The cool steel of the elevator door thrummed beneath Judy's fingers. She could hear the mechanism beyond it churning, the machinery creaking as it strained against its age. If the skittering of emotions beneath her sternum could make a sound, she thought it might be similar. A monotonous drone, broken only by the scream of metal scraping metal.
She pushed herself away from the door and, not for the first time, shot a glare at Adriana, who was still studying the datapad in her hands. She had done nothing to help Judy leave the office, to get to V. The elevator had refused to open for her and Adriana had insisted that she had no control over it. Judy was uncertain if she could believe her. If not her, then who? In the frenzied realisation that Arasaka could be here at any moment, she had searched for an access panel, a jack-in point—anything—that might gain her control over the elevator, but she had found nothing.
Adriana looked up at her then, her expression blank. "Valerie is safe," she said simply.
Relief flared in Judy's chest. "Where is she!?"
"Inside the tower," Adriana said flatly, and returned her attention to the datapad. "But so are Arasaka."
Judy stalked towards her, the relief quickly overwhelmed by fear and panic. "Why are they here? Was that you!?"
The corner of Adriana's mouth ticked upwards for a split second and there was an almost imperceptible twitch in her left eye. She shook her head. "I… I do not know."
She pushed down the urge to slam her fist down on the table, to demand answers. If Adriana really was struggling to recover her memories, that would do no good. She scanned the room again, taking in the long row of bookshelves on one wall, old, dusty tomes spotting them. She noticed that there were no personal items here. No photographs, no mementos.
"The elevator can't be the only way outta here," Judy said then, her eyes returning to Adriana. There had to be some kind of emergency exit, a staircase—something.
Adriana's gaze flitted to one side of the room, towards the bookcase, but before Judy could comment, the hum of the elevator deepened. It was ascending. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck bristle as her pulse ticked up. She desperately grasped at thoughts as they raced through her mind. If Arasaka were going to burst into the room at any moment, what could they do? Barricade themselves in the lab? But then what? Fight back? What chance did they have against heavily armed troops? There weren't even any weapons in the office.
She hurriedly looked for anything that might help them. Anything she could use to defend herself. The small items on the desk were useless and the bookshelves held nothing that would leave more than a mild bruise. She rushed to the lab door. Surely there was something inside that would be useful.
"Judy," came Adriana's eerily tranquil voice. "Calm yourself."
She twisted, narrowing her eyes at the other woman. "Arasaka are comin' here and you want me to be calm?"
Judy watched as Adriana moved to the rear of the desk and placed the datapad down again. She hesitantly pushed the chair and her old body to one side, the coils of cables and tubes straining in their ports. She opened a small laptop that sat upon the carved wood and Judy was surprised to see that it was still powered.
"It is not Arasaka."
Her eyes shooting to the elevator door, Judy sucked in a breath and held it. She saw a light peek through the slight gap in the elevator door as it reached their floor. The door eased open and Judy felt the tension slip from her body. V lurched into the room, her eyes wide and alert as she held a rifle in front of her.
"V," Judy breathed, her voice low and soft.
V's gaze snapped to Judy immediately, relief painted clearly across her features. It didn't linger, however. She quickly went back to scanning for danger. It was then that Judy noticed movement behind V as Panam emerged from the elevator. What was she doing here? Judy hurried over to them and spotted the blood staining a bandage on Panam's arm.
"Adriana?" V said suddenly, her brow creasing as she took in the scientist's new form.
Adriana didn't reply. She continued to tap away at the laptop, not even offering the merc a single glance of recognition. The muscles in V's jaw fluttered beneath her skin and Judy stepped in front of her, recognising the growing aggression.
"There was a problem with the cloning chamber. Had to break her out early," she explained. She didn't know what had happened down in that courtyard, but it was clear to Judy that V was ready to tear Adriana a new one for it. As Judy peered over her shoulder at the preoccupied clone, she knew that to be a very reasonable urge.
V's gaze travelled over Judy's face and her expression softened. "You okay?"
Nodding, Judy had to resist the compulsion to reach out and touch V. To affirm that she was indeed safe and here with her. That this wasn't just some new trick Adriana or Arasaka or whoever-the-fuck-else had dreamed up. She wanted to ask what had gone on at ground level, what had happened to the bots, how Panam was suddenly here.
