Can't believe I'm already on chapter eight. I never get very far with any story I write. I always have tons of ideas but never actually take the time to compose the story. And now school is out, so I should be taking more time to write this mug. Let's hope I keep it up!
Recap: Kane tried confronting Shumway about his suspicious behavior, but Jaha has supposedly forbidden Shumway from including Kane. Also, Micah was verbally harassed. Who is Daryl? And why does he want Micah dead?
Someday, we'll find out. But right now, it's Unity Day! And enjoy the much longer chapters to come.
Warning: strong language, adult themes, and slight homophobic rhetoric [4] ahead.
Faya Gada | 8
Micah marched into the gun locker [1], her hands locked into her hair. She could hear the jeering of her fellow guards as she hastily finished braiding her hair. Everyone was in attendance, and decked out in the appropriate gear. Even the cadets were ready to go. She ignored the unwanted attention and preceded to her compartment.
"Damn, Pike," smiled the bald man next to her. "Dragging in all late like." When she continued going through her things, it didn't seem like she heard him. "Good afternoon to you too, Tevin."
Micah paused her rummaging, internally berating herself for neglecting the man. She slowly turned to him, while shoving the guard pants over her own. "…Hi, Tevin."
He pretended to look around before widening his eyes. "Oh, hey person-I-haven't-seen-in-weeks."
This wasn't the first time Micah had forgotten about her friend. Easily, she got distracted by guard work and her own hostile feelings. The first time Tevin realized his best friend wouldn't always be there to act like his best friend was three weeks after their Dubbing Ceremony. It had been understandable that violent crime and inspection were in completely different departments, and the two former cadets would be seeing less of one another. But meals were an easy way of remedying this. Only thing is Micah had caught the attention of Councilman Kane and began sharing all of her meals with him.
And Tevin already knew she was an opportunist before he let himself feel rejected about missing their meals. Micah may have gone through guard training to help Tevin pursue his dream of following his father, but it was obvious she had finally found her calling of leadership and protecting people. He made a promise not to let his pride and envy get in the way of supporting her purpose.
"Tevin, I'm really sorry about these last few weeks. Things have been a little crazy...I've been a little crazy…"
The bald man nodded while shrugging his shoulders. "It's been known to occur."
Bellamy was silently watching the two from across the room. He could see the tension rolling off of Micah's shoulders as she talked to that Inspector Graham. What usually took him at least ten minutes, Graham could accomplish with just a phrase. It definitely couldn't be called jealousy, but Bellamy felt inferior and like the tool he sometimes forgot himself to be.
"So I kind of apologized and stuff-like you tell me to." She crossed her arms over her chest and pointedly looked up at her friend, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Am I your best friend again?"
A buzzer sounded off and someone opened up the entrance of the gun locker. The guard began to line up in two double-file lines. Micah cursed as she quickly grabbed her Guard's jacket then checked her holster for her gun. When she realized she had forgotten it, she stalked over to one of the gun racks before taking her assigned weapon in her hands. She pointed it out and downward, pressing the magazine release and removing it with her other hand to open the slide[2].
Where the hell was her ammo?
She thought about filing a complaint and replacing the bullets but realized the group couldn't leave without her and she was taking up enough time as it was.
"Pike, you good to go?" one of the lieutenants called out from the front of the line.
After debating for another ten seconds, Micah decided she didn't have the time to reload her weapon and looked at her spare firearm. It was newer than the other one and she hadn't really practiced with it in a while, but this was going to be a celebration. She doubted she would actually need the revolver; it would be for show.
"Coming!"
Ironically after shoving the weapon into her holster, the only spot left in line was next to the person she was trying to avoid.
"You good?"
Micah sighed and screwed her eyes shut at his question. She was not ready to patrol with this guy for four hours straight. Even though he knew she didn't want to talk to him, he still spoke to her and tried to ask about her feelings and shit. Eww.
"Seriously, Blake. I need this day to go by a lot faster than it actually will. So do me a favor and just stand there looking pretty, and we may not have a problem."
Bellamy needed to read a book on female mentality or something. He just decided everything he thought he knew about women was crap. He had thought he was good at reading certain people, but he couldn't figure out why Micah was being so sore all of a sudden. He had hoped to talk to her about the Dubbing Ceremony so she could help get his foot in the inspection door. But after their run-in with that Daryl guy, she had grown distant. And by distant, he meant cold-as in the bed had gone cold.
