Chapter Twenty Three

The Locker

Author's Commentary:

Trigger warning: Mention of sexual assault

ELSA

Elsa's heart thumped hard and fast in her chest as she watched the back and forth struggle between Janus and the older man in the ring. By all appearances, it seemed that Janus couldn't beat his opponent.

The two men had both gained the upper hand at different points of time, only to lose it to a blur of movements, elaborate grappling and fierce counters. But though the older man had more experience and power behind his punches, Janus had the advantage of agility and an assortment of techniques that varied far beyond what his opponent had brought to bear. Even without his weapons, Janus was still a force to be reckoned with.

By her side, Peggy hadn't uttered a word nor had she torn her eyes away from the fight that continued to rage on in the middle of the steel cage. Her descendant had seen Janus in action before, but to see him fight with nothing but his bare hands in a high-stakes round like this…it had to be awe-inspiring and terrifying.

And once again, Janus gained the upper hand. He climbed on top of the older fighter, punching him twice more, then hesitating.

Elsa's brow creased in worry. She could count the number of times Janus had hesitated during a fight on one hand, and this was one of the rare ones. Why did he stop? In her heart, she willed the fight to be over and for Janus to stand tall, but it wasn't over yet.

Grappling around the man, Janus slithered to his back, locking his legs round his waist and sliding his arms around his neck, cinching in the hold tight.

Elsa glanced up at the balcony where Saltoni was still watching the fight. The criminal kingpin was on his feet, gripping the railing with an intense look on his face. Whether it was rage, anticipation or excitement, Elsa could not tell. He was too far away, but one thing was clear. The man was invested in the outcome of the fight. But would he honour his end of the bargain and grant Janus an audience as he'd promised? That remained to be seen.

Eyes flicking back to the steel cage, she saw that the older man still hadn't escaped Janus' hold. His struggling had gone weak, feeble, his scrabbling doing nothing to loosen Janus' iron grip around his neck. Slowly but surely, the life faded away from the man.

Finally letting go, he lowered the man gently to the ground and lingered for a moment, as though he was paying his respects or showing reverence. It was strange. Elsa had not seen him do something like that before. But then again, a lot could've happened since she'd last seen him. Visibly flagging from exhaustion, Janus lifted his head.

"You happy, Saltoni?" he masked the fatigue well, lacing his words with steely resolve. "He's dead. It's what you wanted."

"Well done, Prometheus," Saltoni stood once more. "And yes, I am a man of my word. I will honour our agreement."

"Where do I meet you?"

Saltoni lifted a hand. "My men will escort you to a place to freshen up and rest. They will bring you to me in half an hour." He turned to the crowds below, smiling and spreading his hands. "Thank you all for a wonderful evening, I trust a fun time was had by all. Please go to the ticketing booths to collect your winnings and enjoy refreshments. Come back again soon." He turned and disappeared from the edge of the balcony.

"We have our opening," Elsa said to Peggy as the crowds began streaming past them to leave. Her descendant was still transfixed on Janus who was leaving the steel cage. "Peggy?"

"Yeah." Peggy still stared at Janus who was now speaking with Hansel right outside the steel cage, watching intently as the two of them were marshalled away by some of Saltoni's goons. "I heard you." She finally turned back to Elsa. "Sorry, I got a little distracted. It's just…wow."

"I know," Elsa forced a reassuring smile. She supposed she had an inkling of how Peggy felt. "But we've got to capitalise now. Follow Janus and Hansel to wherever Saltoni's men are taking them."

Peggy nodded, her eyes going back to the stadium floor to scan for Janus and Hansel. "There." She indicated with a subtle lift of her chin.

Glancing to where Peggy was indicating, she saw Janus and Hansel moving amid the crowd near the far end of the stadium, being escorted by the goons to a curtained area, after which they disappeared into another part of the building.

How do we know Saltoni isn't taking Janus and Hansel somewhere private to have them killed? A chill shook Elsa to the core even as she contemplated the possibility. But no, it wasn't very likely they would do that. Janus and the Witch Hunters had earned their reputation by facing down the worst of the worst and walking away with their bounty.

