A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't updated for a few months, Shadow and I have been busy and unable to write stuff… And we went on holidays etc.. But anyway, I promise I'll try to update more often, unless of course school puts the pressure on
So, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
-ScottishLaura
Johnston stood watching the commotion. He had learnt enough from Nero in the years previous that if there was one thing that captured people would try to do, it was escape through the sewers. Nero had been right about one thing. That there was no way to tell a captured person that there was no possible way of escape. He'd been right about two things actually. People escaping through sewers of course, and also desperate attempts to escape.
"Maybe you were a better teacher then I realised, Nero." He spat on Nero's unconscious body, and signaled that the guards take him away. He was dragged into a cargo room where Darkdoom was lying on the floor, bruised and battered, and Raven was handcuffed, lying on the floor further away. One guard was about to walk out when he decided to be extra cautious, and so he tightened the handcuffs until they were cutting Raven's skin, and then he tied her ankles together and using a spare length of rope, he tied the chain between the handcuffs to a metal chain secured to the floor. The guard grinned and kicked the 3 unconscious people in the room a little before he left. Once the door hissed closed, and Nero heard the lock activate, he sat up. He had never actually been unconscious, but he had made it look that way. Nero tried to push himself up, but he hissed when he put the tiniest amount of weight on his injured arm. He decided against sitting up, and he instead slid the length of the cargo hold on his side, and reached Darkdoom. His breathing was shallow, but his heartbeat was strong, so Nero left him and shuffled over to Raven. Raven was in a bad way. Nero could tell just by looking at her. She had a black eye which was turning a horrible shade of purple, she had grazes all up the left side of her face, some of it still bleeding a fair bit, there were more grazes down her arm, and only her long pants had saved her legs from the same treatment. Nero checked her pulse. It was very faint, and yet very fast. Raven's breathing was deep and even, but he was still worried. Nero was just about to collapse himself, he was extremely exhausted from trying to fight Johnston, so when he was able to get onto his back, he fell asleep, his uninjured arm reaching out towards Raven.
Johnston looked into the cargo hold, snorting when he saw Nero had moved. He signaled that a guard go in, and on his way in, he gave him some instructions.
"Tie him up, and Darkdoom too. Make sure you tie it tight around Nero's arm, just for good measure." The guard went in, and Johnston watched in glee as the guard clumsily sat Nero up, waking him up in the meantime, and clutching Nero's arm. The tied a rope around Nero's forearm and yanked it, jerking Nero backwards, and sending him into a fit of pain. Nero rolled into a ball and held his arm, but the guard would have none of it. The guard yanked on the rope, sending Nero howling again. After a few brutal attacks from the guard, Nero fell silent, yelling out only when his arm was touched. Soon, the guard had tied his arms and ankles together, and then tied the ropes through a metal chain secured to the floor, about 5 metres away from Raven. The guard kicked Nero a few more times for good measure before moving over to Darkdoom, and repeating the same process.
Nero and Darkdoom's cries of pain brought Raven out of her unconscious state. The first thing she noticed when she opened her eyes was the blood. It was everywhere. Her arms, her face, running into her eyes. It was even starting to pool on the floor between her and Nero. With a groan, she forced herself to sit up, not that that did any good. The world immediately began spinning and little black dots swam before her eyes. Nero looked up worriedly as she laid back down, the only thing that would stop her from passing out.
"You know, the party is almost preferable to this," Raven croaked. She realized a moment too late that Nero might be offended by her comment. He had only wanted her to have a bit of fun; he'd had no idea this was going to happen. But he just smiled, glad that she had even a miniscule sense of humor after all of this. And that she wasn't planning on strangling him.
Yet.
"As much as I love being chained to the floor," Darkdoom spoke from his corner. "I'm thinking that if we don't get out of here soon, bad things are going to happen."
"That's putting it mildly," Nero scoffed.
"So who has yet another plan?" Darkdoom persisted.
"Well whatever we do, it's not going to be easy," Raven tilted her head so that she could see both Darkdoom and Nero in the corners of her eyes. "This plane is crawling with guards, and even if we managed to get ourselves out of these chains, we have nowhere to go. We can't exactly walk out of the plane while it's in the air."
"So what, we wait until the plane lands? By then it will be too late!" Darkdoom was clearly exasperated. "I say we get unchained, and then unleash Natalya on them."
Raven started to say something, but Nero cut her off.
"Absolutely not! She's in no state to do something like that! Look at her, she can't even sit up straight!"
"That's not our problem Max! She's your employee. Her job is to keep her superiors safe. Just because you suddenly have a thing for her doesn't mean-"
"Shut up in there!" one of the guards yelled. Both Nero and Darkdoom shut up. Neither had realized it, but they had both been shouting at the top of their lungs.
"He's right Max," Raven forced herself to sit up. "It is my job. Maybe if I can just distract them for a few minutes..." she fell silent as Nero shot a scathing look at her.
"We'll figure something else out," he decided. "One that involves all of us escaping safely."
An entire hour passed. Nero and Darkdoom sat with their backs to each other, not saying a word. Raven leaned against the wall, watching them.
"You two are acting like you're five years old you know," she said, unable to take it anymore.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Nero muttered, running his hands through his hair.
"Absolutely no idea," Darkdoom went to run his hands through his hair, before remembering he didn't have any.
Raven rolled her eyes, fighting the urge to slam her head against the wall. "I cannot believe you two!" Her hands clenched into fists. "You realize someone could come in here at any moment to execute us, and we don't even have the beginning of an escape plan!"
"Well I had a plan," Darkdoom proclaimed. "But someone refused to go along"
"Oh, we both know that would have failed!"
"Max!" Raven raised an eyebrow. "You didn't even let us try."
"And I don't plan on it either!"
Johnston walked in at that moment, a small smirk on his face.
"Trouble in paradise?" he asked. "Well not to worry. Soon enough, you'll have nothing at all to worry about..."
Raven felt the plane angle downwards. "We're landing," she said.
"Ah, beautiful and smart. How very lucky I am," Johnston leaned towards Raven, until his face was a mere few inches from hers. "How very lucky indeed."
Raven spit in his face, and Johnston leaped backwards in surprise. She would have laughed if the situation had not been so terribly serious.
"Feisty," he muttered to himself. "All the better." Then louder, "Oh don't worry Raven. You'll love me one day." He turned on his heel and left.
Nero was practically shaking with fury as Johnston disappeared. "I don't believe him!" he thundered.
"I do," Raven sighed. Nero turned to her, fury temporarily replaced by confusion.
"Excuse me?"
"Well, he has gone to all of this trouble to capture us and hold us hostage on this plane. It takes a decent amount of planning. Not to mention the party to lure us there. If he's done all that, I just don't have a hard time believing that he would try to get me, too."
"Well whatever he has planned for Max and I, sounds like you might survive this. He didn't seem to have any intention of killing you, Natalya."
"Death would be preferable to him," Raven spat.
"Be careful what you say, my dear. It just might come true." Nero laid a hand on Raven's arm. They just looked at each other for a few moments before Darkdoom cleared his throat.
"Hate to disturb you," he said. "But it appears that we have landed."
Don't forget to review! And if I don't update often, bug me about it
-ScottishLaura
