Chapter 11: Bloody screams
A/N: Thank you all for being so patient. As you might know by now or not I went through some really tough times this year and needed time to find myself. I'm not entirely sure I managed to do that, but I feel a lot better. I will resume updating this story every Monday until another writer's block hits me *hoping that won't be the case*. I'm sorry I kept you waiting and I'm happy you have returned to read more about Tris and Tobias and what the life of a covert operative means.
Love you all and God bless!
Tony dropped her off at her home. The building where her new home was located had a helicopter pad. She got out and Tony promised her to return tomorrow with all that she requested.
Tris pulls out her phone and calls her parents and in-laws to ask them to come over. She doesn't leave them much of a choice and asks them to be there as soon as possible. She then calls Uriah to tell him to join them, but leaves out anything about her mission. Uriah can tell however that something went wrong. He worked and fought alongside her for years to know when she is withholding information. But he would find out soon.
Tris forgoes calling Tobias since he must have been at home anyway. Tris hid a spare key a few days ago, behind a painting in the hallway, and retrieves it when she hears voices coming from her new apartment. Tobias is in there with a woman. Tris steps closer and listens.
"Nita, get the fuck out," Tobias yells.
"But I love you, Toby," she says and Tris gags.
"Don't call me that. And leave. Whatever we had is over. I'm married now."
"Yeah, because your old man forced you to," she challenges.
"None of your God damn business," Tobias yells at her.
"Really? Where's your wife anyways? She already bored with you? Or you with her? I bet she was a virgin. No wonder her dad sold her to you. Probably no one wanted her," Nita says and starts laughing.
"Shut up, you bitch. Don't talk that way about my wife."
"I talk about her however I like. She stole you from me, baby," she says and undulates around Tobias.
"Stop it. She didn't steal me. You and I both know that what we had was just casual sex. Now, get out," he yells at her.
"Casual sex? How can you say that? I love you and I know you love me too," she says forceful.
"Love you? Don't be stupid. Of course, not. You were just an easy fuck for me. I'm married now. Stay away from me and my family."
"You'll regret this," she threatens.
Tris could hear steps approaching the front door. She steps aside and hides on the stairs, in a dark corner, while she listens as Nita Alvarez is taking the elevator.
"Bitch," she hears Tobias curse.
Tobias slams the door to their penthouse once the elevator door closes. She sits down on one of the stairs and decides to give her husband a few minutes to calm down. He would soon get more bad news and she wanted to give him at least a moment to himself before she barges in.
The elevator door opens yet again and she hears the familiar voices of her family. She quickly texts Uriah to stay behind and lets the Eatons and the Priors enter the penthouse.
The door to the staircase opens and Uriah looks her up and down.
"Be honest. On a scale from one to ten, how bad do I look?" Tris asks with a hint of a smirk.
"Like a dung beetle ate too much shit and had diarrhea for three days before it gave out and passed out in its own waste," Uriah says with a grin.
"Good. I almost thought I looked bad," she says trying to laugh but winces.
"You sure you wanna go inside? They will bombard you with questions," he says serious now.
"Yeah, I know. But we need to talk. And frankly I'd rather have the weeping mothers there to soften the kicks from the outraged men. Dude, I swear, I'm more afraid of their reaction than when I got beaten up and didn't know what Ward would do next," she confesses.
"Wait. Ward did this?" he asks incredulous and she nods. "That son of a bitch," he says and helps her up inspecting her thoroughly. She quickly tells him what Ward did but leaves out details of the mission. They leave it at that, Uriah understanding the secrecy, and enter her penthouse.
The reaction is as expected. Everyone turns their heads to look at the front door expecting only Uriah to enter. Once he is in, they realize Tris came in too. Upon seeing her Natalie almost faints and Evelyn drops the glass of water her son just gave her.
"Tris," Andrew gasps in disbelief.
"Oh my God, what happened?" Marcus asks shocked.
"Mission gone bad. Can we please sit. I think I'm going to vomit blood if I stand any longer," she says and Uriah helps her sit down on the couch.
"What mission? I thought you started working at Marcus's company," Andrew says confused looking from his daughter to his friend.
"She did, she is," Marcus says and looks over his daughter-in-law.
"Who did this?" Tobias asks still standing and looking at her both angry and desperate. He just can't understand how she can put herself at such risk. For what? Was it even worth it?
"An enemy," Tris says vaguely.
"That's not an answer," Tobias says sternly.
"Chill, dude," Uriah says and stands protectively in front of his friend. Tobias looks from him to her and for a moment he wonders if there's something going on between them. She never mentioned anything, but maybe she didn't want to. He suddenly feels jealous, really jealous. The way he never felt before. It's a fire inside him, burning, hurting him.
"Uri, sit boy," Tris says jokingly and then winces. "I asked you all hear to make you aware of a threat. The person who did this threatened you all. I already discussed it with my boss. We will make sure to keep you safe. Don't worry."
"And who's going to keep you safe?" Tobias asks angrily.
