A/N: Happy Halloween! As a treat, I've updated all three stories at once so hope you enjoy it!
It's been a while since I updated all my stories especially A Walk To Remember. I'm really sorry about the delay but I've just finished my trial exams and my finals are next month so please bare with me. Once all this stupid pointless exams are over, updates will be more regular so keep checking in. By the way just a warning to some about this chapter. It has violence in it, meaning blood and torture and maybe a probable death in it as well. Just a small warning before-hand before some of you become traumatized. Hehe….
Special thanks to my fans and reviewers: Calli Maxwell, Merffles, Midnightmare, anim3gurl, brat-always-day-and-night, SapphireSword, kidishcaresh, CrimsonSkye06, Dark Angel, Sarah M.G, Moi, faith and Shitza. Oh, and also not to forget Thacila who sends me emails about my story! Thank you so much!'
Chapter 43
At dawn they came for her. She was awake already by then, anticipating their arrival since she found herself unable to sleep at all. Through the whole night she had paced the cell, trying to come up with a plan to escape. Unfortunately none came to her. At least not at that moment. The guards came in a group of four and heavily armed. Boris must have learnt not to underestimate her. It wasn't often a girl could single-handedly infiltrate a high-tech abbey such as Biovolt's. The thought made her smile.
From experience, Jade knew they were professionals, the type that could not be taunted into making a mistake as she had done many times to get out of trouble while she lived on the street. The wise thing for her to do now was to go along without a fight and improvised on the way.
Yeah, I could do that, she thought grimly as she faced the guards from behind the bars and waited for them to unlock the door.
For an insane moment, she considered taking on them and making a run for it. But that would probably place Tala in more danger and she couldn't risk that. Besides she wasn't all too eager to try out those electric prods the guards carried especially when her body was just only recovering. Yet her posture although seemly relaxed and non-threatening was ready in case they tried anything on her.
"Come on, girl. It is time." the guard who unlocked the door said gruffly.
Would it kill them to ask nicely for once? I'm not going to escape yet. I might even go easy on the beating-them-up part later. But none of that she voiced. Instead she couldn't resist but ask. "Time for what?"
"Boris has requested to see to your preparations personally." the man answered.
She was not liking the 'personally' part but then again she was not liking any of this. Keeping the defiance on her face, she studied the guards, trying to recall which one among them was the guard who guarded her cell. She wondered silently what pushed them into this line of work, whether they had someone they cared about or even a family to begin with. This wasn't really a job-to-die-for in the first place, torturing and beating young children every time they failed to meet Boris's demands.
"Come on. Get moving." the lead guard said. He did not make any move to force her but instead pointed the prod at her warily.
With a sigh, she obligated. The guards surrounded her as she exited the cell, one of them moving forward to cuff her hands together behind her back. One of the other three went to unlock the second door that lead to her cell. She allowed him to do so without fuss. Her keen hearing picked up the increase in his breathing. The guard was probably waiting for her to fight back as he was tying her hands and he was preparing himself for it. She rolled her eyes. Little did he know she could take on him with her hands tied behind her back. But not on four guards all at once.
"I don't bite, you know." Jade said sarcastically as the man spun her around and pushed her down the hallway.
"Start walking, girl." he said bluntly. His prod poked the small of her back.
Keeping her head straight forward, Jade's eyes roamed the narrow corridor, memorizing the way as she was taken to a room. There her hands were chained above her head and her feet to the ground. The guards worked quietly and she hated that. The noisy ones she knew she could take but it was the silent guards that were the more focused adversaries. When they were done, checking the chains to make sure they were secured, the four guards stepped back. That moment Boris entered.
His eyes rested on the chains as if mentally testing their strength then he looked at her. She met his stare, allowing him to see the burning stubbornness in her eyes. For a long moment both ex-student and mentor stared at each other.
Finally he broke the silence. "Where did I go wrong with you?" he asked softly.
"Let me see." she pretended to ponder. "I think it started with you took me out of that orphanage."
"I took you out of that rat hole and took you in as one of my own. I gave you a place where you belonged."
