Trigger warning: domestic violence and implied rape of a minor (In my country it's under 18)
Chapter 4
Beatrice sighed as she glanced at the clock again. Her father's shift ended five hours ago and he still wasn't home yet, he was probably out drinking and gambling with his buddies. She glanced at her mother, who was sitting on the couch next to her, she appeared twitchy. Of course she would be twitchy, whenever Beatrice's father came back home this late, which was pretty often, he would be drunk and abusing. It was like that since she knew of herself.
Beatrice couldn't really understand why her mother didn't just pick up her stuff and leave that man for good. That's what she would have done. She felt her stomach growl, she was really hungry, but it would be a really bad idea to eat without her father there. He would only be even angrier if they did that, which would be really bad since he would already be pretty angry because of losing all of his money on cards. Her father was a terrible gambler.
Finally, Beatrice heard the front door being opened. She flinched when she heard her father falling and taking something else with him. When her mother stood up to meet him at the stairs, Beatrice took a deep breath and kept a neutral face, her father didn't like when someone called him on being drunk, before standing up to follow her.
When she arrived to the front door, Beatrice was surprised to see another man standing next to her father. The man was in his late thirties or early forties, he was tall, slender and he had a long black hair. When her father looked up at them, he smiled one of his drunken smiles. "Ah, my wife and my daughter." His words were slurred as he spoke, and he could hardly stand. "Meet my good friend, Mr. Davidson." Mr. Davidson, as her father called him, nodded at them, first at her mother, than at Beatrice, on who his eyes stayed and stared at lecherously.
Her mother smiled politely at the man. "Hello, good sir." She then turned her head to look her husband. "Should I prepare dinner for four then, dear?" Her eyes widened as the words flew out of her mouth. Even though it was dinner time, Beatrice's father was supposed to be home for lunch, and he hated being reminded that he was out drinking instead of coming home for a meal.
Beatrice's father's eyes narrowed at Rebecca and he stumbled towards her until he stood a couple of inches away from her. Then he slapped her, hard. "Dinner!?" He spat in her face. "It's lunch time, you bitch!" He yelled as he grabbed her by the throat harshly.
"Of- of course, forgive me." Rebecca wheezed through her husband's choking hold. When he nodded slightly, as a sign of forgiveness, and released his hold on her throat, Rebecca panted for her breath slightly before standing straight and gave the man a pleasant smile again. "So, should I prepare lunch for four?" Beatrice wanted to shake her head in disgust at her mother but knew that she would only be punished because of it.
All three of them turned to look at Mr. Davidson, who was watching the exchange with an amused smile on his face, as they waited for his answer. The man gave them a polite smile as he shook his head. "No, thank you. I'm only here to take what I won at cards, then, I'll be out of your hair." Beatrice barely managed not to roll her eyes. Of course, her father lost all the money he had on him so he brought the man home to give him the rest of what he owes him.
Her father smiled at the man. "Suit yourself." He then turned to Beatrice with a stern look on his face, or as stern as he could manage while drunk. "Show the nice man to your room and make sure he's pleased with you."
Beatrice eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "What are you talking…" When she realized what he was talking about, her eyes widened. "You can't mean to…" She stopped what she was saying when she felt Mr. Davidson grab her wrist roughly. "Wait! No!" She pleaded while looking at her father, who only glared at her in return. "No!" She yelled as she tried to squirm out of the man's hold. "Mom!" She turned her pleading eyes towards her mother, hoping she would get help from her. But her mother didn't even glance at her, she only stared at her husband with a pleasant smile on her face.
After she saw neither her father nor mother were about to do anything to stop struggling, knowing it was hopeless, and surrendered to her fate. The man led her to her bedroom and threw her at her bed roughly, before jumping at it himself and grabbed her breast through her shirt. Tears began spilling out of her eyes as she felt his touch all over her body. Why didn't her parents do anything to stop him, she wondered. Why would they let this happen?
"No!" Beatrice screamed as she woke up, covered in sweat, from her restless sleep. It took her a couple of seconds to get out of her fear induced daze and figure out it was only a bad dream, only a bad memory. She slumped back in her bed as she remembered she wasn't in a much better situation now. Kidnaped and locked in a dungeon, with no knowledge of where she was or even who kidnaped her. All she knew was that she was kidnaped because of her power, and she knew that only because, the woman comes to her dungeon every day and brings rocks for her to turn into gold.
