Chapter 19
River glanced up disinterestedly as Tiri once again clicked the safety off of her gun and pointed it at Simon. She already done this seventeen times, mostly because Simon kept getting in a five-foot radius of her.
Like always, Simon immediately froze, then started to move around again, pacing. River reflected idly that some people, in this situation, would tell Simon that 'he was wearing a track in the floor.' River, of course, didn't say this, mostly because it was highly improbable that Simon would wear a hole into a stainless steel floor with only his shoes. The other reason, of course, was that it would require tremendous effort to force the words into the proper order and out of her mouth.
The door opened again. Simon froze, Tiri put her gun back down, and River instinctively reached out with her mind, trying to figure out what they wanted from her this time.
It was the empty man's mind that she encountered though, and she quickly pulled away, not wanting to get burned.
A tray of food was shoved through the door before it closed again. River watched as Simon warily approached the food.
"Is this another test?" he asked with trepidation. River got up off of her bench and walked over, bending down to sniff it.
"It's fine," she stated, dropping down onto the floor. Simon hesitantly sat down next to her.
"Why did you sniff it?" he inquired curiously. "Were you smelling for poison?" River glanced at him and rolled her eyes.
"No. Psych." Simon frowned, considering that, then laughed.
"You were just teasing me? Brat." River gave him a weak smile, and reached for one of the mashed potato plates. Simon moved to take the other one, then paused.
"Wait," he said frowning, "What about her?" he jerked his head at Tiri. "There are only two plates."
River nodded, idly swirling her finger through the food, drawing a caricature of Simon.
"She's not hungry. Later." Simon shot her a confused glance then slowly nodded, taking a small bite of his food. River stopped drawing in her food, then gave it a cursory look.
Suddenly, she hated the plate. It represented her captivity, her being forced to do the will of the blue handed men. So she did the only thing she could think of. She threw it at the wall. Simon's followed quickly.
"River!" yelled Simon, staring at the glop now slowly dripping down the wall. River felt a small smile spring to her lips.
Across the room, Tiri slowly stood up and walked over to the food, reaching out to hesitantly touch it. River understood what she was doing, even though Simon didn't. As part of her activation, she was bound to check out all things that were considered hazardous, even at her own risk.
Tiri stood there for several seconds, staring at the stuff on her hands, then wiped it down the wall and went to sit back down.
Simon glanced from River to Tiri and back. "You know," he whispered, "I'm beginning to think that there's something wrong with her."
River burst into hysterical laughter, and Simon gave a pleased, if slightly surprised, smile.
River quickly sobered, hearing footsteps coming down the passage. It was the short man now, and he wasn't happy.
"Angry," she whimpered to Simon, curling herself up in to a ball and trying to meld with his side. Simon glanced down at her, puzzled, but quickly adopted a knowing look when the door opened again.
The short man walked straight over to River and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her up so fast Simon didn't have time to react.
River made herself go limp, knowing from past experience that he would get more upset if she fought back.
Next to her, Simon scrambled to his feet only to find himself caught in a headlock, a gun pressed into the back of his head. It was, of course, Tiri, and Simon didn't even bother to struggle.
"And what did you think to accomplish with that little display of rebellion?" asked the man coldly. River gave he tiniest of shrugs.
"Well obviously she wanted better food," said Simon before he could help himself. River felt tears start to flow down her cheeks. She knew exactly what was going to happen next.
She chanced a glance at Simon and saw that his eyes were wide with terror, quite taken aback at his own stupidity.
The man released River and she quickly stumbled backwards, trying to make herself invisible.
"Really?" asked the man politely, his gaze focused on Simon. "Do you want better food Ms. Tam?" River quickly shook her head.
"No." The man nodded, then turned away from Simon and walked over to River, who froze instantly.
Bending down, she heard him whisper a command inside her ear. She screamed on the inside, falling almost instantly to a state of detachedness.
She watched with horror as her body stepped away from the man and walked gracefully over to stand in front of Simon, who looked very, very scared.
River pulled back her fist and then lashed out, her hand sinking deeply into Simon's stomach. He doubled over gasping, tears streaming down his face. River felt grateful to Tiri for holding him for a split second longer than she needed to, otherwise Simon would have been slammed backwards into the wall.
The man snapped another command to River and left the room. The second the lock clicked River fell to her knees, her hand throbbing, now fully back in possession of her body.
She stumbled upwards and over to Simon where she threw her arms around him. Simon hesitated for a split second before hugging her back, but River noticed and it felt like she had been stabbed with a knife.
"Wasn't me," she sobbed, "Wasn't me, wasn't me, wasn't me!" Simon's arms contracted for a second before he released her, his hands moving to take off his shirt.
River let out a strangled sob when she saw his stomach. It was already purple, red, and blue-black. She knew that it was going to be a lot worse, and much more painful in the morning.
"Sorry," she whispered, turning away. Simon gave her a weird spasm that was his attempt of a smile and ran his hands gently down the bruise.
River turned around to help, picking up the blanket and tearing it quickly to bind the wound. When it wrapped up tightly, River helped her brother over to the bench and slowly sat him down before going over to curl up on the opposite side of the bench, not wanting to hurt Simon anymore.
Across the room, Tiri watched expressionlessly. "You didn't break anything," she finally said. Simon shot her a tell-me-something-I-don't-know look and pointedly ignored her. Tiri didn't seem particularly bothered by this and went back to examining her gun, checking and re-checking it to make sure it was still all right.