"In an abbey filled with boys. Right…"
"The abbey was your destiny."
Her eyes narrowed. "What do you know about destiny?" she retorted.
"Was it not destiny that a Bitbeast such as yours came into your hands even before you came under me?" Boris said. "You wielded a powerful Bitbeast even before you came into my hands. You were destined to control it just as you are destined to fight for Biovolt. I saw potential in you. If I left you at that orphanage, your skills as a blader would have wasted away.
"Save it." she said brusquely. "Can we just skip the speech and get straight down to the preparation part now? Cause I think I prefer that better."
"Stubborn and valiant until the end." he mused. "Well, in that case, we shall begin your preparation."
At the snap of his fingers, a guard stepped forward and handed him a whip. All the while Boris watched his prisoner's face for changes and was slightly irritated to find none. She still kept her neutral expression as she stared at the long weapon in his hand. The tip of the whip was made of metal, its touch surely cold and painful.
"Beating me up is part of my preparation?" she asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.
"We need you to be in complete submissive form." he informed her as he circled her like a vulture. "Retaliation during the procedure could prove fatal on your part, Jade. We wouldn't want that now, would we?"
Then as if to emphasize his point, he raised the whip and brought it down hard across her back, ripping cloth and flesh. Her back arched, her body tensing from the sudden pain but she did not cry out. She could already feel her blood swelling on the freshly open wound.
Licking her dry lips, she smirked. "I was thinking of reconsidering that option. I might want it."
"Oh, no. We can't have that." Boris said. He circled her once more until he came face to face with her. "To find another specimen with the proper conditions as yours is time-consuming. Furthermore you don't seriously think I'm going to let you go so easily. Oh, no, Jade. You and me. We are going to have so much fun."
"Really? I can't hardly wait." she sneered sarcastically despite the pain.
He backhanded her, striking her across her face. She grunted slightly, feeling the force rattle her teeth. Slowly, she turned her face back to look him in the eye, her confident smirk still at her lip. It infuriated the director. Once more the whip rose and fell upon her exhausted weary body repeatedly. When there seemed to be no part of her flesh that was not slashed open, Boris tossed aside the whip and continued by hand. A blow dealt to her middle made her want to curl up in an unconscious effort to protect herself but the chains held her in place and vulnerable to his attacks. Blood pooled at her feet, dripping down the offending chains but throughout the whole ordeal, she endured it silently.
Finally just when she thought it will never end, Boris stepped back to survey his handiwork. He stared at the limp girl for a long moment, silently admiring her high endurance level for pain. He told her so and to his further admiration, she managed to lift her head and retorted in a hoarse pained voice.
"Is that the best you've got?"
He decided to humor her. Her blood stained his hands and his clothes but he didn't mind. In fact he relished it, seeing her like this, finally at his mercy after so long…Smiling widely, he leaned in until their noses almost touched. "Sadly yes. Those are mostly the best tricks I have up my sleeves but fortunately for you, I always save the best for last."
His hand tilted her head so that he could study the bruises and cuts that mar her face with great detail. Another feature he had always admired about her was her green eyes. Flaring forest green eyes that glare at him now, promising payback. He smirked and allowed his hand to trail down her neck until it rested lightly on her right arm.
"You see, I can take away lots of things from you." he began. "And you'll still deny your destiny as a Biovolt warrior. But what if I take away the one thing you live for?"
Without warning, his hold on her arm tightened and with a cruel glint in his eyes, he pulled it from the shoulder socket, dislocating it with a loud pop and an agonizing tear. A hiss of pain escaped Jade's bleeding lips as black spots clouded her vision. She knew it was just the pain.
Pain was an old and familiar friend by now.
It woke her up.
It pissed her off.
But Boris didn't know that. He continued staring into her face, although disappointed to find the lack of emotions rushing through her expressions. "Let's see you try to launch a Beyblade now." he said. When she didn't reply, he turned to the guards awaiting his orders. "Take her back to her cell."
