Wednesday, October 9th, 2013
8:29pm
Rachel sighed as the black SUV she'd rented pulled up towards the abandoned-looking barn out in the woods; it was barely an hour past sunset, but the surrounding forest seemed to consume any light shining through it, to the point where even the high beams were barely cutting an effective swath through the darkness.
Already, Rachel was in an anxious mood; really, the entire day wasn't doing wonders for her disposition. Hard enough, shouldering the pressure and expectations from the Zaibatsu for a start; she still didn't fully buy into the 'kinder, gentler' routine that Lethe was pitching, but at this point, what choice did she have but to go along with the job?
And then there was the phone call with Frank, which went about as well as she expected. He was sweet, or he could be. Rachel would be the first to admit that, but there was also a darkness to him. Once upon a time, she thought he was possessed of a 'old soul wisdom' or whatever kind of crap she might have sprouted in her earlier days of naive youth, but there was a nasty brutishness in him that her months keeping one step of the Russians and dealing with a harsh, uncaring world opened her eyes to. As much as he might have a soft spot for his dogs, and clearly had feelings for her to boot, he certainly wasn't the kind of guy she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
Just another one of the chains of the old life that bound her to Arcadia Bay. In Rachel's mind's eye, Frank's was dirty and rusted, as different as could be from the soft but tattered velvet that encircled the chain that was Chloe. At any rate, she did her best to keep him at arm's length without being too bitchy about it. To acknowledge the depth of his feelings, and his hurt at not being contacted by her until today. She put up with it as best as she could, but there came a point when she had her fill...
"Sure, you say you were worried, but what did you do about it? Chloe at least went asking around. Did you know she put up posters?"
"Yeah, that was really kinda sa...sapp...I mean sweet. It was sweet, she did that..." Frank stumbled.
"So what did you do to help?"
"Oh, babe, I gave her money. Who do you think funded her crusade? She was trying to find you. For me. I mean, for all of us."
"Hah. Yes, three grand you just gave her out of the goodness of your heart, right. Is that it? Sounds to me like you found a way to get your hooks into a poor girl you were fucking jealous of."
Frank was quiet at first, before he answered, "Now look, I got a rep to uphold. And three G's is a lot. I can't just go giving that kind of cash away, and have it be known that not paying me back doesn't come with consequences..."
"Well, good news. You're getting your money back. I'm buying off her debt."
"Don't have to. She says she's got the cash, gonna pay me back in a couple days." he chuckled.
"Don't care. You leave her the fuck alone. You let me pay it back, and you don't tell her it was me. You just tell her you're dropping it."
"What! I can't...I can't just do that! How does that look if..."
"I'll double it." she said, quickly shutting him down.
"...just like that? Jesus fuck, I didn't know you were that in love with her."
"Shut the fuck up, Frank! I'm the reason she got into debt, I'm gonna be the one to get her out of it. Now do we have a god damn deal or what?"
The tone in his voice as he responded was pained, with an icy veneer trying to cover up the depths of the wound. But Rachel was completely out of fucks to give anymore.
"Fine. Yeah. Friday morning. Six grand. Cash. I'll be at the Two Whales, eight o'clock"
"Good. Good, I'll probably be needing to get out of town not long after anyhow. See you then, Frank."
"Wait! Just a damn moment, Rachel. Wait. All those things you said to me. Everything we did together. Did you mean it? Any of it? At all?"
Rachel bit her lip, and closed her eyes. The Rachel Amber he was talking about was dead. She needed to make sure it stayed that way. It was easier for everyone involved. Cleaner. Broken hearts healed much more quickly in hatred, if nothing else. At least, that's what she liked to believe.
That didn't stop it from aching in her gut as she did her best to coldly relay, "DMT's a hell of a drug. Can't hold me to any of my pillow talk. I mean shit, you should know the score on that by now."
He didn't even bother saying goodbye, just ended the call right then and there. She felt the chain snap, the last vestige of that old relationship corroding away, along with yet another piece of her old decency.
All the same, there was a palpable sense of relief that she most certainly did not experience when she cut Chloe off in a similar fashion, a few weeks earlier. She continuously reminded herself that this was for the best. She wasn't like normal people...she hadn't been normal for years, now. And it was clear now that she couldn't be around them anymore. Not in any meaningful way. God damn though, if it didn't sting, somewhere deep inside, when she thought about the betrayal she felt required to visit upon Chloe.
You can't ever forgive me, and I don't think you should, but I can make this right for you, babe. My last gift to you. Because you are fucking amazing.
She parked the car in the clearing, stepped out, and stared at the barn that lay ahead. Somewhere inside was the only other person in Arcadia Bay who could possibly understand what she'd gone through earlier this year, by dint of having suffered through the same nightmare at her side. Rachel wasn't sure she'd called Victoria Chase her soulmate; she didn't know if either of them were capable of actual lasting romantic love with anyone, but they were lovers, on and off, all the same. Thus, there was an almost physical thrumming of anticipation in her abdomen as she carefully made her way towards the open double doors of the barn.
Shit, wish I was wearing flats! Damnit, Tori, why the last minute change in meeting place?
She sounded happy to hear from her, that much was obvious. But also...distracted? It was hard to put her finger on it. Rachel called her as soon as she landed, and the pair initially agreed to meet at a nearby restaurant, only to have her call back around noon.