At first he thought that maybe she was getting bored with whatever it was they were doing, but he noticed her staring into space sometimes and keeping conversations pretty short. That couldn't be due to them.
Now he needed to figure out why she wouldn't even look at him. Sure, they were in public now. But no one knew what happened behind closed doors. They only knew her as his commanding officer. She kind of has to talk to him to give out orders.
He glanced at Micah and watched her cross her arms over her chest. She was surveying the room of Ark residents. Some of the women had their hair pulled up nicely, and dresses were a common fashion at this time. A few Arkers bore the colors of their stations. Bellamy could pick out the sea of black in a far back corner. He silently wondered if his mother was over there or if she stayed home with his sister.
Micah was multitasking. She ended up having to watch three other pairs of guard to be sure they were following procedure while keeping a look-out for any troublemakers in the crowd. She also wanted to find her family. One thing she did not need today, aside from Blake's presence, was running into her father. This was one of his favorite holidays and would surely use that to coax her back into his arms.
When Bellamy spotted one of his old teachers, he knew he had found the perfect excuse to start a conversation with her.
"Isn't that your dad?" He indicated with a nod of his head as she whipped her head in the direction.
Shit, he was moving toward them.
"Uh…" Micah turned to see if she could spot a vacant spot where her and Bellamy could stand guard without being irresponsible, but most of the exits were covered. She reached her hand behind her to touch Blake's arm, but he was already preoccupied.
"Mr. Pike, sir." Micah dropped her arm and continued to face her current direction. She would not turn around.
"Bellamy Blake?" Pike's eyes widened in surprise. "You're a guard now?"
"Oh no, sir," he pushed his hand out to shake the man's hand, "still a cadet. Your-uh, daughter is my SO."
Bellamy didn't mean to insert Micah directly into the conversation, but it seemed like the thing to do. His former teacher's face lit up at the mention of her.
"Really, now? My Mikey is training you bastards now?" Charles held the look of a proud and distraught father. Like he just learned his child is doing something amazing, but didn't want them growing up just yet. "She is something else…"
"She's something else, alright. Real hard-headed and mean. But she's fair and gets the job done."
Pike seemed to take the information in reverence. "That's great. I wish I could be around to see the things you're saying...but I suppose she's her own person now."
That's mildly putting it, Bellamy thought. He smiled and pretended to have just spotted the object of their conversation. "Oh, you're probably here to speak with your daughter." He put his hand on her bicep to 'get her attention' and watched her stony face turn to them. She was, without a doubt, biting her tongue at that very moment.
"I'll leave you guys to it."
As he took a step back, Charles examined his daughter. Her hair was longer-a few inches past her shoulders-and in a long braid. Her face was slightly more mature and she definitely wasn't the same scrawny little girl he raised. She gained a lot of muscle and filled out more healthily. Though she still only reached his shoulders. The tight lip she was sporting didn't really faze him. When she had still lived with him, that seemed to have been her resting face.
"You look good-"
"Where's mother?"
Charles had expected this kind of defiance from her and only kept his eyes on her. He missed his Mikey, dammit, and they were gonna have to make up.
"Visiting on the other side of the room. Micah, I'm really happy to see you…" She rolled her eyes and looked around him and not at him. "What's it been? Four years?"
"Three."
He was not going to let her deter him. "But it felt like four for us, for me...Mikey, I just want to say that I'm sorry-"
"You're sorry?"
"Yes, I'm sorry for the way I acted. But you have to understand that as a father-"
"You can't stand the idea of having a 'harlot' for a daughter? No, I get it."
"Micah, that's not what I'm saying."
"Then what are you saying?"
"I'm saying it's Unity Day...and I want my daughter back."
Micah has practiced her bitch face for nearly her whole life. But she could feel the walls cracking at her father's resolve. He wanted her back. He hadn't said a single word to her in those three years. And now she knows he wanted her back. But then she remembered this wasn't supposed to be a social hour. She was on the clock, Bellamy could probably hear everything they were saying, and she wasn't ready to forgive Charles Pike for throwing her out.
