Chapter 6: Blood

Ren was in a pair of black silk pajama pants that flowed with every graceful step she took. She was in a tank top that fit tightly to her torso, her hair was in a messy bun and her feet were bare against the wood flooring. She was walking across the hall towards the elevator, Bane came into view he was stomping more so than walking. He was still wearing cargo pants from earlier and a tan t-shirt.

The living room was dark, it was the middle of the night and apparently something rancid had gone about. There were traitors amongst the mercenaries, traitors amongst Bane's own men, traitors amongst the rich hostages they had trapped at the bottom lobby of the courthouse. He stood tall and straight clearly waiting for her, she pressed the button of the elevator and completely ignored him. He however, was always in control of his surroundings and knew she was trying to ignore him. That was what she liked about Bane, he always took advantage of the things that were given to him.

They entered the elevator and Bane politely pressed the button for the first floor. Memories of the events that occurred earlier in the day flashed before her eyes when she looked directly over at him. She shot her gaze down to the ground and her cheeks were highlighted by a faint red.

"Have you slept well so far?" Bane asked, his hands hanging from the neck line of his shirt.

"No." She bluntly replied, his eyes went fierce, but he made no sound and turned to look over at her.

"Is that no to yourself or no to my question?" She hesitated with her answer, glancing around the constricted space they were in, then looking straight ahead and taking a deep breath. If she lied to him he would know, so instead she told him the truth.

"Both." Bane blinked his eyes slowly as though he was drunk then he turned his gaze away.

"What did Barsad tell you?"

"He caught CIA agents using the supply trucks to get onto the island."

"He told me that the resistance was getting out of hand."

"Same/difference, I have reason to believe that the resistance has been trying to get men on the inside this entire time."

"The reasonable disposition however, is that somehow they have corrupted my men."

"They have corrupted your men because you allowed volunteers, I warned you against accepting outsiders into our ranks." She began fidgeting with her thumbs, something she did to both calm her nerves and keep her thought process from shutting down. Her thumbs would over lap one another continuously until they stopped and she slightly angled her head to the side with a deep thought. "You knew."

"I did." He answered back without hesitation, the elevator doors opened and they both walked out as if in their usual routine. Barsad and a group of others waited for them near the entrance of the building. Ren was still barefoot and had now regretted having not put on shoes of some sort. That however, wasn't what was important at the moment, the fact that he had known about the corruption in his mercs, how he had known that the resistance was plotting a master scheme against them, that was what was important. She squinted her eyes at him, her hands going to either side of her body in closed fists, that man made her crazy.

"But why-"

"Later, Ren we have business to handle." Ren gulped back the words she needed to say and stopped alongside Bane when they had made it to the group. Barsad stepped out of the way to reveal one single man behind him with cuffs hanging from his wrists. He wore a beige leather jacket and jeans. He retained quite handsome features, slicked back blond hair and tan skin, his eyes a dark blue and his lips nearly a pale white. The only thing that obstructed that handsomeness was the bloody nose he adorned, his crimson liquid trickled from one nostril down his lip and strong chin. A mercenary on either side held his arms to keep him from struggling, Ren could see him to be exactly that type of man to cower away.

"We killed the others, this one is the leader." Barsad explained gesturing to the culprit, Bane stepped forward to investigate, Ren glanced at Barsad.

"How do you know?"

"He was making all the orders."

"That doesn't mean he is the leader." Bane turned his head to stare at her, his eyes dark and strong into hers, but hers were directed towards the man before them.

"What are you thinking?"

"That this man was a fake, they wanted us to think he was the leader."

"And what would make you assume such a thing?" Ren shortened the distance between the man and her, she grabbed his jacket and unzipped it, lifting up the edge of one side to reveal a large metal walkie talkie. "How do you know Ren?" Bane repeated, Ren dug a nail in between the two split sides of the walkie talkie opening it to reveal a bunch of wires. She stared at the red flashing light, her eyes focused on it for only a moment before she felt Bane's hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with a bewildered mind.

"Ren." He was much more insistent this time, the grip on her shoulder tightening just a smudge.

"It's a tracking device..." She muttered out with confusion, mostly directed towards how the resistance even got their hands on a device like this.

"From where?" Barsad asked, his eyebrows furrowing, moments later a bullet flew through the windows. Bane grappled his arms around Ren running then out of the way of the windowed doors to get cover. Mercenaries ran to and fro, the handcuffed man was dragged away by Barsad, who tossed him to the side. Bane's body engulfed hers, his palms flat against the wall on either side of her, but not paying attention to the closeness of their bodies in anyway.

