Disclaimer: I do not own anything in my stories except for the fan fiction (including plots, OC's and so on). All the characters belong to the rightful owners. Any songs/poems/etc in my stories do not belong to me unless stated otherwise.
A/N: Hello again amigos.
I realized today that it had been two weeks since I posted the first chapter. So I apologize for this one coming onto the interwebs so late. This also means that you are in no mood for my fuckery, so I'll let you get on with it.
Chapter 2
"Everything is funny, if you can laugh at it."
In and out. In and out. Scarlett focused on her breath as she ran. The jungle, green and lush, sped by her as she pushed her legs to move faster. Her muscles ached, her lungs were burning and it felt like her veins were pumping acid.
Run. Run.
Bawa.
She couldn't stop. She knew she couldn't stop. If she stopped... No. She couldn't even think of what would happen if she stopped. A sense of doom hung over her as tears stung the back of her eyes. She couldn't run much longer. She knew that.
Run. Run.
Saya.
She had to be smart. Be smart.
Run. Run.
Ke.
How can you be smart in a situation like this?
Keep running, Scarlett.
Run.
Jantung.
Her vision was blurred with tears and the green that was passing her by, she didn't even notice a tree that was horizontally on the ground. She stumbled and fell flat on her stomach.
Anda.
Words were said, but not by her. At least she didn't think it was her. Even if it was her, she couldn't understand them. She wasn't even sure she heard them, she just knew they were said.
She felt a tug. And then she was drowning. Water as far to the sides as she could see and deep down below her, turning into a menacing black void. She didn't dare take a breath in.
Her muscles locked up and she couldn't move. The only this she could do was scream, but even that was muffled by the water.
Scarlett sighed. It was that moment of blissful emptiness that you get when you first wake up, everything was blank for a good couple of seconds. Blank from the dream before and the day before. However all too soon she was overcome with a wave of annoyance as sunlight shined right into her eye from the small window in the room. Scarlett groaned and rolled to her other side, a spring from the bed digging into the skin over her ribs uncomfortably. She stretched, several of her joints cracked, and the handcuffs, still present on her wrists, felt cold and painful. As she opened her eyes she saw a figure not far from her. Scarlett quickly pulled out the knife from under her pillow and pointed it at the person.
The knife was given to her the night before by Gareth, as a mean of protection.
"Whoa, whoa," Vaas put his hands up to show he wasn't going to hurt her. "Did I startle you?" He laughed.
"What the fuck?" Scarlett groaned, lowering the knife but still keeping it in her hand. She was still slightly disoriented from sleep and couldn't think of a logical reason why the Pirate King would be in her room.
"Good morning, amigo." Vaas' voice bounced off the walls and he was clearly amused by her reaction. "Would you like a fucking tour of my little camp?" Vaas smiled and casually leaned against the wall with his shoulder. If it was any other time, Scarlett would have pushed the thought out of her mind, because she didn't want to admit that the smile was in fact, beautiful.
Scarlett sat up on the bed and rolled her head, so that her neck cracked from all of the angles. "I- Yeah, alright."
"Magnífico!"
"I need to change first."
Vaas' lips twitched, "As you wish." When Vaas didn't move, Scarlett crossed her arms to the best of her abilities.
"In private." She stated, narrowing her eyes at him slightly, and the man slowly left the room, a smirk on his lips.
She huffed out a breath and sat down on the edge of the bed. Her handcuffed hands rose and she rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. She looked around the small room that was given to her, it was a small rectangular box. The room had old wooden walls, wooden floor and a small double bed. With a sigh, she stood and started removing her shirt, only to remember that she had no luggage. Everything that she did bring with her, Hoyt had failed to deliver to the island. Hell, even if she did, she couldn't change her shirt without ripping it because of the handcuffs. Frustrated, she straightened her shirt back down and tucked the knife into her boot. Scarlett excited the room, Vaas was leaning against the wall next to the door.
