It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the sudden burst of light that flowed into the room. Daisy squinted her eyes, wincing, attempting to make out the figures stood in the doorway.
As her eyes became accustomed to the new lighting level, she took them in. Two young men, looking hardly any older than they were, stared back at her, the taller of the two looking them over curiously while the shorter one folded his arms and frowned at them, eyes scanning over them.
They both had the same shade of blue eyes, slightly darker than Daisy's own. The taller one, who Daisy could tell would be taller than her (the tallest of their group at 5"8), seemed to hold himself somewhat awkwardly, slumped slightly, hands drumming against his blue jean covered legs in an antsy way. He wore a green and black checked shirt, and a matching green cap, emblazoned with a large letter 'L', sat atop his head with dark brown hair poking out the bottom messily. He tapped his green high-top clad foot anxiously as the two groups stared each other down, and he at least looked relatively harmless.
The shorter one, despite looking like he was around the same height as Daisy, did not put her at ease as quickly. His eyes were sharp, beneath thick eyebrows that furrowed slightly as he looked them up and down. His hair, underneath a cap identical to the other but red with the letter 'M', was shorter and less messy looking than the other boys, but his outfit of red sweatpants and a blue sweatshirt looked less presentable. He was built stockier than the other boy, who was slightly scrawny, and had the beginnings of a moustache bristling atop his lip.
"Come on," Hissed the shorter one, "We gotta go, now!"
"We're tied up," Peach replied somewhat blankly, eyes fixated on the ground behind the two males, where Daisy noticed an older, considerably more muscular, man unconscious against the wall. The shorter of the boys cursed under his breath, before the both of them darted into the room and approached the girls on the floor.
Daisy tensed as the taller one reached her, but he raised his hands in mock surrender and shot a somewhat awkward half smile her way before saying, "I'm just untying you, that's all."
It didn't exactly stop her from being on edge, but she cautiously twisted round to allow him access to her bound wrists anyway. He crouched down and quickly and skilfully set to untying the tight knot, which Daisy would admit had been rubbing at her wrists in a fairly painful way. She hissed slightly as he tugged at her arm, pulling it in a way it was not intended to be pulled, and he hastily mumbled an apology but did not slow his working, until Daisy felt the ropes fall away. She sighed in relief, pulling her arms around to her front and twisting her stiff wrists, flexing her achy fingers and rolling her very sore shoulders. Meanwhile, as the other boy done the same to Rosalina just feet away, the green-clad boy got to work on her ankles, and she could now see how rapidly he worked. Almost as if he were used to this kind of thing. Rosalina was fully free before she was however, and the blonde sat up slowly, wincing as she used her scraped hands to push herself into an upright position as her saviour moved to Peach and started working on her bonds.
Daisy moved to help the boy finish freeing her legs, but before she could even try he was giving the rope a final flourish as he pulled it away from her, and Daisy was free. She pulled her ankles away from each other, morbidly musing that she never wanted to be in a three legged race and feel rope around her feet ever again. Still slightly wary of the two strangers, she put one hand on the wall next to her and attempted to push herself up to stand up, but she was doomed before she even started. Her body still felt slightly weak from whatever drug had been pumped into their systems to knock them out, and after not having moved basically at all for the past however many hours, her legs were currently well and truly out for the count. She scowled and flexed them, hoping to get the blood flowing to them a little quicker so that she could at least stand some chance of fighting back if these two turned out to be bad news. Meanwhile, the taller boy had joined the other one by Peach's side, working on her feet as the other one did her hands. He tilted his head, mild bemused look on his face.
"You don't have any shoes on," He noted. Peach stared at him somewhat incredulously.
"Really? That's your biggest concern right now?" She demanded, voice still sounding slightly panicked. The red clad boy waved a hand dismissively.
"Ignore him and his sudden foot fetish. Bro, get to work," He commanded, drowning out his apparent brother's cry of protest.