She was here, wherever here was, for only a couple of days, but she felt like she was going crazy because she had no one to talk to, the woman who brought her meals and rocks to turn into gold was hardly talkative. Then again, even before she was kidnaped, she rarely talked to anyone, she didn't talk to anyone at school because she was too scared they would notice her bruises and tell someone about them, and, when she was home, she didn't talk unless she was asked something, even before the 'incident'.
Beatrice turned towards the door when she heard it opening to see the woman bringing her breakfast. She glanced at her hands to make sure she had gloves on and, when she saw she did, she got up from the bed and walked towards the table where her plate was set. Well, she thought, at least people here were too afraid to come close to her, so no one would try to touch her.
XXXXXX
Cassandra sighed heavily as she closed the last of Michelle's books. There were simply too many people with the dragon's tattoo on their arm. Well, she could go out and try to find out if any gold in strange shape was sold recently, or she could try to find an answer to the question that had been nagging at her mind since she had a talk with Mrs. White. How did the kidnaper even find out about the girl's power? She highly doubts the woman had told someone about it, no matter how stupid she might be. Hell, she seemed pretty reluctant to even tell Cassandra about it.
If she found out who else could have known about the power, it would greatly reduce the list of suspects. Yes, she will do that, she decided as she started typing on her computer. She would check the girl's school, neighbors, her mother's workplace and her father's workplace, their colleagues, relatives and friends too. She frowned when she read the girl's school records. A very good student grade-wise, her lowest grade is B, and even that, only in gym class. That's not what made her frown though, what made her frown is that she was had perfect attendance record until about a month and a half ago, when she completely stopped coming to school.
Great, Cassandra thought with more than a little bit of sarcasm as she slumped back in her chair. So, no one in her school would know about her power, well, actually, she might have friends with whom she kept in touch even after she stopped going to school. It's worth a shoot. Wait, she thought as she leaned forward in her chair, there was something wrong with this file. She opened a new window in her explorer and hacked into the police records. What she found made her eyes go wide. She found absolutely nothing. The White family never reported any rape. So, there were two possibilities, either she was lied to and there was no rape, or they just didn't want to report it for whatever reason.
Cassandra's eyes narrowed, she could bet everything she has that the rape happened. The woman was too bad of a liar to trick Cassandra like that. The assholes just didn't want to report it. Cassandra sighed, now, the only question was 'why'. Cassandra could think of about dozen reasons, each more unpleasant than the last.
Cassandra began typing again while glancing at her fake FBI ID. Lisa was at school so she didn't have to worry about her coming into her room and seeing what she was doing. First, she was going to interrogate people at the parents' jobs. Then she would investigate this rape case a little more. Now, she has to do social service's job as well. She could swear she's doing everybody's job these days.
XXXXXX
Emma Frost rubbed her eyes as she sat at the cab taking her to the girl's school. She arrived in the Miami late last night and had to go to the hotel right away because of that. This morning, the first thing she did, after showering and having a breakfast, was going to the White residence and ask for the girl. The good news is that the girl really is the one who created all that gold. Her mother ordered her to turn all of those stuff into gold, well, all but her father, that one the girl did herself, but the bastard deserved far worse than that in Emma's opinion. Anyway, she ordered her to turn it all into gold so she could sell it and get rich.
Bad news is that the girl was kidnaped just days before Emma found out about her. And the woman, instead of going to the police, hired a mercenary. The mercenary did look trustworthy, but then again, they all look trustworthy, right before they stab you in the back. And plus, even if she was trustworthy, the kind of power the girl has is enough to corrupt anyone. Still, calling the police wouldn't be any better. They might decide to take the girl for themselves too. Emma wouldn't even trust Charles, the self-righteous and idealistic man he is, with the girl if she didn't have to. Then again, after she found out about his spy in the Hellfire Club, she wouldn't trust him with anything, so that isn't saying much.
"So, miss, are you visiting our city for business or just a vacation?" The cabbie asked her from his place in the driver's seat. Emma just sighed as she used her telepathy to encourage him to stop trying to talk with her and concentrate on getting her to her destination as quickly as possible. Emma really wasn't in the mood to chat right now.
XXXXXX
Cassandra sighed as she listened to Mr. White's superior ranting about how the man didn't come to his job in a month and a half. Mr. White used to work as a security guard at one of the Stark's buildings in Miami, but the last time he showed up for work was about a month and a half ago. Now, that doesn't smell right, Mrs. White didn't go to her job since she found out about her daughter's mutation either, but at least she called them to quit, while her husband just disappeared.
