Bandit's P12 firing two shots echoed throughout the basement Caveira and Bandit took charge of. Bandit was leading the way, but Caveira was itching to take charge of her own self and lurk for her prey. Bandit taking off to the right gave Caveira the chance she needed as she pressed forward. She could smell wine coming from a barricaded room just ahead to her right. Judging by the big barrels directly across from the entrance, it was a wine cellar of some sort. Caveira slunk her way to the door, gripping her Luison tight. She took a deep breath and knocked a hole in the barricade. She stepped back just before a shower of bullets came whirring through the barricade.
"Where are they?" she heard a Mask cry from inside the door.
"I don't know, I'm gonna go check it out," a second Mask said as she crouched just behind the wall beside the door. The soft thudding of footsteps as the second Mask made his way to the barricade to bust it open was music to her ears. The Mask stepped out, unaware of the danger behind him.
Caveira fired five bullets into his back. He cried out as he fell to the floor.
"What the fuck!?" she heard the first Mask yell from inside as she swapped clips.
The small sounds of shuffling barely dropped in volume as he changed his position to the farthest part of the room. Caveira crouched holding her Luison in one hand and reaching out with the other. She crept into the room hastily making her way behind a bar near the entrance.
"I've got this. I can do it," she heard the Mask reassure himself.
She gave him an 'A' for effort, but the tone of his voice combined with the slight way it trembled told her he was less than confident. Caveira moved from behind the bar and held her gun at the ready. She extended her left leg as far as possible before quickly pulling herself into view.
"Hosti-" the Mask began to yell, but was quickly cut short as Caveira fired ten bullets into his upper body. He dropped his gun, and fell to the floor. He groaned in serious pain as Caveira made her way over to him. She grabbed him by the neck of his jacket and turned him over.
"Get ready to talk, desgraçado..."
Caveira gripped his mask and began to take it off. She was ready to interrogate him, but the sight she saw was too great for even her to stomach. The tissue of his face stuck to the mask in strings, stretching like melted cheese. The muscles of his face ripped apart at the fibers as they too partially came off with his skin. His eyes looked milky and yellow, but upon closer inspection- Caveira could see the sockets were infested with maggots. Caveira began to hyperventilate before conjuring a scream. She was paralyzed with fear. Completely unable to move, only stare at him and scream. The Mask she had shot earlier stood in the doorway. He lifted a shaky arm to point his gun at the back of Caveira's head. He was so close to squeezing the trigger when two loud shots rang out throughout the basement. The Mask that Caveira straddled for interrogation wriggled free to bring his right fist across her face. She fell off of him, colliding against the wall. Bandit shot two more times at the second Mask, killing him with two shots in the head before he could even reach his gun.
Caveira sat against the wall with her knees to her chest and her head down.
"Caveira," Bandit said sitting beside her.
"Is she alright?" Twitch called from the entry way.
"Yeah, she's fine," Bandit said as reassuringly as possible.
"Well, we captured the Vinciguerra they were holding hostage. They kept moving him around, but we ran into them while they were moving. We can go home soon."
Bandit nodded as he comforted Caveira. She was violently trembling, but Bandit couldn't tell if it was from pain or from fear.
"Look at me," he said placing a hand on her back.
She lifted her face, looking first over at the Mask. His face was normal. He looked like an average male. Bandit pulled her face towards his. Some of her face paint was rubbed off from the Masks punch, and her eye had begun to swell as it was already bruised. It angered him, but he had already killed the Mask who done it, so what more could he do?
"Come, we need to get ice on that," Bandit said taking her by the hands and helping her up.
Caveira wrapped her arms around Bandit's waist as they made their way out of the basement through the barricaded entryway that led outside. The rest of their team were busy talking to the local law enforcement and handing over the hostage as they made their way back to the armored truck.
Bandit opened the doors and helped Caveira inside before joining her. "What happened down there? You're never one to let your guard down."
Caveira turned her head away from him. She didn't know what to tell him. How do you tell someone that you saw someone's face melting off when they were perfectly fine?
"Taina, you can tell me," Bandit said placing a hand on her knee.
Caveira shook her head turning to look at him, "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me..."
The way she looked at Bandit was so... Pitiful. He could tell she was going through something very extreme, and the fact that it affected her so badly that she felt no one would believe her hurt him deeply.
"Taina, I promise you can tell me," Bandit pleaded. Caveira shook her head looking back down as the rest of the team joined them in the back of the truck.
"Six would like for us to report to her office when we get back to base," Thermite said pulling his phone from his ear. Caveira sighed. The 'us' he was referring to was actually her. She knew he told Six about her little mishap and not retrieving the information Six wanted. Great, just what Caveira needed.