Instead, she settled on, "Arasaka are in the building, though."
V's jaw tightened again. "I know. Gave us some trouble downstairs." With that, she stepped past Judy and marched to the desk.
Judy watched as she reached out and snatched the laptop away from Adriana, sliding it across the desk so it faced her. The screen was filled with several windows, all displaying information on Arasaka. What was Adriana doing?
"What the fuck were you playin' at down there?" V demanded, the muscles in her neck visibly tensing.
Adriana blinked at her as though she didn't know what she was talking about.
"She got disconnected from the system durin' the transfer," Judy interjected, attempting to alleviate the increasingly thick atmosphere in the room. The last thing they needed right now was to be fighting one another when a greater foe was on their doorstep.
V shot her a look, but anger still burned in her eyes. "Is that so?" she seethed and eyed Adriana carefully. "Then who was operating the door? The elevator? Who let us in? And who refused to open the fuckin' door when we were gettin' gunned down outside?"
Judy chewed the inside of her lip as she considered that. Was someone else in the system? Was it possible that Kulkarni had somehow found a way to take over? Or had Adriana been in control the entire time? Judy thought of the frightened, pathetic thing that had shivered on the floor of the lab. She couldn't believe that to be true.
A crack pierced the air as V slammed her palm down on the desk, snapping Judy from her thoughts. A flicker of fear passed across Adriana's features, but she slipped the mask in place again swiftly. She reached out to take the laptop back, but V's fingers were around her wrist in the blink of an eye.
"We deserve some fuckin' answers," she spat.
Judy wasn't sure she'd ever seen V this angry. Usually, she was the one to simmer over, while V retained a cool head, took control of the situation. A shudder rolled over her shoulders as she took in the twist of V's mouth and the rage behind her eyes.
The detached indifference in Adriana's expression only made the whole scene feel even more unsettling to Judy. Green eyes studied the hand clasped around her wrist before lifting slowly to meet V's burning gaze. "We shall all have them soon."
Judy felt a shiver of dread at the hollowness of Adriana's voice and she moved forward to inspect the laptop more closely. There appeared to be a brief dossier on Yorinobu Arasaka and his gang, the Steel Dragons. She didn't know that much about them, just that they'd tried to thwart Arasaka corporation's actions at every turn. In the next window was information on Saburo, the former head of the Arasaka family. Data on him reeled past too quickly for Judy to follow.
When V's head turned abruptly, Judy looked up to see her staring with worry at the other end of the room. In that moment, Judy heard a clicking sound. It grew louder and her breath hitched as she saw one section of the broad bookcase jut forwards. Panam twisted to face it, her lips parting in alarm.
"Fuck, it must be Arasaka," the Aldecaldo leader cursed.
As the shelves slid further into the room, Judy knew that was the emergency exit she had been looking for. And it had been staring her right in the face the entire time. Several books tumbled to the floor as the bookcase began to slowly swing open, dust puffing into the air.
V took a step towards the bookcase and readied her rifle. "Pan, get away from there!"
Panam began to back away and pulled her sidearm from its holster. Judy was vaguely aware of a scraping sound from behind the desk, but she couldn't tear her gaze away from the bookcase. The echo of booted feet drifted into the room as the new entrance gaped open. Panam positioned herself behind the shifted shelves, pressing herself flat against them.
As the sound of the nearing footsteps rose in symphony with the pulsing of blood in her ears, Judy blindly felt for the desk beside her to steady herself. She should move, get to somewhere safer. When she turned to bolt behind the questionable safety of the desk, she spotted Adriana moving towards V. A chill swept across her skin as she saw the flash of metal in her hand.
"V!" she called out in panic and lunged forwards, an arm outstretched towards Adriana.
V flinched as Adriana wrapped an arm around her shoulders from behind and pressed what Judy now recognised as an AirHypo into her neck. V froze, her eyes widening in shock. Judy scrambled along the side of the desk as her heart thumped painfully in her chest. V's eyes drifted towards her and there was a single moment when Judy swore she could see sorrow in them. Regret. But then they rolled back and V crumpled to the floor, taking Adriana with her.
