Chapter 22
Between the magic suppressing cuff that had been forced onto my wrist and the drugs that I had been continuously pumped full of, I could barely tell how much time had passed, only just aware of the fact that it had been at least a few hours since I'd been taken. Greg had just stepped out of the room, citing the need for some new torture device, when my mother spoke up, her voice raspy from the screams that had been torn from her.
"Valkyrie? Darling, are you alright?"
I croaked out a chuckle at that, rolling my head back against the metal backing of the chair. "Don't worry about me," I whispered despite the incessant pounding in my head. "I've survived far worse."
I could practically hear my mother frown at that, a ghost of a smile crossing my lips at the thought.
"That doesn't mean-"
She cut herself off as Greg reappeared, and I cursed mentally as the syringe that he had brought with him from the other room sunk deeply into the soft tissue of my neck, the world going fuzzy as the man gleefully drugged me once again.
Gold stared down at the globe in front of him, desperate for answers but finding none. The globe should have been able to reveal his daughter's location to him, but there was nothing. A broken cry escaped the man as his hand swiped out, knocking the object to the ground in a fit of rage that quickly turned into despair.
If the globe couldn't find her, Gold concluded, his fists clenched in fury and heartbreak, then she must be dead. Tears dripped down the Dark One's face as he collapsed into a chair. I've failed her again.
I was slumped in my chair, shivering at the slight breeze in the air and as a part of the after effects of the electricity that had been running through me not moments before.
"Just tell me what I want to know!"
"What you want to know."
Zap.
Regina and I had taken the same approach to torture, which was to spew more insults than answers and hope that someone was coming to find us, soon. Every time I started to look or speak more coherently, Greg pumped me with more drugs, though what exactly he was using on me, I wasn't sure. Either way, Regina watched me in barely concealed horror, trying desperately to keep Greg from knowing exactly who we were to each other. He likely thought our closest connection was Henry, and neither of us were in any sort of rush to correct him, lest he try to use me against Regina, or visa versa.
He circled Regina now, the words he said becoming fuzzy and nonsensical as they tried to reach my ears, and dimly I wondered what the long term effects of electrical torture was. It had been so long since I'd had a doctor lecture me about it, I couldn't quite remember. Or maybe memory loss was a side effect, especially given that Greg had put his stupid nodes directly on my temple.
My head sank lower, chin brushing my chest. Maybe a small nap will help, I thought distantly as the conversation around me was replaced by a persistent ringing and darkness crept in.
Nearby, Neal and Emma walked side by side, Emma on the phone with a distressed David. Neal listened to the half of the conversation he could hear, anxiety pumping through him at the thought of not being able to find his newly discovered little sister. Distantly, he could hear seagulls cawing, and he promised himself that if- when he found Valkyrie, he would be taking her and Henry out of this damn town to somewhere that was safe. Neal glanced at the woman beside him as she spoke.
"So she didn't see anything?" Emma listened for a few seconds, coming to a halt at the railings that overlooked a portion of the docks. She stared intently at a section of buildings.
"Get down to the docks right now." Emma hung up, looking back at Neal. "I was right. Tamara was not down here for a run. She was in there…" She pointed towards the Cannery that stood opposite them. "with Regina and Valkyrie."
She set off in a sprint, and Neal had no choice but to follow after her.
David, having just got off the phone with his daughter, and ushered his wife to the door, was surprised to hear a knock, particularly seeing as they hadn't truly expected anyone. He glanced at his wife, who looked similarly confused, before moving to the door, opening it with one hand on his gun.
Before him stood three people, two men and one woman. At the front of this group stood a slender man in a suit and hat, his unusually bright eyes cutting through David as they made eye contact. An awkward moment of silence passed, before the man cleared his throat and glanced into the apartment behind David.
"Hello." The tall man said in a clear Irish accent, his head tilting to the side in a manner that instantly reminded David and Mary-Margaret of one of the newer residents of Storybrooke. "We are looking for an associate of ours, about yay tall, dark hair, amber eyes, terrible anger issues. Have you seen her?"
Neal and Emma crept down the dark hallway of the cannery, Emma's gun pointed towards the ground in front of her as they moved. They passed through several rooms, the hissing steam covering the rapid sound of their footsteps. Emma glanced back at Neal.
"You sure you wanna be here?" she whispered, eyes refocused on the area in front of her.