Beaten, bloody and barely conscious, the guards unchained her and dragged her back to her cell and threw her in none too gently. Her battered form hit the ground and for a long while, she laid there not moving. Her entire body was aching all over. Every breath and movement she took and made was accompanied by sharp jolts of pain. The coppery tang of blood touched her lips, the pain raging in her shoulder. Slowly she gathered the little of her strength and tapped into the reserve strength that had pulled her through in times like this.
After what seemed like a void where time had no hold, she gritted her teeth together and pushed herself in sit up and slump her back against the wall. Her breathing came out in silent gasps and she waited until her heartbeat was calm. Then taking a deep breath, she pressed a palm to her shoulder and wrenched her shoulder back into joint. The sound was like a branch snapping. The pain was of someone trying to separate her bones with a jagged knife. She could have stopped the strangled cry that surged from her lungs.
She didn't.
Cringing from the sore pain, she remained still for a few minutes, taking the time to focus on her breathing. It was easy and slowly, eventually the pain became a thing in the back of her mind. Weakly she turned her head and peered through the bars of her prison. There was a camera on the wall watching the outer side of her cell and she had no doubt that there were guards monitoring her prison.
Jade forced herself to her feet with her good hand. A violent surge of adrenaline flowing through her made her bounce slightly on her feet as she limped to the darkest inner part of the room where it was out of the camera's view range. There she knelt on the floor and dug her fingernails into the deep cut in her arm, pressing the wounded flesh and allowed her blood to flow to the ground, creating a puddle of crimson liquid. Not enough to her eyes but it'll have to do to serve her purpose.
By now her breathing became labour, a clear sign of the effort it took for her to do what she did. She bit her lip, drawing more blood. She tasted it in her mouth and she spitted it out. Yet she did not bother to wipe the little blood that blooded the side of her lip. Her senses perked, listening for guards. There were none. Her face was set in a grim expression as she removed the hidden slender blade from the sole of her boot. It was a wonder that the guards did not discover the small blade when they body-checked her for weapons. They had taken her sais and her ninja stars but she was thankful they did not bother to check her boots thoroughly.
Morons.
Still on her knees, she angled the blade across her throat and closed her eyes. In one swift movement, she made a long clean horizontal cut across her throat. A hiss of pain escaped her lips but after her arm, the pain was superficial. Nothing vital was hit. After the torture she had silently endured under Boris's hand, it was nothing.
Her hand was shaking slightly from the pain and her emotional turmoil as she dropped the blade on the floor within arm's reach where the guards will see it then laid down on her side in her own pool of blood. The smell of her blood filled her nostrils, her cheek already sticky where it touched the edge of the puddle of her blood.
Boris was going to kill him. That was all Maddox could think as he stormed down the corridors with a cigarette clenched firmly in his lips and a two foot stun-prod gripped in his right hand. He rounded a corner and saw two other guards up ahead, one who was supposed to be at the door and one more who had likely come down from the upper level when the commotion began. The third guard had alerted him after he had checked on the girl. Maddox didn't believe him and had gone to see for himself.
"What happened?" he demanded.
"Girl killed herself, sir." the man replied.
Dammit, Maddox swore. Boris was definitely going to have his head for this. His job was to make sure the prisoner stayed alive and fed. Boris had left him in charged of the prisoner after his team had succeeded in capturing her back at the Moscow abbey. He was responsible for what happened within that cell.
Among all the men here, he was the only one who knew what the prisoner was capable of. He had seen her take out more than ten guards in the abbey with nothing but a pair of daggers. A feeling of anxiety went through him. There was something about the girl that had always given him the creeps. She was warm and soft like all humans but there was something almost haunting about her, almost mystical. There was a promise in her eyes every time she looked at him, a promise of payback. Boris had warned him. Every time they opened that door to her cell, they had to be prepared for a fight. Just when they thought they had beaten her into submission, that was when she was most likely to strike.
But this was the last thing he had expected from her.