"I-I don't! I don't have – that's not – Mario!" He squawked, face flustered and cheeks dark with embarrassment. Daisy almost felt sorry for the poor guy, who continued to look at Peach, imploring her to believe him as his hands stayed far away from her legs. The other boy – Mario? – rolled his eyes.
"Luigi. Focus," He ordered, shooting his brother a sharp look, "That's not important, we gotta move fast."
Face still scarlet, the green boy – Luigi – mumbled out an apology, either to Peach or to his brother, and quickly got to work untying her ankles. For a second, a flash of amusement seemed to shoot across Peach's face as she watched Luigi, the sort of look one might have while watching a puppy try and climb stairs ; a sort of pity, mostly crushed under the humour of the situation.
Meanwhile, Daisy and Rosalina were still in the process of trying to stand up. Daisy's frustration was mounting with each failed attempt, a scowl forming as she rubbed her backside absently from having fallen hard on it countless times. As Peach was finally released, stretching her arms and legs with a delighted groan, Luigi left her side and, somewhat awkwardly, offered Daisy a hand. She stared at it, still slightly suspicious of the two of them, and his face went slightly red again.
"You're not gonna be able to stand on your own fast enough," He justified, "It'll go faster if you let us help out."
She somewhat reluctantly accepted the hand, and with surprising strength for someone seeming so scrawny he hauled her to her feet, allowing her to shoot her other arm out to grab his in a tight grip as her legs trembled, threatening to cave underneath her. She squeezed her eyes shut gritting her teeth in an attempt to remain steady, breathing slowly. A few moments passed, and she slowly released his arm, standing mostly steady on her own two feet, hand hovering an inch away from the wall in case she needed to catch herself. He lingered in case she suddenly plummeted back to the ground, and when it became clear that she could mostly manage on her own he darted back over to Rosalina to offer the same assistance, while his brother had hauled Peach to her feet, seemingly without bothering to ask for permission if her yelp of protest was anything to go by.
She focused her attention back on herself, taking one tiny unsteady step. When this did not fell her, she took another, until she managed to walk in a somewhat squint and slow straight line.
"We don't have time for this," Mario hissed at last. He grabbed Peach's arm and draped it over her shoulder, and nodded for Luigi to do the same.
"You, Red," he commanded, and Daisy realised he was talking to her, "If we go slow, can you keep up?"
"I…yeah, I'll try."
Rosalina shot her a wary but encouraging smile, still looking slightly bamboozled about whatever was happening to them. Daisy admittedly didn't know how to feel either, as she stepped over the unconscious body in front of the door. Peach's eyes were on him again as well.
"Did…did you kill him?" She whispered, looking frightened. Mario shook his head.
"Nah. We'd be no better than them if we did. He's just KO'd from a bunch of chloroform," He replied, still pulling Peach along as she tried to sort her legs out with difficulty.
She didn't exactly seem like she felt better at the knowledge that the two guys were carrying around chloroform, so she finally began to ask some questions.
"I don't get it," She said, shaking her head, "Who are you? Why are you helping us?"
The two boys exchanged brief glances, before refocusing on the corridor ahead.
"Saving people is kinda what we do, Blondie," Mario remarked absently, ignoring Peach's huff of indignancy at the nickname, "And as for who we are, the name's Mario. And this is my little bro, Luigi."
Upon being named, the taller boy raised a hand in greeting, still occupied with keeping Rosalina, who was admittedly looking more stable now, upright.
"Okay, names are great and all, but-"
Peach was cut off by Mario, much to her offence.
"And what's yours?"
Daisy frowned suspiciously.
"Why should we trust you with that?" She challenged, "For all we know this is some trap, some trick."
The older brother scowled slightly, craning his head back to shoot her an annoyed look, "We could've just as easily left you all there, Red. What would be the point in us busting you out to try and trick you, when they were already coming for you?"
"To make us trust you?" Rosalina chimed in, sounding slightly doubtful of her own words.