He gave her a once over and lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "Your clothes are the same." Scar ignored the man and proceeded to walk out of the building. The building had three bedrooms and an empty hallway. Scarlett was merely glad that she didn't have to sleep in the building with the rest of the men. According to Gareth, there was one room with ten beds, which meant more men than beds.
As soon as they were out of the main door of the building, Vaas slung his arm around her shoulders. She was going to shrug it off, but his hand was dangerously close to her neck and very much present, that she opted that it would only piss him off. Vaas was not the kind of person who you wanted to piss off. She had learned that yesterday, when she had made a comment about something completely insignificant, she couldn't even remember what. She did remember his reaction though. Vaas had slammed her against the wall, hand at her throat and his teeth bared right in her face, like a wild animal. Then a second later he was laughing, while still strangling her. Scarlett was sure she had bruises on her neck from that.
"So, hermana, this is my fucking camp." He motioned around them lazily with his left hand.
Vaas showed her around the camp, telling her where most of the things were. She was glad to hear that there was internet access in a building across the camp from her quarters. Last night, when they had gotten to the camp, it was dark and she was tired and in pain. Meaning that she took in less than she should have. Now, in daylight, the camp was bigger than she expected, lots of buildings and many cages of screaming and crying hostages on one side of it.
Vaas was exactly what she expected, yet he was nothing like she expected. He treated her well enough, knowing she was under Hoyt's protection, though he did put a blade to her throat a couple of times. Scarlett quickly learned to respond to his questions as fast as possible and try not to piss him off too much. She did admit that his reactions amused her slightly, but she didn't exactly have a death wish.
"You fucking hungry?" Vaas questioned, as if on cue her stomach growled loudly and Vaas laughed. The last time had ate was when she was on the plane to the Rook Islands. Close to thirty hours ago, if not more. "I shall take that as a yes." He led her into a mix between a shack and a deck. Or a shack with a deck whilst being on said deck. On the deck itself there were many tables and chairs surrounding them. Tied to the poles, that held the beams upright and supported the rickety pieces of metal which were disguised as a roof, were two hostages.
One was a young woman, who couldn't have been more than maybe eighteen years old. She had light blonde hair that was once perhaps up in a bun, now half of it was down and sticking to her dirty skin. Her eyes were closed and she had a sweet face, even with the dirt and dried tear marks on her cheeks. The other was a boy just entering manhood, perhaps the same age as the girl next to him. He was lanky, with arms and legs too long for his torso. Scarlett eyed them carefully, wondering why in hell where they in what seemed to be the kitchen slash cafeteria for the men. The thought of the pirates being cannibals quickly flashed through her mind and she felt her stomach twist. Scarlett and Vaas sat down at a table and it wasn't long until two plates of food were in front of them. The meal was mostly fruit and Scarlett wasn't complaining.
A kiss landed on top of Scarlett's head. "Good morning, kid."
"Hey, Gareth." She responded as the man sat down next to her. She was still crossed with the old man, but she warmth in her stomach over the affectionate, yet some-what insignificant, act gave away how much she had really missed Gareth.
"Sleep well?" He questioned and stole a piece of mango off her plate, popping it into his mouth with a grin.
Scarlett merely shook her head. "Well enough, I suppose." Gareth took a seat next to her and she continued to speak. "Can I ask, why the hell are there two people bound up here like pigs?"
Gareth chuckled and nudged arm with his elbow. "Dinner."
Scarlett stared at him for a moment. "You have got to be fucking kidding me." she said, Gareth's grin widened.
"They are there because they are pigs," Vaas said in a-matter-of-fact voice and stood up, walking over to the blonde girl. Her eyes opened, revealing clear and bright blue eyes, at the sound of footsteps approaching. "They tried to run." Vaas pulled a gun from the holster on his hip and stroked the girls cheek with the shiny barrel. The girls eyes pooled with tears and they were soon running down her cheeks, she bit her lip to keep silent.
