AN: Hoi! Sorry about the long update time ;; I've actually had this chapter written for a long time.. but working has kept me busy and I always forget to take it off my laptop ;; Oh well it's here now! I hope you like it!
To Reika-devil: Er… Mariah IS nice… and they are a couple -- If you don't like Mariah, please do not read my fics cause I LOVE her so she is a main character in all my fics
Some Russian words that appear in this chapter and will reoccur throughout the story:
Shvipsik = imp
Malenkaya = little one
The trip through the Abbey to Bryan's rooms was much too quick for Mariah who had been dreading meeting Bryan, despite the fact that she would also see her best friend. Even more than Tala, the pale haired Demolition Boy frightened her, for where Tala was cunning and manipulative, Bryan was insane and blood thirsty. Bryan would kill or injure anyone, Tala, as she had seen, had at least a little respect for human life. If only a little.
"Here we are Kitty, chin up hm?"
Mariah barely acknowledged Tala's slightly mocking words and tone. If she was to meet her death, then she was going to do it bravely. She had had enough of crying and wailing. Deep in her heart she believed that their friends on the outside would rescue them before anyone else could die.
The two teens entered the large set of rooms—Tala apparently had a key—and made their way inwards. Tala seemed to know where he was going, so Mariah contented herself to follow him, wanting nothing more to grab one of the heavy statues that adorned the hallways and various rooms of the Abbey—Bryan's included—and smash it over Tala's head. However, she knew that he would more than likely catch her before she ever came close and then she would be even worse off then she was at that moment.
She followed him as he made his way across the large front room, taking in the dark but rich interior of the room. The room was obviously made and decorated for someone of high stature. Crimsons and navys were splashed about in the heavy draperies that covered the windows and the plush oriental rug that sat in the middle of the floor. All the furniture—two large armchairs, a round table, a few shelves and a large oak desk and matching chair—was all exquisitely fashioned and screamed of wealth. She wouldn't be surprised if Tala's rooms were decorated with even richer furnishings.
Blinking Mariah realized that Tala had left her behind and looked up just in time to see him slip into a dark alcove to her left. She hurried to follow him, in no mood to be punished because she had dawdled admiring the scenery.
"Aw, isn't that sweet?"
Tala's sickening tone reached Mariah just as she came to a stop behind him, beside a large king-sized bed, blanketed with heavy crimson feather quilts. It drew her attention to what he was looking at, and what had caused him to smirk.
She stared, a deep sense of betrayal surging up in the back of her throat.
Liika was lying on the bed, wrapped securely around Bryan, one of his arms snagged around her waist, her head resting on his broad chest. Bryan looked peaceful, his eyes slowly opening, still glazed and heavy with sleep. Nadya lay, still asleep, on her father's chest, dwarfed by the sheer expanse of it. They looked like a happy family, the kind that woke up together Sunday mornings and spent a lazy day in bed, cuddling.
Mariah had never felt more let down and hurt in her life. Liika lay safe, warm and happy while the friends that loved and supported her were being tortured and killed in the dungeons. How could she do something like that? How could she betray those that had fought for her…fought for her baby?
However, as these thoughts flashed through her mind, Liika's eyes opened and guilt came crashing over Mariah. It sickened her, bile welling up in her throat. How could she have thought that of her best friend? Just who was betraying who?
Liika's eyes were filled with such pain, such revulsion that Mariah felt her heart breaking all over again. The thought that Liika had betrayed them suddenly seemed so foolish, so petty and unrealistic. It was clear to anyone in the room, that Liika was there because she had to be, not because she wanted to be. Mariah had no doubt that Nadie was in someway being used against her.
Turquoise eyes then rose to meet Mariah's golden ones, brightening slightly at the familiar eyes.
Tala glanced over his shoulder at the pink haired girl, taking in the sickened look she had on her face and smiling slightly. He then returned his attention to the trio on the bed, his hand reaching out to lightly brush some of the soft lilac hair from Nadie's forehead. The baby stirred a little but did not wake.