"I will," she says confidently and irritated at his question.
"You got beaten up badly," Tobias counters. Everyone else turns their heads from one to the other as if this was a tennis match and they were curious to see who would win. No one said a word.
"Lighten up. You think this is bad? Huh," she huffed. "I had worse. Besides, how else would I have gotten intel on the bastard if not making him talk. He might have been a fucking legend at the Academy, but the Black Widow herself trained me. I have a high tolerance for pain," she lies. That's bull. Everything hurts so bad that she asked Jemma to give her strong pain meds and something that would prevent her to shit herself. She was even wearing a special designed diaper in case she actually couldn't keep her bowels in anymore. This wasn't an often occurrence among the agents but those who went through this particular set of torture felt the effects for days afterwards. The pain meds were strong and she fought really hard not to fall asleep while standing. But now that she's sitting sleep seems to lure her in.
"Are you kidding me? Have you seen yourself? You are bruised up, bloody and wince with each breath you take. Don't think I didn't notice. I might not be a badass agent like you two, but I'm neither blind nor stupid."
"I never said you were," she defends.
"Kids, please. Stop fighting," Evelyn pleads with tears in her eyes. Natalie goes over to the couch and sits next to her daughter, trying to pull her in her arms.
"My poor baby," she says and tears stream down her face. Tris winces and stands up.
"See? That's why I never told you anything about this. You would overreact and cry. I'm fine. This is part of the job."
"Sweetheart, we are just worried about you," Natalie says and stands up as well.
"I know mom and I appreciate it greatly. Tomorrow Stark will help me make this penthouse safer than safe and then I'll proceed to reinforce your homes as well," Tris informs them.
"Maybe it'll be better for everyone to be in the same house," Uriah suggests.
"That's actually not a bad idea. We have plenty of room," Marcus says.
"We can't accept that," Andrew says.
"Andrew, please, this is the least I can do. Your daughter is helping keeping me safe. And we are all family now," Marcus insists.
"But how would we explain our presence in your house?" Natalie asks.
"You can say you are remodeling," Evelyn suggests.
"Great. You work out the details, I'll go lie down and try not to choke in my sleep," Tris says, but as she moves away the meds finally overcome her and she faints. The last thing she feels are two arms catching her before her exhausted body hits the floor. She assumes it's Uriah, but who cares? She can finally sleep.
Her sleep however is plagued by nightmares. Unlike others she isn't just dreaming about her friends dying but also her family. And among them is Tobias. When did she start caring for him to make him star in her nightmares?
Tobias is watching her. His family and the Priors as well as Uriah left half an hour ago. He then went immediately into their bedroom and lied down next to Tris's unconscious body. He gently smooths down her hair and keeps his hand over her forehead. It seems to Tobias she is having a fever. He looks over her. Her right hand is completely wrapped in bandages. He can only wonder what lies beneath that. She has a swollen eye that starts to blacken heavily. Her lips are split, she has a bandage on her left cheek; there are burn marks on her throat, like someone used a string or a rope to choke her. The thought of that happening makes him ball his fists. She looks so fragile lying down like this.
"No, don't hurt them," she mumbles in her sleep. She starts thrashing and before long she arches her back and starts screaming loudly. "Please, please, please," she pleads and Tobias can see the pain all over her face. It doesn't seem like physical pain, but rather mental torture. "Please, not them. Kill me, not them."
Tobias stares at her unable to put in words what he feels listening to her. Her plea is agonizing and it pulls at him. He wants to comfort her but he doesn't know how. She told him about her demons, but hearing her story is different from living it.
Here she was lying in their conjugal bed, thrashing because a nightmare plagued her. Her body beaten up, her mind scrambled, her heart torn. He cared for her, he was sure of that. But would it be enough to live this life? To live it with her? No, they agreed to a year. Afterwards they could part and everyone would be okay with that. That was the deal. No need to assume otherwise.
Tris bolts up and screams. Her voice is so loud and shrill that Tobias covers his ears to block the noise. She screams so loud and so hard that he almost hears something crack. Her scream stops. She looks around frantically, trying to get her bearings when she looks to her side and sees him. He reaches out to touch her and she flinches. He pulls back slightly before he throws all worry out the window and pulls her to his chest. The moment she is in his arms she breaks down and starts sobbing.
Tris realizes her throat hurts terribly and she thinks she might have lost her voice. But that is just the least of her problems. The dream. The dream seemed so real. So frightening. So horrifying. So realistic. It can't be a vision of the future; it just can't be! If this is real they needed to work to prevent it. If SHIELD can't stop this and the Avengers can't stop this either, then no one could. The end was just around the corner and Tris felt like her entire world was tumbling down. And to top it all off, Ward killed Tobias. Why him? Why would Ward choose Tobias? He must have known of the arranged marriage. Grant Ward was all you wanted, but not a fool. He had his own informants all over the globe and, surely, he knew that this was just a business. Why would he kill someone that wouldn't mean much to Tris? Or would it?