Strangely, Maddox felt disappointed in her. He thought she was someone to be feared, a true warrior of Biovolt as Boris would always say. He had heard of her many talents and skills, seen them for himself in fact. He had never thought that she was a coward until now. Suicide was the coward's way out. And what a pity it was to lose a talented, not to mention pretty, blader like her.
"Sir?"
Maddox looked at the guards then anxious, he gestured at the door. "Open the door."
They obligated. It took them a few seconds to unlock the door then Maddox himself slammed back the bolts on the top and bottom of the door, sliding them abruptly out of their metal casings. There was no way to do it quietly, so he opted to do it quickly. The guards gathered around him, pulling out their own stun prods. Once the door was open, Maddox stepped back to allow them through. It was not that he was a coward. Quite the opposite, as a matter a fact. If all this was a sham and the girl managed somehow to break past them, it would fall to him to stop her.
"Move in." he ordered.
They filled the hallway facing the prisoner's cell. They stood ready as they peered through the bars. When nothing happened, Maddox entered, cautiously however.
"Well? Where is she?"
One of his men turned to him, lowering his weapon. "She's down, sir."
"What?" cursing aloud in his native tongue, Maddox shoved past the guards and saw what they saw. A muscle at his jaw worked as he stared at the bruised beaten still form lying on the floor by a pool of dark red liquid. How could she have killed herself? Then he turned and glared at the guards around him. "Open the door. Be careful. We can't be sure whether she's really dead or whether she's just bluffing."
The door swung open and the hallway light spilled in, enabling Maddox to see the glimmering slim blade by the body. With a snarl, he punched the wall beside him. His fist connected with the hard concrete but he did not feel the pain. "Dammit! No!"
How she got the blade, he had no idea but he knew her death would be his fault. Cold steel fear crept into him as he thought of what Boris would do to him. He strode into the room, his stun prod hanging by his side. Quietly he studied the body.
The way she laid, mouth partially open, the blood from her wound in her throat had pooled up against her lips. Her chest did not rise and fall like a living breath person's chest should. Hers was still. That was the thing that convinced Maddox. The whole side of her face, her hair, her nose, lay in blood and with her mouth open like that, if she were alive, well….she would have been able to taste it. Her own blood. Like a vampire.
"Sir, what…" one of his men began to ask uncertainly.
Waving a hand to silence him, Maddox was still cautious as he approached the body, reaching out with the electric prod. Just for safety sake, he touched the prod against her shoulder. The body jerked slightly but he had seen that before. The electricity that surged through the corpse was enough to do that. The hair of the dead girl's head shivered and even floated a bit with the static.
"She's dead." he said, forlorn. He raked a shaky hand through his hair. "What the hell am I going to do now?"
"Shouldn't you tell the director?" the man who had first alerted him pointed out.
Maddox instantly detected the man's choice of words. He had said 'you' not 'we' which means he would most probably tell Boris himself should Maddox fail to do so. But if he did, the punishment would be severe. Gritting his teeth, he snapped at the man. "Be quiet! Let me think."
Nervous, the other two guards glanced at each other.
Once more Maddox's eyes went back to Jade's body. The girl was dead and there was nothing he could do about it. Already his mind calculated how long it would take for Boris to track him down if he fled. But first he had to get rid of all witness that might tell on him. Snapping his prod shut, he started to turn to the men when he caught movement from the corner of his eye.
"What the…?" he muttered as he turned back a moment to slow.
Her left foot lashed suddenly, catching him just below the knee and scattering it. Maddox screamed as he went down. He felt the prod being tugged from his grasp and then the girl sprang to her feet, her resurrection as sudden as a vampire's. Despite the pain of his scattered leg, he grinned. "Don't kill her!" he roared.
The other guards, against his previous orders, began to fill the small cell. The door was big enough for one man to enter at a time and that proved to be an advantage for Jade as she attacked them. Maddox could only watch in growing horror as a single female took down his men one by one. He could see the vacant fear in their eyes and he didn't blame them. Jade had only ever been a captive to them but all this time they had never underestimated how dangerous she truly was.