"Feeling any better my friend?" Tala asked, withdrawing his hand from the child and drawing the chair that stood against the wall only feet from the bed.
Bryan motioned at Liika, who was by then sitting up, to take Nadya, and when she did, he struggled to sit up, flinching and grunting the whole way. When he finally had himself upright and leaning against the broad, dark, cherry wood headboard, he took a deep breath and composed himself, obviously willing down the pain.
Tala, seeing his friend's obvious discomfort, scowled and leaned over to the beside table and pressed the small intercom that sat on the polished surface. As soon as the intercom crackled, signifying that someone was on the other side, Tala's voice ground out harshly, "Non-drowsy painkillers. Now."
Bryan shifted, frowning. "I'm fine."
The red head smirked, eyebrows lifting. "I'm sure you are." He replied dryly, his eyes moving to the silent woman on Bryan's other side. "I'm disappointed, you're not doing your job Liika. How you forgotten our deal?"
"No," she stated flatly, half-glaring at him. "There was not much I could do locked up here like a prisoner. Besides, I've been asleep at his side like he commanded me to do." Her eyes flashed in challenge. "I was merely obeying my master… as you told me to."
Mariah turned her head, effectively hiding the grin that threatened to crack her stony facial expression. How could I ever think that she'd betray us…she's just picking her battles…
Tala found it somewhat less amusing than Mariah did, and narrowed his eyes at her. He knew when he was being mocked, and she was clearly mocking him. However, before he could open his mouth and snap back at her, Bryan interrupted. "Leave her be, I told you I'm fine." He grumbled, shooting a glare at Liika. "And you, mind who you're talking to."
Liika cast her eyes down, fighting the urge to sneer at him. "My apologies."
Bryan stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowing at her. Then he snorted, his eyes leaving her to move back to his friend and captain. "Why are you here?" He asked, glancing at Mariah who stood behind Tala's chair, half hidden by shadows.
Tala glanced over his shoulder, following Bryan's gaze with the corner of his eye. "She is why I'm here. I'm giving her to you, to do with what you want. She will only get in my way of getting what I want if I keep her, I gave Ian the mousy orange haired Angel and Spencer," he paused only slightly, but long enough to tell Bryan—and only Bryan as the other two girls were barely paying attention, and were instead sending each other silent messages around the two young men—that there was something very important Tala had to tell Bryan about Spencer. "Is unavailable at the moment. I figured you could use someone to help out with the little shvipsik." The Russian word slipped easily past his lips, causing Bryan to smile a little and glance over at the little girl that was half-sleeping in her mother's arms.
Bryan looked thoughtful, his eyes moving from the child to the pink haired young woman. He studied her, his eyes glinting coldly. He was regarding as a mere object, nothing more. "Girl," he said icily, motioning with one finger for Mariah to come closer. "Why should I spare your life? You who has helped poison this one's mind against me," he tilted his head towards a silent Liika.
Mariah swallowed the solid lump that had formed in her throat. She hadn't expected him to ask such a question. How the hell did she answer it? Especially without saying something snerky. "With all due respect…master… It was not I that poisoned Liika's mind against you. You did that on your own." She flinched inwardly, that had not been what she wanted to say. She was going to die now…
A pale eyebrow arched, otherwise Mariah's words went ignored. "You were there when she…did this to me. Will you share her punishment then?"
"I would die for Liika."
Bryan continued to study her for a few more moments before turning his cold eyes towards Liika who was rocking back and forth, Nadya clutched tightly against her chest, her eyes wide and surprised. "And you malenkaya, why should I spare your little friend?"
Liika was silent for a moment, weighing her answer. "Because…I love her and I would hate you forever if you killed her. I too would die for her." She whispered finally through clenched teeth.
This brought a scoffing laugh to Bryan's lips. "Do you think I do not know that you already hate me malenkaya?" He sneered, reaching up and running his fingers through her bangs. "Do you think I'm stupid?"
"No."