"Change of plans, Rambie. Shit just got real. I'll explain when we meet up, but I've got an address for you. Gonna sound weird, but please...like I said? I'll explain when you arrive."
She stumbled around in the dark until she activated the flashlight app on her phone, and then made her way inside. It was easy to find the hidden staircase set into the ground, since it was no longer so hidden. The hatch was open, light streaming up from inside the hallway it lead to.
What? The actual. Fuck?
She took off her heels, setting them to the side at the top of the stairs as she silently padded her way down. Ahead lay a long, stark grey hallway, and at the end lay open a vault door: a solid six inch mass of steel.
Her teeth were set on edge, hair standing on end; something felt terribly wrong about the situation, like she was walking into a trap. On the other hand, why ask her to come someplace so obvious in terms of springing one? Why do it in a location all but guaranteed to raise her suspicion? She was probably being overly paranoid, but it was a recently cultivated trait that served her well the past few months, which is why the Beretta 92-A pistol was slipped out from its spine sheath. Undoing the safety, she pre-cocked the hammer back as quietly as she could, keeping the barrel pointed down towards the ground as she stepped cautiously , closer and closer to the entrance.
The bunker itself was as creepy and foreboding as the short walk up to it promised. Glaring fluorescent light did little to cut through the gloom. It was set up as some sort of survival shelter, that much was immediately apparent; with bottles of water, canned foods, and medical supplies.
Rachel could feel her heart pounding furiously, in her throat and wrists; she suddenly regretted not having any shoes at all, her nylon-hose covered feet offering little to no real traction against the slick tile floor. She kept her back to the wall, suppressing a few post-traumatic flashbacks of similar situations; times where she and Tori were desperately fighting - or hiding - for their lives.
There was a curtain, diving the bunker into two sections; past it, the layout seemed...confused.
The hell? This looks like a photography studio!
There was a fancy setup, with a white backdrop, flash stands, camera on a tripod. Not to mention the expensive looking giclee photo printer, and the weird, somewhat fetishy, but largely disturbing photos hanging on the wall. She peered around the corner, spotting a couch...
...and there was Victoria.
She was sitting alone in the dim light, on something Rachel initially assumed was an ottoman, covered in a satin drape. There was a contemplative, almost haunted look carved onto her face. It was an expression that Rachel herself was all too familiar with. Something she'd seen before, on both of them. A weary, thousand yard stare.
"T-tori?" she asked, her voice initially cracking. She held her gun down, pointed at the floor, but held at the ready. Part of her still expecting a trap, to be jumped at any moment. "Jesus fuck, are you okay?"
Victoria jerked her head upward, gasping softly. Quickly, she extinguished the expression on her face, replacing it with a mask of carefree confidence.
"H-hey Rache. Yo, yo. Ch-check out my pimping crib." Victoria smiled, a little too brightly, throwing her hands into a ridiculous looking set of gang symbols and attempting to speak with what was no doubt the worst ghetto accent in existence. She continued, her voice speedily gaining in self-assurance. "What do you think? Finders keepers. A lot of interior redecorating, and I've got something nice. Gonna call it The Domina's Den."
Rachel wheeled about, making sure that she wasn't about to be snuck up on from behind. "Fuck! Are you...damn! I was really freaked out, you know?" Fear was quickly giving way to fury.
Victoria blanched, holding out her hands reassuringly. "Baby? Chillax. It's okay. Sorry, sorry for the dramatics." She bowed her head sheepishly. "Okay, in retrospect, that was probably a really bad idea. But really, we're all good." She patted her lap and smiled sweetly. "Why don't you come sit on Mommy's lap and give us a proper hello kiss?"
It took a good ten seconds for Rachel to force herself to calm down, carefully release the hammer back, and flick the safety catch on. There were times where she found her best friend as infuriating as she was delightful. With a groan of exasperation, she rolled her eyes, and made her way over. Bending down at the hips, she poked Victoria in the chest, and said, "That...was mean, bitch! Seriously, you know I still get nightmares about shit like this."
To her credit, the pixie-cut sporting blonde smiled with effuse embarrassment and nodded, "I know. I know I know I know. It was a sudden, spur of the moment thing, I didn't plan on anything like this. Just happened." Sorry." She patted her lap again. "I promise, I'll make it up to you."
Rachel smirked, feeling her trembling body relax, the adrenalin rush finally burning off at last. Shaking her head and glancing up, she murmured low, "I'm going to hold you to that, when you hear what I have to tell you. But first..." She took the time to holster the pistol, then slipped onto Victoria's lap, straddling her body. She tangled her fingers possessively through her hair, and kissed her hard on the mouth; it was a passion borne of anger, relief, desire, and the need for comfort. As much as she should be furious at Victoria right now, she'd missed her terribly as well.
Victoria's tongue wrestled playfully against her own, and the pair indulged each other in several soulful kisses before coming up for air.
"Mmmm. Mommy liiiike!" Victoria teased.
"You are such a freak sometimes, V." Rachel whispered.
"Yeah, u fink me freeky, but u like me a lot, Ray-ray." the other girl answered, tracing fingers over her cheek, teasing her with the lyrics to a recent dance song. "So what finally brings you to the Bay? Because, you know, you made it pretty clear you didn't ever want to come back. I figured I wasn't seeing you again until Cancun, in another couple of months..."
