Tessa laughed lowly, head bowed, then charged the man. The chains held her back, but she got her point across as the man scrambled back slightly. She still had the fear. Good.
Her little victory didn't last long, however, as the man stalked right back up to her and pressed a knife at her throat, the blade digging in just enough to bring small beads of blood trickling down her throat. "Try anything," he growled, his hot breath wafting over her blindfolded and stinging face, "and I won't hesitate to slit your throat. You deserve your death. That order for your execution? It's still up. Your little Mafia buddies couldn't completely erase it. Perhaps I should just kill you now and be done with this little game of ours?"
She spat on him again, jerking back to avoid the inevitable backhand. "Try me, asshole. I don't need to see to kill."
"Oh? Then how about this–your little plaything is in another room. Will you still carry out your threats if his life is on the line?"
Tessa froze, face going slack. No. Nik? They got him too? This can't be happening…
they had him by the throat now. he had stopped paying attention. did they want a hookup or more information? he couldn't tell, but they had their hand tightly on the walkie talkie that they would supposedly use to tell the others to hurt tessa.
he figured they were using the same threats to her, but jokes on them. he didn't care in the slightest if they hurt him, killed him even. he just had to stay quiet until he figured out how to escape.
suddenly, the device crackled to life. he couldn't make out the words, but soon his hands were unbound and he was thrown onto the scuffed floor. oh boy.
the pained yell he let out as they kicked him twice with spiked boots rang in the hallways.
"Ah, I see they've already started the… interrogation," the man said, grabbing Tessa's chin roughly. "Give us what we want and he won't get hurt anymore. The choice is yours;"
Tessa pursed her lips, fighting an internal battle. On one hand, she had risked too much–done too much–for her to just give this all up. On the other hand… it was Nik. She couldn't willingly let them hurt him because of her stubbornness.
The man took her silence as a refusal to speak, so he let go of her chin and slapped her so hard she tasted blood as her head snapped to the side. "Hurt me all you want," Tessa sputtered, spitting out blood. "But don't you dare lay a hand on him," she growled.
"-but don't you fucking lay a hand on her, you bastard."
he spoke from the floor, curled in the fetal position, and they laughed.
"what, do your bullet holes hurt? did i even make some new ones? pathetic. you can't do anything to stop us hurting her."
his breath rattled as it left his lips, harsh and loud. "oh, you think so? this is nothing. kill me, and then maybe i won't get up."
they turned.
"shut your trap, rat. we all know your heart will stop if i even flick you again. so, what convinced you to shack up and destroy a business with a serial killer?"
The man laughed. "So there's your weakness. Shall I bring you to your beloved and let you watch him die just like your precious Victoria? And this time…" He grabbed her throat, making her wince with pain from the shallow cut across it. "I won't let you get away this time."
She felt her anger boil over. So this was the man that killed Tori. The man that had singlehandedly ruined her life, shattered her heart, and stomped all over it like a child having a tantrum. But her blood also went cold at his threat. No, please no. Not Nik too. I can't. I can't watch him slowly die too. I'd rather die.
"you know, i'm being a lot friendlier than the other men. who knows what tessa looks like by now…" the figure said with practiced absence, having taken nik's place on the metal chair while he lay bleeding.
nik just huffed. the plan was originally to fake internal injury and then spring when their back was turned, but he wasn't so sure. sure fuckin felt like internal injury to him, so he guessed he'd just play dumb. this isn't terrible. this will not end in death.
he gave a guttural laugh in response. "i love your tactic of psychological torment. where'd you learn it from, good ol' ma?"
they growled. "don't make me break your spine, fischer."
Tessa could feel the man's smirk at her locked up body. At her reaction to his threat. "That's right. I did it once before–and I failed. It won't happen again," he growled, releasing her. She fell to the floor, her palms and elbows stinging from the impact. Definitely broke the skin. "Tighten the chains," he called to someone.
She felt the chains around her wrists tightening, forcing her up in the air and on her knees. She struggled, to no avail. She didn't have a chance to brace herself as a fist slammed into her gut. Twice. Thrice. Four times.
She wheezed and bowed over, attempting to catch her breath. He slapped her across the face again, and she spat more blood out. This was nothing. There were worse things that he could do to her. She just hoped he didn't resort to them.
The man grunted by her lack of a response. She heard him walk out, then slam the door shut.
Nathaniel spoke into the radio. "It's Williamson. I would request you bring the boy into the observation unit. See if we can get him to talk by making him watch his beloved get… questioned."
there was a murmured response, along the lines of "i hit him too hard…" and "think he might be dying". nik just smiled from the floor, rolling to shoot a wink up at them.
