Freedom (closed to Ember_Fangs)

The day had started out like any other. Natalia had got up and showered and then sat around the computer for the rest of the day. Except today she had to actually go out and get food. She silently cursed, she hated going out during the day for mundane tasks like this. As she made her way down to the store, she didn`t notice the black van stalking her. Eventually, it rolled up beside her. At speeds faster than humans could muster two arms shot out and grabbed her. She only got a glimpse of their faces but she could remember them. It was the Keyeon twins. The two were there in North Korea all those years ago; two of the super soldier experiments. They were also part of the small group of survivors. A piece of cloth quickly covered her mouth and she was knocked unconscious, lying on the floor.

The small, dim light was all the light in the room. As she attempted to move her arms, she discovered that they were held down by metal restraints. The restraints made a clicking sound and pierced more needles into her, knocking her out once more.

She awoke again to be met by a man`s face hovering in front of hers.

“Why, aren`t you looking just as beautiful as before? Do not struggle; it will only knock you unconscious once more.” The man said to her; the voice was familiar, but she couldn`t remember where she had heard it.

“Do you mind screwing off? I`m not having a good day and once I get out of these restraints, I wouldn`t want to be in my way.” She growled at him.

“I don`t think you will be doing anything for a little while. I need information out of you and how much pain you suffer will depend on your responses.” The creep smiled and began circling around the chair she was bound to. “But it still seems you have your feisty temper. This will be a lot of fun for me.”

Snarling she snapped at him, “Who are you?”

“Why, don`t you remember me? I remembered you and it`s rude to forget the people you worked with.”

Slowly, she looked up at his face as her vision began clearing. “Cheknov?”

“Oh, good so you do remember me. My employer was locked up somewhere in Siberia because of you; you are going to tell me where.” Her old partner, now enemy. She now was able to see his features more clearly. He had grey, greasy hair that went down to his chin. His stone cold, grey eyes stared down on her. She could smell his breath, it was absolutely revolting. His long, cold fingers danced along her chin.

“I trusted you.” She muttered in shock.

“And you trusted the wrong person.” He stopped circling and picked up a syringe. It was filled with a green liquid. He held it in front of her eyes. “Now, where is he?”

“Do you really think I would tell you?”

“No, that is what this is for.” He said as he jabbed the syringe into her arm. At the spot where it entered it left a significant amount of pain. It felt as if a knife was being dragged through her arm, but there was no knife. She let out a scream of pain as the invisible knife dug deeper and deeper into her arm. “Did you enjoy that? Now, where is he?”

“It`s going to take more than that to make me talk; You know that.”

“Very well then; I will be back in the morning. I should warn you, if you try to escape; we will kill your friends and family.”

“Well, then it`s a good thing that I don`t have any of those isn't it?”

“Sleep, my love.” Said the voice that was like poison. It was really starting to freak her out. But this thought left her as her mouth was covered by cloth, once more covered in chloroform.

She awoke again, she didn`t know how long she had been here but she had to be out a long time. Her clothes were shredded and cuts and bruises covered her body. She could see her ribcage; she could never see it before. But the first sensations that struck her were hunger and thirst. Lucky for her, her former partner had brought her some food and water. Well, the so called food was more of an imitation at best. The spoon was crammed into her mouth; her former partner was force feeding her the grey mushy mound.

She spat some of it out before asking, “How long have I been out?”

“About two weeks. During that time, we had some fun with you." Came the sadistic voice`s reply. “Now are you ready to talk?”

Well, that explains the cuts.“Never.” Came her response.

“Well, we will see about that. I am sure you will come around.” He pulled out a syringe filled with the same green liquid. The pain was back, coursing through her entire body. “How about now?”

“No.”

“I have turned off the knock out chemical for now. This way you will experience the pain for a while longer. Goodnight my darling.” His snake like slits dug into her as he spoke. What creeped her out most was that it sounded almost sincere. The pain was still present but was beginning to die down a little bit.
She took this time to take in the room around her. It was fairly small and had tables taking up most of the space. They were possibly in a warehouse of some kind. Cheknov never was the brightest, she thought to herself as she spotted the gun he had left in the room. But, while stuck in these restraints I can`t use the gun as well. The firing pin! Of course! I could use it as a lock pick.

As night fell she could hear the snoring in the other side of the wall. There were 3 different sounds. That would mean that all three are sleeping. Now's my chance! She quickly moved the chair, which wasn`t bolted to the ground, over to the table with the gun lying on it. After fiddling with it for a bit, she found the firing pin. My ticket to freedom. She quickly undid the locks to the restraints around her wrists and then leaned down to undo the ones by her feet. Silently, she made her way out the door. She made sure to avoid stepping on any of the sleeping men around her. Freedom! As she ran outside and down the busy street, she looked behind her to make sure they weren`t pursuing her.