Scarlett swallowed and her stomach felt hollow, regretting ever bringing up the two hostages.
"They know, there is no fucking way out." Vaas was mere centimetres away from her face. "They know, that there is no fucking escape." The girl squeezed her eyes shut and let out a sob. "Shh shh," He shushed, wiping her tears away with his thumb. "It's going to be okay, shh. Don't cry." It was terrifying how sincere he sounded, then again for all Scarlett knew he could have been.
When the girl didn't stop crying, Vaas grabbed her chin and pulled her toward himself a little. "What did I just tell you, mujer? Huh?" She bit her lip again, muffling her sobs. "What? The? Fuck? Did? I? Tell? You?" He shouted, pronouncing each word separately for emphasis.
The blonde girls lip trembled as she spoke. "S-s-stop crying." She managed to stutter out in a broken voice. Scarlett wanted to go and defend her, to cut let loose and send her far away from this godforsaken place. She knew however, that it would do more harm than good. There was no way out by yourself. Also, if she helped the blonde girl, she herself would most likely be taken hostage. Scarlett was sure that Vaas, at that point, wouldn't care that she was under Hoyt's protection.
"Yes!" Vaas threw his arms up with a smile. "I told you, to stop the fucking crying!" Vaas shouted at her, his voice was strong and commanding. All of the men around them didn't pay attention to the screaming, but you could tell that they tensed up. All of their movement became that much more calculated and careful as a reaction to the strength of Vaas' voice.
The girl let out another sob and Vaas sighed in disappointment. "Amigo. Pay attention now. Okay?" He sounded like was about to explain something to a three year old. "If. You do not stop crying. I will be forced to give you to Smiley." He raised an eyebrow at her.
Vaas motioned to the man with the dreadlocks and red bandanna, who had commented about her the previous day. He was three tables over from Scarlett and Old Man, slightly swaying while sitting. Smiley waved his fingers at the girl, smirked and kissed the air in her direction, letting out a sickeningly wet and loud 'mwah' sound.
"And trust me," Vaas nodded. "You don't want to... How do you say? Get acquainted, yes. You do not want to get acquainted, if you know what I mean, with Smiley. No, no, no, no, no you do not." Vaas laughed.
"Leave her alone!" A voice sounded, it took a moment for Vaas to realize that the voice came out of the boy who was also tied up.
"What the fuck did you say?" Vaas asked. He walked over to the boy and stared him down. "What the fuck did you just say, hermano? Cause, uh. I couldn't hear you." He motioned to his ear with his gun. "I'm asking you to repeat yourself, amigo."
"I said." The boy paused. "Leave her alone!" Then the boy spat on Vaas' chest. Scarlett admitted that the boy had guts, but sadly no brains.
Vaas chuckled, looking genuinely amused. "Alone huh? You want me," Vaas motioned to his chest with his gun. "To leave her alone?" Vaas motioned to the girl.
The boy nodded and Vaas cocked his head to the side. "Alone. Alone means having no one else present. On one's own. Solo. Solitary. Lone. Huh?" He grabbed the back of the boy's head by his hair and Scarlett winced at the sight. The boys eyebrows pulled together in pain, but he kept his jaw set. The boy was still staring down Vaas. "Without others' help or participation. Single-handed. Unaided. Unassisted." He chuckled again and pressed the barrel of the gun under the boys jaw, pointing up at his head. "Alone. Huh? Isolated and lonely. Deserted. Abandoned. This is what you want, huh?" He laughed again, a hysterical laugh. "You kids, you kids these days! You have a really fucked up concept of love, you know?"
Vaas was terrifying, there was no question in that. However Scarlett was still surprised that Vaas managed to give the boy a dictionary definition of the word 'alone'.
Another laugh from Vaas. "Hey, Old Man!" He called out and let go of the boy, pulling his gun back at the same. "Did you hear this boy? Eh? He wanted for me to leave his mujer over there alone. Can you believe that?"