"Well I think it's only fair that you know your daughter is still the harlot she was three years ago."
Charles tried not to let the worry in his face show, but it was kind of hard with the type of statement she just made. And he changed from reconciling man to judgemental parent very quickly.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Micah let a smirk creep on her lips. "Oh, you know 'what the hell' that means. 'Guess that means your daughter is incapable of learning from her mistakes."
All she got out of him was a 'who' before stalking back toward one of the exits, deciding to check up on one of her cadets. Someone bumped into her. Hard.
"Excuse me, ma'am."
"Yes, excuse you."
Bellamy almost felt embarrassed at her rudeness and saw her walk up to Elliot and his assigned partner, throwing herself back into work. Bellamy awkwardly coughed before trying to follow after her. But she caught him and stopped him in his tracks.
"Blake, I really don't need any of your sass right now."
"I was just going to-"
"I don't care. I don't need 'support' from a fuckbuddy right now. I'm gonna go get some air."
And she stalked off into the crowd until he couldn't see her anymore. Elliot seemed to hear the exchange and slapped Bellamy on the shoulder. "What did I tell you?"
Blake sighed and went to respond.
Bang! Bang!
Someone had opened fire. And now people were screaming. Smoke was now filling the room. One of the bullets must've caught a pipe.
Bellamy felt someone push him against another in attempts to escape the space as other people were doing. From the other side of the room, it sounded like a voice had called out 'blood'. Him and Takada made eye contact before breaking it to secure their exits. Bellamy didn't have one so he stood next to Elliot to stand in front of the keypad for the door, locking his key inside to force the doors to shut. Takada stood firmly in front of the door as his partner, as seasoned guard pushed forward and pulled out his weapon. He didn't aim it at anyone but pointed his gun off to the side and toward the ground.
"Everyone get on the ground! Get on the ground, now!"
Other guards around the room could be heard screaming the same thing. The crowd seemed to understand quickly that their safety was in dropping to the ground, hands over their heads. A small group of people remained above the ground, crouching over a whaling pedestrian. Takada's partner, Romero, turned to Bellamy.
"Go assist. We got this."
Hand on his side gun Bellamy walked forward, stepping over the limbs of Arkers. He could see a small pool of blood the closer he got to the group. Before he got there, he heard someone call his name.
"Martin, Blake, secure those people."
Kane had shown up from nowhere, it seemed, barking orders. But the two followed through, forcing the bystanders to the ground, promising the injured party would be taken care of. Shumway came running through followed by a medical practitioner who happened to be there. They went to work assessing injuries and stopping the blood flow. It seemed that there was only one victim. Before he could see who it was, Kane came up to Bellamy, eyes blazing.
"Where the hell is Pike?"
He knew he couldn't answer that question, but wondered why it was such a big deal. That is, until he saw the victim and overheard Shumway speaking into his radio.
"Civilian down. I repeat, civilian down. Medical support needed ASAP. Outpatient ID'd as Daryl Simmons. I repeat, outpatient is Daryl Simmons." Bellamy's face paled at the next mention. "If anyone gets eyes on Lieutenant Commander Pike, bring her in. I repeat, bring Pike in."
"Mr. Simmons," Abby Griffin spoke softly, "Commander Shumway is here to ask you some questions. Are you up for it?"
Daryl groggily nodded his head, 'yes'. Dr. Griffin turned and gave Shumway a warning look.
"Keep in mind, he went through a lot today. You'll keep your questions appropriate. Is that clear?"
Henry fought a groan and gave her a curt nod. "Yes, ma'am. I'll try not to be long."
As she stalked away, Henry held out his hand. "Mr. Simmons, my name is Henry Shumway. Please just call me Commander." Daryl shook his hand tentatively. "I believe you went through a horrible ordeal today. Am I correct?" Daryl nodded. "Well, if you'll grant me your full cooperation, we can figure out why this happened to you."
"I already know why this happened to me."
Shumway did his best not to smirk at this. He had hoped this guy would already be drawing his own conclusions about what happened. "Oh? Hopefully, we're on the same page. But why don't we start from the beginning? How do you know Micah Pike?"