"V!" Judy cried out again, her desperation pulling her throat tight.
Her fingers found V's jacket first, clawing despairingly at it, tugging the unconscious woman towards her and away from Adriana. The panic in her chest was pushed aside by a cascade of anger and her eyes went to Adriana. The scientist's legs were caught under V's upper body and she was trying to untangle herself, her gaze cool and mindful of Judy.
"What the hell are you doing?" Panam hissed from behind Judy. She didn't need to turn to know that the nomad was aiming her weapon at Adriana now.
Judy struggled with V's limp form, pulling it into her arms, cradling her. She glanced at the now-abandoned AirHypo. "What the fuck did you do to her?" she demanded.
Adriana gripped the side of the desk and pulled herself to her feet, the strain of doing so clear on her contorted features. Her empty gaze slid along V's body and continued to the opposite side of the room. The rage bubbled higher in Judy's gut.
A click and a scuffle behind her caused her back to stiffen and she glanced over her shoulder. Adriana's distraction had allowed Arasaka to slip into the room and take Panam by surprise. An armoured soldier held her wrist off to one side, rendering the weapon she held in that hand completely useless. The muzzle of his rifle was pressed into her cheek and Judy could see the first drops of sweat on her brow.
A sudden rush of hopelessness fell over her then, worming its way into her skin, seeping into her lungs. It lay like a thick cloud there, suffocating her. She clung to V even more tightly and hunched over her. Was this the end? Had they really come this far just to fail at the last hurdle? She gritted her teeth and wrapped her arms around the merc's prone form. They wouldn't take V from her. Not while she drew breath.
The despair only deepened when she felt something cool and hard press against the back of her head. The barrel of a rifle. She stared down at V's relaxed face, willing her to wake up. She let out a yelp when a hand grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back. She grimaced and struggled against the soldier's pull, refusing to release her grip on V.
"That is enough," Adriana said firmly and she stood in front of Judy, her eyes focused on something at the other end of the room.
"Dr. Young," came a deep, male voice from somewhere behind Judy. It had a lilt to it that she thought might be Japanese.
The soldier stopped his yanking, but did not release his hold on Judy's hair, keeping her head at an odd angle where she could only look up at Adriana. The clone's eyes slid to the soldier and the scathing look she gave him was enough to make him release Judy. She could still sense the proximity of his rifle, though.
When Adriana knelt down in front of Judy, she saw a flicker of something in her eyes. She thought it might be remorse, but that didn't fit this situation at all. As Adriana reached out one hand towards V's face, Judy tugged her body closer, her eyes narrowing.
"Don't touch her," she snarled.
Adriana's gaze flicked to the soldier and Judy felt a punishing hand on her shoulder, the gloved fingers pressing painfully into the flesh there.
"This must be done," Adriana said quietly.
A fresh surge of panic pushed Judy to struggle against the soldier's grip as Adriana turned V's head to the side. The hand held her steady and the muzzle of his rifle jutted against the nape of her neck.
"What are you doin'?" she demanded as Adriana slipped her hand around the back of V's head.
Her chest tightened as she realised what Adriana's aim was. Why Arasaka was here. She wrenched herself away from the soldier, pain flaring in her shoulder. She lunged at Adriana, managing to wrap her fingers around her arm. She was vaguely aware of sounds from behind her too, but she had only one thought in her mind. Protecting V.
Strong hands on her upper arms yanked her back and she flailed out wildly with her free arm, catching the side of the soldier's head. He barely flinched, his helmet absorbing the brunt of the blow. She heard him grunt as he lifted her, Adriana's arm slipping from Judy's fingers. She kicked out with her legs, pounding his legs with her feet, but he barely seemed to notice. He wrapped his arms around her torso and squeezed, the pressure on her chest forcing the air from her lungs.
A cry of anguish burst past her lips as she was pulled away from V and she reached desperately for her, clawing at the air. Her eyes widened with growing horror as Adriana pulled her hand away from V's head, revealing a long, pink chip. The relic.
"No!" Judy cried out, her voice twisting in pain.