Gareth grumbled something in response which even Scarlett, right next to him, couldn't understand. Vaas however seemed to take no mind.
"You wanted me to leave her alone, and you know. I like to please people." He did a little dance and smiled at the boy. Scarlett's eyes stared at his ass for a moment.
That is one fine ass. The little voice in head noted. Scarlett felt sickened by herself that in a situation like this that was a thing she paid attention to. Vaas pulled the barrel of the gun back and pressed it to his temple.
"VAAS! VAAS!" A man, with an AK-47 in his hand ran toward the deck. "Cepat!" He said and then went on a rant in a language Scarlett didn't understand. She guessed it to be perhaps the native language of the island.
When Vaas responded in the same language, his voice seemed a lot deeper compared to when he spoke English. Vaas pulled the gun away from the boy and tucked it back into the holster. He then shouted out in Spanish, most of the men dropped whatever they were doing and started grabbing their guns. Gareth got up as well and Scarlett followed suit.
"Whoa, what are you doing?" Gareth questioned.
Scarlett raised her eyebrows. "I'm coming with you." She said as if it was obvious and to her it was.
"No." Gareth said. "It's too dangerous, plus you don't even know where we're headed."
Scarlett felt like she was ten years old again. "I am not staying here."
Gareth's eyes flickered to Smiley still sitting at the table. His legs were popped up and he was chewing on a banana. Gareth sighed and nodded, "Fine. But first, I have to go get my walkie-talkie. Coming?"
They walked toward the building that earlier Vaas has pointed out as the building with internet. As they neared it, you could hear loud dubstep blaring out of it. The building was like the rest, on the verge of breaking down. It was rather small and when they entered Scarlett saw there were two rooms. The bigger one that was right there when you walked in, was filled with computers, a big stereo and both steel and wooden crates. The other room was small and only separated by a half wall, so tecnically the whole inside could be considered only as one room. The smaller bit was filled with a bed and clothes that were sprawled on the ground.
At the desk, staring into four different computer screens was a tall and skinny young man with dishevelled blonde hair that reached past his ears. It struck Scarlett as odd, because everyone else was big and muscular and this guy was just scrawny.
Gareth turned the music down to only background noise and the blond turned around in the chair. He had a tall and bony face with high cheekbones and an angular jaw. He had full lips, bright blue eyes and a big straight nose with a piercing in it. His was very pale and clad in red t-shirt that had a black spray painted Marvel S.H.I.E.L.D logo on it and a pair of tight black jeans.
"Scar, this is Kip." Gareth said and Kip offered her a smile. Scarlett gave a hesitant wave back. Gareth went to the side of the room to dig though a box, "Scar could you look through the other one," he said, referring to the wooden box that was right next to him.
Scar leaned down to open the crate and noticed that the crate was in front of a radiator. She stared at the radiator in bewilderment, thinking why on earth anyone on a tropical fucking island would have a radiator installed. Gareth took advantage of the moment when Scarlett zoned out. With another pair of handcuffs he locked Scarlett to the radiator.
"Wai-What? Whoa!" Scarlett shouted. "No. No! Gareth you are not fucking doing this! Seriously!"
Gareth stood up and got out of her kicking reach. "Sorry, kiddo. I can't have you come with us. You shouldn't see shit like that, plus I know you'd figure out a way to come after us. To top that off, I ain't leaving you with Smiley."
Scarlett was boiling with rage. "You motherfucker! And you do not get to decide what I see and what I don't. You gave up that right a long time ago."
"Sorry." Gareth said, actually looking honest. "Have fun with Kip." With that he walked out, leaving behind an amused Kip and an angry Scarlett.
"That motherfucker!" Scarlett said to herself in absolute disbelief. "What a fucking dickhead." She sighed and leaned against the radiator, her arms awkwardly draped over her shoulder. "Please tell me that you're going to unlock me."
Kip gave her an apologetic smile.
"Damn." She sighed. "Why the hell do you even have a radiator, seriously. It's always hot as fuck."