"Hmmm. Things changed. Bigtime. But before I tell you any of it, I have to ask: What the shit, Tori? What is up with the zombie horror survival bunker? And most important: who's the dude we're sitting on?"
On cue, a pained moan emanated from the 'ottoman' they were sitting on, dying off into a whimper.
Rachel slowly slipped off Victoria's lap and sighed lightly. "Wow. This is like Roanoke all over again."
Victoria grinned impishly, and rose up, smoothing out her plaid miniskirt as she did. "Oopsie! I kind of forgot about Jeffie-kins. Not that you or I are a pound over absolute perfection, but the two of us together on his back was proooobably a bit much." She then reached down, grabbing a fistful of satin, and ripped it away with a dramatic flourish, revealing what lay beneath: a bearded man with hipster glasses, in his early forties, kneeling on the ground, hogtied and gagged with copious amounts of duct tape.
Her eyes bugging out of her head in recognition, Rachel exclaimed, "Oh God! Is that...Mark Jefferson? The photography teacher? Hooooly fuck, V. I know damn well you have a kinky side, but..."
The pair of them glanced knowingly at each other, trying their best to keep from laughing, before Rachel continued, "Honestly? I thought you'd developed this weird honor code about not using your powers on teachers. Or at least, not so blatantly. I mean, I'm not judging...no wait. Yes. Yes I am, a bit. I mean, he's so fucking hot, but you don't need me to tell you how wrong..."
"I didn't! I mean..." Victoria threw her hands up in exasperation. "It's not what you think it is! God!" she added, with a hint of defensiveness. "This asshole is a criminal, Rache. Sick and twisted and..." Her previously playful demeanor quickly dissolved, as she suddenly delivered a vicious kick to Jefferson's side. "Hey!" she yelled. "Did I say you could look at us, worm? Keep your head bowed to the floor until I tell you different!"
Whimpering, he quickly complied, focusing on the task as if his life depended on it, making it the focus of his entire reason for existing.
Rachel blinked. "Whoa. You really gave him 'the treatment', like hardcore." She walked around and then flopped onto the couch, patting the spot next to her. "Alright. Talk to me. Please? This isn't like you...not really. So tell me what's going on."
Victoria sank down onto the couch, leaning against her side; Rachel was happy enough to wrap a comforting arm around her shoulders in response.
"You know, when it was all over...when those fucking Russian pricks were finally a memory, and we figured we were as safe as we were ever gonna get, I didn't want anything more than to pretend none of it happened. I wanted something predicable. Comfortable. Small." Victoria began, glancing up at the ceiling tiles.
"I know, babe..." Rachel sighed. She squeezed the other girl tight against her.
"And...and you know, it was going great, for a while anyway. Queen of the school, barely felt the urge to zap people when things weren't going my way..."
Rachel kissed her temple; Victoria was a mind controller par excellence, but she hardly needed her powers to manipulate others. She was self-assured and commanding, or at least good at projecting as such. Lovely and personable when it suited her. She knew how to get people to do what she wanted, the old fashioned way, with an imperious tone and word at the right moment, but for all that bitchy exterior, there was a soft vulnerability at her core. Where she kecrazyr self-doubt.
"...just like I wanted. One normal, solid year, that's all I needed. I mean, I know you're right, I know 'normal, forever' isn't in the cards for people like you and me...but..."
"V," Rachel whispered. "You don't need to explain anything of that to me. We're both getting through what happened in our own ways."
Victoria nodded. "Um...it all started a little while ago. There was a Vortex Club party..."
"Oh. Vortex Club. That still a thing, huh?" Rachel teased. She'd come to reject the petty normalities of high school as much as Victoria still clung desperately to them. She softened the blow with another small kiss.
Victoria paused long enough to gratefully receive it before continuing. "...and uh. You remember Kate Marsh?"
"Marsh? Marsh...oh. Oh! God Squadder right? Makes with the abstinence posters, probably a seething, petite cauldron of sexy craziness just waiting to burst forth?"
"You...you don't know how right you are. Kinda." Victoria breathed out. "Anyhow. Party. She was there, for some reason. But eventually, she ends up totally making out with half the football team. I thought at the time she got crazy drunk, or stoned, or something."
Rachel laughed, though she tried not to be too unkind about it. "See, so she finally loosened up. Good for her."
Victoria shook her head, biting her bottom lip. "No. No it wasn't good. I think, you know, in the back of my mind, I knew something wasn't right. Like she didn't mean to be..." she swallowed hard. "Anyhow, she disappeared. I didn't find out until later, but Nathan took her away. To the ER, or so he said, but...then this video shows up, of her at the party. And..." she hugged herself tight. "And I went along with it, you know? Hell, I led the harpies against her. At the time, it just felt...so important! That some hypocritical, judgmental bitch got put into her place! Like maybe once she'd fallen off her perch and realized she wasn't any better than the rest of us, she'd finally stop being such a prude..."
Victoria clenched down hard on her jaw, rubbing an arm as she stared daggers at the man trussed up on the floor. "...she tried to kill herself, Rachel. Literally climbed up to the top of the roof, and was seconds away from jumping. Right after this asshole rubbed salt in her wounds! The dickhead who made the video, and took pictures!"
