Zaltana wakes up with Mina not too far away still. She groans, her head hurting slightly from the sedative, her lip a bit sore. She puts a hand to her head, reaching across for Mina's hand. "Mina, wake up." She shakes her a bit harder before she notices someone watching her every move. She looks at Storm Shadow blankly, going back to Mina. "Hey, get up."
"We had to sedate her not too long ago," says another voice, this one unbodied. Zaltana faces the camera calmly. "She was getting agitated." Zaltana stands up, stumbling just a bit. She looks down at the pinkette, moving toward the door of the cell where Storm Shadow watches.
"She does that," Zaltana mumbles, looking at the lock. A bio metric palm scanner. Damn it. Zaltana goes back to Mina, the disoriented feeling beginning to clear up as she takes in her surroundings carefully, memorizing every detail. She sits in silence for another hour before Mina begins waking up again, kicking out immediately. Zaltana takes the hit, steadily getting angry.
"Mina!" The pinkette comes to attention after a few blinks. "Calm down. We have to figure a way out of here." Zaltana gets up to pace the cell, well aware of how the next few hours are going to go with her and Mina in one cell. Mina goes to look at the lock. "Bio metric palm scanner. We don't stand a chance against it. Or the ninja outside." Mina stares hard at Storm Shadow, probably hoping to make him burn.
"Flint's right," Storm Shadow says, speaking for the first time. "You aren't the woman you were, Zaltana." The blonde doesn't acknowledge him, though she desperately wants to tell him to shut up and that he doesn't know her. She wants to tell him she doesn't know him so he can't know her. Then it hits her like a ton of bricks. He killed Zartan. He killed Zartan.
Zaltana flings herself at the cell bars. Mina pulls on her shoulder, demanding for her to get back to the problem at hand rather than "snarl at some dumbass ninja" for hours. Storm Shadow blinks. "You murderer," she spits. "You killed him. You killed him!" She repeats her mantra, attempting to get through the bars to Storm Shadow. "You killed him!"
Mina turns her best friend around to slap her hard. "Pull yourself together, Z! You're supposed to be the leader, but you can't do shit if you keep on reacting like this every time you see him!" Zaltana turns a nasty glare on Storm Shadow. "I get it, he killed your old pal. But Zartan didn't give a shit about you if I remember right. If this is for Zarana, you know how much she likes to take care of her own business."
"You're pissing me off, Mina."
"You're pissing me off, Zaltana."
"This is a side effect of the fucking sedative, isn't it?"
"The fuck would I know? I'm always like this when I lose."
"True." Zaltana glares at him a moment longer before taking her arms back in and pacing the cell again. The duo circle each other, taking in what they can before coming to the conclusion that the best thing to is wait, no matter how they hate it. Storm Shadow takes this all in, particularly interested in Zaltana. She stares straight back before asking, "What?"
A weight falls on her arm, and Zaltana sees Mina is asleep. "Zartan was a friend?" he asks in such a voice that makes Zaltana feel a bit guilty. She doesn't understand why though as an image flashes through. A man with a look of deep, deep regret and hatred, lost in memories. "Zaltana?" Mina slightly shakes her shoulder, an almost unseen movement.
"Yeah," Zaltana replies, acting as though nothing happened with as much as she can muster. Storm Shadow walks forward with a suspicious expression. Mina stands up, and Zaltana grabs the pillow left for her and Mina. The door opens and closes and he's right in front of the blonde. "The fuck do you want? I am completely at your fucking mercy here, so throw me a damn bone if I space out."
"You saw something." It's a statement Zaltana neither confirms nor denies. He stays there, and Zaltana glares at him to go away. "Zaltana, you... Aron!" He stands up, glaring at a corner where a boy stands in the shadows. "I told you I wasn't going to relent on you seeing her-"
"Hawk said your shift is over. Jaye's taking over." His words are almost impatient as he tries his damnedest to not look at Zaltana or Mina. "I'm sorry, I guess I guess I forgot..." Storm Shadow shakes his head and leaves the cell, grabbing Aron and sinking down to his height. "I'm sorry, I really didn't-"
"How long until Jaye is here?"
"Uhh... Five minutes maybe. She got distracted with Flint. I think she's a bit mad at mo-" Storm Shadow silences him, standing up straight as though to check something only he can see. "Storm?" Zaltana glances curiously at this boy, and Mina keeps looking back and forth between them, her eyes lingering on the boy before going back to her only friend in this hell.
"You have three minutes to talk to her if you want, boy." There's a brief silence before the boy turns to Zaltana again, eyes shadowed as though hiding his tears. "She doesn't remember. Keep it short, keep it brief. Remember what we talked about." Aron looks back at Zaltana, not really saying anything as he takes her in. "Two minutes."
Aron blinks, and Zaltana can see his eyes well for the first time. "Holy shit, Z... You never told me you had a kid."
