Warning: Because I forgot to add this. Allusions to non-consensual behaviors but the only non-con thing in this chapter is a cross between dub-con and non-con kissing.
Chapter 27
After talking with Simon later in the evening, Kara and Luther left Alice in North's care.
"Alice, hold the fort while we're gone alright," Luther said.
"Let Simon know if you need anything," Kara added.
"Alright," she said with a smile.
The two headed out cautiously. Luther had long since changed his clothes changing into a black shirt and loose blue sweatpants. Kara on the other hand wore a black long sleeved hoodie with black sweatpants.
Simon insisted they bring his dog along. Kara was walking her on the leash.
Eventually they made their way to the dump in the back of the wasted city. Kara felt around her waist for the gun holster, her fingers brushing the gun.
Simon had given both Kara and Luther guns in case they ran into trouble. She also possessed the knife that Luther gave her in her pocket.
Walking inside the place, Kara and Luther saw there were piles of android parts that had been disassembled and scattered along the junkyard.
Together the two combed through the piles looking for android legs. Much of the androids had been disassembled. Arms had been in the pile without bodies, android abdomens with no head, legs or arms, and heads with no arms.
It was as they had been rummaging through the piles throwing aside these things when Luther had heard some commotion nearby.
"Kara," he called out.
He turned Kara didn't appear to hear him.
"Kara," he said again.
"What is it, Luther?"
"Do you hear that?"
Kara looked around in confusion.
"Hear what?"
"I think someone's nearby. Alot of people by the sound of it. We can't stick around here any longer."
"We haven't found the leg parts yet. Do you know where they're at?"
"At the rate we're going we're never gonna find them."
Suddenly Kara heard a clatter nearby. Carefully she walked behind one of the large piles and peeked over the side.
There were three guys dressed in dingy clothing gathered around a fire chatting amongst each other.
"So how's our man?" one of the guys asked.
"As well as can be expected. That'll teach anyone to talk back to us."
Luther was walking to where Kara was when he slipped on some scrap metal.
"What the-"
All three men turned to look in their direction.
"Who's there?"
Luther hissed. Tiny whined.
"Sh-t."
He turned just as he felt something hard hit his head knocking him out cold.
The next moment Luther came to it was to a feather light touch to the back of his skull.
He cried out in pain.
"Sorry about that. You experienced quite a blow to your head."
The soothing voice sounded very familiar.
"Kara..." he muttered softly.
"Take it easy. You were hit really hard."
Luther looked past her in confusion. Besides the piles of trash behind her there was no indication of where they were.
"What happened?"
"I don't know I was knocked out before I could see."
He moved to get up.
"Luther."
She attempted to push him back down. The moment he had got up though he had seen the man behind her.
"Who's that?"
"Listen before you get too hasty."
"He's the one who knocked us out didn't he?" Luther growled. He tried to get up but Kara pushed him back down.
"Relax Luther, he's not gonna hurt us. He's the one who rescued us."
Luther looked passed her shoulder.
"How do you know he isn't the one who's gonna kill us?" he hissed.
"To what purpose would that serve? You are of no use to me."
Luther snorted.
"Then why capture us?"
"Didn't you hear your little girlfriend? I wasn't trying to kill you. I was trying to save your lives."
"What do you mean?"
"I thought I was clear. You must be braindead."
"Do you really think it's a good idea to be testing my patience when you're already on thin ice."
"I ain't scared of you," the man said coolly. "I've already experienced far worse than anything you could ever do."
Luther glanced at him and noticed he was sitting down awkwardly leaning on the pile. He glanced carefully at where his legs were positioned. It looked highly unlikely that he could have knocked them out and dragged them here with legs that were both folded at odd angles. One of the legs stood straight from his body, the knee bending in a perfect horizonital line. His other leg mirrored this position making his legs form a flat square in front of him.
"What's your name?" Kara asked.
"Antony Deckart."
"What are you doing here and why were you here to begin with?"
"If I had a choice I wouldn't be here. "
Something about those words sounded haunted.
Luther looked at him again. His face was covered in dirt and soot. Antony's garb was wearing away like he'd been wearing it for a very long time.