Now they had seen her dead. She had taken a hit from the prod and barely reacted. She had lost a great deal of blood and suffered from many other injuries including a dislocated arm. All in all, she should be dead by now but no. There she was taking on them as though she was a demon. They had barely kept her caged up for the last two days. And now she had a weapon.
In the dim light of the room, Maddox couldn't help but wince when Jade's solid kick took out his remaining man. He could only watch before she then came for him.
Exhilaration shot through Jade as she rushed down the corridor towards a red EXIT sign as fast as her broken body would allow her to move. The sign itself make the scene almost surreal. She could almost taste freedom.
But she wasn't free yet. Boris had cleverly kept a hood over her head when he had her brought here two days ago. Unlike the abbey she had no idea what the layout of the building was like or what surrounded it from the outside. Furthermore she wasn't exactly in her best shape at the moment. There was no part of her that did not ache with flaring burning pain. She felt a little light-headed from the loss of blood. If they caught her again, there is a chance she couldn't be able to get out of this place alive. Things were bad. And what about Tala? She was not leaving without him.
It was only a matter of time for Boris would hear of her daring escape. Time was running out.
She finally came to the end of the corridor. There was a closed door that cut off her route. As she approached it, she fished out the card key she had snatched from her guards and flashed it through the reader. The doors slidded open and she stepped in cautiously. Surprisingly there was no one within that room. Her eyes rested on a flat-screen computer on the desk. Glancing back once to make sure no one was coming, Jade headed over to the computer and started typing.
"Well, I've managed to narrow down the search to this area." Kenny said as he turned the laptop screen towards the others to let them see the map portrayed.
"I know I have a slim figure but you guys don't have to crowd around me." Dizzi joked.
"Don't flatter your self, Dizzi." Tyson told her with a sweatdrop.
Kai's eyes narrowed on the screen. "So what do you have for us, Chief?"
"Based on what you told us, I had Dizzi hack into the electricity company and voila! An instant map of Moscow and its surroundings. It shows the intake of electricity all over the city. Then I focused our search on the area with the most usage of electricity and came up with several." Kenny explained. He tapped a button on the keyboard twice and red dots appeared in certain areas on the map.
"That's a lot." Max observed. "There could be residential areas there as well."
Kenny bobbed his head. "Exactly. That's why I ruled out the housing areas. And came up with this!" This time blue dots colored the screen in a smaller amount as Kenny punched several buttons.
"But those are mostly in the downtown areas and on the border of Moscow." Ray said. He stared at the screen in puzzlement. "My guess is those areas will have plenty of factories. We can't just go from door to door, asking them whether they have seen Boris."
"I'm still working on that." the smaller boy admitted, defeated. "But it'll take more time."
"Maybe you should take a break, Kenny." Tyson suggested. "You've been at this since yesterday. You're probably hungry. Nothing beats a good meal to clear your mind and refresh yourself, that's what I always say."
"Well…I don't know…" Kenny began uncertainly.
"Tyson's right." Kai said. He ignored the big stupid grin on Tyson's face. "As much as it pains me to admit it, Tyson's right that you need a break." Tyson rubbed his nose in his ever-so-arrogant manner. "See? Kai's with me on this. Trust me. You'll be able to work better after a meal."
On cue, Kenny's stomach grumbled loudly, demanding food. He sighed. "I guess I could have a sandwich…"
"You better eat something. You're starting to sound like Tyson's stomach." Max teased.
"Max!" Tyson cried in protest.
"Alright. I guess a five minute break wouldn't hurt." Kenny said tiredly.
"That's a good boy." Dizzi said. "You just get something to eat and I'll take care of this while you're gone."
"I don't be long." the boy promised his laptop. Stretching his arms over his head, Kenny headed into the kitchen.
"At the mean time, what are we going to do?" Ray asked, glancing at Kai.
"We'll start looking into those areas on the map." their captain said. "Max and I'll take this end and you two will check out the other."
Ray frowned. "Why do I have to go with Tyson?" he wondered aloud. Then it occurred to him. If Tyson went with Kai, Tyson will never come back in one piece. "Forget I asked." he said quickly.