Kip scratched the back of his head, messing his hair up even more. "I honestly have no clue." He was a londoner, judging by his voice. "Maybe Vaas is terrified of global warming and likes to be prepared in case of an ice age?"
Scarlett giggled, her anger starting to slowly fade. "That's one possibility." For some reason the thought of Vaas wearing a big winter jacket was extremely comical.
Kip stared at Scarlett for a moment. She evaluated him to be about her age, maybe a bit younger even. "You're Vincent, right? Scarlett Vincent, but Vincent nonetheless."
Scarlett nodded, wondering why it mattered. Kip got out of his chair and started moving around small crates. When he found the one that he was looking for, he bought it to her. "This came this morning." The box was a wooden and it had her surname spray painted on it.
"What's in it?"
Kip shrugged.
"Will you open it for me? Cause, uh," she jiggled her hands so the handcuffs made noise, "I'm a bit tied up."
Kip snorted at her bad pun, but retrieved a metal bar from the table and opened the lid of the box. It held all of her personal belongings that she brought to the island. This meant that she had clothes and her laptop, including other necessities. "I thought those were lost for forever!" At least there was one good thing that happened today.
Anger surfaced again. Fucking Kidd, she thought. Scarlett looked at the things she could reach, nothing was of use to pick the lock of the handcuffs. With a sigh she tried to see if there was anyway that she could yank her hands free, but quickly came to the decision that without breaking her hands there wasn't.
For an hour she sat there on the box filled with wires and the like. Kip had, thankfully, brought her two pillows, one to sit on and the other to lean on. It didn't help much, but it was still better than the metal digging into her back. During the time she was there, Kip chatted. Scarlett also noticed that Kip was never still, he was always moving, tinkering, pacing, tapping. Then she found out that he had ADHD and was practically a genius when it came to technology. She learned that he also played the guitar.
"What's your story? How did you end up here anyway?" Scar wondered.
He shrugged and proceeded to screw something apart. "I uh, I'm an orphan. Originally anyway. My parents gave me away right after I was born. I was adopted when I was four. Lived in London, then I lived in Bangkok and then London again. When I was thirteen I dropped out of school. Well no." He leaned back in his chair for a moment. Then stood up and started rummaging through crates, all the while talking. "I didn't drop out per se, I ran away. So I doubt I'm still enrolled. Anyway."
"Why?" She interrupted.
"Why did I run away?" He questioned and Scarlett nodded. "Because my foster parents didn't let me drop out of school, they were both university professors, and school just didn't work for me. You... You wouldn't understand. Nobody ever really does."
"Explain it, please." Scarlett was honestly curious. Kip seemed, so innocent and too normal to be living here. "I want to understand but I can't do so if you don't explain. Help me understand."
Kip stared at her for a moment, his brows furrowed a bit. "I just can't connect with people. I don't know why, but I can't. People always expect you to be like them, but I'm never like anyone. At least I wasn't back in London, nor in Bangkok really. I can't work with people and I can't learn the same way that others do. School was hell, because we had to sit in lessons and read. And when everyone else can do it fine and you can't, you become a freak. You're a problem."
Kip quickly glanced at Scarlett to see if she was still listening and she nodded for him to go on. "It frustrates me and when I'm frustrated I get irritated and angry. The thing is though, that I can't control it. And that's just shit."
Scarlett found it odd how Kip was able to open up so fast to a person he didn't even know. She herself could never do that, it took her years to open up to people."I'm sorry," Scarlett said, knowing full well that there was nothing she should be sorry about and that her being sorry wouldn't change anything. However, she felt like she still had to say it.
Kip shook his head with a smile. "That's okay. Really." His smile widened and Scarlett found herself smiling as well. "Thank you though. No one had ever-" He cut himself off. "Anyway. After I ran away. I lived homeless for two years, going and coming as I pleased. Only after food and shelter really."
"You were thirteen?"