"I suppose this is my punishment for not doing my job right."
"How long have you been here?"
"Don't know. Can't tell anymore. I heard commotion so I woke up to see what was going on. Noticed you, heard someone coming so I had to think fast."
"So you knocked us out." Luther grumbled.
"Yeah, they were intending to do something nasty to their hostage. I had to do something quick. There was a higher probability that knocking you out would have been a safer alternative to warning you directly."
"You're an android aren't you?" Luther asked. "Were you deviant? Is that why they sent you here?"
"No," he blurted out. "Don't you dare associate me with them. I'm not willing to fight humans for the sake of my own selfish interests. I was happy and willing to serve humans."
"Then why are you here?" Kara asked.
"I don't know. I don't quite remember. The job I was working at I was happy. Something bad happened and everything after that is just black. The next time I remember waking up I wake up to see you two."
"You mean you don't even know where we're at?" Luther asked.
"I don't see why that should matter."
"We thought you might have been here for a while," Kara supplied.
He glanced at them in both surprise and confusion.
"No," Antony said uncertain and repeated it again as if he had realized the conclusion of what he just said. "No I haven't."
"Then why rescue us?" he asked.
"Because it's my job and it's the only thing I'm good at."
Kara kneeled closer to him.
"Your legs aren't even attached properly."
"It's not like I have a scanner or anything. Most of my parts are busted and my feed is full of errors. It's not like I had anytime to find any spare parts. I just used anything I had at my disposal," Antony said with a smile. "That dog of yours led us away to a safe place so they shouldn't find you here."
"Thank you."
Luther spotted Tiny rested on his leg.
'Dumb dog,' he thought.
"Don't mention it," Antony said.
"Look why don't we return the favor since you helped us and everything."
"I don't need repayment. Believe me it was the least I could do."
"Then what will you do now? You don't even know where you are," Kara said.
"Well why don't you enlighten me then?"
"Ever heard of Jericho?" Luther asked.
"That's located in the outskirts of the city," Antony said. "This doesn't look like any place ideal to gather to discuss common interests if you get what I'm saying."
"No, this isn't Jericho," Kara said. "This is the dump in the outskirts of the city."
"Oh that makes sense. Guess whoever brought me here thought I would serve better as scrap metal."
"If you intend to stick around you should at least know what you're getting yourself into."
"Peachy."
"Look why don't you come with us. I'm sure Simon would allow you to stay until you get things squared away," Kara said.
"Simon takes in anyone ranging from high profile criminals to deviant androids. I couldn't live with myself if I joined a group that works on the wrong side of the law. Besides there's no point in delaying the inevitable. Even when you repair me what happens then? I can wait but the outcome is still the same. I'm on borrowed time. With no allies here, I don't stand a chance. You best leave me be."
Kara sighed in defeat.
Luther patted her on the shoulder. She turned and glanced at him. He was glancing back at her with a soft smile on his face.
"Kara, it's alright. At least you tried."
"So are you two heading back to Jericho?"
She wondered if she should provide the real reason she was down here or remain silent.
"Yes, eventually," Kara replied. "We still have something to do here."
"You two don't look like your criminals so why are you two out in this part of the city so late. It's not like you need a place to stay or anything."
Luther looked at her with a frown. He appeared to be worried.
Kara turned to glance at Antony.
"We ran into some trouble with Cyberlife and are being falsely accused of kidnapping a child. Her father asked us to take care of her while he was being pursued by them. They were after a piece of information provided by her mother."
Something seemed to flash past Antony's eyes as if he was remembering something truly horrifying. Kara got the impression that despite how unlikely it sounded he believed her story.
"After that happened, we fled to this part of the city. Simon said he'd help us get ahold of a reporter from the press so we've been doing errands in the meantime."
"Tell you what, how about I help," Antony said.
"Are you sure? It might be a little unsettling," Kara said.
"You scouting for human skeletons?"
Kara looked affronted.
"Of course not."
"Then there's nothing to worry about."
"We're looking for android parts. Specifically legs," Luther supplied.
"That'll take all day going through these dumps," Antony said. "If only I can replace some of my visual components and get my scanner to work I could speed up the process."