"Mr. Barnes!" Cassandra, or Maggie, which is the name she uses when she pretends to be an FBI agent, finally decided to interrupt his annoying ranting. When he went silent, she looked at him sternly. "Did Mr. White have any friends that worked with him? Someone he would go to have a drink with or something?"
Mr. Barnes scratched his fat head as he appeared to think about it. "Yes." He nodded with a giant smile on his giant face, seriously, you would think the guy won a lottery, not answered some question a five year old could answer with how giant his smile was. "Yes, there were three guys he went out to drink and gamble with." He nodded at her, the smile never leaving his face.
Cassandra looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to tell her who these guys are. When it was clear the man didn't get the hint, she closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, she could feel the headache coming. "What are their names, Mr. Barnes?" She asked him impatiently.
Mr. Barnes raised a finger as a sign for her to wait and went to rummage through his cabinets. As he did that, Cassandra looked around his office, it wasn't very large but it looked cozy, it had red walls, red, expensive looking couch, a mahogany desk, a bookshelf just behind it, with lots of book that probably only serve as a decoration and a black cabinet. It looks like Stark takes care of his employees, even the stupid and insignificant ones, like this fat-ass here.
"Ah, here they are." Mr. Barnes's voice brought Cassandra out of looking around the room and made her turn her head to look at him. He moved towards his desk and placed three files on it. "These are the files of the guys I know he used to hang out with." He said with a smile as he sat down on his chair. Cassandra moved towards the desk and opened the first file while nodding her head in thanks.
The first file was about some white, fat and bearded guy in his late forties, the kind of guy you would expect to see behind the wheel of some truck. His name was David Brown, the usual kind of family man, it would appear. He has a wife, two kids, goes to church every week, no criminal records. Heh, these files look like police records, seems like Stark likes to know what kind of people he has working for him. Although, from what she heard about the man, he doesn't really sound like the kind of man who would actually bother to read all of these files. But Cassandra isn't stupid enough to believe everything she hears.
The second man is some guy named Teddy Jacobs, a drunk of the worst kind. He was fined for driving while drunk a couple of times, and last month, he lost his driver's license. He was also in prison for a short period of time for domestic violence. Divorced, good thing his ex-wife was smart and brave enough to do that, Cassandra met some women who kept silent about these types of abuses for years and still did nothing to stop it. He has one son from that marriage but he can't even come near him because of the court order.
The third man is Roger Davidson. He also, like the first guy, has a family, a wife and a thirteen year old daughter. No criminal records, he also seems like a normal kind of guy. But Cassandra can't shake the feeling that something is wrong with him. She could see it in the smile he wore while taking the picture, to a regular person that smile might look normal, friendly even, but to Cassandra's trained eye, it looked… twisted, somehow. Cassandra sighed, that was hardly any evidence. It was only her hunch. But she learned a long time ago that her hunch is rarely wrong, she might as well start with the good Mr. Davidson. Even though it's doubtful he had anything to do with the kidnaping.
Cassandra closed the file and glanced at the man. "I'm going to need copies of these files." She told the man coldly. When the man's eyes widened and he appeared reluctant, Cassandra narrowed her eyes. "Listen here, I don't care if your boss is a fucking superhero, if you refuse my request, it will be considered as interference of a federal investigation, and you will stand trial." Cassandra paused for a second to let the words kick in. When his eyes widened even more in fear, Cassandra resisted the urge to smirk and glared at him coldly. "Am I understood?"
The man nodded his head multiple times. "Yes, yes, of course." He stood up and reached out to take the files. "I'll just take these and have them copied. Wouldn't want to interfere with your investigation. God forbid." He laughed nervously. When Cassandra gave him a cold smirk and handed him the files, he gulped. "I will have these copied right away." He said before moving to his office phone to call his secretary.
XXXXXX
When she entered the mercenary part of the bar, Emma stopped breathing for a second. The place stinks, how someone could sit there the entire day was beyond her. When she arrived to the girl's school, Emma immediately did a telepathic scan to find someone who knew Beatrice well enough to 'tell' her something more about her.
Beatrice and her mother weren't that close, though after she went through the woman's mind, she wasn't surprised. So, Emma hoped to 'talk' to some friends of Beatrice's to find out more about her, and who might have known about her power. She was disappointed to find out the girl didn't really have any friends at school, though she, again, wasn't surprised, the children suffering from domestic abuse tend to be closed off.
She did, however, go to the principal's office and ask for the girl's school records, and she has to admit, she was impressed. So, when she was done with school, Emma decided to pay a visit to this bar, Viper, and find out a little more about the mysterious mercenary. The woman was too much of a nervous wreck to even ask for her name.
