Kailor: Hey, my nerds! I hope your week's been amazing! Warning for a little violence here, but honestly, I think we've all been waiting for it anyways so. On with the action! Thank you all so much for the reviews and messages. You warm my heart!
Stacie had disappeared into the trees a little ways down the road with the two guards a (somehow) very long few minutes ago and Mel had gone after them.
But Beca's getting antsy. She tugs at the clip for the hatchet strapped to her thigh, biting the tip of her tongue. "It's been too long. Right? I don't know why I was expecting her to just, like, get them to look away while we snuck in behind them, but I don't like this." Jessica puts a calming hand on her shoulder, but it doesn't stop Beca's fingers from tapping along the bat handle.
"Chill, girl," Cynthia Rose huffs. "Stacie's smarter than all of us. She's got this handled. She's improvising. And Mel went after her. We just wait for them."
She's barely finished speaking when there's a rustling and a quiet curse. Mel pops out from behind Jesse's dick cousin's car, Stacie and a shame-faced Emily right behind her. Stacie is fuming, Beca can tell. Her arms are crossed over the flannel she's now wearing. It doesn't button all the way up, but that's not surprising. Not everyone is as gifted as Stacie in the chest department. Her jaw is clenched so tight, Beca's a little worried about her teeth.
"Dude, what happened?"
Mel sighs, tapping her crossbow against her forehead. Beca wonders if she's contemplating if she could kill them all with it before they can team up on her. "Sex kitten got the goons into the trees and I was about to jump them when G.I. Jane here bashed one of them's head in with a rock. He'll live, but Jesus. You guys are insane. Listen, if the cops turn up later, you guys ran in there before I could stop you and I followed to save you. Clear? Five minutes with you and they'll believe it."
Cynthia Rose and Jessica nod but Beca gasps, turning on the younger girl who flinches away. "Emily!" She smacks her shoulder. Sweet, stuttering Emily who catches bugs that get into her apartment and brings them outside to save them. "That's awesome!"
"It is not awesome!" Stacie snaps, also rounding on Emily. Behind her, Beca gives Emily an enthusiastic thumbs up, remembering Emily doing the same to her back at the Beale house. Emily grimaces and Beca grins. What goes around, comes around, she thinks. "I told you to stay up the hill. You're supposed to be watching out for us!"
Beca's never seen Emily angry, but this is probably as close to it as she'll ever get. Emily straightens up and mirrors Stacie, crossing her arms too. "Well, you didn't tell me part of the plan was my girlfriend jogging straight into danger and leading men off into the woods alone! Of course I came running!" She freezes, eyes widening. What little anger had been tightening the corners of her lips evaporates and her shoulders sag. It's like watching someone tell a child Santa doesn't really exist. At least, what Beca imagines that would look like. She'd never believed in that kind of stuff. "I can still say that, right? 'Girlfriend'? I know you said-"
"Em." Stacie sighs heavily and drops her arms, catching Emily's crossed ones with her fingertips. Her voice drops lower and Beca suddenly feels like she's intruding. "Of course you can. I just wish you'd stayed safe."
Emily shrugs. "I was worried."
"I know, baby." Stacie tugs once and Emily goes easily into her arms, letting Stacie press a kiss into her temple.
The top of the tree to her right suddenly looks super interesting, so Beca studies that while Cynthia Rose and Jessica turn completely around.
"Oh my god," Mel growls. "Can we save the romance for when we're not in imminent danger? You guys are worse than Vampirella and Hollis."
"Who?" Jessica asks.
"Friends of mine. Come on. Let's get this over with." She stomps right out of the trees and onto the road, crossbow raised to chest height.
Like before a softball game or a swim meet, every muscle in Beca's body starts buzzing, almost shaking right out of her skin. And she bounces with it, shaking her hands out as she switches the bat hand to hand.
"Get back up the hill," Stacie whispers to Emily as Beca passes. "We'll be back soon."