"I don't." Zaltana crawls forward, meeting the boy through the bars. "He must be Hibiki's son. Let's admit, with how many one night stands that boy has, I'm surprised he hasn't been sued to support the child. I've only fucked Thomas my whole life." The words feel like a lie as they leave her mouth. She's never worded it like that, but it... It doesn't feel right. She's noticed it about some of the other things she's said, but not as strongly as that.
"Uncle Hibiki?" Aron leans forward. "Uncle Hibiki is alive?! I told you, Storm Shadow. I told you I saw him the other night with Aunt Hillary."
Zaltana leans back. "I don't have any siblings. A Joe murdered my parents before we could expand the family." Another sense of lying. Why are they making her say everything that feels like a lie? "Hibiki is an awesome friend though. Me, him, Thomas, and Mina are usually together."
"Okay, well, he has your eyes and your nose. I don't think Hibiki could make someone as gorgeous as him anyway, and you'd remember if you were pregnant." Mina lays down, closing her eyes. "Let's go to sleep. Commander'll come back for us eventually." Zaltana nods in agreement, taking the pillow and going to her own little corner, wrapping her jacket around her for extra warmth.
Zaltana closes her eyes, wishing she was back with the other guys. She stares at the roof, Mina's soft snores filling the cell as someone new takes up post. Jaye is a woman with dark hair and blue eyes that Zaltana actually likes. The blonde keeps her gaze on the ceiling, trying to keep her attention away from them. She thinks on everything about her past, but her mind repeatedly goes back to the scene a few minutes. "Zaltana?"
"Fuck all of you," Zaltana replies, turning to her side to stare at the wall. She keeps her thoughts light, trying not to come back to the little boy, Hibiki's nonexistent past, and the white clad ninja who still won't let her see his face without the balaclava. They do though, and she dreams about so many weird things.
"Keep it up, Lilah." Lilah? Who's Lilah? Zaltana has no control over what she's doing, can't even turn her head to see who's standing above her. "You're getting better, honey. Honest." It's then Zaltana realizes she's trying to go to sleep desperately, cries heard all around her. Someone is standing above her though, and she jumps terribly as someone shakes her shoulder.
A young boy, a few years younger than she, stands above her with tears running down his face, a stuffed bear in hand. "Hibiki? You know better than to walking around," She whispers, hurrying to move aside and get him to lay down with her before they come check on them both. "You know what they'll do if you see you." He climbs in quickly, snuggling close to Zaltana.
The door swings open, and the both of them close their eyes to seem like a pair of sleeping kids. A loud gulp is heard easily before the door slams closed, shaking the whole house. Zaltana sighs, tears leaking out, before clutching the boy tighter. "We'll be okay, Hibiki. One day, we will get out of here. One day, no one will hit you ever again. One day..." Zaltana trails off, and the both of them fall asleep to her promises of hopes and dreams.
Zaltana blinks, looking into the bright sun as someone moves next to her. She looks to see an older version of the boy next to her, tears streaming his face. "I should've been there," he cries in a voice that breaks Zaltana's heart. "I could've done something."
"What would you have done?" Zaltana has no control again. "There were five guys, Hibiki. They would've raped you too."
"How can you talk so easily about this?!" he yells at her. "We can't even call the cops, Z!" Zaltana sits up, holding his hand. He cries, trying not to show it by burying his face in his knees. "You... Z, you would get hit for this. Even if it isn't your fault, you'd get hit. I don't want you to be like Hillary and Lilah. I don't want to lose another sister."
Zaltana smiles softly. "You won't, Hibiki. They will never know because we're going to leave. I already contacted Hillary, and she's going to take all of us in." She feels hope that he doesn't notice what she said.
"All of us?"
Zaltana sighs, her smile slipping away. "I'm pregnant, Hibiki."
"Shit." She barely dodges the shuriken thrown her way. Another cuts her cheek, and the warm blood slides down her cheek. She feels for the extra clip under the desk. She doesn't understand how she knows it's there because she's never been there as he comes towards her, a katana blade at the ready. She holds her dagger in a defensive position, continuing her search. He holds something in his other hand, showing it her in a very taunting way. "Okay, that's just being a dick. Like, for real." She rolls to the side as the katana came down.
Standing on her own feet, she moves out of the way of the the blurry figure's strikes. She is hesitant to attack in this dream, though she knows she wouldn't be in real life, and that hesitance becomes vital in keeping out of his reach. Vases are smashed, slashes in the walls of wood, and everything is being destroyed. She finally gets enough and blocks his strike with her blade, drawing a dagger just a bit shorter than the one she already has.
She lashes out with the other dagger, a hair's breath away from him. He's obviously caught off guard. She uses it to her advantage, holding the dagger in a way that exposes her knuckles to his chin as the blonde performs an uppercut. He catches her wrist easily though, and she sees a needle in his hand where her spare clip had been. In an act of desperation, she twists her wrist around, cutting his arm.