"For what? Seriously, what would be the point? They were gonna get rid of you anyway with or without someone tricking you to gain your trust. Is it seriously so hard to believe we're just doing a jailbreak to help some innocent girls avoid some awful fate?" He challenged in return, and none of the three girls spoke up. His brother did, though.
"You don't have to trust us," He said mildly, "But we really do want to get you out of here."
Somehow it sounded more believable coming from him, his eyes wide with sincerity. He could have been lying, true, or just one hell of an actor, but…well, what they were saying did make sense. It would be pretty pointless to go about things this way. Rosalina, who had pulled away from Luigi to walk on her own, looked between her other two friends, and made a decision.
"I'm Rosalina," She said, and Daisy's head jerked in her direction in surprise.
"Rosie, wait-"
"She's Daisy, and this is Peach," She finished, nodding toward the wary looking blonde who still had her arm wrapped around Mario's neck. Daisy frowned in protest, but the younger of the brothers looked slightly happier, as if pleased that they were at least somewhat trusted.
Oh well, Daisy mused, my strength seems to be mostly back so I can at least try and deck them if this all goes to hell.
This thought had barely crossed her mind when alarms suddenly began to blare all around them, causing all them to jump out of their skins, except Mario who just looked mildly inconvenienced.
"Look's like they've noticed you're gone," Luigi guessed, grimacing, "We gotta run."
He grabbed Rosalina's wrist, and looked at Daisy who thankfully was capable of running on her own. Luigi lead the way, tugging Rosalina behind him, and together their ragtag group bolted down the corridor to make their escape.
Peach really, really, really envied Daisy.
This thought came as she was doubled over, gasping for breath, throat burning and vision slightly blurred from exertion that only came from sprinting for half an hour straight on legs that had almost forgotten how to work. Rosalina was in a similarly winded state a few feet away, but Daisy, ever the athletic, was upright and taking several deep, steady breaths. Her face was red from the effort of the run, but otherwise she seemed to be mostly alright.
I really have to start going on the treadmills at the gym, Peach thought somewhat ruefully. As if the run weren't bad enough, she had been doing it barefoot, and was currently paying the price for it right now in the form of her aching feet and blisters she could already feel forming. At least she wasn't Rosie, who had been limping a somewhat unsteady run considering she only had one stupid shoe on. And as for their mysterious saviours…
Her eyes landed on the two boys who were standing a few feet away. They looked similarly unaffected by the run, despite the fact both of them had been dragging teenage girls behind them the whole way. They had brought them to some wide alleyway, which in the bright morning light thankfully did not look too shady or dangerous. The two of them were talking in low voices, and Peach quickly found herself on edge again. She pulled up the sleeves of her jumper in an attempt to cool down, and made her way to Daisy's side.
"This is insane," She whispered, voice unsteady from her raw, dry throat. Daisy looked over at her and nodded, uncharacteristically nervous.
"I can't believe…I mean, Boston. It's nuts."
Oh right. The other bombshell that had been dumped on them after escaping the hideout and coming straight into an unfamiliar bustling city. No longer in Washington, the brothers had said. Got transported here in a helicopter. Here being Boston that is, on the opposite side of the country that they were supposed to be on.
Cool.
Except no, not cool. Not at all. Daisy, who had never been outside of her home state of Arizona apart from to go to college, was finally looking overwhelmed. And even Peach, who had been across the US and even the world with her daddy on business trips and such, could admit that this situation was…not the best. Rosalina, an Oregon native who had frequently done cross country family road trips, seemed to be trying her best to remain calm, but her eyes kept casting around her at all the tall, modern buildings in open curiosity.
"Mario! Weeg!"
The three girls jumped at the sudden cry from the entrance to the alley, tensing only to suddenly grow confused as a green blur shot past them to barrel into the pair of brothers.
"Yoshi!" An exasperated voice called, as a boy followed at a more sedate pace, "Slow down!"