Mel's waiting for them at the door, her back to the wall beside it. She motions for Beca to take the other side. "Alright, listen up, gang. We go in quiet, silence anyone we come across." She pauses. "By which, I mean, I will handle anyone we come across. We take any of our crew we can find, and get out. Whatever means necessary. For the sake of paperwork, please don't kill anyone. If bullets start flying, the cops will be here in minutes and these guys inside will do whatever it takes to get away quick." She makes sure to meet each of their eyes. "That includes killing a bunch of civilians and the FBI agent who's definitely getting fired after this. And if one of you bitches gets me pulled into some black-girl-dies-first bullshit, I'll use you as a human shield. Got it?"
Beca grins. "I bet they get you to give all the pep talks before missions, don't they?"
Mel's eyes narrow. "Do exactly as I say and stay behind me."
"Unless we're being used as a human shield."
"Right." Mel braces herself and nods to the door. Beca glances back at the other girls.
Stacie's pulled a knife from who knows where, Jessica is holding her hunting knife out in an eerily professional grip even though she's smiling nervously, and Cynthia Rose is squared up and bouncing on her toes. Not a single one of them looks up for what's about to happen, like they've just wandered into an action movie from the set next door. It's utterly ridiculous, but Beca is suddenly wildly proud of them. "Hey. You guys are pretty awesome. Just, you know. In case we die or whatever."
"We love you too, Becs." Stacie winks.
Mel pretends to hurl and Beca kind of agrees. "Okay, don't get gross, Conrad." She reaches forward and twists the door knob, pulling it open. Mel slips through, crossbow first, and Jessica follows her. Stacie takes the rear, ushering Cynthia Rose and Beca ahead of her.
The hall is empty and turns the corner up ahead, deeper into the building. There are two doors, one on either side of them. Mel holds up a fist and the group stops. She catches Jessica's eye and motions to the door on the right, lifting a fist as if knocking. Jessica nods as Mel moves to the other side of it. Once Mel is still, Jessica knocks softly. Beca flattens herself to the wall between Cynthia Rose and Stacie as the door opens.
It's over in a second, but she sees it all as if in slow motion.
A man steps out and Mel, on the opposite side of the door from everyone else, says, "Hey." He turns to look at her and Mel lifts her crossbow, but Jessica moves first. Her foot slips between the (very large) man's legs and knocks his knee to the side. He stumbles forward and Jessica drags her hunting knife across the back of his thigh, dropping him to his knees. She lands a quick hit to the side of his neck. He sprawls on the floor and doesn't move. Another man appears in the door and barely has time to gasp, "Antoni!" when Mel uppercuts him back into the room. There's a dull thump and no one moves, listening. Nothing.
Several breathless moments later, Mel nods to Jessica and they move to the second door. Beca hurries to press herself to the other wall, accidentally elbowing Stacie in the boob. They have a brief but violent slapping match as Jessica knocks on the door. This time, Beca isn't even sure she sees Jessica move, but she's suddenly lowering a man to the floor and he's bleeding from a gash across his leg. Mel glances into the room. "Clear."
"Jessica, what the fuck?" Stacie whispers, slightly strangled.
Mel shakes her head, checking the pulses of the men on the floor. "Okay. You just became second-in-command, Goldilocks."
Jessica turns to flash them all a grin and Beca tries not to flinch back into Stacie.
Mel and Cynthia Rose lift the men in the hallway and drag them into the first room, shutting the door behind them. "First leg of the journey done," Mel whispers. "Good job not dying yet, everyone. Let's go."
"There's a closet on the left at the corner," Stacie hisses over Beca's head. "Then another straight shot to the right, with offices on each side."
Beca glances up at her. "Did Mamma Beale take you on the grand tour of this place or something?"
Stacie mouths wordlessly for a second, then presses her lips tightly together, closing one eye. "Okay, maybe I also fooled around with one of the stockers for a while. I may or may not know every broom closet in this whole place."