The guys started heading for the front door, drawing on their windbreakers as preparation for the long hours in the cold that laid ahead of them when suddenly Dizzi let out an alarmed yelp.
"Hey!"
As the team exchanged looks, Dizzi's cry sent Kenny running back in a hurry to where he left her on the dining table. "What's wrong, Dizzi? Did you find something?" he asked anxiously.
"No! Someone hacked into my system!" the laptop snapped. Her voice was caught between angry and fearful. "They are stealing files from my hard drive!"
"That's ridiculous. I've already set up at least six firewalls. No one could bypass that!" Kenny said defiantly. He leaned in and stared at the screen. His hands flew across the keyboard franticly.
"Well, someone just did!" the trapped Bitbeast said. "I'm telling you! They stole a file I have in here."
"Okay. Okay. Just relax." Kenny said trying to assure his frantic laptop. "What did they steal?"
"Hm…" Dizzi paused for a moment. "This is weird. They stole a virus file."
"Huh?" by now the others had abandoned their idea to search the downtown are and were crowding around the laptop once more. Max was confused. "I don't get it. Why would anyone want to steal a virus file from you?"
"Beats me!" Dizzi said. "Why don't you find them and ask them!"
"What does that virus do?" Kai asked. A thought came to him and he couldn't help but wonder…
"Basically, it eats up and destroys whatever system you put it into after a 2 hours time delay. It's almost impossible to track down once it's in the system and during that 2 hour period, it duplicates and over runs the system causing cause a total blackout or a power failure." Kenny informed them. He shook his head. "I don't understand why anyone would want to steal a virus from Dizzi."
"I don't even understand why you have a virus in there in the first place." Tyson said.
"It's not even mine!" the brunette protested. "Hey! According to the file name, it belongs to-."
"Jade." Kai broke in. He moved in, effectively making Kenny to move aside. "Dizzi, see if you can trace the file. Find the location and cross-check it with what you have on Jade's whereabouts."
"What are you doing, Kai?" Tyson asked in confusion. "How will this help us find Jade?"
"Hasn't it occurred to you that Jade could be the one who hacked into Dizzi?" the captain said impatiently. "In case you have forgotten, she did hack into the BBA files. If Dizzi can find the computer she used, we find Jade."
"Great thinking." Max bobbed his head.
"She must have escaped somehow and gotten her hands on a computer." Ray muttered aloud. A slow grin started to creep up his face. For the first time since her disappearance, things were starting to improve. "My guess is she's planning to plant the virus in Biovolt's system. Not a bad idea."
"She might have bought us some time." Tyson agreed. "Now if Dizzi would hurry up, then we could-"
"I got it!" Dizzi announced suddenly, startling everyone. The display changed, showing the blue-dotted map. One dot in the far left corner of the screen was blinking.
Kai glanced at the screen, eyes narrowed. "She's here." He nodded at the blinking dot. It was situated in a downtown industrial area where based on past knowledge Kai knew was operating at full capacity. It made sense now as that are was the perfect hiding place for Boris to carry out his experiments. The authorities would never suspect anything if Biovolt set up shop there.
"What should we do now?" Kenny asked. "Should we tell the police or at least Mr. Dickenson?"
"You're not going off without us this time!" Tyson told Kai sharply, recalling the last time Kai had gone after Jade alone. Nothing good had come out of that except that he managed to rescue Alexis.
Kai glared at him but instead he said gruffly. "Fine. We'll call Mr. Dickenson."
Ray shot Kenny a look but the smaller boy already had the phone to his ear and dialing in the BBA director's number. "Hello? Mr. Dickenson, we have great news! We found her!"
With a smile of satisfaction, Jade hit the 'Enter' button and watched as the virus file disappeared from the screen and was probably leaking into the Biovolt's system. One mission accomplished.
"Now for Tala…" she muttered, pulling up the blue print of the building layout. She was in a multiple leveled building that consisted of above-ground and underground floors. According to the map, she was on the second floor from the surface.
