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: Amigos.

I have an action packed little chapter for you people this time around. I do apologize for it's shortness in length, but I sincerely hope the contents of it will make up for it.

I don't usually like using caps in stories, but I kind of felt it necessary to get a few points across.

Also...

TRIGGER WARNING: RAPE, ATTEMPTED RAPE, VIOLENCE, AND A LITTLE BIT OF TORTURE.

Now that that is out of the way, do continue on.

Chapter 3

"I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then."

When Scarlett came to conciousness her hands were tied above her head, she was standing and her head hurt like a motherfucker. She groaned as she leaned her head back, moving it made her feel like she was spinning. She felt ill, like she was going to throw up. She didn't see clearly for minutes, only registering vague and smudgy shapes in the darkness, though she heard muffled voices around her. When she regained her vision and hearing, minutes later, she saw that there were a bunch of pirates around her, all of them on various levels of drunkenness. A gag was tied around her head, pulling at her cheeks painfully and robbing her the ability to speak and shout. As she scanned the crowd, neither Gareth nor Vaas was anywhere in sight. A pair of rough hands went to her waist in an attempt to unbutton her jeans, as the man, who Scar recognized to be the man who she slapped because of the coin joke, laughed.

"GARETH!" Scarlett tried to scream but it came out muffled because of the gag. Even without the gag it would have been neither clear nor loud enough to be heard over the mens laughter.

"You fucking puta. I will make you mine and you will fucking enjoy it." The Coin Man laughed as he pressed a hand onto her breast. "That will teach you not to turn me away, nobody fucking refuses me! You should be glad that someone will even fuck you, stupid little bitch. You're mine now. I fucking own you."

His hands went to undo his belt, a pleased grin on his lips. Scarlett leaned back against the wooden pole she was tied to, it was thick and didn't budge when she swayed. She grabbed the rope tied around her wrists with her hands and pulled her knees up, then kicked the man as hard as she could across the chest. Her arms and wrists were in awful pain, the latter were still sore from having the handcuffs for two days. Scarlett was pretty sure that the friction from the rope combined with the previous wounds was enough to break the skin and make them bleed.

Coin Man fell down as Scarlett tried to yank her hands out of the ropes. When the man managed to get to his feet again he slapped Scarlett hard across the face. "Feels fucking great doesn't it?" He slapped her again and again. A total of seven times. Scarlett bit her lip, tears welling up in her eyes because of the pain that was radiating from her head to the rest of her body.

Coin Man then balled up his fist and hit her hard in the stomach, her spine and the back of her head hit the wooden pole hard making her cry out in pain. This seemed to encourage the men as they laughed and edged the Coin Man on. He groped her and placed sloppy kisses on her neck, it made her want to throw up. Scarlett's ears were ringing and her vision had little black spots in it. He punched her again.

When the man moved a metre away from her, she pulled up her legs again and tried to kick him. The Coin Man quickly stepped aside, pulling out a knife from the back of his cargo pants. Her knife. With one quick movement he cut from the inner edge of her collar bone down toward the middle of her breasts. The smell of blood filled the air around Scarlett.

"Puta, try to tone down your fucking fire! Eh? Otherwise I will have to kill you before we have any fun!" Coin Man laughed, grazing the tip of the blade against Scarlett's cheek.

Scarlett felt her heart beating like a drum, blood rushing in hear ears and pain radiating all over her body, almost paralysing her. She felt like crying but her eyes were dry.

It's now or never. Her inner voice warned her.

Scarlett tried to steady her breathing as the Coin Man slapped her again and went back to undoing his pants. Scar placed both of her legs steadily onto the ground, her body screamed at her to stop moving because every movement felt like she was being stabbed. She counted her breaths to ten and then yanked her arms down with as much strength as she could muster. Somehow from somewhere the rope let loose or broke and even though her arms were still tied she wasn't tied to the pole anymore. Scarlett swung both of her fists into the Coin Man's face, he fell down and the pirates went silent, slowly backing away.

The adrenaline rushing through her veins cancelled out the pain that she was in to the point where she didn't feel it at all. Her chest was heaving violently and her eyes were wide with fury. She looked deadly... and slightly unhinged. Scarlett tugged her hands free from the ropes while the man was on the ground holding his jaw. She landed a hard kick into the Coin Man's ribs. Then she untied the gag from around her head and tied it around her knuckles.

She noticed the Coin Mans mouth was bleeding. She didn't care, she was livid. She pulled the man up by his shirt, so his head was no longer on the ground, and punched him hard in the face, letting him hit the ground with a smack.