Kip nodded, "I made friends with a couple of other guys, they were all older than me obviously. When I turned fifteen, me and another two, had gathered enough money to go somewhere. Far far away. I of course suggested Bangkok. I mean, I remembered the city pretty well so why not." When Kip spoke he was very animated, he spoke as much with his face and arms as he did with his voice. "Getting there is a story in itself. Anyway. When we had spent a couple of weeks in Bangkok, this DJ said that he knew this island where you could do anything. Like whatever extreme sport you wanted and like the craziest things. So he knew of my skill with everything electronic and he said they need a guy like me on the island."
Kip started sorting through the contents of three boxes. "You know, take care of well... Everything that needed to be taken care of. Technology wise. I didn't exactly know what the hell I was getting into." He laughed and forgot the boxes, going back to the desk. "It's not that bad really. After the initial shock it's actually been alright. Better than anywhere else really. I get to be as fucked up as I want and no one cares." He seemed genuinely happy about it.
Scarlett smiled at the boy. "Holy crap. I was definitely not expecting that. So that's what you do? Computer stuff?"
Kip nodded and lit up a cigarette, offering one to Scarlett. To which she nodded, he put the cigarette between her lips and lit it. "Yeah. Pretty much. I rewire alarms and stuff too. There's what, nineteen other outposts like this one, a bit smaller, on the actual North Island."
"What do you mean nineteen?" Scarlett was confused.
"Like." Kip squinted at her. "Where most of the pirates actually live. There's maybe a dozen of us here, this is mainly the place where we hold the hostages. There is a good couple of hundred pirates all together... Don't tell me you thought it was just us?" He laughed, not waiting for Scar's response to continue. "This is the safest place to be. No Rakyat is going to attack here. This island is a fortress in itself. The outposts on the main island are the ones which usually get attacked, so those have alarms and shit to let others know that they're being attacked. Eight out of ten times the alarms get blown out, so I fix them."
Scarlett was confused. "Who are the Rakyat?" She took a drag of her cigarette, even though the extra movement was only adding to her discomfort and pain.
"You really know nothing about this place huh?" Kip wondered and she shook her head. "I don't know if I should tell you."
"No one else has told me so you might as well."
"Who are you?" Kip asked, not in a hostile way.
"I'm... I'm Scar. I'm here because I need to disappear." Her arms were going numb. "You could imagine my surprise when I ran into Gareth. Especially because I thought he was dead."
Kip sat next to her. "You know Kidd?"
Scarlett nodded. "Yeah." She smiled slightly. "The man raised me. He used to be best friends with my dad." She cleared her throat. "So how long have you been here?"
"Five years," he smiled.
"You're... Twenty?"
Kip nodded. "Your dad. It's a tough subject." He wasn't asking, it was a statement, which meant he was more observant than he let on.
"It's a killer." Scar laughed a dry laugh, then averted her eyes. Turning her gaze to her knees, she shook her head. She decided not to push the Rakyat question for now.
"Your neck," Kip motioned with his finger, which confirmed that she did indeed have bruises there. "What happened?"
Scarlett let out a dry chuckle. "Vaas."
Kip smiled and nodded, seemingly understanding. "Yeah, I've been there."
Hours passed. At some point Kip ran out to get the two of them food. It felt weird for Scarlett to have someone feed her, but she was hungry and tied up, so there wasn't much of a choice. Hours kept passing. The two bonded over muffins from a café in London's Soho, their love for Enrique Iglesias and many other things. The topic of Enrique was bought up when the stereo started playing one of his songs. Scarlett noticed that she hadn't felt this carefree in a long time, despite being handcuffed to a completely illogically placed radiator.
Kip was a truly nice person, she realized. Then she started wondering if he had ever killed anyone, because she couldn't imagine it.
It was starting to get dark outside. "Where did they go? Gareth, Vaas and the rest of them." Scarlett asked, she could barely feel her arms anymore. She had been standing up for a while, trying to move them just to get the blood flowing but it hadn't helped much. Plus, remembering how she had to pee made her cringe.