"That makes more sense," Cynthia Rose says.
"Yeah, I was wondering." Jessica nods, hands on her hips.
"The Hunter to the rescue," Beca mutters.
"Fuck all of you." Stacie shoves Beca into the wall.
"You would."
Mel, apparently having had enough, slices her hand through the air and they fall silent. She hurries to the corner and carefully glances around it. It must be clear, because she's slips away. Jessica and Cynthia Rose hurry to catch up.
When they round the corner, the hall is empty. Beca stops, Stacie bumping into her back. The door to the right is open, the left slightly ajar. Mel quickly clears the room on the right, then slips into the other room with Cynthia Rose and Jessica hot on her heels. But just as Beca's moving for the door on the left, there's a voice at the end of the hall. Stacie's hand wraps around her belt and she's tugged backwards into the door on the right. Stacie shuts it and lifts a finger to her mouth. Beca glances around and finds they're in a tiny back office, crammed into the little space between the heavy wooden desk and the door. It's dark, the room only lit by a small lamp in the corner. It's quiet, but suddenly, as footsteps grow closer, Beca feels like she needs to speak. Like this might be her only chance to. The words tingle on her tongue and she opens her mouth to spit them out. "Stace."
Stacie glares at her, but leans down to give Beca her ear, keeping one hand pressed to the door.
Beca licks her dry lips. "Dude, you know how you had stuff to tell Emily? Just in case?" Stacie nods. "Just. If, uh. You know." She waits for Stacie to nod, but nothing comes. Even in the face of being found by men who very well might kill them, Stacie Conrad is difficult. She should have known. So she sighs and says it. "Tell Chloe I love her. Like, in love, love her."
Stacie's smile brightens the room more than the lamp and Beca feels her ears grow hot. Then Stacie opens her mouth and says probably the worst thing she could have. "Awww."
"Shut the fuck up." Beca resists punching her in the throat because the footsteps are almost right outside now. She lifts her bat, watching the light under the door. A shadow passes once, then passes back, and a voice speaks in a language she doesn't recognize. Then it's gone. The footsteps fade back the way they came and Stacie presses her ear to the door.
"I think they left," she breathes, but then there's another clattering of boots, more than before. "Fuck."
Beca's insides flutter to the beat of the approaching steps and she shakes out her hands, one at a time to keep the bat up. "Stacie, I'm gonna die before I can even ask Chloe out. Are you fucking kidding me? This was so stupid! What are we doing?" She's rambling, which isn't something she does often, but now she can't stop.
"Calm down, Becs," Stacie hisses, ear still to the door. "We'll be fine." The steps pause and there's faint, muffled speech. Stacie's eyes flicker between the door and Beca, as if deciding if she should keep listening or calm Beca down. With an almost silent huff, she turns to face Beca and grabs her shoulders. Her hands are warm and it immediately stills the churning in Beca's gut. "Look. We're gonna be fine. You'll ask Chloe out. She'll say, 'Duh, dipshit' but in a more polite, Chloe-like way, and everyone will be fine. Hell, you might as well ask her to marry you by this point!" Her eye roll is one Beca would normally be proud of. "You've been living together, neither of you have looked at another soul since you met. Like, let's just quit beating around the bush, am I right?" She grins.
Beca knows what she's doing. Stacie's done it before. She's taking Beca's mind off of the fear gripping her ribs by turning the topic to something completely ridiculous. But somehow, right now, leather rolling between her palms and ears straining for any sound outside of their own breathing, it doesn't sound completely ridiculous.
Because she loves Chloe. She's probably loved her since that night on the subway. Definitely loved her since their first night in the apartment, when Chloe had been bouncing around, opening every drawer and cabinet and door just to look inside. "Just because it's ours," she'd said, balanced on the counter to pull open the highest cabinet above the stove and Beca's stomach had filled with faint flutters that she'd chalked up to new apartment jitters. And Stacie's completely right. She hasn't even batted an eye at anyone else since Chloe strolled into her life and started getting her to actually fold her laundry and snagging one of her headphones on the subway each morning. Beca has been so blind, but suddenly Stacie's eyes have never looked so green and the fear curled in the pit of her stomach feels more like fire. Stacie, apparently satisfied with Beca's silence, has moved back to the door and the footsteps are getting closer. "You're right."
