Our Last Echo

18

Metropolis

Diana had no idea how long she had been tied up in the trunk of this car. She had a blindfold over her eyes, cable ties around her wrists and ankles and the space was so tiny she could barely move.

She had been on the phone when they - whoever they were - grabbed her, so at least one person knew she was in trouble. She had to believe Sutton would get word to Tyler. It wasn't in her nature to lie there and wait for rescue, but as it turned out, there was very little else she could do. When the trunk first slammed closed on her, she tried kicking at the sides, hoping someone would hear. But the movement made the ties around her ankles dig painfully into her skin. She did her best to ignore the pain, but after what felt like an hour of trying she had to give up.

By then the car had apparently reached its destination because there was no more engine noise, but Diana had no idea where she was, and no one came to get her out of the trunk.

She was left there, alone, for a long time. She could not free her hands or feet. She could not remove the blindfold over her eyes. She smelled gasoline and oil. She could hear, distantly, the sounds of the city: cars,construction...wait, construction - big construction - told her something about where she was. If she was still in Metropolis, there were two major construction sites in the city. One was the new Triad tower, the half-completed replacement for one of the buildings destroyed in the invasion. The other was further out, a new building owned by some technology company. She didn't know what was in the vicinity of the second, but the Triad was next to the new BillCorp tower, not far from Heroes' Park and the harbour.

But while it was tempting to connect her predicament with Bill Centron, it was a huge assumption. She couldn't tell where she was, not for sure. Even if she was right, did knowing that help her at all?

She heard someone approaching, a heavy tread, but just one set of feet. Whoever it was opened the trunk and she felt hands on her roughly hauling her out.

"Let go of me! What the hell is this?"

She was dumped unceremoniously on the cold, hard ground. With her ankles and wrists tied, she could not stand, let alone run. She raised her hands to her face, trying to claw the blindfold off. The cable tie ripped into her already raw flesh and she let out an involuntary moan. Her captor gripped her upper arm and pulled her upright, so hard she feared he might dislocate her shoulder.

She couldn't stand on her own until he snapped the ties around her ankles. Even then, she felt horribly unsteady but when he pulled her forward she managed to stay with him without falling.

"Who are you?" Diana demanded. "What do you want?"

"Shut up." The voice was baritone, the words clipped, not enough to discern an accent. The barrel of a gun pressed into her side. Diana decided it was best to be quiet.

They walked for what felt like a long time but was probably no more than three hundred metres. She was shoved against a hard, smooth wall and heard a familiar swish of electrical doors closing. There was a moment in which all she heard was her captor's harsh breathing. Then they began to move upward. She was in an elevator.

The elevator continued upward for a very long time, telling her she was headed to the top of a very tall building. Again, she thought of BillCorp tower. If Bill was behind this, again, she was almost more afraid of what Tyler would do than she was afraid for herself. He was so angry, if Bill turned himself into a target there was no predicting what might happen.

Finally, she heard the elevator door open and a cold wind swirled around her calves. Her captor pushed her a few steps forward, tugged at her wrists and cut the plastic away.