He tilted his head, running the pad of his thumb down the side of her face, his eyes moving over her face. While part of him wanted to kill the Chinese wench, as he didn't really give a rat's ass what happened to her, a large part of him desired to give his malenkaya what she wanted. To make her happy and lessen her obvious hate towards him. "Fine." He stated, drawing his hand away from her unresponding face. "I'll spare her life. She will be your personal maid and help you with the brat. But hear me," his finger grasped her chin tightly and turned her head to face him, his eyes locking with his, "She will be the only maid you get and she will work for her keep. I will tolerate no idleness from her. If I decide that she has outlasted her usefulness she will be sent to join your little friends." He swiveled his head to glare at Mariah. "Is that clear wench?"
Mariah's eyes were wet with tears as she nodded her head vigorously, thankful that he hadn't decided to kill her and thankful she would be with her friend. "Yes…master."
Bryan snorted but said nothing more.
Tala meanwhile watched the whole thing with fascination. He saw clearly why Bryan spared the pink haired Angel. One look at the little blue wench and he had crumbled. Hm, he'd have to remind Bryan later just who was to be in control. Giving her everything she desired, just because she desired it was not going to give him the upper hand. However, it didn't matter at that point and it was Bryan's decision to make. Perhaps it would make the wench easier to deal with, especially since Bryan seemed so hell bent on keeping her. Forever.
The faint sound of the door in the outer chambers opening reached their ears and Tala sighed, bringing himself to his feet. "It sounds as if your pain killers are here," he said, breaking the silence that had taken over the room since Mariah's agreement.
"Great." Bryan stated sarcastically, throwing back the blankets that covered him. "You, wench," he threw at Mariah, glaring at her expectantly, "Get my clothing from the wardrobe on the other side of the bed."
Mariah nodded and scurried to do his bidding, eager to a) have him dressed and not half naked, and b) to get him out of the room so that she and Liika could talk. Within moments she brought back a pair of crimson pants, an orange belt, and orange t-shirt and a heavy crimson, white and navy jacket that had been hanging up in the wardrobe beside the shelves. She figured he probably wanted it.
He snatched the clothing from her and pulled on his pants, standing so that he could pull them over his backside. It didn't seem to faze him that two women were watching him, nor that Tala had returned with his drugs and a glass of water. As soon as the pants were on, he took the water and pills and downed them quickly before practically tossing the glass at Mariah and pulling the t-shirt over his head.
He then turned back to the bed and looked down at Liika expectantly. "Come here woman, give me a kiss," he demanded sharply, narrowing his eyes.
Tala fought back a snicker, catching the disgust that flashed briefly over Liika's face. "I think perhaps you should wait for your mistress in the main room hm Kitty?" He said quietly, taking Mariah's arm and dragging her out of the alcove.
Liika took a deep breath, will down the nausea that threatened at the thought of willingly kissing him. She could do it…for Nadie's sake. If she disobeyed him…she didn't want to think of the consequences.
"Woman…" The warning in his voice was clear and Liika flinched.
Stifling a sigh, Liika opened her eyes and set Nadya down on the bed beside her. She then lifted herself to her knees and scooted to the edge of the bed before climbing to her feet, leaning down slowly and placing a chaste kiss against his lips, hoping he would be satisfied with it.
Bryan was surprised, but didn't let it show. He hadn't actually expected her to do it, and so didn't demand any more of her. Time would come for that. Whatever 'deal' Tala had struck with her had affected her more than anything he could have threatened her with. He was pleased and showed it by patting her on the head. "Good girl." He said smirking before walking away. "I will be back later."
Liika ground her teeth. Patting her like a dog! Fucking prick.
The late October landscape around Moscow was bleak, bare trees and dead grass spread as far as the eye could see, covered only by a very thin layer of white snow. Kai remembered faintly why he hated Russia, it was ugly. Of course, he was sure that his terrible childhood and the fact that every bad experience in his life had happened in Russia played a large part in forming his opinion of the large country.