"you underestimate me, dear."
with that, he flung himself up, launching straight for their throat. he managed to knock them back in the chair, and oh thank GOD they hadn't taken his knife, pressed it to their throat. harder than necessary.
"hey, man. move even one inch to shoot me and before i die, i'll kill you too. this knife looks humble, but it's rather deadly when it's pinning you to the floor by your fucking trachea. got it?"
he smiled sweetly.
"now tell me, where are they keeping tessa?'
and that's how he ended up walking silently, stolen gun in hand and knife at his belt, towards the 'interrogation' room. he listened at the door. he heard a hit landed, a wheeze, and deemed it time. the door was opened quietly, and he took a deep breath before aiming at the one who had just hit tess, and shooting.
Tessa heard a gunshot and thrashed against her chains–though it did no good. Memories flooded her mind of the last person that had gotten killed because of her. She couldn't go through it again.
Not Nik.
Not him too.
She couldn't bear it.
She couldn't see anything through the blindfold, and could only rely on her hearing. Whathappenedwhathappenedwhathappened. The thoughts ran rampant through her mind, the gunshot echoing in her ears.
there were more after, gunshots drowning out and grunting and crashes. there was a presence around tessa occasionally, seemingly protecting her from the fight.
the chains were let loose, blindfold ripped from her face, and she was ushered by a familiar presence back into the tunnels. there was a dingy side entrance, a dirt hallway, and they were back in a vaguely familiar place. nik's home.
only then did he stop, taking a breather before immediately turning to pat her down and frantically ask if she was okay.
"tessa! tess, are you okay? what did they do?"
The rush of immense relief she felt when she saw that Nik was alive was so overwhelming, she couldn't answer him right away. Then she snapped out of her stupor and swallowed the lump in her throat. "I–I'm—I'll be okay," she croaked, an arm clutching her stomach while a hand rubbed at her jaw and neck.
he rested his hands on her shoulders.
"tessa… what did they do?" he didn't notice his own shirt, red and wet with his own blood. "did they hurt you too badly?"
Her eyes flicked over him, not answering. They could have done worse if she was being honest. She could take quite a few hits without a problem. It was the mental trauma that had affected her the most. Being underground, bound in chains in a cold, locked room with no escape, getting beat again and again…
She shivered slightly and gestured to him. "You're bleeding." Blood still dribbled from the corner of her mouth and slowly dripped down the cut across her throat. Her stomach and the bottom half of her rib cage hurt like hell too, and her wrists were rubbed raw from all of her thrashing against freezing cold metal cuffs.
he gently reached up to wipe the blood from her face, not looking down at himself.
"i probably am, but i'm not concerned about that right now. i would offer a hug but that'd be a little messy, yeah? stay here, i have something for your throat." he disappeared up into the curtained room, coming back out with a first aid kit.
"What about you? I–He… He threatened to kill you and then I heard gunshots and I couldn't see anything…" She looked at him. "I thought you died."
"i assure you, i'm very alive. i stole a gun from the guy in my room, thats where the shots were coming from." he said matter-of-factly, taking out a disinfecting wipe. "careful, this will hurt."
"That's my middle name," she weakly joked, still a little shaken up. He had been the one to kill Tori. The man that had killed the love of her life right in front of her eyes before turning the gun on her.
he gave a small smile, lightly dragging the wipe across her throat. he cleaned the blood off, pressing some gauze to the cut and securing it in place with a bandage.
"there, how's that feel?"
"Better. Thanks." She rubbed the bandage slightly, her gaze once again jumping around him with worry and relief.
only after she answered did he look down.
"ah. well, his boots did have spikes on them. yikes." without thinking, he yanked all of his layering off to reveal just the tank top, and rolled it up. nik gingerly touched one of the puncture wounds, grimacing.
"that oughta be fun to fix."
"What about that doctor of yours? Rose, I think?" she asked softly, brows twitching together with concern. That doesn't look too good. Her ribs burned, but she didn't think about it right now.
"yeah, i should call her up. hopefully she's got time. hey, does anything else hurt on you?" he dropped his shirt, obviously ignoring the injuries. "any internal stuff going on?"
"You're the one that got kicked with a spiked boot, and you're asking about me?" She felt her bottom ribs, and she felt some things that were slightly off. A few might be cracked or bruised. It did hurt to breathe…
"i'm tactfully ignoring my injuries in favor of yours. what's going on?" he adjusted his shirt, peeling it away from his torso.
"Call Rose and I'll tell you," she argued. She was more concerned with the one who was bleeding over her own wellbeing.