The smaller person turned back, bright smile on his youthful face. He was a much younger boy than them, probably no older than eleven or twelve. His bright blue eyes were glimmering cheerfully, freckles dusting over his cheeks and his smile missing one or two teeth. His head was covered by a mop of bright red curls, putting Daisy's red hair to shame, and he was clad in a baggy green hoodie with a dinosaur printed on the front of it (and dinosaur spikes on the hood, she noted with mild amusement) and green cargo shorts with brown boots laced up messily on his feet. In other words, he was one undeniably cute kid.
The other boy looked seriously done with the little kid. He was a few years older, maybe around fifteen or so, but seemed to be lacking in the height department, barely surpassing five foot. He was wearing a white beanie with large red spots over very light blonde hair which hung into his small brown eyes. His cheeks still held some baby fat in them, and he wore a sleeveless blue denim jacket over a red shirt, with baggy white sweatpants on the bottom and ragged brown sneakers.
"Sorry Toad!" The little boy chirped, hanging onto Luigi's arm, "I just haven't seen them for so-o long!"
"You saw us two days ago, Yoshi," Luigi pointed out, lips twitching as he seemed to try and resist the urge to smile.
"Exactly!" He cried, now trying to hug a most unreceptive Mario. The other boy, the one Yoshi had called Toad, finally landed his eyes on the girls and sent them a wave, before he looked at Peach and his face flooded with colour, a strange high pitched noise escaping his throat, and he quickly looked away. The three other boys sent him a strange look while Daisy snorted in amusement despite the situation.
"Even after busting out of prison, Peach can still have this effect on guys. Unbelievable."
"We weren't in prison," Peach argued, tiny smile forming on her lips. She was, not to sound full of herself, pretty used to guys reacting this way to her. It was kind of gratifying to know that she didn't look too bad despite all they'd been through. She still shuddered at the greasy feeling of her face though. My kingdom for a make-up wipe, she thought longingly. Luigi glanced between the two newcomers and the group of girls.
"Oh, right. Guys, this is Peach, Rosalina and Daisy, the ones we were rescuing. Girls, these two kids are Yoshi and Toad. They hang around with us most of the time, but we don't tend to bring them on rescue missions like yours. It's not safe."
Peach could definitely understand wanting to keep Yoshi safe. His bright, cheerful attitude reminded Peach of her younger sister, around the same age as him. Her heart twinged. How long had it been since she'd seen her? Christmas, probably. The two looked so alike that people had jokingly began referring to her little sister as simply "Baby Peach" at times. Peach always missed her like crazy, but right now, with the knowledge of the distance between the two of them and all the crazy events that had occurred, she really wanted nothing more than to be home with her, curled up on the couch and watching a movie.
She was torn from these wistful thoughts as the energetic little boy shot over to hug her, much to her surprise. He let go quickly, and moved over to do the same to Rosie and Daisy, before beaming up at all of them.
"Hi!" He said eagerly, "I'm Yoshi! Are you going to be with us now? Can we be friends? I don't get to have many friends 'cept for Toad and Mar and Weeg, and a couple others like Diddy 'nd stuff, so it'd be nice! Do you like dinosaurs? We could play dino-"
"Yoshi!" Mario interrupted loudly, "Enough! Leave them alone! They don't need to deal with your non-stop chattering already!"
"But-"
"He has a point, Yoshi. You do have a tendency to talk. A lot. Non stop. Never ending. Relentless-"
"Okay, Luigi we get it! Geez!" Mario grumbled, rolling his eyes again.
"And you say Yoshi talks a lot," Toad replied somewhat wryly, grinning even as Yoshi whiningly cut in, "I do not!"
And in the blink of an eye, the four boys had descended into bickering without any warning, leaving the three girls to watch these strangers fall into chaos, at a loss and wondering how on earth their lives had ended up like this.
Sorry about the weird issue with this chapter, I must have uploaded it wrong! It should be fixed, thanks to the review for pointing it out.