Everyone stood around Six's desk. She peered down her nose at her team, and although she wore her typical smiling neutral expression, she radiated utter disappointment.
"It's nice to see you all back in my office unscathed," she said looking down at the case file. "But, I'm missing intel on whether the Vinciguerra's are working with the Masks. Caveira," she said looking back up at the Brazilian. "What happened?"
Caveira swallowed hard looking down. "I was too confident with myself, and left Bandit's side to take on some Masks by myself. One caught me off guard, and another almost killed me. I was shaken up pretty badly. I apologize for not completing my duty."
Everyone could tell by the look in Six's eyes that she didn't exactly believe her. Caveira wasn't one to be easily spooked. She practically lived for the danger, so what made this mission any different?
"Ma'am, Taina's not felling well again. I'm sure you know that she's been fighting many fevers. I think her performance today was due to another fever coming on. It's just a bunch of bad timing is all," Bandit spoke up to defend her.
Six glanced over at Bandit before giving the group a single nod. "So it seems. Never mind no interrogation, you all did what you were supposed to do regardless. Dismissed."
Everyone turned to leave. Caveira was the fastest out of them all, hastily making her way out of Six's office to go to her room. She wanted to cry. Something she absolutely didn't do, but she was tortured by images and experiences she couldn't tell anyone. Not even her significant other. She felt alone, trapped inside of her mind.
"Taina! Taina wait," Bandit said catching her by her arm.
"What, Dominic? What!?" Caveira said whipping herself around to face him. The black tears streaming down her face caught Bandit off guard. What was happening with her?
"I want you to talk to me. Tell me what's going on!" Bandit had practically shouted that last part. Everyone walking around the first floor had almost stopped to stare at them. It was embarrassing.
"Just leave me alone," Caveira cried pushing Bandit's hand off of her arm. She ran up the stairs as fast as she could all the way up to the third floor. Her footsteps seemed to echo into silence as she ran into her room, slamming the door and crawling into bed. She pulled her bed sheet high over her head, and wept until she fell asleep.
Caveira felt arms wrapping around her, holding onto her tight. Taina... She heard a voice call out to her. It was distant, but it was so loud. It was like it was right in her ear. Taina, it called again. Caveira opened her eyes to darkness, the only light there was surrounded her and the immediate area around her feet. She felt a pain in her throat as she tried to breathe but couldn't. She was choking. Taina, wake up... Caveira fell to her knees. She could feel herself slipping away as her lack of oxygen began to kill her. She looked up in an attempt to find where the light was coming from. Nothing but darkness above and around her, the only light was below. "Taina!" Caveira coughed as she took in a deep breath of air. Her eyes snapped open to look at her wall. She was on her side, and she could feel someone's arms around her.
"Dom?" she asked with a shaky voice.
"Ja, mein liebe?" he responded pulling her closer to him. She turned to look over her shoulder at him, and he sat himself up. "What's wrong?" he asked with concern.
"Nothing," she whispered giving him her look that beckoned for him. He leaned down to give her a kiss, slipping one of his legs between hers. She needed this. It was her comfort.
Caveira scratched her nails down Bandit's back as he bit into her neck. Their labored breathing cause from multiple orgasms they pushed themselves through to keep the night long. She was close to another climax when the air grew heavy in a matter of seconds. It was hard for her to breathe again. Caveira opened her eyes. As if being told to, she looked to the left corner above her window. She wasn't sure if she was imagining things, but in the dimly lit darkness- she thought she could see someone sitting up there. Their feet were planted on both walls, and their knees were bent- more like squatting. Their forearms rested on their knees, and their face was nothing but a solid shadow. She could hear the sound of a low rumble in her ears. The more she stared at the figure, the louder the rumbling seemed to get. She could feel the bass vibrating her eardrums. Her eyes started to hurt as if they were being strained beyond their visual limit.
"Taina?" Bandit whispered looking down at her. She was in another trance, staring up at her ceiling. Her breathing was shallow, almost non-existent. Although it was very quiet, he could hear her making noise. He put his ear next to her mouth, and identified the sounds as sounds of choking.
"Taina!? Taina!?" he said shaking her by her shoulders. He lightly slapped her face, luckily pulling her back to reality.
"Dominic?" she whispered with a raspy voice.
"Shhh," Bandit shushed her caressing her face. "Let's just go to sleep, ja? I love you." He pulled himself from between her legs to lie beside her.
"I love you too," Caveira replied turning to face him. Bandit wrapped her in his arms, and within a few moments fell asleep. For Caveira, it felt like hours upon hours before sleep was finally able to take her again.
Chapter 4 coming soon. Thank you for reading and supporting me~