"We're staying together," he promised. "You're not getting away from me. Never again."
―Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena
Usually, I listen to a few of The Weeknd's début songs on repeat while I'm writing this, but Copper Colored Quiet by letlive. is what I listened to when I typed this chapter. It's pretty fitting, so play it in the background if you want :)
It was a few days after Marceline said her final goodbye to Phil at the clubhouse and she was doing the same to Jasmine today. Her best friend was an absolute wreck when she heard the news, making both girls cry as they shared a tender moment together, but Marci promised to keep in touch and that if she could, she'd try to visit. She and Zane have been selling off the furniture in the house since they were going to be flying nonstop for 4 hours from San Francisco to New Orleans instead of driving for 30 hours and Marci was excited about her first airplane trip. Since they were only packing their clothes, they had little baggage and kept suitcases downstairs in the living room.
This afternoon, Marci was going to Chibs' house to get a few more things from her room while Zane was getting out of his ties with the Triad and waiting for her to come back home. When she parked her car, she noticed there was a motorcycle parked out front and figured Phil spilled the beans about her departure. With a sigh, she got out and readied herself to have an argument with whichever Son was inside.
This fatboy held her interest for some reason though. It was black and the flames decorating it were taupe. The ride reminded her of Tig's bike because there were spikes on the front wheel, a few skulls and the matte black gave the whole bike an edgy look. Marci felt like she's seen it somewhere before, but she couldn't place it. She didn't dwell on it though. All she wanted to do was grab the last of her important stuff and go back to Zane…go back home to him.
"Don't ask where I've been or where I'm going and I don't care why you're here." She said as she came in and shut the door, headed to her room without looking at who was occupying the living room.
"Thought you'd be happy to see us." That was not the voice of a Son, but Marceline recognized it all the same. She stopped in the middle of the living room and turned to the voice, her fears becoming a reality when she saw Scrap, Dutchman and Grimm in the room.
"Word of advice, Marceline. If you ever plan on running away again, you should tell your girlfriends not to post pictures and videos of you all over Instagram." Dutchman said as he raised his phone and a photo of Marci and Jasmine was on the screen from when they went to Fun Town. "You had us going for a while though. Whoever you told to tamper with your phone did a good job, even stumped Scrap. He couldn't tell where the hell you really were."
Against all the panic swelling inside her chest, Marceline tried running out of the house, but Grimm was there to block her exit. He put his hand over her mouth and they all walked out of the house to a car, but he put her in the trunk. She was screaming and pounding at the top, but it wouldn't open as the car began moving, a motorcycle following close behind.
The Spartans were driving out of Charming, just passing the Welcome sign when Lucky realized that Grimm wasn't behind them anymore and a squad car was tailing them now.
"Cops." Dutchman pointed out as he looked at the rear-view mirror. "He ain't passin' by."
"Shit." Lucky cursed. "Everyone, take off the leather and stick 'em under the seats. We're a bunch of frat boys going to a keg party, roll with it."
The men did as they were told and rid themselves of their leather just as the squad car put its flashing lights on, making them pull over. David Hale emerged from the car and had his flashlight out, shining it in the driver as he stood at the door.
"I was going the limit." Lucky told him.
"You were, but a car of this model and color was reported stolen a few hours ago. Where were you all headed tonight?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but a little get-together in Santa Fe with some friends."
"David!" Marceline screamed from the trunk as she hit and kicked at the barrier, making the Deputy Chief look back. "David, please! Help me!"
"Step out of the car, sir." He commanded.
"Are you serious?"
"Out, now." David opened the driver's door and Lucky got out, going to the back of the car with David following behind him. "Open the trunk."
Lucky stared at David for a moment before he shrugged and unlocked the trunk, opening it to reveal a terrified Marceline laying inside. Quietly, the Toad got out of the car and made his way behind David. Before she could say anything, a shot rang out and David fell to the ground as Marci screamed at the sight of a new, bloody hole in his head.
"Think you just earned your patches, pisspot." Lucky commented to the Toad as he dragged the cop to the bushes on the side of the road. "Tie her up and tape her mouth this time. Careful, she's a fighter."
~.~.~.~.
"Lookie what we got." Dutchman sang as he entered the motel room carrying a bound Marceline who was trying to kick her way out of his hold. "She's a little irked, but she's here."
"Oh boys, you're too good to me." Gage smiled as Dutchman set Marci down and he removed the tap from her mouth, untying the rope bound around her. "I've missed you so much, Marci. You look…wow." He complimented as he stroked her hair, but stopped when he felt her shaking and saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. "Marci, it's okay. I'm here now. Have you been taking your meds?"
As soon as the restraints were gone, Marceline pushed away from Gage and tried to catch her breath, but it felt impossible to breathe while she was still sobbing and the room began spinning.
