmly, giving Tasha a look of warning, "You are going to be fine. Come now, lie down with me. I'm really tired, and we don't know for how long they'll let us be close like this before they may tie us up again. Come here."
He cuddled up to the Japanese skater, who shivered and gasped when he felt how cold Victor's body felt, even with the warm robe.
"Victor, are you sure you're okay? You're so cold!" Yuuri complained.
"I just need a few minutes with you to warm me up," Victor said, smirking.
"Ack! You're freezing! What the heck did they do to you? Dunk you in ice water?"
"Kind of. It was just cold water, but it felt like there was ice in it."
"You two get comfortable now," Tasha instructed the two, "I'm going to need to talk to the boss."
She noticed the sweat that had broken out on Alek's brow at hearing Yuuri's visual condition.
"Worried?" she asked under her breath as she passed him, "You should be. That condition could be permanent."
"I didn't hit his head against the ground that hard!" the handler objected, keeping his voice lowered, "I didn't know he was that fragile!"
"Well, you'd better hope that both of these men make full recoveries, because if they don't, I know who is going to take the blame."
She smirked a little at the hangdog look she got in response, and she patted his face teasingly.
"Don't worry too much. I'm a really good medic. I'll do my best with them. Just you go easy on them, okay?"
Alek started to object, then stiffened and gave her a short nod, making the medic giggle as she exited the room. She moved on to the room where Mila laid inside and passed the guard to enter. She studied the bound and blindfolded Russian girl for a moment before moving to her bedside and sitting down.
"And how are you feeling, Miss Mila?" Tasha asked, "They haven't been bad to you?"
"No," Mila answered softly, "I just woke up anyway. I know there's someone in the room, but they don't even answer me."
"Well," Tasha said soothingly, "Kesha is kind of quiet. He does his job without a lot of words, eh Kesha?"
"Hmph," the guard grunted.
"He's not scary. Just be quiet and you and all of your friends will be back home again in no time, okay?"
"Okay, but is everyone all right? I thought I heard Victor coughing and talking in the hallway. Are he and the others hurt?"
"Oh, Victor just angered our leader and he got some punishment, but he'll be fine. All of them will be fine. You will too. I promise. Just stay calm and let me know if anyone bothers you."
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Mila asked, "What do you want? You must want something if I'm here and you're being nice to me."
"Maybe," Tasha chuckled, "You see, I'm a big fan of yours. I love your skating. I'm sorry we had to meet this way, but I promise I want to see you get home safely. I'll just warn you not to confront Kat, our leader. Kat is…a little bit extreme."
"She hasn't come in here at all. No one has. It's just been me and the guy who doesn't talk, over there."
"Well, that's better than the jerk that Victor and Yuuri have watching them."
Mila barely suppressed a little sound of worry.
"You don't think they'll really get hurt, do you?" she asked, tensing.
Tasha paused for a moment, considering.
"You know," she commented, "I would have expected that you would sound scared, asking me that question, but you…?"
She considered for a moment longer, then smirked and patted the Russian girl on the cheek.
"Me what?" Mila mused.
"Oh, I just think it's funny," Tasha commented, "Kat is so focused on the others that she's not really looking at you at all. That's very funny."
She leaned closer, as though checking the Russian girl's bonds.
"Because, if you ask me, I think you're the troublemaker of the bunch. Be careful. Don't get yourself hurt."
