Charlie has gotten on all right without parental supervision for a few years now. She knows how to hunt, she knows which plants are edible. She can built a small shelter and find drinkable water. She can steal, though she's never had to, and she is quick enough to outrun a huge number of people.
All those skills aren't helpful now, surrounded by seven grown men, soldiers trained by Miles himself. They're also traitors who want the general's niece for leverage. They're low-ranked, so Charlie doesn't really expect much, but they have her backed in an alley with little to aid her and no way out.
It's been a month since she came to live with Miles, and the news of her identity came to light just yesterday. The generals had tried to keep her a secret, but being the two most famous people in the city, it hadn't worked for long.
"C'mon, sweetheart," the leader says, offering his hand. Her crossbow is in the other, and she feels naked without it. She'd let her guard down and allowed him to disarm her. Her parents had instilled vigilance in her from an early age, but Philly had felt so safe compared to the exposed towns she's lived in, even with an army training and growing visibly throughout the city.
Charlie steps back, hitting the wall behind her, only a foot left between her and the rebels. "Back off," she glares, and the men laugh in her face. Her fists are clenched, her eyes darting from side to side so she can find a way out. It's hopeless. Her only option is the drainpipe on her left, but they will catch her before she can climb high enough.
The man snatches her wrist and twist, making Charlie cry out and forces her to her knees. Another soldier offers the rope to tie her up, and it doesn't take long before her mouth is cover with cloth to keep her from shouting out for help. She struggles, she bites and kicks and punches, but she doesn't stand a chance.
"What's going on here?" It's Monroe, she would recognise his voice anywhere. He hasn't seen her yet, her form obscured by the soldiers.
"Nothing, sir," one of the three who'd been on the look-out says. He's a perfect liar, doesn't twitch, doesn't give anything away. Any hope that had been growing in Charlie dissipates quickly.
"Nothing, huh?" Monroe shakes his head, two majors behind him waiting for orders, "Then why are you three blocking the entrance for your buddies?" Good, he's suspicious. Maybe he can read people really well, and knows these soldiers are up to no good. Or maybe somebody saw them try to overpower her. Either way, the president isn't backing off.
Bass unsheathes his double blades. His majors follow his example, not bothering to call for backup even though they're outnumbered two to one. The traitors draw their weapons, knowing they've been found out. Charlie struggles to undo her bonds as her captor looks away to focus on his enemies. She forces herself into the corner, where she has the least likely chance to get hurt.
She wants to close her eyes, doesn't want to see this, wants to be back in the suite with Miles, had been meaning to ask him when Jeremy would return and when she could finally meet the man both generals talk so highly off.
But her eyes stay open, wider and wider as Monroe single-handedly tears through all seven soldiers. He manages to get them all to their knees, stab wounds in carefully non-lethal places, the hilt of his sword on their heads knocking two out, the remaining soldiers surrendering. The majors tie them up, others coming up to offer assistance at the commotion.
Bass only has eyes for her, falling to his knees and removing the cloth in front of her mouth. "Are you hurt?" he asks seriously, fingers working at the knots at her ankles and wrists without tearing his eyes away from her. She shakes her head, at loss for words.
Charlie knows that Miles and Monroe are fighters, but to see Bass actually fight was as incredible as it was frightening. He just took down half a dozen men and he is barely even out of breath. He doesn't seem concerned with what he just did at all, not bothering to look at how his soldiers take the traitors away.
"Did you kill them?" Her voice is annoyingly small. She feels small. All these things she can do, skills and abilities, and she was useless. Charlie has tried to be so much more than others, has had to be more. Still, it hasn't been enough.
"No," he reassures her dismissively, "I need to know whom they're working for and if there are others." The 'otherwise I would've' goes unsaid, but Charlie hears it clearly, and is bothered by it. Monroe puts so little value in life. She can trust that he'll protect her because she's Miles', but with nothing else. He is so morally loose that she gets nauseated when he and Miles talk battle strategies before the three of them retire to bed for the night.
Charlie gets up, batting away Monroe's assisting hands and grabbing onto the drainpipe for support. She breathes slowly, trying to calm herself down before she actually goes into shock or something. The last thing she wants is for Monroe to carry her all the way back home. "Where's Miles?"
Monroe glances away for the first time to see the traitors piled on a cart going for the cells. There's one major left waiting for him and further orders with Charlie's crossbow, but he turns his attention back to the girl. "He's overseeing the return of Jeremy's regiment, I was on my way to debrief when I saw Severide guarding a random alley with his goons. The guy has been on our suspected spy list for a while now, so I had to check it out. Good thing I did."
This should be the part where she thanks him, but she isn't feeling like it. Monroe is hardly her white knight in shining armour, not many honourable intentions to speak of. She doesn't particularly want to be the damsel in distress either.
"Jeremy is here," she deflects, perking up at the news, "Is he coming for dinner?" She mostly likes the people her uncle interacts with. They are interesting and always have adventures to tell. These people are like her own personal storybook, and Jeremy has known her uncle and Bass the longest from all the citizens of Philadelphia.
Bass sees right through the manoeuvre, but allows it and nods. Truthfully he's excited to see his friend again as well. It has been months since Jeremy took the regiment to Georgia when they were threatening a full-out war again. A lot of the soldiers are still there, but he and Miles had decided they'd need their friend closer to home, especially with Charlie around. They need somebody they can trust with the girl, with her safety, health and happiness, and there is nobody the two of them trust more.