He sighed, shifting in his place on the large window seat, staring out of the huge plated glass window listlessly. The black hole that threatened to swallow him whole grew and he felt like he was drowning. His conflicted emotions were pulling him in opposite direction and tormenting him to the point where he didn't sleep, didn't eat. Rage battled with depression, which battled with worry, which battled with hatred. He was a mess and he knew it.
Four days. They—she—had been gone four days. Four days in the long span of things didn't seem like a long span of time, but to him it seemed like eternity.
He missed Liika terribly, and worried about her and the baby in his every waking moment—which was all the time since he wasn't sleeping much.
He was terrified. Frightened that something horrible had happened to her, that Tala or Bryan had killed her, or raped her, or abused her, had separated her from the baby. Had hurt the baby.
Clutching his head with one hand, Kai groaned out loud. He needed to stop thinking like he was. Worrying, fretting himself into physical sickness was not going to solve his problems, was not going to get his little Liika back.
He sighed. When had he fallen so damn hard for her? Sure he had known at least some part of him loved her—if he was capable of love. However, it wasn't until she wasn't around anymore, until Tala had succeeded in capturing her and the baby that Kai realized what a huge part of him she really was. He was lost without her to hover over. He didn't know what to do with himself and probably would have fallen completely apart if it hadn't been for Robert pointing out that dying himself was not going to get her back. It sickened him to think that he relied so much on one person, that he allowed his existence to be defined in relation to one girl. A girl he hadn't even known three years before, and hadn't liked for most of the first year he had known her.
What made her so special? What made her the one that he attached himself too? Sure, he would die for any one of his comrades—a fact that still amazed him—but her…she was different somehow. It was deeper than that.
Glancing down at his lap, Kai twirled the small gold object in his fingers, studying it as facets of light reflected off the small navy stone set in the center of two tiny diamonds and a gold band. He was going to get her back. Somehow, someway, even if he had to die trying, he was going to get her back.
"Kai…it's time."
"How is your side?" Tala asked, glancing at his large companion as they strode down the dark halls of the Abbey.
"Fine," Bryan answered, not even flinching. "Where exactly are we going, and what is this about Spencer?"
"Spencer," Tala replied drolly, "Is where we're going. Ian found our rat."
Bryan stopped in this tracks, his eyes widening incredulously as they turned on the red head. "You mean…"
"Yes," Tala said dryly. "It makes perfect sense if you think about it. Who else could have been feeding them such classified information?"
"When did you find out?"
"Yesterday."
"And he's not dead yet?!"
Tala laughed rather cruelly, his turquoise eyes glittering in the low hallway light as they continued their way down the hall. "Oh no, I have plans for him. You see, if we kill him now it will alert the little Angels, and they'll scatter. We're much too close to destroying them for that."
Bryan was silent a moment before a slow smirk crawled over his face. "This is interesting so if we're not going to kill him, why are we seeking him out?"
"We're not."
Bryan raised an eyebrow. He said nothing, merely expecting that Tala would explain himself. He did.
"We're going to his room. If we want to bust him we need solid proof, Spencer is too smart. Just an alias isn't enough even if we know it's him."
"All we have is an alias? Then how do you know it's him?"
Tala smired. "The alias is Sergei. Can you get more obvious?"
Bryan looked unconvinced, his eyebrows furrowing and his eyes darkening. "And if it's just someone trying to frame him?"
The red head's expression darkened as well. "This is unlike you Bryan, mistrusting my work in favour of Spencer."
Bryan sighed heavily. "Sorry," he stated, "Pain killers."
"Hm." Tala's lips pursed. "Of course."
They soon reached Spencer's chambers and came to a stop outside the large and imposing grey doors. Tala produced a key and slid it into the lock, a satisfying click echoing through the empty corridor. However, as he turned the door handle and pushed, the door stopped, obviously blocked by something.
"Hn, very clever Spencer," Tala murmured to himself, fishing in his pocket for his back up plan. "But, I'm cleverer."