"She gonna be alright?" Scrap asked Gage, but before his President could answer, Marci fell to the ground. "I don't think she's been taking her meds."
~.~.~.~.
Marceline woke up with a gasp and it took her a moment to realize where she was. They were in a new car now, a van, and someone was holding her. She looked up and saw Gage staring at her in the darkness, smiling.
"Hey, sleepy head. There's a few tablets of Librium in my pocket if you wanna take them." He offered as she untangled herself from his hold, her back to the door of the car. "We're gonna go pick up your friend."
"Leave her alone."
Gage smiled at her. "Not Jasmine, but I gotta tell you, Lucky has a major boner for her."
"Gage, did you say Noe Valley or Hayes Valley?" The Toad asked from the front with Lucky.
"Noe Valley, pisspot."
Noe Valley…why did that sound so familiar to her? She knew where that was, but she just couldn't remember why the hell it was so important. She couldn't think straight with the panic surging through her.
Marceline looked out of her window and she felt all the blood in her body run cold as she instantly recognized the passing surroundings. They were in San Francisco and Noe Valley was an affluent neighborhood within the city. That's where she and Zane were living.
And Zane was waiting for her to come home.
"Asher, let's just go." She tried pleading with the man. "Remember what you said? I-I was only hanging with him because you weren't around and I got lonely 'cause I missed you so much. Y-You're not in prison anymore, it'll just be you and me again. Just forget about him a-and let's go. I wanna go home."
"Did he make you leave?" Gage questioned and against the shaking of her head, he continued with his thought. "That sneaky chink. He made you run away from me, didn't he? He made you leave me."
"No, no, he didn't."
"He had this whole escapade planned out, huh? Get you away first, wait a few weeks, then regroup. That fucking-"
"Anybody in the mood for Chinese?" The Toad asked from the front and that made Gage sinisterly smirk.
"Asher, please." Marci begged, but Gage ignored her.
"Let's get this show started. Pisspot, you want that patch, you'd better not fuck up."
The Toad obediently nodded at Gage, then reached under his seat for something. Marci watched in sheer horror as the youngest man in the car removed his kutte and replaced it with another one.
One that looked like a cheap imitation of Rat Boy's.
The Toad got out of the car and made his way across the street to the cozy Italianate row house Marceline fell in love with the second she laid eyes on it. He climbed the few stairs and spotted the camera mounted above the door. He rang the doorbell twice before turning his back to the camera.
In the dark bedroom, Zane was lying on his stomach across his bed, fighting the urge to go to sleep. He got a call from Henry today and went to provide protection for his boss during an important deal, then he came back home. He knew Marceline was in Charming getting some sentimental things from her Dad's house and he wanted to be awake when she returned. It was getting a bit late though and he tried not to worry. He figured the few wives of the Sons were keeping her, she was saying goodbye to Jasmine or she was spending time with Diesel. He wanted to bring the dog along with them to New Orleans, but the only way to get him there would be on a plane and Marci couldn't stand the thought of her pet being caged in the cargo hold for the entire trip.
Zane picked his head up when he heard the doorbell ringing. He knew Marci had her key and she would've called earlier if she lost it somewhere. None of his associates just up and came to his house because Zane didn't shit where he ate. He didn't bring his shady business anywhere near his home for fear of something happening to Marceline. He didn't just give his address out either- he had a goddamn P.O. box- and he never told Henry where he lived.
Suspicion washed over Zane. He grabbed his Jericho 941 RS from the floor where he dropped it when he came in and rolled off the bed onto his feet. He went to the wall next to the bedroom door and looked at the monitor that showed the cameras around the house. At the front door, he saw someone waiting and he immediately noticed the Prospect patches all over their kutte.
Zane was quick to descend the staircase and open the door, his pistol hidden behind the wooden barrier. The Prospect turned to him and Zane's eyes narrowed in skepticism at the new face he was greeted with.
"Zane, right? Marceline's friend?" The Toad casually asked, just like the Spartans told him to.
"Who are you?" Zane coldly questioned.
"I'm Nat, the Sons' new Prospect." The Toad easily lied, but Zane's expression never changed. "Listen, Marceline's at St. Thomas right now and I was told to come get you."
"Why is she in the hospital?"
"I dunno for sure. The guys said something about her panicking? Maybe she had another Anxiety Attack."
Zane didn't waste another second and slipped into a pair of sneakers by the door before shutting and locking it. He followed the Prospect to the streets where a white van was parked across the street under a broken street light, making it almost completely hidden in the nighttime darkness.
"Sons are spread pretty thin right now." Zane recalled. "Who took you on?"
"What?"
"Which Son asked you to prospect?" Zane repeated, stopping in the middle of the street. "Who's your mentor?"
"…the tall one?"
