Two weeks ago…
A cold rumble of metal vibrated steadily underneath Happy. She could feel the jagged metal of the marked ground as it perforated her skin with every movement. Each jolt brought fresh waves of pain to her throbbing jaw and reestablished the familiar coppery taste of blood in her mouth. She first assed the injury with a sweep of the tongue, spiking the discomfort level further, but confirming what she already assumed. No broken teeth. She'd just bitten her tongue… badly. But how though? She knew from experience that it would leave a spectacular bruise by the end of the day.
Another sharp jolt pulled Happy out of her thoughts allowing her to refocus on the matter at hand. She reached to further examine her jaw, but something else inhibited the movement. Something had stopped her hands from moving. The deterrent felt plastic, slightly rough to the touch. Zipties? Something was not right here. Her foggy mind tried to string things together, but the nausea made it difficult to concentrate. Her vision blurred when she attempted to get a better view of her surroundings. Only revealing distorted glimpses of a grey, riddled floor, metal benches, and the soles of some very worn combat boots. Above her, she heard muffled voices speaking in a language that sounded vaguely familiar.
Where were Paige and Toby? She could distantly remember them standing with her, but now her colleagues were nowhere to be seen. Her vision cleared slightly as she regarded the combat boots once more and shifted them upwards to the man that filled them. He faced away with her but stood with a confident military stance as he communicated the other men. A stance that told her he was a force to be reckoned with. One hand rested lazily on a sheaved hunting knife and the remained clenched next to the small of his back. He'd apparently disrobed his jacket and ski mask and it only heightened his formidable appearance. His arms that were riddled with scars and spots and Happy could see the muscles that rippled with strength underneath them. Muscles that could punch holes in the walls, lift people up, and throw them across a room. Like Toby… A wave of clarity shot though Happy's mind as everything rushed back. The job at Zenatech, Sylvester and Walter being arrested, the fight that the remaining team members had engaged in. A fight that occurred with the men Happy was with now.
She glowered as she remembered Toby and Paige going down in the scuffle because as experienced as they were, they were not trained fighters. Toby getting his head bashed against the car door, by the very man in front of her. Paige breaking her arm in the fight with the other. The men leaving them on the ground like garbage. Yet they took Happy. And since they left her alive, there certainly had to be a reason.
Her eyes drifted further, examining the interior of the vehicle. Happy could tell from the internal layout that she was in a Citreon Jumper Van, model LWB. A costly, innovative piece of equipment, known for its durability and efficiency. This 2005 model had two back entrances. Full sliding doors that slid open almost two full meters. On any given day, she'd broken out in seconds. Unfortunately, her lock picks were in the left boot, three foes were in close proximity, and she was a little more than tied up at the moment. There were too many variables in a jumbled equation she could barely solve.
The van went over another bump and Happy slid forward unintentionally. The man nearest to her whipped around when he heard the mechanic groan, smiling erratically as he did so. As they moved closer, Happy acquired a much clearer view of her assailants. She was slightly surprised by the diversity of the three men that smirked down at her. One was clearly Asian, most likely of Japanese descent. Another appeared to be Columbian. Both had Jericho 941's in their holsters. The man that towered over her resembled someone of vaguely European ancestry. There had to be at least one other individual, the person who was currently driving the car. Four against one. Unless, of course, there were more when they reached a rendezvous point.
She silently weighed her odds and scrutinized the men once more. Eastern Asia, Columbia, and Western Europe had virtually nothing in common. Nothing at all. There should be no reason that these men of high caliber should be caught in a room together. The only way several men of this diverse social and political background would ever work together is if they had an incentive. Only if they had money, because anyone would do something for the right amount of cash. Which meant someone had to be bankrolling this. Someone with a lot of cash, time on their hands, and inevitably more people. Someone that knew the Scorpion crew was doing a job at that exact time and location. The odds were not looking too good.
"Well, look who's back to the land of the living?" The first man jested cruelly in flawless American English. His clear absence of an accent disregarded her assumption of European background.