"Can I help you?" Emma turned her head to look towards where the voice came from to see a man in his fifties with a rough face and a black graying hair staring at her with impassionate eyes. That must be Donny, Emma thought as a cold smirk appeared on her lips. Perfect, this man definitely knows who the mercenary is. She approached the bar as she started scanning his mind. Her eyebrows rose in surprise when, instead of an easy access, she found rather strong mental shields. The man's eyes narrowed at her, he could feel her trying to enter his mind? "Listen, if you want to ask something, ask. Don't go poking my brain."
Emma schooled her expression into one of indifference before sitting down on one of the barstools and nodding. "Very well." She glanced around the bar to see a couple of men, probably mercenaries, already drunk, even though it's barely noon. Emma shook her head, probably failures. The woman who was hired by Mrs. White wasn't there though. "I'm looking for a mercenary." The man looked around the bar while shrugging, as if to say 'look around'. Emma rolled her eyes at him, making the man smirk slightly. "A specific mercenary." She rephrased coldly, the man nodded to show he was listening. "An attractive woman in her middle or late twenties with medium-length black hair and blue eyes."
The man appeared thoughtful for a couple of seconds before nodding slightly. "She's about your height, muscular but still feminine and has a white but not really pale complexion?" When he got a nod, he leaned against a liquor cabinet and scratched his chin while appearing to be thinking something over. Finally, after about half a minute, he nodded. "Cassandra Jones." He said as he took a mop and began cleaning the counter top. "Former military, special team, even more secretive than CIA, I don't know anything about it." He shrugged without looking up from the counter top he was cleaning. "She was dishonorably discharged about six years ago, they say she punched her commanding officer but I doubt it." Then he looked up at her and shrugged again. "Right now, she's the most expensive and probably the most skilled mercenary in Florida. That's all that comes to mind right now." He shrugged again and resumed cleaning the counter top before remembering something and looking up at her again. "Oh, that's right, one more thing. She's a mutant, has a short range teleportation."
Emma raised her eyebrow at him, she was surprised he would spill all that like he doesn't even care. It's doubtful he would get a lot of business if it got out he was sharing his customers' information like that. She was even more surprised he didn't ask for any kind of payment in exchange for the information. "Why are you simply telling me all of this?" Seeing how much he told her already, she decided to just ask him.
"Well, you did ask didn't you?" He shrugged as he continued to clean the counter top. Emma was starting to believe he was cleaning it out of habit, rather than necessity. "Plus, the way I see it, if you go against Cassandra, one of the two things is certain to happen." He stopped cleaning the counter top to lean against the liquor cabinet with his arms crossed, mop still in his left hand. "You're either going to end up dead or end up in her bed." He chuckled. "Hey, that rhymes. I should write it down, use it every time some pretty girl comes here looking for Cassandra." He shook his head. "Anyway, no offence, but neither of those possibilities bother me. She kills you, she might be a little pissed for a while, but she'll get over it." He shrugged. "She takes you to her bed, I can expect a nice tip when she next comes around."
Emma glared at him coldly after she heard his last comment, but she remained silent. Instead, she just nodded towards him in thanks and got up from the stool and moved to exit the bar. Donny watched her as she left, then continued cleaning his counter top while shaking his head. "I better get a real nice tip for this." He muttered to himself.
XXXXXX
An eighteen year old Cassandra sighed as she walked towards her drill sergeant's office after her run. She couldn't really understand all the fuss the other recruits are making about these runs. Sure, they were a little longer than her usual morning jogs, but they weren't so tough. Just another one of those things she will never get, she guesses.
Anyway, digressing, it was the day after her fight, and she was ordered to go to her drill sergeant's office when she finished her run. Her drill sergeant was a nice lady in her middle twenties, too nice to be a drill sergeant, so Cassandra wasn't really worried, even though she was sure she was summoned because of her fight from last night. Hey that rhymes, she made a mental note to write that down when she gets back to her barrack.
Anyway, digressing again, her drill sergeant was pretty nice, and Cassandra can be pretty manipulative when she wants to, so she wasn't really worried. When she arrived in front of the door to her drill sergeant's office, she made sure to stand straight and to have a pleasant smile on her face. She knocked and waited until she heard yell for her to enter before walking in. When she walked inside, the smile that she had on her face disappeared. The chair that belongs to Cassandra's drill sergeant was now occupied by Marcus Johnson. Okay, now she was worried.