"If we could find it, you'd know it if you saw it right?" Kara asked.
"Yes, I still retain memories of the parts needed for my repairs."
With that Kara and Luther rummaged through the pile on the lookout for legs or for android heads with the visual components intact.
Eventually rummaging through three heads, Kara pulled out a head with two blue eyes.
"Is this what you're looking for?"
Kara showed Antony what she found.
"Looks like it. Only one way to find out."
He took the head from her and disassembled the back pulling out the circuitry that he needed.
"Can you remove the panel in back of my neck? I don't know where it's attached."
Kara felt around his neck for the corners of the panel and removed it.
"I removed it."
"Good."
Within minutes he replaced some parts at the back of his neck.
"So did it work?"
"Yeah," he said. Antony scanned Kara in front of him. "Looks like I can still access data through the network. Are you aware they have you marked as a suspect for kidnapping and assault against a civilian and a police officer?"
"We knew about the kidnapping but nothing on the assault."
"If anyone was doing the assaulting it was the police," Luther said.
Scanning through the piles, Antony quickly found a pair of legs that were compatible with his model.
"I think I found some legs."
Kara and Luther turned to see him point out the legs from the pile.
She climbed up the pile to pull them out but not before arms reached for her trying to pull her in.
"Kara!"
Luther lunged for her quickly scrambling to pull her out.
"Let go."
He pulled on her arm until it released her arm causing her to be fall backwards in Luther's arms.
She relaxed in his grip as he carefully gathered them to their feet. Kara managed to retain the grip on the legs handing them over to Antony.
"These will do sufficiently."
He removed the incompatible legs from his abdomen replacing them with the new ones.
"You said you were looking for legs right. These should be more than sufficient right?"
Luther glanced at the legs carefully. Neither of them were dented in any way.
He nodded in Kara's direction.
"These will do just fine."
Luther picked up the legs.
Kara and Luther were just about to thank him and head back to Jericho when a voice cried out in the distance.
"Help."
The sound of sputtering cut off the pleas for help.
"Someone please help."
"Quiet you. What do you think will happen if people hear you? You think they'll rescue you. Ha, they'd die before they even reached you."
"Luther we gotta do something," Kara said.
"There's nothing we can do. It's suicide. Do you really wanna risk your life for just one person?"
"Antony," she called out to the android.
Luther grabbed her shoulder.
"Kara, what are you doing?"
"We're not leaving him to die. I refuse. You can forget about trying to convince me otherwise," she said in determination.
"What is it?" Antony asked.
"We need your help."
"What do you need me to do?"
"Do you know how many guys are guarding that guy?" Kara asked glancing behind a pile of android parts.
Antony scanned the perimeter.
"Three by the looks of it. What did you have in mind?"
"Can you create a diversion to distract them?" Kara asked.
"Yes, but you won't have alot of time to work with."
"How long would we have?"
"Five minutes at most and that's if the diversion works."
"I could work with that."
Thinking about her next course of action, Kara contemplated letting Antony orchestrate the diversion himself or asking Luther to help him.
"So what's the plan?" Luther asked.
"You help Antony distract them and I'll take care of everything else."
"Out of the question," he snapped. "There's no guarantee your plan will even work and you'll be by yourself practically defenseless. You don't even know if the guy we're rescuing is friendly."
"Hey," she cut in with a smile. "Have a little trust."
Luther simply sighed.
"Alright. We'll do things your way but if things turn sour I want you to get away from here."
Kara hummed in reply.
"Be careful," he said before pulling Kara into a hug.
"I will," she said reciprocating his embrace.
He pulled away reluctantly before bringing Tiny along.
Once they were gone, Kara carefully walked closer to where the men were. One of the men broke off to walk some ways away. She crept closer eager to get a clear look. The man looked to have walked away perhaps to get the tools needed to finish their job.
Suddenly a noise broke out from the left.
"Hey Paul, did you hear that?"
"Looks like someone's here," he said.
"Guess you'd like some company. Wouldn't want you to get ambushed."
"Not funny."
Once they had left, Kara crept closer immediately spotting the man.