"Holy shit." Rachel exclaimed. She could see it in Victoria's eyes; the guilt. The doubt. The places where the supposedly ruthless bitch peeled away, and the insecure, self-tormenting artist, living constantly in her parent's shadow, was revealed. "This isn't on you. Not your fault, V." She reached down, squeezing the other girl's hand in her own.
Victoria reached up to daub at her eyes. "But...but it kinda is, Rachel. I got so wrapped up in my stupid little high school life, fell right back into the old Queen Bee role. Like a comfy robe. You'd think I'd know better by now, have a little fucking empathy, after what we went through. I mean...I could have done it, you know? I could have been the one to save her." She bowed her head in shame and whispered, "If I hadn't been...wasn't such a…"
"Sometimes you need to forget so badly, you cling to the person you used to be. I understand that. But...but what happened. You said she tried...going to assume it didn't take."
Victoria shook her head, "No! God, no. Thankfully someone, no one knows who, but some, girl, I guess, made it up there, and talked her down. Kate isn't saying much, other than it was someone who called herself...uh...Mick? Supposed to be a potential student coming for a campus visit, but I did a little poking around afterwards, and there was no one like that, at least that no one anyone knows about. Or was willing to talk about, without me getting into their head." She paused, blinked, and then said, "Which brings me to how we ended up here. That whole thing with Kate was a wake-up call. I knew Nathan was involved, and I went to confront him about it. He didn't want to tell me anything, so...so I just..."
"You zapped him."
"I zapped him, Rachel. He couldn't tell me fast enough, he was so desperate to make me happy. And it was just...God! Jesus, Rachel, the shit he'd been doing. The shit he and Mark Jefferson together...did you know they killed Stella Hill?!"
"Wait! Whoa. Wait. Too fast, Tori. Back up." Rachel said.
Gripping her face, Victoria continued, "It was Jefferson! The whole time. The sick fuck was into kidnapping girls, drugging them. Taking pictures. This whole bullshit spiel about capturing moments of innocence as they fade away into corruption or something. They had this crazy Emperor Palpatine - Darth Vader relationship going on, him and Nathan. Something went wrong...they snagged Stella, but Nathan gave her too much ketamine. She OD'ed, and they dumped her body in the ocean. Um..." she started to rub her arms, forcing herself to talk quickly, while she could. "Eventually, they went after Kate. Let her go, but it's almost like they were trying to see if they could push her to kill herself..." she twisted her face up in anger, mostly at herself. "But Nathan...I think it was eating away at him. like he was dying. I mean, you and I both knew he had problems for a long time, but I never suspected...because he was kind of glad, you know? He thanked me, for making him tell me. He thanked me, because he knew it was finally going to be over."
"Christ." Rachel sighed in disbelief.
"After he told me everything I needed, I made him call up Jefferson and arrange a meeting, here at the bunker. Then I told to stay in his dorm until morning. I didn't roll him hard, my influence will probably wear off by then. But...but this asshole." She rose up off the couch, and kicked at Jefferson's side again. "I went full fucking Domina on him! Made him tell me everything, every damn little thing. Shit like..."
Rachel could feel Victoria's eyes boring into her own before she continued, "Like how you were their target, back in April! They were gonna make a grab, but the day before they moved was when the Zmei tried to grab us" She glanced down, shaking her head. "Stella was just the consolation prize. I'm...I'm sorry, Rambie. Thought you should know."
Rachel's blood ran ice cold at the revelation. She stared down in disbelief at her former photography teacher, the one she'd entertained any number of inappropriate daydreams and fantasies about. The thought of how close it'd been to being her, the one Nathan would have overdosed.
Would they have dumped her in the ocean too? Or maybe found someplace else to bury her.
Victoria rose up, glaring down at Jefferson, walking around him. "And then I find out that this whole 'Everyday Heroes' contest he was having us participate in was just a huge scam to lure me into this fucking rape-shack. I was next, Rachel! I was..." She suddenly slammed her fist against the back of Jefferson's head, who passively took the blow. "You like binders full of women, asshole? You like watching people lose their innocence? Huh?!"
Rachel was up on her feet in a flash, reaching out to grip Victoria's wrist, shaking her head. The short-haired blonde angrily wiped away tears, and then glanced back down at the man at their feet.
"You were right, Rachel." she whispered. "It was stupid of me, to think I could just go back, and pretend. So scared of my power, so scared of the world out there, the one hardly anyone knows about. Think about what I could have done, if I'd gotten involved from the start. What I could have spared Kate. Imagine what would have happened if he managed to catch me! Maybe I'd be dead, or maybe I'd be the one to stop him, but what if I wasn't? How long would have this kept going on?" She stopped, and shook her head. "I can't...I can't walk away from this anymore, can I? I can't go through my so called life, and pretend I don't have a responsibility to get involved with this shit when I can. Because who else in the whole school could have stopped it? A pair of plucky teen investigators? Hah."
Rachel wrapped her arms around Victoria's neck and pulled her close, stroked her back, nuzzling reassuringly at her ear. "It's okay." she whispered. "It's okay. I never blamed you for trying to forget. Honestly, I kind of envied you doing that. I dealt with all this super-powered shit a bit longer than you, and I'm not exactly sure I've handled the fallout in the healthiest way either. But it sounds like you did an awesome thing here. You stopped a bad guy, right?"
Victoria could only nod.
"And so, what...you're going to have asshole-man here confess to the cops. Nathan too?"