And after what Saltoni had witnessed, he would be a fool to order their deaths, lest they destroy his criminal empire in a single night. No, if what Cheyenne had said about Saltoni being the biggest and smartest criminal kingpin in Bruvesqk was true, then he wouldn't risk that. He would honour the bargain.

"Come on." Elsa motioned to Peggy and began moving against the flow of traffic, squeezing past the crowd filled with satisfied and excited conversations as well as grumbling from the night's losses. With some difficulty, they made it to the curtains without being spotted by Saltoni's men, and managed to slip past them into the private area not made accessible to the rest of the crowd.

Once they were past the curtains, Elsa and Peggy immediately dove for cover behind several crates. Only when they'd ascertained that there was no one else in the nearby vicinity did they emerge from behind the crates. A quiet, long service tunnel lay before them, illuminated brightly by lamps wedged into the walls on both sides.

Sucking in a deep breath, Elsa steeled herself. She wasn't exactly looking forward to meeting Janus again in the flesh. If anything, she'd finally accepted the fact that her relationship with Janus was over and she'd tried to move on. But here she was, preparing to face him again, not with the agenda to make things right with him, but to bring him and the two siblings back into the fold. The Warriors needed Janus and the Witch Hunters, the best soldiers of fortune on the continent. Her personal agenda would have to wait.

"You alright?" Peggy asked in a low voice.

Elsa bit her lip and nodded. "Let's go."

JANUS

"Hell, that was some show you put on," Hansel sank onto a hard wooden bench in the centre of the spacious and empty locker room which had been cleared out by Saltoni's men to give the two mercenaries some privacy. As he sat down hard, the wood creaked and the sound echoed throughout the empty locker room which reeked of old sweat and the coppery smell of blood. "Going up against Saltoni's bastards all at once, then tangling with that old timer," He whistled. "Damn, that old sucker could move."

Janus didn't look up as he leaned against a steel locker, sweat sticking his skin to his clothes. Everything hurt. His arms, legs, chest, face…none had been spared from the fierce brawl. It was only now that the adrenaline had died down that all the aches and exhaustion were really making themselves known, and in a big way.

He regretted going for less armour in his mercenary gear. It'd been a while since he'd ditched most of the armour plating that'd protected him in the war. Now, back in Bruvesqk among the common criminals and corrupt officials, he'd no longer needed the extra armour which weighed him down. Until tonight, that is.

Wincing behind the mask, he stretched and felt a dull pain in his chest and a sharp one running up his left shoulder. His body was sore as hell, but there were no broken bones, thankfully, which was more than he could say for his opponents who were even now being carted away. He grimaced as he thought about Alfredo, but quickly tried to push his thoughts to the back of his mind.

"But you showed them. Now everyone in town knows who's the toughest bastard of them all."

Sighing quietly, Janus turned to Hansel. "What are you trying to say?"

"There goes your myth." Hansel shrugged. "Now everyone knows you're real."

"It was necessary."

Hansel shook his head. "Look, I know you're trying to help me save Gretel, and I'm right grateful, I am. But you just destroyed your myth. A myth that you've kept going for years."

"It's worth it if it gets Gretel back." Janus' face darkened behind the mask he still wore to hide the guilt on his face.

Hansel sighed and threw up his hands. "Like I said, I'm grateful. But I'm just saying, Saltoni might not even honour the bargain. He may just laugh and spit in our face when we tell him what we came for."

"Leave the talking to me." Janus fingered the hilt of the sword on his hip. "Just follow my lead and we'll be a step closer to getting your sister back." The Witch Hunter was silent for a long moment, and Janus relished that peace and quiet as he nursed his sore chest.

"It should've been me," Hansel finally said in a low growl.

Janus glanced at him.

"I should've been the one to fight for her."

"You did," Janus said. "We both carved through Saltoni's men just to get here."

"No, but you were the one to get in that cage." Hansel slammed a fist against the wooden bench he sat on. "I just sat there and watched you do my dirty work for me. It should've been me in the cage."