The device that Tala had pulled out of his pocket was a small black box. A saw popped from one of the ends and whirred to life. Tala extended it through the small crack in the door. The sound of the titanium saw blade meeting a similar metal chain echoed through the darkness until the blade swung free of resistance through the crack in the doorway, and the door sprang open completely.
"Where the hell did you get that?" Bryan asked, interest resounding in his voice.
Tala grinned over his shoulder, leading the way into the darkened room. "My bride-to-be engineered it for me. Isn't she sweet?"
A pale eyebrow arched. "You're actually going to marry her?"
Another grin. "Eventually. Maybe after she spawns me a couple of brats."
Bryan laughed. "Always thinking ahead."
"Of course, but about her. I've found who's pulling her strings. Someone named Brooklyn."
Bryan systematically searched along side Tala for clues to Spencer's guiltiness.
"A lover?" he asked, shifting through papers on Spencer's desk.
"Oh yes," Tala replied, sliding into Spencer's chair and turning on his computer. "My poor woman is being manipulated I'm afraid. He cares nothing for her and is using sex and love as a control method."
"Should I even ask how you found this out?"
Tala smirked. "Oh I watched them when he snuck in to see her while she was watching you. And I know because he's so much like me. I could see it his eyes and hear it in his voice. It's a pity really that one so smart should fall so easily."
Bryan snorted. "Women are weak minded, and let ridiculous notions of 'love' and 'trust' guide them. That is why it is men that rule the world, not women. Either way, I'm not overly surprised to find out that this man is much like you. Only someone like you could maneuver the way he's maneuvering."
"True." Tala's fingers moved swiftly over the black keyboard. "But we have the advantage, we know his plans. He's going to use my 'feelings' to trap us and overthrow Biovolt."
The red head's casual statement drew Bryan's gaze once more, both eyebrows rising. A sneer touched his lips. "He doesn't know you very well. He underestimates you."
Tala laughed, grinning. "The fool."
They fell into silence, each working diligently to find what they were looking for. Tala surfed through the files on Spencer's computer, having cracked the security rather easily. He had after all designed the program himself. Spencer was stupid to use his program.
Bryan moved around the room in a strategic pattern, sifting through drawers and clothing.
"A-h, hello," Tala's chiming voice caught Bryan's attention and the large teen was at his captain's side in seconds.
"What?"
"This." With a click of the mouse a blank vid. screen popped up, Kai's voice sounding from the speakers on either side of the monitor.
"Sergei, we've moved as you told us. I will not disclose our whereabouts, but we are no longer in Sweden. The Visby base is abandoned, nothing left. We've been contacted by Brooklyn Kingston of BEGA. I need information on him, I don't trust his motives. He's decided to sponsor us. That's all for now. Aohou out."
Silence reigned over the room as the two Demolition Boys digested the new information and find. So, their new enemy was trying to play both sides of the field? Tala wondered at the orange haired man's motives. The only thing he could think of was that he was trying to play both sides off each other so that they would destroy one another. He obviously know that the Angels wouldn't allow him and BEGA to rule the world either, and would fight him, which meant that they had to be destroyed and who better to do that than Tala, the Demo boys, and Biovolt? He was using Tala, through Jade and Kai, and Tala didn't like it.
No one used him, least of all with his own property and the one man he hated most in the world.
Add one more to his ever growing 'to kill' list.
Picking up a blank CD from the stack beside him, Tala slid it into the CD drive and set the computer to burning the file.
"Spencer's not stupid, he must not have seen this yet."
Tala inclined his head towards his teammate. "Which works perfect for us of course."
"Of course."
The CD burner opened as the CD finished burning. Tala took it out of the drive and pocketed it, standing. "Let's go. We now have a … 'meeting' with our prisoners."
"Which ones did you capture?" Bryan asked curiously, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorjamb.
Tala smirked, pulling a small phone out of his pocket and walking past into the hallway. "At least one you'd be interested in," he said to Bryan before putting the phone to hear and speaking into it quickly. "Someone broke into Spencer's room. Clean it up before he gets back. Not a word."