Again, Victoria nodded once. "Nathan will want to, on his own. I think he's been praying for someone to catch him at last. Give him the out. But this sack of shit here doesn't get a choice."
"So call that a win. When the time came when you absolutely knew something was wrong, and you were in a position to make it right, you took charge. Don't look back, don't second guess yourself. I'm...I'm really proud of you, V. I mean that."
"Th-thanks." Victoria said, ruefully.
"So I hate to switch tracks, but this is a pretty fitting segway: I - ah - I have a mission. Something pretty intense. World changing, potentially, not to put too much pressure on you. Super lucrative too, though, oh my God! So why don't we clean this situation up here, and you come with me. I'm renting a house, a fancy little Victorian. There's a hot tub, and - um - I have that black lingerie set you like to see me in, and after business, we could take your mind off things, with a bunch of playtime..." Rachel continued to rub her friend's back reassuringly.
Victoria took a deep, sharp breath, and then let it out all at once. She blinked, at the mention of "world changing." More so at "super lucrative." But she didn't react, other than to say, "Yeah. I'd like that." She stepped back and looked around. "Too bad, you know. This is an awesome hideout. And dickboy's got some amazing, high end photo equipment. I mean, it's evidence now but..." she shook her head, and laughed once. "But I'll make do with a moral victory. This time." She stepped back, straightened up and smoothed her clothes out again.
"Thanks, Rambie." She sighed, before putting the mask back on. Her bearing becoming more regal, her air increasingly imperious. She walked over, grabbed a knife from a nearby table, and began to hack away at the tape binding Jefferson up.
"Get up, asshole. On your feet." she intoned. Rachel could feel her using her power; as a Null, or something close to it, she was far more in tune to when abilities were being used. There was a certain quality that Victoria's voice took when she used what she could do: dark, sensuous, mellifluous. Like honey, or sex. Rachel gave a shiver; there was a part of her that loved seeing her do her thing. Or having that power turned on her, during some of their more intense bedroom experiences.
Jefferson achingly did as commanded; Rachel could practically hear all the pops and creaks as his body protested from having been kept in one tight position for so long.
"Mark, do you love me?" Victoria asked, an unkind smile on her lips.
He nodded frantically, "I do! I do Victoria! I swear it! Oh God, you have no idea..."
Damn, she's really letting him have it. Usually, it's just a gentle nudge here or there, if she wants something from someone. Can't say I blame her.
"Well, here's your chance to prove it." She patted him hard on the cheek. "You're going to go to the police. And you're going to turn yourself in. Make a full confession. And you're going to cooperate with them, no matter what. You will be damningly and brutally honest, about everything you and Nathan have done." She paused, tilting her head in thought. "But you will, of course, make it clear as to how much you were manipulating him. Making him...making him do things."
He reached up to absent-mindedly wipe a line of drool off the corner of his mouth as he nodded in understanding.
"And one last bit: You will never mention that you saw me, or Rachel here tonight. You will never explain that you are obeying my orders. If anyone asks, you're turning yourself in because the guilt of almost killing someone as pure as Kate Marsh was too much for you to bear. Do you understand me?!"
His jaw was slack, eyes unfocused. All he could do was nod once more, and mumble back the last few things said to him.
"Then go! Get out, you fucking dog! Obey me!"
Jefferson all but ran out of the bunker, up the stairs, and out of the barn. Rachel wasn't sure where he was parked, given she didn't see another car, but she figured he must have had a way to come over. Of course, under Victoria's extreme influence, he would just as willingly run all the miles to the police station on foot, without stopping to catch his breath.
"Wow. You really fucked him up. How long is he gonna be that way, you think?"
Victoria languidly shrugged. "Don't know. Never hit someone that hard before. But if I had to guess, maybe a few weeks? A few months, tops. Eventually, he'll come to his senses, but it'll probably be a slow thing. Or...or who knows? Maybe he's fucked up forever. I'm not gonna cry if he is."
Rachel hmmmed in the back of her throat. "Well, if it goes like anything like what's happened with your power in the past, he probably won't realize that you did this to him. His mind'll just chalk it up to a weird obsession, especially since A) he's crazy and B) he was about to try and kidnap you anyhow."
"Yeah. Lucky me." Victoria spat.
They were silent for a long while. Rachel spotted a package of latex gloves on the counter. She put on a pair and then sifted through some of the photos that were collected.
Huh. If you can get past the absolutely horrifying reality that these pictures were taken of kidnapped and drugged women, violated against their will, there's a haunting, authentic aspect to them.
She shuddered, and put the binders back on the shelf for the police to eventually find.
"So...so you mentioned a job?" Victoria asked at last. "And...a hot tub?" She smiled now, the old self-confidence returning by the minute.
"Yeah. I did. Gonna warn you though, after I tell you what's up, you might feel like giving this 'normal life' routine one more shot."
"Doubtful." Victoria responded. "But now I'm definitely intrigued."
They tidied things up, wiping off their prints and removing any trace of their presence before heading off.
An hour later, the two of them were safely ensconced in a brightly colored "painted lady" style Victorian house. Rachel made her way into the oversized master bathroom, bringing with her a silver tray, upon which two tumblers of campari cocktails rested. Wrapped up in a black silk robe, her honey-blonde hair tied back into a tail, she put the tray down and offered one of the glasses over to Victoria.