Daryl's eyes got hard and he clenched his fist. "Isn't that bitch lieutenant commander now, or some made up shit like that?[3]"
The Commander really wanted to pat this guy on the back for his contempt toward Pike, but he had to remain professional. "Mr. Simmons, if you would refrain from using coarse language." Daryl rolled his eyes, and Shumway could tell the man didn't like being told what to do. "How exactly do you know Ms. Pike?"
"We dated." When Henry didn't say anything, he elaborated. "Three years ago. We were cadets together and we hit it off. Became an 'item'," he had to force the word out.
"Can I ask why you never finished your guard training?"
"She ruined my life." Daryl seemed to be looking into space now. His eyes appeared a bit glossy. "Got someone I cared about in trouble. She turned a blind eye. Let them be floated."
Jackpot.
"What do you mean by 'let them be floated'. If they committed a crime, the punishment is-"
"But there was never any proof. The guard was a lot less organized back then and well...that bitch knew. She knew that the evidence got it all wrong. I begged her to help us. But you know what she told me? 'You and Bailey can go float yourselves.'"
Henry would finally bring Micah Pike down.
After storming out of the celebration hall, Micah had gone to the ladies room. She hadn't realized how upset her meeting with her father had made her until she saw the seemingly permanent scowl in the mirror. When she tried to drop it, her mouth barely flinched. She had to use her fingers to force back her bitch face.
Before she could even begin to think of her anger toward Blake, she almost scratched herself as her radio crackled.
"Civilian down. I repeat, civilian down. Medical support needed ASAP. Outpatient ID'd as Daryl Simmons. I repeat, outpatient is Daryl Simmons...If anyone gets eyes on Lieutenant Commander Pike, bring her in. I repeat, bring Pike in."
What?!
Not looking forward to making a fuss in public, Micah raced out of the bathroom and high-tailed it to Alpha Station. No doubt, there would be no guards left as Alpha needed the least protection of the stations. Once she reached her destination, she brought her radio to her lips after changing the channel.
"Pike, here."
She got an immediate response.
"What the hell, Pike? Where are you?"
"I'm in your office."
"Why is that?"
"Because I'm sure there are a bunch of trigger happy guardsmen out there looking for my curly ass. No thanks. I heard the message over my radio. I'll patiently wait here for you to explain to me what the fuck is going on."
"That was a dangerous move. It could be seen as evading authorities-"
"You know where I am Kane. Just come fucking get me."
It wasn't even five minutes when Kane came marching through his office with two other security details on his heels. When he saw the men move toward Micah, he moved a hand out. Before ordering her to sit with a finger pointed in her face. Annoyed, she dropped into her usual seat. It made her feel like a little girl again, getting sent to the dean's office for something she probably did.
"You wanna tell me what's going on before Shumway runs an APB on me?"
She felt it odd that he didn't have the guards wait outside the door while they talked.
Kane pulled his hands behind his back as he tried to examine this woman. She didn't show any signs of guilt that he could see. If anything, she was beyond pissed. But knowing Micah, it was probably for an infinite number of reasons that had nothing to do with what just happened.
"Where were you fifteen minutes ago?"
"Taking a potty break. Is that a crime now?"
"I would like to proceed without your annoying satire," he quipped back, not breaking eye contact.
This was when Micah realized how serious the situation was, and became alert. She already knew how these things went. The more cooperative she was, the better. Don't hold any information. It wasn't like she did anything, right?
"I went to the girl's restroom, sir."
"Can anyone confirm that?"
"...I don't think so. Can I ask what happened exactly?"
"You're a suspect. Someone attempted to murder Daryl Simmons just before the Unity Day ceremonies could begin. At the time of the crime, you were unaccounted for. Blake couldn't even point me in a direction. And we know you and Simmons have a rough history."
"Excuse me," Micah rebutted. "I have a rough history' with him. Where did you get this information and what proof do you have?"
Kane pointed to one of the guards. He came forward with a plastic bag, emptying a gun onto the table. "A gun? Hey, wait...that's mine. What are you doing with my gun?"
"Better question is what were you doing with it?"
"I wasn't doing anything. I picked up another one earlier. It's right…"
When she reached her hand down to grab the spare, her hand met air.
"...It's gone. I-I swear I had it."
"Can anyone confirm that?"
