"Wake up."
Tally's eyes shot open when she felt the hard slap strike across her cheek. She gasped and blinked; her innate reaction was to bring her hands up, but she found that she couldn't. She looked down and found her wrists tied tightly to the arms of a chair, so tightly, she could already feel the tingling of her fingers starting. She tugged at them, but they wouldn't budged. Tally yelped when her chin was grabbed and yanked up to see a faceless Foot ninja, presumably the same one from before.
Tally nearly peed her pants.
Her eyes widened and she jerked out of it, trying to keep her breathing steady. This was a bad situation. This was a really bad situation. She felt the dull pain on the side of her head where the bat had made contact. There was no doubt that she was going to have a nasty bruise there for a while. She tried to assess the situation; She was tied to a chair, she was in a dimly lit interrogation room with a Foot ninja towering over her, there was one door, no windows, and the air was stiff. The corners of the room were dark, and in one of them, was a large shape. It stepped out and revealed the man who shot and nearly killed her nearly three weeks prior.
"Nice to see you again shrimp." Hun said with grin. "Dunno how you survived, guess the turtles helped you out."
Tally gave a large gulp and looked at him like a deer in headlights. This asshole shot her. He nearly killed her. She nearly died. And here she was, within ten feet of him and another guy who didn't seem to like her either. Tally would be stupid to say that she wasn't scared. Because she was.
She was scared shitless.
But she was also angry. And in this moment, her anger won out. She balled her fists and glared at him, struggling against the restraints. She wanted to punch Hun in his smug face. This one guy had caused her so much pain and suffering, all she wanted to do was roundhouse-kick him the side of his fat head.
"You-You son of a bitch!" she yelled at him. "You sleazy no good drug dealing thug assho-"
Tally gasped as she was slapped across the cheek.
"We're getting off topic." The Foot said, crossing his arms. "Girl," he said, addressing her. Tally glared back, her cheek still stinging. "Where are your turtle friends?"
"I don't know." She said.
"You don't know?"
"No."
Another slap across the cheek. Tally prodded her tongue against the inside of her mouth.
"These hits are going to get harder and less pleasant as we go on," He threatened.
Tally glared up at him. "I don't know where they are." She said again. "Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
"We've seen you with them shrimp." Hun pointed out. "We know you know."
"Then why didn't you just follow them when you saw us?" Tally asked, shifting in the metal chair. She shook her head. "I don't know where they are. I don't ." she paused. "And if you, with all your fancy ninja stuff and street know-how, haven't found them yet. There's no way you'll ever do it."
Tally exhaled sharply as the Foot yanked her ponytail roughly.
"I wouldn't be too sure." The Foot said, jerking his head toward Hun. "We have ways of making you talk."
Suddenly Hun's meaty hand was wrapped around her throat, cracking her head against the wall. Her mouth opened to cry and grab some air, but there was nothing. She was still tied to the chair, so she couldn't claw at his hands with her own. She was helpless, and she was losing oxygen.
Her eyes widened and those tears you get when you can't breathe welled up and fell. They were also tears of fear. Pure, unadulterated fear. She had convinced herself that they weren't actually going to hurt her. She was a kid! She was fifteen, they wouldn't. Then again, she thought. Hun did almost kill you a couple weeks ago. Why didn't her common sense ever work before she needed it?
She kicked her legs out, but they hit nothing. She opened her mouth to speak, and Hun released his grip slightly, allowing Tally to gasp in a gulp of air.
"I-I don't know-" she strangled out. Hun started to press down again, and she sobbed out, "No! I-I was blind folded the entire time!" she yelled, tears falling freely. "I can't tell you!" Hun let her go and the chair rocked forward, the front legs crashing loudly on the floor. Tally heaved for air through her sobs. "U-Underground." She whispered. "Somewhere underground." She looked up at them. "That's all I know, I swear." She flexed her fingers. "Please let me go."
There was a silence, and Tally's heart dropped into her stomach.
"Thank you." The Foot said. "But we might need you again, so we can't let you go just yet."
Tally yelped as a knife came down and slashed the ropes that were binding her wrists. She was hauled up and pushed through the doorway, down a hall. She tried to take in as much as possible, but there wasn't much. It was just a windowless hallway with doors on either side of it. On top of that, she was completely disoriented, and was sure she had a concussion.
She was pushed into a small, windowless room. Tally stumbled in and looked back at the towering Hun and glared at him. She hated him, she hated him so much. He met her gaze and gave a foul smile, before slamming the concrete door. She could hear the final nail slam in her coffin as the heavy lock clicked.
And then she was alone.
She walked up to the wall and slid down it in misery, pulling her knees to her chest. How could she have given them up so quickly? She was supposed to be a tough, street kid. She had expected to last at least longer than that. Tally let out a sob and buried her head in her knees. She thought she was so much tougher than that. How could she? She thought she was stronger.
But really?
She was just an angry, petrified fifteen year old who got in way over her head. Now this group of thugs was probably going to kill her. How could she have been so stupid? And because of her, the turtles-her friends-were in danger.
She had to fix this.
Tally took a few calming breathes and wiped her nose. She massaged her wrists where they had been rubbed raw by the ropes and stood up. Then, she gently prodded her head and winced, feeling the nasty bruise that was forming there. That was okay, she could deal with that, hell, she probably deserved it. Just one more injury to add to the list, she thought dully as she felt her (thankfully still intact) stitches.
She took another deep breathe and jumped about, to get the blood flowing again and to shake out all of her previous nerves.
"C'mon Tal," She told herself. "Don't be a baby." She shook out for a few more seconds before tightening her ponytail and taking stock of her situation.
Getting out through the door was out of the question, so she looked around the room. There was literally nothing. It was a bare, windowless room. Tally scrunched up her eyebrows. If this room was windowless, how was she getting enough air? The door, she observed, was way too thick, and the cracks between it and the walls were much too small and narrow to provide amble air. She snapped her fingers in thought and looked up at the ceiling. She grinned. There it was; her salvation.
An air duct. The thing looked big enough to fit her small frame. And if it stayed that width, she could get out and warn the turtles. She could do this.
Tally jumped up and grabbed the grid, loosening it before quietly setting it aside. She took one last look toward the door before hauling herself up into the duct.