"Number one," She shouted, "I am not fucking yours." She kicked him hard in the side, hopefully breaking a few of his ribs. "Number two, I am not anybodys fucking property!" She grabbed him by his shirt again and punched him before he could react. "Motherfucking three! YOU DO NOT FUCKING OWN ME, ASSHOLE." She sat on top of the man and punched him again and again and again in the face. He struggled at first but soon was incapable.

She didn't stop when the man's face was completely covered in bright red blood. She didn't stop when she felt the man go limp underneath her. She didn't stop when the man started choking on his own blood. She didn't stop punching him until a strong pair of arms pulled her off of the Coin Man.

She didn't even look who it was but guessed it to be Gareth. She spat on the Coin Man. "Fuck you."

"C'mon doll, let's get you cleaned up." Gareth said to her as they started walking away. "SOMEBODY CLEAN THIS FUCKING SHIT UP." He shouted to the men and held Scarlett close, carrying most of her weight. Her hand was completely numb, her head still hurt from her being knocked out, her stomach and back hurt more and more with every movement, not to mention the big gash on her chest which was still bleeding heavily, and she felt like emptying her insides. The initial shock of being knocked out, disgust and the amount of blood all contributing to the need to throw up.

Scarlett didn't know where he was leading her, she couldn't pay that much attention to her surroundings. Her breaths came irregularly and she was starting to shake, the adrenaline was leaving her body and she was most likely starting to go into shock. Scarlett was in terrible pain. She kept her eyes turned up onto Gareth, who looked pissed off, and tried to time her breathing with his. Scarlett noticed at one point that he said something to someone, but she didn't concentrate enough to figure out what and to who.

Gareth carried her up two flights of stairs and a moment later he placed her onto a soft bed. Scarlett let her body relax as much as she could, though it seemed to her that she only tensed up more. She felt her arm lift, "Jesus fucking Christ, kid. You got him good." Scarlett tried to laugh, but it hurt so much that it came out as a groan. She kept her eyes on Gareth as he examined her hand further. Her eyes began to droop. "Hey. HEY!" Gareth grabbed her shoulders and shook her, not hard but enough to wake her. "I need you to stay awake, you might have a serious concussion."

"Hmm..." Scarlett managed to grumble, trying to hold her eyes open. "How's the hand?" She rasped out, her throat dry. She heard the door open and close.

"Your hand has three teeth lodged in it, the fabric reduced the damage a little bit. Can you move it?" Gareth questioned.

Scarlett tried to will her hand to move, sharp pains shot through it and she groaned out in pain. She saw a figure move next to Gareth but her brain didn't register who it was as she kept her eyes on the elderly man.

Suddenly she felt pressure on her chest and she let out a groan as the pain registered to her. "What the hell?"

Gareth opened the first aid kit and Scarlett's eyes fell closed. Her breathing was steady and she felt her muscles relaxing. Somebody shook her and her eyes opened again. "I'm awake." She dragged the last word out, her voice weak.

"I'll get her water," Gareth said, stood and walked away. The door closing signalled that Gareth wasn't in the room anymore.

She moved her head, trying to see who was pushing down on her chest. Surprise filled her as she saw Vaas. "You did fucking good out there, hermana,"

"Was it you?" Scarlett croaked. "Did you make them...?" She trailed off.

Vaas' eyes flashed. "No."

Vaas kept pressing down on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. A couple of minutes later he took the rag away, threw it on the ground while grabbing another one from the foot of the bed. As Scarlett eyed Vaas, she realized he was hard to look at, almost like the sun. It's impressive, but you couldn't stare at it. For if you did, it would blind you. She was constantly looking back and forth between his face and the ceiling, as if she was scared of what would happen if Vaas would catch her.

Vaas' eyes roamed over the fresh cut, trying to determine the severity of it.

Scarlett spoke up in a broken voice. "My eyes are up here, asshole."

Vaas barked a laugh and pressed the fresh rag back onto her chest. The door opened and Gareth walked back in. After giving Scarlett a sip of water, the bear-of-a-man sat down. With a pair of forceps Gareth started pulling out the teeth in Scarlett's hand. Then he cut the fabric of the gag away from her hand, being as gentle as his rough hands would allow. "This is going to hurt," Gareth said and placed a piece of brown leather into her mouth, "bite down on it as hard as you can, okay?" Scarlett nodded weakly, her heart speeding up again "Three... Two... One."

Scarlett bit down as hard as possible as sharp pain shot through her arm, all of her muscles tensed so every injury made itself known. Scarlett let out a scream, slightly muffled by the piece of leather as her eyes squeezed shut. Tears started streaming down her face. Again the pain came and she screamed.