Zane narrowed his eyes and grabbed the man by the collar of his kutte, his gun pointed under the man's chin. "Where the fuck is Marceline?"
Gage emerged from the van and pulled his gun out, aiming it on Zane as he smirked. "Easy there, Rising Sun."
"Asher, of course."
"Ooh, say my name again. It gets me hot."
"How'd you find me?"
"See, that was the easy part. After Scrap found out where Marci was, you were our next priority. We put our feelers out and in exchange for a favor, Henry Lin told us where you'd be." That fucking traitor would sell him out; it's likely why Henry wanted him to work earlier today. Zane didn't even think that his boss knew where he lived because he was so secretive about the place he called home. There were too many reasons to guess why Henry wanted him dead, but he suspected that his detaching from the Triad was the straw that broke the camel's back. Then again, there was some bad blood that boiled between their fathers before either of them was even born and that was reason enough for them to be at odds, but they were still family. Zane expected more loyalty from blood, even if they were distant. "Guess you pissed him off 'cause he wants you dead."
"Where is she?"
"Maybe she's still in Charming. Maybe she's already back in Scotts Valley where she belongs." Gage liked playing with his food, liked making his enemies squirm around. "Where do you think she is?"
"I think you're using me as bait or you've already got her."
"Put the gun down and I'll tell you if you're right or wrong." Gage bartered, but Zane didn't move an inch, so he shrugged. The rest of the Spartans got out of the van and partially surrounded Zane. "Or you can kill the Toad and get yourself killed. I really don't give a shit what happens 'cause either way, you die and I win." Without much of another option, Zane shoved the Toad away from him and dropped his gun, making Gage smile in victory. He tapped the window and Marci's face could be seen though it; she was crying again as she banged on the glass. "Lookie loo, Zane. My girl came back to me."
"You have no idea how much she hates you." Zane sneered at the man before he opened the passenger door and Marci threw herself into his arms. He shushed her as he stroked her hair. "Hey, I'm here. No more crying. It's okay."
"Zane-"
"You're gonna be okay, babe. Just breathe for me. Nice and even, in and out."
The Spartans drove back to Scotts Valley with a crying Marceline holding onto Zane for dear life in the back of the van. She was surprised that Gage didn't separate them when he saw how close they were, but she didn't care because she wanted him gone forever; he just kept popping up like an irritating zit that wouldn't go away. When they arrived at the Spartan's clubhouse, the men tore Zane from her arms and led him into the basement where they duct taped him to a chair while Gage had Marci tucked under his arm.
"Please, Asher...let him go." She begged him.
"I can't do that."
"I'll stay here with you. W-We can get married and I'll never try to leave again. It'll just be you and me together like we had planned. I'll do everything you want, Asher. We can go down to the courthouse tomorrow morning and be on our way to Colorado to celebrate our Honeymoon. Just let him go, for me, please."
"You're too nice for your own good, Marci." He sighed as he put his hands on her shoulders, looking her in the eyes. "You were taken away from me, Marceline, and that's not how this story goes. It's you and me, not Zane or fucking Edward or anybody else because those parasites lay their eggs in your head and you start acting crazy. You belong to me and I belong to you. That's how it works for us and that's how it's gonna be forever. I'll make everyone on this goddamn planet understand that nobody will ever steal you from me again."
"Asher, please!" She cried out, pulling at his arm when he began walking towards Zane.
"Take her upstairs." Gage instructed Grimm and the older man easily plucked Marci off the ground, undisturbed by her kicking and thrashing as he took the girl upstairs to the rooms, locking her inside Gage's.
"It's curtain call, Dancing Dragon." Asher taunted a bound Zane. "Any last words? Maybe you've gotta smart ass comment you've been saving. Go on, I wanna hear it."
"I know you're gonna kill me, Asher, and you're gonna think you're such a big man when you do, but there's more masculinity in my fucking little toe than in your entire body." Zane replied as calm as he usually was. "I don't know what made you crawl outta your dumpster and infest Marceline's life, but you've been nothing but a gigantic pain in my ass since I found out about you and your merry band of bitch boys."
"The balls on this chink..." Gage scoffed. "You know, I'm glad we caught you. Spartans are sick of your little gang on our streets. You've got no goddamn right to be here and without a fucking care, you just set up shop. And then, when my ávus (grandfather) put his fucking foot down and told you dog-eaters to beat it, what happens? A three year war."
"That you little fucks lost, but your pussy of a father is the sole rat that abandoned the sinking ship to tell the tale." Zane reminded the Spartan leader, spitting at his feet. "Face it, Ashley, all you are is a spoiled little bitch eagerly waiting to suck the cum from the tip of daddy's golden cock. You've never had to work or earn or kill for anything, everything you have was given to you. I am everything you've always wanted to be, Asher. Marceline proves it."