He was about to cry out when Kara brought a finger to her lips.
"Shhh, it's alright. I'm here to rescue you."
"Who are you?"
Kara held his hands attempting to pull him out from where he was buried.
"You don't need to know that right now. I need to get you out of here before those guys return."
It was proving to be quite a chore just to pull him out.
"You shouldn't be here. Those guys will come back any second."
"Let me worry about that."
The man's eyes widened, something akin to horror present on his face.
Suddenly Kara felt something cold and hard brushing the back of her neck.
"Not a good idea, sweetie."
Kara stood stark still. Her heart was racing erratically.
"Hands up where I can see them."
She slowly raised her hands.
"What are you going to do to me?"
"Think you can entertain me?"
"I don't know. Depends what you have in mind," she said trying to quell any nervousness from her voice.
"Turn around."
Slowly she turned.
Suddenly Kara took out the knife which she had rolled up her sleeve and pushed the hand that held the gun to the side.
He lunged at her grabbing her arm.
Her other hand pulled up ready to shove him away.
His hand had jarred her wrist at the moment causing her to cry out in pain
She cried releasing the knife from her hold.
He slapped her across the face before she could so much as react.
Blood dripped from her split lip and her nose ached. She glared at him defiantly. The man was thin with light skin. He housed blue eyes, short brown hair and was clean shaved. His appearance was highly attractive save for his clothing which looked like rags giving off the impression he had been residing here for months despite the fact he had no beard.
"I knew you were trying to run. Fortunately I won't make that same mistake twice."
Kara licked her upper lip where the blood from her nose was threatening to spill to her bottom lip.
"Pity, would have loved to see that stupid look on your face when I kicked your ass."
The man leaned over his lips nearly touching hers.
"How feisty. I have to give you props it's an effective way of concealing the truth but your body can't lie."
Kara's face dropped as the man licked over his lips staring at her hungrily.
"How long will it take before I break you?"
His arms reach out to unzip her hoodie.
"Hey Nick, look who we found."
The man frowned before looking up with an ugly sneer on his face.
Kara's hand vanished behind her back.
"Kara," a familiar voice uttered softly.
It sounded pained.
Nick grinned.
She jostled an object out of her pocket causing it to land with a thump behind her.
"Guess she had company," he said.
"What do you suggest we do with them?" Paul asked.
"Kill them but spare the girl," Nick suggested.
Kara's face turned stonelike.
"Why? What do you have to gain from doing that?" she asked.
"Can't have the princess being rescued from her captors," Nick said before his lips curled in a malicious grin. "That big black burly guy, your boyfriend?"
The corners of Kara's lips curled up in a sly smile. Her feet moving across the dirt carefully kicking the object behind her.
"I hope you're not jealous," Kara said coyly. "I hate possessive guys."
"Maybe after they die we can take turns with you if you get what I'm sayin'," Paul said.
The man with him nodded in agreement.
Kara frowned momentarily before her smirk returned with renewed passion.
"Are you sure 'Nick' would let you?"
"Nick's our friend. He wouldn't mind sharing his girl would he?"
"Then why kill them unless you thought they were a threat to our relationship," she added in a sultry voice winking saucily. "There's more than enough of me to go around, you know. Those boys aren't even a threat to you."
Nick snorted.
"Even I'm not so foolish as to believe that."
"I can see why you thought so," she said, her lips cringing. "I should have been honest from the start. I could see it's really bothering you."
Nick looked at her with a raised brow.
"Truth is I've been traveling with my ex. That's why he's so concerned. He was never able to let go of the feelings that he had for me. It's sad but true."
She frowned.
"See I was dating this other guy and he got really possessive and you know how I don't like the possessive types. Long story short he killed my boyfriend and I thought he might try to kill me too so I ditched him."
Luther snorted.
Nick's lips curled in distaste.
"You don't really expect me to-"
"If he dies, he is going to haunt me in my sleep. You don't understand I get nightmares. I'd just rather not have eyes on us even if they belong to a corpse. It's scary."
Nick rolled his eyes.
"Tie them up."
He leaned closer to her ear.
