A/N Holy freaking cow eating monkey muffin! Two chapters at once? What the hell's wrong with me? Well…several things. But because I was soooo nice and did this, I need a couple of things from you, my wonderful, beautiful, loverly, readers. One, again, go read my other stuff. It would make me jizz all over the place, and I know how much you want that. Two, check out my beta-ees: bananacupcake and Lottie564. /fin
Cassie's POV
I can't breathe.
I try to suck in the air, try to supply the oxygen to my screaming lungs, but all I get is mouthfuls of feathers and dust. Somewhere to my left, I hear Nick, groaning. I struggle upwards, screeching at a biting pain in my side.
"Nick?" I scream. The shots are still raining around us, but, somehow, no more hit me. Not surprising; I can't see my own hand, so I doubt the assaulters can see us.
"Cass!" I follow the sound of Nick's labored shout, grab on to him, and haul him over to where I remember the window is. I loop my arm through both our bags then feel for the latch and struggle to get the window open, hoping to whatever there is to hope to that the bullets pinging about won't hit us. Luck is with us. Somehow.
The bullets may not be killing us, but the window won't open. I groan.
"Hold on to me, Nick. For your life." I feel his arms tighten around me. I fumble around beside me until my hand closes around a hotel chair, and I throw it through the smooth glass. Finally, there's some light in here, but I don't take a second to see who's behind us.
Before even I realize what's happening, Nick and I are flying through the air. It's very dark, the only light coming from the various restaurants, bars, and strip clubs still open at this time of night. From ten stories up, I don't imagine we'll end up getting off without something breaking. At the very best. However, Lady Luck strikes again, and we land in a dumpster brimming with the hotel's trash.
There are shouts coming from the window above us, and, as much as I don't want to, I play the hero and bury Nick and I deep in the trash. Nick, though looking extremely pale, is still here enough to help out a little and have the common sense to keep quiet, something I can't say he's ever been able to do before. I clutch his hand, trying to keep my breathing shallow.
Footsteps appear close to us seconds later. I press a shaking hand against my mouth to try to stifle any other noises I may have the misfortune of making. Nick does the same, looking up at me with wide eyes. We both stare at each other, keeping as still as dead bodies, waiting for the footsteps to leave. They run into the alley we're hiding it, stopping not five feet away.
"Which way did they go?" A deep voice asks.
"I'm not sure," another voice says. "I can't get a Reading on them."
"Well, fucking try harder!" The first voice barks. "If we don't bring them back, Kira'll kill us both!" My heart stops when I hear her name. Kira. This just makes the situation ten times worse. I could handle just a few random Division cronies, I could handle Carver coming back to life and seeking revenge. The one thing I can't do is practically staring me in the eye.
Without much premeditation, I press my finger to my lips, then start to move upwards through the garbage as quietly as I can.
"What are you doing?" Nick hisses.
"Shut up and be ready to help me out." He clenches his jaw, but nods. I peek over the edge of the dumpster, then duck back down. Both men are turned just so; if they should decide to look this way, there's no way they wouldn't see me. Well. Get the job done quickly.
I feel to my thigh, thankful that I'd had the foresight to fasten a gun there. I slip it out, cock it, and, in a blinding movement, jump out of the trash can and shoot with surprisingly good aim at the two Division agents. One of them falls immediately, his brains splattered on the wall behind him. The other acts just as quickly as I, drawing a gun and pointing it at me. We stand, facing each other, waiting for the other to make a move.
"Well?" The man says. "Are you going to shoot me, or not?"
"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of inviting you to my next tea party. Who knows? We might become fabulous friends!" I snarl. I'm confident enough with my gunsmanship to know that this guy doesn't stand a chance.
"Harry?" Three more agents bolt around the corner. Shit. Okay, maybe he stands a chance, now.
"Umm…Nick?" I call. "You…may want to come help me, now." Nick jumps out of the dumpster. He makes a sweeping motion towards the three new guys, knocking them against the alley wall. I take that distraction to lodge a bullet in the other man's head. Nick looks like he's about to do something kickass when he falls to the ground, clutching at his chest. I quickly take care of the other Division members, then rush to his side.
"Oh, God." In the distance, I hear sirens. "Fuuuuuck." I hoist Nick up, throw him over my shoulder, and rush away from the sirens. Thankfully, I remember a place from way back when where no one questions when someone walks in with a man bleeding all over the place. Called simply 'Black', it's an underground, very hush-hush place, for, frankly, criminals. I sprint there, hoping to God that it won't end like this. I try to See, but something's blocking my Sight.
"How can I help you?" A woman asks from the other side of the door leading to Black.
