Graphic Warning: Minor Blood Description in last paragraph. Skip if you don't wish to read it.
A call rang out into the empty expanse of space. Adrian Everhart, son of Lady Indomitable and adopted son of two of the most famous Renegades in all of Gatlon, was slumped behind a desk at headquarters. His glasses were all askew, and if his hair was longer it would be rumpled. Hearing the familiar chiming emitting from his phone, he shot up, clumsily pawing across the desk before landing on the source of the vibrations.
"Hello?" He asked sleepily, not even looking at the number before pressing it to his ear. He fixed his crooked glasses with his other hand as he rubbed his eyes. He was working until the young hours of the morning again in preparation for the upcoming wedding. This was one of the few days Nova wasn't accompanying him at the office.
"Oscar?" Adrian asked, surprised his friend would be up at this hour, especially since this week he was on day patrol. "What?" He questioned, Oscar's endless words not making any connection yet. 'Her and Ruby were shopping, then they just got ambushed. I'm with Ruby at the hospital.' His mouth went dry almost instantly, puzzle pieces finally clicking together. Somehow he managed to croak out, "And Nova?"
Silence over the line as his heart beat through his ears; everything tuned out by the sound of blood rushing.
'You just need to come down here, quickly.' His friend finished and started to hang up, just as a muffled overhead call could be heard from the background. 'One victim critical, one missing. All units please-'
It took a few heartbeats, Adrian sinking into his chair once his friend hung up. Then the realization seemed to hit like concrete.
In a flurry, he whipped out of the chair and grabbed his coat. He offhandedly turned off the monitor in his haste out the door. He took the elevator, jamming the button multiple times hoping it would go faster. Running a hand over his close shaved head he paced his way across the elevator floor until it reached the ground floor. He tore into the street, taking only seconds before he took to the rooftops. All he could think was, 'Please let her be okay.' And as he jumped over the dark city at one in the morning, he thought of the spiteful fate. As the wind whipped his clothes against him, he remembered in garish detail the last time he jumped these buildings: when he held a blood soaked and stab wounded Nova.
"Where is she? Where is Nova Artino?" Adrian burst into the hospital, questions ready for any doctor who could help him. He looked around, but no doctor came to inform him. The worry that sprouted from the overheard call, only grew deeper. Striding to the pristinely white desk, he questioned the young women clad in rumpled blue scrubs. She clacked away at the key board, as he drummed his fingers anxiously against the blinding white countertop. Despite himself, he knew she wasn't in this building. He knew she was never in this building to begin with.
"I'm sorry sir," She said looking up. "There is no 'Nova Artino' in our database." Cold water splashed around him, freezing the thrum off drums in his ears and wilting all hope.
"Adrian?" The familiar voice of Oscar Silva had him turn. "Nova's not in the-" Adrian trailed off, as Oscar's face showed him only pity. Heart fracturing, chest aching; pity.
"Let's go to the hallway."
Oscar led him away from the desk to a private corridor, even as Adrian's head hung in shock. The impending talk something he already knew.
"She wasn't found?" He whispered, unable to resign himself to the fact. His hands falling from running over his head, the only sign of his comprehension.
"I'm sorry," His best friend agreed, guilt for telling him written in his words. But Adrien only focused on the linoleum floor, his world shifting once again. "She wasn't found." Oscar set a comforting hand on his best friend's shoulder, as he fell to his knees.
Search parties were sent out every night for the next two weeks. No one talked about it at work when Adrian was present, and the streets were alive with searchers at night. The alley was checked time and time again, with no evidence or clues found.
Ruby was released from the hospital a week after the attack, having been kept a few days extra just for her own safety. Of course she wanted to look with the rest of them, but Oscar immediately shut that idea down.
Everyday Adrian would check the alleys, sometimes before sunrise, sometimes at midnight. It was only on the day Ruby was to be released from the hospital, did he spot a note. It was torn from an old newspaper, thick dark sharpie was scrawled over the headlines of the Agent N vial robbery.
Unknown to the public, the lab which was robbed was Agent N experimentation, so it was best only select few knew of the severity. Adrian hoped Nova's capture wasn't related, but there was pit in his stomach that said otherwise.
She will be waiting for you at the lab.
But don't expect any privileges, you have already lost all support.
"Keep her quiet!" Scarface growled, several miles away from the original crime scene, safely tucked away in an old port district. He walked away, leaving the mammoth of a man to chain her to a chair. Nova's limbs felt like rubber, and her eyes would barely open.
Feeling the familiar cold pressure of a prodigy pair of handcuffs, her fingers slowly started to twitch. Just as Nova felt the slightest touch of skin, a thick band of metal was locked around her neck.
"Prepare the first round, she won't stay sedated long."
As her vision slowly started to refocus, Nova saw a flash of metal. Through the tears she saw a flash of metal. Right before a searing pain cut through her side.
A needle pierced her skin, roughly getting pushed deep into her elbow. "Let's see how far David Artino's family really goes shall we?"
Scarface came back into view, a pair of plastic gloves covering each forearm. "Don't bother screaming, no one will hear you for miles." He sneered, flourishing a scalpel in the grubby light from a small lamp overhead.
'I know that scar.'
'I know that voice.'
'It's-!' Before her thought could finish, she was cut off by a searing pain down her arm. The man who choked Ruby pulled her teeth apart just enough to place a piece of something hard between her teeth. Nova held onto the edge of the table, as the man slowly started carving up the soft skin of her arms. Tears that she wouldn't show welled in her eyes, just as a red river began to snake its way down her wrists. Dark red blood ran down like tears, pooling in the hollow of her once deadly hands.
