Nao's fists came down rapidly against the quality plains of the door, every hard knock filled with urgency and impatience. When the door finally swung open, she pushed past the person and made her way into the spacious living room without any invitation. "Aunty?" Keira asked as the red-head's lime green eyes darted around the room.
"Hey, kid," Nao said somewhat absently, placing a quick kiss on her god-niece's forehead. "Where's your mom?"
"They're sleeping. Is something wrong?" Keira asked again, her voice laced with worry.
Nao didn't reply. She bolted up the stairs with an irritated sigh, and a very agitated teen hot on her heels. She didn't bother knocking on the bedroom door, and the room's slumbering occupants awoke instantly upon the intrusion. A small wave of sympathy washed over her when she spotted the tired looks both women sported. In her haste, she had nearly forgotten about their newborn, whom most of their attention was devoted to.
"Nao, what the hell." Natsuki demanded, her voice thick with sleep.
"Vause is in the hospital," Nao informed her. "Someone attacked her last night while she was Chapman. It's pretty bad."
Natsuki was on her feet almost instantly, and she was throwing on a sweatshirt before she had even finished explaining. "How bad is it?"
Nao shrugged. "I could hardly understand Chapman with her gurgling and all, but I know she's due for surgery in a few days. The bastard had a pipe."
"A jacker, perhaps?" Natsuki asked as she sat on the edge of the bed and fiddled with her shoes.
"Nah. She said they didn't take anything, nor did they show any interest in taking anything. They probably didn't even notice the car or the gold around her neck. They were after her." Nao said.
Natsuki cursed internally as she finished tying her shoes. She jogged over to the side of the bed and brushed her lips across her wife's cheek. "I'll be back."
"Be safe." She whispered back.
"I will."
Nao turned away as they shared a tender moment and made a quick note to return under better circumstances to meet her new niece. Her old friend pulled her elder daughters close to her chest for their farewell, and whispered sweet nothings into her infant daughter's ears for hers. Nao caught a glimpse of the small child on their way out the door.
"She looks like RJ." Nao announced softly, and Natsuki smiled at the use of her father's nickname.
"She does."
They piled into Nao's Aventador and were on the road in a matter of seconds. They made it to the hospital in record time, running red-lights, taking back alleys, and nearly killing all pedestrians unlucky enough to be caught in their way.
"Hey, you can't park here!" A rather irritated intern shouted as Nao pulled onto the sidewalk of all places.
"Up yours, asshole." She snarled, flipping him the bird as she revved the engine, causing the poor boy to nearly wet himself. "Get out. I'll find a space and meet you in there."
Natsuki nodded and exited the vehicle, jogging through the familiar doors and skidded to a halt at the reception desk. The secretary looked up, smiling.
"Say, young lady, you wouldn't happen to be the mother of the cute little girl who Dr. K. delivered, would you?"
She nodded, returning the elderly man's hearty smile.
"How can I help you? I hope everything is alright."
"Namiko's perfectly fine, as is my wife. However, I'm here for a friend. She was admitted last night. Vause, Alex Vause." Natsuki explained.
He held up a hand and signalled for her to wait as he looked through the files. After a moment, he tilted his balding head up. "Ah, yes. Miss Vause, such a colorful individual. She's in room 320."
"Thank you."
It didn't take her long to reach her destination. Piper's head snapped up as her girlfriend's boss strode in, long, dark hair falling around her shoulders like a silk shawl. Alex lying in bed on her back, her head turned away from the door, but she could see the purple and black bruises decorated her pale skin like an oil painting.
Her shoulders and bare arms were severely bruised as well, a deep laceration split her left brow into two, bloody, bruised sections. One eye was swollen shut, and her right arm was in a sling.
"She's been in and out all day." Piper informed her, her eyes rimmed red and swollen, as if she spent the entire duration of her visit crying. "She has a pretty nasty concussion."
"Did you see anything?" Natsuki asked, reaching out and clasping her shoulder in a comforting manner.
Piper deflated. "No, I was in the store, but I heard screaming and…"
Natsuki's expression softened. "It's alright. We'll find whoever did this."
They both turned their attention to the door when the sound of heels echoed throughout the relatively quiet halls just as a very angry Blue stormed in with Nao and Skye on her heels.
"I'm going to kill whoever did this." Blue demanded furiously, her fists clenching in rage at the sight of her friend looking so fragile and broken in her bed.
"This wasn't just some random attack." Nao muttered, leaning against the door frame. "It had to have been a hit."
"Skye," Natsuki said, and the young woman looked up at her expectantly. "I need you to get Alex's car and bring it to the Dirty President. It's the club off of Cambridge and Martin Luther King."
"I'm on it." Skye said.
"Wait!" Piper called before the young woman could even set foot out of the room. "Don't you need the keys?"
Skye looked insulted for an instant before snatched the offending object from the blonde's grasp, muttering something about being the best booster in Chicago and sulking out of the room.
"If it really was a hit on her, the car would still be there." Natsuki said.
"Anyone could steal a car though!" Piper insisted, not wanting to believe her girlfriend could be anyone's target.