"Wait, I'm what?"
"I'm gonna ask her to marry me."
"You're what?"
But then a voice speaks that Beca recognizes and she can tell Stacie does too, because her grip on the knife goes white and her entire body pulls up to full height. Son of a bitch...
"That fucking bitch will get what's coming to her. When the boat gets here, I want her on it with the shipment, got it? Make an extra couple bucks. They love redheads in Belgium. Fuck, give me a second." He hisses like he's in pain and something in Beca's chest roars and claws at her lungs, shortening her breaths until she's shaking and clenching her jaw so tight it aches in her ears. She nods to Stacie and knows they're both on the same page when Stacie silently turns the door knob and nods back. There's really no other response to what they just heard. She tightens her grip on the bat and breathes in for seven, then out for six. Nods again.
Stacie opens the door just a crack, peering out, then pushes it open more. Beca slips under her arm and into the hall.
And there's Jesse's dick cousin-bent double, with one hand on the wall and one between his legs, back to Beca. There's a large man standing beside him with his arms crossed and a gun on his hip. Beca wonders briefly if this is worth getting shot for.
The second the bat connects with Tom's ribs with an insanely satisfying smack, she knows it is.
Tom gasps, thrown back by the blow and Stacie tackles the big man before he can turn on Beca. He yelps as he goes down, twisting in her hold, but Beca pays them no mind, stepping into her next swing like it's the last pitch of the game and the bases are loaded. Tom's just looked up when the tip of the barrel catches him under the chin and sends him sprawling onto his back with a sharp crack.
Stacie's up beside her, knife in her left hand now as she levels the big man's own gun on him. He's holding his slashed face, but when Stacie takes a half step closer, he lifts his hands in surrender. Tom moans on the floor beside him, clutching his mouth. Something falls from between his fingers and bounces off his chest, skidding out on the floor. One of his stupid, perfect teeth, Beca realizes with a feral sort of glee. And she might have hit him again, just to see how many more she could knock out, if hands hadn't closed around her elbows and yanked her away.
"What the hell, Tiny Terror?" Mel hisses in her face, forcing Beca back another step. "Didn't I say don't kill anyone? Come on! We have to go!"
"That's Tom," Beca says as Cynthia Rose and Jessica slip out of the room across the hall. "Chloe's ex. Did you hear what he said?"
Mel's shoving her past Tom and the guard now, back toward the entrance. "I did. Go, they're coming!"
Only then does she hear the clomping steps approaching and someone yelling.
"Here!" Tom suddenly screams and Cynthia Rose lashes out, brass knuckles smacking into his jaw. He crumples and doesn't move. She pulls her hand back, hissing in pain.
Before the other man can even open his mouth, Jessica drives a knee into the bend of his neck and shoulder and twists her thigh into the side of his face hard, slamming his head into the floor and knocking him out. She pops back to her feet in the same move.
"Who the hell are you people?" Mel shakes herself and shoves Beca again. "Come on!"
They race for the corner and just before Beca can throw herself around it there's a shout and an impossibly loud bang. Wood explodes from the wall above her head and she drops, tucking her shoulder forward as she rolls around the corner.
"Shit!" Cynthia Rose yells as more shots ring out. Someone yanks at Beca's collar and gets her to her feet. Mel presses herself to the corner, pauses for a breath, then lunges around it and shoots her fucking crossbow toward the shouts at the other end of the hall. Someone screams. Stacie lifts the gun she'd taken from the downed man and Mel snatches it.