Great, tones of dirt above my head…
A few more seconds and she found what she was looking for. Tala was being held in the same floor she was on but his cell was at the other end of the building. Quickly memorizing the layout, she shut down the computer and sprinted from the room. She peered around a corner and swore when she saw the guards coming her way. Boris must have known of her escape. The clock was set.
Glancing around, she saw no way out but up. By the time the guards rounded the corner, she had already scrambled into the air vents above not without effort and slidded the ceiling grate into place, avoiding detection. Then with the stealth of an injured cat, she moved through the air ducts, towards Tala.
Fortunately no one noticed her presence as she slinked past guards on duty from above. Then she found Tala's cell. There two guards standing outside the cell, guarding it with electric prods.
Jackpot.
Tala was drawn awake by the sound of a struggle and pained grunts. He looked at the two guards who were supposedly guarding his cell but to his surprise, they were lying on the floor, unconscioused. The reason of their predicament stood outside the cell, already working on the locks.
"Jade." he said, moving towards her even as she got the door open.
"We don't have much time." she said, kneeling and removing a card key for the fallen guard. She tossed it to him. "Boris knows about my escape. He'll know that I'll come for you. We have to leave now."
"Jade, wait." he caught her arm as she started to turn towards the room. His gaze swept over her face, taking in the injuries Boris had inflicted on her. His turquoise eyes hardened like ice. "You're hurt."
"You should have seen the guards." she jested.
For just a moment despite the situation they were in, they shared a moment of humor. It was just like old times when she fought with Boris back when they were still children. He was the big brother constantly trying to keep her out of trouble. She was the annoying mischievous little brat who defied their trainer in anyway possible.
A moment of remembrance.
Then that moment was gone. Harsh reality pulled them back to now, a time where guards were probably making their way to where they were with an intention to hurt them.
"We should go." Jade said.
Tala nodded, his eyes still lingering on the wound across her neck. She turned away and headed to the door. He followed from behind. Together, side by side, they headed down the hallways heading towards to the surface where freedom beckons.
"Sir!"
Boris looked up from the computer screen when a guard burst into the security monitoring center. "What is it?" he demanded impatiently. "Have you found her yet?"
"No, sir. We just received word that Tala has escaped too." the man said.
Boris's eyes grew into slits. "What? That little brat…always concern of others before her own well-being. I didn't expect her to find his cell so soon…" He turned to the two guards at the computer scanning through every video camera they had in the building and barked harshly. "Find them! Check every floor, room and tunnel. They could be anywhere!"
The men hurried to perform his order. The pictures on wider screen changed blinkingly. Boris stared at it, emotionlessly as the colors splashed across his tight features. Those two had to be in the building somewhere and he was going to find them. Jade's proving herself to be more of a nuisance than I expected. Just when I thought I had her beaten into submission, she does something this foolish.
He had heard what trick she had used to fool his men into letting their guards down and a tiny parental part of him felt oddly pleased with her. How often was it that a young teenage girl would kill herself just to be free? Who would have expected her to rebuke after the beating he gave her? It seems she was stronger than he anticipated. A heavy beating was no longer sufficient to subdue her in preparation for the experiment.
Perhaps it's time…
"Sir, they're in Basement Two." a guard informed him. He zoomed in on a screen and through the camera in that corridor, they could see two figures steadily making their way down the hallway.
"Get a team and follow me." Boris snapped at the man who had burst in. "I'm going to pick those two up personally. Have the scientists prepare the treatment. We can't wait any longer. It's time."
"I've planted a virus in the computer system." she explained as they moved. "If I'm not wrong, we have an hour and half to get out of here before the entire building shuts down."
"Any ideas how are we going to get out of here?"
"I've checked out the layout of the building. There's a drain-line somewhere around here. If we could just find it, we can get out of here." she answered. She let out a soft grunt in pain, flinching slightly.
Tala shot her another concern look. He could see how badly hurt she was even though she would never admit it. Her internal injuries were starting to show as her breathing became pained. He noticed more than once she had instinctively reached out to the wall for support then remembering he was there, pulled back her hand and continued to endure the suffering without complaining. "We should stop for a while." he said.