By this time Kip was taping a large piece of metal to the ceiling. "From the time that they have been gone, I'm guessing there was an especially large yacht going by. Perhaps even a proper ship of some sort."
"So what, they just raid it?"
Kip shrugged. "Basically. I mean. First they take it over, then they have to get the people off of it. Then they have to clean out the ship from everything remotely valuable and useful, which can take a good couple of hours at least. Depending on the ship size, of course. After that a couple of hostages have probably tried to escape, some might have even managed. Which means Vaas getting pissed off, killing a couple people and then sending the men after the ones who ran away. This takes another couple of hours, cause the jungle is bloody confusing. Then," he stepped down from the chair to look at the duct-taped masterpiece on the ceiling.
Scarlett didn't dare to ask what it was. She guessed if she asked, Kip would answer something about aliens and anal probing, or something equally disturbing, which would completely tarnish the good image Kip has built up for himself.
"Then," Kip continued. "They've got to get everything back to here. Plus the boat they transport everything with is so fucking slow. Especially if they're on the other side of the island of something. It's a long process." He dragged out the 'o' in the word 'long'.
It was another hour until they heard the trucks drive back to the base. Another half an hour until the heavy footsteps, that belonged to Gareth were heard. During the half hour period, screaming and gunshots filled the air. Kip didn't seem at all bothered by them, so Scar tried not to be either. However, the hysterical and terrified screaming made it difficult to be indifferent. Especially when the sound made you want to cry and save them all.
The door opened and in walked a tired looking Gareth. "Hey kids. Have fun?" Kip smiled and Scarlett glared at the Old Man. "I'll take that as a yes." He unlocked Scar and her arms fell into her lap.
"Now if you'll take the other ones off as well." Scar mumbled.
Gareth offered her a hand and pulled her up. "Don't have the key, but I did find something that might help you. You coming to eat, Skipper?"
Kip jumped down from the table he was standing on, securing the piece of metal to the ceiling, and followed the two out of the house. As they were nearing the deck Scarlett observed that the deck was practically empty, she figured that most of the men had finished eating by now.
Vaas was standing at the foot of the steps that led onto the deck with another man with chin length salt and pepper hair. A dog was laying down between then. When they were walking up to them, Gareth whistled loudly. The dog pulled his head up and the two men gazed at the trio.
"Maccie, c'mere!" Gareth commanded, Scarlett saw that Vaas looked particularly happy.
The dog ran past Gareth, toward Scarlett. Scarlett held her ground, thinking it might attack. Instead Maccie started sniffing her feet and then started jumping on her. Scar smiled and crouched down, petting the dog. "Haya, Maccie. Was it Maccie?" The dog, as far as Scarlett could tell, was a Doberman and a rather adorable one at that. "You're so cute I just want to squish you."
Gareth whistled again. "Maccie. Get over here."
The dog let out a whine and walked over to Gareth. Gareth took a bobby-pin out of the dogs collar and handed it to Scarlett. "Got it off one of the hostages. You still remember how to pick these?"
"I could do it in my sleep, Old Man." She smiled.
They walked a couple more steps, so they reached Vaas and the other man. "You fucking piece of shit. You're a guard dog, you're supposed to fucking attack strangers! Not fucking lick their face. Not dry hump them. No. You're supposed to attack!" Vaas exclaimed loudly at the dog, while Maccie hung his head and whined. Nudging the toe of Vaas' shoe with his nose. "Ger'off!" With another whine Maccie climbed the steps onto the deck and layed down.
Scarlett noticed that the man next to Vaas was older, perhaps in his mid-forties. He had brown eyes and a beard, matching his salt and pepper hair. The most noticeable thing about his face however, much like Vaas', was his scar. The man bore a Glasgow Smile, which piqued curiosity inside of her. Scar smiled at the Pirate King. "You do realise that dogs can sense these things you know. Who's an enemy, who's not."