Happy set her jaw and pretended to disregard the query, not giving the man the satisfaction of her being low enough to answer him.
"What? No talking?" More silence on her part. The Caucasian man became visibly annoyed, then angry in the matter of seconds. A short fuse. Without warning, he reached for the scruff of her shirt and pulled Happy roughly to her feet. The surrounding captors dwarfed the mechanic's scrawny size, so much so, that Happy's feet dangled off the floor as he pulled her to his height.
"You answer your superior when they talk to you." The man growled. Happy could almost smell the musky aftershave and stale coffee that radiated off him as his grey eyes, devoid of any spark of emotion, glared menacingly into hers.
"No one can make me an inferior without my consent." Happy snarled back.
He swung Happy against the side of the van. She saw stars as her body connected to the steel wall with a loud clatter. The other men stood languidly in the background and appeared vaguely amused at the way things were going. Happy scowled; she wasn't the type to go down without a fight.
The mechanic grabbed her free hand, reached for the larger man's pinky, and pulled it sharply backwards, effectively dislocating it. The man temporarily loosened his grip to adjust to the pain, which allowed her to slip out of his hold. With her newfound freedom, Happy swiftly broke his nose with the palms of her hand and delivered a powerful kick between his legs. Not missing a beat, she shoved the disoriented man to the front of the vehicle, sending him tumbling into his other companions. She palmed her lock pick kit from her boot and quickly cut the zip ties that help her hands together. Happy did not have much time to enjoy her new found freedom before the other men grabbed her roughly by the arms and pinned her against the back door of the van. The mechanic instinctively used the momentum of her legs deliver a sharp kick to the Asian man's thigh, but he barely faltered. The iron grip only tightened as she struggled futilely against of the two of them.
"You should not start fights you know you can't win." The Columbian man whispered unsympathetically in her ear. The larger man was picking himself off up the ground, nursing a broken finger and sporting a ferocious bloody nose.
"Big mistake." He murmured furiously. Without hesitation, the man pummeled his fist into her stomach. Happy saw stars. She coughed as she tried to inhale the breath the force of the blow had taken from her, but she never got the chance. Another hit landed on her torso, followed immediately by an uppercut to her already aching jaw. Happy coughed violently sending a thin spray of crimson to the silver floor. She vaguely felt the other attackers release their grip as the American threw her to the floor. Her ears were ringing as she refocused her energy, but the men didn't stop there. They sauntered forward slowly, going for an intimidation tactic. They knew there was no way for her to escape. Happy, however, savored the time to prepare for the incoming attack.
She gazed warily as the apparent ringleader sauntered forward. Still coming off the high of the recent success, the men had let their guard down. They weren't even trying to block themselves anymore. She grinned bloodily in a dazed glee; it would be their funeral.
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." The American grinned cruelly and lifted his leg for a well-aimed kick, but Happy was prepared. She leaned into the blow and pushed his leg up at an awkward angle, once again putting the assailant off balance. Then she lunged for the hunting knife, she'd seen earlier at his side. She wrenched it from his sheath and rolled back to left, but apparently not fast enough. He grabbed her foot and yanked her back towards him. Then, suddenly he was above her with his hand clasped around her throat.
" David! Hey David! Boss wants her alive! She needs to be alive to finish the job!" The Japanese man shouted in the distance, but made no visible effort to stop him. Her vision darkened. The other man in the back clearly wasn't trying to prevent the attack and their companion sure as hell wasn't stopping himself. It became quickly apparent that this man would have no qualms about knocking her unconscious and she had no idea of what these sociopathic monsters would when she was out. The man never made a move for his knife; he probably didn't even know she had it. It was now or never. Her grip on the knife tightened as she embedded it into David's side once. When David didn't falter, she pulled it out and did it again.
The man groaned in confusion, and then distress, and then pain, as he lurched off of her. Happy shuffled back in shock as she felt his warm blood spill over her hand as she pulled the knife out from the soldier. The mechanic had no time to comprehend what she had done; there were still two others to worry about. She scrambled to her feet pointing the weapon shakingly at the other two.