"Get out of here! Back to the woods! There's too many of them!" Another hail of bullets tears through the wall beside her and she grunts, yanking her arm away. Red spreads quickly through the fabric of her sleeve. "I'll hold them off!" She twists and fires three quick shots. There's another scream, shouts in that language Beca doesn't know, and a returning volley. Mel dives back, nearly tripping over Jessica.
"Mel!"
Beca spins on her heel, bat lifting automatically, but Mel hoots happily as a short blonde in a perfectly pressed suit hurries down the hall toward them. Another small woman with long, dark hair follows, gun already drawn.
"Goddamn, Hollis, finally!"
Hollis huffs, pulling a gun from her hip. "You always start the party without us. You're worse than Kirsch!"
The other agent grabs Stacie's elbow. "Come on. Out!"
More shots ring out, closer, Beca thinks, but she can't be sure because her ears are ringing. Hollis drops to one knee and Mel moves to stand over her as they both lean out to take a few shots.
The third agent presses a hand to Beca's shoulder and pushes. "Go!"
So Beca does, racing for the door. Stacie overtakes her easily and pushes it open, holding it as they file out after her. From outside, the shots sound almost far away, like they could be coming from any direction. There's a dark sedan pulled haphazardly onto the curb, but no one else in sight. Every breath she sucks in burns a little and her palms are sweating so much that the bat slips in her grasp. She shuffles it around to wipe her palms on her jeans. "We have to get Chloe and the others. They're shooting up the place in there. We can't leave them!"
Stacie's already nodding, all of her teeth bared as she pants and clutches her side. "We'll go around the other side, see if the guards on the waterside have moved. Come on."
Beca outpaces her this time, running full out for the other end of the building. It's been years since she's run so much, but the turn at the corner without slowing down comes back easily. She hits the edge of the building and twists around it like it's third base and it's sending her home.
But then she slams into someone hard enough to stagger them back and force a "Fuck, dude!" from her own lips. Every alarm in her body goes off. It's too close to swing and, almost without thinking, she drops the bat and pops the hatchet free before she's even fully gotten her feet back under her. But before she can lift it, red curls swing across her face and Chloe's there. In her arms, digging her nails into her shoulder blades. "Chloe?" she gasps. All thoughts of the danger they're in fall away and Beca wraps her arms around the trembling girl, breathing her in. She smells disgusting, really-like fish that's been left out too long. But underneath that, she smells like home. Like afternoon naps and creaky armchairs and stained glass reflected in syrup. Beca holds on tighter. "Oh my god! Are you okay?"
Chloe pulls back, hands sliding up onto Beca's shoulders, though she doesn't move far away. Her eyes are a little glassy and Beca scans her quickly for any sign of injury. There are rings of raw skin around her wrists, but otherwise she looks fine. A little ruffled, and wearing damp clothes, but fine. Beca lets out the breath she'd been holding when Chloe speaks. "You're here."
"Of course I am," she says immediately, trying not to grin, because she wants Chloe to know she hates that Chloe would even question that. But, god, Chloe's here and safe. She can't help but smile. Chloe's eyes narrow a little and Beca thinks she might start crying. She doesn't think she can handle that on top of everything else right now, so she lifts an eyebrow and shoots for joking when she says, "I got back to Aubrey's and they told me you'd been kidnapped too. You think I was just gonna sit there after that?"
Then Chloe's kissing her and all Beca can do is hang on, slip a hand into red curls, and kiss back. Because what else is there to do when Chloe Beale decides to kiss her? More shots ring out and Chloe tilts her head forward, forehead pushing against Beca's until their lips are no longer touching. Then she pulls back from that too, taking a deep breath. She smiles. "I love you."
Whatever had roared in Beca's chest earlier purrs now, curling tightly around itself. Her cheeks burn when she grins and she wonders if she looks a little manic. Stacie's words dance through her mind and when Chloe giggles, Beca goes for it. Why not? "I love you too. Which I'm glad you said, because I have to ask you something."
"What?"
"Will you marry me, dude?"