Marcus raised an eyebrow at her. "Not too happy to see me, I assume." When Cassandra tried to stutter an apology he waved a dismissive hand. "It's alright." He then indicated the chair in front of the desk. "Have a seat." Cassandra glanced at her drill sergeant, who was standing beside the desk, before moving to sit down. "You can leave now, Ms. Greer." He addressed the drill sergeant without looking away from Cassandra.
The drill sergeant saluted and left the room, leaving them alone. Marcus leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands on the desk while nodding towards the file in front of him. "I read your files, and I have to say, I'm impressed." Cassandra glanced down at the files while Marcus got up from the chair and moved to look out the window. "Skilled in at least ten forms of hand-to-hand combat, some learned in martial arts classes, some self-taught." He said without looking away from the scenery outside. "Excels in every physical training, an expert marksman, but you are headstrong, undisciplined and insubordinate." Cassandra gulped, that's where everything usually went downhill. "Just the kind of person I'm looking for."
Cassandra whipped her head to look at him with wide eyes. Did he just say what she thinks he said? Why the hell would anyone look for a headstrong, undisciplined and insubordinate soldier? Marcus turned around so he could look at her and raised an eyebrow. Cassandra shook her head slowly. "With all due respect, sir, why?" She asked, making him chuckle. Cassandra really couldn't understand what was so funny, she was seriously confused.
Marcus moved to sit on the chair again and looked directly in her eyes. "What I tell you here, whether you decide to accept or not, is not leaving this room, understood?" When Cassandra nodded that she understood, he continued. "During the World War II, the Nazi had a scientific department which was conducting illegal, and downright monstrous experiments." He paused to check whether she was listening. When he got a nod, he continued. "Experimenting on humans, creating bombs stronger than nukes and many other things. The organization's name was HYDRA."
Cassandra's eyes widened when she heard that. "HYDRA? Isn't that the organization that was destroyed by Captain America?" She asking while sitting up straight.
Marcus nodded his head. "Yes. Or so we thought." He stood up and walked to look out of the window again. "It appears the HYDRA had some people that were as dangerous, or even more so, than their late leader, Red Skull." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "It would appear that these people continued working towards HYDRA's goals in secrecy after Red Skull's demise."
Cassandra appeared thoughtful as she looked straight ahead of herself. "And those goals are…"
Marcus nodded without looking away from the scenery outside. "World domination. Anyway, a couple of months ago, they stopped hiding and started operating openly again." He paused to glance at Cassandra, who appeared stunned. "We managed to keep HYDRA's reappearance under wraps so far, to avoid panic amongst civilians, but we won't be able to keep it that way for much longer." He moved to sit on the chair again. "Now, the US government is already creating a special task-force for battling that organization, but they would rather hide HYDRA's existence from the public until they manage to create it."
Cassandra looked at him questionably. "So, why are you telling me this?" She asked suspiciously.
Marcus leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands on the table. "You are a very skilled individual. And I'm not talking about your physical prowess, or your special talents." It was clear he was talking about her mutation. "But, from what I've heard, you're also charismatic, manipulative and a very skilled tactician." Cassandra gulped when she heard him say manipulative, it's never good when someone teels you that you're manipulative. Especially if it's true. "I'll be frank here, we need someone to infiltrate the organization and you are perfect."
Cassandra raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You want me to be a spy?" When he nodded, she pressed a finger to her chest. "Me?" Her disbelief was clearly seen on her face and heard in her voice.
Marcus shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see why not. You're perfect for this job. Your skills, both in combat and social, as well as your mutation will help you greatly in infiltrating the organization's higher ranks."
Cassandra nodded slowly, it makes sense. Her combat skills as well as her social skills would impress the higher-ups in the organization and, unlike the rest of the world, HYDRA rather likes people with powers. Or at least that's what she heard during her history lessons. Still, she would be alone in the enemy territory with no back-up. But if no one does anything, HYDRA could take over the world, and that would be bad. Like, you just got the girl you always wanted in your bed and you forgot to buy condoms bad. Of course, Cassandra never really had to worry about that, because she's, well, a lesbian. But it's still bad.
Cassandra took a deep breath and nodded. "What do I need to do?"
AN/ And that's another chapter. I'm going to put a couple more chapters for the merc's story before I continue with the black knight. Well, I should have probably said this at the beginning but this story will be pretty dark at times. Anyway, sorry for so much of the scene changes but it really was necessary, and it will be like that for a couple more chapters.
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