"Please, I-I just need a room. Quick." The door swings open and I'm jostled in.
"Whoa. What happened to him?" A scantily dressed woman regards Nick carefully.
"Long story. Just, get me somewhere quiet." She nods and leads me down a long hallway, past the door that leads to the pub, past various other rooms, to one at the very end of the hall. I open the door and am astonished to see a half-way decent looking room, complete with two soft-looking beds and a clean bathroom.
"Thank you, very much!" The woman nods shortly and closes the door behind me. I gingerly lay Nick down on the first bed, then sit down next to him.
"Nick? Nick, can you hear me?" He groans. "Sorry, this is going to be really awkward for you later, but it has to be done." I rip off his bloodied shirt, and pull his pants down as far as they'll go without showing too much.
"God, damn." I close my eyes, trying to get accustomed to Nick's ruined chest. There's blood all over, with a huge wound right under his heart. I run to the bathroom and fill up a bowl I find under the sink with warm water, then grab a towel and rush back to Nick, who's beginning to whimper.
I spend at least an hour carefully scrubbing off the blood and stilling the bleeding from the wound. It's a little difficult, as there's still a bullet wedged in there.
"I hope you aren't overly prone to infection…" I mutter, resorting to using a pair of tweezers I've had stashed in my bag for five years to dig out the bullet. The type of bullet the Division uses must not yield much shrapnel; when the bullet finally comes out, it's completely and perfectly intact.
The wound, though wide and gnarly, isn't as deep as I'd previously assumed. I don't see bone, at least, and that's good enough for me. At just the perfect moment, as I'm moping up more blood, my eyesight fades out…
Xiao is back, with three of the seven I sent the Pops out to find. One of them…is a Stitch. He's working on Nick, binding up his wound quickly. And Nick looks quite well, despite the open hole in his chest.
For once in my life, I think I may have actually Seen something good. The best part is that the clock in the Vision, which I now see sitting between the two beds, read the date for Thursday, at 3 a.m. It's almost three on Wednesday morning! Twenty-four hours…
With all this luck I'm getting tonight, I highly doubt that the future will have such results.
I go back to cleaning Nick's wound, when, suddenly, he bolts upright. I morph my shriek of surprise with a coughing fit.
"Cass! Are you okay?"
"I'm good. I'm more worried about you at this point." Nick looks down at his chest, his eyes widening.
"Ow." He says in surprise.
"Ow, is right. You had me scared shitless." He pushes himself up. "Nick, you really shouldn't-"
"You're hurt." I follow his gaze. Oh. It appears I am. There seems to be a large amount of blood on my right side. Nick touches it gently, then lifts my shirt to reveal the wound. "'Tis just a flesh wound," I say with a sigh of relief. A scratch, really. Nothing like Nick's.
"Cassie…you saved us." He looks back up at me.
"Yeah, don't get used to it." I say gruffly, pulling my shirt back over the scratch.
"I'm impressed. I don't think you've ever done anything for anyone else." He teases.
"Like I said, don't get used to it. This was a one time thing. Next time, you're dead." I tease back. He reaches over and ruffles my hair. I sigh. Moment killed. Instead of leaving my hair in a mess, though, Nick smoothes it back, his hand traveling down my hair to my cheek, where it stops, cupping, cupping my face. As much as I wouldn't like it to, I feel my cheeks flush. Nick chuckles.
"You really aren't the same girl from six years ago, are you?" I watch him with wide eyes, my breath catching in my throat. Nick's smile fades, replaced by…something that I can't quite place my finger on. His thumb strokes my cheek, and starts to lean in. My eyes flutter shut.
"Like a virgin, touched for the very first ti-ime!" Damnit. Nick stops his movement, dropping my face and edging a bit away from me. Fucking phone. It's more of a cock-blocker than the Division. I sigh angrily and reach for my bag, rummaging around until I find it.
"Hello?" I snap.
"It's Xiao. We're on our way back." As pissed off as I am, it's good to hear those words.
"How long?"
"About a day. Hopefully less. It just depends on who we run in to."
"Got it. Meet us at Black. Describe me to the woman and she'll bring you to us." I'm glad I don't have to explain where Black is; somehow, I believe that Xiao knew about it long before I did.
"See you soon." Xiao says.
"Bye." I flip the phone closed and turn back to Nick, hoping that the mood isn't completely dead. Unfortunately, Nick is dead. Dead asleep. I sigh, get a bandage wrapped around Nick (which isn't easy with him not being able to cooperate), clean myself up, and settle in to try to get some sleep.
A/N Is it me, or is Cassie going soft? Something's got to change…Anyway, you got two to keep you going, now review and don't hound me, bro! :DD