"Well…"
This wasn't looking good. When Micah came to the gun locker, everyone else was already ready and had lined up with the bell went off. She was the only one near the guns when she switched out for a spare. No one could see her as some regular lockers stood between the door and the guns.
She was screwed.
"Let me guess...the gun was found at the crime scene...with all my prints on it. How hot am I?"
"Pretty damn hot."
"Kane, you don't seriously believe all this? Isn't this all just too strange? Too perfect?"
"Pike, you know evidence doesn't lie." The irony of that statement, Micah thought. "Your gun was found abandoned on the floor of the ceremonial hall with your fingerprints. You leave Blake's sight seconds before 'someone' shot Daryl Simmons in the arm. You have a past history with the guy and I know, for a fact, that you're not a big fan. What else is this supposed to look like?"
"An obvious set up." Kane rubbed his eyes in frustration. He was obviously tired, but Micah didn't care. She did not shoot that dick, and she was not about to go down for the real culprit. "Would I not have actually killed him? You know I'm a dead shot. If I wanted him dead, he would be. Kane, there is a killer out there and we're in here doing what? Wasting time-"
"You understand how this works, Pike. We ask the questions, cover all of our bases. We don't show favoritism-" Micah rolled her eyes. He was not about to lecture her on professionalism. "-I am not about to lecture you. You just need to cooperate, completely, no matter how absurd this may be for you. Because we don't know what really happened. You could've been pretending this whole time-"
"Pretending this whole time. Like I'm patient enough for that shit."
Kane gave her a warning look and she wanted to throw him one back. But she needed him if she was going to get out of this mess.
"I'm going to need to ask you about Simmons." Kane saw the look of murder on her face. Perhaps it was the one she used when shooting Daryl. "What was your relationship."
Micah straightened her back and sighed, placing her elbows on her knees. "My boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend. But I loved him."
"You broke up," lowering his voice to make the subject feel a bit more personal for her. Perhaps if she felt like this was just another one of their talks, she would work with them. "What happened between you two?"
"Bailey happened." He could see her mouth quivering. If she didn't hold it together, Kane might actually see her cry. And for the first time. "Bailey Price...I thought they were just friends but…"
Now angry tears were coming up. "I caught them…"
She clenched her fists and closed her eyes to try and stop the salt water. "He was fucking that bitch."
Kane shut his eyes to stop himself from reprimanding her for her language. If this got her to tell the story, then so be it. But he knew she would be angry later for letting this information go to these goons. Kane signaled to the two guards to have them wait outside the door.
"That hurt you."
"It fucking destroyed me."
She was full on crying now. "I loved him and he said that he loved me...Thing is, I don't know what hurt more: that he cheated on me, or that he didn't like pussy."
Kane almost fell out of his seat for a number of reasons. "Wait, what are we talking about?"
"Daryl fucking Simmons let that fucking twat fuck him up the ass. And he had the audacity to tell me he liked it."
Oh, Baily Price was a man, Kane thought.
"He told me that I was his best friend. That he should be able to tell me anything...Like I would be understanding of my boyfriend's new discovery and be happy for him. Like finding the fucking rainbow was the best thing that ever happened to him. Well when have I ever been understanding or happy? Fuck that shit!"
Kane was reeling from what she was saying. His Micah was still hurting from this, badly. "He said he loved me, that I was the best thing that ever happened to him. We even talked about getting married. But then I literally saw that man get ripped to shreds. Like a fucking slut."
Kane absolutely didn't need any of this information. "Micah-"
"What the fuck is wrong with me? Why couldn't I see that?"
"Micah!" He reached forward and took her hands. "I'm sorry about what you went through. Though I don't agree with a lot of that thought process you just brought me through," he wiped her face, "there is a lot of hurting in there. Now you told me enough for today. I want you to go home-go straight home. Callie will be staying with a friend in the time being. Unfortunately, you are still a suspect and we need to be able to find you at all times."
Micah finally stood up after her face began to dry. "Go home and get some rest. I'll most likely send someone to come watch you-" She opened her mouth to interject. "-You know procedure. We can't let you be alone. And I'll feel better if you weren't alone."
Micah sniffed and wiped one of her eyes, trying to get her emotions back under control. There was a reason she always hid everything inside. Before she could walk towards the door, she was pulled into a chest and she broke down crying once more.