"We both know you're good, but you don't have the kind of reputation I do," Janus admitted. "If you'd gone in there and made that wager with Saltoni, they wouldn't have been afraid. But they see this damn mask and the body count it represents-" he motioned at himself, ignoring the shame. "-and that's enough to instill fear."

"Right, because everyone in Bruvesqk's heard the tales of Prometheus," Hansel muttered. "I know."

"Don't worry, you still have a part to play in the plan," Janus said, gritting his teeth. "We both do."

"And what is the plan?"

Janus whirled to the door and his heart skipped a beat. He could feel the blood draining from his face and every muscle stiffening at the sight of the two girls standing in the open doorway, having approached so silently he hadn't detected them.

For a moment, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. What with all the injuries and the pain he was weathering, it wasn't a stretch to imagine that what he was seeing was merely a figment of his imagination. But blinking hard and forcing his mind to focus only confirmed what he already knew. Elsa and their shared descendant from the future were really here.

"I assume you both left that trail of bodies for a good reason." Peggy took a few tentative steps into the locker room.

"You could say that," Janus said cautiously as he watched Elsa shut the door behind them noiselessly. He caught her eye for a brief second before both averted their gazes awkwardly. Panicking, his heart slammed in his chest. The tension in the air was too palpable between the former lovers, even though no words had been exchanged yet.

Hansel blinked and got off the bench in a hurry. "Wait a minute, how did you find us?" he demanded as he jabbed a finger at the two girls. "And how did you get in here?"

"Isn't too hard when you're the descendant of the great Prometheus," A twinkle flashed across Peggy's eyes. "But the real question is, what are you two doing here?"

Janus neglected to answer that, finding it hard to think straight now that Elsa was here. He never imagined he would see her again. He'd done his best to move on, to leave his feelings and emotions behind on that ship, but here they were again, rushing back in like a flood the moment he laid eyes on her.

Damn it, he grimaced behind the mask. Get control!

"It's a long story and we don't exactly have a lot of time," Hansel said cryptically. "We're supposed to meet the big boss man soon."

"Then make time," Elsa spoke up, her voice every bit as strong and authoritative as Janus remembered, not forgetting how smooth like honey it was to his ears. "We came all this way across the continent to find the three of you. Where's Gretel?"

Hansel opened his mouth to speak but Janus cut him off, turning to face Peggy and Elsa. "It was my fault," he said quietly. "It's my fault we're in this mess now."

Peggy raised both eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Glancing at Hansel who gave him an affirmative nod, Janus sighed softly. "We took up a contract that wanted us to eliminate Synton Alerion, a former leader of a massive drug ring in Bruvesqk. Fearing the secrets he knew, the client wanted him shut up permanently. I tracked down the drug ring and interrogated Alerion's right hand man who'd seized control of his operations for himself," Janus gritted his teeth. "And I found out that Alerion is being imprisoned in Moordeloch."

The name of the cursed prison was enough to send horrible images flashing across his mind, nightmares he'd suppressed and tried to forget ever since escaping the island as a young teenager.

"Moordeloch?" Peggy repeated.

"Moordeloch prison," he said for Peggy's benefit, though the unwelcome memories were washing over him like a flood tide of blood and death. "The prison island where I was born and raised till my mother was killed in front of me. Even though our target was on that island, I was…worried my childhood trauma would compromise the mission. Possibly get me killed."

"So Gretel volunteered to go on our behalf," Hansel continued. "Told Janus and myself to stay on the mainland and tie up loose ends. Said it ought to be a simple infiltrate and kill mission. And it should have been," he snarled, slamming a fist against a locker door. "Damn it, it's been four days since she left and not a sound since! She should've been back two days ago!"

Wrecked with guilt, Janus glanced at Peggy and Elsa. "We're worried something's happened to her. We think she's been captured-"

"Or worse," A haunted look appeared on Hansel's features and his eyes blazed with anger. "I can't let anything happen to her. She's the only family I have left."