Ren watched as two men wearing protective vests carrying machine guns entered in through the broken glass doors and a fire fight began between the mercenaries and the assailants. She watched as one by one the mercenaries were shot down, the unknown men running for cover every now and then, while bullets still shot through the window. Broken glass scattered across the ground and loud shots echoed through the once peaceful lobby.

Ren sprinted from Bane's cover and across the broken glass disregarding the pain that shot up her legs as the shards imbedded themselves into the bottoms of her feet. She jumped onto the back of the nearest attacker and cracked his neck, his dead weight pushing her down onto the floor. She grabbed his pistol, while the other turned and she shot him through the helmet he wore.

Men poured in from the street covered in the same equipment the others had been in. Ren shoved the dead man off of herself with a grunt and managed to shoot two men before having to take cover as the others shot at her. She groaned leaning back into a couch that sat inside the lobby, once made for visitors to wait now a shield from the incoming fire. She noticed Barsad shooting from behind the long desk where a manager once stood and decided to make that her destination.

She peaked over the cover of the couch having made it far from Bane's cover who had now started taking out men himself. He had taken cover near the column, having swiftly stolen a nearby rifle from a fallen mercenary. Ren cocked the pistol and went sprinting for cover by Barsad, in one skillful jump she leapt over the desk and landed in a crouch beside Barsad, with him was the man that was cuffed up. His face drawn with worry and pain as a bullet had managed to lodge itself into his thigh. She grabbed Barsad's sleeve and tugged him down to her level.

"I need you to get him out of here! Take him up a flight of stairs and I will be there when this is over!" She shouted over the boisterous gunfire, he nodded his head and moved to do as she requested. She could war the gunfire staring to die down, a few more men left from the enemy side, about three she could see from the vantage point of the desk.

She stood up and began shooting at whatever she could aim at, she shot down one, then two, but the third turned to her and shot a couple rounds before Rem could duck. She took cover behind the desk again, adrenaline pumping through her veins, shaky hands and sweaty palms. The pistol only had one bullet left it wasn't like there was much she could do anyways. So she waited until the fire had ended, the room was silent and nothing was her.

She went to stand up only then realizing a shooting pain coming from her side. She placed a trembling hand onto the counter and lifted herself up with a surprisingly crumbled strength. Her other hand reached for just above her hip and she paused. Her eyes went down to the now acknowledged wound in her side, she guided her eyes up to just across from her and saw Bane in the distance, but swiftly approaching.

Mercenaries came from their hiding places and began to collect amongst one another about the events that just took place. Bane vaulted over the desk and placed his large hand over hers, putting pressure on the bullet wound. Her legs buckled and he picked her up in his arms, lifting her up onto the counter.

"Get me a first aid kit." His voice was urgent, but in a calm manner, one of the mercenaries did as he requested. Bane lifting up the shirt to make the wound more visible before his eyes glazed over her toned stomach and met the scar that resided there. The entire time she examined his features, his expressions, and tried to decipher his emotions.

"You knew... You never needed me to go get information, you had all that you needed." His gaze directed towards her as always firm and overbearing.

"I did... I will only allow you very limited answers to your questions so be mindful of what you ask." The mask he wore accentuated his every word as he drew out the syllables to make them glazed over and demanding. She felt tears prickle at her eyes, not because she hated his voice, but because she loved it. He had lied to her and that was the only sign she needed to complete disregard any dreams she had of him ever loving her.

"Why did you send me away?"

"Because I needed to make sure of something."

"Make sure of what?" Her voice was restricted, she could barely breath.

"Your loyalty, I needed you to prove it to me." She sniffled averting her eyes out of pure embarrassment, but his fingers grabbed her chin and drew her glazed over orbs back to his own. "I cannot allow traitors so close, it could foil everything. I needed to know that I could trust you."

"I had already proven myself to you."

"Yes... But even the strongest of friends can become enemies." She placed a hand on Bane's shoulder and shoved him away, suddenly incensed by his proclamation. He could have tested anyone else, doubted anyone else, but he had to doubt her.

"Just leave me alone." She grunted painfully as she hopped off the counter and made her way towards the elevator. She kept pressure on the wound and tried to keep her legs from giving out. She was shocked with not only her own actions, but Bane's lack of action. This moment proved something, that Bane could only be trusted just as much as he had not trusted her. She entered the elevator and disappeared from the lobby with the closing of its doors. No one had seen her burst into tears the moment she was out of sight.