"No." she protested. "Boris will find us."
"He's already looking for us." he told her seriously. "You should at least rest, save your energy until we really need it."
She pressed her lips together, eyes narrowing as she studied him. Then slowly, she nodded. "Alright. I'll rest for a while. At the mean time, the drain-line should be close by. Go ahead and see if you can find it."
He nodded, agreeing at least to that idea. He turned and ran down the hallway. Jade watched him go then her legs finally gave out to fatigue and she sank against the wall exhausted. Her insides were on fire and she could taste her own blood on her lips. Resisting the urge to retch blood out, she laid her head back against the cold stone wall and closed her eyes for a moment. Then her senses tensed, hearing something. Footsteps coming her way. Not one. Many.
Boris, she thought as her eyes snapped open and she struggled to her feet.
Glancing up, she noticed the emergency button in a glass case above her head. Tala's footsteps told her that he was just returning. Without a moment's thought, she slammed the side of her fist into the case, breaking glass and punching the button. The metal security gate started to drop down from above. Electricity sizzled from the destroyed emergency button as she withdrew her hand, ignoring the glass cuts on it.
"Jade!" she heard Tala yelled as he ran. "What are you doing it!"
The metal slammed down between them, creating a barrier that prevented him from reaching her. Desperation in his eyes, Tala gripped the metal bars. "Jade, what are you…are you insane!"
She looked at him, their eyes locking. "Get out of here, Tala." she said, strangely calm. "You have to go."
He saw the quiet acceptance of her fate in her eyes and he knew she was doing this so that he could escape. "Not without you. I'm not leaving you here."
"You can and you have to." she said stubbornly. "Just go. Get help. Get Kai."
"But…" his words faltered helplessly. She watched as he backed away from the bars slowly, all the while his eyes never leaving hers. "I'll come back for you." he told her.
She smiled weakly, knowing well she might not be here when he does. Yet all she said was. "I'll be waiting." an empty promise but it was all she could do and say to make him leave.
Reluctantly Tala turned and went back the way he came. Finally she stood alone in the corridor, still leaning against the wall. The heavy footsteps grew closer and she forced herself to stand on her own two feet without support. She'll be damn if she ever allowed Boris to view even a moment of weakness from her.
"There she is!" a voice hollered as the guards came around the corner. They moved in on her, slowing down warily as they approached her. Their guns pointed at her. Then a loud clear voice ran out.
"Stand down, men." Boris ordered, coming forward so that he was facing his ex-apprentice. He saw the spoiled emergency button and the steel gate that sealed off the hallway. His gaze scrutinized her, seemly fascinated by the slash across her throat, the trick she had used to fool his men. "Where is he, Jade?" he asked. "Where is Tala?"
"Do you actually think I would tell you?" she rasped out. Her eyes reflected her disgust and hatred for the director and it unnerved him a little, the quiet promise of a slow painful death for him in those green depths.
Gritting his jaw, Boris glanced over his shoulder. "Send an elimination team out after Tala. Find the boy and kill him." he ordered coldly. He looked back at the girl to see her reaction, expecting visible fear for her friend but like before there was none. Without warning, with a snarl, he back-handed her across her cheek, sending her sprawling against the hard wall and she slumped unto the floor. In her weakened state, she did not make an attempt to get up but instead, she shook aside rebellious strands of hair from her face and glared at him.
"Satisfied, Boris?"
Boris glared at her before he spun on his heel and marched past the guards waiting for his command. "Sedate her and take her to the labs."
The guards moved to obey, grabbing her arms and jostled her to her feet. Jade struggled as best as she could, putting up a weak fight. It wasn't until one of the guards injected her with very strong drugs, probably even stronger than the one that was used on her before, did her struggling subside and she thankfully lost consciousness altogether and sank into abyss.
A/N: I did say probable death, right? Doesn't mean someone has to die. Hehe...R&R! Let me know what you think!