"The lock system on that particular vehicle is much too complex for any idiot to get through." Nao chimed in. "Bulletproof windows, tires, and reinforced steel. The thing's almost built like a tank."
At Piper's confused look, Nao continued. "Used to belong to a 007 obsessed junkie before we… acquired it from his possession.
Piper didn't even bother asking her to elaborate. She knew all about her dark-haired girlfriend's profession, but despite Alex's whole 'untouchable' attitude, she was still very much so, and she worried about her constantly, their current predicament exactly what she was afraid of.
"You have my number, right?" Natsuki asked the distraught blonde.
"Yeah."
"Call me as soon as she wakes up." Natsuki said, pulling her blue track jacket on. Piper nodded once more and slumped against the wall near Alex's bed. "We have work to do." She said to her remaining crew members.
SMOKE/MIRRORS
The sound of metal hitting concrete reverberated throughout the quite bunker, startling one of its occupants out of her stupor. Tomoe looked up, dark eyes trained on the even darker ones peering at her through the holes of the ski-mask. They briefly darted to the bloody pipe on the floor before returning to her hitman's steel gaze.
"Marvelous," the woman cooed, "your next assignment is a little more sinister. But I trust you to be able to carry it out."
Zero leaned in closer, their fingertips tightening on the edge of the table once the task was harshly whispered in their ear.
SMOKE/MIRRORS
Natsuki returned to her manor six hours later. Nao, Blue, and herself had been patrolling the streets like restless cops, eyes peeled for any suspicious activity and people. Their search had proven to become futile, and no call from Piper signalled that they would have to wait to attain any sort of information, especially since any bystanders and witnesses during the attack strictly believed in the 'no snitching' rule.
"Natsuki?" Shizuru's soft voice cooed from kitchen, where she was preparing something that smelled utterly delightful.
"Hey."
She moved to embrace her, burying her face into her freshly washed hair.
"Any luck? I hope she'll be okay." Shizuru said.
Natsuki sighed. "She'll be okay, but we couldn't find anything regarding the attack."
Shizuru rubbed her wife's back soothingly, knowing the entire situation bothered her to no end because of her fiercely protective nature of people close to her. "Where are the girls?"
"Kaiya's with Namiko upstairs and Keira's at volleyball practice." Shizuru explained. "Now, relax, my love. I shall prepare you something delicious."
"Oh, but I think it's already ready."
"Flattering will get you everywhere, unless of course we are married."
SMOKE/MIRRORS
Tears streamed from Keira's eyes as her attacker roughly pulled her against their body, dragging her from the streets and pulling her into a nearby alley. Her screams were muffled by their leather clad elbow positioned over her mouth. She tried to fight back, but her attacker was bigger and towered over her by at least three heads.
She had been returning from practice at one of the local recreation parks, and she'd been attacked as she was trying to make her way home. She wished she would've taken her coach's offer of driving her home.
She moaned in pain and fear as her attacker roughly binded her hands and obscured her vision with a ratty old bandana. She felt herself being lifted over their shoulder and complete, unadulterated terror coursed through her.
Mom.
She cried internally, begging for her blue-haired mother to come and save her. She called for her chestnut-haired mother. She called for Nao. She called for her sister. She called for Skye.
But of course, no one could hear her.
SMOKE/MIRRORS
She was set on the floor rather gently. It was cold and hard, rocks and shards of glass penetrated her soft flesh and impaled themselves into the tender muscle below. The rag was taken away from her eyes and she winced at the harsh light that hit them. Once the spots disappeared from her vision, she looked up with red-rimmed, tear-stained eyes.
A woman was standing before her.
Matted teal-colored hair hung limply around her hollowed face, sinister grey eyes glaring at her with ferocious intensity. Features too sharp and defined to be considered healthy sat upon her haunted face. A man stood in the far corner, handsome and sophisticated in his platinum suite and matching hair.
His blue eyes were trained on her, kind yet cold. He appeared horribly bored, but his lips were curved in a impish grin.
She cried out as the woman roughly yanked her up by her hair. The woman's psychotic eyes drank in her delicate features hungrily as if she were looking for something in particular. Apparently she couldn't find it because she snarled furiously and shoved her back down.
"I fucking hate your eyes." She seethed.
"I, however, do not," the man chimed in warmly, "did you know green is the rarest color? And my, such a stunning face you have. Your parents must be supermodels."
"Shut the fuck up, Nagi, or so help me."
He simply smiled, and did a motion of zipping his lips and throwing away the key.
"W-what do you want? Why am I here? What have I done to you?" Keira cried.
"Shut the fuck up!" Tomoe snarled, viciously slapping her across the face.
She leaned down and roughly took her chin in her skeletal fingers. "You have two sisters. An identical twin and an infant. Listen carefully, because you are mine now."
Keira felt impossibly sick.
"Now, you are going to listen to me and do every motherfucking thing I say. Do you understand me?"
Keira nodded shakily.
"Because if you don't, I will not hesitate to make you an only child."
SMOKE/MIRRORS
Chapter inspired by Starset's My Demons. Is the suspense slowly killing you? Reviews might make a difference in update speed...