"Breathe, doll. Breathe." Gareth commanded her, as she let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding in. When she opened her eyes again, the black spots in her vision were back. Gareth removed the leather. "It was the antiseptic, we can't have you walking around with an infected hand. I'm sorry I hurt you." Gareth wiped the tears from her face as she steadied her breathing. "You want some good news, doll?"

Scarlett managed to nod, the pain now pulsating slowly through her body and the black spots starting to fade away.

"Your hand isn't broken."

Scarlett let out a croak of a laugh. "It's been a while," She swallowed, "A while since I've beat someone like that." She laughed again and her chest and stomach hurt, her left hand immediately went to touch the latter. Although her skin was tender to touch, it provided with a small amount of comfort. "The beauty of guns." She managed to keep her eyes open for a few moments and Gareth gave her pain medicine.

"Hey, hey, hey, you have to stay awake hermana!" Vaas said, shaking her slightly again.

"No." She moaned out the word and shook head. "So tired."

"I know you're tired, but you have to do this. Okay?" Gareth held her eyes with his. "Am I blurry?"

"A little."

"Your head hurts?"

"Yes."

"Do you feel nauseous?"

"Yes."

He asked about a couple more symptoms, and then continued to clean her hand. "Can I sleep now?"

"No. No. Hell no." Gareth said. "You have to stay awake."

Scarlett let out a breath. "Tell me a story." She needed something to focus on. Something to act as a lifeline to reality.

There was a moment of silence. She noticed how Gareth gave Vaas a wary look, "I remember the last time I spoke with your mother." Gareth said quietly and Scarlett's breath hitched, this time not because of the pain. "She spoke of you and Will." Will was Scarlett's father. "She spoke of the day that you were born." He let out a chuckle. "I remember Will before you were born. Damn, he would not say a word more than he had to. Hell he probably wouldn't even say those. According to your mother the first night you were brought home Will sat in the nursery all night on the cold floor. Remember that house? It had those awful stone floors. Anyway, he sat on the floor with his suit on and his hair ruffled... And he told you stories. He told you every single story he knew."

Tears were streaming down Scarlett's face, but she made no move to wipe them. "Your mother heard all of them and she said that was the first time she had ever heard him talk that much. Apparently he told you everything. What he did and who he was. He spoke of the things he believed in and the things that he didn't understand. He spoke of how he didn't understand you, but he wanted to. He said... He said that to him, you were a saviour. You were given to Will and your mother to save them. A beacon of light." Gareth sighed.

"And she said that every year, on that night, he would talk to you. When you were older he would start off with reading a book, but when you fell asleep he would pour his soul out to you. He wanted to get out of business, to have a real honest life with you and your ma. Literally the day you were born, we started planning. He didn't want you have a life like this. It funny though. I was there the moment that Will started to feel like a father. Before you were born Will kept telling me that he didn't know how to be a father and he sure as hell didn't feel like he was soon to be one. It was in the evening of the day you were born, I came to the hospital to see your ma and Will. Will kept staring at you," Gareth chuckled and shook his head.

"He loved you so much from the moment you were born, I think the quantity of it terrified him. Anyway, when your ma was holding you. You grabbed Will's finger and I swear to God the man stopped breathing. Ten minutes later we were out in the hallway, planning to end the business for good." Gareth sighed.

"The last time I spoke with your mother she said that you brought out the good in people. I mean, you don't know what Will was like before you were born but god," Gareth laughed. "Stubborn and serious as hell. Anyway, she said you brought out the good in him. The good, the gentle and the kind. I remember one of the first things he did after you were born, was that he removed all of the guns from the house, all of the documents that had anything to do with his work. As if he was making sure the house had no evil in it. Your ma said you took his pain away. That's why she gave you the middle name of Epione. In Greek mythology, if I remember correct, she was the goddess of soothing of pain. She never told Will why she picked the name."

Gareth laughed again, this time so that he didn't even try to contain it. "I was there the first time he held you, you know. Jesus fucking Christ. When the nurse asked him to put you down so they could take you to sleep," He let out a hearty laugh. "I thought he was going to shoot the fucking nurse. Imagine a five year old getting their favourite toy and then a couple of minutes later being asked to give it back. It ended so that you slept in the room with your ma and Will. He scared the shit out of her." He laughed again and Scarlett smiled through her tears, nobody ever spoke about her parents like this, rarely even Gareth. "Where was I? Oh yes, you bring out the good in people. It sounds odd, but it's true. Hell, you even bought out the good in an old fart like me. Your ma said that no matter what happened in life, she wished that you would never lost that ability." He started into the distance for a moment.