"Nothing's going to happen to her," Janus snapped. "We're going to save her."

"So you got Cheyenne to point you to Saltoni's club," Elsa said, understanding dawning on her face. "You think Saltoni can help you get onto the island?"

"He's the biggest crime lord in Bruvesqk," Janus answered, avoiding her gaze. "He has resources and connections. He can get us onto the island and into the prison."

"And what about out of it?" Peggy asked.

"I'll make sure we get a round trip," Janus said, though uncertainty and guilt flooded his mind. The thought of going back to Moordeloch was unnerving to say the least. But he had to be a part of this. He'd sent Gretel off into the jaws of the beast. He owed it to both her and Hansel to rescue her. If he couldn't…he shut his good eye tightly. I can't bear to lose anyone else.

"This had better be worth it," Hansel muttered. "It'd better work."

"You're going to need all the help you can get," Elsa said. "We're coming with you."

Janus whirled to her, fixing her with a desperate stare from behind the mask. "No."

"We weren't asking." Elsa puffed out her chest, meeting his gaze with steely resolve in those beautiful blue eyes of hers. "We came here because we need you," she turned to Hansel. "And the Witch Hunters too. But it looks like you need our help first."

"You're mad," Hansel retorted harshly. "No one has ever broken into Moordeloch prison before apart from my sister, and look what happened? No, this requires professionals to get the job done before anyone gets hurt."

"Well she's the Pilgrim of the League of Sorcerers, and I'm a seasoned Exonian field agent from the future who has his blood running through my veins." Peggy pointed at Janus. "I'll say we're just as qualified as the both of you."

Janus snarled. "Damn it, you don't get it, do you? This isn't like escaping from Stormtide or breaching Exon's capital. This is worse. I spent my entire childhood growing up within Moordeloch's walls with no hope of ever escaping. I was the only one who ever did, and I swore I'd never look back. But here I am, risking it all knowing there's a chance I wouldn't make it back out. I don't…want that for the both of you."

Defiantly, Elsa drew herself up. "You don't get to make that decision for us. If we get trapped in there-"

"Which we won't," Peggy interjected.

"-It'll be on us," Elsa finished. "This is our choice, and our consequence to bear. We're coming with you and we're extracting Gretel out of there."

Incensed, Janus slammed his gauntlet into one of the lockers, leaving a severe dent in it. "Damn it," he growled under his breath. It was all coming apart. The two of them shouldn't even be here. And now they're coming with us?

"Well, if you insist," Hansel began cautiously. "Then you know the risks. You know what it means if you get caught."

"Torture, rape, death," Elsa said without flinching. "We've been through war together. We know the risks."

"Oh, you're so wrong," Janus muttered angrily under his breath. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into. You think Exon is the worst of humanity? You've never been to Moordeloch."

"Look, Janus," Hansel glanced at him. "I'm desperate to get my sister back at any cost. If the girls say they're up for this particular suicide mission, who am I to deny extra help?"

"And add the guilt of their deaths on your conscience?" Janus retorted.

"No one's going to die," Peggy insisted.

"You don't get to decide." Janus shook his head desperately. "None of us do. Once we get to Moordeloch, it's out of our hands. The damn prison decides our fate."

"If its all the same to you, we're coming," Elsa's tone brooked no further argument. He recognised that tone well.

Letting out a frustrated growl, he slammed his gauntlet against the locker again. "We meet Saltoni in ten minutes." He strode out of the locker room to get some privacy out in the long, empty corridor. It was all wrong. He should've just done this job himself but because of his cowardice, they were now stuck in this situation. If it hadn't been for his hesitance to overcome his fear, the only person he would've put at risk would have been himself.

But no, now Hansel, Peggy and Elsa were about to be dragged into his mess because they wouldn't let him fix his mistake alone. He narrowed his good eye. After his part in the Empire war, he'd resolved to make sure no one else he cared about suffered because of him, and now he found himself in precisely the situation he'd been hoping to avoid.

No, he clenched his gloved fist. No one else will get hurt because of me. Not this time.