The other men didn't even flinch. Each held a pistol in their hand pointed directly at her.
"Remember Omar… We can't kill her." The Japanese man murmured to his remaining companion.
"Wasn't planning on it." He muttered, slightly shifted the position of his gun, and pulled the trigger.
Present Day
"You need to eat Happy." Walter reprimanded. "You're not stupid. You know what will happen if you don't. You need the energy."
His words fell on deaf ears. It had been two days since the Toby and Walter had rewrapped Happy's wounds and she had barely eaten or spoken since the incident. Instead the mechanic had curled back into herself, most likely trying to internalize the pain. She seemed perfectly content to forget the entire breakdown that occurred only hours before. To pretend it never happened. That frustrated him. Because statistically, internalization was much less successful than other methods. And Happy was a genius, she should know that. But unlike him, Happy actually had some EQ. And it was irrational for him to assume she would react to whatever happened in a completely normal way. Irrational to assume she could handle it on her own. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he was not frustrated with her. Not exactly. Walter was frustrated with the situation that they'd been presented with. A situation with too many variables and an irritatingly missing answer. Although though Happy was back, they were no closer to solving the equation.
Instead she sat there, head on her knees, with tortured eyes, gazing emptily at nothing. Paige sat vigil on the sofa next to her in silence. She had barely moved either. Unsure what would happen if she moved away. Sylvester had taken Ralph across the room to distract him. Walter thought it was futile. The kid was too intuitive to not know what was going on, but he agreed for the girls' sake. Toby shuffled cards in the folding chair across from him, never taking his eyes off his friend.
"Come on Happy you c-" Toby started, but he was interrupted him.
"You know I stabbed someone." Happy said monotonously, no indication of emotion at all. The scorpion gang looked up startled. Toby tried to say something, but Happy continued before he could start.
"I stabbed him. Twice." She continued dryly. "Right here."
The mechanic's hand drifted lightly over her grievous torso wound. Paige moved to stop her, but she shrugged away.
"He…" Happy paused to gather her thoughts and Toby found himself second guessing his concussion diagnosis. "He was trying to make me do something I didn't want to do. They were trying to make me do something I didn't want to do and I didn't do it." Happy murmured vaguely. "Does that justify it? Did that make him deserve a knife to the gut?"
"It doesn't matter now. You did what you had to do to survive. It's basic human survival instincts, you can't stop it." Toby firmly stated. She visibly simmered; something about that comment annoyed her.
"You can't stop human instinct, but you also can't sweep it under the rug. You can't ignore it. You guys of all people should know that!" Happy ground out. Walter frowned as he listened. Happy was not angry with them, despite her heated tone. Too him, she sounded confused. Like she was trying to put something together and because of her dissociative personality, it came off as anger.
"You shouldn't- you shouldn't be able to do that. They should have killed me for doing something like that, but they didn't." Happy uncurled from her position, brow furrowed in concentration. "Instead they let me go…" she whispered quietly, talking more to herself than the others.
"What?" Toby asked in bewilderment.
"They let me go!" Happy shouted in pure unbridled fury. They let her go? Then she was off the couch and on her feet.
"W-what? Happy! Where are you going?" Paige asked frantically.
"I- I'm getting for my hammer. I need my hammer." The mechanic ground out as she stumbled toward her workstation.
Walter turned away from the group. Why would they let her go? Kidnappers simply didn't just get bored. When Happy had stumbled back intro their lives the day before yesterday, he'd naturally assumed she escaped. That's why he immediately vetoed the idea of taking the mechanic to the hospital. But if they let her go… That changed things because if Happy was right. If Happy had not given them what they'd wanted. That meant they weren't finished. They had been laying low for the last few days, making sure the kidnappers weren't still looking. But if they had intentionally released her. Then their plan hadn't been derailed, it was ongoing. It meant the kidnappers weren't done yet.