Kane whispered in her hair, "It's okay, honey. It's going to be okay. Just let me do my job and protect you."
Micah sat at home wringing her hands together, pacing her room. She knew they had already placed guards outside of their apartment and didn't want the constant reminder. After her meltdown in Kane's room, she could still feel something building up in her gut. Her head started hurting and she knew she couldn't let herself get like that again or risk crying to sleep.
She also couldn't stop thinking about the inevitable. Somehow, everything was pointing to her. She's lucky Kane didn't know Daryl also hated Micah. Nor where Bailey was today. She may not have committed the crime today, but she may as well have three years ago.
She heard her hiss of her door opening and turned. She was both surprised and relieved. Freckles could see her wild eyes and knew she was scared. She practically raced up to him and grabbed his shoulders. He seized her wrists and put them in front of him.
"Pike, what are you doing?"
"I want you to fuck me."
He inwardly groaned. Any other time, he'd be up for it. But things just didn't seem right at that moment. He was surprised to think that to himself, as they were an informal thing-assuming they were a thing at all.
"No."
"Bellamy, fuck me. Now."
"Micah, I said no."
In response, Micah took back her wrists and bumped him. The wait of them both brought them falling onto her bed. As she tried to crawl her way up his body, he could discern the desperation in her eyes. She needed this, to be in control of something. But he wasn't having it.
"Mic-"
"Bellamy, fuck me. Please." She leaned down and started kissing his neck aggressively while laying her hand down on his crotch.
"Shit. Micah. Micah. Micah!"
He was able to grab her arms and stop her advance. They wrestled for a moment before she started crying hysterically. "Fuck me, Bellamy! Fuck me. Fuck me!"
Slowly, she began to lose her strength and let him lock her into his chest. She was muttering to herself, the phrase taking on a different meaning as she talked to herself. "Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me!"
Bellamy just held her as she wet his shirt. "Fuck me. Bellamy what am I going to do?"
He was unused to dealing with a crying person, but he knew she needed something stable now. So he just held her as she cried herself to sleep.
"Bellamy, please don't ever leave me."
He undid her loose braid and ran his fingers through her hair. It seemed to calm her a bit as she drifted off to sleep.
"Never, Mike."
Footnotes:
1 – A locker room…for guns…lol
2 - Thank you wikiHow for providing me steps for disassembling a gun. I've never held a gun in my life.
3 - Haha! It's totally made up.
4 - Micah is very hurt about Daryl's betrayal. I'm going to go ahead and point out that she is not homophobic (in the sense that she has no problem with people of other sexual orientations or lifestyles). But she is very hurt and her hate towards Daryl is clouding her judgement a bit. Instead of merely hating him, she is also blindly hating the part of him that got her hurt.
4 (continued) - Since this is something that happened in the past, I will fill in some blanks on their relationship. Daryl considered himself bi, though never voiced this. But for a while he suspected he was actually only into men but wasn't sure because he did love Micah in some way. He tried to tell Micah on numerous occasions, but she didn't listen to him, or rather didn't want to. He was simply friends with Bailey, but the two definitely had wonderful chemistry. The sexual tension between the two just kind of built up and...Daryl cheated. Realizing he was actually in love with Bailey, he went to Micah to explain what happened and about his feelings like a mature adult, but Micah can't function when something is personal. So she basically cursed him and Bailey and told them to go die in a hole somewhere. Which it wasn't like Micah and Daryl's relationship was solid or anything. Micah thinks she was in love with Daryl, but it was more like the idea of him. She's hurt simply because she didn't get her way.
4 (continued again) - Anyway tese comments are being made in a very emotional moment and do not reflect how she really feels about the general population of LGBTQIA. She is a very angry, rude, and coarse person. Sometimes people like that say the most disgusting things to make themselves feel better. And I apologize if this hurts anyone, but as much as I love Micah, she has major flaws. She is not a perfect individual and later, I wish to address this (her lack of sensitivity towards others when she feels she is the victim). So don't worry. She won't get away with the comments she is making. She's going to have to learn to be a proper human being, and not just when she is in control of the situation. Again, I do apologize for the comments. It's was really hard to write that section!