Sighing delicately, the other girl said, "Have to admit, you always did know how to live." She took a pull of her drink, and asked. "How much are you paying to rent this place, anyhow?"
"Never you mind." Rachel teased. "We won't be here long anyhow. Assuming I can get you to come with me? But suffice it to say, there's still plenty of the half-million dollar retainer fee the client put up in advance."
Victoria nearly spat out what was in her mouth. "Half a million?! And that's how much of the payday?"
"Oh. You know. The usual ten percent."
"Five million?! The whole job is worth five...million? Actual American dollars, right? Because I still remember what happened with that last job, where we got paid in Icelandic whatever the hell money they use…"
"Kroners." Rachel quickly interjected.
"Whatever! It still sounds like some bullshit currency that shouldn't actually exist..." Victoria grinned playfully as she recounted that embarrassing mix up.
Rachel frowned, taking a long pull from her own tumbler, but then broke out into a smile, despite herself. "That was pretty fucking funny, wasn't it? Besides, it worked out in the end..."
"Yeah, after I made those drug lords sweeten the deal. You know, within reason."
"And now we can't show our faces in Iceland for like the next ten years, which is a damn shame because I absolutely loved the scenery there. But yes, it's actual US dollars. Don't worry, Princess." Rachel reassured.
Victoria snorted. "Oh believe me, I worry. I worry about what the hell we're expected to do for five million dollars. Geezus, Rambie! They're not paying us to kill someone, are they? Or is it going to be more like...you know. Roanoke?" Victoria took another swig and laughed lightly. "We had so much fun then."
"Hah. We did. But no, nothing that easy or amusing." She paused, taking a measured pull of her own drink, and smiled, as she tried to figure out how to explain the job without sound like an idiot.
Best to just jump right in.
"Okay, so you know about Kronos right. Heard the stories about them?"
"Oh, yes yes. The living key to the trans-infinite! Avatar of the Many Woooorlds!" Victoria called out with a dramatic flourish. "Or, at least that's how I remember Doctor Prometheus describing him. Like he was a real person or something." She paused, the cheery expression on her face collapsing into something far more somber. She held out her glass to Rachel and softly said, "To Doc. P. Guy was super crazy, but...but he was cool, too. He saw the best in everything, and he made you want to do the same."
Rachel touched her drink to Victoria's and took a sip. "Mmmm. Yeah. Well." she started. "I'll get right to it. Apparently, Kronos is real. She is a teenager who can manipulate time, and spent the past five years being help captive while Homeland Security studied and exploited her. The Damocles Initiative was training Kronos to be one of their stormtroopers, but then suddenly she got loose. Now the Zaibatsu want her."
Victoria's grip on her drink slipped, the luridly red liquid spreading out amongst the sizzling bubbles in the hot tub. "Fuck!" With practiced grace, Rachel scooped out the old glass and handed her own to her friend.
"You're shitting me! This is a joke, right?!"
Rachel shook her head. "No. I'm pretty sure this is absolutely serious. Or at least the Zaibatsu thinks so. The handler they sent to approach me about the job? I think he might be ex-S.O.A.P., like a defector. Dunno if he's Damocles, he could just as easily be one of their researchers, but it's obvious he knows her personally. Or acts like he does."
Victoria blinked, swallowed hard, and stammered a bit. "Uh - um - look. Baby. I think this whole thing we're doing with the Supers-For-Hire bit is awesome, and I always figured it's what I was going to end up doing with my life for a while...you know, after high school. Fucking great way to pay for college, if nothing else. But...but this sounds out of our league. Way out of it."
"What can she do to us? Seriously, between my shielding and nulling ability, and your power to control minds, the fact that she's about our age, we actually have a pretty good shot. They just want us to help them find her. Convince her to come on board." Rolling her eyes, and with a tone of mock condescension, Rachel continued, "Look, let me get her picture, so you can see she's just a human being. Not the Specials Antichrist everyone made her legend out to be."
Rachel walked over into the bedroom, quickly retrieving the photo that Lethe handed her yesterday, and brought it back to the bathroom. "Careful, don't get it too wet."
"Yes, I know how to handle photos in the hot tub, Mother. Thank you." Victoria studied it; as the seconds passed, Victoria's eyes narrowed, pulling the photo closer to her face for a more careful inspection.
Finally she handed it back, and laughed. "Hah! If I didn't know better, I'd swear she looks like some girl I went to middle school with."
Rachel glanced upwards, and muttered, "Yeah, Tori. What-ever. Kronos looks like half the white girls in the Pacific Northwest…"
Victoria took another sip of her drink. "No, dude. For real. She looks just a like..." A pause. Another sip. "Oh shit."
Covering her eyes with her hand, and in a tone dripping with exasperation, Rachel bemoaned, "Victoria. No. Just...no. You did not go to school with Kronos. Give it up."
"Jesus, Rachel, listen to me, okay? Because it was five years ago. I barely remember this girl, except for the fact that the last day I ever saw her, she was called to the Principal's office. And then no one ever saw her again. Umm, except I think someone said something about her going to school in Seattle, or something."
Rachel uncovered her eyes and turned fully towards the blonde. "I'm listening."