Her gaze flitted between Adriana and V. Her body showed no outward signs of distress, no indication that removing the chip had harmed her. She just looked like she was sleeping. Judy felt a whimper rise at the back of her throat. She continued to wriggle in the soldier's arms, but she could feel her energy draining away.
Adriana took several steps back and paused, staring down at the chip. Her eyes were clouded in thought, but if she was conflicted over what she was doing, Judy couldn't tell. Another flare of anger forced her to kick out at the soldier again and he almost dropped her. He let out a growl of annoyance and his arms snaked around her more tightly, pinning her arms to her sides. She grimaced as she struggled to suck in a breath.
"Dr. Young," the man who had previously spoken repeated. "Our deal."
Judy's nostrils flared as she glared at Adriana. So she had been playing them all along. This had all been for nothing. Nausea churned in her stomach at the thought. She had helped Adriana, had saved her life. And all that time she had been planning to betray them.
Adriana turned the chip over between her fingers and wandered to the rear of her desk. "Yes, but first… tell me, Murata-san, will you uphold your end?"
Judy craned her neck to try and see the man she was addressing, but she froze when she saw Panam knelt on the ground. Blood ebbed down the side of her face and she was slumped forwards, propping herself up with now-empty hands. Her shoulders shook and pain was clearly etched across her brow. The soldier who had attacked her stood over her, rifle aimed unwaveringly at her head.
"Of course," Murata said, his tone crisp. "Once we have cleared out Biotechnica's presence here, we will ensure you get the supplies you require."
Rage boiled under Judy's skin. Was that what all of this was about? Her fucking research? Self-preservation?
"One more thing," Adriana said, bringing the chip to eye level so she could study it more closely. Judy's eyes burned as she stared into Adriana, hate leaving a sour taste in her mouth. Adriana's gaze shifted back to Murata. "Tell me of my father."
Judy could feel the tension in the air shift, could almost feel the Arasaka goons' confusion. An uneasy silence settled over the room and she felt the soldier's hold on her ease ever so slightly.
"I'm not sure I understand," Murata said slowly.
Adriana's eyes narrowed and she turned the chip over again. "This chip. I know my father's research was used to envision it at an early stage."
Judy caught movement out of the corner of her eye and she watched as Murata walked forwards and stopped on the opposite side of the desk from Adriana. His dark hair was tied back in a tight ponytail and he wore a well-tailored black suit. The tell-tale lines of cybernetics created a maze across his face.
"That was before my time," he insisted and stood rigid, unmoving.
Adriana tilted her head to one side as she regarded him. "Come now, Murata-san. I would think the new head of security would be privy to the history of the corporation."
Judy clenched her jaw and dropped her eyes to V, who still lay completely still. It was just the steady rise and fall of her chest that told Judy she was still alive. She forced herself relax in the soldier's grip. She aimed to preserve her energy for the right moment, but she also hoped that holding dead weight would tire the soldier more quickly.
"Let us conclude our deal and then I will find that information for you."
Adriana shook her head and motioned to the laptop on the desk. "I have the proof already. My father worked with Saburo, gave him his research into…" she tapped the side of her head. "Brain implants."
Murata studied the laptop's screen. "If that is so, I'm unsure what it is you want from me."
"Don't play coy," Adriana snapped, ice in her eyes. "My father died after he cut ties with Arasaka. I do not believe in coincidences."
His shoulders twitched and Judy sucked in a breath as he swiftly removed a large handgun from inside his jacket. He pointed it at Adriana. "And I do not believe in wasting time."
Uncertainty flashed in Adriana's eyes as she stared at the weapon. Her prior confidence seemed to bleed out of her. She let the hand holding the chip fall to her side.
"The chip. Give it to me," Murata demanded, his voice dropping in warning.
Her adrenaline spiking, Judy knew she was running out of time. She didn't know what Arasaka would do with the chip, but she couldn't let them get their hands on it. She used that thought to spur her on and twisted suddenly, managing to free one arm from the soldier's bear hug. She snapped it up, smashing the tip of her elbow into the soft flesh of his neck. She must have caught his windpipe as he let out a gurgling cry and dropped her.