"You better be telling the truth because you're walking on thin ice darling."
Kara heard the scuffling of feet behind her.
"Hurry up," the other man said.
Nick chuckled nastily grabbing the front of Kara's hoodie pulling her close and forcibly kissing her on the lips.
Kara returned the kiss enthusiastically engaging in the kiss more, grabbing his jacket and smoothing it out.
Her ears were alert catching the sounds of a jostling gun. Nick tried to pull away but she pulled him closer.
The sound of two pained moans reached her ears but she already had what she wanted.
Kara pulled away bringing the gun in front of her.
"Move a muscle and I'll blow your head off," she said coolly.
"You wouldn't do that," he said smugly.
"Try me."
She fired a bullet from the gun that missed him from mere inches.
"The next one is in your chest if you so much as move an inch."
"Kara, are you alright?" Luther asked. She saw he was bleeding out of the corner of his mouth.
"Yeah," Kara said with relief. "Might want to do something about him or he might find his head full of lead."
Luther walked towards him.
"I see you are as much of a liar as you are a seductress. He is your boyfriend."
Kara rolled her eyes narrowing her eyes at Luther.
"Oh really," she said slyly. "What kind of boyfriend rats their girlfriend out?"
"I was worried."
"I was fine. You were the one who got captured."
Luther frowned.
"So did you."
"At least I didn't give you away. I thought we really had something," she added coyly winking at him.
"Kara..."
"I'm hurt," she pouted, a smile in her eyes.
Luther knocked Nick out with the butt of his gun.
"Look Kara, it just slipped."
"I forgive you."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
He inched closer to her wiping the blood off the corner of her lips.
"Are you just saying that?"
"Maybe."
"Let's get out of here."
Kara picked up the knife that Nick had jostled out of her hand.
"Not so fast. You forgot someone."
Both Antony and Luther helped her pull the man out of the hole that he was partially buried in.
"Are you alright?" he asked glancing at Kara.
Kara looked at him in confusion.
"Are you talking about me?" she asked pointing to herself.
He nodded.
"Don't worry about me. I'm fine."
"Yeah, you looked like you were really enjoying yourself," Luther said.
"I stand by what I said earlier about possessive boyfriends. That wasn't a lie."
"Will you two be able to handle him on your own?" Antony asked.
Luther helped support the man over his shoulders. Kara helped him out.
"We should be fine."
"I'd feel better if I could walk you two back."
"Thanks."
Antony gathered the legs and together all four headed out.
Only then did Kara decide to ask Luther what was on her mind.
"So what happened while 'I was enjoying myself' as you so helpfully put it?" she asked glancing at Luther and smiling coyly.
"I was being the man with the plan."
"What was the plan?" she asked cheekily.
"It's a secret. I don't want you to judging. It was impulsive and spur of the moment," he replied in a sassy manner.
Kara thought back on how she had kicked the gun in what she thought was Luther's direction. The darkness obscured the ground and no one could really see what was on the ground so it had been a perfect opportunity to save her skin. She had been gambling that maybe Antony would scan it and identify it as a weapon. Perhaps Antony had told him about the gun.
"Really?" she inquired in disbelief, a part of her sounded amazed maybe even a little impressed.
"Well honestly, I was just waiting for the opportunity to punch the guy's lights out and he dropped his guard. He punched me across the face and I just wanted to get even."
"Sounded alot more impressive in my head," Kara said.
"You're judging me."
"I thought Antony might have told you about the gun on the ground."
"Oh that's what you were kicking behind you? That actually makes sense."
"You forgot I had a gun?"
Luther chuckled sheepishly.
"I guess it slipped my mind but hey it worked out in the end didn't it. Me and Antony must have had the same idea because he knocks out the other guy before i even get the chance."
"So where did you get the gun then?"
"I saw it on the ground when they were dragging us away and I shuffled it between my feet. I just assumed you got him to foolishly drop it."
"You think he would have done that? He seems too smart to do something that foolish."
"You enticed him with a lie you pulled out of your ass."
"Hey, it worked didn't it."
"That was rather clever."
"You owe me, big time. Remember you're the one who ratted me out."
"Fair."