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38. Legend – Not Quite Rescuer
Legend tried to find the right balance between hurrying and not jolting Naifu too much. He had wrapped her in his jacket so brushing against him wouldn't reopen or open her wounds further. He had almost successfully applied Phoenix Down inside the building, but he had been interrupted before it absorbed properly and had opted to finish outside, away from Alejandro and his goons.
"Don't you dare die on me, Sureshot," he swore as he carried her out.
Leaving took some fancy footwork and an assortment of explosives he had brought along for just this sort of thing – small enough not to mash the place with them still inside but effective enough to take out the enemy so they wouldn't get back up. Carrying Naifu made escape difficult, but not impossible. The fact he had blown through the wall to get inside in the first place at least meant they didn't have to go through corridors full of gangbangers to reach front door.
When they reached outside he headed for the end of the alley where he and Rod had parted ways. Naifu whimpered in his arms.
"Damn it."
They needed to get clear, but she was in such bad shape, she needed that Phoenix Down or she wouldn't get any further. He fell into a half-crouch and fumbled for the feather, but her eyes, which had been scrunched in pain, suddenly snapped open. Her whole body arched and her voice rose in a desperate shriek.
"Adrienne!"
"What the-" Legend cursed as she nearly arched right out of his arms. "Whoa!"
"My name," she continued to yell. "It's Adrianne!"
"Hold still!"
She held that crazy arch for a second longer. Then her rigid limbs went loose. She collapsed back against him, eyes rolling up into her head.
"Oh no you don't."
Legend pulled aside the jacket to press the Phoenix Down to her midriff, where the fresh damage seemed worst. He knew about her scars – the wicked criss-crosses of old lacerations up and down her body, the round pink welts that could only be burns, and the cold fact that someone had cut off both her breasts and carved their initials into her stomach. He had seen all of it in Costa del Sol, so it didn't shock him now. The bleeding word 'whore' carved across her lower belly was new, however. He laid the soft gold feather against this, hoping it would heal away the whole thing before she ever had to see what it said.
He expected the Down to melt into her skin. He didn't expect her to rocket back to consciousness with a scream of pure agony. Naifu struggled, clawing at her stomach like she was trying to yank her kidneys out through her navel. She screamed again and again.
"Sureshot!" he yelled over her. "Naifu!" When she didn't respond, instead scratching fresh gouges into herself, he tried, "Adrienne!"
She froze and stared at him, eyes wide and jittery. "It h-hurts," she whispered. "S-so m-much …"
Legend's brain picked that moment to throw out a fact he should have realised three minutes earlier. Lucid messed up nerve endings for pleasure and pain. Phoenix Down was meant to relieve pain, but if the opposite was true here …
"Damn it all!"
She fisted a hand in his shirt. One of her fingernails was missing. It had been torn out at the root. The edges of the flesh where it should have been were blackened with dirt and dried blood. "You g-gotta save her."
"What?" Legend was confused.
"They t-took her first. She's in the cellar. They're a-all in the cellar." Naifu's pupils were pinpricks. Her voice slurred deliriously.
Had Alejandro kidnapped someone else? "Who is?"
"My m-mom." Tears spurted from Naifu's eyes. She was staring, but she wasn't seeing an alley, or even him. The cocktail of drugs Alejandro had loaded into her, along with the Phoenix Down, were reacting in what looked like a very bad trip. "You gotta save my m-mom. I can't see through the bag. They tied it too tight. My neck hurts. I can't breathe!" She raised a hand as if to claw her own throat like she had her belly, but Legend caught her wrist. "Make them stop. I can hear her screaming. She's calling me, but I c-can't … I can't get to her. Please, just make them stop." She shook her head. "Why isn't anyone coming to help us? I can't see the ones hurting my mom. I can't see!"
Legend's entire insides lurched. He didn't want to hear this. "Damn it, Sureshot; shut the hell up." He gathered her back into his arms and stood.
Something cracked against the back of his head and everything went black.