Murata spun around as she rushed him. She slammed into his torso, her hand clasping his arm and forcing the handgun upwards. A sharp pop filled the air as the weapon went off and Judy caught a flash of movement by the desk as Adriana dropped down behind it. The handgun clattered to the floor in the struggle.
Using the momentum of her own body, Murata turned them and threw her off. She landed harshly on the cold tile beside V, pain radiating across her back from the impact. Murata was on her instantly, his large hand around her throat. He lifted her with ease and she choked out a cry. Anger pulled his mouth into an ugly snarl.
She clawed at his hand, lack of oxygen causing her movements to become clumsy and tears to prick at her eyes. The snarl faded from his face then and he tossed her aside like an unwanted toy. She spluttered as she pushed herself onto her knees. When the tears cleared, she found herself staring at V's face. The crushing weight of Judy's helplessness forced fresh tears to sting behind her eyes. She twisted to see Murata retrieving his handgun and aiming it at her. She instinctively slid her hand the short distance to grip V's unmoving fingers. As Murata's features tightened, Judy squeezed her eyes shut.
"Murata-san."
A brief flicker of relief flashed in Judy's chest when no shot came. She opened her eyes to see Murata looking at Adriana now, who had reappeared from behind the desk. She held the chip in her open palm.
No…
"Adriana, please…" Her voice was low, gravelly, and her throat ached. "Don't do this."
Green eyes darted in her direction, but quickly returned to Murata. "There is no other choice."
Adriana extended her arm and Murata snatched the chip from her hand, his handgun still pointed at Judy. Tears continued to well in her eyes as she watched the scene unfold before her. There was nothing she could do.
He dropped it on the desk. As he shifted his handgun away from her, Judy used what little energy she had left to push herself up and forwards. Murata brought the butt of the handgun down towards the chip. A crunch split the air. The chip shattered. She felt herself break apart as she fell short of the desk and crumpled to the ground.
"No…" The word escaped her throat in a defeated whisper. She balled her hands into fists and squeezed as hard as she could. "No!"
This couldn't be how it ended. She scrambled back to V's body. Her chest still rose and fell. She reached out shaking hands and touched her face, smoothed her palms against still-warm cheeks. That chip wasn't V. She had to be in there still. She had to be.
Her vision blurry, she looked around the room desperately. First to Panam, who was staring at V with gritted teeth, barely able to hold herself up. Tears spilled down her cheeks.
"She's still in there," Judy insisted, pain twisting in her chest. Panam's gaze dropped and she closed her eyes.
She looked at Adriana then, hate coiling around her despair. The clone regarded her with what Judy could only guess was her form of pity. Thin lips curled into a small frown.
"Please…" Judy whimpered. "Tell me she's still here."
Adriana shook her head almost imperceptibly. A sob rolled up the back of Judy's throat and she grasped V's jacket. She shook her gently, tears dropping in small patches onto the torn leather. Please, V. Wake up. Her eyelids didn't even flutter. Judy's fingers returned to V's face, traced the slope of her brow, the angle of her cheek, the valley of her chin. She still felt so alive. So present. She didn't feel like she was… Gone.
Judy pressed her forehead to V's, oblivious to anything that was happening around her. I can't do this without you, V. You have to be okay. Please. Judy's sorrow splashed down onto V's skin. Still she did not wake. The anguish in her chest hollowed her out, took great swathes of her and tore them apart, until there was only one thing left to fill it. Anger. We were meant to have months together, V! How could you just fuckin' leave!?
How could you leave me?
"This is pathetic." Murata's voice drifted to her as though over a great distance.
She felt a rough hand on her shoulder that began to tug her away. Away from V. She twisted then, the ugly rage within her flashing red across her vision. She lashed out, not caring if she managed to land a blow or who her target was. Her fists bounced impotently off Murata's arms and he stepped back sharply.
She saw the incoming fist too late. Fire erupted across her cheek and white light burst behind her eyes. She felt the room spin around her and then the bruising impact of the floor against her side. Static buzzed in her ears and when her vision began to return, she could just make out the vague shape of V beside her.
A voice pierced the buzzing. "Put them there for now. I will take care of them later. We have other things to attend to."