She looked down at her clothes, she was a mess. Her civilian clothes were ripped and she could feel the cuts on her cheek, chest and arms. Her clothes were lucky to still be on in their condition. As she sprinted forward, still looking at her clothes and how skinny she had gotten, she ran right into someone.

The blonde girl that Natalia had ran into thankfully held the two of them up. "Oh, trust me, running into you is not the worst thing that has happened all day. Are you okay?"She asked, looking over her shoulder in paranoia. What day is it? What month? Is it still the same month? What city am I in? Will they be coming for me? Were some questions that were running through her head, making it feel like it was going to explode. Then came the idea to actually ask instead of guess, "Where am I? What is the date today?" She asked as if it was the most important thing in the world at the moment. Her Amber eyes looked over her shoulder once more while she blew a bit of her red hair out of her face. She bit her lip as she waited for a reply, she must appear freaked out to the other girl. She then realized that she was panting heavily. Her hands straightened out her ripped up plaid button up shirt. Her jeans were torn so much they might as well be shorts as there was barely any fabric covering her legs. All down them were different scrapes from knives and she could see some glass shards as well. Her stomach was completely bare. What was left of her shirt only covered her breasts now. I will get them back for this. She thought to herself as she held her hand over the wound that was bleeding the most severely.

Natalia's eyes widened when the girl told her the date. "A month? A month? Holy crap, this can't be right." She muttered. On the other hand, NYC she could believe. She was thankful she wasn't overseas at this point. "Thank god, just New York." She continued to mutter under her breath as Scarletta, as she introduced herself, led her back to her apartment. Safe? No where's safe to me except maybe the bunker. The trip up the stairs seemed much more jarring than usual. Well, you haven't walked in a month. She reminded herself. As they went inside the apartment building she could feel her knees about to collapse from under her. She was thankful that Scarletta was holding her up and lead her to a couch in the living room. As she asked her about a drink Natalia could feel the that she was thirsty. "Yes please." she nodded, her Russian accent showing a bit. Feeling the weight in her pocket, she was reminded of the gun and firing pin inside of it. Odd, they weren't pursuing me. Maybe they are still sleeping. She pulled the gun out of her pocket and slipped the firing pin back in. Next, she checked if there were still bullets inside just in case they did actually come after her.

Natalia sipped on the bottle of Orange Juice for a moment before Scarletta came back. "спасибо. Err, I mean thank You." |She says to Scarletta after she gets her clothes. Natalia wasn't used to people actually being kind to her. She disliked it. It was the first time she had been helpless. Shaking, she put the gun down on the counter. She took out the bullets and the firing pin as a precaution. It was unlikely that they would come and find her but if they did, she didn't want them to have a working gun. They probably had more guns though, they weren't that stupid.

Natalia stripped out of the clothes she had been stuck in for a month and crawled into the shower. Oh god, I'm even more of a wreck than I thought. She thought to herself as she felt her hair and saw her reflection in the mirror. She washed her hair out, feeling uncomfortable using the other girls shampoo and body wash. Eventually, she finished and stepped out. She slipped on the clothes that Scarletta had laid out for her, feeling equally as uncomfortable as before possibly even more so.

As she came back out into the living room, she felt like a child for a moment. That feeling you got when you would go to the principals office. The feeling that you are an intruder. She hated the feeling. Though she had never been sent to a principals office, she could guess this was the feeling that those children felt. She kept the gun in her hands, still worried that they would come through the door at any moment. "My name is Natalia, just so you know."

"No, I am not." Natalia said to answer Scarletta's question. She started to nibble on the sandwich. Despite the fact she was starving, she didn't like to eat too quickly. Scarletta's next made her think for a moment. Should I tell her the truth? Well, she doesn't seem like she would tell anyone so I suppose I will. "As long as you don't tell anyone. she said, looking up from her sandwich. "I formerly worked for the KGB. I locked quite a few people up, I'm not sure which one specifically it was. But it wasn't them that actually did it. It was my old partner. One of them paid him over. So, all in all, not my worst month. But it also wasn't my best month." She said, being deathly serious about the last part. Her eyes wandered over to the collection of throwing knives lined up on a table beside the couch. "Nice set you've got there." She admired them a little longer before continuing to nibble on her sandwich. Natalia felt like finding out more about this other girl but didn't feel like prying today.

"i wouldn't be worried about them too much either. One's not bright and doesn't have anything abnormal about him. The other two can run fast and are stronger than most people but I doubt they would come looking for me now. They caught me off guard, they won't get that lucky again." Natalia told Scarletta as she twirled a blade around. Examining the runes on the knife, she asked the blonde girl "Do you know what these runes mean? I don't recognize the type of runes."

The knife felt nice in her hands. She ran a finger along the blade to feel how sharp it was. "Do you practice throwing these or are they just for decoration?" she asked, the blades were quite nice but she saw no reason in just keeping around blades for decoration. No matter how nice they are.