"Yeah! Yeah, shit. What was her name?" Victoria drained half her glass in one gulp, and tried rapping on her forehead with her knuckles to jog her memory. "Ohhhhh, right on the tip of my tongue! Christ! Driving me nuts...there was something weird about that day...it was…"
Making a dramatic show of rolling her head around, Rachel turned on one heel and started to depart. "Yeah, okay, well I'm gonna make myself another tasty beverage while you…"
"Max!" Victoria cried out.
Rachel paused, mid-stride. "The fuck you say?"
"Max! That was it. Maxine really, but ooooh God, she'd get all in your face like an asshole if you didn't call her Max."
...oh shit! Didn't Lethe say something like that?
"Madame, you had my curiosity. Now, you have my interest." Rachel quietly replied, quoting a favorite movie from last year.
Victoria laughed in response. "Yeah, the day she suddenly up and vanished she did this weird...I don't know how to explain it. There was a question about something, that the teacher asked. I don't remember what. British history shit. Naturally, I had the best answer. But, and I shit you not, this bitch jumps ahead of me and gives the same answer that I was about to. I mean literally the exact same answer. Like she read my mind, or…"
"Or she looked into the future." Rachel breathed out. "Oh shit, Tori. The handler who recruited us for the mission? He told me her name was Maxine, but she insisted on Max. Hell, what are the chances?! Do you remember her last name?"
"Uhhh….ummm...fuck. Fuck!" Victoria splashed in frustration. "No. I barely knew her. Never liked her. Couldn't stand the oh-so-sunny disposition, and the way she was clearly crushing hard on her super-best-friend forever. Oh! You know who I'm talking about." She smiled unkindly. "Your Precious Blue-Haired Gayngel, Chlo-..."
"Max Fucking Caulfield!" Rachel suddenly burst out, the final puzzle pieces clicking viciously together in her brain.
"Yeah! That was her!"
"Fuck fuck fuck! I can't believe...no wonder! No wonder she looked vaguely familiar!" Rachel glanced hard at the photo in her hands. "I mean, she's obviously filled out, lost the baby fat, gotten hella ripped. But I recognize her now, from photos Chloe showed me. And shit, you weren't kidding. God. I mean, I don't want to sound too harsh about it, but there were some days Chloe would not shut the hell up about her. Swear to God, this one time, I teased that she was fantasizing about her while the two of us were making out, and boy. That really pissed her off. So much of this makes sense now! Lethe, the guy who recruited us..."
"Lethe? What the hell kind of name is that?" Victoria sneered.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know right? People are still so fucking into their precious codenames." She leaned in and playfully tweaked Victoria's nose. "Domina."
"Hey now!" Victoria protested. "The Domina is what I am, not just who." She crossed her legs in the water, tilting her head up imperiously.
Rachel shook her head, smiling, then paused. "Oh my God, you are so adorable sometimes!" She rested her elbow on the tub, placing her chin on her hand as she leaned in close. "Shit, now I forgot what I was gonna say. Eh, doesn't matter. Because we totally have a place to start looking. I mean, I was gonna go pay Chloe a visit anyhow. Um...I have some business to settle with her."
"Jesus, are you gonna make up with her or something? You know she almost got into a catfight with me a couple months back, over your disappearance.. Girl was cah-razy obsessed with you..." Victoria punctuated her remark by twirling a finger around her ear.
Frowning, Rachel peevishly intoned, "Give it a rest, V, alright!? I mean..." she shook her head. "God, I really fucked that situation up. Uh. Anyhow, we'll go and pay her a visit tomorrow. Chances are good that if Kro - er - Max went rogue, maybe she'd contact Chloe somehow."
"Really?" Victoria said, with no small amount of incredulity. "I mean, if she spent all those years being trained as a super spy by the Government, that seems like the last place she'd go. Because think about it, we're hardly the Special Snowflake Detective Agency here, Rache. If we put these incredibly obvious pieces together, I'm sure the Feds and the Zaibatsu did too. I mean damn, why do they even need us anyhow?"
"Not gonna disagree with you, that's an excellent point. I get the impression they - I mean the Zaibatsu - want to be as cautious as possible with this. They don't want to spook her, and maybe they figure a couple of somewhat familiar faces will put her at ease?"
"Not to mention the fact that you can null her power, and I can chill her the fuck out if she won't listen to reason at first." Victoria paused in thought. "Huh. I have to hand it to them, we are pretty well suited for this exact job."
"Well, Lethe told me that he and his group were feeding false intel to the Feds, in order to throw them off the scent. So maybe we got a few days lead time. He also told me that they'd give us some additional info, assuming I could convince you to join me on this." Rachel leaned against the side of the tub, and smiled invitingly. "Sooooo. You in?"
"Oh. Yeah. You know, gosh. I really should say no, if I was smart." Victoria sharply inhaled through her teeth. "But a few million dollars has a way of making me extra stupid, somehow. I don't know. Do you really think we should be handing her over to yet another group that's just going to exploit her?"
"I don't think we have much of a choice. For what it's worth, Lethe seems to think she'll get much better treatment, but maybe he's too blinded with guilt, or love, or whatever, to see the situation clearly. Best to track her down, find out what's going on in her head, and then figure it out from there. If it's obvious she doesn't want to pick a side - uh - I was thinking maybe she could join our team."
Victoria blinked. "You have to be fucking joking."
"Only by half. Seriously, if she decides she doesn't trust anyone else, but is willing to hang with you and me, who could stand against us? It's not like anyone else out there can null her powers, as long as she's in physical contact with me. So, you know, that means anyone who tried to make a move on us, she could always stay one step ahead and give warning."