"Fuck you, mujer." The scarred man blew out smoke.
Scar bent open the bobby-pin. "Oh you wish." Vaas' eyes lit up and he smirked, taking another drag from the cigarette.
Scar bent the head of the bobby-pin into an 's' like shape and skilfully picked the locks in no time. She rubbed her red wrists, letting out a small moan and a gasp when it hurt more than she thought it would. She pocketed the bobby-pin and handed the handcuffs to Gareth.
Gareth was looking at her incredibly impressed. "Like I said, I could so it in my sleep."
As they were eating, Scar found out that the man who was standing with Vaas was named Montrose and he was Scottish. It seemed that no one really called him Montrose, they seemed to opt more for Monroe. Scar also found out that the dog was actually called Machiavelli.
"Machiavelli?" She wondered. "You named a dog after a renaissance philosopher. Why?"
Vaas shrugged. "Why the fuck not? There's also Plato, Nietzsche, Hume," he blew out a breath. "There's a couple more."
Then Gareth spoke up. "Oh, one of the men has something to ask you." He smiled with a glint in his eye. "You're going to love this." He called out a name, which Scar didn't catch, and a pirate who was a couple of tables away made his way over.
He nodded to Vaas, but Vaas paid no attention to the newcomer since his eyes were fixed on Scarlett. The newcomer took a seat and pulled out a coin. "If I flip this coin," He addressed Scarlett with a strong accent. "What are my chances of getting head?"
Gareth mouth was in a thin line, eyes full of amusement. His face turning slightly red, clearly from holding in laughter, while Vaas just smirked and raised his eyebrows. Scarlett smiled and leaned toward him. "Oh, sadly there are no changes of that. However, with a little luck, you might be able to get a hand."
The man smiled wide and leaned toward her. "Really?"
"Oh yeah," Scarlett nodded and slapped the man hard across the face. "Wow, it looks like you don't even need to fucking flip it." Her wrist stung, but the slap felt too good to regret.
Gareth laughed loudly and banged his fist on the table. Vaas' eyebrows were high and his mouth was shaped like an 'o'. Kip joined into Gareth's laughter and Monroe looked impressed."I fucking told you she'd get you." Gareth managed to say and the man left. "Fucking idiot. I told him!"
"She has got fire, this one." Vaas exclaimed and pointed a finger at her. "I like it."
"I do my best." Scarlett said confidently.
Soon enough, they were all done eating. A couple of cigarettes later, Scarlett announced that she's heading to sleep. Gareth helped her carry the box with her belongings to her room.
"Listen, I really am sorry that I cuffed you to the radiator." Gareth said as he set the box down. "I just, I have to keep you out of harms way. Plus, I knew Kip wouldn't do anything. I trust him, he's a good guy anyway."
Scarlett said down on the bed with a sigh. "You do realize that I'm not a child anymore? After you died, I had to grow up. I had no one, other than Shaun, and at the time I didn't know where he was either." She ran her hands through her hair, she noted that they were disgustingly greasy. "Why did you do it?"
Gareth shook his head. "Not tonight." He rubbed his eyes. "Goodnight, kiddo." He said and left the room.
"Night." Scarlett muttered a while later.
Scarlett changed her underwear, but still ended up putting a fresh pair of jeans and a shirt on. It was surprisingly cold during the night and her blanket was basically a sheet, which provided little to no warmth. She then spread some moisturiser to her wrists and went to sleep. It was safe to say that she was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
A bit later, she woke for a brief moment, thinking she had heard a noise. She felt disoriented. She had the thought that she might get up and check, but her eyes were drooping closed with sleep drawing her back into its sweet embrace. When the room was completely silent, she relaxed. However right before she could turn around to her other side, she felt a jolt of pain at the back of her head and everything around her went black.
A/N: So. What did you think?
Reviews are better than being handcuffed to a radiator, trust me.
Adiós amigos.
-Max