"I'm not gonna leave you alone in this place." Neal whispered back. "Besides, Valkyrie needs me."
"If something does go down with Tamara, I need to know you've got my back." Neal sighed at that.
"Emma, if Tamara is hiding Regina and Valkyrie here in her evil lair by the docks, yeah, I got your back." A clatter in the distance interrupted their discussion, and the pair came to a swift halt, Emma peaking around the corner they hid behind. Another clatter prompted Emma to come out of hiding, rushing around the bend only to be met with her similarly gun toting father, her mother a few steps behind him.
"What the hell, guys?" Emma breathed out, the whole group relaxing as they all registered the non-threat in front of them. This feeling fled Emma quickly as she took note of the strangers behind her parents, and her gun came up to point at the ringleader who looked vaguely amused. "Who the hell is that?!"
David glanced back, a grimace pulling at his face before waving at Emma to put her gun away. "They're… with us. It's a long story. Here." He handed his daughter a walkie talkie. "So that doesn't happen again."
"You and Mary-Margaret take the basement. We'll search the main floor." Emma said, glancing again towards the group behind her parents.
"Tanith will go with blondie and scarf man." The dark haired man said, glancing towards the blonde woman with him. She nodded, a grim look of determination crossing her face. Neal frowned at that, opening his mouth to protest but the man barreled on. "Fletcher and I will go with Mr. and Mrs. Fairytale." Emma nodded.
"Works with me. Regina and Valkyrie have gotta be here somewhere." David nodded, patting Emma's arm as he left, Mary-Margaret and two men following close behind. Emma eyed the blonde haired woman who stared back expressionlessly. She waved a hand towards a doorway.
"Shall we continue this staring contest or can we go find my missing friend?" She drawled in a dry British accent. Without responding, Emma swept into the next room, gun raised once again and Neal on her heels. Emma just barely heard the soft sound of the woman's blade being drawn as she trailed behind them, her feet making no sound against the concrete floor.
I came to again, an argument disturbing my nap.
"…Tell me where my father is." Greg snarled out, and I rolled my eyes at the question, raising my head just enough to see him looming over my mother once again. She remained silent, and he turned towards the machine again, my heart lurching at his movements. "Okay, time's up." I opened my mouth, to scream or say something that would stop him when my mother's quiet voice did that for me.
"Wait." Greg turned hopefully towards her, their eyes meeting.
"Where is he?" he asked desperately. The corner of my mother's mouth turned up in a cruel smirk that had me closing my eyes in dread, already certain of the fate of Greg's father before she said a thing.
"Dead." I sighed, eyes drifting open to take in Greg's heartbroken face. I frowned at the pity that welled up at the site of it. "I killed him. The minute you ran away…" His face contorted.
"No, you're- you're lying to me."
"Don't believe me? Go see for yourself." In spite of her smirk, a tear crept its way down Regina's cheek. "I buried his body at your campsite. I doubt he gets many visitors there." Greg shook his head in denial. "Now go ahead and kill me."
"No!" I cried out, straining against my restraints as Greg moved to the machine. His eyes met mine, and a sudden realization flashed across his face, glancing from me to Regina. He leaned towards her, fury in his every move.
"No." he echoed me, smirking at the terror that bloomed on her face. "I think I'll just pay you back in kind." He marched over to the second machine that sat next to me, paying little mind to the angry curses that left Regina's mouth as he grew closer, and setting the voltage to high. Greg's eyes met mine, mild regret coloring his expression. "Sorry about this, nothing personal." He flipped the switch, and I was suddenly unable to hear my mother's voice over the sound of my own screams, electricity and pain echoing through my veins in tandem.
"You feel that?" Greg yelled over it all, ignoring the desperate attempts Regina made to escape her bonds. "Now you know what it's like to lose someone you love!" My back arched, an inhuman noise escaping me as he somehow increased the energy.
It stopped as soon as it started, two gunshots destroying the machine, and I collapsed back into my chair, blood pooling in my mouth from where I had bit down on my tongue. Black spots covered my vision, and distantly I could hear Regina calling out for me.
"Don't move!" Despite David's command, Greg darted out of the room, knocking several things over. As my vision faded for what felt like the hundredth time in just a few days, I heard Mary-Margaret call out to David, and felt a gloved hand gently cup my cheek.
"Valkyrie?"