"I was supposed to protect you. You weren't supposed to grow up a warrior, mean and cruel. I shouldn't have done this to you and I am so sorry. I should have put you through the best schools, hell we could have moved somewhere else so you could have had that. You could have done anything in this world and you wouldn't have had blood on your hands. I wasn't thinking then. Or maybe I was thinking, but I was thinking the wrong things. I'm sorry I raised you a killer." He stopped talking, his hands has stilled as well.

After a moment of silence. "Is that why you left?"

Scarlett never got her answer, because Gareth changed the subject. "Your hand is wrapped."

Vaas pulled the rag away from her chest, most of the bleeding had stopped. "Monroe will be here in the morning to give you stitches." Not long after the bleeding stopped and Gareth put small strips, of what highly resembled tape, onto her chest wound to hold it as closed as possible.

As promised, the next day Monroe showed up. He first cleaned and stitched her chest wound and then put a couple of stitches onto her right hand. He let her know how to care for the wounds.

"When will I get them off?" She questioned.

Monroe sighed and took a sip of water, it was another hot-as-hell day in the jungle. "Well the hand will probably heal in a week. About five to ten days, I would say. The chest is a whole different thing. Usually chest wounds take a week to two to heal. I'm quite certain that yours is pushing closer to two weeks."

The day after, Scarlett was up and about. Sure, everything still hurt like a bitch but she wasn't going to show it. After she woke up she changed her clothes, cleaned her wounds and put fresh bandages on them. She popped two pain killers into her mouth, downed them with water and headed out.

The pirates averted their eyes as soon as she stepped out, they didn't exactly fear her but they didn't not fear her either. That little episode with Coin Man, whose name turned out to be Felipe, managed to really make them understand that Scarlett was not a person to fuck with. Sure, Vaas had told them that she wasn't to be touched, but now they actually respected that. For the most part anyway.

Hoyt called after Monroe left the day before, asking how Scarlett was settling in. She did note that when she got on the phone, the big boss was almost surprised to hear her voice. She didn't tell him about what happened with Felipe, he didn't need to know because the information had nothing to do with her mission here. The information that Hoyt passed onto her confirmed the fact that she was going to be here longer than she originally thought.

A loud whistle sounded across the camp. "Eey! Hermana! Scarlett!" Vaas' voice came from rather far. Scarlett started to move toward the direction of the voice and soon Vaas came into her view, a cigarette on his lips.

"Can I bum one?" She asked, motioning to the cigarette.

Vaas raised his eyebrows and he glanced back and forth between the cigarette and the woman "Oh no no, those things are bad. A mujer like you should not smoke, this shit causes cancer."

Scarlett merely raised an eyebrow and Vaas pulled the pack out of his pocket. Scarlett quickly grabbed one out of the pack and Vaas lit it for her, she nodded in thanks. Scarlett had quit a while back when she realized what an effect they had on her stamina. Cigarettes were for special occasion only, now they started seeming more like a habit again. "Why did you shout for me?"

A malicious grin rose to Vaas' lips. "Oh yes, I almost forgot." He slung his arm around her shoulders, again his hand threateningly close to her neck. Enough to raise the hairs on her neck and make her worry about her safety. "I have a surprise for you."

"I don't like surprises." That was a lie, Scarlett loved surprises. Though the kind she liked tended to be gifts, surprise parties and the like.

Vaas laughed, "You'll fucking love this one." He was leading her toward the rejects cages and the worry for her safety was going bigger, the only thing that offered her comfort was that her knife was tucked into her boot. She swallowed as she looked at the miserable faces in the cages, each and every one eyeing Vaas like he was the devil. In their eyes, he was.

"Remember, the world you live in today is not the same as it was yesterday. It won't be the same tomorrow. You must adapt. You're in the jungle now. The surprise, mujer," Vaas said as he pointed to a wooden pole, identical to the one she was tied to if not the very same, to which Coin Man was tied to. Felipe was almost unrecognisable due to his face being rather swollen and red.

Felipe seemed to spot them from the distance and immediately started screaming, trying to tug the ropes open. Scarlett took a drag from the cigarette and walked forward. Gareth was sitting on a pile of boxes on the side and smiled and waved at Scarlett as she walked up to him.

"Like the surprise?" Vaas wondered with a smile, looking rather proud of himself.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?" She asked.