"Wow. Rachel, listen to yourself; Jesus Fucking Christ, you're talking about double-crossing the scariest Specials organization in the Eastern Hemisphere..."
"No! I mean, not...not really." Rachel protested. "Not as our go-to plan. This is just the backup, you know. Because, I mean, if we get in good with the Zaibatsu, we're set. I mean, for life. On the other hand, if we come to a point where it's obvious that she doesn't want to go with them, or maybe...if it's obvious she's too powerful to be with any one group..."
"So we'll have her go with our 'one group'. Yeah, that's 'brilliant'." Victoria quickly drained the remaining dregs from her glass in order to free up her hands to make air quotes. "Damnit, Rambie. Fine. I'll join in. If just to make sure you don't do something incredibly stupid, that both of us will regret."
Smiling softly, Rachel leaned in and kissed the other girl. "Thanks, V. Really."
Victoria returned the kiss. "My share of the money, and I want at least sixty-five percent, by the way, is thanks enough. So you have a plan?"
"I guess? We'll check in with our new employer, pay Chloe a visit in the morning, and figure it out from there. Hell, maybe we'll have it all wrapped up before the weekend. Who knows, like what if Max was in Arcadia Bay the whole time?! What if we stopped by and poof! There she is! Or...or they're eating waffles over at the Two Whales!" Rachel said, with a manic note in her voice rising up near the end.
The two of them laughed at the obvious impossibility of that situation.
"God, that'd be nice. I'd hate to miss out on tomorrow's Vortex Club party. If nothing else, I have to stick around and see how everything at school plays out, now that Mr. Jeffer-shit is going to be tomorrow's front page headline. It really is gonna be the End Of The World."
Rachel paused, dumbstruck. "Jesus, really?"
"What?"
"First off." Rachel said, "Who the hell has a school dance on a Thursday night?! Second, I thought - I thought you..." she trailed off, then held up her hands in surrender. "Actually, fuck it. Unless Lethe comes back and says we absolutely need to get the hell out of town, sure. Let's go to your little V-Club bash tomorrow. God knows I could use some downtime that's more age-appropriate than what I've been running into lately. And then after that, we get to work. Okay?"
"Sounds like a deal to me. I'm sure I can 'convince' my teachers to give me a sabbatical." She frowned, then shook her head, "Shit, going down the slippery slope again. Anyway, are we done with the boring shop talk?" Victoria asked, with just a hint of a whine in her voice.
"Yes, dear." Rachel teased. "Sooo. Should I come in, or...?"
"No, no. I think I'm in danger of wrinkly skin here." Victoria emerged from the water, steam rising up from her flesh, as she elegantly stepped out with Rachel's assistance. She then reached out, playing with the front of her tightly bound robe. "You wearing what I think you are, under this? I mean, more than just the lingerie." She tapped her throat as she asked.
Rachel swallowed in anticipation, and gave a crooked grin as she started to help Victoria undress her. "Only one way to find out, huh?"
A/N: Hey hey hey, kids! It's Black Swan Friday! Lyta somethings the somethings...NQW something something the somethings even more...blech.
(Sorry, I'm ferociously ill as I type this, so my wit is depleted. I literally forgot I was supposed to publish this today until about five mintues ago. More on that shortly)
So wow! Victoria turned out to be The Domina! Who could have possibly seen that one coming?! I mean, you know, other than everyone? It wasn't well hidden, but I wasn't exactly trying to hide it either, considering it was more or less revealed as far back as chapter 9. Although I do like how one reader suggested it was Kate. I almost wish I had made it be her, but that would have required changing around a bunch of stuff. But if anything, I figured anyone who'd read my other story "A Power Greater Than My Own", knew exactly who The Domnia would turn out to be.
[UPDATE] I wanna take a moment and point out that NQW really did a fantastic job, not only doing the edits, but also with some absolutely awesome brainstorming that led to critical improvements in this chapter. Especially with the part there Victoria and Rachel meet up at the beginning, and the part where the two of them make the slow-burn realization over Kronos' true identity. The first draft of those sections were much weaker by comparison, and I feel rather shitty that when I first published this chapter this morning, I didn't give sis enough due credit.
Alright, so I realize this is very sudden, and I hate to pull this on you all without any pre-warning leading up to it, but I'm afraid I'm going to need to take another hiatus. I was originally planning to get all the way up to chapter 35 or 36 before doing that, but I've come down with a really bad flu (that is now starting to tear through the rest of my household) and NuQueerWarhead has suddenly been struck down hard with work. Technically, I've got at least two or three more chapters in the hopper, ready to go, but chapter 31 was the best place to put things on hiatus for just a little bit. Otherwise I'd be potentially dropping a hiatus in the middle of a two part chapter arc, and I know how much that kind of thing sucks.
The good news is that I'm only planning on going away for four weeks, and I'm also planning on this being the last hiatus before the end of the series. If the stars align and we're able to start back up sooner than a month, then I'll take that shot, too.
So see you all back here on June 3rd, when we pick back up with chapter 32; a somewhat special one, because it is the first and only chapter to be told from Martinet's POV, which I think is something long overdue. Take care!
P.S. Oh hey! Achievement Unlocked: 200,000+ words!