Darkness crept in at the corners of her eyes. The murmur of more words tickled at the back of her mind, heated, argumentative, but she couldn't make them out. She tried to reach for V, to touch her one last time. Her fingers dropped to the floor an inch from her skin as the world faded.
...
Light burned a searing path across Judy's eyes as she stirred. A dull ache in her head quickly joined it and she groaned as the feeling returned to her limbs. Pain seemed to throb in every muscle and her mind desperately tried to grasp at fragmented memories. Where was she? She blinked several times, the room slowly coming into focus. She appeared to be slumped against a wall and was now staring at the side of a counter.
Adriana's lab.
Her next thought stole the breath from her lungs. V. She held back the wail that threated to rend itself from her chest, to unleash the agony of that realisation. She pushed it down and clenched her hands, using its power to focus herself. To figure out what the hell she was supposed to do now.
She squinted through the harsh white light and scanned the room. Beside her, Panam was propped against the wall, her head tucked against her chest. Her eyes were closed and the blood at her temple had dried, gluing thick strands of black hair to her skin. Judy clenched her jaw and shifted onto her hands and knees, fighting against the nausea and dizziness that washed over her.
She let out a slow sigh when she drew nearer and could hear Panam's shallow breaths. She lifted unsteady hands to pull back some of Panam's dishevelled hair and inspect her head wound. It was difficult to tell through the caked in blood, but she'd seen enough injuries from eventful nights at Lizzie's Bar to know that Panam would need a doctor.
Remembering the cleaning supplies she'd used earlier and ignoring the stab of betrayal that thought brought with it, she crawled to the cupboard. She grabbed the countertop and pulled herself up, the contents of her stomach shifting uncomfortably. Her strength slowly returned to her as she started to gather the items she needed.
When she returned to Panam, she set the towel, bandages and bottle of disinfectant down on the floor beside the unconscious nomad. She pulled some cleaning wipes from their container and dabbed carefully at the side of Panam's head. After she had managed to clean away the blood, she could see an angry gash across the slope of Panam's brow. Fresh blood began to peek through the wound. She quickly disinfected it and placed a square of gauze against the tear, before wrapping the nomad's head with a roll of bandage.
Judy eyed the old bandage on Panam's arm warily. The blood had stained it a dark red so she assumed it wasn't currently bleeding, but that did little to ease her concern. There was the risk of infection and she knew there wasn't much she could do about that. They needed to get out of here.
Her limbs felt heavy as she lifted herself again and surveyed the room. It looked much the same as it had when she'd been here earlier. Except the only entrance was sealed. She walked over to it as quickly as she could and inspected the panel. The display was covered in a dull red light. She tentatively prodded at it, but it was unresponsive. Course it is.
She lifted her gaze to the walls and ceiling, looking for any sign of ventilation ducts or access points. There were several small covers set just below the ceiling, but they certainly weren't large enough for her to fit through. She pushed out a frustrated breath and wandered around the rest of the lab. She peered at the touchscreens that she'd assumed were linked to the cloning chamber. Were they connected to the system as well? Surely, Adriana wouldn't be so careless. She tapped at one of the screens and then another. No response from them either. It seemed the lab had been completely locked down.
When she heard a soft groan from behind her, she turned and peered over the counter. Panam's mouth was twisted in discomfort and her brow hung low over her eyes. Judy hurried to her and crouched down.
"Panam?" she said quietly.
Another groan. One dark eye peeked at her from between thick lashes. Panam winced as she shifted and pulled herself up straighter. Judy supported her shoulders as she tried to help.
"Judy? What..?" Panam muttered groggily.
"Take it easy," Judy urged, surprised at how soothing her own voice sounded. "Don't know if you have a concussion."
Panam lifted a hand to her head and gingerly grazed her fingertips across the bandage. She blinked in surprise and looked up at Judy, her eyes clearer now. "Did you..?"
Judy shrugged with one shoulder. "How you feelin'?"
Taking in several deep breaths, Panam grimaced. "Like the Basilisk ran me over. Twice."
Judy couldn't muster the energy for a smile. Instead, she glanced towards the door. "Hate to add to it, but we're trapped in here."