"STOP FUCKING SCREAMING!" Vaas shouted, who was now halfway between Felipe and Scarlett and Gareth. "You are fucking embarrassing yourself, amigo." He slowly walked toward the man, like a predator stalking a prey. Slow and deliberate movements, he wasn't in a hurry and he didn't need to be. Everything about the way he moved screamed that he was in control and that Felipe wasn't going to get away. Scarlett was glad that she wasn't at the receiving end of that. "What was the first motherfucking thing I told the men?"

When Felipe didn't answer, Vaas pressed a gun to his forehead. "WHAT THE FUCK DID I TELL YOU?" He screamed, making Felipe flinch and turn his face away. "No no no no no. You fucking look me in the fucking eye and tell me WHAT DID I TELL YOU!"

Felipe hesitantly turned his eyes onto Vaas'. "You said..." He stuttered.

"What did I fucking say?" Vaas asked, pressing the gun tighter to Felipe's forehead. "Huh?"

Felipe looked like he was about to cry. "We can't touch her. Y-you said we can't touch her."

Vaas nodded and pulled the gun from Felipe's head. Vaas slowly paced infront of him, waving his gun as he spoke. "And what did you do, hermano? Huh? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" When Felipe started screaming again, Vaas shot him in the leg. "STOP SCREAMING YOU FUCKING SHITHEAD." He let out a cruel laugh. "SHUT THE FUCK UP. SHUT THE FUCK UP. Okay, I'm going to chill hermano. I asked, what did you do?"

"Touched her," Felipe managed to stutter out. "I touched her." He managed to turn his screams into quieter wails of pain.

"Yes, you fucking did." Vaas scratched his head with his gun. "You fucking touched her, even though I specifically asked you fucking not to. You touched her! Why? Huh? Did I not make myself fucking clear?" He said, tucking the gun away. "You know. As much as I would like to fucking kill you myself for disobeying orders, hermano." Vaas laughed. "I am dying to see what the mujer will do to you."

Vaas walked toward Scarlett and Gareth. He pulled out a gun from the back of his trousers and held it out to Scarlett. She caught Vaas' eye and the look in them was terrifying. It was a bloodthirsty, crazed and almost manic look. Scarlett took the gun, noting that it was still slightly warm from being in contact with Vaas' skin.

"Have fun," Vaas smirked and gave her a wink. She proceeded to walk toward Felipe as Vaas took a seat next to Gareth and lit up another cigarette.

When Scarlett looked into Felipes eyes, she was surprised to see that he was amused. That moment made her wonder how many peoples, how many hostages, hands had Vaas put a gun in and told them to kill. How many times the hostages had broken down sobbing, unable to do it. Scarlett was sure that there had been many, so she didn't exactly strike fear into his heart. The thing was that she wasn't a hostage and she did not have a problem with killing.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She wondered, her tone casual. Trying to mimic Vaas' body language from before, but she felt like it didn't come off at all. Her torso hurt, so she couldn't straighten it properly, and Vaas always stood his with torso tensed and fairly straight.

Felipe merely laughed. Scarlett walked closer to him. First she tucked Vaas' gun to the back of her jeans and then her hands went to his belt. Felipe smirked. "You know you were right, I do want you." Scarlett turned to look at Gareth and Vaas, who were both visibly confused. She winked at them and then yanked down Felipes pants and smiled at him while grabbing the blade from her boot.

Felipe's face paled immediately and he started shaking his head. "No. No. No. No. Please no!"

Scarlett continued to smile sweetly as she pressed the blade against his family jewels. "What's the matter? You wanted this remember?" She asked. He was crying, hot and fat tears were rolling down his dirty cheeks. She didn't care, she knew if she was to survive here she was going to have to stoop down to their level. "You can never touch a woman or even try to touch a woman without their consent. Ever." She was deadly calm, her eyes boring into his. "Remember that." With a quick flick of her wrist the air was filled with agonized screaming.

Scarlett took a deep breath and turned to walk away. "Leave him there." She commanded and kept walking, she didn't turn to look at Vaas and Gareth. She didn't even look back at Felipe. Regret started seeping into her heart, but other feelings over powered that regret. There was joy and happiness in her, she was content with herself. It was terrifying because she could handle killing, but this was torture.

She threw Felipes dick to the feet of the pirates who were standing close together in a group, speciating the whole ordeal. Scarlett didn't bother to look at them, her point was clear. She heard Vaas' laughter over Felipes screaming.

"Wow!" Vaas exclaimed, dragging out the 'o'.

You're in the jungle now.

A/N: As per usual, please do leave all and any thoughts into the reviews. If you enjoyed it, then add it to your favourites and alerts.

Reviews are better than getting your dick cut off.

No really, they are.

Adiós amigos.

-Max