Panam's eyes shifted from side to side as she fell into silence. In the next moment, she looked back to Judy, her features twisting in dismay. "V…" she breathed, her voice strained.
Judy pressed her fingertips into her thigh as pain writhed in her chest. "Yeah…"
Panam squeezed her eyes shut and leaned her head back against the wall. "Fuck."
Dropping down to sit in front of the other woman, Judy felt the fight seep out of her. She propped her head up in one hand, resting her elbow against her knee, and tried to ignore the numbness that crept along her skin. She let out a shaky breath as a lump formed in her throat.
Still staring up at the ceiling, Panam balled a hand into a fist. "How the fuck did this happen?"
Judy swallowed down the ache in her throat and tried to blink away the scratching behind her eyes. "Everythin' we did, every choice we made…" Judy tried to tap into her anger, but she couldn't stop her voice from cracking. "It was all part of Adriana's fuckin' plan."
Panam leaned forwards then and levelled her burning gaze at Judy. "That bitch has got to die."
It seemed to Judy that Panam was using her rage to fuel herself, to replenish, but she could still see the sheen in her eyes. Judy lowered her gaze, the intensity in those eyes too much for her to bear in that moment. Guilt gnawed at her. Her grief had drowned her anger, leaving her as much a husk as that corpse in the next room. As V.
Seemingly sensing her despair, Panam reached over and placed a hand on Judy's knee. She could only peer back at the nomad with blurred eyes, her chin tremoring now. Panam squeezed and the fire within her dulled a little.
"I can't do this, Pan…" she whimpered. Hot tears spilled over her lashes as she remembered the way V had always used that name.
Panam shifted onto her knees, her movements awkward and stilted. Judy could see the muscles tense in her jaw. Cool hands slipped under Judy's chin and pressed against her skin firmly as her head was lifted. "You can, Judy. And you will. We're not dying in here." Panam pressed her lips together firmly before continuing. "V would kill me if anything happened to you. I'm not going to let her down."
Judy's lips quivered as the wave of emotion crashing against her ribcage surged higher. When she saw her own pain flicker in those dark eyes, the dam broke. A sob tore from her throat and in the next instant, Panam had wrapped her in a tight embrace. Judy's grief poured out of her. It screamed past her lips and screwed her stomach into a tight knot. She shuddered against Panam's chest and the nomad simply knelt there, holding her steady, absorbing the sorrow.
Judy didn't know how much time passed as they remained locked in their shared anguish, but when she finally stilled and eased back, Panam's own cheeks were stained with a single stream of grief. The vulnerability in her eyes faded and her usual determination returned. She wiped at Judy's cheeks with calloused thumbs.
Panam took a steadying breath and her eyes narrowed. "We'll make them pay, Judy. I swear it."
...
The first thing she became aware of was how fucking difficult it was to open her eyes. The second was the thought that they didn't seem right. She strained, willing them open, but she was left in darkness. She tried to focus on her other senses, on anything, but it was as if she was floating in space. Everything around her was muted.
She caught the flutter of sound somewhere in the distance. Far, far away. She tried to hone in on it, to identify it, but the more she tried, the further it seemed to get. She tried to remember why she was here. Where she was. But the memories drifted away as soon as she got close. They danced on her periphery, tempting her to look, to grasp them. That was when she realised she couldn't feel her hands. Or anything else.
She thought she might panic then, but even that skipped away. She went back to forcing her eyes open. If indeed she had eyes. She put all her thought into moving the muscles where she thought her eyes might be. Finally, a sliver of light greeted her.
She felt as though the thin band of white was permeating her, filling her. Soon, shapes began to take form, first as silhouettes and then as vague, colourful blobs. As she focused on those shapes, she slowly became aware of an odd sensation that sat where her chest should be. That feeling grew, taking form, and she quickly recognised it as a racking breath. Shallow but painful.
She looked with her new eyes at what was in front of her and she almost let them close in her confusion. A hand. Her hand. No, it wasn't her hand. But she could feel it. She could make it twitch. A creeping certainty clawed its way from the back of her mind as she took in the grey, cracked skin, and the sharp cut of bone beneath it.